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

February, 2015 - Week 1

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

North Korea Fires Missiles Into Sea

Five Short-Range Missiles Fired Into Sea; No Neighboring Countries Threatened

by Jeyup S. Kwaak

SEOUL—North Korea on Sunday fired five short-range missiles into the sea as it steps up protests against military drills planned by the U.S. and South Korea in the coming weeks.

The missiles were launched between 4:20 p.m. and 5:10 p.m. local time from Wonsan, a city on the eastern coast, and flew about 200 kilometers (120 miles) in a northeasterly direction before landing in the sea, South Korea's defense ministry said. The missiles were no threat to neighboring countries.

The move follows a test of a new antiship cruise missile from a North Korean vessel during an exercise observed by dictator Kim Jong Un. North Korea published photos of the launch in its main newspaper and described the missile as “ultra precision.” Seoul's defense ministry said that drill took place on Friday.

North Korea observers say the country conducts missile tests as a protest against Washington and Seoul over policies and actions Pyongyang considers hostile.

The latest launches come ahead of annual joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, which are due to start in the next few weeks. A schedule hasn't been confirmed. Each year, North Korea calls the drills a rehearsal for an invasion and demands their cancellation.

Earlier this year, Pyongyang said it would suspend its testing of nuclear weapons if the U.S. agreed to scrap the drills. Seoul and Washington say the exercises are intended to ensure readiness for a North Korean attack. In recent weeks, North Korean state media have increased their criticism of the drills.

Under Mr. Kim's leadership from late 2011 North Korea's rocket launches have become more frequent. Last year, the isolated nation fired more than 100 missiles of various types into the sea.

Washington and Seoul say North Korea has also made progress in developing a nuclear-armed long-range missile that could put the continental U.S. within range. In 2012, North Korea successfully tested a multistage long-range rocket and in 2013 conducted its third test detonation of a nuclear explosive.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/north-korea-fires-missiles-into-sea-1423398448

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

North Carolina

2 Decades of Community Policing

Philosophy forever changed Wilson police as challenges evolve

by Olivia Neeley

Decades ago, police would take a call for service or wait until a crime occurred in their presence to respond. Police didn't have what officials describe as permanent beats or areas in the city police officers were specifically assigned to work. And most of the time, police officers stayed at department headquarters waiting until they received a call. Residents didn't know their police officers, which made it less likely for residents to trust them, officials said.

Police were viewed as outsiders.

"There could be drug problems going on or nuisance problems going on but by not having those personal relationships, the community wouldn't call us,” Maj. Craig Smith recalled. "A lot of time we would have to research or investigate ourselves.”

But that changed in 1995, when the Wilson Police Department moved from traditional policing to community-oriented policing, which brought residents and police officers together to solve issues that might have been plaguing neighborhoods. In other words, everyone had a stake in their community, officials said.

This year marks the 20th anniversary for the Wilson Police Department moving into that community oriented policing role and it has dramatically changed the way they police. "It was the greatest move we ever made,” Smith said.

Since it's implementation 20 years ago, community organizations and youth programs have been formed and more trust has been built and officers are assigned to specific areas, which fosters real relationships among residents, police said. "For community policing to be effective, it takes the entire agency, not just the sworn officers on the streets out there working, it takes your administration, personnel, support services, everybody practicing community policing,” Wilson Police Chief Thomas Hopkins said. "That became the philosophy of the agency. We learned that rather than being reactive, we became proactive.”

LISTENING AND FORMING RELATIONSHIPS

Hopkins said once community policing was implemented, police started concentrating on problem solving within areas in the city. He said there were a lot of challenges for police officers back then because traditional policing was the only thing they knew.

"As law enforcement officers, you have to learn … you come into a problem and you want to fix it, but the important thing about community policing is listening to the community to work together to address what issues or problems that may be in the community,” Hopkins said. "Our perception and their perception may be two different perspectives on what an issue may be in the community.”

One of those challenges was for police to learn they couldn't go into an area and fix problems alone. Perception was another issue that came into play, officials said.

"The challenge was learning how to listen and respond to the community,” Hopkins said. "We may think the issue is resolved, but if the perception of the community and our perception are different, that issue is not solved. We may think it is, but they may see otherwise.”

And he said that perception is something that is still a challenge today. He said police may get a false sense they're doing great but the community may think otherwise.

"Because we may be looking at an issue from two different perspectives or may be looking at two total different issues,” Hopkins said.

He said that's why it's vital for police to continue to be embedded and have open dialogue.

"When you have dialogue and you are able to talk and communicate, it gives us an opportunity to be transparent, to talk openly with each other,” he said.

ACCESSIBILITY TO THE COMMUNITY

During the transition to community policing in 1995, the police department developed community-based programs, four districts within the city which have its own police stations and street crime units. Police were then assigned to a specific district, which is still true today. This concept also fostered building relationships within the community.

"You might be in that district for one year or 10 years, but automatically the people got to know you and you got to know the people,” Smith said. "That was the No. 1 effort that helped make the police department where we are today.”

Smith said before the district concept in 1995, everything was operated out of the police department's headquarters. Police officers would traditionally go out to a call and come back to headquarters. But the four-district concept enabled police officers to stay out in the field and keep them in areas they patrolled.

"There was total accessibility to the community,” Smith said, adding some might have had a problem they really wanted to report police, but didn't want anyone to see that police were visiting them at their home. "They could actually walk to the police department and tell us what was going on and work with us. A lot of people don't realize, not everybody in the city has transportation. It gave them closer access to us.”

Police also saw an increase in service calls when community policing was established. For example, police received about 67,000 calls for service in 1995 and now they receive more than 100,000 service calls each year. The department has also increased its police force. They have 21 percent more police officers today than they did then, too.

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

Relationships formed, including the inception of community groups during those years of shifting to the philosophy of community policing, police said. With the idea of district police stations, community members also began utilizing that space for meetings to discuss issues that were relevant to them, including neighborhood watch meetings. Police said those partnerships became a catalyst for unified efforts between police and the neighborhoods, creating change and taking ownership in the areas in which those residents lived.

Smith said groups began to adopt a street or neighborhood, working with them side by side. Smith said once the community saw that police were sincere, began listening to residents and their expectations, everything changed.

"They knew that we were sincere and that we weren't just coming in for the day and leaving, but that we were going to be there every day and go through whatever it was we had to go through to make the community better,” Smith said. "You aren't out there alone trying to make a difference. Twenty years later, these groups still exist today.”

TRUST AND SOLVING CRIMES

Before 1995, there could be nuisance or crime problems plaguing particular areas but because police didn't have personal relationships like they have today, the community wouldn't call them to express their concerns, officials said.

Instead, police relied on their own research. And while part of those issues could have been real problems for the community, there may have been other problems police weren't aware of because they didn't know. Once those relationships were built, residents knew they could rely on them to work to address those problems, officials said.

Hopkins said community policing also enabled officers to better solve crimes. Residents began to trust police officers more when a crime occurred and possibly have tips to point them in the right direction. It was something, Hopkins said, they didn't have before community policing.

"Trust is extremely important and you get that by communicating,” Hopkins said. "For a relationship to work there has to be communication. We have to communicate with our citizens. We can't police from the police station. We can't police from the police car. We can't police from behind the desk. You've got to be out in the community. They've got to know that you're there. Citizens have to know that you care and not just talk the talk.”

A CHANGING WORLD

Hopkins said while community policing has dramatically changed the way they operate, they still face challenges. He said that's why it's important for them to be on the forefront of innovative ways to reach the public, including utilizing social media.

Police departments across the country, including the Wilson Police Department are utilizing social networks to build relationships and communicate with the public on a daily basis. That includes interaction and reaching out via Facebook to help in solving crimes as well asking the public for tips. Wilson residents can also privately message the police department with questions, concerns and tips via their Facebook page.

But in an ever changing world, officials are also seeing how social media can be a catalyst for other crime-related issues. Police departments in larger cities are seeing the rise of gang-related arguments starting out via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, according to reports.

"In the past, we may be on patrol and see these two individuals arguing and this is how the fight started,” Hopkins said.

But now if you aren't tapped into social media or technology, that could have started weeks ago and could have grown,” Hopkins said. "There are a lot of things we wouldn't know if we didn't try to utilize technology. I think we will have to stay on top of changing technology with being effective and reaching a younger generation through social media and through technology.”

Hopkins said another challenge for them is how people perceive police and their roles.

"There are so many cop shows on TV,” Hopkins said. "Nobody does a show on community policing. They do a show where you can solve a crime in an hour .... You see a lot of cop shows where corruption is embedded into the story of the show. Sometimes, there may be a perception that that's what law enforcement really is all about. And it's not.”

‘WE'RE STILL GOING TO BE THERE'

Smith said families moving in and out of neighborhoods is also a challenge for them.

"A lot of times when we are going into a community and cleaning up a community, you actually build relationships with several members of that community and then all of a sudden, over a six-month period, the 10 or 15 families who may have been your core group that your working with may end up going somewhere else or another area,” Smith said. "So you almost have to start all over, building that relationship again and again.”

He said those families who move out whether it is due to home ownership or other factors might be the families who were working with them. Then a challenge would be someone moving into the neighborhood who doesn't want to work them, which could be a criminal element.

But regardless, police said still rely on those who they built solid relationships with 20 years ago.

"The beauty of it is the people who are there and still remaining, it doesn't take long for them to call us and start working with us to try eliminate the problem or the threat to that community,” Smith said. "Regardless of who moves or who moves out, we're still going to be there in that area.”

http://www.wilsontimes.com/News/Feature/Story/35637714---2-DECADES-OF-COMMUNITY-POLICING

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

From ICE

ICE recognizes International Day of ZeroTolerance for FGM

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) joins U.S. and foreign government partners, NGOs and local communities on the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) to call for eradication of the practice.

The International Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM/C is an opportunity to reflect on the victims who have suffered from FGM/C, including many women and girls who have died or suffered lifelong health complications from the practice, and to renew our commitment to the health and wellbeing of all women, girls and communities by eliminating the practice.

FGM/C is a federal crime and any involvement in committing FGM/C is a serious human rights violation which may result in imprisonment and potential removal from the United States. Individuals suspected of FGM/C, including sending girls overseas to be cut, may be investigated by the ICE Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center and prosecuted accordingly.

Anyone who has information about an individual who is suspected of assisting FGM/C is urged to call the toll-free ICE tip line at (866) 347-2423 or to complete this online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock and tips may be provided anonymously.

For more information on the ICE Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Unit, visit their website.

For more information about the practice of FGM/C, view this fact sheet from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) or visit the United Nations' Zero Tolerance Day website.

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-recognizes-international-day-zero-tolerance-fgmc

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

Parents of American ISIS Hostage Kayla Mueller Plead for Response from Terror Group

by BRIAN ROSS, LEE FERRAN and RYM MOMTAZ

The parents of an American woman held hostage by ISIS revealed they had privately communicated with the terror group before it claimed she was killed a recent Jordanian airstrike.

A statement that circulated Twitter on Friday said an airstrike outside Raqqa, Syria, killed Kayla Mueller. The statement used her full name, which had not been public.

The claim could not be immediately confirmed and ISIS did not provide photographic evidence of Mueller's death, as the group has in the past with other hostages and its own fighters.

In a statement released Friday night, Mueller's parents said, "This leaves us concerned, yet, we are still hopeful that Kayla is alive."

Addressing Kayla's captors directly, Carl and Marsha Mueller also requested that the terror group respond to their private communications.

"Kayla's mother and I have been doing everything we can to get her released safely. At this time we ask you, who are holding Kayla, to contact us privately," the statement said.

A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said they have “not at this time seen any evidence that corroborates ISIL's claim,” using an alternate acronym for the terror group.

A Jordanian official told ABC News ISIS's claim was "illogical" and was part of the terror group's public relations campaign. "We need to be very careful not to fall in their trap," the official said.

Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, called ISIS's claim "an old and sick trick."

"So they behead innocent #US #UK & Japan hostages & BURN a brave #jordan pilot ALIVE & now a hostage is killed by an airstrike? Sure! Sick!" Judeh said on Twitter, referring to previous atrocities apparently committed on camera by ISIS fighters.

The ISIS statement appeared to contain some discrepancies, including Thursday's date on accompanying pictures purportedly showing the building that was struck, while the statement claimed the strikes occurred during Friday prayers. ISIS also claimed Mueller, 26, was the only person killed in that particular airstrike, with none of its fighters injured or killed.

Officials believe ISIS has misled the public before about the fate of hostages. The Jordanian government said ISIS killed a Jordanian pilot the terror group was holding a month ago, even though the terror group pretended he was alive during hostages negotiations last week.

In August, ABC News reported ISIS had demanded $6.6 million for Mueller's release.

“We are pouring through information right now,” one U.S. official said, “but there is no hard evidence” that Mueller has been killed. Another official said that U.S. intelligence had reason to believe Mueller was alive as of a few weeks ago.

Mueller, from Prescott, Ariz., was kidnapped Aug. 4, 2013 after leaving a Spanish Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria, according to information provided by a family spokesperson.

She had graduated from Northern Arizona University in 2009 and “has devoted her career to helping those in need in countries around the world,” the family spokesperson said.

"Kayla has devoted her life to serving others," Arizona Governor Doug Ducey's said in a statement released Friday night. "At just 26, she has literally been around the world, with the simple but righteous goal of making it a better place. As long as there are humanitarians like Kayla in this world, evil will not prevail," the statement said.

Mueller told her town's local newspaper, The Daily Courier, she felt called to help those suffering the most in the midst of the Syrian conflict.

“For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal,” she said in the May 2013 report. “[I will not let this be] something we just accept… It's important to stop and realize what we have, why we have it and how privileged we are. And from that place, start caring and get a lot done.”

