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January, 2014 - Week 5

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Ohio

Policing class in Lakeside Park - Crestview Hills

by Chris Mayhew

The Lakeside Park – Crestview Hills Police Department has scheduled a five-week citizens' police academy for March.

The academy will meet each Monday from 6:30-9 p.m. starting with March 3 and ending with March 31.

Residents of the cities are eligible to apply and must be at least 18-years-old. The academy will cover topics including: patrol operations, an introduction to policing, legal procedure, investigations, crime scene processing, DUI and drugs, special operations, firearms and community policing.

The free class is limited to the first 20 students.

For information call the department at 859-331-5368 or visit www.lpchpd.com.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20140131/NEWS0103/301310125/Policing-class-Lakeside-Park-Crestview-Hills?nclick_check=1

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Louisianna

Plaquemines sheriff credits neighborhood patrols in 14 percent parish crime drop

by Benjamin Alexander-Bloch

Plaquemines Parish Sheriff Lonnie Greco on Friday in part attributed the parish's overall 14 percent crime drop in 2013 to more highly visible neighborhood patrols. And, in terms of a slight increase in reported thefts, Greco pointed "to the ongoing construction projects throughout the parish."

Two criminal categories saw increases in 2013: homicides -- going from one in 2012 to two reported homicides in 2013 -- and then thefts, which saw a four percent uptick, rising from 316 to 328 reported thefts from 2012 to 2013, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Reports discussed on Friday by the sheriff.

Arrests have been made in all the reported homicide cases.

For 2013, violent crime, which includes homicide, rape, robbery and assault, decreased by 23 percent. Total property crime -- burglary, theft and auto theft -- dropped by 8 percent, according to the FBI statistics.

In terms of the first homicide of 2013, which occurred on Jan. 8, 2013, John Edward Rivers, Sr., 54, of Gretna, was convicted on Jan. 16, 2014, of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing his girlfriend, Wendy Osborn Lukes, 44, also of Gretna, after an altercation in a car in Belle Chasse about one year ago. Rivers is scheduled to be sentenced to life in prison on Feb. 5.

Plaquemines 2013 and 2012 crime statistics

The second homicide occurred during a hog hunting trip on Dec. 19, 2013. While the Sheriff's Office determined that the shooting was an accident, Wyatt Evans was booked with negligent homicide because he was under the influence of marijuana and had not properly verified his intended targets before shooting, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Evans, 18, of Port Sulphur, allegedly fatally shot his next-door neighbor Galen Scott, 18, of Port Sulphur, after he allegedly mistook Scott and another friend, Cody Jones, 17, of Buras, for hogs after the three teenagers had smoked marijuana earlier that evening before going hunting. Evans also was booked with negligent injuring for allegedly shooting Jones, 17, in his legs. Jones underwent surgery and is expected to make a full recovery, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Evans' case is scheduled to be presented to a Plaquemines grand jury on Feb. 19.

"I want to reassure the citizens of Plaquemines Parish that, although in 2013 there was an increase in homicides to two, we are a safe community and there should be no alarm," Greco said. "Given the circumstances of both homicides, no intervention from the Sheriff's Office would have prevented them."

The only reported Plaquemines homicide case in 2012 was the killing of James Durwood Jones, 72, of Jesuit Bend.

Carl Lance Wise, 56, of Scottsdale, Ariz., was suspected of Jones' killing. But Wise was shot and killed by Biloxi, Miss. police during an armed robbery before he could be brought in for that murder, according to local authorities.

DNA testing of a pair of bloody jeans found in the Wise's vehicle, along with other evidence, confirmed that Wise was the person who had killed Jones, according to previous statements by Plaquemines District Attorney Charles Ballay and the Sheriff's Office.

"As for the slight increase in reported thefts, we can attribute, in part, to the ongoing construction projects throughout the parish," the sheriff continued. "We would like to remind our citizens to never leave your property unattended and when possible lock up belongings.

"The best way to prevent theft is to not become complacent."

In terms of the overall decease in crime, Greco attributed it to the higher visibility of patrols in neighborhoods.

"When elected as Sheriff, I pledged to the citizens of Plaquemines Parish to increase our presence in our communities to deter crime," he said. "These statistics prove that our community policing efforts are making a difference.

"Going forward, we will proactively patrol to protect our neighborhoods in hopes to continue removing the criminal element."

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2014/01/plaquemines_sheriff_discusses.html

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Michigan

Sheriff's Office, residents restore peace where an open drug market thrived

by Tom Perkins

For 72 years, Sonny House has resided on Forest Avenue near Harris Road in Ypsilanti Township, where he says he and many of his neighbors have spent decades for the peace and quiet.

But in recent years, the peaceful Forest Avenue corridor changed. House began to notice narcotics baggies and discovered hypodermic needles on the ground during walks around the neighborhood. Suspicious-looking people loitered in cars or on bikes in the nearby apartment complexes dealt drugs out in the open.

Multiple police chases ended in a series of five apartment complexes in the area, prostitutes began to ply their trade there and the number of ambulance responses to drug overdoses in the area exceeded normal numbers.

Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office deputies discovered the area was a hotbed for open and closed market drug dealing, several “major league” heroin and cocaine dealers were identified and weapons activity spiked.

It seemed like a classic “neighborhood in decline” scenario, House said, and while some longtime residents moved, those still living there remained determined to restore the corridor.

Through an operation that started early in 2013 that ran full force through the summer and into October, the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office and property owners say they have accomplished their goal, and they attribute a partnership formed between police and residents to the success.

“We nipped it in the bud because people were aware of it and we didn't want it to get out of control,” House said.

Police officials and residents say that partnership is especially significant because the lack of trust between residents and sheriff's department prior to 2013 was among the root causes of the issues that allowed the drug market to flourish. Instead of calling police, residents at five apartment complexes that were the focal point of activity quietly worried among one another.

In all of 2012, the sheriff's department received 110 calls for service in the vicinity but received more than that during the six months of the full operation in 2013.

Suddenly, the police presence was felt, House said.

“There have been on bicycle and horse patrols; it's just a good thing. People are very, very cautious now. We check cars and get license numbers, take a snap shot if it's possible and let (deputies) know who is doing what,” he said.

Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office Cpl. Thomas Mercure and Deputy Jeffery Gontarski headed up the operation with the Community Action Team and other deputy support.

They explained the situation called for a “total policing” approach.

When it comes to such community operations, there is no silver bullet, Mercure explained. Most of the tactics employed – like asking residents to trim their hedges so they can see what's happening outside their apartment or turning on porch lights - isn't the stuff out of the best television police dramas, but they lead to information, arrests and deter crime.

And at the base is engaging the residents and community.

“We're all in it together. The sheriff's department is there to work for the community and we like to be a part of the solution,” Mercure said. "It's important having all the stakeholders – residents, property owners, surrounding neighbors - all coming together to solve the problem as a group.

“Without that, it makes everything more difficult ten fold.”

The layout and geography of the corridor and complexes, particularly one on Rosewood Street, presented challenges. The complex has one long drive with three courts on the west side that help conceal drug dealers from patrols or neighbors.

Heavy foot traffic flowed in from surrounding complexes and bus stops, and an alley that cut through to a Holmes Road apartment complex and served as an escape route made monitoring drug deals more difficult.

Deputies suggested the property's owner, Doug Paschall, close off the alleyway, which he did with a large dumpster. That left one entrance and exit, making it much easier for police to survey.

Property owners were asked to trim their hedges so they can see out their windows and report suspicious activity. Paschall was asked to install security cameras and assign parking spots so unknown vehicles could be towed, though he declined to do follow through on either.

To address foot traffic, Paschall and a neighboring church with private property that served as a cut-though from other complexes gave the department power of attorney so they could detain and ticket people for trespassing.

Mercure called it "crime prevention through environmental design," but that would have been impossible without residents and owners' help.

"Having a partnership with the stakeholders was critical for success and working in partnership for a common goal," Mercure said.

With residents engaged, tips flowing in and the environment altered to favor police, plain-clothed deputies often would monitor suspected drug dealers. If anything was suspicious was observed, nearby squad cars were called in to trail and pull over suspects.

“This was an effective combination of plain clothes and uniform enforcement being utilized” Gontarski said. “Sometimes it's better to sit back and see what's going on than to attack right away. Most of it was building trust within the community, then the intelligence from the community is what lead to most of the arrests.”

Police also began pulling motorists over for minor infractions – like a burnt out taillight – just to make sure they belonged at the complex or in the corridor. A deputy even questioned an Ann Arbor News reporter visiting the corridor to report on the story.

“It proves we're really doing what we say we're doing out here,” Gontarski said of the incident.

Ultimately the smaller measures lead to larger arrests, Gontarski explained. Firearms were confiscated, parolees who had taken to dealing drugs were arrested, thousands of dollars in cash was seized, all variety of drugs were confiscated and the sheriff's department partnered with federal agents to arrest a higher level drug dealer operating in the corridor.

Now the drug market is and remains closed.

“They know the area is hot,” Gontarski said.

Many of those arrested weren't residents of the complex but set up shop because the location lent itself to drug dealing. But Paschall said the one of the contributing issues is the length of the eviction process when he did find residents who were problematic. Gontarski and Mercure said they worked with the courts to streamline the process of evicting those residents.

“We're helping by raising quality of life and the community now has new expectations,” Mercure said. “Before, a certain level of behavior was accepted and that level of what is acceptable has changed.”

House said the community continues to stay safe because it has forged not only a strong relationship with the sheriff's department, but with one another.

“We've been able to get neighbors talking to neighbors and people are more involved now,” House said. “When people go out of town, they let their neighbor know. They don't have to go out to dinner on Saturday night. They don't even have to really like you, but at least who to call if something is wrong."

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/02/sheriffs_office_residents_rest.html

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New York

Major Shift in New York City's Street Policing

New Commissioner Planning Changes for 'Operation Impact'; Recruits May Be Paired With Veterans

by Pervaiz Shallwani

The New York Police Department plans to overhaul a long-standing tactic that floods high-crime neighborhoods with new officers, Commissioner William Bratton said Friday.

"Operation Impact" was a signature program of previous Commissioner Raymond Kelly; supporters said it helped lead to historic crime decreases, while critics said it contributed to his administration's wide use of the controversial stop-and-frisk tactic that stoked tensions in minority communities.

The changes could include pairing rookies with veteran officers in local precincts and providing a broader training regimen, Mr. Bratton said. New officers may be assigned to radio cars before they are placed on the streets in high-crime neighborhoods, he said.

"Operation impact is not going away. I would hope to potentially expand it using seasoned officers," Mr. Bratton said during a news conference at police headquarters. "The concern I have right now is that you have 10 or 12 of them assigned to one supervisor. I want to give these kids a much better training opportunity."

The new policy is still being ironed out and isn't expected to be implemented for months, Mr. Bratton said.

Any changes would significantly shift the program Mr. Kelly started in 2003 as way to deal with a reduction of 6,000 officers over several years.

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration and some criminal justice experts credited the program with driving down crime numbers, though residents and community leaders complained that the new officers didn't understand neighborhood sensitivities well enough to deal with problems.

Mr. Bratton called Operation Impact "a very good program in what it intended to do, but it ended up with an unintended consequence that a lot of the controversy around stop, question and frisk seemed to center on the activities in that operation."

Mr. Bloomberg declined to comment through a spokesman. A spokeswoman for Mr. Kelly didn't return a call for comment.

The overhaul is the most recent policing policy facing changes under Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration. On Thursday, Messrs. de Blasio and Bratton said they began the process of dropping the city's appeal of a federal court ruling that found the NYPD's use of stop and frisk unconstitutional.

Mr. Bratton discussed changing Operation Impact with a number of candidates during last year's mayoral campaign, including Mr. de Blasio.

In June, while speaking at the Manhattan Institute, Mr. Bratton said new officers in the program "have no skills basically in terms of experience. They are not closely supervised, so if they make a mistake in how they're doing a stop-and-frisk, if they're disrespectful, if they don't have the appropriate reasonable cause, who's there to correct them? You're developing habits of a lifetime."

