Monday, March 31, 2008

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies

March 30, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books. The website added three Los Angeles County Sheriff Department deputy sheriffs who have written books.

Born and raised in Southern California,
World War II veteran, retired Los Angeles County Sheriff Department deputy sheriff, father of four, Elsan Stafford has had poems, essays, short stories and journalistic pieces published in both regional and national publications during his literary career. Elsan Stafford is the author of two books: The Passionate Swordsman and The Blue Marionette.

Larry Warner was a deputy sheriff for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for six years. Today, Larry Warner is executive director of b a ministry which provides spiritual direction, contemplative retreats, and holistic leadership development for pastors, ministry leaders, and church staffs. Warner is also a spiritual director and an adjunct professor at Bethel Seminary in San Diego, and he directs the training and ongoing development of spiritual directors. Larry Warner is the co-author of Imaginative Prayer for Youth Ministry: A Guide to Transforming Your Student's Spiritual Life into Journey, Adventure, and Encounter.

From 1986 until 2000,
Daryl Wingerd was a deputy sheriff for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. In 1999, he was named Deputy of the Year for his region. Today, Daryl Wingerd is the pastor of Christ Fellowship in Weston Missouri, and Editorial Assistant at Christian Communicators Worldwide. Daryl Wingerd has also been published in The Journal of Modern Ministry. Daryl Wingerd is the co-author of Our Church on Solid Ground: Documents for Preserving the Integrity and Unity of the Church.

Police-Writers.com now hosts 909
police officers (representing 389 police departments) and their 1915 police books in 32 categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.

An Analysis of National Data on the Prevalence of Alcohol Involvement in Crime

The extensive and far-reaching impacts of alcohol abuse on crime and public safety are only now achieving widespread public policy attention. This report was prepared to provide statistical information as background for the Assistant Attorney General's 1998 National Symposium on Alcohol Abuse and Crime, which will address many of these policy issues and discuss approaches that may help alleviate these problems.

Based on this compilation and new analysis of data on alcohol and
crime, we know that nearly 4 in 10 violent victimizations involve use of alcohol, about 4 in 10 fatal motor vehicle accidents are alcohol-involved; and about 4 in 10 offenders, regardless of whether they are on probation, in local jail, or in State prison, self-report that they were using alcohol at the time of the offense.

There are, however, a number of positive indicators that alcohol-related
crime is generally decreasing and that most of those in need of treatment are receiving it. Violence between current and former spouses, boyfriends, and girlfriends is especially likely to involve alcohol abuse, and all forms of violence against intimates, including homicide, have been declining in recent years. In addition, rates of arrest for DUI have declined by 24% since 1990. During the last 10 years, the number of highway fatalities attributable to alcohol-related accidents has dropped by about 7,000 annually, a 29% decrease.

This report uses a wide variety of sources, including statistical series maintained by the Bureau of
Justice Statistics (BJS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. We are grateful for the cooperation of these agencies and also want to thank the many respondents to our surveys throughout the country.

We anticipate that more on the issue of alcohol and crime will be available in the near future as new data collections by BJS, including the 1997 Survey of Inmates of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, are analyzed. BJS has incorporated new questions into its surveys which will enable a more in-depth understanding of the alcohol use and abuse backgrounds of offenders and the nature of the treatment they receive while incarcerated.

READ ON
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/ac.txt

Aftercare Services

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is launching a Juvenile Justice Practices Series to provide the field with updated research, promising practices, and tools for a variety of juvenile justice areas. These Bulletins are expected to be important resources for a large number of youth-serving professionals involved in developing and adopting juvenile justice policies and programs, regardless of their funding sources.

This first Bulletin in the series examines aftercare services that provide youth with comprehensive health, mental health, education, family, and vocational services upon their release from the juvenile
justice system.

Aftercare can be defined as reintegrative services that prepare out-of-home placed juveniles for reentry into the
community by establishing the necessary collaborative arrangements with the community to ensure the delivery of prescribed services and supervision (Altschuler and Armstrong, 2001). The term "aftercare," however, is something of a misnomer—the process does not begin only after an offender is released. Instead, a comprehensive aftercare process typically begins after sentencing and continues through incarceration and an offender's release into the community. Effective aftercare requires a seamless set of systems across formal and informal social control networks. It also requires a continuum of community services to prevent the recurrence of antisocial behavior, and it can involve public-private partnerships to expand the overall capacity of youth services.

Two key components of the aftercare concept distinguish it from the traditional juvenile
justice model. First, offenders must receive both services and supervision. (Offenders in the traditional juvenile justice system are generally sentenced to some type of supervision and are sometimes provided with services.) Second, they must receive intensive intervention while they are incarcerated, during their transition to the community, and when they are under community supervision. This second component refines the concept of reintegrative services to include services that occur before release as well as after release.

This Bulletin describes how aftercare can address some of the problems that exist in the juvenile
justice system. It also reviews relevant research, examines aftercare as it relates to system change, and identifies promising aftercare programs.

DOWNLOAD THE MANUAL
http://www.ncjrs.gov/html/ojjdp/201800/contents.html

Adult Patterns of Criminal Behavior

Can changes in life circumstances, such as being employed, living with a wife or girlfriend, or modifying alcohol or drug use, alter the crime patterns of convicted adult male felons? This question was the focus of a study conducted for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), which sought to understand the relationship between adult patterns of criminal behavior and relatively short- term changes in work, family, and other social situations.

