Force Science Research Center Recommends Next Steps after an OIS

At a two-hour panel at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference last October, three Force Science Research Center experts offered their professional opinions on how law enforcement agencies should handle officer involved shooting investigations. To avoid emotional trauma caused by investigators whom officers interrogate more like suspects than fellow officers, the experts recommended the following:

• Limit on-scene comments to brief statements about public safety, including information about injuries to the officer and others; whether suspects are still at large and in what direction they traveled; weapons they’re armed with; and whether evidence exists and needs to be preserved. Answers to questions which have nothing to do with public safety can be gleaned from other sources, including witnesses and audio/video recordings. Officers should be trained to answer these (but no other) questions without legal or union representation.

• Allow officers to rest before formal interviews. This improves memory not just for officers, but also for their interviewers.

• Transport officers to the hospital, even if they appear to be fine. The adrenaline dump from an armed confrontation can mask injuries and aggravate underlying internal conditions. Also, a controlled and secure environment can protect officers from media, the public, and even anxious supervisors.

• Provide independent legal representation. By preventing an officer from talking too much, immediate representation can help both the officer and the agency avoid civil liability and should not be construed as a way to cover or spin wrongdoing. However, representation should be independent, not union provided; union attorneys are typically trained for labor issues, not shootings.

• Allow an officer to walk through the shooting scene privately with his (or her) attorney. This can improve memory recall.

• During the formal interview, allow the officer to choose the setting and use a “cognitive interview” technique. Not only does this also improve memory recall, it also shows the officer’s state of mind at the time of the shooting. Cognitive interviewing focuses on rapport building and collaboration and helps the officer put the shooting in context. It also allows the officer virtually uninterrupted narration, in contrast to typical interrogations. The technique can help obtain up to 55% more information as a result.

• Have a policy which goes beyond scene management to managing the entire flow of a post-shooting follow-up.

For a free copy of the handbook, Officer-Involved Shooting Workshop, E-mail john.bostain@dhs.gov; for information on training for cognitive interviewing, E-mail Dr. Edward Geiselman at geiselma@psych.ucla.edu.

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Edged Weapon Research Helps Police Profile Violent Criminals

The award winning Center for Homicide Research which is located in Minneapolis
(MN) has been working with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (part of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime) to examine relationships between victim and killer in edged weapon murders. The goal is to see whether wound pattern and number correlates to relationship.

The center already boasts what’s said to be the largest database of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender homicides in the country. It has grown from 65 gay homicide cases in Minnesota to 3,082 cases in the country. An estimated three percent of all homicides are related to the victim’s and/or offender’s homosexuality, but they are not all hate crimes committed by strangers. Rather, intimate partners or acquaintances commit most of the murders.

Also, in contrast to nongay murders, victims are stabbed or beaten more often than shot and victims are usually many years older than their killers. The murders are frequently the killers’ first. And, when an edged weapon is their choice, they often stab their victims with more force and more times than they need to kill. Many of the murders in the center’s database show 50 to 100 stab wounds. In all, the center’s database keeps track of 230 variables, including ligature strangulation and bondage, mutilation, and whether the victim was found naked.

These characteristics have led to a profile of some killers who can be described as “shamed” because they are homosexual, but don’t self-identify as gay. These killers tend to commit their crimes just after having sex when they feel the most shame.

Besides gay homicides, the Center for Homicide Research is also developing a database of convenience store robbery homicides. It works with investigative units and task forces nationwide. To learn more, visit www.homicidecenter.org.

New Risk Management Policies Intend to Help LAPD Avoid Costly Collisions

In the past three years, Los Angeles police have averaged about one traffic collision per day. The collisions’ severity ranged from minor to fatal, with some crashes totaling police cars and others causing severe injuries. The collisions resulted in a quarter of the 1,900 lawsuits filed against the LAPD since 2002, and the city has paid almost $138 million in settlements or verdicts over nine years; in some cases, officers clearly broke both traffic laws and SOP.

