Free Republic

A Cape Girardeau police officer got more than he bargained for when he answered a call about shots fired. What he found when he arrived was a large street fight. As you can see, when he went to arrest one suspect a woman approaches the officer. He pushed her away and when she came back again swinging, the officer punched her. The Cape Girardeau Police Chief stands by what the officer did saying there's always a fear that a person will go for the officer's weapon. "Of course the major fear is that person may try to go for the...

<p>Waterbury (AP) - Police in Connecticut say a Waterbury officer's .40-caliber pistol somehow ended up in the hands of criminals and has been linked to five shootings in the New Haven area.</p> <p>The Republican-American of Waterbury reports that arrest warrants have been issued for Sgt. David Setzer, who is expected to turn himself in at the New Haven police department Wednesday.</p>

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Five Guatemalan nationals have been indicted on gun smuggling charges after a year long investigation in Nashville. One of the men was a former Metro police officer. Several agencies were involved in the investigation including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); Metro Nashville Police Department and U.S. Attorney's Office. Officials named Julio Cesar Rojas-Lopez, Donald Efren Franco, Denis Franco, Luis Armando Monterroso Pineda and Edwing Ronal Morales in the indictment. Morales was a police trainee since April 2007. His employment was terminated Sept. 15, 2009. Rojas-Lopez reportedly recruited the...

'Drunk' cop kills pastor's daughter A drunk NYPD officer struck and killed a Brooklyn woman early this morning - and his three passengers, including at least one other cop, fled the deadly scene and left her dying in the street, police sources and witnesses said. Driver Andrew Kelly, 30, who is assigned to the 68th Precinct in Bay Ridge and lives in Flushing, Queens, was arrested after mowing down Vionique Valnord, 33 at the corner of Avenue N and 56th Street, cops said. Sources said he refused to take a breathalyzer test and investigators obtained a warrant to draw his...

BILLINGS - American Police Force officials showed up in Mercedes SUV's that had "Hardin Police" stenciled on the vehicles. The twist, the city of Hardin doesn't have a police department. Two Rivers Authority officials say having APF patrol the streets was never part of their agenda. "I have no idea. I really don't because that's not been a part of any of the discussions we've had with any of them," said Two Rivers Authority's Al Peterson. As it stands now the Big Horn County Sheriff's Department is contracted to patrol the city and APF has no jurisdiction. If that was...

Recently declassified documents obtained by Wired magazine reveal a massive Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data mining operation. It already possesses over 1.5 billion records from government and private-sector sources. That figure is expected by the FBI to balloon to over 6 billion within a few years. And it is not just terrorists they are after.  According to the documents, the National Security Branch Analysis Center (NSAC) is being used to pursue multiple types of non-terrorism domestic investigations. It is also meant to be able to sort through the data — everything from health and travel records to credit card...

CLINTON — When Sally Harpold bought cold medicine for her family back in March, she never dreamed that four months later she would end up in handcuffs. Now, Harpold is trying to clear her name of criminal charges, and she is speaking out in hopes that a law will change so others won’t endure the same embarrassment she still is facing. “This is a very traumatic experience,” Harpold said. Harpold is a grandmother of triplets who bought one box of Zyrtec-D cold medicine for her husband at a Rockville pharmacy. Less than seven days later, she bought a box of...

HIDALGO COUNTY, TEXAS -- The Hidalgo County Sheriff's Department busted a ring of men posing as fake cops Thursday. Deputies are still looking for more suspects. They arrested Eduardo Varela and Rafael Saenz. The men are accused of storming into a home north of Mercedes earlier this month and posing as FBI agents. The suspects allegedly took a 2003 BMV. Investigators said Varela and Saenz implicated five other men. "Ricardo Guzman known as 'El Borrado' may be a former Mexican police officer who also had a district job to recruit illegal immigrants to participate in these home invasions," explained Sheriff...

Reported by: Kevin Holmes Email: kholmes@myeyewitnessnews.com Last Update: 9/23 11:33 pm JERICHO, AR – He was shot by an officer. Now arrest warrants have been issued for the Former Fire Chief in Jericho, Arkansas. Meanwhile, the officer who shot him is patrolling the streets. Investigators say Don Payne was shot inside Jericho City Hall after he confronted a judge over a parking ticket. MyEywitnessNews.com caught up with Don Payne more than a week after the warrants were issued. He was on his front porch. “I’m sitting right here just waiting. I’m not a fugitive. I’m a person that works for...

