Quorum National and International News clippings & press releases
Providing members with information on policing from across Canada & around the world
1 February 2013
Canadian Association of Police Boards 157 Gilmour Street, Suite 302 Ottawa, Ontario K2P 0N8 Tel: 613|235|2272 Fax: 613|235|2275 www.capb.ca
BRITISH COLUMBIA ...... 4 Vernon RCMP commander still anticipates service reduction ...... 4 Protections for first responders in effect in 30 days ...... 5 Kamloops police chief will quit to join mine team ...... 6 RCMP announce bait property cars ...... 8 Students get inside look at city's RCMP operation ...... 9 ALBERTA ...... 10 City police officer challenges discreditable conduct charge related to Facebook post ..... 10 Edmonton police officer fired for misconduct ...... 11 Alberta Court of Appeal to hear case involving constable fired for misconduct ...... 13 SASKATCHEWAN ...... 13 Regina police seek budget increase ...... 13 RCMP hopes to hire more women, targets female athletes ...... 14 Taking a look at Regina police’s community crime map ...... 15 MANITOBA ...... 17 Cops should bill justice system for revolving door of arrests ...... 17 Winnipeg police union slams operational review ...... 19 ONTARIO ...... 20 McAlpine act within the rules ...... 20 Ottawa Police Teddy Bear Program celebrates 3 years ...... 22 Toronto’s Billy Bishop airport needs own police force, says Port Authority ...... 25 Making a Difference: Toronto police dog services ...... 27 Toronto police’s Wanted Wednesday nets perfect arrest rate for January ...... 28 Chatham Police Chief honoured for work starting CrimeStoppers locally ...... 29 Police Services Board re-elected by acclamation ...... 30 Ottawa police talk race before starting mandated racial study ...... 32 Update: CRCs to streamline collision reporting process, clear roadways quicker ...... 33 OPP contract costs jump 5.76% ...... 34 Maich, Hammell re-elected to Halton police services board ...... 35 QUEBEC ...... 36 Police to step up training for mental-health crises ...... 36 NEW BRUNSWICK ...... 38 NOVA SCOTIA ...... 38 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND ...... 38 Ways to reduce impaired driving to be focus of upcoming summit ...... 38 NEWFOUNDLAND ...... 39 Expansion of 911 in Newfoundland and Labrador on track for 2014 target ...... 39 NATIONAL ...... 40 RCMP feared ending gun registry would hurt investigations ...... 40 RCMP launch website to link missing-person reports with unidentified remains ...... 42 RCMP snooped on Occupy Ottawa protesters ...... 42 Court Faults RCMP Chief For Firing: ‘No Precedent’ ...... 45 ‘Hard to imagine they’ll do anything good’: RCMP may train Saudi Arabia’s ‘cruel’ police ...... 46
2 Cybercrime backlog poses 'significant risk' to RCMP, audit warns ...... 48 RCMP expanding use of unmanned mini-helicopters ...... 49 INTERNATIONAL NEWS ...... 51 OPINION: Why Police Lie Under Oath ...... 51 Some Sheriffs Object to Call for Tougher Gun Laws ...... 54 Louisiana: New Orleans Wants Out of Police Plan ...... 55 Police in England and Wales face recruitment shake-up ...... 56 Tom Winsor says outsiders will 'enrich' the police service ...... 59 What do bobbies learn on the beat? ...... 60 OAS helps to combat illicit trafficking of firearms in the region ...... 64 The Boston Police Department may be paying the price for letting a program to help troubled cops lapse ...... 65 City of Philadelphia releases police complaint data, API ...... 72 Part-time police officers step up to serve local municipalities ...... 73 3 Years After Inception, a DNA Technique Yields Little Success for the Police ...... 77 Cyber 9/11' may be on horizon, Homeland Security chief warns ...... 80 Prison Population Can Shrink When Police Crowd Streets ...... 81
3 BRITISH COLUMBIA Vernon RCMP commander still anticipates service reduction
By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: February 01, 2013 1:00 AM The RCMP insist it won’t be business as usual despite assurances from the City of Vernon.
Council has approved a 1.8 per cent hike to the RCMP budget but the detachment requested a 6.7 per cent increase. The difference between the two is $413,000.
“We will have two less police officers to support proactive services,” said Supt. Reg Burgess, officer in charge of the detachment.
“I will meet with my senior team and we will have to figure out the best way to police the town.”
However, the city states the 1.8 per cent budget increase will not prevent the RCMP from providing the same level of service as in the past.
“The number of officers will be the same average number of active officers in the city over the last several years,” said Mayor Rob Sawatzky in a release Thursday.
“With council’s continued emphasis on policing and safety priorities, council anticipates a continuance of the safe community trends of recent years.”
Burgess says the detachment bills the city for 50 officers and 2013 funding levels will lead to 48.
He anticipates the direct impact with fewer officers will be undercover operations on prostitution and drug activities downtown.
Burgess also suggests the detachment will have less flexibility when officers are injured or ill and members may have to be shifted away from specific initiatives like school liaison and foot patrols.
“We are aware of the importance of foot patrols but it’s feasible we may have to yank those bodies to support regular calls for service,” he said.
The city states that there will be no change in council’s public safety priorities.
“Those include the proactive community policing and development programs, downtown foot patrols, RCMP school liaison officer and the restorative justice program,” said Sawatzky in the release.
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“Many of these programs are City of Vernon programs but it is the expectation of council that these will be the priorities of the Vernon RCMP.”
Protections for first responders in effect in 30 days
Thursday, January 31, 2013 1:47 PM
VANCOUVER - Legislation that gives first responders peace of mind about potential disease exposure will come into force on March 2, 2013, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Minister Responsible for Labour Pat Bell announced today.
The Emergency Intervention Disclosure Act was passed on May 31, 2012. It recognizes that emergency personnel are at a higher risk of coming into contact with other peoples' bodily substances.
In the unfortunate case that an exposure occurs, if a blood sample is not given voluntarily, a court order can now be obtained to require individuals to give one. Without this, a worker could carry the mental burden of uncertainty for months before knowing for certain whether he or she has been exposed to a communicable disease.
An order-in-council, approved and ordered today, brings the act and recently drafted regulation into effect on March 2, 2013. The new regulation sets out the legal and procedural details that support the act, including:
Adding victims of crime to those who can apply for a testing order, in addition to emergency personnel and individuals providing emergency health services. Communicable diseases to be tested for: HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C. Forms that must be used to seek a court order for a blood sample. Before the act and regulation come into force, government will develop a comprehensive website that will provide full information about the legislation. The website, scheduled to be live by March 2, will be linked off of: www.labour.gov.bc.ca
Quotes:
Pat Bell, Minister of Jobs, Tourism, and Skills Training and Minister Responsible for Labour -
"In the last year, we've heard how important this legislation is to our first responders. These people put their lives on the line to save ours, so it's important we protect them in any way we can. While voluntary testing is always encouraged as a first step, it's nice to know that if they need it, first responders can get peace of mind through this legislation."
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Michael Hurley, president, B.C. Professional Fire Fighters Association -
"The Emergency Intervention Disclosure Act is designed to protect the emergency responders who, without hesitation and on a daily basis, will put themselves in harm's way to protect every citizen in British Columbia. The BCPFFA thank Premier Clark, Labour Minister Pat Bell, the B.C. government and all members of the legislature for unanimously passing this bill, which is so important to all emergency responders."
Bronwyn Barter, president, Ambulance Paramedics of BC -
"The Ambulance Paramedics of BC are proud of the work we provide to British Columbians every day. We are very pleased to have the Emergency Intervention Disclosure Act come into force. This is an important step for B.C.'s paramedics and we are thankful for all the work that has been done."
Tom Stamatakis, president, British Columbia Police Association and Vancouver Police Union
"I am very pleased that this government, and in particular Minister Bell, have responded to an issue that is important to all first responders across the province. This legislation acknowledges the risk our members face on a daily basis and sends a message that the well-being of police officers, firefighters and paramedics is important."
Quick Facts:
Government will pay for the cost of taking, testing and analyzing the blood sample, as well as the cost to communicate test results under the act. Test results will be communicated through physicians only, and results will not be made public. Fines apply to anyone who contravenes the legislation's confidentiality provisions or refuses to obey a testing order. Fines range from $10,000 to $25,000 per day.
Kamloops police chief will quit to join mine team By Christopher Foulds - Kamloops This Week
Published: January 31, 2013 10:00 AM Updated: February 01, 2013 10:58 AM
The press release left the Kamloops RCMP detachment at 9:59 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 31, and landed in the email inboxes of Kamloops media outlets seconds later.
6 "My Blackberry, iPhone and phone have been going absolutely crazy ever since," said Kamloops RCMP Supt. Yves Lacasse, whose dramatic and surprising career shift was documented in that press release.
Lacasse will don the RCMP uniform for the final time on Feb.21 as he retires after 27 years with the national police force, the last eight in Kamloops.
Four days later, on Feb. 25, Lacasse will begin his new career as manager of external affairs for KGHM International, the company planning to build the Ajax copper and gold mine immediately south of Aberdeen.
Lacasse said he was initially approached in early December by a headhunting firm asking if he would be interested in meeting with KGHM senior management.
He was and, soon enough, Lacasse was discussing the proposed mine — and the various opinions it has elicited in Kamloops.
"They knew my opinions were respected in the community," Lacasse said. "Not to sound cocky, but I think I've done a lot in the community."
Lacasse said he has been a supported of the proposed Ajax project from the beginning, noting he was raised in a mining town, Thetford Mines, Que.
"I've seen the benefits of the mining industry," he said, pointing to his volunteer role with the United Way in the past few years, a role that has led to realizing how much community aid comes from Highland Valley Copper, annually the largest donor to the United Way fundraising campaign.
"The mining industry has changed a lot in recent years. When I spoke with senior management staff at KGHM, they see this [Ajax] as an incredible opportunity for Kamloops."
Lacasse said his role will be to get as much information as possible on the mine proposal to those in the community who want it, noting he is well aware of calls, from politicians and residents, for KGHM to be more open with facts and figures associated with the project.
He is also cognizant of the fact many residents are not opposed to mining, but to Ajax's proposed location immediately south of Aberdeen.
"I get that," Lacasse said. "Before Ajax gets a permit, it will have to go through an extensive review process by two levels of government.
"These people want to do things right. They don't want to cut corners. I'm no different than all of you. I've asked the same questions of the [KGHM' leadership. They want to adopt best practices. They don't want to come here to pollute the town."
AJAX OPPONENTS, MAYOR REACT TO LACASSE'S DECISION
7 When Lacasse begins work for KGHM on Feb. 25, he said his goal will be to connect with the community.
"Clearly, I'm not a mining expert," he said. "I'm going to try to get up to speed. I want to help people access the information they want and need. They know I have communicated well with the community as chief of police.
"Those who know me know I am passionate about the well-being of the City of Kamloops. This opportunity will allow me to work with the community to inform, consult and resolve issues related to this project.
"I know this project has its challenges and its critics, but I want to assure you I will serve in my new role with the well-being of the community in mind, something that is also very important to the company. KGHM International wants to become a community leader and I am excited about the opportunity to work with them and guide our efforts."
As for why he is retiring now, Lacasse cited stability, noting his family does not want to leave Kamloops, something that is always a possibility being a Mountie.
"It's about uncertainty, about not being in control of my future," he said. "This gives me the ability to put my family's mind at ease."
In the press release, Lacasse noted the police work done during his eight years with the detachment,
• "We’ve reduced crime and worked with the community to resolve issues that have led to a tighter bond amongst citizens."
• "We introduced world-renowned crime reduction strategies that have helped to keep organized crime and gangs out of Kamloops."
• "We engaged the community and our partners in issue resolution and set clear expectations for the future, allowing us to build strong personal relationships here in Kamloops. Our combined efforts have allowed us to create a department that functions with continuous improvement at its core."
RCMP announce bait property cars
Cameras to capture smash and grab crimes of opportunity
BY BRENT RICHTER, NORTH SHORE NEWS FEBRUARY 3, 2013
THIEVES who target valuables left in parked vehicles are likely soon to find themselves the subject of RCMP stings.
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RCMP's Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team announced Wednesday that "bait property cars" are soon to be strategically placed to complement the successful bait cars program.
"The program is going to be rolled out throughout the division, particularly in the Lower Mainland here especially as investigators look at high-risk areas," said Cpl. Richard De Jong, North Vancouver RCMP spokesman. "It's just a matter of time before we have that on the North Shore."
When a would-be thief attempts a smash-and-grab on a car planted by the RCMP and left with valuables in plain site, they are captured on a camera monitored by E-Comm 9-1-1, who can then dispatch officers to catch the offender red handed.
The same tactic has been used to nab hundreds of car thieves in the Lower Mainland since the program was introduced 10 years ago. According to RCMP stats, car thefts have fallen 73 per cent in the area in that time, though that may have a lot to do with changes in federal laws that mandate new cars come with alarms and immobilizers to prevent theft.
North Vancouver had 311 reports of stolen cars in 2007. That number has fallen steadily since with 133 cases in 2012. Theft from auto, is now the choice crime of opportunity, De Jong said.
West Vancouver Police Department operates a similar program.
The items most frequently stolen from cars: smartphones, electronics like laptops and GPS systems, tools, credit cards, stereo equipment and cash, according to IMPACT.
On Jan. 21, North Vancouver RCMP arrested man suspected of taking $9,000 worth of goods and jewelry from a parked vehicle.
Students get inside look at city's RCMP operation Grade 6 youngsters wrapped up big month-long project Krista Bryce, Daily News Published: Friday, February 01, 2013 Grade 6 students from Lan-tzville's Aspengrove School wrapped up their month- long project to find out how Nanaimo works at the city's RCMP detachment on Wednesday.
Teacher Kristina de Jong scheduled seven field trips in the month of January for students in her social studies unit in an effort "to make learning more fun and interactive."
9 On the list were Lantzville town hall and fire hall, the Green Dyke Farms in Chemainus, Nanaimo landfill, the water treatment facility, waste water treatment facility, and the RCMP detachment.
The students have been blogging (www.aspengroveschool. ca/kdejong/) their first impressions after every field trip. But their work will continue for the next month as they create a virtual textbook to share what they learned with the community and others with the intention to eventually compare how Nanaimo works with other cities nationally and internationally.
To visit the Nanaimo detachment came as a request from de Jong's student Emma Bellovics, 11, who aspires to be a RCMP dog handler. The Grade 6 student was delighted when the first stop on the tour included meeting Nanaimo's dog handlers and Eryx, an eight-week-old German Shepherd being trained to be a police dog.
"I've wanted to be a (dog handler) for a couple of years so it was really cool to meet them and the puppy," said Emma, whose second most favourite pit stop was at the jail cells.
"It's interesting to see where people stay when they are criminals." Isa White, 11, couldn't decide which field trip she enjoyed the most, the Chemainus farm or the RCMP detachment. "I liked seeing all the baby cows and learning how they grow up at the farm," said Isa.
"But this is such a big organization that helps the whole city and it's important to learn about it because they do so much for us. It's important to learn how they keep us safe."
The goal is to have the virtual textbook completed by the end of February. To read and comment on the students' blogs go to www. aspengroveschool.ca/kdejong/.
ALBERTA City police officer challenges discreditable conduct charge related to Facebook post
BY JODIE SINNEMA, EDMONTON JOURNAL JANUARY 31, 2013
Const. Fay Goss pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of insubordination and discreditable conduct for her alleged comments slamming the results of a
10 separate disciplinary hearing that demoted her husband from sergeant to constable in 2010.
On Dec. 2, 2011 — despite an earlier direct order not to send any emails in relation to Randy Goss’s disciplinary hearing about drinking and driving, then denying it to a superior — Fay Goss allegedly posted a message to the Edmonton Police Association’s Facebook page calling the proceedings into question.
Randy Goss was charged and convicted on two counts of discreditable conduct Sept. 22, 2010. In a decision called unprecedented in local police history, Randy was demoted to constable from sergeant for two years, a pay cut that was equivalent to a $30,000 fine. He and three other officers were off-duty in November 2007 when they went to Joey’s Grill and Patio Lounge, where Randy drank six pints of beer, four single-ounce rum-and-Cokes and two shooters, the agreed statement of facts stated. He drove his truck home, despite warnings from the lounge staff.
A staff sergeant testified at Randy’s disciplinary hearing that when he called Randy later that night, he said he had been home all night. At the hearing, Randy questioned the accuracy of that sergeant’s testimony about their conversation.
The Facebook post, allegedly written by Fay, did the same. It spoke about “the heavy-handed (then-police chief Mike) Boyd regime, a deceitful witness who lied about what Randy and I said that night, a hearing officer who chose not to listen and a (Law Enforcement Review Board) who didn’t have the courage to do the right thing,” according to the record of the disciplinary proceedings.
Fay then allegedly copied and pasted the post in an email to the current police chief, Rod Knecht, the exhibit noted.
The disciplinary hearing is set to continue April 4.
Fay has served with Edmonton Police Services for nearly 25 years. Randy had 22 years of service when he was demoted in 2010.
Edmonton police officer fired for misconduct
BY MARIAM IBRAHIM, EDMONTON JOURNAL JANUARY 30, 2013
EDMONTON - An Edmonton officer who was fired Tuesday at the conclusion of her disciplinary hearing after being found guilty of five counts of misconduct says she is troubled the police department continues to seek the “most severe punishment.”
11 Const. Lori Lamb, a 15-year member with the police department, was found guilty in December 2012 of two counts of deceit, two counts of discreditable conduct and one count of insubordination, police spokeswoman Patrycia Thenu said in a prepared statement.
Lamb was found guilty of providing false information to obtain a search warrant and providing false information to investigators with the police professional standards branch during an internal investigation, Thenu said.
An internal complaint was made on Sept. 26, 2011, Edmonton Police Commission meeting documents say. Lamb’s hearing, which was closed to the public, began in October 2012 and was heard by Edmonton police Supt. Mark Logar. Thenu said the hearing was closed because sensitive information occasionally came up during testimony.
In a prepared statement released through the Edmonton Police Association, the police union, Lamb described herself as a loyal and dedicated member of the department and said she was disappointed with Tuesday’s decision.
“Without the benefit of proper training and advice in this subject area, I made mistakes in how I protected the identity of a confidential informant. I should have reviewed policy and consulted with subject matter experts,” Lamb wrote. “Now, I have lost the career that I loved.”
She criticized the disciplinary hearing process, which she said suffers from “collateral issues, personal views and bias.”
She wrote that she was troubled the department continues to seek dismissal — “the equivalent of capital punishment in the employment context” — rather than remediation and rehabilitation.
“Instead of using this as a training opportunity for the service, the chief and his designates have chosen to make an example out of me.”.
Lamb, who was assigned to administrative duties during the investigation, will appeal the decision.
“I will continue fighting, as my good faith mistakes certainly do not warrant the termination of my loyal employment after so many years with good record.”
Lamb is the third Edmonton officer fired at the conclusion of a disciplinary hearing in recent months.
