February 7, 2011 | ||||||||
Do Police Go Too Far In Extending "Professional Courtesy"? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Professional courtesy" has been called the "third rail" of topics in law enforcement circles, says the Baltimore Sun. Many police officers don't like to acknowledge it exists outside the family. It's one of the worst-kept secrets in the world: the ethic that "cops don't write tickets on other cops." Or retired cops. Or cops' family members. Or military. Or people with a sticker on their cars indicating they've donated to a police charity. Or anybody any individual police officer decides is part of a protected class. To get an idea of how far professional courtesy has gone, Google "professional courtesy police" and you'll find a wealth of reading matter about when - if ever - law enforcement officers should apply the same traffic penalties to colleagues as they do to civilians. Professional courtesy is a lively topic of discussion on police forums such as PoliceOne.com, where officers heatedly debate such topics as whether police who drive drunk should receive the same courtesy as other offenders. Frank Borelli, editor in chief of Officer.com and a former instructor, says, "When I was working the street there were certain groups of people I extended a level of leniency to because I felt either I or society as a whole owed them that as a sign of appreciation. Those groups, for me, included cops, firemen, doctors, nurses and military service members. Those folks would only get a citation from me if either 1) what they did was way out of hand, or 2) they just couldn't find it within themselves to show me common courtesy when I pulled them over." | ||||||||
Pharmacists Beef Up Security As Brazen Robbers Seek Painkillers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There have been more than 1,800 pharmacy robberies nationally over three years, often by young men seeking opioid painkillers and other drugs to sell or feed their own addictions, reports the New York Times. The most common targets are oxycodone (the main ingredient in OxyContin), hydrocodone (the main ingredient in Vicodin) and Xanax. Florida, Indiana, California, Ohio and Washington have had the most armed robberies of pharmacies since January 2008, says the Drug Enforcement Administration. Maine, Oklahoma, and Oregon had the sharpest increases last year. Some robbers are brazen and desperate. In Rockland, Me., one wielded a machete, leaping over a pharmacy counter to snatch oxycodone, gulping some before he fled. In Satellite Beach, Fl., a robber threatened a pharmacist with a cordless drill, and in North Highlands, Ca., a holdup led to a shootout that left a pharmacy worker dead. Pharmacists have tighten security measures, upgrading surveillance cameras and some installing bulletproof glass and counters high enough to keep would-be robbers from jumping them. In Tulsa, where there was a steep increase in drugstore robberies last year, one pharmacist now requires customers to be buzzed in the door. | ||||||||
White House Again Delays Rule Aimed At U.S. Gunrunners To Mexico ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ White House budget officials have rejected an emergency request by federal firearms investigators for a rule meant to help catch gunrunners to Mexico, the Washington Post reports. The decision delays for at least two months a proposed requirement that dealers along the Mexican border report anyone who buys two or more assault weapons in five days. The White House said the delay will give the public more time - until Feb. 14 - to comment on the proposal. It was the the second time that the rule, which is strongly opposed by the gun industry and the National Rifle Association, has been put on hold by the Obama administration. It was shelved by former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel last year and was not reconsidered until after the midterm congressional elections. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had hoped the reporting requirement would help them track potential gunrunners like accused trafficker Sean Christopher Steward, 28, of Phoenix, who purchased more than 100 AK-47s in a single month. | ||||||||
Blind Spot in Gun Background Checks: Legal Buyers Who Turn Illegal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tens of thousands of gun owners bought weapons legally but under the law should no longer have them because of subsequent mental health or criminal issues. It's another major blind spot in the federal background check system that is supposed to deny guns to prohibited buyers, says the New York Times. Policing these prohibitions is difficult in most states. Authorities usually must stumble upon the weapon in a traffic stop or some other encounter, and run the person's name through various record checks. California is unique, gun control advocates say, because of its computerized database, the Armed Prohibited Persons System. It was aimed at enabling law enforcement officials to handle the issue pre-emptively, actively identifying people who legally bought handguns, or registered assault weapons, but are now prohibited from having them. The list had 18,374 names on it as of the beginning of this month - 15 to 20 are added a day - swamping law enforcement's ability to keep up. | ||||||||
WA Bars Medical Pot Dispensarlies But Collects Their Taxes Anyway ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Washington state allows medical marijuana but not dispensaries to sell it. Still, says the Kitsap Sun. some 129 hae been established under a murky area of state law that allows providing medical pot only to "one patient at any one time." One local dispensary says it does indeed help only one card-carrying patient at a time - but they come and go about every 15 minutes. The dispensary has built a clientele of about 500 patients in its two-and-a-half months of operation, and it is already looking to open a second location. The state Department of Health says dispensaries are not allowed, though it does permit a provider to supply a patient. Making the message further mixed, the Department of Health's website has astatement saying that dispensaries are illegal - yet the state's Department of Revenue is registering them as taxpaying entities. Should law enforcement be investigating any of this? Mason County Sheriff's spokesman Dean Byrd acknowledged that without clarification, police have a difficult time knowing what to investigate and what will hold up in court. "The criminal law should not be ambiguous," he said. "When there is ambiguity, it ties the hands of law enforcement." | ||||||||
Despite WA Guard's Death, Women Prison Officers Have Good Safety Record ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The death of Washington state corrections officer Jayme Biendl on Jan. 29 has raised debate about the vulnerability of women working among male inmates, says the Seattle Times. Having a lone, slight woman doing hands-on work behind bars might seem like a jarring risk, but in the 35 years since women broke into the ranks at Washington's male prisons, gender has become mostly an afterthought inside. Of the 3,708 officers in the state's prisons, 592 - 15 percent - are women. They have filled every job, from officer to superintendent. Several female officers said they don't feel targeted by inmates because of their gender. Female corrections officers once were excluded for their lack of size and strength. Female officers are hurt less often than men. They are seen as better communicators, often defusing machismo tension before it erupts. Biendl's death was the first of an officer in 32 years. Last year, Department of Corrections officers spent 8,900 days - more than 24 years in total - on paid disability leave because of assaults or on-the-job physical injury. Officer Keri Towle, a slim, blond 26-year-old with the walk and demeanor of an ex-jock, has not suffered an injury since being hired three years ago. | ||||||||
2,500 Teens In Texas Database Of Suspected Child Abusers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ About 2,500 people under age 18 were added in fiscal 2009 to a Texas database of people accused of child abuse and neglect, records that can be shared with other states, says the Texas Tribune. The "central registry" was created in the mid-1990 to give a variety of people and agencies, from child welfare workers to certain job placement offices, a central location to run comprehensive background checks or to aid investigations. It is largely made up of people who aren't convicted criminals or registered sex offenders, from the negligent parent whose child died in a hot car to a group home operator who hit a disabled child. The problem, say critics, is that it includes the names of thousands of juveniles who may have no idea they're even on it and, unlike a criminal proceeding, have had no chance to contest the designation. State spokesman Patrick Crimmins says that, "If a child has a history of sexually acting out, sexually abusing other children, physically abusing other children or otherwise engaging in behaviors that create safety concerns, staff takes steps to ensure these children and any other children in the placement are safe." | ||||||||
Ex-PA Juvenile Court Judge to Go On Trial in Big Corruption Case ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Former Pennsylvania juvenile court judge Mark Ciavarella is seen as the pitiless overseer of a cutthroat courtroom in which he conspired with another judge to grow rich upon the suffering of children, says
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Monday, February 7, 2011
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