In October 2011, Mueller uploaded a video to a Syrian activist YouTube channel in which she said, “I am in solidarity with the Syrian people.”

http://abcnews.go.com/International/isis-claims-female-american-hostage-killed-airstrike/story?id=28776563

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

6 indicted in alleged plot to support ISIS, Al Qaeda

by Fox News

Six Bosnian natives who immigrated to the U.S. sent money and military equipment to support Al Qaeda in Iraq and the Islamic State terror group, the Justice Department said Friday night.

The conspiracy, which authorities say dates back to May 2013, supported Abdullah Ramo Pazara and others fighting with the terror groups, according to a federal indictment.

The suspects sent multiple payments using PayPal, as well as U.S. military uniforms, combat boots, tactical clothing and gear, military surplus goods, firearms accessories, rifle scopes and first aid supplies to Turkey.

The supplies and money eventually made their way to fighters in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. Money was also sent to family members of people fighting in Iraq, and elsewhere. The indictment says the defendants knew where the money and supplies were going.

The indictment said members of the group used telephones and Facebook to send and receive messages, using fictitious names and code words including "Lions," "Bosnian brothers" and "mujahids."

All six were charged with conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists. Those charged were Ramiz Zijad Hodzic, 40, his wife Sedina Unkic Hodzic, 35, and Armin Harcevic, 37, all of St. Louis County, Mo.; Nihad Rosic, 26, of Utica, N.Y.; Mediha Medy Salkicevic, 34 of Schiller Park, Ill.; and Jasminka Ramic, 42, of Rockford, Ill. The charge carried a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.

Ramiz Zijad Hodzic and Nihad Rosic also were charged with conspiring to kill and maim people in a foreign country, and face life in prison if convicted.

Five of the suspects have been arrested, while Pazara left the United States in late May 2013, the indictment said. According to some reports Friday, he is believed to have been killed last year.

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said Friday that the arrests are proof that the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, or ISIL, is a "growing threat."

"ISIL presents a growing threat not only in Syria and Iraq, but throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and now in the United States as well," Nunes said in a statement. "Terrorists and their enablers will continue to receive the unwavering attention of law enforcement and the intelligence community.”

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/07/6-indicted-in-alleged-plot-to-support-isis-al-qaeda/

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

Insurance giant Anthem hit by massive data breach

by CNN

Hackers have stolen information on tens of millions of Anthem Inc. customers, in a massive data breach that ranks among the largest in corporate history.

The information stolen from the insurance giant includes names, birthdays, medical IDs, social security numbers, street addresses, e-mail addresses and employment information, including income data.

Anthem said there is no evidence that credit card or medical information was compromised. While damage is still being assessed, the compromised database contained up to 80 million customer records.

Formerly known as Wellpoint, Anthem (ANTM) is the second-largest health insurer in the United States. The company operates plans including Anthem Blue Cross, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Amerigroup and Healthlink.

Although some news reports have linked the hack to the Chinese government, law enforcement sources and private security firms told CNN it's too early to tell.

Anthem pledged to individually notify current and former customers if their data has been stolen, and by late Wednesday evening, some members reported receiving e-mails from the insurer informing them of the breach. Anthem will offer free credit monitoring and identity protection services to affected customers.

"Anthem's own associates' personal information -- including my own -- was accessed during this security breach. We join you in your concern and frustration, and I assure you that we are working around the clock to do everything we can to further secure your data," CEO Joseph Swedish said in a letter to customers.

Anthem said the breach resulted from a "very sophisticated external cyber attack," and that law enforcement agencies were still working to identify the perpetrator. The company has retained Mandiant, a leading cybersecurity firm, to help in the investigation.

The insurer is the latest in a series of companies to suffer severe data breaches. Last year, hackers obtained credit card data for 40 million Target shoppers, as well as personal information -- including names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses -- for 70 million customers.

Records have also been stolen from Neiman Marcus, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Experian, eBay (EBAY, Tech30) and Home Depot (HD).

The Federal Bureau of investigation said that it was aware of the intrusion, and it's investigating the matter. The agency also praised Anthem's decision to quickly address the breach.

"Anthem's initial response in promptly notifying the FBI after observing suspicious network activity is a model for other companies and organizations facing similar circumstances," the FBI said. "Speed matters when notifying law enforcement of an intrusion."

What to do if you're a customer: If you have Anthem insurance, there's not much you can do but sit tight for now. Anthem has set up a website, anthemfacts.com, with information about the hack.

In the next few weeks, Anthem will inform you by mail if your information was compromised. All impacted Anthem customers will receive some form of identity fraud protection, the company said.

E-mail addresses might have been stolen, but Anthem has not indicated that passwords were taken as part of the hack. You might want to consider changing your Anthem password, just to be safe. If you are concerned that your Anthem e-mail and password combination could have also been used to login to another service, you should change those passwords as well.

All Anthem customers should be on alert for scams. Hackers can use the information stolen from your account to impersonate you or your friends and family.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/04/technology/anthem-insurance-hack-data-security/

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

Ohio

Ellis proposes new group to deal with community policing

by Daniel Carson

FREMONT – Mayor Jim Ellis wants to form a new group to deal with community policing issues and improve police and resident relations. He hopes to have the organization in place by this spring.

Ellis said the creation of the new group would not result in the dismantling of the existing Community Relations Commission, which he criticized extensively in an open letter to Fremont City Council members and residents this week.

“We're just going in a different direction,” Ellis said.

He said there is an estimated timeline of two months for the group's formation.

The mayor said the group would be composed of representatives of the police department from the command staff to patrol officers. He also said local minority rights, church and mental health organizations will be asked to appoint a representative to the group.

A letter Ellis addressed to city council members and residents Tuesday said the group members would meet together with a facilitator experienced in law enforcement matters to discuss a wide range of issues, including allegations of racial profiling, improvements to the complaint process, and a policy for the use of body cameras

City councilman Joe Michles said there still needs to be an independent commission, like the Community Relations Commission, investigating police officer complaints and interacting with residents.

“The mayor can't have control,” Michles said.

Michles said the commission still plans to meet as normal and conduct its community role as it has in previous years.

Ellis said a mediator will talk to participants at the new group meetings.

“It's important that we take out time and do a thorough, real job,” Ellis said.

Police Chief Tim Wiersma said information had been communicated to him about the new group, and he acknowledged there could be involvement by city police commanding and patrol officers.

He said a facilitator at the new group's meetings would be helpful in promoting dialogue between residents and the police department and an effective way in moving the city forward.

Ultimately, Wiersma said, he wants those interactions to help residents get along and make the community a better place.

“We must stay positive,” Wiersma said.

http://www.thenews-messenger.com/story/news/local/2015/02/06/ellis-proposes-new-group-deal-community-policing/23016101/

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

New York

Bratton choses boro to test new community policing tactic

by Juan Soto

The patrol beat just got a new definition, and Queens will be a testing ground for the new police initiative.

Police Commissioner William Bratton announced during a speech at the annual State of the NYPD Police Foundation that cops on the beat will spend more time with community members in an effort to get to know them and learn about their concerns.

Bratton said the “highly localized neighborhood policing plan” will be implemented in two unidentified police precincts in the borough and two additional ones in Manhattan.

“The plan calls for a new patrol model for how to deploy our precinct sources,” Bratton said.

He pointed out about half of the police officers in the precincts focus on specialty roles or they are “indentured to the radio, running from call to call.”

Bratton noted, “We are going to reduce specialty roles.”

The police commissioner acknowledged that for years the authorities said that cops were asked to get involved in the community, “but we've never given them the time to do it.”

The new model is part of an overall effort to improve police-community relations, specially after the Eric Garner case, a Staten Island man who died in a police chokehold during his arrest for selling loose cigarettes.

City Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton) welcomed the new policy geared towards building better relationships between the communities and their police.

“The ground swell of support for black and brown lives after the lack of indictments in the Brown and Garner cases highlight the shortcomings of conducting business as usual,” Richards said. “Any effort to integrate precincts with the community they serve is more than welcome.”

The lawmaker added that establishing “community-based partnerships with officers is an important part of combatting and preventing crime and rebuilding trust.”

Bratton also turned to Queens to begin testing body cameras on cops at Jamaica's 103rd Police Precinct. The measure came as the public reacted with protests to Garner's and other police confrontation deaths.

“This plan establishes an entirely new set of expectations for patrol officers,” Bratton said. Cops will follow up on past crimes, meet with community members and “work as an active problem solvers” in their assigned beats. “The cops will know their sectors and the citizens they serve,” he said.

In another policy move, Bratton said that in a few months, a new 350-member unit to handle large protests, like the ones that followed Garner's non-indicment decision, and anti-terrorism missions, will be in place.

The Strategic Response group “is designed for dealing with events like our recent protests, or incidents like Mumbai or what just happened in Paris,” he said.

Bratton was referring to India's 2008 coordinated shootings and bombings that resulted in more than 160 people killed and January's terrorist attacks in the office of satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebbo that left 11 people dead and dozens injured

“They [police officers] will be equipped and trained in ways that patrol officers are not,” Bratton said, noting that the cops assigned to the unit will have heavy machine guns and protective gear.

http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2015/6/policerelations_tl_2015_02_06_q.html

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

New York

Strategic Initiatives, Community Policing Top Bratton's State of the NYPD

by Michael V. Cusenza

After a tumultuous 2014, the city eagerly anticipated Police Commissioner Bill Bratton's vision for the coming year, which he laid out last Thursday in his State of the NYPD address at the Police Foundation.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the state of your NYPD is strong,” Bratton declared. “We have faced a lot—even more than a great department in the world's greatest city might be expected to face: new terrorist threats, a national crisis surrounding policing, protests, the assassination of two of our officers. And through it all, we have remained true to the ultimate role of the police: to prevent crime and disorder.”

Overall crime dropped 4.5 percent from 2013 to 2014, Bratton noted, before ticking off agency achievements over the past 12 months, including record low numbers for murders, robberies and burglaries.

“Major crime in the transit system down 87 percent, even as ridership has exploded,” he added.

Bratton also detailed new initiatives for the world's largest police department. In the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the NYPD developed a Strategic Response Group.

“SRG will put nearly 600 specially assigned officers in locations around the city, and dedicate them to advanced disorder control and counterterror,” Bratton explained. “It is designed for dealing with events like our recent protests, or incidents like Mumbai or what just happened in Paris. They'll be equipped and trained in ways that patrol officers are not. And it will allow us to staff important programs like site protection and critical-response vehicles without using precinct personnel.”

Noting how his education as a cop was shaped by the advice and example of the veteran cops who taught and guided him, Bratton unveiled the Partner Officer Program. Calling it “a return to real field training,” Bratton said that unlike Operation IMPACT, POP would immerse cops in the neighborhoods they serve, allowing the officers to “focus on the service aspects of our work.”

Bratton admittedly saved “the most ambitious” part of his vision for last. The Police/Community Compact is the definition of community policing.

“At its heart are the sector officers who have taken responsibility for particular sectors,” Bratton said. “In each sector, these officers will be led by a Neighborhood Coordinating Officer. The NCO will be instrumental in identifying problems and conditions, in leading the other sector officers to address problems, and in connecting with neighborhood residents. We envision a series of neighborhood forums across the city, informal meetings between sector officers and residents from their respective sectors. These wouldn't just be social get-togethers. They'll be genuine working sessions in which neighbors and cops collaborate on plans and strategies. We also envision opening dialogues between cops and young people from each sector, to find some common ground between actors who have often been at odds. This will be local government at the most local level.”

In closing, Bratton related how it all comes down to respect on each side of the police-citizen dynamic.

“Treating officers more fairly and holding them accountable for how fairly they treat the people they serve—this makes a safer, fairer city,” he said.

http://theforumnewsgroup.com/2015/02/05/strategic-initiatives-community-policing-top-brattons-state-of-the-nypd/

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

Chief Charlie Beck's Testimony to President Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing
Civilian Oversight of the Police in Los Angeles: Collaboration, Activism and Outreach.

Testimony of Charlie Beck, Chief of Police, Los Angeles Police Department.

Commissioner Ramsey (Chuck), Dr. Robinson (Laurie), Ms. Rice (Connie) and distinguished members of the task force, I am pleased to be able to contribute to the discussion and debate on what I view as the most important issue facing law enforcement, our communities and in a broader sense, our society today- the issue of civilian oversight of the police.

We have seen situations throughout the Country where mistrust and resentment of the police have built up over generations. When a tragedy occurs, that deep-seated resentment coupled with a lack of transparency, candor and accountability sets off civil unrest as members of the community feel that they have no other recourse but to protest.

Once that protest starts, unless you have some connection to the community, unless you can demonstrate that you as a police department and as a city realize that “the People are the Police,” then all of the progress we have made can be erased in an overnight media cycle. And that is a chilling prospect. “Policing cannot be judged only by an absence of crime, it must be measured by the presence of justice.” As we have seen, it doesn't matter how low we push the crime rate if we don't build public confidence as we go. It is not enough for a modern police department to be effective in reducing crime year upon year, we must strive to build greater trust between the police and the people we are sworn to protect and serve.

We have had our share of protests in LA over the last few months, mostly peaceful, but we still face challenges. We have turned a time of crisis into an opportunity to engage in dialogue and to embrace new technology to foster trust and accountability. We have taken a hard, honest look at what we can do better in terms of evolving the culture of policing and improving and enhancing our training model...all done with an eye to building greater trust and better communication with the community.

A large part of building and maintaining the trust of the community lies in the ability of government to demonstrate transparency and accountability. The Los Angeles Police Department is formally governed by the Board of Police Commissioners, a five-person, civilian body with each member appointed by the Mayor. The Commission has formal authority to hire the Chief of Police, to set broad policy for the Department and to hold the LAPD and its Chief accountable to the people. This model has evolved since the Commission was founded in 1889 and now includes an active and meaningful exchange of ideas that fuels innovation and reform efforts.

In Los Angeles, we are fortunate enough to have a well-established civilian oversight system in place that not only sets broad policy and holds the Chief accountable but also encourages collaboration. When it works, and I would argue that it is working in LA, civilian oversight comes down to COLLABORATION, ACTIVISM and OUTREACH.

