Free Republic

PHOENIX—Former Phoenix Police Officer Chad Michael Goulding (DOB 9/30/1970) has been arrested and charged with carrying out five Phoenix area bank robberies during a five month period in 2006. Goulding, who left the Phoenix Police force in 2005 after serving on the force for 13 years, is currently in custody and held on a $1,000,000 bond. His apprehension and indictment is the culmination of a four-year cooperative investigation involving the FBI’s Bank Robbery Task Force and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. “Anytime an individual commits armed bank robbery the potential for violence increase and puts everyone in danger,” said FBI...

McDonnell says the officers believed the man had a gun and were awaiting the arrival of backup when the man pointed the object in a two-handed posture that looked like what a person would do when they are about to fire a weapon.

YAKIMA, Wash. -- A Yakima County sheriff's sergeant could be disciplined for allegedly refusing to help a Selah police officer who was involved in the rape arrest of Deputy Sean Moore. Sheriff Ken Irwin confirmed Monday that he ordered an internal investigation into the actions of veteran Sgt. George Town after receiving a complaint about Town from Selah police Chief Stacy Dwarshuis earlier this month. According to a memo obtained by the Yakima Herald-Republic, Dwarshuis complained that Town had refused to assist Selah police Officer Rich Brumley on a minor theft case. Brumley was part of the arrest last month...

A city police officer assigned to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's security detail has been charged for allegedly shooting a man while off-duty. The New York City Police Department says Leopold McLean, 46, has been charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment and criminal use of a firearm. He was held on $10,000 bail. Investigators say McLean shot his girlfriend's former boyfriend, Lepaul Gammons, on November 15th when Gammons showed up at her Queens home in violation of a restraining order. Court papers say McLean pointed a handgun at Gammons, who asked if McLean was going to shoot him. McLean reportedly lowered...

Rene Lozano Jr. once lost control of his patrol car while chasing a traffic violator. The vehicle slammed into a utility pole, fatally injuring a rookie officer riding with him. A bullet narrowly missed another officer's head when Lozano's pistol accidentally discharged. He was the passenger in a stolen Mercedes-Benz driven by a friend. The bolt cutters used to steal the car were stashed under the seat. And he once was fired for making false statements about his arrest on charges of driving while intoxicated, a case that ultimately was dismissed because the arresting officer was unable to testify. That...

The YEAR OF THE GUN GRABBER continues in the formerly Great State Of North Carolina. It began in February in King, NC when a few snowflakes prompted the Mayor of said burg to declare a State Of Emergency which suspended the possession and transport of weapons off private property. CLICK LINK HERE Read More…

A drunk off-duty corrections officer openly carrying a handgun was shot in the arm by police early this morning after he refused to drop his weapon, police said. Plainclothes cops fired at Rikers Island guard Victor Hernandez, 35, at about 4 a.m. this morning after he ignored orders to relinquish the weapon and aimed it in their direction when they stopped him on 3rd Avenue, off 161st Street, police and witnesses said. "He turned, pointed and they reacted," a source said. Hernandez, who aimed his loaded 9mm Glock at the badge-wearing officers, was struck in the left arm, sources said....

(09-30) 18:25 PDT OAKLAND -- Mary Kate Hallock arrived at her Oakland hills home after running errands Tuesday and found a blue note fluttering on her front door. "Oakland police responded to your residence to investigate a burglar alarm," the handwritten note read. "While circling the rear perimeter, lab advanced on officers in a threatening manner before being shot and killed." "Lab" was Gloria, an 11-year-old, arthritic yellow Labrador Hallock's family had owned since she was a puppy. Oakland police shot Gloria three times with a 40-caliber Glock handgun in the family's backyard while responding to a false burglar alarm...

Arizona deputy's claim he was shot by smugglers doesn't add up, say experts Chief medical examiners suggest gunshot that wounded Louie Puroll was fired at close range, rather than from over 20 metres ( A border patrol agent near the Mexican border in Arizona, where sheriff's deputy Louie Puroll claimed he was shot by smugglers. The distress call of a wounded sheriff's deputy from an isolated spot in Arizona near the Mexican border has been played repeatedly on primetime US news: "I've been hit! I've been hit! I've been hit!" But doubts have now been raised over the story of...

