SpotCrime - The Public's Crime Map

Police staffing crisis, use of force, addressing violent crime, focused interruption, evaluating camera surveillance use by police, geofence warrants, body cams, crime rate, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Officials vow to increase police staffing, with available officers at historic low  (Berkeleyside.org) see also:  Chicago on pace to lose more than 1,000 officers due to resignation, retirement  (WGN) and also:  How Phoenix is handling 'crisis' police staffing situation  (KJZZ) Five times as many police officers have died from Covid-19 as from gunfire since start of pandemic  (CNN) Governor releases third-party review of state law enforcement. The report assessed curriculums, training standards, policies and practices.  (WTHR) Examining the Risk of Recurring Use of Force Incidents Among Newly Hired Police Officers  (SAGE Journals) Trainers show media the ‘other side’ of deadly shootings and use of force by police  (KETK) Tiny wrists in cuffs: Ho...

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 Poli...

Bipartisan talks for police reform end, tracking use-of-force not so easy, AGs address police accountability, studying the mental health of police officers, LA DA dismisses marijuana convictions, murders rose in 2020, not all agencies report data to FBI, body cams costs, police use of tech and the state of surveillance, Alabama ends open access to police records, Mary's Law in Florida hinders police transparency, will the low incarceration rate last, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Bipartisan police-overhaul talks end with no deal. lawmakers had sought to address abuses by law-enforcement after protests over killings of Black Americans  (Wall Street Journal) How is police use of force tracked in the Quad-Cities? That depends on the department.  (Quad City Times) Austin police weigh dispatching civilians, not officers to some nonemergency calls  (Austin American Statesman) Attorneys General in Three States Move to Increase Police Accountability  (TheCrimeReport.org) see al...

In 2019, we published an op-ed at the University of Florida Brechner Center Freedom of Information outlining the issues Marsy’s Law has caused in the collection of public crime information. Two years later, Marsy's Law in Florida continues to take its toll on police transparency. Many other states have implemented their own version of Marsy’s Law without creating problems related to police transparency now faced in Florida. It appears other states have found ways to discern between the intent of Marsy’s Law to protect victims rights to privacy, while also making sure the public has access to pertinent information related to crime, policing, and government transparency. Luckily since our op-ed, we have not run into any other notable police agencies using Marsy’s Law as a blanket exemption to releasing public crime blotter information. However, the original three agencies - Polk County Sheriff, Pasco County Sheriff, and Lake County Sheriff - are still not making crime blotter inform...

Chicago police pause new foot pursuit policy, police in schools, staffing woes in Baltimore PD, effects of one day foot patrols on hot spots, campus sexual assault, Texas will 'eliminate all rapists', MN county stops prosecuting low level traffic stops, body cam law to standardize operations across the state, recidivism rates over the past 10 years, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Chicago police will delay making temporary foot pursuit policy permanent, saying more time is needed for data analysis  (Chicago Tribune)  When Schools Call Police On Kids  (WFAE) see also:  Gun violence in city prods Erie School District to propose delay in reducing police force  (GoErie.com) State Police takes no action against trooper who lied about Ronald Greene body cam footage  (WBRZ) Police staffing woes complicate reform effort in Baltimore  (Associated Press) South Dallas Property Owner Sues City Over Habitual Criminal Property Designation  (Dallas Observer) Dallas p...

Mental health, search and seizures, police reform and procedural justice, concealed carry linked to increased gun violence, license plate readers used to track vehicle locations, facial recognition, police data tracking needs more transparency, school-to-prison pipeline, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Cook County Sheriff dealing with mental health crisis one Zoom call at a time  (Associated Press) see also:  Crisis counselors soon to be on scene with first responders to assist individuals exhibiting mental health needs  (Hometown Stations) Female police officers are less likely to search a car during a traffic stop but more likely to find contraband when they do  (PsyPost) see also:  Police revise rules for searches after people report confusion, intimidation  (Fox5 San Diego) Beverly Hills: 99% of people arrested by ‘safe streets’ unit were Black, suit says  (The Guardian) Mirage of Police Reform: Procedural Justice and Police Legitimacy  (Academia.e...

Body cam rollout and transparency delay, gunshot detection effectiveness, white collar crime prosecutions decline, officer wrongdoing investigations plummet after body cams, police surveillance, Dallas crime fighting plan results, taking away access to physical mail from prisoners, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Scottsdale police open internal affairs investigation after woman was falsely accused  (AZ Central) Investigations into officer wrongdoing plummet following the adoption of body cams  (First Coast News) Appeals court reverses itself, rules in Boynton case that people can videotape police  (Palm Beach Post) Governor’s Policing Surge In Jackson May Not Prevent Violence, Address Causes  (Jackson Free Press) CRIME RATE Indianapolis leaders look to more data, community outreach in effort to reduce violent crime  (FOX59) see also:  CRIME MAPPING: Tracking homicides across Indianapolis  (FOX59)  White-Collar Crime Prosecutions Continue 20-Year Declin...

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...

Addressing gun violence, pattern-or-practice investigations, community-led responses to public safety, the rising homicide rate post Ferguson, undue influence of surveillance tech companies on policing, improving crime data to make better policy, transparency in police departments, and more... POLICE CONDUCT The People’s Response Act would establish a division within the Department of Health and Human Services to promote and fund community-led responses to public safety.  (NBC News) Richmond Police focus on community building to drive down crime  (LEX18) see also:  Cocoa police chief works to engage with community, be more data-driven  (FloridaToday.com) The Facts on Pattern-or-Practice Investigations  (CenterForAmericanProgress.org) New study ranks Kansas City Police Department one of the worst in the country  (KansasCity.com) American Policing and the Danger Imperative  (Wiley Online Library) Cops say low morale and department scrutiny are driving th...

Crime rate post pandemic, tackling gun violence, using data to stop crime, facial recognition tech rules blurred, body cam footage transparency, crime data transparency, license plate reader data shared transparently by police departments, some states working to make raps sheets disappear, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Police chief to provide update on pairing mental health clinicians with officers  (The Modesto Bee) Metro Nashville police officers start Crisis Intervention Team training for community policing  (Tennessean.com) Fargo police chief announces plan to reorganize department, increase transparency  (Inforum) 'We didn't see an improvement': Montgomery mayor explains why former MPD Chief Finley resigned  (Montgomery Advertiser) Santa Ana Police Questioned About Why Some Sexual Assault Reports Receive Same Urgency as Graffiti  (Voice of OC) How many complaints against police officers can be abated by incapacitating a few “bad apples?”  (Wiley Online Li...

We updated the SpotCrime University Transparency Ranking! The last time we ranked access to crime data at universities was in 2017. We specifically look at access to the Jeanne Clery Act crime logs . The Jeanne Clery Act passed in 1990 and in addition to annual reports and timely notices of crimes, it requires a crime log to be kept and be made available and open for public inspection during normal business hours for the most recent 60-day period. Unfortunately, the law was created before the impetus of the internet , however a majority of university police departments across the US publish their crime and fire log directly to their website. In this round of ranking we wanted to know if the transparency level of a city police department influenced the transparency level of the university police department since jurisdictions of a university police department and local police department overlap. We looked at the 10 most populated cities (New York, LA , Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philade...