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June, 2014 - Week 3

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Obama Administration To 'Surge' Immigration Enforcement On Border

by Elise Foley

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration plans to "surge" its immigration enforcement, open facilities to detain families and provide additional support to Central American governments in response to a massive increase of unaccompanied minors and others crossing the border, officials announced on Friday.

"We are surging our resources to increase our capacity to detain individuals and adults with children, and to handle immigration court hearings," Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of the Department of Homeland Security said on a call with reporters. "This will allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement ... to return unlawful migrants from Central America who are ordered removed to their home countries more quickly."

The move comes after a large increase in the number of immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border over recent months. Most of them are from Central America and they are often unaccompanied minors. The influx has caused a crisis for the federal government, which has been left scrambling for places to house those who have been detained.

Mayorkas said the border patrol apprehended 39,000 adults with children between the beginning of October and the end of May. Agents apprehended 52,000 children in the period from October to June 15, he said.

Some families have been released but remain in deportation proceedings, although the government has not provided information on how many there are or whether they are reporting later to immigration agents as instructed.

The government plans to increase its capacity to deal with immigrants at the border as quickly as possible, Mayorkas and other officials said on the conference call. That will include assigning additional immigration judges and officers to process deportation and asylum cases.

Mayorkas said decisions about detention are made on a case-by-case basis, but did not provide details about how many families have met the requirement to report to immigration agents after being released. He said that in addition to detention, alternatives like ankle bracelets or parole will be used for families.

Family detention of undocumented immigrants was widely criticized when it was used more commonly. The T. Don Hutto facility in Texas hosted families and was described in 2007 as prison-like, with few services like education or recreation for children. The government announced in 2009 that families will no longer be housed there.

Immigrant advocates argue that the government should not detain families, and instead should use alternatives to detention, until their deportation cases are settled.

"It's a real step backwards for immigration policy," said Bob Libal, the executive director of Grassroots Leadership, which advocates for alternatives to detention. "Detention should always be used as a last option ... the harm that comes from children from being detained is well-documented, and if we don't have to do this, we shouldn't be doing it."

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who released a plan on Thursday for dealing with the crisis, said in a statement Friday that he was concerned about the administration's plan to increase detention facilities for families.

“Using up our nation's resources to jail families will not be a deterrent -- these kids are fleeing violence and are willing to risk their lives to cross the border," he said. "The threat of a jail will not stop these families from coming here. Instead, we need to fully address the root causes of the crisis."

The White House also plans to do what it can to combat misinformation about its policies. Vice President Joe Biden is currently in Guatemala and will reiterate that unaccompanied minors are not eligible for policies that would allow them to stay, such as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.

The U.S. government will provide Central Americans with $9.6 million for receiving and reintegrating immigrants who are deported, and launch specific programs in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras aimed at increasing security. It will also provide $161.5 million this year for programs under the Central America Regional Security Initiative, which focuses on combating crime and increasing cooperation with the region.

Cecilia Muñoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, told reporters that Biden will speak to Central American leaders about plans to work together and "deal with the misinformation that is being deliberately planted by the criminal organizations, by smuggling networks about what people can expect if they come to the United States."

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) called the administration's plan "smoke and mirrors" and blamed Obama for the crisis, saying his immigration policies make people think they can come to the country illegally and stay.

"If President Obama really wants to fix this problem, he should implement real solutions, such as enforcing our immigration laws, reversing his policies that created this mess in the first place, and proposing urgently needed legislative fixes," he said in a statement. "But unfortunately, he is using deceptive tactics to make it appear that he is doing something when he actually isn't."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/20/obama-administration-border_n_5515519.html

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Texas

Mass graves that may hold remains of immigrants uncovered in Texas cemetery

by The Associated Press

FALFURRIAS, Texas — Volunteer researchers have uncovered mass graves in a South Texas cemetery that they believe contain the bodies of immigrants who died crossing into the U.S. illegally, according to published reports Saturday.

The discovery at Sacred Heart Burial Park in Falfurrias came in the last two weeks, as Baylor University anthropologist Lori Baker and Krista Latham, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Indianapolis, and their students worked as part of a multi-year effort to identify immigrants who've died in the area near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Teams unearthed remains in trash bags, shopping bags, body bags or without a container at all, according to the Corpus Christi Caller Times . In one burial, bones of three bodies were inside one body bag. In another, at least five people in body bags and smaller plastic bags were piled on top of each other. Skulls also were found in biohazard bags placed between coffins.

They exhumed 110 unidentified people from the cemetery in 2013. This summer, researchers have performed 52 exhumations, but because some remains were stored together, further study will be needed to determine exactly how many bodies have been recovered, Baker said.

Researchers told the newspaper that some remains were found under small, temporary grave markers bearing the name of local funeral home Funeraria del Angel Howard-Williams.

Brooks and Jim Hogg county officials said they pay the funeral home to handle bodies recovered in the remote parts of South Texas, an area that's often deadly for immigrants from Mexico and Central America who set out on foot through ranchlands amid sweltering temperatures to avoid a nearby U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint.

More than 300 people died crossing through Brooks County alone between 2011 to 2013 — representing more than 50 percent of the deaths in Texas' sprawling Rio Grande Valley.

Brooks County Chief Deputy Benny Martinez said the funeral home charges $450 to handle each body. County Judge Raul Ramirez said it been handling such remains for at least 16 years. Chief Sheriff's Deputy Lorenzo Benavides in neighboring Jim Hogg County says the practice has been going there as long as he can remember, at least 22 years.

A message left Saturday at Howard-Williams was not immediately returned. The funeral home referred the newspapers' questions to its parent company, Houston-based Service Corporation International.

"No matter if this is one of our client families we serve on a traditional basis or a migrant family's loved one we're serving and we don't have any identification of the loved one, I do want to let you know it is our policy to treat the decedent with care, to treat them just like we would treat anyone else," Service Corporation International Spokeswoman Jessica McDunn told the newspaper.

McDunn said the funeral home has "certain records related to these burials, but this does not amount to confirmation that Howard-Williams was involved in depositing the remains in the manner the researchers described." The funeral home would not give the newspaper access to those records.

Still, Latham called the discovery appalling. Baker said bodies that were not already skeletonized before burial were found in varying states of decomposition.

"To me it's just as shocking as the mass grave that you would picture in your head, and it's just as disrespectful," Latham told the Caller Times.

http://www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2014/06/mass_graves_that_may_hold_rema.html

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Indiana

Commentary

Collaboration can improve public safety

by William Lowe

Serious crimes do not respect geographic boundaries. The same is true for offenders and, sadly, their victims.

That is why a collaborative law enforcement and policing effort, the Northwest Indiana Public Safety Data Consortium, in which agencies work together and share data across municipalities and jurisdictions, makes good public safety and public policy sense.

From Munster to Michigan City, the pioneering consortium, comprised of more than 15 local agencies, regularly maps and analyzes data from police and fire departments and shares the information, for insight on how to best allocate law enforcement and emergency services.

Their cross-jurisdictional, mutual-support efforts keep our communities safe, but also, of greater significance, build a more educated, connected region of informed, engaged citizens.

We can all be grateful for the innovative thinking of the many police chiefs, public administrators and my colleagues at Indiana University Northwest's Center for Urban and Regional Excellence that makes such an alliance possible.

Everyone deserves the right to feel safe and secure in their homes, and in their communities. The consortium's ability to use information technology and enhanced partnerships to see beyond borders is key to improving the quality of life of our region.

As a policeman's son, I am well aware of the fraternal tradition of police officers working together. But this active sharing of resources and intelligence is unprecedented in our region, and a fine example of transformational modern policing.

As important as interagency collaboration is the role of the public. Thanks, in great part, to the Information Age, citizens now have a greater role in the safety of our communities.

Social media platforms, like Twitter and Facebook, give voice to citizen intelligence, providing officers with grassroots intelligence. Listening to the public has proven to be very helpful to officers, and, in several cases, has been central to preventing and solving crime.

Information that is easily accessible equips residents with knowledge, empowering individuals to make informed decisions about the safety of our communities and, in some cases, reversing or altering stereotypes and perceptions.

