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Police Leader MagazineTRANSCRIPT
The Police Leader Magazine is published by Milton Brown, as a professional trade magazine focusing on topics relating to law enforcement and is distributedstate-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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LEADERPOLICE
3 Police Leader Magazine October 2012
164
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ISSUE #1
photo by: Josh Kulla / Wilsonville Spokesman
photo courtesy of Collin County
26
04. VICARIOUS TRAUMAby Lynn A. Tovar
Law enforcement officers face the risk of violence orwitness gruesome accident scenes, and may dealwith investigations such as child abuse or domesticabuse – the mental toll on these officers is sometimesoverlooked.
10. STOP and FRISKby Frederick J. Williams
The potentially volatile relationship between policeand Black Americans can be exacerbated with theuse of “stop and frisk” tactics.
16. La Sante Muerte - beyond drug cartelsby Kirsten Crow
A popular cult which has followers primarily in Mexicois becoming more prevalent and visible in the UnitedStates. Often associated with drugs, the saint hasdeeper connections with her followers.
22. HOT and BOTHEREDby Debbie McRill
With temperatures in Texas reaching oppressivelevels at times, aggressin or aggressive behaviorscan also increase - not only with the general public,but with officers as well.
26. EXTENDED EYES of the LAWby Donna Shotwell
Many cities are recruiting local citizens to be an extraset of eyes for the department. These volunteershelp provide communication between neighbors andlaw enforcement officers.
30. EYEWITNESS TESTIMONIESby Dr. Phillip Lyons
While witnessing a crime, perception can be flawed,encoding that information, and because memory ismalleable, retrieval of information can be complicated -making eyewitness testimonies questionable.
26
4 Police Leader Magazine
FEATURE STORY
iT
1ISSUE
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
enrich officers’ quality of life. Effec-
tive 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 compo-
nent 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 in-
creasingly 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 serv-
ices 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.
Vicarious Traumatization and Spirituality in Law Enforcement
(reprinted with permission from the FBI / fbi.gov)
By Lynn A. Tovar, Ed.D.
Police Leader Magazine 5
Vicarious Traumatization
The concept of vicarious trauma-
tization, as introduced by McCann
and Pearlman, provides a theoreti-
cal 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, inter-
personal 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 investiga-
tors 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 engage-
ment leaves them vulnerable to the
emotional and spiritual effects of
vicarious traumatization.
Officers who fall victim to
vicarious traumatization may de-
monstrate changes in their core
sense of self or psychological
foundation. These alterations
include shifts in the officers’ identi-
ties 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-
Officers pay tribute to their own, at the annual fallen officers memorial in Houston.photo by: Dave Montana
6 Police Leader Magazine
1ISSUE
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 TraumaFocused Research
To investigate how vicarious
trauma manifests in law enforce-
ment agencies, the author studied
the ways that officers deal with
these painful and horrific experi-
ences 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, psycho-
logical, 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 spirituality-
based coping mechanisms.
To gather this information, the
author interviewed 15 law enforce-
ment investigators from the Chicago
area who worked on juvenile sexual
abuse cases. She asked questions
to determine how, if at all, the
interviewees were influenced or
changed by their professional expe-
riences. 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 mecha-
nisms, 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, repres-
sion, 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
FEATURE STORY
© iStockphoto.com
Police Leader Magazine 7
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 demon-
strated 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 person-
nel combat the negative effects
of occupational stress and vicarious
traumatization. Two important
methods to improve the well-being
of officers include facilitating spiritu-
ality in the workplace and imple-
menting training programs to teach
coping mechanisms.
Spirituality in the Workplace
What is spirituality in the work-
place? 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 ideal-
ism, 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 char-
acteristics 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 organiza-
tional 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 spiri-
tual 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
8 Police Leader Magazine
FEATURE STORY1ISSUE
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 atti-
tudes, health, happiness, empower-
ment, inner peace, truth, and
healthy relationships.
Wellness Training
Once law enforcement adminis-
trators 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 develop-
ment for officers who suffer from
vicarious traumatization.
Before administrators develop
wellness programs for their depart-
ments, 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 occupa-
tional stress among their officers.
They should ask questions, such as,
How has your work affected your
personal identity, spirituality, sexual-
ity, relationships, and emotional
responsiveness? Does your work
lead to feelings of frustration and
hopelessness or to joy and accom-
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 inter-
personal communication methods.
