Free Republic

Two St. Lucie County sheriff's deputies received counseling after searching a man's home last year without his permission while looking for a man with a felony warrant, according to recently released records. Deputies Clay Mangrum and Matthew Morris in August went to a residence on Bermuda Avenue shortly after midnight while looking for a man with a felony warrant. Morris had gotten a message from a detective indicating the suspect might be there, and Morris asked that Mangrum go look with him. The home's resident, Daniel Tufts, said the suspect was a friend but hadn't lived there for years. Tufts...

Obama Admin Admits It Tracked Abortion Groups in Wisconsin Madison, WI -- The Department of Homeland Security admitted today that it improperly conducted a threat assessment on pro-life groups in Wisconsin. The assessment came before an expected rally last year in response to the University of Wisconsin Hospital board decided to allow abortions. http://www.LifeNews.com/state4796.html

Riverside's police chief is being investigated in a hit-and-run crash with his city-issued car early Monday morning, raising questions of drunken driving and an alleged cover-up. Russ Leach was placed on medical leave following the 3 a.m. single-car wreck near Central and Hillside avenues, though officials acknowledge he was not injured. His own patrol officers stopped the chief at Arlington Avenue and Rutland Street, more than three miles away. His black Chrysler 300 had blown multiple tires and suffered heavy fender damage, officials said. On Tuesday, after allegations that police supervisors had ordered an initial report that omitted officers' suspicions...

Memphis Police are investigating one of their own for charges of rape. A Fairley High School student says she was raped by a cop who was also a school resource officer. Students at the Whitehaven school say they aren't surprised by the allegations. As Ashley Ratliff, a Fairly High School junior, left campus on Tuesday, she shared her thoughts regarding allegations of a Memphis Police school resource officer being sexually involved with a female student. "I'm really not surprised 'cause I done seen a lot of stuff with my own eyes, but I really don't want to say, but I'm...

In the absence of any explanation from the cops who beat him, local artist Eric Winfield has turned to social media to pose a simple question about the events of October 27, 2007: Why? That was the night the Boston Red Sox shelled the Colorado Rockies 10-5 on their way to a pitiless sweep of the World Series. It was also the night Winfield and two friends tried to make their way through the post-game crowds in LoDo -- and Winfield was badly beaten by Denver police officers. According to Winfield, he was threading his way through a crowd outside...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security improperly conducted a threat assessment of Wisconsin pro- and anti-abortion rights groups before an expected rally last year. The department said in a memo released last year that it destroyed or deleted all of the copies of the assessment after an internal review found it violated intelligence gathering guidelines about "protest groups which posed no threat to homeland security." The assessment was shared only with the director of Wisconsin's intelligence-sharing center and police in Middleton, where the rally was expected to take place. The report was compiled prior to a February 2009 meeting in

Some argue that DUI laws have gone too far (joe.ruiz, Flickr).It seems like it could be a storyline out Steven Spielberg's 2002 movie, Minority Report: a Minnesota man was convicted of a DUI offense in a car that wasn't moving. What's even more surprising: the car wouldn't start at all. As it turns out, getting a bit tipsy and stumbling out of the house to sleep it off in the car may make you a felon. It happened to Daryl Fleck. That he'd consumed about twelve beers is not in dispute. His felony conviction for drunk driving, even though his...

A New York City junior high student has been arrested for doodling on her desk with a marker. Twelve-year-old Alexa Gonzalez scribbled "Lex was here 2/1/10" on her desk Monday at Junior High School 190 in Queens. She also wrote "I love my friends Abby and Faith." The girl says the doodles could have been erased. Moraima Camacho says her daughter was released several hours after she was taken in handcuffs to a police station.

Sometime between 7 and 7:30, not long after I got home from work, I walked to the CVS on 22nd and M to get some bread, milk, and a SmartTrip card. I was right across the street from the CVS, and I waited for the crosswalk light to tell me to go before I crossed. I had plenty of time left, according to the countdown clock. I was more than halfway there when a black SUV made an illegal left turn and hit me head-on. I absolutely had the right of way. I yelled something like, “Are you really doing...

