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Chicago, Illinois

Community policing to get boost, Mayor Emanuel vows

by FRANK MAIN and FRAN SPIELMAN

Mayor Rahm Emanuel pledged Wednesday to breathe new life into the city's stagnant community-policing program, drawing approval from aldermen.

Emanuel said 50 community-policing employees will be moved from police headquarters to districts where they will join about 70 other employees in the program.

Their performance will come under the scrutiny of the department's CompStat evaluation system, just like that of other officers, the mayor said during a Sun-Times Editorial Board meeting after delivering his budget address.

The Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy was a key part of the department's crime-fighting efforts under former police Supt. Terry Hillard in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but the program faltered in recent years.

“I was very disappointed in the last year of Mayor Daley's term when they eliminated community-policing positions in the police districts,” said Ald. Joe Moore (49th).

Moore said he was happy to learn district commanders will fashion their own community-policing initiatives.

In his budget address, Emanuel painted an upbeat picture of the police department's efforts to combat murder and other crime — countering a national perception that killings are out of control here.

The mayor also touted the expected hiring of almost 460 new police officers this year and another 500 next year.

But union officials and aldermen said the new police hires may not even keep pace with retirements. Through Aug. 15, 420 officers had already retired, according to the Fraternal Order of Police.

FOP President Michael Shields says the city needs to hire a minimum of 1,400 new officers. But police Supt. Garry McCarthy is satisfied with maintaining the budgeted strength of 12,500 cops, a mayoral spokeswoman said.

In his address, Emanuel said he will make permanent a summer overtime initiative that put more cops on the street.

Chicago gained national attention early this year when the number of killings topped last year's by more than 60 percent.

The mayor noted that some neighborhoods experienced an increase in gang violence over the first three months of 2012 that “I, as a mayor, will never accept.” Since then, though, the murder rate has flattened out. The year's homicide increase through the end of September was about 28 percent.

Emanuel pointed out that the Englewood and Harrison police districts, which have received an infusion of beat cops and other resources, have seen major decreases in murders this year, by 42 percent and 20 percent respectively.

But he acknowledged that other parts of the city have seen their homicide rates soar because of gang conflicts. Police leadership changes and an expansion of the department's gang-fighting strategy have started to reduce killings in some of those police districts, the mayor said.

Emanuel emphasized that crime is down in every other major category besides murder, resulting in a 9 percent overall decrease in crime across the city this year.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/15673803-418/facing-higher-murder-rate-emanuel-emphasizes-bright-spots.html

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Washington

McGinn Issues Executive Order Creating Community Police Commission, Launches Search to Fill It

by Matt Driscoll

The creation of a "Community Police Commission" was one of the mandated remedies for shaping up Seattle's maligned police force offered up under the city's agreement with the Department of Justice. And this morning Mayor Mike McGinn announced that, with input from the City Council, he's issued an executive order to officially launch just such a commission.

Now comes the task of filling this Community Police Commission with actual warm bodies.

Saying the Commission's role "is to support the development of reforms, the establishment of police priorities, and mechanisms to promote community confidence in the Seattle Police Department," in a written statement distributed to the media, this morning McGinn put a call out for applications. According to the Mayor's office, once it's filled out the commission "will include members from each precinct of the City, police officer unions, faith communities, minority, ethnic, and other community organizations, and student or youth organizations."

Applications to get in on the Community Police Commission action can be found online; the deadline to apply is Nov. 1.

Also found online is a list of criteria the commission as a whole should meet:

• Demonstrated experience working effectively with diverse populations; • Demonstrated ability to develop consensus and create positive change in organizations; • Demonstrated knowledge of policing policies and procedures, including those related to searches and seizures, collection and release of information, use of force, and professional accountability; • Experience in dealing with different aspects of the criminal justice system, whether from a policing, criminal prosecution or defense, victim, or defendant perspective; • Demonstrated experience in creating and the ability to articulate firm ideas for creating a culture of policing that is community-based, effective, and constitutional; • An understanding of local government and how City departments function in relation to one another; • An understanding of how labor negotiations work, from a legal, management or employees perspective; • Ability to articulate the vision and role of the Commission and describe how its work might positively impact all of Seattle's residents; • Knowledge of, or experience with, the principles of the Race and Social Justice Initiative and other principles of race and social justice work; • Experience in addressing mental health issues; • Knowledge of public health and harm reduction models; • Experience with program evaluation and outcomes measurement; • Demonstrated community leadership; • The ability to exercise independent judgment in matters before the Commission.

