Free Republic

Last Friday FBI agents raided the homes of far left activists in Chicago and Minneapolis who are linked to the FARC and Islamic radicals as part of a terrorism investigation. The home of radical Hatem Abudayyeh in Chicago was raided in the terror sweep. The AP reported on the raid in Chicago. FBI agents in Chicago took a laptop and documents from the home of a Palestinian-American anti-war activist in an attempt to silence his advocacy, an attorney said Sunday. The FBI on Friday searched eight addresses in Minneapolis and Chicago, including the home of Hatem Abudayyeh, who is the...

<p>A Middlesex County man is in police custody after several pipe bomb-like devices were found near the route of a Labor Day parade that the governor was set to attend Monday.</p> <p>Officials detained a man on Monday morning after they found “over half a dozen” devices on his large property near South Plainfield’s Labor Day Parade route, according to a senior law enforcement official with the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness.</p>

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP — It must have seemed like something out of the movies.Three men from Atlantic County, one from Ocean County and a teenager were under arrest after a gun battle that left another man dead. The crime scene: A stretch of Atlantic City Expressway traversed by two fast-moving vehicles. Of the five arrested after the Monday violence, four suffered gunshot wounds and two remained hospitalized on Tuesday. The first reports of gunshots came in shorty before 3 p.m., police said. Callers reported moving cars exchanging fire in the eastbound lanes of the Atlantic City Expressway near Exit 12.Soon afterward,...

Although C.L.H had a clean record and was not a defendant in the domestic violence proceeding, which was later voluntarily dismissed in any event, what authorities found out about his collection led to trouble. On examination by the State Police, five of the guns were considered under New Jersey law to be banned “assault weapons” which led to the forfeiture of those firearms and, since that disqualified him from further gun ownership under state law as argued the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, the other 71 guns as well. A local court agreed and ordered the entire collection remain impounded pending...

The invitation of rapper Common to a White House this week is drawing the ire of the union representing New Jersey state police. While not even casual hip-hop fans would characterize him as a controversial rapper, Common found himself under the microscope after First Lady Michelle Obama invited him to the White House for an arts event. FOX News and Sarah Palin criticized the decision after the Daily Caller published some of Common's lyrics, including some that criticize President George W. Bush. For Jersey police, the outrage centers on a song by Common about Assata Shakur, formerly known as Joanne...

When Andy Nardelli and Frances Gdowski started at the State Police Crime Laboratory in 1969, it was a shoestring operation run out of a converted office building in West Trenton. Workers didn't use gloves, smoked in the lab and even ate lunch on the same table where they tested drugs, they said. When scientists testified in court, they brought the evidence -- sometimes cocaine or heroin worth tens of thousands of dollars -- with them in their own cars. In arson cases, investigators would simply smell the evidence to determine what chemicals were used in the fire. "The word forensic'...

A violent sexual predator is expected to be sentenced today to anywhere from 10 to 50 years in prison for chasing down, beating and sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman on a street here two years ago. Eric Rangel, 22, was found guilty by a jury in March of committing the April 22, 2007 attack at 3 a.m. on North Beverwyck Road. At the time of the assault, Rangel, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, was employed as a cook at a pizzeria about a half-mile from where the incident occurred. In the trial in Superior Court in Morristown, Rangel's attorney, public defender...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   New Jersey State Police Seeking to Enact Further Firearms Restrictions by Regulation   Monday, August 06, 2007   Please Mail Your Comments in Today! The New Jersey State Police recently issued new rule proposals for the regulation of firearms, magazines, and retailers in the Garden State. If approved, these regulations will have the rule of law without ever being debated by our legislators in Trenton, turning thousands of unsuspecting citizens into felons!   The proposal would do the following:  It would require law-abiding gun owners to surrender or pay to render their “large...

Cops and politicians call Interstate 95 the "Iron Pipeline" because it is a popular route for criminals smuggling firearms from the South into Newark and other Northeastern cities where gun violence abounds. A big link in that pipeline is the New Jersey Turnpike, where the State Police used to seize scores of guns every year. But they don't anymore. Gun arrests and gun seizures have plummeted on the Turnpike in the last decade, according to data provided by the State Police in response to a request under the Open Public Records Act. Since 1995, the number of gun-related arrests by...

Investigators said his cruiser ran a stop sign, killing 2 teenage sisters. Authorities issued traffic tickets yesterday to a state trooper who allegedly ran a stop sign and killed two teenage sisters when his police cruiser crashed into their minivan. Trooper Robert Higbee was charged with careless driving and failure to stop. The charges came during a criminal investigation into the Sept. 27 accident. The two sisters - Jacqueline G. Becker, 17, and Christina M. Becker, 19 - had borrowed their grandmother's minivan for a quick, late-night run to Wawa for a gallon of milk. The girls, planning to spend...