The Daily Caller Struck Down: Feds Refuse to Explain How Agent Injured Daily Caller Writer By Tucker Carlson and Jon Ward - The Daily Caller 02/04/10 at 5:49 pm The State Department has refused to answer basic questions about an accident that took place in Washington on Wednesday night, in which a U.S. Diplomatic Security Service vehicle struck Daily Caller employee Sean Medlock as he was crossing the street. An agent in the vehicle, Mike McGuinn, did not identify himself to Medlock at the scene, or apologize for running him down. Indeed, Washington, D.C., police drove to a local emergency...

L.A. County red-light violation fines have jumped 65% to $446, Times review finds February 4, 2010 | 7:14 am Redlights In less than eight years, fines for red-light traffic violations in Los Angeles County have jumped nearly 65% from an average of $271 to $446. With traffic school fees, the total now exceeds $500. Ever-vigilant photo enforcement programs run by nearly 30 agencies across the county have added a new degree of efficiency to catching violators and capturing revenue to fund a variety of government programs. In November alone, Los Angeles County’s Superior Court system processed payments on an estimated...

COLUMBIA -- Three Columbia police officers are accused of falsely arresting a man outside a Five Points bar and then lying in an official police report to cover it up, according to a federal lawsuit. Horry County attorney Jonathan David McCoy says officers John K. Passmore, James Heywood and Amanda H. Long violated his Constitutional rights when he was arrested on charges of interfering with police outside Red Hot Tomatoes on Harden Street the night of October 16. The 15-page lawsuit requests unspecified monetary damages and names the police officers as well as the police department and the city of...

<p>BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - An arrest report says a Sullivan County deputy had to be placed in a K-9 cage after he became belligerent during a DUI arrest.</p> <p>The Kingsport Times-News reports 47-year-old Samuel Monroe Bledsoe was fired from the sheriff's office on Monday following an internal investigation of the incident.</p>

The link talks about the NYPD being investigated for misreporting felonies in order to make the department look good at reducing crime rates. The whistle-blower was sent to a mental hospital for psychiatric evaluation against his will. The conclusion of that evaluation was that he's just a little naive about how government works. He thought cops were supposed to be truthful. I'm feeling his pain. I think we all are. There are so many crooks - so many illegal activities with government that we can't give any one story the time it deserves. At this point a bigger story would...

February 2, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- A Chicago police officer who was taken off the streets after being accused of making false DUI arrests will not face criminal charges. ABC7 has learned that Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez has decided not to press any criminal charges against Chicago police officer Richard Fiorito. Her decision comes after a nearly year-long investigation by her office into allegations that he was making hundreds of phony DUI arrests. To his accusers, dash-cam video scenes taken from inside Officer Richard Fiorito's own squad car made it an open and shut case. In his police...

SOUTH BEND — The South Bend Police Department is investigating whether officers behaved appropriately during a chase of a car theft suspect Sunday, a department official said. Some police at the scene allege Cpl. Scott Ross mishandled his canine and scuffled with Cpl. Joshua Morgan after Morgan tried to shoot the dog, South Bend police spokesman Capt. Phil Trent confirmed. "We're investigating what led to a shot (allegedly) being fired by an officer, what was the aftermath, and were all policies and procedures followed correctly," Trent said. According to a police report, Morgan began chasing a teenager driving a stolen...

The Orlando International Airport TSA security officer arrested on charges of molesting a minor is a fan of bondage and sadomasochism, according to his MySpace page. Charles Henry Bennett's MySpace profile identifies him as "Master Charles or Sir." The online page shows the 57-year-old airport security guard has "many years experience" as a bondage and sadomasochism master and is looking to meet people, especially "submissive females." Officials with the Transportation Security Administration today said Bennett has been working security at the airport since 2002. A spokeswoman at the federal agency said officials are investigating the allegations.

