Category Archives: Victimless Crimes

PUBLISHED: 11:00 03 May 2017

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Exeter Crown Court. Picture: Alex Walton

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Shane McCollum downloaded the sickening videos and still images from peer to peer file sharing sites on the internet and used them for sexual arousal.

He started by watching adult pornography but when it no longer aroused him he moved on to child images and sought ever more extreme material.

He was caught with 171 movies in the most extreme category A, Exeter Crown Court was told.

McCollum, aged 37, of Rising Sun, Dalwood, near Axminster, admitted three counts of making indecent images of children and one of possessing extreme images.

He was jailed for 15 months, suspended for two years and ordered to undertake the 60-day probation-run Maps for Change programme.

He was also ordered to sign on the sex offenders register for ten years and made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) by Judge Erik Salomonsen.

He told him: Some of the material depicted extreme cruelty and sexual offending against very young children. It was described by the prosecution as sexual torture.

The images are abhorrent even by the standards of some of the material which is dealt with in this court. The offence is aggravated by the age of the children, their pain and distress, the fact many are moving images, and the number of children involved.

These are not victimless crimes. Every time someone views these images it stimulates the demand among those who produce them to produce yet more of them.

The judge said he was suspending the sentence because he believed the public were better protected by McCollum receiving treatment than serving a short jail sentence.

Mr Nigel Wraith, prosecuting, said police acting on information about the use of peer to peer file sharing sites raided McCollums home in July last year and seized a laptop and other equipment.

They found a file marked porn on the computer and images and movies on four data discs. There were 171 movies and four stills in the most extreme category and 119 at lower levels.

He said: Some of the images are particularly extreme and depict scenes of what can only be described as sexual torture sometimes involving very young children indeed.

Mr Warren Robinson, defending, said McCollum is a lonely and isolated man who had been using adult pornography since his teens.

He was drawn into seeking images of children and more extreme material at a time when he was working in utilities and was very unhappy while living on his own in Taunton.

Since his arrest he has moved to a new address near his family in East Devon, sought counselling for depression and anxiety, and contacted the Lucy Faithfull Foundation for help to prevent him using pornography again.

He told the police on his arrest that he needed help, he has shown remorse, and the probation service have deemed him fit to take part in one-to-one work.

A probation report said McCollum had been drawn to more and more extreme material which gave him sexual gratification despite him being shocked and sickened by it.

Go here to read the rest:

Suspended sentence for Dalwood sex offender and given treatment order - Midweek Herald

As growth continues in west Chatham, city tackles transient crimes, traffic issues

Officials say crime is under control despite the rapid growth to Pooler and they intend to keep it that way.

Its been peacefully quiet in Pooler, said Pooler Police Chief Mark Revenew last week.

But there are still some concerns in the west Chatham city. Nestled between Interstate 95 and Interstate 16, the city has become a popular stop for commuters and transient guests. Some of those transient guests choose to make their stay in Pooler a permanent one, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

And more people inside the city limits spurs an opportunity for criminal activity. The majority of crimes in Pooler have included prostitution and child victimization, speeding, driving under the influence and other traffic violations.

When you look at Pooler, we get 70,000 cars a day going down I-95, and we get 30,000 a day going down 16, Revenew said. We have 11,000 Gulfstream workers pass through for lunch. Our transient population is huge.

Growth and centralization

In 2010, about 19,000 people called Pooler home, according to the U.S Census Bureau. By 2015, the citys population increased 21.1 percent to 23,133 residents.

Its a wave of rapid growth that brought a slew of new hotels, restaurants, retail shops, automobile dealerships and medical facilities and spurred a new 51,500-square-foot city hall building and matching municipal complex.

Look at how the city of Pooler and how its grown we needed (the city hall) to grow, Mayor Mike Lamb said in a March 31 Savannah Morning News article. We needed to do something, not just for a quick fix but for the next 50, 100 years.

City officials and other west Chatham dignitaries broke ground on the facility in July 2015. And about two years later, the new three-story city hall and adjoining municipal courtroom was completed, outfitted with offices for city and a new location for the city police department staffed with about 50 officers.

The police departments headquarters had been located in shopping centers for three decades. But with the city rapidly growing, it was time for things to change, Revenew said.