It is widely believed that
criminal behavior is the result of a basic propensity that is established early on and persists throughout life, and that changing life circumstances in adulthood are unlikely to alter this criminal propensity. Others have theorized that short-term factors such as getting fired from a job, quarreling with a wife or girlfriend, or abusing alcohol or drugs may be important catalysts in adult patterns of criminal behavior. The researchers conducted indepth interviews with convicted felons and analyzed month-to-month changes in offending and life circumstances to understand change in adult criminal behavior. The results strongly demonstrate that social events during adulthood are related to crime.

READ MORE
http://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles/Adultpat.txt

Adolescent Motherhood: Implications for the Juvenile Justice System

A recently released report on a major research project provides a wealth of information about the consequences of adolescent childbearing, including implications for the field of juvenile justice. Kids Having Kids: A Robin Hood Foundation Special Report on the Costs of Adolescent Childbearing synthesizes the findings from eight separate studies on the consequences and costs of adolescent motherhood.

Adolescent childbearing has both contributed to and been affected by three alarming social trends. First, child poverty rates are high and rising. Second, the number of welfare recipients and the concomitant costs of public assistance have risen dramatically. Third, among those on welfare, there is a much higher proportion of never-married women, younger recipients, and recipients who have long average durations of dependency. To better understand the full costs and consequences of adolescent (age 17 or younger) childbearing, the Robin Hood Foundation commissioned seven research studies by teams of scholars. The eighth study, a background review of previously researched trends in teenage and adolescent childbearing, informed and helped round out this set of reports.

READ ON
http://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles/fs9750.txt

Addressing the Problem of Juvenile Bullying

Bullying, a form of violence among children, is common on school playgrounds, in neighborhoods, and in homes throughout the United States and around the world. Often occurring out of the presence of adults or in front of adults who fail to intercede, bullying has long been considered an inevitable and, in some ways, uncontrollable part of growing up. School bullying has come under intense public and media scrutiny recently amid reports that it may have been a contributing factor in shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO, in 1999 and Santana High School in Santee, CA, in early 2001 and in other acts of juvenile violence including suicide.

Bullying can affect the social environment of a
school, creating a climate of fear among students, inhibiting their ability to learn, and leading to other antisocial behavior. Nevertheless, through research and evaluation, successful programs to recognize, prevent, and effectively intervene in bullying behavior have been developed and replicated in schools across the country. These schools send the message that bullying behavior is not tolerated and, as a result, have improved safety and created a more inclusive learning environment.

A recently published report by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) on the U.S. contribution to the World Health Organization's Health Behavior in School-Aged Children survey found that 17 percent of the respondents had been bullied "sometimes" or "weekly," 19 percent had bullied others sometimes or weekly, and 6 percent had both bullied others and been bullied. The researchers estimated that 1.6 million children in grades 6 through 10 in the United States are bullied at least once a week and 1.7 million children bully others as frequently. The survey, the first nationwide research on the problem in this country, questioned 15,686 public and private
school students, grades 6 through 10, on their experiences with bullying.

In a study of 6,500 middle school students in rural
South Carolina, 23 percent said they had been bullied regularly during the previous 3 months and 20 percent admitted bullying another child regularly during that time.

READ ON
http://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles1/ojjdp/fs200127.txt

Addressing Correctional Officer Stress: Programs and Strategies

Stress among correctional officers is widespread, according to research studies and anecdotal evidence. The threat of inmate violence against officers, actual violence committed by inmates, inmate demands and manipulation, and problems with coworkers are conditions that officers have reported in recent years can cause stress.

Those factors combined with understaffing, extensive overtime, rotating shift work, low pay, poor public image, and other sources of stress can impair officers' health, cause them to burn out or retire prematurely, and impair their family life.

This publication is designed to help correctional administrators develop an effective program to prevent and treat officer
stress. Seven case studies illustrate diverse options for structuring a stress program. The following are among the seven programs' distinguishing features that administrators can consider adopting: Run the program in-house or contract with external agencies; Offer professional counseling, peer support, or both; Address chronic stress, stress following a critical incident, or both; Conduct academy or inservice training; and, Serve family members.

In addition to those operational aspects, the report discusses options for staffing a
stress program; explores methods of gaining officers' trust in the program; lists sources of help to implement or improve a stress program; and covers monitoring, evaluation, and funding issues.

The various program options presented in this report constitute, in effect, a "menu" from which correctional administrators can select program features and tailor them to a particular set of needs and resources. The potential payoff attributed to stress programs--such as reduced
stress-related overtime costs, improved officer performance, and increased institutional safety--more than justifies careful consideration of this report's observations and conclusions.

READ ON
http://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles1/nij/183474.txt

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Campus Law Enforcement

During the 2004-05 school year, 74% of the 750 law enforcement agencies serving 4-year universities and colleges with 2,500 or more students employed sworn law enforcement officers. These officers had full arrest powers granted by a state or local government. The remainder employed nonsworn security officers only. Nearly all public campuses(93%) used sworn officers compared to less than half of private campuses (42%).

Two-thirds (67%) of campus
law enforcement agencies surveyed used armed patrol officers during the 2004-05 school year. Armed patrol officers were used at nearly 9 in 10 agencies that employed sworn officers and at nearly 1 in 10 agencies that relied on nonsworn officers only.

These findings come from the first survey of campus
law enforcement agencies conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics since the 1994-95 school year. Among agencies included in both the 1994-95 and 2004-05 surveys, the percentage using sworn officers increased from 78% to 79% and the percentage using armed patrol officers increased from 66% to 72%.

On campuses with 5,000 or more students, private campuses had a higher ratio of
law enforcement employees to students than public campuses. Between the 1994-95 and 2004-05 surveys, comparable agencies increased their collective staffing levels from 2.8 full-time employees per 1,000 students to 3 per 1,000.