On Friday, Mr. Bratton said his philosophy comes from his time as police chief in Los Angeles. Recruit classes are much smaller there and new officers cannot work by themselves for the first year, he said.

"They are always with a field training officer and if there's not a field training officer, they don't go out in the field," he said. "I want to develop more of an intimacy for those young people coming out, a broader experience."

Mr. Bratton said he based the changes to the program, which were reported earlier by The New York Times on conversations with the city's police unions and NYPD commanders and his own experience.

"It is important to have experienced police officers sharing their knowledge with our newer officers," said Pat Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association. Using rookies "under the former system resulted in many of the problems we are now in the process of solving."

A veteran law-enforcement official who is still in the NYPD called the change "a good thing."

"Standing on foot posts—whether it be in Bedford-Stuyvesant or Times Square—writing summons after summons for open container or illegal left turn, does not teach eager, young cops how to handle domestic violence cases and the rest of the wide array of jobs the NYPD responds to," the official said. "This will boost morale tremendously."

In general, Operation Impact is a two-part program, Mr. Bratton said. One part allows seasoned officers to earn overtime for working extra hours in high-crime neighborhoods—that could be expanded under Mr. Bratton's revised policy. The second is placing up to a dozen officers under a commander in a high crime zone where tensions with police are high.

"The officers coming out of the academy, that's the group I am concerned with," he said.

Mr. Bratton will ask Benjamin Tucker, the new deputy commissioner for training, to work with NYPD leaders to craft a new policy. The goal is to have the new program in place for the next class of recruits entering the academy in the summer, he said, and to "broaden the experience" for the current class of recruits.

The recruits could still be placed in high-crime areas, but they will also be "spending more time being mentored once they get on the street," Mr. Bratton said.

Police departments have long focused on crime hot spots, and Operation Impact was born after the release of an academic study in the 1990s, said Dennis Smith, a New York University public policy professor.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303973704579355251757638792?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303973704579355251757638792.html

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From the Department of Homeland Security

Securing Super Bowl XLVIII

by Federal Coordinator Andrew McLees: Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations - Newark

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proud to support the State of New Jersey, the National Football League and our federal, state and local partners as they work to keep Super Bowl XLVIII fans safe before, during and after this weekend's big game.

Today, Secretary Johnson visited MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. where he met with local law enforcement officials and was briefed on security operations at and around the Stadium, including the assets deployed by DHS to support state and local law enforcement security efforts.

DHS entities have worked closely with our federal, state and local partners over the past year in the planning and preparation for the Super Bowl, and providing support in the following ways:

•  The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams, comprised of Federal Air Marshals, surface and aviation transportation security inspectors, Behavioral Detection Officers, Transportation Security Officers, and canine teams, are helping secure transit to and from the stadium. •  U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and non-intrusive inspection equipment scan the cargo entering the stadium for contraband such as narcotics, weapons, and explosives. •  CBP Office of Air and Marine will enforce Air Space Security. •  The U.S. Coast Guard will support maritime and waterways security. •  CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will conduct operations specifically targeting counterfeit vendors and local merchants of game-related sportswear. This is part of a crackdown on intellectual property rights (IPR) violations and to ensure fans are getting official Super Bowl related memorabilia. •  TSA is sending additional screeners and doubling the checkpoint lanes at Newark Liberty International Airport for the influx of fans traveling for the game. TSA will also conduct baggage screening operation at Secaucus Junction station on the day of the game

To help keep fans safe, DHS is continuing our partnership with the NFL through the “If You See Something, Say Something™” public awareness campaign, first launched at Super Bowl 45. Time and time again, we see the value of this kind of public vigilance. Fans and visitors in the New York and New Jersey area will see the “If You See Something, Say Something™” message at the airport, hotels, on buses, and billboards leading up to and throughout Super Bowl weekend. The message will also appear in the game day program, the official fan guide, and on the video board during the game.

In addition to DHS support, 13 other federal offices are assisting. These interagency partnerships – including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Department of Defense – are essential to the safety and security of this event.

Securing an event like the Super Bowl is a shared responsibility, and we all have a role to play. As the Federal Coordinating Officer for Super Bowl XLVIII, I am proud of our work with our federal, state, local and law enforcement partners, the NFL, event staff and volunteers, as well as the public, to help ensure the safety and security of everyone who is in town for the big game.

http://www.dhs.gov/blog/2014/01/29/securing-super-bowl-xlviii

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Data Privacy Day: How secure is your personal information?

by Karen Neuman, Chief Privacy Officer, and Bobbie Stempfley, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications

January 28 is Data Privacy Day, a nationwide effort to encourage everyone to protect their privacy and personal data online and educate them on how to do so. As we spend increasingly more time on the Internet at home, at work and on the go, it is essential that we know how to protect our personal information online.

Most of us use our mobile devices to check our email, read the news, and interact on social media Web sites. However, by connecting to the Internet via an unsecure network or downloading an app without knowing how our information will be used, we potentially jeopardize our personal data and put ourselves at risk to theft, fraud and abuse.

Everyone can guard against potential online risks by taking steps to protect our privacy and control our digital footprint using the following simple tips from the Department of Homeland Security's Stop.Think.Connect. TM Campaign:

•  Secure your devices. Keep your devices from prying eyes. Set passcodes or pass phrases (long passwords) to be sure only you can access your smartphone, tablet or computer. •  Only connect to networks you trust. Check the Wi-Fi settings on your mobile device and make sure you only connect manually to known and secure networks. •  Secure your accounts. Passwords are no longer the only protection from would-be hackers. Enable two-factor authentication to add another layer of security. To learn more about two-factor authentication, click here . •  Beware what you share. When you choose to share information with anyone in your networks, they can easily forward or post it somewhere else. Avoid sharing compromising photos and information. •  Make passwords long, strong and unique. Passwords should be different for each account, have as many characters as allowed, and include numbers, symbols, and capital and lowercase letters. •  Think before you app. Before downloading a mobile app, understand what information (such as your location, access to social networks, etc.) the app will access and adjust your privacy settings appropriately. •  Back it up. Store digital copies of your documents, photos, music and other valuable information on an external hard drive.

Data Privacy Day is led by the National Cyber Security Alliance, a nonprofit, public-private partnership dedicated to cybersecurity education and awareness, and advised by a committee of privacy professionals.

For more information, including additional tips to stay safe online, please visit www.dhs.gov/stopthinkconnect.

http://www.dhs.gov/blog/2014/01/28/data-privacy-day-how-secure-your-personal-information

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Michigan

Bags of Human Body Parts Found in Rural Eastern Michigan

by FOX 17 News

Human body parts have been found in garbage bags dumped along snowy roads in a rural area of Michigan, authorities said.

Investigators are still counting the parts and haven't determined the gender, race or age of who they came from, the St. Clair County Sheriff's Office said Thursday.

At this point, they don't know if the parts are from one person or more, said Deputy Steven Campau.

For the sheriff's office, the sinister case began Thursday afternoon.

A woman called to tell them she had “located something suspicious” in an area a few miles from the Canadian border, Campau said.

When they arrived on the scene, law enforcement officers discovered the garbage bags and their gruesome contents on two adjoining roads.

Another woman then told them that she'd seen a light-colored SUV in the area dumping what she initially thought was garbage.

She described the person driving the vehicle as a middle-aged woman, Campau said.

“We are investigating it as a homicide,” he said.

The body parts found include a head and torso, CNN affiliate WXYZ reported.

The FBI is not involved in the case, Campau said, but the sheriff's office is receiving assistance from a team with the Michigan State Police Crime Lab.

CNN first learned of the case on Twitter.

http://fox17online.com/2014/01/31/bags-of-human-body-parts-found-in-rural-eastern-michigan/#axzz2rysgGe7I

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California

Residents, police discuss ways to reduce San Fernando Valley crime at Town Hall meeting

by Kelly Goff

With overall crime in the San Fernando Valley at its lowest level in decades, law enforcement aims to continue pushing those figures downward.

Deputy Chief Jorge Villegas, who oversees operations in the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Bureau, told attendees at Wednesday night's State of Public Safety in the Valley update that he wants to further reduce crime this year in the area.

Villegas touted a 2.5 percent reduction in overall crime in 2013 in the Valley, and he said he has tasked division captains with achieving a 3.5 percent reduction this year.

“We're here because the mission of the LAPD is to reduce crime and also to reduce the fear of crime,” Villegas said.

Having residents involved in neighborhood councils, community police advisory boards and youth programs has helped reduce crime.

During the question-and-answer session of the town hall meeting at Van Nuys City Hall, Villegas was asked how he plans to tackle ongoing problems, including stemming gang violence and slowing property crimes.

He said public outreach would make a difference, including the “Hide it, Lock it, Keep it” anti-property theft campaign and by working with social service groups to find jobs for at-risk youth and gang members.

“The best way to keep a gun out of someone's hands is to give them a job,” Villegas said.

Police and residents also discussed ongoing policing efforts on issues such as medical marijuana dispensaries and prostitution.

City Councilwoman Nury Martinez, who represents Van Nuys, North Hollywood, Sun Valley, Arleta, Panorama City and Lake Balboa, also pointed to work she is doing with vice squads to stop the rampant prostitution in several corridors of the San Fernando Valley.

“When I went out with a task force, I couldn't believe how young most of the girls were — many couldn't have been more than 16,” she said. “Somewhere along the line these girls became victims. So we're looking at ways to combat that.”

Martinez said she has earmarked money for police to patrol the two primary corridors, along Sepulveda Boulevard and Lankershim Boulevard, that are consistent magnets for prostitutes and their pimps. She is also working on ways to increase penalties for johns who frequent the areas.

Lake Balboa resident Linda Gravani, who is a member of the Lake Balboa neighborhood council and community police advisory board for the West Valley police station, questioned how police were going to close illegal pot shops.

“I feel safe in my community, but I'm not happy with all the pot shops, but I guess I learned tonight who I should be calling about it,” she said.

Gravani was directed at the meeting to specific contacts who monitor the pot shops at each Police Department division.

She also noted that by becoming involved in the police advisory board, she has taken a more active role in the community.

“When you start to see what they do every day, you have to start thinking that if they're willing to take a bullet for me, then I have to do my part, too,” Gravani said.

And that interaction is what Villegas hopes meetings like Wednesday's will foster.

“The most important part, I believe, is for the community to know and be involved in the community, both with LAPD and with all of the other areas of city government,” Villegas said after the meeting. “If everyone participates is some way, volunteerism or through one of the community groups, then we're working together.”

http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20140129/residents-police-discuss-ways-to-reduce-san-fernando-valley-crime-at-town-hall-meeting

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Arizona

Website links neighborhoods and patrol officers

by D.S. Woodfill

With one click, Phoenix residents can now connect online with their neighbors and the police officers who patrol their communities.

The Phoenix Police Department recently announced its partnership with the website Nextdoor.com, which markets itself as a “private social network for your neighborhood.”

Officials hope that community members and the police working in their neighborhoods will use the network to share tips and other information. The concept is like a virtual Block Watch, with the idea being that engaged, aware residents can help drive down crime in their neighborhoods.

Phoenix Police Chief Daniel V. Garcia described the potential as “community policing on steroids.”

“This is a great opportunity for us to connect with our neighborhoods,” he said.

Officials say beat cops have been training to use the social-media network for about six months. About 400 neighborhoods, or about 80 percent of the city, have Nextdoor.com accounts so far.

A community's Nextdoor.com page is divided into categories, such as classified ads, crime and safety news, and lost and found. People can post yard sales, neighborhood meetings or safety tips, among other topics.

To sign up, residents must go to Nextdoor.com and establish an account by entering their e-mail and address. They must also include verification that they live at that residence by providing, among other things, a land-line phone number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, an account holder does not need to “follow” or “friend” the police department or neighbors to read updates. The updates appear in a news feed similar to Twitter or Facebook.

Mayor Greg Stanton said the network allows police to issue information, such as emergency alerts, in real time to users' smartphones or other electronic devices. Conversely, residents can submit crime tips or other public-safety concerns to their neighborhood officers.

“This will continue to keep crime rates, particularly property-crime rates, low within the city of Phoenix,” Stanton said.

