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Tag: officers
White House orders federal agencies to name chief AI officers
The White House is ordering all federal agencies to name chief artificial intelligence officers to oversee the federal government’s various approaches to AI and manage the risks that the rapidly evolving technologies might pose.
That directive is part of a government-wide policy from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, that Vice President Kamala Harris announced Thursday, following a sweeping AI executive order President Biden signed in October. The White House is trying to push the federal government — known more for its slow-moving bureaucracy than its ability to adopt cutting-edge technology — to keep up with the changes in the field of artificial intelligence.
“We have directed all federal agencies to designate a chief AI officer with the experience, expertise, and authority to oversee all — I’m going to emphasize that — all AI technologies used by that agency,” Harris said Wednesday in embargoed remarks on the new policy. “And this is to make sure that AI is used responsibly, understanding that we must have senior leaders across our government who are specifically tasked with overseeing AI adoption and use.”
The new OMB policy also requires federal agencies to establish AI governance boards to coordinate and establish rules for the use of AI technologies across each agency. The White House says the departments of Defense, Housing and Urban Development, State and Veterans Affairs have already set up governance boards. The Biden administration plans to hire 100 AI professionals across agencies by this summer.
By December, federal agencies must also put in place what the White House calls “concrete safeguards” when they use AI “in a way that could impact Americans’ rights or safety.”
For example, Harris said Wednesday, if the VA wants to use AI in VA hospitals to help diagnose patients, the department would first need to demonstrate the AI doesn’t produce “racially biased diagnoses.”
The White House will also be requiring federal agencies to post a list of their AI systems online, along with an assessment of the risks those systems might pose and how they plan to manage them, Harris said. That list will need to be published and updated each year.
“President Biden and I intend that these domestic policies will serve as a model for global action,” Harris said.
Overseeing the federal government’s adoption of AI technologies is one of the many hats Harris has been given as vice president. She delivered a major policy speech in London in November on the U.S. government’s vision for the future of AI.
AI has at times become a problem for Mr. Biden personally. AI was used to impersonate the president in fake robocalls that went out to New Hampshire voters, and fake and manipulated videos of the president have emerged online.
Kathryn Watson
LAPD shrinks below 9,000 officers, the fewest in a generation
LOS ANGELES — The number of officers employed by the Los Angeles Police Department has dropped below 9,000, a staffing level unseen since the administration of former Mayor Richard Riordan in the 1990s.
Several city officials told NBC Los Angeles’ I-Team that 8,967 officers were employed as of July 30, far below Mayor Karen Bass’ goal of 9,500 and about 300 below what the current budget allows, roughly 9,300 officers.
Since then, another class has graduated from the police academy — bringing the total number of officers to 8,995 — though it will be several months before the newest officers complete field training.
A new academy class began last week at less than half of capacity.
“Unfortunately that academy class will only have 29 recruits,” Chief Michel Moore told the Board of Police Commissioners on July 25. “Our effort is to hire 60 every four weeks.”
The police department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the current staffing numbers or how the reduction in available officers was affecting operations.
Officers are voting this week on whether to accept a four-year employment contract that promises raises of nearly 20% for most officers and a higher starting salary for recruits.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents most officers, said last week that it hoped that the pay increases would help draw in more candidates.
The police department grew to more than 9,000 officers under Riordan when he and the City Council were united in efforts to try to grow it to at least 10,000 officers.
By 2009, the police workforce had expanded to 9,895, when then-Chief Bill Bratton said there were still too few officers for the size and population of the country’s second-largest city.
Suspect dead after allegedly shooting two Florida officers during traffic stop
A suspect who allegedly shot two Florida police officers during a traffic stop is dead, according to police.
Officers with the Orlando Police Department stopped a car at around 11 p.m. on Friday because it was wanted in connection with a homicide in Miami, Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said at a news briefing on Saturday.
The suspect, identified by police as 28-year-old Daton Viel, shot both officers before carjacking another vehicle and fleeing the scene. A pursuit ensued.
Authorities eventually found Viel at a Holiday Inn in the 5900 block of Caravan Court, Smith said. Police evacuated the hotel and attempted to get Viel out of his room where he had barricaded himself.
At around 8:58 a.m., Viel shot at SWAT officers multiple times, who returned fire, killing the suspect, according to Smith.
Viel had an “extensive violent criminal history,” Smith said. A second suspect was determined to not be involved in the shooting.
Police are not looking for any additional suspects.
The officers, who were not identified, are expected to make a full recovery.
