Free Republic

Concerned parents calling themselves SafeBears have raised $40,000 to pay for security guards or “safety ambassadors” to patrol the UC Berkeley campus area for a few weeks in early March. UC Berkeley may be one of America’s most prestigious schools, but its location in the California Bay Area has parents and students both wary of safety on campus. A group called SafeBears, that touts itself as comprising “1,300+ Cal parents and community allies working to improve safety for UC Berkeley students,” has worked to solve the problem themselves, hoping their prototypical program of patrols around campus will inspire the college...

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Customers are thrilled the original Jim's West Steaks & Hoagies in West Philadelphia is back in business, and they formed a line around the building. "I'm so excited," said Nitah Dunham from West Philadelphia. "The food has always been good." "In my opinion, it's the best cheesesteak in town," said William King from West Philadelphia. But now, customers can expect to see armed agents out front. "The violence has spiked," said Co-owner Cortez Johnson. "It goes up and down. You want people to feel safe and be safe. So when they come out and eat, they don't...

In Chicago, on just one evening this week, there were three people injured and one person killed in multiple shootings. Sadly, that wasn’t a big enough number to make the headlines outside of the Windy City because it’s really just a typical night out on the town. An increasing amount of criticism has been leveled against the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) because the trains and buses have become some of the most dangerous places to be, particularly after dark. Now, as CBS Chicago reports, the CTA is answering the call for action. But their latest response has been to announce...

Yesterday I posted an Instagram video link on "How to defend yourself and your rights while eating in a (public) food court" (here.). This is a follow-up post regarding content mentioned in the video that can now be accessed on this link. Here is a link to a recent video (8 minutes) from the same lady in the original Instagram video describing the contents on the (above) link.: HERE.

Excerpt - Federal prosecutors have sent target letters to six Blackwater Worldwide security guards involved in a September shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, indicating a high likelihood the Justice Department will seek to indict at least some of the men, according to three sources close to the case. ~ snip ~

(Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge erred in dismissing all charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards accused of killing 14 Iraqi civilians in 2007, an appeals court ruled on Friday. The unanimous three-judge panel reinstated the charges and sent the case back to the judge for more proceedings, handing a victory to the U.S. Justice Department in a high-profile prosecution dating to 2008. The five guards were charged with 14 counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempt to commit manslaughter and one weapons violation count over a Baghdad shooting that outraged Iraqis and strained ties between the two countries.

When news broke that Mohammed Kinani's son’s killers, Blackwater private military contractors hired by the U.S. government in Baghdad, were pardoned Wednesday by President Trump, Kinani said it was like losing his 9-year-old boy all over again. "I don't know what I did to Blackwater,” Kinani told ABC News. "Did I know Blackwater before? No. Why did this happen to me?" President Donald Trump pardoned four private military contractors who were found guilty for murdering 17 Iraqi citizens, including two children, in an attack that also left over 20 injured. The decision was praised by the contractors' lawyers but has...

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (AP) -- A Maryland man who says security guards beat him at a Six Flags America park on Father's Day in 2018 was awarded $800,000 by a jury on Friday. Nicholaus Mims and his family were visiting a water park area at Six Flags America in Bowie when the father took off his shirt and noticed one of his children was missing, The Daily Record reported , citing the complaint filed last year in Prince George's County Circuit Court. He found his son, but security guards told him he needed to put on a shirt.

The members of the emergency security squad (kitat konenut) at Amona, in the Binyamin region, announced Friday that they are collectively resigning their posts, after police arrested two of them. Police say that the two men had been throwing rocks at Arab marauders near their community, despite the fact that the IDF and police were present. The members of the emergency team have reportedly handed in their guns and communications radio to the army. The two men were under arrest at the Judea and Samaria (Shai) District Friday, but the police said they would be released before the Sabbath. "I...

Our View: AB350: Unreasonable and unfair - Legislation would dictate to employers which workers would make up their labor force.If you read Santa Ana Democratic Assemblyman Jose Solorio's explanation of his legislation, the controversial Assembly Bill 350, it's about helping low-wage workers keep their jobs in a tough economy. Don't be fooled. It's really about helping the sponsor of the bill, the Service Employees International Union, retain union membership and improve its bargaining position. The bill requires employers who win new contracts for building services — including janitorial, maintenance, security, window-cleaning and cafeteria services — to hire and retain the...