Kelsey Grady, a spokeswoman for the California-based Nextdoor.com, said police departments across the western United States have used the website to quickly distribute information.

For example, officials in Napa Valley, Calif., posted road-closure information and provided locations where residents could pick up sandbags during a recent flood, Grady said.

“We've seen the Dallas (Police Department), which is another one of our partnering cities, post about suspects that they're looking for,” Grady said. “In San Jose, there's a serial arsonist. They're circulating ... (a) sketch of him.”

Stanton said residents will be able to communicate with other city departments as well.

“Maybe there's graffiti in the neighborhood; maybe there's a neighborhood-preservation-ordinance violation,” he said. “Maybe ... my garbage didn't get picked up. (Residents) can use Nextdoor.com to interact with the Public Works Department, and the exact same concepts are going to work for all the other services of the city of Phoenix.”

Randy Jones, a resident of Laveen Village — a square-mile neighborhood bordered by 27th and 35th avenues and Southern Avenue and Baseline Road — said the community began seeing an increase in thefts and burglaries in early 2012.

Jones and others started a neighborhood account on Nextdoor.com and used it to build upon their Block Watch program.

“It vastly exceeded our expectations,” he said. “Crime has dropped significantly, but there's other benefits: Neighbors are getting to know each other. We've had a lot of lost dogs found because the neighborhood gets on it.”

Jones said 345 neighbors, about 24 percent of the community, have signed up, “and it's growing every day.”

Nirav Tolia, co-founder and CEO of Nextdoor.com, said the website is free to the cities and residents who use it and the company doesn't sell personal information.

Tolia said his company eventually hopes to generate revenue through tailored, local advertising.

“But it's not going to be big banner ads on the site,” he said.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/20140115phoenix-website-links-neighborhoods-patrol-officers.html?nclick_check=1

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New York

Brownsville Teens Hope Stop-And-Frisk Changes Lead to Better Police-Community Relations

People in Brownsville say they hope news of the changes to stop-and-frisk get down to the officers on the street. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report.

by Dean Meminger

Teenagers hit the basketball court at the Brownsville Recreation Center Thursday just minutes after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the stop-and-frisk appeal would be dropped. They said that the the way the tactic was used made them afraid of criminals AND cops.

"It feels uncomfortable," said one teen. "I got to watch my back from people also in the hood, or now, it's cops. It's like, you got to always watch your back."

As the New York City Police Department moves forward with looking at ways to implement changes suggested by a federal judge, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said he has been reminding the rank-and-file at weekly meetings to be courteous, professional and respectful.

"At CompStat, re-enforcing that as they go about their business that we want them to be policing lawfully, not break the law to enforce it," Bratton said.

Police unions have been lobbying against the dropping of the stop-and-frisk appeal. In a statement, the PBA said it will stay involved.

"Our mission is now and has always been to protect the rights and safety of our members while they work to protect our communities," the statement reads. "We continue to have serious concerns about how these remedies will impact our members and the ability to do their jobs."

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who is a former NYPD captain, said that the unions shouldn't worry because the change is good for everyone.

"And crime would not be impacted by this in a significant fashion up or down," Adams said. "We have turned the community back into a policing where the community is being appreciated."

Many of the young men in the gym said they understand that stop-and-frisk can't be ended completely, but they said that they agree with the mayor and police commissioner that it shouldn't be overused.

"It's not a bad thing," said one teen. "It just helps out because if you have it, they can confiscate it, try to help out the community."

He's talking about getting weapons off the streets. A local officer encouraged the teens to come to the precinct if they have any problems, perhaps another sign of bringing community and police closer together.

http://www.ny1.com/content/news/202791/brownsville-teens-hope-stop-and-frisk-changes-lead-to-better-police-community-relations

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No longer on the run? Intel chief Clapper says Al Qaeda no less a threat than a decade ago

A little more than a year after President Obama confidently declared on the campaign trail that Al Qaeda was on the run, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified Wednesday that he can't say the threat from the terror network "is any less" than it was a decade ago.

Further, he said Al Qaeda probably poses an even bigger challenge today -- because its franchises are "much more globally dispersed" and the organization recently has benefited from the massive leak of U.S. intelligence information.

Clapper made the blunt statements during the annual worldwide threat hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday. He described how Al Qaeda has evolved over the years, with several franchises now operating across a dozen countries.

Compounding those concerns, top intelligence officials made clear, is last year's massive leak by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden of details on American surveillance activities. Clapper said this has caused "profound damage," and terrorists are "going to school" on U.S. surveillance methods.

Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, added that the leaks have caused "grave damage to our national security."

Top intelligence officials aired myriad concerns about emerging threats around the globe. The hearing follows a series of troubling developments abroad, including the Benghazi terror attack in 2012, and resurgence of Al Qaeda affiliates in Iraq and Syria amid ongoing fighting there. Clapper even said that one Syrian group, the al-Nusra Front, aspires to strike the U.S.

While Obama frequently touted gains made against Al Qaeda during the 2012 campaign -- and particularly the takedown of Usama bin Laden -- he acknowledged in his State of the Union address the threats still posed by Al Qaeda.

"The fact is that danger remains. While we put Al Qaeda's core leadership on a path to defeat, the threat has evolved as Al Qaeda affiliates and other extremists take root in different parts of the world," he said. "In Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Mali, we have to keep working with partners to disrupt and disable those networks."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/01/29/no-longer-on-run-intel-chief-clapper-says-al-qaeda-threat-no-less-than-decade/

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Missouri

Inventor trying to make places safer with community policing app

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A University of Missouri-Kansas City student is one step closer to realizing a dream. He's invented a new way to help campuses, neighborhoods, even entire cities take part in community policing and feel safer at the same time.

John Ruiz is the CEO and founder of “e-beacons.” Simply put, it's a web and mobile application designed to increase safety in a variety of places, like campuses, shopping centers and neighborhoods.

He pitched the idea to the public safety committee at City Hall Wednesday, but his journey began several years ago when he was a freshman journalism major at the University of Missouri.

“I was very excited about being in journalism school and wanted to be a journalist. Then I had an identity crisis, thought I don't want to be a journalist anymore,” Ruiz explained. “What am I going to do with my life? You know, typical freshman angst.”

Then it hit him, he wanted to invent something, and an idea popped into his head.

“I had this concept for Tupperware that had peelable layers so you never had to clean it,” said Ruiz.

The concept failed, but the creative process hooked Ruiz and a few years later, he's hoping “e-beacons” is the one.

He demonstrated how it would be used if you needed help in your neighborhood.

“In that situation, you would hit the red button on your app, your phone starts dialing 911 automatically,” Ruiz said. “But at the same time, a push notification is sent to your neighbors with the app. So essentially, your neighbors can turn into first responders.”

Ruiz says he can easily customize the app for any situation, including a college campus setting.

“I'm hoping to get some agreement with a local campus or UMKC by end of semester, since I'm a “Roo” myself, I'm hoping UMKC is the first one to jump on board with me,” Ruiz said.

Ruiz is hoping he's close to a deal with the city. He can customize the app to deal with emergencies, reporting tips to the TIPS Hotline and send instant requests to the 311 help line.

http://fox4kc.com/2014/01/29/inventor-trying-to-make-places-safer-with-community-policing-app/

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California

San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne suggests cameras to collect racial data, stop profiling

by Jennifer Jensen

SAN DIEGO - San Diego police Chief William Lansdowne made a pitch Wednesday for the City Council to authorize the purchase of cameras that record the interaction of officers and the public in order to reduce incidents of racial profiling.

At a meeting of the council's Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee, Lansdowne said the small cameras can be worn on uniforms and record both video and audio.

"The police officers are very committed to it," Lansdowne said. "They're excited about the cameras. They think that they serve a purpose both for the community and for the officers themselves."

He recommended the purchase of 100 of the devices, with a price tag of $165,000 to $200,000 to use in a test phase. Eventually, the SDPD will need around 900 of the cameras -- and managing the devices will cost about $2 million annually, he said.

"The ones we are currently looking at are made by Taser," Lansdowne told 10News. "Several departments have them, they have been very effective."

However, they also come with a high price tag.

"They are expensive because you have to store the information," he added.

Officers must use them and use them correctly, said one resident.

"Those lapel cameras that you're talking about, they are only going to work if you have proper policy and procedure with them," said a resident. "Not to where you can just turn them on and off."

Many of the nearly 30 members of the public who spoke at the meeting outlined their experiences of being pulled over by officers and immediately questioned about their probation status, gang connections and tattoos.

"I always wanted to be a police officer, but now I'm just scared of them," one young man said as he talked about how he's been profiled by police officers as being a gang member since he was 13 years old.

"Police are supposed to be there to protect us," said another man. "But in my experience, they are there to harass me."

Some residents held signs claiming they had been racial profiled, saying they have been stopped by police merely because of the color of their skin.

Lei-Chala Wilson, president of the San Diego branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, referred to a recent squabble in New York over a controversial "stop-and-frisk" policy when she spoke.

"We don't have a 'stop-and-frisk' problem -- we have an 'are you on probation or parole' problem," Wilson said.

While top SDPD officials conceded that data shows Latinos and blacks are stopped more frequently than Asians and whites, they denied a systematic pattern of bias in vehicle stops or searches.

Councilwoman Myrtle Cole, who asked for the item to be placed on the meeting agenda, said the discussion was the beginning "of open and honest dialogue." Cole called for regular town hall meetings in her district of Southeast San Diego -- which has a predominantly minority population.

"As you can see today, the comments and the stories, they're proof that there's a problem," Cole said. "There's a problem and we have to address it."

Lansdowne said SDPD officials would attend the town hall meetings and would work with residents and community organizations to build trust.

He said the cameras would resolve the inconsistent collection of racial data during the nearly 100,000 traffic stops that take place annually around the city. Filling out the information is "labor intensive," he said.

According to a recent report by VoiceofSanDiego.org, San Diego officers stopped jotting down the data until Lansdowne ordered a resumption in October. Most big city departments record racial information during traffic stops.

The website reported that data collection increased after the chief took action.

Lansdowne told KPBS last week that the system needs to be rebuilt "almost from scratch." Civil rights and neighborhood advocacy groups are helping to develop a new plan, he said.

Putting them to use and budgeting for the cameras will be revisited by the committee in April.

Cole issued the following statement late Wednesday afternoon:

"I appreciate the San Diego Police Department and the communities of color converging on City Hall today at the Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee to discuss the current policies and practices regarding Community Policing and Racial Profiling data.

This was a meaningful and necessary dialogue. There was standing room only at today's meeting which indicates that there are issues that must be addressed for our communities to build trust with the police officers who are sworn to serve and protect us.

We are going to do more than just talk. We will walk the talk with real and immediate policy changes including putting an end to the 'Are you on probation or parole?' question that some police officers ask when making stops.

I am looking forward to Community Public Safety Days with the Police Department and the disenfranchised members of our communities that will be held at the Tubman-Chavez Center in the Fourth Council District. We will continue the meaningful work that has begun today."

http://www.10news.com/news/san-diego-police-chief-william-lansdowne-suggests-cameras-to-collect-racial-data-stop-profiling-01292014

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Louisanna

In cold snap, a temporary peace on New Orleans' streets

by Naomi Martin

The freak cold snap that wreaked havoc on the South, closing roads, businesses and schools, provided a rare moment of peace on the streets of New Orleans. As the arctic air settled in, violent crime all but halted.

The typical bloodshed of Monday gave way to tranquility as temperatures plummeted. In the 24 hours ending Wednesday at 6 a.m., not a single shooting, stabbing or robbery was reported.

"Most of us down here are from the South, and we don't fare well in cold weather -- good guys or bad guys," said Commander Robert Bardy of the Police Department's 6th District, which covers Central City and the Garden District. "So everybody went inside."

In Central City, where gunfire erupts almost daily, Bardy said, only three crimes were reported: an attempted robbery and two thefts. "That's a pretty low day," he said.

The event dubbed Sneauxmageddon by many local residents on social media bore many similarities to hurricanes as far as government response. Mayor Mitch Landrieu declared a state of emergency and urged residents to stay off the roads. Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas canceled all officer vacations and days off to have all hands on deck, boosting patrol staffing to three or four times the typical size and emphasizing pro-active policing. To boost visibility, each squad car kept its emergency lights flashing at all times.

