Free Republic

Ask yourself, when was the last time a police force acted in accordance with your interests and expectations? Did they protect your property or business from rioters and arson? Are they allowing lawlessness to run rampant in one segment of society, while they stridently enforce laws that prevent you from protecting your interests? What do YOU need them for? Anything? When police forces refuse to enforce criminal property laws the middle class has no use for them. When they prevent you from protecting you and yours, they have become your adversary. So, why not defund and disband?

First came a few pistol shots, several witnesses said, then a barrage of rifle fire during the shootout last month at a Waco restaurant favored by bikers. But authorities still have not said how many of the dead and wounded were the result of police fire. Police have identified only one assault weapon, a semi-automatic gun that fires high-powered ammunition, among the firearms confiscated from bikers, and that was found in a locked car after the shooting ended.

Yes, Cleveland police Officer Michael Brelo stood on a car and shot 15 times at the vehicle's unarmed black occupants seconds after he and fellow officers first riddled the car with bullets in 2012 -- but the shooting was justified, a judge ruled Saturday. Concluding just one of several police use-of-force cases that prompted recent outrage in Cleveland, a Cuyahoga County judge decided that Brelo was not guilty of voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault in the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams following a 22-mile car chase.

Officer Michael Brelo is charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter for the deaths of Timothy Russell, 43, and Malissa Williams, 30. Closing arguments in the month-long trial were presented on May 5 and Judge O’Donnell was left to deliberate. If convicted, Brelo, 31, faces a maximum sentence of 22 years in prison. On Nov. 29, 2012, Cleveland Police Officer Vasile Nan thought he heard a gunshot while he was outside of his cruiser on St. Clair Avenue near the Cuyahoga County Justice Center, and pursued a blue car. The resulting police chase lasted 22 minutes, and involved more than...

The shootout in Waco that killed nine motorcycle gang members began in the weeks before Christmas with a beating at a Toys for Tots event in Wise County and a murder in Fort Worth, according to law enforcement sources. The backdrop is a growing turf battle between the Bandidos – which has controlled Texas for years – and the Cossacks, a lesser-known biker gang that has been gaining power by aligning itself with Bandido rivals, the sources said. On Dec. 12, 10 Bandidos burst into Gator’s bar in Fort Worth and "without saying a word, started punching and attacking people,"...

In the past few years, the New York City Police Department has discovered that younger drug dealers are more likely to be armed with guns and dangerous. As a result, the NYPD narcotics department issued a new rule to their narcotics division: stop arresting drug dealers over the age of 40. As much as we’d like to joke that this is age discrimination, it’s actually the result of the NYPD’s desire to focus their resources on dealing with criminals in the 18-40 demographic. According to the New York Post, which got their hands on a memo from top officers, there’s...

Rapper Snoop Dogg is giving his two cents on the 2016 presidential election and his favorite is clear: Hillary Clinton. Snoop Dogg appeared on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live” on Sunday and spoke out supporting the former secretary of state and democratic candidate. Obama: Refusing To Act To Slow Effects Of Global Warming Amounts To ‘Dereliction Of Duty’ “I would love to see a woman in office because I feel like we’re at that stage in life to where we need a perspective other than the male’s train of thought,” the entertainer in response to a viewer’s question. “And just...

A website widely read by bikers called “The Aging Rebel” has published an alternative account of what happened during Sunday’s bloody shootout in Waco, Texas. The article titled The Waco Police Massacre brings out a number of details not previously published and also presents the controversial theory that event was essentially a police ambush.

Jesus Delgado Rodriguez, 65, died of gunshot wounds of the head and trunk. Jacob Lee Rhyne, 39, died of gunshot wounds to the neck. Richard Vincent Kirshner, Jr., 47, died of gunshot wounds but the report did not specify where he was shot. Richard Matthew Jordan, III, 31, died of gunshot wounds to the head. Wayne Lee Campbell, 43, died of gunshot wounds to the head and trunk. Daniel Raymond Boyett, 44, died of gunshot wounds to the head. Matthew Mark Smith, 27, died of gunshot wounds to the trunk Manuel Issac Rodriguez, 40, died of gunshot wounds but the...

'Does it count as a police chase?': MSNBC under fire for insensitive tweet mocking moment cop was DRAGGED along The news organization MSNBC landed in hot water over a provocative tweet it posted which appeared to mock a police officer who was dragged along the street by a suspect. The tweet with a video embedded in it, created a firestorm from commenters on social media and news sites. It read: 'Does it count as a police chase if you drag the cop along for the ride?' But shortly after a backlash ensued online on Saturday, the network hastily removed it...

