De-escalation training in police departments can make police encounters with the public safer

 A first of its kind study by University of Cincinnati criminal justice researchers shows that de-escalation training in police departments can make police encounters with the public safer for everyone.

“Despite widespread promotion and proliferation of de-escalation trainings, until now, no research had empirically demonstrated that these trainings reduce use of force in the field,” says the study’s lead author Robin Engel, a professor in UC’s School of Criminal Justice who has been researching policing strategies for over two decades.  

The study, which appears in the American Society of Criminology’s flagship journalCriminology & Public Policy, took place in collaboration with the Louisville, Kentucky, Metro Police Department.  

Researchers looked at the post-training impact of the 2019 implementation of Integrating Communications, Assessment and Tactics (ICAT) de-escalation training developed by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).

Using a randomized, controlled trial design, the study results demonstrated statistically significant reductions in use of force incidents, citizen injuries and officer injuries in the post-training period.

“The results were impressive, to say the least,” says PERF executive director Chuck Wexler. The research, Wexler says, “found that training officers in ICAT was associated with 28% fewer use-of-force incidents, 26% fewer injuries to community members and 36% fewer injuries to police officers.”

According to the research, these significant reductions were larger than any changes in the Louisville police department arrest patterns during the same period.

“We add several statistical analyses to determine if the reductions in use of force were due to factors other than the training. After considering these alternative possibilities, the evidence led to the conclusion that it was indeed the training that had such a powerful impact” said co-author Nicholas Corsaro, an associate professor and criminal justice researcher also in UC’s School of Criminal Justice. 

The findings, both say, suggest that agencies should continue to implement and evaluate de-escalation trainings and adopt other resiliency-based approaches to police training.

To facilitate long-term changes in police behavior, Engel says, a holistic approach is recommended that supports training tenets with complementary policies, supervisory oversight, managerial support and community involvement in reform efforts.

The university recently announced a partnership with Jigsaw, a unit within Google, to test the company’s virtual reality police training platform. The training is aimed at diffusing tense situations officers may encounter on patrol, Engel says.

“Our research efforts and strategic partnerships are specifically focused on making police interactions with the public safer and improving the conditions and quality of life in our neighborhoods,” she says.

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JOURNAL

Criminology & Public Policy

DOI

10.1007/s41465-021-00231-6 

The critical importance of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

 

Today is the 16th annual Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Awareness Day. This is a time to bring attention to the critical support the EITC and other refundable tax credits provide to families and individuals with low to moderate incomes.

This support has become even more vital during the pandemic, when Congress enacted a temporary expansion of the EITC for working adults without children. Even before this expansion, in 2020, about 25 million working households claimed nearly $60 billion in federal EITCs.

EITC Awareness Day provides an opportunity to help connect more eligible people to the EITC. That includes over 17 million adults who work in low-wage jobs, don’t have children, and would benefit from the expanded EITC. The American Rescue Plan Act nearly temporarily tripled the maximum credit value, increasing it from $538 to $1,502. The Rescue Plan also expanded the age range of eligible workers to include those aged 19-24 (excluding students aged 19-23 who attended school at least half time for at least five months of the tax year), as well as people aged 65 and older. Additionally, homeless youth and former foster youth who are at least 18 years old and who work are eligible to claim this credit, even if they are enrolled in school. Prior to this expansion, the federal tax code taxed an estimated 5.8 million people aged 19 to 65 into, or deeper into, poverty in part because their EITC was so small. This is why extending the expansion of the EITC for working adults without children is so important.

Roughly 80-85 percent of people eligible for the EITC for families with children claim it, but many fewer people claim the EITC for working adults without children (an estimated 65 percent), according to IRS estimates for tax year 2016. Awareness and outreach are particularly essential to reach people newly eligible for the expanded EITC, those who were eligible for a very small credit in the past, and people who may have missed out on other tax credit expansions under the Rescue Plan, such as the third round of economic stimulus payments or the advance Child Tax Credit payments.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Also see:

Build Back Better’s Child Tax Credit Changes Would Protect Millions From Poverty — Permanently

NOVEMBER 11, 2021

FDA should restrict bisphenol A in food packaging

 The Endocrine Society joined a coalition of physicians, scientists and public health and environmental organizations to send a formal petition to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), calling on the agency to rescind its approvals for bisphenol A (BPA) in adhesives and coatings and set strict limits on its use in plastics that contact food.

New findings from a panel of experts convened by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) indicate that the harmful effects from BPA exposure can occur at levels 100,000 times lower than previously thought. This new safe level ‒ based on recent scientific evidence ‒ is more than 5,000 times below what FDA says most Americans are safely exposed to.

Without a doubt, these values constitute a high health risk and support the conclusion that uses of BPA are not safe. The petition calls on FDA to limit uses of BPA in food contact articles that may result in migration into food above 0.5 nanograms per kilogram of food.

