The Weekly Briefing
Curated News for Public Safety
COLLECTIVE PROBLEM – A 14-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with a shooting on Friday night that killed one Newark police officer and injured another, Essex County officials said on Saturday. The boy, who was also injured, was charged with murder, attempted murder and possessing illegal weapons following the shooting, Theodore N. Stephens II, the Essex County prosecutor, said during a news conference on Saturday. The boy’s name has not been released by the authorities. The officer who was killed was identified on Saturday as Joseph Azcona, 26, a detective who had served with the Newark Police Department for five years. Detective Azcona died just after 2:30 a.m. on Saturday at University Hospital, officials said.
MORE: “These are officers who got up yesterday morning to do their job, to go outside and make sure our streets were safe,” Mayor Ras J. Baraka of Newark said at the news conference. He added that gun violence, especially among teenagers, was an urgent issue in the New Jersey city. “We just have to do a better job. I have to do a better job,” he said. “This is not a police problem. This is our collective problem.”
OFFICERS SHOT AND KILLED – The National FOP, in its latest update on officers shot and killed, reports that as of February 28, 2025, 58 officers have been shot in the line of duty—an 11% decrease from 2024 and an 8% decrease from 2023. Eight officers have been killed, a 14% increase from both 2024 and 2023. The highest number of officers shot by this date was in 2022, with 67 total. So far this year, there have been 9 ambush-style attacks on law enforcement, resulting in 9 officers shot, 4 of whom were killed.
FOUR TIMES HIGHER – Many of the New Yorkers who’ve dedicated their careers to saving their neighbors' lives have at one point considered taking their own. For first responders, each day has the chance to bring tremendous stress, trauma and, in many cases, overwhelming grief. Police officers responding to a domestic dispute, but arriving too late to prevent an eventual murder-suicide. A new report commissioned by the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES) found exceedingly high rates of mental health challenges among New York’s first responders.
MORE: Researchers surveyed more than 6,000 New Yorkers working in law enforcement, emergency medical services, fire services, emergency communications and emergency management to gain a clearer understanding of the mental health impacts associated with some of the state’s most challenging, and often traumatizing, jobs. The results were staggering, with the majority of respondents claiming to experience stress (68%), burnout (59%), symptoms associated with depression (53%) and anxiety (52%). Perhaps most concerningly, roughly 16% of all first responders reported thoughts of suicide, which is four times higher than the rate of the state’s general population.
MAJORITY OF GUN DEATHS – Nearly 47,000 people died of gun-related injuries in the United States in 2023, according to the latest available statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While the number of gun deaths in the U.S. fell for the second consecutive year, it remained among the highest annual totals on record. Here’s a closer look at gun deaths in the U.S., based on a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the CDC, the FBI and other sources. Though they tend to get less public attention than gun-related murders, suicides have long accounted for the majority of U.S. gun deaths. In 2023, 58% of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. were suicides (27,300), while 38% were murders (17,927). The remaining gun deaths that year involved law enforcement (604), were accidental (463) or had undetermined circumstances (434), according to CDC data.
SIGNIFICANT DECREASE – Crime in Minneapolis has shown a "significant decrease" in early 2025 in comparison to 2024, according to recent data shared by city officials. The city said the biggest drops in crime are robberies (down 47%), carjackings (40%) and homicide (40%). There have been seven homicides so far in Minneapolis this year, compared to 11 at the same point last year. Crime is also below the 3-year average in Minneapolis in all but two categories.
MADE SOME STRIDES – St. Louis city leaders reported on Wednesday that homicides are at a historic low this year and violent crime is down across the board. Police said so far this year, homicides are the lowest they've been since 2012. Violent crime included a 36% decrease in burglaries, 42% decrease in car thefts, and 53% decrease in shooting incidents. Chief Robert Tracy said there were 15 homicides through March 2, 2025. Comparing this to the same time last year, the number was 31."We've made some strides," said Chief Tracy. Tracy credits the reduction in shootings to effective strategies, evidence-based policing, technology, and the Circuit Attorney's Office holding criminals accountable.
DRONES IN LATIN AMERICA – Organized crime in Latin America has found drones to be an effective and modern tactical advantage. In countries like Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Panama, criminal groups are increasingly using these aerial devices to confront security forces, transport illicit goods, and intimidate communities. After emerging unscathed from a March 1 raid on his territorial enclave in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, notorious gang leader Jimmy Chérizier, alias “Barbecue,” threatened to use explosive-laden drones in retaliation for the attack by the authorities. “You have used explosive-laden drones to kill me, I can use explosive-laden drones to kill anyone in the country,” the gang leader said in a video demonstrating that he had survived the operation. Mexican criminal organizations, such as the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación – CJNG), the Sinaloa Cartel, and the Familia Michoacana, have incorporated drones into their arsenals for different purposes.
MORE: “Drones serve multiple functions, including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, as well as command and control in clashes between cartels, against Mexican state forces, or even against self-defense groups. They have also been used for aerial bombings, direct attacks, and propaganda or psychological warfare operations,” said Robert Bunker, founder of the Small Wars Journal, in an email exchange with InSight Crime.
NORDIC PARADOX – For over 15 years, Iceland has been hailed as a global leader in gender equality. Yet, according to the latest report from the Icelandic police, domestic violence cases have surged by nearly 40% over the past decade. How does a country celebrated for its progress on women’s rights grapple with such a stark contradiction?
NEW CHIEF IN TOWN – Jim McDonnell is a cop. That’s hardly a surprise. He is, after all, the newest chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, one of the nation’s most storied, emulated and criticized law enforcement agencies — celebrated by Dragnet, torn to pieces by the beating of Rodney King. But not all LAPD chiefs are cops at their core. Bill Bratton, chief from 2002 to 2009, was a political leader, trained in law enforcement but distinguished most by his command of the city’s power structure. Willie Williams, who presided over the department from 1992 to 1997, was a community organizer in uniform, skilled with the public but less so with the rank-and-file.
MORE: McDonnell is different. He came up through the ranks of the department and knows its customs and routines, which are at least as important for leading it as understanding ideas about reform or political relationships. Beyond that experience, he also had tours as chief of the Long Beach Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff. So while he is a creature of the LAPD, he is also a student of it.