Free Republic

A 50 second video of rolling California LEO memorial procession.

WASHINGTON -- More police officers have died in the line of duty this year in the United States than in 2017, according to data released Thursday. The most common cause of death was gunfire, and vehicular accidents claimed nearly as many officers' lives. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund said in a report that 144 federal, state and local officers have died so far in 2018. That figure represents roughly a 12 percent increase from the 129 who died in 2017.

<p>Police in Alabama promised transparency Monday after a weekend of protests in response to an officer fatally shooting a black man who pulled out his legally permitted weapon following gunfire at a shopping mall.</p> <p>Hoover Police initially described the officer as "heroic" for bringing down Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr. after two people were wounded at the Riverchase Galleria mall outside Birmingham Thanksgiving night. Then they retracted the statement, saying it's "unlikely" Bradford was involved.</p>

REPUBLIC, Wash. — Loren Culp, the police chief in Republic, pop. 1,100, recently got a big shout-out from Ted Nugent, the “Cat Scratch Fever” rocker who these days is also known for his gun-rights and conservative views, and calls himself the “Motor City Madman.” The reason for the shout-out was that Culp announced he wasn’t going to enforce Initiative 1639, the strict state gun-law measure passed Nov. 6.

THOUSAND OAKS, California — Six off-duty police officers were inside the Borderline Bar & Grill on Wednesday night when a gunman opened fire on those present. Twelve people were killed as the gunman, who has been identified as David Ian Long, attacked the bar using a smoke device and a .45-caliber handgun. Many of those present were young people, on hand for “college night.” Captain Garo Kuredjian, Media Relations Officer for the Ventura County Police Department, told Breitbart News on the scene that there had been three officers from the Oxnard Police Department and three from the Los Angeles Police...

Three minutes after the 911 call came in late Wednesday night, Sgt. Ron Helus of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office pulled up at the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, where a former Marine had burst in and began shooting patrons. Helus, a 29-year veteran on the overnight shift, met up with a pair of California Highway Patrol officers who had raced to the scene from a traffic stop, authorities said. They could hear gunshots. There was no time to wait for backup. “What you saw last night with the sergeant and California Highway Patrol officer, that is...

Without saying a word, a mysterious man in black clutching a semi-automatic pistol opened fire on a California bar packed with college students celebrating "country night" Wednesday — claiming the lives of at least 12 patrons, including a veteran sheriff's sergeant nearing retirement, before officers found the gunman dead. Hundreds of people -- including students from California Lutheran University, private Christian school Pepperdine University and California State University Channel Islands -- were inside Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, Calif., for the country music event when shots suddenly rang out at about 11:20 p.m., Ventura County police said. Police...

Update 8:42 p.m. - The person shot was a La Grange police officer. He was transported by helicopter for medical treatment. Officers from numerous agencies are still surrounding the motel. Update 8:05 p.m.: Police are moving bystanders away from the area around the Carter Motel. Witnesses say the incident began at the Dollar General about a block away when two officers tried arresting a man inside the store. Witnesses say the officers used a taser on the suspect, but he was able to pull the probes off. The officers chased the suspect to the Carter Motel where the shooting took...

One time, I met a D.C. traffic-directing cop in the line at the mall and I remarked how dangerous her job was. “I mean, people in D.C. drive so crazy,” I said. “You could get killed.” “Oh no,” she said, “don’t feel sorry for me. Feel sorry for the people in parking enforcement. They get screamed at, spat on, cursed out – you name it. It’s horrible.” I have to admit that this was the first time I’d ever had any sympathy for parking enforcement cops (also known as “meter maids”). I’ve always seen them as predators, scrounging around, looking...

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey called out Florida’s Democratic nominee for governor, Andrew Gillum, on “Fox & Friends Saturday” for his “disgusting” comments about law enforcement. . . . Gillum appeared on the “Pod Save America” podcast Wednesday” and said “At the time that a law enforcement official has to go to a weapon, to a gun, to a baton, to a taser, they have already had to go too far.”