A lot of people dont realize that it was strategically decided to put us central to the city (here at the new city hall), he said. We have new Pooler with the Parkway, semi-new Pooler with the Pine Barren area and Old Pooler. So this puts us in a central location. ... Plus it makes us more efficient. If I need something from, say, finance I just walk upstairs. It gives us secured parking and it looks professional. It makes our evidence room that more secure. And its easier for city leaders to come to the department if they need anything. The communication is so much more streamlined.

Pooler Crime

With a large transient population passing in and out of the city, its easy for crime to make its way to Pooler, according to Revenew.

People all flock into Savannah to work and come back home, he said. People come from Effingham and Richmond and even Hardeeville to frequent Pooler. Unfortunately, that means that they come here to commit crimes too. I presented a report a while back and about 70 percent of the arrests we make for shoplifting are people who arent from Pooler.

Among those coming to commit crimes are people engaging in illicit sexual activity. The police department said it made 15 arrests for prostitution between 2015 and 2017, and thats an issue Revenew says his department is tackling aggressively.

The two things we are super aggressive and proactive about is child pornography/victimization and these vice crimes, he said. Because what happens is being our locale on 95 is a lot of these prostitutes travel. Theyll come here for a week but we dont want them staying a day. People still look at it as a victim-less crime But we see the secondary crimes. They dont. They just think its harmless.

The police department often partners with Savannah-Chatham police and other municipality police departments to help combat crime, he said.

We want to hear that we make it uncomfortable for them to commit crimes here.

Previous prostitution busts in the city have also uncovered substances and other items associated with drug use and distribution, and those arrests have been helped by the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics team. A 2015 bust at the Econo Lodge on U.S. 80 also resulted in human trafficking and weapon possession charges.

The Savannah Morning News made a request for a complete report of violent crime statistics from the Pooler Police Department, but that data was not yet available. The FBIs most recent report from 2014 showed 40 violent crimes and 620 property crimes including burglary, vehicle theft and larceny theft. After 2014, the FBI changed its reporting practices to focus on a metropolitan statistical area report, which is now put out by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Subdivision speeding

But prostitution isnt the only growing crime in Pooler. Theres the issue of drivers going too fast through the city dubbed as one giant subdivision. Tanger Outlets has increased traffic flow, which will also soon be affected at the other end of Pooler Parkway with the building of a new micro-hospital that will serve communities in west Chatham.

We get more complaints that we dont do enough enforcement for speeding than we do too much, Revenew said. People get really aggravated when cars fly through their neighborhood, but we have 100 neighborhoods over 700 streets, so its really difficult to make everybody happy.

And with the recent fatalities on the Interstates in Pooler, slowing drivers down is a priority for Revenew and his officers.

With those 15 fatalities on 16, it is very important to us. We had the five nursing students killed, another five killed in a fiery crash and another five killed in a head-on collision along that three-mile stretch, he said.

... A lot of people think its a victimless crime, but its much more than that. Just a few weeks ago, we stopped a girl doing 107 with marijuana edibles in her car. She admitted she was going to sell them at Orange Crush. But you have to think, we dont know if they are safe, whether she used the right amount of THC, whether they were made in a sterile environment, plus someone going 107 on a highway colliding with grandma whos doing 60 its a disaster.

But Poolers bordering of multiple cities makes for a unique partnership to help address the growing issues, Revenew said.

The city shares limits with Bloomingdale, Garden City and Savannah and the Pooler Police Department frequently calls on its brothers in blue to help across jurisdiction lines.

Back after the crash in 2007, grants dried up and budgets dried up, he said. It pushed us to working together. We have to work together. We have to be more efficient. We dont have the resources we had 10 years ago and that made us come the table and say How can we help each other? and so by sharing our resources we complement each other.

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'Streamlined' operation helps Pooler stay 'peacefully quiet' - Savannah Morning News

Knoxville News Sentinel 4:01 p.m. ET May 1, 2017

Lets set the record straight on how Democrats feel about immigration, to counter cartoon caricatures like Democrats want open borders. Democrats' feelings can be summarized as Much Ado and Weve Seen This Movie Before.

Much Ado refers to the puzzlement that Democrats feel about the enormous noise that President Donald Trump and his supporters make about people who are non-compliant with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Agency regulations, which usually happens from overstaying a visa.

