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April, 2014 - Week 1

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California

2 tunnels found under California-Mexico border

by Associated Press

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Two drug-smuggling tunnels with rail systems stretching hundreds of yards across the U.S.-Mexico border were discovered by law enforcement officials, and a 73-year-old woman was charged with helping run one operation, federal authorities said Friday.

No contraband was found in connection with the tunnels, which linked warehouses in Tijuana, Mexico, and the Otay Mesa area of San Diego, according to a statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations.

The first tunnel, stretching about 600 yards (548 meters), was discovered Tuesday. It was described as being equipped with lighting, a crude rail system and wooden trusses.

The entrance on the U.S. side is inside a warehouse where a cement cap covered a 70-foot (21-meter) shaft. A pulley system was installed to hoist goods into the building, which was filled with children's toys and boxes of televisions.

The other tunnel, located Thursday, stretches more than 700 yards (640 meters) and was built with more sophisticated features including a multi-tiered electric rail system and ventilation equipment.

On Wednesday, investigators with the San Diego Tunnel Task Force arrested Glennys Rodriguez from the San Diego suburb of Chula Vista.

The U.S. attorney's office has charged her with conspiracy to maintain a drug-involved premises. It wasn't immediately clear whether she had obtained an attorney.

The tunnels were the sixth and seventh found in the area in less than four years, ICE said.

U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said the discoveries foiled cartel plans to sneak large quantities of drugs across the border.

"Going underground is not a good business plan," she said in a statement.

Other participants in the investigation include the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Mexican law enforcement officials also assisted.

On Friday along the Arizona-Mexico border, federal authorities shut down an incomplete drug-smuggling tunnel in Nogales.

A task force developed information that a tunnel was being constructed inside a residence in Nogales, Sonora.

That's just a few yards south of the international border fence near the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona.

Task-force members notified Mexican authorities, and they subsequently discovered the tunnel entrance in a backyard shed at the residence.

The tunnel is approximately 449 feet (136 meters) long with about 60 feet in Mexico and 389 feet in the U.S.

The tunnel is roughly 4 feet (1.2 meters) tall and ends underneath a canyon just east of the Mariposa port.

No people or drugs were found inside the passageway, and no arrests have been made in the case, authorities said.

http://news.msn.com/us/2-tunnels-found-under-california-mexico-border

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Massachusetts

More on their plates, but school officers still friendly

by Steven A. Rosenberg

With a workload that includes everything from traffic control to writing hall passes for students, a school resource officer never faces exactly the same day twice. While keeping a school safe has always been the top priority, the focus on security sharpened on Dec. 14, 2012. That day, a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

The shootings lasted less than 10 minutes before 20-year-old Adam Lanza turned one of his guns on himself.

“It was a wake-up call that it can happen in any town and in any place in America,” said Canton Detective Chip Yeaton, who works as a school resource officer at Canton High School. Yeaton, who also serves as the president of the Massachusetts Juvenile Police Officer's Association – an organization that represents school resource officers – estimated that about 70 percent of school districts in the state have at least one police officer working in a school.

“I don't think anybody walks around saying it's not going to happen here,” said John Panica, who works as a school resource officer at Newton North High School. “I think people say it could, and as long as you're prepared you're able to deal with those things.”

Immediately after Sandy Hook, Reading police Officer Corey Santasky worked with the school district to review its building security, and spent time at schools to reassure children and parents that students were protected.

“After Sandy Hook, I went to all of the elementary schools every day and greeted the kids every morning to show them we're there to help them and keep them safe,” he said.

While shootings are rare, violence at schools continues. Last October, a teacher was found stabbed to death on the grounds of Danvers High School and a 14-year-old student was later charged with her murder. In 2010, John Odgren was convicted of stabbing another student to death in 2007 — when he was 16 — in a bathroom at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School.

Locally, police point to the relationships they've built with students and teachers as proactive measures that have helped prevent possible mass shootings. In Marshfield, police got word of an attack planned for 2005 to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the April 20, 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado that left 15 people dead. Three students who plotted a similar attack in 2001 were thwarted in New Bedford.

But more often than not, school cops can be found in the halls chatting and listening to students. Some are plainclothes, and some, like Santasky, wear a uniform. Walking the halls of Reading High School, Santasky said he believes listening to kids can prevent major problems.

“My goal is to make sure they can trust me, that I'm a resource for them,” Santasky said.

As the call for schools to become safer has grown louder in the last year, districts such as Amesbury, Tewksbury, and Plymouth have added security officers in schools. In 2013, Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), a program within the US Department of Justice dedicated to community policing, awarded $127 million in grants nationwide. In Massachusetts, Amesbury received $250,000, Fall River $1.25 million, and Tewksbury $125,000.

State Representative James M. Cantwell, who represents Marshfield and portions of Plymouth and Scituate, has introduced a bill that would establish a school resource officer grant program and fund. Already, school districts are required by law to include a security plan for their students and school buildings. In January, Governor Deval Patrick established a Task Force on School Safety and Security that will develop a model school safety and security plan that districts can adopt and implement.

“I wish I had 128 cameras in the school. The more eyes on the building, the better,” said Yeaton, as he looked at live images on his computer from some of the 64 cameras stationed at Canton High School.

In Plymouth, Police Chief Michael Botieri said the Sandy Hook shootings prompted the hiring of a fourth school resource officer, who was placed in a middle school. In addition, every school in the district is now being equipped with new video cameras that provide live real-time feeds for monitoring to police headquarters.

Botieri said the cameras and the officers are a better alternative than having armed guards at each school entrance. “It sends a better message that the schools are protected and that there's someone on-site or available in a quicker fashion, because the bottom line is how quickly we can respond when then need us,” he said.

For decades, police officers have been stationed in Massachusetts schools — serving as role models and lecturing to classes on drugs and alcohol, bullying and, more recently, cyber activity such as sexting. Most appear to be masters of small talk: They schmooze with students to gain trust, pull lunch monitor duty like teachers, and walk a beat through the halls in between classes, trying to learn as many names of students as possible. Many even spend some of their weekends at schools, attending games, dances, and plays.

While they were always involved with security, such officers find that a central part of the job these days is to work with school officials and police and fire departments to help create and modify security plans for every school building. School cops get to know the layout of each school, prepare lockdown drills, and are increasingly adapting new policies in drills designed to save more lives in the event of an armed intruder breaking into the school.

This week, as hundreds of school resource officers gather for a two-day conference in Norwood to discuss school security and lockdown procedures, they'll also learn about ALICE, a lockdown training drill that has been implemented by several Greater Boston school districts, including Canton, Reading, Winchester, Wilmington, and Waltham.

ALICE is an acronym for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate. During traditional lockdown drills, students and staff are taught to barricade the door, turn the lights off, and crouch down. ALICE gives options during a lockdown, emphasizing evacuating the building if possible and recommending that under worst-case scenarios, noise and movement should be created in order to distract an attacker.

“We plan for the worst and hope for the best, and that's the whole gamut. We have templates and floor plans,” said Winchester police Sergeant Dan Perenick, who serves as a middle-school student resource officer.

Tony Tierno, who has three sons in the Reading school system, sleeps better knowing that there's a cop in the schools.

“There are a lot of kids who don't always do the right things, so it helps the kids who do the right thing feel safer to have someone to talk to,” he said.

On a recent afternoon, Ariella and Arianna Lowe walked into Yeaton's small, concrete-walled office at Canton High. The 17-year-old identical twins said they often walk in just to say hello to the officer.

“Chip's our best friend,” said Arianna, as her sister stood by and nodded in agreement. “He's easy to talk to. He's not just here to protect us from violence, he's also a good support system, too. We can talk and he'll give us advice. It's easy to trust him.”

After more small talk, the twins began to tease Yeaton after they learned it was his birthday.

“We could have brought you cupcakes,” said Arianna.

“You have to teach on your birthday?” asked Ariella.

“Go beat it!” Yeaton said, in mock anger.

“Peace,” said one of the twins.

Yeaton looked up at the students, slowly smiled, and handed the sisters a hall pass.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/north/2014/04/05/police-suburban-schools-now-focus-security/0kieakc5fYGktEhX4K5BXO/story.html

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North Carolina

Moving forward on police concerns

The Durham Human Relations Commission is inching toward completion of its evaluation of a range of citizen complaints against the Police Department, and the results are likely to be a mixed bag.

While the commission last week postponed a vote on its report, main conclusions have emerged and are unlikely to change in the final review April 29.

The commission appears poised to recommend changes that, if adopted, would help shore up confidence in the department in some segments of the community.

But it is likely to take a pass on answering one of the most volatile and admittedly complicated charges leveled against Durham police – that they engage in racial profiling in asking to search vehicles and citizens.

As attorney Scott Holmes, a department critic, wrote, “Until recently, the evidence of racial profiling has been largely supported only by anecdotal evidence.” But analyzing data collected by the state for more than a decade, the department's adversaries concluded black motorists are far more likely to be searched at routine traffic stops than white motorists.

The department responded with its own thick report. While its authors acknowledged it was “not intended to deny the existence of racial profiling, nor to deny the possibility that some officers may be engaged in bias based policing” it presented a wave of statistics to counter the profiling claims.

The commission, taking the position that as member Dick Ford said, “none of us are statisticians,” is likely to suggest the council engage an outside expert to weigh the competing sets of claims.

But the commission is likely to recommend a policy sought by the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and others. They want police to see written consent for any searches that aren't based on probable cause.

The department already has such forms, but they are seldom used in the field. We understand police concerns that the written-consent policy could be cumbersome and that it might help real criminals evade detection.

But the added transparency and the insurance that citizens are more likely to understand their rights when police ask to search, would seem to outweigh the reservations.

The commission also appears ready to recommend the City Council give substantive power to the now rather toothless Civilian Police Review Board. The board, under the recommendation, could investigate complaints against police, rather than merely looking over the work of the department's internal affairs division.

We have no reason to doubt the integrity or the commitment of internal affairs, but it stands to reason an independent body's investigation would inspire greater confidence among citizens who feel they have reason to distrust the police.

This has been an arduous winter for the human relations commission, bombarded as it has been with the passions and suspicions of all sides of this debate. Their work, we believe, will in the long run mean warmer police-community relations. We hope, though, that the council will continue to press for a continued and thorough examination of the dueling data on profiling.

http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/x740447395/Moving-forward-on-police-concerns

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Georgia

Diversity a key goal for law enforcement

by Emma Witman

Census figures confirm Hall County is still growing, and if predictions hold true, becoming more diverse.

That's why local law enforcement agencies are continuing to seek a force that looks like the community they police.

“It's definitely important because your department should sort of mirror the community that you police in,” Gainesville Police Department spokesman Cpl. Joe Britte said. “We interact with, of course, a melting pot of cultures in the city limits of Gainesville.”

“From a cultural standpoint, you need to be able to communicate with people of other cultures and be able to understand some of their ideologies.”

Hall County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Deputy Nicole Bailes said the department's recruitment strives to reach every facet of the community.

“We serve a community that is diverse in nature, and we strive to have a diverse workforce that is a reflection of our community,” Bailes said. “Typically we advertise in the Spanish newspaper when we have job vacancies, and we will participate in several job fairs throughout the year, reaching out to high school and college graduates.”

Gainesville's police take a similar outreach strategy, Britte said.

“We do a lot of recruitment fairs,” he said. “We put out a recruitment ad in Saludos.com, which is one of your No. 1 Latino recruitment websites and magazines. We also put out another recruitment ad in the prominent African-American websites.”

Bailes offered statistics on the demographics of Sheriff's Office employees: a little more than 12 percent are African-American and about 5 percent Hispanic; 82.4 percent are white.

A point of emphasis for the Vision 2030 Committee, a project of the Greater Hall County Chamber of Commerce aimed at establishing the long-term groundwork for a healthy, happy, thriving community, has been incorporating and embracing diversity.

At one meeting in the past year, the committee brought in demographers from the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government, who estimate that Hall's Hispanic population will be one-third of residents by 2030. They constitute about one-fifth of current residents.

The Sheriff's Office offers a 10 percent salary incentive for bilingual employees, Bailes said, to try and attract candidates, but the office still faces a shortage with fewer qualified people applying. Only about 60 percent of Hispanic and black students graduate high school, according to the same Carl Vinson Institute expert.

But both departments say the goal remains to hire the best candidates.

“With that said, we are always looking for qualified applicants without regards to race, creed or gender,” Bailes said.

“We're constantly seeking qualified candidates to join GPD, and we welcome all walks,” Britte said.

In the end, he said, diversity is a staple of community-oriented policing, the enforcement philosophy agencies strive for.

“It's important that every person feels empowered to reach out to law enforcement, not just on a reactive basis but on a proactive basis,” he said.

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/97864

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New Hampshire

Opinion

Stand up for New Hampshire's kids, public safety

by Reps. Mary Beth Walz and Daniel Itse

This year, the New Hampshire Legislature is again considering a proposal to raise the age from 17 to 18 for juveniles to be prosecuted as adults. HB 1624 will bring us in line with 40 other states that have raised the age. It will also help bring us into compliance with federal laws requiring those under 18 to be separated from those over 18 in prison. This separation would be a large expense for the county jails.

Since 1996, 17-year-olds in New Hampshire accused of a crime, no matter how minor, have been charged as adults. This might seem like a way that our state is “tough on crime” but the facts tell us otherwise. An overwhelming body of evidence shows that sending kids to the adult criminal justice system increases the likelihood that they will repeat their crimes and even move on to more serious ones. Furthermore, there was testimony on HB 1624 that because adult punishment is inappropriate, 17 year old offenders often go unpunished.

Why is recidivism higher nationally for teenagers who enter the adult criminal system? One reason is that young people in the juvenile system are required to participate in education and counseling, but in the adult system, they are not afforded age-appropriate services and often leave prison without continued oversight, rehabilitation or the skills they need to restart their lives. An adult record is a huge barrier to a successful future, limiting opportunities for education, employment, military service, and involvement in community life.

