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Police: Body found inside Yale lab building
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Police in Connecticut on Sunday said they found what they believe is the body of a Yale University graduate student and bride-to-be hidden inside the wall of a university building where she was last seen five days before.
New Haven Assistant Police Chief Peter Reichard said officials presumed the body was that of doctoral student Annie Le, although they had not yet positively identified it. Le has been the focus of a massive police search since Tuesday.
Le, 24, of Placerville, Calif., was to be married Sunday in Syosset, N.Y., on Long Island's north shore. New Haven police said they have contacted her family and have assumed control of the investigation, which is now being treated as a homicide.
State police found the body at around 5 p.m. Sunday in an area of the building that houses utility cables that run between floors.
Le was last seen Tuesday morning in the building. Surveillance video shows her arriving around 10 a.m., but police had been baffled since the investigation began because there was no video of Le leaving, despite some 75 surveillance cameras operating around the complex. Her ID, money, credit cards and purse were found in her office.
More than 100 local, state and federal police had been searching the building for days, using blueprints to uncover any place where evidence or Le's body could be hidden.
This is great, forwarded it to many.
Yeppers ... quite a moniker, eh?
I love imaginative people!
Texas sheriff reprimands deputies over waitress pic
Austin American-Statesman
In this photo provided by the Midland County, (Texas) Sheriff, an unidentified waitress at Twin Peaks Restaurant and Bar posses for a photo in Round Rock, Texas, Aug. 10, 2009. (AP Photo)
MIDLAND, Texas — A Midland County sheriff's deputy was fired after police say he and four other deputies asked a waitress to take a picture with one of their service rifles while they were visiting a restaurant in Round Rock last week, Midland Sheriff Gary Painter said.
Deputy Daniel Subia was fired, Deputy Art Nunez received a letter of reprimand, and three others — Deputies Miguel Ramos, Chris Evans and Ron Wright — received three days of suspension without pay, Painter said.
The deputies will not face criminal charges, according to Melissa Hightower, an investigator with the Williamson County attorney's office.
On Aug. 10, Round Rock police were called to the Twin Peaks restaurant — where waitresses typically wear halter tops and short shorts — at 100 E. Louis Henna Blvd. after an off-duty Manor police officer reported seeing a waitress holding what appeared to be a rifle in the parking lot, according to a police report. The deputies were taking photos as she held it, the report said.
The report says the waitress told police that the deputies asked her to come outside and pose with the weapon, according to the report.
The off-duty officer called Round Rock police.
The deputies were in Round Rock for training, Painter said.
Eric Poteet, a spokesman for Round Rock police, said they did not charge the deputies because no crime was committed. Dee Hobbs, chief of the criminal division of the Williamson County attorney's office, had said the officers could face charges of disorderly conduct, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail.
Painter said it would have been a "knee-jerk reaction" to fire all of the deputies involved. Instead, he interviewed each deputy separately and doled out reprimands based on the deputies' participation in the incident. Subia, who was fired, was "the one who handed the weapon to the lady," Painter said.
Copyright 2009 Austin American-Statesman
Tension between residents and cops in Ark. town after officer shoots fire chief
Associated Press
JERICHO, Ark. — It was just too much, having to return to court twice on the same day to contest yet another traffic ticket, and Fire Chief Don Payne didn't hesitate to tell the judge what he thought of the police and their speed traps.
The response from cops? They shot him. Right there in court.
Payne ended up in the hospital, but his shooting last week brought to a boil simmering tensions between residents of this tiny former cotton city and their police force. Drivers quickly learn to slow to a crawl along the gravel roads and the two-lane highway that run through Jericho, but they say sometimes that isn't enough to fend off the city ticketing machine.
"You can't even get them to answer a call because normally they're writing tickets," said Thomas Martin, chief investigator for the Crittenden County Sheriff's Office. "They're not providing a service to the citizens."
Now the police chief has disbanded his force "until things calm down," a judge has voided all outstanding police-issued citations and sheriff's deputies are asking where all the money from the tickets went. With 174 residents, the city can keep seven police officers on its rolls but missed payments on police and fire department vehicles and saw its last business close its doors a few weeks ago.
"You can't even buy a loaf of bread, but we've got seven police officers," said former resident Larry Harris, who left town because he said the police harassment became unbearable.
Sheriff's deputies patrolled Jericho until the 1990s, when the city received grant money to start its own police force, Martin said.
Police often camped out in the department's two cruisers along the highway that runs through town, waiting for drivers who failed to slow down when they reached the 45 mph zone ringing Jericho. Residents say the ticketing got out of hand.
"When I first moved out here, they wrote me a ticket for going 58 mph in my driveway," 75-year-old retiree Albert Beebe said.
The frequent ticketing apparently led to the vandalization of the cruisers, and the department took to parking the cars overnight at the sheriff's office eight miles away.
It was anger over traffic tickets that brought Payne to city hall last week, said his lawyer, Randy Fishman. After failing to get a traffic ticket dismissed on Aug. 27, police gave Payne or his son another ticket that day. Payne, 39, returned to court to vent his anger to Judge Tonya Alexander, Fishman said.
It's unclear exactly what happened next, but Martin said an argument between Payne and the seven police officers who attended the hearing apparently escalated to a scuffle, ending when an officer shot Payne from behind.
Doctors in Memphis, Tenn., removed a .40-caliber bullet from Payne's hip bone, Martin said. Another officer suffered a grazing wound to his finger from the bullet.
Martin declined to name the officer who shot Payne, pending the outcome of an investigation. No charges have been filed, and it's unclear if the officer has been disciplined.
Crittenden County prosecutors did not respond to a phone message seeking comment.
Payne remains in good condition at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. Payne referred questions to his lawyer.
"I know that he was unarmed and I know he was shot," Fishman said. "None of that sounds too good for the city to me."
After the shooting, Martin said police chief Willie Frazier told the sheriff's department he was disbanding the police force "until things calm down." The sheriff's department has been patrolling the town in the meantime.
A call to a city hall number listed as Frazier's went to a fax machine. Frazier did not respond to a written request for comment sent to his office.
Alexander, the judge, has voided all the tickets written by the department both inside the city and others written outside of its jurisdiction - citations that the department apparently had no power to write. Alexander, who works as a lawyer in West Memphis, did not return calls for comment.
Meanwhile, sheriff's deputies want to know where the money from the traffic fines went. Martin said that it appeared the $150 tickets weren't enough to protect the city's finances. Sheriff's deputies once had to repossess one of the town's police cruisers for failure to pay on a lease, and the state Forestry Commission recently repossessed one of the city's fire trucks because of nonpayment.
City hall has been shuttered since the shooting, and any records of how the money was spent are apparently locked inside. No one answered when a reporter knocked on the door on Tuesday.
Mayor Helen Adams declined to speak about the shooting when approached outside her home, saying she had just returned from a doctor's appointment and couldn't talk.
"We'll get with you after all this comes through," Adams said Tuesday before shutting the door.
A white Ford Crown Victoria sat in her driveway with "public property" license plates. A sales brochure advertising police equipment sat in the back seat of the car.
http://www.policeone.com/officer-shootings/articles/1881115-Tension-between-residents-and-cops-in-Ark-town-after-officer-shoots-fire-chief/
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OMG - Never heard of anything like this happening.
I won't be going to Jericho on vacation this year!
Jeffery254 - That one is worth posting the whole article:
A man, who doused himself with gasoline and charged at an officer, burst into flames when he was hit with a Taser, police in Australia said Tuesday.
"He was carrying a lighter and pouring himself with petrol," said Inspector Bill Munnee with the West Australian Police. "We don't know if the lighter set it off or something from the Taser."
