Police de-escalation training gaining renewed clout as law enforcement seeks to reduce killings

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/deescalation-training-police/2020/10/27/3a345830-14a8-11eb-ad6f-36c93e6e94fb_story.html

Tom Jackman

Dan Morse

The Washington Post

27 October 2020

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A de-escalation training program from the Police Executive Research Forum, used by 85 police agencies already, was shown in Louisville to reduce police officers' use of force by 28%. The training resulted in 26% fewer injuries to residents, and an even larger drop in injured officers. The training focuses on incidents where the person is not armed with a gun but often is in a mental-health crisis. Contrary to traditional training that emphasizes command-and-control tactics with escalating shows of force, PERF's approach teaches officers to slow and calm the situation in ways that can avoid a shooting.

Calling home: Sheltering in hotels to escape coronavirus, Acadiana's homeless got back on their feet

https://thecurrentla.com/2020/calling-home-sheltering-in-hotels-to-escape-coronavirus-acadianas-homeless-got-back-on-their-feet

Christiaan Mader

The Current

26 October 2020

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In southwestern Louisiana, the Acadiana Regional Coalition on Homelessness and Housing wrangled 19 hotels into a makeshift network during the pandemic to house people experiencing homelessness. With help from Beacon Community Connections' counselors, the 456 people who entered the program found the stability and services they needed to connect with government benefits and, in some cases, find jobs. The program's Housing First approach, to admit the chronically unhoused without preconditions like sobriety, creates disciplinary challenges but put many on a path to a better life.

Booking homeless Portlanders into jail is endless, expensive cycle that arrests don't curb, but housing does

https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/10/booking-homeless-portlanders-into-jail-is-endless-expensive-cycle-that-arrests-dont-curb-but-housing-does.html

Molly Harbarger

Melissa Lewis

The Oregonian

25 October 2020

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Temporary housing providing drug treatment and other services to people experiencing homelessness appears to cut the chances that people arrested in Portland on minor charges will cycle repeatedly through the criminal justice system. In 2019, 250 people living in transitional housing were booked into jail, versus nearly 3,700 people still living on the streets. The rearrest rate for people living on the street is 87%, but 30 points lower for people with housing. Portland officials have been slow to provide alternatives to arrests and jail since a report in 2017 that most arrestees in Portland are homeless.

Racial disparities in LAPD stops fueled by failed crime-fighting strategy, audit finds

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-24/racial-disparities-in-lapd-stops-fueled-by-failed-crime-fighting-strategy-audit-finds

Cindy Chang

Kevin Rector

Los Angeles Times

24 October 2020

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When the Los Angeles tried to prevent violence and other serious crimes by using minor vehicle and traffic violations as excuses to stop vehicles and search drivers, they failed at their intended goal and showed a strong bias against Black and Latino residents. The findings by the LAPD's own inspector general, which confirmed a 2019 report by the Los Angeles Times that resulted in the curtailment of the traffic-stop ploy, showed that only 2% of hundreds of thousands of stops and intrusive searches resulted in arrests of any kind. The report recommended fixes if the program is ever revived.

Two years in, Maryland leads most other states in use of ‘red flag' gun law

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-red-flag-extreme-risk-erpo-maryland-20201022-piawdaqnbffv7etagy2lhqaopq-story.html

Ben Leonard

The Baltimore Sun

23 October 2020

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Police and the public have invoked Maryland's law allowing for court orders denying gun access to people at high risk of harming themselves or others far more often than in most states with such laws. Though it is difficult to prove that domestic-violence assaults or suicides have been prevented, which is the goal of such laws, advocates and law enforcement officials believe anecdotally they have seen that. Research has documented that extreme-risk protection orders, as such laws are known, can prevent suicides. Credit for the law's use goes to police training and 24/7 court access for emergency hearings.

They lost their brothers to addiction. Now they're tackling deadly stigmas head on, with humor

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-10-22/podcast-suicide-addiction-last-day

Tim Greiving

Los Angeles Times

22 October 2020

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Two women who lost their brothers to heroin overdoses launched the podcast "Last Day" to address death – by drugs and, in season two, by suicide – with a mix of humor, unsettling candor, and conventional-wisdom-busting storytelling. At first a modest startup, their production company now employs 17, topped the podcast charts with almost 4 million downloads, and has rolled out other programs on such topics as body image, bullying, the pandemic, policing, and loneliness. Many of the topics were proposed by listeners to "Last Day," who wanted their problems or questions to get the same treatment.

Contact tracing apps: Worth the hype?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3csz7xs

Ed Butler

BBC

22 October 2020

Podcast / Over 15 Minutes

Contact tracing apps have received a lot of attention since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, but researchers caution they should be used in conjunction with other tactics and not be relied on to help on their own. However, an early study has indicated that even when only fifteen percent of the population downloads a contact tracing app, infection rates are reduced by eight percent and deaths are reduced by six percent.

Midwestern Youth of Color Are Using Art and Culture to Build Their Political Power

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/midwestern-youth-color-using-art-and-culture-to-build-their-political-power

Cinnamon Janzer

Next City

22 October 2020

Text / Under 800 Words

The Midwest Culture Lab consists of three organizations working to increase voter turnout among young people, especially young people of color. The partners work with artists, musicians, and other creative people to create messaging and campaigns that are culturally relevant and engage young people in civic participation. One partner, the Ohio Student Association, had artists create an ad that used relatable messaging about a criminal justice reform ballot measure to appeal to young people to vote. The ad brought in over 150 volunteers and contributed to doubling Ohio’s youth voter turnout from 2014 to 2018.

Washington state's not new to voting by mail. Here's how we work to keep it safe

https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article246234620.html

Robert Mittendorf

The Bellingham Herald

21 October 2020

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Since Washington made voting by mail mandatory in 2011, nonpartisan election officials have refined ballot-security procedures to achieve a smoothly run system in which suspected cheating or interference represents a tiny fraction of the millions of votes cast in each election. Those procedures include signature verification, ballot-box integrity, securely blocking Internet access to vote tabulations and voter registration, and other safeguards against electronic or in-person tampering with votes or registrations.

After serving prison time, these students excel in Fresno State program. How it works

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/education-lab/article246240850.html

Ashleigh Panoo

The Fresno Bee

21 October 2020

Multi-Media / 1500-3000 Words

Project Rebound is a program aimed to help formerly incarcerated students navigate and succeed in pursuing their higher education goals. The program works by working with potential candidates, whether they are incarcerated or have completed their sentences, and provides aid in meeting basic needs like gas, food, shelter, as well as legal advice referrals and navigating technology. By 2021, 14 California State University campuses will have joined the list of institutions implementing the program. As of 2016, there were 180 students participating in the program and the number more than doubled by 2019.