New book on police misconduct by Lou Reiter

My second novel about police misconduct is off the press.  “Shattered Badges” continues to follow the police misconduct and liability cases being unraveled by my fictional consultant, Taylor Sterling.  Some might find Taylor to be a little like the author, Lou Reiter.  This version is a little longer pushing 500 pages.  The format is the same with each chapter being a separate police case with a beginning and an end.

The first chapter finds Taylor in New Jersey working on a case of a misdirected prosecution of an officer for a fatal shooting.  The young cop is caught between the political power plays of the local and state prosecutor.  What could an outside consultant do?

The second case weaves its way into the wrongful conviction of a drug dealer in Indiana.  Of course the drug dealer now expects to get a big payout for his eight years on death row.  Taylor is there to give the insurance carrier some ammunition that might lower that payout, but gets involved in the sloppy operation of the drug unit.

It's a steamy chapter about civil demonstrations that takes Taylor to a small college in Oregon.  This chapter gets into the underlying concepts of crowd and demonstration control and the different style of policing on a college campus.

Two fatal SWAT operations in a small town in Kentucky frighten the insurance pool covering the agency.  Taylor is there to evaluate these incidents and the inherent hazards of this type of unit.

The fifth chapter deals with speed…police pursuits…highway interdiction.  The small sleepy town in the middle of nowhere Kansas has got itself into a pile of trouble with some police fatal crashes.

The last chapter deals with police greed and choices.  How can a department turn its head when the devil is active inside the agency and good people are being hurt?  It’s Taylor task to uncover what went wrong in this town outside the sprawl of Cleveland.

Cops should like these stories.  Bosses might cringe.  For the person not directly involved in police misconduct these cases will be informational.  In the end, the book is a good read.  I’d appreciate some feedback on your read.

You can get your copy at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBook, Deeds Publishing Marietta GA, or Public Agency Training Council.

How to create a cultural change in a police agency

This discussion isn’t for the vast majority of police agencies that are smaller than 25 officers.  Many of these, at times, need a culture change.  But the challenges for them are somewhat different than those required for the medium to large sized agency. 

Just change the top cop!  That’s a solution that seldom works.  Most of the people in the agency can sit back and wait this ‘carpetbagger’ out.  I recall a retired Deputy Chief from Dallas who had been a chief in two agencies after his retirement commented that the live expectancy of a change agent is about 2 years and the agency is usually back the way it was in a matter of months after the change agent leaves.  Of course there are exceptions.  Reluctantly I’ll give Bill Bratton credit for the changes he made during his 7 years with the LAPD.  Chief Craig in Detroit seems to be fighting his way to create changes in that legacy agency.  But we see too many apparent failures…Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, Chicago, Oakland, Portland OR, and Seattle are prime examples.

It takes staying power and the ability to develop a command layer that is supportive of the top cop’s efforts.  Then too you have to have the political support of more than just the mayor or city manager.  Does the new top cop have enough time to develop the necessary social capital with the community?

Is training the key?  It could be if the training was relevant to changing the culture of the agency.  Regional training units have no real allegiance to any specific agency and today deliver most training to all but the very large police agency.  Many larger agencies may have their own training units and that quality varies.  Usually both of these training delivery systems really focus on meeting whatever the state standard is.  Unfortunately police still equate training to the number of hours devoted rather than the outcome performance.

Whatever the delivery system, the quality of the instructor is still the key.  Many of you may have seen a recent report from the Seattle Police Department.  The instructor, facing hostility from the group being trained, simply retorted that this was what DOJ wanted…not him.  I found this scenario particularly interesting since it was almost exactly the same as what occurred in a television documentary concerning the implementation of the DOJ consent decree in Pittsburgh in 1997. 

Training to change an agency’s culture can’t be done in a number of hours.  It will take months of interactive methods with instructors committed to the task.  I’m afraid today’s agencies aren’t committed to that outlay of personnel time.