READ ON
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/cle0405.txt

Promoting Effective Homicide Investigations

In 2006, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) hosted two conferences addressing violent crime: the “Promoting Effective Homicide Investigations” (May 25 and 26) and the “National Violent Crime Summit” (August 30). Both were instrumental in understanding violent crime in the United States, as well as national and local initiatives to reduce it. The primary goal of this document is to improve homicide investigations by exploring law enforcement agency practices and examining relatively new procedures that may lead to more effective investigations.

The
Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) report of 2005 crime data showed a 2.4 percent nationwide increase in homicides from 2004. The FBI’s preliminary numbers for 2006 indicate a continued upward trend in homicides in cities across the nation. For example, during the period 2004 to 2006, homicides increased by 38 percent in Cleveland. Other cities with significant increases in homicides in that period include Cincinnati (41 percent), Houston (37 percent), Las Vegas (16 percent), Memphis (39 percent), Newark, New Jersey (25 percent), Orlando (188 percent), Philadelphia (22 percent), and Seattle (25 percent).

In light of these increases,
police agencies not only need to increase their efforts to prevent homicides and focus the public’s attention on the violent crime problem; they also need to adopt best practices increase the effectiveness of homicide investigations.

READ ON
http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/files/ric/Publications/promoting%20effective%20homicide%20investigations.pdf

Effective Use of the National Crime Information Center

Guidelines
When a child is abducted,
law enforcement must collect and disseminate accurate information about the event, the child, and the abductor. Memoranda of understanding (MOUs) for local, state, and regional AMBER Alert plans must define agency roles and responsibilities in abduction cases and establish standards for conducting timely and thorough investigations.

The National Child Search Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5779, 5780) requires
law enforcement to immediately enter into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database every reported case involving a missing child. The intent of this law is to ensure that law enforcement disseminates as quickly as possible information vital to the recovery of a missing child. The steps for entering a child abduction into NCIC are critical:

VIEW THE GUIDELINES
http://www.ncjrs.gov/html/ojjdp/amberalert/000308/index.html

Assessing Justice System Response to Violence Against Women

For many of us, the adage, "there is no place like home" conjures up images of warm, comfortable, family scenes. For millions of women in the United States, however, this phrase has a very different meaning. For these women, home is a place of intimidation, fear, and violence. Domestic violence continues to be the leading cause of injury to women. In fact, women are at greatest risk of becoming a victim of violent crime in their own homes. The violence is not just debilitating -- the injuries can be deadly. According to the 1995 FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting system (URC), 26 percent of female homicides are perpetrated by husbands, ex-husbands, or boyfriends (for those cases in which the victim-offender relationship is known).

Even if she is free of physical or sexual abuse in an intimate relationship, a woman faces the risk of being sexually assaulted by an acquaintance or stranger.
Sexual assault is acknowledged to be the most under-reported violent crime on which national statistics are kept. Even so, the redesigned 1992-1993 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) estimated approximately 500,000 women are the victims of some form of rape or sexual assault each year. In 75 percent of the cases, the victim knows the offender.

Stalking is another violent
crime that plagues many women. Only recently has the justice system and the public recognized stalking as a distinct and serious crime, rather than an antecedent to other crimes. Beyond highly publicized cases involving celebrities and political leaders, there is still little understanding of stalking as a crime, and few people acknowledge it as one that affects "ordinary" people. In contrast to these highly publicized cases, the majority of stalkers know their victims, and much stalking occurs within the context of domestic violence, particularly when victims try to leave their batterers. A survey, jointly sponsored by the National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, concluded that one out of every twelve American women has been stalked sometime during her life.

Perpetrators of
domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking discriminate against no one. Women of all ages, races, cultural and social backgrounds are victims of these violent crimes. The impact of these crimes extends to families, the workplace, and all of our communities.

Over the last two decades, dramatic changes have occurred in the public response to violence against women. Prior to the mid-1980's, the failure of the
justice system to take these crimes seriously reinforced the escalating, recurring and often lethal nature of domestic violence and stalking. In this regard, the law - and those responsible for upholding the law - reflected society's tolerance of intimate violence, its prejudices against victims of violence against women, and its ignorance of the complexities of the issues implicit in these crimes.

In the mid-1970's, survivors and advocates gave voice to women who had previously been silent. The battered women's and anti-rape movements demanded additional legal protections and a full range of services for victims. By the late 1970's, a limited number of jurisdictions had initiated legal reforms. Some states passed new civil and
criminal laws giving greater protection to victims and enforcing penalties on perpetrators. Criminal justice agencies, some funded under the Law Enforcement Assistance Agency ("LEAA") Family Violence Program, trained personnel, developed innovative policies, and modified jobs to comply with the new laws.

As research began to document the relationship between violence at home and violence in our society as a whole, the
criminal justice system looked for ways to stop violence against women. Ongoing advocacy by women's agencies representing battered women and sexual assault victims helped communities understand an effective response required systematic and coordinated change, involving both justice agencies and community providers.

While an increasing number of jurisdictions have undertaken initiatives in recent years to respond to sexual assault and domestic violence, the efforts are sporadic. Laws protecting victims and holding offenders accountable vary, limited numbers of
criminal justice personnel are trained to enforce the law, and only some communities have embraced a coordinated response to reduce violence against women with clear strategies for intervention.

