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Just a few months ago, the Honolulu PD announced that it was starting a new program aimed at shaming DUI offenders online, in hopes of dissuading other citizens from driving drunk. I wrote about the program last November as part of a series on the benefits and drawbacks of public shaming as a form of punishment and deterrent.

This week they announced that they had to stop the program. Although the police hoped it would act as a deterrent, defense lawyers claimed that posting weekly mugshots of recent DUI offenders to the department’s website was unfair to the defendants because their cases had yet to go to trial and they had not yet been found guilty of a crime. In other words, lawyers were claiming that the Honolulu PD’s program came a little too close to labeling suspects guilty before proven innocent.

So, while other “naming and shaming” tactics are still alive and kicking in other parts of the country. The Hawaii PD’s incarnation has been suspended for the foreseeable future.

What do you think? Does posting DUI mugshots online irreparably harm defendant’s cases? Leave your thoughts below.

James Gunter is the editor of The Crime Map and the director of social media for CrimeReports.com.

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This is a guest post by crime analyst Scott Dickson and was originally published at The Crime Analysts’ Blog.

There’s a story over at the Dallas Morning News regarding online access to Dallas PD’s offense reports. Dallas PD allows access via it’s website of reported offense data that is subject to the Open Records Act. However, there’s an allegation that the department asked the vendor to make it harder for users to find certain offense data via the site.

In early January, a new vendor went live with an updated version of the department’s online police reports system. The system allows the user to search for details of a crime by the offense from a drop-down sorting menu, or by other criteria, such as date, location, victim name or police report service number.

But the software was tweaked to remove some serious crimes, such as rape and murder, from the easy-to-use drop-down menu.

“I’m still confused about what exactly happened and who made the decision,” Police Chief David Kunkle said Thursday morning.

“My position has always been that as much as you can, we should have online access to any information that we know is going to fall under open records,” he said. “I want people to have an interest in making neighborhoods safer.”

Open records laws have really changed the way that government and law enforcement in particular do business. I have written in the past that many believe that recent drops in crime are due to law enforcement agencies being held more accountable for their performance. You can read some of these posts, here, here or here. An important component of this accountability is transparency.

But there is a certain resistance to this transparency. Not all the resistance is motivated by nefarious reasons. Don’t get me wrong, I am a strong believer in transparency. However, I want to bring this up so people understand why some departments are hesitant to embrace transparency.

One reason departments are hesitant is that some crime issues get blown out of proportion and departments then spend more time trying to do damage control then they spend in solving the original problem. As cops we’d much rather spend time and effort into putting bad guys in jail than we do holding press conferences.

Another reason is that cities are often times trying to promote their cities as attractive places to live and work. Many times, city leaders feel that if they admit there was any crime in the city then they will have failed in their mission to promote the city.

Another reason is that heads of police agencies can and will often lose their jobs over “bad” crime stats. No one wants their job security to hinge on the actions of another. Often times, it takes years to turn a city’s crime problem around.

Communities can go a long way to ensuring that their cops embrace transparency. Let me offer a few suggestions to further that end.

• Resist the urge to storm City Hall with torches and pitchforks in hand when a crime problem comes to light. Express your concern, but also express your support of your department and your willingness to work together and partner with them to solve the problem.
• Ignore those who would use a crime problem to further a backbiting political agenda. They will cause your department to waste time in a political fight rather than focusing on fighting crime.
• Help your city leaders to see that it is not realistic to think that a city will have no crime. I would much rather see them promote the city as having an effective police department that is responsive to crime problems. People aren’t stupid, they know that any city will occasionally have crime.
• When a crime problem comes to light, give your Chief an reasonable opportunity to solve the problem. Don’t immediately demand his head.
• Demand transparency from your department. Push your city leaders to formulate a plan to make all of it’s operations more transparent. You could even volunteer to serve on a committee to develop that plan.

Transparency in government is empowering. However, with that power comes a responsibility to use it wisely.

Scott Dickson is a crime analyst in Killeen, Texas. He blogs at The Crime Analyst’s Blog and can be reached via email at scott@crimeanalystblog.net

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Consumers lose more than $40 billion—yes, $40 billion—a year to telemarketing fraud. People over 60 years of age are especially vulnerable and account for over 50 percent of all victims, according to a recent study by the American Association of Retired Persons. Professional scam artists often target older people, knowing they tend to be trusting and polite toward strangers and are more likely to be home and have time to talk with callers.

