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 406 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: JUNE 2016 W hateverpeople mean when they say “po- lice reform,” it usually happens this way. After a series of lawsuits and public criticism, the U.S. Department of Justice rides in and takes over the shop. They don’t really take over – they just monitor the operations of an agency and determine whether or not the leadership is making the changes required by law. But sometimes it’s actu- ally the local law enforce- ment agency itself that asks for federal supervision. Officials in North Charles- ton, South Carolina have done exactly that. Local leaders have asked the Department of Justice for help to improve their department. If approved for the col- laborative reform initiative by federal officials, North Charleston will join Bal- timore and the St. Louis County Police Departments as the 10th participants in the program. There are more than 18,000 local police departments nation- wide. “We’ve been meeting with the Department of Jus- tice since March,” Mayor Keith Summey said. Under the Community Oriented Policing Service program, federal officials would work with the local law enforcement agency for three years. In that time the idea is that the feds can help the locals re-establish the trust that many feel was bro- ken after the controversial shooting of Walter Scott, officials said. In their request to DOJ, the local officials said that any reforms they tried to make on their own would probably be useless. “Anything we try to do on our own is going to be per- ceived by groups not happy with us as we’re not willing to take outside advice. This gives us that outside advice and quite honestly, you could relate it to having a marriage counselor. You get someone that comes in and looks at both sides of the issue and hopefully out of it is a resolution that works well for everyone,” Summey said. Just don’t call it a federal consent decree resulting from a lawsuit. City attorney Brady Hair wanted to make it clear that the request was entirely vol- untary on the part of North Charleston officials. “It’s voluntary, collabora- tive effort,” Hair said. “It is not a government investiga- tion brought on by the civil rights division.” Mayor seeks DOJ help on reforming After the fallout from a police shooting of an unarmed, fleeing suspect, the mayor is asking for federal help Mayor Keith Summey and Police Chief Eddie Driggers talk about the challenges ahead. According to multiple media reports, the Justice Department and FBI have finally and formally ac- knowledged that over the past 20 years nearly every examiner in an elite FBI forensic unit gave flawed testimony in almost every trial in which they testified and gave evidence against criminal defendants over the last 20 years. Out of 28 examiners with the FBI laboratory’s mi- croscopic hair comparison unit, 26 “overstated forensic matches” in ways that fa- vored prosecutors in more than 95 percent of the 268 trials being looked at by investigators. The cases include those of 32 defendants sentenced to death. Fourteen of those individuals have been ex- ecuted or died in prison. Obviously the bogus tes- timony by FBI employees doesn’t mean there isn’t other credible evidence of suspects’ guilt. But many de- fendants and prosecutors in 46 states are being notified that there may be grounds for new appeals. Forensic “science” to free the convicted This conviction is a slam dunk, counselor! The hair samples are a perfect 117% match with those found at the scene! Badges Insignia Medals Awards Collar Insignia Nameplates Challenge Coins Pins Accessories Design your badge online /smithandwarren @SmithnWarren Contact@SmithWarren.com Ph: 914.948.4619 To learn more, visit your local Smith & Warren dealer or visit www.SmithWarren.com It’s not JUST a BADGE