In November 2012, Janice Fitzgerald was fired after being found guilty of one count of discreditable conduct for lying about an affair with her then-sergeant in an effort to protect him. That sergeant, Rick Martens, was facing four counts of deceit and two counts of insubordination, but resigned before he could answer to the charges. Const. Rob Furlong was fired in April 2012 after being found guilty of misconduct, including urinating on the leg of a colleague. The Law Enforcement Review Board reinstated his employment in a December, but an
12 Alberta Court of Appeal decision this week said the police department can appeal that ruling.
Alberta Court of Appeal to hear case involving constable fired for misconduct
BY THE CANADIAN PRESS JANUARY 28, 2013
EDMONTON - The case of a former army sniper who was fired from his Edmonton Police Service job is heading to the Alberta Court of Appeal.
Const. Rob Furlong, a decorated veteran of the war in Afghanistan, was fired last year from the police for urinating on a fellow officer and other misconduct.
But Alberta's Law Enforcement Review Board ordered him reinstated, saying the penalty was too harsh and that Furlong had completed an alcohol rehabilitation program.
The Edmonton Police Service then sought leave to challenge the board's ruling in the Alberta Court of Appeal.
In a judgment released today, a judge agreed to hear the appeal, but says it should be dealt with quickly, because Furlong continues to be suspended without pay.
Furlong, a former army corporal, was lauded in 2002 for shooting a Taliban fighter at a range of 2.43 kilometres — the longest sniper kill ever recorded at the time.
SASKATCHEWAN
Regina police seek budget increase
BY TERRENCE MCEACHERN, LEADER-POST JANUARY 28, 2013
REGINA — As Regina’s crime rate continues to decline, the cost of policing is going up.
13 In this year’s proposed budget, the Regina Police Service is seeking a $61.4 million a 5.2-per-cent increase in its net operating budget. Police also anticipate $7.8 million in revenue, bringing the total operating budget to $69.2 million.
The RPS is also requesting $4.6 million for its capital budget, according to a report that was tabled at Monday night’s Regina City Council meeting. The budgets are expected to be back before city council on Feb. 19.
On Monday afternoon, Regina Police Chief Troy Hagen said he wouldn’t comment on specifics of the budgets until they are before city council. However, with respect to the cost of crime increasing in light of the declining crime rate, Hagen said one factor is that calls for service have increased over the past decade.
In terms of the RPS’s plans to introduce Tasers into its policing, Hagen said the total costs of the program haven’t been decided, but there is room to reprioritize some items in the 2013 budget to cover part of the costs.
About 91 per cent of the gross operating budget is devoted to salaries and benefits. For 2013, the RPS is asking for $51.7 million for salaries — an increase of 4.8 per cent — and $2.4 million to cover overtime costs — the same amount in the 2012 budget. Also requested is $10.9 million for benefits — an increase of 6.1 per cent and $389,500 for the Corps of Commissionaires a 2.5-per-cent increase.
New to this year’s budget is $186,300 to police this year’s Grey Cup, of which $46,700 is expected to be recovered from the Saskatchewan Roughriders for “in- stadium, game-day overtime,” $23,700 for the Eleven and Under initiative, $100,000 for a police college training officer and $61,900 for a victim services missing persons liaison. Other staffing changes include a security analyst for information technology services and a civilian tactical crime analyst.
The RPS has 542 permanent staff members and 22 casual, full-time equivalent personnel.
In 2012, the RPS’s new operating budget comprised 19 per cent of the City of Regina’s budget.
According to year-to-date statistics released in December, crime decreased by 10.4 per cent in Regina compared to 2011.
RCMP hopes to hire more women, targets female athletes CBC News Posted: Jan 26, 2013 1:34 PM CST Last Updated: Jan 26, 2013 2:36 PM CST The RCMP is using a new strategy in trying to recruit more women to the force — targeting athletes who are already in shape.
14 Currently women make up only 18 per cent of RCMP officers in Saskatchewan.
Const. Amy Forbes is talking to universities and high schools in the province about possible partnerships with their female teams.
"We'd like to actually integrate ourselves into the team if possible," said Forbes. "So the girls can get to know us, I guess and see obviously we are police officers, but we're human at the same time."
The project is in its initial stages, but Forbes said it's being well received.
The RCMP hopes this type of relationship building will convince more women that becoming a Mountie is a possible career choice for them.
February 1, 2013 Updated: February 1, 2013 | 4:35 pm Taking a look at Regina police’s community crime map By Alyssa McDonald Metro Regina Regina Police Service has done a major overhaul of their website, including an interactive way to view crime prevention and statistics in the city.
The service already has a strong social media presence, with more than 10,000 Twitter followers, and now with the Thursday launch of their new website, they are increasing their digital footprint.
Community Crime Map’s hacker event roots
One new feature, the Community Crime Map, allows people to search types of crimes committed in Regina within certain time periods. The data is put into a map of Regina and represented as a heat map, with red being the most frequent.
According to a blog post by Chad McCallum, who was thanked on the police website for his help, the idea came out of a October 2012 HackRegina event.
The original idea at the event was a population density map of the city, but grew after the City of Regina suggested McCallum look into the city’s monthly crime statistics.
After some collaboration with Regina Police Service’s Les Parker, they created the map showing trends of where, when and what type of crimes happen.
In a press release, Regina Police Service says they moved the crime statistics to a “more relevant medium” and will still continue to release monthly spreadsheets.
But for online, nothing beats visual representation.
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Prostitution charges in 2012
16 Theft over $5,000 charges in 2012
Robbery charges involving taxis
Noteworthy on the new site: the new clear and concise Missing Persons Page
MANITOBA Cops should bill justice system for revolving door of arrests
By Tom Brodbeck ,Winnipeg Sun First posted: Thursday, January 31, 2013 There’s a simple solution to the rising costs of policing in Winnipeg.
Police should start billing the justice system for the additional costs they incur re- arresting the same people over and over again, whether they’re released on bail or allowed back into the community on some type of conditional release.
17 Because the reality is, that’s where a lot of police resources are gobbled up — chasing down, re-arresting and processing the same individuals time and time again.
The city is paying a U.S. consulting firm $174,000 to try to find efficiencies within the police service. They’ll tinker around the edges and tell city bureaucrats things they already know. But it won’t amount to much. And it won’t solve the problem of skyrocketing police budgets.
One of the key drivers behind soaring police costs is the amount of time police spend re-arresting people they’ve already collared and brought before the courts.
Police investigate crimes, make arrests and work with the prosecutions branch to lay appropriate charges.
It’s an expensive process. But it’s even pricier when those same criminals re- offend after they’ve been released into the community — either too early or inappropriately — and police are forced to chase them down all over again.
Police agencies not only get stuck with the bill to cover those added expenses, they get criticized for their rapidly growing operating costs.
So maybe it’s time for police agencies like the Winnipeg Police Service to start billing the provincial and federal governments for all costs associated with the re- arrest of people released on bail, recognizance, or early release — including parole, statutory release or any other conditional release — who violate court orders or who re-offend.
In exchange for billing senior levels of government for re-arrests, the province could eliminate all direct funding it provides to the WPS, including the 153 police officers the provincial government now pays for.
That way the senior levels of government would be held financially responsible and politically accountable for their decisions. And police would be held responsible for the initial costs of investigating crimes and bringing wrongdoers before the courts.
It’s unknown how much of the police’s $243-million budget is spent on re- arresting people cops have already collared. Police don’t track those figures. But we do know it makes up a significant portion of their workload.
We report almost daily on how police are searching for criminals who have violated their court orders or re-offended after early release. Crime Stoppers is filled with examples on a regular basis of criminals on the lamb for re-offending after being released too early into the community.
Yet it’s cops who are burdened with tracking down those criminals again and it’s the police who have to absorb the added costs of doing so.
18 Well, you can’t have it both ways. You can’t support the revolving-door system of justice and allow criminals back on the street on a perpetual basis and then criticize police for requiring more resources to re-capture those same habitual offenders.
If the provincial and federal governments choose to release repeat offenders back into the community on a revolving-door basis, they should have to pay the cost of re-arresting them.
If police were able to bill for the extra work they’re forced to do, the province and the feds would begin to re-evaluate how they release people into the community. Money talks. And when any level of government is forced to pay for the costs associated with their own policies, they begin to re-assess very quickly.
Not only would taxpayers save money by substantially reducing the costs of re- arresting and processing the same criminals over and over again, our streets would be safer, too.
Sounds like a win-win to me.
Winnipeg police union slams operational review U.S. consulting firm not concerned about safety, association says CBC News Posted: Jan 28, 2013 3:21 PM CST Last Updated: Jan 28, 2013 6:02 PM CST The union representing Winnipeg's police officers say they're upset with a planned operational review of the police service.
The association said Monday that they're disappointed the review will be conducted by Matrix Consulting Group, a U.S.-based firm "which is known for their lack of concern for safety when making deep cuts to police organizations," according to a release.
The consultants started working on the review in Winnipeg on Monday and the association says it has "little confidence this will be an open and fair process."
"I feel strongly that this could have been a healthy exercise with a Canadian firm that would not guide itself by American safety standards," association president Mike Sutherland said in the release.
"Including all stakeholders would have been a healthy approach and would give Winnipeggers the confidence that changes will only come if their safety is preserved."
River Heights-Fort Garry Coun. John Orlikow is also expressing his concerns that the consultants have no Canadian experience and police association members have not been consulted.
19 The police association says the timing of the review is premature, given a new police chief has recently started his tenure, and a new board will be implemented in the near future.
The City of Winnipeg hired Matrix in part because it has conducted more than 250 similar police reviews in other cities, a city spokesperson told CBC News.
The spokesperson added that a Matrix employee has also been part of Winnipeg's law enforcement accreditation team and is therefore familiar with how the police service operates.
ONTARIO McAlpine act within the rules By Pete Fisher, Northumberland Today Monday, January 28, 2013 2:32:48 EST PM
PORT HOPE - The Port Hope Police Services Board said the chief of the Port Hope Police Service has acted within the procedures of the board regarding recent hirings and promotions.
Recently Chief Kevin McAlpine signed an extension for his contract that expires in April 2015.
McAlpine was 59 years old when he was sworn in as police chief in 2010.
The Chief of Police has a long list of accomplishment’s over his nearly four decades of policing which started in 1972 - including being both the Chief of Peterborough and Durham Regional Police Service. In 2005 he became a professor at Durham College involved in teaching justice and emergency planning.
Recently a promotion process took place for the police service regarding the position of acting staff sergeant.
Though traditionally with other police services, a panel of three are on the committee to choose a successful applicant, in this case, in a release put out by the service, Chief McAlpine was a one-man committee for the internal competition including interviews of the Sergeants applying for the position.
“(This was due to) time constraints - and no one else was available but me,” said McAlpine during an interview on Friday.
McAlpine said selecting a person for the position of “acting” staff sergeant is not an uncommon decision for a chief to make solely.
20 For a panel of three to be on a committee, McAlpine said there would only be Deputy Chief Hull and himself.
“We haven’t got a panel of three to start with.”
But Cobourg Police Service over the last several years uses a committee of three, two from the service, and one from outside the service of equal or higher rank for the position.
“If we were actually promoting a staff sergeant full bore, no “acting” and had no time constraints then presumably the deputy and I - we might well do the same thing.”
But the intent of the position of staff sergeant will most likely lead to retaining that position, inspector, or deputy chief.
“The Board has not decided at what rank the second in command of the Port Hope Police Service is going to be,” said McAlpine.
“Under the Police Services Act if the board decides that’s going to be a deputy chief, then that is their selection and process, not mine. If they decide it’s going to be lower than deputy chief then that falls to me.”
“Until that decision is made, I can’t predict the outcome.”
Previously when the service promoted sergeants in the service, there were a panel of three on the committee for the process and interviews.
The new acting staff sergeant was chosen on Jan. 4 and will take over in an acting capacity as second-in-command of the police service on March 1.
Since the McAlpine has been Chief of Police for Port Hope, he has been on a panel of three where two of the constables who were hired, were his former students.
But McAlpine doesn’t think it was a conflict of interest.
“They were the best applicants.”
Although someone who applied for an advertised constable position may think they have a lower chance of getting the position knowing the chief sits on the committee that makes the decision.
“At some point people have to make decisions on their choices and my job at the end of the day is to recommend candidates to the board for appointment. Whether I participate in the competition or not, I’m still the final sign-off.”
“Probably the next time we’re hiring recruits I won’t participate, probably until the final decision-making process.”
21 McAlpine said the police service is a “small organization” and sometimes it comes down to whomever is available to participate.
“You can’t be pulling people out of the front line - you still have to do the police work.”
Although the two officers hired are “top notch,” the chief admits in the future the process will be different.
When asking Police Services Board chair Liz Stewart if the board was aware of McAlpine solely conducting the process in deciding the acting staff sergeant and if they knew McAlpine was the former teacher of two of the constables and he was on the hiring committee, Stewart would only say, “The only comment I can add is that the chief has full operational authority under the Act and works within the procedures of the board.”
Ottawa Police Teddy Bear Program celebrates 3 years
01/02/2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, February 1, 2013 9:00am
(Ottawa)—In February, the Ottawa Police Service Teddy Bear Program is celebrating its three year anniversary since its re-launch in 2010.
Made possible thanks to the generous donations of the public and the staff at several Bridgehead Coffee Shops, the Program equips all Ottawa Police cruisers with teddy bears in their trunks to be used to comfort children at traumatic and stressful calls.
When giving out teddy bears, officers are asked to complete a comment card to record the recipient and circumstance. Below are some excerpts from cards returned by officers:
Custody dispute - mother of child assaulted by ex-mother-in-law. Child extremely upset. Child immediately stopped crying when given bear & gave bear a hug. - Girl, age 2
Verbal dispute between man and woman who share son. Son was upset at first but had a big smile when he got his “Police Bear” & gave us a high five when we left. - Boy, age 2
22 Severely autistic child became very violent and uncontrollable when he saw police attend. I gave him his new bear “Dave” to let him know that police often help people in need. The boy fell asleep clutching “Dave”. - Boy, age 7
The Program is funded 100% by donations. If you’d like to make a donation, please email [email protected].
For more information on the Teddy Bear Program, please visit ottawapolice.ca/teddybear.
Police overtime up, service calls down
By Ronald Zajac, Recorder and Times Wednesday, January 30, 2013 10:17:45 EST AM
The cost of overtime for city police rose again last year – by roughly the same percentage as calls for service went down.
Year-end statistics for 2012, which the police services board plans to discuss at its regular meeting tomorrow, show spending on overtime rose by 4.85 per cent from 2011 to 2012, while the number of calls for service dropped by 4.68 per cent.
“Calls have gone down, historically. Overtime is up. How come?” asked Mayor David Henderson.
The latest statistics come as a subcommittee of the police board continues to look for cost savings in the wake of Henderson's call for an Ontario Provincial Police costing.
“My assumption is that the subcommittee is addressing that question among many others,” said Henderson, who sits on the police services board.
City council plans to discuss the OPP costing motion in April.
The police board also expects to discuss a motion from city council reducing the police budget by $100,000.
The latest figures show 2012 overtime spending exceeding the budgeted amount by nearly $100,000, or 30 per cent. When the actual spending for 2012 is compared to the 2011 actual, however, the increase is 4.85 per cent.
The figures include “service duties,” which take up the lion's share of overtime expenses, as well as court duties and court services.
The continuing increase in overtime costs did not cause an overall budget overrun, because the added expenses were offset by higher-than-expected revenues from criminal record checks.
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Meanwhile, the year-end stats show a decrease in calls for service of 573 from 2011 to 2012, or a 4.68-per-cent drop.
The numbers alone don't tell the whole story, said Police Chief John Gardiner.
Certain types of investigation, including sexual assaults, require lengthy investigations, noted the chief, adding this is not reflected in the calls for service data.
The difference between calls for service and overtime “has to be very, very significant before you could compare those two together.”
Brockville Police Association president Const. Tom Nappo agreed. Over the past decade, police officers have seen an increase in the amount of paperwork they must complete when dealing with certain types of incidents, such as domestic assaults or impaired driving, said Nappo.
Overtime also increases when officers are off for health and disability reasons, or other factors, said Nappo.
“It's not like we’re in a case where we can refuse overtime, because there has to be a minimum complement,” he said.
Gardiner said the police board has asked him to put a plan together to reduce overtime, but often, because policing is an emergency service, it is inevitable.
“Overtime is part of doing business in policing,” he said.
Regardless of overtime, staffing costs at the police force are expected to go up sharply this year. The 2013 police budget calls for a nine per cent increase in salaries and benefits, the result of the catch-up Brockville must do in keeping with its collective agreement with police officers.
This is the last year of that four-year agreement, when the salary for uniformed officers will be based on the average salary of four comparator police forces: Stratford, Owen Sound, LaSalle, Ont. (near Windsor) and Kawartha Lakes.
As of Tuesday, it was too early to tell what that average might be, said Nappo, since only the Kawartha Lakes police had settled.
FACT BOX
WORKING OVERTIME
In 2012, the overall police overtime budget was $315,000, while actual expenses totalled $409,559, an overrun of 30 per cent.
In 2011, the overtime budget was the same, while actual spending amounted to $390,604.
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The increase in actual spending between the two years is 4.85 per cent.
In 2012, there were 11,677 calls for service, compared to 12,250 the year before, a decrease of 4.68 per cent.
January 27, 2013 Toronto’s Billy Bishop airport needs own police force, says Port Authority By Staff Torstar News Service The Toronto Port Authority wants hired guns to police the island airport.
The TPA’s proposal, which is almost unheard of in Ontario, includes staffing the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport with nine armed special constables between 6 a.m. and midnight seven days a week.
The TPA says it would use the constables to assist investigations, respond to alarm calls and enhance current security services.
But perhaps more importantly, the port authority needs armed officers so that it can operate a preclearance area for U.S. customs, a requirement under federal aviation regulations.
Porter Airlines has been negotiating to bring U.S. customs to the island airport since last year.
“You have to have an armed officer at the screening points because U.S. customs workers aren’t allowed to carry weapons in Canada,” said Angus Armstrong, harbour master and chief of security for the port authority.
“We’re looking at the possibility of having Toronto police or reviving the port police,” said Armstrong. The port police were armed special constables who worked for the Harbour Commission in the 1980s, he said.
Cost is definitely a factor for the port authority, which has to foot the bill either way.
Armstrong said his organization is looking at all the options, but there “may be [a] cost saving for us to go with our own special constables.” One figure being mentioned is that using Toronto police would cost the TPA $2.8 million.
In Ontario, special constables usually receive some police training and are given the status of peace officers. The constables are employed by the organizations that hire them, which in Toronto include Toronto Community Housing, the University of Toronto and, until recently, the TTC.
25 Special constables aren’t allowed to carry guns with one exception — the Niagara Parks Police Service, which has jurisdiction over all Niagara Parks Commission land as well as the 56 kilometres of parkway that runs through it.