Radley Balko | January 26, 2010 Capitol Hill residents David and Allyson Kitchel tell local TV station WJLA that MPDC police recently raided their home looking for a suspect wanted on weapons charges. They say the raid caused $3,000 in damage. The Kitchels bought the home from the suspect's family 18 months ago. Police apparently raided the home after getting an address from the suspect's mother, but didn't bother to check public records to see if the house had been sold. The Kitchels say when they asked the city to compensate them for the damage, they were declined. The city...

ANTA -- An Atlanta man claims he was arrested for catching an on-duty officer chatting on Facebook. Chandler Brown told Channel 2 Action News reporter Erin Coleman that he has since filed a formal complaint with the Atlanta Police Department and the mayor's office. Coleman obtained a copy of that complaint, which makes startling accusations about the officer allegedly chatting on Facebook when he was on the job. “It was Thanksgiving night … my friend called me and said, ‘I’ve been in an accident,’” said Brown. Brown said he immediately hailed a cab and went to the scene on Interstate...

MEMPHIS (CN) - A Tennessee sheriff routinely jails people for up to 2 days without charging them with a crime, and without probable cause to believe that they committed a crime, a class action claims in Federal Court. The named plaintiffs, a married couple, say Lauderdale County Sheriff Steve Sanders had them arrested at home after they attended an evening church service, and jailed them for more than 36 hours, Paul and Raychel Rhodes say Sheriff Sanders' arrest and detention policy is unconstitutional. The Rhodes say deputies arrested them in their home at 10:45 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 17, and...

Three Richmond police officers indicted Thursday by a Madison County grand jury face felony counts accusing them of trying to intimidate or tamper with a female witness. One of the three was also indicted on a count of misdemeanor assault against the woman. The indictment refers to but does not specify what happened "on or about Oct. 27, 2009 and continuing until January of 2010." But according to The Richmond Register newspaper, Sgt. James Rogers and officers Garry Murphy and Brian Hensley were indicted for events surrounding an Oct. 27 incident in which a woman initially accused the officers of...

Lt. Angelo Andriani of the Hoboken Police Department, who is currently on a two-year paid suspension from the force following the 2007 SWAT team scandal in Hoboken, caused a disturbance at Tampa International Airport in Florida on Jan. 18, police reported.

ATLANTA -- An Atlanta man claims he was arrested for catching an on-duty officer chatting on Facebook. Chandler Brown told Channel 2 Action News reporter Erin Coleman that he has since filed a formal complaint with the Atlanta Police Department and the mayor's office. Coleman obtained a copy of that complaint, which makes startling accusations about the officer allegedly chatting on Facebook when he was on the job. “It was Thanksgiving night … my friend called me and said, ‘I’ve been in an accident,’” said Brown. Brown said he immediately hailed a cab and went to the scene on Interstate...

The one-time Tennessee narcotics officer of the year was sentenced to three years probation today for allowing a known drug dealer to make a delivery of steroids without police interference. Brady Valentine, 38, who faced up to three years in federal prison, was praised by former colleagues and supervisors as “a policeman’s policeman” who made a career-ending mistake. “This is an especially tragic case because Mr. Valentine was a very promising officer,” said U.S. Dist. Judge Samuel Mays. “He was a model narcotics officer, but then he himself was engaging in steroid use. This was an aberration for Mr. Valentine.”...

Gary Tedesco, a Willows High student, was permanently expelled because he had two unloaded shotguns inside his locked pick up truck parked off campus. He was on a public street, but unknown to him, he was within 1000 feet of the school and this is a technical violation of the "gun free" zone. Principal Mort Geivett expelled Tedesco for this technicality and refused to consider any reasonable mitigating circumstances. This case brewed in a battle royal' between the school, the Tedesco family and the NRA who supported Gary. Geivett did not take into consideration that Tedesco was a duck hunter...

