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December, 2016 - Week 1

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Tech no panacea for community policing problems

by Amanda Ziadeh

While body-worn cameras and predictive policing solutions are deployed to improve law enforcement efficiency and transparency, concerns remain around the role of digital devices in solving community policing problems.

The adoption of body-worn cameras (BWC) in police departments is intended to provide additional evidence and to hold officers accountable in a post-Ferguson world. Earlier this year, a study by the Major Cities Chiefs and the Major County Sheriffs found that 77 percent of major police departments said they were moving toward the implementation of BWCs.

These technologies are posing some new challenges, however, said Tracie Keesee, deputy commissioner of training for the New York City Police Department. Along with discussions around these devices -- how and when they are to be used and if they keep the public and officers safe -- Keesee said she is worried about officers deferring to a technology when human interaction may be more effective.

“The technology itself is still fairly new, when you think about policing technology as a whole,” Keesee said at a Nov. 30 New America event about the future of law enforcement technology.

Early on, some thought BWCs would be the solution to myriad problems, Keesee said. There are limitations to the technology, however -- as well as with the humans administering the technology and the policies behind what and how solutions are deployed. And questions remain as to whether a community where BWCs are deployed has full transparency or a say in what is being used.

“Trust is a human component, it's not something technology can build for you,” Keesee said. “I think that we have to be very careful about how much we allow technology to leverage human interaction.”

In contrast, David Oh, councilman at-large for the Philadelphia City Council, said that where communities and police departments face limited resources and personnel, policing technology is helpful.

“Technology provides the opportunity for more objective, equitable and more fair treatment of people that are suspected of criminal activity,” he said at the event. Devices like BWCs and drones could fill some gaps and offer quality policing to the city's poorest neighborhoods.

Oh is more concerned about inconsistency in police protocols and training, and the lack of transparency and shared best practices between communities with varying access to resources. “The technology, I don't think is a problem,” he said. Technology offers the promise of transparency and standardized, uniform policing across the city, no matter the resources of the neighborhood.

If the police departments in one part of town deploy body cameras, then the other city departments should as well. Encouraging this kind of equity could address the lack of trust by improving all levels of service, Oh said. “The technology allows the opportunity to serve the community so those people who feel they're not being served can now be served in a more efficient and appropriate manner,” he explained.

In Philadelphia, for example, officers are distributed throughout the city but are highly focused on homicide. This emphasis tends to push officers to communities with high crime, leaving other communities with fewer responders for burglaries, missing children, suspicious vehicles and vandalism.

With the help of drones and surveillance cameras, Oh said, those communities can be policed, even with fewer officers. Thermal detection technology can help search for missing children, and drones can be used to check out reports of fires or criminal activity before officers are sent, giving officials situational awareness to guide the deployment of personnel.

If video and BWC feeds are made public, the agency is being transparent and builds trust with the community. “Technology [offers] the opportunity to deal with people fairly and uniformly and give them the services at the end of the day,” he said.

And while Keesee said she is concerned that placing the responsibility of solving resource disparities on technology alone could reduce police department accountability, she does believe technology could improve police-community relations -- if transparency and device policies are handled beforehand. “Early versions of the body camera, the policy around the body camera, are those stepping stones we're going to have to get through to get there.”

https://gcn.com/articles/2016/12/01/police-tech.aspx

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Washington

Academy connects community, police

Monroe residents experience challenges of law enforcement during 11-week immersive program

by Chris Hendrickson

The 2016 Monroe Police Department Citizens Academy took place over the course of 11 weeks, offering attendees a crash course in everything the police department does. As the series concluded last week, academy attendees all shared one thing in common: nobody wanted it to end.

In addition to instruction about patrol procedures, child abuse, domestic violence, the evolution of a patrol call, narcotics and tracking K9, traffic enforcement, use of force, narcotics, homicide investigations, officer safety, Monroe crime scenes, evidence collection and Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), the academy provided a series of interactive opportunities that gave students a glimpse at what it might be like to work in law enforcement. The series was facilitated by Sgt. Steve Clopp and Community Service Officer Gaby Escalante, and included widespread participation from the department.

Ongoing since 1993, the academy is meant to build bridges between the police department and the community. This year's academy included 23 students, ranging in age from 17 to 70. Attendees were incredibly engaged this year, Clopp said, which enhanced the experience for both the presenters and students.

“I think this year was probably the best attendance I've ever seen,” Clopp said. “Every week, pretty much everybody was there. It was so cool.”

Academy attendees were a diverse representation of the community, Clopp said, including officers' wives, an officer's brother, local business owners and other residents. The classes took place 6:30-9:30 p.m. every Wednesday, plus three Saturday outings.

Monroe Mayor Geoffrey Thomas said he appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the inner workings of the department.

“Monroe's Citizens Police Academy is the closest you'll come to walking in an officer's shoes,” Thomas said. “Through class time and real exercises, the academy introduced us to the dangers our officers face, from checking in on someone, to making a traffic stop, to chasing down suspects in a crime.”

Julie Niemela, 17, was the youngest attendee. She said she was impressed by how invested the officers were in providing the instruction.

“It was truly amazing to see how excited they were and how eager they were to teach, answer our million questions and participate,” Niemela said. “Each and every class was presented with such passion. As citizens, we rarely get the opportunity to interact with the officers in such a pleasant manner.

“I am so thankful to have been a part of such a great class. This has been, by far, a highlight of my life.”

Academy attendees were invited to engage in simulations, a resource at the Edmonds Police Department that allows officers to test their skills by engaging in complex scenarios that could occur in real life. The scenarios unfold on a life-size video feed, which responds as the officer interacts with it. The scene might depict a crime in progress, changing and evolving depending on what the officer says and does. The simulator uses the same type of weapon commonly carried by law enforcement, which is outfitted with a laser, so the system can gauge each shot's accuracy.

The simulator was an eye-opening lesson about when it's acceptable to use force. Each scene shifts dynamically in mere seconds, requiring high-stress decision-making by the officer. Officer Jason Southard and Detective Spencer Robinson spent the day in Edmonds with academy attendees, helping them debrief after each scenario played out.

“The day at the Edmonds PD was fantastic,” said Julie's sister, Valerie Niemela, 20. “We experienced a bit of how the officers train, and got the adrenaline pumping. After our session, Officer Southard took time to answer every question we had, from explaining the scenarios to the live training they do.”

Mock traffic stops were another interactive opportunity that demonstrated how quickly a negative situation can unfold during what might seem like a routine traffic stop. From pulling over uncooperative drivers to dealing with an interfering passerby, the live scenarios used actors from the department and past academies to portray different situations that can occur.

Attendees might be asked to perform a “traffic stop” on a vehicle with expired tabs, during which a random bystander could stumble by to ask for directions. Within seconds, an officer distracted by their response to the interfering pedestrian could end up in a life-threatening situation. The exercises demonstrate the tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving circumstances officers can face.

“The class time and exercises demonstrated how quickly something routine in an officer's day can suddenly become life-threatening,” Thomas said. “It reminded class participants of the importance of following an officer's directions, but also it taught the class that we need to be transparent and communicate what we are doing when officers have stopped us.”

Mock traffic stop exercises can go a long way toward repairing fractured relationships, particularly if a resident has had what they perceive to be a negative experience when stopped.

“Then they come and do mock traffic stop night, and they see what can happen on traffic stops, and they understand better the safety risks that the officers face,” Clopp said. “That depth of understanding that they get from not only attending class, but doing the hands-on part of class, really gives them a lot of insight into what we face on a daily basis.”

Other interactive opportunities included practice driving a patrol car at Evergreen Speedway, shooting at the gun range and SWAT night, where students were able to act out what a SWAT incident would be like, including the specific language used by SWAT team members. Attendees were given the chance to respond to an incident by performing a dynamic entry, firing at cardboard “bad guys” using guns outfitted with nonlethal marking cartridges.

Additionally, each attendee was given the chance to go on a five-hour ride-along with an officer, experiencing everything from traffic stops to trips to the Snohomish County Jail after an arrest.

Reis Newburn enjoyed interacting with department personnel, especially getting to know them personally rather than just professionally.

“They are just like you and me,” Newburn said. “Knowing they can be put under tremendous pressure, at times on a daily basis, helped me to understand and correct some of the preconceived notions I had about policing and police officers. It humanized the men and women of the police department.

“If nothing else was taken from this experience I will remember the laughs, smiles and personal anecdotes of the presenters. They are really nice folks doing a hard job.”

Clopp said the academy is just as important for the officers as it is for the attendees.

“We are blessed with an amazing citizenry to serve and protect, but we do not always have the time to get to know a lot of them the way we would like to,” Clopp said. “The academy gives all of us a chance to build those relationships and to better understand the issues that are most important to those we serve. I think we learn as much from our attendees as they learn from us. It is truly mutually beneficial.”

Graduation took place on Tuesday, Nov. 22, after a presentation on the judicial process by Monroe Municipal Court Judge Mara Rozzano. Monroe Police Chief Tim Quenzer and Deputy Chief Ken Ginnard gave each attendee a certificate of completion.

To find out about the 2017 Citizens Academy, or to refer somebody as a potential attendee, contact the Monroe Police Department. Attendees are subject to a background check. For more information about the academy, visit www.monroewa.gov/index.aspx?NID=283.

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Washington

Tacoma, Wash., police officer shot dead. Suspect killed after 12-hour standoff ends in gunfire.

by Katie Mettler

After a nearly 12-hour standoff with multiple law enforcement agencies in Tacoma, Wash., a 38-year-old man suspected of fatally shooting a police officer Wednesday was killed by a single bullet from a SWAT team member early Thursday morning.

The man, whose name has not been released, had barricaded himself inside a three-story home on the city's east side late Wednesday afternoon after unleashing bullets on two Tacoma officers who had responded to the residence after reports of a verbal domestic dispute between two people.

The man's wife and another woman were able to escape the gunfire Wednesday, reported the News Tribune, but local authorities did not say until after the suspect was killed that two young children remained inside the home throughout the extensive standoff.

The boy and the girl, believed to be aged 8 and 11, respectively, were rescued from the home by a SWAT team around 3:20 a.m. local time Thursday, and were taken to the hospital for an evaluation, authorities said.

Police knew all along that the two children were trapped inside with the gunman, but didn't share that information with the public for “tactical reasons,” Pierce County sheriff's detective Ed Troyer told The Washington Post.

“Our priority was to make sure those kids were safe,” Troyer said. “We weren't going to let those children get hurt.”

Troyer couldn't say exactly how authorities managed to pull the children to safety, but he told The Post that there were negotiators outside the home and law enforcement officers inside the home who “never left” for the duration of the standoff. The man, who was armed with multiple weapons, had barricaded himself and the two children in an upstairs bedroom and refused to let them go, Troyer said.

The sheriff's department SWAT team was able to rescue one of the children, Troyer said, then separate him from the second. Before he could reach his weapons, a SWAT officer fired a single, fatal round, and authorities were able to safely remove the children from the home.

“They showed great patience and restraint to make sure those kids were out safe,” Troyer said. “The whole situation is horrible. We have a deceased officer, but we have a whole lot of heroic ones that went in and got those kids.”

The standoff, grueling in the November cold, began just after 4 p.m. Wednesday, when two Tacoma police officers responded to the house, according to authorities. The News Tribune, quoting police, reported that the officers knocked on the front door when they arrived, and “a very short time after,” called for priority backup. Then a “shots fired” call went out over the radio.

Responding officers were able to pull the injured one from the home, authorities said. He was transported to Tacoma General Hospital and underwent surgery, but could not be saved. Authorities announced his death late Wednesday evening, and hours later Police Chief Don Ramsdell told reporters the officer, who has not yet been named, was a 45-year-old, 17-year member of the force.

“We've suffered a great loss and I think the community has suffered a great loss. And I don't know how to put that into words other than to say that everyone here appreciates the kind thoughts and the prayers that are going out to us,” an emotional police spokeswoman, Loretta Cool, told reporters.

Dozens of solemn, uniformed officers lined the sidewalk outside the hospital Wednesday night, silently waiting for the body of one of their own, while across town hundreds of officers from multiple law enforcement agencies swarmed the startled neighborhood, still locked down while authorities worked to end their standoff.

It remained unclear Thursday morning what led the gunman to shoot at officers.

Cool initially said several people in the home were able to immediately leave after the shooting, but she couldn't say how many, their ages or their genders. Police told the News Tribune that the prospect of protecting others in the home may have prevented the responding officers from fleeing the dangerous situation.

“You had someone in the house who was shooting and you just can't leave somebody inside,” Cool told reporters.

Kristi Croskey was one of the people who fled the home once the shooting began. A photo from the scene shows Croskey, distraught, sitting on the ground against a white picket fence, surrounded by police.

She once lived in the home but moved out seven months ago, she told TV station KING 5. Croskey was there Wednesday afternoon to retrieve some items she had left behind, and said she knew the suspect and his wife but wasn't aware of any issues in their relationship.

“I'm caught off guard just like everybody else,” Croskey told KING 5.

In a different interview with TV station KIRO 7, Croskey said she owns the home and attends church with the suspect.

She spoke emphatically of her support for the Tacoma police department and said that the officers there were trying to protect the safety of those inside and of the shooter.

“I don't want to hear anything about black lives matter, because all lives matter,” she said. “I want to say the Tacoma Police Department handled this matter with such professionalism .. despite one of their own being shot.”

Cool said the department has 381 employees who all know each other. This loss, she said, is profound.

“Remember that we still have a job to do, we are still on the scene and we are doing our best to not have anyone else injured or harmed tonight in any way,” she said. “We all will take our time when it's appropriate to grieve and to share our thoughts and feelings on our friend. …

“Everyone in our police department knows everyone and yes, everybody will feel it.”

