crime Two Idaho Men Indicted for Hate Crime By www.justice.gov Published On :: Wed, 14 May 2014 14:58:34 EDT Jonathan Lynn Henery, 28, and Beau Edward Hansen, 30, both of Boise, Idaho, were indicted May 13, 2014, on federal hate crime charges for their racially motivated assault of an African-American man, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson for the District of Idaho announced. Full Article OPA Press Releases
crime Texas Man Indicted for Federal Hate Crime and Kidnapping Charges for Assault Based on Victim’s Sexual Orientation By www.justice.gov Published On :: Wed, 14 May 2014 17:54:43 EDT A federal grand jury returned a two count indictment against Brice Johnson, 19, of Springtown, Texas, charging him with willfully causing bodily injury to a person because of the actual or perceived sexual orientation of that person and with kidnapping. Full Article OPA Press Releases
crime Ringleader of International Rhino Smuggling Conspiracy Sentenced in New Jersey to 70 Months in Prison for Wildlife Trafficking Crimes By www.justice.gov Published On :: Wed, 28 May 2014 08:41:50 EDT Zhifei Li, the owner of an antique business in China, was sentenced today to serve 70 months in prison for heading an illegal wildlife smuggling conspiracy in which 30 rhinoceros horns and numerous objects made from rhino horn and elephant ivory worth more than $4.5 million were smuggled from the United States to China. Full Article OPA Press Releases
crime Member and Associate of Lucchese Organized Crime Family Convicted of Racketeering and Other Crimes By www.justice.gov Published On :: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 11:33:38 EDT A member and an associate of the Lucchese organized crime family and two Texas brothers were convicted today of racketeering and other charges after a six-month trial Full Article OPA Press Releases
crime Two Alabama Men Sentenced for Stolen Identity Refund Fraud Crimes in Separate Cases By www.justice.gov Published On :: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 11:42:43 EDT Deundra Milhouse and Fredrick Hill, both residents of Alabama, were sentenced today in separate stolen identity refund fraud (SIRF) cases, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Tamara Ashford of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. for the Middle District of Alabama. Milhouse was sentenced to serve 81 months in prison and Hill was sentenced to serve 74 months in prison Full Article OPA Press Releases
crime Puerto Rico Police Officers and Civilians Charged with Federal Crimes in Connection with July 2012 Robbery in Bayamon, Puerto Rico By www.justice.gov Published On :: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 12:04:03 EDT Three Police of Puerto Rico (POPR) officers and two civilians were charged with robbery, firearms violations, drug conspiracy and civil rights violations for their involvement in a July 2012 robbery in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, and an additional POPR officer was charged with lying to federal agents Full Article OPA Press Releases
crime Bureau of Justice Statistics Releases Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2014 By www.justice.gov Published On :: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 12:25:31 EDT This fourth annual report to Congress describes efforts to collect and improve data on crime and justice in Indian country, as required by the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010. The report details the number of tribal law enforcement agencies reporting crime data to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program. It describes BJS’s first National Survey of Tribal Court Systems which will collect data on tribal courts in the lower 48 states and Alaska covering 566 tribes Full Article OPA Press Releases
crime Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell Testifies Before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism By www.justice.gov Published On :: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 14:58:21 EDT "The computers of American citizens and businesses are, as we speak, under attack by individual hackers and organized criminal groups using state-of-the-art techniques seemingly drawn straight from a science fiction movie," said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell Full Article Speech
crime Four Mississippi Men and Women Indicted for Racially Motivated Hate Crimes Spree in Jackson, Mississippi By www.justice.gov Published On :: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 12:56:40 EDT Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis for the Southern District of Mississippi announced today that a federal grand jury has indicted John Louis Blalack, 20, of Brandon, Mississippi, Sarah Adelia Graves, 21, of Crystal Springs, Mississippi, Robert Henry Rice, 23, of Brandon, and Shelbie Brooke Richards, 20, of Pearl, Mississippi, for their alleged roles in a conspiracy to commit federal hate crimes against African-American people in Jackson, Mississippi Full Article OPA Press Releases
crime Nebraska “Sovereign Citizen” Convicted of Filing False Liens Against Federal Officials and Federal Tax Crimes By www.justice.gov Published On :: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 15:31:57 EDT A federal jury in Omaha, Nebraska, found Donna Marie Kozak guilty on Friday of conspiracy to file and filing false liens against two U.S. District Court judges, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Nebraska, two Assistant U.S. Attorneys and an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) special agent, the Justice Department announced Full Article OPA Press Releases
crime Canada: A Haven for Internet Pharmacies and Organized Crime By searchingforsafety.net Published On :: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 18:15:36 GMT Posted by Reed Beall and Amir Attaran (respectively Phd Candidate and Professor, University of Ottawa) In 2005, the FDA launched an investigation into pharmaceuticals bought from “Canadian” internet pharmacies online and shipped to US consumers. Of 1700 packages these pharmacies supplied, fully 85 percent of those actually came from somewhere else, but 15 percent really came from Canada. Worse, 32 of the drugs were found to be counterfeit. All of these pacakges were ente [...] Full Article Uncategorized
crime Foreign policy experts call for end to hate crimes against Asian American community By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Apr 15, 2020 Apr 15, 2020Recent hate crimes and violent assaults against people of Asian descent should sound an alarm for America. Within the past couple of weeks alone, ac acid attack against a woman in Brooklyn caused her to suffer severe burns, and a man in Texas has been charged with attempted murder after attacking an Asian American family. Such stories have become disturbingly frequent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the FBI has warned that this trend may continue. We, the undersigned, are alarmed by the severity of such hate crimes and race-based harassment against people of Asian descent in the United States - assaults that endanger the safety, well-being, dignity and livelihoods of all those targeted. Full Article
crime Foreign policy experts call for end to hate crimes against Asian American community By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Apr 15, 2020 Apr 15, 2020Recent hate crimes and violent assaults against people of Asian descent should sound an alarm for America. Within the past couple of weeks alone, ac acid attack against a woman in Brooklyn caused her to suffer severe burns, and a man in Texas has been charged with attempted murder after attacking an Asian American family. Such stories have become disturbingly frequent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the FBI has warned that this trend may continue. We, the undersigned, are alarmed by the severity of such hate crimes and race-based harassment against people of Asian descent in the United States - assaults that endanger the safety, well-being, dignity and livelihoods of all those targeted. Full Article
crime Foreign policy experts call for end to hate crimes against Asian American community By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Apr 15, 2020 Apr 15, 2020Recent hate crimes and violent assaults against people of Asian descent should sound an alarm for America. Within the past couple of weeks alone, ac acid attack against a woman in Brooklyn caused her to suffer severe burns, and a man in Texas has been charged with attempted murder after attacking an Asian American family. Such stories have become disturbingly frequent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the FBI has warned that this trend may continue. We, the undersigned, are alarmed by the severity of such hate crimes and race-based harassment against people of Asian descent in the United States - assaults that endanger the safety, well-being, dignity and livelihoods of all those targeted. Full Article
crime Foreign policy experts call for end to hate crimes against Asian American community By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Apr 15, 2020 Apr 15, 2020Recent hate crimes and violent assaults against people of Asian descent should sound an alarm for America. Within the past couple of weeks alone, ac acid attack against a woman in Brooklyn caused her to suffer severe burns, and a man in Texas has been charged with attempted murder after attacking an Asian American family. Such stories have become disturbingly frequent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the FBI has warned that this trend may continue. We, the undersigned, are alarmed by the severity of such hate crimes and race-based harassment against people of Asian descent in the United States - assaults that endanger the safety, well-being, dignity and livelihoods of all those targeted. Full Article
