Tag: law enforcement

Georgia Lawmakers to Study Crime in Atlanta

The Center Square
Police line do not cross tape

Georgia lawmakers will study the rise in crime in Atlanta this summer.

The House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee plans to hold a series of hearings to look at the causes and solutions for the increase in crime in the state’s capital city.

“We want to have productive hearings that can get down to exactly what’s going on because, as you all know, the success of the city of Atlanta is directly impacted by the success of Georgia and vice versa,” Committee Chair J. Collins, R-Villa Rica, said.

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Commentary: Time to Confront the U.S. Capitol Police About Its January 6 Lies

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The body of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick wasn’t even cold before his employer leveraged his untimely death to stoke more outrage about the events in the nation’s capital on January 6.

“At approximately 9:30 p.m. this evening . . . United States Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick passed away due to injuries sustained while on-duty,” read a press release issued January 7. “Officer Sicknick was responding to the riots [and] was injured while physically engaging with protesters.  He returned to his division office and collapsed.  He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The death of Officer Sicknick will be investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch, the USCP, and our federal partners.”

The agency intentionally included the word “homicide” to suggest Sicknick was killed by homicidal Trump supporters. The next day, the New York Times, citing two anonymous law enforcement officials, claimed “pro-Trump rioters . . . overpowered Mr. Sicknick, 42, and struck him in the head with a fire extinguisher.”

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St. Paul Commission Wants City to ‘Rethink’ Police Response

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Side of police car while it's raining

A St. Paul public safety committee recently called for a slew of operations to be moved out of the police department and into non-law enforcement divisions.

The St. Paul “Community-First Public Safety Commission” advised the city to “rethink” its response to certain service calls and provided specific measures to implement in traffic-stop scenarios. The commission was appointed by St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and is headed by the Citizens League, a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization.

The commission’s recommendations call for ending the practice of pulling people over for “motor vehicle repair notices” and “other moving violations.” Instead, police should “utilize a mailed citation,” according to the commission. Repair notices include broken lights, turn-signal malfunctions, and expired tabs, to name a few.

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Commentary: The January 6 Commission Is All About Revenge

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Capitol Riot

The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed legislation to create a 9/11-style commission to investigate the events of January 6, 2021. Thirty-five Republicans, including the ten who voted to impeach Donald Trump for “inciting” the violence that day, joined Democrats to advance the bill to the U.S. Senate where its fate is unclear.

The vote, ironically, came almost four years to the day that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, at the behest of many Republicans, appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate the concocted crime of Trump-Russia election collusion. The January 6 commission, if passed, would be yet another extension of Crossfire Hurricane, the illicit probe launched by the FBI in 2016 in an effort to destroy one of Barack Obama’s most despised political enemies.

One special counsel investigation, numerous congressional and senate inquisitions, and two impeachment trials later, the Left’s insatiable lust to take down Donald Trump remains unsatisfied. But now, rather than just targeting the president and his family, millions of Americans must be punished for defying the ruling regime—which only partially includes the federal agencies, political leaders of both parties, the news media, and Big Tech. This dangerous crusade is accelerating at an alarming pace at the highest levels of government; apparently, it is of no concern to nearly three dozen Republican members of Congress who are helping Joe Biden and the Democrats exact their revenge on Trump supporters.

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Officers Will Not Be Charged in Fatal Shooting of Andrew Brown Jr., DA Announces

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Pasquotank County District Attorney Andrew Womble

The police officers who fatally shot Andrew Brown Jr. in April outside of his North Carolina home will not be charged,  Pasquotank County District Attorney Andrew Womble announced Tuesday.

“After reviewing the investigation conducted by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Brown’s death, while tragic, was justified,” Womble said during a press conference Tuesday. “[His] actions caused three deputies within the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office to reasonably believe it was necessary to use deadly force to protect themselves and others.”

Brown was shot on the morning of April 21 in Elizabeth City, a small town in the eastern part of the state, after officers approached him with a search warrant and pair of arrest warrants on felony drug charges. Womble testified a week later that Brown made contact with officers while in his car, and that they opened fire afterwards.

