Free Republic

Baltimore police arrested fewer people in May than in any month for at least three years, despite a surge in homicides and shootings across the city — triggering safety concerns among residents.. Several neighborhoods saw declines of more than 90 percent from April to May, while arrests in the West Baltimore area where Freddie Gray was arrested dropped by more than half during the same period, according to a Baltimore Sun analysis of police data. Citywide, arrests declined 43 percent from April to May. "I've noticed fewer police," said Steve Dixon, program director for the Penn North Recovery Center in...

HOUSTON (AP) - Larry Gonzales was emerging from his Garda Cash Logistics armored truck to refill an ATM at a Houston-area Chase Bank in October 2013 when a man behind him demanded money. "People joke around with us," said Gonzales. "I didn't think this dude was actually serious. Next thing, I get shot in the back. Then I knew this was for real." The 28-year-old was shot six times and, despite multiple surgeries, still has a "lucky" bullet lodged in his chest. Gonzales' case is not unique. Federal statistics indicate Texas' largest city has become a hub for bank and...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Last night at Dallas police headquarters, a man opened fire on officers after planting bombs around the building which police later detonated. After a lengthy standoff and a barrage of bullets flying both ways, the gunman is dead and miraculously, no police were injured. What’s got social media abuzz with anger and disbelief is how CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield described the attacker: “It was very courageous and brave, if not crazy as well, to open fire on the police headquarters.” If you’re disgusted, you’re not alone: (VIDEO-AT-LINK)[continued]

It is both apropos and undeniably tragic the NAACP would hire a white female pretending to be a black activist long before they would ever allow a black conservative to lead any of their chapters. After 50 years of failed Democratic promises and the shameless exploitation ploys of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, imagine how much progress could be made if Allen West, Thomas Sowell, David Clarke and Dr. Ben Carson guided their ranks? The black community doesn't need "yes" men, race baiters and endless victimization propaganda. They need fearless leaders who believe in tough love, accountability, and above all...

The Rev. Michael Pfleger was cheered, booed, heckled and given a standing ovation at St. George Catholic Church in Tinley Park. And that was all in reaction to a speech urging everyone to join together to stop the killing of children on the streets of Chicago and throughout the United States. Makes you wonder what the reaction would have been if his topic had actually been something controversial.. Pfleger always sparks controversy. The priest, who has made his home base of St. Sabina Parish in Chicago a stopping-off point for national political leaders and Hollywood celebrities, has a knack for...

The Obama Administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is working on new regulations that would tie federal aid to the placement of low-income public housing within white suburbs. HUD Secretary Julian Castro explained that “ensuring diversity in every community is a key goal of this Administration. People on welfare shouldn’t be denied the right to live in nice communities just because there is no affordable housing available. Likewise, racists shouldn’t be allowed to insulate themselves from having neighbors of color merely by moving into areas with expensive housing.” A possible fringe benefit for whites under this initiative, according...

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky, addressed race and the criminal justice system during a stop this week in Baltimore. He spoke at a Maryland Republican fundraiser in Baltimore about racial disparities in law enforcement practices. Paul drew criticism last month in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray, who died after being injured while in police custody, and the riots that followed in Baltimore. At the time, Paul did a controversial interview with radio host Laura Ingraham during which he said some factors that influenced the violence were “the breakdown of the family structure, the lack of fathers, the...

Steven Lemmerman, who DJs under the name DJ Lemz, and his partner Stuart Parlier were walking home from a drag show at Baltimore Soundstage last night when they were attacked at the corner of Charles and Fayette streets. "We were having a little fun walking back from the show," Lemmerman said in a phone interview this morning. "I was strutting and dancing in the crosswalk when this guy gunned his engine and tried to hit me. I tapped his hood with my palm and he rushed out of the car and went after Stuart first, which means to me that...

IONIA COUNTY, MI - Surveillance footage shows a woman being run over by John Calley's SUV as he pulls out of an Ionia County gas station, police say. The footage, obtained from the Ionia County Prosecutor's Office, gives a glimpse into the Jan. 28 hit-and-run, which resulted in charges being filed against Calley, the brother of Lt. Gov. Brian Calley. The incident took place at about 5 p.m. at a Pilot gas station, 7205 S. State Road, about 12 miles south of Ionia. The video shows Calley and a 24-year-old female friend pull up to the gas station. He went...

A local pool manager has decided that taking video or photographs at the public pool is banned. Is this allowed?

