~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Juney, 2014 - Week 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arizona

Arizona rushes supplies to center holding migrant kids

An influx of thousands of children -- crossing the border on their own -- is overwhelming holding facilities.

by The Associated Press

PHOENIX -- Arizona officials say they are rushing federal supplies to a makeshift holding center in the southern part of the state that's housing hundreds of migrant children and is running low on the basics.

Gov. Jan Brewer's spokesman, Andrew Wilder, said Friday that conditions at the holding center are so dire that federal officials have asked the state to immediately ship medical supplies to the center in Nogales.

Homeland Security started flying immigrants to Arizona from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas last month after the number of immigrants, including more than 48,000 children traveling on their own, overwhelmed the Border Patrol there.

The immigrant children were flown from Texas, released in Arizona, and told to report to an ICE office near where they were traveling within 15 days.

A Homeland Security Department official told The Associated Press that about 700 children were sleeping on plastic cots Friday and about 2,000 mattresses have been ordered, and portable toilets and showers have been brought to the holding center -- a warehouse that has not been used for detention in years.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no authorization to discuss the matter publicly, said the Nogales holding center opened for children because agencies had nowhere to turn.

"They became so overwhelmed and haven't kept up with planning," the official said.

U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has said the immigrants were mostly families from Central America fleeing extreme poverty and violence.

The Homeland Security official said the number of children at the warehouse was expected to double to around 1,400. The warehouse has a capacity of about 1,500.

The station began housing children flown from South Texas last Saturday. About 400 were scheduled to arrive Friday but, due to mechanical issues with the planes, only about 60 came, the Homeland Security official said. Saturday's flights were canceled, also due to mechanical problems. There are flights scheduled through mid-June.

Federal authorities plan to use the Nogales facility as a way station, where the children will be vaccinated and checked medically. They will then be sent to facilities being set up in Ventura, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

The Homeland Security official said that the children would be moved out of the Nogales site as soon as Health and Human Services finds places for them. But the official said: "As quickly as we move them out, we get more. We believe this is just a start."

The children being held in Nogales are 17 or younger. The official estimated three of every four were at least 16.

Wilder said reports from consulates that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was stopping the program to fly migrant families to Arizona and then bus them to Phoenix were incorrect. Instead, the program that has shipped unknown thousands of adult migrants and their children to Arizona since last month shows no sign of stopping, he said.

"The adults, the adults with children, families -- that continues unfettered and we have no idea where they are going," Wilder said.

In a statement Friday, Homeland Security officials said "appropriate custody determinations will be made on a case by case basis" for migrants apprehended in South Texas.

Brewer sent an angry letter to President Barack Obama on Monday demanding that the program of dropping off families at bus stations in Phoenix stop immediately. She called the program dangerous and unconscionable, asked for details and demanded to know why state authorities weren't consulted or even informed.

The governor said she hadn't received a response to her letter by Friday.

"I have reached out to Federal Homeland Security Director Jeh Johnson for answers. Meanwhile, I reiterate my call on President Obama to secure our southern border and terminate this operation immediately," Brewer said in a statement.

Brewer's staff spent Friday in a series of calls with officials from FEMA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security.

Wilder said FEMA's Region 9 administrator was being sent to the holding center in Nogales on Saturday to oversee efforts to deal with the hundreds of arriving children.

The federal emergency supplies are held in Arizona warehouses, and Wilder said the state is working to send them to the holding center.

On Friday night, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that young lawyers and paralegals are being sought for the community service program AmeriCorps to provide legal assistance in immigration proceedings to children who come to the U.S. illegally. Officials say about 100 lawyers and paralegals will be enrolled as members of AmeriCorps in a new division called "justice AmeriCorps."

Immigration officials can immediately return Mexican immigrants to the border, but they are much more hard-pressed to deal with Central American migrants who illegally cross into the U.S. In recent months, waves of migrants from nations south of Mexico have arrived in Texas.

The Homeland Security official said that legally, only their parents or guardians can take custody if the government makes the children eligible for release.

Officials in Central America and Mexico have noticed a recent increase in women and children crossing the border. Father Heyman Vazquez, the director of a migrant shelter in Huixtla in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas, said he and others advise children that it's too dangerous. Yet, Vazquez is seeing more and more youths heading north.

"I remember a little boy of 9 years old and I asked if he was going to go meet someone and he told me 'No, I'm just going hand myself over because I hear they help kids," Vazquez said.

The perception that some immigrants could be getting a free pass into the U.S. could lead to more attempts to cross the border. Illegal immigration increased heavily under a "catch-and-release" strategy during the George W. Bush administration. Under that policy the government issued notices to appear in immigration court to migrants from countries other than Mexico until Bush stopped the practice.

Federal officials established a 210-mile stretch of the Texas-Mexico border as a zero-tolerance zone for illegal immigration. Instead of merely getting sent back home, migrants were arrested, prosecuted and sometimes sentenced to prison before being formally kicked out of the country. By August 2006, border agents in the Del Rio, Texas, sector said daily arrests had dropped from 500 to fewer than 100.

http://www.thonline.com/news/national_world/article_5096dd8e-5ce2-5feb-858d-eee1fd2c44d3.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Indiana

Police officer safety or surplus zeal: Military equipment spurs debate

by Mark Alesia

In a pole barn in Franklin, sharing space with a motorcycle and a boat, sat an imposing military vehicle designed for battlefields in Iraq or Afghanistan, not the streets of Johnson County.

It is an MRAP — a bulletproof, 55,000-pound, six-wheeled behemoth with heavy armor, a gunner's turret and the word "SHERIFF" emblazoned on its flank — a vehicle whose acronym stands for "mine resistant ambush protected."

"We don't have a lot of mines in Johnson County," confessed Sheriff Doug Cox, who acquired the vehicle. "My job is to make sure my employees go home safe."

Johnson County is one of eight Indiana law enforcement agencies to acquire MRAPs from military surplus since 2010, according to public records obtained by The Indianapolis Star. The vehicles are among a broad array of 4,400 items — everything from coats to computers to high-powered rifles — acquired by police and sheriff's departments across the state.

Law enforcement officials, especially those from agencies with small budgets, say they're turning to military surplus equipment to take advantage of bargains and protect police officers. The MRAP has an added benefit, said Pulaski County Sheriff Michael Gayer, whose department also acquired one: "It's a lot more intimidating than a Dodge."

DATABASE: Military surplus goes to local police

Even in Pulaski County, population 13,124, a more military approach to law enforcement is needed these days, Gayer suggested.

"The United States of America has become a war zone," he said. "There's violence in the workplace, there's violence in schools and there's violence in the streets. You are seeing police departments going to a semi-military format because of the threats we have to counteract. If driving a military vehicle is going to protect officers, then that's what I'm going to do."

But, to some, the introduction of equipment designed for war in Fallujah, Iraq, to the streets of U.S. towns and cities raises questions about the militarization of civilian police departments. Will it make police inappropriately aggressive? Does it blur the line between civilian police and the military?

"Americans should ... be concerned unless they want their main streets patrolled in ways that mirror a war zone," wrote Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., co-author of a USA TODAY article earlier this year. "We recognize that we're not in Kansas anymore, but are MRAPs really needed in small-town America?"

A smorgasbord of equipment

The MRAPs were obtained from the Law Enforcement Support Office of the federal Defense Logistics Agency. Local agencies pay only the cost of delivery.

Other departments that used the program to acquire MRAPs included the West Lafayette Police Department; the Morgan County Sheriff; the Merrillville Police Department; the Mishawaka Police Department; the Terre Haute Police Department; and the Jefferson County Sheriff.

Military surplus can save departments a lot of money. In Johnson County's case, Cox estimated, it paid about $5,000 for its MRAP. The government paid $733,000 when it was new.

Morgan County Sheriff Robert Downey and Maj. Jerry Pickett, head of Johnson County SWAT, said if they had $300,000 to spend, they would prefer a commercial "BearCat" armored vehicle — such as what the IMPD has — instead of a military MRAP. The BearCat is smaller, lighter and faster. The MRAP can't exceed 65 mph. But they don't have that money. So they used military surplus.

In Johnson County, the sheriff's department had been using a 22-year-old armored "Peacekeeper" vehicle from military surplus before it became unreliable. It's much smaller than the MRAP and looks its age. Cox said maintenance for the MRAP will come out of the jail's commissary fund.

"I think us having (the MRAP) in that barn is much better than the federal government leaving it rusting on a cement slab somewhere in Texas or Virginia or wherever these may be sitting," Cox said.

And heavy equipment isn't all that's available.

Gayer, who is among the state's most prolific applicants for military surplus items, said he checks a website every day to see what's available. Pulaski County has obtained equipment originally worth a total of $4.9 million, including numerous trucks, a snow camouflage parka, a "ballistic blanket" capable of resisting certain kinds of ammunition and night vision sniperscopes. Gayer's agency shares a SWAT unit with Starke County.

"We are a rural law enforcement agency and not readily served by larger agencies ... to handle our emergency needs," Gayer wrote in his application for the MRAP. "Therefore, we are building our department with surplus equipment to handle the needs of our citizens and their safety."

In the northern Indiana town of Walkerton, population 2,247, the police department doesn't have an MRAP, but it has obtained numerous military surplus items. That includes laptops in the police cars, cameras, clothing and office items. It also includes two Humvees, four M16 rifles and holographic sights for the rifles.

Steve Heltzel, marshal of the police department in Rome City, population 1,369, said some of his military surplus equipment has been valuable, but he's in the process of returning the most expensive items because they don't work or weren't what he thought he was getting. Other officers also noted the lack of detailed descriptions and sometimes poor condition of equipment.

A nightscope, Heltzel said, "looked like what I used in Vietnam." A gunfire simulator that Heltzel thought would be an audio system for police training, turned out to be a 150-pound device for training soldiers in tanks.

"It appears to be something you have to put explosives in," Heltzel said.

The police department in Mooreland, population 367, has a hazardous material analyzer, originally worth $75,000, according to government records — and a soft-serve ice cream machine.

Mooreland Police Department marshal Jeff Murray said suspicious powders have been mailed to police in the county, and, "If we were able to use it once — for what we got it for — it was worth it."

The ice cream machine is for community policing. It's an ironic, if rare, counterpoint to critics who say military equipment pulls police away from a community policing mindset.

'A police industrial complex'

The main argument for the military equipment is officer safety. "Throughout our careers as police officers," Walkerton Police Chief Matthew Schalliol said, "we never know what we're going to encounter."

It seems hard to refute. Who doesn't want cops to be safe? But Peter Kraska, author of numerous studies, including "Militarizing Mayberry and Beyond: Making Sense of American Paramilitary Policing," said it's more complicated than that.

"The problem with that is, it's a real slippery slope and it can become unreasonable," said Kraska, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University's School of Justice Studies. "A traffic stop is extremely dangerous for the police. In a democratic society, though, we wouldn't want to see those traffic stops or even 25 percent of those traffic stops handled by a SWAT team.

"If what you mean by being cautious (to protect officers) is increasingly militarize, that doesn't necessarily result in safe outcomes. In fact, it can escalate risky situations instead of deescalate them."

If an agency has an MRAP, he said, it might feel it needs to use the vehicle, increasing the number of deployments by its SWAT team. That means broadening the situations an agency defines as being in need of a SWAT team.

Cox, the Johnson County sheriff, said he will not let officers "get over-excited" about using the vehicle.

"To be honest with you," Cox said, "I would be happy with it never coming out of the pole barn. I wish society today was peaceful enough to where we never had to bring it out of the pole barn."

Morgan County's application for an MRAP — obtained through a public records request — said the vehicle would be used for situations such as "active shooter, barricaded suspect, emergency response, critical incident, hostage rescue, natural disaster rescue, drug search warrants and felony arrest warrants."

Kraska said no data exists on deployment of MRAPs by law enforcement, or outcomes. The American Civil Liberties Union announced a project last year to collect data through public records.

"We certainly understand that law enforcement has a challenging job," said Jane Henegar, executive director of the ACLU of Indiana. "We demand that they keep us safe, and it has to be done in an atmosphere where you respect people's rights and freedoms. That's a hard job."

Radley Balko, author of "The Rise of the Warrior Cop," wrote that Department of Homeland Security grants to law enforcement have also fueled militarization, and that military contractors are marketing to police.

"A new industry appears to be emerging just to convert those grants into battle-grade gear," Balko wrote. "That means we'll soon have powerful private interests, funded by government grants, who will lobby for more government grants to pay for further militarization — a police industrial complex."

