Greensboro police chief presents counterintuitive plan to cut officer positions to help bolster the department

Greensboro Police Chief John Thompson says the department is down 115 sworn officers. Because of the staffing shortage, they have to cut back on the services his department offers the community, which is something the city can’t afford to do with the recurring violence plaguing the city.

Part of the problem, Thompson says, is that the Greensboro Police Department is losing officers to nearby cities like Burlington that are able to pay more. The chief says he has a plan, but it may sound counterintuitive.

“What I am going to ask is that the council reduce my authorized strength by 30 positions,” Thompson said. “I am not a math guy, but I am pretty good with numbers. That would roughly equate to about $2 million dollars.”

Those funds could then go toward essentially giving $3,000 raises to staff across the board.

Full story: Greensboro police chief presents counterintuitive plan to cut officer positions to help bolster the department

Park Police body-cam footage shows officer shooting Dalaneo Martin – The Washington Post

U.S. Park Police on Tuesday released body-cam footage showing an officer fatally shooting a 17-year-old last month after the officer climbed into the back of a vehicle to detain the teen and was still inside when he drove away.

The officer, from the back seat of the vehicle, asks Dalaneo Martin to stop over the span of about 13 seconds, then draws his gun and says, “Stop, stop, or I’ll shoot,” the footage shows. Barely a second later, he fires what sounds like five shots at Martin’s back.

The gruesome footage, along with video from body cameras worn by D.C. police officers on the scene, adds significant details to the public’s understanding of the March 18 encounter — revealing not only the moment Martin was shot, but also officers strategizing for how to take him into custody as he sat, apparently asleep, in the front seat of a vehicle they believed to be stolen. Before officers embark on a plan to stealthily access the vehicle and restrain the teen, one D.C. police officer tells the group, “If he takes off, just let him go,” the footage shows.

Full story: Park Police body-cam footage shows officer shooting Dalaneo Martin – The Washington Post

Clearview AI scraped 30 billion images from Facebook and other social media sites and gave them to cops: it puts everyone into a ‘perpetual police line-up’

Law enforcement officers have used Clearview AI’s facial recognition database nearly a million times, Hoan Ton-That, the company’s CEO, told the BBC…

Full story: Clearview AI scraped 30 billion images from Facebook and other social media sites and gave them to cops: it puts everyone into a ‘perpetual police line-up’