Free Republic

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...

Serving and former US Navy SEALs have slammed President Barack Obama for taking the credit for killing Osama bin Laden and accused him of using Special Forces operators as 'ammunition' for his re-election campaign. The SEALs spoke out to MailOnline after the Obama campaign released an ad entitled 'One Chance'. In it President Bill Clinton is featured saying that Mr Obama took 'the harder and the more honourable path' in ordering that bin Laden be killed. The words 'Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?' are then displayed.

Two teachers, including a former teacher of the year, are suing the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami, claiming they were fired for reporting suspected sex abuse involving the principal and a seventh grade girl. Chanell Morello and Lynn Hoffman immediately contacted the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Miami Archdiocese after the student made Morello aware of an incident allegedly involving St. Anthony Catholic School principal Norma Kramer.

DALLAS — Dallas will keep $2,000 found by a teenager in a parking lot last February. The money will go into the city's general fund — not back to Plano high school student Ashley Donaldson, who found the cash in an envelope at the Pavillion Shopping Center in North Dallas. "I don't regret making the decision I did," she said. "I feel proud of myself for giving the money back. It's one of the biggest decisions of my life." The 15-year-old Shepton High School student spotted the money on the ground and took it to a nearby Chase Bank. Over...

DAYTON -- The Dayton Police Department is lowering its testing standards for recruits. It's a move required by the U.S. Department of Justice after it says not enough African-Americans passed the exam. Dayton is in desperate need of officers to replace dozens of retirees. The hiring process was postponed for months because the D.O.J. rejected the original scores provided by the Dayton Civil Service Board, which administers the test. Under the previous requirements, candidates had to get a 66% on part one of the exam and a 72% on part two. The D.O.J. approved new scoring policy only requires potential...

William Scott Ritter Jr., a former United Nations weapons inspector who gained renown for his criticism of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, contends his online sexual encounters with teenage girls were only fantasy. Nearly two years ago, Ritter, of Delmar, watched his computer screen reveal that an anonymous person who had been exchanging sexually charged messages with him for 80 minutes was not a 15-year-old girl. It was a cop from a small town in northeast Pennsylvania, alone in his station house and trolling the Internet for suspected child predators. Ryan Venneman, a detective for the Barrett Township...

BOISE, Idaho — As many as 15 church members who knew several months before authorities did that a Boise police officer had molested children will face no criminal charges for failing to report the crimes, Idaho authorities say. The Ada County Sheriff's Office says members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are protected by Idaho's clergy privilege law. Police said Stephen R. Young confessed his crimes to church officials in January, but the crimes didn't become public until March. Young attended an LDS church in Eagle. SNIP Court records say Young admitted molesting four children, ages 1...

A just-released biography of King Carl Gustaf – The Unwilling Monarach – claims that he "frequently visited Mafia-run nightclubs to partake in wild orgies when he was a younger man" as reported by Gavin Reilly for The Journal. Good thing no U.S. politicians ever subjected themselves to black mail by attending Mafia-linked sex clubs, right? Although, in 1975 the NYDA and NYPD initiated an investigation dubbed Operation Together which, among other things, was looking into mob control over gay bars, several murders of gay club owners, drug trafficking at gay bars, and underage boy sex rings, and just as law...

A police officer's most powerful weapon isn't a gun, it’s the badge. The badge commands respect and demands a code of conduct for those who wear it. But what should be done when officers violate the codes they've sworn to uphold? Mill Creek Police Department Mill Creek Police Chief Bob Crannell faced that question when allegations surfaced earlier this year that two of his patrol officers were having secret sexual rendezvous. The incidents happened at an abandoned house, in a nature preserve, and at a construction site - all while on duty. "I was very surprised,” said Chief Crannell. Both...

A Pennsylvania teen who stored intimate photos of herself on her cell phone — but never e-mailed or shared them with anyone other than her longtime boyfriend — settled her federal privacy case against high school officials who had seized the phone without a warrant and turned it over to prosecutors. Still unsettled, however, is the question of how far educators can go when it comes to fulfilling their obligation to keep sexually explicit images, audio and text from reaching the eyes and ears of minors while on school grounds. "I hope this settlement will lead school officials in the...

Rene Lozano Jr. once lost control of his patrol car while chasing a traffic violator. The vehicle slammed into a utility pole, fatally injuring a rookie officer riding with him. A bullet narrowly missed another officer's head when Lozano's pistol accidentally discharged. He was the passenger in a stolen Mercedes-Benz driven by a friend. The bolt cutters used to steal the car were stashed under the seat. And he once was fired for making false statements about his arrest on charges of driving while intoxicated, a case that ultimately was dismissed because the arresting officer was unable to testify. That...

You read that right. Gang members in the most violent city in the nation criticized the police for being ineffective in combating...gang violence.

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...

A longtime criminal court judge whom colleagues hailed as a stickler for the law resigned abruptly after authorities discovered a cleavage-heavy porn cache on his work computer during a routine system check, according to a published report. James Gibbons, a highly regarded former prosecutor, was on paternity leave after having fathered a child with a legal aid attorney 16 years his junior when authorities found the stash and seized his computer, reports the Daily News. "There was a lot of porn on his computer – all young women," an investigator told the paper. "Lots of crotch and cleavage shots." The...

It's no secret that HCC and its police department are going through some tough times. Well, throw another log on the fire. Two HCC employees have filed a lawsuit against the college claiming that officials authorized hidden cameras in a room used by female police officers to change in and out of their uniforms. "The hidden cameras' location reveal the intention behind their installation was not security," the federal lawsuit states, "but fit more in line with spying for spying's sake or designed to please the prurient interest" of those watching and listening to the videos. HCC security officer Alfreda...

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.

Late one night in October, a 17-year-old on a bike was chased by a police officer in a cruiser. When the boy refused to stop, the officer aimed his Taser out the driver's window and fired. The boy fell off the bike and the cruiser ran over him, killing him.

A Miami-Dade judge has decided to drop the felony charge facing a former cop who is on trial for killing his K-9 companion. Allen Cockfield faced prison time if convicted of killing a police dog, which is a third degree felony. Cockfield, a 25-year veteran of the Miami-Dade police force, is accused of choking and then kicking Duke the K-9 repeatedly during an obedience training session in 2006. The two had been partners for six months before the incident happened. The judge ruled Cockfield didn't intend to kill Duke, despite his violent actions. The former cop still faces animal cruelty...

For committing an act of pure decency, three black women are being ostracized by many other black people. • On the night of June 29, Delores Keen, Renee Roundtree and Rose Dodson rushed outside Keen's apartment after they heard gunshots. They discovered two Tampa police officers, David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab, lying together on the ground. The officers had been shot. Dontae Morris, a 24-year-old black ex-convict, would be charged in the shootings.

A Stoughton cop has resigned after hitting a strip joint on duty to try and meet "the world’s smallest porn star," putting an unapproved laser scope on his gun and lying to investigators, the town’s police chief told the Herald today. Officer Richard P. Bennett, 28, has stepped down after five officers reported he left his patrol to go to Alex’s gentleman’s club to meet "Bridget the Midget," a 3-foot, 9-inch tall porn star, Stoughton Police Chief Paul Shastany said. Bennett, who was honored by the department in June for his work in helping catch an accused killer, also installed...