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Image of Minneapolis Police Station Burning Wins College Magazine’s Art Award

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The 3rd Police Precinct building on Thursday morning after a night of protests in the area in Minneapolis, Minnesota

A painting of a Minneapolis police station going up in flames won a recent award from a student-run art magazine at Valparaiso University.

“Order is Not Justice,” a work by Sam “Doc” Janowiak, received a first-place award in the annual “Artivism” contest run by The Lighter, a campus magazine featuring promoting poetry, short stories, and visual arts.

Janowiak told The College Fix the title of the painting was inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., who wrote in his Letter from Birmingham Jail:

“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”

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Law Enforcement Officers Fired for Inaction in Parkland Shooting Get Jobs Back, Vacation Pay

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Two of the police officers who lost their jobs over inaction during the deadliest school shooting in American history have gotten their jobs back, with back and vacation pay.

Arbitrators reinstated them and could do the same for a third officer as well. Federal Judge Keathan Frink affirmed the arbitrators’ decisions in a May 13 ruling, the Associated Press reports.

Broward County deputies Brian Miller and Joshua Stambaugh were among the police who responded to a February 14, 2018 mass school shooting report at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

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Adjunct Professor Berated Student After Student Suggested That Police Officers Are Heroes

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Student Braden Ellis with adjunct professor on Zoom

An adjunct professor berated a student in her class after he expressed support for law enforcement.

Cypress College student Braden Ellis delivered a presentation about cancel culture during a Zoom communications class. In a phone interview with Campus Reform, Ellis affirmed The Daily Wire’s report that he had been discussing the attempted cancellation of “Paw Patrol” during the presentation.

“So you brought up the police in your speech a few times. So, what is your main concern?” asked the adjunct professor. “Since, I mean, honestly… the issue is systemic. Because the whole reason we have police departments in the first place, where does it stem from? What’s our history? Going back to what [another classmate] was talking about, what does it stem from? It stems from people in the south wanting to capture runaway slaves.”

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Four Former Minneapolis Officers Indicted on Federal Civil Rights Charges in Floyd’s Death

The Center Square
George Floyd protest in Minneapolis with "I can't breathe" cardboard sign

 A federal grand jury has indicted four ex-Minneapolis police officers on federal civil rights charges related to the death of George Floyd.

The first indictment charges Derek Chauvin, 45; Tou Thao, 35; J. Alexander Kueng, 27; and Thomas Lane, 38. The three-count indictment alleges that all four defendants willfully deprived Floyd of his constitutional rights, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 242.

Count one of the indictment alleges that on May 25, 2020, Chauvin pressed his left knee on Floyd’s neck, and his right knee on Floyd’s back and arm, as Floyd lay on the ground, handcuffed and unresisting, and kept his knees on Floyd’s neck and body even after Mr. Floyd became unresponsive.

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Chicago May Require Approval to Chase Suspects on Foot

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Chicago Police Officer

Chicago police officers may have to check with their supervisor before chasing suspects on foot, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday. The mayor promised to announce details of a new policy “soon,” Fox 32 Chicago reported.

“No one should die as a result of a foot chase,” Lightfoot said.

Chicago law enforcement’s use of force faced new scrutiny after an officer chased and fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo on March 29. Video of the incident released last week shows Toldedo dumping what appears to be a firearm a split-second before he turns and raises his hands. Allegedly, he was handed the gun by Ruben Roman, who allegedly had just used it to fire eight rounds at a passing vehicle. Apparently, no one was hit, according to Fox32.

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Politicians Who Want to Defund the Police Hire Bodyguards to Visit Minneapolis

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Back of Police officers uniform

Politicians who want to defund the police won’t step foot in Minneapolis without their own personal security details.

U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Maxine Waters are both progressives who vocally support measures to defund the police. However, both of them used private security or an actual police escort when visiting Minnesota, the center of the defund movement.

