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November, 2014 - Week 1

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What is Veterans Day: a short history of the holiday

by Raymond L. Daye

At 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918 -- 11-11-11 -- fighting stopped in what was called “The Great War” and the “War to End All Wars.” A generation later the world had to change its name to World War I. It turned out not to be the “war to end all wars,” after all.

That temporary ceasefire, known as an armistice, ended the fighting in the war that the Treaty of Versailles officially ended on June 28, 1919.

President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11, 1919 to be the nation's first Armistice Day, saying: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations.”

Congress made Nov. 11 a legal holiday in an act approved on May 13, 1938, declaring it to be “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as "Armistice Day."

Following World War II and the Korean War, veterans organizations urged Congress to amend the 1938 act by replacing the word “Armistice” -- which referred to WWI -- with the more inclusive word “Veterans” -- to include those who fought in all of the nation's wars. The change became official on June 1, 1954.

Some may remember when the federal government included Veterans Day among those holidays that would be observed on a Monday -- to give federal employees a three-day weekend. The first Veterans Day on a Monday was on Oct. 25, 1971. Most state's refused to recognize the new holiday designation and kept the traditional Nov. 11 observance.

On Sept. 20, 1975, President Gerald Ford signed the law returning the nation's annual observance of Veterans Day to Nov. 11 -- regardless of what day of the week it might be. That law went into effect on Nov. 11, 1978.

http://www.avoyellestoday.com/index.php/news/1651-what-is-veterans-day-a-short-history-of-the-holiday

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Feds shut down 'Silk Road 2.0' among dozens of black market websites selling drugs, guns, stolen goods

Dozens of alleged illegal websites have been seized, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office said Friday, one day after feds announced the arrest of Blake (Defcon) Benthall, who is accused of operating Silk Road 2.0.

by Dareh Gregorian

The feds have seized “Silk Road 2.0” and dozens of other underground websites dealing in drugs, guns and stolen credit cards, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office said Friday.

The announcement came just one day after the feds busted the alleged creator of Silk Road 2.0, an updated version of the online black market bazaar that investigators shuttered last year.

“We shut down the original Silk Road website and now we have shut down its replacement, as well as multiple other ‘dark market' sites allegedly offering all manner of illicit goods and services, from firearms to computer hacking,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

And they're just getting started, Bharara said.

“We will continue to seize websites that promote illegal and harmful activities, and prosecute those who create and operate them.”

On Thursday, the feds announced the arrest of Blake (Defcon) Benthall for allegedly operating Silk Road 2.0.

His predecessor, Ross Ulbricht, aka Dread Pirate Roberts, was arrested in November 2013.

He is charged with distributing drugs, money laundering and conspiracy to sell fake ID documents.

Ulbricht's trial is scheduled to begin in January.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/feds-shut-silk-road-2-0-black-market-sites-article-1.2003746

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From the FBI

Virtual Kidnapping -- U.S. Citizens Threatened by Mexican Extortion Scheme

Jose Ramirez, a retired New York police officer and ultra-fit triathlete, is an unlikely victim. But last December in Cancun, Mexico, after completing an Ironman competition, he was tricked into believing his life was in danger. Like an increasing number of U.S. citizens on both sides of the border, Ramirez was the target of an extortion scheme known as virtual kidnapping.

Unlike traditional abductions, virtual kidnappers do not intend to physically detain their victims. Instead, through various deceptions and threats of violence, they coerce individuals to isolate themselves from their families—or make families believe that their loved ones are being held—all to extract a quick ransom before the scheme falls apart.

“Victims of virtual kidnappings are scared for their lives, and so are their families,” said Special Agent Brian Wittenberg, a member of our International Violent Crimes Unit at FBI Headquarters who has worked many of these cases.

Although these extortion schemes have been around for many years, their numbers are on the rise, and the criminals' tactics are becoming more sophisticated. “It's big business for them, and they do it well,” Wittenberg said. “Since the threat is continuing to evolve, the FBI wants to raise public awareness to help individuals from becoming victims.”

After completing the rigorous Ironman—a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and marathon run—the 73-year-old Ramirez returned to his hotel room in the evening, called his wife at home in Nevada, and went to sleep. Around 1 a.m., the phone rang in his room. A man claiming to be a member of the Zetas, a ruthless drug cartel, said Ramirez was being “fined” $10,000.

They knew his name and information about him, possibly from accomplices at the hotel. “They were very believable, and they were making threats,” Ramirez said, recalling the threats: “If you don't listen to us, we are going to put drugs in your hotel room and you're going to rot in jail in Mexico. Or we will just put a pistol to your head and kill you.”

What followed for Ramirez was a nearly three-day ordeal in which he was instructed to change hotels, buy a new cell phone—so his wife could not reach him—and withdraw money from the bank. “And don't forget, we are watching you,” he was told. Eventually, his wife contacted local law enforcement who, in turn, called the FBI. With the help of Mexican police, Ramirez was recovered unharmed.

Although millions of Americans safely visit Mexico each year for business and pleasure, they can be targets for virtual kidnappers. “People with family and connections in Mexico and communities on both sides of the border have legitimate fears of the gangs and drug cartels and how violent they are,” said a member of our Crisis Negotiation Unit who has worked many hostage situations. “That fear plays into the hands of the virtual kidnappers,” he said. “They use it to their advantage.”

“If you think you are a victim, get to a place that feels safe, and then call someone who can help,” said the crisis negotiator. “If you are a family member or loved one getting ransom calls, remember that you have more power than you think, because you have the money that the kidnappers want.” He added that while some families think they can handle these situations alone, the FBI—which is the lead investigative agency when a U.S. citizen is taken hostage overseas—stands ready to offer its expertise and guidance to frightened families. “We can help,” he said.

Avoid Becoming a Victim

For criminals, the success of any type of virtual kidnapping depends on speed and fear. They know they only have a short time to exact a ransom payment before the victims and their families unravel the scam or authorities become involved. There are several possible indicators you can look for to avoid becoming a victim.

Avoid Becoming a Victim of Virtual Kidnapping 11/04/14 In one example of virtual kidnapping, criminals targeted the parents of a young woman traveling in Mexico—whose phone and contact information they had stolen—and told the family they would cut off her fingers unless money was wired to them immediately. A female accomplice screamed in the background for effect. (The woman whose phone was taken was never in danger, and didn't know of the scheme until she contacted her family later.) For criminals, the success of any type of virtual kidnapping depends on speed and fear. They know they only have a short time to exact a ransom payment before the victims and their families unravel the scam or authorities become involved. To avoid becoming a victim, look for these possible indicators: Callers go to great lengths to keep you on the phone, insisting you remain on the line. Calls do not come from the victim's phone. Callers try to prevent you from contacting the “kidnapped” victim. Multiple successive phone calls. Incoming calls made from an outside area code. Demands for ransom money to be paid via wire transfer, not in person; ransom demands may drop quickly. If you receive a phone call from someone demanding a ransom for an alleged kidnap victim, the following course of action should be considered: Try to slow the situation down. Request to speak to the victim directly. Ask, “How do I know my loved one is okay?” Ask questions only the victim would know, such as the name of a pet. Avoid sharing information about you or your family. Listen carefully to the voice of the kidnapped victim if they speak. Attempt to call, text, or contact the victim via social media. Request that the victim call back from his or her cell phone. To buy time, repeat the caller's request and tell them you are writing down the demand, or tell the caller you need time to get things moving. Don't directly challenge or argue with the caller. Keep your voice low and steady. If you believe you are a victim—like Jose Ramirez—FBI crisis negotiators suggest that you try to make contact with family members as quickly as possible, and get yourself to a place that feels safe. If you have any question about whether a ransom demand is a scheme or a legitimate kidnapping, contact your nearest FBI office immediately. Tips can also be submitted online at tips.fbi.gov. All tipsters may remain anonymous.

The Evolution of Virtual Kidnapping

Years ago, criminals carrying out virtual kidnappings used simple tactics. They might wait at a Mexican bus station and spot an American's luggage nametag that included a home address and phone number. If the tourist got on a nonstop bus for a five-hour trip during which there was no cell phone service, the criminals knew they had that window of time to execute the scheme by contacting family members in the U.S., convincing them their loved ones were in danger, and demanding a ransom be paid by wire transfer.

Today, the schemes can involve accomplices in tourist hotels, telemarketing-style cold calls, money handlers, and phone techniques such as three-way calling that lead families and law enforcement to believe that victims have been physically detained.

Recently, virtual kidnappers cold-called hundreds of numbers in Texas—likely using directories and other phone lists—to target American physicians, banking that at least some of those contacted with family or connections in Mexico would fall for the scam.

“The FBI responds to all reports of U.S. citizens being taken hostage, whether virtual or traditional,” said Special Agent Brian Wittenberg. “The virtual kidnappers are savvy and prepared, and one of our goals is to make sure the public is prepared as well.” He added, “The criminals' tactics are constantly evolving, but the hallmark of any virtual kidnapping is always the same—preying on people's worst fears.”

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/november/virtual-kidnapping/virtual-kidnapping

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From the Department of Homeland Security

Law Enforcement Embraces New Technologies to “Fight Fire with Fire”

by U.S. Secret Service Assistant Director Paul Morrissey

While most people associate the U.S. Secret Service as the elite protective agency in the world, a lesser known fact is that we are at the forefront of combating cyber crime. Just recently, in October 2014, agents took Arthur Budovsky, the founder and current leader of Liberty Reserve, into custody from INTERPOL-Madrid. In July 2014, Secret Service agents apprehended Roman Seleznev, one of the most prolific traffickers of credit card data, after being expelled from the Maldives. In September 2013, Adrian-Tiberiu Oprea and Iulian Dolan, both from Romania, were sentenced in federal court for participating in a multi-million dollar conspiracy to hack U.S.-based merchants' computer systems.

Cases like these highlight the importance of cross-jurisdictional partnerships in combating transnational cyber crime. This year marks the 30 th anniversary of when the United States first specifically criminalized both unauthorized access to computers and access device fraud and explicitly assigned the Secret Service authority to investigate these crimes. The Secret Service has continuously innovated how it investigates cyber crimes to keep pace with technology and criminal's efforts to exploit this technology. Fundamental to the approach is the collaboration with all stakeholders in investigating, detecting and preventing cyber crimes to minimize fraud losses and associated damages.

The Secret Service established an international network of Electronic Crimes Task Forces, to investigate sophisticated transnational cyber groups through the collaborative efforts of its private sector, academia and law enforcement partners. Through this model, partners benefit from the resources and expertise provided by the network while focusing on cyber crime issues with substantial economic impact.

