| NEWS of the Day - February 14, 2012 |
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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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Seditious revolutionaries or all talk? Michigan jury will decide
A Detroit jury will decide whether seven members of a Midwest militia known as Hutaree are Christian revolutionary bomb-throwers who broke the law -- or swaggering survivalists suffering from too much bluster and bravado.
Jury selection in the federal trial is expected to be completed Monday, with opening statements scheduled to begin soon after. The seven defendants are accused of conspiring to use force to oppose the authority of the U.S. government. According to the indictment, the defendants, acting as the Hutaree militia in Lenawee County, Mich., viewed all law enforcement as their enemy, and were preparing to engage them in armed conflict.
Nine people were charged in the case. In a deal with prosecutors, one defendant, Joshua Clough, pleaded guilty to illegal use of a firearm and could be called to testify agains the others, according to the Associated Press. Another defendant, Jacob Ward, will have a separate trial.
The group is accused of planning to kill an unidentified member of local law enforcement then attack with improvised explosive devices the other officers who would gather for the funeral. If convicted, the defendants will face a maximum of life in prison on the charge of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. Conviction of seditious conspiracy carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The trial throws a spotlight on militias, which include a wide range of organizations -- from survivalist training groups to armed hate groups. The trial also raises questions about the line between talking and action. The former is constitutionally protected; the latter can be a crime.
In its defense, Hutaree members maintain that they were just exercising rights granted by the U.S. Constitution -- and that they were just fun-lovers.
“I'm going to fight it tooth and nail,” Tina Mae Stone, one of the defendants told the Associated Press last week during a break in jury selection. “It was just a bunch of good ol' boys out to have fun. We did survival stuff. I did it mostly to spend time with my husband.
“People tell me, 'Good luck.' I don't need luck. I've got God on my side,” she said.
In a court filing, attorneys Todd Shanker and Richard Helfrick said the militia prepared for survival in case of domestic chaos or an attack on the United States.
“Regardless of the charges in the indictment, there is no dispute that the aims of the Hutaree militia included the free exercise of their 1st and 2nd Amendment rights, including freedom of speech, association, assembly and the right to bear arms,” said the lawyers, who represent defendant David Stone Jr.
The government sees the group in a different light.
It was an “insidious plan by anti-government extremists to murder a law enforcement officer in order to lure police from across the nation to the funeral where they would be attacked with explosive devices. Thankfully, this alleged plot has been thwarted and a severe blow has been dealt to an dangerous organization that today stands accused of conspiring to levy war against the United States,” Atty. Gen. Eric Holder said two years ago when the Hutaree members were arrested.
During questioning last week, most of the potential jurors said they knew little of militias, though one woman said she associated the fringe movement with Timothy McVeigh, who exploded a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. The attack killed 168 people and wounded more than 800.
McVeigh was convicted of 11 federal charges. He was executed in 2001.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/
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From Google News
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‘Underwear bomber' case heralds US terror shake-up
02/14/2012
The sentencing this week of a Nigerian man dubbed the underwear bomber after he tried to blow up a transatlantic airliner could mark the end of international terror prosecutions in US civilian courts.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab pleaded guilty in October to eight terrorism charges in the botched Al-Qaeda Christmas Day 2009 plot and faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison on Thursday.
But the next big terror case in the United States will likely be handled by a military tribunal due to a new law that will require those who plot or carry out attacks on American soil to be held in military custody.
Civilian law enforcement had previously been charged with handling terror suspects arrested on US soil.
President Barack Obama signed the bill reluctantly on December 31 to ensure the funding of US military operations abroad.
The bill's provisions, however, were modified with the effect that civil law enforcement can take the reins of a terror case if a waiver is obtained.
“This waiver requirement politicizes domestic terrorism investigations and could backfire,” said Dixon Osburn, director of law and security at Human Rights First.
The bill also allows for the indefinite detention of terror suspects without trial — including US citizens — but critics believe it could jeopardize investigations by sidelining federal and local law enforcement and making it difficult to transfer suspects out of military detention.
Civilian law enforcement has proven itself far more successful than the military at prosecuting terrorism cases despite a decade-long debate over the treatment of such suspects, Osburn said.