Authorities on Monday said a second South Carolina police officer died from her injuries suffered in an ambush attack at the hands of an ex-Army sharpshooter earlier this month. Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone said Deputy Farrah B. Turner died Monday. She had been hospitalized since the attack. Boone said in a statement that Turner "was the ultimate professional, excelling at everything she did. She dedicated her life to serving the victims of the worst crimes imaginable." Turner was among seven law enforcement officers shot by 74--year--old Frederick Hopkins. They say the decorated Vietnam War opened fire without warning when...

The New York Police Department is removing nearly 3,000 body cameras from use after one of the devices worn by a Staten Island officer exploded into flames, police officials said on Sunday. The recall of the Vievu-brand LE-5 cameras could delay the department’s plan to outfit all 23,000 patrol officers with body cameras by December, and adds another twist to the complicated history surrounding the mechanisms... The police said other camera models, including the LE-4, are not affected by the order.

<p>A Massachusetts state trooper was stabbed in the head on Friday.</p> <p>New Salem, MA – A Massachusetts state trooper was stabbed in the head at the end of a police chase on Friday.</p> <p>WBZ reported that the trooper was taking the 18-year-old suspect into custody when he was attacked.</p>

(COLUMBUS COUNTY, N.C.) — A veteran state trooper in North Carolina was shot dead while making a traffic stop early Wednesday, authorities said. The deadly confrontation unfolded when Kevin Conner, an 11-year veteran, stopped a pickup truck for speeding in Columbus County just after midnight, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety said. The driver pulled onto the shoulder, and when Conner approached, the driver allegedly fired several shots, authorities said. The suspected shooter then fled the scene and led police on a car chase, authorities said. His car became stuck while trying to drive over a railroad crossing, authorities...

Only 32 of the 273 officers who took the test passed, according to the city’s Department of Human Resources, which oversees the exam. The passing rate of 11.7 percent is far lower than the last three sergeant exams, which have been given every two years. In 2016, 176 of the 290 officers who took the exam passed, for a rate of 60.7 percent. In 2014, 171 of 330 officers passed, for a rate of 51.8 percent. And in 2012, 218 of the 412 officers passed, for a rate of 52.9 percent.

Thomas Caldwell once told a federal agent that selling guns was an addiction. Even after being told to stop because he had no license, the Wisconsin man kept peddling firearms, posting more than 200 ads on a controversial website. One of those guns, a Glock 26 9 mm handgun, ended up in the hands of a four-time felon who used it in February to kill Chicago police Cmdr. Paul Bauer in a shocking daylight shooting in the heart of the Loop, according to recently filed federal documents. The records give a rare look at how shadowy gun deals flourish between...

We may be witnessing the repeal of the unwritten law that helps bad cops go free. It’s been almost two years since the puzzling, infuriating mistrial in one of the most grotesque police shootings ever caught on tape. A jury couldn’t reach a verdict after watching video footage of South Carolina police officer Michael Slager shooting 50-year-old Walter Scott in the back as Scott slowly ran away, before picking up a dark object (likely his Taser) and placing it by Scott’s body in a blatant effort to corrupt the crime scene. Slager got away with it in large part because...

A high school marching band in Mississippi has sparked outrage after their halftime show featured students dressed as nurses and doctors pointing toy guns at students dressed like SWAT team members. The halftime show was reportedly based off of John Q, a movie in which Denzel Washington plays a desperate father who takes patients at a hospital hostage while trying to get treatment for his son. The scene shocked fans in attendance and the band director was placed on administrative leave. Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Errick L. Greene issued a statement apologizing for the performance saying that it "does...

President Donald Trump is traveling to Florida aboard Air Force One with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and will likely discuss his future at the Justice Department. When reporters asked if he had plans to fire Rosenstein, Trump replied, “No, I don’t.” (snip) “We’re going to be talking on the plane. I actually have a good relationship. … We’ll see,” he told reporters at the White House as he left for the trip. “I get along very well with him.”

Chicago officials summarily rejected President Trump's advice Monday to use "stop and frisk" policing to reduce violence, with the mayor's office calling the president "clueless" and motivated by the fear of losing midterm elections. Trump urged Chicago to use "stop and frisk" policing at a police convention earlier in the day and offered federal assistance to undo a 2015 legal agreement between the Chicago Police Department and the American Civil Liberties Union. The office of Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the city was uninterested in Trump's idea for reducing violent crime.