Two Months After Tucson, Obama Seeks Better Gun Buyer Checks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
Kerry Assails GOP Cuts in COPS; "I Didn't Know We Had Ended Crime" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Senator John Kerry (D-MA), speaking to the Fraternal Order of Police in Boston, blasted House Republicans for taking a "meat ax'' to crucial items in the proposed federal budget, including education, research, infrastructure, and public safety, and he vowed to continue to fight for unions, reports the Boston Globe. The FOP endorsed Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for president in 2008, but members now say they are deeply concerned about the Republican-led House's plans to slash anticrime programs in the federal budget. Kerry said Republicans are attempting to dismantle a program he helped spearhead in 1994, with GOP support, to put as many as 100,000 additional police officers on the streets. He said crime decreased 1.5 percent since then, and violent crime dropped 2.5 percent. "Well, I didn't know that we had ended crime in America," Kerry told FOP members. "But some of our Republican friends evidently think that none of this matters. I mean, none of it. We're caught up now in one of the most ridiculous moments that I've ever seen in all the time that I've been in public life." |
Will Emanuel Lure Ramsey Back to Head Chicago Police? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Will Philadelphia Police Chief Charles Ramsey be lured back to Chicago? The Chicago Sun-Times quotes Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel as saying Ramsey has "great strengths" that would be "natural for the job" of Chicago Police superintendent. Said Emanuel: "From Chicago. Two proven departments under his belt of leadership. A proven record on community policing, which is important to us. The trust of the department [to solve] the morale issue, which is essential." Ramsey, 63, is the former head of Chicago's community policing program who left the city in a huff after Mayor Richard Daley's surprise choice of Terry Hillard in 1998. He spent nine years as Washington, D.C., police chief before moving on to Philadelphia in 2008. Ramsey has told associates he would love to come home to run the Chicago Police Department, but probably won't apply without assurances he is Emanuel's choice. The mayor-elect wouldn't go that far. He still has to wait for the nine-member Police Board to conduct a nationwide search for a new police superintendent, then give him three finalists from which to choose. |
Schumer Presses for NYPD's Kelly to Succeed Mueller at FBI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is pushing for New York City police commissioner Raymond Kelly to head the FBI when Robert Mueller's term ends in September, the New York Daily News reports. "I think the country needs him," said Schumer. "Ray Kelly is a world-class choice, and he's at the top of the list, whether it's fighting terrorism, drug crime or street crime." Schumer will strenuously advocate for Kelly in both the Justice Department and the White House. "He's the preeminent law enforcement person in the country," said Schumer. "He knows more about this than anyone." Kelly rejected overtures to head the FBI before Mueller was appointed. Schumer touted Kelly's experience keeping the city safe from terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks. New York police have had a hand in thwarting at least 13 potential plots since the 2001 attacks and has established international outposts in cities like Tel Aviv, Paris, and Madrid. Kelly, 69, has spent 31 years in the NYPD, including two stints as commissioner. He ran the department from 1992 to 1994 under Mayor David Dinkins and reclaimed the top spot when Michael Bloomberg became mayor in 2002 |
Ohio Gov. Kasich Likely to Propose Selling Prisons to Private Operators ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ohio Gov. John Kasich's may propose Tuesday to sell three to five state prisons to private entities, reports the Columbus Dispatch. Kasich's first budget proposal will roil the landscape, the paper says, especially the public, nonprofit and private entities that count on the state's largesse. There is a projected $8 billion hole in the next two-year state budget, and Kasich won't fill it with tax increases. He will cut, cut and then cut some more. Services will be consolidated and privatized. Some user fees probably will be raised. Mandates will be lifted. Far more than previous state budgets, Kasich's will include significant policy changes with the usual taxing and spending decisions. In his State of the State speech last week, Kasich provided a partial roadmap for where cuts will be made. He warned government entities that used their one-time shares of the roughly $5.7 billion Ohio received in federal stimulus funds for operating costs to expect that money to be eliminated |
Patrol Officers Increasingly Trained in SWAT-team Skills ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Portland, Or., police officers are trained with advanced stills that traditionally have been reserved for police tactical teams, reports The Oregonian. After the Columbine school shooting -- when the nation watched in horror as police waited for SWAT teams to rescue the wounded -- larger police agencies have been providing more intensive training for the patrol officers first on the scene. "If a citizen or officer is in a field of fire, it's our obligation to remove them as fast as we can," said Ronald McCarthy, a police consultant who retired as an assistant commander from the Los Angeles Police Department. "Sometimes SWAT teams aren't there when the world is coming down." Thomas Aveni, a New Hampshire officer who serves as executive director of the Police Policy Studies Council, said there's been a greater emphasis over the last decade on preparing all ranks of police for what's called "active shooter" situations, from issuing patrol officers rifles to teaching how to rescue a wounded officer. "Especially post-Columbine, there's been a trickle down of SWAT techniques to patrol officers," Aveni said. Portland police have been teaching the officer-evacuation training for at least a decade in its advanced academy. It was developed specifically for street officers to remove a wounded cop from a shooting zone to a safe location and into the hands of emergency medics as quickly as possible. In such a situation, police are taught to fill three roles: one to fire rounds toward the suspect's location to neutralize the threat; at least one to carry out the wounded officer; and a lead-out officer to help guide the cover-fire officer out of the area once the wounded cop is removed. |
