The Sisyphus Comments

Congress Passes Phone Pretext Prohibition

The Law Enforcement and Phone Privacy Protection Act of 2006 (H.R. 4709) that was recently enacted amends the federal criminal code to prohibit the obtaining of confidential phone records information from a telecommunications carrier or IP-enabled voice service provider by: making false or fraudulent statements to an employee of a covered entity or to a customer of a covered entity; providing false or fraudulent documents to a covered entity; or accessing customer accounts of a covered entity through the Internet without prior authorization. A violation of this new legislation is punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment of up to 20 years.

The act also prohibits the unauthorized sale or transfer of confidential phone records information by any person, including any employee of a covered entity or any data broker, or the purchase of such information with knowledge that it was fraudulently obtained or obtained without authorization. The penalty for a violation may include a fine and/or imprisonment of up to five years.

In addition, the Act doubles the fines and imposes an additional five-year prison term for violations occurring in a 12-month period involving more than $100,000 or more than 50 customers of a covered entity. The measure imposes an additional five-year prison term for violations involving the use of confidential phone records information to commit crimes of violence, crimes of domestic violence, and crimes against law enforcement officials and the administration of justice.

Posted in General Interest | No Comments »

Sex Offender E-mail Registration is “Feel Good” Legislation

Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell recently announced that he will propose legislation to require convicted sex offenders in Virginia to register their e-mail addresses and IM names in the Sex Offender Registry. The purpose of this legislation is to provide a method for social networking sites like MySpace.com to cross check their member rosters for the presence of know sex offenders.

In a press release, Hemanshu Nigam, the Chief Security Officer for MySpace.com, said that MySpace.com applauded the Attorney General’s leadership on this important issue and looked forward to this legislation becoming law. Of course I am sure that the folks over at MySpace.com would applaud anything that would cast a positive light on their much criticized website.

Here is the deal, I did a quick inventory of the e-mail addresses that I currently maintain. In addition to my work e-mail address, I have six other active addresses and probably at least four others that I use when I have to provide an e-mail address to a site that I think may generate a bunch of unwanted (spam) e-mail messages. My point is, with a quick visit Yahoo, Hotmail or Google, I can have as many e-mail addresses as I desire and there is no identity verification required. I can register using any alias I choose – no one cares. This is flaw number one in the Attorney General’s plan to register sex offender e-mail addresses.

Flaw number two is that the type of sick individuals who prey on our young people do not sit around and rationally assess the types of charges or the penalties they will face if they are caught and convicted. They either don’t believe they will be caught or they simply can’t control the urge to sexually abuse kids. I find it very difficult to believe that the threat of an additional charge for failing to register an e-mail address will deter these people when our existing laws are having little or no impact on them.

Here are a few of our existing laws and their penalties:

• § 18.2-63. Carnal knowledge of child between thirteen and fifteen years of age – Penalty: Class 4 felony
• § 18.2-64.1. Carnal knowledge of certain minors – Penalty: Class 6 felony
• § 18.2-370.2. Sex offenses prohibiting proximity to children – Penalty: Class 6 felony
• § 18.2-374.3. Use of communications systems to facilitate certain offenses involving children – Penalty: Class 5 felony

Get the picture? A conviction of any of these offenses potentially carries time in the big house. I am all for enacting any type of meaningful legislation that has the potential to deter these perverts. I just don’t think that we should delude ourselves into thinking that the legislation being proposed by the Attorney General is anything more than another piece of “feel good” legislation. I applaud the Attorney General’s intentions but let’s go back to the drawing board – we can do better than this.

(Check out the follow-up article, Virginia Attorney General Serves Up The Beef)

Posted in General Interest, Legal Issues | No Comments »

VML Brief Cases – Winter 2006

Rusty McGuire provides us with more analysis of recently decided court cases. Take a minute to review the Brief Cases file attached to this post.

CLICK HERE:

VML Brief Cases – Winter 2006

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Achieving Your Personal Goals – Part III

In Achieving Your Personal Goals – Part II, I discussed several types of systems that you could use to document all of the tasks that you need to complete in both the professional and personal sides of your life. It is very important that you afford your personal obligations the same degree of importance as you afford your professional obligations. Remember that you are the sum of your professional and personal lives. It is neither healthy or productive to try to turn off your personal life when you walk through the door to the office. The secret is to effectively manage the obligations on both sides of your life.