Secret Service cyber crime investigations have resulted in the arrest and successful prosecution of cyber criminals involved in the largest known data breaches and ECTF investigations have resulted in the arrest and dismantling of large international criminal organizations as is exemplified in the Liberty Reserve investigation. This multi-year investigation identified Liberty Reserve as an international online payment processor, used by global cybercriminals to launder and distribute proceeds of financial crimes, hacking/carding networks, drug trafficking, securities fraud and child pornography. This successful investigation resulted in multiple arrests and the seizure of over $40 million in assets. Two weeks ago, DHS recognized these efforts and awarded Special Agent for the New York Electronic Crimes Task Force Tate Jarrow with the Secretary's Exceptional Service Award.

As our financial payment system has evolved, so has our investigative mission. Today, our modern financial system depends heavily on information technology for convenience and efficiency. Accordingly, cyber criminals have adapted their methods to exploit our Nation's financial payment systems to engage in illicit activities and the Secret Service continues to work to innovatively to effectively combat cyber crime that affects the American public.

For more cybersecurity tips, visit the Homeland Security Investigation's Cyber Crimes Center or Stop.Think.Connect.™

http://www.dhs.gov/blog/2014/11/07/law-enforcement-embraces-new-technologies-%E2%80%9Cfight-fire-fire%E2%80%9D

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Pennsylvania

A village found Carlesha

by Ronnie Polaneczky

ANY CITY dweller who didn't feel proud to be a Philadelphian this week must have slept through the three-day abduction odyssey of Carlesha Freeland-Gaither and its stupendous outcome: her safe delivery into the arms of family.

From the get-go, this case defied every negative stereotype we have about the complacency of our citizens, the disinterest of the police department, the cynicism of the media.

Maybe - to quote an old saying - Philadelphia isn't as bad as Philadelphians say it is.

Freeland-Gaither's abduction isn't the only recent, high-profile case in which police, working closely with willing members of the public and aided by the media, arrested monsters who needed taking off the street.

The July carjacking in North Philly that killed Keisha Williams and three of her kids ignited a public response that was the antithesis of the Philly Shrug.

"Hell, no ," went the refrain that brought in so many tips to police. "Not here. Not on our watch."

The September shooting death of innocent teen Aisha Abdur-Rhaman, 15, outside of Albert Einstein Medical Center generated so much heat that suspects were arrested within days.

These cases beg the question: What if these successes are not anomalies but evidence of who we are, at our best? Yes, there will always be no-snitchers and cops who shouldn't be on the force.

But these cases suggest, in bold relief, that we're so much better than the outliers.

"We have to do a better job of telling our success stories," says Inspector Robert Otto of the Northwest special investigations unit, which coordinated the search for Freeland-Gaither.

And the media must do a better job sharing them.

So let's share this one, starting with Dwayne Fletcher, the eyewitness to the abduction who detectives have called a hero for his desperate attempts to help Freeland-Gaither.

Fletcher couldn't stop alleged kidnapper Delvin Barnes, who wielded a 12-inch knife, but he called 9-1-1 twice. Retrieved Carlesha's phone and glasses from where she purposely dropped them. And then so accurately conveyed to officers what he'd seen that they immediately understood that Carlesha was in grave danger.

Fletcher, an admitted ex-con, has had past run-ins with law enforcement. No one would've been surprised - disappointed, but not surprised - if he'd decided to look the other way rather than initiate an encounter with police.

Fletcher, though, told NBC10 that, when his shouts at Barnes failed to stop the abduction, "I just cried and cried." He felt, he said, like he had "lost her."

That dear man.

And the police, my God, where do we start? Everyone from detective James Sloan and John Geliebter and their team, to the officers who fielded hundreds of tips, to the FBI and the ATF agents - all went sleepless in their race to save Freeland-Gaither's life.

"We went as hard on this as you would've gone for a member of your own family," says Inspector James Kelly, commanding officer of the Northwest police division.

"If you can't be touched by the horrible manner of her abduction,if you're not obsessed with getting that girl back, you shouldn't be in this job."

The media plastered Freeland-Gaither's picture over its front pages and websites. Tweeted every update, posted every new video, which police shared practically in real time.

The back-and-forth created its own energy, critical in spreading the story. Without the publicity, it's doubtful those in Maryland, where Freeland-Gaither was found, would've recognized the clues that led to her rescue.

"The [kidnapping] video was viewed over 1.2 million times" on the Police Department's YouTube channel, says Commissioner Charles Ramsey, who has pushed the use of social media to reach the public and the media.

Over the last four years, the department's YouTube channel has gotten 6.2 million views. Its Facebook page has 800,000 followers; Twitter, 40,000. All have helped resolve cases.

In 2014 alone, Ramsey told me, the department has posted more than 500 videos, eliciting tips leading to 180-plus arrests and closure of at least 200 cases.

That kind of success, he says, along with positive media support improves the public's relationship with police and lifts morale in the department.

But the commish knows that the morale-lifting needs to cut both ways. Case in point:

Last Wednesday, Ramsey was minutes from doing a live CNN interview about the abduction when he got the call that Freeland-Gaither had been found.

He could have taken that opportunity to announce the rescue on CNN. Can you imagine how big a moment that would have been for the commissioner, telling a national audience about the miracle that occurred on his watch?

Instead, Ramsey canceled the interview and rushed to the press conference announcing the rescue.

"I did it out of respect for the local media," Ramsey says. "I was not going to break that news on a national network when we had had local people working so hard on the story. They'd been with us through it all. It wouldn't have been right."

It's a new day, Philadelphia. I can't wait to get used to it.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20141109_A_village_found_Carlesha.html

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Ohio

Uncertainty swirls around Cincinnati police chief's tenure, community position

Jeffrey Blackwell working month-to-month contract

by John London

CINCINNATI —Speculation about the job status of Cincinnati's Police Chief went from under the radar to out in the open Friday.

Chief Jeffrey Blackwell made it clear that he is so focused on policing and making the community better that he has no time to fret about things he cannot control.

With crime numbers down and community engagement up, one could legitimately ask why the chief's status was even an issue.

"I'm telling you, if you move the chief, you're asking for trouble," community activist Ozie Davis said.

The longtime Avondale youth advocate believes Blackwell is making all the right moves when it comes to youth engagement and community policing.

Davis has heard the rumblings about an unsettled atmosphere within the department as well as speculation that the current administration, which inherited Blackwell, might want to replace him.

Mayor John Cranley recently met with the Sentinels police organization, which was planning a rally to publicly show support for the chief. But it was called off at the chief's urging.

After a groundbreaking for the new Boys and Girls Club in Price Hill Friday morning, WLWT News 5 asked the chief how he was dealing with the swirl of speculation.

"You know, I can only worry about doing a good job every day for the people of Cincinnati, especially the young people of Cincinnati,” Blackwell said.

Along those lines, the chief pointed out that he was very pleased with the way his officers have responded to the community engagement aspect of what he has put in place. He said some of the things that are being done outdistance anything like it in the country.

The mentoring by officers and the school tutoring that is taking place have been a point of pride during his initial year on the job.

Before walking in to congratulate the city's new fire recruits Friday morning, City Manager Harry Black shared what he told the chief recently.

"If we focus on the work, everything else takes care of itself in time," Harry Black said.

However, there are a number of people at the community activist level who suspect that since the chief was selected by a previous administration, he skates on ice that is permanently thin.

The possibility of a public demonstration was broached when Cranley met with the Sentinels.

"Oh, well, we told them not to worry about that," Cranley told WLWT News 5. "As long as crime is moving in the right direction."

West Side community leader Pete Witte said the speculation was unsettling, particularly if there is any internal division that could get in the way of reducing crime.

"You know, the one thing that we don't want is to have some morale issue kind of fester within the Cincinnati Police Department," Witte said.

When asked Friday, the chief described department morale as good.

Fraternal Order of Police President Kathy Harrell said she has received calls about the chief from officers who don't care for his style of leadership and from those who think he is terrific.

She pointed out the same type of calls occurred during previous administrations.

Part of what's fueling the uncertainty is the letter of understanding Blackwell signed 14 months ago when he accepted the job.

The new administration does not consider it a contract per se, only a letter that lays out the terms of employment.

Part of those terms are that he could be dismissed without cause at any time.

"What are you saying in regard to the chief's stability?" Davis asked. "Is the chief going to be here or not, because that's the real question."

Blackwell deferred questions about his contract or lack thereof to his Communications Director, Tiffaney Hardy.

"He definitely would like to be here for four or five years or more," Hardy said. "You know, he has moved his family here. His son is acclimated to the community now and they're part of the community."

As president of the Sentinels, Phil Black expressed concern about where all this might be headed.

"The rumors are out there," Phil Black said. "The rumblings you hear is that the administration may not want him."

He said that at the meeting with the mayor, he was told it all depends on the crime numbers.

Cranley underscored that all department heads, including the chief, would be held accountable for performance and outcomes.

Blackwell's position requires non-stop effort.

His tenure appears to be a month-to-month matter.

Incredulous about that, Davis threw out his hands and exclaimed, "We want the chief. I mean, the chief isn't doing anything wrong. I don't even know why we're having this conversation. We shouldn't even be having this conversation. The energy should be somewhere else."

It's clear that the message to the chief, from certain quarters of the community is, "We've got your back."

http://www.wlwt.com/news/uncertainty-swirls-around-cincinnati-police-chiefs-tenure-community-position/29608520

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Georgia

Head of DeKalb Co. public safety watching Ferguson situation

WXIA

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. -- One of metro Atlanta's top law enforcement executives is giving advice to police around the country on how to handle any potential violence stemming from Ferguson, Missouri.

Back in August, Dekalb County's head of public safety, Cedric Alexander, was one of the first people on the ground in Ferguson after the shooting death of an unarmed teen by a police officer.

With the grand jury decision expected almost any day, he's on standby to go again.

Alexander traveled to Ferguson as head of National Black Organization of Law Enforcement Executives at the request of the city's police chief. He was brought in to help the department's relationships with its majority black community.

Nearly three months later, leaked grand jury testimony indicates that Officer Darren Wilson may not face charges for in the shooting death of Michael Brown. That decision could potentially reignite the violent flames between protesters and police.

Alexander's approach is to expect the best, but be prepared if the worst happens.

"Yes, all eyes are on Ferguson," Alexander said. "Talking to many of my police colleagues across the country, those in the criminal justice system, we all are paying very close attention."

In many cases, steps are already being taken.

Alexander says law enforcement expect at least one day's notice before the decision is released.

Both Atlanta and DeKalb County police are already exploring how their officers would respond should potential violence spread to metro Atlanta.

