Free Republic

In other news, our wonderful Austin police chief has come out with his opinion that citizens who do not agree with him are 'lying extremists with undeveloped brains'. Art Acevedo, the political hack that he is, basically insults people who disagree with his opinion that universal background checks should be mandatory. I find it rather interesting that the sheriffs around the country, who are accountable to the citizens, are generally against new gun legislation that imposes greater hardship on said citizens, while the police chiefs, who are politicians only accountable to other politicians, seem to love the idea of greater...

The Winchester (Va.) Police Department is taking a close look at its officers' weapons holsters after an officer's gun accidentally went off in a special needs school bus.The incident occurred Monday morning when a middle school student reached for a police officer's gun, reports TV3Winchester. Fortunately, no one was injured.The officer had been dispatched to the bus to calm down the student. While the officer was sitting next to him, the student reached over and put his finger on the trigger of the weapon. The bullet went through the seat and hit the floor.

As the "Great Ammunition Shortage" continues, police departments across the country are struggling to supply their arsenals. One police chief turned to the community for help, and citizens stepped up. In Proctor, Minnesota, police chief Walter Wobig says that his suppliers have told him he'll have to wait "months" for the 1,000 rounds he's requested. When Wobig turned to the residents of Proctor by putting out a call for help meeting his department's ammo needs, citizens contacted his office, eager to help. "The citizens were like, 'If you need something, we got plenty here,'" said Wobig. One resident and a...

One neighbor says a naked woman was seen crawling on her hands and knees in the backyard of the house a few years ago. Another heard pounding on the home's doors and noticed plastic bags over the windows. Both times, police showed up but never went inside, neighbors say. Police also paid a visit to the house in 2004, but no one answered the door. Now, after three women who vanished a decade ago were found captive Monday at the peeling, rundown house, Cleveland police are facing questions for the second time in four years about their handling of missing-person...

PERRY COUNTY, MS (WDAM) - The accidental death of the Perry County K-9 dog who died after being locked in his handler's patrol car overnight has many people calling for his job. About three weeks ago, Napo, a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois, was found dead in the patrol car. His handler, Steve Verret, had apparently forgot the dog was in the vehicle. Reaction from around the state from animal advocates and others has been one of shock and anger. "Certainly it was a very unfortunate situation all the way around," said Katherine Sammons, Founder Mississippi Animal Advocate Group. "I have known...

Miami cop fired 8 times could make it 9 By Claudine Zap | The Sideshow – 1 hr 58 mins ago....Email 0Share 0Tweet174Share0Print......For one police officer, will the ninth strike mean he's out? This time around, Sgt. German Bosque—who has been fired eight times from three different police departments—has been charged with leaving his assault weapon with his girlfriend’s father, a trained security guard, while on an eight-day leave, according to CBS4 Miami. That’s a no-no, says the Opa-locka Police Department, which presented its case to dismiss him in front of an arbitration officer on Wednesday.

Ron Paul, in a posting on the website of a libertarian activist, accused US law enforcement of 'a military-style occupation of an American city' in its response to the Boston bombing. Former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul has slammed US law enforcement for responding to the Boston Marathon bombing with “police state tactics.” In a post on the website of libertarian activist Lew Rockwell, Mr. Paul said Monday that the governmental reaction to the tragic explosions was worse than the attack itself...

It got a lot of attention this morning when I tweeted, “You’re Eight Times More Likely to be Killed by a Police Officer than a Terrorist.” It’s been quickly retweeted dozens of times, indicating that the idea is interesting to many people. So let’s discuss it in more than 140 characters. In case it needs saying: Police officers are unlike terrorists in almost all respects. Crucially, the goal of the former, in their vastest majority, is to have a stable, peaceful, safe, law-abiding society, which is a goal we all share. The goal of the latter is … well, it’s...

In an age when it seems heroes are hard to come by, it’s stirring to see a genuine hero in action. Last August, FRC building manager Leo Johnson was temporarily manning the front desk at our Washington headquarters when a now-confessed terrorist intent on killing everyone in the building entered with a handgun and 100 rounds of ammunition. As he drew his gun, Leo courageously charged the attacker into oncoming gunfire. Even after sustaining a direct hit to his forearm, he subdued the attacker and wrestled the gun away from him. Leo Johnson’s heroism saved countless lives that day. Now...