You will hear many experts say that you should strive to balance your professional and personal lives and devote equal amounts of your energy to both. However, this image of a scale with your professional obligations in perfect balance with your personal obligations quickly dissolves under the weight of budgets, projects and deadlines. Instead of using the analogy of a scale, it may be more useful and accurate to envision a never ending tug-of-war between two equally matched teams consisting of your professional obligations on one side and your personal obligations on the other. Just like in real life, one side or the other may tug a little harder and gain some ground but eventually we want the opposing side to pull things back into balance. In real life, when a big project is ready to launch at work, you may have to devote more of your time and energy to the professional side of your life. On the same hand, if your son is graduating from college, nothing on the professional side is going to prevent you from being present for this special personal event.

Now that we have a clear picture in our minds of what we hope to accomplish, it is time to start working toward our goal. If you have already read Parts I and Part II of this series, you should have already decided which type of system you are going to use, paper or electronic. Remember, you can only have one personal information management system (PIM) and the to-do list is going to be the most important part of your progress toward achieving your personal goals. So let’s get started.

If you work in a hectic environment where you can’t shut out interruptions, you are going to have to set aside time on a Saturday to start your reorganization process. For the purposes of this article, we will assume that you are using a paper-based system but if you are using an electronic system the process will be essentially the same, you will just record your tasks in an electronic to-do list instead of using paper.

The first , and most important, step in the process is to identify everything that you have to do . . . and I mean everything. Since you are using a paper-based PIM system, you have to gather together all of your tasks in a big stack or an in-box. This may include printing off tasks that your boss sent to you via e-mail, tasks that you have written on Post-it notes or napkins and especially those tasks that you are trying to keep track of in your head. Don’t forget to list your personal tasks such as washing the car, picking up dry cleaning or mowing the lawn – include it all! If it is already written down put it in the stack. If your tasks are in your head, write each task on a separate sheet of paper and put it in the stack.

Once you have your stack of tasks, and you are absolutely sure that you have included everything from both the personal and professional sides of your life, take a break and pat yourself on the back because you have just taken a giant step forward.

In Part IV of this series, we will discuss how to organize and prioritize your tasks so that you can begin working toward achieving your personal goals.

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PD Discontinues “Reality-Based” Training

On a positive note, a city police department (who will remain unnamed for the purposes of this article) will stop planting unloaded weapons, fake drugs and other props in unsuspecting civilians’ cars as a way to help train officers to search vehicles. Of course on the down side, you have to ask, “What the hell were you initially thinking?”

The chief of police decided to stop using this unconventional training method a couple of days after the practice was detailed in a local newspaper. Apparently some readers inferred from the newspaper headline that officers were planting “evidence” that would later be used in a trial. The chief explained that the planted items were not used as evidence against suspects in court.

The “training” technique hit the newspaper after an officer, who admitted to planting a loaded gun in the trunk of a motorist’s vehicle for training purposes, was cleared of any wrongdoing. The chief said that using a loaded weapon during training exercises is against department policy but the policy was not widely understood and so he didn’t feel comfortable punishing one officer when several had also done it.

Apparently, field training officers plant items of contraband such as unloaded weapons, fake drugs and drug paraphernalia in civilian vehicles to see if their field trainees, who are searching the vehicles incident to an arrest, find the items. They usually planted the items after the drivers were arrested had left the scene or during an impoundment inventory.

Although the chief admitted before the city council that a mistake had been made, he also claimed there was “no other way” to give officers realistic training on how to search vehicles. He went on to say that, on the infrequent occassions where officers used civilian vehicles, the training exercises were conducted in a controlled environment and planned in advance. Of course this would lead a careful examiner to ask, if there is truely “no other way” to conduct the training, but the officers only use this technique on “infrequent occasions”, how are they training the rest of their officers to conduct vehicle searches?

This entire issue came under scrutiny after a motorist who was stopped for hit and run saw an officer toss a loaded handgun in the trunk of his car. The planted weapon was “discovered” by another officer a few minutes later. In this case, the motorist was not informed that he was an unwilling participant in a training exercise. Obviously, since he also had some drugs in the car, he probably envisioned a nice long state financed vacation in his future. The motorist was later convicted of drug and traffic-related charges but he was not charged with possessing the weapon.