That decision was made by the Niagara Police Services Board, said Douglas Kane, police chief of the Niagara Parks Police Service. Kane says the board has the power under Section 53 of the Police Services Act to determine which use-of- force options special constables can deploy.
The service dates back more than 125 years and its members have always carried guns, he said. Its special constables are also the only ones in the province who receive the same training as police officers.
The proposal by the port authority narrowly squeaked through last week’s police board meeting after Councillor Michael Thompson deferred a report by Chief Bill Blair that said the police board should turn it down.
Thompson wants to delay a decision until he gets more information from the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.
“I’d like to understand from [the] ministry if they’d support the plan,” said Thompson, who is the board’s vice-chair. “I’m not familiar if it’s done anywhere else.”
According to Blair’s report to the board, the chief feels “a dedicated armed police presence was required at the airport.” But he said after Wednesday’s meeting that he was not going to say yes to special constables carrying guns.
“There is no precedent in Ontario for special constables to carry guns and I’m not recommending it to the board that they should do that,” said Blair.
The island airport has unarmed security guards. Armstrong says there is a police presence there as well but he isn’t at liberty to say where and when. He emphasized that the island airport is safe.
“We can’t state a lot about security at the airport,” said Armstrong. “We’re very sensitive to that.”
At Pearson, passengers going to the U.S. clear that country’s customs in both Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 to accommodate different airlines. The areas are secured by armed officers from Peel Regional Police, who have a division at the airport and who are on-site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to a GTAA spokesperson.
Meanwhile, the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police has asked the ministry to review the special constable programs.
“Police services boards authorize special constables, but then have very little control over them,” said the association’s spokesperson Joe Couto.
26 There is no oversight by the Special Investigations Unit or the Office of the Independent Police Review Director.
Another issue, he said, is how special constables look in terms of uniforms and cars. There is “some public confusion over what is a special constable and what is a police officer, who have different roles and responsibilities,” he said.
“Public confidence needs to be addressed.”
Making a Difference: Toronto police dog services Global News : Monday, January 28, 2013 4:23 PM
Toronto Police Dog Services was formed in 1989, to help officers in the Greater Toronto Area use the human-animal bond as a special tool to capture criminals.
In 1996, the unit relocated to its permanent canine training and operational facility in East York.
It is now the largest Municipal police dog service unit in Canada, staffing thirty two dogs of many breeds and twenty two handlers.
“The handler’s responsibility is to trust their dogs. This is where all your training unfolds, when they’re operationally out in the streets,” Sergeant Paul Caissie, Chief Instructor of the Toronto Police Dog Service Unit said. “And to work with their well-trained canine partner to ensure that at the end of the day that they have success on the calls, and also that they go home safe.”
Both handlers and dogs form a team and start a fifteen week training course, where they learn about obedience, agility, tracking, area searches, handler protection and criminal apprehension.
Dogs are chosen based on good health, temperament and training ability. These factors are important for a canine to carry out and succeed at specific tasks.
“I’ve been working with Jetta since 2009. She’s a German shepherd, a female dog, and her responsibility is to basically track people, work on human scent,” Constable John Massey, canine handler of Toronto Police Dog Services said. “We’re both motivated. Motivated to do our job, motivated to get out there and catch the bad guy!”
Caissie discussed the unique bond between handlers and dogs.
“Not only do you spend eight to ten hours a day with that dog at work, that you also spend the remaining hours of the day with that dog...even more than your significant others at home,” Caissie said.
27 Massey is also honoured to work with the only female dog in the service.
“There’s only a handful of people that actually get to come and work in this unit and get to you know, work with their pal and go home with their pal at the end of the day, and it’s an amazing experience,” Massey said.
Toronto police’s Wanted Wednesday nets perfect arrest rate for January Toronto police’s 55 Division had a perfect success rate for its new initiative “Wanted Wednesday” this month after three people profiled in January were arrested as of Sunday.
By: Jennifer Pagliaro News reporter, Published on Mon Jan 28 2013 The Star It’s the list no one wants to be on. Toronto police’s 55 Division had a perfect success rate this month for its new initiative, “Wanted Wednesday,” after three accused men profiled in January were arrested. The latest, Aaron Wood, 24, of Toronto, was arrested Sunday, police said.
“We realized we’ve got a whole bunch of warrants, people who are wanted,” said Const. Rob McDonald, a social media officer with the Criminal Investigations Bureau at 55 Division, which covers the area south of Danforth Ave., between the Don Valley Parkway and Victoria Park Ave. “We thought, well how can we start addressing these in a more proactive way?”
Enter the weekly digest, sent out as a news release and pushed on social media, profiling a person with an outstanding warrant for their arrest. Since the initiative launched last September, 18 people have been profiled and 11 arrested, a 61-per-cent success rate.
They’ve been wanted for armed robbery, attempted murder and assault. “Sometimes it’s our officers tracking them down,” McDonald said, adding that probation officers have also twigged to outstanding warrants and family members will urge loved ones to turn themselves in.
In one case, a man named Holden Keys was profiled, sought on 14 counts of theft and fraud. He turned himself in the next day, McDonald said. “Literally he walked in the front door of our station and said, ‘I’m your Wanted Wednesday.’ ” McDonald said distributing the information through social media fuels public interest in ongoing cases and sends a message to those facing warrants to turn themselves in or risk becoming the next face of Wanted Wednesday.
“It’s taken off better than I thought it would,” McDonald said. “The numbers have been very encouraging.”
He said the initiative is not force-wide, with individual crime management teams taking their own approach.
28 “We’re running with it,” he said.
Chatham Police Chief honoured for work starting CrimeStoppers locally
By Diana Martin, Chatham Daily News Wednesday, January 30, 2013 8:14:00 EST PM
From its humble beginnings 25 years ago, the Chatham-Kent CrimeStoppers can boast over $93 million in recovered stolen property and drugs taken off the street.
“I had no idea it would evolve to be the program it is today,” said Police Chief Dennis Poole. “We're really proud of the program.”
Poole was recognized for his involvement in starting the program locally in 1987 at the annual C-K CrimeStoppers appreciation luncheon, Wednesday. The Daily News and other local media were also honoured at the event for getting the message about CrimeStoppers out to local residents.
Poole said the technological advances today are a far cry from an answering machine and a tiny makeshift office he started with in the late 1980s.
“Every time I left the office I worried about missing the phone call that would provide a tip that would lead to the arrest of the robber of the variety store, or the sexual assault that had occurred the week before,” said Poole.
The launch of a new Quick Response Code a few months ago has increased the opportunity for tipsters to provide information to the program.
“I think we had 205 text tips (and) around 125 emails,” said Doug Goldsmith, police coordinator for C-K CrimeStoppers. “The majority still come in by telephone, but we're seeing an increase in email tips and text tips.”
Goldsmith said the QR offers a secure avenue for tipsters who use their smart phones as their main line of communication.
In 2012 the program logged 762 calls, 107 arrests from those calls and 200 charges resulting in $1.4 million in recovered stolen property and drugs being seized.
Poole said the code will be featured on police vehicles allowing for a quick scan to smart phones allowing witnesses a quick and easy way to file tips.
“Let’s say we had a stabbing in downtown Ridgetown, or downtown Chatham, there may be citizens out there who witnessed that who don't want to be involved,” said Poole.
29 From the code a user simply clicks a button to file a witness tip by text or upload a picture of those involved without divulging their identity. .
“It gives us the lead we may need to make an arrest,” Poole said. “They don't have to be directly involved. They were right there at the time and we get a tip in real time.”
Poole appreciated the recognition of his contribution to the program but was quick to mention a number of people who've made it grow and flourish through the decades.
“I didn't expect that, and I really don't deserve that,” he said. “For me it's one of those lucky things in life, and a lucky thing in my career to have experienced.”
Police Services Board re-elected by acclamation Thursday, January 31, 2013 10:42:59 EST AM Kenora Daily Miner and News
Representation on the Kenora Police Service Board remains unchanged following elections Jan. 30. Re-elected by acclamation, the three-member board will continue as before composed of Chairman Colin Wasacase as municipal representative, Vice Chair Glenda McMillan as provincial appointee and Mayor Dave Canfield representing city council. Paulette Grouda will continue to serve as police board secretary.
Overtime attributed to homicide investigation
In response to questions by the board regarding police overtime for December, OPP S/Sgt. Paul Van Bellieghem attributed the additional hours to a homicide investigation in the Lakeside district of South Kenora, Dec. 15.
“(Crime scene investigation) is very complicated, we want to ensure we get things right and it takes time,” Van Bellieghem said.
He noted although overtime hours totaled 1,047 for December, compared to 425 for November, the actual billing to the city for the month is for 399 overtime hours at 1.5 times the hourly rate. According to the OPP contract with the city, specialized services including those provided by the Forensic Identification Unit, Regional Crime Unit, Canine Unit as well as additional uniformed officers called in to ‘fill the gaps’ while the investigation is underway are not charged to the city.
“For this type of offense and circumstance we are very careful to ensure over time hours recorded are directly related to the investigation of the crime,” Van Bellieghem said.
Property crimes down in December
30 Board members reviewing the monthly police report Wednesday noted the incidence of property crime was down in December compared to November, including break and enter (3-5), auto theft (1-2), theft under $5,000 (17-24) and mischief (8-10). The total number of calls for police assistance was slightly higher in December compared to November at 1,038 and 1,020 calls respectively.
S/Sgt. Paul Van Bellieghem attributed the drop to a combination of factors including outreach programs involving OPP community policing officers, foot patrols, school programs and Neighbourhood Watch. He noted programs focusing on neighbourhoods where the greatest incidence of criminal activity occurs have proven successful.
“The community contributes to that as well,” he said, referring to social programs and the OPP After School program where community service officers engage youth in activities.
Fire safety program
Mayor Dave Canfield raised a question regarding OPP school programs following the intentionally set wildfire in a wooded area between Valley Drive and Airport Road in September and another in the vicinity of King George VI School the same day.
The mayor noted if not for weather conditions and the Ministry of Natural Resource’s rapid response in deploying two heavy waterbombers to attack the blaze, nearby residential neighbourhoods could have been destroyed.
“If the wind had gone the other way it could have been another Slave Lake,” he said.
The mayor referred to recent discussions with the Ministry of Natural Resources regarding the fire and the fact that the ministry no longer has the resources to deliver ‘Smokey the Bear’ style forest fire safety courses to local schools. He wondered if OPP may be able to present a similar program to students.
S/Sgt. Paul Van Bellieghem agreed, acknowledging the incident had the potential to develop into a real disaster as well as alerting police to the logistics of traffic control and other issues related to school and neighbourhood evacuations.
He suggested an appropriate in-school program on carelessness and the consequences of wildfire is something OPP community service officers could look into in consultation with Kenora Fire and Emergency Services.
Rising police cost concerns
Mayor Dave Canfield referred to rising police cost as a matter of concern not only to Kenora city council but many regional municipalities. He said the issue will be addressed at an upcoming meeting of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. He anticipates having further information for the board at its next meeting, scheduled for March 6.
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According to the monthly financial report, OPP policing costs came in substantially less than estimated since the provincial force assumed policing responsibilities for the City of Kenora. In 2010 actual costs amounted to $5.83 million compared to an estimated cost of $6.42 million. In 2011, the actual cost was $6.17 million compared to the estimate of $6.69 million. The estimated annual cost for 2012 is $6.81 million with actual cost figures forthcoming. The estimated cost of OPP policing for 2013 is $6.78 million.
Ottawa police talk race before starting mandated racial study
Thursday, January 31, 2013 By Shaamini yogaretnam, Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — When Aisha Sherazi goes into schools to do outreach programs on race and diversity, almost no one guesses that the Muslim woman who wears a hijab was born in England.
“Assumptions are very important here,” Sherazi, a member of Ottawa’s Community and Police Action Committee and the Traffic Stop Race Data Collection Project advisory committee, told more than 150 people Thursday night at the last of the Ottawa Police Service’s planned consultation phases before beginning an Ontario Human Rights Commission-mandated study on racial profiling at traffic stops.
“The reality is that racial profiling exists in society and therefore can exist in policing,” said Chief Charles Bordeleau.
Though police officers themselves will catalogue the races of people they pullover during traffic stops beginning in April, the people gathered at the roundtable discussions Thursday evening agreed that the categories of racial groups might present an issue.
The categories Ottawa police will use are Aboriginal peoples, white, black, East Asian and southeast Asian, South Asian and west Asian and other visible minorities. People wondered where bi-racial individuals would fall and how police would know whether someone was southeast Asian or Latin American. The latter would fall into the category of other visible minorities.
But as researchers from York University, the team conducting the study, pointed out, police perceptions will matter most to the study.
“Perception is where the action is when it comes to racial profiling,” said researcher Lesley Jacobs.
The project, the largest of its kind in Canada, is supposed to help Ottawa police provide bias-free policing.
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The head of the research team, Lorne Foster, said that while 46 of 50 states in the U.S. engage in racial profiling studies either voluntarily or because of legislation, Canada hasn’t followed suit.
In December, Ottawa police launched an online questionnaire for feedback on how to conduct the project and followed that with a “Tweet Chat” in January.
The study is part of a settlement between the Ontario Human Rights Commission and Ottawa police after an Ottawa man alleged he was pulled over for being black and driving a high-end luxury car.
Chad Aiken, then 18, was driving his mother’s Mercedes-Benz in 2005 when police pulled him over. Aiken alleged that an Ottawa police officer punched him and threw him to the ground.
The Traffic Stop Race Data Collection Project is expected to last two years and will cost $400,000. Researchers expect the data to be based on nearly 50,000 traffic stops per year.
Update: CRCs to streamline collision reporting process, clear roadways quicker
Monday, January 28, 2013 12 p.m.
(Ottawa)–As the first step towards a faster and more streamlined approach to processing collisions, eMVC software is being installed in all Ottawa Police cars to process motor vehicle collision reports (MVC) electronically.
“We are currently providing training on the new software to all officers who respond to collisions,” said project coordinator Acting Inspector Sandra McLaren. “We have been using the software in a pilot project and have seen time reductions in the processing of collisions on our roadways.”
The other phases of the CRC project are also under development and will further reduce wait times in relation to collisions.
Effective today, a new fee structure is being implemented, as outlined in the 2013 budget, to reflect cost recovery of producing a MVC report.
“We are working on an Automated Purchase Program (APP) for subscribing insurance companies to automatically receive electronic MVC reports at a volume price,” said Acting Inspector McLaren. “This purchasing system will result in insurance companies receiving collision reports more quickly to process their claims.”
33 Program subscribers will be provided MVC reports at a cost of $45 each. For insurance companies who do not use the APP, or individual purchases, the cost for a MVC report will be $157.
When the CRC program is fully implemented, collisions without injuries and where vehicles are driveable or towable can be reported within 24 hours at one of three CRCs in the City. They will be located at 474 Elgin Street, 211 Huntmar Drive and 3343 St. Joseph Boulevard and open seven days a week to ensure easy access and convenience for drivers.
“The annual projected cost to process 18,000 motor vehicle collisions is $3 million, or $167 per report,” advises Acting Inspector McLaren. “The new fee structure enables Ottawa Police to recover 50-60% of total collision reporting costs.”
Taking effect January 28, 2013 and until the full launch of the CRC’s in June 2013, individual reports will be distributed at the reduced rate of $157. Once CRC’s are launched and photographs are included in the CRC report packages, the $167 fee will apply.This is expected to represent about 20 per cent of report distribution.
OPP contract costs jump 5.76%
By Morgan Ian Adams, Enterprise-Bulletin Thursday, January 31, 2013 11:26:17 EST AM
COLLINGWOOD — The town has agreed to a new five-year contract with the Ontario Provincial Police that will see policing costs increase this year by 5.76%.
At a special council meeting on Wednesday, councillors were presented with two options for the new contract: one that would retain existing staff levels, and a second that would see one fewer officer.
The contract, in 2013, will be more than $5.7 million, an increase of $313,000 from $5.4 million in 2012.
For the average homeowner, it works out to an extra $34.
However, councillors were warned to brace for bigger increases, as officer salaries will likely jump about 8% in 2014. The union representing rank-and-file officers accepted a three year deal that saw wages frozen for the first two years; however, a clause in the contract guarantees officers will be the province's highest paid force at the end of the three-year term.
That possibility worries Deputy-mayor Rick Lloyd, who is in charge of the town’s budget committee.
34 “Any increase is a concern, and here we have an unknown in the future,” he said. “I would hope the provincial government takes a look at these arbitration arrangements, as they could cripple the ability of municipalities to afford (services).”
The second option would have been about $160,000 more in 2013, or a 2.94% increase.
Inspector John Trude told council that he was in favour of retaining the status quo for the next five years.
He said if council choose the second option, it would likely mean the loss of the crime prevention position; the officer in that position works with a variety of community groups.
The current complement at the Collingwood detachment is 82 uniformed officers — including 52 constables; those officers also cover The Blue Mountains. There are also 18 auxiliary officers, and just under 20 civilian employees — including 10 prisoner guards to monitor when individuals are in the detachment’s cells.
About 1,400 people annually get lodged in a cell, usually for no more than a day depending on the circumstances of their arrest.
In spite of what could come down the road, Lloyd said he was still happy with the deal with the OPP.
“In the scheme of things, the contract is a fair contract,” he said. “Based on the history of what we have been paying, we’re getting a good deal.
“It doesn’t cut the complement of officers, which is important to maintaining a level of public safety.”
“I think the population is going to increase, and we need to maintain the policing services we have,” noted Councillor Mike Edwards.
Maich, Hammell re-elected to Halton police services board Inside Halton January 30 2013
The leaders of the Halton Regional Police Services Board have been re-elected to their positions.
Robert Maich and Randy Hammell were re-elected as board chairman and vice- chairman respectively at the Jan. 24 police services board meeting,
It is Maich’s seventh year serving as chairman and the third year as vice- chairman for Hammell.
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Maich was first appointed to the board in September 2005 and is also a member of the Ontario Association of Police Services Boards (OAPSB) Board of Directors.
Hammell was appointed in March 2007.
“I am honoured to be leading the police services board again as we head into what promises to be another very positive year for community engagement and involvement with policing in Halton,” Maich said in a press release.
“We will be consulting the community on our 2014-16 Corporate Business Plan outlining policing priorities in the region for the next three years. The board is eager to hear from the public in that regard,” added Maich.
The Halton Regional Police Services Board is a seven-member civilian board that oversees the Halton Regional Police Service. The board’s mandate is to ensure the community is policed effectively and that any and all policing standards issued by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services are complied with.
The fundamental responsibility of the board is to provide oversight on the delivery of police services in Halton.
QUEBEC Police to step up training for mental-health crises
BY CHRISTOPHER CURTIS, THE GAZETTE JANUARY 31, 2013
MONTREAL — Social workers and psychiatrists will train dozens of Montreal police over the next two years to improve their interactions with people who suffer from mental illness.
The training is part of the force’s ambitious three-year mental health action plan announced Thursday. It is the first such policy to be adopted by Montreal police, who receive an average of about 33,000 calls related to mental-health crises each year.