And as with hurricanes, officers were sent to guard businesses. Bardy said he sent several cars to the shops along Magazine Street.

But unlike with hurricanes, there were no looters.

"It was a ghost town," Bardy said, recalling that he drove around until Wednesday at 1:30 a.m. and didn't see anyone on the streets. "You didn't have your normal stragglers on the corners. It's too cold."

Sitting in the 6th District station on Martin Luther King Boulevard, Bardy's top lieutenant, Frank Young, ticked off the unusual statistics as he looked at an email on his Blackberry enumerating the previous day's crimes throughout the city's eight police districts: 21 property crimes. No attempted murders, no aggravated batteries, no shootings, no aggravated assaults."

The paucity of crime didn't mean the officers were sitting around drinking coffee, however. Several were dispatched to help rescue homeless people and take them to emergency shelters. Others staffed the shelters.

Officers also were kept busy responding to car wrecks and shutting down icy roads. The barricades that the police usually use to block roads were not sturdy enough to withstand the night's strong winds, so many of the officers had to stay at intersections to stop motorists from entering.

One officer picked up a dog running in the streets and put it in his patrol car to keep it from freezing. Eventually, the officer came across a woman looking for her dog, and he opened the back door to reunite the pair.

Bardy said the storm also provided a glimpse at how far the Police Department has come in its relations with the community, as neighbors and representatives from local schools reached out to him and the police station to see if they could help. He showed an email from a woman offering to help with homeless people.

"You want to talk about community policing? That's how you define it, when the community and the police come together for the common good," he said.

But in a reminder that violence is sometimes unrelenting in this city, where the murder rate is among one of the worst in the country, police reported a shooting Uptown on Wednesday at 6 p.m. A 32-year-old man was shot multiple times and taken to a hospital in critical condition.

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2014/01/in_cold_snap_temporary_moment.html

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California

Calif. city once dubbed "murder-capital" to consider police outsourcing

City council is scheduled to discuss whether to seek contract proposals from law enforcement agencies interested in patrolling East Palo Alto's streets

by Bonnie Eslinger

EAST PALO ALTO, Calif. — East Palo Alto may become the latest Peninsula city to consider outsourcing police services in a cost-cutting move.

At its Feb. 4 meeting, the city council is scheduled to discuss whether to seek contract proposals from law enforcement agencies interested in patrolling East Palo Alto's streets.

Assistant City Manager Barbara Powell told The Daily News on Tuesday that no recommendation has been made yet.

"We're in the early days" Powell said. "First, we need to get direction from the city council and then get proposals to see if it makes sense. I don't know if this pertains to East Palo Alto, we haven't seen the proposals, but I believe other cities have found there's efficiencies in terms of costs and responsiveness."

In 2010, the San Carlos City Council voted to outsource the city's police force to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office after being told it could save roughly $2.1 million a year through the deal.

Before East Palo Alto was incorporated into a city in 1983, it was patrolled by sheriff's deputies.

City Council Member Ruben Abrica said he doesn't want to see the city return to those days and lose its independent police department.

"We fought very hard to have a local police force that's accountable to the local community and council," Abrica said Tuesday. "Losing control of our police department is unacceptable to me."

Powell said that in addition to the county, East Palo Alto could solicit contract proposals from neighboring cities such as Menlo Park and Palo Alto — "some city we border with, so there are not problems with response time, and with some organization that has the capacity."

Powell said she didn't know whether City Manager Magda Gonzalez has contacted the county or other cities. Powell said she herself hasn't.

East Palo Alto has been without a permanent police chief since November, when Ronald Davis resigned to take a job in Washington, D.C., as head of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

To fill the leadership gap, Gonzalez first tapped police Capt. Federico Rocha to serve as interim police chief and later hired former San Bruno police chief Lee Violett for a temporary stint.

East Palo Alto occupies 2.5 square miles and has a population of 28,155, according to the city. About 44 percent of East Palo Alto's 100 employees work in the police department, according to the city's 2013-2014 budget.

While East Palo Alto has grown in the decades since incorporation, its crime rates have significantly dropped, according to a study released in 2010 by the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice, University of California, Berkeley School of Law. In 1986, statistics showed there were 922 crimes per 10,000 people; in 2008, that ratio had dropped to 355 crimes per 10,000 residents.

Dubbed the per-capita "murder capital" of the nation in 1992 when 42 homicides were reported, East Palo Alto averaged fewer than 10 murders annually in the two decades that followed. Eight people were killed there in 2013, still more than in any other city in the county.

http://www.policeone.com/patrol-issues/articles/6776996-Calif-city-once-dubbed-murder-capital-to-consider-police-outsourcing/

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Texas

Officials tout power of anonymous tips, cash incentives

by TY JOHNSON

Although law enforcement agencies depend heavily on the vigilance of law-abiding citizens when fighting crime, those citizens, by their very nature, are not privy to many of the most devious crimes committed in and around them.

Reporting a break-in or suspicious activity helps, of course, but law enforcement authorities quickly learned decades ago that truly effective community policing depends as much on criminals themselves as it does the public.

That is the foundation upon which Crime Stoppers organizations across the country have been built, said Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw, who was in town Wednesday for the Brownsville Crime Stoppers' fundraiser luncheon at the Brownsville Events Center.

The ballroom was nearly filled with law enforcement authorities and benefactors of the crime-fighting organization, who heard from Brownsville Police Chief Orlando Rodriguez and Crime Stoppers Board Chairman Felipe Saenz along with McCraw.

The speakers talked at length about how financial contributions from the community served to help pay for information to which investigators would otherwise not have access.

McCraw noted the importance of anonymity, especially when law enforcement officials are trying to get information on the most devious crimes.

“You need criminals reporting on criminals,” McCraw said, noting that the biggest blights on society – human trafficking and sexual enslavement – are crimes that only criminals typically know are being committed.

When it comes to getting criminals to tell on each other, only two currencies matter, he said.

“They want money and anonymity,” he said, explaining that Crime Stoppers programs provide both and that those tips are oftentimes law enforcement's best shot at taking down top criminals.

Taking those basic facts of supply and demand, McCraw said after the meeting, led to an increase in anonymous “cash for tips” organizations all over.

The Crime Stoppers model, he said, is a “force multiplier.”

Rodriguez said being able to guarantee anonymity – often even if a case goes to trial – can sometimes be an even bigger incentive for criminals than cash, especially if they fear retaliation for volunteering information to the authorities.

Driving home the importance of the program to community policing, Rodriguez announced during the luncheon that BPD was presenting a check for $2,500 to Crime Stoppers, noting that District Attorney Luis Saenz, who was also in the audience, had agreed for his office to match that donation.

The additional $5,000 will go toward paying for tips, Rodriguez said, just as the money raised from the benefit dinner and other funds from donors year-round will provide incentives for citizens to provide anonymous information.

The dinner, now in its third year, was organized in association with the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce to raise money for the program and has grown each year and attracted renowned law enforcement speakers, culminating with this year's booking of the director of DPS.

“We like the way things are going,” Rodriguez said.

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/local/article_a373b018-8957-11e3-85e2-001a4bcf6878.html

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Mexico

At nation's doorstep, police drones are flying

by William M. Welch

TIJUANA, Mexico -- Just across the border from the USA, police have begun using drones carrying video cameras to patrol residential neighborhoods and watch over parts of the city often visited by Americans.

Tijuana's use of low-altitude unmanned aircraft for law enforcement surveillance, in darkness as well as daylight, appears to far exceed what state and local police agencies have been permitted to experiment with in the USA.

Unburdened by the sort of aviation restrictions and privacy concerns that have slowed domestic U.S. drone use, Tijuana police recently purchased three specially configured commercial drones and are testing their use in flight, said Alejandro Lares, the city's new chief of police.

He said he hopes to put them into full normal operation within weeks.

"How are we going to use them? Basically, it's preventing crime,'' said Lares, 35, who became secretary of public safety in December, a post that puts him in charge of the municipal police force where he had been an officer for eight years.

"What we're doing is implementing technology into our community law enforcement,'' he said in a recent interview. "We don't have any regulations or laws that don't permit us to use them.''

The Mexican drones are far smaller than the large military Predator drones the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agency has deployed along the border. The Border Patrol is one of the only agencies aside from the military allowed by the Federal Aviation Administration to fly unmanned aircraft. A recent report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation said the Border Patrol flew 687 surveillance missions on behalf of other agencies, some of them police, from 2010 to 2012.

While the United States develops its drone laws, the experiment on its doorstep offers a glimpse of how domestic police could soon use the technology if permitted.

Tijuana's drones are off-the-shelf commercial units produced by 3D Robotics, a company with offices in Tijuana and the USA. They are equipped with video cameras and night-vision capability. The company confirmed the deal but offered few specifics.

"We sell an open source platform that is being used for a variety of innovative applications, but we remain agnostic on how our technology is being used,'' company spokeswoman Sue Rosenstock said.

Small enough to rest on a desktop, the drones have eight propellers and battery capacity allowing them to fly about 20 minutes at a time, Lares said. He said Tijuana police can fly them at altitudes over 1,300 feet â?? well above the 400-foot limit the Federal Aviation Administration has imposed for most U.S. domestic drones.

They can be piloted remotely by officers on the ground and can be programmed to fly in an automated route, he said. They beam live video images to the police command and control center in the Zona Rio section of the city, where staff monitor a giant bank of video screens with images from approximately 600 stationary surveillance cameras located around the city. Police store and keep the drones' digital imagery for possible review as well, he said.

They are used to patrol targeted high-crime areas, such as neighborhoods where burglaries and car thefts are common, and in areas where tourists frequent, such as Avenida Revolucion, the main tourism boulevard in Zona Centro, or downtown Tijuana, he said. Tijuana wants to use drones as a force multiplier for its officers.

"Right now, our No. 1 concern is house burglaries,'' Lares said. "Definitely we're going to use the drones to help us out. Eyes in sky â?? it's like having 20 officers on patrol or more.''

The small drones are relatively inexpensive, meaning cost is not an obstacle even for a force where staffing and salaries are smaller than in the USA. Lares said his force pays about $12,000 for the hardware, spare parts, enhanced batteries and a year's worth of maintenance and repair by the vendor. He has at least four officers assigned to operate the drones.

Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst and privacy expert with the American Civil Liberties Union, said U.S. police need written authorization from the FAA to fly a drone and must follow strict limitations, including flying below 400 feet above ground and operating in daylight only. He said only a few police agencies have pioneered drone use, such as Miami-Dade police, in limited experiments or specific missions.

He said pressure is mounting on both sides of the issue, from privacy advocates who want limits on drone use to police who want them as crime-fighting tools. Since last year, 43 states have considered legislation that would limit drone use, and nine states have enacted laws, Stanley said.

"We're in the very early days of drone deployments, but Congress has ordered the FAA to loosen the rules to make it much easier for police departments and others to fly drones,'' he said.

"There are a lot of privacy issues that can come up,'' he said. "The big concern is that we not find drones being used for pervasive suspicion-less surveillance of everyone all the time.''

Lares said the drones are effective at helping police keep an eye on crime. He said they could even be used to watch police officers if they are suspected of corruption or shaking down citizens.

He said no one has raised objections to his force's use of drones.

"It's going to help me out,'' he said. "Even the bad guys ... they're going to know now there's something in the air that might be watching them.

"It's a big advantage,'' he said. "It may be a small step in community policing, but it's huge for our future.''

http://www.courier-journal.com/usatoday/article/4951075

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Michigan

Local law enforcement calling up on students, residents to be involved in community policing efforts

by Krystal Elliott

As part of the new collaborative effort amongst the Ypsilanti and Eastern Michigan University police departments and the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office, a Community Action Team is being formed to deal with crime in Ypsilanti's Leforge corridor.

The Leforge area has been under scrutiny during the past few months following a number of high-profile, violent crimes that have taken place over the past year. Two EMU students have been murdered off campus in that area: Julia Niswender near the end of 2012 and Demarius Reed in October.