crime A Crime Wave in Cyberspace By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400 Listen to the chatter from top officials, and you’d think that World War III was about to break out on the Internet. The defense secretary is warning about a digital “Pearl Harbor.” Former director of national intelligence Mike McConnell declares that the United States is “fighting a cyber war, and we’re losing.” Every new hack brings more pronouncements of network doom.The scare talk, however, is misplaced. Yes, we’re facing enormous cybersecurity problems — just look at the high-profile penetrations of such companies as Sony and Lockheed or the millions of Americans whose personal information has been stolen online. But these aren’t signs of some impending cataclysmic showdown as I explain in my new cybersecurity paper for The Brookings Institution. They’re markers of a rising tide of online crime that, in its own way, could be more dangerous than a cyberwar. According to the British government, online thieves, scammers and industrial spies cost U.K. businesses an estimated $43.5 billion in the past year alone. Crooks-for-hire will infect a thousand computers for $7 — that’s how simple it’s become. Sixty thousand new malicious software variants are detected every day. Forget “Pearl Harbor”; if we’re not careful, the Internet could be in danger of looking like the South Bronx circa 1989 – a place where crooks hold such sway that honest people find it hard to live or work there. Could there be some online conflict in the future? Maybe. But crooks are draining billions from the legitimate global economy right now. Even the Pentagon’s specialists are worried, noting in their new cybersecurity strategy that “the tools and techniques developed by cyber criminals are increasing in sophistication at an incredible rate.” Those tools also are becoming easier to use. The latest crimeware makes stealing passwords about as simple as setting up Web pages. One gang, recently arrested, used it to drain $9.5 million in just three months. Read the full article at washingtonpost.com >> Authors Noah Shachtman Publication: The Washington Post Full Article
crime Will Assad ever be tried for his crimes? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 01 Feb 2017 13:18:51 +0000 Full Article
crime Crimea: Six years after illegal annexation By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 15:28:06 +0000 March 18 marks the sixth anniversary of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea. Attention now focuses on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in Donbas, a conflict that has taken some 14,000 lives, but Moscow’s seizure of Crimea — the biggest land-grab in Europe since World War II — has arguably done as much or more damage to Europe’s… Full Article
crime The Trump administration misplayed the International Criminal Court and Americans may now face justice for crimes in Afghanistan By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 11 Mar 2020 12:00:42 +0000 At the start of the long war in Afghanistan, acts of torture and related war crimes were committed by the U.S. military and the CIA at the Bagram Internment Facility and in so-called “black sites” in eastern Europe. Such actions, even though they were not a standard U.S. practice and were stopped by an Executive… Full Article
crime Water Crimes: A Global Crisis on the Rise By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 20 Feb 2015 17:00:00 -0500 In “Water Crimes: a Global Crisis on the Rise,” a lecture given on February 20, 2015 at Brookings Mountain West Lecture Series, Vanda Felbab-Brown explains that urbanization, population growth, environmental degradation, water pollution, climate change, and increased living standards are some of the main reasons for intense competition for water. As surface water depletes, there is increased pressure for ground water usage, which is more difficult to regulate for use, abuse, and theft. Water theft and smuggling are perpetrated by both the wealthy and those who are chronically deprived of water, says Felbab-Brown, as she provides examples from California, southern Europe, Nigeria, Kenya, the Middle East, and South Asia. In many parts of world, elaborate smuggling of water with complex network chains and water mafias has emerged. Smuggling modes vary and among others include the development of illegal pipelines, illegal truck deliveries as well as the cooptation of water regulators complicit in licensing fraud and broader government acquiescence to illegal water delivery. Illegally sourced and smuggled water is used for personal consumption, agriculture, industry, and sometimes for other other illegal activities, such as the production of illegal narcotics. For many reasons, the illegal use and delivery of water is difficult to address, says Felbab-Brown. Large-scale agriculture and industry often exercise great influence over regulators and law enforcement. In slum areas, mostly unconnected to legal pipelines, the suppression of illegal water distribution can sever access to water and hence threaten the physical survival of the most marginalized and poor. Across the world, citizens tend to be vehemently opposed to increased water pricing. Yet without effective regulation, appropriate pricing, and suppression of water crimes, the sustainability, long-term viability, and inclusive and equitable use of water cannot easily be achieved. Among the ways to improve water policy and suppress water smuggling, Felbab-Brown notes: (1) Recognizing the extent of water misuse, abuse, and crimes; (2) developing better inventories and water-level monitoring capacity, better regulation, including pricing, greater transparency, and a broadly-based external oversight of water authorities; (3) increasing stakeholder-participation of water regulation, including farmers, businesses, and the poor who are traditionally excluded; and (4) selectively licensing some currently illegal water distributors to areas without legal water distribution systems while cracking down on the most usury, unreliable, and abusive ones. Looking ahead, coping with scarcity will require not just more innovation, but particularly better conservation. Authors Vanda Felbab-Brown Publication: Brookings Mountain West Lecture Series, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Image Source: © Rupak De Chowdhuri / Reuters Full Article
crime Designing pan-Atlantic and international anti-crime cooperation By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Sun, 01 Mar 2015 12:00:00 -0500 In “Designing Pan-Atlantic and International Anti-Crime Cooperation,” a chapter for the new book, Dark Networks in the Atlantic Basin: Emerging Trends and Implications for Human Security (Center for Transatlantic Relations, January 2015), Vanda Felbab-Brown discusses the context and challenges of designing policies to counter organized crime and illicit economies in West Africa. She argues that although large-scale illicit economies and organized crime have received intense attention from governments and international organizations since the end of the Cold War, the strategies designed to combat these developments have been ineffective and, at times, counterproductive. Many populations experiencing inadequate state presence, great poverty, and social and political marginalization are dependent on illicit economies; and policies prioritizing suppression of these economies can, paradoxically, increase the economic and political capital of criminal or militant groups. The recent drug trade epidemic and the connections between various illicit economies and terrorism have cast a spotlight on West Africa, Felbab-Brown explains. But in analyzing how the drug trade affects West Africa, it is important to note that preexisting institutional and governance deficiencies crucially amplify the destabilizing effects of the drug trade. Neither the drug trade nor the entrenchment of political corruption and misgovernance in West Africa are new phenomena emerging in the wake of cocaine flows through the region. Rather, political contestation in West Africa has long centered on the capture of rents from legal, semi-illegal, or outright illegal economies such as diamonds, gold, timber, cacao, human trafficking, and illegal fishing, resulting in a pervasive culture of illegality, in which society expects that laws will be broken, enforcement evaded, and that the state will be the source of rents rather than an equitable provider of public goods. A long history of rentier economies, illicit activity, smuggling, endemic corruption, weak institutions, and governance as mafia rule—that provides exceptions from law enforcement to the ruler's clique—has left West Africa with what Felbab-Brown terms the technology of illegality and the state as mafia bazaar. This context makes West Africa a particularly vexing area for policymakers and international donors who want to combat militancy or organized crime in West Africa. The United States and international community should consider any intervention in the region strategically, calibrating assistance packages to the absorptive capacity of the partner country, focusing on broad state-building, and fostering good governance. The priority of the United States must be to combat the most disruptive and dangerous networks of organized crime and belligerency, recognizing that anti-crime interventions cannot eradicate the majority of organized crime, illicit economies, and drug trafficking in the region. Moreover, efforts by external donors, such as Colombia or Brazil, to transfer policy practices to West African countries need to carefully consider which external lessons and policies are suited for local contexts. The full book, Dark Networks in the Atlantic Basin: Emerging Trends and Implications for Human Security, is available for purchase from The Brookings Institution Press. Downloads Designing pan-Atlantic and international anti-crime cooperation Authors Vanda Felbab-Brown Publication: Center for Transatlantic Relations Image Source: © Joe Penney / Reuters Full Article