Tip-Offs to Phone Fraud

Many scams involve phony prize offers, bogus travel packages, get-rich-quick investments and fake charities. Con artists are skilled liars who spend a lot of time polishing their sales pitches. As a result, it can be difficult to see through their scams.

Some Tip-Offs:

• You must act “now” or the offer expires.
• You’ve won a “free” gift, vacation or prize—but you must pay for “postage and handling.”
• You must send money, give a credit card or bank account number, or have your check picked up by courier immediately.
• You’re told it’s not necessary to check out the company with anyone like the Better Business Bureau.
• You’re told written information about the company is not necessary.
• You can’t afford to miss this “high-profit,” “no-risk” offer.

Protection Against Telemarketing Fraud

Urge your parents or anyone troubled by calls to resist high-pressure sales tactics. Legitimate businesses respect the fact that a person is not interested.

• Tell telemarketers to remove you from their call list. If they call back they’re breaking the law—hang up!
• Ask for written information only to be sent to you about the product, service, investment opportunity or charity.
• Hang up if you’re asked to pay for a prize. Free means free, nothing else.
• Never give information about your bank account, credit card, social security number or anything considered personal information.
• Hang up if a telemarketer calls before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
• Check out any company with your state and local consumer protection office before you do anything.
• Finally, do not send money—cash, check or money order—by courier, overnight delivery, or wire to anyone without investigation.

If you suspect a scam, call your state attorney general. The Federal Trade Commissions Telemarketing Sales Rule gives state law enforcement officers the power to prosecute fraudulent telemarketers.

It’s the Law

It’s helpful for people who are targets of fraudulent telemarketers to know their rights under federal law:

• It’s illegal for a telemarketer to call you after you’ve asked not to be called.
• Telemarketers must tell you it’s a sales call, the name of the seller and what they are selling, before they make their pitch.
• If the call is a prize promotion, they must tell you that you don’t have to buy anything to enter or win.
• Before you pay, telemarketers must disclose the total cost, any restrictions or that a sale is final or non-refundable.
• Telemarketers may not withdraw money from your checking account without verifiable authorization.
• You do not have to pay for credit repair, recovery room, advance-fee loan, or credit services until all services are delivered.

For More Information
Contact: The Consumer Response Center
Washington D.C. 20006
(202)-835-3323

Stay Safe.

George Feder is a former master jewel thief and former America’s Most Wanted Correspondent. Visit GeorgeFeder.com or follow him on Twitter (@GeorgeFeder) to go inside the criminal mind and get tips on how you can stay safe.

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In communities across the United States, there is a strong schism between our spoken determination to protect kids and our unreasonable methods of dealing justice to kids.

Speaking as a mom, I can comfortably state that young children don’t write hopeful Career Day reports describing their future as prostitutes, drug mules, and sex offenders. They want to be teachers and doctors, cowboys and astronauts, and sports professionals.

As a society, we’ve generally acknowledged that children committing crimes have been led astray and need help to get back on track toward safe and constructive adulthood. However, also speaking as a mom, I can say that our juvenile justice system is largely the equivalent of smacking a kid and sending them to bed hungry. Not constructive and—for many types of juvenile crime—clearly not working.

We can use as an example the topic that sparked this post: child prostitutes.

Children cannot legally consent to sex, let alone take responsibility for their part in a financial transaction. Adults who are convicted of any level or type of sexual interaction with children typically face severe and life-long consequences.

And yet, children picked up as prostitutes, who also happen to be 5^th graders, can expect to spend the night in jail. These children also have a good chance of going into juvenile detention and then being sent back to the same environment that turned them into child prostitutes.

These children are obviously victims of horrific crimes, and yet we treat them as criminals. Instead of helping to build them back up from the desecration that was committed upon them, we punish them as though they were consenting participants.

We can call that justice, but is that a good word choice? The fifth grade girl in a jail cell could probably tell you ‘no.’

I would encourage parents and community members to think about this the next time they hear about a young person being arrested in the community. What consequence would you assign for the crime if your child was the perpetrator? And then spend some time finding out how the legislated consequence differs from your own. You’ll probably be surprised at how punitive it is, and how expensive it is.