A 61-year-old man was shot to death by police while his wife was handcuffed in another room during a drug raid on the wrong house. Police admitted their mistake, saying faulty information from a drug informant contributed to the death of John Adams Wednesday night. They intended to raid the home next door. The two officers, 25-year-old Kyle Shedran and 24-year-old Greg Day, were placed on administrative leave with pay. “They need to get rid of those men, boys with toys,” said Adams’ 70-year-old widow, Loraine. John Adams was watching television when his wife heard pounding on the door. Police...

Establishing a bond with a pocket pistol is similar to marriage—in one way: You have to be willing to accept compromise. To make any compromise worth the effort, there must be a clear objective. In this case preserving your life is the goal, and pocket pistols, whether diminutive semi-automatics or small-frame revolvers, do their part and offer a solution that is easy to carry concealed. Merely slipping one into the front pocket of your jacket, however, will not prevent a determined threat from causing you bodily harm. To stop a violent attack, you must be prepared to counter with force...

<p>"One of my favorite poets is Seamus Heaney," said Biden, who is of Irish descent. "I know the congressman thinks I always quote Irish poets because I'm Irish. That's not the reason I do it. I quote Irish poets because they're the best poets and that's the reason why," Biden deadpanned. "And the Collier family knows that, right?"</p>

Why the door-to-door manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev doesn’t violate the Constitution. SWAT teams descended on the Boston suburb of Watertown on Friday morning to conduct a door-to-door search for the Boston Marathon bombing suspect left alive after a convenience store robbery, car chase, and shootout Thursday night. Is it legal for the police to search your house without a warrant? It can be. Under the Fourth Amendment, a judge issues a warrant..........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LrbsUVSVl8Published on Apr 20, 2013 WATERTOWN, MA -- On Friday, April 19, 2013, during a manhunt for a bombing suspect, police and federal agents spent the day storming people's homes and performing illegal searches. While it was unclear initially if the home searches were voluntary, it is now crystal clear that they were absolutely NOT voluntary. Police were filmed ripping people from their homes at gunpoint, marching the residents out with their hands raised in submission, and then storming the homes to perform their illegal searches. https://www.facebook.com/PoliceStateUSAThis was part of a larger operation that involved total lockdown of the suburban...

A startling home-made video now shows the terrifying moments where Watertown residents were forced out of their homes at gunpoint as SWAT teams performed door-to-door searches as they hunted the second marathon bomber. While millions of Bostonians waited in their houses on Friday during the city-wide lockdown, the people of Watertown were faced with SWAT officers yelling at them to get out of the buildings immediately. At the time, the Boston police department and federal agents were barely criticized, but now many are concerned about the dangerous precedent that could lead to more police searches using the rationale of ‘exigent...

The unprecedented manhunt in Boston that concluded successfully Friday night earned law enforcement authorities the gratitude of the nation. But as relief replaces fear, the debate about what this episode means for the future is already beginning. And one of the most unsettling questions is whether the violence-related lockdown of a major U.S. city — an extraordinary moment in American history — sets a life-altering precedent. There are already worries that the effort to protect the people of Boston contained an element of overreaction. Local authorities told the city and nearby suburbs to “shelter in place” throughout the day and...

To all the sworn officers, fire personnel, medical personnel, and helpful citizens. THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

The entire city of Boston and most of its surrounding neighborhoods are on lockdown. Authorities have been all but begging residents to stay home and businesses to stay closed. And yet reports started to creep up that there was an exception: Dunkin' Donuts. The chain is an institution in the Boston area (it was founded 10 miles away), and Buzzfeed has now confirmed that four of its locations are open in Watertown, the area police are most heavily searching for bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Around noon, the chain released a statement explaining itself: "At the direction of authorities, select Dunkin'...

