Cop Culture & Community Outreach Policing

The police sub-culture is adversarial and paramilitary, I believe as a defensive mechanism that permits police to stay alive on "the mean streets", but seems to definitely be at odds with community policing.  From my understanding, you could best classify the police sub-culture as distrustful of outsiders, clannish, secretive and one that isolates police from outsiders.  (This is plain, as a biker, that cops close ranks, and want to create LEO-only motorcycle clubs and riding clubs as extensions of the police sub-culture into the bike sub-culture... non police need not apply.)  

From personal experience and from friends who are police in very rough areas of town, I understand why the police sub-culture thrives - my cousin is not happy with who he has become as a cop, and laments the fact that he is now suspicious, racist and thinks of the public he serves in very cynical terms.  However, he serves in a very rough area of West Dayton with rampant drugs and crime, where he saw little to no community support and widespread hostility from the public he served.  While not universal, there was a definite distrust.  I think this would be a difficult environment in which to make progress with community policing, but they are making progress and starting to turn the tide.

To be successful at community policing, law enforcement will need to bond with the community rather than seeing the loyalty to each other as the predominant relationship.  The police subculture is distrustful of the community, but community policing requires the opposite, to work collaboratively with the community to achieve the goals of the community.  Where the police sub-culture reinforces the belief that only police fight crimes, police will need to provide for broad solutions to crime that see crime prevention and accountability to community needs as paramount.  Community policing will create changes in the police sub-culture that I think are healthy, to provide for a more well-rounded perspective that I think will reduce stress in the lives of law enforcement officers, and provide for a more diverse and open environment.

As InfoSec professionals what lessons might we learn from this?

• Do we also suffer from an adversarial and distrustful culture?
• Might we gain more advantage with outreach programs that engage the community in working towards solutions, rather than thinking it's our job to patrol and stop crime?

Broken Window Theory

I have been intrigued by the Broken Window Theory ever since hearing Malcolm Baldridge speak at the RSA Security Conference in 2010, and subsequently reading his book, The Tipping Point. I realize that he didn't come up with the theory, but he did explain it very well.  Since his book was the first time I'd been introduced to the Broken Window Theory, Prof. Baldridge is linked in my mind with that theory. :-)  

I feel there is a very strong corollary to my own chosen field of Information Security, itself an offshoot of criminology focusing on cybercrime and policy-based security models to prevent crime and loss. I think that the Broken Window Theory is valuable because it shows that small cues, psychologically, create an environment which can tell people that crime is tolerated, or not tolerated. While I'm not sure that you can expressly attribute the drop in crime in New York under Rudy Giuliani's program cracking down on quality-of-life offenses, it seems to be a very strong contributing factor. (However, crime overall dropped nationwide during the same time period, though not as precipitously as in New York City). I'm a fan of the broken window theory because I've seen it work in my own company, as a private security cybercrime initiative.

Because of this, I feel that there is definitely a strong case for the Broken Window Theory to apply to corporate crime.  I have experienced that showing popup alerts warning of potential policy violations, detection and response to minor offenses, including swift notification (e.g. warned web sites, password policy, warnings from desktop monitoring components detecting inserted USB drives, etc) shows a marked and pronounced reduction in criminal behavior within corporations, such as information disclosure and unauthorized access.  When adding warnings of policy to web pages, this was far more effective than a passive logging and blocking, and we noticed a dramatic drop in illicit and evasive web behavior (e.g. pr0n, DropBox or proxy avoidance sites).  PhishMe is a company that works in organizations to create Phishing programs to trick employees into falling for e-mail phishing scams, then trains them in that moment when the employee realizes they've messed up.  This is a great reinforcer that the little things matter, and we've seen a marked improvement in security awareness, policy compliance and in reporting of security issues - in essence, this is like our COP within our company. :-)

I recall reading in trade literature roughly 5 years ago that there is a definite tie between how the security guard looks, and embezzlement…although I was unable to find that article due to the very generic words that search contained.  The study showed that, if the corporate security guard at the front desk "looks like a police officer", then employees will commit less embezzlement and fraud, but where the security guard was in business attire, fraud increased.  They further showed that progressive steps towards making the security officers "look like cops" showed a significant correlation to criminal behavior by the employees.  