Collaboration

In Los Angeles civilian oversight differs from the traditional notions of a civilian review board, police auditor, or ombudsman approach. Civilian oversight means working collaboratively with the Mayor and City Council; the Board of Police Commissioners and the Inspector General; community groups, the media, and activists. It means working with police management, the rank and file and with our union.

As noted by the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement in their recent testimony before this task force, “civilian oversight provides a mechanism to bring together the many stakeholders involved in supporting trusted, respectful, and effective law enforcement efforts. Oversight breaks down the walls between police and the public and enhances their understanding of each other…”

That statement really gets to the heart of the matter. We recognize that respect and trust leads to effective policing. Collaboration rather than resistance is a powerful and worthwhile process and one of the keys to success in public safety and crime reduction. Collaboration means embracing tough issues together and with a common purpose.

The best example of collaboration in the context of civilian oversight is the way in which the City of LA has approached the use of body worn cameras. A couple of years ago, before the recent high profile uses of force in Ferguson, New York and LA, the LAPD began looking at widespread implementation of body-worn cameras. Police Commission President Steve Soboroff recognized the importance of these devices for public safety and for citizen oversight and raised funds in 2013 from the private sector to purchase cameras. We began to test different models in earnest while our research partners applied for and received Federal funds from the National Institute of Justice to evaluate their use.

Our Mayor, Eric Garcetti, and City Council announced their intent to equip all of our officers with body worn cameras. The Police Commission reached out to community-based organizations and individuals to obtain their input about the cameras, and as recently as two weeks ago the LAPD, Police Commission, and Inspector General convened two special community meetings about policies related to on-body cameras. And this coming week we are meeting and conferring with the police union to discuss the policies that will affect our men and women on the street.

The collaboration around this issue speaks to the way civilian oversight is embedded in our normal business practices in Los Angeles. The community, the civilian board of police commissioners and the police department work together with our elected officials to implement meaningful reform. This doesn't mean that we always agree. In fact, it is during the times that we disagree that we make the most progress toward ongoing reform and communication.

It's easy to work with supporters, of whom we have many in Los Angeles, but it is often much more meaningful to actively engage with your detractors. Criticism, activism and engagement can lead to tremendous gains when it comes to public safety.

Activism

So, in Los Angeles we are again fortunate to have individuals, organizations and political leadership that are willing to “dispute the passage,” with us and to hold up a mirror to our operations for us to examine.

We've also found that working with activists directly reduces anxiety and anger. Recently, a local activist group concerned about officer-involved shootings had camped out in front of police headquarters. They were angry, frustrated and disenfranchised. On a number of occasions, members of the group violated the law and were arrested. The divide between these activists and the police was widening.

Then, at the groups urging and in collaboration with our City Council President, Herb Wesson, we took a meeting with their leadership. While we could not meet their direct demands due mainly to due process and legal constraints, we did enter into dialogue with the group and we even altered our enforcement posture in front of headquarters. In demonstrating a more open approach to their protest, we literally broke down the barriers between us by taking down the barricades in front of police headquarters. The meeting reduced the tension that had been mounting and the group ended up holding a closing ceremony to end their eight week protest.

During my career, I have had a long term and productive relationship with many activists and advocacy groups, including Connie Rice's Advancement Project. Connie went from suing the police department, quite regularly, on behalf of her clients to working hand in hand with us to improve conditions in some of our toughest neighborhoods.

Violence is down in these areas, and with time, our officers have realized the importance of what has been called “relationship policing.” That relationship with Connie and with other local activists over time started to change our thinking. We began to see the value of embracing criticism and oversight and of just listening to another point of view.

Outreach

The Community Safety Partnership is a good example of engaging the community and building trust where it is needed most, in the public housing projects in Watts. Instead of an invading army to suppress crime, we assigned 45 officers to serve for five years at three housing projects in Watts and at an additional housing project in East Los Angeles. Through a partnership with Advancement Project and the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, the program involves officers working side by side with residents and community members to develop and implement sustainable programs, eradicate crime, and address quality of life issues. But most importantly it bridges the gap between the community and the LAPD.

Relationship based policing is what the Community Safety Partnership is all about. People that have high levels of interaction with police want to have a relationship with the cops they deal with. The officers go into the housing developments with the intent NOT to make arrests, but to create partnerships, create relationships, to hear the community and see what they need and then work together to make those things happen.

LAPD Captain Phil Tingirides and his wife Sergeant Emada Tingirides who spearheaded that program for the LAPD have been recognized for their unconventional collaborative outreach efforts by President Obama and both sat in Michelle Obama's box at the State of the Union Address this year.

Closing

There is a divide in America today and much of it comes down to mistrust and a lack of understanding. In order to bridge that divide we as police leaders must fully embrace true and meaningful community oversight. We must not retreat and grow defensive in the face of criticism and conflict. We need to rise to the occasion, reach outside of our “command and control” comfort zone and develop new ways to connect to the people we police AND to our officers who are out there every day working to improve conditions and protect our communities.

The true spirit of meaningful civilian oversight of the police relies on collaboration among City leaders, dogged and determined activism and ongoing community outreach.

Recommendations

1. Enhance police training and education

2. Introduce public education on police operations, like the Citizens Police Academy

3. Expand use of relationship policing model, like Community Safety Partnership

4. Formalize relations with activists and embrace community input

5. Leverage technology to build trust, like body-worn and in-car video cameras

6. Develop more research-based interventions for crime prevention

7. Implement data-driven performance measures that include community surveys

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

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

California

Families of victims in Los Angeles 'Grim Sleeper' serial killer case urge judge to set trial

by The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES – Porter Alexander spent more than 20 years wondering if his daughter's killer would ever be caught. He's spent the last four years hoping he'll live to see the man brought to justice.

Alexander, 74, planned to urge a judge Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court to set a trial date for Lonnie Franklin Jr., who is charged with 10 counts of murder in what have been dubbed the "Grim Sleeper" serial killings that spanned two decades.

Prosecutors are citing Marsy's Law, a voter-approved victim's bill of rights that extends the right to a speedy trial — guaranteed for defendants — to family members of victims. It also allows victims to address the court, and Alexander planned to vent his frustration with the system that has allowed the case to languish in court.

"Oh, man, I can't count how many times I've been there," he said Thursday. "We're walking into the fifth year."

Franklin, 62, has pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of murder and one of attempted murder and could face the death penalty if convicted in the shootings and strangulations that occurred from 1985 to 2007, the brunt of them during a period when crack cocaine plagued parts of Los Angeles. The nickname was coined because of the gap between slayings in 1988 and 2002.

Police arrested Franklin in July 2010 after his DNA was connected to more than a dozen crime scenes. They had linked the crimes, but didn't have a suspect until a crime lab computer traced the sample to one of Franklin's family members.

An officer posing as a busboy at a pizza parlor got DNA samples from dishes and utensils Franklin had been eating with at a birthday party.

For cases that went cold for so many years, the court process has not seemed much swifter. It's not unusual for capital cases to take years to complete, but Marsy's Law passed by voters in 2008 gives victims some leverage in speeding things up, though it's still not widely used, said attorney Nina Salarno Ashford, a board member of Crime Victims United.

The law allows victims to be heard at bail hearings, parole hearings and sentencing, which used to only happen at the discretion of the judge.

Salarno Ashford, whose sister was murdered in 1979, has used the law to represent victims throughout the process, including cross-examining witnesses at trial, and she has successfully argued three times to have trial dates set so the victims could have their day in court.

"It's always been a fault in our system that defendants were able to play a shell game and delay things," she said.

Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said the case has been plagued by delays with no end in sight and that the judge has failed to hold the defense to strict deadlines to complete their investigation.

Defense lawyer Seymour Amster blamed the prosecution. He said his expert found DNA from another man at three of the crime scenes and is seeking to test more material because the evidence could help his client. He said the prosecution has opposed releasing the items for testing and have asked for more time to prepare their response.

"There are rumors that I'm trying to delay this thing," he said. "I'm really not. I'm a strong proponent of do it once, do it right."

Silverman said she recognizes the need to balance Franklin's right to prepare for trial, but said the court must balance that with the rights of the victims and the community. She said those rights have already been compromised.

A firearms expert who tested guns retired last year, so the testing needed to be done again. Medical examiners and a supervising criminalist at the coroner's office have retired and will need to be replaced. And the mother of victim Mary Lowe died more than two years ago, depriving her of the chance Alexander and other victims' families will have to address the court.

"It's a waiting game," said Alexander, whose 18-year-old daughter, Monique, was killed in 1988. "I need to keep up my strength. I hope I'm here for the ending."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/06/families-victims-in-los-angeles-grim-sleeper-serial-killer-case-urge-judge-to/

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

UN: Islamic State torturing, killing children in Iraq

by The Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — The United Nations says the Islamic State group is systematically killing, torturing and raping children and families of minority groups in Iraq, and it is calling on government forces there to do more to protect them.

In a report issued Wednesday in Geneva, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child said it has received reports of "several cases of mass executions of boys, as well as reports of beheadings, crucifixions of children and burying children alive."

Iraq's military has been struggling in its fight against Islamic State, and the government has pleaded repeatedly for more weapons and training.

Still, the U.N. agency urged that more be done, saying Iraq needs to "take all necessary actions to ensure the safety and protection of children and their families."

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/feb/05/un-islamic-state-torturing-killing-children-in/

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

Florida

Community policing touted as a way to improve relations with residents

by Carli Teproff

Deidria Davis said the only time she really sees police officers in her Overtown neighborhood is when they are responding to a call — often, a shooting.

“We want to see more of them around,” Davis said Wednesday during a forum put on by Miami-Dade County's Community Relations Board, meant to enhance trust and reduce tension between police and residents.

The meeting, held at the University of Miami Life Science and Technology Park, addressed what the board is calling the “most pressing community relations priority in Miami-Dade.” It is one in a series of five that will be used to develop better guidelines for police and community relationships.

“Information can cause transformation,” chairman Walter T. Richardson said after the three-hour session.

While some community members attended — airing concerns about the way police-involved shootings are handled and how victims are treated — there was an abundance of top brass from municipalities across the county, including Miami Beach, Key Biscayne, Miami-Dade and the city of Miami.

Rodolfo Llanes, the Miami Police Department's new police chief, addressed Davis' concerns, saying one of his goals is to beef up community policing, redeploying some the department's nearly 1,100 officers to beats.

“The concept is to have more accountability,” he said, explaining that officers will be responsible for smaller slices of the city. “That way the residents know who to turn to when there is a problem.”

In the past few months, strained community relations gained visibility as locals joined a swell of demonstrations across the country denouncing police violence against African-Americans.

Dozens took to downtown Miami in December, blocking intersections and major thoroughfares during the crowded Art Basel festival, chanting “No justice, no peace” and “Hands up, don't shoot.”

The protests emerged after a New York grand jury declined to indict a city police officer in the chokehold death of 43-year-old Eric Garner, and a Missouri grand jury decided not to indict former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

Recently, a group protested at North Miami Beach City Hall after learning the department had been using pictures of black men for sniper training. The city has since discontinued the practice and is using an outside agency to investigate.

North Miami Beach Deputy City Attorney Dotie Joseph addressed the issue at the hearing, saying the city “siezed the opportunity to address a lot of the issues” that had been discussed.

To go:

What: The Community Relations Board will hold two more forums on enhancing trust and reducing tensions between the police and the residents.

When and where: 5-8 p.m. Feb. 11 at North-Dade Regional Library, 2455 NW 183rd St. in Miami and from 5-8 p.m. Feb. 26 at West Kendall Regional Library, 10201 Hammocks Blvd., Miami.

For information: Contact the CRB at 305-375-1406 or CommunityRelations@miamidade.gov, or go to www.miamidade.gov/advocacy.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article9316661.html

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

New Jersey

Paterson council delays action on community policing goals

by JOE MALINCONICO

PATERSON – In the face of stiff opposition, two council members pushing for a resolution setting goals for the city's Community Policing efforts withdrew the measure Tuesday night so that it can be discussed further.

Critics of the proposal did not attack the comment of the resolution, but asserted that the council was overstepping its authority by telling city law enforcement officials how to run the police department.

“The Attorney General guidelines are very clear that we can't do this,” said Councilman William McKoy.

“We're not the experts in that area,” said Councilwoman Maritza Davila.

But supporters of the resolution said they were not imposing any mandates on the police department.

“We're just trying to give them ideas and suggestions they can implement,” said the resolution's sponsor, Councilman Alex Mendez.

“We're not telling the police officers what to do,” said Councilman Mohammed Akhtaruzzaman, chairman of the public safety committee, “we're telling them we need more presence in certain areas.”

The resolution sets as one of the community policing goals the creation of new walking patrols in Paterson neighborhoods. It also calls for the assignment of police officers to particular neighborhoods in the city. Moreover, it suggests that the soon-to be-hired unarmed special police officers could fill those roles.

Police Director Jerry Speziale has said that his department already is doing much of what the resolution calls for.

But Mendez disagreed with that assessment.

Tuesday night's council workshop discussion of the issue became quite contentious at times.

“You're making recommendations that you don't fully understand,” said McKoy.

“Don't tell me I don't understand my recommendations, councilman,” Mendz responded.

Akhtaruzzaman, Mendez and a third member of the council's public safety committee, Andre Sayegh, said the proposal had been discussed with Speziale and that he had no opposition to it. But the committee's fourth member, Davila, said she did not recall “unanimous” support for the measure.

“You must have gotten there late,” Mendez said to Davila.

Davila then accused Mendez of orchestrating the community policing proposal to enhance his own standing. She mentioned an interview he gave to a Spanish-language television station in which she said he took credit for a plan that had even been approved yet.

“This looks all nice, just for a show,” Davila said.

Eventually, the council members on Tuesday night agreed to delay voting on the proposal until after they discussed it further.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/paterson-council-delays-action-on-community-policing-goals-1.1264221

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

Indiana

Editorial

Immigration reform for public safety's sake

THE ISSUE

Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force seeks to improve relations.

