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| NEWS of the Day - September 17, 2011 |
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on some issues of interest to the community policing and neighborhood activist across the country
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following group of articles from local newspapers and other sources constitutes but a small percentage of the information available to the community policing and neighborhood activist public. It is by no means meant to cover every possible issue of interest, nor is it meant to convey any particular point of view ...
We present this simply as a convenience to our readership ... |
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From Google News
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Sharp Rise In Young Kids Accidentally Poisoned By Medication, US
New research shows there has been a sharp rise in the US in recent years in the number of young children seen in emergency departments or admitted to hospital because of accidental pharmaceutical poisoning from taking a potentially toxic dose of medication. A report on the study, from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, appeared online in the Journal of Pediatrics earlier today.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, says that more than 70,000 emergency visits each year are due to unintentional overdoses among children under the age of 18.
The numbers are now so bad that the CDC set up the PROTECT Initiative, a collaboration of public health agencies, private sector companies, professional organizations, consumer/patient advocates and academic experts to to stop unintended medication overdose in children.
First author Dr Randall Bond, medical director of the Drug and Poison Information Center at Cincinnati Children's, and also emergency medicine physician there, is presenting a report on the study at a PROTECT Initiative meeting in Atlanta on the 20th of September.
Bond told the media that every year, "more children are exposed, more are seen in emergency departments, more are admitted to hospitals, and more are harmed". He said:
"The problem of pediatric medication poisoning is getting worse, not better."
He and his study co-authors found that of the cases of accidental poisoning in young children in the US, exposure to prescription medications accounts for:
- 55% of emergency visits,
- 76% of admissions, and
- 71% of significant harm.
Particularly high among the prescription medications most commonly swallowed accidentally by young children were opioids (frequently prescribed for pain), sedatives-hypnotics (mostly prescribed as sleep aids), and cardiovascular drugs.
Bond said efforts to prevent these accidental poisonings happening in the home are not working.
He and his colleagues found that the largest proportion of increased admissions, injuries and deaths in recent years has been been as a result of children finding and swallowing pills on their own, and errors in giving children medication at home are relatively uncommon and have increased little.
"We need to improve storage devices and child-resistant closures and perhaps require mechanical barriers, such as blister packs," urged Bond.
"Our efforts can't ignore society's problem with opioid and sedative abuse or misuse," he added.
For the study, Bond and colleagues examined patient records in the National Poison Data system covering the period 2001 to 2008. This electronic database records all calls made to centers that are members of the American Association of Poison Control Centers.
They reviewed over 450,000 records relating to children aged 5 and under, who were exposed to a potentially toxic dose of either prescription or over the counter pharmaceutical drugs.
Bond said the most likely reason for the sharp rise is because of the rise in medications that are around small children. This is supported by surveys that show more adults are taking more prescription medications today than ten years ago.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/234546.php
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Task Force Critical of Secure Communities Program
September 17, 2011
by Mirela Iverac
A task force created to recommend improvements to a federal immigration program presented a critical report this week, saying the program, Secure Communities, has had an "adverse impact" on community policing and caused confusion at the state and local level.
"To the extent that Secure Communities may damage community policing, the result can be greater levels of crime," the report said. "If residents do not trust their local police, they are less willing to step forward as witnesses to or victims of crime."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, rolled out the Secure Communities program in October 2008. It aimed at removing serious criminal offenders from the country. But data showed that low level offenders, as well as those without criminal convictions, were getting caught up in the program.
Most significantly, the Task Force on Secure Communities recommended ICE not pursue individuals, identified through Secure Communities, for arrests based on minor traffic offenses, and ensure that victims of domestic violence, as well as victims of crime or witnesses, who come to the agency's attention through the program, are protected.
The released report stated that “several Task Force members noted that whether the program is mandatory is subject to different interpretations” of the law.
In June, Governor Andrew Cuomo withdrew New York from Secure Communities after "mounting evidence" showed that it failed its stated goal of deporting serious felons. Illinois and Massachusetts also pulled out of the program.
The task force also suggested that ICE use prosecutorial discretion more widely so it can focus on the original aim of the program — removing those who have been convicted of crimes or pose a security risk.
Since the program was put in place, there has been much confusion over whether state and local jurisdictions have the right to decline or suspend participation in Secure Communities. Originally, ICE said they had the right to do so, but afterward backtracked on that statement.
Final clarification came in August, when DHS unilaterally terminated all of the previously signed Memorandum of Agreements with the states participating in the program. The agreements were initially entered into to encourage voluntary participation in the program.
DHS said that state and local jurisdictions could not terminate their participation in Secure Communities because it is essentially an information-sharing program between two federal agencies: the FBI and DHS.
That means the fingerprints local law enforcement agencies submit to the FBI for routine criminal history checks will also be shared with DHS and checked against immigration databases. If ICE decides an arrested individual is of interest, the agency determines what enforcement action to take.
DHS plans nationwide activation of Secure Communities by 2013.
Lack of Unity Among Task Force Members
There were clear divisions within the Task Force, which became obvious as five members resigned before the report was made public.
