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Omaha police displayed an unbridled street gang brazenness when they chased a man who was video recording them abusing his brother into a private home, confiscating his phone and arresting him to ensure their actions would never see the light of day. However, another citizen captured the entire incident on video from a second-floor window, ensuring at least the façade of an internal investigation.

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A video shows Eddie Lojak this past Saturday — his nose is broken, he has a concussion, a broken rib, chipped teeth, stitches across his face and a chunk of skin ripped from his tongue. Those injuries happened after a morning of drinking to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and ended with a run-in with Pittsburgh Police.Cops came up behind me and shoved me down as hard as he could,” Lojak said. “Face first onto the pavement and then they all jumped on me.” That’s where the cell phone video picks up the incident. It shows a police...

Las Vegas Township Constable John Bonaventura will not face criminal charges related to his arrest last week on suspicion of driving under the influence, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said. In a statement, Wolfson said that although Bonaventura’s preliminary breath test showed he was over the legal blood-alcohol limit when he was pulled over Feb. 12, that test is not admissible in court. An arrest report indicates he registered a level of 0.099 on that test. A second, admissible breath test showed Bonaventura’s blood-alcohol level at 0.069, below the legal limit of 0.08. That test was administered at the...

“In this era of mass incarceration, the police shouldn’t be trusted any more than any other witness, perhaps less so. That may sound harsh, but numerous law enforcement officials have put the matter more bluntly. . . . Police departments have been rewarded in recent years for the sheer numbers of stops, searches and arrests. In the war on drugs, federal grant programs like the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program have encouraged state and local law enforcement agencies to boost drug arrests in order to compete for millions of dollars in funding. Agencies receive cash rewards for arresting...

Las Vegas police were searching for answers Tuesday after one of their own killed his wife and son, called 911 to confess, then set his house on fire and committed suicide as rifle-toting cops moved in. "I can't think of a reason for this, where something can get so bad that you'd do this," one veteran supervisor told the Las Vegas Review-Journal after the Monday murder-suicide. Police have not released the name of the shooter but said he was a 52-year-old lieutenant with more than 20 years on the force. His wife was a retired officer, the newspaper said. Their...

The Florida Highway Patrol trooper at the center of firestorm after she pulled over a speeding cop at gunpoint said fellow law enforcement officers have created a "life-threatening" situation that caused her to be in such fear for her safety she has become a "hermit." Trooper Donna "Jane" Watts' 69-page lawsuit, filed in federal court Friday, seeks more than $1 million in damages. She is suing more than 100 police officers and agencies, and the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. The suit alleges 88 law enforcement officers from 25 jurisdictions illegally accessed her personal information more than 200...

A lieutenant in the Dallas Police Department who goes by the name “Lucille Baller” when she promotes herself as a recording artist promises to shoot anyone who messes with her in a rap song that was posted on her website. “Don’t push Ms. Lucy because you won’t like the consequences,” Dallas Police Lt. Regina Smith raps on the recording. “Mess with me or I will shoot a [expletive] cuz Lucille Baller, she been to hell and back.” Smith, who oversees burglary and theft detectives at the Southwest and Northwest patrol investigative units, will likely face an internal affairs investigation over...

New State Law Gets Tough on Illegal Speeders NEW ‘SUPER SPEEDER LAW’ STARTS NEW YEAR WITH NEW FINES (JANUARY 1, 2010) Georgia drivers should mark that date on their calendars and put a sticky note next to their keys.. January 1st, 2010. It’s the day the new state ‘Super Speeder Law’ goes into effect in Georgia. And any high-risk drivers who make a habit of ignoring posted speed limits will be the first to feel the pinch of higher state fines (called fees) on their wallets. How much higher? The new law titled HB160 tacks-on another two-hundred-dollar state-fee for any...

SIERRA VISTA — Late Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever had an elevated blood alcohol content above the legal limit at the time of his death, the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office reported Friday evening.

The Phoenix Police Department, in partnership with Arizona State University (ASU) College of Public Programs, has received a $500,000 federal grant to purchase 50 on-officer video camera systems that will be used in the Maryvale Precinct. The Department of Justice “Smart Policing” grant will allow ASU and the Police Department to jointly examine the impact of this technology on crime, public and police accountability, and satisfaction with the police. “This grant will allow us to further our department’s commitment to community-based policing while maintaining the public trust,” said Acting Police Chief Joe Yahner. “The technology that this grant will provide...

police officers who conducted a wrong-door raid on their home shot their dog, and then forced their three handcuffed children to sit near the dead pet while officers ransacked the home. The lawsuit, which names Ramsey County, the Dakota County Drug Task Force, and the DEA, and asks for $30 million in civil rights violations and punitive damages after a wrong-door raid, also claims that the officers kicked the children and deprived one of them of her diabetes medication. The suit also alleges that one of the lead officers with the task force "provided false information" in order to get...