“The process EFSA used to reassess the safety of bisphenol is a template for how FDA should be doing it for the hundreds of chemicals it approved decades ago. Transparent, thorough, and grounded in the science,” said Tom Neltner, EDF’s senior director for safer chemicals. “With Americans overexposed to BPA by more than 5,000 times, the agency must make this a top priority and make a final decision by the 180-day statutory deadline.”

The petition was filed by Environmental Defense Fund, the Endocrine Society, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, Clean Water Action/Clean Water Fund, Consumer Reports, Environmental Working Group, Healthy Babies Bright Futures, Dr. Maricel Maffini, and Dr. Linda Birnbaum, former director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and National Toxicology Program.

BPA is used to make polycarbonate and other plastics, which are commonly used in hard items such as food containers, pitchers, tableware, storage containers and more. The chemical is also used in epoxy resins that line the inside of metal products and bottle tops. Small amounts of BPA can migrate from containers or equipment into food and beverages.

Industry has taken steps in the past to limit the use of BPA in can linings and plastic baby bottles. These actions followed 2008 findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicating the chemical showed up in 92% of US adults and additional studies that showed BPA can act like the female sex hormone, estrogen, in humans and disrupt normal development.

Findings from EFSA’s expert panel show that BPA’s effects are much worse than previously understood and that people are exposed at levels dramatically above what is safe. Extremely low exposures to BPA can lead to an overactive immune system producing out of control inflammation, as well as changes in the ovaries, endocrine disruption, and reduced learning and memory, according to the EFSA panel.

“FDA has an obligation to protect us from toxic chemicals that can come in contact with our food,” said Maricel Maffini, Ph.D., scientist and coauthor of the petition. “These new findings should be a wakeup call to the FDA and all of us that our health is in jeopardy unless we take swift action to limit the amount of BPA that can come into contact with our food.”

FDA has long collaborated with EFSA on risk assessment and risk communication related to food safety, including working together to increase understanding of risks from chemicals used in food packaging, like PFAS. The agency now needs to listen to the warnings on BPA from its expert counterparts at EFSA and take steps to dramatically reduce our exposures to the chemical.

“These findings are extremely concerning and prove the point that even very low levels of BPA exposure can be harmful and lead to issues with reproductive health, breast cancer risk, behavior and metabolism,” said Endocrine Society BPA expert Heather Patisaul, Ph.D., of North Carolina University in Raleigh, N.C. “The FDA needs to acknowledge the science behind endocrine-disrupting chemicals and act accordingly to protect public health.”

About Endocrine Society

Endocrinologists are at the core of solving the most pressing health problems of our time, from diabetes and obesity to infertility, bone health, and hormone-related cancers. The Endocrine Society is the world’s oldest and largest organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions.

The Society has more than 18,000 members, including scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in 122 countries. To learn more about the Society and the field of endocrinology, visit our site at www.endocrine.org. Follow us on Twitter at @TheEndoSociety and @EndoMedia.

Families With Low Incomes Spend Expanded Child Tax Credit on Most Basic Needs, Education

 

Toxic impact of a common consumer product

 A new study conducted emonstrates precisely how triclosan, an antimicrobial found in toothpaste, toys and thousands of other products, can trigger gut inflammation. An international team of researchers led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Hong Kong Baptist University identified the bacteria, and even specific enzymes, that trigger triclosan’s harmful effects. Moreover, studies in mice suggest these bacterial enzymes can be blocked from driving intestinal damage. The findings were published in Nature Communications. 

 “By identifying the culprit bacteria, new approaches could be developed for the diagnoses, prevention and treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases,” said study author Matthew Redinbo, a chemistry and microbiology professor at the UNC-Chapel Hill College of Arts & Sciences and UNC School of Medicine. 

 Previous research has shown triclosan’s toxicity, but the new study provides a closer look at the changes caused in the gut’s microscopic population. Researchers connected specific gut microbial enzymes, notably gut microbial beta-glucuronidase (GUS) proteins, with triclosan and showed these enzymes drive triclosan to wreak havoc in the gut. 

 Knowing which bacterial proteins were the culprits, the team used a microbiome-targeted inhibitor to block triclosan processing in the gut. Blocking this process in mice prevented damage to the colon and symptoms of colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease. The study provides new clues about management of IBD among the growing number of people diagnosed with the disease. IBD can be managed for long periods of time only to flare up out of seemingly nowhere. Study authors suggest the need for better understanding of the impact of environmental chemicals on gut health. 