I have been involved in law enforcement and training for over 25 years and I have never heard of such an ill-conceived training method. I think this type of uncontrolled reality-based training is a formula for disaster and they are lucky that they came out of this with just a simple citizen complaint.

Posted in Entry Level, In-service, Training | No Comments »

Achieving Your Personal Goals – Part II

In Achieving Your Personal Goals – Part I, I mentioned that David Allen’s book “Getting Things Done“ tells you to develop a reliable system for documenting the tasks that you need to complete. This system serves as your to-do list for every aspect of your life. Everything that occupies your attention, regardless of how insignificant it may be, goes on the list including tasks from both your personal and professional life. The key here is to stop trying to remember the things that you need to do and simply record everything.

Sound easy? Well there is one rule you must follow if your new system is going to work. You can only have one personal information management (PIM) system. The nice thing is you get to choose the system that works best for you and there are plenty to choose from, although they generally fall into two categories – electronic or paper.

Regardless of whether you use a Windows, Mac or Linux computer there are numerous personal information management software programs available. Windows users tend to favor Microsoft’s Outlook, as a Mac user, I like Apple’s iCal and for Linux users there is the open source Evolution program. All of these programs can help you get your information and your life under control.

Want something a little more portable, try a handheld PDA (portable digital assistant), like one of the many Palm units. Better yet, think about a “smart phone” device like the RIM Blackberry or Palm Treo. These convergence devices can serve as your telephone, PDA and even your music player. You can still use your computer based PIM software to enter your data at home or at the office then sync it to your PDA or smart phone to take your calendar on the road.

If all this talk about PDAs, Blackberries and Treos has your head spinning, you may want to opt for a paper-based information management system. The only rule here is Post-it notes and napkins are off limits since they tend to disappear too easily. Instead, purchase a spiral-bound notebook or a Day Planner and keep all your notes, to-do lists and telephone messages in it.

The final option is also paper-based but it is a hybrid system since it does involve the use of a computer to produce it. Check out the PocketMod, a new way to keep yourself organized. The PocketMod, lets you carry around your daily notes organized any way you want and then easily transfer them to your PDA or planner. It is actually a small book with templates on each page. These templates, combined with a unique folding style, enable a normal piece of paper to become the ultimate note card. It is actually a paper-based PDA.

Take some time to consider which personal information systems best suits your lifestyle before you decide which system to use. If you decide to go the electronic route, consider purchasing your PDA on-line. You can probably save a few buck if you buy through one of the on-line retailers, particularly around Christmas when most on-line retailers offer free shipping. In fact, you can help support The Sisyphus Comments if you just access Amazon.com by clicking on the link in the right column of the blog. I will get a small stipend and you will get my appreciation.

Well it looks like you have some decisions to make so let’s get busy. If you decide to buy a PDA or a smart phone, do yourself a favor and read the manual. Many PDA owners under utilize their device because they don’t take the time to familiarize themselves with all of the features.

In Part III of this series, we will discuss how you can put your new personal information system to work to help you achieve your personal goals.

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Website: Santa, Elves and the Internet

If you are a parent, your kids are probably getting more and more excited as Christmas approaches. There is a great website that will help you channel all of that energy in a positive direction. The northpole.com is a child-safe, advertising-free site, website that promotes a traditional look at Santa’s Northpole village, but with high-tech features to keep children and adults entertained – and it is entirely FREE!.

The site includes Christmas activity ideas for kids, parents and teachers. Kids can send Santa an electronic letter, visit the elf clubhouse and a whole lot more. This is definitely a great site to help your family pass the days until Santa visits.

CLICK HERE:

Northpole.com

Posted in Useful Websites | No Comments »

Achieving Your Personal Goals – Part I

Feeling overwhelmed? Is your stress level bouncing off the scale? Do you feel like you have so many things to do that you don’t even know where to start? Maybe it’s time to get your time under control.

