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The Police Leader Magazine is published by Milton Brown, as a professional trade magazine focusing on topics relating to law enforcement and is distributed state-wide in Texas. The magazine is solely owned and does not support any association or political group. Correspondence should be addressed to:

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ISSUE #1

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

photo by: Josh Kulla / Wilsonville Spokesman

photo courtesy of Collin County

04. VICARIOUS TRAUMA

22. HOT and BOTHERED by Lynn A. Tovar

Law enforcement ofﬁcers face the risk of violence or witness gruesome accident scenes, and may deal with investigations such as child abuse or domestic abuse – the mental toll on these ofﬁcers is sometimes overlooked.

10. STOP and FRISK

by Debbie McRill

With temperatures in Texas reaching oppressive levels at times, aggressin or aggressive behaviors can also increase - not only with the general public, but with ofﬁcers as well.

26. EXTENDED EYES of the LAW

by Donna Shotwell

by Frederick J. Williams

The potentially volatile relationship between police and Black Americans can be exacerbated with the use of “stop and frisk” tactics.

Many cities are recruiting local citizens to be an extra set of eyes for the department. These volunteers help provide communication between neighbors and law enforcement ofﬁcers.

16. La Sante Muerte - beyond drug cartels

30. EYEWITNESS TESTIMONIES

A popular cult which has followers primarily in Mexico is becoming more prevalent and visible in the United States. Often associated with drugs, the saint has deeper connections with her followers.

While witnessing a crime, perception can be ﬂawed, encoding that information, and because memory is malleable, retrieval of information can be complicated making eyewitness testimonies questionable.

by Kirsten Crow

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October 2012

by Dr. Phillip Lyons

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Vicarious Traumatization and Spirituality in Law Enforcement (reprinted with permission from the FBI / fbi.gov)

By Lynn A. Tovar, Ed.D.

It is no secret that police work causes many law enforcement officers to feel stressed. Patrol officers face the risk of violence on a daily basis, leading many people to consider law enforcement an inherently stressful occupation. Also, specific duties within police departments, such as child abuse investigations, may cause more anguish than others. Yet, the mental toll of these positions often is overlooked, and, generally, the source of this anguish is examined anecdotally rather than empirically. Law enforcement administrators need to take a closer look at how traumatic events can alter their employees’ world views and senses of spirituality, which ultimately affects the well being of both personnel and organizations. A positive spirit can help police officers reduce work-related stress by allowing them to minimize the impact of traumatic experiences. Therefore, managers and training coordinators need to acknowledge their critical role in changing the behaviors and attitudes related to workplace stress by developing wellness and spirituality programs for their agencies. Understanding this stress, its sources and effects, and various ways to combat it will

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enrich ofﬁcers’ quality of life. Effective training programs and a culture of spirituality help ofﬁcers manage stress, respond to trauma, and lead a more satisfying life.

People-Oriented Occupational Stress Stress is an inevitable component of life. In our fast-paced society, individuals must respond to a barrage of problems and changes in a timely manner, take on greater responsibilities, and become increasingly more efﬁcient at their jobs. However, in addition to this common, unavoidable stress, law enforcement work presents more

challenges by frequently exposing personnel to traumatic events. As a result, police work meets the definition of a “critical occupation.” Personnel in critical occupations, such as firefighters, paramedics, ambulance drivers, rescue workers, and emergency medical response teams, deal with traumatic events and their consequences. Officers, along with these emergency services professionals, play a critical role to protect the community, a weighty responsibility that brings significant pressure. Those who do not learn to cope with this anguish progress to a more severe stage of stress known as burnout.

photo by: Dave Montana

Officers pay tribute to their own, at the annual fallen officers memorial in Houston.

Vicarious Traumatization The concept of vicarious traumatization, as introduced by McCann and Pearlman, provides a theoretical framework to understand the complicated and often painful effects of trauma on crisis workers. By deﬁnition, “the effects of vicarious traumatization on an individual resemble those of traumatic experiences. They include signiﬁcant disruptions in one’s affect tolerance, psychological needs, beliefs about self and others, interpersonal relationships, and sensory memory, including imagery.”

Vicarious traumatization results from empathetic engagement with traumatic experiences. Tragic events that harm innocent victims are, unfortunately, an inevitable part of our larger world and society. Because law enforcement officers hold the responsibility of responding to these incidents, they repeatedly witness human beings’ intentional cruelty to one another. As investigators listen to graphic accounts of victims’ experiences and participate in reenactments of tragic events, these encounters stir powerful emotions as officers engage with victims’ pain and suffering. Officers

can become painfully aware of the potential for trauma in their own lives, and this empathetic engagement leaves them vulnerable to the emotional and spiritual effects of vicarious traumatization. Ofﬁcers who fall victim to vicarious traumatization may demonstrate changes in their core sense of self or psychological foundation. These alterations include shifts in the ofﬁcers’ identities and worldviews; their ability to manage strong feelings, maintain a positive sense of self, and connect with others; their spirituality or sense of meaning, expectation, aware-

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ness, and connection; and their basic needs for safety, self-esteem, trust, dependency, control, and intimacy. These effects, which disrupt ofﬁcers’ professional and personal lives, are cumulative and potentially permanent.