On social media, law enforcement agencies across the state shared their support for the Tacoma department. Sheriff John Urquhart ordered all King County Sheriff's deputies to wear “mourning bands.”

In a statement, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said he and his wife, Trudi, were praying for and thinking about the family and loved ones of the slain officer.

“All of Washington grieves with Tacoma, which tonight lost one of their finest,” the governor said. “In times of crisis, we see the service and resolve of law enforcement as they run towards the danger. Tonight an officer was taken from us while serving his community, and it is a reminder of the sacrifice that these men and women across our state and nation make every day.”

As a SWAT team surrounded the crime scene Wednesday night and authorities worked to take the suspect into custody, dozens of other officers stood guard outside the hospital alongside members of the public and journalists as the slain officer's body was brought outside and loaded into a Tacoma Fire Department ambulance. At 10 p.m., a procession of police motorcycles and patrol cars escorted the officer to the medical examiner's office.

Wednesday's fatal shooting marks the 11th time a Tacoma officer has been killed in the line of duty, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page. The last officer who died was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2004, and the last time a Tacoma officer was killed by gunfire was 1997.

The death of this officer comes a little more than a week after a spate of cross-country, targeted attacks on officers in a 12-hour period in Florida, Missouri and Texas. The officers were all inside their cars when shooters ambushed them, authorities said. The Texas officer was killed.

According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 61 officers have died in firearms-related incidents this year. In total, 132 officers had been killed in the line of duty so far in 2016.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/12/01/tacoma-police-officer-shot-and-killed-responding-to-domestic-dispute-call/?utm_term=.65b0c7e5bde4

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California

USPDhub App Helps Police Agencies Nationwide Implement Community-Focused Policing

Helps Rebuild Trust and Unity between Law Enforcement and Communities Served

by Business Wire

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- In response to the need to help make our communities safer and improve the transparency and trust between police officers and the citizens they serve, a Sacramento-based developer group, LogicTree IT Solutions, Inc., with the help of law enforcement agencies across the country, has developed the USPDhub system. The USPDHub system is a mobile app designed to function as a communication tool between local law enforcement agencies and the communities that they serve. The newest update, “Smart Connect,” operates on the premise of “see something… say something” and through an innovative communication channel provides the community with an easy way to notify the appropriate agency and person with information.

“Safe communities are not built safe – but are made safer with the help of the people that work and live in them by working with their law enforcement agencies; when you see something…say something,” Rich Maddalena, CEO of LogicTree, Inc., said. “Community-police relations should be a two-way street, and USPDhub enhances and simplifies that communication link between the police and the communities they serve.”

After years of developing software for many different industries and associations, LogicTree IT realized the need for an affordable, easy to use, two-way communication system designed for law enforcement agencies with all the features on one platform. USPDhub is the result of that knowledge. LogicTree IT continues to develop new features based on requests from agencies and makes them available through USPDhub. With the new launch, the app's latest update includes a new pricing structure that caters to law enforcement agencies who want to pay one low monthly fee for basic features, while also allowing them access to add-on features and the ability to customize the app to fit the individual needs of their own agencies, including the offering of a branded app. The “no contract” pricing structure allows law enforcement agencies to subscribe to the app's service without a long-term commitment or having to go through rigorous budget approvals.

For as little as $55 per month, the Basic Level of the USPDhub app allows law enforcement agencies to share news with their communities; send push notifications or text messages to a user's phone to inform them of important and timely announcements, emergencies and alerts; and receive tips from area residents and businesses. The app is available for download on Android, Apple and Windows phones, and can be found by searching for USPDhub. For more information, visit USPDhub.com.

LogicTree IT Solutions Inc. is a U.S.-based software engineering firm that develops cost-effective, branded mobile apps for police and sheriff´s departments (USPDhub), schools (inSchoolHub), youth groups and programs (MyYouthHub), and businesses and other organizations (TwoVie Hub). All of our mobile apps are published on three platforms: Android, Apple and Windows.

Contacts

LogicTree IT Solutions, Inc.
Don Fraser, 916-676-7335
don@logictreeit.com

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161201005394/en/USPDhub-App-Helps-Police-Agencies-Nationwide-Implement

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Colorado

Denver police leaving Nextdoor, limiting Facebook usage

by Jaclyn Allen

DENVER -- For years, the Denver Police Department has used social media sites Nextdoor and Facebook to share information with the community, but that policy could soon change.

DPD District 3 announced it was leaving Facebook and Nextdoor last week, directing people to the city's site, PocketGov, for the information that used to be posted on those sites.

"We will be moving to DPD's Virtual Neighborhood – a feature of Denver's PocketGov. By using DPD's Virtual Neighborhood, citizens will be able to connect with an officer and get news that matters to them and their family! You can sign up today by visiting pocketgov.org/police," the post read.

That was a big surprise for Sharon Thorson, a former HOA president in Southeast Denver. Every morning, she reads the Nextdoor updates for her Southeast Denver neighborhood, from crime alerts and community tips.

"I love finding out what's going on at the neighborhoods close to me," said Thorson. "The good and the bad."

Thorson said feedback has definitely not been good about DPD District Three's decision to leave Nextdoor and Facebook; the replies are almost all negative.

"Sounds like a decision made by someone who has no idea how things actually work," one neighbor wrote.

Nearly 200 neighborhood groups use Nextdoor in the Denver area, according to the social media company.

"People are upset about having something that work so well dumped," said Thorson.

District 3 Commander Magen Dodge said Nextdoor had limitations for officers trying to monitor and manage information.

"It's a social site, and we're moving to ours (PocketGov) because it's more of a preventative and information gathering and information getting out to our citizens in a more transparent way," said Dodge, who cited concerns about people assuming police could see what they posted on Nextdoor. "What it came down to was a lot of community meetings where we would get information from community saying, 'How come you guys didn't respond to this?', and we don't have access as an administration right."

Dodge said DPD officers could only see conversations on Nextdoor that they posted to, and that only people living in that neighborhood could see their posts.

"Next-door has a fantastic place for communities, strong neighborhoods and strong relationships build safe communities," said Dodge. "However, what we're trying to accomplish is more of a transparent dialog where you can see all the different neighborhoods that affect you versus just where you live."

Still, several neighbors questioned why Denver Police couldn't continue its posts on Nextdoor as well as PocketGov.

"Still don't see why DPD can't do both. I will miss DPD's involvement on Nextdoor," wrote one neighbor.

Dodge said maintaining a social media presence on multiple sites requires too many resources.

"Because there's so many of them, if we were to remain active, we would literally have to have full time employees where that's literally all they did," said Dodge. "I think this is kind of one of those situations where once people see the benefits of it and having all of that good government in one spot, they will see the benefits of doing that."

Denver police will also leave the DPD District Facebook pages for just one DPD page, focusing their efforts on PocketGov for the most part.

Dodge said they will remain on Facebook and Twitter because those sites allow more interaction and transparency than Nextdoor.

Thorson said she is most concerned that DPD did not explain their decision, saying she hasn't looked at PocketGov and doesn't plan to.

"Nextdoor works," she said. "We'll continue using Nextdoor with each other, but we just won't have communication lines with community policing."

Depending on response to the District 3 "pilot program" directing people to PocketGov leaving Nextdoor and Facebook, the entire department will leave starting at the beginning of 2017.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/front-range/denver/denver-police-leaving-nextdoor-limiting-facebook-usage

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Arizona

2 Ariz. officers shot; suspect dead

One of the officers is in critical, but stable condition

by PoliceOne Staff

TUCSON, Ariz. — Two officers were shot Thursday after trying to detain a suspect.

According to CBS News, the officers were arresting a suspect on an aggravated assault charge when they exchange gunfire with the suspect.

Police Chief Chris Mangus said one officer is in critical, but stable condition, and the other is in good condition.

The suspect was killed in the gunfire.

“This highlights the fact that we are dealing with very dangerous individuals who are willing to use firearms on police officers,” Magnus told the news station.

https://www.policeone.com/Officer-Safety/articles/245290006-2-Ariz-officers-shot-suspect-dead/

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Tennessee

Tenn. police seek suspect who shot officer 3 times

Police Chief Fred Fletcher says the officer was shot while checking to see if someone was squatting in an abandoned building

by The Associated Press

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Police in Tennessee are searching for a suspect who shot an officer three times.

Chattanooga Police Department spokeswoman Elisa Myzal says at least one of the shots Thursday hit the officer in the arm, and none of his injuries are life-threatening.

Police Chief Fred Fletcher says the officer was shot while checking to see if someone was squatting in an abandoned building.

Myzel says authorities are using helicopters and drones to try to find the suspect, who Fletcher said could be armed and dangerous.

https://www.policeone.com/Fugitive/articles/245284006-Tenn-police-seek-suspect-who-shot-officer-3-times/

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Utah

Parent disarms Utah student who brought guns to school

Police said a quick-acting parent disarmed a student who brought two guns to a Utah middle school Thursday and fired a round into the ceiling

by The Associated Press

BOUNTIFUL, Utah — Police said a quick-acting parent disarmed a student who brought two guns to a Utah middle school Thursday and fired a round into the ceiling, with no injuries reported.

Bountiful Police Lt. Dave Edwards said police were still trying to determine Thursday morning if the student intentionally fired the gun inside Mueller Park Junior High in the northern Utah city of Bountiful or if the gun accidently went off while the parent was disarming the student.

The parent managed to detain the student until a police officer who happened to be down the street arrived soon after and took custody of the student, Edwards said.

Police recovered two guns from the student, but Edwards did not immediately have details about the weapons or where the student obtained them.

Edwards did not have details about why the student had guns or how the parent encountered the student in the school. The identities of the parent and student and whether they knew each other were not immediately available.

The school, about 11 miles north of Salt Lake City, remained on Lockdown as officers went room-by-room through the building to ensure it was safe. Parents arriving at the school were allowed to pick them up at a church across the street.

Davis School District spokesman Chris Williams had no further details but praised the parent who intervened, saying "It's all of our jobs to keep kids safe."

Williams had no immediate information about the student but said, "Whoever it is certainly faces a lot of trouble."

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New York

NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill Talks About His Community Policing Plan

by CBS

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Police Commissioner James O'Neill is a native of Brooklyn and a 33-year veteran member of the NYPD, and he has worked to bring fundamental changes to the way the city is policed since he was sworn in back in September.

CBS2's Kristine Johnson sat down with O'Neill this week for an exclusive interview about the department and the new direction he is taking it.

Neighborhood policing is the cornerstone of O'Neill's administration – having the police connect with their community in a way never done before in the city.

“It will work, and it is working, because its primarily a crime-fighting model of policing,” O'Neill said.

O'Neill is undertaking an expansion of a major program first launched under former police Commissioner Bill Bratton. It is a cooperative effort with local business owners, community and religious leaders and millions of residents – crime-fighting by forging relationships.

“In the old model of policing, it's usually just the precinct commander and two or three people from community affairs that did that reach-out,” O'Neill said.

The commissioner says officers spend too much time racing from one 911 call to another. He said his plan will radically change that,

“We're actually shooting to have 30 percent of police officers a day not answering 911 jobs, so they actually have an opportunity to make those connections,” O'Neill said.

He said he wants officers to become part of the neighborhoods where they work.

“That's the bottom line,” O'Neill said. “We want the cops to take ownership. We want them to make those connections. We want them to go out there and meet people, and get to know people on a first-name basis.”

In an effort to build trust, neighbors will see the same officers day-to-day, with some of them even reachable by cellphone. O'Neill said that can only lead to improved police work.

“Who knows better what's going on on the street; who knows what's going on better on the block than the people that live and work there?” he said.

O'Neill said that in turn will help keep officers safe.

“God forbid they need help; maybe they can't get to that radio. If they have that connection to someone in the community, maybe someone will call 911 and help them,” O'Neill said.

The commissioner believes his plan will also help heal relationships between the police and the people they serve. O'Neill said the discord between police and the community weighs heavily on him personally and on the entire NYPD.

“It does weigh heavily on, I think, all members of the New York City Police Department,” O'Neill said. “Being a precinct commander for such a long time, I knew that we had to do something to move forward.”

The program has had some success around the country. But Chicago saw an increase in crime after budget cuts.

O'Neill's focus is on New York City, and is committed to see the program through.

“What's the old expression? It's hard to hate up close,” he said.

Overall, crime and shootings in the five precincts with neighborhood policing are down slightly more than the citywide average since the program began in January.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/11/29/oneill-community-policing/

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Indiana

Police training, diversity lessons suggested

by Susan O'Leary

VALPARAISO — Ongoing police officer training and evaluation, diversity education in the schools and restorative justice were answers suggested for hard questions posed at a town hall-style presentation on community policing at Valparaiso University.

“I've lived in Gary all my life and never felt the fear that I do walking down the street in Valparaiso,” said Christina Hearne, VU's coordinator for disability support services.

Porter County Sheriff David Reynolds, however, has a different perspective. Substance abuse, not racial issues, is the biggest challenge facing the Porter County community, he said, with 95 percent of the county jail inmates facing substance abuse issues.

Those opinions, along with others, were offered Monday by a six-member panel of police, clergy, law scholars and municipal officials at the second in a series of town hall meetings exploring police-community relations.

The event, broadcast before a live audience on Lakeshore Public Media, was moderated by Garrard McClendon, host of the public affairs show "CounterPoint with Garrard McClendon."

Panelists were Hearne, Reynolds, Pastor David Ashley Sr., of Redeemed Fellowship Church in Michigan City, and co-facilitator of the Urban League's Diversity & Inclusion Symposium; VU law Professor Emeritus Ivan Bodensteiner, Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas and Valparaiso University Law School Dean Andrea Lyon.

