SpotCrime Weekly Reads: mental health, qualified immunity, crime data

Developing programs for mental health calls, ending qualified immunity, cost of policing, trends to shift public safety in 2022, San Jose to require insurance and fee for gun owners, homeless camps crime, Tampa PD turns open data feed back on, Justice Department establishes initiative to strengthen crime data,  expert witness reform, and more...

POLICE CONDUCT

Police, Saskatoon Crisis Intervention Service partner to provide alternative for mental health calls (CKOM) see also: Mental Health Experts Will Respond To Some Emergency Calls Instead Of Police As Part Of New Far North Side Program (Block Club Chicago) and also: A 988 crisis line is coming. Mental health services ask: How do we stretch even more? (WHYY)

The Fight to End Qualified Immunity Is Just Beginning in States Across the Country (Governing)

Six Trends That Will Shape Public Safety in 2022 (TheCrimeReport.org)

Police in this tiny Alabama town suck drivers into legal ‘black hole’ (AL.com)

Indictment: Previous Greenup sheriff stole from department (The Daily Independent)

Sheriff Hutchinson was driving over 120 mph while drunk in Alexandria crash, patrol says (The Star Tribune)

The true cost of policing N.J. officers averaged $123K a year, adding tens of thousands of dollars to their paychecks with little oversight. (NJ.com)

University Of Chicago Police Officer Who Shot Man In Hyde Park Tuesday Also Shot Student In 2018 (Block Club Chicago)

Cops arrested him for filming a traffic stop, then the case went to court... (TheRealNews)

CRIME RATE

San Jose passes first U.S. law requiring gun owners to get liability insurance and pay annual fee (CBS News)

Police department awarded more than $500,000 for community response program (WCIA)

Homeless camps are often blamed for crime but experts say it's not so simple (NPR)

San Francisco's 2021 crime data just came out. Here’s what the numbers show. (SF Gate)

Are Police Departments Ready for Cyber Threats 2022 Will Bring? (GovTech)

CRIM-TECH

Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office launches real time crime center (KATC)

Franklin County Sheriff's office among eight area agencies to get body-cam funds (The Columbus Dispatch)

LAPD Emails Reveal Fallout of Citizen’s Botched Manhunt (VICE)

POLICE TRANSPARENCY

Amid criticism, Tampa police quietly restores public neighborhood crime data (Creative Loafing Tampa Bay) see also: Scrubbing addresses from 911 logs hurts Tampa residents’ ability to gauge crime. Marsy’s Law is no excuse to keep important crime information from the public. | Column (Tampa Bay Times)

Justice Department Establishes Initiative to Strengthen States’ Use of Criminal Justice Data (DOJ)

THE PRISON SYSTEM

Flawed forensics in criminal trials overlooked in push to reform expert witness rules (Reuters)

Tampa crime map. SpotCrime worked to convince Tampa PD to put their open data feed back online.