1-9-17 Connecticut:
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has again refused to hear an appeal by former Waterbury Mayor Philip Giordano, who is fighting a 37-year prison sentence for sexually abusing two young girls while in office. The court's decision was released Monday. Justices previously refused to hear two earlier appeals by Giordano.
Giordano was challenging a federal appeals court decision in June to dismiss his request to set aside or correct his sentence. Giordano says the prison sentence is unconstitutional and his lawyer during his 2003 trial, Andrew Bowman, made several mistakes.
Bowman has denied that he provided ineffective counsel.
A federal jury convicted Giordano in 2003 of violating the civil rights of two girls, ages 8 and 10, by sexually abusing them in the mayor's office and other locations. ..Source.. by CtPost
Showing posts with label .Connecticut. Show all posts
Showing posts with label .Connecticut. Show all posts
January 9, 2017
Supreme Court won't hear Giordano appeal in child-sex case
October 5, 2015
2 local men caught in Chris Hansen child-sex sting in Connecticut
He's BACKKKKKKKKKKKK10-5-15 Connecticut:
Two local men were arrested in a "To Catch a Predator"-style police sting over the weekend in Connecticut.
......., a 64-year-old from Brewster, and ...., a 32-year-old from Harrison, were arrested by Fairfield, Connecticut police during a sting run in conjunction with production of TV news reporter Chris Hansen's Kickstarter-funded project Hansen vs. Predator.
..... faces charges of enticing a minor, criminal attempt at second-degree sexual assault and criminal attempt at risk of injury or impairing the morals of a minor. ......... faces charges of criminal attempt at risk of injury or impairing the morals of a minor.
..... and eight others believed they were exchanging messages online with either a 13-year-old boy or a 12-year-old girl, including both sexually-charged messages and nude photos, The Connecticut Post reported. The "children" gave the men the address of a Fairfield home owned by one of Hansen's friends, and when they arrived were arrested.
According to Hansen vs. Predator's Kickstarter page, the former NBC news reporter plans to release episodes online. It says the new project will reflect changes in mobile technology, which allow predators to find children through social media.
..... is being held on $500,000 bond and is next due in Bridgeport Superior Court Oct. 20. .... is being held on $80,000 bond and is due back Oct. 28. ..Source.. by Matt Coyne
March 22, 2015
Restricting housing for sex offenders counterproductive
More nonsense by lawmakers, who cannot cite any statistics proving there is a need for these restrictions. There is no public safety benefit in residency laws, but there is PR for the lawmaker touting them; its a ruse...3-22-15 Connecticut:
While well intentioned, a proposal backed by Norwich state Rep. Emmett Riley that would make it nearly impossible to house former sex offenders in urban areas is "misguided and irrational" as one witness succinctly stated at a public hearing last week.
The concerns of the Norwich lawmaker are understandable. Norwich and other urban areas have been stung by the placement of former sex offenders in their communities. The burden seems unfair. The fear among families in these neighborhoods is real, even if misplaced.
The solution proposed by Senate Bill 1087 is to make Connecticut compliant with the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, requiring that sexual offenders reside at least 1,000 feet from any school or child-care center.
That would effectively block such housing in "virtually every urban area" in the state, said Eric Ellison, deputy director for parole and community services at the Department of Correction.
While forcing this housing into suburban and rural areas might provide some degree of satisfaction to cities that have grown tired of handling a disproportionate share of societal burdens, it would be, as noted above, irrational.
The treatment and support services that boost the chances of these ex-offenders not reoffending and that can help them become productive are located in the cities, as is the affordable housing.
Mr. Ellison said the state is having good success and that the rate of recidivism among sex offenders is low. The reality is that a child faces a much greater chance of being sexually assaulted by a family member or other person of authority in their life than a former sex offender being monitored nearby.
A 2000 U.S. Department of Justice report determined that strangers were the offenders in just 3 percent of sexual assaults against children under age 6, and 5 percent in the case of children 6 through 11.
If monitoring former sex offenders is the goal, making it impossible for them to find housing is not the solution, testified David McGuire, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, and the witness who called the bill irrational.
"In 2007, after residency restrictions took effect in Miami, more than 100 former sex offenders set up a shantytown under a causeway," noted Mr. McGuire.
That is not the future Connecticut or its cities want. ..Source.. by TheDay
October 30, 2014
Suzio attacks prison credits program, Bartolomeo critical of 'violent pedophile' source
10-30-2014 Connecticut:
CHESHIRE — Standing in front of the Cheshire Correctional Institution Wednesday afternoon, two Republicans again called for the governor and state Department of Correction to suspend the risk reduction earned credit program and investigate alleged flaws.
Len Suzio, a former state senator hoping to regain the 13th District seat, said the “system is being manipulated.”