A Study of Vicarious Trauma Focused Research To investigate how vicarious trauma manifests in law enforcement agencies, the author studied the ways that officers deal with these painful and horrific experiences that completely contradict their previously held conceptions about how the world should be. The study examined how law enforcement officers reconcile these disruptions to their core beliefs (e.g., good versus evil, hope versus despair, safety versus vulnerability) and manage the physical, psychological, and social ramifications of vicarious trauma. The study analyzed the sources and effects of these stresses, as well as the ways in which the participants reconstructed their lives to regain their psychological and physical health. Also, the author presents suggestions on how organizations can assist police officers in their struggles, particularly by encouraging them to learn wellness and spiritualitybased coping mechanisms. To gather this information, the author interviewed 15 law enforcement investigators from the Chicago area who worked on juvenile sexual

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abuse cases. She asked questions to determine how, if at all, the interviewees were influenced or changed by their professional experiences. Face-to-face interviews afforded her the opportunity to observe the participant’s body language, such as eye rolls, long pauses between responses, or voice inflections that indicated contempt, concern, frustration, or sorrow. Narrative interviews illustrated to the author how various episodes, experiences, or events in officers’ lives impacted their feelings, emotions, coping mechanisms, and interactions with peers and victims.

Lessons Learned The study’s results indicated that participants exhibited numerous signs of vicarious traumatization, including hyper vigilance, symptomatic reactions, relationship problems, lack

of communication, denial, repression, isolation and disassociation, change in worldviews, and a loss of sense of meaning. Participants’ statements clearly demonstrated the impacts of juvenile sexual assault investigations in their lives. The ﬁrst interviewee stated, “I think that is a part of what this job has done to me. You look at society or you look at people with a jaundiced-eye, cynical perspective. We don’t always see the best, we see the worst, or we have suspicion about someone.” One interviewee described the

physical effects of psychological trauma, such as “headaches, the general tightness in the shoulders. I don’t sleep well. I haven’t slept well in a very long time. When I wake up in the morning, I never feel refreshed.” Also, as is common of vicarious traumatization victims, some subjects demonstrated signiﬁcant changes to their previously held values. Another interviewee stated, “I think before I got on the job and people would ask, ‘Do you believe in God?’ I would say, ‘Yeah, I believe in Him, but I just don’t go to church.’ Now when people ask if I believe, I will say, ‘If you saw what I saw—and I spent two hours in Children’s Memorial Hospital—and if you saw what I saw… there is no God.’ Yeah, I would say it has had an impact on my belief.” The investigators demonstrated that their experiences permanently transformed their lives, both professionally and personally; as a result, new perspectives, new

beliefs, and coping strategies emerged. Also, investigators who felt most distant from traumatic experiences were more open in their acknowledgement of their effects and more able to critically reﬂect on them.

Positive Steps to Action These results demonstrate that law enforcement agencies must take measures to help their personnel combat the negative effects of occupational stress and vicarious traumatization. Two important methods to improve the well-being of ofﬁcers include facilitating spirituality in the workplace and implementing training programs to teach coping mechanisms.

Spirituality in the Workplace What is spirituality in the workplace? In this study, the author

ascribes to a broad definition of the term. “Spirituality” does not denote religious practices, God, or theology but rather an inherent human awareness of the elusive impact of experience. It attributes meaning to one’s life through hope and idealism, connection with others, and awareness of experience. More specifically, “workplace spirituality recognizes that people have an inner life that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful work in the context of community.” The organization should remain concerned about how officers’ work affects their inner lives and emotions and, thus, foster a culture that welcomes spirituality as a coping mechanism. The four cultural characteristics of a spiritual organization include a strong sense of purpose, trust and respect among coworkers, humanistic work practices, and the toleration of employee expression in the workplace. An awareness of spirituality can shed a great deal of light on the officers’ behavior in the workplace; as a result, the organizational culture that accepts spirituality can better help employees develop to their full potential. Because many individuals desire to embrace spirituality in their personal life and in their workplace, organizations can promote a spiritual culture by emphasizing the value of community in a productive work environment. Similarly, law enforcement agencies need to recognize that their employees have both a mind and a spirit, and they

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seek to ﬁnd meaning in their duties and the community they serve. Many police ofﬁcers feel the desire and commitment to connect with other humans, whether inside the workplace or externally, including the citizens and victims they help. A strong sense of spirituality in the workplace promotes positive attitudes, health, happiness, empowerment, inner peace, truth, and healthy relationships.

Wellness Training Once law enforcement administrators recognize the link between wellness and overall personnel development, they should provide training opportunities to teach officers how to cope with stress on the job. These educational programs will function as both professional and personal development for officers who suffer from vicarious traumatization. Before administrators develop wellness programs for their departments, they should perform a two-part training needs assessment. First, managers should analyze the current state of wellness training in their agencies. Then, they must understand the severity of occupational stress among their officers. They should ask questions, such as, How has your work affected your personal identity, spirituality, sexuality, relationships, and emotional responsiveness? Does your work lead to feelings of frustration and hopelessness or to joy and accom-

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plishment? What programs does the organization have in place to help ofﬁcers deal with these changes? After agencies gain a better understanding of their needs, they can develop educational programs to remedy these issues. Trainers should instruct ofﬁcers about the

causes and effects of stress, as well as constructive ways to combat it. A well-rounded stress reduction/ spirituality curriculum should provide information about stress indicators, the benefits of physical exercise and proper nutrition, and effective interpersonal communication methods. Departments should implement prevention measures by immediately educating new recruits on stress and wellness. However, continuing instruction becomes even more important for officers later in their careers; these experienced officers more likely will suffer from the effects of stress already. As a result, agencies must provide support for their personnel, which can come in many forms. Support from the officer’s agency and family is a critical factor in a troubled person’s decision to seek help. Many administrators institute employee assistance programs to provide 24-hour help lines and confidential counseling. In addition, the psychological debriefings comprise an important technique to help personnel cope with traumatic events. Conducting debriefings soon after incidents allows police officers to express their feelings and discuss the occurrence in a supportive group setting. Also, peer support groups allow officers who have been affected by trauma to talk to fellow law enforcement professionals who will listen to them and provide assistance. Trainers and administrators must understand, however, that many law

enforcement ofﬁcers fear that acknowledging such stress impacts their work and, thus, may not seek help on their own. Last, administrators must acknowledge that each law enforcement agency is unique and has its own set of stress-related problems. It, therefore, is necessary to conduct ongoing assessments into the causes and minimization of stress among their ofﬁcers.

