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July 17, 2011

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Gun-smuggling cartel figures possibly were paid FBI informants

Probe reveals that the U.S. agency running the 'Fast and Furious' anti-gun-trafficking operation didn't know about the alleged FBI informants. Congressional investigators are looking into the matter.

Congressional investigators probing the controversial "Fast and Furious" anti-gun-trafficking operation on the border with Mexico believe at least six Mexican drug cartel figures involved in gun smuggling also were paid FBI informants, officials said Saturday.

The investigators have asked the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration for details about the alleged informants, as well as why agents at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which ran the Fast and Furious operation, were not told about them.

The development raises further doubts about the now-shuttered program, which was created in November 2009 in an effort to track guns across the border and unravel the cartels' gun smuggling networks. The gun tracing largely failed, however, and hundreds of weapons purchased in U.S. shops later were found at crime scenes in Mexico.

The scandal has angered Mexican officials and some members of Congress. Investigators say nearly 2,500 guns were allowed to flow illegally into Mexico under the ATF program, fueling the drug violence ravaging that country and leading to the shooting death of a U.S. border agent.

In a letter to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, the investigators asked why U.S. taxpayers' money apparently was paid to Mexican cartel members who have terrorized the border region for years in their efforts to smuggle drugs into this country, and to ship U.S. firearms into Mexico.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cartel-guns-20110717,0,6972222.story

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Gun control at the border

The Obama administration has taken a a small but significant step that could help federal authorities keep weapons sold in the U.S. out of the hands of Mexican gangs and drug cartels.

The Obama administration took a concrete step toward curbing the flow of semiautomatic weapons to Mexico last week when it adopted a new regulation mandating the reporting of multiple sales of long guns to federal authorities.

Under the regulation, some 8,500 licensed gun shops in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas will be required to inform the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a customer buys more than one semiautomatic that is .22 caliber or greater within a five-day period.

The regulation is a small but significant tool that could help federal authorities keep weapons sold in the United States out of the hands of Mexican gangs and drug cartels. Rather than tracing an AK-47 after it has been recovered from a crime scene, ATF agents may be able to intervene before the weapon is smuggled across the border.

The National Rifle Assn. is, not surprisingly, denouncing the modest rule as encroaching on Americans' 2nd Amendment rights; in fact, it is already threatening to sue the federal government, contending that only Congress can impose such rules. And some Republicans have noted that the decision to impose what they consider unnecessary reporting standards on Americans comes in the wake of a bungled ATF operation called Fast and Furious. That operation was designed to track illegal straw purchases of guns destined for Mexico, but the agency lost track of the guns and some of them ended up at crime scenes, including at the site of the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent last year.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-atf-20110717,0,3585074,print.story

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Police arrest man for making threats against Sen. Barbara Boxer

San Rafael police arrested a 47-year-old man Saturday morning for allegedly threatening Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Kevin Joseph O'Connell of San Rafael was booked on one count of making criminal threats against Boxer and is being held in Marin County jail on $500,000 bail, according to police spokeswoman Margo Rohrbacher.

Police and the FBI have been investigating death threats left after-hours on Boxer's voicemail during the week of July 10. They offered no details about the threats or how they had been traced to O'Connell.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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FBI probes slaying at VA campus

The body of Jose Luis Plascencia, 56, was found by a groundskeeper June 30. Authorities say he may have died a week earlier. Veterans advocates say the VA downplays incidents on the campus.

For a week, the patient's body lay undiscovered at the sprawling West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs campus. Then, just before noon on June 30, a groundskeeper found the decomposing remains of Jose Luis Plascencia while trimming foliage near Jackie Robinson Stadium, officials said.

Initially, investigators did not consider the grisly discovery to be foul play. The body was taken to the Los Angeles County coroner's office.

There, medical examiners discovered something the investigators had apparently overlooked: a "sharp force injury to the neck." The coroner ruled the 56-year-old's death a homicide. "His neck had been cut," said Ed Winter of the coroner's office.

Plascencia's death marks the first homicide at the 400-acre VA facility in more than two decades, and comes at a time when VA officials are encountering heavy criticism over their stewardship of the campus. Now, the FBI has been called in to handle the case because the property falls under federal jurisdiction.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-va-homicide-20110717,0,1398234,print.story

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California criminal database poorly maintained

The information tells police and potential employers of a person's past offenses, but nearly half the arrest records don't say if a conviction ensued. State workers chase paper records trying to fill gaps.