Standing beside him was state Sen. Joe Markley, R-Southington, who said the program needs to be reevaluated.
Both Republicans have vocally opposed the prison credit program since it was approved in 2011. Under the program, inmates can earn credits toward early release through good behavior and participating in anti-recidivism activities.
They said they had heard from inmates and correction officers who described problems with the implementation.
Markley and Suzio said they visited Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers last Friday to speak with one inmate and handed out two letters they received from an inmate and a former inmate outlining concerns.
Suzio said he has spoken to several prison guards who believe the program is ineffective. On Wednesday, Suzio and Markley said they couldn’t reveal their sources.
But Suzio’s opponent Democratic state Sen. Dante Bartolomeo said she had obtained information on the inmate Suzio and Markley met with in Somers, calling him “a violent pedophile.” While she said she also believes the prison credit program is flawed, Bartolomeo voiced concerns that two Republican candidates were consulting with an inmate with that kind of record.
Karen Martucci, acting director of the DOC external affairs division, said the inmate Suzio and Markley interviewed “has an extensive criminal history record totaling over 30 arrests and most recently incarcerated for his third parole violation based on repetitive lies and manipulative tactics, proven as failure to comply with parole conditions while under supervision in the community.”
He’s also a registered sex offender, accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old in 1989 when he was 17, according to the DOC. A year earlier, the man was charged with risk of injury to a minor for physically abusing two boys, ages 3 and 7. The inmate’s recent criminal history includes several counts of larceny, forgery, burglary and threatening.
Suzio said the inmate’s past is irrelevant because the focus of their interview with him was to determine if the risk reduction earned credit program is flawed or not. What the inmate is saying may or may not be true, he said, but the state should investigate. Both Suzio and Markley said Wednesday they thought the inmate they interviewed was credible.
Many of his recent crimes are petty as well, Suzio said. “If Dante wants to ignore the facts because she thinks this program is working fine, God bless her. But I’m on a mission to expose it for all the failings it’s got,” he said.
Markley said he didn’t know the inmate was listed on the state’s Sex Offender Registry at the time of the interview. But the information the inmate provided “I thought was very credible and believable,” he said. “I wasn’t there to judge his soul.”
For example, Suzio and Markley said, inmates can earn credits for signing up for a class, even if they aren’t able to take the class because of a waiting list.
“By waiting in line, they’re getting credits,” Suzio said.
By following an Offender Accountability Plan established by prison officials, inmates may earn up to five days a month off their sentences. Suzio and Markley said they were told by prison sources that inmates are encouraged not to follow through with the plan so they can continue to earn credits. They said that, according to what they’ve been told, inmates are no longer eligible to receive credits if they finish their plan.
Also, they were told that programs that inmates take part in to earn credits have been shortened from months to weeks. By providing shortened programming, “It’s not going to give you the same experience,” Markley said.
Suzio said the DOC and state officials are allowing the risk reduction earned credit program to be abused to reduce prison population and save money. In speaking with prison guards, Suzio said, “they told me they don’t consider it to be a safe program for the public.”
Mike Lawlor, the criminal justice adviser to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, said an investigation isn’t necessary because the program has proven successful.
“It’s not like we don’t know what’s going on,” Lawlor said. “We know what’s going on, and we know it’s working.”
Crime rates are at their lowest in four decades, and fewer people are being released early since Malloy took office in 2011, he said.
From 2008 to 2010, under the Rell administration, 25,205 inmates were released early. With Malloy in office between 2011 and 2013, 22,720 inmates have been released early. In that same time frame, there have been about 45,000 fewer arrests.
In 2013, the first full year the program was in effect, Lawlor said, the violent crime rate dropped by more than 10 percent. That Suzio is using information from a sex offender “absolutely affects his credibility,” Bartolomeo said. “This is the sort of person that Suzio has as his advisor.”
Suzio questioned how Bartolomeo was able to obtain information about the inmate he interviewed since he didn’t reveal any names.
“My question is whose side is she on?” Suzio said of Bartolomeo. “It seems like she’s joining Mike Lawlor in the cover-up of this program.”
Markley’s opponent for the 16th District Senate seat, Chris Robertson of the Working Families Party, said he also opposed the program in its current form. ..Source.. by Andrew Ragali Record-Journal staff
October 29, 2014
Bridgeport plans to check backgrounds of all people entering schools
Point One: Since background checks will be done on EVERY person entering school (Public Institution), then a public record is going to be made. Logically a FOIA Request will reveal those records, so that a comparison can be made; RSOs -v- Other Crime Types. Point Two: If someone has an outstanding arrest warrant on them, will the school act or only act if that person is a RSO? Will the ACLU be interested in these issues?10-29-2014 Connecticut:
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (WTNH)– The city of Bridgeport plans to implement a new system that will make people visiting schools undergo a background check to get in the building.