Is an influx of new blood at the street level the answer? It could be, but are you in a position to hire that many and are you able to eliminate the ‘toxic officer?’  It will take money for settlement agreements to get that type of thorn out of the agency, since the chance of termination will be remote.  And then you have to find enough qualified new candidates that now must meet some reasonable ratio to the complexion of your community.  And then you have the problem of bringing on new blood only to be trained during the FTO program by old bad blood.  Those of you serving inner city communities will still have to face the allegation that you’re nothing more than an ‘occupying’ force.  Is there any reasonable solution to bringing your new young officers to live in the inner city?  How many young officers with school age kids can afford private school?  All the attempts to invoke residency requirements have not worked.  Maybe the Japanese model of police compounds for employees…but that’s really ridiculous to even consider. 

In the end, I don’t think anybody is committed to changing the current culture of policing in America.  There’s too much inertia.  What you may not hear, but it’s present are sentiments like:  It’s too hard.  I’ve got only a few more years to go until I can get out of this damn place.  The politicians don’t care.  The community isn’t behind it.  I’ve got resumes out everywhere and expect a call any day.  The union won’t back me.  We’re fighting a war out here.  Where’s the money going to come from?

Then, too, few cops can really articulate what they envision the agency will look like with whatever cultural change might occur.  Vision.  Commitment. These may be lacking.

I recall a presentation made by a retired Fire Chief…Alan Brunacini who grew and changed the culture of the Phoenix Fire Department with the mantra of ‘be nice.’  It was his way to ensure that his employees focused on treating the public respectfully.  He was successful with this narrow effort.  Unfortunately, Chief Brunacini relates that his agency slid backwards with the new administration not continuing his commitment to the public. 

The culture of an agency must be cultivated continuously.  It is a tenuous quality.  It takes total commitment by the entire agency, not just the top cop.

Policing in Cuba - some casual observations

I had an enlightening and educational tour of Cuba in April with a ‘people to people’ Smithsonian group.  I was very impressed with the tour, organization and steadfast attention to keeping it educational.  The police operation was not a feature of this trip, but I was able to make some observations during our travels.  We spent about half of the time in Havana and the other half about three hours south on the coast in Cienfuegos and Trinidad.

My two main observations were that the police presence was much less obvious than in the USA, Puerto Rico and my recent trip to Mexico City.  The officers also were much less militant in appearance.  The officers I observed were not wearing combat vests and appeared to be carrying only a sidearm, reserve ammo, handcuffs and a baton.  Now I realize this is still a communist country and guns are not readily available.

Outside of Cienfuegos we were hosted at a block party in a neighborhood adjacent to a power plant.  We were late arriving, yet the nearly 100 persons of all ages were waiting and were very hospitable.  Hugo Chavez of Venezuela built this subdivision of 100 homes in 2007.  These are the poor, rural people of Cuba who have been devastated by the policy of both of our governments.  The meeting was organized by the local CDR (Committee for the Defense of the Revolution). 

I spoke with the Director of Ideology and Safety about crime.  Apparently they have very little in this subdivision, but then there’s someone always looking at the goings on.  He said that a representative from the local police station came to their monthly meetings and discussed other crime and law enforcement issues and that the relationship was good.  The subdivision had given one of its units to a police officers who now was retired.  I assumed it was similar to our community oriented policing.

We talked with about 12 youngsters from ages 5 to 9.  Most wanted to go to university, but two young boys were hell-bent on being “police officers.”  There was an obvious pride in their desires.

The only real policing efforts I observed were traffic enforcement by motor cops on the highways (all in terrible condition) and at night in downtown Havana.  I was riding in one of those 1950s convertibles that are privately owned for taxi service.  The young man who owned the car, a cherry Oldsmobile with original engine and transmission, said that he felt the cops hassled him on traffic stops.  They would make these stops on trivial issues knowing the operator had money from the tourists.  Usually he was able to get out of the ticket with a small bribe to the officer.  Unless the person is in private business, the government worker gets only the equivalent of $20 a month.

Cuba is on the cusp of facing radical changes with the warming of relations with the US.  Cruise ships will be on the horizon.  The government is in the process of converting its money to one system from the current two.  More and more Cubans are starting their own businesses, currently most are restaurants (paladares) and renting rooms to tourists.  The real Internet hasn’t arrived yet!  Unfortunately the Cuban government isn’t prepared to this type of rapid change.  Hopefully, the common people will be.

