February 8, 2011 |
Rampant Precious Metal Thefts Are Called National Security Issue ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Near-record prices for copper, platinum, aluminum, and other metals are prompting a resurgence in the theft of common items that in better times might be overlooked, says the New York Times. Among them are catalytic converters from automobiles and copper wiring stripped out of overhead power lines, tornado warning sirens, coal mines, and foreclosed homes, where thieves sometimes tear down walls to get to copper pipes and wiring. Thieves make quick money by selling the items to scrap yards. The thefts are difficult to stop by overmatched law enforcement agencies and have been a costly nuisance to public utilities, which must spend millions of dollars on repairs and security. Thieves have electrocuted themselves and caused electrical and telephone failures and street light blackouts. Municipalities hit by budget deficits cannot afford repairs. Some state highways have been dark for months. In California, Little League baseball fields have gone dark because wiring was stolen from lights. "We believe this is a national security issue," said Bryan Jacobs of the Coalition Against Copper Theft, an advocacy group in Washington that includes telecommunications firms, power companies, and railroads. "The only thing keeping it from being an epidemic is that scrap yards are now scrutinizing the material. But theft is still rampant." |
Congressional Backers Unveil Report On Research-Based Corrections Strategies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Council of State Governments Justice Center got some key congressional support today for a new report documenting strategies to reduce repeat criminality and cut the $50 billion being spent by states each year on corrections in a time of government budget crunches. The report on a "summit" last year offers ways to avoid "haphazard policy decisions that negatively affect public safety." The study includes ways to focus resources on those most likely to offend, base programs on research, use effective community supervision policies, and use "place-based strategies." The effort includes the "justice reinvestment" concept of cutting prison spending and reinvesting savings in other crime-fighting programs. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees the Justice Department budget, said that "quick fixes can have dangerous consequences. To increase public safety in this austere budget environment, we must support cost-effective efforts by states that are grounded in the 'best practices' and draw on the latest innovations from public corrections and the faith-based community." Wolf told the Wall Street Journal that "every state ought to want to move in this direction" and said he was sending the report to every governor. He was joined by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and John Cornyn (R-TX). Others supporting the effort include the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States, the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the Public Welfare Foundation |
Two States Ban Drugs Sold As "Bath Salts;" Congress May Act ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Packets of white powder with names like Vanilla Sky, Ivory Wave, and White Rush are being sold in convenience stores and gas stations across the U.S., NPR reports. The packets are sold as "bath salts," but are actually a drug that produces in users a meth-like high and sometimes violent behavior. Florida has joined Louisiana in banning their sale. For law enforcement authorities, it is just the latest round in what's becoming a familiar fight - one that in the past has involved synthetic marijuana, herbal ecstasy, salvia, and other legal highs. Bath salts have got the attention of Washington. The White House drug czar has issued a warning to parents. In Congress, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) plans to introduce a bill that would impose a nationwide ban. |
Are Cybercriminals Performing Electronic Pickpocketing With RFID? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A new type of cybercrime could be aimed at credit-card holders, but officials say proving it is next to impossible, reports the Columbus Dispatch. What has people concerned is the addition of radio-frequency identification technology microchips to a growing number of consumer credit cards. The technology, known as RFID, is widely used in security badges and toll-pay systems. Marketed as a time-saver, the radio chips allow users to tap or wave their cards in front of scanners to pay for gas or buy a cup of coffee without having to swipe the card or hand it to a cashier. More than 100 million RFID-enabled cards are in use in the U.S. Security expert Walt Augustinowicz said scammers can buy portable RFID readers and a battery pack for less than $100 on the Internet and then connect them to a laptop. The reader can pick up information being broadcast from the cards, such as account numbers and expiration dates, from several inches away. The thieves can move through crowded locations, lifting unsuspecting victims' credit-card information out of their wallets and purses without having to lay a finger on them. Is it happening? The U.S. Secret Service has no open investigations of electronic pickpocketing and does not know of any. Augustinowicz said he thinks the thefts are taking place under the radar of law enforcement because it would be impossible to prove that's how the criminals got the numbers without catching them in the act. A video of Augustinowicz demonstrating how the theft works went viral, garnering millions of hits on a television news site |
