Obama: Cut State, Local Anticrime Aid, Change Juvenile Justice Funding ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ President Obama's proposed federal budget for the year starting Oct. 1, issued today, calls for a 2 percent increase in the Justice Department's spending but a major cut in the Office of Justice Programs and Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) office, both of which provide state and local anticrime aid. Describing the reductions as "tough choices," the White House still seeks $600 million to hire "first responders," including police officers and sheriff's deputies. The proposed budget includes a solid increase for the FBI but a reduction for the Drug Enforcement Administration. It would cut funding for juvenile justice and child safety programs. The proposed budget calls for $50 million in cuts, "refocusing many formula and other grants into a new $120 million Race to the Top style grant that rewards states for tangible improvements in juvenile justice systems." For many programs the Obama budget may signify a maximum potential allocation, because Republicans in Congress will seek further cuts in many federal programs. |
House Republicans Seek Deeper Criminal Justice Spending Cuts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After some House Republicans demanded further cuts in the current appropriations funding the federal government's operation, the House Appropriations Committee issued a proposal calling for even deeper cuts in criminal justice programs and federal agencies across the board. Among the new proposals are a $581.3 million reduction in state and local law enforcement grant programs, $191 million from juvenile justice aid, and elimination of the COPS hiring program and the Weed and Seed program. The proposal apparently will be sent to the House floor early in the week of February 14, just when the Obama administration is issuing its budget proposal for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. The House committee proposal is subject to amendment on the House floor and consideration by the Senate, so it is far from clear that any of the cuts sought by House Republicans will occur. The current "continuing resolution" keeping the federal government in operation expires in early March, but it is not certain that the new proposal can make its way through the congressional process by then. |
Money Short, Sacramento Tries to Get More Efficient with "Hot-Spot" Policing Experiment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Sacramento Police Department has begun an ambitious experiment to drive down crime on some of the city's most problematic blocks - without adding any officers or dollars to the force, says the Sacramento Bee. Embracing the national trend of evidence-based policing, the agency is borrowing from several research studies that have found that the presence of a police fficer in a "hot spot" - for as little as 20 minutes every day - can dramatically drive down crimes like prostitution, drug-dealing, fights, and car break-ins. It's all done in the course of an officer's regular patrol duties. When the less-violent crimes are stifled, the theory goes, police can then focus on bigger issues. "You're going to reduce those calls for service that get generated and waste an officer's time," said Sgt. Renee Mitchell, who is overseeing the 90-day pilot project. "You're basically making (police) more efficient." The project is an example of the department trying to attack crime creatively - and practically, given tough economic times, said Chief Rick Braziel. The "hot-spot policing" model gained attention after a 1995 study in Minneapolis by researchers Lawrence W. Sherman and David Weisburd. That yearlong study found that targeting a city's worst blocks with a concentrated - but brief - police presence can drive down "soft crimes." In that study, total calls for service dropped 13 percent, and soft crimes dropped 16 percent. |
No-Knock Police Raids Rise Dramatically, Draw Critics ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The number of no-knock police raids has grown from 2,000 to 3,000 raids a year in the mid-1980s, to 70,000 to 80,000 annually, criminologist Peter Kraska of Eastern Kentucky University tells USA Today. Questions have been raised about the tactic, including whether the surprise element poses an unnecessary threat to people whose residences are invaded. Judges can issue no-knock warrants when they believe the element of surprise could help officers avoid danger or keep people from destroying evidence. Critics say the tactic gives residents - some innocent - seconds to decide if they face a police raid or a home invasion. At times, particularly in drug cases, police make their case for no-knock search warrants based on faulty information from unreliable informants, says Ezekiel Edwards of the American Civil Liberties Union. "That's just going to increase invasions of privacy and tragic harm to both residents and officers," he says. |
NYC Reporter Tests Police Scanner App; Traffic, Jargon Are Problems ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New York Times reporter Corey Kilgannon tested a police scanner apps for a smart phones. (One, Police Scanner 2, has been downloaded nearly a million times for $4.99, its creator says). His conclusion: "it was easy to tap into an audio overview of the city's emergency activity, but much more difficult to follow in real time, because of traffic, distance, and the challenge of catching addresses and sifting through jargon." On police scanners, says Kilgannon, there is never a slow news day. It is a nonstop litany of fires, missing persons, gas leaks, car crashes, building collapses, shots fired, bridge jumpers, and purse snatchings. Only a small fraction of these end up in media news reports. He tried to check out the others. |
Female Incarceration In Oklahoma: Some Women Saved By Drug Courts, Others Fail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma Watch, The Oklahoman, and the Tulsa World are examining the issue of Oklahoma's high female incarceration rate. In one story in a series, the Tulsa World reports that drug-related offenses account for about 12 percent of females arrested in Oklahoma and about 50 percent of women incarcerated. The average state sentence for women with drug-related convictions is 5½ years, found a Tulsa World analysis of prison sentences since 2000. Drug court participation in Oklahoma has increased from about 1,500 in 2005 to about 4,200 currently, as more counties add programs. The World tells the story of a mother and two daughters who ended up in drug court. Only one of the sisters graduated. "Drug Court not only saved me, they didn't give up on me," she said |
NYC Pot-Possession Arrests Are Up Again; 69% Increase in 5 Years ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New York City police made 50,383 arrests last year for low-level marijuana arrests, a 69 percent increase in such arrests over 5 years, says the advocacy group Drug Policy Alliance, citing data from the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services. Arrests for low-level marijuana possession offenses are the number one arrest catetory in New York City, making up 15 percent of all the total. The alliance said the dramatic rise in marijuana arrests is not the result of increased marijuana use, which peaked nationally around 1980 according to federal data. Last year was is the sixth year in a row with an increase in marijuana possession arrests. "New York has made more marijuana arrests under [Mayor Michael] Bloomberg than any mayor in New York City history," said Harry Levine, a sociology professor at Queens College and anexpert on marijuana arrests. "Bloomberg's police have arrested more people for marijuana than Mayors Koch, Dinkins, and Giuliani combined. These arrests cost tens of millions of dollars every year, and introduce tens of thousands of young people into our broken criminal justice system." |
