Should we try CIT and other questions
The Washington City Paper, an alternative publication, tackled the topic of crisis mental health training in law enforcement agencies. The police department in Washington D.C. had been addressing this issue during the past year of how its officers would interface with mentally ill individuals out on the field.
The article described one experience provided by a woman who is mentally ill who filed a complaint against the department afterward. A complaint that like many others was dismissed.
(excerpt)
It was late morning on May 20, 2006. Officers had stopped the woman’s son along the 1400 block of Half Street SW. When she came around the corner, she claims she saw one of the officers choking him. She tried to get the officer to stop.
She then became the officers’ focus. According to her written account to the city’s Office of Police Complaints (OPC), she was slammed to the pavement and knocked unconscious. When she came to, she was handcuffed and placed under arrest for assault.
She just needed her medication, she pleaded to the officers. “They told me I was not telling the truth and to shut up,” she wrote.
The police ignored her. They transferred her to a district station and placed her in a cell. But the woman kept at it: “I continue to tell them that I need my mental health medication they continue to laugh at me.”
She then walked to the cell’s commode. “I began to put my head in the toilet,” she wrote, “and try to committ sucide.”
The article also discusses the Memphis model of what's called the Crisis Intervention Training program or CIT. It provides 40 hours of training to law enforcement officers who are then placed on shifts to handle calls for service involving mentally or medically ill individuals.
The CIT model is one of several different models being utilized by hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the country including those listed below.
Portland Police Bureau
Houston Police Department
Albuquerque Police Department
Salt Lake City Police Department
Riverside's police department doesn't utilize the CIT model, opting instead to use a co-partner model similar to that used by several law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles and San Diego Counties. However, by December 2008, it might have the largest percentage of officers within its agency who have received CIT style training in the country. Both the sworn and civilian divisions are to receive this training which was initiated in May 2007 and received POST certification not long after that, by the end of the year. That's no small feat.
Already, the training program has some in the department who are clearly believers and some who are clearly not, at least not at this point in time. One observer hoped that completing the training would change some minds. But one individual raised the issue of whether or not the training would ultimately impact the actions and behavior of officers and that does remain to be seen over a period of time, but according to the department, the early results have been encouraging.
More on this issue to come.
California Baptist University has cut back its expansion plans at least for now as a response to the budget crisis in the state. This includes probably putting on hold an ambitious plan to add more student housing, which the university had pushed the city council to approve.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
"We don't need a 662-bed surplus sitting out there costing us money," said Mark Wyatt, vice president for marketing and communications.
While nearly doubling its enrollment in the past decade to 3,775 students, Cal Baptist has expanded beyond its original mission of training teachers and ministers, to programs to turn out nurses and engineers.
The economic downturn could prevent some students from attending the private, four-year college where undergraduate tuition, fees, room and board cost $28,150 for the current year.
Also, state budget-cut proposals and hundreds of teacher layoff notices sent by Inland school districts threaten the future job market for the university's teacher training program, which has about 1,000 students.
Arthur J. Rothkopf, senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said that in a poor economy, students have less money to spend on tuition. As a result, small private colleges will have difficulty competing with larger, less expensive public institutions, unless they have significant financial aid available to students, he said.
"Second, the institution is likely to receive less in the way of gifts from alumni, which often goes to help cover financial aid costs," Rothkopf said. "And, whatever endowment they have is producing less or no return."
Antioch Avenue is happy to receive its temporary cul de sac.
Hemet is another city in the Inland Empire facing a huge budget deficit. About $5.6 million in the red, which means hiring freezes but not necessarily layoffs.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
A detailed plan to bridge the gap in the city's general plan has not yet been finalized, but the City Council is expected to take action on a proposed budget for next year by June 30.
"Prudent and tough decisions will have to be made in order to bring our budget into balance," Mayor Marc Searl said. "This City Council looks forward to approving a balanced budget, without jeopardizing public health and safety and other vital services."
Interim City Manager Len Wood, who gave a presentation of the preliminary budget to the council this week, said the city currently is facing a budget shortfall of $3.1 million by the end of this fiscal year, in large part due to "dramatic drop-off" in the city's revenues. He said the dismal projections are expected to continue next year.
Riverside's still working on its annual budget, and even though rumors of pink slips abound, has said there will be no layoffs.
Some South Carolina State Troopers were shown on video punching and kicking men in their custody in separate incidents.