Such infractions fall in a broad class of commonplace, low-punishment transgressions like traffic violations and in-home smoking of marijuana, where total enforcement is wildly impractical because of cost and disruption. Consider the enormous investment that would be required to catch and prosecute every speeder or every puff of marijuana. Imagine the disruption to daily life total enforcement would entail, and the affront it would present to our constitutional liberties. Any politician demanding the investment required for total enforcement would be laughed out of the room, yet thats exactly the level of immigration enforcement that Trump has promised and his supporters demand.

Catching every speeder or arresting every pot smoker would produce no real benefit to justify the enormous expense and disruption. Like immigration infractions, these are essentially victimless crimes. Indeed, it can be argued that speeders put others in far greater peril than those here pursuing the American dream.

This leads to Weve Seen This Movie Before. How to account for the visceral hatred shown by Trump supporters to the undocumented in comparison to speeders, puffersor other low-level offenders? One can only observe that similar attitudes were expressed towards other newcomers, whether Irish, Germans, Italians, Jews, Poles, Chinese, Japanese, Puerto Ricans,and the list goes on and on. And that brings us to one final saying:If It Quacks Like a Duck ...

Laurence J. Best,Lenoir City

In your article Knox churches seek action in schools, jails on April 24, I was disappointed at the Knox County Board of Educations lack of involvement in the efforts that Justice Knox and city officials are putting toward reducing school suspensions. As the article mentions, these suspensions result in a disproportionate number of minority and disabled students being removed from classrooms. As a graduate social work student at the University of Tennesseewith a focus on organizational leadership, I find Justice Knoxs community organizing efforts to be a welcomeapproach to addressing this issue. I would like to see members of the school board embracing this solution-focused approach to meeting the needs of our children.

The school-to-prison pipeline is a very real problem, andearnest efforts must be made toward eliminating it. The American Civil Liberties Union (www.aclu.org/issues/juvenile-justice/school-prison-pipeline) informs us of the direct correlation between being suspended or expelled from school and being incarcerated as an adult. When students who are removed from school are largely part of at-risk populations, why would school board members not want to be involved in efforts to change these disturbing statistics?

Policies that push students out of the classroom negatively affect those who could most benefit from having an education for a better chance at a promising future. I urge the Board of Education to collaborate with Justice Knox and remember that their mission is "to advocate Excellence for All Children,which includes children who are part of a minority or face a disability.

Amy Grimes, Maryville

Read or Share this story: http://knoxne.ws/2qqnYXA

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Letters: Immigration, school suspensions - Knoxville News Sentinel

Officials say crime is under control despite the rapid growth to Pooler and they intend to keep it that way.

Its been peacefully quiet in Pooler, said Pooler Police Chief Mark Revenew last week.

But there are still some concerns in the west Chatham city. Nestled between Interstate 95 and Interstate 16, the city has become a popular stop for commuters and transient guests. Some of those transient guests choose to make their stay in Pooler a permanent one, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

And more people inside the city limits spurs an opportunity for criminal activity. The majority of crimes in Pooler have included prostitution and child victimization, speeding, driving under the influence and other traffic violations.

When you look at Pooler, we get 70,000 cars a day going down I-95, and we get 30,000 a day going down 16, Revenew said. We have 11,000 Gulfstream workers pass through for lunch. Our transient population is huge.

Growth and centralization

In 2010, about 19,000 people called Pooler home, according to the U.S Census Bureau. By 2015, the citys population increased 21.1 percent to 23,133 residents.

Its a wave of rapid growth that brought a slew of new hotels, restaurants, retail shops, automobile dealerships and medical facilities and spurred a new 51,500-square-foot city hall building and matching municipal complex.

Look at how the city of Pooler and how its grown we needed (the city hall) to grow, Mayor Mike Lamb said in a March 31 Savannah Morning News article. We needed to do something, not just for a quick fix but for the next 50, 100 years.

City officials and other west Chatham dignitaries broke ground on the facility in July 2015. And about two years later, the new three-story city hall and adjoining municipal courtroom was completed, outfitted with offices for city and a new location for the city police department staffed with about 50 officers.

The police departments headquarters had been located in shopping centers for three decades. But with the city rapidly growing, it was time for things to change, Revenew said.