Last year, The Central Park Five, a film by New Hampshire's own Ken Burns, aired on PBS. This film very painfully documents how five black and Latino teenagers, aged 14 to 16, were coerced to confess to a crime they did not commit and went to prison. Their convictions were overturned 13 years later when a convicted rapist and murderer confessed and DNA evidence proved that it was he alone who committed the crime. But the lives of five innocent kids were changed forever, and not for the better.

When kids are treated as adults, as the five in the Central Park case were, the odds of convicting the innocent are high. In most states, for example, a parent must be present when a young person is interrogated, but when the law defines that child as an “adult” for the purposes of criminal prosecution, parents don't even need to be notified of an arrest. This is one area that The Central Park Five quite terrifyingly depicts.

When our Legislature voted to lower the age from 18 to 17 in 1996, there was the fear that drug dealers from Massachusetts would send juvenile “drug mules” here to commit crimes because our law was set at a higher age than theirs. But Massachusetts and other neighboring states have since raised the age back to 18, so the reason New Hampshire lowered the age no longer exists. In addition, we have a better understanding now of brain development in adolescents and we know more about the impulsiveness that leads them to poor choices. With appropriate punishment, we will ensure that more of our youthful offenders become contributing members of society.

We will need to expand education, rehabilitative services and juvenile probation to serve the 17-year-olds coming into the system, but the bed capacity at the Sununu Center is adequate, eliminating any construction costs. Furthermore, HB 1624 does not change current NH law that gives judges the discretion to transfer the relatively few cases where 17-year-olds are accused of serious felonies to adult court. But the majority would stay in the juvenile justice system, where their odds of rehabilitation are much higher.

The “tough on crime” law that has been on the books since 1996 is actually making our state less safe, but we have the opportunity to fix it. We have the ability to help kids who get in trouble turn their lives around and not become adult criminals. Since January, the House of Representatives has voted twice — overwhelmingly — to approve the policy and financial impacts of HB 1624. We strongly urge our Senate colleagues to join us, a super-majority of the House, and the 40 states that have reversed themselves on this issue over the past two decades, and vote Yes to raise the age this year.

Rep. Mary Beth Walz is a Democrat from Bow and Rep. Daniel Itse is a Republican from Fremont.

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140406/GJOPINION_0102/140409688/-1/FOSOPINION

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China ship detects 'pulse signal' in Indian Ocean

by Nick Perry and Eileen Ng

PERTH, Australia (AP) — Malaysia vowed Saturday that it would not give up on trying to find the missing jetliner and announced details of a multinational investigation team to solve the aviation mystery, as the search for the plane entered its fifth week.

Military and civilian planes, ships with deep-sea searching equipment and a British nuclear submarine scoured a remote patch of the southern Indian Ocean off Australia's west coast, in the increasingly urgent hunt for debris and the "black box" recorders that hold vital information about Malaysia Airlines Flight 370's last hours.

After weeks of fruitless looking, officials face the daunting prospect that sound-emitting beacons in the flight and voice recorders will soon fall silent as their batteries die after sounding electronic "pings" for a month.

China's official news agency, Xinhua, reported late Saturday that a Chinese ship that is part of the multinational search effort detected a "pulse" signal in southern Indian Ocean waters on Saturday. The report said it was not determined whether the signal was related to the missing jet.

The report said a black box detector deployed by the vessel, Haixun 01, picked up a signal at 37.5Hz per second at around 25 degrees south latitude and 101 degrees east longitude.

The Australian government agency coordinating the search would not immediately comment on the report.

Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia's defense minister and acting transport minister, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur that the cost of mounting the search was immaterial compared to providing solace for the families of those on board by establishing what happened.

"I can only speak for Malaysia, and Malaysia will not stop looking for MH370," Hishammuddin said.

The Boeing 777 disappeared March 8 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard. So far, no trace of the jet has been found.

At the media briefing, Hishammuddin announced that an independent investigator would be appointed and three main areas of inquiry would be pursued. One team will look at airworthiness, including maintenance, structures and systems; another will examine operations, such as flight recorders and meteorology; and a third will consider medical and human factors.

The overall investigation team will include officials and experts from Australia — which as the nearest country to the search zone is currently heading the hunt, with other nations' help — as well as China, the United States, Britain and France, Hishammuddin said.

A multinational team is desperately trying to find debris floating in the water or faint sound signals from the recorders that could lead them to the missing plane and unravel the mystery of its fate.

Finding floating wreckage is key to narrowing the search area, as officials can then use data on currents to backtrack to where the plane hit the water, and where the flight recorders may be.

Beacons in the black boxes emit "pings" so they can be more easily found, but the batteries only last about a month.

Officials have said the hunt for the wreckage is among the hardest ever undertaken, and will get much harder still if the beacons fall silent before they are found.

"Where we're at right now, four weeks since this plane disappeared, we're much, much closer," said aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas, the editor-in-chief of AirlineRatings.com. "But, frustratingly, we're still miles away from finding it. We need to find some piece of debris on the water; we need to pick up the ping."

If it doesn't happen, the only hope for finding the plane may be a full survey of the Indian Ocean floor, an operation that would take years and an enormous international operation.

Hishammuddin said there were no more new satellite images or data that can provide new leads for searchers. The focus now is fully on the ocean search, he said.

Two ships, the Australian navy's Ocean Shield and the British HMS Echo, carrying sophisticated equipment that can hear the recorders' pings, returned on Saturday to an area investigators hope is close to where the plane went down. They concede the area they have identified is a best guess.

Up to 13 military and civilian planes and nine other ships took part in the search Saturday, the Australian agency coordinating the search said.

Because the U.S. Navy's pinger locator can pick up signals to a depth of 6,100 meters (20,000 feet), it should be able to hear the plane's data recorders even if they are in the deepest part of the search zone — about 5,800 meters (19,000 feet). But that's only if the locator gets within range of the black boxes — a tough task, given the size of the search area and the fact that the pinger locator must be dragged slowly through the water at just 1 to 5 knots (1 to 6 mph).

Australian Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, head of the joint agency coordinating the operation, acknowledged the search area was essentially a best guess, and noted the time when the plane's locator beacons would shut down was "getting pretty close."

The overall search area is a 217,000-square-kilometer (84,000-square-mile) zone in the southern Indian Ocean, about 1,700 kilometers (1,100 miles) northwest of the western Australian city of Perth.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/04/05/malaysia-flight-search-navy/7342255/

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Illinois

Detroit leaders decry beating of driver who hit, tried to aid boy

by Kevin Murphy

(Reuters) - Detroit's mayor and city council president on Friday called for calm and condemned the severe beating that bystanders gave to a motorist who stopped to help a 10-year-old boy he had struck with his vehicle.

Steven Utash, 54, who was surrounded by a group and beaten on Wednesday afternoon, remained in critical condition on Friday in a Detroit hospital, police said. The child he hit, David Harris, was released from a hospital on Thursday, they said.

"This senseless vigilante-style attack is not the essence of who we are as Detroiters and will not be tolerated," Mayor Mike Duggan and council President Brenda Jones said in a statement.

Police said Utash struck Harris as the boy stepped into traffic near a convenience store.

Utash did the right thing by stopping to aid him, the statement said.

"We are asking all metro Detroiters to demonstrate our true character by exercising calm and patience during this emotionally charged time," Duggan and Jones said in the statement.

No charges will be filed against Utash, Detroit police spokeswoman Jennifer Moreno said.

The attackers also stole Utash's wallet, money and credit cards, Moreno said.

Police, as well as Duggan and Jones, asked the public for help in identifying and locating anyone who took part in the beating.

Supporters of Utash, who is from the Detroit suburb of Roseville, have created a Facebook page to raise money for his hospital bills. The page says Utash has no insurance and his family needs help to pay his medical bills.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/140405/detroit-leaders-decry-beating-driver-who-hit-tried-aid-boy

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Georgia

Community policing trying to bring down crime

Richmond CO (WRDW) -- "Boom, boom, boom." That's what one man heard early Thursday morning, when someone tried to kick open his front door and broke in through the window leaving behind finger prints.

"It's very messed up because there's kids in here," the burglary victim said.

Officials say they're hoping a new push for community policing will bring down crime. Deputies walk and ride bikes through neighborhoods, trying to become faces the community recognizes.

They say it's working, especially in reducing the number of burglaries.

In the first three months of 2012, there were 849 burglaries. Since community police began in January of 2013, the number of burglaries has dropped to 409.

And the numbers are still going down, according to the sheriff's office. In January and February of this year, there have been 402 burglaries--down by more than half from 2012.

One place the sheriff's office is focusing on: the downtown business area. Jason Alamo says he's definitely felt their presence in the past couple of days.

"A couple of police walked in and asked for a specific address and contact phone number," Alamo said. "In case they saw something goofy after hours early morning that way they can call someone and say hey, the windows broken or we noticed somebody inside the metro."

Despite the recent break in the victim says he sees a police presence.

"I see them when I'm out on the porch," the victim said. "They do their job."

It isn't just burglaries.

The Sheriff's Office says crime numbers have gone down across the board--from violent to property crimes. Things like auto thefts went down from 212 in 2012 to 139 in 2014.

http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/Community-policing-trying-to-bring-down-crime-253963011.html?ref=011

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Colorado

Pueblo police testing public input technology

by RYAN SEVERANCE

PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) - In an effort to gain more community involvement and assistance with local crimes, the Pueblo Police Department recently began a 45-day test pilot program with NewStart Solutions, L3C and its CrimeSuspect.net community policing platform.

“We're always looking for new technologies to make the department more effective and more responsive to the community,” said Troy Davenport , a deputy chief with the police department . “We look for ways the community can share information and keep the community as safe and crime-free as possible.”

The platform is an interactive community policing tool. It delivers a suite of crowd-sourced crime fighting tools for deploying community support services to equip citizens with information-gathering and communications tools to help law enforcement fight local crime, improve overall safety conditions in communities and increase offender accountability.

“It is a platform in which citizens can provide information via a website,” Davenport said. “They can give tips on the locations of wanted person, give information on stolen property, they can submit a variety of tips on a variety of different subjects.”

The approach to using the public for help was applied after the attack at the Boston Marathon last April. Authorities asked for help identifying the suspects by obtaining tips via the Internet, phone calls, through available video surveillance tapes and from Federal Bureau Investigation sources.

“Any time we can get the eyes and ears of the public, that's a good thing,” Davenport said. “It's another tie between the police department and the community.”

Davenport said the platform might seem more appealing to citizens in the digital age.

“It's another means of communication,” he said. “In this day and age, many people are more comfortable using electronic forms of communication. Some don't even like picking up the phone.

“I think it's an effort the police department is trying to make in order to be more effective, to reach out to the community, and this particular company is energetic and committed and focused to helping address issues of crime.”

The website is now live and ready for use at csn.pueblo.us

After the 45-day test period ends, an evaluation process will occur with the department .

“My guess is, after the pilot period, we will look at how effective the program was,” Davenport said. “We'll look at maybe what the community thinks of it, how many people actually engage in the site and see if we want to adopt it.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/5/pueblo-police-testing-public-input-technology/

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Oregon

Mindfulness in policing: Hillsboro cops forge revolutionary path with meditation training

by Rebecca Woolington

The cops gathered in the dim, cozy studio. Dressed in gym clothes, they stretched out on dark green yoga mats.

Lie on your back, the instructor said. Get comfy.

Focus on your left little toe, he softly intoned. What's there? How does it feel? He moved on, toe by toe, left foot, then right. How does it feel? Dry? Sore?

The instructor continued slowly, asking participants to focus their minds, and energy, on each body part. If you catch yourself wandering, he said, just acknowledge it.

Then bring yourself back to the present.

The class inside the small yoga studio that January day was the first for nearly 20 members of the Hillsboro Police Department. They were exploring the practice of mindfulness, learning how to develop inner strength, using meditation to become better cops.

Since last spring, the agency has offered what is believed to be the nation's first on-the-job mindfulness training program specifically tailored to law enforcement and based on a widely recognized curriculum. Though the practice represents a radical shift, its creators say, mindfulness has the potential to transform law enforcement culture and reinvent community policing.

For Hillsboro police, the hope was that the training could also heal a department that has had its share of internal strife.

The idea behind the program is simple: If cops were more mindful, then they would be more resilient, less stressed and better at their jobs.

Mindfulness is the practice of being in the moment -- not dwelling in the past, not thinking about the future. It is the non-judgmental exploration of feelings, surroundings and experiences as they happen to heighten clarity and insight, and avoid reacting out of emotion. Studies have linked it to many health benefits, including reduced pain, better concentration and more self-awareness.

The Hillsboro program aims to build resiliency in a profession that can knock many down.

“Being a cop kills you,” said Hillsboro Police Lt. Richard Goerling, who helped develop the training program.

According to a five-year study, the daily stress of police work places officers at greater risk than the general population of developing a range of physical and mental health ailments. The University at Buffalo researcher – a former cop – who authored the 2012 report tied law enforcement stress with higher levels of sleeplessness, suicide and cancer.

Many groups have turned to mindfulness training and meditation. U.S. Marines are using them. So are the Seattle Seahawks. Google and inner-city schools in the San Francisco Bay Area are on board. So is U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who wrote the book, “ A Mindful Nation.”

Mindfulness in the military made the practice more appealing and credible to cops, Hillsboro officers say. Research on pre-deployment Marines who'd undergone mindfulness training showed increased “mind fitness,” resiliency and ability to retain information, according to a 2009 article published in Joint Force Quarterly and other news reports. The military research program has received a four-year $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, according to The New York Times.

Still, in a paramilitary profession where toughness is glorified, the idea is a hard sell for some. Acceptance requires redefining the meaning of toughness.