U.S. Supreme Court considers accommodations under the ADA for cops on the beat

On Monday I had the experience of being present during oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court.  The case at point was Sheehan v. San Francisco Police.  I was the police practices expert on this civil case.  The case was originally dismissed at the District Court, and then reversed by the 9^th Circuit that returned it for a jury trial.  The 9^th found that there were issues in dispute on the second entry into the apartment of the Plaintiff and whether the ADA required the officers to make reasonable accommodations to her knowing that she was diagnosed as being mentally ill.  The City/County appealed the case to the USSC.

Of course this case could have significant implications for law enforcement.  I feel comfortable saying that the majority of people shot during police encounters could be classified as “persons of diminished capacity.”  For those of us in police work, that covers a lot of subjects we encounter.  They could be mentally ill, intoxicated, high on drugs, or suicidal. 

This was my first experience being present during oral arguments at the Supreme Court.  Justice Breyer recused himself as his younger brother was the Federal judge originally dismissing the case.  Each side gets 30 minutes to make its case.  Well, not quite.  I found the process somewhat disorganized.  It was more like 8, well really just 7 since Justice Thomas never speaks, taking potshots at the attorneys during their presentations.

For the most part, the Justices didn’t seem to be very interested in making ADA accommodations a requirement for the cop on the beat.  They seemed to be siding with the claim of the City/County that the officers’ safety was more important than the disability of the subject being confronted.  Two Justices kept coming back to the potential that the subject could commit suicide while the officers waited for back-up, special teams or weapons, or negotiation efforts. 

Justice Sotomayor seemed to be the one most interested in the welfare of the mentally ill person.  Surprisingly, Chief Justice Roberts gave the attorney presenting the Plaintiff’s case the best opportunity to hit a home run at the very end of the presentation when he asked, “Could you give us a two minute version of what the officers should have done in this situation?”  All of the Justices truly appeared to be interested in the case.

In a few months we’ll see what decision they make.  It could be monumental and force us to intensify our training and oversight of officers when they deal with this huge group of persons with some form of diminished capacity.  Or it could be just business as usual.  Hopefully, law enforcement will continue to train and supervise our officers to respond safely and effectively on these potentially dangerous calls, but still exercise restraint and compassion for these struggling members of all of our communities.  The issue won’t get any better; just bigger for the cop on the beat.

Are cops the real targets?

The recent murders of cops in NYPD, Tallahassee and central Florida are tragic.  In each incident, the officers were hopelessly ambushed without any warning.  These officers were at the mercy of their killers.  The murderers didn’t know these cops. They were just uniforms.

But the common denominator in all of these was the killer was mentally ill.  Any cop will tell you that they regularly have to deal with the mentally ill person, the suicidal person, and the drug user who hears ‘voices,’ wants to die, or refuses any help offered.  And then we have to acknowledge that our detention centers, jails and prisons have now become the only governmental facilities to place these persons who can’t function in society.  Heck, they have trouble functioning in these lockdown places.

I refute that these are focused attacks on police officers.  These are tragic, strategic attacks on our government.  Cops, unfortunately, are the most readily observable representatives of the government. The recent protests in cities throughout the country have decried the role of the prosecutor in police fatal shootings.  Yet, attacks on prosecutors have not occurred.  Prosecutors aren’t as visible as uniformed cops.  Remember, most of these murderers have harmed or killed loved ones, persons who cared for them, or people they associated with before they set their sights on cops.

Where is the hue and cry for mental health?  Who does not have someone in his or her extended family that is mentally ill?  Who knows of anyplace with beds for these persons of diminished capacity who have no money for the private facilities in Malibu and the sex rehab farms used by the rich and ‘famous.’  They no longer exist! 

I would suggest that law enforcement and police unions focus on the real problem we’re facing.  What’s occurring now in the police blogs, emails and protests is simply driving the wedge between those of us in blue and the general public and elected officials.  Sheriff Tom Dart of Cook County IL. appears to be a lone public voice in this growing problem.  We in law enforcement have to rise up and lend our voices to this problem that isn’t going away.