crime The Trump administration misplayed the International Criminal Court and Americans may now face justice for crimes in Afghanistan By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 11 Mar 2020 12:00:42 +0000 At the start of the long war in Afghanistan, acts of torture and related war crimes were committed by the U.S. military and the CIA at the Bagram Internment Facility and in so-called “black sites” in eastern Europe. Such actions, even though they were not a standard U.S. practice and were stopped by an Executive… Full Article
crime More Prisoners Versus More Crime is the Wrong Question By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:09:00 -0500 Policy Brief #185 The unprecedented surge in incarceration since 1980 has stimulated a national debate between those who claim that locking up over 2 million people is necessitated by public safety concerns, and those who say the human and financial burden of imprisoning so many of our citizens is intolerable. But framing the incarceration debate as a tradeoff between public safety and public finance is far too narrow. The best evidence suggests the prison population would be substantially reduced with negligible effects on crime rates. Crime could actually be reduced if the savings were put to use in strengthening other criminal justice programs and implementing other reforms. Making this case requires that we confront widespread skepticism about the possibility of reducing criminal behavior on the outside. The research community has made real progress in identifying the causal effect of various crime-related policies in recent years, providing us with proven alternatives to prison for controlling crime. The key has been to make greater use of experimental methods of the sort that are common in medicine, as well as "natural experiments" that arise from naturally occurring policy or demographic shifts. RECOMMENDATIONS The resources currently dedicated to supporting long prison sentences should be reallocated to produce swifter, surer, but more moderate punishment. This approach includes hiring more police officers -we know now that chiefs using modern management techniques can make effective use of them. Increased alcohol excise taxes reduce not only alcohol abuse but also the associated crime at very little cost to anyone except the heaviest drinkers. Federal and state levies should be raised. Crime patterns and crime control are as much the result of private actions as public. The productivity of private-security efforts and private cooperation with law enforcement should be encouraged through government regulation and other incentives. While convicts typically lack work experience and skills, it has proven very difficult to increase the quality and quantity of their licit employment through job creation and traditional training, either before or after they become involved with criminal activity. More effective rehabilitation (and prevention) programs seek to develop non-academic ("social-cognitive") skills like self-control, planning, and empathy. Adding an element of coercion to social policy can also help reduce crime, including threatening probationers with swift, certain and mild punishments for illegal drug use, and compulsory schooling laws that force people to stay in school longer. The unprecedented surge in incarceration since 1980 has stimulated a national debate between those who claim that locking up over 2 million people is necessitated by public safety concerns, and those who say the human and financial burden of imprisoning so many of our citizens is intolerable. This debate played itself out vividly in the U.S. Supreme Court's May 2011 decision (Brown v. Plata) requiring California to dramatically scale back the size of its prison population. The majority's decision written by Justice Anthony Kennedy focused on inhumane conditions in California's prisons. In dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia emphasized the "terrible things [that were] sure to happen as a consequence of this outrageous order," while Justice Samuel Alito argued the majority was "gambling with the safety of the people of California." These dissenting opinions will sound familiar to states considering cutbacks in incarceration to balance dwindling state budgets. However, framing the incarceration debate as a tradeoff between public safety and public finance is far too narrow. Prison is not the only option we have for controlling crime. But making the case for alternative approaches has historically been an uphill battle. What noted crime expert and UCLA professor Mark Kleiman calls the "brute force" strategy of locking up lots of people in prison has an obvious logic to it. The perception that "prison works" is reinforced by today's crime rates, now at a 50-year low. In contrast, there is an abiding skepticism about the effectiveness of other efforts to change criminal behavior on the outside. One reason for this skepticism is the difficulty of distinguishing cause from effect in crime data. For decades, criminologists have maintained that one obvious alternative to prison - putting more police on the streets to help deter crime - doesn't work, because the numbers suggest a positive association between the crime rate and the number of police. (This is analogous to the association between the large numbers of physicians in areas with high concentrations of sick people, such as hospitals.) Confidence in rehabilitation through social programs also is low, because recidivism rates are so high, even among inmates who participate in re-entry programs. In a recent interview, for example, the Los Angeles District Attorney told Time that, with respect to rehabilitation for gang-involved inmates, "we predict with some degree of confidence . . . it will fail in many, many, many cases." Fortunately, in recent years researchers have made real progress in identifying the impact of various crime-related policies. The key has been to make greater use of experimental methods of the sort common in medicine, as well as "natural experiments" that arise from naturally occurring policy or demographic shifts. The over-riding conclusion of the best new research is that there is "money on the table"; we can reduce the financial and human costs of crime without stimulating resurgence in crime rates. Prisons and crime Much of the reluctance to reduce the prison population reflects a belief that the extraordinary reduction in crime that occurred in the 1990s was caused by a surge in imprisonment. But even a casual look at the actual statistics challenges the view that prison trends get all or most of the credit for the crime drop. Looking at three periods from recent history, we see that the crime drop of the 1990s did coincide with a large increase in the prison population. But the large crime increase during the prior period was also associated with a jump in imprisonment - and so was the relatively static crime pattern since 2000. If the prison surge of the 1990s gets credit for the crime drop, then fairness requires that the prison surge of the 1980s gets the blame for the crime increase of that period, while the prison increase of the 2000s was largely irrelevant. This type of armchair analysis supports almost any conclusion. PERCENTAGE CHANGE Prisoners/cap Robbery rate 1984-1991 +66 +33 1991-2000 +42 -47 (the crime drop) 2000-2008 +10 0 Studies suggest that increased use of imprisonment indeed should receive part of the credit for the crime drop of the 1990s, in the sense that crime was lower than it would have been had we taken all the funds devoted to prison increases and spent it for purposes other than crime control. But is that the right counterfactual? If the vast increase in prison expenditures came at the expense of alternative crime-control efforts that might be even more effective, then the net effect of the imprisonment boom is not so clear, even qualitatively. Alternatives to prison Prison alternatives can be organized into two large and somewhat overlapping bins of crime-control activities, which we label "changing individual propensities towards crime" and "changing the offending environment." Under each heading, we identify particularly promising programs, based on recent assessments of costs and benefits. We conclude with rough calculations that highlight the potential magnitude of the inefficiency within our current policy approach - that is, how much extra crime-prevention could be achieved by simply reallocating resources from less-efficient to more-efficient uses. Changing individual propensities towards crime The difficulties of changing poverty and adverse mental health: While a large body of criminological and psychological theory has emphasized the role of economic disadvantage and mental health problems in contributing to criminal behavior, empirical evidence suggests that job training and mental health courts are not the most cost-effective ways to control crime - not because these disadvantages don't matter, but because they are so difficult to modify in practice. Coercive social policy: The average high school graduation rate in the America's 50 biggest urban school systems is about 53 percent. One