Police Issues

Thought-provoking essays on crime, justice and policing
 

     Home           About           Index           Links          For educators          Contact          Novel

 COVID-19 Special Topic


Posted 5/12/20

A CONFLICTED MISSION

An ideologically-fraught quarrel poses unique challenges

     For Police Issues by Julius (Jay) Wachtel. There we were, all set to begin work on a brilliant essay that had nothing to do with that nasty bug when an article in the Los Angeles Times caught our eye. Here’s the synopsis we posted in our blog’s COVID-19 compliance section a few days ago:

    A labor union’s threat to organize a massive protest that would implicitly violate social distancing restrictions helped discourage the San Luis Obispo (Calif.) city council from considering a law that, if enacted, would go against the interests of the union’s members.

That protest, incidentally, wouldn’t be over social distancing. It’s about another quarrel. Utility Workers Union of America Local 132 represents blue-collars who work for the gas company. But natural gas has come under the gun of nasty environmentalists, who are lobbying for a law that would encourage newly constructed buildings to be all-electric.

     Now, we’re not taking sides in the “gas or electric” dispute, which at this writing lingers unresolved. But one can appreciate how police might be affected should a zillion angry workers decide to march cheek-to-cheek during a pandemic. Still, if folks socially “distance,” then it’s O.K., right? Not in New York, which at this writing remains “On Pause.” Through an executive order issued March 23rd and since extended to May 15th, Governor Andrew Cuomo prohibited, among other things, “all non-essential gatherings of individuals of any size for any reason.”

Click here for the the collected COVID-19 essays

     Of course, getting folks to do the right thing without using force can be tough in the best of times. As a glance through our COVID-19 compliance section suggests, Governor Cuomo’s order, and those of his counterparts around the country, may be unavoidably doing a whole lot of damage to that other kind of body: the body politic. Here’s an example from May 3rd:

    During the weekend New York City had 1,000 plainclothes officers enforcing social distancing. A citizen who challenged an officer was tackled and seriously hurt. Mayor DeBlasio, who was reportedly troubled by a video of the incident, denied it was typical of what took place. But the police union said officers shouldn’t be policing distancing and called the mission “untenable.”

That video is disturbing. Its implications led Patrick Lynch, the head of the patrol officer union, to warn that forcing cops to enforce social distancing was tearing the city apart:

    This situation is untenable: the NYPD needs to get cops out of the social distancing enforcement business altogether. The cowards who run this city have given us nothing but vague guidelines and mixed messages, leaving the cops on the street corners to fend for ourselves. Nobody has a right to interfere with a police action. But now that the inevitable backlash has arrived, they are once again throwing us under the bus.

     Mr. Lynch’s hostility to social distancing, if not the rest of the message, is shared by his polar opposite. Robert Gangi leads the “Police Reform Organizing Project,” a New York City-based organization that seeks to “expose and end the current ineffective, unjust, discriminatory and racially biased, practices of the NYPD.” According to Mr. Gangi, cops should never have been called on to address the pandemic:  “We need to move away from using the police and the law enforcement system to respond to social and health problems.” (Mr. Gangi also endorses clearing out the jails, which he feels are packed with persons who have been “needlessly” arrested and “certainly do not deserve to be put in the harm’s way of a deadly disease.”)

     Blowback from enforcing a conflicted edict has affected relationships within police departments and between the police and city hall. NYPD’s managers of course know that. But as we suggested in “Urban Ship,” ready solutions to urban disorder may not always be at hand. According to NYPD Chief Terence A. Monahan, enforcing the pandemic is intrinsically fraught:

    It’s not something we want to do, it’s something we have to do to keep people safe...It’s been a small percentage where either we had to make a summons or make an arrest. We don’t want to summons people, we don’t want to arrest them. We want to warn them, educate them and get them to comply.

That sounds pretty good. Only problem is, “people” come in various colors and ethnicities. These seem tied to economic conditions, which are in turn tied to crime and disorder. Grab a peek at the graphs in “Place Matters.” Citywide, about one-third of New York City’s residents are white. Yet according to a 2018 report whites figured as either victim or suspect in less than one in ten homicides.

     Fine. But social distancing isn’t about crime. So what does race and ethnicity have to do with it?

     Maybe a lot. Brooklyn is 43.5 percent white, 32.6 percent black, and about twenty percent Hispanic. Yet data released by the Brooklyn D.A. revealed that thirty-five of the forty persons arrested in the borough for social distancing violations during a recent seven-week period were black (four were Hispanic and one was white.) More than one-third of arrests reportedly took place in a black-majority neighborhood.

    Once all the boroughs weighed in the numbers grew even more concerning. According to the Census, New York City is 31.9 percent white, 21.7 percent black, and 29.2 percent Hispanic/Latino. NYPD wrote 374 social distancing summonses between March 16 and May 5, nearly half at seventeen unauthorized gatherings. Fifty-two percent (193) of the citations were issued to blacks and thirty percent (111) to Hispanics. That left a measly eighteen percent for whites, Asians and other groups.

     Remember bad-old “stop and frisk”? While its application has been somewhat toned down, major agencies continue using such measures to address the violence that besets poverty-stricken areas (for LAPD click here; for NYPD click here.) Thanks to litigation, they’re now keeping track. NYPD data reveals that in 2016 its officers stopped 1,270 whites and 6,498 blacks. In the end, eighty percent (1,008 whites and 5,194 blacks) were let go.

     Just like in coronavirus enforcement, that racial disparity was likely the product of geography – of the places where cops looked. It’s what we discovered when poring through stop-and-frisk data in Los Angeles. But each of those thousands of “false positives” is a person. Here’s how one of L.A.’s citizens saw it:

    Brian Williams, a middle-aged black man, recently described an incident that happened not long ago while waiting outside his apartment building for a friend: “Someone called in a report and police questioned me and asked me why I was there. I had to prove to them that I actually lived there. It did not become physically violent but my initial reaction was visceral, I was like I need to watch what I say here because this could turn bad.”

Incidentally, Mr. Williams happens to be a trauma surgeon.

     It’s not surprising that critics harken social distancing enforcement to stop-and-frisk. Representative Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from Brooklyn, wonders whether police are using coronavirus enforcement to the same effect: “We can’t unleash a new era of overly aggressive policing of communities of color in the name of social distancing.” For Jumaane Williams, New York City’s elected Public Advocate, the question’s been asked and answered (for his full official statement click here):

    This virus has disproportionately claimed thousands of black and brown bodies, and now, in response, it is black and brown bodies facing the kind of over-policing never seen in other communities….