An NYPD captain in a scandal-plagued Brooklyn precinct has a name for cops who don't write enough summonses: "do-nothings." Capt. Alex Perez, in a new set of recordings, threatened to fire less productive cops and talked openly to other supervisors about summons quotas. "Your workers will get you something," Capt. Alex Perez said on a tape played for the Daily News Friday. "Your do-nothings will get you nothing." An officer assigned to the 81st Precinct secretly made the tapes and recently turned them over to a lawyer for Officer Adrian Schoolcraft, who was the first to blow the whistle on...

SELMER, Tenn. — A Selmer police officer has been charged with domestic assault in an incident where authorities said he choked a woman and broke her cell phone, according to the affidavit. Michael Gilbert, 29, was arrested on Sept. 3 and released on $2,500 bond on Sept. 4, according to McNairy County jail records. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Oct. 14.

A six-year veteran of the Albany Police Department has been arrested on suspicion of sex abuse and hindering prosecution. Officer Rick Hawley was arrested Thursday by Oregon State Police following a grand jury indictment in an investigation dating to April. That’s when the Albany Police Department received a complaint from an individual, alleging criminal conduct by Hawley in an off-duty incident a few months earlier.

A Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper in the Chattanooga district has been fired for inappropriate conduct. According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Tennessee Department of Safety spokesman Mike Browning said 37-year-old Steven Bourque "engaged in conduct unbecoming while on duty in Marion County" last month. Browning said Bourque had also been untruthful to his supervisor and internal investigators about the inappropriate conduct.

New charges against three former Philadelphia police officers accused this summer of ripping off a heroin dealer were unveiled in a federal indictment Thursday. The indictment also laid out the details of a second scheme two of the officers are accused of hatching, to steal money from a man they believed to be a mafioso who collected gambling proceeds - but who was actually an undercover FBI agent. The new charges had been expected since July, when former Officers Robert Snyder, James Venziale, and Mark Williams were indicted in the heroin-theft scheme. The theft from the supposed Mafia member never...

A jury ruled Sept. 1 in federal court that two Sherwood police officers are guilty of subjecting a Sherwood man to unreasonable force during his arrest. Rodney Burrell of Sherwood sued officers Vernon Blocker and Scott McFarland for, according to his formal complaint, “unreasonable seizure in violation of his rights.” The case was heard in the U.S. District Court by District Judge William Wilson. Blocker and McFarland have together been charged $190,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, to be paid to Burrell. On Oct. 14, 2005, Blocker and McFarland arrested Burrell on charges of aggravated assault, aggravated assault on a...

ATLANTA -- A former Atlanta police officer will spend five years in prison for drawing his gun and threatening a man over a cell phone. Killroy F. Jackson, 35, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and terroristic threat charges related to the January 2010 attack. Prosecutors say Deandre Stafford and his girlfriend, T Miya Hayward, were arguing about a cell phone outside a Jonesboro Road home. Hayward claimed Stafford took the phone from her and refused to return it. Hayward then left the scene and called Jackson, who returned to the location of the argument, according to police. Jackson, who was...

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- Every Monday KFOX features some of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office most wanted fugitives in a feature known as Manhunt Monday. But a recently featured suspect, 17-year-old Vincent Alexander Escobar, decided to make it easier on law enforcement and turn himself in. Escobar, who is accused of violently assaulted his girlfriend twice within three weeks, went to the El Paso County Detention Center Monday night with a bail bond agent, but on arrival was turned away because there wasn't a deputy on duty to take him in. The two then went across the street to...

Las Vegas, NV- Some people in the Valley have been getting a loaded call recently regarding the Costco shooting in Summerlin. The messages come in the form of robo-calls, prerecorded messages usually used in campaigns or telemarketing. While these calls seem to focus on the Costco shooting, some wonder if there is a political motive behind them.

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - An Albuquerque man has filed a civil lawsuit against the city claiming that the former Albuquerque police detective who arrested him and testified against him lied. That detective said the father confessed to squeezing his 1-year-old son so hard that he broke the baby's ribs. During the trial, the officer changed his story. A civil lawsuit filed on Thursday claims that former Albuquerque Police Department Detective Brian Sanchez deliberately lied about a confession. This isn't the first time Sanchez has been sued over questionable police work. In September 2006, Charles White was in court after allegations surfaced...

