Policing Matters

In mid-April, cops were called to a Philadelphia Starbucks because two patrons who happened to be black refused to either make a purchase or leave the establishment. A Yale University student who was napping in a common room was awakened and questioned by police after a fellow student called 911 and said that the woman didn’t look like she belonged there. In this podcast segment, Jim and Doug discuss the fact that cops are increasingly called to various non-events and how they should handle them.

For the past three podcast segments Jim and Doug have been joined by Vallejo Police Lieutenant Jason Potts, who brought to the table the value of scientific method in determining policing strategies and tactics. Those conversations have (hopefully) increased listeners' interest in finding ways to use concepts like SARA (Scanning, Analysis, Response, and Assessment) and POP (Problem-Oriented Policing). In this podcast segment, Dudley, Wyllie, and Potts talk about The American Society of Evidence-Based Policing, a 501(C) (3) national non-profit, non-partisan organization that can assist you in quickly leveraging these methodologies at your department.

During the 2017 holiday shopping season, Vallejo (Calif.) police conducted a crime prevention campaign aimed at reducing auto burglaries in the parking lots of the major shopping centers in their jurisdiction. The campaign, entitled “Hide it, Lock it, Take it” included crime awareness fliers and billboards, undercover surveillance, increased marked patrols, and even decoy cars. Following the campaign, VPD utilized the SARA (Scanning, Analysis, Response, and Assessment) concepts developed by Herman Goldstein in 1979 to scientifically determine their effectiveness in reducing crime. In this podcast segment, Jim and Doug are joined by Vallejo Police Lieutenant Jason Potts in a discussion about problem-oriented policing (POP) and the use of scientific analysis in law enforcement.

When the Vallejo (Calif.) Police Department began considering the purchase of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs), they didn’t just take the vendor’s word that the equipment would be successful in helping to capture criminals and reduce crime. Command Staff wanted to have proof, so with the assistance of a group of researchers from New York University, they employed what has become known as Evidence-Based Policing. They conducted a randomized control trial, which allows researchers to prove or disprove a theory. In this podcast segment, Jim and Doug are joined by Vallejo Police Lieutenant Jason Potts in a discussion about the VPD experiment, as well as Evidence-Based Policing in general.

In 2014, California voters overwhelmingly (59 percent to 41 percent) passed Proposition 47, a law that downgraded a variety of crimes — such as burglary, shoplifting, and grand theft — from felonies to misdemeanors. If the value of the stolen property is under $950, the perpetrator will likely receive no penalty, creating a “green light” for bicycle thieves. “A thief may now steal something under that limit on a daily basis and it will never rise to felony status,” said the National Review in early 2018. In this podcast segment, Jim and Doug are joined by special guest Vallejo Police Lieutenant Jason Potts in a discussion of the unintended consequences for citizens and police created by the law.

In late April, police arrested a 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo for a series of rapes and murders committed in the 1970s and 1980s. Dangelo (a.k.a. the Golden State Killer) was apprehended when a surreptitiously obtained DNA sample matched the DNA of relative on the other side of the country who had registered with a website and service that enables users to trace their family heritage. In this podcast segment, Jim and Doug discuss the ever-increasing role of DNA evidence — as well as the rapidly growing use of publicly available DNA databases — in police investigations.

A trend in retail sales is to instruct employees to not attempt to stop a shoplifter. Such “no pursuit” policies among retailers have implications for police. Principally, this turns a responding officer into little more than a report taker, not an enforcer of the law. Further, those same stores that refuse to prevent the loss of products to theft simultaneously demand that officers be more present in their neighborhoods to prevent criminal activity. In this podcast segment, Jim and Doug discuss the impact that private sector “no pursuit” policies have on public sector police.

While attending ILEETA 2018 in Saint Louis in late March, I heard from multiple reliable sources that at least one nearby restaurant had something of a “sick out” among employees when they learned that the hotel next door was hosting some 800 of the most elite law enforcement trainers and educators in North America. Subsequently, service at the restaurant was impossibly slow. I didn’t experience this first hand, but enough people told the same story, so I tend to believe it. Some restaurants and other establishments refuse to serve cops. Worse, some places serve the police, but with some pretty vulgar extra ingredients. Meanwhile, some big restaurant chains go out of their way to warmly welcome police patrons. In this podcast segment, Jim and Doug discuss the issues related to meals on your tour.

The year is 1983. A University of California Santa Barbara student named Marcy Nicholas is stalked by an ex-boyfriend and brutally murdered. A week after Marsy was murdered, her mother and brother are confronted by the accused murderer in a grocery store. They had no idea that he had been released on bail. Dr. Henry Nicholas — the key backer and proponent of Marsy’s Law — notes that criminals have more than 20 individual rights spelled out in the U.S. Constitution, while the surviving family members of murder victims have none. States such as California, Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Ohio are considering — or have already passed — laws and Constitutional amendments that address this disparity. In this podcast segment, Jim and Doug discuss issues related to victims’ rights (or lack thereof).

Recently, Sacramento police officers were investigating reports of a man who had been smashing car windows and was bounding fences in people’s backyards. In the body camera footage released soon after the OIS, one can hear an officer shouting, “Show me your hands! Stop!” The subject continued to flee. The officers continued their pursuit. Upon making contact with the individual, one cop shouted “Show me your hands! Gun! gun! gun!” Both officers opened fire. What Stephon Clark had in his hands was not a gun — it was a mobile phone — but in the dark during a rapidly unfolding, high-stress situation such as this, an objectively reasonable (Graham v. Connor) officer could easily have perceived a weapon. The family is calling for criminal prosecution of the officers. Protesters shut down an NBA game in Sacramento in response to the shooting. In this podcast segment, Jim and Doug discuss how the mainstream news outlets and social media — along with the efforts of organized groups — creates such an uproar after an officer-involved shooting.