     It’s not just about race. Restrictions imposed because of the pandemic have been challenged for violating a host of civil liberties. For example:

  • Right to protest. Flaunting California’s lockdown rules, about one-hundred protesters waving flags and signs (e.g., “Defy Fascist Lockdown”) gathered in Huntington Beach to demonstrate against restrictions. “It’s not dangerous out here” said one. “The beaches are open. It’s a nice beautiful day. What are we doing? Stop being a germophobe.” Police watched and occasionally cleared the street for traffic. Observing them was a 57-year old self-professed member of “the 31st Field Force Light Foot California State Militia.” Throughout, armed citizens have made themselves highly visible. In Michigan, fatigue-clad, rifle-toting militia members accompanied “several hundred” protesters inside the State Capitol to demonstrate against coronavirus restrictions.
     
  • Right to practice religion. In Virginia, a pastor sued the Governor for including churches in an order that bans gatherings of more than ten persons, even if a six-foot separation is maintained. (He was cited after ignoring police and holding a service for sixteen parishioners.) Attorney General William Barr filed a “statement of interest” in support of the suit.
     
  • Right to bear arms. New Jersey initially left gun stores off the “essential” list. Fierce objections by pro-gunners followed, and the Governor promptly caved. Meanwhile the President came out in favor of opening gun stores, leading gun control groups to cry foul.
     
  • Right to practice one’s trade or profession. Bars, restaurants and hair salons have been among businesses considered “non-essential” by most States. But not everyone’s gone along. In one of numerous examples of resistance, a popular Orange County, Calif. restaurant reopened in violation of the State’s stay-at-home orders. It was promptly packed with customers, unmasked and not distancing. While county health inspectors visited and warned the proprietors, wary authorities deferred action to the State. But that’s a little fish compared to Tesla, which as we’re “going to press” announced it’s reopened factory lines in Fremont, Calif. in violation of the orders. “If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me,” said its kingpin, Elon Musk.

     It’s not only State v. Doe. Private citizens on opposite sides of the lockdown have also clashed. A few of these quarrels turned lethal. An Oklahoma City woman who insisted on “eating in” was forcibly escorted from a McDonald’s. She returned with a handgun and opened fire, wounding three employees. In Flint, Michigan, a customer became angry when her daughter was turned away from a store by a security guard because she wasn’t wearing a mask. The patron returned with her husband and adult son. They confronted the middle-aged guard, and the son shot him dead.

     We’re not aware of any pandemic-related police encounters involving gunfire. But that tackling of a citizen (the officer was stripped of his gun and badge) was not an isolated event, and videos of other forceful encounters have surfaced. Really, ordering imperfect cops to enforce social distancing – meaning, to get imperfect people to go against their nature – virtually guarantees that stuff will happen.

     Ideology has brought together some unlikely soulmates. An article in the Los Angeles Times describes a convergence between three movements: anti-vaccine forces, lockdown opponents, and gun-control foes. Our response to the pandemic has made some long-standing political conflicts painfully evident. We don’t just mean the Prez v. the lib’s, which is fodder for the nightly newscast. States and localities have acted in ways that mirror their ideological leanings, although in perhaps unexpected directions, with liberals demanding more enforcement while conservatives insist on less.

Be sure to check out our homepage and sign up for our newsletter

     For example, in mostly liberal California, three small counties that lean to the right – Modoc, Sutter and Yuba – ignored the Governor and allowed “non-essential” businesses such as bars and restaurants to stay open, albeit with social distancing. In notably right-leaning Idaho, ostensibly like-minded souls went at each other. State Representative Heather Scott and Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler heartily seconded citizens who rejected a (conservative) Governor’s stay-at-home order. Their call was eagerly joined by Ammon Bundy, a radical rightist who once led an armed showdown at a wildlife refuge.

     Ideology makes for more than just strange bedfellows. Liberals demand that social distancing be enforced. So they’re on the cops’ side, right? But when something goes astray, it’s also the lefties – Representative Hakeem Jeffries and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams come to mind – who so eagerly pounce. And guess who gets left holding the…tape? (Sorry. We couldn’t resist it!)

     No wonder NYPD’s union chief sees the lockdown as lose-lose. Alas, so do we.

For all updates, click here

Did you enjoy this post?  Be sure to explore the homepage and topical index!

Home   Top   Permalink     Print/Save     Feedback     


For an academic study of COVID-19 consumer fraud and its impact, click here

RELATED POSTS

Stop and Frisk section     L.A. Wants “Cahoots”     Fair But Firm      Can the Urban Ship Be Steered?

Place Matters     Scapegoat (I) (II)     Driven to Fail    Ideology Trumps Reason    Police Slowdowns (II)

Good Guy, Bad Guy, Black Guy (II)     Too Much of a Good Thing?



Posted 5/1/20

LETTING GO

Who should stay locked up during the pandemic? Who can go?

     For Police Issues by Julius (Jay) Wachtel. A new study confirms that keeping one’s distance is the key preventive to the transmission of coronavirus. That’s a tough prescription for inhabitants of densely-populated places like New York City to follow. Actually, apartment and condo dwellers everywhere are at risk. Ditto students who live in dorms or labor in packed classrooms. It’s why campuses closed and education moved online. Heck, they’ve even shut down the Vegas strip!

     But jails and prisons can’t simply close. So what can be done to protect prisoners? Staff? In response to an inmate lawsuit, a Texas Federal judge ordered “widespread testing” at a prison unit housing older, high-risk inmates. He also required that this vulnerable subset receive hand sanitizers and masks and that social distancing rules be followed during their movement. Yet his decision was overruled by an appeals court, which held that it interfered with the State’s “rapidly changing and flexible system-wide approach” to managing the pandemic.

     Just what approaches should jails and prisons follow? Extensive guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control recommend screening incoming inmates, isolating those with symptoms and quarantining any, symptomatic or not, who had close contact with an infected person. Improvements in hygiene and social distancing are thought especially important. Conceding that “not all strategies will be feasible in all facilities,” the CDC suggests working towards a goal of keeping prisoners six feet apart by, among other things, staggering meal hours, removing and rearranging seating and bunks, and closely managing the use of recreational areas.

