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A little levity amidst the discussions of all the world's calamaties here at FR. :-)

Iraqi Police work to assemble their bicycles during training at the Kirkuk Police Academy, Nov. 15. This group will be the first to graduate and become bicycle police officers in Kirkuk City. Photo by Pfc. Justin Naylor, 1st Cavalry Division. KIRKUK — Iraqi Police (IP) officers recently attended the Bicycle Police Course at the Police Academy here, part of an ongoing effort to establish better policing practices in the city. Many of the police officers had never seen or heard of a bicycle cop before, but soon they themselves will be the first group to begin operating as Bicycle Police...

One of the first-ever female Iraqi Police officers to attend and complete training at the Baghdad Police College proudly poses for a photo following the BPC’s latest graduation ceremony, Nov. 9. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Edwin L. Wriston, Joint Combat Camera Center - Iraq. BAGHDAD – Fifty female Iraqi Police (IP) officers became the first women to graduate from the Baghdad Police College here, Nov. 9. The new female officers and more than 1,000 male students culminated their training with a ceremony marking their successful completion of the rigorous nine-month training program.Dozens of senior Iraqi political leaders, U.S....

Police in Hazelwood are told they'll have to get a subpoena to obtain surveillance video of a school bus beating that occurred Friday afternoon. The bus was taking students home from Hazelwood West High School when a 14 year old boy allegedly punched a 15 year old girl in the head, repeatedly. The girl's mother tells me that the bus driver stopped the bus and told the boy to get off. A friend called the girl's mother and told her what was happening. Mom met the bus at a stop near her home, then called police. The girl was swollen...

OZARK, Ark. — Ozark Police Chief Jim Noggle says one of his officers used a Taser on a 10-year-old girl who was combative when the officer tried to get the girl into a patrol car to be taken to a youth shelter. Noggle said Tuesday that officer Dustin Bradshaw went to the girl's home after her mother called police woman called police. According to a report filed by Bradshaw on Thursday, the officer found the girl on the floor of the house screaming and crying. She refused to follow her mother's instructions and the mother told Bradshaw to use his...

Courtesy Oleg Volk, A Human Right Oregon Firearms Federation alerted its members about the Southern Poverty Law Center training Eugene police: The Southern Poverty Law Center, which considers opposition to draconian gun control laws to be "crackpot," has sent one of their "experts" to Eugene to teach police from multiple agencies about "Hate in America Today- a National Overview of Far Right Domestic Terrorism." You will recall that in the brave new world of Obama, "right wing terrorists" include gun owners, Constitutionalists, military veterans and supporters of limited government. Here's the EPD new release. Among other things, it says: The...

One of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office's combat crosses given out Friday went to an unlikely candidate: a firefighter. It was the first combat cross the agency has given to someone who isn't a law enforcement officer. That's because County Fire-Rescue Capt. Edwin O'Berry helped stop an armed suspect who nearly beat a police officer to death. He stopped suspect Mauricio Cruz by shooting him. But it was also with the help of 13 firefighters that the officer was rescued. Those 12 men and one woman were honored with Samaritan awards at the Sheriff's Office annual awards ceremony.

This is a summary of significant items concerning Iraqi Security Force (ISF) Developments reported in the September 2009 Quarterly Report to Congress: Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq released 13 November 2009. Author’s comments and analysis is in italics. This report’s data is dated 31 August 2009 and there are changes since then. This report is also the unclassified version and thus excludes Iraqi classified data. The budget issues and legislative delays continue to impact Iraqi Security Force development. Limited funds, the resulting hiring freeze and competition for resources exacerbated services cooperation. More recent developments than the information in this...

DALLAS—Standric Choice, 36, a former Dallas Sheriff’s Deputy, was sentenced today to 180 months (15 years) in federal prison, to be followed by eight years of supervised release, for his role in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. In March 2009, Choice pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine, possessing a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, and possessing with the intent to distribute in excess of 500 grams of cocaine while...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2009 – As the drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq advances, efforts to build the nation’s police force have made great strides, the team leader of the police training and advisory mission said last week. “The traction that we’re getting is really impressive. It truly is a partnership,” Army Brig. Gen. Michael Smith said during a Nov. 13 “DoDLive” bloggers roundtable. Smith said Iraqi police agencies have impressed him with their growing abilities to recruit and train their own forces and run their own operations. He’s also noted a dissipation of ethnic tension at top levels. “The...