His mouth is agape. His face is awash in blood. On his right side is a wide gash where doctors cut him open to try to start his heart and save his life. The image of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, dead and naked on a slab, snapped by an unknown person, was emailed repeatedly by law enforcement officers Friday morning. “Suspect 1” was written above the gruesome picture. Seeing a photo of one of the Marathon bombing suspects dead was cathartic, said one law enforcement official who saw the picture.

A high-ranking police official at a Massachusetts hospital and a former high-school librarian were charged on Monday in a plot to kidnap, torture and kill women and children, federal prosecutors said. Richard Meltz, the 65-year-old chief of police for the Bedford Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Massachusetts, and Robert Christopher Asch, a former librarian at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, were held without bail after appearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan and charged with conspiracy to kidnap, torture, rape and kill women and children—including the wife and children of a cooperating witness. Peter Brill, an attorney for Mr. Meltz,...

... Forsyth County investigators say 48-year-old Scott Biumi, a sergeant with the DeKalb County Police Department, got upset with 18-year-old Ryan Mash, who is a senior at Lambert High School. They say Biumi got out of his car and the two exchanged words before Biumi drew his weapon and pointed it at Mash. "I'm just like, 'I don't want to die. I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean for any of this to happen,'" Mash recalled. ... Mash said Biumi told him, "You don't want to mess with me," before putting his hand on Mash's shoulder and pulling out his gun....

HILLSBORO, Ohio —U.S. Marshals stormed a home and arrested a man believing he had drugs and guns Thursday morning in Hillsboro. The only problem was that marshals had the wrong man and even the wrong house. Nicholas Brown was making breakfast for his three children and getting ready for work when a dozen armed marshals barged into his home and arrested him for offenses he said he never committed.

A A spokesperson for the Boston Police Department said no suspects have been taken into custody yet after the bombing at the Boston Marathon. "At this time, we haven't been notified of any arrests or anyone apprehended," the spokesperson said. The New York Post reported that a "Saudi national who suffered shrapnel wounds in today's blast" has been identified as "a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing." The Boston PD spokesperson did not confirm that report. "Honestly, I don't know where they're getting their information from, but it didn't come from us," said the spokesperson.

These are trying times. Never in the history of this country have we been so weakened and polarized by what many view as deliberate government policy. Now anti-gunners in the U.S. Congress, the Obama administration, and legislatures across the country are seeking to exploit the Newtown tragedy to promote their “gun control” agenda that envisions federal, universal background checks on gun purchases, and that could lead to gun registration and confiscation. At the same time, the increasing militarization of law enforcement, most visibly demonstrated by the growing use of massive, SWAT-type raids on businesses and individuals, sometimes with federal

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A murder suspect being interviewed at the Jackson, Miss., police headquarters shot a detective Thursday and those who came to investigate the gunfire found both men dead, authorities said. The suspect, who was not identified, was being questioned on the third floor of the building when the shooting happened, said Police Chief Rebecca Coleman. Police did not release any details on the sequence of what happened but scheduled a news conference for later Thursday night. The officer was identified as Eric Smith, a homicide detective. Jackson City Councilman Chokwe Lumumba was in police headquarters with the...

A Fontana police dog was injured while trying to subdue a parolee, considered armed and dangerous, when the suspect threw the dog out of a second-story window Sunday, March 31, according to authorities.

SAN DIEGO (CBSLA.com) — It’s not every day the California Highway Patrol has to make a traffic stop on the Easter Bunny. But that’s exactly what happened on one Southland highway early Saturday morning. Brian Pennings, a public information officer for the CHP-East County, told CBSLA.com that an officer was on routine patrol on Interstate 8 when he observed a man dressed up as a giant rabbit on a motorcycle traveling down the highway near San Diego. Pennings says the officer proceeded to make a traffic stop after noticing that the rider wasn’t wearing a helmet. Also, he said, the...

It’s about to get real people. There are those in law enforcement who are standing for the law of the land and then there are the radical Socialists in Washington who seek to trample the law under their feet. Since a number of brave men in this country have come forward to state that as the supreme law enforcement officers in their counties they will not enforce new gun control laws, the Obama White House has demanded that they must. The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) has the support of at least 381 sheriffs and the cooperation of...