of the few levers available to policymakers to ensure youth stay in school is to raise the compulsory schooling age - although it is natural to wonder what good schooling will do for youth who are being forced to go against their will. It is thus striking that we have strong quasi-experimental evidence from both the United States and Great Britain that cohorts exposed to an increased compulsory schooling age have reduced crime involvement. That benefit augments the usual list of benefits associated with more schooling, and it complements the benefits of early childhood interventions like Perry Preschool (a two-year preschool program for disadvantaged 3- and 4-year-olds) and Head Start (the large-scale federal preschool program). Social-cognitive skill interventions: Most of the economics-of-crime literature has focused on ways of reducing crime by changing the incentives that confront potential offenders, with very little attention devoted to helping people respond to the incentives they already face. A growing body of evidence shows that social-cognitive skills - for example, impulse control, inter-personal skills and future orientation - influence people's response to incentives and predict criminal involvement, schooling and employment participation. Moreover, intervention research also suggests that targeted efforts to improve the social-cognitive skills of young people at risk and to modify the social systems that may contribute to or reinforce delinquency can reduce crime. The benefits of such efforts can far exceed their costs. Changing the offending environment Swiftness and certainty, not severity, of punishment: Much of the increase in America's prison population since the 1970s comes from an increase in average sentence lengths. Yet new data from the randomized Hawaii Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) experiment found that frequent drug testing, followed immediately by a very short jail stay for dirty urine, substantially reduced drug use and criminality among probationers. Studies of the federal government's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) police hiring grants provides further empirical support for the growing suspicion that swiftness and certainty of punishment may actually be most important for controlling crime. The notion that crime is reduced by simply putting more police on the streets without changing what they do, and that deterrence (rather than simply incapacitation) may be an important mechanism behind this result, also overturns the conventional wisdom that prevails in many criminology circles. Demand curves for criminogenic goods are negatively sloped: The federal and state excise taxes on beer and liquor have declined markedly (in real terms) since World War II. These rates are considerably below the marginal external social cost, even if effects on crime are not considered. Many people outside the economics profession are skeptical that modest changes in the price of alcohol can do much to change use, given the social context in which drinking so frequently occurs; the possibility that many of highest-risk alcohol users have some level of dependency; and how little attention so many people pay to a 5, 10 or even 20 percent change in prices. Yet the empirical evidence that raising taxes and prices would reduce some types of crime is very strong. Private co-production: Most of the research on crime control strategies focuses on the role played by government and non-profit interventions. But private citizens and businesses account for a surprisingly large share of resources devoted to preventing crime. State and local governments can help reduce crime indirectly by encouraging private actions that make law enforcement more productive. Two examples for which benefits exceed costs by an order of magnitude are building the police-tracking infrastructure for Lojack, and creating the legal framework for Business Improvement Districts (where local businesses are subject to tax payments that go in part toward making the neighborhood clean and safe). It bears repeating that the goal is not to identify the "best" alternative to prison, but rather the best portfolio of options. What the status quo costs us Our review of the best available social science suggests that America's current approach to crime control is woefully inefficient. Much greater crime control could be achieved at lower human and financial cost. To illustrate the potential gains from improving the efficiency of the current system, consider the following hypothetical policy experiment. Imagine that we changed sentencing policies and practices in the United States so that the average length of a prison sentence reverted to what it was in 1984 - i.e., midway through the Reagan administration. This policy change would reduce our current prison population by around 400,000 and total prison spending (currently $70 billion annually) by about $12 billion per year. What would we give up by reducing average sentence lengths back to 1984 levels? In terms of crime control: not all that much. Assume that society "breaks even" on the $12 billion we spend per year to have average sentence lengths at 2009 rather than 1984 (so that the benefits to society are just worth $12 billion), although more pessimistic assumptions are also warranted. What could we do instead with our newly acquired $12 billion? One possibility would be to put more police on the streets. Currently, the United States spends around $100 billion per year on police protection, so this hypothetical policy switch would increase the nation's police budget by 12 percent, enabling deployment of as many as 100,000 more police officers. The estimated elasticity of crime with respect to police is far larger (in absolute value) than even the most optimistic assessment of what the elasticity of crime would be with respect to increased sentence lengths. This resource reallocation would lead to a decline of hundreds of thousands of violent and property crime victimizations each year. A different way to think about the potential size of this efficiency gain is to note that the benefit-cost ratio for increased spending on police may be on the order of 4:1. If the benefit-cost ratio for marginal spending on long prison sentences is no more than 1:1, then reducing average sentence lengths to 1984 levels in order to increase spending on police could generate net benefits to society on the order of $36 billion to $90 billion per year. Suppose instead that we devote the resources from a $12 billion cut in prison spending to supporting high-quality preschool programs. This would enable a large increase in federal spending on preschool services - for example, $12 billion would represent a 150 percent increase in the annual budget for Head Start (currently around $8 billion per year). Currently Head Start can enroll only around half of eligible 3 and 4-year-olds, and provides early childhood education services that are far less intensive than successful, widely-cited model programs like the Perry Preschool and Abecedarian. Head Start children participate in the program for shorter periods (usually one year, versus two to five years for the others), and the educational attainment of Head Start teachers is lower. A 150 percent increase in Head Start's budget could dramatically expand the program on both the extensive and intensive margins. Given available data, the benefit-cost ratio of this expenditure would fall in the range of 2:1 to 6:1 - that is, from two to six dollars in long-term benefit for every dollar spent. Reallocating resources from long prison sentences to early childhood education might generate from $12 billion to $60 billion in net benefits to society. If crime reduction is a key goal, we might do better still by focusing on human capital investments in the highest-risk subset of the population - through efforts to address social-cognitive skill deficits of young people already involved in the criminal justice system. Marvin Wolfgang's seminal cohort studies found that only a small fraction of each cohort commits the bulk of all crime. While early intervention programs target children during the time of life in which they are most developmentally "plastic," interventions with adolescents and young adults can be more tightly targeted on those whose arrest histories suggest they are likely to end up as serious offenders. Another benefit of targeting criminally active teens and adults is an immediate crime reduction payoff. What sort of social-cognitive skill development could we provide to high-risk young people with $12 billion per year? With around $1 billion, we could provide functional family therapy (FFT) to each of the roughly 300,000 youths on juvenile probation. E.K. Drake and colleagues estimate that FFT costs something less than $2,500 per youth, with a benefit-cost ratio that may be as high as 25:1 from crime reduction alone. With the remaining $11 billion we could provide multi-systemic therapy (MST) to almost every arrestee age 19 and under. The cost of MST is around $4,500 per year, with a benefit-cost ratio of around 5:1. Estimates such as these indicate that diverting $12 billion from long prison sentences to addressing social-cognitive skill deficits among high-risk youth could generate net social benefits on the order of $70 billion per year. Even if FFT and MST, when implemented at large scale, are only half as effective as previous experiments suggest, this resource switch would still generate substantial societal benefits. The preceding calculations are intended to be illustrative rather than comprehensive benefit-cost analyses, and, clearly, they are subject to a great deal of uncertainty. Nevertheless, they strongly suggest the enormous efficiency gains that could result from reallocating resources from prisons to other uses that will, among other beneficial outcomes, reduce crime. A key challenge we currently face is that our government systems are not well suited to converting the fifth year of a convicted drug dealer's prison term into an extra year or two of Head Start for a poor child. Government agency heads have strong incentives to maximize the budgets of their agencies, and pour any resources that are freed-up from eliminating ineffective program activities back into their own agencies. This is the intrinsic difficulty of rationalizing policies across domains, agencies, and levels of government. If we could solve this problem - and orient the policy system to up-weight evidence from design-driven research - then in our quest for effective crime control, it appears possible that we could have more for less. Downloads Download Policy Brief Authors Philip J. CookJens Ludwig Image Source: © Lucy Nicholson / Reuters Full Article
