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From Google News

California bill would allow children to have more than two parents

A bill under consideration by California lawmakers would allow children to have more than two parents.

The bill, SB 1476, introduced by Sen. Mark Leno (D) from San Francisco, amends California's current two-parent-per-child law to allow for several of them to protect the best interests of the child.

The additional parents would have to meet a court-established definition of a parent, according to Leno.

“The bill brings California into the 21st century, recognizing that there are more than Ozzie and Harriet families today,” Leno told the Sacramento Bee.

The bill is not meant to expand the definition of who can qualify as a parent, but rather to eliminate the limit of two per child, he said.

Leno said inspiration for the bill came from a 2011 state appellate court case in which a young girl had two mothers. When one of the mothers was sent to prison and the other was hospitalized, the girl's biological father wished to care for her.

The court, however, ruled the biological father could not be a legal guardian because of California's current law allowing only two parents per child.

The state took custody of the child.

Leno said the law would have limited application in California and is similar to legislation already present in other states – Delaware, Maine and Pennsylvania – and the District of Columbia.

SB 1476 passed in the Senate in late May and is scheduled to be considered by the Assembly Appropriations Committee on July 9.

Groups in opposition to the legislation, such as the Association of Certified Family Law Specialists, claim the bill would create confusion in the minds of children.

For example, ACFLS President Diane Wasznicky said it would create an exception to California's formula for child support payments.

Benjamin Lopez, a legislative analyst for the Traditional Values Coalition, also blasted Leno's bill as a new attempt to “revamp, redefine and muddy the waters” of family structure in the drive to legalize gay marriage, he told the Sacramento Bee.

Under the proposal, families with three or more parents would share custody, financial responsibility and visitation for the child, based on a judge's determination of each parent's wealth and the time spent with the child.

The legislation does not place any limit on the number of recognized parents a child could have, although, Leno called the possibility of a child having five or six parents “laughable.”

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/03/12543099-california-bill-would-allow-children-to-have-more-than-two-parents?lite

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Deleware

Cops on city streets seen as solution

by Andrew Staub

WILMINGTON — The scene played out simply enough – two community policing officers left their patrol car at Haynes Park and pedaled away on their bicycles for a two-wheel tour of the neighborhood.

But the small decision made a difference, Kathleen Patterson said Monday night. The mere presence of the police vehicle, she said, led to a slowdown in drug activity at the park on the outskirts of the Ninth Ward neighborhood.

That type of community policing, Patterson said, can help the city deal with a rash of violence that claimed the lives of four people in five days last month.

“What we found is that when we engage our community police officers, we get problems solved,” Patterson said.

The president of the Ninth Ward Civic Association joined 13 others who spoke during Monday night's Public Safety Committee meeting at the Redding City/County Building. Councilwoman Loretta Walsh, committee chairwoman, organized the discussion in the hopes July could bring some ideas to address the violence that plagued June.

Walsh equated the meeting to a “listening tour” that would help her prepare a report for Mayor James M. Baker's administration and the police department. Much of what the committee heard involved a request for more police walking the streets and getting to know Wilmington neighborhoods.

“Seeing police officers at times when there aren't crimes is a good thing,” said Frank Mieczkowski, president of the Bayard Square Neighborhood Association.

Gerry Fulcher, a former detective in New York City, extolled a community policing effort that occurred in an Albany, N.Y., neighborhood in the 1970s and 1980s. There, police dressed in plain clothes helped residents with simple chores and kept sports equipment on hand so they could play pickup games with children, he said.

Policing, Fulcher said, should be “90 percent service and 10 percent enforcement.”

“The trouble is many police officers think that should be reversed,” he said.

Police Chief Michael Szczerba sat among the crowd of about 80 people who came for the discussion. The city already practices community policing, he said, calling the request for more a “compliment.”

The city is implementing some “new initiatives” to deal with crime issues, said John Rago, Baker's deputy chief of staff.

He would not elaborate on his comments, but said they did not involve the city's highly publicized “Safe Communities” policing strategy that targets the most violent offenders.

“We're not going to release the details to the bad guys,” Rago said, shrugging his shoulders when asked if the public would ever know specifics about the initiatives.

Walsh has heard only “bits and pieces” about a new endeavor, she said, including that it involved the Governor's Office, the Attorney General's Office and social service agencies.

The state, county and city have been looking for more ways to work together to address crime, said Brian Selander, spokesman for Gov. Jack Markell.

“Those conversations are continuing, but there's nothing to the point of being announced,” Selander said.

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120703/NEWS02/307030041/Cops-city-streets-seen-solution?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7C%7Cp

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Illinois

Park Ridge police officer forms ties with hospital, community

By JENNIFER JOHNSON

Park Ridge Police Officer Matt McGannon was once a skeptic of the concept of community policing.

“If you had asked me 10, 15 years ago what I thought about community policing, I would have said, ‘It won't work,'” McGannon, a 21-year veteran said.

But today, having been an active part of the philosophy instituted by Park Ridge Police Frank Kaminski three years ago, McGannon's attitude has shifted.

“It does work in building confidence with the community, building that support,” he said. “It works in the short-term and it works in the long-term.”

The primary component of community policing is building partnerships with those whom the Police Department serves. This has involved sending officers out into neighborhoods to form relationships with residents, businesses and visitors.

With the creation of a new beat-leader program, McGannon has been appointed the leader of the city's northernmost police beat. In this position he serves as a primary contact for citizens and employees of businesses who have issues or concerns about matters that may not be of criminal in nature, such as a neighbor dispute or an unkempt property. The position is one of problem-solving, McGannon said.

A large part of McGannon's job involves working with Advocate Lutheran General Hospital which he jokingly calls his “second home” since he spends so much time there. He checks in with hospital security every day to find out what issues, if any, have cropped up overnight. Threats and physical battery against employees by patients and co-workers, suspicious individuals, thefts and traffic issues are some of the problems McGannon works to address there.

But community policing goes beyond discussing just police-related matters. Often McGannon will find himself talking about family, sports or current events with a business owner, all in an attempt to cement relationships.

“It's a very classic case of the 1960s police officer walking his beat,” he said.

McGannon also works to resolve quality-of-life issues and nuisance problems, like neglected properties, though he says these are not prevalent within the police beat.

Maintaining a physical presence in a neighborhood can also help calm citizens' fears, he said, and it can lessen criminal activity. Police officers from Park Ridge and the Cook County Sheriff's Office in recent years have made themselves noticeable around Maine East High School before and after school in an effort to discourage gang recruitment and harassment in the unincorporated Maine Township area. Though he gives credit to the Cook County Sheriff's Police, McGannon believes these efforts have paid off.

“I can say with all confidence that it's really decreased dramatically,” he said. “We haven't had any gang problems at Dempster and Dee Road this year.”

McGannon also coordinates the Park Ridge Police Department's Senior Breakfast which meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Park Ridge Senior Center, 100 S. Western Ave. The program, another element of community policing, shares crime prevention information with area seniors.

Community policing is difficult work, McGannon acknowledges, as it can often involve trying to solve problems that may not have easy solutions.

Still, McGannon says he is enjoying his job and is a believer in the positive outcomes of community policing.

“The philosophy is good,” he said. “Chief Kaminski has us on a right path.”

http://parkridge.suntimes.com/news/13424909-418/park-ridge-police-officer-forms-ties-with-hospital-community.html