A lot of people dont realize that it was strategically decided to put us central to the city (here at the new city hall), he said. We have new Pooler with the Parkway, semi-new Pooler with the Pine Barren area and Old Pooler. So this puts us in a central location. ... Plus it makes us more efficient. If I need something from, say, finance I just walk upstairs. It gives us secured parking and it looks professional. It makes our evidence room that more secure. And its easier for city leaders to come to the department if they need anything. The communication is so much more streamlined.

Pooler Crime

With a large transient population passing in and out of the city, its easy for crime to make its way to Pooler, according to Revenew.

People all flock into Savannah to work and come back home, he said. People come from Effingham and Richmond and even Hardeeville to frequent Pooler. Unfortunately, that means that they come here to commit crimes too. I presented a report a while back and about 70 percent of the arrests we make for shoplifting are people who arent from Pooler.

Among those coming to commit crimes are people engaging in illicit sexual activity. The police department said it made 15 arrests for prostitution between 2015 and 2017, and thats an issue Revenew says his department is tackling aggressively.

The two things we are super aggressive and proactive about is child pornography/victimization and these vice crimes, he said. Because what happens is being our locale on 95 is a lot of these prostitutes travel. Theyll come here for a week but we dont want them staying a day. People still look at it as a victim-less crime But we see the secondary crimes. They dont. They just think its harmless.

The police department often partners with Savannah-Chatham police and other municipality police departments to help combat crime, he said.

We want to hear that we make it uncomfortable for them to commit crimes here.

Previous prostitution busts in the city have also uncovered substances and other items associated with drug use and distribution, and those arrests have been helped by the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics team. A 2015 bust at the Econo Lodge on U.S. 80 also resulted in human trafficking and weapon possession charges.

The Savannah Morning News made a request for a complete report of violent crime statistics from the Pooler Police Department, but that data was not yet available. The FBIs most recent report from 2014 showed 40 violent crimes and 620 property crimes including burglary, vehicle theft and larceny theft. After 2014, the FBI changed its reporting practices to focus on a metropolitan statistical area report, which is now put out by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Subdivision speeding

But prostitution isnt the only growing crime in Pooler. Theres the issue of drivers going too fast through the city dubbed as one giant subdivision. Tanger Outlets has increased traffic flow, which will also soon be affected at the other end of Pooler Parkway with the building of a new micro-hospital that will serve communities in west Chatham.

We get more complaints that we dont do enough enforcement for speeding than we do too much, Revenew said. People get really aggravated when cars fly through their neighborhood, but we have 100 neighborhoods over 700 streets, so its really difficult to make everybody happy.

And with the recent fatalities on the Interstates in Pooler, slowing drivers down is a priority for Revenew and his officers.

With those 15 fatalities on 16, it is very important to us. We had the five nursing students killed, another five killed in a fiery crash and another five killed in a head-on collision along that three-mile stretch, he said.

... A lot of people think its a victimless crime, but its much more than that. Just a few weeks ago, we stopped a girl doing 107 with marijuana edibles in her car. She admitted she was going to sell them at Orange Crush. But you have to think, we dont know if they are safe, whether she used the right amount of THC, whether they were made in a sterile environment, plus someone going 107 on a highway colliding with grandma whos doing 60 its a disaster.

But Poolers bordering of multiple cities makes for a unique partnership to help address the growing issues, Revenew said.

The city shares limits with Bloomingdale, Garden City and Savannah and the Pooler Police Department frequently calls on its brothers in blue to help across jurisdiction lines.

Back after the crash in 2007, grants dried up and budgets dried up, he said. It pushed us to working together. We have to work together. We have to be more efficient. We dont have the resources we had 10 years ago and that made us come the table and say How can we help each other? and so by sharing our resources we complement each other.

Read the original here:

'Streamlined' operation helps Pooler tackle transient crimes, traffic issues - Savannah Morning News

BELCHERTOWN A Belchertown man has been arrested and charged with possessing child pornography after he allegedly attempted to entice a boy via Facebook Messenger.

Douglas Wallace, 28, of 145 River St., pleaded not guilty in Eastern Hampshire District Court Friday to charges of possessionof child pornography and posinga child in the nude, according to Belchertown Police.

Bail was set at $2,500 with conditions that he have no unsupervised contact with people under 18 and no contact with the alleged victim or witnesses, according to theNorthwestern district attorney's office.