Active sharing of intelligence also indirectly pressures the residential and commercial properties that may attract criminal activity. With the help of information technology, consumers can now make more informed decisions on where they spend their time and money, by factoring in a locale's safety and security.

The benefits of collaborative law enforcement are clear. The consortium's strong network and partnerships are working, keeping our streets, our homes and our neighborhoods safer.

Crime is down across the region. The Griffith Police Department recently reported a 12 percent reduction in overall crime and a 36 percent decline in violent crimes over the past year. Likewise, the East Chicago Police Department reported the city's crime rate is the lowest it has been in 18 years.

In the new frontier of doing more with less, the consortium's efficient use of resources and encouragement of public participation offer an attractive model for municipalities.

I encourage the many and varied cities, towns and jurisdictions of Northwest Indiana to recognize the instrumental power of regional collaboration and cooperation.

The success that the Northwest Indiana Public Safety Data Consortium has already achieved shows Northwest Indiana leaders what is possible when we look beyond borders and seize the greater potential that exists for a region that collaborates.

There is infinitely more to be gained from the collective, positive, forward-looking initiatives that are possible through the combination of our resources, our knowledge, and our good will, because, in the end, we are One Region.

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/guest-commentary/guest-commentary-collaboration-can-improve-public-safety/article_b0e0e85d-28cb-5f8c-b758-41f5efe6d483.html

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From the FBI

A Byte Out of History -- 50 Years Since Mississippi Burning

Fifty years ago, our country was in the midst of a struggle to extend full rights and liberties to all of its citizens. On the national stage, the long legislative fight on the landmark Civil Rights Act was nearing a conclusion. Regionally, the push to roll back odious Jim Crow laws led to demonstrations between opponents of the legal discrimination and supporters of the status quo.

In Mississippi, the center of the civil rights effort in 1964 was the Freedom Summer, in which committed activists and local residents encouraged African-Americans to register to vote—fewer than seven percent of those eligible were registered at the time. The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), a coalition of civil rights groups, arranged the drive, and orientation for its registrars had begun in mid-June.

Michael Schwerner, a 24-year-old social worker, had just started a job with with the Congress on Racial Equality in Mississippi and quickly came to the attention of local Klan members. He had been at the Freedom Summer training in Ohio and was returning to Mississippi with fellow activists Andrew Goodman and James Chaney. Their plan was to visit Mount Zion Church in Neshoba County, which had been burned by the Klan.

Arriving in Philadelphia, Mississippi on June 21, the three were arrested by Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price, who charged Chaney with speeding and held the other two “for investigation.” Though the men were released from custody later that night and set off for their lodgings, they were followed out of town. They never made it to their destination.

Even before that, their friends at COFO had become concerned. Schwerner's travel plans indicated the three would arrive at their hotel that afternoon. When they missed 4 p.m. check-in, COFO began to try and track their whereabouts, calling around the county throughout the evening. By 10 p.m., around the time they were released, COFO still hadn't heard from them and relayed their concerns to the local FBI and a Department of Justice representative who was in the area. At that point, though, nothing was known of the three or about what had happened. Without evidence to suspect foul play, there were no grounds yet for FBI involvement.

But in this case, the ramifications were not just a local matter. The voting rights drive in Mississippi and its national implications were clearly on the radars of President Johnson and Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who took great interest in civil rights matters. Although the FBI's local agent had begun asking about the missing workers on June 22, the Justice Department wanted even more involvement and told the FBI to place additional agents on the case.

By the next day, another 10 agents had been assigned to the case. The FBI received a tip about a burning station wagon seen in the woods off of Highway 21, about 13 miles northeast of Philadelphia—it was the men's vehicle. Soon after the find, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was advising President Johnson on the case. With no remains found in the car, there was a slim hope that the three might still be found alive. President Johnson informed the Schwerner family and closely followed the FBI's progress.

The Mississippi Burning, or MIBURN, case quickly became one of the Bureau's biggest investigations; FBI resources and personnel that moved into Mississippi that summer—including the opening of the new FBI field office in the state capitol—reflected the massive effort. A closer look at the fate of the missing workers and the FBI's role during this pivotal time will be the focus of a series of stories this summer on FBI.gov.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/june/50-years-since-mississippi-burning/50-years-since-mississippi-burning

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Migrants amassing at Rio Grande's edge

by Daniel González

REYNOSA, Mexico -- The Senda de Vida migrant shelter sits on a hill overlooking the Rio Grande in this border city. The greenish waters flow through a bend in the river down below. On the other side, so seemingly close, is Hidalgo, Texas.

Shelters like this one are packed these days with migrants planning to cross the Rio Grande and enter the United States illegally.

They are part of an unprecedented tsunami of families and children traveling on their own from Central America trying to reach the United States through the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, where the Border Patrol has been overwhelmed by the surge.

On Thursday, about 50 immigrants were living here. Every bed was full.

Many of the migrants were women who had traveled from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala with young children. All of them had run out of money. Now, they were stuck at the shelter, within eyesight of the United States.

Hundreds of migrants from Central America are crossing the river daily. They are turning themselves over to the Border Patrol once they reach U.S. soil. At Anzalduas Park in the U.S. border city of Mission, deputies from the Hidalgo County Constable Department Precinct 3 encountered 103 migrants on Wednesday night alone, according to Sgt. Dan Broyles, a spokesman for the agency.

The Senda de Vida shelter, run by a Christian pastor, offers the migrants food, a place to sleep and relative safety from the drug-cartel violence that has roiled Reynosa for years, turning the city of 600,000 into one of the most dangerous in Mexico.

Many of them are there based on false hopes.

Doris Martinez, 46, left Honduras on April 24 with her 5-year-old daughter, Anni, traveling most of the way by bus. Anni has Down syndrome. Before leaving, Martinez heard that the U.S. government was giving women traveling with children "permisos" — permits — to stay in the U.S. if they could make it across the river on their own.

The rumor isn't true. The U.S. government has been releasing parents traveling with children because detention facilities in the U.S. have been overwhelmed by the surge in Central Americans traveling with children.

After being processed, the migrant families are dropped off at bus stations in McAllen and other cities, including recently in Tucson and Phoenix. They are given notices to report to U.S. immigration authorities once they reach their destinations.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials have stressed that even though the migrant families from Central America are being released, they remain in deportation proceedings.

Nevertheless, the rumor that women with children will be allowed to stay permanently was reinforced for Martinez after some relatives of her husband crossed the Rio Grande illegally in March. They were released after being detained for a few days and allowed to continue on their journey to the East Coast.

Martinez has a niece in Dallas.

"My intention is to cross to the other side to the United States because my daughter has special needs. I am looking for help. I heard there is a special school for children like her," Martinez said. "In Honduras, they don't help children like her. They discriminate against them. They treat them like they aren't even people."

Fourteen-year-old Brayan Duban Soler Redando left Honduras in April.

He also heard a rumor in Honduras that children who can make it to the U.S. are being given permission to stay so they can go to school.

After hearing about two friends who made it to the United States, Brayan left the next day.

"They say when you get to the other side, go to la migra(the Border Patrol) and la migrawill help you," Brayan said, sitting in the shade of a tree at the shelter.

He had traveled alone all the way from the village of Quebrada Maria on the Caribbean coast of Honduras, through El Salvador, Guatemala and then Mexico. To reach Reynosa, Brayan begged for bus fare, hopped trains, walked, hitched rides and even swam at night across a river between Guatemala and Mexico.

But in Reynosa, Brayan ran out of money.

The smugglers charge as much as $400 per person for a trip that in most spots in this area is no more than 100 yards wide. Criminal gangs that control the waters stand between the migrants and the U.S.

At one point, Brayan walked up to an embankment and stood contemplating how he would come up with the $100 — a fortune — the smugglers want to take him across the Rio Grande.

"If I can pay the fee and make it across, I will turn myself in to la migra and, hopefully, they will help me," he said. "It would be a miracle. I pray God allows it."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/20/migrants-amassing-at-rio-grands-edge/11033375/

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Texas

State's border surge to focus on law enforcement, drugs

by David Rauf and Mike Ward

AUSTIN - New details emerged Friday about how Texas intends to tighten its border security and spend upward of $30 million this year to address the flood of children streaming from Central America, an operation that officials confirmed will focus on law enforcement and drug interdiction.

