On Q Professional Investigations

You could argue that the foundation of law enforcement isn’t arresting or apprehending—it isn’t even investigating.

It’s talking to people and determining the truth of any given situation.

Officers might go their entire careers without discharging their firearm, but no law enforcement officer on the job can go a single day without talking to people. Distilled to its essence, dealing with people is the nature of the job.

The need for skill

Given the importance of connecting with people, it’s vital that police officers develop a knack for it.

“The ability to interview and interrogate is a crucial skill,” says Wesley Clark, president of LIES LLC (Linguistic Interrogation Expert Services). “It sets the foundation for your investigation. Every investigation starts with an interview—witness, complainant or suspect. If you get that wrong, it can skew your entire investigation and send it into the wrong direction. Getting a truthful statement is crucial.

“In the academy, you get some basic skill level, but you don’t have to have any additional training,” he adds. “For most departments, the average is about one to four hours in the police academy, which is not nearly enough.”

Sure, there are those who just naturally get along and connect with people, but being a good interviewer is a skill that can, and should, be learned.

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SEVEN YEARS AFTER the Federal Aviation Administration first warned Boeing that its new Dreamliner aircraft had a Wi-Fi design that made it vulnerable to hacking, a new government report suggests the passenger jets might still be vulnerable.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets, as well as Airbus A350 and A380 aircraft, have Wi-Fi passenger networks that use the same network as the avionics systems of the planes, raising the possibility that a hacker could hijack the navigation system or commandeer the plane through the in-plane network, according to the US Government Accountability Office, which released a report about the planes today.

A hacker would have to first bypass a firewall that separates the Wi-Fi system from the avionics system. But firewalls are not impenetrable, particularly if they are misconfigured. A better design, security experts have warned for years, is to air gap critical systems from non-critical ones—that is, physically separate the networks so that a hacker on the plane can’t bridge from one to the other, nor can a remote hacker pass malware through the internet connection to the plane’s avionics system. As the report notes, because the Wi-Fi systems in these planes connect to the world outside the plane, it opens the door for malicious actors to also remotely harm the plane’s system.

“A virus or malware planted in websites visited by passengers could provide an opportunity for a malicious attacker to access the IP-connected onboard information system through their infected machines,” according to the report.

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Varsity’s programme helps students acquire skills to investigate offences and help identify, apprehend criminals

Collecting evidence, finding clues and investigating crimes can sound like a scene out of any Hollywood thriller. Pouring magnetic dust over a fingerprint detail in a forensic laboratory, Sarah Tariq Khoory is one of the few Emirati students learning forensic science at Amity University’s Dubai campus.

“There are very few Emirati women forensic scientists and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to join the course. I have also trained with Dubai Police and worked with them during the summer,” she said.

Studying as part of a special Emirati scholarship, the student was recently on a tour to Milan to work alongside forensic scientists in Italy.“I was excited to see a real autopsy and when we had a chance to get our hands on a crime scene, it was really nerve-racking. Even when collecting fingerprints, we had to be extremely careful with the procedure and how it is applied in the real world, said Sarah.

Sharon Ann Philip, an Indian student was also among the group of students taking part in the two-week study tour which concluded last month.

“When I went to Milan it was very different. The day we were collecting evidence it was raining and we had to solve a staged robbery crime scene. We were asked to collect fingerprints and DNA evidence to understand the nature of crime and how the criminals would have operated,” said Sharon.

At the university, students are taught everything from ballistics to anthropology, better known as the study of humans. Hagi Fernandes, an Indian student at the university, says the world of forensics is different from what people see in movies.

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The influence of TV crime shows has changed the expectations of juries, says the director of the Nebraska State Patrol’s Crime Lab.
Because of the TV shows, Pam Zilly believes “there is more of an expectation, particularly from juries, that there will be forensic evidence in every case,” and that the evidence will be presented to them.

