Another Effective Innovation By New York Police Is Being Duplicated By Others
Police horses, up to a dozen stroked and photographed each evening in the Times Square area
In national US news any innovation of the New York police gets a lot of coverage.
Those crowd-calming police horses seen nightly in the Times Square area go way back, and their presence was never reduced back when some other cities did so - often to their later regret.
There is endemic pressure (especially after 9/11) to keep the city as safe as possible.
From that sustained effort at systems improvement, other American police forces, some very besieged at the moment, attempt to learn something.
New York police both themselves innovate and also adopt good ideas from elsewhere - not least from the brave, popular and effective police forces of Italy.
We posted in January 2013 on New York’s adoption of an Italian approach to policing.
One approach which seems a natural for Italy with all of its art is proving successful in New York now.
Described in the NY Times today is this ongoing exercise in staring at artworks. The point being to sharpen the perceptions of investigators, and to put them all on the same page objectively.
To teach people how to notice details they might otherwise miss, Amy E. Herman, an expert in visual perception, likes to take them to museums and get them to look at the art. Recently she escorted a group of New York City police officers to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and asked them to describe some of the things they saw.
They did their best. “This seems to be a painting of some males with horses,” one officer said of Rosa Bonheur’s mid-19th-century work “The Horse Fair,” a scene of semi-chaos as horses are driven to market. He tried to abide by Ms. Herman’s admonishment to avoid words like “obviously.” “It appears to be daytime, and the horses appear to be traveling from left to right.”
Another pair of officers tackled Picasso’s 1905 “At the Lapin Agile,” which depicts a wilted-looking couple sitting at a French bar after what might have been a long night out. “They appear to have had an altercation,” one observed. The other said, “The male and female look like they’re together, but the male looks like he’ll be sleeping on the couch.”
The officers asked that their names not be used because they were not authorized to speak to reporters. They said that they did not know much about art “” their jobs allow little opportunity for recreational museumgoing “” and Ms. Herman said she preferred it that way.
“I’ve had people say, “˜I hate art,’ and I say, “˜That’s not relevant,’” she said. “This is not a class about Pollock versus Picasso. I’m not teaching you about art today; I’m using art as a new set of data, to help you clear the slate and use the skills you use on the job. My goal when you walk out the door is that you’re thinking differently about the job.”
A painting has many functions. It’s a cultural artifact, an aesthetic object, an insight into a time and a place, a piece of commerce. To Ms. Herman, it’s also an invaluable repository of visual detail that can help shed light on, say, how to approach a murder scene. “It’s extremely evocative and perfect for critical inquiry,” she said in an interview. “What am I seeing here? How do I attach a narrative to it?”
One of the processes:
Before unleashing the officers in the galleries, she talked to them in a classroom in the Met’s basement. She put up a slide of “Mrs. John Winthrop,” a 1773 portrait by John Singleton Copley. The painting, showing a woman sitting at a table holding little pieces of fruit, is considered a masterpiece of fine detail “” the intricacy of the lace trim on the lady’s gown, the rich decorations on her hat. But there’s a detail that’s so obvious, or maybe so seemingly irrelevant, that most people fail to mention it in their description.
“Everyone sees that this is a woman with fruit, and 80 percent miss the mahogany table,” she said. (They also miss the woman’s reflection in the veneer.)
Ms. Herman also displayed a pair of slides featuring reclining nudes: Goya’s “The Nude Maja” (1797-1800) and Lucian Freud’s 1995 “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping,” who is very fat. Ms. Herman asked the group to compare the pictures. “Most cops, when I ask this question, say it shows someone before and after marriage,” she said.
Several officers raised their hands.
“Uh, the woman at the bottom is more generously proportioned,” one said.
“She is morbidly obese,” said another.
“Right!” Ms. Herman said. “Don’t make poor word choices. Think about every word in your communication.”