As Gov. Rick Perry asked President Obama to dispatch 1,000 National Guard troops to deal with the continuing influx at the border, state officials revealed the recently approved enforcement surge will include hundreds of additional troopers assigned to crack down on cross-border smuggling and provide stepped-up cooperation with local law enforcement.

Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger declined to discuss details of how state police will spend $1.3 million per week for the operation, citing security concerns. However, correspondence between DPS director Steven McCraw and a key state leader provide new clues about how the surge will work.

Copies of letters between McCraw and House Speaker Joe Straus, obtained by the San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle, lay out the DPS plan for coordinating future border surges.

In a June 4 letter, McCraw told Straus the state can secure the border via a surge operation that would entail "deploying hundreds of troopers, agents and Texas Rangers from other parts of the state to the border in sufficient numbers to conduct around the clock operations along the river."

Those officers, McCraw wrote, are "willing and prepared to do so; however the operation would cost as much as $1.3 million per week to sustain, and it would impact patrol coverage in other parts of the state."

McCraw also emphasized that DPS could curb the flow of drugs, prostitutes and forced labor along the border without disturbing "legitimate commerce with Mexico."

House ready to act

McCraw's letter came in response to one sent by Straus in late May, in which the House speaker asks the chief of state police to provide more information on how a surge would work, how much it would cost and how DPS plans to measure success.

"The House is ready to do what's necessary to protect our fellow Texans," Straus wrote in a May 27 letter. "However, the House also wants to use taxpayer dollars in a prudent and cost-effective way."

DPS officials familiar with the logistics of the new surge said Friday it would look much like past border initiatives. It would focus on cracking down on drug, gun and human smuggling in besieged border areas to allow federal agencies to concentrate more resources on dealing with the flow of immigrants.

What that could look like: More troopers on the road in border areas, more state surveillance and undercover operations to catch drugs, weapons and cash smugglers, state law enforcement support to help federal officials in their immigration roundup. DPS officials acknowledge only federal officers can enforce federal immigration laws.

"When our state law enforcement officers make contact with someone (during a lawful encounter) who is admittedly or suspected to be in the country illegally, that individual is immediately referred to the appropriate federal authorities," said Vinger, the DPS spokesman.

Previous operation

DPS officials said the new surge would closely mirror a three-week border initiative conducted in 2013 called "Operation Strong Safety." That surge, which included a beefed-up presence of boots on the ground and patrols in the air and water, resulted in a decrease in drug activity along the border, according to agency stats.

But it was mired in controversy because of roadside checkpoints set up by DPS.

This time, DPS has emphasized there will be no checkpoints and that state law enforcement presence will focus exclusively on criminal activity.

"That's the impression that's been communicated to us," said Hidalgo County Judge Ramon Garcia, who has been briefed by DPS about its surge mission. "So long as they focus on the criminal element and people who are smuggling guns and drugs, I'm OK with it and so are members of the South Texas community."

DPS officials said state police officers have been working in the Rio Grande Valley for more than a week in cooperation with local law enforcement agencies, as part of limited enforcement drive.

'Politicizing' the issue

In 2012, the Legislature approved an additional $338 million for border security. With the additional funds approved by legislative leaders this week, Texas will have the largest border-security program of any state, officials said.

Reacting to news of the new surge, state Sen. Jose Rodriguez, D-El Paso, said it appears that GOP politicians are playing to public opinion. Recent polls have identified immigration and border security as the most important issues facing Texas, a fact underscored in recent primary and runoff elections.

"There's no question that Republicans are politicizing the immigration issue," Rodriguez said, a claim that has been repeatedly denied by GOP officials.

However, state Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said the crisis on the border is so urgent that notions of a political ploy don't fit with the dynamic on the ground, one where immediate assistance should trump notions of grandstanding.

"During the campaigns obviously comments about a border surge are usually tainted with politics," he said. "In this instance, this is a serious problem we're facing down here."

But Hinojosa added that a DPS surge of this magnitude, one that would cost more than $65 million a year, can't be sustained permanently, though some Republicans in the Legislature are angling for exactly that.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/State-s-border-surge-to-focus-on-law-enforcement-5568758.php

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Norfolk Southern-Operation Lifesaver safety train promotes public safety in Delaware and Pennsylvania

HARRISBURG, Pa., June 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Norfolk Southern and Operation Lifesaver are bringing their Whistle-Stop safety train tour to Delaware and eastern and central Pennsylvania to stress the importance of public safety around railroad tracks.

The Keystone Whistle-Stop Safety Train starts in Delaware on Monday, June 23, and by Thursday, June 26, the train will have transited through communities such as Harrington, Dover, Newark, Pottstown, Reading, Lebanon, Harrisburg, Lewistown, Altoona, and Latrobe.

Since January 2011, Delaware has experienced 17 train vs. vehicle incidents at highway-rail grade crossings, and one pedestrian has been struck.

Over the same period, Pennsylvania has experienced 185 train vs. vehicle incidents. Between January and March 2014 alone, 21 incidents have occurred, compared with 9 during the same period in 2013. During this decade in Pennsylvania, 108 people have died while trespassing on railroad property and another 102 were injured.

"There is no more important time than now for public safety officials and entire communities to learn how people can stay safe and alive around railroad tracks and other property," said Cayela Wimberly, NS' grade crossing safety director.

"We need a strong partnership between the railroad companies and the communities to keep the public safe near railroad tracks, bridges, yards, and grade crossings," added Thomas Algatt, state coordinator for Operation Lifesaver in Pennsylvania. "We need parents, educators, neighbors, railfans, and friends to spread the word – stay away from tracks, stay away from trains, stay safe, and stay alive. And we're going to talk on the Keystone Whistle-Stop Safety Train about how you can have that conversation with the people you care about."

The train includes two NS locomotives with the Operation Lifesaver logo displayed on their flanks, two vintage passenger cars, the NS Exhibit Car, and the NS Research and Test car. Passengers will include railroaders, Operation Lifesaver representatives, public safety advocates, and news media, all of who will observe via live video the train crew's point-of-view as the train moves on the track and approaches grade crossings.

It's the third such trip this year for Norfolk Southern and Operation Lifesaver on the NS network. A fourth trip is scheduled in Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri later this summer.

Operation Lifesaver (www.oli.org) is a national nonprofit safety organization whose mission is to end collisions, deaths, and injuries at highway-rail grade crossings and along railroad rights of way.

Norfolk Southern Corporation NSC +1.21% is one of the nation's premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway Company subsidiary operates approximately 20,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia, serves every major container port in the eastern United States, and provides efficient connections to other rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is a major transporter of coal, automotive, and industrial products.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/norfolk-southern-operation-lifesaver-safety-train-promotes-public-safety-in-delaware-and-pennsylvania-2014-06-20?reflink=MW_news_stmp

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Florida

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department held its first Community Police Forum Graduation Class 2014

by Carma Henry

The Community Police Forum, formerly known as the Citizens' Police Academy, was designed to foster an active partnership between the community and the Police Department. Well-informed residents enhance our level of service and are crucial to the success of our community partnership.

The program was very well received by the show of the number of participants, who gave up several nights of personal sacrifice to attend the classes.

Robert McKinzie, resident of Dorsey-Riverbend Neighborhood said it was a show of the outstanding job that the police were doing. “Job well done by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. The forum gives you a true perspective of the community side of policing and I highly recommend the forum to every Fort Lauderdale resident.”

The graduation ceremony was held on June 12 at the Fort Lauderdale Police Department Sistrunk Substation located at 1291 Sistrunk Blvd. in the City of Fort Lauderdale.

“Kudos to these fine men and women!!! Great program. More community members should take the program. It will give them a better appreciation for our police department. Also equips individuals to be ambassadors for the Police Department which helps strengthen community relations,” said Sonya Burrows, owner-Burrows Electric Company and resident of Dorsey-Riverbend Neighborhood.

Topics included in the program were: Patrol Operations, Crime Prevention, Internet Investigations, Criminal Investigations, Special Operations and much more.

In addition to these subject matters, attendees could participate in an eight-hour ride along with a member o f the Patrol Division, exposing them to real-life experiences.

“The program was very good. I wish that I could get more people to come out,” stated Torren Poole, resident of Dorsey-Riverbend Neighborhood.