This research goes against the grain of the "kinder, gentler" office environments that have become popular over the last 30 years, where corporations seek to create a friendly face to security in the building - in my own organization, the primary face of the front security desk are frequently women that resemble grandmothers rather than the "look" of cops.  From the research, a white shirt with epaulettes, gold shield badge, gun, shirt patches and stripes, police-style duty belt, black tie, spit-shined shoes and radio handset clipped to the lapel were all psychological clues that the security force was alert and tied to law enforcement.  I think this is a logical extension of the same kind of social cues as The Broken Window theory, although really environmental.

Perhaps these provide us a lesson in changing corporate crime by merely "looking alert". I'm not a fan of security through obscurity, but cognition is a real force in human behavior, and effecting associate cognition through a little disinformation and camouflage seems a smart use of social science. 

On Modeling Theory

In response to this lengthy and good article on Combat Training, Autopilot: "You honestly don't know you're doing it" by the esteemed Lt. Col. Dave Grossman...  

I think that there is much to be said for Modeling Theory, though I disagree with Lt. Col. Dave Grossman about laying the blame at "psychological conditioning" of video games.  Since before the Roman circuses, we have had violent games and displays, and children have played some antagonist/protagonist game of violence (Cops vs. Robbers, Cowboys vs. Indians, Empire vs. Jedi) for thousands of years.  I do not think that creating more realistic games necessarily creates a breakdown in reality that would cause someone to no longer be able to determine reality and to murder.

I don't find it that surprising, as Lt. Col. Grossman did, that a 14-yr old could score 8 hits with a .22 pistol, since there is virtually no recoil on a .22, and they can be very accurate, particularly at man-sized targets at room distance.

What I find more compelling is the explanation offered by Tarde of learned behavior, particularly imitation and suggestion, though I would modify his second law of imitation.  Where Tarde stated that imitation moves from the top down, I would think it more accurately is stated that imitation models the behavior of people we respect and would like to be.  That may not always be the bigger or wealthier, it could be the bad-boy rebel or goth, particularly in youth who discard the model of parents and seek rebellious peers to imitate.  I think Tarde's statement of replacement is spot-on, since every generation believes they invented sex, despite their own existence providing evidence to the contrary.  Behavior theory, as espoused by Skinner, also explains much about criminality, and is closely tied to the attachment theory of Bowlby, as both are related to positive reinforcements. I have a need, I reach a crisis of need, the need is met, and I feel love.  Or, the need is not met, and I feel unloved by that person.

Truthfully, I believe that you have all three theories operating and active in the formative years of a child.  The parent models behavior that demonstrate appropriate behavior (c.f. Bobo Doll experiment of Bandura).  The child learns hostility and aggression, or positive traits like sharing, showing affection, and good manners by modeling their parent.  They also will have the behavior theory of rewards and punishments, regardless if they are raised by parents that use discipline or parents that do not.  All children will be raised in an environment where they will observe the interaction with an authority figure, and the keeping or breaking of rules, and then the consequences of that behavior.  Finally, attachment to an authority figure that meets a need creates a bond of love and affection and feelings of security (where provided).  From that bond of affection will come deeper meaning to modeling theory and behavior theory of rewards and punishments, reinforcing both.  Where attachment is broken, and an attachment disorder is created, that will create a lack of empathy and violence as the child (and later adult) seeks unusual and atypical ways of gaining acceptance or meeting their needs.  They may suppress success, shun attachments, and punish those seeking attachments, creating cycles of violence.

I think you cannot divorce those 3 theories, because they are inextricably linked through child development that will teach someone patterns that I think are significant in the creation (or prevention) of criminal behavior.

