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Learning when to be hands-off

Jodi Hausen

September 30, 2021 |

Boulder Weekly |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Boulder County, Colorado

Although several Colorado law enforcement agencies have trained officers on how to de-escalate interactions with people in a crisis, including people with disabilities, the state in 2022 will become the latest to mandate such training for all law enforcement officers. The training is backed by a study that suggests it helps police better recognize and understand the reactions that people with disabilities might have under stress in a confrontation with police. Trained officers in Boulder last year successfully ended one potentially violent incident without serious inury.

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Atlanta Tried Housing Police in Disinvested Black Communities to Increase Trust. Is it Working?

Adina Solomon

September 29, 2021 |

Next City |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Atlanta, Georgia

The Secure Neighborhoods program lets select police officers buy houses at subsidized prices if they move into a mostly Black, historically disinvested neighborhood. The aim of the program is to make police officers part of a community, build community trust, and discourage crime. While violence and auto theft in the chosen neighborhood have dropped, and some community members say the program improved relations, others complain that the gesture has been fairly superficial and just adds to gentrification pressures.

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Parson acknowledges new gun law needs to be revisited after police say it ties their hands

Lauren Trager

September 28, 2021 |

KMOV-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Missouri

A new Missouri law, the Second Amendment Preservation Act, restricts the ability of local law enforcement officials to collaborate with federal officials in enforcing gun laws and investigating gun crimes. The law, which legislators meant as a statement of gun-rights principles, would fine police officers who violate it. Many local law enforcement officers withdrew from federal-local gun crime task forces and have otherwise stopped working with their federal counterparts. One department stopped submitting data to the federal ballistics database. Police say the law interferes with legitimate police work.

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'They Saw Me And Thought The Worst'

Richard A. Webster

September 24, 2021 |

New Orleans Public Radio (WWNO) |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

Comparing police accountability in Jefferson Parish, La. to neighboring New Orleans reveals a stark contrast because of federally imposed reforms in New Orleans. Jefferson's sheriff's office, one of the nation's largest police agencies not using body cameras, has a weak internal investigation process and lack of transparency for its use of force, which is influenced by race. New Orleans had similar problems until a Justice Department report led to a package of reforms that have helped reduce the use of force and increased accountability and transparency.

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Maybe Cops Shouldn't Handle Domestic Violence Calls

Melissa Jeltsen

September 22, 2021 |

The Cut |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Moab, Utah

The case of Gabby Petito illustrates how decades-old laws meant to make police take domestic violence more seriously can backfire on the people who most need protection. Mandatory-arrest laws require police responding to a domestic-violence complaint to determine who is the primary aggressor, as a prelude to an arrest. In Petito's case, as in many, Moab, Utah, police deemed her the aggressor based on a cursory investigation, and possibly based on ingrained biases against women. This does nothing to get at the root of the problem and get people the help they need.

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What the Rest of America Can Learn From Colorado

Russell Berman

September 22, 2021 |

The Atlantic |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Aurora, Colorado

In the wake of 2020's social-justice protests and a controversial killing by Aurora police of a man in their custody, Colorado legislators passed the Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act, the first police-reform law of its kind in the nation. The law mandates several reforms aimed at improving transparency and accountability, including prompt release of body-cam videos and allowing people to sue police officers for violating their rights. The law has resulted already in a crackdown on misconduct in Aurora. What's less clear is whether it can change the culture of policing.

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Seattle police intervening in fewer mental health calls, data show

David Kroman

September 13, 2021 |

Crosscut |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Washington state legislators imposed new restrictions on the use of force by police, including strict limits on physically restraining someone who is not suspected of committing a crime. At a time when non-police responders to mental health crises are not yet fully staffed, the use-of-force reforms have had the unintended consequence in Seattle of denying some people in mental health crises the emergency care they need. Police believe they are not allowed to restrain someone in order to involuntarily commit them to a mental hospital. Involuntary commitments have dropped by almost half.

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Lake Mary police partnership keeps mentally ill out of ERs, away from police confrontations

Erik von Ancken

September 08, 2021 |

WKMG-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Lake Mary, Florida

The Mental Health Intervention Group is a partnership of hospitals and community social services agencies formed by the Lake Mary Police Department to address mental health problems before they turn into crises. Avoiding crises minimizes the chances of violent encounters with police or repeat visits to hospital emergency rooms. Volunteers and their organizations learn from police or hospitals who needs help, and then they provide whatever is needed, from counseling to food assistance. Nearly all those they've helped have avoided hospital visits afterward.

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#EndSARS: Impact Of Judicial Panels In Facilitating Justice For Victims Of Police Brutalities

Kehinde Ogunyale

September 04, 2021 |

HumAngle |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Nigeria

Protests against alleged brutality and extrajudicial killings by Nigeria's Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) led to demands for judicial panels of inquiry to investigate the abuses and provide justice to victims. Of Nigeria's 36 states, 29 set up panels of inquiry, and seven of those submitted reports and recommendations. Some victims have been compensated for illegal arrests and beatings. While critics say these measures don't go far enough, they concede the reports and payments have provided at least some accountability.

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Cincinnati Was a Model for Police Reform. What Happened?

Fola Akinnibi

September 02, 2021 |

Bloomberg Businessweek |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Cincinnati, Ohio

A 2002 agreement with the U.S. Justice Department made Cincinnati a model of police reform. After a series of controversial shootings of residents, police committed to a less harsh, more publicly accountable approach that, for a time, seemed to work. Arrests and crime both fell. Public support for the police grew. But now the city is a model for something else: how progress can be undercut if a city grows complacent and fails to perform the hard work of sustaining a different sort of policing.

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