Policing with technology…

May 8, 2016

Toronto Star – Alex Ballingall
To serve, protect, watch and predict…

Under the broad banner of innovation, this article invites us to consider what the future of policing will look like if we apply effective use of technology.  Consultant Ritesh Kotek says that through social media the public can now become co-creators of public safety and the public can redefine community policing while feeling part of something with police through the social media.  Another expert, Ryan Prox, suggests that by loading data around time, place and type of crime, the data can be predictive of the next crime to occur with 60-70% accuracy. http://torontostar.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx   Related article: Bangor Daily News (Maine) – Nok-Noi Ricker    ‘Unfortunate necessity’? Proposed armored vehicle for Bangor police stirs debate  https://bangordailynews.com/2016/05/07/news/bangor/unfortunate-necessity-proposed-armored-vehicle-for-bangor-police-sparks-debate/

 CBC News – Roberto Rocha
Montreal police to release more crime data – First dataset of breaking-and-entering cases in 2015 published today

Starting with 2015, the Montreal police will offer access to crime data through its open data portal and there appear to be no constraints on the use of the data by those who access it.  The stated goal is transparency but actual street addresses will be replaced by nearest intersection identification, allowing users to map crime.  The data will be built up over time and will cover only Montreal proper, not neighbouring municipalities.  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-police-open-data-1.3555343

N.Y. Times – Patrick Chappette and Anne-Frédérique Widman
Inside Death Row

The link is to a five part series in comic book style detailing what happens in preparation for an execution and then what follows.  What is perhaps most disturbing is the singularity of intent to kill that clouds over all these stories.  The other four individual parts are entitled: How to keep your sanity in solitary, Memories of Execution Day, How to get on death row without firing a bullet, When art and love save an innocent.  A chilling series…  http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/05/04/opinion/the-last-phone-call.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-top-region&region=opinion-c-col-top-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-top-region&_r=0   Related article: CaribNews (Trinidad & Tobago)  – CN Reporter    Human Rights groups urge Jamaica to shelve idea to resume hanging  http://www.nycaribnews.com/latest-news/human-rights-groups-urge-jamaica-shelve-idea-resume-hanging

Long Beach Gazettes (California) – Emily Thornton
Long Beach Families Get On the Bus, Visit Mom Behind Bars

Started in 2007, the service aims to allow contact and encourage bonding between children and mothers who are in prison.  The effort highlights the fact that most all imprisonment creates secondary victims, spouses and children, who must now cope without a parent.  http://www.gazettes.com/news/long-beach-families-get-on-the-bus-visit-mom-behind/article_d83a740e-1216-11e6-940c-1f75311fd26e.html

BBC News
Colombia to send jets against criminal gangs

The plan specifically targets three large criminal gangs with membership reaching about 3,000; the largest, FARC, is largely a guerrilla movement against the present government and against whom the military has long been an instrument (with US intelligence assistance); at the moment, FARC and the Columbian government are supposedly in peace talks.  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36233734

CBC News – Bryan Labby
J.R., who stabbed family to death with boyfriend at age 12, is free after 10-year sentence – Alberta woman makes no apology as final court appearance marks end of involvement in criminal system

A woman convicted of multiple family murders and sentenced to 10 years has served her time and is in process of being release.  The judge says she has met every rehab goal set before her and has spent four years in a psychiatric hospitable.  The article serves to underline the re-integration factor and again how social relations are strained by a release for a serious crime.  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/jr-medicine-hat-murders-steinke-sentence-review-1.3568118

Toronto Star – Danyaal Raza, and Ritika Goel
Proper housing is a crucial a health issue – Safe, secure and affordable housing is crucial to maintaining and improving health and well-being

A growing number of anti-poverty and health advocates are coming to the conclusion that addressing housing as the absolute first priority is the best and most cost effective way to address other social services as well.  “Finally, our approach to the housing crisis cannot be one-off policy changes but should be part of a co-ordinated national housing strategy. This is the very approach recommended by the United Nations Economic and Social Council just this past March. They raised red flags over our insufficient funding for housing, our shortage of social housing units and increased evictions related to rental arrears,” say the authors, “(it’s) …good health policy, too.” )https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/05/08/proper-housing-is-a-crucial-a-health-issue.html