Why Is Indiana Putting Armed Security Guards Into 36 Unemployment Offices Across The State? Did you ever think that things in America would get so bad that we would need to put armed guards into our unemployment offices? Well, that is exactly what is happening in Indiana. Armed security guards will now be posted at all 36 full-service unemployment offices in the state of Indiana. So why is this happening now? Well, Indiana Department of Workforce Development spokesman Marc Lotter says that the agency is bringing in the extra security in anticipation of an upcoming deadline when thousands upon thousands...

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge dismissed all charges yesterday against five private Blackwater security guards accused of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007. The shooting left 17 Iraqis dead and inflamed anti-American sentiment abroad. The Iraqi government had wanted the guards to face trial in Iraq. Judge Ricardo Urbina said the prosecutors ignored the advice of Justice Department officials and improperly built their case on sworn statements that had been given under a promise of immunity. Urbina said the government's explanations were "contradictory, unbelievable and lacking in credibility."

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/12/uk-jihadists-who-plotted-to-blow-up-shopping-center-had-been-granted-permission-to-work-as-security.html UK: Jihadists who plotted to blow up shopping center had been granted permission to work as security guards Why not? To disallow them would have been "Islamophobic." "Manchester terror suspects cleared to work as guards," by David Leppard for The Sunday Times, December 13: Ten members of a suspected Islamist terror cell, said by MI5 to be plotting to blow up a shopping centre and a nightclub in Manchester, had been granted permission by the Home Office to work as security guards in Britain. The Pakistani students -- who were never charged...

January 2, 2009 "Police hire protection in Malmö suburb," from The Local, December 31 (thanks to Kasper): The police have contracted a security firm to help with the surveillance and protection of the police station in the Malmö suburb of Rosengård. In connection with unrest in Rosengård the station has on repeated occasions been the target of fireworks, vandalism and stone-throwing youths. The security firm will be deployed to help to ensure that the vandalism is not repeated, according to a report by local TV4 news program.

A task force led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided more than two dozen mostly Latino night clubs, restaurants, pool halls and other businesses Saturday night, arresting 49 undocumented immigrants employed as security guards, officials said.

NEW ORLEANS - Just blocks from a smoldering fire and walking distance from bodies floating in the floodwaters, John Crouch and Andy Guzman debated what to make for dinner. As the sun set, the men had hurriedly chained up the cast-iron fence and locked themselves into the 10,000-square-foot, gray-green Greek Revival mansion for the night. Three dogs, three handguns and five shotguns kept them company.

The terror alerts announced over the last week by the Department of Homeland Security have reinforced a crucial reality: There are clear and present threats against a variety of private sector targets. Many of our country’s financial institutions, chemical plants, oil refineries, and nuclear facilities are owned and/or operated by private enterprises. Although during these times of heightened security these high risk targets’ safekeeping may be enhanced by law enforcement, many times the front line safety of these important parts of nation’s infrastructure is the primary responsibility of private security. An article posted on USATODAY.com, “Private Security Guards Are Homeland’s...

NITED NATIONS, June 29 - The United States has expelled two security guards at Iran's United Nations mission after they were seen filming and photographing New York landmark buildings and parts of the city's transportation system, American officials said Tuesday. "They were asked to leave because we were very concerned about their activities, which weren't compatible with their stated duties," said Richard A. Grenell, the spokesman for the American mission. The language is common diplomatic wording for espionage cases. The two men were ordered out last weekend after pairs of Iranian guards had been seen for the third time in...

After fifteen years of effort, the U.S. Army and Navy have created robotic sentries to patrol indoors and outdoors. Called MDARS (Mobile Detection Assessment Response System), it comes in two different versions. The indoor MDARS runs off batteries and contains a huge number of sensors to enable it to navigate. These include twenty electrostatic and piezoelectric sonars (both narrow- and wide-beam), a monochrome video camera, an acoustical microphone, a scanning microwave and PIR motion sensors and optical beacon sensing modules, an ultraviolet flame sensor; a gas detector, laser retroreflective proximity sensors and a scanning laser rangefinder. The outdoor version (MDARS-E)...

<p>BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. investigators probing the bombing of the United Nations' (search) Baghdad headquarters focused Friday on the possibility that former Iraqi intelligence agents working as guards in the compound may have assisted the attackers, a U.S. official said.</p>