"News of the Week"   Daily Local & Regional NewsWatch November 2018 - Week 1

Terri Lanahan ~~~~~~~~~~ Many thanks to NAASCA's Terri Lanahan, Butte, Montana, for her research into the news that appears on the LACP & NAASCA web sites.

Va. cop faces charges in OIS after being honored for response

A grand jury charged the officer with two felony counts, aggravated malicious wounding and a firearms charge.

by Scott Daugherty, The Virginian-Pilot

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — A Portsmouth police officer shot an armed burglary suspect in the back as he fled.

When prosecutors reviewed the case, they secured indictments that could send Officer Jeremy Durocher to prison for the rest of his life.

When the police department command staff reviewed it, they named him officer of the month and gave him a medal.

“In recognition for your heroic response,” Police Chief Tonya Chapman wrote in the medal of valor commendation. “You took necessary steps to stop the threat that this suspect posed to the public and to your fellow officers at great personal risk.”

On Thursday, a grand jury charged Durocher with two felony counts, aggravated malicious wounding and a firearms charge. The indictment alleges he shot 18-year-old Deontrace Ward with the intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill.

An attorney for Ward said Friday he was not aware of the two honors bestowed on Durocher.

“If I were a citizen of the city of Portsmouth, this information would make me fearful for my life,” S.W. Dawson said, arguing it encouraged officers to shoot first and ask questions later.

"This speaks to a culture that is dangerous in that police department," said James Boyd, president of the Portsmouth NAACP. He said the police chief should choose to recognize her officers when they do good community engagement work, not shoot people.

The president of the Portsmouth Fraternal Order of Police and Durocher's attorney, however, said the awards showed prosecutors were wrong to seek charges against the officer.

“The ones that know what is happening on the front lines recognized him for valor,” defense attorney Nicholas Renninger said, adding that Commonwealth's Attorney Stephanie Morales was second-guessing a split-second decision made by an officer doing his job.

“He absolutely deserved that award,” said Sgt. Matt Crutcher of the FOP. “He did exactly what we trained him to do.”

Durocher shot Ward on Oct. 29, 2017, as he ran from a burglary in the 1100 block of Tatem Ave.

In a video recorded by Durocher's department-issued body camera, the officer yells, "He has a gun!" when he first sees Ward running from the home and later tells fellow officers the teen "waved" the gun at him. Police found a gun, but it was inside the bottom of Ward's right pant leg.

Morales stepped aside from Ward's criminal case in April, arranging for it to be handled by a special prosecutor so she could review the evidence against Durocher.

That was about two months before Chapman gave Durocher the medal and five months after Capt. Rich Springer emailed the department's sworn officers to say Durocher had been chosen over 11 other nominees as the October 2017 officer of the month.

Ward pleaded guilty in June to breaking into the home, stealing some jewelry and illegally possessing a firearm. He was sentenced to six years in prison.

In exchange for his plea, the special prosecutor agreed to drop charges that Ward brandished his firearm or assaulted Durocher.

https://www.policeone.com/lawsuit/articles/481969006-Va-cop-faces-charges-in-OIS-after-being-honored-for-response/

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Denver

Denver PD considers encrypting radio traffic

“We need to balance public safety needs and the very real need for transparency,” Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said

by Elise Schmelzer

DENVER — The public may no longer be able to listen to Denver police radio communications if the department moves forward with a proposal to encrypt all of its radios in the coming months, the latest in a string of Colorado law enforcement agencies to consider blocking the public from listening to officers and dispatchers communicate in real time.

A final decision about encryption has yet to be made, Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said. Police need the encryption to keep personal information about victims or people who call 911 from being broadcast on publicly accessible channels, he said. Police have also found suspects who have used scanners to monitor police communications to commit crime and avoid arrest, he said.

“We need to balance these public safety needs and the very real need for transparency,” Pazen said.

But encryption, if implemented, would hinder news reporters' ability to monitor breaking news situations and reduce news organizations' ability to act as watchdogs over police, representatives for news media and advocates for public access to governmental records said. As an increasing number of Colorado agencies encrypt, the public loses oversight over the law enforcement agencies they fund, they said.

“The department becomes a filter for what gets out there and what doesn't get out there,” said Jeffrey Roberts, executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.

Denver is the latest Colorado police agency to consider encrypting their communications as new technology and phone apps make it easier than ever for the public to listen. At least 28 agencies in the state — including five in the Denver metro area — already encrypt all of their radio traffic.

Radio encryption is nothing new and is commonly used during surveillance or drug operations, said Rick Myers, executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association. But new digital radio technology makes it easier and cheaper to block outside listeners.

“It is problematic during a time when policing is trying to rebuild community trust to introduce elements that create barriers with the public,” Myers said in an email. “However, the balance must be officer safety, protecting privacy rights … and effective delivery of service.”

“This isn't a black and white, right or wrong issue,” he said. “It is complex.”

STRIKING A BALANCE

Police in Thornton, Arvada, Aurora, Lakewood, Westminster, Greeley and Fort Collins have already encrypted their radios. Police scanners in Longmont went silent at the end of September while the police tested a “pilot program” of the encryption. The pilot program has no end date. Broomfield police submitted a memo to their city council in September outlining their plans to encrypt. Loveland also has considered encryption.

No specific incident prompted Denver police to consider encryption, Pazen said. Instead, department leaders thought the opening of a new 911 communications center would be a good time to implement the change, if desired. Denver police already use encrypted channels for investigations and other sensitive operations, but most communication takes place on the public transmissions.

Pazen reached out to his commanders while considering the decision and asked whether public access to radio traffic had created challenges for them.

Wanted persons and suspects have been caught using scanner technology, he said. And information about victims involved in sensitive crimes, like domestic violence, was broadcast.

“I was a little bit surprised that we had many different examples of how this information is out there being used,” he said.

Pazen acknowledged that encrypting the radio channels would create concerns about transparency, he said. That's why he invited representatives from news associations to a meeting on Monday to discuss potential solutions. He said it was premature to discuss what some of those solutions might be.

“We're not just forcing this through,” he said.

If the department moves forward with encryption, the radios would go silent to the public in the next six months as the new 911 communications center opens and the radios are programmed, Pazen said.

The Denver Fire Department is not planning to encrypt its tactical radio channels used for daily operations, department spokesman Greg Pixley said. However, firefighters would have to use the police department's encrypted channels if they want to communicate between the two agencies.

The recent growth in agencies using encryption is due to two factors, Myers, of the chiefs association, said.

Agencies are switching to modern digital systems that make encryption cheaper and easier. Simultaneously, the introduction of hundreds of smart phone apps that allow people to listen to radio traffic through the internet anywhere in the country means that more people are listening in, Myers said.

The discussion around encryption is not new to law enforcement, said Chris Johnson, director of County Sheriffs of Colorado. He personally opposed switching to encryption while he worked as sheriff of Otero County because he believed “the public had a right to hear part of the traffic,” he said. But he also understood the argument that some information shouldn't be transmitted.

“There's an argument on both sides in my personal opinion,” he said, noting that the sheriffs association had not taken an official stance on the issue.

Nothing in particular prompted Broomfield police to seek encryption, police spokeswoman Joleen Reefe said. Instead, it was a culmination of events, including when news reporters in 2017 used information from police radios in stories about the murder of a 4-year-old boy before investigators were ready to release that information, she said.

If Broomfield police encrypt their radios — which would cost about $230,000 — reporters and the public can instead look to the department's social media for information, Reefe said.

“The information will be put out in a timely manner on our social media channels,” Reefe said. “In my mind, timely can be anywhere from 10 minutes to 35 or 40 minutes”

But relying on official news releases, whether on social media or email, is problematic for news reporters, media representatives said.

PRESS OVERSIGHT

Since Longmont's radios were encrypted in late September, Longmont Times-Call reporter Madeline St. Amour has struggled to track fast-moving public safety issues in her community. The Longmont newspaper is owned by the same parent company that owns The Denver Post.

Earlier this month, a man pointed a gun at a woman in Boulder and stole her car. The man then drove to Longmont, where law enforcement noticed the car and attempted to pull it over. Instead, the driver fled and then crashed into another vehicle in a residential area before running away through the neighborhood. Longmont High School and a hospital were put on lock out. Police set up a perimeter and searched the area, but didn't find the suspect, who has not been arrested.

The only reason St. Amour knew about the chase and manhunt is because she picked up traffic on the Boulder County Sheriff's Office radios. Had they not responded, she might not have known until police posted about it 40 minutes later.

“I've probably missed some things I don't know about,” she said. “And there's definitely things we got late.”

Scanners have long been used by reporters to monitor breaking news and respond to incidents quickly, said Jill Farschman, CEO of the Colorado Press Association. The public expects relevant information quickly. While news organizations do not typically report directly off of police radio traffic without confirmation — as is policy at The Denver Post — the chatter can help reporters know what questions to ask about an incident.

“We don't expect to find out about a fire or a police shooting or a natural disaster three days later,” she said.

Agencies communicating through social media and press releases is helpful but does not replace professional reporting, she said. For example, if a police officer shoots and kills someone, it's important that a reporter be able to be at the scene and ask questions, she said. Otherwise, information is released to the public on the police department's timetable. The department also then has more control over what information is released.

“People on the face of it may be quite satisfied with a press release,” she said. “But when things get dicey and if there are conflicting accounts, or any kind of controversy, that's not going to be the case.”

Relying on departments to post information on social media or in a news release also allows them to choose what is worth telling the public, said Roberts with the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.

“What if they don't?” he said. “The department becomes a filter for what gets out there and what doesn't get out there.”

SOLUTIONS

Colorado legislators considered a bill earlier this year that would have set guidelines for encryption, but it ultimately failed in the face of law enforcement opposition.

The bill would have banned law enforcement agencies from encrypting all of their channels and also would have made it a crime to listen to police radio traffic while committing a crime.

It's possible a similar bill to create a standard statewide policy could be introduced in the upcoming legislative session, Farschman said. The representative who sponsored the bill, Republican Rep. Kevin Van Winkle, did not respond for a request for comment for this story.

Other cities have tried different methods to address the concerns of police and the public. Police in Lincoln, Neb., published an unedited online feed that was delayed by 10 minutes. Some cities, like Pueblo, gave news organizations scanners that allowed them to listen to the encrypted radios.

“That certainly helps, because the news media are the eyes and ears of the public,” Roberts said. “It also raises other issues. Who gets those? Who's a journalist? It's not always a question that's easy to answer.”

Roberts said he wasn't sure how laws that protect public access to government records applied to live radio communications. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press wrote in 2012 that there was no federal law protecting the public's access to police radio channels.

Along with reporters, encryption also would block an avid community of radio enthusiasts who tune in to track police activity in their neighborhoods.

Curt Mann is a scanner enthusiast and runs a business programming radios. He said it's hard to tell how many people in the Denver metro area have their own personal scanners, but said it must be in the thousands. And that doesn't count those who use online feeds.

Mann, an Aurora Fire Department dispatcher who retired 10 years ago, said police departments benefit from having people listen to their radio communications. It helps people understand the day-to-day work of police and to see how busy they are.

“Would you hire an officer that you couldn't supervise?” he said. “That's what they're asking the public to do. They're asking for us to pay them to do a job that we can't supervise.”

“These departments are all saying, ‘We want to have transparency,'” Mann said. “Saying it and doing it are different things.”

https://www.policeone.com/colorado/articles/481951006-Denver-PD-considers-encrypting-radio-traffic/

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Oregon

Report: Portland police needs to diversify its ranks

Police Chief Danielle Outlaw penned an open letter agreeing with the report's findings

by PoliceOne Staff

PORTLAND, Ore. — At 83 percent white, Portland police are struggling to recruit minority officers, according to a report from the Portland Independent Police Review.

Officials suggested the struggle may stem from lack of information, KATU reported.

“The bureau does not have data that helps them identify barriers to [minorities] getting hired,” director of the Independent Police Review Constantine Severe told KATU.

When researchers tried to compare the bureau's hiring practices with federal guidelines, they found they lacked sufficient information to do so.

"The Bureau of Human Resources and the police bureau's personnel division, they need to have better communication on what the police bureau needs to identify and develop diverse candidates and what are possible limitations in sharing information," Severe said.