Violence and Videogames

In the wake of several school violence incidents, not the least of which is Sandy Hook, people are quick to blame something besides the insane madman -- and violent video games seems one of the targets.  I'm crying bologna.

I'm not sure I agree that violent video games are substantly "worse" or more suggestive of murder or crime than they were before, just the technology is better.  I was playing boxing games in 1977 on a computer, and tank battle and duck hunt in 1979 on our game console.  I slaughterd thousands of orcs, mages, knights wizards, aliens, trolls and dragons playing AD&D and Traveler in the 70s and 80s, and also played Zork, Empire and even the racy text adventure Leather Goddesses of Phobos as a teen... Yet I'd say I turned out well, never a conviction or arrest except 2 driving tickets.  

Little boys have played Cowboys and Indians, cop and robber, or, in my day, the non-PC named game "Japs and Commandos", or some variation of antagonist-protagonist since likely "cavemen" children picked up a pig bone and mimicked stabbing their brother.  I shot my brother 10,000 times in 10 years with cap guns, blew him to bits with smoke grenades and shoeboxes labeled "Claymore", and stabbed him with a ruler.  We even shot each other with pellet guns, but mama never learned that!  I'm sure the same was true, with adjustments for technology, 4000 years ago.  Do you think that there is a fundamental difference in video games, or playing jungle soldier?  Vampire movies have been around since silent picture days, and violence in plays is nothing new.  I am not sure there is enough evidence to place any blame on violent video games.  I continue to be unswayed.

Who knew? Heavy metals linked to Criminality

I was recently challenged when someone made the statement that pollution can be linked with criminality.  I scoffed, then dove into the Interwebs to research.  Surprise, surprise, they were right.  While I had known of the effects of heavy metals on IQ, learning disorders and behavior, I was surprised that there is actual research showing that pollution does effect criminality. 

In an article published in the International Journal of Biosocial & Medical Research, primary research of school-aged children showed a marked correlation between increased copper, iron, sulfate, lead, cadmium, mercury and silicon, and decreased lithium, with a propensity for violent behavior. Biochemical differences, indicative largely of environmental influences, were markedly different between typical, emotionally disturbed, and violence prone children (with the presumption that juvenile violence will necessarily lead to juvenile crime). (Marlowe, Schneider, Bliss 1991).  Even more clear is the study published in Criminality Today: An Integrative Introduction by Frank Schmalleger on page 97, quoting the Greg Toppo article "Childhood Lead Exposure Linked to Adult Crime" from the 8-May-2008 edition of USA Today.  That study showed a marked and statistically significant increase in criminality at age 27 among groups of children with high lead blood levels at age 7, as compared with a comparable control group.

There are known linkages between mental health and pollution, and the "mad as a hatter" indication of mercury poisoning by milliners in the 19th century is among the more well-known, even though violence and crime seemed to be rarely associated with mercury poisoning, if at all.  (Connealy, 2006)  The brain is particularly susceptible to toxicity.  Manganese poisoning, typically amongst manganese miners,  has been traced to a number of symptoms, which include irritability, aggression, memory loss and mood changes.  An outright tie to criminality was not attributed by the article, even though chemically-induced aggression, irritability and mood swings would seem to be precursors to acts of violence.  (Lundberg, 1998).  However, John Rose, in Environmental Toxicology: Current Developments makes the case that there is a definitive link between neurotoxic pollution, abnormalities in brain chemistry (in particular, lead and manganese) and rates of violent crime, attributed to aggression and loss of impulse control. (Rose, 1998).  While his research seems compelling to this amateur, Rose's book was not published in a peer-reviewed journal, and I'm skeptical that he properly accounted for all the variables in criminality and causative influences (e.g. poverty, drugs, alcohol abuse, etc.) and his coding methods seem to be too coarse.  At face value, his research provides findings of ethnicity, urbanism and toxicity as important correlates to violent crimes.

