Articles for 15 April 2011

U.S. To Pay for 200 Fewer Local Cops Under Federal Budget Deal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The budget deal approved by Congress that kept the federal budget from shutting down will make it harder for some struggling cities to keep their police stations and firehouses staffed, the New York Times reports. The COPS program was cut by $52 million in the current fiscal year. That means that the program, under which the Justice Department awards cities grants that pay the full salary and benefits of new officers for three years, will be able to pay for roughly 200 fewer officers this year than it did last year, when it paid for 1,388 officers. The budget deal also changed the rules governing a similar program that helps struggling cities hire firefighters - reducing the grants so much, union and city officials said, that many cities may find themselves unable to take advantage of it. The new budget cut millions from programs that allow local law enforcement agencies to upgrade technology, including for crime analysis and DNA processing, and millions more from a program designed to help police and fire departments streamline radio systems so they can communicate with each other in emergencies. Chuck Wexler of the Police Executive Research Forum said that while the federal government should not supplant what state and local governments do, it had provided vital resources to departments. These cuts come, he said, "at a particularly daunting time for state and local agencies." New York Times

Conservatives Embrace Justice Reform in Capitol Hill Panel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Families Against Mandatory Minimums, an organization often viewed as taking the liberal side of criminal justice reforms, assembled a panel of conservatives on Capitol Hill yesterday to show support for the idea of cutting the nation's prison population. One speaker, Asa Hutchinson, a Drug Enforcement Administration administrator under President George W. Bush, said that because effective government spending is a core conservative motivation, "It's okay for conservatives to look at criminal justice policy afresh and to see what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong. What is out there now that we can do that's more fair and right and without being afraid of being called soft on crime?" Speakers urged reforms like alternatives to incarceration for low-level, non-violent offenders; making last year's federal crack cocaine penalty changes retroactive, and scaling back or eliminating the "war on drugs." Conservative activist Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said the proposed reforms may gain momentum not only because of tight budgets, but because of the willingness of conservatives to "have second thoughts on the whole issue" and bring credibility to the effort. FAMM president Julie Stewart called the criminal justice system "really just a big failed government program."

No Regulation of Police Monitoring Social Media Sites ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With the rise of social media sites, law enforcement can easily monitor suspects and their private lives without having to report the use of the site to any entity, says researcher Christopher Soghoian of Indiana University in a new study quoted by The Crime Repeort, "The Law Enforcement Surveillance Reporting Gap." Soghoian writes that surveillance of these sites have become a routine tool for law enforcement agencies, yet there is no law or reporting regulating how police collect information from these sites. This oversight is a large departure from the protocol that law enforcement must follow when using other investigative techniques, such as wire-tapping or video cameras. The Crime Report

Prison Phone Service Firms Pay States Commissions Averaging 42% ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Telephone service providers offer lucrative commissions to states averaging 42 percent of gross revenues from inmates' phone calls to obtain exclusive contracts for prison phone services, reports Prison Legal News. The contracts cost prisoners' families a total of $152 million annually, indicating that the phone market in state prison systems brings in an estimated $362 million annually in gross revenue. Prison Legal News, using public records laws, got phone contract information from all 50 states for 2007-08. About 30 states allow discounted debit and/or prepaid collect calls, which provide lower prison phone rates. Not all prisoners or their families have access to debit or prepaid accounts, so only collect calls - which are available in all prison systems except Iowa's - were compared. Also, while telephone companies sometimes provide reduced rates for evening and nighttime calls, many prisoners don't have the luxury of scheduling phone calls during those time periods. Prison Legal News

ACLU Says OH Prison Privatization Won't Save Much, Hurts Reforms ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Turning more Ohio prisons over to private operators won't save much money, will undermine sentencing reform, and will pose a security risk, contends the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. Prisons for Profit, an ACLU report looking at prison privatization, concluded that Gov. John Kasich "is not doing the taxpayers of Ohio any favors" by planning to sell five state prisons, says the Columbus Dispatch. "Doing so will not only worsen the strain on Ohio's budget, it will also work strongly against the rehabilitation of low-level offenders and jeopardize the safety of ordinary Ohioans," the group concluded. About 9 percent of nearly 1.6 million incarcerated people in the U.S. are in private prisons. The Kasich administration has solicited bids to sell state prison properties; estimates of the proceeds range from $50million to $200 million. Administration officials say the deal offers the state short-term gain from the sales revenue and long-term benefit by reduced operating costs. Columbus Dispatch

Missouri House Votes To Abolish State Sentencing Commission ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Missouri's Sentencing Advisory Commission has worked for years to devise a statistical model that helps judges decide which criminals to send to prison and which ones to place in community programs. The agency says its sentencing guidelines are a way to reserve prison space for the most violent offenders and to use community alternatives when they would best keep an offender from committing new crimes. Prosecutors have long criticized the guidelines as cookie-cutter justice, and they scored a victory yesterday when the Missouri House voted to abolish the commission, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Rep. Stanley Cox said the agency's methodology was flawed and had the effect of promoting an agenda to reduce the prison population. "The end of this commission will, in fact, remove the inaccurate information that is communicated to our sentencing judges in the state of Missouri, whereby liberal judges are given cover to release from prison or reduce the sentence and give lighter sentences to the worst offenders, second offenders and violent offenders," Cox said. The House passed the bill, 100-57. It now moves to the Senate, which has until May 13, the Legislature's mandatory adjournment, to decide whether to pass it. Commission supporters said that its guidelines aren't perfect but that they should be fixed rather than scrapped. At issue is the state's development of "evidence-based" sentencing guidelines, which try to assess a criminal's risk of reoffending as an element in whether to send the person to prison. St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Cincinnati Requires Cops To Pay City $4.90/Hour for Off-Duty Work ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cincinnati police officers earned more than $6.6 million last year in off-duty, extra work, says the Cincinnati Enquirer. They worked before or after their regular shifts and on weekends at places like grocery stores, bars, churches, and sporting events, according to a list generated in response to an Enquirer public-records request. They worked almost 212,000 hours for pay starting at $31 an hour. More than 250 of them earned at least $10,000; one earned $52,056. Working "details" is legal, overseen by the department and commonly done across the nation. The city is starting a policy, scheduled to start today, that will require officers to pay the city $4.90 for every hour they work off duty. The surcharge is expected to generate an estimated $750,000 a year, the city says. The executive director of the national Fraternal Order of Police has called it extortion. The idea of taxing officers for something they do voluntarily in their off time comes as tension is already high between police officers and City Hall in the wake of a Senate bill that takes away some union bargaining power. It has prompted a debate over whether charging officers is fair when other city employees don't pay for work they do on their off days. Cincinnati Enquirer