The criminal records system California relies on to stop child abusers from working at schools and violent felons from buying guns is so poorly maintained that it routinely fails to alert officials to a subject's full criminal history.

The computerized log exists to provide an instant snapshot of a criminal past, informing police, regulators and potential employers of offenses such as murder, rape and drug dealing in a person's background. But nearly half of the arrest records in the database don't say whether the person in question was convicted.

Information from millions of records buried at courts and law enforcement agencies has never been entered in the system. So a small army of state employees must spend precious time — and millions of dollars each year — chasing paper records to fill in the gaps.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-crime-data-20110717,0,5317715,print.story

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July 16, 2011

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Mexico: Americans warned about potential attacks in Ciudad Juarez

Drug cartel members may be planning attacks at the U.S. border with Mexico and on U.S. Consulate offices in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, in retaliation for the arrest this week of an accused drug-cartel leader, the consulate warned Friday.

In an emergency message, the consulate Friday advised American citizens to "remain vigilant." It said:

"Information has come to light that suggests a cartel may be targeting the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez or U.S. Ports of Entry. In the past, cartels have been willing to utilize car bombs in attacks. "

It also said it had received information that cartel members may be planning to attack rival gangs, Mexican police or the public in general.

The warning comes after Mexican authorities on Wednesday arrested Marco Antonio Guzman, who was accused of leading the armed wing of the Juarez drug cartel in northern Mexico, the Associated Press reported. It said that Guzman was suspected of involvement in the car bombing of a police station in Ciudad Juarez last year.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/la-trb-juarez-mexico-warning-20110715,0,1873177,print.story

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Court rejects challenge to airport body scanners

The need to detect hidden explosives outweighs privacy concerns, says the ruling.

A U.S. appeals court rejected a constitutional challenge to the government's use of body-imaging scanners at the nation's airports, ruling that the need to detect hidden explosives outweighs the privacy rights of travelers.

The 3-0 decision announced Friday noted that passengers may avoid the scans by opting to undergo a pat-down by a screening agent.

But since the body scanners became standard last year, more than 98% of air travelers have chosen to step into a machine, raise their arms and pose for "advanced imaging," the Transportation Security Administration said.

Before last year, the standard screening devices at airports detected guns, knives, bombs or other metallic items. But the case of the so-called "underwear bomber" in December 2009 prompted the agency to adopt the body scanners as an additional primary screening device. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, boarded a Northwest Airlines flight in Amsterdam with plastic explosives in his underwear. He planned to detonate them before the plane landed in Detroit, but he was thwarted by other passengers and the crew.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-tsa-scanners-20110716,0,2662925,print.story

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Amid Fast and Furious probe, Democrats push new gun control bill

The debate surrounding gun control laws has reignited following the Fast and Furious investigation, and the latest volley was launched Friday.

Two House Democrats introduced a bill that would make the trafficking of firearms to known felons or someone intending to commit a felony a federal offense. The bill, put forth by Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), was drafted in response to testimony from law enforcement agents, who have said current law leaves gaps in enforcement against straw purchasers who often supply drug cartels with weapons.

In a letter to congressional colleagues, Cummings cited a July 4 transcript in which embattled Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Chief Kenneth Melson asserts that a dedicated firearms trafficking law would be "most helpful" in imprisoning known traffickers.

Currently, say sponsors, violators can often only be charged with "paperwork violations" that carry light sentences, like lying on federal forms.

The proposed law carries a maximum sentence of 20 to 25 years in prison with stiffer penalties for so-called "kingpin" traffickers.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-gun-trafficking-20110715,0,2706726,print.story

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Is It Time to Revisit Community Policing?

A 4-year-old boy was shot in the back two weeks ago. Thirteen people were shot or stabbed during the July 4th holiday weekend. What happened to neighborhood policing?

Six weeks ago, I wrote aPatch column about Boston crime, taking comfort in the fact that the annual number of homicides in the city had decreased by almost 50 percent during the past 20 years.

Suddenly, I'm not feeling so smug.

Two weeks ago, a four-year old boy was shot while playing in a crowded Dorchester park. Then, during the Independence Day holiday, thirteen people were stabbed or shot, four of whom lost their lives.

These acts of violence disturbed me. Shocked me.

http://charlestown.patch.com/articles/is-it-time-to-revisit-community-policing

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Lebanon

Officers graduate course in community policing

BEIRUT: A group of 130 officers from the Internal Security Forces have graduated from a joint U.S. and ISF community policing training program, the American Embassy said Friday.