The report made the following recommendations for Portland police officials:

Engage with the Bureau of Human Resources to discuss how applicant data can be provided to meet racial equity goal

Purchase and create a database to track candidates through the hiring process

Create a data-informed review process to review the hiring process through an equity lens

Survey applicants to identify potential quality-related barriers

Police Chief Danielle Outlaw penned an open letter agreeing with the report's findings and announced the department has been working on diversification efforts, KATU reported.

While more minority officers would help community relations, numbers aren't the problem, according to the president of Portland's NAACP chapter.

“African-Americans, or people period, see police as not black or white, they see them as part of the system, the occupation,” E.D. Mondaine told KATU. “They see them as blue.”

For Mondaine, positive change will come in the form of better training and policy reform.

“To legislate in better training and policy changes and the sensitivity towards communities of color and culture, I think, would be a much better plan,” he said.

According to city data, Portland police have made some progress over the years. Almost a decade ago, the department consisted of 87 percent white officers; currently the department is 83 percent white.

https://www.policeone.com/hiring/articles/481965006-Report-Portland-police-needs-to-diversify-its-ranks/

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OPINION

My husband's suicide: Recognizing predictors of police suicide

In order to survive and thrive in the law enforcement culture, my husband felt he could not afford to be vulnerable

by Kim Colegrove, contributor to In Public Safety

Last year, more law enforcement officers died from suicide than in the line-of-duty. Sadly, suicide rates are thought to be much higher than reported – it's widely accepted that police suicide is woefully under-reported, especially when counting those – like my husband – who commit suicide after retiring.

My husband, David Colegrove, was a law enforcement officer for 30 years. He killed himself in 2014, less than three months after he retired. Since his suicide, I've learned a lot about trauma, post-traumatic stress, secondary trauma, hypervigilance and the common predictors of suicide among law enforcement professionals and other first responders.

First and foremost, I've realized that my husband and I were sitting smack dab in the middle of all of that, and we didn't even know it. David carried a tremendous amount of trauma that had roots in his early years, grew exponentially throughout his police career and affected all areas of his life.

THE IMPACTS OF TRAUMA

Trauma happens when someone experiences or witnesses abuse, victimization, neglect, loss, violence and disasters. Unfortunately, the majority of first responders experience some kind of trauma during their career and it can be toxic to them mentally and emotionally.

In my husband's first year of policing, when he was only 21 years old, he was involved in a shooting and someone died. He was called into the police station, where his badge and gun were taken away and he was sent home. For days he did not know what was going to happen. Then he got a call telling him he had been cleared and should report to roll call the next day. And that was that. Back to work. No counseling, no conversation and no support of any kind.

In the years that followed, the untreated and unprocessed trauma caused David to experience reoccurring stress symptoms, which he was intermittently able to numb ­­­– typically with alcohol. Over time, accumulated stress and trauma grew so overwhelming and so powerful that it infiltrated his personality, turning an otherwise great guy into an angry, paranoid, cynical character, or an emotional wreck who could not stop crying.

These stress-induced symptoms ultimately left my husband unable to cope with change, uncertainty, or the most basic daily challenges.

THE DARK SIDE OF THE LIGHT OF MY LIFE

It has taken me a long time to summon the courage to speak honestly about my husband, his issues and our struggles. David was a very proud and private man, so telling his secrets feels like a betrayal of sorts.

I don't want to let strangers into the dark corners of our life together. I'd much rather talk about the good times, and there were plenty of those. Anyone who knew us knew that we loved each other deeply and shared an intimate friendship that I may never know again. But when I think about keeping the truth to myself and ignoring all the bad things, I think about those officers who are living with such pain today, right now, and I know I have to tell the truth in hopes that they may avoid the same fate as my husband.

The truth is, there was a dark side to David that cast a shadow on our otherwise sunny life – like a murky figure lurking in the background. When David got emotionally triggered by anger or felt threatened in any way, this dark figure would step out of the shadows and take over. This happened rarely, but when it did, it was intense.

That dark guy was never violent towards me, but he was angry and hateful and completely out of control. After each “episode” had subsided, David was embarrassed, ashamed and apologetic. And even though these episodes were awful, I felt so sorry for my husband because it was clear he was full of pain. I believe this dark alter ego developed as a result of years of unresolved trauma and suffering.

THE VULNERABILITY PARADOX

I observed and endured a lot of dysfunction as a result of my husband's unresolved trauma. This is extremely difficult for me to admit because I feel vulnerable exposing the underbelly of my imperfect private life. I guess I'm afraid of being judged.

As I identify this feeling of vulnerability within myself, I realize this is the very fear that gripped my husband and kept him from seeking the help he needed. I have deep compassion for this man who, in order to survive and thrive in the law enforcement culture, felt he could not afford to be vulnerable.

That's the tangled web, isn't it? Officers are hurting or are scared, but they want people to think they're okay. Everyone else seems to be doing just fine. If officers are honest about their struggles, if they say they need help, others may think they are weak or broken or crazy. Not to mention the fact that officers could face demotion or dismissal from their job. So, they stay quiet. And they suffer.

The deeper I get into my work with first responders, the more I realize how important it is for me to let my guard down and speak the truth about my husband's problems and our mostly awesome, but sometimes awful, life together. There are too many people suffering in silence and WAY too many people dying. I hope that David's story – our story – will shine a light on this reality so others won't have to endure the same pain and tragedy.

THE UNRAVELING

In the year leading up to my husband's death, his mental health became increasingly worse. His decision to retire after 30 years triggered a surge of anxiety, and although he had spent two years carefully crafting a new business venture with a partner, David was terrified of the uncertainty of civilian life and wallowed in thoughts about worst-case scenarios.

In hindsight, there were all kinds of warning signs during that year. David's anxiety intensified and the “episodes,” which were almost always alcohol-induced, became more frequent. The dark guy surfaced more often and brought with him fear, worry, angst, paranoia and irrational behavior.

David's last day at work was Friday, September 5, 2014. On Saturday we had his retirement party. On Sunday he had a full-blown anxiety attack, and by the following week his anxiety sent him to the emergency room. This kicked off two months of intense inpatient and outpatient treatment and the slew of prescription medications did not help. In fact, they made things worse.

He barely made it through Thanksgiving dinner because the anxiety was so intense that he could not sit still, or focus, or even carry on a normal conversation. Two days later, David drove to the back of our neighborhood, sat in his truck, and shot himself.

COMMONALITIES AMONG POLICE SUICIDE VICTIMS

If you or someone you know is experiencing the following symptoms, especially if multiple symptoms are concurrent or repetitive, please seek help immediately:

Chronic stress

Depression

Anxiety

Anger

Intense irritability

Aggression

Alcohol Abuse/alcoholism

Drug Use/addiction

Hopelessness

Isolation/withdrawal

Suicide Ideation

Talk of suicide

Don't hesitate. Don't wait. Don't let your pride get in the way. Reach out to someone and tell them you need help, then accept the help, and do whatever it takes to feel better and live better. Know that what you're experiencing today is treatable, you can recover from this, you can feel better and you can go on to live your best life. I only wish that I had the knowledge I have today about the impacts of trauma and the treatment options available to have gotten the help for David that he needed and deserved.

https://www.policeone.com/amu/articles/479302006-My-husbands-suicide-Recognizing-predictors-of-police-suicide/

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Wasnington State

Wash. city ends gun sales by police

The Spokane Police Department has sold 311 firearms since 2011, spokesman Officer John O'Brien said Yesterday at 9:03 AM

by Martha Bellisle

SPOKANE, Wash. — The City Council in Spokane, Washington, has passed an ordinance prohibiting police from selling confiscated firearms, citing an Associated Press investigation that found that some guns sold by law enforcement were used in new crimes.

"Disposing of long guns and assault rifles is a sensible approach," Councilwoman Candace Mumm told The Associated Press in an email after the 6-1 vote on Monday night. "Instead of spending time recycling weapons, our police staff can get back to the primary mission of solving crimes and protecting the public."

The Spokane Police Department has sold 311 firearms since 2011, spokesman Officer John O'Brien said. The AP investigation went back to 2010, which included 25 sold that year and brought Spokane's total to 336 since 2010. The department sold its confiscated long guns through an auction house in Post Falls, Idaho, he said. The agency had been destroying forfeited handguns under an ordinance passed in 1993.

The Spokane City Council is the second political entity to order a ban on law enforcement gun sales, citing the AP's investigation into 6,000 guns sold by law enforcement between 2010 and 2017.

The Metropolitan King County Council passed an ordinance on Oct. 2 that prohibits the sheriff's office from selling forfeited firearms.

"While the practice of selling these firearms back into private hands is legal, a yearlong Associated Press analysis published in January 2018 found more than a dozen firearms sold by law enforcement agencies in Washington since 2010 later became evidence in new criminal investigations," the council said in its report supporting the ordinance. "The report noted that weapons auctioned by the Washington State Patrol, Kitsap, Pierce and Thurston counties and the Aberdeen, Bonney Lake and Longview police departments were used in the commission of crimes or to commit suicide."

The King County Sheriff's office has been destroying forfeited guns, but the ordinance ensures that practice continues, Council Chair Joe McDermott said.

The guns sold by Spokane police included Winchester .22-caliber rifles, Remington 12-gauge shotguns, a Colt AR-15, a Bulgarian-made AK47-style rifle, a "Romar assault rifle" and several Norinco SKS, 7.62 x 39 mm semi-automatic rifles. One of the Norincos sold for $180, according to police records.

Between 2011 and 2018, the forfeited firearms sales generated $16,787, according to the ordinance. The sales ranged from $633 to about $7,488 in any given year, the ordinance said.

"The books show just a few thousand dollars a year are netted out after paying for the auction fees and the 10 percent fee to the state," Mumm said before the vote. "This amount does not take into account the expenses that are incurred by the police department for staff time to secure, catalog, process, transport and document the weapons. Nor does it account for the trade and fund balances.

"We may actually be costing the city coffers by reselling and recycling the guns."

Several members of the public spoke against the ordinance based on their support for the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. But Phyllis Holmes, who was on the Spokane City Council when it passed the original measure requiring the destruction of handguns, supported the plan.

When the council passed that ordinance 6-1 in 1993, it conveyed the panel's "determination to reduce the level of violent crime associated with firearms," Holmes said. "Circumstances were a little different then. We didn't see on the streets the kinds of weapons that we now see."

"It has troubled me the past few years that we didn't include all guns," Holmes said. "We perhaps weren't thinking forward enough in terms of what might happen. Passage of this measure tonight would bring consistency to our position on the management of confiscated weapons."

Without further discussion, the council passed the ordinance, which states: "The City of Spokane intends to do all it can to prevent and reduce violent crime in Spokane and has determined that destroying all seized or forfeited firearms rather than reselling them to the public or to gun dealers is a simple, sensible and effective way to reduce access to firearms and help reduce and prevent gun violence."

https://www.policeone.com/gun-legislation-law-enforcement/articles/481988006-Wash-city-ends-gun-sales-by-police/

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Indiana

Boy battling cancer asks for police patches from across US

Jeremiah Derks, 12, became a fan of police when officers visited and made him an honorary deputy

by PoliceOne Staff

KOKOMO, Ind. — Deputies who visited 12-year-old Jeremiah Derks didn't think they were inspiring a future officer. They just thought they were doing a good deed for a boy battling cancer.

But those officers did more than brighten Jeremiah's day — they changed his life, CBS4 reported.

Now Jeremiah, who was diagnosed with cancer in July and is currently undergoing chemotherapy, hopes to become a cop himself one day. In the meantime, though, he has another goal: To collect as many police patches from as many departments as he can.

It started when a Kokomo cop brought Jeremiah a patch during a visit. After his parents posted about the gift online, police from near and far stepped up to support him by sending patches from their own departments.

“I feel like those cops are here with me,” Jeremiah told CBS4.

Jeremiah's parents are grateful for the outpouring of kindness.

“We can't be more thankful because we honestly needed the help with him to keep him upbeat and positive,” Alisha Derks told CBS4.