With regard to child prostitutes, there is no question that change is needed. I once spent several months working with ‘delinquent’ girls in a very intensive therapy environment. For most of these girls, it was their second or third time in juvenile detention, and they felt very lucky (usually!) to be in such an intense program. All but two of the girls were in for prostitution. The youngest of those that had been arrested for prostitution was 11, and it was her second arrest.

Bethan Tuttle, CIPP, is mom to two and Executive Director of CommunityWatch, a non-profit that provides empowering crime-prevention education for kids, families, and communities. Learn more at CommunityWatch.us and follow @ComWatch on Twitter for empowering crime prevention updates.

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I know we’ve focused a lot on teen sexting lately, here on the Neighborhood Crime Map, but a recent commercial, aired during the super bowl last weekend, seemed to stir up the waters again. You know how we feel about teen sexting, but what do you think about this commercial? Do you think it could encourage young people to “sext”? Could it be potentially damaging? Or, is it just a harmless, funny commercial? Watch the video embedded below and leave your thoughts in the comments section.

James Gunter is the editor of The Crime Map and the director of social media for CrimeReports.com.

Search your neighborhood crime map at CrimeReports.com

Disaster Aid Scams are constantly used by enterprising crooks to make themselves and their key employees extremely wealthy. I’ve worked for telemarketing companies who have scammed and skimmed millions from the bank accounts and credit cards of people in need.

What’s considered a disaster? The dictionary defines a disaster as a catastrophic event causing great loss of life, damage, hardship and business failure. The earthquake in Haiti and hurricane Katrina in New Orleans are the more publicized disasters affecting large amounts of people at one time and open the door for disaster aid scams to operate.

After the Asian tsunami in 2004, the FBI investigated 170 websites that preyed on well-meaning donors by mimicking the websites of well-known charities, and officials say the same has happened in the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake. I can tell you from my experience as a jewel thief, the officials are correct. People believe what they see and hear, as long as it looks good. That fact helped me gain entrance to many of my biggest scores!

However, the word disaster means different things. If your child needs heart surgery to continue living and you’re poor without health insurance, that’s your very real disaster. There are marketing companies who will promise to provide health insurance that will enable the child to get the “chance” for a $300,000 life-saving surgery for a small monthly fee of $99.00. This offer is good for today only and must be accompanied by a one-time processing fee of $199.00. So for the total cost today of $298.00, your child gets the “chance.”

The parents of this dying child who used their disability check to pay the $298.00 fee for that “chance” at life-saving surgery have just stepped into the abyss. They’re overlooking the key word “chance” mentioned 3 times in the marketing company’s sales pitch and of course the chance will never come.

My point is this: a disaster aid scam can happen to a large group of people at one specific time or to one person at a time, but the devastation can happen to both groups.

Here are my best tips for avoiding these scams:

• Avoid giving personal data such as social security numbers, dates of birth, and bank account information to any organization seeking donations.
• Be sure you’re giving directly to well-known organizations, such as “Feed the Children” or “The Red Cross.”
• Beware if someone thanks you for a previous donation that you did not make, or tries to collect a pledge you did not make.
• Avoid organizations that offer to forward your donation for a “processing fee.”
• Look out for organizations that want a fee to help locate a family member displaced or lost in the disaster.
• Check and see if the website address ends in .com instead of .org. Most charitable organizations sites have a .org address.
• Natural disasters, such as the Haitian earthquake and illness, can bring out the best in people but, unfortunately, can also bring out the worst, including those who would scam people wanting to donate to help victims.

I thank and respect all the good people who care enough to help others anyway they can!

Stay Safe.

About 200 days a year, kids get up in the morning and head to school. They spend 6-8 hours at school, and then turn toward home, or to other activities. Schools themselves tend to be safe places. Stress, bullying, rough-housing, and some other social issues can erupt but are typically well-managed by school administrators and families.

The area immediately around schools is often considered safe. Some states have created ‘Community Protection Zones’ around schools, which prohibit certain categories of sex offenders from residing within a specific distance of schools. Other laws prohibit weapons on public property within a certain distance of schools and provide for harsher penalties for drug crimes near schools. Those laws serve as public statements that we want our children protected from predators and criminals, but they do little to dissuade predators and criminals from attempting to harm children.

