Techniques For Information Research

Techniques For Information Research (December 2017) is a 98 Page PDF document with useful resources for anyone conduction on-line research, OSINT, or other reporting and analysis of data.

The guide is free, provided under a Creative Common License: "The work may be freely distributed or modified for commercial or non commercial purposes."

- Understanding Internet Search Techniques
- Search Engine Manipulation
- Open Source Intelligence Resource Publications
- Specialized Information Resources
- Manipulating Data In Documents
- Specialized Software
- Information Software
- Data Mining
- Firefox Web Browser Related
- RSS Feed Reader
- Monitor Events In Real Time
- Real Time Global Trend Information
- Maps And Satellite Imagery
- Visualize Social Media Connections
- Online Remote Radio Monitoring
- Information Research Tools and Resources
- Search Engine Resources
- News
- National News Agencies
- Intergovernmental Organizations
- The Universal Language Of Mathematics
- Citations

State Can Still House Sex Offenders in Lakewood Family Homes, Judge says

A Pierce County judge ruled Friday that the state can still house sex offenders in 90 adult family homes in Lakewood, WA.

In May, the City of Lakewood filed a lawsuit against the State of Washington over the unsafe release of those with a criminal history or sexual offenses into the city.
 

State officials said there have been no reports of new sex crimes by offenders released into these adult family homes.  (KOMO 4 News, September 21, 2018)

--

So, what is the risk of housing sex offenders in a community after they are released from prison? Is there a high recidivism rate - are these offenders likely to commit new crimes?

According to a New York study:

• 95.88% of arrests for all registerable sex crimes are of persons previously non-convicted of a sex offense.
• 95.94% of arrests for rape are of previous non sex-offenders.
• 94.12% of arrests for child molestation are of previous non sex-offenders.

(Sandler, Jeffrey C, et. Al., Does a Watched Pot Boil? A Time-Series Analysis of New York State’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Law. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 2008 Vol. 14, No. 4, 290)

These results are closely parallel to figures compiled by the US Department of Justice that show that 93% of child sex abuse is committed by a person whom the child knows. In 47% of the cases, the perpetrator is a member of the family. Only 7% of offenses are committed by strangers.

Other studies show similar recidivism rates:

• Missouri DOC study of 2,777 sex offenders released from 1998-2007 found that the recidivism rate was 1.9% after 3 yrs.; 3.5% after 5 yrs.
• A Maine study tracked sex offender releases for 2004-2006 and reported a recidivism rate 3.8% in 3 yrs.
• A Connecticut Criminal Justice and Planning Division study of 746 offenders released in 2005 showed 3.6% re-arrests; 2.7% convictions over 5 years.

--

While the probability of recidivism is low for sex offenders, the nature of these crimes increases the overall risk to the community, even with a low probability of occurrence. Of further concern is the concentrating of sex offenders in small geographic areas. This increase the likelihood of an event in the defined geographic area. Statistically we say,  When two events, A and B, are mutually exclusive, the probability that A or B will occur is the sum of the probability of each event. P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B).


The National Sex Offender Public Web-site allows users to search by name or location for registered sex offenders living in their community. It should be noted that this web-site only list sex offenders with an assessed moderate or high risk to the community (i.e. Level-II or Level-III).  

In WA State there are approximately 22,000 registered sex offenders. Of these around 3,500 are Level-II (Moderate Risk) and around 1,800 are Level-III (High Risk). There remainder are assessed as posing a low risk to the community, or do not yet have an assessed risk level.

Offender Watch will allow you to view maps of sex offenders living in your community, as well as to sign up for notifications if a sex offender registers to live in your neighborhood.

 

  

Google Quietly Bought Mastercard Credit and Debit Card Records

It’s common knowledge that Google knows when we click on ads. But now, it also knows what we buy in brick-and-mortar shops, due to a deal it cut with Mastercard to get our transaction histories. The offline credit card spending data gives Google an unprecedented advantage over competitors such as Amazon, by helping it track users’ offline spending in stores.

It’s unknown whether Google has struck similar deals with other payment companies, though one source said that it’s approached other credit card companies. What we do know is what Google has already bragged about: it claims to have access to about 70% of US credit and debit cards information, shared through partners, though it hasn’t named those partners. (Bloomberg, August 30, 2018)
--

To protect your privacy make it a habit to spend cash as often as possible for point of sale (face-to-face) transactions. Whenever you use your credit / debit card to make a purchase you create a record of that financial transaction, along with a location record of where you were on the date and time the purchase was made.

For on-line purchases consider setting up a Privacy.Com account that lets you generate one-time-use debit card numbers, and mask your personal identity when making purchases.

JBLM Soldier Playing with Handgun Shoots Girlfriend in Lakewood

A Joint Base Lewis-McChord Soldier playing with a pistol shot and wounded his girlfriend Tuesday (September 18, 2018) in Lakewood, according to Pierce County prosecutors.

