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  • The Junk Science Cops Use to Decide You're Lying

    August 12, 2020 |

    The Intercept |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States

    When "junk science" forms the basis of the training curricula used by for-profit companies in the business of teaching police interrogation techniques, it can produce mistakes leading to false confessions and wrongful convictions. A number of vendors rely on practices long proven ineffective and debunked as myths, such as relying on interpretations of body language, eye movement, tone of voice, and other physical cues to claim evidence of deception. Genuine evidence-based interview techniques exist that should be used in making police training more professional.

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  • Mental health training for cops is working in Tucson. Can we bring it to Philly?

    August 10, 2020 |

    The Philadelphia Citizen |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Tucson, Arizona

    Tuscon police use a combination of training and expanded resources to resolve mental health crises by putting people in the hands of mental health professionals, an approach that in 2019 diverted nearly 4,400 cases away from arrests and jail. All police officers take a required 12-hour mental health first aid class, and most go through another 40-hour crisis intervention training. A specialized team gets more extensive training to handle court-ordered interventions, emphasizing patience and humane treatment. A 24/7 Crisis Response Center serves as an intake desk to decide what help people in crisis need.

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  • Bad Death Notifications are Affecting Families; Can They be Fixed?

    August 07, 2020 |

    The Community Voice |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Kansas City, Missouri

    The nationwide non-profit Trauma Intervention Programs Inc. uses volunteers trained in "compassionate notifications" – informing families of loved ones' deaths, a task that often is bungled by untrained, rushed first responders and hospital workers. In more than 250 communities, TIP volunteers can be dispatched simultaneously with fire and police teams. They provide counseling and assist families long after first responders have left. Advocates say their role can mend police-community relations in places like Kansas City, which lacks a formal protocol and resources for handling notifications.

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  • In San Diego, ‘Smart' Streetlights Spark Surveillance Reform

    August 06, 2020 |

    Bloomberg CityLab |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, San Diego, California

    A smart-streetlight program has helped businesses and residents by collecting a wealth of data to make parking easier, monitor air quality, and inform drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists of traffic patterns. But its use by the police to collect evidence of suspected crimes has prompted a privacy backlash. Police officials say the videos have been used only in serious crimes and have both incriminated and exonerated suspects. Critics say mission creep has led to improper surveillance of protests and racially disparate enforcement in minor crimes. City legislators are considering ways to regulate the practice.

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  • ASU study: 'Team Kids' may improve perception of police through cop-kid activities

    August 06, 2020 |

    Cronkite News - Arizona PBS |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Compton, California

    About 170,000 schoolchildren in four states have participated in the Team Kids Challenge, which promotes healthier relations between youth and police by pairing them in charity work to solicit and distribute donations. Based on research showing Black and Latinx youth distrust police much more than white children do, the program was found in a new study to significantly improve kids' perceptions of police. The study did not measure how long this effect lasts or why it fails, when it does. A researcher also cautions that real trust in police must be earned through good policing.

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  • Surveillance Planes Watch Over Baltimore, But Catch Few Criminals

    August 05, 2020 |

    Baltimore Magazine |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

    In the first half of a six-month experiment, Baltimore's "wide-area surveillance" using video cameras flying above city streets to aid in crime investigations has led to only one arrest. The city's police commissioner doubts the city will agree to pay for the surveillance once private funding for the pilot project runs out, but he says he'll know more after the six-month experiment. The experiment is aimed at Baltimore's high rates of gun violence. Besides its effectiveness, critics worry about its privacy implications and that it targets mostly Black neighborhoods.

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  • Here's a radical idea that will change policing, transform prisons and reduce crime: treat criminals like human beings

    July 31, 2020 |

    The Correspondent |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: Norway

    Comparing Norway's and the United States' approaches to prisons and policing puts the lie to the American notion that being tough and unrelentingly punitive effectively addresses crime. In Norway, even people imprisoned for violent crimes, in maximum-security prisons, are treated with respect and kindness, with privileges that would be unthinkable in most American prisons. The results are telling: Norway's recidivism rate, the lowest in the world, is less than one-third of the U.S. rate. While prison costs are far higher per capita, the ultimate costs in lower crime make the Norwegian approach affordable.

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  • The surprising way to stop shootings that doesn't involve more cops and arrests

    July 31, 2020 |

    Mother Jones |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

    After two failed attempts, Oakland Ceasefire retooled its approach and since 2013 has been a significant factor in lowering homicides and nonfatal shootings. The program, used in various ways in many cities, identifies young men at high risk of getting shot or shooting others and then offers them life coaching and social services to keep them out of trouble. By de-emphasizing the role of police, pinpointing those most in need of help, boosting community involvement, and forming deeper personal relationships, the program is credited with a 32% reduction in gun homicides over a six-year study.

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  • The Defund Movement Aims to Change the Policing and Prosecution of Domestic Violence

    July 28, 2020 |

    The Appeal |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States

    Criminalizing domestic violence was considered a feminist-inspired advance for crime victims, but making arrests and prosecution the main responses to the problem has backfired in many ways. With funding and attention focused on punishment, other services for victims have been neglected. And expecting victims will aid in a prosecution, even jailing them for refusing, can ignore the rational choices many victims make for non-cooperation, based on their desire for safety, financial and housing security, to avoid maltreatment by police, and other reasons that point toward more promising responses.

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  • Kentucky town hires social workers instead of more officers - and the results are surprising

    July 28, 2020 |

    WAVE-TV |

    Broadcast TV News |

    3-5 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Alexandria, Kentucky

    Alexandria, Kentucky's 17-officer police department avoided the expense of hiring more police officers by adding two social workers to assist police in responding to the types of calls that can often turn into repeat calls to 911. By working with people in domestic disturbances, mental health crises, or with substance abuse issues, the social workers connect families to services immediately, rather than awaiting a referral from the police after the crisis has passed. Repeat calls to 911 are down and the city saves up to $50,000 for each position where a social worker substitutes for a police hire.

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