THEIR VIEW

When immigrants feel safe, everyone wins.

The recent launch of the Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force offers another reason why this country must overhaul its immigration policy.

The task force, which includes more than 30 police chiefs, sheriffs, commissioners and other high-ranking officials, is pushing for a change in policy as a way to improve public safety, including in cities such as South Bend.

Representatives from several police departments, including South Bend Police Chief Ron Teachman, were in Washington Jan. 27 to launch the task force. Those favoring reform believe the existing policy only serves to push people who are in the country illegally further underground. They fear police because they believe reporting crimes and cooperating with investigators will only get them deported.

“When immigrants feel safe in their communities, we are all safer,” Teachman said in a recent WSBT-TV story.

According to an article in The Police Chief magazine, a publication of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, local police depend on the cooperation of immigrants, legal and illegal, in solving all kinds of crimes. “Without assurances that they will not be subject to an immigration investigation and possible deportation, many immigrants with critical information would not come forward, even when heinous crimes are committed against them or their families,” wrote Craig E. Ferrell Jr. of the Houston Police Department.

The Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force offers concrete examples of the real, practical changes that an overhauled immigration policy will have on local communities in this country. It's time for Congress to act and change the immigration policy now.

http://www.kokomotribune.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-immigration-reform-for-public-safety-s-sake/article_6bd0ac49-6a07-5a91-9272-a6bfb594baf6.html

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

Pennsylvania

New community policing initiative proposed by council

by Rebecca Nuttall

Improving police/community relations throughout the city has been a common thread during Mayor Bill Peduto's first year in office. This goal has featured prominently in local protests against police brutality, and it was a major factor in the selection of newly hired Police Chief Cameron McLay.

Today, Councilor Ricky Burgess announced legislation to further pursue that goal. His initiative, Safer Together Pittsburgh, would address community relations and outreach by improving education, oversight, monitoring, diversity hiring practices and accountability in the Department of Public Safety.

"Today, through this community partnership, we can build relationships of trust and cooperation,” Burgess said at a press conference earlier today. “Together, through this community partnership we can increase diversity and mutual understanding. Together, through this community partnership, we can improve public safety by improving community confidence. Because I believe as a city we are safer together.”

The resolution calls for the formation of a 15-member steering committee made up of representatives from the mayor's office, Pittsburgh City Council, Department of Public Safety, Citizen Police Review Board, Housing Authority, Pittsburgh Public Schools and the Pittsburgh Initiative to Reduce Crime, the Department of Public Safety's violence-prevention program. The committee will also include community representatives appointed by the mayor and council.

“We all recognize in the Department of Public Safety that we can't do this alone,” said Public Safety Director Stephen Bucar. “We have to have good strong relationships with our community because we only have a limited number of public-safety professionals in the city, and we need the eyes and ears of those who actually live in the community.”

Other elements of the program include: creating a series of community conversations; keeping track of community meetings throughout the city; and developing a database system to record information about those meetings and follow-up actions.

“The public-safety challenges that are plaguing our communities … are problems that police alone cannot solve,” said Chief McLay. “We should be proud of ourselves, Pittsburgh, because you don't have to look too far around the nation to see communities handling this much differently — they're pulling apart. Here in Pittsburgh, we're pulling together.”

http://www.pghcitypaper.com/Blogh/archives/2015/02/03/new-community-policing-initiative-proposed-by-council

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

Ohio

Uniting for change: Hundreds offer suggestions for community, police to work together

by Suzanne Stratford

CLEVELAND– More than 1,100 people from different backgrounds, different religious denominations and different parts of town packed Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland Tuesday night with one purpose: They came to present their collective and thoughtfully-prepared recommendations for reform within the Cleveland Division of Police to Mayor Frank Jackson, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty, US Attorney Steven Dettelbach and a US Department of Justice civil rights attorney who flew in for the event.

Those gathered are part of the Greater Cleveland Congregations group or GCC, which has been meeting with local leaders on a number of community issues since forming in 2011.

They said they're concerned about the DOJ's investigation and findings concerning “a pattern of unreasonable use of force” within the Cleveland Police Department and also several high-profile police-involved shootings.

“I really believe in the power of people coming together around things they care about,” said Holly Trifiro, “And I think this is an issue our community has to address together.”

Their recommendations include, in part: constitutional policing; bias-free policing; use-of-force changes; more accountability; greater transparency; and significantly better training, especially when dealing with people with behavioral disorders.

They also want an independent inspector general or auditor to oversee compliance with any newly-established policies and procedures.

US Attorney Steven Dettlebach told the crowd that this was the 13 th set of suggestions they've received. He assured them that all of the recommendations are being taken very seriously and will be considered moving forward.

People attending hope that's true and they even gave a standing ovation to all dedicated first responders, because they said that's the only way to make the city safer for everyone and with true equality.

“I know in my heart right now that working together with the community and police department will make a difference,” said Rev. Karell McDaniel.

http://fox8.com/2015/02/03/uniting-for-change-hundreds-offer-suggestions-for-community-police-to-work-together/

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

Illinois

Social Media and the North Side Gang Life

by Jeremy Layton

CHICAGO — This is an era where people put all aspects of their lives on display through social media, and those they choose to call our “friends” on Facebook and Twitter are not the only ones who are watching. Companies and organizations monitor the online presence of their employees and potential hires. Universities prescreen their applicants and are more than willing to throw out a brilliant one if they swear in their status updates or hold beer cans in their profile pictures.

So it may surprise to hear that street gangs in the Chicago neighborhood of Rogers Park, and elsewhere, have been chronicling illegal activity on the Internet for anyone to see.

Over the last few years in Rogers Park, a feud between two rival factions of the Gangster Disciples street gang has turned into a vicious cycle of hits and retribution. The two groups have engaged in several acts of violence against each other. In July 2013, Blake Lamb, 22, was shot.

Not long after, a member of the rival group released a music video on YouTube taunting the man's death. In the video, the singer and several other members of his crew wave what appear to be pistols and assault rifles, aiming them at the camera.

In February 2014, a masked gunman opened fire into a group of teens standing at a McDonald's. The shooter was reportedly aiming at one gang member, and wounded him, but the lone fatality was Markeyo Carr, 17, an unaffiliated, innocent youth who had just gotten home from school. Later, suspected gang members were accused of posting photos of the memorial to the slain youth on social media, as if it was a “trophy” of their violent act.

But if the music video was shocking, what may be even more so is the fact that these gangsters are active on other forms of social media, and are marketing themselves as gangsters — including to youth to boast about their lifestyle.

Several members of both groups have Facebook accounts, and some even have Twitter and Instagram. They post pictures of themselves holding guns, smoking what looks like marijuana and wearing insignia of their affiliations. Several people, including community organizer Chris Patterson, author of the book "21: The Epitome of Perseverance" and director of the Ceasefire outreach program in Chicago, believe this is a common problem among affiliated youths.

“It's all they do,” said Patterson, who himself had a history in crime and has since devoted his life to violence prevention and community work. “People fill their entire pages [by] antagonizing each other, through gang slogans or personal jabs.”

Although many of these individuals have protected accounts and don't use their real names on Facebook and YouTube, some of what they post is visible to anyone who chooses to look. This includes the police, and law enforcement agencies are not standing pat.

Since the video was posted on YouTube, two of the people in it have been arrested. The first was Durane Oden, 22, who was discovered with 38 grams of crack cocaine and a weapon when police searched his home upon suspicion that stemmed from the video. Oden was on probation for a prior charge.

Then Darvis Hurt, 21, was arrested for violating parole. The Chicago Police Department was able to track Hurt down after identifying him in the video, and they nabbed him on weapons charges.

Authorities are actively tracking social media by hiring Internet-monitoring contractors to follow the activity of suspicious individuals. The customer base for these agencies has multiplied since Facebook and Twitter have exploded, and now, anything that people post online can be used against them.

So if law enforcement agencies are actively monitoring social media, why do these gang members feel the need to promote themselves in that manner on YouTube and Facebook if it could mean getting thrown in jail? One big reason is intimidation. These individuals like to take photos of themselves with weapons or gang signs in order to intimidate others.

“They're bragging, they're basically boasting,” said James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston. “It helps them strike fear into their rivals. But it can also be used against them. It's a double-edged sword.”

“They want to be looked at as gangsters,” Patterson said. “They want to be looked at as hard. They want to be looked at as being proficient enough to be able to buy pistols. They're not necessarily thinking about the ramifications of their actions.”

Another theory says that gangsters take pictures and record videos of violent acts as a way of reliving the events. These individuals engage in their lifestyle because they get a rush from fighting or stealing, and video or photographic evidence is a way for them to get that rush again.

“It's a way to relive a crime,” said Arthur Lurigio, a criminologist at Loyola University Chicago. “When a criminal takes a video of them performing a beating, for example, watching it again later is almost a way for them to vicariously celebrate the act. They feel the same type of adrenaline rush as they did when they did the beating.”

Regardless of why these gang members are marketing themselves on social media, they are a real threat to Rogers Park, and they make the gang landscape a whole lot more visible.

There were 10 recorded homicides in Rogers Park last year, and gang activity continues to course through the Internet, to the point where Rogers Park Police Cmdr. Thomas Waldera called the online interactions “technological kerosene.” Just as the Internet has changed the world, it has changed the gang landscape, as well.

http://jjie.org/social-media-and-the-north-side-gang-life/108298/

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

Texas

Op-Ed

10 Lessons for Juvenile Justice Field from Texas Study

by Nate Balis

The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center released a groundbreaking report today that provides important insights to guide the next steps for the nation's second-largest state to reform its juvenile justice system. The report, “Closer to Home: An Analysis of the State and Local Impact of the Texas Juvenile Justice Reforms,” not only has great value in the Lone Star State, it also delivers important lessons for the juvenile justice field in communities across the U.S.

From my perch at a national foundation with a longstanding focus on juvenile justice reform throughout the nation, that is my primary interest:

What are the national implications of this research for the juvenile justice field? Following is my attempt to answer that question, focused on 10 key takeaways.

The report shows that dramatically decreasing the population of youth confined in state juvenile corrections facilities is good public policy .

CSG found that Texas youth released from state institutions were: 21 percent more likely to be arrested within 12 months than comparable youth who remained under the supervision of county probation departments and three times more likely to face felony charges if arrested. These findings were controlled for offending history, demographics and other relevant factors. CSG reports that the average cost of a stay in state custody exceeded $200,000.

Texas is not an anomaly. These results confirm the already overwhelming evidence that in virtually every recidivism study, the vast majority of youth released from large, state-run correctional institutions are rearrested within two or three years of release, and one-third or more are reincarcerated in a juvenile facility or adult prison.

Research also consistently finds that state-funded youth corrections facilities are dangerous, unnecessary, obsolete and inadequate for the serious mental health, educational and social service needs faced by many court-involved youth.

The CSG report shows that contrary to commonly held fears, there is not a substantial population of superdangerous youth beyond the capacity of counties to supervise.

CSG found no difference statistically between the population of youth committed to state-run secure facilities and those placed under the supervision of their county juvenile probation departments. Youth committed to state custody “look no different than many of those who are kept in their communities,” CSG commented. “This tends to suggest that many more of the committed youth could just as successfully be rehabilitated under the supervision of the county juvenile probation department.”

Moreover, the report shows that although placing youth into local residential facilities is preferable to incarceration in state facilities (or, even worse, in adult prisons), it is still a poor investment of taxpayer dollars.

Adjusting for offense history and other variables, CSG found that youth placed into county-funded residential facilities did no better (and often worse) than equivalent youth who were allowed to remain at home.

In fact, while the result was not statistically significant, CSG found that the best outcomes were achieved by youth placed into nonresidential programs focused on skill building. On average, county-funded residential placements cost twice as much as the mean among all youth placed under county supervision (roughly $15,000 vs. $7,300). Removing young people from their homes should be the exception for court-involved youth, not the routine.

Clearer state rules and direction are needed to encourage more investment in effective nonresidential programs.

As it reduced the state custody populations and closed several state facilities in recent years, Texas has sharply increased state support to county probation agencies — providing more than $140 million in new state funding from 2007 to 2013.

However, Texas allocated the bulk of these funds with few strings attached, and CSG reports that counties have spent most of the new money on residential facilities rather than nonresidential community services. This trend is worrisome and counterproductive — an indication that state leadership is required to steer counties toward best practice and away from overreliance on residential placements.

The key to success for local juvenile justice systems does not lie in more programs alone, but rather in more calibrated, more consistent decisions in the handling of individual cases.

Experience shows that, in the absence of comprehensive system reform, more and better programs are not the solution to the challenges of juvenile justice — even when programs are well-designed and well-intentioned. Rather, success requires a coordinated system that places the right youth into the right program (or no program) for the right reasons, a system characterized by collaboration, effective use of data, careful attention to research and results and vigilant attention to racial and ethnic equity.

For the very small number of youth who require a period of residential custody, long stays in custody are unnecessary and wasteful.

CSG data showed that overall rearrest rates were lower from county-funded residential facilities than from state facilities and felony recidivism and subsequent incarceration were dramatically lower.

Yet, the average length of stay was just 3.5 months for youth in county-run secure care facilities and 4.1 months for nonsecure facilities, compared with an 18-month average for youth incarcerated in state-run juvenile facilities. This result corroborates the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Pathways to Desistance study and a 2014 National Academies of Science report, both of which found that longer periods of confinement do nothing to improve recidivism outcomes for incarcerated youth.

Pervasive racial and ethnic disparities plaguing juvenile justice systems nationwide will not be remedied without an intentional and unwavering focus.

Despite the encouraging drop in the overall population of youth in state facilities, Texas has not made any progress in reducing racial and ethnic disparities in juvenile confinement. Indeed, the share of adjudicated youth committed to state custody fell slightly faster for white youth from 2005 to 2012 than it did for black or Hispanic youth.

