SpotCrime - The Public's Crime Map

Mental health emergency response, safe gun storage and minimum age laws, domestic violence awareness, criminal charges over pregnancy, reimagining Chicago's public safety, surveillance cameras, AI in policing, facial recognition, deactivated bodycams, new homicide county dashboard, progressive prosecutors, and more... POLICE CONDUCT City Removing Police And Fire Departments From Mental Health Emergency Response Program  (Block Club Chicago) New Des Moines police chief finalists announced  (KCCI) New Austin police contract worries some city council members  (FOX7 Austin) CRIME RATE Safe storage and minimum age gun laws would curb violence, study says  (Stateline.org) UMich study finds rising firearm mortality rates among youth in most states  (The Michigan Daily) Nearly Nine out of 10 Women Murdered by Men are Killed by Someone They Know and Two Thirds Die by Gunfire, New Violence Policy Center Study Finds  (Violence Policy Center) see also:  Toward a Better Estimate of Domestic Vio

Fatal police shootings, oversight commission causes police resignations, inflammatory political campaigns and policing, FBI crime data reporting, automated license plate readers aid investigations, Dallas new site for crime watchers, data on ending cash bail, how much states spend on prisons, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Fatal Police Shootings in the United States Are Higher and Training Is More Limited Than in Other Nations  (Rutgers Today) Savannah surpasses other police departments in solving murders. Why?  (GPB News) Police Union Says SDPD Officers Are Quitting Because of Oversight Commission That Doesn’t Exist Yet  (Voice of San Diego) Lawyer claims LAPD officer was targeted for being a potential whistleblower  (CBS News) 'The Onion' filed a real brief with the Supreme Court supporting man jailed for making fun of cops  (Engadget) No info: JPD yet to report crime data on new system, Sheriff in process  (The Northside Sun) Inflammatory Political Campaigns and Racial Bias in P

Officer and 911 operator shortage, racial profiling, Do Not Defund, police firearm dangers, teachers' safety, electric vehicles in the police fleet, FL database on bad cops, public crime data, early release doesn't equal violent crime, and more... POLICE CONDUCT As dozens in government housing arrested for potential violence, concerns raised about racial profiling  (WTVR) Va. attorney general visits Fairfax Co. police amid officer shortage, violent crime spike  (WJLA) Kootenai County reduces public services amid 911 operator shortage  (Idaho Capital Sun) Do Not Defund: Roland Fryer and Rafael Mangual on Crime and Policing in the 21st Century  (Hoover Instution) Viewing Firearm Danger Through the Lens of Police Officers  (SAGE Journals) CRIME RATE Shootings and Homicides in Chicago Down From Historic Highs of Past Years, Overall Crime Still Up  (NBC Chicago) Teachers’ Safety and Workplace Victimization: A Socioecological Analysis of Teachers’ Perspective  (Taylor and Francis Onl

Fusion centers, Chicago consent-decree, inflation and crime, guns leading cause of death among children and teens, crime reduction and prevention plans, firearm violence, body cams, data brokers access to public data, campus crime transparency, mass incarceration, resentencing in TN, abuse in DJJ facility, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Latest consent-decree report hits Chicago police leadership in key areas: Community policing and building community trust  (Chicago Tribune) Tips for reaching 911 during cell phone outages  (ABC10) 13 Nassar victims file $130 million in claims against FBI for 'gross negligence'  (The Detroit News) FBI Partnering with Fusion Centers to Tackle Threats  (FBI.gov) Baltimore aims to be one of the first cities to address police staffing shortages by hiring civilian investigators  (KOMU) CRIME RATE As inflation keeps rising, more small-time thefts count as felonies  (AXIOS) see also:  Inflation in US could lead to rise in crime  (WPSD) The changing epidemi

NJ cops can't be fired or promoted based on arrests, New Mexico removing police from mental health calls,  unpacking gun violence, Chicago consent decree, new company analyzes body cam audio for problem officers, 3 states begin to share gun crime data, better crime databases needed, TN kids charged with crimes that don't exist, and more... POLICE CONDUCT N.J. cops can’t be fired or promoted based on how many arrests they make under new law  (NJ.com) Washington State Patrol’s hiring under fire as agency failed to diversify over decades  (Seattle Times) State Police trooper who cried foul over brutality incidents is notified he'll be fired  (NOLA.com) Middle Georgia police officer shot, killed on his first shift  (AJC) Lynchburg Police Dept. makes staffing changes to compensate for 28 officer vacancies  (WFXR) In New Mexico, a bold experiment aims to take police out of the equation for mental health calls  (The Washington Post) New Report On Chicago Police Consent Decree Show

COVID leading cause of death for police officers, Portland officer shortage, Durham police disregard body cam policies, gun violence, George Floyd's murder related to decrease in calls to police, sex offender registries have no impact on recidivism, DOJ reviewing law enforcement grants, more police departments adopting body cams, the FBIs crime data shortage, impact of body cams on court outcomes, calls on EU to ban predictive policing AI, and more... POLICE CONDUCT 'My dad didn't have a fighting chance': Covid is leading cause of death among law enforcement  (NBC News) New Akron police chief tells City Council community must help to quell rising gun violence  (Beacon Journal) Portland mayor wants to bring back retired police officers to help fill shortage, address gun violence  (OPB.org) Audit: Durham police officers routinely disregard policies on bodycam videos  (WRAL) Denver's 2022 city budget proposal dominated by public safety  (Denver Gazette) What the Rest o