Reynolds and Costas outlined measures to improve community-police relations in Porter County, including ongoing police officer training, Valparaiso's Human Relations Council and outside auditing of the Valparaiso Police Department's statistics and activities.

Reynolds stressed that positive policing comes “from the top” and must be upheld by the lower level command staff.

Yet Lyon, the mother of two black children, said she has already had the conversation about what to do “when, not if” they are stopped by the police.

Hearne said current events do not reflect a “post-racial” society, and African-Americans have the right to feel safe in any community.

Hearne pushed for diversity education in the schools and said parents have a responsibility to teach children to embrace diversity.

Bodensteiner agreed, but warned that even with diversity education in the schools, some parents hand down racist attitudes to their children.

“They will go home and learn the opposite,” he said.

The best way to ensure harmony between the races is to make sure children of all races interact with each other at a young age, Bodensteiner said.

Bodensteiner and Lyon called for increased empathy and more diversity in police departments and the judicial system.

“The police and the policed are from different worlds,” Bodensteiner said. “We are so segregated.”

Lyon said judges, primarily male, white and mostly conservative, tend to be “uninterested in the stories of the defendants,” and the system is overwhelmed, with public defenders handling an average of 1,400 misdemeanor charges annually.

A hallmark of the teenage years, Lyon said, is poor judgment, so the police and the judicial system should be looking to rehabilitate youthful offenders with community service rather than jail.

Costas said the Valparaiso Police Department is making efforts to recruit minority police officers, but they are in high demand and difficult to recruit and retain

Yet both Reynolds and Costas expressed optimism that improvements in the community are being made little by little.

“It's all about building trust,” Reynolds said. “We're building relationships. If we don't do that, we will never understand the situation.”

The first town hall meeting took place at Indiana University Northwest in Gary in August. Officials hope to host another in LaPorte County, said Vanessa Allen, president and CEO of the Urban League of Northwest Indiana, one of the groups sponsoring the series.

The show recorded Monday in Porter County will air again at 9 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Sunday on Lakeshore Public Media.

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/police-training-diversity-lessons-suggested/article_37bbb2aa-8b56-51fa-949d-517b71a94198.html

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Arizona

Glendale Police Chief Rick St. John touts new direction for agency

by Madison Alder

The Glendale Police Department installed Rick St. John the new chief of police Tuesday and in doing so shifted its policing philosophy toward a model that prioritizes community policing over data-driven responses.

St. John, 20-year veteran of the department, replaced former Chief Debora Black as interim chief after she moved to Prescott in July and, Tuesday, his appointment became permanent.

In his speech, St. John warned that the Glendale Police Department is progressively moving in the wrong direction with technological advancements and would need to pull back before it can move forward again.

"Folks, quite simply, we're on the wrong road," St. John said after reading the quote by C.S. Lewis that inspired him.

"We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. There is nothing progressive about being pig-headed and refusing to admit a mistake. And I think if you look at the present state of the world it's pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistake. We're on the wrong road. And if that is so we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on."

-- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

St. John said the same technology that keeps families from talking to one another at the dinner table is plaguing police departments as well and making it harder to keep the community safe.

"When I came into this organization, we were a human intelligence, relationship-driven organization," St. John said in his speech.

The policing philosophy used to come from the bottom up, not the top down, he said.

"Under data-driven philosophy, which has been the philosophy of law enforcement for about 15 years now, response to crime is a top-down response," St. John told The Republic after his speech.

The problem with the data-driven response is that it is based on the review of data that comes after crimes have been committed, to try to predict what might happen, St. John explained.

"Under a community policing philosophy, you're getting reading information from the community before things actually happen and so the response to crime is driven from a line level, up through the organization, St. John said.

St. John was given his police chief badge by former Police Chief Jack Rose, whom St. John said he chosen for the honor because he respected that Rose, too, moved up through the ranks of the organization like he did.

His wife, Kim St. John helped Chief Rose give her husband his new badge.

Achieving a lifelong goal

St. John wanted to be a police officer to follow in his fathers footsteps who was a lieutenant colonel at the Department of Public Safety before he retired in 1992.

"This has been a career goal of mine from the time I was first hired in 1996," St. John told The Republic . "To have achieved it so quickly is a little shocking to me ... but I'm ready for the challenge and I'm ready to move forward."

St. John told the crowd gathered in the Glendale Police Department that he would not use this position as a stepping stone.

"This is my home, and I'm here to stay."

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/glendale/2016/11/29/rick-st-john-sworn-in-glendale-chief-police-talks-new-direction-department/94606950/

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California

Sacramento City Council Approves Policing Reforms

by Sonseeahray Tonsall

SACRAMENTO -- Independence -- a cherished American commodity tracking right along with the country's rise.

"Where you think that the police commission can't be fully independent, we're going to challenge that legally," said Richard Owen with Law Enforcement Accountability Directive.

But some civil rights advocates say independence is sorely lacking in what Sacramento's leaders have come up with for the latest version of the community police review commission.

"The shortcoming I think in the proposal is the whole issue of independence," stressed Andy Noguchi with the Japanese American Citizens League.

Some got personal with the council over what they see as a lack of understanding for their concerns.

"To my black city council members, even if you can't identify with my fear of being a mother of black child, did you forget that your mama is black?" asked Elika Bernard, trying to get those members to tap into what some believe is the threat of police targeting of black communities.

Others were worried the police viewpoint has been left out.

"If a cardiologist was thought to be deficient in the job, you get the opinion of other cardiologists -- not people who are ignorant of the job," said retired Officer John Kane.

The commission concept has come under even more under fire since the July killing of Joseph Mann at the hands of police.

A package of reforms considered Tuesday by council members was designed to bring more accountability to the Sacramento Police Department through the commission and other changes.

Under the new policies, the new 11-member commission would report to the council, not the city manager as the current commission does.

The city manager has direct oversight of the police and fire departments.

The members would also review reports of misconduct filed with the city's Office of Public Safety Accountability quarterly.

But while the OPSA would be able to request a subpoena, the commission would have no direct power to subpoena or investigate separately.

Among other reforms ?

A 30-day time limit for video of officer-involved shootings to be made public unless the council decides it may hamper ongoing investigations.

There would be full implementation of a body cam system for Sacramento officers, quick notification for families involved after a fatal police shooting, and if it doesn't hamper the investigation, release of video of such incidents first to families and then to the public within 30 days.

Though council members say the city's police union asked for a "no" vote on the reform package, the council passed it unanimously.

For those dissatisfied, Councilmen Allen Warren and Larry Carr put the onus back on the people who say the council should be serving them.

"It's gonna require work from you -- not from us, but from you," said Warren.

"It's gonna take a city charter change and the community is capable of putting that on the ballot," said Carr.

That's what it would take for a non-elected commission to have subpoena and disciplinary power over the police.

Even with the vote, it's hard for some to have faith in a different future.

"I think it was very clear there was a consensus that this was a first step among many," said Bob Erlenbusch with the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness.

"It's not finished, and it won't be over till the community is happy, and that's what we're here for. We're here for the community," said Donna Darden with LEAD.

The changes should take effect in June 2017.

http://fox40.com/2016/11/29/sacramento-city-council-approves-policing-reforms/

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Illinois

4 arrested after drive-by shooting of Chicago officers, feds

No one was injured and authorities made four arrests within an hour of the shooting

by The Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — Police searched several blocks of a neighborhood near Midway Airport with SWAT teams, a helicopter and dogs Monday morning after a passenger in a car fired several shots at federal and state law enforcement officers, authorities said.

No one was injured and authorities made four arrests within an hour of the shooting, which occurred around 9:25 a.m. in the 6100 block of South Kolmar Avenue, authorities said. FBI officials were at the scene gathering evidence midday.

The shots were fired while members of an FBI-Chicago police task force were involved in an investigation, according to FBI spokesman Garrett Croon.

The gunmen ditched their car near 69th Street and Kenneth Avenue, and police began searching backyards and garages in the West Lawn neighborhood, police said.

The shooting incident happened about half a mile from Midway.

https://www.policeone.com/investigations/articles/244571006-4-arrested-after-drive-by-shooting-of-Chicago-officers-feds/

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Law enforcement condemns letters threatening Muslims

The letter was received by at least four mosques in Southern California, one in San Jose, one in Fresno and another in Savannah, Georgia

by Brian Melley

LOS ANGELES — Law enforcement officials condemned a hate-filled letter Monday directed at several California mosques that warned Muslims to leave the country to avoid being exterminated.

Los Angeles police are investigating identical letters received at two mosques in the city as a "hate incident," but not a crime because it does not pose a specific threat, Deputy Police Chief Michael Downing said.

Photocopies of a handwritten letter were sent by mail to at least six mosques in California and one in Georgia that was addressed to "the children of Satan" and referred to Muslims as "vile and filthy people." The letter called President-elect Donald Trump the "new sheriff in town" and said he would do to Muslims what Hitler did to Jews.

"He's going to cleanse America and make it shine again," said the letter, signed "Americans for a Better Way." ''You Muslims would be wise to pack your bags and get out of Dodge."

Trump's team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Downing said he thinks the letter writer was emboldened by the current political environment. Police want to track the person down to see if any crimes were committed and find out more about what motivated it.

"Messages like that are written out of fear and uncertainty and the unknown," Downing said. "This is a sickness. It's a cancer we cannot allow to metastasize."

The news conference was held at the Islamic Center of Southern California, where Muslim leaders and clerics were joined by the FBI, police and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Muslims urged the letter writer to come forward to discuss Islam and debate the views espoused in the letter.

"Bullies feel bolstered, emboldened in dark alleys," said Salam Al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. "So we're telling this person, come out in broad daylight. Be a man and stand up for what you believe in, and let us discuss."

The FBI is monitoring the situation and Special Agent Stephen Woolery asked people to come forward if more letters are received because they often go unreported. The FBI is not investigating at this point because the language, while awful, intimidating and harassing, does not pose a specific threat.

"Folks that are intent on doing harm of this nature never give us warning, never give us a heads up," Woolery said. "So based on past experience, the likelihood of there being an attack based on these letters is pretty minimal."

The letter was received by at least four mosques in Southern California, one in San Jose, one in Fresno and another in Savannah, Georgia, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The group asked the FBI to investigate and said it was reaching out to other mosques nationwide to find out if they had received similar letters.

https://www.policeone.com/federal-law-enforcement/articles/244530006-Law-enforcement-condemns-letters-threatening-Muslims/

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California

LAPD could roll out less-lethal weapon citywide to curb escalation

The three-month pilot project was designed to expand LAPD's less-lethal options in a department effort to curb escalation

by Brenda Gazzar

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles police have long used "less-lethal" launchers with sponge rounds for crowd control and by their elite SWAT team on individuals when less than deadly force may have been needed.

But in July, the Los Angeles Police Department equipped patrol officers from several stations, including the Mission Community Police Station in Mission Hills, with these "guns" and their 40 mm sponge rounds, which are intended to incapacitate but not kill a subject, to use on their beats for the first time.

The three-month pilot project, which ended Oct. 31, was designed to expand LAPD's "less-lethal" options, which already include Tasers, batons, pepper spray and beanbag rounds, on city streets and is part of a broader department effort to curb escalation, said Sgt. Richard Evans, LAPD's uniform and equipment coordinator.

"The goal is to de-escalate (a situation) as quickly as possible and bring about a resolution ... that is best for all," Evans said.

An LAPD committee is reviewing the "promising" data and will make a recommendation to Police Chief Charlie Beck about whether to expand the use of these launchers and sponge rounds to patrol officers department-wide, officials said.

The sponge rounds, which have a sponge-tipped plastic body and generally do not penetrate the skin, have reportedly been tested or are being used in patrol settings in other cities such as Duluth, Minnesota, Ferguson, Missouri, and Dallas in recent years as controversial police shootings around the country have ignited a national debate on officer use of force and race.

Sponge rounds generally hit harder and can be used at a farther distance than beanbag rounds, making it safer for officers and reducing the likelihood of long-term injury to the suspect, Evans said. The sponge rounds would not replace the beanbag rounds but would be used as an additional tool in an officer's toolbox, he said.

"Now, we can stay back 100 feet as opposed to being 30 to 40 feet where (a suspect) might charge us with the baseball bat, and we end up shooting them," Evans said.

Jamie McBride, a director of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, said he's "all for it," as long as their use on patrol does not cause officers to put themselves in harm's way.

"If someone is walking to you with a knife and starts to raise it, that's not the time to use a 'less lethal' weapon," he said. "We don't know if that knife is going to be thrown ... I'm not going to risk that."

The Los Angeles Police Commission asked LAPD officials earlier this year to report on all the "less-than-lethal" tools on the market so they could together determine whether they are properly equipping officers with the best available options, said Matt Johnson, president of the civilian panel that oversees the department.

"We always want our officers to use a 'less-than-lethal' option — if they can safely do so — than use a lethal option," Johnson said. The "whole point" of exploring this option is "so we have less people shot and killed by police officers."

A 'positive thing'

Sponge rounds are more expensive than beanbag rounds, but if LAPD's assessment of the sponge rounds is positive as anticipated, then "my expectation is we're going to ... find the money to do it," Johnson said.

Adrienna Wong, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said police moving away from deadly force is "generally a positive thing" but she stressed that even so-called less-than-lethal weapons can be lethal.

"There needs to be good policies and transparent policies about their use," she said.

In addition, pointing a weapon at someone, even if it's a "less-than-lethal" one, is often not an act of de-escalation, she argued.

"They should consider alternative tactics before they use any force," Wong said. "Just talking to people, if that's something that's available."