Click here for the the collected COVID-19 essays

     State correctional authorities have announced a host of measures (for Texas click here, for California click here, for New York click here.) It’s apparent that these well-intentioned plans address physical distancing mostly by prohibiting visiting and suspending group activities. Some tweaks are possible. For instance, California relocated several hundred inmates from dorms “where prisoners are bunked as close as two feet apart with shared sinks and showers.” (One surmises that the “fix” involved using areas formerly reserved for recreation.)

     Of course, prisons weren’t built with distancing in mind. As the CDC’s “not all strategies…” observation implicitly acknowledges, crowding is the norm. Measures that reduce correctional populations are providing some breathing room during the pandemic. California, for example, temporarily suspended accepting new prison inmates from local jails. It also “expedited” the release of 3,500 inmates who were serving time for “non-violent” crimes and had two months or less left on their terms. (According to a recent report at least three of this group subsequently tested COVID-19 positive.) Meanwhile the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which has just under 150,000 inmates, placed an additional 1,751 inmates it considered sufficiently trustworthy into “home confinement.”

     There’s of course a catch. Prisons house persons convicted of serious crimes, so their release – particularly, their early release – brings into question the issues of adequacy of punishment and, naturally, public safety. Our recent post on point, “Must the Door Revolve?” offers some stark warnings. Consider, for example, the New York City mother who was found strangled last October 16 (her body was discovered by her two small children.) Her alleged assailant had been paroled from a manslaughter conviction three years earlier.

     Recidivism is undeniably a major problem. According to a Federal study, a full eighty-three percent of the 401,288 state prisoners released in 2005 were rearrested an average of five times each during their first nine years back on the street. And it wasn’t just addicts “doing drugs again”: more than seventy-five percent of released narcotics offenders were re-arrested for a non-drug crime. That’s why the Attorney General’s directive authorizing home confinement calls for the careful assessment of potential releasees. It’s why despite COVID’s sobering toll on California corrections (as of April 28, 194 prisoners and 132 staff members have been infected, and one prisoner has died) the ostensibly liberal State has ignored activist demands for mass releases. (A Federal court recently refused to force the state to loosen up because of the virus.)

     Fine. But even if one agrees that a mass release of prison inmates isn’t a good idea, what about city and county lockups? Their “clientele” constitutes a far lesser threat. Right?

     Maybe, maybe not. Jails hold misdemeanants who will remain within the local system. But they’re also a way-station for felons on their way to state prison. According to BJS, local jails held 738,400 inmates at midyear 2018. Two-thirds were yet to be adjudicated. Sixty-eight percent faced at least one felony charge.

     In the best of times having even a minor criminal record can prove daunting. Still, persons under supervision who cooperate with their probation officers, participate in post-release programs and work assiduously to reverse bad habits can ultimately do well. Pandemics, though, seem a poor time to test anyone’s mettle. Rehabilitation programs and job opportunities may be unavailable. Ditto probation officers, who may be struggling to avoid infection while dealing with the increased caseloads brought on by largescale releases.

     Such as in California. On April 13 its court system imposed State-wide zero-dollar bail with some exceptions for violent crimes. One day later a State memo reminded County Sheriffs and Chief Probation Officers of their undisputed authority to release inmates in response “to any existing or imminent emergency endangering the lives of inmates in any county jail, juvenile detention center, or other correctional institution.”

     Local officials jumped at the chance to thin out their jails. Even as he voiced concern about a possible “crime surge,” Sheriff Alex Villanueva released 4,276 inmates from the Los Angeles County Jail, one out of every four. Alameda County started out by releasing 314 inmates, about twelve percent of its jail population. Within a few days that number jumped to 600, with more on the way. But emptying out the jail though, as activists heatedly demanded, was thought impossible. According to sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly, “ninety percent of those individuals are in here for serious violent crimes, including homicides, sexual assault, crimes against children and other crimes of serious public concern.”

     It’s not just about the pandemic. California jail and prison populations have been affected by a series of easings that began more than a decade ago:

     As we discussed in “The Blame Game” these moves were roundly criticized for an increase in crime. Given the chronic problem of recidivism, there are no shortage of examples. Say, the February sexual assault of a Sacramento-area woman by a 22-year old man only one day after his early release thanks to the 2016 Act (he was serving time for violating his probation for felony assault.)

     What prior laws didn’t do was zero out bail altogether. That move, which is applicable to most non-violent crimes, happened on April 6 thanks to the virus. And just like Sheriff Villanueva might have forecast, stuff started to happen. We settled on three examples from Alameda County (for case information check the links):

  • Owen Aguilar. Aguilar’s known entanglements begin in April 2013 when he was charged with felony drug possession and misdemeanor battery (case no. F13912136). Aguilar pled guilty to a misdemeanor drug charge and was ordered into treatment.
  • Four years later Aguilar faced two felonies: attempted robbery and criminal threats (case no. F17903965.) He pled guilty to the latter and got three years. Aguilar was released on parole in June 2019.

    He was back in trouble in March 2020, charged with felony animal cruelty (case no. F20902123.) Bail was set at $107,000, which he couldn’t make. But on April 13 jailers released Aguilar because of the COVID-19 emergency.

    Four days later he went on an arson spree. His targets included a tent occupied by a homeless person and several commercial dumpsters. A brush fire broke out. Officers soon collared Aguilar. A witness confirmed that Aguilar was indeed the firebug, and he also reportedly confessed. Aguilar’s parole was revoked. In addition to the cruelty charge, Aguilar faces seven counts of felony arson (case nos. F20902589 and P209000461).

  • Rocky Lee Music. Music’s Alameda County court record begins in October, 2013 when he was charged with two counts of first-degree residential burglary (case no. F13912136.) Two months later his plea of no contest to one count earned him three months in jail and five years probation (case no. H55198.)

  • Music’s lawbreaking continued. Two years into his probation a misdemeanor arrest for disturbing the peace cost him a few days in jail (case no. 152534). Then  in 2016 he was charged with assault and grand theft, and in 2018 with burglary. (What happened in those cases isn’t mentioned.) He remained a free man until April 19, 2020, when Oakland police caught him driving a stolen car. Music apparently tried to outrun the cops and nearly drove into a lake. Thanks to COVID-19 rules, as a “non-violent” offender his bail was zero and he was promptly released.

