Region 11 News Flash

International Police Association Region 11

President’s Message

By Bob Killen

The August Meeting well with those in attendance and the Board thanks all there and their in- put as a request was passed around for their input. The Meeting was the night for Nominations for the up-coming Board (November) for the next 3 years. Nominations were made, as you can see in this newsletter and all were un-opposed.

During the meeting I requested that the Region had a visitor who was in need of lodging. The Swiss Police Officer, Daphne Daetwyle and her dog (Harper) are touring the USA and had booked a rental facility which she had paid for a month in advance was having some issues and was afraid to stay there. 2 members at the meeting volunteered to offer her lodging during her stay. Rose Murphy (bless her heart) came forward and I contacted them. Harper the dog included. I also thank Laszio for volunteering his residence. IPA Friendship at its best.

Daphne cut her south Florida time short to leave by car for her cross trip to California.

She will return to the area in January for her flight back to Switzerland and promised to make contact with the Region when she does.

Laszio also did a presentation for a trip (tour) to Hungary which was well accepted with many questions. The target date will be in April of 2017 and was for 7 days; but some inquired about a 10 trip which can be arranged. Myself having been to Hungary 2 different times can say its an excellent program. The Region needs a minimum of 10 people for the trip. For those interested; send me an email of your interest. The 7 day trip will be around $575.00 + airfare PP. The 10 day slightly more. And includes meals, cultural events, etc. More information to follow. Thanks Laszio for the search and work. The new Board will take place at the end of the November meeting. And will work together to forge into the new year with new ideas.

The new Board will meet in November. And of course the board (presently and new) welcome ideas for Region 11. I also want to thank Rich Kreuter for attending the meeting and volunteering some of his expertise that includes organizing the roster and assistance in other areas. The Region did miss his expertise, but we are glad to have him back. The new board will work hard to make the suggestions made at the meeting come to light. Bring the ideas to the Board.

I hope all enjoy this Labor Day Holiday and the hamburgers and hotdogs don’t get you sick and stuffed. And once again I thank the individuals that were nominated for officers accepting the position as they don’t get paid well.

In closing I cordially invite you and your associates, friends to the end of the year Barbecue at my house on Sunday September 11, 2016 at 2:30 PM.

RSVP requested SEE BELOW.

There will be another barbecue at my house and all are invited.

IPA Program Budapest dollar prices

Program proposal:

1st day:  Arrival to Budapest, travel to hotel, and dinner at the hotel (if someone is hungry)

2nd day: Szentendre, Visegrad (entire day program) lunch is available for a special discounted price at restaurant.

3rd day: Visit to the Arthur Troop Park at  Jaszszentandras and the Police Museum in Tarnamera

  Lunch at Szepasszonyvolgy Kulacs Restaurant in Eger, getting to know the sights of Eger

  5PM: leaving Eger, travelling back to the hotel

4th day:  9AM Visit to the National (Command) Center of the Hungarian Police

  11:30 AM: Visit to the Parliament

  1:00 PM: Lunch

  2:30 PM: Budapest sightseeing tour, Castle of Buda, Heroes Square

  7:00 PM: Dinner and folk program at the Borkatakombak restaurant

5th day: Free program in the morning (i.e.: Shopping, swimming at the famous baths of Budapest, such as Szechenyi-, Gellert- or Lukacs bath)

  For the afternoon: 2:00 PM Visit to the Mansion of the King in Godollo, then dinner and horse show in Domony valley

6th day: Visiting and shopping at the famous Central Market Hall, lunch at the Market Hall

  Walk in Vaci street (it’s like the 5th Ave in NYC, many shops and interesting historical buildings)

  Dinner and Budapest by night on Citadel on Gellert Hill

7th day: leaving Budapest

  Prices/person:

  Hotel: 8200 HUF ($29.49) including breakfast (per night) + plus 400 HUF/person tourism tax (per night, per person)($1.43), lunch 4000 HUF (per person, per day) ($14.38), dinner: 6000 HUF (per person, per day) ($21.60)

  Travel: rent of bus (depending on number of guests and distance) between 40000-80000 HUF/day ($143.88-$287.66) divided among the participants

  Entrance fees: on 4 occasions, 2000 HUF/occasion/person ($7.19)