“When our officers respond to someone in a crisis situation, more often than not we’re talking about a victim, someone who is suffering something truly unpleasant,” said Fady Dagher, a community relations chief with the Montreal police. “Until recently, our officers simply didn’t have the tools to react to these kinds of situations. But we’re working with mental-health experts; we’re educating our officers.”
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About 54 cops from downtown precincts will undergo a 30-hour course from workers at the Centres de santé et de services sociaux (CSSS) resource centres. The officers are placed into simulations that recreate the kinds of scenarios they might face when dealing with someone who may suffer from delirium or other afflictions.
After repeated drills, the cops are debriefed by a team of CSSS specialists and encouraged to share their feelings about the simulation.
“An important part of the training is also for the officers to learn more about their own emotions and how to control them,” Dagher told The Gazette. “Sometimes we like to keep certain things ‘in house,’ but Lord knows that if there’s one area where we should reach out to other groups like the CSSS to learn more, this is it.”
About 700 police have received similar training and at least one person in every precinct will take the course to become a kind of go-between for officers and mental-health resource centres.
Recent events have underscored the importance of equipping the city’s police with tools to help the mentally ill. Since 2011, at least two interventions involving men in a crisis situation ended with the use of lethal force.
Mario Hamel was shot and killed by police in June 2011, after he was seen wielding a knife near a busy downtown intersection. The 40-year-old homeless man had a well-documented history of mental illness and was seen charging at police before they opened fire on him.
The following January, police fatally wounded another homeless man after he slashed one officer with an X-acto knife. Workers at a nearby shelter said the victim, 34-year-old Farshad Mohammadi, struggled with schizophrenia.
Montreal police chief Marc Parent talks about the initiative
Since Montreal police chief Marc Parent took the reins in 2010, the department has taken a number of steps to create alternative strategies for the city’s marginalized populations. Under the new chief’s leadership, the police force expanded its homeless intervention task force.
The six cops on duty for the Équipe mobile de référence et d’intervention en itinérance (EMRII) follow about 100 of the Montreal’s most troubled homeless people closely. Some officers will spend an entire shift accompanying an itinerant to a detox clinic, they’ll help people find subsidized housing or simply offer them a sandwich and a friendly ear.
Most importantly, Parent said, the police work alongside nurses, psychologists and street workers who share their knowledge and techniques with the officers. Though the relationship between law enforcement and the homeless remains
37 troublesome, EMRII’s work has been heralded by community groups throughout Montreal.
“EMRII’s success inspired us to spend more time sharing our expertise and improving our competence in the field of mental health,” Parent said. “We want to end the revolving-door phenomenon, where we keep arresting or intervening with the same people again and again. We want to be compassionate, to be helpful, to give these people the treatment they need.”
Last summer, the police department launched a pilot project that saw three officers working alongside CSSS mental health experts to improve the force’s practices. So far, the Équipe de soutien en urgences psychosociales (ESUP) has fielded 575 crisis calls and redirected about 515 of them to appropriate health care facilities.
“Police and health care specialists aren’t usually two groups that work closely together,” said Dr. Jean-Bernard Trudeau, a psychiatrist who works closely with ESUP. “But we have to build bridges because we’re working with the same patients and we both want to lend them a helping hand.”
NEW BRUNSWICK
NOVA SCOTIA
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND Ways to reduce impaired driving to be focus of upcoming summit January 31, 2013 The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal is bringing together local leaders and decision-makers to develop ways to help combat impaired driving on Island roads, says minister Robert Vessey.
“Impaired driving happens far too often on our roads and needlessly puts Islanders’ lives at risk,” said the minister. “Bringing together this diverse group of Islanders will assist us in developing made-in-Prince Edward Island solutions for this inexcusable crime.”
The one-day summit will be held February 13 in Charlottetown and include representatives of the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, RCMP, municipal police forces, MADD Canada and local chapters, Addiction Services, and the Department of Environment, Labour and Justice. The summit
38 will focus on tangible, effective solutions that can be implemented by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal to reduce instances of impaired driving and keep impaired drivers off Island roads.
The summit follows changes made in the fall to the Highway Traffic Act to stiffen penalties for impaired drivers. These changes, which will be proclaimed into law in the coming days, include mandatory participation in the ignition inter-lock program for all convicted impaired drivers and tougher vehicle impoundment penalties. These changes make Prince Edward Island’s legislation among the most progressive in the country.
“As minister responsible for highway safety, I recognize our good work can’t stop here. We must continue to do more to stop people from driving after drinking or taking drugs,” said minister Vessey. “This will best be achieved when we work together with all partners, and I look forward to hearing the ideas that will be shared at the summit.”
NEWFOUNDLAND Expansion of 911 in Newfoundland and Labrador on track for 2014 target THE CANADIAN PRESS / FEBRUARY 1, 2013 ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The minister responsible for emergency services in Newfoundland and Labrador says basic 911 services will be expanded in the province by the end of 2014.
Kevin O'Brien says work on province-wide 911 implementation is moving ahead and is on track.
O'Brien says the next step will involve making final decisions on the best model for management of the system and for financing.
He says further consultations are planned with various organizations including the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Fire Services and Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador.
O'Brien says the government will provide an update on its progress by the end of the year.
39 NATIONAL RCMP feared ending gun registry would hurt investigations Published on Tuesday January 29, 2013 Tonda MacCharles Ottawa Bureau Toronto Star OTTAWA—As the Conservative government prepared to abolish the long-gun registry, the RCMP privately expressed concerns about the negative impact that would have on its ability to trace long guns used in crimes, according to government documents.
The RCMP, in a memorandum marked “updated for (newly appointed) Commissioner Paulson — November 2011” and “under consideration for Cabinet Confidence,” outlined “strategic considerations” related to ending the long-gun registry.
Most of those considerations are redacted, or whited out, in the documents released under access legislation, but not the fact that savings from ending the long-gun registry would be minimal nor the fact that there were public safety factors to weigh.
The RCMP said the database of nearly seven million registered nonrestricted firearms is “mature and, in any given year, 95 per cent of the records are static, requiring minimal human resources.
“There will be a relatively small impact on the (Canadian Firearms Program’s) overall activity level and budget.”
The memo said the program works directly with front-line police officers and “plays a key role in tracing the illegal movement and criminal use of firearms both in Canada and abroad.”
“The loss of up-to-date information on nonrestricted firearms may degrade the CFP’s ability to efficiently trace nonrestricted firearms involved in crimes,” it said.
The RCMP said the firearms centre will continue to manage the gun-owner licensing program as well as thousands of court-ordered prohibitions and licence revocations.
That’s already a big job. From 2007 to 2011, more than 2,500 firearms licence applications were refused and more than 10,000 licences were revoked for all kinds of reasons: court-ordered prohibitions, drug offences or domestic violence, questions of mental fitness, and concerns that a person has been judged a risk to himself or others.
40 But the RCMP indicated licence management would be an even tougher task without the long-gun records. “Law enforcement’s ability to guarantee that all nonrestricted firearms have been seized from an individual as a result of court- ordered firearms revocations and prohibitions may be impacted,” said the memo.
It suggested the RCMP may need to allocate more resources to “meet the level of service expected” by police forces here and abroad.
Another undated RCMP memo, similarly marked “under consideration for cabinet confidence,” said any cost savings from eliminating the long-gun registry would go to “enhanced security features” on licence cards “to minimize counterfeiting capabilities and mitigate fraudulent use during the transfer of a nonrestricted firearm.”
It said extra resources would also go to help police investigations associated with “the illegal movement/possession of nonrestricted firearms” and “on firearms tracing since NO records for nonrestricted firearms will be retained in Canada.”
Finally, it said more resources would be provided for chief firearms offices across Canada to help with business inspections, “since no records will be maintained by the business community for nonrestricted firearms.”
The documents show that at one point, in August 2011, RCMP and Public Safety officials discussed questions about hiving off data about long guns — rifles and shotguns — for law enforcement purposes.
“The idea of ‘suppressing’ is to firewall or seal the nonrestricted firearms information so that no one, except possibly the RCMP Firearms Tracing Centre, has the ability to access it. This way police could still access the legacy data with a warrant,” wrote Christina Syme, a Public Safety official, in a query to the RCMP.
The Conservative government, however, advised the Commons last fall it had successfully deleted all data except that related to Quebec long-gun owners — data at the heart of a legal challenge by the Quebec government, which seeks to preserve the records for a provincial gun registry.
The Coalition for Gun Control, which obtained the documents, has raised red flags about the loss of controls over long guns, saying the elimination of gun transfer provisions that would tie long guns to their buyers is alarming.
However, the Conservative government dismissed the concerns in a reply to the Star. “As to the public safety concern, it is a crime punishable by five years in prison to sell a firearm to someone who does not have a licence,” said Toews’ spokeswoman Julie Carmichael in an email Thursday.
A call to RCMP media relations was not returned Monday.
The Star reported last week that ending the long-gun registry was pegged at saving the government only about $2 million a year — far below the “billion dollar” price tag the Conservatives long put on the registry, but within the
41 previously estimated $1.9 million-$4 million figure previously provided by the RCMP to the government.
RCMP launch website to link missing-person reports with unidentified remains
BY JENNIFER SALTMAN, THE PROVINCE FEBRUARY 1, 2013
Among the missing-person reports featured on the new canadasmissing.ca are those of (from left) Lindsey Nicholls, missing since 1993; Richard Ranger, missing since 1999; and Kimberley Ann Amero, missing since 1985. Photograph by: Submitted , canadasmissing.ca The RCMP has launched a new national website aimed at collecting tips and information about cases involving missing people and unidentified remains.
The website, canadasmissing.ca, is operated by the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains.
“This website gives the public a chance to make a difference in finding some of Canada’s missing. Each person who takes the time to visit canadasmissing.ca could help bring a loved one home to their family,” said Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews, in a news release.
Cases posted on the site are from across the country and the information is submitted by police officers, medical examiners or chief coroners. Cases may be added to the website at the request of primary investigators.
“Regardless of how old an investigation is or how insignificant a piece of information may seem, a member of the public may have the one key element needed to successfully solve a case,” the RCMP states.
All tips and information received through the website will be forwarded to the investigating agency.
RCMP snooped on Occupy Ottawa protesters The Canadian Press Posted: Feb 3, 2013 3:36 PM ET Last Updated: Feb 3, 2013 3:35 PM ET The Mounties compiled a dossier on the Occupy Ottawa movement, scouring social media sites and even quizzing campus security after protesters held planning sessions at a university, newly released documents show.
42 Meeting notes show there were also plans to monitor the Confederation Park protest site using a camera mounted to the nearby offices of the National Capital Commission.
The camera is normally pointed at Ottawa's city hall, the notes say. However, the NCC says it does not operate the camera and it did not use the device to monitor the protests from its offices.
The documents show NCC staff did keep close tabs on the makeshift encampment throughout the occupation, snapping dozens of photographs and reporting on the protesters' activities.
Details about the surveillance tactics are only now coming to light, some 14 months after police ousted the Occupy Ottawa protesters from Confederation Park in late November 2011. It took the NCC until last week to provide documents in response to an access-to-information request from The Canadian Press.
The Occupy Wall Street activists who set up camp in New York City's financial district in September 2011 spawned a global movement over what protesters perceived to be the widening social and economic gap separating the wealthiest one per cent from the rest of the population.
Soon similar protests spread to Canadian cities, including Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.
Mounties questioned security about U of O meeting Notes from a meeting held before the Ottawa occupation got underway show there was talk the protesters might also target Parliament Hill, the prime minister's residence at 24 Sussex Drive, the Privy Council Office and the U.S. Embassy.
An RCMP intelligence report says that while a "peaceful demonstration" was expected in Ottawa, "violence and acts of disobedience cannot be discounted."
The report shows the Mounties picked up Occupy Ottawa pamphlets and literature after the protesters met at the University of Ottawa. They also questioned campus security about the number of people in the room.
"Ottawa university security confirmed that there were approximately 50 person's (sic) in attendance at the Oct. 6 planning meeting," the document says.
It is not clear from the report whether any RCMP officers actually attended the meeting, nor whether the Occupy Ottawa planners knew of the Mounties' presence at the university before, during or after the gathering.
Marc-Andre Massie, a spokesman for the RCMP's 'A' Division, which is responsible for the National Capital Region, declined to say whether the protesters knew the Mounties were there.
43 "It would be inappropriate for us to speculate on different types of protest scenarios or intelligence-gathering techniques," he said.
Massie added the force generally tries to work with protesters ahead of and during an event.
"It's common practice," he said. "Police partners respect peaceful protests and always try to maintain, when possible, open dialogue and constant contact with demonstration organizers before and during an event."
Ottawa police prepared a similar intelligence report, which said investigators would be able to tell a lot about what the protesters planned to do by examining the types of sub-groups they formed for specific tasks, such as making posters and banners, handling logistics and providing legal support.
Wesley Wark, an expert in security and intelligence from the University of Toronto, said the RCMP must have deemed the Occupy Ottawa protesters a target worthy of keeping under watch.
"They have a legal mandate to do that, and they have the power to do it," he said.
"I suppose the question is always given that the RCMP has limited resources, and there are lots of threats out there. There must have been a decision at the RCMP headquarters that this was a worthwhile target to pursue."
How the Mounties came to that conclusion is another question.
"Part of the story, I suppose, is their assumption that it wasn't likely to be a violent protest, but that begs the question of, well, why did they devote resources to it then if that was their determination?" Wark said.
"I suppose part of, if you like, the old-fashioned RCMP that they might be trying to change the culture of, was that even if something wasn't felt to be a current threat, it was always a good idea to keep building a dossier on it. And that goes back a long way in the RCMP's history."
The RCMP was not the only organization devoting significant resources to the Occupy Ottawa protest.
The sheer volume of documents released under the access-to-information law suggests the occupation consumed a considerable amount of the NCC's time and resources in October and November 2011.
NCC devoted resources to monitoring protest It is unclear who used the camera on the NCC's building at 40 Elgin St. to monitor the Oct. 15 kick-off rally.
According to a summary of one meeting, "A camera on the NCC building usually monitoring the city hall will be redirected towards the park for live monitoring of the 'rally."'
44
But spokeswoman Kathryn Keyes said the camera, while on the building, doesn't actually belong to the NCC.
"The meeting that you were inquiring about had multiple stakeholders who participated," she said. "The National Capital Commission does not have a camera on the ... property at 40 Elgin." Keyes said she doesn't know who the camera belongs to.
Notes from an earlier meeting, meanwhile, say one of the city's security advisers indicated there were cameras that could look into Confederation Park for "security, damages and management" purposes, but the NCC would first need to allow the city to record on their property.
The documents also reveal the NCC, which owns Confederation Park, fielded dozens of complaints from people upset by the occupation. Concerns were also raised internally about rats, sexual assaults and drugs.
Other reports show police were called in at one point to pick up hundreds of syringes scattered throughout the park. Police evicted the activists in November 2011.
Court Faults RCMP Chief For Firing: ‘No Precedent’ Blacklocks.ca
A policeman fired by the RCMP Commissioner over uncorroborated complaints from an ex-wife has won a court appeal for reconsideration of his case.
“I don’t know of any precedent for this,” said William Gilmour, a Brampton, Ont. lawyer who took the appeal to Federal Court. “We are pleased with this decision immensely.”
The Office of the RCMP Commissioner declined comment.
Corporal Shawn Elhatton was fired for “disgraceful conduct” after his ex-wife complained he was violent and erratic – including a claim that during one argument, Elhatton put her hand on his service firearm, pointed it at his head and said: “If you hate me so much, just shoot me.”
Elhatton denied the allegations, calling them part of a scheme by his ex-wife to gain sole custody of their children.
“He believed there was an abuse of process,” Gilmour said. “He believed there was a serious injustice.”
45 Elhatton’s ex-wife also alleged he punched her leg in an argument at a Saskatoon car wash, and hit her forearm while bickering on vacation in Prince Edward Island in 1998.
An Adjudication Board recommended the policeman’s dismissal in 2005, though a subsequent External Review Committee questioned the allegations and urged a new hearing.
In 2011 then-Commissioner William Elliott fired Elhatton for lacking “core values of professionalism” on the basis of the complaints, though Elhatton submitted evidence suggesting his ex-wife allegedly perjured herself while testifying at his disciplinary hearing.
Elhatton is currently unemployed and living in New Brunswick, his lawyer said.
“The RCMP has not paid him a nickel on his pension,” said Gilmour, a former RCMP member. “The way he was dishonourably discharged, he cannot get a job – all because of the way he was unceremoniously turfed out.”
In ruling the RCMP must reconsider the case, Federal Court Judge Donald Rennie cited “egregious hearsay” against Elhatton, noting the “sole evidence” against him came from his ex-wife and her fiancé.
“The evidence was given in the context of what was obviously a deteriorating marriage, which necessitates a certain caution or scepticism,” wrote Justice Rennie.
The judge sent the case back to the RCMP’s current commissioner, Bob Paulson, for reconsideration.
By Staff
‘Hard to imagine they’ll do anything good’: RCMP may train Saudi Arabia’s ‘cruel’ police Douglas Quan, Postmedia News | Jan 30, 2013 10:00 PM ET | Last Updated: Jan 30, 2013 10:03 PM ET RCMP officials are negotiating with their counterparts in Saudi Arabia to provide training in “investigative techniques,” Postmedia News has learned.
While such a deal could bolster international cooperation and the fight against terrorism, some observers question whether Canada’s national police force should be providing support to the oil-rich kingdom, whose human-rights record has long been criticized.
“Unless they’re going in to revolutionize Saudi police, it’s hard to imagine they’ll do anything good,” said Toby Jones, a professor of Middle East history at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “The Saudis have a terrible record on human rights and police brutality.”
46
Amnesty International’s 2012 report on Saudi Arabia said planned demonstrations were “ruthlessly suppressed.”
“Cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments, particularly flogging, continued to be imposed and carried out. Women and girls faced severe discrimination in law and practice, as well as violence,” the report said.
In 2011, German federal police came under criticism for their involvement in training Saudi Arabian security forces, news media in that country reported.
The federal government has said it is trying to “diversify” its relationship with Saudi Arabia beyond trade and economic interests. This month, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews each held meetings with Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, the interior minister, during a visit to Canada, according to a posting on the Saudi ministry’s website.
Rick Roth, a spokesman for Mr. Baird, said Wednesday the men discussed a number of bilateral and regional issues, including the ongoing crisis in Syria, but declined to elaborate.
Julie Carmichael, a spokeswoman for Mr. Toews, who visited Saudi Arabia in May, 2012, said his meeting focused on “matters related to policing and mutual interests in areas of security.”
Meanwhile, RCMP briefing notes obtained under access-to-information legislation show that the Mounties have been trying to forge closer ties with Saudi police.
A Dubai-based RCMP liaison, who is responsible for 12 Middle East countries, regularly travels to Saudi Arabia for the purposes of “conducting inquiries and cultivating working relationships,” the documents state. Cooperation with Saudi police is described as “very good.”