    Within a half-hour after walking out of jail Music carjacked one car, abandoned it, then tried to carjacker another. When officers caught up the desperado tried to break into a building, and it took a police dog to finally bring him down. Now back in jail, he faces a host of felonies, from vehicle theft to assault and carjacking (case no. 20-CR-005177.)

  • Kristopher Sylvester. Actually, neither Aguilar nor Music hold a candle to Sylvester. Sylvester’s record, which began in 2004 and includes arrests for narcotics, vehicle theft, burglary, felony eluding and felon with a gun, merit forty separate Alameda superior court files. He was most recently on probation on two cases for crimes including felon with a gun, burglary, stolen vehicle and felony evasion.
     
  • On April 2nd. a police stakeout caught Sylvester and his cronies burglarizing vehicles. Officers pounced. They found property from prior crimes and a gun, which Sylvester wasn’t supposed to have because he was a multiple-convicted felon. Sylvester got a court date for “multiple counts of commercial burglary, committing a burglary during a State of Emergency, possession of stolen property, possession of a firearm, felony evading, and a probation violation” (case no. 20-CR-005177.)

    But thanks to COVID-19, his bail was set at zero. Within a few days Sylvester and three buds embarked on a vehicle theft and burglary spree that spanned the Bay area. Their haul included cash registers and an improbable twenty-three cars taken from a Hertz lot. Three days Sylvester and a partner, Jacob Mauk (he has a record for robbery and felony assault) crashed their vehicle while being chased by police. They were charged with burglary, possession of stolen property and resisting arrest. The two remaining members of their crew (both were on felony probation) were arrested on similar charges days later in a nearby town.

    Thanks to the COVID-19 rule, everyone was released on zero bail. Sylvester’s a two-time winner!

Be sure to check out our homepage and sign up for our newsletter

     No matter their classification as ostensibly “non-violent,” it’s clear that characters such as Aguilar, Music and Sylvester pose a serious risk to both cops and citizens. And just as we were “going to press,” LAPD Chief Michel Moore complained that zero-bail policies were encouraging repeat offenders such as car thieves. One, Eric Medina, was arrested with a different car four times in three weeks. Another, three times in only two days. And it’s not just harmless types. An unidentified zero-bail beneficiary compiled six quick arrests: one was for “brandishing a weapon,” another, for trespassing.

     Punishment’s effectiveness as a deterrent reportedly rests on its certainty, severity, and celerity: whether, how much and how quickly. As everyone who labors in the world of criminal justice must realize, these values are to some extent undermined by zero-bail and its running mates. As L.A. District Attorney and zero-bail supporter Jackie Lacey concedes, “unfortunately, a few defendants have taken advantage of this public health effort.”

     To be sure, coronavirus is a serious threat. Places of confinement are a breeding ground, threatening the well-being of those inside and outside the criminal justice system. Riverside County (Calif.) jails presently hold about 3,200 inmates. As of April 27, 136 inmates and 71 employees have tested COVID-19 positive, and two deputies and one inmate have died. George Gascón, an unabashed progressive who is expected to challenge Jackie Lacey in the next election, advocated for zero-bail as San Francisco D.A. He still does:

    Does keeping huge numbers of people in custody on small-time offenses pose a greater threat to us all than letting them out? This virus does not care if you’re a prosecutor, victim or a defendant. Innocent or guilty, this virus can still kill you.

     So by all means, take the virus into account. COVID-19, though, is not the appropriate vehicle for furthering preexisting political or ideological agendas. Even in our intensely polarized climate, we must  dispassionately consider all risk, from microscopic and human foe alike. That, in a nutshell, is our message.

     And here’s another: stay safe!

For all updates, click here

Did you enjoy this post?  Be sure to explore the homepage and topical index!

Home   Top   Permalink     Print/Save     Feedback     


For an academic study of COVID-19 consumer fraud and its impact, click here

For all updates, click here

RELATED POSTS

COVID-19 Special Topic     COVID-19: R.I.P. Policing?

Is Diversion the Answer?     Cause and Effect     Must the Door Revolve?     The Blame Game



Posted 3/17/20

COVID-19: R.I.P. POLICING?

Crime-fighters confront the challenges of coronavirus

     For Police Issues by Julius (Jay) Wachtel. What risks does the pandemic pose to effective policing? To the administration of justice? How are police and other components of the criminal justice system responding? How should they respond? And last but not least, is the crisis being used to advance pre-existing agendas?

     Police work brings officers into frequent, close contact with colleagues and citizens. Routine interactions are close and personal, and the intimacy skyrockets during an arrest. When officers are called on to provide a service, it’s not as though they can postpone or defer a response. Neither is their work only about crime. As Sunnyvale (Calif.) officers fought to revive an elderly man, they didn’t know he had been exposed to the virus. And when they were told, they didn’t stop. In the end, five cops and two paramedics wound up in quarantine. (Fortunately, their patient turned out not to be infected.) Similar situations are popping up throughout the U.S. For example, in Los Angeles, where three deputies and five firefighters were recently quarantined.

     In Kirkland, Washington the circumstances were far grimmer. An adult nursing facility that was placing an unusually large volume of emergency medical calls became the “epicenter” of America’s coronavirus outbreak. At least ten residents and former residents have died from the infection, and seven visitors (one from North Carolina) came down with the virus. Three police officers and thirty-one firefighters – twenty-five percent of the fire department – wound up in quarantine or isolation; eighteen were symptomatic.

Click here for the the collected COVID-19 essays

     According to the Centers for Disease Control the main route of transmission is via virus-laden droplets infected persons expel when they cough or sneeze. Should these land on someone’s mouth or nose they can be aspirated and set off an infection. However, the “good news” is that droplets bearing the virus are relatively heavy and fall to the ground within six feet. Transmission by touching an object or surface on which droplets landed or were deposited, then transferring the virus to oneself by touching the eyes or nose, is thought possible but much less likely.

