Free Republic

'Cowboy cop' who planted crack under couple's car seat to boost arrest quotas escapes jail after SOBBING in court. A veteran NYPD detective framed an innocent couple by planting crack in their car during a search. Arbeeny was convicted of ‘flaking,’ the practice of planting drugs on blameless people to reach their quota of felony collars and claim overtime, the New York Daily News reported. He was found guilty of putting a twist of crack under a car seat in Yvelisse DeLeon and Juan Figueroa’s car during a January 2007 bust in Coney Island, New York. The trial which ended...

Steal $40,000 from a bank, and you’ll spend a decade or two in prison. Steal $40,000 from an airplane passenger’s luggage and you’ll get six months — if you’re a Transportation Security Administration employee, that is. On January 10, 44-year-old Coumar Persad and 31-year-old Davon Webb, eight-year veterans of the TSA force at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, were sentenced to six months in jail and five years’ probation after pleading guilty to having stolen $40,000 from a passenger’s suitcase in January 2011. At the time of the men’s arrest, authorities told CBS New York that the suspects...

The state attorney’s office’s announcement last year that it was arresting six people in the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office kickback scheme was big news. It also set off a scramble for mug shots that exposed a potential point of contention the next time a law enforcement officer is arrested. Florida Statute 119.071 gives a sworn law enforcement officer the right to request in writing that his or her arrest photograph not be released to the public. Controversy can arise when the media looks for the photograph and a jail supervisor must decide whether to snub the media or ignore the...

Last week, this column highlighted major economic improvements for dalits in Uttar Pradesh, based on a research paper by Devesh Kapur and others (Rethinking inequality : Dalits in UP in the market reform era). But the real dalit revolution has been in social status, far more than economic. In material terms, inequality (technically measured by the Gini coefficient) in UP has always been low — less than in Kerala or the national average. UP's problem has always been social inequality, not consumption inequality. The good news is that social inequality is being transformed. The practice of seating dalits separately in...

White British actresses told to leave Bollywood British actresses who appear in Bollywood films are being targeted in a hate campaign by one of India's most feared political leaders. By Dean Nelson in New Delhi Published: 5:55PM GMT 17 Mar 2010 Actress Hazel Crowney: British actresses have flocked to Bollywood Stars including Alice Patten, the daughter of Lord Patten of Barnes, and Hazel Crowney, a former model from Kent, have been accused of stealing jobs from local girls. Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), a Mumbai nationalist street gang and political party which inspires terror throughout the city, has called...

I AM often asked to talk at schools and almost always ask students three questions about a film that lies about the "stolen generations". First: "How many of you have been shown Rabbit-Proof Fence?" Answer: every one. Second: "Have you been shown the movie as a great piece of film-making, or as a history lesson?" Answer: in every case as history. You know, like you learn America's history from John Wayne movies. And third: "How many of you have checked whether the film is actually true, by, say, reading the book on which it's based?" Answer: of thousands of students,...

Accusing Christians in India of carrying out a campaign of illegal or fraudulent conversions is a tactic being used by Hindu fundamentalist movements for mere political reasons, says an ecumenical forum of over 500 priests and pastors from different Christian denominations in the state of Karnataka who met in recent days in Bangalore. The Forum is chaired by Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore and has denounced the attempt by the governments of some Indian states, to approve "anti-conversion" laws, offensive to the religious freedom of Indian citizens. The allegations of conversions "were exaggerated with the specific intention of creating insecurity...

Birmingham police beating video: Five officers fired Five Birmingham police officers have been fired for a January 2008 beating of an already-unconscious suspect with fists, feet and a billy club, a battering caught on videotape until a police officer turned off the patrol car camera, city and police officials said today.

A white police officer was acquitted Monday in the drug-raid shooting death of an unarmed black woman that set off protests about how police treat minorities in a city where one in four residents is black. The all-white jury found Sgt. Joseph Chavalia not guilty of misdemeanor charges of negligent homicide and negligent assault. He had faced up to eight months in jail if convicted of both counts. Chavalia shot 26-year-old Tarika Wilson and her year-old son she was holding, killing her and hitting him in the shoulder and hand, during a Jan. 4 SWAT raid on her house. One...

