Month: March 2024

Around the country, more than 167,000 people were fatally shot between 2014 and 2023, according to GVA data, a decade of which is available for the first time. That’s nearly twice the number of Americans who have died in all foreign wars since World War II. Another 324,000 people were injured by firearms. Gun deaths increased more than 50 percent and injuries increased 66 percent.

To be sure, the largest number of shootings took place in large cities, however residents of smaller places with high per capita rates experience gun violence disproportionately.

The states with the highest rates of shooting fatalities and injuries per 100,000 residents were Louisiana, Illinois, Mississippi, and Alabama. The lowest rates were in Hawaii, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Full story: Data Shows the Rural South Has a Gun Violence Problem

First the cartel cut its teeth with drug trafficking. Then avocados, real estate and construction companies. Now, a Mexican criminal group known for its brutality is moving in on seniors and their timeshares.

The operation is relatively simple. Cartel employees posing as sales representatives call up timeshare owners, offering to buy their investments back for generous sums. They then demand upfront fees for anything from listing advertisements to paying government fines. The representatives persuade their victims to wire large amounts of money to Mexico — sometimes as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars — and then they disappear.

The scheme has netted the cartel, Jalisco New Generation, hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade, according to U.S. officials who were not authorized to speak publicly, via dozens of call centers in Mexico that relentlessly target American and Canadian timeshare owners. They even bribe employees at Mexican resorts to leak guest information, the U.S. officials say.

Full story: A Mexican Drug Cartel’s New Target? Seniors and Their Timeshares

Facing increased threats to election workers and superheated political rhetoric from former President Donald Trump and his supporters, more states are considering firearm bans at polling places and ballot drop boxes ahead of November’s presidential election.

This month, New Mexico became the latest state to restrict guns where people vote or hand in ballots, joining at least 21 other states with similar laws — some banning either open or concealed carry but most banning both.

Full story: Fearing political violence, more states ban firearms at polling places • Stateline

Faced with gaping vacancies in its police force and concerns about public safety, the Philadelphia Police Department had to think creatively about how to get more candidates in the door. The answer? Fewer pushups.

The city’s move to lower requirements for the entry physical exam at its police academy is part of a broader effort nationally to reevaluate policies that keep law enforcement applicants out of the job pool amid a hiring crisis.

To close the gap, policies on tattoos, previous drug use, physical fitness and college credits are all being reconsidered. Los Angeles is offering housing subsidies. Other departments, like Washington, D.C., are offering signing bonuses of more than $20,000. Several states have expanded eligibility to noncitizens, while others have changed the minimum age of officers to 18.

Full story: With police departments facing a hiring crisis, some policies are being loosened to find more cadets

The war on drugs, once a weapon in the nation’s fight against substance abuse and related crimes, is making a comeback on the West Coast.

Fueled by increasingly visible signs of homelessness and drug use in Oregon and San Francisco, officials are restoring punitive measures for drug-related offenses amid a worsening fentanyl crisis. The laws are meant to rein in dangerous street drugs and curb their use on public sidewalks and parks, but advocates say they will only fill jails with people who need treatment.

The change comes after California and Oregon initiated criminal justice reforms aimed at reducing prison populations in recent years. Critics say the new laws will overwhelm the criminal justice system and lead to more overdose deaths and poverty.

Full story: Progressive California and Oregon are reviving the war on drugs amid a fentanyl crisis.

New FBI data confirms previous indications that crime in the U.S. declined significantly in 2023, continuing a post-pandemic trend and belying widespread perceptions that crime is rising.

The new fourth-quarter numbers showed a 13% decline in murder in 2023 from 2022, a 6% decline in reported violent crime, and a 4% decline in reported property crime. That’s based on data from around 13,000 law enforcement agencies, policing about 82% of the U.S. population, that provided the FBI with quarterly data through December.

“It suggests that when we get the final data in October, we will have seen likely the largest one-year decline in murder that has ever been recorded,” said Jeff Asher, a former CIA analyst who now studies crime trends.

Full story: The U.S. crime rate is still dropping, FBI data shows

A new law is making it easier for more cadets to be considered and potentially become police officers in Philadelphia. Governor Josh Shapiro signed a law at the end of last year lowering the physical fitness requirements applicants are assessed on.

“Signed into law last December, the bill eases the minimum benchmark in a physical fitness test to the 15th percentile, from the 30th percentile, to accept recruits to the academy. That test includes sit-ups, push-ups, a 300-meter run, and a 1.5-mile run, and is scored based on cadets’ age and gender,” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Inquirer adds that “to become employed as a police officer, cadets would still need to meet the previous 30th percentile standards.” The bill’s changes will be in place for five years.

Megan Bortner was one of the 100 out of 265 who passed her exams during a recruitment event in February. She thinks the lowered threshold for entry helps more recruits have a chance at becoming officers. Since the law took effect, Captain John Walker says 51% of people testing have passed compared to 36% previously. According to the Inquirer, “Since 2020, the Philadelphia Police Department has experienced a significant shortage of officers. It has about 6,500 employees, but has budgeted for 7,400 — and more than 800 officers have been enrolled in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan, intending to retire within four years.”

Full story: New law makes it easier for more people to become Philadelphia police officers

It was 2:30 a.m. on Valentine’s Day last year when a detective watching a live camera feed from a major Queens thoroughfare spotted a man in a minivan who appeared to be holding a gun. The police said they had quickly arrested the man, Robert Homer, and found a loaded Glock pistol in his pocket. When they checked his criminal record, they saw that he had a sex trafficking conviction and was ineligible for a gun license under federal law.

The case is now in jeopardy after a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled on Feb. 5 that the police did not have probable cause to stop Mr. Homer. In the ruling, the judge, Nicholas G. Garaufis, cited a 2022 Supreme Court decision that found U.S. citizens have a broad right to carry concealed firearms. The case involving Mr. Homer is the latest test of gun laws in the state, where officials continue to grapple with how to square a legacy of strong gun control with the 2022 ruling.

The Supreme Court decision “has really upended America’s laws,” said Adam Winkler, a professor at U.C.L.A. Law. That it has come up in connection with Fourth Amendment questions about probable cause in the Homer case “just shows the profound impact that Bruen is having,” he added.

Full story: Does Having a Gun Make a Person Suspicious? Courts Aren’t Sure Now.