NRA's LaPierre Warns Of Threat to Guns If Obama Wins Again ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As the National Rifle Association loads up for its national convention starting in Pittsburgh on Friday, the wind of popular opinion seems to be at its back, says the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Mirroring other studies, a new Pew Research Center poll showed 48 percent of Americans think protecting the right to own guns is more important than controlling gun ownership. Thirty percent answered that way in 1999. NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre sees the Obama administration "embedded with people who have really spent a lifetime trying to destroy the Second Amendment." The Obama nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Andrew Traver, "spent a lifetime basically opposing the Second Amendment." If Obama wins a second term, LaPierre says, "both hunting and gun ownership are going to be in danger. I think their strategy is to fog this issue through the 2012 election, and then it's Katy bar the door." |
Police Using Technology to Make Up for Personnel Cuts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Police agencies are increasingly relying on controversial technology and social media to make up for the loss of thousands of officers and other resources to deep budget cuts, says USA Today. Albuquerque is sharing real-time investigative information with private business groups on interactive websites to help stop theft rings, locate violent crime suspects, and track fugitives. The Albuquerque model, being replicated by agencies in Georgia, Minnesota, Washington, and California, represents a significant break with law enforcement's long tradition of walling off the public from information about developing investigations, Albuquerque Police Chief Raymond Schultz said. He said the networks help to make up for the loss of about 60 positions in the past 2½ years. "Technology can never fully replace an officer," said Camden, N.J., Police Chief Scott Thomson, whose 250-officer department has been cut nearly in half since 2006. "We're just trying to leverage technology [ ] to appear bigger than we are." A survey of 70 large police agencies by the Police Executive Research Forum found that 90 percent plan to increase their use of various technologies, primarily aimed at deterring crime by adopting more efficient surveillance, patrol and response strategies. |
Florida May Privatize 14 Prisons, With no Proof of Savings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Florida legislators are poised to make dramatic changes to the state's prison system, turning over as many as 14 prisons to private companies in hopes of saving money, says the Miami Herald. Fundamental questions remain unanswered. Do private prisons really save Florida taxpayers money? If so, how much cheaper are they? Florida has been experimenting with private prisons for 16 years, with almost 10 percent of the state's 102,000 inmates held in seven private facilities. A state agency that oversees these prisons says they will save taxpayers almost $90 million over three years. State financial analysts say they cannot show with any certainty how much money they save over state-run prisons. While the benefits of prison privatization may be hard to see, the arrangement has been marred by mismanagement by state monitors , lax contracts, overbilling by prison contractors, a corruption investigation, and a legal loophole that allowed sexual misconduct in private facilities to go unpunished. |
Lofgren: Feds Lied About "Secure Communities" Opt-Out ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) is accusing federal immigration officials of lying about whether counties and states had the right to opt out of Secure Communities, a controversial nationwide enforcement program that screens for illegal immigrants in local jails, the Los Angeles Times reports. Started in 2008, Secure Communities was promoted to local and state leaders as a way to focus enforcement efforts on "serious convicted criminals." The program, which uses fingerprint data, has ensnared a high proportion of immigrants who have never been charged with a crime or who have been charged with minor infractions. Critics say it discourages illegal immigrants from reporting crimes and opens the door to racial profiling. A number of local jurisdictions have asked that their fingerprint data not be sent to federal officials, who now say the program "is not voluntarily and never has been." |
Outburst-Prone Seattle Man Could Wear Shock Device In Trial ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With the trial of suspected Seattle killer Isaiah Kalebu a few weeks away, attorneys, jail staff, and a judge are looking at some unusual ways to make sure the outburst-prone defendant doesn't lash out in court, reports the Seattle Times. Kalebu, who is accused of torturing and raping two women, and killing one of them, routinely has interrupted court hearings with complaints over his treatment by jail staff and objections to his defense. During one recent hearing, he knocked over chairs and cursed at Judge Michael Hayden. Hayden is concerned a mistrial could result if Kalebu's outbursts continue. He has a long history of mental illness but has been ruled mentally competent to stand trial. Jail staff have asked Hayden to allow them to use an electroshock stun-gun sleeve on Kalebu during the trial. If he acts out, a corrections officer inside the courtroom can press a button that will send an electric shock to the sleeve, which is attached to the defendant's arm or leg. A defense attorney warned that if jurors witness Kalebu being shocked, the defense could seek a mistrial. |
Feds Get Search Warrants For Suspects' Facebook Accounts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Federal investigators in Detroit have taken the rare step of obtaining search warrants that give them access to Facebook accounts of suspected criminals, reports the Detroit News. The warrants let investigators view photographs, email addresses, cellphone numbers, lists of friends who might double as partners in crime, and see GPS locations that could help disprove alibis. There have been a few dozen search warrants for Facebook accounts nationwide since May 2009. The trend raises privacy and evidentiary concerns in a rapidly evolving digital age and illustrates the potential law-enforcement value of social media. Locally, Facebook accounts have been seized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and FBI to investigate more than a dozen gang members and accused bank robber Anthony Wilson of Detroit. "To be honest with you, it bothers me," said Wilson, 25, who was indicted Tuesday on bank robbery charges after the FBI compared Facebook photos with images taken from a bank surveillance video. "Facebook could have let me know what was going on. Instead, I got my door kicked down, and all of a sudden I'm in handcuffs." Federal investigators defend the practice. "With technology today, we would be crazy not to look at every avenue," said ATF agent Donald Dawkins |
