Month: September 2023

Detroit City Council on Tuesday approved a $5 million expansion of the use of license plate readers across the city, using federal pandemic relief funds.

It’s the latest City Council vote on surveillance technology that has ignited debate in the community. Other surveillance tools Detroit police utilize include ShotSpotter — City Council last year OK’d spending $8.5 million on the gunshot detection technology amid fierce support and opposition — Project Green Light video surveillance and facial recognition technology.

Full story: Detroit OKs $5 million expansion of license plate reader technology

Maine police will have to track more demographic data on drivers they pull over in traffic stops starting in 2024 under proposed rules aimed at fighting racial profiling.

Attorney General Aaron Frey’s office is finalizing rules that will implement a 2021 law from House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, but changes based on concerns from police and the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine may happen before it takes effect.

The early debate over the rules highlights the careful balance required on a sensitive topic that has revealed racial disparities in Maine and across the country on who gets stopped and arrested. Police are skeptical of the framework rolled out by the Democratic attorney general’s office, but the ACLU is floating a change as well.

Full story: Maine police want changes to rules that aim to combat profiling

Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore is expressing concern about the county’s new zero bail policy that is set to take effect this weekend which will allow some criminal suspects to be cited and released when they would have previously been held on bond…

Full story: LAPD chief expresses concern about ‘book and release’ plan under new zero bail policy

The sheriff’s department is adopting a new strategy to improve interactions with people who have disabilities. People with disabilities are more likely to be arrested or killed by law enforcement…

Full story: San Diego sheriff launches program to improve interaction with people who have disabilities | KPBS Public Media

California will double the taxes on guns and ammunition and use the money to pay for more security at public schools and various violence prevention programs under a new law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Tuesday.

The federal government already taxes the sale of guns and ammunition at either 10% or 11%, depending on the type of gun. The law Newsom signed adds another 11% tax on top of that — making it the only state with its own tax on guns and ammunition, according to the gun control advocacy group Brady.

Full story: California governor signs law raising taxes on guns and ammunition to pay for school safety | AP News

A judge dismissed all charges, including a murder count, against a Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed a driver who had a knife, agreeing with defense lawyers who said the officer could have feared for his life.

The municipal judge ruled after a courtroom packed with police and relatives of Eddie Irizarry watched about 20 minutes of harrowing video of the brief traffic stop that led to the death of the 27-year-old. The defense argued that Officer Mark Dial acted in self-defense when he fired his weapon at close range through the rolled-up driver’s side window of Irizarry’s sedan on Aug. 14.

Dial’s partner, Officer Michael Morris, testified that he saw the driver holding a knife with a black metal handle that could have looked like a gun. He said Irizarry was holding the knife against his leg and started to raise it as Dial approached the car, which had stopped the wrong way on a one-way residential street.

Full story: Eddie Irizarry’s relatives distraught after charges dropped against officer who fatally shot him

Rich Alteri has been busy. Every week, he combs through research, meets with local leaders in juvenile outreach, social services and justice reform while building new relationships with law enforcement agencies across Ramsey County.

A commander for the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, Alteri has been working at the County Attorney’s Office since March through part of a $900,000 grant acquired by Congresswoman Betty McCollum, the Democrat from Minnesota’s 4th Congressional District. His goal: planning an initiative with criminal justice officials from across the county to solve more nonfatal shootings.

The new strategy in Ramsey County hopes to marshal state and local resources in what officials are calling a “full court press” to solve nonfatal shootings. Alteri says all nine of the county’s law enforcement agencies, from the St. Paul Police Department to Mounds View PD, plan to collaborate in the initiative.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office plans to use $1.7 million over four years to pay for an investigator from the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, shooting investigations for local law enforcement, quicker turnaround times to test guns used in crimes, and a fund for victim witnesses’ safety.

Full story: Ramsey County authorities planning ‘full-court press’ on nonfatal shooting investigations

The Hillsboro P.D. has launched a new program with the potential to assist individuals in addressing vehicle issues at a discounted rate and even possibly escape a ticket…

Full story: Hillsboro police introduce ‘Fix-A-Fine’ voucher program

Fentanyl use is increasingly out in the open, and increasingly fatal. But New Yorkers are divided over what to do: decriminalize it or make more arrests?

Full story: A Day Care Death and the Dilemma Over How to Crack Down on Drugs – The New York Times

Former Miami-Dade Police director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez was outspoken about the need for police to have mental health support, joining a movement that has taken hold in just the last decade.

“Our officers face the worst of humanity on a daily basis, and when they return home, it can be hard for them to leave their experience in the car,” he wrote in an April MDPD newsletter, encouraging people to take advantage of the department’s counseling services.

Then, on a Sunday night in July, Ramirez shot himself in the head on the side of the highway and survived after two surgeries.

Ramirez is the only one who knows what was going through his head when he pulled the trigger, and mental health experts warn against seeking the answers as to why someone would try to take their own life.

But the incident brings up the stickiness of the mental health stigma within law enforcement. Job problems, marital strife and access to a firearm are all risk factors that were present on the evening of Ramirez’s attempt. But the suicide intervention programs that could have helped him in a vulnerable time were dependent on his willingness to admit he was in a crisis. According to experts, that is something officers still struggle to do.

Full story: The struggle behind the badge: Miami top cop’s suicide attempt and the mental health stigma in policing