Fort Lauderdale resident and real estate developer Jason Robertson, emphasized the need for residents to understand the roll of the police department, “Excellent outreach program! Worthwhile program that allows the community to understand the role that our police department plays in our city.”

“What stood out most, is what the department is doing for and on behalf of the citizens, workers and visitors of Fort Lauderdale.

They (FLPD men and women) all should be personally thanked,” said Rev. Msgr. Paul J. Schweinler, Pastor of Christ Lutheran Church.

http://thewestsidegazette.com/the-fort-lauderdale-police-department-held-its-first-community-police-forum-graduation-class-2014/

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Florida

Police seek info on violence

by CHRIS OLWELL

PANAMA CITY — Reporters were limited to one question during a press conference Thursday in which Panama City Police Chief Scott Ervin ur ged people to share with police information about violent crime in their community.

Ervin held the brief press conference to address the recent wave of gun violence in the city after another teen was shot earlier in the day. He read a brief statement praising the working relationship PCPD has with other local law enforcement agencies and the news media.

He briefly addressed the latest shooting, which occurred around 4:30 a.m. in unit C-102 at the Macedonia Garden Apartments on 17th Street . Police found Samuel McGriff, 17, shot in the gut in the kitchen, according to a PCPD incident report. Ervin said McGriff had just left a nightclub and lamented the failure of McGriff's parents.

“Where are the parents?” Ervin said. “Clearly someone has failed this child.”

The press conference lasted about six minutes. Ervin explained he was pressed for time and had some training he had to get to, so reporters were allowed to ask him only one question. He didn't elaborate on the training, and no reporter raised the question.

By the time three reporters had asked their allotted question, Ervin had not provided any information on McGriff's medical condition, whether the police had any suspects or any information about a potential motive in any of the recent shootings.

Bay Medical Center spokeswoman Christa Davis said a patient listed as unknown who came in Thursday morning with a gunshot wound was in stable condition in the hospital's intensive care unit.

The department has been sporadic in releasing information about the recent gun violence, which has claimed four lives in Panama City in the span of a month. The department did not issue a press release on McGriff's shooting Thursday, although did release an incident report when it was requested.

After a teen was shot and killed outside a nightclub last week, police didn't issue a press release or return at least three messages from The News Herald seeking information. A press release issued the following day announcing the arrest of two suspects in the shooting was the department's first acknowledgement of the shooting.

“We try to do our best to make sure that we're giving statements to the media and making sure that those media releases are going out,” Ervin said.

The position of public information officer, which is traditionally the primary point of contact between the department and news media, was eliminated around the time Ervin was appointed chief of police in February 2013.

Ervin said Thursday none of the shootings were random, and police have made arrests in each case except McGriff's shooting Thursday. Ervin didn't say if police had any leads in McGriff's shooting, but he was confident the investigation would be resolved quickly and ur ged community members to come forward with information about the crime.

“My hope is that our shared community values will result in parents, family members and other community members continuing to contact us with information about crimes, preferably before they occur, but certainly after a crime occurs so that no violent criminal has a safe haven,” Ervin said. “Remember, when you possess information and you don't share it, you condone the acts of violence that are taking place.”

http://www.newsherald.com/news/crime-public-safety/police-seek-info-on-violence-1.335491

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Public Safety at Hospitals: Are You Safe?

How hospitals are protecting your safety.

by Kristine Crane

When the distraught son of an elderly woman undergoing cancer treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore opened fire on his mother's surgeon in September 2010, shock, panic and a total lockdown of the hospital set in. The surgeon recovered, but the hospital staff was traumatized.

Hospitals are places of healing, but they are also public institutions – not unlike the mall, airport or school. That opens them up to the same types of security issues that increasingly plague public environments.

“Securing a hospital is very different. It is meant to be a welcoming place,” says Gabor Kelen, chair of emergency medicine at Johns Hopkins University and director of the Center for the Study of Preparedness and Catastrophic Event Response. “The idea of turning it into Fort Knox is not really doable.”

In the aftermath of the 2010 shooting, Kelen and colleagues conducted a study of hospital-based shootings in the U.S. between 2000 and 2011. Searching through media and other reports, they identified 154 incidents – a little more than half of those inside hospitals.

“When you think about all the kinds of shootings in the U.S., 90 in 12 years is almost nothing,” Kelen says, adding that almost none were random acts of violence. Most took place either in the emergency room or patient rooms and were motivated by a grudge, suicide or intent to euthanize an ill relative.

“If you're a patient and are going to be shot, it's going to be by a relative who wants to put you out of your misery,” rather than as a victim of episodic violence, Kelen says.

Patient-Generated Violence on the Rise

What is instead increasing at an alarming rate in hospitals is violence perpetrated by patients themselves – typically, mental health patients or the elderly.

“I was a cop in D.C. for 10 years, and I've got nothing on an emergency department nurse,” says Kevin Whaley , the director of security at the George Washington University Hospital in the District of Columbia.

Patients will bite, hit, pull knives and even turn to hospital equipment like IV poles to use as weapons against those who are caring for them.

Tony York, the chief operating officer for Healthcare Security Services in Denver, Colorado, which monitors security at hospitals throughout the nation, says there has been an “explosion of patient-generated violence” in the past several years – both from patients themselves and, often, the people accompanying them to the hospital. “Those are things that have driven this industry immensely,” York says.

Whaley adds that in the last year, the rate of mental health patients arriving at the ER has increased 500 to 600 percent because of federal cutbacks in mental health programs. As a result, both hospital staff and security officers have had to adopt a more proactive approach to recognizing potentially violent patients and visitors and taking measures to calm them down.

Safety Measures

“We're an urban hospital in the nation's capitol, so there's a much more heightened level of threat for us,” Whaley says. In any given day, their stream of ER patients runs the gamut from international dignitaries to homeless drug addicts, and everyone in between.

At GW, as with most hospitals throughout the nation, anyone who enters has to sign in, state the reason for the visit (if it's to visit a patient, that patient will be called) and show a photo ID. About 130 security cameras are in various locations, such as waiting rooms and cafeterias, but not in patient areas because of privacy laws.

GW doesn't have metal detectors like some hospitals do; nor do they have armed guards inside the hospital. The idea of unarmed guards is to keep guns outside of hospitals, since most perpetrators of violence use guns they've grabbed from security guards (instead of guns they've brought in.) “Some hospitals include police dogs in the waiting room, and that has a certain calming effect,” Kelen says.

And usually certain units have heightened security measures: Labor and delivery, the ER, the ICU, and mental health floors generally require swipe cards to gain entrance.

York adds that some hospitals are also being redesigned for heightened security – with features like bulletproof windows that don't face public roads. “Now it's a matter of thinking about, where do I position a ?nurse taking vitals?" he says. "How do we now sterilize rooms for potential weapons when we know that the typical hospital environment has a lot of things that can potentially be used in violence?”

What to Watch For

The average hospital patient – and his or her loved ones – should not have to worry about their own safety. They should, however, be aware of a few things:

•  “It's important that patients and visitors recognize how intense the environment is,” York says. Hospital visits to the ER, at least, are usually not first-come, first-serve. The sickest patients get priority, so be prepared to wait and deal with that waiting period. “Wait times increase anxiety and the tendency to act out,” York adds.

•  “If you see something, say something.” Whaley says the same advice to D.C. metro riders applies to hospital visitors. Be aware of your surroundings, and if something or someone looks suspect, report it.

•  Be patient with security measures. Whether it's waiting in line to show your ID or obtaining special permission to visit a loved one on an extra-secure floor, realize that the measures are there for a reason.

“Understand that with security, we are trying to minimize the level of inconvenience,” York says. “It's not to make their lives more miserable, but to keep [patients] safe. The health care environment as a whole is still very safe. We shouldn't have people worrying about personal safety when they need to harness their energy to heal themselves.”

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/patient-advice/articles/2014/06/18/public-safety-at-hospitals-are-you-safe

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Michigan

City officials propose stationing police officer at Ypsilanti Community Middle School

by Krystal Elliott

YPSILANTI — The Ypsilanti Police Department has proposed a partnership with Ypsilanti Community Schools that would station a School Resource Officer at Ypsilanti Community Middle School.