911 Technology Lags; Upgrading Will Cost Billions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The growth of technology has left 911 behind, says the Washington Post. People can send a text to vote for the next American Idol, but they can't send one to report the East Coast Rapist. Modernizing 911 has taken on renewed urgency as the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks approaches, but actual progress is slow and could be years away in many places. Federal and local officials acknowledge the need to modernize 911 calls, and they have taken small steps to digitize, but there are no plans in place for how to pay the billions of dollars the upgrade will cost and no timetable has been set. "The thinking is, 'I can text almost everyone - why can't I text 911?' " said Jeffrey Horwitz of the Arlington County, Va., emergency communications center, which has completed a $38 million upgrade in anticipation of moving to a digital 911 network. "We need to evolve as the technology evolves." Consumer expectation has already outpaced 911 capabilities. When Verizon Wireless customers send a text message to 911, they get this reply: "Please make a voice call to 911." Other simple actions, including sending 911 a smartphone photo of a car speeding from a robbery, are also impossible. about 70 percent of the 240 million 911 calls each year come from wireless phones, says the Virginia-based National Emergency Number Association |
Trespassing CA Pot Growers Resort to Violence, Vandalism ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Trespassing California marijuana growers are setting booby traps, resorting to violence and vandalism, and spoiling the land by stealing water and spraying dangerous chemicals that leach into streams, reports California Watch. As the federal government focuses on stopping illegal marijuana crops in public parklands and U.S. forests, sheriff's and state drug enforcement officials face the persistent and potentially dangerous problem of pot growers commandeering private land. While some land owners fear violence, others face environmental havoc. Last year, a grand jury in Mendocino County found that trespassing growers had clear-cut trees and destroyed vegetation, diverted streams, and littered the landscape with animal carcasses, garbage, human waste, herbicides, and animal poisons. Lake County Supervisor Rob Brown displays a booby trap he removed from his property. It looks like a giant wooden flyswatter with about 20 to 30 punji sticks - sharpened sticks frequently encountered during the Vietnam War - pressed through it. |
PA Won't Clear Innocent Defendants If Evidence Doesn't Come in 60 Days ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The murders in the tiny town of Muncy, Pa., on Aug. 6, 1976, were horrific: a mother, her little girl, and her toddler son shot to death in what appeared to be a home break-in gone tragically bad. For more than seven months, says the Philadelphia Inquirer, troopers investigating the case seemed stumped until a 14-year-old girl confided to two friends that a drug dealer named Colin Brown had told her he knew who the killers were. In 1977, three men were convicted based primarily on the testimony of Brown and two other men with extensive histories of drug abuse and crime. Now, more than 33 years later, all three of those prosecution witnesses have said under oath that they lied when they accused one defendant - Milton Scarborough, a town handyman and sawmill worker - of taking part in the murders. A Pennsylvania law requires that new evidence of factual innocence other than DNA must be presented to a court within 60 days of discovery. That law - one of the nation's most stringent - has led courts to deny Scarborough's appeals. |
1,000 Chicago Cops Could Be Disciplined For Viewing Sex Case File ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More than 1,000 Chicago police officers could face discipline for viewing the arrest reports of two fellow cops accused of sexually assaulting a woman, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. The police union says the officers did nothing wrong. Last month, two officers were stripped of their police powers amid allegations they had sex with an intoxicated woman in her home and in a police SUV while on-duty. A department-wide memo from the Internal Affairs unit said accessing the electronic report constituted "misuse of department equipment." The memo warned that "access of information for personal or other reasons is strictly prohibited" and said officers had accessed and printed the reports "without reason or authorization to do so." It recommended that those officers get a written reprimand that would stay on their personnel record for a year. |
NYC Says New System Will Prevent Most Ticket-Fixing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To prevent police officers from fixing traffic tickets, New York City has come up with a system in which new tickets are electronically scanned at each stage of their journey and electronic bar codes intended to detect diversions, reports the New York Times. "If there is a summons that is missing, at any time, there is an investigation," and the Internal Affairs Bureau, which investigates police misconduct, is notified, said Deputy Inspector Kim Royster. "Once it gets into the system, it would be very hard to fix it, get rid of it, because it's just - it's too easy to track," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Under the old system, it was possible to discern a ticket's disappearance, but that would require a more painstaking reconstruction. Once the old forms were distributed, someone in each station house was responsible for manually tallying which summons numbers went to which officers |
Suit Contests Delays In Houston Police-Shooting Death Autopsies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Relatives of a man fatally shot by a Houston police officer in 2009 are asking a federal court to order the city not to withhold or delay autopsy results in police-shooting deaths, reports the Houston Chronicle. The request is in a lawsuit by relatives of John T. Barnes Sr., who was shot by officer Ryan Gardiner, a security guard at an apartment house wearing his police uniform. Barnes' autopsy report was completed Nov. 3, 2009, but not released until April 19. It states Barnes was shot four times in the back, once in the left torso, once in the left buttock, once in the chest, and once in the left arm. "The city had suppressed the autopsy until now," attorney David W. Hodges said. Hodges said the city should release autopsy results in police shootings either as soon as the investigation is complete or after a year, whichever comes first. |
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Monday, April 25, 2011
25 April 2011
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