     CDC’s guidance for law enforcement officers emphasizes that the danger zone is six feet. Regular hand washing is important, as is not touching one’s face “with unwashed hands.” Beyond that, the CDC urges that officers use specialized personal protective equipment (PPE) whenever contacting persons believed to be infected. Here’s what’s needed:

  • Disposable examination gloves
     
  • Disposable isolation gown or single-use/disposable coveralls (if unable to wear a disposable gown or coveralls because it limits access to duty belt and gear, ensure duty belt and gear are disinfected after contact with individual)
     
  • NIOSH-approved particulate respirator (i.e., N-95 or higher-level. Facemasks are an acceptable alternative until the supply chain is restored)
     
  • Eye protection (i.e., goggles or disposable face shield that fully covers the front and sides of the face)

     Officers are counseled to disinfect their duty belt and other gear with spray or wipes after making any arrest that involves “close contact.” They are also advised to launder (but not shake) their clothing. These admonitions aside, the CDC’s assessment is that “for law enforcement personnel performing daily routine activities, the immediate health risk is considered low.”

     Well, that may be so. Alas, even when dispatched, officers typically know nothing about the physical condition of those with whom they might interact on scene. And when they arrive, there is usually little time or opportunity to gather that information. So a few steps seem prudent:

  • Require that officers who encounter persons in need of medical assistance don googles and a face mask before they step in to help
     
  • Regardless of the nature of an incident, require that call-takers inquire whether someone with a communicable disease is present and relay the response to dispatchers so they can pass it on
     
  • Insure that pertinent medical information is entered into the dispatch database to forewarn officers who handle future calls involving the same persons or locations

Incidentally, we emphasize the role of dispatchers and databases because of their centrality to safe and effective patrol operations. (For more about that check out “A Matter of Life and Death”).

     Of course, it’s not just about officers. It’s also about organizations. “If we lose 40 percent of our force, what would police service look like?” Considering what happened in Sunnyvale and Kirkland, that concern, voiced by a Portland Deputy Chief Chris Davis, is hardly far-fetched. During these uncertain, stressful times, having a full complement of officers on hand is a paramount concern. To help keep the peace at besieged retail stores, LAPD and the L.A.S.D. are putting “more boots on the ground” and shifting detectives to patrol.  But police departments are staffed by people, and people get sick. How should agencies prepare for the personnel shortages that coronavirus will inevitably bring? Steps recommended by the IACP include pooling resources with neighboring communities, canceling vacations, extending shifts and placing off-duty officers on call. Calling in reservists and even retirees are also options.

     Well enough. But the chiefs offer one more recommendation, and it’s somewhat jarring. Agencies are advised to evaluate “what services require an on-scene police presence versus those that can be handled by alternative means such as by phone or online.” In other words, to consider rationing.

     To be sure, what cops do and why can always stand reassessment. That seems particularly apropos when an epidemic’s afoot. Consider what recently befell Miami PD’s motorcycle squad. It’s on quarantine after Brazil’s president, for whom its officers provided security (and with whom they mingled) was diagnosed with the virus. Substantially easing the burden on field resources, though, calls for a lot more than banning motorcades or, another Miami example, not serving eviction notices. But withholding flesh-and-blood cops from calls that have been classified as less pressing is not without major risk. There would certainly be “errors in call classification,” perhaps more than a few with grave consequences. And even if nothing bad happens, the deterrence and reassurance benefits of a uniformed police presence would be lost. Natch, these effects would fall most heavily on the long-suffering residents of the high-crime neighborhoods that typically generate the most service requests.

     Still, in the “real world” some retrenchment may be called for. Initiatives to limit who comes into the system are exploding in popularity. Courts throughout the U.S. are postponing trials, arraignments and such. Jails and prisons are responding with lockdowns, no visiting allowed. What else can be done? How about the cops? After all, they’re the ones who kick off the mess by making arrests. Collin County (Texas) Sheriff Jim Skinner fears that arrestees might waltz in with a lethal present, then spread it through his jail. So he’s urged local police to forego taking non-violent criminals into custody: “Would you arrest if you and your staff had to take custody and care for the person? You may decide that an arrest isn’t necessary to protect public safety.” A local small-town chief agreed: “We do not believe his request is unreasonable given the current situation.”

     Sheriff Skinner has plenty of big-time company. Los Angeles County, for example, has used cite-and-release and early release to reduce its jail population by six-hundred inmates. Meanwhile arrests have reportedly dropped from three-hundred a day to sixty. That’s a full eighty percent. Colorado, though, seems an exception. To keep jails and prisons humming as usual it’s making major efforts to keep physical spaces disinfected and to screen new and current inmates for the virus. Actually, screening persons about to be released can greatly benefit the community. Unfortunately, this is a very imperfect world. Our decentralized criminal justice system, which reflects our decentralized political system, doesn’t turn on a dime. Jails and prisons may not be able to round up enough “dimes” to test everyone. So for crimes that are really non-violent – say, drunken driving, shoplifting or petty theft – cite-and-release seems an appealing option.

     Yes, mistakes in identifying arrestees who pose a threat to society will happen, and we know the communities that would bear the heaviest load (hint: it’s not nine-oh-two-one-oh.)* So it’s crucial that adjustments made during the pandemic be considered as temporary. Yet some are already pouncing on the chaos to advance their agendas. In a long, nicely crafted opinion piece in the New York Times, staff writer Emily Bazelon approvingly mentions King County D.A. Dan Satterberg’s decision to file “only serious violent cases” because of the pandemic. That police have long criticized D.A. Satterberg for being too easy on offenders isn’t mentioned. Instead, Ms. Bazelon uses his move to support her view that our present crisis provides “an opportunity to rethink how the system treats low-level offenses”:

    It also makes sense to stop arresting and incarcerating people for technical — that is, noncriminal — violations of parole and probation. About 4.5 million people live under court supervision around the country. In 2017, they made up 25 percent of new admissions to state prisons, not because they committed new crimes, but for infractions like missed curfew or unauthorized travel. This practice often makes little sense in terms of public safety; it is particularly hard to justify now.

Be sure to check out our homepage and sign up for our newsletter

     Ms. Bazelon’s opinions are not uncommon among well-meaning observers who haven’t labored in the system’s trenches. But when The Crime Report breathlessly announces that similar sentiments have been expressed by America’s “top probation and parole executives,” one need pay attention. In an open letter that warns of the risk posed by the many arrestees “churning” between jails and home, “Exit: Executives Transforming Probation and Parole” urges major reductions in the number of persons placed under supervision, a “drastic” curtailment of arrests for “technical” violations, and a large increase in early releases. Indeed, as NBC reports, the Covid-19 threat has led to such easings throughout the U.S. “Exit,” though, has long pushed for parole and probation systems that are “smaller, less punitive, and more hopeful, equitable, and restorative.” So it’s hardly an impartial observer.

