Free Republic

I’ve tried to show the world that dogs are harmless creatures, just looking to make a positive mark on this world. Then some numbskull canine, thinking he’s above it all,comes along and ruins all my good work. Who’s the dog this time? Well it’s a German Shepherd named Ranger, and get this, he’s a police dog to boot. (OGDEN, Utah — A police dog that was left in a pickup with the engine running apparently knocked the vehicle into gear and ran down a woman who was walking to her mailbox.

Fertilizer for the Pansy Bed  July 8, 2008 Oh god. There is no hope.The other day I glanced at the web site of the Lake Chapala Society, a social club of sorts for expats around Mexico’s Lake Chapala, an hour south of Guadalajara (where I live). Clicking on “Safety,� I found a long list of reasons why you should never, ever use a firearm to protect your home and family. No. See, you might miss, or be scared, or the intruders might take it away and shoot you, and they might be all mad and hurt you when all they...

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies who fired multiple shots at a man they were chasing in East Los Angeles late Friday afternoon may have grazed a pregnant bystander, authorities and a relative of the woman said Saturday. The incident began about 5 p.m. when deputies responded to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon at Fetterly Avenue and 6th Street, said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore. When deputies arrived, a man pulled out of a nearby driveway and crashed head-on into the deputies' patrol car, he said. The deputies later told investigators that they fired twice at the man...

SANTA ANA A 22-year-old man is in custody after police said he and another man unwittingly tried to carjack an unmarked police car with two uniformed officers inside. At 9:30 p.m. Thursday, the officers were investigating illegal fireworks activity in the 2200 block of Eastwood Avenue when a sports utility vehicle pulled up in front of their unmarked police sedan, said Santa Ana Police Department Comm. Steve Colon. The two men got out of the SUV and took "an aggressive approach toward the officers," Colon said. The driver acted as if he had a weapon in his waistband, police said....

DHARMAPURI (TN): Tamil Nadu Government has suspended 21 police personnel, including an inspector, in connection with the Saturday's hooch tragedy in a village near here which claimed three lives. Inspector M Krishnan and five other personnel of the Bommidi Police station and 15 members of Harur Prohibition Enforcement Wing had been suspended on the recommendations of District Superintendent of Police Najmul Hoda, police said on Monday. Three persons died and 40 were hospitalised after drinking the killer brew in Kukkalmalai village, 35 km from here on Saturday in the second liquor tragedy in less than a month in the state....

A young Turlock man parked a pickup truck on a dark country road outside his Central Valley city Saturday night, removed a baby boy from a car seat and then viciously beat the child in the street, fighting off passersby who tried to stop him until he was fatally shot by a police officer whose helicopter landed in a nearby pasture, police said today. The 27-year-old suspect died immediately where he fell. The child, who according to police appeared to be 12 to 24 months old, was rushed to a hospital but was soon pronounced dead as well. Police officials...

The mother of a former Jones High School student whose picture appeared above the yearbook category "Most Likely to End Up on Cops" is ticked off that the school allowed the label to make it to print. "My reaction was, I couldn't believe they would allow such a topic to appear in a yearbook," said Carolyn Green, whose son, Marquise Laroach, appeared in the photo. His name, spelled 'Marquis' in the yearbook, appeared alongside that of another senior, who was identified as "Jasmine Franklen." "Jones High is a predominantly black school trying to improve its image," Green said. "How does...

“Killing an Unarmed Man.” That is how the front-page headline in the New York Times characterized an incident in which a man tried to run over a policeman with his car and was shot by three policemen on the scene, including his intended victim. An automobile is a deadly weapon. If you are killed by an automobile, you are just as dead as if you had been shot through the heart. A phrase like “an unarmed man” makes a talking point— as if matters of life and death should be discussed in terms of how you can spin a talking...

PHILADELPHIA (May 19) - Philadelphia's police commissioner said Monday that four officers will be fired and four others disciplined for their roles in the beatings of three shooting suspects, an encounter that was captured on videotape and drew widespread outrage. Another eight officers who had physical contact with the suspects will undergo additional training on the department's policies concerning the use of force, Commissioner Charles Ramsey said. He said the police department made the disciplinary decisions after reviewing frames from enhanced tape of a video shot by a television news helicopter on May 5. The video, shot by WTXF-TV, shows...