Conclusion Law enforcement ofﬁcials should seek a greater understanding of the toll that work-related stress has on police ofﬁcers. Organizations have begun to recognize that occupational stress and vicarious traumatization

pose serious hazards for their workers’ mental health; as such, they need to consider facilitating wellness and spirituality programs in the workplace. These programs are positive, proactive ways to address the deeper impact of police work on officers’ lives. Training coordinators and administrators need to understand the day-to-day events of the patrol officers, specialized investigators, and other personnel who struggle with repeated exposure to trauma in their lives. Then, they can provide their employees with appropriate professional development and training opportunities to remedy these issues. This training will help officers overcome stress and constructively respond to vicarious

traumatization by showing them methods to incorporate wellness and spirituality into their lives. As many law enforcement agencies across the country downsize due to budget cuts, layoffs, or attrition, it remains critical to focus on retaining effective, hardworking ofﬁcers. Therefore, organizations should consider the above philosophies and approach training in a holistic manner. In a workplace where training and development foster a culture of wellness and spirituality, employees will individually and collectively begin to create, relate, and experience a richer, dynamic, and more meaningful life, both professionally and personally.

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EDITORIAL

STOP and

FRISK An Unnecessary Confrontation Between the Police and the Black Community. by

Frederick J. Williams

Adjunct Prof. of American Government, San Antonio College and Managing Editor, Divine Literary Publishing, LLC.

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One of the more racially charged problems in the history of this country has always been the relationship between the police and the African American communities. Confrontation instead of cooperation has been the defining factor between the two entities. That confrontation is predicated on a lack of trust built up over the years. The police do not trust Black Americans and the latter do not trust the police who patrol their communities. This potentially volatile relationship has been exacerbated with the increasing use of “stop and frisk,” a tactic used by police officers to reduce crime in a specific area of the city, usually the inner city. “Stop and frisk” allows the police to stop any citizen they consider suspicious and

frisk them for weapons. However, the problem is that most of the stops are based on racial profiling, especially Blacks. In New York City last year, the police conducted 685,724 stops and 87% were either Blacks or Latinos, primarily between the ages of 14 and 24. Out of the total number stopped, 88% were innocent. Racial and ethnic profiling can be defined as the use of racial or ethnic appearance as criteria to decide which individuals to stop, frisk, or question. It has become the subject of concern and led to considerable discussion centered on the constitutional issue; specifically the individual protections from unreasonable search and seizure guaranteed in the Fourth Amendment. In May 2012, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin of the Federal District Court in Manhattan granted a class action status to a civil suit filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, and supported by the New York Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the people who have been victims of these stops in New York City. Next year when the case goes to court, there is a strong possibility that the police department will be required to either stop or alter the way they conduct this practice. Beside the constitutional issue, however, this practice also needs to be assessed from a historical context. Since passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ending the horrible practice of slavery in this country, the relationship between the police and the Black community has been turbulent.

For over a hundred years, the police were the enforcer of the Black Codes built into state constitutions after the Civil War, and Jim Crow Laws after 1876. In order to maintain an apartheid system, it was imperative that police have absolute and uncontrolled power to keep the newly freed slaves in check. In order

“

Amendment protections granted to all other citizens. Blacks were also denied First Amendment protections guaranteeing freedom of assembly and speech. All these rights that most Americans took for granted were arbitrarily denied this country’s Black citizens throughout all regions of the country.

book, Trouble In Mind: Black Southerners in the Age of Jim Crow, recalls many of the negative experiences recorded by Blacks in the south. “As a child in Durham, North Carolina, Pauli Murray viewed the local police as heavily armed, invariably mountainous red-faced men who seemed more a signal of

[Ofﬁcers can be] considered an invading army that comes into the neighborhood to maintain peace and then leave, never really creating any semblance of a relationship with the people. As a result, too often the only contact between the residents and the police is of a confrontational nature.

to use their power, the police were not bogged down by the constitutional protections guaranteed to all its citizens. They freely violated the Second Amendment rights of Blacks to own weapons and Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. When arrested, Blacks were not provided with Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth

Black Americans still suffer from the memories of those days in the Jim Crow south. Stories are passed down from generation to generation of the abuses suffered at the hands of the police. According to historian, Leon Litwack, while white children viewed the police as their friend, blacks have always feared them as an enemy. Litwack, in his outstanding

”

calamity than of protection. Richard Wright, Jr., recalled, ‘I was convinced early that policemen were my enemies. I never approached a policeman with a question until I had been in Chicago for nearly a year.’ This same negative image dominated Albon Holsey’s perception of law enforcement. Growing up in Georgia at the turn of the century he and his friends always lived in mortal fear of the police for they were arch-tormentors and persecutors of Negroes. ‘I ran so often from the police,’ Holsfrod wrote, ‘when I was a boy that even now (1929), though I am past forty, if one walks upon me unexpectedly my ﬁrst impulse is to take to my heels.’” Treating Blacks as less than human traumatized an entire race of people for those years after the Civil War and prior to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. The police have not only enforced unjust laws,

photo from gawker.com

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(CONTINUED)

EDITORIAL

(... from p. 9) but have often participated in the illegal killing and lynching of Blacks. The police have always acted as enforcers of the customs and traditions that the white south refused to give up. It was only after President Lyndon B. Johnson viewed the beating that blacks endured at the hands of the police in Selma, Alabama in March 1965, that he decided to support the Voting Rights Act. The historical context is key when examining the “Stop and Frisk” policies because Black America has not sufﬁciently healed from the many abuses they have suffered at the hands of the police. Just as Albon Holsey ran from the police in 1929 Georgia, young Black teenagers are still running. The Rodney King beating is still fresh on their minds, and is a constant reminder to many Blacks that the police do not respect the integrity of the community, nor do they believe they should be burdened with constitutional considerations.

