Crimes and Policing in the Information Age

- by Atreyue Ryken

In today’s post 9/11 America, policing and crime have both evolved with the help of the Internet, such as the Silk Road from our Anderson reading for this week. The Internet is making it easier for crimes to be committed secretively, but just as easily publicly. Criminal masterminds such as those behind the Silk Road are able to make practically untraceable transactions online, while at the same time many less-adept criminals can be located thanks to services like Twitter and Facebook. The Internet, and especially the social media services of it are used by government agencies such as the FBI and CIA, as well as local police departments, based on the level and nature of the crimes in question.

However, private institutions can also act as police online. One recent example, taken from the New York Times, is about a young 14-year old Dutch girl impersonating a terrorist on Twitter. She sent out the following tweet: “Hello my name’s Ibrahim and I’m from Afghanistan,” it read. “I’m part of Al Qaida and on June 1st I’m gonna do something really big bye.” American Airlines quickly responded with, “Sarah, we take these threats very seriously. Your IP address and details will be forwarded to security and the FBI.”. This prompt response shows just how seriously this company takes its security, both offline and online. The young girl responded with ““I’m just a girl.” And “I’m so sorry I’m scared now,” essentially begging for forgiveness, and claiming she didn't realize the gravity of her 'joke'. Her local police department said she could face charges, and American Airlines gave no comment , however after threatening to involve the FBI, it was clear that she could have gotten in a lot worse trouble than she did.

These crimes aren't only talked about online, but they are committed. Last week, a Canadian computer science student was arrested for an Internet Privacy Breach, involved in the loss of taxpayer data from Canada's tax agency website. Hackers and traffickers are able to do amazing things online, and much as the crimes have evolved, so have the methods to police them. Just as we learned in class from the Oakland Police Department about using fake Facebook and Twitter followers to catch predators, and how in the Anderson article about the Silk Road, and its eventual end through government intervention.

Times are changing rapidly, and the forces that police need to adapt just as rapidly. New methods to gain information, steal information, and to distribute and sell physical goods and services across the Internet are being established every day, and are becoming harder and harder to trace. Personally, I feel that this new age will promote higher education in government officials and state and local police, and I can see an emphasis on basic computer science and programming knowledge being a requisite for most modern forms of policing in the near future.

Source 1: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/world/europe/dutch-girl-twitter-threat.html?_r=0

Source 2: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/police-charge-canadian-internet-privacy-breach-23354998

The Continuity of a "Fix"

- by Jorge Toledo

The Borrowed Pants case in Cops, Teachers, Counselors reveals a startling bias within the punishment paradigm of the United States. Specifically, the relevant judgment for this assessment was made by the police officer when he reassured himself of his decisions on the girls upon discovering how their lives turned out. He was easier on the adolescent that turned out to have her life together and tougher on the delinquent that continued to have problems. Unfortunately, this sign of perceived validation is a façade that disguises the negative self-fulfilling implications of ascribing an identity in the first place.

In order to engage this discussion, it is important to distinguish the institutionalization of self-actualizing identities by law enforcement from their inevitable occurrence in the interaction between people. When two people engage each other for the first time, at times, a situation will occur in which one person perceives the other to be disinterested in developing a friendship and will thus attempt to embody some sort of reciprocation that concludes their chances of affiliation. In this situation though, the initial perception drives decision-making on both parts but does not actively work to secure its own accuracy.

In the case of law and punishment in the American justice system, the original “fix” induces several procedural mechanisms that necessarily operate to solidify the mold. A clear example of this phenomenon from front line workers was shown in class during the segment from Michael Moore's TV Nation. Even after the police officers noticed Brian Anthony was not guilty after his first-ever arrest, they told him they were now watching him. This reveals the inability to depart from the perception first ascribed to him. Unfortunately, the system works to further entrench individuals the deeper into the operations they go.

The lasting effects of engaging with the legal system seem more devastating given the methodology guiding recent convictions. At 716 per 100,000 people, the United States incarcerates a higher percentage of its population than any other country in the world. These imprisonments come with collateral consequences that make it difficult, if not impossible, to get a job, get a loan, sustain relationships, engage politics etc after getting out. The few alternatives left for convicts helps explain much of the elevated reincarcertaion rates that would, at a glance, seem to further justify their initial conviction. But, the effects of confinement and probation are far from therapeutic.

The “fixes” put on others by front line workers not only attempt to determine future behaviors, but inherently shape them. The debilitating consequences of a lawbreaker identity are counterproductive to the aims of policing. This is particularly alarming given that the umbrella of criminals often includes victims of terrible conditions (like destructive households or sex workers) or offenders of victimless crimes. Therefore, the law is in many ways creating a new threat by housing all offenders in deplorable conditions then throwing them out to the world with incredible restrictions on every aspect of their life. There is a complete disregard for the lack of rehabilitative capacity of imprisonment given the fact that most convicts will be reintroduced to society, at some point. And, granted that there is an inevitability to putting a fix that we have discussed in class, there needs to be a discussion on readjusting the permanence of that fix given the dynamic nature of identity itself.

