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Terri Lanahan
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Many thanks to NAASCA's Terri Lanahan, Butte, Montana,
for her research into the news that appears on
the LACP & NAASCA web sites. |
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New York
City of Poughkeepsie police to implement community policing, school resource officer
The City of Poughkeepsie Police Department plans to create a community policing unit and allocate a school resource officer for the Poughkeepsie City School District.
That is possible, Chief Thomas Pape said, because the department is at full strength for the first time since 2016. The department has 92 officers, 13 more than nine months ago, when the city passed measures intended to retain officers and attract them from other departments.
The City of Poughkeepsie Police Department swore-in seven recruits on Wednesday, April 4, bringing the department back to full force at 92 officers. The recruits, from left to right: Robert Prince, Kyriacos Kyriacou, Paul Henne, Danielle M. Costa, Kevin Smith, Justin Consalvo and Gregory Schweizer.
"With the 92 officers, it gives us the ability to do things we haven't been able to do as frequently as we have in the past — community policing and the increased visibility of officers throughout the downtown corridor where there has been that request," Mayor Rob Rolison said.
The department swore in seven recruits Wednesday, filling out its ranks. New recruits included Officers Robert Prince, Kyriacos Kyriacou, Paul Henne, Danielle M. Costa, Kevin Smith, Justin Consalvo and Gregory Schweizer.
A report from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services last month showed a decrease in crime in the city. Between 2009 and 2018, crime dropped by 50.9%, and violent crimes decreased by 48.2%.
Costa, of Wappingers Falls, said she was happy to be joining the department.
"This is something I wanted, a dream come true," she said.
Impacts of a full-strength police department
An increased number of officers will allow the department to place more officers on patrol, Pape said. The community policing unit will be a "small but effective" unit expected to launch in the next few weeks.
"Officers will be able to work on hot spots that patrols may not be able to thoroughly monitor," Pape said.
And Pape hopes to begin working with the city school district on the implementation of a school resource officer.
"(We hope to) get them acclimated to the school district and hit the ground running in September," he said.
Pape also said the department will be able to maintain the number of officers within its traffic division.
More than an expansion to city police, Rolison said bringing the department to full force will allow the city to access more than $600,000 in grant money awarded by the Department of Justice in 2015. The money came with a prerequisite that the police department was fully staffed.
"It's over $600,000 in federal money that we have not been able to utilize," Rolison said.
Rolison added that the grant would allow the city to consider hiring additional staff for the police department.
These announced changes come nearly one month after video of an altercation between area students and an officer prompted a strong community response, and questions regarding if the officer used excessive force.
Pape said he hopes the addition of a school resource officer and a community policing unit would help "build better connections in the community than we've had before."
https://amp.poughkeepsiejournal.com/amp/3423498002
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Illinois
Community policing lead to decrease in crimes in 2018
Burglary, theft decrease; battery, sexual assault increase
DeKALB – Officer Jordan Poulos says he's proud of the work the DeKalb Police Department has been doing with proactive community policing, which he thinks is part of the reason why serious crime decreased for the second year in a row in 2018.
Poulos patrolled the northwest part of DeKalb on Monday afternoon, a part of the city that received the highest number of calls for service in 2018, according to the DeKalb Police Department's 2018 Annual Report. Data shows reports of major crimes fell citywide by 12% in 2018 from 2017, which Police Chief Gene Lowery said is a testament to the strong community policing and proactive efforts by his department.
“You can't arrest your way out of a problem,” Lowery said. “Community policing is simply a police officer being invested in their community, engaged, being a good listener. It's like the old beat cops in the 1920s and '30s, walking around their neighborhood talking to their grocer.”
Although Monday brought near perfect weather conditions to the area, Poulos, 33, said it was a slow day. He handled three incidents within 90 minutes: two for people who locked their keys in their car, and one where children were not secured in car seats.
“My favorite part of the job is that no day is ever the same,” Poulos said. “It's not always fighting crime. I like throwing the football around with kids, or playing basketball. I like helping people when they're at their worst.”
DeKalb saw no homicides in 2018, according to the report. And burglary and theft (identified as a reason for the drop in serious crimes), were down by 20% and 17%, respectively. Arson was down by 14%. Drug overdoses decreased by 42%. Other serious crimes increased in 2018, however, with a 29% increase in aggravated battery and assault, and a 13% increase in criminal sexual assault.
According to the report, DeKalb police responded to 55,847 calls for service in 2018. Zone 1, on the northwest side near the Northern Illinois University campus, received the most, with 28,888 calls. In 2018, DeKalb police issued 3,222 traffic citations, and made 66 arrests for driving under the influence.
While sitting in the parking lot of Lincoln Tower Apartments, at the corner of South Annie Glidden Road and West Lincoln Highway, Poulos cited a 36-year-old man for having his two young children, one a baby, in a vehicle without car seats. The man was also cited for marijuana possession, and the woman who was driving was cited for having no proof of insurance.
He said the one thing that still gets him after 12 years in law enforcement is responding to calls involving children. Those types of calls decreased in 2018 also, by 19%, according to the report.
“Not that you ever become numb to it because you see it so often, but the harder calls are always involving kids,” Poulos said. “As a parent, that's hard to see. You want to see every kid have a chance and opportunity.”
Community policing programs such as the Safe Streets Initiative, a four-phase parking regulation plan designed to improve safety of neighborhoods near Northern Illinois University, COMPASS (Changing Outcomes by Making Parents Accountable, Successful, and Supported), Project HOPE (Heroin/Opioid Outreach Prevention and Education), and the Domestic Violence Lethality Assessment Program (in partnerships with Safe Passage, Inc.) were all implemented in 2018 to proactively address crime and addiction.
Cmdr. Steve Lekkas, who's been with the department for 21 years, said there are many factors that contribute to the rise in reported sexual-assault cases. He said it's hard to tell whether more are happening or whether more cases are just being reported.
“This is one of the reasons we're working closely with Safe Passage,” Lekkas said. “Because domestic violence has increased, and we seem to be responding to more cases.”
Using the Lethality Assessment Protocol, officers are trained to ask a series of questions when they arrive at a call, and can connect people on the spot to a crisis hotline through Safe Passage, so victims can learn immediately what their rights, options and resources are.
Lowery said the relationship between the DeKalb police and community continues to grow.
“We put officers in the right spot at the right time to try and interdict crime before it gets out of control,” Lowery said.
https://www.daily-chronicle.com/2019/04/09/community-policing-lead-to-decrease-in-crimes-in-2018/aidedb2/
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Missouri
Community policing seeks to build trust, relationships
While community policing may have several different definitions depending on who you ask, there is one thing some members of the community agreed upon — it involves forming relationships with residents while ensuring safety.
During last month's community and listening sessions hosted by Central Missouri Chapter of Empower Missouri, several attendees said they appreciated the police's presence in their neighborhoods but also wanted to see more community policing.
Community policing in Jefferson City
Some define community policing as officers "walking the beat" or stopping to talk to walkers they drive by, but the Jefferson City Police Department views community policing as an "organization-wide approach to policing" that involves everyone from police officers to detectives to communications operators, Police Chief Roger Schroeder said.
"It's a matter of working together to improve the community, to make people feel safer and to actually provide a safer environment," Schroeder said.
Forming these relationships helps create trust between community members and officers, Schroeder and Capt. Rob Clark said.
Capt. Eric Wilde said the department also must keep the lines of communication open when policing. This means not only receiving information from residents but providing information to the community.
Missouri NAACP Rod Chapel described "community policing" as police officers having relationships with community members, adding this could mean officers being involved in local activities, community events, schools or partnerships. He noted it's about "building community" while also keeping people safe from violent crimes or dangerous behaviors.
Community policing is not a new concept at JCPD, Clark said. In the early 1990s, the department formed the Community Policing Team, now called the Community Action Team.
Since CAT is not call-driven, Clark said, they can go to different neighborhoods where there are issues and devote time to those problems. CAT could work with neighborhoods regarding anything from shootings to code enforcement violations to neighborhood watch programs, among other items.