Goerling knows that.

The program represents a dramatic evolution in policing, but he believes mindful cops make better listeners and smarter decisions. They are more productive, less judgmental. They show greater empathy and, Goerling contends, will have better interactions with the public.

“When we're talking about a community that wants to be treated fairly and unbiasedly, mindfulness is the path to get there,” Goerling said. “It's a bold statement. But there's no other path.”

***

People constantly relive the day before. Or plan for the day ahead. Living in the past or future means missing the present.

Mindfulness is paying attention purposely, said Paul Galvin, assistant director of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School's Center for Mindfulness.

Rooted in ancient principles often tied to Buddhist practice, mindfulness withholds judgment. It evokes compassion, acceptance and curiosity. It experiences sights, smells and sounds as they happen.

Being mindful helps people pause before reacting, Galvin said. To respond based on intellect, not emotion.

Goerling wants to see those skills in officers. Research, he said, has shown mindfulness helps with emotion regulation, another crucial component for cops. Self-awareness, he said, is important.

“We're human, so to be able to recognize when we're angry, even on the job and in uniform, is the first step in mitigating that,” he said. “The awareness of your emotions causes you to pause and make better decisions, which is pretty critical when you think about the kind of work we do.”

***

Hillsboro's nine-week Mindfulness-Based Resilience Training program was created by Goerling; Brant Rogers, the owner of Yoga Hillsboro; and Michael Christopher, a psychology professor at Pacific University. They're also tracking its results.

In the past year, they've held the training three times, costing the department about $18,000. About a third of the agency's officers have participated. A number of civilian members have, too.

The program is based on the widely recognized Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, or MBSR, curriculum created in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn, who founded the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Rogers, who leads the Hillsboro course, is a certified MBSR instructor.

Cops in the Hillsboro program were asked a multitude of questions on how they felt before, during and after the course. Christopher, the Pacific professor, then analyzed their answers.

Cops in the class showed significant improvements in perceived stress and police stress. They also showed significant improvement in mindfulness, resiliency, mental health functioning and levels of anger, among other areas.

This week, the three are presenting their findings and leading a law enforcement workshop at an international conference on mindfulness through the University of Massachusetts.

***

For decades, law enforcement focused primarily on the physical strength of its officers. Fitness and wellness translated to push-ups or sit-ups. Largely untouched, Goerling said, were ways officers could strengthen their minds, manage their stress and improve their health -- holistically.

Cops have repeated exposure to trauma. They respond to drug overdoses, domestic violence, child abuse, car crashes, shootings, suicides.

“I guess we see quite a bit in this job,” said Hillsboro Sgt. Rohn Richards, who took the mindfulness training last year and found it helpful.

“Everybody we meet is having their absolute worst moment or worst day, worst time of their life,” said Richards, who's also a member of Washington County's SWAT. “That stress absorbs into us. It has to.”

Shift work causes stress. Internal politics do, too.

Hillsboro police decided to move ahead with mindfulness training last spring. Goerling, an academic who wears a uniform, badge and gun to work, drove the effort.

Three months earlier, in January 2013, one of the agency's officers became involved in a shootout with police at his Forest Grove home. He was drunk and off-duty as he fired his AR-15 .

Some Hillsboro officers were among the dozens who responded to the call. Some were friends with the now-former cop.

The incident rattled a department already plagued by internal issues. The rank and file didn't trust its leaders. By March, the police chief had resigned.

The agency needed to heal, and the timing was right to introduce mindfulness. The interim chief gave Goerling the green light.

Goerling, a self-described “misfit” in law enforcement, wanted the opportunity to change the culture. He's seen how stress has affected his co-workers and is well aware of some of the not-so-positive perceptions of police across the country.

Cops interact all day with people as part of their job. The tone of those interactions, in large part, Goerling said, is a reflection of the officer's mental health. Angry cops are unlikely to have good interactions.

If cops are not fully present, they don't fully listen. They are out of touch with what is going on with other people, beyond physical cues.

***

Mindfulness, of course, will not eliminate officer stress. Nor will it change law enforcement overnight.

“It's not pixie dust,” Goerling said. “You can't just spread it around and make everything better.”

Cops will still respond to trauma. See dead bodies. See the same child being abused. Watch the same drug addict relapse. It's the job.

But mindfulness, Goerling said, could bring some positive psychology to the profession. Discussions about officer mental health, he said, should not be based solely on trauma or fit-for-duty tests. Promoting resiliency and growth, including post-traumatic, should be a big part of the conversation.

Traditionally, much psychological support has come after large-scale traumatic incidents, Goerling said. While necessary, that approach ignores the idea that standard radio calls and exposure to negativity, day-in and day-out, wear on officers.

“We're all human beings, and you absorb what you're around,” said Hillsboro Sgt. Deborah Case, who took the department's training last year. “When you experience the worst in people and when you see the worst … and the most sad things, then it's going to take some kind of a toll on you.”

Case, a crisis negotiator and member of her department's peer support team, said for years law enforcement has simply told officers that finding balance will fight stress and keep them healthy. The common words of wisdom, she said, are: Stay physically fit. Don't drink too much. Get plenty of sleep.

But those tactics are not enough. Something to train the brain, like mindfulness, she said, has been missing.

***

The program is not a fit for all cops. It's a bit far out for some, Goerling said. They think it's a “little hippie voodoo.”

Hillsboro Officer Stephen Slade, who took the training last year, has heard it.

“You get the ‘te-hes' and ‘ha-has' from your peers,” Slade said. “Like, what are you doing? Big tough SWAT guy going into a room that's relaxation and yoga mats.”

But Slade found it useful.

From what Goerling's heard, some officers say the training changed their lives. Others aren't sure. Some say it didn't help.

Goerling's not worried. Their research, he said, shows that it's beneficial.

The class is hard. And it's even harder to present it to police.

Their culture is performance-driven. Cops are hard on themselves, hard on others. Still, the officers at the yoga studio in Hillsboro that January day wanted a taste of meditation.

***

The cops closed their eyes at the start of the class. They sat on the green yoga mats and stiff blankets.

Officers from Beaverton and Bend joined the Hillsboro officers. They were sergeants, detectives, patrol and school officers. Some were civilians, working in records and code enforcement.

As the class went on, everyone dropped down onto the mats, flat on their backs, and side by side. Rogers, the instructor, asked cops to direct their attention to their little toe on the left foot.

As Rogers directed them, toe by toe, left foot, right foot, some people fell asleep. Occasional snoring interrupted the silence that fell between his words.

After the exercise, they shared their feelings. Some were relaxed. Others not at all.

During the next seven weeks, they would continue. They would do sitting meditations. Mindful, gentle exercise. They would choose a mindful activity. Washing their hands. Brushing their teeth. Running. They would try to feel sensations as they were happening. They were learning, through simple tasks, the value of living in the moment.

Again and again, they would be asked to pay attention, to focus on the present.

If their minds wandered, they were told, just notice it. They were asked to not judge.

http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2014/04/mindfulness_in_policing_hillsb_1.html

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Texas

Editorial

Fort Worth crime control district a proven success that ought to be renewed

Because of rising crime rates and strained municipal budgets in many Texas cities during the 1980s and early 1990s, the state Legislature in 1993 amended a law that allowed cities in counties over 1 million population to create crime control districts supported by sales taxes.

Fort Worth, which for two years running had the distinction of having the highest crime rate in the nation, wasted no time in proposing a Crime Control and Prevention District (CCPD) and its half-cent sales tax. The plan won voter approval in 1995.

Although the CCPD has been around for almost 20 years, and has been renewed by voters three times in five-year intervals, many residents don't really know how the hundreds of millions of dollars raised for the district have been spent.

Fort Worth Police Chief Jeff Halstead, who has been spending a lot of time lately educating the public about the district in advance of the next renewal election May 10, said he is amazed at the number of people who don't know about all the positive programs serving the community through the CCPD.

For example, most neighborhoods are part of the Code Blue program in which “Citizens on Patrol” units have well-trained and equipped residents watching out for their neighbors. That program is paid for by the crime district, as are the community police storefronts, neighborhood patrol officers and gang intervention and graffiti abatement programs.

The CCPD also provides funding for new officer recruitment, replacement of high-mileage vehicles, parks and community policing, traffic management at many special events and support for the DNA crime lab, specialized equipment and jail services.

Money for facilities improvement includes a new weapons range and a new heliport at Meacham Airport, Halstead said.

Then there are the after-school program and School Security Initiative (placing uniformed officers in every Fort Worth middle and high school) that Halstead said “are some of the strongest reasons juvenile crimes have seen dramatic decreases in the last 10 years.”

There is little doubt that the crime district and its array of initiatives have been a huge success, helping to drop Fort Worth's major crime rate by 40 percent since 1995.

Since 2005, the special taxing district has raised more the $431 million that has been used to help make Fort Worth one of the safest large cities in the United States.

It is estimated that the tax will bring in more than $55.3 million this year.

The question now is, what will happen next year?

That will be up to voters. When the CCPD was first proposed, the Fort Worth City Council committed to seeking voter approval every five years in order to continue with the half-cent taxing authority. The proposition is on the May 10 ballot.

The city will continue hosting educational meetings on the issue through May 3, and residents are encouraged to attend to get fully informed about how their tax dollars are being used.

Then it's up to those residents to vote.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/04/05/5710741/fort-worth-crime-control-district.html?rh=1

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North Carolina

Late night call was no scam

Community policing is one of the most widely touted law enforcement philosophies of our decade. Years ago the idea of community policing began to take shape with the realization that the police alone cannot effectively keep everyone in their jurisdiction safe all the time. We can't possibly patrol every street, check every business, stop every speeding car, interview every suspicious person, chase every thief or drug dealer and search for every missing child, elderly person or individual who is mentally challenged…..all at the same time. So what is the answer? It is community policing, a partnership between the police and the citizens, working together to keep us all safe.

This past Monday, the Zebulon Police Department received a report of a missing child. This child was not believed to have been abducted, but was a runaway. This particular runaway was suffering from a number of physical and emotional issues which caused us great concern for his safety. After trying normal location methods of contacting friends and relatives and checking familiar areas, detectives made the decision to use the reverse 911 system. This system is rarely used, and almost never at 11 at night, however, officers were desperate to find the child and time was quickly passing. The reverse 911 system makes phone calls to homes within a specific geographical area that is identified by the police as pertinent to the case (in this case where the child would have most likely been seen). Hopes were that someone walking their dog or coming home from work or the store would have seen the person identified in the call and they could contact the authorities and pass along this information.

The police department has since received several calls asking if the child was found, asking if this was some type of scam that wasn't initiated by the police and even some from callers wanting to take their name off the call list. This story ends happily. Yes the child was found. No, this was not a scam; these calls are rare but were indeed initiated by the police. Finally, I realize that some citizens were already asleep when the call came in. But please think about your children, grandchildren, elderly parents or grandparents with dementia, a friend who suffers from some level of mental incapacitation, and imagine that they have wandered off and you are working with the police to find them. Ask yourself; would you hope that your neighbors would gladly suffer a few minutes of disruption in exchange for a possible tip that helps locate your loved one? I think that answer is yes.

Zebulon is indeed the Town of Friendly People. Knowing the caliber and character of the people who live here, I am convinced that the majority of you who received calls Monday night would be glad to help in any way you could. I also believe that others, who are questioning being awakened by a late night call, simply did not understand the magnitude and urgency of the situation. Crime occurs at all hours of the day and night; people are in need at 11 a.m. and at 11 p.m. I thank you for your spirit of community policing. I ask that you continue to help us keep our community safe and let's all continue to look out for one another.

Timothy P. Hayworth

Zebulon

Editor's note: Hayworth is the Zebulon Chief of Police.

http://www.easternwakenews.com/2014/04/04/3752858/letter-late-night-call-was-no.html?sp=/99/586/648/672/

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Iowa

Neighbors and Police Credit Communication for Decrease in Arrests

by Lee Hermiston

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Wellington Heights Neighborhood Association President Justin Wasson knows people talk.

He hears it at work, at the grocery store or out in the community, that Wellington Heights, in Cedar Rapids's southeast quadrant, is a dangerous, crime-invested neighborhood.

What some of these people don't talk about, Wasson said, are the neighborhood spaghetti suppers, the community gardens or the Know Your Neighbor program, which strives to connect residents with similar interests to foster a sense of community. Those efforts truly define the neighborhood, he said.

"The perception is gunshots, murders, thefts" Wasson said. "It's not real."

Neighborhoods in the city that have formed associations have their crime statistics tracked by the Cedar Rapids Police Department. While Wellington Heights leads those 13 neighborhoods in arrests for 2013, the neighborhood also has experienced a considerable drop in arrests since 2009. During that time, arrests have fallen from 637 in 2009 to 548 in 2013.

During the past five years:

Burglaries fell from 55 to 30. Harassment arrests fell from 20 to 8. Public intoxication arrests fell from 94 to 52. Assaults dropped from 87 to 78.

Citywide, calls for service have increased from 120,099 in 2009 to 132,502 last year. But actual arrests have decreased during that time, going from 9,845 to 9,625.

Police Chief Wayne Jerman said 2014 already is off to a positive start, with the city experiencing a 10 percent drop in violent offenses compared to 2013.

The police department can't take sole credit for the city's downward trend in arrests, however, he added.

"It's both the police department and the community working together to achieve successful numbers," Jerman said.

That sentiment is echoed by neighborhood leaders throughout the city.
Wasson has lived in Wellington Heights for four and a half years and became president of the neighborhood association in 2013. He's passionate about the neighborhood and its reputation and believes the residents there aren't being fairly portrayed.

Sure, there's crime, he said, but look at the population. In 2013, the Wellington Heights neighborhood had 4,448 residents. By comparison, Oakhill/Jackson had a population of 1,514; Northwest had 2,892 and Mound View had 3,774.