Most kids travel safely between home and school, with visibility of kids and cars being a much bigger risk than predators. Despite that, the distance between home and school is the space where children are most likely to be assaulted by a non-family member, solicited, intimidated, bullied, or lured. (CCRC source)

To counter the risks that children often deal with on their daily trek to and from school, some effective tools are needed. These include a solid understanding of real threats and risks in your area, empowering safety education for kids, established Safe Walking Routes, and trained school administrators with the authority to exclude high-risk individuals from the area around schools.

During February, I’ll cover those four tools in depth. If your community has had successes or failures with regard to getting kids to school safely, share your experiences, too!

Look for –

• Risk and Threat: Figure them out and teach your kid empowering street smarts
• Safe Walking Routes: Safety and security in the school’s community
• Empowered Administrators: Excluding high-risk individuals to improve school security

Bethan Tuttle, CIPP, is mom to two and Executive Director of CommunityWatch, a non-profit that provides empowering crime-prevention education for kids, families, and communities. Learn more at CommunityWatch.us and follow @ComWatch on Twitter for empowering crime prevention updates.

Search your neighborhood crime map at CrimeReports.com

Meridith Spencer, over at The Crime Map, recently wrote a great post about a program that is helping make the effects of using meth very real for teens and young adults. The program is called Face2Face, and it takes images of young people and “ages” them to show them what they will look like after prolonged use of meth (as seen at right)

Spencer explains that many drug prevention efforts fail because they rely on scare tactic, but that Face2Face personalizes the effects of meth.

Past experience and research, however, shows that scare tactics—especially those used in anti-drug campaigns—while initially promising, tend to fail. Adolescents, who already feel invincible, know that these worst case scenarios are unlikely to happen to them. So what can programs like Face2Face do to strengthen their effectiveness? Teenagers are more likely to not only hear but also to personalize safe behavior messages when they identify with the messenger and believe that the messenger faces the same concerns and pressures that they do. In other words, a peer to peer element is essential to the success of such efforts.

She continues:

The key to fighting drug use is not law enforcement but rather education across multiple platforms throughout the community. As [Mendocino County, California, Sheriff Thomas] Allman himself said “Law enforcement and government is not the answer to rampant drug use.”

It sounds like the Mendocino County Sherriff’s Office might be onto something. You read more about the program, including cost and implementation here: http://thecrimemap.crimereports.com/2010/01/26/face2face-this-is-your-face-on-meth/

James Gunter is the editor of The Crime Map and the director of social media for CrimeReports.com.

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When thinking back to the time when I was a professional jewel thief and how much I enjoyed re-counting the large pile of money I made after committing a clean, smooth, and easy burglary, I often wondered why the builders and property managers didn’t make it more difficult to break into their beautiful hi-rise buildings. Occasionally I’d return to a building where I’d made a big score months earlier and find that no security improvements had been made, I was grateful, but wondered why

Many years later, I got my shocking answer: Some builders, property management companies and security companies are aiding and abetting burglary, home invasion, and all forms of violent crime. (At this point you may ask yourself, is George Feder lying, crazy or both? Remember George is an ex-felon! Hang on and pay attention.) These companies are responsible for the security of all who live and work in these condominiums, co-ops, apartment complexes, private homes, and office buildings. Their main responsibility is to prevent guys like me from breaking into these buildings and into your homes and your workplace.

I’ve been a crime-prevention consultant for 13 years. A few years ago, I was invited to be a guest speaker at meetings held by property management companies. Things went well for a while; then the groups stopped inviting me. I was no longer recommended to other property management companies.

Why?

OK, get ready for this. A big part of my presentation was to conduct a free consultation by doing a security walk-through of the host building. As we all walked together through the building, I’d point out ways of improving security and therefore improving the safety of all who lived or worked there. I’d point out where better locks could be used, better doors could be installed, where security cameras were needed and on and on. I’ve never been in any type of residential or commercial building where the security already in place could not be improved. But that was the problem.