The CAT team will be comprised of four individuals, including one from each department as well as a federal agent, and will be responsible for policing the Leforge area as well as other areas immediately surrounding the EMU campus.

“They're going to be much more active in their intelligence gathering,” said Ypsilanti police Lt. Deric Gress. “Their job is to be more focused for the city and the campus area and to stir some intelligence up, to get more proactive.”

Gress said that having a dedicated CAT team working an area frees up other officers to patrol the rest of the city, as well as allows for those on the team to focus their efforts and get the job done. It's a better way to utilize officers in an understaffed department, he said.

“When you shrink down like all the agencies have done over a number of years you go from a proactive, community-based system to a reactive system,” Gress said. “Now the pendulum is swinging back the other way. We're going to start utilizing our officers to have a more proactive role.”

Gress said that he anticipates the CAT team will be ready for launch during the first week of February. EMU is in the process of selecting its officer for the team. The two that have already committed from the Sheriff's Office and YPD are currently being trained by a CAT team that already exists in Ypsilanti Township.

Residents of the Leforge area can expect to see the CAT team out and about in the early stages, but later on officers may use plain-clothes and unmarked vehicles to patrol the area.

The new CAT team was announced during a Leforge Area Neighborhood Watch meeting hosted by Eastern Michigan University Thursday. The three agencies wanted to have a meeting with students and residents of the area to engage in a more community-based policing approach.

“Crime doesn't really have boundaries so it's important that we collaborate and make the entire area safer, not just the campus,” said EMU police Lt. Doug Wing. “What happens on campus affects the community and what happens in the community affects the campus as well.”

There were few students in attendance at the meeting, but that did not stop the agencies for calling upon those in the audience to get involved in crime prevention.

“We as law enforcement have increased our presence in that area. The part that we're missing is the community involvement here. We want to help you. We want to do everything we can to help our neighborhoods be successful and safe,” Wing said.

All three local law enforcement agencies are calling on the community to report all crime and suspicious activity.

“You're out there every day. It's your neighborhood,” Gress said. “Participation is key even if you don't think this information is all that. But with your little bit, you don't know what we already know, it all combines and it has a snowball effect.”

Crime reporting helps law enforcement perform data-driven police-work, which is what the three agencies are focusing on in the coming year. With limited resources and manpower, using data to predict criminal activity helps police officers become more efficient at solving crime.

To further engage the community, particularly in the Leforge corridor, the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office will be sending people out in the community going door to door with a survey to assess the community's perception of crime in the area. That effort was supposed to have been underway by now but given the unusually cold weather the county has seen in the past few weeks, the survey has been delayed.

In addition to community policing measures, residents of the Leforge area can expect to see public security cameras as well as cameras within apartment complexes. Several property managers have taken the initiative to increase safety measures, including Peninsular Place, the apartment complex where Niswender was found drowned in her bathtub.

As EMU students begin looking for housing for next fall, Peninsular Place is one apartment complex advertising additional security cameras and new electronic locks.

Students are also being encouraged to join the neighborhood watch groups and other neighborhood associations throughout the city.

http://www.heritage.com/articles/2014/01/29/ypsilanti_courier/news/doc52e11def81c76713851736.txt

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New Jersey

Teaneck Officials Host Natural Disaster Seminar

Police say the talk, scheduled for Feb. 4, will be one of several this year.

by Joseph M. Gerace

Township residents will have an opportunity to learn about emergency response and preparation for natural disasters and hazardous materials emergencies in a program early next month.

The Teaneck Police Department's Community Policing Squad, in conjunction with the Teaneck Fire Department and Teaneck's Office of Emergency Management Coordinator, will be hosting an emergency preparedness seminar on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 7 p.m., in the police department's roll call room.

Police have encouraged all Teaneck residents to attend and learn about the essentials of emergency preparedness.

"We look forward to seeing everyone there," said Teaneck Police Officer Daniel Dalessio in an email Tuesday. "Please help us spread the word by telling your neighbors and friends about this important and informative event."

The Teaneck Police Department is located at 900 Teaneck Rd.

http://teaneck.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/teaneck-officials-hosting-natural-disaster-seminar

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North Carolina

Mint Hill Police Department to host Coffee with a Cop on February 4, 2014

Program offers opportunity to meet local officers, discuss community issues

On February 4, 2014, officers from MINT HILL POLICE DEPARTMENT and community members will come together in an informal, neutral space to discuss community issues, build relationships, and drink coffee.

All community members are invited to attend. The event begins at 8:00 am on February 4, 2014 at Showmars, 6850 Matthews-Mint Hill Road, Mint Hill, NC. Please contact Chief Tim W. Ledford with questions: 704-545-1085.

Coffee with a Cop provides a unique opportunity for community members to ask questions and learn more about the department's work in Mint Hill's neighborhoods.

The majority of contacts law enforcement has with the public happen during emergencies, or emotional situations. Those situations are not always the most effective times for relationship building with the community, and some community members may feel that officers are unapproachable on the street . Coffee with a Cop breaks down barriers and allows for a relaxed, one-on-one interaction.

“We hope that community members will feel comfortable to ask questions, bring concerns, or simply get to know our officers,” said Chief Tim W. Ledford. “These interactions are the foundation of community partnerships.”

Coffee with a Cop is a national initiative supported by The United States Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. Similar events are being held across the county, as local police departments strive to make lasting connections with the communities they serve.

The program aims to advance the practice of community policing through improving relationships between police officers and community members one cup of coffee at a time.

http://www.minthilltimes.com/2014/01/mint-hill-police-department-to-host-coffee-with-a-cop-on-february-4-2014/

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Massachusetts

Marty Walsh vows action as Boston killings mount

Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who came into office 22 days ago pledging to take on the city's gun violence, is facing his first major crisis as mayor with nine killings in a span of just 19 days — a spike of 350 percent over this time last year.

“We cannot become complacent to the death of any young person in our City; we need to stop these events from happening in the first place,” Walsh said in a statement in response to a Herald request for an interview with the mayor and his police commissioner after the two latest deaths yesterday. Both Walsh and Police Commissioner William Evans declined to be interviewed.

“In the coming days, I will be convening several groups to discuss actions we can take in several of the areas that I discussed with Commissioner Evans and his Command Staff,” Walsh said in his statement. “We will work with all levels of government, law enforcement, and the community to reduce the trauma in our neighborhoods, get guns off the street, and address the underlying causes of violence.

“While there is no single solution, improving public safety is among my highest priorities. This kind of violence cannot become commonplace; we should be shocked every time we hear of another shooting, of another death in our
community.”

The mayor's statement noted the last four fatal shootings appear connected and are likely “a combination of gang violence and retaliation” among victims and suspects known to each other. The eight men and one woman were mainly in their teens and 20s, the latest two killed yesterday morning. There were just two killings in the same period last year.

“You would not expect to see a surge in homicides in the middle of arctic-like weather, but these things have a rhythm and pattern of their own. And you can oversell how much the police can do to combat them,” said Eugene O'Donnell, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. But he added, “When things are heading in the wrong direction, any mayor will eventually face the question: ‘Are you up for the job when it comes to public safety?'”

City pols and activists indicated they are ready to give the newly appointed mayor the benefit of the doubt.

At-large City Councilor Stephen Murphy, who chaired the Public Safety Committee for 14 years, said, “Next month, there could be a 200 percent decrease. We just don't know. But we've got to be alarmed that it's happening.”

Emmett Folgert of the Dorchester Youth Collaborative, citing Walsh's campaign promises, said, “I'm a big believer in community policing. I think if anything this spike in murders underlines the need for it.”

District 4 Councilor Charles Yancey, whose district includes parts of Mattapan, said, “It's too early to judge the new mayor. I'm always alarmed to hear about any homicide in the city of Boston. But I don't think it's fair to evaluate Mayor Walsh this early in his administration. ... He's still trying to get his sea legs.”

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2014/01/marty_walsh_vows_action_as_boston_killings_mount

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Minnesota

Look for more Metro Transit cops when you ride the light rail this summer

by Frederick Melo

Transit rider Holly-Anne Huebscher all but swore she would never ride the Route 16 bus down University Avenue again.

Huebscher, a downtown St. Paul museum worker, was punched by a passenger who then fled by diving out an emergency exit window. She's been through two other run-ins with crime on the same route.

The silver lining has been that police were there fast each time; they caught the passenger who struck her. "The police did respond quickly," she said.

Life on the 16 bus has been anything but ordinary recently. A fatal stabbing, a kick to the head that nearly took off a passenger's tongue and a knife-vs.-hammer fight involving a driver have tarnished the reputation of Metro Transit's second-busiest route.

Some transit riders are wondering aloud if the same problems will spill over to the nearly $1 billion Central Corridor light-rail line, which closely parallels Route 16 between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul.

With the Metropolitan Council regional planning agency preparing to debut the 11-mile line June 14, officials are eager to tackle a perception problem. The high-profile incidents are not the norm, officials say. Nevertheless, the agency is investing in new officers and technology to keep riders safe.

"I think from a public safety perspective, it's going to be safer than ever," said St. Paul City Council member Russ Stark, a frequent bus rider who lives off University Avenue.

Last year, police reported 854 incidents on Route 16, including 22 assaults and 226 reports of disorderly conduct. The numbers are up sharply from 2010, when there were 440 incident reports, including 16 assaults and 97 reports of disorderly conduct.

Part of that increase, Metro Transit officials say, could be attributed to there being more officers to report the problems they see.

To get ahead of crime and boost confidence in the public transit system, Metro Transit Police plan to deploy 22 new officers in and around the new light-rail line on foot and bicycle. All of them will be based out of a new "East Command" police hub on Transfer Road in St. Paul.

"We have added almost 70 officers since I got here," said Metro Transit Police Chief John Harrington, who started in late 2012. "As the system expands, the transit police have expanded, also."

The latest hires will bring the overall transit police force to 94 full-time officers and 100 part-time officers before summer. There will be 45 officers based out of East Command, which serves transit routes in St. Paul and the eastern suburbs. The department also maintains a command center in Minneapolis.

Policing on a system constantly in motion provides its own challenges.

While there are at least 2,500 officer-boardings each month throughout the system, its main crime prevention strategy is not to have police riding up and down the line. Instead, the focus is on community outreach and on policing known hotspots, such as teenage after-school hangouts and bars after closing time.

"Particularly in a downtown area, it's probably more effective to have police be at stops," said John Siqveland, a Metro Transit spokesman.

When the Green Line, as the Central Corridor will be known, starts rolling, each train will be monitored by 10 security cameras. And much like trains on the Hiawatha Blue Line, there also will be emergency intercoms that that connect directly to the driver.

Each station platform will have call boxes and at least four additional cameras. Larger stations will have as many as 10 cameras that will be controlled remotely to allow officers to zoom in on suspicious activity.

Metro Transit Police say they're also working closely with city police departments.

"We're sharing information, we're sharing data, and putting officers in hotspots," said Capt. Jim Franklin, who was promoted to oversee East Command this past summer.

The challenge is clear, as the Green Line is being set up to capture more ridership than parallel bus routes. Where Route 16 has about 15,500 passenger boardings on a weekday, the Met Council projects 40,000 weekday boardings on the light-rail line by 2030.

There are also two other Metro Transit routes that parallel the 16: the limited stop Route 50, which also runs mostly along University Avenue; and the express Route 94, which runs on Interstate 94. Those routes run less fequently and carry fewer passengers.

Once the Green Line begins running, Route 50 will be discontinued, and Route 94 will shut down on evenings and weekends.

TROUBLE ON 16

Longtime rider Catricia Washington said the Route 16 bus is generally safe but gets "hectic" on weekends, when younger riders tend to board in groups.

John Sherman, who has been riding the 16 bus for 25 years, put it this way: "Kids are noisy."

While rowdiness was the main gripe of a few recent riders, it is a recent spat of violence that has caught the headlines. Among the incidents:

-- In July 2012, a man was found stabbed to death near Rice Street and University Avenue in St. Paul after a fight that began on the 16 bus. The incident reportedly began after one man bumped the other on the bus, and the altercation continued near the bus stop.

