Some Representative Press Reports
Port Townsend and Jefferson County Leader
Editorial:
Farewell to a good cop
Scott Wilson, Editor/Publisher
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
We're sorry to see Mike Brasfield
hang up his badge as Jefferson County Sheriff and head back into private
life. But we understand, and wish him the best in his latest retirement
from active law enforcement.
Brasfield promised Jefferson County
voters a great deal when he first emerged from his Port Ludlow home in
2003 and ran for sheriff. He would bring his 30-plus years of top level
law enforcement management training and experience to our rural,
understaffed and poorly trained department, and he would remake it in
accordance with high professional standards.
Voters bet on him over a popular
opponent (Port Townsend Police Chief Kristen Anderson). And when they
had a chance to tell him they thought he delivered - in his re-election
bid in 2007 - they did it resoundingly. He won with 80 percent of the
vote.
Brasfield has done many things, some
of them public, some of them not.
He has repaired a jail and jail
administration that was broken enough to be a magnet for inmate
lawsuits.
He has amped up the professionalism
of his staff through an emphasis on training and law enforcement ethics.
He has re-established broken professional relationships with neighboring
agencies.
He has walked the walk, including
taking tough steps toward disciplining officers who were out of line.
The most recent example was Deputy Brian Post, who was terminated for
coming to work under the influence of alcohol.
He was one of the few local law
enforcement professionals with the breadth of experience, the wisdom and
the guts to turn down offers of cash and equipment from the U.S. Border
Patrol. It came with strings - a commitment to get his department more
involved in the Border Patrol's enforcement of civil immigration laws.
He didn't like immigrants being characterized as "illegal aliens," and
he didn't like local law enforcement being characterized on the other
side as the "friendly forces." The terminology was a reminder that the
Border Patrol is populated by many ex-military personnel, while
Brasfield remains the epitome of community-based policing.
He has been appointed to high-level
commissions, including the Washington State Sentencing Guidelines
Commission, a state board on police training, and was vice president of
the Washington State Sheriffs' Association.
Jefferson County is only the latest
place that Brasfield made better. He spent 26 years with the Seattle
Police Department, starting as a beat cop and rising to become assistant
chief. He spent six years as chief of the Fort Lauderdale Police
Department. That's when he retired the third time, and we coaxed him out
of his Port Ludlow home.
Brasfield isn't completely gone from
law enforcement. He has established a consulting company that allows him
to help other departments with a wide range of difficult subjects,
including internal investigations, case and court preparation, and
police best practices.
He's named a good man as his
successor in Undersheriff Tony Hernandez.
Mike, you've been a class act.
Content © 2009 Port Townsend
Publishing Company, Inc.
Sun-Sentinel
Fort Lauderdale chief will retire
BRITTANY WALLMAN
Staff writer
April 3, 2001
FORT LAUDERDALE -- The city's well-liked police chief,
Michael
Brasfield, announced his resignation on Monday from the helm of the county's
largest municipal police department.
Brasfield, 57, said he wanted his career to end on a high note and return to the
retirement life he had begun when he was recruited for the Fort Lauderdale post.
"I've seen so many chiefs in the last 30-some years who are forced out or appear
to be forced out. Right now, I may be naive, but the city seems pretty stable."
The chief from Seattle was popular -- even the union liked him.
"I'm sorry to see him go," said Tom Mangifesta, president of the Fraternal Order
of Police. "He was always real positive."
Mangifesta said the chief was perceived by many of his officers as being fair,
friendly and willing to listen. Mayor Jim Naugle agreed.
"He came to our city police department at a difficult time and he served our
city well and he certainly will be missed," Naugle said.
The city's previous police chief, Thomas McCarthy, stayed only 18 months. He
filled the spot of former chief, Joe Gerwens, now with the Broward Sheriff's
Office, who left after a tumultuous period in which he was investigated and
cleared of sexual misconduct allegations.
Brasfield wrote a letter to the city manager on Friday, then mass e-mailed his
police force on Monday. He said he will stay six months so the city has time to
hire a replacement.