crime The Trump administration misplayed the International Criminal Court and Americans may now face justice for crimes in Afghanistan By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 11 Mar 2020 12:00:42 +0000 At the start of the long war in Afghanistan, acts of torture and related war crimes were committed by the U.S. military and the CIA at the Bagram Internment Facility and in so-called “black sites” in eastern Europe. Such actions, even though they were not a standard U.S. practice and were stopped by an Executive… Full Article
crime Drugs and drones: The crime empire strikes back By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 09:10:00 -0500 Editors’ Note: Organized crime actors have increasingly adopted advanced technologies, with law enforcement agencies adapting accordingly. However, the use of ever fancier-technology is only a part of the story. The future lies as much behind as ahead, writes Vanda Felbab-Brown, with criminal groups now using primitive technologies and methods to counter the advanced technologies used by law enforcement. This post was originally published by the Remote Control Project, a project hosted by the Oxford Research Group. The history of drug trafficking and crime more broadly is a history of adaptation on the part of criminal groups in response to advances in methods and technology on the part of law enforcement agencies, and vice versa. Sometimes, technology trumps crime: The spread of anti-theft devices in cars radically reduced car theft. The adoption of citadels (essentially saferooms) aboard ships, combined with intense naval patrolling, radically reduced the incidence of piracy off Somalia. Often, however, certainly in the case of many transactional crimes such as drug trafficking, law enforcement efforts have tended to weed out the least competent traffickers, and to leave behind the toughest, meanest, leanest, and most adaptable organized crime groups. Increasingly, organized crime actors have adopted advanced technologies, such as semi-submersible and fully-submersible vehicles to carry drugs and other contraband, and cybercrime and virtual currencies for money-laundering. Adaptations in the technology of smuggling by criminal groups in turn lead to further evolution and improvement of methods by law enforcement agencies. However, the use of ever fancier-technology is only a part of the story. The future lies as much behind as ahead (to paraphrase J.P. Wodehouse), with the asymmetric use of primitive technologies and methods by criminal groups to counter the advanced technologies used by law enforcement. The seduction of SIGINT and HVT The improvements in signal intelligence (SIGINT) and big-data mining over the past two decades have dramatically increased tactical intelligence flows to law enforcement agencies and military actors, creating a more transparent anti-crime, anti-terrorism, and counterinsurgency battlefield than before. The bonanza of communications intercepts of targeted criminals and militants that SIGINT has come to provide over the past decades in Colombia, Mexico, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other parts of the world has also strongly privileged high-value targeting (HVT) and decapitation policies-i.e., principally targeting the presumed leaders of criminal and militant organizations. The proliferation of SIGINT and advances in big-data trawling, combined with some highly visible successes of HVT, has come with significant downsides. First, high-value targeting has proven effective only under certain circumstances. In many contexts, such as in Mexico, HVT has been counterproductive, fragmenting criminal groups without reducing their proclivity to violence; in fact, exacerbating violence in the market. Other interdiction patterns and postures, such as middle-level targeting and focused-deterrence, would be more effective policy choices. A large part of the problem is that the seductive bonanza of signal intelligence has lead to counterproductive discounting of the need to: develop a strategic understanding of criminal groups’ decisionmaking—knowledge crucial for anticipating the responses of targeted non-state actors to law enforcement actions; Mexico provides a disturbing example; cultivate intelligence human intelligence assets, sorely lacking in Somalia, for example; obtain a broad and comprehensive understanding of the motivations and interests of local populations that interact with criminal and insurgent groups, notably deficient in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan; and establish good relationships with local populations to advance anti-crime and counterinsurgency policies, such as in Colombia where drug eradication policy antagonized local populations from national government and strengthened the bonds between them and rebel groups. In other words, the tactical tool, technology—in the form of signal intelligence and big-data mining—has trumped strategic analysis. The correction needed is to bring back strategic intelligence analysis to drive interdiction targeting patterns, instead of letting the seduction of signal data drive intelligence analysis and targeting action. The political effects, anticipated responses by criminal and militant groups, and other outcomes of targeting patterns need be incorporated into the strategic analysis. Questions to be assessed need to include: Can interdiction hope to incapacitate—arrest and kill—all of the enemy or should it seek to shape the enemy? What kind of criminals and militants, such as how fractured or unified, how radicalized or restrained in their ambitions, and how closely aligned with local populations against the state, does interdiction want to produce? Dogs fights or drone fights: Remote lethal action by criminals Criminal groups have used technology not merely to foil law enforcement actions, but also to fight each other and dominate the criminal markets and control local populations. In response to the so-called Pacification (UPP) policy in Rio de Janeiro through which the Rio government has sought to wrestle control over slums from violent criminal gangs, the Comando Vermelho (one of such gangs), for example, claimed to deploy remote-sensor cameras in the Complexo do Alemão slum to identify police collaborators, defined as those who went into newly-established police stations. Whether this specific threat was credible or not, the UPP police units have struggled to establish a good working relationship with the locals in Alemão. The new radical remote-warfare development on the horizon is for criminal groups to start using drones and other remote platforms not merely to smuggle and distribute contraband, as they are starting to do already, but to deliver lethal action against their enemies—whether government officials, law enforcement forces, or rival crime groups. Eventually, both law enforcement and rival groups will develop defenses against such remote lethal action, perhaps also employing remote platforms: drones to attack the drones. Even so, the proliferation of lethal remote warfare capabilities among criminal groups will undermine deterrence, including deterrence among criminal groups themselves over the division of the criminal market and its turfs. Remotely delivered hits will complicate the attribution problem— i.e., who authorized the lethal action—and hence the certainty of sufficiently painful retaliation against the source and thus a stable equilibrium. More than before, criminal groups will be tempted to instigate wars over the criminal market with the hope that they will emerge as the most powerful criminal actors and able to exercise even greater power over the criminal market—the way the Sinaloa Cartel has attempted to do in Mexico even without the use of fancy technology. Stabilizing a highly violent and contested—dysfunctional—criminal market will become all the more difficult the more remote lethal platforms have proliferated among criminal groups. Back to the past: The Ewoks of crime and anti-crime In addition to adopting ever-advancing technologies, criminal and militant groups also adapt to the technological superiority of law enforcement-military actors by the very opposite tactic—resorting asymmetrically to highly primitive deception and smuggling measures. Thus, both militant and criminal groups have adapted to signal intelligence not just by using better encryption, but also by not using cell phones and electronic communications at all, relying on personal couriers, for example, or by flooding the e-waves with a lot of white noise. Similarly, in addition to loading drugs on drones, airplanes, and submersibles, drug trafficking groups are going back to very old-methods such