Along with CAT, the police department also offers programs like foot patrols, neighborhood watches, Citizen Police Academy and Crime Stoppers, among many other programs.
But community policing is not limited to those programs, Schroeder said.
"The goal is to present an image that we are more than a uniform or a speeding patrol car," Schroeder said. "We must present a demeanor of legitimate concern, devote the necessary time to resolve their problems and do so with a respectful and friendly attitude. That's the informal community policing that extends much beyond the formal community policing programs. Both are equally important and achieve the same critical goal."
Community policing excellence
Chapel said he thought Jefferson City's community policing is "head and shoulders above other cities in Missouri."
JCPD has been accessible to community members and critics, Chapel said, adding officers regularly attend meetings and events of the Missouri NAACP and other local organizations. If residents have questions, he added, they can speak with the police department or organizations that have a working relationship with JCPD.
"I know from time to time, people have approached the police department and whether or not they were happy with the resolution or complaint, they were heard," Chapel said. "You go to the police department and (you) feel like someone is listening to you, understanding their story and reporting back to them to say, 'Hey, this is what I found out about that.' But in some other communities, if you complain to the police department, then all of a sudden you're getting on somebody's bad list. We don't have that here that I know of, at all."
Chapel, Schroeder, Wilde and Clark said police officers also partner with local organizations — including the Missouri NAACP.
Chapel added the police and community relationship has improved even in the last five years, referencing the Medicaid23 protest in 2014.
More than 300 demonstrators, led by clergy, rallied in the Missouri State Capitol Rotunda before going to the Senate's upper gallery to urge legislators to expand Medicaid assistance to poor Missourians. Police officers arrested 23 of the protesters after their singing, praying and chanting became loud enough where senators stopped their debate because they couldn't hear. Chapel represented many of those individuals when they went to court.
"That whole thing, the officers that were in charge of and who made the decision to cite these folks, the prosecutor who made the decision that we're going to prosecute these folks, that's a situation where Jefferson City got it wrong," Chapel said. "The Poor People's Campaign is when we got it right."
With the Poor People's Campaign, hundreds of protesters used non-violent action to bring attention to issues impacting poor individuals. Members of the group sat in a street after the rallies until police officers arrested them, citing the protesters with failing to obey officers who told them to leave the street.
When "white supremacists" have protested in Jefferson City, Chapel said, the NAACP and JCPD have worked together to keep protesters, anti-protesters, visitors and residents safe.
"People expected something stupid to happen like (the police) to arrest everyone, to fine them, to prosecute them like the county prosecutor that prosecuted the 23 clergies who protested in the State Capitol," he said. "None of that happened, and it's so good because the idea is people ought to be able to express themselves in the Capital City. They're going to come, and they need to say what they need to say, do it in a safe way, and at the end of the day, everyone goes home."
Prospering relationships with the community comes from not only the partnerships and officer training, but also the hiring process, said Schroeder, Wilde and Clark. Schroeder added the hiring process is an "integral part of community interactions that we promote and maintain."
"There are mistakes of the mind and mistakes of the heart," Schroeder said. "We all make mistakes of the mind. However, we don't like nor will we accept mistakes of the heart. You got to be a good person, and you've got to do the right thing."
Improvements
While Jefferson City is "still doing better than a lot of places in Missouri," Chapel said, there is room for improvements.
Chapel's main improvement suggestion is requiring JCPD officers to wear body cameras, adding that would both protect officers and residents, as well as encourage individuals to "be on their best behavior."
"Where we find modern technology as being a valuable resource, I think the city has an obligation to provide its citizens and officers with that," Chapel said. "For Jeff City or any city to say they simply don't have the money, I don't think is fair for the officers or the citizens."
Schroeder said JCPD is "satisfied with our efforts" regarding community policing and "do not plan to expand our community policing efforts," especially given the finite resources. While it would be nice to have additional officers, he added, there is a cost associated with getting more officers.
"No, I don't know there is a lot we intend to initiate given the finite resources that we have, but we're pretty happy with what we've been able to achieve," he said.
However, Schroeder said, JCPD "accepts the fact that improvement is always possible." He added JCPD has recently redirected some of its resources to bring back its bicycle patrol.
Several residents during the community and police listening sessions said they wanted to see more officers outside their patrol cars and "walking the beat." In 2018, Schroeder said, officers left their patrol cars to conduct security patrols about 13 times each day throughout Jefferson City.
"Most citizens won't see those walking patrols, but that doesn't mean they're not happening," Schroeder said.
However, Schroeder added, one problem is it may impact response times because the farther the officer is from the patrol car, the farther he or she was to walk or run before he or she can respond to a call. The department has about 65,000 calls for service each year.
"The delayed response time might cost a life," Schroeder said. "Much can happen in 30 seconds."
For community policing to really succeed, it must be a team effort.
"We are only as good as our community allows us to be," Schroeder said. "We have to work together. We have to develop a mutual trust and respect, interest in everybody's problems — their problems are our problems, our problems are their problems."
http://amp.newstribune.com/news/local/story/2019/apr/07/community-policing-seeks-build-trust-relationships/773216/
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New Jersey
Residents want more police on the streets. Here is what Atlantic City is doing.
ATLANTIC CITY — Sharon Aloi remembers years ago when she saw more patrol cars parked in the city, including one near her property in Lower Chelsea.
“It made me feel good when it was there because people aren't going to be breaking into cars and they're going to think twice about breaking into a house on that street,” said Aloi, who doesn't think that kind of crime is taking place in her neighborhood now but worries about other areas of the city.
Residents and former police agree that making people feel safer in Atlantic City needs to start on the streets.
The need to foster a better sense of safety and improve police and community relations was stressed in a report released last year by Jim Johnson, special counsel to Gov. Phil Murphy.
The plan, which aims to strengthen the city's government and community partnerships, says residents want more done to provide a law-enforcement presence that is “visually reassuring.”
In light of that, the department plans to hire more officers and reposition the ones they already have through a new community policing initiative set to start early this summer.
“Just having that police presence I think keeps a lot of the people away,” said Ian Pullman, manager of Wood's Loan Office in the 1700 block of Atlantic Avenue. He said police had recently been coming inside the pawn shop and signing a sign-in sheet, aiding what he sees as a decrease in loitering and drug dealing outside.
Michael Mason, an Atlantic City police officer for 25 years who retired in 2017, once made it a point to park his patrol car outside this local business, which rests in an area he called an “open-air drug market.”
He said people loitering outside Wood's would leave when his car was around but would return when he had to leave for a call.
In 1994, The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority introduced the “cop next door” program, a $5 million program that offered officers 35 marked police cars for them to take home along with low-interest mortgages as incentives for them to stay in the city.
At the time, about 25% of the city's 400-member police force lived in the city. Under New Jersey law, cities may not impose residency requirements on police officers to force them to live where they work.
Now, Atlantic City has about 252 officers for a year-round population of about 39,000, plus millions of seasonal visitors who stay in the resort each year.
Retired Officer Connie Hackney, who grew up in the city and still lives there, said he was one of the last officers in the program to have a patrol car parked in his driveway in Chelsea Heights.
“The cars gave exposure,” said Hackney, who served in the department from 1998 to 2017. “You have police cars in your neighborhood, it gives a little image. It helps a little safetywise.”
While marked police cars provide visibility, residents call for even more of a return to basic policing, urging that officers “walk the beat” and patrol on foot.
“Perception is reality,” Pullman said. “Just being able to see one police officer, more often than not, walking the beat, that gives the impression that things are safe.”
Mason and Hackney both said that when there were more police, they had more time for face-to-face interactions with the community.
Hackney rode a bike he kept on his patrol car around neighborhoods when he had the time. It was something he took pride in.
But with less manpower and a city under a tight budget, this downtime got shorter and shorter.
“You got to get to these calls because your boy might be in trouble, your girl might be in trouble,” Hackney said. “If you do nothing else in patrol, you get to that call.”
In 2018, police were called 8.5% more than the prior year, for a total of 109,536 calls.
