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 4014 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: JANUARY 2017 I n Cleveland, as in many other areas, law enforce- ment agencies are chang- ing their protocols and rules for officers who make contact with citizens suffering from mental illness. The new policies are man- datory under a settlement the city reached with the U.S. Justice Department after a lawsuit. Here’s a breakdown of the changes from old to new, ac- cording to a post from Cleve- land.com. Crisis Intervention Team Prev. policy: Officers assigned to Crisis Intervention Team were selected randomly and were not monitored for per- formance or evaluated. New policy: The Crisis In- tervention Team is made up of officers who are willing to work that job and must have three years experience. Collaboration with outside groups Prev. policy: There was none. New policy: The Mental Health Response Advisory Committee, which is made up of people from other parts of the criminal justice system, behavioral health advisers, hospital personnel and other communities, has been cre- ated to support officers. What crisis intervention officers do: Prev. policy: The Crisis Intervention Team officers only had vague directions “to get crisis under control” as a method policy to de-es- calate and calm a situation, according to the ADAMHS Board. New policy: The officers are to try at least something besides using force. This includes listening to the in- dividual, keeping a distance, and requesting assistance – perhaps even from mental health professionals. On Crisis Intervention Team training: Prev. policy: There was no training. New policy: Officers get 40 hours of training on how to conduct field evaluations, suicide interventions and certain mental health issues. Additionally there will be a requirement that officers get at least eight hours of train- ing annually. Handcuffing a person with a mental illness Prev. policy: There was none. New policy: Officers may handcuff people they are taking into custody, even if it is just to take a person to a psychiatric evaluation. We really need to dump these damn emails In Minneapolis, the Hen- nepin County Sheriff’s Of- fice is now deleting its e- mails after just 30 days. Local government offi- cials say the move is about efficiency, but others say it’s an alarming example of increasing secrecy about what should be public infor- mation. “I’m definitely troubled by it,” Tony Webster, a self-employed Minneapolis software engineer who has fought the Sheriff’s Office for e-mail records, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “More and more, govern- ment just wants to limit their exposure and just deleting stuff is one way. This is just going to keep happening.” If you’re familiar with some of the law enforcement email scandals that have been in the news lately you can certainly understand why lawmakers would want to limit public access to what should be public records. It’s not just the police. Starting in 2017, all Henne- pin County e-mails will be automatically deleted after six months. County lawmakers said the change would save $2 million next year in e-mail storage costs. Proponents of transpar- ency and open government find it troubling that keeping people in the dark seems to be the trend. “We really are afraid of what’s going on,” said Don Gemberling, spokesman for the Minnesota Coalition on Government Informa- tion. “It’s bad public policy. Across the country, when you give public employees the ability to delete their own e-mails, they get rid of stuff that’s embarrassing.” Some might suggest that’s the point. Old to the new Secrecy, being an instrument of conspiracy, ought never to be the system of a regular government. – Jeremy Bentham