Sources:

Cops, Teachers, Counselors: Stories from the Front Lines of Public Service
By Steven Williams Maynard-Moody, Michael Craig Musheno

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/13/incarceration-rate-per-capita_n_3745291.html

http://www.pennlawreview.com/print/?id=361

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2072736

Twitter: A Double Edged Law Enforcement Aid

 - by Michael Wu
 As the world becomes increasingly virtually connected through the Internet, police officials have to stay on the cutting edge of technology especially real-time social media networks to aid their crime fighting efforts. In a paper published by the journal Decision Support Systems, University of Virginia’s researchers found, that in 19 out of 25 of the crime types they studied, the addition of Twitter data improves crime prediction performances versus a standard approach of post-crime “kernel density estimation” also known as “hot spot” policing. [1]

With over 140 million users worldwide who are posting over a combined 340 million tweets per day, research has found that through Twitter analytics events such as elections or national revolutions can be forecasted through tracking the content and geographic locations of these tweets. Since tweets contain both geographic clues through “tagging” oneself at events and content about what events are happening in real time, police are able to improve crime prediction and more efficiently allocate police patrols to aid their constituents and save on costs.

Lead researcher Matthew Gerber of the university's Predictive Technology Lab and author said, “Even tweets that have no direct link to crimes may contain information about activities often associated with them. What people are tweeting about are their routine activities. Those routine activities take them into environments where crime is likely to happen.” [2]

While most crimes are not out right confessed to on Twitter or other social media sites, police are able to use context clues to piece together locations where crime is more likely to occur. For example at a party as people tweet about how they are getting drunk together and there are certain crimes that become more likely as inebriation rises among people, police can know that the likelihood of a crime occurring in that area is higher and allocate more police officers around the area accordingly.

The importance of real-time data became apparent last week when a 14-year old Dutch girl jokingly tweeted a terror threat at American Airlines. In the tweet she wrote, “@AmericanAir hello my name's Ibrahim and I'm from Afghanistan. I'm part of Al Qaida and on June 1st I'm gonna do something really big bye.” American Airlines subsequently followed up by responding, “@QueenDemetriax_ Sarah, we take these threats very seriously. Your IP address and details will be forwarded to security and the FBI.” Subsequently the girl was arrested and charged with posting “false/alarming announcements” under Dutch laws. [3]

While the previous scenario was much less serious than a legitimate bomb threat, the speed with which authorities were able to respond to the threat being posted demonstrates the power of Twitter analytics. The girl turned herself in within a few hours after authorities began to close in on her location after receiving the tweet. In a real-world terrorist situation the speed at which authorities move to apprehend a terror suspect could mean the difference between life and death for thousands of people. [4]

One interesting thought I had concerning the topic of social media network posts to aid policing was how the Internet and its social media site surveillance are still at their nascent stage in being utilized as a law enforcement aid. While Twitter can be a helpful tool as seen in the swift arrest of the Dutch 14-year old girl, it can also serve as a double-edged sword. Just hours after this particular arrest, dozens of teenagers sent tweets at American Airlines parodying the girl’s “terrorist threat” as the news went viral. In addition to wasting taxpayer money and man-power as authorities then have to shoulder the responsibility of investigating all of these tweets, these types of “trolls” and jokes only dangerously serve to obfuscate legitimate threats and hinder law enforcement efforts to engage with social media.
      
[1] http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2014/04/20/researchers-twitter-can-predict-crime/6DaUTjYGHMtZqpezsIGxwL/story.html

[2] http://ptl.sys.virginia.edu/ptl/sites/default/files/manuscript_gerber.pdf

[3] http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/14/travel/dutch-teen-arrest-american-airlines-terror-threat-tweet/

[4] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/04/14/dozens-of-teenagers-are-now-tweeting-bomb-jokes-to-american-airlines/

Racial Profiling or Racist Policing

- by Tina Truong

Driving while Black is an unseen crime in the United States. Even though, “Driving while Black” is a term generally heard by most, many are unsure of what the terms means and how it actually affects African Americans. Even more notorious than “Driving while Black” are the NYPD’s stop and frisk policies, which allow the NYPD is stop pedestrians who they deemed suspicious. Outraged poured over the stop and frisk policies, garnering national attention. So why not for driving while black? The main differentiator is the idea of legitimacy. For the NYPD’s stop and frisk, it appears as if these pedestrian stops are racially motivated, with 88% of those stopped being released due to their innocence. However, when someone is stopped over a traffic infraction, it is harder to track “innocence” as a crime has been committed, even if the crime is minor such as a traffic accident or broken headlight.