Brasfield made $120,000 a year overseeing the $60 million budget, about 500
sworn officers, and 300 civilian staff.
He was plucked from retirement in Seattle, after a 27-year career there, ending
as executive assistant chief. But he has spent a month each summer fixing up a
retirement cabin on the water in the Seattle area, he said. He and his wife will
move to Seattle, where Brasfield will be near his 79-year-old mother, his
brother and his son.
Brasfield, president of the Broward County Chiefs of Police Association, said
the two low points of his tenure here were the 1996 murder of Officer Bryant
Peney, and the death of his wife, Nancy, in 1997.
But he said he was proud of polls showing great public confidence in the force,
and decreases in crime that surpassed the national reduction levels.
Brasfield said he has no consulting job or plans for work.
Brittany Wallman can be reached at 954-356-4541 or bwallman@sun-sentinel.com.
Copyright © 2001,
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Miami Herald
Published
Tuesday, April 3, 2001
Lauderdale police chief resigning
Brasfield, 57, moving
to be with his family
By BRAD BENNETT
bbennett@herald.com
Michael Brasfield, Fort Lauderdale's police
chief who is credited with reducing crime and improving race relations, has
announced he will resign to spend time with family on the Pacific Coast.
``I am now 57 years of age and have reached
a crossroads in my personal and professional life,'' Brasfield said Monday in
his letter of resignation. ``I do not know what that future may hold, but in the
meantime I intend to resume the interrupted retirement that I had just begun to
enjoy over six years ago.''
His resignation takes effect on Sept. 29.
Former City Manager George Hanbury in 1995
hired Brasfield from Seattle -- where he was assistant police chief -- into a
department that had struggled for years with scandals at the top levels, union
and political controversy, and budget and staffing woes.
Brasfield is credited with improving those
areas.
``He's a gentleman,'' City Commissioner
Gloria Katz said. ``I respect him. I think he's fair.''
Mayor Jim Naugle and City Manager Floyd
Johnson credited Brasfield, who makes about $150,000 a year in salary and
benefits, with helping to reduce crime.
The number of reported major crimes in Fort
Lauderdale declined last year by 17 percent from the previous year, compared
with an overall drop of 13.4 percent countywide, according to the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement.
``He served the city well and he'll be
missed,'' Naugle said.
``Chief Brasfield has performed absolutely
admirably for the city of Fort Lauderdale,'' Johnson said, adding that he has
not yet decided whether to replace Brasfield from inside or outside the
ranks....
...city officials and community members
praised Brasfield's efforts as chief.
One of his first official acts as chief in
1996 was to suspend and fire an officer who took part in a racist skit.
``I think the chief brought a lot of
professionalism to that job,'' civic activist Leola McCoy said. ``With each step
we take, we make a little more progress.''
Johnson cited Brasfield's record for
improving diversity by promoting women and minorities.
Earlier this year, the department hired
Michael Stitt, the only Haitian, Creole-speaking officer on the force.
Said Marvin Dejean, spokesman for Minority
Development & Empowerment, Inc./Haitian Community Center of Broward: ``We're
very thankful that he was here.''
Law Enforcement News
Vol. XXVII, No. 553
A publication of
John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY
April 15, 2001
Time to go
With his city appearing to be in good shape and his
popularity running high with both residents and his officers, Fort Lauderdale,
Fla., Police Chief Michael Brasfield is getting out while the getting is
good.
The 57-year-old Brasfield, who retired as assistant executive chief of the
Seattle Police Department in 1995, only to be lured back into policing in Fort
Lauderdale a few months later, tendered his resignation March 30 after leading
the Florida department for six years. His retirement takes effect Sept. 29...
Ft. Lauderdale Police Department Selects Motorola Wireless
Data Communications Solution
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. May 5, 1997 --The Ft. Lauderdale,
Florida, Police Department has awarded Motorola's Land Mobile Products Sector
(LMPS) a contract to deliver 66 Motorola FORTE' Wireless CommPads, a ruggedized,
pen-based hand-held computing system, to streamline its communications and
reporting system. The Ft. Lauderdale Police Department's purchase is part of an
overall department strategy to introduce a paperless reporting system for
officers in the field.