LAPD started using the sponge rounds in the early 1990s for crowd and riot control and by the Metropolitan Division's SWAT team on individuals as needed, Evans said.

In addition to the Mission station, the sponge launchers and the 40 mm rounds also were tested by patrol officers at the Metropolitan, Pacific, Southeast and Central divisions during the pilot program.

Up to 50 officers at each station, with the exception of the specialized Metropolitan Division where all officers were scheduled to be trained, received training and had the weapon at their disposal during the 90-day trial.

During the pilot, officers in these divisions shot the sponge rounds at individuals a total of five times, with each describing their use as effective, Evans said. In one high-profile instance in August, two men who allegedly walked around an Inglewood neighborhood with assault rifles were taken into custody the next day after one was shot with a sponge round at a Lake View Terrace intersection. The suspect was hit in the face and hospitalized, Evans said.

Meanwhile, the California Peace Officers Association lauded LAPD's decision to test these "less-lethal" launchers and 40 mm sponge rounds in a patrol setting.

"As long as an officer receives the proper training, it's great," said Mitch McCann, vice president of the association and the police chief of Simi Valley. "The more tools officers have at their disposal, I think the safer the community will be."

https://www.policeone.com/police-products/less-lethal/articles/244669006-LAPD-could-roll-out-less-lethal-weapon-citywide-to-curb-escalation/

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Opinion

Was the OSU attack an act of terror? (Hint: yes)

Officials have deliberately skirted the words “radical Islamist terrorism” — but there are myriad signs which point to “yes”

by Doug Wyllie

Eleven people were injured — one of them severely — when an 18-year-old Somali refugee deliberately ran down Ohio State University students with his vehicle. Abdul Razak Ali Artan was a first-year student at Ohio State who arrived to the United States two years ago and had been granted permanent resident status. Six people were struck by the vehicle, and five had stab wounds or lacerations, according to reports.

Fortunately, Officer Alan Horujko — an Ohio State alum who was an engineering major before switching to “security and intelligence” — was nearby. When the car came to a stop, the assailant got out and began attacking people with a knife before Officer Horujko ended the threat — within one minute of the attack beginning.

Campus authorities responsively transmitted a text alert telling students and faculty to shelter in place — to “run, hide, fight” — while a massive search was conducted. Initial reports were that the attack was an “active shooter” incident, but as is common, initial reports were inaccurate. No firearm was used, and no other attacker was found. The campus was released from lockdown and is expected to re-open today.

Terrorism quickly suspected

As details began to emerge yesterday, many people began to speculate that the attack was an act of radical Islamist terrorism. Officials have deliberately skirted the words “radical Islamist terrorism” — repeatedly saying that they have not determined a motive for the attack — but there are numerous signs which point to the incident being inspired by ISIS or al-Qaeda propaganda as well as news coverage of previous attacks.

First and foremost, the horror in Columbus closely mirrors the attack in Nice, France, during which an ISIS sympathizer crashed a truck into revelers celebrating Bastille Day. Further, in Israel and the Palestinian territories there have been dozens of attacks involving vehicles and knives. AQAP and ISIS have been pressing for such low-tech attacks for years now, and have lauded their success.

The attack also appears to be closely fashioned after instructions released in an ISIS video just days ago.

The video opens with images of recent attacks using simple weapons such as cars and knives, with the narration, “They frustrated and terrified the nations of kufr, cast dread into their souls and filled their hearts with panic. With only a few bullets and the most basic of equipment, they supported the Islamic State and Muslims, and kept the Crusaders sleepless and weary, killing dozens of them.”

The video offers practical “how to” tips on everything from selecting a knife for an attack to successfully blowing up a person — demonstrated on a real person — with a backpack bomb. It includes the beheading of a man and the execution of a man handcuffed to a makeshift crucifix.

It is horrific. Some visuals one simply cannot unsee. And some visuals can push the weak-minded, disaffected, safe-space-seeking college-age cupcakes over the edge.

Assailant fits the profile

There are countless potential attackers lying in waiting who we may never see until they unleash their nefarious attack. They are being radicalized by online forums, chat rooms, and even mainstream social media sites, taking simple instructions from sources such as Inspire, Dabiq, and now the Islamic State's new propaganda magazine Rumiyah (which means Rome).

For the past several years, terrorist organizations have successfully recruited mentally and emotionally unstable young men via these online channels. They are no longer asking those recruits to make their way to the battlefields in Iraq and Syria — they are not seeking to train them to become hardened, battle-tested war fighters. Instead, they want vulnerable, disaffected young men who will attack where they live — specifically, in Europe and the United States.

The OSU attacker had recently expressed feelings of being disaffected, telling the student newspaper, “I wanted to pray in the open, but I was kind of scared with everything going on in the media. I'm a Muslim, it's not what the media portrays me to be.”

Disaffected, much?

Undeniably, the OSU attacker fits the profile of the new terrorist threat.

Actions fit the definitions

NBC News reported that the assailant cited radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki when he posted to Facebook, “I am sick and tired of seeing my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters being killed and tortured.”

His post also reportedly stated, “America! Stop interfering with other countries, especially Muslim Ummah [community]. We are not weak. We are not weak, remember that.”

Let's briefly review the definition of terrorism:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

The Department of Defense defines terrorism as the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear, intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological. Within this definition, there are three key elements violence, fear, and intimidation.

Now let's consider another passage from the attacker's Facebook post. ABC News has reported the post also declared, “If you want us Muslims to stop carrying lone wolf attacks, then make peace. We will not let you sleep unless you give peace to the Muslims.”

Combine the attacker's online posts and the above definitions with the acts of violence committed on the OSU campus, and come to your own conclusions about whether or not it was an act of terror.

Watching for copycat attackers

The abovementioned ISIS video released a couple of days ago said, “O Muwahhidin all over the world, support and defend your brothers while you are behind enemy lines. From their lands, the wars are funded and managed. So send upon them ruin and destruction.”

It merits mention that historically in the Qur'an “Muwahhid” means “a believer in Allah,” but nowadays the term refers followers of the hardline Salafist Sunni interpretation of Islam — such as ISIS. Hiding behind traditional language is a tactic that cannot be ignored.

Because many of the grassroots, lone-actor attackers appear to lead normal lives right up until the time of their attacks, it is very difficult for authorities to predict when another act of violence will occur.

Cops must rely on the friends, family, and fellow Muslims in order to find radicalized Islamist threats before they go operational — a mighty tall order in communities which are culturally insular and suspicious of police.

Successfully preventing an attack in the early stages of the eight pre-attack indicators requires a lot of critical thinking and it takes an extraordinarily mentally alert police officer. It requires knowing about the strategic vulnerabilities in your patrol area — soft targets like campuses and malls as well as hardened ones like military sub-contractors. It requires knowing about baselines and anomalies as observed by Riley and Van Horne.

The fact is, the lone-actor attack is extremely difficult to prevent. Therefore, the “speed, surprise, and violence of action” in the response then becomes absolutely critical.

This raises the importance of people like Officer Alan Horujko. Successfully responding to an attack while it is unfolding requires extraordinary skills and training, and it requires tremendous bravery.

Horujko has not yet reached his two-year anniversary of being a police officer, and he has already shown all the traits that make American cops the best in the world. When it mattered most, Horujko acted quickly, decisively, and with great ability to save lives.

Thankfully, we have about 800,000 officers in this country who are ready, willing, and able to do exactly the same thing as Officer Horujko when “their day” comes.

Stay frosty my friends, because this will happen again — potentially quite soon.

https://www.policeone.com/terrorism/articles/244376006-Was-the-OSU-attack-an-act-of-terror-Hint-yes/

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How to prepare America's next generation of police officers

Police departments must start recruiting the next generation of officers early in their teenage-adult development to prevent some of the mistakes others have encountered

by Ed Flosi

The future of the law enforcement profession lays in our hands now. With the declining interest in a law enforcement career over the past few years and the difficulties of finding qualified candidates that will pass a fully vetted background, problems with recruiting qualified and appropriate candidates is well known. I am not an advocate for lowering standards as some have suggested. We know the eventuality of that tactic will be more problematic than taking the more detailed route of looking at the issue from a wider-angle lens.

Law enforcement needs to start looking deeper into the recruiting process than those who are merely age ready. By the time these hopeful candidates have reached the appropriate age, many will have something in their background that may preclude them from being hired. At the time of the disqualifying action, the candidate may not have known or fully understood the consequences of their actions. They might be good candidates other than some bad behavior that might have been prevented if they had known better.

I am part of a group that started a “Law Enforcement Candidate Workshop” in conjunction with West Valley College in Saratoga, California a couple of years back. The workshop is designed to help college students in the Administration of Justice Department understand the application and hiring process. The workshop is an 8-hour day that starts out in the classroom and is led by three law enforcement professionals that have experience recruiting and hiring law enforcement officers.

Workshops for next generation officers

The workshop includes four hours of lecture about the various steps that a candidate can expect to face during the process. Students are asked to take an honest look at themselves and their suitability for the law enforcement profession. We talk about the experiences of the facilitators and some other professionals that have told us what is important for potential officers to understand. This first portion is a gut-check time for many of the attendees.

Students are then sequentially guided through the different specific tests they will typically encounter. Students begin by learning about the written test and are offered guidance, resources and some sample questions on how to best prepare.

A possible essay type question and underlining the importance of having basic English skills is the next step. The lack of these basic skills is a clear problem with many teenagers. After giving them a practice paragraph to write while it is being read to them, we correct the paragraph as a group.

Students then learn about the physical agility course that they must pass based on state standards. The standardized tests include the 6-foot wall, dummy drag and obstacle course. We discuss each of the various tests and some of the specific tests that area agencies require for employment. These supplemental tests include timed push-ups, sit-ups and a 1.5-mile run.

The oral board process is covered next with some sample questions being presented with the same precautions used as the written questions.

The background process is discussed in detail and brings up many questions. Students learn about the importance of honesty and integrity (more about this in the section below). Prior to the workshop students complete the California POST Personal History Statement, which is available online. This is merely an exercise to demonstrate the depth of the background investigation they will go through. This becomes a valuable reference resource for the student as they move forward with their career in law enforcement. Students also learn about the polygraph exam, psychological exam and medical examination.

Honesty and integrity in law enforcement

The concept of honesty and integrity is at the core of this course. Students learn that some things in the background can be forgiven if enough time has passed, but lying about an incident is not acceptable. This is a mistake that many potential candidates make all too often believing that we won't find out.

After the lecture portion of the workshop, students head out to the field to see and practice the individual exercises in the physical agility test. The students are coached and evaluated on each skill.

Students have reaped the benefits of this workshop. Several of them have been successfully hired and reported that the workshop was extremely helpful in the process. Other students realized that they were not ready and some made mistakes that would preclude them from being hired in law enforcement.

Recruiting next generation officers earlier

It is important for agencies to start recruiting the next generation of officers early in their teenage-adult development to prevent some of the mistakes others have encountered. With that is mind, a program for next generation officers should begin with high school students that have expressed interest in law enforcement. The goal is that by setting expectations early with these students that these immature mistakes can be avoided for those that are truly serious about becoming an officer.

So, the question remains for agencies, how do we attract better prepared, qualified and viable candidates? We believe that setting the goals, objectives and expectations early can be part of the solution. This can be accomplished by getting the information to potential candidates early. Those that want to become part of the profession will hopefully take notice and eventually become great candidates. Those that don't, especially after being advised, are not the ones we wanted anyway.

About the author

Ed Flosi is a retired police sergeant in San Jose (Calif.). He has been in law enforcement for more than 27 years. Ed has a unique combination of academic background and practical real world experience including patrol, special operations and investigations. Ed was the lead instructor for use-of-force training, as well as defense and arrest tactics for the San Jose Police Department. He has been retained in several cases to provide testimony in cases when an officer was alleged to have used excessive force. He has assisted the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) in providing expertise on several occasions related to use-of-force training. He has a Master of Science degree from California State University Long Beach and holds an Adult Learning Teaching Credential from the State of California. He teaches in the Administration of Justice Department at West Valley College. He is currently the Principle Instructor for PROELIA Defense and Arrest Tactics.

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Ohio

Ohio State attacker complained bitterly in Facebook post of treatment of Muslims ‘everywhere,' reports say

by Katie Mettler

Just minutes before an 18-year-old Somali college student used a car and butcher knife to attack people on the Ohio State University campus Monday morning, he said in a Facebook post that he had reached a “boiling point” and was “sick and tired” of seeing Muslims around the globe “killed and tortured,” law enforcement officials told CNN and NBC.

The post said the U.S. should stop “interfering” in the Muslim world and referenced “lone wolf” attacks.

The post appeared to be on the Facebook page of the alleged attacker, Ohio State student Abdul Razak Ali Artan, and has since been disabled, reported ABC News. The Post could not independently confirm the story.

On Twitter, CNN's Jake Tapper shared the full text of the post, which he said law enforcement officials confirmed was connected to Artan.

It began with a general denunciation of violence against Muslims “everywhere,” then referenced specifically the Rohingya Muslim community in Burma, who have been long-persecuted and are denied citizenship and basic rights. While the struggles of the Rohingya Muslims receive little publicity in the U.S., their situation has attracted more attention in recent weeks, as the Post's Annie Gowen reported. Thousands of them have been fleeing into the forests and neighboring Bangladesh on the heels of a brutal military crackdown that followed a terrorist attack on police posts Oct. 9, allegedly carried out by Rohingya militants.

This week, a United Nations refugee agency official told the BBC that Burmese troops were “killing men, shooting them, slaughtering children, raping women, burning and looting houses, forcing these people to cross the river” into Bangladesh.

The official claimed the government's goal was “ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority.”

