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A caretaker has been charged with the murder of a priest whose body was found in the rectory of his US church. Jose Feliciano, 64, stabbed and slashed Rev Ed Hinds 32 times with a kitchen knife after the pair had an argument, according to prosecutors. The 61-year-old pastor had been in his clerical robes when he was killed and Feliciano was one of two people who said they found the body, it is claimed. The body was discovered at about 8am on Friday after Rev Hinds failed to attend Mass at St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Chatham, New...

Depending on your perspective, the Oath Keepers are either strident defenders of liberty or dangerous peddlers of paranoia. In the age of town halls, talk radio and tea parties, middle ground of opinion is hard to find. Most Popular Stories READY TO REVOLT: Oath Keepers pledges to prevent dictatorship in United States U.S. SENATE SEAT: Two could beat Reid, poll finds NORM: Garth Brooks, Wynn to team up NORM: Yearwood exacts her recompense Woman struck, killed by car while crossing street Friends, co-workers honor fallen police officer Friends, co-workers honor fallen police officer NORM: Rumor about ring wrong, Fator says...

A controversial federal program that deputizes state and local law enforcement agents to catch illegal immigrants is expanding under the Obama administration, despite changes intended to curb alleged racial profiling and other police abuses. The Department of Homeland Security is expected to report Friday that a small number of the 66 participating agencies have dropped out because of the new federal requirements. And those losses are offset by applications from 13 additional police and sheriff's departments... Nationwide, the program identified about 60,000 illegal immigrants for deportation over the past year, the highest number since the program was expanded nationwide in...

LAHORE, Pakistan — Teams of gunmen launched a deadly near-simultaneous attack on three law enforcement facilities in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore on Thursday, a major escalation in an audacious wave of terror strikes as this U.S.-allied, nuclear-armed country prepares for an offensive in a Taliban and Al Qaeda stronghold. At least seven people died in a gunfight with police at a federal building, 10 others were killed at a police academy, and a police constable was killed in an attack on a commando facility, officials said as the city plunged into chaos. In the Taliban-riddled northwest, meanwhile, a homicide...

Chevy Chase Village (Maryland) is looking to spend $30,000 raised by speed cameras to buy 12 Tasers for its police force. Village Police Chief Roy Gordon said Tasers were an important public safety tool that would give his officers a less deadly option than a firearm. "Anytime we can put a tool in the hands of a police officer that's going to be less than lethal force, why not?" Gordon said. But Montgomery County Councilman Phil Andrews, a longtime supporter of speed cameras, said the money raised by the machines ought to be spent on fixing the problems they were...

The third annual Law Enforcement Motorcycle Ride through Riverside County is set for this weekend. Proceeds from the ride, which starts in Riverside on Saturday morning and ends at Lake Skinner near Temecula, will benefit the Riverside County Peace Officers' Memorial Foundation. The foundation builds memorials for officers who died in the line of duty and assists their families immediately after the deaths. Many of the riders are law enforcement officers, but members of the public are also encouraged to participate, said organizer Linda Soubirous, whose late husband, Kent Hintergardt, was killed in the line of duty in 1993. The...

Phoenix - Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been given a deadline of October 15 to sign a new agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to allow him to continue to arrest illegals. The deadline could be extended. Sheriff Joe has problems with the new arrangement since it attempts to limit public disclosure of illegal alien arrests. He vows to continue to talk to the media regarding raids and crime sweeps. (http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/09/14/daily35.html) Arpaio said he is optimistic a new accord can be signed but added that if not, he plans to continue enforcing the state’s employer sanctions law — the...

A "pandemic response bill" currently making its way through the Massachusetts state legislature would allow authorities to forcefully quarantine citizens in the event of a health emergency, compel health providers to vaccinate citizens, authorize forceful entry into private dwellings and destruction of citizen property and impose fines on citizens for noncompliance. If citizens refuse to comply with isolation or quarantine orders in the event of a health emergency, they may be imprisoned for up to 30 days and fined $1,000 per day that the violation continues.

ONTARIO — Three men were charged Saturday with second-degree reckless endangerment after shots were fired — apparently with an AK-47 — on Lake Road and Ontario Center Road. State police found shell casings from ammunition used for an AK-47 about two-tenths of a mile from Robert E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant property. But State Police Investigator Jeff Miller said no connection had been found between the gunfire and the plant.