The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority agreed in March to provide $1.5 million a year for five years for the Atlantic City Police Department to hire 15 officers. These officers will replace veteran officers, who in turn will be assigned to the city's six wards in pairs, along with three officers who will be assigned to addressing vagrancy and homelessness in the Tourism District, said White.
“They will be more proactively engaging in the community — both residential and business communities,” police Chief Henry White said in March. “They will be getting problems solved. We are going to take veteran officers who know the terrain of the city and know how government operates.”
The initiative is based on a 2015 neighborhood policing plan implemented in New York.
New York police assigned two specially trained “neighborhood coordinating officers” in each sector. NCOs answered calls part of their shifts but served primarily as community contacts and monitored neighborhood crime trends.
CRDA Executive Director Matt Doherty said the plan aims to address quality-of-life issues. Along with stationing police in neighborhoods, they plan to reach out to organizations that work with people in need of social services to include them in policing.
CRDA currently invests $3 million a year into the Police Department and contracts 45 Class 2 officers, Doherty said.
“I think you'll start seeing a difference this summer. It may take another full year to get everything up and running, but I think you'll start seeing the impact,” he said.
Longtime resident Victor Jenkins, who lives on Ocean Avenue, wants to see an officer walking on his street, especially during the night and early morning hours.
“The approach has to be presence and persistence of presence,” Jenkins said. “That's the way to solve the problem.”
https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/rac/public-safety/residents-want-more-police-on-the-streets-here-is-what/article_f1a289c7-a885-5063-9243-38c53fa5295a.amp.html
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Texas
Police say Dallas DA's plan to give petty criminals a pass could backfire.
Officers say the reforms won't change how they approach their jobs and could have disastrous side effects
by Sarah Sarder
DALLAS — A day after District Attorney John Creuzot announced sweeping changes to Dallas County's criminal justice system, local police officials and union leaders pushed back, saying his reforms won't change how they approach their jobs and could have disastrous side effects.
Some of the harshest criticism came from DeSoto Police Chief Joseph Costa, who announced Friday afternoon that his officers would disregard Creuzot's plan to decriminalize low-level offenses and decrease the use of excessive probation and bail.
"I understand and appreciate that in Texas, the elected District Attorney can control which cases his office prosecutes and those offenses he chooses not to prosecute. Police officers, however, have to follow state law," Costa said in a written statement. "I have instructed DeSoto Police Officers to continue to make arrests as necessary to protect our citizens and to help prevent crime, regardless of the initiatives implemented by the District Attorney."
Costa promised to attempt to prosecute any cases rejected by the DA's office in municipal court so residents feel the Police Department is "doing all it can to keep the City of DeSoto safe and secure."
Speaking after a Friday morning news conference by Creuzot, Dallas Police Association President Michael Mata acknowledged that Creuzot's changes would have positive effects, from decreasing the jail population to easing the workload for police officers.
But Mata and Sheldon Smith, his counterpart with the National Black Police Association, also voiced disappointment that Creuzot had not sought input from local police chiefs and other "stakeholders," like small businesses, before rolling out his plan.
Creuzot, however, said he had met with local police and city officials, and he had yet to hear a viable solution.
"I've met with the police chiefs," the district attorney said, "and I've met with the City of Dallas and I've asked them to come up with a solution. Today, I've got no response. So we're going to act."
Mata and Smith said they expected multiple problems to arise from the changes, but nothing concerned them more than the decriminalization of theft of necessities worth up to $750.
"This will run people out of business," Mata said. "Hundreds of dollars [in stolen goods] is not low-level theft."
Smith said small businesses won't be able to survive in South Dallas and Oak Cliff if they must absorb the losses from theft.
"We know Walmart is leaving South Dallas," Smith said. "If Walmart is leaving, how much theft do you think is happening? The little store has absolutely no chance of staying in business."
Mata admitted that the Dallas Police Department, shorthanded as it is, can't respond quickly to low-priority crimes like shoplifting. As a result, he said, shopkeepers may feel compelled to do what the police and district attorney won't.
"Either that shop owner is going to have to take matters into his own hands," he said. "Or he's going to have to let $600 worth of merchandise walk out of his store. ... It's sending the wrong message."
Mata argued that most people suffer from lower-level crimes, not violent crime, and the police must serve those residents, as well.
Furthermore, Smith said, dismissing trespassing charges would leave no place for police to take homeless offenders because shelters are often full. Costa echoed that sentiment, adding that often the homeless and mentally ill commit other offenses that Creuzot has also recommended not be prosecuted.
Creuzot acknowledged the issue of mentally ill offenders in his news conference, saying the county would build a dedicated facility to house those homeless individuals.
"There's nothing good that's going to come out of putting a mentally ill person in Dallas County Jail or any other county jail," he said.
The district attorney also announced changes to how law enforcement would deal with second- and third-time marijuana offenders. With some exceptions, Creuzot outlined a plan that would refer those people for intervention and treatment instead of jail. He was unclear on the details of the plan.
Also weighing in on the reform plan Friday was the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, which lauded Creuzot's sentiment but said the county must ensure that the new policies are constitutional.
"We are pleased that DA Creuzot continues to recognize the need to reform our bail system and the serious harm that comes from detaining people simply because they cannot afford to pay bail," senior staff attorney Trisha Trigilio said in a written statement. "For reforms to become a reality, all stakeholders must join together, including the district judges who continue to resist voluntarily making changes to improve the system in Dallas County."
The leaders of the police associations echoed that call for consensus, saying they would ask to sit down with Creuzot to discuss the plan and its shortcomings.
"We have a responsibility to protect the public," Mata said.
https://www.policeone.com/community-policing/articles/483541006-Police-say-Dallas-DAs-plan-to-give-petty-criminals-a-pass-could-backfire/
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Michigan
Watch a Community Police Itself
A Detroit minister rallies his neighbors to shut down a drug house in an inspiring display of collective action.
“This is one of the most crime-ridden areas in the country—one of the most murderous areas in the country,” says Malik Shabazz, a minister in Detroit, in Andrew James's short documentary. “Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we want to patrol this whole area and make sure that there's no arson, no rape, no carjacking, no drug dealers—none of that. We can do this.”
Shabazz features prominently in Community Patrol, an immersive piece of observational filmmaking that depicts community policing in action. The riveting film, premiering on The Atlantic today, follows Shabazz as he rallies his neighbors to knock on doors and peacefully confront the perpetrators of a drug operation that has set up shop next to Shabazz's church. Rather than report the offenders to the authorities, Shabazz and his cohort attempt to dissuade them from dealing in the first place.
“This is truly an act of brotherly love,” Shabazz says in the film. “If we really didn't have that love for our brothers, we wouldn't be here trying to talk to you. That's our last resort—to see another brother go to jail, or another brother die. All we want to see is us pulling out of what we've been programmed to believe is the only thing we've got left.”
According to James, Shabazz is involved with a local community organizing effort, Detroit 300, which was formed in response to growing crime in the city and has helped solve a number of cases, including the apprehension of a serial rapist. The filmmaker describes Malik as an empathetic figure who “commands attention and respect. I was immediately drawn to his authoritative and principled nature, thoughtful and compassionate leadership, and deep commitment to the black community.”
Part of what makes Community Patrol so powerful is its ability to situate the audience directly inside the action as it unfolds. That cinema verité approach is undergirded by the time James spent with Shabazz establishing a trusting relationship. “As a filmmaker,” James told me, “I gravitate toward the idea of capturing these circumstances observationally so that audiences can be immersed, feel the intimacy of the story, and share in a cinematic experience. No one wants to be preached to,” he said, “but if you can capture a story authentically and frame it in the language of cinema, your work will have the ability to affect people in a deeper way.
“The point is to elevate [Shabazz's] perspective, get out of the way as much as possible, and allow what I captured to speak for itself,” he added.
Time and time again, both research and real-world case studies have borne out the idea that communities that self-police can be more effective than strict law enforcement at mitigating criminal activity in underserved neighborhoods. It all boils down to a logical equation in social psychology. People tend to mirror the behavior of others in their social group, a phenomenon called social influence. If individuals consistently see evidence that their neighbors are making personal contributions to the public good, they will be more inclined to contribute in kind.
