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YOs-<br>
<br>
It's well known in cog sci & experimental psych, that adverse
scrutiny causes a decline in many human performance measures. This
should come as no surprise: trying to accomplish any task becomes
more difficult when someone in the background is laughing at you,
saying you can't do it, finding fault, and ready to impose some kind
of penalty for mistakes. <br>
<br>
It's also the case in employment situations: employees who are under
adverse scrutiny tend to make more mistakes on the job. Some
attention that would otherwise be focused on the primary task, is
diverted to being aware of the boss who might suddenly impose a
punishment.<br>
<br>
So here we are in the robbery capital of America, with our police
department in a logical double-bind (damned if you do, damned if you
don't) between four conflicting demands: <br>
<br>
a) stop the crime wave, b) but do it with 1/4 to 1/3 fewer officers
than a comparable-sized city should have, c) and don't go overboard
on suspects, d) all of this while we keep you under adverse
scrutiny.<br>
<br>
So is it any surprise that OPD isn't functioning as it should? <br>
<br>
The first response of a culture with deep roots in puritanism is to
assert moral righteousness and seek to punish. This is true in our
response to crime, and it's also true in our response to police
misconduct and other faults of LE agencies. These dynamics can
become more extreme when their underlying causes are more extreme:
Oakland has a long history as a violent town, and America has a long
history as a violent culture. Our popular entertainment ceaselessly
offers up a river of gore for our "viewing pleasure." <br>
<br>
So, a few modest proposals:<br>
<br>
One: <br>
<br>
A major source of crime is in systematic denial of opportunity to
urban youth, beginning with inadequate education, followed by no
access to college, systemic unemployment, and no opportunities for
small business start-ups. What's needed here is reform on all three
fronts. <br>
<br>
One thing that can be done from the community level, is
microenterprise development: helping people get started in small
business that employ a up to a half dozen people. Very often this
takes relatively little capital, but much hands-on to educate people
who are seeking to start microenterprises, and work with them over
time to help them succeed. When it succeeds, it has a multiplier
effect: it also attracts conventional capital to an area, as a "good
bet" for more conventional small business startups. <br>
<br>
Two:<br>
<br>
The fact that Oakland needs to hire approx. another 200 officers, is
also an opportunity for a culture change at OPD. An incentive
structure should be put in place to hire officers who have 4-year
college degrees in any field that's even remotely relevant,
including history and the social sciences. The same incentives
should be offered to current employees of OPD: including payment of
tuition as well as higher pay upon completion of a 4-year degree. <br>
<br>
If that sounds unrealistic, add up the cost of the crime itself, and
compare to the cost of a college-educated police department.<br>
<br>
There's one other change that might bring in more candidates from
backgrounds that are more suitable to the realities of the Bay
Area. This is going to sound like a liberal stereotype, but none
the less the reasoning is sound: <br>
<br>
At present, OPD rejects any applicant with a history of illegal drug
use, and fires any employee who tests positive for illegal drugs.
Let's take marijuana off that list, to enable hiring and retaining
officers who smoke pot. Even recreational use is quasi-legal in the
Bay Area, and ruling out pot smokers from joining OPD is depriving
the city of candidates who could otherwise be successful on the
job. <br>
<br>
Three: <br>
<br>
In general, seek to reward good behaviors, rather than seeking to
punish bad behaviors. That's also a culture-change. <br>
<br>
Four: <br>
<br>
As far as surveillance goes, video cameras have not made a
significant difference in street crime in England, which has the
highest density of surveillance cameras of any nation on Earth.
That's the empirical fact, that should be used to put to rest any
idea that video is a magical cure for crime. With crime, as with
disease, prevention is the best cure: a functional economy with
opportunity for all, and a police department that has good
relationships with the communities it serves.<br>
<br>
-G.<br>
<br>
<br>
=====<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 13-05-12-Sun 10:41 AM, Romy Snowyla
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:F8666D49-5C11-49E0-A433-773D45A6C951@snowyla.com"
type="cite">
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<div>This would be great material for the sudoroom publication
right </div>
<div>Not my personal topic or something I am into discussing but
all for seeing this conversation live on in letterpress </div>
<div>Hack the non digital <br>
<br>
Sent from my iPad</div>
<div><br>
On May 12, 2013, at 10:34 AM, Eddan Katz <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:eddan@clear.net">eddan@clear.net</a>>
wrote:<br>
<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>
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So right about now, Sudo Room court is in full effect* ...