Authorities have launched an inquiry into what happened Monday when an officer arrived at the 36-year-old man's house in the remote desert community of Warburton.
Police had received a report that the man and some others were sniffing glue, Munnee said.
At the sight of the arriving officers, the man ran out of the house with a container of gasoline and a cigarette lighter, police said.
When he ignored the officer's command to stop, the officer fired his Taser stun gun -- and the man "caught alight," Munnee said.
When used, some stun guns emit an electric spark as they deliver an electric current. The jolt of electricity inhibits voluntary control of muscles, temporarily incapacitating the person.
While the officer tried to put out the fire, a woman from inside the house threw rocks at him, Munnee said. The officer suffered both burns from the fire and cuts from the rocks.
The man was airlifted to a hospital in the Western Australian capital of Perth, where he is undergoing treatment for severe burns.
Police charged him with assault with intent to prevent arrest and possession of a deleterious substance.
The rock-throwing woman was charged with assaulting a public officer.
"He has an extensive record of very violent behavior toward police and people," Munnee said of the man. "He's not Mother Teresa or the Pope."
Two years ago, a man in Texas died in a similar incident when he too caught fire after he was shot with a Taser.
In that case as well, the man had poured gasoline on himself and was resisting arrest.
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Those crazy Aussies! LOL
Gee, that poor officer was wrong, no matter what he did! The woman threw rocks at him while he was trying to extinguish the fire. What a typical criminal.
Thanks
Good article! And welcome to the board. Post early and often!
(CNN) -- A man, who doused himself with gasoline and charged at an officer, burst into flames when he was hit with a Taser, police in Australia said Tuesday.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/21/australia.taser.fire/index.html
Yeah, they would see it when they pulled up the record but if they see those holes in the license they will know before even pulling it up.
Welcome to the board mtgmoney.
That's something I would never have considered. But I don't plan on any DWI/DUI tickets either! LOL
When an officer runs a license, don't they find out anyway, about any past revocations for points?
Hope to see you back! I've been lax here in keeping this place up and running, but will be trying to do more in the future.
If you get a DWI or DUI get a new drivers license once you are able to get the original back. They staple your license to your ticket until you go to court. Those holes in the license if kept tell a police officer that your license was taken before. They can feel the holes in it and at night they can see the light going through it.
Yeah, pretty much.
And a few even brought a chuckle ......
rules to live by.......
Things Police Officers Would Like You To Know…..
Your 5 year old kid getting pushed down by another 5 year old kid is NOT a police matter; talk to the other kid's parents, not the police.
If your kid won't do his homework or do his chores, 911 is not the answer.
If a cop causes a car accident we usually get a ticket, and sometimes we get suspended. When is the last time you got 3 days off (without pay) for rear-ending a guy at Wal-Mart?
We know you've had more than two beers. When I've had two beers, I didn't hit six parked cars, drive my car through the front doors of a Toys-R-Us, pee my pants or pass out at a traffic light.
When you see an emergency vehicle behind you with its lights and sirens on, pull to the RIGHT, and stop. We are usually required to pass cars on the left.
When you're driving in the fast lane and you see a cop behind you, don't go 5 MPH under the speed limit. We are not impressed by how safe of a driver you can be, we're trying to go help someone (or catch that guy in SUV that just cut you off). Safely move over and let us pass please.
If we park our cruiser blocking the road with lights flashing, don't ask if the road is closed or if there is an accident, just take an alternate route and DON'T DRIVE AROUND US!
If you get a warning instead of a ticket from a motorcycle cop, go buy a lottery ticket, because you've already beaten the odds.
When you see an officer conducting a traffic stop, or with a suspect in handcuffs, it is generally not a good idea to approach him and ask for directions. If you do, don't expect the officer to be nice when he tells you to get lost, and don't expect the officer to take the time to explain.
Here's how to get out of a ticket. Don't break the law.
“What do you mean ‘Can’t I get a warning?’ Your warning was the speed limit sign a mile back!”
In one week I pulled over 10 cars for minor traffic violations. 5 out of 10 had no vehicle insurance. 3 out of 10 had suspended driver's licenses. 2 out of 10 had warrants. 1 out of 10 had felony warrants. 1 was a known sex offender with his 12 year old niece in the car without her mother’s knowledge. So what was that about doing “real” police work?
If you've just been pulled over doing 70 in a 35, do not greet the officer with, "What seems to be the problem, officer?"
When you're the victim of a burglary, take the time you spend waiting for the officer to find the model number and the serial number of the stuff that was taken.
Some cops are just jerks, but take heart in the fact that other cops don't like them either.
If it's night time and you're driving a vehicle with tinted windows and I pull you over, it's not because of your skin color. I usually can't tell if the vehicle even has a driver until the windows rolled down.
Every time you hear on the news about people running away from a crazed gunman, someone's son or daughter in a police uniform is running TOWARD that crazed gunman.
Yes, it's true, cops usually don't give other cops tickets. Think of it as an employee discount, perk or benefit. Other cops are family and you wouldn't give your brother a ticket if you were a cop either.
If your local police agency has a helicopter, everyone knows it's loud and annoying, but did you know it can cover the same area as 20 patrol officers and safely chase criminals that are driving 90 MPH through city streets. Many times the guy has no idea it's there and slows down.
If you rob a gas station you're only going to get about $100, but I get to see a K9 dog use your arm as a chew toy. For all I care you can keep the $100.
Every traffic stop could end in gunfire, but we have to be polite and professional until that time.
I've taken about the same amount of men and women to jail for domestic violence, so NO, it's not always the man.
If the light was yellow, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
Cops know you pay taxes and that your taxes pay cops' salaries. Cops also pay taxes, which also pay cops' salaries so, hey, this traffic stop is on me. Now sign here; press hard. There are four copies.
Police Officers... our job is to protect your ass, not kiss it!
Perfectly addressed; "If it were 'military requirements' causing the shortages ....... wouldn't the 223 be short, like 9mm and 380?"
Exactly!!!
You and I both, ONEBGG. What little comes in the stores here disappears almost instantly. Still, no 380 to be found. 9mm and 40 cal almost none. There was some 9mm for a while, but no more. There's something going on alright, because the 'hoarders' would surely have 'enough' by now ... whatever that is.
I can't figure it out, but there's a fly in the ointment somewhere.
At least, one can find an AR-15, AK or SKS now in most gun stores. 762X39 Ammo seems to be coming back, and 223 is pretty much everywhere. If it were 'military requirements' causing the shortages ....... wouldn't the 223 be short, like 9mm and 380?
I don't get it, for sure.
There is no reason for our current shortage of ammo; I am truly suspicious. I can understand some of the military stuff being in short supply, and even some of the more popular rounds. However, there has been plenty of time for the production to catch up. JMO
Good deal! I have managed to acumulate some for my latest 9mm toys. 380 is scarace as hens' teeth around here.
I see "Cheaper than Dirt" is price-gouging the hell out of folks, as usual .... double usual prices, or more, on some.
Another reason I refuse to buy from them, ever again.
just talking to my cousin who works for the local super walmart, she says they have a very large stock of all the ammo they usually carry. and see no reason to run out soon
Definitely some food for thought ...
One of my gun dealer buddies told me 3 - 4 months ago the 'shortage' of ammo would be over in 4 - 5 months ...
He's now saying he was wrong. He still can't get .380, very little 9mm and practically no .223. Was out of .40 and .45 for quite a long while too.
I hope the author of your article is wrong .. but I am not betting that he is.
Fear On Street Is Palpable
From a Cop: The fear on the street is palpable - By: Scott Wagner
Posted on July 5th, 2009
by David-Crockett
Posted on July 5th, 2009 by David-Crockett
Gerry at resistnet published the following outstanding article by Scott Wagner, Police Academy Commander and Professor at Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio.
