Crime
Employment of police officers in the U.S. will increase in 2023 after years of decline, a study shows
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Police departments across the U.S. are reporting an increase in officer numbers for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2020 killing of George Floyd, which a study shows led to a historic exodus of officers.
According to 214 law enforcement agencies that responded to a survey conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), more sworn officers were hired in 2023 than in any of the previous 4 years, and fewer officers resigned or retired overall.
Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and increased scrutiny of law enforcement.
As more officers left, many departments needed to reallocate strained resources, taking them away from investigative work or coping with quality-of-life issues equivalent to abandoned vehicles or noise violations, to deal with the rise in crime, and in some cases, shortages meant slower work. police officers claim that response times are reduced or limited to responding only to emergencies.
“I just think the last four years have been particularly difficult for American policing,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of PERF, a nonprofit police think tank based in Washington. “And our study shows that we are finally starting to turn into a corner.”
However, in line with Wexler, individual departments are recovering at different rates, noting that many still struggle to draw and retain officers.
Overall, the career “isn’t completely eliminated yet,” he said.
The Associated Press left phone and email messages with several unions and police departments asking about hiring increases.
The study shows that while there have been more sworn officers in small and medium-sized departments than in January 2020, staffing levels in large departments are still greater than 5% below their employment levels then, even with year-over-year increases in 2022– 2023.
The study also found that smaller departments with fewer than 50 officers proceed to face higher attrition and retirement rates.
Wexler said the survey only asked about numbers, so it’s hard to say whether these officers are leaving for larger departments or leaving the career altogether. He also found that smaller departments, which make up 80% of agencies nationwide, were underrepresented in the responses PERF received.
Many larger departments have raised officer pay or began offering incentives equivalent to signing bonuses for knowledgeable officers who’re willing to transfer, something smaller departments cannot really compete with. At least a dozen smaller departments have disbanded, leaving the municipalities they once served counting on state or county police for help.
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However, even some of the highest-paid large departments still struggle to draw latest employees.
“I don’t think it’s all about money. “I think it’s about how people view their work and feel like they’re going to be supported,” Wexler said. “You have departments on the West Coast that are paying six-figure sums but still see significant hiring challenges.”
In addition to salaries and bonuses, many agencies are re-examining their application requirements and recruitment processes.
Wexler believes some of these changes make sense, equivalent to allowing visible tattoos, reconsidering the importance of past financial problems and faster background checks for applicants. However, he warned that PERF doesn’t support lowering training or candidate standards.
Maria “Maki” Haberfeld, chair of the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, says departments have focused an excessive amount of on officer numbers. He worries that some are lowering educational requirements and other standards to increase the number of officers, relatively than trying to search out the best people to police their communities.
“Policing is a real profession that requires more skill and more education than people can understand,” she said. “It’s not about tattoos or running a mile in quarter-hour. “It’s really more about emotional intelligence, maturity and split-second decision-making without the use of lethal force.”
Haberfeld also cautioned that any personnel gains made through incentives could easily be erased, especially since officers, including some in combat gear, were seen breaking up protests against the war between Israel and Hamas at universities across the country.
“In policing, it takes decades to move forward and a split second for public attitudes to deteriorate,” she said.
The PERF study showed an overall decline in layoffs of greater than 20%, from a high of almost 6,500 in 2022 to fewer than 5,100 in 2023. However, they’re still higher than levels at the starting of the pandemic in 2020, when several greater than 4,000 officers resigned in all corresponding departments.
As with employment growth, the rate of decline in retirements tended to depend upon department size. In 2023, fewer people retired in large departments than in 2019, barely more retired in medium-sized departments, and increased salaries in small departments. The study found a sharp decline in resignations in large agencies with 250 or more employees and in mid-sized agencies with 50 to 249 officers.
In addition to increases in pay and advantages, improved retention could be partly attributed to a change in the way some public officials view their public safety departments, Wexler says.
“It was only a few years ago that we moved from public discourse about defunding the police to public officials realizing that their employees were leaving,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that there’s been a radical change among political leadership.”
Crime
Founder of an AI Tech startup accused of fraud and combining numbers with investors
Joanna Smith-Griffin, 33, CEO of startup AllHere Education, Inc. dealing with AI education accused of defrauding investors.
The Southern District of New York prosecuted Smith-Griffin securities fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The grand jury indictment alleged that Smith-Griffin lied concerning the education platform’s funds and posed as a financial consultant to supply false information to investors. While acting as a financial consultant for AllHere Education, Smith-Griffin is accused of falsifying the corporate’s financial records mislead potential investors and inflate the worth of her company and its revenues.
AllHere Education is an AI-powered learning platform utilized in primary and secondary schools. Smith-Griffin has had little success integrating the K-12 platform into individual school districts in California and Georgia. However, the principal didn’t secure long-term contracts with school districts. She used these short-term partnerships to misrepresent to investors the reach and financial success of AllHere Education.
Smith-Griffin told potential AllHere investors that AllHere generated about $3.7 million in revenue in 2020, about $2.5 million in money and has major school district customers similar to New York City Department of Education (“NYC DOE”) and Atlanta Public Schools. In fact, AllHere generated roughly $11,000 in revenue in 2020, had roughly $494,000 in money, and had no contracts with many of the clients it represented, including the NYC DOE and Atlanta Public Schools.