AMARAH – A U.S. Military Police Company here has worked with Iraqi Police in Maysan province for months to improve their ability to govern and provide security. The 57th Military Police Company conducts Key Leadership Engagements (KLE) with Iraqi Police leaders at Iraqi Security Force stations. The MPs visit the District Headquarters weekly to collect information on the area, establish training dates and assess the station's daily operations. "Training the Iraqis isn't always easy, but I'm still proud to have the opportunity to pass on my experiences to the people over here," said Dan Escudero, an international police advisor from...

AMARAH, Iraq, Nov. 12, 2009 – Soldiers of the 57th Military Police Company have spent the past three months building a partnership with the Iraqi police in this Maysan province city to improve their ability to govern and secure the local populace. Iraqi police officers watch a safe-body-search demonstration by Dan Escudero, an international police advisor, at an Iraqi police station, Oct. 15, 2009. U.S. Army photo by 2nd Lt. Len Rothermich  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The MPs engage with key police leaders and visit the district headquarters weekly to collect information on the area, establish training dates...

Ex-soldier faces jail for handing in gun Thursday, November 12, 2009, 10:30 A former soldier who handed a discarded shotgun in to police faces at least five years imprisonment for "doing his duty".Paul Clarke, 27, was found guilty of possessing a firearm at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday – after finding the gun and handing it personally to police officers on March 20 this year.The jury took 20 minutes to make its conviction, and Mr Clarke now faces a minimum of five year's imprisonment for handing in the weapon. In a statement read out in court, Mr Clarke said: "I...

A Milwaukee Army reservist says four muggers returned his belongings when they discovered his military identification. The 21-year-old college student says he was walking home from work about 1:15 a.m. Tuesday when he was pulled into an alley and told to lay face down with a gun to his neck. Four men took his wallet, $16, keys and his cell phone. But the reservist says when one of the men saw an Army ID in the wallet, he told the others to return items. He also apologized and thanked the reservist for serving. The reservist says one robber gave him...

A traffic stop in Lake Wales for tinted windows turned into an angry confrontation between police, deputies, state troopers and as many as 100 bystanders. Two officers and one of the two people arrested were treated for minor injuries. Police are looking for three others in the incident, which started around 2:45 p.m. Saturday, the Lake Wales Police Department said.

Members of the Iraqi Police hold Iraqi flags during a graduation ceremony at the Furat Police Training Center in Baghdad, Oct. 29. Photo by Sgt. Kenneth Bince, 49th Military Police Brigade. BAGHDAD — A training milestone for the Iraqi Police (IP) was reached when more than 1,600 new IP officers graduated the Furat Iraqi Police Training Center’s Basic Recruit Training Course, Oct. 29. The 100-yard-wide courtyard was filled with multiple company-sized formations of graduating IP. In front of each separate group, one IP proudly displayed the unit's colors. Surrounding this massive formation, dozens of uniformed guards wielded four-foot by six-foot...

The first people who came across Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the psychiatrist suspected of Thursday's murderous rampage, told tales Friday of quick, calm efforts in the face of danger. By the time it was over -- in less than five minutes, base commander Lt. Gen. Bob Cone said -- 13 people were dead and 38, including Hasan, were wounded. Mark Todd was one of two civilian police sergeants credited with helping take down Hasan. He and partner Kimberly Munley pulled up outside the building where the shooting was occurring at the same time, and Todd saw the shooter standing outside...

ROME, GA—KENNETH LANE GRAVETT, 42, of Cedartown, Georgia, a former Deputy with the Polk County Sheriff’s Department, pleaded guilty today in federal district court to mail fraud relating to the submitting of a false insurance claim on a motorcycle. According to Acting United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, the charges and other information presented in court: In 2008, GRAVETT was a Deputy with the Polk County Sheriff’s Department. GRAVETT fell behind on making monthly loan payments on his Harley Davidson motorcycle. He then conspired with another individual to make it appear that the motorcycle was stolen, so that he could...

The Killeen police officer who shot accused Fort Hood gunman Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan had undergone rapid response training offered at San Marcos’ ALERRT Center. Diana Hendricks, director of communication for the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center, said this morning that Sgt. Kimberly Munley had undergone ALERRT’s basic training in February 2008 and, in June of this year, took a breaching class, which is an advanced module. Munley and her partner were at the scene within three minutes of reports of gunfire Thursday afternoon, Lt. Gen. Bob Cone told The Associated Press. Cone said Munley shot the gunman...

