Australian Police Threatened Businessman With Arrest And Take His BlackBerry After He Filmed Police

AUSTRALIA – A MAN detained and threatened with arrest under the Terrorism Act for filming police on his mobile phone says police abused their powers.

Nick Holmes a Court, CEO of web-based media companies BuzzNumbers and ShiftedPixels, was walking to his home near Kings Cross in Sydney about 10pm on December 19.

He said police forcibly took his BlackBerry phone and threatened him with arrest both under the Australian Anti-Terrorism Act and for allegedly disobeying a police directive.

Mr Holmes a Court said he had started filming what looked like a search after he noticed a group of police walking down his street.

“I went to one guy and asked what was going on but he told me to move along, and if I didn’t they’d be able to arrest me,” he said.

“So I moved down the street a few hundred metres to where my apartment was, pulled out my phone and started filming.”

Mr Holmes a Court said he had stopped filming before two of the police officers approached, demanding he surrender his BlackBerry mobile phone and telling him he had committed a crime if he had recorded them.

“It was in my hand, and they were saying, ‘Give me your phone, give me your phone,’ but I just kept repeating, ‘I do not consent to a search of my phone’,” Mr Holmes a Court said.

“It was pulled out of my hand – it wasn’t me handing it over to her – and now I’ve got this girl looking through my phone and all my content – my contacts, photos, text messages and emails.”

Mr Holmes a Court said he repeatedly complained to the police while they tampered with his phone, but was told to “shut up”.

“They forcefully did it in front of me, wouldn’t give me my phone back until they deleted it, and just kept telling me to shut up.”

Queensland Council for Civil Liberties president Michael Cope said police did not have the authority to confiscate cameras or stop people from taking pictures of them performing their duties.

“It’s not appropriate for the police to be stopping people taking pictures of them,” Mr Cope said.

“They’ve got no power to do that, none whatsoever, and they’ve got no power to confiscate cameras.

“Why should they be fighting being scrutinised?”

Appeared Here

New York Parole Board Chairman George Alexander Quits After Stealing Laptop Computer From Erie County

ALBANY, NEW YORK – New York officials say the head of the state Parole Division is resigning after investigators found he stole a government laptop that his teenage son used to look up adult Web sites.

Inspector General Joseph Fisch says Parole Board Chairman George Alexander took the computer home in 2007 when he worked as the director and commissioner of Erie County’s probation department.

Officials say he never returned the computer and denied having it. An antitheft monitor installed on the laptop traced it to his house.

Alexander told officials he forgot he had it. Fisch says Alexander’s son had used the computer to access Web sites including MySpace.com, Facebook.com, and various adult sites.

Alexander is expected to face charges.

Appeared Here

Australian Police Threatened Businessman With Arrest And Take His BlackBerry After He Filmed Police

AUSTRALIA – A MAN detained and threatened with arrest under the Terrorism Act for filming police on his mobile phone says police abused their powers.

Nick Holmes a Court, CEO of web-based media companies BuzzNumbers and ShiftedPixels, was walking to his home near Kings Cross in Sydney about 10pm on December 19.

He said police forcibly took his BlackBerry phone and threatened him with arrest both under the Australian Anti-Terrorism Act and for allegedly disobeying a police directive.

Mr Holmes a Court said he had started filming what looked like a search after he noticed a group of police walking down his street.

“I went to one guy and asked what was going on but he told me to move along, and if I didn’t they’d be able to arrest me,” he said.

“So I moved down the street a few hundred metres to where my apartment was, pulled out my phone and started filming.”

Mr Holmes a Court said he had stopped filming before two of the police officers approached, demanding he surrender his BlackBerry mobile phone and telling him he had committed a crime if he had recorded them.

“It was in my hand, and they were saying, ‘Give me your phone, give me your phone,’ but I just kept repeating, ‘I do not consent to a search of my phone’,” Mr Holmes a Court said.

“It was pulled out of my hand – it wasn’t me handing it over to her – and now I’ve got this girl looking through my phone and all my content – my contacts, photos, text messages and emails.”

Mr Holmes a Court said he repeatedly complained to the police while they tampered with his phone, but was told to “shut up”.

“They forcefully did it in front of me, wouldn’t give me my phone back until they deleted it, and just kept telling me to shut up.”

Queensland Council for Civil Liberties president Michael Cope said police did not have the authority to confiscate cameras or stop people from taking pictures of them performing their duties.

“It’s not appropriate for the police to be stopping people taking pictures of them,” Mr Cope said.

“They’ve got no power to do that, none whatsoever, and they’ve got no power to confiscate cameras.

“Why should they be fighting being scrutinised?”

Appeared Here

New York Parole Board Chairman George Alexander Quits After Stealing Laptop Computer From Erie County

ALBANY, NEW YORK – New York officials say the head of the state Parole Division is resigning after investigators found he stole a government laptop that his teenage son used to look up adult Web sites.

Inspector General Joseph Fisch says Parole Board Chairman George Alexander took the computer home in 2007 when he worked as the director and commissioner of Erie County’s probation department.

Officials say he never returned the computer and denied having it. An antitheft monitor installed on the laptop traced it to his house.

Alexander told officials he forgot he had it. Fisch says Alexander’s son had used the computer to access Web sites including MySpace.com, Facebook.com, and various adult sites.

Alexander is expected to face charges.

Appeared Here

Massachusetts Marijuana Decriminalization Law Undermines Drug Testing Of Police And Other Public Servants

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – A voter-approved law reducing possession of small amounts of marijuana to a civil offense threatens to unravel drug testing of police and other public employees, the Herald has learned.

The law, which goes into effect Jan. 2, prohibits government agencies and authorities from enforcing any punishment for pot possession with a fine greater than $100, according to the Massachusetts Police Chiefs Association, and defines possession so broadly as to include traces of pot in blood to urine to hair and fingernails.

“This very much threatens to undermine our ability to do the drug testing we do,” said Jack Collins, an attorney for the Massachusetts Police Chiefs Association.

Collins is calling for police departments to stop drug testing certain employees until the Legislature can explicitly allow public employees who fail drug tests to be punished. Without swift action, police departments and other agencies face lawsuits from unions protecting their members, Collins said.

“At this point, it looks like a violation of their rights, and then there’d be a lawsuit and it would cost thousands of dollars,” he warned.

Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless predicted the new law has far-reaching consequences for even school bus drivers and MBTA train operators, who could point to the law and say they can only be fined, not fired, for marijuana offenses.

“People given the critical job of looking after children or the general public, there’s a greater risk now they could be high,” Capeless warned.

Concerns about the viability of punishing people for flunking drug tests follow news reports of drug use by public workers. The Herald found that 77 MBTA employees have failed substance-abuse tests over the past three years.

A task force set up by Public Safety Secretary Kevin Burke is examining the implications of the new law and how it will be enforced. Burke’s office is expected to provide answers to questions of drug testing by year’s end.

Meanwhile, the Boston Police Department plans to continue drug testing regardless of any uncertainty, said Elaine Driscoll. “Enforcing our drug policies is non-negotiable,” Driscoll said.

Appeared Here

Dumbass Salem New Hampshire Police Officer Leaves His Car Unlocked, Loses Handgun, Taser, And Pepper Spray To Unknown Thief

SALEM, NEW HAMPSHIRE – A Salem police officer faces disciplinary action after his firearm, Taser and pepper spray were stolen from his unlocked personal vehicle in Windham.

Authorities did not release the officer’s name, but said he breached department policy by leaving his duty belt unattended in his vehicle.

Windham Police Chief Gerald Lewis said recovering the weapon may be difficult depending on who took it and what they plan to do with it. Lewis has advised his officers to be cautious while responding to calls in the area.

Appeared Here

Former Utah State Police Officer Brian Smith Dies After Oxycontin Robbery, Randomly Killing Innocent Dallas Texas Motorists, And Shooting Himself During Standoff With Police

DALLAS, TEXAS – A Keller man who is suspected of killing two men during a crime spree Monday has died.

Brian Smith, a former Utah state trooper and the father of five children, died at 6 p.m. at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, a spokesman said.

Smith shot himself early Tuesday after a standoff with police in Garland.

Two days after the bizarre chain of events that led to the fatal shootings in Garland and Dallas, family and friends struggled to understand the actions of Smith.

“When he was here, he was just the best of neighbors. One of the greatest guys I know,” said Cindi Schut, who lived across the street from the Smith family in Herriman, a suburb of Salt Lake City, for three years. “I can’t image him being anything else.”

Two years ago, when Schut’s son, Dallin, was 9, he was assigned to write an essay about a hero. He chose Smith.

Dallin still cherishes the small mahogany box with the governor’s seal that Smith gave him after reading the essay, Schut said. The box was a gift from Gov. Mike Leavitt to Smith, who served as Leavitt’s body guard for several years.

The Smiths have four boys and one girl, Schut said. The oldest is 9, the youngest an infant.

Smith volunteered with Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts in Utah, Schut said. The family was also active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she said.

At some point, Smith hurt his back and couldn’t shovel snow, Schut said, so he borrowed their snow blower “and he loved it so much, he would do everybody else’s, too.”

“I want people to know this is not who he is,” Schut said. “Something has happened to change him because he’s not that kind of a person at all.”

subhede

Smith began abusing alcohol and prescription drugs after an on-duty traffic accident, according to a Utah Police Officer Standards and Training investigation report.

Utah Department of Public Safety officials could not provide details Wednesday about when the accident happened or the severity of Smith’s injuries. But in January, he threatened to kill himself after drinking heavily, according to the report.

The incident prompted an investigation that led to Smith surrendering his law enforcement certification in May.

In late March, Smith and his wife bought a $275,000, 3,200-square-foot home on Branchview Court in Keller, according to public records. Friends and colleagues said Smith was excited about a job opportunity in North Texas, but details were scarce.

The family was well-received in the Highland Creek Estates subdivision. Tracie Gates said her children and Smith’s children played together.

Sometimes they would all go over to sit on the stone lion statues that Gates has on either side of her front walkway. Sometimes they would catch frogs and release them into a nearby pond, she said.

Attempts to contact Smith’s relatives were unsuccessful.

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Earlier this month, Southlake police obtained arrest warrants for Smith accusing him of two crimes, said Sgt. Mike Bedrich, a police spokesman.

The first, an aggravated robbery, occurred Dec. 17 in the 600 block of East Farm Road 1709 — also known as Southlake Boulevard — Bedrich said. About midday, a woman sitting in her car in a strip mall parking lot was approached by a male and sprayed with pepper spray or something similar, Bedrich said Wednesday.

The man then reached over the woman and grabbed her purse. Police later obtained surveillance video of the suspect using the victim’s credit cards.

On Monday, a purse was taken from an unoccupied vehicle in the 1500 block of Farm Road 1709, Bedrich said. He declined to specify what evidence linked the crime to Smith.

The arrest warrants remain unserved, Bedrich said Wednesday.

It was later Monday, at 5:25 p.m., when a man who identified himself as Brian Smith robbed a Kroger pharmacy in Garland, police spokesman Joe Harn said.

The man said he was there to refill a prescription for OxyContin, Harn said. He then produced a handgun, jumped over the counter and grabbed the drug before fleeing.

Minutes later, Jorge Lopez, 20 of Rowlett, was fatally shot at an intersection north of Interstate 635 in Garland. Next, shots were fired at an 18-wheeler on I-635 near Jupiter Road, but the driver was not hit. Minutes later, more shots were fired at another 18-wheeler, and driver, William Scott Miller, 42 of Kentucky was killed. Shots were then fired at a third 18-wheeler and the driver was hit by flying glass.

As Dallas County police searched for the rush-hour gunman Monday, Southlake police relayed information that Smith might be in the area, armed and suicidal, driving his Honda CRV.

It remained unclear Wednesday how Southlake authorities got that information, Bedrich said.

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Until the tip from Southlake police, Dallas County authorities had been working with a witness description indicating that the Garland shooter was driving a tan Ford F150 pickup.

About 9 p.m. Monday, Garland police found Smith in the Honda. He did not respond to officers’ orders, and a SWAT team was called in.

Early Tuesday, he shot himself and was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, police said.

Police are awaiting ballistics tests to compare the bullets from Smith’s vehicle with the other shootings. Dallas police have said early results indicate Smith was the shooter.

On Wednesday, Harn declined to comment on the tests until they are complete but said the results and further investigation could explain whether two different vehicles were involved.

Appeared Here

Massachusetts Marijuana Decriminalization Law Undermines Drug Testing Of Police And Other Public Servants

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – A voter-approved law reducing possession of small amounts of marijuana to a civil offense threatens to unravel drug testing of police and other public employees, the Herald has learned.

The law, which goes into effect Jan. 2, prohibits government agencies and authorities from enforcing any punishment for pot possession with a fine greater than $100, according to the Massachusetts Police Chiefs Association, and defines possession so broadly as to include traces of pot in blood to urine to hair and fingernails.

