Turkey

Manhunt underway after massacre at Istanbul nightclub, officials say

by Erin Cunninghan and Kareem Fahim

ISTANBUL — Turkish authorities on Sunday were hunting for the lone gunman who opened fire on a New Year's celebration at one of Istanbul's most popular nightclubs, killing dozens of people, including a number of foreigners, and wounding scores more in what officials have called an act of terrorism.

At least 39 people were killed, and another 70 people wounded, in the latest in a string of attacks that has shaken Turkey as it faces an array of threats both at home and as a result of the ongoing civil war in Syria.

Early Sunday, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the attack at the Reina Club, which began with a spray of gunfire around 1 a.m., was carried out by a single assailant, who has not yet been identified. Speaking to reporters outside an Istanbul hospital, Soylu said the attacker changed clothes in order to escape the scene.

“Our security forces have started the necessary operations,” Soylu said, calling the attack “a massacre.”

Authorities identified 20 of the victims, Soylu said, adding that at least 15 of those killed are foreign nationals. Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency, quoting Family Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya, reported that citizens of Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Lebanon, and Libya were among those killed. Israel's Foreign Ministry on Sunday confirmed that an Israeli woman, 19-year-old Leanne Nasser, was killed in the attack. Her friend, 18-year-old Ruaa Mansour, was injured, according to Israeli media reports.

Three Lebanese citizens were wounded, including the daughter of a member of parliament, the Associated Press reported, quoting Lebanon's Foreign Ministry. Another five victims are Turkish citizens, including nightclub employees, Soylu said.

Witnesses and officials described at least one gunman storming the club with a long-barreled rifle, and stampedes of panicked patrons scrambling for cover at the waterside. The sprawling and cosmopolitan venue, perched on the Bosphorus strait, is popular with Istanbul's elite, including artists, singers and soccer stars. That the victims included many foreigners speaks to the club's reputation among expats and international clientele.

The assault began when a gunman shot and killed a police officer who was guarding the door, according to Istanbul Mayor Vasip Sahin, who spoke to reporters in front of the club about two hours after the shooting. After killing the policeman, the gunman “brutally and violently attacked innocent people who came here to enjoy themselves,” Sahin said.

Sefa Boydas, a professional soccer player who was at the club, described the scene on Twitter . He said he did not see who was shooting but that the attack happened quickly. Police arrived soon after, he said, and he carried his girlfriend, who was wearing high heels, out of the club to safety.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erodgan condemned the attack in a statement Sunday, saying the perpetrators sought to “create chaos” in Turkey, and that the nation was “determined to do whatever is necessary in the region to ensure its citizens safety and peace.” The statement was posted on the presidency's official website.

The U.S. Embassy issued a statement Sunday denying reports that the U.S. government had information about threats to specific venues, including Reina. The nightclub's owner, Mehmet Kocarslan, had told the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet that there had been increased security at the club for a week or more, because of warnings from "American intelligence."

"The U.S. Government did not warn Americans to stay away from specific venues or neighborhoods," the statement said.

Turkey's top cleric and head of the government's presidency for religious affairs, Prof. Mehmet Gormuz, also condemned the shootings Sunday, saying such an attack would be just as heinous if it took place in a mosque.

"The targets of terrorists are not places but the people, the country, the nation, and humanity overall," Gormuz said in a statement distributed by the prime minister's office. Such an attack, he said, "no Muslim conscience can accept."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting. The mass killing at the nightclub was at least the fourth major attack in Turkey in less than a month, raising questions about the ability of the government, a NATO member and critical regional ally of the United States, to counter threats stemming from the war across Turkey's border in Syria, as well as an escalating conflict with Kurdish militants inside Turkey.

At least one of the recent assaults — a suicide bombing at a soccer stadium in central Istanbul — was claimed by a Kurdish militant group. Authorities are still investigating who might have planned other attacks, including the Dec. 19 assassination of Russia's ambassador to Turkey, by a police officer who denounced the carnage in Syria's civil war.

Turkey recently took a central role in trying to halt the hostilities in Syria, in coordination with Russia, which is allied with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. A recent cease-fire announced by Turkey and Russia was endorsed by several Syrian rebel groups, but it did not include others, including radical Islamist groups that might seek to retaliate against Erdogan's government because of its cooperation with Russia.

The attacks have come despite a widening security dragnet by authorities and a broad crackdown by the government on those officials have branded as terrorists.

Ned Price, a White House National Security Council spokesman, released a statement condemning the attack. “That such an atrocity could be perpetrated upon innocent revelers, many of whom were celebrating New Year's Eve, underscores the savagery of the attackers,” the statement said.

President Obama was briefed on the assault and has “directed his team to offer appropriate assistance to the Turkish authorities,” said Eric Schultz, White House deputy press secretary .

At the time of the attack early Sunday, according to local media, hundreds of people were inside the club. Patrons reportedly jumped into the water to escape the gunfire, and dozens of ambulances could be heard heading in the direction of the club in Istanbul's Ortakoy district.

“We were there, we were having fun, when all of a sudden people started running,” club patron Sinem Uyanik, told Hurriyet. Uyanik was waiting outside a hospital, where her husband, who had also been at the club, was being treated for gunshot wounds.

“It was so horrible. It smelled like gunpowder,” Uyanik said. At some point, she fainted, and then “woke up and saw my husband covered in blood,” she told the paper.

“So many people were covered in blood,” she said.

Security forces later stormed the nightclub, Uyanik said. Police in riot gear and armored vehicles blocked the area around the venue, the Associated Press reported. Photos published by the state-run Anadolu news agency showed ambulances lined up outside the building.

Turkish authorities issued a temporary gag order on reporting from the scene of the nightclub. The order also barred media outlets from publishing any information on potential suspects, unless released through official statements.

Such bans are frequent in Turkey, where the government has embarked on a far-reaching crackdown on the news media. Still, images of the carnage circulated on social media early Sunday.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/turkish-manhunt-underway-after-massacre-at-istanbul-nightclub-officials-say/2017/01/01/513673ee-d003-11e6-b8a2-8c2a61b0436f_story.html?utm_term=.1940de61a2e2

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Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania State Trooper killed; suspect later shot

by Julie Shaw, Chris Mondics, and Jessica Parks

The domestic call came from Sherry Robison's house on Bakers Hollow Road in rural Juniata Township - from someone reporting her son had violated a protection from abuse order.

State Trooper Landon Weaver, 23, went alone to investigate. There, he met purple-haired Jason Michael Robison, 32, who just a week before Christmas had posted on Facebook, "F- THE POLICE!!! The only good cop is a dead cop."

About 6:30 p.m. Friday, gunfire from within the house ripped the cold night air.

Weaver, a rookie trooper, a newlywed, and a dean's list criminology major, was fatally wounded. He became the 97th Pennsylvania state trooper to be killed in action since the department's inception in 1905.

Fellow troopers rushed to the house "and tactically removed" Weaver, Capt. David Cain said at a news conference Saturday afternoon. "Tragically, Trooper Weaver succumbed to his wounds," said Cain, the Troop G commanding officer.

He said officers didn't know for some time whether Robison was still in his mother's home after the shooting.

An all-night manhunt mobilized with nearly 100 troopers, FBI agents, and other law enforcement officers scouring areas near the popular Raystown Lake vacation area of Huntingdon County, near Altoona, posting roadblocks and searching residences.

A late-night advisory described Robison as armed, dangerous, and having "purple hair." A photograph showed a thin-faced man, scruffy and unshaven.

Troopers found Robison after daybreak, armed and holed up in an unoccupied mobile home.

The Hesston man, who had had numerous scrapes with the law, was shot and killed by troopers about 10 a.m. State police said he had threatened the officers and refused demands to surrender.

"When confronted by the troopers, the armed suspect failed to obey commands and made an overt threat toward the troopers," Cain said. "Faced with a deadly situation, troopers were forced to discharge their weapons, resulting in the suspect being fatally wounded."

The mobile home was near the house of Robison's mother, where Weaver had been shot about 16 hours earlier.

State Police reported on Facebook and Twitter that they had found and killed Robison.

The unidentified officers involved in shooting Robison will be routinely placed on administrative leave during the investigation, Cain said.

He was asked whether Robison had shot at anyone Saturday before he was killed. "He killed one of my troopers yesterday," Cain replied. The suspect, Cain said later, had not fired at anyone Saturday.

Weaver had joined the state police on Dec. 14, 2015. On its Facebook page, State Police posted a photograph of him in uniform with the note "End of Watch: Dec. 30, 2016."

Weaver, raised in the tiny south-central Pennsylvania town of East Freedom, graduated from the state police academy in June. He was a 2012 graduate of Central High School in Martinsburg, Blair County. He and his high school sweetheart, Macy Gottshall, were married in June.

The two were pictured, arm-in-arm in cap and gown, at their high school graduation ceremony in a school district newsletter.

On his Facebook timeline, Weaver listed several jobs, including as a night supervisor at Kmart, which he left to join the Pennsylvania State Police.

He studied at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, majoring in criminology.

Condolences poured in through Facebook and other social media sites as word spread of Weaver's killing. Pennlive.com reported firefighters and police officers around the state hoisting American flags in Weaver's honor from highway overpasses.

Cain would not say why Weaver responded by himself to the Robison address, which he said was being investigated.

And Cain would not answer questions about who else may have been at the Robison home when Weaver answered the call complaining of a protection-from-abuse violation. He also would not say who had originally obtained the PFA order. That would be revealed in "due time," Cain said.

Weaver "was interviewing the suspect inside the residence when the suspect gained access to a firearm" and shot him, Cain said. The State Police captain said it has not been determined who owned the firearm. He did not describe the weapon.

Huntingdon County court records online show that Robison had been arrested Dec. 6 on charges stemming from Oct. 27, including theft, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, and driving without a license. He also faced April 4 charges of unlawful restraint, simple assault, and harassment.

In June 2014, he pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of a controlled substance and served jail time. In 2012, he pleaded guilty to simple assault and spent time in jail.

Robison vented his feelings toward police on his Facebook page, but those comments - including the Dec. 17 "dead cop" post - appeared to have been deleted Saturday afternoon.

Gov. Wolf offered condolences to Weaver's family, saying the officer "will always be remembered for his bravery, his sacrifice, and his willingness to serve."

Pennsylvania State Troopers Association president Joseph R. Kovel called Weaver "a brave hero who will forever be remembered for his ultimate sacrifice."

The Robison manhunt evoked memories of the 2014 search for suspect Eric Frein in the shooting of two state troopers. Frein is charged with killing Cpl. Bryon Dickson II and wounding another trooper outside the Blooming Grove barracks in September 2014. He led police on a 48-day manhunt before U.S. marshals found him about 30 miles from the shooting scene. Jury selection is slated in March in Chester County for a panel to be bused to Pike County for Frein's trial, according to the Associated Press.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20170101_Trooper_killed__suspect_later_shot.html

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Illinois

762 murdered in Chicago in 2016

by Laura Podesta

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago police have released crime statistics from 2016, with a police spokesman calling it an "unacceptable rise in violence."

In the worst violence in nearly 20 years, Chicago saw 762 murders, 3,550 shooting incidents and 4,331 shooting victims.

On Saturday, more than 700 crosses were carried down Michigan Avenue, led by Father Michael Pfleger. They represented each life lost due to violence in the city of Chicago in 2016.

The crosses were handmade by a man named George Zanis, who has been building memorials, in Aurora, for mass shootings like Newtown and Orlando.

Police are blaming the vast majority of the violence on gangs and illegal guns on the streets. They took 8,300 guns off the streets in 2016, which police said is a 20 percent increase from 2015.

http://abc7chicago.com/news/762-murdered-in-chicago-in-2016/1681356/

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Illinois

CPD begins 2017 initiatives to reduce violence

by The Sun-Times Wire

After a violent year, the Chicago Police Department announces plans for several initiatives beginning in 2017.

In 2016, five police districts on the South and West sides of the city accounted for the 65 percent increase in murders, according to a statement from Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. The majority of violence was not random, more than 80 percent of shooting victims were identified by police as likely to be involved in gun violence. This year, attacks on officers nearly doubled which falls in line with statistics from the rest of the country.

Five districts on the North and Northwest sides saw declines in murder or remained the same, police said. Officers were able to recover about 8,300 guns, which was a 20 percent increase from 2015.

Some of the initiatives in 2017 focus on hiring additional officers, funding economic growth and providing support for young men in violent neighborhoods, police said. By the end of the year nearly 1,000 more beat officers, detectives, lieutenants, sergeants, field training officers and more will be working for the police department. The mayor will invest in mentoring programs for men in the 20 most violent neighborhoods and offer incentives for commercial retail and industrial developers. The mayor will also financially support the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund and the Community Catalyst Fund, police said.

Another important focus will be working with state legislators on a bill that would increase sentencing for repeat gun offenders which is a “key factor” in reducing Chicago's violence, police said. Police hope by creating a culture of accountability people might be deterred from violence. They are also working with the States Attorney's office to strengthen how gun cases are investigated and prosecuted.

In the coming year, Chicago Police will emphasize technology, training and transparency in the department, police said. By the end of the year, officers from all districts will wear body cameras. Gunshot detection systems are set to be expanded in District 7 and 11. In this same area, more than 44 street cameras were installed this past year.

More than 2,400 officers were trained in crisis intervention and learned skills to best help people with mental illness or in trauma and crisis situations, police said. As a result, CIT trained officers were able to respond to 13,258 incidents through October 2016.

For the first time, a revised use of force policy focused on the sanctity of life and was released for public comment, police said. The Community Policing Advisory Panel was a strategic effort to increase community-based policing and gain the trust residents. A few months into 2017, CPAP will make recommendations for a revised community policing strategy.

“The violence in 2016 was driven by emboldened offenders who acted without a fear of penalty from the criminal justice system,” said Supt. Eddie Johnson. “The challenge we face as a city is serious, and like other cities it is significant. We will be adding to our police department, we are committed to partnering with residents, we will benefit from the investments being made by the Mayor, and if we come together and work together I know we can turn the tide in 2017.”

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/cpd-begins-2017-initiatives-to-reduce-violence/

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Texas

DWI cop's mission: To help others avoid her pain

In 1995, Officer Stacie Brown's sister was killed while driving drunk

by Naomi Martin

DALLAS — Happy hour isn't even over yet, and she's already landed one.

“Starting off with a bang,” Officer Stacie Brown says as she walks behind the Arlington police station. It's dusk on a cold Wednesday, and the sky is streaked with pink.

Brown is a cop who arrests drunken drivers, and the holiday season is her busiest time of year. This time, Brown didn't have to scour the highways looking for an intoxicated driver. One came to her.

Well, other cops brought him to her. They said he'd led them on a high-speed chase through a neighborhood before he crashed and fought the officers. His three kids were in the car; one had a huge knot on his head.

