Axios: Sweeping reporting failures may compromise the FBI’s 2021 crime data. “Nearly 40% of law enforcement agencies nationwide, including the New York City Police Department and Los Angeles Police Department, failed to report their 2021 crime data to the FBI, according to data provided to Axios Local from a partnership with The Marshall Project.”
WIRED: Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists. “POLICE FORCES AROUND the world have increasingly used hacking tools to identify and track protesters, expose political dissidents’ secrets, and turn activists’ computers and phones into inescapable eavesdropping bugs. Now, new clues in a case in India connect law enforcement to a hacking campaign that used those tools to go an appalling step further: planting false incriminating files on targets’ computers that the same police then used as grounds to arrest and jail them.”
Calgary Herald: Volunteer group launches interactive database of police misconduct cases in Alberta. “The interactive database went live Tuesday with information on more than 400 incidents of misconduct involving about 500 officers over the past 30 years — and its designers are hoping Albertans use it as a tool for holding police officers accountable for their actions.”
NBC DFW: COVID-19 Cases Spiking At Fort Worth Police, Fire Departments. “COVID-19 cases are on the rise among Fort Worth firefighters and police officers. and firefighters. The Fort Worth Fire Department reported that 116 of the department’s 927 firefighters are out on COVID-related leave. At the Fort Worth Police Department, 56 positive COVID-19 cases were reported on Dec. 30, an increase of 24 cases from the previous report on Dec. 17, the department said.”
Washington Post: FBI may shut down police use-of-force database due to lack of police participation. “In an attempt to create a definitive database on how often police officers use force on citizens, the FBI launched the National Use-of-Force Data Collection program in 2019, imploring police departments to submit details on every incident, not just fatal shootings. But the failure of police and federal agencies to send their data to the FBI puts the program in jeopardy of being shut down next year without ever releasing a single statistic, a new report by the Government Accountability Office says.”
The Blade: Ohio database focuses on use-of-force cases. “The public can now access Ohio’s online database listing incidents of use-of-force by law enforcement in the state, the Office of Criminal Justice Services announced. Data can be broken down into a variety of categories including law enforcement agency, county, whether the person was armed/believed to be armed with a weapon, injury data and more.”
Cornell Chronicle: Police union websites preserved by library archive. “Spearheaded by the library’s Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives in Catherwood Library, in the ILR School, the Police Unions and Associations archive features a curated collection of 165 public safety organizations’ websites, from the Alliance of Hispanic Law Enforcement to the Vulcan Society, a fraternal organization of Black New York City firefighters. Each represents one of four constituencies: labor unions, professional associations, minority law enforcement organizations and police accountability organizations.”
USA Today: Biden wants more transparency for police disciplinary records. Experts say it’s harder than it sounds.. “The George Floyd Justice Policing Act of 2021, introduced originally in 2020, would create a federal registry of police misconduct complaints and disciplinary actions. The bill passed through the House on mostly party lines in early March but has met gridlock in Senate. But the move to make the records public is more difficult than it seems, experts say. Here’s why.”
Motherboard: Police Are Telling ShotSpotter to Alter Evidence From Gunshot-Detecting AI. “Motherboard’s review of court documents from the [Michael] Williams case and other trials in Chicago and New York State, including testimony from ShotSpotter’s favored expert witness, suggests that the company’s analysts frequently modify alerts at the request of police departments—some of which appear to be grasping for evidence that supports their narrative of events.”
Washington Post: Manhattan district attorney to release years of racial data as part of nationwide accountability push. “The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on Thursday will grant the public access to more than seven years worth of racial data that the top prosecutor here says has informed his approach to criminal justice reform. The database will include race and gender information related to charging decisions, plea-deal offers, bail amounts and sentencing.”
Boing Boing: Database of police settlements. “Five Thirty Eight published a database of police settlements at Github—a unique body of information that reveals the financial costs incurred by America’s excessively violent cops. But it cautions against using the information to draw comparisons between jurisdictions.”
Vice: New Video Shows Beverly Hills Cops Playing Beatles to Trigger Instagram Copyright Filter. “As VICE News reported Tuesday, police in Beverly Hills have repeatedly played copyrighted music while being filmed, seemingly in an attempt to trigger Instagram’s algorithmic copyright filters, which could result in videos of police interactions with the public being taken down. Repeated infractions can result in the suspension of live streamers’ accounts.”
The Conversation: Social media could help Lagos police officers fight crime: why it’s not happening . “The use of social media in global crime-fighting is extensive. Common uses include the identification of criminals, evidence sources and submission of distress reports. Police departments around the world are still exploring expansive uses of social media to support crime investigation and prevention. Despite its obvious advantages, social media involvement in combating crime also poses pitfalls. Law enforcement officers might inadvertently disclose personal information, sensitive operational materials and policing tactics. Also, information released by the police through social media can be misinterpreted by the public.”
KOB4: NYC to give greater access to police disciplinary records. “In his latest push for police reform, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday that the city is launching an online database that will let New Yorkers track disciplinary cases against police officers accused of excessive force and other violations and view their administrative records.”
Vice: Police Tactics Are Putting Protesters at Higher COVID Transmission Risk. “If police officers aren’t wearing PPE, they could risk transmitting COVID-19 to members of the general public. There have been dozens of confirmed cases of coronavirus among police precincts in Los Angeles, Chicago, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., and the NYPD has reportedly lost at least 43 of its members to COVID-19, with thousands of officers infected. Numerous reports indicate law enforcement officials across the country are not wearing masks at protests against police brutality after Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed by a Minneapolis patrolman on May 25, and that routine negligence could expose members of the public.”