Don Healy / Postmedia NewsAn RCMP corporal participates in a collision analysis training exercise in 2011 at Regina’s RCMP Academy. In November, 2011, Saudi officials made a formal request to the RCMP-run Canadian Police College — which provides advanced and specialized police training courses and workshops — to establish a memorandum of understanding to provide “various training products.”
RCMP spokesman Sgt. Greg Cox said in an email this week that negotiations are continuing.
“The Canadian Police College (CPC) is in negotiations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to provide investigative technique training to its law enforcement,” he said. “There is no signed agreement in place at this time.”
47 Deputy Commissioner Mike Cabana said the discussions revolve around providing the Saudis with training in evidence collection and software tools for major case management. Sgt. Cox said the force receives many requests to provide training and that law enforcement officers from the Middle East and the Arab peninsula have attended courses on investigative techniques at the Canadian Police College.
The RCMP provides a lot of training to many countries in the world and even some questionable ones If the deal with Saudi Arabia is approved, it would mark the first time the college has delivered training in the Middle East, Sgt. Cox said.
Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former senior manager and intelligence officer at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said the negotiations do not surprise him.
“The RCMP provides a lot of training to many countries in the world and even some questionable ones. For example, the RCMP gave riot-control training to Chinese police in preparation for the Olympics a few years ago,” he said.
Plus, he said, the Saudi royals love the Mounties and their horses.
Mr. Jones, the Rutgers expert, cited an arms-transfer database maintained by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute that showed Canada has sold billions of dollars worth of military equipment, including armoured vehicles, to Saudi Arabia over the last several years.
Cybercrime backlog poses 'significant risk' to RCMP, audit warns
Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press Published Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013 3:47PM EST Last Updated Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013 5:19PM EST
OTTAWA -- Rising cybercrime has left the RCMP program that investigates everything from child pornography to online fraud with a backlog that poses a serious risk to its work, says a newly released audit. The internal audit of the RCMP's technological crime program found a backlog of requests to analyze computing devices -- potentially crucial pieces of evidence -- at all five program units the reviewers visited. "All program managers are concerned that the number of requests for assistance and devices being analyzed by the (program) has been increasing year after year," says the audit report.
"This was identified as a significant risk to the program." The auditors called for "immediate attention" to address the backlog. The RCMP's technological crime program helps with investigations involving organized crime, national security, fraud, hacking, homicide, drugs, child porn and others requiring expertise with digital technology.
48 The program comprises a headquarters branch with various expert teams and 11 technological crime units across the country. The report says the audit was undertaken in recognition of "an increase in criminal activity" involving computers and other electronic devices -- crimes including cyber-fraud perpetrated on unwitting consumers and use of mobile devices to plan illegal operations. The audit was completed last February but only recently made public by the national police force. Portions considered too sensitive to disclose -- including two other problem areas requiring prompt attention -- were withheld by the RCMP. The report also cited a need to "establish and implement clear strategic direction" for the program. In addition, it raised questions about whether Mounties were following the best possible practices to ensure the seized computing devices were secured when left unattended -- a practice necessary to ensure there is no tampering or other corruption of the evidence. In a written response included in the audit report, a senior RCMP officer said the technological crime program finds itself in a period of unprecedented global technological change during an era of austerity, "effectively creating an extremely challenging operating environment." "Furthermore, cybercrime is quickly becoming a phenomenon which has garnered the attention of the public, media, law enforcement and governments around the world," said Line Carbonneau, RCMP deputy commissioner for policing support services. She said while the federal cybersecurity strategy announced in 2010 provided money for administrative help, there was none for front-line investigators to address "gaps in service delivery." Still, she said the Mounties were "committed to addressing the deficiencies" noted in the report. Since the audit, the RCMP has put in place a new system for prioritizing cybercrime case files. In addition, RCMP members can make requests for help from other divisions to reduce the backlog of service calls, the police force said in its most recent annual performance report. The force also said it was moving to improve the handling of electronic exhibits while "ensuring integrity of the evidence." An RCMP spokesman had no immediate comment on the report's findings.
RCMP expanding use of unmanned mini- helicopters
BY DOUGLAS QUAN, POSTMEDIA NEWS JANUARY 28, 2013
49 The RCMP are planning to expand their fleet of remote-controlled "eyes in the sky," and for the first time, they're looking south of the border to a company that has been a major supplier of unmanned aerial vehicles for the U.S. military.
Southern California-based AeroVironment Inc. builds tiny fixed-wing drones, which have been a staple of the U.S. Defense Department's arsenal in the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq.
But it also produces a line of four-rotor helicopters - called Qubes - that are tailor- made for use by police. Small enough to fit in the trunk of a car and controlled using touch-screen tablets, these toy-like machines are equipped with live- stream video cameras and thermal-imaging technology to give police a bird's eye view of an accident scene and aid in search-and-rescue operations.
RCMP's F Division in Saskatchewan, which has taken a lead role testing unmanned aircrafts for the force, just posted on a government-contracting website notice of its intent to acquire as many as three Qubes and related accessories for about $270,000.
"It's starting to catch on more and more. Eventually, I think you'll see (unmanned aerial vehicles) in almost all the provinces," said RCMP Staff Sgt. Dave Domoney in Regina.
The force already has at its disposal 18 less-expensive, Canadian-made models in several divisions - nine in Saskatchewan, four in Alberta, two in Manitoba, one each in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, and one at headquarters in Ottawa.
Some municipal police agencies and the Ontario Provincial Police also have them.
Domoney said the RCMP took interest in the costlier Qube because it can stay up in the air for 40 minutes, longer than others. The force is still saving money in the long run, he said, because it can cost thousands of dollars per hour to deploy a regular helicopter.
Small, low-altitude drones offer many benefits, police say: They can assist in collision reconstruction by helping investigators see skid marks that they may have overlooked; they can identify potential threats to tactical officers responding to a critical incident; and they can help locate missing people over difficult terrain.
Though police insist they have no intention of using these machines for surveillance purposes, privacy advocates have raised concerns.
Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's information and privacy commissioner, published a report last August that said while unmanned aircrafts offered many benefits, they could become "extremely invasive."
50 While Transport Canada requires all operators of unmanned aerial vehicles (except hobbyists) to submit forms outlining how they plan to use the machines, the focus is more on safety than about privacy, Cavoukian said.
"There are unique privacy challenges posed, due to UAVs' potential for constant surveillance from vantage points that are difficult to discern," she wrote. "Special use restrictions and regulatory measures will likely be necessary, going forward."
Similar concerns were raised last September when Halton Regional Police in Ontario announced they had uncovered a large marijuana-grow operation in a field using an unmanned aircraft. Police said they had the property owner's permission to fly over the area.
The American Civil Liberties Union has stated that domestic drones should only be deployed with a warrant, in a hostage crisis or other emergency, or where there are "specific and articulable grounds to believe that the drone will collect evidence relating to a specific criminal act."
The RCMP's Domoney said the force does not send its unmanned aircrafts on fishing expeditions and limits their use to four scenarios: accident reconstruction, search-and-rescue operations, major crime scenes and situations involving emergency response teams.
While the force does not yet have a national policy in place for the use of these machines, one is "very close to being completed," he said.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
OPINION: Why Police Lie Under Oath By MICHELLE ALEXANDER Published: February 2, 2013 The New York Times
THOUSANDS of people plead guilty to crimes every year in the United States because they know that the odds of a jury’s believing their word over a police officer’s are slim to none. As a juror, whom are you likely to believe: the alleged criminal in an orange jumpsuit or two well-groomed police officers in uniforms who just swore to God they’re telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but? As one of my colleagues recently put it, “Everyone knows you have to be crazy to accuse the police of lying.”
But are police officers necessarily more trustworthy than alleged criminals? I think not. Not just because the police have a special inclination toward confabulation, but because, disturbingly, they have an incentive to lie. In this era
51 of mass incarceration, the police shouldn’t be trusted any more than any other witness, perhaps less so.
That may sound harsh, but numerous law enforcement officials have put the matter more bluntly. Peter Keane, a former San Francisco Police commissioner, wrote an article in The San Francisco Chronicle decrying a police culture that treats lying as the norm: “Police officer perjury in court to justify illegal dope searches is commonplace. One of the dirty little not-so-secret secrets of the criminal justice system is undercover narcotics officers intentionally lying under oath. It is a perversion of the American justice system that strikes directly at the rule of law. Yet it is the routine way of doing business in courtrooms everywhere in America.”
The New York City Police Department is not exempt from this critique. In 2011, hundreds of drug cases were dismissed after several police officers were accused of mishandling evidence. That year, Justice Gustin L. Reichbach of the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn condemned a widespread culture of lying and corruption in the department’s drug enforcement units. “I thought I was not naïve,” he said when announcing a guilty verdict involving a police detective who had planted crack cocaine on a pair of suspects. “But even this court was shocked, not only by the seeming pervasive scope of misconduct but even more distressingly by the seeming casualness by which such conduct is employed.”
Remarkably, New York City officers have been found to engage in patterns of deceit in cases involving charges as minor as trespass. In September it was reported that the Bronx district attorney’s office was so alarmed by police lying that it decided to stop prosecuting people who were stopped and arrested for trespassing at public housing projects, unless prosecutors first interviewed the arresting officer to ensure the arrest was actually warranted. Jeannette Rucker, the chief of arraignments for the Bronx district attorney, explained in a letter that it had become apparent that the police were arresting people even when there was convincing evidence that they were innocent. To justify the arrests, Ms. Rucker claimed, police officers provided false written statements, and in depositions, the arresting officers gave false testimony.
Mr. Keane, in his Chronicle article, offered two major reasons the police lie so much. First, because they can. Police officers “know that in a swearing match between a drug defendant and a police officer, the judge always rules in favor of the officer.” At worst, the case will be dismissed, but the officer is free to continue business as usual. Second, criminal defendants are typically poor and uneducated, often belong to a racial minority, and often have a criminal record. “Police know that no one cares about these people,” Mr. Keane explained.
All true, but there is more to the story than that.
Police departments have been rewarded in recent years for the sheer numbers of stops, searches and arrests. In the war on drugs, federal grant programs like the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program have encouraged state and local law enforcement agencies to boost drug arrests in order to compete for millions of dollars in funding. Agencies receive cash rewards for
52 arresting high numbers of people for drug offenses, no matter how minor the offenses or how weak the evidence. Law enforcement has increasingly become a numbers game. And as it has, police officers’ tendency to regard procedural rules as optional and to lie and distort the facts has grown as well. Numerous scandals involving police officers lying or planting drugs — in Tulia, Tex. and Oakland, Calif., for example — have been linked to federally funded drug task forces eager to keep the cash rolling in.
THE pressure to boost arrest numbers is not limited to drug law enforcement. Even where no clear financial incentives exist, the “get tough” movement has warped police culture to such a degree that police chiefs and individual officers feel pressured to meet stop-and-frisk or arrest quotas in order to prove their “productivity.”
For the record, the New York City police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, denies that his department has arrest quotas. Such denials are mandatory, given that quotas are illegal under state law. But as the Urban Justice Center’s Police Reform Organizing Project has documented, numerous officers have contradicted Mr. Kelly. In 2010, a New York City police officer named Adil Polanco told a local ABC News reporter that “our primary job is not to help anybody, our primary job is not to assist anybody, our primary job is to get those numbers and come back with them.” He continued: “At the end of the night you have to come back with something. You have to write somebody, you have to arrest somebody, even if the crime is not committed, the number’s there. So our choice is to come up with the number.”
Exposing police lying is difficult largely because it is rare for the police to admit their own lies or to acknowledge the lies of other officers. This reluctance derives partly from the code of silence that governs police practice and from the ways in which the system of mass incarceration is structured to reward dishonesty. But it’s also because police officers are human.
Research shows that ordinary human beings lie a lot — multiple times a day — even when there’s no clear benefit to lying. Generally, humans lie about relatively minor things like “I lost your phone number; that’s why I didn’t call” or “No, really, you don’t look fat.” But humans can also be persuaded to lie about far more important matters, especially if the lie will enhance or protect their reputation or standing in a group.
The natural tendency to lie makes quota systems and financial incentives that reward the police for the sheer numbers of people stopped, frisked or arrested especially dangerous. One lie can destroy a life, resulting in the loss of employment, a prison term and relegation to permanent second-class status. The fact that our legal system has become so tolerant of police lying indicates how corrupted our criminal justice system has become by declarations of war, “get tough” mantras, and a seemingly insatiable appetite for locking up and locking out the poorest and darkest among us.
And, no, I’m not crazy for thinking so.
53 Some Sheriffs Object to Call for Tougher Gun Laws
Published: January 31, 2013 Matthew Staver for The New York Times
DENVER — The same day that President Obama unveiled his plan to address gun violence, the sheriff of Larimer County, Justin Smith, took to his personal Facebook page.
In an impassioned post, Sheriff Smith, whose jurisdiction includes a swath of suburbia and farmland north of Denver, railed against universal background checks and wrote of the need to defend the Second Amendment.
“As Sheriff, I will not enforce unconstitutional federal laws,” he wrote.
Over the past several weeks, dozens of other sheriffs from across the country have reacted with similar public opposition to Mr. Obama’s call for stiffer gun laws, releasing a deluge of letters, position papers and statements laying out their arguments in stark terms. Their jurisdictions largely include rural areas, and stand in sharp contrast to those of urban police chiefs, who have historically supported tougher gun regulations.
“I don’t plan on helping or assisting with any of the federal gun laws because I have the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Constitution on my side,” said Sheriff John Cooke of Weld County, Colo. Sheriff Cooke said that he believed a ban on assault weapons would do little and that universal background checks would unfairly halt private gun sales.
“Let the federal government do their own dirty work,” he added.
Last week the County Sheriffs of Colorado, which represents the state’s 64 sheriffs, released a position paper expressing the group’s opposition to gun regulation — including bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and the mandate of a statewide database for concealed carry permit holders. The group said it was more important to focus on improving mental health care to prevent mass shootings.
The Utah Sheriffs’ Association outlined an even stronger sentiment in a recent letter to Mr. Obama stating that no federal official would be permitted to take away its constituents’ Second Amendment rights.
The sheriffs said they were “prepared to trade our lives” to preserve a traditional interpretation of the Constitution.
54 Sheriffs across a range of counties in Arizona, Kentucky, Oregon and other states have also weighed in publicly, suggesting they, too, would refuse to enforce gun laws they felt violated the Second Amendment.
Last week in Wisconsin, Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. of Milwaukee County released a public service announcement urging citizens to arm themselves, saying that waiting for the police was no longer the best option.
“You can beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed or you can fight back,” Sheriff Clarke said in the recording.
The fervent opposition to gun control has caught the National Sheriffs’ Association, the primary industry group for more than 3,000 sheriffs, off guard.
This week, the group met to clarify its own stance on new gun proposals, which a spokesman said it would release Friday.
“What you really have is a lot of citizens with a lot of mistrust of the government’s efforts regarding firearms,” said its president, Sheriff Larry Amerson of Calhoun County, Ala. “They don’t feel safe, and the sheriffs are reacting to that.”
He added: “But I will tell you that there is a mix. I have talked to sheriffs who say they don’t have a problem with passing a gun ban of any particular type.”
Sheriff Amerson noted that unlike police chiefs, sheriffs were almost all elected officials and had to answer to their constituents. They were also more likely to work in rural areas, he said, where opposition to new gun regulations was stronger.
Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, which generally supports changes in gun laws, said that because sheriffs are often in charge of local jails and deal with mentally ill inmates, they were also more likely to view mental health as the most pressing concern.
Mr. Wexler, whose group researches law enforcement issues in major cities, said urban police chiefs had long been more receptive to gun control measures because they handled gun crime on an everyday basis.
“What sheriffs see, in terms of gun violence, is not necessarily what police chiefs in Philadelphia or Chicago or a more suburban place like Aurora see,” he said. “Their constituents tend to see gun crime differently as well.”
Louisiana: New Orleans Wants Out of Police Plan By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON Published: February 1, 2013 The New York Times
55 The City of New Orleans filed a motion in federal court on Thursday night arguing that it should be allowed to withdraw from a federal consent decree to overhaul the Police Department. In the filing, which included more than 1,700 pages of exhibits, lawyers for the city argue that the reform agreement was tainted by ulterior motives and arrived at under misleading circumstances. Mayor Mitch Landrieu had invited in Department of Justice officials to investigate the department in 2010, and celebrated the signing of the consent decree last July. But on Jan. 11, when a federal judge formally approved the document, the mayor made known publicly that the city wanted out, insisting that the costs of police reform combined with the costs of a separate consent decree pertaining to the city jail would do “catastrophic damage” to the city budget.
Police in England and Wales face recruitment shake-up 30 January 2013 BBC News
Senior officers from overseas will be able to run police forces in England and Wales for the first time, under a government overhaul of recruitment.
Outsiders will be able to join forces as superintendents and recruits can be fast- tracked to inspectors.
Police Minister Damian Green said the service would benefit from a wider talent pool.
Critics within the police have said some of the plans present "risks" to the public and police officers.
The overhaul is part of a package of reforms put forward by Chief Inspector of Constabulary Tom Winsor, in the widest-ranging review of police pay and conditions in more than 30 years.
Direct entry The current system sees all police recruits begin work as a constable but, under the proposals, some new starters would be able to skip the compulsory two years on the beat.
The changes being put out for consultation include:
Fast-tracking recruits to inspector level within three years Allowing outsiders to join as superintendents with 15 months' training Opening up chief constable roles to senior officers from countries such as Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand Continue reading the main story Analysis
56 Danny Shaw Home affairs correspondent, BBC News A debate about the benefits of direct entry has been going on for a decade but Tom Winsor's report has finally prompted action.
Winsor found that although the police culture had "many extremely valuable strengths" it was also "somewhat closed, defensive and inward-looking".
He said an "infusion of experience and expertise" from other disciplines and occupations would improve things.
The revelation of links between Scotland Yard and News International, and the sense in the early stages of the London riots that there was a lack of police leadership, has bolstered the argument for change.
But the idea of an outsider being recruited as a superintendent, taking charge of a firearms operation or the policing of a protest march, is likely to prove hugely controversial.
The Home Office is determined there will be change - but it may have to proceed cautiously.
Current legislation prevented Bill Bratton, former head of New York police, applying to take charge of the Metropolitan Police in 2011.
Under the plans put forward by ex-rail regulator Mr Winsor, a direct-entry scheme for inspectors would recruit about 80 candidates each year and would target graduates from the best universities, and the brightest and the best from within the police service.
He also put forward a scheme for superintendent level in a bid to attract "exceptional" individuals from other fields including the military, security services and industry.
The Home Office proposals herald a fundamental change to the current system of police recruitment, BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw says.
It currently takes about 25 years for a newly recruited constable to work their way to the most senior level, a process that is thought to deter talented people from other professions from joining the police, our correspondent adds.
Several police forces, including Britain's largest, the Metropolitan Police, already have graduate recruitment schemes. They all insist that recruits spend time on the beat.