Using Motorola's FORTE' Wireless CommPads, running PoliceWorksTM software,
Ft. Lauderdale officers will have access to real-time information from local,
state or federal databases for checking license tags or a suspect's arrest
record without having to rely on a dispatcher. Officers can simply download
reports into the department's mainframe computer from the field, eliminating the
need to re-type handwritten reports and offering significant savings in time and
expense.
"We are really excited about the possibilities of what we can do with these
computers," said Police Chief Michael Brasfield. "Our department has used
Motorola two-way radios for many years, but recently the City decided to bring
the department up to state-of-the-art standards. We knew we needed the
portability of mobile communications and we looked at all the options before
choosing Motorola."
The ruggedized FORTE' Wireless CommPad, developed by Motorola's Worldwide
Data Solutions Division, uses an internal data radio and a pen-based user
interface on Motorola's UHF and 800 MHz Private DataTACTM two-way radio data
communications networks. With many installation choices including pen-based
systems for outside applications, or keyboard modules for in-vehicle systems
with docking stations, officers can activate on-screen windows and icons to pull
up report forms or diagrams of accident scenes. This system also enables
officers to draw on the screens to show the location of cars or pedestrians.
Icons can also be programmed for customized messaging functions.
Motorola's PoliceWorks is a fully-integrated, Windows (R)-based law
enforcement software package that simplifies time-consuming and redundant
report-writing tasks. The most common police reports such as traffic citations,
accidents, incidents, field interviews, arrests/bookings and towing can be
rapidly completed on-scene and transmitted over the wireless network back to
headquarters.
The FORTE' Wireless CommPad was a recipient of the 1996 Industrial Design
Excellence Award (IDEA) in the Business & Industrial Products Category.
Motorola's Worldwide Data Solutions Division is one of the world's leading
providers of total wireless data solutions from devices and software to systems
integration and networks for public safety, field service and other
organizations worldwide, from on-site to wide-area communications.
Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.
http://www.mot.com/LMPS/pressreleases/ftlaud.html
"Criminal Faces in the Crowd Still
Elude Hidden ID Cameras" Los Angeles Times (02/02/01); P.A1 Piller, Charles; Meyer, Josh; Gorman,
Tom
Facial recognition technology is still
a fairly small industry, and its reliability is still being questioned.
According to Jim Wayman, director of San Jose State University's
Biometric Test Center, laboratory test results indicate that the
technology is not effective for more than a "rough filtering" of
suspects. A recent study done by the National Institute of Standards and
Technology demonstrated a 43 percent false rejection rate by the
computer of same suspect photos taken 18 months apart. A similar test
with substantially identical results is forthcoming from the Defense
Department. At the recent Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., police used Graphco
Technology to secretly scan the faces of 100,000 spectators and were
able to identify 19 people who, when crosschecked to data files, did
have criminal histories. Prior to the testing at the Super Bowl, Tampa
police had given Graphco a databank of 1,700 people who had criminal
records stemming from ticket scalping and fraud to violent crimes. Las
Vegas casinos are also using the new technology, but one software
manufacturer, Images Technologies, has already cautioned them about the
effectiveness being compromised by casino lighting. To effectively
identify someone inside a casino is a challenge, not only because of the
lighting, but also because of camera angles. Experts recommend that
cameras need to be developed that have a 360-degree rotation flexibility
and the capability to rapidly zoom in on targets. Many communities are
using the technology to snap photos of traffic violators, then mail the
person a ticket, or they use it to observe crowds in the town's more
commercial places. While there are some who might feel that the covert
nature of the technology violates personal rights,
Michael D. Brasfield,
the chief of police in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., believes that "any
technology that can enhance public safety but not violate the individual
rights of citizens is worth pursuing." |
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Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Michael Brasfield was sworn
in as president of the Broward County Chiefs of Police Association. Attorney
General Bob Butterworth officiated the ceremony at the Fort Lauderdale Car
Museum on January 26th. Chief Brasfield has served as Fort Lauderdale's Police
Chief since July 1995. Prior to that he was the Executive Assistant Chief of the
Seattle Police Department, serving with that agency for 27 years.
