Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • The police experiment that changed what we know about foot patrol

    Of the three most notable experiments testing the effectiveness of police foot patrols at reducing crime, only one – the Philadelphia Foot Patrol Experiment – showed a significant reduction in violence, thanks to a three-month randomized controlled trial. By rethinking an old practice and infusing it with data-driven thinking about focusing on "hot spots," the Philadelphia brand of foot patrols debunked the myth that patrol might, at best, only improve community relations without having an effect on crime. But random car patrols, reacting mainly to radio calls, remains the dominant approach nationwide.

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  • Ernie & Joe: Crisis Cops

    Two officers with the San Antonio Police Department's Mental Health Unit show how they respond to mental health crises with empathetic listening and de-escalation tactics rather than the traditional police tactics of command and control. The small unit can only handle a tiny percentage of the city's crisis calls. But the officers also run the training of all incoming police cadets, who now get 40 hours of Crisis Intervention Team training. This policing tactic works only because it exists within a well-developed system of mental health care in the city.

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  • 'The woods, they hide so much': Animal Cruelty out of sight out of mind?

    To address animal cruelty in Pennsylvania, a team of law enforcement officers are receiving special training to better identify and prosecute the guilty. This effort gives limited enforcement powers to those trained and allows them to be hired by animal welfare groups to serve search warrants, charge and arrest those involved, and appear in court.

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  • Seattle's already doing what California's about to do to limit police use of force. How's it working out?

    In the past decade, Seattle has reduced their use of force by 60 percent. Spurred by a court order, the reduction comes from greater de-escalation training, stricter, more nuanced policies, and more collaboration between law enforcement and activists. While moving the needle, many cite the long way the city has to go, especially when it comes to how force is still used disproportionately on communities of color. But because they’ve made progress without endangering officers, other states like California look to Seattle as a model of reform.

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  • Fresh Data Shows How Focused Deterrence Can Keep At-Risk Individuals from Crime

    In 2013, Detroit’s law enforcement agencies started using focused deterrence – a method that uses data to identify at-risk individuals – to decrease the rate of violent crime in the city. The method, part of the national program, Ceasefire, partners police departments with social workers and other city services to deter people from criminal behavior. A new study in the journal, Crime and Delinquency, has been published that links the strategy to decreased crime rates and recidivism.

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  • Water Warriors

    After an energy company began exploring New Bruncwick territory for oil and natural gas, Indigenous tribes and white people worked together to protect their water and ban fracking. They held protests at government buildings and set up road blocks to prevent equipment trucks from getting out. Some of the protests included violent clashes with police, which made national news and drew more supporters. As a result of their actions, the government put a moratorium on fracking in the Canadian province.

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  • What California can learn from Seattle about police shootings

    Seattle has taken a comprehensive approach to police reform, including forming a community police commission, the development of policies on appropriate weapon use, more oversight on police force, and the creation of a specialty unit that focuses on mental health. While there has been pushback from officers, the safety of officers hasn’t been compromised and the use of force has decreased by sixty percent. With some calling it a success, California seeks to implement similar reform at the state level.

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  • The Kim Foxx Effect: How Prosecutions Have Changed in Cook County

    In her first two and a half years in office as Chicago’s top prosecutor, Kim Foxx lived up to her campaign pledge to prosecute fewer low-level crimes, divert drug cases to treatment, and focus more on gun violence. An analysis of an unprecedented data release shows that Foxx’s office turned away more than 5,000 cases, mostly shoplifting and drug offenses, based on her vow to stop over-criminalizing behavior in ways that ruin lives. Meanwhile, her office prosecuted more gun crimes. Police complained her policies will increase crime, but in the short term at least there was no evidence that they had.

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  • Flock Safety Says Its License Plate Readers Reduce Crime. It's Not That Simple

    Cobb County, Georgia installed new license plate surveillance technology, loaned to them by the Atlanta-based company, Flock Safety. After installation, the test area saw a dramatic decrease in crime, to which Flock took credit for but experts say the connection could be due to a number of things. Furthermore, while surveillance technology has been correlated with decreased crime, communities have called into question issues of personal privacy versus public safety.

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  • A Police Department's Difficult Assignment: Atonement

    The city of Stockton police department has embarked on a number of initiatives in the hopes of building trust between them and the communities they work for. With initial funding from the Department of Justice, the department began truth-and-reconciliation processes, including workshops, departmental reforms, public apologies, and community conversations. Actual reconciliation is hard to measure, and yet their efforts to atone for their part in historic and systemic racism have shown positive results.

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