“This very much threatens to undermine our ability to do the drug testing we do,” said Jack Collins, an attorney for the Massachusetts Police Chiefs Association.

Collins is calling for police departments to stop drug testing certain employees until the Legislature can explicitly allow public employees who fail drug tests to be punished. Without swift action, police departments and other agencies face lawsuits from unions protecting their members, Collins said.

“At this point, it looks like a violation of their rights, and then there’d be a lawsuit and it would cost thousands of dollars,” he warned.

Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless predicted the new law has far-reaching consequences for even school bus drivers and MBTA train operators, who could point to the law and say they can only be fined, not fired, for marijuana offenses.

“People given the critical job of looking after children or the general public, there’s a greater risk now they could be high,” Capeless warned.

Concerns about the viability of punishing people for flunking drug tests follow news reports of drug use by public workers. The Herald found that 77 MBTA employees have failed substance-abuse tests over the past three years.

A task force set up by Public Safety Secretary Kevin Burke is examining the implications of the new law and how it will be enforced. Burke’s office is expected to provide answers to questions of drug testing by year’s end.

Meanwhile, the Boston Police Department plans to continue drug testing regardless of any uncertainty, said Elaine Driscoll. “Enforcing our drug policies is non-negotiable,” Driscoll said.

Appeared Here

Dumbass Salem New Hampshire Police Officer Leaves His Car Unlocked, Loses Handgun, Taser, And Pepper Spray To Unknown Thief

SALEM, NEW HAMPSHIRE – A Salem police officer faces disciplinary action after his firearm, Taser and pepper spray were stolen from his unlocked personal vehicle in Windham.

Authorities did not release the officer’s name, but said he breached department policy by leaving his duty belt unattended in his vehicle.

Windham Police Chief Gerald Lewis said recovering the weapon may be difficult depending on who took it and what they plan to do with it. Lewis has advised his officers to be cautious while responding to calls in the area.

Appeared Here

Former Utah State Police Officer Brian Smith Dies After Oxycontin Robbery, Randomly Killing Innocent Dallas Texas Motorists, And Shooting Himself During Standoff With Police

DALLAS, TEXAS – A Keller man who is suspected of killing two men during a crime spree Monday has died.

Brian Smith, a former Utah state trooper and the father of five children, died at 6 p.m. at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, a spokesman said.

Smith shot himself early Tuesday after a standoff with police in Garland.

Two days after the bizarre chain of events that led to the fatal shootings in Garland and Dallas, family and friends struggled to understand the actions of Smith.

“When he was here, he was just the best of neighbors. One of the greatest guys I know,” said Cindi Schut, who lived across the street from the Smith family in Herriman, a suburb of Salt Lake City, for three years. “I can’t image him being anything else.”

Two years ago, when Schut’s son, Dallin, was 9, he was assigned to write an essay about a hero. He chose Smith.

Dallin still cherishes the small mahogany box with the governor’s seal that Smith gave him after reading the essay, Schut said. The box was a gift from Gov. Mike Leavitt to Smith, who served as Leavitt’s body guard for several years.

The Smiths have four boys and one girl, Schut said. The oldest is 9, the youngest an infant.

Smith volunteered with Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts in Utah, Schut said. The family was also active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she said.

At some point, Smith hurt his back and couldn’t shovel snow, Schut said, so he borrowed their snow blower “and he loved it so much, he would do everybody else’s, too.”

“I want people to know this is not who he is,” Schut said. “Something has happened to change him because he’s not that kind of a person at all.”

subhede

Smith began abusing alcohol and prescription drugs after an on-duty traffic accident, according to a Utah Police Officer Standards and Training investigation report.

Utah Department of Public Safety officials could not provide details Wednesday about when the accident happened or the severity of Smith’s injuries. But in January, he threatened to kill himself after drinking heavily, according to the report.

The incident prompted an investigation that led to Smith surrendering his law enforcement certification in May.

In late March, Smith and his wife bought a $275,000, 3,200-square-foot home on Branchview Court in Keller, according to public records. Friends and colleagues said Smith was excited about a job opportunity in North Texas, but details were scarce.

The family was well-received in the Highland Creek Estates subdivision. Tracie Gates said her children and Smith’s children played together.

Sometimes they would all go over to sit on the stone lion statues that Gates has on either side of her front walkway. Sometimes they would catch frogs and release them into a nearby pond, she said.

Attempts to contact Smith’s relatives were unsuccessful.

subhede

Earlier this month, Southlake police obtained arrest warrants for Smith accusing him of two crimes, said Sgt. Mike Bedrich, a police spokesman.

The first, an aggravated robbery, occurred Dec. 17 in the 600 block of East Farm Road 1709 — also known as Southlake Boulevard — Bedrich said. About midday, a woman sitting in her car in a strip mall parking lot was approached by a male and sprayed with pepper spray or something similar, Bedrich said Wednesday.

The man then reached over the woman and grabbed her purse. Police later obtained surveillance video of the suspect using the victim’s credit cards.

On Monday, a purse was taken from an unoccupied vehicle in the 1500 block of Farm Road 1709, Bedrich said. He declined to specify what evidence linked the crime to Smith.

The arrest warrants remain unserved, Bedrich said Wednesday.

It was later Monday, at 5:25 p.m., when a man who identified himself as Brian Smith robbed a Kroger pharmacy in Garland, police spokesman Joe Harn said.

The man said he was there to refill a prescription for OxyContin, Harn said. He then produced a handgun, jumped over the counter and grabbed the drug before fleeing.

Minutes later, Jorge Lopez, 20 of Rowlett, was fatally shot at an intersection north of Interstate 635 in Garland. Next, shots were fired at an 18-wheeler on I-635 near Jupiter Road, but the driver was not hit. Minutes later, more shots were fired at another 18-wheeler, and driver, William Scott Miller, 42 of Kentucky was killed. Shots were then fired at a third 18-wheeler and the driver was hit by flying glass.

As Dallas County police searched for the rush-hour gunman Monday, Southlake police relayed information that Smith might be in the area, armed and suicidal, driving his Honda CRV.

It remained unclear Wednesday how Southlake authorities got that information, Bedrich said.

subhede

Until the tip from Southlake police, Dallas County authorities had been working with a witness description indicating that the Garland shooter was driving a tan Ford F150 pickup.

About 9 p.m. Monday, Garland police found Smith in the Honda. He did not respond to officers’ orders, and a SWAT team was called in.

Early Tuesday, he shot himself and was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, police said.

Police are awaiting ballistics tests to compare the bullets from Smith’s vehicle with the other shootings. Dallas police have said early results indicate Smith was the shooter.

On Wednesday, Harn declined to comment on the tests until they are complete but said the results and further investigation could explain whether two different vehicles were involved.

Appeared Here

Suffolk County New York Police Anonymous Gun Buyback Program Turns Into A Big Scam When They Run Out Of Money

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Mark DeAngelis heard that Suffolk County was giving people $200 gift cards to turn in illegal handguns last weekend, so he looked behind a rafter in a warehouse he rents and found a revolver he stashed there 20 years ago, he said.

He called Suffolk’s Third Precinct in Bay Shore, confirmed that they were still doing the program and then drove there and turned over the gun, he said.

But after he handed the gun to the officer, he said he got bad news: There was no money left.

“He basically said, ‘You just gave me an illegal handgun. We’re out of money. Do you have a problem with that?’ ” said DeAngelis, 43, of Patchogue, who said he bought the gun to get it out of the hands of a man he considered dangerous.

“He said he would give me a receipt if I went in the back and showed him some ID,” DeAngelis said. “I just walked out. I thought the whole point was that the program was supposed to be anonymous.”

Lt. Bob Donohue, commanding officer of the department’s Community Outreach Bureau, said it’s true that the department burned through the $15,000 in state grants it had set aside for the buy back program this weekend after about 95 guns were turned in – more than they ever expected. But he said people do not need to give their names to officers to get a receipt. If officers asked anyone for ID or a phone number, it was probably just so they could call them to let them know when additional gift cards have come in, he said.

He said additional Visa gift cards will be ordered tomorrow and should be in within about a week.

But DeAngelis wasn’t the only person who said he was asked to identify himself.

A 42-year-old Port Jefferson Station woman, who asked that her name not be used for fear of repercussions, said she turned in seven illegal guns that had belonged to her father, who passed away 13 years ago. She said she balked when she was asked for her name and phone number.

“How is that anonymous?” she asked. “Anonymous is not ‘Give us your name and number and in two weeks you’ll get your gift card.’ “

Nassau, which also held a gun buyback this weekend, also ran out of money after more than 400 people brought in illegal guns. After the cash they had on hand was gone, church officials who coordinated the program gave people anonymous vouchers that they can bring back this weekend for cash.

Donohue said Suffolk ran out of money by Sunday, but continued writing receipts through Tuesday. He said as of Tuesday night, people turning in illegal guns would not be given gift cards or get their guns back.

“If they hand us an illegal handgun and we have no money, we can’t give back the gun,” he said.

Appeared Here

Update: Man Suspected In Series Of Dallas Texas Road Shootings Is Former Utah State Police Trooper Brian Smith – Attempted Suicide During Standoff

DALLAS, TEXAS – A man suspected in a series of rush-hour shootings near Dallas is a former Utah state trooper wanted on burglary and robbery warrants who apparently shot himself after a standoff with police, authorities said Tuesday.

Brian Smith, 37, killed at least one of the victims of Monday’s shootings, police Lt. Craig Miller said. Investigators linked Smith to a killing in Dallas by matching the bullets found at the standoff, he said.

“We feel safe in saying (Smith) … was the shooter,” Miller said.

Dallas police declined to comment on a second death in neighboring Garland, where the standoff took place, because it was out of their jurisdiction.

Garland police spokesman Joe Harn said his department has not been able to make a definitive connection between Smith and the killing there, but he acknowledged that Smith fit the description of the highway shooter: a balding, 40ish white man.

“We certainly hope it is him,” Harn said. “But we are going to have to see more concrete evidence.”

Two people were shot and killed and another was injured by broken glass in four shootings along or near a Dallas-area highway Monday evening. Police believe the victims were selected at random.

Smith was in critical condition Tuesday night at a Dallas hospital from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police said he shot himself in the head early Tuesday morning after a brief standoff more than six hours after the shooting spree ended.

Smith had been a Utah state trooper since 1996 but retired in May because of “personal issues,” said Sgt. Jeff Nigbur, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Public Safety.

The crime spree appears to have begun in Garland, where a man police identified as Smith jumped over a pharmacy counter at a grocery store and stole OxyContin pills.

Appeared Here

Suffolk County New York Police Anonymous Gun Buyback Program Turns Into A Big Scam When They Run Out Of Money

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Mark DeAngelis heard that Suffolk County was giving people $200 gift cards to turn in illegal handguns last weekend, so he looked behind a rafter in a warehouse he rents and found a revolver he stashed there 20 years ago, he said.

He called Suffolk’s Third Precinct in Bay Shore, confirmed that they were still doing the program and then drove there and turned over the gun, he said.

But after he handed the gun to the officer, he said he got bad news: There was no money left.

“He basically said, ‘You just gave me an illegal handgun. We’re out of money. Do you have a problem with that?’ ” said DeAngelis, 43, of Patchogue, who said he bought the gun to get it out of the hands of a man he considered dangerous.

“He said he would give me a receipt if I went in the back and showed him some ID,” DeAngelis said. “I just walked out. I thought the whole point was that the program was supposed to be anonymous.”

Lt. Bob Donohue, commanding officer of the department’s Community Outreach Bureau, said it’s true that the department burned through the $15,000 in state grants it had set aside for the buy back program this weekend after about 95 guns were turned in – more than they ever expected. But he said people do not need to give their names to officers to get a receipt. If officers asked anyone for ID or a phone number, it was probably just so they could call them to let them know when additional gift cards have come in, he said.

He said additional Visa gift cards will be ordered tomorrow and should be in within about a week.

But DeAngelis wasn’t the only person who said he was asked to identify himself.

A 42-year-old Port Jefferson Station woman, who asked that her name not be used for fear of repercussions, said she turned in seven illegal guns that had belonged to her father, who passed away 13 years ago. She said she balked when she was asked for her name and phone number.

“How is that anonymous?” she asked. “Anonymous is not ‘Give us your name and number and in two weeks you’ll get your gift card.’ “

Nassau, which also held a gun buyback this weekend, also ran out of money after more than 400 people brought in illegal guns. After the cash they had on hand was gone, church officials who coordinated the program gave people anonymous vouchers that they can bring back this weekend for cash.

Donohue said Suffolk ran out of money by Sunday, but continued writing receipts through Tuesday. He said as of Tuesday night, people turning in illegal guns would not be given gift cards or get their guns back.