LOCAL council bin police wearing head lamps are prowling neighbourhoods in the middle of the night to check whether residents are recycling. At least one contractor hired by the City of Monash in Melbourne has been threatened with the sack after peering into rubbish bins by torchlight and spooking elderly homeowners at 1am. It is understood several other councils pay bin cops to hunt down rogue recyclers. City of Monash spokeswoman Jodie Harrison confirmed a "rubbish auditor" had been warned to switch to more reasonable hours after "freaking out" residents. Disturbed householders have discovered bin police kitted out with miners'...

OAKLAND _ A six-month pilot program where Oakland police officers would knock on doors and ask permission to search homes for guns got the green light from the City Council's public safety committee Tuesday night. It goes to the full council Tuesday, when the council will meet at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza. The consent-to-search program, as it is called, is based closely on a similar effort launched in St. Louis in 1994 and on ongoing programs in Boston and Washington, D.C. The idea is simple: To ask parents for permission to search their homes for...

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Two SWAT officers are being counseled after bringing their young children along with them on a drug raid. The Orange County SWAT team searched a house on Napoleon Street Friday, arresting three people and recovering guns and drugs. The two officers who brought their children on the raid will not be disciplined. Both officers said the incident will not happen again, Local 6 reported.

WAYCROSS, Ga. - A group of third-graders plotted to attack their teacher, bringing a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and other items for the job and assigning children tasks including covering the windows and cleaning up afterward, police said Tuesday. The plot by as many as nine boys and girls at Center Elementary School in south Georgia was a serious threat, Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner said. "We did not hear anybody say they intended to kill her, but could they have accidentally killed her? Absolutely," Tanner said. "We feel like if they weren't interrupted, there would have been...

TOLEDO, Iowa - An Illinois man was arrested after police chased a stolen delivery van loaded with doughnuts across two Iowa counties at speeds of up to 100 mph. The van, owned by Donut Delite, of Moline, Ill., was stolen early Thursday while the driver was making deliveries at a hospital in nearby Rock Island. More than 100 miles later in Iowa, a Benton County sheriff's deputy spotted the van about 9:30 a.m. _ and the chase was on. Other officers joined in, and the chase stretched into Tama County. Authorities finally cornered the van in Toledo and arrested the...

TOLEDO, Iowa — An Illinois man was arrested after police chased a stolen delivery van loaded with doughnuts across two Iowa counties at speeds of up to 100 mph. The van, owned by Donut Delite, of Moline, Ill., was stolen early Thursday while the driver was making deliveries at a hospital in nearby Rock Island. More than 100 miles later in Iowa, a Benton County sheriff's deputy spotted the van about 9:30 a.m. — and the chase began. Other officers joined in, and the chase stretched into Tama County. Authorities finally cornered the van in Toledo and arrested the driver,...

Randy Dean Sievert drew ire from Manatee County sheriff's deputies as he aimed his cell phone camera at undercover investigators executing a search warrant in his neighborhood. A deputy confronted Sievert, demanding that he destroy any photos of investigators and their vehicles. Sievert was not a welcome observer of the drug raid. Authorities called him a "known drug dealer" based on a couple of past arrests. Taking photos of undercover officers jeopardized their lives, deputies said. Sievert refused to remove his hands from his pockets and step away from his car after he was confronted about the pictures. Deputies forced...

I was interested in how sheriffs department interface with DA offices as opposed to other agencies. Seems straight forward, sheriffs get them, da put them in jail and then sheriffs take care of the jails. Any officers here that can list the details, problems or specific issues dealing with these two agencies? Thanks.

CHICAGO (AP) — Treffly Coyne was out of her car for just minutes and no more than 10 yards away. But that was long and far enough to land her in court after a police officer spotted her sleeping 2-year-old daughter alone in the vehicle; Coyne had taken her two older daughters to pour $8.29 in coins into a Salvation Army kettle. Minutes later, she was under arrest — the focus of both a police investigation and a probe by the state's child welfare agency. Now the case that has become an Internet flash point for people who either blast...

BALTIMORE - Banished smokers taking nicotine breaks outside bars in one of Baltimore City’s trendy neighborhoods are being told to move or face fines and arrest for loitering, bar owners said. Hampden bar owners said they were shocked last week when police began warning patrons to move 150 feet away from the entrance of bars they were patronizing or face loitering charges. “Loitering has always been a legitimate problem in the neighborhood that we couldn’t get police to deal with,” said Benn Ray, owner of Atomic Books and head of the Hampden Village Merchants Association. “So why all of sudden...