The new system is called Fast Pass. City officials say it will be used to spot sex offenders and stop them from having access to students. But some people criticize the system saying it’s invasive and could be used to track more than sex offenders. The technology can also get access to criminal history.
“We feel it’s a hidden agenda on behalf of the city to want to come in and create, collect data for unknown reasons,” said Tammy Boyle of the District Parents Advisory Council for Bridgeport.
However, city officials say their only plan is to keep out sex offenders and that information gathered will not be used for anything else.
“It does not look at anything that has to do with citizenship, it does not look at anything that has to do with criminal background, it only looks up folks who are on a sex offender watch list,” said Brett Broesder, spokesperson for the city.
Tammy Boyle, also of the District Parents Advisory Council says Fast Pass is going to discourage parents who have a criminal backgrounds from coming to Bridgeport schools, not just sex offenders.
“They have in the past made a debt to society,” said Boyle. “They have paid their debt and if they are willing to come out be a part of their children’s education, who are we to stop them?”
A Board member says the city wants to try the program out at Fairchild Wheeler High School next school year, and if it is successful, the city would start putting Fast Pass in other schools. However, the Board of Education will have the final say in deciding if the program will be used. ..Source.. by AJ Walker, WTNH Reporter
July 7, 2014
Police Dogs Trained to Sniff out Hidden Hard Drives Containing Child Pornography
Rhode Island and Connecticut have become the first US states to use specially-trained sniffer dogs to uncover hidden hard drives and other electronic storage devices that might contain child pornography.
The new initiative, first reported by New England newspaper Providence Journal, was launched to tackle the growth of internet child porn in the two states.
In the past three years, the number of paedophile rings dealing in child pornography has more than doubled in Rhode Island.
Police dogs are traditionally used in searches for contraband like drugs, explosives and firearms, as well as human remains and blood. However, many breeds of dogs are capable of distinguishing between millions of different scents and can be trained to locate individual odours if required.
Following 22 weeks of training, a golden Labrador gifted to police in Rhode Island by the Connecticut State Police assisted in its first search warrant last month.
Trained to pinpoint the location of computer components, the dog uncovered a flash drive containing child pornography hidden in a tin box inside a metal cabinet. The discovery allowed police to secure an arrest warrant.
"If it has a memory card, he'll sniff it out," detective Adam Houston, a dog handler with Rhode Island State Police, told Providence Journal.
Houston claims that child pornographers often hide storage devices in difficult to find places, such as ceiling tiles and radios.
Depending on the success of the sniffer dogs, the initiative could be rolled out across more US states in the future. ..Source.. by Anthony Cuthbertson
May 23, 2014
Convicted killer wants name removed from sex offender list
See also: Convicted killer of April Dawn Pennington fights back from prison5-23-2014 Connecticut:
A convicted killer wants to get his name off the state's sex offender registry. George Leniart, 48, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. He was convicted in 2010 of killing 15-year-old April Dawn Pennington of Montville.
Leniart's attorney, Jennifer Smith of New Haven, filed a request on his behalf this week with the New London Superior Court to remove him from the sex offender list. Leniart is on the list as a result of his conviction for a November 1995 sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in Montville.
In a plea deal, Leniart pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor and was sentenced to five years in prison. Leniart's request says that because second-degree assault is classified by state law as a non-violent sexual offense, his name should be listed on the offender registry for 10 years after his release from prison.
Leniart was freed in 2001, his request said; therefore his name should have been removed from the list in 2011. Reached Thursday by telephone, Smith declined to discuss why the request was filed. If granted, it will have little practical effect, because Leniart is held at Cheshire Correctional Institution and has a life sentence.
The sex assault case played a key role at Leniart's February 2010 murder trial when the victim, then 28, took the witness stand. The woman tearfully told the jury that when she was 13, she met with Leniart, then 29, at a trailer on his property. They drank together for hours, she said, then he forced himself on her and choked her to near unconsciousness.
The woman did not have to testify in her own case because of the plea bargain Leniart and prosecutors agreed to. She testified at Leniart's murder trial because what prosecutors said happened to Pennington was similar to what she said happened to her.
Pennington disappeared in May 1996, about six months after the earlier incident, after she sneaked out of her parents' home to meet with a classmate named Patrick “PJ” Allain, then 16, and Leniart.
The woman in the sexual assault case testified at the murder trial that she was then Allain's girlfriend and that she was supposed to meet Allain and Leniart on the night she was sexually assaulted, but that Allain did not show up. ..Source.. by John Barry
April 9, 2014
High court: Sex offender can't sue therapist
HARTFORD -- The state Supreme Court has ruled that an ex-patient who developed a predilection for viewing child pornography as a teenager cannot sue his former child therapist for malpractice.
