I had a great afternoon yesterday chatting with a group of about 40 teens who are participating in the current session of Youth Leadership Lincoln. I had the group immediately after lunch, which is a tough slot with any audience. They were pretty engaged, though, as I tried to give them a session on the art and science of crime analysis. We explored some current crime patterns, and the time just flew by.
The kids spent the day at the police department, with a variety of presenters. Earlier, Erin Sims, who directs our forensic lab, wowed them with her CSI presentation, and Capt. Dennis Duckworth spent an hour of fast talking about running the show as the Duty Commander. I was followed by Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Heavican.
Later in the afternoon, I met with our Youth Advisory Council, a group of high school freshmen, in our main conference room. We had a spirited discussion about topics I’ve blogged about before: digital footprints. I covered a couple of recent case examples, and also talked with them about the impact the emergence of widespread private CCTV, Web 2.0, and social networking have had on police work—both from the investigative standpoint and as media of enhanced communication.
Thanks for talking to me a couple of weeks back about what it takes to be a Lincoln police officer. It was nice meeting you Chief.
ReplyDeleteI hope you told them to hammer their parents about securing their garages, passage doors, and exterior doors!
ReplyDeleteYes I did! I'm going to need to pound on that some more, tormorrow, because we've had another slew of them overnight.
ReplyDeleteI think that a fair number of people read, hear, and watch the news, and they are aware of crime in a way, but they perceive it as stuff that happens in some parallel universe, and so they let it all go in one ear and out the other. Seeing someone else get their nose broken ought to be enough remind you to keep your hands up and guard your face - you shouldn't actually have your own beak cracked to get the message. You shouldn't have to be burgled in order to see the wisdom of locking your doors, all the time.
ReplyDeleteIf I was in your line of work, I'd have been bald long ago, having pulled all my hair out in exasperation (as it is, I just shave it off daily, but you see what I mean).
It is said that good comes out of all tragedy. I do not know who said it. So for now I will take the honors. Now that my ego needs have been met, I will get to the point. The recent misfortune of the shooting in Lincoln has left another life long scare on many individuals minds. Those involved and those that witnessed the event are forever changed. If one person says this will save lots of money or looks at this as an incident that has a good resolve because the person shot was an inmate, I suggest the following. For those in the profession of law enforcement it would be a sign to move on to another line of work. Gallows humor has NO PLACE in an instance where another human has lost life. Under any circumstances, such a remark or remarks should be looked on and scorned. And as for those in a position like a supervisor, this would be an opportunity to fast lane such a person to any and all counseling services available. We are what we think, as much as we are what we do in action, thoughts can fester as much of poison as an action. Easter is soon coming and this is another time to look on each of our lives to see what garbage needs taken out. Shun the wink, wink, nudge, nudge like racism, for the venom it truly is.
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