Training alone isn’t helping, so police are putting new policies in place to prevent future collisions. A risk manager was hired to fill a brand-new position, while LAPD Chief Charlie Beck wants to improve the way the agency identifies problem officers and corrects their behavior before a lawsuit is brought. Another idea is to reconsider internal investigations when officers are suspected of on the road misconduct. In particular, internal collision investigations may be treated similarly to officer involved shootings, rather than other forms of misconduct.

That’s because officers in most cases are found to be inattentive rather than to have committed serious misconduct. A previous change in policy, instituted in 2008, sought to reduce the workload on Internal Affairs investigators by assigning points to officers who caused collisions. As with points accrual systems in department of motor vehicles’ records, officers are issued points in accordance with the crash’s severity. Driver retraining and loss of driving privileges are two of the consequences associated with accumulating too many points in too short a period of time.

Even so, while the points system correlates with a decrease in the number of crashes between 2009 and 2011, it hasn’t helped stem the flow of new lawsuits. Forty percent more lawsuits were filed in the three years after the point system was established than in the three years before it which is leading to a review of the points system along with other collision policies.

New Field Screening Checklist May Help Police Respond to People with Mental Illness

A 20 factor form, currently being field-tested in two Canadian police departments, may help officers across North America improve how they identify the mentally ill. Designed by an Ontario Police College instructor and coordinator of tactical communications and mental health issues, the anonymous survey allows officers to record characteristics associated with the subjects they encounter. Some of these characteristics include whether the subject experiences hallucinations; has violent thoughts; has used weapons; displays suicidal or threatening behavior; is inappropriately dressed for the weather; and so on. Both police and healthcare professionals contributed to the checklist’s development.

The form is intended to help officers explain (in terms medical staff can understand) why they believe a subject is mentally ill – especially if they think the subject is dangerous. This should help police more easily transfer custody to a hospital, especially when dealing with smaller facilities whose staff may not be trained to recognize mental illnesses.

Over the long term, with enough collected data, researchers hope it will be possible to correlate observable characteristics with a risk of dangerous behavior. If this is true, it could be used to improve officer training.

For more information on how to identify and manage suspects who may be mentally ill, read Not Just Another Call…Police Response to People with Mental Illnesses: A Practical Guide for the Frontline Officer which is available to download at www.pmhl.ca/webpages/reports/Not_Just_Another_Call.pdf.

Harvard Research Examines Sleep Deprivation Among Police Officers

Comprehensive new research from Harvard University, believed to be the first study of its kind, shows that 40% of 5,000 police officers surveyed across the US and Canada suffer from sleep disorders – most are undiagnosed.

Researchers first surveyed the officers about their sleep habits and sleep disorder symptoms. They then followed the officers over two years, analyzing their job performance. What they found was that sleep deprived officers’ odds of falling asleep at the wheel were 51% higher than rested officers, and they were 43% more likely to make serious administrative errors. Sleep deprived officers fall asleep in meetings and on phone calls and call in sick more often.
One in three officers – eight times as many as among the general population – has sleep apnea. And, officers who screened positive for a sleep disorder were 25% more likely to express uncontrolled anger to a suspect or citizen and 35% more likely for a citizen to file a complaint against them.

Sleep apnea is of particular concern: It’s linked to heart disease. Officers suffering from the apnea were found to have 90% greater odds of developing cardiovascular disease, along with higher risks for diabetes, depression, emotional burnout, and falling asleep at the wheel on the way home from work. (Researchers believe this is a main reason why traffic collisions have become the number one cause of death among police officers.)

However, researchers also found that Massachusetts state troopers have a much lower incidence of sleep apnea than other officers they studied. They believe that’s because the troopers are less likely to be obese – one of sleep apnea’s primary risk factors. In Massachusetts, troopers must pass an annual fitness test and the state provides both equipment and paid time for their workouts. Researchers believe these costs are far less than costs associated with healthcare and accidents.