Phoenix Sheriff Arpaio Defends His "Air Force," Alleged Misspending ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Despite court setbacks to Arizona's aggressive illegal immigration law, two federal investigations into his law enforcement practices, and an audit that found he misspent millions of dollars had been misspent, Maricopa County, Az., Sheriff Joe Arpaio is not backing down in his pursuit of illegal immigrants, or the limelight, says the New York Times. Now Arpaio has created what he calls his own air force: a collection of 30 private planes that his "air posse" uses to track illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. "This is just another controversial program that I don't think is controversial," he said. This week, county budget officials found that he had used nearly $100 million meant to run the jails for other activities, including salaries for deputies assigned to his contentious efforts to uncover human smuggling and public corruption. Arpaio blamed accounting errors. New York Times

Contraband Smugglers Keeping Up With New Detection Techniques ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contraband smuggling techniques are keeping pace with new surveillance equipment, airport scanning technology, and cargo X-rays, reports the Associated Press. "It's a question of building a better mousetrap," said Deirdre Fedkenheuer of the New Jersey Corrections Department. "Somebody's going to always try and think of a new way." It's been more than a decade since sending food to prisoners was prohibited. Today, drugs, weapons and cell phones still find their way behind bars. New Jersey's prison system has added dogs trained not only to sniff drugs, but to detect the odor of cell phones, which are banned. Smugglers try all sorts of techniques to bring contraband into the country by air, sea, and land. In the past two months, inventory confiscated at New York-area airports and ports included opium concealed in porcelain cat figurines, cocaine in bags of freeze-dried coffee, drugs in railings of a suitcase, sewn into pants, molded into sneakers, concealed in clothing hangers or packed into the console of a Nintendo Wii video game system. Drugs have been hidden in electrical cords, in a computer mouse, a child's Mr. Potato Head doll, baby diapers, drug-soaked clothing, toothpaste, cosmetics, fruit that is expertly sliced, gutted, filled with drugs and resealed to look untouched, or in live animals, and of course, in people. Associated Press/Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Ex-Top Phila. Police Official Admits Violence In Extortion Scheme ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Former Philadelphia Police Inspector Daniel Castro broke down in tears on the witness stand yesterday and admitted that he authorized the use of violence in a strong-arm extortion scheme last year against a former business partner who owed him money, says the Philadelphia Inquirer. Castro called his move "the biggest mistake of my life [ ] I was stupid." Castro, 47, believed to be the highest-ranking member of the Police Department to face criminal charges in several decades, also admitted he lied to FBI agents when they came to question him about his involvement in the scheme to recoup money from a failed real estate investment. He testified that he looked up a car's license-plate information for a friend as a personal favor, a violation of department policy. Castro wept several times during his 90 minutes on the stand and expressed regret for the crimes that led to the end of his 25-year career. If he is found guilty, he could face more than 50 years in prison. Castro, who had risen to the inspector's job less than a year before his arrest, had ambitions of becoming police commissioner Philadelphia Inquirer

WA Gov Won't Sign Medical Pot Law After Fed Threat to Prosecute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Washington state's top federal prosecutors have threatened to crack down if the state goes forward with a proposal to legalize medical-marijuana dispensaries and growers, putting in jeopardy a bill that has already passed both chambers of the legislature, reports the Seattle Times. In a letter to Gov. Chris Gregoire, U.S. Attorneys Jenny Durkan of Seattle and Michael Ormsby of Spokane wrote that the bill would undermine drug enforcement and could result in an array of prosecutions or civil penalties against dispensary owners and growers, as well as against state regulators enforcing the proposed law. The prosecutors were responding to Gregoire's request a day earlier for "clear guidance" about the legislative proposal, a sweeping expansion of the state's 1998 voter-approved medical-marijuana law. Gregoire responded that she could not sign the law but pledged to work with lawmakers on a new proposal. Durkan and Ormsby, citing federal law outlawing marijuana cultivation and sale, wrote that, in addition to targeting dispensaries and growers, federal agents could go after their landlords and financiers Seattle Times

Crime & Justice News Marks 8th Anniversary ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The first edition of Crime & Justice News appeared 8 years ago today. Since then, Criminal Justice Journalists has produced daily news digests containing a total of about 24,000 items on criminal justice news nationwide. We welcome suggestions for stories on newsworthy developments; please message editor Ted Gest at tgest@sas.upenn.edu For the last three years, Crime & Justice News has also appeared on The Crime Report, a website operated with the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The content of our news digests for the last eight years can be searched for on that site, http://thecrimereport.org, where you also can find other news and commentary on criminal justice that is posted daily. We appreciate the contributions of John Jay College and the Ford Foundation that make this news digest possible, as well as the support of our thousands of readers.