Across the country, Alexander says that police chiefs have started reaching out for advice.

"They are certainly concerned about their communities, what they need to be doing in the meantime, and what I just assured them to do is what they've always done -- make sure they keep those lines of communication open with their community leaders," Alexander said.

That communication, Alexander says, is key. Alexander is optimistic that stronger relationships between community and police mean a better reaction and less chance violent images will replay themselves on the streets of Ferguson -- or anywhere else.

"There's no reason to ring any alarm bell, let me be clear about that,' he said. "This is just being smart. This is us being thoughtful and planful."

http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/decatur/2014/11/08/cedric-alexander-ferguson/18694649/

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Florida

Activist risks jail to feed the needy

Miami -- A 90-year-old activist arrested for serving meals to the homeless in Florida vowed on Thursday to continue his charitable work, even if it means going to jail.

Arnold Abbott was detained on two separate occasions this week, along with two pastors from local churches in Fort Lauderdale, for handing out food to the city's homeless.

The activists were arrested after violating a city ordinance passed last month that places new restrictions on distribution of food to the homeless in public places.

However, Abbott said on Thursday he would continue his practice, telling NBC in an interview: “I'm awfully hard to intimidate. I certainly will follow this through until we beat them,” he said. “You can't sweep the homeless under the rug.

Abbott could be jailed for up to two months and fined $500 if he is found in breach of the law.

The ordinance requires feeding sites to be more than 150m away from each other and 150m from residential properties.

Only one group distributing food to the homeless is allowed to operate on an individual city block at any one time.

Fort Lauderdale police have defended the arrests of Abbott and the two pastors, saying they are only enforcing the law.

“We would like to emphasise that the purpose of the ordinance is not to prevent the feeding of the homeless, but to balance the needs of the entire population of the city,” police said in a statement.

City officials, meanwhile,have scrambled to manage the public relations fallout from the arrests.

“We're not a city that lacks compassion or kindness,” Fort Lauderdale mayor Jack Seiler said.

“We just feel that if someone is homeless on the streets of Fort Lauderdale, we need to get them off the street and in the right places where they can improve their position, their situation.”

Homeless rights activists say the case highlights an increasing trend by local governments across the United States to crack down on food distribution networks for the needy.

“Since January 2013, 21 cities have successfully restricted the practice of sharing food with people who are experiencing homelessness while at least 10 others have introduced ordinances that are pending approval,” the National Coalition for the Homeless revealed in a report.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/activist-risks-jail-to-feed-the-needy-1.1777036#.VFy9F88cSpo

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FBI Admits Agent Impersonated Reporter During Criminal Investigation

by CHRIS GRYGIEL

SEATTLE (AP) — FBI Director James Comey says an agent impersonated an Associated Press reporter during a 2007 criminal investigation, a ruse the news organization says could undermine its credibility.

In a letter Thursday to The New York Times, Comey said the agent "portrayed himself as an employee of The Associated Press" to help catch a 15-year-old suspect accused of making bomb threats at a high school near Olympia, Washington. It was publicized last week that the FBI forged an AP story during its investigation, but Comey's letter revealed the agency went further and had an agent actually pretend to be a reporter for the wire service.

Comey said the agent posing as an AP reporter asked the suspect to review a fake AP article about threats and cyberattacks directed at the school, "to be sure that the anonymous suspect was portrayed fairly."

The bogus article contained a software tool that could verify Internet addresses. The suspect clicked on a link, revealing his computer's location and Internet address, which helped agents confirm his identity.

"That technique was proper and appropriate under Justice Department and FBI guidelines at the time. Today, the use of such an unusual technique would probably require higher-level approvals than in 2007, but it would still be lawful and, in a rare case, appropriate," Comey wrote.

Kathleen Carroll, executive editor of the AP, said the FBI's actions were "unacceptable."

"This latest revelation of how the FBI misappropriated the trusted name of The Associated Press doubles our concern and outrage, expressed earlier to Attorney General Eric Holder, about how the agency's unacceptable tactics undermine AP and the vital distinction between the government and the press," Carroll said in a statement.

In a letter to the Justice Department last week, the AP requested Holder's word that the DOJ would never again misrepresent itself as the AP and asked for policies to ensure the DOJ does not further impersonate news organizations.

In a letter Thursday to Comey and Holder, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press asked the agency for full disclosure about the incident.

"The utilization of news media as a cover for delivery of electronic surveillance software is unacceptable," the letter said. "This practice endangers the media's credibility and creates the appearance that it is not independent of the government. It undermines media organizations' ability to independently report on law enforcement."

In his letter to The New York Times, Comey said all undercover operations involve deception, "which has long been a critical tool in fighting crime."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/07/fbi-impersonates-ap-reporter_n_6118970.html

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Virginia

Local police work to gain trust in many communities

by Janet Roach

NEWPORT NEWS -- When Newport News Police Sergeant William Graham hits the streets on the night shift in the city's Central District, there's a job to do even when crime isn't calling. Police work is also about building relationships with the community.

"When you look at the incident that happened over in Missouri, Ferguson, they didn't have great relationships with the community. They weren't able to reach out to a lot of the churches, the community and business leaders and everything else to try to squash all that was going on," says Graham.

There were weeks of unrest in August in Ferguson following the shooting death of unarmed black teen, Michael Brown, by white officer Darren Wilson.

As Graham pulls up to an apartment on Dresden Avenue responding to a person who's had a bit too much to drink, other officers are already trying to calm the situation before it gets out of control.

One resident asks Graham how he's doing and addresses him by name. Clearly, it's a connection he's made before.

The woman is eventually arrested; all the while Graham keeps his cool.

"You gotta be kind and be more kind and kind and kind again," he says.

It's the advice Graham gives to younger officers.

In the Central District and communities all over the country, there is much more work and mending to be done.

National headlines have been dominated by cases of police being accused of using excessive force, primarily in communities of color, and there are dramatic differences in how different communities view police.

In Huntersville in Norfolk, some residents readily admit a very open distrust of the police. They say police often can't distinguish between the troublemakers and law-abiding citizens, so everyone gets harassed.

"You can't be sitting out on the sidewalk. You'll be walking down the sidewalk and you see someone that you know, you talk to the person and they'll say that you're loitering, you're trespassing," says a man who lives in the neighborhood. He asked not to be identified.

In June, Norfolk Police started community fellowships as a way to reach out to people in Huntersville and other neighborhoods. Officers meet with about a dozen residents at a time in attempt to "dispel unfavorable, preconceived notions of police," a department spokesperson says.

Several other initiatives were rolled out this fall, including bi-monthly live radio broadcasts called "We are One, Together, Service and Solutions" on WGPL-1350 AM. Officers engage with listeners live on the air on topics including community policing, crime prevention and recruitment.

Also, each month, officers partner with the Southeastern Boys and Girls Club to serve 50 to 100 youth a meal five days a week. The effort is to help foster a mutual trust between police and the youth.

In Newport News, police spokesperson Lewis Thurston says officers are encouraged to use what's considered uncommitted time to get know their communities. The force recently started "Coffee with a Cop." Once a month, citizens join officers for coffee at a restaurant and talk about their concerns and ask questions.

Police know they need to change perceptions if they are to solve more crime and prevent community backlashes like what happened in Ferguson.

Attorney and Norfolk State University Sociology Professor Doris Edmonds says it's clear that some police are still racial profiling. She says it's critical that parents have frank discussions with their children about how to interact with police. It's a conversation, Edmonds says, African-American parents have had with their kids for generations.

"It's so important for black families to have these conversations with their children because so often, black children or young black men in particular are perceived as threats, just by virtue of their presence," she explains.

Back on the streets in Newport News' Central District, night has fallen and Sergeant Graham returns to the neighborhood where the woman was arrested for being drunk in public. Now it's time to try to make a friend.

http://www.13newsnow.com/story/news/local/13news-now-investigates/2014/11/06/local-police-work-to-gain-trust-in-many-communities/18560873/

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Georgia

UNG public safety chief, faculty discuss emergency preparations

by Kristen Oliver

Every college or university is vulnerable to a natural or manmade disaster. University of North Georgia Public Safety Chief Justin Gaines wants to do something about that.

Gaines recently held several emergency preparedness meetings on the university's Gainesville campus to tell faculty and staff how to keep themselves and students safe during an emergency.

According to Gaines, there are four key steps to emergency preparedness.

“Have a plan,” Gaines said. “Stay observant, take advantage of training opportunities and — this is me getting on my soapbox — but the last thing you really need to do is create an emergency kit.”

The university's public safety department is focusing more attention on emergency readiness since Gaines became chief in January. He reorganized the department's four divisions to include support services and central impact, patrol and investigations, professional services and emergency preparedness.

“We are working on filling a position right now for emergency preparedness,” Gaines said. “Basically this person will do trainings, put together fire safety plans, put together emergency evacuation plans, anything and everything that deals with emergency preparedness.”

Gaines said university safety officials are also improving emergency preparedness on the school's campuses through implementation of new emergency notification systems. This includes a new UNG Alert System through campus emails.

“What this does is, if we have an armed assailant, a tornado, a winter weather event or something like that, you will get a phone call and text message free of charge,” he said.

Gaines said the department is also working to use the website to update students, faculty and parents about issues on campus, and it is implementing Alertus Desktop, a system which puts alert messages on every screen on campus.

The last emergency preparedness discussion Gaines held was Tuesday, during which time he gave important tips for every possible campus emergency.

In the event of a fire in a campus building, Gaines said the first thing to remember is not to use the elevators. Instructors can help handicapped students by getting them to a stairwell — which is usually fireproof for several hours — then going for help.

“Do not re-enter the building until given an all-clear,” Gaines said. “We may silence the alarm so we can talk. The alarm is loud, we already know there's a fire, so we may go in and silence it. Just because it is silenced doesn't mean there's no more fire.”

In the event of a bomb threat, Gaines said it is important for faculty and staff to understand the building or campus may not be evacuated.

“What we've found over the years is a person will call in a bomb threat, everyone will evacuate, and then they'll shoot you,” Gaines said. “There's only been one case in American history in which a bomber has called in a bomb threat and the bomb exploded. That was the Centennial (Park) Olympic bombing.”

Gaines said more people have been hurt, injured or killed in bomb threats than in actual bombings, so police have to decide carefully how to react to a threat.

In the event of an armed assailant, Gaines said the first thing persons should do is make sure their phones are on silent. Phones are very likely to go off because of emergency alerts or concerned family members, and a ringing phone can alert the assailant to a person's location.

Gaines also said hallways and atriums should be avoided if there is an armed assailant on campus. If a group can't get out of the building safely, its members should turn off the lights and lock and barricade the door.