“Hi,” Brown says as she approaches the slumped, handcuffed man in the backseat of the squad car. He's young and tattooed all over his arms and neck. He answers her questions in quiet gasps, heaving and shaking.

What were you doing when you got pulled over?

Going to buy meth.

Why did you run?

Panicked.

“I appreciate you being honest,” Brown says.

She talks to the man with respect, no condescension. It's not just a tactic to gain cooperation — though it does work. Brown genuinely does not judge the people she arrests.

She knows many of them are good people who just made a bad decision. She knows this all too well.

———

Brown is 45. Twenty years ago, she was teaching special education and coaching track at Sam Houston High School in Arlington. It was another life, another time.

Around 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 14, 1995, Brown was watching “ER” when she got a phone call that her 28-year-old sister, Shelli Lacy, had been in a car accident. She was dying.

The driver at fault was intoxicated.

The driver at fault was her sister.

“She's the bad guy we all talk about, right?” Brown said. “That, I had a hard time with.”

After her sister's death, Brown went into a deep depression. She'd lost not just her big sis, but her best friend. It was the most painful thing in her life. Still is.

She realized she needed to do something to prevent other families from having to go through the same thing. She joined the Arlington police force in 2005, and was picked for the driving while intoxicated unit two years later. She'd found her purpose.

Since then, she's arrested hundreds of people. Most of them get mad, call her names. She has to remind herself that's just the alcohol or drugs talking.

“This is not the worst thing that could happen to you — be glad you weren't killed,” she often tells them. It doesn't always go over well.

But some people do thank her.

———

Nationwide, drunken driving deaths have fallen by more than half since 1982. But it remains a stubborn problem in Texas, where the rate of drunken driving fatalities per capita is nearly double the national average, according to the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility.

In Texas last year, 960 people died in DWI-related crashes, state records show. Thirty-seven of those deaths were in Tarrant County, and 83 were in Dallas County.

Brown wants to make a bigger dent in those numbers. She knows her arrests help, but she tries to focus on prevention, too.

She speaks often at high schools, driver's ed courses and court-ordered classes for DWI offenders, sharing her experience as a victim's sister and as a cop. She shows the audience pictures of smashed cars and explains: Not one of these drivers expected to die that night. This could be you.

“They pay attention to her because she comes from both sides,” said Terri Peaks, of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. “Her goal is to save lives. She's doing that in a number of ways, and we all benefit from it.”

The department now lets Brown spend most of her shifts at speaking engagements. She has given 140 presentations this year.

“That wasn't in our job description, and she made it part of her job description,” said Brown's partner, Officer Brendan Banks. “As officers, our experiences are what help us be really good or not — and that's what makes her great at what she does.”

Brown and her husband, Allen, a dog trainer, raised her sister's daughters, who were 9 and 1 when their mom died. They never had kids of their own, but they go on adventures together around the world, even scuba diving with sharks. They adopted and rehabbed Saint, a malnourished dog they saw on TV, who had been tied to a tree and shot with a pellet gun.

Brown has also led the “Santa Cop” program, which gives donated gifts to hundreds of poor kids at Christmastime.

“If I could sum Stacie up in one word,” Banks said, “she's selfless.”

———

Outside the police station, Brown glides a black pen from one side of the tattooed man's face to the other, telling him to watch it without moving his head. As she pauses on each side, the man's pupils bounce slightly back toward the middle.

That involuntary jerking is indicative of being on alcohol or drugs, Brown later says.

The man denies doing any drugs today — though he admits to doing meth yesterday. Brown thinks he's lying.

Still, she remains respectful.

“They said you were combative out there, but you're being really nice to me,” she tells him, taking his handcuffs off.

He needs his arms free to balance for the next sobriety tests. Walking foot to foot down a straight line. Balancing on one foot while counting. He fails both.

Brown tells him she thinks he's intoxicated and she needs a sample of his blood. He can either allow a nurse to take his blood, or she can secure a judge's warrant and force him.

“Are you willing to give a specimen of blood?” she asks.

“Yes,” he mumbles.

“I appreciate that,” Brown says.

They head to the hospital.

“I get cooperation because I treat them like a human being,” Brown says as she drives. “I arrest a lot of really nice people. He's got an addiction. It's sad because it's affecting the kids.”

———

At work, Brown tries not to dwell on her sister. She keeps a photo of her in her back pocket at all times, but on her cubicle wall, it's her nieces and husband who smile down as she types reports.

There are times, though, when she can't help but be reminded of Shelli. Last November, Brown and Banks had just left a MADD event when they were dispatched to investigate a bad wreck. A 25-year-old mother had driven into a telephone pole, injuring four of her kids.

They headed for the hospital to test the woman's sobriety. They determined that Valencia Freeman was drunk. (She would later plead guilty.) A doctor told the cops that the woman's 5-year-old daughter had died in a nearby room.

The officers looked at each other and knew what they had to do. It was unorthodox and definitely not department policy, but they decided to allow their suspect to say goodbye to her daughter.

“She's already getting cold,” Freeman had sobbed as she hugged her daughter.

The scene stuck with Brown. Brown had that same thought when she'd raced to her sister's side in the hospital. That's when she realized that “when the spirit's gone, the body changes.”

Brown felt sympathy for the mother, despite being angry about what she had done. Banks cried too, thinking about his five children at home.

Then they took the woman to jail.

———

At Medical Center Arlington, a nurse pierces the suspect's arm and fills a syringe with his blood. If it tests positive for drugs, the evidence will later be used against him in court.

Swallowing back tears, the suspect — Christopher Tafolla, 26 — asks Brown what charges he'll face.
She ticks them off: Evading arrest. DWI with a child in the car. Endangering a child. Possession of cocaine.

“How bad is DWI with a child?” he asks.

“It's a state jail felony,” she says.

He knows he's likely to be locked up for a long time for violating parole. His life as a free man, for now, is over.

But the way Brown sees it, his arrest actually gave him a chance to live. In fact, she wishes the cops had stopped her sister that night, before her crash.

At least she'd still be alive.

https://www.policeone.com/patrol-issues/articles/252645006-DWI-cops-mission-To-help-others-avoid-her-pain/

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Connecticut

New Haven homicides and shooting down in 2016; community policing credited with other programs

by Juliemar Ortiz

NEW HAVEN >> As 2017 begins, statistics on last year's shootings continue to show that crime has been decreasing in New Haven since 2011 and Assistant Chief of Police Archie Generoso said it's a result of community policing efforts.

“The difference is how we police here now, we're doubling our community policing efforts, we're working with all our partners to keep crime down and it's working,” Generoso said.

The numbers of homicides, non-fatal shootings, and shots fired have been consistently lower since 2011. Generoso said the real indicator of violence is not homicides, it's total shootings and shots fired. Records show,that between 2003 and 2012, the city we averaged 126 total shootings a year. The average from 2013 to 2016 was 63.

“That's half,” Generoso said. “We've been able to cut that in half.”

Records of shots fired only go back to 2011. That year there were around 450 “shots fired” complaints, which includes using technology to detect them. Since then, the New Haven Police Department has expanded its Shotspotter program, which uses audio sensors and triangulation to determine the location of gunfire. Earlier in 2016, the city increased its Shotspotter coverage area by three times, placing the technology in neighborhoods with the highest number of such crimes. Even with that expansion, the number of reported shots fired only went up to an average of 150.

“We're keeping the level of violence down, there's a consistency in that, we're showing now, we have a 4-year stat showing that,” Generoso said.

Programs such Project Longevity, daily intelligence meetings, CompStat, and other community policing efforts are all part of the formula that helped New Haven go from having 34 homicides in 2011, to 13 in 2016. There were 15 homicides in the city in 2015 and 13 homicides in 2014.

Project Longevity features customized notifications, which is when Project Manager Stacy R. Spell and other community members visit the homes of teens who are at risk of being victims or perpetrators of a violent crime. The program aims to work with individuals identified as being in gangs or groups who are in danger of being perpetrators or victims of violence. They are invited to a “call in,” a sort of intervention, where services are offered as incentives not to engage in gun-related violence, including help with getting high school diplomas, driver's licenses and housing assistance.

According to a 2015 study by Yale University sociologists. Project Longevity has had a positive impact in reducing shootings and homicides in New Haven.

“So it's no mistake that our first call in was in 2012,” Generoso said.

Police Lt. Herb Johnson said he is very proud about the numbers this year and looks forward to reducing crime even more in 2017.

“It doesn't happen with just us, it's a great collaborative effort. When all the wheels are turning together that's when we strive, and with the community as well,” Johnson said. “I'm looking forward to the new year, we're going to have some changes, we got a lot of work to continue to do year, but we have great young talent here.”

In addition to preventative measures, the Police Department also continues to aggressively investigate shootings and homicides, both to seek justice and bring closure to grieving families.

Of the 13 homicides in New Haven this year, 10 were victims of shootings and 12 were under the age of 36. Two victims were stabbed, and one was strangled. There were arrests made in two of the cases and the others remain open investigations.

The 2016 victims included:

Jan. 1: Chamar Suggs, 34

New Haven police were dispatched to the 300 block of Winthrop Avenue at 2 p.m. on New Year's Day after a caller to 911 reported a stabbing. Upon arrival, officers learned from firefighters that Chamar Suggs, 34, of New Haven, was suffering from a stab wound to the abdomen and had no pulse.

Suggs was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital where he underwent surgery. He was removed from life support on Jan. 7 and died as a result of the assault.

A 17-year-old Hamden teen, Levon Player Jr., who claimed he acted in self-defense, was charged in Suggs' killing with murder and first-degree manslaughter after turning himself in to New Haven police. A Superior Court jury found Player not guilty in October.

March 4: Brent Bennett, 25

Brent D. Bennett, 25, of West Haven was rushed to Yale New Haven Hospital after detectives found him in a car on State Street suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest late on March 4. Bennett was pronounced dead at the hospital at 9:55 p.m. He was a father of two young children. There have been no arrests made in his homicide and police continue to investigate the case.

April 7: Robert Richardson, 22

Police continue to investigate the death of Robert Richardson, 22, of New Haven, who was rushed to the Yale New Haven Hospital after emergency crews found him with a gunshot wound to the back of his head. Richardson, who lived on State Street, died at the hospital shortly before 2 a.m. on April 7. He attended school in the New Haven School District and graduated from James Hillhouse High School. Police said an SUV was spotted leaving the scene with its headlights off at about the time the shots rang out. There have been no arrests made in this homicide.

April 22: Tysean Johnson, 25

Police discovered Tysean Johnson's body inside a running vehicle April 22 on Huntington Street. He had suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Johnson was a born in New Haven and was 25 at the time of his death. According to his obituary, he loved to play basketball, video games, rap music and was a lover of sneakers. This investigation is ongoing.

May 19: Kwasiada L. Robinson, 22

Relatives found Kwasiada L. Robinson, 22, strangled in her apartment at 7 Daisy St. on May 19. That same day, Robinson's partner, Jerome Reddick, 38, of Ellsworth Avenue, was found hanged from a tree in St. Bernard Cemetery. Police believe Reddick committed suicide and was a suspect in Robinson's death. Police said the two had been involved in a “turbulent relationship,” and had lived together for several years. Reddick had been sought on a 2014 arrest warrant on second-degree domestic assault charges involving Robinson at the time of his death.

July 23: Daryl Wayne Belton, 22

Daryl Wayne Belton was found in the street between on Kensington Street between Chapel Street and Edgewood Avenue with a single gunshot wound to the back on July 23. A ShotSpotter alert at about 1:30 a.m. had brought police to the area where they found the victim. Belton, who lived on Garden Street, was rushed to Yale New Haven Hospital by ambulance but was pronounced dead within the hour. Witnesses told police that Belton was with others when he was hit but none of Belton's companions stayed at the scene. There have been no arrests made in his homicide and police continue to investigate the case.

Aug. 7: James Edward Foley, 50

Police were called to 195 Saltonstall Ave. just after 5:30 a.m. on Aug. 7 on a report that someone in the residence had been stabbed. James Edward Foley, who lived on State Street, was transported to Yale New Haven Hospital, where he died a few hours later from multiple stab wounds to his chest and upper body. Carlos Berrios, 42, of Filmore Street was arrested the next day and charged with the slaying. Police believed Berrios was the boyfriend of Foley's estranged wife, who lived in the apartment where the stabbing took place. The case is still pending and Berrios's next court date is Jan. 9.

Aug. 30: Tyree McCrea, 36, and Dyshant Levi Mclean, 25

Police believe two men were targeted in a double shooting on Dewitt Street that claimed the lives of Tyree McCaray, 36 and Dyshant McClean, 25 on Aug. 30. Mclean, of Dixwell Avenue, Hamden, was already dead when police arrived on scene after being shot multiple times in the chest, just like McCrea. McCrea was rushed to Yale New Haven Hospital, where he died about an hour later.

McCrea, who lived on West Street, was remembered as a loving husband and father of five. He had been looking forward to the first day of school that week for his children and had been excited about the start of his son's upcoming football season. McCrea's sister decried the city's gun violence and said asked anyone with information to come forward.

There have been no arrests made in his homicide and police continue to investigate the case.

Sept. 21: Levern Bellamy, 31

Police were dispatched at about 10 p.m. on Sept. 21 on a report that someone had been shot in Newhallville. They found Levern Bellamy, 31, in the rear yard of the light-blue house on Dorman Street. He was rushed to Yale New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Bellamy lived on Dorman Street, a small street between Sherman Parkway and Dixwell Avenue. Police continue to investigate this homicide.

Oct. 18: Muhanad Jawad, 21

A 21-year-old New Haven man fatally shot at his own store on Ferry Street one fall afternoon. Muhanad “Momo” Jawad was the owner of E&M Smoke Shop at 545 Ferry St., where he was shot and killed just before 2 p.m. on Oct. 18. Police said evidence and surveillance suggests Jawad was targeted. Jawad had several pending criminal cases, including firearm theft, assault on a police officer and charges he was dealing drugs.

Outside the convenience store on the night of his death, those who knew Jawad said he was well-spoken, a faithful worker and “a great guy.” Many were shocked to hear of the shooting and said it usually is a quiet neighborhood. The case remains under investigation.

Nov. 24: Dyrail Martaye Reddick, 30

Dyrail Martaye Reddick, 30, was found suffering from a gunshot wound in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Cherry Ann Street in New Haven around 3:12 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Reddick was rushed to Yale New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced dead soon after. Investigators suspected the shooting took place following a dispute in that parking lot. The investigation is ongoing.

Dec. 5: Dontray D. Hammond, 22

Dontray D. Hammond, 22, was found at the basketball court behind 24 Victory Drive with a gunshot wound to his head on Dec. 5. Emergency crews were dispatched to the basketball court at about 2:40 p.m. Hammond had died at the scene. Hammond was found about a mile from his home on Plant Street, which is off Fountain Street in the Amity section of the city. Hammond was known as “Millie Tray” by his friends. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, he moved to New Haven four years ago with mother.