According to Ypsilanti Police Chief Tony DeGiusti, having an SRO at the middle school is another step in the community policing process being undertaken by the department. By intervening with students at a younger age, he said, there are far less behavior problems once the students reach high school.

“The benefit to this really isn't just law enforcement,” he said. “It's about building relationships and tying the police department to the community at a younger level.”

If approved by the school district, the SRO would be stationed at the middle school for a minimum of 40 hours per week and would also be required to attend sporting events and other school functions as requested by school officials.

The cost of the SRO would be paid for by YCS for 10 months out of the year. According to YPD, the district will receive a tenured, veteran police officer but will be paying for the back fill officer at the new officer wage and benefits. The wage difference between a veteran and new officer alone, not including overtime or benefits, is substantial: the salary for a veteran officer is $62,423 annually, and $40,484 annually for a new hire.

The estimated amount that would be billed to YCS is around $73,701 annually plus any additional overtime costs.

According to DeGiusti, the SRO would provide much more to the school and the district than law enforcement. Some of the duties of the SRO outlined in the proposal include emergency first response, crises and conflict management, acting as resource liaison and educator.

DeGiusti said that there is an SRO curriculum in place that includes topics like criminal investigation, alcohol and drug awareness, crime prevention, conflict resolution, gang and stranger awareness and more.

The SRO would also be responsible for handling any problems at elementary school buildings in the district if necessary.

The Ypsilanti Police Department has had a presence in Ypsilanti schools in the past, before budget issues led to a loss of manpower in the department. Sgt. Joe Yuhas previously served five years as an SRO for the district. He wrote about his experience in the proposal submitted to YCS.

“It is important for people to understand that the position of SRO is so much more than just enforcing the law and providing police services when needed. Even though there were times when laws were enforced and the appropriate action was taken, either through the juvenile justice system or by making the appropriate referral o another governmental agency,” Yuhas wrote.

Yuhas described his experience as an SRO as “invaluable.” He said that he used to eat lunch in the cafeteria with students every day and would attend after school activities.

“I found that students were much more willing to stop in my office to talk or share information that would normally be kept to themselves,” he wrote. “I can't begin to count the number of ‘fires' that were put out before they had the chance to get started.”

Yuhas said that the relationships that were established as an SRO officer as well as the myths and stereotypes that have been debunked will last a lifetime.

“This past June I received a half dozen invitations to graduations from former students. That is what being the SRO is all about,” he wrote.

Although Ypsilanti Community Middle School is located in Ypsilanti Township, in the jurisdiction of the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office, DeGiusti said that local law enforcement agencies no longer operate within jurisdictional boundaries.

“This caveats with a lot of things we've been doing already in our partnerships with the Sheriff and EMU police in the last year. We've really opened our eyes to what having different police agencies working together can bring to the community,” he said.

DeGiusti said that the SRO from Ypsilanti would likely work to share information with the SRO from WCSO currently stationed at Ypsilanti Community High School.

“If we can put that together I think we would have some serious impact,” he said. “Ultimately the goal is to have a safe learning environment where kids feel comfortable.”

When DeGiusti and City Manager Ralph Lange presented the proposal to the YCS Board of Education June 16, some board members expressed concern about how the SRO will function with students the district.

“One of the things we've learned going into this year and we made a goal of is the idea that all staff working with students are culturally competent and understand that more than half of our students are students of color with diverse backgrounds and experiences,” said Board President David Bates, stressing the need for any SRO to be culturally competent.

Trustee Celeste Hawkins also asked if the board would have input on the selected officer.

“Will we have input on who gets hired? We want out schools to be safe and secure, but we don't want our schools to look like a prison either,” she said.

Hawkins added that she'd like to see some data or a procedure for how to measure the effectiveness of an SRO, or if there is a link between the presence of an SRO and the number of suspensions and expulsions among students.

DeGiusti said that any officer selected to do the job would be experienced and trained as an SRO. And, he added, sometimes numbers can't speak to the effectiveness of the SRO.

“We measure success in things like whether the kids are feeling safe and comfortable in school and some things you can't really put a number on,” he said.

Lange drove the importance of an SRO home.

“You can't do any of the rest of the stuff that you do (in school) if you don't have respect and security. Having this SRO puts everyone at ease and it puts down that no one kid can bully someone else, or if they do it won't go on for very long,” he said. “This is being proactive.”

District officials will likely discuss the proposal as they prepare the budget for the next school year. The budget is expected to be finalized by the end of June.

http://www.heritage.com/articles/2014/06/17/ypsilanti_courier/news/doc53a054c6786f5399518913.txt

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Colorado

After a Successful 45-Day Test Pilot Program, The Pueblo Police Dept Approves NewStart Solutions for Full Operational Deployment of CrimeSuspect.NET in Pueblo

Today, officials from the Pueblo Police Dept have notified NewStart Solutions, L3C of Colorado Springs that they have successfully concluded their 45-day Test Pilot Program of the CrimeSuspect.NET (CSN) Community/Policing Platform, and have decided to move forward with a fully operational deployment of this unique “CrowdSourced CrimeFighting” Solution.

Colorado Springs, CO, June 16, 2014 --( PR.com )-- As a “Next Generation” Crime, Tipping, Alerting and Notification” service, CSN offers numerous advantages to both citizens and law enforcement in the areas of public suspect tipping, stolen property recording and reporting, pre-arrest investigation tools for patrol officers, and customized portals for Block Watch Groups. All these services combined together have never been offered at the local law enforcement level before, but through the integrated CSN Community/Policing Platform it's now possible to support expanded community policing efforts at the neighborhood level thus achieving better offender accountability and improving citizen and community relations.

NewStart Solutions, Passes the Test:

Pueblo Police Chief Luis Velez in commenting about the effectiveness of the CSN solution said, “We were quite pleased with the innovation and responsiveness of the NewStart team, and believe that the CrimeSuspect.NET solution they have developed, represents the future of Community Policing.” NewStart is now moving forward with its commercialization phase and is planning on expanding their services to neighboring police agencies in Colorado initially. From there it will be expanded nationally. “Every police agency we engage with will benefit from our distributed services model because we integrate and connect each agency together in a secure and searchable network that can be accessed and shared amongst police officers as well as community members,” said Adam Leonard, the Founder and CEO of NewStart Solutions, L3C. “Crime has no borders, and that is why we developed the CSN Solution to allow the public to both contribute to as well as easily search for current suspects as well as stolen property across all jurisdictions.”

History of Data Integration & Community Policing Needs at the Local Law Enforcement Level:

While Adam was a police officer, (over a 10+year service history) he constantly encountered a variety of problems amongst police databases that hindered not only the closure rate of investigations, but the sharing of information along local, county, and state law enforcement agencies.

Furthermore, Adam quickly realized that a majority of agencies do not fully understand or practice Community Policing as a philosophy or by engaging citizens more directly. So, during the 45 day test pilot program, NewStart, in cooperation with CPO Shelly Taylor and a handful of volunteers have made some impressive accomplishments: They input over 1,000 stolen property items from almost every burglary that has occurred in Pueblo in 2014.

They also input over 700 Misdemeanor and Felony Warrants into the system and created ten, online Block Watch Neighborhood Group Portals.

All Block Watch group members have special access credentials that allows them to see and use a variety of Community Policing solutions. Members of these “Badger” Block Watch Groups have a direct line of communication to the Crime Prevention Officer and Patrol Officers assigned to their area through secure instant messaging, and blog and forum posts. They also have a custom video education solution that covers over 50 crime topics and allows the Police to distribute training videos, presentations and documents instantly to each portal. Also, by effectively managing citizen crime tips and communications in a secure fashion, it's now possible to instantly send tips to an unlimited number of officers instead of just one that may or may not be on duty at a given time.

Community Impacts:

As a Community Benefit and Impact Organization, NewStart also extends its concept of community relations and support into the community through the creation of its unique “Wishing Well” or “Electronic Wishing Board” that allows police officers and Block Watch Captains the ability to post “Wishes” for unfortunate children, elderly and disabled persons in need of an item or service. The first wish was posted when a microwave at the Wayside Cross Rescue Mission stopped working. Two citizens donated a microwave in response to that wish.

http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2014/06/16/after-successful-45-day-test-pilot-program-pueblo-police-dept-approves-newstart-solutions

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Maryland

Laurel gets ready to hand out ‘tickets' for good behavior

Youth will be rewarded for community service efforts

by Alice Popovici

Laurel youth may find themselves getting ticketed this summer, but they may not mind these citations as city police are giving away Slurpee coupons in exchange for good behavior.