In the real world, forensic evidence might exist, but it won’t be presented to a jury because it isn’t relevant, Zilly said. For example, if a son is accused of stealing his father’s truck, the son’s fingerprints and DNA are probably all over the truck because he’s used it legitimately in the past. In the case of a bank robbery, it’s not worth worrying about fingerprints if the suspect is a customer who visited the bank earlier that day.

“So wasting the resources to perform that testing is unnecessary,” and delays the crime lab from getting to cases where testing is more meaningful, she said.
Zilly believes more attorneys are asking for extra testing ”to appease juries, when in actuality that testing may not be significant in that case. So we spend quite a bit of time trying to communicate with attorneys and investigators,” urging them not to have testing done when it’s not truly necessary, Hall County Attorney Jack Zitterkopf agrees that people have unrealistic expectations of what needs to be presented.

Generally, lawyers try to educate the jury during the voir dire process, which precedes a jury trial, “that this isn’t ‘CSI.’ This is the real world,” Zitterkopf said.
“In the real world, we don’t test every piece of evidence for a number of reasons,” he said. Lawyers try to educate jurors that not every case or every question requires forensic evidence.

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The Dominican street gang in Lawrence, Massachusetts must have thought they had the perfect illegal enterprise: kidnap drug dealers, bookmakers, and money launderers, steal their cash and drugs, and then hold them for ransom—knowing that since the victims were themselves criminals, they and their families would likely never report the abductions.

The gang members—known as joloperros, or stick-up guys—were organized, armed, and violent: They often tortured their victims, sometimes with hot irons.

“They targeted anyone they thought they could make large sums of money from,” said Special Agent Jeff Wood, coordinator of the North Shore Gang Task Force, one of the FBI’s three Safe Streets Task Forces in Massachusetts.

The kidnappings began around 2010 in and around Lawrence, a largely Hispanic city and gang stronghold located about 20 miles north of Boston. The North Shore Gang Task Force—made up of the FBI, the Massachusetts State Police, the Lawrence Police Department, the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, and other local law enforcement agencies—worked with the Drug Enforcement Agency to build a case against the crew.

“The victims and their families would not report the crimes,” Wood said, “because they didn’t want to admit that, yes, they were selling drugs or laundering money. And some of the victims were in the country illegally.”

The joloperros mainly targeted drug dealers, and their methods were sophisticated. They used GPS devices to track individuals, conducted surveillance to learn targets’ routes and movements, and also tried to identify dealers’ stash houses.

“They weren’t targeting street-level dealers, but rather suppliers,” Wood said. Some of the victims were selling multiple kilos of heroin and cocaine on a monthly basis.

When the actual abductions took place, the crew would grab the victim, duct tape his hands, and put a cover over his head. Victims were taken to safe houses, where they were often tortured, and large ransoms were demanded from their families.

“When we got word of a kidnapping, we would go to the family and they wouldn’t cooperate,” Wood said. But over time, using a variety of investigative techniques such as confidential sources, controlled drug buys, and other means, most of the crew was dismantled.

Last month, after previously pleading guilty to a violent 2012 kidnapping in which a $100,000 ransom was demanded, Edgar Acevedo was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Since the task force investigation began more than two years ago, approximately 20 individuals have been charged in federal court—including some of the gang’s leaders—with kidnapping-related offenses or for crimes associated with the Lawrence-based kidnapping crews.

To date, nine people have pled guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and four others have pled guilty to firearm-related offenses. Several joloperros are awaiting trial.

“At one point, these kidnapping crews had a very large presence in Lawrence,” Wood said, “but their presence has decreased dramatically thanks to law enforcement intervention.” He noted that many people associate violent gangs with Los Angeles or the Southwest Border, “but gangs are just as violent and just as dangerous in upstate Maine as they are in Los Angeles. They lower the quality of life in the community they are operating in, no matter where that community is.”