Anyone who has information related to these homicide investigation is urged to call New Haven Police detectives at 203-946-6304. Calls may be made anonymously.

http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20161231/new-haven-homicides-and-shooting-down-in-2016-community-policing-credited-with-other-programs

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Florida

Opinion

‘Stop and frisk,' no; community policing, yes

by Rick Christie

It's never pretty when a politician becomes noticeably frustrated about something.

Though well-meaning, they tend to react by saying and doing things they later come to regret. That is, if they have a political conscience.

That was the case last week with Riviera Beach Mayor Thomas Masters — maybe, all except for the political conscience part.

Desperate times? That had to be what the five-term mayor was thinking as he hastily rolled out proposals on Monday and Tuesday to curb the long-running issue of gun violence in his city by the sea.

How else to explain the mayor's seeming to propose violating people's civil rights to solve this problem.

“If I had it my way, I'd stop everything moving,” he said in a news conference Monday, and repeated again Tuesday. He warned youth, in particular, “You never know when you might be stopped and searched.”

Say what? Here's where the mayor didn't quite think things through. Because “stopped and searched” sounds disturbingly like “stop and frisk,” a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. You know, the one that among other things, protects citizens from illegal search and seizure.

Taking Masters at his word, one would believe that a “suspicious-looking” young man or woman driving — or even walking — into Riviera Beach could be arbitrarily stopped by a law enforcement officer and searched.

That sends off “racial profiling” alarm bells, as this is the same type of police action that civil rights and community advocates — like Masters — have been fighting against for decades when it comes to young black men.

Let me backpedal, er… clarify

The good news is that at some point this all became apparent to Masters. And early Thursday morning he backpedaled on the statement — at about the five-minute mark of an an 18½-minute Facebook Live event asking residents to pray for the community.

“I don't want you to think there will be any stopping and frisking; that's strictly unconstitutional,” he says on the video. “The rights of our young people must be protected, must be respected.”

This time, Masters got it right. A federal judge ruled in 2013 that New York City's stop-and-frisk program was unconstitutional in how it was carried out, calling it “a form of racial profiling” of black and Hispanic young men.

But at no time did Masters acknowledge that he was walking back a previous statement — which he clearly had made before TV cameras.

The mayor did say that he isn't calling for stop-and-frisk procedures along his city's borders, but is still urging police to do “everything they legally can” to curtail the city's recent string of gun violence, including implementing checkpoints.

It's a distinction without much of a difference.

Yes, Masters' frustration is as understandable as it is palpable. And it is a frustration shared by many Riviera Beach residents. Which is likely why he will be forgiven his earlier misstatement.

As City Councilwoman Dawn Pardo said at Tuesday's news conference: “The city of Riviera Beach is under siege.”

Gun violence a stubborn problem

Give the mayor credit for trying — again. He has presided over a seemingly intractable problem with regard to gun-related homicides. Particularly difficult to staunch has been the amount of gun violence involving young people in the city.

To be sure, Riviera Beach is not the only city in Palm Beach County facing this issue. West Palm Beach, just south of Riviera Beach, suffered through a horrible rash of youth gun violence in the summer of 2015. But while both cities have reduced that number this year, officials admit the problem remains.

And none has gone as far as Masters appeared willing to go last week when he proposed ramping up a slew of measures — checkpoints, curfew enforcement, a gun buy-back program.

The latter two, along with “midnight basketball” are well-known to most urban areas as ways to help control crime. But checkpoints, and being “stopped and searched,” are a whole other ballgame.

At the news conferences, Masters was largely expressing exasperation with a recent spate of shootings that left a number of young people injured and dead.

Most of the 11 people killed in Riviera Beach this year were younger than 40, a Palm Beach Post database shows. One was only 3 years of age. Three were teenagers, like 15-year-old Makayla Dennard, who was shot in the head on Dec. 23 and died Tuesday night.

She was shot in the head at the same address where three people — a 14-year-old boy, a 17-year-old girl and 25-year-old man — were shot and wounded Nov. 19.

Many of the city's shootings are connected, Masters says, and stem from “the spirit of revenge.”

The shooters primarily are young, in their teens or early 20s, Riviera Beach Police spokeswoman Rose Anne Brown said, and affiliated with groups on either side of the Riviera-West Palm Beach border.

Police track the two main groups and have interrupted some of their planned shootings, Brown said. But some, like the Dec. 23 shooting, “slipped past us,” she said.

Shots rang out in Riviera Beach again Monday because of a fight over a woman, Brown said. A 55-year-old man is critically injured.

Another way … better community policing?

But while that explains a great deal, it excuses little when it comes to trampling on folks' civil rights. Masters, in the video posted just hours after city police announced that Dennard had died, backed away from earlier sounding as though he was endorsing “stop and frisk.”

He continued, however, to push checkpoints as a legal way for police to curb gun violence in the city. He stressed that those stops will check for items such as valid driver's licenses, car registration, proof of insurance or “to make sure your lights are working … safety measures, basically.”

“It's all about protecting our children,” Masters said in the video.

As laudable a goal as that is, checkpoints — even random ones — can be a slippery slope. It invites accusations of racial profiling, as one man's “safety measure” can be another man's “harassment.”

Imagine if the white mayors of Wellington, West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach or Palm Beach Gardens proposed such a thing. The outcry of potential racial profiling would be deafening.

Better the mayor push harder for the kind of community policing where, as he said, “officers get out of their cars and walk the beat the old-time way.” Every local law enforcement agency in the country has acknowledged that building trust through stronger ties in the community makes a huge difference in not only preventing but solving violent crimes.

Asking residents to pray seven times a day, as Masters did for the first 13 minutes of the Thursday morning video, is good.

Asking them to cooperate with the police officers who are trying to protect and serve their community on a daily basis is even better.

Proposing anything that sounds even remotely like “stop and frisk,” even out of shared frustration, is not helpful.

From the FBI

A Look Back: A Small Office with a Big Mission

The FBI's World War II-Era Cover Company at Rockefeller Center

Everyone knows that the holiday season is well under way when the giant Christmas tree is lit at Rockefeller Center in New York City. What is less well known, however, is the connection between Rockefeller Center and the birth of America's civilian foreign intelligence efforts.

It was 1940 and the world had plunged into war the previous summer. Although America remained neutral at that time, it did not ignore the massive international threat, and an FBI operation—small but critical to America's response to that threat—was centered in the heart of New York City in Rockefeller Center. It was called the Importers and Exporters Service Company and operated out of room 4332 at 30 Rockefeller Center—the RCA Building—beginning in August 1940.

Importers and Exporters was the Bureau's first attempt to set up a long-term cover company for our covert program, the Special Intelligence Service (SIS). The SIS was the United States' first civilian foreign intelligence service and was less than a year old. Under a 1940 agreement signed by the Army, Navy, and FBI and approved by President Roosevelt, the FBI was given responsibility for “foreign intelligence work in the Western Hemisphere.” This saw us gathering intelligence about espionage, counterespionage, subversion, and sabotage concerns—especially about Nazi activities—pertaining to civilians in South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. We were to create an undercover force that would proactively protect America's security from threats in our international neighborhood. Given that our past success was mostly in criminal matters, taking on this task would be a steep learning experience.

To begin, we wanted to center the operation away from traditional FBI facilities and wanted to anchor it in commercial efforts, because they would provide the freedom of movement and access our agents would need. Although it is not clear why the Bureau chose to establish a presence at 30 Rock, it likely had something to do with the support that Nelson Rockefeller had provided to President Roosevelt's intelligence work. Furthermore, on multiple occasions after the SIS's creation, our personnel were afforded cover by Nelson Rockefeller's Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs.

The RCA Building placed the FBI within a hotbed of foreign activity, both allied and enemy. The Rockefellers provided space in the same building at little or no cost to British Security Coordination, an intelligence agency/liaison service. It also hosted Italian, German, and Japanese tenants until the U.S. government detained them as enemy aliens when America entered World War II. And the Soviet Union had office space in the building as well.

Of course, the sign on the door did not read “FBI/SIS—Spies Welcome.” Instead, the Importers and Exporters Service Company—which never imported or exported anything—was supposed to be completely unidentifiable with the Bureau and would provide “backstopping” or cover identities, employment, and other necessary tools for our agents to operate undercover. With these new identities, representatives of the company were to travel throughout the hemisphere to collect intelligence and help to disrupt the Axis threat.

It looked good on paper; however, the plan took an unexpected turn because Bureau personnel had to fend off daily advances from unsuspecting salesmen and other parties knocking on the door wanting to do business with the new company. The FBI ended up shutting down the Importers and Exporters business in June 1941, but we kept the office itself open until November 1945, using it to quietly handle logistics for deploying SIS personnel.

Exterior of the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center during the 1940s. (© 2015 Rockefeller Group Inc/Rockefeller Center Archives)

Although the Importers and Exporters Service Company was a short-lived enterprise, its method of operation, providing what is known as “non-official cover” in the spy business, became crucial to the SIS's intelligence activities and its subsequent successes. Learning from its Importers and Exporters experience, the Bureau—instead of maintaining one single cover company—enlisted the assistance of accommodating U.S. companies that agreed to provide cover jobs for Bureau personnel. (And in a boon for some of those companies, many of the individuals who filled these positions worked so enthusiastically that they became nearly indispensable to their cover employers.)

Room 4332 at 30 Rock and what went on there more than 70 years ago is little remembered now—the room itself doesn't even exist anymore because the floor it was located on has an open plan today. However, those who enjoy the Christmas tree and skating rink at Rockefeller Center during the holiday season might take a minute to reflect on the building's role in America's first civilian foreign intelligence service.

https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/the-fbis-world-war-ii-era-cover-company-at-rockefeller-center

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From the Department of Homeland Security

DHS Releases End of Year Fiscal Year 2016 Statistics

WASHINGTON – Today the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released its end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 statistics. These statistics reflect the Department's immigration enforcement efforts prioritizing convicted criminals and threats to public safety, border security and national security.

Overall, in FY 2016, the Department apprehended 530,250 individuals nationwide and conducted a total of 450,954 removals and returns. The U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) reported 415,816 apprehensions nationwide, compared to 337,117 in FY 2015; and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 114, 434 individuals, compared to 125,211 in FY 2015. Although apprehensions by the USBP in FY 2016 increased from FY 2015, they remain a fraction of the number of apprehensions routinely observed from the 1980s through 2008. In addition, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations (OFO) identified 274,821 inadmissible individuals at ports of entry, compared to 253,509 in FY 2015. ICE removed or returned 240,255 individuals in FY 2016, compared to 235,413 in FY 2015.

The Department continues to successfully implement the civil immigration enforcement priorities announced by Secretary Johnson in November 2014. In FY 2016, 98 percent of initial enforcement actions – a set of actions that includes USBP apprehensions, OFO determinations of inadmissibility, and ICE administrative arrests – involved individuals classified within one of the three enforcement priority categories. Ninety-one percent were among the top priority (Priority 1), which includes national security threats, individuals apprehended at the border while attempting to enter unlawfully, and the most serious categories of convicted criminals as well as gang members.

Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson made the following statement concerning the FY 2016 numbers:

The immigration statistics released in today's report reflect the continued effort by this Administration to dedicate the Department of Homeland Security's resources to smart enforcement of our nation's immigration laws, with a particular focus on public safety and border security.

We continued to strengthen the federal government's decades-long investment in border security. These investments have paid off. Apprehensions on the border in recent years – a strong indicator of total attempts to cross the border – are much lower than they used to be. In FY 2016, total apprehensions by the Border Patrol on the southwest border numbered 408,870. This represents a fraction of the number of apprehensions routinely observed from the 1980s through 2008.

In FY 2016, we continued to better focus our interior resources on removing individuals who may pose threats to public safety—specifically, convicted criminals and threats to national security. This prioritization is reflected in actual results. Overall, 98% of all initial immigration enforcement actions and over 99% of all removals and returns in FY 2016 aligned with the immigration enforcement priorities that I established in November 2014. Significantly, an increasing percentage of those deported from the interior were convicted of serious crimes – over 90% in 2016 as compared to 51% in 2009.

The information released today includes a new, consolidated Immigration Enforcement report by our Department's Office of Immigration Statistics. It is part of our effort to improve the transparency of DHS's immigration enforcement efforts by releasing the end of year statistics of CBP and ICE together rather than piecemeal. This marks the third year in a row we have done this. As my term comes to an end, I strongly encourage the next Administration to continue publishing this report and to continue to enhance the transparency of DHS's immigration enforcement efforts.

Overall Immigration Enforcement Outcomes

At every point in the immigration enforcement process, the Department has successfully implemented the enforcement priorities established by Secretary Johnson in his November 20, 2014 memorandum, Policies for the Apprehension, Detention and Removal of Undocumented Immigrants .

Immigration enforcement agents and officers initiated new enforcement actions against 805, 071 inadmissible or deportable aliens in FY 2016. These actions included 415,816 USBP apprehensions, 274,821 inadmissibility determinations by OFO, and 114,434 ICE arrests. Overall, 98 percent of these actions involved individuals who were classified within one of the Department's enforcement priority categories. Ninety-one percent of initial enforcement actions involved individuals classified within the highest-level Priority 1 categories, which include national security threats, individuals apprehended at the border while attempting to enter unlawfully, and the most serious categories of convicted criminals as well as gang members.

Subsequent enforcement actions were similarly focused on the Department's enforcement priorities. ICE placed 352,882 individuals in a civil detention facility in FY 2016, 98 percent of whom were classified within an enumerated priority category, and less than 0.3 percent who were classified as “other federal interest.” (Priority data was unavailable for 1.7 percent of aliens placed in detention.)

ICE and CBP repatriated a total of 450,954 individuals in FY 2016, which consisted of 344,354 removals and 106,600 returns. Overall, 94 percent of removals and returns were classified within a Priority 1 category, five percent were classified within a Priority 2 category ( i.e. , serious and repeat misdemeanants, individuals who unlawfully entered the United States on or after January 1, 2014, and significant abusers of the visa system or visa waiver program), and one percent were classified within a Priority 3 category (individuals issued a final order of removal on or after January 1, 2014). Less than 0.1 percent of removals and returns involved individuals classified as other federal interests, and less than 0.3 percent had unknown priority classifications.

For a comprehensive discussion of DHS-wide enforcement actions in FY 2016 please click here.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Enforcement Efforts At and Between Ports of Entry

While the total number of apprehensions by the USBP nationwide between ports of entry increased in FY 2016 from FY 2015, USBP apprehensions remain lower than both FY 2014 and FY 2013. Meanwhile, the demographics of illegal migration on our southern border have changed significantly over the last 15 years – far fewer Mexicans and single adults are attempting to cross the border without authorization, but more families and unaccompanied children are fleeing poverty and violence in Central America. In 2014, Central Americans apprehended on the southern border outnumbered Mexicans for the first time. In 2016, Central Americans again outnumbered Mexicans in apprehensions on the southern border.