The libertarian Cato Institute has been outspoken against militarization of police, pointing readers to a map and database titled "Botched Paramilitary Police Raids."

That map has three examples from Indiana, the most recent from 2007. But other states haven't been as fortunate.

Last month, a 19-month-old boy was burned and needed skin grafts when sheriff's deputies in Habersham County, Ga., serving a "no-knock" warrant on drug suspects at 3 a.m., threw a flash grenade that landed in the child's playpen. Officers believed there were no children present.

The child's mother told an Atlanta television station that doctors had to put her son into an induced coma. Last week, state and federal officials opened investigations.

"He's such a happy little boy, and to see him like this laying there, not moving, it's heartbreaking," the boy's mother said. "We just want to hold him and we can't."

'Everybody was in awe'

Neither Johnson County nor Morgan County has a written policy on when to use the MRAP. Downey, the Morgan County sheriff, said it's a judgment call by the head of his SWAT team. Cox said he would have input, but if he's gone, Johnson County's SWAT leader would decide.

Morgan County's MRAP arrived last October and has been used twice, Downey said. Last December in Owen County, Downey said, a suspect came out of a home and turned himself in without violence. The other call, in January, ended as the MRAP was on its way to Cloverdale, when officers received notification that the vehicle wasn't needed. It's not unusual for agencies to use their MRAPs in a different jurisdiction, if requested.

Johnson County has used its MRAP once since obtaining it in February. It was for a case late last month in Edinburgh involving a fight between two men, a stabbing and a suspect barricading himself in another home.

David Lutz, deputy chief of the Edinburgh Police Department, said he thought the case could be a homicide at the time, so he called for Johnson County's SWAT.

Cox called the MRAP "perfect" for the situation. Without it, officers would have to "stage" raids farther from the target, moving stealthily and taking cover behind cars and trees.

Police parked the MRAP directly in front of the home. Lutz said the man was intoxicated and wouldn't come out, so SWAT officers entered and arrested him.

Lutz fully supports using the MRAP. "Oh, yeah, anything for the safety of officers," he said. "SWAT is after the worst of the worst. It's what they do."

But he also said he wasn't expecting to see an MRAP when he called in SWAT.

"Pretty soon, here comes this massive, intimidating truck," Lutz said. "I'm thinking, that's almost a tank. I could not imagine what the guy inside the house would think. Can you imagine seeing that, how intimidating that would be? Everybody was in awe."

The vehicles do get noticed.

To retrieve their MRAP, three officers from the Johnson County Sheriff's Department flew to Houston. They had a two-hour tutorial and then drove home, according to Pickett, the SWAT team leader.

The hulking vehicle was still painted a solid desert-sand color at the time. When they stopped for fuel, Pickett said, people were extremely curious: "I think they probably thought we were military."

Johnson County's MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicle

Manufacturer: BAE Systems.

Model: Caiman.

Original purchase price by military: $733,000.

Weight: 55,000 pounds.

Capacity: 10 people.

Maximum speed: 65 mph.

Height: 9 feet, 9 inches.

Length: 24 feet, 6 inches.

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2014/06/07/police-officer-safety-surplus-zeal-military-equipment-spurs-debate-mrap-military-vehicle/10170225/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Illinois

Sworn officers protect students at metro-east colleges

by JAMIE FORSYTHE

With a combined 40,000 college students to protect, the police forces at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Southwestern Illinois College, McKendree University and Lindenwood University all deploy sworn police officers who are permitted under Illinois law to carry guns and make arrests or detain suspects.

The SIUE Police Department has 39 full-time officers and is supervised by Police Chief Kevin Schmoll, a deputy chief and two lieutenants. Schmoll has worked for the department the last 20 years and was promoted to chief in October.

The SWIC Department of Public Safety offices at the Belleville and Sam Wolf Granite City campuses are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. SWIC Public Safety Director Mark Green said these departments employ up to 16 commissioned patrol officers, supplemented by part-time, non-commissioned officers, administrative staff and part-time dispatchers. SWIC's Red Bud Campus is provided law enforcement services through an agreement with the Red Bud Police Department.

McKendree University Public Safety Department has 17 staff members, including nine sworn police officers and eight non-commissioned personnel who are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"We are prepared to respond in the event of an emergency -- if there's an active shooter or an armed intruder on campus," said Ran Foggs, director of public safety at McKendree. "We have the means and the resources to respond as first responders."

Lindenwood University's sworn police officers receive an unusual perk: In exchange for their services, they get their tuition waived, Director of Security Angela Wingo said.

The program is called Cops for Credit. Sworn officers work for Lindenwood's campus police 20 hours a week and get their tuition waived, as opposed to receiving pay. Currently, 38 sworn police officers and 18 law enforcement para-professionals from area police and sheriff's departments are participating in the program.

The program, which began in 2010, has proven to be successful, Wingo said. Recently, the university expanded it to include tuition for dependents of law enforcement officers. Lindenwood will provide up to $5,000 of tuition credit annually for any qualified dependents of the university's police officers. For every hour the officers works, they get a $20 tuition credit.

While Lindenwood has a campus police force, Belleville Police Department is the responding law enforcement agency, Wingo explained. Lindenwood's police force is not commissioned, which means the officers don't have the authority to arrest individuals and can only detain them until Belleville police arrive.

'Community policing'

Police forces at the local colleges and universities work closely with neighboring law enforcement agencies while relying on students and staff members to notify them of a crime or if something seems out of place.

SWIC uses an information-driven "community policing" approach, Green said, where SWIC Public Safety directly involves employees and students in the surveillance and timely reporting process.

"College employees and students are routinely apprised of suspected or potential criminal activity in a timely manner, and safety and reporting measures to address same are shared in each instance," he said.

SWIC provides safety and security awareness sessions at freshman seminars and new-employee and new-student orientations as well as through other educational opportunities for college employees, students and others.

"Feedback from students and employees received at the seminars we conduct for both groups suggests SWIC is deemed to be as safe as any public institution or environment can be today," Green said. "A main reason is the acceptance of their role in helping us police our campuses with timely sharing of information."

McKendree public safety officers promote proactive policing, Foggs said, which he credits for the low crime rate on campus.

"Our students and faculty are very good about contacting public safety and making us aware if there is a problem or concern," he said. "They really are our eyes and ears -- our first line of defense."

McKendree public safety officers conduct scheduled security checks of buildings and facilities, as well as mobile and foot patrols, 24 hours a day.

"We probably cover the campus every 10 to 15 minutes," said Foggs, a former Illinois State Police trooper. "We take every threat seriously, period. There's no such thing as a prank."

McKendree provides training opportunities for students, faculty and staff members about personal safety.

The SIUE Police Department helps ensure student safety by adequately staffing its department, according to Schmoll. He said the department's community-oriented policing helps promote safety on campus, as officers are out walking around and interacting with the campus community.

Officers also do presentations on safety, not just with student organizations but faculty and staff as well, Schmoll said.

Lindenwood has a large police presence on campus both day and night, Wingo said. Key-card access to student residential facilities is a vital component to campus safety. Residential students with key cards are only permitted to access their own wing of a dormitory.

"Key-card access is an incredible safety component that we have put into place," she said. "It prohibits unauthorized people from getting access to unauthorized areas, even people that live in the same building."

Lindenwood also has an extensive surveillance camera system, which is monitored by campus police.

"Those cameras have helped us in numerous ways and are also a deterrent," Wingo said.

http://www.bnd.com/2014/06/07/3245646/sworn-officers-protect-students.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Department of Justice

Justice Department Concludes That Los Angeles County Jails System Has Made Progress, but Serious Deficiencies Continue

The Justice Department today released its latest compliance assessment of mental health services at the Los Angeles County Jails based on a memorandum of agreement (MOA) designed to protect the constitutional rights of prisoners with serious mental illness at the jails. The department concluded that, despite progress in some areas of the MOA, the county of Los Angeles fails to provide sufficient suicide prevention practices to protect prisoners from self-harm. The department also found that other serious deficiencies in the mental health care delivery system remain and combine with inadequate supervision and deplorable environmental conditions to deprive prisoners of constitutionally-required mental health care.

The Los Angeles County Jails system is the largest jail system in the country, housing approximately 19,000 pre-sentenced and sentenced prisoners in seven facilities throughout the county. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department operates the jails system and supports the delivery of mental health services within the jails by the county's Department of Mental Health. In 2002, the department entered into the MOA with the county to resolve a long-standing civil investigation into conditions of confinement at the jails under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA). The MOA gives the department access to personnel, documents and prisoners to evaluate the county's compliance with the MOA. The department is assisted by expert consultants in correctional mental health care and suicide prevention, and provides ongoing technical assistance as part of its monitoring activities. The county has cooperated fully and openly with the department.

The comprehensive assessment released today confirms that certain conditions and practices have not been remedied under the MOA and continue to violate the constitutional rights of prisoners with mental illness. There have been 15 completed suicides at the jails in less than 30 months and the department concluded that some of the deaths may have been preventable with proper suicide prevention practices. The department's assessment also reveals widespread lapses with regard to basic supervision of prisoners at risk; deficient mental health care for prisoners with clearly demonstrated needs; deplorable environmental conditions, most acutely at Men's Central Jail; and a suicide review process that often includes inaccurate information and fails to remedy evident and repeated problems in order to prevent similar incidents in the future.

At the same time, the department's assessment reveals that the county has achieved substantial compliance with certain aspects of the MOA. For example, the county has implemented nearly all provisions related to mental health screening at intake, developed a robust electronic medical records system, increased the number of clinical and support staff and ensured that custodial staff receive initial and ongoing training in the identification and custodial care of prisoners with mental illness. The county has demonstrated a sustained level of acceptable performance and improvement in these areas, which will no longer be subject to evaluation under the MOA.

“The Los Angeles County Jails have an obligation to provide conditions of confinement that do not offend the Constitution and to take reasonable measures to protect inmates from harm,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division. “Although the county has consulted with the Justice Department for years, our latest assessment reveals serious deficiencies that require further corrective action. We are hopeful that county officials will continue their long-standing cooperation to ensure that sustainable reforms are implemented fully.”

The department intends to enter into discussions with county officials from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the county's Department of Mental Health to address the results of the evaluation. The department expects that those MOA requirements that are in substantial compliance will terminate and no longer be subject to monitoring. The department will propose additional corrective action in the form of a court-enforceable agreement to address the remaining areas with serious deficiencies that violate prisoners' constitutional rights. The department's compliance letter includes a comprehensive list of recommended remedial measures that are designed to ensure adequate mental health treatment, supervision, suicide prevention and conditions of confinement for prisoners throughout the jails.

The challenges that the county faces in providing constitutionally adequate mental health services at the jail are driven in part by a rapid increase in the number of prisoners who are seriously mentally ill. The county has begun to take steps to expand diversion programs that will provide community supervision and treatment in a manner consistent with public safety. The department applauds these efforts.

CRIPA was enacted in 1980 to eradicate egregious and harmful conditions that result in a pattern or practice of civil rights violations in jails, prisons, juvenile justice facilities and other public institutions. CRIPA authorizes the department to investigate and, if necessary, initiate a civil action to guarantee the federal and constitutional rights of institutionalized persons.

The MOA is enforced by the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, Civil Division. A copy of the MOA can be obtained on the department's website and additional information about the Civil Rights Division's enforcement activities under CRIPA can be found at the division website .

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2014/June/14-crt-610.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From ICE

ICE arrests 22 criminal aliens in Maryland Eastern Shore targeted operation

SALISBURY, Md. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested 22 convicted criminal aliens during a three-day fugitive enforcement operation which concluded Thursday.

During the operation, ICE officers arrested a total of 27 individuals; seven immigration fugitives who ignored lawful orders of removal, eight individuals who illegally re-entered the United States after being deported and 12 other immigration violators. It's a felony for someone to re-enter the United States after being deported, which if convicted, is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Of the total 27 arrested, 22 had criminal histories including assault, battery, burglary, child endangerment, counterfeiting, disorderly conduct, DUI, heroin possession, prostitution, resisting arrest and theft.

The operation was conducted by ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Fugitive Operations Teams on the Eastern Shore as part of the agency's commitment to prioritize the removal of criminal aliens and egregious immigration violators. These arrests occurred in the following Maryland cities: one in Eden; 11 in Easton; one in Fruitland; two in Ocean City; two in Ocean Pines and 10 in Salisbury. Arrestees ranged in age from 20 to 57 years old.

