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California

Oakland police travel to Chicago for specialized training

by Eric Rasmussen

OAKLAND, Calif. — Oakland Police confirmed several members of the department, along with community members, traveled to Chicago last week to study the way that city trains its officers in community policing.

The training, known as "procedural justice and police legitimacy" is mandatory for all of Chicago's 12,500 police officers and is designed to better prepare police for interacting with the communities they serve.

Despite having 452 homicides last year, Chicago police say overall crime is down 15 percent in 2013, homicides are down 19 percent and shootings have declined by 24 percent.

Oakland Interim Assistant Police Chief Paul Figueroa was among those who traveled to Chicago. Figueroa and a smaller group of others working on Operation Ceasefire also visited Chicago PD two weeks ago. He says the goal is to "train the trainers," so they can share what they learned with the rest of the department.

"Basically, when law enforcement takes an action, the individual wants to know there's fairness involved and they'll have a voice in the process," said Figueroa.

When KTVU asked about the need to travel to Chicago to learn about this kind of training, Figueroa said the department is always looking for "best practices."

"We have that obligation, not only to the profession, but to our community, to reach out and say who's doing some good training throughout the nation," said Figueroa.

The idea has the support of longtime Oakland resident, Charles Perkins.

"We're human beings first and we just need to address that a little more with each other," said Perkins.

Members of the Stockton and Salinas Police Departments also visited Chicago last week.

The contingent from Oakland included the assistant police chief, one sergeant, two lieutenants, one OPD administrator and a former probation officer.

Members of the California Partnership for Safe Communities were also in attendance. They paid for their own trip and covered the cost of some of the five other civilians who attended from other social services and street outreach programs.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/oakland-police-travel-chicago-specialized-training/nbpw4

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Lawyers for accused Boston bomber to challenge prison conditions

by Scott Malone

Attorneys for accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are due in court on Tuesday to argue against the restrictive terms of his confinement, which they say are impeding their ability to mount an effective defense.

The 20-year-old defendant is being kept separate from other prisoners at the facility west of Boston where he is being held awaiting trial and his lawyers have been ordered not to share messages from Tsarnaev with the outside world.

Prison officials and prosecutors argued in court papers that these measures are necessary to protect the safety of both the public and the man accused of the April 15 bombing, which killed three people and injured 264.

Prosecutors contend that Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan, planted two pressure-cooker bombs at the race's finish line, and three days later killed a university police officer in an unsuccessful attempt to steal his gun. That prompted a massive police response, leading to a gunbattle that left Tamerlan dead. Dzhokhar fled and was found hiding in a drydocked boat late on April 19, after a daylong manhunt.

Tsarnaev, an ethic Chechen who had lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, wrote messages on the wall inside the boat including one that, according to court papers, read "Know you are fighting men who look into the barrel of your gun and see heaven, now how can you compete with that."

Prosecutors said they believed Tsarnaev, who is not expected to be present in court on Tuesday, would try to inspire other acts of violence if he was treated more leniently in prison.

"This was a clarion call to radical militants to follow in his wake," they argued in court papers.

The suspect's attorneys, meanwhile, contend that prosecutors mischaracterize the notes, saying that they, "simply state the motive for his actions, a declaration in anticipation of his own death."

The American Civil Liberties Union has criticized the Justice Department over Tsarnaev's treatment in prison, saying his isolation threatens his right to a fair trial. But U.S. District Court Judge George O'Toole Jr. said the ACLU would not be permitted to weigh in at Tuesday's hearing.

"While there may be no positive rule forbidding it, in my judgment a trial court presiding over a criminal prosecution should not receive or consider volunteered submissions by non-parties except as may be specifically authorized...", O'Toole wrote in his ruling.

Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He could face execution if convicted.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/12/us-usa-explosions-boston-idUSBRE9AB0JS20131112

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