“Seeing my fellow Muslims being tortured, raped and killed in Burma led to a boiling point,” the Facebook post on Artan's page reads, according to CNN. “I can't take it anymore.”

The U.S. Department of State has been critical of the ongoing humanitarian crisis, and the U.S. ambassador to Burma visited the region in early November.

Even so, the Facebook post from Artan's page also seems to call on America to “stop interfering” with the Muslim world.

“We are not weak,” it says. “... remember that.”

The post also references “lone wolf attacks,” and says the only way to stop them is for the United States to make peace, through a pact or treaty, with “Dawla in al sham,” which translates roughly to the Islamic State. The original name for ISIS in Arabic is Al-Dawla Al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham, which translates to the Islamic State of Iraq, and Syria and the wider surrounding area.

“By Allah, we will not let you sleep unless you give peace to the Muslims,” the post continues. “You will not celebrate or enjoy any holiday.”

The post's intended audience then seems to shift to other Muslims. It calls any Muslim who disapproves of the writer's actions a “sleeper cell, waiting for a signal” and calls upon the community to follow “our hero” Anwar Al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011. Videos recorded by Al-Awlaki before he died have been cited by numerous radicalized Muslims who went on to plan or carry out terrorist attacks, including the Boston Marathon bombing and the massacre at the satirical French newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, reported the New York Times.

It ends with a criticism of Western media, asserting that if Muhammad were alive today he'd be labeled a terrorist.

Law enforcement officials told CNN they were investigating the Facebook post.

If it was written by Artan, the media critique at the end of the post matches a similar, less-harsh analysis he offered the student newspaper at Ohio State when it profiled him three months ago at the beginning of the school year. He said he'd just transferred from a community college, where there were rooms for Muslims like him to pray. At Ohio State, he felt overwhelmed.

He told the student newspaper:

“This place is huge, and I don't even know where to pray. I wanted to pray in the open, but I was kind of scared with everything going on in the media. I'm a Muslim, it's not what the media portrays me to be. If people look at me, a Muslim praying, I don't know what they're going to think, what's going to happen. But, I don't blame them. It's the media that put that picture in their heads to they're just going to have it and it, it's going to make them feel uncomfortable. I was kind of scared right now. But I just did it. I relied on God. I went over to the corner and just prayed.”

Video footage of Artan's spring graduation from the community college, where he earned an associate of arts degree, shows a jovial student bounding across stage to receive his degree. Neighbors and the owner of the home where Artan lived with his mother and siblings described the teen as friendly, quiet and respectful. Artan had told one woman he went to the mosque daily.

Law enforcement officials have yet to say if the attack Monday morning, which sent 11 people to hospitals and left Artan dead, was related to terrorism, but added they weren't ruling it out.

That didn't stop some Ohio political leaders from stepping into what the Columbus Dispatch characterized as “rhetorical land mines.”

After Artan was identified as a Muslim and Somali refugee who spent a short time in Pakistan, State Treasurer Josh Mandel, who is expected to run for the U.S. Senate in 2018, tweeted: “Looks like Radical Islamic terror came to my alma mater today. So sad what happened at OSU. We must remain vigilant against Radical Islam.”

Michael Premo, chief of staff for the Ohio Senate Democrats, quoted Mandel's tweet and criticized his language: “Looks like knee-jerk islamophobia came to my state today. So sad what @JoshMandelOhio said. We must remain vigilant against prejudice.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/29/ohio-state-attacker-in-facebook-post-complained-bitterly-of-treatment-of-muslims-everywhere-reports-say/

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

Ohio

What did Ohio State's 'Run Hide Fight' tweet mean?

by Cameron Knight and Anne Saker

CINCINNATI — The attack on the campus of The Ohio State University took less than five minutes. One minute later, the social media machinery accelerated to break the news, consume information, process emotion, synthesize truth from rumor and reassure loved ones.

It began with a single tweet from the OSU Police Division coupled with text alerts sent to students.

"Buckeye Alert: Active Shooter on campus. Run Hide Fight. Watts Hall. 19th and College," said the tweet sent at 9:56 a.m.

At 2 p.m. Monday, that tweet alone had been retweeted nearly 2,300 times.

OSU officials said Monday that one man tried to run over students with his car, then fled the vehicle swinging a butcher's knife, injuring 11 people. An OSU police officer, Fairfield, Ohio, native Alan Horujko, arrived at the scene and fatally shot the attacker, Abdul Razak Ali Artan.

Facebook activated their 2-year-old "check-in" feature for the first time in Ohio and only the fifth time in the United States, giving it the vaguely novelistic title, “The Violent Incident in Columbus, Ohio.” The feature automatically asks anyone in the vicinity of an event to check in to let family and friends know they are safe. Anyone with Facebook friends in the area can then view who has checked in and who hasn't.

The feature was first announced and deployed in last November in response to bombings in Nigeria later claimed by Boko Haram. It has been activated by Facebook 22 times, including Monday, covering natural disasters and attacks in 14 countries.

The first check-in deployed in the United States was in June after the shooting at Orlando's Pulse nightclub. It was also used following the shooting of police officers in Dallas, the Chelsea bombing in New York City and the train crash at Hoboken Terminal in New Jersey.

On Twitter, the public could follow several news outlets that quickly responded to the OSU on Monday, but they could also follow local emergency services.

OSU police followed up their initial tweet with more information about sheltering in place and the eventual all-clear sent at 11:30 a.m.

OSU Emergency Management and the Columbus Police Department both tweeted updates to their followers as well.

In addition to thousands of shares, the Buckeye Alert drew some criticism and confusion with the sentence "Run Hide Fight."

Those instructions come straight from the Department of Homeland Security and the phrase is a registered trademark of the City of Houston, who helped to create the national model for surviving an active shooter.

OSU created a video outlining the approach to their students and Homeland Security also has literature on the topic.

The basics: Have an escape route planned and run away from threats. Hide out of the shooters view, locking the entries to your hiding place if possible. Finally, as a last resort, fight the attacker.

Social media continued to be dominated by news of the incident on Monday. Ohio State University and #prayforOSU were both trending on Twitter Monday afternoon.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/11/29/run-hide-fight-tweet-osu/94585170/

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Ohio

How universities train students, faculty for 'active shooters'

by Chris Graves

CINCINNATI — One of the first things James Whalen did after being named University of Cincinnati Public Safety Director last year was establish training for an "active shooter" scenario like the one that unfolded Monday morning at The Ohio State University.

Then he and his team started training faculty, staff and students on what to do in the event an attacker arrives on campus intent to kill or harm.

And under development: a $400,000 emergency management operation center at UC where authorities from across the campus, the city and elsewhere will come together to manage crises, he said. It was just such a center that The Ohio State University Department of Public Safety powered up Monday after Abdul Razak Ali Artan, 20, drove his car into pedestrians on the sidewalk, then got out and and started stabbing victims with a butcher's knife on campus.

The UC center will include 24 work stations and is slated to be completed by next fall, said UC police spokeswoman Michele Ralston.

The center will be similar to the Cincinnati-Hamilton County Regional Emergency Operations Center, Whalen said

"We needed to have a place and the ability where those with different but related jobs can talk,'' he said. "You need to have a facility where phones and computers are right there. It's not efficient otherwise."

Campus training constant

Attacks like the one at OSU remain relatively rare across the nation. However, campus police chiefs and other officials all said authorities would be remiss if their universities did not continually train and educate faculty, staff and students on what to do — and what not to do — in an active shooter scenario. This week, UC will host to "shelter-in-place" workshops. Just last week, Xavier University Police Chief Joseph Milek trained about 30 staff members in an active shooter seminar.

"Who would have known that less than a week later, we would all be watching it live on TV," Milek said. "The main goal is to get people thinking in advance. It can be little things, but they are important: How many exits are there to get out of your area? Where are they? We get complacent; but this isn't rocket science.

"But you do have to put effort into preparing," he said. "It just pays off."

Miami University in Oxford and Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights conduct similar training and drills, officials said. Less than two weeks ago, Miami University sent an email reminding its faculty and staff about its safety resources and protocols in the event of a campus crisis. That email followed a Sept. 30 campus-wide email encouraging everyone to review the school's safety protocols.

Miami spokeswoman Claire Wagner said the first thing she did when she heard the OSU news was to check an emergency website the university keeps inactive on a third-party platform in the case of a crisis. It worked.

"You prep hoping you never use it," said said.

All the universities use common-place systems that allow students, faculty, staff and parents to receive electronic alerts and phone calls simultaneously. It's the same system that sends weather alerts that close or delay classes.

In addition, college campuses use various social media platforms to alert students to ongoing threats. Some also provide instructions. On other campuses, including at UC that has a 24-hour police dispatch system, audio instructions can be sent into buildings. The school did that in October when a gunman fired a shot on campus. He was later arrested and no one was hurt.

"It's scary to think about but an active shooter is something we all need to be prepared for," Whalen says on a 25-minute video and PowerPoint presentation on its website. The presentation steps viewers through what has quickly become the three-stop protocol most area universities tell students, staff and faculty to use: Run. Hide. Fight. The idea is to run out of a building or away from the threat if you can; hide out of view and behind locked doors if you can't get away; and finally, fight the attacker if confronted.

Those instructions, which were communicated in one of OSU's first alerts Monday and outlined in a fast-paced video its police department created last year, come from the Department of Homeland Security. The phrase is a registered trademark of the City of Houston, which helped to create the national model for surviving an active shooter. Xavier uses the six-minute video to help in its ongoing training.

Malik and Whalen both said they and their colleagues learn from each crisis. Monday's in Columbus will be no different.

"It looked pretty textbook to me," he said. "But they will go over this with a fine-tooth comb to see what can be learned."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/11/29/how-universities-train-students-faculty-active-shooters/94584294/

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With attack at Ohio State, parents have a new worry

by Jessica Heslam

Proud parents are posting their kids' early college acceptance letters on social media. And until yesterday, they were sending them to a place that seemed immune from terror attacks.

Now parents have to worry about that, too.

Abdul Razak Ali Artan, a Somali refugee and Ohio State University student, is accused of driving his car into pedestrians on campus at about 10 a.m. before he got out and reportedly began stabbing people with a butcher knife.

“Run, Run, Run!” students were heard yelling.

He injured 11, including one critically, until a cop who happened to be nearby because of a gas leak shot him dead, authorities said. Artan, 18, was born in Somalia and was a legal permanent U.S. resident, according to The Associated Press.

The campus attack appeared to come from the pages of al-Qaeda's online magazine, “Inspire,” which encourages its followers to use vehicles as weapons. It's the same propaganda publication that authorities said influenced the Boston Marathon bombers.

Most of yesterday's victims were injured by Artan's car. The attack comes five months after a terrorist used a massive truck to mow down and kill 86 people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France.

When Columbus police Chief Kim Jacobs was asked yesterday whether it was a terrorist act, she said: “I think we have to consider that it is.” California U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said the attack “bears all the hallmarks of a terror attack carried out by someone who may have been self-radicalized.”

In August, the college newspaper ran a piece on Artan, who complained there was no place to pray on campus. He had transferred from Columbus State, where there were prayer rooms because, he said, Muslims “have to pray five times a day.”

“This is my first day. This place is huge, and I don't even know where to pray. I wanted to pray in the open, but I was kind of scared with everything going on in the media. I'm a Muslim, it's not what the media portrays me to be. If people look at me, a Muslim praying, I don't know what they're going to think, what's going to happen. But, I don't blame them. It's the media that put that picture in their heads so they're just going to have it and it, it's going to make them feel uncomfortable,” the paper quoted him as saying.

Authorities, sources told ABC News, are investigating whether Artan wrote an anti-U.S. Facebook rant minutes before the attack that said, “I can't take it anymore. America! Stop interfering with other countries, especially the Muslim Ummah. We are not weak. We are not weak, remember that.”

Campus shootings have had parents on edge for years, especially after rampages at Virginia Tech, Santa Monica College and other schools. While abhorrent and terrifying, yesterday's attack in Ohio marked an escalation and has now given parents yet another nightmare as they prepare to send their kids off to go it alone.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/jessica_heslam/2016/11/heslam_with_attack_at_ohio_state_parents_have_a_new_worry

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North Carolina

Community members vent to Durham police at meeting

by Angelica Alvarez

DURHAM (WTVD) -- Frustration, hope and looking forward. That's how some residents described the community conversation hosted by the Durham Police Department and the Durham Housing Authority for the residents of the McDougald Terrace area.

The meeting was held at the TA Grady Recreation Center. It started at 6 p.m. and ended after 8 p.m.

The neighborhood was the site of an officer-involved shooting last Tuesday that claimed the life of 34-year-old Frank Nathaniel Clark.

Since then, tensions have been high. The next day dozens of people marched to Durham police headquarters to protest the shooting.

Media was not allowed inside the meeting. Neighborhood leaders said they wanted to give residents a chance to talk freely without media present.

From those who shared what happened inside with ABC11, they said talk about the shooting was fairly brief.

"The three police officers, they're still on leave, but she hadn't said too much about it," recalled Cynthia Hawley, who has lived in McDougald Terrace for about three months.

Before the meeting, Laura Betye, the Vice President of the McDougald Terrace complex said she understands the frustrations in her community but is also sympathetic to the officers involved in last week's shooting, especially Officer C.S. Barkley.

"He was a decent man who really cared about this community and really put forth an effort, much more than was required of him as a policeman," Betye said.

From other people allowed in the meeting, we know much of the discussion was geared toward the overall violence in the neighborhood.

"My son got gunned down in April, he almost lost his life. There were several people that seen it, but nobody said nothing," said Eva Allen, who lives in McDougald Terrace. "We're not going to get resources, we're not going to see effort or nothing until everybody works together."