As Dan M. Kahan details in his article “Reciprocity, Collective Action, and Community Policing” in the California Law Review, the traditional deterrence model of law enforcement does little to nurture perception of reciprocal cooperation. Public law enforcement provides “less exposure to monitoring, mentoring, and creating a street presence,” with the consequence being that “individuals, as reciprocators, become even less inclined to engage in such behavior themselves … undermining the incentive to collaborate with each other to safeguard their communities from crime.”
By galvanizing his community to negotiate compassionately with those disturbing the peace, Shabazz is encouraging his neighbors to view one another as partners in public safety. The goal is that this will create self-reinforcing patterns of common regard and concern, resulting in fewer crimes committed and fewer members of the community imprisoned.
https://amp.theatlantic.com/amp/video/586654/
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New York City
Community policing pilot launches on West Side
New York University's Policing Project pilot comes to 25th District first
The New York University School of Law's Policing Project is working with the Chicago Police Department to develop a more community-centric approach to policing and it's being field-tested in the West Side's 25th District.
The Chicago Neighborhood Policing Initiative is designed to give residents a say in how they are policed and get police officers to actually interact with the community more. Although it officially launched toward the end of January, the Policing Project and CPD spent several months laying the groundwork.
Barry Friedman, the director of the Policing Project, explained that the original idea was to do pilots in two districts — one on the West Side and one on the South Side — but because of issues with dispatching, they decided to stick to one. Several West Side districts were considered, but the choice of the 25th District came down to CPD's top brass. Friedman said the pilot is made up of two main components: community engagement and operations.
"We've been working very hard with community groups and community members to help them get together and talk about policing issues and have begun a series of meetings with the district commander and command staff about policing," Friedman said. "It will be an ongoing process with district command [communicating] with community members, community leaders and community organizations."
That input is then used to develop the district's policing strategies. The organizational component is more complex.
Whereas before, officers had to respond to a call no matter what they were doing, now they respond to calls only if they are related to crimes and issues within their beats.
"They stay in their beats and they're given some time off from the radio every day," Friedman said. "They get to know the community, just get to know folks."
The other major change is the establishment of District Coordinating Officers. Each DCO supervises three beats within the district.
"DCOs' jobs is to spend all their time working with community members to find out the needs of community members and to meet those needs," Friedman said.
For example, during the 25th District community policing plan meeting on March 13 – part of a separate city-wide community policing initiative – an Austin resident mentioned that he was member of a block club.
The DCO at the table said that he would be happy to attend one of their meetings, adding that one of his responsibilities was to get the ground-level sense of crime-related issues that affect the residents.
During the same meeting, 25th District commander Anthony Escamilla said that he appreciated having beat officers and DCOs would bring consistency, which, he felt, would improve police-community relations.
"You know they're always going to be on that beat," he said. "We want to build trust. We're going to rely on you and you're going to rely on you."
According to a Jan. 25 press release, as part of the pilot, the 25th district set up "rapid response units" to "ensure that all emergency calls continue to be addressed."
Friedman explained that much of the pilot is based on the work the Policing Project has already done in New York City. Authorities are still gathering data to measure the pilot's effectiveness.
"There's a group at Northwestern University that's doing an assessment with us, so it's a little early in the process," Friedman said. "At some point soon, we would start to collect information about whether CPD is keeping officers in their beats and how many meetings are attended. We're trying to get a sense of how this is working as we go."
He said that he expects the assessment to be completed sometime later this spring or this summer. If it goes well, the pilot would be expanded to other districts.
Friedman said that he couldn't speak to what those other districts would be, but he said that the ultimate goal is to implement the pilot's changes city-wide.
While it is too early to judge whether the pilot is successful, Friedman said that the feedback he's gotten so far has been encouraging.
https://mobile.austinweeklynews.com/News/Articles/4-8-2019/Community-policing-pilot-launches-on-West-Side-/
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OPINION
Massachusetts
Police Chief Suspended For Liking Trump & NRA Tweets Bullied Into Apology To Keep his position
by John Crump
South Hadley, Mass. –-(Ammoland.com)-Mount Holyoke College and Smith College place Police Chief Daniel Hect on administrative leave for liking tweets from the NRA and President Trump.
The Massachusetts Colleges placed Police Chief Hect on administrative leave before he had the chance even to start the job after students found his Twitter account. The career law enforcement official announced on his Twitter that he took the new position for the joint campus.
“I am excited to announce I have accepted the position of Chief of Police at Mount Holyoke and Smith colleges, two of the most prestigious all women's institutions in the nation,” read the tweeted.
Once students found his Twitter, they became outraged that Hect was an apparent Trump supporter and a member of the NRA. Students called his conservative beliefs “red flags” that should disqualify him from serving in law enforcement on the campuses.
One student tweeted “show his dangerous support of Trump, as well as anti-immigration (specifically latinx immigrants) and pro-gun sentiments” and declared that Hect “cannot keep this community safe.”
Before coming to Mount Holyoke and Smith colleges, Hect served at Xavier University as their director of public safety and chief of police. He has in the past also had a stellar career at Denison University.
At Denison University, Hect made significant inroads in building a bond between the police and the community. He sat in on club meetings and got to know the students. He was planning on bringing the same community policing to Mount Holyoke College and Smith College.
Mount Holyoke College President Sonya Stephens decided to place Hect on administrative leave. She announced the decision to students and staff via email.
“Over the past few weeks, members of our community have expressed concerns about the ability of Chief Daniel to develop the level of trust required to engage in community policing,” the email read.
On March 19th, Mount Holyoke College hosted a forum where students could ask the incoming police chief questions. The goal of the discussion was to alleviate students concerns about Hect.
Heck was forced to humble himself to keep his job. He apologized to the panel for liking Trump's Tweets calling it a “huge mistake.” Hect also had to state to students that he did not support the President of the United States.
“Donald Trump's viewpoints do not represent our country very well,” Hect said. “When [Trump] did something that I thought he did well, I wanted to like [his tweets in reference to those successes] in hopes to lead to more good behavior. I do not support Donald Trump. The hate that comes out of the White House is not okay.”
Students also focused on his liking of Tweets by the NRA. Students seemed outraged that he liked the NRA's Tweet wishing people a “Merry Christmas.” Ignorant students appeared to lecture at Hect instead of asking him real questions.
“You seem to understand racism as a result of individual bad people,” said one student. “Racism is systemic. It is perpetuated by individuals, but it's not the result of individual bad people.”
The 30-year law enforcement officer implied that the students taught him about his bias.
“I am taking steps to address this bias,” Hect said. “I didn't see it until people pointed it out, to be honest….[but] I take ownership of that, and that's one of the reasons why I've taken those posts down.”
MHC President Sonya Stephens appointed Deputy Police Chief Ray LaBarre as the Acting Chief of Campus Police.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot-News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%'ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on leftist deplatforming methods and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, on Facebook at realjohncrump, or at www.crumpy.com.
https://www.ammoland.com/2019/04/police-chief-suspended-for-liking-trump-nra-tweets-bullied-into-apology-to-keep-job/#axzz5l1stMHyj
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South Dakota
Police agencies struggle to recruit and retain officers
Law enforcement agencies across South Dakota and the nation are struggling to find enough qualified people to serve as police officers, potentially putting the safety of the public and existing on-duty officers at risk.
Recruitment challenges and difficulty in retaining officers have caused some departments to endure reduced officer counts at a time when populations are increasing. That can mean fewer officers on the road or less efficiency among officers who are forced to work long hours to pick up the slack.
The decline in applicants, experts say, is due to a combination of relatively low pay, high stress and danger on the job, increased training and certification requirements and general disinterest in policing among recent college and technical school graduates.
Retention challenges, particularly in small, rural departments in South Dakota, are being driven by a historically low overall unemployment rate, a lack of opportunities for career advancement, and long workdays and on-call periods that intrude on living a full life away from the job.
Hovering over the hiring challenges is a negative public discourse on social media about policing, driven by fallout from highly publicized, videotaped incidents of police misconduct and resulting national protests.
