What To Know Today
NEW from THE TRACE: The NYPD is tracking possible shooters in a secret new database. Advocates worry it might include innocent people. For nearly a decade, the New York Police Department’s gang database spurred controversy, with critics contending that it used flimsy evidence to target people of color, leading the city to conduct an internal probe. Now, our reporting reveals, the NYPD is using another list made up of people the department believes are involved in recent gun violence, but sources familiar with the criteria said that people simply present at shootings could be included. Neither the NYPD nor the Mayor’s Office have announced the list’s creation, nor has the media reported on it. But two law enforcement supervisors with direct knowledge of the list confirmed that it exists. Chip Brownlee has that story with WNYC’s Ann Givens, in partnership with Gothamist.
A small group of police “crews” linked to an outsized share of use-of-force claims. A study from Chicago-based researchers evaluated how networks of officers, rather than individual “bad apples,” might be linked to bad behavior. Specifically, they analyzed the social networks of some 30,000 Chicago police officers between 1971 and 2018. In a small but significant share of cases, the researchers identified at least 160 officer groups — “crews” — who routinely coordinated abusive or sometimes criminal behavior. While those groups made up fewer than 4 percent of all Chicago police officers, they accounted for 23 percent of all officer shootings and 25 percent of use-of-force-complaints. The findings “suggest it is possible to search out the most egregious instances of police abuse in a transparent, legal, and inexpensive way,” said co-author Andrew Papachristos.
A third Oath Keeper pleads guilty to seditious conspiracy. In a filing Tuesday, prosecutors announced the charge against William Todd Wilson, a 44-year-old military and law enforcement veteran, and a member of the far-right Oath Keepers since 2016. Wilson and 11 other group members were charged with the seditious conspiracy offense. Prosecutors alleged that Wilson played a key role in setting up armed units that made plans to use force. “Wilson and other co-conspirators also amassed firearms on the outskirts of Washington, D .C., and planned to use them in support of their plot,” the filing reads. At a hearing yesterday, Wilson pledged to cooperate, joining two other Oath Keeper members who pleaded guilty. Wilson said in his admission statement that after attacking the Capitol, he was in a room with Oath Keeper founder Stewart Rhodes when Rhodes tried — unsuccessfully — to reach then-President Donald Trump and get his support for the insurrection.
Philly school board officials ask city for more help against gun-violence trauma. So far this year, 96 people aged 13 to 19 have been shot in the city, while 12 people under 18 have been killed. During a Wednesday night meeting, officials from the Philadelphia School District requested, among other things, support for creating safety zones around schools, expanding existing mental health services, and incentivizing residents to work with traumatized young people. Know someone who has been affected by gun violence in Philadelphia? Check out our Up The Block resource hub.
Data Point
124 — the number of people, on average, who died of gunshot wounds in the United States each day in 2020. [Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions]