Short intro by David Crockett
A second American Revolution seems unavoidable lest our politicians and judges actively engage in restoring the Constirutional Republic and removing the conspiracy of tyranny and usurpation currently destroying our Country. Sadly it is very unlikely that those who were placed in office to uphold and defend our Constitutional Republic from all its enemies, foreign and domestic, will do their Constitutional duty and by consequence it will be up to We The People which means a Second American Revolution to take place.
Why do we call on for example Sarah Palin to join the ranks of the American Patriots by joing Dr. Orly Taitz in legal action if not to try the legal road once more for war should be the very last resort but if no alternatives remain war is unavoidable as we may never forsake our Constitution.
David Crockett
Scott Wagner wrote
The fear on the street is palpable. Ever since the election of Barack Obama as President of these United States in November 2008, coupled with the election of a democrat party majority in both the U.S. House and Senate, concern for the United States and personal safety has ignited like a fire in dry grass.
Sales of guns - black guns, rifles, shotguns and handguns (particularly 9mm) everywhere, have gone through the roof. AR15s have literally flown off of dealer shelves, and only now in the spring of 2009, have I seen the display samples of ARs begin to reappear on the wall of my favorite shooting emporium after the initial post election rush.
Manufacturers of ARs are still working to catch up and some of the major suppliers are as much as 150,000 guns behind. Not only that, ammo is in the shortest supply I have ever seen in the 43 years of my shooting life. Have you recently tried to get 5.56mm, 9mm or even 380 ammo?
Supplies of 5.56mm and 9mm ammo are in short supply due to the black gun buying craze; .380ACP because of the rise in people getting concealed carry permits and the resurgence of interest in convenient 380 handguns like the fine Ruger LCP. In fact, in doing a review of the Ruger LCP, my gun store only had a small supply of ONE .380 round on hand, the Winchesters 95-grain SXT, which they had just gotten in. Unfortunately, I had to do a 30-round review of that pistol. There was none other to be found.
The 5.56mm was the first caliber to noticeably be in short supply. This was first due to the war effort, the headlong adoption of 5.56mm rifles by law enforcement agencies ever since the great LAPD bank robbery and shootout, the general shooting public interest in and acceptance of the AR15 weapons system along with a realization that yes, the AR does have sporting purpose, and of course now, this new fear that is on the street. Sales of ARs also went up following 9/11.
What is odd about this new fear is that it is not coming from the average citizen gun owner out there, but it is coming from what to me is an almost shocking source: street cops.
Street cops and SWAT cops that I know from various agencies - rural, suburban and metro - in my area are scared. Cops that before November 2008 never gave much thought (that I knew of anyway) to politics or more importantly to gun rights. For the most part, these are the guys that didn’t generally have any interest in shooting or gun ownership beyond keeping track of where their duty gun is, and a few of them didn’t even do that so well.
The guys I am talking about now are some of the same guys who used to not even carry off duty on a regular basis- but not anymore They don’t scare easily, defenders of the Constitution of this State and the United States (as our oath of office reads), have been buying ARs, survival gear, and all the ammo they can lay their hands on. All of them (or I should say “us”) have been discussing and have been acquiring guns to provide a layered perimeter defense.
We want something in .308 (or in my case a superb M1 Garand in .30-06) for covering the outer perimeters, 5.56mm weapons for mid-range use (for some with more limited funds, the AK-47 and 7.62?39 cartridge will suffice), and for the close up stuff shotguns and handguns (love my Benelli M4 Tactical and Beretta 92 9mm).
What are we suddenly so afraid of? Well in our discussions it seems to boil down to four areas.
First, fear of federal government intrusion into our lives. Every time I look at or listen to the news, there is something new and intrusive coming out of the Obama administration and this Congress. New tax schemes, government-run Canadian-style healthcare, a volunteer citizen defense force (whatever that is, what happened to the National Guard?) equipped with funding similar to our military, forced voluntary “service” after retirement, a lack of a southern border with hordes of illegal and criminal aliens pouring over our border, the swine flu scare as well as government forced closing of thousands of privately held Chrysler and GM dealerships, which will be the final nail in the coffin for these companies and the list goes on and on.
But these items in the news are just the tip of the iceberg. We can’t see the full impact of these actions yet, but we don’t know what was added into the thousand of pages of stimulus package bills in the dead of night yet. I predict however that when the plans contained in the stimulus packages go into effect, a lot of us are going to be surprised if not shocked by what has suddenly and sweepingly changed.
What also scares us is the second, well-founded fear that there is an assault weapons ban looming, one that would make the Clinton Ban appear like a look of disdain in comparison. I remember well the 1990s and the Clinton years: the rise of militia groups, the “black helicopter” rumors and paranoia, all of which was motivated by the Brady Law and the Assault Weapon’s ban. What if a new ban comes requiring registration or confiscation and turn-in of banned weapons as what happened in Australia?
I watched cops and citizens alike purchase these guns at $900 dollars and more, with custom or tricked out guns easily running into the $2,000 range. Then add on all the accessories, red dots, lights, slings and anything else you can name and you may have up to $3,000 wrapped up in your rig. I saw the looks in their eyes. These purchasers weren’t spending this kind of money just to turn in the guns for no compensation when a government tells them to. I foresee much civil disobedience coming down the road.
Americans are citizens, and not subjects like the British, Canadians or Australians. They just don’t always obey the law blindly and not one officer or citizen that I spoke to said anything like “I hope I get to keep this gun for awhile before they are banned; They are fun to shoot, so I would hate to give it up.” It isn’t going to happen, so the cop on the street and the soldier on the base needs to think now what he will do if the orders come down. I think you all get what I am saying here.
Which leads me to the third fear, that there is a revolution coming, yes, a revolution on the scale of the original American Revolution. You can hear this topic discussed on many of the talk radio shows by even the big name hosts. The possibility of an armed revolution against the U.S. government is being discussed, albeit very gingerly and fleetingly and as something to be avoided, which it is. I never heard this mentioned in the 90s.
One of my quietest, low profile officer friends brought it up the other day. He said that at some point in the near future, he felt there is going to be an armed revolt if things keep going the way they are. Something has got to give. I was shocked. Yes, I had heard this from some of my more radical cop friends in the past, but to hear it from a guy like this was unprecedented. Now, these guys are not saying this will happen to foment revolution, preach sedition or to even participate. They just want to be ready if it happens, to at least defend their families, because number four on the fear list is general societal chaos.
Cops fear for their parents, wives, children or grandchildren more now than ever before. Most cops are encouraging their spouses and loved ones to get concealed carry permits. Not only that, but some of these same cops are buying gun mounts for their personal cars so they can carry an AR in the family ride at the ready all the time. They are also strapping on heavier forms of off-duty hardware. I have other friends that are issued ARs or subguns for tactical team use, who always have their gear with them and are planning on just commandeering these weapons for personal use in defending hearth and home.
Final Notes
This is pretty heady and maybe even dangerous stuff. Know fully that I am not advocating anything here. I am reflecting to you what I see and hear going on around me, and maybe saying things that haven’t been said in the open, until now. It is something to think about.
*Written By: Scott Wagner is a Police Academy Commander and Professor at Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio and Commander of the 727 Counter Terror Training Unit. A 29 year law enforcement veteran and current Deputy Sheriff, he is the Precision Marksman for the Union County Sheriff’s Office SRT Team.*
http://www.oilforimmigration.org/facts/?p=2373
I hope they nail, slow and painful should be his demise.