RALEIGH - A hearing into the firing of a state trooper accused of mistreating his police dog opened today with a video of the officer kicking the dog as it was suspended from the railing of a loading dock. The 15-second video, taken by another trooper using his cell phone, shows Sgt. Charles L. Jones kicking the dog, Ricoh, five times. The dog was tied to the railing by its leash at the time, with its front paws in the air and its rear paws touching the ground. With each kick, the dog swung about two feet under the dock.

Imagine you're home alone. It's 8 p.m. You work an early shift and need to be out the door before sunrise, so you're already in bed. Your nerves are a bit frazzled, because earlier in the week someone broke into your home. Oddly, they didn't take anything; they just rifled through your belongings. But the violation weighs on your mind. At about the time you drift off, you're awakened by fierce barking from your two large dogs. You hear someone crashing into your front door, as if he's trying to separate it from its hinges. You grab the gun you...

Dispatch for the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office received a call June 12, 2006, by a man claiming to be Jim Proulx of Alvarado. The caller said he was high on hallucinogenic drugs and had killed several family members with an AK-47 submachine gun. He threatened to kill remaining family members unless he was given $50,000 and safe passage out of the country. Sheriff’s deputies and Cleburne police, including the police SWAT team, surrounded Proulx’s home about 1 a.m. Proulx hadn’t shot anyone and had no hostages, officials soon discovered. Instead, he was sound asleep when officers arrived. It was a...

It shouldn't surprise, given the state of the law, our courts and our politicians, and, in fact, it actually makes sense, but still, it's a bit… disconcerting. The Supreme Court of the State of Washington ruled today in a 5-4 decision that candidates for political office have a constitutionally protected right to be free from prosecution for lying in their pursuit of office. It is sobering to consider the responsibilities that courts have taken from the shoulders of common men and women and to contrast them with those that remain, including the duty on the part of each individual to...

GARY -- The death of a Gary reserve police officer has been ruled accidental by the Hammond Police Department. Hammond Police Chief Brian Miller said an "accidental firearms discharge" killed Kevin Weaver, 49, at Deb's Gun Range in Hammond on Saturday. "There was no criminal intent," Miller said. Miller said his officers will be sending the results of their investigation to the Lake County prosecutor's office and the Gary Police Department. Weaver went to the shooting range this weekend with several reserve officers from Gary to practice for an upcoming qualification test. At about 3 p.m., police said, reserve officer...

No charges will be filed against a middle school administrator whose toddler daughter died last month when she was left in the back seat of her mother's SUV during a heat wave, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Leaving the child in the car for the work day was "a substantial lapse of due care" but did not meet the definition of reckless conduct necessary for prosecution, said Clermont County Prosecutor Don White. Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby, 40, is assistant principal at Glen Este Middle School, about 20 miles east of Cincinnati. Authorities said she left her 2-year-old daughter, Cecilia, strapped into a car...

DURHAM, N.C. — A judge has sentenced disgraced prosecutor Mike Nifong to one day in jail for lying to a judge while pursuing the Duke lacrosse rape case. Nifong was held in criminal contempt of court Friday for lying to a judge when pursuing rape charges against three falsely accused Duke University lacrosse players. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III immediately moved to consider a punishment for Nifong, who has already been stripped of his law license and has resigned from office. He faces as many as 30 days in jail and a fine as high as $500. Reading...

A devastating effect of the collectivist mindset is the emergence of massive societal turmoil and heinous crimes. Collectivists often unleash brutal force against people who are not of "their" kind and instead belong to some "inferior" group. In the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, an untouchable man once slapped a higher-caste thief for stealing beans from his field. The self-righteously offended community responded by stripping the man's mother and parading her through the village amid a hail of stones and mud hurled in her direction.