Ex-Federal Judge Gets 30 Days in Prison for Crimes with Stripper ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Telling him he has "a scarlet letter chiseled on his forehead the rest of his life," a federal judge sentenced disgraced ex-federal trial judge Jack Camp of Atlanta to 30 days in prison for committing repeated crimes with a stripper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. "He has disgraced his office," Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan said of Camp. Camp was arrested Oct. 1 in an undercover drug sting. Hogan also ordered Camp to serve 400 hours of community service, pay a $1,000 fine, and reimburse the government for the cost of its prosecution. Camp, 67, was appointed to the bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1987. He resigned before pleading guilty to drug charges and to giving the stripper his $825 government-issued laptop computer. Camp met the exotic dancer when she did a table dance for him. He then paid her for sex and together, they began smoking marijuana and snorting cocaine and a synthetic form of heroin. |
Behind the Debate Over Florida's Missing Prescription-Drug Database ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Not long after Anna Nicole Smith's 2007 death in a Florida hotel room, authorities declared legal narcotics were killing three times as many people as street drugs in Florida. Those events combined to give the Sunshine State an embarrassing new nickname: Pill Mill Capital of the nation, says the St. Petersburg Times. It wasn't until 2009, after seven deadly years of political stalemate, that lawmakers approved a database to thwart drug-seekers who go from doctor to doctor, and pharmacy to pharmacy, filling multiple prescriptions for powerful narcotics. The database still doesn't exist. Florida's Prescription Drug Monitoring Program is the subject of a battle that pits Republicans against Republicans, politicians against major campaign contributors, and at least one legislator against his own vote. As Gov. Rick Scott and opponents work to kill the program, an unlikely coalition of pain clinic doctors, police officers, and grieving mothers are united in distress. Politicians from New York to Kentucky are begging the state to stop the drug pipeline that sends deadly narcotics across their borders. Even the nation's drug czar recently implored Florida to enact the monitoring system. |
Abuse of NY Group-Home Residents Rarely Leads to Charges, Firings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A New York state network of small group homes for the developmentally disabled operates with scant oversight and few consequences for employees who abuse the vulnerable population, reports the New York Times. The newspaper found widespread problems in the more than 2,000 state-run homes. In hundreds of cases, employees who sexually abused, beat, or taunted residents rarely were fired, even after repeated offenses. Then often were transferred to other state-run group homes. Despite a law requiring that incidents in which a crime may have been committed be reported to law enforcement, referrals are rare. Of 13,000 allegations of abuse in 2009 in state-operated and licensed homes, fewer than 5 percent were referred to law enforcement. The cases included shocking examples of abuse of residents with conditions like Down syndrome, autism, and cerebral palsy. |
Mexican Drug Gang Makes North Texas a Key Hub ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Zetas drug cartel, a shadowy Mexican gang, has made north Texas a key hub in a criminal enterprise extending through Central America, reports the Dallas Morning News in a series of articles available only to paid subscribers. Dallas Morning News |
Federal Budget Cut Could Curtail State, Local Money Laundering Probes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A looming cut to the federal financial crime agency's budget could cripple state and local investigations that depend on transactions monitored via the anti-money laundering Bank Secrecy Act, Reuters reports. The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) decided to save nearly $1.4 million by doing away with jobs that facilitate state and local law enforcers' access to the coveted data, often used in fighting drug trafficking, fraud and terrorism finance. "For very, very small savings, we're looking at having a very major negative impact on investigations," Cameron Holmes of the Arizona Attorney General's Office, told Complinet. "It is far, far, far out of proportion to the savings." The data include reports that financial institutions like banks, broker-dealers, and money services firms file on transactions deemed suspicious, or those involving large amounts of cash. Millions of such reports are filed with the Treasury Department each year and are stored electronically in FinCEN databases. Financial investigators and others rely on these documents to help them track suspicious money flows. In recent years, investigators with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies have been able to access Bank Secrecy Act data instantly online at their workstations. FinCEN spokesman Steve Hudak said that as a result of deficit concerns, all federal agencies were asked to "prioritize their capabilities." |
NY Times Ombudsman Assails Unbalanced Story on Rape of TX Girl ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Arthur Brisbane, the "public editor' of the New York Times, has taken his own paper to task for this week's story about a gang rape of an 11-year-old girl in the East Texas town of Cleveland. The story, headlined "Victious Assault Shakes Texas Town," got "viral distribution" that was due partly to intense outrage among readers who thought the piece pilloried the victim, Brisbane says. "My assessment is that the outrage is understandable," says the ombudsman. "The story dealt with a hideous crime but addressed concerns about the ruined lives of the perpetrators without acknowledging the obvious: concern for the victim."He continues that, "It was not enough to simply report that the community is principally concerned about the boys and men involved - as this story seems to do. If indeed that is the only sentiment to be found in this community - and I find that very hard to believe - it becomes important to report on that as well by seeking out voices of professional authorities or dissenting community members who will at least address, and not ignore, the plight of the young girl involved." |
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Monday, March 14, 2011
Articles for 14 March 2011
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