Wasson compared Wellington's crime statistics — taking its population into consideration — contrasted it with those other neighborhoods, and is pleased with what he sees.

"When you look at it that way ... we're actually doing really good," he said, noting Wellington compares favorably in categories such as thefts, criminal mischief and burglary.

He admitted the neighborhood still could see improvement in assaults in domestic assaults.

Wasson credited the fall in arrests to two factors — the actions of neighbors who want to improve their neighborhood and a receptive police department.

"The neighbors got fed up with the problems, and a lot of them are stepping up," he said.

Wasson said neighbors have hosted picnics in the community's limited number of parks, forcing drug dealers to go elsewhere. They also replaced their watch captain program with a friendlier, Know Your Neighbor Program.

Block captains interview residents about their interests — ranging from gardening to video games — and hook them up with like-minded neighbors. This spring, the neighborhood plans to host a Know Your Neighbor event to celebrate the end of spring. The event will feature food, games and music.

Each Friday, a neighborhood meeting is hosted at the Wellington House, allowing neighbors an opportunity to meet with a police representative and voice concerns. It gives police a heads up on potential issues before they become a problem or require an arrest.

"We just talk about what's going on in the neighborhood," he said.

That level of communication is a key component of the community policing concepts Chief Jerman said is vital to keeping crime under control in the city. Jerman said he encourages all neighborhood associations and all residents to call police.

"We welcome the call," Jerman said. "If it needs police attention, the police will be there to provide it. If it checks out OK, no crime. No harm, no foul ... .

"They know their neighborhood, they know what's out of place. They know what's suspicious. You're not bother the police by calling us. That's our job."

Jerman said his officers significantly have increased their self-initiated activities in recent years citywide. He said that could be one reason calls for service have increased while arrests have decreased.

"More self-initiated officer contacts with citizens eventually results in fewer arrests and, hopefully, a decrease in the crime rate," he said.

When Jerman joined the police department as its new chief in October 2012, he was tapped as the city liaison to the Wellington Heights neighborhood. He said he heard from veteran officers about the neighborhood's reputation, which stemmed from activity decades ago.

"Some officers that have been here 20 to 30 years have told me 20 years ago it was not unusual to see hand-to-hand drug transactions right in front of marked police cars," he said. "That's not the case today ... .

"I have seen a continued decrease in incidents within the Wellington Heights neighborhood. I attribute that to more engagement from the residents of Wellington who care about their neighborhood."

While Wellington is seeing an increase in neighborhood involvement, the Taylor neighborhood is seeing the opposite. Kathy Potts, former president of the Taylor Neighborhood Association, said the association disbanded in December.

"We couldn't get enough people to stay involved," she said.

Taylor has seen a decrease in both calls for service and arrests in the past five years. Calls for service fell from 6,329 in 2009 to 4,676 last year.

During that time, arrests declined from 493 to 419.

Potts said part of the issue was funding. The city will provide grants of up to $3,000 for neighborhood activities, but must requires matching funds up front.

When Taylor couldn't come up with any funding, they money from the city dried up, Potts said.

A year ago, the Taylor neighborhood used what funding they had to host a public safety event featuring police officers, firefighters and members of the Cedar Rapids Titans football teams. The idea was to push public safety in the neighborhood, Potts said.

While she regards the neighborhood as safe, Potts said neighborhood association meetings gave neighbors an opportunity to voice their concerns when they did arise.

"When a problem did come up, they were the place they could come to," she said.

Potts said Jerman encouraged residents to call the police when problems came up, which she believes has made people more comfortable about calling in crimes. She's still waiting to see what becomes of the Taylor Neighborhood Association.

"Right now, there are some other people saying, 'We'll take over,' but no one has signed the dotted line," she said.

While Jerman said "positive change is occurring" throughout the city, he noted there are still problem areas. Even after 102 firearms were seized last year, Jerman continues to focus his efforts on gun violence and illegal gun possession.

That's not his only concern, however.

"Burglaries are still a concern because I think that's a crime that, working with the community, we can have a positive outcome in terms of decreasing those numbers," he said.

There were 920 burglaries in the city in 2013, down from 1,218 in 2009.

"One burglary in the city is one too many," Jerman said. "But I'm realistic. What I do shoot for is decreases in those numbers."

Linda Seger, president of the Northwest Area Neighborhood Association, said the association is a key organization in her neighborhood.

"I'm really pleased to say that the neighborhood association, I feel, is pivotal," she said. "After the devastation of the flood, the neighborhood needed some type of adhesive program to pull us together. We have a very active neighborhood association."

Calls for service in the Northwest Area neighborhood decreased from 4,115 in 2009 to 3,650 in 2013, but arrests increased from 171 to 256 during that time. That hasn't stopped Seger from feeling safe in her neighborhood.

"We have burglaries, we have vandalism ... just like everywhere else in the city," she said.

As with the other neighborhood leaders, Seger credited not just the police department, but all city agencies for being responsive to neighborhood needs.

"Any time I reach out to them ... they come, they don't sit at their desk," Seger said. "They come down to the neighborhood."

While the decrease in crime in Wellington Heights is a success for the city, Jerman said he wants to see that improvement occur elsewhere in the community. He hopes their success will spur other parts of the city to form their own associations and tackle issues in their neighborhoods.

"If they don't already have a neighborhood association and if they can establish one, the police department is here for them," he said.

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Neighbors-and-Police-Credit-Communication-for-Decrease-in-Arrests-253826661.html

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New Jersey

Camden police: Fewer shootings, robberies reported in 2014

by Jason Laday

CAMDEN — Citywide violent crime in the first quarter of 2014 is down 24 percent, and shootings are down 30 percent, compared to the same time period last year, according to figures released by the Camden County police.

Nonviolent crime in Camden from January to March of this year is 31 percent lower than what was seen during the same three months in 2013, police say. Total crime is down 29 percent.

“It's extremely promising that we've reduced the number of victimized residents by about 30 percent — that equates to about 400 fewer victims of crime,” said Chief Scott Thomson on Thursday. “Especially since we're operating at just three-quarters capacity right now, I think the future looks extremely promising.”

According to Camden County Freeholder Director Lou Cappelli, the county police metro division — which just began its first full year policing the city of Camden after taking over from the municipal force last May — is set to see an influx of 70 more officers by the end of June.

That addition will bring the total county police force to 411 officers. The department will remain at that size for the foreseeable future, Cappelli said.

“My first thought after seeing the figures was that the county police have made a tremendous amount of progress without a full force,” he said. “Clearly, more work has to be done, but it is a tremendous amount of progress.”

In addition, the department will soon be opening two police substations — one each in the city's northern and southern ends.

The first substation will open on May 1 at 2881 Mt. Ephraim Ave., near the Fairview and Morgan Village neighborhoods in South Camden.

"They will increase our footprint in the community, and put us closer to the people," said Thomson.

According to the figures released by the police on Wednesday, which compare crime during the first quarters of 2013 and 2014, Camden experienced three fewer murders this year — 10 as of March 31.

Aggravated assaults are down from 227 incidents to 163, and robberies have decreased from 146 incidents to 120.

Burglaries have decreased by a third, from 204 incidents to 137, and motor vehicle theft is down by nearly half, with 80 incidents this year compared to 155 in the same three months last year.

However, despite what he called “promising results,” Thomson cautioned against relying too heavily on statistics when trying to tell the whole story in Camden.

“One thing that's key, looking at the statistics, is that they don't really mean as much to residents as they do for others who are gauging this,” said Thomson. “The residents' personal sense of safety, things like seeing a cop rather than a drug dealer standing on a corner, is something that's very much welcomed by them.”

Thomson also stated that many of the crimes in Camden now no longer occur on the street. He added that the county department's “community policing” initiative, which has seen waves of officers patrolling neighborhoods on foot, has “pushed” much of the crime indoors.

“The majority of murders we see now are happening inside houses,” he said. “The majority of rapes in the city are familiar — it's not a random occurrence — and about 40 percent of our aggravated assaults are domestic related and are not street crimes.”

Even with crime figures dropping, officials acknowledged that the city needs more, and better, jobs in order to boost its economy, in addition to having safer streets, in order to fully recover from decades of decay.

“First, we can't attract businesses and jobs to Camden without making it safer,” said Cappelli. “With the Economic Opportunity Act now working, we are getting ready to make some announcements soon on some projects that will be bringing new jobs to the city.

“We know that the number one reducer of crime is jobs.”

http://www.nj.com/camden/index.ssf/2014/04/camden_crime_shootings_down_30_percent_police.html

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Lousiana

First quarter homicides in Baton Rouge similar to 2013; criminologist says focusing on individual violence could pay off huge dividends

by Quincy Hodges

At the first quarter mark one year ago, there was one less homicides in East Baton Rouge Parish. So far in 2014, the parish has averaged at least four homicides a month. During the first quarter of 2013, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office and the Baton Rouge Police Department investigated 14 homicides.

In the first three months of 2014, the agencies have investigated, 15, in which the last four occurred last week. Three of those homicides were a result of a triple murder at the Baker Civic Club, increasing March's homicide count to five. The tragic homicides in Baker have left many residents and community officials outraged and eager to address youth violence.

“I think that this is a wakeup call to the entire community that we all have to be on the same page and get involved where safety is concerned,” East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux said in an email.

Gautreaux says patrols in the Baker area have already increased with their Special Community Anti-Crime Team and community-policing unit and uniform patrol.

“We've also reached out the Baker Police Department to offer our assistance in any way possible,” he said.

Local law enforcement joined together to create the Baton Rouge Area Violence Elimination project to attack organized violence in Baton Rouge. They've received federal grants to create smart policing and crime-driven data to address violence in the 70805 ZIP code and the 70802 ZIP code.

“We need to look at non-group violence,” Chairman of the LSU Department of Criminology, Ed Shihadeh said Thursday.

Shihadeh says if data can be collected to inform police of group violence, then that same method can be used to identify non-group violent offenders. Shihadeh says hot lists of criminal offenders can be used to track individuals down. Police then can approach an offender and alert them of being on a hot list.

http://www.nola.com/crime/baton-rouge/index.ssf/2014/04/first_quarter_homicides_in_bat.html

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LAPD Joins Crackdown on Texting and Handheld Cell Use behind the Wheel

Los Angeles -- As part of April's Distracted Driving Awareness Month campaign, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) will be joining with over 200 other local law enforcement agencies and the California Highway Patrol in a month long “zero tolerance” enforcement and education campaign.  The purpose of the campaign is to curb those texting or operating hand-held cell phones while driving.  Officers will be on alert throughout the month for those who break the cell phone laws and place themselves and others in danger.  Special high visibility enforcement operations to cite cell phone violators will take place on April 3rd, 8th, 17th and 22th.

The increased enforcement and education aims to persuade drivers to recognize the dangers of distracted driving and reduce the number of people impacted by this perilous behavior.  The “It's Not Worth It!” theme emphasizes that a phone call or text isn't worth a hefty fine or a collision. The current minimum ticket cost is $161, with subsequent tickets costing at least $281.

“We take the issue of distracted driving very seriously,” said Sergeant Karmody, Traffic Coordination Section.  “We see the aftermath of these preventable crashes.  Is that text message or cell phone call really worth $161, or worse, someone's life?”

Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.  In addition, studies show that texting while driving can delay a driver's reaction time just as severely as having a blood alcohol content of a legally drunk driver.  According to research, sending or receiving a text takes a driver's eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds.  Even a three second glance at freeway speeds means a driver has traveled the distance of a football field.

Research shows that there is no difference in the risks between hands-free and hand-held cell phone conversations, both of which can result in “inattention blindness” which occurs when the brain isn't seeing what is clearly visible because the drivers' focus is on the phone conversation and not on the road.  When over one third of your brain's functioning that should be on your driving moves over to cell phone talking, you can become a cell phone “zombie.”

If you have any questions regarding the LAPD's involvement in the Distracted Driving Awareness Month, please contact Officer Don Inman, Traffic Coordination Section, at (213) 486-0703.

http://lapdblog.typepad.com/lapd_blog/

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4 Dead, 16 Wounded in Ft. Hood Shooting

In November 2009, a military psychiatrist with Arabic ancestry proclaimed jihad against the U.S. at Fort Hood.

by Hana Levi Julian

At least four military personnel died and 16 others were wounded, some critically, in a shooting spree Wednesday about 4:30 p.m. local time at Fort Hood, in Killeen, Texas.

The base, located near Waco, was immediately sealed off and held on lock-down for nearly four hours, until the “all-clear” could be sounded.

The shooter, 34-year-old combat veteran Spc. Ivan Lopez, killed himself at the end of the shooting spree with a single shot. He used a .45-caliber Smith and Wesson semi-automatic pistol he had recently purchased in the area, and had not registered at the base, officials said.

In November 2009, a military psychiatrist with Arabic ancestry proclaimed jihad against the United States at Fort Hood and went on a similar rampage, killing 13 people.

Military officials stressed that this time the cause seemed to be a personal dispute, unrelated to terrorism.

The gunman “walked into one of the unit buildings, opened fire, got into a vehicle, fired from [the vehicle], got out of the vehicle, walked into another building, opened fire again and was engaged by local law enforcement here at Fort Hood,” according to Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, who spoke with reporters.

U.S. President Barack Obama also made an effort to play down the terror factor but acknowledged that something indeed had gone terribly wrong and needed to be dealt with.

In a statement following the shooting, Obama said, “We're heartbroken something like this might have happened again. We're following it closely. I want to just assure all of us we are going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened… Obviously this reopens the pain of what happened at Fort Hood five years ago. We know their incredible service to our country and the sacrifices that they make. Obviously our thoughts and prayers are with the entire community, and we are going to do everything we can to make sure the community of Fort Hood has what it needs to deal with a tough situation, but also any potential aftermath.”