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After a challenging first year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske outlined several significant advances introduced under his leadership during an April 8 address at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.Commissioner Kerlikowske, who took the agency helm in March 2014, focused his remarks on developments in trade, travel and transparency by CBP, the world’s first full-service border security agency.

One of the Commissioner’s most distinct achievements during his tenure has been in the area of agency transparency, notably presenting the first comprehensive CBP strategic plan in almost a decade.

CBP’s Vision and Strategy 2020 “clearly recognizes that CBP must balance border security with enhancing our nation’s economic competitiveness,” said Commissioner Kerlikowske during his remarks. “These are two sides of the same coin.”

One root of his agency’s success lies in collaboration to meet mission goals. “We intend to lead and aggressively champion strategic partnerships,” said the Commissioner, “to facilitate integrated, risk-informed and intelligence-driven law enforcement operations.” These partnerships stretch across nations, governments, nonprofit organizations and businesses.

Commissioner Kerlikowske has met regularly with representatives of varied business sectors to expand collaboration and compliance with U.S. laws. And the private sector is a very willing partner. “The trade community wants to ensure that what they bring into the country is safe,” said the Commissioner.

When shippers agree to uphold CBP security standards, they turn away business that doesn’t rise to U.S. – and increasingly global – supply-chain-security standards. U.S. trade security relies on this close cooperation with the trade community. “With all the technology, it still comes down to that human factor,” said the Commissioner.

Commissioner Kerlikowske said he also intends “to make our policies and processes more transparent to the people we serve,” and spoke specifically of the agency’s use of force initiatives. “Every law enforcement agency is part of the ongoing and intense debate about how, when and where officers should use force,” said the Commissioner.

He noted that, after the first six months of fiscal year 2015, the agency is on track to reduce its total uses of force by nearly 30 percent. “There are times when some level of force must be used,” added Commissioner Kerlikowske. “In those instances, the use of force must be justified and within CBP policy.”

CBP will concentrate efforts on equipping its officers and agents with the tools and training they need for the correct, scalable and justifiable use of force. “The public’s trust in us depends on it,” said Commissioner Kerlikowske.

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Although you may not intend it—and whether it’s been earned or not—there’s a good chance you’re leaving cash tips for the Transportation Security Administration at the airport.

In their rush to get to their destinations, travelers left $638,142.64 in coins and currency in the bins and bowls at airport checkpoints in 2013, according to TSA data. That was almost $107,000 more than what passengers left behind in 2012, and more than $150,000 than 2011.

A spokesman said it appears that the growth in left behind spare change will continue, a suspicion borne out by 2014’s figures: left behind change surged to nearly $675,000 last year, new TSA figures show.

So what exactly happens to all that money? According to federal law, TSA gets to keep it and spend it on anything the agency determines will help civil aviation security.

However, if you’re not interested in inadvertently tipping Uncle Sam, you can empty your pockets of small change before you get to the checkpoint. The best place for it is in a pocket or pouch that fits inside a purse or carry-on.

Still, some airports have alternative ideas. In Denver, Phoenix and Columbus, Ohio, there are pre-security collection boxes by the checkpoints, where travelers can donate spare change to local nonprofits.

Denver International Airport started the trend in early 2013 with change collection containers placed before several checkpoints. In two years, the airport has collected over $170,000 in spare change to support homeless programs through Denver’s Road Home charity.

Last spring, Fifth Third Bank set up three “Empty Pockets, Full Plates” collection stations near checkpoint entrances at Ohio’s Port Columbus International Airport. In the first six months, the spare change raised about $1,000 to support the Mid-Ohio Food Bank.

Just before all those Super Bowl fans came to town, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport kicked off its spare change collection program, with boxes set up in front of several security checkpoints.

During February alone, more than $1,000 was collected to help fund USO operations at the PHX airport, said airport spokeswoman Heather Lissner.

And in Sweden, travelers with spare change can donate to the Sweden Red Cross by playing video games at the airport.