READ ON
http://www.vaw.umn.edu/documents/promise/pplaw/pplaw.html#id92014

Criminal Behavior of Gang Members and At-Risk Youths

During the past decade, the problem of gang-related crime has become a significant policy issue in the United States. According to recent estimates, more than 16,000 gangs are active in this country, with at least half a million members who commit more than 600,000 crimes each year. Two recent studies conducted by researchers at Ohio
State University were designed to address three critical questions:

What is the nature and magnitude of self-reported
criminal behavior among youth gang members?

What is the nature and magnitude of such behavior among at-risk youths -- those who are not yet
gang members?

What is the effect of
gang membership on criminal behavior?

To answer these questions, the National Institute of
Justice funded research in three communities -- Aurora, Colorado; Denver, Colorado; and Broward County, Florida -- and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) funded research in Cleveland, Ohio. Also, as part of the OJJDP grant, researchers in Columbus, Ohio, tracked leaders of youth gangs to determine what happens to gang leaders over time.

READ ON
http://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles/fs000190.txt

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Over 1900 Law Enforcement Books

March 29, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books. The website now lists over 900 police officers and over 1900 books written by law enforcement officials.

Michael Simonsen is a former police officer for the Los Angeles Police Department. In 1977, as a means to teach children safety Michael Simonsen, developed an entertaining visual presentation through the use of a Macaw. The bird, known as Officer Byrd, No. 007, was the genesis of the book The Adventures of Officer Byrd – Get Help!

According to the book description of The Adventures of Officer Byrd – Get Help!, it “is based on a true-story. It's about a real police bird who helps children and adults. The story is about Officer Byrd helping young people not to keep bad secrets and to get help. The children's book is for ages five to 12 plus.”

Captain
Jim Di Giovanna retired as commander of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Aero Bureau on March 30, 2006, having been assigned to the aviation unit since January 1989. His 34-year law enforcement career also included assignments as a patrol deputy, patrol and operations sergeant and patrol lieutenant watch commander, along with assignments at the Sheriff’s Information Bureau, Field Operations Headquarters and Custody Division.

Captain
Jim Di Giovanna is a commercial pilot, helicopter- and instrument-rated, with over 5,800 flight hours. As unit commander of the Aero Bureau, he was responsible for managing aviation operations for the largest sheriff's department in the United States. While supervising 72 sworn and civilian sheriff's department personnel, Captain Jim Di Giovanna had responsibility for directing and overseeing the operation and maintenance of the department's 15 rotary-wing and three fixed-wing aircraft. He is also a retired colonel from the United States Army Reserve Jim Di Giovanna is the co-author of Tactical Helicopter Missions: How to Fly Safe, Effective Airborne Law Enforcement Missions.

Howard Earle is a retired Assistant Sheriff from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He is the author of Police Community Relations: Crisis in Our Times. According to the book description, “this book continues to present comprehensive, authoritative information on all phases of this complex topic. The text has been expanded and updated, however, to maintain currency with concepts and practices. It begins by reviewing general problems of police community relations (PCR), including the police image and crisis areas.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 903
police officers (representing 389 police departments) and their 1905 police books in 32 categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.

Defensive Tactics for Special Operations

March 29, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books. Former Police Officer Jim Wagner recently released his second book titled Defensive Tactics for Special Operations.

During his career with the
Costa Mesa Police Department, Jim Wagner earned a place on the SWAT team. It was through this conduit that Jim learned about logistics, command post operations, hostage negotiations, entry team tactics, and sniping. On the job training included courses with LAPD SWAT, the U.S. Army Special Forces, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Tactical Training Center, and from U.S. Marines Division Schools Camp Pendleton (Advanced Sniper Course, Military Operations Urban Terrain, Helicopter Rope Suspension Training, and Range Safety Officer). Jim Wagner’s second book, Defensive Tactics for Special Operations, was recently released.

According to the book description of Defensive Tactics for Special Operations, “The techniques and methods that form the basis of military and combat defensive training are detailed in this insightful guide from a personal protection expert. Chapters provide instruction on knife defense, unarmed fighting, weapon retention, and arrest and control techniques. Police and
military personnel as well as self-defense instructors and students at all levels will benefit from simple instructions and step-by-step exercises.”

Jim Wagner’s first book was Reality Based Personal Protection. According to the book description, “Reality-Based Personal Protection system covers the complete tactical spectrum of pre-conflict, conflict and post-conflict techniques and training methods for a wide variety of worst-case scenarios. Mastering these tactics will educate you on the dangers of the modern world and how to survive them.

Police-Writers.com now hosts 900
police officers (representing 389 police departments) and their 1903 police books in 32 categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.

More Information on Jim Wagner:
www.police-writers.com/jim_wagner.html

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Police Tactics

March 27, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) The April 2, 2008 program of Conversations with Cops at The Watering Hole features a conversation on police tactics with special guest Michael Rayburn.

Program Date: April 2, 2008
Program Time: 2100 hours, Pacific
Topic:
Police Tactics
Guests: Michael Rayburn
Listen Live: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement

About the Guest
Michael Rayburn has over 26 years of experience in the Law Enforcement and Security field and is currently a 17 year veteran of the Saratoga Springs Police Department (New York). He is also an Adjunct Instructor for Smith & Wesson at the Smith & Wesson Academy in Springfield Massachusetts; where he teaches Instinctive Point Shooting, Vehicle Stops, Rapid Shotgun Deployment and Instinctive Point Shooting Instructor Certification.