For the second summer in a row, officers will be on the lookout for children being good citizens — wearing a helmet while riding their bicycles, obeying traffic signals and listening to their parents, said Laurel Police Chief Richard McLaughlin. The “tickets” are part of Operation Chill, a nationwide program 7-Eleven has been running since 1975.

“It's a positive interaction between police and children,” McLaughlin said. “Kids love Slurpees.”

Lt. John Hamilton said that last summer, officers in the city's three-person community policing unit started handing out the coupons to groups of children at the city's pools and shopping centers as a way to familiarize them with the program. Soon, he said the free Slurpees became an incentive for children to do something good in their communities.

“Once the word was out what the purpose of the certificate was, the kids were then following the rules,” said Hamilton, who worked as an officer with the community policing unit last summer and is now in charge of it. “They were more inclined to just be good and do the right thing.”

Children riding bicycles would approach officers to show them they were wearing their helmets, and those on who skateboarded would go to the skate park instead of practicing in parking lots.

“They would report things like missing bicycles,” Hamilton said. “They would report missing dogs.”

Tara Lucas, 10 of Laurel, who was playing a game during the after-school program at the Laurel Boys & Girls Club on June 13, said she had not heard of Operation Chill but she does like Slurpees.

“I think it would be a nice idea for helping out people,” Tara said. “I would spend it, but if someone never had a chance to have a Slurpee I would give it to them.”

Hamilton said the Slurpee incentive fits right in with the mission of the community policing unit, whose main objective is to enhance communication between officers and residents by attending community events, checking on businesses and interacting with children.

“Our primary function is to be proactive in the community,” Hamilton said. “It gives you one more reason to be interactive.”

Last summer, Hamilton said he spotted a boy who was around 10 years old helping an older woman load groceries into her car. Hamilton then asked the boy if he knew the woman, and the boy said he did not, but could see that she was struggling.

“I actually stopped the kid and gave him a certificate for helping her out,” he said.

Police handed out about 500 certificates last summer and expect to have about the same amount this year. The program begins June 23 and continues until the certificates run out.

http://www.gazette.net/article/20140617/NEWS/140619179/1029/laurel-gets-ready-to-hand-out-x2018-tickets-x2019-for-good&template=gazette

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California

Camp shows teens the life of public safety

by Colin Steiner

OROVILLE, Calif. - - A unique summer camp for teens in Butte County offers a week-long look into public safety careers.

F.A.S.T. Camp, or Fire Safety and Training Camp, is sponsored by the Butte County Fire Safe Council in conjunction with various other area public safety organizations.

Many of the 20 students, like Chico's Aspen Chilcutt, are interested in what it takes to become an emergency responder.

The 17-year-old Fairview High School student was in PE class when her teacher asked if any volunteers wanted to do F.A.S.T. Camp.

Already interested in joining law enforcement as a forensic anthropologist, she says she jumped at the opportunity.

"I heard that it was about police officers, EMTs and fire so I've already been through that and stuff--I've been in police academy--so I thought it would be cool and decided I would go," Chilcutt said.

On Tuesday, the teens got a glimpse into the lives of Butte County sheriff deputies, particularly SWAT members, at the Openshaw Training Center in Oroville.

Among other things, the students were given the chance to check out an armored vehicle and see officers handle a fully automatic rifle and other SWAT weaponry.

"The coolest thing I've probably seen is the helicopter and the flash bang," said Chilcutt.

To give the teens an idea of what it takes to become a Butte County sheriff's SWAT team member, they tried on deputies gear, equaling dozens of pounds, and attempted pullups--none of them could complete one.

For 17-year-old Paul Freidas of Magalia the lesson taught him how much hard work and physical strength it takes to be SWAT.

"These guys are all really big and burly. They're just built guys; all-around Heinz 47," Freidas said. "They can run faster than most, lift more than some guys and do more pullups and pushups than I think any other of us can."

With that in mind, Freidas says he'll stick to his goal of joining Fish and Wildlife rather than try out for SWAT.

But F.A.S.T. camp isn't all about law enforcement. Earlier in the day the teens learned how to clear defensible space around homes on The Ridge. That helped them learn a little about forestry management from a firefighter's perspective.

On Monday, they learned about EMT work and earned CPR certifications.

Fire and Safety Training Camp will wrap up Thursday and Friday with two days learning what it takes to be a firefighter.

http://www.krcrtv.com/news/local/camp-shows-teens-the-life-of-public-safety/26543576

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10 tips for police rookies who think they know everything

Here are ten things from an old hand you may not yet know — but should!

Okay, Rookie, you're almost done with your probationary period. You aced the academy. You've spent all kinds of off-time with your nose in the best books on police work.

In short, you think you know a lot.

Here are ten things from an old hand you may not yet know — but should!

When you have the slightest sense that you need to use the bathroom, don't wait.
That's nature's way of saying you're going to be directing traffic at a crash for an hour.

We ancients aren't too old to fight — we're just too old to want to.

Don't let anybody make fun of you for wearing an athletic cup.
They're great for crossing fences, surviving knee strikes, and proving to bad guys how tough you are by smacking yourself in the groin with your flashlight as you roar like the Incredible Hulk.

Slow down in almost everything you're doing now — driving, talking, approaching a call, sending an email . I know you have lightning reflexes and great confidence, but the faster you get into trouble the longer it takes to get out of it.

Try saying, “I'd like to better understand the rationale for this procedure” instead of “why do we do this stupid stuff?”

Resist the temptation to show off your cool toys to civilian friends.
It's all fun and games until the on-duty officers show up.

If you haven't decided you can kill somebody, you need to work that out now.
If you have decided you can't wait to kill somebody, join the Marines instead.

If you ever hear yourself saying a catch phrase from a TV cop show, cancel your cable.

For all the advice not to take your job home, it's not going to happen.
This is not a job you do, it's who you are. So find one thing — art, church, literature — something that will give you a window to the rest of the world or the person you were before you put that badge on.

Save your money and forego that $500-a-month truck payment.
The freedom of cool wheels beneath you can become a ball and chain pretty quickly.

http://www.policeone.com/police-jobs-and-careers/articles/7282976-10-tips-for-the-rookies-who-think-they-know-everything/

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Will ISIS plan a 9/11-style terror plot against the U.S.?

by Rebecca Kaplan

Republicans are sounding the warning that the next 9/11-like terror plot could emerge from the regions of Iraq and Syria that are currently dominated by an extremist group bearing down on Baghdad.

As the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) - which has already captured the cities of Tikrit and Mosul and is threatening to take the capital city as well - grows in strength and numbers, will it pose an immediate threat to the United States homeland as well?

Experts say the group's increasing power and reach is concerning, though it's not entirely clear when they might be able to threaten the U.S.

"You've got motivation mixed with opportunity, ideology and foreign fighters and all of that looks like a very extreme version of Afghanistan in the '90s, plus what was happening in Iraq after the Iraq war," said CBS News National Security Analyst Juan Zarate. "This is a cauldron of future terrorist threats to the west."

The bigger danger, Zarate said, is that the U.S. does not yet know exactly what the group will look like once it evolves. While ISIS might not launch an attack on U.S. soil tomorrow, he said, "I think the grave threat here is that you have the seeds of a new terrorist movement emerging very aggressively."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday that U.S. officials have warned the next major attack on U.S. soil could emanate from the region.

"The seeds of 9/11s are being planted all over Iraq and Syria," Graham said. "They want an Islamic caliphate that runs through Syria and Iraq...and they plan to drive us out of the Mideast by attacking us here at home."

Graham's concerns were echoed on ABC's "This Week" by Ret. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, who said that "all Americans should be concerned" by ISIS' quick rise and success in Iraq. And on "Fox News Sunday," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said, "I guarantee you: this is a problem that we will have to face and we're either going to face it in New York City or we're going to face it here."