The case of Abdulmutallab, who concealed explosives in his underwear which did not properly detonate, may be among the most high-profile, but it is not the only example of a successful terror prosecution in a civilian court.
“It's one case out of more than 400 since (the terrorist attacks of) 9/11 where our federal courts have effectively brought individuals to justice following our rules,” Osburn told AFP.
“That's in sharp contrast to military tribunals where only six people have been convicted and there's 171 men in Guantanamo still waiting for a court date.”
The head of the FBI's Detroit field office said the Abdulmutallab case showed civilian law enforcement is the best way to handle domestic terrorism.
Speaking to reporters after the guilty plea, Andrew Arena noted there were no military officials among the hundreds of agents and officers who rushed to the airport after Abdulmutallab's explosives failed to detonate aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam as it made its descent into Detroit.
“We did get actionable intelligence that day and in the days after that,” Arena said, noting that this information was obtained without resorting to any controversial ‘enhanced' interrogation tactics.
Abdulmutallab's high profile trial ended after his surprise guilty plea on the second day of his trial.
Attorney General Eric Holder hailed the guilty plea for removing “any doubt that our courts are one of the most effective tools we have to fight terrorism and keep the American people safe.”
Yet it had no impact on Republican lawmakers who insisted that the military is best suited to fighting the war on terror both at home and abroad.
The shift to military prosecution could also restrict the amount of information available to the public, said Karen Greenberg, director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School.
“The incredibly important thing is for the American people to understand who wanted to harm them, why they wanted to hurt them and for the American narrative to come out as well,” she told AFP.
Abdulmutallab's guilty plea will not prevent prosecutors — or the 289 people he aimed to kill aboard that flight — weighing in on Thursday.
Several victims are expected to testify at the sentencing hearing, where prosecutors will also make their case for the judge to impose the maximum sentence on each count.
http://outcomemag.com/news/2012/02/14/underwear-bomber-case-heralds-us-terror-shake-up/
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Florida
Madeira Beach Reinstating Community Police
Resident's complaints about the rising crime rate has brought community policing back to Madeira Beach.
by Leigh Armstrong
Madeira Beach will again have a police officer who will deal with Madeira Beach, and only Madeira Beach.
On February 8, the Madeira Beach City Commission voted unanimously to reinstate a community police officer, according to Tampabay.com.
On February 27, Pinellas County Sheriff's Deputy Shawn Heffner will take up the title of Madeira Beach Community Policing Officer.
Heffner won't be out responding to every call in Madeira Beach. Instead, he'll be focusing on issues that are given to him from the city manager or other deputies working in Madeira Beach.
Madeira Beach had police station until 1995. Since then, they've contracted the work out to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and kept a community officer until 2008.
Recently, residents in Madeira Beach have made complaints about drug deals happening in the neighborhoods.
The current community police program is scheduled to last through the budget year, after which it will be evaluated to see if community policing could help with lower crime rates.
http://pinellasbeaches.patch.com/articles/madeira-beach-reinstating-community-police
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California
Community Policing Coming to BART
Officers will be more visible on trains, at stations and in parking lots
by Zusha Elinson
Under scrutiny for three fatal officer-involved shootings in four years, the BART Police Department will take a more community-oriented approach to patrolling the transit system, The Bay Citizen has learned.
BART police will be assigned to cover smaller portions of the system, so that they can get to know the local people and problems, said Tom Radulovich, vice president of BART's board of directors. Officers will also be much more visible on trains, at stations and in parking lots, Radulovich said.
“It's a well-established way for police to get more intimate knowledge of the communities they serve,” he said.
The BART Police Department will announce details of its plans at a news conference Tuesday afternoon. Era Jenkins, a department spokeswoman, declined to comment on Monday.
The change in the department's approach to policing comes more than three years after BART Officer Johannes Mehserle shot and killed an unarmed man, Oscar Grant, on the Fruitvale station platform. After that shooting, the department agreed to 127 policy changes recommended by an independent auditor, including more community policing.
Only a fraction of those changes had been implemented last July, when another BART police officer, James Crowell, shot and killed Charles Hill, a drunk, knife-wielding transient.
BART police critics have argued that the shooting could have been prevented if officers had been more familiar with people like Hill, who homeless advocates say frequented the Civic Center area.