Local courts and probation agencies frequently deviate from best practice in their handling of juvenile cases.

CSG also conducted extensive interviews and fact-finding in eight large counties, documenting a number of problematic trends plaguing local probation efforts. Despite powerful evidence that juvenile justice interventions work best when they target intensive services to high-risk offenders, a substantial share (40 to 91 percent) of low-risk youth served by probation in the eight counties were placed into one or more treatment, surveillance or skill-building programs, while a substantial majority of high-risk youth were not placed into any program or residential facility. In six of the eight counties lower-risk youth remained in these programs longer than their high-risk peers. Meanwhile, CSG found, many youth “with acute needs did not receive programs that might have benefitted them.”

The CSG study's most enduring value may be its largely unprecedented examination of local probation agencies .

As part of its analysis, CSG examined the recidivism results for probation youth in 30 Texas counties, finding that nine of the counties suffered significantly worse results than predicted by objective indicators, while eight demonstrated far better than anticipated results. Clearly, how counties operate their juvenile probation systems exerts a powerful impact on success.

Developing reliable data and strong state leadership are critical in improving juvenile justice practices and maximizing success at the local level.

The valuable lessons produced by the Closer to Home study show how important data can be in advancing our understanding of what works (and doesn't) in juvenile justice. And the unanswered questions raised by the report point to the need for even deeper ongoing data analysis to measure outcomes and continuously improve programs and practices in light of emerging evidence.

And thanks to rapid advances in the study of criminology, adolescent behavior and brain science, the juvenile justice field has been flooded over the past two decades with an overwhelming volume of valuable new information. These advances have created enormous opportunities for improvements, but they have also presented system professionals throughout the nation with an uphill struggle to adopt the new knowledge in practical ways on the ground.

Local courts and probation agencies need guidance, they need training and they need proper incentives if they are to make rapid progress in adopting best practices. State leaders in all three branches of government can and should play a central role in creating the conditions to nurture local progress.

Nate Balis is director of the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group at the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

http://jjie.org/op-ed-10-lessons-for-juvenile-justice-field-from-texas-study/108282/

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

Texas

Not a Lock: Youth Who Stay Closer to Home Do Better than Those in Detention, Texas Study Shows

by Lynn Anderson

A broad study of reforms in the Texas Juvenile Justice Department “puts a nail in the coffin” of the strategy of youth prisons as a public safety option, said the director of the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which funded the report.

Most strikingly, said Nate Balis of Casey, the report shows that youth released from a juvenile correction facility were 21 percent more likely to be rearrested than a youth under supervision of a local juvenile probation department. Also, youth released from a state facility who reoffended were almost three times more likely to be rearrested for a felony.

The study, called “Closer to Home,” was conducted by the Council of State Governments Justice Center in conjunction with Texas A&M University. It provides a detailed look at how reforms in the Texas system actually affected youth.

“I think this is really important for the field,” Balis said. “Its value will go far beyond the borders of Texas. It bolsters what academic reports already have suggested, but this looks at actual experience. This will raise serious questions about youth prisons: It is a model that is destined to fail.”

A broken system, a commitment to change

Juvenile justice reform has been underway in many states for two decades. Reports and studies during that time have shown the futility of programs of youth jails, Balis said. What sets this report apart from previous studies, he said, is the breadth of its findings, collected from 165 counties in Texas over a three-year period, and the fact that the state was so transparent in sharing its numbers.

“The report and the study behind it are a huge contribution to the field,” Balis said. “All parties involved deserve a huge amount of credit. ... This isn't just an academic study but one that will lead to key actions.”

After abuses within the Texas system came to light in 2007, Texas leaders moved to reduce the number of incarcerated youth. They particularly aimed to move youth closer to home.

To measure how the state was doing and how young people were affected, Texas began using an information system that let it track youth referred to the juvenile justice system, whether they were incarcerated or on probation locally.

State officials collected 1.3 million records for about 466,000 youth.

Crime, reincarceration drop

A key finding was that the number of young people incarcerated between 2007 and 2012 dropped more than 60 percent, from 4,305 to 1,481. During that time, juvenile crime, as measured by arrests, dropped more than 30 percent, from 136,206 to 91,873.

While no causal connection can be established, the authors of the report cite the drop as evidence that Texans' safety was not compromised by changes in the law.

Another important finding was that the number of youth under the supervision of a local juvenile justice probation office declined 30 percent.

Youth who were under probation supervision were rearrested three years later less frequently (64 percent) than those released from a youth prison (77 percent), the report shows.

And, youth under supervision were far less likely to be reincarcerated. The three-year reincarceration rate for these youth was 13 percent for juveniles beginning probation supervision and 44 percent for juveniles released from a state-run juvenile correctional facility.

The numbers from the report are so striking, Balis said, that it “bolsters the already overwhelming evidence that confining juveniles in large correctional facilities far from their homes is a failed strategy.”

The study also shows the importance of a data-driven approach to solving issues within the juvenile justice system, said Tony Fabelo of the Council of State Governments, the lead author of the report. With more detailed data, it is easier to see areas of concern, he said. That, in turn, can address where resources might need to be directed.

In Texas, for example, 80 percent of the funding for county juvenile probation offices comes from the county, while 20 percent comes from the state. The data reveal where counties might need more state resources or a rechanneling of the resources they already have, Fabelo said.

And while the report revealed good news, it also showed some areas that need continued attention, he said. Differences in outcomes between white and minority youth were apparent, and those merit deeper study. And, the study suggested that what works in the case of one youth will not necessarily work in another.

“There's a lot of room for improvement,” Fabelo said. “There's no one size fits all. But hopefully, there will be conversations in the Legislature, the counties themselves and juvenile justice professionals working for their own plans in improving outcomes.”

To see the full report, visit http://csgjusticecenter.org/youth/publications/closer-to-home

http://jjie.org/not-a-lock-youth-who-stay-closer-to-home-do-better-than-those-in-detention-texas-study-shows/108278/

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

New Jersey

Paterson council weighs foot patrols in community policing resolution

by JOE MALINCONICO

PATERSON – Some City Council members are calling for the Paterson Police Department to create a new “Park and Walk” foot patrol program as part of a broader initiative aimed at neighborhood-based law enforcement.

The proposed “Community Policing” resolution says the city's soon-to-be deployed unarmed special police officers could be assigned to specific wards or districts that would give municipal law enforcement “ground-level knowledge of a neighborhood.”

“Unless an officer is assigned to the same neighborhood on a regular or recurring basis, it will be difficult for the officer to gain anything more than a superficial understanding of the place,” reads the resolution.

But Paterson Police Director Jerry Speziale said his department already is employing the strategies outlined in the proposal and the longest-serving member of the council said he is worried that his colleagues are overstepping their legislative role by suggesting law enforcement strategies.

“I don't believe it's a good idea for the council to be giving the police department this kind of direction,” said Councilman William McKoy. “They're the professionals, we're not. We don't have the training or background they do. I don't see anything good that can come out of this.”

Officials said the proposal likely will be discussed at Tuesday night's city council workshop meeting. The plan is being pushed by Councilmen Mohmammed Akhtaruzzaman and Alex Mendez.

“If people see police officers walking on their streets, it makes them feel safe,” Mendez said. “We need that. We don't have that now.”

Akhtaruzzaman, who is chairman of the public safety committee, said the effort will deter criminals. “It's human psychology,” he said. “When they see a police officer walking around, they will go somewhere else.”

The proposed resolution sets “principles and goals for community policing” and does not specifically mandate any action by city police officials. Under state law, the council has no say over the day-to-day police operations, which are determined by the police chief, officials said.

Speziale said he welcomes suggestions from council members as well as from community leaders and residents. “Obviously, when it comes to operations, you have to look at manpower and resource allocation,” Speziale said.

The director said the police department already has officers walking city streets through its “directed patrol” initiative. Those officers are deployed based on a variety of factors, including and intelligence and crime statistics, the director said.

“A lot of what they are talking about is already in place, we just use a different type of wording,” said Speziale. For example, the director said, the department deploys “walk and talk” patrols, rather than calling them “park and walk.”

But Mendez disputed that assertion. “That's not the perception the community has,” the councilman said. “You talk to people and you tell me if they see police officers walking through their neighborhoods.”

Mendez and Akhtaruzzaman said the city should use the new special police officers after they are trained to handle the patrols. “I'm talking about in the day time,” Akhtaruzzaman said, adding that putting unarmed officers on the streets at night might place them in danger. “If they see something, they can report it or call for back up.”

Speziale declined to discuss details of the way the Paterson currently deploys its police, saying revealing such information would help criminals.

Council members Ruby Cotton and Andre Sayegh said they did not know enough about the proposal to comment on it. Cotton said she would like to see the city community police efforts increased. But she also said she already sees foot patrols in some neighborhoods in the 4th Ward, which she represents. “They're out there,” she said.

McKoy said Paterson didn't have enough police officers to have separate units for every ward. Speziale said the department tries to assign a greater number of officers to the high-crime areas. McKoy said he was puzzled why his colleagues were pushing the community policing resolution.

“It's inappropriate, we don't have that authority,” McKoy said. “It looks like a publicity stunt to me.”

http://www.northjersey.com/news/paterson-council-weighs-foot-patrols-in-community-policing-resolution-1.1263341

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

Kansas

Norman D. Williams: Community policing builds trust

by Norman D. Williams

As a result of local and national demonstrations, there have been discussions about the need for community policing as a means to building trust between citizens and police departments.

The Wichita #NoFergusonHere meetings are an evolution of local community policing, and city leaders should always listen to citizens. But the Wichita Police Department deserves credit for several decades of work in improving relations with the community.

In 1994, the department initiated community policing in four targeted areas. In 1995, community policing was implemented citywide and became the department philosophy.

The officers' commitment to community policing during the past 20 years is evident through their involvement with the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Central Kansas, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Union Rescue Mission, and various community mentoring and tutoring programs.

The officers also worked to establish partnerships with neighborhood associations and business representatives. The concerted efforts of key stakeholders working in this partnership were significant to the city of Wichita experiencing crime reductions and improved neighborhood quality of life.

The heart and soul of community policy is pro-action, partnerships, prevention and problem solving, which involves both citizens and police. Citizens are encouraged to get to know the police officers by riding as observers, attending the Police Department's Citizen Police Academy and participating in police boards, reporting crimes and other problems promptly to 911 and becoming familiar with and involved in police activities in their neighborhood, and meeting with police captains and supervisors at their neighborhood police station. For more information about the department, go to wichita.gov.

The professional men and women of the Wichita Police Department are committed to serving our community. Community policing will continue to be a major component of citizen and police collaboration in the 21st century.

http://www.kansas.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/article8962943.html

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

Ohio

Feb. forum at UT on community-police relations

by Kelly Kaczala

The first of four forums was held by an 18-member task force this month in Cleveland to get input from the public on how to improve relations between police and local communities, Oregon Police Chief Mike Navarre said on Monday.

One of the forums is scheduled to be held this month at the University of Toledo.

Gov. John Kasich in December appointed Navarre to the Ohio Task Force on Community-Police relations, which was formed in December in the wake of high profile police shooting incidents in Ohio. Among the fatalities was a 12-year-old boy who was playing with a BB gun in a Cleveland city park, and a man who picked up an air rifle in a Walmart store in Beavercreek.

Navarre is the only chief of police on the task force, according to Oregon Administrator Mike Beazley.

“Mike is doing a good job representing Ohio and the city,” said Beazley.

Navarre said he was recommended by the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police to be on the task force.

Issues the task force is charged with exploring include best community policing practices, law enforcement training, standards for law enforcement interaction with the community, the criminal justice system and community oversight and involvement in law enforcement.

The forums are particularly aimed at African Americans, many of whom believe they are unfairly targeted by police.

“It has become apparent that too many people in communities of color feel that the protective shield that law and order is intended to provide is not working for them,” Kasich said in an executive order on Dec. 12 that formed the task force, “and this underlying friction can only be resolved by enhancing the confidence felt by the community in their relationship with law enforcement.”

The vast majority of law enforcement officers in Ohio, added Kasich, “are honest, decent and hard working people who every day put their safety and lives on the line in very dangerous situations in service to their communities.”

The meeting at Cleveland State University on Jan. 20 lasted over five hours, said Navarre, out of which two and a half hours consisted of listening to public comments.

“Most of that was geared negatively toward the Cleveland Police Department, which has gone through some troubled times in the last three or four years,” said Navarre.

“In fact, there's a Justice Department investigation, which is going to result in a consent decree where they've looked at over 300 cases of alleged excessive force. The finding was pretty strong against Cleveland,” said Navarre.

The investigation concluded that Cleveland officers are not provided with adequate training, policy guidance, support, and supervision, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The court enforceable consent decree will include a requirement for an independent monitor who will oversee and ensure necessary reforms.

The next public forum will be held in Wilberforce near Dayton. The third forum is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 25 at the University of Toledo. The last forum will be held next month in Cincinnati, according to Navarre.

“The governor wants a report with recommendations from the task force by the end of April,” said Navarre.

http://www.presspublications.com/15355-feb-forum-at-ut-on-community-police-relations

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

Nevada

Police want better relationship with Asian-American community

by Patranya Bhoolsuwan

LAS VEGAS -- Increasing community policing is one of the goals that Sheriff Joe Lombardo promised to focus on after taking the helm at Metro Police.

Authorities say the effort is especially critical within certain ethnic communities where crimes can go unreported.

In the Asian-American community, fear of retaliation is a big problem, according to police. In addition, there is also a sense of mistrust when it comes to law enforcement.

Metro is now working to change that perception and connect with the community by going door-to-door and getting to know local business owners.

It's all part of Sheriff Joe Lombardo's stepped- up effort in community-oriented policing.

"The foundation of all relations is trust and it takes consistency over time," said Metro Captain Jim Seebock who is with the Enterprise Area Command.

He recently held a meeting with Asian-American business leaders.