Call it Bagelgate. The controversy involves a Larksville coffee shop, a Plymouth police officer and a $1.30 bagel. On Wednesday afternoon, witnesses say an on-duty officer in a Plymouth police sport utility vehicle held up the drive-through lane of the Curry Donuts on Route 11 waiting for a toasted bagel with a coffee he was given free. When told he had to pay for the bagel, the officer claimed he didn't have his wallet, said "If it's not free, I don't want it" and drove off. The bagel went to waste. The flap over the bagel has placed a spotlight...

Federal judge sends Oklahoma sheriff and deputy to jail for two years for pulling over and stealing from drivers. An Oklahoma sheriff and his deputy were sentenced to two years and three months in jail on Tuesday for the crime of stopping and searching motorists so that they could steal their cash. An undercover federal sting operation caught McIntosh County Sheriff Terry Alan Jones, 36, and Under-sheriff Mykol Travis Brookshire, 38, red-handed. The pair were forced to resign their positions in May and plead guilty to Conspiracy Under Color of Law to Interfere with Interstate Commerce. "The court imposed the...

Perhaps the Garden State should switch its nickname to the Barnyard State. A New Jersey judge has dismissed animal cruelty charges against a cop accused of committing a sex act with cows, saying a grand jury had no way of knowing whether the animals were "tormented." Moorestown police officer Robert Melia, who is currently suspended, allegedly stuck his penis in the mouths of five calves in Southampton in 2006. Since New Jersey currently has no law explicitly banning such an act, prosecutors in Burlington county brought animal cruelty charges against Melia, the Philadelphia Daily News reports. "If the cow had...

Senior citizen Bud Grose was chased and tasered -- five different times -- by two Wyoming police officers on August 1. The investigation has just concluded with the firing of the two officers. The small town of Glenrock, Wyoming was shocked and horrified after one of its residents was chased and tasered by police during an annual celebration of community arts and life this past summer. It was nearing the end of the Deer Creek Days annual parade held on Aug. 1 when two officers chased and tasered senior citizen, Bud Grose. Grose was driving an antique tractor in the...

4 Police Officers Shot in NJ The Associated Press LAKEWOOD, N.J. - Four Lakewood police officers have been shot executing a search warrant in New Jersey. Deputy Chief Michael Mohel (mohl) says members of the tactical unit were serving a no-knock narcotics and weapons warrant around 2:25 a.m. Thursday when Jamie Gonzalez opened fire

The headline is not from the Onion. Tampa Bay Online reports:With guns drawn and flashlights cutting through darkened rooms, Polk County undercover drug investigators stormed the home of convicted drug dealer Michael Difalco near Lakeland in March.As investigators searched the home for drugs, some drug task force members found other ways to occupy their time. Within 20 minutes of entering Difalco's house, some of the investigators found a Wii video bowling game and began bowling frame after frame.While some detectives hauled out evidence such as flat screen televisions and shotguns, others threw strikes, gutter balls and worked on picking up...

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Click to enlarge1 of 1 Emergency room nurse Lisa Hofstra filed a lawsuit against Chicago Police Officer Rodriguez for hancuffing her and escorting her out of the hospital. A nurse claims an officer stormed into her hospital, slapped her in handcuffs and then locked her in the back of his squad car for 45 minutes. And she says it was for no good reason. CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports with details of the lawsuit she has now filed. Lisa Hofstra was the overnight nurse in charge of the emergency department at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical...

The Justice Department's inspector general has agreed to investigate whether ACORN has applied for or received any DOJ grant money, in the wake of bipartisan criticism of the community activist group's operation. And seven other inspectors general are being asked by two congressional members to take a look at their funding mechanisms.

A white Philadelphia police officer who came to work with his hair in cornrows was ordered by a superior to get a haircut, even though black colleagues wear the same type of braids. The Philadelphia Daily News reported Monday that Officer Thomas Strain was put on desk duty earlier this month because of the hairstyle. A police spokesman, Lt. Frank Vanore, said Strain's boss didn't feel the braids were "professional."

To get booted off the street, a police officer has to do something pretty serious - like shoot a suspect or be accused of brutality. But in the 35th District, which covers Logan, Olney and adjacent neighborhoods, apparently a hairdo will do it. A cop who got cornrows was ordered off the street and kept on desk duty for two days until he cut his braids off, sources said. While dozens of black officers across the city wear cornrows, Officer Thomas Strain is white. So when the five-year veteran showed up for work Sept. 3 with the traditionally black hairstyle,...

