Victoria Police rolled out an expanded social media presence on the site on Wednesday after a pilot project in which a handful of crimes were quickly solved by connecting directly with its users.
The force's "Eyewatch" Facebook pages are now run in 17 police districts across the state, allowing thousands of residents to connect directly with their local inspector and officers.
Similarly, police can use the site to publish details on local crimes, help solve missing persons cases, or catch and identify wanted criminals by posting appeals directly on each community page.
Acting Deputy Commissioner Steve Fontana says he's excited about the possibilities after seeing more than 30,000 people share a recent police appeal on Facebook to identity a man wanted in Geelong over an attempted sexual assault.
"It's a really effective, efficient forum for us to communicate with the community," Mr Fontana said.
Read more here.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Friday, April 26, 2013
Prosecutor speaks as victim of violence
An assistant U.S. Attorney, who’s devoted his life to fighting crime, is speaking out about being a victim of violence himself.
As part of National Crime Victims Rights Week, Joe Marquez talked publicly for the first time about being on the other end of the criminal justice system. Marquez says he’s developed a greater appreciation for victims’ rights.
“I’m just a normal guy who lost his wife and now I have to face all of these things,” Marquez said. “All these trials and tribulations like everyone else.”
In July 2008, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Marquez was attacked in his Grain Valley, Mo., home, his wife murdered by a friend of his stepson. Police captured Taylor Marquez, 16, and a friend, Eddie George, in Colorado. The two were convicted of stabbing to death 39-year-old Pamela Marquez.
Although the seasoned prosecutor recovered from his physical injuries in the crime, he says being a victim has made him more sensitive to the needs of crime survivors.
“No one understands,” Marquez said. “Why does stuff like this happen? Why Taylor? Why his friend Eddie? What was going on in these kids’ minds? You don’t really know and it’s hard to understand. So, our victim advocate was very helpful in explaining things to me.”
Read more here.
As part of National Crime Victims Rights Week, Joe Marquez talked publicly for the first time about being on the other end of the criminal justice system. Marquez says he’s developed a greater appreciation for victims’ rights.
“I’m just a normal guy who lost his wife and now I have to face all of these things,” Marquez said. “All these trials and tribulations like everyone else.”
In July 2008, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Marquez was attacked in his Grain Valley, Mo., home, his wife murdered by a friend of his stepson. Police captured Taylor Marquez, 16, and a friend, Eddie George, in Colorado. The two were convicted of stabbing to death 39-year-old Pamela Marquez.
Although the seasoned prosecutor recovered from his physical injuries in the crime, he says being a victim has made him more sensitive to the needs of crime survivors.
“No one understands,” Marquez said. “Why does stuff like this happen? Why Taylor? Why his friend Eddie? What was going on in these kids’ minds? You don’t really know and it’s hard to understand. So, our victim advocate was very helpful in explaining things to me.”
Read more here.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Remembering Victims of Crime This Week
At the core of the vast majority criminal cases, there is a victim--sometimes more than one. Sometimes the victim is society as a whole. But every criminal act, large or small, leaves a victim in its wake.
Our criminal justice system works to protect society, hold offenders accountable, and seek justice. But it must also work to make victims as whole as possible following a criminal act. Victims must always have a place at the table and be central to the administration of fair and equitable justice.
As we enter Crime Victims' Rights Week (April 21-27th), we should remember that primary among those rights is the right to a criminal justice process that fully includes the victim and gives full weight to victim concerns.
There are very good reasons that the state, not the victim personally, is responsible for prosecuting crimes. Our system is intended to put the full weight of the state on the side of seeing that justice is done, and to avoid a revenge-based system that could lead to unfair results. But it is easy, in a system focused on respecting the rights of both victims and defendants, when penalties are imposed only for failing to ensure the rights of the latter, to give short shrift to the priorities of victims.
Read more here.
Our criminal justice system works to protect society, hold offenders accountable, and seek justice. But it must also work to make victims as whole as possible following a criminal act. Victims must always have a place at the table and be central to the administration of fair and equitable justice.
As we enter Crime Victims' Rights Week (April 21-27th), we should remember that primary among those rights is the right to a criminal justice process that fully includes the victim and gives full weight to victim concerns.
There are very good reasons that the state, not the victim personally, is responsible for prosecuting crimes. Our system is intended to put the full weight of the state on the side of seeing that justice is done, and to avoid a revenge-based system that could lead to unfair results. But it is easy, in a system focused on respecting the rights of both victims and defendants, when penalties are imposed only for failing to ensure the rights of the latter, to give short shrift to the priorities of victims.
Read more here.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Surveillance cameras cutting crime in some areas
From banks to bagel shops, surveillance cameras are watching in St. Louis and many U.S. cities. In Boston, surveillance video was crucial in quickly identifying the marathon bombers. "But that's not an argument for more security cameras," said Washington University law professor Neil Richards, an expert on privacy. "That's an argument that maybe Boston has enough. I think the wrong lesson to draw from this is that everyone needs to have more security cameras everywhere all the time."