(excerpt, Associated Press)
A state trooper is seen kicking a suspect in the head multiple times after a high-speed interstate chase in the latest in a string of alarming Highway Patrol videos.
In two other videos, a trooper punches a suspect several times in the face after a pursuit and a different officer appears to hit a suspect with the barrel of a shotgun during a traffic stop.
The Department of Public Safety released the videos, recorded in 2006, on Monday following media requests. They are the latest to surface showing troopers acting aggressively toward suspects.
Highway Patrol Col. Russell Roark and his boss, Public Safety Director James Schweitzer, resigned this year after a video surfaced showing a trooper use a racial epithet while chasing a black suspect.
The videos have led state and federal authorities to investigate possible civil rights violations.
A man tased in his cell by Orange County Sheriff Department deputies has died.
(excerpt, Los Angeles Times)
Sheriff's deputies used Taser stun weapons to subdue Jason Jesus Gomez in his cell at the Intake Release Center in Santa Ana. Gomez, 35, who was in jail for a probation violation, stopped breathing after the confrontation and was resuscitated by paramedics.
He spent a week in a coma at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana. A deputy coroner who would not identify himself said today that Gomez had died. He would not say whether Gomez died last night or today and referred calls to the district attorney's office, which is investigating the incident.
The Orange County district attorney's office has opened an investigation into the violent struggle between sheriff's deputies and Gomez, who had a lengthy criminal record. The action is the latest setback to the Sheriff's Department as it struggles to recover from a series of allegations involving the treatment of inmates.
A probe has been initiated into Gomez' death.
In New York, the Long Beach Police Department hiring more and more New York City Police Department officers.
(excerpt, New York Post)
About 25 percent of the current 80-member Long Beach police force is made up of ex-NYPD cops.
Since 2005, 14 of the previous 15 cops hired by the Long Beach PD are former members of the NYPD, said Long Beach Lt. Bruce Meyer.
Pushing a woman down a flight of stairs at a nightclub has led to a suspension for an Orlando Police Department officer.
Initially, it was he-said, she-said and naturally, the officer was believed first and battery of an officer and resisting arrest charges were filed against the woman. Then a surveillance videotape emerged, was viewed and led to administrative charges against the officer, Fernando Trinidad including falsifying a police report. The criminal charges against the woman were dropped.
As it turned out, this incident wasn't Trinidad's only problem.
(excerpt, WFTV)
Eyewitness News also found that another person filed a restraining order against Trinidad. She claims he left threatening messages, but a judge ruled there were no acts of violence.
Officer Trinidad's record at the Orlando Police Department revealed he's had six complaints filed against him and he was the subject of another four formal investigations. He has been with the police department since 2005.
The woman in the video did want to talk with Eyewitness News. Her attorney said they have not decided whether they plan to take any legal action.
The Village Voice wrote about the unleashing of stereotypes by media outlets following the testimony of Joseph Guzman who testified in the trial of three New York City Police Department officers.
The doctor who treated Guzman's 16 bullet wounds testified about them.
(excerpt, New York Daily News)
Cooper said Guzman was thrashing about on a stretcher when he arrived at the hospital emergency room on Nov. 25, 2006.
"I tried to speak to him," Cooper said. "He was somewhat confused. Basically he was telling me, in somewhat of a mumbling voice, that he wants to live and I should help him to live."
Cooper said Guzman was in "severe pain" and "combatative."
"Combative in the sense that he was thrashing about," the doctor said. "He was confused, incoherent ... I don't think he knew what he was doing. He was confused."
But a blood test determined that Guzman - who had one drink at the Queens topless bar where Bell's bachelor party was held - was not drunk.
Cooper said they drained a liter-and-a-half of blood out of Guzman's chest and abdomen and intubated him to get much-needed oxygen into his brain.
They found blood in Guzman's urine and when they opened him up, they discovered his intestines and colon were ravaged, said Cooper.
"It's just damaged, it's shredded," said Cooper.
A bullet hole from a shot that shattered Guzman's right cheekbone was found in his right cheek, but no bullet. But to save his life, they had put off the bullet search.
"Our primary job here was not to go looking for the slug," he said. "It was to look for the damage caused by the slug ... They were life threatening injuries."
A cat-scan revealed there were seven bullets in Guzman's body, four of which still remain.
In Canada, a discussion about the use of tasers by law enforcement officers is causing controversy because it's taking place behind closed doors.