In the 5-1 decision released Monday, the state's highest court said allowing registered sex offender Lee Greenwald to sue would violate public policy in this closely watched appeal.
Greenwald appealed a Superior Court ruling that he is not entitled to recover damages arising from his unlawful penchant for viewing of child pornography.
At age 14, Greenwald allegedly revealed that he was watching child pornography during a therapy session with David Van Handel , a licensed clinical social worker from Litchfield.
He sued Van Handel for negligence because he claims Van Handel never treated his budding predilection to view child pornography, never referred him for treatment, and failed to tell his parents.
The trial judge ruled against Greenwald, saying allowing criminals to hold other people liable for their wrongdoing would violate public policy in the state.
In his dissenting opinion, Justice Dennis Eveleigh said the majority's determination that Greenwald's claims are barred because of the nature of his behavior runs contrary to the well established principles of tort law in Connecticut.
Greenwald had been a patient of Van Handel 's for nearly 10 years until he stopped seeing him at the age of 17 in October 2008.
He sued Van Handel four months after state police raided his former Woodbury home in September 2010 as part of an investigation into software used to download child pornography. He claimed he was distressed from the fear of being arrested and convicted.
Greenwald pleaded guilty to a felony child pornography charge a month after his suit was struck down. He received a five-year suspended sentence and 20 years of probation. He is also required to register as a sex offender. ..Source.. by Rep-Am.com
April 8, 2014
Federal Judge Strips Child Sex Offender of U.S. Citizenship
A former Windsor resident pled guilty to two counts of first degree sexual assault of a minor and lied about it, according to the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
A federal judge in Hartford revoked the citizenship of Rory Decordova Gayle, 44, formerly of Windsor and West Hartford.
According to court documents, Gayle was born in Jamaica in 1969 and entered the United States in 1979 as a lawful permanent resident.
In January 1999, he applied to become a U.S. citizen. On his Application for Naturalization, he answered “no” in response to the question “Have you ever . . . knowingly committed any crime for which you have not been arrested?”
In an oral interview with a U.S. immigration official in June 1999, Gayle swore that all of the information provided on his application was true and correct. His application was approved and, on August 6, 1999, he was sworn in as a naturalized U.S. citizen.
On October 30, 2000, Gayle pleaded guilty in Connecticut Superior Court to two counts of first degree sexual assault of a minor for crimes committed between November 1996 and September 1999.
“Someone who chooses to sexually abuse a child and then lie in order to gain U.S. citizenship possess a serious threat to the community, and we support the judge’s decision to revoke his citizenship,” said Bruce Foucart, special agent in charge of HSI Boston.
He was sentenced to 20 years of incarceration, suspended after 15 years; a 10-year period of probation; and lifetime registration as a sex offender. He is incarcerated with a maximum release date of July 14, 2014.
After an investigation by ICE Homeland Security Investigations uncovered Gayle’s misrepresentations to immigration authorities, the U.S. Attorney’s Office initiated a denaturalization action against Gayle in October 2012.
On January 29, 2014, U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant ordered Gayle’s citizenship revoked on the ground that he lacked the good moral character necessary for citizenship, and that his application for naturalization concealed material facts and included willful misrepresentations.
“For foreign-born individuals, citizenship is a privilege, not a right,” stated U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly. “Mr. Gayle corrupted the naturalization process by concealing his criminal past, a past that included the repeated sexual abuse of a minor. The revocation of his citizenship is entirely appropriate.”
ICE initiated removal proceedings against Gayle on the basis of his criminal history. On April 4, ICE issued an immigration detainer for Gayle, requesting that the Connecticut Department of Correction transfer him to ICE custody upon the conclusion of his state sentence.
This matter was investigated by ICE Homeland Security Investigations and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn A. Ikari.
The above information was provided in a press release by Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England. ..Source.. by Jaimie Cura
March 22, 2014
Court hearing set for Connecticut inmate detained for refusing to register as a sex offender
ENFIELD, Connecticut — A British native detained in Connecticut for more than a year for refusing to register as a sex offender is set to return to court to argue why he shouldn't have to sign up for the offender registry.
William Coleman was supposed to be released from prison in December 2012 when his eight-year sentence for sexually assaulting his wife ended. But when he refused to comply with sex offender registration requirements, he was charged with failing to register as a sex offender and detained on $50,000 bail.
Coleman, who is from Liverpool, England, has made headlines for going on a hunger strike to protest his conviction, which prompted prison officials to get court approval to force-feed him.