Inmate Meditation Cuts Discipline Problems In AL High-Security Prison ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An ancient Eastern practice is taking root in the unlikeliest of places: Alabama's highest security prison, reports NPR. Alabama's most violent and mentally unstable prisoners are in the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility outside Birmingham. The prison has 24 death row cells, and a third of the 1,500 prisoners are lifers with no chance of parole. The lockup has a history of inmate stabbings, deaths and suicides and is the target of lawsuits. The prison is named for an officer killed here in 1990. For the past 10 days, the gym has been transformed into a peaceful Vipassana meditation hall. "Vipassana means seeing things as they are," says inmate Johnny Mack Young. He kneels on a blue mat, resting back on a small wooden stool--the position he keeps for up to 10 hours a day during the intense silent-meditation course. "Isolated in the gym, the inmates wake up at 4 a.m. and meditate on and off until 9 p.m. They eat a strict vegetarian diet. They can't smoke or drink coffee. There is absolutely no conversation, only an internal examination of how the body is reacting. Ron Cavanaugh, treatment director for the Alabama Department of Corrections, says many inmates put their defenses up, denying responsibility for their crimes and blaming others. The meditation chips away at those defense mechanisms. "They have nobody to talk to," Cavanaugh says. "So there's nobody that they can deny stuff with or project everything with." Inmates who go through the course have a 20 percent reduction in disciplinary action. It hasn't been an easy sell in Alabama, a state known for harsh punishment policies like chain gangs and hitching posts |
TX Judge Orders Gang Members To Pay $70,000 For Their Prosecution ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Houston judge has permanently banned 47 gang members from a perennially troubled apartment complex. Judge Alexandra Smoots-Hogan agreed with prosecutors who sued to bar members of several gangs, some of whom typically would be rivals but who commit crimes together at the complex, including selling drugs, robbery, and burglary. The judge ordered the repeat offenders to repay the county about $70,000 for their prosectuon. "This judgment (for attorney's fees) is good for 20 years," said prosecutor Kim Ogg. "I've seen gang members win the lottery, get large inheritances, all sorts of things." Ogg said the gang members now can be arrested for being in the 57-acre "safety area" surrounding the 700-unit complex and prosecuted for a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by a year in jail. The suit is part of a broader strategy to clean up what District Attorney Pat Lykos called one of the most dangerous apartment complexes in the county. "We are taking the property back from the criminals," Lykos said. "This is notice to the Bloods and the Crips and all the other gangs that we are going after them. |
Detroit Mayor Luring Police Back To City With Big Housing Subsidies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In a plan to bolster select Detroit neighborhoods, Mayor Dave Bing will begin luring 200 police officers back to the city by offering them renovated homes for as little as $1,000, reports the Detroit Free Press. Bing plans to use $30 million in federal stimulus money to rehab houses in two neighborhoods for officers enticed by forgivable loans, no down payments, and energy-efficient homes. In a plan to bolster select Detroit neighborhoods, Mayor Dave Bing will begin luring 200 police officers back to the city by offering them renovated homes for as little as $1,000, reports the Detroit Free Press. Bing plans to use $30 million in federal stimulus money to rehab houses in two neighborhoods for officers enticed by forgivable loans, no down payments, and energy-efficient homes. Officer LaDawn Russell, who left Detroit for Oak Park in 2007, in part for her children, is considering moving back. "Around New Year's Eve, I don't hear gunshots" in Oak Park, said Russell, 30. About 50 officers have inquired about the program. "I think for any neighborhood, whether it's in Detroit or outside of the area, to know that there are professional public safety officials in the community is always a sense of comfort," said Pamela Miller Malone, president of the Historic Boston-Edison Association |
