Practitioner Hightlights Blog

The International Society of Crime Prevention Practitioners has lost a Practitioner, Board Member, former President and Past President and I lost a friend.  Sgt. Brian Donnelly of the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office in Greenville, South Carolina died on November 30, 2013.

       Brian had to step down from his service on the Board of Directors as Past President so he could focus on his health.  President David T. Gabel, ICPS announced this in his Presidential Ponderings last issue.

Click here to Read More

      In our current economy, it is becoming more and more difficult to increase the number of people in our organizations due to budget restraints. We have to do more, with less, to get the job done. We all are looking for ways to “step outside the box” to get projects accomplished.

       In July of this year, I was at a meeting with the Chief Operating Officer of Adams County School District 14, Ms. Sandy Mutchler. District 14 is in the City of Commerce City, Colorado, which is the city I work for. Ms. Mutchler stated she wanted to have Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) surveys done on all of her schools.  School district 14 has 13 schools. There are 7 Elementary Schools, 2 middle schools, 2 High Schools and 2 preschools. Ms. Mutchler stated she would like this done by the end of September.

Click Here to Read More

The City of Mississauga, the sixth largest city in Canada and part of the Greater-Toronto area, has a well deserved reputation for crime prevention excellence.  Not only is it the home of the Peel Regional Police (www.peelpolice.ca) and CTPED guru and ISCPP Region V Director Constable Tom McKay, but it is also the home    to   Safe   City   Mississauga (http://safecitymississauga.on.ca) and Councilor Pat Saito.  Councilor Saito has been a guiding force behind the crime prevention efforts  of both the City and Regional Councils.

Click Here to Read More

      What was your department doing July 24^th thru July 26^th? Maybe you were getting ready for National Night Out, or talking with your community on back to school safety.  Here in Commerce City, we were doing something out of the ordinary; we were taking 42 kids to the mountains for Police Camp.

       Bright and early Wednesday morning campers were dropped off at the recreation center with their sleeping bags and luggage, ready to be bused to  Mt. Evans Outdoor Lab in Evergreen, Colorado.  For many of the kids it was their first experience in the mountains or even sleeping in a sleeping bag.  Once we arrived at the camp we did some icebreaker activities and then split the group into two platoons for the week.

Click Here to Read More

We all know how advancements in technology are making our life easier, but have you ever considered the impact it is having on both the nature and frequency of crime?  Technology has become a dominant factor in why some crimes such as theft from auto, counterfeiting, identity theft, and street robberies are on the increase while others, such as break and enters, are now in decline.

       Consider for a moment the proliferation of small, high value electronic devices.  A British criminologist recently credited a 50% rise in street robberies and an historic 33% drop in burglaries to the devices.  According to University of Leicester criminology lecturer James Treadwell, a person’s most valuable electronic items are now “being carried around on them all day”.   Hence many youthful criminals have given up breaking into houses in favor of taking smaller, and relatively high value items such as cell phones, iPods and the like.  Similar trends have been reported in Canada and the United States.

Click Here to Read More