How To Support Local Police

Community & Police Improvement Initiatives

When the police and the communities they serve work together, good things can happen. Two organizations that work hard to build trust and make communities safer places to work and live are COPS and the IACP. Both have several initiatives they are committed to, but for different purposes and outcomes. While the COPS program is more aimed at educating communities, the IACP programs focus on training law enforcement officers and department professionalism and how to better interact with the communities they serve. The work done by both organizations improve relationships between the police and people, and serve to build trust thus making communities safer places to live and work.

The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Programs mission is to advance public safety through initiatives designed to build trust and mutual respect between law enforcement and the communities they serve. As an extension of the U.S. Department of Justice, COPS provides resources that help bring the police and communities together to improve relationships with minority populations, prevent crime and provide fairer enforcement. Some of their successful initiatives include:

• Because Things Happen Every Day
• Smart on Crime

• Anti-Gang

Anti-Gang Initiative

Because Things Happen Every Day

Safe Place operates a hotline and provides free, confidential counseling to teens and works closely with school counselors and staff to form support groups for teens staffed by teens.

Safe Schools Initiative

The Impact Of Gratitude

If you could thank a police officer, what would you say or do? Here are a few fun ways to show your appreciation.

Opportunities For Continuing Law Enforcement Education

To help build and maintain the skills required for police officers to function effectively within their community, and to keep abreast of how their community is evolving, they have to undergo periodic refresher training. Some of the following opportunities are free, while others have a charge associated with them. The venues are varied between live seminars, downloadable presentations, and online/on-campus classroom offerings.

Crisis Communications: Offered by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, this free training teaches emergency telecommunicators how to be more proficient in stressful situations. Ideal training for 911 operators, dispatchers and officers in the field.

Cultural Diversity: Legislatively-mandated training in the state of Texas, this Powerpoint/Word training presentation increases the awareness of the influence of our cultural rules, values, beliefs and prejudices have on the way we act in a situation. The training promotes mutual respect and enhances the awareness of an understanding of human diversity issues through providing skills to enable to effectively interact with persons of diverse populations.

Dispatcher Ethics: A video series that explores what you believe to be ethically right and how knowing yourself will help you make the right decisions when faced with a law enforcement situation.

People In Crisis: A video training program on how to recognize and de-escalate crisis situations.

Interview

LT Anthony Zimmerman

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How To Program Baofeng Uv

The Baofeng UV-5R police scanner is a useful gadget for emergencies. However, you need to do some technical tinkering to get it up and running. If you dont know how to do that, youll end up with a useless device at a crucial time.

So, weve put together this quick guide to give you everything you need to know about how to program a Baofeng UV-5R.

How To Get A Local Police Records Check

Fill in all questions on page 1 of the Local Police Records Check Form.

Tip: Photocopy it for each local police service you contact.

Contact the local police service for the address where you live now. If you have lived in different places during the last 5 years, you must contact the police service for each place. If you are not sure who to contact, ask your local police service.

If you lived outside of Canada you still need to contact the local police service where you lived. If the police service outside Canada will not give you a local police records check, a signed letter from the police service stating that you have been law-abiding will be accepted. If it is in a foreign language, you must have it translated into English or French and submit both the original and the translated version with your application form.

Show your criminal record to each local police service and ask them to fill in the section on the Local Police Records Check Form called For Police Use Only on page 2 of the form.

You will need to show them a current photo ID and a second piece of ID.

Tip: Contact the local police service in advance to find out the types of ID they accept.

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The Change We Need: 5 Issues That Should Be Part Of Efforts To Reform Policing In Local Communities

Transformation of police departments, their role and relationship to our communities requires a change in culture, accountability, training, policies and practices. It also requires strong leadership and transparency. Without organizing our communities and building power nothing will change.

Below are five issues that should be part of any effort to reform policing in local communities. This is not an exhaustive list but its a start.

1.Accountability and Transparency

The lack of trust for law enforcement that exists in so many communities is due in part to lack of accountability and transparency. Too many failures to indict officers and too many acquittals have left communities feeling that there is no justice. When someone is killed and no one is held responsible it not leaves people of color feeling vulnerable. To build trust, there must be consequences and the public must have information.

a. Accountability: Police departments should not investigate themselves. Nor should justice depend on prosecutors who rely on local law enforcement for evidence in cases they bring. Instead, accountability systems should be directed by the communities that police departments are supposed to protect and serve.