Ms. Herman, who has a new book out, “Visual Intelligence: Sharpen Your Perception, Change Your Life,” came to her vocation in a roundabout way. She worked first as a lawyer, did not like it, took a job in the development office at the Brooklyn Museum and then moved to the Frick Collection. Earning a master’s degree in art history at night at Hunter College, she eventually became head of the Frick’s education department.
There, inspired by a program in which Yale medical students studied works of art to better observe their patients, she helped devise a similar program for the Frick. Eventually she moved beyond medicine. She has been offering the courses full time as her own business since 2011; her clients include federal and local law enforcement agencies across the country, as well as medical students and business executives.
Also successful elsewhere:
Steve Dye, chief of police at the Grand Prairie Police Department in Texas, brought in Ms. Herman recently to talk to a group of officers from the region. He said her presentation was invaluable in showing the officers how to better observe and document their findings accurately and free from bias.
“Some of the works of art she showed us, we wouldn’t notice the finer details,” he said. “And we’re supposed to be professional observers.”
When forced to deconstruct paintings in group settings, people from different professions tend to respond differently.
For cops it’s a natural.
“The law enforcement community is much more forthcoming,” Ms. Herman said. “Cops will outtalk you every time. Doctors and medical students are much more inhibited. They don’t want to be wrong, and they never want to show that they are ignorant about anything.”
The New York Police Department is one of Ms. Herman’s most important clients. She tailors her presentations to her audiences, and they are on the regular training curriculum at the detective bureau and the training bureau at the Police Academy; other divisions use her services from time to time. In general, her program is voluntary rather than mandatory.
“Amy reminds officers to explore outside the box,” said Police Officer Heather Totoro, who added that the program helped officers in training because of its “uniqueness and power.”
“She taps into officers’ unique sixth sense, teaching them to tell her what they see, not what they think.”
Law enforcement officials tend to view the works through the lens of the job: Who has done what to whom? Where is the perp?
“Sometimes they’ll say, “˜We have an E.D.P. here’ “” an emotionally disturbed person,” Ms. Herman said. Once she showed some officers El Greco’s “The Purification of the Temple,” which depicts Jesus expelling the traders and money-changers amid turmoil and mayhem.
“One cop said, “˜I’d collar the guy in pink’” “” that would be Jesus “” “˜“because it’s clear that he’s causing all the trouble.’”
Among the works she finds most interesting as a learning tool is Vermeer’s exquisitely ambiguous “Mistress and Maid,” a 1666-7 portrait of a lady seated at a table, handing over (or being handed) a mysterious piece of paper. “There are so many different narratives,” she said. “The analysts come away asking more questions than answers “” “˜Who’s asking the question? Who’s doing the talking? Who’s listening?’ The cops will say, “˜It’s a servant asking for the day off.’”
She also likes “House of Fire,” a 1981 painting by James Rosenquist that has three absurdist parts: an upside-down bag of groceries, a bucket under a window shade, and a group of aggressively thrusting lipsticks. “It’s really conducive to good dialogue,” she said. “How many times do officers have to make order out of chaos? So many times in our work we come across things that don’t have a coherent narrative.”
The officers in the class seemed impressed, both by Ms. Herman and by their grand surroundings.
One officer said that she had learned “how to sit down with colleagues and deal with the fact that you can perceive things so differently from each other.” It was her first trip to the Met, or indeed to any art museum.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “It’s very Thomas Crown-ish, isn’t it?”
Below: the Vermeer painting referred to, in the Frick Museum in New York
Posted by Peter Quennell on 04/25/16 at 10:52 PM in The judical timeline, The officially involved, Police and CSI, The wider contexts, N America context
Comments
Also in the NY Times Arts pages today, on a less happy note, is that the amazing Russian opera singer Anna Netrebko (who lives in Manhattan, and for whom all seats sell out in a heartbeat) is bowing out of several future productions because “her voice changed”.