Lopez was in the process of being evaluated for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which Lt. Gen. Milley described as “a lengthy process.” He added that the soldier – whom he did not identify at any time during his briefing — was also “undergoing behavioral health, psychiatric treatment for depression and anxiety and a variety of other psychological and psychiatric issues” at the time of the attack. He added that he also had a self-reported traumatic brain injury.

Lopez had served four months in Iraq during 2011. He remained on active duty and was subsequently assigned to the 13th Sustainment Command based at Fort Hood.

The tragedy ended when a female police officer drew her weapon, according to Lt. Gen. Milley, who said that in response, the armed soldier “put his hands up and then reached under his jacket. He pulled out the gun, and she engaged, and he put the weapon to his head.” He paused. “It was clearly heroic, what she did at that moment in time.”

His body was found in a parking lot near the First Medical Brigade area. Three of the victims died in local hospitals. Seven of the injured were admitted to nearby Scott & White Memorial Hospital. Three of the injured are in critical condition and being maintained on respirators. Five are listed in serious condition with gunshot wounds to abdomens, chest, necks and extremities, doctors told reporters. Other victims are being treated on base at the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center.

“Experience has taught us many things here at Fort Hood,” Milley said. “The soldiers who have served so bravely through the last 13 years in Iraq are strong, and we will get through this.”

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/4-dead-16-wounded-in-ft-hood-shooting/2014/04/03/

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CIA torture report set for declassification

by Rebecca Kaplan

The Senate Intelligence Committee is poised to vote in favor of declassifying a report on the CIA's controversial interrogation and detention program Thursday, putting in motion the process of making public a report that has been years in the making.

Though the 6,300-page report is not public, early leaks about its contents suggest it will not paint the CIA in a flattering light. The Washington Post reported earlier this week that it says the agency covered up the extent of the brutality of its programs, exaggerated the importance of certain prisoners and wrongly suggested that its interrogation methods were responsible for getting key pieces of information.

Despite longstanding Republican opposition to the report, the effort to declassify got bipartisan support Wednesday when the two senators from Maine, Republican Susan Collins and independent Angus King, announced they would vote in favor of the report because "its findings lead us to conclude that some detainees were subjected to techniques that constituted torture."

"Our vote to declassify this report does not signal our full endorsement of all of its conclusions or its methodology," the pair said in a joint statement, citing the fact that it did not involve direct invterviews with CIA officials, contract personnel, or other executive branch personnel.

"We do, however, believe in transparency and believe that the Executive Summary, and Additional and Dissenting Views, and the CIA's rebuttal should be made public with appropriate redactions so the American public can reach their own conclusions about the conduct of this program," the statement said.

The report is largely the work of Democratic staff. The ranking Republican on the committee, Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, said when the report was approved in 2012 that, "a number of significant errors, omissions, assumptions, and ambiguities--as well as a lot of cherry-picking--were found that call the conclusions into question," partially because it was written without conducting interviews with people involved. The vote was 9 to 6 in favor of approving the report, with only Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, joining Democrats.

Still, Chambliss told the New York Times in 2013 that he believed a summary of the report could be made public as long as included a summary of the CIA's response and a dissent from the committee's Republicans.

The panel's chairwoman, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has defended it as "one of the most significant oversight efforts in the history of the United States Senate, and by far the most important oversight activity ever conducted by this committee."

Even with the expected vote in favor of declassifying Thursday, it could still be weeks or even months before executive summary, findings and conclusions are made public. The request would first go through the White House, where President Obama has spoken in favor of releasing the report.

"This is a question about the credibility of the CIA and what they said about the effectiveness of this program," said CBS News National Security Analyst Juan Zarate. "What we're going to see is out in the open further debate about the enhanced interrogation techniques that were applied by the CIA in the first and early parts of the Bush administration."

The vote comes in the midst of a larger fight between the Intelligence Committee and the CIA, with each accusing each other of potentially criminal activity.

Feinstein charged that the CIA had spied on the committee's staff while the staff was working on the report. CIA Director John Brennan said was "beyond the scope of reason" to allege that the CIA "hacked" the Senate Intelligence Committee. The CIA, meanwhile, filed a crimes report with the Justice Department against the Intelligence Committee, suggesting committee staffers weren't authorized to access all the documents they obtained.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cia-torture-report-set-for-declassification/

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Missouri

Police Officers Participate in Training

by Pauline Masson

Individuals who suffer from autism can run into difficulty with people in authority over something as simple as a misplaced word, according to Jennifer Houghey, Easter Seals Midwest community education specialist.

Houghey spent two hours with Pacific police officers describing characteristics of individuals who suffer from one of several autism spectrum disorders and offered tips officers can use to help the individual understand what they are being asked to do.

She described a recent incident when a young man was arrested and taken to the police station when an officer said, “Can I see your drivers license?” and the young man said, “No.”

At the station, the frustrated mother asked her son why he didn't show the officer his drivers license.

“He didn't ask me to show it to him,” the young man said. “He asked if he could see it and he couldn't see it because it was in my pocket.”

He was not being uncooperative, Houghey said. He was being literal.

Police are likely to come in contact when a call involves an individual with autism who has wandered away, a disruption in a public place or misunderstanding of a rule.

In four out of five calls, the individual needs help rather than having done something wrong.

To help officers understand and identify the symptoms of autism, Houghey explained that several disorders that have been lumped into the autism spectrum can cause individuals to think so literally that they appear to be noncooperative.

In most cases, they will cooperate as soon as they grasp what is being requested, she said.

Fourteen members of the Pacific Police Department underwent the training session March 26 as part of the governor's mental health initiative, which strives to provide appropriate public services to individuals with any mental health difficulty or disorder. Officers also viewed a video, “Autism & Law Enforcement: Roll Call Briefing.”

Among clues that help officers identify autism is that individuals have difficulty making eye contact.

“This can seem disrespectful to officers who are saying, ‘Look at me when I'm talking to you,' ” Houghey said. “But in reality, the autistic individual grasps what you're saying if they don't have to look into your eyes.”

In another incident, a young man with autism walked toward a serious vehicle accident and an officer said, “You can't be here.” The young man answered, “I can be here. This is a public sidewalk.”

After several repetitions of the exchange, the officer said, “There's been an accident. It's not safe for you to be here. You can come back when it is safe.”

“Oh,” the young man answered. “OK.”

They understand what safe means and are willing to cooperate when an officer takes a minute to explain it.

Police officers trained to recognize the symptoms of the mannerisms consistent with the autism spectrum can communicate effectively.

“They will cooperate once they grasp in a literal way what they're being asked to do,” Houghey said.

Autism affects one in 73 individuals in the Midwest. Some are high-functioning, while others can be prone to violent meltdowns.

Mansell explained that the training is part of the governor's emphasis on providing mental health services to the community.

“This is another example of effective community policing,” Mansell said. “We want to provide the best family services for the people in our community.”

An autistic youngster with the best of intentions can get into trouble, said Houghey, who described a 12-year-old boy who heard the smoke detector go off in the middle of the night. He knew what the sound meant and what he was supposed to do. He got up and went outside.

But he also knew he was supposed to obey all rules and there was a rule that he was not to go outside until he was dressed so he re-entered the burning house to get dressed and had to be rescued by firefighters.

In another case, a boy was told to crack a classroom window and did what he was told.

Autistic individuals tend to take things very literally. If a person in authority says, “Wait outside,” the individual is more likely to go outside the building than outside the room.

Houghey provided handout material that contained clues of how officers can identify the symptoms of autism and a series of tips on how to best communicate with them.

Easter Seals is a national provider of services for individuals with autism. The police officer training is designed to help officers identify individuals with autism and offers tips for effective communication.

For more information, visit www.esmw.org or 314-567-7705.

http://www.emissourian.com/local_news/article_52aa0634-144b-59d6-873b-f78cc510d142.html

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Mental Illness In America's Jails And Prisons: Toward A Public Safety/Public Health Model

Mental Illness in America's Jails and Prisons

by Dean Aufderheide

The United States continues to have one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, with 5 percent of the world population, but nearly 25 percent of the world's prisoners. Inmates are spending more time behind bars as states adopt “truth in sentencing laws,” which requires inmates to serve 85 percent of their sentence behind bars.

In 2012, about 1 in every 35 adults in the United States, or 2.9 percent of adult residents, was on probation or parole or incarcerated in prison or jail, the same rate observed in 1997. If recent incarceration rates remain unchanged, an estimated 1 out of every 20 persons will spend time behind bars during their lifetime; and many of those caught in the net that is cast to catch the criminal offender will be suffering with mental illness.

Nearly a decade ago, I wrote an article with Patrick Brown titled “ Crisis in Corrections: The Mentally Ill in America's Prisons.” It was about the alarming growth in the number of mentally ill individuals behind bars. Since then, it has been shown that about 20 percent of prison inmates have a serious mental illness, 30 to 60 percent have substance abuse problems and, when including broad-based mental illnesses, the percentages increase significantly. For example, 50 percent of males and 75 percent of female inmates in state prisons, and 75 percent of females and 63 percent of male inmates in jails, will experience a mental health problem requiring mental health services in any given year.

It also appears that the individuals being incarcerated have more severe types of mental illness, including psychotic disorders and major mood disorders than in the past. In fact, according to the American Psychiatric Association, on any given day, between 2.3 and 3.9 percent of inmates in state prisons are estimated to have schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder; between 13.1 and 18.6 percent have major depression; and between 2.1 and 4.3 percent suffer from bipolar disorder.

Across the nation, individuals with severe mental illness are three times more likely to be in a jail or prison than in a mental health facility and 40 percent of individuals with a severe mental illness will have spent some time in their lives in either jail, prison, or community corrections. I think we can safely say there is no doubt that our jails and prisons have become America's major mental health facilities, a purpose for which they were never intended.

From Deinstitutionalization to Trans-institutionalization

In the early 1960s, states embarked on an initiative to reduce and close their publicly-operated mental health hospitals, a process that became known as deinstitutionalization. Advocates of deinstitutionalization envisaged that it would result in the mentally ill living more independently with treatment provided by community mental health programs. The federal government, however, did not provide sufficient ongoing funding for community programs to meet the growing demand. Concomitantly, states reduced their budgets for mental hospitals, but provided no proportionate ongoing increases in funding for community-based mental health programs.

As a result, hundreds of thousands of mentally ill persons were released into communities that lacked the resources necessary for their treatment. The system was, and is, broken, an assessment underscored in a 1999 report from the Surgeon General's Office, titled Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, indicating that, “Even more than other areas of health and medicine, the mental health field is plagued by disparities in the availability of and access to its services.” Consequently, many of the individuals released into the community without support ended up incarcerated; it is fair to say that instead of being “deinstitutionalized” a great number of individuals suffering with mental illness were, in fact, “trans-institutionalized” into America's jails and prisons.

Understanding the Difficulties in Managing the Mental Illness in Jails and Prisons

There is an abundance of statistics compiled by government agencies and advocacy groups underscoring the challenges associated with the management of mental illness in jails and prisons. Mentally ill individuals in the criminal justice system, for example, often have multiple disorders, including substance abuse and are often ostracized by other inmates and stigmatized by their illness.

Some become overly passive, withdrawn and dependent during incarceration; others may become agitated, episodically violent, or engage in non-suicidal self-injurious behaviors. A 2009 Human Rights Watch report titled Ill Equipped: U.S. Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness , described inmates with mental illness as often punished for their symptoms. As a result, the report noted, prisoners with mental illness often have extensive disciplinary histories.

Meeting the Challenge

In Estelle vs. Gamble (1976), the Supreme Court clearly determined that the Eighth Amendment requires prison officials to provide a system of ready access to adequate medical care, including mental health care. There is no doubt that federal and state governments have a mandate to provide access to adequate treatment for the mentally ill in America's jails and prisons. But in addition to providing access to necessary care, the critical issue for mental health programs is to “get smart on mental illness” by utilizing metrics that identify maladaptive inmate behaviors that often result in threats to institutional security, inmate and staff safety, and are costly in terms of human and financial resources.

Quality assurance, utilization management and risk management programs may be important in assessing the efficacy of mental health delivery systems,, but it is vital to begin incorporating new metrics that measure the impact of mental health programming on reducing disciplinary reports, use of force, self-injurious behaviors, cell extractions, placement of mentally ill inmates in restrictive housing, and reducing recidivism.

A Public Safety/Public Health Model

In developing effective care and management strategies, we need a paradigm shift that conceptualizes mental illness in jail and prison environments as a public safety/public health issue. The rationale is that individuals with mental illnesses are more likely to be arrested, convicted, and move through a relentlessly revolving door between incarceration and the community.

Mentally ill offenders, for example, may refuse pre-release continuity of care planning or, after release, fail to show up for their initial appointment with a community provider. Also, they are often unable to access community treatment because of limited access to community programs, a reluctance among providers to treat them, because community mental health centers are unprepared to treat people who have a criminal record, or all of the above.

Perhaps the optimal solution to curbing recidivism of the mentally ill would be to conceptualize mental illness as a chronic illness and extend public health services into the prisons immediately upon individuals' incarceration. By managing mental illness as a chronic illness – where the severity of the symptoms wax and wane in response to genetic and congenital vulnerabilities, environmental influences, and individual behavior – public health and safety officials can collaborate in developing more effective and efficient strategies for managing mentally ill inmates in America's jails and prisons and after release in to their communities.

Perhaps now more than ever has the care and treatment of mentally ill offenders in jails and prisons become a public safety/public health issue. With individuals coming out of jail or prison having disproportionately high rates of mental illness and substance abuse disorders, the time is propitious for a paradigm shift. Carpe Diem!

Author's note: The views and opinions expressed in this article/blog are those of the author and do not necessarily represent any official policy or position of any state or federal agency.

http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2014/04/01/mental-illness-in-americas-jails-and-prisons-toward-a-public-safetypublic-health-model/

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Report: CIA misled public on interrogation program

by Reuters

The Central Intelligence Agency misled the U.S. government and public for years about aspects of its brutal interrogation program, concealing details about harsh treatment of detainees and other issues, according to a report in the Washington Post.

