Free Republic

RED LIGHT CAMERA SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT AND PLACEMENT FOR INTERSECTION SAFETY WEB SEMINAR Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Time: 2:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Eastern Credit: 1.5 PDH/.15 IACET CEU Background: Red light running is a serious safety issue at many intersections in the US and other countries. Cameras that automatically record red light violators and provide the means for issuing citations by mail have been shown to reduce the collision toll under some circumstances over the past few years. However, the success of a camera program depends upon many good decisions being made by the responsible jurisdiction and engineers. This course will...

A judge on Thursday dropped nearly half the charges against "private eye to the stars" Anthony Pellicano and a co-defendant at the request of prosecutors, who were preparing to rest their case in the wiretapping and bribery trial. The 28 counts against Pellicano and ex-Los Angeles police sergeant Mark Arneson were dismissed by U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer after federal prosecutors said that witnesses required to prove them could not be brought to court. Both men still face 35 counts in the case, which centers on accusations that Pellicano wiretapped telephones and bribed police and telephone company officials to run...

Bhutto 'blocked from hiring US bodyguards' By Philip Sherwell in New York Last Updated: 12:46am GMT 31/12/2007 Benazir Bhutto was so fearful for her life that she tried to hire British and American security experts to protect her, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. But the plans collapsed because President Pervez Musharraf refused to allow the foreign contractors to operate in Pakistan, according to senior aides. "She asked to bring in trained security personnel from abroad," said Mark Siegel, her US representative. "In fact she and her husband repeatedly tried to get visas for such protection, but they were denied by...

BAGHDAD, Sept 20 (Reuters) - U.S. security firm Blackwater remains in Iraq under a State Department contract while a joint commission investigates a shooting incident in Baghdad on Sunday that left 11 Iraqis dead, the U.S. embassy said on Thursday. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said the personnel involved in the incident would not leave Iraq before the investigation yielded results. "(Blackwater) are still here and still under contract from the State Department," she said. "Since they support chief personnel movement and we are not moving, there is no activity from Blackwater at the moment." Nantongo said the joint Iraqi-U.S. commission...

'America's private army' under fire for Illinois facility Anti-war activists, locals are wary about military contractor's new training site By E.A. Torriero Tribune staff reporter 6:11 AM CDT, July 23, 2007 MT. CARROLL, Ill. Strangers rarely venture onto the twisting gravel roads in this corner of the state, and those who do sometimes get lost amid the rolling hills. So it came as a surprise to many locals when the expert marksmen of Blackwater USA -- a controversial military contractor that provides armed security guards in the Iraq war -- took over an 80-acre rifle range and opened up a...

THE ERA OF DUAL LAW ENFORCEMENT IS HERE AS GOVERNMENT AND CORPORATIONS HIRE RENT-A-COPS TO GUARD BUSINESSES AND GATED COMMUNITIES AND TO BREAK STRIKES. NOW, ABUSES BY THE PRIVATE SECURITY INDUSTRY AND ITS EMPLOYEES THEMSELVES THREATEN PUBLIC SECURITY. Propelled by public panic over crime, the private security industry is one of the fastest growing enterprises in the U.S., spending more money and employing more guards than public police forces around the country. In 1990 alone, $52 billion was spent on private security, compared to $30 billion on police. More than 10,000 private security companies employ some 1.5 million guards, nearly...

How can the military keep these specialized forces when the American government creates a competitive environment (with tax dollars) where these specially trained military forces must choose between $5,000 thousand a month serving in the military and $15,000-$20,000 a month for private security in hostile areas like Iraq?