Author: Christopher Marier
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Why It’s So Hard to Recruit Police Officers
Law enforcement — along with many other fields in the public sector — has struggled to hire enough staff. While 2023 saw staffing increases after years of decline, police departments around the country continue to see shortages in critical areas. For many younger Americans, becoming a police officer is no longer an appealing career path.…
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Four states passed buffer zone laws for police and first responders. Journalists sue over the right to record : NPR
The courts say you have a right to video-record the police. They also say police have the right to do their work unimpeded. And with the spread of ubiquitous video-recording devices, those two rights have increasingly come into conflict. Arizona passed the first such buffer zone law in 2022, and it specifically banned video-recording police…
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Sonya Massey killing sparks renewed scrutiny of police hiring
In the nearly three weeks since an Illinois deputy sheriff was charged with murder after fatally shooting Sonya Massey, observers have questioned how and why the officer — who had worked for six law enforcement agencies in four years — kept on getting hired. According to an NBC News review of police hiring laws in…
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Traffic Enforcement Dwindled in the Pandemic. In Many Places, It Hasn’t Come Back.
In the early days of the pandemic in 2020, traffic stops by the police plummeted around the country, as fewer cars were on the road and as agencies instructed officers to avoid nonessential contact with the public. But in the months and years that followed, a distinct pattern formed in many cities: The cars came…
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Multnomah County Sheriff says she won’t use jails to criminalize homelessness under Portland camping policy
Portland has hit an unlikely obstacle to its new policy restricting where unhoused people can camp: the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office. In a statement released Tuesday, Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell said she will not use county jails to penalize people for not having a home. Morrisey O’Donnell, who was first elected to a four-year term…
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Police departments are using money to fight understaffing : NPR
Police officers in many U.S. cities have recently gotten large pay boosts. Departments are offering these raises to combat understaffing, but some say the money won’t help… Full story: Police departments are using money to fight understaffing : NPR
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Records show deputy charged in Sonya Massey’s fatal shooting worked for 6 agencies in 4 years
The former sheriff’s deputy charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman killed inside her Illinois home, had been employed by a half-dozen police agencies since 2020, according to state law enforcement records. Sean Grayson’s career included short stints as a part-time officer at three small police departments and…
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Violent crime rates in American cities largely fall back to pre-pandemic levels, new report shows
Most violent crimes in U.S. cities are back down to pre-pandemic levels, according to the 2024 mid-year crime trend report by the Council on Criminal Justice released Thursday. While federal crime data is difficult to track, the CCJ examines monthly crime rates in 39 cities that have consistently reported their crime data throughout the last…
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Schools create safe spaces amid gun violence, but students want more security : NPR
The students at North Community High School in Minneapolis have seen a lot. Some things, morbid curiosities: a bullet, freshly fired, spinning and melting the rubber on the track surrounding the school’s football field. Others, much more painful: the murder of Deshaun Hill Jr., shot and killed two years ago just blocks from the school.…
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Thousands of people seeking help did not get a police response. That’s a good thing.
Three years ago, the county launched a pilot program to replace ill-equipped law enforcement officials with mental health experts for those in crisis. The effort started small with just a handful of professionals responding to calls in North County. But it quickly expanded. Today, there are nearly four dozen Mobile Crisis Response Teams countywide handling…