Re-directing no threat 911 calls, mental health unit works toward de-escalation, homicide rate surge may be over, fixing vacancies to reduce gun violence, police use virtual reality for de-escalation training, report urges transparency with internal affairs department, navigating life after incarceration, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Pilot program designed to redirect no-threat 911 calls from Columbus police showing promise, officials say  (The Columbus Dispatch) see also:  Police Aren’t Needed for 49% of 911 Calls: Seattle Report  (TheCrimeReport.org) COVID-19: Law enforcement deaths. Tracking the coronavirus-related deaths of U.S. police officers and other LE personnel  (PoliceOne) BPD's Mental Heath Unit responds to 100+ calls since its inception, works to de-escalate crisis  (KXXV) Chicago Police Department opts for go-slow approach to redeploy cops  (Chicago Sun Times) U.S. Police Academies Overemphasize “Warrior” Training of New Officers  (Academia.edu) APD’s use of force incre

Cameras credited for cutting crime, link between crime and obesity, possible serial killer in Chicago, data important analyzing tool, Denver PD testing GPS dart system, life after prison, and more... POLICE CONDUCT San Francisco DA: Analyzing data helpful in fighting crime  (ABQ Journal) Data call into question supposed benefits of police review boards  (Dallas News) Killeen: Doorbell cameras helping police solve crimes  (KWTX) Records Requests Show Even More California Police Departments Started Destroying Records Before The Public Could Get Its Hands On Them  (TechDirt) Recently released records show Portland Police Bureau targeted counter-protesters, ignored armed alt-right demonstrators at “Patriot Prayer” rally  (MuckRock) Grand Rapids to criminalize reckless racial profiling when making police report  (Michigan Watchdog) Hawaii law enforcement power couple mired in corruption case  (Associated Press) CRIME RATE Millennials arrested more often than predecessors—e

Amazon has narrowed down the locations for their second headquarters to a list of 20 finalists  out of the 238 cities and regions that applied. The winning city could get up to 50,000 high-paying jobs and $5 billion in investment, boosting the local economy. Amazon's requirements were metropolitan areas with a population greater than one million and the ability to attract and keep strong technical talent.  SpotCrime is mapping crime in almost every major city in the US. We took a look at the 20 finalists  to see if we were mapping crime in cities appealing to Amazon.  We are aggregating good data from all by 1 city! This is good for Amazon - we believe a city with great police data transparency means better community relations and an open feedback loop. Cities who are transparent with crime data are typically transparent with other types of data, like transit or financial data, which can make addressing the growing pains that come with building their a massive HQ2 a lot

POLICE CONDUCT 9 key takeaways from the DOJ draft report on the Milwaukee Police Department (Journal Sentinel) Neighborhood Specific Crime Prevention through Community Engagement, Crime Data, and Police Services (IACP) Marion looks to researchers for better policing (TheGazette.com) Trump to restore program sending surplus military weapons, equipment to police (WaPo) Pinellas County Sheriff's Office first in Florida to join FBI program tracking use-of-force incidents (Tampa Bay Times) The Collected Crimes of Sheriff Joe Arpaio (LongReads.com) Jury convicts Chicago cop of excessive force for firing 16 shots at car, wounding 2 teens (Chicago Tribune) See Also: AG Madigan sues to enforce Chicago police reform; Emanuel pledges cooperation (Chicago Tribune) CRIME RATE Spiking 'solve rate,' steep drop in New Orleans killings shows major progress, NOPD says (TheAdvocate.com) Cyber crime reaching epidemic proportions as fraud becomes most comm

Jeff Sessions gets it wrong (again), body cams and transparency, murder is up again, opioid laws getting signed nationwide, looking at time served and prison populations, and more... POLICE CONDUCT How two ICE programs let sheriffs cash in on immigration crackdown (Austin-American Statesman) Building Trust in Police: What Really Works? (TheCrimeReport.org) Indianapolis Police to Change Policies After Fatal Shooting (USNews) 2017 Preliminary Mid-Year Law Enforcement Officer Fatalities Report (NLEOMF.org) What Cops Know: You can learn a lot about a city by seeing it through the eyes of police officers who patrol it (Chicagomag.com) Latest: Minneapolis police say re-evaluating bodycam policy after shooting (StarTribune) Body camera footage shows officer planting drugs, public defender says (Baltimore Sun) Jeff Sessions’s praise of DARE shows he just can’t quit the 1980s (Vox) Ex-police officer Ray Tensing will not be tried again in fatal shooti

Annapolis Police Chief fired, America’s murder rate, transparency in police misconduct cases, Alexa can now tell you about crime, and more… POLICE CONDUCT College town cops are part of the problem at Baylor, other football factories  (Orlando Sentinel) Annapolis police Chief Pristoop fired, mayor confirms. Dismissal comes after deadliest year in state capital's history (WBAL) Under Obama, the Justice Department aggressively pursued police reforms. Will it continue under Trump? (LA Times) Race and the Police use of Force Encounter in the United States (OUP) President Trump Meets With National Sheriffs’ Association (LawOfficer.com) Violence erupts in Paris suburbs over police sodomy case (USAToday) CRIME RATE America's murder rate is rising at its fastest pace since the early 1970s (Economist) Chicago Still Isn’t the Murder Capital of America (TheTrace) America’s Oldest Crime Victims (TheCrimeReport) Baltimore police to divert low-