For instance, one individual, a 57-year-old citizen and national of Jamaica, was arrested June 5 pursuant to an outstanding order of deportation. He is an aggravated felon, convicted of cocaine distribution, and a habitual offender. In accordance with Department of Homeland Security privacy policies, this individual's name has not been released.

The 24 men and three women arrested during this operation were from Brazil, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico and Nepal.

"ICE will continue to arrest criminal aliens who have ignored an immigration judge's order to leave the country," said Dorothy Herrera-Niles, field office director for ERO Baltimore. "Ultimately, these operations help improve public safety by removing criminals from our streets and from our country."

As of May 30, in fiscal year 2014, nationwide ICE criminal alien arrests accounted for 77.81 percent of overall arrests by ERO fugitive operations, or 14,507 criminal arrests out of the 18,645 total fugitive operations arrests for the fiscal year.

ICE is focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that targets serious criminal aliens who present the greatest risk to the security of our communities. ICE also prioritizes the arrest and removal of immigration fugitives or criminal aliens who have been previously deported and illegally re-entered the country.

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1406/140606salisbury.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the FBI

Protecting Aircraft from Lasers -- Trial Program Being Expanded Nationwide

(Video on site)

After a successful trial program aimed at deterring people from pointing lasers at aircraft—by rewarding those who provide information about individuals who engage in this dangerous crime and aggressively prosecuting the perpetrators—the FBI is expanding the campaign nationwide.

“Aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft is a serious matter and a violation of federal law, said Joe Campbell, assistant director of our Criminal Investigative Division. “The public awareness campaign we launched in February has been effective in reducing the number of incidents, and our hope in expanding the program is that people will think twice about illegally using these devices.”

A key part of the publicity campaign is reward money. The FBI will offer up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of any individual who intentionally aims a laser at an aircraft.

“We want to encourage people to come forward when they see someone committing this crime, which could have terrible consequences for pilots and their passengers,” said George Johnson, a federal air marshal who serves as a liaison officer with the Bureau on laser issues.

The original initiative, which began nearly four months ago, took place in 12 FBI field offices where “lasing” incidents are prevalent. Since then, there has been a 19 percent decrease in the number of reported incidents in the major metropolitan areas of those offices.

Now, the Bureau—along with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Air Line Pilots Association, International—are extending the program to all 50 states, Guam, and Puerto Rico. We are also working with state, local, and international law enforcement on the campaign, and we are conducting outreach to schools to educate teens about the dangers associated with lasing.

When aimed at an aircraft, the powerful beam of light from a handheld laser can travel more than a mile and illuminate a cockpit, disorienting and temporarily blinding pilots. Those who have experienced such attacks have described them as the equivalent of a camera flash going off in a pitch black car at night. As of December 2013, the FAA had documented at least 35 incidents where pilots required medical attention after a laser strike.

Interfering with the operation of an aircraft has long been a federal crime, but in 2012, a new law made it a felony to knowingly point the beam of a laser at an aircraft. The new law lowered the threshold for prosecution, Johnson said, “and the trend is on the rise for jail time in these cases.”

In March, for example, a 26-year-old California man was sentenced to 14 years in prison for aiming a laser pointer at a police helicopter and a hospital emergency transport helicopter. The man and his girlfriend were using a device that was 13 times more powerful than the permissible power emission level for handheld lasers. The girlfriend was also convicted and recently sentenced to a two-year prison term.

Since the FBI and the FAA began tracking laser strikes in 2005, there has been more than a 1,100 percent increase in the number of incidents with these devices, which can be purchased in stores or online for as little as a few dollars. Last year, 3,960 laser strikes against aircraft were reported. It is estimated that thousands of attacks go unreported every year.

If you have information about a lasing incident or see someone pointing a laser at an aircraft, call your local FBI office or dial 911.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/june/protecting-aircraft-from-lasers-trial-program-being-expanded-nationwide/protecting-aircraft-from-lasers-trial-program-being-expanded-nationwide

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Washington

Seattle suspect wanted many dead

by Gene Johnson and Phuong Le

Seattle - The suspect in a shooting at a small Seattle university wanted to kill as many people as possible before killing himself, police said.

A judge on Friday found probable cause to hold 26-year-old Aaron Ybarra without bail. The hearing came a day after Ybarra was arrested in the shooting that killed student Paul Lee and wounded two other young people, one critically, at Seattle Pacific University.

In a statement filed in court, Seattle police wrote that Ybarra admitted to detectives after his arrest that he wanted to kill as many people as possible and then himself.

Instead, police say a student building monitor pepper-sprayed and tackled Ybarra as he reloaded his shotgun. Police said the shooter had 50 additional shotgun shells and a hunting knife.

There have been a series of horrific shooting sprees in the US in recent years, amid a fierce debate over the country's gun laws and its system for dealing with mental health issues.

Several of the attacks shave been on or near US university campuses. About two weeks ago, according to police, Elliot Rodger killed six people and injured seven before turning his gun on himself in a rampage in Isla Vista, California, near two universities.

Ybarra has a long history of mental health problems for which he had been treated and medicated, said his attorney, public defender Ramona Brandes.

“He is cognizant of the suffering of the victims and their families and the entire Seattle Pacific community,” she said. “He is sorry.”

Ybarra is not a student at the school, police said.

“We are so very shocked and sad over yesterday's shootings at SPU,” Ybarra's family said in a statement. “We are crushed at the amount of pain caused to so many people.”

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray identified the student killed as 19-year-old Paul Lee, a “Korean-American student with a bright future.”

Ybarra was hospitalized for mental health evaluations twice in recent years, said Pete Caw, assistant police chief in Ybarra's hometown, the suburb of Mountlake Terrace.

Officers encountered Ybarra in 2010 and 2012. Both times, he was severely intoxicated and taken to a hospital for evaluation, Caw said.

In the 2012 incident, police found Ybarra lying in a roadway. He told officers he wanted a SWAT team “to get him and make him famous,” a police report said.

Ybarra's friend Zack McKinley described him as “super happy and friendly,” The Seattle Times reported.

McKinley said the attack was puzzling because Ybarra was happy to have just started a job bagging groceries. Ybarra could get emotionally low but had a good group of friends, McKinley said.

Assistant Police Chief Paul McDonagh said detectives are working to determine the gunman's motive or intended target.

Friends of Jon Meis, the 22-year-old student who pepper sprayed and tackled the gunman, credited him for saving lives.

“I'm proud of the selfless actions that my roommate, Jon Meis, showed today taking down the shooter,” fellow student Matt Garcia wrote on Twitter. “He is a hero.”

http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/seattle-suspect-wanted-many-dead-1.1699998#.U5Liyc9OWpo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

California

Opinion

Are college students in the middle of America's next Civil War?

By hayleebarber

It's an iconic scene in one of America's most memorable films: Vivien Leigh makes her way across the Atlanta dirt road where dozens of American bodies are laid to rest.

At age 21, I recently watched the 1939 film Gone with the Wind for the first time.

That specific scene, after the Confederate Army decimates the town of Atlanta, hit me like a ton of bricks.

For days, I thought about the absurdity of the Civil War. The concept of Americans brutally slaughtering their fellow citizens, destroying their own towns and ruining the lives of families and children, I still ponder how this was ever possible.

And yet, as I watched coverage this morning of the Seattle Pacific University shooting, with the recent shooting at the University of California Santa Barbara fresh in my mind, I could not help but wonder if a new type of Civil War is upon us.

As a Southern California college student, I, like many of my peers, found it difficult to watch the coverage of the UCSB shooting. Most Americans now have a similar scene that makes them shiver.

And thus, I am carried back to that same scene with Leigh, observing the slain bodies of the soldiers, and I wonder if we, as Americans, must consider what it would look like if this same scene existed for the lives lost in shootings across America over the past decade.

The scene would include small children — those killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in December of 2012. There would be mothers, grandmothers, pregnant women, high school students… the list drags on.

So as I imagine the bodies of those killed in the Columbine High School shooting, the Aurora Theater shooting, the children of Sandy Hook Elementary, the college students of Santa Barbara and Virginia Tech, I begin to wonder about the safety and morality of our nation, and even to consider if we are once again in a state of civil war.

As a student preparing to enter the work force, I am forced to question what has gone wrong in the psyche of those my age to force them to take the lives of their peers and often of themselves. Perhaps it is the overstimulation of media and technology, the desensitization occurring through violent video games, the “maybes” and “whys” span an endless list explored by many.

Regardless of the reason, it is time for something to change.

Perhaps the strategy of approaching this situation should shift from questions of gun control toward a military strategy to end a war. Perhaps the conversation between students, parents and school administrators must be constant about the state of our adolescent mental health.

The Civil War left the city of Atlanta in ruins. Despite the 200 years of technological progress since this war, I wonder what, if any, moral progress has been made.

The question must become — do we wait for another mass shooting, or wait for our generation — like Atlanta and the soldiers — to simply be gone with the wind?

Originally from Colorado Springs, Colorado, Haylee Barber is a junior at Chapman University studying public relations, advertising, dance and journalism. She has contributed to publications including the "Orange County Register, Chapman's Panther" and most recently the "Newport Beach Independent." She hopes to someday work for a major news organization on either coast.

http://college.usatoday.com/2014/06/06/voices-are-college-students-in-the-middle-of-americas-next-civil-war/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Massachusetts

Lessons from Santa Barbara: Why We Need a Long-Term Approach to Ending Violence

by Nicholas Covino -- President, Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology

After tragedies like the one in Santa Barbara, we question why these terrible things happen and ask how they could have been prevented. We ask because we hope these same acts will not happen in our neighborhoods. We ask because we want to feel in control. However, our focus is often on the perpetrators of such violence; we psychoanalyze them from a distance even though that is impossible. We pour over their histories, as if they were novels, to look for warning signs that should have been flagged, but were not.

Our society's failure to care for the mental health of our citizens is not an issue that can be blamed on one perpetrator, nor one moment in time. As we reflect upon the Santa Barbara killings and other recent tragedies, we need to begin a dialogue around the larger social, emotional, and biological conditions that create violence in this country. We cannot rewrite past events and we cannot easily protect against future ones; but we can work together to create the ground for fewer of them.

Despite what is sensationalized in the media, the majority of violent episodes in this country are not triggered by mental illness. A recent study by the American Psychiatric Association found no predictable patterns linking criminal conduct and mental illness symptoms; of the 429 crimes studied, 7.5 percent were directly related to symptoms of mental illness. The 'mentally ill' are more likely to commit suicide with a gun than homicide. However, there are some predisposing factors that pediatricians, parents and teachers should be alert to, including an early history of aggressive acts, high levels of family stress and truancy.

How can we address the larger social, emotional and biological conditions that lead to violence?

It starts with our families, schools and health care professionals. We need to make mental healthcare a larger component of our school systems. With three to four children in every class of 20 having diagnosable mental illness and only 25 percent of these likely to be able to access mental health care, we must increase access to mental healthcare. Just as we have school nurses to ensure the physical health of our students, we need school psychologists and counselors. Schools have historically been reluctant to provide mental health care to children, but that is where the children are! Schools are the best and most convenient delivery system for mental healthcare.

Similarly, mental health check-ins should be part of routine visits with pediatricians and primary care doctors. Physicians should monitor the safety, mood and peer relations of children and adults, just as they monitor blood pressure. They should find out if patients come from families with histories of abuse and monitor the suicide risk of patients.

Preventing violence also involves controlling access to firearms, and ensuring that the people who own firearms are protecting them. Gun safety rather than gun control should be part of the national conversation not specific to mental health issues.

These are long-term solutions for ending violence in our society, but, for those in Santa Barbara, short-term care is equally critical. Research indicates that the majority of survivors of such tragedies will do fine with the help of family and friends. Those impacted most significantly are usually people with a history of trauma and they need to be identified and assessed so that mental health professionals can assist them to manage the flashbacks and emotional numbing that may result. Mental health professionals should be available to those involved in a traumatic event for at least the next six months and should provide exposure therapy or cognitive behavioral treatment in addition to help with basic needs.

Ideally, if we take a long-term approach to ending the problem of violence in our society, we will be able to shift our focus from the remedial care like that offered in Santa Barbara to preventive care. The topic of mental health and the importance of mental healthcare need to be a regular part of the national conversation, not one that is only relevant for the few weeks after a tragedy.