“If they hand us an illegal handgun and we have no money, we can’t give back the gun,” he said.

Appeared Here

Update: Man Suspected In Series Of Dallas Texas Road Shootings Is Former Utah State Police Trooper Brian Smith – Attempted Suicide During Standoff

DALLAS, TEXAS – A man suspected in a series of rush-hour shootings near Dallas is a former Utah state trooper wanted on burglary and robbery warrants who apparently shot himself after a standoff with police, authorities said Tuesday.

Brian Smith, 37, killed at least one of the victims of Monday’s shootings, police Lt. Craig Miller said. Investigators linked Smith to a killing in Dallas by matching the bullets found at the standoff, he said.

“We feel safe in saying (Smith) … was the shooter,” Miller said.

Dallas police declined to comment on a second death in neighboring Garland, where the standoff took place, because it was out of their jurisdiction.

Garland police spokesman Joe Harn said his department has not been able to make a definitive connection between Smith and the killing there, but he acknowledged that Smith fit the description of the highway shooter: a balding, 40ish white man.

“We certainly hope it is him,” Harn said. “But we are going to have to see more concrete evidence.”

Two people were shot and killed and another was injured by broken glass in four shootings along or near a Dallas-area highway Monday evening. Police believe the victims were selected at random.

Smith was in critical condition Tuesday night at a Dallas hospital from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police said he shot himself in the head early Tuesday morning after a brief standoff more than six hours after the shooting spree ended.

Smith had been a Utah state trooper since 1996 but retired in May because of “personal issues,” said Sgt. Jeff Nigbur, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Public Safety.

The crime spree appears to have begun in Garland, where a man police identified as Smith jumped over a pharmacy counter at a grocery store and stole OxyContin pills.

Appeared Here

Taxpayer Dollars Burn As Retired New York City Police Officer Arno Herwerth Fights DMV For Lame Vanity Plate

LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK – A Long Island ex-cop who courted controversy by ordering “GETOSAMA” license plates is finally getting his due.

Retired NYPD Officer Arno Herwerth said yesterday that the DMV is letting him use the plates after a yearlong battle.

After he ordered and received the vanity plates in 2007 as a reminder that 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden remained at large, the DMV quickly asked to get them back, saying the tags could be considered objectionable. But Herwerth filed a federal complaint, and the DMV relented in February.

Herwerth initially rejected the agency, because it wouldn’t pay his attorney’s fees, but he eventually decided to settle. The registration is being overnighted so that he can put the plates on in time for Christmas.

Appeared Here

Taxpayer Dollars Burn As Retired New York City Police Officer Arno Herwerth Fights DMV For Lame Vanity Plate

LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK – A Long Island ex-cop who courted controversy by ordering “GETOSAMA” license plates is finally getting his due.

Retired NYPD Officer Arno Herwerth said yesterday that the DMV is letting him use the plates after a yearlong battle.

After he ordered and received the vanity plates in 2007 as a reminder that 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden remained at large, the DMV quickly asked to get them back, saying the tags could be considered objectionable. But Herwerth filed a federal complaint, and the DMV relented in February.

Herwerth initially rejected the agency, because it wouldn’t pay his attorney’s fees, but he eventually decided to settle. The registration is being overnighted so that he can put the plates on in time for Christmas.

Appeared Here

Former Utah Police Officer Brian Smith Does The Right Thing And Attempts Suicide After Four Shootings In Dallas Texas

DALLAS, TEXAS – A former Utah policeman is a suspect in at least three of Monday’s four rush-hour shootings near Dallas, Texas, including one of two fatal attacks, police said Tuesday.

The suspect, Brian Smith, tried to commit suicide after the Monday-evening shootings and was in a hospital in serious condition, Dallas police detective Lt. Craig Miller said.

Police used ballistic tests to link Smith, a Utah state police officer for 12 years, to the shootings in which one driver was killed, one was injured by shattered glass and one escaped uninjured, Dallas police detective Lt. Craig Miller said.

Miller said it is unclear if Smith was involved in the other fatal shooting, which was the first attack of the evening.

Four motorists were attacked along a three-mile stretch near and on the LBJ Freeway, about 10 miles northeast of downtown Dallas, on Monday evening, police said.

The first attack, which happened in Garland, Texas, about 5:41 p.m., killed Jorge Lopez. Garland police said Lopez, 20, was sitting in his Nissan at a traffic light when a man in a pickup pulled alongside him and fired shots into his car, killing him.

A few minutes after the Garland shooting and two miles away on LBJ Freeway, a gunman fired at two tractor-trailers.

While one driver escaped injuries, William Scott Miller, 42, of Frankfort, Kentucky, was shot to death behind the wheel of a United Van Lines truck, police said.

“He was going to be traveling home,” Craig Miller said. “He was about to park his rig. He was going to get on a plane to fly to be with his wife and children for the Christmas season and then come back to this location.”

Miller called the truck driver a hero, saying he was able to control his rig before he died — preventing other motorists from being hurt.

The fourth attack came a mile west on LBJ Freeway when gunfire shattered the windshield of another tractor-trailer. The bullets missed the driver, but flying glass caused minor cuts, police said.

Miller said video from the Garland shooting is available, and specialists were trying to enhance it to bring out details. Businesses along the other routes also may have video that will help police, he said.

A friend of Lopez’s said he was “a straight-up good guy, never had problems with anybody, never started anything with anybody.”

“So that’s why this seems so out of the blue,” Lopez’s friend said.

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Charlotte-Mecklenburg North Carolina Police, Fire Department, And Bomb Squad Respond To Sporting Goods Store After Customer Drops Bullets

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – Firefighters were called to Dick’s Sporting Goods at NorthLake Mall Tuesday afternoon after some bullets were dropped into an escalator.

The fire department received the call around 1:30 p.m.

According to the general manager of the mall, a customer entered Dick’s Sport Goods carrying some ammunition.

The shopper accidentally dropped the ammunition while riding on the escalator. Some of the ammo lodged in the escalator and detonated. No one was hurt.

Frefighters evacuated the store while firefighters searched for more ammunition that was dropped. The store reopened about an hour after it was evacuated.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s bomb squad was also called to the scene to provide assistance.

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Former Utah Police Officer Brian Smith Does The Right Thing And Attempts Suicide After Four Shootings In Dallas Texas

DALLAS, TEXAS – A former Utah policeman is a suspect in at least three of Monday’s four rush-hour shootings near Dallas, Texas, including one of two fatal attacks, police said Tuesday.

The suspect, Brian Smith, tried to commit suicide after the Monday-evening shootings and was in a hospital in serious condition, Dallas police detective Lt. Craig Miller said.

Police used ballistic tests to link Smith, a Utah state police officer for 12 years, to the shootings in which one driver was killed, one was injured by shattered glass and one escaped uninjured, Dallas police detective Lt. Craig Miller said.

Miller said it is unclear if Smith was involved in the other fatal shooting, which was the first attack of the evening.

Four motorists were attacked along a three-mile stretch near and on the LBJ Freeway, about 10 miles northeast of downtown Dallas, on Monday evening, police said.

The first attack, which happened in Garland, Texas, about 5:41 p.m., killed Jorge Lopez. Garland police said Lopez, 20, was sitting in his Nissan at a traffic light when a man in a pickup pulled alongside him and fired shots into his car, killing him.

A few minutes after the Garland shooting and two miles away on LBJ Freeway, a gunman fired at two tractor-trailers.

While one driver escaped injuries, William Scott Miller, 42, of Frankfort, Kentucky, was shot to death behind the wheel of a United Van Lines truck, police said.

“He was going to be traveling home,” Craig Miller said. “He was about to park his rig. He was going to get on a plane to fly to be with his wife and children for the Christmas season and then come back to this location.”

Miller called the truck driver a hero, saying he was able to control his rig before he died — preventing other motorists from being hurt.

The fourth attack came a mile west on LBJ Freeway when gunfire shattered the windshield of another tractor-trailer. The bullets missed the driver, but flying glass caused minor cuts, police said.

Miller said video from the Garland shooting is available, and specialists were trying to enhance it to bring out details. Businesses along the other routes also may have video that will help police, he said.

A friend of Lopez’s said he was “a straight-up good guy, never had problems with anybody, never started anything with anybody.”

“So that’s why this seems so out of the blue,” Lopez’s friend said.

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Charlotte-Mecklenburg North Carolina Police, Fire Department, And Bomb Squad Respond To Sporting Goods Store After Customer Drops Bullets

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – Firefighters were called to Dick’s Sporting Goods at NorthLake Mall Tuesday afternoon after some bullets were dropped into an escalator.

The fire department received the call around 1:30 p.m.

According to the general manager of the mall, a customer entered Dick’s Sport Goods carrying some ammunition.

The shopper accidentally dropped the ammunition while riding on the escalator. Some of the ammo lodged in the escalator and detonated. No one was hurt.

Frefighters evacuated the store while firefighters searched for more ammunition that was dropped. The store reopened about an hour after it was evacuated.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s bomb squad was also called to the scene to provide assistance.

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Holiday Pranksters Hit UK Town With Bogus "Public Urination" Signs – Complete With City Council’s Logo

NOTTINGHAM, UK – People should ignore signs telling them that it is legal to urinate in certain public places in Nottingham, the city council said.

The signs, which were put up by pranksters in and around Nottingham, are designed to look official.

They feature a toilet sign and include the words: “Public Urination Permitted After 7.30pm”.

Nottingham City Council is now urging the public to ignore the notices as it sets about removing them.

‘Cleaned daily’

The prank also featured a laminated note, headed with the logo of Nottingham City Council, which said the scheme was aimed at reducing the mess faced by residents outside their homes.

A spokeswoman for the authority said: “It is an offence to urinate in public and these signs have been put up illegally, for whatever reason.

“We would urge people to ignore them, otherwise they could find themselves inadvertently facing a prosecution.

“We are taking the signs down as quickly as possible and if anyone spots one of the illegal signs we ask them to please contact the city council so they can be removed.”

The notice reads: “In an attempt to reduce late night public nuisance, during the holiday period, Nottingham City Council has designated several public urination areas across the city.

“This urination area will be cleaned daily between the hours of 5am and 6am.”

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Nutcase Palm Beach County Florida Deputy Sheriff Oscar Maturana Arrested, Suspended, And Charged After Attacking Singing Man, Pulling Gun Outside Nightclub, Threatening To "Bust A Cap" In Security Guard And Customers, And Fleeing The Scene

PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA — A Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy pulled out a gun outside a local night club, pointed it at a security guard and other customers and threatened to “bust a cap” in them, an arrest report said.

Deputy Oscar Maturana was arrested shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday after he waved his gun, yelled threats and tried to flee the scene west of Lake Worth, with three other men, according to a Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit. He is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail, where a judge set bail at $100,000, jail records show.

Maturana was also placed on administrative leave while the agency’s internal affairs unit conducts its own investigation, said Col. Mike Gauger, director of law enforcement operations.

Maturana, 35, joined the Sheriff’s Office in January 2007, when he was hired and sent to the police academy for six months of training, his personnel file shows. A former truck driver, Maturana’s previous job was working security at a West Palm Beach strip club.

According to the report, Maturana and another man arrived at the La Isla Del Encanto night club on South Military Trail shortly before 3 a.m. Maturana identified himself to the guard as a deputy. The other man, identified only as Anthony, said he owned a nearby club.

The two had a few drinks, left and returned about 15 minutes later with two other men, witnesses said. Anthony and another man went inside and assaulted a man who was on stage singing. As the guard intervened, a fight broke out, which soon spread outside where Maturana was, the report said.

Witnesses said Maturana pulled out a gun and told the guard to back up or “I’ll bust a cap” in him, the report said.

The guard said Maturana “also began to point the gun at customers who were outside as well, telling them, ‘I’ll bust a cap” in all of them, the report said.

The four sped away, but deputies stopped them on Military Trail.

The security guard told deputies he “was in fear for his life.” Maturana faces one charge of aggravated assault with a firearm without intent to kill.

On his job application, Maturana listed work experience that showed him jumping from job to job during the last decade. He wrote that he was terminated in 2002 from a driver/sales job at a West Palm Beach beer distribution company, for “improper sales documentation” and had been disciplined by the same employer for “improper count of merchandise.”

Maturana also reported that from 2000 to 2005, he received seven traffic tickets.

A handwritten note on Maturana’s personnel file, signed “Col. G.,” reads: “Eric, see about moving this forward.”

Gauger said Monday he brought Maturana to the agency after they met through an acquaintance and Gauger realized Maturana spoke fluent Spanish. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw wanted to expand the agency’s minority representation, he said.

Gauger said he wrote the note to a recruiter early in the hiring process. Maturana still had to pass the interview and evaluation process.