Police Minister Damian Green told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there was direct entry in other services, including the Army and the prison service.
57 "Policing is largely successful in this country, crime is down 10% in the past two years," he said.
Police numbers in England & Wales Rank Full-time staff ACPO ranks* 209 Chief 380 Superintendents Superintendents 890 Chief Inspectors 1,727 Inspectors 6,590 Sergeants 21,371 Constables 102,934 * Association of Chief Police Officers includes the top three ranks of all 44 police forces in England, Wales & Northern Ireland, and members of other national police agencies Source: Home Office, March 2012
"But there is no organisation in the world that cannot get better and it must be the case that if you widen the pool of talent, then you will get even better policing in this country."
The changes will happen and the consultation was about the best way to do it, he added.
Ann Barnes, the first police and crime commissioner for Kent and former chair of the county's police authority, has experience of recruiting chief officers.
"The pool I was fishing in was frankly too small. The talent we have is good but there's not enough of them," she told the BBC.
"It's virtually impossible to attract experienced older talent into the service because they don't have time to climb the police ladder to the top jobs. We are saying goodbye to fresh talent and new ideas."
Labour's shadow policing minister David Hanson said a "flexible approach" to police recruitment was "a good thing" but the government needed to ensure training was sufficient.
Promotion frustration Peter Fahy, lead on workforce development for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said the organisation had no problem bringing in expertise from outside, and "in many forces up to 50% of staff are non-police officers".
He said forces were not short of talent and the changes could see existing officers frustrated in their bids for promotion.
58 Sir Peter, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, said currently all top officers have experience on the police beat.
"This is the model used by other countries who have followed the British system, such as the USA," he added.
Ch Supt Derek Barnett, president of the Police Superintendents' Association of England and Wales, said allowing people to become superintendents after 15 months' training would present "risks to the public and police officers".
He said it was a misconception that superintendents were desk-bound and in reality, they were the senior operational leaders of the police service.
"One of the benefits of having an operational grounding is that you have been able to deal with critical incidents, you have felt the collar of criminals, you have dealt with the very sad incidence of dead bodies," he told the BBC.
Ch Supt Derek Barnett said the plans were risky Steve White, vice-chairman of the Police Federation, which represents rank-and- file officers, said it did not support proposals that would allow external candidates to join the police service at any rank above that of constable.
"We believe the rank structure allows officers to perfectly equip themselves for their next role within the service," he said.
But Britain's highest-ranking officer, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe, has said he would like to recruit 10% of senior officers from external candidates.
The consultation on the proposals launched on Wednesday 20 January and closes on Thursday 28 March. Tom Winsor says outsiders will 'enrich' the police service
14 January 2013 Last updated at 11:32 ET BBC News
The new Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Tom Winsor, has said the introduction of outsiders into the police will "enrich" the service.
The former rail regulator said direct entry into the police service had the potential to "change the face of modern British policing for the better".
Mr Winsor recommended fast-tracking recruits into roles at inspector level.
Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said 10% of senior ranks could come from outside.
59
The president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Sir Hugh Orde, cautioned against giving too much responsibility to those from outside the police service.
'Work experience' Sir Hugh said he would not want people on "work experience" in charge of policing disorder in Northern Ireland, where he used to be the chief constable.
In his report, Mr Winsor responded by saying his proposals would not lead to people on "work experience" being put in charge of a public order or firearms operation.
Mr Winsor also wants to allow senior managers to become superintendents after only 16 months' training.
In his first major speech since taking up his post last year, Mr Winsor said there would be a "significant induction" programme to all non-police recruits.
Earlier, Met chief Sir Bernard called for more rigorous training of police officers with a "significant fail rate".
Sir Bernard said without an increase in standards people would regard police training as a process akin to a "sheep dip".
He was addressing a conference on police standards organised by the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee.
He also called for 10% of senior officers to be recruited from outside.
Sir Bernard said: "The time has come to consider and implement lateral entry."
He also said the police service needed to develop a body of academic research of policing and promised that the Met would part-fund some university posts.
What do bobbies learn on the beat? COMMENTS (974) By Brian Wheeler BBC News Magazine 30 January 2013
Every police chief in Britain started out as a humble beat officer. Why are proposals to scrap that tradition in England and Wales causing such anger?
For those unfamiliar with the culture and traditions of British policing, and the almost mythic status of the "bobby on the beat," it sounds like a very modest reform.
60
Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary Tom Winsor believes the only way to make policing a more attractive career to students at top universities is to recruit about 80 "direct entry" graduates a year into the rank of inspector.
In the shorter term, he wants to poach "exceptional individuals" from "the military, the security services, industry, commerce and the professions" and train them to become superintendents, a higher rank than inspector, within 15 months. It typically takes a newly recruited constable up to 25 years to reach that level.
He also wants chief officers from overseas to be eligible for equivalent roles in England and Wales.
The move could see officers becoming chief constables in their 30s, instead of in their 40s. Police Minister Damian Green has launched a consultation on the proposals, which will run until March, with an announcement on possible legislation to follow in the summer.
But for police union leaders - already at war with the government over cuts to pay, pensions and staff and elected crime commissioners - this apparently innocuous plan, details of which were confirmed on Wednesday, strikes at the very core of what it means to be a police officer in England and Wales.
Sir Stuart Rose is big on life experience. The former Marks and Spencer chairman started out selling pyjamas at the retail giant.
"People today try and go down a conventional route. More importantly, and more erroneously, they try and plan their careers to the nth degree," he says.
He is also concerned about the apparent collapse in social mobility. Young people have a "greater sense of entitlement" now and are less willing to make sacrifices, or move around the country, to further their career.
"Do you have to have been a shelf-stacker to be the chairman of Marks and Spencer? Absolutely not," says Police Federation vice-chairman Steve White.
"But the police service is unique. It is a unique set of skills. We feel very strongly that you have to have that grounding."
Breaking up fights in city centres on a Saturday night, turning up alone to violent "domestics", delivering the bad news to relatives of murder victims - these kind of experiences shape a young officer's character and ability to lead, he argues.
"Sometimes you have got to be able to make decisions instantly. It is not like working in a bank, where you can sit and ponder stuff.
"Police officers have a sixth sense which is built up over time. It is like the X Factor."
61 Without that X Factor, you risk turning officers into out-of-touch, over-educated technocrats that no longer have anything in common with the people they are policing, he claims.
"If we are not careful we are going to end up with a paramilitary-style organisation - the only time you will see the police is when they are arresting you or dealing with a riot."
Several police forces, including Britain's largest, the Metropolitan Police, already have graduate recruitment schemes. They all insist that recruits spend time on the beat.
But Tom Winsor wants to dispense with that stage for graduates from top universities to make a police career a more attractive alternative to the City or the professions.
As Winsor himself points out, in a 1,000-page report published last year, this goes against one of the founding principles of policing in Britain.
PDF download Independent Review of Police Officer and Staff Remuneration and Conditions, March 2012[1.31MB]
When the Metropolitan Police was created in 1829, it had to reassure the public it was not a standing army - and so sought to recruit men from the labouring classes rather than the middle and upper tiers of society.
The Met's founders wanted to create a democratic body that was "in tune with the people" and so deliberately avoided the two-tier system of recruitment that existed in the army.
Instead, they recruited men who were literate but "who had not the rank, habits or station of gentlemen".
The spiritual heirs of these early recruits could be seen last year sporting "PC Pleb and proud" T-shirts as they protested against the alleged class-based slurs of government chief whip - and former army officer - Andrew Mitchell. Mitchell strenuously denies using the word "pleb".
Winsor, a former rail regulator, argues that far from keeping the police in touch with the public they serve, this deeply ingrained "blue collar" attitude is out-of- step with the modern world and is holding police officers back.
In an era of cybercrime and complex fraud, a higher calibre of recruit is needed, he argues in his report.
"Policing today is entirely different, and yet so much of its ethos is of the past. The attitudes of some police officers today remain fastened in that mindset."
62 He wants to raise the pass mark on the police entrance exam, introduce annual testing and a requirement that all new recruits have three A-levels.
"For too long, the police service has recruited the great majority of its officers from too narrow a stratum of society, and formal intellectual attainment has played too little a part in recruitment," he says.
Winsor, who declined to be interviewed for this piece, has faced a fierce backlash from the Police Federation over the fact that he is the first HM Inspector of Constabulary not to have been a serving police officer.
"He hasn't spent a single day in uniform anywhere. We think from a respect perspective that puts him at a major disadvantage," says Steve White.
Taking a load off while on beat patrol in the heatwave of 1976 Any officer brought in at the rank of inspector, without serving their time as a bobby, would face similar hostility from some officers, according to a 53-year-old former constable from Merseyside, who did not want to be named.
"There would be some resentment," he says, adding that he has seen many "buffoons" promoted just because they are "good at exams". He suggests that officers with academic qualifications can sometimes "rub members of the public up the wrong way".
Other rank-and-file officers say they would have no problem working for business executives with no policing experience, as there is a need for better quality management.
"Somebody who works for Asda or Tesco has probably got about three or four thousand people working under them, which is about the same as a chief superintendent. I don't see the difference," says a 39-year-old constable, who works in a large city on the south coast of England.
He admits he would not have got into the police today, as he does not have A- Levels, and says his graduate colleagues find the multiple choice sergeant's exam "laughably easy".
Police Minister Damian Green will unveil plans to "open up the police to a wider pool of talent" at the same time as nurturing internal talent through the College of Policing.
If Winsor's proposals are accepted in full, it will no doubt spark a furious backlash from the Police Federation, already fuming about the decision to cut the starting salary for officers in England and Wales, who have come straight from school.
There is a suspicion among some rank-and-file officers that Winsor wants to use these reforms to make it easier push through other, even more controversial, changes.
63
"Breaking down resistance to change in an organisation with a strong internal culture often requires an injection of influence from outsiders. Looking at our current senior police leadership, I sympathise hugely with Winsor's desire to replace them as soon as possible," says Inspector Gadget, a serving police officer who writes an anonymous blog.
"The only thing which worries me is would senior people from elsewhere be any better?"
Wednesday, January 30th 2013 - 06:20 UTC OAS helps to combat illicit trafficking of firearms in the region As part of the Organization of American States (OAS) policy to help member countries combat illicit trafficking of firearms the organization this week donated a firearm marking machine to the government of Peru.
The initiative, implemented in 25 countries of the region, forms part of the efforts outlined by the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, and defines the organization as a strategic actor in the fight against crime. The machine was presented during a ceremony held at Arms and Ammunition Factory of the Army (FAME) headquarters in Lima, and was attended by the Deputy Minister of Defence Resources of the Defence Ministry, Jakke Valakivi; FAME General Manager, Colonel Carlos Pérez Ryan; and OAS Representative in Peru, David Morris.
The donation - funded by the government of the United States - is part of the program “Promoting Firearms Marking in Latin America and the Caribbean,” following the Inter-American Convention against Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials (CIFTA), and seeks to strengthen national capabilities on matters of firearms marking.
OAS also presented the government of Peru a special computer to facilitate the process of record-keeping on marked firearms. In addition, the OAS Department of Public Security will hold a training workshop on the use of the firearm marking machine.
OAS principal goals is the strengthening of national capabilities of the Member States to respond, in an effective and efficient way, to the growing levels of crime and violence caused by the illicit trafficking in firearms.
In this sense, the OAS cooperates with the countries of the region with the objective that, in the shortest time possible, all the Member States will have established policies, as well as relevant legislation, to mark firearms at the time of manufacturing and/or import.
64 To date, 25 countries in the region have signed a cooperation agreement with the OAS to participate in the program: Argentina, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Uruguay, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, The Bahamas, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The Boston Police Department may be paying the price for letting a program to help troubled cops lapse Commonweath Magazine BY: Edward Mason and Tom Mashberg January 15, 2013
ON APRIL 22, 2009, CHRISTOPHER KNIGHT and his girlfriend were driving in Boston when they got into a fender-bender. The couple called police after the other driver refused to exchange insurance information and Officer Gerald L. Cofield Jr. was sent to the scene.
According to Knight, Cofield was "verbally abusive and outwardly angry" from the outset and slammed the driver's door on Knight's leg. When Knight objected, Cofield allegedly yelled, "Let's go! Let's go!" Knight says Cofield then dragged him by his neck from the car, slammed him against the hood hard enough to leave a mark, and handcuffed and arrested him. The scene was captured on a cell phone camera by Knight's girlfriend.
Cofield charged Knight with assault on a police officer, while Knight sued the Boston Police Depart-ment and Cofield in federal court. The assault charge against Knight was later reduced to disorderly conduct and subsequently tossed out. But Knight's civil rights lawsuit against the BPD and Cofield, a 30-year veteran of the force, was not dismissed. Boston ended up settling the case in October 2011, paying $35,000 for what should have been a routine traffic call.
It should never have come to this. Between 2005 and 2009, according to department data, Cofield, now 54, accumulated seven other misconduct complaints for violating department rules, the fifth most of any Boston officer over that period. In many police departments around the country, just a couple of complaints would have sent Cofield into an intervention program providing counseling, closer supervision, academy retraining, a psychological fitness review, and possibly a new assignment.
But Boston, which launched its own Early Intervention System (EIS) in 1992, allowed the program to founder starting around 2000 and let it grind to a halt in 2005. For years, Cofield and other misconduct-prone officers ended up off the radar and on their own. Put simply, Boston's police brass abandoned a crucial tool used by departments nationally to oversee the men and women who patrol city streets with guns and badges.
65
The loss of the intervention system may have contributed to a decade-long spike in complaints against officers and a costly increase in verdicts and settlements in misconduct cases, according to a review of 10 years of Boston Police data and city legal records obtained through public information requests. Since 2000, Boston has spent more than $20 million on police settlements and court-imposed fines. Another 43 cases are pending or under judicial review, including a $14 million jury award to Shawn Drumgold of Roxbury in 2009 after a detective violated his civil rights.
Samuel Walker, a University of Nebraska professor who wrote a history of early intervention systems for the Department of Justice, says Boston needs to start over. "This police department needs an independent, outside review of its early intervention system," he says. "They need to formalize it and put it in writing. Any organization should be able to monitor the performance of its employees. And this is especially true in policing."
Commissioner Edward Davis rejects the notion that the department has problems with its EIS. Nonetheless, he and his personnel chiefs say they are developing a comprehensive system to keep tabs on officers. As part of that effort, they are spending $19 million to upgrade a 15-year-old computer system so that multiple databases can be tapped to track officer behavior. The newly designed system, expected in the fall, will alert BPD brass to more than just misconduct complaints filed by civilians or the department's Internal Affairs Division. It will be linked into department databases that track officers' personnel records and reports filed when force is used to subdue a prisoner.
Currently, says Daniel P. Linskey, the Boston Police Department's superintendent-in-chief, managers must hunt through multiple databases to piece together a full profile of an at-risk or misbehavior-prone officer. "Our goal is to capture this in one-stop shopping so I can get a report on my desk so I can see who is showing up in more than one category," Linskey says.
But it's not clear the new information Linskey wants will be a part of EIS. The department has no written material outlining the future of the program or what kinds of behavioral problems will count toward an EIS referral. Davis says he intends to rely primarily on formal complaints when assessing officers, something critics say is too limited.
In the meantime, the department makes do the best it can. Asked about problem cops like Cofield, Linskey is candid: "Do we have people falling through the cracks? Absolutely."
THE ST. CLAIR COMMISSION
Boston's Early Intervention System was launched in 1992 at the urging of the St. Clair Commission, a reform panel created after the botched Carol DiMaiti Stuart murder probe. In October 1989, Stuart's husband, Charles, told police a black man shot him and killed his pregnant wife as they left a childbirth class. A massive manhunt in predominantly black neighborhoods led to the wrongful
66 arrest of Willie Bennett for a crime Charles Stuart committed. When Stuart's lies unraveled, he jumped to his death from the Tobin Bridge. The case tarnished the reputation of the nation's oldest police force, leading to a top-to-bottom review of the department.
The St. Clair Commission's work coincided with revelations that the department's Internal Affairs Division inflated data to show that 22 percent of civilian complaints against officers were upheld, when in fact just 12 percent were sustained, the same level that are being sustained today.
The St. Clair Commission said the process for examining civilian complaints was undermined by "shoddy, half-hearted investigations, lengthy delays, and inadequate documentation and record-keeping." It rebuked the department for years of weak oversight and poor discipline of problem cops. And it described the department's technology for tracking the performance of officers and complaints against them as "inadequate and inferior to most other urban police departments."
The commission called for introducing an early warning system to professionalize oversight, formalize discipline, and help restore public confidence in the department. The Early Intervention System that was created applies to all officers, but it also helps the department focus on a stubborn cadre of problem-causers inside the 2,124-member force. The Early Intervention System was created for all officers, but it also helps focus on a stubborn cadre of problem-causers in the force.In the case of an officer like Cofield, his pattern of generating civilian and internal misconduct complaints due to physical outbursts should have landed him in EIS automatically. But some cops with few formal complaints often show other signs of trouble, such as alcohol issues, sick-time abuse, problems with colleagues, cruiser crashes, and excessive traffic stops. The International Association of Chiefs of Police has a model list of 18 factors that it says should trigger warning flags for supervisors.
"The best practice is to take a look at a whole variety of factors," says Merrick Bobb, president of the Police Assess-ment Resource Center in Los Angeles. Police should be "looking at things like litigation, citizen complaints, administrative investigations, officer-involved shootings, use-of-force complaints, suppression motions in court, and prosecution declinations based on lack of confidence in the officer's testimony," Bobb says.
The Justice Department and law enforcement experts credit early intervention programs with helping stressed officers, reducing civilian complaints, cutting down on lawsuits, and heightening professionalism. Jack McDevitt, a criminologist at Northeastern University and an aide to the St. Clair Commission, says early intervention is intended to prevent problems, not punish cops.
"EIS systems are state of the art to good policing in America. A majority of police departments have a functioning one and should have one," he says "Any time an officer in any agency is dealing with a difficult time in life, it's good to get help, and we're not good at asking for help."
67 Walker, the University of Nebraska professor, says a strong early intervention system means "fewer complaints and presumably fewer serious incidents that result in lawsuits."
Given the Boston Police Depart-ment's early embrace of its EIS program, it seems hard to believe it was allowed to lapse. But it appears to have fallen through the cracks during a series of transitions between Davis's predecessors, Paul Evans, Kathleen O'Toole, and Albert Goslin.
Department records indicate Boston's Early Inter-ven-tion System at the outset significantly reduced the number of complaint-prone officers. From 1992 to 1997, when EIS was fully functioning under commissioners Francis "Mickey" Roache, William Bratton, and Evans, the number of officers referred to the program annually for generating repeat complaints fell from 78 to 6, according to a review of Boston Police Department annual reports. After 1997, statistics are omitted from the reports and information is more sketchy. Between 1998 and 2005, for example, there are five years when all references to having an EIS program disappear.