Cops Search Hospitals for Injured Killer of Border Patrol Agent
Friday , July 24, 2009
CAMPO, Calif. —
At least one suspect wanted for the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent was probably injured significantly during the attack and may seek medical attention on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities said Friday.
Investigators are checking hospitals and medical facilities in hopes of finding whoever shot and killed Agent Robert Wimer Ramos, 30, late Thursday, said Keith Slotter, special agent in charge with the FBI's San Diego bureau.
Mexican authorities are cooperating in the investigation and search.
Ramos, a married father of two young children, was shot shortly after 9 p.m. while responding to a call near Campo, a town in rugged, arid terrain in southeastern San Diego County.
He was shot in the head and multiple times in his body and was dead when backup agents arrived, Slotter said.
Ramos was found outside his patrol vehicle, with blood evidence indicating at least one suspect and possibly more had serious injuries, perhaps by gunfire. Investigators don't yet know how many shots were fired, if Rosas fired any shots himself and how many guns were used.
"It's all possible. I can't definitively say X number of people fired or Agent Rosas got off shots or didn't. I mean, it's too early in the investigation to say that with any certainty," Slotter said.
Investigators said there were searching for at least two suspects.
There was no evidence of drugs at the scene, but investigators were not ruling out anything, including an attack by drug smugglers or human smugglers.
The incident began when Rosas, a resident of El Centro, responded to a call of an illegal entry along the border near Campo, said Richard Barlow, acting chief patrol agent for the San Diego sector.
A short time later, at least one other agent heard gunshots and attempted to contact Rosas by radio. When there was no response, agents went to the scene and found his body near the border fence.
Rosas, a three-year Border Patrol veteran, had a 2-year-old son and an 11-month-old daughter, Barlow said.
"Everybody's digested, disgusted that a criminal can do this," Barlow said. "The violence against the agents, the violence against this country is something that should not, and will not, be tolerated."
Barlow said he could not confirm reports that Rosas called for backup and then went ahead before anyone arrived. But he said it isn't unusual for agents to work alone along the 60 miles of border in the San Diego sector.
"It is a common occurrence for our agents to start tracking individuals or start pursuing individuals that make an incursion into the United State by himself prior to backup arriving," he said.
Barlow said the area where Rosas was shot wasn't the highest priority for agents, but there had recently been areas of increased activity.
The San Diego sector of the Border Patrol has seen a 22 percent decrease in activity this year after a 7 percent increase in each of the previous two years. Still, Barlow said, agents routinely have rocks thrown at them and are physically assaulted.
The president of the union representing 17,000 Border Patrol agents declined to discuss the details of the shooting but said his organization has long been concerned about staffing levels and situations where agents work alone in the field.
Such situations are not uncommon, said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council.
"It's fairly common for our agents throughout San Diego County and the rest of the country to work without a partner," Bonner said. "They each have separate vehicles, and it's a matter of concern with us."
Since 1919, 108 Border Patrol agents have died on duty, according to The Officer Down Memorial Page Inc., which tracks law-enforcement deaths. Gunfire was the leading cause with 30 deaths, followed by automobile accidents and aircraft accidents.
Click here for more coverage from FOX 6 San Diego.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,534761,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a16:g2:r2:c0.181502:b26687754:z0
This was posted on the NOLIB board by longhorn 2006:
Dear Mr. President
By Heather Agins
Dear Mr. President,
As I was driving home from taking my three year old son to school this morning I overheard a conversation on the radio about a Harvard professor being arrested for breaking into his own home. There was a slight debate as to whether or not this was a form of racial profiling because Professor Gates happened to be a black man. In disgust I turned the volume down but a few moments later something made me turn it back up. That something was your voice and a particular description of the police force that I found to be quite shocking! I thought for a moment that perhaps I had heard wrong but lucky for me several radio stations were replaying your comments on the incident and so it was confirmed. You stated "the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody" and went on to mention "the long history within this country of African American and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement officers disproportionately...."
I am the wife of a police officer and have worked as a law enforcement dispatcher for the past three years. Needless to say my blood was boiling and as a matter of fact it still is. Because I myself was exposed to the level of crime that male and female law enforcements officers are faced with on a daily basis, I think I may have more of an idea than you. Because I had to listen to my husband over a radio 50 miles away become nervous on a traffic stop in the middle of the night - I think I may have more of an idea than you. I've had to listen to the sound of my husband's voice after just being involved in a major accident because of a drunk driver and because of this I think I may have more of an idea than you. Every day that my husband goes to work he is putting his life on the line. He is putting the life that we have built together on the line to serve and protect innocent people from becoming innocent victims. Every night that he works I am unable to sleep and every morning he is expected to come home I pray that he does.
I am fortunate that my husband has worked with two agencies whose crime rates are not as high as others. But every time he makes an arrest he must drive through certain areas of Miami that I wouldn't see my worst enemy through.
As I'm sure you already know but perhaps others may not, the statistics from national crime rates are drawn from a federal survey called the National Crime Victimization Survey. If I understand correctly, this survey is given to hundreds of thousands of victims in America and asks them among other questions about the race of the criminals who victimized them. The results of these surveys are almost entirely consistent with the results of arrest records. Wouldn't you know it, the majority of these surveys and arrest records indicated that blacks and Hispanics are the victimizers of these crimes.
Police officers make use of what criminological surveys tell us about who is and who isn't likely to commit certain crimes so that violent criminals don't go un-apprehended. Otherwise, what's the purpose of the survey? Perhaps in order to eliminate "racial profiling" we should do away with the survey all together.
I think it's safe to say that a common prejudice is that men are more likely to commit violent crimes than women, and younger people more so than older. I don't hear you objecting to sexual discrimination or ageism for that matter. Criminal profiling shows that serial killers are almost always white. Police investigations of serial murders almost always target white males because of this statistic. I haven't once heard you make mention of this in your "racial profiling" speeches.
Studies of large urban samples show that gang members are responsible for a large proportion of violent crimes. The most recent National Youth Gang Survey indicated 35% of gang members were African American, 49% were Hispanic, 9% were white, and the remaining 7% as other. So how do you say "no racial profiling" to the members of Violent Gang Safe Streets Task Force, whom I'm sure use these statistics in addressing the violent crimes that are plaguing our communities.
The use of firearms is a major feature of gang violence. Gang members are far more likely to carry a fire arm than your average juvenile delinquent. In the 2000 NYGS, 84% of the gang problems were reported to have at least once occurrence of firearm use by one or more gang members in an assault crime. These gang members who carried guns are also likely to commit ten times more violent crimes than those who didn't carry a firearm. So what do you say to the police officer who is aware of all these statistics and is on a traffic stop in the middle of the night with a "hooptie-like" vehicle containing 3 or more Hispanic and African American males in the middle of the worst neighborhood in North Miami Beach?
What do you say, Mr. President? Do you advise this officer not to place his/her hand on their firearm because that may be considered racial profiling? Do you say stop thinking about your family and allowing your life to flash before your eyes because this is racial profiling? Do you say ignore all of those statistics and the evidence of those statistics that you happen to see on a daily basis -- because that's racial profiling?
Over the past four decades since the "civil rights" movement, crime statistics have shown that millions of crimes have been committed by African-Americans and other non-white predators against white people. Some of these crimes include robbery, assault, rape and murder. Why are these crime rates so disproportionate to the number of White crimes against Blacks and Hispanics?
Perhaps instead of calling Police officers stupid and going on and on about how African Americans and Hispanics are victims of law enforcement officers you should ask yourself why. Why does a law enforcement officer get nervous when he's on a call with someone who is believed to be dangerous and happens to be black or Hispanic? Why is the crime rate so high among African Americans and Hispanics? Why is the number of African Americans and Hispanics involved in gang related violence so much higher than that of whites? Perhaps we should start there.