A hearing in his case is set for Thursday in Enfield Superior Court. ..Source.. by The Republic
November 4, 2013
Women to remain at federal prison in Danbury
DANBURY -- Following an outcry over the plan to move female prisoners from the only federal women's lockup in the Northeast, the Bureau of Prisons is now considering keeping some female prisoners housed at the Federal Corrections Institute in Danbury, officials said.
"I don't care how they do it. That's great news. That's wonderful news," said Beatrice Codianni, who completed a 15-year sentence on a racketeering charge at the prison and its satellite camp in 2008. "It's very difficult to be separated from your family for a mistake you made but to further penalize a woman by sending her 1,000 miles away to Alabama ¦ it is very, very heartbreaking."
Under the new plan, the bureau of prisons will build a new facility for female inmates that will be located near the prison on Pembroke Road, and maintain a satellite camp for women, Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal said in a joint announcement.
The prison, which has been all-female for about two decades, was slated to become a men's facility in order to ease overcrowding among men in the federal prison system. The move came under criticism from the state's congressional delegation and prison advocates after the Bureau of Prisons announced it in July.
First, officials put a hold on the transfer of the prison's inmates until the fall. Then, the partial government shutdown put a de facto hold on the change while a delegation of Northeast senators implored U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to find a different solution to the men's overcrowding problem.
Much of the outcry against the mission change pointed to the bureau's plans to transfer many of the prison's inmates to a new facility in Aliceville, Ala., putting more than a thousand miles between some inmates from the Northeast and their families. ..Continued.. by Denis J. O'Malley
October 20, 2013
Sex offender wants to sue therapist
10-20-2013 Connecticut:
State's highest court to hear appeal Monday
HARTFORD — A registered sex offender is asking the state Supreme Court to revive a lawsuit that accuses his former child therapist of negligence for ignoring his budding addiction to child pornography.
The convoluted and possibly precedent-setting appeal of Lee Greenwald stems from a state police investigation into the downloading of child pornography that ensnared him two years after he had stopped seeing his former therapist. ..Source.. by PAUL HUGHES
September 24, 2013
Police say plate scans get results; ACLU has concerns
License plate scanners in use by the Southington Police Department have resulted in more than 150 arrests or infractions issued in the past nine months, but the mass collection of plate data stored by police remains a concern for the American Civil Liberties Union, which describes the practice as retroactive surveillance.
Southington police installed the Vigilant Video license plate reader system on a patrol car last August. That car is used every day for traffic patrols.
Between Dec. 12, 2012, and Aug. 28, 158 infractions and summons were issued as a result of the system. The most common violations found were unregistered cars or drivers without insurance, according to police Sgt. Jeffrey Dobratz. Infractions and summons issued as a result of the license plate scanners have averaged more than 17 per month since last year.
“I think they’re very effective,” said Southington Police Chief Jack Daly. “It’s doing its job.”
The Vigilant Video camera system, mounted on the outside of a patrol car, scans the roadway while moving or stationary. Infrared imaging captures license plate numbers from nearby cars and the system runs them through a national database looking for matches with unregistered or stolen vehicles. If hits are found, the officer is alerted by a message on the system’s computer screen.
In addition to vehicle violations, plates linked to cars owned by supervised persons are also flagged, Dobratz said and the officer is notified. Supervised persons include those missing, on parole or on probation. Cars registered to those on the sex offender registry and the terror watch list are also flagged.
The plate must be run through another police database, Collect, to find out more information on the driver and before a stop is made for a potential violation, according to Brian Shockley, Vigilant Video marketing vice president.
“There’s no personal information captured in regard to the license plate,” he said. “We’re not tracking people.”
The system’s strength lies in the speed with which it captures license plate numbers and runs them through law enforcement databases without any work by an officer. Daly said that in August, the town’s one Vigilant Video-equipped police car checked nearly 30,000 plates. That wouldn’t have been practical with manual checks.
“When you think of the complexity — in a fraction of a second it’s able to go through a database, read the plate, found out whether a car was stolen — it’s an amazing system,” Daly said. “Down the road, hopefully they’ll be in every cruiser.”
Every plate scanned, whether a registered hit or not, is sent to a database run by the Newington Police Department for a group of 11 departments. In addition to the plate number the date, time and GPS location of each scan is saved.
Newington Police Chief Richard Mulhall said that data is voluntarily provided by departments and saved for five years. Even if no hit on a car was flagged at a time, knowing where a car was at a given time can help in future investigations, according to Mulhall.
“As we get used to the technology, we’re going to be able to do a lot of good investigations,” he said.
There’s no personal information connected to the saved plate data, Mulhall said, and it isn’t nearly as intrusive as the information voluntarily posted by some online.