MADISON, Wis. — A man serving life in prison for first-degree intentional homicide lost his legal battle Monday to play Dungeons&Dragons behind bars. Kevin T. Singer filed a federal lawsuit against officials at Wisconsin’s Waupun prison, arguing that a policy banning all Dungeons&Dragons material violated his free speech and due process rights. Prison officials instigated the Dungeons&Dragons ban among concerns that playing the game promoted gang-related activity and was a threat to security. Singer challenged the ban but the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld it as a reasonable policy. Dungeons&Dragons players create fictional characters and carry...

‘I’ll Make Somethin’ Up’ OC sheriff’s deputy tanked Disneyland-adjacent drug case by threatening to fabricate evidence Let’s assume an Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) report of the Nov. 8, 2007, arrest of a suspected drug dealer near Disneyland reflects reality. The report goes like this: At 3:15 p.m., an undercover narcotics unit led by Investigator Christopher M. Catalano decided to end surveillance on 58-year-old Danny Stephen Simmons. A husky, 22-year veteran, Catalano ordered a patrol unit driven by Deputy Gino Rodriguez to stop a 2007 Dodge truck driven by Simmons on Harbor Boulevard. To officers’ frustration, a passenger holding a...

Former Obetz officer pleads guilty to sex charge Monday, January 25, 2010 11:02 AM By Bruce Cadwallader THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Former Obetz police officer Vernon Wolford, left, sits with attorney E. Scott Shaw. Tom Dodge | Dispatch Former Obetz police officer Vernon Wolford, left, sits with attorney E. Scott Shaw. A former Obetz police officer could spend five years in prison for forcing sex with a prisoner in his police cruiser before taking her to the Franklin County jail in November. The woman filed a complaint with deputies. In court today, Vernon Wolford, 32, of Westbear Court on the Far...

A senior at the city's Creative and Performing Arts high school facing assault charges is claiming he was brutally beaten in Homewood last week by undercover Pittsburgh police. Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10022/1030177-53.stm#ixzz0dd90wHmv

Cuff, stuff, search. That's been a mantra for law-enforcement officers in East Tennessee and across the nation for more than a quarter century. No more. In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court put the brakes on the routine practice of what's known as a "vehicle search incident to arrest," in which a suspect is handcuffed and stuffed in the back of a cruiser and the suspect's vehicle searched without a warrant or probable cause. "A rule that gives police the power to conduct such a search whenever an individual is caught committing a traffic offense, when there is no...

US prosecutors have released video footage of a sheriff's deputy striking a 15-year-old girl and throwing her onto a cell floor. The video is evidence in the case against Washington state Deputy Paul Schene, accused of using excessive force against the girl in November. The incident began after the girl was arrested in a car theft inquiry. Footage shows the deputy lunge at the girl after she kicks one of her shoes towards him at SeaTac City Hall. "We believe this case is beyond just police misconduct, it's criminal misconduct," King County Prosecutor Daniel Satterberg said. "This is clearly excessive...

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) - From nearly the moment the lead investigator stepped into the suburban Chicago area home where former policeman Drew Peterson's third wife was found dead in a dry bathtub, he treated her death as a tragic accident. Illinois State Police Sgt. Patrick Collins collected no forensics evidence from the scene - not fingerprints, unfinished drinks or clothes. Most disturbingly, say experts, Collins let Peterson sit in on what may have been a vital interview. Six years later, as prosecutors and defense attorneys prepare for Peterson's trial on charges of murdering Kathleen Savio, one thing has become clear:...

Charlie Mitchener is a 61-year-old general building contractor with an office near Patrick Lane and Fort Apache Road in Las Vegas. He holds permits allowing him to legally carry concealed weapons in Nevada, Florida and Utah. Over the past three years, his office has been broken into five times. "Three of those occasions involved me interacting with Metro," he wrote to me recently. "Each of the occasions began the same: my introduction, my presentation of my Nevada drivers license and my concealed firearms permit. Prior to today, each Metro officer simply replied thank you, proceeded with his work and then...