Omar spent $3,103 on security in her home state in the first financial quarter of 2021, which spans from the beginning of the year through March, per Federal Election Commission records. One of the companies she hired, Aegis Logistics, provides armed and unarmed bodyguards. The other, Lloyd Security Services, provides video surveillance and intrusion detection — a vital service in a city that has experienced about 6,000 cases of theft so far this year after huge cuts to the the law enforcement budget.

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Florida House Hearing Police Reform Bill

Grant Holcomb

The Florida House is taking up a bipartisan, compromise police reform bill today. The bill would increase the amount of training for law enforcement officers and correctional officers.

The bill, HB 7051, has been a product of House Republican leadership, the Florida Legislative Black Caucus, and key voices within law enforcement to try and limit the use of chokeholds only under instances when on-site officers perceive immediate threats of serious bodily injury or death to themselves or other people. It would also require other officers to intervene when they witness other officers using excessive force.

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Florida Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump Falsely Claims Columbus Shooting Victim Was Unarmed

Grant Holcomb

Tallahassee-based civil rights attorney Ben Crump falsely claimed on Twitter yesterday the victim of the police-involved shooting in Columbus, OH was unarmed. As bodycam footage was released, it found the victim, a 16-year-old black female, Ma’Khia Bryant, was wielding a knife and threatening two other females.

Some on social media were outraged at the lethal use of force by the officer, including Crump who said on Twitter, “As we breathed a collective sigh of relief today, a community in Columbus felt the sting of another police shooting as @ColumbusPolice killed an unarmed 15yo Black girl named Makiyah Bryant. Another child lost! Another hashtag. #JusticeForMakiyahBryant.”

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Tennessee General Assembly Passes Bill Making Federal Law Enforcement Information Confidential

Corinne Murdock

The Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill prohibiting public access to the information of federal law enforcement officers and agents operating in the state. Certain personal, financial, and residential information would be considered confidential and likely diminish the potential of the public doxxing law enforcement officers. The legislation passed unanimously in both the House and Senate. 

The bill expands current law, which already protects state and local law enforcement. State Representative Curtis Johnson (R-Clarksville) and Senator Bill Powers (R-Clarksville) are the sponsors on the bill. 

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DeSantis Signs Anti-Riot Legislation

Grant Holcomb

On Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 1, known as the “anti-riot” bill into law during a press conference in Winter Haven.

Surrounding DeSantis was Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and other deputies where DeSantis said, “If you look at the breadth of this particular piece of legislation, it is the strongest anti-rioting, pro-law enforcement piece of legislation in the country. There’s just nothing even close.”

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Teaching Assistant Docks Point on Conservative Student’s Black Panther Essay: ‘White People Cannot Experience Racism’

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Alyssa Jones

A student at Virginia Tech University was told by a teaching assistant that “White people cannot experience racism” when asked why she received a low grade on her final paper.

Students in the Nations and Nationalities class at Virginia Tech were asked to complete a paper describing a hate group from the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list, and analyze how that group justifies its worldview, according to Alyssa Jones, a student in the class.

Jones is also the president of the Virginia Tech University Turning Point USA chapter and a campus ambassador for The Leadership Institute, the parent organization of Campus Reform.

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House Passes Bill Mandating Death or Life Imprisonment Without Parole for First Degree Murder of Law Enforcement, First Responders

Corinne Murdock

The Tennessee House passed a bill mandating death or life imprisonment without parole for the first degree murder of law enforcement and first responders. The bill would elevate the intentional targeting and murdering of first responders to an act of terrorism. It passed without opposition, 88 to 0. 

Two amendments moved to strengthen the language of the bill. One amendment noted that defendants who receive life sentence can’t be eligible for parole consideration until they’ve served 51 years. The other amendment added to the definitions of terrorism to offer further protections to law enforcement and first responders. Both amendments were adopted.

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Proposed Bill to Protect Law Enforcement, Judges from Civil Rights Intimidation

Corinne Murdock

Legislators are proposing that law enforcement and judges shouldn’t have to live in fear or face retaliation for their chosen profession. The bill would add those two groups as protected classes against civil rights intimidation, along with race, color, ancestry, religion, and national origin. 

