The Arizona House Rules Committee is scheduled to discuss legislation on Monday that would prevent cities from decreasing funding to their local police departments.
Rep. David Marshall, R-Snowflake, is the sponsor of House Bill 2120, and it has already passed the House Military Affairs & Public Safety committee in an 8-7 party-line vote this past Monday.
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The Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge No. 69 elected Ken Kober as its new president this week.
Kober succeeds Dan Hils, who has served as president of the Cincinnati FOP since 2016.
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On Tuesday, Pennsylvania voters nominated Republican Montgomery County President Judge Carolyn Carluccio and Democratic Superior Court Judge Daniel McCaffery to run against each other for state Supreme Court.
By a margin of 53.5 percent to 46.5 percent, Carluccio bested Commonwealth Court Judge Patricia McCullough in a contentious nomination campaign for the seat left open by the death of Democratic Chief Justice Max Baer last autumn. McCaffery defeated his Superior Court colleague Debbie Kunselman in his primary 59.4 percent to 40.6 percent.
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In Delaware County on Monday, law-enforcement experts asked Pennsylvania GOP state lawmakers to consider a variety of responses to the state’s crime epidemic… and to one left-wing official’s lack of urgency about it.
Speakers suggested various ideas like increased resources for detention facilities and youth courts. Over the course of the hearing, numerous testifiers complained that the leniency of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (D) remains a major hindrance to public safety in the City of Brotherly Love and nearby communities.
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The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) released a report this week that showed 323 officers were shot in the line of duty, with 60 killed. In Tennessee, 12 officers were shot in the line of duty this year.
FOP called 2022 “one of the most dangerous years for law enforcement.”
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Former Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Beth Harwell announced on Monday that the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) endorsed her candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives.
James Smallwood, the President of the Nashville Fraternal Order of Police, said in a statement provided to The Tennessee Star, “As speaker, Beth Harwell always prioritized public safety in Tennessee and was attentive to the needs of law enforcement professionals as we worked to promote safer and stronger communities across the State. Now, more than ever, we need that same attention in Washington D.C. The members of the Nashville Fraternal Order of Police are proud to support Beth Harwell for Congress because we know she’s the right person for the job!”
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Ohio’s governor Monday marked a milestone for gun rights in the state, signing into law a bill colloquially called “Constitutional Carry.”
SB 215 became law Monday evening, to the applause of conservative groups in the state and nationwide.
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A new report by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) shows that 67 police officers in the United States have been shot while on duty in the first two months of 2022. The number is a 40 percent increase from 2021 year-to-date and a 76 percent increase from 2020 year-to-date.
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More police officers in the U.S. died in 2021 than any other year officer fatalities have been recorded, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
From Jan. 1 to Dec. 28, 2021, 358 active duty officers died. That’s compared to 296 over the same time period last year, the Memorial Fund reports. Fire-arms related deaths were up 31%; traffic-related deaths were up 30%.
Last year’s numbers were significant because officer deaths in 2020 were the second-highest the Memorial Fund recorded since 1930, when 312 officers died.
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A ballot measure aimed at increasing the number of police officers in the city of Austin, Texas was defeated in Tuesday’s election after hundreds of thousands of dollars was spent against it by George Soros, unions, and other organizations from outside of Texas, as reported by Fox News.
The question before voters, known as Prop A, would have required the city to hire two police officers for every 1,000 residents, and would subsequently increase officer training to accommodate the new hires. The measure was put on the ballot in response to a surge in violent crime in the wake of last year’s violent race riots, and a subsequent decline in the number of officers due to the “defund the police” movement as well as increasingly strict vaccine mandates.
The bulk of the money spent against Prop A came from outside the state of Texas. Chief among them was the far-left Equity PAC, which was given $500,000 by George Soros’s Open Society foundation, contributing to a total war chest of around $1.2 million. Other culprits include the equally far-left group known as the 1630 Fund, which spent $100,000 against Prop A, and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, which spent another $100,000. Another Soros-linked group, the Fairness Project, spent $200,000 to defeat Prop A.
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One of the bills passed this year in the Arizona Legislature and signed by the governor, HB 2567, adds rules for independent community oversight of Arizona police departments. Although Arizona isn’t plagued like some states by high-profile incidents involving law enforcement, overall community concern led to the legislation.