     There are also good reasons for acting against “technical” probation and parole violators. Really, minor, isolated breaches land no one in jail. Supervision caseloads, though, invariably include miscreants who are out of control but have not yet been arrested for another crime. A P.O.’s ability to meaningfully sanction problem clients for “technical” violations is an invaluable tool. It’s the bedrock on which probation and parole rest. If only an arrest for a crime will do, where’s the deterrent value? Why place anyone under supervision?

     And that was our final point: crises can make for lousy precedent. But rest assured, we’ll be keeping an eye on things. In the meantime don’t forget: six feet!

* ZIP Code for Beverly Hills

For all updates, click here

Did you enjoy this post?  Be sure to explore the homepage and topical index!

Home   Top   Permalink     Print/Save     Feedback     


UPDATES (ALL COVID-19 POSTS) (scroll)

2/19/24  COVID-19 fraud prosecutions continue. In a major case, a pair of Georgia residents face decades in prison after a jury convicted them of orchestrating a scheme that drained more than $11 million dollars from the Paycheck Protection Program. Testimony revealed that they and several accomplices submitted documents that claimed they employed dozens of employees and incurred major expenses running a number of businesses. Alas, there were neither employees nor businesses.

12/8/23  COVID fraud has sullied Government ranks. Memphis resident and former IRS management employee Brian Saulsberry, 47, pled guilty to fraudulently obtaining $171,400 in COVID loan funds and using them to invest for personal gain. He faces a maximum 10-year term. One year ago five other IRS employees were charged with similar frauds. Each was reportedly convicted.

11/10/23  New York City announced a “collaborative approach” to combat retail thefts, which have surged since the pandemic. It will strive to implement recommendations from a December 2022 “summit” that addressed shoplifting by both individuals and organized groups. Beyond more policing, strategies will be developed to address poverty and provide enhanced social service programming to substance abusers, mentally ill persons and the homeless.

10/16/23  Seventeen sworn Broward County, Florida deputy sheriffs, including eight assigned to law enforcement and nine working detention, were charged with multiple Federal felonies for obtaining nearly $500,000 in PPP loans by falsely asserting that their businesses and employees had suffered financial harm because of the pandemic. Charges include submitting false information, falsifying tax returns, and committing wire fraud. DOJ news release

10/6/23  Major COVID violators continue getting their comeuppance. Houston man Amir Ageel just drew fifteen years for leading a ring that fraudulently obtained more than $20 million in loans by using fake bank records and tax forms to “prove” the existence of numerous phony employees. And a California woman,  Lourdes Navarro, pled guilty to collecting $54 million over two years during which she and a conspirator submitted bills for $359 million worth of purported specialized COVID tests.

10/3/23  Five Texas men pled guilty to fraudulently obtaining business loans ranging from about $500,000 to nearly $1 million from the COVID-19 paycheck protection program to pay non-existing employees. Fifteen persons who helped them carry out the scheme have also been convicted. In a separate case, an Orange County, Calif. osteopath has been charged with fraudulently obtaining $150 million by submitting fraudulent claims relating to COVID-19 testing and treatment of the uninsured.

8/25/23  Concerns that fraudsters had reaped “hundreds of billions of dollars” from COVID relief funds led the Attorney General to launch a major investigatory “sweep” this summer. A combined Federal-State effort resulted in “more than 700 enforcement actions” and the recovery of “more than $200 million” in illicit gains. Accused included thirty members of a Wisconsin street gang and a California man whose fraudulent acts cost taxpayers more than $60 million.

6/2/23  Two and one-half years in Federal prison. That’s the sentence handed down to a supervisory physician at a Colorado medical clinic who falsely secured $250,000 from two COVID-19 relief programs that were intended to help firms struggling because of the pandemic. Instead, Dr. Francis F. Joseph, 58, spent the proceeds “to pay for his personal expenses.”

5/3/23  In one of the stiffest terms yet handed down for a COVID-related fraud, Louisiana man Michael Tolliver was sentenced to ten years in Federal prison for submitting false loan applications and falsified tax returns that claimed he employed numerous workers. According to DOJ, Mr. Tolliver secured more than a million dollars and used it “to support his own personal lifestyle,” which included the purchase of expensive jewelry and expensive vehicles.

4/21/23  Four-hundred ninety million. That’s what DOJ claims was stolen by eighteen fraudsters across the U.S. who submitted false billings to the U.S. Government for pandemic-related health services. One lab owner alone was allegedly responsible for “over $358 million in false and fraudulent claims” for providing specialized testing that no one had asked for or wanted. All face criminal charges. So far, there have been 53 health-related fraud prosecutions and twenty convictions.

4/18/23  Federal authorities indicted Florida brothers Carl and Patrick Charles for running a scheme that resulted in the disbursement of more than $2.5 million in loans and advances from the Small Business Administration under the Covid-19 relief act. Both are charged with several counts of wire fraud, with each count punishable by up to twenty years in prison.

4/5/23  “More than 12,000” low-risk Federal prisoners were released to “home confinement” during the pandemic. With expiration of the emergency period, a new Federal rule directs that those who did well and exhibited full compliance be continued on home detention, while those who had minor problems be considered for relocation to “Residential Reentry Centers” instead of being re-imprisoned. Bureau of Prisons FAQ

2/27/23  Sixty billion dollars. That’s a low-ball estimate of COVID unemployment benefits that were fraudulently collected by fraudsters, including domestic and international crime rings. An overwhelmed system and poor vetting enabled the losses. And a five-year statute of limitations for bringing charges now threatens enforcement. Officials are asking it be extended to ten years, as was done for frauds committed against the paycheck protection (PPP) and disaster loan programs. COVID prosecutions

2/9/23  COVID fraud remains in the headlines as jurors convict a Texas man who induced other businesspersons to join him in a vast scheme to collect more than $35 million in forgivable PPP loans by vastly inflating their employee rolls and business expenses. Abdul Fatani distributed more than a half-million dollars to his co-conspirators and pocketed a large amount for himself using phony payroll checks to launder his ill-gotten proceeds.

