SpotCrime Weekly Reads: police surveillance, defunding, rising violent crime

Defunding police, violent crime spike and what's behind it, a look at police spending, DC allows prisoners to vote, some police push back enforcing mask orders, using predictive software to guess while police will go rogue, database of nationwide police surveillance, and more...

POLICE CONDUCT

Berkeley aims to defund police by 50% next year, shift department roles to non-sworn positions (ABC7) see also: Seattle Chief Best discusses defunding while City Council deliberates plans to defund SPD (KOMO)

Lawyer: Over 150 Minneapolis officers seeking disability, cite PTSD after death of George Floyd (Eyewitness News)

Cities turn to software to predict when police will go rogue (Bloomberg Quint)

ProPublica reviewed police tactics seen in nearly 400 protest videos. Here’s what they found.  (ProPublica)

New data: police spending has been rising for years (GovTech)

Community-oriented policing to reduce crime, disorder and fear and increase satisfaction and legitimacy among citizens: a systematic review (Academia.edu) see also: Chicago police launch new effort to reduce crime by building trust (ABC7Chicago)

Some police push back against enforcing mask order, businesses try to deal with angry customers (MLive) see also: "Governor's order regarding masks is not a law," Saginaw County Sheriff's Office says (NBC25News)

Law enforcement agencies are using a legal loophole to buy up personal data exposed by hackers (Business Insider)

CRIME RATE

Portland officials investigating spate of homicides, rise in shootings. (OPB.org) and ‘A different level’: Denver police Chief Paul Pazen talks about increase in violent crimes (CBS Denver) and also: Police wrestle with surge in crime in U.S. cities amid defunding efforts (Wall Street Journal)

As shootings increase across NYC, opposing views emerge on what’s behind the violent spike (SILive)

Researchers say a breathalyzer has flaws, casting doubt on countless convictions (ZDNet)

A ‘massive, sophisticated criminal enterprise': Maryland uncovers huge unemployment fraud scheme (MyMCMedia)

Do safe storage gun laws prevent gun violence? (IdeaStream)

CRIM-TECH

This secret $35 million FBI unit mixes facial recognition with big data to investigate America’s most horrific crimes (Forbes)

‘Atlas of Surveillance’ now provides searchable, interactive database of police surveillance (Venture Beat) see also: One of Ripple’s co-founders is spending a fortune installing cameras in San Francisco as an “alternative” urban security system. (CoinTelegraph)

POLICE TRANSPARENCY

Chicago Police Department arrest API shutdown is its own kind of ‘cover up’ (The Chicago Reporter)

NYPD takes steps to make it easier to revoke press credentials (NY Post)

Norfolk to spend $1 million to boost police transparency and treatment of the mentally ill (Pilot Online)

How to build a more open justice system (Science Mag) see also: Fair justice systems need open data access Making court records publicly available will enable statistical analysis (Science Daily)

PRISON REFROM

Bureau Of Prisons using solitary confinement as a means to curb COVID-19 contagion (Forbes)

Bringing sentencing into the 21st century: closing the gap between practice and knowledge by introducing expertise into sentencing law (Academia.edu)

A bail reform tool intended to curb mass incarceration has only replicated biases in the criminal justice system (The Intercept)

Washington DC poised to become one of the few places in US to let prisoners vote (The Guardian)

DUMB CRIMINAL OF THE WEEK

Arkansas officer charged with manslaughter after shooting other officer through door after stating 'if any protestors came to his residence he would 'shoot through the door.' THV11

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