Bangor Police Chief Ron Gastia ... “It nonetheless remains necessary to increase the parking revenue and address the limited enforcement of on-street parking.” In that memo, which was leaked to the Bangor Daily News earlier this week, he announced the enactment of a new quota system demanding that patrol officers write a minimum of 10 parking tickets per month. He has since reduced the quota to five tickets a month. Gastia had not intended that internal memo to get into the hands of the public or the media, and when I spoke with him Friday he was clearly not happy...

HOBOKEN - Authorities seized more than two dozen firearms from a house on Garden Street on Friday after neighbors spotted a resident brandishing a handgun on his front stoop, authorities said. The man, who was not immediately charged or identified, was taken into custody without incident when police officers arrived at the scene, said Capt. James Fitzsimmons of the Hoboken police. The incident was reported around 11:15 p.m. by a neighbor who saw an armed man standing at a window in the 600 block of Garden Street. The man walked onto his front stoop holding the firearm, witnesses told police,...

An anonymous reader writes "The police chief in Austin, TX is not happy that people are voicing their disapproval of him via anonymous blog posts and comments. He claims that 'such posts erode public trust in the department.' The chief wants to find out who these people are and investigate and prosecute such posters for statements he deems defamatory and libelous. Interestingly, the article notes, 'the Associated Press has reported that most of the cases fail because statements of opinion are protected under the First Amendment.' One wonders if this is a legitimate problem that warrants public money to investigate,...

Police say as many as five masked men wearing FBI baseball caps invaded a home in the Annandale section of Fairfax County on Thursday. Fairfax County Police say the masked men were all wearing police style tactical gear when they entered the home around 12:15 p.m. They tied up a woman and her son who was home with a toddler, and then searched the house. The men then took off in a gold or beige Cadillac Escalade. It's unclear what the men wanted and police wouldn't say what they took. The man and woman who were tied up inside the...

This story ran a while back on freerepublic (May 2007), but no one posted the YouTube video that shows news anchors losing composure after hearing the 911 audio of a cop who apparently confiscated pot during an arrest, took it home, baked it, consumed it with his girlfriend, and then freaked out. Consider it a Friday humor break. Have a good weekend all! YouTube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnZb5wi_jsU&feature=related Original article here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1832141/posts

Lawyers for John "Junior" Gotti said they received notification Friday from prosecutors that a former NYPD detective allegedly tied to the mob has pleaded guilty to federal charges. The nature of the charges facing Phil Barrone wasn't disclosed, according to Gotti lawyer Charles Carnesi. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan declined to comment when asked if Barrone had entered any plea. Word that Barrone, who left the force in the 1980s, has entered a plea raised the question of whether the former cop might be a cooperating witness in the Gotti trial, slated to begin Monday.

Four former members of an now-disbanded Chicago police unit admitted Friday to taking part in a brazen scheme in which they barged into homes and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from suspected drug dealers and others—once after withholding insulin from a diabetic man until he told them where to find the cash. Former police officers Bart Maka, Guadalupe Salinas, Brian Pratscher pleaded guilty to felony theft, and former officer Donovan Markiewicz pleaded guilty to official misconduct, in deals that called for each to be sentenced to six months in jail and various terms of probation in exchange for their...

As a high-ranking U.S. anti-drug official, Richard Padilla Cramer held front-line posts in the war on Mexico's murderous cartels. He led an office of two dozen agents in Arizona and was the attache for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Guadalajara. While in Mexico... Cramer also served as a secret ally of drug lords.... allegedly advised traffickers on law enforcement tactics and pulled secret files to help them identify turncoats. He charged $2,000 for a Drug Enforcement Administration document that was sent to a suspect in Miami.... But the investigation revealed that he worked for "a very high-level drug lord," the...

"I remember thinking, as I kneeled at gunpoint with my hands bound on my living room floor, that there had been a terrible, terrible mistake."

PHOENIX — An Arizona couple accused of sexual abuse after taking bath-time photos of their children and then trying to have them developed at Walmart are suing the state and the retail giant. Lisa and Anthony "A.J." Demaree's three young daughters were taken away by Arizona Child Protective Services last fall when a Walmart employee found partially nude pictures of the girls on a camera memory stick taken to the store for processing, according to the suit. The Peoria couple's attorney said Walmart turned the photos over to police and the Demarees were not allowed to see their children for...