The chief thanked the faculty and staff members who attended the sessions and said his department cannot do its job fully without trained and educated employees on campus.

“You guys can really help us by being our extra eyes and ears,” he said. “We're all a team here and we're all working for the same thing.”

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/105781/

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Connecticut

Are victims' rights and prisoner redemption compatible?

by Brian E. Moran

As I travel across Connecticut advocating in favor of right-sizing our prison system, I have encountered audience members who question what prison reform will do for victims.

I am quick to point out that the recent book on which I served as the lead writer, "The Justice Imperative -- How Hyper-Incarceration Has Hijacked The American Dream," is dedicated to "all those who selflessly work in our criminal justice and correction system for the rights of victims, the protection of the public and the rehabilitation of offenders."

I do not see victim advocates and prisoner advocates as interest groups necessarily in conflict with one another. I also respond by noting that (1) The book does not advocate for the early release of violent offenders or those who pose an undue risk to public safety; (2) We recommend taking 3 percent of the cost savings from right-sizing and investing it in a victims fund to pay for counseling and treatment of victims and educational scholarships for family members of victims; and (3) Many of those currently incarcerated are themselves the victims of physical and sexual abuse, particularly women inmates.

Indeed, as we note in "The Justice Imperative," the "typical female inmate in the United States is a woman of color in her early 30s, convicted of a drug or drug-related offense. She is likely to come from a family whose members are caught up in the criminal justice system. She is apt to be a survivor of physical and sexual abuse, both as a child and as an adult. She has significant substance abuse, as well as physical and mental health issues. She has a GED, but only limited non-vocational training and a spotty work history."

I sense, however, that the foregoing response is inadequate. It seems insufficiently empathetic with the anguish felt by victims of heinous crimes. While I have been mugged at knifepoint, I have not suffered a grievous personal loss to violent crime. Thus, I do not believe I can speak to the agony felt by those who have suffered the loss of a loved one.

Nevertheless, I do not regard compassion for victims and affording offenders an opportunity for redemption and reintegration into society as antithetical. When it comes to corrections, our policy choices should be driven largely by what makes economic sense and what works, bearing in mind that public safety is paramount. That said, as a society we should aspire to a system that provides a path for offenders to seek redemption.

Forgiveness is another matter. It should rest within the exclusive province of the victim. The exclusivity of such prerogative is what imbues forgiveness with incredible healing power. I recently read a remarkable book that speaks to the power of forgiveness. The book, "Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst The Rwandan Holocaust," was written by Imaculee Ilibagiza, the 2007 winner of the Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace.

Imaculee, a Roman Catholic Tutsi, survived the 1994 Rwandan genocide by hiding in a tiny concealed bathroom (3 feet long by 4 feet wide) in a Hutu minister's home. She hid there with seven other Tutsi women for 91 days; there were several times when the women were almost discovered.

As she and the other women hid, her parents were slaughtered and her two brothers were tortured and killed. The perpetrators were neighbors with whom Imaculee grew up and was friendly. An older brother studying in Senegal was her only family member who survived. Following her escape, Imaculee learned the identity of her family's killers. Eventually, she visited them in prison and forgave them.

A few years ago, I visited Robbin Island in South Africa. I saw the conditions under which Nelson Mandela was held for 27 years. Mandela, like Imaculee, forgave his captors. As he describes it, such forgiveness had a remarkable effect not only on those who caused him harm, but also on Mandela. He did not feel truly free from his long ordeal until he forgave his transgressors.

The stories of Imaculee and Nelson Mandela reinforce my belief that any system of criminal justice and corrections must not only make sense from an economic and public safety standpoint, but should strive to be humane to both victims and offenders. As New Canaan resident William J. Fox, Director of The Malta Justice Initiative, has written, "(b)y recognizing the human dignity of all offenders and enabling them to realize redemption and restore their relationships within the community, all of society is ennobled."

Brian E. Moran of New Canaan is an attorney with Robinson + Cole in Stamford.

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/opinion/article/Moran-Are-victims-rights-and-prisoner-5876655.php

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Nevada

Program trains police to defuse confrontations with troubled veterans

by Martin Kuz

LAS VEGAS — Clouds of smoke plumed from the spinning wheels of a white Cadillac pinned between two Las Vegas police cars. Officers had ordered the driver to exit the vehicle, and when he failed to comply, they devised a plan to flush him out. One officer would fire a beanbag round to shatter the car's rear window. Another would then shoot a canister of pepper spray.

A witness filmed the standoff in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the early hours of Dec. 12, 2011. The video shows the plan mutate into a killing.

The beanbag round was fired. Less than a second later, before the pepper spray could be shot, a third officer blasted seven rounds from his assault rifle into the Cadillac.

The car's wheels stopped, the smoke dissipated. Four bullets had hit the driver. He was unarmed.

Stanley Gibson, a 43-year-old Army veteran, served in the Persian Gulf War two decades earlier and remained besieged by post-traumatic stress disorder. He carried home memories of picking up charred corpses along the so-called Highway of Death, where U.S. forces bombed Iraqi troops retreating from Kuwait near the war's end in 1991.

Gibson's paranoia and depression had deepened in the weeks before his death. Records show he had run out of anti-anxiety medication days earlier, after a Veterans Affairs clinician canceled an appointment that would have enabled him to obtain a refill. His behavior in his final hours revealed a man astray in his own mind, unmoored from the world around him.

His death was preventable for several reasons, and three years later, in part because of what happened to him, 30 officers sat in a training course on de-escalation strategies for veterans with combat trauma.

Gibson's name went unspoken during the two-day program this past summer at the headquarters of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. But the fallout from his shooting has influenced reforms to the agency's deadly force policies and its tactics for handling veterans in crisis.

“There were so many things with Mr. Gibson that, if the cards had fallen a different way, he would be alive,” Deputy Chief Gary Schofield said. “It was a tragic situation, and so you want to learn from that.”

The killing of Gibson mirrors the fate of veterans involved in a string of police standoffs in recent years. Most of them suffered from mental disorders linked to their service, including Gibson and former Army Sgt. Issac Sims, 26, an Iraq War veteran gunned down in May by officers in Kansas City, Mo.

An ongoing federal review of hospitals run by the Department of Veterans Affairs has exposed chronic delays endured by patients seeking primary, mental health and specialty care. The problems coincide with rising demand for services at the VA's nearly 1,000 hospitals and clinics nationwide. The need for behavioral health treatment has spiked, with some 1.3 million veterans receiving care in 2012, an increase of almost 400,000 from 2006.

Gibson, like Sims, faced delays in his VA treatment near the end of his life. Struggling with PTSD, he soon wound up in a fatal standoff with law enforcement, one he may have been too confused to comprehend.

The recurrence of that pattern across the country has prodded more police agencies to train officers in defusing confrontations with troubled veterans. In Las Vegas, mindful of Gibson's death, Schofield advocates an approach that could be described as vigilant patience.

“It's a matter of our people understanding that ‘I need to make an arrest' isn't always the answer,” he said. “The first and foremost thing you've got to do with a veteran is listen and, when it's possible, try to slow things down.”

A slow, difficult process

Gibron Smith wondered if he had seen behavior caused by post-traumatic stress disorder without recognizing the symptoms. In a six-month span in 2012, the Las Vegas patrolman responded to three calls from casinos about a drunk, belligerent patron.

The incidents involved three different men. Each had served in Iraq or Afghanistan, and each displayed a blend of high-volume patriotism and obstinance.

“They would keep saying stuff like, ‘I'm an American! I served my country!' When I tried to get them to do what I asked, I really had a hard time reaching them,” Smith said. After their anger subsided, the men turned distraught, yet even on the ride to jail they refused to divulge what bothered them. “It was like there was a wall between us.”

Smith talked during a break during the department's de-escalation training that taught officers about the effects of traumatic brain injuries and PTSD. The course, organized by the Upper Midwest Community Policing Institute, prodded Smith to reconsider the conduct of the three men.

“I'm learning that the way veterans deal with what they've experienced is more complicated than I realized,” he said. “It might be that you have to talk with them for hours to get at what they're feeling.”

The community policing institute, a nonprofit based outside Minneapolis, Minn., has held the training for more than two dozen police agencies since 2011. A previous session in Las Vegas took place on Dec. 11, 2012, one day shy of the one-year mark that patrolman Jesus Arevalo killed Gibson.

The program receives funding from the office of Community Orienting Policing Services, or COPS, an agency within the Department of Justice. Two years ago, Las Vegas police officials engaged in a collaboration with the COPS office to reform the department's deadly-force policies. The effort arose after Metro officers killed 12 people in 2011, a single-year high for the agency capped by Gibson's death.

The instructors of the de-escalation course, most of whom are retired law enforcement personnel, acquaint officers with behaviors linked to combat trauma and possible explanations behind them. A veteran experiencing a flashback might veer from lane to lane while driving to evade an imaginary suicide car bomber, or “patrol” his property while wearing body armor and carrying a firearm.

Educating police that the actions of a veteran in crisis may suggest habits of survival rather than intent to harm can help officers to recalibrate their responses and potentially avoid using force. Standing before the Las Vegas group, Bill Micklus, a former longtime police officer in Minnesota, discussed the importance of talking — and, more so, of listening — when faced with an agitated veteran.

“Let's do everything we can not to take them on in that moment,” he said. Projected on a white screen behind him was a list of points to bear in mind in such scenarios, among them “Anticipate a slow and difficult process” and “Open lines of communication.”

“We've got the skills, we've got the equipment, but they have some of that training and skill set, too,” he said. “Maybe it would make sense for us to keep it in our strength area. That would be verbal de-escalation.”

The instructors at once cultivate awareness that combat changes a person and deflate the misperception of veterans as ticking time bombs. “I don't want you coming out of this class thinking people are screwed up just because they went to war,” said John Baker, a former Marine, who works as a defense attorney in Minneapolis and represents former servicemembers.

Emphasizing that most veterans do not suffer from combat trauma, he added, “It's important to remember PTSD is treatable and that the large majority of people who have it do recover.”

Without force

The course provides a kind of cultural sensitivity training, bridging the divide between the military and civilian worlds that exists within law enforcement despite the surface similarities of weapons, uniforms and ranks. The vastness of the divide surprised Sam Bonner when he joined Metro in 2009, three years after deploying to Iraq with the Army.

Now a major in the Army National Guard, he recalled an incident from his first year with the department. A Metro sergeant, aware of Bonner's military experience, called him to a scene where several officers, clutching Tasers and guns, had set up a perimeter around a veteran standing in his garage.