David McGuire, an attorney with the Connecticut chapter of the ACLU, said the number of saved license plate scans and accompanying location data can create a picture of a person’s habits, travels and more. While license plate scanners can be effective in fighting crime, McGuire said saving the location of scans for years serves little purpose and provides the government with “retroactive surveillance” that can be used without a warrant.
While personal information isn’t given by the license plate scanner systems, most often cars are driven by their owner and data collected on that car are details of that owner’s travels, McGuire said.
He said it was also troubling that those on probation or on a registry would be flagged without committing a crime.
A bill brought up during the last legislative session to limit the storage time for scans to 21 days didn’t make it out of committee. McGuire said it’ll be brought up again in the next legislative session.
“It’s one of the issues we get a strong reaction from by members of the public,” he said. “People are creeped out by it.”
Mulhall said he’s opposed a previously proposed limit of 14 days for plate information storage.
“To us, it’s way too small,” he said.
Cheshire police have received demonstrations of license plate readers from several companies, according to Lt. James Fasano, but don’t yet have any. A trial scheduled for last week was scrapped because the license plate reader system required more memory than was installed in the police car computers.
Once the cruiser computers are upgraded the department will look into buying reader systems.
“It’s a great idea,” Fasano said. “We have demo-ed them; we like them.”
Concerns about privacy have stemmed from misunderstandings about the system, Fasano said. Police officers don’t see names associated with the thousands of license plate numbers scanned and have to run the plates in a separate system before making a traffic stop.
Meriden and Wallingford police departments don’t have license plate scanners but officials expect to eventually buy them.
“I believe that’s the way of the future,” said Wallingford Lt. Marc Mikulski. ..Source.. by Jesse Buchanan Record-Journal staff
March 26, 2013
Police Warn of Facebook Child Porn Virus Video
Several Farmington students have received the video virus, police said.
Police in several towns have issued a warning about a computer virus that involves a video on Facebook.
According to Simsbury Police, the video is shared through Facebook and appears to be from a friend, though it is actually child pornography.
Several Farmington High School students have received the video on their Facebook accounts, police said.
Once opened, the video virus automatically attaches to the user's Facebook account and shares the video with all of his or her Facebook friends.
NBC Connecticut viewers who have received the video say it doesn't appear to be child pornography before opening and contains the phrase "watch this if you're curious."
New Britain police posted the warning on the Department's Facebook page. According to New Britain police, authorities in Farmington, Cromwell and Hartford have contacted the FBI about the video.
Avon schools also sent an email to parents and staff members about the Facebook virus threat.
"Although your child may not attend FHS (Farmington High School), other students or siblings in the area may have Facebook accounts that could be affected and we wanted to alert you of this situation immediately," Gary Mala, Avon superintendent, said in the email. "The video is quite graphic and it will be very disturbing."
The Farmington School District also sent out a email out.
“I’m very concerned that something like this would be circulating,” said Superintendent Kathleen Greider.
She emailed every parent and at least three other districts sent out alerts too. That way parents could tell their students about the video, and not to click on video links.
“We wanted to get a communication out to them immediately,” Greider said.
Police and school officials are asking parents to warn their children to be aware of the virus and not to open the video if they see it. ..Source.. by Bob Connors
April 2, 2012
A victim is not a party to a criminal case
4-2-2012 Connecticut:
From: a public defender's blog: Three’s a crowd
So it’s good to see a court even as conservative as Connecticut’s top court acknowledge and reaffirm this. Today, in State v. Gault, the CT Supreme Court held that a victim is not a party to a criminal case.
It is a ‘‘basic tenet of the criminal justice system that prosecutions are undertaken and punishments are sought by the state on behalf of the citizens of the state, and not on behalf of particular victims or complaining witnesses.’’ State v. Barnett, 980 S.W.2d 297, 308 (Mo. 1998), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1161, 119 S. Ct. 1074, 143 L. Ed. 2d 77 (1999). ‘‘A criminal prosecution is a public matter and not a contest between the defendant and his victims, or their relatives.’’(Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id. It is axiomatic, therefore, that ‘‘[t]he parties to a criminal action are the [state], in whose sovereign name it is prosecuted, and the person accused’’; Dix v. Superior Court, 53 Cal. 3d 442, 451, 807 P.2d 1063, 279 Cal. Rptr. 834 (1991); and not the crime victim(s). State v. Harrison, 24 P.3d 936, 945 (Utah 2001).
February 14, 2012
80 Percent Of State Inmates Released In 2005 Arrested Again By 2010
Ahhhhhhh, but not sex offenders! The refreshing truth is again exposed; not sex offenders. Further proof which refutes the hysterical claim of High Recidivism.2-14-2012 Connecticut:
UPDATE 2-15: Link to actual Sex Offender Recidivism report.