12/29/22  After posting a two-decade peak in 2019, Federal investigations and arrests plunged during the pandemic. Most dramatically, investigations fell from 12,995 to 6,529 and arrests dropped from 12,325 to 2,369 between March and April 2020 (a single month). Convictions and prison sentences also receded, though far less steeply. One year later, investigations had climbed somewhat, to 7,730 while arrests had risen nearly three-fold, to 6,971. But the numbers remain down.

11/10/22  Federal prosecutors have charged an Indian national, who formerly resided in North Carolina, with pocketing more than $3 million in Paycheck Protection loans he fraudulently obtained from U.S. banks. Abhishek Krishnan had applied for over $8 million in funds by creating bogus companies with pretend rosters of employees. Krishnan was already facing Federal charges in North Carolina for distributing misbranded and adulterated protein powders to wholesale and retail customers.

10/5/22  Three IRS employees pled guilty and two others have been charged with fraudulently obtaining as much as $171,400 in Federal COVID relief loans by pretending to operate non-existing businesses that were impacted by the pandemic. Their illicit gains were used “for cars, luxury goods, and personal travel, including trips to Las Vegas.” In all, their applications requested more than $1 million.

9/21/22  In “the largest pandemic relief fraud scheme charged to date,” DOJ indicted 47 defendants for misappropriating $250 million in Federal Child Nutrition program funds. A central figure, Aimee Bock, director of Minnesota nonprofit “Feeding Our Future,” allegedly got conspirators to create “dozens of shell companies” that pretended to provide meals. But instead of feeding needy children, they diverted the monies “to purchase luxury cars, houses, jewelry, and coastal resort property abroad.”

8/24/22  A high-end Los Angeles retailer complains that face coverings makes police lineups useless. When customers “wear bucket hats, hoodies, and you can only see their eyes...You can’t say that’s the right person.” When two mask-wearing clients who had been booted for shoplifting recently came in, it sealed the deal. “We do not allow the wearing of face masks” reads the sign on the window.

8/20/22  NHTSA reported that 2002’s first quarter experienced the most motor vehicle traffic deaths since the first quarter of 2002. This year’s estimated toll, 9,560, is 7 percent higher than last year’s 8,935, which was itself a 13.2 percent jump from the first quarter of 2020, when 7,893 were killed. Per 100 million vehicle miles, 2022’s first-quarter fatality rate (1.22) also sets a record. According to NHTSA head Steve Cliff, “when everyday life came to a halt in March 2020, risky behaviors skyrocketed, and traffic fatalities spiked. We’d hoped these trends were limited to 2020, but sadly they aren’t.”

8/17/22  Five trillion dollars have gone out for pandemic relief. But “billions” have been misappropriated by pretenders. Schemers obtained forgivable loans for make-believe businesses, received compensation for unpaid work they never performed, and stole identities to collect benefits for others. So far 1,500 have been charged and “more than 500” convicted. But the Labor Dept. alone has 39,000 “active investigations.”

8/2/22  Enrollment in public schools declined with the pandemic. And even as schools reopened, large numbers of students stayed away. Some enrolled in charters, but where many others have gone is unknown. Funding, which is normally based on enrollment, plunged. That’s led fifty schools to close in Chicago alone, most in impoverished minority neighborhoods. Some Federal Covid relief money is being used to keep remaining schools open, but it will soon run out. “Luring students back” seems vital.

5/9/22  “Hundreds” of LAPD officers reportedly ignored agency policy to mask up during the pandemic. In all, 268 formal complaints about mask violations were filed during 2020 and 2021; some apparently involved multiple cops. But only two officers wound up being formally punished for not wearing a mask. Nearly all the others were admonished or counseled in a way that circumvented the need to record a “sustained complaint” in their personnel file.

12/8/21  Described as a “criminal syndicate” by Federal prosecutors, eight members of an extended Los Angeles-area family were convicted this year of fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars in COVID loans by using “dozens” of fake or stolen identities. Their illicit gains were used to buy homes and luxury goods. Its two ringleaders, a husband and wife, fled before sentencing. Most recently, a sister-in-law got ten years and her husband, five. Despite prosecutors’ request that she be remanded, a judge released her, possibly to arrange for the care of two teen daughters before reporting to prison.

10/27/21  L.A. City employees, including police, who have not been vaccinated must submit to twice-weekly testing at their expense. Those not fully vaccinated or who fail to get a medical or religious exemption by December 18 will ”face corrective action.” Employees who are ultimately approved for exemptions will be reimbursed. For the official rules click here.

10/21/21  New York City is requiring that all city workers get their first shot by October 29. Those who don’t will wind up on unpaid leave. While the police union objects, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea feels that the rule “makes sense.” Seattle’s new vaccination mandate has led to the firing of six police officers; 93 others are off the job seeking exemptions. Washington state fired 127 troopers, and in Massachusetts “at least” 150 troopers are reportedly resigning.

10/18/21  According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, “COVID is the #1 killer of LEOs in 2020 and 2021. Getting vaccinated is just as important as wearing your vest and your seatbelt.” ODMP reports 362 officer line-of-duty deaths so far this year. COVID-19 led to 231, and hostile gunfire caused 49. Comparable figures for 2020 are 374 deaths, 245 attributable to COVID-19, and 45 to hostile gunfire.

10/14/21  Chicago has required that all city employees report their vaccination status by tomorrow or be placed on leave without pay. Those who lack shots can substitute weekly testing until the end of the year. But FOP president John Catanzara has advised officers to ignore these demands and turn in forms declaring themselves as “conscientious objectors.” Should they be sent home the city would lose half its already skimpy police coverage. City council members and ordinary residents are predictably aghast. Former FOP president Dean Angelo, Sr., 67, died from COVID-19 complications two days ago.

10/3/21  According to the NLEOMF, line-of-duty officer deaths “are on a pace to exceed the 295 law enforcement fatalities recorded in 2020, which was the second highest total on record.” COVID-19 has been by far the largest cause of deaths during 2020-2021. Of the 155 officers who perished during the first six months of 2021, 71 died from a COVID-19 infection contracted while on duty. Thirty-eight lost their lives in traffic incidents and 28 by gunfire. Eighteen deaths were attributed to other causes.