As high definition cameras and software evolve, Richards says we should ask ourselves how many cameras are too many, and who's watching the watchers to avoid abuse. "It's not just whether we have cameras, it's whether the locations of the cameras are disclosed to the public so they know how the money is being spent, and we know when we're being watched by the police, and also whether there are meaningful guarantees that they're only going to be used for law enforcement," he said.
"When you live in an area that's been plagued by violence, you see the situation a little differently," said 21st Ward Alderman Antonio French. In the 21st Ward, Alderman French says more cameras mean less crime. In 2010, the 21st Ward led the city with 14 homicides. Desperate to cut down on crime, French installed 18 surveillance cameras, with more on the way.
Read more here.
As high definition cameras and software evolve, Richards says we should ask ourselves how many cameras are too many, and who's watching the watchers to avoid abuse. "It's not just whether we have cameras, it's whether the locations of the cameras are disclosed to the public so they know how the money is being spent, and we know when we're being watched by the police, and also whether there are meaningful guarantees that they're only going to be used for law enforcement," he said.
"When you live in an area that's been plagued by violence, you see the situation a little differently," said 21st Ward Alderman Antonio French. In the 21st Ward, Alderman French says more cameras mean less crime. In 2010, the 21st Ward led the city with 14 homicides. Desperate to cut down on crime, French installed 18 surveillance cameras, with more on the way.
Read more here.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
The dark side of social media: A new way to rape
Fifteen-year-old Audrie Pott got drunk at a party and passed out. What happened next, according to her family, was that she was sexually assaulted by multiple young men, who took photos and circulated them in their high school of more than 1,000 students. Not long afterward, Audrie, devastated and hopeless, committed suicide.
In Canada, Rehtaeh Parsons, then 15, was sexually assaulted by multiple perpetrators, according to her family, and photographs were also posted online for the world to see. She was tormented and bullied for more than a year with no legal action taken by the authorities, who stated there was "insufficient evidence" to file charges. Rehtaeh also committed suicide.
Why did these tragedies happen?
Keep Reading Here.
In Canada, Rehtaeh Parsons, then 15, was sexually assaulted by multiple perpetrators, according to her family, and photographs were also posted online for the world to see. She was tormented and bullied for more than a year with no legal action taken by the authorities, who stated there was "insufficient evidence" to file charges. Rehtaeh also committed suicide.
Why did these tragedies happen?
Keep Reading Here.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Inmates' phone calls concern authorities
Wood County officials are looking for a way to stop jail inmates from making phone calls to their victims.
Most of the phone call problems have involved domestic abuse cases, Wood County District Attorney Craig Lambert said during a meeting of the Wood County Criminal Justice Task Force Wednesday.
In a domestic abuse case, just the fact that an abuser is trying to call can intimidate the victim, said Trish Anderson, Wood County victim/witness coordinator.
“I’ve had more than one victim say to me, ‘If you can’t protect me when he’s in jail, how can you protect me when he’s out?’” Anderson said.
Read more here.
Most of the phone call problems have involved domestic abuse cases, Wood County District Attorney Craig Lambert said during a meeting of the Wood County Criminal Justice Task Force Wednesday.
In a domestic abuse case, just the fact that an abuser is trying to call can intimidate the victim, said Trish Anderson, Wood County victim/witness coordinator.
“I’ve had more than one victim say to me, ‘If you can’t protect me when he’s in jail, how can you protect me when he’s out?’” Anderson said.
Read more here.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Domestic Abuse: The Crime That Crosses Class and Color Lines
Now former WCBS anchorman Rob Morrison is finally out of his marital home this week, and his wife, Ashley, may be one of those women who is lucky to be alive. He allegedly had a long-term pattern of physically abusing his wife, who is a beautiful and intelligent television journalist. Merely a month before this incident, the police were called when he is said to have choked her until she almost passed out. However, she then decided to drop the January complaint, saying that she had exaggerated her accusations.
I certainly hope that Ashley, with support from family, friends, and counselors keeps Rob out of the house for good. Yet, I won’t be surprised if she, like so many other women, lets him back into her life.
Last month, Rihanna went to court, reunited with her battering boyfriend, Chris Brown, to support his claim that he completed his community service—which was put in place precisely because of the vicious beating he gave her on the night before the Grammys a few years ago. They are back together and smiling at the cameras again.
We remember Nicole Brown Simpson, who was beaten over and over again, before she was murdered. She left photographs and a diary as evidence and spoke as a voice from the grave.
Read more here.
I certainly hope that Ashley, with support from family, friends, and counselors keeps Rob out of the house for good. Yet, I won’t be surprised if she, like so many other women, lets him back into her life.
Last month, Rihanna went to court, reunited with her battering boyfriend, Chris Brown, to support his claim that he completed his community service—which was put in place precisely because of the vicious beating he gave her on the night before the Grammys a few years ago. They are back together and smiling at the cameras again.