Big Brown muscles his way up the Derby Dozen.
The article described one experience provided by a woman who is mentally ill who filed a complaint against the department afterward. A complaint that like many others was dismissed.
(excerpt)
It was late morning on May 20, 2006. Officers had stopped the woman’s son along the 1400 block of Half Street SW. When she came around the corner, she claims she saw one of the officers choking him. She tried to get the officer to stop.
She then became the officers’ focus. According to her written account to the city’s Office of Police Complaints (OPC), she was slammed to the pavement and knocked unconscious. When she came to, she was handcuffed and placed under arrest for assault.
She just needed her medication, she pleaded to the officers. “They told me I was not telling the truth and to shut up,” she wrote.
The police ignored her. They transferred her to a district station and placed her in a cell. But the woman kept at it: “I continue to tell them that I need my mental health medication they continue to laugh at me.”
She then walked to the cell’s commode. “I began to put my head in the toilet,” she wrote, “and try to committ sucide.”
The article also discusses the Memphis model of what's called the Crisis Intervention Training program or CIT. It provides 40 hours of training to law enforcement officers who are then placed on shifts to handle calls for service involving mentally or medically ill individuals.
The CIT model is one of several different models being utilized by hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the country including those listed below.
Portland Police Bureau
Houston Police Department
Albuquerque Police Department
Salt Lake City Police Department
Riverside's police department doesn't utilize the CIT model, opting instead to use a co-partner model similar to that used by several law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles and San Diego Counties. However, by December 2008, it might have the largest percentage of officers within its agency who have received CIT style training in the country. Both the sworn and civilian divisions are to receive this training which was initiated in May 2007 and received POST certification not long after that, by the end of the year. That's no small feat.
Already, the training program has some in the department who are clearly believers and some who are clearly not, at least not at this point in time. One observer hoped that completing the training would change some minds. But one individual raised the issue of whether or not the training would ultimately impact the actions and behavior of officers and that does remain to be seen over a period of time, but according to the department, the early results have been encouraging.
More on this issue to come.
California Baptist University has cut back its expansion plans at least for now as a response to the budget crisis in the state. This includes probably putting on hold an ambitious plan to add more student housing, which the university had pushed the city council to approve.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
"We don't need a 662-bed surplus sitting out there costing us money," said Mark Wyatt, vice president for marketing and communications.
While nearly doubling its enrollment in the past decade to 3,775 students, Cal Baptist has expanded beyond its original mission of training teachers and ministers, to programs to turn out nurses and engineers.
The economic downturn could prevent some students from attending the private, four-year college where undergraduate tuition, fees, room and board cost $28,150 for the current year.
Also, state budget-cut proposals and hundreds of teacher layoff notices sent by Inland school districts threaten the future job market for the university's teacher training program, which has about 1,000 students.
Arthur J. Rothkopf, senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said that in a poor economy, students have less money to spend on tuition. As a result, small private colleges will have difficulty competing with larger, less expensive public institutions, unless they have significant financial aid available to students, he said.
"Second, the institution is likely to receive less in the way of gifts from alumni, which often goes to help cover financial aid costs," Rothkopf said. "And, whatever endowment they have is producing less or no return."
Antioch Avenue is happy to receive its temporary cul de sac.
Hemet is another city in the Inland Empire facing a huge budget deficit. About $5.6 million in the red, which means hiring freezes but not necessarily layoffs.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
A detailed plan to bridge the gap in the city's general plan has not yet been finalized, but the City Council is expected to take action on a proposed budget for next year by June 30.
"Prudent and tough decisions will have to be made in order to bring our budget into balance," Mayor Marc Searl said. "This City Council looks forward to approving a balanced budget, without jeopardizing public health and safety and other vital services."
Interim City Manager Len Wood, who gave a presentation of the preliminary budget to the council this week, said the city currently is facing a budget shortfall of $3.1 million by the end of this fiscal year, in large part due to "dramatic drop-off" in the city's revenues. He said the dismal projections are expected to continue next year.
Riverside's still working on its annual budget, and even though rumors of pink slips abound, has said there will be no layoffs.
Some South Carolina State Troopers were shown on video punching and kicking men in their custody in separate incidents.
(excerpt, Associated Press)
A state trooper is seen kicking a suspect in the head multiple times after a high-speed interstate chase in the latest in a string of alarming Highway Patrol videos.