ARVADA — Another member of the Arvada police department has resigned in connection with a case involving alleged use of excessive force. The resignation was announced at a press conference this afternoon. A total of six officers have resigned: four of them in connection to the January incident, and two others as a result of seperate internal personnel matters. One of the officers who resigned is one who was previously said to have been on paid administrative leave.

n the past 14 months, 23 Tulsa police officers have run afoul of the law or department regulations, resulting in actions ranging from unpaid leave to resignation to criminal charges, a World review of police personnel records indicates. The list includes a fired officer who allegedly lied to the FBI and Tulsa Police Department Internal Affairs officers, an officer who was dismissed after choking a fellow officer until she was unconscious, and an officer who lost 20 hours of vacation time after allegedly head-butting a handcuffed prisoner. Seven of the 23 officers have been named in an ongoing federal grand...

Four plaintiffs joined together in one federal civil suit against the city of Burkburnett and seven members of the Burkburnett Police Department in their individual capacities, according to a complaint filed Thursday in Wichita Falls. Attorney Rickey Bunch submitted the suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas listing Robert Head, Bernice Head, John Edward Muller and Edwardo Salazar -- identified by state court records as Eduardo Constantino Salazar, 33 -- as plaintiffs. The suit names the city of Burkburnett as a defendant as well as a list of others identified as Officer Justin Perron, Officer J....

[...] On Monday, Sutton said, she was awakened by incessant pounding on her back door about 8 a.m. She looked out of the window and saw two men and a woman at her back door, peering in her window. Scared, Sutton said she grabbed her gun and held it at her side as she answered the door. She said that she never left her house and never raised the gun. Although they had no identification tags, Sutton said that the three identified themselves as Wilco workers and again asked permission to work on her property. She granted it, but asked...

A Macon police recruit accidentally shot herself during training Thursday morning at the police firearms range. Tomika Jackson’s gun fired while she was holstering her gun. She shot herself in the right leg, according to Jami Gaudet, a spokeswoman for the Macon Police Department. The incident happened about 7:30 a.m. at the range during a police training academy. Jackson was admitted to the Medical Center of Central Georgia, where she was listed in stable condition for a nonlife-threatening injury, according to Gaudet. The incident is under review by the police department

Cops busted breaking into cars in West Palm BeachCops getting in trouble in South Florida isn't really a newsflash, but it's not often they are caught breaking into cars. Two West Palm Beach police officers have some explaining to do after they were caught early Thursday inside a Jupiter parking garage trying to steal, the Sun-Sentinel reported. The two officers, Christopher Clark and Timothy Pike, face felony criminal mischief charges, but those charges could be upped to attempted burglary after an investigation. Jupiter police encountered the two cops-turned-car thieves as they were attempting to break into two cars in the...

The resisting-arrest conviction last week of Felicia Gibson has left a lot of people wondering. Can a person be charged with resisting arrest while observing a traffic stop from his or her own front porch? Salisbury Police Officer Mark Hunter thought so, and last week District Court Judge Beth Dixon agreed. Because Gibson did not at first comply when the officer told her and others to go inside, the judge found Gibson guilty of resisting, delaying or obstructing an officer. Gibson was not the only bystander watching the action on the street. She was the only one holding up a...

FEDERAL and Victorian police have carried out raids across Melbourne in a joint anti-terror operation. An Australian Federal Police spokeswoman said the raids on homes in Glenroy, Coolaroo, Pascoe Vale and Dandenong today were part of an operation against financing of terrorism activity, not a counter-attack on any planned terrorist act. The spokeswoman would not say what was seized and what arrests, if any, had been made. As for a time for the raids, she would only say they were carried out this morning.

A Clayton County, Georgia, police officer has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges he took money to protect illegal drug deals, possessed a stolen firearm and stole personal property from drivers during traffic stops, a U.S. attorney announced Wednesday. Jonathan Callahan made an initial appearance Wednesday before federal Magistrate Judge C. Christopher Hagy. U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said, "As a police officer, Officer Callahan took an oath to serve and protect the public. Instead, he abandoned that oath and used his position to protect drug dealers and steal from the citizens he was sworn to protect."...