“This is a tragedy for our department any time you get officers shot, these officers are out here everyday protecting our community,” Smith said. “They put their lives on the line everyday to keep us safe and for some piece of crap to do this to them because they don’t want to go back to prison is ridiculous, and we’re not going to put up with it.”
The investigation is ongoing, police said.
2 Florida officers hospitalized after shooting; suspect killed by police
Two Florida police officers were shot and critically injured during a traffic stop in Orlando late Friday, police said.
Orlando police caught the suspect — identified as Dayton Bale — at a Holiday Inn at Caravan Court at 6 a.m. on Saturday after an area-wide manhunt, Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said during a news conference on Saturday afternoon. Police evacuated the hotel, Smith said.
SWAT officers shot the suspect multiple times after he barricaded himself in a room. The suspect died, said Smith.
The Orlando Police Department officers stopped a vehicle around 11 p.m. Friday as part of an investigation of a Miami homicide and were shot by a suspect in the car, Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said during a press conference early Saturday.
The officers, who were not immediately identified, were transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center, Smith said.
“Officers are lucky to be alive,” Smith said on Saturday afternoon.
The suspect carjacked another vehicle and police pursued, but did not immediately catch the suspect.
“This is a sad day for our department,” Smith said during a separate news conference early Saturday morning. “For the suspects out there, we will find you and you will be brought to justice.”
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2 Florida officers hospitalized after shooting; 2 suspects being sought
Two Florida police officers were shot and critically injured during a traffic stop in Orlando late Friday, police said.
The Orlando Police Department officers stopped a vehicle around 11 p.m. Friday as part of an investigation of a Miami homicide and were shot by a suspect in the car, Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said during a press conference early Saturday.
The officers, who were not immediately identified, were transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center, Smith said.
The suspect carjacked another vehicle and police pursued, but did not immediately catch the suspect. A search was ongoing early Saturday, Smith said.
Two suspects are being sought, according to the Orlando Police Department’s Twitter account.
“This is a sad day for our department,” Smith said during a news conference early Saturday morning. “For the suspects out there, we will find you and you will be brought to justice.”
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Former Mississippi law enforcement officers plead guilty over racist assault on 2 Black men
Six White former law enforcement officers in Mississippi who called themselves the “Goon Squad” have pleaded guilty over a racist assault on two Black men who were brutalized during a home raid that ended with an officer shooting one man in the mouth, federal prosecutors say. The civil rights charges were unsealed Thursday as the officers — five former Rankin County sheriff’s deputies and an ex-Richland police officer — appeared in federal court and pleaded guilty.
Court documents show that on Jan. 24, the officers burst into the home without a warrant, then handcuffed and used a stun gun on the two men, Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker.
The officers assaulted them with a sex object, beat them and used their stun guns repeatedly over a roughly 90-minute period. The episode culminated with one deputy placing a gun in Jenkins’ mouth and firing, which cut his tongue, broke his jaw and exited out his neck, the court documents said.
AP Photo/HG Biggs
The officers did not give him medical attention, instead discussing a “false cover story to cover up their misconduct,” as well as planting and tampering with evidence, the documents said.
The officers went to the home in Braxton because a White neighbor had complained that Black people were staying with the White woman who owned the house, court documents said. Officers used racist slurs against the two men during the raid, the court documents show.
The victims are identified only by their initials in the documents, but Jenkins and Parker have publicly discussed the episode. They filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Rankin County in June seeking $400 million in damages.
Court documents said the officers gave themselves the Goon Squad nickname “because of their willingness to use excessive force” and “not to report it.”
Those charged in the case are former Rankin County Sheriff’s Department employees Christian Dedmon, Hunter Elward, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke and former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield.
The documents identified Elward as the person who shot Jenkins, and Opdyke and Dedmon as the ones who assaulted the two men with the sex object.
The Justice Department launched the civil rights probe in February.
Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey announced on June 27 that all five deputies involved in the Jan. 24 episode had been fired or resigned.
Following the announcement, Malik Shabazz, an attorney representing Jenkins and Parker, celebrated the “long overdue” firing in a statement to CBS News.
“The firing of the Rankin County Mississippi Sheriff’s deputies involved in the torture and shooting of Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker is a significant action on the path to justice for one of the worst law enforcement tragedies in recent memory,” Shabazz said at the time. “Sheriff Bryan Bailey has finally acted after supporting much of the bloodshed that has occurred under his reign in Rankin County. The next credible and honorable step for Brian Bailey is to resign or to be ousted.”