9/17/21  Federal authorities have charged a middle-aged Chicago woman with fraudulently obtaining tax refunds and COVID-19 relief payments by misappropriating information from the death certificates of murdered local youth. Posing as a relative, she obtained twenty-six of these in 2019, all for homicide victims ages two to twenty-two. As she carried out this scam, Katrina Pierce, 50 was on parole for a decade-old conviction on a similar crime.

9/13/21  San Diego P.D. has nearly 2,000 cops. About half report being unvaccinated. Los Angeles has about 12,000, also half unvaccinated. Both cities are requiring that employees get the shots. According to San Diego’s police union, ninety percent of 733 officers who responded to a survey oppose mandatory vaccination, and sixty-five percent would consider resigning. In August the NAACP urged the FBI to investigate a SDPD officer’s online rant urging colleagues to “stand up for our God given freedoms” and reject forced vaccination and masking. LAPD’s officer union supports vaccinations. But six LAPD officers, including a Lieutenant, have sued the city in Federal Court over the mandate.

8/17/21  Federal authorities are battling yet another COVID-19 scam. On August 17 the FBI arrested a licensed Chicago pharmacist for twelve counts of stealing Government property. In two months Tangtang Zhao sold 125 authentic CDC vaccination cards to eleven buyers on eBay. His actions enabled  persons to pretend that they got their shots, thus placing others “at risk of serious injury or death.”

7/31/21  As part of Texas’ border security initiative, which includes building fences and interdicting the flow of drugs, Governor Greg Abbott ordered troopers to “stop and turn around” vehicles smuggling immigrants, supposedly to combat the spread of COVID. That finally proved too much for the U.S. Justice Department. Insisting that border affairs are not Texas’ business, it sued in Federal court.

5/18/21  DOJ has formed a “COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force” that will employ civil, criminal and administrative remedies to combat the profusion of frauds against Government programs established to help individuals and businesses during the pandemic. Key members of the team will include Justice Dept. lawyers and the FBI. For DOJ’s COVID-19 fraud prosecutions, click here

3/10/21  BJS reports that the local jail population decreased about twenty-five percent during the twelve months ending June 30, 2020. Inmates being held on misdemeanors declined about 45 percent; those held for felonies, about 18 percent. At mid-year 2020 the jail incarceration rate was 167/100K, the lowest in three decades. COVID-imposed restrictions are considered the primary cause. Report

3/9/21  Lethal gunplay is way up in Los Angeles, with 64 murders and 267 shootings thru March 2 compared with 46 murders and 111 shootings during that period last year. While many killings continue to be attributed to gangs, armed robberies are taking place throughout the city. And in what an LAPD assistant chief called a “disturbing trend,” holdup victims are increasingly being shot.

2/20/21  Idaho lawmakers are seeking to outlaw demonstrations at the homes of individuals. Their move comes as individuals and right-wing groups that oppose Covid-19 restrictions, including Ammon Bundy’s People’s Rights network, voice their displeasure by demonstrating at the private residences of officials and police officers. But civil libertarians oppose the measure.

2/1/21  Federal courts throughout the U.S. started suspending jury trials in mid-2020, and in many areas that continues. California’s Central District, which includes Los Angeles and Orange counties, has not had a jury trial since March 2020. That recently led Judge Cormac Carney to dismiss four cases “with prejudice,” meaning they cannot be refiled. One was for armed robbery; two were felons caught with guns, and one was of a doctor charged with illegally distributing drugs. Federal announcement

12/16/20  LAPD is blaming COVID-inspired early releases from jail and prison of gang members and repeat offenders for the dramatic increase in violence being experienced in poverty-stricken South Los Angeles, with forty killings in a recent week alone. According to a deputy chief, “information is getting out to the street that if you carry a firearm and you get arrested, you aren’t going to stay in jail.”

12/10/20  Sheriffs in two major Southern California counties announced that their deputies will not be enforcing the Governor’s restrictive new Covid orders. Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes said that masks and dining were matters of “personal responsibility.” Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco called the directives “ridiculous” and “dictatorial” given the major “split” about the virus among medical experts. Meanwhile, thanks to the pandemic and civil disorder, Illinois gun stores have been doing “record-shattering” business this year, with many sales going to new gun owners. Aside from more violence,  authorities fear that increased gun availability will lead to higher suicide rates as well.

12/5/20  LAPD’s budget was slashed by $150 million in July. That barely dented the city’s budget shortfall, which will hit $675 million this fiscal year. Although murders and shootings are up by about a third, the city’s budget analyst recommends cutting LAPD by 951 officers and 728 civilians.

12/3/20  California’s illegal diversion of COVID-19 unemployment funds to prisoners has reportedly reached $400 million. It was facilitated by state law that forbids cross-checking social security numbers against criminal justice (prison) records. Investigators allegedly discovered the scam by accident as they routinely monitored inmate telephone calls.

11/24/20  State and Federal investigators allege that “more than $140 million” in pandemic unemployment benefits have been fraudulently paid to California prisoners, including occupants of death row. Families, friends and street gangs are accused of co-ordinating with inmates to have cash cards sent to external addresses. Proceeds are shared, with some deposited in inmate prison accounts.

11/3/20  Early releases have plagued Europe’s fight against extremism. Yesterday evening a terrorist armed with an assault rifle unleashed a fusillade of gunfire in Vienna, Austria, killing four and injuring fourteen, six critically. Kujtim Fejzulai, 20, had been sentenced to 22 months last year for trying to join the Islamic state but was granted an early release. In London, a terrorist who was granted early release in 2018 after his conviction in a bomb plot went on a stabbing rampage in London the very next year, killing two before police shot him dead.

11/2/20  Last November Chicago authorities charged Juan Torkelson with first-degree murder and attempted murder for stabbing one person dead and wounding two others. He was on the loose until May when a police fugitive team found him. But he was released on $10,000 bond and placed on home detention because of the coronavirus. On October 28 Torkelson pulled a gun on Ohio deputies who stopped him for traffic violations. They took cover and he fled. His whereabouts are unknown.



Did you enjoy this post?  Be sure to explore the homepage and topical index!

Home   Top   Permalink     Print/Save     Feedback     


For an academic study of COVID-19 consumer fraud and its impact, click here

RELATED POSTS

Letting Go     Fair But Firm     Must the Door Revolve?     A Matter of Life and Death

Top



 

     Home           About           Index           Links          For educators          Contact          Novel