In two other videos, a trooper punches a suspect several times in the face after a pursuit and a different officer appears to hit a suspect with the barrel of a shotgun during a traffic stop.
The Department of Public Safety released the videos, recorded in 2006, on Monday following media requests. They are the latest to surface showing troopers acting aggressively toward suspects.
Highway Patrol Col. Russell Roark and his boss, Public Safety Director James Schweitzer, resigned this year after a video surfaced showing a trooper use a racial epithet while chasing a black suspect.
The videos have led state and federal authorities to investigate possible civil rights violations.
A man tased in his cell by Orange County Sheriff Department deputies has died.
(excerpt, Los Angeles Times)
Sheriff's deputies used Taser stun weapons to subdue Jason Jesus Gomez in his cell at the Intake Release Center in Santa Ana. Gomez, 35, who was in jail for a probation violation, stopped breathing after the confrontation and was resuscitated by paramedics.
He spent a week in a coma at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana. A deputy coroner who would not identify himself said today that Gomez had died. He would not say whether Gomez died last night or today and referred calls to the district attorney's office, which is investigating the incident.
The Orange County district attorney's office has opened an investigation into the violent struggle between sheriff's deputies and Gomez, who had a lengthy criminal record. The action is the latest setback to the Sheriff's Department as it struggles to recover from a series of allegations involving the treatment of inmates.
A probe has been initiated into Gomez' death.
In New York, the Long Beach Police Department hiring more and more New York City Police Department officers.
(excerpt, New York Post)
About 25 percent of the current 80-member Long Beach police force is made up of ex-NYPD cops.
Since 2005, 14 of the previous 15 cops hired by the Long Beach PD are former members of the NYPD, said Long Beach Lt. Bruce Meyer.
Pushing a woman down a flight of stairs at a nightclub has led to a suspension for an Orlando Police Department officer.
Initially, it was he-said, she-said and naturally, the officer was believed first and battery of an officer and resisting arrest charges were filed against the woman. Then a surveillance videotape emerged, was viewed and led to administrative charges against the officer, Fernando Trinidad including falsifying a police report. The criminal charges against the woman were dropped.
As it turned out, this incident wasn't Trinidad's only problem.
(excerpt, WFTV)
Eyewitness News also found that another person filed a restraining order against Trinidad. She claims he left threatening messages, but a judge ruled there were no acts of violence.
Officer Trinidad's record at the Orlando Police Department revealed he's had six complaints filed against him and he was the subject of another four formal investigations. He has been with the police department since 2005.
The woman in the video did want to talk with Eyewitness News. Her attorney said they have not decided whether they plan to take any legal action.
The Village Voice wrote about the unleashing of stereotypes by media outlets following the testimony of Joseph Guzman who testified in the trial of three New York City Police Department officers.
The doctor who treated Guzman's 16 bullet wounds testified about them.
(excerpt, New York Daily News)
Cooper said Guzman was thrashing about on a stretcher when he arrived at the hospital emergency room on Nov. 25, 2006.
"I tried to speak to him," Cooper said. "He was somewhat confused. Basically he was telling me, in somewhat of a mumbling voice, that he wants to live and I should help him to live."
Cooper said Guzman was in "severe pain" and "combatative."
"Combative in the sense that he was thrashing about," the doctor said. "He was confused, incoherent ... I don't think he knew what he was doing. He was confused."
But a blood test determined that Guzman - who had one drink at the Queens topless bar where Bell's bachelor party was held - was not drunk.
Cooper said they drained a liter-and-a-half of blood out of Guzman's chest and abdomen and intubated him to get much-needed oxygen into his brain.
They found blood in Guzman's urine and when they opened him up, they discovered his intestines and colon were ravaged, said Cooper.
"It's just damaged, it's shredded," said Cooper.
A bullet hole from a shot that shattered Guzman's right cheekbone was found in his right cheek, but no bullet. But to save his life, they had put off the bullet search.
"Our primary job here was not to go looking for the slug," he said. "It was to look for the damage caused by the slug ... They were life threatening injuries."
A cat-scan revealed there were seven bullets in Guzman's body, four of which still remain.
In Canada, a discussion about the use of tasers by law enforcement officers is causing controversy because it's taking place behind closed doors.
Big Brown muscles his way up the Derby Dozen.
Labels: officer-involved shootings, retention and diversity, Video police review
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