VIDEO At Link HERE .A Houston man was handcuffed and assaulted by cops for posting anti-Obama flyers around his town, actions described as “criminal vandalism” by police and some local residents, despite the fact that giant pro-Obama murals are openly displayed in the same neighborhood for all to see. 21-year-old Mark Fuhre, an Alex Jones Show listener, decided to post the flyers even though the Infowars Obama Joker Poster Contest had ended, because he wanted to alert his neighbors to the cult of personality being manufactured around Obama and how the establishment is stifling any criticism of the President by...

"They slammed me against the hood of my car, cuffed me, threw me in the back of the car. I'm in my own driveway at this point and time."

A mother who killed herself and her disabled daughter in a blazing car had faced constant abuse and threats from a gang of youths, an inquest heard today. Fiona Pilkington made dozens of calls to the police and council officials to complain about the way her daughter, Francecca Hardwick, was being picked on. The single mother was told to ignore the 16-strong gang. When Miss Pilkington called to complain that youths were trampling her hedge, police told her to close the curtains in her front room. The 38-year-old set light to her car with Francecca, 18, and herself inside.

HOUSTON -- A Houston man said police were called and citations were issued because of his posters of President Barack Obama, KPRC Local 2 reported Wednesday. Mark Fuhre, 21, admits to hanging the controversial signs which prompted concern for different reasons from neighbors, police and political party leaders. Fuhre said he was detained by police after posting the signs around his Kingwood neighborhood. The signs depict the president with his face painted like the Joker from Batman.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department Tuesday responded to 10News' report about a new sonic weapon known as a Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD. The technology has been used in Iraq to control insurgents, and now it is in the sheriff's department's possession.On Monday, members of the American Civil Liberties Union spoke with 10News, and they expressed outrage that local law enforcement had the device and that they had brought it to recent town hall meetings in case things got out of hand. Kevin Keenan, of the ACLU, said, "We think that local law enforcement shouldn't be using military...

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego County Sheriff's Department Tuesday responded to 10News' report about a new sonic weapon known as a Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD The device was originally made to be used for war, and it emits high-pitched sounds as a form crowd control. On Monday, members of the American Civil Liberties Union spoke with 10News, and they expressed outrage that local law enforcement had the device and that they had brought it to recent town hall meetings in case things got out of hand.

34 men and women have been arrested in an undercover prostitution sting called "Operation Hot Date." Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd says undercover detectives talked to women who advertised themselves on Craigslist from Thursday through Saturday, September 10-12.

James O'Keefe's foray into filmmaking may cost him a few years in the slammer. O'Keefe and fellow conservative activist/budding investigative journalist Hannah Giles were the ones who dressed up like a pimp and a prostitute, respectively (or not), and went to the offices of the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) in D.C. and Baltimore looking for advice on how to buy a house. The resulting video caused quite a commotion and resulted in the firing of four ACORN employees, as well as other repercussions for those who support the organization. In Maryland, it's against the law to...

Security guards reduced a nine-year-old boy to tears after banning him from sailing his toy boat on a pond because it 'frightens the fish'. Noah Bailey was distraught after staff at Chiswick Business Park, in west London, stopped him playing with his model of the German battleship Bismarck. His grandfather Paul Fabricius, 57, said that when they went to complain about the draconian rule the guard refused to tell him the name of the manager for 'security reasons'.

104 Agents, basically the size of a military company (100 men) and these guys just can not seem to maintain control over their weapons. Their patrol rifles are stolen, their pistols are stolen and when directed to secure them with handcuffs, an agent shoots himself when he triggerlocks a loaded pistol. Really, these guys qualify for the Gomer Battalion in any Army in the world.

With handguns and baseball bats, South Florida residents in recent days have been striking back at home invaders, beating and even killing those who violate the sanctity of their homes. Use of deadly force against intruders is allowed under Florida law, but prosecutors and criminologists caution homeowners that there are limits to when they can harm an intruder. In 2005, the "Stand Your Ground" law went into effect. It expands the Castle Doctrine to say a person can respond to an attack with deadly force not only in the home but anywhere in public. Winick fears the law can send...

By ED TRELEVEN Posted: Thursday, September 10, 2009 The state will pay $50,000 to a woman who was shocked with a Taser by UW Police at a Badgers football game last year under a settlement reached on Tuesday, the woman's attorney said. Robert Gingras, the attorney for Margaret Hiebing, said the settlement was reached during a mediation session with retired Circuit Judge Angela Bartell, who brokered the deal between Gingras and state Department of Justice attorneys who represented UW Police Sgt. Tamara Kowalski and Detective Peter Grimyser. Hiebing, 54, sued the officers on Feb. 20, alleging that her civil rights...