The man had begun shouting angrily around midnight at no one in particular, alarming his neighbors. None of the officers had attempted to approach him to talk. Observing that the man was unarmed, Bonner walked up to him and soon found out he had grown tired and simply wanted to go to bed. Fifteen minutes later, he went back inside his home and the officers left.

“There's a problem with the word ‘veteran' having kind of a stigma with cops,” Bonner said. “You do have to be careful with veterans because they have the training and know-how to do damage. But most of the time what it comes down to is listening. If you give them the time and space to wind down, a lot of problems can be solved without force.”

The militarization of law enforcement has gained national attention since August, when protests erupted after a police officer shot and killed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

Billions of dollars in surplus military equipment — armored trucks, machine guns, grenade launchers — has flowed to local and state police agencies nationwide under a federal program established in 1997. (A Department of Defense report shows that agencies in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, have received 60 assault rifles and 21 night-vision devices since 2006.)

Some police officials justify the equipment as a reaction to the advanced weapons and tactical training of combat veterans. A sheriff's sergeant in Indiana recently told a TV reporter that returning troops “have the ability and knowledge to build IEDs” — improvised explosive devices — “and to defeat law enforcement techniques.”

At the same time, a reflexively aggressive approach to standoffs with veterans in crisis may provoke violence rather than deter it. Tossing a stun grenade into a home where a veteran has barricaded himself, perhaps believing he's back at war and under siege by the enemy, can intensify the delusion.

Schofield, the deputy chief, cautions against using force as a first resort. “If you're running around and harming or killing people, we're not going to have a conversation. We're going to stop the action,” he said. “But if you drop the weapon, or there's no weapon to begin with, that's when the dynamic changes. You have to learn how to talk with people.”

Three years ago, during the standoff with Stanley Gibson, a breakdown in communication among officers, compounded by a radio glitch, contributed to his death. Unaware that the plan to flush Gibson out of his car was underway, Arevalo, the officer who killed him, apparently mistook the beanbag round fired at the Cadillac as a gunshot coming from within the vehicle. (Arevalo was placed on administrative leave and later fired.)

Before the shooting occurred, however, officers spent barely an hour attempting to persuade the unarmed Gibson to surrender, even as he posed little threat with his vehicle pinned by two squad cars. “His death was a catastrophic failure all the way through,” Patrick Burke said.

Burke, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2011 as an Army reservist, belongs to the Office of Internal Oversight, a division created as part of Metro's internal reforms. He regards Gibson's shooting as the culmination of a string of mistakes that began with delays in his VA care. Nonetheless, with greater patience, the officers at the scene could have averted the violent outcome.

“There has been positive change because of what happened,” he said. “We're not perfect. But hopefully, with a bit of luck and a lot of training and a lot of compassion, that won't happen again.”

‘I still feel lost'

Las Vegas police were involved in a total of 24 shootings in 2012 and 2013, compared to 25 in 2010 alone, a one-year record for the department. Still, for those who knew Gibson, the efforts to change Metro's deadly-force policies offer cold comfort.

His longtime friend Bill Hill keeps the white Cadillac in his driveway. Bullet holes pock the doors and interior. A faded brown stain splays across the driver's seat headrest. “I feel like he was slaughtered,” Hill said.

The lone occasion that Rondha Gibson, Stanley's widow, visited Hill's home to look at the car, she broke down and turned away. Last year, the police department paid her a $1.5 million settlement. (The agency paid his mother $500,000 earlier this year.)

The money has done nothing to salve Rondha's emotional wounds. “I still feel lost,” she said. “I feel exactly the same way as the day it happened.” The black leather jacket that her husband wore at the time of his death hangs on a wall in her Las Vegas home. The front is frayed from bullets. “They took my heart.”

Steve Sanson, a friend of Rondha Gibson's and the director of the nonprofit advocacy group Veterans in Politics, criticized Metro's reforms as “cosmetic.” He referred to an officer's wounding of an unarmed man late last year in a shooting outside a convenience store; the man has sued the department.

“What needs to be changed is the mindset of the cops,” Sanson said. “I understand that there are times that you need to use deadly force. But if somebody's unarmed, why are you shooting them?”

Sanson, who served six-year stints in the Army and the Marines before retiring from the military in 1998, lamented what he referred to as a “war on veterans” in America. “The craziest part is how these vets escaped death on a daily basis in the war zone,” he said, “and then they came home to the country they were defending and got killed by somebody who's supposed to serve and protect them.”

Schofield recognizes that words will never heal the lingering anger of Gibson's family and friends. For Metro's officers, he wants the memory of the shooting to endure as motivation to better understand veterans in crisis.

“I doubt that anybody got up that morning, put on their uniform and said, ‘I want to be involved in a critical incident that results in a veteran sitting inside his car getting shot to death,'?” he said.

“But the fact is, he was shot. That's a lesson that shouldn't be forgotten. We owe that to our veterans.”

http://www.stripes.com/program-trains-police-to-defuse-confrontations-with-troubled-veterans-1.312280

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Georgia

ICE Detainers Are Unfunded Mandate and Threaten Public Safety

by Azadeh N. Shahshahani and Adelina Nicholls

In September, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners moved to limit the county's compliance with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests to hold people in jail beyond the time they would otherwise be released so that the government can investigate their immigration status. These holds are known as ICE detainers.

The commissioners were right to question the practice.

Recent federal court decisions make it clear local law enforcement agencies that detain individuals on the sole authority of an ICE detainer request violate the Fourth Amendment, exposing them to legal liability unless there has been an independent finding of probable cause to justify detention. The courts have also found that it is not mandatory that local authorities comply with ICE detainers.

The detainer requests are tools of an unfunded federal mandate that imposes hefty fiscal burdens on states and localities. The federal government is not required to reimburse localities for the costs of compliance. The Fulton County Sheriff's Department confirms ICE does not reimburse it for this purpose. Even the Department of Justice program intended to reimburse localities for jailing certain immigrants pays only pennies on the dollar.

Moreover, there is no evidence holding people in detention longer under these ICE holds contributes to public safety.

Recently, a study conducted by two law professors at the University of Chicago and New York University found that Secure Communities, a program that relies on ICE detainers and local police to extend a massive deportation dragnet, has had zero effect on the crime rate. Secure Communities actually alienates community members from local police. It makes them afraid to report crime and cooperate with investigations. The result: All are less safe.

A Georgia-specific study published recently by our organizations as well as the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and the NYU School of Law Immigrant Rights Clinic also revealed troubling patterns in the implementation of Secure Communities that involved racial discrimination, indiscriminate targeting of immigrants, and the chilling effect these have had on immigrant interaction with local police.

Based on a review of data obtained from ICE through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the report outlines the exponential growth of local police involvement in immigration enforcement and the unfortunate impact on residents.

Case in point: From 2007 to 2013, ICE detainers in Georgia rose from 75 in 2007 to 12,952 through June 2013. Moreover, 96.4 percent of those targeted in 2013 were of "dark or medium complexion," up from 66.7 percent in 2007. In comparison, from 2007 to 2013, ICE placed an immigration hold on only 1.6 percent of individuals with fair or light complexions.

These numbers are both damning as to what law enforcement has been doing in Georgia, and heartbreaking for their impact on Georgia communities. One can imagine the chilling effect this has had on people's confidence in the police and the risk to all of our safety when so many residents live in fear of the deportation apparatus police have lent themselves to. The report reveals the human cost, erosion of rights and rise of a culture of suspicion.

The resolution by Fulton officials asking the sheriff to limit compliance with ICE detainers is a good first step to ensure we put public safety first and protect local authorities from legal liability. Fulton County is poised to join more than 290 other localities including four states -- Colorado, California, Connecticut and Rhode Island -- that have rejected warrantless ICE detention requests. Other communities in Georgia should follow suit.

Azadeh N. Shahshahani is national security/immigrants' rights project director for the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Georgia. Adelina Nicholls is executive director of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/azadeh-shahshahani/ice-detainers-are-unfunded-mandate-and-thraten-public-safety_b_6110952.html

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New York

Can Data Officially Link Housing for Ex-Prisoners and Public Safety?

by Christopher Moraff

H ousing restrictions are just one of a host of collateral sanctions for criminal offenders passed by Congress during the middle years of the War on Drugs — and public housing authorities used the opportunity to enact a range of discretionary policies, many of which seem needlessly severe in retrospect. Municipalities have been dialing back in recent years, and a New York City pilot program may yield data that emboldens others to follow suit.

Thanks to policies like Bill Clinton's “one strike and you're out,” those convicted of a felony can be barred from New York public housing for up to six years after their release; housing officials can deny occupancy for up to two years for crimes as minor as disorderly conduct or public intoxication.

In April, the New York Daily News reported that the NYCHA has the authority to evict residents who are simply charged (though not convicted) with a crime. At that time the agency was processing 1,400 termination cases. Proof of marijuana use in the past three years is enough to get an entire family declared ineligible for housing benefits.

“We know that when people have stable housing post-release and reconnect with their families they do better on a whole range of factors that contribute to long-term success,” notes Margaret diZerega, director of a family-focused program at the Vera Institute of Justice.

Three years ago, HUD began calling on municipal housing authorities to revisit their policies with an eye toward reform. In a 2011 letter to PHA directors, former HUD secretary Shaun Donovan attempted to clarify the federal government's position on housing exclusion and urged housing administrators to consider “all relevant information” — including the probability of future criminality — in deciding whether to deny occupancy.

“From hearing from housing officials, it's clear that some of the problem has simply been ignorance,” says Caterina Roman, who's on Temple University's faculty in the criminal justice program. “They were just excluding everyone. It wasn't clear what was coming down from HUD so I think that clarification really gave leeway to PHAs to open up the system more.”

New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) began revisiting its policy of barring many formerly incarcerated people from residing in subsidized units last year with the launch of a new pilot program aimed at reuniting returning inmates with their families living in public housing.

The Family Re-entry Pilot Program — a collaborative effort between NYCHA and the NYC Department of Homeless Services, with additional support from the VIJ and the Corporation of Supportive Housing — began accepting applications from 11 referral agencies last December in the hopes of enrolling 150 participants.

For housing advocates the move was a long time coming.

Participants in the NYCHA pilot receive temporary permission for up to two years to reside with family members in public housing, after which they are eligible to apply for a permanent place on the lease. During that time they also receive a range of re-entry services — including job training and drug treatment for those who need it.

“The intent behind the pilot is to learn more about who is a good candidate for success and under what conditions,” says diZerega, “and to use those findings to inform a discussion around possible policy changes.”

She acknowledges at this early stage, the program needs to work on outreach.