In FY 2016, the USBP apprehended a total of 59,757 unaccompanied children and 77,857 family units nationwide.

CBP continues to monitor the arrival of unaccompanied children and family units from Central America and is working closely to support federal interagency efforts to manage these flows and address the underlying factors causing this migration.

Enforcement actions at ports of entry continued to yield important border security achievements. At ports of entry in FY 2016, CBP officers arrested 8,129 individuals wanted for serious crimes. Officers also stopped 274,821 inadmissible individuals from entering the United States through ports of entry, an increase of 7.6 percent from FY 2015. Depending on the circumstances, these individuals were placed in removal proceedings, allowed to voluntarily return to their country of origin, or allowed to withdraw their applications for admission into the United States. Inadmissibility grounds included those related to an inability to satisfy documentary requirements, previous immigration violations, as well as criminal and national security-related reasons.

As part of these efforts, CBP also identified 14,293 high-risk travelers who would have been found inadmissible had they traveled to the United States, and who were instead prevented from boarding flights destined for the United States. For a comprehensive breakdown of CBP's FY 2016 enforcement efforts, please click here.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Interior Border Enforcement Efforts

In FY 2016, ICE removed or returned 240,255 individuals. Of these, 174,923 removals were of individuals apprehended at or near the border or ports of entry. The remaining 65,332 were apprehended by ICE officers in the interior of the United States.

Of ICE's FY 2016 removals, 99.3 percent, or 238,466, met one or more of ICE's stated civil immigration enforcement priorities. Of the 101,586 aliens removed who had no criminal conviction, 95 percent, or 96,572, were apprehended at or near the border or ports of entry. ICE's interior enforcement activities led to an increase in the percentage of interior removals that were of convicted criminals, growing from 82 percent in FY 2013 to 92 percent in FY 2016. These numbers clearly illustrate the agency's continued commitment to focus on the removal of convicted criminals and others posing a threat to public safety in the interior of the United States.

The Department's civil immigration enforcement priorities have impacted how ICE conducts removals, as the priorities have heightened ICE's focus on the greatest threats to national security, public safety, and border security. Rather than expending limited resources on individuals who have been in this country for many years or those charged or convicted of traffic and other minor offenses, ICE instead focuses its resources on those who pose a threat to public safety and on recent unlawful entrants, consistent with the Secretary's November 20, 2014 memorandum, Policies for the Apprehension, Detention and Removal of Undocumented Immigrants .

FY 2016 was the first full year of implementation of these priorities, as they went into effect in mid-FY 2015. In FY 2016, 99.3 percent of total ICE removals and returns were of individuals that were a civil enforcement priority and 83.7 percent were of Priority 1 individuals.

Level of Cooperation from State and Local Law Enforcement Partners

A significant factor impacting removal operations has been the number of state and local law enforcement jurisdictions that have limited or declined cooperation with ICE, due to the enactment of numerous state statutes and local ordinances reducing and/or preventing cooperation with ICE, in addition to federal court decisions that created the perception of liability concerns for cooperating law enforcement agencies. Declined detainers result in convicted criminals being released back into U.S. communities with the potential to re-offend. Moreover, they draw resources away from other ICE efforts to protect public safety, by requiring ICE to expend additional resources to locate and arrest convicted criminals at-large rather than safely taking custody of such individuals in jails.

To address this problem, on November 20, 2014, Secretary Johnson announced the creation of the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP). Implemented in July 2015, PEP is designed to be flexible, allowing ICE to tailor the program to fit the needs of each jurisdiction and achieve mutual law enforcement goals. PEP improves the process of transferring individuals who pose a threat to public safety from state and local custody by enabling ICE to take custody of priority individuals without damaging trust with local communities. Throughout 2015 and 2016, DHS and ICE conducted a nationwide effort to implement PEP and promote collaboration, reaching out to thousands of local law enforcement agencies and government officials. Because of these efforts, 21 of the top 25 jurisdictions with the largest number of previously declined detainers agreed to participate in PEP.

Increased CBP Apprehensions

ICE supports border security efforts by detaining and removing certain individuals arrested by CBP; historically, a significant number of ICE's removals have been of individuals that CBP apprehended at the border. In FY 2016, the total number of USBP apprehensions was approximately 415,816, an increase of 23 percent from FY 2015. This in turn resulted in a 26 percent increase in FY 2016 ICE intakes resulting from CBP apprehensions, from 193,951 intakes from CBP to ICE in FY 2015 to 244,510 such intakes in FY 2016.

Changing Migrant Demographics

Changing migrant demographics also impacted ICE removal operations in FY 2016, as illegal entries by Mexicans continued to decrease while illegal entries by Central Americans continued to increase. More time, personnel resources, detention capacity, and funding are required to complete the removal process for individuals from non-contiguous countries, as compared to Mexican nationals apprehended at the border, because removals of non-Mexican nationals require ICE to secure travel documents from the host country and to arrange air transportation. Perhaps most significantly, many Central American nationals, including family units and unaccompanied minors, are asserting claims of credible or reasonable fear of persecution. Such cases require additional adjudication, and therefore, take significantly longer to process.

For a comprehensive breakdown of ICE's FY 2016 removal numbers, please see the FY 2016 report here.

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2016/12/30/dhs-releases-end-year-fiscal-year-2016-statistics

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From ICE

New enforcement effort targets dangerous electronics

WASHINGTON – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) – with support from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) – have launched an initiative targeting the illegal importation and distribution of counterfeit consumer electronics known to present health and safety hazards by overheating, igniting, and causing severe injuries and extensive property damage.

The operation, named “Surge Protector”, will focus on electronics vulnerable to counterfeiting, including phony digital media devices, power adapters and consumer technology powered by lithium ion batteries. Counterfeit electronics are routinely the second most seized commodity during the course of intellectual property enforcement conducted by ICE and CBP. From Fiscal Year 2013 to FY 2015, homeland security personnel made over 17,000 seizures related to counterfeit consumer electronics, and the new effort will provide additional resources to agents and allow investigators to more effectively track arrests, indictments and convictions surrounding the illicit sale of these items.

“Our collaboration with industry and external law-enforcement agencies has revealed that counterfeit electronics are a serious threat to public safety on par with fake pharmaceuticals and bogus automotive parts,” said ICE – Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Executive Associate Director Peter Edge. “We are committed to conducting aggressive investigations and targeting individuals who would violate consumer trust by recklessly selling dangerous imitation products.”

Operation Surge Protector is being coordinated by the ICE-led National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center), which houses both the FBI and HSI intellectual property units. HSI's IP section has been active in the area of counterfeit consumer electronics by providing support to agents investigating organized fraud and counterfeiting schemes targeting multinational technology companies. There are several dozen active investigations into the illegal sale of fake consumer electronics, as well as multiple pending federal criminal prosecutions brought by DOJ.

“The malfunction or failure of counterfeit consumer electronics could have dangerous consequences to U.S. consumers,” said Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of DOJ's Criminal Division. “The Justice Department will continue to prosecute traffickers and manufacturers of these counterfeit electronics who choose profit over public health and safety.”

In FY 2016, CBP seized nearly 108,000 hoverboards worth an estimated $46.4 million at 54 different ports of entry for copyright violations, and recent increased enforcement actions focused on fake electronics resulted in hundreds of seizures, which prompted the IPR Center to review its operational portfolio and initiate a new effort dedicated to consumer electronics. Consumers planning to purchase technology, powered by lithium ion batteries, from brick-and-mortar retailers or online from independent sellers and third-party marketplaces can protect themselves by confirming the presence of an authentic Underwriters' Laboratories (UL) certification seal on the product.

“Working for a safer world is UL's mission and we take that responsibility very seriously,” said UL's Chief Security Officer Brian Monks. “We will continue to do our part in helping protect people, products and places from counterfeit UL marked products and support law enforcement efforts to take unsafe products out of the hands of criminals and prevent them from reaching the hands of consumers.”

Founded in 2000, the IPR Center – formally codified in the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 – is one of the U.S. government's key weapons in the fight against criminal counterfeiting and piracy. The center uses the expertise of its 23 member agencies to share information, develop initiatives, coordinate enforcement actions, and conduct investigations related to IP theft. Through this strategic interagency partnership, the IPR Center protects the public's health and safety, the U.S. economy and the war fighters.

California

Panel Delays Decision On Whether To Release Manson Follower

by CBS News

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CBS SF/AP) — A two-member parole panel delayed making a decision Thursday on whether to release an accomplice of cult killer Charles Manson who is the longest-serving female inmate in California.

After a daylong hearing, the panel from the Board of Parole Hearings postponed a decision on whether to recommend freeing Patricia Krenwinkel “because they felt information discussed at the hearing was cause for an investigation,” spokeswoman Vicky Waters said in an email.

The hearing will be continued once the investigation is concluded, she said.

Sharon Tate's sister, Debra Tate, said the parole officials told her the hearing was likely to be postponed about six months while they research to see if Krenwinkel meets the criteria for having battered women's syndrome.

Krenwinkel's attorney, Keith Wattley, confirmed that account but did not comment on the postponement.

“She totally minimized her actions and blamed everything on other people the whole hearing,” Tate said.

Tate said she didn't buy the concept that Krenwinkel was a victim because she was free to leave at any time and participated in murders two nights in a row.

“We all have to be accountable for our actions. I don't buy any of this stuff. She was there because she wanted to be there. Nobody held a gun to her head,” Tate said.

Anthony DiMaria, the nephew of victim Thomas Jay Sebring, said a Los Angeles County prosecutor who attended the hearing told him that the parole officials want to research whether Krenwinkel was a victim of intimate partner battery.

“For this investigation to be initiated at this point is mindboggling,” said DiMaria, who attended the hearing but left before a decision was postponed. “I don't understand where we go from a murder, the killing of eight people (including Tate's unborn child) to an intimate partner battery victim. It's absurd …. It seems like the world is turned upside down. How do you kill eight people and now you're the victim?”

Jean Guccione, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, said prosecutors would not comment until the parole panel makes its recommendation after the investigation.

The decision to delay by the panel came after the 69-year-old Krenwinkel was previously denied parole 13 times, most recently in 2011.

Krenwinkel acknowledged during her trial that she chased down and repeatedly stabbed Abigail Ann Folger, the 26-year-old heiress of a coffee fortune, at Tate's home and helped kill grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, the following night.

Los Angeles County prosecutors say Krenwinkel carved the word “war” into Leno LaBianca's stomach then wrote “Helter Skelter” in blood on the couple's refrigerator.

Wattley successfully petitioned the state to hold the parole hearing a year early at the California Institution for Women, about 40 miles east of Los Angeles, where Krenwinkel is imprisoned.

Krenwinkel contended at her previous parole hearing in 2011 that she is a changed woman. She has a clean disciplinary record, earned a bachelor's degree behind bars, taught illiterate inmates to read and trained service dogs for disabled people.

Krenwinkel was a 19-year-old secretary when she met Manson at a party. She testified at her previous hearing that she left everything behind three days later to pursue what she believed was a budding romance with him.

She wept and apologized, saying she became a “monster” after she met Manson.

“I committed myself fully to him. I committed myself to the act of murder,” she said then. “I was willing to sacrifice others' lives for my own.”

Prosecutors say the slayings were an attempt to ignite a race war after which Manson and his followers would rise from the rubble to rule the world.

Krenwinkel was initially sentenced to death, but the California Supreme Court invalidated the death penalty in 1972.

Gov. Jerry Brown has the power to block the release of inmates if parole is granted. He previously stopped the parole of Manson followers Leslie Van Houten, 67, and Bruce Davis, 74.

Krenwinkel became the state's longest-serving female inmate when fellow Manson follower Susan Atkins died of cancer in prison in 2009.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/12/30/panel-delays-decision-on-whether-to-release-manson-follower/

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Oklahoma

Past use-of-force incident stirs questions about Community Policing Commission pick

by Burt Mummolo

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — A 16-year-old dash cam video is gaining new interest after a controversial addition to Mayor G.T. Bynum's newly created Community Policing Commission.

The video shows Tulsa police officer Quentin Houck, now a sergeant, kicking a man after a police pursuit in 2000. Houck was one of xxx people selected to the commission, which will focus on coming up with community policing strategies that could be implemented in the city.

"It's absolutely disturbing," said Tulsa City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper.

She said she was made aware of the video by a constituent who expressed concern about the sergeant serving on the commission. Hall-Harper said she, personally, does not think he should have been appointed to the commission.

Community activist Marq Lewis of We the People echoed that sentiment.

"I think a lot of people will feel very slighted and jaded by the fact that he is on this community policing," Lewis said. "We don't need anyone who actually has done excessive force and then to talk about how do we stop excessive force."

In a statement, Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan said he was "aware of this incident involving Sgt. Houck from 16 years ago when he was an officer."

"Sgt. Houck readily admitted he made a mistake in this tense situation and has since turned out to be an example of how corrective discipline should work," Jordan said. "Sgt. Houck has gone on to have an exemplary career without further discipline and has supervised squads of officers, in which there have been no use of force issues. I am a firm believer in an individual's capacity to change and constantly better themselves. Having an officer who has learned from a mistake made on the job, especially one involving use of force, provides a unique perspective and underscores the type of change we are hoping to accomplish with the Mayor's Community Policing Commission."

Hall-Harper said she believes people can make mistakes. She said she asked her husband, who serves on the Tulsa police force, about the incident with Houck.

"And I asked him about it, and he said that he's a good officer, and I believe that to be the case," she said. "But I think, again, with this experience or this situation that has taken place in his past, that for now ,at least at the initiation of this commission, that he may not be the best person on the commission."

We reached out to the mayor's office but have not received a response.

http://ktul.com/news/local/community-policing-controversy

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Louisianna

Community policing, youth outreach goals for new Slidell police chief

During his campaign for the chief's office, Randy Fandal promoted the community policing concept and now the plan is being implemented.

by Heath Allen

SLIDELL, La. — Newly elected Slidell police Chief Randy Fandal has wasted no time getting down to business.

Winning the job in a run-off election earlier this month, Fandal has already focused efforts on youth outreach and community policing.

"It keeps the community in touch with the Police Department. It builds trust," Fandal said.

He might be new to the chief's office, but he is a veteran police officer who spent 10 years with the Slidell Police Department before joining the Louisiana State Police, heading up the state's drug interdiction effort.

During his campaign for the chief's office, Fandal promoted the community policing concept and now the plan is being implemented.

The new chief is convinced engaging the community, especially young people, is the key to success. It's not unusual to see officers stopping for a few moments to talk with parents and children in local neighborhoods and parks.

"I think it's a great idea," said Officer Darrell Marcev as kids gathered around him in Slidell's Heritage Park. "I'd rather have kids run to us than run away from us."

Slidell police officers stopped by the park with one of the department's motorcycles, allowing kids to climb on board, wear the helmet and hit the siren. For the officers, it was a chance to interact with the kids and their parents.