A Detroit police officer on the force for more than a decade has been accused of orchestrating a series of robberies in southeast Michigan. 34 year-old Clifton Whatley was arraigned Thursday in a Taylor court on three counts of armed robbery, two counts of bank robbery and other charges. A judge set bond at $1 million and Whatley is in custody.

MANASSAS, Va. (CBSDC) — A server at Buffalo Wild Wings refused to serve Prince William County police officers because they had their guns displayed. The Manassas Park Patch reports that the employee wouldn’t serve them despite the plain-clothes officers showing him their badges. The server reportedly told the officers that it was a gun-free establishment. Scott Lupton, general manager of the Manassas Buffalo Wild Wings, apologized for what happened

UPDATED:09:42 EST, 28 March 2013Thousands of armed vigilantes have taken over a town in Mexico and arrested police officers after their 'commander' was killed and dumped in the street. The self described 'community police' and arrested 12 officers and the town's former director of public security, who they accuse of taking part in the killing of Guadalupe Quinones Carbajal, 28, on behalf of a local organised crime group.

Police said 40-year-old Andre Murphy, a former police officer, arrived at his ex-wife Catina's home Tuesday and kicked in the front door as she pleaded with 911 officers to send help fast.

A server at Buffalo Wild Wings reportedly refused to serve eight police officers, because they had their weapons displayed. The Prince William County Police officers were on-duty, but were in plain clothes, reports the Manassas Patch. They were refused service by an employee who stated that the property was a gun-free establishment. The officers had their badges displayed but still weren't served. Scott Lupton, the general manager of the Manassas Buffalo Wild Wings location says the incident was a "huge misunderstanding." Lupton wrote an email to the police department to apologize on behalf of the business. Lupton wasn't there during...

Three bills aimed at tightening control on law enforcement were advanced Tuesday by the Judiciary Committee for debate by the full Legislature. All three bills are by Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, a frequent critic of law enforcement. The first bill (LB541) would make public all hearings and documents produced from an arbitration hearing involving disciplinary action against a law enforcement officer. Now, the process is closed. Chambers has said taxpayers have the right to total disclosure of how public employees are behaving -- and misbehaving.

s I posted earlier, the 17-year-old Houston resident was shot to death Tuesday by a police SWAT team during a drug raid on his family's home. It's increasingly looking like yet another paramilitary drug raid gone horribly wrong. The father of a 17-year-old killed by a police officer who was looking for drugs at his home said the shooting was unprovoked. [...] The elder Castillo said his son was awakened by the pleas of his 20-year-old sister, Ashley. When the younger Castillo turned toward Falks, he said, the officer shot him in the face. "My son heard her say, 'Don't...

RIVERSIDE (CBSLA.com) — The city of Riverside is pulling its portion of the $1.2 million reward offered for the “capture and conviction” of ex-Los Angeles police officer and accused killer Christopher Dorner. The city pledged $100,000 to the reward fund after Riverside police officer Michael Crain was reportedly killed by Dorner on Feb. 7 while on routine patrol. Cain, 34, was among four people killed by the fugitive before he died in a standoff and fire in a Big Bear cabin on Feb. 25. Officer Michael Crain, an 11-year veteran of the force, was shot and killed allegedly by Christopher...

The nationwide shortage of ammunition has left many police departments scrambling to get their hands on the necessary rounds - with some even bartering among each other. Meanwhile, Rep. Timothy Huelskamp (R-Kansas) says the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has failed to respond to multiple members of Congress asking why DHS bought more than 1.6 billion rounds in the past year. Police Chief Cameron Arthur of Jenks, Oklahoma says, "Ammunition and assault weapons in general have skyrocketed...In addition to the fact, not only is it a lot more expensive, but the time to get it could be six months to...

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...

<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — The city has agreed to give $40,000 to two women whose pickup was shot up by LAPD protection detail that mistook their vehicle for the truck driven by rogue ex-cop Christopher Dorner during his rampage, officials announced Thursday.</p>

The Colorado gun debate is heating up. Companies are threatening to move, rape victims are ridiculed for testifying in committee hearings that they desire guns for self-protection, and potential victims are instructed to rely on rape whistles and call boxes. Now the state’s sheriffs have entered the fray, expressing support for the Second Amendment, and according to El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, the officers are getting some blowback from the Democratic Party. In an interview Saturday morning with Jeff Crank on 740 AM KVOR radio, Maketa said 30 Colorado sheriffs went to the state capitol to speak out against...