Nationally, the number of full-time sworn officers on duty fell by 11 percent from 1997 to 2016 as a rate per 1,000 residents, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. Urban departments are seeing the biggest decline in officer applications; the city of Seattle, for example, saw a 90 percent decline in applicants over the past decade.
South Dakota agencies face similar challenges. The Sioux Falls Police Department received 634 applications for open officer jobs in 2010, but only 373 applications during a 12-month period in 2018-19, a 41 percent decline.
Meanwhile, the number of officers in Sioux Falls has not kept up with the population. From 2010 to 2019, the number of officers on duty rose by 13.5 percent while the population rose by 21.4 percent.
"Everybody nationwide has challenges in that way, just because of the unique people you're looking for and because they're not out there in the numbers we would like," said Lt. Toby Benson, head of recruitment for the Sioux Falls Police Department. "What we're trying to do is find the right people because obviously law enforcement is a very specific skill set, and it's not right for everybody."
Officer pay has risen steadily in South Dakota over the past decade, with most agencies paying about $40,000 to $48,000 a year to start, with full benefits. The statewide average salary for all jobs is about $41,000, though not many career fields carry the dangers of police work.
Larger departments typically have enough officers to handle fluctuations in hiring without great risk. But smaller South Dakota agencies — including 34 sheriff's offices with four deputies or fewer and 19 cities with only one or two officers—are less able to maintain service levels when staffing falls short.
Recruitment efforts have been heightened in recent years to find more applicants overall but also more women and minorities interested in the field.
Administrators from departments both large and small emphasize, however, that police agencies are increasing training and certification standards and not lowering them in order to lure more applicants. They also stress that public safety remains paramount whether they are fully staffed or have open positions.
"Even with the number of individuals we're down right now, we're still able to provide an adequate level of safety for the citizens of South Dakota and those traveling through our state," said Lt. Randi Erickson, director of training and professional standards for the South Dakota Highway Patrol.
Little leeway for small departments
If the number of officers on a police force falls too low, the safety of the public and the on-duty officers can be threatened, particularly in small departments that cover large swaths of geography.
Years ago, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in northwestern South Dakota had nearly two dozen certified law enforcement officers on its force. Now, due to funding reductions and difficulty in hiring qualified applicants, the force is down to about 10 officers, according to Capt. Joe Brings Plenty of the Cheyenne River tribal law enforcement agency.
At times, that means only two or three officers are on patrol and responding to calls on the reservation of about 4,300 square miles and roughly 18,000 residents.
"If we have events coming up, we can prepare, but if it's just a shift and something is happening and the officer needs help, that's a huge safety factor," Brings Plenty said.
Officers in the small tribal agency, with its headquarters in Eagle Butte, are often on-call to respond while off duty, adding to stress and pressure on officers and making the job less desirable to new recruits.
"Our funding source has shrunk and our population has grown," Brings Plenty said. "Even though we have a smaller town, we take an enormous number of calls."
The instantaneous and expansive reach of social media can hurt a police agency's reputation and morale if someone is unhappy how an incident played out, Brings Plenty said.
"With social media, if somebody isn't happy, they're going to let the world know they're unhappy," he said.
The complaints, whether founded or unfounded, can tarnish an agency's reputation in the community and hurt recruitment, especially in a department seeking to build its force by hiring mostly local candidates.
The Cheyenne River force looks to its corrections staff, including workers at its detention facility, as a sort of farm club for future patrol officers. Leaders in the agency also reach out to children and youth at career days and other events to gain the trust of young people and hopefully spark an interest in a career in law enforcement, Brings Plenty said.
"Some of the youth that you meet out there, they're intrigued with law enforcement, the idea of it," he said. "The little ones, they want you to put on your lights and sirens. It shows them what we do, and they get to meet the officers on a more human level."
Small staffs juggle stressful situations
According to the 2018 crime report released recently by the state Attorney General's office, staffing surveys show several South Dakota agencies have limited officer counts at any given time.
The cities of Avon, Beresford, Kadoka, Kimball, Lake Norden, Menno, Murdo, Platte, Scotland and Tripp have only one officer. Municipal forces with only two officers include Alcester, Clark, Eagle Butte, Jefferson, Faith, Freeman, Parkston, Philip and Tyndall, according to the report.
Finding qualified applicants to fill positions in remote rural areas is difficult and having a single opening on a small force can dramatically affect the safety of the community and the officers themselves.
Jeremy Wellnitz, chief of police in Clark, is one of two full-time officers in the city of about 1,050 people located 30 miles west of Watertown. Even with two officers and a pair of part-time officers who help out on weekends, providing 24-hour police service puts a great burden on Wellnitz and his full-time colleague.
On a recent day, Wellnitz took his first call at 3:51 a.m. and didn't return home until 4 p.m. During a phone call with a reporter, a trespassing complaint came in and Wellnitz got back in his patrol car and responded to the incident.
He said it is a challenge to find a qualified applicant willing to move to Clark for a $40,000-a-year salaried position that requires 12 to 14 hours a day on patrol and also to be on call almost constantly when not on duty.
One major drawback of small forces is that it is nearly impossible for a full-time officer to go on vacation. "That's one major downfall in a small department," he said.
After leaving many hours of vacation time on the table in recent years, Wellnitz said the Clark City Council agreed to pay up to 40 hours of lost vacation time each year to its officers.
But the extra pay doesn't reduce stress the way a vacation could, Wellnitz said. "I'd rather take a vacation and spend some time away to refresh and regroup," he said.
The challenge of recruiting a qualified officer will soon become real for Wellnitz as he prepares for the departure of the other full-time officer who will be deployed for about a year with the Army Reserve.
In addition to the typical recruiting challenges, Willnitz faces the hurdle of finding a qualified candidate willing to move there for only a 1-year stint.
If he can't hire someone, Wellnitz assumes he will be working more hours than ever during his colleague's deployment.
"I could try to hire somebody, but I could only have them for basically a year, and nobody wants to come out to Clark to work for just one year," Wellnitz said.
Recruiting hard, seeking diversity
Benson, head of recruiting for Sioux Falls police, said the department aggressively recruits new officers throughout the year.
The department, which has 260 officers and is fully staffed at 269, has about 20 employees who visit colleges and technical schools about three times a month to meet with potential officer candidates in classes or at educational seminars.
A few times a year the recruiters, who are full-time patrol or administrative officers, also attend job fairs to find candidates, mainly targeting Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. A main goal is to meet candidates in person to answer their questions but also to sell the idea of working in the agency and living in Sioux Falls.
Recent graduates or late-stage college or tech school students take a different approach to a job hunt than candidates in the past. These days, Benson said, officer candidates want information about the job but also the community where they will live and specifics about opportunities for career advancement or specialties such as detective work or handling dogs.
"There's been a mindset shift," said Benson, a native of Sioux Falls. "When I started 24 years ago, this was one of those dream jobs. It was what you wanted to do and all you thought about. But people now aren't as sure if it's what they want to do."
Erickson, the highway patrol lieutenant, said potential hires generally ask three questions: how much is the pay, what shifts will they work and where will they have to live. Most candidates want to live in populated areas with more services, he said.
Even with aggressive recruiting, the agency is unable to reach full staffing, Erickson said. According to the 2018 state crime report, the department at the time of its survey had 181 patrol officers. The fully budgeted patrol staff would be 193.
Brendyn Medina, spokesperson for the Rapid City Police Department, said the agency is generally able to hire enough people to compensate for retirements and the normal turnover of officers.
"We do a pretty good job on trying to stay on top of our number," Medina said. "But over the years, we've had to think a little more creatively to try in our recruitment efforts to garner interest in the law enforcement field."
Recent efforts include more aggressive attempts to attract officer candidates who reflect the diversity of the community, which mostly means trying to recruit women and Native Americans.
In mid-March, the department hosted a recruitment event called Strong{HER} focused on educating potential female candidates about police work and employment opportunities.
Along with the Pennington County Sheriff's Office, the Rapid City Police Department also participates in the Akicita Mentorship Program that pairs working officers with Native American students in the criminal justice program at Western Dakota Tech.