Update:Police released information Tuesday afternoon saying Rafael Garcia may have fired at least one round from a weapon during this morning’s harrowing domestic incident. Police also said that Garcia is a deputy U.S. Marshal, assigned to New Jersey. The victim today is described as Garcia’s 44-year-old girlfriend. Her injuries are “non life-threatening.” Garcia has been charged with first-degree assault, first-degree criminal attempt to commit assault and criminal attempt to commit assault on a police officer. Garcia is being held on a $1 million bond and is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday. The original post follows: One person is in...

Yes, Virginia, there are such creatures as Trash Police. No word on whether they are armed or whether they will break down your door at midnight and shoot your dog. They do however seem to have taken instruction from former President William Jefferson “BJ” Clinton on the proper definition of the word “is” since they are able to distinguish between the lawful use of a trash can and a refuse receptacle.

Now in concert with the gentle approach of summer Police across the country renew their annual campaign against dogs and other pets. Knowledgeable readers are familiar with the drill: when they came for the dogs I said nothing for I owned no dogs. When they came for the cats I said nothing for I owned no cats. When they came for me, there was no dog or cat owner left to speak on my behalf. And then, of course, there is the matter of Marksmanship. In Washington, DC it took seven or eight shots to kill a 13 year old...

The Chattanooga Police Department issued a statement and dismissed charges against a man who was rushing his wife to Erlanger for medical care. The following is from Spokesperson Lt. Kim Noorbergen: "Charges of traffic violations, evading arrest, assault on a police officer, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and registration violation have been dismissed against Jessie Wright. These charges stem from the incident that occurred at Erlanger Hospital on June 16th, just after midnight. Hamilton County District Attorney General Bill Cox and Chattanooga Police Department Chief Rawlston have reviewed the incident and concluded the necessity for Mr. Wright to reach the hospital...

Ex-CHP Officer Convicted of Bribery and Perjury for Dismissing Speeding Ticket in Exchange for Sex June 21, 2010 A former California Highway Patrol officer was convicted Monday of bribery and perjury for allegedly dismissing a traffic ticket for a woman who agreed to have sex with him. Abram Carabajal, 53, faces up to four years and eight months in prison when he is sentenced in San Diego County Superior Court in Vista. The jury that convicted Carabajal acquitted Shirin Zarrindej, 49, a dog-groomer, of similar charges. Investigators followed the two to a motel in Oceanside after Carabajal went to court...

This is beyond outrage. If you live in Farm Country and even think anything like this occurs in your vicinity, you better step up and clean it up now. Otherwise it just fuels the Bolshevik lust for totally berserk control over all things great and small. A man like this is truly a danger to himself and others. Read More…

DETROIT – Police who carried out a raid on a family home that left a 7-year-old girl dead over the weekend were accompanied by a camera crew for a reality television show, and an attorney says video of the siege contradicts the police account of what happened. Geoffrey Fieger, an attorney for the family of young Aiyana Jones, said he has seen three or four minutes of video of the raid, although he declined to say whether it was shot by the crew for the A&E series "The First 48," which has been shadowing Detroit homicide detectives for months. Police...

Last week, a Columbia, Missouri, drug raid captured on video went viral. As of this morning, the video had garnered 950,000 views on YouTube. It has lit up message boards, blogs, and discussion groups around the Web, unleashing anger, resentment and even, regrettably, calls for violence against the police officers who conducted the raid. I've been writing about and researching these raids for about five years, including raids that claimed the lives of innocent children, grandmothers, college students, and bystanders. Innocent families have been terrorized by cops who raided on bad information, or who raided the wrong home due to...

<p>SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – A district attorney's report says an officer who fatally shot a bystander at a California pizzeria robbery was legally justified.</p>

The video of a Columbia, Mo., SWAT team shooting and killing a dog during a drug raid is now available online, due in part to the efforts of the Columbia Daily Tribune. The video shows members of the Columbia Police Department executing a narcotics raid on the home of Jonathan Whitworth. While the raid, which occurred in February, only turned up a misdemeanor amount of marijuana and a glass pipe, the Columbia PD was able to charge Whitworth with second-degree child endangerment because a child lives in the home. That same child, age 7, was present when the Columbia PD...