as smuggling by boats, including through the Gulf of Mexico, by human couriers, or through tunnels. Conversely, society sometimes adapts to the presence of criminal groups and intense, particularly highly violent, criminality by adopting its own back-to-the-past response—i.e., by standing up militias (which in a developed state should have been supplanted by state law enforcement forces). The rise of anti-crime militias in Mexico, in places such as Michoacán and Guerrero, provides a vivid and rich example of such populist responses and the profound collapse of official law enforcement. The inability of law enforcement there to stop violent criminality—and in fact, the inadvertent exacerbation of violence by criminal groups as a result of HVT—and the distrust of citizens toward highly corrupt law enforcement agencies and state administrations led to the emergence of citizens’ anti-crime militias. The militias originally sought to fight extortion, robberies, theft, kidnapping, and homicides by criminal groups and provide public safety to communities. Rapidly, however, most of the militias resorted to the very same criminal behavior they purported to fight—including extortion, kidnapping, robberies, and homicides. The militias were also appropriated by criminal groups themselves: the criminal groups stood up their own militias claiming to fight crime, where in fact, they were merely fighting the rival criminals. Just as when external or internal military forces resort to using extralegal militias, citizens’ militias fundamentally weaken the rule of law and the authority and legitimacy of the state. They may be the ewoks’ response to the crime empire, but they represent a dangerous and slippery slope to greater breakdown of order. In short, technology, including remote warfare, and innovations in smuggling and enforcement methods are malleable and can be appropriated by both criminal and militant groups as well as law enforcement actors. Often, however, such adoption and adaptation produces outcomes that neither criminal groups nor law enforcement actors have anticipated and can fully control. The criminal landscape and military battlefields will resemble the Star Wars moon of Endor: drone and remote platforms battling it out with sticks, stones, and ropes. Authors Vanda Felbab-Brown Publication: Oxford Research Group Full Article
crime Darfur, War Crimes, the International Criminal Court, and the Quest for Justice By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 A Judicial Issues Forum discussion among leading experts on the calamity in Darfur and the international community's failure to empower a suitable war crimes tribunal. The session reviewed the gravity of the situation in Sudan, the controversy over efforts to grant jurisdiction to the International Criminal Court, and the limited potential of other options—such as turning to the Rwanda genocide tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania, as an alternative. Full Article
crime Crime, jihad, and dysfunction in Nigeria: Has Buhari an answer? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 Full Article
crime It’s time to treat illegal wildlife trade like a serious crime By www.treehugger.com Published On :: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 16:42:14 -0400 A new report calls for international collaboration to fight the crime organizations behind the illegal trade in wood and wildlife. Full Article Science
crime Does a full moon really inspire more crime? By www.treehugger.com Published On :: Wed, 30 Oct 2019 12:35:09 -0400 Researchers look into whether the 'lunar effect' is based on superstition or empirical data. Full Article Living
crime More Trees = Less Crime in Baltimore, Study Shows By www.treehugger.com Published On :: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 05:00:00 -0400 Researchers found that a 10 percent increase in trees roughly matched a 12 percent decrease in crime in Baltimore. Full Article Living
crime Fighting Slime Crimes in Florida By www.treehugger.com Published On :: Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:30:00 -0400 Florida's waterways are rapidly become gross slimy things. Full Article Science
crime 11-foot-tall bird discovered in Crimea By www.treehugger.com Published On :: Thu, 27 Jun 2019 15:24:37 -0400 Discovered in a cave, the surprising find reveals a fast and giant bird that weighed almost as much as a polar bear. Full Article Science
crime Calgarians protest planting trees, saying they will be cover for crime By www.treehugger.com Published On :: Thu, 08 Sep 2016 13:42:16 -0400 "'If you give people more places to hide, more naughty things will be done" Full Article Design
crime Why 'ecocide' needs to become an international crime By www.treehugger.com Published On :: Fri, 29 Mar 2019 09:00:00 -0400 And how one British lawyer is working to make that happen. Full Article Business
crime Where Wiffle Ball's a Crime There May Be No Child Left Outside By www.treehugger.com Published On :: Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:44:44 -0400 With kids across America suffering from a severe case of nature deficit disorder as technology creeps in and takes over their room for creative play it may come as a surprise that a group of kids putting together their very own field of dreams on which Full Article Business
crime All eyes on Moscow following Crimea vote: Pro By www.cnbc.com Published On :: Sat, 10 Mar 2018 01:38:12 GMT Angela Stent, author of 'The Limits of Partnership: US-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century,' warns that attention will fall on Vladimir Putin as to whether Crimea will join Russia officially. Full Article
crime 'Separation by sex': gendered lockdown fuelling hate crime on streets of Bogotá By www.theguardian.com Published On :: 2020-05-08T07:05:20Z While men and women can go out on alternate days, trans people in the Colombian capital face increasing risk of violent attacksCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageA policy of making men and women leave their homes on alternate days during lockdown in Bogotá is fuelling violence towards the transgender community by the police and the public, activists say.The mayor of the Colombian capital, Claudia López, announced last month that women were permitted to go outdoors for essential tasks on even-numbered days and men on odd-numbered days, in an effort to limit numbers on the streets. Continue reading... Full Article Global development Colombia Coronavirus outbreak Transgender Americas Society World news
crime TV tonight: minor crime and major consequences in Brassic By www.theguardian.com Published On :: 2020-05-07T05:20:25Z Joseph Gilgun and ne’er-do-well pals are back – and planning to rob a circus. Plus: is change afoot in Devs? Here’s what to watch this evening Continue reading... Full Article Television & radio Culture
crime White men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery won't face Georgia hate crime charges. Here's why. By news.yahoo.com Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 16:16:40 -0400 Gregory and Travis McMichael, who are accused of fatally shooting Ahmaud Arbery, a black man, will not face hate crime charges. Here's why. Full Article
crime Navi Mumbai Crime: Woman found in a metal trunk in Vashi identified By www.mid-day.com Published On :: 04 May 2018 01:52:30 GMT The body was found on Wednesday The Vashi police have identified the woman they found stuffed in a metal trunk on Wednesday morning - Kiran Temba Sherpa, 50. A resident of Turbhe, she used to work as a housekeeping staffer in a private firm. The police have refused to divulge any other information, saying they are close to cracking the case. Around 11 am on Wednesday, a resident of Vashi Gaon had called up the police and told them that a trunk had been washed ashore near Vashi creek, and a foul smell was coming from it. Senior inspector Ajay Landage and his team had reached the spot and found the woman's body with several clothes inside. Officers had then circulated her photo to find out who she was. Yesterday, a few residents of Turbhe went to the police station and identified the woman. Landage said, "We've got information about her family, but we won't disclose it as probe is on." The police are confident of cracking the case soon and have registered a case under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) against unknown person/s. Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates Full Article
crime Mumbai: Crime Branch to probe into 21-year-old Navi Mumbai victim's case By www.mid-day.com Published On :: 30 Jul 2018 14:36:49 GMT The Navi Mumbai Crime Branch has taken over the probe into the death of a 21-year-old man there during the Maratha quota stir last week. During the violence that erupted in Kopar Khairane area of Navi Mumbai during the Maratha reservation agitation on July 25, Rohan Todkar was assaulted by a mob. He later succumbed to his injuries in the state-run JJ Hospital at Byculla in Mumbai on July 27. An official said that a murder case had been registered at Kopar Khairane police station against unidentified persons. "The case has been handed over to the Navi Mumbai Crime Branch. Investigations into the incident are underway. No arrests have been made so far," Tushar Doshi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) told PTI. Todkar's cousin sister, Shital Shinde, speaking to PTI yesterday, had said that Todkar had ventured out, along with his friends, on July 25 and then got caught in the violence. The youth's last rites were carried out in his native Khonavali village in Patan tehsil in Satara district after authorities assured his family that the culprits would be arrested and compensation would be provided. Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from PTI Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates Full Article