Ozone and weather have also been tied to violent crimes, with a strong correlation indicating that ozone levels are linked to family disturbances, and assaults are also tied with temperatures, wind speed and humidity.  As assaults are linked with precursor complaints about family disturbances, the research seems to indicate that ozone and weather are causative influences in matters of domestic violence. (Rotton, Frey. 1985)

Organophosphate (OP) compounds have been linked to a number of symptoms that include psychotic reactions, anxiety and hallucinations, and episodes of OP poisoning occur with surprising frequency in the United States, due to OP use in pesticides. (Ibid) OP poisoning has been tied to suicides and episodes of rage leading to criminal proceedings, in particular impulsive thoughts of suicide, with sufferers aiming tractors at walls, putting loaded shotguns in their mouths or creating and tying nooses in preparation for suicide.  Fortunately, while the preparations for suicide seem to indicate rationality in intent based on effectivity and lethality, the suicidal duration is very short, so many sufferers survive short of following through with their actions. (Davis, Ahmed & Freer, 2000)  

In a study of South African farm workers, a suicide rate of 2.5x that of non-farm workers was noted, and attributed to organophosphate pesticide exposure. (Maruging, London, Flisher, 2006).  Further, increased violence, homicides and anecdotal evidence of extreme violence have been documented with chronic organophosphate-induced neuropsychiatric disorder (COPIND) from long-term significant exposure to organophosphates.  (Davies, Ghouse, Freer 2000*)  In developing countries, organophosphate suicide is near epidemic, with approximately 1,000,000 cases in India per year, according to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, though the pesticide seems to rather be a common method of suicide, while the pesticides being the cause of the suicide itself is not strongly attributed.  (Ahmed, et al. 2009)

I will have a hard time arguing against pollutants, particularly neurotoxins, providing a link between the environment and crime. It seems as though the link is well-documented and supported by scholarly research, and I was unable to locate a rebuttal or debunking of the demonstrable links between neurotoxin pollution and criminality.  Admittedly, violence and criminal behavior were not present in all cases of neurotoxin poisoning, and the studies included in the text regarding childhood exposure to heavy metals and later lives of crime only showed a marked increase, and not a certainty.  However, the link seems quite clear, and I am now a firm believer that environmental pollution can be the cause of crime.

In a news article published just last month in The Guardian, Yes, lead poisoning could really be a cause of violent crime, a definitive correlation between crime following 20 years after the peak of  lead poisoning was demonstrated from many scholarly works.  The only article cited which protested the link between crime and lead pollution was a study sponsored by the Ethyl corporation, a major manufacturer of the gasoline additive tetraethyl lead.  It seems as though pollution's significance as a contributor to crime is clear.

___

Ahmed, Mushtaq; Rahman, Farial Naima; Ashrafuzzaman, Mohd; Chowdhury, Depak Kumer Paul; Ali, Mohammad. (2009)OVERVIEW OF ORGANOPHOSPHORUS COMPOUND POISONING IN BANGLADESH AND MEDICOLEGALASPECTS RELATED TO FATAL CASES. Journal of Armed Forces Medical College, Bangladesh (2009) v5:n1. Retrieved 5-Feb-2013 from http://www.banglajol.info/index.php/JAFMC/article/view/2851/2365 

Marlowe, Mike; Schneider, Henry G.; Bliss, Leonard B. (1991). Hair mineral analysis in emotionally disturbed and violence prone children. International Journal of Biosocial & Medical Research, Vol 13(2), 1991, 169-179.  Retrieved 5-Feb-2013 from http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1992-27333-001

Connealy, Leigh Erin. (2006). The Mad Hatter Syndrome: mercury and biological toxicity. Natural News.com. Retrieved 5-Feb-2013 from http://www.naturalnews.com/016544_mercury_heavy_metals.html

Davies, Robert; Ahmed, Ghouse; Freer, Tegwedd. (2000). Chronic exposure to organophosphates: background and clinical picture. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 2000:6,187-192. Retrieved 5-Feb-2013 from apt.rcpsych.org/content/6/3/187.full

