Police/Fire/EMS
In 2020, 86 percent of the nation’s police departments reported staffing shortages, including the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. But the lack of officers isn’t due to the pandemic; numbers have been down since 2013.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has called for oversight of the department after an investigation following the death of Elijah McClain found patterns of racial bias, excessive force and other misconduct.
The City Council has voted to redistribute funds from approximately 200 police officer departures and reinvest it in technology projects and other department needs. $3 million will be used for community-based public safety programs.
In one town, police say products like Nextdoor and Ring are helping fight crime. But racism and vigilantism are pervasive on safety platforms.
The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office has been using a software since Jan. 2020 that removes names, location and race from police reports in an attempt to implement “race-blind” charging.
There have been plenty of failures along the way, but there’s no question coordination between levels of government has improved over the past 20 years, along with security capabilities for blocking catastrophic attacks.
The legislation that bankrolls medical screenings and treatment did not account for inflation-fueled increases, which means the program could run out of cash unless Congress modifies the funding formula.
Democratic state lawmakers want to broaden immigrant legal protections by closing exemptions under the sanctuary law, but police unions are ramping up efforts to block the legislation.
Georgia’s capital city continues to be deeply divided when it comes to policing: some want to defund the department, while others want more officers. But police culture reform without defunding might be the best solution.
As a part of reshaping the duties of the police department, city and Capital Metro officials are considering a new police force entirely devoted to regional public transit. Many details of the proposed security team are still undecided.