“He was bilingual,” Gauger said. ‘He was not a personal friend of mine … I met him a couple of times through an acquaintance and he wanted to be a deputy Sheriff.”

“We have a very large Hispanic community and always look to add those who can represent minority communities,” he added. “Sometimes we make exceptions because they fit into categories that you are trying to make inroads with in your agency.”

Maturana lives in Palm Springs, where neighbors Monday described him as affable and responsible and said they were shocked by his arrest.

“I am just stumped,” said Cheryl Phillips, a neighbor of Maturana’s for about three years. “I’ve never known the guy to do anything wrong.”

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Dumbass Maryland State Police Officer Bruce Wrzosek Arrested, Fired, Charged With Kidnapping And Drunk Driving After Burger King Drive Thru Incident With Patrol Car And High Speed Chase

TOWSON, MARYLAND – What happened at 3 a.m. Saturday has cost a Maryland state trooper his job.

Kelly McPherson reports it happened exactly one year after he graduated from the state police academy.

Police say off-duty state trooper Bruce Wrzosek, 22, pulled up to a Towson drive-thru and ordered up trouble.

Baltimore County Police say they were called to Taco Bell by employees, who said they were being disturbed by a drunken trooper turning on his siren and trying to pull people over in the drive-thru lane.

“When our first officer got there, the trooper indicated that he was OK. But the officer didn’t suspect that things were OK. Actually, he smelled an odor of alcohol,” said Corporal Mike Hill, spokesperson for Baltimore County Police.

Before police got there, Wrzosek had thrown a 20-year-old man into the front seat of his cruiser. That man said while in the drive-thru, the trooper yelled, “Get the [expletive] out of the way.” When he drove off from county police he said, “They can’t do [expletive] to me.”

County police chased the trooper into a residential area to Tilmont Avenue. The witness inside the trooper car told police it felt like they were going 95 miles per hour during the chase.

In the trooper’s neighborhood, he failed the heel-to-toe sobriety test. During the test Wrzosek said, “That’s great, I’m drunk.”

Then before finishing he said, “I’m done, lock me up.”

The county’s investigation showed there was no reason for Wrzosek to force the 20-year-old man into his car at the restaurant’s parking lot. The trooper is charged with DUI, false imprisonment and eluding police.

State police spokesman Greg Shipley says Wrzosek has been fired. During the incident, police say Wrzosek was dressed in plain-clothes but was driving his police car.

The trooper was still within his two-year probationary period, so his firing was swift.

“This type of behavior is not part of the Maryland State Police and is in no way condoned. This is completely inappropriate for anyone who wears this uniform,” said Greg Shipley, Maryland State Police spokesperson.

Wrzosek is in the Baltimore County jail on $500,000 bond.

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Animal Cruelty: Lawyer Blames Puppy After Brutal Beating By Savage Negro Los Angeles County California Assistant Fire Chief Glynn Johnson

RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA – Los Angeles County Assistant Fire Chief Glynn Johnson and his attorney, John Sweeney, held a news conference in Beverly Hills on Monday to discuss the charges he beat a puppy so badly it had to be euthanized.

Johnson sat beside enlarged photos of his stitched-up thumb Monday as attorney John E. Sweeney insisted his client was acting in self-defense. Sweeney said the incident was being unfairly characterized by the media and protesters as an unprovoked attack on a timid puppy.

Sweeney says the animal was a mature dog big enough to do serious damage. Previously, Johnson had told a reporter from the Riverside Press-Enterprise that his finger was nearly severed. However, photos today show a much different injury, with just the tip being injured.

Johnson has been charged with animal cruelty for the alleged beating, which occurred Nov. 3 in the unincorporated area of Woodcrest, just south of Riverside. He is expected to be arraigned on Jan. 13 in Riverside County Superior Court.

Johnson is said to have hit the puppy, named Karley, with his fist and a 12-pound rock. Karley was later euthanized because of the severity of his injuries.

Johnson says the dog nearly bit off his thumb and that he acted in self-defense. But a witness says the attack was the result of a violent outburst from Johnson.

The dog’s owner Travis Staggs said in an interview that Johnson beat the puppy without provocation, tried to break the dog’s jaws by prying them apart and hit the dog in the head with a rock.

In recent weeks, animal rights activists and the puppy’s owners have launched a campaign seeking criminal charges against Johnson.

Last week, dozens of protesters rallied outside the Riverside County DA’s office to demand charges be filed against Johnson.

Media attention has also helped publicize the case.

Some Southern California radio shows have broadcast the phone number to the district attorney’s office and urged listeners to call and pressure officials to file charges.

The 54-year-old fire official, was charged last week with felony animal cruelty and other counts and freed on $10,000 bail.

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Seattle Washington Police Left To Fend For Themselves As City Doesn’t Clear Snow From Roads

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – To hear the city’s spin, Seattle’s road crews are making “great progress” in clearing the ice-caked streets.

But it turns out “plowed streets” in Seattle actually means “snow-packed,” as in there’s snow and ice left on major arterials by design.

“We’re trying to create a hard-packed surface,” said Alex Wiggins, chief of staff for the Seattle Department of Transportation. “It doesn’t look like anything you’d find in Chicago or New York.”

The city’s approach means crews clear the roads enough for all-wheel and four-wheel-drive vehicles, or those with front-wheel drive cars as long as they are using chains, Wiggins said.

The icy streets are the result of Seattle’s refusal to use salt, an effective ice-buster used by the state Department of Transportation and cities accustomed to dealing with heavy winter snows.

“If we were using salt, you’d see patches of bare road because salt is very effective,” Wiggins said. “We decided not to utilize salt because it’s not a healthy addition to Puget Sound.”

By ruling out salt and some of the chemicals routinely used by snowbound cities, Seattle has embraced a less-effective strategy for clearing roads, namely sand sprinkled on top of snowpack along major arterials, and a chemical de-icer that is effective when temperatures are below 32 degrees.

Seattle also equips its plows with rubber blades. That minimizes the damage to roads and manhole covers, but it doesn’t scrape off the ice, Wiggins said.

That leaves many drivers, including Seattle police, pretty much on their own until nature does to the snow what the sand can’t: melt it.

The city’s patrol cars are rear-wheel drive. And even with tire chains, officers are avoiding hills and responding on foot, according to a West Precinct officer.

Between Thursday and Monday, the city spread about 6,000 tons of sand on 1,531 miles of streets it considers major arterials.

The tonnage, sprinkled atop the packed snow, amounts to 1.4 pounds of sand per linear foot of roadway, an amount one expert said might be too little to provide effective traction.

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“Hmmm. Six thousand tons of sand for that length of road doesn’t seem like it’s enough,” said Diane Spector, a water-resources planner for Wenck Associates, which evaluated snow and ice clearance for nine cities in the Midwest.

Spector and snow-control experts in four cities said sand is typically mixed with salt and used for trouble spots.

“The occasional application of salt is probably not going to have a lasting effect” on the environment, Spector said. But she cautioned it’s highly dependent on where it’s used, how often and how much is applied.

Seattle’s stand against using salt is not shared by the state Department of Transportation, which has battled the latest storms in Western Washington with de-icer, 5,800 tons of salt and 11,500 cubic yards of salt and sand mix, said spokesman Travis Phelps.

Many cities are moving away from sand because it clogs the sewers, runs into waterways, creates air pollution and costs more to clean up.

Its main attraction is that it typically costs less than one-fifth the price of salt, according to Spector.

“We never use sand,” said Ann Williams, spokeswoman for Denver’s Department of Public Works. “Sand causes dust, and there’s also water-quality issues where it goes into streets and into our rivers.”

Instead, it sprays an “anti-icing” agent on dry roads before the snow falls and then a combination of chemicals to melt the ice.

Cheryl Kuck, spokeswoman for the Portland Bureau of Transportation, said her city prepared the streets last week with the “anti-icing” spray. Once the snow started, Portland used chemical de-icers, followed by plowing with 55 plows and treating trouble spots with sand and gravel.

Although the city had plowed 29 of its 36 major routes, “nothing is clear,” Kuck said late Monday afternoon. “This is a difficult and challenging situation that’s going to take us a long time to recover from.”

Wiggins, of Seattle’s transportation department, said the city’s 27 trucks had plowed and sanded 100 percent of Seattle’s main roads, and were going back for second and third passes.

“It’s tough going. I won’t argue with you on that,” he said. But here in Seattle, “we’re sensitive about everything we do that impacts the environment.”

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Santas Disable Speed And Red Light Cameras in Tempe Arizona

TEMPE, ARIZONA- A group of Santa impersonators are on the naughty list of Arizona law enforcement officials.

A YouTube video posted Monday shows four people dressed as Kris Kringle, white beards and red hats included, covering three speed and red light enforcement cameras in Tempe.

Two are covered with boxes – one decorated with Christmas wrap – and the third is blocked with what appears to be a red sheet.

The Jackson 5’s “Santa Claus is coming to town” plays during the more than two-minute video.

At the end is a message that reads:

“Ho Ho Ho! Death to the surveillance state! Free movement for all people!”

The group that posted the video also wrote “lumps of coal to all of those who make it their business to watch and control.”

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Holiday Pranksters Hit UK Town With Bogus "Public Urination" Signs – Complete With City Council’s Logo

NOTTINGHAM, UK – People should ignore signs telling them that it is legal to urinate in certain public places in Nottingham, the city council said.

The signs, which were put up by pranksters in and around Nottingham, are designed to look official.

They feature a toilet sign and include the words: “Public Urination Permitted After 7.30pm”.

Nottingham City Council is now urging the public to ignore the notices as it sets about removing them.

‘Cleaned daily’

The prank also featured a laminated note, headed with the logo of Nottingham City Council, which said the scheme was aimed at reducing the mess faced by residents outside their homes.

A spokeswoman for the authority said: “It is an offence to urinate in public and these signs have been put up illegally, for whatever reason.

“We would urge people to ignore them, otherwise they could find themselves inadvertently facing a prosecution.

“We are taking the signs down as quickly as possible and if anyone spots one of the illegal signs we ask them to please contact the city council so they can be removed.”

The notice reads: “In an attempt to reduce late night public nuisance, during the holiday period, Nottingham City Council has designated several public urination areas across the city.

“This urination area will be cleaned daily between the hours of 5am and 6am.”

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Nutcase Palm Beach County Florida Deputy Sheriff Oscar Maturana Arrested, Suspended, And Charged After Attacking Singing Man, Pulling Gun Outside Nightclub, Threatening To "Bust A Cap" In Security Guard And Customers, And Fleeing The Scene

PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA — A Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy pulled out a gun outside a local night club, pointed it at a security guard and other customers and threatened to “bust a cap” in them, an arrest report said.

Deputy Oscar Maturana was arrested shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday after he waved his gun, yelled threats and tried to flee the scene west of Lake Worth, with three other men, according to a Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit. He is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail, where a judge set bail at $100,000, jail records show.

Maturana was also placed on administrative leave while the agency’s internal affairs unit conducts its own investigation, said Col. Mike Gauger, director of law enforcement operations.

Maturana, 35, joined the Sheriff’s Office in January 2007, when he was hired and sent to the police academy for six months of training, his personnel file shows. A former truck driver, Maturana’s previous job was working security at a West Palm Beach strip club.

According to the report, Maturana and another man arrived at the La Isla Del Encanto night club on South Military Trail shortly before 3 a.m. Maturana identified himself to the guard as a deputy. The other man, identified only as Anthony, said he owned a nearby club.

The two had a few drinks, left and returned about 15 minutes later with two other men, witnesses said. Anthony and another man went inside and assaulted a man who was on stage singing. As the guard intervened, a fight broke out, which soon spread outside where Maturana was, the report said.

Witnesses said Maturana pulled out a gun and told the guard to back up or “I’ll bust a cap” in him, the report said.

The guard said Maturana “also began to point the gun at customers who were outside as well, telling them, ‘I’ll bust a cap” in all of them, the report said.

The four sped away, but deputies stopped them on Military Trail.

The security guard told deputies he “was in fear for his life.” Maturana faces one charge of aggravated assault with a firearm without intent to kill.

On his job application, Maturana listed work experience that showed him jumping from job to job during the last decade. He wrote that he was terminated in 2002 from a driver/sales job at a West Palm Beach beer distribution company, for “improper sales documentation” and had been disciplined by the same employer for “improper count of merchandise.”

Maturana also reported that from 2000 to 2005, he received seven traffic tickets.

A handwritten note on Maturana’s personnel file, signed “Col. G.,” reads: “Eric, see about moving this forward.”

Gauger said Monday he brought Maturana to the agency after they met through an acquaintance and Gauger realized Maturana spoke fluent Spanish. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw wanted to expand the agency’s minority representation, he said.

Gauger said he wrote the note to a recruiter early in the hiring process. Maturana still had to pass the interview and evaluation process.