crime Navi Mumbai Crime: 62-year-old man beaten to death with own utensils By www.mid-day.com Published On :: 13 Nov 2018 04:00:45 GMT A senior citizen was brutally murdered in Koparkhairne on Monday afternoon. The police said some unknown people barged into his flat and beat him to death with the utensils in the house. He was found lying on the floor, covered in blood when the Koparkhairane police reached the spot. The police are interrogating his son who was at home at the time of the incident. The victim, identified as Vijaykumar Darote, 62, had been living with his only son in a Koparkhairne high-rise for the past few years. On Monday afternoon, some unknown people came to Darote's house on the fifth floor of the building and when he opened the door, they pushed their way in and started beating him up with rods and utensils. When his son tried to intervene, they beat him up, too, and fled from the house. ACP Pradeep Jadhav said, "We got a call from Darote's son who was present at the time of the brutal assault. He, too, is injured and has been admitted to a hospital. Darote had too many injuries because of which, he died by the time we brought him to the hospital. We are checking CCTV footage of the area and trying to find out the reason behind the murder. We have already started a search for the accused and will arrest them soon." Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates Full Article
crime Mumbai Crime: Man's parents, sister and brother-in-law plot his murder By www.mid-day.com Published On :: 02 Jul 2018 12:44:31 GMT A 24-year-old man's parents hatched a plan to kill him after they were physically abused by him on more than one occasion. On Saturday, Waliv Police arrested the parents, sister and her husband of the deceased person. Upon enquiry, the accused told the police that the deceased person would physically and verbally harass them often. As per the police investigations, the deceased, Rohit Chaudhary, who was a driver, was found lying dead in a pit in Bhoiwada, Bhyander. Initially, the identity of the man was unknown. His mother later filed a missing complaint. After probing the matter, the police found injury marks on the face and neck of the individual and later managed to identify him. The police then registered a murder case. After checking mobile records, it was revealed to the cops that the last call to the deceased was made by his sister. Upon suspicion, cops then questioned the family and found out that Rohit would beat and abuse them. During questioning, the family confessed to the crime. They stated that they recently visited their native place in Uttar Pradesh and hired two men to kill Rohit for an amount of Rs 2 and a half lakh. An advance amount of Rs 1 lakh was transferred in the bank of the contract killers. The police have arrested the father Lalchand, mother Sunita, sister Shruti and her husband Anup. Police are currently on the hunt for the contract killers in Uttar Pradesh. Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever Full Article
crime Mumbai Crime: Teacher booked for molesting child during school hours By www.mid-day.com Published On :: 26 Sep 2018 14:30:14 GMT In a shocking incident, the parents of a four-year-old girl have lodged a police complaint against a woman teacher from a Kandivli school on Monday for molesting their child during the school hours. The Kandivli police have booked the teacher under the stringent POSCO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) act. The police are probing the case and till now no arrests have been made. The minor child, who is in junior KG, complained to her parents after returning from school on Monday that the teacher had touched her inappropriately. When the parents of the minor girl approached the school, the management informed the parents that the school premises are entirely covered by cameras, except inside the washrooms. The police were summoned and the CCTV footage was shown to the parents as well as cops. "Nothing concrete has been found in the CCTV footage." the police officer said. "It is not clear as of now as to where the molestation occurred. We are quizzing school staffers and recording statements," said a police official as reported in Times of Internet. School authorities said that they were cooperating in the probe. "For the safety of children, we have hired only female staff for the pre-primary section," said a school representative. In a similar incident, the Charkop Police arrested a transgender for allegedly molesting a minor girl. According to the police sources, the incident took place in Charkop, Kandivli (W). The accused transgender came to the victim’s house to offer blessings in exchange for cash and allegedly touched the girl inappropriately. The girl informed her mother about the incident who was in the kitchen at the time. The mother immediately approached the Charkop Police to register a formal complaint against the transgender. The Charkop police registered a complaint on the request of the mother and made the arrest within an hour by tracing the accused in the same locality. Also Read: Mumbai Crime: 26-Year-Old Man Who Molested Manipur Student On Suburban Train Arrested Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates Full Article
crime Mumbai Crime: Police arrests main accused in 20 kg drug seizure case By www.mid-day.com Published On :: 16 Jan 2019 16:00:00 GMT The Amboli police on Tuesday arrested the main accused in the 20 kg ephedrine seizure case. On New Year's Eve, the Amboli police seized 20 kg ephedrine worth Rs 3 crore from Jogeshwari. Two people were arrested earlier. Now, Amboli police have also nabbed the main accused in the case. The accused has been identified as Shankar Narsaiyya Madderla (49), who is the owner of Venus chemical and drugs Pvt Ltd, based in Karnataka. He was arrested from Hyderabad by the team lead by PI Daya Nayak. Before this, in 2013, the accused was arrested for possessing 250 kg ephedrine which was seized by the Narcotics Control Bureau. On New Year Eve, the Amboli Police busted a drug haul which was supposed to be supplied at high profile parties across the city. Around 20 kg ephedrine worth more than 3 crores has been seized and the two suppliers were arrested on the same day. Both of them had previous records of supplying drugs for high profile parties. One of them was a class 4 custom officer who was fired in 2013 after he was found smuggling drugs. Cops believed that this is a gang which mostly operates for big events, especially New Year. The accused, who were arrested earlier, have been identified as Mohammed Ismail Gulamhusaind, 45, who hails from Hyderabad and Dayanand Manik Muddanar, 32, who was a resident of Vasai. An officer from Amboli Police said, "The accused arrested from Hyderabad has supplied drugs to the accused who have already been arrested earlier. We are probing as to where the drugs were supposed to be delivered. The accused has been arrested under various sections of the NDPS Act." Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates Full Article
crime Mumbai Crime: Human flesh pieces found in drain of Virar building By www.mid-day.com Published On :: 23 Jan 2019 01:38:07 GMT Hundreds of micro-pieces of human flesh were recovered from the blocked drainage of a housing society in Virar West on Tuesday morning. The matter came to light after the residents of Bachraj Paradise of Evershine Avenue complained of a choked drainage system and saw three pieces of human fingers floating in the drain, when it was opened for repair. However, the police are yet to trace the head and bones of the body, and the gender of the deceased is to be ascertained. The pieces have been sent to Forensic Science Laboratory in Kalina where "scientists will conduct a dactylography of the chopped fingers to ascertain its identity", said a source in the Palghar police station. (Dactylography is the scientific study of fingerprints to ascertain identity) "Prima facie probe indicates that the killer has cut the body of the victim into pieces and flushed these down the toilet. The gradual accumulation and decomposition of flesh choked the drainage," said Gaurav Singh, superintendent of police, Palghar district. A local resident, requesting anonymity, told mid-day that there had been a foul smell in the locality for 10 days. "We initially mistook it for the smell of an animal carcass from the nearby drain but we were shocked to see small pieces of human flesh floating in the drain when it was opened," the resident said. The government hospital in-charge Dr Rugved R Dudhat, who visited the spot along with a forensic team, too said that his team has mistaken the pieces of animal flesh. "The overall weight of these pieces could be nearly 40 kg," he said. The incident has terrorised locals but the police have said there's "nothing to fear as the local area is being properly scanned." Vijaykant Sagar, additional superintendent of police, Vasai division, said, "A case under section murder (302) and disappearance of evidence (201) has been registered at Arnala police station." "More of them will be taken out from the drain on Wednesday. We have called in a team of fire brigade on the spot," Jayant Bajbhale, Deputy SP said. Arnala police have recorded the statements of many people and the suspect has been detained, said the source. Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates Full Article
