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MADISON, Wis. - Madison police have launched a program called the "Good Neighbor Project" with the aim of redefining what neighborhood watch means to the city's residents.

Officer Emily Samson, the department's new crime prevention coordinator, said the program is about connecting neighbors to neighbors and neighbors to officers, expanding on what the department and the city's neighborhood watch groups already do.

Sampson said some in the community have misconceptions about what neighborhood watch actually means here in Madison. She said neighborhood watches here in Madison don't go out on patrol, for example.

"If you look at what neighborhood watches across the country are doing, a lot of (them) patrol the streets, they wear reflective vests, they get out with flashlights and they snoop around their neighborhoods," Samson said. "A current assistant chief on our department told one our neighborhood watch groups 'If we see you doing that, we're going to come looking for you.'"

Those misconceptions, she said, are often barriers to starting programs in Madison neighborhoods.

For example, Samson said when she talked to neighbors in one community, the death of black teen Trayvon Martin at the hands of Florida neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman made people anxious about starting their own neighborhood watch.

"We did talk about George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin and I have that concern as well," Samson said. "That's not what the city of Madison is about."

"Really what (neighborhood watch) is doing (in Madison) is educating, talking about real prevention, empowering neighbors to keep their eyes open and get to know one another," Samson said.

Samson said she hopes to use the Good Neighbor Project to help neighborhoods plan events, block parties and other activities that strengthen bonds between neighbors and police and get new neighborhood watch groups started, preventing crime along the way.

She said one neighborhood watch already putting these principles into action is the Midvale Heights neighborhood watch on Madison's west side.

"The watch part is more about watching out for each other," Wendy Reichel, a member of the 600-plus strong group, said. "If there's an elderly person across the street that doesn't collect their mail for a day or two and you know that they're living alone, you might want to check on them."

Reichel said the group puts on regular events featuring law enforcement and other community leaders. She said she hopes the project helps other communities in the city share ideas.

"It's going to give people in our neighborhood an opportunity to interact with other neighborhoods, see what's working for them, what's not working for them, brainstorm new ideas for events that we could all have together or just learn from events that people have had that have been really successful," Reichel said.

Samson said the department has already put on one "Good Neighbor Night" event and hopes to have more of them in the coming weeks.

For more information about the Good Neighbor Project, visit MPD's website.

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MPD's 'Good Neighbor Project' aims to redefine neighborhood watch - Channel3000.com - WISC-TV3

LAST WEEKS PODCAST: Planet Earth II Producers on Showcasing Our Fragile Planet in Troubled Times IndieWires Turn It On Podcast

Foxs Shots Fired dives into the explosive subject of race-related police shootings by throwing everything you know about recent real-life incidents up in the air.

The new 10-part series kicks off with a police shooting but in this case its an African-American cop who shoots a young white man. Department of Justice investigators are brought in, and they encounter resistance from everyone, including cops and witnesses.

What really happened? Well find out by the end of the series, promise creators and executive producers Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Rock Bythewood.

Sanaa Lathan, Stephan James, Stephen Moyer, Mack Wilds, Aisha Hinds, Richard Dreyfuss, Helen Hunt, Jill Hennessy, and Dennis Haysbert are among the stars.

The show originated from something that happened within the Bythewood family, after George Zimmerman was acquitted of killing Trayvon Martin. Their son couldnt grasp how justice could be denied and from there, the journey led them to Shots Fired, as they explain.

The Bythewoods talked to countless experts to research Shots Fired including law enforcement veterans, and family members who lost someone to a police shooting. That included the mother of Oscar Grant, the Bay Area teen whose story was adapted into the film Fruitvale Station.

That ripped us emotionally, her telling us her story of what happened to her son and the whole process of seeking justice, Gina Prince-Bythewood said. She had a perspective on how you turn pain into power. We learned so much.

READ MORE:Shots Fired: New Fox Drama Brings Feature Film Directors to the Black Lives Matter Movement

Real life also threatened to invade the set of Shots Fired as headlines like the killing of Philando Castillo took place during filming. At night watching this horrifying footage and realizing this happened again and literally going to work the next day and shooting something similar, Prince-Bythewood recalled, it was tough for us and tough for the case. What it did for us, was remind us how important it was for us to get it right.

