Saturday, June 26, 2021

VIDEO- Lt. Rodger Ollis of the City of Coatesville PD delivered Balloons to my neighbor! AND: "For the first 15 years that Rodger Ollis worked as a police officer, he walked away from a lot of domestic abuse calls wondering if he had done enough."


 

I've lived in Coatesville, in Chester County PA, Philadelphia, Macungie, in Lehigh County, Trappe & Lower Frederick Twp in Montgomery County. And back to Coatesville PA where I was born & raised. 

The City of Coatesville Police Department is about as good as a police department can be. - James Pitcherella.


For the first 15 years that Rodger Ollis worked as a police officer, he walked away from a lot of domestic abuse calls wondering if he had done enough.

He wondered if he’d be back to the same home in a few days or hours.

Sometimes it was the victim who called police, other times a neighbor. Responding to these calls often put officers in the middle of volatile situations, with plenty of yelling and crying.

Sometimes there wasn’t enough evidence to arrest a suspected abuser. The criminal code, Ollis likes to say, is really good at handling a punch. But other types of abuse — emotional, financial — are harder to see and don’t always rise to a criminal level.

And even if he did arrest someone, Ollis said he didn’t know if the victim would reach out to a domestic violence program for help, if they would have the support to leave a relationship and move on with their life.

Then, about seven years ago, he learned how to use a new tool — The Lethality Assessment Program. 

There’s a lot of research behind it, but the sheet that Ollis and his fellow officers use to apply it to a domestic violence situation is short — just one page with 11 questions, plus space for victims to describe any other safety worries.

Ollis said the tool takes about five to 10 minutes to go through at the scene. And he said the process makes a big difference.

“It was the first time that I ever had an opportunity to prevent a homicide as opposed to just giving the victim a pamphlet,” said Ollis, a sergeant with the Coatesville Police Department in western Chester County.

Since the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence launched the Lethality Assessment Program in 2012, the group says it has helped suspected abuse victims speak with a domestic violence advocate or obtain other help more than 10,000 times.

Those advocates then help victims create safety plans, find emergency shelter, apply for protective orders, receive counseling and more.

Lois Fasnacht, a training specialist with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said police and advocates give a warning to people flagged by the assessment as being at a high risk of violence at the hands of their abuser.

“They are told people in your situation have been killed. …Nobody’s probably ever said that to a victim,” Fasnacht said."

Nearly every police department in Chester County uses the screening tool. The program has expanded each year since 2012 and is now used in 49 out of 67 counties and by more than 360 police departments. Several rural counties, including Potter and Elk in north central Pennsylvania, added the program last year.

Coatesville joined an early pilot program in 2012. Police officers use the screening tool for intimate partners or former intimate partners

The department receives around 850 domestic disturbance calls a year, Ollis said. The lethality assessment tool is used in about 10 percent of those cases.

Officers will use the tool if they see signs of an assault, find that a protective order has been violated, in cases of stalking and harassment, or similar situations, Ollis said.

If someone answers yes to any of the first three questions, the police automatically flag them as being in high danger. Those questions are:

  • Have they [the alleged abuser] ever used a weapon against you or threatened you with a weapon?
  • Have they threatened to kill you or your children?
  • Do you think they might try to kill you?


If someone answers yes to any of the first three questions, the police automatically flag them as being in high danger. Those questions are:

Have they [the alleged abuser] ever used a weapon against you or threatened you with a weapon?

Have they threatened to kill you or your children?

Do you think they might try to kill you?


If the victim answers “yes” to at least four of the remaining 11 questions, the victim is also considered to be at high risk.


  • Do they [the abuser] have a gun or can they easily get one?
  • Have they ever tried to choke you?
  • Are they violently or constantly jealous or do they control most of your daily activities?
  • Have you left them or separated after living together or being married?
  • Is the abuser unemployed?
  • Has the abuser ever tried to kill themself?
  • Do you have a child that they know is not theirs?
  • Do they follow or spy on you or leave threatening messages?


(The assessment includes he/she/they versions of each question.)

There are two additional questions that give suspected victims the opportunity to add anything else that worries them. Even if victims respond with a “no” to all the questions, officers could decide they are in a potentially lethal situation and decide to flag them as being at high risk.

