Free Republic

It’s likely that Robert Watson, the minority leader of the Rhode Island House, is now regretting his incendiary comments during a speech to the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce last February. Watson caused a commotion when he made clear his feelings that Rhode Island lawmakers were wasting their time debating marijuana decriminalization. According to Watson, making pot decrim a priority would be a good idea “if you are a Guatemalan gay man who likes to gamble and smokes marijuana.” Watson’s hypocrisy was revealed this week after he was stopped at a police checkpoint Friday and charged with – what else?...

Christopher Drew is a 60-year-old artist and teacher who wears a gray ponytail and lives on the North Side. Tiawanda Moore, 20, a former stripper, lives on the South Side and dreams of going back to school and starting a new life. About the only thing these strangers have in common is the prospect that by spring, they could each be sent to prison for up to 15 years. “That’s one step below attempted murder,” Mr. Drew said of their potential sentences. The crime they are accused of is eavesdropping. The authorities say that Mr. Drew and Ms. Moore audio-recorded...

Police work is often lionized by jurists and scholars who claim to employ "textualist" and "originalist" methods of constitutional interpretation. Yet professional police were unknown to the United States in 1789, and first appeared in America almost a half-century after the Constitution's ratification. The Framers contemplated law enforcement as the duty of mostly private citizens, along with a few constables and sheriffs who could be called upon when necessary. This article marshals extensive historical and legal evidence to show that modern policing is in many ways inconsistent with the original intent of America's founding documents. The author argues that the...

DETROIT -- Local 4 is following breaking news out of Detroit’s west side where a retired Detroit police officer was involved in a deadly shooting and attempted robbery. The deadly shooting and robbery happened Sunday night outside a party store on West Seven Mile and Hubbell Street. Sources told Local 4, seconds after the retired police officer had pulled into the parking lot of the party store; he was approached by an armed young man. Sources said the suspect is an 18-year-old black man who was trying to rob the retired officer. Acting quickly, the retired officer pulled out his...

Synopsis of the story. 1) A family sued and won $215,000 from Ecorse city, retired Police Chief Jerry Copeland, and two police officials over a wrong house drug raid. The police officers had no immunity from the civil penalty. 2) Bad news is the city has to raise bonds to pay the judgment because the city is broke. 3) The couple had separately sued the SWAT team from Downriver and received a $30,000 settlement.

the number of violent crimes reported in cities across Southern California dropped in 2009 the decrease was even bigger in areas of Orange County and the Inland Empire, where some cities reported double-digit drops in the number of murders, robberies, forcible rapes and aggravated assaults. Ventura recorded a 7% drop in violent crimes last year compared to the year before. During the same period, Riverside showed a 20% decrease and Ontario reported a 17% drop, according to the data.