NORTH ROSE – Border patrol officers can’t break the law to enforce it, the Wayne County Farm Bureau is asserting. Farm Bureau is in the process of gathering information for a formal complaint to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Buffalo, asking for an investigation into the circumstances of the stop of four migrant farm workers on Route 414 in front of Barbara Jean’s Furniture Store Aug. 17. Also, U.S. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand was made aware of the incident last week and indicated she will write a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napalitano regarding border patrol activity in...

Ontario, Wayne County)- State Police in Wayne County arrested three men Saturday after reports of gun shots heard near the Ginna nuclear power plant in the town of Ontario. Police say the shots were fired on Ontario Center road around 4:50 a.m. Troopers say they stopped a car in the area and found an AK-47 rifle in the trunk.

Rochester, N.Y.) - Prosecutors say 44 tapes, secretly recorded by a government informant, prove three Rochester convenience store owners were willing to support terrorists. On April 7, 2005 a man entered the Durnan Mini Mart on Hudson Avenue looking to send $10,000 to $12,000 to Lebanon without creating any record of the transaction.

Over the weekend, the Fox News Channel’s Red Eye discussed an outrageous story that took place last week in Texas. Apparently, while dining at a “Twin Peaks” restaurant, a group of police officers decided to take pictures of a scantily dressed waitress who was holding a gun while sitting on a squad car. Local reports state that: “There were four deputies taking pictures, some with cell phones, one with a patrol-issued camera (that is the reason the picture is subject to open records), and one Deputy stayed in the restaurant," said Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter. "The Deputy that stayed...

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Marion County Sheriff's deputies arrested one of their own after an undercover operation. Now, a deputy who worked as a guard at the jail, is himself behind bars. "You know there is 775 deputy sheriff's in this department full time police officers and when one gets out of line the other 774 don't care for it," Col. John Layton with the Marion Co. Sheriff's Department said, When women complained about that one sheriff's deputy, Paul Wagner, fellow deputies began a month long investigation. Wagner worked part-time security at a Speedway gas station on the city's east side....

A 34-YEAR-OLD woman, the mother of a 12-year-old girl, has been locked up in a Virginia jail for three weeks and could remain there for at least another month. Her crime? Blogging about the police.

Authorities announced charges Thursday against a Mexican gang that took Tijuana-style violence to the upscale suburbs of San Diego County, kidnapping, torturing and killing well-to-do residents, even after some families paid large ransoms. The gang, a rogue cell of the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix drug cartel, moved across the border in 2002 and posed as U.S. law enforcement, donning FBI and police uniforms and caps while snatching victims outside homes and public places, said San Diego County prosecutors. Nine victims were killed from 2004 to 2007, and the bodies of two of them were dissolved in chemicals at a rented house...

The NYPD is preparing for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan by keeping the lines of communication open with the Muslim community, including some of its own officers. WNYC's Bob Hennelly has more. REPORTER: This year, as in years past, the NYPD is offering the City's Muslim congregations additional support and protection during their month-long period of fasting and prayer. Detective Ahmed Nasser leads the NYPD's Muslim Officers Association. He says the

I believe that too many citizens — among them certain specific segments of the media and some politicians — lack respect for both our borders and for our nation’s Border Patrol Agents. There is a collective blindness to the realities of what our Border Patrol Agents face at the borders, both South and North. To paraphrase myself, our borders and our Border Patrol Agents get no respect. About 4,000 people packed a memorial service for Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas, who was shot and killed at approximately 9:15 p.m. on Thursday, July 23, 2009. Photo courtesy of Brad J. Mellon,...

Communications firms are being asked to record all internet contacts between people as part of a modernisation in UK police surveillance tactics. The home secretary scrapped plans for a database but wants details to be held and organised for security services. The new system would track all e-mails, phone calls and internet use, including visits to social network sites. The Tories said the Home Office had "buckled under Conservative pressure" in deciding against a giant database. Announcing a consultation on a new strategy for communications data and its use in law enforcement, Jacqui Smith said there would be no single...

Once again the vendetta by the Obama administration against a tough sheriff in Arizona, Joe Arpaio, who comes down hard on illegal immigrants, is being exposed. The law enforcement official of Maricopa County, as usual, is fighting back.

San Francisco's annual homosexual pride extravaganza was missing one factor this year -- law enforcement. During the public event, people saw nudity, lewd acts, and other debauchery, plus open marijuana use. "And this year, due to some of the negative publicity San Francisco was getting, the San Francisco police department promised they would crack down on the nudity and lewdness on the streets," said Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality. According to the pro-family activist, actions during the recent party were clearly illegal -- but police made no arrests.