When looking at racial profiling, some may “explain away” the large disparity between those who are stopped, by saying that African Americans are stopped more because they are committing more crimes. This is still discrimination. As citizens and academics, we must try to determine if these racial traffics stops are a product of statistical discrimination or preference based discrimination. Statistical discrimination is the inequality of race, gender, etc based on stereotypes. This can be anything from charging elderly people more for life insurance to requiring a Bachelor’s degree for a job. If this case were true than racial disparities in a large collection of data of stops and searches do not imply prejudice. This would give validity to a police officer who attempt to maximize successful searches if black drivers are more prone to carrying contraband. However, if police officers are profiling drivers because the officer is racist themselves; this would be an example of preference based policing.

Researchers have tried to examine this problem many ways. Generally racial profiling is difficult to prove because of hidden or lack of data. One of the most compelling tests I found for determining this question is known as the Knowles, Persico and Todd model. In this game theory-esque model, they tried to de-emphasized guilt and innocence. In their statistical model, they placed motorist and officers up against each other giving each two actions, shown in the picture. The researchers determined that the police take into account race, gender, age, residential address of the driver, interior of the car, the smell of the driver or car, whether the driver is intoxicated and their demeanor. Their model implies that if police are unprejudiced the rate of guilt should not vary across groups. With data from Interstate 95 in Maryland, the Researchers found equal guilt rates for African-Americans and whites and conclude that the data is not consistent with racial prejudice against African-Americans.

But even if there is legitimate reason for African Americans and other minorities to be stopped more, we have to consider what happens during these stops? For Karen Brank in the Harris Reading, additional cops were called, and she was handcuffed and detained for a traffic ticket; something Brank was sure that if she was white, she would not have had to go through. This is not just just stories. In a recent Arizona case, it was proven that Hispanics, when stopped by police, were detailed 14 seconds longer on average.

Sources:

Shamena Anwar & Hanming Fang, 2006. "An Alternative Test of Racial Prejudice in Motor Vehicle Searches: Theory and Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 127-151, March.

David A. Harris. Driving While Black and All Other Traffic Offenses: The Supreme Court and Pretextual Traffic Stops, 87 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 544 (1996-1997)

John Knowles & Nicola Persico & Petra Todd, 2001. "Racial Bias in Motor Vehicle Searches: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(1).

“Stop-and-Frisk Data.” Nyclu.org. New York Civil Liberties Union, 2013. Web. 10 Mar 2014.

David Schwartz. Judge Grills Arizona Sheriff's Aide in Racial Profiling Case. (2014, April 3) www.reuters.com.

Interagency Collaboration and Local Law Enforcement Surveillance

- by Atli Thorkelsson

In the wake of 9/11, one of the biggest changes made to nationwide policing systems has been a massive increase in information sharing. As criminals become increasingly global, information must be shared more widely and more rapidly than ever before, or that is the reason given for the increasing centralization of information controlled by policing agencies. Not only is information more readily available to federal agencies, but there is also more of it. Since the WTC attacks, there has been a push to increase the ability of local and state agencies to gather and analyze intelligence about citizens[1].

Both of these trends raise concerns. For one thing, this vastly increases the amount of manpower and funding devoted to gathering and analyzing information about the American public. With the widespread accusations of racism, harassment, and any other number of complaints leveled against organizations like the NYPD and LAPD, there is no lack of distrust there, and so it is certainly a cause for concern that these agencies are being given more power in collecting information about any individuals or groups that they choose are a threat. If racism and profiling is so prevalent on a street level[2], there is little chance of minorities being given a fair shot in surveillance done behind closed doors.

In addition to concern over local law enforcement’s increasing power, another thing to be aware of is the increasing centralization of information. Federal agencies no longer need to do their intelligence gathering on an individual basis – as long as any agency in the country does it, federal agencies can get a hold of the information gleaned and use this to build more complete profiles of people. As has been discussed in this class, this information can be used in a number of ways and is certainly cause for concern.

[1] http://www.governing.com/topics/public-justice-safety/policing-post-911-era.html


[2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/stop-and-frisk-nypd-mistrust_n_3955175.html

Diversification and its Importance to Community

- by Dylan Tong

As Sergeant Joshi in her presentation and Professor Musheno throughout the course have emphasized, diversity is one of the most important elements for the police to create legitimacy with the communities they police. Diversity allows the law enforcement agency to not only make necessary changes within its organization to become in-sync diversification-wise with the community it serves but also to establish stronger connections with neighborhood associations. By bringing in officers from the communities they are going to policing, they act as both agents of order and agents within the communities. This allows officers to bring in concerns they’ve experienced within their own communities and address them efficiently, such as the fear of the police being present in their neighborhoods.