I look forward to the day when the stigma associated with mental illness is replaced by thought-provoking conversations about how mental healthcare can help make our society better. We need to stop looking for scapegoats to our problems, and instead discover concrete solutions.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicholas-covino/lessons-from-santa-barbar_b_5461675.html?utm_hp_ref=college&ir=College

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arizona

Hundreds of migrant kids shipped to Arizona

by Daniel González

PHOENIX -- The federal government on Friday began sending hundreds of unaccompanied children caught crossing the border illegally in Texas to a holding center in Nogales, Ariz., further straining relations with Gov. Jan Brewer, who was already angry over the recent release of hundreds of undocumented families at bus stations in Phoenix and Tucson.

Brewer said she learned Friday that 432 children were transported to a holding facility in Nogales and that an additional 732 children would be brought there Saturday and Sunday.

"I am disturbed and outraged that President Obama's administration continues to implement this dangerous and inhumane policy," Brewer said in a written statement.

Brewer's spokesman, Andrew Wilder, told The Associated Press that conditions at the holding facility in Nogales are so dire that the state is releasing federal medical and other supplies to the facility.

A regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was also being sent to Arizona to help manage the crisis, Wilder told the AP.

The Border Patrol has been overwhelmed by a surge of undocumented immigrants crossing the border illegally in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, including nearly 50,000 children traveling on their own, the AP reported.

The federal government plans to use the facility in Nogales as a way station, where the children will be vaccinated and checked medically. They will then be flown to facilities being set up in Ventura, Calif., San Antonio and Fort Sill, Okla., the AP said.

In her statement, Brewer demanded that President Barack Obama's administration immediately stop transferring migrants caught in Texas to Arizona.

The transfer of hundreds of unaccompanied children from Texas to Arizona comes after the Department of Homeland Security began flying hundreds of undocumented families, mostly women and children, to Tucson over the Memorial Day weekend.

DHS officials said the families were shipped here because the Border Patrol did not have the manpower or detention space to process a surge in undocumented immigrants from Central America apprehended in Texas.

After being processed by the Border Patrol in Tucson, the DHS began releasing the families on humanitarian parole and dropping them off at Greyhound bus stations in Phoenix and Tucson with instructions to report to an ICE office once they reached their destinations in other cities.

The practice drew criticism from human-rights groups concerned about the migrants' well-being. Dozens of volunteers began showing up at the bus stations to provide the families with water, food, medicine and other necessities after their release.

The release also prompted several Arizona Republicans, including Brewer and Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, to demand that Obama and the DHS explain why the migrants were being sent to Arizona and released.

Federal officials said Friday that no migrant families were scheduled to be flown to Arizona this weekend, but the transfers could resume in the future if the Border Patrol in Texas continues to be overwhelmed.

DHS officials also said Friday that the Border Patrol's El Paso Sector is assisting with the processing of migrants apprehended in Texas and then turning them over to ICE to determine whether they will be held or released on a case-by-case basis.

In the past, undocumented immigrants from Central America have been held in detention facilities and then flown back to their home countries. But the arrival of thousands of families and children traveling on their own created new challenges for the DHS because ICE has only one detention center for holding families, and it is located in Pennsylvania.

DHS officials noted that the migrants being released will be kept under supervision and are still subject to deportation.

Brewer blamed the federal government for creating the crisis by releasing migrants and not doing enough to secure the border.

"Not only does the federal government have no plan to stop this disgraceful policy, it also has no plan to deal with the endless waves of illegal aliens once they are released here," Brewer said in her statement.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/07/hundreds-of-migrant-kids-shipped-to-arizona/10117179/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pennsylvania

Op-Ed

Expanded prescription drug monitoring program balances privacy and public safety

by Kathleen G. Kane

Prescription drug abuse and overdoses have escalated to a full-blown crisis for families and communities across the Commonwealth.

Violent drug trafficking organizations dedicated to the distribution of illicit 'street' drugs have expanded their product lines to include pharmaceuticals. The lucrative market and relative ease of which prescription drugs can be obtained has resulted in drug trafficking organizations dedicated solely to distributing them.

One of the most effective tools for preventing prescription drug abuse is robust prescription drug monitoring programs.

The programs collect data on dispensed controlled substances and make that data available to a limited number of authorized users utilizing a secure and restricted electronic database.

The data is aggregated to identify major sources of drug diversion including prescription fraud, doctor shopping, forgery and improper prescribing.

Unfortunately, Pennsylvania's prescription drug monitoring program only collects data on Schedule II narcotics such as OxyContin, Percocet and fentanyl. There is no means to track other, highly-addictive Schedule III, IV and V controlled substances.

Legislation introduced by state Sen. Pat Vance, R-Cumberland, would expand the state's existing database to allow for the collection of data for all dispensed Schedule III, IV and V narcotics like Vicodin, Xanax and Suboxone.

Several provisions fully supported by law enforcement were added to the bill to guarantee that privacy rights are not violated:

•  Law enforcement can only access the prescription drug monitoring program after a court order is obtained.

•  Once access is granted, the information that authorized users can view is limited.

•  Law enforcement cannot use the information for any purpose other than to secure a search or arrest warrant, nor can the information be used at trial.

Access to this information does not open the database up so authorized users can scroll freely through record upon record.

Law enforcement's goal is to prevent the imposition of barriers that prevent access to life-saving information, not create open access to the information.

This legislation demonstrates that privacy rights can be protected while supplying the tools needed to help law enforcement identify and prosecute criminals who profit from keeping our citizens addicted to drugs that can kill them.

Those who suggest that law enforcement should be required to obtain probable cause before accessing the database ignore the fact that prescription drug monitoring programs are designed to be a proactive tool in the fight against prescription drug abuse.

A probable cause standard would render prescription drug monitoring programs useless because once law enforcement has probable cause, a search or arrest warrant could be obtained independent of the information in the database, leaving little need to access the database.

Controlled substances are strictly regulated for a reason - they can and often do lead to addiction, overdoses, and in many cases, death.

The number of drug overdose deaths in Pennsylvania - a significant portion resulting from prescription drugs - has increased by 89 percent since 1999. Additionally, Pennsylvania hospital admissions for opioids and synthetics increased 100 percent between 2004 and 2011.

Abuse levels of illegal Schedule I narcotics, namely heroin, in many cases have been surpassed by prescription painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs and stimulants.

This epidemic has also had a tremendous fiscal impact: misuse and abuse of prescription painkillers alone costs the country an estimated $53.4 billion a year in lost productivity, medical costs and criminal justice costs.

Allowing criminal investigators to access data contained within a prescription drug monitoring program helps them identify abnormal prescribing or dispensing practices so that they can target and prosecute the traffickers and illegal prescribers responsible for overdoses and overdose deaths in our communities.

There is a common misconception that prescription drugs are safer than street drugs because they are made in a controlled laboratory, prescribed by physicians and dispensed by licensed pharmacists.

Prescription drug abuse poses just as much of a threat as the use of traditional, illicit narcotics.

In fact, individuals who use prescription pills recreationally are 19 times more likely to begin using heroin.

Too many people across the Commonwealth are in the throes of addiction, which takes thousands of lives each year, destroying families in its wake.

Expanding Pennsylvania's prescription drug monitoring program as proposed by Sen. Vance would effectively help combat prescription drug abuse, while imposing privacy limitations that law enforcement not only honor, but support.

Kathleen G. Kane, a Democrat, is Pennsylvania's state Attorney General.

http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2014/06/expanded_prescription_drug_mon.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘Gitmo Five' set free in prisoner exchange are linked to slaughter of thousands of men, women and children

by Michael Higgins

U.S. Senator John McCain called the five Taliban prisoners exchanged for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl the “hardest of the hard core.”

U.S. authorities have tried to down play the importance of the “Gitmo Five” and reassure people they are unlikely to return to violence.

But what is clear from reports from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and newspaper accounts, three of the men are associated with some of the worst massacres in Afghanistan and are being investigated for war crimes.

Norullah Noori, Khairullah Khairkhwa and Mohammad Fazl have all been associated with the slaughter of hundreds — possibly thousands — of men, women and children.

They were released from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba last week, along with two other prisoners, in a controversial decision by U.S. President Barack Obama. Much of the attention has focused on Sgt. Bergdahl, but the histories of Mr. Noori, Mr. Khairkhwa and Mr. Fazl link them to brutal and bloody episodes.

NORULLAH NOORI

Thousands of Shiites were killed by the Sunni Taliban regime in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, a purge ordered in part by Mr. Noori, then governor of Balkh, and other provincial governors, said Rafiullah Bidar, a spokesman for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

Mr. Noori is accused of taking part in the 1998 massacre of up to 8,000 Shiites.

Mohammad Ali lived in Mazar-e-Sharif, the Balkh capital, when his brothers, aged 22 and 25, were executed by the Taliban in 2000. He found their bodies in an open grave, their heads chopped off, lying alongside more than a dozen corpses.

“When I heard [abut the Gitmo Five's] release from news, my blood began to boil,” said Mr. Ali, 52, from Kabul. “I had a strong feeling to take a weapon and go after them.

“America released the murderers of my brothers and tens of thousands others. Shame on you, America.”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Mr. Noori “could be implicated in the reported summary executions of ethnic Uzbek civilians in Balkh in May 2001, and in a massacre of civilian prisoners that took place at Robatak Pass, on the border of Samangan and Baghlan provinces, in May 2000.”

In the Robatak Pass massacre, at least 31 hostages were killed after being tortured. HRW said there may have been more deaths, because at least three other grave sites have been identified but not examined.

The hostages were taken as a warning to other villagers not to cooperate with rival militias. They were beaten with electric cables and made to stand outside in sub-zero temperatures. One of them, Sayyid Tajuddin, 38, suffered severe frostbite and had both feet amputated. He was later executed.

A classified U.S. Department of Defense document, prepared in February 2008, said Mr. Noori, a farmer and tailor by trade, was wanted by the United Nations for war crimes, “including the murder of thousands of Shiite Muslims.”

KHAIRULLAH KHAIRKHWA

Khairullah Khairkhwa, former Taliban governor of Herat province and suspected heroin trafficker, is also accused of being involved in a massacre.

M. K. Bhadrakumar, a former Indian diplomat who served in Afghanistan, says Mr. Khairkhwa and the Taliban attacked Mazar-e-Sharif in 1997. but were beaten back by Hazara Shiites and Uzbeks, who form most of the city's population.

The next year, the Taliban attacked several northern towns — the assault was led by Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, then interior minister, according to [itals]The Frontier Post[enditals] newspaper — and after laying siege to Mazar-e-Sharif, stormed the city in August.

“The Hazara Shiites were massacred in their thousands in revenge and for the next six days after entering Mazar, Khairkhwa ordered his men to go from door to door looking for male Hazara Shiites and summarily executed them,” Mr. Bhadrakumar wrote in the [itals]Asia Times[enditals] online newspaper.

“Thousands of Uzbek prisoners were packed into transport truck containers to be suffocated or to die of heat stroke so that Khairkhwa could spare ammunition.

“An Amnesty International report of Sept. 3, 1998, chronicled unemotionally: ‘Taliban guards deliberately and systematically killed thousands of Hazara civilians … in their homes, in the streets where the bodies were left for several days, or in locations between Mazar-i-Sharif and Hairatan [on the Oxus River]. Many of those killed were civilians, including women, children and the elderly who were shot trying to flee the city.'

“Every little child in Mazar knows the epic story of that bloodbath, which reached an historic scale the city had not seen since Genghis Khan and his Mongol army passed through in the 13th century. That is to say, nothing has been forgotten, nothing forgiven.”

MOHAMMAD FAZL

Mohammad Fazl, another “high-risk” detainee, according to Defense department reports, is wanted by the UN for war crimes. Mr. Fazl, who the U.S. said had a long history of human rights abuses, has been implicated in the murders of hundreds of Shiites in Yakaolang, Bamyan province.

In Yakaolang in January 2001, the Taliban detained about 300 civilian adult males, including staff members of local humanitarian organizations. They were herded to assembly points, then shot by firing squad in public view, according to the U.S. State Department.

A witness told Amnesty International, “First they rounded up the people in the streets. They then went from house to house and arrested the men of the families except for the very old men. Nothing could stop them, and they did not spare any of the houses. In one house, the mother of a young man whom the Taleban were taking away held unto him saying she would not allow him to go away without her. The Taleban began to hit the woman brutally with their rifle butts. She died. They took away the son and shot him dead.”