“I tell officers that there’s no harm in calling [the hotline]. There could be harm in not. So trust their gut,” Ollis said.

Once police call the hotline, it’s up to the victims whether or not they want to speak to an advocate.

Ashley Folchman, coordinator of the Lethality Assessment Program for the Domestic Violence Center of Chester County, said an officer’s involvement can help break through a barrier for victims.

“For a lot of victims, they might have thought about leaving the relationship prior to that 911 call. For that victim, they might have looked up the (domestic violence) center on their own but been too afraid to call,” she said.

During the most recent fiscal year, police in Chester County screened people 425 times with the assessment. They flagged someone as being in high danger 244 times, and those high-risk victims spoke with a hotline representative 126 times.

Coatesville, a city of 13,000 with about 35 police officers, used the screening questions more often than any other agency in the county.

The program doesn’t focus on rehabilitating or punishing the alleged abusers. Instead, it focuses on ways to keep victims safe and to help them move on from a dangerous relationship. Ollis said the quick pass off to an advocate can help get at root problems, whereas simply arresting the abuser often may not.

“In many cases there are arrests. But arrests are a result. It’s not necessarily the answer,” Ollis said.

He said victims need to be empowered, cared for and counseled as “part of the process of making them whole again.”

In Coatesville, officers sometimes use a victim’s cell phone to make a call — and then encourage them to delete the call history, in case their abuser later looks at the call log.

The idea of using a victim’s cell phone is one that Fascnacht was initially reluctant to embrace. She and others with the coalition had concerns about an abuser finding out about the call.

But after watching that approach in practice, she changed her mind.

Victims told advocates that since the police were already involved in the situation, abusers were already mad. Calling a hotline seemed unlikely to make the abuser significantly angrier, she said.


MORE AT:

 Coatesville police say 11 questions can reduce domestic violence. Why aren’t more police officers asking them?


The program connects high-risk victims with an advocate.


December 12, 2019 | 5:00 AM Ed Mahon/PA Post



 

“Every community wants to know that individuals will be treated fairly by officers, without incident,” said Laufer. “We take that responsibility to heart and are taking the initiative to build relationships and provide thorough and constant education and training for our officers.'


Each year, all officers participate in two days of continuing education through Act 180 re-certification provided by the Municipal Police Officer’s Education and Training Commission, which provides legal updates and instruction that focuses on issues at the forefront of policing.


Also, in October, all police supervisors — including five corporals, three sergeants, a lieutenant, and the Chief — participated in a one-day class at the state-of-the-art Chester County Public Safety Training Campus, located in South Coatesville. Taught by retired Delaware State Police Captain Dr. Greg Warren, the program focused on advanced law enforcement ethics, conflict management, de-escalation techniques, and implicit bias — messages that the supervisors can now share with officers under their command.


Four supervising officers have completed the intensive three-week Leadership Development Program, which Chief Laufer helped create and taught at the State Police Academy in Hershey prior to his retirement from the state police. In November, Chief Laufer completed the four-day “Train the Trainer” certification course taught by the Dolan Consulting Group to enable him to present de-escalation techniques training. Over the next three months, he intends to teach the techniques to the entire staff of 29 full-time Coatesville officers and about a dozen part-time officers.


The department has also partnered with the city in numerous initiatives to strengthen relations with residents. In June, Chief Laufer partnered with members of the Coatesville City Council and City Manager James Logan to greet and converse with concerned residents and individuals who participated in a peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstration. This summer, Chief Laufer partnered with Coatesville City Council member Nydea Graves and Logan to kick off “Real Steel Talk,” a forum created to bring together voices of the community to city leaders.


'We pride ourselves on being champions of the community … partnering rather than policing,” said Laufer. “Every officer is expected to be the face of our department. While five officers, three receptionists, and three administrative staff are graduates of Coatesville High School, we want to make sure that every member of the department knows and understands what makes the city and people of Coatesville great.'


Over the last four years, 'Coffee with the Chief' has enabled community members to join Laufer to discuss issues important to them at different business locations throughout the city on the first Wednesday of every month. Although the popular program has been temporarily suspended due to COVID-19, in an effort to maintain engagement, Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan introduced a pilot program to identify some of the sensitive issues with residents and the police department. In a roundtable format, the district attorney’s office brought together five police department members and five community members with a facilitator to take a deeper dive in identifying prominent subjects for discussion.