The hotels (Hotel Benczur, Hotel Medosz, Hotel Happy) can accommodate guests in 1, 2, 3 or 4-bedded rooms

These rates were calculated with the following exchange rate 1USD=278 HUF (July 30th, 2016, xe.com)

REGION 11 NOMINATIONS RESULTS:

The August meeting at Bru’s Room went well and I thank everyone in attendance;

President: Bob Killen (Present President)
1st VP: Bob Lundquist (Present 3rd VP)
2nd VP: Jim Reid (Present 2nd VP)
3rd VP Dirk Lowry (Present 1st VP)
Secretary-Treasurer: Bob Hurley (Present Secretary-Treasurer)

The Secretary-Treasurer was voted on as a joint position as permitted by National By-Law and now becomes a Region mandate as voted on by the members in attendance.

All the positions were un-opposed and the Officers will take Office at the November meeting for the next 3 years.

LABOR DAY

TRAINING

From a 2015 article in Policeone.com. Thanks to Officer Shuman for bringing it back for review.

Good reminder. Two words you should never put in your police report.
If you keep putting these words in your reports, there’s a good chance you’ll end up eating them in court

Have you written in a report that a subject “appeared nervous” during a traffic stop, a field interview, a DWI checkpoint, a pat down, or other police-citizen encounter?

I put this question to many police officers when I instruct them on improving their courtroom testimony, and most reply in the affirmative. So, it’s highly probable that you just nodded and thought to yourself, “yes.”

The problem with the words “appeared nervous” is that, while you may think it’s an observation, it’s not. It’s your opinion about behaviors you observed. And defense attorneys will comb through your report looking for opinions they can use to cross examine you to show bias.

A Training Scenario
It’s fair to say there are countless ways for people to appear nervous. Some individuals get quiet when they’re nervous, others get talkative. Some shiver or tremble as if they’ve gone cold, others sweat as if they are too hot. Some blush, some go pale. There are also things other than nervousness that might explain these appearances.

Finally, some people who are genuinely innocent of wrongdoing may simply get nervous when they see a police officer’s cruiser beside the freeway. Some of those people may be sitting in the jury box when you’re questioned by a defendant’s attorney.

Consider this mock-jury scenario I use when training officers. It is a DWI case involving a defendant named Mrs. Baxter. The arresting officer wrote in his report that the suspect “appeared nervous.” He also wrote she had bloodshot eyes, a moderate odor of alcoholic beverage, and an occasional slight slurring of speech. She failed the SFSTs and blew a .12. Now the officer is on cross examination at trial.

Q: Officer, you noted in your report that my client, Mrs. Baxter, appeared nervous? A: That’s correct.

Q: You’d never met Mrs. Baxter before this incident, had you? A: No.

Q: You have no idea how Mrs. Baxter appears when she’s, in fact, nervous – do you? A: No.

Q: You didn’t ask her if she was nervous, did you? A: No.

Q: How long do you think that would have taken? A: Not long.

Q: So your statement Mrs. Baxter “appeared nervous” was your opinion, wasn’t it?

Years ago, as a young prosecutor, I found this training scenario in a book written by defense attorneys on how to defend drunk driving cases, and it left a lasting impression.

You can probably see where it ends up. At least some, if not most of the jurors know they would be nervous as soon as the officer turned on his flashing lights. The defense attorney will go on to make the point that the officer didn’t ask poor Mrs. Baxter if she was nervous — which would’ve taken a couple of seconds.

Of course, the officer didn’t ask her whether there was anything else that might be causing the behaviors that looked like nervousness. The officer formed a personal opinion (that Mrs. Baxter was nervous) and included that opinion in his report because he thought it was relevant evidence of guilt.

The officer on the stand can try and deny this was an opinion, but it was an opinion. Denying it will make the officer look evasive. The defense attorney’s closing argument to the jury will likely include:

“Heaven help you if Officer _____ stops you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, and he decides you’re nervous. Because in his mind that’s an indication you’re guilty and we know that has to affect the rest of his investigation.”

Yes, there might be something the prosecution can do with this on re-direct examination but why put either the prosecutor or the officer in a position of having to defend the officer’s conduct. Defense attorneys love that because it distracts the jury from who is really on trial and the evidence related to their client’s guilt.

Stick to your observations.
For example, “When I asked Mrs. Baxter if she’d been drinking, she looked away, her hand holding her license began to shake, and her bloodshot eyes filled with tears.”