Only 354 of 90,000 police caught on camera speeding or jumping red lights last year were punished. Last night forces were accused of double standards after it emerged that only one in 200 officers was fined or given points, compared with 84 per cent of ordinary drivers. In a quarter of the cases the police cars had their blue lights flashing, suggesting officers were attending an emergency. However, nearly all of the rest had the slate wiped clean by senior police, saving them from three points on their licence and a £60 fine. Managers have the discretion to cancel tickets...

The conversion is expected to be the largest in modern times Thousands of tribal and Dalit Hindus in India are to embrace the Buddhist faith at a huge gathering in Mumbai. The ceremony, which may be presided over by Tibet's exiled leader, the Dalai Lama, is billed as the largest religious conversion in modern India. The converts hope to escape the rigid caste system in which their status is the lowest. Right-wing Hindus have often opposed conversion, pushing some Indian states to restrict legal changes of faith. The organisers say the number of people to convert in Sunday's ceremony...

BSP supporters see their party set for government Enlarge Image India's low-caste Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has swept to a historic victory in assembly elections in the key northern state of Uttar Pradesh.With all but a handful of results declared, the BSP had won 202 of the 403 seats to allow it to form its own government, Indian media reports said. It is the first time since 1991 that any party in the state has done so. Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state and has long been its most politically influential. I thank people of all castes and...

BSP supporters see their party set for government Enlarge Image The low-caste Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is heading for victory in assembly elections in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, early trends suggest.Outgoing chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has admitted defeat to his rival, BSP leader Mayawati, and has said he will resign when results are confirmed. Trends show his party trailing with a possible clear majority for the BSP. Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state and has long been its most politically influential. But with caste and religion becoming the dominant factors in state politics in...

A police officer will avoid criminal charges despite admitting he took marijuana from criminal suspects and, with his wife, baked it into brownies. The police department's decision not to pursue a case against former Cpl. Edward Sanchez left a bad taste in the mouth of at least one city official, who vowed to investigate. "If you're a cop and you're arresting people and you're confiscating the marijuana and keeping it yourself, that's bad. That's real bad," said City Councilman Doug Thomas.

WASHINGTON - Authorities dropped charges Friday against an aide to Virginia Sen. Jim Webb who carried a loaded gun into the U.S. Capitol complex. "After reviewing and analyzing all of the evidence in the case, we do not believe the essential elements of the crime of carrying a pistol without a license can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt," U.S. Attorney Jeff Taylor, top prosecutor in the District of Columbia, said in a short statement. Webb senior aide Phillip Thompson, 45, was arrested on March 26 after Capitol Police spotted the loaded pistol and two other loaded magazines in a...

[D]espite guidelines reserving flashing lights and high speed for emergencies, former governors and others who frequently rode in their motorcades said it was hardly unusual in this state of 2,835 highway miles for them to race as fast as 91 miles per hour, as Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s sport utility vehicle was doing en route to a meeting Thursday night when it had a devastating crash. ...State police records show that Trooper Rasinski has never been ticketed, despite his four previous car accidents. In 2004, he was parked and operating a radar gun in Newark when a tractor-trailer hit his...

The unusual first-degree-felony case against Joseph Ramos, a fifth-grader charged with burglarizing the home of a senior Bucks County prosecutor, is set for juvenile court today. The boy will appear before county Judge Rea B. Boylan. The hearing is closed to the public because of his age. Joseph admits that on Sept. 1, he and a 7-year-old friend trespassed by unlawfully entering the unlocked Plumstead Township home of T. Gary Gambardella, chief of special investigations for Bucks County District Attorney Diane Gibbons. The boys were friends, neighbors and playmates of Gambardella's 11-year-old son. Joseph maintains he stole nothing, but is...

Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong is already facing complaints from the North Carolina State Bar that he made misleading, deceitful and fraudulent statements to the media about the Duke lacrosse case. Additional complaints that the DA intentionally hid DNA evidence favorable to the defendants could be added to that State Bar complaint. Nifong will defend himself before the State Bar in May. But Nifong could also be forced to defend himself before a jury in a civil trial down the road. In a recent interview with CBS's "60 Minutes," the parents of the three indicted players vowed to hold Nifong...

