Talking with the Taxman about poetry

The Sunshine State

I was in Jacksonville, Florida this week, the home of Lynard Skynard.  Where I was at the University of North Florida.  What a great place it was too.  I was really flattered to be contacted a couple of weeks ago by UNF and asked to go down to speak to their students about the work I’ve been doing during my Fulbright adventure.  They had me speaking to a couple of large classes as well as a seminar presentation.  All of which was great and whilst I’ve banged on about guns enough, it was fair to say many of the students I met could not get their heads around the fact we had crime in Scotland, including drugs crime without perpetrators always having a gun.  It’s just a different culture here. 

There was lots going on down there.  The UNF hosts the Institute of Police Technology and Management.  Like the rest of the States, Florida comprises vast numbers of police departments from sizeable organisations to one man outfits.  The IPTM is there to meet their training needs, and for that matter the training needs of officers from across the rest of the USA and many other parts of the world.  They run a variety of courses including internal affairs investigation and homicide investigation courses.  Generally for no more than $795 per delegate for a five day course.  That seems to me to be good value for money.  Its very different to the style of training we do in Scotland but seems to meet the standards we’d expect at a low cost.  There is no doubt policing in the States are feeling the same financial restrictions as we are in Scotland.  One of the things that’s been interesting about this adventure has been to see how policing here deals with those same challenges and to learn from that.  The way training is sought, bought and benefitted by officers in from America has been one of those learning points.

The Floridian hospitality was immense and I very much look forward to returning at some point in the future.  What was particularly nice too was leaving DC in two feet of snow at 0700 on Sunday morning and then having lunch outside watching the beach volleyball that same day!

Greeks bearing gifts?

One of the things American universities have that we don’t are ‘The Greeks’.  Not that we don’t have Greek students in the UK, that’s not it. America universities have fraternities for men and sororities for women, which are denoted by Greek letters, hence they are collectively known as ‘The Greeks’.  Now, these seem to be networks that people pay to become a part of, the going rate is around $2000, and once your in, your in for life.  They ensure connections in business, education and often politics going forward.  Now, I fully get the importance of networking and I understand that people want to be part of clubs and societies at university, I also get how these can assist in later life (the Glasgow University Union Debating Society being a prime example).  But I get the sense that these fraternities are about exclusivity rather than the inclusivity I perhaps associate with Scottish university societies

This surprised me.  American is a place where, I feel, anyone can succeed with the right attitude and I was a bit taken aback to see that places of education allow these groups to operate.  I guess my reservations revolve around a few things.  First, they are not open to all and membership comes at a high cost, remember students here pay from $5000 to $50000 a year for their education, so these membership fees are a significant extra. These groups are also gender specific, I’m not sure thats necessarily a good thing in the 21st Century.  I’m not saying for a second that men only or women only groups are a bad thing, but, in general, I’m not sure that having groups which can be as influential as The Greeks can be, as gender specific bodies is a good thing.  

In many, but not all, schools Greeks are placed into Greek Housing.  These are student accommodations for the exclusive use of The Greeks and are usually subsidised by the fraternities governing bodies.  Just something in me doesn’t like that, perhaps it just goes against my collegiate outlook for university education.  

Whilst there is no doubt members do good in wider society as students, they also come with a bit of a reputation for partying a little too hard as well as sometimes being on the wrong side of equality issues at times, in particular fraternities seem to attract some negative publicity around the treatment of women.

The Greeks seem to be a wholly American concept.  That said, they tried to get a foothold Edinburgh University recently, which didn’t go well.  I’m not aware of them having a role in any other Scottish university?  I’m not sure what I think yet about The Greeks, I will give it some more thought, its just something that’s a bit alien both to my own university experiences and those of the Scottish university perspective.

The Taxman

Talking of elite groups, I had the privilege to spent last Friday with the American Treasury Criminal Investigation Unit…the IRS.  That was a great day.  In short, investigators run a training day for students at a number of universities.  They mock up a scenario and give the students the opportunity to undertake a full investigation from start to finish in a day.  This includes a bit of surveillance, meeting the States Attorney to crave a warrant before arresting the perp at gun point.  Notwithstanding that it was a great, fun day, it was really interesting to see the tactics that are used to deal with financial crimes in America, this case focused on accountants offering to write up false tax returns for a fee.  Without going into detail, the level of surveillance applied in detecting these, and other financial crime, is of a really effective sort!  In short…make sure you pay what you owe!!!

This was also a great opportunity for potential agents to see what work the IRS do and it has been a good recruiting tool for them too with a number of applicants joining their organisation based on what they had done on similar training days.  I guess too it gives the IRS a chance to look at potential recruits and and either include particular individuals in their plans or, just as importantly, not!  