A lot of people think these are victimless crimes because its just a photo of a kid somewhere in the U.S., but all of these photographs are real children and they are somebodys children, said Belchertown Detective John Raymer Jr.

Police began investigating Wallace in March after he allegedly was attempting to entice a child over Facebook Messenger to send unclothed pictures of himself to Wallace, police said in a news release.

On March 29, police seized several electronic devices from Wallaces home and found numerous images of child pornography on his cellphone, police said.

Raymer said the case was brought to the attention of Belchertown Police by theNorth Brookfield Police Department after the childs father reported the incident.

A total of five items were seized by police, including three cellphones, a computer anda leather case with DVDs, Raymer said.

So far, all of the photographs weve located were on his iPhone6, Raymer said.

When the warrant was served in March, Raymer said Wallacecame in to give a voluntary statement to police. Upon his arrest Thursday, Raymer said Wallace did not speak with police.

Further charges may be filedbased on review of the51,000photos on the computer police seized, according to Raymer.

The photos would be submitted to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children for identification purposes, Raymer said.

We investigate these kind of cases to the utmost professionalism and take it very seriously, Raymer said.

Belchertown Police was assisted by the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit, the Northwestern District Anti-Crime Task Force and the Northwestern district attorneys office child abuse unit.

Wallace is due back in court on May 26.

Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.

Read more from the original source:

Belchertown man faces child porn charges - Daily Hampshire Gazette - GazetteNET

Tre Quane Jenkins and Antonio Jaray Moore (Courtesy PPB)

PORTLAND, Ore. Portland Police and the FBI have reunited a 16-year-old sex trafficking victim with her family, and arrested two men for prostitution.

The investigation started several weeks ago, when officers found the victim inside a house in the 8500 block of SE Steele Street. Thursday, she was removed from the home and reunited with her family. Three other people were found at the house and they refused to come out for some time.

Eventually, 22-year-old Tre Quane Jenkins and 20-year-old Antonio Jaray Moore were arrested for compelling prostitution. The third person was released. Police found a firearm inside the house.

If you have any information, call Portland Police.

From Portland Police:

Sex trafficking and prostitution are not victimless crimes. Victims of sex trafficking and prostitution are forced, coerced, and manipulated into this lifestyle against their will. They are forced to suffer through physical, sexual, and mental abuse. The Portland Police Bureau, in conjunction with other Federal and local law enforcement agencies, is committed to deterring prostitution and sex trafficking activities.

The Bureau also works with community organizations like Lifeworks NW to help sex trafficking victims: https://www.bja.gov/programs/supporting-victims-of-sex-trafficking-in-Portland.html

If you know or think that someone may be involved in trafficking or is being exploited, please contact the Portland Police Bureau's Sex Trafficking Unit at 503-255-0118, the Sexual Assault Resource Center hotline 1-800-640-5311; or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 1-800-843-5678 or via the Cyber Tipline: http://www.missingkids.org/CyberTiipline

Crime Stoppers of Oregon offers cash rewards for information, reported to Crime Stoppers, that leads to an arrest in any unsolved felony crime and tipsters can remain anonymous.

Information about any unsolved homicide is eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,500. Information about any other unsolved felony crime is eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000.

Information learned from social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube should be shared as these tips may lead to the identification of a suspect or suspects. Links can be shared anonymously through Crime Stoppers.

Submit an anonymous tip:

Text CRIMES (274637) - Type 823HELP, followed by the tip.

Online at http://crimestoppersoforegon.com/submit_online_tip.php

Call 503-823-HELP (4357)

Visit http://www.tipsoft.com to download the TipSubmit app for the iPhone or Droid.

Here is the original post:

16-year-old sex trafficking victim rescued, two men arrested in Ore ... - KOMO News

Being Libertarian

The Lowdown on Liberty: Intellectual Property, Border Security, and Criminal Rights Being Libertarian Also, allowing them to own guns would cut down on many crimes libertarians always claim to despise; victimless crimes. All the felons who only wanted one in their home to protect their family no longer risk being thrown back into prison simply for ...

