Author: scott prell

Chicago Police Training Teaches Officers That Their Lives Matter more Than Community Lives

Don’t let the title fool you. Generally police are trained that they must survive and go home. It’s not that the community is less important than the police.

This Report from community representatives of Chicago’s Use of Force Community Working Group offers our feedback on the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) training on de-escalation and the use of force. The Working Group was first convened in the summer of 2020 in response to the requirements of the federal civil rights Consent Decree designed to bring an end to the CPD’s pattern of police brutality and racial discrimination. Over the course of two years, the Working Group persuaded the CPD to make transformative changes to its policies governing police use of force.1 Last fall, we issued a Public Report on CPD’s new policies, including areas still in need of change.2 The new policies, if implemented and enforced on the ground, have the potential to dramatically reduce unnecessary CPD violence and improve public safety.

www.law.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/2023-03/2023-03-20-UOFWG-Public_Report-CPD_Training.pdf

Report finds culture change desperately needed across entire service

Police Federation of England and Wales National Chair Steve Hartshorn responds to Baroness Casey’s independent review.
— Read on www.polfed.org/news/latest-news/2023/report-finds-culture-change-desperately-needed-across-entire-service/

Get a copy of the report here:

https://www.met.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/media/downloads/met/about-us/baroness-casey-review/update-march-2023/baroness-casey-review-march-2023.pdf

Gun Violence Affects the Economic Health of Communities

Despite broad interest in estimating the economic costs of gun violence borne by victims and the nation, these conversations rarely address the impact of gun violence on the health of local economies. Do surges in gun violence slow business growth and lower home values, homeownership rates, and credit scores in communities? How do increases in gun violence shape local economic health over time? To answer these important questions, we assembled and analyzed newly available business establishment and credit score data, along with gunshot and sociodemographic data by census tract and gun homicide data (when available), for Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Oakland, California; Rochester, New York; San Francisco, California; and Washington, DC.

Get the report here:

www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/90666/eigv_brief_3.pdf

Podcast: Bill Bratton On Fighting Crime Without Shredding Civil Liberties

Commissioner Bratton discusses and explains many of his theories, strategies, and tactics for policing. It was refreshing to hear Commissioner Bratton defend good police policies against liberal activists.

I especially enjoyed the podcaster’s argument about resolving drug crime by making illegal drugs legal. They said it’s an easy fix. Unfortunately certain drugs are illegal because of the harm they cause. But I have to give the hosts credit because I think they solved the crime problem. They would be no crime if all crime was made legal.

The former head of the NYPD and the LAPD talks about how bad leadership creates police brutality and why he’s still against pot legalization.
— Read on reason.com/podcast/2023/03/15/bill-bratton-fighting-crime-without-shredding-civil-liberties/