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Daily Archives: December 6, 2015

Lessons Learned from the 2015 Civil Unrest in Baltimore

Lessons Learned from the 2015 Civil Unrest in Baltimore. September 2015 Police Executive Research Forum.
“The Baltimore Police Department contracted with the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) to conduct this study and produce this report. PERF is a Washington, DC-based research organization that specializes in identifying best practices and policies in the field of policing. This report provides a review of the police response to the civil unrest that took place in Baltimore from April 25 through May 3, 2015. It is based on reports from the Baltimore Police Department (BPD), interviews with key individuals from BPD and other agencies involved in the response, and a day-long debriefing session held on July 8, 2015 that included the entire BPD command staff and representatives of outside agencies. The goal of this report is to identify problems and issues that BPD faced during the demonstrations and riots in April-May,and to make recommendations for how the department can be better prepared for major incidents in the future. The scope of this review did not allow for a moment-by-moment assessment of every action taken throughout the period of civil unrest. The report does address major shortcomings in BPD’s response and provides guidance on how to resolve the issues that led to those weaknesses. It also highlights actions that went well and promising practices that BPD can build upon. While this report is focused on the events in Baltimore, it also has national implications, to the extent that other police agencies across the country would be well-advised to check that they have kept up with training their officers and otherwise preparing for large – scale critical incidents, such as demonstrations that turn violent. Many police agencies routinely conduct tabletop exercises and training to ensure that their response to a crisis will be systematic and orderly. However, most cities have not experienced large-scale riots for many years or even decades, so there may be a tendency to let more immediate concerns, such as increasing violent crime rates, take priority over planning for the types of incidents that occur rarely and without warning. The Baltimore Police Department’s experience demonstrates that agencies must be prepared for all types of incidents..”

House Hearing – Improving Customer Service for the Copyright Community

Hearing: Improving Customer Service for the Copyright Community: Ensuring the Copyright Office and the Library of Congress are able to meet the demands of the digital age. Committee on House Administration. Wednesday, December 2, 2015. Witnesses Mr. David S. Mao Acting Librarian of Congress, Library of Congress Added 12/01/2015 at 03:15 PM Ms. Maria A.… Continue Reading

University of Michigan ongoing survey – U.S. Health and Retirement Study

“About the Health and Retirement Study – The University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is a longitudinal panel study that surveys a representative sample of approximately 20,000 Americans over the age of 50 every two years. Supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA U01AG009740) and the Social Security Administration, the HRS explores… Continue Reading

Contagion in Mass Killings and School Shootings

Open Access – Towers S, Gomez-Lievano A, Khan M, Mubayi A, Castillo-Chavez C (2015) Contagion in Mass Killings and School Shootings. PLoS ONE 10 (7): e0117259. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0117259 “Background – Several past studies have found that media reports of suicides and homicides appear to subsequently increase the incidence of similar events in the community, apparently due… Continue Reading

New on LLRX – Information Quality Resources and Expert Resources

Via LLRX – Information Quality Resources and Expert Resources – Marcus Zillman’s guide is a comprehensive and selective bibliography including search engines, world wide web resources, services and sites currently offering free, value added content on the web. As more and more of the global population is accessing the web, making informed choices about what… Continue Reading

Yes We Have No Bananas – Fungus threatens future of world’s favorite fruit

Ordonez N, Seidl MF, Waalwijk C, Drenth A, Kilian A, Thomma BPHJ, et al. (2015) Worse Comes to Worst: Bananas and Panama Disease—When Plant and Pathogen Clones Meet. PLoS Pathog 11(11): e1005197. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1005197 “The banana is the most popular fruit in the world and ranks among the top ten food commodities for Southeast Asia, Africa,… Continue Reading

Report – ISIS in America: From Retweets to Raqqa

ISIS in America: From Retweets to Raqqa, by Lorenzo Vidino and Seamus Hughes, George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, December 2015. “Searching for Answers – What explains the recent surge in American jihadi recruits? Who are the Americans lured by the siren songs of ISIS’s propaganda? How do they embrace such radical ideology, turning their… Continue Reading