'It’s a tall order for officers to be able to recognize the nuances inherent with a diverse community,' said Carmen Green, Coatesville City Council Vice President. 'Officers must have the tools and skill sets to be able to interpret and address a variety of situations. Chief Laufer’s proactive approach assures our residents are being heard and officers are receiving the necessary training. He and the officers have a deep commitment to do the right thing all the time. That builds the trust, cooperation, and strong relationships that we all hope to achieve.'


'As we listen to concerns voiced in cities across the country and in our own neighborhood, we want to assure residents that we are listening,' said Logan. 'We understand the value of training, education, and outreach and recognize that there is room for improvement for our city and police department. Our residents and officers must learn to coexist, and in order to do that, we must lead with mutual respect for one another. We are committed to measure progress and modify programs to sustain our efforts. It is this kind of collaboration that will keep Coatesville at the forefront of change and retain the true meaning of community engagement.”


MORE AT:

VISTA TODAY

Coatesville Police Department Models Longstanding Dedication to Officer Training Excellence, Community Engagement

  

By Mark Hostutler 


Published: 5:25 am EST December 1, 2020 Updated: 11:05 am EST November 30, 2020 

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Republicans were pro-Democracy as long as organized crime had a place in it. That was before the Koch brothers organized the systematic takeover of states by local Republican committees. Before Republicans controlled most of the 50 states.

I'm trying to make some sense of where the Democratic Party & Republican Party and democracy in the United States is headed.


Could the Koch Network abandon the Republican Party?  

"In July, the Kochs partnered with liberal investor and philanthropist George Soros to found the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a think tank dedicated to promoting peaceful U.S. foreign policy."



A big part of the Republican Party base likes insane racists and insane racist conspiracy candidates like Marge Green get their vote. 


Then there's the "Trump Organization." Sounds like a Mafia family doesn't it? The Manhattan District Attorney's grand jury is looking at the Trump Organization like it would the Gambino Organization. Republicans pledging fealty to Donald Trump might be in trouble if he winds up in prison. 



Back when Coatesville was a drug distribution hub for Mafia controlled heroin it was easier to predict what Chester County Republicans would do next. They used organized crime procedures to run the CCRC. 

 


Chester County Republican Party Chair and County Commissioner "Teddy" Rubino ran Chester County government like Angelo Bruno's crime syndicate ran the Delaware Valley. 


SEE: 

Friday, November 1, 2019

Even after his imprisonment for extortion former Chester County Commissioner & CCRC Chair Theodore Rubino is highly revered among Republicans.




About the same time Teddy Rubino did his organized crime in Chester County Richard Nixon was associated with BeBe Rebozo & Mafia consigliere Bill Bonanno.


"Former Mafia consigliere Bill Bonanno, the son of legendary New York godfather Joe Bonanno, asserts that Nixon ''would never have gotten anywhere'' without his old Mob allegiances. And he reports that — through Rebozo — Nixon ''did business for years with people in (Florida Mafia boss Santos) Trafficante's Family, profiting from real estate deals, arranging for casino licensing, covert funding for anti-Castro activities, and so forth.''


MORE AT:

February 5, 2006







The CCRC in supposedly more liberal Chester County PA has gone totally bonkers with QAnon conspiracy and former CCRC Chair Buddy Rhodes allegedly sending busses from Coatesville VA Medical Center to Trump's January 6th insurrection rally. 


 As previously reported, Paul Martino, a venture capitalist and ally to Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe is the largest funder of the Keeping Kids in Schools PAC. The latest campaign finance documents show a late donation by former Congressman Ryan Costello, making him the second-largest funder of the PAC.


MORE AT:

Former Congressman Ryan Costello and Paul Martino Biggest Donors to PAC Supporting QAnon School Board Candidates



QAnon and Trump insanity dominate Washington DC Beltway politics. 



The political world Joe Biden lived in for decades which included a Mafia tinged GOP. That political world is  dead. But President Biden tries to live in that world. 





