Free Republic

America faces a critical question right now. Many people—including some in very high office—are accusing law enforcement of racism and heavy-handedness. Police are under increasing scrutiny. President Barack Obama has said he wants to make the issue of race and law enforcement a priority for his remaining time in office. What will be the outcome of that effort? You can know just by looking at what has come from his previous statements and actions on this matter. It would be overstating it to say there is no racism among America’s law enforcement officers. But there are some few people who...

They told him they were going to slit his throat, and they were dragging him toward the woods,' Chief Deputy Don Bass said according to The Clarion-Ledger. He said the men then planned on dumping the body after killing him. When asked if the incident might have something to do with recent gangs stating they would attack any police officers they encountered on sight, Bass said: 'At this point in time I don't care.' Regardless of their motivation, the men were quickly foiled when Frazier managed to unlock the back doors of his squad car using a pop mechanism that...

this is bouncing around facebook today. confirmed as real by the gm @ cbs 6 news in albany. they will have a story about it tonight this seems to be more of the same as ferguson and baltimore. agitators paid $5k+/mon to spread civil unrest like the compton riots in the summer of '68 the part that jumped out for me was: 'if our FUNDING goes well' spread the word to police, fire, and any other govt workers in uniform. stay vigilant, even at home (more so then normal).

Yes, Cleveland police Officer Michael Brelo stood on a car and shot 15 times at the vehicle's unarmed black occupants seconds after he and fellow officers first riddled the car with bullets in 2012 -- but the shooting was justified, a judge ruled Saturday. Concluding just one of several police use-of-force cases that prompted recent outrage in Cleveland, a Cuyahoga County judge decided that Brelo was not guilty of voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault in the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams following a 22-mile car chase.

Officer Michael Brelo is charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter for the deaths of Timothy Russell, 43, and Malissa Williams, 30. Closing arguments in the month-long trial were presented on May 5 and Judge O’Donnell was left to deliberate. If convicted, Brelo, 31, faces a maximum sentence of 22 years in prison. On Nov. 29, 2012, Cleveland Police Officer Vasile Nan thought he heard a gunshot while he was outside of his cruiser on St. Clair Avenue near the Cuyahoga County Justice Center, and pursued a blue car. The resulting police chase lasted 22 minutes, and involved more than...

The shootout in Waco that killed nine motorcycle gang members began in the weeks before Christmas with a beating at a Toys for Tots event in Wise County and a murder in Fort Worth, according to law enforcement sources. The backdrop is a growing turf battle between the Bandidos – which has controlled Texas for years – and the Cossacks, a lesser-known biker gang that has been gaining power by aligning itself with Bandido rivals, the sources said. On Dec. 12, 10 Bandidos burst into Gator’s bar in Fort Worth and "without saying a word, started punching and attacking people,"...

The Minneapolis City Council approved a $1 million settlement Friday after a botched drug raid in 2010 in which an officer threw a "flash-bang" grenade into a Minneapolis apartment burning the flesh off a woman's leg. The payout to Rickia Russell, who suffered permanent injuries, was the third largest payout for alleged Minneapolis police misconduct on record. --SNIP-- On the night of Feb. 16, 2010, 18 officers were executing a search warrant on the apartment at 5753 Sander Drive based on a tip that narcotics were being sold at the address by someone named David Conley. In what Bennett called...

Airport Scanner Technology Mounted On US Gov't Vans To Scan What's In Nearby Vehicles from the illegal-search? dept Already thought those full body scanners at the airports were a bit much when it came to privacy? How about having government officials sitting in a van next to you scanning your car as you drive by with the same basic technology, without you even knowing about it? Jay points us to the news that a version of the same backscatter x-ray scanner technology found in airports has also been sold to the US and other governments to mount on vans to...

In the shadow of the fallen Old Man of the Mountain in Franconia, N.H., on a lonely stretch of mountain road, two men lay dead. A spasm of violence that took only a few minutes to play out leaves a community divided and searching for answers. Casey Sherman’s “Bad Blood: Freedom and Death in the White Mountains” (University Press of New England), just published, is an exhaustive account of the longstanding feud between Franconia police officer Bruce McKay, 48, and Liko Kenney, 24, the two dead men. In May 2007, Kenney shot and killed McKay after a harrowing chase that...

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration plans to kill a controversial Bush administration spy satellite program at the Department of Homeland Security, according to officials familiar with the decision. The program came under fire from its inception two years ago. Democratic lawmakers said it would lead to domestic spying. Document Police Chiefs' Letter to Napolitano. The program would have provided federal, state and local officials with extensive access to spy-satellite imagery — but no eavesdropping capabilities— to assist with emergency response and other domestic-security needs, such as identifying where ports or border areas are vulnerable to terrorism.