Another alternative is to make changes to shift schedules. Research funded by the National Institute of Justice shows that workweeks made up of four ten-hour shifts improves officers’ sleep habits, as well as reducing overtime costs. However, they do not adversely affect performance. Read more about that study at www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/
237330.pdf or about the Harvard Study at http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/306/23/2567.full.pdf

Web Site Helps Police Identify Most Wanted Suspects

Police often need the public’s assistance with recognizing suspects. A new Web site, www.idthisperson.com, facilitates this assistance. By offering rewards of $25 to individuals who can identify suspects or persons of interest, member law enforcement agencies can use the site in much the same way they might use TV news or social media.

Once they’ve accessed the site, individual users can click on their own state (or any other state) to view wanted people’s pictures. They can then – under their own name or anonymously –provide any information they know about a person: name, nickname, location, etc. This is of particular benefit in multijurisdictional cases or crimes where the suspect is from out of state.

For now, only 13 states use the site. However, because it is advertiser supported (including the rewards), it is free for police departments. For more information, see www.idthisperson.com.

Newest Meth Challenges: An Overabundance of One Pot “Labs” and Burn Patients

“Shake and bake” or “one pot” methamphetamine labs have been around for a few years. Because the method requires less pseudoephedrine, manufacturers can stay within legal limits for pharmacy sales. They often make meth for their own use rather than for sale – not just at home, but sometimes in public bathrooms or vehicles. About 80% of the labs which the DEA raided in 2010 used the one pot method.

But, law enforcement agencies’ budgets have been scaled back in many communities, hurting their ability to find the smaller labs. Legal pseudoephedrine purchases make it harder to differentiate legitimate from illicit buyers. Going after smaller labs can distract police from bigger drug operations, including those run by foreign cartels. And, the cost of meth lab cleanup often falls to law enforcement following the raids. Federal grant money can help, but it can be used up quickly. Unlike other drug dealing, meth doesn’t generate forfeitable funds because users either make it for themselves or trade it for raw ingredients, including
pseudoephedrine.

Another unintended consequence of more people using this method is burn injuries. One pot meth manufacturers mix their ingredients inside two liter soda bottles. If they remove the cap too soon or somehow puncture the bottle, the toxic mix inside can explode. Burn injuries to the torso, hands, face, and even lungs are common because patients were holding the bottle. For this reason, meth-related burn injuries have increased; fires which started in full-scale meth labs were easily escapable.

The average cost of burn treatment is $6,000 a day; the average meth patient’s hospital stay costs $130,000, more than other burn patients (often because they stay longer than
nonmeth burn patients and require more surgery and ventilator support). In the United States’ most prolific meth making states, up to one-third of some burn units’ patients had been making meth when they were hurt. And, because most of those patients are uninsured – only ten percent have private insurance, compared to 59% of nonmeth burn patients – they’ve unduly burdened burn units. Nationwide, seven have closed or consolidated in the last six years.

Meth-related burn patients often lie about the cause of their injuries, blaming them on vehicle or household maintenance. This makes it hard to track numbers, including costs. It also makes treating them difficult because the burns’ origin can be both thermal and chemical, and patients with addictions present further complications. Long term, that can impact their ability to reenter society through the workforce.

Some states are considering requiring a prescription for all pseudoephedrine-based cold medicine – even over-the-counter brands. In states like Oregon and Mississippi which have already passed such laws, meth lab operations have decreased significantly. Another alternative is a national tracking network – financed by pharmaceutical companies – which would monitor all sales.

Free Retail Investigation Tool Helps Police Research Transactions
A Web-based tool allows law enforcement investigators to research transactions which are relevant to their cases – for free. SIRAS® P.I. (Product Information) provides unique product serial numbers, manufacturer shipping, and retailer point of sale information (such as time and date, cash register location, etc.) of hundreds of millions of consumer electronics and other retail items. SIRAS overall tracks top retailers’ and manufacturers’ products.