Philadelphia Police Hope To Reinstate Mounted Units For Crowd Control ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As cities like Newark are disbanding police mounted units, Philadelphia plans to bring back cops on horses this fall if a private foundation can raise $2 million to fund the patrols until the city can afford to take over the cost, reports USA Today. With successful pro sports teams and rowdy Saturday night street scenes, Philadelphia needs police horses for crowd control, says Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey. The city needs better relations between residents and the police force as it struggles with a high crime rate, and horses can help there, too, Ramsey says. No one ever asks to pet a squad car. Last March, swarming crowds of young people called "flash mobs" resulted in near-riots and arrests. That highlighted the need for the city to have mounted cops. "One horse is worth 10 people when it comes to crowd control," Ramsey says. "When you've got police officers on foot marching in a skirmish line trying to move a crowd, what do you have? You've got tension, you've got conflict. |
Deputies Stopped Clemmons Hours Before He Killed 4 WA Cops ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eight hours before Maurice Clemmons opened fire in a Washington state coffee shop, killing four police officers, two sheriff's deputies crossed paths with him while on routine patrol, says the Seattle Times. One deputy even ran a check for outstanding warrants - and came up empty. That check took place at 12:38 a.m. on Nov. 29, 2009, the same day that Clemmons committed one of the worst crimes in the history of the Pacific Northwest. It is another example of how close authorities came to stopping Clemmons before he acted on a pledge to kill as many police officers as he could. After being released from jail six days before the shootings, Clemmons took a number of steps that could have resulted in a warrant being issued for his arrest or in bail-bond employees trying to hunt him down. Each time, the opportunity was missed. A police report about the deputies' spotting Clemmons the same day of the shootings was made available by the Pierce County Sheriff's Department as part of a large release of public records. News organizaations sued for access to the 2,000-plus pages of documents and prevailed in the state Supreme Court. The records' release was fought by relatives and associates of Clemmons who had been charged with aiding him before or after the shootings. |
D.C. Gun Registrations Disproportionately In Well-To-Do Areas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Since the U.S. Supreme Court ended Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban in 2008, hundreds of residents in the safest, most well-to-do neighborhoods have armed themselves, registering far more guns than people in poorer, crime-plagued areas of the city, reports the Washington Post. Of the more than 1,400 firearms have been registered with police, nearly 300 are in the high-income, low-crime Georgetown, Palisades and Chevy Chase areas. In all of the neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River - a broad swath of the city with more than 52,000 households, many of them in areas beset by poverty and drug-related violence - about 240 guns have been registered. |
Extended Ammo Magazines Defended By Washington Columnist ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Washington Post columnist Stephen Hunter defends the extended ammunition magazine of the kind that Jared Loughner allegedly carried in Tucson, which Hunter says President Obama is likely to suggest banning in an upcoming speech. Hunter says the effect of the extended magazine does little to improve the pistol's lethality except in extraordinary circumstances, such as Tucson. (Neither the Virginia Tech mass murderer nor the alleged Fort Hood killer used extended magazines.) Hunter says extended magazines actually vitiate the pistol's usefulness as a weapon for most needs, legitimate or illegitimate. The magazine destroys the pistol's essence; it is no longer concealable. When the question arises of who needs an extended magazine, the answer is: the most defenseless of the defenseless, Hunter argues. |
FBI Predicts Growing Federal Child-Porn Case Docket Will Continue Upward ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The number of federal child-pornography cases has exploded in the past 15 years as Congress passed mandatory five-year minimum sentences and federal authorities have declared the investigations a priority, the Associated Press reports. The FBI has made more than 10,000 arrests since 1996, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reports a similar number of arrests since its creation in 2003. Federal prosecutions are up 40 percent since 2006, resulting in roughly 9,000 cases. In 2009, 2,315 suspects were indicted. Local authorities also are stepping up child-pornography investigations, which may require little more than a technically savvy agent, a high-speed Internet connection, and peer-to-peer software that millions of computer owners use to swap videos and other digital files. The number of child-pornography prosecutions is dwarfed by drug and immigration cases in federal courts, but no other crime is growing at the 2,500 percent rate the FBI claims for child-porn arrests. The FBI says the cases will only continue to grow as appeals courts approve their search and seizure methods. Defense attorneys, legal scholars, and some federal judges call the trend draconian for failing to distinguish between hard-core producers of child pornography and hapless Web surfers with mental problems |
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