"These are not monkey bar terrorists out in the desert somewhere planning some very low-level attack. These are sophisticated, command and controlled, seasoned combat veterans who understand the value of terrorism operations external to the region, meaning Europe and the United States. That is about as dangerous a recipe as you can put together," he said.

There have been some indications this might be the group's intent. Army Col. Kenneth King, who was the commanding officer of a U.S. detention camp in Iraq, told the Daily Beast recently that when current ISIS head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was released in 2009, he said, "I'll see you guys in New York."

But Michael Morell, the former acting CIA director and a CBS News analyst on intelligence, national security and counterterrorism issues, predicted it's at least a year before ISIS might pose more of a serious threat to the U.S. The current major threats to the homeland still come from al Qaeda groups in Pakistan and Yemen, he said.

But, Morell added, if it looks like the U.S. influence in Iraq is increasing once again, the threat from ISIS could also rise.

"That's one of the downsides of U.S. involvement," he told CBS News. "The more we visibly get involved in helping the [Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki] government fight these guys, the more we become a target."

President Obama said Friday that he has asked his national security team to "prepare a range of other options" for U.S. involvement, though he is not considering putting U.S. troops back on the ground there.

For now, Morell said that ISIS is principally targeting the Iraqi government. Over the weekend, the group posted graphic photos that appeared to show its fighters brutally killing scores of captured Iraqi soldiers. But Zarate warned about the influence of senior al Qaeda figures who traveled to Syria and could be working to turn ISIS' attention toward the west.

"You do have very senior al Qaeda figures who have migrated to the Syrian conflict to provide strategic guidance and direction and to me that's incredibly dangerous because you have operatives and strategists who have had squarely in mind to turn the attention of these groups toward the west," he said.

One of Rogers' principal concerns is the threat posed by American and European fighters who traveled to what he called "jihadist Disneyland" in eastern Syria and have been radicalized. Just last month, a U.S. citizen linked to al Qaeda terrorists carried out a suicide bombing in Syria.

ISIS "is an al Qaeda-inspired group that certainly has al Qaeda ties, that now has the capability to tap people with Western passports to send them back to Europe and the United States for terrorist activity. That's a problem for us," Rogers said.

In February, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the U.S. was "very focused" on the problem of fighters from the U.S., Canada and Europe who traveled to Syria.

FBI Director James Comey estimated in early May that the number of foreign fighters traveling to the region has grown by a few dozen since the start of the year. Several months before, he had said there were dozens of Americans trying to travel to Syria.

Morell said such fighters are a "growing concern" to the U.S., but that they pose more of a threat as one-man operations at present than a large 9/11 style attack.

ISIS has also been a separate entity from al Qaeda after it was cut off from the main group in February.

The question that remains is whether the U.S. would be able to thwart an attack if one materialized.

Zarate said the country is better prepared to deal with the threat of a terror attack, having built up its counterterrorism capabilities since 9/11. But, he added, "we are, in some ways, blind to a lot of the threats that may be emerging and unable to impact the momentum that some of these extremist groups have."

As the groups grow in strength, "we in some ways then have to play defense, which is a lot harder to do if we're not playing offense at the same time," he said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/will-isis-plan-a-911-style-terror-plot-against-the-u-s/

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California

Liquid meth pours into Central Calif.

In methamphetamine's seedy underworld, traffickers are disguising the drug as a liquid to smuggle it into the United States from Mexico

by Scott Smith

FRESNO, Calif. — In methamphetamine's seedy underworld, traffickers are disguising the drug as a liquid to smuggle it into the United States from Mexico.

Dissolved in a solution, it's sealed in tequila bottles or plastic detergent containers to fool border agents and traffic officers. Once deep in California's Central Valley, a national distribution hub, meth cooks convert it into crystals — the most sought-after form on the street.

Tough policing has driven the highly toxic super-labs south of the border where meth is manufactured outside the sight of U.S. law enforcement, but the smaller conversion labs are popping up domestically in neighborhoods, such as one in Fresno where a house exploded two years ago.

People inside the home had sealed it tightly so the tale-tell fumes didn't give them away.

"These guys, they don't have Ph.D.s in chemistry," said Sgt. Matt Alexander of the Fresno County Sheriff's Office. "They're focused on not getting caught."

Investigators say it's impossible to know how much liquid meth crosses the border, but agents in Central California say they have been seeing more of it in the past few years.

A California Highway Patrol officer in late 2012 pulled over a 20-year-old man on Interstate 5 who said he was headed to Oregon from Southern California and seemed nervous. The officer found 15 bottles in the trunk full of dissolved meth but labeled as Mexican tequila.

The man pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and received a federal prison sentence of 46 months.

Three men were indicted in late 2013 and await trial after a drug task force found 12 gallons of liquid meth in a Fresno house along with 42 pounds of the drug ready for sale, four guns and 5,000 rounds of ammunition.

Officers raided a Madera home earlier this year, finding a lab used to convert liquid meth into 176 pounds of crystals with a street value over $1 million. Nobody was arrested, but agents said the bust dealt a blow to the organization behind the lab.

Mike Prado, resident agent in charge of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigation's Fresno office, said law enforcement agencies are always on the lookout for creative ways cartels smuggle meth.

"We've become better at detecting certain things," Prado said. "When they catch on to that, they modify their methods."

The super-labs driven south to Mexico are notoriously toxic to people and the environment, but Prado said the small conversion labs in the Central Valley are more dangerous. His agents have found them in densely populated apartment buildings and foreclosed homes in quiet neighborhoods where children play on the street.

In the conversion process, cooks evaporate off the liquid and use highly combustible chemicals such as acetone to make crystals. The fumes are trapped inside. "A spark can turn this into a fireball," Prado said.

That's what happened in 2012, when a home in a middle-class area of Fresno was blown off its foundation. The blast shot the air conditioner into a neighbor's yard; another neighbor had to replace a roof rippled by the concussion. Two men ran from the home, and investigators said a third was seriously injured.

Central California's interstates and proximity to Mexico make it an attractive distribution hub for cartels, officials say.

John Donnelly, until recently in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Fresno office, said agents all over the country have tracked meth to California's Central Valley. "We're the source point for Seattle, Portland, Alaska and as far east as the Carolinas," Donnelly said.

Not all the meth travelling north makes its way to Central California. Two men were arrested last month in San Bernardino when investigators found a conversion lab, 206 pounds of crystal meth and 250 gallons of the liquid capable of producing 1,250 pounds of crystals.

The seized drugs, which investigators suspect came from Mexico, were valued at $7.2 million.

Not all liquid meth makes it across the border. Last year, a 16-year-old from Mexico was stopped at the crossing near San Diego. He volunteered to take "a big sip" to convince inspectors the liquid he had was only apple juice, not meth. The teenager began screaming in pain and died within hours.

Eric L. Olson, a Latin America researcher at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington D.C., said he witnessed agents seize liquid meth disguised in soda bottles during a 2012 tour of the border crossing at Laredo, Texas.

Liquid meth is just the latest innovation for transporting drugs for profit, he said. Smugglers have used tunnels, submarines, drones and once, Olson said, a 90-year-old farmer was used as a decoy.

"There's no end to the creativity to getting the drug to market when there's demand," he said of the turn to liquid meth.

http://www.policeone.com/drug-interdiction-narcotics/articles/7290985-Liquid-meth-pours-into-Central-Calif/

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3 lessons from the Las Vegas police ambush about on-duty breaks

Police officers are highly visible public figures who are vulnerable to attack any time they are out in public, regardless of what they are doing.

The murders of two Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers who were dining in a restaurant by a pair of radical militants happened less than a week ago, and the heinous crime is still under investigation. Details are sketchy at this point — but we know it was similar to the attack which left four Lakewood (Wash.) officers dead at a coffee shop in November 2009. Memories of that crime — combined with what we know about the recent murders — have reignited discussions about officer safety during on-duty breaks in public, and it seems appropriate to discuss for a moment the associated hazards and the tactics to mitigate them.

In the wake of this most recent attack, some agencies may overreact and enact protocols which will prohibit or restrict officers from taking on-duty breaks (for report writing, personal business, meals, etc.) in public locations. While that may soothe the nerves of the chain of command, it's not a particularly realistic course of action and it ignores the larger issue that officers are highly visible public figures who are vulnerable to attack any time they are out in public, regardless of what they are doing.