Departments should implement
prevention measures by immedi-
ately educating new recruits on
stress and wellness. However,
continuing instruction becomes
even more important for officers
later in their careers; these experi-
enced 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 occur-
rence in a supportive group setting.
Also, peer support groups allow
officers who have been affected by
trauma to talk to fellow law enforce-
ment professionals who will listen to
them and provide assistance.
Trainers and administrators must
understand, however, that many law
© Thinkstock.com
Police Leader Magazine 9
enforcement officers fear that
acknowledging such stress impacts
their work and, thus, may not seek
help on their own.
Last, administrators must acknowl-
edge 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 admin-
istrators 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 agen-
cies across the country downsize
due to budget cuts, layoffs, or attri-
tion, it remains critical to focus on
retaining effective, hardworking
officers. Therefore, organizations
should consider the above philoso-
phies and approach training in a
holistic manner. In a workplace
where training and development
foster a culture of wellness and spir-
ituality, employees will individually
and collectively begin to create,
relate, and experience a richer,
dynamic, and more meaningful life,
both professionally and personally.
PL
10 Police Leader Magazine
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 increas-
ing 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 constitu-
tional issue; specifically the individ-
ual 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, how-
ever, 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 relation-
ship between the police and the
Black community has been turbulent.
STOP and
FRISKAn Unnecessary
Confrontation Between
the Police and
the Black Community.
1ISSUE
EDITORIAL
by
Frederick J. Williams
Adjunct Prof. of American Government,San Antonio College and Managing Edi-
tor, Divine Literary Publishing, LLC.
© Getty Images
Police Leader Magazine 11
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 main-
tain an apartheid system, it was
imperative that police have absolute
and uncontrolled power to keep the
newly freed slaves in check. In order
to use their power, the police were
not bogged down by the constitu-
tional protections guaranteed to all
its citizens. They freely violated the
Second Amendment rights of Blacks
to own weapons and Fourth
Amendment rights against unrea-
sonable search and seizure. When
arrested, Blacks were not provided
with Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth
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.
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
book, Trouble In Mind: Black South-
erners in the Age of Jim Crow,
recalls many of the negative experi-
ences 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
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 domi-
nated 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 persecu-
tors 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
[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.
“
”
Police Leader Magazine 13
but have often participated in the
illegal killing and lynching of Blacks.
The police have always acted as
enforcers of the customs and tradi-
tions 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 unconsti-
tutional 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 exac-
erbated 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 imple-
mented 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 constitu-
tional 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.
(CONTINUED) EDITORIAL
(... from p. 9)
FEATURE1ISSUE
LaSantaMuerte
Devotion goes far beyond
the drug cartels.
by Kristen Crowstory reprinted with permission from the Waco Tribune-Herald, 2011
L
Police Leader Magazine 17
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.”
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.
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 them-
selves 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 “danger-
ous 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.
18 Police Leader Magazine
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.
“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 narco-
trafficking, 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.
FEATURE STORY1ISSUE
U.S. Marshal Robert Almonte talksabout the spread of patron saintworship associated with Mexicandrug cartels.
Tattoo artist Victor Enriquez of Steel Concepts Tattoosin Waco with some original designs featuring theSanta Muerte figure.
photo courtesy of the Waco-Tribune-Herald
photo courtesy of the Waco-Tribune-Herald
Police Leader Magazine 19
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.
“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
At the Treasure City flea market near Waco, a ven-
dor 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.
Man carries a La Santa Muerte statue during alocal gathering honoring the Death Saint.
Associated Press / AP Photo
20 Police Leader Magazine
But at a small, unassuming store in Waco, a shop-
keeper 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.
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
knock on anyone’s beliefs,” said Enriquez, who identi-
fied 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 look-
ing for, is miracles.”
FEATURE STORY1ISSUE
PL
22 Police Leader Magazine
ARTICLE1ISSUE
Texas presents unique chal-
lenges 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 every-
one 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
person and downright miserable.