This was another training aspect thing that, I felt, had mutual benefit and, I wonder how we might replicate this style of interaction and involvement in Scotland?

What a difference a day makes?

One of the other things that happened on Friday was the sentencing of Maureen McDonnell.  She is the wife of the former Virginia governor and the pair of them were trading political favours for cash.  He has been given two years already and, on Friday she got a year and a day in the jail.  Good enough, corruption in politics needs hammered I think.  

But back to the sentence - a year an a day.  Why, I asked my IRS colleagues, would a judge stick on a day?  Well, it appears the day makes all the difference because thats what makes it a felony rather than a misdemeanour.  That brings with it a lot of negatives.  

First the sentence is served in the State or Federal Penitentiary rather than County Jail.  This means the prisoner will most likely, be miles from home as they will be housed wherever there is a space the system.  Think laterooms.com for prisoners, which could and regularly does, take offenders to the other side of the country to serve a sentence.  What an impact that must have on visits and family life?  That surely can’t be good for anyone?

I was at a thing recently where the debate was around whether or not a persons debt to society is paid once the sentence is served or the fine paid.  I’ve come to the view that such a debt is never actually paid off.  Sometimes that’s completely right.  For example,  would I ever trust a convicted sex offender with my kids?  Absolutely not!  Other times, it seems to me that lifelong penance is not a good thing.  For example a minor vandalism conviction at 18 years of age should not impact on the life of an otherwise straight up, never been in bother professional citizen in their fifties, but it can and often does.  

The length and reach of that penance for those convicted of a felony in the States is, in my view sever.  Felons here are unable to vote, not just when they are in the jail but anytime after they come out, ever.  There are states that do grant the vote to former felons but this is not automatic and must be applied for and that process is rather arduous.  There are other states where that right is never ever returned.  I think not being able to influence the laws of the land through the universal suffrage is a very heavy cost.  It is also a cost that is borne heavily by the black community in the States, simply because there are so many black people with a felony conviction.  You know, I was at something recently where a professor mentioned that America accounts for 5% of the worlds population but 25% of the worlds prison population…isn’t that a phenomenal statistic?  It also seems to me to be a huge number of people unable to vote.  But its not just the vote, getting a passport is also a mega challenge if one possesses a felony conviction and getting a gun, the second amendment right, is probably out too and that is something that ver much impacts on Americans.  

I guess a day can make a lot of difference.

Now here’s a party political broadcast…by the sheriff?

Whilst I was flicking through the TV channels in Jacksonville I stumbled upon an election broadcast for Jimmy Holderfield and he is one of the six candidates in the running to be the Sheriff of Jacksonville.  Now, I have mentioned the politicisation of policing in the past but this is the first time I have seen it first hand for myself and found it to be a bit of an oddity!  

I have no idea how it would appear in Scotland if we had candidates standing to be Chief Constable, and not ever having been a constable being no bar to standing for or being elected to that office.  Now, I know there are many arguments for such an election, its democratic, candidates need to make clear what they stand for etc, but is that how policing should be delivered? On a political ticket?  I find it a bit scary.  

Something that was further brought home to me watching a programme about Sheriff Grady Judd  He sets up sting operations in Polk County to entice men to come to hotels for the purposes of prostitution.  They are then arrested with the full force of the law…i.e. 3 deputies with guns taking down a guy whose pants are already down, doing it on camera and then letting him know that his face will be all over the billboards for the entire community to see!  There is something a wee bit dangerous in that for me, isn't the point of the police and the law to detect and convict offenders not wreck homes, marriages careers and reputations?  Just saying…

I am planning to follow the election and will let you know who gets in, have a look at the options, who would you vote for?

On the TV this week…

This was the first time I’ve actually watched the Oscars or at least a bit of it, as its the first time I’ve been up when its been on.  It is something you simply cannot avoid here, it is all over the news, talk shows and debate programmes, across the week before and today, four days later its still on going!  I don’t quite know what to make of it all, just a wee bit too ‘celebrity’ for me.  

The other breaking news concerns Bill O’Reilly, the ‘spin free’ newscaster whose Republican stance is anything but!  Well, it seems O’Reilly was right into the mince of the journalist who told lies about being on the flight that was shot down and now he is facing his own wee issues concerning where he was and what he was up to during the Falklands and how that stacks up against his account of that war.  An interesting and evolving situation!

What I’ve learned this week…

Going Greek is not without its risks

The Taxman is actually a nice guy called Tom

A day can make a huge difference

If you can’t vote you can’t be blamed for the outcome

Some elections are more fun than others