Friday, April 19, 2002,
12:00 a.m. Pacific
South downtown pays for beat cops
By Alex Fryer
Seattle Times staff reporter
An association representing Pioneer
Square and the Chinatown International District has signed a first-of-its-kind
deal with the Seattle Police Department to pay for two full-time beat cops
devoted exclusively to their neighborhoods.
The two-year, $325,000 contract completed yesterday illustrates the desire
of business districts across the city for old-style community policing, an
approach to crime that is more Mayberry and less Gotham City.
A Broadway merchant group is working on a similar plan. In about a year,
boosters hope to assess Capitol Hill property owners roughly $2,300 to pay for
a pair of Seattle patrol officers to walk the neighborhood.
Though foot and bike patrols cannot prevent random crimes such as the death
of 33-year-old Demetri Andrews, who died Friday after a confrontation on
University Way Northeast, business associations say beat cops make life tough
for the bad guys while ensuring shoppers and residents that help is nearby.
"It's better community policing. It's the same people every day," said Todd
Graham, executive director of the South Downtown Foundation, which represents
residents and merchants in Pioneer Square, the Chinatown International
District and an area south of Safeco Field known as North Duwamish. "You'd
think it'd be a no-brainer."
Police officials say they often assign officers to walk beats in
neighborhoods. But responding to 911 calls takes priority, and foot patrols
are often redeployed for emergencies.
"Our primary deployment is based on 911 calls and public-safety
requirements," Deputy Chief Clark Kimerer said. "The needs (of business
districts) will have to take a back seat compared to who needs help and how
fast do we need to be there to help them."
The South Downtown Foundation was formed in 1999 as a way to address the
impact of the new football stadium. The foundation manages $6 million
contributed by Paul Allen's First & Goal, which manages stadium construction.
A public-safety study commissioned by the foundation heard complaints from
residents and property owners about inadequate police visibility and long
response times to emergency calls. The study also noted that business
officials in the area didn't want to pay extra for neighborhood security.
Nonetheless, the foundation signed a contract with the city that will pay
for two uniformed police officers to work in the neighborhoods.
The South Downtown officers will report to the West Precinct and respond to
emergencies if needed. They will not respond to routine 911 calls, however,
focusing instead on walking the neighborhood and solving chronic problems such
as drug dealing and aggressive panhandling.
The contract specifies that the department will not reduce the current
level of police staffing in the sector.
"There will be a heavy emphasis on community policing. They will really get
to know the business people and residents in the area," said
Mike Brasfield, a former Seattle assistant
chief who now advises the South Downtown Foundation.
The department estimates that the salary and benefits of each officer will
amount to $72,439 annually. The foundation will reimburse the department for
the salaries, as well as accounting, record-keeping and vehicle costs. The
department will pay for equipment such as service weapons, handcuffs and
vests.
"It's new ground for Seattle," said Assistant Chief Jim Pugel. He said the
officers would be absorbed into the department and reassigned after the
contract expires, unless the foundation or another neighborhood group renews
the deal.
Pugel said the department was amenable to the South Downtown Foundation
contract because Pioneer Square is one of highest-crime areas in the city. He
said future contracts would also be limited to neighborhoods with significant
public-safety issues.
Business groups on Broadway are watching the South Downtown experiment
carefully.
Although the East Precinct has a five-officer bike team that patrols
Capitol Hill and the Central Area, local merchants want police to walk along
Broadway, said Barry Rogel, owner of the Deluxe Bar and Grill and president of
the Capitol Hill Safety Coalition.
Twenty years ago, beat cops routinely strolled through the area, he said.
Now, police are stretched thin, and locals are worried that greater numbers of
street youth and chronic inebriates are starting to affect business.
"If there is a perception of public safety (problems), you lose foot
traffic. If you lose foot traffic, I go out of business," Rogel said.
