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 4018 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: JANUARY 2017 M ilwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn recently argued that po- lice chiefs had to hold some officers involved in fatal shootings accountable for es- sentially being incompetent even though the officer has acted within the confines of legal precedent. Flynn’s remarks were made in a post at the Police Foundation’s “On Policing” blog. To make his case, Flynn rehashed the tale of the 2014 police shooting of Dontre Hamilton. Hamilton was a mentally ill man who had been ap- proached by officers and eventually shot and killed after allegedly trying to grab one officer’s baton. “My responsibility as po- lice chief was to examine this case beyond the confines of criminal culpability,” Flynn wrote. “The officer clearly had no criminal intent. He was de- fending himself. But his fail- ure to adhere to departmen- tal training and protocols were the proximate cause of his need to use deadly force. Someone died because of his incompetence. I therefore fired the officer.” Flynn used a term that’s being tossed around a lot lately – “officer-created jeop- ardy.” That term is used “to describe circumstances in which an officer’s use of force is the result of poor decision-making that leaves the officer with no options.” Flynn noted that in some circles, these uses of force are called “lawful but aw- ful.” Flynn called the protec- tions afforded officers in the famous Supreme Court case Graham v. Connor, “appro- priate.” The decision which governs police shooting after the fact says that use of force could be justified if it was “objectively reasonable.” But Flynn argued that “exoneration from criminal culpability does not relieve the police chief executive from responsibility for judg- ing the totality of the circum- stances that led to that use of force and whether there was a violation of training or policy.” Flynn seemed to suggest that the legal protections for officers that use deadly force require chiefs to be firm but fair when it comes to disci- pline or terminations. “If we as a whole in law enforcement had done more of that in the past 25 years there would be fewer calls for prison for cops every time they make a mistake,” Flynn wrote. “If police chiefs do not accept this responsibility, public expectations for ac- countability will focus exclu- sively on criminal sanctions and the enactment of laws that will criminalize conse- quences of police decisions made under conditions of extreme stress overwhelm- ingly made for the public interest,” Flynn continued. “That would be bad for the police, bad for the commu- nity, and have devastating consequences for the safety of both.” Tough time for cops; too many guns in the hands of criminals “This community’s at risk all right, but it’s not because men and women in blue risk their lives protecting it, it’s at risk because we have large numbers of high-capacity, quality firearms in the hands of remorseless criminals who don’t care who they shoot.” Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn Let’s hope for the sake of smaller agencies that the economy picks up sometime soon. Otherwise we’ll be seeing a lot more Rock Island, Il- linois scenarios. During a recent Rock Island County budget com- mittee meeting, officials sounded like they were wav- ing the flag of surrender. “This isn’t a good situ- ation,” said Rock Island County Finance and Budget Chair Richard Brunk. The bad situation is the result of the fact that local residents refused to back a half-cent sales tax that would have kept some parts of the local government up and running. County Administrator Dave Ross says he doesn’t want to lay off cops or close the agency but his hands appear to be tied. After the half-cent sales tax failed, there’s really not much left to cut. “We’ve laid off employ- ees, we cut, we cut, we’ve cut. We’ve done everything proactively, and now we’re down to public safety which is what we were trying to protect,” Ross said. Regardless, he’s recom- mending 35 jobs be cut – all from public safety. “We need to do everything we can to keep our deputies on the street and make sure that they are available for calls,” Brunk said. That sounds right, but where’s the money? “The sheriff’s office and public safety is the largest portion of the general fund budget, and that’s where the county is hurting,” Brunk said. “Yes this is going to be very detrimental,” Ross said. Here’s the kicker – the 35 positions slated for the axe are already the “best case scenario.” If county officials don’t agree to cancel all public works projects in- definitely going forward, it’s actually 81 law enforcement positions that could go up in smoke. Endangered species: small PDs 75 years ago the Japanese displayed professional brilliance and technological power launching surprises from Hawaii to the Philippines. – Newt Gingrich The Louisiana State Police announced that three New Orleans residents, includ- ing a man identified as the leader of a sex-trafficking “enterprise,” were arrested last month on charges of sex- trafficking children as part of an ongoing investigation. Taken into custody were the suspected ringleader, 29-year-old Kendrick Pigott, along with his accomplice Gregory Russell, 31, and Tiara Smothers, 20. The multi-agency investi- gation into local sex traffick- ing began in September after authorities caught Smothers engaged in “commercial sexual activity” with a 17- year-old girl who had been reported missing. Smothers and the 17-year- old, who was rescued, were found in a downtown New Orleans hotel. The teen had been reported missing seven weeks earlier from the custody of the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services. Investigators said Pigott was in charge of the sex trafficking enterprise and Russell was a co-conspira- tor who assisted by renting hotel rooms and performing security. The case remains under investigation. Along with the sex-traf- ficking charge, Pigott was also booked on seven counts of non-compliance related to his sex-offender registry obligations and one count of unlawful use of a social- networking website. Pigott’s criminal history includes a 2012 guilty plea for failure to register and notify as a sex offender, ac- cording to online Orleans Parish court records. Multi-agency effort breaks up sex-trafficking ring