John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, who comes from a law enforcement background and sponsored the bill, said, “I’m not throwing cops to the wolves, especially politically motivated wolves.
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Governor Ralph Northam will sign a bill granting earned sentence credits to violent offenders and sexual predators. Certain inmates will be eligible to reduce their sentencing by up to fifty percent.
The bill, House Bill (HB) 5148, includes those sentenced for certain classifications of murder, rape, robbery, abduction, kidnapping, lynching, terrorism, domestic assault, strangulation, genital mutilation, child pornography, and stalking.
U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) are taking steps to combat online child exploitation.
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There’s a reported mass exodus of police officers in Charlottesville, Virginia, and one of the reasons cited is a civilian oversight board over the police, like what Nashville will soon have. The Charlottesville Police Department is down nearly two dozen officers, according to that city’s The Daily Progress website. Police administrators are having a hard time filling the vacancies. Things are so bad Police Chief RaShall Brackney told the website the department is experiencing a “mass exodus.” “It seems like, I think, on average, one to two officers a week are leaving the department,” she said. One of the reasons officers leave, Brackney went on to say, stems from how vocal and biased members of the initial Police Civilian Review Board act toward officers. Members create bylaws for a future board that will provide civilian oversight of the department, according to The Daily Progress. Brackney told the website that board members go on TV and radio and speak at marches to discuss how “officers’ days are numbered and that they’re coming after them.” “The officers do not believe that there’s going to be any fair, impartial oversight,” Brackney said. “It’s well-documented of how some of them have treated our officers,…
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In 2010 about 4,700 people applied to work as a police officer in Nashville. Seven years later the number of people who wanted to work as a cop in Music City dwindled to just 1,900 people. This, according to the website Oregon Live, which did a story about more and more people around the nation avoiding careers in law enforcement altogether. The findings don’t surprise Nashville Fraternal Order of Police President James Smallwood. Smallwood told The Tennessee Star Friday this is part of a nationwide trend — not just in Nashville. “Some people look at the law enforcement profession, and they ask themselves is it really worth the amount of money that these employers are really willing to pay and to put everything I have at risk and put my family at risk? Even if I have done my job correctly, they said, I am still at risk of being scrutinized or arrested or something to that extent,” Smallwood said. “They may decide the pay and benefits are no longer commensurate with that risk, and they find something else to do. Some of them are finding smaller departments or other departments that have benefits or pay that are better or…
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In a referendum Tuesday, Nashville voters approved a civilian oversight board over police. One day after the vote, Nashville Fraternal Order of Police President James Smallwood said in an emailed statement it’s important this coming board not exclude the perspectives of law enforcement officers. “Although the FOP still believes that an expensive oversight board is an unnecessary redundancy that we simply cannot afford – we intend to work with the administration as it seeks to implement the amendment in the coming months,” Smallwood said. “While it is our intention to respect the rule of law and work with the administration as they implement this new legislation, we fully intend to stand alongside our members and ensure that their rights are preserved. They deserve nothing less.” City officials will create the board. As reported, FOP members previously said they have serious constitutional concerns over it. They said the $10 million plan is “constitutionally questionable,” doesn’t address due process, and is not set up for fact finding. They’ve even said the board is “set up for some means of retaliation and retribution for a problem that doesn’t exist.” “We fully intend to stand alongside our members and ensure that their rights are…
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The Fraternal Order of Police on Tuesday announced its endorsement of Marsha Blackburn for U.S. Senate. Speaking about the endorsement, Scottie DeLashmit, Fraternal Order of Police State President, said, “Marsha Blackburn has consistently been a friend to law enforcement in Tennessee. Her commitment to providing the resources we need to maintain law and order in our communities is paramount to our ability to care for the safety and security of the residents of our state. The Tennessee Fraternal Order of Police is proud to endorse and support Marsha in her race for U.S. Senate.” U.S. Representative Blackburn (R-TN-07) said, “The Fraternal Order of Police is a dedicated community of law enforcement officials committed to fostering a community of law and order. I am honored to receive the FOP’s endorsement in my race for United States Senate. As Tennessee’s next senator, I will always work to support the law enforcement community and ensure they have the resources they need to protect us.” Blackburn is running against Democratic former Governor Phil Bredesen for the seat of Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), who is retiring. Blackburn leads Bredesen in the race by eight points, 50 percent to 42 percent, in a new CBS News Battleground Tracker poll,…
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