If you'd like to send Jeremiah a patch, you can do so at the following address: 229 Luke Court Kokomo, Indiana 46901.

https://www.policeone.com/police-heroes/articles/481963006-Boy-battling-cancer-asks-for-police-patches-from-across-US/

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San Francisco

Community Policing Strategic Plan

by William “Bill” Scott, Chief of Police, and David Lazar, Commander, Community Engagement Division - San Francisco Police Department

Recent decades have seen a steady evolution in the expectations of and demands on police officers. Highly publicized use-of-force incidents and officer-involved shootings have exacerbated a mistrust of police and highlighted the widening gap felt between officers and the communities they serve. While law enforcement has historically been focused on pursuing criminal offenders, communities are increasingly demanding a new approach to policing. Rather than a model of a department separate from the community, acting as a peacekeeping force, communities expect community-oriented policing that emphasizes collaborative relationships between officers and community members to solve local problems.

It was in this context that the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) requested assistance from the Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) to address significant community concerns about the status of policing in San Francisco. In 2016, the COPS Office issued a report outlining 94 findings and 272 associated recommendations for the SFPD across five categories: use of force, bias, community policing, accountability, recruitment and hiring, and personnel practices.

The COPS Office definition of community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies that support the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime.

This approach to law enforcement involves the whole community by giving some responsibility for creating positive outcomes to the community members. Many law enforcement agencies have had community policing programs for years, but today's environment requires that community policing evolve beyond a single program or stand-alone policy into a foundational principle for any agency's operation.

Developing partnerships with San Francisco communities, a key tenet of community policing, has long been a stated goal of the SFPD, and the department has a history of implementing innovative, albeit stand-alone, programs to meet it.3 These programs include partnerships with city agencies—such as the Departments of Homelessness and Supportive Housing and Public Works, to address systemic homelessness through a unified command center—and activities focused on building relationships with specific communities. Two of the more successful outreach programs are Chinatown Night Out, which focuses on connecting to San Francisco's community of monolingual residents who are often reluctant to interact with law enforcement, and the Police Activities League, which allows youth and officers a space to spend time together in an informal setting. To build even deeper relationships with a small group of youth, the department holds an annual trip to Ghana. Operation Genesis, as it is known, is an opportunity for high school students from low-income neighborhoods to experience a culture far removed from San Francisco. Along with three SFPD officers, the ten chosen students spend several weeks studying Ghana and raising money for the nine-day trip.

However, the COPS Office's assessment notes that these community policing activities lacked a unifying strategy and identified the need for a “comprehensive, strategic community policing plan” that would align community policing policies and procedures across the department.4 Specifically, Recommendation 40.1 dictates that “the SFPD should develop a strategic community policing plan that identifies goals, objectives, and measurable outcomes for all units.”5 Such a guiding document can enable the department to ensure that work across the organization supports the philosophy of community policing, as it continues to evolve to meet today's law enforcement needs.

Community policing is more than any one program or partnership. It is a philosophy that emphasizes a guardian mind-set wherein officers see themselves as part of the community they serve, working side-by-side with community members to create a safe, livable, and vibrant community. It asserts that a major goal of any law enforcement agency should not only be to bring offenders to justice, but to actively improve the lives of everyone that lives, works, or visits in the community. True to the spirit of community policing, the SFPD formed a working group to lead the strategic planning process and fulfill Recommendation 40.1. The group consisted of individuals representing nonprofits, community leaders and activists, sworn officers of all ranks, and civilian members of the department. The resulting plan, created by these diverse voices and experiences, will be used as a guide for SFPD's policing policies, practices, and values as they work alongside local communities to improve the city. Not only will this document guide the department for years to come, but the process of its creation represents the next stage of law enforcement's evolution, demonstrating how departments and community members can collaborate to solve important local challenges.

Strategic Plan Development

Participation in the working group was open to any member of the public who wished to join. However, recommendations for specific community members to invite were solicited from district supervisors and captains of district stations. Over the course of 10 months from summer 2017 through spring 2018, the working group met 15 times to review research, analyze results, and aggregate input from a range of sources into a guiding document for the department. While nearly 100 people were invited to each meeting, there were generally 20–30 community members, organizational representatives, and SFPD members of all ranks in attendance.

Developing a vision of community policing in San Francisco began with an initial assessment of its current strengths, challenges, and values, conducted as a brainstorming session within the working group. This provided a common vision of what the resulting plan should achieve, needs it should address, and the group's priorities. The desire for increased trust and personal relationships between officers and community members was raised consistently, as were issues and challenges that are particularly relevant to San Francisco such as homelessness, cost of living, and changing demographics.

The working group next spent several weeks researching community policing best practices from departments around the United States, as well as from agencies in several other countries. Working group members developed a list of jurisdictions of interest and researched how those law enforcement agencies have incorporated community policing philosophies into their work. Synthesizing the findings from nearly 40 sources revealed trends ranging from common guiding values to specific strategies that have shown promising results. One significant finding was that although there is widespread agreement that current policing metrics are inadequate to measure community policing's impact, developing effective alternatives is very difficult.

It was critical to incorporate feedback from the San Francisco and SFPD communities beyond the working group. A qualitative survey regarding attitudes about and visions for community policing was sent to over 500 representatives of local nonprofits, neighborhood groups, and business associations across the city, chosen by the working group members. Also included in the survey recipients were members of all Community Police Advisory Boards (CPABs) and Chief's Advisory Forums. These groups comprise community members that advise department leadership about district station and department-wide policies and work with officers to solve local issues. Recipients responded on behalf of their organization and the populations each serves, answering questions about what community policing should achieve, what works, what does not work, and expected outcomes of effective community policing. A corresponding survey was sent to more than 100 members of the SFPD, 7 from each of 10 district stations, as well as each bureau's captain.

Responses were received from nearly 200 individuals representing 140 different organizations, every Community Police Advisory Board (CPAB), and 50 self-identified neighborhoods. In addition, 66 responses were received from the SFPD member survey. Every response was manually reviewed and coded to enable analysis of significant themes and recommendations. While the survey was not designed as a scientific review of city-wide opinion, it revealed invaluable feedback from organizations across the city about how law enforcement can adapt to work more closely with local communities.

The working group took the findings from these three sources: initial assessment, best practices, and the community and SFPD surveys, and synthesized them into a vision and values statement, five goals, and 21 objectives to guide the department's community policing activities moving forward. The goals and objectives are designed to be specific and measurable, so that the department and community can both gauge whether they are met.

As mentioned, the best practices research effort found little public information about how to effectively measure community policing outcomes, beyond costly and time-intensive surveys. Therefore, developing a list of specific metrics that track success was a crucial output of this process. The working group first developed a list of metrics and data sources already in use that align with at least one of the new objectives. Only 29 were found, and even those span only 15 of the 21 objectives. To supplement those, they created a list of 133 possible metrics, which SFPD departments can refer to as a resource as they develop their own and measure how well their specific duties support the new goals and objectives.

The extensive research and brainstorming of the group also resulted in a database of specific community policing strategies that came to light throughout the process. These ideas, along with important considerations for their implementation, were included with the Strategic Plan to give the department and district stations a starting point when developing their community engagement plans. For community members unable to participate in the working group but interested in understanding the plan's development, meeting notes, research documents, and other process elements were made available both throughout the year and after the plan was completed.

The plan's development process was guided by the community policing values it aims to promote. Not only collaboration, trust, and problem-solving, but a commitment to transparency. Open meetings and consistent communication defined this process and modeled the type of partnership that the department's work will embody moving forward.

Stakeholder Engagement

The Strategic Plan was developed through a close partnership between police officers and community members. However, as with any department policy, it requires investment from leadership to succeed. Captains and command staff were given an opportunity to provide input on the vision, goals, and objectives during their development and therefore felt ownership in the resulting document. Other senior leadership, including the police chief, were presented with an opportunity to provide feedback before the plan was finalized as well. During the approval process, the chief, command staff, police commission, and other department senior management could see their input reflected in the document and understand the process that led to this plan.

The Strategic Plan's development process was designed to reflect a central tenet of community policing: building trusting relationships to foster collaboration between the community and the department and address difficult systemic challenges. Bridging the gap between community members and officers requires direct interpersonal interactions and a concerted effort to understand each other. The individuals involved in the working group reported that having a space to meet and listen to each other created deeper respect and trust.

Community buy-in is necessary for any strategic plan to succeed, and the department is working to build support from the community beyond those individuals who participated in the planning process. Working group members have proposed a neighborhood-centric marketing campaign, which includes presentations and discussion sessions in which the same people who developed the plan can talk with community members about the process, why and how decisions were made, and how they think it will improve the lives of all San Franciscans.

Looking to the Future

This process began with an effort to understand the department's current efforts related to community policing and identify areas for growth and how the organization can evolve to meet the community's needs. It also acknowledges that important work is already underway in San Francisco, including crisis intervention team trainings being rolled out to every SFPD member, and a minimum set of 14 community policing activities every district station must perform annually. With the new Strategic Plan, the department can expand these programs and develop new ones to fill any gaps. For example, the model of block-by-block beat assignments implemented by one district station, which received positive feedback from residents and merchants, can be adopted by other captains and spread across the city.

Today's world of ever-advancing technology and instant communication presents a novel environment for police departments. Standing apart from residents as outside observers and peacekeepers is not sufficient to create safe, healthy communities. Community members want to know their officers and have their officers know them. There is an explicit desire from the community that departments be accountable to, transparent with, and invested in the community. In doing so, the department earns the community's trust. The resulting relationships are invaluable when responding to calls for service and performing other law enforcement work.

Building community policing philosophies into every aspect of a department is no small task. It requires time, collaboration, active listening, and open-mindedness. Imbuing not only the policy, but also the behaviors of individual officers, with the spirit of community policing requires a change in how officers and departments see their role in society. While officers used to be viewed as warriors, today's world demands guardians.

Community policing also emphasizes problem-solving, specifically partnering with community members and organizations to both identify and develop solutions to local issues. The Strategic Plan was designed to give bureaus and district stations guidelines to direct their work, while retaining enough flexibility to focus on issues that are particularly relevant to their neighborhoods. This allows community members to take an active role in building a vibrant community that they feel ownership in. As the department moves forward into a new era of policing, this plan will shape how policy is made, officers are trained, and SFPD members interact with their communities.

Important Lessons

Just as modern policing requires law enforcement agencies to work closely with their communities, agencies must learn from each other as they strive for continuous improvement. Several important lessons emerged from this process that may be useful to those exploring how to build a community policing plan:

• Development of the plan must be a true partnership. Community policing necessitates that the community itself have a voice and so should officers of all ranks. Soliciting ideas from these groups separately will not yield the same results, and meetings in which one group or the other does not participate will be unproductive.

• Beginning the process by outlining desired outcomes from community policing will serve as a guide for the work. It is very difficult to define a process if the end goal is not articulated. For example, the metrics developed by the working group focus on the changes they would like to see, rather than specific actions they would like the SFPD to take. “Percentage of community members who feel heard”; “Percentage change in number of use of force incidents, by race/ethnicity”; and “Number of officers who say they have personal relationships with community members” are just a few of the 133 possible metrics they brainstormed.

• Diverse viewpoints (by demographics, geography, politics, background, opinion of the police, and more) are critical for creating a plan that can be accepted as legitimate by the community.

• Transparency and an open, accessible process are just as important as the resulting plan in earning the community's trust; the act alone of creating a community policing plan is not enough. The community members involved in creating the plan should provide input about how to make the process as inviting and available as possible.

The SFPD used many community policing strategic plans as models in creating its own and is interested in sharing details of the process; lessons learned; and the final goals, objectives, metrics, and strategies with other departments that seek to progress with their own plans. Those interested in exploring any part of the process or using the outcomes to inform their own community policing work should reach out to the SFPD Community Engagement Division at sfpdcommunityrelations@sfgov.org.

http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/community-policing-strategic-plan/

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New York City

"Build the Block" Neighborhood Safety Meetings

Neighborhood policing seeks to close the divide between cops and community. But it can only succeed with your support.

That's why the NYPD has been holding a series of local meetings. These "Build the Block" neighborhood safety meetings are strategy sessions between local police officers and the people they serve. The meetings have two simple goals: identify the public safety challenges of a specific neighborhood and discuss potential solutions.