Take a look at why she has such a following - in full warcry in an Italian opera. If you know the La Traviata/Lady of the Camellias story, you will know that she is slowly dying, of TB, but cannot bear to tell this to her lover. He is to say the least confused by her, he thinks she has taken another lover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFJJ1zFBWgY
Posted by Peter Quennell on 04/27/16 at 10:56 AM | #
Such beauty, such elegance. It’s almost overwhelming, Ms. Netrebko’s powerful voice and the other arts: Vermeer, El Greco, Rosa Bonheur…the visual artists. So fabulous how art is being used to train the eye of policemen, to sensitize them to help in their work.
Interesting extreme modern set of Netrebka’s La Traviata opera—has an Italian feel in its bold design.
Meredith would have reverberated to all such beauty and art and understood it. Probably why she loved Italy so much.
A group I’m involved with is hosting a social that allows members to exhibit up to 3 pieces of original art, so I’ve been on YouTube to get ideas. Mixed media collage looks fun. My childishly amateur steps in art although loads of fun, yield more and more appreciation for those with true talent. True genius is a gift. Art is awesome.
Posted by Hopeful on 04/27/16 at 02:56 PM | #
I am not a connoisseur but couple of years back I visited the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. It took rather long time and I forgot that I have asked someone to wait outside. Believe me, I could feel clearly, but I cannot explain, how the painter went through his mental agonies and tortures. Something is always trying to come out but fails somehow. All the paintings are trying shout out but we cannot hear. It was a strange feeling.
I always tell young biologists that the first thing they should learn is to see. Many have beautiful eyes but cannot see. To discover something, howsoever trifling, they must learn to fall in love. It is not difficult but must be learnt.
Posted by chami on 04/29/16 at 05:03 AM | #
Steve Moore is on YouTube, a guest of Allison Hope Weiner in her show called Crime Time. He is in a segment titled “Making a Murderer & The Killings of Missy Beavers (sic) & Angie Dodge”.
I was interested in the Missy Bevers murder which occurred April 18, 2016 in a north Texas church. Searching for that, I happened upon Mr. Moore holding forth with his opinions on several cases.
Moore compares the Steven Avery case with the Amanda Knox case. He does provide caveat that he has only studied the Avery case for a few months and is not fully briefed on it.
He said there’s a strong case for the guilt of Steven Avery based on the evidence. “At the same time, there’s an equally strong indication that the evidence on which that decision rests is falsified. That’s the Amanda Knox case….” he says. He goes on to say that in his opinion at least one piece of evidence in the Steven Avery case was actually planted.
Moore tells Mrs. Weiner regarding his consulting work that, “I do this pro bono…I have no axe to grind” and that he turns down about 98% of the cases he’s asked to work on.
Mrs. Weiner introduces him as the FBI agent with 25 years experience in violent crime internationally and mentions his website gmancasefile.com.
The tests in Avery’s blood evidence (EDTA test) that Steve Moore questions the reliability of, were tests performed by the FBI to rule out police tampering. And the FBI ruled out police tampering. Moore says, “There was an immediate outcry” over that result, so he also doubts the FBI lab results.
Moore said, “I’m not going to protect something just because it has FBI written on it.” Moore is also interested in the Tapp case, seemingly to get convicted murderer Tapp exonerated.
It’s infuriating to hear Steve Moore claim that evidence in the Amanda Knox case was FALSIFIED.
FALSIFIED? what a crock.
I believe Knox is as innocent as Steven Avery is.
The Crime Time YouTube video is subtitled “TheLip TV”.
I was concerned about the Missy Bevers murder because she was killed inside a church in Midlothian, Texas in the early morning hours as she prepared to lead a fitness group called Camp Gladiator, to help others get into shape. What a terrible shame and loss.
Missy had also been a special education teacher so she was obviously a very patient person. She leaves behind three young daughters.
It’s early days yet in the investigation (FBI is involved, as well as Texas law enforcement).
I did agree with Steve Moore’s reaction to her husband’s somewhat suspicious statements, although Missy’s husband is not a suspect at this time.
Posted by Hopeful on 04/30/16 at 12:48 AM | #
Anything to do with Steve Moore is a pack of self serving lies. He and his mad wife should be shut down, the sooner the better.