“He was bilingual,” Gauger said. ‘He was not a personal friend of mine … I met him a couple of times through an acquaintance and he wanted to be a deputy Sheriff.”

“We have a very large Hispanic community and always look to add those who can represent minority communities,” he added. “Sometimes we make exceptions because they fit into categories that you are trying to make inroads with in your agency.”

Maturana lives in Palm Springs, where neighbors Monday described him as affable and responsible and said they were shocked by his arrest.

“I am just stumped,” said Cheryl Phillips, a neighbor of Maturana’s for about three years. “I’ve never known the guy to do anything wrong.”

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Dumbass Maryland State Police Officer Bruce Wrzosek Arrested, Fired, Charged With Kidnapping And Drunk Driving After Burger King Drive Thru Incident With Patrol Car And High Speed Chase

TOWSON, MARYLAND – What happened at 3 a.m. Saturday has cost a Maryland state trooper his job.

Kelly McPherson reports it happened exactly one year after he graduated from the state police academy.

Police say off-duty state trooper Bruce Wrzosek, 22, pulled up to a Towson drive-thru and ordered up trouble.

Baltimore County Police say they were called to Taco Bell by employees, who said they were being disturbed by a drunken trooper turning on his siren and trying to pull people over in the drive-thru lane.

“When our first officer got there, the trooper indicated that he was OK. But the officer didn’t suspect that things were OK. Actually, he smelled an odor of alcohol,” said Corporal Mike Hill, spokesperson for Baltimore County Police.

Before police got there, Wrzosek had thrown a 20-year-old man into the front seat of his cruiser. That man said while in the drive-thru, the trooper yelled, “Get the [expletive] out of the way.” When he drove off from county police he said, “They can’t do [expletive] to me.”

County police chased the trooper into a residential area to Tilmont Avenue. The witness inside the trooper car told police it felt like they were going 95 miles per hour during the chase.

In the trooper’s neighborhood, he failed the heel-to-toe sobriety test. During the test Wrzosek said, “That’s great, I’m drunk.”

Then before finishing he said, “I’m done, lock me up.”

The county’s investigation showed there was no reason for Wrzosek to force the 20-year-old man into his car at the restaurant’s parking lot. The trooper is charged with DUI, false imprisonment and eluding police.

State police spokesman Greg Shipley says Wrzosek has been fired. During the incident, police say Wrzosek was dressed in plain-clothes but was driving his police car.

The trooper was still within his two-year probationary period, so his firing was swift.

“This type of behavior is not part of the Maryland State Police and is in no way condoned. This is completely inappropriate for anyone who wears this uniform,” said Greg Shipley, Maryland State Police spokesperson.

Wrzosek is in the Baltimore County jail on $500,000 bond.

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Animal Cruelty: Lawyer Blames Puppy After Brutal Beating By Savage Negro Los Angeles County California Assistant Fire Chief Glynn Johnson

RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA – Los Angeles County Assistant Fire Chief Glynn Johnson and his attorney, John Sweeney, held a news conference in Beverly Hills on Monday to discuss the charges he beat a puppy so badly it had to be euthanized.

Johnson sat beside enlarged photos of his stitched-up thumb Monday as attorney John E. Sweeney insisted his client was acting in self-defense. Sweeney said the incident was being unfairly characterized by the media and protesters as an unprovoked attack on a timid puppy.

Sweeney says the animal was a mature dog big enough to do serious damage. Previously, Johnson had told a reporter from the Riverside Press-Enterprise that his finger was nearly severed. However, photos today show a much different injury, with just the tip being injured.

Johnson has been charged with animal cruelty for the alleged beating, which occurred Nov. 3 in the unincorporated area of Woodcrest, just south of Riverside. He is expected to be arraigned on Jan. 13 in Riverside County Superior Court.

Johnson is said to have hit the puppy, named Karley, with his fist and a 12-pound rock. Karley was later euthanized because of the severity of his injuries.

Johnson says the dog nearly bit off his thumb and that he acted in self-defense. But a witness says the attack was the result of a violent outburst from Johnson.

The dog’s owner Travis Staggs said in an interview that Johnson beat the puppy without provocation, tried to break the dog’s jaws by prying them apart and hit the dog in the head with a rock.

In recent weeks, animal rights activists and the puppy’s owners have launched a campaign seeking criminal charges against Johnson.

Last week, dozens of protesters rallied outside the Riverside County DA’s office to demand charges be filed against Johnson.

Media attention has also helped publicize the case.

Some Southern California radio shows have broadcast the phone number to the district attorney’s office and urged listeners to call and pressure officials to file charges.

The 54-year-old fire official, was charged last week with felony animal cruelty and other counts and freed on $10,000 bail.

Appeared Here

Seattle Washington Police Left To Fend For Themselves As City Doesn’t Clear Snow From Roads

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – To hear the city’s spin, Seattle’s road crews are making “great progress” in clearing the ice-caked streets.

But it turns out “plowed streets” in Seattle actually means “snow-packed,” as in there’s snow and ice left on major arterials by design.

“We’re trying to create a hard-packed surface,” said Alex Wiggins, chief of staff for the Seattle Department of Transportation. “It doesn’t look like anything you’d find in Chicago or New York.”

The city’s approach means crews clear the roads enough for all-wheel and four-wheel-drive vehicles, or those with front-wheel drive cars as long as they are using chains, Wiggins said.

The icy streets are the result of Seattle’s refusal to use salt, an effective ice-buster used by the state Department of Transportation and cities accustomed to dealing with heavy winter snows.

“If we were using salt, you’d see patches of bare road because salt is very effective,” Wiggins said. “We decided not to utilize salt because it’s not a healthy addition to Puget Sound.”

By ruling out salt and some of the chemicals routinely used by snowbound cities, Seattle has embraced a less-effective strategy for clearing roads, namely sand sprinkled on top of snowpack along major arterials, and a chemical de-icer that is effective when temperatures are below 32 degrees.

Seattle also equips its plows with rubber blades. That minimizes the damage to roads and manhole covers, but it doesn’t scrape off the ice, Wiggins said.

That leaves many drivers, including Seattle police, pretty much on their own until nature does to the snow what the sand can’t: melt it.

The city’s patrol cars are rear-wheel drive. And even with tire chains, officers are avoiding hills and responding on foot, according to a West Precinct officer.

Between Thursday and Monday, the city spread about 6,000 tons of sand on 1,531 miles of streets it considers major arterials.

The tonnage, sprinkled atop the packed snow, amounts to 1.4 pounds of sand per linear foot of roadway, an amount one expert said might be too little to provide effective traction.

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“Hmmm. Six thousand tons of sand for that length of road doesn’t seem like it’s enough,” said Diane Spector, a water-resources planner for Wenck Associates, which evaluated snow and ice clearance for nine cities in the Midwest.

Spector and snow-control experts in four cities said sand is typically mixed with salt and used for trouble spots.

“The occasional application of salt is probably not going to have a lasting effect” on the environment, Spector said. But she cautioned it’s highly dependent on where it’s used, how often and how much is applied.

Seattle’s stand against using salt is not shared by the state Department of Transportation, which has battled the latest storms in Western Washington with de-icer, 5,800 tons of salt and 11,500 cubic yards of salt and sand mix, said spokesman Travis Phelps.

Many cities are moving away from sand because it clogs the sewers, runs into waterways, creates air pollution and costs more to clean up.

Its main attraction is that it typically costs less than one-fifth the price of salt, according to Spector.

“We never use sand,” said Ann Williams, spokeswoman for Denver’s Department of Public Works. “Sand causes dust, and there’s also water-quality issues where it goes into streets and into our rivers.”

Instead, it sprays an “anti-icing” agent on dry roads before the snow falls and then a combination of chemicals to melt the ice.

Cheryl Kuck, spokeswoman for the Portland Bureau of Transportation, said her city prepared the streets last week with the “anti-icing” spray. Once the snow started, Portland used chemical de-icers, followed by plowing with 55 plows and treating trouble spots with sand and gravel.

Although the city had plowed 29 of its 36 major routes, “nothing is clear,” Kuck said late Monday afternoon. “This is a difficult and challenging situation that’s going to take us a long time to recover from.”

Wiggins, of Seattle’s transportation department, said the city’s 27 trucks had plowed and sanded 100 percent of Seattle’s main roads, and were going back for second and third passes.

“It’s tough going. I won’t argue with you on that,” he said. But here in Seattle, “we’re sensitive about everything we do that impacts the environment.”

Appeared Here

Santas Disable Speed And Red Light Cameras in Tempe Arizona

TEMPE, ARIZONA- A group of Santa impersonators are on the naughty list of Arizona law enforcement officials.

A YouTube video posted Monday shows four people dressed as Kris Kringle, white beards and red hats included, covering three speed and red light enforcement cameras in Tempe.

Two are covered with boxes – one decorated with Christmas wrap – and the third is blocked with what appears to be a red sheet.

The Jackson 5’s “Santa Claus is coming to town” plays during the more than two-minute video.

At the end is a message that reads:

“Ho Ho Ho! Death to the surveillance state! Free movement for all people!”

The group that posted the video also wrote “lumps of coal to all of those who make it their business to watch and control.”

Appeared Here

Attorney Wants Man’s Murder Conviction Tossed Because St. Louis County Missouri Sheriff’s Deputies Were Having Sex With Jurors In Jury Room

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI – A convicted murderer says his Missouri guilty verdict should be thrown out because two of his jurors allegedly had sex while sequestered.

An attorney for Roberto Dunn, convicted eight years ago of killing his girlfriend’s mother, is asking St. Louis Circuit Judge Julian Bush for a new trial because of the recently discovered alleged sexual escapades in the jury room, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported Monday.

Shortly after Dunn was convicted in 2000, Bush received a letter from a juror making the accusations against fellow jurors, and adding, “Sexual liberties by deputy sheriffs were rampant also,” alleging that two sheriff’s deputies guarding the jurors also had sex.

Dunn’s trial lawyers put the letter under seal and didn’t act on it, but his current attorney, Assistant Public Defender Lisa Stroup, says she found the letter and criticized the former attorneys whom, she said, should have called the jurors as witnesses and quizzed them about the claims, the Post-Dispatch reported.

If the judge agrees with Stroup, he can give Dunn a new trial, the newspaper said.

Appeared Here

Douglasville Georgia Police Officers To Receive "Training" After Bogus Arrest – Court Bailiff Attacked Woman With Head Scarf – Judge Keith Rollins Jailed Victim For 10 Days On Bogus Contempt Charge

DOUGLASVILLE, GEORGIA– The Douglasville Police Department said Monday its officers will undergo “sensitivity and cultural diversity training” after a Muslim woman who refused to remove her head scarf at a courthouse was jailed.

Lisa Valentine has been shaken “to her core” by her arrest last week, her lawyer says.

“We never want this to happen again. It’s not our intent to embarrass anybody,” Police Chief Joe Whisenant said at a news conference.

The judge who had the woman jailed briefly for contempt of court will also take part in the training, Whisenant said.

The incident took place December 16 when Lisa Valentine, who also goes by her Muslim name, Miedah, accompanied her nephew to a hearing at Douglasville’s municipal courthouse. The scarf, called a hijab, covered her hair but not her face. It is part of her religious belief that her hair should be covered in public, as a form of modesty.

In an interview with CNN’s Rusty Dornin, Valentine said a bailiff told her she could not enter with her head scarf.

“I didn’t pose a threat to anybody,” Valentine said. “So I got really angry. I told her that was discrimination, and I said it was b.s. — and I used the full term of the word.”

She tried to leave, but the bailiff demanded that she appear before the judge, and pulled on her arm, Valentine said.

“I was right near the door. I said, ‘Don’t touch me.’ And so she got in front of me,” Valentine said. “… She called for a guard or a police officer. He came and then he just was near me, and was like, ‘You’re going to do what you’re told to do.’

“And then he grabbed my arm, and of course instinctively I pulled it away. So he’s like grabbing me and bending my arm, like you see people who are resisting arrest, and trying to get really physical with me. … Then I said, ‘OK, OK,’ and I let them put the handcuffs on me.”

Valentine said she would have had no problem with allowing a female officer to check under her head scarf to make sure she did not pose any danger.

Valentine said that when she told the judge what had happened, he sentenced her to 10 days in jail for contempt of court.

At the jail down the street, Valentine had to change into a jumpsuit. Her mug shot was taken — without her head scarf.

She was let out of jail later that day. Her attorney, M. Khurram Baig, said he does not know why she was released so quickly.

“It’s been devastating for her,” Baig said. “We’re talking about a major life-altering event for somebody to realize that everything they thought they knew about our justice system may not actually be the case. So she’s been shook to her core.”

Douglasville authorities describe the day’s events somewhat differently.