The state trooper who ran a stop sign last month and killed two teenage girls was issued two traffic tickets yesterday, although the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office said it was still considering criminal charges. Trooper Robert Higbee received summonses for careless driving and failure to stop in the Sept. 27 accident in Upper Township that killed Jacquelin Becker, 17, who was driving, and her sister, Christina Becker, 19. "The investigation is ongoing into the circumstances of the crash," Cape May Prosecutor Robert Taylor said in a statement, adding the tickets were issued only because of a 30-day statute of...

On Friday, 102 men and women are expected to walk across the stage at the State Police training academy in Sea Girt, collect their badges and join the ranks of New Jersey's top law enforcement agency. This latest batch of graduating troopers looks like many of the previous classes, but less and less like the state they will serve. Seventy-nine of the 102 are white men. Seven years and millions of dollars after the State Police conceded their minority recruiting efforts were "significantly flawed" and pledged improvement, the race and gender makeup of the rank and file remains effectively unchanged....

Feds offer $1 million reward for fugitive Chesimard EWING, N.J. -- Fugitive cop killer Joanne Chesimard is now on the same terrorist watch lists that include Osama bin Laden. In an indication of how badly New Jersey authorities still want to recapture the Black Liberation Army member who executed a state trooper as he lay on the ground 32 years ago, the bounty on Chesimard's head was increased Monday from $150,000 to $1 million. State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes said he hopes the sweetened reward will encourage someone to come forward with information leading to the capture of Chesimard,...

Investigators suspect that at least six New Jersey state troopers were recorded on wiretaps, calling in bets to a bookmaking ring allegedly run by a National Hockey League coach and another trooper, a source familiar with the probe said Friday. The state police also suspended a trooper for allegedly failing to report the illegal betting ring to his superiors, a law enforcement official said. Michael Kaiser, a sergeant assigned to the Garden State Parkway, was suspended late Thursday for violating the agency's rules. He was not charged with any crimes, officials said. State police investigators are now trying to determine...

EWING, N.J. (AP) - Wayne Gretzky's wife and about a half-dozen NHL players placed bets - but not on hockey - with a nationwide sports gambling ring financed by Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach Rick Tocchet, authorities said Tuesday. Gretzky, hockey's greatest player, is in his first season coaching the Coyotes and is a part-owner of the team. Actress-wife Janet Jones was among those implicated, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because no bettors have been publicly identified.

CAMDEN, N.J., Nov. 21 (UPI) -- City officials in Camden, N.J., are taking the offensive against a Kansas statistical firm that ranks Camden as the most dangerous city in the United States. Monday, the Morgan Quitno firm released its annual ranking of dangerous cities based on six types of crime, and for the second year, Camden was first in the country among 354 cities. The study analyzed the occurrence rates of murder, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary and motor vehicle theft. However, local officials told the Camden Courier-Post the latest rankings use figures from 2004, and overlook improvements made in...

The New Jersey State Police pulled its troopers out of the state's Counter-Terrorism Office on Monday, decimating the agency's investigative ability and bringing its terror probes to a virtual standstill, officials said. Acting Governor Codey, furious at the surprise move amid a turf battle between the two agencies, threatened to punish the state Attorney General's Office for approving it. "He views this as the last straw - this ongoing turf battle that goes on every day, and he's not going to stand it anymore," said Kelley Heck, the governor's spokeswoman. "He is determined to put an end to the situation...

A veteran New Jersey state trooper has been indicted for allegedly aiding members of a major Union County drug ring, law enforcement officials said Monday. Detective Sgt. Moises Hernandez, 39, of Union Township, a trooper for 17 years, turned himself in to authorities Monday. He is charged with second-degree conspiracy and official misconduct, as well as a fourth-degree charge of falsifying documents related to the heroin trafficking scheme. The Union County Prosecutor's Office said Hernandez used confidential motor vehicle information to identify an undercover surveillance car for one of the alleged dealers, then filed a fictitious report to try to...

NEWARK, N.J. -- Federal and state authorities are trying to determine how armed officers raided the wrong house, smashing doors and frightening residents earlier this week, a state police spokesman said Thursday. We are investigating what went wrong," said Sgt. Gerald Lewis Jr. "For some reason, whether it was erroneous information or supervision, we actually hit the wrong house." He said the address on the state search warrant was correct, but that the team of state police SWAT officers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents went to the wrong street and raided a home with the same number on Tuesday. An...

Are Bureacratic Battles Harming National Security? By Eyewitness News' N.J. Burkett(New York -WABC, May 20, 2005) — There's a a nasty battle going on between police and the FBI and tonight there are concerns that it is harming national security. It's an Eyewitness News exclusive. Tonight a federal report - criticizing the NYPD and New Jersey's counter terrorism agency. It claims both are resisting cooperation with the FBI, and it's gotten so bad that Congress is now looking into the matter. Eyewitness News reporter N.J. Burkett is here with more. "Asinine" and "outrageous" - those are just a few of...