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 40AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: JANUARY 2017 37 OD photos great for traffic but do they help or hurt? “Shaming” has been a part of law enforcement for centuries T here are a lot of things that law enforcement of- ficers and agen- cies do extreme- ly well. Public relations and social media aren’t always among them. Here’s the deal. The USA is in the grips of a massive drug use crisis thanks to a variety of actors including Congress and pharmaceuti- cal companies. Ten years ago no one ever heard of Narcan and largely considered drug abuse and overdoses “those other peo- ple’s problem.” But now that the opi- oid menace has struck the middle class, including some members of the law en- forcement community, it’s something that many people feel we should do something about. From a nuts and bolts LE perspective this usually means administering Narcan – the miracle drug that can reverse an overdose that would have likely resulted in death. But from a media perspective, it’s a little more complicated. Many police chiefs and sheriffs have been posting photos on social media of parents that OD’d with kids in the car in the same way that some agencies like to post “Sad criminal of the month,” or mugshots on their Facebook pages. From some officers’ per- spectives this makes a lot of sense. It’s basically an attempt at scaring people straight like the TV show where the cons yell at the kids. But for others it just doesn’t feel right. Chiefs and sheriffs who’ve posted such photos gener- ally say they didn’t do so to get hits or likes and didn’t expect the photos to go vi- ral. Instead they say it’s just a way to get residents of their own communities to recognize that they were not immune from the opioid crisis. But if you’re serious about actually doing something about the crisis, as many mental health and substance abuse experts are, it’s worth thinking considering other points of view. A majority of addiction experts and many criminal justice academics say the “scared straight” approach has the potential to make a deadly situation even more so. The problem is that when you shame someone (which is what posting the photos is about – just like the mug- shots) you might actually in- crease the stigma that keeps addicts from seeking help. It betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of addiction created largely by a lot of the mes- saging in the so-called drug war. Shaming in public safety is as common as the “perp- walk.” In addition, there’s really nothing that could be con- sidered counter-productive when agencies post mug- shots. But it’s worth thinking about whether or not people actually want to be addicts, how addicts deal with their children and what role the Internet (read “rubberneck- ing”) plays in all this. From Wikipedia: Stocks are devices that were used internationally, in medieval, Renaissance and colonial American times as a form of physical punishment involving public humiliation. The stocks partially immobilized its victims and they were often exposed in a public place such as the site of a market to the scorn of those who passed by. This scorn was commonly represented by throwing rotten food at the victim. “We feel it necessary to show the other side of this horrible drug. We feel we need to be a voice for the children caught up in this horrible mess,” said city officials from Liverpool, Ohio in a Facebook post. I mmigration enforcement is handled at the federal level, not by local law enforcement,” a statement issued by Denver Police spokesman Doug Schepman said. “The Denver Police Department has not par- ticipated in those enforce- ment efforts in the past and will not be involved in the future.” The LA Times has reported that Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said he has no plans to change the department’s stance on im- migration enforcement. “We are not going to work in conjunction with Home- land Security on deportation efforts. That is not our job, nor will I make it our job,” The LA Times quoted Los An- geles Police Chief Charlie Beck as saying. This appears to be the con- sensus of a rather large ma- jority of local law enforce- ment officials – particularly ones that deal with large immigrant populations. “I will build a great wall – and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me – and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.” Trump in 2015 ICE and DHS set for super massive budget increases