Last week, I recalled the story of the homeowner who used a hand gun to defend his children against an intruder, and who was "rewarded" for his courage by being fined by his village for illegally possessing that .38 caliber Smith & Wesson pistol. But I didn't write the other half of the story -- because I didn't have the requisite citation in hand. -- Not surprisingly, the Illinois General Assembly followed the lead of many other states in the late 1990s and took up legislation to authorize so-called "No Knock Warrants" in special circumstances -- where the cop had...

Everyone in America needs to see this video. The police in Baton Rouge trample on American's free speech rights at the direction of Acorn. Is this the change people were expecting when they voted for Obama?

Last week, Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, a black man, was arrested by a white police officer for disorderly conduct. Gates accused the officer of racism. President Obama created a national media firestorm by commenting on the arrest, saying the cops "acted stupidly" and that the U.S. has a "long history" of "African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that's just a fact." It's that old liberal stereotype once again - bigoted white cops picking on poor, innocent blacks, just like Selma, Ala. in 1963. Really? Perhaps Mr. Obama, who lives in a bubble, ought to get...

(Michael P. Tremoglie is the author of the police novel "A Sense of Duty," available at BarnesandNoble.com. and formerly with the Philadelphia Bulletin) IT WAS about 9 on a cool October night when the call came over the radio: "Report of a break-in, two black males" the dispatcher said. The address was near 56th and Baltimore, Southwest Philadelphia - the 12th District, a violent place that earned the nickname "the fightin' 12th" because of the proclivity of some locals to assault police officers. My vehicle was an emergency patrol wagon - basically a van. Philadelphia officers normally work alone, unless...

July 24, 2009 Officer of no color Editor's Note: You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. The President is now backpedaling from his woefully uninformed comments made about a fine officer from Massachusetts. Calling Sergeant James Crowley on the phone and saying to the press that Crowley is "a fine man" rings hollow today because of the knee-jerk reaction we heard on Wednesday. Police work is infinitely more complex than a 10-second sound-bite, and the President's comments are just the most recent, most visible evidence that a lack of understanding about law enforcement permeates our society. I and...

BOSTON — Many police officers across the country have a message for President Barack Obama: Get all the facts before criticizing one of our own. Obama's public criticism that Cambridge officers "acted stupidly" when they arrested black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. could make it harder for police to work with people of color, some officers said Thursday. It could even set back the progress in race relations that helped Obama become the nation's first African-American president, they said. "What we don't need is public safety officials across the country second-guessing themselves," said David Holway, president of the International...

BOSTON — Many police officers across the country have a message for President Barack Obama: Get all the facts before criticizing one of our own. Obama's public criticism that Cambridge officers "acted stupidly" when they arrested black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. could make it harder for police to work with people of color, some officers said Thursday. It could even set back the progress in race relations that helped Obama become the nation's first African-American president, they said. "What we don't need is public safety officials across the country second-guessing themselves," said David Holway, president of the International...

Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, retained a lawyer. Why? He claims cops in Cambridge, Mass., racially profiled him. Here's what happened. Gates, "one of the nation's pre-eminent African-American scholars," writes The Boston Globe, was arrested about 1 p.m. at his home near Harvard Square by Cambridge police investigating a possible break-in. "The incident," says the Globe, "raised concerns among some Harvard faculty that Gates was a victim of racial profiling." "Friends of Gates," writes the Globe, "said he was already in his home when police arrived. He...

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — A city police officer who was critically wounded in a shootout with two armed robbery suspects last week died Tuesday, one day before his 38th birthday and the same day police engaged in another gun battle nearby. Detective Marc A. DiNardo, a 10-year veteran who had been on life support, was pronounced dead around 9:35 a.m. after doctors harvested his organs for transplant. The 37-year-old was hit by a shotgun blast to the face July 16 as his SWAT team stormed the apartment where the suspects had taken cover. DiNardo had no signs of life when...

John Costa came to Palo Alto in 1978 as a 21-year-old with little more than a high school diploma and a desire to try his hand at police work. He left Monday to multiple standing ovations from a packed house at Palo Alto City Hall, where the city council gave him a hero's send-off. "If there was a hall of fame for police sergeants, John Costa would be in it," said Interim Police Chief Dennis Burns. Costa, 51, worked his last shift Friday after more than 30 years in the Palo Alto Police Department. He said he plans to spend...