A BART lawyer said that Crowell acted in self-defense, because Hill was attempting to throw a knife at him. But in a lawsuit filed against the transit agency, Hill's family claimed Hill was not a threat and that he was standing 15 to 20 feet from Crowell when he was shot.
Asked whether the new policing plan could have prevented Hill's death, Radulovich said, “Possibly, but one never knows what you can do in any of these instances.”
“Presumably, officers who know people who hang out in the Civic Center Plaza would know a lot of these street folks because they're around a lot,” he said.
The BART police force is composed of 206 officers who patrol the 104-mile-long system, including the stations and trains that accommodate 350,000 commuters each day.
http://www.baycitizen.org/policing/story/bart-police-community-policing/
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New Jersey
Crime Has Boroughs Talking Community Policing
As area residents weigh the benefits of neighborhood watch programs, Collingswood joins a growing number of New Jersey towns in hiring Special Officers that put more lower-cost boots on the streets.
by Matt Skoufalos Since the end of 2011, Collingswood has stared down a number of significant crimes, including violence at the Heights of Collingswood apartments, a prostitution bust and a daytime shooting.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Haddonfield, burglaries have spiked 250 percent, including more than three-dozen reports of copper downspout thefts.
Rumblings in both communities reflect unease with the scope of these incidents, with a handful of residents inquiring about the viability of alternative policing measures.
At the Feb. 6 meeting of the Collingswood borough commissioners, Washington Avenue resident Earl Burak asked Mayor James Maley whether the borough should consider re-deputizing the citizen-led town watch the community had established in the 1970s.
“Considering the problems we're having now with the break-ins and robberies and seniors getting beat up and cars being stolen, is there a possibility that the police force would need to get together and institute a town watch?” Burak asked. “It was good back in the 1970s.”
Maley responded that although he appreciated Burak's enthusiasm, “most cops will tell you they're not big fans of a town watch.”
Maley said that what residents ought to take away from the incidents Burak mentioned is their relatively prompt resolution at the hands of law enforcement professionals.
“Very shortly after we had these things, we caught the guys pretty quickly,” Maley said. “Even the vandalism we've had, we've generally been able to catch the guys.”
Rather than a militant citizenry, Maley said that what the town needs is people who are unafraid to call 911 at the first sign of trouble.
“If you see something that doesn't look right, call the police,” Maley said. “Everybody needs to be a part of that.”
A creative approach
Bill Tourtellotte, 49, president of the Haddonfield Civic Association, said the town needs “fresh ideas [and] public involvement” to halt the thefts of copper downspouts.
Tourtellotte, who says his parents were part of the Haddonfield Town Watch in the late 1960s and early 1970s, advocated “a creative approach” to crime-busting.
“We need to figure out a way to catch these guys other than patrolling or someone calling to say a gutter is missing,” he said. “Maybe the neighborhood watch should come back.”
Haddonfield Police Chief John Banning said a neighborhood watch could supplement law enforcement with additional eyes and ears. In the age of the mobile phone, he said, everyone is a potential look-out.
“I think a neighborhood watch would be great,” Banning said. “The more eyes we have the better. The good thing now is just about everyone has cell phones. We used to need radios for neighborhood watches.”
But Collingswood Police Lt. Glenn A. Prince cautions that the enthusiasm associated with community policing can be mislaid in moments of excitement. The average citizen does not have the right to lay hands on anyone, he says, wary of the potential for acts of vigilantism. It is far better, he says, to call the professionals responsible for keeping the community safe.
“If you see something, our response times are second to none,” said Prince. “We are dedicated and committed to the community that we serve. Every call gets a response.”
Prince also pointed out that the majority of police officers employed by the borough of Collingswood either live in town or close by. Every Collingswood officer is assigned his or her own portable radio that they have even when off-duty.
“You have to remember that most of our police officers live here,” Prince said. “When I'm off duty, I'm still here. I patronize the local bank, the WaWa, the dry cleaner. It's not uncommon on a police officer's day off to see 40 people that you know.”
A way to help reduce costs
Collingswood saw the future of a likelier solution at that same commissioners meeting, when Maley and Collingswood police Chief Richard Sarlo swore into service Special Officer Class II Samuel Rocco. Rocco is the only Class II Special Officer in the Collingswood department.