We remember Nicole Brown Simpson, who was beaten over and over again, before she was murdered. She left photographs and a diary as evidence and spoke as a voice from the grave.
Read more here.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Mentally Ill, but Insanity Plea Is Long Shot
Slouched over in the striped gray shirt that he has worn for much of his murder trial, his piercing stare disconcertingly fixed at the courtroom walls at times, David Tarloff can appear like one of the few killers whose claim to an insanity defense might be deserved.
In the last three weeks, jurors have heard a long recitation of Mr. Tarloff’s psychiatric problems. Throughout his adult life, Mr. Tarloff, 45, has been prescribed antipsychotic medication to alleviate delusions and hallucinations. He has received a diagnosis of schizophrenia and been hospitalized against his will numerous times. And three months after one such commitment, Mr. Tarloff entered an Upper East Side medical office on Feb. 12, 2008, and killed Kathryn Faughey, a psychologist, with a mallet and a knife.
Yet a lifetime of mental illness hardly makes an insanity defense a sure thing. Mr. Tarloff’s lawyers must convince jurors, who began deliberations Wednesday, that he was so sick that day that he did not understand the consequences of his actions: that pounding and stabbing Dr. Faughey could kill her, or that the attack was wrong.
Read more here
In the last three weeks, jurors have heard a long recitation of Mr. Tarloff’s psychiatric problems. Throughout his adult life, Mr. Tarloff, 45, has been prescribed antipsychotic medication to alleviate delusions and hallucinations. He has received a diagnosis of schizophrenia and been hospitalized against his will numerous times. And three months after one such commitment, Mr. Tarloff entered an Upper East Side medical office on Feb. 12, 2008, and killed Kathryn Faughey, a psychologist, with a mallet and a knife.
Yet a lifetime of mental illness hardly makes an insanity defense a sure thing. Mr. Tarloff’s lawyers must convince jurors, who began deliberations Wednesday, that he was so sick that day that he did not understand the consequences of his actions: that pounding and stabbing Dr. Faughey could kill her, or that the attack was wrong.
Read more here
Friday, April 5, 2013
Expert: Aryan Brotherhood of Texas are "Dumb Ol' White Boys" Who Wouldn't Kill a D.A.
When I spoke to Terry Pelz late yesterday afternoon, he sounded hoarse and exhausted. "I'm just about talked out," he said.
Pelz is a former prison warden at the Darrington Unit who now runs a criminal justice consulting firm in Missouri City, about 20 miles southwest of Houston. He's been in high demand the past couple days, as an expert on the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. The ABT are being eyed as possible suspects in the killing of Kaufman County DA Mike McLelland, his wife Cynthia and assistant DA Mark Hasse. The group is, as we outlined yesterday, a violent and growing criminal enterprise throughout the state and especially in north Texas.
Pelz has plenty of direct experience with the ABT. Over his 21 years in the TDCJ system, he says, "I was witnessing their growth. I had a lot of them locked up in Darrington. They knew me."
Being known by the ABT apparently means being threatened frequently by them, as Pelz discovered. He received a number of verbal and written threats over the years.
Read more here.
Pelz is a former prison warden at the Darrington Unit who now runs a criminal justice consulting firm in Missouri City, about 20 miles southwest of Houston. He's been in high demand the past couple days, as an expert on the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. The ABT are being eyed as possible suspects in the killing of Kaufman County DA Mike McLelland, his wife Cynthia and assistant DA Mark Hasse. The group is, as we outlined yesterday, a violent and growing criminal enterprise throughout the state and especially in north Texas.
Pelz has plenty of direct experience with the ABT. Over his 21 years in the TDCJ system, he says, "I was witnessing their growth. I had a lot of them locked up in Darrington. They knew me."
Being known by the ABT apparently means being threatened frequently by them, as Pelz discovered. He received a number of verbal and written threats over the years.
Read more here.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Schizophrenic inmate tells court about jail violence
Day Three of a weeklong hearing to determine the city’s responsibilities for reforming the Orleans Parish prison complex under a proposed federal consent decree featured testimony from mental health experts, mentally ill inmates, and Deputy Mayor Andy Kopplin.
The city has been trying to avoid legal exposure to the decree, saying the cost is prohibitive and that Sheriff Marlin Gusman, the parish jailer, is incapable of managing the turnaround effectively.
Presented this week in U.S. District Court Judge Lance Africk’s courtroom, the case so far has drawn testimony primarily from two groups of witnesses: experts in criminology, and inmates who have experienced the allegedly unconstitutional conditions at the jail.
Read more here.
The city has been trying to avoid legal exposure to the decree, saying the cost is prohibitive and that Sheriff Marlin Gusman, the parish jailer, is incapable of managing the turnaround effectively.
Presented this week in U.S. District Court Judge Lance Africk’s courtroom, the case so far has drawn testimony primarily from two groups of witnesses: experts in criminology, and inmates who have experienced the allegedly unconstitutional conditions at the jail.
Read more here.
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