The intent of Akacita—the Lakota word for "soldier" or "warrior"—is to heighten interest in law enforcement among Native Americans while building relationships between police agencies and Rapid City's largest minority population.
The program has seen some early success, as have efforts to lure more women into policing, said Peter Ragnone, criminal justice program director at WDT.
Women made up about half of the fall 2018 class of new enrollees in criminal justice at the technical school, he said.
Ragnone, who spent about 25 years on the Rapid City police force, said that when he was hired as an officer in 1991 more than 100 people applied for about five openings, a ratio of 20 applicants for one job.
Now, he said, the agency and others in South Dakota typically see about only three applicants for each open officer position.
Battling distrust of the profession
Ragnone said the typical turnover rate among the state's roughly 1,700 law enforcement officers is about 10 percent per year. The high rate puts great pressure on departments statewide, especially those with larger forces, to fill those 170 positions just to keep up.
Enrollment in the WDT justice program has been steady, with about 50 new students in fall 2018, Ragnone said.
Still, those and others who seek to become certified in law enforcement at colleges and tech schools cannot meet the increasing demand caused by rising population and a growing population of officers reaching retirement age, Ragnone said.
National experts and some police officials in South Dakota say interest in becoming an officer was dampened by the recent spate of high-profile incidents in which police officers have become embroiled in use-of-force and racial controversies or have been videotaped beating or killing unarmed citizens.
Ragnone said he discusses those events with his students who often see those incidents as caused by poor decision making on the part of an individual officer and not as a larger trend in policing.
"My students seem to think that these are individual decisions, and whether an officer is a hero or a heel is based on decisions that the officer made on their own," Ragnone said.
However, the vilification of officers and distrust in some communities has likely lowered the interest in law enforcement as a career for some young people, said David McNeil, chief of the Aberdeen Police Department and president of the South Dakota Police Chiefs' Association.
"I can see that some people would have an apprehension about going into law environment because of those very publicized national incidents, those tragic situations that have occurred," McNeil said. "If people have a limited connection or frame of view or understanding of what police do, maybe they would be less inclined to explore this career, or parents might try to persuade their recent college graduate to look somewhere other than law enforcement."
When McNeil entered law enforcement 27 years ago, an open position as a patrol officer would attract up to 250 applications from people eager to be an officer.
"In recent years, we have had the jobs open until filled, so somebody can come in off the street and start the process," McNeil said.
McNeil and others say a quick solution to the officer shortage is unlikely, so they stress to front-line officers that every interaction with a citizen is a chance to form a lasting positive impression that could pay off through increased officer applications down the road.
"In general, we have to do a better job of showing our communities what their law enforcement agencies do for them" McNeil said. "What are our operations, our strategies and our philosophies to explain our mission and be better connected."
https://www.mitchellrepublic.com/news/crime-and-courts/4598476-police-agencies-struggle-recruit-and-retain-officers?amp
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Pakistan
Murad says police seminars must for brainstorming, community police
The chief minister said that it becomes the responsibility of the provincial government to maintain law & order to ensure security of the citizens.
Karachi -- Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that maintenance of law and order and ensuring security of the citizens was his government's top priority.
This priority could be be achieved in true letter and spirit when the Police would formulate short-term & long-term goals in consultation with various stakeholders, and present them for the consideration of the the government.
This he said on Thursday while speaking at RETREAT- a strategic workshop and exhibition organised by Sindh police at a local hotel. The seminar was attended by CM Advisor on Information Murtaza Wahab, sitting a retired senior officer, particularly by IGPs and members of civil society.
The chief minister said that it becomes the responsibility of the provincial government to maintain law & order to ensure security of the citizens. He added that for achieving this objective the police organization has to formulate short-term and long-term goals in consultation with various stakeholders and present them for the consideration of the government.
Mr Shah said that the workshop (Retreat) appeared to be a constructive step in that direction.
The chief minister said that this workshop would help the Sindh Police to assess its capacity, resources, and effectiveness, and its strengths and weaknesses. He added Policing, the world over, was a challenging profession. “Police is the primary agency responsible to reduce and control crime and ensure public safety,” he said.
Murad Ali Shah said that such strategic workshops provided an opportunity for officers and stakeholders alike to engage, consult, introspect, and coordinate towards formulation of strategies to help achieve key policing goals.
“I am sure the agenda for the workshop has provided the basis for brainstorming by the participants,” he said and added “coming together and sharing of such rich experiences ranging from hard core policing functions to different thematic areas, augurs well for the utility of this retreat exercise.”
He said in a lighter mood that the entire police force had been invited in the seminar and there was no policeman on the street of policing. He added further that on Thursday (today) only one murder has been reported from all over Sindh. “This is the lowest in the resent trend and I am sure this law and order be maintained in this way,” he said.
Mr Shah advised the IG police to visit all the police regions and meet with his juniors and encourage them for better policing and also involve civil society to the development of the community police.
The chief minister said that the Inspector General Police Sindh and his team would benefit greatly from this two day exercise. “A meaningful dialogue must lead to achievable targets, and an increased efficiency in the performance of Sindh Police,” he concluded.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/amp/456531-murad-says-police-seminars-must-for-brainstorming-community-police
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Los Angeles
LAPD Predictive Policing Tool Raises Racial Bias Concerns
On Tuesday, the department's civilian oversight panel raised questions about whether the program, aimed at reducing property crime, also disproportionately targets black and Latino communities.
by MARK PUENTE, LOS ANGELES TIMES
(TNS) — The Los Angeles Police Department pioneered the controversial use of data to pinpoint crime hot spots and track violent offenders.
Complex algorithms and vast databases were supposed to revolutionize crime fighting, making policing more efficient as number-crunching computers helped to position scarce resources.
But critics long complained about inherent bias in the data — gathered by officers — that underpinned the tools.
They claimed a partial victory when LAPD Chief Michel Moore announced he would end one highly touted program intended to identify and monitor violent criminals. On Tuesday, the department's civilian oversight panel raised questions about whether another program, aimed at reducing property crime, also disproportionately targets black and Latino communities.
Members of the Police Commission demanded more information about how the agency plans to overhaul a data program that helps predict where and when crimes will likely occur. One questioned why the program couldn't be suspended.
“There is very limited information” on the program's impact, Commissioner Shane Murphy Goldsmith said.
The action came as so-called predictive policing— using search tools, point scores and other methods — is under increasing scrutiny by privacy and civil liberties groups that say the tactics result in heavier policing of black and Latino communities. The argument was underscored at Tuesday's commission meeting when several UCLA academics cast doubt on the research behind crime modeling and predictive policing.
Last week, the group of 68 UCLA professors and graduate students signed a letter to commissioners raising concerns about PredPol, the technology company partially developed by UCLA anthropology professor P. Jeffrey Brantingham.
There is no “universal agreement or acceptance of the empirical merit and the ethics” of the research upon which the policing program is based, the letter stated, adding that it reflected “some of the most troubling legacies of the discipline of anthropology and of social science more generally.”
In a statement, Brantingham said: “UCLA provides a great environment to conduct research because it represents a diversity of opinion and encourages vigorous debate. It's clear that we share the same passion for finding fair and effective solutions that help keep communities safe.”
The PredPol software used by the LAPD is designed to predict where and when crimes will likely occur over the next 12 hours. The software's algorithm examines 10 years of data, including the types of crimes, dates, locations and times.
As commissioners debated the data program for three hours, activists repeatedly shouted, “Shut it down.”
Last month, an audit by Inspector General Mark Smith found the data programs lacked oversight and that officers used inconsistent criteria to label people who were likely to commit violent crime. Moore ended that component.
Smith also said there was insufficient data to determine if PredPol helped to reduce property crimes.
But Goldsmith and fellow Commissioners Dale Bonner and Eileen Decker faulted the audit for not providing more details about the location-based program.
They questioned its effectiveness and wanted specifics on how future results would be measured and released to the public. They also asked Moore to provide details on training and how the agency would monitor against possible abuses of targeting black and brown communities
Department officials plan to meet with a commission subcommittee to provide more details.