The eight-week training course is taught by American and Lebanese police instructors, aided by legal professionals. As part of the program, ISF officers learn the latest policing, law enforcement and community relations skills – and how to implement them effectively in real situations,” according to an embassy statement.

In congratulating the graduates at a ceremony earlier this week, Deputy Chief of Mission Candace Putman said the specialized training program was designed as a pilot project for a single ISF police unit.

However, because of the wide-ranging benefits of community policing, ISF commander General Ashraf Rifi and the ISF leadership decided to implement community-oriented policing practices throughout Lebanon. The U.S. instruction team has trained over 7,600 ISF members in basic and advanced leadership courses since January 2008, the embassy said.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2011/Jul-16/Officers-graduate-course-in-community-policing.ashx#axzz1SHK49NWt

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Canada

New Cops officer a fan of 'old time policing' style

Const. John Smith, who conducts plenty of foot patrols, took over Ladner Community Police Station in April

When Delta police Const. John Smith took over the Ladner Community Police Station earlier this year, he did so with an eye to the past.

"I really wanted to come in here with a view to old time policing," he says. So when the seven-year veteran of the department took over the office in Ladner Village in April, he traded in his patrol car for a pair of boots.

Smith conducts foot patrols around the community for several hours four days a week. As he makes his way through Ladner's streets, he greets everyone he passes, stopping to chat for a minute or offer assistance when needed.

Smith, who worked as a deputy sheriff and a paramedic before making the leap into policing, says his aim is to "let people know we're here for them." "Just get out there and be part of the community," he says.

http://www.delta-optimist.com/news/Cops+officer+time+policing+style/5107178/story.html

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Strapped Arizona police agencies adapting

More emphasis now on basic patrol duties

Arrest warrants for more than 32,000 people are outstanding in Maricopa County, but the Sheriff's Office will be less able to track them down after a decision to remove the lone deputy assigned to a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force.

As budgets dwindle and many Arizona law-enforcement agencies enter another year without hiring new officers, more police departments and sheriff's offices are forced to weigh their participation in broad multiagency operations against their duty to meet the core function of patrolling streets and solving neighborhood crimes.

Arizona police agencies are not alone in making such a decision. It's a growing trend among law-enforcement agencies nationwide. The result could damage some of the gains made in collaboration and crime reduction during the past two decades, experts say.

The impact is not limited to multiagency partnerships, said John Firman, director of research for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Police departments also are eliminating positions that do not respond to emergency calls such as school-resource officers.

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July 15, 2011

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U.S. awards $10.5 million to help homeless veterans in California

The vouchers, announced by the departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs, are to be used for homeless veterans as they enroll in counseling and other programs. A second round of funding will be announced by the end of summer, officials said.

Among agencies in Southern California, the largest grant was $1,851,912 to the city of Los Angeles Housing Authority, followed by $927,747 to the city of Orange Housing Authority, $867,996 to the Los Angeles County Housing Authority and $639,468 to the San Diego Housing Commission.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki has vowed to eliminate homelessness among veterans by 2015.

"This critical assistance will help keep homeless veterans across California off the streets while providing access to services like job training and education," said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Postal boxes stolen in San Fernando Valley

After several mail collection boxes are stolen, postal authorities are worried about identity theft.

A recent spate of postal box thefts has put postal authorities on high alert and raised concern that customers may be vulnerable to identity theft.

But authorities said it was unclear whether the brazen heists were part of a trend.

"The economy the way it is, there is an increase in crime all around," said U.S. Postal Inspector Renee Focht of the Postal Service's Los Angeles division, which has jurisdiction over Southern California. "We can't speculate why the mailboxes are being targeted."

Focht said fewer than a dozen of the boxes had been stolen in Southern California since the beginning of June.

As well as being swiped from in front of post offices, the blue collection boxes, which weigh about 200 pounds, had been uprooted from residential neighborhoods and business parks, Focht said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mailboxes-20110715,0,7473537,print.story

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Pentagon admits to losing 24,000 files in major network breach

2011 has certainly been the year of the hacker so far. The number of hacks and attacks that have been perpetrated against the US government and businesses is staggering and shows no sign of letting up. Perhaps the most disturbing of all the hacks this year was one perpetrated against the US government that the Pentagon has now admitted happened in the spring of this year. The Pentagon says that the attack was one of the most damaging to date.