The Broadway Business Improvement Area, which represents about 250
merchants, is considering expanding its boundaries and assessing property
owners to raise about $1 million, in part, to subsidize two officers to
exclusively work Broadway.
"Public safety is our Number 1 issue," Rogel said. "Are we thrilled to
self-assess ourselves to do it? No, but I have to do this to make my customers
feel safe."
Monica Moe, executive director of the Broadway Business Improvement Area,
added: "We want to do something now so we don't degenerate to the level of The
Ave."
Teresa Lord Hugel, executive director of the Greater University Chamber of
Commerce, said she started her job in September and quickly noticed a pall
over the neighborhood. Drug dealing was rampant. Street kids hassled
passers-by.
"There seemed to be some energy around that the streets were fair game,"
she said. "When I started seeing open drug activity, I was getting pretty
distressed."
The chamber had funds to pay off-duty patrol officers to walk University
Way Northeast, known as "The Ave," about 80 hours a month, but it wasn't
enough. Lord Hugel began pestering her local precinct for added patrols, and
in February, the precinct responded.
Three officers now walk The Ave, said Lt. Steven Paulsen, watch commander
at the North Precinct. He'd like to add a fourth.
"The biggest benefit in having a foot patrol is it brings the officers
closer to the citizens," said Paulsen. "You're not shielded by a patrol car.
It allows officers to really know what's going on in their area."
But the officers are not part of a dedicated foot patrol, so they must
respond to 911 calls. And police officials are watching the officers'
productivity. If crime starts to dip on The Ave, the cops will stay on foot.
If the situation remains stagnant, or response time to emergency calls climbs,
they will be reassigned to cars, Kimerer said.
The department must constantly balance the needs of a business district
with the community at large, he said. That tug of war may prompt more areas to
consider paying for their own protection.
"The Police Department has an obligation for general protection, not
specific protection," Kimerer said. "Not a specific person, not a specific
community. We are obligated to provide public safety to everyone."
Alex Fryer can be reached at 206-464-8124 or
afryer@seattletimes.com.
Surveillance planned for Pioneer Square
Group sees a crime deterrent, but others say the plan
smacks of Big Brother
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
By PHUONG CAT LE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The next time you wander through parts of Pioneer Square, electronic eyes
may be watching and recording your every move.
The Pioneer Square Community Association plans to install three
closed-circuit television cameras, or CCTVs, to monitor public areas as a way
to prevent crime and make neighbors feel safer.
With a $20,000 grant for a one-year pilot project, the neighborhood group
said it'll likely mount fixed cameras on private property to view parts of
Occidental Park and the Yesler Way corridor near Third Avenue.
Video surveillance of public places is on the rise nationwide, and common
in parts of Europe, renewing the debate about privacy rights. Everett,
Tukwila, New York City and much of Great Britain now use CCTVs to watch
subways, sidewalks, streets and stadiums.
The Pioneer Square project will be run by a community group, not a city
agency.
"It's certainly not a panacea by any means," said Casey Jones, the
association's executive director. "We hope to send a message that this place
is cared for and there's an expectation that here in this public place you
won't conduct illegal activity."
Civil rights activists say the idea smacks of George Orwell's "1984," the
novel in which Big Brother uses cameras to monitor citizens' movements.
"The idea of being watched all the time makes me uncomfortable as a woman,"
said Susan Tillitt, an artist who lives in Pioneer Square.
"Cameras everywhere is a form of harassment in general. You don't spy on me
for my safety. It's a creepy feeling, because you don't know who's watching
you."
Lavale Smith, a homeless man who spends his day at the city park near Third
Avenue and Yesler Way, said: "It's an invasion of privacy. Why here? That's
wrong."
Doug Honig, public education director with the American Civil Liberties
Union of Washington, speaking generally about video cameras, questioned how
video cameras would be used: "Who has access to these tapes? How long are they
stored? What's done with it?
"The overwhelming material they capture is legal conduct by law-abiding
citizens. It's usually done for a benign reason. As we get more and more of
these cameras, people get more used to them. Down the road, it moves us closer
to Big-Brother-is-watching scenario."
