by Diane on December 13, 2010
Computer as Weapon: Takes Your Thoughts - Reveals Your Secrets
How many times do we have to be told!? When you write an e-mail or send a text message (or photo) it lives on in cyberspace and could easily come back to haunt you in a big, bad way.
I know that texting on your own cell phone or sitting at your personal computer, writing down your thoughts, then hitting the “send” button may feel like a private activity but it’s actually one of the most public activities you can do. Once your communication hits the digital super-highway it is full speed ahead into immortality.
This lesson was shoved in our face again this week with yet another disgorgement of classified U.S. documents at the internet site WikiLeaks. [click to continue…]
by Diane on November 1, 2010
The One Who Didn't Shrink From the Job
Remember the name Marisol Valles Garcia. She’ll either go down in history as a selfless heroine or she’ll soon be dead. Maybe both.
Twenty year old Marisol lives in the small and violent Mexican border village of Praxedis Guadalupe Guerro, population 9,149. Marisol is a criminal justice graduate student, married and the mother of a little boy. The baby calls her Mama. The rest of her village now calls her Chief, their Chief of Police. It’s a job no one else in her village would take for fear they’d lose their lives if they put on a badge.
The last man in Marisol’s position, Chief Manuel Castro, was kidnapped tortured and beheaded last year. But Marisol says she took the job because she’s just tired of everyone being afraid. She said after being sworn in, “We have to reclaim our lives!” [click to continue…]
My American Heroes!
This is the America I told my daughter we lived in when she was growing up.
“If you’re ever in trouble, honey, just ask your neighbor for help. Find a policeman if you can.”
On a bright sun-shiny day in Chapel Hill, North Carolina a few weeks ago there was no time for a girl we’ll call Sally to ask for help. As this 18 year old daughter jogged along the streets of her university town she was suddenly set upon by a fiend. A car rolled up, a would-be kidnapper jumped out and hit Sally in the face with a blast of pepper spray.
She didn’t have time to ask for help but Sally’s neighbors stepped up anyway. Two brothers, Joey and Freddie Shelton ran to her aid. They are American heroes in my book. [click to continue…]
by Diane on January 11, 2010
Ahh - Optimism!
Is that some light I see at the end of the crime and justice tunnel? Well, by golly, I think it is!
Let’s start out this New Year by reviewing some recent encouraging news from the crime and justice front.
First, the overall crime rate in America is down. It may not feel like it where you live, some states had better showings than others, but nationwide the statistics are startling, especially since many believe in times of economic stress crime rates usually go up. This proves that’s not necessarily so. [click to continue…]
by Diane on January 4, 2010
Umar Wanted To Kill Americans
There is a hue and cry across the land for tighter security at airports following the thwarted Christmas day terror attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on board the Northwest Airline flight bound for Detroit. As if making us take off more clothes at check points, or demanding we sit in our seats for the last hour of a flight or removing blankets from our laps will insure safer flights.
I cannot jump on this bandwagon.
Concentrating on more ways to punish all the rest of us because of a delusional student terrorist from Nigeria makes about as much sense as what happened after … [click to continue…]
by Diane on December 7, 2009
Epitome of a Ticking Time Bomb
Attention all parole boards. Attention all governors who may be contemplating year-end commutations of inmate sentences. Also, may I have the attention of all judges who routinely bang the gavel at bail hearings and allow dangerous career criminals back on our streets?
It doesn’t matter how overcrowded our prisons are – it’s time to re-think what you’re doing!
Please, look closely at the recent case of 37 year old Maurice Clemmons, the career criminal who got break after break from civil servants in two states (Arkansas and Washington) and then fell through the cracks of our justice system’s so-called safety net. The end result was an execution style shooting spree in Lakewood, Washington that left four dedicated police officers dead over a coffee shop breakfast table. [click to continue…]
by Diane on November 16, 2009
Contaminated Feed, Contaminated Beef
My husband says I worry too much. Naturally, I don’t agree. But there I was at the grocery store the other day and my mind began to work overtime.
Given the nature of the work I do – writing about crime and justice – I admit my brain doesn’t necessarily think like other people’s brains.
As I went about spending $271.52, which took a while, I noticed an unattended child in the cookie aisle. Fast as a cat he opened a bag, snatched a cookie and shoved it in his mouth. He then expertly sealed up the package again lickedy-split. No one was the wiser except for me.
In retrospect I think I should have stopped the boy, demanded he take me to his mother, been part of the ‘village’ that it takes to raise our children correctly. Honestly, there just wasn’t time, he was that fast.
The kid’s actions left me with the feeling that terrorist attacks on our food supply could also happen that fast. [click to continue…]
by Diane on September 27, 2009
Terror Suspect Najibullah Zazi
Crime happens when we least expect it. Criminal activity festers in places we can’t imagine and in the minds of those we least expect. We should not be surprised when it is discovered.
The recent arrest of three seemingly low-key, non-descript men on charges of lying to federal agents about a plot to blow up American targets sounds like the stuff Hollywood makes movies about. But these arrests were all too real and should go to remind us that America’s fight against terrorism is far from over. The battlefield is worldwide.
These most recent suspects … [click to continue…]
by Diane on September 14, 2009
Finally, A New Approach
Have you gone into a bank lately and noticed anything different?
During my recent travels I noticed a bank in Albuquerque invited me, via a sign on the door, to “Please remove your sunglasses so we can smile at you!” At a bank in Los Angeles I was greeted by not one but three employees who looked me directly in the eye and chanted a hearty, “Good afternoon!” Maybe you have noticed how suddenly friendly and accommodating your bank staff has become.
Why is that? Have banks suddenly realized that to engage the unfamiliar customer might be a good way of thwarting robberies? [click to continue…]
by Diane on August 3, 2009
Professor Gates Under Arrest
There is still an intolerable amount of racism in America. There are too many people in the U.S. who are bigoted and downright dismissive of those who don’t look like they do.
That said, let’s all admit something. Some of us see racism behind every act – and that in itself becomes a sort of racism too.
The catalyst for writing this week’s column is, of course, the recent disorderly conduct arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts following a concerned citizen’s report that two men appeared to be trying to break into a home.
There’s no need to rehash all the over-analyzed facts of this case but … [click to continue…]