Another witness said the Taliban also killed 73 men, women and children who had taken shelter in a mosque.

“The Taleban got to know that there were people inside and fired two rockets into the mosque. The mosque tumbled and all of the people except for two toddlers — about 3 or 4 years old — were killed. People wanted to see if there were survivors but the Taleban did not allow anyone to enter the site. They guarded it for three nights without letting anyone getting near it. Then, they left the site. We saw the attack on this mosque. It was in our clear view. When the Taleban were guarding the site, hungry dogs came in and pulled out arms and legs of the dead but the Taleban did not allow people to bury them.”

“When asked about the murders, [Fazl] did not express any regret and stated they did what they needed to do in their struggle to establish their ideal state,” said the classified Defense department report, which was published by WikiLeaks.

Sidney Jones, executive director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, has said of Mr. Fazl and Mr. Noori, “If these men and others like them are not prosecuted, the cycle of violent abuse in Afghanistan is not going to end.”

THE OTHER TWO MEN

Mohammed Nabi, a former policeman and used-car salesman, served in multiple military leadership roles, including intelligence officer, and smuggled weapons and fighters across the Pakistani border into Afghanistan. On one mission, he hid missile components inside beehives.

Abdul Haq Wasiq, a former deputy minister of intelligence, arranged for Al-Qaeda to train the Taliban in “intelligence methods,” according to a leaked Department of Defense file.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06/06/gitmo-five-set-free-in-prisoner-exchange-are-linked-to-slaughter-of-thousands-of-men-women-and-children/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Canada

Manhunt in Canada: Three mounted police shot to death

by Melanie Eversley and John Bacon

A manhunt was underway Thursday in the eastern Canadian province of New Brunswick after a shooting rampage left three Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers dead and two others wounded, the police agency said.

Mounted Police Constable Damien Theriault said authorities were searching for the suspect, Justin Bourque, 24, who was wearing camouflage and carrying two rifles late Wednesday when witnesses say he began firing on officers in Moncton.

Theriault said Bourque is considered armed and dangerous. No motive for the shootings was released.

"I lost three friends," Theriault told Canada's CBC News. "And now we need to pull together and locate this individual as quickly as possible to ensure everyone's safety. "We are professionals and we have a job to do right now. We will have time to grieve after."

The police agency was repeatedly tweeting Thursday: "If you live in the marked area stay inside / lock doors. Roads blocked. Traffic disrupted. Avoid area"

Local resident Danny Leblanc, 42, told the Associated Press he saw the shooter in the distance Wednesday evening, wearing a camouflage outfit and standing in the middle of the street with his gun pointed at police cars.

New Brunswick Premier David Alward issued a statement saying he was "shocked and saddened" by the ongoing incident.

"On behalf of all New Brunswickers, I would like to my thoughts and prayers to those affected," Alward said. "I would ask New Brunswickers, particularly those in areas identified by police, to follow the situation as it develops and follow the advice of police."

Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc issued an impassioned plea for residents to stay indoors and he expressed condolences regarding the slain officers.

"This is a very trying evening in our community, please remain calm but vigilant," LeBlanc said in a statement released on Facebook. "I am confident that the RCMP will soon restore peace and order."

Gun violence, particularly against police, is rare in Canada. In 2005, four Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers were killed in the western Canadian province of Alberta in what authorities called the deadliest attack on Canadian police officers in 120 years. They had been investigating a farm in Mayerthrope, a hamlet in Alberta, when a man shot them. The gunman was killed.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/06/04/royal-canadian-mounted-police-shooting/9995303/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taliban Commander: More Kidnappings to Come After Bergdahl Deal

by Aryn Baker

A Taliban commander close to the negotiations over the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl told TIME by telephone Thursday that the deal made to secure Bergdahl's release has made it more appealing for fighters to capture American soldiers and other high-value targets.

“It's better to kidnap one person like Bergdahl than kidnapping hundreds of useless people,” the commander said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. “It has encouraged our people. Now everybody will work hard to capture such an important bird.”

The U.S. agreed on May 31 to exchange five Taliban commanders from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for Bergdahl, America's only living prisoner of war. Following the deal, the outpouring of relief by those who had long lobbied to “Bring Bowe Home” was soon eclipsed by accusations and recriminations as Republican lawmakers accused the administration of making a dangerous precedent.

“What does this tell terrorists?,” Republican Senator Ted Cruz said on ABC's This Week the day after Bergdahl's release. “That if you capture a U.S. soldier, you can trade that soldier for five terrorist prisoners?”

http://time.com/2826442/taliban-kidnappings-beghdahl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last of Original Group of Navajo Code Talkers Dies

by FELICIA FONSECA Associated Press

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. June 4, 2014 (AP) -- The language he once was punished for speaking in school became Chester Nez's primary weapon in World War II.

Before hundreds of men from the Navajo Nation became Code Talkers, Nez and 28 others were recruited to develop a code based on the then-unwritten Navajo language. Locked in a room for 13 weeks, they came up with an initial glossary of more than 200 terms using Navajo words for red soil, war chief, braided hair and hummingbird, for example, and an alphabet.

Nez never tired of telling the story to highlight his pride in having served his country and stress the importance of preserving the Navajo language. The 93-year-old died Wednesday morning of kidney failure with plenty of appearances still scheduled, said Judith Avila, who helped Nez publish his memoirs. He was the last of the original group of 29 Navajo Code Talkers.

"It's one of the greatest parts of history that we used our own native language during World War II," Nez told The Associated Press in 2009. "We're very proud of it."

Navajo President Ben Shelly ordered flags lowered across the reservation in honor of Nez from sunrise Thursday to sunset Sunday.

Nez was in 10th grade when he lied about his age to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps not knowing he would become part of an elite group of Code Talkers. He wondered whether the code would work since the Japanese were skilled code breakers.

Few non-Navajos spoke the Navajo language, and even those who did couldn't decipher the code. It proved impenetrable. The Navajos trained in radio communications were walking copies of it. Each message read aloud by a Code Talker immediately was destroyed.

"The Japanese did everything in their power to break the code but they never did," Nez said in the AP interview.

Nez grew up speaking only Navajo in Two Wells, New Mexico, on the eastern side of the Navajo Nation. He gained English as a second language while attending boarding school, where he had his mouth washed out with soap for speaking Navajo.

When a Marine recruiter came looking for young Navajos who were fluent in Navajo and English to serve in World War II, Nez said he told his roommate "let's try it out." The dress uniforms caught his attention, too.

"They were so pretty," Nez said.

About 250 Navajos showed up at Fort Defiance, then a U.S. Army base. But only 29 were selected to join the first all-Native American unit of Marines. They were inducted in May 1942 and became the 382nd Platoon tasked with developing the code. At the time, Navajos weren't even allowed to vote.

After World War II, Nez volunteered to serve two more years during the Korean War. He retired in 1974 after a 25-year career as a painter at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Albuquerque. His artwork featuring 12 Navajo holy people was on display at the hospital.

For years, Nez's family and friends knew only that he fought the Japanese during World War II.

Nez was eager to tell his family more about his role as a Code Talker, Avila said, but he couldn't. Their mission wasn't declassified until 1968.

The accolades came much later. The original group received Congressional Gold Medals in 2001 and Nez often joked about pawning his. He measured the accuracy of the movie "Windtalkers," based on the Code Talkers that came out the following year, at 78 percent and said the Navajo spoken by Adam Beach was hard to understand but "he tried his best."

Code Talkers have appeared on television and at parades and they are routinely asked to speak to veterans groups and students. They are celebrated on the Navajo Nation with a tribal holiday.

Nez threw the opening pitch at a 2004 Major League Baseball game and offered a blessing for the presidential campaign of John Kerry. In 2012, he received a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas, where he abandoned his studies in fine arts decades ago after tuition assistance he received for his military service ran out.

U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, of New Mexico, praised Nez for his bravery and service to the United States in a statement Wednesday. The Code Talkers took part in every assault the Marines conducted in the Pacific, sending thousands of messages without error on Japanese troop movements and battlefield tactics.

Once while running a message, Nez and his partner were mistaken for Japanese soldiers and were threatened at gunpoint until a Marine lieutenant cleared up the confusion. He was forbidden from saying he was a Code Talker.

"He loved his culture and his country, and when called, he fought to protect both," Udall said. "And because of his service, we enjoy freedoms that have stood the test of time."

Despite having both legs partially amputated, confining him to a wheelchair, Avila said the humble Nez loved to travel and tell his story.

"It really was a good thing, such a good experience for him," she said. "He said he would do it over again if his country needed him."

A public viewing is scheduled Monday evening in Albuquerque. A Mass is scheduled Tuesday in Albuquerque, with burial to follow at the Santa Fe National Cemetery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/original-group-navajo-code-talkers-dies-23991994?singlePage=true

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Colorado

Does Archuleta County Need 'Community Oriented Policing'?

by Dave Douglas

These comments are in response to a letter by Lyn Dryburgh, published in the Daily Post on May 30.

We ask the question: Does Archuleta County need 'Community Oriented Policing' (COP)?

The short answer is: there is no short answer. There's a great deal we need to learn about COP before any answer becomes clear.

The US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance defines 'Community Oriented Policing' in the preface to their “Understanding Community Policing” document: Community policing is, in essence, a collaboration between the police and the community that identifies and solves community problems. With the police no longer the sole guardians of law and order, all members of the community become active allies in the effort to enhance the safety and quality of neighborhoods.

That sounds really good, and it's a goal modern day law enforcement should aspire to achieving. But, in Archuleta County, It's already being done. And, the Sheriff's Department has been practicing the tenants of COP for many years. Large Police and Sheriff's departments throughout the country are trying to achieve what we already have in Archuleta County. We don't put a label on it — we just do it.

When the idea of Community Oriented Policing was in its infancy a number of academics conducted research and studies to find out just what made the “community” feel good about their law enforcement. The key to understanding COP is the point of, “What makes the Community FEEL GOOD about Law Enforcement.” COP has absolutely nothing to do with putting bad guys in jail, cleaning up a methamphetamine problem, preventing car accidents, solving burglaries and recovering stolen property for the victims. It has to do with perception. It's a label placed on a public relations model of police work.

So, to get back to the question of do we need community oriented policing in Archuleta County. The answer is no, because Law Enforcement in Archuleta County already practices many of those areas identified in the beginning stages of COP.

COP can be counterproductive.

As a Community Relations Officer for the San Diego Police Department just prior to being promoted to Sergeant, I was tasked with implementing COP at Northern Division. The Clairemont community was one of my areas of responsibility. It was a post-war planned community of about 80,000 residents of middle class and lower middle class means.

One of my jobs was to attend the Clairemont Town Council meetings. It was well attended with around 100 residents at every meeting. I reported to the Town Council about on-going police concerns. I had to report about two, stranger, hot prowl rape series in Clairemont over the past month. One of the series had turned into a rape / murder series.

About half way through my presentation I was stopped by the town council president and told their real concerns were with the illegal overnight parking of motorhomes in the neighborhoods. It was hard to understand, but apparently this was their community concern and this was community policing. The next day I told the Northern Division Commander and an action plan was developed by patrol to address the concern.

A couple days after the Town Council meeting, I was driving to a yet another meeting on the motorhome issue and I heard a call on the radio of a possible stabbing. Being only a block away I told dispatch I was almost at scene and would advise. Residents directed me to an apartment and I rushed in. An 18-year old girl from Michigan, visiting her brother, lay bleeding on the floor wrapped only in a towel. It had all the earmarks of the rape / murder series. I put the information out on the air and had medics and cover units on the way. I held young Holly Tarr and told her she wasn't alone — then watched as she took her last breath and died in my arms. The only thing I could think of right then was just how important are those damn illegally parked motorhomes?

If we had the community's attention and their eyes and ears concentrating on the real problem — a rape / murder series, not illegally parked motorhomes — would Holly have suffered the same fate? Personnel assets (cops) were allocated to a task that drew those assets away from a real problem. Sometimes making the community FEEL GOOD is not the job of Law Enforcement. The job of Law Enforcement is the protection of life and property. It's as simple as that.

We truly do not need a program initially designed in the late 1970s and early 1980s by academics specifically for large law enforcement agencies. We don't need a program designed to give the public a "feeling" that their law enforcement agency cares about them. They wouldn't be cops and deputies if they didn't care.