But maybe all the we're pro-democracy if organized crime has a place in it was just because Republicans didn't run the whole show. Maybe the desire deep in Republicans dark heart was a Republican Mafia dictatorship with absolute control of the USA, like "Emperor Trump."




Politics Girl gets it. I don't know if she has a way out of the predicament we're in:







Could the Koch Network abandon the Republican Party?


Predicting the future of the GOP the Democratic Party and democracy is very difficult. But maybe there's a Koch Organization fossil fuel dipped rainbow coming to assist the Democratic Party & Democracy, kind of. 



The Republican Party was on a downward track until about 2006 when the Koch Network took over the Republican Party and put their MIT computational science and engineering to work in the Republican Party structure.  


In 2008 a Black man became president and the 20% of Americans and 50% of Republicans who are terminally racist began looking for a white supremacist candidate for president. 


In 2020 the white supremacist dream candidate appeared in the form of Donald Trump. The other GOP presidential candidates never had a chance. 





But maybe there's a chink in the GOP insane conspiracy racist armor. Could the Koch Organization be giving up on Republicans and swinging their considerable weight behind Democrats? 


The Koch meetings are secretive. Hardly anything is public. But now and then something leaks out:



"The Kochs sponsor candidates, think tanks, advocacy groups and academic groups pushing a conservative, free-market agenda.


Recently, there have been disagreements with the Republican Party under President Donald Trump on issues such as free trade and immigration. Americans for Prosperity, the Kochs’ primary political advocacy group, is shifting focus toward “finding nonpartisan solutions,” according to a June memo, and it’s prepared to support candidates who get things done regardless of party.


In July, the Kochs partnered with liberal investor and philanthropist George Soros to found the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a think tank dedicated to promoting peaceful U.S. foreign policy.


Leonard said he isn’t convinced the moves constitute a real change to the Kochs’ political goals.


“It feels like an adaptable reaction to the moment,” he said, “even as Koch keeps its eye on the long-term strategy of doing one thing, which is constraining the reach of the federal government, dismantling the administrative state and pushing back the reach of government as far as possible.”


The political network is “exactly like the corporation,” he said. “It’s run with a long-term view. It has strategic patience.”


When Chase returned to Wichita to rejoin Koch Industries after his years in Austin, he began a rotation of high-level jobs, including stints in mergers and acquisitions, tax structuring, agronomics and trading. It was designed as an MBA-like experience to familiarize him with various parts of the operation.


Koch Industries won’t detail its succession plan beyond saying that one is in place, and that roles are filled by those most qualified.


If Chase eventually succeeds his father in running the firm and the political network, he’ll become one of the country’s most influential people."


MORE AT:

Koch’s Massive Tech Bet: ‘Do It or We’ll End Up in the Dumpster’

A $139 billion industrial behemoth looks toward the future.

More stories by Tom Maloney

August 13, 2019, 7:00 AM EDT




SEE:


Dark Quadrant: Organized Crime, Big Business, and the Corruption of American Democracy (War and Peace Library) Hardcover – April 9, 2021

by Jonathan Marshall




Nixon’s Caribbean Milieu, 1950–1968

By Jonathan Marshall






Thursday, June 3, 2021

Protesters on I-676 were hit with rubber bullets & gassed in 2020. Philly PD Commissioner John Timoney organized police protest dispersal during the Republican Convention in 2000. Timoney left U.S. to work for the Emir of Bahrain to suppress “Arab Spring.”

VIOLENT CLASHES AT REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION PHILADELPHIA 2000 JOHN TIMONEY IS POLICE COMMISSIONER OF PHILADELPHIA:




Peaceful protesters on I-676 in Philadelphia are correct. Teargas can be a lethal weapon.


SEE VIDEO BELOW:



Protesters Philadelphia police teargassed on 676 in 2020 reflect a year later


Ellie Rushing





"Activists in Bahrain pointed to a more direct connection too. In late 2011, the Persian Gulf monarchy’s interior ministry boasted that it had hired an American “supercop,” John Timoney, as an adviser. Mr. Timoney was once a senior officer in the New York Police Department, and later served as the police chief of Philadelphia and then Miami.