I would welcome fellow Freeper input on an exchange I had with the police last night. First a little background. I've got 20 years in the military, started out my life giving police officers a great deal of respect and knee jerking to their defense. Over the course of years, however, I've lost a lot of respect for the police via watching continual police traffic violations, watching unprofessional behavior and seeing shows of petty tyranny over their fellow citizens. Although I'd still like to be wholeheartedly pro-law and think the way to get respectable enforcement officers is to demand professionalism,...

FORT WORTH — Two legislators called Wednesday for an outside agency to investigate how a Euless man was injured early Sunday in the custody of Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agents at a gay bar south of downtown. State Rep. Lon Burnam and state Sen. Wendy Davis, both Fort Worth Democrats, said they met with commission officials Wednesday about what happened at the Rainbow Lounge, 651 S. Jennings Ave. "We had more questions than they had answers," Burnam said. "But that’s understandable at this point." (snip) On Wednesday, the commission issued its first statement about the disturbance, which occurred about 1...

The Los Angeles Police robbery and homicide division has been assigned to investigate the death of Michael Jackson, department officials said today. "There is no immediate indication of a crime," a police official told ABC News, "but because of the high profile nature of the case the robbery and homicide detectives with review all evidence and work with the coroner's office." Los Angeles police were reported to be seeking a doctor who was with Jackson when he collapsed yesterday at his rented mansion in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles. The LAPD is also reportedly searching for a doctor who...

Gunshots were heard across a busy Fort Worth shopping center Sunday afternoon. Witnesses say an off-duty police officer was trying to stop thieves running out of Victoria's Secret at the University Park Village near the Fort Worth Zoo. "The off duty police officer flashed his badge and told him to stop and they didn't stop," explains Farley Brown. Brown was just feet from where the shooting happened. He says the officer was standing in front of the suspects car. "They tried to run over him," says Brown "So he pulled his gun and shot at him." The Hernandez family was...

A $226,000 armored vehicle for the North Richland Hills Police Department SWAT team arrived a few days ago to replace one the agency got in 1990. To many people that vehicle — and others like it used by police departments across the country — will go unnoticed. The public seems to largely accept the use of military-type equipment, technology and tactics as not only appropriate but also necessary to fight crime and make communities more safe and secure. Armored vehicles are used by law enforcement agencies in Fort Worth, Arlington and Bedford and at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, just to name...

New Orleans Black Leaders Accuse Letten of Racism in Indictmentsby Christopher Tidmore With the indictment of former New Orleans City Councilwoman Renee Gill Pratt's on racketeering and money laundering charges, murmurs of discontent with U.S. Attorney Jim Letten have begun to emerge from several quarters in the local black community. The accusation that the region’s senior prosecutor has disproportionately pursued corruption allegations in the African-American community continues to be levied. When Senator Mary Landrieu recommended the reappointment of Letten, a career prosecutor but also a GOP appointee of President George W. Bush, Danatus King, president of the New Orleans Branch...

San Francisco police commissioners cleared a police captain of misconduct charges related to his alleged interference with a police investigation of off-duty officers accused in the beating of two men on the street in 2002. The so-called "fajita-gate" scandal grew out of an early morning incident outside a Union Street bar on Nov. 20, 2002, between three officers and two men, one of whom allegedly refused to hand over a bag of steak fajitas to the officers. The men said they were punched and kicked, and one was reportedly hit with a bottle. The disciplinary charges, filed by the city's...

The U.S. Census Bureau, reflecting what apparently is becoming a political position that involves more than one federal agency, has listed "hate groups," "law enforcement" "and "anti-immigrant groups" among those that would be refused permission to become a partner with the 2010 Census. The news comes in a series of documents obtained by Judicial Watch under the Freedom of Information Act about the census operations. WND previously reported when the Department of Homeland Security released an "extremism" report that warned local law enforcement officers nationwide to watch out for "potential terrorists" including those who: * Oppose abortion * Oppose same-sex...

In a fit of hypocrisy sure to outrage, just as Attorney General Eric Holder makes ready to attend a ceremony to honor fallen police officers, the Obama administration is proposing to cut almost in half a program that provides benefits to the future families left behind. So much for the more loving, more caring president “we’ve been waiting for.” So, wouldn’t you think the Old Media would be braying at the hypocrisy here? Wouldn’t you rather think that the Old Media would be up in arms about this one? Isn’t this typically the type of story that would get them...

President Barack Obama has asked Congress to end federal payments to states and communities for jailing illegal immigrants as he continues along a path toward legalization of undocumented aliens. The budget plan Obama released on Thursday would end the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), under which states received $400 million in the current fiscal year to cover the cost of incarcerating convicts and pre-trial detainees who are illegally in the U.S. Specifically, the SCAAP reimburses states and counties for jailer's salaries for holding illegal immigrants who are apprehended and found to have at least one felony and two misdemeanor...

