Free Republic

Proposals to defund law enforcement fail the cost-benefit test and will likely increase avoidable deaths while lowering the overall standard of living.In Philadelphia in January, 25-year old Milan Loncar — a recent Temple University graduate and husband to be — was walking his dog when he was brutally gunned down in the streets of Philadelphia, the victim of an armed robbery that he did not resist. He died while still holding the leash of his rescue dog. The gunman had a violent criminal history and should have been in jail the night of Loncar’s murder, but he had been released...

Former President Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel posted a video on Friday that showed the hotel serving as a rest area for local police officers. "A heart full of gratitude to all our law enforcement officers...Enjoy America’s Living Room and great having you all with us... @DCPoliceDept,” Mickael Damelincourt, the managing director for the district's Trump International Hotel, tweeted on Wednesday morning, just before President Biden was inaugurated blocks away. The video was posted the same week that National Guard troops were relegated to sleeping in a parking lot after securing the inauguration, drawing outrage from politicians on social media....

A group of galaxies nicknamed the Copeland Septet, in the constellation of Leo. Astronomers using images from Kitt Peak National Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory have created the largest ever map of the sky, comprising over a billion galaxies. The final data release from the ambitious DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys sets the stage for a ground-breaking 5-year survey with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), which aims to provide new insights into the nature of dark energy. Credit: KPNO/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Legacy Imaging Survey ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Giant Map of the Sky Sets Stage for Ambitious DESI Survey Astronomers using images from Kitt Peak...

John Earle Sullivan, a 26-year-old left-wing activist and “known agitator,” has been arrested for his role in the Capitol riots after he was caught on film shouting “it’s our house” and “we got to get this s**t burned.” Sullivan, who has previously taken part in Black Lives Matter protests, told multiple media outlets prior to his arrest that he was simply on-site to ‘document’ the events at the Capitol. In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper after the riot, the left-wing agitator “implied that he was passively observing the situation as it unfolded.” Sullivan told Fox News last week that...

CHICAGO — Most Chicago cops don’t talk to reporters. They don’t trust politicians. And they certainly have a lot of opinions. It’s why for the past 15 years the “Second City Cop” police blog has been must-read for many Chicagoans who want to have a better understanding about crime and justice in their city. It’s also why the blog has bene a thorn in the side of police brass for years and there have been various attempts to identify the operator. When the chronicle of cop life disappeared from public view on the internet a few days ago some took...

I may be going with a group to Washington, D.C., for the 6th. I expect a crowd of over 1M people there. Busses are being leased all over the country, all headed the same direction. I just hope we leave early enough to avoid the traffic snarls we’re certain to run into. I also hope everyone who goes understands how enticing a target that many patriots in one place makes for those who are trying to steal this country away from us. We’ll have to trust the security forces there to keep us safe, but I’m also aware that the...

A cop attempts to cite a stopped car. Protesters yell and the police warns them to step back. The car flees. As the motorcycle leaves to pursue, several protesters jump in front of his path with clear intention to interfere with an arrest. One is hit and dragged down the street. They were taken to hospital condition unknown. This just happened a few minutes ago.

..... Pratt is the only surviving Australian winner of the George Cross — the country’s highest civilian award for bravery. The equivalent award in the newer Australian honours system is the Cross of Valour, an award that has been made to only five Australians. Pratt, a 21-year-old policeman and married just three months, was on his way to have a haircut when he earned his medal. He drove his own car, on a day off and unarmed, into the front door of a Clifton Hill bank when he saw three armed and masked bandits enter the bank on June 4,...

@Breaking911Kentucky Attorney General says search warrant executed in #BreonnaTaylor killing was NOT a "no-knock" warrant & officers announced their presence

Police are on the hunt for at least two gunmen who fired a barrage of shots on the Camden, New Jersey, home of two police officers and their newborn – with six of the bullets penetrating the structure in the “targeted” attack, according to reports. The couple and their 10-day-old baby escaped injury after the assailants opened fire on their Clinton Street home about 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, NJ.com reported. Six of the seven bullets that struck the home made it inside – two through the front door, Camden Police Chief Joseph Wysocki said during a press conference Thursday night, the...

My daughter on the phone told my wife that a girlfriend just told her that her apartment building is surrounded by Police in the outskirts of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Apparently another Policeman has been shot in the Chest.