Others believe change needs to come from the top. They want the City of Durham to invest in their neighborhood and they want more community-friendly police officers on patrol.

"Why bring officers who work in Cary to Durham when they don't know anything about the city or the people of the city of Durham?" said Mel Claiborne, who also lives in McDougald Terrace.

The conversation between residents and police was not one-sided. While some said they wanted to hear more concrete answers from the chief, others said she gave more than they expected.

"She's giving us true emotional responses, she's taking the badge off. However she's still keeping it in her political frame of mind work," said Durham resident, Joseph Cherry.

While some residents fear the conversation may have fallen on deaf ears, a DPD spokesperson said their goal was to have a constructive conversation with the community and they feel they accomplished that.

http://abc11.com/news/community-members-vent-to-durham-police-at-meeting/1628437/

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Oklahoma

Community forum focusing on police-community relations with new Tulsa mayor at Rudisill library

by Brian Miller

TULSA -- A community forum in Tulsa is focused on discussing the relationship between police and the people they serve.

The forum was titled “A Conversation with our New Mayor, G.T. Bynum on the Community-Police Relationship.”

The question and answer session lasted just under an hour.

The city's mayor-elect answered questions and talked about how to move our city forward when it comes to the community's relationship with police.

As the city's next mayor, G.T. Bynum is tasked with helping to create trust between police and the city's minority community. During the forum, he heard about what needs to happen moving forward.

"What's more important than that is how people are feeling about law enforcement in Tulsa and their stories, as was reflected when we first started are horrendous,” said Rev. Gerald Davis with The United League For Social Action.

It's those stories-organizers hope— can make city leaders aware of race issues.

"I'm a very polite person, I'm not a trouble maker but I am an African-American, I have dreads, I have been you know pulled over and treated a certain way based on how I look,” said attendee Emeka Nnaka.

Bynum realizes change is not something that can happen overnight. But those attending the forum are hopeful the talk turns into action.

"When you are seen in the community bridging the gap i think that goes to show that we are making moves in the right direction you cannot build a bridge if you're unwilling to step on the other side,” Nnaka said.

Bynum takes office one week from today.

The city is set to hire 160 new officers to help implement his community policing plan.
The details are still being worked out.

http://www.kjrh.com/news/community-forum-focusing-on-police-community-relations-with-new-tulsa-mayor-at-rudisill-library

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Missouri

Mo. officers' home set on fire in possible targeted attack

Sgt. Geremy Pearce said he believes his home was targeted because he and his girlfriend work in law enforcement

by PoliceOne Staff

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An investigation has been launched after the home of two officers was set on fire Nov. 20.

According to WDAF, Sgt. Geremy Pearce received a call that his home was on fire while working the overnight shift. He shares the residence with his girlfriend, who is an officer at a different department.

“It was probably the longest, quickest drive home that I've ever had, and just trying to figure out what's going on and make sure everybody was okay,” Pearce told the news station.

Investigators said the fire is suspicious and they're looking into possible arson.

Pearce said he believes his house was targeted because both he and his girlfriend are officers.

"It's very discouraging that people would go to this extent to reach out and try and harm law enforcement," Harrisonville Police Chief John Hofer told KMBC.

Everyone made it out of the house safely. No arrests have been made.

https://www.policeone.com/investigations/articles/244319006-Mo-officers-home-set-on-fire-in-possible-targeted-attack/

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Wisconsin

'Safety alert' delays medical response during 911 call

The alerts are meant to protect officers and medical crews on calls to homes previously flagged as posing some type of threat to law enforcement

by Karen Rivedal

MADISON, Wis. — A 28-year-old Madison man who called 911 after coughing up blood in the middle of the night following a cancer treatment was delayed emergency medical aid by police who searched him outside his house before allowing an ambulance crew to approach and treat him.

Why it happened is a matter of dispute.

Madison police describe it as a necessary precaution, while the man in question — anti-police activist Jeremy Ryan — said the Sept. 21 incident is part of a pattern of harassment that could have endangered his health.

Address safety alerts — or officer safety alerts, as they're also called — while little known publicly, are not rare and serve a vital role, according to police and fire department officials. They are meant to protect officers and medical crews on calls to homes and apartments previously flagged as posing some type of threat to law enforcement.

“It's not something we take lightly,” said Madison police Lt. Mike Hanson, who supervises West District patrol officers. “The reason we do these is for everyone's safety.”

But Ryan disputes the reasons the safety alert was placed on his home. He says being someone who has prominently questioned police use of force in cases, including the fatal shooting of Tony Robinson in March 2015 by Madison Officer Matt Kenny, and who has agitated for changes, at the Capitol and elsewhere, makes him a target.

“I think (police) just want to intimidate and harass people who are trying to make things more difficult,” said Ryan, who's been arrested dozens of times in connection with civil disobedience actions and now faces four felony drug charges for allegedly selling small amounts of marijuana.

“Right now is an especially tense time for police,” Ryan maintained. “They're being called into question. And they're fighting calls for accountability. Any change that will make your job more difficult tends to be resisted.”

Police reports obtained by the State Journal through public records requests show the alert was placed on Ryan's home after a neighbor called 911 around 4 p.m. on July 7.

The neighbor told police a man she described and identified as Ryan had come out the front door of the house and walked along the sidewalk while loading a gun.

Ryan says his neighbor was wrong. He said he doesn't own a gun and claims he wasn't even home that July day, and the report on the incident doesn't contradict that.

The report shows that the responding officer, Joseph Buccellato, decided not to try to contact anyone at Ryan's house, after the neighbor said the man she saw was already back in the house and had not pointed the gun at anyone or threatened anyone with it.

Buccellato also learned through dispatchers while en route to the house that Ryan was not prohibited from owning a gun — so that if it was him that a neighbor saw outside walking openly with one, it would not have been illegal.

He decided to get a safety alert put on the home, however, after the neighbor told him she had found the behavior of the man with the gun “odd and disturbing,” and that “she was afraid for her safety” after seeing it.

The report also notes that another officer, again while Buccellato was en route, had “advised over the radio that Jeremy Ryan did have a history of attempting to provoke large police responses.”

No other detail was included, and Ryan disputes the characterization, but Buccellato told the neighbor he was “not interested in creating any type of confrontation or altercation with an armed individual over incidents where no crime had been committed.”

Ryan learns of alert

Ryan said he remained unaware that a safety alert had been placed on his home until he learned about it indirectly, from another police agency, days later.

According to a Dane County Sheriff's Office report, on July 11, Deputy Anthony Hamilton visited Ryan's home to do a routine check on Zachary Czerkas, who is one of Ryan's four roommates and is under supervision for a 2010 federal drug conviction.

The report says dispatchers told Hamilton about the address safety alert on the house while he was there, and that he decided, “based on the totality of information that I had at the time,” to return Czerkas to jail pending the finding of “alternate housing” for him.

While at the home, Hamilton said, neighbors including Dane County Sup. Ronn Ferrell complained to him about alleged drug sales at the house — or, as the report put it, that “the occupants appear to be conducting a business that has a lot of short-term contacts with vehicles.”

Neighbors also told Hamilton, according to the report, that the house was home to “several very unsavory characters who are extremely anti-police,” and pointed out what Hamilton said was a large sign in Ryan's front yard that read, “(Expletive) the police! Jail Matt Kenny!”

Ryan said he called Hamilton the next day to find out what happened to Czerkas and was told by Hamilton “that my house and particularly me have been put on red alert.”

Ryan said Hamilton told him the alert was placed on his house due to the neighbor's report of seeing a gun there a few days prior, and because of, “in (Hamilton's) words, ‘the work you have done for a very small yet very vocal minority in the community,'” which Ryan believes is a reference to his police-related protest activities.

The Sheriff's Office declined to make Hamilton available for an interview.

“Any information we have to share related to this interaction is included in the report,” Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Elise Schaffer said in an email.

Why alerts matter

Police said the high number of calls that officers respond to daily makes it difficult to always remember where past problems occurred, producing the need for safety alerts.

The information included in alerts can be especially helpful when officers have to work shifts outside their regular districts, where they may be unfamiliar with homes that have a history of trouble, Hanson said.

Without alerts, Hanson said, fire department paramedics and EMTs, who don't carry weapons, also could be hurt responding to emergencies at potentially dangerous homes, such as the site of a past domestic violence call in which someone has threatened to shoot responders next time something happens there.

“If there's any chance of violence or weapons, we work in tandem with them (on medical calls),” Hanson said, with a shared goal of making the scene safe prior to their arrival.

Responding to alerts

Hanson said the police department has no hard-and-fast rules for how officers are expected to respond to a home that's been flagged by police as a safety alert, during a medical call or any other type of response to the house.

“We train overall tactics on how to keep themselves and a scene safe,” he said. “They arrive on scene and assess it. In (Ryan's) case, there was a report of weapons there.”

So officers had to search Ryan during the 911 call on Sept. 21 before letting the medical crew approach, Hanson said, and it was done reasonably quickly. But that can vary depending on the circumstances, he added.

“Is making (a scene) safe a simple pat-down that's going to take less than 20 seconds?” Hanson said. “Or is it going to involve locating the suspect and negotiating with them? Every single scenario is different, and we look for the path of least resistance.”

Che Stedman, chief of medical affairs for the Madison Fire Department, said emergency medical personnel appreciate police officers going in ahead of them on risky calls.

“There's always a concern about any delay of care,” Stedman said. “But it's an understandable delay. And because most of our calls are not the life-threatening type, it's perfectly reasonable.”

Hanson said officers work faster to secure the scene of a safety alert on medical calls, aiming to quickly wave in rescue personnel when someone's health appears to be seriously threatened.

That can be done, Hanson said, because a person having a stroke or heart attack, for example, isn't likely to be as capable of posing a threat.

“That's part of the equation as they're approaching the scene,” Hanson said. “As they're en-route, they're getting updates on the person's condition, and when they arrive, if the individual is gasping for air, (for example), they're going to be expeditious in evaluating it and getting it treated. Our goal is safety and assisting in the call.”

Night of the 911 call

When Ryan called 911 around 2 a.m. on Sept. 21, he said he was having trouble breathing after coughing up what he described as “large amounts of blood” that night after receiving radiation treatment a week earlier.

He said he had gone to urgent care Sept. 20 for the same problem, where he was told to call an ambulance to take him to the hospital if it happened again.

Internal bleeding is one potential side effect, Ryan said, of the radiation therapy he's been getting on and off for the past two years for a recurring case of metastatic brain cancer.

After calling 911, he said, he went outside on his front porch to wait for the ambulance to arrive. Not realizing the safety alert would trigger a police response on a medical call, Ryan said he was surprised to see three officers walk up and call for him to approach them.

According to a police report, officers then searched him after asking him to take his hand out of his pocket.

They explained they had to “pat him down for weapons” because of the July report of a gun, and put all the items from his pockets in an evidence bag before paramedics, parked nearby, were allowed in to treat him.

Call notes referenced in the police report had advised officers to “use extreme caution” when approaching Ryan due to the safety alert. The report also noted the anti-police sign that was still in his front yard but has since been removed at a roommate's request, Ryan said.

Ryan, whose condition was quickly stabilized at the hospital that night, continues to dispute the need for a safety alert at his house, arguing such warnings should be reserved for people convicted of violent offenses.

“I understand the reason why the (alert) system would exist,” he said. “I'm not protesting that in general. It's more the broad nature of how it's being applied in my case and who knows how many other cases out there.”

A current count of Madison safety alerts was not available. Madison police records custodian Lt. John Radovan said neither Madison police nor the Dane County 911 center keep track of that data or have it readily accessible.

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Texas

A good Samaritan helped a woman who was being beaten in a parking lot. Now he's dead.

by Cleve R. Wootson Jr.

Isidro Zarate had just watched his wife walk into a Walmart in northwest San Antonio when a fight caught his attention.

A man and woman were arguing in the parking lot crowded with Black Friday shoppers about 4 p.m. The man had grabbed the woman by the hair and was beating her.

So Zarate pulled his car up to the couple and told the man, “Take your hands off her,” according to police.

The man did, police say, but only to reach for his gun.

“All [Zarate] did was verbally say, ‘Take your hands off her,'” San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told reporters at the scene. “At that point, the assailant pulled a firearm and started shooting.”

One shot hit Zarate in the neck, killing him. He died in the parking lot. He was 39.

A woman riding in the car with him was hit by shrapnel or flying glass, police said, and was injured.

A stray bullet also flew through the Walmart parking lot, wounding a third woman who “wasn't involved at all,” McManus said. Both women are expected to recover.

Police identified the suspect as Teles Mandan Juarez, 21.

Juarez sped away from the scene but was pursued by the police department's helicopter. Police arrested him about 10 miles from the Walmart.

He was charged with aggravated assault and retaliation, both felonies. He could also face a murder charge.

Meanwhile, Zarate's wife, Lisa Benavides, was oblivious to what was going on outside the crowded store.

Her mother had wanted to go to San Antonio's annual public lighting of the River Walk for the holidays. But Benavides wanted to get a new outfit for the occasion, so they braved Black Friday crowds to make a Walmart run.

She promised to hurry as her husband circled the packed parking lot.

She quickly found an outfit, raced through the self-checkout “because it was fastest,” and stood at the curb with her bag. She waited in the parking lot for the family's Toyota Camry to pull up.

Instead, she saw police cars.

Curious, she inched closer to the police tape, but officers and their vehicles obscured her view.

“I asked a man standing nearby what happened and they said someone got shot,” she said. “I asked if that was a Toyota Camry and when the cars moved, the man could see and he said ‘yes.'

“I knew right then it was my car. I started running. And I went underneath the line and they said, ‘You can't go back there,' and one of the cops grabbed me and said, “Who are you?' ”

“I said ‘That's my husband.'”