The department is taking another important step towards improving trust, collaboration, and safety through neighborhood policing. But we can't do it without you.

Join the discussion about issues in your community. This is your opportunity to have your voice heard about specific safety and policing challenges in your own neighborhood. To locate a meeting in your neighborhood, go to buildtheblock.nyc.

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/buildtheblock.page

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California

The Latest: Military police help evacuate wildfire victims

by The Associated Press - 11/09/18

PARADISE, Calif. -- The Latest on California's wildfires (all times local):

10:20 a.m.

A California National Guard official says 100 military police are headed to Northern California to help evacuate people from a wildfire.

Maj. Gen. David Baldwin says other military personnel are studying satellite imagery to assess the scope of the damage and map the fire.

The ferocious fire near the Northern California town of Paradise has grown to nearly 110 square miles (285 square kilometers).

Paradise is 180 miles (289 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco.

Smoke from the fire has made the air unhealthy in the San Francisco Bay Area.

___

10:10 a.m.

Fire officials say evacuations due to a raging Southern California wildfire are expected to reach about 148,000 and structural losses are expected to be significant.

The so-called Woolsey Fire burning west of Los Angeles has surpassed 15 square miles (39 square kilometers) Friday morning and is continuing to grow.

Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief Dave Richardson says 45,000 people in Ventura County and 43,000 more in Los Angeles County were ordered to evacuate overnight.

Richardson estimates another 60,000 people will likely have to evacuate because the fire jumped U.S. 101 early Friday and is pushing toward the coast.

He says the fire's pace forced firefighters to focus on life-protection rather than saving structures and he expects that yet-to-be-determined number to be significant.

Another fire to the west has burned more than 9 square miles (23 square kilometers) in Ventura County but has slowed since reaching the footprint of a fire stripped away vegetation in 2013.

___

10 a.m.

A California fire official says six major fires are burning around the state, and characterized three of them as "critical."

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director Ken Pimlott said Friday firefighters are focused on saving lives and are still rescuing people from fires.

The fire near the Northern California town of Paradise has grown to nearly 110 square miles (285 square kilometers).

Another fire northwest of Los Angeles has been swept southward toward the ocean by strong Santa Ana winds.

Evacuation orders were issued for residents of the beachside community of Malibu.

___

9:55 a.m.

A New Hampshire woman says she and her brother are frantically trying to get information about their 83-year-old mother, who lives in the California town of Magalia near the devastated town of Paradise.

Diane Forsman says Jean Forsman can't walk and is on oxygen.

She says: "We're trying to remain hopeful until we get word. We don't know what the outcome will be."

She and her brother posted on Facebook and Twitter Thursday asking if anyone had seen their mother. They tried calling 911 and other numbers. They were told that officials had a list of 300 to 400 welfare checks to do.

Finally they got word through Facebook that someone in her neighborhood had picked up a disabled woman but they haven't been able to confirm whether it's their mom.

___

9:40 a.m.

The director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services says fires across California have forced 157,000 people from their homes.

Mark Ghilarducci provided the figure at a news briefing on Friday.

Fires are burning in Northern and Southern California.

The fire near the Northern California town of Paradise has grown to nearly 110 square miles (285 square kilometers).

Another fire northwest of Los Angeles has been swept southward toward the ocean by strong Santa Ana winds. Evacuation orders were issued for residents of the beachside community of Malibu

___

9:30 a.m.

The director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services says a fire in Northern California has claimed lives.

Mark Ghilarducci said Friday the number of deaths was not known. He said there are also injuries.

He says the magnitude of the destruction is unbelievable and heartbreaking.

The fire near the town of Paradise has grown to nearly 110 square miles (285 square kilometers).

___

9:15 a.m.

Some people who escaped a roaring wildfire in northern California spent the night at a church in the nearby city of Chico.

Residents of the town of Paradise told harrowing tales Friday of a slow motion escape from a fire so close they could feel it inside their vehicles as they sat stuck in terrifying gridlock.

They say it was like the entire town of 27,000 residents decide to leave at once.

Fire surrounded the evacuation route and drivers panicked, some crashing and others abandoning their vehicles to try their luck on foot.

Many of the rural residents have propane tanks on their property and the tanks were exploding.

Resident Karen Auday says "they were going off like bombs."

___

8:45 a.m.

Authorities have issued an unhealthy air quality alert for parts of the San Francisco Bay Area as smoke from a massive wildfire drifts south, polluting the air.

Officials say the thousands of structures in the town of Paradise, 180 miles (290 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco, were destroyed by the blaze that has charred 110 square miles (285 square kilometers). At least 40,000 people have been displaced.

The air in San Francisco Friday is hazy and the smell of smoke is overwhelming, prompting officials to declare air quality unhealthy.

They are advising older people and children to move physical activities indoors.

All people are encouraged to limit their outdoor activities.

___

8:25 a.m.

The city of Malibu has reduced the scope a mandatory evacuation order for the beachside community as a wildfire approaches.

Malibu officials initially said the order issued early Friday applied to the entire city but have now defined an area that is approximately the western two-thirds of the community.

The fire erupted Thursday northwest of Los Angeles and has been swept southward toward the ocean by strong Santa Ana winds.

___

8:20 a.m.

A fire official says a Northern California wildfire has put 15,000 homes and 2,000 commercial buildings at "imminent danger of burning."

Capt. Koby Johns of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection also said Friday that about 2,000 buildings have already been destroyed. He described those numbers as "very elastic."

Johns says heavy winds continue to drive the fire but winds are expected to ease Friday afternoon, which could give firefighters an opportunity to start containing it.

___

7:50 a.m.

A California fire official says a blaze in Northern California nearly quadrupled in size overnight.

Capt. Scott McLean of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says the fire near the town of Paradise has grown to nearly 110 square miles (285 square kilometers).

___

7:25 a.m.

A raging Southern California wildfire has triggered a mandatory evacuation order for the entire beachside city of Malibu.

The fire broke out Thursday northwest of Los Angeles and roared southward, jumping the U.S. 101 freeway early Friday and sweeping into the Santa Monica Mountains.

Malibu has about 13,000 residents and lies along 21 miles (34 kilometers) of coast at the southern foot of the mountain range.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department tweets that the fire is headed to the ocean, punctuating the message with the declaration: "Imminent threat!"

___

7:15 a.m.

Officials in Northern California say a wildfire that devastated a town of 27,000 is moving north and have ordered people in two Sierra Nevada foothill communities to leave their homes.

The Butte County Sheriff's Office says an evacuation ordered was issued Friday for the small communities of Stirling City and Inskip, north of Paradise, where thousands of homes were destroyed.

Cal Fire Capt. Bill Murphy says winds have calmed down in the valley but that there are "shifting, erratic winds" with speeds of up to 45 miles per hour (72 kph) along ridge tops.

The blaze that started Thursday morning east of Paradise and decimated the town also spread to the west.

It reached the edge of Chico, a city of 90,000 people Thursday night. Murphy says firefighters were able to stop the fire at the edge of the city, where evacuation orders remained in place.

___

7 a.m.

Wildfires raging west of Los Angeles have forced school closures.

Pepperdine University has canceled classes Friday at its Malibu and Calabasas campuses. The Calabasas campus is also evacuated.

Malibu public schools are also closed.

To the west in Ventura County, Moorpark College is closed due to the impacts of fire and Wednesday night's deadly mass shooting in nearby Thousand Oaks.

California Lutheran University had already canceled Friday classes due to the shooting. Cal Lutheran says its Thousand Oaks campus is not under evacuation orders but residential students have been put on standby.

The Thousand Oaks-area Conejo Valley Unified School District also has closed all its schools.

___

6:30 a.m.

Two wildfires raging west of Los Angeles have force thousands of people to leave their homes.

The Los Angeles and Ventura County fire departments say multiple buildings have been destroyed or damage, but exact numbers are not available early Friday.

The flames are being driven by Southern California's notorious Santa Ana winds, which blow from the northeast toward the coast.

Both fires erupted Thursday afternoon and have grown rapidly.

One fire that broke out near the northeast corner of Los Angeles has roared westward, jumped U.S. 101 in the Calabasas area and is surging up the Santa Monica Mountains.

___

6:15 a.m.

Evacuations have been ordered on the edges of the Northern California city of Chico, which is about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from a town where thousands of buildings were destroyed by a fast-moving wildfire.

Capt. Scott McLean of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says flames from the blaze that devastated the town of Paradise had reached the eastern side of Chico, a city of about 90,000 people.

Authorities have said that at least two firefighters and multiple residents were injured in Paradise. McLean said Friday morning that he had no immediate update on injuries.

He says strong winds made it difficult for aircraft to drop retardant effectively on the fire.

___

12 a.m.

A fast-moving wildfire that ravaged a Northern California town Thursday sent residents racing to escape on roads that turned into tunnels of fire as thick smoke darkened the daytime sky.

A Cal Fire official said thousands of structures were destroyed.

Harrowing tales of escape and heroic rescues emerged from Paradise, where the entire community of 27,000 was ordered to evacuate. Witnesses reported seeing homes, supermarkets, businesses, restaurants, schools and a retirement home up in flames.

The fire was reported shortly after daybreak in a rural area. By nightfall, it had consumed more than 28 square miles and was raging out of control.

Authorities say at least two firefighters and multiple residents were injured.

http://amp.bnd.com/news/nation-world/national/article221407065.html

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Australia

Melbourne attack: Stabbing spree in city center was terrorism, police say

by Joshua Berlinger, CNN

(CNN) The driver of a pickup truck loaded with gas canisters stabbed three people in a Melbourne street on Friday, killing one of them in what Australian police are treating as an act of terrorism.

Witnesses reported a loud explosion from the vehicle, which burst into flames before a man emerged and began attacking people with a knife in the street, police said.

The horrifying scene was over in a matter of minutes after police shot the attacker, who died after being rushed to the hospital under police guard. One of his victims also died in the hospital.

"This is an evil and terrifying thing that has happened," Victoria State Premier Daniel Andrews said.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the knife attack through its media wing Amaq, the SITE Intelligence Group reported. CNN cannot independently verify the claim and no evidence to support it was provided through Amaq,

The incident unfolded on a busy downtown street on Friday evening. As the attacker's vehicle burst into flames, the man emerged and "engaged" with members of the public, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton told reporters Friday.

When police arrived, the man punched one of the officers through their patrol car window, Ashton told reporters Friday. He lunged at them with a knife when they got out of the vehicle. One of the officers shot him in the chest, Ashton said.

After putting out the fire in the car, authorities found what Ashton described as "barbecue-style" bottles of gasoline inside the vehicle, which prompted authorities to call the bomb response unit to the scene.

Police said they knew the identify of the suspect but declined to name him due to "operational reasons." He was known to authorities because some of his family members were "persons of interest," Ashton said.

Only after he was shot did police realize that three members of the public, all men, had been stabbed. One died in the hospital, Ashton said. Two were being treated for their injuries.

The investigation is still in its early stages, but Ashton said police do not believe there is a "ongoing threat."

'He has a knife'

Streets were closed, trams halted and nearby buildings evacuated as police rushed to the scene, which was crowded with shoppers and commuters late on Friday afternoon local time.

"It's the center of Melbourne, where a lot of the transportation changes over ... it's probably the busiest part of Melbourne and late on a Friday," said Meegan May who witnessed part incident from a nearby tram.

"It's basically a commuter hub and a central shopping district as well."

May said she was taking the tram into the city center when she heard someone shout "he has a knife." She then turned around to see a vehicle on fire.

A handful of videos and images uploaded to social media appear to show the man attempting to stab police before he is shot. "There was a massive flame and bang, just smoke and lots of people," witness Shelley Reid told CNN affiliate Nine News.

Police have asked members of the public to send images and video of the incident in order to help with their investigation.

Melbourne also would have likely had more tourists in town because of the Melbourne Cup Carnival, one of the city's most popular social events that draws visitors from around the country. Though the main race was Tuesday, there are events scheduled until Saturday.