<div><br>
</div>
<div>For those who weren't paying close attention to the news
about the Oakland Police Department this past week, let me
try to condense and read in between the lines. In case there
was any doubt as to the unprecedented mess they/we are in:
Two police chiefs resigned; Oakland made first in the
country for robberies; news came out that only one person is
in charge of coordinating burglary response; and the
long-awaited police reform report was pulled from
publication. (Raw footage of Fri. press conference - <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://news.yahoo.com/video/raw-video-oakland-officials-address-221600024.html">http://news.yahoo.com/video/raw-video-oakland-officials-address-221600024.html</a>)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Our police chief friend Howard "It's Unconscionable"
Jordan of LockPickGate (<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://oaklandwiki.org/Lockpickgate">http://oaklandwiki.org/Lockpickgate</a>) announced
his retirement suddenly on Wednesday, the same day that the
Wasserman-Bratton Report was supposed to come out. Since
he's three years short of being eligible for the top pension
(75% of salary) for life, he claimed undisclosed medical
reasons and getting to spend time with his family (where he
lives somewhere other than Oakland). Anthony Toribio was
named interim chief on Wednesday, and announced his
resignation on Friday. Sean Whent is our new interim police
chief as of Friday (<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://local.nixle.com/alert/4999940/?sub_id=894092">https://local.nixle.com/alert/4999940/?sub_id=894092</a>). </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thomas Frazier, who was appointed the Compliance Director
by the federal court who fell short of a federal takeover of
the OPD, had just announced the re-opening of investigations
into police misconduct, including ones related to Occupy
Oakland, the week before. Part of the deal the federal judge
struck was that the Compliance Director has important
authority over the OPD, including the ability to recommend
the firing of police chiefs. (<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/frazier-to-reexamine-police-misconduct/Content?oid=3541392">http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/frazier-to-reexamine-police-misconduct/Content?oid=3541392</a>).
Frazier was the one who delivered the scathing report about
the OPD response to Occupy about a year and a half ago (<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca1/groups/cityadministrator/documents/webcontent/oak036236.pdf">http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca1/groups/cityadministrator/documents/webcontent/oak036236.pdf</a>).</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The press conference for the release of the Bratton
Report, which was supposed to come out on Wed., was
cancelled and turned into a press conference for Jordan's
early retirement. While the full report didn't come out, the
six-page summary was posted by local CBS News (<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://cbssanfran.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/bratton_group_report_051813.pdf">http://cbssanfran.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/bratton_group_report_051813.pdf</a>).
When Oakland hired the Bratton Group to do the report, there
was significant protest among Oakland communities because of
Bratton's support for "stop and frisk" policing (euphemism
for racial profiling) and "zero tolerance" policies. He's
generally known as the top cop that brought LA & NY
crime rates down significantly during his tenure there.
Robert Wasserman ran the community meetings because of the
community backlash against Bratton (<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://oaklandlocal.com/article/wasserman-lays-out-general-plan-crime-prevention-proposals">http://oaklandlocal.com/article/wasserman-lays-out-general-plan-crime-prevention-proposals</a>).</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>So is there anything that Sudo Room can do? Anything
other than what other groups are already doing in trying to
bring accountability to the OPD? A couple things in the
Bratton Report (reprinted at <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://OccupyOakland.org">OccupyOakland.org</a> at <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://occupyoakland.org/2013/05/bratton-group-report-may-8-2013/">http://occupyoakland.org/2013/05/bratton-group-report-may-8-2013/</a>)
come to mind. I think folks on this could have a lot of
productive things to say about the Compstat Process, a
computerized crime tracking system, which Bratton points to
as key to improving crime response. The effectiveness of
Compstat and how it can be optimally used and the drawbacks
in how it is being suggested to be used has not really been
discussed anywhere, as far as I can tell. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>There is also reference to significantly increasing
camera surveillance all over Oakland - getting more info
about that will be very useful. Makes me think that now
would be the ideal time to finally get our surveillance
tours going - identifying surveillance cameras around
downtown and taking people on tours pointing them out as
they walk around. Before posting such a list on Oakland Wiki
or something, we would want to narrow down those listed to
ones that are aimed at public areas (or private ones that
also capture public space).</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>----</div>
<div>*<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70lH373A1NU">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70lH373A1NU</a>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
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