Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 4024 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: NOVEMBER 2016 In California, for instance, all 800 police departments in the state must begin to report and track every single use of force that causes serious injuries. The product’s developers say this will be the first state- wide database of its kind in the country. The online tool is called “URSUS” and includes fields for the race of those injured and the officers involved, how the contact started and why the level of force used was deemed necessary. “It’s sort of like TurboTax for use-of-force incidents,” said Justin Erlich, a special assistant attorney general. California agencies must now report the data under a new state law. While some agen- cies were already tracking such data, many were not. In addition to California, just three other states – Texas, Colorado and Connecticut – currently require depart- ments to track similar use-of- force incidents. California is the first state in the nation to track use of force incidents digitally. Use of force data in Colorado’s case is only collected when there are weapons fired, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. “As a country, we must engage in an honest, trans- parent, and data-driven con- versation about police use of Tracking police use of force with digital technology Continued from page one force,” California Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a news release. “How do we get enough information where we can re- ally focus on how to improve or inform policy? How do we make sure it’s not too big?” Erlich, the assistant attor- ney general said. “Capturing stubbed toes muddies the data but not capturing bro- ken bones would be a huge miss.” California’s efforts come as the FBI has suggested that use of force data collection is a priority. Just last year, the FBI an- nounced it would begin col- lecting all use-of-force data and make it public. But as is still the case with the use of deadly force, sub- mitting that data to federal officials is still entirely volun- tary. T here’s a lot of nega- tive talk around po- lice and policing these days. A lot of it is ill-informed and/or misplaced. But anyone that says ev- erything’s just fine is either delusional or just doesn’t want to deal with reality. Discord and unrest aside, there’s a lot of work to do out there. According to a recent article from the Kansas City Star, the Kansas City Po- lice Department’s Crimes Against Children Unit has been shut down entirely. The reason was the unit was so ineffective and inept that officials could no longer justify its existence or fund- ing. Critics say that for years detectives working in the unit ignored and improp- erly investigated some rapes, serious abuse charges and other crimes. Police Chief Darryl Forté 86ed the whole squad last January after a special squad was assigned a year ago to help clear backlogged cases. Those officers had the courage to speak up. The Crimes Against Chil- dren Unit investigates about 1000 cases a year of physical or sexual abuse, neglect, endangerment, parental kidnappings and custody violations. About the hundreds of pages obtained by The Star, Maj. David Lindaman wrote in a Nov. 19 memo, “Never in my career with the Kan- sas City Police Department have I seen such a systematic failure.” Many cases of crimes against children sat idle for months, 50 for more than a year, including one of a 4-year-old girl who had been raped and infected with a sexually transmitted disease. One of the challenges for working cases involving kids is that reality rarely lines up with mythology about these crimes. Many people still buy into “stranger danger” and per- ceive those who victimize kids as creepy guys in vans handing out candy. Better yet – creepy clowns. But any seasoned inves- tigator working these cases will tell you that nine times out of 10 the perpetrator is a respected member of the community, a member of the clergy or a family mem- ber. That makes investigations extremely difficult, socially awkward and can even trau- matize the cops working them. But you either take crimes against innocent children seriously or you don’t. Hopefully that gets turned around in Kansas City. Thank you to the cops that had the courage to speak