“We haven't seen the number of referrals that we thought we would,” she says, noting that only seven ex-offenders are currently taking part in the pilot. “That's not because there isn't a need for programs like this. I think part of the challenge is making sure we are getting the word out and that people know this program exists and that it will offer what it says it will offer.”

Roman, who also spent two decades researching housing issues at the Urban Institute, says there's a dearth of good data around how to create, fund and manage so-called “housing first” programs.

“The issue of housing and the nexus between incarceration and homelessness became important to me because there was such a gap in the research literature,” she says. “There are pieces of success stories, but in my mind the way to think about this is we just don't know enough.”

Roman says the Family Re-entry Pilot Program provides an optimal setting for filling that gap.

“Until we have a study that shows some clear link between housing for ex-offenders and public safety we're not going to have that buy in from the criminal justice system,” she said. “If Vera can answer that for New York that's a huge step. Descriptively I think this is a very important study to be completed.”

http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/data-ex-convicts-public-housing-public-safety

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Pennsylvania

Over 100 items found in hangar near Pa. manhunt's end

Eric Frein stowed Soviet-era weapons alongside modern technology and found sustenance in bags of beans and a bottle of soy sauce

by Michael R. Sisak

BLOOMING GROVE, Pa. — Eric Frein stowed Soviet-era weapons alongside modern technology and found sustenance in bags of beans and a bottle of soy sauce, and warmth from candles, a propane stove and camouflage gear.

The survivalist marksman charged in a deadly ambush on a Pennsylvania state police barracks kept more than 100 items in an abandoned airplane hangar that investigators say he commandeered for shelter and storage in the gloaming of a 48-day manhunt.

After Frein's capture last week, police combed through the barn-like building and recovered a disparate collection. Outlined in court documents Wednesday, the items reflect the military re-enactor's deep interest in war and an innate need to survive the elements and boredom.

There, at the Birchwood-Pocono Airpark about 35 miles south of the Blooming Grove barracks where prosecutors say Frein killed one trooper and critically wounded another, police found a Chinese-made, Soviet-era sniper rifle, a second rifle of the type used by the former Yugoslavian army and a handgun used by the former Czechoslovakian military.

They also found a scope and mount, a bayonet and more than 200 bullets.

And along with the materiel were DVDs, a laptop computer, a pair of storage drives, a solar power converter, earbuds and a wireless mouse, according to a five-page search warrant inventory.

Frein told authorities he used unprotected Wi-Fi hotspots to connect to the Internet, according to court documents, raising the possibility he knew where police were focusing their search efforts each day.

He also had shortwave and weather band radios, along with copies of psalms and scriptures, a composition book and more than a dozen maps, according to the inventory.

Pike County District Attorney Raymond Tonkin released the details to the media Wednesday but said neither his office nor state police would answer questions.

Frein's lawyers did not immediately return a telephone message.

The 31-year-old is being held without bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 12.

Prior to his capture, state police said they believe Frein had been breaking into cabins and unoccupied vacation homes for food and shelter.

Investigators found evidence of sustenance in the abandoned hangar, according to the inventory, including dozens of empty water bottles, bags of rice, salt and pepper and a spork.

They also found a kit for dressing hunted animals, rolls of toilet paper and paper towels, grooming and first-aid supplies, flashlights and piles of thick clothing and blankets.

Frein belonged to a military re-enactors group. He played the part of a Serbian solder, had a small role in a 2007 movie about a concentration camp survivor and helped with props and historical references on a documentary about World War I.

During the manhunt, trackers found other items they believe Frein hid or abandoned in the woods, including soiled diapers, empty packs of Serbian cigarettes, an AK-47-style assault rifle and ammunition.

U.S. marshals happened upon Frein last Thursday while searching an open field near the former airpark. He was unarmed but told police he had weapons inside the hangar, according to an arrest affidavit.

Frein allegedly opened fire on the rural Blooming Grove state police barracks Sept. 12, killing Trooper Bryon Dickson and critically wounding Trooper Alex Douglass. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Frein appeared gaunt and battered at an arraignment the day after his capture but was not asked to enter a plea to first-degree murder and other charges, including possession of two pipe bombs discovered during the search, because he did not yet have a lawyer.

http://www.policeone.com/officer-shootings/articles/7779754-Over-100-items-found-in-hangar-near-Pa-manhunts-end/

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California

After testing, LAPD to equip officers with TASER body cams

Next step is to discuss labor issues and policies for using the cameras and storage system

by Kathy Mather

LOS ANGELES — After months of testing, Los Angeles police officials have picked the company they would like to use to outfit hundreds of officers with on-body cameras.

It remains unclear when officers will start to use the cameras — no contract has been signed and the department has yet to draft a policy on the use of the equipment — but the LAPD's decision to use Taser International as its vendor marks the department's latest move in its effort to utilize the new technology.

The LAPD's chief information officer and a department technology expert informed the Police Commission of the decision Tuesday, calling Taser "absolutely the preferred vendor" of two companies whose products were tested.

The other company, Coban Technologies Inc., has been used previously to outfit LAPD patrol cars with in-car cameras.

Advocates say on-body cameras will be a valuable tool for the department. Having audio and video recordings of police encounters with the public, they say, could help guard against officer misconduct and clear cops who are falsely accused of wrongdoing. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has said he sees the technology as "the future of policing."

Officers spent 90 days testing camera equipment from both companies, while department officials gathered input from the inspector general, the American Civil Liberties Union and other law enforcement agencies that have implemented the technology, LAPD CIO Maggie Goodrich told the commission. The LAPD also posted a public survey online, which drew about 300 responses.

Sgt. Dan Gomez said the LAPD looked at factors such as camera battery life, video storage capabilities and how well the equipment captures video. One of the key differences between the models, he said, was that the Taser device recorded better in low-light conditions.

LAPD officials said they suggested making improvements to Taser's product, such as eliminating the "wind noise" picked up in the background of the audio, Gomez said.

"It's not an absolutely perfect solution or a silver bullet by all means. There are definitely areas of improvement," Goodrich said. "But certainly they were the clear winner."

When asked by the commission if the shortfalls would prohibit the effectiveness of the cameras, Gomez said he was confident that they would meet the department's needs even if put on the street without improvements.

Taser provided two camera models to the LAPD: one that can be clipped to the side of an officer's glasses or collar, and a second box-like device that can be pinned to an officer's uniform in the center of the chest. Gomez said most of the officers who tested the devices preferred the chest model.

Goodrich said department officials would meet with the company this week to begin discussing its contract, then meet internally in the coming weeks to talk about what the on-body camera policy should include. She said the LAPD would meet with the ACLU again by the end of the year.

Funding for the cameras will come from more than $1 million raised through private donations, avoiding City Hall budget constraints and bureaucracy that have hampered efforts to install cameras in LAPD patrol cars.

http://www.policeone.com/police-products/body-cameras/articles/7779814-After-testing-LAPD-to-equip-officers-with-TASER-body-cams/

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Mexico

Mexican mayor, wife arrested in case of missing students

by Rafael Romo and Greg Botelho

Chilpancingo, Mexico (CNN) -- A Mexican mayor characterized as a "probable mastermind" in the mass abduction of 43 students has been taken into custody as authorities have tracked down a top target who eluded them for weeks -- even if they still haven't managed to locate the missing.

Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca and his wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda -- dubbed "the imperial couple" by local media for how they presided over their southern Mexican city -- were detained early Tuesday morning at a house they had rented in Mexico City's Iztapalapa neighborhood. They did not resist arrest, authorities said.

The couple had been staying in a house that appeared to be abandoned, and investigators first got suspicious when they saw a woman repeatedly entering and leaving the building, Mexican Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam told reporters. That woman, Noemí Berumen Rodríguez, was arrested alongside the mayor and his wife. Authorities accused her of concealing the couple.

Their capture, which Mexican Federal Police spokesman Jose Ramon Salinas reported on his Twitter account, signals a major milestone in the high-profile case.

"I hope that this detention contributes in a decisive way to solving the investigation that the Attorney General's Office is conducting," Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said as he praised authorities for the arrests Tuesday.

Yet it's not clear how much closer the arrests get investigators to finding the 43 students, wherever and in whatever state they now are, dead or alive.

The victims were mostly men in their 20s studying to become teachers at a college in rural Ayotzinapa. On September 26, they traveled on buses and vans to nearby Iguala for a protest.

They haven't been seen or heard from since.

Murillo Karam has said that when Abarca, along with Pineda, learned the students' protest would disrupt one of his events, the mayor ordered then-Iguala police Chief Felipe Flores Velasquez to stop the demonstration. Murillo cited information obtained from interrogated police officers and gang members.

Police blocked the highway leading into the city and shot at the students' vehicles, killing at least one student.

Officers then took the remaining students away and, Murillo said, handed them over to a local criminal gang known as Guerreros Unidos. That gang not only had infiltrated the police department but was also complicit with Abarca, his wife and the now-former police chief, according to the attorney general.

Authorities have arrested about 60 suspects, but not the most sought-after ones -- until now.

Abarca and Pineda went missing only hours after the students' reported abduction. On October 22, Murillo said his office had issued arrest warrants for them as well as Flores, who remains at large. He said they were considered "probable masterminds" of the events in Iguala.

The case has spurred protests across Mexico, and the governor of Guerrero state -- criticized for not acting quickly enough after the abductions -- has taken a leave of absence.

Rogelio Ortega, the academic tapped to take over for Gov. Angel Aguirre, told CNN en Español last month that Guerrero state faces a tough road in light of the alleged corruption and kidnappings.

"The problem today is how to successfully face these unleashed demons," Ortega said before his selection as interim governor. "How can we rebuild the social fabric?"

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/04/world/americas/mexico-missing-students/

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California

Supporters hope California crime vote resonates

by DON THOMPSON

LOS ANGELES (AP) — National groups backing lower criminal penalties for drug use say California's support for reduced penalties could spur similar moves in other states.

Voters in the nation's most populous state on Tuesday approved treating possession of small amounts of drugs including cocaine and heroin as a misdemeanor instead of a felony.

Proposition 47 will also lower penalties for other property crimes, including shoplifting, forgery, fraud and petty theft.

Since misdemeanors carry a maximum penalty of less than a year in custody, the measure is projected to save hundreds of millions of dollars in prison and jail costs. Sixty-five percent of the savings will go to mental health and drug treatment programs, 25 percent to school truancy and dropout prevention programs, and 10 percent to help crime victims.

Support by 58 percent of the state's voters "sends a powerful message nationally, demonstrating that voters are not just ready but eager to reduce prison populations in ways that can enhance public safety," Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the national Drug Policy Alliance, said in a statement.

The measure also had financial support from a fund linked to New York billionaire George Soros, a longtime supporter of easing drug penalties.