Start preparing for court when you write your report.

Department of Health Daily Zika Update

Good afternoon, please find below today’s Florida Department of Health (FDOH) Daily Zika Update.

You can access all previous FDOH Daily Zika updates at the following link: http://www.floridahealth.gov/newsroom/all-articles.html.

Additional relevant Zika documents can be found in the OEM Google Drive repository, via this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4uu30EmN5CWNUhPQktnczc2VmM. —

Sept. 1, 2016 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH DAILY ZIKA UPDATE
Contact:
Communications Office
NewsMedia@flhealth.gov
850-245-4111
Tallahassee, Fla.

—In an effort to keep Florida residents and visitors safe and aware about the status of the Zika virus, the department will issue a Zika virus update each week day. Updates will include a Zika case count by county and information to keep Floridians informed and prepared. In order to keep the public informed, the department has posted our investigation process here.

There are seven new travel related cases today, three in Miami-Dade, two in Broward, one in Osceola and one in Sarasota. Please visit our website to see the full list of travel-related cases.

There are two new non-travel related cases today in Miami-Dade County. One is associated with the area in Miami-Beach. The other is associated with Wynwood and experienced symptoms in July. CDC results to rule out other mosquito-borne illness were just received.

DOH continues door-to-door outreach and targeted testing in Pinellas, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties and mosquito abatement and reduction activities are also taking place around the locations that are being investigated. DOH believes ongoing transmission is only taking place within the small identified areas in Wynwood and Miami Beach in Miami-Dade County, see maps below.

One case does not mean ongoing active transmission is taking place. DOH conducts a thorough investigation by sampling close contacts and community members around each case to determine if additional people are infected. If DOH finds evidence that active transmission is occurring in an area, the media and the public will be notified. For a complete breakdown of non-travel and travel-related Zika infections to-date, please see below.

The department is currently conducting 13 investigations. Information regarding the investigations can be found here. If investigations reveal additional areas of active transmission, the department will announce a defined area of concern.

The department has conducted Zika virus testing for more than 4,452 people statewide. Florida currently has the capacity to test 5,755 people for active Zika virus and 6,852 for Zika antibodies. At Governor Scott’s direction, all county health departments now offer free Zika risk assessment and testing to pregnant women.

Florida’s small case cluster is not considered widespread transmission, however, pregnant women are advised to avoid non-essential travel to the impacted area in Miami-Dade County (see map below). If you are pregnant and must travel or if you live or work in the impacted area, protect yourself from mosquito bites by wearing insect repellent, long clothing and limiting your time outdoors.

According to CDC guidance, providers should consider testing all pregnant women with a history of travel to a Zika affected area for the virus. It is also recommended that all pregnant women who reside in or travel frequently to the area where active transmission is likely occurring be tested for Zika in the first and second trimester. Pregnant women in the identified area can contact their medical provider or their local county health department to be tested and receive a Zika prevention kit. CDC recommends that a pregnant woman with a history of Zika virus and her provider should consider additional ultrasounds. Additionally, the department is working closely with the Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade County to identify pregnant women in the impacted areas to ensure they have access to resources and information to protect themselves. CDC recommends that a pregnant woman with a history of Zika virus and her provider should consider additional ultrasounds.

Pregnant women can contact their local county health department for Zika risk assessment and testing hours and information. A Zika risk assessment will be conducted by county health department staff and blood and/or urine samples may be collected and sent to labs for testing. It may take one to two weeks to receive results.

Florida has been monitoring pregnant women with evidence of Zika regardless of symptoms. The total number of pregnant women who have been or are being monitored is 80.

On Feb. 12, Governor Scott directed the State Surgeon General to activate a Zika Virus Information Hotline for current Florida residents and visitors, as well as anyone planning on traveling to Florida in the near future. The hotline, managed by the Department of Health, has assisted 5,329 callers since it launched. The number for the Zika Virus Information Hotline is 1-855-622-6735.

The department urges Floridians to drain standing water weekly, no matter how seemingly small. A couple drops of water in a bottle cap can be a breeding location for mosquitoes. Residents and visitors also need to use repellents when enjoying the Florida outdoors.

For more information on DOH action and federal guidance, please click here.

For resources and information on Zika virus, click here.

State of Florida

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