Are Police Obliged To Act On Reports Of Suspects' Suicide Threats? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Are police departments obligated to act on reported suicide threats by suspects in custody? That is the issue in a North Carolina case reported by the Charlotte Observer. Christina Bankhead called Charlotte-Mecklenburg police from Missouri, worried about the safety of her friend, Brian Cobb, who had been involved in a contentious domestic dispute and had written a suicide note to Bankhead. The note read: "Theres a 12 (gauge) with my name on it." Bankhead said police assured her that Cobb probably was safe because he was in jail on allegations he violated a domestic violence protection order. One day later, on Jan. 29, the 39-year-old nurse and father of three was found dead in his home from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Bankhead and another friend are questioning why police did not do more to protect him. "There were people in positions of authority with the ability to stop him, and they did not stop him," Bankhead said. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police acknowledge receiving a request for officers to check on Cobb the day before he was found dead. When asked by the Observer whether police policy dictated the department inform jail officials about Bankhead's call, spokeswoman Rosalyn Harrington would not answer. |
Why Few Threats Against Federal Officials Result In Prosecutions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Making a threat against a federal official - whether it's a worker at a Social Security office or the president, even without any intent to follow through - is a federal crime. Only a few dozen threats each year result in prosecutions, often because it's impossible to identify a suspect, Justice Department officials tell the Associated Press. A review of threat prosecutions after the shootings of Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and U.S. District Judge John Roll in Tucson shows that it typically takes much more than posting warnings on obscure Internet sites - of the kind left by the defendant in that attack, Jared Loughner - to cause action by authorities. The people actually charged with threatening federal officials have taken the time to write, call, e-mail, or appear in person to put their names behind their warnings. Each year, hundreds of threats make their way to the Justice Department, say data compiled by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, based at Syracuse University. Justice officials said many cases reach them before a suspect has been identified because investigators need subpoenas or other legal help in trying to trace a threat to its source. Last year, prosecutors brought fewer than 100 criminal cases involving threats. Prosecutors declined to press ahead on 600 others. |
Jury Hears How PA Judges Extorted Cash Payments In Corruption Scandal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Attorney Jill Moran told a Pennsylvania federal jury how she watched in shock as her boss Robert Powell, cursing and muttering, stuffed wads of cash into a FedEx box that he wanted her to hand-deliver to the president judge of Luzerne County, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. "These greedy [expletives] won't let me go," Powell said, his hands full of $100 and $50 bills. "Take this to them, and hopefully it will be over." The money was the last payment in about $2.9 million that federal prosecutors say was given to two county judges, Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella, in a "kids for cash" scandal that ranks as one of most serious recent acts of judicial wrongdoing in the nation. Moran and Powell delivered a graphic account of the judges' alleged original conspiracy and failed cover-up. In a brazen scheme, authorities say, two detention centers owned by Powell were filled with thousands of youngsters deemed delinquent by Ciavarella, the county's lone juvenile court judge. Providing detail that did much to fill out the bloodless accounts in indictments and guilty-plea agreements, Moran and Powell talked of lawbreaking that went on for years and of scheming that traded on the circumstances of troubled children. As the star witness in the unfolding federal trial against Ciavarella - Conahan pleaded guilty last year, Powell said the judges had extorted the millions from him and a business associate in return for making sure that $30 million in taxpayer money flowed over five years to his two juvenile-detention centers |
Milwaukee Police Early Warning System Failed To See Troubled Officer's Pattern ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A recently fired Milwaukee police officer under federal investigation after a woman said he raped her on duty has been accused of breaking the law five times before, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Three of the previous allegations involved sexual misconduct - two with female prisoners and one with a 16-year-old girl. In one case, Ex-officer Ladmarald Cates was suspended for two days for domestic violence battery. In another, he was suspended for eight days for mistreating a prisoner and failing to obey a supervisor's orders. Police Chief Edward Flynn acknowledged that a computerized early-intervention system designed to identify potentially troubled officers didn't flag Cates, who was fired in December. Flynn said procedures instituted under his watch should stop officers like Cates from slipping through the cracks in the future. "It is clear to me looking at this employee's record that from a management point of view an obvious pattern was overlooked," Flynn said. "The department did not see the forest for the trees here." |
Domestic Violence Opponent Objects To Museum's "Handcuff" Tour ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Valentine's weekend promotion by the National Museum of Crime and Punishment in Washington, D.C., that involves getting handcuffed to your sweetheart is being attacked by an anti-domestic violence group, reports WTOP radio. The museum's "Crimes of Passion" exhibit is drawing complaints from Chai Shenoy of Holla Back DC. "We find [it] really reprehensible to us this exhibit is mocking the lives of people who have died due to domestic violence," Shenoy says. The museum's Janine Vaccarello says at at the "actual event itself we don't focus at all on domestic violence." There now is information about domestic violence on the museum's website, and handouts on the subject for visitors to take on the way out. Those additions aren't enough to placate Shenoy. "We want to take this one step further. We don't want this type of exhibit to come back, especially not around Valentine's Day," says Shenoy |
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Monday, February 14, 2011
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