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 4022 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: DECEMBER 2016 The new eyewitnesses will be surveillance technology With half of the United States population already in the databases, catching bad guys might be the kind of thing non-cops can do with a cellphone A r e p o r t f r o m GeorgetownLaw’s Center on Privacy and Technology has determined that more than 117 million Americans’ faces are now on file in facial recognition databases. In many larger and well- funded law enforcement agencies, police can use “real-time face recognition” technology that allows sur- veillance cameras to scan the faces of pedestrians as they go about their business. In Maryland, police have been using software to iden- tify faces in protest photos and match them to people with warrants. Like a lot of the new stuff coming down the pike in terms of law enforcement equipment and gear, facial recognition has some issues that some might consider Orwellian or at least “Ter- minator-esque.” Unlike biometric data- bases where law enforce- ment captures DNA profiles related to criminal arrests or forensic investigations, the faces in the FBI facial data- base are “overwhelmingly made up of non-criminal entries,” the report found. Another issue is that like a lot of the new high-tech sci-fi stuff, it’s unclear if some of these high-tech “solutions” actually work. The FBI’s own statistics suggest that one out of every seven searches of its facial recognition database fails to turn up a correct match. That means there’s a 14 per- cent chance the computers get the wrong guy. Arizona has no law re- stricting police use of facial recognition, according to the ACLU, and there are no laws requiring an officer to have reasonable suspicion of a crime before searching a face in the database. Americans are just find- ing out about these massive databases with faces, accord- ing to Neema Singh Guliani, legislative counsel for the ACLU. “People who worry about the Constitution are now playing catch up with the technology, which has been implemented across the nation with almost noth- ing in the way of over- sight, restrictions, or public knowledge,”Guliani said. “That’s really a backwards way to approach it. This is already being used against communities it’s designed to protect.” One of the things that drives officers, deputies, and troopers nuts is when civil- ians spout off about public safety issues they don’t re- ally know much about. If you want the inside dope you’ve got to ask a cop. On the other hand, you could ask the other big group of experts – the crooks. In Waterloo, Iowa there’s something going that’s likely to make some officers be perceived as brilliant. The city’s police chief is reaching out to convicted felons as part of an effort to rebuild community trust in the department. Waterloo Safety Services Director Dan Trelka is tak- ing the unusual step of put- ting together an advisory team made up of people who’ve served time behind bars to help him review police department policies, including use of force. “I’ve been getting more re- quests from citizens wanting to get involved in our pro- cess,” Trelka told reporters with the Courier newspaper. “What I came up with was a bold, aggressive idea to actually have citizens who have felony convictions to be my advisory team. “This team has no author- ity, but still I’m excited to get the input of these individu- als who have been through the system,” he added. “I truly believe we have many people in Waterloo and Black Hawk County who have been convicted of a crime and are on a path to a better life.” Trelka says he thinks the advisory committee will have five members. One he will appoint per- sonally. The rest will be ap- pointed by the mayor, City Council, Waterloo Police Protective Association and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. A sixth member may come from the Human Rights Commission, he said. Trelka must be a hell of a negotiator, because he even got the local police union to buy into the idea. “These individuals who are going to be on this have street credibility,” he said. “So when I talk about use of force incidents at the police department they can go back to the community and hopefully better educate our community.” People who know most about law enforcement? Cops and cons! “The sheriff said he wants input from us or something. How about this – you know that one screw – yeah, the skinny guy. The one that’s always so worked up and stressed out? What about if they had an exercise yard for the guards too? Maybe he’d relax a little and stop confiscating all your Ramen.” • Removes weight of duty belt off hips and lower back • Enables you to perform at maximum standards • Helps keep shirt tucked in during physical activity • No need to adjust duty belt when exiting vehicle • No need to hold duty belt when engaging in foot pursuits No more back pain The Back Defender is the only concealed belt suspension system approved for police duty WWW"ACK$EFENSE3YSTEMSCOM   (or)