2.Excessive Use of Force

b. Improved Training: Law enforcement should be required to go through racial bias training in addition to building skills in problem-solving, conflict mediation, and de-escalation tactics.

3.Discriminatory Stop-and-Frisk Policies and Practices

Community Policing And Crime Prevention

When the police work with members of the community to establish how they want to be policed, it not only builds trust within the community as they have part ownership of the policy and procedures agreed upon but opens lines of communication. It strengthens the ideal that the police and people of the community should be partners, not opponents.

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Ways Community Members Can Engage With Law Enforcement

#1. Volunteer

• Citizen volunteers help supplement and support officers and civilian personnel in many ways.
• Roles for volunteers may include: performing clerical tasks, assisting with search and rescue activities, writing citations for accessible parking violations, code. enforcement, patrolling to provide additional police visibility, reporting graffiti and other quality of life issues, and helping with property and equipment inventories.
• For more information see the IACPs Volunteers in Police Service resources.

#2. Serve on a Citizen Advisory Board

• Many police departments have citizen boards to advise and assist with implementing effective strategies to reduce crime and disorder, change perceptions and facilitate positive engagement.
• These entities strive for diverse representation, including members from local businesses, churches, community groups, youth groups, local government, and law enforcement.

#3. Participate in a Citizens Police Academy

• Classroom information sessions, put on by the police for citizens, enable residents to learn about local law enforcement agencys values and mission as well as the overall operations of the department.
• Citizen police academies allow citizens a chance to better understand the different aspects of the job and the reasons why officers perform certain actions.

#4. Compliment or Complain#5. Participate in Neighborhood Watch #6. Participate in Police Initiatives, Projects, and Programs#7. Attend Community Meetings

Law Enforcement & Community Involvement

A big part of police work commonly overlooked by the media is community involvement. From educating kids in school about the danger of using illegal drugs through the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, to providing driver safety education, to coordinating neighborhood watch associations, to speaking at business luncheons, schools and community town hall meetings, police strive hard to make their communities safe and to provide a friendly environment for the people they serve.

Program Spotlight: D.A.R.E.

D.A.R.E. is one of the first zero-tolerance national programs in the United States. Police officers teaching the D.A.R.E. program undergo 80 hours of instruction, but do not need teaching certificates. They are invited into the schools where they interact with students in a safe and controlled classroom environment. In certain schools, this is the first contact students have with law enforcement in a capacity in which they can see that the police are there to help them. While the focus of the program is avoidance of recreational drug usage and the dangers of joining a gang, the curriculum also teaches assertiveness, making the right decision and the value of self-defense education.

According to the D.A.R.E website, 26 million students in 75% of the nations school districts participate in D.A.R.E. training. As of 2009, the program annually graduates 20 million students.

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Building Trust And Legitimacy

Creating a culture of integrity within a department is crucial to building and sustaining community trust, effective policing, and safe communities. A clearly defined standard that guides all actions of every member of a department lays the groundwork for a trusting relationship with the community.

United States Department of Justice

There are several things police departments can do to build trust and legitimacy, beginning with departmental transparency. When the community knows the policies and procedures the police use, and when the police follow those established procedures and hold their officers accountable when the procedures are not followed, the people in the communities begin to again trust the police force hired to protect and serve them.

Next, police have to get out in the community they serve and engage in non-enforcement activities showing they are the guardian of the people and not a warring faction with the people. In diverse communities, the police force should mirror the population as far as cultural and race dispersion. This may entail hiring a more diverse police force that supports the race, gender, language, life experience and cultural background of the people they serve.

Keep Them Local & Independent

One of the hallmarks of a free society is local law enforcement. The 1828 Webster Dictionary defines a police officer as “an officer entrusted with the execution of the laws of a city.” This clearly indicates the officer is responsible to the city. Today’s sheriffs are accountable to the local voters who elected them, and police chiefs are accountable to those locally elected officials who appointed the chiefs.

When law enforcement agencies become entangled with the federal government , this accountability shifts.

