Violent Chicago Weekend Leaves at Least 11 Dead, 70+ Injured

Chicago police say weekend (August 4-5, 2018) shootings across the city have left at least 11 people dead and about 70 wounded.

The violence peaked early Sunday with several shootings, including one in a courtyard on the city's South Side that injured eight people. The Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune compiled the totals.

Police Patrol Chief Fred Waller said Sunday that gang members are using large summer crowds as cover in some cases. He says they "shoot into a crowd, no matter who they hit."  (KOMO 4 News, August 6, 2018)
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Chicago has become synonymous with gun violence, attracting attention from the press, politicians, and advocates on both sides of the firearms debate. In one of the final installments of a New York Times series on shootings in the city, Reverend Michael Pfleger, a prominent anti-gun activist and pastor on the city’s South Side, described Chicago as “the poster boy of violence in America.”

But despite the soundbites, Chicago remains in the middle of the pack when homicide is measured on a per-capita basis. In 2016, the city had a rate of 27.9 killings per 100,000 residents — half that of St. Louis, whose 188 murders amounted to 59.3 homicides per 100,000 people and preserved that city’s status as America’s murder capital. Baltimore placed second, with a homicide rate of 51.2, followed by Detroit, New Orleans, and Cleveland.

What we should note however is that the cities with the highest murder rates also have strict gun control laws that severely limit the right of the average person to own a firearm and carry it for personal defense. Gun control laws simply don't work.

What might work however are programs that disrupt gangs, programs that take the profit out of drug trafficking, and programs that provide mental health counseling to individuals and families in crisis.

There is no single right answer to solving the problems of violence in cities like Chicago, or St. Louis, or Baltimore, but current attempts to address the problems have been a failure.

Police Drones

An article on Gizmodo (July 11, 2018) points out that commercial drone maker DJI, after announcing a partnership with body camera manufacturer Axon, formerly Taser, is now offering law enforcement agencies two surveillance drones: the Phantom 4 Pro, eggshell white and equipped with image recognition software; and the more expensive Matrice 200 series, metallic grey and tested for resilience to harsh winds and rain. DJI furnishes the drones, while Axon integrates the data they collect with Evidence.com, its cloud storage system used for managing body camera footage. 

There are clear advantages to having drones available in your local police department or Sheriff's office. Used for search and rescue work, to survey damage following a disaster, or to inspect structures for safety all aid the local department and serve the community.

Privacy advocates however express concern that drones will be used for surveillance, and like many police technologies, there’s no unifying nationwide policy on drones. The capacities and capabilities of drones need to be seen not just in that single tool, but in how it fits into larger architectures of surveillance and information gathering. Rather than looking at these technologies individually, it’s best to look at them in tandem, especially since the point of Evidence.com is to join together footage from varying sources: CCTV, body cameras, drones, even cell phone videos submitted by the public. Useful when reconstructing a traffic accident, but deeply concerning if used as a surveillance tool to target the public.
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In 2013, Seattle ended their police drone program after it drew “tremendous, widespread concern among the general public.” The ACLU stated that “Drones would have given police unprecedented abilities to engage in surveillance and intrude on people’s privacy and there was never a strong case made that Seattle needed the drones for public safety.”

I think that there is a place for drones in public safety work. But the increase in public safety is far outweighed by the danger of misuse of drones as a surveillance tool. The ACLU paper, Protecting Privacy from Aerial Surveillance is worth reading to understand the privacy concerns around the police use of drones.

Army Anti-Terrorism Month

August is Anti-Terrorism month in the U.S. Army.

Earn your Anti-Terrorism awareness certificate by completing this on-line course.