In a news release, police said Valentine repeatedly used the expletive, told the bailiff that the judge was “racist,” pointed her finger toward the officer, and “became loud enough that she attracted the attention of another officer.”

The news release said an officer did tell Valentine she could not leave, “and placed her hand on Mrs. Valentine’s wrist.”

“Mrs. Valentine resisted the officer’s efforts by stiffening her arm, but did not physically fight with the officer,” the release said.

When Judge Keith Rollins was told of the incident, the news release said, he ordered her jailed for 10 days.

The police department’s senior staff then investigated the incident and “determined that no fight took place” and “that Mrs. Valentine’s actions were primarily verbal and her resistance passive,” according to the release. The police chief told the judge of the department’s findings and the judge rescinded the contempt order, the release said.

“Mrs. Valentine was not arrested because of her head scarf or any action related to the scarf,” it said.

Valentine’s attorney said she has told him she did not call the judge racist.

When word of the incident spread, groups across the country weighed in on Valentine’s behalf, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Civil Liberties Union.

On Friday, about 50 people demonstrated outside the courthouse. Speakers called Valentine’s treatment a violation of the Constitution and called for Rollins to step down.

Valentine’s husband, Omar Hall, said the judge sent the message “that nobody of faith who wears a turban, a khimar, a yarmulke or a habit … can enter his court.”

Another woman, Halima Abdullah, said she spent 24 hours in jail in November 2007 after a similar incident involving the same judge.

Rollins did not respond to calls from CNN on Monday and has not made a public statement.

The Douglasville police news release said that although Rollins prohibits head coverings in his courtroom, he “has also made an accommodation for those people who, for legitimate health, religious or other serious reasons, either cannot remove the headgear or, where doing so, would subject them to violating religious tenants or suffer extreme embarrassment or distress.”

“In such cases, the judge has heard cases involving those people outside the courtroom at another location,” the release said.

Rollins would have made that accommodation for the case of Valentine’s nephew, but the officer “did not affirmatively provide information on that policy,” according to the news release.

“It is also unclear how familiar this officer was with the alternative procedure,” the news release said.

When told Monday of the planned sensitivity training, Yusof Burke, Georgia executive director of CAIR, said it was “a responsible action” and that he was “glad to see they’ve had a change of heart.”

Asked whether CAIR considered it enough, he responded: “I think, from our standpoint. … We just want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Baig, Valentine’s attorney, said he and his client needed to learn more specifics about the plan, and otherwise had no immediate response.

Jeffrey Toobin, CNN senior legal analyst, said that when it comes to cases involving headwear, courts “generally weigh the government necessity vs. the interest in religious freedom.”

“Courts can say you have to take a head scarf off for a driver’s license photo because there is a public interest in making individuals clearly identifiable,” Toobin said. “The government interest in removing a head scarf to enter a courtroom, I think, is much thinner.”

Whisenant, Douglasville’s police chief, said the sensitivity and cultural diversity training will be “forthcoming very soon.”

“We’re taking all steps that we think are reasonable to make sure that this never happens again in our courtroom,” Whisenant said.

Appeared Here

40% Of UK Crimes Ignored By Police Officers Because They Are Too Tough To Solve

UK – Police are failing to investigate almost four in every ten crimes, it was revealed last night.

The offences include sex attacks, violent robberies, harassment, burglary and drug incidents.

Instead of being pursued, the cases are simply filed away by officers who do not consider they can be solved.

Victims’ groups have condemned this practice of ‘screening out’ offences – but it is alarmingly widespread. The Met, the country’s largest force, decided that 51 per cent of crimes were not worth full investigations as there was little chance of catching the culprit.

Across the country, the average for the 16 forces which gave full replies to the Daily Mail’s Freedom of Information requests was 39 per cent.

It is the equivalent of a staggering 1.9million of the five million crimes reported to the police by distressed members of the public not being fully investigated. And it goes a long way to explain why the detection rates for all crimes, and burglary in particular, are so low.

On average, only 27 per cent of crimes are solved.

A spokesman for Victim Support said: ‘Even if this process is justified by lack of evidence, the figures are likely to undermine confidence in the police among victims.

‘If victims feel that their experience of crime is being dismissed by the very agencies that are meant to deal with the situation, that risks adding insult to injury.’
Lost cases

The Tories said the target-obsessed Government had forced the police to chase ‘diktats’ rather than criminals. Police forces have adopted the tactic of screening out crimes in response to Government targets insisting they must bring a fixed number of offenders ‘to justice’ each year.

It has led to officers targeting resources almost exclusively on cases with the best chance of success. Many of the most common offences are routinely filed ‘not for action’ by telephone operators at the first possible stage, after the first initial call reporting the crime.

By recording it as a crime, the officer is acknowledging the law has been broken. The main reasons the investigation is dropped are if there are no obvious leads, such as the name of the suspected offender.

Police chiefs defend the system as a way to target resources on the most serious and solvable crimes. They insist that all crimes are ‘investigated’ to some degree, even if this amounts to no more than a telephone conversation.

Serious crimes such as murder, wounding or rape are always investigated, as are crimes where there is a named suspect or obvious forensic evidence.

But opponents say it is a far cry from the days when almost every victim of crime received a visit from an officer, and an attempt was at least made to find the culprit.

The Tories said it was a symptom of a lack of public accountability within the police service. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith abandoned plans for elected police representatives earlier this week.

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said: ‘This is a consequence of Labour’s target culture which has resulted in our police being forced to chase Whitehall diktats instead of criminals.

‘Conservatives would replace police authorities with elected police commissioners so that the priorities of the police reflect the priorities of the people they serve.’
Critics say it is a far cry from the days when almost every victim of crime received a visit from an officer, and an attempt was at least made to find the culprit

Critics say it is a far cry from the days when almost every victim of crime received a visit from an officer, and an attempt was at least made to find the culprit

In London, the Met said that in the 2007/8 financial year it screened out a total of 437,888 offences. These included 26,709 offences of violence, 338 sex attacks, 5,562 robberies and more than 60,000 burglaries.

For burglary, the Met only investigate one in three cases reported to them. In Bedfordshire, which last year screened out 42 per cent of crimes, one in three burglaries doesn’t get a full investigation.

Although the percentage of screened out crime falls for more serious offences the force still excluded 290 offences of violence, 12 sex attacks, 32 robberies and 16 drugs offences.

In Norfolk, where 113 sex attacks were amongst the 42 per cent of crime screened out, the deputy chief constable Ian Learmonth said: ‘We are making best use of our resources by investigating only those crimes which have some hope or opportunity of being solved.’

A spokesman for Bedfordshire Police said: ‘Before any crime is “screened out” it will have been through a rigorous evaluation procedure.’

A Home Office spokesman said the Government had reduced centrally-set targets and planned to cut red tape to free up officers.

Appeared Here

Attorney Wants Man’s Murder Conviction Tossed Because St. Louis County Missouri Sheriff’s Deputies Were Having Sex With Jurors In Jury Room

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI – A convicted murderer says his Missouri guilty verdict should be thrown out because two of his jurors allegedly had sex while sequestered.

An attorney for Roberto Dunn, convicted eight years ago of killing his girlfriend’s mother, is asking St. Louis Circuit Judge Julian Bush for a new trial because of the recently discovered alleged sexual escapades in the jury room, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported Monday.

Shortly after Dunn was convicted in 2000, Bush received a letter from a juror making the accusations against fellow jurors, and adding, “Sexual liberties by deputy sheriffs were rampant also,” alleging that two sheriff’s deputies guarding the jurors also had sex.

Dunn’s trial lawyers put the letter under seal and didn’t act on it, but his current attorney, Assistant Public Defender Lisa Stroup, says she found the letter and criticized the former attorneys whom, she said, should have called the jurors as witnesses and quizzed them about the claims, the Post-Dispatch reported.

If the judge agrees with Stroup, he can give Dunn a new trial, the newspaper said.

Appeared Here

Former NSW Australia Top Cop Mark Standen, Charged In $120 Million Drug Conspiracy, Is Now Going Nuts In Prison

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – FORMER top cop Mark Standen, arrested over a $120 million drug conspiracy, is being driven to the edge of mental illness by his life in prison, a court heard yesterday.

Spending almost every day of his remand isolated in a maximum security cell, the one-time NSW Crime Commission assistant director has been verbally abused by other inmates.

As he asked for bail at Central Local Court yesterday, Standen’s defence barrister Greg Farmer said Standen was subjected to “an onerous type of custody brought about merely by the fact that he is who he is. There is a risk that if it continues he will suffer a psychiatric illness.”

Court documents reveal how the former crime fighter has been spending his time at Long Bay Jail since he was arrested in June, charged with conspiring to import enough pseudoephedrine to make $120 million worth of the drug ice.

He spends most days alone in his cell. When he uses a larger yard or the gym, he is locked in alone.

“His activities in the yard are limited to throwing a basketball and chasing it, hitting a tennis ball against a wall and jogging around,” according to an affidavit sworn by his solicitor Gordon Elliot.

Standen, 47, is due to sit his final law exams in March, but has no access to computers, educational activities or the library.

But magistrate Allan Moore refused his bail application, saying it was “a substantial case” and Standen’s knowledge of police methodology made him a flight risk. He will face court again in February.

Appeared Here

Douglasville Georgia Police Officers To Receive "Training" After Bogus Arrest – Court Bailiff Attacked Woman With Head Scarf – Judge Keith Rollins Jailed Victim For 10 Days On Bogus Contempt Charge

DOUGLASVILLE, GEORGIA– The Douglasville Police Department said Monday its officers will undergo “sensitivity and cultural diversity training” after a Muslim woman who refused to remove her head scarf at a courthouse was jailed.

Lisa Valentine has been shaken “to her core” by her arrest last week, her lawyer says.

“We never want this to happen again. It’s not our intent to embarrass anybody,” Police Chief Joe Whisenant said at a news conference.

The judge who had the woman jailed briefly for contempt of court will also take part in the training, Whisenant said.

The incident took place December 16 when Lisa Valentine, who also goes by her Muslim name, Miedah, accompanied her nephew to a hearing at Douglasville’s municipal courthouse. The scarf, called a hijab, covered her hair but not her face. It is part of her religious belief that her hair should be covered in public, as a form of modesty.

In an interview with CNN’s Rusty Dornin, Valentine said a bailiff told her she could not enter with her head scarf.

“I didn’t pose a threat to anybody,” Valentine said. “So I got really angry. I told her that was discrimination, and I said it was b.s. — and I used the full term of the word.”

She tried to leave, but the bailiff demanded that she appear before the judge, and pulled on her arm, Valentine said.

“I was right near the door. I said, ‘Don’t touch me.’ And so she got in front of me,” Valentine said. “… She called for a guard or a police officer. He came and then he just was near me, and was like, ‘You’re going to do what you’re told to do.’

“And then he grabbed my arm, and of course instinctively I pulled it away. So he’s like grabbing me and bending my arm, like you see people who are resisting arrest, and trying to get really physical with me. … Then I said, ‘OK, OK,’ and I let them put the handcuffs on me.”

Valentine said she would have had no problem with allowing a female officer to check under her head scarf to make sure she did not pose any danger.

Valentine said that when she told the judge what had happened, he sentenced her to 10 days in jail for contempt of court.

At the jail down the street, Valentine had to change into a jumpsuit. Her mug shot was taken — without her head scarf.

She was let out of jail later that day. Her attorney, M. Khurram Baig, said he does not know why she was released so quickly.

“It’s been devastating for her,” Baig said. “We’re talking about a major life-altering event for somebody to realize that everything they thought they knew about our justice system may not actually be the case. So she’s been shook to her core.”

Douglasville authorities describe the day’s events somewhat differently.

In a news release, police said Valentine repeatedly used the expletive, told the bailiff that the judge was “racist,” pointed her finger toward the officer, and “became loud enough that she attracted the attention of another officer.”

The news release said an officer did tell Valentine she could not leave, “and placed her hand on Mrs. Valentine’s wrist.”

“Mrs. Valentine resisted the officer’s efforts by stiffening her arm, but did not physically fight with the officer,” the release said.

When Judge Keith Rollins was told of the incident, the news release said, he ordered her jailed for 10 days.

The police department’s senior staff then investigated the incident and “determined that no fight took place” and “that Mrs. Valentine’s actions were primarily verbal and her resistance passive,” according to the release. The police chief told the judge of the department’s findings and the judge rescinded the contempt order, the release said.

“Mrs. Valentine was not arrested because of her head scarf or any action related to the scarf,” it said.

Valentine’s attorney said she has told him she did not call the judge racist.

When word of the incident spread, groups across the country weighed in on Valentine’s behalf, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Civil Liberties Union.

On Friday, about 50 people demonstrated outside the courthouse. Speakers called Valentine’s treatment a violation of the Constitution and called for Rollins to step down.