U.S. officials who have seen a Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA interrogation program described damning new information about a network of secret detention facilities, also called "black sites," the Washington Post said.

The Intelligence Committee is responsible for oversight of the CIA. It completed the 6,300-page draft report on the interrogation program more than a year ago, but it remains classified.

At the "black sites," prisoners were sometimes subjected to harsh interrogation techniques even when analysts were sure they had no more information to give, said the report, which the Post said was based on interviews with current and former U.S. officials.

The files reviewed by committee investigators describe previously undisclosed cases of abuse, including the alleged repeated dunking of a terrorism suspect in tanks of ice water at a detention site in Afghanistan. The method bore similarities to waterboarding but never appeared on any Justice Department-approved list of techniques, the Washington Post said.

Officials also said millions of records show the CIA's ability to obtain the most valuable intelligence information, including tips that led to the locating and killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011, had little, if anything, to do with "enhanced interrogation techniques," the newspaper said.

A spokesman for the CIA said the agency had not yet seen a final version of the report and was not able to comment, the Washington Post said.

Some current and former agency officials have privately described the study as marred by factual errors and misguided conclusions, the newspaper added.

In March, Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, accused the CIA of searching computers used by committee staffers compiling the report and she questioned whether the agency had broken the law in doing so.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-cia-interrogations-20140401,0,5153310.story

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New report details racial gap among US children

by DAVID CRARY

NEW YORK (AP) — In every region of America, white and Asian children are far better positioned for success than black, Latino and American Indian children, according to a new report appealing for urgent action to bridge this racial gap.

Titled "Race for Results," the report is being released Tuesday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which for decades has worked to improve child well-being in the United States.

The foundation also produces annual "Kids Count" reports, with reams of state-specific data, but these generally have not focused on race. The new report tackles the topic head-on, with charts and ratings that convey dramatic racial discrepancies.

At the core of the report is a newly devised index based on 12 indicators measuring a child's success from birth to adulthood. The indicators include reading and math proficiency, high school graduation data, teen birthrates, employment prospects, family income and education levels, and neighborhood poverty levels.

Using a single composite score with a scale of one to 1,000, Asian children have the highest index score at 776, followed by white children at 704.

"Scores for Latino (404), American-Indian (387) and African-American (345) children are distressingly lower, and this pattern holds true in nearly every state," said the report.

Patrick McCarthy, the Casey Foundation's president, said the findings are "a call to action that requires serious and sustained attention from the private, nonprofit, philanthropic and government sectors to create equitable opportunities for children of color."

The report was based on data from 2012, including census figures tallying the number of U.S. children under 18 at 39 million whites, 17.6 million Latinos, 10.2 million blacks, 3.4 million of Asian descent, and 640,000 American Indians, as well as about 2.8 million children of two or more races. Under census definitions, Latinos can be of various racial groups.

The report described the challenges facing African-American children as "a national crisis."

For black children, the states with the lowest scores were in the South and upper Midwest — with Wisconsin at the bottom, followed closely by Mississippi and Michigan. The highest scores were in states with relatively small black populations — Hawaii, New Hampshire, Utah and Alaska.

Outcomes varied for different subgroups of Asian and Latino children. For example, in terms of family income levels, children of Southeast Asian descent — Burmese, Hmong, Laotian, Cambodian and Vietnamese — faced greater hurdles than children whose families came from India, Japan, the Philippines and China.

Among Latinos, children of Mexican and Central American descent faced the biggest barriers to success; those of Cuban and South American descent fared better in the index.

The state with the highest score for Latino children was Alaska, at 573. The lowest was Alabama, at 331.

Only 25 states provided enough data to compile scores for American Indian children. Their scores were highest in Texas (631), Alabama (568), Florida (554) and Kansas (553), and lowest in the upper Midwest, the Southwest and the Mountain States. The score for Indian children in South Dakota — 185 — was the lowest of any group in any state on the index.

Some of South Dakota's Indian reservations are among the poorest nationwide, which contributes to high levels of domestic violence, alcoholism and drug abuse, fetal-alcohol syndrome, teen pregnancy and low graduation rates.

The report found sharp differences in Indian children's outcomes based on tribal affiliation. For example, Apache children were far more likely than Choctaw children to live in economically struggling families.

Among its recommendations, the report urged concerted efforts to collect and analyze race-specific data on child well-being that could be used to develop programs capable of bridging the racial gap. It said special emphasis should be placed on expanding job opportunities as children in the disadvantaged groups enter adulthood.

"Regardless of our own racial background or socio-economic position, we are inextricably interconnected as a society," the report concluded. "We must view all children in America as our own — and as key contributors to our nation's future."

http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/New-report-details-racial-gap-among-US-children-5364248.php

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Colorado

Pueblo police testing public input technology

by Ryan Severance

In an effort to gain more community involvement and assistance with local crimes, the Pueblo Police Department recently began a 45-day test pilot program with NewStart Solutions, L3C and its CrimeSuspect.net community policing platform.

“We're always looking for new technologies to make the department more effective and more responsive to the community,” Troy Davenport, a deputy chief with the police department, said. “We look for ways the community can share information and keep the community as safe and crime-free as possible.”

The platform is an interactive community policing tool. It delivers a suite of crowd-sourced crime fighting tools for deploying community support services to equip citizens with information-gathering and communications tools to help law enforcement fight local crime, improve overall safety conditions in communities and increase offender accountability.

“It is a platform in which citizens can provide information via a website,” Davenport said. “They can give tips on the locations of wanted person, give information on stolen property, they can submit a variety of tips on a variety of different subjects.”

The approach to using the public for help was applied after the attack at the Boston Marathon last April. Authorities asked for help identifying the suspects by obtaining tips via the Internet, phone calls, through available video surveillance tapes and from Federal Bureau Investigation sources. Thousands of images and Web tips were received that assisted law enforcement in the case.

“Any time we can get the eyes and ears of the public, that's a good thing,” Davenport said. “It's another tie between the police department and the community.”

Davenport said the platform might seem more appealing to citizens in the digital age. “It's another means of communication,” he said. “In this day and age, many people are more comfortable using electronic forms of communication."

Some don't even like picking up the phone. “I think it's an effort the police department is trying to make in order to be more effective, to reach out to the community, and this particular company is energetic and committed and focused to helping address issues of crime.”

The website is now live and ready for use at csn.pueblo.us After the 45-day test period ends, an evaluation process will occur with the department.

“My guess is, after the pilot period, we will look at how effective the program was,” Davenport said. “We'll look at maybe what the community thinks of it, how many people actually engage in the site and see if we want to adopt it.”

http://www.chieftain.com/business/tech/2427481-120/community-davenport-department-crime

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Massachusetts

Public Safety Dispatchers: Disputes and Distress

by Sgt. Mark St. Hilaire.

The men and women who answer the calls into our agencies everyday don't receive the respect from the front line public safety responders and the public like they should. They are sometimes treated like second class employees. “There I said it!” How do I know this? I witness it several days a week when it's my turn to work in the house and oversee the operation along with other duties.

Many agencies have non-sworn personnel answering and dispatching the emergency and service calls. I have realized this for 27 years, as I have been assigned to this duty. It is the busiest and toughest job in public safety. These people answer many more calls than what gets dispatched or referred to other agencies. Many calls are for alarms, wellbeing checks, suspicious persons or activities, vehicle crashes, directions, the police chief's office. They also answer the frustrating questions during difficult moments. How do I know when a power failure occurs in my community, we receive the questions inquiring when they will go back on? What is more frustrating is when we inform callers that we don't know and they don't like the answer. More follow up questions along with more frustration. In my department these people dispatch the firefighters and the ambulance from the same location. They also work the front window assisting the public. Oh…Did I mention they answer the police, fire and regional public safety network radio communications too? I can attest that occasionally they may have some down time when it's quiet but these men and women work and put up with a lot of friction from the public and within the agency.

Why do we have this unofficial battle within our agencies and sometimes “the air waves?”

As a LEO, I depend on these people for information and help especially when bad things happen. We all must interact with multiple personalities in our profession whether dealing with a demanding public or among our peers. Respect and consideration goes a long way. The shoe does fit on both feet. This includes front line responders and dispatchers.

I have a joke I've used for many years. I tell folks (the public) when I pick up coffee or a lunch for the dispatchers that I don't want any barking dog calls today. The real truth is this: consideration for our co-workers is the right thing to do.

•  How would you feel if you were stuck inside a “fishbowl” for 8-16 hours? •  Would you appreciate it if someone offered to pick you up a coffee or your lunch? •  How are we supposed to help the public if we don't help each other?

Is this the way all dispatchers are treated? No. I've observed many LEO's going out of their way to take care of their dispatchers (sworn and civilian). In my friend's agency, the police dispatch was in the Fire Alarm dispatch building. The orders were issued: no personnel were allowed in this building unless assigned there. My friend's peers were pretty creative including the improvised drive up window to drop off their coffee and lunch from the cruiser in the parking lot. This is a great display of respect and consideration for each other in one of the poorest cities in Massachusetts. We are all facing reduced budgets for manpower and equipment.

This is the time we need to stick together.

Our dispatchers face similar stress related issues that front line personnel face. They are in different situations in which many times they are on the telephone with a caller listening and attempting to instruct them during a crisis. They may take the public safety professional's call for help over the radio. In many of these situations they are helpless and endure listening to the pain of screaming, crying, physical assaults, gunshot and sometimes silence. They are witnessing and experiencing a part of the emotional tragedy we all face in some intense situations.

The Journal of Traumatic Stress reported on a study which may be the first of its type on dispatchers and emotional stress on the job. This is the first study about emergency dispatchers who may experience the trauma indirectly.

The study, conducted by Dr. Michelle Lilly of Northern Illinois University, surveyed 171 emergency dispatchers currently working in 24 states in the U.S. The dispatchers were asked questions about the type of calls and the emotional distress they endured as a result of these calls. They were questioned about their worst call received and they were asked to rate the type of calls that caused them distress.

•  Unexpected injury or death of a child-16% (The Worst) •  Suicidal callers – 13% •  Police officer involved shootings- 10% •  The unexpected death of an adult-10%

Of the 171 participants, the average dispatcher surveyed was a white female about 38 years of age with more than 11 years of service.

The study noted that dispatchers experienced an elevated level of distress following the average of 32% on potential traumatic calls. 3.5% had symptoms of PTSD.

The study results show the need to provide dispatchers with prevention and intervention training and support services that all front line public safety personnel should be receiving. These programs help train all personnel with the techniques for handling emotional distress and daily stress reduction. This is a vital part of a good public safety health and emotional wellness program.

In a sad way, dispatchers are in our league. In a different perspective they are stressed like other public safety professionals. They deserve our respect and support too!

I'm asking you to take the time to mend the fence if it is needed. Communication is vital in our working relationships. Take some time to understand the duties these men and women carry out. Discuss ideas with them on how to make everyone's job easier and more effective.

Your life may depend on them. They are the messengers who send in the Calvary when needed!

Originally published in Law Enforcement Today (www.lawenforcementtoday.com).

Sgt. St.Hilaire is LET's police wellness contributor. He is a police officer in a Metro-west suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. He is a volunteer member of a regional C.I.S.M team. He can be contacted by confidential email at: markfromnatick@Gmail.com . Follow him on Twitter: @NPD3306 or Linked In. Sgt. St.Hilaire does not receive any compensation or consideration for any program, book or other resource that he recommends.

http://www.publicceo.com/2014/03/public-safety-dispatchers-disputes-and-distress/

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Louisiana

Editorial

Streamlining Medical Parole to Ensure Public Safety and Protect Taxpayers

Louisiana legislators have an opportunity to make sensible changes to medical parole laws through HB210.

There is a Need for Medical Parole. There are some 125,000 inmates 55 or older, a figure that has risen 1,300 percent since the 1980's. The nation's older inmate population is expected to increase exponentially again over the next decade, with associated health costs spiraling higher. Geriatric inmates have three times the medical costs of non-geriatric inmates and in Texas one inmate several years ago consumed $1 million in health care costs in one year alone. About two-thirds of states have a medical parole process, including Louisiana, but Louisiana's medical parole law could be improved.

Current Louisiana Law is Too Restrictive. Current law excludes anyone with a contagious disease, which according to a medical encyclopedia encompasses some 215 diseases, ranging from chicken pox and measles to gonorrhea and lyme disease. Given that inmates placed on medical parole would continue to receive medical care, often in a nursing home or hospice, these diseases can be managed in those settings just as effectively, if not more so, than in prison.

In addition to removing the contagious disease exclusion, HB210 clarifies the current requirement of permanent physical incapacitation so as to also include those who are so permanently mentally or physically disabled that they are unable to engage in any gainful activity or have a terminal illness. For example, someone with advanced Alzheimer's disease will have such severe dementia, limited muscle mass, and loss of speech that they are cannot perform basic tasks or actively seek the assistance required to stay alive, but at the same time they may not completely physically incapacitated in the sense that can still move some parts of their body to some degree.

HB210 Preserves Integrity of Sentencing Laws. This bill continues existing law requiring that inmates be at least 45 to be eligible and that they have served at least 20 years of at least a 30-year sentence. Also, although it would require a miracle given the criterion in this bill of being permanently mentally or physical disabled such that the person is capable of no gainful activity or has a terminal illness, theoretically if the offender recovered while on medical parole, he could still be recommitted to prison under existing law.

Geriatric Inmates Pose Little Risk to the Public. Studies have shown that offenders over 60 have a minimal recidivism rate. For example, since Oklahoma adopted a medical parole law in 2000, 135 inmates have been released with only two being re-arrested due to possessing a controlled substance. A 2013 study by the U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General found an overall 41 percent re-arrest rate for discharged federal inmates, compared with a 3.5 percent re-arrest rate for those placed on compassionate release, a standard which is far broader than this medical parole bill proposes.