LAPD Antiterrorism Training Video - iWatch Video

Recognizing 8 Signs of Terrorism Video



* The TSA's 12 Signs You Might Be a Terrorist * ;-)

* Meet Achmed the Dead Terrorist *

Las Vegas Gunman Became Unstable But Didn’t Raise Suspicions

In the months before unleashing a hail of bullets into a Las Vegas concert crowd, Stephen Paddock burned through more than $1.5 million, became obsessed with guns and increasingly unstable, and distanced himself from his girlfriend and family, according to an investigative report released on August 3, 2018. The report further detailed Paddock's meticulously planning, including researching SWAT tactics, renting other hotel rooms overlooking outdoor concerts and investigating potential targets in at least four cities.

With those revelations, police announced they were closing their 10-month investigation without a definitive answer for why Paddock, a high-stakes gambler, amassed an arsenal of weapons and carried out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

One of Paddock's brothers told investigators that he believed the gunman had a "mental illness and was paranoid and delusional." A doctor believed he may have had bipolar disorder, the report said.

Paddock's girlfriend said he had suddenly stopped being affectionate and constantly complained of being ill. Marilou Danley told investigators that he said doctors could not cure him but told him he had a "chemical imbalance."  (Tacoma News Tribune, August 3, 2018)
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I don't wish to minimize the crimes of Stephen Paddock, but we must consider the fact that mental health counseling - something that can help prevent this type of crime - is not easily available to someone seeking help.

As an example, if you went to the Veteran's Crisis Chat Line on a given day in July 2018, you would have found that there were 61 people in line ahead of you wanting to get some sort of help or advice from a counselor.  Four hours later that number had dropped to 26, but there was still no response from a counselor on the Crisis Chat Line.

Stephen Paddock was a millionaire, with funds available to pay for mental health services. But most people seeking mental health counseling don't have unlimited funds. Attempting to find mental health counseling where the doctor is accepting new patients and accepts your health insurance can be difficult at best.

While we tend to think of mental health consequences, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, compassion fatigue and burnout as resulting from a specific traumatic event, these same things can result from prolonged exposure to a hostile and stress inducing work environment.  The harming effects of workplace (or other environmental) stress can result in an individual becoming psychologically injured after long-term abuse (problems that are drawn out over months).

It is important that we raise awareness of mental health issues, and that access to mental health counseling and treatment be made more easily available.

Man Shot in Head With Flashbang Grenade - Portland, Oregon 8-4-2018

 

 

 

 

According to various postings on-line, Portland Police fired flashbang grenades into crowds of protestors, injuring at least three people - one person seriously after he was struck in the head by a flashbang grenade fired from a 40mm grenade launcher.

 

Flash-bang grenades are explosives that are potentially lethal, according to the Sandia National Laboratories.

 

The Oregon ACLU stated:, “To our knowledge, no other police force in America uses crowd control weapons with the regularity of the Portland Police Bureau.”

 

Portland Police Sgt. Chris Burley told the Huffington Post he was “not aware of anyone that received medical treatment for injuries suffered by actions of law enforcement.

 



Links to video of the  Civil Disturbance Portland, Oregon - Antifa vs Patriot Prayer - August 4, 2018 are posted to several sites.

A detailed article about the Portland protest appeared in the Huffington Post (August 5, 2018).
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Behind The Scenes, Lacey, WA Police Department is a ‘Mess,’ Union Says

The Lacey, WA Police Officers' Guild is deeply concerned about the internal operations of the Lacey, WA Police Department. The guild has filed a complaint with the state Department of Labor and Industries.

During contract negotiations, the Police Officers' Guild presented the results of a survey of officer morale, which had a 92 percent response rate. Of those who responded, nearly 80 percent said morale was low. Nearly half rated stress and conflict within the department as very high, and 84 percent felt that command staff do not set the right example for officers.

Yet after presenting his findings, Kollmann (the guild president) was stunned when the survey was met with silence and simply filed away. “Not a word from HR, or the chief,” Kollmann said. “It’s like they bury their heads in the sand and don’t acknowledge it.”

