On Q Professional Investigations

In a classroom at Whites Creek High School, wooden benches have replaced the desks. When the bell chimes, students file into 12 plastic chairs to face a judge.

On a recent morning, the volunteer in the black robe was attorney Yvette Cain.

“Do you solemnly swear or affirm to listen carefully to the evidence presented in arguments presented today, and fulfill your duty to determine a sentence that’s fair to the victim and to the respondent and the community? If so, say ‘I do,’ and you may be seated,” Cain said, sitting below a state seal flanked by the U.S. and Tennessee flags.

“I do,” 12 voices responded.

This is the youth court program at Whites Creek, one of five schools in Nashville that has an arm of the statewide reform and prevention program.

Students at the schools who commit minor crimes can be sent to youth court instead of juvenile court downtown, where they would face a judge and not a jury. In youth courts in Nashville, they face classmates filling the roles of attorneys and jurors.

The rulings of the student jury are real and go on the record.

Not only do the programs take cases off the docket at juvenile court, they also give teens a chance to explore career paths in criminal justice.

Denise Bentley, director of Tennessee’s Youth Court Program, said 17 counties have active youth courts or are starting them. The program is an arm of the Tennessee Bar Association. Davidson County’s courts have been ongoing since 2011.

More than 2,000 Tennessee students participate in the programs statewide each year, and they handle 350 to 400 cases annually, Bentley said.

“According to research, a child who goes to juvenile court for one of these first offenses has an 18 to 40 percent likelihood of coming back on another charge,” Bentley said. “The way I used to talk about it when I was in school security here in Metro Schools was, kids leave the (juvenile) court thinking they’re 10-foot-tall and bulletproof. When they leave here, because these young people have taken the time to really address the situation and the cause of the situation, fewer than 4 percent of kids reoffend after going through youth court.”

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A Good Samaritan rescued a 15-year veteran officer out of a burning vehicle Saturday, WSBT 22 reported.

St. Joseph County Police Department Cpl. Mario Cavurro was heading southbound to another incident when an SUV collided with his cruiser, Asst. Chief Bill Thompson told the news site.

Bystander Mark Grudzinski was first on the scene. He grabbed the cruiser’s fire extinguisher and started spraying the flames.

Cavurro had become entangled in the seat belt so Grudzinski reached in to pull officer to safety. Grudzinski stayed with Cavurro until an ambulance arrived.

Cavurro was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Three passengers in the SUV were reportedly uninjured.

The cause of the collision is still under investigation.

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The front line in the fight against domestic abuse could be hair stylists.

At a City Council committee hearing today, prosecutors and domestic violence experts campaigned for hair stylists, cosmetologists, and nail technicians to go through mandatory training to spot signs of abuse, and help victims.

When women sit in that hair chair, a unique bond is created between them and their stylist. The City Council heard from sponsors of a resolution today that aims to capitalize on that bond for the safety of women in abusive relationships.

“There’s a confessional door that closes when you sit in the chair,” said Marek Hartwig, owner of Marek Bridal Styling.

Hartwig, a 25-year veteran of the industry, said his clients feel like they can tell him anything, and now he’s one of thousands of hair stylists in Illinois who could use their stylist/client bond to become an integral part in the war to stop domestic violence.

“There’s a trust, and they tell things more to a stylist than they tell probably anybody else, because it’s a no judge zone,” Hartwig said.

He and his peers could soon be required to take a one-hour training class before the next time their licenses come up for renewal.

“I completely agree with it,” Hartwig said.

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Eighty years ago today, on July 29, 1935, the FBI opened its training facilities and expertise to law enforcement officers across the U.S., and the National Academy was born.

The idea of a national training academy was first raised in late 1934 as part of U.S. Attorney General Homer Cummings’ “war on crime.”

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover then fleshed out an idea for professional education for law enforcement officers at the annual meeting of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) held in early July 1935.

An IACP committee on police training had urged Director Hoover, who spoke at the conference on the value of professional police training, to consider offering such training under FBI auspices.

Hoover returned to Washington, and later that month, the first class of 23 officers from across the country began training with the FBI.

They took a wide array of classes detailing the latest research and experience on police procedure, forensic science applications, the law, and other important issues. This first class graduated from this 12-week training course on October 19, 1935.

Within two years, these classes were accepting foreign law enforcement officers as well.

Since then, the FBI’s National Academy program has offered training to thousands of law enforcement professionals conducted by experts in law enforcement, legal matters, and scientific applications, and it has graduates spread across the globe. The next National Academy class—number 261—will graduate on September 18, 2015.

FBI press release on the first National Academy session (pdf)

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Following the lead of European regulators reacting to the presumed suicidal co-pilot who brought down a Germanwings jet, the Federal Aviation Administration has set up an advisory group to consider possible changes in mental-health screening of U.S. commercial pilots.

The industry-government committee, which also includes labor and medical experts, can look at everything from potential regulatory changes to voluntary efforts by unions and airlines, the agency indicated Wednesday.

The move, however, comes after international groups representing pilots and carriers have warned against overreacting to the Germanwings tragedy, which killed all 149 people aboard the Airbus jetliner that went down in the French Alps in March.

The European Aviation Safety Agency formed a similar study group last month, and German regulators have launched a separate effort to re-examine mental-health assessments of airline pilots. The aviation arm of the United Nations also indicated it would re-evaluate international mental-health standards.