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The Lowdown on Liberty: Intellectual Property, Border Security, and Criminal Rights - Being Libertarian

Tre Quane Jenkins and Antonio Jaray Moore (Courtesy PPB).png

Portland Police and the FBI have reunited a 16-year-old sex trafficking victim with her family, and arrested two men for prostitution.

The investigation started several weeks ago, when officers found the victim inside a house in the 8500 block of SE Steele Street. Thursday, she was removed from the home and reunited with her family. Three other people were found at the house and they refused to come out for some time.

Eventually, 22-year-old Tre Quane Jenkins and 20-year-old Antonio Jaray Moore were arrested for compelling prostitution. The third person was released. Police found a firearm inside the house.

If you have any information, call Portland Police.

From Portland Police:

Sex trafficking and prostitution are not victimless crimes. Victims of sex trafficking and prostitution are forced, coerced, and manipulated into this lifestyle against their will. They are forced to suffer through physical, sexual, and mental abuse. The Portland Police Bureau, in conjunction with other Federal and local law enforcement agencies, is committed to deterring prostitution and sex trafficking activities.

The Bureau also works with community organizations like Lifeworks NW to help sex trafficking victims: https://www.bja.gov/programs/supporting-victims-of-sex-trafficking-in-Portland.html

If you know or think that someone may be involved in trafficking or is being exploited, please contact the Portland Police Bureau's Sex Trafficking Unit at 503-255-0118, the Sexual Assault Resource Center hotline 1-800-640-5311; or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 1-800-843-5678 or via the Cyber Tipline: http://www.missingkids.org/CyberTiipline

Crime Stoppers of Oregon offers cash rewards for information, reported to Crime Stoppers, that leads to an arrest in any unsolved felony crime and tipsters can remain anonymous.

Information about any unsolved homicide is eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,500. Information about any other unsolved felony crime is eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000.

Information learned from social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube should be shared as these tips may lead to the identification of a suspect or suspects. Links can be shared anonymously through Crime Stoppers.

Submit an anonymous tip:

Text CRIMES (274637) - Type 823HELP, followed by the tip.

Online at http://crimestoppersoforegon.com/submit_online_tip.php

Call 503-823-HELP (4357)

Visit http://www.tipsoft.com to download the TipSubmit app for the iPhone or Droid.

See the rest here:

16-year-old sex trafficking victim rescued, two men arrested - KATU

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Yield to Pedestrians. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

A coalition of groups staged a demonstration Wednesday raising awareness for pedestrian safety at the intersection where 62-year-old Israel Soto-Colon was killed little more than a week ago.

Members of the MilWALKee Walks coalition and students from the nearby Escuela Verde escorted pedestrians back and forth across the intersection holding signs that read Yield To Pedestrians.

I do think that walking issues are this hidden problem, said Jessica Wineberg, program director with the Wisconsin Bike Fed, who helped organize the demonstration.

Jessica Wineberg. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

Already, seven pedestrians in Milwaukee have been killed this year by motorists. Those deaths account for 40 percent of the deadly pedestrian crashes in the entire state. Along with inattentiveness and speeding, Wineberg and her fellow demonstrators were concerned with drivers failing to yield to pedestrians.

Local attorney Michael Hupy was at the demonstration and said it was symbolic, adding I think some people who drove by here learned something.

Hupy said he became an advocate for pedestrian after years of his firm representing injured bikers. The poor driving that he saw leading to injured bikers was reminiscent of his own experience crossing the streets of downtown Milwaukee, he said.

While spreading awareness with demonstrations like the one Wednesday are important, both Hupy and Wineberg believe the most realistic solution for tackling the problem is through public policy. Specifically, a police initiative ticketing drivers that fail to yield to pedestrians.

As Wineberg noted, any time a sidewalk ends, a crosswalk begins whether its painted or not.

Drivers seem to think they can get away with speeding, running red lights and not yielding to pedestrians, she said. Those things kill people, they arent victimless crimes.

Its difficult to incentivize safer driving, so when the carrot fails Wineberg and others think the stick has a role to play.

Still, the issue, like many in a complex city like Milwaukee, can become complicated quickly.

Wineberg met with Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn, and said, One of my takeaways was that Chief Flynn was generally concerned about the policing of low income and minority communities.

She said loading up poor communities with municipal fines can have a negative effect of leading to increased incarceration, as low-income individuals are more likely to miss a court date and end up with a warrant for something like a traffic ticket.