Perhaps instead placing the blame on others for the victimization of African Americans and Hispanics you should address the fact that they are victims of themselves. Perhaps you find a way to help them help themselves! And then when the crime rates begin to drop among this group of people you might find that our police officers who are known to "act stupidly" might be a little less on edge.
Perhaps we should just do away with all racial profiling. National security... Who needs it? I mean if we're so concerned about African Americans and Hispanics what about the Islamic extremists? They have feelings too.
Back in 2001, FBI agent Williams wanted to investigate certain militant Muslim men whom he suspected of training in U.S. flight schools as part of al-Qaeda missions. His recommendation was rejected by Director Robert Mueller because of concerns that the plan could be viewed as discriminatory racial profiling. Since then Director Mueller has acknowledged that perhaps if he hadn't rejected such a notion the Twin Towers may still be standing and 3,000 innocent people may still be alive. How about that?!
My heart goes out to all of those innocent people who are burdened because of criminals and terrorists who share their race, nationality, or religion. But I would think any inconvenience is preferable to knowing others out there are suffering because we've decided to walk on egg shells rather than to face the real issues at hand. Don't you?
Sincerely,
Heather Agins
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/07/dear_mr_president.html
- - - - -
My Response:
Heather Rules!!! I'm sick over this shit, this Obama clown is far worse than I ever thought he'd be. He is dangerously stupid, and a racist, as well as anti-American. Our country is in danger, we had better be ready to defend and regain it.
Over the issue a racial being part of this business with this cop; it's simple, the professor had a chip on shoulder, one I've seen quite a bit since Obama became our President; ask any cop, this is true! He also could have cooperated and made it simple, but he felt special and was looking for trouble; had he not shot off his fat mouth over and over again he would been fine. The ONLY person I feel sorry for is the cop.
Pissed Off In Portland,
Gary
- - -
P.S. I posted this here because I believe cops are under appreciated, overly scrutinized, and forced to do and say things they do not believe in; such apologizing to this bigoted professor and the president of these United States.
They said the people of Gary needed financial incentive to come forward.
WOW is about all I can come up with for this.
Jeff
One never means so insinuate that something is all-inclusive as surely is it rare that we find 100-percent of anything.
only the govt hand out society. i would like to believe the rest of us have enough respect for each other to at least call 911 and not our crack dealer
those people are just as bad as the criminals.
the mayor should go on TV and shame the hell out of those people. it may not do any good for them, but others may feel compelled to do something next time
It's a sad state of our citizenry.
Store Clerk Murdered; Customers Keep Shopping Reporting
Pamela Jones GARY, Ind. (CBS) ―
Surveillance footage from a convenience store in Gary, Indiana show this man in a red shirt shooting and killing the clerk.
Gary Police Department
A 26-year-old convenience store clerk was shot and killed in broad daylight in Gary, Ind., and police say witnesses stood by and did nothing. CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports there are critical clues that may help crack the case.
Police say one of the four men caught on surveillance video bursting into the clerk's booth at the convenience store was about to commit murder. The video shows a man in red run up an aisle and kick in the door to the booth. Within seconds, the clerk, Gurjeet Singh, was shot in the neck.
"It was senseless. And really all homicides are senseless but what we gather from this, there was very little resistance," said Gary Police Department Commander Anthony Titus. "It didn't have to end the way it did."
But Titus says what's even more senseless is the apparent inaction of bystanders standing near the front door almost the whole time.
Police say there were several customers walking around the store after the crime. But only one called 911 for help.
When asked what he finds most disturbing about the surveillance footage, Titus said, "The fact that people went in and out of the store and didn't call police. There is a man laying there. Nobody thinks to dial 911 or check to see if he's OK or anything."
Police want to talk to people who saw the four men at the mini-mart on 15th and Grant just before 5:20 p.m. Sunday.
At a news conference on Wednesday, community organizers demanded Gary police offer a reward for information about the case. They said the people of Gary needed financial incentive to come forward. Investigators said no reward was planned.
Investigators say two suspects were dressed in black shirts, like one man on the tape who looks to be holding a gun. The other two had red shirts. Police think they were driving a burgundy compact car.
"It's clear enough to the point that if you're familiar with that person, you'd be able to look at it and go, that's someone I know," Titus said.
Investigators hope someone who sees this video will be able to help bring Singh's family some closure. He was doing his job one minute and losing a fight for his life seconds later.
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/Convenience.Store.Clerk.2.1047612.html
congrats to him!!! pretty sad though that a good Samaritan will no longer stop to help someone on the side of the road.
Grandfather, 84, Fights Off Carjackers
TACOMA, Wash. (April 24) - An 84-yearold
man has a black eye, but he still has his
car, after fighting off two would-be carjackers
in Tacoma.
The Fircrest man, Ted Mazetier, says he
stopped Wednesday night to help two men
with a disabled car when one punched him
in the face and demanded his keys.
Mazetier says he kicked the man in the
groin and the other in the belly. The two
men fled as a passer-by stopped to help.
Police later arrested two suspects for investigation
of assault.
Mazetier says he’ll think twice before stopping
again to help someone on the street.
He’ll be 85 in June.
http://www.gnn.com/article/grampa-fights-carjackers/445355?icid=main|compaq-laptop|dl4|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gnn.com%2Farticle%2Fgrampa-fights-carjackers%2F445355
Botetourt home intruder likely drunk, police say
Botetourt County officials said the homeowner would not face charges.
By Amanda Codispoti
981-3334
Audio: 911 call of shooting
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click the play button to hear the 911 call made by Jody Hoover, in which he can be heard shooting Jerry Lee Jones Jr in what the Botetourt County Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom determined was a justifiable homicide.
Editor's note: This audio represents close to 13 minutes of conversation between Hoover, his wife and a 911 dispatcher. Hoover hands the phone to his wife while he retrieves his gun.
Other voices heard include those of Jerry Lee Jones Jr, and radio traffic from deputies being sent to the scene. The dispatcher can also be heard relaying information to deputies.
Portions of the recording, including long stretches of silence or inactivity, have been edited out.
Some may find the audio disturbing.
The sister of a man who was fatally shot after breaking into a Botetourt County home said Tuesday that she believes her brother was drunk and confused about where he was.
Jerry Lee Jones Jr.'s blood-alcohol content was more than four times the legal limit for driving when he died, Botetourt County Sheriff Ronnie Sprinkle said Tuesday.
Jody Hoover, 46, shot and killed the 35-year-old Jones after Jones broke into the Hoover family's house in the Nace area of the county Friday night.
Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom and the sheriff's office reviewed the evidence, including the recording of a 911 call made by Hoover, and decided not to charge the homeowner, according to a news release from the sheriff's office.
Authorities didn't release the men's names until Tuesday because Jones' identity had to be confirmed through fingerprints and Hoover was still under investigation, Branscom said.
Jones' sister, Margaret Jones, said he had been depressed and was drinking because Friday was their late father's birthday.
Jones was in a vehicle with a friend, Joe Harper, but when Jones became violent, the friend dropped him off near the Hoover home, the news release said.
Harper lived in the area, and Margaret Jones said she believes her brother thought he was at Harper's house when he was banging on the Hoovers' door.
"I'm sorry for the family, but I don't think he went there to hurt them," she said. "He couldn't have known what he was doing."
In the 911 recording, Jody Hoover calls the sheriff's office and tells a dispatcher that there is a "strange man outside our home, and he's hollerin' and he's crying out. I don't know what's going on with him."
Hoover hands the phone to his wife while he gets his double-barreled, 12-gauge shotgun.
Jones can be heard yelling and repeatedly banging on the back sliding glass door.