Smith-Griffin continued to boost capital to support the startup, raising one other $10 million in funding. When the corporate collapsed financially, Smith-Griffin allegedly used the money injection to pay for an extravagant three-day wedding in Florida and a residence in North Carolina.
FBI Deputy Director James E. Dennehy commented on Smith-Griffin’s decision to prioritize her personal aspirations over the needs of an educational platform.
“Her alleged actions impacted the potential to improve the learning environment in core school districts by selfishly prioritizing personal expenses,” he said.
Smith-Griffin faces a compulsory two years in prison for the identity theft charge and a maximum of 20 years for every fraud charge. AllHere Education is currently in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Crime
Prosecutors say Sean “Diddy” Combs is trying to obstruct justice by heading to prison
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs was trying to reach potential witnesses and influence public opinion while in prison in a bid to influence potential jurors in an upcoming sex trafficking trial, prosecutors said in a court filing during which they urged a judge to deny his latest bail request.
The government charges were filed Friday evening in federal court in Manhattan, which opposed the music mogul’s latest offer of $50 million bail. A bail hearing is scheduled for next week.
Prosecutors wrote that a review of recorded phone calls Combs made while in prison shows that he asked relations to contact potential victims and witnesses and urged them to create a “narrative” to influence the jury pool. They say he also encouraged the use of promoting strategies to influence public opinion.
“The defendant has demonstrated time and time again – even while in custody – that he’ll flagrantly and repeatedly disregard the foundations so as to improperly influence the consequence of his case. In other words, the defendant has demonstrated that he can’t be trusted to abide by the terms and conditions,” prosecutors wrote in a press release containing redactions.
Prosecutors wrote that from his behavior it might be inferred that Combs wanted to blackmail victims and witnesses into remaining silent or providing testimony helpful to his defense.
Combs’ lawyers didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Prosecutors said Combs, 55, began breaking the foundations almost immediately after being taken into custody Metropolitan Prison Center in Brooklyn after his September arrest.
He pleaded not guilty to the costs brought against him he abused and molested women for years with the assistance of a network of collaborators and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
Two judges found he was a danger to the community and a flight risk.
His lawyers recently filed a 3rd bail application after rejecting two previous attempts, including a $50 million bail offer.
In their motion, they cited modified circumstances, including latest evidence, that they believed justified Combs’ release so he could higher prepare for his May 5 trial.
However, prosecutors said defense lawyers created the most recent bail proposal based on evidence provided to them by prosecutors, and the brand new material was already known to defense lawyers after they submitted previous bail applications.
In their presentation to the judge, prosecutors said Combs’ behavior in prison shows he must remain locked up.
For example, they said, Combs asked relations to plan and execute a social media campaign around his birthday “with the intent of influencing a potential jury in this criminal proceeding.”
He encouraged his children to post a video on their social media accounts of them gathering to have a good time his birthday, he added.
He then monitored statistics on the jail, including audience engagement, and “explicitly discussed with the family how to ensure the film would have the desired impact on potential jury members in this case,” they said.
The government also alleged that Combs made clear in other conversations that he intended to anonymously publish information that he believed would help him defend against the costs.
“Defendant’s efforts to impede the fairness of these proceedings also include his persistent efforts to contact potential witnesses, including victims of violence, who could provide strong testimony against him,” prosecutors wrote.
Crime
Celebrity chef and former NFL player Tobias Dorzon is recovering from a shooting attack
Celebrity chef and former NFL player Tobias Dorzon is recovering after being shot during an alleged robbery.
The shooting occurred on the evening of Tuesday, November 5 in Hyattsville, Maryland, when multiple suspects attempted to rob a man and woman who had just returned from dinner, based on statement from the Hyattsville Police Department.
Police said the victims were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Although authorities didn’t initially discover the victims, local council member Wanika Fisher revealed that Dorzon was amongst those attacked.
“I am disheartened and saddened by the news that Prince George’s County restaurant owner Tobias Dorzon was one of two people shot during an attempted robbery Tuesday evening in my neighborhood,” Fisher began in a news release.
She added that Dorzon, a Riverdale native, owns two “amazing” restaurants in Hyattsville and is considered a “dear” friend of hers.
“Such a terrible act could not have happened to a better person,” Fisher continued within the statement. “I offer my sincere condolences to him and the other victim, as well as their families and friends, and wish them both a speedy recovery. This type of senseless violence has no place in our county and county.”
According to Fisher, Dorzon is an “extremely talented” chef who has represented Prince George’s County on the national stage and appeared on several Food Network shows. Most recently, the 39-year-old chef participated within the Food Network’s “Last Bite Hotel,” where he made it to the ultimate 4. He also hosts “Time Out with Tobias” on ESPN.
Off-screen, Dorzon currently owns and manages a company Huncho’s house and exclusive 1123 By Chef Tobias. This spring, he was named Maryland Chef of the Year, the primary honor for somebody from Prince George’s County. In 2021 helped James Harden open his restaurant Thirteen in Houston.
Before becoming a master chef, the Maryland native played within the NFL for each the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Tennessee Titans. He also had a stint playing for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League.
Every week after the shooting, Dorzon updated followers Instagram on his progress.
“I’m still here, thank you all for your prayers. See you soon…. Huncho,” he wrote within the caption of a post that included a screenshot of a tweet during which he admitted that, all things considered, he should be “God’s favorite.”
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