Michael Rayburn has written a number of articles for various police magazines including Law & Order, The Police Marksman and Police magazine. He is the author of three books: Advanced Vehicle Stop Tactics; Advanced Patrol Tactics; and, Basic Gunfighting 101. Michael Rayburn’s video, Instinctive Point Shooting with Mike Rayburn is a top seller in the Law Enforcement and Combat Shooting communities. According to former Calibre Press, Inc. Street Survival Seminar Senior Instructor Dave Grossi, Michael Rayburn “is a gifted writer, an experienced trainer with a wealth of real-world knowledge and experience to dispense."

About the Watering Hole
The Watering Hole is police slang for a location cops go off-duty to blow off steam and talk about work and life. Sometimes funny; sometimes serious; but, always interesting.

About the Host
Lieutenant
Raymond E. Foster was a sworn member of the Los Angeles Police Department for 24 years. He retired in 2003 at the rank of Lieutenant. He holds a bachelor’s from the Union Institute and University in Criminal Justice Management and a Master’s Degree in Public Financial Management from California State University, Fullerton; and, has completed his doctoral course work. Raymond E. Foster has been a part-time lecturer at California State University, Fullerton and Fresno; and is currently a faculty advisor and lecturer with the Union Institute and University. He has experience teaching upper division courses in law enforcement, public policy, technology and leadership. Raymond is an experienced author who has published numerous articles in a wide range of venues including magazines such as Government Technology, Mobile Government, Airborne Law Enforcement Magazine, and Police One. He has appeared on the History Channel and radio programs in the United States and Europe as subject matter expert in technological applications in law enforcement.

Listen, call, join us at the Watering Hole.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement

Program Contact Information
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA
editor@police-writers.com
909.599.7530

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Hi-Tech Solutions and Dalosy Industrial Systems Announce Establishment of HTS Europe

New operation will provide European customers with innovative solutions for port security, container handling, and automatic license plate reading

March 25, 2008. Hi-Tech Solutions Ltd. (HTS), a developer and provider of optical character recognition (OCR) computer vision systems, and Dalosy Industrial Systems b.v. (DIS), a provider of port automation and traffic control solutions, today announced the establishment of HTS Europe – a joint operation that will provide European customers with innovative solutions for port
security, container handling, and automatic license plate reading.

Located near Rotterdam, the Netherlands, HTS Europe will offer comprehensive solutions based on HTS’s vision-based license plate recognition (LPR) and container code recognition (CCR) products, integrated with DIS’s gate gantries and portals, laser truck profiling systems, gate control system, pedestal control system, and damage inspection systems, among others. All of HTS Europe’s products will be specially tailored to meet customers’ exact requirements. HTS Europe will offer turnkey OCR solutions to end-users over a variety of
security, automation and transportation applications, and local support for HTS distributors and resellers in Europe.

HTS Europe will provide LPR-based solutions to
law enforcement and homeland security agencies, security companies, gated communities, parking facilities, airports, and facility management companies. The CCR-based products will be provided to port authorities and operators, cargo railway stations and various container terminals.

“The critical need for maximum
security and efficiency has become an ever-growing concern of major corporations and organizations throughout Europe,” said Meta Rotenberg, VP Business Development, HTS. “HTS’s and DIS’s solutions, customized to each client’s needs, are cost effective and embody the capabilities required to provide the level of confidence, security and efficiency clients seek.”

“At the heart of the establishment of HTS Europe is a strong partnership drawing on the success of our previous relationships with HTS,” said Leander de Nooijer, General Manager, Dalosy Industrial Systems. “HTS Europe combines the advanced and innovative solutions of DIS and HTS to establish a leading position in the European maritime, transportation and
security markets.”

HTS Europe will be showcasing its offerings at Intertraffic Amsterdam 2008, April 1st -4th .

About Dalosy Industrial Systems b.v. (DIS)

DIS is a member of the Dalosy Group of companies, which has been a
leader in mobile and wireless automation and logistic systems for more than 30 years. DIS specializes in port automation and security, as well as in video-based systems for traffic control, toll roads, average speed and roadside monitoring. For more information about Dalosy Industrial Systems, visit www.dis-bv.com.

About Hi-Tech Solutions Ltd. (HTS)
HTS is a leading developer and supplier of optical character recognition (OCR)
computer vision systems for a wide range of applications in the security, automation and management fields for the ports and traffic markets. HTS has successfully implemented commercial Container Code Recognition (CCR) and License Plate Recognition (LPR) systems in ports, traffic and security sectors in 30 countries worldwide, and has established partnerships with top-tier global companies in over 10 countries. For more information, visit www.htsol.com.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Australia to Alhambra

March 23, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books. The website added police officers from Alhambra (California), San Francisco (California) and Australia.

David Savage is a former member of the Australian Federal Police, having served for 19 years in a range of areas including General Policing, Criminal Investigations, Close Personal Protection, and as a member of the police Special Operations Team. He has also served as a Civilian Police Officer on United Nations missions in Mozambique, East Timor twice and as a Truce/Peace Monitor in Bougainville. He currently works for the United Nations. David Savage is the author of Dancing with the Devil: A Personal Account of Policing the East Timor Vote for Independence. According to the book description, “Dancing with the Devil is a UN police officer memoir of the independence ballot in East Timor. With compassion and humor, David Savage tells the simple truth about the horrific events he witnessed, and the triumph of a quiet, resilient people.”

Chief of Police
William Palmini’s thirty-four year law enforcement career was spent mostly with the Albany Police Department (California). Chief William Palmini is currently the chief of police for the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, Department of Safety and Security. He holds a masters degree in Public Administration from Golden Gate University in San Francisco. Chief William Palmini is a past recipient of the J. Stannard Baker Award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the author of Murder on the Rails.