Also in this episode: IndieWire TV Critic Ben Travers, back from SXSW in Austin, shares how the annual event has become even more TV-centric.

Listen below!

IndieWires TURN IT ON with Michael Schneider is a weekly dive into whats new and whats now in TV no matter what youre watching or where youre watching it. Each episode features interviews with producers, reviews, essays on the latest buzz and trends, plus a roundup of whats premiering and whats returning over the coming week. With an enormous amount of choices overwhelming even the most sophisticated viewer, TURN IT ONis a must-listen for TV fans looking to make sense of what to watch and where to watch it.

LISTEN: How to Promote a TV Show the Right Way, From Online Treasure Hunts to Melting Blocks of Ice (Very Good TV Podcast)

Be sure to subscribe to TURN IT ON on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud or anywhere you download podcasts. New episodes post every Wednesday.

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'Shots Fired' Review: Fox's Ferguson-Inspired Miniseries is Messy but Ambitious

IndieWire's Movie Podcast: Screen Talk (Episode 140) - Why SXSW 2017 Was a Big Year

'Planet Earth II' Producers on Showcasing Our Fragile Planet in Troubled Times - IndieWire's Turn It On Podcast

Read more from the original source:
'Shots Fired': How George Zimmerman's Acquittal Led to Fox's Powerful New Series IndieWire's Turn It On Podcast - Yahoo TV (blog)

After the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown, Fox approached Gina Prince-Bythewood to create a fictional television series about police brutality.

Prince-Bythewood felt a responsibility to address the sensitive topic after the black teenagers death at the hands of a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

The show, Shots Fired, is the first television series of the UCLA film alumnas career. Her previous writing and directing credits include the films The Secret Life of Bees, Beyond the Lights and Love & Basketball.

Prince-Bythewood co-created, co-directed, co-wrote and co-executive produced Shots Fired alongside her husband, Reggie Rock Bythewood. It premieres Wednesday on Fox.

Shots Fired follows the parallels and intersections of two fictional killings in North Carolina: one case with heavy media attention in which a black officer kills an unarmed white boy and one neglected case of a mysterious murder of a black boy.

The Daily Bruins Shayda Dehnow spoke with Prince-Bythewood to discuss the conception of Shots Fired and the representation of racial conflict and police brutality on television.

Daily Bruin: What made you passionate about creating this series?

Gina Prince-Bythewood: I have two boys. (Reggie and I) wanted to be able to tell a story that we felt was extremely important not just for the world, but for our boys as well. They were really affected by the George Zimmerman verdict after Trayvon (Martin) was killed. They couldnt understand how (Zimmerman) could get off and it was a big, big thing in our family, trying to help them understand.

We felt this show was an opportunity to help the world understand how things like that cant happen why they happen, why they shouldnt happen and how we can do things differently.

[Related: Gina Prince-Bythewoods Beyond the Lights]

DB: Why did you choose to include the storyline about a white boy being killed at the hands of a black cop, though it may seem subversive to the white-on-black police brutality in the mainstream news?

GPB: We really wanted to illustrate how broken our justice system is how justice really does have a color and we felt that an interesting way in was to flip the narrative initially.

When people see one of these shootings on the news, if they dont identify with the victims, who are always black, sometimes its hard to empathize and its very easy to turn off the TV and think, Hey, thats not me. But for a lot of us its extremely personal because we know it could happen to us and we feel a different way about it, and theres a different level of fear and recognition to it.

This gives us an opportunity to have a segment of the population of the audience put themselves in our shoes and understand what it feels like. Dealing with these two murders of one white teenager and one black teenager allowed us to show the difference in the way the community, the way the media, the way the police treat murders when a victim is white as opposed to when a victim is black. For us, our mantra was, Get the audience on the edge of their seat, and when they lean forward, hit em with the truth.

[Related: UCLA alumni to present horror-comedy series at Sundance 2017]

DB: Was there a specific audience you wanted tohit with the truth?

GPB: We really want to reach everybody. For the black audience, we dont have a lot of shows, especially dramatic shows. Were excited about this in terms of the characters who we are putting on screen as well as for the white audience to again, watch a great mystery and while theyre watching this, learn something that they may not have known.