We need law enforcement that cares about the public's well-being and safety. We have that here. We don't need buzzword law enforcement. One of the candidates for Sheriff thinks that implementing Community Oriented Policing will cure all our crime problems. “Wouldn't you like to have a deputy shake your hand instead of handing you a ticket,” he says. Well sometimes, folks just need to get a ticket. He's wrong about COP — hopefully voters will tell him just that in the upcoming election.

Dave Douglas served with the San Diego Police Department and was Founding Editor, American COP Magazine.

http://www.pagosadailypost.com/news/25923/LETTER:_Does_Archuleta_County_Need_'Community_Oriented_Policing'?/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

California

Long Beach Police Awards Ceremony Honors Heroic Acts

by Jonathan Van Dyke

The Carpenter Performing Arts Center will be the setting for some of the good stories tonight (Thursday) regarding the Long Beach Police Department, a welcome reprieve in a field that is often about the bad news, officials said.

“With all the negative press that can be out there, it's wonderful to see the heart-warming stories and heroism behind the scenes that a lot of people don't know about,” said Gretchen Houser, Long Beach Police Foundation board member. “This is kind of a thank you for what they do and a way to let the general public know what the police department is faced with day-to-day.”

The 46th Annual Long Beach Police Awards Ceremony will take place at 5 p.m. tonight, Thursday, at the Carpenter Center. There will be snacks and drinks at 4 p.m. The event is free and open to the public with an RSVP to awards@lbpolicefoundation.org or by calling 343-5111.

The event is put on by a joint effort between the Long Beach Police Department and the Long Beach Police Foundation and it is designed to be a family-friendly event that honors department employees and citizens who have distinguished themselves during the past year with brave and unselfish acts of heroism and dedication to community safety, organizers said.

“It makes every officer proud to be recognized in front of their family and for the family to see that recognition in front of the community is a great honor,” Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell said. “You'll get to hear accounts of some very special acts of service and bravery.”

Awards will be given out for community service, volunteer service, unit citation, community policing, distinguished service, meritorious award for bravery, meritorious award for heroism, critical incident, excellence in leadership and employees of the year.

“I would encourage anybody who has the time to come — I think they will be impressed and it will be time well spent,” McDonnell said. “You'd think any one of these stories could be in a television show or a movie, and it's right in your community.”

Meritorious awards for heroism will go to officers Sean Deaton, Brian Ekrem, Ed Moscoso and Victor Ortiz.

On April 26, 2013, the officers responded to a call where a 3-year-old boy and 13-year-old boy were trapped in a backyard by two large pit bulls. The 3-year-old had been bitten on the face and head, officials said.

Deaton and Ortiz deployed their Tasers to make the dogs back off, with Ekrem standing by to provide possible lethal cover. Moscoso immediately then ran for the boys, rescuing the injured toddler and handing the child over a wall to a waiting neighbor.

The dogs came back and Ortiz used his baton and Moscoso had to kick one to get them to back off again, before they grabbed the 13-year-old and retreated into the back door of the house.

For more information on everything the Long Beach Police Foundation does to support the LBPD, visit www.LBPoliceFoundation.org or call 343-5111.

http://www.gazettes.com/news/long-beach-police-awards-ceremony-honors-heroic-acts/article_0d9d1ee8-ec36-11e3-9475-0019bb2963f4.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

California

Red light enforcement program a public safety tool

by Tom Murphy

The Bakersfield Police Department is hoping city council gives the green light to red light cameras.

Police have asked city council to keep red light cameras at eight intersections.

BPD said the cameras have proven to be a tremendous public safety tool, releasing the numbers to prove it.

Since 2003 side collisions are down over 63.41% at the intersections with red light cameras.

At the same intersections rear end crashes are down 32.48%.

The 8 intersections are at Chester/Brundage, Bernard/Oswell, Coffee/Truxtun, Ming/Valley, Ming/Real, California/Oak, California/New Stine and White/Wible.

“Those were intersections that were having a great number of accidents,” said Sergeant Joe Grubbs, “the cameras have succeeded in reducing accidents. That reduces injuries and people getting injured in car collisions.”

The BPD has asked the city council to extend an agreement that would keep the red light cameras in Bakersfield for at least four more years.

City staff has recommended the request be approved.

http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/Red-light-enforcement-program-a-public-safety-tool-261913781.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maryland

Calvert County Department of Public Safety offers preparedness tips for hurricane season

by Press Release

The Calvert County Department of Public Safety, Emergency Management Division, encourages residents to review hurricane preparedness procedures and family plans as we enter the 2014 mid-Atlantic hurricane season which runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.

In the event of a major coastal storm, emergency management staff will provide information, precautionary advice and public safety instructions through local media, the county website, Facebook and the Calvert County ALERT notification system. Residents should bear in mind that sometimes the best course of action may be to shelter in place at home or work. At other times evacuations may be necessary and the amount of time available to leave may be limited.

Consider the following actions and be prepared in case these potentially dangerous storms threaten:

Prepare for High Winds

· If necessary, protect all windows with shutters or 5/8-inch plywood panels.

· Reinforce garage doors.

· Designate an interior room with no windows or external doors as a “safe room.”

· Assess your landscaping and trees to ensure they do not become a wind hazard.

Prepare for Flooding

· Determine the elevation of your property to learn your vulnerability to flooding.

· Evaluate your insurance coverage.

· In flood-prone areas, keep materials on hand such as sandbags, plywood, plastic sheeting, plastic garbage bags, lumber, shovels, work boots and gloves.

· Be aware of areas known to flood so your evacuation routes are not cut off.

If Storms Approach

· Most mobile/manufactured homes are not built to withstand hurricane-force winds. Residents of these homes should relocate to safer structures if an evacuation order is issued.

· Secure lawn furniture and other outside objects that could become projectiles in high winds.

· Listen carefully for safety instructions from local officials. Monitor a NOAA weather radio.

During Storms

· Stay inside and away from windows, skylights and doors.

· If the power is out, listen to a battery-powered radio for storm updates.

· Have flashlights/batteries handy and avoid open flames and candles.

· If power is lost, turn off major appliances to reduce damage when power is restored.

After Storms

· Stay away from downed or dangling power lines.

· Beware of weakened tree limbs.

· Open windows and doors to ventilate your house.

· To keep lines open, use your phone only in emergencies.

· Do not drive into water of unknown depth.

· Restrict children from playing in flooded areas.

· Do not use fresh food that has come in contact with flood waters.

· Pump out wells and have the water tested before drinking.

If you have questions about hurricanes or other disaster preparedness, please contact the Calvert County Division of Emergency Management at 410-535-1600, ext 2638, or e-mail oem@co.cal.md.us. Further hurricane preparedness information is available through the Maryland Emergency Management Agency online at www.mema.state.md.us

http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/37446

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Children flooding over southern border deemed ‘urgent,' but Obama offers no plan

by Stephen Dinan

Faced with 60,000 unaccompanied children trying to cross the border illegally this year, President Obama on Monday declared it an “urgent humanitarian situation” and named a federal coordinator to make sure the children are cared for — but offered no new ideas for how to keep them from trying to enter.

These “unaccompanied alien children” are the latest hiccup for an administration that has asserted the border is secure, even as it struggles to balance enforcement with humanitarian concerns.

The White House signaled that, at least for now, it sees the flow of children — which it predicts will more than double in 2015 — as an issue to be managed rather than a problem to be fought.

“We are only talking about protecting these kids,” White House domestic policy adviser Cecilia Munoz told reporters who asked whether there were any bigger plans in the works to try to stem the flow. “These are children, and in many cases they are young children. They have just traveled from Central America to the U.S. alone.”

The children are among the toughest cases in the immigration debate.

Chiefly from Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador, they are usually fleeing horrendous conditions of economic poverty or unfathomable gang violence. They brave harsh conditions and, in the case of the girls, often face being raped during their journey through Mexico and across the U.S. border.

Ms. Munoz said they've seen a tremendous spike in just the last month, with more girls and more children younger than 13.

Republicans said Mr. Obama is responsible for the surge because he has created an expectation south of the border that immigrants who can get across the border will be allowed to stay.

“Word has gotten out around the world about President Obama's lax immigration enforcement policies, and it has encouraged more individuals to come to the United States illegally, many of whom are children from Central America,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said in a statement.

He said the solution was more enforcement, “not another bureaucratic task force,” and he vowed to convene a hearing to look into the issue.

So did House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael T. McCaul, who said the “administration's lack of border enforcement has reached disastrous proportions.”

The administration has said it was trying to work with Mexico and governments in Central America, but officials were silent on those efforts Monday.

Instead, officials said they are trying to find ways to meet the law, which calls for immigration officials to turn the children over to the Department of Health & Human Services within 72 hours after they are apprehended.

Officials have scrambled to find appropriate housing for the children and have rented space on a military base in Texas to house 1,200. Another base in California is being eyed, with space for 600 more.

Mr. Obama tapped Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Craig Fugate to coordinate those efforts.

Administration officials stress that the children are put in deportation proceedings and said there's never any guarantee they can stay in the U.S. The officials also said the children won't be eligible for either the immigration bill that passed the Senate last year or Mr. Obama's nondeportation policy for children, both of which had cutoff dates for eligibility.

But the children can lodge claims of asylum, and some can also file for a special juvenile visa, which is available to children who cannot be reunited with parents in the U.S.

The Houston Chronicle reported this weekend that the flow has so overwhelmed border officials in Texas that they are shipping “busloads” of immigrants to Arizona, giving them a notice to appear for eventual deportation hearings.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer sent a letter to Mr. Obama on Monday demanding to know who devised the policy, which she called “dangerous and unconscionable.” She said Homeland Security officials never gave state officials a heads-up.

“I remind you that the daytime temperatures in Arizona during this time of year are regularly more than 100 degrees. Consequently, this federal operation seems to place expediency over basic humanitarian concerns,” she wrote. “The federal government should not shirk its lawful responsibility to care for and properly process these individuals.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/2/children-flooding-over-southern-border-deemed-urge/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FBI says Europe-based hackers stole millions of dollars from businesses, consumers

by The Associated Press

WASHINGTON – A band of hackers implanted viruses on hundreds of thousands of computers around the world, secretly seized customer bank information and stole more than $100 million from businesses and consumers, the Justice Department said Monday in announcing charges against the Russian man accused of masterminding the effort.

In unveiling the criminal case, federal authorities said they disrupted European-based cyber threats that were sophisticated, lucrative and global.

In one scheme, the criminals infected computers with malicious software that captured bank account numbers and passwords, then used that information to secretly divert millions of dollars from victims' bank accounts to themselves. In another, they locked hacking victims out of their own computers, secretly encrypted personal files on the machines and returned control to the users only when ransom payments of several hundred dollars were made.

"The criminals effectively held for ransom every private email, business plan, child's science project, or family photograph -- every single important and personal file stored on the victim's computer," Leslie Caldwell, the head of the Justice Department's criminal division, said at a news conference.

Working with officials in more than 10 other countries, the FBI and other agencies recently seized computer servers that were central to the crimes, which affected hundreds of thousands of computers.

The FBI called the alleged ringleader, 30-year-old Evgeniy Bogachev, one of the most prolific cyber criminals in the world and issued a "Wanted" poster that lists his online monikers and describes him as a boating enthusiast. He faces criminal charges in Pittsburgh, where he was named in a 14-count indictment, and in Nebraska, where a criminal complaint was filed. He has not been arrested, but Deputy Attorney General James Cole said U.S. authorities were in contact with Russia to try to bring him into custody.

Officials say the case is another stark reminder of the evolving cybercrime threat, though it's unrelated to the recently unsealed cyber-espionage indictment of five Chinese military hackers accused of stealing trade secrets from American firms. Both sets of hackers relied on similar tactics -- including sending emails to unsuspecting victims that installed malware -- but the Chinese defendants were government officials who sought information that could bring companies in their country a competitive advantage.

Bogachev's operation, prosecutors say, consisted of criminals in Russia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom who were assigned different roles within the conspiracy.

The group is accused in the development of both "Gameover Zeus" -- a network of infected computers that intercepted customer bank account numbers and passwords that victims typed in-- and "Cryptolocker," malicious software that hijacked victims' computers and demanded ransom payments. Computer users who refuse the ransom demands generally lose their files for good.

The victims of the different schemes included an American Indian tribe in Washington state; an insurance company and a firm that runs assisted living centers in Pennsylvania; a local police department in Massachusetts; a pest control company in North Carolina; and a restaurant operator in Florida.