Remember when you were in school and you didn’t finish a homework assignment? After you blamed your dog for eating it and ran out of dead relative excuses, the fall back excuse was that you just didn’t have time to do the assignment. Of course the standard teacher response was, “We all have the same amount time in a day and everyone else was able to finish their homework. You can tell me that you didn’t make it a priority but don’t tell me you didn’t have the time!” Now that you are in the working world, sometimes you may still feel like you don’t have enough time to complete your assignments. The question is what are you doing with your time. The best way to find out is to keep a time log for a week. If that sounds a bit overwhelming, try logging all of your activities for just two days. You will probably find that you spend a lot of time on unproductive activities. By unproductive, I mean things that do not help you move toward accomplishing your personal goals.

While we are on the topic of personal goals, what are your goals? Have you taken the time to write down your personal goals? Your goals are like the end destination of a trip. If you don’t know where you want to go, it is very difficult to lay out the route and to know when you have arrived. Most self improvement experts will tell you that it is very important to write down your goals. When you reduce your goals, to-do lists and problems to writing, it helps you to clarify the issues and to develop a plan of attack. One of the pillars of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” process is to develop a reliable system for documenting the tasks that you need to complete, in both your personal and professional life. Don’t try to remember the things that you need to do. Think of your brain as a cheap computer with a finite amount of storage space and a very poor storage/recall system. Just like using a poor computer, you are destined for a crash if you try to store your goals and to-do lists in your head. Besides, there is something very satisfying about crossing off completed tasks – it makes you feel like you are making progress and not just spinning your wheels.

Completing tasks is really great but most of us would be better off if we focused our energy on “starting” tasks. Confusius said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Whether you are talking about a major work project, a home improvement project or obtaining a college degree, the hardest part is often just getting started. So get started on the tasks that will help you achieve your goals.

See this stuff is simple, isn’t it. Well it would be if life would just quit getting in the way. Have you ever started your week with well defined goals only to have some unexpected interruption throw a monkey wrench into your plans? Guess what, the same thing happens to everyone else, nearly everyday, so don’t let an unexpected disruption throw you off course. Plan for disruptions by scheduling some time cushions into your day. When an unexpected challenge arises, deal with it and then get back to doing the important things.

In Part II of this series, we will help you choose the personal information management system that is right for you and will help you achieve your personal goals.

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Regional Academy Officer Certification Status

The purpose of this article is to propose a change to the regulations or the Code of Virginia that is intended to address several problems that currently exist as a result of the legal status of the ten regional criminal justice academies located throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Under the current Department of Criminal Justice Services regulations, a criminal justice officer ceases to be certified upon the date of his resignation from a criminal justice agency, regardless of the reason. Unlike other professions, such as teachers, a criminal justice officer cannot maintain his certification unless he is actively employed by a police department or sheriff’s office. Should a former officer or deputy later decide to return to the criminal justice profession, the amount of training that he would be required to attend to be re-certified would depend on the length of time that has elapsed since his resignation. If an officer or deputy has been away from the profession in excess of 48 months, he may be required to re-attend an entire entry level training course.

This problem could be corrected by either changing the existing DCJS regulations or by designating regional criminal justice academies as “criminal justice agencies” and, as such, permitting them to provide in-service training to out-of-status officers and serve as their agency of record. Several benefits will be realized by this designation and it will correct several problems. First, given the current emphasis on homeland security, this arrangement would provide a ready reserve of experienced personnel, who have maintained their training requirements and could return to duty after a brief period of re-orientation in a time of crisis. Next, the academies would be able to charge tuition fees for providing in-service training to out-of-status officers which could help to offset the funding reductions that have occurred over past years. Finally, this system would provide a pool of experienced officers and deputies from which a police department or sheriff’s office could draw both full time and part-time personnel without the high costs of training.

In addition, even though the regional criminal justice academies have the duty and responsibility to train officers and deputies in all disciplines of the criminal justice system, the academies themselves are not designated as a criminal justice agency. As a result, the regional academy staff members cannot continue to maintain their criminal justice certifications unless they are employed as part-time officers with an affiliated police department or sheriff’s office. This situation hampers a regional academy’s ability to attract the best qualified personnel since these individual could potentially lose their certifications upon resigning from a criminal justice agency. By comparison, academy staff members who are employed by a criminal justice agency that operates as an independent academy can continue to maintain their certifications since they are still members of the agency and the academy is just an assignment. Also, like their counterparts in the independent academies, regional academy staff members are often required to handle and transport guns, drugs and other training equipment. However, the simple act of being in possession of some equipment is of questionable legality for non-sworn personnel. This proposal would correct this problem by changing the legal status of academy staff personnel.