Hoover's wife tells the dispatcher that the man is talking about Vietnam and 1969, and that he asked Jody Hoover for the date.
Hoover talks to the man from inside. "I don't want to hurt you," he says. "I can't let you in.
"Please, just go away. Please."
About seven and a half minutes after Hoover calls 911, Jones shatters the glass door with a wrought-iron chair and tries to come in.
Hoover told authorities that he shot at Jones twice. Deputies arrived at the house as the shots were fired. Jones was pronounced dead at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
Jones lived about two miles from the Hoovers but did not know them, Sprinkle said.
In 2005, Jones was found guilty in Botetourt County of brandishing a firearm and in 1999 and 2000 he was found guilty in Roanoke County of driving under the influence.
Hoover's mother-in-law and two sons were also at the house.
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/201127
Jewel thieves robbed of takings
BBC map
Two men who held up a jewellery store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were themselves robbed as they made their getaway, US police say.
A second pair of robbers pounced on their haul of cash and gems in the street outside, sparking a fight followed by a car chase.
Police pulled over both vehicles and arrested four men, all from Illinois.
But no loot was discovered and police are now searching for more suspects, the Associated Press reports.
Police Lt Thomas Welch said the original robbers were aged 40 and 31 and the two who robbed them in turn were 22 and 27.
No estimate was given of the value of the stolen items.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7953421.stm
everybody wants to be protected, yet they wont let the cops do their jobs. i would rather be tazed than shot, they need to draw the line somewhere. but alcu pukes have no idea what line they want to draw
Don't Tape Me, Bro! Taser Launches Headcam for Cops
By Aaron Rowe March 10, 2009 | 3:25:00 PMCategories: Cops and Robbers, Less-lethal, You can run...
Officers: Are you sick and tired of excessive force lawsuits? Well cheer up. Taser has a plan to give your police department its own CYA reality TV show.
The less-lethal weapons company has launched a wearable computer, called Axon, that will let cops record every minute of their day and upload it to a secure website. From there, they can share their favorite memories with friends, family, and jurors.
"Our Axon and Evidence.com technology will be a lifeline to protect truth," says Steve Tuttle, the vice president of communications for Taser.
For years, cops around the world have been accused of being a little too eager to reach out and stun someone. For example, a Denver Post report found that 90 percent of the subjects tased by the police department there were unarmed. Most times, the weapon was used to "force people to obey orders, to shortcut physical confrontations and, in several cases, to avoid having to run after a suspect." In Sarasota, officers recently tased a naked senior. In Wales, cops even zapped a bunch of sheep.
Not long ago, the less-lethal weapons company started offering a camera accessory that sits on the bottom of its people-zappers, but those devices could only record the drama that takes place once the weapon is drawn and the safety is off -- so it could miss some of the most important moments.
The new camera is head-mounted, so it will record everything the user lays his eyes on. Each headset plugs into a Linux-powered computer that looks curiously similar to a PlayStation Portable, which has an LCD screen so that officers can watch instant replays of their favorite tackles and shakedowns.
When the day is done, just plug the recorder into the Synapse docking station, and all of the evidence will be automatically uploaded to Taser's pair of data warehouses via a 128-bit encrypted connection. Well, most of it, anyway. According to the Axon brochure, the system features a "One-Touch 'Privacy Mode'" which "temporarily suspends recording." In other words, cops can still work the streets -- without being caught on tape.
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/03/taseraxon.html
Spain arrests 'cocaine cast' man
Advertisement
The 'cocaine cast' didn't get through Customs
A Chilean man with a broken leg was arrested at Barcelona airport after his "cast" was found to be made of cocaine not plaster, Spanish police say.
The 66-year-old carried six cans of beer and two hollowed-out stools that also contained cocaine, they add.
The police statement said officers were investigating whether the injuries were inflicted intentionally "to facilitate trafficking through security checks".
Spain is a key entry point into Europe for cocaine from South America.
The country is one of the highest consumers of cocaine in Europe, studies have found.
Airport officials pay close attention to flights arriving from South America.
Operation
Spanish police said the Chilean had travelled from Santiago to Barcelona with a "plaster cast... entirely made from cocaine".
Photo handout from Spanish police of man wearing cocaine cast
Police suspect the leg was deliberately broken to aid the smuggling
It was discovered after police sprayed the cast with a chemical that turns bright blue when it comes into contact with cocaine, police spokesman Jose Antonio Nin told the Associated Press.
Along with the cocaine in the cans and the small stools, he was carrying a total of 4.85kgs (10.7 pounds) of the drug.
X-rays had shown the man was suffering from an "open fracture of the tibia and the fibula, and has been transferred to a clinic for an operation", the police statement said.
"Investigators are examining the possibility that these injuries were brought about voluntarily... to facilitate trafficking through security checks".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7928353.stm
BART holdup victim grabs knife, kills robber
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, February 21, 2009
(02-20) 11:29 PST OAKLAND -- A 23-year-old visitor from the East Coast had just gotten money from an ATM when he told his friend on a cell phone that he had a bad feeling about two men approaching him at the Fruitvale BART Station in Oakland.
His worst fears were realized when one suspect, Victor Veliz, 18, held a folding knife with a 5-inch blade to his neck and the other, Christopher Gonzalez, 18, threatened to shoot him Thursday night, authorities said.
In a blind panic, he lashed out at his attackers, grabbing the knife from one of them and punching the other as his friend listened in horror on the phone.
Without realizing it, authorities say, the man stabbed Gonzalez in the chest. Gonzalez stumbled to his family's home around the corner, collapsed into his father's arms and died.
Veliz, who is affiliated with a gang, was arrested at Gonzalez's home after police allegedly found him with the East Coast visitor's cell phone. He will be charged with murder in the death of his accomplice, along with a robbery count, prosecutors said.
The robbery victim suffered only cuts in fighting off his assailants. He ran from the station, flagged down an Oakland police officer on Fruitvale Avenue and turned over the bloody knife. His name was not released.
The man was "scared senseless" when he was attacked about 9:30 p.m. Thursday, said Allison Danzig, an Alameda County deputy district attorney. He acted in self-defense and will not be charged, she said.
When police told him that Gonzalez had died, "he was very saddened and very upset," Danzig said.
Gonzalez's father, Javier Gonzalez, said Friday that his son had cried out for his parents and sister when he burst into his home on San Leandro Street. He died there.
Javier Gonzalez sobbed at the loss of his son, who worked with him in his roofing business and at Oakland Raiders games.
"I'm angry at both of them," he said of the robbery victim and Veliz. "They took my son away from me. He was a hard-working kid."
He added, "My son is dead. I want somebody to pay for this."
The incident wasn't the only violence near a BART station Thursday night. In Daly City, police said, a triple shooting outside the BART station that left one man dead and two others wounded may have resulted from a mistaken belief that the victims were gang members.
Two of the four men who were in a 1995 Buick Regal when the car was sprayed with bullets were wearing red baseball caps, and the color red is associated with a Latino gang, said Daly City police Lt. Jay Morena.
But the victims were not gang members, Morena said.
The dead man, a 21-year-old from San Francisco, has not been identified, and no arrests have been made.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/21/BAI4161N0D.DTL
Pa. judges accused of jailing kids for cash
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM and MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writers Michael Rubinkam And Maryclaire Dale, Associated Press Writers – 26 mins ago
Kurt Kruger, who spent three days in juvenile detention and another four months AP – Kurt Kruger, who spent three days in juvenile detention and another four months at a youth wilderness …
* Judges accused of taking payoffs to jail kids Slideshow:Judges accused of taking payoffs to jail kids
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – For years, the juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses.
The explanation, prosecutors say, was corruption on the bench.