The Friday incident took place blocks away from Flinders Street Railway Station, where a driver plowed into pedestrians last year, injuring 18.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/11/09/australia/melbourne-incident-intl/index.html

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New Zealand

Drugs from the dark net: Police target importers

Police have visited more than 80 properties around the country, in an operation targeting people importing drugs on the dark net.

The dark net (or dark web, or deep web) is the part of the internet which is not indexed by normal search engines. It is home to marketplaces for the buying and selling of drugs and distribution of child pornography but also has benign uses and can be helpful for dissenters and journalists seeking anonymity for whistleblowing. It is accessed most commonly through an encrypted browser called Tor (the onion browser).

Police said the properties were identified through information from Dutch law enforcement agencies.

"We work closely with NZ Customs and our partners in international law enforcement, and we have been successful at identifying individuals who have attempted to avoid detection by using the dark net to conduct their criminal activities," Assistant Commissioner Chambers said in a statement.

"Enforcement agencies across the world are increasingly pooling their resources and capabilities to disrupt criminal activities conducted online, and this type of international cooperation and collaboration further diminishes the illusion of anonymity offered by the dark net."

The majority of the people visited have been importing drugs like MDMA and LSD for their personal use, rather than to on-sell them for profit.

Police said the operation is focused on harm-reduction and prevention, rather than prosecutions.

"We want to help people avoid getting trapped in a downward-spiral of drug addiction - and we know that opportunities to reduce the impact of illicit drugs on our communities require multi-agency initiatives focused not only on enforcement, but on prevention, treatment, and harm reduction," Mr Chambers said.

"That is not to say that prosecutions will not be sought if further evidence is uncovered as part of our visits.

"However our primary focus is to offer advice and support to individuals and their families, and to work with our community partners to connect people to rehabilitation services where needed."

In September, police announced an additional 77 officers to boost NZ Police's capability around high tech/cyber-crime. It included a major focus on policing the dark net.

"Our message to people using the dark net is simple: the dark net is not anonymous. And if you're using the dark net to conduct criminal activity, you should think again," Mr Chambers said.

A number of formal warnings have been issued.

https://amp.rnz.co.nz/article/38625475-0d4d-438f-9afe-ddc814fce44b

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India

The Indian state where police kill with impunity

A series of alleged extra-judicial killings by police in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has raised serious concerns about its force. Sharat Pradhan and Nitin Srivastava report for the BBC.

"I got a call from the police at around 6.30am, asking if I wanted to film a gun battle going on with two criminals," says a TV journalist from Aligarh, a city in Uttar Pradesh, who has requested anonymity.

He rushed to the spot, where to his surprise he was joined by several other journalists brandishing mics and cameras.

Together, they filmed a scene that could have been out of a Bollywood film.

Live images beamed across most of India's national television channels showed policemen armed with sophisticated assault rifles, kneeling behind thick bushes and firing at a bungalow.

It's reasonably clear from the video footage that only the policemen are doing any firing.

This goes on for about 30 minutes before police enter the bungalow. The video ends here. The journalists invited to film the scene were apparently not allowed to film the removal of the bodies of the two "criminals" who had been killed.

Police say that the two men who died in the "shoot-out" were fugitives on the run after an investigation established their involvement in the murder of six people, including two Hindu priests, over the last month.

They say the two men had been spotted riding a stolen motorbike and had run inside the bungalow after being asked to stop at a checkpoint.

But the families of the men, identified as Mustakeem and Naushad, allege they were tortured and killed in custody, and the police covered it up by staging the gunfight.

Naushad's mother Shaheen told BBC Hindi: "I clearly remember it was 16 September when I returned from the fields to find my daughter weeping, surrounded by neighbours. Police took away my son and my son-in law after thrashing them mercilessly for no reason."

Her story was confirmed by neighbours in the area who say they saw policemen - some dressed in civilian clothes - enter the house, drag out the two men and start beating them before bundling them into a van and driving away.

The shootings led to huge criticism of the police force, with questions being asked about whether the "gun battle" was really a front for extra-judicial executions.

Then 10 days later, the Uttar Pradesh policemen were in the headlines again.

Thirty-eight-year-old Vivek Tiwari, a regional sales manager for Apple, was shot dead at a police checkpoint while returning home in Lucknow after a launch for the new iPhone.

He had reportedly disobeyed an order to stop, leading one of the policemen to shoot him in the face through the windscreen of his vehicle.

The officer in question, Prashant Chaudhary, said he had fired the gun in "self-defence" after Mr Tiwari tried to run him over - an explanation that was at the time readily accepted by his senior officers.

But amid mounting outrage over the incident, pressure grew on the authorities to take action.

India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh made a phone call to the state's Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, asking him to investigate. Mr Chaudhary was suspended, along with another colleague. Mr Tewari's family was awarded compensation of four million rupees ($54,492; £42,020).

However, Mr Chaudhary has been unrepentant. Along with his wife, who is also a police officer, he has been appearing on television channels defending his actions and criticising his superiors for suspending him.

Other junior police officers have also been posting messages on social media, "warning" of a repeat of an infamous police revolt in 1973.

And these are not the only incidents of lethal use of force in the state.

A few months ago, a 12-year-old boy was shot dead by an off-duty officer - police say the boy simply stepped on his foot during a wedding ceremony. And in February, a gym trainer was killed by a sub-inspector after a personal dispute.

"Such aberrations always happen, but there needs to be some deterrence. The guilty policemen should be publicly paraded in handcuffs," former state director general of police RK Pandit told the BBC, while recalling how he had handled a similar case earlier in his career.

He also questioned a decision to issue pistols to constables instead of the traditional rifles. Earlier, only sub-inspectors or higher-ranking officials could carry pistols.

This rule was changed in 2013, as it was thought rifles were too cumbersome to be carried on motorcycles.

Another former police director general, Vikram Singh, says the original state police manual specified very strict preconditions for issuing officers with weapons.

"If these norms are overlooked or altered for whatever reason, then handing over a weapon to an officer is practically giving him a licence to kill. I'm sure that recent Bollywood blockbusters which have glorified vigilante police officers also legitimises their urge to shoot first and think later," he said.

All the police officers caught up in the most recent incidents also have one thing in common. They all entered the force during a highly controversial mass recruitment which saw at least 32,000 cadets inducted under the previous state government.

The drive was marred by allegations of corruption and bribery. Subsequent inquiries showed that hundreds of the new recruits had faked their educational certificates.

The Uttar Pradesh government has said that it conducts "police encounters" to improve law and order.

What was worse, many police sources say the men were given barely any training.

A top police official who requested anonymity said: "The usual training period of nine months was cut down to six months due to shortage of space in the training establishments. And even this was carried out with so much haste that many benchmarks laid down in the police manual were bound to be compromised.

"A gun in the hands of a poorly trained officer, whose credentials are in doubt from the day of his recruitment, could easily lead to disaster."

Another major factor was the present state government giving policemen a free hand to "eradicate" crime in the state.

This has resulted in a massive upsurge of "encounters" - a commonly-used police term for alleged gun battles with criminals.

More than a 1,000 "encounters" were recorded by the state's police in the first year since Uttar Pradesh's new chief minister came to power in March 2017.

The Ghaziabad police and lawyers from the Ghaziabad district court on Thursday entered into a clash after one of the lawyers was allegedly manhandled by cops at Vijay Nagar police station .

Many of them have turned out to be small-time petty offenders, who were killed usually just days after the announcement of "rewards" for their death or capture.

Many have also asked how not even one policeman has been killed or seriously injured in so many "encounters".

The BJP-led state government has defended the police.

"When criminals are firing at the police, what can they do? Police have to fire in defence. I am committed to providing security to every citizen of Uttar Pradesh, and criminals will have no place in my state," Yogi Adityanath said at the Hindustan Times Summit in Delhi last November.

"If a criminal is openly killing people he has to be punished. Everybody has a right to live, but if somebody decides to take the right away from a person, he should be given the same treatment," he said the same year.

And despite all the recent outrage, police authorities also show little willingness to change.

"Encounters", the state's police chief OP Singh said recently, "are part of crime prevention. The fact is that this is a not a state policy, but a police strategy. We do not call it 'encounter' but 'police engagement'. We are engaged with the criminals in a very professional and strategic manner."

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-asia-india-45719940

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New Jersey

AG report on fatal police-involved shooting at Princeton Panera Bread released

TRENTON – In compliance with the Attorney General's Independent Prosecutor Directive on Police-Use-of-Force Investigations, this public statement is being issued on the findings of an investigation into the fatal police-involved shooting that occurred at Panera Bread in Princeton, N.J., on March 20, 2018.

Scott L. Mielentz, 56, of Lawrenceville, N.J., was fatally shot by two members of the New Jersey State Police SWAT unit, known as the TEAMS Unit: Trooper William Kerstetter and Trooper Joseph Trogani. The troopers shot Mielentz with M4 rifles following a four-hour standoff in the restaurant when Mielentz raised a gun and pointed it at the two troopers and other law enforcement officers. Mielentz was armed with a Crosman PFM BB Pistol. All of the law enforcement witnesses reported that they believed throughout the standoff that it was an actual firearm.

Under the Attorney General's Independent Prosecutor Directive, the use of deadly force by the state troopers was investigated by the Attorney General's Shooting Response Team, made up of investigators from the Division of Criminal Justice and the New Jersey State Police Homicide Unit, all of whom operate independently of their usual chain of command and report directly to the Director of the Division of Criminal Justice or a designee. As a result of the investigation, Director Veronica Allende of the Division of Criminal Justice determined that presentation of the police-involved shooting to a grand jury was not required under the directive because the undisputed facts indicated the use of force was justified under the law. The investigation included numerous witness interviews, video of the shooting, forensic analysis of the scene, and other evidence.

The events leading to the shooting began before 10:30 a.m. on March 20 at the Panera Bread at 136 Nassau Street, where Mielentz had arranged to meet a male friend. Mielentz began talking about suicide and told the friend he had a gun. Mielentz then drew a black pistol and shouted, “I have a gun. Everyone out.” The Princeton Police Department received a 911 call at 10:28 a.m. from a man reporting “There's a guy with a gun at Panera.” Employees and customers fled from the restaurant without injury.

Less than half an hour before Mielentz drew the gun in Panera, the Princeton Police received a 911 call from a second friend of Mielentz who reported that Mielentz sent him a text message indicating that Mielentz was going to end his life. Efforts by the police to locate Mielentz were already under way when the 911 call from Panera was received. In addition, a female friend later told police that she received a text shortly after 9 a.m. that morning from Mielentz in which he indicated he was ready to “depart this life.” Mielentz called that woman during the standoff and told her he wanted the police to shoot and kill him.

A Princeton officer was the first police officer to arrive at Panera. She went inside, where she encountered Mielentz. He pointed his gun at her and she retreated without firing. Outside, she continued to move people away. Other Princeton police officers entered the rear of the restaurant and tried to talk to Mielentz, who responded by saying “Shoot me, just shoot me.” Mielentz told the officers that he was in pain and that the government had cut off his OxyContin. He falsely claimed he was a Vietnam veteran and had killed 1,000 people during the war. Those officers described Mielentz as erratic and irrational. He ignored officer commands to drop the gun and instead pointed the gun at the officers and at his own head. The State Police TEAMS Unit and other officers responded to the scene.

A perimeter was established around the restaurant with a combination of local, county, state and federal law enforcement officers. The TEAMS Unit set up a position inside the restaurant to contain Mielentz if he began to fire his weapon in the crowded mid-town area. Other officers, including crisis negotiators, also established positions inside the restaurant. A State Police crisis negotiator and a member of the Princeton Police Department became the head negotiators. They tried to calm Mielentz and end the standoff peacefully, but he became increasingly agitated. The TEAMS officers who fired their weapons were positioned in the rear of the restaurant behind a dining booth and trash bins. The negotiators were next to those TEAMS officers. Another TEAMS Unit member in the rear of the restaurant evaluated whether he could use a stun gun on Mielentz, but determined that Mielentz was too far away.