Watch this video at your peril. You will rethink every good thought you ever had about Modern Compliance Enforcement Officers (MCEO). Yes, they shot the dog. Again and again and again. As the crackshots they invariably are, it took four rounds to com

What gives here? Conservative talk show host, Mark Levin, makes an excellent observation as well as ask an excellent question. First the Obaminator: "...and the Department of the Interior has announced that they will be sending Swat teamns to the Gulf to inspect all platforms and rigs." Mark Levin: "Swat teams from the Department of the Interior? When I was Deputy Secretary of the Interior Department (during the Reagan administration), I don't remember any Swat teams. Now you heard hims say that the Department of the Interior was going to send Swat teams, I didn't know that they had Swat...

China says diplomat beaten, injured by Houston police; US says State Dept taking it seriously

Wednesday marked a day that legends are made of in the annals of American Law Enforcement. President Obama gave a speech at the Oakley Lindsay Civic Center in Quincy, Illinois. World Net Daily’s Chelsea Schilling reports that a group of about 200 Tea Party protesters, many of them grandmotherly types, gathered outside the auditorium. They were carrying signs that had slogans like “Give Us Liberty, Not Debt” written on them. They wore red, white and blue shirts. I know, I know- it is very shocking for you to learn that American grandmas would behave in this fashion. Not about to...

The FBI is investigating the fatal shooting of a North Memphis man by a Bartlett police officer, Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin told the City Council on Tuesday. "I want you to know MPD has received notification that the FBI has launched an investigation," Godwin said with no further comment. Bartlett Police Chief Gary Rikard said his department was notified Tuesday that the FBI was investigating the shooting. Rikard declined any further comment other than to say his department would cooperate fully with the investigation. Rikard said recently that officer Patrick Cici has returned to duty with the narcotics division...

So how low on the totem pole must you sink to be convicted of a felony as an ATF Agent? This guy must have really aggravated his chain of command. Think the guys who made up evidence in hundreds of cases over the years will ever see the view from a defendants chair? Read More…

Top IRS officials have been working with Democrats on Capitol Hill to determine how the agency will enforce President Obama’s new health care law. Republican lawmakers estimate the legislation will require the hiring of many thousands of new tax enforcement agents. While it’s still not known exactly how many will be hired, here’s what’s clear: Under the new law, the IRS is required to fine taxpayers thousands of dollars if they do not purchase health insurance. In order for the government to enforce compliance, tax authorities will need information, for the first time, about people’s health care. Collecting that data...

Maryland's SWAT transparency bill produces its first disturbing results Cheye Calvo's July 2008 encounter with a Prince George's County, Maryland, SWAT team is now pretty well-known: After intercepting a package of marijuana at a delivery service warehouse, police completed the delivery, in disguise, to the address on the package. That address belonged to Calvo, who also happened to be the mayor of the small Prince George’s town of Berwyn Heights. When Calvo's mother-in-law brought the package in from the porch, the SWAT team pounced, forcing their way into Calvo's home. By the time the raid was over, Calvo and his...

A veteran police officer who complained that his cases were being dismissed has resigned after prosecutors accused him of misconduct in a robbery investigation. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Brian Cloninger tried to influence a lineup, prosecutors say. He gave the robbery victim the name and photo of the man he thought committed the gunpoint hold-up. He also urged the woman to look at the suspect's photo every day so she could pick him out. Cloninger's behavior triggered an investigation and forced prosecutors to throw out some 70 cases he handled - including drunken driving, assault and drug charges. "Officer Cloninger tainted...

Where has this guy testified as forensic expert? Can you say mistrial? Is it too late to have the NYPD revoke his pension?

“Choose this day whom you will serve.�: An Open Letter to American Law Enforcement. Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full of passionate intensity. -- William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming.� Gentlemen and ladies of American Law Enforcement, There is a growing perception among many Americans that we are headed for one of those periodic moments in our history when our reactions to events will redefine who we are as a people, where we...

Atlanta’s Citizen Review Board, frustrated that police refuse to answer questions about last summer's controversial raid of a Midtown gay bar, is threatening to subpoena 10 APD officers. At stake could be the relevance of the nascent board, which claims it received little cooperation from police under the leadership of former Chief Richard Pennington, who resigned in December. "We have been dealing with this issue of officers' refusal to cooperate for a long time," attorney Seth Kirschenbaum, vice chairman of the review board, told the AJC Friday. "While Pennington was chief, officers were refusing to cooperate and no discipline was...