A do-gooder who recorded abusive Boston police officers was himself arrested under a controversial ‘wiretapping’ law This past October, when Simon Glik used his cell phone to record Boston police officers making what he thought was an overly forceful arrest on Tremont Street, he didn’t think he would be the one who ended up in the back of a police cruiser. But cops saw Glik using his cell phone’s camera with its sound-recording feature, so they arrested him for breaking the Massachusetts law that prohibits secret electronic recording, deemed “wiretapping.”Was he wiretapping, though? In Massachusetts, a “two-party consent” state since...

Troubling Times If FreeRepublic stands for America, the real Anerica where the Constitution means something, where you have the right to be let alone in peace as a law-abiding citizen, where you have a right to defend yourself and your family then I need and beg for your help. Please ping any ping lists that apply. I’m posting as a newbie – I signed up in November 2000. I probably started lurking in late 1998. Before I post I’m alerting an Admin with my one and only original handle of this upcoming post to establish my bonafides. At first I...

Two off-duty police officers, one from Duluth and the other from Fulton County, wounded each other during an exchange of gunfire Friday afternoon in a quiet north Gwinnett County suburb. Fulton officer Paul Phillips, 37, and Duluth officer Jay Daily, 42, were recovering from non-life-threatening injuries Friday evening at Gwinnett Medical Center, said Cpl. Illana Spellman, spokeswoman for the Gwinnett County Police Department. aily, a member of the Duluth force for five years, was charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. "It's just baffling to us why it occurred," Duluth Police Chief Randy Belcher said. "It's an embarrassment...

HAMILTON CITY -- A man riding a bicycle with improper lighting equipment was shot with a Taser stun gun Wednesday night as he ran from a deputy who tried to stop him for the infraction. After repeated attempts, Glenn County sheriff's deputy Cale Smith said he finally got the attention of the rider on Sierra Street, who jumped from the bike and began running. After a half-block chase and several warnings from Smith that he would use the Taser, he did. Sgt. Scott James said only one probe struck the man, identified as Omar Herrada Rivera, 39, and he received...

HERSHEY, Pa. - The Hershey Co. is halting production of Ice Breakers Pacs in response to criticism that the mints look too much like illegal street drugs, the company's president and chief executive officer said Thursday. Hershey CEO David J. West disclosed the decision during a conference call about the company's newly released fourth-quarter earnings report. Ice Breakers Pacs, which first hit store shelves in November, are nickel-sized dissolvable pouches with a powdered sweetener inside. The pouches come in blue or orange and bear the Ice Breakers logo. Members of Philadelphia's police narcotics squad said the mints closely resemble tiny...

WINNFIELD (TV8) - People living in the Winnfield community say they want justice after a 21 year old man died after being tasered by police. TV 8 news reporter Michelle Masson attended a rally for 21 year old Barron Collins this morning. People in Winnfield made their concerns known over the possibility that a taser may have contributed to Barron Collins' death Thursday afternoon. Collins' relative says, "I was standing right there, I saw everything, I saw when they killed him. He told me to come get my Grandma and I told him I was coming. I came home in...

Pistol for police marketed to the public City leaders criticize the modified version of a gun originally made for an elite unit of the Los Angeles Police Department that has a history of fatal shootings. By Richard Winton Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 12, 2008 To the dismay of some city leaders, a gun company is marketing a line of high-end pistols named for the LAPD's Special Investigation Section, an elite group of plainclothes detectives with a history of fatally shooting suspects. The guns for the undercover unit were created at the request of the Los Angeles Police Department....

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. chief executive Daryl Brewster has resigned amid a sputtering turnaround effort. The Winston-Salem-based company said Monday that Brewster left his position for personal reasons but will stay with the company until the end of January.

Nation's Cops Applaud Presidential Candidate Jim Kouri January 1, 2008 While most of the politicians vying for their party's nomination for President of the United States pay lip service to the nation's law enforcement officers, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) is actually doing something to earn the respect and gratitude of America's cops, according to many police officers and organizations. For example, the American Federation of Police -- with well over 100,000 members -- recently praised Ron Paul for introducing a bill that would help cops obtain topnotch body armor that would withstand rounds fired from most firearms. Rep. Paul's bill...

NEW YORK (AP) - A teenage suspect who secretly recorded his interrogation on an MP3 player has landed a veteran detective in the middle of perjury charges, authorities said Thursday.

Two months ago, after hundreds of people from across the country voiced their outrage, Casselberry police Sgt. Andrea Eichhorn dropped her lawsuit against the family of tiny, brain-damaged Joey Cosmillo. It wasn't enough to save her job. On Tuesday, the Casselberry Police Department fired her. Her suit, filed Oct. 1 and abandoned Oct. 12, brought public ridicule to the agency, according to a memo from police Chief John Pavlis. It damaged the city's image and made people question whether they, too, might get sued by officers responding to 911 calls. ..... Joey Cosmillo fell into his backyard pool Jan. 9....