At the time of his appointment, American journalists noted that Mr. Timoney had been criticized for the forceful way officers infiltrated protest groups at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 2000 and used paramilitary tactics to break up demonstrations at the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit meeting in Miami in 2003."

MORE BELOW



Former Philadelphia Police Commissioner & "super cop" John Timoney's "Miami Model" of police dispersal of demonstrators was used in Bahrain on "Arab Spring" demonstrators and spread worldwide. 



"Maryam Alkhawaja, a rights activist whose family played a leading role in the 2011 uprising in Bahrain, pointed out that there were connections between the militarized police units protesters were facing in the United States and the brutal crackdown in her country.


Not least, the fact that the monarchy in Bahrain, like the security forces in Egypt, another American ally, tried to clear the streets night after night in 2011 with wave after wave of tear gas manufactured in the U.S.


Ms. Alkhawaja also detected a painful visual echo of the protesters in Ferguson approaching officers with their hands in the air, and Bahrainis who were gunned down making the same gesture and chanting, “Peaceful! Peaceful!”


Activists in Bahrain pointed to a more direct connection too. In late 2011, the Persian Gulf monarchy’s interior ministry boasted that it had hired an American “supercop,” John Timoney, as an adviser. Mr. Timoney was once a senior officer in the New York Police Department, and later served as the police chief of Philadelphia and then Miami.


At the time of his appointment, American journalists noted that Mr. Timoney had been criticized for the forceful way officers infiltrated protest groups at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 2000 and used paramilitary tactics to break up demonstrations at the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit meeting in Miami in 2003.


Jeremy Scahill, a journalist who covered the Miami protests, explained that year that what became known as Mr. Timoney’s “Miami Model” of crowd control involved the heavy use of concussion grenades, pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets and baton charges to disperse protesters.


The comparison between the heavy-handed policing in Ferguson and scenes familiar from news broadcasts from the Middle East was not lost on the protesters either. Matt Pearce, a Los Angeles Times reporter, recorded Instagram video on Tuesday night of a man shouting at officers, “You gonna shoot us? You gonna shoot us? Is this the Gaza Strip?”


MORE AT:


Advice for Ferguson’s Protesters From the Middle East


By Robert Mackey

Aug. 14, 2014




“Timoney's hiring demonstrated that the ruling Al Khalifa family was "more concerned with maintaining absolute power as they continue to lose further legitimacy, rather than implementing any real reforms to move past the country's political crisis.”[20]”



MORE AT:

John Timoney (police officer)



John Timoney trained Bahrain police in the use of teargas to disperse protesters. In Bahrain high speed teargas canister guns were fired at the heads of protesters. 




The use of police vehicles as weapons to run down demonstrators might also be a John Timoney idea:






In 2019 high speed teargas launchers were fired into the skulls of protesters:



***



The Miami Model (2003) FTAA Summit Indymedia documentary

Produced by Indymedia - The documentary with an $8.5 million security budget. In November, 2003, trade ministers from 34 countries met in Miami, Florida, to negotiate the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The FTAA threatens to devastate workers, the environment, and public services like health care, education, and water, and to destroy indigenous rights and cultural diversity across North, Central, and South America. Thousands of union members, environmentalists, feminists, anarchists, students, farm workers, media activists, and human rights activists who gathered in Miami to struggle against the FTAA were brutally attacked with rubber bullets, pepper spray, electric guns and shock batons, embedded reporters and information warfare, all coordinated by the new United States Department of Homeland Security. Against Capital's model of paramilitary oppression, information warfare, and corporate rule, we offered models of grassroots resistance, creative action and solidarity. Breaking the Media Blackout Collectively, Indymedia activists shot hundreds of hours of video footage documenting the FTAA protests in Miami. This footage has been edited by the FTAA Miami Video Working Group into a documentary that cuts through the mass media blackout to reveal the brutal repression and assault on civil liberties that took place, as well as the life-affirming and inspiring alternatives to capitalist globalization that were also in full effect in Miami. The FTAA IMC video working group is proud to present The Miami Model.











Forward to 2021 Republicans clearly want a strong man king. Journalists need to ask, Do Philly police back a QAnon military coup like Myanmar in the United States to replace President Joe Biden with King Donald Trump?





ALSO SEE:

The Rise Of The $3 Billion Tear Gas Industry