-- On Oct. 2, 2013, police were called to a St. Paul bus stop when a hammer-wielding bus driver faced off against a passenger armed with a knife. The two argued after the passenger tried to photograph the driver with her cell phone, according to charges against the driver.

-- In November 2013, a young man with a shoeprint on his forehead told police he had been followed off the Route 16 bus at University and Chatsworth Street, then jumped, beaten and robbed by a former school acquaintance and some other young men.

-- Also in November, a passenger allegedly kicked a fellow passenger in the head so hard his tongue was nearly cut in half. According to criminal charges, surveillance video showed the victim had offered to help out his attacker's girlfriend, who had asked riders for change for $1.

Transit officials say such violence is far from typical. The 16 bus is one of only three overnight Metro Transit routes -- the others are Route 5 and Route 19 linking Brooklyn Center and parts of Minneapolis -- and among its busiest, spokesman Siqveland said.

He noted that the 854 reported incidents on the Route 16 last year averages out to be one incident for every 5,200 riders.

"On Route 16, the majority of incidents are going to be quality of life and nuisance crime, just as it generally is throughout the majority of the transit system: disorderly conduct, loitering or smoking," he said.

Damian Goebel, a spokesman for the transit advocates St. Paul Smart Trips, said most commuters who contact his organization are excited for the new light-rail and not worried about crime and safety.

"During the morning and afternoon rush, the Green Line would operate more like the current (limited stop) Route 50, which has a pretty low crime rate," Goebel said.

The Green Line will have 18 station stops, while the Route 16 currently has 150 stops.

FORCE UNDER FIRE

Metro Transit police have heard criticism of their general operations in the past -- and not just from riders.

In 2012, an independent report by the Upper Midwest Community Policing Institute said the department showed a "failure to comprehensively and consistently track and report incident data."

The report said the department lacked a clear sense of mission and "evidence-based, data-driven police practice."

It also said many officers thought they were being used as ticket-takers and farebox watchers, rather than as law enforcement on routes that needed the most policing.

Harrington, a former St. Paul police chief, took over the Metro Transit department around the time the report was issued and pledged to help the department better define its role.

He has focused on mundane issues -- such as altering a police patch he felt was not instantly recognizable as a law enforcement badge -- and more complicated endeavors, such as decentralizing the command center.

Transit police now study ridership patterns and compare them with crime patterns in nearby neighborhoods.

"We've brought on crime analysis, which didn't exist beforehand," Harrington said. "We've worked with our local police departments to identify where we need to be. ... I think we've become more responsive and much quicker to deal with those issues."

In recent years, Metro Transit and St. Paul police have increased their presence near downtown bus stops along Fifth Street in response to reports of confrontations involving young people near bus shelters.

"That has reduced crime substantially in downtown, both call volume and complaints," Harrington said. "You look at downtown Minneapolis, at Seventh and Nicollet, same thing. Do you really want the cop (on board) for an hour ride, when you have certain hotspots?"

Officers, often in plainclothes, will continue to ride buses and trains, though, he said.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges have pointed to the importance of providing transit options to attract talented young professionals interested in car-free, urban living. Part of the success of that will require transit remain a hospitable experience.

Hilary Reeves, a spokeswoman for Transit for Livable Communities, a St. Paul-based transit advocacy group, said people who have never ridden the bus and many first-time riders often ask about personal safety, but they should feel reassured.

Limited research exists on the link between light-rail and crime, but Reeves noted that a 2011 study published in the Journal of Urban Affairs found that property crime actually decreased near new light-rail stations in Charlotte, N.C.

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_25005418/look-more-metro-transit-cops-when-you-board

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Wisconsin

MPD addressing racial disparity concerns

by Alex Arriaga

In light of recent attention to racial disparity concerns, the Madison Police Department pledged to continue to focus on the issue through initiatives like neighborhood policing and training programs.

MPD Interim Chief Randy Gaber highlighted a variety of initiatives in a blog post. The department started the Unconscious Bias Group in 2010 and developed a training called “Judgment Under the Radar,” which is intended to bring awareness to any sensitivity certain groups within the department or in the community may have.

The program primarily focuses on racial disparity in the criminal justice system, policing a multifaceted and diverse community and pending changes in immigration legislation, the post said. The training serves to bring attention to how biases can be an impediment to policing, the post said.

Those involved in the Judgment Under the Radar training in the past several years have included law enforcement officers in the department as well as from other local law enforcement agencies, the post said. There are several Judgment Under the Radar trainings scheduled for 2014.

The post also outlined another initiative the police department has implemented to address the issue of racial disparity, known as Neighborhood Policing. Through this initiative, certain communities throughout Madison are assigned an officer.

Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, said this initiative in particular serves the Madison community well by establishing close relationships between the police and residents.

“The MPD absolutely recognizes the importance of understanding racial disparities in our community not only within the MPD department but also how it impacts Madison residents' perceptions with the police,” Resnick said.

Resnick said in communities that are known to have issues with policing, it helps to have an established relationship where otherwise residents might have apprehension in contacting the police.

Particularly in communities of color, Resnick said utilizing resources like neighborhood police officers is beneficial as it allows community members to have an officer available to talk to and establish a connection with.

The role of neighborhood police officers is to patrol areas regularly as a preventative policing strategy, Resnick said.

Erica Nelson, who worked on the Race to Equity report from the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, said the MPD's statement of commitment to continuing its efforts in reducing racial disparity in Madison is a step in the right direction.

“It is a big part of the puzzle, we have high racial disparities in the criminal justice system involving high arrest rates, and high juvenile arrest rates,” Nelson said. “The more that the police force understands that and can build relationships in the community to mitigate people being arrested and mitigate crime I think that's great.”

In terms of reducing racial disparities between African-Americans and whites in the community, Nelson said everybody has a role to play and can help each other in working toward reducing racial disparity.

It is important that MPD has a commitment to this issue, and while MPD cannot solve the problem of racial disparity in Madison singlehandedly, other people have and will follow suit in addressing racial disparity in Madison, Nelson said.

http://badgerherald.com/news/2014/01/27/mpd-addressing-racial-disparity-concerns/#.UueXZc8o45s

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Pennsylvania

Prosecutor, principal save Strawberry Mansion High

by DAN GERINGER

FEDERAL prosecutor Robert Reed spent 40 years putting violent young criminals in prison for life.

Linda Cliatt-Wayman spent 30 years teaching and administering in Philadelphia public schools, trying to save as many kids as she could from ending up in front of prosecutors like Reed, or worse, from sudden death on the streets of Strawberry Mansion.

Reed was passionate about prosecution. In U.S. v. Larry Johnson and Ronnie Robinson, he got both defendants sentenced to 117 years without parole for several 1994 armed carjackings that included torture and sexual assault.

He successfully prosecuted 61 members of the "OK Corral" cocaine gangs that terrorized Hunting Park in the '80s. Nine defendants were convicted of murder.

Wayman is as fervent about saving young students as Reed was about imprisoning young criminals.

Until 2012, Reed and Wayman lived in such different worlds that they'd never met.

And then they did. And Strawberry Mansion High hasn't been the same since.

The students, 97 percent of whom are African-American, are still 100 percent economically disadvantaged and 36 percent "academically disabled."

But since Wayman took over, although enrollment has increased from 366 to 445 students, assaults per school year have dropped from 26 to nine, and weapons incidents dropped from eight to three.

The school is off the state's "persistently dangerous schools" list for the first time since 2008-09.

'This ain't no school'

When Wayman took over Strawberry Mansion High in September 2012, its fourth principal in four years, "There was a sense in the entire building of 'We don't care about nothing,' " she said.

"The kids loitered in the halls, smoking weed, cursing everybody out, fighting. Somebody said, 'Why do you keep calling this a school? This ain't no school.' "

Wayman reached out to Dan O'Brien, a city deputy managing director who runs PhillyRising's Strawberry Mansion revitalization program. He told her he knew this guy, a prosecutor with a heart of gold, who might help. A guy named Rob Reed.

By then, Reed's focus had shifted from the courtroom to the city's most dangerous high schools. He and his boss, U.S. Attorney Zane Memeger, were trying to stop the school-to-prison pipeline through anti-bullying, student-run youth court and anti-violence programs.

Reed came to Strawberry Mansion High buoyed by program successes in Germantown and Kensington - and ran into a brick wall.

"Rob Reed brought in an anti-bullying program, which was a disaster," Wayman said. "The kids laughed at him like this was a joke. These kids had no empathy for another person. They had no hope for anything. Their attitude shook him up."

Reed said, "I thought I was going to jump out the window. Because of my years as federal prosecutor, I was not naive, thinking I'm going to change the world in one fell swoop.

"But these were 25 ninth-graders so dug in to the belief that their lives could not be changed, that they could not make positive choices, that there was no reason for hope. It was depressing."

But Reed has a prosecutor's belief that tough battles can be won, and Wayman has a preacher's faith in redemption, so together, they fought on.

"I put a system of non-negotiable rules in place that stopped the chaos," Wayman said. "Of course, it almost killed me."

No hoodies. No cellphones. No fighting. Wayman put up "Forbidden Stairwell" signs on the students' favorite hangouts and told them, "You touch this, automatic suspension."

And Wayman, the mother of all mother hens, delivered daily torrents of tough love with gospel fervor over the loudspeakers.

"I scream, 'Joseph? Are you in the classroom, Joseph? Bruce? You got your books, Bruce?' They enjoy me calling them out by name, telling them, 'I love you guys.' And I like them telling me, 'I got it now, Wayman.' "

But then, just four months after she became principal, the Philadelphia School District announced that it was closing Strawberry Mansion High.

"I almost fainted," Wayman said. "They had just closed Rhodes and FitzSimons high schools, and moved those students to Mansion. Now they wanted to close Mansion?"

'Every principal was crying'

At a meeting of principals from the 37 public schools targeted for closure, Wayman held up a neighborhood crime map and told Superintendent William Hite, "These black dots represent the deaths of kids that should be in my school. How are you going to close my school?"

Wayman told the Daily News , "Not a dry eye in the place. Every principal was crying."

She and Reed launched a shoe-leather campaign to save Strawberry Mansion High.

"Most principals thought I was crazy," Wayman said. "They told me, 'Don't mobilize people to protest.' I said, 'If they fire me, they fire me. I can't let them close it.' "

Reed privately pleaded his case before Hite, and before City Council President Darrell Clarke.

Wayman enlisted community leaders Tonya Parker and Donnell Tillery to walk the streets of Strawberry Mansion with her, knocking on doors, getting residents out to a meeting with school district officials that would determine the fate of Strawberry Mansion High.

"I got them at the bus stop, the supermarket, on food lines," Parker said. "I lost two of my sons to street violence. I knew how important saving the high school was."

Wayman said 200 Mansion parents packed the meeting, where she told district officials, "I am surrounded by charters which don't take kids like mine. Every experiment you've tried in North Philly, you've tried with my kids. Lots of them are dead."

Hite took Strawberry Mansion High off the closure list in February. That freed Wayman and Reed to:

* Create a youth court in which, instead of suspensions for nonviolent offenses, defendants were sentenced by a student judge and jury to community service, and remained in school.

* Create a wildly popular culinary program in the school's state-of-the-art kitchen, which had been unused for a year after a cooking teacher quit and wasn't replaced.

"We now have a fabulous teacher," Wayman said. "Students make lunch there for the staff."

* Create a filmmaking program where students wrote, acted in and shot "Mourning at Night," about a senseless killing at a local basketball game.

* Create Strawberry Mansion High's first-ever football team, an undefeated junior varsity squad that will become a varsity team this fall, so players can be eligible for college athletic scholarships.

Cartridge on his desk

Like the high school, said city Managing Director Richard Negrin, the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood is on the rise.

"I have a live cartridge on my desk that Dan O'Brien found while we did a PhillyRising cleanup on vacant land across from the high school last year," Negrin said. "That's a place where kids always played.

"It's a hollow point," he said, "so it spreads open when it makes contact, forms claws as it moves through the body and creates carnage. It looks like it was fired, jammed inside the gun and was ejected into the soil. I keep it on my desk to remind me of what surrounds our kids as they play in troubled communities."