During the four-hour standoff, negotiators used many tactics in their efforts to get Mielentz to drop the weapon and surrender. They offered him food and spoke sympathetically about his problems in order to establish a rapport. They asked if they could help him in any way, and he responded “Yes, shoot me.” Mielentz repeatedly asserted that he wanted to die and threatened to shoot an officer if the officers did not shoot him. He engaged in a cycle of agitated behavior. He would stand up, begin to raise the gun toward the officers, sit down, put the gun down, pick it up again, smoke a cigarette, and then repeat the cycle. He repeatedly put the barrel of the gun to his chin or head. Officers said he seemed to be building up his courage. He approached police several times, raising the gun a little higher each time. He told officers he would give them a five count and counted down from five. Officers repeatedly commanded “Put the gun down” and “Soldier, put that gun down.” At one point, Mielentz held up a check and told negotiators it was a $5,000 check to be given to his son when he died.

Mielentz repeated that he was a soldier and a marksman, falsely asserting again that he had killed hundreds in the military. Negotiators talked to him about his experience in the armed services and at one point said he could be an advocate for those suffering from PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder.

Law enforcement witnesses reported that Mielentz made the following statements, among others:

“Just kill me. Do it for me, guys.”

“Just do this, guys. I'm going to shoot you, guys. Don't make me do this.”

“It's either going to be you or me.”

The shooting occurred at 2:54 p.m. In the final moments before the shooting, Mielentz walked out of the dining area he had occupied and faced the TEAMS members and negotiators while holding the gun pointed forward at a downward angle at his waist. He smoked a cigarette, extinguished it on the floor with his foot, and then spread his legs while facing the officers. Witnesses reported that, as he had done before, Mielentz counted down from five. Mielentz began to raise the gun hesitantly as officers pleaded with him not to do it. He then raised the gun up so that it was pointing at the TEAMS members and negotiators. At that point, Troopers Kerstetter and Trogani fired their M4 rifles, fatally wounding Mielentz. Kerstetter fired four rounds, and Trogani fired one round. Both troopers reported that they believed the lives of officers were in danger. Mielentz was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy confirmed that he died of gunshot wounds to the head and upper torso. Toxicology tests identified one drug in his blood, the anti-anxiety medication diazepam, commonly known by the brand name Valium.

This matter was reviewed by Director Allende and all portions of the Attorney General's Independent Prosecutor Directive on Police-Use-of-Force Investigations were complied with. After analyzing all of the facts and circumstances, Director Allende concluded that the troopers' use of force was justified under the law. The facts and circumstances reasonably led the troopers to believe their actions were immediately necessary to protect themselves and their fellow officers from death or serious bodily harm. An officer may use deadly force in New Jersey when the officer reasonably believes it is immediately necessary to protect the officer or another person from imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm.

Relevant portions of the surveillance video from Panera Bread capturing the shooting are posted online at: http://bit.ly/2JvGpUk

In New Jersey, all investigations of police deadly force incidents are governed by the Attorney General's Independent Prosecutor Directive, issued in 2006 and strengthened in 2015, which establishes strict procedures for conducting such investigations. It requires the Attorney General to review all deadly force investigations, and in some cases conduct them as well. In this case, the investigation was conducted directly by the Attorney General's Shooting Response Team. The directive further provides that unless the undisputed facts indicate the use of force was justified under the law, the circumstances of the incident must ultimately be presented to a grand jury, composed of 23 civilians, for its independent review.

https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/crime/2018/11/09/fatal-police-involved-shooting-princeton-panera-bread-doj/1944204002/

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California

'A Hurting City': Thousand Oaks Grieves Victims Of The Borderline Shooting

Friends and family members paid tribute to victims of the Borderline Bar & Grill shooting in Thousand Oaks, Calif. A vigil drew thousands of people on Thursday as the community coped with the loss of 12 victims. The gunman also died.

The small community of Thousand Oaks, Calif., is mourning the victims of the mass shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill, holding a candlelight vigil Thursday night to help relatives and loved ones cope with their sudden and staggering loss.

"Tonight we are a hurting city," Thousand Oaks Mayor Andy Fox told a large crowd at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. "But we are a community of love, of compassion and of unity. We're also a community of hope."

Hundreds of people gathered for the vigil at the Fred Kavli Theatre; other services were held at Pepperdine University and California Lutheran University — two schools with students who had gone to "College Country Night" at the Borderline on Wednesday.

"I was just walking on campus. There's just people straight up, like, crying, and I've just never seen anything like that," student Douglas Liu told Doualy Xaykaothao, who was reporting for NPR. "And everyone is just so depressed."

Liu shared a class with Pepperdine student Alaina Housley, 18, who died in the shooting. The two were tennis partners, Xaykaothao reports.

Justin Meek, a recent graduate of California Lutheran, also died in the country music club and bar.

The assailant, Ian David Long, 28, is believed to have shot and killed himself in an office near the entrance to the country dance club. But he did so after opening fire on scores of defenseless patrons and employees — killing 12 people, including 54-year-old Sgt. Ron Helus, who was among the first to enter the venue after reports of gunshots were reported.

The day after the violence, the Thousand Oaks community also turned out to line the route of a procession that took Helus' body to the medical examiner's office. People stood along the roadside and on bridges as a convoy of law enforcement vehicles escorted the procession.

Long had been at the center of a call to police about a disturbance in April, when a crisis intervention team and a mental health specialist visited his family's house. That episode ended with the team clearing Long.

On Thursday, the Department of Veterans Affairs said in a statement that Long, who was a Marine veteran, "was not enrolled in VA health care at any time."

But President Trump suggested Friday that Long had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder without offering evidence, claiming that "a lot of people say he had the PTSD" and calling Long "a very sick puppy."

Trump was speaking with reporters outside the White House on Friday morning when he was asked how gun policy might help reduce the number of mass shootings. The president said he viewed it as a mental health issue and that Long's history is now being scrutinized.

As Thousand Oaks comes to grips with its losses, the town and the surrounding area are also dealing with another challenge: A pair of wildfires — the Woolsey and Hill fires — have grown quickly over the past 24 hours, prompting evacuation orders and the opening of emergency shelters.

Thousand Oaks announced that City Hall is closed to the public on Friday, "as we address fire-related issues."

As the LAist website reports, "Students at Cal Lutheran had been working on a production of the play Columbinus," about the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Colorado. The first performance, which was set for Thursday, was canceled; it's now uncertain when the show might open.

https://www.npr.org/2018/11/09/666191404/a-hurting-city-thousand-oaks-grieves-victims-of-the-borderline-shooting

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Miami

Offering Care Before Cuffs

A Florida pilot program will give people addicted to opioids the option to enter treatment instead of jail.

by Katelyn Newman

AS COMMUNITIES TRY TO address the drug scourge plaguing the nation, Miami's finest are training to send those suffering with opioid addiction to treatment instead of a jail cell.

Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina announced the new initiative – the Collaborative Law Enforcement Addiction Recovery, or CLEAR, program – at a news conference at Miami's City Hall on Monday.

"I'm hoping it's successful because then the county and other cities across the state of Florida, other departments, can adopt a similar program and then we can really be cooking and save more lives," Colina tells U.S. News. "We're not going to solve this by just sticking people in jail."

On average, 115 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With a little more than $1.6 million in funding from two separate federal grants, Colina says the three-year program is scheduled to launch in May 2019.

"It's really a game changer because the vast majority of that money is going to go to the people who need it," Colina says.

Eldys Diaz, executive officer to Colina and the program director, says if a person found in possession of personal use amounts of opioids denies the treatment option, the officer will follow standard arrest procedures.

"There will be no legal penalty associated with program refusal, and the arrested person will have all of the rights and opportunities afforded to them normally through the criminal justice system," Diaz says.

Colina spoke to U.S. News about the pilot program and its collaboration with several health care partners. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How does Miami's problem with drugs and addiction compare to other cities across the U.S.? What are you seeing on the ground?

We have a problem with drug addiction in general. A lot of our homeless population, they're homeless because they either suffer mental illness or because they're dependent on drugs and that consumes them. We're not like other cities that have just been devastated with overdoses because of fentanyl. We have overdoses here (and) I don't think we're doing as bad as others, but we don't want to wait to get there because we certainly do have a problem.

Tell me about the CLEAR program. What's the goal?

The idea, of course, is we want to try to save as many lives as we can. We know that this is a law enforcement problem, but there's no law enforcement solution – it doesn't work to just put people in jail. That has solved nothing. But perhaps there's a medical solution.

Instead of being arrested you can sign a binding agreement with us that you will receive treatment, and that we can treat your addiction, we can follow you throughout the withdrawal process.

What's included in the binding agreement?

Essentially, what you're saying is you recognize you have an addiction problem, right, because that's important to us that you think, "Hey, it's true I have a problem." You recognize that you essentially don't have control over your own body and mind, otherwise you wouldn't be doing (drugs). You are not a seller, because we don't have any sympathy for the people that are peddling poison. You are a user, so you have to have a "user" amount of drugs on you. And then you agree that what you want is to be clean and be free of this disease, because at the end of the day that's what it is. I know people will think, "Well, those people don't have willpower." No, it's not that, it's that this overtakes your mind and your soul. And so, you agree to those things, and then we want to help you, and working together hopefully will get people help.

The people who enter the program may have a "small amount of opioids" on hand – what does that mean?

So no one misunderstands: (A person who goes through the program) is someone who has a "personal use" amount of drugs, not someone who wants to go out and sell and try to get more people addicted – we don't have any sympathy for those people. Someone who is an addict, who purchased or is using a "personal use" amount of opioids, that's the person that we're looking to help.

The program can only treat 100 people over the course of three years. How do you decide who gets into the program?

When (our officers) come across somebody who is using drugs, opioids – instead of arresting them, you offer them the program. Once we're at capacity, we're at capacity. But it's going to be that simple. We go to a call, someone - an officer - is dispatched. We go somewhere where there are homeless people, for example, and they're sharing a needle and they're using drugs – those are the people that we want to try to help. And I'm hoping that we have success and then private dollars will want to come in to help us not only sustain the program but expand it.

Research shows that the ideal amount of treatment is between 18 and 24 months, but people who participate in the CLEAR program will only be treated for 12 months. Are there plans for after a person leaves the program?

We have a social services element attached to the program where we're hoping that as you become clean and as you become healthy, we're then able to offer, through other departments, resources – whether it's job placement, whether it's shelter if you were homeless, for example. So the idea is that as you become clean, we help you through other departments that we already have to kind of help you get your life back on track.

One of the challenges that we have is that there are a lot of people that are homeless that are shelter-resistant. So, it isn't just the fact that they don't have a job or they can't make ends meet so they live out of a van,… but a lot of these folks are shelter-resistant because of their addiction and/or mental illness.

For the people that are legitimately in search of permanent housing, we're going to be able to help those people through short term shelter, then transitional shelter and then hopefully to the point that – whether it's themselves or their families – they will be able to get off the street and live somewhere where it is a normal, healthy life. It's going to be fluid – it's just going to depend on the individual. I suspect that we're going to have people that want to be free of their addiction and not necessarily want shelter. Ultimately, the more people we can get off the street and the more people we can help free from that terrible addiction, the better off we all are as a community.

Minority populations may be leery of receiving help from police officers. How do you plan to work on mending those relationships?

For us in Miami, we don't care where you came from, what your status is – we just want to help you. And this doesn't even have to be about drugs or addiction. You raise your hand to flag down a police officer because you need help, my officers know they're going to help you and not inquire, what your status is or where you came from, or any of that. You know, what is your heritage, your nationality, male-female, white-black – we don't care.

What I'm asking the public to do is look at our actions. Forget what we're saying, look at what we're doing. We're going to help you. That is our job and that's what we're going to do. We're going to do everything that we can do to make sure that Miami can become one of the safest cities in the country, in every respect.

https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2018-10-19/miamis-police-chief-jorge-colina-offering-care-instead-of-cuffs

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Report on Police

Measuring the Long Arm of the Law

A team of government researchers is traveling around the country, collecting measurements of police officers in a bid to design better-fitting, more-protective equipment.

by Alan Neuhauser

AMERICAN POLICE officers are on average about 25 pounds heavier than in the 1970s – and it's not their waistlines that have expanded, but their pecs, according to the preliminary results of a two-year, roughly $1 million study launched this summer by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Since July, researchers with the institute have been dropping into police departments around the country, pinching local cops with calipers and ushering them into a trailer outfitted with 3D scanners to see how thin the blue line really is.