"You can interact with the public a lot more," Officer Jason Seals said. "There's countless times I've pulled up at a red light; little kids in the back seat of a car and they are looking over and you can see the grin on their face from ear to ear."

There is a purpose behind the effort. Fandal believes people need to know his officers are not just policing the community, but are a part of it as well. Fandal is formulating a program called Kids and Police.

"Get them involved with the Police Department. It will be a simple program. It will build trust with the community. It will build trust with the kids and the police again," Fandal said.

The community policing effort is proactive, officers regularly patrolling areas, getting to know the residents and letting the residents get to know them.

"We're here to serve them," said Sgt. Kevin Rea. "We're here to help them, and ultimately we're their friends, you know, they don't have be afraid of us."

With what he calls a strong department already functioning at a high level, Fandal believes in the adage -- "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

It's all about keeping the public involved, he said.

"Be transparent. Let the community see what we are doing, and engage with the community as much as possible," Fandal said.

More than just a New Year's resolution, Fandal said it is a commitment he intends to keep.

http://www.wdsu.com/article/apple-sued-over-facetime/8548372

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Kansas

An elf and a dance video help a Wichita Police Officer encourage community policing

by KWCH

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) -- "I love this community."

Wichita Police Officer Aaron Moses started working for the department in 2012, his passion has always been Wichita and the people who live there.

Now, he's taking steps to make his passion a community policing reality through social media.

Moses works the fourth watch meaning he's in at 9:00 p.m. and out at 7:00 a.m. He also works as a field training officer helping new officers after they graduate from the academy. Many would argue it's not the most ideal of shifts yet if you check WPD's Facebook, you'll see Moses seems to be more awake at night than many during the day.

"Anytime we can laugh and have fun and have a good time, at the same time connecting with our community that's really my goal," Moses said.

You may remember Moses as the "dancing cop" making his rounds on social media with a video of him dancing with kids at Wichita's First Steps Barbecue in the spring. It brought a lot of social media attention to Wichita's Police Department, which is what Moses wanted.

"I went to L'Ouverture Elementary School and that community cookout was basically in L'Ouverture's backyard," Moses said. "I went to Brooks Middle School after that and then I went to Independent High School so I had a great spectrum of experiences in the city of Wichita before I went to college."

The hometown kid said he was proud to see a want for positive change in his backyard.

College for Moses was at Washburn University where he minored in Leadership Studies. He said he always knew he wanted to be a police officer in Wichita but for that minor, he had to do an internship with the Olathe Police Department which is what really began his career in community policing on social media.

"My project that I proposed to them was working on social media. And I call it social media led community policing," Moses said. "I think it's the strongest type of community policing that you can possibly have because we all see it every day. Everybody walking around on their phones and it's an instant communication to the community and an instant contact with the community."

That push during an internship for a college minor has continued in Moses' career with WPD. About a year ago, he said he started to play a part in running the department's Twitter page, echoing the ideas of law enforcement agencies that have been successful on Twitter.

He describes his work on Twitter as, "kind of creating more of a personal touch, sort of based off of the Tweeting Troopers and what they've done that's been very successful."

He added, "I wanted to create sort of a one-on-one conversation or a one-on-one relationship with the community so they could be like, that's my police officer and that way there is a true connection."

Most recently, Officer Moses' Christmas Eve escapades created a social media storm. His partner on patrol that evening was Hazel the Elf and between posting pictures and videos of what the two were up to that night, community members responded in a big way.

Moses said he had to plug his cellphone into the laptop in his patrol car to keep it charged since he was checking Facebook so often and responding to all of the positive messages.

"It feels great when people embrace what you're trying to do. It's all about, like I've said, creating that one-on-one connection. Even though people don't know me, I hope that through social media they can get a glimpse into my personality," Moses said.

He said his colleagues at Patrol East are encouraging him forward too and wanting to join in on the fun.

"Specifically the Elf on the Shelf this Christmas Eve. I brought the elf in. Nobody knew that was happening. Nobody I worked with knew that was happening and everybody got really excited about it. You know, everybody wanted to give me their idea of where the elf should be and what Hazel the elf should be doing. So even beyond the connection with the community, there's a bigger connection with the department and the people that I work with that's really great to see."

Community policing has been a strong push in Wichita with much attribution to Chief Gordon Ramsay after he started in the beginning of 2016. Moses said that move is something he wants to be a part of and even lead the way in.

"I think it's a nationwide discussion that's happening right now and I'm really excited to be a part of it. I'm really excited to see it happen," he said. "I'm young. I'm 25 so I have a very different take on what I would like to see happen. And I'm just glad that I'm being allowed to put my spin on the discussion locally."

Moses said he appreciates Wichita not just because he grew up here but because it's a community that he says supports officers and also challenges them when they do something that may be considered controversial. He said his job is a challenge but it's one he wants to take on.

"Many of the people that I run into are willing to sit down and have personal one-on-one in-depth conversations about their community and the things we can all do together to make it better," he said.

That's exactly what Moses wants to see and he said he hopes his fun social media posts and conversations make that the norm in Wichita.

"We cannot do it on our own," he said.

http://www.kwch.com/content/news/An-elf-and-a-dance-video-help-a-Wichita-Police-Officer-encourage-community-policing-408653565.html

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New York

NYPD Offers Up To $4M for Help Boosting Image in Minority Communities

by Katie Honan

NEW YORK CITY — The NYPD is offering a $4 million, 5-year contract to a PR group to boost its profile in the minority community and strengthen neighborhood policing, according to a request for proposals.

The push comes as Commissioner James O'Neill calls for more diversity among the NYPD's recruits to better reflect the city's demographics.

According to the RFP, posted earlier this month, the community outreach PR campaign will find new ways to improve day-to-day encounters between police and residents by "acknowledging past and present injustice," among other tactics.

With record-low crime numbers, the NYPD can now focus on bridging the divide in communities who have suffered under previous police work, according to the document.

“In its endeavor to strengthen community policing and trust among law enforcement and the communities they serve, the NYPD is requesting proposals for ways to improve police-citizen encounters and encourage the public's trust, support, and collaboration through acknowledging past and present injustice, supplanting a culture and practice of policing that reflects the values of protection and promoting dignity of all the people we serve,” the RFP says.

The program will have a “special emphasis and desired impact within communities of color,” with analysis of city neighborhoods and their relationships with police.

“Routine positive engagement between the police and the public is the primary goal of this plan,” the RFP states.

Work will be done throughout a five year contract, with up to $800,000 paid out annually. It's not clear if the agency will report to the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information, the department's existing press and public information office.

The NYPD did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.

The RFP continues that an ideal proposal will discuss ways to engage residents with the NYPD's new patrol model that “accurately penetrates and settles in the public consciousness."

Expectations include analyzing levels of trust throughout various New York City neighborhoods, and then targeting communities with the lowest amount of trust. There will also be paid media ads, editorials in newspapers and magazines, social media posts and public events, the document says.

There will also be the opportunity to access to the NYPD's existing media, including its website — which is being overhauled, the RFP says — and social media accounts.

At Wednesday's Police Academy graduation at Madison Square Garden, O'Neill told the new recruits to be friendly while out on patrol — telling them that the approach is key to the department's Neighborhood Policing initiatives.

In order to have communities trust officers, they have to work towards “respecting the people that you work with and respecting the people that you're sworn to protect and serve," he said.

The goal is for better community and police relations, and a more diverse force.

As part of their push to encourage more diverse police officers, O'Neill announced the NYPD was dropping a ban on turbans and restrictions on beards for officers.

"We're making this change to make sure that we allow everybody in New York City that wants to apply and have the opportunity to work for the greatest police department in the nation," he said.

https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20161229/jackson-heights/nypd-community-neighborhood-policing

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Officers killed in the line of duty rose in 2016

From Jan. 1 through Dec. 28, 135 officers lost their lives

by Lisa Marie Pane

Ambushes in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and other shootings around the country led to a sharp increase in the number of police killed in the line of duty this year.

From Jan. 1 through Wednesday, 135 officers lost their lives. Some died in traffic accidents, but nearly half were shot to death. That's a 56 percent increase in shooting deaths over the previous year.

Of the 64 who were fatally shot, 21 were killed in ambush attacks often fueled by anger over police use of force involving minorities.

"We've never seen a year in my memory when we've had an increase of this magnitude in officer shooting deaths," said Craig Floyd, president and chief executive of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. "These officers were killed simply because of the uniform they wear and the job they do. This is unacceptable to the humane society that we are."

In Dallas, a sniper on July 7 attacked at the end of what had been a peaceful rally against police brutality. He killed five law enforcement officers and wounded nine others — the largest death toll among law enforcement from a single event since the 9/11 attacks, which killed 72 officers. Months later, Dallas businesses and residents still display blue ribbons and banners declaring, "We support our Dallas police officers."

But even amid community support, the police department remains unsettled. Hundreds of officers have retired or left the force over the past six months as the city struggles to find a way to increase pay and save a failing police and fire pension system. Former Chief David Brown, who became a national figure in the aftermath, was among those who opted to retire. And interim Dallas Police Association president Frederick Frazier said that morale is "almost nonexistent."

"A lot of us are going through the motions at work. We're hoping things will get better with our struggle," he said. Frazier added that the attack was a "game changer. It changed the perception of law enforcement. It reversed the role after Ferguson. We were the pursuer and now, we're being pursued."

Less than two weeks after the Dallas attack, a lone gunman in Baton Rouge shot and killed three officers and wounded three others outside a convenience store in the weeks after a black man, 37-year-old Alton Sterling, was shot and killed by police during a struggle.

Baton Rouge Police Cpl. Lester Mitchell was partners with Matthew Gerald, one of the three slain officers, and was among the officers who raced to the scene of the shooting that also killed sheriff's deputy Brad Garafola and officer Montrell Jackson. Mitchell has daily reminders of the deadly shootout, driving past the scene on his way to police headquarters.

"Just passing there, you can't help but replay it over and over again," he said.

Mitchell said the shooting has made him more alert and aware of potential dangers on patrol, sometimes in situations that wouldn't have alarmed him before, like a hand in a pocket. "You learn to cope with it, because if you don't, you can drive yourself crazy," he said.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund's Floyd said the impact of this year has been profound on law enforcement. Agencies are struggling to recruit officers to their ranks and those who continue to serve "talk about how their head is now on a swivel."

"They're always looking over their shoulder, always worrying about the next attack that could come at any time from any direction," Floyd said.

That was underscored by the slaying in November of a San Antonio detective who was fatally shot and killed outside police headquarters as he was writing a traffic ticket. The man accused of shooting him said he was angry about a child-custody battle and simply "lashed out at somebody who didn't deserve it."

https://www.policeone.com/officer-shootings/articles/252644006-Officers-killed-in-the-line-of-duty-rose-in-2016/

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New York

Garbage trucks to block possible Times Square truck attacks

The placement of the 65 trucks, along with 100 patrol cars, at intersections surrounding Times Square is a new element to an already heavily policed event

by Jake Pearson

NEW YORK — Massive 20-ton sanitation trucks, weighted with an extra 15 tons of sand, will surround the iconic New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square, officials said Thursday, describing a security measure meant to stop deadly truck-driving attacks into crowds like those in Germany and France.

The placement of the 65 trucks, along with 100 patrol cars, at intersections surrounding Times Square is a new element to an already heavily policed event that will include 7,000 officers, specially armed counterterrorism units and bomb-sniffing dogs.

"We live in a changing world now," New York Police Department Commissioner James O'Neil said. "It can't just be, 'What happens in New York, what happens in the United States?' It has to be more, 'What happens worldwide?'"

A Tunisian man who plowed a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin this month killed 12 people and injured 56 others. His attack followed a more deadly assault in Nice, France, in July that left 86 people dead when a man drove a 20-ton refrigerated truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day.

New York police studied those events in planning their Times Square security.

"As we formulated this year's plan, we paid close attention to world events and we learned from those events," said Carlos Gomez, the NYPD's chief of department.

More than 1 million people are expected to attend the annual ball drop countdown in Manhattan, and officials said they didn't know of any terror threats.

The security measures are part of augmented precautions across the nation for New Year's Eve. To keep Las Vegas' lavish celebration secure, the entire police force will be working or on-call with help from the FBI, the National Guard and the Secret Service and will close roads and beef up barriers to prevent vehicle attacks.

Times Square revelers, who are prohibited from carrying umbrellas and large bags, will be screened at two points: once when they approach the Crossroads of the World and again when they enter one of the 65 pens that hold thousands of people each.

And, as in past years, officials have removed trash bins and mailboxes, sealed manhole covers and done sweeps of parking garages and hotels.

Police in New York have used trucks as blocker vehicles before, though never on this scale.

The sand-filled trucks were deployed in November at the Thanksgiving Day parade and on Election Day, when they were posted outside Donald Trump's Trump Tower, at two Manhattan hotels and at a convention center used by Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Investigators also are reviewing the records of truck rental companies, said James Waters, chief of the NYPD's counterterrorism bureau.

The large trucks aren't the only offering from the Department of Sanitation, said Kathryn Garcia, the sanitation commissioner. About 280 employees will be on hand to clean up between 40 and 50 tons of debris after the ball drops following the 60-second countdown to 2017, she said.

Colorado

Denver Police Chief: Saving lives starts with community trust

by Michael Konopasek and Web Staff

DENVER – Five years after being named Denver's “top cop,” Chief Robert White says progress has been made on the front of community policing, but “there's still a lot of work to do.”

In a sit-down interview with FOX31, White talked about the struggles of changing police culture and the success that comes from achieving it. Over the past half-decade, White said he's had a laser focus on community policing and de-escalation techniques that he hopes will limit the amount of officer-involved shootings and save lives.

In January of 2015, Denver police were at the center of controversy after an officer shot an unarmed 17-year-old girl in a stolen car. That is the kind of tragedy White said he is working to prevent in the future. He said reducing crime while saving lives, starts with trust in the community. Building that trust hasn`t been easy.

“Every life has value,” said White. “Even those lives that are out there committing crime.”

For Chief White, changing police culture is vital to successful community policing. He said the change comes from a new mindset of what good police work actually means. The efforts are seen through different programs like an officer lightbulb giveaway in November. Police went door-to-door near Capitol Hill giving away lightbulbs to brighten dark porches, deter crime and build goodwill with neighbors.

“The very residents who pay our salaries-- they are the ones that will put us in the best position of preventing crime,” said White. “Policing has changed but the police haven`t changed.”

White told FOX31 old-school police culture has to go. In Denver, gone are the days of giving high praise to officers with the most arrests or citations, but rather, awarding officers who de-escalate situations and who are actively engaged in the community.

“You call us, we come,” said White. “We`re responsive. We`re polite. You give us a description. We lock the person up. They go to court. They get a conviction. A lot of people think that`s great police work. Better police work is-- you don`t call us because a crime didn`t occur.”