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 04/30/16 at 05:54 PM | #
It is more than clear that Moore and his ill wife have been in the employ of the Knox family for years now. I don’t know if they still are today now she has been “exonerated” but he has to keep the lie going (just like Amanda Knox herself).
Where I live, the local TV station broadcasts a program called CI everyday.
The program showcases losers and serial killers and explains how they where eventually caught. Interestingly,they have in the past shown how luminol has been crucial in nailing the killers.
Gosh - knock me down with a feather but who are the regular talking heads, the ‘experts’ on the show?
None other than Anne Bremner and Jim Clemente, himself complete with a ridiculous sky blue coloured pork pie hat.
What a team!
From my point of viewing the show it seemed obvious that these two people had been handpicked for team Knox for her media campaign.
What we know about the serial drunkard Bremner and her relationship with judge Michael Heavey who squashed most of her numerous DUI charges everytime she appeared in front of him,absolutely stinks of corruption.
Clemente himself on the CI program speaks like an expert - extolling the virtues of luminol, the substance used to reveal hidden and cleaned up blood stains but in the Knox case he has done nothing but trash the very same process as unreliable and open to contamination.
Something doesn’t add up here yes?
It is well known that Amanda Knox was a viewer of the same program and it doesn’t take a big leap to conclude the selection of these two advocates for team Knox on a pure media basis.
Perhaps Steve Moore harbors a talking head position on the show as he does seem desperate for media attention with his constant name dropping of the Amanda Knox brand.
However, he does have one massive minus point -
His mentally ill wife.
Posted by Deathfish on 05/01/16 at 08:57 AM | #
Very true! One good thing though. As time goes on and in short order, Amanda Knox is getting very old. Try carrying around her self serving lie of innocence.
There is not enough pancake makeup or hair dye to cover her rapid demise. That’s why you never see any pictures of her now because her lines and gray hair are showing more every day.
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 05/01/16 at 11:36 AM | #
Steve Moore on one of the most obscure TV channels! That is not exactly the big-time he was angling for.
When Knox came back from Italy late in 2011 he headed to Seattle and appointed himself her security detail.
He went everywhere with her in a car. After a few days of his slobbering over Knox, the Knox-Mellases pushed him away, as they did with the slobberers Sforza and Fischer.
We’ve had 35 posts (see the list below) where Moore is a main focus, and some posts like The Machine’s attracted nearly 100 comments. Moore periodically rants at them.
In April 2011 Steve Moore came across like a delusional dope at the Seattle University panel, as he droned on and on (and on) as many in the already small audience tiptoed out of there.
After watching the video, the British lawyer SomeAlibi remarked that Moore is in an impermeable bubble of his own illusions.
Moore, Clemente and Heavey all rely heavily on John Douglas (also ex FBI) and Doug Preston (the only one who “knows” Italy) for their own legitimacy.
Our current project is to create some Pompous Fraud pages, which will highlight at a quick glance the astonishing volume of false claims.
The page for John Douglas (who wrote two books on our case) will be first - in a week or two latest - and Moore’s soon thereafter.
Question: is he making any NEW claims that anyone is noticing?
*****
Our posts mainly or partly on Moore and his claims. Newest posts are at the top here.
http://www.truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/C736/
The Serial-Break-in Arm Of The Rudy Guede Hoax: Testimony In Court Far Short Of Smoking Gun
Guede Hoax: Translation Of Lawyers Testimony #2 On Breakin Shows No Concrete Connection To Guede
Guede Hoax: Translation Of Lawyers Testimony #1 On Breakin Shows No Concrete Connection To Guede
Calling Planet Knox: Maybe Chris Mellas And Bruce Fischer Need To Rein In Their Crackpot Brigade
Denial Of Parole For Rudy Guede Could Be Yet More Bad News For Knox And Sollecito
Framing Guede For ALL Of The Attack On Meredith Hits Yet Another Wall
Questions For Knox: Ted Simon Gone? With Legal And Financial Woes Will The Other Paid Help Stay?