In June of this year, Reverend Al Sharpton, President of the National Action Network, a civil rights organization headquartered in New York City led a Father’s Day march protesting the blatantly discriminatory practice of targeting young Blacks and Latinos for what the marchers considered unconstitutional searches. However, not all black leadership in the New York area support Sharpton’s opposition to the practice. Reverend Floyd Flake, former United States Congressman and pastor of Greater Allen A.M.E. Church in Jamaica, New York supports the police. “Stop and frisk is an important element to try to stop crime in the community,” Reverend Flake told a New York Times reporter. Reverend Flake believes that crime has gotten so out of control in the streets that extreme tactics are necessary to bring order back to the community. Additionally, the problem is exacerbated because the police do not live in the areas they patrol, and are often viewed from the colonial context of the past. They are considered an invading army that comes into the neighborhood to maintain peace and then leave, never really creating any semblance of a relationship with the people. As a result, too often the only contact between the residents and the police is of a confrontational nature. Midnight Basketball, sponsored every summer by police departments, is not sufﬁcient to compensate for the negative perceptions the residents

harbor toward the police. New and innovative programs must be implemented as teaching tools to bridge the gap that continues to exist between the police and the residents of inner city neighborhoods. It now appears that the constitutional issue of “stop and frisk” will ﬁnally be resolved through the courts. However, it is going to take more than a court decision to resolve the much larger problem created by a history of bad blood between the two. The solution lies in more communication between the police and the community. When the stop and frisk tactic causes more problems than what it resolves, then it is time for all police departments to halt this practice, and consider different approaches that are more acceptable to the community they are there to serve.

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AAA DRILLING

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ALAMO AUSTIN

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La Santa Muerte Devotion goes far beyond the drug cartels. by Kristen Crow story reprinted with permission from the Waco Tribune-Herald, 2011

La Santa Muerte may be the rising star of what some law enforcement agencies consider to be “narco-saints,” but her presence doesn’t appear to have taken deep root in Waco. The cult, which translates to English as The Holy Death, and the persona, sometimes referred to in English as the Death Saint, is a new phenomenon in the U.S., a transplant from her popular devotion in Mexico. Her candles can be found in the aisles at some local groceries stores, and her figurines — typically styled as a hooded skeleton, and often featured with justice scales, a globe or a scythe — can be sought out at the flea market, or an obscure store that intermingles “La Flaca,” or “The Skinny Girl,” with canonized Catholic saints and love potions. But local law enforcement agencies report few occurrences of her presence accompanying the narcotics with which she is often most associated in the U.S. And although items of Santa Muerte worship are available for purchase, local vendors said the religion is only emerging in the city, and has not yet developed a large following. The fact that items for the worship of Santa Muerte appear in Waco, surprised R. Andrew Chesnut, Ph.D., who works at the Bishop Walter Sullivan Chair of Catholic Studies located at Virginia Commonwealth University. “It means she’s in the U.S. heartland,” he said. “It’s not confined to the border or big cities.”

She first caught his attention when many of the public altars to Santa Muerte — which often consist of statues, candles and offerings that can include fruit, candy, cigarettes and alcohol in the motley assortment — were bulldozed by the Mexican government in 2009. That government defined her as an “enemy of the state,” Chesnut said. He concedes that being a “narco-saint” is “definitely part of who she is,” but the cult envelops much more. “One of the great ironies is...there are many people prosecuting the drug war who are devotees,” he said, recalling patches of Santa Muerte sometimes worn by Mexican municipal police. “She does have a special appeal...most importantly, for people who face death on a frequent basis. That’s not only narcos, but police and soldiers. She’s the representation of death itself, and who better to extend life than death?” She’s also widely considered to be a powerful healer. Most devotees of Santa Muerte consider themselves Catholic, Chesnut said. But most also believe Santa Muerte is more potent than the Catholic saints. She has a reputation for being fast and efficacious in the fulfillment of miracles, but also for being “dangerous and demanding,” he said. “Whatever promise or vow you made (for the miracle), you better...fulfill it or you and your family might be in trouble,” Chesnut said. Many believers, too, are those who feel unaccepted in the Catholic church, such as homosexuals and drug addicts, he said.

The cult A scholar who has studied what he refers to as a new religious movement for nearly two years, is preparing to publish the ﬁrst academic book in English on the subject, called “Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint.” In Mexico alone, there are an estimated 5 million devotees, he said. And alongside growth in Mexico, she’s taking a ﬁrmer presence in the U.S., according to Chesnut.

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photo courtesy of the Waco-Tribune-Herald

Tattoo artist Victor Enriquez of Steel Concepts Tattoos in Waco with some original designs featuring the Santa Muerte figure.