MIAMI (CBS4) ― A dangerous high-speed chase that at times seemed would result in tragedy on Wednesday actually ended with what appeared to be a violent police takedown of the suspect by Miami-Dade Police; the ACLU and even the police department itself is raising questions.

Following the deaths of four unarmed black men by Miami-Dade police officers, the ACLU of Florida urged greater oversight powers for a civilian board. The ACLU of Florida added to the growing chorus of complaints against the Miami-Dade Police Department Wednesday, and urged stronger civilian oversight -- with subpoena power -- of the law enforcement agency.

CASSELBERRY, Fla. -- A police sergeant has been fired for suing a family after she slipped and fell while trying to rescue a 1-year-old boy from drowning, according to authorities. Casselberry Police Chief John Pavlis fired Sergeant Andrea Eichhorn on Tuesday. ~snip~

An internal police investigation is under way after a formal complaint was filed against a Utah state trooper who was videotaped Tasering a man who refused to sign a speeding ticket. The officer's conduct has been called into question after a videotape of the incident was posted on YouTube. The video, taken from a Utah Highway Patrol dashboard camera, shows Trooper John Gardner using a Taser on Jared Massey during a traffic stop on State Road 40 in Uintah County on Sept. 14.

Nigeria's Police Chief Mike Okiro has admitted that 785 suspected armed robbers have died in encounters with police in the last three months. The Nigerian police force has been criticised by human rights groups for killing suspects instead of arresting them and giving them a fair trial. But Mr Okiro said almost 1,600 suspected armed robbers had also been arrested and charged in that time. He took over as acting Police Inspector General just over 100 days ago. Funding call To mark the anniversary, Mr Okiro paraded a crack squad of about 50 police officers in front of reporters on...

Sheriff: Men confess to crime By Debbie Robinson news@joplinglobe.com STELLA, Mo. — Both defendants in the brutal rape and murder of 9-year-old Rowan Ford have confessed to the crime, the Newton County sheriff said Sunday. David Spears, 25, of Stella, and Chris Collings, 32, of Wheaton, are charged with one count each of first-degree murder, forcible rape and statutory rape in the girl’s death. Spears is Rowan’s stepfather. Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland said investigators allege that Rowan was abducted early Nov. 3 from her home in Stella in Newton County, murdered in Barry County, and her body dumped in...

9-year-old Stella girl missing By Jeff Lehr jlehr@joplinglobe.com STELLA, Mo. — Law officers and volunteers spent several hours Sunday searching in vain for a 9-year-old girl who disappeared from her home in Stella late Friday or early Saturday. Rowan Ford was last seen inside her home at 777 Grove St. about 10:45 p.m. Friday, Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland said. She is the daughter of Colleen Spears and stepdaughter of David Spears, and is a fourth-grader at Stella Elementary School, Copeland said. Investigators found no signs of a crime scene at the Spears residence, and no charges had been filed...

Copeland suspects foul play in child's disappearance By John Ford / Daily News Managing EditorPublished: Monday, November 5, 2007 4:34 PM CSTE-mail this story | Print this page Rowan Ford, 9, has been missing from her home in Stella since Friday evening. If you have any information about her, please call the Newton County Sheriff's Office at 451-8300 or 451-4242. COURTESY PHOTO Foul play is suspected in the disappearance of a 9-year-old Stella girl who has been missing from her home since late Friday night. Rowan Ford, 9, was reported missing at 6:50 p.m. Saturday by her mother and step-father...

ST. GEORGE, Mo. -- The mayor of the St. Louis suburb of St. George, already accused of possessing marijuana, is now facing an even more serious accusation: suspicion of possessing child pornography. ~SNIP~ Goodman, 64, is a retired police officer who was elected last year. He was jailed and unavailable for comment. The St. Louis-Post Dispatch reported that police said they found marijuana when they searched Goodman's apartment, but they didn't say why they searched his apartment. snip The mayor's legal problems come less than two months after another embarrassing incident for the city. A young man's car seat-mounted videotape...

PHOENIX — A union for police officers broke with leaders of the Phoenix Police Department on Monday in calling for an end to an immigration policy that the union says makes streets in the nation’s fifth largest city more dangerous. The policy prevents police officers from asking federal immigration authorities for assistance in situations where illegal immigrants commit civil traffic violations.