The Pentagon has admitted “foreign intruders” stole 24,000 files and the files were taken from a defense contractor. The specific defense contractor that was hacked wasn't named and the nature of the files stolen was not disclosed. Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III noted at a speech to unveil the unclassified portion of the new cyber strategy for the Pentagon that over the past few years all manner of data has been stolen with some of it mundane and some of the data stolen is very disturbing.

The new cyber strategy that the Pentagon is talking about outlines ways that the military will respond to attacks and how they will train their staff to defend against the attacks. It seems that the vast majority of data theft concerning military data comes from contractors. I expect that a large part of the strategy will concern how to secure the data on outside networks.

Lynn said, “[some of the stolen data concerns] our most sensitive systems, including aircraft avionics, surveillance technologies, satellite communications systems, and network security protocols.”

http://www.slashgear.com/pentagon-admits-to-losing-24000-files-in-major-network-breach-15165285/

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Kilmartin Stands By Secure Communities Program

An initiative supported by Attorney General Peter Kilmartin that allows local law enforcement to run the fingerprints of anyone arrested against both FBI criminal history records as well as immigration records took a major hit this week when Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said he plans to withdraw his city from participating in the program.

Menino was one of the earliest supporters of the Secure Communities program and Boston was actually one of its pilot cities in 2008. But Menino expressed concern with the direction the program was going after being made aware that low-level, nonviolent criminals are often the ones subject to federal sanctions under the plan.

But despite Boston's pushback, the program will continue running in Rhode Island, according the Kilmartin's office.

“Attorney General Kilmartin is committed to the Secure Communities program,” Spokeswoman Amy Kempe said this week. “He believes it is an important tool for law enforcement in Rhode Island.”

http://www.golocalprov.com/news/secure-communities/

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July 14, 2011

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Repeal the death penalty

Each execution costs taxpayers $308 million, a colossal waste.

Waste, fraud and abuse — also known as California's death penalty. It's a colossal waste of money for arguably the state's most inefficient program.

California has spent an estimated $4 billion to administer capital punishment over the past 33 years and executed only 13 people. That's about $308 million per execution.

It's a shameless fraud on the public. Californians have consistently supported the death penalty and been led to believe that it exists. It really doesn't.

We just stack up more and more killers on death row. There's now a backlog of 714. It's an abuse of California resources — property and personnel, public and private.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cap-death-penalty-20110714,0,5030234.column?track=rss

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Villaraigosa heading to San Francisco

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is scheduled to be in San Francisco today to speak to a group of lawyers supporting gun control and meet with the San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board and former Mayor Willie Brown.

Villaraigosa is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech at the 18th anniversary dinner of the Legal Community Against Violence, a public interest law center whose members assist city, county and state governments in drafting laws involving gun use.

Villaraigosa will discuss Los Angeles' efforts at combating gun and gang violence, such as the Summer Night Lights and gun buyback programs and the Los Angeles Police Department's focus on community policing, an aide said.

Villaraigosa also will join San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee in a meeting with the San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board to win support for increased federal transportation funding, including high-speed rail between the two cities, the aide said.

http://www.scpr.org/news/2011/07/14/villaraigosa-heading-san-francisco/

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Protect Yourself Against Social Engineering Attacks

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July 13, 2011

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Hate crimes against gay, transgender people rise, report says

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs report says violent crimes against people in the LGBT community rose 13% in 2010, and that minorities and transgender women were more likely to be targeted.

An 18-year-old gay man from Texas allegedly slain by a classmate who feared a sexual advance. A 31-year-old transgender woman from Pennsylvania found dead with a pillowcase around her head. A 24-year-old lesbian from Florida purportedly killed by her girlfriend's father, who disapproved of the relationship.

The homicides are a sampling of 2010 crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people compiled by a national coalition of anti-hate organizations.

The report, released Tuesday, showed a 13% increase over 2009 in violent crimes committed against people because of their perceived or actual sexual orientation, gender identity or status as HIV positive, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.

Last year's homicide count reached 27, up from 22 in 2009, and was the second-highest total since the coalition began tracking such crimes in 1996. Of those killed, 70% were minorities and 44% were transgender women.