Valentine’s husband, Omar Hall, said the judge sent the message “that nobody of faith who wears a turban, a khimar, a yarmulke or a habit … can enter his court.”

Another woman, Halima Abdullah, said she spent 24 hours in jail in November 2007 after a similar incident involving the same judge.

Rollins did not respond to calls from CNN on Monday and has not made a public statement.

The Douglasville police news release said that although Rollins prohibits head coverings in his courtroom, he “has also made an accommodation for those people who, for legitimate health, religious or other serious reasons, either cannot remove the headgear or, where doing so, would subject them to violating religious tenants or suffer extreme embarrassment or distress.”

“In such cases, the judge has heard cases involving those people outside the courtroom at another location,” the release said.

Rollins would have made that accommodation for the case of Valentine’s nephew, but the officer “did not affirmatively provide information on that policy,” according to the news release.

“It is also unclear how familiar this officer was with the alternative procedure,” the news release said.

When told Monday of the planned sensitivity training, Yusof Burke, Georgia executive director of CAIR, said it was “a responsible action” and that he was “glad to see they’ve had a change of heart.”

Asked whether CAIR considered it enough, he responded: “I think, from our standpoint. … We just want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Baig, Valentine’s attorney, said he and his client needed to learn more specifics about the plan, and otherwise had no immediate response.

Jeffrey Toobin, CNN senior legal analyst, said that when it comes to cases involving headwear, courts “generally weigh the government necessity vs. the interest in religious freedom.”

“Courts can say you have to take a head scarf off for a driver’s license photo because there is a public interest in making individuals clearly identifiable,” Toobin said. “The government interest in removing a head scarf to enter a courtroom, I think, is much thinner.”

Whisenant, Douglasville’s police chief, said the sensitivity and cultural diversity training will be “forthcoming very soon.”

“We’re taking all steps that we think are reasonable to make sure that this never happens again in our courtroom,” Whisenant said.

Appeared Here

40% Of UK Crimes Ignored By Police Officers Because They Are Too Tough To Solve

UK – Police are failing to investigate almost four in every ten crimes, it was revealed last night.

The offences include sex attacks, violent robberies, harassment, burglary and drug incidents.

Instead of being pursued, the cases are simply filed away by officers who do not consider they can be solved.

Victims’ groups have condemned this practice of ‘screening out’ offences – but it is alarmingly widespread. The Met, the country’s largest force, decided that 51 per cent of crimes were not worth full investigations as there was little chance of catching the culprit.

Across the country, the average for the 16 forces which gave full replies to the Daily Mail’s Freedom of Information requests was 39 per cent.

It is the equivalent of a staggering 1.9million of the five million crimes reported to the police by distressed members of the public not being fully investigated. And it goes a long way to explain why the detection rates for all crimes, and burglary in particular, are so low.

On average, only 27 per cent of crimes are solved.

A spokesman for Victim Support said: ‘Even if this process is justified by lack of evidence, the figures are likely to undermine confidence in the police among victims.

‘If victims feel that their experience of crime is being dismissed by the very agencies that are meant to deal with the situation, that risks adding insult to injury.’
Lost cases

The Tories said the target-obsessed Government had forced the police to chase ‘diktats’ rather than criminals. Police forces have adopted the tactic of screening out crimes in response to Government targets insisting they must bring a fixed number of offenders ‘to justice’ each year.

It has led to officers targeting resources almost exclusively on cases with the best chance of success. Many of the most common offences are routinely filed ‘not for action’ by telephone operators at the first possible stage, after the first initial call reporting the crime.

By recording it as a crime, the officer is acknowledging the law has been broken. The main reasons the investigation is dropped are if there are no obvious leads, such as the name of the suspected offender.

Police chiefs defend the system as a way to target resources on the most serious and solvable crimes. They insist that all crimes are ‘investigated’ to some degree, even if this amounts to no more than a telephone conversation.

Serious crimes such as murder, wounding or rape are always investigated, as are crimes where there is a named suspect or obvious forensic evidence.

But opponents say it is a far cry from the days when almost every victim of crime received a visit from an officer, and an attempt was at least made to find the culprit.

The Tories said it was a symptom of a lack of public accountability within the police service. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith abandoned plans for elected police representatives earlier this week.

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said: ‘This is a consequence of Labour’s target culture which has resulted in our police being forced to chase Whitehall diktats instead of criminals.

‘Conservatives would replace police authorities with elected police commissioners so that the priorities of the police reflect the priorities of the people they serve.’
Critics say it is a far cry from the days when almost every victim of crime received a visit from an officer, and an attempt was at least made to find the culprit

Critics say it is a far cry from the days when almost every victim of crime received a visit from an officer, and an attempt was at least made to find the culprit

In London, the Met said that in the 2007/8 financial year it screened out a total of 437,888 offences. These included 26,709 offences of violence, 338 sex attacks, 5,562 robberies and more than 60,000 burglaries.

For burglary, the Met only investigate one in three cases reported to them. In Bedfordshire, which last year screened out 42 per cent of crimes, one in three burglaries doesn’t get a full investigation.

Although the percentage of screened out crime falls for more serious offences the force still excluded 290 offences of violence, 12 sex attacks, 32 robberies and 16 drugs offences.

In Norfolk, where 113 sex attacks were amongst the 42 per cent of crime screened out, the deputy chief constable Ian Learmonth said: ‘We are making best use of our resources by investigating only those crimes which have some hope or opportunity of being solved.’

A spokesman for Bedfordshire Police said: ‘Before any crime is “screened out” it will have been through a rigorous evaluation procedure.’

A Home Office spokesman said the Government had reduced centrally-set targets and planned to cut red tape to free up officers.

Appeared Here

Panama City Beach Florida Police Assault Naked Woman With Taser Weapon

PANAMA CITY BEACH, FLORIDA – A Beach police officer tased a naked woman after responding to a complaint of a disturbance along Front Beach Road on Saturday.

Just after midnight Saturday morning, a Bay County Sheriff’s deputy responding to a complaint of a verbal disturbance saw a woman leaving an apartment wearing no clothes. She started walking toward him, and he told her to stop.

He could see into the apartment, and he noticed two men coming from the hallway into the living room area. He told them to lie face-down on the floor, and they complied.

Just then, a Panama City Beach police officer arrived. The deputy told him to watch the woman while he secured the two men inside. The deputy reported hearing the officer tell the woman, “Stop, or I will tase you.”

The woman kept approaching the officer, according to the report, which says the officer then “deployed his taser into” the woman.

The report says the woman “remained on the front porch without further incident” once she had been tased.

A second deputy arrived and took photos of the residence, “as there was a large amount of blood in the living room, hallway, office and bedroom,” the report said.

According to one of the men apartment, the three of them had gone for a walk together along the beach and returned to the apartment for drinks. The man said the woman, whose name he did not know, was the other man’s girlfriend. When she started to “put the moves on him,” the report said, her boyfriend became upset and the two men started fighting.

The boyfriend grabbed a small knife, the report said. He never attacked the other man with the knife, but had “accidentally cut himself.”

The boyfriend had a severe cut on his hand and was taken to Bay Medical Center by ambulance. He refused to provide any information to the deputies.

The woman refused to give deputies any information. She said she wanted to go home. She refused medical treatment. She was charged by the Panama City Beach Police with resisting an officer without violence. She was handcuffed and taken to the Bay County Jail by a deputy.

Both men refused to press charges against each other.

Appeared Here

Former NSW Australia Top Cop Mark Standen, Charged In $120 Million Drug Conspiracy, Is Now Going Nuts In Prison

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – FORMER top cop Mark Standen, arrested over a $120 million drug conspiracy, is being driven to the edge of mental illness by his life in prison, a court heard yesterday.

Spending almost every day of his remand isolated in a maximum security cell, the one-time NSW Crime Commission assistant director has been verbally abused by other inmates.

As he asked for bail at Central Local Court yesterday, Standen’s defence barrister Greg Farmer said Standen was subjected to “an onerous type of custody brought about merely by the fact that he is who he is. There is a risk that if it continues he will suffer a psychiatric illness.”

Court documents reveal how the former crime fighter has been spending his time at Long Bay Jail since he was arrested in June, charged with conspiring to import enough pseudoephedrine to make $120 million worth of the drug ice.

He spends most days alone in his cell. When he uses a larger yard or the gym, he is locked in alone.

“His activities in the yard are limited to throwing a basketball and chasing it, hitting a tennis ball against a wall and jogging around,” according to an affidavit sworn by his solicitor Gordon Elliot.

Standen, 47, is due to sit his final law exams in March, but has no access to computers, educational activities or the library.

But magistrate Allan Moore refused his bail application, saying it was “a substantial case” and Standen’s knowledge of police methodology made him a flight risk. He will face court again in February.

Appeared Here

Panama City Beach Florida Police Assault Naked Woman With Taser Weapon

PANAMA CITY BEACH, FLORIDA – A Beach police officer tased a naked woman after responding to a complaint of a disturbance along Front Beach Road on Saturday.

Just after midnight Saturday morning, a Bay County Sheriff’s deputy responding to a complaint of a verbal disturbance saw a woman leaving an apartment wearing no clothes. She started walking toward him, and he told her to stop.

He could see into the apartment, and he noticed two men coming from the hallway into the living room area. He told them to lie face-down on the floor, and they complied.

Just then, a Panama City Beach police officer arrived. The deputy told him to watch the woman while he secured the two men inside. The deputy reported hearing the officer tell the woman, “Stop, or I will tase you.”

The woman kept approaching the officer, according to the report, which says the officer then “deployed his taser into” the woman.

The report says the woman “remained on the front porch without further incident” once she had been tased.

A second deputy arrived and took photos of the residence, “as there was a large amount of blood in the living room, hallway, office and bedroom,” the report said.

According to one of the men apartment, the three of them had gone for a walk together along the beach and returned to the apartment for drinks. The man said the woman, whose name he did not know, was the other man’s girlfriend. When she started to “put the moves on him,” the report said, her boyfriend became upset and the two men started fighting.

The boyfriend grabbed a small knife, the report said. He never attacked the other man with the knife, but had “accidentally cut himself.”

The boyfriend had a severe cut on his hand and was taken to Bay Medical Center by ambulance. He refused to provide any information to the deputies.

The woman refused to give deputies any information. She said she wanted to go home. She refused medical treatment. She was charged by the Panama City Beach Police with resisting an officer without violence. She was handcuffed and taken to the Bay County Jail by a deputy.

Both men refused to press charges against each other.

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UK Police Sent To Two Hour Course to Learn To Climb A 3 Foot Ladder

UK – Police officers have been sent on courses on how to climb 3ft up a ladder to install anti-speeding devices.

Forty-five Lancashire police employees have gone on the two-hour health and safety seminars to teach them how to hang smiley-face speed indicator signs (Spids) on posts by the roadside.

Workers had been erecting the portable signs for months without ladder training until health and safety bosses stepped in.

Staff were then banned from moving the signs between locations until they had special training – leaving devices, which cost up to £3,500, dormant across the county for four months.

A police statement, issued as part of a Freedom of Information request, says: “It would appear that, although working at less than one metre above ground level, staff should have been on a ladder training course.

“It is fair to say that risks associated with deployment of a Spid sign have not changed, but the risks associated with working at height were not fully appreciated initially.”

Questions are being raised about the policy by MPs and pressure groups.

Lancaster and Wyre MP Ben Wallace said: “It’s another example of the tail wagging the dog, of bureaucracy gone mad.

“It beggars belief that bureaucracy stands in the way of common sense, even when it concerns our police force.”

Electronic Spid signs flash up a sad face if motorists are speeding and a smiley face if they are within the limit.

Lancashire police said proper training courses had also been introduced because some of the signs had not been mounted correctly and could not detect all oncoming traffic.

Seminars include advice on what type of ladder should be used, how to carry devices safely and how to set up and maintain signs.

Police officers and civilian workers have also been warned they must wear high-visibility jackets and leggings and cone off the area when installing signs in bad weather – in case pedestrians bump into their ladder.

Eighty-two parish council volunteers and two private contractors have also gone on the courses, organised by the police, Lancashire County Council and Lancashire Fire and Rescue, which manages the ladder training.

Authorities say the course does not cost anything, apart from staff time. Nine courses have been held so far.

There are currently around 40 Spid signs in use in Lancashire, many owned by parish councils.

A Preston Council spokesman said all the signs it owned were believed to be currently in use.

Jo Abbott of motoring organisation RAC Foundation said drivers were keen to see the signs up and running.

She said: “I think they act as a good reminder to people who just slip over the speed limit.”

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UK Police Sent To Two Hour Course to Learn To Climb A 3 Foot Ladder

UK – Police officers have been sent on courses on how to climb 3ft up a ladder to install anti-speeding devices.