White and those at Denver`s Urban League said much of the effort is needed within communities of color where police distrust seems to be nearing an all-time high.

“There's a substantial amount of Denver police officers who don't live in the communities where they are actually serving,” said Denver Urban League CEO Sean Bradley. “I think walking those neighborhoods gives the police officers and the community an opportunity to get to know one another."

Across the country, headlines of unarmed black men being shot by police have created a negative perception of officers within black communities.

“We operate on reality, but we also have to understand that we have to operate on perception because, if it`s your perception, then it is your reality,” explained White.

And the reality is the Denver Police Department has had its share of controversy, but overall, top brass said they are pleased with the success of community policing. There are dedicated community resource officers assigned throughout Denver. Citizens routinely give input on how officers address community issues, according to the department. White said the work adds what he calls “deposits of positivity” that he hopes will outweigh future withdrawals during the next officer-involved shooting.

“One of the things that we talk about in our police department is-- just because it`s legal, doesn`t make it necessary,” said White. “That is critical-- absolutely critical.”

White said a lot of community policing reform started at the Denver Police Department before he arrived on the force five years ago, but he has made it his mission to “put the philosophy on steroids.” He routinely travels the country talking about the benefits of community policing and what has been working and not working in Denver.

http://kdvr.com/2016/12/28/denver-police-acknowledge-weak-trust-within-community/

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Ohio

Youngstown chief cites community policing for decrease in murders

Youngstown Police Chief Robin Lees said the city has recorded 18 murders this year, compared to 23 in 2015

by Gerry Ricciutti

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WYTV) – As another year winds down, Youngstown's police chief says the city's crime rate continues on its downward trend. He hopes it's a trend that continues into 2017.

Chief Robin Lees said the city has recorded 18 murders this year, compared to 23 in 2015.

“We're still a little bit down from last year's numbers, certainly not where we'd like to be, but it shows improvement,” he said.

It's a far cry from the record of 68 homicides recorded in Youngstown in 1995.

Lees said nearly half of the murders that have occurred this year can be tied directly to drugs.

“We've got to maintain that effort to prevent and to intercede where we have, you know, drug activity or drug trafficking,” he said.

Lees credited the decrease with the return of community-based policing this year, as well as continued involvement with the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV). Lees said the initiatives have boosted relationships between officers and the neighborhoods that they patrol.

He admits, however, that it's difficult to know how many crimes were prevented or criminals taken off the streets before they could cause any more problems.

Lees said he plans to expand successful programs, like CIRV, next year. He also plans to increase his manpower levels, hoping to add at least another half-dozen officers to the ranks in early 2017.

“We've got a lot of young officers who are enthusiastic. They got out there every day. There's rarely a day that goes by that our officers are not making a proactive stop and seizing guns or drugs,” he said.

Final crime figures from 2016 won't be ready until February, when they're sent to the FBI.

Wednesday, Lees also said fatal accidents have decreased. He attributes the drop to the use of radar speed cameras.

Since officers started using them about a year-and-a-half ago, there hasn't been a fatal crash along I-680 in the city.

The chief says the effort to reduce speeds on the freeway has also helped reduce overall car crash figures by about 25 percent.

http://wytv.com/2016/12/28/youngstown-chief-cites-community-policing-for-decrease-in-murders/

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Virginia

Martinsville's crime rate drops 21 percent

by Ben R. Williams

MARTINSVILLE-Crime is down in Martinsville, and according to city police, the credit goes to the community.

According to Lt. Tony Turner with the Martinsville Police Department, as of Nov. 30, total crime in the city is down 21 percent over the previous year.

Property crimes – which include burglaries, all larcenies, motor vehicle thefts and arsons are down 17 percent over that same period, Turner said.

Most impressive, however, is that violent crimes – including homicide, all sexual assault, robbery and aggravated assault – are down 48 percent over the previous year.

City Police Chief Sean Dunn and Deputy Police Chief Eddie Cassady believe the community deserves the bulk of the credit for the reduced crime rates.

“We're really happy with what we're seeing,” Dunn said on Wednesday. “We attribute our success to community policing. Our officers are working closely with our community members, and our citizens are willing and ready to stand with us against crime. We have a lot of trust between the community and their police department, and I think that's a winning recipe.”

When a crime occurs, Dunn said, the department usually gets useful information from citizens. Potential criminals have come to realize that there is a good relationship between the police and the public, Dunn said, and he believes that makes some people think twice before committing crimes.

“We've got citizens working with us, and we've also got citizens who have really gone above and beyond and agreed to help make cases against people who are selling drugs and poisoning our community,” he said.

Every three to four months, Dunn said, the city tries to issue a round of indictments, often focusing on drug crimes.

“We want to continue sending that message to our drug dealers, to our drug traffickers, that listen: We're coming for you, and you could be next,” he said. “We've had a lot of success with that.”

The police department's community policing efforts include not only community outreach events, but also the introduction of “Neighborhood Resource Officers,” a modernized version of “beat cops.”

“Everything that we're doing is having an impact, and I certainly think that our Neighborhood Resource Officers are a part of that,” Dunn said.

The department broke the city down into 20 smaller areas, and each Neighborhood Resource Officer is assigned their own area, he said.

“We want (the officers) to get to know the citizens in that 1/20th of the city,” he said. “We want them to know the problems and take care of the quality of life issues. If there's a vacant, dilapidated house, we want them making the appropriate contacts to get that addressed. If there's overgrown grass, all of our officers are trained so they can cite the property owner for that.”

If a community appears conducive to blight and crime, Dunn said, the officers are trained to take care of those issues. The goal is preventing crime before it happens, he added.

“We don't want to make arrests or write tickets,” he said. “We want people to behave and stay out of trouble and feel safe.”

“We also try to take care of those other underlying issues that aren't property maintenance related,” Dunn continued. “We've recently started a new initiative with domestic violence."

Through a domestic violence intervention partnership, he explained, the department tries to ensure that the whole family unit, the whole household, gets the services that they might need.

"Once a month, we bring together a team of professionals from a broad spectrum to take a look at every domestic incident that we respond to to ensure that we're getting the appropriate resources in there," Dunn said. "Not just to deal with the criminal aspect of that assault, but also all the underlying factors. Maybe there's alcoholism, maybe there's substance abuse, maybe there are kids that need some additional services. … We're doing everything we can to try to break the cycle.”

http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/news/martinsville-s-crime-rate-drops-percent/article_72351049-86ec-59d5-bf8c-f5d66e56eca0.html

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Alaska

Police in Alaska capital city launch 2017 kindness campaign

Police will kick off the campaign with public potlucks on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day to encourage locals to commit daily acts of kindness

by Rachel D'Oro

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Following a year of deadly confrontations between police and citizens across the U.S., police in Alaska's capital city are spearheading a campaign to turn 2017 into a community-wide year of kindness.

Juneau police will kick off the campaign with public potlucks on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day to encourage locals to commit daily acts of kindness and to reach out weekly to individuals outside their usual circles.

Groups, businesses, government agencies and others also are choosing a different week of the year for their employees to conduct "kindness surges," with correctional officers at the local prison taking the first week.

Ideas being considered include visiting local senior homes, distributing care packages and paying for a stranger's meal.

The goal is to measure the impact of kindness on such areas as crimes, suicides and emergency calls at the end of 2017, according to Lt. Kris Sell, who hatched the idea in a partnership with the global kindness advocate, Random Acts, and others.

"Can you change the quality of life in a community and prove that you have done so?" Sell said.

Jennifer Willis-Rivera, development manager for the nonprofit Random Acts, knows of no similar endeavors by a police department or city anywhere. She plans to visit Juneau in January and again a year after that.

To her, the excitement will come in seeing the results after an entire year focused on kindness. "It's something that everybody talks about all the time, but usually we're really only focused on it around the holidays, when there's a tragedy," she said.

Sell said the idea emerged several months ago as she contemplated what direction Juneau police could take in 2017.

She said some "really hateful things" had just happened nationally, including the ambush killings of five law enforcement officers in Dallas who had been working to keep the peace at a protest over the fatal police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana.

Juneau has had its own share of violence, including the nonfatal shooting of a man Dec. 3, months after police first announced plans for the kindness project. No charges have been filed. Police have released few details, saying the shooting is under investigation.

That was the first police-involved shooting since August 2007, when police fatally shot a sword-wielding man. Juneau police also shot at a fleeing suspect's vehicle in 2008, but nobody was hit.

Some locals, including students, already are exercising their kindness muscles.

Last week, special education students from Juneau-Douglas High School traveled across town to hand out candy canes at Thunder Mountain High School. A 17-year-old Thunder Mountain senior died in September after accidentally shooting himself.

Special education teacher Janette Gagnon said students wanted to offer some cross-town support.

Thunder Mountain principal Dan Larson got one of the candy canes from student Mitchell Henderson, who wore a festive Santa hat. Larson said it's been a tough year for the school. "We need this," he said of the holiday cheer spread by the visiting students.

"This is a good time of year for goosebumps," he said.

At the Lemon Creek Correctional Center, corrections officers are planning individual projects to carry out during kindness surge the first week of the new year. One officer plans to make care bags with snacks, bus tokens and other items to pass around town.

Ernestine Hayes, a Juneau-based Tlingit author, said she hadn't heard of the kindness campaign, but praised Juneau police for the effort. Hayes, who was recently named as the 2017 state writer laureate, said once she hears more about the campaign, she might see some opportunity to formally participate.

"I think it's very good to be on the lookout for someone you can hand something to — give them something like, 'Here's a bus token' — if we also remember that kindness can be a smile, a hello and a hug." she said, "That will advance it even further."

https://www.policeone.com/community-policing/articles/252097006-Police-in-Alaska-capital-city-launch-2017-kindness-campaign/

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California

Police, FBI, other agencies ramp up security for Rose Parade

After the terrorist attacks in Berlin and Brussels, authorities are ramping up security for the annual Rose Parade with barricades, security checkpoints and other measures

by John Rogers

PASADENA, Calif. — Authorities, saying they have learned valuable lessons from the March terrorist attack in Brussels, are ramping up security for Pasadena's 128th annual Rose Parade with barricades, security checkpoints and other measures they aren't disclosing.

Pasadena Police Chief Phillip Sanchez told reporters Wednesday the measures include water-filled barriers at some streets. He adds that such barricades are designed to stop would-be terrorists from crashing cars into crowded areas.

Bomb-sniffing dogs will also be deployed at the parade and the 103rd annual Rose Bowl football game that follows it.

Police are working with the Secret Service, Homeland Security, FBI and numerous other agencies to ensure safety at the events, which are attended by hundreds of thousands each year.

Authorities are also asking attendees to call police if they see anything suspicious.

Virginia

Crime rate down in Martinsville nearly 50 percent, spurring more community policing training

by Colter Anstaett

MARTINSVILLE (WSLS 10) – The crime rate in Martinsville is down about 50 percent compared to last year and department leaders say that's due in part to community policing.

Now, hundreds of officers in Southside could soon be better trained in community policing thanks to a grant the department received.

Increasing contact and developing relationships with community members continues to be a major focus of the Martinsville Police Department.

The department requires all officers to receive community policing training.

But now, because of how successful this has been in helping reduce crime in the city the department wants to help other agencies get the training, too.

“We're opening it up to our whole region, the Piedmont Criminal Justice Training Academy region, or anywhere else,” said Martinsville Deputy Police Chief Maj. Eddie Cassady.

Two people WSLS spoke to say they appreciate the department's effort.

“We have a new chief that's been here a couple of years and I think he's really doing a great job,” said Mordecai Travis.

“I think they need to do it just in case. I don't think there's a lot of problems like you see on the news, but you never know,” said Patricia Crummie.

The police department received a state grant for just over $19,000 to pay for a community policing expert to teach a class in January and a class in February about verbal de-escalation and a class in March about community policing in general.

“The main course that we wanted to have was the verbal de-escalation,” Maj. Cassady emphasized. “Training officers to be able to talk down situations.”

There are 300 spots available for each class, all of which will be held at the New College Institute in Martinsville.

The verbal de-escalation classes will be held January 19-20th and February 21-22nd. The community policing class will be held on March 13th.

Contact the Piedmont Regional Criminal Justice Training Academy at (276) 632-1149.

http://wsls.com/2016/12/27/martinsville-crime-rate-drops-50-percent-in-part-thanks-to-community-policing/

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Ohio

CPD gets commendation for 'outstanding community policing'

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch presents department with commendation Tuesday

by WLWT

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati police is receiving high praise from high ranks.

On Tuesday, Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac was given a community policing commendation from the U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Lynch launched a national community-policing tour in Cincinnati in May 2015.

The tour was created to highlight collaborative programs and innovative policing practices designed to advance public safety, strengthen police-community relations and foster mutual trust and respect.

The department was singled out specifically for “its efforts to strengthen bonds between citizens and law enforcement, build mutual trust and promote the public good,” CPD's Tiffaney Hardy said in a news release.

Regarding the commendation, Isaac said in the news release, "This is a very special acknowledge(ment) from Attorney General Lynch, the U.S. Attorney's Office, and the COPS Office which highlights our commitment to strengthen police-community relations as we continue seeking ways to engage with the community in innovative ways."

http://www.wlwt.com/article/man-launches-gofundme-page-to-protect-betty-white-from-2016/8539848

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Tennessee

Community policing gone good

Chief gets chance to make up with young motorist

by Steve Marion

Jefferson City Police Chief Andy Dossett was surprised to see a familiar face at last Tuesday's “Cops with Kids” event.

Chloe, who is eight, remembered him too.

It was from that traffic stop about three years ago.

Chloe was behind the wheel of her pink battery-powered Jeep. She was surprised to see blue lights in her rearview mirror.

“I just wanted to stop, say hello, and make sure she was staying safe with her Jeep,” said Dossett, who was a patrol officer at the time. “Most kids love to see the blue lights, but it didn't work out as well as I hoped.”

Chloe freaked out, abandoned her vehicle, and fled on foot, screaming and crying, back to her home.

“I guess you could say it was good community policing gone bad,” said Dossett.

He went over to Chloe's home and tried to reassure her and her parents that he had her best interest in mind. Chloe stopped crying, but she still eyed the officer a little suspiciously.

What happened to Chloe and her family earlier this year was way more traumatic. They lost their home and most of their belongings to a house fire. They have temporary living quarters, but are struggling to make ends meet.

That's why Chloe was among a dozen children treated to a shopping trip by Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 61 during its annual “Cops with Kids” event last Tuesday.

“I was thankful to get a chance to make it up to her,” said Chief Dossett, who pushed the shopping cart as Chloe and her parents selected clothing to replace the items she lost in the fire. “I think we're friends now, aren't we?”

Chloe nodded.

“I forgive you.”

Chloe displayed a couple of colorful outfits he had picked out. She has style.

“These are all things I need,” she said.

Toward the end of the shopping trip, Dossett suggested that Chloe include at least one thing she wants — to go with the things she needs.