A former D.C. police officer admitted Thursday to falsifying logs regarding the testing of mobile photo-radar cameras that issue speeding tickets — a move that resulted in the department having to refund more than $17,000 in traffic ticket fines. ... the 22-year department veteran was supposed to be monitoring photo-radar equipment during overtime shifts and taking test photographs once an hour with the cameras to ensure they were working properly. In 2008 and 2009, prosecutors said Mr. Cephas failed to take the once-an-hour shots on 33 occasions and covered up the mistakes by rolling back the clock on the radar...

The phone rang before sunrise. It woke Craig Patty, owner of a tiny North Texas trucking company, to vexing news about Truck 793 - a big red semi supposedly getting repairs in Houston. "Your driver was shot in your truck," said the caller, a business colleague. "Your truck was loaded with marijuana. He was shot eight times while sitting in the cab. Do you know anything about your driver hauling marijuana?" "What did you say?" Patty recalled asking. "Could you please repeat that?" The truck, it turned out, had been everywhere but in the repair shop. Commandeered by one of...

Nine people, including three Prince George's County police officers, were arrested Monday on charges involving drugs, guns and a large-scale scheme to distribute untaxed cigarettes and alcohol, according to federal officials. Sources said the charges are connected to the recent arrest of Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson, but it is unclear exactly how the cases are related. The arrests are part of a larger investigation of corruption in Prince George's. The nine arrested Monday were taken into custody in the early morning hours during an operation that involved 150 law enforcement officers executing as many as a dozen...

ROMEOVILLE -- When Bridget Polaski stored naked pictures of herself on her cell phone, she never dreamed they would fall in the hands of cops she fears will slap them all over the Internet. "I'm just really upset about my pictures being all over the Internet, if that's where they end up landing," Polaski, 45, said of the seven or so nude cell phone photos that are now in police custody. Bridget Polaski, of Romeoville, was brought in for questioning Aug. 26 as Romeoville police investigated car vandalism. Police kept her cell phone as part of the investigation, but Polaski...

CHICAGO -- The idea seemed simple though bold: Call reputed gang leaders to a meeting with top police and federal prosecutors and deliver an ultimatum to end killings in the nation's third-largest city. But Chicago police Superintendent Jody Weis is facing mounting criticism for holding a so-called "gang summit" last month, even though several police departments across the country have relied on that approach for decades to help reduce crime. Among the chief complaints: that Weis himself was at the meeting, that the department should instead be adding more officers on the streets and that gangs won't take the message...

Officers with the Roosevelt County Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant Friday, seizing marijuana plants from the home of Poplar, Mont., Police Chief Chad Hilde. Seized during the search were several suspected marijuana plants and materials alleged to be used in the growth of the plants. Deputies are currently getting an arrest warrant for Hilde through the Roosevelt County Attorney's Office... the search was part of the department’s Operation New Beginning launched in spring 2009 to keep illegal drugs out of the community.

A former Minneapolis SWAT team member was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for the Jan. 6 robbery of the Wells Fargo Bank in Apple Valley. Timothy Carson, 29, pleaded guilty in March to two counts -- one for armed robbery and one firearms count. He received seven years for using a firearm and one year for the bank robbery. "When police officers break the law, it shakes public confidence and trust in ways we cannot measure. Today's sentence makes clear that no one is above the law," said United States Attorney B. Todd Jones, following the sentencing.

FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. -- Two Bunnell police officers, a husband and wife, are facing charges and a city commissioner is under investigation after an illegal towing operation was exposed.Investigators say, when the two officers, Lt. John Murray, who is second in command, and his wife Lisa, would pull over a driver and, for example, arrest them after finding drugs inside the vehicle, even if the vehicle was legally and safely parked, they would have the vehicle towed anyway. The alleged scheme in the case is that the towing company is owned by a Bunnell city commissioner.The second in command at...

In response to a flood of Facebook and YouTube videos that depict police abuse, a new trend in law enforcement is gaining popularity. In at least three states, it is now illegal to record any on-duty police officer. Even if the encounter involves you and may be necessary to your defense, and even if the recording is on a public street where no expectation of privacy exists. The legal justification for arresting the "shooter" rests on existing wiretapping or eavesdropping laws, with statutes against obstructing law enforcement sometimes cited. Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maryland are among the 12 states in which...