Of the 14,400 people released from Connecticut prisons in 2005, nearly 80 percent were rearrested by 2010, and just under half returned to prison with new sentences, according to a just-completed report that contains the most detailed data ever compiled on the state's recidivism rate.
The report, by Office of Policy and Management statistical guru Ivan Kuzyk, is scheduled to be released Wednesday. It also separately tracked sex offenders within the group and found that only a small number committed new sex crimes.
For example, of the 746 inmates who had served a prison term on a sex charge, 27, or 3.6 percent, were charged with a new sex crime; 20, or 2.7 percent, were convicted; and 13, or 1.7 percent, were returned to prison with a sentence for a new sex crime.
That suggests sex offenders respond well to supervision and treatment, and don't commit new sex crimes at the rate the public thinks they do, said Michael Lawlor, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's chief of criminal-justice policy.
But whether the findings change long-held perceptions about sex offenders in the community remains to be seen. The state's first secure treatment program for sex offenders — a 24-bed facility in Montville — opened three weeks ago, but not before opponents of the center filed a lawsuit to try to block it.
The overall rates in the report — 78.6 percent of the 14,400 rearrested; 49.8 percent returned to prison with new sentences — appear to jibe with national rates and are higher than those some states, but lower than others, said Kuzyk.
An often-cited study by the Department of Justice in 2002 found that 67 percent of prisoners it had tracked were rearrested, and 52 percent landed back in prison with a new sentence.
The Connecticut figures "while alarming, are about what you would expect,'' said Kuzyk, who worked with parole and probation officers, treatment counselors, and the state Department of Correction on the project. The team compiled an offense profile for each of the released inmates over the five years.
Lawlor said the report establishes benchmarks that will allow the state to track the progress of reform. He said it's possible to reduce recidivism rates by adjusting the way probation and parole officers supervise, and by improving the way the system assesses low-, moderate- and high-risk inmates before and during release.
Of the 14,398 inmates released in 2005, most were on some type of supervision — such as parole, probation, in a halfway house, or on work release.
The Courant reported on Sunday that since 1970, more than 15,000 ex-prisoners have skipped out on parole or walked away from halfway houses, and just shy of 1,100 are still missing. The median time on the lam was 70 days, and all of them had convinced the parole board at one time or another that they would abide by the conditions of their release.
Kuzyk said the research also showed that age and prior prison history had a lot to do with whether someone could make it on the outside. He said former inmates aged 18 to 24 generally returned to prison at twice the rate of those aged 40 to 46. But a 45-year-old career criminal was more likely to return to prison than a 24-year-old, first-time offender. ..Source.. by JOSH KOVNER
October 26, 2011
Law considered to keep Halloween on Saturday forever
At first glance this might not be a bad idea....10-26-2011 Connecticut:
As Halloween fast approaches, one Connecticut lawmaker has proposed that it be observed each year on the last Saturday in October, rather than on the 31st. State Rep. Tim Larson suggested that it would be easier for working families, safer for children, and better for the economy.
”Halloween is a fun night for the whole family, but not so much when you have to race home from work, get the kids ready for trick or treating, welcome the neighborhood children, and then try to get everyone to bed for an early school and work morning,” Larson said.
Governor Malloy is not in favor of the idea and was worried “about confusing the ghosts, goblins, and witches.” Larson acknowledges that this issue is not the most pressing one for the people of Connecticut, but he feels it makes sense and could create some jobs, too. Each year, Americans spend $7 billion on Halloween-related merchandise. ..Source.. by Olivia
February 2, 2011
Conn. Agencies Use Appriss to Track Sex Offenders
Offender Watch (Watch Systems) claims 50% recidivism rate for sex offenders which is absolutely false. See research which shows what they are doing. Likely their erroneous claim is a marketing ploy to enable them to get more clients.2-2-2011 Connecticut:
Case Study: Two Connecticut officers explain how Appriss' sex offender tracking software can helps law enforcement better monitor offenders.
In October 2009, Governor M. Jodi Rell unveiled Connecticut's enhanced Sex Offender Registry System. The state's new service would build on the previous system's initial goals: Help law enforcement monitor the state's sex offender population and give citizens the opportunity to track registered sex offenders living in their neighborhoods. The Connecticut Department of Public Safety, a Division of the State Police, would implement and manage the new service.
Since then we have made tremendous improvements in the flow of information, level of communication between state agencies, and the support mechanism, which was absent before this implementation.
For law enforcement, the new tools will allow probation and parole officers and police to better manage sex offenders and their movements in and out of a jurisdiction. Officials will be able to register offenders remotely from Department of Correction facilities and the system is linked with other state law enforcement databases.
The public can now access the state's upgraded system to track the whereabouts of registered sex offenders by street location, city or town, or by a radial area, a registrant's name, or by compliance status. In addition, parents can print fliers on child safety from their own computers, and they are provided tools to educate their children on how to protect themselves.