The background Although the beginnings of Santa Muerte have been debated, Chesnut believes she is based on a syncretism of Catholic and indigenous beliefs, and possibly the European version of the Grim Reaper that was introduced to the country by the Spanish. The cult was underground for several centuries, not appearing until the 1950s or ’60s, he said, and eventually “going public” in 2001. Santa Muerte is often shown in cloaks of varying colors, each of which has a different signiﬁcance — gold is for prosperity, for instance, while white is for purity, peace and consecration. The hue most associated with cartel activity is black, he said — that version is believed to be the protector. But while drug cartel operatives may believe the black Santa Muerte protects them from police and rival cartels, others may interpret the black Santa Muerte to protect them from a stray bullet ﬁred by one of the gang members in the most criminally active areas. “In fact, she is a spiritual multitasker,” Chesnut said.

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“On a small scale, (prosperity) can mean finding a job. . . . For a narco, it can mean that the shipment of meth makes it safely to Houston.” Before widespread publicity of her role in narcotrafficking, she was mainly used for love magic by women who thought their men were cheating, he said. Santa Muerte was intended to “bind” or punish cheating men, he said. Simplifying her role simply as a criminal figure is erroneous, Chesnut said. “That’s what’s really dangerous — there’s a lot of devotees in Mexico and in this country that have nothing to do with the drug trade,” he said. “It’s something to look into, but most Mexicans who are devotees are not narcos.”

Law enforcement Last year, Robert Almonte, the U.S. marshal for the Western District, gave a training session to local law enforcement agencies titled “Patron Saints of the Mexican Drug Underworld.” He considers Santa Muerte the fastest-growing of the narco-saints, likely eclipsing other popular ﬁgures such as Jesus Malverde, a Robin Hood-like persona.

photo courtesy of the Waco-Tribune-Herald

U.S. Marshal Robert Almonte talks about the spread of patron saint worship associated with Mexican drug cartels.

Associated Press / AP Photo

Man carries a La Santa Muerte statue during a local gathering honoring the Death Saint.

“It really educated them what the symbolism was,” he said. Several other agencies, including the local office for the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Texas Department of Public Safety, reported they had not seen the iconography associated with narcotics seizures. DPS Sr. Cpl. Charlie Morgan said he received a recent e-mail about the subject, but declined to comment further, citing concerns about sensitive information. He had not heard of any troopers finding Santa Muerte images on any of the traffic stops that yielded large drug busts, either, he said. Still, officers are trained to identify La Santisima Muerte , as she is also known, and the association with narco-trade remains prevalent. Almonte noted while the images themselves cannot be used as probable cause, understanding them and using independent investigation has “led to arrests, seizing drugs and seizing drug money.” Chesnut thinks the correlation between narcotics and Santa Muerte is the result of several high-profile drug seizures and arrests where officers found the folk saint.

Local culture Waco police spokesman Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said the department’s drug enforcement unit started coming across the items a few years ago. “(Ofﬁcers) are seeing them on some of the drug houses they have gone in on, but not overwhelmingly so,” he said. More often, Swanton said, the items have been seen in the homes of people not involved in narcotics. “Absolutely, we’re seeing them in people’s homes...and not necessarily houses we’re doing drug raids on. They’re prominent, they’re out there,” he said. “They’re not always used for bad purposes. For the larger stores to carry them, there is a business for them.” The training helped the ofﬁcers better understand what it is they’re seeing, Swanton continued.

At the Treasure City ﬂea market near Waco, a vendor who refused to give her name said in Spanish that the items are merely considered a tradition in Mexico. At her booth, she sells a myriad of spiritual items, including Catholic saint medallions, Buddhas and Santa Muerte ﬁgurines and candles. Another saleswoman at a local grocer said her employer was forced to send back an order of the statues because they sat on the shelves collecting dust. In fact, several area priests said they were not aware of a Santa Muerte movement in the area. Father Lawrence Soler of Sacred Heart Parish said he and others he spoke to were “completely in the dark” about the concept, and suggested it possibly wouldn’t be considered a religion at all.

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But at a small, unassuming store in Waco, a shopkeeper said she does brisk business with Santa Muerte merchandise. Amid candles intended to cast love spells, various herbs and Catholic medallions, there are statues of Santa Muerte of various sizes and materials. The shopkeeper fears retribution for selling the items, she said, citing a previous instance when her windows were smashed after someone took offense to her use of a different religious symbol. On a recent weekend, two three-foot statues loomed in a back corner of the store. One cloaked in red and the other in black, a dollar bill was attached to both as an offering by the purchaser before he took them home. The taller statues were speciﬁcally ordered by the request of a man from Zacatecas, she said. Other clients have requested prayer books for Santa Muerte. The woman said that she does not personally believe in Holy Death, or encourage her clients to believe in it — but respects it. She thinks the religion is not fully entrenched in the area yet, but said the requests are evidence that it is becoming more popular.

knock on anyone’s beliefs,” said Enriquez, who identiﬁed himself as a Baptist and a nonbeliever of Santa Muerte . “I just do the tattoo.” He said other skeletons such as the playful versions associated with Dia de los Muertos, called las catrinas, also are becoming more popular. Catrinas, though, should not be confused with Santa Muerte , Chesnut said. While catrina is considered a symbol of death, she is not a spiritual entity, he said. But like any other emerging trend, La Santa Muerte has made appearances in pop culture and her image is being marketed, Chesnut said. Notably, she’s played a role in the popular television series “Breaking Bad” and “Dexter,” and been mentioned in “Man on Fire,” he said. There are hoodies, ball caps, tennis shoes and jewelry now emblazoned with her image. “At the end of the day, she’s grown so much in ten years (because she is believed) to be a fast miracle worker,” Chesnut said. “And that’s what people are looking for, is miracles.”