Through tears on Sunday morning, Benavides told The Washington Post that she was shocked by the outburst of violence that took her husband's life, but not surprised that his final act was to help someone.

She recalled a Teddy bear of a man who was quick to give spare change or leftover food to homeless people.

They'd both grown up poor, and empathized with people who were struggling.

Zarate was a childhood friend of Benavides's brother. For years, he harbored a crush on the woman who would become his wife, but she'd tell him, “Get out of my house and stop eating my food.”

She was won over by his kindness, especially by the way he was protective of her when she was a new mother and her relationship with her baby's father fizzled.

“He raised my oldest son since he was 8 months old,” she said. “He raised him like his own, even though [the child's] father wasn't in the picture.”

They went on to have three more boys. Their sons are now 17, 19, 20 and 23.

Zarate was the jokester in their family — a storyteller prone to spin a tale when only a “yes” or a “no” was required. She always told him to get to the point. He needled her about taking too long at the store.

Beneath it all, he encouraged his family to be kind.

“He's always been like that,” Benavides said. “Even though people treat you mean, he said you've always got to be nice. And he always said you've got to help people in the long run. It's going to all come back to you.”

The family is planning a funeral for Zarate, and has set up a GoFundMe page to cover expenses. The fund was nearing its $20,000 goal Sunday afternoon.

For Benavides, her husband's funeral will be the first big thing she has undertaken on her own in 22 years.

“I don't know what I'm going to do without him because we were together 24/7,” she said, crying. “We've always been together. I can't believe he's gone.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2016/11/28/a-good-samaritan-helped-a-woman-who-was-being-beaten-in-a-parking-lot-now-hes-dead/

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New Jersey

Community, Transparency Core Values as Police Body Cam Programs Expand

As Cherry Hill becomes the latest Camden County police department to add officer-worn body cameras, fewer questions are asked about the need for them than about the policies around their implementation.

by Matt Skouralos

When the Camden County Police Department (CCPD) rolled out its officer body-worn camera program this spring, it did so under a provisional policy that was later strengthened with local input.

Some 300 Camden residents contributed to an online survey about the decision, as did community groups and police officers, in a report prepared by the NYU School of Law Policing Project.

CCPD wasn't the first police department in Camden County to embrace body cameras, but it was the first local department to solicit stakeholder feedback before going live with them. The move was in keeping with the community policing philosophy of CCPD Chief J. Scott Thomson, but Policing Project director Barry Friedman said the approach reflects even a deeper commitment to community involvement than that.

“Community policing is about the notion that police officers in their day-to-day routine ought to be in touch with and familiar with communities,” Friedman said. “Consulting the community and the public about what policies should be, not just the day-to-day interaction, is a step beyond community policing.

“I think every department in every community should be doing this,” he said. “It's not beyond anybody's means, and it's an essential democratic step.”

As a result of that community input, the CCPD body camera policy was clarified to add accountability as one of its goals.

The report also drove policy revisions mandating that officers record all calls for service, notify the public whenever their cameras are recording, and activate them whenever approaching someone “for a law-enforcement-related purpose.”

Other changes inspired by the study restricted police recording of protected First Amendment behaviors, and required the CCPD to retain a recording of an encounter if the subject requests it.

“You could actually see the huge value that you get out of community engagement on policy questions,” Friedman said.

“It makes a big difference for legitimacy and trust.”

Even with the benefit of policy input, Friedman said there's still not much of an industry data trail about the use of body-worn cameras. Despite their growing popularity, the technology hasn't been in use long enough to provide a great historical view. Other than a general sense that people modify their behavior when filmed, the fullness of the social impact they may yet have remains to be seen.

“You'd think with all the talk about body cameras, we'd know all of this better,” Friedman said. “People have aspirations for them that are all quite noble, and they are one way to address some of the problems we've seen. They're not a panacea, and they actually could have problems associated with them, in any event.”

Privacy is always a principal concern when any data is collected by an agent of the state, but under New Jersey law, Friedman said the majority of police body-worn camera footage never sees the light of day.

Nonetheless, he said, “people are right to be concerned about their privacy and their privacy vis-à-vis the government, and that's the reason why what Camden has done is admirable.

“A lot of what has happened with government surveillance has been to just do things without asking,” Freidman said. “When the state is engaging in conduct that affects our privacy or our sense of security or well-being, it's important to have the conversation.”

One of the concerns that falls into the category of unintended consequences is whether the presence of body cameras interferes with officers' abilities to cut people a break. Friedman noted that the use of a camera doesn't mean police can't still offer individual discretion in many circumstances.

“The camera policy doesn't alter other policy in any way,” Friedman said. “If there's a traffic encounter where an officer generally issues warnings, they should continue to issue warnings. It's an interesting question, and I think it's one that should be studied.”

Since rolling out the cameras, CCPD Captain Albert Handy said the department continues to gather data, but overall, the program “is working out very well.

“Cameras serve to de-escalate certain incidents where it's apparent to everyone that it's being recorded, and everyone acts accordingly,” Handy said. “We have seen circumstances where the camera has been useful in either proving or disproving allegations.”

Handy believes more departments will continue to embrace body cameras as an expectation of professionalism.

Within the CCPD, he said the camera is also a useful management tool to make sure that command directives “are transcending the roll calls and the [police]academy.”

Handy also anticipates that technological improvements could expand the scope of what the cameras can do in future applications, strengthening investigation and prosecution efforts.

“There are things that are taking place outside of the view of the camera, but it does give you an unbiased account of what's captured,” Handy said. “Our criminal cases become stronger.”

In addition to the CCPD, police departments in Pine Hill, Voorhees, and Evesham also have added body-worn cameras, and the Haddon Township and Haddon Heights police departments apparently have explored implementing them as well, although nothing yet has been enacted.

The latest police department in the county to utilize body-worn cameras is Cherry Hill. The township couldn't be more different from the city of Camden in so many respects, yet the heads of its police forces have both made public input into their body-cam policies a priority. Cherry Hill Police Chief Bud Monaghan, who has endeavored to bring transparency to his department's hiring and training practices, held a similar community forum on cameras prior to implementing them.

Monaghan said the shift is perhaps more significant for members of the public than for the officers in his department, who have had cameras on the dashboards of their police cruisers for the past 12 years, and are used to being recorded on every stop.

(The in-car camera systems aren't going away either; with the investment in the technology already made, the chief said the dashcams add redundancy to counteract any possible body-worn camera system failure. Similarly, the body-cam footage is automatically uploaded to cloud storage and is backed up at three locations.)

“We want to get it right,” Monaghan said. “We want to capture the incidents. There's privacy concerns, but there's [already] a [cell phone] camera in every room, in every home, school, and business. It's a logical step that we have our own for everyone involved.”

Acknowledging that “everybody gets different when there's audio and video,” Monaghan said having a video reference during an incident is “as much a protection for my cops as for our citizens and the entire tax base.”

Footage isn't just to keep track of the facts amid controversies, either; the chief said video review allows supervising officers to shift tactics, commend jobs well done, and to correct behaviors that might otherwise go undetected.

Cherry Hill police will follow the New Jersey Attorney General's guidelines for body-worn cameras, which dictates when and where to turn the cameras off, including inside medical facilities and schools when not on active calls for service, or when an internal affairs complaint is filed. On every other call, the camera is on. His officers have minor discretion to turn it off “in the best interest of investigations,” but must articulate why if they do so, and verbally timestamp the interruption in the video, the chief said.

Likewise, Monaghan said the body cam policy doesn't supersede the rights of civilians to film police activity in the township. He instructs his officers to not tell people they can't record police as long as doing so doesn't interfere with the performance of their jobs.

“It keeps everybody honest,” Monaghan said. “Our videos will always have everything, top to bottom. We want to be transparent and open. We want people to be comfortable when they interact with our officers.”

Typically policies are revisited every two years in the Cherry Hill Police Department, but the body camera policy is set for revision at three-, six-, and 12-month increments, because “we don't believe the policy is perfect,” Monaghan said.

“We tried to cover all the what-ifs,” he said. “Until it's in the field, you don't know.”

http://www.njpen.com/community-transparency-core-values-as-police-body-cam-programs-expand/

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Alaska

An Anchorage police officer tries a new approach to tackle neighborhood crime concerns

by Devin Kelly

As a crime prevention student at an Oregon college, Robin Nave researched local crime concerns with a door-to-door survey.

Nearly two decades later, Nave, now a 12-year veteran of the Anchorage Police Department, is bringing back her college research technique to help Anchorage residents feel safer. Earlier this year, Nave created a crime survey for community councils.

The survey wasn't well-advertised. Nave, a new member of APD's Community Action Policing team, wasn't sure what to expect. But she found the handful of responses she got revealing.

This fall, Nave made presentations to the Government Hill and Airport Heights community councils after visiting both neighborhoods, relaying her data and observations. She discussed police behavior. And she offered ideas for making the neighborhood safer, from installing motion-sensing lights to pointing out the best spots for "No Parking" signs.

Her effort comes at a time when residents are more aware of city crime trends than ever before, through websites like Nextdoor.com and APD's community crime map.

Nave's commanding officer, Lt. Jack Carson, said Nave's work marks a more scientific approach, and a signal of the direction in which the department wants to go.

"It's creating solutions to a problem," Carson said in a phone interview. "It's not just going out and talking over some of the same points over and over. It's coming up with permanent solutions to problems and getting the community involved."

Nave, 38, is cheery and energetic. Community council presidents call her by her first name.

Her bosses on the community policing team encouraged her to come up with projects. Nave remembered her survey from her research as a student at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, about 60 miles southwest of Portland.

So she drew up a survey. She asked six questions, including whether the neighborhood was a better place to live than it had been a year ago, and whether the survey-taker felt safe going to parks nearby. She also asked a true-false question: "There is very little my neighbors and I can do to change things." The police department didn't have the money to conduct it, but two community council presidents, in Government Hill and Rogers Park, made the survey electronic and sent it to council members.

They got dozens of responses. There was also a strong response from the Airport Heights Community Council. Nave was thrilled. People shared worries about abandoned buildings, speeding on streets and drug sales in neighborhood parks.

For a few months, her data didn't lead anywhere. Nave said her supervisors weren't sure what to make of it.

But Carson, who took the job as CAP team commander in June, loved the idea of following up. From a safety meeting this summer with Turnagain residents frustrated about crime, late-night partying and disturbances in Lyn Ary Park, Nave got the idea of surveying a neighborhood and coming up with solutions to specific concerns. Carson gave her the go-ahead.

Nave and three other CAP team officers — Araceli Jones, Gordon Korell and Natasha Welch, who has run APD's informational Neighborhood Watch program for years — visited Government Hill and Airport Heights for an "environmental assessment."

In September, Nave gave her first presentation, to the Government Hill Community Council.

There, she'd found that from 42 responses, the top five concerns were speeding, parking, drugs, theft and vandalism. She relayed police data in the presentation: Of nearly 900 calls to police from Jan. 1 to Sept. 7 of that year, one-tenth were related to parking. Officers took reports for 38 thefts, 15 burglaries, 36 assaults and nine incidents of vandalism.

Under a section called "Things I Noticed," Nave relayed observations from a visit to the neighborhood. She wrote that alleyways were dark and there were no streetlights behind homes. Parking was not clearly marked in the streets, making it easier for criminals to park anywhere and navigate the neighborhood, she said. Landscaping was overgrown.

Densely populated East Government Hill had the most calls for police service, Nave pointed out.

Then she made suggestions. Try motion-sensor lighting to bring more light to alleyways. Aim lights into parks for homes across from those areas. Ask the city traffic department about painting curbs for "No Parking" zones and putting up signs. Call the parks department and create a volunteer group to thin out overgrown trees and make more "natural surveillance."

Nave proposed "social pressure groups" of four or more to walk around at night and create an ambiance of vigilance. That strategy was deployed successfully this summer by Turnagain residents, who began holding gatherings outside the entrance to Lyn Ary Park late at night to remind people about the park's 11 p.m. closing time and no-alcohol laws. Calls for service there dropped, Nave said.

Nave doesn't want to, as she put it, "breed a band of vigilantes." But she said there are ways to make criminals more uncomfortable, to deter crime without confrontation.

"People want to do something, they want to help us," Nave said. "And there's things they can do."

In her Airport Heights presentation in October, where burglary and theft were the top concern, Nave indicated that theft was occurring because people were parking vehicles on the street, instead of in driveways. She also showed a photo of a street with no lights.

"When I checked the alleys I noticed there was plenty of room for vehicles in the rear driveways," Nave wrote in the presentation. "Residences need additional lighting."Airport Heights Community Council President Barbara Karl said she didn't know if the new suggestions have made a difference, but people were glad to have the information.

On Oct. 25, a few weeks after Nave's presentation in Government Hill, 29-year-old Ian Alex Bobich died in a shooting outside of an apartment building on Elm Street in the eastern part of the neighborhood.

Nave responded to the crime scene in Government Hill. She said she felt defeated, like she'd let the neighborhood down.

But Melinda Gant, the Government Hill council president, said Nave's presentation gave her and her neighbors a better idea of how to move forward in the aftermath of the shooting. There was immediate talk of clearing overgrown trees near the apartment building. Gant contacted the property manager at the Elm Street complex to raise concerns about the number of people parking on the street.

"Robin had a nice mix of understanding rules and regulations, but also bringing in, 'Let's see how we can make this work for you,'" Gant said.

Nave is preparing to visit Rogers Park for a neighborhood assessment. She sees this year as a trial run for the survey. She and Carson expect to make a bigger push online early next year.

In the short term, Nave said, she hopes people will be more aware of their surroundings. She doesn't want people to accept that a neighborhood is the way it is, and see police as the only answer.

