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| NEWS of the Day - December 28, 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 Los Angeles Times
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Sheriff Lee Baca to create task force to address wrongful jailings
The L.A. County sheriff's move comes in response to a Los Angeles Times investigation that found that wrongful incarcerations occurred more than 1,480 times in the last five years.
by Robert Faturechi and Jack Leonard, Los Angeles Times
December 28, 2011
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said Tuesday that he will create a task force to minimize the wrongful jailings of people mistaken for someone else.
Baca's move came in response to a Times investigation that found hundreds of people have been wrongly imprisoned in recent years, with some spending weeks behind bars before authorities realized their true identities.
"It's a horrible reality of what is basically the imperfect nature of the criminal justice system," Baca said in an interview. "No one who is an innocent person should ever be tied in with the criminal justice system....There's a difference between saying 'I plead not guilty.' It's another thing to say to anybody 'I'm not that person.'"
Baca said his task force to minimize the problem will probably be headed up by his detectives chief, a patrol commander and a jail captain.
The wrongful incarcerations occurred more than 1,480 times in the last five years. Many of those mistakenly held inside the county's lockups had the same names as suspects or had their identities stolen.
L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas called the jailings "a travesty of justice" and another blow to the sheriff's jails, which are under federal investigation over allegations of inmate abuse and other deputy misconduct.
This "further erodes confidence in the County jail system — just as we are struggling to restore public confidence," he said in a statement. "It's not enough to say that accidents happen."
The Times found that the jailings occur because of breakdowns not just by jail officials but by police who arrest the wrong people and by the courts, which have issued warrants that did not precisely identify the right suspects.
Because multiple jurisdictions are involved, Baca said his task force would present its recommendations to other local police agencies, with the hope that they too would adopt the reforms.
"I'm looking at how do we really get to a place where the system works as smoothly as possible," Baca said. "The original arresting agency has to, up front, do a better job in vetting the person.... This is going to require a lot of analysis and review.... We can't say that we can't do better, we can always do better, but I'm dependent on other police agencies to also do better."
Victims of mistaken identification typically go through several rounds of checks before they land in L.A. County Jail. Arresting officers use the name, birth date and driver's license number of the person they stop to check for warrants. The first fingerprint check is usually done when officers bring the people they arrest to the police station where they are booked. From there, inmates are taken either to court or directly to County Jail.
Once inmates arrive at the jail, officials there review the fingerprints again and compare the warrant to the personal information for the inmate.
The errors occur in jails up and down the state, and many of the misidentified inmates in the L.A. County sheriff's jails were arrested by law enforcement agencies outside the county.
In California, people who are arrested are assigned a unique nine-digit number matched to their fingerprints. Some warrants issued by judges fail to include those identifiers, making it more difficult for police and jailers to determine whether they have the right suspect.
When those fingerprint numbers are included, police agencies sometimes fail to determine why the arrested person has a different number or no number at all. In those cases, authorities could catch the error by obtaining the wanted suspect's fingerprints from the state Department of Justice and comparing them with those of the person in custody.
The number of mistaken identifications has been declining, and the cases make up just a tiny fraction of the population inside L.A. County lockups, the largest jail system in the nation. But for those who are jailed, the experience can be harrowing.
In one case reported by The Times, a mechanic held for nine days in 1989 on a warrant meant for someone else was detained again 20 years later on the same warrant. He was jailed for more than a month the second time before the error was discovered.
In another instance, a Nissan customer service supervisor was hauled by authorities from Tennessee to L.A. County on a local sex-crimes warrant meant for someone with a similar name.
In a third case, a former construction worker mistaken for a wanted drug offender said another inmate pushed him to the floor in the showers, leaving him naked on the ground with back pain.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wrong-id-jails-20111228,0,6740040,print.story
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From Google News
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Reported sex crimes up at service schools
December 28, 2011
WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- An increase in reported sexual assaults at the U.S. service academies may be a result of a program encouraging victims to come forward, the Pentagon says.
A Defense Department report said 65 assaults were reported in the 2010-2011 year at the Naval Academy, Military Academy and Air Force Academy, CNN reported. There were 41 reports of sexual assault at the service academies in 2009-2010.
Officials preparing the report visited the campuses and conducted focus groups among students.
The report described new programs set up to deal with sexual assault. At the Naval Academy, there is now a support group led by a therapist while the Air Force Academy has a program aimed at encouraging those who have been assaulted to report the crime.