There is no unique or special risk associated with dining in public during an on-duty break — officers are equally at risk when idling at a stop light or interviewing a person on the sidewalk, so it makes no sense to put unreasonable restrictions on the former. Instead, it would be much more helpful to focus on strategies and tactics that enhance safety.

1) Vary Your Break Locations
One of those strategies is for officers to stay somewhat unpredictable by avoiding routines and patterns which would allow attackers to predict the officer's actions. We all have our favorite restaurants and our favorite tables at those restaurants, but if you meet at the same place, at the same time, on the same day every week, and if you sit in the same spot, you've handed your enemy all the information they need to set up an effective ambush.

It appears that the Las Vegas shooting — like the Lakewood shooting which preceded it — was not planned far in advance and the officers were only selected as “targets of opportunity,” but why make it easy for your attacker?

Try a different place. Order take out. Pick a different time or a different table. Park somewhere different. Vary your routine, and deny your enemy an easy opportunity to carefully plan his attack and escape.

When it's time to take that on-duty break, make yourself a hard target. If circumstances allow, take your break with another unit so that you can provide mutual support — two sets of eyes and two guns are better than one. Pick a table in a remote part of the restaurant — is there a back room or closed section where you can be seated? — that will keep you away from the traffic flow and out of the public eye, and prevent you from becoming a “target of opportunity” for the whack job who just happens to stumble across your path.

Avoid sitting by a window (particularly at night, when attackers can clearly see in but you can't see out) or next to a partition that hides the people on the other side from your view. Pick a table that allows you a good view of all the people who would approach you and which increases your reactionary gap.

2) Choose Table, Not Booth Seating
Preserve your mobility as well. They may be comfortable for sitting, but the last thing you want is to be trapped in a booth that hampers your ability to access your weapon and quickly move off the line of the attack. Sitting at a table in lieu of a booth will allow you much greater mobility and will enable you to “get off the X” and get into the fight much more quickly.

While we're talking about tables, it may look a little funny to sit side-by-side with your partner instead of across the table from each other, but depending on the layout of the environment, it may allow you greater visibility and awareness of your surroundings, particularly if you can put your back to the wall.

3) Stay in Condition Yellow
Most importantly, maintain your vigilance. It's natural to want to let your guard down and relax when you're on a break — that's why they call it a “break,” right? — especially when you're among friends. It's also natural to feel secure when you're in a familiar environment, but you cannot allow yourself to fall into either of these traps. The local coffee shop “substation” that you and the guys hit on every shift might feel like a second home — a friendly port of call — but it's not and sharks pass through those waters every day, so don't get lazy and don't let yourself feel too secure in your comfortable surroundings. Stay alert.

When you're out in public (even in “plain clothes,” which do almost nothing to hide your LE status from alert predators), you cannot slip into “condition white.”

Strive to stay in “Condition Yellow” and be aware of the people around you and what they are doing. Keep your head and your eyes up. Look up from that report, that computer screen, or those pancakes and scan your environment periodically. If necessary, split up the area around you into zones and agree with your partner which ones he is going to watch and which ones you are going to watch. If necessary, stand watch while your partner grazes for a bit, then switch.

Does that sound silly or unnecessary to you? I hope not. It appears that at least one of the officers in Las Vegas was shot in the back of the head and never saw it coming. The same thing happened in Lakewood to at least one, and possibly two, of the officers. We will never know if these fallen officers could have reacted quickly enough to avoid being shot or to launch a successful counterattack if they had seen their attackers first, but we can be damned sure that they had zero chance of surviving an unseen ambush.

When you're out in public, you're a target — make yourself a hard one.

Stay alert, and stay safe out there.

http://www.policeone.com/Officer-Safety/articles/7287182-3-lessons-from-the-Las-Vegas-police-ambush-about-on-duty-breaks/

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Broken Immigration System Failing Women, Children

by Andrea Cristina Mercado

From the deportation of family members to a backlog of family visas, immigrant women are being disproportionately impacted by the U.S. system. Now is the time to push Congress and President Obama for change that assists women and children.

Charlie, an 11-year-old born in Florida, experienced a devastating rupture in his family when his father was detained and deported one day while he took his older children fishing. When he tells this story of how his father didn't come home that day, Charlie articulates the worst fears of millions of children.

Charlie's mom is now a single mother, struggling to care for her family on one income rather than two. Charlie and his siblings have a hard time concentrating in school.

The stress and suffering felt by this family is not unique; the recent raid on an immigrant community in Wisconsin demonstrates that it is echoed in millions of homes across the country. Just this past weekend, 1,000 undocumented children were bussed, unaccompanied by adult family members, to a make-shift detention center in Arizona, where they must sleep on the floor, surrounded by chain-link fences, awaiting deportation.

Every day an average of 1,100 people are deported, according to 2012 data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and many of them are parents.

Our country is at a crossroads of crisis and opportunity. The crisis is one faced by millions of immigrant women and families who bear the brunt of our broken immigration system. The opportunity is a chance to end this suffering, to uphold civil and human rights and to make sure that the United States lives up to its values of family and fairness through immigration reform.

President Barack Obama can alleviate the suffering of millions by ending deportations through administrative relief. Congress can act to create solutions, including a roadmap to citizenship for over 11 million people living in our country. Yet both are stalling, and in so doing they are failing immigrant women and the entire nation.

In order to truly address the failings of our current immigration system, we must ensure immigration reform addresses the challenges faced by women and children, who make up 75 percent of all immigrants to the United States. And if we are to create real and lasting solutions, we must use this opportunity to ensure women's rights and equality.

Family Visa Backlog

Deportations are not the only element of our immigration system that separates families. Four million people are currently trapped in the family visa backlog. They wait years, sometimes decades, to be reunited with their families. The family visa system is the mechanism through which most women are able to immigrate legally, yet this channel is barely functional.

A naturalized U.S. citizen, 76-year-old Manok Cha estimates that she will be over 90 by the time her daughter, who lives in South Korea, is granted a family visa and allowed to come to this country. Cha has spent her life caring for others, and now fears that there will be no one to care for her in her old age. Immigration reform must honor the importance of a family-based immigration system and eliminate the family visa backlog to help keep families together.

Our immigration system also fails women in many other ways. The visa system disproportionately favors men: currently only 1-in-4 employment visas are issued to women despite the critical roles immigrant women play in our economy. Immigration reform must anticipate and encourage future flows in professions populated by women, allow dependent visa holders to work with full protections and adjustment to permanent status and expand protections for immigrant female workers in asserting labor and civil rights. For instance, the demand for care workers--positions predominantly filled by immigrant women--will likely increase by 48 percent in the next decade, according to the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute, yet our current system does not recognize this reality.

Risk of Violence

Immigrant women are also particularly vulnerable to domestic violence, as they can be compelled to stay in dangerous situations because of their isolation, financial dependence on their abusers and the threat of deportation. That fear becomes a nightmare when women who finally call law enforcement for help are themselves arrested and put into deportation proceedings, a practice that occurs all too often. Immigration reform must expand protections for asylum seekers and survivors of trafficking.

Immigrant women are not only more vulnerable to violence at home, but also experience high rates of abuse and exploitation on the job. In countless work places across the country--and especially in industries where there are large concentrations of immigrant female workers, including domestic work and farm work--female workers are told that they must endure unsafe working conditions, violence, sexual harassment and theft of wages, or they will be reported to immigration officials. The hope of immigration reform provides us an opportunity to bring all workers out of the shadows. Provisions of one promising proposal, the POWER Act, can protect immigrant workers from retaliation by unscrupulous employers.

We have a tremendous opportunity to fix our broken immigration system, and in so doing ensure the health, well-being and safety of women, children and families. Congress and President Obama must act now to grant relief to families torn apart by deportations and enact fair and common sense solutions. Our families, our communities and our country cannot afford to wait any longer.

Andrea Cristina Mercado spoke at the May 29 hearing on The Impact of Immigration Policy on Women and Children sponsored by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. She is campaign director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance, co-anchor of the We Belong Together campaign. Mercado has worked with immigrant women for over 10 years.

http://womensenews.org/story/immigration/140611/broken-immigration-system-failing-women-children#.U57Wtc9OWpo