The plan, once the measurements of some 1,000 officers are collected, is to make the data available for equipment manufacturers to improve everything from the seats in cramped cruisers to the size and fit of body armor to even the cut of officers' uniforms. With nearly half the injuries that officers experience each year coming from violent attacks and car crashes, the hope is that such improvements will better keep cops from getting hurt on the job.

"The purpose of the study is to establish a current reference database of the body size and shape of police in the United States," says Dr. Hongwei Hsiao, the study's lead researcher and chief of the federal institute's protective technology branch. "The current data is too old, so manufacturers and even police officers don't have any guidelines on how to choose the right size of protective gear. Our study will fill in those gaps."

The last such effort – performed solely by caliper – was initiated in 1968 at the behest of Congress. At the time, police departments and equipment-makers were, at best, relying on measurements of troops collected by the U.S. military. But just as often they were simply turning to the average heights and builds of the general U.S. population.

After measuring nearly 3,000 officers around the country and collecting surveys from another 10,000, the Naval Electronics Laboratory Center and Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory, which were put to the task because of their experience measuring service members, found that police officers were consistently larger than either the average soldier or civilian.

The results were in part by design: The police force of the Nixon era looked far different than the roughly 900,000 officers and deputies who are on the job today. Police precincts and state trooper barracks at the time were almost exclusively the domain of white men. A number of agencies even had standards requiring officers to stand nearly 6 feet tall or higher. (The New York Times, describing the city police department's decision in 1973 to throw out its height requirements, declared that "men no taller than jockeys could be patrolling the city's streets.")

By comparison, about 13 percent of local police officers in 2013 were women, according to the most recent survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. More than a quarter identified as African-American, Latino or another non-white group.

"You see these old pictures of state troopers and you're like, 'Great googa mooga, these guys are giants!'" says Capt. Dan Sheffield, speaking in his role as a member of the Fraternal Order of Police's Safety and Technology Development Committee. Sheffield helped wrangle officers for the study at the Prince George's County Police Department in Maryland. "I graduated out of the academy with people who were 4-foot-11."

In the current study, officers are first measured with calipers to provide a direct comparison to the data collected some 40 years earlier. Then they're brought into a trailer, where they don skin-tight garments known as "scanware" and proceed to sit and stand in various positions while cameras and computers generate measurements in 3D.

"You're in a barber-type chair and they do a head scan, and all the sudden you see a 3D image of your head on that screen," says Lt. Eric Nichols, of the Taunton, Massachusetts police department, who helped recruit officers for the study. "We're used to seeing photographs of ourselves. To see a 3D version was almost Halloween-like. But once you went through the study, it really hit home of how important this could be to the long-term safety of officers."

The results suggest officers have long since traded doughnuts for dumbbells – or, perhaps, crullers for Crossfit. Despite the relative diversity of law enforcement compared to 40 years ago, officers' upper bodies are typically thicker than the general population.

"Their body weight isn't just in the belly, it's the chest," Hsiao says.

The police study comes on the heels of similar efforts by the federal agency to measure firefighters, emergency medical workers, construction workers, truckers and other laborers across a host of professions with particularly high rates of on-the-job injuries – and, perhaps counterintuitively, large numbers of workers who don't wear required safety equipment.

"With their duty belts and body armor, it's 25-30 pounds of weight. So if our research can reduce any of that weight, that would be beneficial to them. Better-fitting armor and just the necessity of what they carry – it can be far-reaching."

Firefighters, for example, often called to car crashes, regularly see firsthand the impact of not wearing a seat belt. As recently as 2015, firetrucks themselves were involved in nearly 17,000 collisions that injured more than 1,100 firefighters, according to data collected by the National Fire Protection Association.

Yet more than 25 percent of firefighters acknowledged that they don't wear seat belts in fire trucks – a number, due to underreporting, that was almost certainly lower than the actual total.

Exasperated, fire chiefs and the National Fire Protection Association turned to the federal government for help: Was it, they wanted to know, an issue of mentality – firefighter bravado – or something else?

"This seemed to be a very simple, straightforward question, but nobody could answer it and there was no data," Hsiao says. "Our national study showed that about 25 percent of firefighters couldn't buckle up themselves based on their body size and shape and based on the size of the seat belts in fire engines. The number matched perfectly."

Even purpose-built vehicles, it turned out, weren't designed for the people using them – in this case, firefighters who tended to be about 28 pounds heavier than the general population, according to the study's results.

Since the analysis was published, firetruck manufacturers have added an extra 8 inches to seat belts, Hsiao says. The New York City fire department, among other agencies, is going through a retrofit of its existing vehicles to lengthen the restraints, he says.

The issue of collisions – and the refusal to wear seat belts – is a common theme across all the industries that the team of federal researchers has studied, including its current effort looking at law enforcement. The issue in law enforcement is particularly pressing.

"An officer spends seven, eight hours a day in the cruiser, getting in and out of the cruiser constantly. And if that seat has a little bit of relief for their duty belt, everything is going to increase the safety and officers' wellness," Nichols says.

Cruisers, however, unlike fire or construction vehicles, are generally adapted from mass-market vehicles – Dodge Chargers, Ford Crown Victorias, Chevy Luminas, or what one officer called "No Room-inas" – meaning that their seats are not necessarily designed with officers and their equipment in mind. But discomfort isn't the only factor that deters from the wearing of seat belts.

"Officers a lot of times, they don't want to use their three-point restraints – 'It confines me, I can't get out of the car, I can't get my weapon if I'm ambushed,'" Sheffield says.

Car crashes, however, were the second-highest cause of law enforcement deaths in eight of the past 10 years, behind only shootings, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Sheffield, notably, was the first officer to respond to the scene of the 2012 fatal crash of Prince George's Officer Adrian Morris, who was not wearing his seat belt when his cruiser slid off Interstate 95. Two years earlier, Prince George's Officer Thomas Jensen was killed when his cruiser slid on ice and struck the side of a bridge. He, too, was not wearing a seat belt.

"I've lost so many friends in accidents. We still lose so many officers in accidents every year," Sheffield says. "I hope Hongwei and his crew will be able to come up with measurements so that these manufacturers will be able to come up with a magnet system, something that you can get out of when you put it in park."

The motivating idea behind the effort, no matter the industry, is that no single equipment manufacturer could – or, at least, would be willing to – invest the time and money needed to collect the sort of data that the government can gather. Even if a company did pursue such an effort, it would leave all the others in the dark – the better to gain a competitive edge. And that's assuming that it had access to the scientific expertise and technology needed to make and analyze all the measurements correctly.

"To see a 3D version was almost Halloween-like. But once you went through the study, it really hit home of how important this could be to the long-term safety of officers."

"With their duty belts and body armor, it's 25-30 pounds of weight," says Matthew Hause, acting team chief of the research group's "human factors team," which is collecting the measurements. "So if our research can reduce any of that weight, that would be beneficial to them. Better-fitting armor and just the necessity of what they carry – it can be far-reaching."

For women on the job, especially, the effort is widely welcomed – and overdue. There was the homemade flyer, for example – reportedly posted in an NYPD locker room and taking a dig at how bulletproof vests don't take into account the shape of the female body – that showed a female officer and declared "WANTED: For Criminal Impersonation of a Mailbox."

Uniforms remain a particular challenge: Women on the job say they often find themselves forced to choose between an ill-fitting men's uniform, which many then pay out-of-pocket to get tailored, or a uniform ostensibly designed for women but which somehow fits even worse than the men's sizes. Even gloves seem to be sized for men's hands.

"The pants don't fit right, the gun belt doesn't fit right. The vests they still haven't figured out. All those things contribute to making it just a little bit harder to do your job every day," says Catherine Sanz, who leads Women in Federal Law Enforcement and who served in the Federal Protective Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2018-10-19/feds-look-to-measure-1-000-cops-for-science

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Ireland

Crossing the Irish Police Barrier

An Ulster Presbyterian set to be Ireland's top police official will try to reform the scandal-ridden ranks.

by Ed O'Loughlin Contributor

DUBLIN — HOLLYWOOD loves cops who are wrenched out of context -- stripped of their badges, abandoned by comrades, forced to make a stand on someone else's turf. Think of Gary Cooper's shunned marshal in "High Noon," or Eddie Murphy's Detroit policeman transplanted in "Beverly Hills Cop," or more recently the ill-matched Mexican and U.S. detectives in the television series "The Bridge," people who are forced to work in each other's jurisdictions after a body is found along the border.

Viewed in this light, the Republic of Ireland's decision to recruit its next police commissioner from Northern Ireland looks somewhat cinematic.

When Drew Harris takes over in September he will be the first ever commissioner of the Garda Síochána, or Civic Guards, from outside the country. Stirring the political pot further: As the current deputy chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the 53-year-old Harris is also a sworn subject and servant of the British crown, which the Republic of Ireland rejected a century ago.

Ireland has often been described, crudely but not unfairly, as an island dominated by two breeds and two creeds, and Harris, an Ulster Presbyterian of British settler stock, was born on the other side of an at-times bitter sectarian divide from the Irish Roman Catholics who form a large majority in the Republic.

Harris faces the urgent task of reforming the Garda Síochána – a force widely regarded as in crisis following years of poor morale, underfunding, and inadequate training and management. And as he comes through the gates of the Garda Depot in Dublin's Phoenix Park he will bring with him a dramatic backstory.

During the Northern Ireland Troubles of 1968 to 1998, in which mainly Catholic supporters of a united Ireland sought to violently tear Northern Ireland away from the United Kingdom, Harris's father was murdered by a car bomb planted by the Irish Republican Army. As a superintendent in the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the predecessor to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Alwyn Harris was regarded as a "legitimate target" by nationalists seeking a united Ireland.

A photograph from the funeral shows Drew Harris, then 23 and a recent recruit to the RUC, carrying his father's coffin, which is draped in the Union Jack. Next month he will be sworn in to serve the Irish republic under the Irish tricolor, the flag not only of the legal Dublin government but also of the republican bombers who murdered his father.

The task he now faces would be daunting for anyone. Secretive, inward-looking, and resistant to oversight or change, the 13,000-strong Garda Síochána has in recent years become mired in a series of scandals involving – among other things – poor discipline, collusion by some officers with republican terrorists, fabrication of evidence, misuse of citizens' personal data, the wrongful dropping of penalties for traffic offences, and the nationwide fabrication of almost 2 million alcohol breath tests in order to meet quotas for random traffic stops.

A long-running scandal over the alleged mistreatment of internal whistleblowers has in the past four years caused the resignation of two ministers for justice, two Garda commissioners, and the previous prime minister, Enda Kenny.

To end this slide, the government of the present Taoiseach (prime minister) Leo Varadkar decided to seek outside applications for the vacant commissioner's post.

Harris was chosen because of his experience helping transform the old Royal Ulster Constabulary into the modern Police Service of Northern Ireland, says Professor Edward Burke of the University of Nottingham, who researches security and intelligence matters in Britain and Ireland.

Dominated by Protestants loyal to the British crown, the armed RUC was tasked with policing the Troubles and became largely alienated from Northern Ireland's large Roman Catholic minority. Following the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which in effect ended the Troubles, the RUC was absorbed into the modernized PSNI, which actively recruited Catholics to improve the sectarian balance in its ranks.

"Drew Harris comes from an RUC background, which some will hold against him, but he helped push through the reforms against a great deal of internal resistance," Burke says. "He now presides over what I view as the most effective police force in the U.K., despite a very difficult situation that they have in Northern Ireland because of sectarian divisions and the history of the Troubles."

It remains to be seen whether Harris's new subordinates will accept their transplanted boss, but the professional bodies representing rank-and-file and more senior Gardai both issued statements guardedly welcoming his appointment.

Burke believes there is a hunger within the force, particularly at the operational level, for the kind of reforms that the technocratic Harris - who has a degree in criminology from Cambridge and an FBI leadership qualification - is expected to implement.

"You actually see younger Gardaí now paying for courses out of their own pocket in areas like cyber security and criminal investigation, pushing for more skills to do their job," Burke says. "A reform program offering to help develop skills would be very popular, and I think Harris can win support by improvements like that."