Medical Parole Includes Strict Conditions. Those on medical parole can be required to meet numerous conditions, such as house arrest. They may also be placed in a nursing home or hospice. While medical parolees are often paraplegic, comatose, or otherwise unable to move around, electronic monitoring can be used to ensure they remain in that setting. Even though their health care costs will typically continue to be subsidized because they are indigent and elderly, federal funds through Medicaid will generally pay at least two-thirds of the cost and, for the 10 to 15 percent who are veterans, their full costs can be paid with federal funds.

Share of Savings Should Be Reinvested. Due to the accumulation of many seriously ill inmates, savings during the first few years could be significant. The Legislature should allocate a fixed percentage of savings to fund a pilot program that would provide incentive funding that parishes could voluntarily apply for if they pledge to reduce the number of low-level offenders they send to prison and use the funds for proven alternatives such as drug courts.

http://www.thepelicanpost.org/2014/03/31/streamlining-medical-parole-to-ensure-public-safety-and-protect-taxpayers/

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Ohio

Safety workers swarm Red Cross disaster-preparedness classes

by Randy Ludlow

Mark Innocenzi figures he has a good month if he scrapes together and trains 30 disaster-response volunteers for the Greater Columbus chapter of the American Red Cross.

When Ohio Department of Public Safety Director John Born offered him six times that many, Innocenzi said it was “a volunteer director's dream.”

About 30 public-safety employees pumped the chests of training mannequins last week during six hours of CPR and first-aid classes to help them respond to disasters across Ohio — and the U.S.

Nearly 180 workers answered Born's call to take Red Cross training to allow them to be dispatched to help victims of major flooding, destructive tornadoes and other natural and man-made calamities.

Ed Grimm, 44, a civilian State Highway Patrol program administrator from Marysville, was among those on their knees administering chest thrusts to a mannequin on a classroom floor.

“You see disasters all the time and you wonder what you can do beyond donating a few dollars,” he said. “This appealed to me as a way to help other people.”

A state law permits state employees who are volunteers to be deployed for disaster-relief assistance for up to 30 days without loss of pay or benefits. Born saw it as an opportunity to add public service to his employees' public-safety mission.

“Our employees want to make things better, make a difference. It's both an obligation and an opportunity,” Born said. “It's a chance to directly contribute when people need help the most.”

After basic training, the volunteers will pick a “specialty” and receive additional training in areas such as running disaster shelters, case management or working to coordinate deliveries of supplies and other items to hard-hit areas.

Innocenzi, the local Red Cross director of volunteer services, welcomes the additions to his corps of 2,400-plus volunteers. “It's an ideal partnership. The impact this program is going to have on our community is tremendous,” he said.

Keith Albert, 43, a Department of Public Safety information-technology manager from Grove City, concentrated as he gave two-finger CPR to an “infant.”

“It's an opportunity as public safety employees to receive training and be in the position to help others in time of need,” he said. “It's our commitment to providing service to the general public.”

Deborah Bryan, 59, a purchasing agent from Prairie Township, saw double value in her Red Cross training, including the CPR certification. It might help her save her elderly mother, who lives with her, but she also “loves volunteering.”

“This is a great fit for (the Department of) Public Safety,” said Bryan, who hopes to work directly with disaster victims. “I hope I can help someone, even if it's a teeny bit. That would be worthwhile.”

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/04/01/safety-workers-swarm-red-cross-classes.html

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Grownup Bullying and Monster Moms

by Sue Scheff

I know bullying and cyberbullying is a topic that many people are becoming immune to. I would never want to diminish the fact that many kids struggle with the emotional scars caused by the torment of bullies -- especially cyberbullies.

However, there is a population of silent-sufferers that are not being talked about enough. It seems like every day I am told about someone's story of being verbally abused or harassed; it could be by a "friend," online or in the workplace, but the commonality is the same: it is by grownups -- people who should know better.

As both a victim and a survivor of cyberbullying, I personally understand the deep dark hole you live in when you are attacked. I wasn't attacked as a child, I was attacked when I was in my 40s. Yes, I was beaten down by grown-ups online and within weeks more joined in a cyber-slamming party against me.

These were all people over 18, people who should have known better. Yet when given a keyboard, anonymity, and the belief that the first amendment allows hurting others, it can be a free-for-all and you are up for slaughter.

Offline the experience can be silently deafening. Many have seen the reality shows Dance Moms and Cheer Perfection where the mothers verbally abuse each other. They call each other names (straight out of an elementary school handbook) or text nasty messages to each other. Are these our children's role models?

I experienced the dark side of female aggression firsthand in my life offline : Being faced with a variety of personalities in group settings, it can be common to find people that feel the need to be in charge or to be recognized . I have been the brunt of snarky emails, harsh texts, and accusations only to be followed up with patronizing behavior in lieu of an apology. These women seem to like to have control and/or want to be the focus of attention and need to have their egos stroked. What drives people like this? See me -- hear me -- love me.

Is that what bullies want?

We see this kind of adult bullying and control/power seeking in the soccer fields, dance recitals, PTA/O meetings, neighborhoods, and even your own kitchen. Have you ever participated in a gossipy conversation with a friend and your child was nearby? Gossip can lead to vicious bullying very quickly since much of it is taken out of context and can cause hurt feelings. Children pick up on this and are prone to mimic your behavior.

In your child's ears, out of their mouths -- or today, onto their social media sites! And as for that so-called friend you are chatting with, you never know if that conversation will end up being relayed to someone else over the next day or week. I think some bullies are very calculating -- especially grown-up ones.

I know the term bully is being used a lot, so I tried to determine how to describe women that want to feel empowered by belittling other people: Monster Moms ? I question that only because I don't know if they are monsters to their children . I venture to say they aren't, but they must have insecurities that bring out this kind of aggression toward outsiders -- they are begging to be noticed. You know that cliché, negative attention is better than no attention at all.

I am often asked to write about this topic and asked what makes these adult bullies tick. I am not a psychologist, but I have to believe that both offline and online these people seek attention. Experts will tell you to never engage with the perpetrator (the bully) since it only fuels them and gives them the recognition they are looking for. We can gather from this advice that the best method of dealing with these people is to simply ignore them.

But what can we do to stop this behavior if we are guilty of it ourselves? Recognizing it is the first step, sort of like an alcoholic admitting they have a drinking problem. After recognizing that we may have a problem, we can come up with solutions for more positive and healthy ways to channel the feelings that lead to our negative actions.

Did you know grownup bullies can become upstanders , someone who recognizes a wrong and tries to make it right? If we are capable of taking steps to correct our own hurtful habits, it can be easy to take that one step further and apply our personal lessons to the outside world. In life, choices are made and sometimes it is hard to choose to do the right thing. Maybe you or your friends feel it is easier to go with the flow rather than do what is right. Always remember, you are important -- stand up for your principles and values, you will never regret it, even as a grownup.

Keep in mind parents, children watch and imitate your behavior -- offline and on. It is not about telling them what to do, but about showing them with your own actions. Be conscious of your words, your keystrokes, and your conversations.

Takeaway tips:

• Keep gossip out of your home and cyberspace
• Feeling angry about an email or text? Wait 24 hours before responding
• Lead by example, people of all ages are watching
• Take part in #iCANHELP Delete Negativity, be a positive role model

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sue-scheff/grownup-bullying-and-mons_b_5060283.htm

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Texas

River of drugs runs through Rio Grande Valley

by Bob Ortega and Rob O'Dell

RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas -- The load wasn't hard to spot. Officers could see the marijuana bundles peeking out from the back of the SUV. But, as they pulled behind it, the driver turned to follow a school bus dropping off children.

"They take advantage of the school traffic. ... They know we won't initiate a stop when there are students around," said Nat Gonzalez, an investigator for a multiagency drug task force in Starr County, Texas.

Stop by stop, on that Monday earlier this month, the officers followed, watching the driver make calls on his cellphone, until he swerved south toward the Rio Grande.

Before they could catch up, he jumped out, sprinted for the river and swam to Mexico, leaving 1,400 pounds of marijuana behind.

The cartel smugglers know a great deal about how law enforcement here operates, and they have turned the Rio Grande Valley into one of the busiest marijuana corridors in the United States. Texas still trails Arizona in the volume of pot being seized by the Border Patrol and Customs. But if there's one part of the Southwestern border that illustrates the challenges of combating marijuana smuggling, it is along the winding river here.

Last year, across the Southwest, the Border Patrol, Customs and Border Protection and other law-enforcement agencies intercepted more than 3.5 million pounds of marijuana — nearly a fifth of an ounce for every person in the United States.

But in the Rio Grande Valley, for every load they capture, 10 slip through, local officials estimate. Federal law-enforcement officials agreed.

The loads get through because the drug cartels closely monitor the Border Patrol and other law-enforcement agencies. The cartels study their tactics and strategies, and adapt quickly. They use that knowledge and the corrupting influence of money to win the daily cat-and-mouse games that define drug smuggling across the Rio Grande.

Encounters between agents and drug smugglers are frequent but rarely lethal. When cornered, drug runners are likely to abandon the loads of marijuana and escape back across the river.

Narcotics investigator Nat Gonzalez looks at an inflatable raft used to smuggle drugs across the Rio Grande river into Texas. (Photo: Michael Chow, The Arizona Republic)

Nationwide, nearly every drug-smuggling case in which Border Patrol agents did report responding with force over a 29-month period involved marijuana, The Arizona Republic found. Force can include using firearms, physical force, less-lethal weapons and devices to stop vehicles, like tire spike-strips.

The Republic reviewed more than 12,000 pages of CBP and Border Patrol use-of-force incident reports, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The reports covered 2010 through mid-2012.

That data shows marijuana smugglers run into the Border Patrol not just at highway checkpoints, but during frequent, small-scale runs crossing the border between ports of entry. By contrast, drugs such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine seem to be caught primarily at official ports of entry or at highway checkpoints. Only two use-of-force incidents involved the smuggling of hard drugs.

The incident reports show that the Rio Grande Valley, where the river meanders so sinuously that it creates coils of U.S. territory nearly surrounded by Mexico, offers fertile soil for marijuana smuggling.

Last fiscal year, the Border Patrol said it seized 797,000 pounds in the Rio Grande Valley Sector. That trailed only the Tucson Sector's 1.2 million pounds; seizures in the Rio Grande sector totaled more than in the remaining 18 Border Patrol sectors combined. The sector covers 320 miles of the Rio Grande westward from the Gulf Coast.

Border Patrol officials in both Texas and Washington, D.C., declined to answer specific questions for this story. But Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher told an audience in Phoenix during a border-security conference two weeks ago that south Texas has become the most active area along the border and is tops in terms of weight of marijuana per seizure.

Border Patrol figures showed a 10 percent drop in marijuana seizures by agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector from a year before, but south Texas drug authorities said they aren't seeing any decline.

"We think we're seeing an increase," said Carlos Garcia, Starr County's coordinator for Operation Stonegarden, a Homeland Security-funded program that provided $55 million last fiscal year to help pay local law-enforcement border-security costs. Garcia said seizures and incidents of loads being dumped are rising.

"In 30 seconds, they'll load a thousand pounds into the bed of a pickup," he said. "There can be 10 to 15 guys swimming across the river with loads on life rafts."

Same spiking story

A clear picture of the quixotic effort to stop marijuana smugglers in the Rio Grande Valley emerges in the many use-of-force incidents here in which agents used tire-deflation devices to try to apprehend smugglers they saw loading vehicles with bundles of marijuana.

Report after report repeats the scenario.

Agents spot smugglers at the Rio Grande loading bundles of marijuana into a vehicle, usually an old pickup truck, SUV or van. Border Patrol agents give chase and get authorization to "spike" the vehicle with a controlled tire-deflation device.

The smugglers bail out, often in a strategic spot, and flee. Agents find the vehicle with the load inside. The Border Patrol confiscates the vehicle and its load and announces that hundreds of thousands of dollars of drugs have been taken off the street.

But a search for the smugglers comes up empty. By the time the agents seize the drugs, the smugglers either already have swum back to Mexico or are on their way.

Incidents like this occurrednearly 50 times along the Rio Grande in south Texas between 2010 and 2012, CBP use-of-force reports show. There were fewer than 10 such incidents along the rest of the Southwest border.

In nearly every case, the driver and passengers escaped and the Border Patrol agents, following agency policy, stayed with the marijuana. Gonzalez, the Starr County task-force investigator, said other law-enforcement agencies do the same, to prevent smugglers doubling back and taking off in the vehicle again.

A river runs through it

At dusk one recent evening, a Border Patrol helicopter circled over a spot on the river just below downtown Rio Grande City. Three men in dark clothing paddled vigorously across the river in an inflatable boat, turning back toward Mexico. The river is narrow enough here, perhaps 60 yards across, that it takes scarcely a minute to cross.

A border crosser is captured after crossing the Rio Grande river from Mexico into the U.S. in Rio Grande City, Texas. (Photo: Michael Chow, The Arizona Republic)

A few minutes later, the bobbing flashlight of a Border Patrol agent approached across a quarter-mile-wide field. The agent pulled up a barbed-wire strand to let a handcuffed migrant he had caught slide under to the heavily rutted dirt road where the agent's vehicle was parked, lights flashing.

The agent, who was reluctant to talk and asked not to be identified, said migrants tend to cross the river in or near town, and the drug smugglers out of town.

"This is what it's like all the time, any hour," he said, nodding to his flashing lights and the helicopter, still overhead.

Gonzalez, the Starr County HIDTA task force investigator, said, "At night, downtown, every night you can hear the helicopters. It's normal. It's like hearing the train."

