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The family of a Santa Rosa man who killed himself during an armed standoff last year with Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies sued the county Friday in federal court, alleging an unwarranted, militarized assault on his home forced him to take his own life Dozens of deputies, including a SWAT team with an armored vehicle, descended on Swindell’s home and remained for hours after he released the kids and refused to come out. He committed suicide sometime the next morning when deputies filled the attic he was hiding in with tear gas and other chemical irritants, causing him extreme suffering, the...

Police officers in Jackson, Mississippi are now required to take a Spanish-language class four times a year, according to Jackson Police Department Police Chief Lee Vance. “The purpose of this program is for our officers to learn basic commands,” said Vance. “We’re not looking to make anybody fluent.” Vance also said the Spanish class is a part of a pre-scheduled Jackson Police Department’s in-service training program which included topics like constitutional law and reviewing pursuit policies. Each Spanish class is two-hours long and mandatory for all officers. If an officer refuses to attend the class—which has never happened—he or she...

New Jersey schools would be required to teach students how they should interact with police officers under proposed legislation a sponsor says could protect both kids and cops.

INDEPENDENCE, MO (KCTV) - A high-speed police chase wound through Independence and Kansas City, and the suspect driver hit at least one innocent motorist before he ditched the car and hid underneath a mattress. Police were then able to arrest the man. Independence police began to pursue the vehicle about 3:30 p.m. Monday. The light-colored Cadillac was reported stolen in the northwest part of Independence. The driver weaved dangerously through traffic at high-speed on a crowded I-70. Independence police were joined by Kansas City officers. The man drove from Independence into Kansas City where he hit an innocent motorist driving...

The unsung heroes of your community’s police force are its capable K-9 unit. These talented pooches can serve alongside a police force for upwards of a decade. As any pet owner knows, one of the hardest things in life is saying goodbye to your best friend. Police in West Deptford, New Jersey had to do just that late last week. Noted police dog Judge, who retired from active service in 2013, was given a hero’s farewell as he was walked into the vet’s office to be put down:

An anonymous Internet source posting as "Guest" has started a firestorm on a forum for the Palm Beach County Sheriff Office, titled pbsotalk.com.   The original post, titled "Tricks of the trade - let's exchange!" deals with how to plant evidence to cause problems for someone they arrest who has aroused their ire.  Here is the original post: I was lucky to get a really good FTO when I started almost 15 years ago. He taught me to always keep learning new skills and techniques. It's not always easy to do being in a zone with the same old people...

Germantown, WI — An incredible story from Friday morning starts out with a black lab named John Boy, approaching a police officer.Germantown police officer, Jeff Gonzalez deserves credit for not only refusing to do what so many other cops do when dogs approach them, but actually getting out in the freezing weather to see why this dog was loose.“He stood there and barked a little bit, then I rolled down my window and called to him. Then he wagged his tail and got more friendly until I got out of my car. And then he ran a little bit,” said...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —The district attorney is seeking criminal charges against the two officers who shot and killed James Boyd last spring. Police said officers Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez fatally shot Boyd last year. District Attorney Kari Brandenburg submitted paperwork Monday to move the case forward. The next step would be a preliminary hearing, where prosecutors would make their case to go to a full trial. A judge would have the final say on whether the case moves forward. "In this case we do believe that we have probable cause," Brandenburg said. The DA is seeking murder charges. Brandenburg also...

(CNN)—A Minneapolis police officer was shot Saturday morning, and Police Chief Janee Harteau said "there is little doubt that an officer was the intended target." The wounded officer was one of two who had just finished responding to a reported burglary when he was shot just before 5 a.m. (6 a.m. ET), Minneapolis police said in a statement. His partner promptly drove him to a nearby North Memorial Medical Center, where he was in stable condition later Saturday. "The chief is now with this officer and his family is with him, as well," police spokesman Scott Seroka told CNN. "He...

After biting two people within three months — a police officer and a doughnut shop worker — a Coconut Creek police dog has been bounced off the force.. Renzo, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois, had been with the department about a year and a half. In November, he bit a Coconut Creek officer while tracking a suspect, wounding the officer's leg. In a more severe attack last week, Renzo burst from a squad car and tore into a doughnut shop employee's calf. The worker has hired a lawyer.