"Throughout the process, it became clear our perspectives and recommendations were not going to be acknowledged," three members who represented labor unions wrote in a letter to the task force's chairman, Chuck Wexler. "The final report demonstrates a clear absence of our voice. It is not an accurate reflection of the matters of concern that we raised on behalf of the workers we represent or their communities."
Another member who resigned, former police chief of Sacramento Arturo Venegas Jr., said the report did not go "far enough."
"If we had made a recommendation that this program needs to go back to its original intent, I would have been happy with that," he said. "The conclusion that I came to is that even with the present recommendation deportations of misdemeanors and low-level offenders will still continue."
Wexler said that while he could not address the specific reasons that led to resignations, members who resigned did so because, "if they couldn't get exactly what they wanted, then they weren't gonna be part of it."
He added the task force had been exposed to great pressure, with 150 immigration groups sending them requests to resign from their positions. Because opinions of members varied so significantly, Wexler said, "it had to be give-and-take to produce a report that would be useful"
In its final conclusion, the report said half of the members were in favor of the Secure Communities program suspension, while the other half thought the program should be continued after changes are implemented.
Matt Chandler, DHS spokesman, said ICE Director John Morton has invited members of the task force who resigned to also "meet with him and discuss their concerns."
The Task Force on Secure Communities was created in June, with 20 local and state law enforcement and homeland security officials, immigration attorneys, labor union officials, academics and others as its members.
http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2011/sep/17/task-force-critical-obamas-immigration-program/#
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From the FBI
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Cyber Takedowns
The FBI has conducted a number of major cyber takedowns with the help of the Cyber Initiative and Resource Fusion Unit (CIRFU)—the cyber unit attached to the NCFTA. Here is a brief look at a three of those cases:
Dark Market: Fifty-six individuals were arrested worldwide and $70 million in potential loss was prevented. A CIRFU undercover agent posing as a cyber crook infiltrated a criminal Internet forum at its highest level. More
Coreflood: Investigators disrupted an international cyber fraud operation by seizing the servers that had infected as many as two million computers with malicious software. More
Trident Breach: This major bust targeted a theft ring that used a Trojan horse virus to steal millions of dollars from victims' bank accounts. More |
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The NCFTA
Combining Forces to Fight Cyber Crime
09/16/11
Long before it was acknowledged to be a significant criminal and national security threat, the FBI established a forward-looking organization to proactively address the issue of cyber crime.
Since its creation in 1997, the National Cyber Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA), based in Pittsburgh, has become an international model for bringing together law enforcement, private industry, and academia to share information to stop emerging cyber threats and mitigate existing ones.
“The exchange of strategic and threat intelligence is really the bread and butter of the NCFTA,” said Special Agent Eric Strom, who heads the FBI unit—the Cyber Initiative and Resource Fusion Unit (CIRFU)—assigned to the NCFTA. “The success of this effort at every level comes down to the free flow of information among our partners.”
When the nonprofit NCFTA was established, the biggest threat to industry was from spam—those annoying unsolicited e-mails that fill up inboxes. Today, the organization deals with malicious computer viruses, stock manipulation schemes, telecommunication scams, and other financial frauds perpetrated by organized crime groups who cause billions of dollars in losses to companies and consumers.
The NCFTA essentially works as an early-warning system. If investigators for a major banking institution, for example, notice a new kind of malware attacking their network, they immediately pass that information to other NCFTA members.
Alliance members—many have staff permanently located at the NCFTA—then develop strategies to mitigate the threat. FBI agents and analysts from CIRFU, also located at NCFTA headquarters, use that information to open or further existing FBI investigations, often in concert with law enforcement partners around the world.
“Cyber crime has changed so much since those early days of spamming,” Strom said. “And the threat continues to evolve globally, which is why the NCFTA's work is so critical to both business and law enforcement.” |
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The organization draws its intelligence from hundreds of private-sector members, Carnegie Mellon University's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), and the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). That extensive knowledge base has helped CIRFU play a key role in some of the FBI's most significant cyber cases in the past several years. (See sidebar.)
Training is another important role of the NCFTA. Last year, an international internship program was held in which cyber investigators from Germany, Great Britain, Australia, the Netherlands, Lithuania, and the Ukraine came to the alliance headquarters for 90 days to share knowledge, build relationships, and help with each others' investigations.
“Working with CIRFU and the NCFTA makes our cooperation very direct,” said Mirko Manske, a cyber investigator for the German Federal Criminal Police. “We can work in real time, sharing information and moving our cases forward. That is one of the biggest gains for us.”
Manske added, “If I need a contact in the U.S., I reach out to CIRFU and they help me immediately. And we do the same for them. Basically we are opening doors for each other.”
When it comes to the global reach of cyber crime, Manske said, “The FBI gets it. They realize that no one organization can succeed by itself. CIRFU started all of this,” he added. “The unit is one of the reasons the FBI is recognized as one of the worldwide leaders in the fight against cyber crime.”
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/september/cyber_091611/cyber_091611 |
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