The data are compiled by the coalition's 43 participating organizations and are not comprehensive. They include crimes reported to the groups by victims who did not seek help from law enforcement. In fact, 50% of the 2010 assault survivors did not make police reports, with minorities and transgender people the least likely to come forward, the report said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-debt-talks-20110713,0,2703272,print.story

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Tightened borders force immigrant smugglers to take risky sea routes

Guard troops and customs authorities arrest 14 suspected illegal immigrants after their boat overturns in heavy surf, two days after a group of 15 were found stranded on Santa Cruz Island.

Before dawn Tuesday, California National Guard troops spotted a suspected smuggling boat moving up the coast from San Diego.

The boat had no lights and after about an hour, it headed for shore at Crystal Cove State Park, near Newport Beach in Orange County.

In the rough surf, the small craft flipped, spilling its occupants into the ocean.

No one was hurt. But federal customs authorities, working with the Guard troops, arrested 14 suspected illegal immigrants, all from Mexico; another immigrant escaped and remains at large.

The incident came two days after 15 immigrants from Mexico were rescued from Santa Cruz Island, where, according to authorities, they were abandoned by a smuggler.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0713-immigrant-boat-20110713,0,1893709,print.story

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Medical marijuana: Research, not fear

The DEA is right in saying there's not enough scientific evidence about the medical uses of cannabis. But that's because the government's paranoia about the plant makes legitimate research on possible benefits all but impossible.

What is it that makes marijuana more frightening to the federal government than cocaine or morphine? The Drug Enforcement Administration has steadfastly, over decades, listed marijuana as a Schedule I drug, meaning that it has no medical value and that the potential for abuse is high. Cocaine and morphine, far more dangerous and habit-forming, are listed as Schedule II because they have some medical value.

Last week the DEA ruled once again, a decade after it made the same decision, that marijuana is a potentially dangerous drug without known medical benefits. During the intervening 10 years, though, nine more states passed medical marijuana laws, bringing the total to 17. Two years ago, the American Medical Assn. recommended changing the classification of marijuana to Schedule II, which would make it easier for researchers to obtain the drug for medical studies.

In March, the National Cancer Institute reported: "The potential benefits of medicinal cannabis for people living with cancer include antiemetic effects, appetite stimulation, pain relief and improved sleep." However, it stopped short of endorsing marijuana as a medical treatment, concluding that there was too little evidence.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-marijuana-20110713,0,1248851,print.story

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Immigration policy: U.S. should abolish its 'diversity visa' program

We should handpick our immigrants with a view to our national interests and the individual attributes that they bring to the table.

The U.S. "diversity visa" program — 50,000 green cards allocated by lottery each year to applicants who only need a high school education to qualify — has been generating embarrassing headlines lately. Shortly after notifying this year's lottery winners — out of nearly 15 million applicants — of their entitlement to move permanently to the United States, the government discovered a computer glitch that produced erroneous results. (Instead of a random drawing, 90% of the winners were from entries submitted on the first two days of the 30-day registration period.) The government told the winners, who likely were busily severing their ties to families, friends, jobs and communities in preparation for their imminent move to the United States, that their visas were rescinded. A redo of the lottery is scheduled for Friday.

This latest spectacle of government incompetence and broken promises, causing mass upheaval and crushing hopes that the government itself had raised, is all too familiar — think of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath and the failed mortgage relief program. But the visa fiasco obscures a more fundamental objection to the program: It was misconceived at its inception.

Immigration is in many ways the lifeblood, future and salvation of an aging, technology-driven America. The stakes could hardly be higher in getting our immigration policy right and bringing in those who can provide what we need: skills, entrepreneurs, close family members and investment.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-schuck-visa-lottery-20110713,0,2134043,print.story

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National Latino Peace Officers Association Calls on Secure Communities Task Force

National Latino Peace Officers Association Calls on Secure Communities Task Force
to Fundamentally Overhaul Controversial Immigration Program

Letter Expresses Grave Concern About Program's Impact on Community Policing, Public Safety

Washington – As the newly-constituted Department of Homeland Security (DHS) task force on Secure Communities meets this week, the largest minority law enforcement organization in the nation, National Latino Peace Officers Association, sent a letter to task force members calling for overarching reforms to the controversial Secure Communities program. NLPOA joins numerous elected officials and law enforcement leaders in expressing opposition to the current program, which has strayed far from its stated goal of deporting serious criminals, and is having a dangerous effect on community policing.