Maj. Gen. Mary Kay Hertog, the director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, said in a statement the service academies have "challenges" similar to those of other colleges in dealing with sexual assault and harassment.
"However, when it does occur, we owe it to those who have been victimized, and to every cadet and midshipman, to do everything possible to provide needed support and to hold those who commit sexual assault appropriately accountable," she said.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/12/28/Reported-sex-crimes-up-at-service-schools/UPI-39881325055851/?spt=hs&or=tn
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Connecticut
Norwich to beef up police patrols in three areas
by Claire Bessette Day Staff Writer
Norwich - Residents in Taftville, Greeneville and the downtown area will soon see six new police officers in their neighborhoods who are there to help fight crime and deal with nuisance issues that have tarnished the appeal of the historic districts.
With money committed last summer in the city budget and a $50,000 grant from the federal Community Block Grant program, the police department is reviving the popular community policing model that has been diluted by budget cuts over the past decade.
While the six officers - three two-officer teams for each of the targeted areas - won't start until Jan. 6, Chief Louis Fusaro has already named Sgt. Peter Camp to head the new unit and get an early start.
Camp, a 13-year Norwich police veteran, has done just that. For the past month he has visited the three areas, contacted longtime neighborhood watch leaders and attended watch meetings to discuss concerns and issues.
Camp is also working on the written job descriptions for the officers to be selected. The department will hire new patrol officers, while department veterans will be chosen for the community police beats, he said.
"We've been doing community policing since the early '90s," Camp said, "but the definition of community policing has changed dramatically over the years. The areas are much more ethnically diverse. There's social media now. There's so many different things."
Fusaro said he has wanted to increase community policing for the past decade, but budget cuts have hampered the effort. The department has lost about 13 percent of its staffing, while the city has grown in population by about 12 percent.
"This is just a start," Fusaro said. "It's just one shift (per district) for five days a week. We'd like to do more."
Community police officers will do more than just patrol the streets in cruisers, Camp said. They will use a combination of cruisers, bicycles, foot patrols and motorcycles, depending on the officers' training. The officers will be asked to get to know the residents, businesses and especially the youth.
Officers also will be asked to report non-police matters to other city agencies - blight and housing issues to the city building and housing office, overgrown weeds and trash to the Department of Public Works.
The officers also will work with Norwich Youth and Family Services and the Norwich Prevention Council, which handle youth issues to try to prevent family problems from escalating into criminal activity.
"One of our goals is prevention of crime, kids taking the wrong path," Camp said. "If we can intervene and prevent problems, that's much better."
Budget cuts also cost the city its two school resource police officers in the middle schools, a loss Camp said was regrettable.
"We get that question all the time: 'Where are the SROs?'" he said.
Camp said the new community police units should be considered village resource officers. In turn, the officers want residents, business owners and youth to help keep their neighborhoods clean and safe. Two longstanding neighborhood watch groups have operated in Greeneville and Taftville for years but downtown groups have fizzled over the years and there are no active groups now.
Camp said he hopes to raise enough interest to add at least one more watch group each in Taftville and Greeneville and start two neighborhood watch groups downtown. He plans to post fliers and spread the word through Facebook, email and the media to try to attract residents to neighborhood meetings.
Denise Relyea of Taftville and Jean Tardif of Greeneville have been leading their respective neighborhood watch groups for years. They advocated for additional police patrols last spring during city budget hearings, stressing that the neighborhoods felt the loss of police officers with growing criminal activity. The lobbying worked, and the two leaders now are thrilled that the program is about to get off the ground.
"I'm so happy it's Peter," Tardif said. "I know Peter from way back when. He was so helpful when he was a beat officer."
Tardif said Camp attended the December Greeneville watch meeting and explained the new patrols and how the officers will get to know the community, just "like we used to have."
She said the program is more than she expected, because it won't be just added patrols; the officers will try to get to know the families and the trouble spots.
"I didn't realize it until he spoke to us about it," Tardif said. "It sounds really exciting. Hopefully we can get back to a communication between the police and the residents."
Relyea is awaiting that initial meeting with Camp. The Taftville watch group meets on the first Wednesday of the month at the Taftville fire station.
"We just need to have the police visible, just to have them here," Relyea said. "To know that you can pick up the phone and call the police and they'll be there in a few minutes, and be able to say 'Hey, we're having a problem' and have them say 'I know who that is.'"
Both Relyea and Tardif said they have had difficulty reaching out to new residents, especially the growing minority population in the villages. Language barriers and frequent moves are part of the problem, they said.