DB: How did your personal connections to the themes of the show affect how you approached it?

GPB: We just felt an incredible responsibility to get it right and make sure it never felt exploitative. We just did a ton of research and met with everybody on all sides of the issue.

We were very fortunate to meet with Wanda Johnson, whos the mother of Oscar Grant. We met with Eric Holder, an incredible man and our former attorney general. I met with Raymond Kelly, who used to be the police chief of New York City and really created stop and frisk. I met with (Cheryl Dorsey) who was in the LAPD for twenty years and is very blunt about what really goes on within the department. Stories like that were really great for the characters.

Read more from the original source:
Q&A: Alumna explores police brutality, race relations in TV show 'Shots Fired' - Daily Bruin

Abena Hutchful holds a sign in support of Marissa Alexander at the 50th Anniversary of The March On Washington. (Tony Savino/Corbis via Getty Images)

Unfortunately, Marissa Alexander of Jacksonville, Fla., is a living embodiment of the vicious discrepancies of our criminal justice systemboth against black defendants and against women.

In late January, Alexander was finally able to be done with her debt to the stateone she paid for with years of her life, and more than $10,000 in cash (in Florida, prisoners have to pay for their ankle-device and cost of monitoring as well as drug testing.)

Her case, though unfortunately not uncommon, gained notoriety especially in light of the Trayvon Martin travesty, in which George Zimmerman was able to use Floridas Stand Your Ground law to escape punishment for the shooting death of 17-year-old unarmed teen, Trayvon Martin.

In 2010, days after giving birth, Alexander fired a warning shot (with a legal, registered gun) against her documented, and admittedly abusive estranged husband who was attacking her. She was not able to claim self-defense and use Stand Your Ground.

The judge in Alexanders case instructed the jury that, when considering whether Alexander had acted in self-defense, she had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that her husband Rico Gray was committing aggravated battery when she fired. The jury came back with a guilty verdict in 12 minutes.

The judge in the Zimmerman murder trial instructed the jury that Zimmerman had no duty to retreat. He was fully acquitted.

Adding insult to grievous injury, the same prosecutor from the Zimmerman case, Angela Corey had the discretion to add a 10-20-Life sentencing enhancement, which requires a 20-year minimum sentence when a firearm is discharged.

Truthout reports that the Florida Department of Corrections has noted that Black people are more than twice as likely as white or Latino people to have the enhancement added to their sentence. And so it was with Alexander. Corey decided to add that enhancement, and Alexander was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Also, though women commit murder far less often than men, they typically receive longer sentences for killing their male partners than do men who kill female partners, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Estimates range between 40 to 80 percent of women convicted of murder acted in self-defense against their abusers. Alexander didnt even kill or harm Rico Gray. She just fired a warning shot.

In 2013, an appeals court overturned Alexanders conviction, and the prosecutor once again charged Alexander with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Alexander faced up to 60 years. Eventually, she agreed to a plea bargain that included time served for nearly three years she spent in prison.

In January, the mother of three was officially done with her two-year sentence of home confinement and electronic monitoring.

Truth-out reports that after midnight on Jan. 26, she drove to her sisters house where she, her mother and her sister had a toast to her freedom. The next morning, she took her six-year-old daughter to breakfast before dropping her off at school; something that shed never before been able to do. That night, she took her 16-year-old twins to dinner. That weekend, family and friends threw a party in her honor. And finally, on Sunday, Alexander put a baseball cap on and headed to a local bar to watch the football game in anonymity.

She recounts to the outlet the struggle of home monitoring which forced her to recount her every move; sometimes human error messed her schedule up and she was unable to attend church services or take her children to the park. Still, she says, In the grand scheme of things, you cannot compare home confinement to prisons. Yet, the rigor of it, leaves a lot of room for errorand reimprisonment.

I feel like its money-making. Period, she told Truthout. You are putting people in the position that they are trying to pay for something that is difficult for them to pay for, she said of the fees that most people on monitors are required to pay. Those that cant keep up with the fees are sent back to jail. Whatever money you paid to the system, they got, but youre back in jail so now the taxpayers are paying for you. Its a mess.

I find myself wanting to stay in my house just like I was doing before, she added, noting that she hasnt become fully accustomed to the fact that she is free to go to the store or simply step outside her house when she wishes, without repercussions.