A special officer “is trained in motor vehicle laws, first aid, criminal law, use of force and other basic areas,” according to NJlawman.com . Such officers are typically assigned to traffic enforcement, and are only permitted to carry firearms once they reach the Class II designation.
“The Special Officer Class II has full police powers but only while on duty,” the website says.
The savings of employing a special officer is significant; typically they serve at an hourly rate about $50 less than that of a full-time police officer, and are limited to part-time hours. Each municipality is allowed to designate one special officer to whom those hourly limitations do not apply when assigned to protect a public entity, such as a park or housing authority building.
Historically, Collingswood has hired its full-time officers from the pool of candidates that come from the special officer program, Prince said.
The designation was traditionally popular in beach communities that require seasonal policing, but the practice of hiring special officers is increasing in popularity statewide.
Maley described Rocco's hiring as “a way to help reduce our costs while still trying to increase some of the policing and enforcement” in Collingswood, and Commissioner Michael Hall called it “another way to get people on the street.”
http://collingswood.patch.com/articles/crime-has-boroughs-talking-community-policing
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From the FBI
Recognizing an Online Dating
Scam Artist
Your online “date” may only be interested in your money if he or she:
- Presses you to leave the dating website you met through and to communicate using personal e-mail or instant messaging;
- Professes instant feelings of love;
- Sends you a photograph of himself or herself that looks like something from a glamour magazine;
- Claims to be from the U.S. and is traveling or working overseas;
- Makes plans to visit you but is then unable to do so because of a tragic event; or
- Asks for money for a variety of reasons (travel, medical emergencies, hotel bills, hospitals bills for child or other relative, visas or other official documents, losses from a financial setback or crime victimization).
One way to steer clear of these criminals all together is to stick to online dating websites with nationally known reputations |
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Looking for Love?
Beware of Online Dating Scams
02/14/12
Millions of Americans visit online dating websites every year, hoping to find a companion or even a soul mate.
But today, on Valentine's Day, we want to warn you that criminals use these sites, too, looking to turn the lonely and vulnerable into fast money through a variety of scams.
These criminals—who also troll social media sites and chat rooms in search of romantic victims—usually claim to be Americans traveling or working abroad. In reality, they often live overseas. Their most common targets are women over 40 who are divorced, widowed, and/or disabled, but every age group and demographic is at risk.
Here's how the scam usually works. You're contacted online by someone who appears interested in you. He or she may have a profile you can read or a picture that is e-mailed to you. For weeks, even months, you may chat back and forth with one another, forming a connection. You may even be sent flowers or other gifts. But ultimately, it's going to happen—your new-found “friend” is going to ask you for money.
The reasons vary. This friend may ask to meet in person, but then say something has come up that makes it hard to travel—the ticket or travel documents are too expensive, a sick relative has medical bills that need to be paid, or a business deal has yet to come through to provide the necessary cash.
So you send money…but rest assured the requests won't stop there. There will be more hardships that only you can help alleviate with your financial gifts. He may also send you checks to cash since he's out of the country and can't cash them himself, or he may ask you to forward him a package.
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So what really happened? You were targeted by criminals, probably based on personal information you uploaded on dating or social media sites. The pictures you were sent were most likely phony, lifted from other websites. The profiles were fake as well, carefully crafted to match your interests.
In addition to losing your money to someone who had no intention of ever visiting you, you may also have unknowingly taken part in a money laundering scheme by cashing phony checks and sending the money overseas and by shipping stolen merchandise (the forwarded package).
While the FBI and other federal partners work some of these cases—in particular those with a large number of victims or large dollar losses and/or those involving organized criminal groups—many are investigated by local and state authorities.
We strongly recommend, however, that if you think you've been victimized by a dating scam or any other online scam, file a complaint with our Internet Crime Complaint Center. Before forwarding the complaints to the appropriate agencies, IC3 collates and analyzes the data—looking for common threads that could link complaints together and help identify the culprits. Which helps keep everyone safer on the Internet.
For specific tips on how to keep from being lured into an online dating scam, see the sidebar above. Awareness is the best tool for preventing crime…and in this case, even from preventing a broken heart.
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/february/dating-scams_021412/dating-scams_021412 |