The enhanced sex offender registry has been a long time coming. Connecticut was one of the first states in the nation to launch a sex offender Web site. Established in 1998, it was named after seven-year-old Megan Kanka of New Jersey, who was killed four years earlier by a sex offender living near her home. The original site provided some information, but didn't go far enough to keep up with the available technology to give citizens or law enforcement the information they needed to protect families and communities.
Our job was to ensure sex offenders were compliant. If they weren't, we'd notify them by letter. For the first four-and-a-half years, we had limited resources and were unable to spend a great deal of time arresting violators that failed to respond to their 90-day letters.
The new system provides us with a series of auto-generated reports, not only for 90-day violations but for photo and educational institution violations.
Passage of the Adam Walsh Act in 2006 called for major improvements to sex offender registries across the country. It expanded the scope of sex offender registrations by including a wider range of offenses. Offenders are required under the law to make periodic, personal appearances to authorities to update their information.
When the Connecticut Department of Public Safety began looking to expand registry criteria, it released a request for proposal and after an extensive process, selected Appriss and their partner, Watch Systems, two technology companies with an extensive background in criminal justice data sharing.
Appriss is widely known for its automated victim information and notification service called VINE. The Kentucky-based company is linked with jails and state prisons across the country and provides offender information in real time to both law enforcement and the general public. Appriss has also developed a notification tool to keep residences, schools, and businesses informed when registered sex offenders moved into neighborhoods.
Louisiana-based Watch Systems is best known for OffenderWatch, a leading sex offender registry management and community notification tool. Criminal justice agencies across the country use OffenderWatch to manage and monitor a sex offender's whereabouts as well as their conduct and compliance status.
OffenderWatch also provides the public with direct access to agency-personalized local offender information. Citizens can receive e-mail notifications when a registered sex offender moves into their neighborhood. They can also track individual offenders through its mapping tool.
Both Appriss and Watch Systems have partnered to provide their solutions to criminal justice agencies and communities nationwide. Together, the two cover over 100,000 sex offenders, approximately 25 percent of the registered sex offender population in the United States.
Using this technology, we have seen our business practice change 180 degrees. Every day we find new solutions within the application that we have not looked into before. We will receive calls or requests from agencies looking for information pertaining to a particular topic. In the past we would have to do a hand search through case files to get the information requested. Now, that information can be efficiently searched in the updated registry.
When we launched our first registry site in 1998, we could not notify other law enforcement agencies, from an automated standpoint, the sex offenders, who were in their jurisdiction. We couldn't answer that question because our system was not developed to support the management of registered sex offenders.
We would essentially look at several sex offender lists, often with different identification numbers and then compare to get the needed information. Even with this level of work, we couldn't speak with a great deal of confidence that all of the information was correct. Agencies can now go online and find answers to 99 percent of their questions.
In its first year, the new Connecticut Sex Offender Registry has greatly enhanced communication between law enforcement agencies across the state. We have more than doubled our output of investigations on a monthly basis. The more information we provide to police departments, the more requests we are getting from them because they realize the system is capable of doing more.
Police investigators approach us regarding specific physical characteristics, asking us to provide a list of registered sex offenders matching a particular description. We can respond to these requests in minutes.
We believe an integral part of the business that we do is to communicate across state lines. We feel very strongly about this in that states must learn to communicate effectively, or we fail to keep citizens accurately informed and protected. If the net has a hole in it, the fish will get through it. We work closely with about a half a dozen states. The biggest challenge is the understanding that we all have different criteria for classifying sex offenders. We have to be able to speak the same language, or we risk losing a registrant
Another advantage to this new registry is the support that comes with the service. Previous to this, we didn't have a point person or organization to call for IT support or simply to answer questions. Having a live person to walk through the service and answer our questions is something we weren't used to.
The other half of this new and improved registry is the public component. The enhancement has empowered citizens across our state to become more proactive in learning about offenders living near their homes. Change is some times difficult for people.
Initially we were getting a flurry of inquiries as to the inability to find specific information. Users were a bit overwhelmed by all of the features and abilities. Now we average one or two questions a week. We've received a lot of positive feedback from the general public.
Our department will receive requests from the general public to add a feature that is already available, they simply don't know its there. We will secure an e-mail address and send them the quick tips currently posted on the Web site.
We generally see an increase in public use of the registry during Halloween or other holidays. Otherwise, the use is generally consistent. We are giving the citizens of Connecticut a functionality they've never had before. We provide to the citizens of this state, the most up to date information on over 5,200 registered sex offenders. We encourage them to rely on the public website more frequently and to take advantage of all the features which are now available to them. ..Source.. by Joe Biela and Sam Izzarelli
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