JOLIET, Ill. — From nearly the moment the lead investigator stepped into the suburban Chicago area home where former policeman Drew Peterson's third wife was found dead in a bathtub, he treated her death as a tragic accident.

Two Bronx men were locked up and left to rot in a filthy jail cell for nearly a week after a pair of bumbling cops mistook their candy for a bag of crack. The "drugs" were finally tested five days later and determined to be popular Coco (coconut) Candy. The charges were dropped -- but there were no apologies from the NYPD. "Sweet happens," a police source glibly said of the boondoggle. The NYPD had no official comment. The trouble began the night of Jan. 15, as José Pena, a 48-year-old plumber, and his longtime pal and colleague Cesar Rodriguez,...

Posted: 8:15 PM, January 22, 2010 Two Bronx men were locked up and left to rot in a filthy jail cell for nearly a week after a pair of cops mistook their candy for a bag of crack. The "drugs" were finally tested five days later and determined to be popular Coco (coconut) Candy. The charges were dropped. The trouble began the night of Jan. 15, as José Pena, a 48-year-old plumber, and his longtime pal and colleague Cesar Rodriguez, 33, were headed to a party, and decided to stop at a bodega on 181st Street and the Grand Concourse....

Here's the story!"In the tense new world of air travel, we're stripped of shoes, told not to take too much shampoo on board, frowned on if we crack a smile. The last thing we expect is a joke from a Transportation Security Administration screener - particularly one this stupid."

CHICAGO — A Cook County judge has convicted a 38-year-old Chicago woman of attempting to deposit a $1 million bogus check. And not only was the defendant in Wednesday’s bench trial a former Chicago police officer, but prosecutors say she attempted to deposit the bad check in her account at the Chicago Patrolmen’s Federal Credit Union. Circuit Court Judge William Lacy found former officer Tiffany Brown guilty of forgery, attempted theft and official misconduct.

A couple in Calhoun, Tennessee calls NewsChannel 9 after their dog is shot to death right in front of their home. They didn't call police because the chief is the person who pulled the trigger. He says the dog has been a nuisance for months. Police Chief James Burris says while the dog had never bitten anyone, he had seen him growl, and get aggressive, and he was worried what he might do. That's why he shot the husky three times Wednesday morning, not knowing the dog's family was only a few feet away in their home. Now, they want...

The Obama administration's choice to lead the Transportation Security Administration is withdrawing his nomination. In a statement, Erroll Southers says he is withdrawing because his nomination has become a lightning rod for those with a political agenda. Obama tapped Southers to lead the TSA in September but his confirmation has been blocked by Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, who says he's worried Southers would allow TSA employees to join a labor union.

Police Superintendent Warren Riley, his predecessor Eddie Compass and other top police officials apparently testified Friday before a federal grand jury investigating possible police misconduct in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. At different points Friday, a host of current and former police brass entered and exited the fourth-floor wing of the federal courthouse building that holds the grand jury rooms. Their appearances come amid a sprawling federal probe into whether NOPD officers committed deadly civil-rights violations in the chaotic days after the 2005 storm. Led by prosecutors from the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights division and conducted by FBI...

SAN DIEGO — Students were evacuated from Millennial Tech Magnet Middle School in the Chollas View neighborhood Friday afternoon after an 11-year-old student brought a personal science project that he had been making at home to school, authorities said. Maurice Luque, spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, said the student had been making the device in his home garage. A vice principal saw the student showing it to other students at school about 11:40 a.m. Friday and was concerned that it might be harmful, and San Diego police were notified. The school, which has about 440 students in grades...