Fifty Of The Most Common Myths Still Promoted Without Legal Restraint By The Knox PR Campaign
The Knox Interrogation Hoax #1: Over Of The Series - The Two Version of the 5-6 Nov 2007 Events
The Much-Demonized Rudy Guede Is Back In The News And Increasingly Threatening
Tracking The Increasingly Shrill Steve Moore #1: Welcome to “G-Man Case File”
The Rise And Fall Of “Frank Sfarzo” And How “Sfarzogate” Ripples On And On
Amanda Knox Lies Again To Get Herself Into Another European Court “But Really, Judge, Its Only PR”
The Crime-Scene Clean-Up: How Rudy Guede’s Diary Provides Even More Proof That It Happened
Some Hard Truths Sollecito PR Shill Sharlene Martin Omitted In Her Misleading Invite To The Congress
Questions For Knox and Sollecito: Why Claim Rudy Guede Did It Alone When So Much Proof Against?
Pushback Against Mafia Playbook Gathers Speed With Denial Of False Accusation of “Satanic Theory”
Tips for The Media: In Fact Guede Absolutely Couldnt Have Attacked Meredith Alone
How Much Or How Little To Blame Rudy Guede? The Defenses’ Immense Headache Coming Up
We Mean You No Harm. Please Take Us To Your Leaders… Oh Yes, But Of Course…
Amazingly, Wrong Facts And Defamations Of Italian Officialdom Show NO Sign Of Being Reigned In
An Open Letter to Steve Moore From His Second Cousin
Questions For Knox and Sollecito: Address These Several Hundred On The Hard Evidence
Why The FOA’s Increasingly Hapless Steve Moore Should Probably Stay Well Away From TV
The Seattle University Panel: Some Of The Ways In Which Steve Moore Got His Analysis Wrong
Today An Obsessional Group Rant About “No Evidence” By A Stacked Panel At Seattle University?!
Scientific Statement Analysis #5: Analysis Of Steve And/Or Michelle Moore’s Attempt At Rebuttal
Scientific Statement Analysis: Claims Made By Steve Moore About The Investigations In Italy
The Daffy Hyperbole Of Michelle Moore, Steve Moore’s Wife, Exceeds Even His
Ten Examples Of How The Former Campus Cop Steve Moore Serially Mischaracterizes The Case
Newsweek Report From Italy On Damage Shrill Campaign Is Doing To Knox’s Interests & America’s Image
Steve Moore Is Baffling Informed Case Observers On Both Sides Of The Atlantic
Is The Campaign That Ranted Against Italy For So Long Now Fearing An Italian-American Backlash?
Hopes Of PR Campaign Dashed That Prosecutor Mignini Would Soon Leave The Case
BBC Inter: Mignini Comes Across As Fair, Decent, Funny, And Quite Sane
Posted by Peter Quennell on 05/02/16 at 09:39 AM | #
In spite of Steve Moore’s delusional self serving memory of him being an undercover FBI Agent/Sniper/Head of Counter Terrorism in LA, and all of this in spite of the simple fact that nobody in the FBI in LA or anywhere else has ever heard of him. (Check it yourself if you don’t believe me.)
The sad truth is he was a pilot ferrying people around who really had something to do with the FBI. After he was fired from the FBI he got a job as a security guard at Pepperdine University from which he was also fired because he was unable to do the job. He spent all his working hours salivating over Knox just like the rest which was why he was fired by the Knox family anyway.
The man is a fraud and needed to establish some kind of credibility, which was why he leached onto Amanda Knox. lying birds of a feather etc;
See these dangerous-sick-nothing people for what they really are. Desperate morons who want their lives to mean something. It’s too late for them however, because once a bottom feeder etc: These people, (who give the human race a bad name) and just like Amanda Knox and the rest, they are just subhuman trash and at best inferior breeding stock. Thank God Steve Moore has never been able to reproduce himself, but given to whom he is married too it comes as no surprise.
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 05/02/16 at 12:05 PM | #
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