The Pittsburgh indictment unsealed Monday accuses Bogachev's group of trying to siphon hundreds of thousands of dollars from the bank accounts of Haysite Reinforced Plastics of Erie, in northwestern Pennsylvania, on a single day in 2011. According to the indictment, two of the transfers went through -- one for about $198,000 and one for about $175,000 -- but multiple other attempted transfers did not.

Officials with Haysite did not return phone calls for comment. The accounts were with Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank, which declined to comment.

Other victims included a Florida bank that lost nearly $7 million through an unauthorized wire transfer. The Swansea, Mass., police department, on the other hand, lost $750 when it paid a ransom demanded by the malicious software that infected its computers.

Last week, a federal judge in Pittsburgh granted a temporary restraining order against Bogachev and the others, demanding that they cease such activities. That order was unsealed along with the charges Monday.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/06/03/fbi-says-europe-based-hackers-stole-millions-dollars-from-businesses-consumers/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Op-Ed

Our Militarized Police Tossed a Stun Grenade at a Baby

by The Daily Take Team

Right now, a 1-year-old toddler with severe burns is clinging to life in a Georgia hospital, after a SWAT team barged into the house where he and his family were staying, and mistakenly threw a flash-bang grenade into his crib.

This past Wednesday, members of the Cornelia, Georgia police department's SWAT team entered the house where the toddler and his family were staying, searching for an alleged drug dealer who they say was living in the home as well, and who was armed and dangerous.

Because the suspected drug dealer had previous weapons charges, the SWAT team members had a no-knock warrant, which meant they could enter the house without warning, and without checking to see if there were children inside the home.

Now, a little boy is struggling to survive.

Unfortunately, incidents like this are becoming all too common in America today.

That's because America's police forces have become like occupied armies, hyper-militarized for the benefit of our nation's military industrial complex.

All across our country, local cops are kicking in doors, SWAT teams are carrying weapons of war, and warrants are becoming things of the past.

Fortunately, there's a way to change all of this, restore sanity to local policing, and to put weapons of war back where they belong.

Back in 1994, the Clinton administration created something called the COPS program.

The federal Community Oriented Policing Services program provides resources for local police forces across America, intended to help those forces become more involved in their communities.

The goal of the program is to create more police officers like Madison, Wisconsin police officer Katie Adler.

Unlike regular patrol cops, Adler spends much of her time in crime-ridden at-risk neighborhoods, getting to know the people she serves, and building lasting relationships along the way. She is the perfect example of community policing.

Meanwhile, European countries have been relying on community policing for years.

Take Sweden for example.

Back in 1972, the Swedish government created a national center for research, development and coordination of policing, with the goal of fighting and reducing crime at its social and community levels.

And in 1992, local policing committees began popping up across Sweden. These committees, in 200+ communities across Sweden, work hand-in-hand with local police forces, community leaders, schools and other groups to improve living conditions and to reduce crime.

Unfortunately, funding for community policing back here in America has seen a steady decline since the COPS program was first introduced.

In 2010, $792 million was allotted in the form of federal grants under the COPS program for local police forces across the country; By 2012, that number had shrunken to just $199 million.

Now, there are fewer and fewer Officer Katie's, and more and more hyper-militarized local police forces, that are breaking down doors first, and asking questions later.

Rather than being viewed as community members, America's police forces are being increasingly viewed as occupying armies, and that needs to change.

Community policing needs to be a priority in our country once again. But the changes shouldn't stop there.

We also need to put weapons of war back in the hands of real military forces, like the National Guard, and pay our cops better while holding them to higher standards.

Only then can we make sure no more1-year-old toddlers are hanging on to life by a thread because a flash-bang grenade went off in their cribs.

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/24095-our-militarized-police-tossed-a-stun-grenade-at-a-baby

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arkansas

Benton police focusing on city park crime in June

by KTHV

BENTON, Ark. (BNPD) -- Recently, it has come to police's attention through some members of the community that they would like to see more of a presence in city parks due to various issues and concerns. Some of the problems reported include vehicular racing, possible drug use, people fighting, and people using vulgar language or slurs around their family.

This initiative will refocus the resources of the department towards utilizing not just patrol officers, but also detectives, the special investigative unit (SIU), and school resource officers to be more effective. They will focus on community policing by conducting not just vehicle patrols, but foot patrols of the parks and Saline River access points to be a visible deterrent to those intent on conducting criminal activity.

Although there have been some complaints, the parks in the city are safe places for residents to visit and enjoy. With summer arriving, this initiative is designed to send the message to those that might participate in illegal behavior that it will not be tolerated and that our parks will continue to be good places for people to enjoy without fear.

As part of this initiative they will also partner with other agencies, such as the Arkansas Game and Fish near the river access points, to be more proactive in dealing with issues that may arise. Officers are being tasked to not only conduct additional patrols during the daytime, but also during ball games and other nighttime activities.

The Benton Police Department recently completed the May warrant initiative and amnesty program. That initiative resulted in a total of 421 warrants being served including 360 misdemeanor and 13 felony warrants out of our department. There was also 48 warrants issued out of other agencies as a result of this initiative.

http://www.thv11.com/story/news/local/benton-bryant/2014/06/02/benton-police-city-park-crime-focus/9871929/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ohio

Commentary

2 old-school dudes know how to make the moves

by Keith C. Burris

A few days ago, the Press Club of Toledo held a forum on policing and community relations in Toledo.

There were several speakers, and all were good, but the two stars of the morning were the mayor, Mike Collins, and the chief of police, William Moton.

This is a topic we have all heard talked to death: How can the police force better work in harness with the neighborhoods, the interest groups, and, especially, the vulnerable, of the city?

And yet, on this day, I don't think anyone in the room felt tired or cynical. Because the mayor, the chief, and their team really seemed to be returning to an old (indeed old-school) concept of policing. Call it “community policing” or call it “beat integrity,” as the mayor does.

The idea is to have cops visible in neighborhoods, walking beats, getting to know local small businesses, and winning the trust of neighborhoods. You might even call it “community connection.”

Everything old is new again. People seem to like this concept of policing.

Eighty percent of what a police officer does, said the mayor, a former police officer, is not violent and not dramatic or romantic. It is, he said, “social work.”

The mayor and his team also remain intent on integrating the mayor's “tidy towns” cleanup idea, by integrating housing inspection with policing.

We'll see. It will be harder to do than conceptualize. But, as the mayor says, “microwave solutions” to urban problems do not exist.

I could not help thinking about how Mr. Collins and Mr. Moton were two people who were not supposed to be there. Mr. Collins was a dark horse candidate for mayor, and Mr. Moton was never thought of as a potential chief — he was a well-respected lieutenant near retirement. The mayor elevated him based on the integrity he saw in him. It is an integrity which radiates from the man.

I thought about how these two unforeseen leaders, (the chief just turned 69 and the mayor turns 70 at the end of the month) seemed totally comfortable in their roles. Most people, though some are a bit surprised, think both have done fine jobs so far.

Partly that's because, I suspect, neither wants any further job beyond this. Both are free to do right, as they see the right, because they are beyond ambition. And partly it is because both are old enough to know when not to engage; when not to speak.

Years ago, during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the great American maestro, Robert Shaw, was in Washington conducting a Beethoven festival with the National Orchestra. A reporter asked Mr. Shaw what he thought of the Bill Clinton-Monica affair. “Now wouldn't I be a fool, a perfect fool,” Mr. Shaw replied, “if I took that bait”?

I admired the way Mayor Collins stayed out of the Larry Sykes fiasco.

I watched these two old lions enjoying their last act and thought: There is something to be said for experience.

Someone asked Jerry Brown what he learned being a son of a governor, governor himself, mayor, candidate for president, state attorney general, and governor again. “You learn how to make the moves,” he said.

http://www.toledoblade.com/Keith-Burris/2014/06/03/2-old-school-dudes-know-how-to-make-the-moves.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Illinois

Letter to the Editor

Voice of the Reader: Invest in our kids and public safety

To the Editor:

My work as a prosecutor provides a window on not only the devastating impact of crime and violence, but how to prevent such problems. Over the years, I've found quality early learning programs represent one of the best strategies, helping put kids on the path to success in school and heading-off trouble.

Years of research back this up. Studies demonstrate good preschool opportunities dramatically reduce children's chances of becoming a chronic offender or going to prison, while increasing the likelihood they'll graduate and become productive citizens.

Yet, since 2009, state budget cuts have pushed about 20,000 young children out of preschool classrooms throughout Illinois – erasing one out of five slots in Southern Illinois, alone.

That's why I'm happy to see the introduction of bipartisan legislation in Congress to strengthen states' early learning programs. I'm encouraged that, in more than two-dozen states, Republicans and Democrats have come together to boost preschool investments during the past year.

Now we need to do likewise here, returning Illinois to the position we once held: Leading the nation in research-proven investments in young children's learning and development.

To that end, I recently joined more than 150 law-enforcement leaders who are members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Illinois, urging state leaders to protect and strengthen early education efforts in the budget they'll soon craft.

It was heartening to hear the Governor's recent call for bolstering birth-to-5 services in Illinois, and I ask our lawmakers to join in making this a priority. We'll be spending dimes now to save dollars later, while curbing crime and improving public safety.

Tyler R. Edmonds,
Union County State's Attorney

http://thesouthern.com/news/opinion/mailbag/voice-of-the-reader-invest-in-our-kids-and-public/article_15a3bdcf-303b-5a29-85cc-c8c46785319c.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Florida

Workshop helps keep seniors SAFE from scams

by BRIAN HUGHES

CRESTVIEW — Crestview Police Department spokesman Lt. Andrew Schneider reports the "grandma scam" is still prevalent in the north county area.

"That telephone scam is still around," Schneider said. "We've had a few calls about it floating around."

Senior citizens, family members and caregivers attending the Operation S.A.F.E. Be Scam Smart workshop on Wednesday can learn how to spot such crimes and fight identity theft.

The workshop, rescheduled from January due to the ice storm, is sponsored by area law enforcement agencies and state officials.

Operation S.A.F.E. — Stop Adult Financial Exploitation — is a part of Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater's On Guard for Seniors initiative.

The free workshop is presented by Atwater's state Department of Financial Services, the Crestview Police Department, the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office, and state Rep. Doug Broxson's office.

WANT TO GO?

WHAT: Operation SAFE/Be Scam Smart Workshop

WHO: For senior citizens, families and caregivers

WHEN: 10-11:30 a.m. June 4. Registration begins 9 a.m.

WHERE: Warriors Hall in the Whitehurst Municipal Building, 201 Stillwell Blvd., at Industrial Drive, Crestview

REGISTER: www.MyFloridaCFO.com/SAFE or 877-MY-FL-CFO (693-5236).

http://www.crestviewbulletin.com/news/public-safety/workshop-helps-keep-seniors-safe-from-scams-1.327366

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Califonrnia

Cops talked to Elliot Rodger three times before Santa Barbara killing spree, didn't know he owned guns

Rodger's weapon ownership was available in law enforcement databases, which apparently were not checked when police investigated his strange behavior. He was armed with three legally purchased handguns and more than 400 rounds of ammo in his May 23 rampage in Isla Vista, Calif. Students and demonstrators planned a Saturday march calling for an end to gun violence.

by Larry Mcshane

Three times in the last year, law enforcement officers met with future mass murderer Elliot Rodger — and the subject of his gun ownership never came up.

“The issue of weapons did not come up,” said Kelly Hoover, spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department.

“We had no information that he had weapons or reason to believe he had weapons,” Hoover told The Los Angeles Times.

The misogynist virgin shooter was armed with three legally purchased handguns and more than 400 rounds of ammunition when he launched his May 23 rampage in Isla Vista, Calif.
Department officials met three times under strange circumstances with Rodger, 22, in the months before he went on his killing spree.

Rodger murdered six people and wounded 13 others before fatally shooting himself in the head near the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Students from UCSB, along with local residents and anti-gun demonstrators, planned a Saturday march calling for an end to gun violence.

The demonstrators are supporting the “Not One More” campaign organized by Richard Martinez, whose son was killed inside the deli where the march will begin.

Rodger's ownership of the semiautomatic weapons was available in law enforcement databases, which apparently were not checked despite his increasingly erratic behavior.

His first visit from sheriff's deputies was last summer, when Rodger claimed he was assaulted — but investigators determined that he was the instigator. The probe was then suspended.

In January, authorities came again when Rodger made a citizen's arrest after accusing his roommate of stealing three candles valued at $22.