crime Mumbai: As Bhandup turns crime hub, senior cop sacked By www.mid-day.com Published On :: 09 Aug 2018 10:07:04 GMT With eight murders in seven months, 10 attempt to murder cases and hundreds of incidents of assault, gangland has taken over Bhandup. Fed up with Bhandup police's inefficiency, the top brass shunted out Senior Police Inspector Shrinivas Panhale to the Local Arms division on Tuesday. Ramesh Khade has been posted as the new senior Inspector of the police station. A week ago, Bhandup was rocked by the brutal murder of 17-year-old Sushil Verma. The Std XII student was killed by a group of teens right outside his college in broad daylight on July 26. While the cops arrested three suspects, the murder sparked a debate about inefficient policing. Senior Police Inspector Shrinivas Panhale "We consistently told the cops about the situation turning from bad to worst in Bhandup, but they didn't pay any attention. This resulted in the murder of a 17-year-old, which could have avoided by increasing patrolling," said Ramesh Khanvilkar, Director of RK BEd College, Bhandup. "Due to the police's lethargy, addiction among youngsters in on the rise," he added. A public meeting was organised on August 2 to discuss the rising crime. Politicians across parties urged the police to take action against Matka rackets active in Bhandup. Residents urged that rigorous policing is key to reducing the crime rate. Sanjay Dina Patil, ex-MP from the NCP, said, "Bhandup is becoming a den for drug peddlers; the police must act to prevent any future incidents." More money and 'bhais'The new senior PI now faces the challenge of cleaning up crime in the growing suburb. There are 15 lakh residents in this jurisdiction, a majority of whom live in illegal hutments. Two year ago, the police had started a special drive against gangsters, and found three gunny bags of swords in the forest on the hillside. A policeman who had earlier served as a senior police at the Bhandup police station, said, "In Bhandup, there is a lot of SRA work, which has brought money to the area. This has become a catalyst for youngsters to turn gangsters. Increasing hutments on the hills makes it more difficult for cops to enter as well." "In such a situation, the police have to physically start patrolling the area, which will curb crime to some extent, and reduce the flow of narcotics — mainly ganja — in the pipeline area," the officer added. Since last year…Shrinivas Panhale had taken charge of the Bhandup police station on May 20, 2017, but couldn't manage to curb crime or drug flow. According to police statistics, last year, till August, not a single murder had been reported, while three cases of attempt to murder were filed. But this year, eight murders and 10 attempts to murder have been registered in the same period. Murder centralJuly 26: Sushil Verma was killed by teen over an affair with a girl.May 3: Birbal Gupta killed his wife Neha in front of their kids after an altercation over attending a weddingApril 24: Ganesh Padekar, 45, murdered a 30-year-old who had thrown garbage on himMarch 25: Naresh Shetty, 27, out on bail, was murdered over a love affairMarch 24: A 17-year-old stabbed Ramji Rajbhar, 27, when he objected to the minor blowing cigarette smoke on himMarch 18: A vegetable vendor and his two sons were killed after a fight or where to set up their stall Also Read: Sacked cop posed as policeman to extort money from couples at Aksa Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates Full Article
crime Mumbai Crime: Constable held for raping woman in Powai hotel By www.mid-day.com Published On :: 11 Feb 2019 01:52:14 GMT A constable attached to MIDC police station was arrested on Saturday for raping a 20-year-old who was caught stealing chocolates from D-Mart in Powai. The accused, Madhukar Avhad, has been arrested by the Powai police for rape. The Powai police said, on February 6, they received a call from the D-Mart staff informing them about a woman caught stealing 10 chocolates from the store. Avhad, who was on duty at the time, visited the mall and took a detailed note in writing from the woman that she would not repeat the act. Avhad then took her Aadhaar card details and phone number. The next day, Avhad called to the woman telling her he would return her Aadhaar card and statement. He then took her to a hotel near Aarey Road saying he would return it to her there. On reaching the hotel room, Avhad forced himself on her and even took a selfie on her phone. Avhad then refused to return her statement and Aadhaar card telling her to meet him again. On Saturday, the woman's husband saw the selfie on her phone and registered a case of rape against the constable at Powai police station. Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates Full Article
crime Mumbai Crime: 3 held for abusing, molesting women constable at Wadala By www.mid-day.com Published On :: 17 Feb 2019 15:38:38 GMT Wadala GRP arrested three persons from the same family for allegedly manhandling and molesting a women constable at GTB Railway station on Saturday morning. The constable was with a Ticket Checker when she caught a woman passenger who was travelling without a ticket in the First class compartment. All the three accused have been arrested. The alleged incident occurred on Guru Teg Bahadur Railway station of Harbour line on Saturday morning. When a Ticket Checker was checking tickets on a platform when he stopped a 19-year-old Ekta Uppal, a teacher by profession. The checker found that Ekta was travelling without a valid ticket. The TC asked the woman constable present at the station to nab Ekta as she was not ready to pay the fine. "The woman called her father and asked him to come to the railway station. Meanwhile, Ekta was repeatedly abusing constable. Constable called Senior Inspector of Wadala GRP Rajendra Pal, sending things can go bad," said a police officer. "Senior Inspector with cops reached the spot and asked what's the matter," the officer added. "The passenger did not have a valid ticket and along with her father and brothers, were abusing constable too. When I tried to intervene they were not calming down. Their errant behavior didn't stop in spite of repeated warnings, therefore we booked all the three," said Rajendra Pal, Senior Inspector, Wadala GRP. Police have arrested Ekta Uppal (19), Yashraj Uppal (19) and their father Tilakraj Uppal (52) under IPC 354 (Outraging women's modesty) and other relevant sections. Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also, download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get the latest updates Full Article
crime Mumbai Crime: 58-year-old man arrested with 11 kg of charas in Thane By www.mid-day.com Published On :: 06 Jan 2019 06:46:06 GMT A 58-year-old man was arrested after 11 kg of charas (cannabis resin) was seized from him here in Maharashtra, police said Sunday. Acting on a tip-off, the anti-extortion cell of Thane police laid a trap and apprehended Azimuddin Ahmed Ansari at Kalyan town here on Saturday evening, police spokesperson Sukhada Narkar said in a release. A search of his bag led to the recovery of nearly 11 kg of charas, worth around Rs 22 lakh, she said. Ansari, a resident of Siwan district in Bihar, had apparently got the contraband from Nepal, Narkar said. A probe was underway to ascertain as to whom he was planning to sell the contraband, she said, adding that the accused was booked under relevant provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. In another incident, the Mumbai Police has effected a massive drugs haul, valued at Rs 1,000 crore and arrested four drug-peddlers, a top official said on Friday. The Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) swooped on a car parked at Shastri Nagar, in Vile Parle and seized around 100 kg of the banned Fentanyl, which is said to be 50 times more powerful than heroin. According to ANC chief, DCP Shivdeep Lande, following a reliable tip-off to a policeman Santosh Bhalekar about delivery of Fentanyl, the ANC's Azad Maidan Unit laid a trap on Wednesday. Four drug peddlers were caught with the drugs near the service road outside the Mumbai Airport in Vile Parle East, said Lande, of the biggest success notched by Mumbai Police so far. "We have seized 100 kg of the banned drugs. It is worth around Rs 10 crore/kg and the total seizure is worth around Rs 1,000 crore," Lande said. The four accused arrested are -- Salim Ismail Dhola, 52 of Ghodapdev and Chandramani Matamani Tiwari, 41 of Kandivali, both in Mumbai, and Sandeep Indrajeet Tiwari and Ghanshyam Ramraj Saroj, both from Nala Sopara town in the adjacent Palghar district. According to the tip-off, Dhola and two others were expected to arrive at a spot in Vakola, Santacruz east around 8.30 p.m. with the drugs consignment which was reportedly being smuggled to a North American country. The vehicle halted near a tree on the road where a fourth accomplice was already waiting near his scooter for half an hour. After exchanging pleasantries, one of the car occupants came out and handed over a blue coloured container to the man waiting outside. This was the opportune moment when the waiting ANC team struck and caught them red-handed. They also recovered three more blue containers full of the banned drugs from the vehicle. Later, it was found to be the very high-priced Fentanyl drug, and a mere 25 gm is lethal enough to kill a man, police said. Considered a party drug, with around 20,000 overdose-related deaths in the US in 2016, Fentanyl is basically an anaesthetic medicine, but made illegally into a recreational drug, with a lethal mixture of heroin or cocaine. On December 27, the accused were booked under relevant sections of the NDPS and IPC acts for the offences, and have been remanded to police custody till January 1, police said. With inputs from PTI Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever Full Article