Despite their historical differences, the Garda Síochána and Harris's present force have more in common than meets the eye, adds Professor Eunan O'Halpin, who lectures in modern Irish history at Trinity College Dublin and writes on security matters.

"The police forces on either side of the border both ultimately descend from the old Royal Irish Constabulary," O'Halpin says. "They are (the) same kind of cops, in that they both have political antennae in a way that British police forces don't. They know who people are, and when to be hard and when to be soft. I think that will help Harris with his new rank and file."

Harris is already said to have good relations with many senior Gardai due to his former role as head of the PSNI's crime operations department, in which he liaised with the Gardaí on cross-border intelligence and policing.

Elements of his past will, however, remain problematic. The Garda Síochána is responsible not only for civilian policing but also for most of the Republic of Ireland's intelligence and counterintelligence functions. Not only is Harris a citizen of another state (although like all people from Northern Ireland he is also entitled under Irish law to Irish citizenship, and is reported to have now applied for an Irish passport), but as head of crime operations in the PSNI he worked closely with the U.K.'s MI5 – a foreign intelligence service. It is still not known how, or whether, the Irish government will address this potential conflict of loyalties.

Sectarianism is no longer a strong force in the Republic of Ireland (unlike the tense and divided North), but Harris's former service with the RUC – still vilified by hardline republicans – led the county council in Donegal to pass a motion calling for his appointment to be reversed.

The mainstream Irish Republican Army, which murdered his father in 1989, may have officially disbanded under the Good Friday Agreement, but its political wing, Sinn Fein, is now a major legal political force in both parts of the island. Harris angered many within the movement when he sanctioned the arrest of then Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams in 2014 for questioning about the 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville, a widowed Belfast mother of 10 (Adams was released without charge).

Relatives of some victims of the Troubles accuse Harris of suppressing investigation into a notorious Protestant murder group, the so-called Glenanne Gang, which is alleged to have colluded with British army intelligence and the RUC special branch in sectarian attacks that claimed dozens of lives.

Within the Garda itself, there were objections to evidence that Harris gave in 2012 to an official inquiry that later concluded that members of the force had provided the IRA with intelligence used in the 1989 ambush and murder of two senior RUC officers traveling home from a meeting with police in the Republic.

Henry McDonald, the Guardian's veteran Ireland correspondent, says Harris's habit of speaking his mind could be a shock to the more evasive culture of the Garda Síochána.

"He's a solid old school Presbyterian, serious and straight. He'll often speak on the record about things which other policemen might be more restrained about," McDonald says. "It's not always like that in Dublin."

Appointed for a five-year term, Harris will measure his success on a scale with two extremes. On the one hand, he could succeed in revamping and reviving an old-fashioned, inefficient and unhappy police force, opening it up to new skills and transparency. On the other, he could find his efforts frustrated by obstructive subordinates and resentful politicians.

Either way, it will probably make a good film.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2018-08-20/incoming-irish-police-commissioner-faces-many-challenges-as-he-crosses-old-divides

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NAIROBI, Kenya

Investigate allegations of abuses in the force including corruption and accusations that officers kill suspects among other alleged human rights abuses.

by TOM ODULA, Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya's internal security minister Friday launched a police internal affairs unit to investigate allegations of abuses in the force including corruption and accusations that officers kill suspects and perpetrate other human rights abuses.

The new investigation body has been welcomed with optimism by some rights activists, but many remain skeptical on its ability to bring adequate change.

The internal affairs unit will put the police on a "trajectory of reforms," Internal Security Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi said. The unit has been launched amid allegations by human rights groups and the public that police killed 22 suspects in the last two weeks in a low-income area of Nairobi.

Rights groups have for years claimed that Kenya's police force is riddled with corruption and carries out abuses.

Eric Kiraithe, a former police spokesman who is now the government spokesman admitted that corruption in the force saying it "runs deep and wide."

The local chapter of the international anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International has for more than a decade ranked the Kenyan police as the most corrupt institution in a country where corruption is endemic.

The abuses have continued despite an exercise in which all 100,000 officers are being scrutinized, rights advocates say. Some 2,000 officers have been fired out of around 50,000 scrutinized as the exercise which started in December 2013 and is continuing.

When that investigation began, body parts from a person reported kidnapped were sent to the National Police Service Commission with a note warning the chairman to tread carefully.

The Independent Medico-Legal Unit, or IMLU, has conducted autopsies on the bodies of the 22 killed by police. "Our preliminary investigations indicate that those were extrajudicial killings," said Peter Kiama, the executive director of the group. "They were not done according to the law. The police were in a position to arrest and not kill those individuals."

The IMLU in 2014 documented how a majority of police killings at that time were connected to police extorting money from suspects and not police work. He said human rights defenders who raised concern about the killings are being threatened.

Kiama said the internal affairs unit can be effective if given independence and resources.

"This is a huge investment and the demonstration of political will is a plus," he said, adding that despite the challenges facing the new unit, "there is justification for skepticism but there is space for optimism."

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Dept of Justice

NEWS RELEASE

Federal Law Enforcement Agent Sentenced to Federal Prison for Helping Mexican National with Criminal Record Re-Enter the U.S.

by Nicola T. Hanna - United States Attorney, Central District of California

LOS ANGELES – A special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has been sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison for his conviction on four federal offenses related to assistance he provided to a Mexican national with a criminal record to re-enter the United States and then lying to cover it up.

Felix Cisneros Jr., 44, of Murrieta, an 11-year veteran of ICE who is now on indefinite suspension from the agency, was sentenced by United States District Judge Christina A. Snyder, who said the prison term should deter both the defendant and other law enforcement agents from engaging in criminal conduct.

In April, a jury found Cisneros guilty of four felony counts: conspiracy to aid and assist the entry of an alien convicted of an aggravated felony into the United States, acting as agent of another person in a matter affecting the government, falsification of records in a federal investigation, and making false statements.

According to court documents and the evidence presented to the jury, Cisneros agreed to help a suspected crime figure, Levon Termendzhyan, by facilitating Termendzhyan's business associate re-enter the United States after traveling to Mexico City in September 2013. Termendzhyan was named in a federal indictment filed in August in the District of Utah that charges him with money laundering.

Termendzhyan's business associate, Santiago Garcia-Gutierrez, was a lawful permanent resident of the United States, but because of prior criminal convictions and an outstanding warrant for his arrest, he was barred from being legally admitted into the United States upon his return. Two months earlier, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had seized Garcia's Mexican passport and his “Green Card” when he attempted to enter the United States, but he was paroled in –meaning he was temporarily allowed into the United States – pending the resolution of his criminal case.

As part of the conspiracy, Cisneros persuaded CBP officers to return Garcia's passport, ensured that Garcia would be allowed to re-enter the United States after the September 2013 trip, and urged CBP to extend Garcia's parole that allowed him to remain in the United States pending resolution of his immigration status. Cisneros provided assistance to Garcia knowing about his prior convictions. Cisneros also accepted a financial benefit from Garcia, namely, Dodger playoff tickets, for his agreement to use his status as an HSI special agent to intervene with CBP on Garcia's behalf.

As part of the conspiracy, Cisneros had queried a law enforcement database, which provided him information about Garcia's prior convictions, as well as information that Garcia was suspected of participating in criminal activities. Cisneros also improperly utilized the database to determine whether federal law enforcement was monitoring Termendzhyan's activities.

In a sentencing memorandum filed with the court, prosecutors wrote, “After conspiring with Garcia to facilitate Garcia's travel to and from the United States, [Cisneros] engaged in a series of deceptive acts to conceal both his assistance to Garcia and his knowledge of Termendzhyan's illicit activities.”

The falsification of records and the false statements charges relate to Cisneros lying about his longstanding relationship with Garcia during a regular background investigation being conducted as part of his employment as an ICE agent.

The case against Cisneros is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General; and the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Patricia A. Donahue, Chief of Trials, Integrity and Professionalism, and Sheila Nagaraj of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section.

~~~

from: Thom Mrozek, Public Affairs Officer
thom.mrozek@usdoj.gov
(213) 894-6947

www.justice.gov/usao-cdca

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Pittsburgh (as seen on Facebook)

NOTE: This came to us through our very own MJ Goyings. She says, "What I sent was posted on FB by one of my nieces, Lisa, who's been heavily involved in the whole synagogue tragedy."

EDITORIAL

I am The Jewish Nurse.

Yes, that Jewish Nurse. The same one that people are talking about in the Pittsburgh shooting that left 11 dead. The trauma nurse in the... ER that cared for Robert Bowers who yelled, "Death to all Jews," as he was wheeled into the hospital. The Jewish nurse who ran into a room to save his life.

To be honest, I’m nervous about sharing this. I just know I feel alone right now, and the irony of the world talking about me doesn’t seem fair without the chance to speak for myself.

When I was a kid, being labeled “The Jewish (anything)”, undoubtedly had derogatory connotations attached to it. That's why it feels so awkward to me that people suddenly look at it as an endearing term. As an adult, deflecting my religion by saying “I’m not that religious,” makes it easier for people to accept I’m Jewish – especially when I tell them my father is a rabbi. “I’m not that religious,” is like saying, “Don’t worry, I’m not that Jewish, therefore, I’m not so different than you,” and like clockwork, people don’t look at me as awkwardly as they did a few seconds beforehand.

I experienced anti-Semitism a lot as a kid. It’s hard for me to say if it was always a product of genuine hatred, or if kids with their own problems found a reason to single me out from others. Sure, there were a few Jewish kids at my school, but no one else had a father who was a Rabbi. I found drawings on desks of my family being marched into gas chambers, swastikas drawn on my locker, and notes shoved inside of it saying, “Die Jew. Love, Hitler.” It was a different time back then, where bullying was not monitored like it is now. I was weak, too. Rather than tell anyone, I hid behind fear. Telling on the people who did this would only lead to consequences far worse.

Regardless, the fact that this shooting took place doesn’t shock me. To be honest, it’s only a matter of time before the next one happens. History refutes hope that things will change. My heart yearns for change, but today's climate doesn't foster nurturing, tolerance, or civility. Even before this shooting took place, there’s no real evidence supporting otherwise. The FBI and the Southern Poverty Law Center note that Jews only account for two percent of the U.S. population, yet 60% of all religious hate crimes are committed against them. I don’t know why people hate us so much, but the underbelly of anti-Semitism seems to be thriving.

So now, here I am, The Jewish Nurse that cared for Robert Bowers. I’ve watched them talk about me on CNN, Fox News, Anderson Cooper, PBS, and the local news stations. I’ve read articles mentioning me in the NY Times and the Washington Post. The fact that I did my job, a job which requires compassion and empathy over everything, is newsworthy to people because I’m Jewish. Even more so because my dad’s a Rabbi.

To be honest, I didn't see evil when I looked into Robert Bower's eyes. I saw something else. I can’t go into details of our interactions because of HIPAA. I can tell you that as his nurse, or anyone's nurse, my care is given through kindness, my actions are measured with empathy, and regardless of the person you may be when you're not in my care, each breath you take is more beautiful than the last when you're lying on my stretcher. This was the same Robert Bowers that just committed mass homicide. The Robert Bowers who instilled panic in my heart worrying my parents were two of his 11 victims less than an hour before his arrival.

I’m sure he had no idea I was Jewish. Why thank a Jewish nurse, when 15 minutes beforehand, you’d shoot me in the head with no remorse? I didn’t say a word to him about my religion. I chose not to say anything to him the entire time. I wanted him to feel compassion. I chose to show him empathy. I felt that the best way to honor his victims was for a Jew to prove him wrong. Besides, if he finds out I’m Jewish, does it really matter? The better question is, what does it mean to you?

Love. That’s why I did it. Love as an action is more powerful than words, and love in the face of evil gives others hope. It demonstrates humanity. It reaffirms why we’re all here. The meaning of life is to give meaning to life, and love is the ultimate force that connects all living beings. I could care less what Robert Bowers thinks, but you, the person reading this, love is the only message I wish instill in you. If my actions mean anything, love means everything.

Respectfully,

Ari Mahler, RN