He says the area along the Spring Mountain corridor still has a high number of property crimes including robberies within businesses to cars and motorcycles being stolen from the parking lot.

What makes it more challenging is people not don't always report the crimes.

"I think it's more of a cultural thing," said Joe Shen, Chinatown Plaza property manager. "They don't want to get payback."

He says many Asian business owners either fear retaliation from criminals or are too embarrassed to let people know they've been a victim. He adds, it's also hard for some people to relate to officers who are not Asian.

There is only one Asian officer in the community policing unit that serves the Chinatown area.

"It goes back to staffing and resources," Capt. Seebock said. "The bottom line, regardless of race, it's building the relationships within the community. The more cops, the better, the more community relationships, the better."

The increased patrol in the area is not just aimed at protecting business owners, but tourists as well. It's estimated more than 1 million visitors from around the world come through the Spring Mountain corridor every year.

http://www.8newsnow.com/story/28005665/police-want-better-relationship-with-asian-american-community

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

The truth about vaccination: Public safety trumps personal choice

by Nicholas Diamond

The measles outbreak has now tipped 100 confirmed cases. In the face of this epidemic, many have expressed anger and frustration toward anti-vaxxers, whose choices have the effect of putting others at risk. Many feel that they should be held responsible for their choice not to vaccinate. Some think that the law should hold them responsible.

The law looks at responsibility in a very specific way. Let's say that your newborn -- too young for the MMR vaccine -- contracts measles. You believe that it's due to contact with another child, who wasn't vaccinated because of her parents' choice not to vaccinate. You sue the parents, seeking compensation for medical bills, and pain and suffering.

Tort law—the area of law that redresses a wrong by compensating the victim—holds people responsible largely based on duty. But it thinks about duty only according to what lawyers call statutory duties and common law duties. Statutory duties are the result of a legislative body—federal or state, or both—putting a law on the books. For instance, you have a statutory duty not to drink-and-drive. Common law duties, on the other hand, are fundamental legal obligations that speak to the level of care owed to others. In the United States, these duties have evolved through judicial decisions. An employer, for example, has a duty of care to provide a safe workplace for its employees.

What's missing from how tort law treats duties? Ethics. Many legal duties feel like ethical duties, or can even be explained in terms of an ethical obligation, but ethical and legal duties are not necessarily one and the same. This makes more sense when you think about the motivation behind certain legal duties. Take drunk-driving. You may feel that you have an ethical duty not to drink and drive (and you would be right), but a legislative body made that law because drunk driving presents a serious danger to the safety of its citizens.

Now consider this example. You're jogging along the Reservoir in Central Park and notice a child in the water who appears to be drowning. You know how to swim and it wouldn't be very difficult for you to rescue him. Most of us would say that you have an ethical duty to rescue that child (even if it isn't your son or daughter). The law, on the other hand, says you don't have a duty in this particular instance.

When we talk about a responsibility to get vaccinated against measles—or to vaccinate your kids—we're really talking about an ethical responsibility. So why might we have an ethical responsibility? Ethical obligations are rarely clear-cut. They involve weighing competing principles and, ultimately, deciding that certain ones deserve more weight and importance than others.

On the one hand, vaccination against measles benefits others. For example, it respects others as persons by not exposing them to unnecessary and preventable risks. As a parent in particular, getting your child vaccinated protects him or her from a known and serious risk. By getting vaccinated, we also play a constructive role in the community by contributing to herd immunity, which helps to protect others from infection. Vaccination also serves a utility purpose. Outbreaks disrupt communities, worsen the overall health of a population, and impose a financial burden on the health system.

On the other hand, vaccination impinges on our autonomy by compelling us to do something that we may, for a variety of reasons, not want to do. Particularly in the United States, we tend to place great value on personal autonomy. But vaccination against measles asks very little of us. It has very minimal health risks and requires just two doses for maximum effectiveness.

Altogether, the benefit to others outweighs the (slight) intrusion on our autonomy. Those who disagree with this weighting tend to misconstrue the medical risk involved in vaccination. If the risk is thought to be high, it's easy to see why someone would give more weight to autonomy – there are understandable limits to how much personal risk we're willing to take on for the sake of others, especially strangers.

But I think that there is a more fundamental dynamic behind this. It comes down to choice – more specifically, when personal choice affects the community. Think about that for a moment. It isn't saying that autonomy and personal choice don't matter. It also isn't saying that community interests always matter most. What it says is, there is a point when community interests should take precedence.

The vaccination debate can be heated. Much is at stake and the effects can be intensely personal. Not surprisingly, this can result in speaking in absolutes, which obscures just how important certain ethical principles like autonomy can be, even if we have good reason to give them less weight in certain instances. Ethics is never clear-cut. But when you weigh the concerns, vaccination makes for an ethically responsible citizen.

Nicholas Diamond trained in law and bioethics, and works as a health policy consultant in Washington, D.C.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/the-truth-about-vaccination-public-safety-more-important-personal-choice

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

Florida

Facebook post has lasting impact for 12-year-old

by CHRIS OLWELL

PANAMA CITY — Like many (if not most) 12-year-olds, Logan Chason of Fountain did something stupid last year.

Logan had a bad day in November and took to Facebook to let off some steam. Nothing unique about that —except that what he said broke the law.

“I'm in a bad mood, so it's gonna be my worst week, then watch out Merritt Brown Middle School I'm gonna come to school with a gun and start shooting,” he wrote.

Logan didn't have guns or access to guns, and he didn't actually want to shoot up his school, he said.

“It was just the first thing I thought of,” Logan said Tuesday morning after a hearing at the juvenile courthouse.

The post got the attention of some friends, who criticized him in comments to the post. It also got the attention of someone in Ohio, who found the post and reported Logan to local law enforcement.

After investigating, the Bay County Sheriff's Office arrested Logan and charged him with written threats to kill or do bodily harm, a second-degree felony with the potential to ensure Logan would have no shortage of bad days ahead of him.

Logan took the initiative to write a letter of apology to Bay District Schools Superintendent Bill Husfelt. That wasn't enough to keep him from being kicked out of Merritt Brown for the rest of the year, but it earned him an ally in Husfelt, who said he must have threatened to kill his brothers a thousand times when he was 12.

“When I was growing up and you said something like that, people would just ignore it,” Husfelt said. “Somewhere, some point, we've got to get back an understanding that kids are going to say and do dumb things.”

Things have changed since Husfelt was a child. In an era when mass school shootings command the attention of the nation, even the empty threats of a 12-year-old simply cannot be ignored, but Husfelt also said he struggled to find a response proportional to the offense. Though he was kicked out of Merritt Brown, Logan was allowed to enroll at C.C. Washington Academy, where he makes As and Bs, he said.

What's different: What separates Logan from other 12-year-olds who dabble in idiocy is that what Logan did was reported in print and television news and captured for posterity on the Internet.

The Sheriff's Office issued a release to local media outlets noting that a student had threatened violence on the school campus so there would an increased BCSO presence at the school. BCSO released the information out of concern that parents with inaccurate or incomplete information might worry unnecessarily, especially since it was already on social media, BCSO spokeswoman Ruth Corley said.

Sometimes BCSO does identify juveniles accused of a crimes, but in Logan's case he was not identified. That decision hinges on several factors, including the severity of the crime, said Maj. Tommy Ford, and the Sheriff's Office is sensitive to the fact that identifying a juvenile crime suspect can have a negative impact, including the possibility that the accusations will live forever online.

“Certainly the decisions you make have consequences, and in the Internet age this is one of those,” Ford said. “But we are sensitive.”

Because he was charged with a felony, the Sheriff's Office was legally required to release documents that did identify him to anyone, including reporters, who asked for them. Logan was identified in media reports that still show up in a Google search. Logan was threatened by classmates, he said, and his grandmother got grief from strangers.

“He's going to have this for a while,” Husfelt said.

About Logan: Logan is being raised by grandparents; his parents are substance abusers who hurt Logan when he was a small child until they surrendered their parental rights, said his grandfather Roy Tipps.

Tipps agreed Logan needed to take responsibility for his Facebook post, but a felony charge seemed like a disproportionate response.

“If they charge him with a felony, they just ruined that kid's life,” Tipps said Monday.

Logan doesn't know what he wants to do with his life when he's an adult. He enjoys writing, and he's written a few horror stories; one of them is about a man's descent into insanity during a period of prolonged isolation.

His family has a tradition of military service. Tipps was a hell-raiser in his youth, too, he said; it was his experience in the military that finally straightened him out.

“I have no idea” if he plans to serve in the military, Tipps said, “but I don't want that option taken away from him.”

Tipps wanted a plea deal that would get Logan out from under the felony charge, but after going to court several times Tipps felt like he was getting nowhere. Logan's public defender could not get the prosecutor to come down from the felony.

But on Tuesday he got some traction. Logan was offered a chance to plead to a misdemeanor count of assault on a school board employee and serve up to a year on probation. He would have to abide by a 6 p.m. curfew for 30 days, serve 50 hours of community service and satisfy some other conditions.

Logan took the deal. Judge Allen Register initially ordered him to write a letter of apology to Merritt Brown administrators, but when he learned Logan already had written such a letter to Husfelt, he instead ordered a letter to the BCSO. An emergency response to an event that turns out not to be an emergency puts first responders and citizens in danger, Register told Logan.

“Always remember that what you do doesn't only affect you. ... Work to make sure that is a good effect,” Register said.

Logan said after the hearing that he was relieved to have the incident behind him, as far as that goes. He acknowledged his punishment could have been more severe, and said he's taken a lesson.

“I have to watch what I do,” Logan said.

Husfelt said he hoped other students would take the same lesson.

“My hope and prayer is that kids learn from Logan's mistake,” Husfelt said.

http://www.newsherald.com/news/crime-public-safety/facebook-post-has-lasting-impact-for-12-year-old-1.431972

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

Washington

Man arrested Sunday for attempting to climb White House temporary fencing

by Tiane Austin

A man was arrested at 2:15 p.m. EST Sunday afternoon outside the White House for attempting to climb the temporary bicycle rack on Pennsylvania Avenue, U.S. Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary confirmed to CNN.

The man did not make it over the rack, and was arrested and charged with unlawful entry.

He has been placed into the custody of DC Police.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/02/politics/white-house-arrest/

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

Connecticut

On national board, Esserman will seek to repair rifts between police and communities

New Haven Police Department Chief Dean Esserman — best known for bringing Elm City police officers out of their cars and onto walking beats in New Haven's neighborhoods — will serve on the National Advisory Board of the National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice, a national effort to improve the relationship between police and the communities they serve.

Last September, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that a $4.75 million grant would fund a national initiative to improve relationships between police and citizens, prompted by a trend of distrust after the events in Ferguson, Mo. Five months later, Esserman has been called to participate in the effort.

The National Initiative is a cooperative effort between the Department of Justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Yale Law School, the University of California, Los Angeles and the Urban Institute. The initiative will first focus on identifying U.S. cities where the Board can pilot new policing strategies. Esserman will join Yale Law School professors Tracey Meares and Tom Tyler when the board convenes for the first time next month.

“The New Haven Police Department is proud to be invited to take a leadership role in this important national initiative,” Esserman said in a press release last Wednesday.

NHPD spokesperson David Hartman said that the initiative would highlight three areas that “hold great promise for concrete, rapid progress”: racial reconciliation, procedural justice and implicit bias.

A press release from the Department of Justice in September said the initiative hopes to reignite the public's trust in policing by investing in training that will focus on evidence-based strategies, policy development and research.

John Jay College President Jeremy Travis said in a Wednesday press release that the initiative is one of the most ambitious and important steps the federal government has taken during his career in criminal justice. “Addressing the broken relationships between the police and communities of color across the nation is a fundamental challenge facing our democracy,” he said.

Esserman has also recently been invited to offer technical assistance and advice to the police force in St. Louis County, Mo., where he will join a group of officers from across the country who have been drafted to help address use-of-force doctrine and racial discrimination.

Hartman said Esserman's emphasis on community policing has put him in a strong position to assist in areas that may have been suffering a break of trust between the community and the police.

NHPD was one of the pioneers of community policing in the early 1990s, which Esserman continued when he began as chief of police in 2011. He said New Haven is the only city in America that requires all of its police officers to engage in active foot patrol, where they must provide a visible police presence in an assigned neighborhood.

City Hall spokesperson Laurence Grotheer said Esserman's dedication to community policing has helped to create trust and cooperation between the police and the public. New Haven has seen a drop in crime rates across the city under Esserman's leadership.

Still, Esserman's new appointment comes shortly after allegations of misconduct. In December, Mayor Toni Harp sent him a letter of reprimand after he reportedly shouted at an usher at September's Yale-Army football game.

On Feb. 9, Esserman will join a collection of police officials, professors and organizations who will speak at a teach-in sponsored by Yale's Department of African American Studies called “Ferguson and Beyond: Race, Policing and Social Justice.”

Esserman first joined the NHPD in 1987.

http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/02/01/on-national-board-esserman-will-seek-to-repair-police-community-rift/

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

Indiana

Indy public safety chief: Drone regulation needed

Indianapolis public safety chief: Regulation of drones needed following White House crash

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis' public safety director says greater regulation of drones is needed.

Troy Riggs tells WISH-TV (http://bit.ly/1wKieSY) drones already are common, and laws and ordinances need to catch up with them.

His comments came says after a drone crashed on the White House lawn and after the NFL told drone owners not to use the airborne devices during the Super Bowl.

Drones with flying cameras have been spotted at major events in Indianapolis.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has not ruled out purchasing drones for investigations. No timeline has been given for that to happen.

http://www.elkharttruth.com/news/indiana/2015/02/02/Indy-public-safety-chief-Drone-regulation-needed.html

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

Ohio

Cincinnati's community policing efforts attract president's task force

by Chelsey Levingston

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati was picked to host a presidential task force on police-community relations because the city is representative of the national conversation on the topic, and the community and police department are engaged in building trust, said Silas Darden, the group's spokesperson.