Beginning in 2000, the Internal Affairs Division, which oversees the Early Intervention System, appears to have twice switched the software it used to track complaints. Justice Department records show that in 2003 Evans sought and received a $450,000 federal grant that included funds to upgrade the computerized tracking of officers. It is unclear what improvements were made after Evans left in 2003 for a position in the British Home Office. In 2005, the year the program shut down, an obscure reference in a city budget document says 48 officers were identified by EIS as needing intervention. Davis be-came commissioner in December 2006, but says EIS stopped working in 2005.
With funding from the George Polk Foundation, we sought to examine the years when EIS was moribund. Using computer spreadsheets, we reviewed more than 1,000 complaints filed against officers between January 1, 2005, and April 30, 2009. After applying the department's own criteria two complaints against an officer in a one-year period or three complaints in a two-year period the review found that 163 officers could have been flagged for referral to EIS over the four- year period.
A review of police data shows 23 officers with as many as 13 misconduct complaints and as few as five between January 2005 and April 2009, when the EIS was down. In the two years after EIS restarted, 15 of those officers generated fresh complaints. One officer, Tyrone E. Smith, racked up six complaints from 2005 to 2009 and another five after that. An amateur heavyweight boxer, Smith has faced use-of- force allegations twice. The first was "not sustained" by Internal Affairs, and an August 2011 incident was ruled "unfounded." In 2008, the city paid $7,000 to a Boston man who sued in federal court claiming Smith lost his temper and roughed him up at a traffic stop when he did not produce his identification fast enough. Smith remains on the beat in District B-3 in Mattapan. Efforts to reach him directly and through the police union were unsuccessful. A review shows 15 of 23 officers who faced five or more misconduct charges from 2005 to 2009
68 generated new complaints the next two years.The city may also soon owe more than $100,000 to another alleged victim of Officer Cofield. In December 2004, Lionel Rogers, a separated father of four, was late delivering his children to his court-appointed drop-off location a Roxbury police station. When Rogers arrived 90 minutes late, Cofield, according to court records, was behind the front desk. The men got into an argument over Rogers's tardiness.
According to Rogers, Cofield went into the lobby, threw Rogers against a wall, bent him over, kneed him in the stomach, and tossed him to the floor as his children watched. Rogers was arrested but the charges were dropped. In March 2005, Rogers filed a civilian complaint against Cofield alleging unnecessary force. Internal Affairs ruled the complaint "unfounded." Rogers sued the city and Cofield and in December 2011 a federal jury awarded Rogers $101,000. A judge is weighing the award.
Sarah Wunsch, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, says Boston's EIS needs to be both more expansive and open to public scrutiny. "The culture of a police department is significantly affected by whether you have a functioning early-warning system that is taken seriously," she says. "It is a tool that sends a message that they really care about identifying problem officers before they hurt or kill someone."
Wunsch also said neglecting EIS as a tool for preventing misconduct gives lawyers an issue to raise when they sue over rogue police behavior. "The lack of an effective system to track officers in trouble early on can be evidence to show the city is deliberately indifferent to the violations of individuals' constitutional rights, and that may cause liability for the city," she says.
TRYING AGAIN
Ed Davis was a big advocate of early intervention systems when he was the police chief in Lowell, but it has taken him awhile to get the program back up and running in Boston. In December 2006, when Davis took the job of commissioner in Boston, he says he believed the department's early intervention system was operating smoothly. Consumed with other priorities, he did not learn until 2008 that it was effectively shut down, at which point he says he ordered a review and re-launch.
"Back in the '80s and before we started thinking about intervention, officers were dealt with through the internal affairs process," Davis says. "Management didn't see [early intervention] as a priority. We're recognizing now it's a really important process and we need to pay close attention to it."
Before restarting Boston's EIS, Davis had a deputy superintendent, Kenneth Fong, examine best practices at other departments. For example, the Charlotte Police Depart--ment reviews more than misconduct complaints in referring officers for early intervention. Charlotte's practice is to flag how often police charge a civilian with disorderly conduct for assaulting an officer as well as un-necessary force complaints, incidents with police vehicles, and sick leave
69 abuse. Charlotte also publishes a 25-page early intervention system handbook online for all to see.
When Davis restarted Boston's Early Intervention System, he chose not to adopt the approach taken by Charlotte. Despite the computer overhaul, it is uncertain whether EIS will be changed to model other police departments in terms of the wide range of factors considered for referrals.
Walker, the University of Nebraska expert, said Boston should issue an annual report on the number and percentage of officers who need intervention and what help they received. As commissioner, Davis has not released this information and he refuses to discuss any officer in EIS due to privacy issues. He says disclosing aggregate referral data is an idea he might support.
"I don't have any objection to putting the numbers out there," Davis said. "We're trying to be as transparent as possible."
Many cities embrace creativity and transparency in their intervention programs for police. In San Antonio, Sgt. Lori Goss, coordinator for the Officer Concern Program that city's version of an early intervention system says her department offers off-site financial counseling to officers who take on too many paid details to make ends meet. The San Antonio police lists its indicators publicly, among them tardiness, suspicion of substance abuse, and lawsuits.
Davis acknowledges that when he moved to reboot EIS, the department chose to review only misconduct complaints against officers from January 2005 through April 2009. As a result, Davis referred 94 officers retroactively into the revived EIS, well below the 163 we counted as eligible under the program's numerical guidelines. Davis says he and his superintendents made judgments based on discretion and their intense familiarity with members of a "close-knit department."
"There's an enormous amount of work that goes into the supervision of a police department outside of what EIS does," Davis says. In fact, he says, he wants to raise the minimum threshold for triggering referrals to EIS from two to three formal complaints in one year. That and other EIS-related issues are being negotiated with Boston's police unions.
Linskey says retaliatory or unsubstantiated complaints might unfairly put an officer over the limit. He said some cops patrol beats more prone to generating civilian complaints. An officer whose shift routinely puts him among "thousands of people coming out of nightclubs and getting into drunken brawls," he says, would likely use pepper spray "a lot more than an officer on a quiet beat in West Roxbury."
Howard Friedman, a Boston civil rights lawyer, has secured some of the largest jury verdicts and settlements against the city in the past decade. Last year he won a $1.4 million settlement for Michael P. O'Brien, a former Middle-sex County corrections officer who claimed Boston Police Officer David C. Williams brutally beat him during a traffic stop in March 2009. Williams, who had a history of violent episodes, was fired. He is appealing.
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Friedman questions why Davis did not resurrect Boston's EIS sooner. "In Lowell, he was a very active advocate of early intervention systems," Friedman says. "Here, it was not one of his priorities. It's something he should have had in place for a long time."
ONE COP'S SPIRAL
One highly decorated but misconduct-plagued officer, Brian E. Guilfoyle, says the Early Intervention System was not there for him when his high-pressure job got thebetter of him.
Guilfoyle, 45, retired in 2009 after attempting suicide with prescription pills. Now a construction worker, he says the program would have made a difference in his troubled life and allowed him to continue the job he loved.
"If they offered that to me, I'd probably still be a cop right now, instead of having lost my house and being divorced and struggling to make payments every month," Guilfoyle says. "I was a great officer, and fellow officers call me a great cop."
Guilfoyle relished patrolling high-crime beats in Rox-bury and South Boston. The state twice recognized him with the prestigious George L. Hanna Memorial Award for Bravery, named for a state trooper gunned down during a 1983 traffic stop. He also received a Schroeder Brothers Memorial Award for Valor, the department's highest award one not given out every year. The award is named for brothers Detective John D. Schroeder and Officer Walter Schroeder, both of whom were killed while responding to robberies.
By his account, Guilfoyle says he narrowly escaped gunshots and injured his knee chasing down criminals. He says he endured needle pricks and worried about what he might contract.
But one day in 2006, Guilfoyle was among officers scouring a Mattapan property where the tenant allegedly dismembered his father. Guilfoyle discovered a severed head in bag. He says it was a turning point in his career. He says he became overly aggressive and "lippy" with civilians he thinks he had post- traumatic stress disorder.
Between 2005 and 2009, Guilfoyle received nine misconduct complaints, the third most among officers during the time Boston's EIS was offline. The complaints included allegations of unnecessary force and disrespectful treatment.
"I was out of place and felt like I was a stranger in my own department and all that stuff," Guilfoyle says. "Some-one would say something, and I reacted negatively."
Yet he never heard of the program aimed at helping cops readjust. "I can guarantee you, that was never mentioned to me during my career," Guilfoyle says. "That, I can honestly say."
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Davis says it does not surprise him Guilfoyle had not heard of EIS because his downward spiral occurred while the program was in trouble. Davis says when he re-launched it he notified the unions, announced it to division heads, and discussed it at meetings where crime statistics are hashed over.
"We let everybody know we were doing it again," Davis says.
Edward Mason and Tom Mashberg are veteran reporters who have covered Boston for years. Sydney Lupkin contributed research and data analysis to this report, which was funded by a grant from the George Polk Investigative Reporting Program at Long Island University.
City of Philadelphia releases police complaint data, API
TechnicallyPhilly
1/28/2013
The Police Advisory Commission (PAC) released its police complaint data dating back to 2009, as well as an API for that data, last week on OpenDataPhilly.org.
The commission's police complaint data represents only a subset of the total complaints that the Philadelphia Police Department receives, said Kelvyn Anderson, who leads the PAC, a citizen-led police oversight board that hears complaints against police officers. The data, which will be updated monthly, is part of an ongoing strategy to give citizens police data so that they, too, can act as a police watchdog, Anderson said.
The data includes self-reported information about the complainant, the nature and status of the complaint and the district or unit the complaint targets. It does not include any further identifying information about the officers in question, which is a intentional omission, Anderson said.
Find the data on OpenDataPhilly.org here.
Anderson is working with the Police Department's Internal Affairs Bureau to facilitate the release of all its police complaint data, he said. The PPD receives about 700-800 complaints annually, Anderson said, whereas the PAC receives anywhere between 50-300 complaints annually.
Anderson, a former journalist and data enthusiast, was excited at the possibilities that the data release would bring for the commission.
72 "This is a really good opportunity for small agencies like mine that suffer from a lack of resources," Anderson said. "It evens the playing field between me and the police." This is a particularly striking data release for a few reasons. For one, the PAC is not an official city agency (despite City Council's recent efforts to make it one), suggesting that the Mayor's Open Data Executive Order is reaching a broader audience than its immediate city agencies.
What's more, this data release offers a prime opportunity to help the PAC, an organization that plays an important role but that is often thought of as powerless, as the Daily News has reported. The commission ousted its chairman last summer following news articles that said that it was overworked, understaffed and stuck with a backlog of cases from 2009. One might hope that the local development community would create tools to streamline the PAC's workflow and make it easier for the commission do its job.
Questions will naturally come about how accurate and how up-to-date, then, can the data be. As is often the case, that's yet to be seen, but exposing data like this, that might be able to encourage trend-spotting and additional oversight, is a prime example of the hope for the open government movement.
Anderson hopes to continue requesting and releasing data to create a "citizens' Compstat," he said, referring to the data-heavy meetings the Police District conducts to analyze crime stats. His next focus is on allowing citizens to see data on fatal incidents involving police officers, or what is marked as "justifiable homicide." It's not clear if this data is part of the city's Part 1 crime data release, and if it is, it may not be marked as such.
Updated 1/28/13 to make clear that this is not an exhaustive release of the the Philadelphia Police Department's police complaint data.
Part-time police officers step up to serve local municipalities BY AMANDA CHRISTMAN (STAFF WRITER)Published: January 28, 2013 ARTICLE TOOLS
They patrol trained to issue justice, in uniform but without benefits and for less pay, facing the same dangers their full-time counterparts do.
Not long ago, a part-time McAdoo police officer, just a few months on the job, was chased on a street by a knife-wielding man.
In West Hazleton, part-time officers responded with full-timers to a bank robbery in April 2012. The suspect, who was apprehended, was accused in other robberies during a two-week period.
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Domestic disputes, drug arrests, traffic tickets, warrant services and vehicle pursuits - a part-time officer does it all, often working various shifts in different municipalities just to earn an honest living.
But, like full-timers, part-time police officers do the job, challenging and dangerous at times, because of one thing - desire. Where they differ is pay.
Steven Homanko works part-time in McAdoo, while Bradley Hess and Aydan Yaman work part-time in Freeland. All three, who are 2012 graduates of Lackawanna College's Act 120 police training course, work other jobs, including with multiple police departments to supplement their income.
They are grateful and only three examples of the many part-time police patrolling communities in Greater Hazleton.
All three were inspired to become police officers for different reasons - like Homanko, who wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, a former police officer. All three said they wanted to make a difference in their communities.
Homanko is looking to pick up another part-time job to add to his three current part-time gigs while he waits to get hired full-time somewhere. Full-time employment is competitive and for now, he said he makes a "decent" living.
Sometimes it's difficult to arrange their multiple work schedules and court appearances on a part-timer's hours, but part-timers find a way to manage.
"I know I go weeks without a day off but I love my job," Hess said of his part-time work in different departments. Part-time hours can make long investigations difficult to maneuver, but Hess said part-timers can either work longer hours or ask another officer for assistance.
Many part-time officers pay for their own police uniforms, training and health care, but Homanko, Hess and Yaman are grateful to the towns they work for, for giving them the opportunities they have.
"We don't necessarily do it for the money. We want to go out there and help people and try to solve their problems," Yaman said.
"It's something you have to be passionate about," Hess said, adding being a police officer is not "just a job."
In Freeland, Yaman is one of three part-time female police officers, Hess said, adding there are some counties where there are no women police at all.
Yaman and Hess said female officers, part-time or full-time, can offer more diversity to police departments in a field once dominated by men.
Schooled
74 Dan Duffy, the director of the Lackawanna College Act 120 program, worked 15 years as a full-time police officer, including about 20 months as the Scranton police chief.
In addition to his directors position, he works part-time police jobs, in Dunmore and Dickson City, despite others thinking his decision to take on part-time work was "sort of odd."
There are many part-time officers who are seasoned veterans, he said. Part-time employment is also for people like him who want to pitch in and use their training and skills to better the community.
"It's all about being a public servant. You have to put service before yourself," said Duffy, who also is a graduate of Lackawanna. Duffy later obtained his bachelor's degree in criminal justice and encourages other officers to do the same.
Full-time or part-time, police officers do not get rich from working their jobs, he said, but they do get paid in other types of wealth.
"The return you get is you're making a difference in your community, in someone's life," Duffy said. Thinking of police work that way, he said, makes it a "noble" profession. A police officer, he said, is involved in someone's life when they are going through a rough time and the officer has an opportunity to do something positive for them.
As municipalities and taxpayers struggle to pay bills, Duffy believes part-time police work will become more available than it has been and he encourages all cadets to "jump at" those opportunities for part-time work.
He said Lackawanna College teaches the basic required curriculum from the Municipal Police Officers' Education and Training Commission along with other courses to make its graduates more "marketable."
The course includes 785½ hours of training either as a full- or part-time student, and Duffy said the program is not easy. Cadets, he said, are given about 20 tests during the school term by well-trained instructors and if they fail two tests they are disqualified from the program. Disqualified cadets are given the opportunity to reapply to the program and start the classes over, he said. Cadets must also participate in physical training and firearms training, among other components of the program.
Now full-timers
West Hazleton police Chief Brian Buglio once was a part-time officer. So were Butler Township Chief David Pavelko and McAdoo Patrolman Anthony DeVirgilio. Each worked their way up to full-time jobs.
Buglio began part-time work in Weatherly in 1995 at 19 years old until he was offered a part-time job in West Hazleton, where after three years of part-time
75 work, West Hazleton hired him full-time. But, even putting in years of part-time work, a full-time job is no guarantee for a public servant.
In early 2000 Buglio was laid off with other borough officers due to financial problems and West Hazleton was eventually left with one local police officer for several years. In 2005 he was brought back full-time and left to build up a department all over again.
Before the layoffs, Buglio said, the borough had eight full-time officers and five part-time while now it has three full-timers and four part-timers.
"As a chief you want all full-time officers but the reality is, it's almost impossible with the way the economy is right now," he said.
West Hazleton is grateful for part-time police officers, Buglio said, because they have allowed the borough to have around-the-clock coverage after a lapse from 2002 to April 2012.
Part-time work, Buglio said, helps an officer build a resume and gain experience and a good reputation, so one day he or she can get hired full-time. Part-time work also helps municipal police department offer longer service hours to the community.
Buglio said it's rare for a cadet to get out of the police academy and jump right into a full-time job, unless they are sponsored by a police department.
West Hazleton puts money into training and outfitting part-timers and teaching them the department's rules, just as the borough would with a full-time officer, but a part-timer can get hired full-time by another department and then "they're gone," Buglio said.
Just this year, he said, he had three part-timers leave the department for other opportunities.
DeVirgilio worked security for three years while working part-time in McAdoo until the borough offered him a full-time position.
From his experience, he said a part-time officer isn't able to form bonds with those in the community like a full-time employee who works steady hours, can. Those community relations, he said, can be a big benefit during an investigation. But, like in West Hazleton, part-time police in McAdoo helped fill the schedule and provide more local coverage to borough residents.
Pavelko began working part-time in Beaver Meadows in 1976. He stayed there for a year and then took a part-time job in Conyngham. Conyngham eventually hired him full-time and he stayed there until 1988, when he went to neighboring Butler Township for a full-time job.
76 He had no benefits when he worked part-time, but recalled not being too worried about it. He was in his 20s and glad to have a job in the line of work he was interested in.
Today, he said, there is a difference, as violent crimes occur more frequently now than in the 1970s. Due to the economy, he said, there also aren't many full-time jobs opening up.
From his experience, Pavelko said he has found that it was more economical "in the long run" for Butler Township to hire all full-time officers because of the initial costs of buying uniforms and training new hires.
"You're really investing a lot of time and money and they could leave after you invested money into them," he said of part-time officers.
Pavelko said it's also difficult for an officer to juggle multiple part-time jobs.
"You don't go to the hospital and expect a part-time doctor. You're dealing with events in people's lives that may affect them the rest of their lives," Pavelko said. "Give (police) more time to dedicate to their work with one department."
3 Years After Inception, a DNA Technique Yields Little Success for the Police By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN and J. DAVID GOODMAN Published: January 27, 2013 The New York Times
The robber fled through a backyard in Queens, dropping a jacket and gloves and with them, genetic material.
Detectives failed to find a suspect in tests comparing the material against a DNA database of convicted criminals. But the search yielded a near match to a convict with an unusually similar DNA profile. The convict may not have been the robber, but perhaps one of his relatives was.
The process of turning crime-scene DNA into a family tree of possible leads has been quietly undertaken in more than two dozen cases in New York City since 2009, when a divided state committee voted to allow the release of so-called partial match DNA data to investigators.
Three years in, the street-level experience in New York has been decidedly mixed: Law enforcement officials said they knew of no cases solved in New York City because of a lead generated by a partial match.
The reason, investigators suggest, may be because New York — unlike states like California, Colorado and Virginia — has not allowed authorities to use
77 existing software that explicitly searches state databases for kinship connections in specific investigations. Instead, during routine searches for exact matches in the databases, detectives and prosecutors are notified each time a piece of evidence matches most but not all of a database profile, suggesting a possible relationship.