NEWPORT NEWS - The decision to seek no time behind bars for a former Newport News police officer who pleaded guilty to molesting two teenagers in the 1980s and 1990s came down to getting a sure conviction rather than taking chances with a jury trial on a long-ago case, a prosecutor said. Randolph D. Smith, 60, pleaded guilty Thursday to six counts of indecent liberties with children, getting a 45-year sentence - all of it suspended. All the incidents occurred while Smith was a sworn police officer.

Driving 11 miles over the speed limit cost one driver more than a quarter-million dollars this weekend — at least for now. .... The 35-year-old from British Columbia, who had a valid driver's license, struggled to tell the trooper where he was going and how long he had been in Washington, prompting the trooper to search his car, Merrill said. The trooper found two suitcases in the trunk — one filled with $276,640 in cash. The driver claimed he won the stacks of dollar bills at 23 casinos in Washington, California and Nevada, but he was unable to produce any...

DALLAS — A woman and two boys were found stabbed to death at a Dallas home and two teenage girls were found bound and gagged in a closet, police said. The suspect remained at large Sunday. A capital murder warrant was issued Saturday for Robert Sparks, 33, who is believed to be related to the victims, said Lt. Vernon Hale, a police spokesman. The girls were taken to a hospital and believed to be in good condition, police said. They did not release their names or the nature of their injuries. "They have been through an extremely traumatic experience," Hale...

ROBELINE, La. - This village's only convenience store decided to do something nice for its police officers: give them a free fountain drink or coffee at closing time. But somewhere along the way, investigators say, it got out of control. Now, all three of the village's officers are accused of stealing snacks. "Over a period of time, it evolved into regular drinks and more," Natchitoches Parish Sheriff's investigator Travis Trammell said. "There's no telling how it got to this point, but the store started experiencing losses and they watch their videotapes and see all of this going on." Surveillance tapes...

FORT WORTH -- A Fort Worth police officer arrested last week on accusations he spanked the rear of a woman he caught engaging in sexual conduct in a car in Oakhurst Park was charged with official oppression. If convicted of that charge, a Class A misdemeanor, officer Craig Murrah faces up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine. Prosecutor Kurt Stallings confirmed Thursday that Murrah had been officially charged but said the case will also be presented to a grand jury. Police have said that at about 1 a.m. on June 22, Murrah found a couple engaging in...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne has a few more days to sign a plea agreement with federal prosecutors or face an indictment by a federal grand jury of allegations that he used his position for personal gain, Local 10's Rad Berky reported. A deadline of 5 p.m. Friday has now been extended until Tuesday at 5 p.m. The grand jury has uncovered evidence that Jenne took as much as $100,000 in loans and payments from companies doing business with the Broward Sheriff's Office and then did not report the income on financial disclosure forms or his...

Direct quote of the cop from the TRANSCRIPT: "I just, I just, I guess, I guess I'm gonna say I'm disappointed in you sir. I'm just really am. I expect this from the guy that we get out of the hood..." (emphasis added)

ABBOTSFORD, Wis. (AP) -- Two Dorchester men driving one truck at the same time were arrested for drunken driving in the Abbotsford area about 170 miles northwest of Madison. Harvey J. Miller, 43, who has no legs, steered the 1985 Chevrolet truck while Edwin H. Marzinske, 55, operated the brake and gas pedals, according to a report from the Colby/Abbotsford police. Miller, who was sitting in the driver's seat, admitted he'd had too much to drink but argued that he wasn't really operating the truck since he had no legs to push the pedals, the report said. He received a...

A well-built man was forced to take a drugs test in Stockholm recently after a police officer assumed that muscles like his could only have been developed with the help of illegal substances. The female assistant police officer got into a conversation with Tomislav Boduljak and his friend late at night in central Stockholm. According to Boduljak, 27, the police officer was pleasant at first, but changed her attitude when he said he worked out. Saying his muscles were 'abnormal', she said he must have used drugs. "I asked if she didn't think it possible that I work out a...

Prisoner poker could crack cold cases By PHIL DAVIS, Associated Press Writer Tue Jul 24, 6:10 PM ET TAMPA, Fla. - Prison inmates are getting a present from the state of Florida: playing cards. For detectives looking to solve dozens of cold cases, it's the start of a game of Go Fish that might pay off big. On Tuesday, Florida's nearly 93,000 state inmates started getting one of two decks that between them highlight 104 of the state's most troubling unsolved murder and missing persons cases. "What better way to get them talking than to have cards with the cases...