Today, the land where O'Brien found the bullet is a huge community garden that Suku John of the East Park Revitalization Alliance built last summer with sweat equity from Negrin, O'Brien, Reed and neighborhood residents.

Using thousands of dollars of lumber and top soil donated by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, they built 45 raised beds - 30 for residents' vegetable gardens and 15 for Strawberry Mansion High students to grow food for the culinary program.

O'Brien continues to energize the neighborhood by networking with its shoestring heroes, who do big things with little money:

* Markel McCoy lives on Natrona Street alongside the vegetable garden and keeps things watered and healthy.

* Deacon Billy Thompson of Faith Temple Church of God, on Cumberland Street near 32nd, moved the pulpit out onto the street last summer because, he said, "We need to come outside our comfort zone and let people know what we are doing."

What Thompson is doing, said Denise Jackman, who lives nearby on Douglas Street, is getting residents to put up lights and a star on their blocks that will shine every night through National Night Out on Aug. 6, telling the city that Strawberry Mansion supports community policing and peace on the streets.

* In what used to be his mom's corner bar at 30th Street and Dauphin, Kevin Upshur, a Youth Study Center counselor, self-funds his Strawberry Mansion Community Learning Center, where kids drop in six days a week to do homework on donated computers, guided by student volunteers from Strawberry Mansion High.

Reflecting on the changes she's seen since taking over in 2012, Wayman said, "I love these children. If I couldn't see any glimmer of hope, it would be too depressing to stay here."

She's staying.

"Some of my students are kids nobody else wants," she said. "They tell me, 'I've been incarcerated, I've been to Glen Mills, I've been thrown out of charter schools.' I tell them, 'Welcome to Last Chance High School. But, really, welcome.' "

http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20140128_Prosecutor__principal_save_Strawberry_Mansion_High.html

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Utah

Clearfield police to use armored vehicle to fight crime

by Mike Anderson

SALT LAKE CITY — Clearfield police are using a new machine called "the Armadillo," which will soon be used to fight crime, simply by sitting in front of potential problem homes.

"It's imposing," said Assistant Chief of Police Mike Stenquist. "Basically, it is to call attention to the problem. Let the people in the neighborhoods know that we're aware of what they're going through and that we're there to assist them."

Stenquist said he and Police Chief Greg Krusi learned about the program while attending a police chief's conference in Orlando, Fla., a few years ago. The idea was first developed by police in Illinois.

"Initially the police chief in Peoria used a police car for this very purpose," Stenquist said. "He parked it in front of a home where there was known drug-trafficking going on."

The next morning, Stenquist said the car was found vandalized. Windows were smashed up. The body was dented. The police chief there eventually got the idea of using an armored truck.

Stenquist said the Clearfield Police Department started searching for its own armored armadillo about four years ago. They eventually landed a deal with Brink's, based in Aurora, Colo., for a used late '90s model.

"It was due to be retired or go to the junkyard," Stenquist said.

Instead, Brink's donated the truck. It was transported to Utah with the help of the Army National Guard and a federal drug grant. Stenquist said local auto-body shops also donated their time and materials to paint and fix up both the interior and exterior.

Stenquist said citizen requests are already coming in for the Armadillo. The department will review each situation before deciding where to place it first.

Surveillance cameras mounted around the outside will record continuously for up to four or five days. It's designed mainly to discourage drug trafficking but can serve other purposes.

"There's also the nuisance crimes," Stenquist said. "All night partying or fighting, or situations like that, that really hinder or I guess decrease the quality of life for the neighborhoods."

While the vehicle is armored, Stenquist said it will not be used for SWAT or tactical situations. Rather, it's there just to be seen.

"It's a slow-moving, heavy truck," Stenquist said. "It's meant to be a little bit obnoxious."

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=28516786&nid=968

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William J. Bratton and Paul Romer

Public Safety and Democracy

A dialogue on the evolution and future of policing

PAUL ROMER: Across the world, public safety is the most important task facing city governments. In many poor countries, crime holds back the kind of urbanization essential for economic development. Closer to home, Detroit shows us that if they can, people will flee a city that fails to provide basic public safety.

Cities with crime problems should be able to take advantage of what we have learned about the policing strategies that reduce crime. Unfortunately, they hear too often from academics and other opinion shapers who still seem to think that policing strategies can have no effect on crime rates. This perception is totally at odds with the new understanding that has emerged among people like you, who have been in the trenches, experimenting with new approaches, and bringing down crime.

WILLIAM BRATTON: Yes. In a democratic society, the Number One obligation of the government is public safety. And the criminal-justice system is the entity charged with that responsibility. The police, through their behavior, are entrusted to enforce the law. A key challenge is to do it constitutionally. You can't break the law while enforcing it. And in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, police were breaking the law quite a lot. So that's why we ended up with a lot of constitutional guidelines for police activity.

ROMER: What was your experience with the changes that came after the 1960s, when we tried to bring policing in line with the protections of the Constitution? One of the reasons that so many people today seem not to understand the connection between policing and crime is that they do not remember, or perhaps never knew, how crime increased in the United States starting in the 1960s and then came back down in the 1990s.

BRATTON: I joined the Boston Police Department in 1970 and came to New York to take over the Transit Police in 1990. Those 20 years were a time of phenomenal change. We were in the midst of an extraordinarily unpopular war in Vietnam. We were in the midst of the civil rights movement. There was great social turbulence—the Democratic National Convention riots, the Kent State shootings. It was an incredible time in American history. That's the world I came into, all 155 pounds of me. I had my six-shot revolver, my six spare rounds, a set of handcuffs, a pen, and a parking-ticket book. They didn't even give me a radio. Just six weeks of training, and I was on the streets of Boston.

ROMER: Looking back, it is hard to believe that you received so little training. These days, we understand that policing is an extremely difficult, high-skill job. Now we expect that police will be well educated and well trained.

BRATTON: I was very fortunate because as part of a push toward professionalization, the federal government for the first time was paying for police officers to go to college. It was the best thing that ever happened to me because I didn't get wrapped in the “blue cocoon” as I was beginning my career. The kids I ate with at the college cafeteria in the morning would be demonstrating against the war in front of the federal building in the afternoon. And I'd be there, too, on the other side of the lines in my blue suit.

ROMER: It seems to me that prior to the 1960s, police were powerful but were largely unaccountable to the public. They did keep crime in check but sometimes did so in ways that the public increasingly found unacceptable. One impetus for this change came from the civil rights movement, which highlighted the many ways in which local governments and local police mistreated people of color. In response, we brought in controls to limit the abuse of police powers and pushed for better training for members of any police force.

BRATTON: I've spent my life in the police profession, and I'm proud of that. But I am also very cognizant of the profession's limitations, its potential for abuse, and its potential negative impact. Policing has to be done compassionately and consistently. You cannot police differently in Harlem from the way you're policing downtown. The same laws must apply. The same procedures must be employed. Certain areas at certain times may have more significant crime and require more police presence, or more assertiveness, but it has to be balanced. If an African-American or a recent immigrant—or anyone else, for that matter—can't feel secure walking into a police station or up to a police officer to report a crime because of a fear that they're not going to be treated well, then everything else that we promise is on a shaky foundation.

ROMER: When we first tried to limit the potential for abuse and professionalize policing, which were clearly important things for us to do, we may have gone too far and made it impossible for police to do what had historically been their primary job: preventing crime. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that we sent the message that police could get into trouble if they tried to anticipate and prevent crime, and we gave them a justification for simply waiting for crime to happen and then reacting to it. We developed a new theory about what caused crime—the so-called root causes—and a new view about what the job was for police. Because they could not change the social and economic factors that were thought to be the root causes of crime, the police could not be expected to prevent crime. All they could do, and all we expected them to do, was to clean up after it took place.

BRATTON: After the 1960s, as social movements evolved and America was changing, society felt that the role of the police also needed to change, to become more professional and better educated, in terms of forensics and training.

What changed in the 1990s—and I'm one of the principal advocates of it—was that the role of police became first and foremost about preventing crime. I've always embraced decentralization, empowering a local precinct commander to work with his or her community. In a city the size of New York, you can't expect the police commissioner to be aware of what's going on down, say, on West 3rd Street all the time. But the precinct commander there, through involvement with the community, should be aware of deteriorating conditions in the area and be able to address them. This approach allowed us to identify the problems that were creating fear, disorder, and, ultimately, crime. Given that the police have limited resources, the question then becomes: What do we prioritize? What do we focus our time on?

That was the purpose of the Compstat process that we developed in 1994 to track crime. We needed active intelligence so that we could rapidly respond to what it was telling us. But we also needed an environment where all the police commanders came together to talk about what was working and what wasn't. And in that process, part of the effort was to reduce falsification. Because if you're in there with all your peers, they're going to detect very quickly when something's wrong or doesn't add up. We would do auditing, so if any precinct reported a percentage change in crime that was outside the standard variation for the rest of the department, it would be audited to find out what was really going on.

ROMER: Describe the changes that followed from this return in New York to the traditional view that the job of the police is to protect public safety by preventing crime.

BRATTON: Many New Yorkers are too young to understand what the city looked like when I got here in 1990—the graffiti, the decay, the crime, the social disorder. The police were not expected to do anything about these quality-of-life issues—aggressive begging, encampments in every park. When I came in as police commissioner, almost 300 people were living in the park across the street from the UN. At the time, we didn't focus on that, though. There was a perception that the police really couldn't do anything about that kind of disorder. We thought that we were focused on serious crime. What we really didn't understand until the late 1980s and early 1990s was that the victim of all the abhorrent behavior on the streets was the city itself.

To give you an idea of how things have changed: in 1990, I didn't go anywhere without a gun because, as chief of the transit police, I did not feel secure anywhere, including in the subways. In Los Angeles, when I was chief of police there, I also had to carry a gun everywhere, because of the gang violence. I don't carry a gun now. I haven't for a while. It's locked away. I just don't feel the need for it. And I like it that I can do that.

ROMER: One of the misleading conclusions that outsiders seem to have reached is that police cannot deter a person from committing a crime, so the only thing they can do is find people more likely to commit crimes and incapacitate them, lock them up, and throw away the key. I know that you reject this kind of naive, “get tough” approach to crime. One of the dramatic but rarely noticed successes of the turnaround in policing that you started in New York is that the incarceration rate has fallen. A smaller fraction of the population is locked away, yet far fewer crimes are being committed. This points clearly to the possibility, even the likelihood, that with the right policies, we can prevent crime. We can deter people from committing crimes.

Those same people who look at policing from the outside sometimes describe community policing as the misguided alternative to the “get tough” policies that they support. You have always believed that to prevent or deter crime, police must have a good working relationship with the community—that this is as important in preventing acts of terrorism as it is in preventing street crime.

BRATTON: Seventy-five percent of the terrorist plots that have been disrupted since 9/11 were detected when a community member informed a police officer or when a police officer who had a relationship with the community was able to put the clues together to predict that something was going to happen and take steps to prevent it. So the collaboration that is so essential to successful policing really requires the community to be able to trust that what the police are doing is, in fact, not illegal and not based on racial profiling or targeting the Muslim community. Proactive, assertive policing is effective, but if you don't have the legitimacy and the trust of the community, you're not going to get the information that you need to predict and prevent crimes.

ROMER: This same strategy is as important in the fight against gang crime as it is in the fight against terrorism. When you took over as chief of police in Los Angeles, it was clear to everyone that the police did not have a good working relationship with the community, especially with the minority community. Developing a better working relationship with the community was crucial to the turnaround that you implemented there, one that may have been even more difficult than the turnaround in New York (see “The LAPD Remade,” Winter 2013).

One hallmark of New York's turnaround was a greater reliance on data. In Los Angeles, did you have a way to get frequent updates on how public attitudes toward the police were changing, something that you could use as you used Compstat in New York—as a management tool to see if the officers out on patrol were bringing about the needed changes?

BRATTON: Well, we really had to rely on polling done by entities such as the Los Angeles Times and other institutions.

