Law Enforcement Technology

MAR 2015

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Property crime down— if you don't count cyber crime, ID theft The U.S. crime rate continues to fall, according to the latest FBI's release based on Uniform Crime Reporting from police departments, but researchers say those numbers, which have been sliding since the 1990s, don't tell the whole story. That's because the federal report does not track online property crime, credit card fraud or identity theft, all of which are increasing, according to researchers at the University of New Haven and the State University of New York at Albany. The researchers, Maria Tcherni, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences at UNH, the lead researcher, and Andrew Lucas Blaize Davies, Giza Lopes and Alan Lizotte, of the University at Albany School of Criminal Justice, contend that it is extremely diffcult to estimate the cost of online theft and that in some cases, when intellectual property is stolen, the direct cost may not even be in dollars. Researchers suggest counting online property crimes not only because they seem to be increasing, but also because they have great potential for harm. In fact, each of the 12 largest domestic incidents of security breaches against major corporations included hacking into the records of tens of millions of users. Sadly, the paper says more than half of the victims of these crimes don't even know that their data has been compromised. Losses from cybercrime are not recorded by the FBI and, in fact, may not even be reported to police. Often, the crime is handled by private corporations rather than police, and so it does not make its way into offcial crime statistics. Moreover, a lot of the organizations affected by cyber attacks and online theft (fnancial institutions and other corporations) are reluctant to report their losses for fear of compromising their reputations and losing customers. To learn more, visit www.albany.edu/news www.officer.com March 2015 Law Enforcement Technology 47 INDUSTRY NEWS Study: Identifying population of mentally ill 'frequent fiers' frst step to reducing police contact Identifying the population of people with mental illness who have frequent contact with police could help law enforcement offcials and community agencies allo- cate limited resources to those with the highest needs, new research from Oregon State University indicates. These individuals, often referred to as "frequent fiers" because of their repeated interaction with law enforce- ment, can consume a large amount of police time and resources, according to researchers in the School of Public Policy in OSU's College of Liberal Arts. Identifying and understanding the population can aid policymakers as they work to reduce frequent and time- consuming interactions. Once a local region has identifed its population of frequent fiers, community agencies and policy-makers can use the informa- tion to change or implement policies to assist those with the highest needs. For example, some communities may beneft from the use of mental health courts to address criminal charges for people with mental health needs. Typically in such courts a collaborative team that includes attorneys, parole and probation repre- sentatives, and mental health agency representatives work together to address the individual's needs. That may include a referral for counseling or substance abuse treatment. Researchers' fndings and recommen- dations were published recently in the journal "Criminal Justice Policy Review." The study was coauthored by Charles Lanfear, who worked on the project as a graduate student at OSU. The research was supported by OSU, as well as by the Benton County Sheriff's offce, which provided funding for a graduate student internship related to the research. In addition, researchers determined that of the 697 people placed in peace offcer custody for mental health issues, about 17 percent were taken into custody multiple times. A smaller group of 38 frequent fiers had multiple mental health- related arrests in a 14-day span. For more details, visit http://bit.ly/1DGuWty NIJ names new director Nancy Rodriguez was sworn in as the director of NIJ on February 9. Dr. Rodriguez's research expertise covers a wide range of criminal justice issues from the collateral consequences of imprison- ment; the intersection of race, ethnicity, crime, and justice; to evaluations of drug courts and restorative justice programs. Her most recent work includes a longi- tudinal study of families affected by maternal and paternal incarceration. From 1998–2012, Dr. Rodriguez was a professor in Arizona State University's (ASU) highly respected School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. She was named Associate Dean for Student Engagement in ASU's College of Public Programs in 2012. Dr. Rodriguez's work has appeared in numerous peer-reviewed journals and she has coauthored two books: "Just Cause or Just Because? Prosecution and Plea-bargaining Result in Prison Sentences of Low-level Drug Charges in California and Arizona" and, most recently, "Immigration Enforcement, Youth and Families: Policy in the Absence of Comprehensive Immigration Reform." Dr. Rodriguez's work has been recognized by some of the nation's top criminal justice professional organiza- tions. In 2011, the Division on People of Color and Crime of the American Society of Criminology gave her the Coramae Richey Mann Award, and ASU's College of Public Programs gave her the Anne Larason Schneider Faculty Endowment for Community Research Award. She received the W.E.B. DuBois Award from the Western Society of Criminology in 2010. In 2015 she received the Outstanding Alumni Award from the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Washington State University. A native of El Paso, Texas, Dr. Rodriguez earned a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice from Sam Houston State University. She received her doctorate from Washington State University, in Pullman, Washington, where she concentrated in administra- tion, justice, and applied-policy studies. She was appointed by President Barack Obama in October 2014 to head up NIJ, the scientifc research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice. For more details, visit www.nij.gov

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