Bonner asked Moore why the agency could not suspend the program until it develops a “formalized” plan and resolves all problems.
Moore insisted the program is needed to fight crime.
“To abort this because of criticism in this room is an overreaction,” Moore said, adding the agency is trying to build community trust around the program.
“It's almost like working on the car as you're driving down the freeway,” Bonner replied. Moore disputed the notion.
The department is working to develop “precision policing” manuals tailored to its four geographic commands and will incorporate the inspector general's recommendations into them, Moore said.
To improve accountability, Moore tasked Deputy Chief Robert Arcos, who heads the Office of Operations, to oversee the program. Arcos told commissioners that he and other police leaders are committed to making the program successful and transparent.
After the audit was released last month, the public had two weeks to offer input. Smith said he received 819 responses. Many used similar language urging that the programs end. Still, activists pointed out that no responses supported keeping the program.
“The community is completely unified in the opposition,” one woman told commissioners.
When the commission declined to approve the department's path forward to use predictive policing — instead requesting more information on its usefulness in stemming property crimes — activists stood and chanted in solidarity. Commission President Steve Soboroff recessed the meeting until calm could be restored.
Seven UCLA professors and graduate students spoke, urging commissioners to stop the LAPD from using PredPol because it inflicts harm on the city's poorest residents.
“It's a predatory policing program that should be dismissed and dismantled,” professor Jemima Pierre told commissioners.
Another criticized Smith for not disclosing that two academic studies cited in the audit were completed by Brantingham.
“It shouldn't be evaluated by the person who created it,” professor Jessica Cattelino said.
Moore said the department is open to more examination of the program and would make changes if irregularities surface. He credited the program for helping lower crime rates in recent years.
The agency's primary goal, he said, is to keep the city safe, not apprehend people. He said he understands the concerns about racial biases, but said officers work daily to build community trust.
“We will continue to work with all our communities,” Moore said, adding the department will also seek more research on data policing.
https://www.govtech.com/public-safety/LAPD-Predictive-Policing-Tool-Raises-Racial-Bias-Concerns.html?AMP
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New Jersey
Residents want more police on the streets. Here is what Atlantic City is doing.
Atlantic City Community Policing
Muhammed Uddin, left, talks with Atlantic City police Officers Branden Vongsasombath and La'Quay Green on Friday at the Food 4 Less store off Atlantic Avenue near Indiana Avenue. remembers years ago when she saw more patrol cars parked in the city, including one near her property in Lower Chelsea.
“It made me feel good when it was there because people aren't going to be breaking into cars and they're going to think twice about breaking into a house on that street,” said Aloi, who doesn't think that kind of crime is taking place in her neighborhood now but worries about other areas of the city.
Residents and former police agree that making people feel safer in Atlantic City needs to start on the streets.
The need to foster a better sense of safety and improve police and community relations was stressed in a report released last year by Jim Johnson, special counsel to Gov. Phil Murphy.
The plan, which aims to strengthen the city's government and community partnerships, says residents want more done to provide a law-enforcement presence that is “visually reassuring.”
In light of that, the department plans to hire more officers and reposition the ones they already have through a new community policing initiative set to start early this summer.
“Just having that police presence I think keeps a lot of the people away,” said Ian Pullman, manager of Wood's Loan Office in the 1700 block of Atlantic Avenue. He said police had recently been coming inside the pawn shop and signing a sign-in sheet, aiding what he sees as a decrease in loitering and drug dealing outside.
Michael Mason, an Atlantic City police officer for 25 years who retired in 2017, once made it a point to park his patrol car outside this local business, which rests in an area he called an “open-air drug market.”
He said people loitering outside Wood's would leave when his car was around but would return when he had to leave for a call.
In 1994, The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority introduced the “cop next door” program, a $5 million program that offered officers 35 marked police cars for them to take home along with low-interest mortgages as incentives for them to stay in the city.
At the time, about 25% of the city's 400-member police force lived in the city. Under New Jersey law, cities may not impose residency requirements on police officers to force them to live where they work.
Now, Atlantic City has about 252 officers for a year-round population of about 39,000, plus millions of seasonal visitors who stay in the resort each year.
Retired Officer Connie Hackney, who grew up in the city and still lives there, said he was one of the last officers in the program to have a patrol car parked in his driveway in Chelsea Heights.
“The cars gave exposure,” said Hackney, who served in the department from 1998 to 2017. “You have police cars in your neighborhood, it gives a little image. It helps a little safetywise.”
While marked police cars provide visibility, residents call for even more of a return to basic policing, urging that officers “walk the beat” and patrol on foot.
“Perception is reality,” Pullman said. “Just being able to see one police officer, more often than not, walking the beat, that gives the impression that things are safe.”
Mason and Hackney both said that when there were more police, they had more time for face-to-face interactions with the community.
Hackney rode a bike he kept on his patrol car around neighborhoods when he had the time. It was something he took pride in.
But with less manpower and a city under a tight budget, this downtime got shorter and shorter.
“You got to get to these calls because your boy might be in trouble, your girl might be in trouble,” Hackney said. “If you do nothing else in patrol, you get to that call.”
In 2018, police were called 8.5% more than the prior year, for a total of 109,536 calls.
The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority agreed in March to provide $1.5 million a year for five years for the Atlantic City Police Department to hire 15 officers. These officers will replace veteran officers, who in turn will be assigned to the city's six wards in pairs, along with three officers who will be assigned to addressing vagrancy and homelessness in the Tourism District, said White.
“They will be more proactively engaging in the community — both residential and business communities,” police Chief Henry White said in March. “They will be getting problems solved. We are going to take veteran officers who know the terrain of the city and know how government operates.”
The initiative is based on a 2015 neighborhood policing plan implemented in New York.
New York police assigned two specially trained “neighborhood coordinating officers” in each sector. NCOs answered calls part of their shifts but served primarily as community contacts and monitored neighborhood crime trends.
CRDA Executive Director Matt Doherty said the plan aims to address quality-of-life issues. Along with stationing police in neighborhoods, they plan to reach out to organizations that work with people in need of social services to include them in policing.
CRDA currently invests $3 million a year into the Police Department and contracts 45 Class 2 officers, Doherty said.
“I think you'll start seeing a difference this summer. It may take another full year to get everything up and running, but I think you'll start seeing the impact,” he said.
Longtime resident Victor Jenkins, who lives on Ocean Avenue, wants to see an officer walking on his street, especially during the night and early morning hours.
“The approach has to be presence and persistence of presence,” Jenkins said. “That's the way to solve the problem.”
https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/rac/public-safety/residents-want-more-police-on-the-streets-here-is-what/article_f1a289c7-a885-5063-9243-38c53fa5295a.amp.html
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New Mexico
City of Albuquerque lays out plan to address gun violence
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Mike Geier unveiled a plan to address gun violence in the city.
'For nearly a decade, gun violence has become ever more pervasive and is often connected to other crimes,' Mayor Keller said. 'We've heard the concerns from our communities and, today, we are rolling out a multi-pronged plan to tackle gun violence.'
The police department's role in the plan includes 'data-driven and problem-oriented policing,' new technology to track gun violence, addressing community concerns, researching the roots of gun crimes and sharing information with other law enforcement agencies.
'We are taking proactive and reactive approaches in our plan to address gun violence in Albuquerque,' Chief Geier said. 'The data is clearly showing where we need to focus our resources.'
City of Albuquerque's approach to combating gun violence:
PROACTIVE
Data-Driven POP Projects
• Work with RTCC to identify areas with heavy concentration of gun violence and design Problem-Oriented Policing projects to address crime
• 30-day assessment to study results and determine whether goals and objectives were attained
• Identify new strategies needed to augment original plan
Community Outreach: Problem Response Teams
• Leveraging APD's Problem Response Teams to Support Community Engagement
• Learn from the community and address potential public safety shortcomings in the area.