ROMER: This seems to be an area in which technology should be able to help. Ideally, a police chief should have as much detailed geographical data about the relationship between the police and the community as he has about crimes committed. Do you see other ways that technology and new data sources could change policing?

BRATTON: Through the algorithms being developed by a number of universities, we now have an increasing ability to predict where a crime will occur. It doesn't mean that we can know exactly when it will happen and exactly what it will be, but we can say that, within a certain time frame, within a certain geographic area, if we don't put resources in there—meaning, a police officer—there's going to be a crime committed. So you'll hear this term “predictive policing” a lot more often, going forward. It will require computing power and intelligence-analysis capabilities. This means real-time crime centers outfitted with the latest technology. That costs money, and, as you well know, money is tight these days.

ROMER: What about new ways for police and the community to communicate? How can you let members of the community know what the police are doing and why they are doing it?

BRATTON: The police have historically had to rely on the media. Sometimes you had to go through them to get to the public—and, not only to get to the public, but to get to the cops as well, because cops read papers. They watch television. Their families watch television. So you needed to use the media. The media hated it when we said that we “used” them, but you had to make yourself available to them. Sometimes it was painful to make yourself available, but you had to do it to get certain messages through.

But now we have Twitter. Now we have all these social media sites. Think about what happened with the Boston Marathon bombing. The news media are erroneously reporting information. Someone puts up pictures of people who weren't involved and says, “Here are the bombers.” Someone else reports that the bombers have been arrested. It's all wrong. So what do you do? Well, now the Boston P.D. can instantly put out a Tweet saying, “No arrest has been made. The two individuals identified in the newspaper story are not who we're looking for.” And that's that. It's irrefutable and reaches thousands or tens of thousands of people and then gets amplified through the traditional media.

ROMER: Let me ask you one last question, which is, in a sense, a management question. How can you effectively manage an organization in which a very few bad apples can make headlines for abusing their power and do enormous harm to the legitimacy of the entire force?

BRATTON: A police official once said to me that the NYPD employs more than 38,000 “career assassins”—the idea being that any one of the police officers in New York can, at any time, through inappropriate or criminal behavior, effectively bring about a catastrophe for the whole department. All you have to do is think of the actions of Justin Volpe—the officer who brutalized Abner Louima—to appreciate how fragile public confidence in the police can be. This is particularly true in minority communities. The way you deal with that problem is to make it clearly known that the department does the best it can to recruit, train, and supervise its officers. You have to send a message that those officers who go astray will be disciplined. You have to be honest and transparent at all times.

William J. Bratton is once again New York City Police Commissioner. He has formerly served as Boston police commissioner and chief of police in Los Angeles. His conversation with Paul Romer was hosted by the NYU Stern Urbanization Project and NYU's Marron Institute.

Paul Romer is a University Professor at New York University and founding director of the Urbanization Project at the Stern School of Business.

http://www.city-journal.org/2014/24_1_policing.html

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California

Beleaguered Oakland police see a turnaround

Year-end data show homicides down by nearly 30% — as low as they've been since 2002. Shootings and burglaries were down too.

by Lee Romney

OAKLAND — This city's beleaguered Police Department entered 2013 in full defensive mode. The crime rate had soared. Staffing was off sharply. And memories of the heavy-handed police response to Occupy protests 14 months earlier — and the lawsuits it generated — remained fresh.

Scrambling for a turnaround, elected leaders hired out-of-state consultants to overhaul policing strategy and launched the first new police academies in years to beef up the force. The federal judge overseeing a settlement agreement over racial profiling and the beating and framing of suspects named a compliance director, giving him near-total control over the department.

The chief stepped down and an interim leader — the fourth in a tumultuous four years — took the reins.

Now, it appears that some of the work is paying off. Year-end data show homicides down by nearly 30% — as low as they've been since 2002. Shootings, as well as commercial and residential burglaries, were down too.

Robberies climbed, but particular progress was noted in the second half of the year in curbing them. By the end of July, robberies were up from the same time the previous year by 30% — and those involving a gun had climbed by a startling 50%. By year's end, those increases had dropped by half, to 15% and 25% respectively, data show.

Civic leaders here are quick to note that crime remains unacceptably high, and headlines of seemingly senseless killings provide a regular reminder.

A 13-year-old boy — an avid basketball player and drummer in his school band – was gunned down as he walked home from a New Year's Eve event at the Boys and Girls Club. Just this week, a 17-year-old girl was shot and killed at home. The suspect is her 14-year old brother, who had just fought with her about his laundry.

Still, the overall trend is pointing down.

"In the last couple of months, we really started to see the nose-diving," Interim Police Chief Sean Whent said, celebrating in particular the drop in violent crime. "There are fewer shootings, fewer murders," he said. "That's the real goal."

It is not entirely clear what spurred the drop, but interviews with police, city officials and community leaders suggest that a crackdown on two of Oakland's most violent gangs — in March and August — helped curtail not only the murder rate but also robberies, which have largely replaced street drug sales as a key source of gang income.

The East Oakland gangs targeted by multi-agency enforcement efforts were engaging in tit-for-tat killings in their own neighborhoods, but heading to North Oakland and the city's Lake Merritt district to pull off robberies, Whent said.

City officials have said the enforcement came as part of "Ceasefire," a carrot-and-stick program championed by Mayor Jean Quan. Under the program, which has shown success in Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago, violent perpetrators are called in by community leaders, clergy and law enforcement and told to cease their activities and accept help rehabilitating — or suffer harsh consequences.

Oakland's previous Ceasefire efforts fell flat because of inconsistent enforcement and a lack of services, but both have been enhanced.

Still, it remains unclear whether incentives in the current program will ultimately dissuade young men from the gang life, or whether those performing outreach have enough street credibility to bring about change.

The stick, however, appears to be working. A March 2013 sweep netted 17 members of the Case Boys Gang on charges that included conspiracy to commit murder, assault with a firearm, fraud, pimping and pandering.

And in two August operations, more than a dozen defendants, among them alleged leaders of the rival Money Team Gang, were held on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, burglary, robbery and street terrorism.

"We want people to engage in services," Whent said. "We want them to make better life choices. But my chief goal is I don't want them to engage in violence."

A department reorganization into five districts, each with a captain responsible for analyzing trends, meeting with community and deploying resources, also seems to be helping.

"We now have geographic accountability," Quan said.

But relations remain tense in neighborhoods that have historically experienced racial profiling and police abuse.

"I think it will take a long time, particularly before young people of color feel safe with the Police Department, so we're not under federal oversight by mistake," said Olis Simmons, executive director of East Oakland-based Youth UpRising. "However, under Whent's leadership, I do see a shift in department culture, and culture is all that matters."

The department has moved closer to compliance with the federal settlement agreement, although in his most recent report, compliance director Thomas Frazier said "much needs to be done" to refine the way allegations of use of force are handled.

Still, he signed off on his last month's report with optimism, noting that strained relations among the city, Police Department and his team had "improved on all fronts.… This evolution of the basic working environment is a huge step forward that should be publicly noted."

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-oakland-crime-20140127,0,4877088.story#axzz2rbERRkzl

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Masasachusetts

Muggings against Central Americans persist despite increased police response

by SIMÓN RIOS

NEW BEDFORD — Despite increased police response to violence against members of the city's Central American community, muggings continue, and last week the president of a local immigrants rights organization became a victim himself.

"He wanted to rob me but I didn't give him the chance," said Juan Sam, 39, who heads the board of directors of Centro Comunitario Trabajadores.

Sam said a man pulled a gun on the evening of Jan. 16. The man appeared to be about 20 and to speak Puerto Rican Spanish. According to the police report, the assailant fled when he realized Sam called 911.

"It's concerning because it's not just me — it happens to almost everyone," Sam told The Standard-Times in Spanish. "And many are afraid of speaking out, because they don't speak English, they don't speak Spanish. They're afraid."

Sam, a native of Guatemala, has been in New Bedford since 1997. He said practically everyone in the community knows someone who's been jumped but it was the first time it happened to him.

Violence against Central Americans — and particularly Guatemalans, who often don't speak Spanish but Mayan languages — goes back some 15 years, according to Community Economic Development Center Executive Director Corinn Williams.

But Williams said the week of Jan. 13 (when New Bedford saw two homicides and an apparent suicide) was a "wild, wild week" on the Avenue. On Jan. 13, a woman ran into the CEDC office after being accosted by two men, one who jabbed a gun into her ribs and threatened to rob her.

However, "People are afraid to step forward and report to the police," Williams said.

Activists agree that the police have picked up their game since a high-profile meeting on the issue with the mayor, the police chief and community members in November.

Police Chief David Provencher said there have been efforts within the department to reinforce that everyone "deserves prompt responses and attention to the crimes that they're reporting, no matter what their background or where they came from."

Asked what has changed to boost police efforts in the area, Provencher said it's more about increasing dialogue than making changes to policing.

"The more often and the better dialogue that exists between the community and our officers, the better we're going be able to respond to these issues," he said.

Adrian Ventura, executive director of Centro Comunitario Trabajadores, said he was the victim of two separate muggings in 2013 and 2012.

"It's a state of terror where the darkness has dominated the light," he said in Spanish.

Ventura agreed that the city response has improved, but said there's still a long way to go. He and others, for example, are calling for the city to add bus routes to areas used by fish house workers, many of whom are Central Americans, as well as more patrols in the Acushnet Avenue area.

Juan Sam worked in the fish houses when he first came to New Bedford. He said as a Central American living near the avenue it's important to be alert and to defend oneself, if only with a cellphone.

"I defend myself psychologically," he said.

"If I had given him a chance to aim the gun and rob me it could have been different."

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140127/NEWS/401270337

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California

Predictive policing helps crime fighters in San Mateo County

by S. Parker Yesko

In San Mateo County, police are not only responding to crime scenes, but they are trying to anticipate the places that might soon become one.

The strategy, called predictive policing, is being implemented across the county. It attempts to aggregate crime data in real time and identify emerging trends, then efficiently deploy resources to potential hot spots.

Police hope to deter and intercept would-be perpetrators before they have a chance to break the law.

“Every city up and down the Peninsula is having problems with property crimes,” said detective Sgt. Ryan Monaghan of the San Mateo Police Department. “We have detectives that are looking at all these crime trends.”

In a recent bust, the department's Crime Reduction Unit studied the modus operandi of a local burglar.

“Once they get comfortable with a location, they hit that location more than once,” Monaghan said.

Extra patrols and plainclothes officers were deployed to an area near Seal Point Park in San Mateo where police thought the burglar might strike again. Before long, they had apprehended a suspect who was reportedly casing vehicles.

The San Mateo Police Department uses CompStat to aggregate and report on crime data. The agency has an in-house crime analyst whose job is to look at these reports and pick out interesting patterns.

Police leverage Facebook and Twitter to promote awareness and encourage community involvement. The department also uses CrimeReports.com to generate crime heat maps that residents can access and that officers can use to direct patrols.

“It benefits the agency because they're able to show specifically what's happening without doing an enormous amount of public outreach,” said William Kilmer, CEO of PublicEngines, the company behind CrimeReports.

The program also “uses advanced analytics and algorithms to look at short- and long-term trends. … What changes are short-term trends for seasonality, cyclicity, time of day, day of week,” Kilmer said.

Software that allows law enforcement to work smarter rather than harder, especially in times of widespread budget cuts, is being implemented across the Peninsula.

In Redwood City, police use RIMS, a records management program that collects information from their central database.

“We are able to use that as an analytical tool to map out crimes and crime trends,” Sgt. Greg Farley said. “It plots maps and graphs and spreadsheets.”

“This isn't like this magic pie in the sky, it's just using information that's known to cops that used to take a much longer time to compile,” Monaghan said.

A new, sophisticated predictive software called PredPol, which claims it ditches “rear-view mirror policing and … tells law enforcement what is coming,” has found some early adopters in Los Angeles and Seattle.

In San Mateo County, agencies are open to using such products but need assurance that it will be worth the expense for a smaller department.

“Any way that we can use technology to improve the way we're doing business, we're always open to that,” Monaghan said. “We're pretty progressive on that front.”

http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/predictive-policing-helps-crime-fighters-in-san-mateo-county/Content?oid=2687874