The U.S. Supreme Court will address this problem in the coming months with the case of Sheehan v. City/County of San Francisco.  It deals with a police shooting of someone diagnosed with mental illness.  Who know the direction will take and what further implications that might pose for us in law enforcement?

Five issues that might protect you from a 'Ferguson."

“Far too much criticism has been hurled at the police and far too little understanding of the difficulties of the police work prevails.  This criticism and lack of understanding has resulted in alienating the police from the public, so that they go about their work with scant consideration of the public just as would any other group of people who were criticized unintelligently.  At the present time when strenuous efforts are being made by many police departments to increase their efficiency, it is ungracious to dwell on the inefficiency of the police in general.” Sutherland, “Criminology,” 1924

“In America, on the other hand, the student of police travels from one political squabble to another, too often from one scandal to another.  He finds a shifting leadership of mediocre caliber – varied now and then by flashes of real ability which (sic) are snuffed out when the political wheel turns.  There is little conception of policing as a profession or a science to be matured and developed.  It is a job, held perhaps by the grace of some mysterious political influence, and conducted in and atmosphere sordid and unhealthy.  It is a treadmill, worked without imagination or aim, and with little incentive except the desire to keep out of trouble…We have, indeed, little to be proud of.  It cannot be denied that our achievement in respect to policing is sordid and unworthy.  With all allowance for the peculiar conditions which make out task so difficult, we have made a poor job of it.” Fosdick, “American Police Systems,” 1915

And here we are now, nearly 100 years later, with Ferguson and similar accusations from a wide range of public and political fronts.  It appears the outcry may have legs.  Local and national study commissions are being proposed.  What we do will be closely scrutinized. 

Now is the time each law enforcement agency should take stock of critical areas and determine whether there is room for improvement, need for corrective actions, or a sense that you’re reasonably secure.  There are five (5) specific areas you need to assess to ensure your comfort.

·      Protocol for handling force investigations, specifically officer-involved-shootings

·      IA/OPS quality control

·      PIO capability

·      Community policing and other outreach efforts

·      Recruitment strategy

Is your agency prepared to handle a major force or shooting?  It’s too late to put together a protocol after the incident happens.  You will fail and be made to look foolish!  Consider the dichotomy that’s occurred in the past few weeks.  Some force incidents have occurred and there has been no turmoil in those communities.  While other agencies have created their own problems with botched up investigations or prematurely ruled the incident as in policy without a good grasp of the facts.  These latter ones are on the front page and on the local TV news.  What has yet to be challenged, other than during civil lawsuits or a federal investigation, has been our administrative review of these types of controversial incidents.  Can you reasonably support your analytical decisions?  If you have no formal review process, stand by for deserved criticism.  We all will have to become more transparent in this review.

When did your agency last conduct a quality control audit of your IA/OPS process?  Surprisingly, most agencies don’t conduct these types of essential audits.  The most vulnerable areas are the citizen complaint process, witness gathering, interviews, and, finally, the adjudication of the investigation.  An essential part of this process is whether you’re properly using ‘administrative insight’ when making that final adjudication…are you effectively selling your analysis with a narrative ‘rationale reasoning.’  (There are several articles written on this topic accessible from the PATC website and clicking on the IA tab.)

Is your PIO (Public Information Officer) prepared for this type of critical incident?  Most agencies are so small that this is left for the Chief or Sheriff or some other randomly selected person.  It’s too important a function not to have someone selected and trained to handle this task without embarrassing or creating mistakes that will come back and haunt your agency later.  Avoid at all cost a premature pronouncement without supportive facts.

Positive community outreach, even if it’s not officially referred to as Community Policing, will garner your agency that valuable commodity often called ‘social capital.’  It’s that bank account with your community that you can go to during troubled times.  Too many agencies rely on special officers or programs.  The best source of social capital, however, comes from your officers on the beat and investigators who regularly contact your crime victims.  Field officers need to get out of the cars and walk and talk and put away those cellphones.  Investigators need to spend more time out in the community and less time on the telephone.  Social capital is developed from a one-on-one relationship between community members and your employees.