The bottom line is this: crime prevention is great as long as it doesn’t cost too much and cut down on corporate profits. The two words that will help explain it all are Money and Liability. One property manager—who asked to remain anonymous,—explained: “If I have you do an on-site security analysis of my apartment complex and you point out crime-prevention methods and products that will decrease the chance of burglary, rape or violence of any kind—my company’s liability will increase.” He continued, “Going on record with a documented security report forces us to either make costly changes or risk losing tremendous amounts of money due to lawsuits because we made no changes. It’s more profitable [if they can get away with it] to not do an up-to-date security analysis and remain status-quo.”

Having been a criminal who spent ten years in prison for breaking the law, I was amazed, confused, and angered. Are we all only entitled to as much crime-prevention as the corporate accountant allows?

Do you have experiences where lax security has not been improved in your apartment building or workplace? Leave your stories and thoughts in the comments section.

George Feder is a former master jewel thief and former America’s Most Wanted Correspondent. Visit GeorgeFeder.com or follow him on Twitter (@GeorgeFeder) to go inside the criminal mind and get tips on how you can stay safe.

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I’ve done lots of reading and research on airport security. By combining that research with my own successful criminal instincts and experience I depended upon years ago when I was a professional jewel thief I can now analyze airport security from my own unique point of view. As a former thief, I used many of the tactics modern day terrorists use such as: disguise, phony I.D, intimidation, lies, trickery and, when necessary, fear. In this way I can accurately describe why some terrorists are successful and some aren’t. By comparing the vulnerability of what’s considered the safest airport in the world, “Ben Gurion” in Israel, with that of U.S. airports, I’m able to give you my unique point of view that you can’t get from anyone else regarding terrorism and security.

Ben Gurion uses the best technology available, scanning both luggage and people with all types of x-ray machines, unlike the U.S., regardless of cost. However the key to their success is because they focus on what’s called the “Human Factor” just as I did. Technology is not a comprehensive tool, It can do one thing . . . detect weapons. The 9/11 terrorists didn’t use weapons, they used box cutters! By having a well-trained security force concentrating on the person/the would-be terrorist you’re utilizing the Human Factor. Simply put: Terrorist attacks are carried out by people much like I was, who can be found and stopped by an effective security method. Find the person and you can stop the attack. That’s exactly how it works with crime-prevention and stopping my former expertise, burglary, as well.

Last year the U.S. spent 4 billion dollars on airport technology and virtually nothing on finding people who intend to blow up planes! Technology is not comprehensive. Human interaction, as it is used when engaged in crime-prevention, trying to stop an intelligent former jewel thief like me must be the primary focus when attempting to prevent planes from being blown up. To have an effective security program, the Human Factor must be considered. Again it’s that human factor that enables or helps prevent burglary, it’s currently all but ignored at all U.S. airports. The Human Factor can be defined as follows: “Behavior Pattern Recognition” (B.P.R.) which relies on well-trained security officers spotting suspicious behavior through watching and interviewing people. That same security principle was exactly what I was up against as a working jewel thief when challenged by a doorman or resident of the condo I was trying to commit a burglary in. If I became nervous or started sweating, I would wind up in jail.

Logan Airport in Boston is thought to be the best and only example of a legally secure airport in the U.S. Logan alone incorporates and heavily relies on innovative Behavior Pattern Recognition along with scanning. B.P.R. is a series of stops, checkpoints, and interviews which begin outside the airport at perimeter roads, along entrance walkways, in parking lots, and—of course—inside the airport. It’s about forming layers of security similar to those used at Ben Gurion airport in Israel. That was the same set of circumstances I had to deal with when committing a burglary. Getting past the main entrance or security gatehouse, possibly being questioned by doormen, security guards, residents, or maintenance men always existed. I always had a back up story, like the address of the condo next door and that I was in the wrong building.

We in the U.S. need to utilize B.P.R. and well-trained security forces, combined with scanning at all our airports, just like Ben Gurion airport in Israel. There has not been a serious incident of terrorism in Ben Gurion in over 30 years! To my way of thinking, that fact proves what’s being done at Ben Gurion airport in Israel works and saves lives. Every airport in the U.S. should follow the legal and successfully implemented security measures used at Ben Gurion in Israel.

Stay safe.

George Feder is a former master jewel thief and former America’s Most Wanted Correspondent. Visit GeorgeFeder.com or follow him on Twitter (@GeorgeFeder) to go inside the criminal mind and get tips on how you can stay safe.

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