“The task force wanted to visit a city in the Midwest and chose Cincinnati based on the challenges its faced in the past,” Darden said. “As a city, they've embraced community policing.”

Law enforcement representatives, community leaders and researchers from Ohio and throughout the country gathered at University of Cincinnati Friday and Saturday to provide testimony. They addressed use of force, law enforcement body cameras, mass demonstrations and other topics before members of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing.

Their input will be considered in a report due March 2 to President Barack Obama, identifying best practices and recommending ideas for how policing practices can cut back on crime while at the same time building trust and collaboration, according to the task force website.

Two-day sessions are being held to allow more public participation. Comments also accepted via email to Comment@taskforceonpolicing.us and by mentioning Twitter handle @PoliceTaskForce.

“The task force is committed to an open process,” Darden said.

Cincinnati filled two of several stops around the country for the task force, which was assembled in December under executive order in the wake of a series of police-involved shootings last year including Fairfield man John Crawford III at a Beavercreek Walmart and 12-year-old Tamir Rice at a Cleveland park.

The task force is also meeting in Phoenix, Ariz., and Washington, D.C. Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffery Blackwell has been invited to speak on community policing efforts at an upcoming session, Darden said.

Jay McDonald, president of the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, was a panelist Friday and spoke to task force members about use of force issues. Good community and police relations make the community safer for both the public and for officers, McDonald said.

“There's no textbook situation. Every situation has different factors and factors that evolve differently so you'll never be able to write a checklist of how officers should behave,” McDonald, also a major at the Marion Police Department, told this newspaper.

The state Fraternal Order of Police is a union representing 25,000 police officers and members across the state.

“Of the millions of police contact that happen with citizens across the country, the vast, vast majority don't use force at all,” McDonald said.

In situations that do use force, “the vast, vast majority of those uses of force are justified and needed,” he said.

“We need to make sure that we're not painting the picture of overzealous law enforcement officers all around the country,” he said. “I don't think that's accurate.”

Local activist Christina Brown spoke at the Friday panel discussion about mass demonstrations. She helped organize in December the group Black Lives Matter Cincinnati, which meets at various locations around the city.

“I wanted to emphasize one, half of the preparation for mass demonstrations is understanding why people are taking to the streets in the first place,” Brown said.

In communities of color there is a historical mistrust of law enforcement, Brown said. The biggest question is why that history exists, and then how it can be mended through policy, relationship building and through a cultural revolution, she said.

“This mistrust did not occur overnight and these protests are not happening in a vacuum,” she said. “As our community currently exists, the people that live in it feel unsafe in the presence of law enforcement.”

“It's not helpful in terms of the case of creating a safe place when we have elected politicians and law enforcement officials making statements that are inflammatory against mass demonstrations,” she said. “It's incredibly helpful for police to engage in a peaceful and neutral manner.”

Meanwhile, Ohio Gov. John Kasich assembled his own 18-member state task force with a similar mission of strengthening police-community relations. The group met for the first time Jan. 20 at Cleveland State University.

More public forums are being scheduled around the state to gather input.

The next Ohio Task Force on Community-Police Relations public forum will be held at Central State University in Wilberforce from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9, according to Ohio Department of Public Safety. Additional forums will be held at the University of Toledo on Feb. 26 and in Cincinnati on March 10 at a location to be announced.

Last September, a specially-convened Greene County grand jury declined to indict either of two white Beavercreek police officers involved in the August shooting of a black man at the Pentagon Boulevard Walmart. Police were dispatched in August to the Walmart store on the 911 call of a white shopper who said John Crawford III, 22, of Fairfield, was waving a gun at shoppers. Crawford had taken an unloaded BB gun from a store shelf before he was shot.

Crawford's family in December filed suit in Dayton's U.S. District Court against the city of Beavercreek, the officers involved, Beavercreek Police Chief Dennis Evers and Walmart Stores Inc.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

•  About the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, go online to: www.cops.usdoj.gov/Default.asp?Item=2761

•  About the Ohio Task Force on Community-Police Relations, go online to: http://ocjs.ohio.gov/otfcpr/index.html

HOW TO GO

What: The next public forum of the Ohio Task Force on Community-Police Relations

When: 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9

Where: Central State University, Robeson Cultural and Performing Arts Auditorium, in Wilberforce

Why: Efforts are to stregthen police-community relations

For more information: go online to http://ocjs.ohio.gov/otfcpr/index.html

Unable to go? Share your feedback on social media using #beheardohio

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/cincinnatis-community-policing-efforts-attracts-pr/nj2cL/

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

Kentucky

Police reap benefits of positive interaction with community

by DEBORAH HIGHLAND

Inez White doesn't feel threatened by Bowling Green Police, instead she feels like she and others get a fair shake, something that didn't happen in her last hometown of Bainbridge, Ga.

“Back from where I'm from, they're guilty until proven innocent. Here, they ask how your day is going,” White said about local police.

White, of Sheppard Court, is one of more than 1,475 residents living in property owned by the Bowling Green Housing Authority which has four neighborhoods – Summit View/Gordon Avenue, Phenix Place, Angora Court and Bryant Place.

Among the people she feels strongly that she can count on is BGPD Officer Jan Tuttle, who recently completed a three-year stint as the Residents Against Drugs, or RAD officer, assigned to the housing authority.

At a time when police agencies across the country are taking a pummeling in the court of public opinion after claims of police brutality lead to riots and/or protests in Ferguson, Mo., and New York, police here appear to be reaping the benefits of extensive community outreach, the result of constant retooling of community policing dating back to 1994.

“Whenever I've had to call, they're right on the money.” White said. “I had some children who wanted to fight in my front yard, and I told them they couldn't fight in my front yard. ... I knew there wasn't no play fighting. Come to find out one of the boys pulled a knife.

“They took care of the problem,” she said about the police.

Knocking down barriers

In the early days of policing when officers walked a beat, the concept of community policing occurred by default, Bowling Green Police Chief Doug Hawkins said. The game changer was the police car.

“The police car created this artificial barrier between police and the community,” Hawkins said. “It is a good and useful and valuable tool. ... Not intentionally did it create the barrier, but it created the barrier nonetheless.”

Given that cars, and later computers and cellphones, became tools of the trade for police officers, agencies nationally had to come up with better ways to include the public in policing, Hawkins said.

“As good as the car is, as good as technology is and for all the things that the police car allows you to do, to be able to respond more quickly, to be able to respond over a broader area, it also took us away from that relationship that law enforcement had for years with the public,” Hawkins said speaking in general terms about police agencies as a whole.

“And, so we had to retool, and in that retooling instead of being part of that walking beat mentality that created community policing, we had to re-engineer community policing into what we do today ... we have to have an intentional strategy to be able to engage the community,” he said.

Beginning in 1994, the department began using a variety of methods to effect public engagement. Officers have lived in public housing communities here. Also, the department has a RAD officer in the housing authority, most recently Tuttle until December, and now Officer Mary Fields. BGPD offers a Citizens Police Academy and requires all command staff to participate in community volunteerism. Every school within the city limits has an officer designated as its liaison between the school and the police department.

During the hiring process, Hawkins, who has been chief for eight years, places a premium on good character, he said. The higher the quality of character, the less likely the department will have disciplinary problems and the more likely the department is to have people with a strong work ethic. Additionally, he talks to each officer to set the tone of his servant leadership philosophy “where we recognize” that officers work for and at the will of both our elected officials and the public they serve.

“If we ever forget our role in the public, that's when individual officers sometimes make poor decisions ... ,” Hawkins said.

Respect begets respect

Housing authority Executive Director Abraham Williams said that overall, the police department here enjoys a good relationship with the people living in the 600 units that the housing authority operates. While he would like to see more community involvement from the department, such as a community advisory board for BGPD, he says officers treat the people at the housing authority apartments respectfully.

“I think they're doing a great job,” resident Benji Barnett said. “I think all the officers treat the residents at the housing authority fair. They don't look down on us because we are low-income families. They treat everybody the same way.”

The housing authority provides $30,000 annually to subsidize the RAD officer's salary.

“It costs us money, but that's the best money we can spend,” Williams said. “When people move in with us, we promise them three things. We promise them it's going to be decent, safe and sanitary. We're going to keep our community grounds clean. Hopefully, with the assistance of the police, we're going to keep you safe.”

When Williams took the helm in 1995, gang activity was present in the area of the housing authority like it is in government housing in other parts of the country. Between Williams – who runs a no-nonsense shop where residents are held accountable for their actions and trespassers are turned in to police – and officers assigned directly to the housing authority, gangs were run off in about four years.

As part of policing, the RAD officer gets to know the people living there. Williams believes that the three-year stint changes officers.

“These officers are so different. We've had the big tall ones. We've had the short ones. We've had the black ones,” Williams said. “When they leave, they still feel committed to our communities. They still make sure they take care of our community. A lot of them have moved up ... and they know our community.”

One officer enjoyed playing with the kids. Another frequently visited with residents at dinnertime and shared family meals, and another officer took a deep interest in the senior citizens living there.

“We've just had good guys over here,” Williams said.

The RAD officer program makes residents “feel important,” he said.

“They've got guys who care about them and who get to know them. I think Mary Fields is going to be excellent over here. Look at the young people who want to be officers now. They don't look at them as white officers, they look at them as their friends,” Williams said.

Fields is a firm believer in public service. That's why she became a police officer. She has recently taken the RAD job, and Tuttle is back on a regular beat.

“All of us as officers come into the job wanting to help people and make a difference,” Fields said. “And then somehow in the job we get lost in going from call to call and taking reports. We're so busy that we lose that interaction in the community that we are here to help. This position focuses on the community policing aspect of the job. And that's what I get to do. I get to go into the communities and talk to people. They get to voice their concerns to me, and I get to follow up and then go back and they can deal with me directly. I have the time and flexibility to do that.”

Fields wants to use her position to make sure a child's first interaction with the police is positive. Rather than being there when a family member is arrested or speaking to someone who has been witness to a crime, Fields plans to interact with children as much as possible before she has to be there to answer a call for service. She also wants to bridge the gap between police and recent immigrants who have moved to this country from countries where police are corrupt.

Refugees from all over the world live in Bowling Green. In just the housing authority alone, 18 countries are represented.

“They are over here for a better way of life,” Fields said. “A lot of different cultures are scared of the police. Hopefully, I can bridge that gap, too. If they need something, we want them to call.”

An agent for change

Major Mike Delaney shares Field's interest in outreach to kids.

Delaney conducts several mentoring programs. One, Black Men United, provides black, male role models for at-risk young black males.

“It's important to me, but it's also important for the community to see police officers in the community,” Delaney said. “That's one of the reasons I took this job. I wanted to help the community and be part of the community and be visible in activities like that so it's not just the police showing up when it's something bad going on.

“There's no way that we could effectively police this community without the help of people in the community and having partnerships with people in the community and gaining their trust and respect.”

Delaney, a 17-year police veteran, is also interested in fostering the relationship between police, a historically white male profession, and the city's black residents.

“Over the years, the relationship between the police in general and the African-American community has not been positive, and the only way I could see bridging that gap is to be that change agent,” he said speaking in general terms about the history between black residents and the police agencies who serve them.

One of Delaney's neighbors when he was growing up in Bowling Green was B.B. Davis, a black Kentucky State Police trooper.

“I saw him every day and the way he interacted in the community,” Delaney said. “I thought even as a kid growing up, I thought that is something I would like to do.

“I sort of wanted to pay that forward.”

Sgt. Josh Hughes volunteers on the Victory Hill Ministry church bus that carries economically disadvantaged children from Scottsville to the church on Wednesday night.

“I stay and hang out with the kids,” Hughes said. “More than anything, I try to be a good role model for them and try to be a friend to them.”

Some of the children on the bus have parents who are in prison. When they ask Hughes if he is a police officer, he simply says, “not right now.”

“I feel like I'm really really blessed,” said Hughes, the son of a minister. “I had a great father and a lot of great role models around me ... . I see kids who don't have that. I try to be that positive mentor that they may be missing somewhere else.”

Volunteerism, the RAD program in the housing authority, scouting for character in new hires, Citizens Police Academy – all of those shape the lens through which the community sees police.

“We really are very intentional about the way we do police business,” Hawkins said.

http://www.bgdailynews.com/news/police-reap-benefits-of-positive-interaction-with-community/article_3fe8817a-8f6c-5bac-bd21-add1039dd192.html

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

California

Police use technology to stay safe

Throughout the history of law enforcement, technology has played a key role in how police do their job.

by TONY SAAVEDRA, BRIAN ROKOS and SARAH BURGE

Gizmos.

Throughout the history of law enforcement, technology has played a key role in how police do their job.

Taser-conducted electrical weapons, computerized license plate readers, ballistic armor and other innovations all promised to revolutionize policing.

But police experts warn that any technology is only as good as the person using it.

“It's the attitude of the department, the values, that matter,” said Joe Domanick, associate director of the Center on Media, Crime and Justice, at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Here is a look at some other technological innovations in police work:

BODY CAMERAS

The momentum and demand for police officers to wear video cameras to record interactions with civilians is building nationwide and around the Inland Empire in the wake of the August shooting of an unarmed teenager by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., as well as other fatal encounters.

Rialto, Beaumont, Upland and Ontario are deploying the cameras, and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department has bought cameras for deputies working in the Jurupa Valley station. Deputies elsewhere in Riverside County have been been testing various versions of the devices.

Police in Hemet and Corona are testing the cameras. Riverside police believe they'll have the cameras within two years.

The union representing Riverside County sheriff's deputies has asked a judge to prevent the county from requiring deputies to use body-mounted video cameras, asserting that officials failed to negotiate the use of the new equipment. So it's not known when those deputies will be using the cameras.

The devices – limited by what the lens sees from the officer's viewpoint – are seen as a way to record an unbiased account of an incident.