And lastly, does your agency have a recruitment strategy?  Matt Dolan of PATC emphasizes this need.  Many people are pointing an accusatory finger at us and noticing that few police agencies are ethnically representative of the community being served and that most officers don’t even live in the community being protected.  Even those agencies that are aggressively pursuing minority recruits are having trouble achieving reasonable numbers.  It is a difficult, daunting task.  The only salvation your agency may have is to have a reasonable strategy that lays out your efforts, even though they may not be working.

Ferguson is a signal for introspection of local policing

Ferguson is more than simply one officer-involved shooting.  Either way the Grand Jury and prosecutor goes will not be satisfactory to one group or another.  But, this tragic police incident will be similar to others that crop up every 20-25 years and signal a time to reflect on the role of law enforcement in our country.  Each time we have gained from this insight, but unfortunately allow ourselves to slip backwards.

In 1931 it was the Wickershim Commission that plowed into political corruption and influence in local policing.  It looked at the undue influence of politics in policing, payment for getting cop jobs and promotions, and the affect of the ‘Code of Silence’ in shielding police misconduct.  On the plus side it heralded the beginning of merit systems for police throughout the country.

The late 1960s saw a glow across the country from urban riots.  The President Johnson Commission, Kerner Commission and eventually the Police Task Force Report of the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals were national efforts to address societal and policing issues.  That latter work was really a precursor to CALEA (Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies).  A significant focus of these efforts was the handling of citizen grievances.  It ushered in the growth of civilian oversight efforts.  But it also improved training, created state POST and certification efforts, more effective ways to manage demonstrations and unrest, and collective bargaining for many police employees.

In 1991 it was the Rodney King incident in Los Angeles.  While many wanted national legislation to address ‘police brutality,’ what they got in 1994 was Section 14141 that allowed the Department of Justice to initiate ‘pattern and practice’ investigations of local law enforcement.  Again there were numerous local commissions that focused on police handling of citizen complaints and the ineffectiveness of civilian oversight.  One positive outgrowth was the movement to fully document police uses of force that demonstrated that use of force was not as widespread as most civilians believed.

So here we are now with Ferguson.  It has catapulted several issues to the forefront in communities across the nation.  The first issue must be the militarization of local agencies and the battle between foundational philosophies of are we ‘warriors’ or ‘guardians of the peace?’  Anyone actively involved in today’s policing has to recognize that we have to be prepared for the unthinkable.  But how many agencies that took advantage of the 1033 federal program and got armored vehicles, weapons and 12,000 bayonets (who has those?) actually vetted the acquisition with their local governing bodies and communities? 

A ‘warrior’ is someone whom a government creates to overcome, suppress and kill its adversary.  There are some police incidents that require a warrior mentality like a high-risk entry into a fortified location or a takedown of heavily armed criminals.  But the vast majority of a cop’s daily work is more designed for the ‘guardian of the peace.’  We may have forgotten to balance our training and direction to ensure that officers know the difference and when one is needed over the other.  As my good friend and retired chief Harry Dolan says, “Do we need officers doing routine patrol dressed in military BDUs and weighed down with the external combat vests?”  What message are we sending to the cop on the beat?

The second issues that Ferguson will address is ‘Are we capable of investigating ourselves?’  Wisconsin this year passed legislation that mandates that a group headed by investigators from non-involved agencies investigate every police-related death.  Hawaii passed a law requiring police agencies to report terminations of police officers.  Miami-Dade Police will now have all of their OIS investigated by FDLE, the state agency.  Philadelphia, Baltimore and NYPD have all taken steps to create more transparency in its investigations of allegations of police misconduct. And, yet, we don’t have reasonable national statistics on police related deaths of civilians.   

And the last area (there will be others brought out) is whether we can hire officers who are representative of the community being served.  That is a daunting task that good, well-meaning agencies have struggled with for many years.  The pool of qualified candidates is shrinking, particularly minority candidates, when you throw in arrest records and drug use. 

Law enforcement has survived other periods like Ferguson and we will survive this one too.  Hopefully we’ll come out better for the introspection and not allow complacency to drag us back for another national forum 20 years from now.