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How To View Your Frequencies

There are some good frequencies to help program your UV-5R, which includes 146.520, and 446.000. These are simplex calling frequencies, which means they are monitored by local radio operators for simplex operation.

One conversation that starts on a simplex frequency is moved up and down to another through the frequency band when others call it. You will need a license to help transmit those frequencies. But in our tests, we found that simplex frequencies can receive and transmit better than MURS and FRS bands.

Hint: You will have to change your settings on your Baofeng to make 5K increments once youre programming frequencies. First press the menu button then find the item 1STEP. Then you can adjust it back to 5K.

Ethics & Integrity Education For Law Enforcement

Even with importance of ethics and integrity well documented, department still must vie for limited training time and funds. However, knowing the ethical thing to do in a certain situation and having the integrity to do it are the very foundation that makes all other training succeed. Recent high profile events are starting to put the focus back on ethics and integrity.

Teaching ethical decision-making in general is not easy each decision involves options, making choices, and living with the consequences. For the police professional, it is even more difficult: making an ethical decision requires considering the various options, selecting one of the options, implementing it, and then knowingly being held accountable for the outcome all within a split-second. Any given officer may have to make several of these split-second decisions during the course of a shift. Because of the high levels of accountability maintained, making the wrong choice can be career-limiting, to say the least.

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Reporting Cybercrime In The Eu

In the EU, Europol has a site that can help you report a crime no matter what country youre in. Each of the member states includes websites, email addresses, or telephone numbers for you to report a cybercrime.

If youre concerned about your cybersecurity you can contact us and well help you

Featured image by TheVisualsYouNeed from Shutterstock.com

Whom To Approach For Help

First, you need the support of your stakeholders. Make sure the chief of police and other command staff members will support you. If you will need to use patrol officers, dont forget to include the patrol commander increasing bike patrol, foot patrol, DUI wolfpacks, or other preventive patrols will come from that unit. Dont leave your boss out in the cold wondering what you are up to.

If you are working for an American Indian tribe, make sure to also contact tribal court judges, council members, important clan leaders, and any other stakeholders who may be invested in the project. The general community may also offer support for your project. Dont forget: When working with people, respect and collaboration are key to success.

Similarly, if you are working for a municipal police department, engage your stakeholders. Parents, schools, businesses, the city council, and local leaders are all great collaborators for this kind of project. I get a lot of support from Mothers Against Drunk Driving when I apply for grants.

You can always hire a professional to write your grant for you, but this approach is expensive! I recommend trying to write a grant yourself first. Start small and work your way up. For example, try writing a grant for a $1,500 award they exist and can help offset some costs. As you start winning funding, try for larger grants. Successful grant writing is all about practice, and the first step is to write a problem statement.

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Here Are Ways To Help

for honoring Law Enforcement throughout the year!

Blank Check: How Local Police Fund Themselves With Fines And Fees

Help fund a national look at how local police departments use fines to fund their everyday operations. Our goal is to raise $5,000, which would let us file requests to agencies in the hundred largest cities in the United States.

• $2,500 would be used by the Sunlight Foundation to dedicate research time for the project.
• $1,200 would be used to fund processing costs, such as stamps, envelopes, and credit card fees.
• $1,300 would be used to fund payments to agencies that assess fees for processing the requests.

If we raise more than our target amount, well use it fund more requests and dedicate more time to analysis.

Backed by Phil Mocek, Emma North-Best, Bob Woodbury, Peter Haight, and 12 others.

• Phil Mocek

$1,130.00 raised out of $5,000.00.

This crowdfund has ended.

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Reporting Cybercrime In Australia

In Australia, cybercrime can be reported via ReportCyber a service ran by the Australian government. You can find their online forms both for individuals or for businesses. If a case is more serious or outside of their normal business hours, you should contact your local police by dialing 131 444.

Why Become A Psv

Volunteering provides an opportunity to do something worthwhile with your spare time, making a real difference to your local police force and to your community.

It allows you to become involved with policing and to be part of the policing family, which has the needs and interests of communities at its heart. It allows you to engage and interact with people from all backgrounds, whilst making a positive contribution to your area.

PSVs learn new skills whilst sharing and enhancing those they already have. They gain a deep insight into the fascinating world of law and order, whilst enhancing their CV by being part of a professional, public-focused organisation.

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