BUTLER COUNTY, Pa. -- Police in Butler County fatally shot a man after a standoff on Wednesday night. But before the shooting, officers fired tear gas into the wrong house. Channel 4 Action News' Paul Van Osdol reported that when he went inside the home that was mistakenly tear-gassed, even 24 hours later, his eyes started burning. State police mistakenly fired tear gas into a house on Bredin Street, across from the home actually involved in the standoff. "They've blown a hole, two holes in our front window. One shot actually came through our house the whole way and struck...

But can law enforcement themselves be entrapped? That seems to be the extraordinary claim of the Racine, Wisconsin police department in the case of an open carrier who was arrested for obstructing justice after he apparently refused to identify himself when officers began questioning him for open carrying on the porch of his own home. The facts are still emerging, but reports seem to agree that officers were in the neighborhood where Frank Rock lives on Wednesday night investigating the shooting of one or more raccoons. While in the neighborhood, officers noticed that Rock, sitting peacefully on his front porch,...

In 2007, Shreveport police officer Wiley Willis arrested 38-year-old Angela Garbarino on suspicion of drunken driving. While in custody, as captured on the video below, Garbarino began arguing with Willis about what she said was her right to make a phone call. About a minute later, Willis walked over and turned off the video camera. When the camera returns back on, Garbarino was lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. She was later photographed with severe facial injuries that looked to have come from a beating. Willis’ attorney stated that she tripped and fell while the...

On September 8, 2009, United States District Judge Bruce D. Black of the United States District Court for New Mexico entered summary judgment in a civil case for damages against Alamogordo, NM police officers. The Judge's straight shootin' message to police: Leave open carriers alone unless you have "reason to believe that a crime [is] afoot." The facts of the case are pretty simple. Matthew St. John entered an Alamogordo movie theater as a paying customer and sat down to enjoy the movie. He was openly carrying a holstered handgun, conduct which is legal in 42 states, and requires no...

RAYMORE, Mo. -- A Raymore family is missing a loved one and says that Raymore police are to blame. Kelly Wesner and her family lost their cat, Tobey, who had been a member of the family for 18 years. Wesner said Tobey managed to sneak outside without anyone noticing. What happened next left Wesner dumbfounded. Raymore police were called after someone reported an aggressive cat had scratched a young girl. According to a police report, the cat was wild, sick, and had all four legs out with claws extended. The report also stated that the cat was very large. Wesner...

When the government accuses a doctor of running a "pill mill," prosecutors portray every aspect of his practice in a sinister light. Prescribing painkillers becomes drug trafficking, applying for insurance reimbursement becomes fraud, making bank deposits becomes money laundering and working with people at the office becomes conspiracy. When Siobhan Reynolds thinks a doctor has been unfairly targeted for such a prosecution, she tries to counter the official narrative by highlighting the patients he has helped and dramatizing the conflict between drug control and pain control. But now the government has turned its reinterpretive powers on Reynolds, portraying the pain...

    Four years after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the City of New Orleans, leaving anarchy in its wake, the Department of Justice is reportedly putting on a full court press investigation of the police in that city, with the main focus being on two shooting incidents that left three people dead.    Let’s be up front about this: Since the Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association (and nobody else!) stepped to file a landmark federal lawsuit to stop authorities in New Orleans from illegally seizing firearms in the hurricane’s aftermath, nobody has been held accountable for that treachery....

examiner.com — On September 8, 2009, United States District Judge Bruce D. Black of the United States District Court for New Mexico entered summary judgment in a civil case for damages against Alamogordo, NM police officers. The Judge’s straight shootin’ message to police: Leave open carriers alone unless you have “reason to believe that a crime [is] afoot.” . . .

This fall, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Alvarez v. Smith, a challenge to the state of Illinois' Drug Asset Forfeiture Procedure Act (DAFPA). (Disclosure: the Reason Foundation, publisher of Reason.com, joined in an amicus brief in the case.) The six petitioners in Alvarez each had property seized by police who suspected the property had been involved in a drug crime. Three had their cars seized, three had cash taken. None of the six were served with a warrant, none of the six were charged with the crime. All perfectly legal, at least until now. ...(snip)... In...