'Cannibal cop' found guilty of plot to kidnap, eat women By BRUCE GOLDING Accused "cannibal cop" Gilberto Valle was convicted today on all charges in what prosecutors called a "heinous plot" to kidnap, cook and eat his wife and several other women. A six-woman, six-man Manhattan federal court jury announced the stunning decision after 16 hours of deliberations. Valle, 28, faces up to life in the slammer for his sickening scheme, which he hatched over the Web with people he met through the darkfetishnet.com Web site. The verdicts stunned Valle, who slumped his shoulders and bowed his head after hearing...

http://www.krdo.com/news/Sheriff-Maketa-releases-statement-regarding-gun-control-stance/-/417220/19280038/-/iykxd7/-/index.html

...a riot in Brooklyn tonight after young people started lashing out at NYPD officers. Between 60 and 100 rioters gathered around Church and Snyder Ave. in East Flatbush and threw bottles and other debris at police, witnesses said, following a vigil for Kimani Gray, 16, who was shot dead by two plainclothes officers over the weekend. ... Officers say the 16-year old began to adjust his waistband and started to act suspiciously. Gray then turned around and pointed a .357 caliber gun at them, according to police accounts. When the two plainclothes officers saw the weapon they responded by opening...

A Round Rock police officer shot himself in the foot during fire arms training Wednesday. The incident happened about 1:45 p.m. at a local facility, said Round Rock police spokeswoman Dee Carver. The officer, who was receiving training with other officers from an outside provider, was treated at a Round Rock hospital and released later in the day, she said. The officer has been on the force for 18 years, Carver said. Police are still investigating the incident.

They bound his hands to the rear of a van, and then sped off, dragging the slender taxi driver along the pavement as a crowd of onlookers shouted in dismay. The man was later found dead. A gut-wrenching video of the scene is all the more disturbing because the men who abused the Mozambican immigrant were uniformed South African police officers and the van was a marked police vehicle.

The gunman who killed two plainclothes Santa Cruz police detectives in cold blood grabbed their guns and took their car, launching a chase that forced three school lockdowns and a nearby shootout with officers that ended his life, authorities revealed Wednesday. As the city mourned his victims, the blood of 35-year-old Jeremy Peter Goulet -- a trained military police officer who wore body armor and used two of the three guns he possessed to fire at bystanders and firefighters on Tuesday -- still stained a wall where a barrage of gunfire had erupted. The day after, heartbreaking portraits emerged about...

Imagine that a police officer, after taking it upon himself to search someone's car, is asked to explain why he thought he would find contraband there. "A little birdie told me," he replies. Most judges would react with appropriate skepticism to such a claim. But substitute "a big dog" for "a little birdie," and you've got probable cause. Or so says the U.S. Supreme Court, which last week unanimously ruled that "a court can presume" a search is valid if police say it was based on an alert by a dog trained to detect drugs. The court thereby encouraged judges...

Just a month after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the strictest gun control law in the country, state officials plan to make some exemptions. The law toughened restrictions on military-style rifles and high-capacity semiautomatic handguns, but those restrictions will be changed so those types of weapons can be used on the sets of television shows and movies being shot in New York.

El Cajon may be the next city to put a stop to red light cameras. ... San Diego removed its red light cameras last month

A growing number of firearm and firearm-related companies have stated they will no longer sell items to states, counties, cities and municipalities that restrict their citizens' rights to own them. According to The Police Loophole (police loophole) 34 companies have joined in publicly stating that governments who seek to restrict 2nd Amendment rights will themselves be restricted from purchasing the items they seek to limit or ban. Extreme Firepower Inc., located in Inwood, WV has had a longstanding (policy) that states: "The Federal Government and several states have enacted gun control laws that restrict the public from owning and possessing...