Proposed language for an amendment to the DCJS regulations

Regional academies shall be permitted to serve as the agency of record for maintaining the entry level, in-service and instructional training certifications of such personnel who would be qualified to maintain their certification if they were an employee of a police department or sheriff’s office which is a part of or administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof. Persons who are permitted to maintain the aforementioned certifications under the authority of a regional criminal justice academy shall be designated as Non-Affiliated Reserve Officers. Upon being employed by a police department or sheriff’s office, they will be required to qualify with the employing agency’s firearm and complete 100 hours of field training in order to transfer their certification to the employing agency.

An alternative would be to amend Section 9.1 101 of the Code of Virginia as indicated below:

A BILL to amend and reenact Section 9.1 101 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the definition of criminal justice agency.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

That Section 9.1 101 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

Section 9.1 101. Definitions.

As used in this chapter or in Chapter 23 (Section 19.2 387 et seq.) of Title 19.2, unless the context requires a different meaning:

“Administration of criminal justice” means performance of any activity directly involving the detection, apprehension, detention, pretrial release, post trial release, prosecution, adjudication, correctional supervision, or rehabilitation of accused persons or criminal offenders or the collection, storage, and dissemination of criminal history record information.

“Board” means the Criminal Justice Services Board.

“Conviction data” means information in the custody of any criminal justice agency relating to a judgment of conviction, and the consequences arising therefrom, in any court.

“Correctional status information” means records and data concerning each condition of a convicted person’s custodial status, including probation, confinement, work release, study release, escape, or termination of custody through expiration of sentence, parole, pardon, or court decision.

“Criminal history record information” means records and data collected by criminal justice agencies on adult individuals consisting of identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions, indictments, informations, or other formal charges, and any disposition arising therefrom. The term shall not include juvenile record information which is controlled by Chapter 11 (Section 16.1 226 et seq.) of Title 16.1, criminal justice intelligence information, criminal justice investigative information, or correctional status information.

“Criminal justice agency” means (i) a court or any other governmental agency or subunit thereof which as its principal function performs the administration of criminal justice and any other agency or subunit thereof which performs criminal justice activities, but only to the extent that it does so and (ii) for the purposes of Chapter 23 (Section 19.2 387 et seq.) of Title 19.2, any private corporation or agency which, within the context of its criminal justice activities employs officers appointed under Section 15.2 1737, or special conservators of the peace or special policemen appointed under Chapter 2 (Section 19.2 12 et seq.) of Title 19.2, provided that (a) such private corporation or agency requires its officers, special conservators or special policemen to meet compulsory training standards established by the Criminal Justice Services Board and submits reports of compliance with the training standards and (b) the private corporation or agency complies with the provisions of Article 3 (Section 9.1 126 et seq.) of this chapter, but only to the extent that the private corporation or agency so designated as a criminal justice agency performs criminal justice activities. “Criminal justice agency” includes the Virginia State Crime Commission.

“Criminal justice agency” includes any program certified by the Commission on VASAP pursuant to Section 18.2 271.2.

“Criminal justice agency” includes any regional criminal justice training academy certified by the Department of Criminal Justices Services. Regional academies shall be permitted to serve as the agency of record for maintaining the entry level, in-service and instructional training certifications of such personnel who would be qualified to maintain their certification if they were an employee of a police department or sheriff’s office which is a part of or administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof. Persons who are permitted to maintain the aforementioned certifications under the authority of a regional criminal justice academy shall be designated as Non-Affiliated Reserve Officers. Upon being employed by a police department or sheriff’s office, they will be required to qualify with the employing agency’s firearm and complete 100 hours of field training in order to transfer their certification to the employing agency.

“Criminal justice information system” means a system including the equipment, facilities, procedures, agreements, and organizations thereof, for the collection, processing, preservation, or dissemination of criminal history record information. The operations of the system may be performed manually or by using electronic computers or other automated data processing equipment.

“Department” means the Department of Criminal Justice Services.

“Dissemination” means any transfer of information, whether orally, in writing, or by electronic means. The term shall not include access to the information by officers or employees of a criminal justice agency maintaining the information who have both a need and right to know the information.