Camp said he plans to reach out to local churches and minority leaders to help with translation and build awareness that police will be there to help. He realizes that in many countries, residents don't call police for help, he added.
"In some cultures there's a huge distrust of police," Camp said. "We want to reach out to them and give them a voice in the community."
http://www.theday.com/article/20111227/NWS01/312279982/-1/NWS
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England
Award-winning Manchester bobby shares tips on inner-city policing with Florida cop
by Richard Wheatstone
A US SWAT team cop has visited an award-winning Manchester bobby to learn more about inner-city policing.
Detective Dave Chavka, 54, from the Key West Policing Department in Florida, picked up tips from officers in GMP's Metropolitan Division, which covers areas including Gorton, Ardwick and Moss Side.
He was given a tour of the division by neighbourhood inspector Damian O'Reilly, who recently undertook a similar fact-finding trip at the New York Police Department after being named Britain's best community officer.
Det Chavka, who visited the divisional hub in Longsight, the GMP firearms training centre in Clayton Brook and community projects in Gorton, was left impressed by the work being carried out in some of Manchester's most deprived areas.
He said: "Community policing is the only thing that works. To bring down crime you have work with the public and the reductions in crime in this area of Manchester are very, very impressive. It's been very interesting to see how Damian has got involved in so many community projects and the effect that has on the neighbourhood.
"Back in the States, when I was out on patrol, I'd usually be on my bike and talking to people while I was riding around and I know Damian likes to try and spend time out on foot as that's when you meet people and that's where you get your info.
"Although geographically the area I cover is quite different, it is a much larger area with fewer people living there, a lot of the problems we face are very similar and it's interesting to gain a perspective which is clearly having a positive impact here in Manchester."
Crime across the Metropolitan division dropped by 17 per cent last year, with anti-social behaviour plunging by 39pc.
Mr O'Reilly, neighbourhood inspector for Gorton and Levenshulme, said: "It's been great chatting to Dave and sharing ideas about policing and sometimes it's good to hear a fresh set of views on the stuff we're doing here.
"From going out to America, I know the way we do things is quite different, but many of the challenges we face are quite similar so and there's always stuff for us to learn from experienced officers like Dave."
http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1469108_award-winning-manchester-bobby-shares-tips-on-inner-city-policing-with-florida-cop
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From ICE
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French officers look to ICE HSI for guidance on gang enforcement
WASHINGTON — Across the United States, gangs threaten public safety in neighborhoods and communities.
"Transnational gangs are a worldwide problem, not confined to any single country," said Mark Selby, unit chief for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations' (HSI) National Gang Unit.
Outside our country's borders, law enforcement agencies like France's Gendarmerie Nationale are facing similar problems. There, gangs typically affiliated with Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, are trafficking narcotics and using violence to resolve issues. These gangs are territorial and strive to control criminal activity in areas where they reside.
After hearing Selby make a presentation at a EUROPOL meeting, Captain Benjamin Suzzoni of the Gendarmerie Nationale had to learn more. Suzzoni convinced his colonel, Francis Hubert, to make the trip across the pond to shadow ICE HSI special agents with the ICE HSI National Gang Unit.
"We wanted to make sure they got the full experience," said Selby.
The ICE HSI team not only shared practices and strategies on how to combat transnational gangs, but they also took the French officers on an evening ride along with local law enforcement officers from the Dallas Police Department's Gang Unit. That evening, Gendarmerie Nationale personnel observed firsthand several ICE HSI strategies used to combat gangs, ranging from field interviews with known gang members to how agents utilize confidential informants. The French officers were particularly impressed with the effectiveness of Operation Community Shield, a national gang enforcement initiative where ICE HSI partners with international, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to combat gangs.
"We rely on all of our law enforcement partners. Without them, we wouldn't be able to successfully conduct the targeted anti-gang enforcement actions or long-term criminal enterprise investigations that we do," said Selby. "In the majority of cases, we know who we're going to arrest before we arrest them. Information sharing and intelligence from the local police departments that work with us allow us to do this."
The representatives from the Gendarmerie Nationale plan to apply similar strategies to their gang enforcement activities upon their return to France. The Gendarmerie Nationale oversees law enforcement responsibilities for nearly 95 percent of France and French territories. Its force consists of more than 100,000 personnel.
Learn more about ICE's efforts to combat transnational gangs.
http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1112/111227washingtondc.htm |
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