McGinn's office says he'll submit nominees for the commission to the City Council no later than 90 days from the issuance of his Executive Order.

"The Community Police Commission is an important part of building a strong partnership between the people of Seattle and our officers," said McGinn in the prepared written statement. "I encourage anyone interested in that work to apply to serve on this Commission."

"The Community Police Commission is intended to create an empowered commission that community members have long wanted," offered Councilmember Bruce Harrell in the same prepared written statement. "The Public Safety Committee worked directly with community members to write an ordinance, which will be introduced this week that demonstrates the City's commitment to providing effective and constitutional policing for all of Seattle's residents."

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2012/10/mcginn_issues_executive_order_creating_community_police_commission_seattle.php

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SCAMMING 101 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Excerpts of instruction letter from a distressed homeowner fraud perpetrator to a new employee: “Never use your real last name.” “Make an effort to not meet with customers. I built a huge business without ever meeting a single customer because I explained everything over the phone and e-mailed or faxed everything.” “Pay cash for everything or purchase [prepaid] gift cards.” “Purchase a prepaid phone and then go online and create an account with an alias name and address.” “Purchase an inexpensive laptop and set up a fictitious e-mail account.” “Purchase software that hides your IP address.” “Do not use your home Internet. I heard that [company name] is offering wireless cards for laptops and you don't need your real name or address to get it. You can also find out who has free Wi-Fi in your area.” “The bottom line is that I want you to become invisible…Be available but invisible…I don't want your customers hunting you down in case we can't stop their sales.”

From the FBI Distressed Homeowner Initiative - Don't Let Mortgage Fraud Happen to You 10/09/12 Talk about going from bad to worse—more than 4,000 financially strapped homeowners recently lost at least $7 million to a California business that allegedly operated a loan modification scam. Last month, 11 representatives of that company were federally indicted, but by that time, many of the victims had already lost their homes. Today, to help protect distressed homeowners around the country from a rising tide of fraud schemes—and to raise awareness about them—the FBI joined the Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in announcing the results of the Distressed Homeowner Initiative. This initiative was launched by the Bureau—co-chair of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force's Mortgage Fraud Working Group—in October 2011. This initiative combines the resources of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and the efforts of regulatory agencies to target perpetrators both criminally and civilly. Over 200 companies have been shut down, and criminal charges were filed against 530 defendants. These cases involved losses of more than $1 billion from more than 73,000 victims across the country. Said Associate Deputy Director Kevin Perkins, “In contrast with previous initiatives, where the fraud victims primarily were lenders, the focus here is on individual homeowners, many times at their most vulnerable point.” Based on intelligence from multiple sources, schemes targeting distressed homeowners have emerged throughout the country, and while the majority of FBI mortgage fraud cases involve loan origination fraud, we've had a 300 percent increase over the past three years in cases involving distressed homeowner fraud. And with current mortgage data showing that 22.3 percent of residential properties with mortgages are “underwater” -- when borrowers owe more than their homes are worth -- we believe that fraudsters will certainly continue to target distressed homeowners. We've also noticed a disturbing trend among these cases—an increasing number of lawyers playing primary or secondary roles in the fraud. In 2010, the FTC issued a rule that prohibited companies that offer loan modification or other types of mortgage assistance services from asking for fees in advance (some states have similar regulations), but with an exemption in some instances for lawyers performing legal work. Criminals targeting distressed homeowners try to circumvent the rules by using attorneys—which by itself adds an air of legitimacy to their fraudulent schemes—and calling their upfront fees “legal retainers.” The FBI's Financial Intelligence Center played a critical role at the outset of the initiative by reviewing and analyzing thousands of consumer complaints referred to us by our partners at the FTC, which helped identify where high-priority offenders were operating and allowed us to strategically deploy our investigative resources. The analysis of information from our partner agencies and from our own investigations will continue to be a vital part of our efforts to protect homeowners. The FBI also remains committed to targeting the most egregious criminal offenders with sophisticated investigative techniques—like undercover operations and court-authorized electronic surveillance—and through joint efforts with our law enforcement and regulatory partners.

If you have been victimized by those who claimed they could get you some kind of mortgage relief but didn't, please submit a tip to us online or contact your local FBI office.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/october/dont-let-mortgage-fraud-happen-to-you/dont-let-mortgage-fraud-happen-to-you