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Crime in Baltimore is a towering story these days. The homicide count in May was 43, the highest in nearly 40 years. Arrests, meanwhile, have dropped through the floor, a situation that some attribute to a reaction to the charges against six Baltimore police officers involved in the Freddie Gray episode, which were announced May 1 by Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police President Gene Ryan has spoken forcefully on behalf of his rank and file: “The criminals are taking advantage of the situation in Baltimore since the unrest. Criminals feel empowered now. There...

The violinist Stefan Arzberger had planned to play the music of Beethoven, Haydn and Mendelssohn with his colleagues in the Leipzig String Quartet later this month at Wigmore Hall in London, where he fondly recalls once sipping sherry with patrons after a concert.Instead he finds himself facing a charge of attempted murder in New York City, accused of barging naked into the room of a 64-year-old woman at a Midtown hotel he was staying in while on tour this spring and trying to strangle her. His defense is hardly less lurid: His lawyers say he was drugged by a prostitute...

Do you really believe that the destruction of our cities within the United States by protestors and looters is truly a result of police brutality or is it just a case, furthered by our so-called leaders, that one bad apple destroys the whole bushel? Eleven teachers in Atlanta have been convicted for the largest cheating scandal in the nation’s history. So what does this tell us? ALL teachers are cheaters! A Northwestern University professor violated the sexual harassment code by getting a student drunk then kissing her and groping her while she blacked out. What does this tell us? ALL...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Baltimore police have two suspects in custody in the sexual assault and killing of a 16-year-old girl whose body was found in a fire. Adonay Dixon, 23, and John Childs, 20, are accused of killing Arnesha Bowers. The Baltimore City College student's body was found inside her northeast Baltimore home Sunday morning. Investigators said Bowers was sexually assaulted and fatally strangled with an electrical cord as she was restrained before the house was set on fire. Asked about a motive, police commanders described the crime as evil. "The motive was evil. Could you imagine leaving your child at home and...

The Michigan House Judiciary committee has passed a package of bills that would reform Michigan’s civil asset forfeiture laws. Currently, law enforcement officials are able to seize private property from residents and give it to government agencies even if no one is convicted of a crime. You can read the Mackinac Center’s past work on the issue here. The bill package deals with mandating reporting requirements of law enforcement agencies and raising the standard of proof that must be met before property can be forfeited. The transparency bills were passed almost unanimously by the 11-person committee. The state only has...

A boy of 14 is being hunted by police after a teacher was stabbed at a school. The 50-year-old man was taken to hospital from the Dixons Kings Academy, in Bradford, for treatment to a stab wound to his body on Thursday morning. His condition was described as stable. The teenager is described as Asian, with short dark hair. Police said he was last seen wearing a blue uniform blazer.

Female university students who completed 12 hours of training on resisting sexual assaults experienced far fewer rapes and attempted rapes, according to a new Canadian study. The study involved 893 female Canadian students who were either given the training -- known as the Enhanced Assess Acknowledge Act Sexual Assault Resistance Program (EAAA) -- or formed a control group where they were asked to read brochures. One year later, those who took the EAAA had experienced 46 per cent fewer completed rapes (5.2 per cent versus 9.8 per cent) and 63 per cent fewer attempted rapes (3.4 per cent versus 9.3...

JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) - A JPD officer is almost recovered, and could be released from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon after his patrol car was hit Monday.

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The FBI has gone after what it says is the biggest and most violent gang in Baltimore. Wednesday, 14 members of the Black Guerilla Family have been charged with a string of crimes in the city. Alex DeMetrick has more on the case against the BGF. The indictment was filed Wednesday afternoon in federal court. Among the 14 Black Guerilla Family members charged, one name stands out. “The case we’re bringing today involves the lead defendant by the name of Michael Gray, who was allegedly the city-wide leader of the BGF gang,” said U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein....

Five people — two men, two women and a 16-year-old boy — were shot in Baltimore Tuesday and Wednesday nights, police said.. Three of the shootings took place within a mile of each other on the city's west side. The 16-year-old boy walked into a hospital at about 11:45 p.m. Tuesday after being shot multiple times in the arm and shoulder in the 1500 block of Presstman St., in Sandtown-Winchester, the neighborhood where Freddie Gray was arrested, police said. (VIDEO-AT-LINK)An 85-year-old woman was grazed in the leg by a bullet at about 5:11 p.m. Wednesday in the 800 block of...