NLPOA President, Edwin Maldonado, writes: “As law enforcement professionals who are also Latino, we have an important perspective to offer. We chose this profession because protecting the public from crime is our number one priority. We also understand how to build relationships with members of the Latino community, given our personal experiences and backgrounds. Unfortunately, we've seen firsthand how the relationship between law enforcement and some members of the Latino community has eroded over the last several years, as the federal government and some state legislatures sought to expand police roles in immigration enforcement.”

The letter describes the damage that Secure Communities has done to trust between law enforcement and the Latino community, and lays out the minimum reforms needed to focus the program on its stated goals. A letter submitted yesterday to the task force from Boston mayor, Thomas Menino, lays out similar concerns with the program, which has been widely criticized by law enforcement for increasing the fear of local police in immigrant communities and making them less likely to report crimes to the police.

http://tucsoncitizen.com/view-from-baja-arizona/2011/07/12/national-latino-peace-officers-association-calls-on-secure-communities-task-force/

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Opinion

Opinion: Shocking Violent Crime Raises Tough Questions

A 4-year-old boy was shot in the back two weeks ago. Thirteen people were shot or stabbed during the July 4th holiday weekend. What happened to neighborhood policing?

Six weeks ago, I wrote aPatch column about Boston crime, taking comfort in the fact that the annual number of homicides in the city had decreased by almost 50 percent during the past 20 years.

Suddenly, I'm not feeling so smug.

Two weeks ago, a four-year old boy was shot while playing in a crowded Dorchester park. Then, last weekend, during the Independence Day holiday, thirteen people were stabbed or shot, four of whom lost their lives.

These acts of violence disturbed me. Shocked me.

http://southend.patch.com/articles/opinion-shocking-violent-crime-raises-tough-questions-3

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How a New Police Tool for Face Recognition Works

Police forces across the country are planning to start using new mobile technology later this year that can identify suspects and instantly reveal their criminal history based on a picture of their face or iris, the colored portion of an eye.

Here's how it works: To scan a person's iris, police officers can hold the special iris-scanning camera on device, called MORIS, about 5 to 6 inches away from an individual's irises. After snapping a high resolution photo, the MORIS system analyzes 235 unique features in each iris and uses an algorithm to match that person with their identity if they are in the database.

For the facial recognition, an officer takes a photo of a person at a distance of about 2 feet to 5 feet. Based on technologies from Animetrics Inc., the system analyzes about 130 distinguishing points on the face, such as the distance between a person's eye and nose. It then scans the database for likely matches.

The MORIS, which stands for known as MORIS, for Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System, also includes a small metallic rectangle to scan fingerprints.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/07/13/how-a-new-police-tool-for-face-recognition-works/tab/print

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July 12, 2011

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Federal government isn't touching Arkansas terrorism case

Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad of Memphis, Tenn., says his trial in a fatal Little Rock Army facility attack is being handled in Arkansas state court to get him the death penalty. His father alleges a government coverup.

Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad insists he is an Islamic radical, has confessed to killing an Army soldier and wounding another at a Little Rock recruiting station two years ago, and wants to be tried on terrorism charges in federal court.

But in an unusual twist, state prosecutors, with the blessing of the federal government, are treating him like a common American criminal and trying him in state court next week on capital murder charges.

Either way, Muhammad could become the first person sentenced to death in the U.S. for an act of terrorism — even if that is not the charge — since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Muhammad, 24, born Carlos Bledsoe in Memphis, Tenn., has a profile that is now familiar in home-grown terrorism cases. He converted to Islam at age 20 at a Tennessee mosque, changed his name and traveled to the Middle East.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-little-rock-death-20110710,0,5438406,print.story

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'Fast and Furious' scandal grows with revelation that Mexican cartel suspects may be paid U.S. informants

Are high-profile suspects in Mexican drug cartels also paid informants for U.S. federal investigators? If so, could a brewing scandal in Washington implicate more U.S. agencies in the ongoing drug-related violence in Mexico?

Kenneth Melson , the embattled chief of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), made the earth-shaking revelation in testimony early last week, The Times reports. Melson reportedly told congressional leaders that Mexican cartel suspects tracked by his agents in a controversial gun-tracing program were also operating as paid informants for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the FBI.

The revelation is further complicating an already tangled scandal unfolding in Washington that ties U.S. weapons to the violent drug war in Mexico. The conflict has left about 40,000 dead in 4 1/2 years. In effect, the scandal also points to a deeper involvement of the U.S. government in Mexico's drug war than the public has previously known or suspected.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2011/07/atf-agents-informants-dea-fbi-drug-war-guns.html

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U.S. to require more gun-buyer information in border states

Gun dealers in states bordering Mexico will have to report whenever they sell more than two semiautomatic rifles to someone in a five-day period.

