Policing Matters

Young people are on social media for many hours a day — posting on sites and apps such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. Social media posts — even those that have been deleted — live forever, and inappropriate posts can have an adverse effect on a kid's future many years down the line. Furthermore, many online interactions can turn ugly. Too often, a social media post can influence young people to contemplate dying by suicide. In this podcast segment, Doug Wyllie sits down with Brentwood PD Officer Mitch Brouillette, who serves as the SRO at Heritage High School, to discuss a program he created — Pause Before You Post — aimed at keeping kids safer online.

Police officers have a unique opportunity to positively influence the lives of countless children — many of whom do not really have very many positive role models in their lives — to become productive members of society when they grow up. Significant opportunities exist for those officers to not just help kids see what "doing good" looks like, but to influence them to have the desire to "do good" themselves. In this podcast episode, Doug Wyllie sits again with Brentwood PD Officer Mitch Brouillette, who serves as the SRO at Heritage High School, to discuss how cops can be their department's best recruiters.

Officer Mitch Brouillette of the Brentwood, California Police Department was the subject of a heartwarming "practical joke" executed by the students of Heritage High School, resulting in a video posted to the Internet that quickly went viral. The students concocted an elaborate ruse, coupled with a live song and dance performance, as well as some incredibly thoughtful gifts in thanks to "Officer Mitch" for all the things he does for them. In this podcast episode, Brouillette sits down with Doug Wyllie at the school to describe that day.

The Ninth Circuit Court of appeals unanimously ruled in favor of a lawsuit by people experiencing homelessness that challenges laws making it illegal to sleep on public property overnight. The constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment prohibits "criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping, or lying outside on public property for homeless individuals who cannot obtain shelter," the court said in its decision. In this podcast segment, Jim and Doug discuss how the decision could impact cities with sit/lie laws, which prohibit sitting or lying on the sidewalk.

The California Legislature recently passed (and Gov. Jerry Brown then vetoed) a controversial piece of legislation — Assembly Bill 186 — that would have allowed entities to open so-called "safe injection sites" — facilities where drug users would be able to shoot up in an enclosed environment supervised by medical professionals on the lookout for signs of overdose. The trouble is, doing so is in direct contravention with Federal law. In this podcast segment, Jim and Doug discuss the reasons such sites are not a good approach to solving the opioid epidemic.

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is defined as a multi-disciplinary approach to deterring criminal behavior through environmental design. CPTED strategies rely upon the ability to influence offender decisions that precede criminal acts by affecting the built, social and administrative environment. In this podcast segment, Jim and Doug discuss how architecture and landscaping, outdoor lighting, and other environmental elements can help to reduce crime.

There is no argument that police pursuits can sometimes end in fatal collisions — crashes that kill fleeing suspects, police officers, and innocent bystanders. Police pursuits are an inherently dangerous endeavor. As some police agencies examine "no pursuit" policies, others are looking at new GPS tracking technologies that allow police to drop back and watch a monitor for where the suspect vehicle ends up. In this podcast segment, Jim and Doug discuss the technology — the potential upside as well as some minor flaws.

DUI doesn't mean just alcohol — it means driving under the influence, and driving under the influence of marijuana is a crime in every state in America. The trick is detecting the impairment, which is now only really done with field sobriety tests — there is no breathalyzer for marijuana, although some companies are getting close to solving that riddle. In this podcast segment Jim and Doug discuss the difficulty with detecting and enforcing impaired driving as a result of marijuana intoxication.

At the time of this recording session, 92 police officers in America have died by suicide. In Chicago, three officers died by suicide in the span of one month. In 2017 that number was 154, and in 2016 there were 138 verified instances in which an officer died by suicide. And these are just the officers we know about. In this podcast segment, Jim and Doug discuss the warning signs for officers to watch out for of a colleague potentially approaching crisis, as well as available resources for officers to get the help they need.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development there are more than 553,000 homeless people nationwide. California alone has an estimated 134,000 homeless individuals. Homelessness in and of itself is not a crime, but a lot of things that go along with it are crimes, and citizens rightly want the crimes taking place on the sidewalks in front of their homes and businesses to stop. The trouble is, even for the most serious crimes, the offenders are usually back out on the street quickly, with nothing really being solved. In this podcast segment, Jim and Doug discuss the failed strategies that have led to widespread chronic homelessness, and offer some new ideas to fix the problem.