MANILA, Philippines - A suspect in a series of robberies and rapes was shot dead by a policewoman as he allegedly grabbed her service firearm at the Quezon City justice hall Monday night. Mark Soque, 29, was being subjected to inquest proceedings for eight robberies, three rapes and the killing of a Korean woman at various establishments in Quezon City. He was arrested last Thursday. Police Officer 3 Juvy Jumuad, who was escorting Soque, told investigators that they were outside the fiscal’s office on the fourth floor when he asked to go to the restroom to relieve himself. As Jumuad...

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has no dues-paying members on the Moriarty, New Mexico police force, but that’s not stopping the union from demanding the city negotiate with it anyway. The city’s police officers voted in 2011 to create a collective bargaining unit affiliated with AFSCME to negotiate employment contracts on their behalf, according to the Albuquerque Journal. Two officers joined, the majority did not. Those two have since left the department. The seven officers currently employed by the city are not union members, though the union still claims to represent them.

That icon of police transportation, a vehicle so sturdy and beloved and ubiquitous that it became virtual wallpaper on TV cop shows and local streets – the Ford Crown Victoria – is dead. The upshot is this: For many police agencies, it’s time to buy a new car. Ford stopped making the Crown Vic four years ago, saying sales to the public had fallen to the point that the car is no longer viable, even if demand from police agencies remained strong. Fuel efficiency (or in the Crown Vic’s case, inefficiency) played a role.

Denver Police Upset After Memorial Vandalized During Protest DENVER — Feb 15, 2015 By SADIE GURMAN Denver Police Chief Robert White on Sunday defended his policy ordering police not to interfere with protesters, saying he found it "disgusting" that they vandalized a memorial for fallen police officers while officers had to stand by and watch, but he said their restraint was necessary to protect the community. Protesters threw red paint on the memorial outside the department's headquarters Saturday during a march against police brutality. Officers and the city's police union were upset after they were told not to interfere. In...

Madison police today released video of officers throwing a 57-year-old Indian citizen on the sidewalk outside his son's home. The incident left the grandfather temporarily paralyzed and hospitalized with fused vertebrae. Chirag Patel said his father, Sureshbhai Patel, was visiting to help his wife care for their new baby, a 17-month-old son, so he could pursue his masters degree in electrical engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Madison police officer Eric Parker today turned himself in to face assault charges. Chief Larry Muncey told a small press conference in Madison that he also recommended that Parker be fired...

The next edition of Charlie Hebdo is set to come out on February 25. A good maxim for those in the UK who are considering making a purchase is “buyer beware.” It is simply Orwellian. Despite many in the free world standing up for freedom of speech and proudly proclaiming “Je suis Charlie,” some police forces in the United Kingdom have been questioning newsagents and demanding the names and details of those who purchased the magazine. The edition of Charlie Hebdo in question was the one put out after the massacre of Charlie Hebdo employees in a terrorist attack in...

"Charlie Burton, of Fombell, says he was a vendor at the Washington Crown Center mall for a gun show when he saw an officer struggling with the suspect, 29-year-old Jonathan Fekete Jr."

Madison police last week roughed up a 57-year-old Indian citizen who was walking on the sidewalk outside his son's home, leaving the older man temporarily paralyzed and hospitalized with fused vertebrae."He was just walking on the sidewalk as he does all the time," said his son, Chirag Patel, this morning. "They put him to the ground."No crime had been committed. Madison Police on Monday issued a statement saying the department had suspended the officer and were investigating the use of force in this case. The police statement wished the man a "speedy recovery."Chirag Patel, an engineer for one of the many government...

As corrupt police officers go, Jonathan Garcia was more brazen than most. Less than two years after joining the force, he was making illegal traffic stops and stealing cash seized from drug dealers. He sold heroin, often in uniform and in broad daylight, across the street from the 17th District station in South Philadelphia. And, as he explained to a federal Judge Wednesday, he did all of this thinking that was just the way the system worked in a city with a history of dirty cops. "You start thinking there's no justice," Garcia said. "The criminals, they make bail. They...

Hooded gunmen have fired on police in the French city of Marseille where the Prime Minister Manuel Valls had been due to visit. Gunfire was heard in the Castellane area of the city on Monday morning. Witnesses said the armed men fired Kalashnikovs into the air. Around 40 police officers are reported to positioned on a roundabout. Elite security forces have been sent to the scene, according to a police source.