As a backlash mounts over the government's failed Fast and Furious gun-tracing operation, the Justice Department will begin requiring firearms dealers in California and other border states to alert officials anytime they sell more than two semiautomatic rifles to someone in a five-day period.

The new reporting requirement will help the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives "detect and disrupt" border gun-smuggling operations, Deputy Atty. Gen. James Cole said Monday.

Once the ATF distributes its new reporting forms, about 7,000 dealers near the border must report multiple sales of semiautomatic weapons in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Such weapons "are highly sought after by dangerous drug-trafficking organizations and frequently recovered at violent crime scenes near the Southwest border," Cole said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-guns-dealers-20110712,0,6873445,print.story

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L.A. County Probation Dept. should handle new parolees

For all its troubles, the Probation Department, which oversees residents on probation as well as the county's juvenile detention facilities, is the proper agency to handle the coming population.

Thousands of new parolees are coming to Los Angeles County as part of the state's effort to ease prison overcrowding. To deal with them, the Board of Supervisors faces two options, both abysmal. It could assign the former state prisoners to the foundering Probation Department, which has demonstrated an inability to keep adequate records, discipline wayward employees and properly supervise troubled youths, and is under scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice. Or it could pick the Sheriff's Department, which has its own history of difficulties and is currently being monitored by the federal government for its failures in county jails.

With the parolees comes state funding, and each department is eager to take on the new task and accept the new money. Past behavior suggests neither department is up to the job — but in the end it has to be one or the other. The supervisors must be tempted to wash their hands of the problem and send the parolees to Sheriff Lee Baca, who is elected and whom the supervisors ultimately can hang out to dry if his program fails. But that would be the wrong move. For all its troubles, the Probation Department, which oversees residents on probation as well as the county's juvenile detention facilities, is the proper agency to handle the coming population.

That should not be mistaken for a vote of confidence in the Probation Department. To the contrary, that department is, and long has been, a mess.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-parole-20110712,0,4790068,print.story

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Alberta, Canada

Targetted policing lauded in MHPS report

Substance abuse grant lets police partner with non-profits

Police Departments could be subcontracted by the non-profit to deliver drug identification or prevention curriculum

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency recently announced up to $1,491,130 in funding for state Substance Abuse Education and Demand Reduction.

The funding is available to nonprofit organizations to support projects designed to educate the public about the dangers of substance abuse, and/or reduce demand for these substances.

Although law enforcement agencies are not eligible to apply directly for funding through this grant, it does provide an opportunity to partner with a local non-profit agency to deliver programs in the community.

http://www.policeone.com/Grants/articles/3952889-Substance-abuse-grant-lets-police-partner-with-non-profits/

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July 11, 2011

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Authorities Investigate Stun Gun Found on JetBlue Plane

Authorities are investigating how a stun gun managed to make it through security and onto a flight that landed at Newark Liberty International Airport, Fox 5 reported Sunday. The FBI is investigating how the stun gun got aboard a JetBlue flight from Boson on Friday, a federal law enforcement source said.

According to sources, a striker 1800 stun gun was found by a cleaning crew inside the back pocked of a seat on Jet Blue flight 1179 after the passengers had disembarked, Fox 5 said.

After the gun was discovered, the workers called the Port Authority Police, Jet Blue and the PA said. The Transportation Safety Administration was also notified. Sources suspect that the stun gun made it through screening at Boston's Logan Airport.

JetBlue confirmed this information with Fox 5 News and said it was cooperation with the investigations. Authorities are pursuing the identifies of everyone who had access to the seat pocket where the gun was found.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/07/11/authorities-investigate-stun-gun-found-on-jet-blue-plane/

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Not allowing broken windows to breed broken windows is key

THE ISSUE: Community policing

OUR VIEW: A place's appearance can have major impact on crime

The term "community policing" isn't the buzz it once was, partly because the concept has been adopted by so many in law enforcement. It remains important to reinforce why community policing is important and why it works - and what can be done to expand its effectiveness.

Recently, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Association wrapped up a two-week training course, including the community policy strategy Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, co-sponsored by PalmettoPride, South Carolina's anti-letter campaign. Fifty officers from city, county and statewide agencies attended the training.

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