And just 23 days before the murders, authorities went to check on Rodger after receiving a worried call from a friend and information from his mom.

But the six law enforcement officers who visited with Rodger on April 30 in his apartment never mentioned anything about his small arsenal — or viewed the ominous videos that he was posting online.

Hours before the killing, he recorded a video titled “Elliot Rodger's Retribution.”

Rodger brought his Glock 34 and two Sig Sauer P223s along in the black BMW that he drove to the college campus town.

He fatally stabbed three of his roommates before gunning down two UCSB sorority sisters and Christopher Michaels-Martinez.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/cops-talked-elliot-rodger-3-times-didn-guns-article-1.1812855

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FBI: Former Iowa man sought in San Francisco explosives investigation

by Sharyn Jackson

Federal agents are searching for a San Francisco man and former Iowa resident who is wanted for possession of explosives, after raiding his apartment Saturday.

FBI officials have issued a nationwide alert to law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for Ryan Kelly Chamberlain II, 42, considered armed and dangerous.

Multiple agencies, including hazmat crews, searched Chamberlain's apartment Saturday in San Francisco's Russian Hill neighborhood, blocking off the street to vehicles and foot traffic for more than 14 hours.

Chamberlain has Iowa ties. He graduated from Iowa State University in 1993 with majors in journalism and political science, and wrote music reviews for The Des Moines Register in 1995 and 1996. Some of his work included concert reviews of Van Halen, Hootie & the Blowfish and Brooks & Dunn.

A Register article from 1994 mentions that Chamberlain previously worked as promotional director at Hooter's of Des Moines, and in Sen. Chuck Grassley's Washington, D.C., office. Grassley's office could not confirm Sunday whether Chamberlain worked there.

In a candidate biography of Chamberlain from a 2002 San Francisco race for the Republican Party's county central committee, he says he served as media director for an Iowa gubernatorial campaign.

Obituaries placed in the Register link him to family in Des Moines and Urbandale.

Register columnist Kyle Munson said he remembered Chamberlain producing a self-published magazine while he worked at the newspaper.

FBI spokesman Peter Lee says Chamberlain was last seen in a dark blue, hooded sweatshirt and jeans. He is 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.

Lee says Chamberlain is traveling in a white 2008 Nissan Altima with Texas or California license plates, but authorities do not know where he is heading.

Lee gave no details Sunday about the nature of the investigation but said authorities believe Chamberlain is acting alone.

"Right now we believe he is alone in the vehicle but we just don't know, again, where his ties or his network is so we ask that any members of the public be on the lookout for anyone that matches this man's description," Lee said at a news conference outside FBI headquarters on Sunday.

Randy Bramblett, a personal trainer and professional athlete in San Francisco, said he became friends withChamberlain through Project Sport, a local sports marketing company. The company let Chamberlain go when it was sold in November and he soon lost touch with friends and stopped returning calls and messages, Bramblett said.

"We all knew that he was a very emotional guy and when he didn't get his own way he would say, 'Screw you, I'm going to go do my own thing,'" Bramblett said. "I've never seen him be violent, ever, but I would definitely say that maybe emotionally and mentally he was a little unstable."

Chamberlain had worked for years as a political consultant on Democratic campaigns, Bramblett said.

He also worked as an independent contractor for The San Francisco Chronicle during the 2012 NFL season, doing social media to boost coverage for the San Francisco 49ers Insider iPad app, the newspaper said.

The search warrant used to enter Chamberlain's home remains under seal.

On Saturday, hazmat crews were hosed down after leaving the two-story, gray 1970s-era apartment building on Los Angeles' Jackson Street. Some residents were also kept from entering their homes while the search was underway.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2014/06/01/fbi-pursues-former-register-reporter-san-francisco/9844677/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

California

Keeping cops fit for duty challenges Bay Area public safety agencies

by Natalie Neysa Alund

When Zach Hoyer graduated from the police academy and joined the Hayward Police Department in 2002, the 6-foot-4-inch rookie weighed 265 pounds.

A decade later, he weighed close to 400.

"I'm not trying to make excuses," said Hoyer, 36, a 13-year department veteran who in the past year brought his weight down to 275 pounds. "It was my own fault. Bad lifestyle choices. Working long hours and midnight shifts, eating unhealthy and having Jack in the Box three or four nights a week."

Hoyer's not alone. Most rookies are fit, but no police agency in the state requires they stay that way, despite being in jobs where fitness is often critical for officers and the citizens they've sworn to protect.

"There are very few jobs where your life might depend on your level of fitness," said Lt. Ray Backman, a 25-year veteran with the Oakland Police Department who taught fitness at the Oakland Police Academy for 17 years and believes it is critical for officers to stay in shape. "I've been in foot chases that have gone for multiple blocks, and you're wearing 25-30 pounds of equipment."

Add to that the stress of an officers' job, which creates health problems that can be exacerbated by extra weight. And yet the same stress often leads to poor personal habits. In January, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study of obesity vs. profession showed that after truck drivers and movers, police and firefighters were ranked the third-most hefty.

"Officers can start the job at a nice lean weight, slack off and gain 50 pounds, and sometimes there's nothing that can be done," said Anthony Owens, Alameda County Sheriff's Office Regional Training Center project coordinator.

The state requires police academy graduates to pass rigorous tests that include an obstacle course, a body drag, a fence climb and a 500-yard run. About 75 percent of recruits pass.

But that's the last such requirement officers face. Of California's 608 public safety agencies, none require a regular fitness test to stay on the force, according to the state's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.

"Once you satisfy the minimum requirements, you're in," commission spokesman Charles Evans said. "After that, it's up to local agencies to decide if they should give regular maintenance fitness tests."

Few agencies do.

These days, some departments require specialized officers, such as SWAT and bomb squad members, to pass physical tests both to be assigned to and to stay on those teams. In the past, many agencies required those routine tests for all officers.

"In L.A., we used to take physical fitness twice a year. But it went away," said Evans, a former Los Angeles Police Department officer.

Ditto at the California Highway Patrol. Annual fitness tests were abolished during 1995 contract negotiations.

"Essentially, it was the cost -- securing facilities, staffing and the logistics of testing officers statewide. But additionally there were workers' compensation claims from some of the employees preparing for the test," CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader said.

"If you're training to meet a physical requirement and get hurt, guess who's on the hook?" asked Alameda County Sheriff's Office Sgt. J.D. Nelson.

Is lack of fitness a problem? Many observers -- and some cops themselves -- say yes.

"More and more, they rely on weapons, technology and cars and are unaccustomed to actual physical labor when they assist the community," said Andrea Pritchett, a founding member of Berkeley Copwatch. "Not having them in shape is dangerous for the public."

What suffers could be reaction time for officers, who must often act quickly to save lives, keep up with suspects in foot chases, jump over walls, scale fences and physically subdue suspects. Even public confidence is diminished.

"It just doesn't look good if you get out of a car and you're sweating by the time you get up to a person's house to talk to them," said Deputy Chief Ed Medina of the Richmond Police Department.

It's also dangerous for the officers themselves.

"Physical condition is very important for officer safety and also for their health," Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern said. "If we improve their health, we run a more efficient agency because we will reduce our costs associated with physical injuries and we will reduce our costs in regards to overtime replacement for those people being sick or injured due to poor physical condition."

For those reasons, some agencies take measures to keep cops fit.

Union City police officers can get free memberships at the Mark Green Sports Center and the department mandates quarterly defensive tactics training to refresh officers on making arrests without using weapons.

"If they don't do well we take them aside, gently nudge them in a positive direction to try and get them into a structured fitness program," Union City police Cmdr. Ben Horner said.

San Francisco holds mandatory fitness testing twice a year. Officers aren't booted from the force if they don't do well, but they lose out on an important incentive for passing: 20 hours of extra vacation time.

San Jose is working to create a wellness program, Officer Albert Morales said, and the agency encourages officers to use the gyms at police headquarters.

Still, addressing fitness issues can be tricky, San Ramon Police Department Lt. Dan Pratt said.

"If we get into talking about people's weight, there's all sorts of federal laws that ban discrimination based on that," he said. "But if an issue arises where an officer can't perform his/her duties, then we handle it."

And there is internal resistance to requiring fitness programs, rather than simply encouraging it. "I can't even imagine how we'd find time for officer to participate in a fitness program on duty when we don't even have enough officers on the street," San Jose Police Officer Association Union Vice President John Robb said. "Everyone is working overtime. It's a great idea if you have enough officers, but we just don't. It would be unsafe for residents."

Hoyer, a homicide detective in Hayward, said the choice to lose weight is personal. He lost about 100 pounds in a year by eating a low-carb diet, cutting out junk food and jogging.

"You don't have to tell people they're fat. They know. They look in the mirror," he said. "In the end, unless the state requires a mandatory fitness test, it's up to each person individually to decide where they need to be."

http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_25877607/keeping-cops-fit-duty-challenges-bay-area-public

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Department of Justice

Department of Justice Announces 48 States and Territories Have Committed to Ending Prison Rape

2003 Law Requires States to Take Certain Steps to Reduce Sexual Assaults of Prisoners or Else Forfeit Portion of Federal Grant Funding

Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary announced today that the vast majority of U.S. states and territories have informed the Department of Justice that they intend to take steps to reduce sexual assaults in prisons, in accordance with federal law.

Under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), which was passed in 2003 with unanimous support from both parties of Congress, Fiscal Year 2014 is the first year that states and territories may have certain federal grant funds withheld unless they demonstrate an intention to comply with the law. Of the 56 jurisdictions that are subject to PREA – the 50 states, the 5 territories and the District of Columbia – 48 are in compliance or have submitted assurances to the department committing to spending five percent of certain federal grant funds to come into compliance. This translates to a compliance rate of 85 percent.

“No one should be subjected to sexual abuse while in the custody of our justice system,” said Deputy Attorney General Cole. “It serves as a violation of fundamental rights, an attack on human dignity and runs contrary to everything we stand for as a nation. Based on these certifications and assurances, and other correspondence submitted by the governors, it is clear that addressing the issue of sexual abuse in confinement facilities is a high nationwide priority.”

“We are witnessing a major change in the culture of our nation's criminal justice systems. The discussion is no longer whether sexual victimization in correctional facilities is a problem, or even where the problem might be most serious,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Leary. “An overwhelming majority of states and territories has committed to preventing, identifying and addressing this serious travesty against human dignity anywhere it occurs.”

An estimated four percent of state and federal prison inmates and just over three percent of jail inmates reported experiencing one or more incidents of sexual victimization by another inmate or a facility staff member within the previous 12 months. Among youth in state juvenile facilities and state contract facilities that rate increases to an estimated nine and a half percent in the previous 12 months. The National PREA Standards create policies and practices to ensure a zero tolerance for sexual assault in prisons and corrections facilities by preventing, detecting and responding to sexual abuse.

Two states, New Hampshire and New Jersey, have certified that they are in full compliance with PREA. Understanding that the standards could take a number of years to fully implement, the statute allows a governor whose state or territory is not yet in full compliance to submit an assurance to the department that not less than five percent of certain department grant funds will be used solely for the purpose of enabling the state or territory to achieve and certify full compliance with the standards in future years. This year 46 jurisdictions submitted an assurance. The eight states or territories that are unwilling to commit the five percent of federal grant funds to implementation of the National PREA Standards are subject to the loss of five percent of certain department grant funds that they would otherwise receive.

The submitted assurances by governors or heads of territories is required by the PREA statute. The PREA standards took effect on Aug. 20, 2012. The standards apply to Justice Department, state, and local confinement facilities, including adult prisons and jails, juvenile facilities, police lockups, and community corrections facilities. The standards reflect careful consideration of all public input, including over 2,000 public comments, as well as detailed analysis of anticipated benefits and costs, in light of PREA's requirement that the standards not “impose substantial additional costs compared to the costs presently expended by federal, state and local prison authorities.”

To assist states and localities with the implementation of the National PREA Standards, the department, through the Bureau of Justice Assistance, funded the National PREA Resource Center which provides training and technical assistance, as well as serving as a single-stop resource for leading research and tools for all those in the field working to implement the National PREA Standards. The department has also funded over $23 million in grants to support state and local jurisdictions in creating zero-tolerance cultures for sexual abuse in confinement facilities. For more information on the National PREA Standards as well and what assistance is available to states visit www.prearesourcecenter.org

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2014/May/14-dag-570.html