February 21, 2012 Today's Stories |
| Detroit Cites Culture of Violence As Infant Dies in Gang Killing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A toy Jeep lay among shards of broken glass in the front yard of a Detroit where a shooting left a 9-month-old boy dead and an outraged community searching for ways to stop the violence, reports the Detroit News. A woman said she was asleep in her home early yesterday when shots rang out. As her son dozed on a living room couch, bullets pierced windows and walls, striking the boy. The shooting was gang-related, said Police Chief Ralph Godbee. The killing was the 43rd homicide in the city so far this year, up from 35 during the same period last year. It's also the second murder of a youngster in Detroit within the past three weeks. Said minister Malik Shabazz: "This culture of violence, the culture of individualism, the culture of me, myself and I must end. You're never going to resurrect Detroit until you deal with the culture of violence that exists within the people." Part of that culture is the "no snitch" attitude that has frustrated police investigating murders. Godbee said key people have refused to provide information about yesterday's killing. |
| Will Taser's New Tiny Police Camera Defuse Stun-Gun Controversy? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Taser International is announcing a new a camera for police, a half-ounce unit about the size of a cigar stub that clips on to a collar or sunglasses of an officer and can record two hours of video during a shift, the New York Times reports. The information eventually is stored in a cloud-computing system that uses Taser's online evidence management system. Taser has had its share of controversies over its electric-shock guns, which the firm says are used by 17,000 of the 18,000 U.S. law enforcement agencies. The camera system, called Axon, is one way to defuse the controversies. Taser already has some 55,000 minicameras mounted on Tasers. But the camera is only triggered when the gun is drawn. It could do the same for police shootings. The video, however, would not capture the events leading up to that point and provides no context that might justify the weapon's use. "One big reason to have these is defensive," says Taser CEO Rick Smith. "Police spend $2 billion to $2.5 billion a year paying off complaints about brutality. Plus, people plead out when there is video." |
| Chicago Police Horses Getting "Riot Gear" For NATO, G-8 Summits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Horses in the Chicago Police Department's Mounted Unit assigned to crowd control during the NATO and G-8 summits will be outfitted with riot gear, just like the officers riding them and those on the ground facing off against protesters, says the Chicago Sun-Times. Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration is soliciting bids for "police horse riot gear and training aids" in preparation for the May 19-21 summits expected to shine an international spotlight on Chicago. The mounted unit has 30 horses, 30 officers and an annual budget of nearly $2.7 million.Police spokesperson Melissa Stratton said all 30 horses will be equipped with the new riot gear. She noted that the horses are "great crowd control tools" expected to provide "significant support to officers on the ground" during the summits. "This is not the first time we've had [riot] gear for the horses. [But] we are updating the equipment. We have had horses attacked in the past. If the horse is injured, it puts both the horse and the officer at risk. This equipment protects both the officer and the horse," she said. An officer assigned to the Mounted Unit noted that some of the 30 horses "may not be street-ready" in time for the NATO and G-8 summits. |
| Glendale, Az.'s Steve Conrad Named Louisville Police Chief ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Steve Conrad, a former assistant police chief in Louisville now chief in Glendale, Az., is the new Louisville police chief, says the Louisville Courier-Journal. Conrad left Louisville in 2005, having helped to shape the newly formed Louisville Metro Police Department. He joined the former city department as a patrol officer in 1980 and rose through the ranks to become assistant chief under former chief Robert White. White left Louisville in December to take the chief's job with the Denver Police. Conrad was chosen from a slate of five candidates who were interviewed by Mayor Greg Fischer the week of Feb. 6. The five finalists included the deputy chiefs, Yvette Gentry and Vince Robison. Two of the candidates are chiefs in other districts but formerly served with either the city or county department. They are Jeffersontown Chief Rick Sanders and Conrad. The other candidate, Glenn Skeens, has had a long career with the Owensboro Police Department, where he now serves as police chief. |
| Some CA Justice Leaders Fighting Plan to Close State Juvenile Units ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some California criminal justice leaders will fight a plan by Gov. Jerry Brown to phase out the state's Division of Juvenile Justice over the next three years and return the most violent and troubled youths to county facilities, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Probation officials, district attorneys, and others say they will spend the next several months trying to persuade the Democratic governor to remove the proposal, which Brown says will save the state more than $100 million a year, from his budget. Many county officials believe the plan will unduly give counties the burden of incarcerating serious juvenile offenders and put existing, successful rehabilitation programs at risk. The officials were relieved when Brown backed off a plan to shutter the state facilities this year, unless counties ponied up $125,000 a year per offender. Instead, the governor offered to work with county officials over the next year to come up with a smooth transition plan. Under Brown's plan, the state would stop accepting youths in January and close the Division of Juvenile Justice by June 30, 2015. |
| Private Prison Divestment Drive's Success With United Methodist Church ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The United Methodist Church Board of Pension and Health Benefits has voted to withdraw nearly $1 million in stocks from two private prison companies, the GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), says The Crime Report. The decision by the largest faith-based pension fund in the U.S. came in response to concerns expressed last May by the church's immigration task force and a group of national activists. "Our board simply felt that it did not want to profit from the business of incarcerating others," said the board's Colette Nies. It was an important success for a slew of activists across the country who are pushing investors and institutions to divest in the private prison industry. The National Prison Divestment Campaign, launched last spring, includes a broad coalition of immigrant rights, criminal justice and other organizations targeting private prison companies like CCA and the GEO Group, the two largest private prison corporations in the United States. Affecting companies' bottom lines is just one of the campaigners' aims. Their larger goal is to raise public awareness about an industry they claim not only profits from incarceration, but also drives local and national immigration and criminal justice policy. |
| How Milwaukee Cops Talk People Out of Committing Suicide ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Milwaukee County Sheriff's Deputy Steven Schmitt talked a man, 22, off a ledge Sunday, something he has done for two decades in law enforcement without losing anyone, says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. How does he do it? He says: "You want to watch the tone of your voice, what you're saying. Just get them talking: 'Who do you live with? What's your name? Where'd you go to school?' Find things to talk about. 'What's your problem? What's your family doing?' Just talk, talk, talk. Pretty soon, it takes a little of the edge off. They're not thinking about all the problems that led them to this whole thing. Time is on the negotiator's side, and people tend to mentally exhaust themselves by talking, said Lt. Alfonso Morales of the Milwaukee Police Department. "When we're sent in there, a lot of times we're the mediator, we're the problem solver. You name it. A lot of times, what we have to do is be the listener," he said. "The biggest thing with a person in crisis is that their emotions are either high or low. They're not thinking rationally." Brenda Wesley of the National Alliance on Mental Illness says, "It's our impression that with the economic downturn, people are stressed more than ever before. They're losing their houses, losing their homes. They react in ways they never thought they'd react." The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office experienced an increase in calls for service for people with suicidal tendencies from 2008 to 2010. |
| Social Media, Gay Rights Issues Surround NJ Student Suicide Trial ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dharun Ravi, the ex-Rutgers University student charged in the case involving Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide, will be subject to two very different judgments, in and out of the courtroom, says the Somerville (NJ) Courier News. "There is the trial of public opinion and there is the legal trial that will go on in the Superior Court," said attorney Edward Weinstein. "The entire public can and has weighed in on this on an international level." The trial is scheduled to start today. Ravi is charged with 14 counts, including various degrees of bias intimidation, invasion of privacy, tampering with physical evidence, hindering apprehension or prosecution, and witness tampering. Clementi committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge in 2010. Presumably, Clementi was reacting to the alleged social-media outing of his sexuality and the live video stream taken by Ravi of Clementi's encounter with another man, only known as M.B., in the dorm room Ravi and Clementi shared. The incident sparked international outrage concerning cyberbullying and gay-teen suicide. Noting that it is a difficult case to prosecute, Weinstein said prosecutors are under pressure to "go for it" because of national attention. He explained that what makes the case so attractive to the media and the world is its connection to gay rights. |
| Indian Reservation Crimes 2 1/2 Times U.S. Average; DOJ Faulted ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Indian reservations long have grappled with chronic rates of crime higher than all but a handful of the nation's most violent cities. The New York Times says the Justice Department, which is responsible for prosecuting the most serious crimes on reservations, files charges in only about half of Indian Country murder investigations and turns down nearly two-thirds of sexual assault cases, according to new federal data. The 310 U.S. Indian reservations have violent crime rates that are more than two and a half times higher than the national average. American Indian women are 10 times as likely to be murdered than other Americans. They are raped or sexually assaulted at a rate four times the national average, with more than one in three having either been raped or experienced an attempted rape. The low rate of prosecutions for these crimes by U.S. Attorneys has been a longstanding point of contention for tribes, who say it amounts to a second-class system of justice that encourages lawbreaking. Prosecutors say they turn down most reservation cases because of a lack of admissible evidence. |
| Texas Rate of Medical Paroles Dropping Despite Calls to Save Money ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Despite calls to save money by releasing seriously ill and aging inmates, Texas' parole board approves only a small portion of eligible prisoners, and the approval rate for this fiscal year is lower than usual, reports the Dallas Morning News. Inmate advocates and some fiscal conservatives cite cost savings as a reason to expand inmate medical releases. Parole board members and prosecutors say they concentrate on public safety, not cost. "We're looking to see if that person, considering their medical condition, if they are a threat to society," said Rissie Owens, chairwoman of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Board members don't know a prisoner's medical care costs when making their decisions, she said. Along with the nature of the inmate's crimes and ability for future criminal activity, the board looks at things like the prisoner's degree of mobility, assistance needed for daily living, cognitive condition, and estimated life expectancy, Owens said. Prison officials and others couldn't say why the rate of release approvals has dipped this year. Inmates who are terminally or seriously ill, who need long-term care or who are elderly, physically handicapped, mentally ill or mentally disabled may be eligible for the parole, technically called "medically recommended intensive supervision." Prisoners who committed certain high-level crimes cannot be considered. |
| Female Gun-Owning Demographic Is Growing Rapidly ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are pink guns, pink ear protection, and pink shell pouches. For your car, get a pink "Pistol Packing Princess" sticker. For packing heat at your favorite tea room, a purse with a special pistol holster is de rigueur, says the Des Moines Register. All of this is aimed at women who want to own a gun - for protection, for hunting or for sport shooting - a rapidly growing demographic. The National Sporting Goods Association shows female participation in target shooting grew by 46.5 percent between 2001 and 2010. An October 2011 Gallup Poll found 23 percent of women own a gun. In Iowa, a law that took effect on Jan. 1, 2011, making weapons permits available to anyone who met criteria and passed a background check has resulted in huge increases in the number of permits granted to both men and women. In Polk County the number of women granted permits has outpaced those granted to men by more than two to one, skyrocketing more than 311 percent between 2010 and 2011. The Register talked with three Iowa female gun enthusiasts about why they shoot. |
| Spotty Enforcement of Protection Orders Leaves Victims Vulnerable ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More than 30 years after Ohio enacted comprehensive domestic violence laws, spotty enforcement of protection orders still leaves victims vulnerable, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Particularly perilous is some law enforcement officers' and agencies' reluctance to respond to civil protection orders, issued mainly by domestic relations courts. "They see it as a civil matter and they don't see it as having the same oomph of a criminal order," said Alexandra Ruden, a Legal Aid Society of Cleveland lawyer. Legally, the civil orders hold the same weight and deserve the same attention as the criminal ones, she said. Too often that isn't what happens, say judges, magistrates, lawyers, and advocates. Criminal protection orders are temporary and often follow an arrest for domestic violence. The civil orders do not require a crime to have been committed but are granted by a judge or magistrate who can issue a temporary order based on a petition that outlines the person's fears and evidence of harm. It's common to hear from victims that they were shooed away by officers who tell them to go back to court or call their attorney after an order was violated, said Dan Clark, a former police chief who trains police across the country. "They tell victims there is nothing they can do about it," which is not true, he said, adding that many officers are either uninformed or misinformed. |
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