• Continual outreach will be conducted by officers assigned to the Problem Response Team, along with Albuquerque Fire Rescue and Family and Community Services to communities affected by violence
• Establish relationships outside of the reaction to particular crimes
• Learn from the community and address potential public safety shortcomings in the area
Crime Stoppers - Additional focus on preventing gun violence
• Felon possessing a firearm
• Juvenile possessing a firearms
• Illegal sale of a firearm
Gun Violence Research
• Partner with health agencies and/or universities to study gun violence as a public health crisis
REACTIVE
Shooting Response Protocol
• 72-hour response
• Canvass within at least one block radius
• Collect evidence, intelligence, retrieve videos, identify potential witnesses or sources of information.
• Distribute community policing materials, including gun safety information
• Increase visibility
• Encourage better cooperation
• Help reduce the potential for retaliatory violence
Information Sharing
• Work with partner organizations to target most violent offenders and prosecute federally when possible
• Weekly Shooting activity assessment by Area Command
• Identify problems, develop mitigation strategies and continuous assessment
• Move additional resources to Area Command, if needed.
• Bi-weekly inter-agency shooting review
• Partner with DA and BCSO to review prior two week's shooting incidents.
• Detectives/analysts will present case facts of the investigation, potential motives, contributing factors.
• Leverage information sharing, collaboration and sharing of resources, to identify trends of offenders frequently involved in gun violence.
Gun Intelligence Center/Crime Lab
• Gunshot detection technology
• Splitting of Human Identification Unit (DNA & Latents) to reduce backlog and lead to additional hits in CODIS and AFIS databases
• Latest Forensics technology
• Robotics to automate DNA processing
• Quicker results resulting in more CODIS hits
• Help obtain warrants and convictions of worse offenders
• Rapid DNA
• Improve AFIS data analytics
• Improve NIBIN acquisition process - currently takes 15 minutes per shell casing because of slow Wi-fi connection.
• Additional staff
• Interpret DNA results, leading to greater CODIS uploads
• Addition of 2 Latent Lab Techs will help reduce backlog of 539 items in evidence
• Re-tooled processes for firearms tagging, enhancing analysis of crime guns to include make/model/serial, recovery location, possessor information and ownership tracing via the ATF's e-Trace system.
Violent Crime and Gang Reduction
• Gang Suppression Unit
• NIBIN ballistics tracking with increased capacity due to legislative funding
• Gun Violence Reduction Unit
• Work with District Attorney Task Force
• Work with federal partners to prosecute federally when possible
https://amp.kob.com/articles/city-of-albuquerque-lays-out-plan-to-address-gun-violence-5309068.html
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The Feds, Police Are Using Google's Location History Feature to Track Down Suspects
by Tom McKay
Law enforcement queries of Google's massive mobile device Location History database, which employees call Sensorvault, has “risen sharply in the past six months,” the New York Times reported on Saturday, citing sources at the company.
It's not clear how often police ask Google to produce results from the database, which can be used to narrow down which devices were in a specified geographic location at a certain period of time (mostly phones running its Android OS, but also some ones on Apple's iOS). The technique can be used to generate leads. But critics say it resembles a fishing expedition that raises constitutional questions under the Fourth Amendment, which restricts the scope of warrants and mandates authorities show probable cause to search, the Times wrote:
The practice was first used by federal agents in 2016, according to Google employees, and first publicly reported last year in North Carolina. It has since spread to local departments across the country, including in California, Florida, Minnesota and Washington. This year, one Google employee said, the company received as many as 180 requests in one week. Google declined to confirm precise numbers.
The technique illustrates a phenomenon privacy advocates have long referred to as the “if you build it, they will come” principle — anytime a technology company creates a system that could be used in surveillance, law enforcement inevitably comes knocking. Sensorvault, according to Google employees, includes detailed location records involving at least hundreds of millions of devices worldwide and dating back nearly a decade.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that authorities must obtain a search warrant and show probable cause to obtain location records from third parties like Google, though Google had already decided that it would demand warrants to hand over the data. Since each “geofence warrant”—varying from tiny spaces to larger areas covering multiple blocks, and over similarly variable periods of time—can potentially rope in tens to hundreds of devices owned by many people, the company first provides records without attaching names or other identifying information to investigators.
Once authorities narrow down the number of leads, such as by identifying patterns of movement that indicate potential involvement in a crime or potential witnesses that were in the area, they can request further location data or ask Google to reveal “the name, email address and other data associated with the device,” the Times wrote. However, some jurisdictions can require a second warrant before identifying information is handed over.
As the Times separately reported, Location History is not enabled by default and has to be activated when opting in to certain services. Its primary purpose for Google, however, is targeted advertising and services like determining when stores are busy. Even if Location History is turned off, other Google apps collect some location data as part of Web & App Activity settings (though this data is kept in a separate Google database).
https://gizmodo.com/the-feds-police-are-using-googles-location-history-fea-1834026726/amp
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Florida
Sarasota Police increasing patrols in Newtown following a spike in shootings
SARASOTA (WWSB) - “Scary, real scary,” Alton Young, a Newtown resident.
What Young is talking about is the constant gunfire plaguing his neighborhood. He tells us even his 16-year-old grandson was recently struck by a bullet. Fortunately he's okay, but all these shootings are very concerning.
“People can't even sleep at night because of all the shootings and all that,” said Young.
Sarasota Police say they've responded to at least 30 calls for service where gunfire was reported, some of them deadly. They will now be adding more patrols to the area than ever before.
“We started crunching numbers looking at the data, also received many phone calls from concerned citizens in the area who are really asking for help from the Sarasota Police Department," said Captain Demetri Konstantopoulos with the Sarasota Police Department. "Really great people in the Newtown community that want to live in peace.”
Not everyone is sold on this idea. Newtown activist Valerie Buchand tells us adding more police is not the solution.
“it's not all police that's needed, our people need to have a forgiving spirit and stop killing each other,” said Buchand.
Because of safety concerns, police are not mentioning how many more officers will be on patrol.
http://www.mysuncoast.com/2019/04/13/sarasota-police-increasing-patrols-newtown-following-spike-shootings/
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Michigan
Police officer ensures bullied 9-year-old has a happy birthday
GRAND RAPIDS (CNN NEWSOURCE) - It's a birthday that a boy in Michigan will probably never forget. That's because Grand Rapids Police Officer Austin Lynema made sure of it.
Officer Lynema, 22-years-old and six months on the job saw a 9-year-old in need, capturing it all on bodycam video.
"I was finishing a call on Kindle Street and saw Thomas running down the sidewalk trying to catch up to his bus crying," Officer Lynema said.
Thomas, along with his mom and brother who immigrated from Tanzania, was devastated.
Reporter: "Why were you so worried about missing the bus?"
Thomas: "Cause I missed school and I really want to go to school and do my work and have fun."
Thomas loves school, never missing a day.
"Mom wasn't able to take Thomas to school. She doesn't have a car. So I asked if it was okay if I took Thomas to school and she said it was. And once we showed up school, you know, all my lights are on," Officer Lynema said.
Lynema also learned this wasn't an ordinary day, it was Thomas's birthday.
"Thomas confided in me that he didn't think that anybody else would show up to his birthday party because he was being bullied at school, he invited his entire class," Officer Lynema said.
Lynema and his partner decided on a surprise of their own.
“I ring the doorbell and he comes out of his balcony and sees me and my partner. Comes downstairs and gives me my partner hug. And so we asked him Hey, where's, where's the Where's everybody else? Where's the birthday cake? Nobody showed up and there's no cake," Officer Lynema said.
The next day, Lynema and fellow officers went the extra mile.
"I was able to get permission to get Krispy Kreme Doughnuts for him personalized Happy birthday. A Grand Rapids Police goody bag that had shirts, hats, stickers, you know, the works for him," Officer Lynema said.
The story made the news and now cards and gifts have turned up from across the country.
Officer Lynema and Thomas, friends today, possibly partners down the road.
Thomas says he wants to be a police officer when he grows up.
Lynema, from a family of public servants, driven to go above and beyond, helping a young man and his family as they begin their American dream.
https://www.wkrg.com/news/national/police-officer-ensures-bullied-9-year-old-has-a-happy-birthday/1923720113 |