 Triclosan used to be widely available in antibacterial soaps marketed to consumers. But in 2016, the Food and Drug Administration ordered it removed from handwashing products used in homes and hospital settings because of concerns it contributed to more resistant bacteria. But triclosan remains ubiquitous as an ingredient added to cosmetics, yoga mats and other athletic clothes and gear to reduce bacterial contamination. It’s also routinely used in many toothpastes – with FDA approval -- since it has been found to prevent gingivitis. 

 Triclosan appears to be readily absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract, leading study authors to write, “the safety of triclosan and related compounds should be reconsidered given their potential for intestinal damage.” The National Institutes of Health, through grants to several authors, the Hong Kong Research Grants Council and the National Science Foundation funded the study, 

How To Save American Democracy

 Complete report

This report identifies three major hazards to fair elections:

Partisan officials could refuse to certify the results of an election, as Michigan's most populous country nearly did after the 2020 election Election administrators, poll workers or poll watchers could prevent voters from casting ballots or keep votes from being counted Congress could refuse to certify the Electoral College results, as 147 Republicans voted to do last year

In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, a relatively small number of mostly Republican officials protected the United States from a major political crisis.

In Michigan, for example, State Election Board member Aaron Van Langevelde cast the pivotal vote to certify the results of the election, despite pressure to flout state law and delay certification.1 In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger refused to tamper with the results of the election, despite a lengthy call from President Donald Trump and his advisers in which Raffensperger was asked to “find 11,780 votes.”2 All told, at least 31 Republican elected officials from battleground states spoke to then-President Trump soon after the election—and though they tried to placate him, most were unwilling to go along with his schemes to change the results of the election.3

America may not be so lucky next time around.

Van Langevelde was not re-nominated for his board position, and Raffensperger was censured by the Georgia Republican Party4 and removed from his position as chair of Georgia’s State Election Board. Across the country, many Trump-aligned officeholders increasingly support and promote the idea that the presidential election was stolen; in fact, it has become “a new kind of litmus test.”5 It has been reported that more than 230 candidates running for Congress have embraced President Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen.6 Perhaps even worse, many of the candidates who are running to serve as top election officials in battleground states also support that false claim.

n other words, the people who stopped an overthrow of the last presidential election may not be there to defend U.S. democracy in 2024 and beyond.

This may not be a problem if one candidate wins the next election in a landslide or even by a decisive margin. But the recent trend has been the opposite: Americans are relatively evenly divided between the two major political parties, which means that electoral manipulation can succeed even if it only shifts a tiny percentage of the votes. In the 2020 election, then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s margin of victory was less than 1 percent in three states: Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin.7 In that environment, even a relatively limited, poorly executed attempt to manipulate the election could succeed in changing the outcome.

The top threats to American elections and how to address them

This issue brief aims to clarify how future elections are threatened and how public policy can address those threats. But it is important to clarify at the outset: There is no silver bullet. A large segment of the American public has decided they do not trust the electoral system—at least not when their favored candidate loses. Changing those hearts and minds is a long-term challenge that is going to require thoughtful, long-term solutions.

In the meantime, however, policymakers ignore the short-term problem at their peril. Election officials might refuse to certify the next election. Bad actors might try to tamper with the results of the election—or prevent their opposition from voting—under the pretense of preventing fraud. And, even when the election is over and done, members of Congress might refuse to respect the Electoral College results.

This issue brief explores each of these threats  along with the ways that public policy can address them. Legislation alone is not going to restore faith in democracy, but it can strengthen the guardrails that—at least in the short run—keep democracy intact.

More than 140 Republican and Democratic mayors call for the Senate to pass the two voting rights bill

January 3, 2022 

 Dear Majority Leader Schumer and Minority Leader McConnell: 

We write to urge the Senate as early as possible this month to consider and pass critical voting rights legislation – the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. Voting is essential to maintaining and preserving democracy and is one of the most important rights and responsibilities that U.S. citizens have. The U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted strong policy in support of such legislation in June of this year. 

American democracy is stronger when all eligible voters participate in elections. Yet voting rights are under historic attack and our very democracy is threatened. The Brennan Center reports that 19 states have passed 34 laws that make it harder to vote and that state and local election administrators face violent threats and intimidation for their public service. 

These bills would stop this voter suppression. They would create national standards for voting access in federal elections that would neutralize many of the restrictive voting laws passed in the states. They would mandate early voting, no-excuse mail voting, an Election Day holiday, and protections for voters with disabilities to make voting as convenient as possible. They also would protect the free and fair administration of our elections by preventing the politicized removal of election officials, safeguard them from partisan intimidation and harassment during the election process, and set uniform rules for vote counting nationwide. 

America’s mayors urge you to take whatever steps are necessary to assure that the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act can get a straight up or down vote. Further we urge all Senators to vote for these critical bills. 

https://www.usmayors.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/USCM-Letter-to-Senate-Urging-Vote-on-Voting-Rights010322.docx.pdf