SIRAS’ database information has been utilized in shoplifting, organized retail crime, identity theft, and E-fencing investigations. More than 4,000 federal, state, county, and local law enforcement agencies across North America subscribe to SIRAS P.I. which enables them to work together with retailers to identify criminals.

Access to the SIRAS P.I. Web site requires a username and password. For more information, or to become a user, please visit http://www.siras.com/cc/accessrequest/signup.htm or send an E-mail to info@siras.com.

Detroit Pilot Program Cuts Desk Jobs, Puts More Police on Streets

The Detroit Police Department has launched a pilot program aimed at keeping the city’s streets safer. By limiting the number of desk officers assigned to districts and precincts between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. – peak calls for service hours – and reassigning those personnel to road patrol, the agency believes it will be able to offset recent cuts in both budget and overall staffing.

In lieu of visiting districts, citizens are encouraged to use the Telephone Crime Reporting Unit for nonemergency calls. That unit will add officers on restricted duty to help increase staff. The agency is also looking into instituting on-line reporting for minor crimes.

Report clerks, desk clerks, law enforcement information network operators, security officers, timekeepers and maintenance officers are examples of positions which will be eliminated in favor of road patrol. Besides these changes, investigations will be consolidated from districts and precincts to Central District.

The new program has met with some controversy; however, Police Chief Ralph Godbee, Jr. has said that the precincts and districts will never be closed outright, and the department is seeking adjustments to federal grants in order to retain jobs.

“CopBook™ ” Gives Information Sharing a Facebook-like Feel – Securely
The Redlands (CA) Police Department has developed a new way for its employees to share information. The Facebook-like CopBook, funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and developed in partnership with The Efiia Group, enables officers to securely search data and share with members by function (patrol, for instance) or individual interest.

CopBook is designed to not just facilitate internal communication, but also to involve other agencies and, possibly, in the long run, the public. For now, Redlands police officials believe that a modern communication platform will make it easier for tech savvy officers to share information amongst one another. In use since early 2011, CopBook is a natural progression along the continuum of the agency’s social media use. Having found great success with their deployments of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, Redlands police believe that the more intelligence they gain and share, the faster they can solve crime.

The Redlands Police Department, the first municipal law enforcement agency to adopt CopBook, hopes the platform will become a model for other departments nationwide. For more information, see www.efiia.com.

Synthetic Marijuana Makers Change Recipes to Skirt State Laws

“Spice” or “herbal incense,” a synthetic marijuana which was banned in many states, has returned under new recipes which contain none of the ten chemicals listed in state laws like Virginia’s. Outlawed because it caused hallucinations, vomiting, anxiety, seizures, accelerated heart rate, and was a factor in some teens’ deaths, Spice ranks behind only authentic marijuana as high school seniors’ most often used illicit substance. Drug tests don’t reveal its use and it’s easily bought on-line. Some users believe that the new formula is more potent than the original; Spice-related calls to state poison control centers have more than doubled to about 6,300 in 2011.

Spice is made by spraying ordinary herbs with chemical compounds designed to act like THC, marijuana’s active ingredient. The compounds, called cannabinoids, cost $15 to $25 per gram; hundreds exist, not all with banned raw ingredients. And, not enough is known about those compounds to say whether they are similar to the originals which first came out in 2008. That’s why the most recent raids have not resulted in charges filed.

While it’s believed that media attention on the drug has helped to educate both retailers and buyers alike about the dangers, lawmakers are taking a second look at their bans, and federal legislators seek to ban not just the compounds, but also the chemical classes to which they belong.

Government Program Hires Veterans as First Responders

A new initiative, the Veterans Jobs Corps, seeks to hire war veterans as police officers, firefighters, and other first responders. A response to layoffs forced by state and local budget cuts, the new program goes a step further than the Recovery Act which provided government assistance to communities, so they wouldn’t have to lay off first responders. It will enable veterans to get jobs without having to compete for them once they leave military service and will draw on the skills they developed helping to build communities overseas.