Publisher’s Weekly wrote about Murder on the Rails, “Retired California police detective Palmini's account of the career murderer Robert Silveria Jr., dubbed the Boxcar Serial Killer, is long on splatter and short on insight. Palmini himself is like a figure from a David Lynch movie—a veteran cop who received a government grant to "do Elvis impersonations to promote traffic safety among California teens and their families" through a group called Elvis and the Lawmen. After a Vietnam vet is brutally slaughtered in a transient camp near Albany, Calif., Palmini's investigation leads him to the vicious underworld community of the Freight Train Riders of America, a little-known national criminal association.”

Alvin Vaughan was a member of the U.S. Navy during WWII. Surviving the attack on Pearl Harbor we went on to served on the USS. New Orleans, the USS Lexington and the USS Enterprise. Alvin Vaughan joined the Alhambra Police Department (California) in the late 1940s and served 18 years until medically retired. Alvin Vaughan is the author of Tales from Alvin’s Place, Sharon’s Loves and Elcor. According to the book description of Sharon’s Loves, “Sharon a California girl has a life filled with difficulty through three marriages. She exhibits strength of character beyond her years and is an example and role model for her two sisters.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 887
police officers (representing 387 police departments) and their 1853 police books in 32 categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Cop “how-to” books

March 23, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books. The website added three police officers who have written text books on law enforcement subjects.

Henry DeGeneste had a distinguished twenty three year career at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey where he served as the Director of Public Safety and Superintendent of Police. Henry DeGeneste received his Bachelors in Business Management from Adelphi University. He is a David Rockefeller Fellow and a Leadership New Jersey Fellow. Henry DeGeneste is also a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Executive Institute IX, and of the Rutgers University Criminal Institute. Throughout his career he has held leadership positions in many national and international organizations. Henry DeGeneste has also served as an adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and is a frequent guest lecturer at major colleges and universities as an expert on crisis and emergency management. Henry DeGeneste also has acted as a consultant to Scotland Yard, Interpol, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Henry DeGeneste has had numerous articles published in professional journals and co-authored Policing Transportation Facilities.

Lieutenant
Frank Colaprete began his law enforcement career with the Rochester Police Department (New York) in 1985. He has been assigned to patrol, research, training, administration, internal affairs, and investigative support. Dr. Frank Colaprete earned his doctorate from Nova Southeastern University where his research interests have been primarily in police science and operational issues. Dr. Frank Colaprete has been an adjunct professor of criminal justice studies and institute partner for the Criminal Justice Department and Institute for Public Safety Policy Studies respectively, at the State University of New York College at Brockport since 2000. Frank Colaprete is the author of Internal Investigations: A Practitioner’s Approach.

According to the book description of
Internal Investigations: A Practitioner’s Approach “Throughout the history of law enforcement, the internal investigation process has held the most negative connotation of any investigation conducted by law enforcement personnel. As we progress through the new millennium, the need for efficient and effective law enforcement services and practices grows ever more critical. The goal of this book is to demonstrate this need for proper and complete internal investigations, and to teach the entry level and tenured police supervisor the form and function of the internal investigations process.”

Thomas Brandon is a Deputy Inspector with the Suffolk County Police Department (New York). He is a graduate of the U.S. Army and Federal Bureau of Investigation Hazardous Devices School. Thomas Brandon is the co-author of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Response and Investigation.

According to the book description of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Response and Investigation, “This book is designed to provide
law enforcement personnel with response guidelines and evidence gathering techniques that may be utilized when responding to an incident involving the use or threatened use of a weapon of mass destruction (WMD). The first part of the book addresses the actions to be taken by the first law enforcement personnel arriving at the scene of a WMD incident.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 882
police officers (representing 385 police departments) and their 1846 police books in 32 categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Leadership


A recent reader review of Leadership: Texas Hold ‘em Style:

Raymond Foster has demonstrated his knowledge of leadership very thoroughly in this book. Coming from the LAPD, he draws upon his experience as a mid-level manager by using humor and anecdotes so aspiring supervisors and managers can develop their individual skills. I am a retired police captin from Newark, NJ and wish I had the book during the promotional testing process. Now, I am using the book in my consulting practice--very relevant, very practical and an easy read!”

About the book
Using
poker as analogy for leadership, Captain Andrew Harvey, CPD (ret.), Ed.D. and Lieutenant Raymond Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA found the right mix of practical experience and academic credentials to write a definitive book for leaders. Working together, Harvey and Foster have written Leadership: Texas Hold em Style. Most often leaders find they are given a set of resources people, equipment, funds, experience and a mission. As Foster noted, "You're dealt a certain hand. How you play that hand as a leader determines your success."

More than a book: A fun and entertaining journey through
leadership that includes an interactive website to supplement knowledge gained from the book.
Proven and Tested: Not an academic approach to
leadership, but rather a road-tested guide that has been developed through 50-years of author experience.
High Impact: Through the use of perspective, reflection, and knowledge, provides information that turns
leadership potential into leadership practice.
Ease of Application: Theory is reinforced with real-life experience, which results in accessible and practical tools
leaders can put to use immediately.
High Road Approach: Personal character and ethical beliefs are woven into each
leadership approach, so leaders do the right thing for the right reasons.
Uses Game of
Poker: Rather than a dry approach that is all fact and no flavor, the game of poker is used as a lens through which to view leadership concepts.

More Information
www.pokerleadership.com

Friday, March 21, 2008

New York State Troopers

March 20, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books. The website added three New York State Police troopers.

