Free Republic

A high-ranking California police lieutenant has been placed on leave after he sent a newspaper a letter condemning the legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide. He signed the letter with his rank and employer — and the newspaper editor says that's how he wanted it to appear in print. In a letter to the editor of the Stockton Record, Stockton Police Lt. Toby Will called legal same-sex marriage "blatant debauchery." The letter, titled "Marriage ruling shuns God," was posted online on July 7. The Stockton Record then printed an article headlined "Cop's letter sparks concern." It quoted police spokesman Joe Silva...

(CNN)—A police K-9 died Thursday evening after being left for hours inside his handler's patrol car. Zane, a 5-year-old bloodhound, was found dead at the handler's residence in Rockdale County, Georgia, according to Conyers Police Department spokeswoman Kim Lucas. The bloodhound worked as a tracking dog with the department for four years, three with his handler, Cpl. Jerahmy Williams. The Rockdale County Sheriff's Office responded to Williams' home Thursday and is conducting an investigation with the county district attorney's office.

A high-ranking California police lieutenant has been placed on leave after he sent a newspaper a letter condemning the legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide. He signed the letter with his rank and employer — and the newspaper editor says that's how he wanted it to appear in print.

There has been an officer-involved shooting at the U.S. Naval Reserve Center on Amnicola Highway in Chattanooga. The location is near the Tennessee Riverpark. Early reports are that one Chattanooga police officer has been shot, according to Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke's office. There may be other victims

Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell is now calling for hate crime charges in the horrific mob beating of a white man who was left bloodied and unconscious on the sidewalk on the Fourth of July. The brutal attack was first described as “anti-white” by officer Alicia Essert in the original incident report, but Capt. Mike Neville said on Monday that the preliminary description was incorrect. Chief Blackwell has apparently reconsidered and found cause to ask Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters to pursue hate crime charges in the beating, the Cincinnati Inquirer reported.

A father said strategically placed luggage may have helped save his children when a deputy rammed into the family's van, sending himself and two others to the hospital for minor injuries. At about 2 a.m. Sunday, the Auten family pulled off the West San Marcos Boulevard exit from State Route 78, returning from a trip to Wyoming. Snip “We had a couple police vehicles pass us at a high rate of speed and then into the intersection,” said father Floyd Auten. “And I don't know if it was the third or fourth patrol vehicle that hit us, but we didn't...

The FBI has canceled all vacations for agents over the 4th of July weekend. According to our inside source — FBI agents are telling their friends and family members to avoid “official celebrations.” Fox News reported Monday evening on Special Report that the FBI is setting up command centers around the country to prepare for possible terror attacks on the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

MALONE – David Sweat was shot by a state trooper in the Town of Constable Sunday afternoon, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation said. Sweat is bleeding badly, according to the source who called his wounds “life-threatening.” The Press-Republican also reported that David Sweat was shot. The paper said he is seriously wounded. Constable is just north of Malone, where Matt was shot Friday afternoon, and just south of the Canadian border. More than 1,300 federal, state and local officers were hunting for Sweat in the dense woods of Franklin County in the northern Adirondack Mountains. More...

BALTIMORE, Md. -- If you've ever wondered where police get their military-style tanks or grenade launchers -- or even those fancy new hi-tech body cameras -- there's a good chance your local sheriff was pitched by a company here at the annual National Sheriffs' Association (NSA) conference, the country's largest trade show for cops, which kicked off Sunday evening in Baltimore, Maryland. Conference attendees include sheriffs and their staff, as well as jail adminstrators, members of the FBI, U.S. Marshals office, the DEA, police chiefs and U.S border control and customs agents.

Patrol Officer Zach Ropos of Ohio spotted a little girl selling lemonade, and decided to grab a drink. He talked with the girl for a few minutes, heard what she had to say about why she was raising money, and went about his business. Ropos returned the very next day, and had this to say… “I talked to the little girl, gave her a speech about how courageous and admirable I think her efforts were to save up her money. I asked her how much she saved up, and she said she only had a few dollars.” Initially the girl...

Photo:Joe Songer/jsonger@al.com When U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch met with a group of Birmingham youth during her visit to Alabama today and asked them why it's difficult for the general public to empathize with police officers, 16-year-old Ramsay High School student Taylor Sellers gave it to her straight. "It starts in your household. When you come up, you automatically hate the police, I'm just going to tell you like it is,'' Sellers said. "Most likely somebody in your family went to jail, so they're like, "Man he went to jail for no reason,' so you already have this mindset that...