TattooS One of the more popular offerings for Santa Muerte, experts say, is an “offering of skin” — a tattoo. Although artists at several tattoo shops said they couldn’t recall or drew very few Santa Muerte tattoos, artist Victor Enriquez of Steel Concepts Tattoos and Body Piercings said he’s created at least 20 custom designs for Waco clients during the past two years. They’ve varied from a traditional Virgin image with a skull face to a more European-looking Grim Reaper and everything in between, he said. But the only people who get them are those who are serious devotees, he said. The most popular of the colors is that for wealth, Enriquez said. Some of his more devoted clients have cried at the images because the client believed “it was going to make him have wealth, and be a better father,” he said. “I don’t judge anybody for what they do. . . . I don’t

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Hot and Bothered By Debbie McRill

Texas presents unique challenges in the weather department. There are days when you go to your car, touch the door handle and are pretty sure you just seared off your ﬁngerprints. You grab at the back of your shirt and peel it away from your slick skin. You adjust your holster and wonder if you’ll be teased if you confess you have a serious case of chaﬁng going on. Then, you look down at your watch and realize it is 7:30 in the morning and you have hours of this lovely Texas day ahead of you. Texan’s are a diverse group of people, but one Texas truth everyone seems to agree on is the struggle during the oppressive heat. Jokes abound about chickens laying hard-boiled eggs and cows giving evaporated milk. The fact is that going about daily life when the temperatures stay consistently over a hundred degrees is draining on a

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person and downright miserable. When the heat and humidity keep the temperatures sweltering late into the night, does this produce discomfort with a natural longing for cooler weather or does it produce a pressure cooker effect on moods and emotions? “The heat hypothesis states that hot temperatures can increase aggressive motives and behaviors.” According to a study, Heat and Violence, Craig A. Anderson at Iowa State University, heat does cause increased aggression. The ﬁndings are consistent. “Exposure to hot temperatures increases heart rate, endorsement of aggressive attitudes and beliefs, and feelings of hostility, all the while decreasing feelings of arousal and comfort.” Other factors may also add to the increased hostility. In hot summer months, more people are out-and-about. School is out, parents are trying to

maximize vacation time, road construction is in high gear and others are frustrated that they have to work, angry at those “idiots” on the road clogging traffic. Summer does increase the number of people in contact with each other, increasing the chances of tempers flaring with potential deadly consequences. From data gathered in 2000, you can expect an increase in murders and assaults by 2.6% in the summer and the hotter the summer, the percentage increases. This includes other types of aggressive behavior such as spousal abuse and even spontaneous riots. An increase in heart rate is one reason believed to lead to this increase in aggression. An interesting aspect of this study for police officers is that the study determined, “heat stress decreases performance of many cognitive tasks.” This translates to; less-aware, more

sluggish responses, with a topping of increased agitation, creating the trifecta of illogical behavior. The study still has questions for continuing research. For example, does heat cause other physiological activities in the body that we are not yet aware of? Because Texas has longer periods of high-heat, this can cause extra strain on an officer performing on the job. Aside from the normal caution to any situation, high temperatures present people with shorter fuses that can escalate negative behavior quicker. People that may be normally leveledheaded aren’t anymore due to actual physiological issues. As an example, if you approach two people that appear to be having a disagreement on a broiling hot sidewalk, sweat pouring from their red faces, you don’t know what to expect. Under cooler conditions, the two in disagreement may see you and realize that they were getting unruly. Your presence alone could “cool off” the situation. When extreme heat is involved, that edgy frustration may quickly escalate into an aggressive act. In a situation where normally the person begins to back away, showing that the incident is over, the person may demand to have the final word. Without the usual filters of more logical thought in place, the person may begin to yell and then the situation escalates into much more than it needed to be. As an officer in Texas, where

some years it feels like ten out of twelve months is unbearably hot, learning coping techniques is to your advantage. Understanding that you likely have many of the same, sick-of-this-heat symptoms as the general public, can help you control the situation. Pulling over a car for a traffic violation means that you will be standing on a hot, bake-yourtoes roadside typically with the constant sound of cars passing (load noise is also an irritant for heat-related aggression). To maintain the best atmosphere possible for yourself and the traffic offender, you might want to follow the advice of Susan Gillpatrick, Med, LPC, CTS. One easy tip to help you handle the situation is to breathe deeply. This small action can slow your heart rate and increase your calmness. Notice your own level of anger or agitation. Your body gives you clues that you are on edge. If you have tense muscles or if your first instinct is to tumble out with a sarcastic comment, you can learn to understand these are triggers. Also recognize other contributing factors. You may be tired, worried, or even hungry. By noticing these subtle clues, you will gain an edge to dealing with the public, when what you would rather be doing is spending five luxurious minutes in a walk-in cooler. Obviously, you may not be able to dissuade a, hot-under-the-collar, brain-is-boiling aggressor, but you may be able to lessen the situation. Just understanding that a person

may be acting irrationally to normal behavior gives you more information about the situation. If you approach a person that is talking in a raised voice and appears to be on the verge of a violent act, you may realize that you have to shift your tone. If noise increases the aggression, you may choose to speak in a quiet voice. Or, if you need to question the person, is there a spot of shade you two can step into to ask your questions? Obviously, you have training on dealing with the public. You also have your instincts that tell you how to approach a situation. However, extreme heat has other factors at play as William Shakespeare stated so well in Romeo and Juliet, “For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.” Understanding that heat-related aggression isn’t rational will give you one more tool to handle a situation.