Fort Hood, Texas (CNN) -- The police officer who ended the Fort Hood massacre by shooting the suspect was known as the enforcer on her street, a "tough woman" who patrolled her neighborhood and once stopped burglars at her house. "If you come in, I'm going to shoot," Kimberly Munley told the would-be intruders last year. It was Munley who arrived quickly Thursday at the scene of the worst massacre at an Army base in U.S. history, where 13 people were killed. She confronted the alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, and shot him four times. Munley was wounded in...

<p>Fort Hood, Texas (CNN) -- A civilian police officer who shot the Fort Hood gunman four times during his bloody rampage stopped the attacker cold, a U.S. Army official said Friday.</p> <p>Officer Kimberly Munley of the Fort Hood Police Department is a "trained, active first responder" who acted quickly after she "just happened to encounter the gunman," said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, Fort Hood's commanding general.</p>

I live a good life....a hard one, but I go to sleep peacefully @ night knowing that I may have made a difference in someone's life

Police reports are often rich with jargon — phrases like "victim succumbed to his injuries," or "victim advised that defendant did knowingly and willingly enter his home without permission." Not so for a report filed by Tampa police Officer Terry Ashe, who wrote a colorful narrative about an alligator that attacked his city-owned Ford Taurus in Pasco County on Oct. 27. "As I was driving down the single lane, dirt road, adjacent to an old cemetery, I observed a large, menacing, dark object lying in the road obstructing my right of way," Ashe wrote. "With rain pouring down, mist and...

Media Release Thursday, October 29, 2009 The Blair Witch-hunt Project -- Abuse of Authority? Toronto Police Chief Blair's much touted "Project Safe City" is nothing more than a witch-hunt targeting firearms owners, seizing their private property without compensation and describing them as "criminals." Their crime? Allowing their Firearms Licenses to expire. In his latest "media event," he paraded out a valuable collection of firearms seized from a collector with an expired Firearms License. Using this event as his podium, he proceeded to make very inaccurate comments about the proposed federal Bill C-391 that is scheduled for second reading next week....

Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, and Robert Parker, Director, Miami-Dade Police Department, announced that defendant Jorge Delgado was sentenced on October 29, 2009 to two years of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Delgado previously pled guilty to aiding and abetting an attempt to possess ecstasy with the intent to distribute. During the time at issue, Delgado was a Miami-Dade Police Officer assigned to uniformed road patrol. This charge arose from an undercover investigation...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Nov. 2, 2009 – More than 250 Afghan National Police graduated from basic training Oct. 29 at the police headquarters in Herat, Afghanistan. Afghan National Police prepare to graduate from a police academy in Herat, Afghanistan, Oct. 29, 2009. The hundreds of graduates are part of an initiative to double the size of the Afghan National Police to 160,000 by 2013. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Stephen Decatur  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The graduates were some of the first to be trained in an effort to boost the national police’s current strength of 81,000 to 161,000...

HOUSTON -- The Houston Police Department launched a new creative campaign to crack down on dangerous and aggressive drivers, KPRC Local 2 reported Wednesday. The plan calls for putting plainclothes officers in different locations around the city to spot drivers who are speeding, not wearing seat belts, or changing lanes erratically. In one tactic, senior Houston Police Officer William Dodson will dress in street clothes and stand at a street corner with a sign in his hand. Some people could mistake him for a vagrant, but on closer inspection, they will see that the sign is reminding people to wear...

This Iraqi Security Force Update provides a summary of changes to the ISF during October 2009. The Iraqi Security Force Order of Battle as of 31 October 2009 is published at Montrose Toast. Joint Special Forces Strike Teams [Battalions] In late 2007, Prime Minister Maliki announced plans for “elite” quick reaction force (QRF) battalions in the Iraqi Army. These battalions were to be equipped with the most modern light armor and used for counter-insurgency. During the same time-period, eight battalions worth [336] of BTR-3E1 armored personnel carriers were ordered via US Foreign Military Sales. The BTR-3E1s were cancelled in 2008...

A Seattle police officer was shot to death and another officer was wounded late Saturday night while conducting a traffic stop in the city's Central District neighborhood. The officer who died was a veteran of the department, and the woman who was wounded is a student officer in training, Assistant Chief Jim Pugel said

CARROLL, Iowa -- Police said they had no trouble identifying two men accused of trying to break into a Carroll apartment. Police were responding to a call about an attempted burglary when they pulled over a car matching the alleged suspects' vehicle. Inside the car, officers found two men with their faces blackened with permanent marker. Police said the caller described two men with painted faces attempting to break into an apartment Friday night before driving off. Twenty-three-year-old Matthew McNelly and 20-year-old Joey Miller were arrested at gunpoint after officers were told they might be armed. Neither man had a...