It isn’t clear whether any of those groups will end up urging major changes to existing screening procedures. Strict privacy laws in Germany allowed Andreas Lubitz, the Germanwings co-pilot, to keep his mental problems hidden from management of the airline, which is a unit of Deutsche Lufthansa AG.

Safety and medical experts have stressed the difficulty of devising a new regulatory system—even one mandating more-frequent and in-depth screenings—that can reliably identify suicidal tendencies among pilots.

Given the current limitations of testing and medical science, many psychiatrists and psychologist believe such a goal is unreasonable. The public has to “recognize this is a complex medical challenge,” according to Olumuyiwa Bernard Aliu, president of the top policy-making council of the U.N.’s International Civil Aviation Organization.

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New security management degrees designed to address complexities of business risk and crime prevention

PHOENIX, April 30, 2015 – The U.S. security industry is a $410 billion annual market, with millions of jobs that span nearly every sector of the global economy[1], according to data from ASIS International. Demand and interest in this field are aligned as 42 percent of working adults have some level of interest in security-related careers or have worked in security, law enforcement or other criminal justice-related fields.[2] University of Phoenix® College of Security and Criminal Justice today introduced two new degree programs in security management designed to meet the demands of this expanding industry by providing aspiring professionals with advanced training. To emphasize the importance of the security industry alignment, the College also changed its name.

“The increasing complexity in the security industry has resulted in expanding demands for educated professionals,” said Spider Marks, executive dean of University of Phoenix College of Security and Criminal Justice. “University of Phoenix is working closely with industry leaders to ensure our students are trained to meet the demands and challenges of the modern security industry. The curriculum is aligned with industry standards and is designed to equip job seekers with the education needed to pursue a position in the security field. Changing our name sends a strong message to the industry that we’re committed to the security space.”

The Associate of Arts in Security Management will prepare students to work in loss prevention and asset protection, specifically in the retail industry. Potential jobs include surveillance, investigation, loss prevention and asset protection. Nationally, organized retail crime alone costs the industry $30 billion annually[1], making these positions critical components to supporting and protecting the U.S. economy.

The Bachelor of Science in Security Management will train students in risk mitigation and crisis management applicable across multiple industries, including energy, manufacturing, hospitality and gaming. This degree will prepare students for jobs in risk assessment, risk mitigation, crisis management and continuity planning.

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Fifteen new Aviation Security Officers and Passenger Screeners have successfully met the “Post-September 11th” international requirements that are designed to protect travelers, moving within the nation’s borders and throughout a chain of Bahamian airports.

“A safe airport environment is the economic lifeblood of an archipelagic nation, such as The Bahamas. Our numerous airports and ports of entry require that we not only secure these facilities, but also that our citizens and visitors arrive and depart from safe airports,” said Lorraine Armbrister, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Aviation.

“Over the years, the regulatory framework and the security requirements for airports have changed. In some cases, the security regimes which you now follow, they have no resemblance to that which was experienced even 20 years ago.”

On April 24, the Ministry of Transport and Aviation and the Airport Authority attended a graduation ceremony to congratulate and recognize the 2015 graduates at the New Providence Community Centre on Blake Road.

“As the threat and the nature of threats to civil aviation have evolved, so have the duties, required levels of training, and expertise of security screeners. Today, you are exposed to the most advanced, cutting-edge, security technology that money can buy because it is important that we safeguard our nation and its citizens. Additionally, we must do our part in complying with our international obligations,” said Mrs. Armbrister.

The 2015 graduates found an amusing way to laugh at the vulnerability of the Caribbean’s intimate cultural flaws, regarding identity and entitlement, as they performed a skit called “No Access”. In the skit, the actors depicted and acted out an all-too-familiar airport security scenario, of when a local traveler forgets his I.D.

Members of the graduation class, recognized were: Shavon Arthur, Krishna Campbell, Raquel Carroll, Tarnario Cooper, Neco Ferguson, Anthony Forbes, Mikhilo Forbes, Samuel Fox, Ricardo Knowles, Angelo Lamm, Andrew Pennerman, Derrick Williams, Jarrod Williams, Kassim Williams, and Kish Williams.

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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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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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Even in the digital age, you can teach old dogs new tricks.

In 1986, police trained the first dog in the world to sniff out arson with the help of Jack Hubball, who identified accelerants that the canines could focus on. He then moved on to help police train dogs to detect narcotics and bombs.

The chemist’s latest trick? Getting dogs to pick up the scent for laptops, digital cameras and those easy-to-conceal USB drives. Devices such as these are often used to stash illegal materials like child pornography, which the FBI says is growing fast. The agency estimates that some 750,000 predators are online at any given moment with victims often found in chatrooms and on social networks.

To crack computer crimes, the 26-year forensics-lab veteran based in Connecticut had to first identify the chemicals associated with electronic-storage devices. Hubball took circuit boards, hard disks and flash drives of computers and tested each component. He narrowed the analysis down to a single common chemical, which police declined to specify or describe.

Two trainers, Mike Real and Mark Linhard, then worked with a couple of dogs who had flunked out of New York City’s Guiding Eyes for the Blind program, a black Labrador named Selma and later a golden Labrador named Thoreau. They excelled at this new endeavor.

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