James Eagan, a trooper with the 20 years of expereince with the New York State Police is the author of A Speeders Guide to Avoiding Tickets. According to the book description, “Regardless of your record as a driver, everyone speeds sometimes. You are on the open road, no one around for miles, and so you step on the gas pedal. Then you experience a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach -- and in your wallet -- when you see a flashing red light in the rearview mirror. Now you can ease on down the road without paying the high price of traffic tickets, inflated insurance premiums and expensive lawyer's fees.”

John V. Elmore is a practicing Criminal Defense Attorney with offices in Buffalo and Niagara Falls, New York. He was co-counsel with Attorney James Harrington in Western New York’s first Death Penalty case in forty years. Their efforts resulted in a life sentence for Jonathan Parker, convicted in the shooting of Buffalo Police Officer Charles McDougald. He is a former New York State Trooper, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney and New York State Assistant Attorney General. John Elmore has taught Criminal Justice Administration at Buffalo State College and Medaille College. John Elmore has lectured at various continuing legal seminars sponsored by the New York State Capital Defender’s Office, the Erie County Bar Association, and the New York State Bar Association.

John Elmore is the Author of Fighting For Your Life; An African-American Criminal Justice Survival Guide. According to the book description, “Powerfully written by John V. Elmore, Esq. and edited by Yvonne Rose, with a foreword by Tony Rose, Publisher of Amber books, FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE Will Teach You: How to Choose the Best Attorney to Help You Win Your Personal Fight for Justice; Understand Your Rights and Know What to Do if You Are Arrested; Survive if You Get Caught up in the Criminal Justice System.

Todd Keister is a lieutenant in the New York State Police, currently serving in the Bureau of Criminal Investigation commanding the anti-corruption unit at an upstate Indian casino. He has previously served as a trooper, field-training officer, sergeant, academy instructor, station commander, assistant zone commander, and director of field investigations for the governor’s office. He also served as a U.S. Navy Reserve Intelligence Specialist for the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2000-2005. Lieutenant Todd Keister holds associate and bachelor degrees in criminal justice and history, respectively, and a master’s degree in criminal justice from the University at Albany School of Criminal Justice.

Lieutenant
Todd Keister is the author of the Center for Problem-Orientated Policing Guide No. 46, Thefts of and from Cars on Residential Streets and Driveways. According to the introduction, “This guide begins by describing the problem of theft of and from cars in residential neighborhoods and by reviewing factors that increase its risks. It then identifies a series of questions to help you analyze your local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem and what is known about these from evaluative research and police practice.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 876
police officers (representing 383 police departments) and their 1839 police books in 32 categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.

Contact Information:
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA
editor@police-writers.com
909.599.7530

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Public Safety Technology in the News

Fusion Centers: New York State Intelligence Strategy Unifies Law Enforcement
The Police Chief, (02/2008), Colonel Bart R. Johnson (retired) and Shelagh Dorn

Law enforcement investigations have in the past have been affected by political and jurisdictional issues among all levels of agencies. Multiple agencies could be conducting an investigation on the same crime, but no tools were in place to promote information sharing. The end result could be important information or evidence being found by one agency and not being shared with other agencies on the case. Intelligence is the key to impeding organized crime, as well as terrorism. That is why information sharing between agencies across levels should not be pigeon holed to just terrorism, but must be viewed across the entire spectrum of criminal activity. With those challenges in mind, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) worked to develop solutions to govern information sharing. The exchange of this information relies on "fusion centers," which pool together agencies and resources in one location to develop comprehensive information regarding crime. To fur! ther support the establishment of information sharing and fusion centers, IACP developed three publications: The National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan (NCISP), The National Strategy for Information Sharing, and Fusion Center Guidelines: Developing and Sharing Information and Intelligence in a New Era. The New York Intelligence Fusion Center is New York State's solution. The center incorporates Federal, State, and local law enforcement to help with the accurate exchange of information at all levels.
www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display&article_id=1419&issue_id=22008

Tracking Sex Offenders Made Easy With New State
Computer Program
Enterprise News, (03/01/2008), Maureen Boyle

The ability of Massachusetts
police officer to investigate a possible child abduction or sex crime has been enhanced by new software known as Sex Offender Registry Information System (SORIS) created by xFact. Using specific search fields such as vehicle color, location of incident, and approximate height and weight of the suspect, within minutes an officer can have access to records for registered offenders matching any of the searched fields. Instead of processing 350 names a day, like the previous system did, the xFact system can cruise through 10,000 names in 30 minutes. Plus, it has the additional fields capable of helping narrow the field of possible suspects and assisting law enforcement develop quick leads. Eighty departments throughout Massachusetts have been trained on the system, and new departments are being trained weekly.
www.enterprisenews.com/news/x2052203702

Zemerick Software Provides Free Software to
Law Enforcement
PR.com, (03/02/2008)

SPEAR
Forensic, a suite of investigative software from Zemerick Software, Inc., is now available to members of the law enforcement community free of charge. Law enforcement agency staff simply register online at http://www.spearforensics.com to receive the software. Products available include Chat Watch SPEAR Edition for investigations involving instant messaging. Another product is Forensic P2P for peer-to-peer file sharing investigations. A third product is Forensic Web Screenshot, which is a utility that captures a snapshot of the entire length of a webpage. The SPEAR Forensics suite also offers resources to departments that conduct Internet safety seminars where parents can obtain Chat Watch software to monitor their children's instant messaging, and SaferSpace software to block social-networking sites on the family computer.
www.pr.com/press-release/72572

San Jacinto
Police Use Electronic Tickets To Track and Save Time
The Press Enterprise, (03/02/2008), Steve Fetbrandt