PORTSMOUTH -— The head of the Portsmouth police department’s Special Operations team was arrested this morning on a charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Lt. Brian Keith Mohammad Abdul Ali, a 21-year veteran of the police department, and Gregory Mondell Elliott Sr. were both arrested on the charges this morning at about 8:30 a.m., according to a statement released by Ann Hope, a spokeswoman for the department. Ali was suspended without pay pending the outcome of the investigation. The case is being investigated by the Portsmouth police department and Virginia State Police.

Thousands of people have been attending mass ceremonies in India at which hundreds of low-caste Hindus (Dalits) converted to Buddhism and Christianity. The events in the central city of Nagpur are part of a protest against the injustices of India's caste system. By converting, Dalits - once known as Untouchables - can escape the prejudice and discrimination they normally face. The ceremonies mark the 50th anniversary of the adoption of Buddhism by the scholar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. He was the first prominent Dalit to urge low-caste Indians to embrace Buddhism. As the chief architect of India's constitution, he wrote...

A YOUNG Pakistani woman has been kidnapped, raped and beaten by a gang of high-caste villagers because her uncle eloped with one of their relatives. She was chosen for punishment because she had recently gained a degree and was the pride of her low-caste family.Ghazala Shaheen, 24, and her mother Mumtaz were abducted last month by men dressed in police uniforms from their home near Multan in southern Punjab. Her shocking ordeal mirrors that of Mukhtaran Mai, 29, who became a symbol in the campaign for women’s rights in Pakistan after she was gang-raped because her 12-year-old brother had been...

Dobbs's DisciplesBy Donald Boudreaux | 17 Apr 2006 Economist Paul Craig Roberts has joined recently with the likes of Lou Dobbs and Sen. Charles Schumer to denounce so-called "outsourcing" -- that is, the importation of services. Roberts is aware that, throughout history, free trade has raised the living standards of ordinary people. But, he says, this historical record is irrelevant to today's world. He explained the reasons in a January 6, 2004, New York Times op-ed written with Sen. Schumer and entitled "Second Thoughts on Free Trade": "First, new political stability is allowing capital and technology to flow far more...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House approved a measure Friday that would cut off foreign aid to countries that refuse to extradite anyone suspected of killing an American law-enforcement officer. The legislation is a direct result of the slaying a Denver Police detective earlier this year. The provision was part of a 2006 foreign aid bill that passed 358 to 39. If the Senate approves, it will go to President Bush, who is expected to sign it. Rep. Bob Beauprez, R-Colo., introduced the legislation after Denver police detective Donnie Young was shot and killed in May while working off-duty. The suspect,...

State and Albuquerque police officers are at it again. And the most recent fracas between officers from both agencies might be creating tension among the beat cops. On Oct. 8, off-duty Albuquerque police officers Steve Hindi and Josh Otzenberger got into a fight with State Police officer Perry Boyd at the Easyriders V-Twin motorcycle show at the Albuquerque Convention Center, prosecutors said. Who's the suspect and who's the victim depends on which agency is writing the report.

Did Pfizer Inc, purchase The Constitution of the United States of America? ***************** Did Pfizer purchase the government of the State of Connecticut? Pfizer's connections with former Connecticut Governor John Rowland are a matter of public record: "John Rowland, Pfizer's agent in Hartford, became Connecticut's first Governor to plead guilty to taking bribes, yet persisted in referring to them as "gratuities." Pfizer drove hundreds from their homes and businesses outside its new research facility. State and local taxpayers got stuck with a massive tab." "Rowland gave Pfizer everything it wanted in New Haven, on land which many had assumed would...

