Month: January 2021

Report to Strengthen UMPD Alignment with UMN Expectations

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (“UMN”) seeks to provide a safe and secure environment for students, faculty, staff and administration through the University of Minnesota Department of Public Safety (“DPS”) and University of Minnesota Police Department (“UMPD”). For many university stakeholders, crime is a growing concern on and near the campus. The breakdown in relationships between the UMPD and the UMN campus community is also a significant concern.

president.umn.edu/dr-alexander-report

Forensic Science

REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT Forensic Science in Criminal Courts: Ensuring Scientific Validity of Feature-Comparison Methods

“Forensic science” has been defined as the application of scientific or technical practices to the recognition, collection, analysis, and interpretation of evidence for criminal and civil law or regulatory issues. Developments over the past two decades—including the exoneration of defendants who had been wrongfully convicted based in part on forensic-science evidence, a variety of studies of the scientific underpinnings of the forensic disciplines, reviews of expert testimony based on forensic findings, and scandals in state crime laboratories—have called increasing attention to the question of the validity and reliability of some important forms of forensic evidence and of testimony based upon them. Get a copy of the report HERE

Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward

The Senate Report also sets forth the charge to the Forensic Science Committee, instructing it to:

  1. assess the present and future resource needs of the forensic science community, to include State and local crime labs, medical examin-ers, and coroners;
  2. make recommendations for maximizing the use of forensic tech-nologies and techniques to solve crimes, investigate deaths, and protect the public;
  3. identify potential scientific advances that may assist law enforce-ment in using forensic technologies and techniques to protect the public;
  4. make recommendations for programs that will increase the number of qualified forensic scientists and medical examiners available to work in public crime laboratories;
  5. disseminate best practices and guidelines concerning the collection and analysis of forensic evidence to help ensure quality and con-sistency in the use of forensic technologies and techniques to solve crimes, investigate deaths, and protect the public;
  6. examine the role of the forensic community in the homeland secu-rity mission;
  7. [examine] interoperability of Automated Fingerprint Information Systems [AFIS]; and
  8. examine additional issues pertaining to forensic science as deter-mined by the Committee.

Get the Senate report HERE

Consent Decree Monitoring Team for Baltimore City

The Baltimore Police Monitoring Team oversees the implementation of a Consent Decree—a judicially-enforceable agreement—between the City of Baltimore and the United States.  The Consent Decree requires the Baltimore City Police Department to adopt a number of specific reforms aimed at ensuring effective, safe, and constitutional policing.

Access it HERE

Chasing Justice – Addressing Police Violence and Corruption in Maryland | ACLU of Maryland

Between 2015 and 2019, there were 13,392 complaints of misconduct filed against 1,826 Baltimore City police officers and 22,884 use of force incidents in Baltimore. Among the many disturbing facts that the report, “Chasing Justice: Addressing Police Violence and Corruption in Maryland,” uncovers are that 91 percent of those who the police targeted with use of force were Black
— Read on www.aclu-md.org/en/publications/chasing-justice-addressing-police-violence-and-corruption-maryland

Vermont’s BIPOC drivers are most likely to have a run-in with police, study shows | EurekAlert! Science News

Examining more than 800,000 police stops in Vermont between 2014 to 2019, researchers confirm that Vermont authorities stop, ticket, arrest and search Black drivers at a rate far beyond their share of the state’s total driving population.
— Read on eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/uov-vbd011521.php

Prioritizing Equity video series: Police Brutality & COVID-19 | American Medical Association

I am shocked by the position that the AMA has taken on policing. I hope they cite some of the sources they get their information from because listening to the discussion in the video it is obviously agenda driven and not evidence based.

The latest Prioritizing Equity video series examines police brutality and racism, discussing how physicians and others can address root causes of inequity by naming racism.
— Read on www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/health-equity/prioritizing-equity-video-series-police-brutality-covid-19