In Wisconsin, African-American residents are almost twice as likely to be in a pedestrian crash. We hear over and over again from African American community members on the northwest side that theyre terrorized in their neighborhoods by speeding and reckless drivers, Wineberg said.

If Wineberg had her way, she would prescribe the city a day without cars. And have people see how beautiful and wonderful theyre neighborhoods are when you can freely go wherever you want without worrying about getting hit, she said. And theres no pollution from cars or any noise.

As one of the demonstrators attempted to cross the street, sign in hand, a car came close to hitting him. The young man and the driver started talking though the passenger window.

See, Wineberg said, Theyre talking it out, yes! Education, talking it out.

Go here to read the rest:

We Want Protection for Pedestrians - urbanmilwaukee

By: Homeland Security Today Staff

04/26/2017 ( 3:42pm)

The establishment of the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office (VOICE) -- which will assist victims of crimes committed by criminal aliens under Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was announced today by DHS Secretary John F. Kelly.

DHS said, ICE built the VOICE office in response to President Trumps Executive Order, Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States, which directed DHS to create an office to support victims of crimes committed by criminal aliens.

All crime is terrible, but these victims are uniqueand too often ignored, Kelly said, adding, They are casualties of crimes that should never have taken placebecause the people who victimized them often times should not have been in the country in the first place.

The key objectives of the VOICE office are: Use a victim-centered approach to acknowledge and support victims and their families; promote awareness of available services to crime victims; and build collaborative partnerships with community stakeholders assisting victims.

ICE has established a toll-free hotline staffed with operators who will triage calls to ensure victims receive the support they need. The number is 1-855-48-VOICE or 1-855-488-6423.

The types of assistance people impacted by crimes committed by illegal aliens can expect include:

The DHS-Victim Information and Notification Exchange (DHS-VINE) is an automated service that will help victims track the immigration custody status of illegal alien perpetrators of crime. More information about DHS-VINE and how to sign-up to receive automated alerts can be found at: https://vinelink.dhs.gov.

Additional criminal or immigration history may be available about an illegal alien to victims or their families, DHS said.

ICE will also work with requesting individuals to determine what releasable information is available to victims about an alien involved in a crime.

DHS said, ICE is employing a measured approach to building the VOICE officemeaning that it intends to expand the services VOICE offers in the future. This approach allows the office to provide immediate services to victims, but will also allow the agency to collect metrics and information to determine additional resource needs and how the office can best serve victims and their families moving forward.

Decades of lax enforcement have wreaked havoc on American communities and innocent Americans from coast to coast have lost their lives at the hands of unlawful immigrants. Several of these victims family members have testified before the House Judiciary Committee and have spoken out about how the lack of enforcement has devastated their families. Under the Obama administration, these victims voices were not acknowledged, responded House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA).

President Trump and his administration are reversing many of the Obama administrations disastrous immigration policies and are consistently enforcing the law, Goodlatte stated. And through the creation of the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office, the Trump administration is committed to providing accurate and timely information to victims as their perpetrators face justice and are removed from the United States.

He commended the administration for their commitment to helping victims of crimes committed by removable aliens and for giving them a voice in their government.

Goodlattes office said, the House Judiciary Committee has highlighted how illegal immigration is not a victimless crime and has repeatedly sought information on unlawful immigrants who have committed crimes in the United States. On April 19, 2016, two moms whose children were murdered by unlawful immigrants testified before the Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee. They also spoke out in a video, calling for more immigration enforcement to protect Americans.

Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said VOICE perpetuates fear of immigrants.

The establishment of this office sends a message that the Trump administration is fixated on continuing to stir fear of immigrants while spreading myths about undocumented immigrants and crime. Looking at the facts, it is clear that there is no epidemic of immigrant crime that the President all too often asserts, Thompson said. While the President is desperate for something show for his first 100 days, inserting this propaganda and prejudice into our nations homeland security policy is a move that history will not look kindly on.

Instead of protecting our skies, waters and borders from foreign and domestic threats, Department of Homeland Security resources will now be used for a new office to single out immigrants as criminals and broadcast its findings on repeat, he added. Doing this not only ignores the vast majority of the crime, but stokes racist and xenophobic fears while dividing the country."

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Office for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime Launched by DHS - HSToday