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 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 4812 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: MAY 2016 Tougher penalties We should be talking about tougher penalties for crooks, not police officers A fter a minor scan- dal involving Denver police ac- cessing a crimi- nal database for non-law enforcement purposes, the city’s independent police monitor suggested that pen- alties for such infractions should be increased to dis- courage the behavior. The controversy emerged after reports indicated that some Denver officers were accessing the National Crime Information Center, a database used by tens of thousands of law enforce- ment agencies across the country to catch criminals, for personal reasons. Denver Police Depart- ment policy warns officers that they can be criminally prosecuted for using the database and a similar state- wide database for personal reasons. But such abuses, which are better described as in- fractions, continue in part because the light sanctions aren’t enough to deter future misconduct, Independent Monitor Nicholas Mitchell wrote. The monitor said that 25 officers have been punished for inappropriate use of the databases since 2006. Most of those officers received only reprimands. The incidents include an officer who looked up the phone number of a fe- male hospital employee with whom he chatted during a sex assault investigation. That officer later called the hospital employee’s home against her wishes. Other inappropriate rea- sons for accessing the data- base were as follows: • One officer ran a man’s license plate seeking infor- mation for a friend. Un- fortunately the friend then used that info to drive to the residence and harass and threaten the homeowner. • There was also an officer who ran a man’s license plate number on behalf of a tow truck driver who also wanted information for per- Big data can be helpful when it comes to catching bad guys. But frequently those accessing the various databases are doing so for personal, rather than professional reasons. sonal reasons. It’s unclear if things have been tightened up, but In- dependent Monitor Nicho- las Mitchell says it would help if there were stronger disincentives in the form of discipline. According to a recent report from ESPN, the Uni- versity of Notre Dame Police Department can no longer operate in secret, accord- ing a ruling by the Indiana Court of Appeals. According to the report, the appellate court reversed a lower court’s ruling that the police department was exempt from complying with state open-records laws. That claim was based on the fact that Notre Dame police are affiliat- ed with a private as opposed to a state institution. Now the Notre Dame police must comply with open-records laws like other Indiana law enforce- ment agencies. The ruling is the result of a lawsuit filed by ESPN investigative reporter Paula Lavigne. Lavigne and ESPN filed a series of public records requests seeking incident reports involving 275 Notre Dame football and men’s basketball players from 2009 to 2014. The police depart- ment denied the requests on the grounds that it was not a public law enforcement agency and as a result not subject to the Indiana Ac- cess to Public Records Act, or APRA. But the appellate court ruled that Notre Dame police department is in fact a public law enforcement agency as defined by APRA. While the court did not force Notre Dame to turn over the records sought by ESPN, the ruling gets that process started. “Wearepleased with the appel- late court’s deci- sion to support the public’s right to open records, and we continue to report on this story,” an ESPN spokesperson told the Associated Press. The reason ESPN wanted the records was the fact that they were doing an inves- tigation into interactions between university police agencies and college athletes at 10 major colleges, includ- ing Notre Dame. Same rules apply • Precision molded from Kydex® • Tuckable 360™ C-Clip affords unlimited mounting options • Features a rugged nylon clip • Ambidextrous Tuckable™ 360 MSRP Style 137 3999 $ desantisholster.com desantisholster.com 800-GUNHIDE 631-841-6300 Dept #AP56 800-GUNHIDE 631-841-6300 Dept #AP56 431 Bayview Avenue Amityville, NY 11701 431 Bayview Avenue Amityville, NY 11701 Police Week 2016 Law Enforcement DeSantis Honors DeSantis Honors Slim-Tuk™ Slim-Tuk™