Free Republic

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Monday signed anti-crime legislation in the Sunshine State, designed to build upon the policies that led to the state’s 50-year record low crime rate. The bill itself builds upon past legislation by, in part, putting in place additional penalties for fentanyl and drug-related crimes and reforming the state’s death penalty statute. DeSantis teased the latter move earlier this year, expressing a desire to reform the death penalty statute by eliminating the need for a unanimous jury decision. Today, I signed legislation that will: – Makes child rapists eligible for the death penalty with the...

New York City Commissioner Dermot Shea announced Monday that “effective immediately,” the NYPD will disband its anti-crime unit and reassign roughly 600 plainclothes officers to other units. Advertisement - story continues below “This is 21st-century policing,” he said. “This is a seismic shift in the culture of how the NYPD polices this great city,” he said. “I would consider this in the realm of closing one of the last chapters of ‘Stop, Question and Frisk’…I think it’s time to more forward and change how we police in this city. We can do it with brains. We can do it with...

(10-18) 09:59 PDT OAKLAND -- An Oakland City Council candidate was robbed at gunpoint Wednesday night near his home after he attended a neighborhood anti-crime meeting, authorities said. Dan Kalb, 53, an environmental policy director who is one of seven candidates vying for the District 1 seat that represents North Oakland, said he had parked his car near his home on the 5100 block of Manila Avenue when he was accosted about 8:35 p.m. A man pointed a gun at him, demanded his iPhone and wallet and fled in a car, said Kalb, who was not hurt. The robbery happened...

(Reuters) - A proposed unmanned floating airship surveillance system is being hailed by city officials in Ogden, Utah as one way to fight crime in its neighborhoods. "We believe it will be a deterrent to crime when it is out and about and will help us solve crimes more quickly when they do occur," Ogden City Mayor Matthew Godfrey told Reuters. The airship entails military technology now available to local law enforcement, he said. Godfrey floated the idea of a dirigible in the skies above Ogden for his city council members last week. The council is expected to vote on...