Another attorney for the two men, Trent Walker, said in the statement that he’s “lived in Rankin County all my life. These firings are unprecedented. Finally, the window to justice may possibly be opening in Rankin County.”
Hartfield was later revealed to be the sixth law enforcement officer at the raid. Hartfield was off-duty when he participated in the raid, and he was also fired.
The officers were charged under what’s known as a criminal information filed in federal court, a document that describes the basis for bringing criminal offenses against a defendant. Unlike an indictment, a criminal information does not require a grand jury’s vote.
Shooting at police facility in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula kills at least 4 officers, officials say
EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — A shooting Sunday at a heavily fortified security facility in the restive part of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula killed at least four police, including a senior officer, two security and health officials said.
At least 21 other forces were wounded in the shooting at the National Security headquarters in el-Arish, the capital city of North Sinai province, they said.
A list of casualties obtained by The Associated Press showed that some forces suffered from gunshots and others faced breathing difficulties from tear gas that was fired inside the facility. There were eight officers among the wounded, the list showed.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The circumstances surrounding the shooting were not immediately clear, and there was no immediate comment from the Interior Ministry, which oversees police forces.
North Sinai is the scene of a yearslong battle against an insurgency led by Islamist militants who have carried out scores of attacks, mainly targeting security forces and Christians.
The pace of militant attacks in Sinai’s main theater of operations and elsewhere has slowed to a trickle since February 2018, when the military launched a massive operation in Sinai and parts of the Nile Delta as well as desert areas along the country’s western border with Libya.
Jan. 6 defendant who stole beaten police officer’s badge and radio sentenced to more than 4 years in prison
A Buffalo man who admitted forcibly removing the badge and radio of a beaten Washington, D.C., police officer during the U.S. Capitol siege on Jan. 6, 2021, has been sentenced to 50 months in prison.
A federal judge said Thomas Sibick stripped D.C. Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone of “everything that badge represented” during the Capitol riot. Judge Amy Berman Jackson called the badge a “symbol of (Fanone’s) service to the city and his country.”
Fanone spoke at Sibick’s sentencing hearing Friday, urging Jackson to sentence Sibick to a prison term.
“Ignore Mr. Sibick’s pleas for remorse. On Jan. 6, … he gave me none,” Fanone said. “He’s a coward and a liar.”
Justice Department via AP
Fanone, who retired 11 months after the assault on the Capitol, was dragged, beaten and electroshocked by rioters on Jan. 6. He also talked about the police radio that Sibick had taken from him.
“My radio is my lifeline. It was all I had in those moments to call for help,” Fanone told Jackson. “It was taken to be used as a trophy.”
Sibick had asked for leniency, citing the impact of a prescription drug he was taking on the day of the Capitol riot. His defense attorney told Jackson that Sibick had argued that he was trying to help Fanone when he approached the injured officer amid the attack.
But Judge Jackson criticized Sibick’s claim “of helping” and said Sibick wasn’t “simply swept up or “caught up” in the crowd on Jan. 6. Sibick, she said, had “bought in 100%” while he was part of the mob.
In his guilty plea, Sibick acknowledged burying the police badge in his backyard. The $5,500 police radio was never recovered, according to plea agreement filings.
While he spoke to the judge and asked for leniency, Sibick turned to face Fanone four times.
“Please forgive me. Please,” he said, addressing Fanone. And he praised Fanone’s efforts and service on Jan. 6.
“That’s bravery. That’s duty,” Sibick said. “That’s the man I aspire to be.”
Fanone left the courtroom before the the sentencing hearing ended.
Sibick served seven months in pretrial detention in the Washington, D.C., jail with other Jan. 6 defendants. He told the judge the Jan. 6 wing had an aura of “authoritarianism.”
“I was criticized and belittled for seeming weak,” he said. “And for not subscribing to ideologies.” Sibick told Jackson that others in the Jan. 6 wing of the jail were seeking “fame, fortune and notoriety.”
Sibick pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting and impeding a police officer in March. Jackson said the removal of Fanone’s radio by Sibick was “forcible” and said Sibick’s participation in the Capitol attack “was a choice.”
According to a Justice Department report, nearly 600 of the more than 1,000 US Capitol riot defendants have pleaded guilty.
The Justice Department had sought a sentence of nearly six years in prison for Sibick.
In addition to the 50-month prison sentence, Jackson ordered Sibick to pay $2,000 to help pay for the damage to the Capitol complex.