Police officers are more likely to be struck by lightning than be held financially accountable for their actions.—Law professor Joanna C. Schwartz (paraphrased) “In a democratic society,” observed Oakland police chief Sean Whent, “people have a say in how they are policed.” Unfortunately, if you can be kicked, punched, tasered, shot, intimidated, harassed, stripped, searched, brutalized, terrorized, wrongfully arrested, and even killed by a police officer, and that officer is never held accountable for violating your rights and his oath of office to serve and protect, never forced to make amends, never told that what he did was wrong, and...

Comedian, actress, singer and San Francisco native Margaret Cho is tackling topics like police brutality and racism on her upcoming tour. Cho's "psyCHO Tour" is scheduled to stop at San Francisco's Castro Theatre on October 15. "This show is about insanity, and about the anger I feel about everything happening in the world right now, from police brutality to racism to the rising tide of violence against women," Cho said in a statement. "When men go off on something - they are 'passionate' and 'driven' and when women go off on something we are 'hysterical' and 'crazy.' I'm trying to...

OKLAHOMA CITY - New information is coming out regarding the rookie Oklahoma City police officer who was beaten by a suspect with his own baton following a burglary on the northwest side of the metro. An armed witness may have been the only thing that kept that officer from a more serious beating, or worse. It happened just after 2 p.m. Tuesday in the 2800 block of W. Park Pl. Rookie Officer Adam Eller and field training officer Sgt. Michael Lambert were responding to the burglary call. ... During the chase the two officers became separated. Eller found himself alone...

Nine Georgia sheriff’s deputies were fired Friday following an investigation into the death of suspect Matthew Ajibade while in police custody. Ajibade, 21, was arrested in Savannah for domestic abuse on January 1. He was tased and chained to a chair in an isolation cell following an altercation with deputies that left three officers injured, one of them with a concussion. When the deputies next checked on Ajibade he was unresponsive. The autopsy was not released, pending possible criminal charges.

A Utah man is suing the local police force after one of its dogs attacked him during an arrest, after he had put his hands up and surrendered. Martin Lee Hoogveldt, 33, had already given himself up after armed police entered his home in response to a disturbing-the-peace complaint in 2013, but the dog still jumped at him,clamping its jaws around his face. The dog handler's body camera captured the horrific attack, and can be seen struggling to get the dog, a German shepherd called Pyro, to let go of Hoogveldt's face.

The tenant saw the building surveillance video before it was handed over to San Diego Police as evidenceA man who says he has seen surveillance footage of a fatal officer-involved shooting last week in the Midway District says it was a “quick shooting that should not have taken place.” The San Diego Police Department has launched an investigation into the April 30 shooting in which a veteran officer did not activate his personal body cam. The man, who does not want to be identified, works in a building across the alley from the Highlight Book Store on the 3200 block...

Officer’s vital signs plummet after being shot in the head By Larry Celona, Shawn Cohen, Jamie Schram and Bruce Golding The distraught family of NYPD Officer Brian Moore was preparing for the worst Sunday as his condition deteriorated from a bullet wound to the head that left him on life support. Moore’s parents, including his retired-cop dad, Raymond, were joined by his police partner and dozens of other officers at Jamaica Hospital after he began bleeding uncontrollably and his blood pressure plummeted early Sunday, sources told The Post. At one point, a police chaplain was called to the hospital after...

Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi is seeking to fire a deputy accused of forcing jail inmates to fight for food. The San Francisco sheriff's office says he started termination proceedings this week against the deputy sheriff accused of forcing two inmates to hit each other so he and others could bet on the outcomes. Inmates Say Deputies Forced Them to Fight "Gladiator Style" According to an investigation by the San Francisco Public Defender's office inmates were promised hamburgers if they won,

The story of Robert Bates has covered the news wire for the past two weeks. A sting gone bad, with a "pay for play" volunteer reserve officer fatally shooting the subdued suspect. These facts have been known for some time, along with the details of the sting: a set-up gun buy to catch Eric Harris in the act, and then apprehend him. He gave chase, he was pursued, he was captured, he was killed. The focus has been almost exclusively directed at the shooter, Robert Bates, who appears to have bought his way into the good graces of the Tulsa...

Dear Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, As Chair and Vice Chair of the Sonoma County Community and Local Law Enforcement Task Force (CALLE), ... The California Supreme (Court Copley Press v. Superior Court 2006) effectively changed California Penal Code, so that all independent oversight agencies, such as civilian review boards, oversight panels, and civil service commissions, must now cloak all officer records and findings of misconduct in strict confidentiality..., any independent investigation that would yield specific information about officer misconduct and patterns is stifled, and must come through an internal law enforcement investigation, or motions approved by a judge. Even...