Jennifer Jacobs, spokeswoman for the No on 47 campaign, said opponents led by the state's major law enforcement associations were outspent 17-to-1 mainly by national organizations that "will not have to live with the consequences of this dangerous measure."

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office projects that reducing sentences through Proposition 47 could affect about 40,000 offenders a year. An estimated 4,000 currently go to state prison, while the rest serve their time at the county level.

The initiative also would allow an estimated 10,000 offenders to petition judges for reduced sentences because they already are serving felony sentences for covered offenses.

The changes will help the state meet a prison population cap ordered by federal judges and twice upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. The judges said reducing crowding in state prisons is necessary to improve care for sick and mentally ill inmates.

That change is keeping tens of thousands of lower-level criminals in county jails instead of state prisons, often forcing county sheriffs to free up space by releasing those awaiting trial or serving time for misdemeanors.

Yet overall crime rates dropped last year, statewide and across all categories of violent and property offenses, according to the state attorney general.

It's the second time in two years that Californians have voted to reduce sentences for some criminals. In 2012, they eased what once was the nation's strictest three-strikes law by ending life sentences for career criminals convicted of minor crimes.

In passing Proposition 47, voters acted where state policymakers twice refused to lower penalties for drug possession when faced with opposition from law enforcement. The first attempt by state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, failed in the Senate in 2012, while Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a second attempt last year.

http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Supporters-hope-California-crime-vote-resonates-5872293.php

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Kansas

Highland Park wants better community policing

by Tyler Carter

TOPKEA (KSNT) – The Highland Park neighborhood is in the process of rebuilding itself and its image.

With a new Wal-Mart up and running to the grand reopening of the community's new Dillon's grocery store. This neighborhood is on its way to a successful rehabilitation.

Something the community does not see is Topeka police officers closely familiar with their neighborhood's problems.

“The community police officers are very important,” said Bev Schneider, president of the Highland Park NIA. “We see how necessary they are in our community.”

At tonight's Highland Acres “Kitchen Table Discussion” the members of this community were able to meet the city's new Chief of Police … James Brown.

“The experience over the last 30 days has been tremendous.” Said James Brown, Topeka Police Chief. “I have learned a lot, I have been accepted by the community, by the officers. It has been a really good fit for me and my family.”

Brown puts a lot of emphasis on community policing where officers know the trouble spots and know the people. These businessmen and homeowners, however say it's not working.

They want to know what they can do as a neighborhood to make community officers want to stay.

Brown says he understands the need, but it's a matter of finding the “right” officer.

“Community policing in a calling. So those that gravitate towards community policing are our hard charging officers,” said Brown.

He says the reality is most officers in the department only spend a year in community policing, then move up within the ranks if the department.

Finding a compromise between what the people want and what this Chief can do won't be simple.

http://kansasfirstnews.com/2014/11/03/highland-park-wants-better-community-policing/

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Missouri

St. Louis to spend $50,000 on recruiting minorities to public safety jobs

by Christine Byers

ST. LOUIS -- African-American leaders praised city officials Tuesday for announcing a program intended to end the days of using “we can't find them” as a reason why more minority candidates aren't filling public safety jobs.

Mayor Francis Slay, flanked activists, politicians and public safety leaders, announced creation of a 10-week course on report writing, interview skills, fitness, professional etiquette and community-oriented policing strategies that is designed to prepare African-Americans to apply.

The Ethical Society of Police, which represents black police officers, will recruit candidates and host the training. Those who complete it will be encouraged to apply to the city's fire, police, corrections and building departments.

The society will continue to mentor police candidates through the academy, said Sgt. Darren Wilson, its president.

Slay pledged that the Board of Aldermen would allocate $50,000 to pay off-duty African-American officers to administer the program and attend recruiting sessions at schools, churches and events. The money will come from Proposition S funds, a sales tax increase approved by voters in 2008 for public safety purposes.

The money will help bolster recruitment efforts, which so far have relied on volunteer work, Wilson said.

Slay's public safety director, Richard Gray, said, “We need better-educated employees for the city of St. Louis across the board.”

Wilson said his group has been working on the mentoring program since January but that recent events in Ferguson bolstered support. A grand jury is deciding whether to indict Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson, no relation to the St. Louis police sergeant, in the controversial shooting death of Michael Brown. The killing of the unarmed black 18-year-old by a white officer focused national attention on police and race.

Adolphus Pruitt, president of the St. Louis Chapter of the NAACP, called the city's plan an “extremely important and beneficial” move beyond the past “lip service” given to minority recruiting.

“But in this instance, you put your money where your mouth is, and we salute you,” he said. “The time for bickering, those days have to stop.”

State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, suggested the city begin a charter school to emphasize public safety jobs.

About 47 percent of the city population is black, and the St. Louis police force is about 34 percent black. About half of the past two most recent police academy classes were African-American.

In August, the Post-Dispatch reported that dozens of police departments across the St. Louis region have greater percentages of blacks in their populations than their police departments.

Gray said that in St. Louis, the fire department is about 40 percent black, the corrections department about 80 percent and the building division about 30 percent.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/st-louis-to-spend-on-recruiting-minorities-to-public-safety/article_b6d4ffee-540c-501f-844d-d7f8dff91100.html

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New York

1 World Trade Center Opening Highlights Rebirth, Renewal Following 9/11 Attacks

by JOSH MARGOLIN

Thirteen years after the Twin Towers were destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, the new centerpiece skyscraper at the World Trade Center opens this morning.

The path to this day was anything but easy or clear. Battles began almost as soon as the debris was hauled away in 2002 and, since then, there have been fights over cost, design, security and even the structure's name. But still, the tower – a technological marvel sitting on piles driven more than 100 feet below the Hudson River – rose steadily out of the northwest corner of the WTC site.

Today, the storied Conde Nast magazine empire, with titles like Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair, moves in with 2,300 employees spread among 24 floors. In so many ways, this day marks the final piece of the rebirth and renewal of a Lower Manhattan devastated when two hijacked jets slammed into the Twin Towers that bright morning.

On Sept. 11, 2011, the 9/11 Memorial opened. Six months ago, the 9/11 Museum opened. Both were built to commemorate what was lost.

One World Trade is a monument to the future.

“It's a fantastic milestone,” said Steve Plate, who has overseen WTC construction since the beginning. “I was there that fateful day. And to see from where we started to where we are today, it's truly a miracle.”

“It truly is the eighth wonder of the world,” Plate said. “And the building itself is truly iconic.”

The new 1 WTC tower and the 16-acre site it anchors are owned by the Port Authority, a massive government agency controlled by the governors of New York and New Jersey.

Plate was supposed to be in his office on the 82nd floor of the North Tower when the attacks began 13 years ago. He wasn't because he drove his son to school and then missed his usual train. Since then, it has been his mission to rebuild the site into something that would make New York City proud.

“I'm an engineer and I can add numbers and tell you ‘tallest, strongest' and all this stuff,' Plate said. “But at the end of the day, it's the most beautiful building in the most beautiful city in the most beautiful region in the world.”

Standing at 1,776 feet (which includes its landmark spire), 1 WTC is the tallest building in the country and the western hemisphere. It is 104 stories tall and has a three-floor observatory that is to open this spring.

Much like the tower itself, its price tag rose steadily since construction began. By the time the first Conde Nast employee walks in today, the final dollar figure will be around $3.9 billion – or double the original estimate.

The problems and battles that preceded today are going to fade into the background, according to the building's boosters, as 1 WTC takes its place in the fabric of New York.

“There's so many people who have done so much to bring it where it is,” said Dave Checketts, the CEO of Legends, the company operating the observatory on floors 100-102, told ABC News Anchor Dan Harris. “I give them all a lot of credit for staying with the fight because the finished product is going to be something inspirational to people and comforting.”

Checketts said there's just one message in the reality that the new skyscraper is built and reclaiming its place near the southern tip of the New York skyline.

“It's a brute fact. We did come back,” Checketts said looking out from near the tower's top. “We brought it back; we built it even higher than it was before.”

http://abcnews.go.com/US/world-trade-center-opening-highlights-rebirth-renewal-911/story?id=26649497

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United Kingdom

Facebook and Twitter have become 'command and control network of choice' for Isis, GCHQ chief warns

by Kashmira Gander

US tech giants such as Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp have become the "command and control networks of choice" for Isis, the new head of Britain's GCHQ intelligence agency has warned.

Accusing internet companies of being “in denial” over the role they play in terrorism, Robert Hannigan said Silicon Valley firms needed to co-operate more with the intelligence services to target the growth of extremist content online.

The use of social media by Isis has been a key element in Isis's propaganda and recruitment process.

Videos of the beheadings of British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning by Isis militants were posted on YouTube in an attempt to "exploit the power of the web to create a jihadi threat with near-global reach", Mr Hannigan warned in the Financial Times.

He said the fact the "grotesque" videos were self-censored and did not show the actual beheadings enabled the group to stay within the rules of social media sites in order to "capitalise on Western freedom of expression".

The jihadist group is also adept at using Twitter and Facebook in order to spread its message to a worldwide audience.

He highlighted Isis's sophisticated use of the World Cup and Ebola hashtags and its ability to send tens of thousands of tweets during an attack on Mosul without triggering spam controls as evidence of its ease with new media.

Mr Hannigan said: "The extremists if Isis use messaging and social media services such as Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp, and a language their peers understand.

The debate around states surveying personal communications came to the fore when US whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed the secret mass data collection programmes run by the US and UK authorities.

Mr Hannigan argued that it must be easier for security and intelligence agents to police online traffic, and said that users did not want their social networks used “to facilitate murder or child abuse”.

"GCHQ and its sister agencies, MI5 and the Secret Intelligence Service, cannot tackle these challenges at scale without greater support from the private sector, including the largest US technology companies which dominate the web," he wrote on his first day in the post.

He went on to write that while he understood why “[internet firms] have an uneasy relationship with governments” and aspire to be “neutral conduits of data and to sit outside or above politics”, they not only host the material of violent extremism or child exploitation, but facilitate crime and terrorism.

"However much they may dislike it, they have become the command-and-control networks of choice for terrorists and criminals, who find their services as transformational as the rest of us," he said.

Mr Hannigan conceded that GCHQ had to be accountable for the data it uses to protect people and was “happy to be part of a mature debate on privacy in the digital age.

But he went on to add: “Privacy has never been an absolute right and the debate about this should not become a reason for postponing urgent and difficult decisions.

"To those of us who have to tackle the depressing end of human behaviour on the internet, it can seem that some technology companies are in denial about its misuse," he argued.