EAST ST. LOUIS — City officials seeking a new police chief passed up the former director of the Florida Highway Patrol, who formerly was a top commander of the Illinois State Police, because he is white, two former members of a city board claim. Wyatt Frazer and Della Murphy allege in a federal lawsuit that they were forced off the Police, Fire and Civil Service Board for their advocacy of a white candidate when the chief's job was open in 2007. Their lawyer said Tuesday the spurned candidate was Ronald Grimming, a Metro East resident who rose to be deputy...

Intensified law enforcement at campgrounds around Aspen last month has triggered complaints of illegal search-and-seizures and youth profiling. Kevin Walczak, 26, said he and his girlfriend were sitting around a campfire enjoying a few beers and a smoke when U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officers rolled up and turned a peaceful time in the woods into an interrogation. “We had a roll-your-own cigarette. That’s what we smoke. We were sharing it, passing it back and forth. All it was is tobacco. Suddenly two officers walk into our campsite, don’t introduce themselves, shine flashlights so we couldn’t see them, we were...

The top public health official in Los Angeles County stood at a swine flu vaccination site in Compton, Calif., on Tuesday and gently told elderly residents that they really ought to go home. “I explained to people 65 or older, ‘The reason we are doing this is for children,’ ” said the official, Jonathan E. Fielding, the director of the county’s Department of Public Health. “I told them: ‘They are at very high risk for this flu, and you’re at low risk. I am sure you wouldn’t want to get a shot that left a kid who is at risk...

BALTIMORE -- A Baltimore city police officer was charged with assault after he pulled a gun on a haunted house character over the weekend. Baltimore County police said Sgt. Eric Janik, 36, pulled his gun on a haunted house employee dressed up as the killer from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" at the House of Screams show in Essex on Sunday. Police said the employee approached Janik after the haunted house tour was over in a bid to get "one last scream." Instead, Janik, who was off-duty, pulled his service weapon and pointed it at Michael Morrison's chest, authorities said. "I...

Armed officers in full battle gear will be scattered throughout the Bay Area this weekend, rescuing hostages, fighting bank robbers and quelling terrorism at the Oakland Airport, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, the NASA Ames Research Center and 22 other high profile sites. There will be the sound of gunfire and blasts — all part of Urban Shield, one of the biggest domestic terrorism drills in the country. For the first time in the three-year history of the Alameda County Sheriff's Department-sponsored exercise, there will be a foreign team of officers taking part and international observers. An eight-member team representing the French...

A burka-wearing student has been banned from enrolling at a college after staff claimed the Muslim garment was a barrier to ‘safety and communication’. Shawana Bilqes, 18, was forced to abandon her learning plans after she refused to remove the head-to-toe gown which reveals only her eyes. She had been asked to show her face as a check to avoid identity fraud in case she was posing as someone else. But when she explained she could not due to her religious belief she was forced off her Access course for an HE Diploma at Burnley College, Lancashire. Today Miss Bilqes...

A Dallas rookie police officer erred when he cited a woman earlier this month for being a non-English speaking driver, police said. Officer Gary Bromley issued a citation Oct. 2 to 48-year-old Ernestina Mondragon after stopping her for making an illegal U-turn in the 500 block of Easton Road, near East Northwest Highway, according to a copy of the citation.

As we know, ACORN has claimed that conservative journalists Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe were turned away from the Philadephia office and that a police report was filed to that effect. Has anyone tried filing a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request with the Philadephia police to determine when, if at all, ACORN filed that police report?I'm thinking it might be illuminating.

Today, leading police executives from states as diverse as California, Iowa and Texas joined a growing chorus of law enforcement officials calling for comprehensive immigration reform. The law enforcement leaders, who discussed the issue during a telephonic press conference, described how the broken immigration system damages public trust and harms public safety. They stressed the importance of getting input from state and local law enforcement as Congress prepares to take up immigration reform in early 2010.

Indiana trooper charged in Michigan armed robbery October 22, 2009 Sun-Times News Group Investigators say an Indiana State Police trooper was one of three armed men who broke into the home of a Lansing, Mich., couple and robbed them late Sunday night. Elton D. Jones, 28, of Valparaiso, and two other men were arraigned Tuesday on charges of armed robbery, first-degree home invasion and using a gun to commit a felony. They face up to life in prison if convicted. Indiana State Police spokesman David Bursten told the Lansing (Mich.) State Journal that Jones was fired Tuesday. Jones, who originally...