Behind his office sits a huge impound lot, ringed by tall fences topped with barbed wire, where some 200 vehicles seized in several months of drug raids await auction. A shiny Chevrolet Camaro that looked fresh off the dealer's lot faced a bulldozer and a backhoe. He showed trucks with fake signs for Texas businesses. There were boats, trailers, and — this being south Texas — row upon row of pickups and SUVs.

Gonzalez squatted next to one SUV to point out how the frame and springs have been welded "so it doesn't ride low when it's fully loaded." The rear seat had been removed to add space for drugs. Black paint coated the inside windows; from outside, they merely looked tinted.

"They'll use anything, good cars, ugly cars, anything to get it through," Gonzalez said.

After a short drive, he parked near the Rio Grande and led the way down a steep dirt trail to a spot on the bank. The deflated husk of a raft, slashed by agents, was nearby.

Heavy brush grows down to the bank on both sides of the winding river, offering endless hiding places for smugglers to wait until the coast is clear, or, on the U.S. side, to stash a load for later pickup. There are scores of small roads on the U.S. side that give access within minutes from the river to U.S. 83, a major east-west corridor.

"We've seen guys, in Starr County, sitting in trees on the Mexican side, watching the fields on this side with big binoculars," Gonzalez said. "They have great communication.

"Every day there's something going on," he said, "and if we don't catch it, they're banking it."

Then, too, sometimes those banking it are officers bought and paid for by the cartels.

Marijuana that was left on the grounds outside a storage shed at law enforcement offices in Rio Grand City, Texas, after bales were taken away to be destroyed. (Photo: Michael Chow, The Arizona Republic)

In August 2009, former Starr County Sheriff Reymundo Guerra was sentenced to 64 months in prison after being convicted of conspiracy for accepting bribes to help smugglers evade the law. Last year, in neighboring Hidalgo County, nine members of a narcotics team of sheriff's deputies and Mission, Texas, police officers were convicted on charges related to accepting bribes to guard marijuana and cocaine shipments. Friday, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino resigned. He didn't say why, but amid the scandal he's also fighting a lawsuit alleging that he accepted $10,000 in illegal cash donations from a drug dealer.

During 2011 and 2012, Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General investigated at least 19 Border Patrol agents or CBP officers in the Rio Grande Valley Sector over allegations of drug smuggling, according to records obtained by The Republic. The outcomes of those investigations couldn't be determined.

"There's so much money," Gonzalez said with a shrug. "You really need an active, dedicated officer for this kind of job."

Use of force

The Republic's investigation found that relatively few use-of-force cases involved drug smuggling, compared with human smuggling or illegal crossings. Seven of the 45 killings by CBP and Border Patrol agents since 2005 examined by The Republic involved drug smuggling — and marijuana was the only drug mentioned in those reports.

Out of nearly 1,600 CBP use-of-force reports nationwide from 2010 to mid-2012 The Republic analyzed, fewer than 125 reports specifically mention marijuana smuggling. But many other use-of-force cases had too little information to determine whether they were related to drug smuggling or undocumented migrants.

CBP officials hadn't responded by deadline to an August 2013 public-records request for more recent data.

Dennis Kenney, professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at City University of New York, said there's a good reason marijuana is the main drug in use-of-force reports — more marijuana is smuggled and it is bulkier and harder to conceal than heroin or cocaine.

"If there's more of it and it's more likely to be found, you're likely to have a disproportionate amount of the cases involving marijuana," Kenney said.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and CBP officials declined interview requests regarding the effectiveness of their efforts to interdict marijuana. However, the DEA's Drug Threat Assessment for last year noted that marijuana is increasingly available across the U.S. and is more potent. Independent studies suggest it's also less expensive than five or 10 years ago.

"Looking at the data, I think you'd be hard-pressed to point to anything that shows the drug-control policy has been effective, or that enforcement is doing what it's supposed to do," said Jeffrey Miron, an economist at Harvard University who has studied the market for marijuana.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/30/rio-grande-is-hot-spot-for-pot-smugglers/7066181/

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California

Los Angeles police commission to meet in San Pedro

by Donna Littlejohn

The Los Angeles police commission will hold a community meeting from 6:30-8 p.m. Tuesday at Peck Park Auditorium, 560 N. Western Ave., San Pedro.

The Board of Police Commissioners, which normally meets in downtown Los Angeles, holds quarterly meetings in various communities throughout the city as a way to involve more residents in community policing.

The commission functions similarly to a corporation's board of directors, setting policies for the department and overseeing its operations.

http://www.dailybreeze.com/government-and-politics/20140329/los-angeles-police-commission-to-meet-in-san-pedro

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Wisconsin

Neighborhood conference discusses strategies for happier, safer La Crosse

by SAMANTHA LUHMANN

Learning about ways to better their neighborhoods was the goal of more than 100 La Crosse-area residents who gathered inside of the Black River Beach Neighborhood Center Saturday.

The first La Crosse Mayor's Neighborhood Conference began at 8:30 a.m. and included presentations by the La Crosse Crime Prevention through Environmental Design, Couleecap and the city's planning department.

Richard Kyte, director of Viterbo University's D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership, also addressed civic engagement during a special keynote address. Social capital — a measurement of civic engagement — is defined as a network of relationships that help communities bond and build trust and cohesion.

“Social capital is correlated with all of the good things that we want,” such as a safe and welcoming neighborhood, he said. “When we focus on one thing, social capital seems to be the key.”

The key factors of increasing social capital include volunteering, commuting, “third places” and natural beauty, Kyte said. Therefore, people that volunteer their time and resources regularly, spend minimal time commuting, feel welcomed and accepted in a place other than their home and work, and live in a place of natural beauty will be happier and more engaged in their communities overall.

People that don't volunteer, commute for several minutes every day, aren't involved in a “third place” and aren't aesthetically pleased by their surrounding won't have a good social capital, he said.

“La Crosse is the fourth in the state of measured cities for social capital index,” Kyte said. “We have some of the highest social capital in La Crosse than anywhere in the nation.”

By maintaining — and improving — social capital, the safety and character of a community will advance. But there are other ways La Crosse residents can promote a secure neighborhood.

Phil Ostrem, a representative of the Powell Poage Hamilton Neighborhood Association, and Lisa Barrix, community policing officer of the La Crosse Police Department, informed event-goers on how to prevent crime by improving the appearance of their home. If a home is well groomed and maintained, a criminal is less likely to strike, Barrix said.

“The biggest thing is if people see that you care about your property and it's taken care of, people see is as less of a target,” she said.

Barrix also encouraged residents to build relationships with their neighbors and watch out for one another.

“No one group can reduce crime by themselves,” she said. “Everyone needs to work together to make La Crosse a better place to live.”

The event was designed with the goal of bringing local groups and associations together to share ideas on how to reduce crime and enhance the quality of life and welfare of residents in La Crosse.

By spotlighting the possibilities of a safer, more welcoming place to live, it'll encourage people to get involved in their neighborhood and get to know their neighbors, said Janice Hauswirth of the Washburn Neighborhood.

“It's important to become involved in your neighborhood,” she said. “You think you alone cannot make a difference, but you can.”

Plans for next year's conference are already in the works, said Mayor Tim Kabat. Meanwhile, he intends on continuing working with local neighborhood associations and encouraging other residents to become involved.

http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/neighborhood-conference-discusses-strategies-for-happier-safer-la-crosse/article_29e8e08e-3454-5ba5-a7b7-3b8d090e6bd5.html

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Michigan

Self-defense shootings spike in West Michigan, anecdotes show

by Angie Jackson

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – It was after 2 a.m. on a January night when a musician who had played at Yester Years Lounge left the bar on South Division Avenue and began loading band equipment into his nearby vehicle. The musician was caught off-guard when a gunman approached, stole items from the vehicle and pointed a weapon at him.

Then it was the robber's turn to be surprised: The musician had a concealed pistol license and a 9 mm handgun. The suspect was hit once in the torso. The injured man's “hollering” made it easy for responding police to locate him. The suspect was hospitalized and later charged with armed robbery.

The Jan. 19 shooting is one of a handful of recent high-profile incidents in West Michigan pitting criminals against CPL holders. In this case and that of a fatal shooting outside the New York Fried Chicken restaurant, the CPL holders who fired their weapons were not injured. And neither of those men has been charged in connection with the shootings.

In another self-defense shooting in Ionia last September, two CPL holders involved in an argument both died in an exchange of gunfire. Police say that stemmed from road rage.

The rights of CPL holders continue to be a controversial topic in Grand Rapids and its suburbs. It's a debate that stirs people's passions, and fractures into many camps.

Some have questioned how frequently CPL holders actually use their weapons. While there appears to be a local spike in these gun owners pulling their weapons for defense, it's impossible to say for sure.

That's because CPL involvement isn't factored into data that is categorized by law enforcement at a local or even a statewide level.

So the only way to track the actual frequency of self-defense shootings by CPL holders would be to pore over every shooting report individually.

In January, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said law-abiding CPL holders could deter violent crimes. He added to the contention that more guns equal less crime.

“It's almost a statement of ignorance when you consider there's no data,” said the Rev. Jerry Bishop of Lifequest Urban Outreach Center in Grand Rapids. He has been active in anti-violence efforts in the city. “That is an inconclusive statement that has created a bunch of hype to arm people.”

Local law enforcement officers say while the information would be interesting to know, it would be more relevant for legislative purposes than for policing.

But Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, whose district includes Allegan and Barry counties, argues data on self-defense shootings isn't necessary to illustrate that CPL holders prevent crimes from being carried out.

“I think that it's widely accepted by the majority that if you have some sort of weapon, you're able to defend yourself,” he said.

ANECDOTES, NOT RECORDS

New York Fried Chicken was busy the October night that two friends in their 20s ordered food from the South Division Avenue take-out restaurant following a concert in downtown Grand Rapids. The two were among an estimated three dozen customers in the parking lot when 20-year-old Delorian Taylor approached and pointed a gun at the chest of one of the men, unaware he was a CPL holder.

The man fired at Taylor from where they stood between two parked cars. Six shots hit Taylor, fatally wounding him.

The CPL holder's friend, 23-year-old Domnick Floyd, was subsequently killed by a bullet fired from an unknown person across the parking as the pair drove off. Police continue to investigate Floyd's homicide, and Kent County Prosecutor Bill Forsyth has not yet issued an opinion on whether the CPL holder – who has not been identified – was justified in killing Taylor.

The law mandates which information Michigan State Police collects on CPL holders, a spokesperson for the agency said. The state's firearms unit maintains a database that creates an annual report detailing the number of CPL holders who have licenses revoked or suspended due to criminal charges and other violations.

Record keepers with the Kent, Ionia, Allegan and Ottawa County sheriff's departments said they also don't collect records on self-defense shootings. Kent County Undersheriff Jon Hess said state police set the precedent on some crime data collection.

Justifiable homicides are tracked, but reports don't distinguish whether the shooter was licensed. The only way to discern whether any shooting, fatal or not, involved a CPL holder would be to scour police report narratives, Grand Rapids Police Lt. Pat Merrill said.

“I know the feds are not collecting anything specific for that,” he said. “We don't have anything like that. Nobody does.”

'COMMUNITY INJUSTICE'

Jeff Lodholtz, an NRA-certified CPL course instructor in Montcalm County, believes citizens who lawfully carry concealed guns deter crime. He'd love to be able to present his classes with hard facts to back up the claim, but the many gray areas in guns laws could make the reporting process a “logistical nightmare,” he said. He noted law enforcement agencies would have to follow a shooting case from start to finish, keeping tabs on possible forthcoming charges, to be sure whether a CPL holder acted in self-defense.

“I'd love to see the numbers. I'd love to see the data. I'd love to see that because it interests me,” Lodholtz said. “If I'm looking at it strictly as a taxpayer … I don't want somebody to come to me election time and say we need more money for this. That would just make me mad.”

Bishop questioned why agencies collect data for countless other incidents but not self-defense shootings. He called it a “community injustice” at a time when guns often dominate the conversation on crime.

“The compassion of the community should call us to say, ‘Hey listen, let's track this data,'” he said.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/03/anecdotes_show_spike_in_self-d.html

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From the Department of Homeland Security

Supporting Women and Girls Through the Homeland Security Mission

During Women's History Month and every day, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) upholds the commitment to the rights, security and dignity of women and girls in everything we do. Through our work to combat human trafficking, protect the rights of immigrants who are victims of domestic violence and other crimes, and ensure parents have the tools they need to keep their children safe online, DHS continues to foster various initiatives that focus specifically on reaching out to and empowering women and girls every day.

We also uphold that commitment within our own workforce, by doing all we can to recruit qualified and talented staff, and by helping to create an environment where everyone has the opportunity to advance and thrive.

Leaders like Julia Pierson, who last year became the first female Director of the U.S. Secret Service, and Connie Patrick, the first female Director of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), have paved the way for women in law enforcement. These women are role models whose success encourages today's young girls to pursue their dreams. They are also outstanding leaders, pure and simple.

DHS is proud to have so many remarkable women serving across the Department, including Kirstin Grote, Marcy Donnelly and Harleen Singh, three individuals featured as part of our Faces of Homeland Security. We recognize those who serve on the frontlines to ensure our Nation's borders are secure, our traveling public is safe, and our cyber infrastructure is protected.

And through the work of the Blue Campaign, DHS' unified voice to combat human trafficking; the DHS Council on Combating Violence Against Women; the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center's (FLETC) international Women in Law Enforcement Leadership Training Program; and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' (USCIS) immigration relief for victims of crimes, as well as many others, DHS provides resources for the safety and empowerment of women and girls throughout the United States.

I am proud to serve alongside so many remarkable women from across DHS, and to continue our work for the protection and security of women and girls every day.

http://www.dhs.gov/blog/2014/03/28/supporting-women-and-girls-through-homeland-security-mission