Researchers are trying to make a bulletproof turban that would allow Sikhs in British police to join firearms units. As Sikhs aren't allowed to wear any protective headgear over the turban so the UK prohibits them from becoming firearms officer. But now, scientists are developing the sturdy turbans made from Kevlar-like material to act as a shield, British newspapers reported on Thursday. Inspector Gian Singh Chahal, from Kent Police and vice-chairman of the British Police Sikh Association, said on Thursday: "Sikh officers have been prohibited from becoming firearms officers because our religion does not allow us to remove the turban....

They call it the patriot act. It is suppose to help protect citizens. It is supposed to be used as a tool to assist law enforcement in determining who and who is not a threat to the U.S. It was meant to be an aid, in protecting the Freedoms that all American have. But there is nothing patriotic about how a bunch of law enforcement idiots have misused it to come down on a 16 year old citizen from North Carolina. They determined that Ashton Lundeby was a threat due to information they got from the net that was supposed...

ATLANTA, GA—DERONTAY ANTON LANGFORD, 34, of Fairburn, Georgia, a Fulton County Sheriff’s Detention Officer, and MITNEE MARKETTE JONES, 46, of Atlanta, Georgia, a Fulton County Deputy Sheriff, both of whom work as officers at the Fulton County Jail, were arrested today by FBI agents following their indictment by a federal grand jury on felony charges of filing a false report, making false statements to federal agents, and obstruction of justice. LANGFORD and JONES are expected to make their initial appearances before United States Magistrate Judge C. Christopher Hagy at 2 p.m. this afternoon. United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said,...

Law enforcement officials are vastly expanding their collection of DNA to include millions more people who have been arrested or detained but not yet convicted. The move, intended to help solve more crimes, is raising concerns about the privacy of petty offenders and people who are presumed innocent. Until now, the federal government genetically tracked only convicts. But starting this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will join 15 states that collect DNA samples from those awaiting trial and will collect DNA from detained immigrants — the vanguard of a growing class of genetic registrants. The F.B.I., with a DNA...

[Skilled labor] is a category whose significance has been growing since the 1920s, when politicians and business executives started recognizing the value of skilled immigrants. After World War II, companies began actively recruiting scientists, among them Nobel Prize winners, from around the world. The emphasis on skilled labor was codified in the Hart-Celler Immigrant Act of 1965, which said that for 20 percent of immigration spots, candidates with certain skills would get preference to stay indefinitely, though that 20 percent also included the family members of those skilled immigrants. (At the time, 74 percent of visas were given to people...

Trooper in trouble over Facebook photos Posted: March 24, 2009 10:24 PM Updated: March 25, 2009 11:43 AM ISP Trooper Chris Pestow IMPD Officer Andrew Deddish Pestow and Deddish are in trouble for this photo posted on Pestow's Facebook page. Bob Segall/13 InvestigatesIndianapolis - An Indiana State Trooper is under investigation for what some call compromising photos and statements he posted on the Internet. Police say what 13 Investigates found on Trooper Chris Pestow's personal Facebook page is embarrassing and might even be against the law. Some of the entries showed Pestow with a .357 Magnum pointed at his head,...

Can Private Security Guards Act As Cops? That's Exactly What They May Soon Be Doing On The Far South Side . . . private security cars patrol Michigan Avenue between 100th and 116th streets, and a proposed city ordinance would give them many police powers. CBS They're private security guards, already on patrol, but they may soon have the powers of Chicago Police officers. As CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, the private security officers now on patrol on the city's Far South Side are expected to have their powers expanded as part of a citywide ordinance now being...

I'll wager that Glenn Beck, like a lot of people, has heard the famous Thomas Jefferson quote: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Maybe he's even seen one of the T-shirts bearing that inscription. But then, there's one of these T-shirts that's especially notable: It was the one Timothy McVeigh was wearing when he was arrested for blowing up 168 people at the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City back in 1995. Does this mean that anyone wearing one of these shirts, or expressing these sentiments, is a...

The commander of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation office in Dothan, Ala., told CNSNews.com that neither he nor his agents called for U.S. troops to come to the scene of murders in Samson, Ala., on the night of March 10 -- but he was very glad they came. "I don't know who called them," Lt. Barry Tucker told CNSNews.com. “I didn't. I didn't have time to call anybody."