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photo courtesy of the Greenville County website

The Extended Eyes of the Law

veryone dreams of a friendly neighborhood environment for children to play and grow up in. However, that dream is not reality. Many cities are recruiting local citizens to be an extra set of eyes. These volunteers work to decrease the frequency of crimes in the community, while providing better communication between neighbors and law enforcement ofﬁcials. Citizen’s Patrol is not a new idea, nevertheless, several cities in and around Houston are making it a top priority. Police departments are using the media like, news stations, websites, and other resources, to get the word out about volunteer opportunities. The Houston Police department provides a website dedicated to volunteer work.

The website is located at harriscountycitizencorps.com. There, volunteers can ﬁnd several different ways to get involved in the community besides just the city’s Citizen’s Patrol. On the outskirts of Houston, the city of Deer Park is located in southeast Harris county. The city offers a free Citizen‘s Police Academy in an effort to increases the collaborative partnership between residents and police ofﬁcers. Sheila Plovanich is the Deer Park Police Department Community Liaison, she provides a detail description of what the volunteers are exposed to at the academy, “This is the 14 week program where our citizens learn the inner workings of the police department. Citizen’s learn about every aspect of the police depart-

by Donna Shotwell

ment, from recruiting and training, communications, patrol duties, DWI, SWAT patrol duties, fingerprinting (lifting and taking). They also get an eight hour ride along with an officer and/or an eight hour sit in with Dispatch.” The program helps citizens experience the inter workings of the law, and to have a better understanding of what the life of an officer is really like. In addition to the Police Academy, Deer Park offers a program called the Handicap Parking Program. The program is geared to helping prevent illegal parking in handicap spaces that are reserved for people who truly need them. Ms. Plovanich explains the program, “The Deer Park Police Department Handicap Parking Program is set up so that our trained volunteers patrol

[ABOVE] Citizens on Patrol (COP) was first integrated into the Greenville Police Department's Community Programs in the late 1990s as an effort to enhance the Department's community policing concept. COP is a uniformed patrol operation comprised of trained citizen volunteers selected from the Greenville Police Department Citizens Police Academy. 26 Police Leader Magazine

the city looking for handicap parking violators. The volunteers are trained on what to look for and how to issue citations to violators.” They are trained and equipped with “handicap parking enforcement vests, police department radios, ticket books and a vehicle for patrolling for handicap parking violators.” The volunteers have legal power to write tickets to handicap parking violators throughout the city. Not everyday is the same and “some days our volun-

teers may issue eight to ten citations and other days they may only issue one or two. I think once word gets out that the program is active and violators realize that if they park illegally, they will get a ticket. Once violators are issued a $500.00 ticket, they tend to not make that mistake again.” Says, Ms. Plovanich. Its surprising to ﬁnd any violators when handicap parking spaces are usually marked with a sign and a blue handicap symbol painted on

the space. The service provided by the volunteers not only helps the handicapped, but also provides relief for ofﬁcers who can make a better use of their time responding to emergency calls. After completing the training programs the volunteer receives a certiﬁcate of completions and can join the Citizen’s Police Academy Alumni Association. The Alumni Association opens the door to more knowledgeable volunteer opportunities. Several different kinds of “volunteer programs for the Alumni Association are in the works, such as assisting in clearing warrants and starting neighborhood watch programs throughout the city” (www.deerparktx.gov/ ). The more volunteers involved in the community, the better working relationship between residents and the police department. By the success of both groups working together the goal of a safer community is within reach. The city of Deer Park is constantly seeking motivated volunteers, but not just anyone can join the Police Academy there is a criteria that must be met. You must be “18 years of age or older, live or work in Deer Park and have no criminal history (felonies or misdemeanors involving moral turpitude)” – (deerparktx.gov). Maintaining law abiding citizens that are dedicated to helping the community is what the police Two of the Deer Park Citizens on Patrol, volunteer officers, issuing a handicap parking citation.

photo by Sheila Plovanich, Community Liaison, Deer Park Police Department

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department is looking for to participate in these programs. Ms. Plovanich says that most of “our handicap parking volunteers consist of anyone who can pass a background check, and who have a genuine interest in curbing the problems of violators parking in handicap parking spaces. Some of our volunteers have been through our Citizen’s Police Academy and are a part of our Deer Park Citizen’s Police Academy Alumni Association. Some of our volunteers are retired, some are business owners, some are handicapped citizen’s, but the common goal they all share, no matter where they are coming from, is the idea that handicap parking spaces should be utilized by individuals who are handicapped and not by individuals who are abusing the system.” The thrill of writing tickets and upholding the law as an average citizen is something that would excite most people into partaking in

the offered programs. A lot of people wonder what it would be like to have the same authoritative power as a police officer, and the handicap parking program allows for residents to experience real police work first hand. While out patrolling the streets looking for handicap parking law breakers the volunteers may encounter other crimes in progress. When such a situation arises, the training program has prepared the volunteers on what procedures to follow. “If our volunteers were to see a crime in progress, they would know to radio the incident in to dispatch, attempt to get a vehicle description and license plate number or description of the person(s) in question as well as keep a safe distance from harm. The volunteers would stay in contact with dispatch until responding officers arrive and take control of the scene,” states Ms. Plovanich. The volunteers must

pay close attention to details like what a person is wearing or the type of vehicle at the seen. Giving an accurate description of details will aid police in successfully apprehending a suspect or finding the location of the crime scene faster. Volunteers must be aware of their surrounds at all times like a real law enforcement officer, so they can successfully report to the dispatchers and officers who arrive on the scene. More and more cities are creating programs that include residents to help achieve the goal of a safer community to live in. Due to budget cuts there are not enough officers available to oversee all the minor violation being committed on a daily basis. The more volunteers that are involved in maintaining a close watch on neighborhoods and streets in the community, the better the future looks for the different generations ahead.