Yesterday, Sunny Nguyen said he favored the idea because he thought it
would help reduce crime.
"There will be more security around here," said Nguyen, who recently
witnessed an assault at night. "I'm not worried about privacy. We're in a
public place."
Once installed, within the next two or three months, the Pioneer Square
cameras will capture digital footage that would be kept for "a short time,"
said Jones, who didn't know how long that would be. "We're not storing months
and months worth of footage to try to use it in some way."
The group hasn't signed a contract or worked out other details, such as who
will get access to the footage, but ideally police could request it, Jones
said.
CCTVs have become increasing popular with law enforcement. In a 2001
report, the International Association of Police Chiefs found that 700 agencies
use the cameras, mostly to help with investigations or gather evidence.
"It's no different than you or I standing on a street corner with a 35
millimeter camera taking pictures," said Mike
Brasfield, former Seattle assistant police chief and a public
safety coordinator with the South Downtown Foundation.
The foundation, formed in 1999 to distribute mitigation money from the new
football stadium and exhibition center, provided $20,000 grants to three
neighborhoods for cameras.
Within days, the Sodo Business Association plans to mount two video cameras
onto private buildings to nail graffiti artists who've been tagging buildings
in that south downtown neighborhood.
"The city does the best it can but it can't keep up with the public
graffiti," said Mike Peringer, the group's president. "We are taking it upon
ourselves to do something about it."
He declined to say where the cameras would be mounted, but that it would be
on private property and would likely move. Inevitably it would trained on some
public sidewalks and streets.
The cameras can zero in to read a license plate on a van and be monitored
in real time by the company providing the equipment, Seattle Video, he said.
While Sodo and Pioneer Square move forward, the Chinatown/International
District decided recently not to accept the grant because of concerns with
operations, costs and the vendor.
Neighbors in the district also wrestled with issues of privacy, including
the possibility that cameras create a false sense of safety for people. They
ultimately will not accept the $20,000 grant, but still like the idea.
"We hope that we'll be able to use it in case crimes do happen," said Sue
Taoka, executive director of the Chinatown/International District Public
Development Authority. "If it becomes some level of deterrent, it creates a
safer neighborhood overall."
Some proponents point out that people's public lives are already being
watched.
More than 200 traffic cameras watch major freeways around greater Seattle.
Cameras track car prowlers in Community Transit park-and-ride lots and watch
over children in school playgrounds and lunchrooms.
King County Metro is in the process of installing camera systems aboard 160
buses and plans to add more.
"It's to make people feel safe, not just to catch bad guys," said Linda
Thielke, Metro spokeswoman.
Four fixed cameras on 40-foot buses and five cameras on 60-foot buses
broadcast real-time to a viewing station at Metro headquarters. Only transit
police can get access to the recording, and so far they've done so only when a
driver files an incident report, Thielke said. Tukwila police zero in on
criminal activity along one of the worst sections of Pacific Highway South
with video cameras.
In Everett, five cameras mounted on lamp posts at downtown intersections
transmit images to a viewing room at the police station. Officers can pop a
videotape into the player and record, but they don't automatically do so. Any
long-term recordings require supervisor approval.
"It didn't cure the crime problem, it just added another tool for the
police to use," said Lt. Marty Parker, who started the camera project five
years ago after the downtown business association requested it. "With six
cameras, officer can watch a multitude of areas."
Parker once observed a vicious juvenile assault in the viewing room and
radioed a patrol officer to the scene. The suspect fled at the sound of
approaching sirens, but Parker tracked the man with the pan-tilt-zoom cameras
as he fled for three blocks.
Yet in Great Britain, where news reports estimate more than 1 million
cameras patrol the cities and towns, two major studies of CCTV use have shown
that they haven't clearly reduced crime. A report in June by the National
Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders found that of 24
English cities studied, 13 showed that crime had fallen since CCTV cameras
were installed. In four, crime rose significantly, and in the other seven
cities, cameras had no effect.
P-I reporter Phuong Cat Le can be reached at 206-903-0370 or
phuongle@seattlepi.com
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