"Am I taking this seriously? But of course," said Charles Meany, Weare's code enforcement officer. "In lieu of the recent Supreme Court decision, I would imagine that some people are pretty much upset. If it is their right to pursue this type of end, then by all means let the process begin."..... WEARE, N.H. -- Following a Supreme Court ruling last week that gave local governments power to seize private property, someone has suggested taking over Justice David Souter's New Hampshire farmhouse and turning it into a hotel. "The justification for such an eminent domain action is that our hotel...

Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff told a judge this morning that he will not prosecute two former Oakland police officers — part of a squad known as "the Riders" — for a third time on charges that they assaulted or framed drug suspects in 2000. Citing two previous mistrials in the case, Orloff told Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Horner that although he believed fired officers Clarence "Chuck" Mabanag, 39, and Jude Siapno, 36, had committed crimes, he questioned whether a third jury would convict them. "Experience has shown that the answer to that is no," said Orloff, who called...

Hudson- It was bad enough that police officer David Devore got stuck in the mud in his cruiser. But he got really mad when a resident took a picture of him. So Devore took the memory card from the man's digital camera and erased the images. For that action, he was suspended for a day and sued. John Bell III filed the lawsuit Friday in Summit County Common Pleas Court against Devore and the city, claiming his civil rights were violated because he was stopped without probable cause, wrongfully detained, verbally abused and deprived of his property. Jody Roberts, the...

It's time for Congress to put up or shut up when it comes to protecting our nation's federal judges. While everyone wants to be the first to condemn the recent attacks and intimidation of judges, when it comes to actually doing something about it, protecting our judges becomes a back seat issue. Well not to me.

A D.C. deputy fire chief who last month struck an 11-year-old child in a crosswalk and left before police investigated did not ask for an officer to report to the scene, according to a tape of the emergency call — a violation of department policy. Chief Beatrice Rudder also did not identify whether she was involved in the accident or simply a witness, according to tapes obtained by The Washington Times through a Freedom of Information Act request to the city's Office of Unified Communications.

RATON— In the midst of several bill-signing ceremonies around the state, Gov. Bill Richardson chose the National Rifle Association's Whittington Center as the backdrop to add his signature to legislation allowing more New Mexicans to legally carry concealed handguns. House Bill 641 lowers the minimum age for concealed-carry permits to 21 from 25, extends the license term to four years from two and allows for a waiver of license fees for law enforcement personnel and retirees. Additionally, the legislation, approved by lawmakers during the recent session, removes the requirement that reciprocity be extended only to states with "substantially similar" laws....

A 42-year-old police officer arrested on charges he raped his teenage daughter has been released without bail, prosecutors said Wednesday. Prosecutors in Queens had requested $25,000 bail for the officer, whose name has been withheld by authorities. Queens Criminal Court Judge William Harrington ruled the defendant could go free after issuing an order barring him from having any contact with his 15-year-old daughter. The officer has been charged with rape, incest, endangering the welfare of a child and sexual abuse based on allegations by the girl that he raped and molested her several times since 2001, court papers said. The...

Today's more detailed report on Sandy Berger's plea deal in the Washington Post underscores the intent of Berger to hide and destroy information that would either embarass or incriminate himself or Bill Clinton before the 9/11 Commission could gain access to it. Far from the "accidental" removal he insisted occurred, Berger now admits to intentionally removing and destroying classified material, a condition of his plea bargain: The deal's terms make clear that Berger spoke falsely last summer in public claims that in 2003 he twice inadvertently walked off with copies of a classified document during visits to the National Archives,...

Letter To Editor Criticized Use Of Tasers, Sheriff's WeightORLANDO, Fla. -- Orange County's sheriff may have broken the law when he used driver's license records to track down a woman who wrote a newspaper to criticize his staff's use of Taser stun guns and described him as too fat for basic police work, critics say.Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary had his aides use the records to get the address of Alice Gawronski so he could send her a scathing letter, which some say violated federal privacy law. It is illegal to access a driver's license database to obtain personal information,...