The 21-year-old was charged Thursday with one count of third-degree assault and released on his own recognizance with orders to live on base.

The Soldier is a specialist within the 7th Infantry Division.

The Soldier admitted he was playing with the gun and pointed it at his girlfriend, joking he was robbing her. He pulled the trigger, thinking the gun wasn’t loaded.

It was loaded, and the gun went off and shot his girlfriend.

(Tacoma News Tribune, September 18, 2018)
--

So, a Soldier who has at least some training with firearms points his handgun at his girlfriend and pulls the trigger!  How is this an accident? He thought the gun was unloaded? He was just joking around... with a firearm?

JBLM Service Member Arrested on Suspicion of Second-Degree Attempted Murder in Yelm

A 31-year-old Yelm man was booked on Sunday into the Thurston County Jail on suspicion of second-degree attempted murder and two counts of reckless endangerment, according to Yelm police.

Officers responded about 4:40 a.m. to a report of shots fired during a domestic dispute in the 16000 block of Prairie Heights Road.

They found the 31-year-old man standing in the driveway, his hands in the air and holding a handgun, police said. He was taken into custody without incident.

Police said he had fired two rounds, one into the floor of the residence and one at his wife. She was able to get out of the house and call 911. Neighbors also reported the emergency.

In addition to police, a member of the man’s chain of command responded to the incident because he is active-duty military.  (The Olympian, September 23, 2018)

 

--

 



 

California Police Uphold Few Complaints of Officer Misconduct

The LA Times (September 23, 2018) reported: Angry that she had been falsely accused of a drug crime, Tatiana Lopez filed a complaint against a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who had arrested her on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine.

But when Lopez met with a sheriff’s lieutenant to discuss her accusation, he urged her to drop her complaint. After a preliminary investigation, the Sheriff’s Department ruled the deputy had done nothing wrong, without giving her any explanation.

It would take years of legal battles before a judge exonerated Lopez and a new internal investigation led the department to fire the deputy for lying about her arrest.

Lopez is one of nearly 200,000 members of the public who filed a complaint against California law enforcement officers in the last decade. Her initial complaint ended the way most did — with police rejecting it without saying why.

A Times analysis of complaint data reported to the California Department of Justice shows law enforcement agencies across the state upheld 8.4% of complaints filed by members of the public from 2008 to 2017.

In a state with some of the strictest police privacy laws in the country, those who make complaints against officers are entitled to learn little more than whether their allegations were found to be true or not. They are given no other explanation about how a final decision was reached, what was done to investigate their allegation or whether an officer was disciplined.

Police officials argue that a large number of the complaints they receive are frivolous, filed by suspects they have arrested or others who have an ax to grind. Some said the proliferation of body-worn cameras among California police agencies has helped disprove a larger number of allegations about interactions between police and the public.
--

So, what do these numbers tell us? Well, the average number of complaints filed against California police officers per year was 20,000 of which 8.4% or 1,680 were found by police internal investigation to have merit. California has roughly 77,000 sworn law enforcement officers (with full arrest powers). So, in any given year, 2% of California police officers had a founded complaint of misconduct conduct filed against them... or put another way 98% of California police did their jobs without out any founded complaints against them.

The question then is whether 92% of citizen's complaints against police in California are frivolous? There certainly are documented cases of police misconduct, as we saw with the above case of Tatiana Lopez, and in reports such as:  An LAPD officer accidentally filmed himself putting cocaine in a suspect’s wallet. But how many more complaints are just because someone has an ax to grind with the police?

How many videos and pictures of police misconduct, posted on-line, have more to the story than what we see? The picture, at the top of this post, of a police officer beating a black man with a sap is horrific police misconduct... except that it never happened. The photo is really actor Woody Harrelson filming a violent scene in Downtown Los Angeles for the movie "Rampart".

Does police misconduct occur? Yes, of course. Police departments are made up of people and sometimes people make mistakes, or even intentionally commit crimes. Is police misconduct common? No! And when we consider the repeated number of contacts that any police officer has with members of the public in any given year, police misconduct is far less common than even the 2% of founded cases mentioned above. 

South African Crime Stats 2017-2018

There were 55 murders, 109 rapes, 137 sexual offences, 878 assaults, 44 carjackings, and 819 burglaries every day in South Africa in the 2017 to 2018 year - and at least 5 farm murders every month, according to official figures released by the South African Police Services (SAPS).

The Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU), one of the country’s larger farmer unions representing white farmers, issued a statement saying that “according to the SA Police Service 62 murders were committed on agricultural properties during the last financial year.

“However, the TAU SA data base reflects a figure of 70 which implies a slightly more than 10 percent higher figure than the official statistics. This difference and the necessity to speak with one voice on a topic which is increasingly receiving international interest, demands to be consolidated.”
--

I have previously written that South Africans Live in a Dangerous Gated World (Home Security in S.A.).

I also recommend watching FARMLANDS (2018) Official Documentary if you have an interest in South Africa.