Photo: courtesy of the City Of Converse website

The "new" Converse Citizens On Patrol vehicle sits outside the Kneupper Justice Center in Converse. The refurbished Converse patrol vehicle will now be used by the all-volunteer COPs members. 28 Police Leader Magazine

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Eyewitness Testimonies in criminal prosecutions Dr. Lyons

According to Black’s Law Dictionary, direct evidence is “evidence that is based on personal knowledge or observation and that, if true, proves a fact without inference or presumption,” whereas circumstantial evidence is “evidence based on inference and not on personal knowledge or observation.” It is fundamental and axiomatic in criminal law that direct evidence is preferable to circumstantial evidence. Even the Constitution itself requires two witnesses to convict a person of treason—the only crime it explicitly defines. Despite the clear preference for direct over circumstantial evidence, recent scientific findings have raised serious doubts about this preference. Not only have advances in the natural sciences improved the value of circumstantial evidence, but also social scientific findings have called into question many of our assumptions about the value of direct evidence. As a result, it may be time to revisit this historic hierarchy. In the natural sciences, developments in DNA science and technology, Phillip Lyons, J.D., Ph.D., is a professor in the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University and the College of Criminal Justice's liaison to the Forensic Clinical Psychology Program. He worked full-time in law enforcement from 1981 to 1989. He currently holds a Master Peace Officer license and is a reserve officer with the Alvin Police Department.

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for example, have revolutionized criminal investigation. Just a couple of decades ago, analysis of bodily fluids might produce results that would narrow down the source to a few million or hundreds of thousands of potential suspects. Now, DNA profiling can establish identity to a scientific certainty. Consequently, the chain of inferences that must be drawn in order to connect a suspect to a sample is substantially shorter. As a result, circumstantial evidence is much stronger now than previously. At the same time the natural sciences were improving the value of circumstantial evidence, the social sciences were casting doubt on direct evidence. The neuro sciences and cognitive psychology made significant advances in our understanding of how we perceive, encode, store, and retrieve experience. Previous assumptions that our brains accurately record events as if writing on a hard drive in real time have been rejected. We now know that perception is flawed, encoding is fragile, memory is malleable, and retrieval is complicated. Not surprisingly, then, eyewitness identification has turned out to be not nearly as reliable as we once thought.

The failings of eyewitness identification have recently attracted considerable attention. Since 2001 Dallas County has exonerated 32 people convicted of crimes which DNA evidence now shows they did not commit. Most of these convictions relied heavily on faulty eyewitness identification resulting in the loss of decades of freedom for these innocents. The wrongful convictions attracted the attention of the 81st Session of the Texas Legislature which passed House Bill 498 establishing the Timothy Cole Advisory Committee on Wrongful Convictions which was tasked with, among other things, looking at the issue of eyewitness identification. At the same time the legislative branch was exploring the issue, the judicial branch was also attending to it. Judge Barbara Hervey established an ad hoc committee, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Criminal Justice Integrity Unit, to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the Texas criminal justice system. Not surprisingly, in light of the developments in Dallas County and elsewhere, eyewitness identification quickly became a focus of the Unit. The 82nd Session of the Texas

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PhiLLiP LyoNS

U.S. Marshal Robert Almonte talks about the spread of patron saint worship associated with Mexican drug cartels.

Legislature took up the issue again, this time, passing House Bill 215. Codiﬁed at Article 38.20 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, the bill requires every law enforcement agency which routinely conducts photo arrays or live lineups to have a policy regulating the practice. The statute also required the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT) at Sam Houston State University to develop a sample policy and procedural guidelines based on existing research in consultation with law enforcement agencies of various sizes, prosecutors, the defense bar, and special interest groups focused on actual innocence. LEMIT staff worked tirelessly for months to develop a model policy and procedural guidelines based on current research and best practices. Once the policy was crafted, it was translated into sample procedural

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guidelines. Although agencies are under no obligation to adopt the policy and procedural guidelines, they are free to do so with confidence that the policy and procedures reflect the most current science and best practice. Perhaps the most controversial element of the LEMIT policy is the preference for sequential, as opposed to simultaneous, administration methods. With a sequential method, the witness sees each of the people in the photo spread or live line up one at a time, whereas with a simultaneous method, the suspect and fillers, also known as foils, are all shown at the same time. Research has shown that the simultaneous method produces relative judgments by the witness, that is, the witness tries to determine which person looks most like the perpetrator. By contrast, with the sequential method, the witness makes an absolute judgment about each person, that is, the witness views each person and decides whether he is or is not the perpetrator. Another important aspect of the policy articulates the preferred method of eyewitness identification. The LEMIT policy explicitly endorses the use of photo arrays as opposed to live lineups. This is so not only because the former are logistically easier, but also because of research showing that even people who were not witnesses to a crime are able to pick out the suspect from a live lineup. Obviously, information is “leaking” out somehow for this to

happen. This raises an important point about the policy and its underlying assumptions, namely, that the problems inherent in identification procedures were not necessarily the result of any intentional misconduct on the part of investigating officers, but rather, may well have stemmed from the inadvertent leakage of information. Witnesses are under great pressure — often selfimposed — to “get” the guy and the will react to any cue, however subtle and inadvertent, to do so. That pressure on witnesses leads to another policy, namely, the policy of reducing the pressure. Through a series of procedures, including the use of blank photographs or folders, instructions to witnesses (before, during, and after the identification procedure), and other techniques, witnesses are made to feel less pressure to identify a suspect. Although these approaches help remedy some of the problems associated with eyewitness identification, it remains imperfect and there is no substitute for a competent, thorough criminal investigation for minimizing reliance on a single identification.

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