But Emma Carr, director of Big Brother Watch, said: "It is wholly wrong to state that internet companies are failing to assist in investigations.

"The Government and agencies have consistently failed to provide evidence that internet companies are being actively obstructive.

"These companies have consistently proved through their own transparency reports that they help the intelligence agencies when it is appropriate for them to do so, which is in the vast majority of cases.

"Public debate on this issue would make the country stronger and more unified, yet we have so far failed to achieve this in the UK. Perpetuating falsehoods about the nature of relations between internet companies and the intelligence agencies is certainly not going to help," she added.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gchq-head-demands-internet-firms-open-up-to-intelligence-services-claiming-privacy-is-not-an-absolute-right-9837169.html

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Rights group says ISIS tortured captive Kurdish children near Kobani

by The Associated Press

BEIRUT – Islamic State militants tortured and abused Kurdish children captured earlier this year near the northern Syrian town of Kobani, an international rights group said Tuesday.

Human Rights Watch based its conclusions on interviews with several children who were among more than 150 Kurdish boys from Kobani abducted in late May as they were returning home after taking school exams in the city of Aleppo. It said around 50 of the Kurds escaped early in their captivity, while the rest were released in batches -- the last coming on Oct. 29.

"Since the beginning of the Syrian uprising, children have suffered the horrors of detention and torture, first by the Assad government and now by ISIS," said Human Rights Watch's Fred Abrahams.

"This evidence of torture and abuse of children by ISIS underlines why no one should support their criminal enterprise."

Four of the children who were released told Human Rights Watch that they were held by the extremists in the northern Syrian town of Manbij. They described frequent abuse at the hands of the militants, who used a hose and electric cable to administer beatings.

The boys said that some of the worst abuse was reserved for captives who had family members in the Kurdish militia known as the YPG, which has been locked in heavy fighting with Islamic State militants for control of Kobani since mid-September.

The children said the Islamic State group did not say why they were being released, other than that they had completed their religious training, the Human Rights Watch report said.

Islamic State militants have taken hundreds of Kurds captive over the past year as part of the group's brutal campaign to take over predominantly Kurdish areas of northern and eastern Syria.

On Tuesday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the extremists had released dozens of Kurds taken captive in February. It was not immediately clear why the Islamic State group would release the captives now, nor whether a deal had been made with the Kurds for a prisoner exchange.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/11/04/rights-group-says-isis-tortured-captive-kurdish-children-near-kobani/

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Oklahoma

Grant to kick-start community policing

by Joy Hampton

MOORE — The Moore Police Department was awarded $408,000 in federal money to employ the officers for three years as part of a community-oriented policing program.

The Moore City Council formally accepted the grant at Monday night's council meeting.

The Department of Justice and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services awarded the grant to allow police to “target specific needs and areas of concern in the city in an effort to work with members of the community to prevent crime and improve quality of life,” according to city staff notes.

Moore will provide $50,000 toward the officers' salaries over the three year period. The grant requires the department to retain the officers for one year after the three-year period.

Moore applied for grant in June. The city will hire two additional officers to supplement current efforts in community-oriented policing.

Moore Police Chief Jerry Stillings said the department currently has one community officer, so this will make a department of three.

In other city business, the council approved a rezoning application by Robert Jewell, 2417 N. Shields Blvd., on the west side of North Shields Boulevard and south of Northeast 27th Street.

Jewell requested a “Permissive Use for Automotive Sales and Rental: Light” to allow for used cars sales.

According to city staff notes, the property has been used for automotive repair since 1987 and the auto sales would be an extension of the existing use.

http://www.normantranscript.com/news/grant-to-kick-start-community-policing/article_9b26a89e-63d0-11e4-a4b1-fbd924591542.html

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Mississippi

Businesses Help Community Policing

It's a marriage that's good for Gulfport and a plan that has now been fully realized in the city. Community Policing in Gulfport is truly about involving the whole community to keep the city safe and informed right in their own neighborhoods.

Gulfport Police Chief Wayne Payne says, "Police can't solve all the problems and when you get involved in your community and you get your trust of your community like we have, your community works with you and you work with the community to solve problems."

Sergeant Alfred Sexton is also with the department and says, "It gives the citizens of those areas a place to go instead of having to fight traffic sometimes and go all the way downtown."

Two new centers, in West Gulfport and in East Gulfport, join two others that are already working in neighborhoods in North Gulfport and in Orange Grove. These are being set up with community partners like Dominos Pizza and Munro Patroleum, businesses that are giving the city space for free to make it a true community project.

Sexton says, "Both corporations have been very open and open minded and open hearted to the citizens that they serve and I think that this should show the commitment."

Jerry Munro of Munro Petroleum says, "It's just a good way for us to work as a partnership and make it a safer area, give the police the visibility, and us the security all at the same time."

Chief Wayne Payne says, 'It means I can spend that money on other projects that I need to spend it on."

The citizens of Gulfport now have five locations to access their police department and help fight crime. Payne says, "It sends a message, corporations are working with law enforcement, our citizens are working with law enforcement, so it sends a message our there that this is a community that going to work together."

In Orange Grove the satellite office is located in Rayburn Plaza on Highway 49, and the office in North Gulfport is located on Tennessee Avenue just off of Highway 49.

http://www.wlox.com/story/284153/businesses-help-community-policing

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Missouri

Community policing more complicated than a larger force

by Kouichi Shirayanagi

COLUMBIA — When Columbia voters cast their ballots Tuesday, they will be asked if they want to raise their property tax levy by 30 cents over five years to pay for more police and firefighters.

The measure, called Proposition 1, would add 15 new firefighter positions and 40 new police officers — a 25 percent increase for the Columbia Police Department, which currently employs 163 officers. City Manager Mike Matthes told the Columbia City Council the need for new cops is two-fold: There are not enough officers to respond to every call in a timely manner, nor do officers have enough time to engage in proactive efforts, commonly called community policing.

Matthes' July 21 report to the city council asserts the Columbia Police Department is about 50 officers short.

To have one more officer on the streets at all times, a department has to hire four, said Scott Phillips, a professor of criminal justice at the State University of New York at Buffalo. That's because there are typically three shifts a day, and you have to account for vacation time, sick days and time for training as well as hiring supervisors, who don't patrol.

Would the boost from Prop 1 give officers the breathing room to do more proactive police work? Columbia police say every little bit helps, but professors of criminal justice said the solution is not as simple as putting more cops on the streets.

There is no magic ratio of police to population, said Joseph Ferrandino, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Indiana University. He didn't want to comment specifically on Columbia, but said in general the more important metric is productivity.

"Some departments use officers better than others," he said.

Phillips, who worked as a police officer in the 1980s before moving to academia, said Matthes' report isn't detailed enough to tell him if Columbia needs more police. For instance, the report doesn't differentiate between emergency and non-emergency calls, he said, which makes a world of difference.

"When I was a cop in Houston, arresting a drunk may have taken two to two and a half hours, but other things I did may have taken a few minutes," he said.

The majority of calls to Columbia police are non-emergency, said Officer James Meyer, who patrols the area around Douglass Park. But that ratio obscures the fact that there are times, such as weekend nights, when emergency calls flood the police department and officers are stretched thin.

But it's the times when officers receive the highest volume of non-emergency calls — during the day — when they could otherwise be proactive in the community.

Here's a look at the number of officers and how time is spent by the department.

Meyer points to Douglass Park as an example of what police could do with more time and resources. After 17-year-old DeAudre Orlando Johnson was shot in March 2012 near the park, Meyer and Officer Jamie Dowler were assigned to patrol Douglass Park on foot and try to build relationships with the people there. Besides the time they spend patrolling, they've also organized barbecues, softball games and job fairs. Meyer and Dowler have held fundraisers for some of the events and spent their own money on the rest.

The community can tell the difference, said Curtis "Boogeyman" Soul, a disc jockey who visits Douglass Park every Saturday to hand out ice cream. There is still some crime in the park, he said, but people feel safer — and more importantly, they feel comfortable with Meyer and Dowler. Their nicknames around the park are Starsky and Hutch, after the 1970s television show of the same name.

Meyer said he doesn't know of any area in town where community policing is as extensive as Douglass Park. Since he and Dowler started on the beat, the number of calls have decreased "significantly" and only one person has been shot, he said.

But the emphasis on community policing isn't the only thing that has changed in the park since 2012, and it's hard to say how much credit it deserves. Some people at Douglass Park said the new cameras installed around the area have done more to deter crime. Others said the crime has simply shifted to other places where police aren't as visible.

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/a/180951/community-policing-more-complicated-than-a-larger-force/

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New York

Police still stand for public safety

by Ronald D. Leyson -- Deputy Inspector / Commanding Officer 110th Precinct

Elmhurst -- It is true that it is legal to videotape any police encounter in a public place. However, it cannot be done in a way that interferes with the officers performing their duties. This includes getting so close to the officers that they feel that they can no longer safely perform their duties. There is no definitive “distance” currently in the law, it is a matter of judgment on a case-by-case basis determined by the officer involved in the encounter.

The general public sometimes does not understand that police officers need to maintain a zone of safety while conducting an investigation or while performing an enforcement operation or encounter.

The training that you highlighted in your recent article states some of these points as well. In that aspect it is a positive thing that is being brought to the attention of the general public. They should know that it is their right to videotape police in public places and how to do it so that it is safe for all parties involved.

With technology being what it is, including the use of cell phone cameras, there is no need for anyone to get too close to an officer while he or she is performing their duty. Cameras have zoom features and, if not, they can not compromise the safety of the officers in order to get a “better angle or shot.”

Police Commissioner William Bratton has ensured that police officers have extensive training on the rights of civilians to videotape them in public.

Our officers also see the tapes that are highlighted in the media and on social media sites. Not every encounter that is taped depicts the NYPD in a professional manner and some officers don't always act in a professional manner. That being said, the overwhelming majority of officers act in a highly professional manner under extreme circumstances every day. What is seen on an edited clip on the news or YouTube does not explain the entire encounter in the vast majority of cases. The public does not understand that some use of force shown in some videos is within the law and NYPD guidelines and only focuses on what is being commented on by the person taking the video. All facts and circumstances must be taken into consideration before judgments can be made.

In today's age of technology, I don't think that a police officer is going to act any differently when they observe a member of the public videotaping them. This is a daily occurrence and I can't remember a scene I have responded to in recent history that cell phones haven't come out as soon as a police encounter begins. This coupled by security cameras that are located on businesses and homes is all a part of “doing business” in this day and age.

The NYPD will be moving forward with “body cameras” for police officers in the near future. This will enable the NYPD to show an encounter from our viewpoint as well.

http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2014/44/leyson_2014_10_24_q.html