A RUSSIAN police officer was arrested for shooting a snow plough driver and leaving him to bleed to death in the street. Lieutenant-Colonel Anatoly Maurin collided with the snow plough in southern Moscow in the early hours of December 26. After an argument, Maurin shot the 60-year-old driver ... The incident is the latest in a series of arrests of Russian police officers for violent crimes. A Moscow police colonel went on trial in December for killing two and injuring seven in a shooting spree in a supermarket in April that caused widespread outrage. In November, three Moscow police officers...

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/post_article Today my home was surrounded by Police, FBI, SWAT teams armed with machine guns and even a sniper that set up position in front of the house (not a good sniper since I spotted him right away). They insisted there was a pizza bandit hiding in my home. This is no joke. Here's a Digg for a news article on this ridiculous abuse of authority and waste of money. Please Digg! Digg! Pizza Bandit Eludes SWAT Team They arrived pounding on the doors and windows, so I was already upset to begin with, but then when I answered the...

Auburn, NY -- Three days before Christmas, Auburn Police Chief Gary Giannotta laid down the law for his command staff. At the closed meeting Dec. 22 in the department basement, Giannotta gave this ultimatum: Tell your patrol officers to write more vehicle and traffic tickets — at least one each per shift — or there will be repercussions for those who don’t.... Threatening to punish employees who fail to make a ticket quota violates state labor law. Tuesday, the Auburn police union took Giannotta to task for his proclamation, and two college criminal justice experts questioned the ethics of his...

Simon Glik, a lawyer, was walking down Tremont Street in Boston when he saw three police officers struggling to extract a plastic bag from a teenager's mouth. Thinking their force seemed excessive for a drug arrest, Glik pulled out his cellphone and began recording. Within minutes, Glik said, he was in handcuffs. "One of the officers asked me whether my phone had audio recording capabilities," Glik, 33, said recently of the incident, which took place in October 2007. Glik acknowledged that it did, and then, he said, "my phone was seized, and I was arrested." The charge? Illegal electronic surveillance....

A San Antonio patrolman is on administrative duty after he reportedly chased two brothers suspected in a Southeast Side robbery while off-duty early Sunday. Police are investigating a claim that the officer, a two-year veteran, rammed the brothers' pickup during the chase, possibly leading to a crash which caused one of the men to be ejected from the truck's bed. Ethan Owen, 18, died at 3:40 p.m. Sunday of injuries he sustained in the crash, which occurred just before 5 a.m. on Interstate 10, near Foster Road, on the East Side. His brother, Eric Owen, 23, remained in the Bexar...

Charlie Mitchener is a 61-year-old general building contractor with an office near Patrick Lane and Fort Apache Road in Las Vegas. He holds permits allowing him to legally carry concealed weapons in Nevada, Florida and Utah. Over the past three years, his office has been broken into five times. "Three of those occasions involved me interacting with Metro," he wrote to me recently. "Each of the occasions began the same: my introduction, my presentation of my Nevada drivers license and my concealed firearms permit. Prior to today, each Metro officer simply replied thank you, proceeded with his work and then...

Minneapolis police officer Timothy Edward Carson's shift on Wednesday started at 9 a.m. But he wasn't there. By the time he told a supervisor he was running late at 9:30, the FBI says, Carson had robbed an Apple Valley bank and was well on his way to getting caught. Carson, 28, was arrested early Thursday and appeared in federal court Thursday afternoon, charged with bank robbery. More criminal charges are expected to follow; police sources familiar with the investigation say he could be connected to at least a dozen robberies in the metro area over the past two weeks.

A Dallas police officer once fired — and subsequently reinstated — over accusations that he stole tires from the police auto pound is in trouble again after being accused of pilfering the belongings of a fellow law enforcement officer. Officer Johnny Rodriguez, 33, was placed on administrative leave this week as the Dallas Police Department's public integrity unit investigates an allegation that he took a pair of boots owned by a DPS trooper earlier this week. "There has been a complaint referred to us," said Assistant Chief Ron Waldrop, who oversees the department's investigations bureau. "We're investigating it and we...