One of the residents had unwisely invited Robert Thompson, 47, to stay at the apartment he shared with his girlfriend. He did this despite Thompson having a lengthy rap sheet and a history of criminal behavior. True to form, Thompson quickly began causing trouble of an alarming kind, including exposing himself to some young girls, throwing a rock through someone’s window and threatening people (including his hosts) with violence. Understandably, the apartment’s tenant, Leander Mccoy, called the police. But after arriving and questioning Thompson, the police simply left, saying they would “seek a warrant” to deal with the matter. The...

ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) -- An officer was shot in north St. Louis City Sunday night after an attempted traffic stop. Officials with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said officers were trying to pull over an older model red Impala with no plates at around 9:20 p.m. The car pulled over but then sped off and the officers followed. The people inside the car then started shooting at the officers in the area of 20th Street and Prairie Ave.

San Leandro police officer Jason Fletcher, 49, was charged on Wednesday Steven Taylor, 33, was shot dead in April in a San Francisco Bay Area Walmart Fletcher had responded to a call about an alleged shoplifter inside the store Officials said he did not wait for backup and instead tried to grab the bat from Taylor, then fired his Taser and his service weapon, all in less than 40 seconds

CLACKAMAS, Ore. – The sheriffs of Clackamas and Washington County say they will not send staff to help with protests in Portland after Oregon Governor Kate Brown unveiled a plan to address the violence at protests.... Clackamas Co. Sheriff Craig Roberts said the governor didn’t approach his office before rolling out the plan, intended to address the violence and arson while also protecting free speech. “Increasing law enforcement resources in Portland will not solve the nightly violence and now, murder,” the sheriff said. “The only way to make Portland safe again, is to support a policy that holds offenders accountable...

PLEASANTON, TX- Portland, Oregon has become the poster child for the wacky, hard-left Black Lives Matter and Antifa rioting across the country, which is now well into its third month. In some ways, the antics in Portland closely resembles the 1980’s movie starring Kurt Russell, “Escape From New York.” In the movie, New York City has been taken over by criminals and gangs (not unlike what is going on in Portland or in much of the country for that matter) with walls being erected around the city to keep the bad guys in and the good guys out... ... Each...

Stingrays are routinely used to target suspects in drug and other criminal investigations, but activists also believe the devices were used during protests against the Dakota Access pipeline, and against Black Lives Matter protesters over the last three months. The Justice Department requires federal agents to obtain a probable cause warrant to use the technology in criminal cases, but there is a carve-out for national security. Given that President Donald Trump has referred to protesters as “terrorists,” and that paramilitary-style officers from the Department of Homeland Security have been deployed to the streets of Portland, Oregon, it’s conceivable that surveillance...

A far-left, antifa-supporting paramilitary group in Columbia, SC, openly advocates for the use of “deadly force” against law enforcement personnel to “protect the people” from what they call government “tyranny.” In a recent Facebook post, the militia group, Civil Defense Corps, suggested that federal agents should be shot in the face, Far Left Watch has learned. According to its website, the Civil Defense Corps is actively recruiting “former infantry” to serve as armed “Reserve Units” to “investigate hate crimes and threats against minorities as well as the LGBTQ+ community.” The local media refers to the heavily armed Civil Defense Corps...

TEXAS MOTOR CITY SPEEDWAY, FORT WORTH — For the first time, disabled and wounded officers are speaking out about an incident that occurred over the weekend at a NASCAR race at Texas Motor City Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. On Saturday, a group of disabled officers injured in the line of duty were seated as guests of top female NASCAR driver Angela Ruch. After the race, they asked NASCAR track security if they could take a photo with her vehicle benefitting The Wounded Blue organization, which was painted in tribute to more than 120 fallen officers killed in the line...

All in all, the 'moms' and 'dad' march in Portland last night can only be described as a March Of Shame. Not only did they not grab their 'kids' by the collar and march them home, they actively participated in the vandalism. At first the march by 'moms' and 'dads' to 'protect' their innocent little kids from the big bad federal marshals looked promising for a peaceful night, until about 10:30 when the mom/dad group was suckered into marching around the block. This gave their blac bloc clad 'children' the time they needed to gather at the courthouse. The yoots...