In the case of the Queens robbery in 2010, detectives could not request a family search be performed; they were merely informed that a DNA sample partially matched a profile in the database. Detectives chose to pursue the potential lead, developing a family tree from the DNA sample; that led them to secretly securing a genetic sample from the father of a convict. But after tests ruled him out, they concluded the robber in Queens had no blood connection to the family under scrutiny, said Phil T. Pulaski, the chief of detectives, at a public hearing.
It is not clear whether the more tailored search software used in other states would have ruled out the family in this case before any detective work was done. “It is incredibly inefficient because you can’t target a particular case,” Melissa Mourges, the chief of forensic sciences at the Manhattan district attorney’s office, said of the process in New York. “Therefore a lot of work gets done upfront in cases that we would not ultimately pursue.”
Chief Pulaski explained that New York City detectives had used searches of the DNA database to pursue potential kinship leads in 25 cases, but had hit dead ends in four of them: the Queens robbery, a 1996 rape in a Manhattan hospital, a 2005 murder in south Queens and a 2007 Bronx murder. Chief Pulaski described those cases in detail to the DNA subcommittee of the State Commission on Forensic Science last year. (A fifth case was closed after the victim recanted, Chief Pulaski said.)
The four cases described by Chief Pulaski offer a unique glimpse at new genealogical procedures being honed by detectives. “In this family tree, we have 17 family members,” Chief Pulaski said, discussing the hospital rape case. “We have ancestors, siblings, nephews,” he continued. The police took DNA from two brothers and two nephews of the convict, he said, as well as from autopsy samples from two relatives.
But none of that matched the evidence from the rape case. “We’re at a point where we don’t believe there is a biological relationship,” Chief Pulaski said.
He did not publicly discuss the 20 cases in which detectives are actively looking at relatives and could still result in leads.
Before the policy change in 2009, medical examiners were permitted to share only the names of offenders whose DNA appeared to exactly match crime-scene DNA. When medical examiners saw a partial match — suggestive of a familial relationship — they kept it to themselves. The 2009 change allowed the medical examiner’s office to notify investigators, inquiring whether they wanted to know the name.
78 “It’s up to them to do the legwork and see if they can find relatives that might be appropriate to test,” said Marie Samples, an assistant director of the New York City medical examiner’s office.
Wary of setting off a civil liberties debate that has so far been mostly avoided, law enforcement officials in New York have been reluctant to call for using familial search software, content to experiment with the results from partial matches.
“It’s not like we were jumping for joy that this was going to be the elixir,” said Joseph L. Giacalone, a retired commander of the Bronx cold case squad. “But you have a suspect where in the past you wouldn’t have anybody.”
But in roughly two-thirds of the cases, New York detectives and prosecutors have declined to learn the names. Of more than 140 names generated from partial matches, Chief Pulaski said, the police declined in 93 cases.
Asked in what circumstances the police might forgo the information, Deputy Inspector Emanuel J. Katranakis told the subcommittee that in some of these instances there had already been “a conviction and an individual is serving a sentence.”
Chief Pulaski added, however, that the police were “very careful to use this and consider this as an exoneration tool, as well as an investigative tool to see who did it.”
Critics worry the authorities have too much discretion to use — or ignore — partial-match information, which routinely brings innocent family members under suspicion. “It’s a directive to the police to use your imagination,” said Robert Perry of the New York Civil Liberties Union. In addition, the group argues, minority communities may disproportionately fall under suspicion because the underlying DNA database, based on convicted felons, contains a greater percentage of black and Hispanic offenders.
Chief Pulaski said the police usually declined information about partial matches because of skepticism that the evidence was relevant to a case. At crime scenes, the police often collect cigarettes or beer bottles for testing even though passers- by may have left them.
Chief Pulaski described a 2007 murder in a Bronx park in which the police had found a baseball cap some 60 feet away from bullet casings.
Testing of the cap showed similarities to the DNA of a convicted offender, prompting detectives to learn more about three of his male relatives — his father and his two sons. Witness descriptions of the shooter, however, excluded the father as too old and the sons as too young, Chief Pulaski said, leading detectives to conclude the baseball cap had no connection to the killing.
79 Some here have looked to the expanding number of states where more highly targeted searches for family members have provided breaks in high-profile cold cases, notably the 2010 arrest of a suspect in the so-called Grim Sleeper case.
In that case, California law enforcement officials identified a Los Angeles serial killer, whose crimes stretched back to the 1980s, after a 2010 database search turned up a possible relation. Detectives gathered DNA from that man’s father, which matched the old crime scenes; he was charged with the killings.
Such highly tailored software searches, so-called familial searches, are believed to detect family relationships better — particularly those among siblings — than partial-match results generated in New York.
“Being able to pursue partial match is important,” said Mitch Morrissey, the district attorney in Denver and a leading advocate of familial database searching. “It does work sometimes, but if you’re going to be doing this type of work, you really need familial search software.”
But, he cautioned, the results are still just one step in solving a hard-to-close case. “The science gets you to a viable lead, but then you have to do a conventional investigation,” he said.
Cyber 9/11' may be on horizon, Homeland Security chief warns With the possibility of a massive cyberattack hitting the U.S. in the near future, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urges the government to pass cybersecurity legislation. by Dara Kerr - January 24, 2013 5:43 PM PST C-NET
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warns that a massive cyberattack on the nation's infrastructure could happen "imminently."
The head of Homeland Security announced today that she believes a "cyber 9/11" could happen "imminently," according to Reuters. If such an event were to occur it could cripple the country -- taking down the power grid, water infrastructure, transportation networks, and financial networks.
"We shouldn't wait until there is a 9/11 in the cyber world," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said during a talk at the Wilson Center think tank today, according to Reuters. "There are things we can and should be doing right now that, if not prevent, would mitigate the extent of damage."
Napolitano was referring to the possibility of Congress passing cybersecurity legislation. Several elected officials have been working to get a cybersecurity law passed for years, but have repeatedly run into road blocks.
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Sen. Joseph Lieberman spent years fighting unsuccessfully for a so-called Internet kill switch that would grant the president vast power over private networks during a "national cyberemergency." Currently, he is working to get Senate to pass a more modest version of his proposal. By the same token, President Obama also signed an executive order last July that could give the government control over the Internet in an emergency.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has also strongly advocated for increased governmental cybersecurity. During his first major policy speech on cybersecurity last October, he echoed previous statements that the United States is facing the possibility of a "cyber-Pearl Harbor" perpetrated by foreign hackers. "A cyber attack perpetrated by nation states or violent extremist groups could be as destructive as the terrorist attack of 9/11," he said during a speech. "Such a destructive cyber terrorist attack could paralyze the nation."
According to Reuters, Napolitano said today that a massive cyber attack could cause the same amount of damage as last year's Superstorm Sandy, which downed electricity and information networks throughout the Northeastern U.S.
"The clarion call is here and we need to be dealing with this very urgently," Napolitano said. "Attacks are coming all the time. They are coming from different sources, they take different forms. But they are increasing in seriousness and sophistication."
Prison Population Can Shrink When Police Crowd Streets
The New York Times By JOHN TIERNEY Published: January 25, 2013 Now that the United States has the world’s highest reported rate of incarceration, many criminologists are contemplating another strategy. What if America reverted to the penal policies of the 1980s? What if the prison population shrank drastically? What if money now spent guarding cellblocks was instead used for policing the streets?
In short, what would happen if the rest of the country followed New York City’s example?
As the American prison population has doubled in the past two decades, the city has been a remarkable exception to the trend: the number of its residents in prison has shrunk. Its incarceration rate, once high by national standards, has plunged well below the United States average and has hit another new low, as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced recently. And crime in the city has fallen by more than 75 percent, almost twice as much as in the rest of the country.
81 Whatever has made New York the safest big city in America, that feat has certainly not been accomplished by locking up more criminals.
“The precise causes of New York’s crime decline will be debated by social scientists until the Sun hits the Earth,” said Michael Jacobson, a criminologist who ran the city’s Correction and Probation Departments during the 1990s and is now the president of the Vera Institute of Justice, a criminal justice research group. “But the 50,000-foot story from New York is that you can drive down crime while decreasing your jail and prison population — and save a huge amount of money in the process.”
New York’s singular success has attracted attention across the country from public officials whose budgets have been strained by the prison boom. The 2.3 million people behind bars in America, a fifth of the world’s prisoners, cost taxpayers more than $75 billion a year. The strict penal policies were intended to reduce crime, but they have led to a historic, if largely unrecognized, shift in priorities away from policing.
“The United States today is the only country I know of that spends more on prisons than police,” said Lawrence W. Sherman, an American criminologist on the faculties of the University of Maryland and Cambridge University in Britain. “In England and Wales, the spending on police is twice as high as on corrections. In Australia it’s more than three times higher. In Japan it’s seven times higher. Only in the United States is it lower, and only in our recent history.”
Before the era of mass incarceration began in the 1980s, local policing accounted for more than 40 percent of spending for criminal justice, while 25 percent went to prisons and parole programs. But since 1990, nearly 35 percent has gone to the prison system, while the portion of criminal justice spending for local policing has fallen to slightly more than 30 percent.
New York, while now an exception to the mass-incarceration trend, also happens to be the place that inspired it. When New York State four decades ago commissioned an evaluation of programs to rehabilitate criminals, the conclusions were so discouraging that the researchers were initially forbidden to publish them.
Eventually one of the criminologists, Robert Martinson, summarized the results in 1974 in the journal Public Interest. His article, “What Works? Questions and Answers About Prison Reform,” was soon known as the “nothing works” thesis. Dr. Martinson concluded that rehabilitation strategies “cannot overcome, or even appreciably reduce, the powerful tendencies of offenders to continue in criminal behavior.”
An outgrowth of the study was a consensus to eliminate parole for many offenders and to mandate long sentences determined by formulas rather than rely on the discretion of judges and parole boards.
Dr. Martinson wrote an article in 1979 recanting his “nothing works” conclusion, but by then it was too late. The trend toward tougher sentences continued,
82 causing prison populations to grow rapidly in the 1980s throughout the country, including in New York. When crime kept rising anyway, sentences often were further lengthened.
But New York diverged from the national trend in the early 1990s, when it began expanding its police force and introduced a computerized system to track crimes and complaints. Officers also aggressively enforced laws against guns, illegal drugs and petty crimes like turnstile jumping in the subways. Arrests for misdemeanors increased sharply.
Yet serious crime went down. So though more people were being locked up for brief periods — including many who were unable to make bail and were awaiting trial — the local jail population was shrinking and fewer city residents were serving time in state prisons.
“Even with more people coming into the system, the overall bed count was declining because people weren’t staying as long,” Dr. Jacobson, who was correction commissioner from 1995 to 1998, recalled.
“It was a nightmare to administer because there was so much churning and turnover, but it was good news for the city.”
Saving $1.5 Billion a Year
Even as the city grew by nearly a million people in the last two decades, the number of New Yorkers behind bars fell by a third, to below 40,000 today.
If the city had followed the national trend, nearly 60,000 additional New Yorkers would be behind bars today, and the number of city and state correction officers would have more than doubled since 1990, said Franklin E. Zimring, a criminologist at the University of California, Berkeley.
By not expanding the jail and prison populations, he calculates in his 2011 book, “The City That Became Safe,” the city and the state have been saving $1.5 billion a year, more than twice as much as it cost to finance the additional police officers in the 1990s.
The crime decline, which has lasted for two decades, has been so striking that some critics wonder if the police stopped reporting some offenses. The police vehemently deny that, and numbers have continued dropping even for crimes that are difficult to hide — homicides, most notably.
Policing, of course, is not the only possible explanation for the safer streets. A shift in demographics, the arrival of new immigrants, the waning of the crack epidemic, and other economic and social changes had an impact on neighborhoods in New York — and in the rest of the country, where crime also declined in the 1990s.
But the drop was much steeper and more prolonged in New York than elsewhere. And while researchers attributed about a quarter of the decline in the rest of
83 America to the stricter penal policies, that explanation did not apply to a city that was locking up fewer people. Something else was responsible, and criminologists have been trying to figure out how to repeat it.
“The intellectual tragedy of the New York crime miracle is that it had no experiments to identify just what worked,” Dr. Sherman said.
His frustration is shared by David Weisburd, a criminologist at George Mason University in Virginia and Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
“As long as crime is going down, New York’s police don’t seem to want to know which strategies are working and which aren’t,” Dr. Weisburd said. “When I proposed an experiment to one police official in the last administration, he replied, ‘You could only bring me bad news.’ ”
Elsewhere, studies have shown that crime drops when more police officers are hired, so it is not surprising that the expansion of New York’s police force in the 1990s by more than a third was accompanied by a drop in crime. But during the past decade, the force has shrunk by 15 percent, and yet crime has mostly continued falling.
When Dr. Zimring and other criminologists look at this trend, and compare it with the fluctuating crime rates in other cities, they conclude that the retreat in crime in New York is not just a matter of the number of police officers. Those officers must be doing something right, but what exactly?
The most likely answer is a shift in strategy called hot-spot policing.
In the 1970s, research had shown that a small percentage of criminals committed a large share of crimes, so it had seemed logical to concentrate on catching repeat offenders and locking them up.
But after computerized crime mapping was introduced, it turned out that crime was even more concentrated by place than by person.
In city after city, researchers found that half of crimes occur within about 5 percent of an urban area — a few buildings, intersections and blocks, often near transit stops and businesses like convenience stores, bars and nightclubs.
The criminal population keeps changing as men in their 30s drop out and are replaced by teenagers, but crimes keep occurring at the same places.
A Focus on Hot Spots
Researchers suggested: Perhaps the authorities should pay less attention to individual criminals and more attention to the hot spots where they operate.
Dr. Sherman, Dr. Weisburd and colleagues have tested the idea in randomized experiments in Jersey City; Houston; Kansas City, Mo.; Minneapolis; Philadelphia; Sacramento; and cities in Britain and Australia.
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Typically, a list of hot spots was identified, and then half were randomly chosen to receive extra police attention, like more frequent patrols. Other strategies were also used, like improving street lighting, fencing vacant lots or arresting people for minor violations.
As hoped, there were fewer crimes and complaints at the hot spots chosen for extra attention than at those that were not. And once police officers started to show up often and at unpredictable intervals, they did not need to stay more than 15 minutes to have a lasting impact.
Nonetheless, the hot-spot strategy was initially met with skepticism by police veterans.
“We assumed that if we hit one area hard, the crime would just move somewhere else,” said Frank Gajewski, a former police chief of Jersey City, who worked with Dr. Weisburd on the experiments there.
But Dr. Weisburd won over Mr. Gajewski and other skeptics — and also won the 2010 Stockholm Prize, criminology’s version of the Nobel — by showing that crime was not simply being displaced. Moreover, he and his colleagues reported a “spatial diffusion of crime prevention benefits” because crime also declined in adjoining areas, as the police in Jersey City had observed.
“Crime doesn’t move as easily we thought it did,” Mr. Gajewski said. “If I’m a robber, I want to be in a familiar, easily accessible place with certain characteristics. I need targets to rob, but I don’t want people in the neighborhood watching me or challenging me. Maybe I work near a bus stop where there are vacant buildings or empty lots. If the police start focusing there, I can’t just move to the next block and find the same conditions.”
After more than two dozen experiments around the world, criminologists generally agree that hot-spot policing is “an effective crime prevention strategy,” in the words of Anthony Braga, a criminologist at Harvard and Rutgers who led a review of the research literature last year.
Many experts also see it as the best explanation for the crime drop in New York. Although the city’s police did not participate in randomized experiments, they did use computerized crime mapping to focus on hot spots in the 1990s. This strategy was intensified with a program called Operation Impact, which was started in 2003 by Raymond W. Kelly, then and now the police commissioner.
Commissioner Kelly gives the strategy credit for the continued decline of crime despite the reduced police force.
There is supporting evidence from Dennis C. Smith, a political scientist at New York University who led an analysis of trends in the dozens of precincts where the city’s police focus on “impact zones,” as the hot spots are called. Rates of murder, rape, grand larceny, robbery and assault declined significantly faster in precincts with hot-spot policing than in those without it.
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The Stop-and-Frisk Debate
One part of the hot-spot strategy in New York has been highly controversial: the stopping and frisking of hundreds of thousands of people each year, ostensibly to search for weapons or other contraband.
Some critics say that the tactic has been used so often and so brusquely in New York that it has undermined policing by arousing disrespect for the law, especially among young black and Latino men, who are disproportionately stopped and searched. Research shows that people who feel treated unfairly by the police can become more likely to commit crimes in the future.
“The million-dollar question in policing right now is whether there are ways to get the benefits of stop-and-frisk without the collateral costs,” said Jens Ludwig, an economist who directs the University of Chicago Crime Lab. He found benefits from the tactic — a decline in gunshot injuries — in an experiment with the Pittsburgh police.
“Getting the police to stop people more often and search them for illegal guns does help keep guns off the street and reduce gun violence,” Dr. Ludwig said. “That’s not to say whether or not stop-and-frisk is worth the costs that the practice imposes on society. But there’s a complicated trade-off here that needs to be acknowledged.”
Defenders of stop-and-frisk, including Mayor Bloomberg, argue that when it is done properly and politely, the practice prevents crimes that disproportionately hurt the city’s minorities.
“If New York went back to the policing of the 1980s,” Dr. Smith said, “there would be hundreds of thousands more victims of serious crimes every year, and the great majority of them would be African-American and Hispanic.”
Police officials note that if the homicide rate of the 1980s persisted, 1,200 additional New Yorkers, most of them black or Latino men, would have been killed last year — when the police recorded 417 murders. Further, if the city’s incarceration rate had followed the national trend, an additional 100,000 black and Hispanic men would have been sent to prison in the past decade, Dr. Zimring calculates.
Whether or not other cities adopt New York’s specific stop-and-frisk tactics, social scientists say the rest of the country could benefit by adding police officers and concentrating on hot spots.
Dr. Ludwig and Philip J. Cook, a Duke University economist, calculate that nationwide, money diverted from prison to policing would buy at least four times as much reduction in crime. They suggest shrinking the prison population by a quarter and using the savings to hire another 100,000 police officers.
86 Diverting that money to the police would be tricky politically, because corrections budgets are zealously defended in state capitals by prison administrators, unions and legislators.
But there is at least one prison administrator, Dr. Jacobson, the former correction commissioner in New York, who would send the money elsewhere.
“If you had a dollar to spend on reducing crime, and you looked at the science instead of the politics, you would never spend it on the prison system,” Dr. Jacobson said. “There is no better example of big government run amok.”
That is the same lesson that William J. Bratton draws from his experience as New York’s police commissioner in the 1990s. “We showed in New York that the future of policing is not in handcuffs,” Mr. Bratton said. “The United States has locked up so many people that it has the highest incarceration rate in the world, but we can’t arrest and incarcerate our way out of crime. We need to focus on preventing crime instead of responding to it.”
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