Davies,Robert; Ahmed, Ghouse; Freer, Tegwedd. (2000*). Psychiatric aspects of chronic exposure to organophosphates: diagnosis and management. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2000) 6:356-361 doi:10.1192/apt.6.5.356. Retrieved 5-Feb-2013 from http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/6/5/356.full

Lundberg, Ante. (1998) The Environment and Mental Health. Psychology Press, 1998

Maruping, M; London, L; Flisher, A. (2006). Suicide and Organophosphate Pesticide Exposure Among African Farm Workers. Epidemiology: Nov 2006- v17:6-pp S327-S372. Retrieved 5-Feb-2013 from http://journals.lww.com/epidem/Fulltext/2006/11001/Suicide_and_Organophosphate_Pesticide_Exposure.988.aspx

Monblot, George. (2013). Yes, lead poisoning could really be a cause of violent crime. The Guardian, 7-Jan-2013. Retreived 6-Feb-2013 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/07/violent-crime-lead-poisoning-british-export

Rotton, James; Frey, James. (1985) Air pollution, weather and violent crimes: Concomitant time-series analysis of archival data. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 49(5), Nov 1985, 1207-1220. Retrieved on 5-Feb-2013 from http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/49/5/1207/

Rose, John. (1998) Environmental Toxicology: Current Developments. CRC Press. Retrieved on 5-Feb-2013 from http://tinyurl.com/toxicology-crime

Insanity Defense- is it Rational?

The insanity defense continues to evolve and be shaped by our knowledge of cognition, mental health and effectivity of treatments and punishments, as well as cultural changes and response by the public to outcomes from the criminal justice system.

We have had immense gains in our understanding about mental illness since the M'Naghten Rule was established, although public sentiment continues to lag this knowledge.  If you consider the treatments that have included electric shock therapy, lobotomy and other practices considered barbaric today, how society has evolved in the understanding of mental illness, and the rights of the mentally ill, has also evolved.  Yet, when the criminal justice system has "gone too far", public outcry about guilty going unpunished results in a backlash that reverses the direction away from the rights of the accused towards authoritarian punishment. 

I have struggled with the notion of the insanity plea, as I can see both the need for protecting the mentally competent from acts they do not understand, and the need to mete out justice and protect society from violent offenders.

I find it interesting that there are three states (Utah, Montana and Utah) that do not allow the insanity defense.  This seems greatly unfair to me, as there are those who are clearly incapable of understanding their actions, or of subsequently understanding the trial.  This seems like shooting my dog unless it tells me, in flawless English, to "please don't shoot".  How can we hold persons who cannot understand their actions accountable under the law?  Still, I do understand the desire for justice and punishment, to the point of revenge, particularly for the families of victims.  The anguish of seeing someone "walk free" who has been proven guilty in the family's perspective would be a dagger in the mind that would cry out for revenge.

I've lived with the mentally ill, and that's included bipolar disorder, sensory integration disorder, autism, dementia, Altzheimer's and anorexia nervosa.  There's a big difference from being [neurotic, ADD, grumpy, getting your freak on, irrational, jerk, caffeine overdosed, drunk] and hearing voices, thinking bugs are moving under your skin or talking to your long-dead mother who you think is in the room.  You don't punish a baby for filling their diaper, or a deaf child for not responding when you talk to them.  It is a common misconception in education that "all children should be treated the same".  However, my autistic child needed more time and assistance at understanding the questions.  That's not cheating or creating a differing standard, any more than you'd hand a fill-in-the-blank quiz to a blind child, then give them an F when they failed to complete it.  When you're dealing with gaps in mental health where there is no recognition of actions, consequences and/or societal mores, to what end do you punish them?  You might as well punish a child because it rains.

The concept of not executing someone who had become insane after conviction of a capital crime had seemed wrong to me until I studied this topic more deeply.  Now I understand that their insanity would prevent them from mounting a credible defense for appeals, or at least, prevent them from understanding the appeals process.  Still, if they were found insane after being denied their final appeal, I think they should be executed.