“Law enforcement officer” means any full time or part time employee of a police department or sheriff’s office which is a part of or administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof, and who is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of the penal, traffic or highway laws of the Commonwealth, and shall include any (i) special agent of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control; (ii) police agent appointed under the provisions of Section 56 353; (iii) officer of the Virginia Marine Police; (iv) game warden who is a full time sworn member of the enforcement division of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries; (v) agent, investigator, or inspector appointed under Section 56 334; or (vi) investigator who is a full time sworn member of the security division of the State Lottery Department. Part time employees are those compensated officers who are not full time employees as defined by the employing police department or sheriff’s office. Full time sworn members of the enforcement division of the Department of Motor Vehicles meeting the Department of Criminal Justice Services qualifications shall be deemed to be “law enforcement officers” when fulfilling their duties pursuant to Section 46.2 217.”School resource officer” means a certified law enforcement officer hired by the local law enforcement agency to provide law enforcement and security services to Virginia public elementary and secondary schools.

“School security officer” means an individual who is employed by the local school board for the singular purpose of maintaining order and discipline, preventing crime, investigating violations of school board policies, and detaining students violating the law or school board policies on school property or at school sponsored events and who is responsible solely for ensuring the safety, security, and welfare of all students, faculty, staff, and visitors in the assigned school.

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Reevaluating Our Training Delivery Methodology – Part I

With some limited modifications, the lecture model has been the traditional delivery method for training criminal justice officers for many years. Although we have significantly increased the amount of practical exercise training in the entry level training environment, the predominate training methodology still revolves around herding students into a classroom for a lecture formatted course developed by training specialists. In other words, someone other than the learner is responsible for determining the course content, delivery method and the training schedule. It may be time to reevaluate the cost, efficiency and effectiveness of this traditional pedagogical training delivery model. However, before we can properly evaluate our present training methodology, we msut examine the factors that impact the adult learning environment.

In general, adults differ from children in their motivation to learn. Some experts contend that adults tend to seek out learning experiences in response to specific life-changing events like a new job, a promotion, being fired or retiring. They also tend to seek out learning experiences that are directly related to the life-changing events that triggered their desire to learn in an effort to cope with the stress through engagement. Once an adult realizes that the change is inevitable, he will take advantage of any learning opportunity that helps him cope with the transition. This desire to use learning as a coping mechanism tends to be present before, during and after an actual life change event.

Adults who are motivated to seek out a training opportunity do so primarily because they have a use for the knowledge or skill they are seeking. Unlike a child who is preparing for his future, for the adult learner, the future is now. In other words, learning is a means to an end, not an end in itself for the adult learner. With adult learners there is a strong impetus to close the gap between learning and doing. While adults are interested in planning and learning for the future, they are more interested in learning for immediate application.

As trainers, we know that our courses should be “problem centered” rather than “subject centered” in order to hold the attention of adult learners. Adults tend to be more interested in training when they can see an immediate application in their lives. This is not to say that increasing one’s sense of self-esteem and learning for the pleasure of gaining knowledge are not important secondary motivators. However, the training must be relevant and important enough to take precedence over other adult obligations and responsibilities.

Fortunately, adults are also highly motivated to learn because they see the value of learning in terms of advancement, salary, success in the workplace and in life. As such, most modern criminal justice professionals aggressively compete for the chance to take advantage of training opportunities.

During Part II of this series we will examine curriculum design and its impact on adult learning.

Posted in Entry Level, In-service, Training | No Comments »

Safely Pay For Christmas Purchases

There is no way to avoid it. The Christmas shopping season will begin the day after Thanksgiving with “Black Friday.” Since you can’t avoid buying all those gifts, at least make sure you don’t get ripped off. Although a debit card is a useful financial tool, it is not the best tool for holiday shopping, particularly on-line shopping.

We found out the hard way that a thief does not have to have your pass code in order to use your debit card to make a credit purchase. When my wife’s wallet was stolen, the thief used our Wachovia debit card to buy merchandise at a gas station convenience store. Although the bank covered the unauthorized purchase since it occurred after we reported the theft, we could have gotten stuck had the circumstances and the bank been different. If your ATM card has a Visa or MasterCard emblem on it, the card can be used as a credit card.

