Author: scott prell

SPD report discovers 80% of 911 calls were for non-criminal events – MyNorthwest.com

After reviewing more than 1.2 million 911 calls from 2017 to 2019, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) found 79.7% of calls were for non-criminal events.
— Read on mynorthwest.com/3479482/spd-report-discovers-80-of-911-calls-were-for-non-criminal-events/

Seattle Calls for Service Analysis REPORT: https://herbold.seattle.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Attachment-3-Seattle-Calls-for-Service-Analysis-Report-with-Appendices-NICJR-June-2021.pdf

How NYPD Officers Get Away with Lying to the CCRB

On paper, the policy of the New York Police Department (NYPD) is that “[i]ntentionally making a false official statement regarding a material matter will result in dismissal from the Department, absent exceptional circumstances.” But it has long been an open secret that the NYPD almost never disciplines officers who lie, particularly in those cases where officers lie during an interview before the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB).

The NYPD has publicly defended its refusal to discipline these officers by claiming that the CCRB forwarded shoddy investigations and acted with bias. New York Civil Rights Law 50-a–which has since been repealed–shielded these cases from disclosure, making it impossible to independently refute the NYPD’s claims.

With the repeal of 50-a, LatinoJustice PRLDEF has been able to obtain the full case files, interview statements, or both, in the 144 cases involving 181 officers who lied to the CCRB. The results show that the NYPD has utterly failed to take lying by officers seriously, refusing to discipline officers in the face of incontrovertible evidence that they lied. We found that:

  • In more than one-half the cases the CCRB forwarded to the NYPD, an officer’s testimony was contradicted by recorded video or audio evidence.
  • In most of the remaining cases, the officer’s statement was contradicted by NYPD paperwork or the testimony of another NYPD officer.
  • Nearly one-half of the officers who lied to the CCRB were never disciplined at all, even for the underlying misconduct they lied about.
  • In the five cases in which the NYPD disciplined the officer for the statement made to the CCRB, the allegation was downgraded to “misleading.” No officer was fired.
  • The NYPD has provided inadequate information about officers who lie to criminal defendants and their attorneys.

The NYPD’s refusal to act when its officers lie has serious ramifications. Officers who receive no consequences for lying will continue to do so. Individuals who are never told that an officer testifying against them is known as a liar cannot receive fair trials.
SEE more HERE

A VERY interesting report that can be read at the website or downloaded and printed out to be read at any time. Download the report HERE

An excellent discussion on Policing QPP 56: Peter Moskos and Alex Vitale, moderated by Michael Fortner – Peter Moskos

Excellent discussion on Policing

This is truly a must listen for all criminal justice students interested in policing. 

QPP 56: Peter Moskos and Alex Vitale, moderated by Michael Fortner – Peter Moskos
— Read on qualitypolicing.com/qpp-alex-vitale-and-michael-fortner/

Police Killings: Road Map of Research Priorities for Change | RAND

Research Questions

What types of research on killings committed by police officers might help reduce these killings?
What types of data on killings committed by police officers might help reduce these killings?
In this report, RAND Corporation researchers summarize what is currently known about killings committed by police officers in the United States and identify existing evidence about various ways to prevent these killings. A relatively large body of research on these topics exists, but these studies often suffer from methodological shortcomings, largely stemming from the dearth of available data. Recognizing the need for more-rigorous work to guide efforts to reform police — and, more specifically, to reduce police killings — the authors present work focused on the development of a research agenda, or a road map, to reduce police killings. The report, based on an extensive literature review as well as interviews with policing experts, contains a series of recommendations for areas in which research efforts may be most effective in helping inform policymaking and decisionmaking aimed at reducing police killings.

The authors identified six focus areas — foundational issues (such as racial inequities, police culture, and police unions), data and reporting, training, policies, technology, and consequences for officers. Reviewing the priority research topics in each focus area, similar themes emerged, especially around the need for more-extensive and more-systematic data collection and around the use of agency policies to better govern a range of operations related to police violence, such as data collection and reporting and technology.

In this report, the authors use the terms police killings, police violence, and police shootings to describe these types of police behaviors, whether wrongful or not. The authors identify specific instances of these behaviors as misconduct, illegality, wrongful, or excessive when those descriptions apply.
Key Findings

The authors identified research priorities that include the following:

Incorporate a racial lens into studies on reducing police violence and police killings.
Conduct research on aspects of law enforcement that teach and reinforce traditional police culture and norms and on how reform efforts might overcome resistance stemming from culture and norms.
Conduct research on the role of unions in preventing accountability to agency policies and in shaping the outcomes of cases involving police killings.
Explore additional data sources and data that could provide a more reliable representation of a police violence incident, including nonfatal incidents; situational factors surrounding incidents; and the use of technology prior to, during, and after an incident.
Improve data collection on officer consequences after police killings.
Establish meaningful metrics for use across agencies by identifying standard data elements that agencies should collect, and prioritize data accuracy.
Move away from self-reported data on body-worn camera (BWC) use by conducting BWC footage reviews and incorporating alternative data sources for incident reviews.
Add to the overall training evaluation literature to understand the current state of training in the United States and develop a consensus on what training should be in place in all agencies.
Identify the mechanisms by which specific policies reduce police violence, and identify what combination of policies is most effective at reducing police violence.
Undertake research on the overall effects of using other technologies on lethal force.
Study the role of prosecutors in shaping the outcomes of cases involving police killings.
— Read on www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1525-1.html

Police Race Action Plan | College of Policing

How we’re working to make policing anti-racist and reform or explain race disparities.
The Police Race Action Plan sets out changes across policing to improve outcomes for Black people who work within or interact with policing.

The plan was developed jointly by the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), working in collaboration with Black communities and partners – including the National Black Policing Association (NBPA)(opens an external website in the same tab) and an independent scrutiny and oversight board (ISOB). It has the commitment of all 43 chief constables in England and Wales.

It aims to address:

disparities affecting Black people
lower levels of trust and confidence in the police among some Black people
— Read on www.college.police.uk/support-forces/diversity-and-inclusion/action-plan