Custom-made consoles recently installed at Stockholm Arlanda Airport and Göteborg Landvetter Airport offer travelers the opportunity to pay classic arcade games Ms. Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Galaga, in exchange for coins in any currency.

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When Special Agent Jeff Youngblood helped convict a corrupt public official from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma last year who was demanding bribes and kickbacks from contractors bidding on tribal construction projects, he felt more satisfaction than usual bringing a criminal to justice.

That’s because Youngblood is Native American and a member of the Choctaw tribe.

“My dad was born and raised in this area, and Oklahoma is where I was born and raised,” said Youngblood, who is assigned to the FBI’s Oklahoma City Division and works in the southeastern part of the state that is home to the Choctaw Nation.

“There aren’t many Native Americans who are special agents,” he said, “and I have yet to meet any that are working in Indian Country and are enrolled members of the tribe where they work. I think mine is a unique situation.”

It’s a situation Youngblood embraces. The Durant Resident Agency, where he is stationed with one other agent, has responsibility for a six-county area that covers much of the Choctaw Nation.

With a large casino resort complex in Durant—located only an hour’s drive from Dallas, Texas—the tribe is a major economic driver in the region, and many residents depend on it for their livelihood.

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Today, the FBI released its first-ever public compilations of human trafficking data and cargo theft data collected through its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. Both reports contain 2013 data.

As with any new UCR collection effort, the data in both the human trafficking and cargo theft reports is limited for a variety of reasons—the time and resources it takes for agencies to implement technical changes within their own systems, the need to align state and local policies with federal requirements, and the education and training of participants.

We do, however, expect that the number of agencies reporting data on human trafficking and cargo theft offenses will grow over time. And both collections will be incorporated into UCR’s annual Crime in the U.S report—compiled from our Summary Reporting System—and our annual National Incident-Based Reporting System, or NIBRS, report—a more comprehensive accounting of crime which contains additional details on each single crime occurrence. Those two reports—containing data from 2014—will be published later this year.

In January 2013, UCR began collecting offense and arrest data concerning human trafficking from its users as authorized by the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Reauthorization Act of 2008. Under the act, two additional offenses in both the Summary Reporting System and the NIBRS were created: Human Trafficking/Commercial Sex Acts and Human Trafficking/Involuntary Servitude.

Data on cargo theft, authorized as a separate category in UCR under the USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005, has been reported to the FBI on a very limited basis for several years, but this 2013 report is the first public release of the data. Cargo theft is often described as a “gateway” crime that can lead to broader investigations in areas like organized crime, drug trafficking, health care fraud, and even terrorism.

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Scottsdale-based Guardian 8 has released its first nonlethal personal defense device, initially meant for security guards to use.

The Pro V2 was released in July for $279 per unit. It includes features that give warnings, record the situation and, if need be, subdue an individual briefly until help arrives.

“We wanted something with aggressive styling, but not as much force as a Taser,” said Paul Hughes, Guardian 8’s chief of operations, who previously was director of new markets at Taser. “We saw that the security industry was vastly underserved.”

The Pro V2 includes:
A laser spotter for a visual warning.
A high-definition video camera and microphone.
Bluetooth capability to call a preprogrammed phone number for help — either 911 or a supervisor.
An 88-decibel siren.
A strobe light to blow out an individual’s night vision.
Pepper spray with a range of 10 feet.

Exact sales figures were not available, but Hughes said the company is on track to sell 10,000 units in its first 12 months on the market.

While Scottsdale-based Taser International Inc. sells its stun guns mainly to law enforcement agencies, Guardian 8 is targeting different users with its nonlethal device. Plans include marketing to school administrators, hospital personnel and, eventually, consumers, Hughes said.

“More force requires more risk,” Hughes said of Taser’s weapons. “We provide a lesser level of force.”

Tasers use an electrical charge to lock up a person’s muscles and cause temporarily paralysis.

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