In February, Alexander spoke before the Senate Rule Committee in favor of Senate Bill 128, which would shift the burden of proof from the defendant to the state in Stand Your Ground hearings.

Im just going to give you three numbers, she stated before the committee. Number one. Number 12. And number 20. For me, one shot, a 12-minute verdict got me 20 years. I did go through a Stand Your Ground hearing. And in that hearing, you could tell the court and the prosecution struggled with that because it was difficult. With that said, putting a defendant in the position where they have to bear the burden of proof, in my opinion, removes your Constitutional right, the Fifth Amendment.

She also started the Marissa Alexander Justice Project, and penned a memoir.

Im going to be part of whats already out there and use my experiences and my name to bring more to it, Alexander said. Im not separate from anybody. This will be my contribution in solidarity.

Read more at Truthout.org.

Originally posted here:
Marissa Alexander Speaks: The Current System, 'It's a Mess' - The Root

In 1920, the Senate rejected, for a second time, the Treaty of Versailles by a vote of 49 in favor, 35 against, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval. (Photo by US Army Signal Corps/US Army Signal Corps/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Today is Sunday, March 19, the 78th day of 2017.

Todays Highlight in History:

On March 19, 1917, a divided U.S. Supreme Court, in Wilson v. New, upheld 5-4 the eight-hour work day for interstate railroad workers.

On this date:

In 1863, the Confederate cruiser Georgiana, was scuttled off Charleston, South Carolina, on its maiden voyage to prevent it from falling into Union hands.

In 1920, the Senate rejected, for a second time, the Treaty of Versailles (vehr-SY) by a vote of 49 in favor, 35 against, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval.

In 1931, Nevada Gov. Fred B. Balzar signed a measure legalizing casino gambling.

In 1942, during World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered men between the ages of 45 and 64, inclusive, to register for non-military duty.

In 1945, during World War II, 724 people were killed when a Japanese dive bomber attacked the carrier USS Franklin off Japan (the ship was saved). Adolf Hitler ordered the destruction of German facilities that could fall into Allied hands in his so-called Nero Decree, which was largely disregarded.

In 1951, Herman Wouks World War II novel The Caine Mutiny was first published by Doubleday.

In 1965, the wreck of the Confederate cruiser Georgiana was discovered by E. Lee Spence, 102 years to the day after it was scuttled.

In 1977, the series finale of Mary Tyler Moore aired on CBS-TV, ending the situation comedys seven-season run.

In 1979, the U.S. House of Representatives began televising its floor proceedings; the live feed was carried by C-SPAN (Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network), which was making its debut.

In 1987, televangelist Jim Bakker resigned as chairman of his PTL ministry organization amid a sex and money scandal involving Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary.

In 1997, artist Willem de Kooning, considered one of the 20th centurys greatest painters, died in East Hampton, New York, at age 92.

In 2003, President George W. Bush ordered the start of war against Iraq. (Because of the time difference, it was early March 20 in Iraq.)

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush marked the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war with a plea for patience to let his revised battle plan work; Congress new Democratic leaders retorted that no patience remained. A methane gas explosion in a Siberian coal mine killed 110 workers. Death claimed rhythm-and-blues singer-songwriter Luther Ingram at age 69 and TV performer Calvert DeForest, aka Larry Bud Melman, at age 85.

Five years ago: An assailant on a motorbike opened fire with two handguns in front of a Jewish school in the southern French city of Toulouse, killing a rabbi, his two young sons and a girl. (The gunman, French-born Mohammed Merah, was killed in a gunfight with police after a 32-hour standoff at his apartment; he had also killed three French paratroopers.) The federal Justice Department announced it had begun an investigation into the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida by a neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman.

One year ago: A FlyDubai Boeing 737 plunged into the ground near the airport in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, killing all 62 people on board. A Turkish suicide bomber killed five people, including two Americans, in Istanbuls main pedestrian shopping street; Turkish officials said the bomber was linked to Islamic State. Protesters blocked a main highway leading into the Phoenix suburb where Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump was staging a campaign rally alongside Arizonas contentious sheriff, Joe Arpaio.

2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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Today in History: March 19 - WTOP