Ex-Lansing detective admits drug theft 3/31/2005, 12:14 p.m. ET The Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A former city police detective admitted in court that he stole prescription painkillers from an acquaintance's house last fall. Darren Duso, 42, pleaded guilty Wednesday to taking the OxyContin in return for a dismissal of more serious charges. He faces up to two years in prison when Ingham County Circuit Judge Paula Manderfield sentences him on May 4. The 15-year Lansing Police Department veteran resigned in November, one month after county sheriff's officials arrested him on charges of stealing drugs from the Dansville house....

US tells India, drop dead March 28, 2005 A friend, usually upbeat about India-US relations, sent me an angry mail over the weekend after President George Bush called up Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the evening of March 25 to inform him that the US had decided to supply F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in an interview to The Washington Post, "dismissed concerns" about the fallout of the American decision. The mail reads: "lovely easter gift to india from the us. moral: proliferate nukes, threaten us interests everywhere, be terror hub, and get rewarded...

Police Chief Gerry Whitman recommended that Ranjan Ford Jr. receive a 30-day suspension for shooting and killing an unarmed invalid last summer. That Monday recommendation is 10 days more than the suspension Whitman recommended for officer James Turney, who fatally shot Paul Childs, a developmentally disabled teen, in July 2003. "I think a 30-day suspension is an arbitrary and capricious number," said Mike Mosco, president of the Denver Police Protective Association "We stand behind Ranjan and we are going to ensure that his due process rights are protected and enforced." The mother of Lobato's three children, Christina Gomez, said Wednesday...

William Slavoski of the Secret Service was accused of threatening a cop. WEST PITTSTON (PA) – Calling a police officer’s actions an “inexcusable use of the criminal process,” an attorney on Tuesday convinced a district justice to dismiss all charges against an off-duty Secret Service agent accused of threatening and assaulting the officer. Attorney Barry Dyller said William Slavoski was merely venting his outrage because he believed his son was unlawfully detained by Exeter police officer Dion Fernandes. He argued Slavoski’s actions did not warrant criminal charges. District Justice Joseph Carmody agreed, dismissing charges of simple assault, terroristic threats, disorderly...

William Slavoski, 48, placed on leave after alleged physical, verbal assault on officer following son’s arrest. EXETER (PA) – A Secret Service agent cursed and “drove” his shoulder into a borough police officer’s chest after the officer took the agent’s son into custody for underage drinking, police said. Agent William Slavoski, of Ivy Drive in Shavertown, has been put on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of criminal charges filed in the Jan. 9 incident. He is employed at the agency’s Scranton office. Borough officer Dion Fernandes charged the 48-year-old Slavoski Feb. 2 with simple assault, harassment, terroristic threats, criminal...

Greg Collins kept watch in his garage Wednesday night, two loaded shotguns by his side. He was on guard for thieves who had burglarized his Modesto home on Hackberry Avenue six times in three weeks. Collins fell asleep but was awakened about 5:26 a.m. by a loud crash when someone opened the garage door and a large box he had laid against it scraped across the floor. The intruder turned on the lights and walked into the garage, toward a large piece of plywood that covered tools. Still groggy from sleep, Collins grabbed a shotgun and told the intruder to...

Dad's A Real Stunner Florida man arrested for using shocking discipline on son, 14 JANUARY 27--Meet Douglas Dycus. The 40-year-old Florida man was charged yesterday with felony child abuse and domestic battery for allegedly using a stun gun to discipline his 14-year-old son. Dycus, an engineer with a Palm Beach firm, admitted to cops that he used the electrical device on the boy when the child was wrestling with a brother and holding up the family's departure from their home last month. Instead of pulling the boys apart, Dycus--who said the children were "not listening"--went to his dresser drawer and...

Most local agencies prefer in-house investigations and discipline to ticketing peers::: TAMPA - You blow through a stop sign, slam into a car and injure the other driver. Automatic traffic ticket, right? Maybe not. Last week, a Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy ran a stop sign and rammed another car. The other driver was taken to the hospital. But Deputy Carole Frauenfeld didn't get a ticket. Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said the deputy who was at the crash scene told her: "You don't cite people to punish them. You cite them to teach them something. In this case, the deputy knew...