Despite the city’s and guild’s differences, the sides agree that Lacey police continue to do a good job of keeping overall crime rates low, according to city data. Data for 2017 show that the city’s crime rate per 1,000 population was 65 incidents, below the state average of 69.1. The violent crime rate was 3.3 incidents, also below the state average of 3.7.  (The Olympian, August 2, 2018)
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Lacey is not the only department in western Washington with serious morale issues. We saw in early July 2018 that Seattle Cops Were Fleeing the Force in 'Mass Exodus' Because of Politics.

The problem here is not our police officers on the street. Most officers want to do a good job, and are in fact doing so. But, very low morale among officers and very high stress and conflict within the departments is almost certainly going to affect how officers do their jobs over time.

 

Washington State Patrol Arrests More Than 20 Child Predators

Washington State Patrol troopers in the past week arrested 21 men they said planned to rape children but instead were talking with undercover law enforcement.

Operation Net Nanny, run out of Pierce County, had undercover officers communicate online and through social media with people who expressed an interest in having sex with children. Hundreds of people responded, State Patrol Lt. James Mjor said in a news release.

Over five days, the men were arrested while traveling to meet with the “children,” who they thought were as young as 9, Mjor said.

This was the 13th Net Nanny operation the State Patrol has undertaken since August 2015, Mjor said. More than 200 people have been arrested, and 30 child victims rescued in that time.

The men face charges that include attempted first-degree child rape, attempted second-degree child rape, commercial sex abuse of a minor and possession of child pornography.

County and local law enforcement agencies throughout Washington, along with military police and federal agencies, helped the State Patrol in the operation.  (The Olympian, August 1, 2018)
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The FTC provides information on protecting kids on-line.  US-CERT also provides information about keeping children safe on-line.

• According to the New England Journal of Public Policy, contact with online predators happens mostly in chat rooms, on social media, or in the chat feature of a multiplayer game (Roblox, Minecraft, Clash of Clans, World of Warcraft, and so on).
• Most games meant for kids -- like Roblox and Animal Jam -- have built-in features and settings that are designed to prevent inappropriate comments and chat. Though they’re often imperfect, they do help.
• Games that aren’t designed only for kids have fewer controls, settings, and safeguards.
• Any app or online space that allows contact with strangers without moderation or age verification can allow contact between kids and adult strangers.
• Teens sometimes visit adult sites, chat rooms, and dating apps out of curiosity about sex and romance.
• Only 5 percent of online predators pretend they're kids. Most reveal that they're older -- which is especially appealing to 12-to-15-year-olds who are most often targeted.
• Some predators initiate sexual talk or request pictures immediately and back off if refused. They're in it for an immediate result.
• In contrast, some predators engage in "bunny hunting," which is the process of picking a potential victim for "grooming": They'll look at social media posts and public chats to learn about the kid first.
• Once they've selected someone, they may begin the grooming phase, which often involves friending the target's contacts, engaging in increasingly personal conversations to build trust, taking the conversation to other platforms (like instant messaging), requesting pictures, and finally requesting offline contact.
• Sometimes if a kid shares one compromising picture, a predator will engage in "sextortion," which involves demanding more pictures or contact under threat of exposure or harm.
• Predators target kids who post revealing pictures, divulge past sexual abuse, and/or engage in sexual talk online.
• There's some conflicting research about what ages are most at-risk, but 12 to 15 seems to be prime time, and girls are more frequent victims.
• Teen boys who are questioning their sexuality are the second-most targeted group because they often feel talking about it online is safer than sharing in real life.
• Sometimes, teens egg each other on to pursue contact with strangers online, and it can feel like a game.
• Teens want to feel special, validated, attractive, and understood at a time when they're separating from their parents, so an older "friend" who’s very interested in them can feel exciting and special.
• Most often, teens engage in relationships with predators willingly, though they often keep them secret.
• If your kid withdraws and becomes secretive around a device (hiding the screen, clicking from a window suddenly), it could be an indicator.
• Phone calls and gifts from unknown people are possible signs.
• Porn on the device your kid uses might be a sign.