Police have confirmed accused Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof and Michael Slager, the former police officer who shot Walter Scott in the back, are jail neighbors. The church shooting that claimed nine victims put the nation’s spotlight once again on the Charleston region. In April, Walter Scott, an unarmed black man, was fatally shot in the back by a North Charleston police officer, a killing that was captured on video. The two shootings took place less than 10 miles apart. Now, the two men are being kept in adjacent cells in a Charleston jail. Roof is being held in cell...

A Philly police officer was captured on camera helping two girls struggling to transport their laundry down a city street Wednesday. PHILADELPHIA - A small act of kindness can go a long way. A video of a Philadelphia police officer lending a helping hand is sweeping the internet and it caught one woman's attention. Bernice Daniels was driving to her sister's house in North Philadelphia on Sunday when she saw a police officer do something she considers pretty special. "It made me sit here and actually cry," Bernice told FOX 29. She was coming down 21st Street when she saw...

Freddie Gray died in the custody of Baltimore police in April. Six officers have been charged in the death, which is said to have occurred due to spinal injuries he suffered while being thrown about the back of a police van during a rough ride to the station. But now Baltimore police are playing the victim card. They’ve engaged in a work slowdown that has resulted in a 43% decline in arrests citywide from April to May, and as high as 90% in some neighborhoods, according to Doug Donovan and Colin Campbell of The Baltimore Sun. Some say it’s because...

While friends were commenting on his last ever Facebook post Friday, Trepierre Hummons called 911 -- then waited with a gun for officers to arrive, Cincinnati police said. In his bid to commit suicide by cop, he fatally shot Officer Sonny Kim, 48, a husband and father of three, police said. Then he opened fire on two more officers, said Police Chief Jeffery Blackwell. When Hummons, 21, called the emergency operator, he didn't let on what he was planning. Instead he pretended to be a concerned witness who saw a man acting erratically with a gun, according to 911 and...

A Columbus police officer accidentally wounded a 4-year-old girl in Whitehall on Friday when he fired at a charging dog, police said. A neighbor and the girl’s uncle identified her as Ava Ellis, who was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where police said she was in stable condition. The officer was at a house in the 4100 block of Chandler Drive investigating a hit-and-run case about 3:10 p.m., Columbus police spokeswoman Denise Alex-Bouzounis said. As the officer was walking from the home to his patrol car, a woman a few houses away called out to him, saying her sister and...

Pntamitr Zunggeemoge said he stuck to the script. After he and other Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies beat a handcuffed man in a jail visitors’ center, he said, they huddled with their sergeant, who came up with a plan. Each of them would claim the man had attacked when one of his hands was uncuffed for fingerprinting. On Wednesday, Zunggeemoge told a downtown federal jury that he and the other deputies had used excessive force on the jail visitor and then fabricated reports and testimony to justify the beating. From the outset, it was understood among the deputies that they...

A new Gallup survey has revealed that Americans have approximately twice as much confidence in law enforcement personnel—52 percent—as they do in newspapers—24 percent—and television news—21 percent. The telephone poll was conducted June 2-7 and included Gallup’s newest survey on confidence in U.S. institutions, which it has updated every year since 1993. According to an article by Jeffrey M. Jones, “Americans’ confidence in most major U.S. institutions remains below the historical average for each one. Only the military (72 percent) and small business (67 percent)—the highest-rated institutions in this year’s poll—are currently rated higher than their historical norms.” …

While friends were commenting on his last Facebook post Friday -- and some were reading text messages indicating his plan to commit suicide by cop -- Trepierre Hummons called 911 then waited with a gun for police to arrive, Cincinnati police said. When they did, he and shot and killed 48-year-old Officer Sonny Kim, a husband and father of three, police said. Then he opened fire on two more officers, said Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffery Blackwell. The police, while armed, didn't know what they'd walked into. That's because when when the 21-year-old Hummons called the emergency operator, he didn't hint...

A multi-agency manhunt is underway for Travis Boys, the 33-year-old accused of fatally shooting veteran NOPD Officer Daryle Holloway Saturday morning (June 20) while being transported in the back of Holloway's police vehicle.Boys was arrested for aggravated assault and on his way to Central Lockup around 8 a.m. when he somehow managed to maneuver his hands -- which were handcuffed behind his back -- to his front and make his way through an opening in the cage inside Holloway's vehicle, said NOPD Superintendent Michael Harrison. He and Holloway fought, Harrison said, before Boys managed to fatally shoot the 22-year veteran...