Forty-five Lancashire police employees have gone on the two-hour health and safety seminars to teach them how to hang smiley-face speed indicator signs (Spids) on posts by the roadside.

Workers had been erecting the portable signs for months without ladder training until health and safety bosses stepped in.

Staff were then banned from moving the signs between locations until they had special training – leaving devices, which cost up to £3,500, dormant across the county for four months.

A police statement, issued as part of a Freedom of Information request, says: “It would appear that, although working at less than one metre above ground level, staff should have been on a ladder training course.

“It is fair to say that risks associated with deployment of a Spid sign have not changed, but the risks associated with working at height were not fully appreciated initially.”

Questions are being raised about the policy by MPs and pressure groups.

Lancaster and Wyre MP Ben Wallace said: “It’s another example of the tail wagging the dog, of bureaucracy gone mad.

“It beggars belief that bureaucracy stands in the way of common sense, even when it concerns our police force.”

Electronic Spid signs flash up a sad face if motorists are speeding and a smiley face if they are within the limit.

Lancashire police said proper training courses had also been introduced because some of the signs had not been mounted correctly and could not detect all oncoming traffic.

Seminars include advice on what type of ladder should be used, how to carry devices safely and how to set up and maintain signs.

Police officers and civilian workers have also been warned they must wear high-visibility jackets and leggings and cone off the area when installing signs in bad weather – in case pedestrians bump into their ladder.

Eighty-two parish council volunteers and two private contractors have also gone on the courses, organised by the police, Lancashire County Council and Lancashire Fire and Rescue, which manages the ladder training.

Authorities say the course does not cost anything, apart from staff time. Nine courses have been held so far.

There are currently around 40 Spid signs in use in Lancashire, many owned by parish councils.

A Preston Council spokesman said all the signs it owned were believed to be currently in use.

Jo Abbott of motoring organisation RAC Foundation said drivers were keen to see the signs up and running.

She said: “I think they act as a good reminder to people who just slip over the speed limit.”

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Homeless Prefer Jail To Cold Streets – Jobless Rate In Third-World-Like Detroit Michigan Tops 21 Percent

DETROIT, MICHIGAN – It’s a sign of tough times in the Detroit area where outreach experts say recently freed inmates are making a conscious decisions to get thrown back in jail.

The experts say that for some, the relative security of a warm building and three meals a day beats being homeless and hungry in the community.

Detroit has, by many measures, replaced New Orleans as America’s most beleaguered city.

The jobless rate has climbed past 21 percent, tens of thousands of homes and stores are abandoned and the ex-mayor is in jail for a text-messaging sex scandal. Even the pro football team is in tatters — the Lions are within two losses of an unprecedented 0-16 season.

Underlying it all is the near-collapse of the U.S. auto industry, Detroit’s vital source of jobs and status for more than a century.

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Oregon Officials Turn Off Water Heaters At Women’s Prison To Save Money

OREGON – Inmates at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility learned Saturday morning that they weren’t immune from the crummy weather.

The prison is one of 180 large NW Natural customers who were given a choice: shift to the back-up fuel systems or pay higher rates during the current cold spell.

The prison, some universities and big manufacturing firms among others have “interruptible service contracts,” said NW Natural spokesman Cory Beck. Those customers pay lower rates because they agree to shift to an alternate fuel sources or pay higher rates under certain conditions, such as long periods of cold weather, Beck said.

The company notified customers a few days ago that it was imposing the requirement. It will be in effect until at least Monday, Beck said.

Until then, almost 1,500 Coffee Creek inmates won’t get hot showers or more than one hot meal a day, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jennifer Black. The Wilsonville prison started using it’s propane-fueled back-up system Saturday morning.

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Homeless Prefer Jail To Cold Streets – Jobless Rate In Third-World-Like Detroit Michigan Tops 21 Percent

DETROIT, MICHIGAN – It’s a sign of tough times in the Detroit area where outreach experts say recently freed inmates are making a conscious decisions to get thrown back in jail.

The experts say that for some, the relative security of a warm building and three meals a day beats being homeless and hungry in the community.

Detroit has, by many measures, replaced New Orleans as America’s most beleaguered city.

The jobless rate has climbed past 21 percent, tens of thousands of homes and stores are abandoned and the ex-mayor is in jail for a text-messaging sex scandal. Even the pro football team is in tatters — the Lions are within two losses of an unprecedented 0-16 season.

Underlying it all is the near-collapse of the U.S. auto industry, Detroit’s vital source of jobs and status for more than a century.

Appeared Here

Oregon Officials Turn Off Water Heaters At Women’s Prison To Save Money

OREGON – Inmates at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility learned Saturday morning that they weren’t immune from the crummy weather.

The prison is one of 180 large NW Natural customers who were given a choice: shift to the back-up fuel systems or pay higher rates during the current cold spell.

The prison, some universities and big manufacturing firms among others have “interruptible service contracts,” said NW Natural spokesman Cory Beck. Those customers pay lower rates because they agree to shift to an alternate fuel sources or pay higher rates under certain conditions, such as long periods of cold weather, Beck said.

The company notified customers a few days ago that it was imposing the requirement. It will be in effect until at least Monday, Beck said.

Until then, almost 1,500 Coffee Creek inmates won’t get hot showers or more than one hot meal a day, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jennifer Black. The Wilsonville prison started using it’s propane-fueled back-up system Saturday morning.

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St. Louis Missouri Taxpayers Screwed By Police – Badges Cost $2000 to $6,000 Each – And The Department Kept $6 Million That Wasn’t Theirs

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI – Five finely-crafted, gold-filled works of a world-class jeweler are ready to adorn the chests of new St. Louis Police Chief Daniel Isom and other top cops.

Price tag: $1,987 each — about 100 times the price of a patrolman’s badge.

That’s a bargain for the St. Louis police, who acknowledged last week that they had paid $5,900 apiece for two solid-gold badges for Isom’s predecessor Joe Mokwa when he became chief.

The latest badges were a nearly $10,000 line item in a unanimous vote Wednesday by the Board of Police Commissioners to approve December purchases.

That was just hours before the department admitted that it had wrongly kept up to $6 million seized in the arrest of suspects.

Neither issue — the badges or the cache — came up for public discussion. Board approval of the badges was a formality because the department’s supply division already had made the no-bid purchase a month ago, according to department records.

At a press conference called Saturday morning after the Post-Dispatch disclosed the purchase on STLtoday.com, Isom called the badge expenditures “outrageous.” He said there would be no more such spending.

“This is just one more practice of the department that I looked at and knew had to be changed,” Isom said. “There are historical pracitices in this department that are broken. The people of St. Louis are counting on me to fix them, and as I find them, I will.”

Isom said the badges had been ordered before a purchase order had been issued by the Police Board. A statement from the department said Isom had already “dealt with those responsible for purchase.”

Isom said he would try to find a way to recoup the cost of the new badges.

The badges were ready to be picked up Friday from the jeweler, Stange Co., of Maryland Heights.

Other departments spend far less on brass for their top brass.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jerry Lee’s badge cost $110. Kansas City Police Chief James Corwin’s cost $48.75.

“We get a lot of compliments on it,” said Kansas City police spokesman Darin Snapp. “No one has ever asked for an upgrade.”

Col. James F. Keathley may be superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol but he is the king of thrift. The patrol’s uniforms do not include badges. Insignias bearing Keathley’s troop and badge numbers cost $3.15 per collar.

Mark Campbell is the police chief of the richest city of at least 1,000 residents in the United States. That’s Belvedere, in California’s Marin County, where the per capita income is $114,000.

His badge cost $200 — about 2½ times what his officers’ badges cost.

“My badge is more ornate,” he explained.

Rank and file St. Louis officers wear badges bought for $19.75 apiece from a different supplier.

Badges for top-ranking St. Louis officers are Stange’s only law enforcement business.

Stange’s owner, Dave, who wouldn’t tell a reporter his last name, said Friday that his firm’s St. Louis police badges were a good deal, considering the artistry put into them. (Stange’s president is listed in a business directory as David Bouchein.)

“They are highly intricate and involved a lot of labor to make them,” Dave said. “A lot of labor.”

Stange is perhaps best-known for making insignias for clients ranging from Third World monarchs to a religious order in Jerusalem that traces its roots to the First Crusade.

The company says it was hired by the Crown Council of Ethiopia in 2000 to make the Order of Solomon, an 18-karat, gem-studded medal worn by just six people, including Queen Elizabeth II.

Stange’s relationship with the St. Louis police goes back 30 years. Dave said Stange used to make all the St. Louis police badges. But the department has more recently bought standard-issue badges from the lowest bidder.

“I would assume that in other big cities you’re going find higher level badges,” Dave said. He suggested calling the City of Angels.

It turns out that Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton wears a badge that costs $61, according to that department’s supplier.

Dave could not believe that.

“For $61, I’d hate to see what the quality is,” he said. “For a police chief’s badge?”

The St. Louis Police Department bought a chief badge, two assistant chief badges and two lieutenant colonel badges.

It needed them because St. Louis officers have been allowed to keep their badges when they retire, said Erica Van Ross, Police Department spokeswoman.

“It had been a long standing tradition, presumably as an honor to officers who are leaving the department after risking their lives day in and day out,” she said.
But she said Isom has now changed that policy so retiring officers can take home a replica, if they pay for it.

The police badges have been in the news before. In 1993, the department was criticized for buying a $2,100 chief’s badge.

Chris Goodson, who has been president of the Police Board for four years, said Saturday the current purchase resulted from the department’s supply division ignoring proper procedures. He said the board had no choice but to pay for the badges.

“The full board is extremely unhappy,” Goodson said. “We are aware of the poor economy and don’t want this sort of thing going on.”

Isom already wears a chief’s badge — Mokwa took just one of his $5,900 badges with him when the board forced him out in July. The $1,987 gold-filled badge is backup, in case the solid-gold one breaks, Van Ross said. She said Isom insisted that his second badge not be solid gold, and that he would be open to finding a less expensive vendor.

Assistant Chief Stephen Pollihan and Lt. Col. Roy Joachimstaler are retiring next month. Pollihan gets to take his badge home because he got his papers in before Isom’s order. Van Ross said she wasn’t clear about Joachimstaler.

So now the department has enough badges for a new assistant chief and lieutenant colonel — and a few backups.

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Maryland News Media Provides Readers And Web Visitors With Instructions On "Pimping" Speed Cameras To Extract Revenge On Others

MARYLAND – As a prank, students from local high schools have been taking advantage of the county’s Speed Camera Program in order to exact revenge on people who they believe have wronged them in the past, including other students and even teachers.

Students from Richard Montgomery High School dubbed the prank the Speed Camera “Pimping” game, according to a parent of a student enrolled at one of the high schools.

Originating from Wootton High School, the parent said, students duplicate the license plates by printing plate numbers on glossy photo paper, using fonts from certain websites that “mimic” those on Maryland license plates. They tape the duplicate plate over the existing plate on the back of their car and purposefully speed through a speed camera, the parent said. The victim then receives a citation in the mail days later.

Students are even obtaining vehicles from their friends that are similar or identical to the make and model of the car owned by the targeted victim, according to the parent.

“This game is very disturbing,” the parent said. “Especially since unsuspecting parents will also be victimized through receipt of unwarranted photo speed tickets.

The parent said that “our civil rights are exploited,” and the entire premise behind the Speed Camera Program is called into question as a result of the growing this fad among students.

The Speed Camera Program was implemented in March of this year and used for the purpose of reducing traffic and pedestrian collisions in the county. Cameras are located in residential areas and school zones where the posted speed limit is 35 miles per hour or lower. A $40 citation is mailed to the owner of the car for violating the speed limit in these areas.

The Montgomery County Police said they have not seen or heard of this prank occurring but said they will keep an eye out for people committing the crime.

“I hope the public at large will complain loudly enough that local Montgomery County government officials will change their policy of using these cameras for monetary gain,” the parent said. “The practice of sending speeding tickets to faceless recipients without any type of verification is unwarranted and an exploitation of our rights.”

Edward Owusu, Assistant Principal at Wootton High School, said that he heard of local students pulling the prank when the school received a call from a parent informing them of its occurrence. “I have not heard of this happening among students at Wootton,” Osuwu said. “It is unfortunate that kids have a lot of time on their hands that they can think of doing such a thing.”

Montgomery County Council President Phil Andrews said that the issue is troubling in several respects. “I am concerned that someone could get hurt, first of all, because they are speeding in areas where they know speeding is a problem,” he said.

Andrews also said that this could hurt the integrity of the Speed Camera Program. “It will cause potential problems for the Speed Camera Program in terms of the confidence in it,” he said.

He said he is glad someone caught it before it becomes more widespread and he said he hopes that the word get out to the people participating in this that there will be consequences.

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