Her own research has had an effect on her. Nave previously didn't turn on her porch light at her West Anchorage home, wanting to save money.

But since starting the survey project, she keeps her porch light on.

"You start to make people understand, if I do one thing, it's probably going to prevent something else," she said.

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2016/11/27/an-anchorage-police-officer-tries-a-new-approach-to-tackle-neighborhood-crime-concerns/

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Texas

Robot dog helps Dickinson police relate to children, adults

by Matt deGrood

DICKINSON, Texas (AP) - Officer Shepherd is not quite like the other police officers in the Dickinson Police Department.

Riding around in a tiny remote-control police car, Officer G. German Shepherd, as he is affectionately known, is a animatronic robot dog that speaks, moves and even shoots water from a small spout.

The Galveston County Daily News (http://bit.ly/2genJdF) reports simply put, he's a big hit with the kids.

“When we go talk to kids, the kids that wouldn't normally come up and talk to us, it helps take down that wall,” police Chief Ron Morales said.

Officer Shepherd is the result of years of work and a lot of fundraising.

Morales first found out about the robotic dog at a police conference about five years ago, he said.

“I first saw it and thought ‘how much is that?'” Morales said. “When I found out, I said ‘that's insane.'”

A representative from Robotronics - the company based in Utah that makes the robot - broke down the various parts associated with the total cost of $12,500, and Morales began to understand, he said.

But plans only got underway for Dickinson's acquisition about 18 months ago.

To help raise the money to purchase Officer Shepherd, the police department turned to several donors - most importantly the Dickinson Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association. All told, $11,500 was secured through fundraising.

“It's wonderful,” Morales said. “I have about 10 to 15 people in this town who are upset with me if we need something and I don't come to them.”

The city gave the remaining $1,000.

Officer Shepherd has joined the community policing division after arriving in Dickinson about a month ago.

He was shipped in two giant boxes and came complete with a Dickinson police uniform and the actual department patches. Shepherd's model of robot is based on the old McGruff the Crime Dog, the cartoon spokes-dog in an anti-crime campaign.

Tony Valdez has been part of a two-man team that operates the robot when police visit area elementary schools and day care centers.

Using a voice modulator, he is able to speak to the kids as Officer Shepherd.

“As soon as we put him on the ground, all the attention is on him,” Valdez said. “He's a good tool for talking to the kids. They're focused and they will listen.”

Often, the kids are so focused on the robot that they don't even notice Valdez in the corner, speaking through a microphone.

The community policing and crime prevention unit has existed for about 15 years, Valdez said.

Its goal is to try to reduce future incidents of crime by visiting and creating bonds with the local youth.

Officer Shepherd works as part of a rotating lunch program in which officers visit each elementary school and day care center once each school year.

As far as Morales and Valdez know, Dickinson is unique in having something like Officer Shepherd to help communicate with the kids.

“I think Pasadena might have one?” Valdez said. “But no other police department in Galveston County.”

With three visits under its belt, Morales is confident Shepherd was a wise investment.

“When we first got it, we had five or six people call and say they had to have something like it,” he said. “When they found out how much it cost, it turned everyone off. And I understand that. But they don't get to see the reaction in the eyes of those kids, and even the adults.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/nov/28/robot-dog-helps-dickinson-police-relate-to-childre/

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Texas

Texas state trooper hit by gunfire from Mexico

The trooper, whose identity hasn't been released, is in stable condition

by The Associated Press

FRONTON, Texas — A Texas state trooper was wounded on the Texas-Mexico border when a bullet apparently strayed from a gunbattle on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.

Lt. Johnny Hernandez of the Texas Department of Public Safety says the trooper suffered a leg wound.

The state trooper was hit about 1 p.m. Friday while on foot patrol with the Border Patrol agent in Fronton, on the border about 105 miles upstream from Brownsville. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection statement says the federal agent also was hit but was protected by body armor.

The trooper, whose identity hasn't been released, was in stable condition at a McAllen hospital.

Hernandez says it's unclear who was involved in the gunfight.

https://www.policeone.com/police-products/body-armor/articles/243957006-Texas-state-trooper-hit-by-gunfire-from-Mexico/

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Pennsylvania

Laws keep most Pa. police videos out of public view

The legal standards for disclosure of police video could soon change, depending on how the Supreme Court rules in a woman's request to obtain 2014 dash cam video

by Mark Scolforo

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Dash-cam videos have fueled a national debate on police policies and tactics, but in Pennsylvania those images remain largely out of sight, thanks to state laws that give law enforcement broad power to keep out of public view anything considered to be investigative material.

A statewide survey of how governments handle requests for public records found that police agencies invoked those laws to deny 10 of 25 requests made by employees of Pennsylvania newspapers. In 10 other instances, they said they didn't have the tapes, either because they had been erased, handed off to prosecutors or other departments or the recorder was turned off or nonexistent.

Five departments disclosed at least some of what their officers' vehicle cameras recorded at specific scenes identified by journalists during a coordinated test of how public entities are applying the state Right-to-Know Law.

The legal standards for disclosure of police dash and body cameras could soon change, depending how the state Supreme Court rules in a woman's request to obtain state police dash-cam video from a 2014 traffic accident near State College involving her friend.

During arguments before the high court in September, state police argued the lower court had erred in determining portions of the tape were not investigative in nature and had to be disclosed.

State police took the position that altering current rules would mean expensive frame-by-frame reviews, could compromise investigations and might expose people to public scrutiny against their wishes. News groups have argued that police actions that are not truly investigative in nature should be available for people to review and the recordings tend to increase the accountability of government.

During the survey conducted by more than 100 employees of 21 newspapers, police in Springdale Township, Allegheny County, provided a complete video of a pursuit, starting before the patrol officer activated his siren and lights. It showed the vehicle that was being chased hitting a tree and fence and ended with three occupants being hauled away in handcuffs.

Other tapes that agencies agreed to release involved a fatal crash in the York suburbs; a response to an overdose, also near York; and a 20-minute dash-cam video from a crash and double homicide in Allentown that was disclosed because it was not considered investigative.

Nine of the 10 blanket denials were based on the Right-to-Know Law's criminal investigative exception or the Criminal History Record Information Act, which bars police from giving investigative information to anyone but courts, police and other criminal justice agencies in the course of their duties. The 10th department sought a 30-day extension to reply and was not heard from again.

"There is no way we can release evidence in a case that has not even had a preliminary hearing," Greensburg's police chief said when asked for dash-cam video used to charge an officer with falsifying truck inspection reports.

Philadelphia police denied a request for body camera footage related to the shooting death of Officer Robert Wilson, who was gunned down in an apparent botched robbery as he was buying a video game for his son. They said the evidence, "to the extent it existed," had been turned over to prosecutors.

Southern Regional Police in York County declined to provide tape from a car chase and foot pursuit, citing the criminal investigative exception as well as another section of the Right-to-Know Law, a broad exemption that allows information to be withheld if it would "deprive a person of the right to a fair trial."

Several departments said enough time had passed that they had automatically purged the requested footage.

In October, state lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to restrict situations in which police officers are identified while under investigation for firing a weapon or using force that results in death or serious injury, but Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed it last week, saying that a lack of transparency in such shootings breeds mistrust between police and the public.

The open records survey, conducted over a week in May, was developed by The Associated Press in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Society of News Editors, the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors and the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Second of four parts on a survey of how local government agencies and school districts in Pennsylvania are responding to requests for public records under the state Right-to-Know Law.

Alleged child rapist from Honduras deported by ICE Salt Lake City officers

SALT LAKE CITY — A Honduran fugitive, wanted in his home country for raping a child, was deported Wednesday by local officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

According to Honduran officials, Marco Antonio Argueta-Rubio, 23, allegedly forced a 13-year-old girl into his vehicle, transported her to a motel and raped her. In June 2016, Argueta-Rubio was apprehended in the Texas Rio Grande Valley while attempting to illegally enter the United States. In July, Honduran officials issued a warrant of arrest for Argueta-Rubio after he failed to report for court proceedings.

“ICE prioritizes the removal of illegal aliens who pose a threat to public safety and national security,” Todd McWhorter, acting field office director of ERO Salt Lake City said. “America is not a safe haven for those who are fleeing prosecution in their home countries. Foreign fugitives will be returned to their country of citizenship to face justice.”
In October, a federal immigration judge ordered Argueta-Rubio removed to Honduras. On Nov. 23, Argueta-Rubio arrived in Honduras and was turned over to Honduran authorities.

Since Oct. 1, 2009, ERO has removed more than 1,700 foreign fugitives from the United States who were sought in their native countries for serious crimes, including kidnapping, rape and murder. ERO works with the ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Office of International Operations, foreign consular offices in the United States, and Interpol to identify foreign fugitives illegally present in the United States. Members of the public who have information about foreign fugitives are urged to contact ICE by calling the ICE tip line at 1 (866) 347-2423 or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also file a tip online by completing ICE’s online tip form.

ERO coordinates the removal of criminals, foreign fugitives and others ordered deported. In 2015 alone, ERO removed 235,413 individuals from the United States. ICE is focused on smart and effective immigration enforcement that prioritizes its resources based on those who pose the biggest threat to national security, border security and public safety. ICE’s civil enforcement efforts are based on priorities set by the Secretary of Homeland Security in November 2014.

ICE Air History:

ICE routinely uses special air charters to transport aliens who have final orders of removal from an immigration judge. Staffed by ICE ERO Air Operations officers, these air charters enable the agency to repatriate large groups of deportees in an efficient, expeditious and humane manner.

Since 2006, ICE Air Operations has supported ERO by providing mass air transportation and removal coordination services to ERO field offices nationwide. Staffed by ERO officers, these air charters enable the agency to repatriate large groups of deportees in an efficient, expeditious and humane manner.

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/alleged-child-rapist-honduras-deported-ice-salt-lake-city-officers

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from ICE

Dominican national accused of child rape arrested by ICE following release from local custody

PHILADELPHIA — Officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Philadelphia arrested a national of the Dominican Republic after a nearly yearlong probe. He was released from local custody in November 2015, when a detainer lodged with Philadelphia authorities was not honored. In addition to the pending child rape charge, the man has previous convictions for manufacturing/distributing a controlled dangerous substance, resisting arrest/eluding an officer, and theft by unlawful taking.

Winston Enrique Perez Pilarte aka Josue Duran-Cortes, 40, was arrested and charged by the Philadelphia Police Department with attempted rape, unlawful sexual contact with a minor, aggravated indecent assault, unlawful restraint, endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minors, indecent assault, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. These charges are currently pending in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County.

After confirming his identity using biometric data, an ICE detainer was lodged against Perez Pilarte while he was detained at the Philadelphia Curran Fromhold Correctional Facility in July 2015. On Nov. 25, 2015, Perez Pilarte was released from local custody without being turned over on the ICE detainer.

An active investigation by ERO, led to the arrest of Perez Pilarte in September 2016. He is currently in ICE custody awaiting a hearing in immigration court.

"Our deportation officers will use every available resource at our disposal to find and arrest these alleged predators," said Tom Decker, ERO Philadelphia field office director. "However, one of our best resources to keep these dangerous criminals off of our streets and from committing more crimes is for the Mayor to honor our detainers and requests for notification. ICE is hopeful that the Mayor will work with us to keep our community safe."
In fiscal year 2015, ICE removed or returned 235,413 individuals. Of this total, 165,935 were apprehended while, or shortly after, attempting to illegally enter the United States. The remaining 69,478 were apprehended in the interior of the United States, and the vast majority were convicted criminals who fell within ICE's civil immigration enforcement priorities.

98 percent of ICE's fiscal 2015 removals and returns fell into one or more of ICE's civil immigration enforcement priorities, with 86 percent falling in Priority 1, and 8 percent in Priority 2. In addition, ICE's interior enforcement activities led to an increase in the percentage of interior removals that were convicted criminals, growing from 82 percent in fiscal 2013 to 91 percent in 2015.

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/dominican-national-accused-child-rape-arrested-ice-following-release-local-custody

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from ICE

Florida man sentenced to 350 years for child pornography charges

ORLANDO, Fla. – A Florida man was sentenced Monday to 350 years in federal prison for nine counts of producing child pornography, three counts of receiving child pornograph and one count of possessing child pornography following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Cocoa Beach office and the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, on nine separate occasions, between October 2014 and March 2015, Joshua Adam Tatro, 24, of Merritt Island, produced images and videos depicting him sexually abusing a three-year-old child. He also used a messaging app on his phone to send and receive images depicting child pornography and uploaded images of child pornography onto an online account that he maintained. Law enforcement began investigating Tatro after they learned of his online activity from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

“This predator will spend the rest of his life behind bars where he can no longer harm children,” said Susan L. McCormick, special agent in charge of HSI Tampa. “The dedicated work of HSI special agents and our Brevard County Sheriff’s Office partners have made our communities a safer place.”
On March 17, 2015, agents from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at Tatro’s residence. During the execution of the warrant cell phones were recovered from Tatro’s pocket and his bedroom. A forensic examination of those phones led to the recovery of the explicit images and videos that Tatro had produced. During an interview with agents, Tatro admitted to producing the images and videos, and to sending them to others using the messenger app.

In total, Tatro possessed 76 videos and 692 photographs of child pornography on his cell phones. A search of his online drive account revealed more than 1,000 stored images of child pornography. Several of the images in Tatro’s possession depicted children under the age of 12 being sexually abused and exploited. Tatro was found guilty at trial July 6.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Andrew C. Searle, with the office of U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III, Middle District of Florida.

This investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 14,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2015, nearly 2,400 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/florida-man-sentenced-350-years-child-pornography-charges