When the heat and humidity keep
the temperatures sweltering late into
the night, does this produce discom-
fort 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, increas-
ing 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 per-
centage 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 in-
crease in aggression. An interesting
aspect of this study for police offi-
cers is that the study determined,
“heat stress decreases performance
of many cognitive tasks.” This
translates to; less-aware, more
Hot and BotheredBy Debbie McRill
Police Leader Magazine 23
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 leveled-
headed 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 side-
walk, 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 situ-
ation 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-your-
toes 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 real-
ize 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.
26 Police Leader Magazine
ARTICLE1ISSUE
Everyone dreams of a
friendly neighborhood en-
vironment 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 enforce-
ment 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
harriscountycit izencorps.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 south-
east 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-
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 Dis-
patch.” The program helps citizens
experience the inter workings of the
law, and to have a better under-
standing of what the life of an officer
is really like.
In addition to the Police Acad-
emy, Deer Park offers a program
called the Handicap Parking Pro-
gram. 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
photo courtesy of the Greenville County website
by Donna Shotwell
[ABOVE] Citizens on Patrol (COP) was first integrated into the Greenville Police Department's CommunityPrograms in the late 1990s as an effort to enhance the Department's community policing concept. COP isa uniformed patrol operation comprised of trained citizen volunteers selected from the Greenville PoliceDepartment Citizens Police Academy.
The Extended Eyesof the Law
Police Leader Magazine 27
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 through-
out 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 opportuni-
ties. 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 commu-
nity, 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
photo by Sheila Plovanich, Community Liaison, Deer Park Police Department
Two of the Deer Park Citizens onPatrol, volunteer officers, issuing ahandicap parking citation.
28 Police Leader Magazine
ARTICLE1ISSUE
department is looking for to participate
in these programs. Ms. Plovanich
says that most of “our handicap
parking volunteers consist of any-
one 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 volun-
teers 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 handi-
capped 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 individ-
uals 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 "new" Converse Citizens On Patrol vehicle sits outside the Kneupper Justice Center in Converse. Therefurbished Converse patrol vehicle will now be used by the all-volunteer COPs members.
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 num-
ber 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 ac-
curate 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 creat-
ing 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
30 Police Leader Magazine
COLUMN1ISSUE
According to Black’s Law
Dictionary, direct evidence is “evi-
dence that is based on personal
knowledge or observation and that,
if true, proves a fact without infer-
ence 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 prefer-
ence. 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 assump-
tions about the value of direct
evidence. As a result, it may be time
to revisit this historic hierarchy.
In the natural sciences, develop-
ments in DNA science and technology,
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 thou-
sands 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 experi-
ence. 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 compli-
cated. Not surprisingly, then,
eyewitness identification has turned
out to be not nearly as reliable as we
once thought.
The failings of eyewitness identi-
fication 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 convic-
tions relied heavily on faulty eyewit-
ness 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 estab-
lishing 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 estab-
lished an ad hoc committee, the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Criminal Justice Integrity Unit, to
examine the strengths and weak-
nesses of the Texas criminal justice
system. Not surprisingly, in light of
the developments in Dallas County
and elsewhere, eyewitness identifi-
cation quickly became a focus of
the Unit.
The 82nd Session of the Texas
Dr. Lyons
Eyewitness Testimoniesin criminal prosecutions
Phillip Lyons, J.D., Ph.D., is a professor in the Collegeof Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University andthe College of Criminal Justice's liaison to the ForensicClinical Psychology Program. He worked full-time in lawenforcement from 1981 to 1989. He currently holds aMaster Peace Officer license and is a reserve officer withthe Alvin Police Department.
32 Police Leader Magazine
COLUMN1ISSUE
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 Man-
agement Institute of Texas (LEMIT)
at Sam Houston State University to
develop a sample policy and proce-
dural guidelines based on existing
research in consultation with law en-
forcement 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
guidelines. Although agencies are
under no obligation to adopt the
policy and procedural guidelines,
they are free to do so with confi-
dence that the policy and proce-
dures 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, adminis-
tration 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 under-
lying 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 self-
imposed — 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 photo-
graphs or folders, instructions to wit-
nesses (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 identifi-
cation, it remains imperfect and
there is no substitute for a compe-
tent, thorough criminal investigation
for minimizing reliance on a single
identification.
PhiLLiP LyoNS
© Getty Images
U.S. Marshal Robert Almonte talksabout the spread of patron saintworship associated with Mexicandrug cartels.