She selected a couple of dolls. Dossett, meanwhile, already had his present.

FOP President Shane Hanshew, who is a corporal at the Dandridge Police Department, said Wal-Mart provided lunch for the kids and their parents. The FOP raised funds for the shopping (about $100 per child) through its various fund-raisers, and the Jefferson County School System's Family Resource helped identify families in need.

“We look forward to this every year,” said Hanshew. “The looks on the faces of the kids are priceless. This is what it's all about.”

http://www.standardbanner.com/news/community-policing-gone-good/article_2b05171c-cbb6-11e6-a925-4f48900f5aa4.html

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California

How Redlands residents can learn about policing in 2017

by Sandra Emerson

REDLANDS -- Ever wanted to know what it's like being a police officer? Well, the Redlands Police Department wants to show you.

The department will offer an Informational Citizens Academy beginning Jan. 10 in an effort to educate the public on the policies and problems facing Redlands police officers.

“This was a good way to let people know what we do, why we do it and how we do it,” said retired Redlands police Sgt. Rick Strobaugh, who will moderate the academy, which runs through Feb. 28.

Strobaugh moderated similar classes before his retirement, when the department decided it needed to become more involved in the community.

Department officials chose to bring the classes back next year to address misconceptions about police policies in Redlands and law enforcement nationwide.

“With everything going on we thought it would be a good way to get back in touch with the community again,” Strobaugh said.

The academy, from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays, will cover patrol, crime scene investigation, dispatch and cameras, investigations, recruitment and training, narcotics, the citizen volunteer patrol and rangers, community policing, traffic and other police enforcement and policies.

“Every part of the department will have someone coming in talking about that section and what it does and how it helps the community,” Strobaugh said.

During the last class, for example, participants will do night traffic stops — experiencing what it is like for an officer stopping a vehicle at night.

“We encourage people to be asking questions, talking and being involved,” Strobaugh said. “It's not just sitting down to talk to you.”

In the past, the classes also have helped participants find out how to assist the Police Department in the community.

“It's kind of interesting,” Strobaugh said. “In our class in the past we wound up having a number of people that had gotten interested in our volunteer program and had joined our citizen volunteer patrol.”

The academy will be held at the Joslyn Senior Center, 21 Grant St. in Redlands. Applications can be picked up at the senior center; Redlands Police Department, 1270 Park Ave.; the police annex, 35 Grant St.; or may be found online at www.cityofredlands.org/police.

For more information, email Strobaugh at rstrobaugh@redlandspolice.org.

http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/government-and-politics/20161227/how-redlands-residents-can-learn-about-policing-in-2017

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Police respond to mall fights across the country

There is no official word on whether any of the fights were connected

by The Associated Press

BEACHWOOD, Ohio — Fights broke out at malls around the country Monday night sending shoppers, who were looking for post-holiday deals, scrambling for the exits.

No one was seriously injured in the mall melees, which, during the panic, also prompted numerous false reports of gunfire.

Police in Ohio told Cleveland.com that officers used pepper spray to disperse a large crowd following a fight at an upscale shopping mall in Beachwood, just outside of Cleveland.

A report of shots fired was later determined to be unfounded.

One male juvenile was arrested for allegedly trying to hit an officer during the incident, which police said appeared to have been "loosely organized on social media."

There were similar disturbances at malls around the country including in New York, New Jersey and North Carolina, where chaos erupted at a mall in Fayetteville and emergency medical personnel were called in to assist someone who had a medical episode while fleeing.

In Memphis, Tennessee, police arrested several people following fights at two malls there. No one was injured and no gunshots were fired, despite reports indicating otherwise.

"Somebody yelled 'gun!' and youths stampeded through the mall," Deputy Chief Terry Landrum told The Commercial Appeal.

Police in Aurora, Colorado, near Denver, evacuated a mall due to multiple skirmishes.

The trouble reportedly began during an arrest when an unruly crowd surrounded the scene.

Aurora police spokesman Sgt. Chris Amsler said that as the suspect was being taking into custody, the crowd, which mushroomed in size to about 500 people, advanced on the officer and fights broke out. Five juveniles were arrested. No one was hurt.

In Aurora, Illinois, outside of Chicago, a mall there was temporarily shut down due to a large disturbance. Videos posted on Twitter showed mall security trying to get the situation under control.

There was no official word on whether any of the fights, which were also reported in Arizona, Texas, Indiana and Connecticut, were connected.

The Prop 47 Project

by Michele Hanisee 

As we approach the end of the year, we once more turn our attention to Prop 47.  Why?  Because, by and large, the news media has failed to report on the massive failure of Prop 47 and its impact on California citizens. One exception is the well-researched investigative series done by USA TODAY Network-California - a combined effort by multiple newspapers - to focus on the ramifications of the failed proposition.

One part of the three-part series, focused on those freed by Prop 47.  Not surprisingly, it turns out that addicts who steal to support their habit now do so with full knowledge that they face no consequence for their actions, and even boast about their thefts.

One such addict is Daniel Harris, a meth addict who roams the streets of the City of Industry. From the story: Harris, who has been a homeless addict for years, said he didn't start stealing until after Prop 47 reduced penalties. "On a Wednesday morning in late November," the story reports, "Harris bragged about how he keeps his thefts below the $950 threshold, taunting a nearby sheriff's deputy. That deputy, Joanne Arcos, had caught Harris with loot before, but never enough to really matter."  

As Commander Stephen Johnson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department put it, the addicts who steal are "not being punished. They're not getting treatment. The net result is victimization for our local communities who see a rise in crime."

Of course, to those who pushed Prop 47, eliminating punishment for addicts who steal was the overriding goal. Take UC Irvine Professor Elliott Currie, who believes it is "unjust" to incarcerate addicts who steal. In the words of Michael Romano who helped write it, Prop 47 "has been 'amazingly successful' in its primary goal, which was always to get low-level drug offenders out of California's crowded, damaging prison system." 

Of course, once out these thieves/addicts are not addressing their drug habit, and there is no way to force them to do so.  Drug courts were decimated by Prop 47. The longest running drug court program in Los Angeles now has only four people enrolled, instead of the eighty it had before Prop 47.  It was "torn apart" as a result of Prop 47, according to its director, a result that was intentional.  You see, those behind Prop 47 also oppose the hammer of incarceration to force addicts into recovery programs.

Those behind Prop 47 also promised voters hundreds of millions of "savings" in the first year after Pop 47. Those "savings", they said, would be used to fund drug court programs.  As it turns out, critics like the ADDA were right.  The proposed "savings" were wildly overstated.   Per H.D. Palmer of the State Department of Finance, the state deposited $67.4 million in the Prop 47 fund and warned jurisdictions around the state against budgeting for "a higher level of savings at the local level that in the end is not achievable."

The hard truth of the matter, as reflected in this investigative series, is that you can offer all the drug treatment programs you want.  But an effective drug treatment requires and addict to enter a treatment program, complete that program, and then follow-through with sober post-treatment. Thanks to Prop 47, drug treatment has become optional for these addicts. As a result, most of them choose to continue using and continue stealing to support their drug habits.

Tens of thousands of Californians have become victims of crime as a result, while those who victimize them go unpunished. For the Prop 47 advocates, who care more about thieves and addicts than their fellow law abiding residents, this outcome is a success.  It is not, however, acceptable to the rest of law-abiding Californians.

Michele Hanisee  is President of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys, the collective bargaining agent representing nearly 1,000 Deputy District Attorneys who work for the County of Los Angeles.

https://www.laadda.com/contact-us/

Illinois

40 shot in Chicago over the weekend

by Melanie Eversley

The stress of living in challenging circumstances and the usual ebbs and flows of violence might have been some of the reasons why 40 people were shot over the weekend in Chicago, national anti-violence advocates based there told USA TODAY.

Of those who were shot, 12 died, according to multiple media reports.

The city already has been in the national spotlight for increasing gun violence in recent years. The Chicago Police Department in a statement sent via e-mail Monday night said that the majority of the shootings were attacks or retaliation during holiday gatherings by gang members.

"Ninety percent of those fatally wounded had gang affiliations, criminal histories and were pre-identified by the department's strategic subject algorithm as being a potential suspect or victim of gun violence," the statement read.

In addition to responding to the 40 shootings, the Chicago Police Department also confiscated 45 guns from city streets starting on Friday, and that number is slightly larger than what is typical, according to the statement.

The statistics join those that have been building up in recent years in the Midwestern city, which, according to the Chicago Tribune , experienced its most violent month in August in 20 years. By Aug. 29, the city had logged 78 homicides — the highest number since October 1997, which saw 79 homicides, the Tribune reported. By August, the city had logged more homicides than Los Angeles and New York City combined, according to the Tribune .

Dr. Gary Slutkin, founder of the non-profit, Chicago-based group Cure Violence, believes part of the problem is that his nationally recognized organization experienced a drastic reduction in state funding two years ago when Illinois made across-the-board cuts. His organization treats the gun violence epidemic as a public health crisis, he said. In doing that, it has been effective in employing people who have experienced gun violence to detect those in their communities who might be in danger of slipping into that life — and in mentoring them and pulling them back form the brink, Slutkin said.

"A lot of individuals and organizations are calling us and we're trying to figure out now how to re-engage in 2017 as fast as we can," Slutkin told USA TODAY. "The state gave some temporary money that's lasting about a month. They won't have another budget until the summer."

At its high point, the organization that launched in 2000 operated out of 18 districts, Slutkin said. That figure dropped to 14 when Illinois ran out of funds and then down to one, he said.

In 2015 and 2016, the only community to still maintain a Cure Violence operation was the only Chicago district where shootings and killings declined, according to Chicago police data, the organization says. The neighborhood that previously had the largest Cure Violence operation (and therefore saw the largest decrease) saw the largest increase in shootings, according to the police statistics.

Public health methods work by employing mentors who can teach people to change their behaviors, such as with the spread of AIDS or ebola, Slutkin said. Those methods work with gun violence, he said.

Tamar Manasseh, founder of the Chicago-based Mothers Against Senseless Killings, or MASK, believes the weekend uptick, perhaps comparable to a weekend in July in which Chicago saw 55 shootings, could be due to hidden depression being experienced by people who live in challenging circumstances.

"What I've learned is that ... some people honestly lack the courage to take a gun and put it to their head and pull the trigger, but what they'll do is they'll take a gun and go out and kill somebody else," Manasseh said. She further explained these sorts of people are saying to themselves, "I don't want to be here, but I sure want to make sure that someone else wants to kill me."

Manasseh, a rabbinical student and mother of an 18-year-old and 20-year-old, founded MASK to help make the streets safer for her children. The organization works by employing people in the community who really know the challenges of living there and can connect the people with the services they need, whether it be finding an outfit for someone to wear to a job interview or getting someone to the services to help them learn how to read, she said.

Manasseh believes the uptick over the weekend occurred because of the usual increase in stress and sadness that people experience over the holidays, but those in power need to really target and engage in the problem so they can understand what is happening and begin to fix it, she said.

"This is not a drive-through problem," she said. "This is not a problem that we're going to fix by driving through and marching through. You have to become a part of it, get in it and see it in order to fix it."

Regarding the violence over the holiday weekend, the police department said in its statement: "Detectives are making progress in several incidents. So far multiple people of interest are being questioned and we are following up on some promising leads The violence primarily occurred in areas with historical gang conflicts on the south and west side of Chicago."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/12/26/40-shot-chicago-over-weekend/95860972/

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New Jersey

How one law enforcement group is stepping up community policing

by Caitlin Mota

If you asked Anthony Smith in 2007 what he wanted to accomplish with his police organization, he would have told you he wasn't even sure.

But now almost 10 years later, the mission for B.L.E.S.C. -- Blacks in Law Enforcement Servicing the Community -- is pretty straight forward.

"It's about giving to where you're from," the Hudson County Corrections Officer said. "We're born and raised here."

Smith, along with two of his lifelong friends John Boamah and Shaun Spence, a pair of Jersey City police officers, are now finding ways to reach out to youth in Jersey City and educate parents about gang violence.

Whether they are on patrol or off-duty, the officers said it's important for them to reach out to young adults, especially in some of Jersey City's most troubled neighborhoods.

"We come from the same place they come from and we're here for them, we're reaching out to them," Boamah said. "We want them to know we don't do this for notoriety or a pat on the back, we do it because we actually care."

The group of about a dozen officers visits local churches and schools, most recently visiting University Charter High School where they taught students about how to respond when approached by a police officer.

"Nine times out of 10 the officer is going to act the same way you treat them," Spence said. "If you come off calm and collected, nine times out of 10 the officer will be the same."

Along with educational programs, the group organizes different distribution drives, most recently giving out toys to children at the Curries Woods public housing complex and helping put together Thanksgiving baskets for needy families. A school supply drive is among other activities planned for the coming year.

The three officers said they receive support from local leaders and are hopeful they will be able to reach out to more people in the community. The group is "open to everybody."

"Anyone that is willing to help out the community, we don't care if you're brown, black, yellow, green ... we don't care," Spence said.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2016/12/how_one_law_enforcement_group.html

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Texas

Texas officer explains how cops respond to mental health calls

The Austin Police Department has trained several officers on how to interact with people who are mentally ill and has partnered with local mental health agency

by Katie Hall and Nicole Chavez

AUSTIN, Texas — When someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, the people nearby often call 911, but those dispatched to the scene are often law enforcement officers and not mental health professionals, and that poses a conundrum for authorities, said Austin police Lt. Brian Jones.

Officers responding to these calls must be prepared for anything, even death. At least two deadly police shootings this year involved individuals who authorities later determined were experiencing mental health crises:

--In February, David Joseph, 17, who was standing naked in a Northeast Austin neighborhood, was shot and killed by officer Geoffrey Freeman as he charged toward Freeman, police said.

--In October, Micah Jester, 26, who repeatedly yelled for officers to kill her at her South Austin apartment, was fatally shot by officers who said they saw her point a BB gun that closely resembled a handgun at them.

Few in the Austin Police Department would understand these challenging situations better than Jones, who helps oversee the teams of officers trained to respond to mental health emergency calls. He said the department has provided training for several officers on how to interact with people who are mentally ill and has partnered with local mental health agency Austin Travis County Integral Care.

Last year, Austin police fielded about 11,000 mental health calls, and more than 5,000 of those calls resulted in emergency detentions, Jones said. He spoke with the American-Statesman about the ways the Police Department prepares its officers to handle these situations. Here are some things to know:

What is a CIT officer?

CIT stands for Crisis Intervention Team. There are 158 CIT officers in the Austin Police Department.

Who is the first person to answer a 911 call?

The literal title of the first person to pick up a 911 call is "911 call-taker." The call-taker determines whether the caller needs an EMS medic, a police officer or a firefighter to respond to his or her emergency. If the person is having a mental health crisis, the call is sent to an Austin Police Department dispatcher.

What determines whether a CIT officer responds?

