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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.

Over the past two years, Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren has been referred to as a hero, a racist and a few other things unfit to print. That’s because his department’s partnership with the Department of Homeland Security, which allows deputies to detain inmates suspected of being in the country illegally, has stirred the passions of immigration reform advocates as well as citizens who want current immigration laws enforced. **** Since July 2007, 6,386 inmates suspected of being illegal immigrants have been detained for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to records provided by the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office. About of...

Recent reports that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security may cut back on the number of Border Patrol agents along the southern border have made U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, John McCain and John Kyl of Arizona and several others very nervous. Nervous enough to write DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano a letter, asking for reassurance that no such cuts are being planned. “ we would like you to confirm that the current strength of 17,415 agents will be maintained or increased in fiscal year 2010,” the letter reads. Hopefully the reports of border agent cutbacks...

A good example of just how treacherous modern hunting has become. Regulation trumps common sense and everyone is guilty until proven innocent. Two fathers and their sons went hunting in Brinnon on Saturday, but after legally downing an elk with a muzzleloading rifle, they found themselves staring down the barrels of guns pointed at them by uniformed officers of the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe. "The whole thing was handled way wrong," said Don Phipps, who shot the elk. "I've never had anyone pull a gun on me in my whole life. I didn't understand it."

Germany is set to send 1,200 police to Afghanistan to train local law enforcement in a major boost to its commitment to the war-torn country, news magazine Der Spiegel reported Saturday. An official request for the officers would come in the next week from NATO, the magazine reported, citing sources within the transatlantic alliance. The German officers would be needed for the “NATO Training Mission Afghanistan,” which is due to start in April. Under the program, some 10,000 foreign instructors would train the Afghan security forces as part of a major push by NATO to ready the strife-torn country to...

DHS strips Arizona sheriff of authority to patrol for illegal immigrants

This is on Fox for hours now, the truck being chased (slowly - a`la OJ) in TX for not paying at a gas station. Can't believe there's no article/discussion about it.

LA MARQUE, Texas -- A police officer shot a woman and the dog she was playing with when the officer thought the dog was attacking the woman, witnesses told KPRC Local 2. Witnesses said a La Marque police officer was driving along 5th Avenue near Walnut Street at about 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, after she helped a person around the corner. The officer heard people playing and screaming, witnesses said. A 23-year-old woman and her friend were playing with a pit bull named Sugar. Witnesses said the officer got out of the car and fired several shots toward the dog. "The...

Police cruisers would feature a buxom blonde dressed only in lettuce In an open letter to Vallejo Police Chief Robert Nichelini, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have announced their latest publicity stunt. The idea would be to re-paint one or more of the Vallejo Police Department's cars to feature a scantily clad woman and the admonition to "Go Vegan!" Citing Vallejo's financial troubles and offering to help balance the department's budget, the letter from PETA Executive VP Tracy Reiman argues: Our ad would help bolster the budget while delivering a real public service: a message to Vallejo residents...

According to The Capital Times, the Madison Police Department has been trying to get assault rifles for its officers for years. The City Council has not granted funding for the rifles due to budgetary constraints. In a disputed effort to better equip the officers, the department has proposed that each officer buy his or her own assault rifle.

An odd story is developing out in the tiny city of Hardin, Montana. A private security company has taken over a jail and seems intent on creating a police department there. American Police Force, a little known company which claims to specialize in training military and security forces overseas, has seemingly taken control of a $27 million, never-used jail, and a rural Montana town’s nonexistent police force. After arriving in this tiny city with three Mercedes SUVs marked with the logo of a police department that has never existed, representatives of the obscure California security company said preparations were under...

This Iraqi Security Force Update provides a summary of changes to the ISF during September 2009. The Iraqi Security Force Order of Battle as of 30 September 2009 is published at Montrose Toast. During September, the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior held 23 course graduations. The emphasis in the Ministry of Interior is still on basic training of the backlog of untrained and already hired Iraqi Police. The emphasis of the Iraqi Army remains on support elements, with particular emphasis on engineer and indirect fires. ------ The first 40 Kurdish personnel to go through Phase III “Caribinieri” as...

A self-described New York City anarchist has been accused of tweeting the location of police officers to protesters trying to evade them during the Group of 20 economic summit in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania State Police arrested Elliot Madison alleging he used Twitter to direct the movement of protesters and inform them about law enforcement actions at last month's summit. The New York Post reported the arrest in Saturday editions. Court papers filed by Madison's attorney say FBI agents executed a search warrant at the 41-year-old's Queens home on Thursday. They seized computers, political writings and anarchist literature. Madison faces charges including...

BAGHDAD – Iraqi Security Forces captured six suspects involved in terrorist acts conducted in and around Kirkuk, Mosul and Baghdad in four different security operations today. Near Tuz Khurmatu, located approximately 69 km southwest of Kirkuk, the 3rd Emergency Services Unit, with U.S. forces advisors, arrested a suspect involved in an assassination and kidnapping ring that operates in and around the city of Kirkuk. In addition, the suspect played an active role in helping build the vehicle-borne improvised explosive device that destroyed a mosque and killed several Iraqi citizens in Taza on June 20. The security team searched several buildings...

The National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project utilizes news media reports of police misconduct to generate statistical information in an effort to approximate how prevalent police misconduct may be in the United States. As part of this project, reported incidents of misconduct are aggregated into a news feed on Twitter and added into an off-line database where duplicate entries and updates are removed and remaining unique stories are categorized for statistical information in monthly, quarterly, and yearly reports here on this site. To view data from other months, refer to the Police Misconduct Statistics menu item located on the...

ABC News also reports that, "The in-car cameras and computers in most squad cars don't work so officers can't record traffic stops, run license plates and check for warrants." So basically, speeding is now fair game in the city of Detroit.

Heather Mac DonaldThe Truth About Policing and Skid Row Summer 2009 proved that poor people’s best friend is the LAPD, not homeless advocates. 28 September 2009 The homeless industry on Los Angeles’s Skid Row lost its final shred of legitimacy this summer. Three murders and their aftermath exposed the advocates’ opposition to assertive policing as dangerous, hypocritical posturing. Los Angeles officials should reorient their funding priorities in light of the lessons of the summer of 2009. For 25 years, Skid Row constituted a real-world experiment in the application of homeless-advocate ideology. The squalor that engulfed the 50-block district just...