The best strategy for making on-line purchases is to get a credit card with a low limit, maybe $500 or $1,000 depending on your situation. A credit card is the safest way to pay for items online because most card issuers give you free security protection. Stick with Visa, MasterCard or American Express and you get a zero liability policy. With the policy, if you notify the bank of unauthorized transactions, you pay nothing.

You can even assign purchase password challenge with some credit cards. If you have a password assigned, you will be prompted for the password when you make a purchase which is a second layer of protection. MasterCard offers SecureCode and Visa offers Verified by Visa.

That January credit card bill will be large enough if it only includes your purchases. Make sure that it doesn’t include a bad guy’s purchases.

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Attention To Detail – Now You Know!

The first sentence in the duties for a job announcement for an education specialist with the Department of Navy says, “Attention to detail and meticulous preparation are the secrets to delivering world-class learning!” The work styles section of a job description for a chemistry teacher says the position requires, “Attention to Detail — Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.” A job announcement for a police academy staff instructor reads, ” Applicants should have a demonstrated ability to multi-task, attention to detail, communicate effectively, possess strong organizational skills and be physically fit.

It seems as though everyone wants this ‘attention to detail’ quality but what exactly is it? Is it an inherited trait, a skill that is developed or a learned behavior? If it is learned, how does a trainer teach it? Is it important to a cop? These are some of the questions that I asked myself when I started to examine this issue.

We know from experience that paying attention to detail is critical to the survival of a street cop. Little details like an improperly attached or missing license plate can lead to a big time arrest. For instance, Oklahoma Trooper Charlie Hanger had been dispatched to Oklahoma City on the day that the Alfred P. Murrah building was blow up. However, he received a subsequent order to remain in his usual patrol area. He turned around and headed north on I-35. He was about 75 miles from the disaster area when he noticed a beat-up 1977 Mercury Grand Marquis. What caught his attention was the yellow car’s lack of a license plate. Trooper Hanger ended up arresting Timothy McVeigh, the perpetrator of the bombing. His attention to detail is what solved the case. Which brings us back to the problem of teaching attention to detail.

Unfortunately, we can’t teach attention to detail as a class – like Attention to Detail 101. I think it is more of an attitude or a lifestyle that has be ingrained in a recruit during every aspect of academy training. It doesn’t surprise me that most recruits think that the reason for the daily formation and uniform inspection is simply to make sure they look good in their uniforms. What I find surprising is the number of senior officers and agency administrators that have never figured out that the primary reason we perform daily uniform inspections is to instill an attitude of attention to detail in every task the recruits perform. We also instill this philosophy using other routine tasks such as requiring proper grammar and spelling for reports and disciplinary memorandums and even daily clean-up tasks.

I would venture a guess that no one has ever gotten injured or killed because they forgot to button a button on their uniform. However, I can guarantee that many lives have been saved because a recruit developed the discipline to pay attention to every detail during his entry level training. So now you know – we didn’t inspect you just to “mess” with you.

Posted in Entry Level, Training | No Comments »

Workplace Violence

Violence in the workplace is a serious safety and health issue. In fact, it is the third-leading cause of fatal occupational injury in the United States. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), there were 639 workplace homicides in 2001 in the United States.

A recent new survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that in the 12 months prior to the survey, nearly 5 percent of the 7.1 million private industry businesses surveyed reported an incident of workplace violence. Of those, 33% of the respondents said the incident was either detrimental to morale or heightened employee fears. However, 80% of companies that experienced an incidence of workplace violence did nothing to change their prevention policies or procedures. In fact, approximately 9% of the companies had no program at all.

For more information on violence in the workplace check out the following links:

www.crimcheck.com

U.S. Department of Labor

OSHA

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On-line Training On the Rise

Academies throughout Virginia have embraced on-line in-service training. Over 11,000 officers train at academies that offer an on-line training option to their agencies. It turns out that we aren’t the only ones who have recognized the many benefits of using this innovative training delivery method.

The Associated Press reports that approximately one in six college students took an online class last fall. Although many education experts predicted that online learning would decline, many schools are investing heavily in online learning. The schools see it as a way to reach more students. The students who use online classes the most tend to be older, and more likely to be working and have a families. Of course, regardless of age, students report that the ability to “train on demand” is one of the most important benefits of on-line training.
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