A MAN who established a sophisticated network of peepholes and cameras to spy on his flatmates has escaped a jail sentence after police were unable to crack an encryption code on his home computer. Rohan James Wyllie, 39, yesterday pleaded guilty in Southport District Court to charges of attempting to visually record one of his flatmates when she was in a private place without her consent. But police were unable to prove his elaborate surveillance system had actually been used. Wyllie's three flatmates, two women and a man, grew suspicious that he was up to something when they noticed lights...

(CNN) -- Arizona police are looking for a man who they allege ran down his daughter and her friend because he believed his daughter had become "too Westernized." Police say they're looking for Faleh Hassan Almaleki, who they say struck two people with a vehicle Tuesday. Peoria, Arizona, police said Wednesday that Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48, struck his 20-year-old daughter, Noor Faleh Almaleki, and her friend Amal Edan Khalaf with a vehicle he was driving in a parking lot Tuesday afternoon. Faleh Hassan Almaleki was angry with his daughter "as she had become too 'Westernized' and was not living...

Approximately 100 armed federal agents, backed by a helicopter, 50 vehicles and sharpshooters, raided a Muslim meatpacking plant earlier this week but remain silent about the secret operation. Only half a dozen people work at the plant. No one was arrested, but one eyewitness said the huge police force indicates that the raid may involve criminal activity other than hiring illegal immigrants. Terror-related activity has not been ruled, but officials have refused all comment on the case...

On Oct. 2, Catherine Bleish was one of a handful of speakers who revved up a crowd of 2,000 at the St. Charles (Mo.) Tea Party. Ten days later, she found herself in jail in the South St. Louis city of Maplewood.

LAHORE, Pakistan — Teams of gunmen launched a deadly near-simultaneous attack on three law enforcement facilities in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore on Thursday, a major escalation in an audacious wave of terror strikes as this U.S.-allied, nuclear-armed country prepares for an offensive in a Taliban and Al Qaeda stronghold. At least seven people died in a gunfight with police at a federal building, 10 others were killed at a police academy, and a police constable was killed in an attack on a commando facility, officials said as the city plunged into chaos. In the Taliban-riddled northwest, meanwhile, a homicide...

Police: Juveniles laughed after setting 15-year-old on fireupdated 1 hour, 43 minutes ago (CNN) -- Five juveniles were in custody Tuesday after a 15-year-old was intentionally set on fire at a Deerfield Beach, Florida, apartment complex, police said. Michael Brewer suffered second-degree burns over 80 percent of his body. "He's in for a long, long recovery," Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti told reporters. Three juveniles were arrested Monday night, hours after the incident, and two others were arrested Tuesday, sheriff's Sgt. Steve Feeley said. "A couple of them last night were laughing about it," he said. "One of them arrested...

Canadian Police Chase

[Louisiana] Attorney General Buddy Caldwell's office and the state inspector general are investigating a Louisiana police pension fund. Caldwell's office on Monday confirmed the joint investigation of the Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System, but wouldn't provide any further details. "The investigation is in the early stages, and that is all we can say at this point," Caldwell spokeswoman Jennifer Roche said in an e-mail. The retirement system, called MPERS, had been criticized in recent years for investing in golf courses that never turned a profit. The system owns two northwest Louisiana golf courses and had invested in a Texas luxury...

A firefighter and two cops who worked at Ground Zero in the days and weeks after Sept. 11 have died of cancer in the past five days, the Daily News has learned. Family members and advocates are blaming their deaths on toxins released into the air after the twin towers collapsed - and they're urging Congress to act on a bill that would help pay for their medical care. "Everybody is denying that this stuff is connected to 9/11, but it is," said Stephen Grossman, whose son Robert died of cancer on Friday at the age of 44. Robert Grossman...

The United Nations and Interpol, the global police organization, are poised to become partners in fighting crime by jointly creating an international police force. Interpol, which is financed by 187 member nations, says the "global police doctrine" would allow the deployment of peacekeepers among rogue nations plagued by war and organized crime. "We have a visionary model," said Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble, who described the joint partnership "an alliance of all nations." He suggested that by relying on Interpol's resources, the United Nations would be able to handle international conflicts and transnational crime far better.