If the caller specifically requests a CIT officer during a nonemergency situation, in most cases a CIT officer will be dispatched to the scene as soon as she or he is available, Jones said. Likewise, if a dispatcher recognizes that an incident probably involves a person having a mental health crisis, the dispatcher will send a CIT officer to the scene.

If it's an emergency, however, the closest officer responds to the scene and may request CIT backup.

How do CIT officers handle a situation differently from regular patrol officers?

There's no straightforward answer to this, Jones said. CIT officers don't follow a different protocol. In general, CIT officers are taught to use de-escalation techniques, such as speaking in a calm voice and making it clear that they're not there to make an arrest. CIT officers are also less likely to take threats against them seriously and therefore less likely to file charges of making a threat against a police officer, Jones said.

Can you give an example of how CIT officers are taught to handle situations?

"We recently had a call that a CIT officer performed remarkably," Jones said.

An Austin man was yelling and threatening suicide and told the people around him, "If you call the cops, I'm going to commit suicide," Jones said, citing the police report he reviewed.

When the CIT officers arrived, the man started threatening to assault them, Jones said.

The officers "had enough experience and wherewithal to know that, were it not for this man's mental health status, he would not be making these statements," Jones said. "They didn't take it personally."

The officers spoke in a soft voice and told the man they were there to help him, not take him to jail. The man swung at them, and so the officers handcuffed him. The officers eventually calmed the man down, and he did not go to jail, Jones said.

"By the end, he was thanking them," Jones said. "That happens more often than not."

What are an officer's options when encountering someone having a mental health crisis?

Austin police partnered with Austin Travis County Integral Care in 2014 in hopes of diverting people having mental health crises from the Travis County Jail, Jones said. That group has a response team of medical and mental health professionals called the Mobile Crisis Outreach Team, which police can call to the scene when an officer encounters someone experiencing a mental health crisis.

This team is able to assess and treat someone on-site in a way that the police cannot, Jones said. The team also refers these patients to community and social services, and follows up with them for the next 90 days to see whether they're taking medications, experiencing hardships or having side effects.

"They work with the person to navigate the health care system," Jones said. "They schedule appointments for them. They'll even drive them to appointments."

However, if people are a danger to themselves or the community, police will make an emergency detention. The officers take the patient into custody, but instead of going to jail, the officer takes him or her to a physician or the emergency room.

If the person commits a felony, he or she is taken to jail, Jones said.

https://www.policeone.com/patrol-issues/articles/251680006-Texas-officer-explains-how-cops-respond-to-mental-health-calls/

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Ohio

Ohio group trains pit bulls to become police K-9s

A dog of any breed can have the high-energy, high-drive personality needed for police work, and those K-9s often do not fare well in a shelter environment

by Alexandra Mester

TOLEDO, Ohio — The traditional mix of canine breeds used in law enforcement is beginning to see some new variety.

Most people envision a police dog as a German shepherd, Belgian malinois, bloodhound, or maybe a Labrador retriever.

But some are hoping to change that by introducing mixed-breed shelter dogs that many call "pit bulls."

New York-based Animal Farm Foundation and Texas-based Universal K9 have partnered for about two years to train rescue dogs and donate them to departments across the country.

"We train them to do the same work traditionally reserved for purebred dogs," Stacey Coleman, executive director of the foundation, said.

The K-9 Detection Program has placed about 15 to 20 canines, and another class of dogs will graduate soon.

"The reason we do all of it is to change that negative stigma," Mrs. Coleman said. "It's a big deal for our mission."

Universal K9 acquires and trains the rescued dogs, while Animal Farm Foundation sponsors the training for police officers becoming K-9 handlers through the program.

Brad Croft, owner and trainer at Universal K9, used to buy, train, and sell purebred German shepherds for police work. He later changed the business to a nonprofit that rescues, trains, and donates shelter dogs.

"A few years into it, I realized that there were a ton of dogs in shelters that had some of the same capabilities, and there were tons of police departments out there that needed these dogs and couldn't afford them," he said. "It doesn't take a special breed of dog to do this type of work. It's a God-given gift. Either a dog has it or they don't."

Mr. Croft said a dog of any breed can have the high-energy, high-drive personality needed for police work, and those canines often do not fare well in a shelter environment and are difficult to adopt out.

"Those are the dogs that end up getting euthanized because they do not do good in homes," he said. "We're helping so many different things with one stroke by saving dogs, helping law enforcement, and saving taxpayer dollars."

A traditional police dog generally costs $15,000 to $20,000, not including equipment. The nonprofit program has been generally well received.

"We've had great reception in law enforcement," Ms. Coleman said. "We have to make sure that the city and the whole department has buy-in, that they want to be a part of this program."

The dogs in the program are dual-trained for detecting narcotics or explosives, and patrol tasks such as tracking people and article searches. But they are not trained in bite work for apprehending suspects.

Lt. Brian Twining, leader of the Toledo police K-9 division, said the Glass City likely wouldn't participate in the program because the division needs dogs trained for all aspects of patrol work, including apprehension.

"I think the idea behind it is great," he said. "But the start and end point for us is that we need dogs that can do everything."

He said the department values the health and working guarantees of its vendor, Von der Haus Gill German Shepherds in Wapakoneta, Ohio.

Mr. Croft argues such guarantees are a moot point if the dog is donated.

"It makes sense if you're spending $15,000 or $20,000 on a dog that you want health guarantees. But if you're getting the dog for free, what does it matter?" he said. "We have millions of dogs being euthanized each year, and a lot of them can do this work. If there's a problem with a dog, we can replace that dog very quickly."

Lieutenant Twining also noted potential logistical issues if the department had to travel to Texas for additional training. The current vendor's proximity to Toledo makes that process less problematic.

"We don't want to put ourselves in a position that could make it difficult for us down the road," he said. "The problem we get into is the expenditure for more training."

The closest K9 Detection Program "pit bull" to Toledo is K-9 Kiah in the city of Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Last month, she earned the prestigious public service award from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Her handler, Officer Justin Bruzgul, said Kiah has been an outstanding partner.

"She loves to work and is ready to go at all times," he said. "Kiah has an extremely high drive, and when it's time to let her perform, she puts in 110 percent. At home in our off time, Kiah has plenty of time to relax and play with our four other dogs. However, she knows when I open up the door to the police car it's time to work."

Kiah is trained for detecting narcotics and missing persons, but also spends a lot of time out in the community with Officer Bruzgul.

"We are all working very hard to show everyone the underlying potential of everyday dogs, including rescued 'pit bull' dogs, which are not traditionally used for law enforcement work," he said. "This program is definitely shattering stereotypes and negative perceptions of 'pit bull' dogs."

https://www.policeone.com/police-products/k9/k9-training/articles/251683006-Ohio-group-trains-pit-bulls-to-become-police-K-9s/

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Training police in counterintelligence to combat domestic terrorism

A significant rise in homegrown extremists and domestic terrorists means there must be a shift in how state, local and tribal LE agencies assist in countering threats

by Christopher J. Brewer

Threats to American security continue to proliferate and evolve. A significant rise in homegrown extremists and domestic terrorist acts means there must be a paradigm shift in how state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies assist in countering such threats to our communities.

These agencies need to develop both offensive and defensive capabilities, including ways to detect, identify, counter, neutralize and exploit foreign intelligence services, terrorist organizations, and non-state organizations targeting U.S. personnel and interests.

The first, most critical step is to improve communication and information sharing. The current system established by the federal government to share information has not been enough. After the 9/11 attacks, the government took steps to improve information sharing among local and state law enforcement agencies. It established the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), created fusion centers, and expanded the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces. While these were all steps in the right direction, it hasn't been as effective as hoped and more must be done.

Police Departments Welcome Christmas In Year Marked By BLM

by Amber Randall

Police officers across the United States continued their Christmas engagement traditions, following a year of accusations of brutality from Black Lives Matter.

The Sixth District Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in D.C. continued celebrating Christmas with their community through numerous outreach events.

One event, the department's annual “Shop With a Cop,” had police officers engaging with children who came from households of five or more and lived in communities with high rates of violent crimes, according to the department's community outreach coordinator, Julia Irving.

Other yearly traditions for Christmas engagement include Sixth District MPD officers distributing coats and toys min the community and throwing a holiday party for elementary school children.

Irving told The Daily Caller News Foundation that the Sixth District MPD is heavily involved with their community throughout the year and not just at Christmas time. This continued involvement within the community, Irving said, helps strengthen the bonds between police officers and the communities they serve.

Each officer is in the community doing something to bridge that relationship with the community so they have a lot of pro-social interaction with law enforcement as opposed to a negative one,” Irving explained.

As a whole, this past year has been a particularly tough one for law enforcement officers. There have been numerous attacks on them: the July Dallas shooting left five officers dead and four officers were shot in one 24 hour period in November.

These attacks have also been coupled with Black Lives Matter activists accusing officers of police brutality.

Irving told TheDCNF that Black Lives Matter is a powerful movement because it unites people and allows them to have an impact in their communities.

“However, I think that the portrayal of officers has really been detrimental, especially to our officers here at the Metropolitan Police Department. The MPD is a trendsetter in regards to community policing,” Irving said to TheDCNF.

The Longview Police Department in Texas also hosted their community engagement during Christmas. This year, the department continued its Blue Santa Program and partnered up with businesses and organizations to help needy families at Christmas, Officer Kristie Brian told The DCNF.

Officers also kept toys in their cars and handed them out to children, she added.

Brian believes that events like these help to strengthen ties between police officers and the communities they work in.

“It seems like the community is more engaged with us. It's always nice to do something positive for the community,” Brian said to The DCNF.

The Chicago Police Department also kept up with its annual “Shop With a Cop” event. This year, 60 children went on a shopping trip at a local Toys ‘R' Us. The children were given about $60 each, and shopped in groups with uniformed officers.

The event is meant to help police officers better connect with citizens in the community, according to Community Outreach Officer Gretchen Chavez.

“Sometimes the kids will come in and they're not that excited,” Chavez explained. “Then their hesitation to be with the police kind of wears off.”

Moshay, a 14 year old girl, called her shopping trip with the officers a “wonderful experience.”

“You don't really talk to police officers on a regular basis. It helps to not judge a book by its cover,” Moshay said.

http://dailycaller.com/2016/12/25/police-departments-welcome-christmas-in-year-marked-by-blm/

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Wisconsin

Cell-tracking case appealed to full US 7th Circuit Court

It's the first time the use of cell tower simulators, known as stingrays, has reached a federal appellate court

by The Associated Press

MILWAUKEE — A dissenting opinion by a federal appeals court judge on police use of secret cellphone tracking technology has convinced a Milwaukee man to take his case a step further.

Attorneys for Damian Patrick filed a petition this week asking for a rehearing in front of the full U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, after losing a split decision in November to the court's three-judge panel. It's the first time the use of cell tower simulators, known as stingrays, has reached a federal appellate court, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

"It is time for the stingray to come out of the shadows, so that its use can be subject to the same kind of scrutiny as other mechanisms, such as thermal imaging devices, GPS trackers, pen registers, beepers, and the like," 7th Circuit Judge Diane Wood wrote in her dissenting opinion. "Its capabilities go far beyond any of those."

Stingrays are suitcase-sized devices that imitate a cellphone tower and draw signals from all nearby cellphones, not just the targeted number. It allows police to zero in on the phone's location, down to a specific apartment in a building. The phones don't have to be in operation, and some versions of the technology can even intercept content, like texts and calls, or pull information stored on the phones.

The case stems from a 2013 incident when Milwaukee police were looking for Patrick on a violation of probation. When they found him in a car, there was a gun on the floor and he was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Months later, during a hearing on his motion to suppress the evidence, police revealed they had found Patrick not based on a tip, as initially stated, but by using records from Sprint, his cellphone service provider. After he entered a conditional guilty plea and appealed, his lawyers learned police had supplemented the Sprint data with a real-time Stingray trace.

The majority panel ruling in Patrick's appeal concluded that since police had probable cause to arrest Patrick for his probation violation they didn't need a warrant. And because he was in a public place, he had no privacy interest in his location, Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote. He and Judge Michael Kanne agreed there may be constitutional questions about stingrays, but that Patrick's case isn't the right one to explore them.

A U.S. House committee report issued Monday said clearer guidelines are needed for law enforcement's use of secretive and intrusive cellphone tracking technology, and police and federal agents should be upfront with a judge about their deployment.

https://www.policeone.com/investigations/articles/251554006-Cell-tracking-case-appealed-to-full-US-7th-Circuit-Court/

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Australia

Australia police: Christmas Day bomb plot foiled, 5 detained

Police detained five suspects who were allegedly planning a series of Christmas Day bomb attacks in the heart of the country's second largest city

by Rod McGuirk

CANBERRA, Australia — Police in Australia have detained five men suspected of planning a series of Christmas Day attacks using explosives, knives and a gun in the heart of the country's second-largest city, officials said Friday.

The suspects were inspired by the Islamic State group and planned attacks on Melbourne's iconic Flinders Street train station, neighboring Federation Square, a fashionable bar and restaurant precinct, and St. Paul's Cathedral, an Anglican church, Victoria state Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said.

He said they had been plotting the attack for three weeks. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said it was one of the most substantial plots that have been disrupted over the last several years.

The arrests came after a truck smashed into a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday, killing 12 people. A manhunt is underway for the person behind that attack, which prompted increases in security around the world.

Two of seven people initially arrested in raids Thursday night and Friday morning in Melbourne — a 26-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman — were released without being charged, police said.

Five men between the ages 21 and 26 remained in custody. Three appeared in a Melbourne court charged with preparing or planning a terrorist attack. They each face a life sentence if convicted.

Hamza Abbas, 21, Ahmed Mohamed, 24, and Abdullah Chaarani, 26, did not enter pleas or apply for bail. They will appear in court next on April 28.

Police said the other two detained will also be charged with preparing a terrorist attack.

Four of the suspects were born in Australia and the fifth was Egyptian-born with Egyptian and Australian citizenship.

The suspects were preparing to use explosives, knives and a gun, Ashton said.

Police believed the threat had been neutralized through the raids on five Melbourne premises, he said.

"Islamist terrorism is a global challenge that affects us all. But we must not be cowed by the terrorists," Turnbull told reporters.

"We will continue to go about our lives as we always have. What these criminals seek to do is to kill. But they also seek to frighten us, to cow us into abandoning our Australian way of life," he added.

Since Australia's terrorist threat level was elevated in September 2014, the government says there have been four extremist attacks and 12 plots foiled by police.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin said the plotters had moved very quickly from a plan to develop a capability to attack.

"In terms of events that we have seen over the past few years in Australia, this certainly concerns me more than any other event that I've seen," Colvin said. "We believe that we have removed the bulk of this particular cell, this group."

Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews said there will be extra police on the streets of Melbourne on Christmas Day to make the public feel safe.

About 400 police officers were involved in the raids.