In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers.
"I've never encountered, and I don't think that we will in our lifetimes, a case where literally thousands of kids' lives were just tossed aside in order for a couple of judges to make some money," said Marsha Levick, an attorney with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, which is representing hundreds of youths sentenced in Wilkes-Barre.
Prosecutors say Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA Child Care LLC and a sister company, Western PA Child Care LLC. The judges were charged on Jan. 26 and removed from the bench by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court shortly afterward.
No company officials have been charged, but the investigation is still going on.
The high court, meanwhile, is looking into whether hundreds or even thousands of sentences should be overturned and the juveniles' records expunged.
Among the offenders were teenagers who were locked up for months for stealing loose change from cars, writing a prank note and possessing drug paraphernalia. Many had never been in trouble before. Some were imprisoned even after probation officers recommended against it.
Many appeared without lawyers, despite the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1967 ruling that children have a constitutional right to counsel.
The judges are scheduled to plead guilty to fraud Thursday in federal court. Their plea agreements call for sentences of more than seven years behind bars.
Ciavarella, 58, who presided over Luzerne County's juvenile court for 12 years, acknowledged last week in a letter to his former colleagues, "I have disgraced my judgeship. My actions have destroyed everything I worked to accomplish and I have only myself to blame." Ciavarella, though, has denied he got kickbacks for sending youths to prison.
Conahan, 56, has remained silent about the case.
Many Pennsylvania counties contract with privately run juvenile detention centers, paying them either a fixed overall fee or a certain amount per youth, per day.
In Luzerne County, prosecutors say, Conahan shut down the county-run juvenile prison in 2002 and helped the two companies secure rich contracts worth tens of millions of dollars, at least some of that dependent on how many juveniles were locked up.
One of the contracts — a 20-year agreement with PA Child Care worth an estimated $58 million — was later canceled by the county as exorbitant.
The judges are accused of taking payoffs between 2003 and 2006.
Robert J. Powell co-owned PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care until June. His attorney, Mark Sheppard, said his client was the victim of an extortion scheme.
"Bob Powell never solicited a nickel from these judges and really was a victim of their demands," he said. "These judges made it very plain to Mr. Powell that he was going to be required to pay certain monies."
For years, youth advocacy groups complained that Ciavarella was ridiculously harsh and ran roughshod over youngsters' constitutional rights. Ciavarella sent a quarter of his juvenile defendants to detention centers from 2002 to 2006, compared with a statewide rate of one in 10.
The criminal charges confirmed the advocacy groups' worst suspicions and have called into question all the sentences he pronounced.
Hillary Transue did not have an attorney, nor was she told of her right to one, when she appeared in Ciavarella's courtroom in 2007 for building a MySpace page that lampooned her assistant principal.
Her mother, Laurene Transue, worked for 16 years in the child services department of another county and said she was certain Hillary would get a slap on the wrist. Instead, Ciavarella sentenced her to three months; she got out after a month, with help from a lawyer.
"I felt so disgraced for a while, like, what do people think of me now?" said Hillary, now 17 and a high school senior who plans to become an English teacher.
Laurene Transue said Ciavarella "was playing God. And not only was he doing that, he was getting money for it. He was betraying the trust put in him to do what is best for children."
Kurt Kruger, now 22, had never been in trouble with the law until the day police accused him of acting as a lookout while his friend shoplifted less than $200 worth of DVDs from Wal-Mart. He said he didn't know his friend was going to steal anything.
Kruger pleaded guilty before Ciavarella and spent three days in a company-run juvenile detention center, plus four months at a youth wilderness camp run by a different operator.
"Never in a million years did I think that I would actually get sent away. I was completely destroyed," said Kruger, who later dropped out of school. He said he wants to get his record expunged, earn his high school equivalency diploma and go to college.
"I got a raw deal, and yeah, it's not fair," he said, "but now it's 100 times bigger than me."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090211/ap_on_re_us/courthouse_kickbacks
Military Matters: U.S. risks wars backlash
To the large majority of American and European soldiers, this is a lesson in horror. They return home thankful they live in a place where the state endures. The last thing they want is to see their native country turn into another Iraq or Afghanistan.
by William S. Lind
Washington (UPI) Feb 6, 2009
Some time ago I wrote a column warning that the United States' involvement in Fourth Generation Wars overseas would spur the development 4GW at home. One way it would do so is by introducing soldiers to statelessness.
I do not see e-mail, but I was told that column generated lots of it. Many e-diots howled that I had somehow "attacked the troops."
Well, guess what? It's starting to happen. A reader sent me a copy of a story from The Oklahoman dated Dec. 25, 2008. The title is "Police Say Vet Made, Sold IEDs to Gangs." It reads in part:
"Police spent the day searching the house of a decorated, two-tour Iraq war veteran on Tuesday, one day after he was arrested and charged with making explosive devices and attempting to sell them. ...
"Steven Andrew Jordal, 24, was an infantry tank (sic) specialist in the U.S. Army from 2002 to 2007. He received the Army's Good Conduct medal, along with several other medals, badges and ribbons, the military confirmed.
"Oklahoma City police took interest in Jordal when they received a tip he was selling IEDs to criminals. IEDs have emerged in Iraq as the weapon of choice for insurgents against U.S. forces.
"For as little as $100, Jordal was making the same kinds of weapons he saw used against his fellow soldiers in Iraq and selling them on the streets of Oklahoma City to gang members."
Surprise, surprise. This is not the first such report I have seen. Shortly after my initial column ran, I received a letter from a reader in Poland with a news story that Polish police were being attacked and killed with improvised explosive devices.
If we read these stories merely as accounts of the spread of a technology -- improvised explosive devices -- we read them too narrowly. American and other foreign troops in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan are learning more than how to make IEDs and how effective they can be. They are learning by direct observation how a place works when the state disappears.
To the large majority of American and European soldiers, this is a lesson in horror. They return home thankful they live in a place where the state endures. The last thing they want is to see their native country turn into another Iraq or Afghanistan.
But a minority will learn a different lesson. They will see statelessness as a field of opportunity where people who are clever and ruthless can rise fast and far. They look upon themselves as that kind of people. They also will have learned it is possible to fight the state, and how to do so.
The effectiveness of improvised explosive devices is part of that lesson; so are the power and rewards that come to members of militias and gangs. In their own minds, and perhaps in reality, they will have found a new world in which they can hope to thrive.
There is a parallel here with what the men who fought in the trenches on the Western Front in World War I learned. For most, it was the worst time in their lives. Their experience is captured by Erich Maria Remarque's famous novel "All Quiet on the Western Front."
But a minority found that war was the best time of their lives. Their book is Ernst Juenger's "Storm of Steel." It was these men, looking to recreate that tremendous experience, who made up the brownshirts of the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung -- the SA. Their very name, Storm Troopers, originated in what they had done during the war. They came home determined to create a different Germany, and they did.
As I have argued, both in these columns and elsewhere, if the U.S. government and its people want to avoid importing Fourth Generation War into the United States, they need to isolate the American nation from Fourth Generation War overseas.
The United States therefore needs a defensive, not an offensive, grand strategy. So long as the United States enmeshes itself in Fourth Generation Wars like those in Iraq and Afghanistan -- will the Obama administration add Somalia and Sudan to the list? -- it will increase the danger its government should seek most to avoid, the horror of Fourth Generation War on America's own soil. That is the Fourth Generation's strategic improvised explosive device, and if it ever goes off in America, we will all get blown up.
(William S. Lind, expressing his own personal opinion, is director of the Center for Cultural Conservatism at the Free Congress Foundation.)