Using many pieces of
technology, including electronic citations pads, laptops with specialized software, wireless aircards, and the Internet, the San Jacinto Police Department has created a unique public-safety system capable of almost real-time reporting. The public benefit of this system is the ability to receive accident reports via e-mail at a small fee, rather than having to go to the police station to pick up the report. The citation pads have small keyboards, but are capable of swiping driver's licenses to capture data, then wirelessly generating a citation on a remote printer located in the officer's cruiser or motorcycle. The system reduces time spent on the street for officers, which allows them to be more active with enforcement, and the reduced time helps with officer safety. From a management standpoint, the system is a useful tool for analyzing data to identify emerging trends in accident locations, or areas indicating speed enforcement issues that need to b! e addressed.
www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_H_htickets02.42623e3.html

Regional
Crime Lab in Works
Longmont Times-Call, (03/03/2008), Pierrette J. Shields

To assist the backlogged Colorado Bureau of Investigations with the processing of
DNA evidence, Weld County Sheriff John Cooke and other regional law enforcement managers want to combine resources to create the Northern Colorado Crime Lab. The lab's purpose would be to process DNA evidence from various types of crime quickly. Because the present turnaround time for DNA evidence is lengthy, even for a homicide, the use of DNA as evidence is time prohibitive. With implementation of the new lab, managers hope that law enforcement will be able to make more arrests for property crime and prevent more serious crimes. Staff for the lab would come from the various cooperating agencies. Sheriff Cooke is working to secure funding for a facility to house the lab.
www.timescall.com/News_Story.asp?id=6948

City
Police Receive Grant To Purchase Cameras for Vehicles
El Defensor (03/05/08), Audry Olmsted

The Socorro Police Department has received a $7,475 grant from the New Mexico Department of Transportation to purchase removable in-car video cameras, which will allow officers to videotape all traffic stops. Video documentation of a traffic stop can then be used as evidence in a courtroom, providing additional weight to officer testimony. The department anticipates video evidence will be particularly useful in documenting field sobriety tests.
www.dchieftain.com/news/78297-03-05-08.html

National Dragnet Is a Click Away
Washington Post, (03/06/2008), Robert O'Harrow and Ellen Nakashima

Regional networks created by State and local
law enforcement are the groundwork for a domestic intelligence system that would help law enforcement share and analyze information to combat crime and terrorism. While localities and regions wait for an information-sharing solution from Federal agencies, they have proceeded with uploading case and criminal records to storage areas, or "data warehouses," giving investigators and analysts a tool for finding nuances that may otherwise go unnoticed. Some of the several thousand local and regional networks already established will be incorporated later this month into the National Data Exchange (N-Dex), a U.S. Department of Justice system. This system will provide Federal authorities with access to vast amounts of information from local and State records housed in the smaller networks.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/05/AR2008030503656.html?hpid=topnews

Liberty Hill Fire First Big Test of Digital Emergency Radios
Austin American-Statesman, (03/07/2008), Michael R. Jeffers

In January, the first big test for a new digital radio system for Williamson County came as a result of a 1,500-acre wildfire that threatened 100 Liberty Hill homes. Since implementation in November, the system has had some glitches in the software and poor reception in some areas of the county. However, the
fire was the real test and the departments involved were able to communicate without any problem. Digital radio communications allows various departments from different jurisdictions to communicate without the use of a central dispatch, making operations quicker and more responsive. For the areas that are experiencing poor reception, research will be conducted to determine if the purchase of an additional tower will help. Until then, police and fire departments are capable of communicating via other devices.
www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/03/07/0307scanners.html

Police Test Out Cameras Mounted on Handguns
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, (03/07/2008), Domingo Ramirez, Jr.

In an effort to better understand and see the circumstances faced by
law enforcement officers when they have to draw their weapons, three New York police department will be using PistolCam. A miniature camera, about the size of a pager, will be mounted on officers' service pistols. The units are sold with a specially designed holster that use magnetic strip technology to activate the camera as the officer pulls the weapon. The unit will then begin taping, and as it nears memory capacity, it will switch and take still photos until full. Police hope that the video captured by PistolCam units can be a useful tool and provide evidence when an officer-involved shooting occurs. Video and images captured by the cameras are encrypted to prevent alteration or erasing of footage.
www.officer.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=40520

The Camera Doesn't Lie, But It Can Get Confused
The New York Times, (03/08/2008), Jim Dwyer

In a controlled experiment at a Manhattan laboratory, an initial camera captures a face, then after preliminary analysis identifies the face as male. Below the image on the screen appears a meter displaying various human emotions that the system can recognize. Final analysis is done by a second camera that conducts a spatial analysis of the face by measuring distance between features, such as eyes, ears, cheekbones, and mouth. From the information captured by both cameras, the system builds a composite and runs it against other facial images in the database. The analysis shows the subject has a 51 percent probability of matching another person in the database, but a positive match cannot be made. This exercise was conducted in the controlled environment of a lab operated by International Biometrics Group, which tests biometric technologies and manages the National Sensors, Surveillance, and Biometric Technologies Center of! Excellence on behalf of the National Institute of
Justice. Facial recognition that is capable of long-distance image capture and analysis is an elusive and highly sought after technology. This type of recognition, if functional, could scan large crowds or individual faces one at a time in a technique known as "mass covert data capture." Casinos can use this technology thanks to clear facial captures of guests as they check in, but outside controlled environments, everyday life does not present an opportunity for good facial capturing. Other types of technology that can be used to provide identification are iris scans or vein recognition of a subject's hand.
www.nytimes.com/2008/03/08/nyregion/08about.html?_r=2&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin