The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/policing/)
Modern policing has become mired in community distrust and overwhelmed by technology. A back-to-basics idea called National Coffee with a Cop Day might help break through the barriers, says a former chief.
Courts have ruled that a secret list of about 300 L.A. County deputies who have lied, stolen and tampered with evidence must remain confidential. So an advocacy group has launched theproblematic.org, an online gallery of deputies “involved in serious misconduct.”
U. Renee Hall, a deputy chief in Detroit, will replace David Brown. She will need to address a murder rate that has risen over the past two years from a historically low level in 2014, and a department still bruised from last July’s sniper attack which left five officers dead. Last year, 336 officers left the department amid a crisis over pensions.
Police departments are turning to nonprofit or state-funded programs that help cops cope by connecting them to their peers and to mental health professionals. “There’s a much greater awareness of the effects of exposure to traumatic events in just the past five years,” said James Baker of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Body camera footage released by the public defender’s office seems to show an officer placing a soup can containing a plastic bag of white capsules in a trash-strewn lot. Police and prosecutors are investigating as a heroin-possession charge against the suspect is dropped.
Rockford, Il., one of the nation’s most dangerous small cities, is starting a resident officer program to build trust and address the city’s violent crime problem.
The authors of a study of police-civilian interactions in two cities in New York State say their findings challenge assumptions in the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing that simply treating citizens with fairness and respect is sufficient to restore trust and confidence in law enforcement.
Roy Oliver, 37, formerly of the Balch Springs police department, was indicted in the death of Jordan Edwards. Oliver, who is white, “discharged multiple rounds from his patrol rifle as the vehicle drove past him” on April 29, according to an arrest warrant. One bullet struck Jordan as the teenager rode in the car with four others.
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray issued a sweeping executive order directing the police department to equip patrol officers with body cameras, one month after the absence of video left lingering questions in the fatal police shooting of Charleena Lyles. Murray acted despite stalled negotiations with the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild over deployment of the cameras,
Coalition of racial justice groups profiles 12 cities and counties, contends that too much is being spent on policing, too little on mental health, education, youth development and similar concerns.