In her presentation, Sergeant Joshi mentioned that “the police coming into the neighbor was never a good thing growing up.” This sense of fear affects many communities such as Oakland. During the recruitment for new officers, Oakland Police officers, residents, and community advocates voiced their opinion that “new cops should live in the Oakland, know the city, and care about its interests.” This solution has been brought up ever since we learned about policing and legitimacy, especially within the Alameda-Bernal Heights Model.

One East Oakland resident Reggie Wooden points out that “Like every other black kid growing up in Oakland, a fear in cops is just bred in your from day one.” As an applicant for a position within Oakland Police Department, his goal is to break the cycle of fear born in those growing up in Oakland. By using his own knowledge of the city, he as well as many other applicants hope to aid the police in turning the negative image of law enforcement around and make people feel safe when the police are patrolling their neighborhood.

Local knowledge is proving to be more important as a factor in recruiting and for good reasons. Officer Juan Sanchez, who has been a recruiter for eight years, originally entered the force when it believed that it was best to recruit out of state. Having grown up in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood, he criticizes the old model, believing local knowledge is valuable since it promotes stronger ties with the community. These ties can result in locals recognizing him, conversing with him in their native language, and feeling comfortable reporting potential crimes happening in the area. Increasing diversification then provides law enforcement with the means of creating or repairing legitimacy within communities they police.

However, there is still a lot of work which must be done to repair the distrust with the police. One report says that between 2000 and 2010, just 16 officers were responsible for nearly half of the total shootings. A community member under a gang injunction believes the police are similar to a gang insofar as they protect each other and don’t snitch if their partner does something wrong. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to be let go once you become a cop, resulting in some of these officers never truly being accounted for.

Nonetheless, increased diversification is a positive step in the right direction for law enforcement. In order to create a more positive image, it is necessary for law enforcement to understand the community they police and be a part of it, whether it be going up to kids and asking them to play basketball with them as part of their patrol duties or organizing community meetings. Although having greater trust in the police is important for community, having trust within the community amongst its own residents should also be an important factor. By cultivating a sense of community amongst those living in it and with those watching over it, it should help speed up the process of turning communities with negative attitudes such as Oakland around.

Sources:

http://kalw.org/post/can-new-crop-oakland-cops-help-build-community-trust

http://www.npr.org/2012/09/27/161885219/aurora-colo-tries-to-capitalize-on-its-ethnic-riches

Prostitution vs Human Trafficking

- by Alexander Solodovnikov

Last week’s lecture by guest speaker Sgt. Holly Joshi brought up some crucial points regarding human trafficking, particularly in the sphere of prostitution. To be honest, prior to this lecture my opinion on this issue was similar to the one that Sergeant had before her service in the human trafficking department: prosecution of the adults consenting to exchange money for sexual services should not be the priority of police. Activities like drug dealing seem to bring way greater negative externalities for the society, such as illegal distribution of guns and rise of violent crimes as a consequence of it. Thus, police should be concentrating on investigation and prevention of activities that cause greater public disorder and not spending their time on what seems to be a harmless market exchange from the first sight.

However, Sergeant has managed to draw some great distinctions between prostitution as a voluntary exchange of services for money and human trafficking as a control over person through force, fraud for labour or services (including sexual). Her examples of ‘pimps’ taking control over 13 year old girls and persuading (forcing) them to get involved in sexual work in the exchange for food and breaking away from their parents, clearly illustrate that all types of prostitution cannot be treated in the same manner. Human trafficking is surely a better term for the characterisation of cases described by Sergeant. The instances that involve coercion of women by the third-party (‘pimp’) cannot be considered to be a voluntary market exchange and have to be investigated by the police.

Another point made by Sergeant that was particularly of interest was about the use of social media and modern technologies by ‘pimps’ as a tool for the recruitment and advertisement. CNN reported last week about a 22 year old woman Devin Miller who is suspected in procuring two underaged girls and offering their services via ads on several websites in Florida. Investigation determined that one of the girls was 16 and had been reported missing. Interview of one of the girls revealed that they have often robbed men at gunpoint when they arrived. However, none of these robberies were reported as Miller threatened men to tell the police that they came to her house to get sex services. According to this report, besides the prostitution and robberies, drug use has also occurred in that house. It was a tip submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding these internet ads that brought attention of the Sheriff’s office to this case. This report illustrates how many criminal activities can be hidden behind what seems to be a voluntary market exchange. It also confirms the necessity of monitoring over the websites and social networks by the police and civil society for the prevention of human trafficking crimes.

Sources:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/09/justice/florida-teen-prostitution-robbery-lure/

Lecture on ‘Human Trafficking’ by Sgt. Holly Joshi