Mar 10, 2022
Blogger Russell Webster (UK)
Strategic review of policing proposes fundamental reform – New Police Foundation report into future of policing proposes most fundamental reform for a generation
This is the third of a series of reports from the Police Foundation of England and Wales chaired by Sir Michael Barber. The report offers 55 recommendations for a radical re-set of policing. Webster’s summary identifies five strategic changes: “Creation of a new Crime Prevention Agency; Expansion of the role of the National Crime Agency so it in effect becomes a new FBI for the UK; Introduction of a new licence to practice for all police officers that is renewed every five years and subject to strict conditions; Merger of back office functions across the 43 forces that would save hundreds of millions of pounds; Investment in front line policing, training and technology to modernise the service from top to bottom.” https://www.russellwebster.com/strategic-review-of-policing-proposes-fundamental-reform/ Full report: https://www.policingreview.org.uk/#
Globe and Mail – Willow Fiddler
Sudden deaths of 15 Indigenous people in Thunder Bay require further action, report on police service says
The troubled Thunder Bay police appear again in the news, this time over the deaths of 15 Indigenous persons and a further twenty five cases of missing women. “The main report was delivered last week to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), the police board and Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney-General. It has not yet been made public. It contains case summaries and comprehensive accounts of nine sudden deaths of Indigenous people that were reinvestigated, and cites shortcomings in police work, and a lack of documentation and coroner involvement…The recommendation for a review of the cases of missing women and girls is part of a confidential report investigators produced that is not in the final report to the OIPRD.” https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-sudden-deaths-of-indigenous-people-in-thunder-bay-require-further/?utm_source=Morning+Brief&utm_campaign=08b03d9f9f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_12_02_COPY_1296&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a43c5d924a-08b03d9f9f-206962393
Canadian Civil Liberties Union (CCLU) –
Prison Pandemic Papers Documenting Impact of COVID-19 in Jails, Prisons & Penitentiaries across Canada Launched
The effort to obtain accurate information about the impact of the Covid pandemic on our prison and jails systems has resulted in the Pandemic Papers, previously unpublished information around the impact on incarcerated persons. Dr. Justin Piché and doctoral candidate Sarah Speight on the types of records us to paint the picture: ““Congregate settings have been hit hard by COVID-19 throughout the pandemic which is soon to enter its third year. This is evident in the Prison Pandemic Papers we’ve obtained documenting disease prevention, management and treatment protocols, shifts in prisoner and staff counts, cancelled and modified visits and programming, the use of segregation and lockdowns including in the name of medical quarantines and isolation, use of force, prisoner resistance in the form of hunger strikes, protests and refusals to stand for count, prisoner and staff grievances, health and labour inspections, vaccination, and more”. Speight adds: “As the documents reveal, prison policies and practices enacted during the pandemic have made already austere conditions of confinement even more austere. As the prison pandemic continues, it’s critical that the courts and governments do what they can to reduce imprisonment to decrease COVID-19 transmission and exposure to torturous conditions that undermine public health and community safety.” https://ccla.org/press-release/prison-pandemic-papers-documenting-impact-of-covid-19-in-jails-prisons-penitentiaries-across-canada-launched/?fbclid=IwAR2g21tZHHrpakSfSHmQNBLiQG79qzl7McoJuBkQn4kU27hu-jPHIqPsBRE
Ottawa Citizen – Aeden Helmer
Convoy protest organizer Lich released on bail, ordered to leave Ottawa as judge overturns prior decision – Tamara Lich has been released on bail with a list of strict conditions, including an order that she leave Ottawa within 24 hours.
The question of the denial of bail to Tamara Lich in Ottawa makes an interesting prism through which to examine the glaring problems associated with bail. About the bail, says Superior Court Justice John Johnston: “Johnston ordered Lich released after finding that Bourgeois “erred in law” during her decision, in particular in her analysis of the “gravity” of the offences and the likelihood of a lengthy prison term upon conviction.” https://ottawacitizen.com/news/convoy-protest-organizer-tamara-lich-released-on-bail Related article: Ottawa Citizen – Matthew Lapierre Interim Ottawa police chief considering action against officers who allegedly supported ‘Freedom Convoy’ https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/interim-ottawa-police-chief-considering-action-against-officers-who-supported-freedom-convoy
Washington Post – Megan McArdle
The pandemic crime paradox might have a rational explanation after all
There seems to be agreement that during the pandemic the homicide rates went up but that many other and lesser crimes went down. McArdle uses two researchers – Maxim Massenkoff of the Naval Postgraduate School and Aaron Chalfin of the University of Pennsylvania to propose an explanation. “…they looked at the ratio of crimes to the amount of time people spent in public. And they found that even though the number of crimes fell, the chance of being victimized if you were out on the street rose significantly.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/07/rising-murder-rate-falling-crime-statistics-pandemic/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_opinions&utm_campaign=wp_opinions Related article: The Atlantic – Adam Serwer The Who-Cares-If-You’re-Innocent Project – Republicans want to blame the rise in crime on liberal permissiveness, which includes, in their view, the right to counsel. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/republican-lawmakers-incarceration-right-to-lawyer-due-process/624175/
AP News (US) – Michael Balsamo and Michael R. Sisak
‘Abhorrent’: Prison boss vexes DOJ with alleged intimidation
The federal women’s prison in Dublin, California, is known as ‘the rape club.” And Deputy Regional Director T. Ray Hinkle who was tasked to clean up the prison is now suspected of attempting to bury a sexual harassment complaint from one of the guards against a manager. Hinkle was appointed temporary warden when the previous warden was arrested and charged with a number of sexual offences. “An AP investigation last month revealed rampant sexual misconduct at the prison and detailed a toxic culture that enabled it to continue for years. After that reporting, which included accounts of inmates being sent to solitary confinement or transferred to other prisons to silence them, workers and union leaders at the Bay Area lockup and other federal prisons told the AP they too were being threatened for raising alarms about misconduct.” https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-business-congress-california-1833c4532971f91c24b9090d51cdbe4e
The Lawyer’s Daily – Douglas Harrison
Two lawyers from Lviv gave us two modern principles of war crimes
Harrison draws attention to the effort to establish international law principles to confront war crimes in this narrative about two law students / professors from the present Ukrainian city of Lviv and its University founded in 1608: “In the history of international law and the laws of war, the city holds an important place. Arguably, it is a birthplace of two important modern legal principles: crimes against humanity and genocide, which were developed by Hersch Lauterpacht and Rafael Lemkin, both of whom, coincidentally, studied law at the university in Lviv (today called the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv).” https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/criminal/articles/34334/two-lawyers-from-lviv-gave-us-two-modern-principles-of-war-crimes-douglas-harrison-?nl_pk=40ed8ea4-637a-4d76-870f-04f0eeae7de8&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=criminal