“A photographic record can go a long way toward providing the information that's needed to determine what happened,” said Michael Dunn, co-chairman of Riverside Coalition for Police Accountability, a watchdog group. “We don't think an officer sets out one day to go out on his watch and kill somebody, but somehow they get involved in a situation where the officer draws his weapon and shoots somebody. If we don't know what the truth of the matter is, then you don't have a good basis for terms of policies and procedures that regulate what police officers are supposed to be doing.”

Tasers

Stun guns became popular among police agencies after the devices hit the public market in the mid-1990s. They were sold as a less-than-lethal way to overcome combative suspects, to be used somewhere between the baton and the gun, experts say.

However, problems arose when officers used Tasers in situations that didn't require that level of force, critics say. Some deaths were associated with the stun gun, causing some departments to stop using the device on elderly people, pregnant women, children and suspects already handcuffed.

“Used properly, it's a very important innovation,” said Sam Walker, professor of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

“The problems have come up when officers use it inappropriately.”

Manufacturer Tasers International says 125,000 lives have been saved through the use of its stun gun, people who otherwise would have been subject to lethal force. The company says stun guns are carried by police in more than 107 countries and deployed more than 900 times each day worldwide.

Tasers typically fire darts that carry 50,000 volts of electrical shock, intended to incapacitate the suspect.

In the past decade, Tasers have become standard equipment for many law enforcement agencies.

The Riverside Police Department in January began requiring that all officers carry Tasers.

Murrieta officers began using them in 2007.

“They have reduced injuries to officers and suspects since they have been deployed,” said Capt. Dennis Vrooman.

Riverside County sheriff's officials said deputies began using Tasers departmentwide in 2008. Deputies are required to complete a Taser certification course.

Sheriff's officials agreed that Tasers reduce injuries to both officers and suspect. They said the Tasers help keep deputies safe primarily because it enables them to stay away from combative suspects. Before, deputies would have to close the distance using less lethal weapons such as impact weapons or pepper spray, or try to tackle them.

License plate readers

Since the 1970s, inventors have been developing camera systems to record passing vehicles. The result is the computerized license plate reader, which can record 1,000 license plates per hour from vehicles traveling up to 150 mph.

The license plates can be compared with a database of stolen vehicles or cars belonging to suspects wanted on warrants or Amber Alerts. Unlicensed drivers also can be targeted.

Typically, high-speed cameras are mounted on patrol vehicles and connected to a computer inside the trunk. Officers travel at normal speeds and the cameras take only seconds to read a plate.

“The license plate reader provides that extra set of eyes,” said a 2007 report by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services.

The system typically works from a hot list, which can contain any set of data, from terrorist watch lists to stolen vehicles to parking scofflaws, the report said.

License plate readers are becoming increasingly common among Inland police agencies.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department, for instance, has more than 50 vehicles equipped with the devices in the cities of Moreno Valley, Temecula, Indian Wells, Palm Desert, Menifee, Perris and Coachella. Murrieta has one car equipped with a license plate reader.

Body armor

Ballistic armor using Kevlar first was experimented with by police in 1978. Body armor, some made of woven fibers, some containing metal plates, has saved the lives of an estimated 3,000 police officers, says a report for the National Institute of Justice.

Officers who do not wear the vests are 3.4 times more likely to die from a shot to the torso, the report said. About 92 percent of the 1,000 officers responding to a national survey by the Police Executive Research Forum said they wear a type of bulletproof vest.

Armor can also be bought that protects against stab wounds.

Although bulletproof vests can stop a projectile from penetrating the material, they do not stop the impact but spread the energy over a larger section.

Though the design has evolved over the years, body armor has been standard equipment for police for decades, police officials said.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department, for example, has been issuing armor to deputies since 1976.

Predictive policing

Algorithms and computer databases have opened the door to “predictive policing.” Law enforcement throughout the nation compare various pieces of information, looking for trends that will tell them where crime is likely to occur.

The subject of a 2009 national conference, predictive policing is heralded in some areas but derided in others as basic crime analysis.

In predictive policing, crime mapping, hot spotting and other computer-aided research are used by police to take the offensive in fighting criminals, says the National Institute of Justice. In one example cited by the National Institute of Justice, police in Richmond, Va., used data to predict where the most gunfire would occur on New Year's Eve. More officers were dispatched to those locations, resulting in a 47 percent drop in gunfire and a 246 percent increase in weapons seized.

Wal-Mart, says the institute, uses the same analysis to determine what sells the most during a major weather event: duct tape, bottled water and strawberry Pop-Tarts.

In Riverside, computers automatically send emails to police supervisors when a certain number of a particular crime occurs in areas where they don't normally happen, Lt. Larry Gonzalez said.

“We do a lot of enforcement based off of that,” Gonzalez said. Those statistics and other crime trends are discussed at weekly meetings.

The Murrieta Police Department is taking bids for records management software that will include predictive policing technology, Lt. Tony Conrad said.

But critics, including professor Walker, aren't impressed by predictive policing, calling it simple common sense.

“Predicting gunfire on New Year's Eve? No kidding,” Walker said. “I think it's today's fad. I think it will disappear pretty quickly.”

Computer-aided dispatch

One of the less heralded but biggest innovations in policing was computer-aided dispatch, experts say. When a call goes to 911, computers kick in to help the dispatcher determine what type of resources to send. The system also provides the call history, hazards and other important information.

Before 1995, the system didn't exist, said John DiCarlo, professor of criminal justice at John Jay College.

“It's the difference between a card catalog and Google,” DiCarlo said.

Information from the computer-assisted dispatch is relayed to the officer through a computer terminal in the patrol car. The system also can determine which patrol car is closest to a crime scene.

Riverside's Gonzalez said that when a dispatcher types in an address, the history of police contacts at that location – including violent confrontations – pops up on his screen and is relayed to officers, helping them anticipate trouble.

Smart gun

One of the most talked about – and debated – innovations is the “smart gun,” a firearm that can be fired only by its authorized user. According to Marketplace.org, the technology has been around for more than a decade.

But neither gun enthusiasts nor the gun industry is pushing for it, said the website.

Some models would use fingerprint recognition. Others would require a special coded ring to fire. With such features, officers could not be shot with their own weapons. And children could not fire their parents' guns.

According to published reports, a major holdup is that New Jersey has a standing law that all guns sold in the state be smart guns.

But the law doesn't take effect until such guns go on the market. Hence the push to keep the guns off store shelves.

Greg Block, a firearms instructor in Huntington Beach, said he does not trust the technology.

“I don't care how smart the gun is, if there's an idiot holding it, you're going to have a problem.”

Riverside's Gonzalez said the department does not believe that the technology has been sufficiently tested for police to take those guns onto the streets.

http://www.pe.com/articles/police-759376-officers-riverside.html

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

Pennsylvania

Midstate police look at body cameras to improve accountability, public safety

by Samantha Madison

Police officers in Newville frequently report to Chief Randy Finkey that they are being recorded on cellphones by drivers during normal traffic stops.

For that reason, along with concerns about public safety and police accountability, Finkey and a number of other police chiefs in the Midstate are considering body cameras for their officers.

“We looked at the body cameras as a less expensive alternative (to dashboard cameras), especially when the officers are outside dealing with the public,” Finkey said. “From my officers' point of view, wearing a body camera is no different than what's already happening. The advantage to the officer, realistically, is when people that you're interacting with know that they're being recorded, you could sort of consider it a behavior modification piece of equipment.”

Some of the departments in Cumberland County started discussing body cameras before the events in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City last summer forced a national conversation about making the use of the technology more widespread.

Doug Reitz, North Middleton police chief, said the officer-involved shootings in 2014 really brought everyone back to reality — it can happen anywhere. While the department has had in-car cameras for years, the events of Ferguson made him think about whether they should all have cameras.

“It's something you need to look into and evaluate because you start seeing a need for something of this nature,” he said. “It's something you always want to do. If you see something occurring in another part of the country, it brings it to the forefront of the issues. Because if it could happen there, it could happen anywhere.”

While they were already talking about cameras, it didn't hurt the police departments' chances of convincing their councils to put forth funding for the purchase of them. Both North Middleton Township and Newville have budgeted for the cameras in 2015, which could mean they could be some of the first municipalities in the state to get a program running.

Dane Merryman, executive director for the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association, said there are pilot programs in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but no municipality in the state has enacted a fully operational body camera program.

“There's a lot of consensus within the law enforcement community that body cameras are a good thing, but we would like to see some of the issues addressed,” he said. “There's certainly fiscal issues, there's logistics issues and recordings and how long they're kept, there's issues related to the right to know act that have impact on it and all of these things we feel need to be addressed before there can be a full-scale implementation.”

Why?

Steve Margeson, Carlisle chief of police, said when a citizen or police officer is being recorded, they are on their best behavior. Combine that with the increased accountability and transparency video can offer, and he is on board.

“The concept, from the broadest picture is yes, we think these police body cams can be very beneficial to the community and the police department,” Margeson said. “Let's face it, when we know that our actions are being recorded, we're all probably going to be on our best behavior. ... It eliminates the need for these personnel complaints, and that's a good thing. ... This is a good tool to help in court, too. Hopefully this type of video would cut down the amount of time that everybody has to spend in court.”

Finkey added that the cameras can also provide the public with a sense of calm because the police are showing they are willing to be on camera. He said it shows the community they conduct themselves in a manner that coincides with the law. Newville doesn't have cameras in their police cruisers, so there is no recording currently in the borough.

“It will show people, by the mere fact that we are going to utilize body cameras, that we feel that the way we treat the citizens in the community allows us to wear body cameras without any concern for the way we do that interaction,” Finkey said. “It reduces the risk for the officers because it will have a tendency to put most of the people we interact with on their best behavior.”

Mary Catherine Roper, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said the use of body cameras has the potential to be positive, as studies have shown. But programs have to be well-executed or the cameras could be an invasion of privacy.

She said before a police department can move forward and get the cameras on their officers, they need a solid policy.

“We think that it is potentially a really great tool for police accountability, but whether or not it serves that purpose depends on a few things,” Roper said. “It seems that everybody behaves better when they're on camera. And that result alone — just fewer confrontations involving the use of force between citizens and police — is a really important goal. That said, body cameras carry with them a huge potential for invasion of privacy, so the important thing is that if a police organization is going to use body cameras, they need to figure out their policies, their rules, etc., up front.”

Jennifer Storm, a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania victim advocate, has a different reason for questioning the use of such cameras.

“Because technology now makes it possible for anyone to become a publisher, there can be no doubt that, if shown, this video is going to become part of the permanent and recurring record of the Internet age,” she said in a guest column in The Sentinel last week.

“The problem is that every murder, every coroner's scene, and every accident involves enormous private pain that outweighs public curiosity or moral indignation. Whatever the quality of the motive, these images tear survivors apart at the seams, forcing them to relive the crime again and again,” she said in the guest column.

Getting started

Before purchasing cameras, Margeson said it's imperative that departments figure out what incidents they are going to record and how long that information is going to be stored, as well as a training program for the officers to cover protocol and policies.

“First of all, any department has to establish their own guidelines, their own policy in terms of when it would be used or activated,” he said. “There's no rules or guidelines out there, and there's 101 issues that need to be addressed before we go out and buy these things and put them on officers. There has to be training, and more importantly, there has to be policy determining how, when, where and under what conditions do you wear these. We would like to think that initially it would be preferable to activate them more often than not. Certainly any time any officer is responding to a call for service, any time there is a police-citizen encounter. ... That's when there is a potential for conflict.”

Finkey said the department likely will purchase the cameras this year because the expenditure is in the budget already, but whether the officers start using the cameras this year will depend on a number of issues.

The first is the law, which was amended last year to allow the use of body cameras on police officers, but there is still concern surrounding the requirements. As a result, law enforcement officials aren't sure if there will be an update this year. Finkey said he doesn't want to have to write two usage policies.

Another issue is the storage system for the borough. Storage is expensive, and Newville only has six officers, so it might not be necessary for them to have a cloud-based data storage system. But until that is all figured out, the cameras will not be put into use.

“The timeframe is based less on when we order the cameras and more on when we have an acceptable use policy in place,” Finkey said. “We're certainly not going to put the cameras into use until we have a policy that is consistent with the law and which will be acceptable to the courts.”

Reitz agreed that purchasing the cameras doesn't mean that they will immediately begin using them. And while the money is in this year's budget, he said the cameras they are leaning toward are not approved in Pennsylvania yet, so it would be pointless to purchase them and then not be able to use the cameras.

He said before they can go live with a body camera program, there are a lot of details that need to be ironed out.

“You've got to make sure you identify the problem first of all and see what has happened in Ferguson and everything,” Reitz said. “You're identifying the problem and what can help rectify the issue, and then you come up with a plan. And that of course, involves research and coming up with policies and benchmarking everything else. And then you have to make sure everything lines up and then you have to implement the plan. And then once the plan is implemented, you need to again, evaluate it.”

Safety-privacy balance

Roper said while police departments are working on getting their use policies up and running, they should ask the ACLU for help because the organization will be the one that protests anything that doesn't respect citizens' civil liberties.

She said while originally the ACLU wasn't on board with using police body cameras, after seeing the studies that confirm claims that the outcome is positive, the organization began to see the benefits. There is still the concern that police departments will jump into using body cameras instead of spending the necessary time ironing out a policy.

There is a belief that in order to have safety, people need to sacrifice their civil liberties, but Roper said that is not the case.

“Pennsylvania is a state where people's privacy is very important to us and it has been for a very long time,” she said. “Cameras can serve an important law enforcement purpose, they can also serve important police accountability purposes. But that doesn't mean because there are some good things that can come out of them that you just throw people's privacy out the window. You can do both. ... I think a lot of people think anytime you want additional security, you just have to give up any notion of any privacy.”

http://cumberlink.com/news/local/midstate-police-look-at-body-cameras-to-improve-accountability-public/article_9bd6460b-bd15-50ca-943a-0a69c7e59683.html