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Military_Matters_US_risks_wars_backlash_999.html
Japanese security robot nets intruders
Jan 22 01:34 PM US/Eastern
Japanese on Thursday unveiled a security robot that can be operated remotely by cellphone and launch a net to capture an intruder.
The prototype T-34, jointly developed by robot developer tmsuk Co. Ltd. and security company Alacom Co. Ltd., looks like a small wheeled vehicle and is loaded with sensors that detect anything untoward in an office building.
It can move at a maximum speed of 10 kilometres (six miles) per hour under the command of a person who sees real-time images of where the robot is on the screen of his cellphone.
"Security sensors often set off false alarms but examining the location with the robot will lead to more efficient operations," the companies said in a joint statement.
http://www.breitbart.com/print.php?id=CNG.c2041e940f4762afd9c98babc6561ae5.41&show_article=1
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Repeat Offenders Commit Most Crime
One of the fundamental facts of criminology is that a small proportion of individuals commit a large proportion of crime. Data from Marvin Wolfgang's famous Philadelphia cohort study suggested that around 5 percent of offenders account for 40 percent of crimes. There are two explanations for repeat offending, the first of which is that impulsive individuals, with weak social attachments to others tend to get into trouble more frequently than less impulsive and more attached individuals. The second explanation is that people exposed to more crime and disorder opportunities take advantage of them and adjust accordingly (see Step 9). Both of these theories can be true. Impulsive individuals with weak attachments require routine exposures to crime opportunities to become repeat offenders.
Repeat offending can be detected by testing for the presence of the 80-20 rule (Step 18). This can be difficult in practice because offenders try to remain anonymous, so the data are seldom comprehensive, and may not even exist. Intelligence information can provide evidence of repeat offending, but the quality of this information is highly variable and seldom comprehensive about the offender population. We often know far more, and know it with greater validity, about places and victims than we know about offenders. Nevertheless, systematic interviews with offenders and their associates can reveal very useful information for understanding and addressing problems (Step 10).
Understanding repeat offenders' objectives and motives can help create prevention strategies. It can make a difference to the solution of a vehicle theft problem if the thieves want to have a good time riding around in a fancy car, to obtain transportation home after a late night of partying, or to sell it for cash to support a drug habit. It can make a difference to the solution of a graffiti problem if the offenders are marking gang territories, creating "public art", displaying their affection, or trying to terrorize local residents of a different religion, race, or ethnicity.
Successful offending can lead to more offending. This occurs in three ways:
* Offenders, like others, learn from doing. A successful crime teaches important lessons. This can lead to the offender attacking the same target again (see box). But offenders, like everyone else, can generalize. So they learn that they may be successful if they attack similar targets (see Step 29).
* Offenders learn from each other. Information can spread through individuals working in small groups, group breakup and new group formation. This underscores the need to understand offender networks. Police can use networks to spread information that enhances offenders' perceptions of risks or of the undesirability of the target or place. Part of the effort to reduce juvenile homicides in Boston, Massachusetts for example, involved highly targeted messages to gang members.
* Successful offending can erode prevention, thus making subsequent offending easier. A small break in a fence, for example, will become larger with use. If the influx of offenders and offensive behaviors is faster than the responses of guardians and place managers, then a small problem will become worse.
Catch Prolific Criminals by Focusing on Repeat Victimization
Ken Pease has recently written about the benefits for detection resulting from a focus on repeat victimization. Evidence is accumulating that repeat victimizations are the work of the most committed offenders. He points out that this raises the intriguing possibility that offender targeting may be achieved simply by detecting repeated offenses against the same household or person, since these offenses are committed by offenders whom one would in any case wish to target. This kind of offender targeting avoids allegations of violations of civil liberties, since it focuses on the most troublesome subset of acts that prolific offenders commit.
Many crime prevention techniques rest on the assumption of a credible threat (Step 40). Closed circuit television (CCTV) provides a deterrent threat to the extent that potential offenders believe either that someone is watching who will take action should they see misbehavior, or that offenders can be identified and arrested later based on CCTV recordings. This does not mean that there have to be many arrests, but a few well-publicized arrests can reinforce an important message. And the message may be powerful if it is communicated through offender networks.
When there is specific information that a few people are responsible for most of a problem, it can be productive to focus on these individuals. The Boston Police Department reduced homicides among young males by monitoring a relatively few gang members. Francis Cullen and colleagues suggest that probation and parole authorities should learn the specific circumstances under which each offender gets into trouble, then help offenders develop plans to avoid these circumstances, and finally monitor compliance with these plans.
Tackling repeat offending by removing facilitating environments can be effective. For example, in Staining, a village in England, a scrap yard served as a receiver for stolen vehicles, parts, and other loot from thefts. Many of the associated offenders were known. But despite police enforcement efforts this problem could not be resolved. The local constable was able to close the site using laws governing pollution and other environmental hazards. This substantially reduced crime in the village. Similarly, police in the United States often use civil laws to close down facilities that foster drug dealing, prostitution, and other crimes and disorder.
Conversely, creating crime opportunities to catch offenders can make things worse. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a number of U.S. police departments experimented with "sting" operations in which they created fake markets for stolen goods, documented who sold such goods to them, and then arrested many thieves. A number of these operations were evaluated. There is no evidence that these operations reduced crime. There is some evidence that they may have increased crime by providing lucrative and convenient ways to sell stolen goods. Throughout this manual we have noted the strong influence facilitating environments can have on promoting criminal behavior. So one should be very cautious about creating artificial crime opportunities to round up unknown prolific offenders.
Information from repeat offenders and their confederates can be used to identify features of the environment that facilitate offending. Much of the early crime prevention implemented in convenience stores was developed from offender interviews (Step 9). In the early 1970s, the Lakewood, Colorado Police Department interviewed convicted burglars and learned a great deal about how they targeted dwellings and handled stolen goods. The Newport News, Virginia Police Department used offender interviews to help analyze thefts from vehicles. An important piece of intelligence they gained was that thieves targeted vehicles that the thieves believed contained drugs. More recently, when the Chula Vista, California Police Department interviewed car thieves they found that the thieves had a much simpler method for stealing cars than investigators had suspected. This alerted investigators to an unknown vulnerability of older cars of a particular make. Such information is available from no other source.
Read More
* Cullen, Francis and colleagues (2002). "Environmental Corrections: A New Framework for Effective Probation and Parole Supervision." Federal Probation, 66 (2):28-37.
* Kennedy, David and colleagues (2001). Reducing Gun Violence: The Boston Gun Project's Operation Ceasefire. Research Report. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Justice.
http://www.popcenter.org/learning/60steps/index.cfm?stepNum=30
Note: Also posted on the GUNS board.
No one ever said jail was supposed to be a buffet paradise ...
My question is ......... if the law permits the sheriff to do what he did ... why is there any problem?
Yeah, the guys should be fed, but for that money they could get oatmeal and a boiled egg for breakfast, ramen for lunch and maybe a bologna sandwich for dinner .... and have money left. Guaranteed, I've eaten less. Guaranteed, they're eating less then they are outside, mething away their day.
Anyone who wants to go to jail for the food deserves whatever they get.
They don't eat at all when they're out there tweaking. THAT'S when they lose weight.
I give the sheriff points for initiative, and for functioning within the law. They can always change the law if they don't like what the law allows.
Thanks, MC... Hope they found her safely.
Amber Alert was canceled.
MC
AMBER ALERT:San Jose,CA VEH:Black Chev TAG:CA 3VLS142 CHILD:8yo Hispanic F 4' 45 lbs Hair:Brown SUSP:24yo Hispanic M 5'7" 180 lbs Hair:Brown CALL 408-277-8995
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http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/AmberExternalFCServlet?act=retAmberCase&amberId=6834
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