Under the legislation, offenders would earn a Class D felony for injuring, threatening to injure, or coercing another person with the intent to unlawfully intimidate based on the belief or knowledge that the victim is a law enforcement member or judge. That level of punishment would also be applicable if someone were to damage, destroy, or deface another’s property based on that belief or knowledge. Class D felonies are two to twelve years’ prison time, and up to $5,000 in fines.

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Memphis Launches ‘Group Violence Intervention Program’ to Curb Explosion of Gun Violence

Corinne Murdock

Memphis launched its Group Violence Intervention Program (GVIP) in an effort to reduce violent crimes – namely, gun violence. Officials described it as a “proactive, holistic plan” that adopted models that had purportedly been successful in other cities, though it didn’t specify which ones.

According to the plan, the GVIP will have a czar overseeing three separate branches: a “focused deterrence” coordinator that works with organizations such as the police and social service agencies; a data, policy, community action coordinator that arranges volunteers for various community events; and an intervention coordinator that oversees the outreach workers and violence interrupters. 

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Tennessee Senate Considers Bill to Allow First Responders to Live Outside the Jurisdictions They Serve

Jason M. Reynolds

State Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) on Wednesday filed SB 29 which would allow first responders to live where they choose, the Tennessee Senate Republican Caucus said in a statement.

Kelsey posted on the caucus’ Facebook page, “This is a public safety bill. It will enable us to hire more police officers, which will help us fight our rising crime rates.”

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Facebook Disabled Dr. Carol Swain’s Ad Account For Promoting Law Enforcement Appreciation Event

Corinne Murdock

Facebook blocked Dr. Carol Swain’s ad account, claiming her ads had violated their policies on “deceptive or misleading practices.” Swain had posted an ad for a virtual law enforcement appreciation event.

Swain told The Tennessee Star that she’d directed the woman who runs her social media to submit the ad. Facebook informed Swain that she’d have to change the ad or submit new paperwork to describe the ad as “political.”

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Virginia Sheriffs Demand Northam Amend Anti-Law Enforcement Language

Jacob Taylor

The Virginia Sheriffs’ Association (VSA) sent a letter to Governor Ralph Northam on Monday asking him to amend two bills to allow law enforcement agencies to acquire armored military vehicles, which they argue are vital in extreme weather rescues as well as the protection of officers and citizens from gunfire. 

Written by John Jones, VSA executive director, the letter asks Northam to amend House Bill 5049 and Senate Bill 5030, both of which were sent to the governor’s desk last week.

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Host Fredericks Holds Roundtable with Tim Anderson, Reeves, DeSteph, Kiggans, and Cooper About a Law Enforcement Citizen Review Board

Julie Carr

Thursday morning on The John Fredericks Show, host John Fredricks welcomed a roundtable consisting of Tim Anderson, Sen. Bryce Reeves, Sen. Bill DeSteph, Sen. Jen Kiggans, and Kristen Cooper to the show to discuss the current citizen review board legislation and how it will make police and communities unsafe.

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Houston Police Sgt. Killed By Repeat Offender After Soros-Funded D.A. Refused to Press Charges

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A police sergeant in Houston, Texas was shot dead Tuesday morning by a suspect who was in police custody just two days earlier, but was allowed to go free when the Democrat district attorney refused to press charges.

HPD Sergeant Harold Preston had been with the Houston Police Department for 41-years and was due to retire at the end of the year, according to the Montgomery County Police Reporter. The local pro-police paper is urging voters to oust the D.A., whose campaign for office was bankrolled by left-wing billionaire George Soros.

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National Tribute to Law Enforcement Virtual Event Will Celebrate and Honor Police

Corinne Murdock

Next Saturday, Be The People Project is hosting “National Tribute to Law Enforcement,” a virtual event to celebrate and honor police officers.

Civil rights activist Robert L. Woodson Sr. will serve as the keynote speaker. The event will also feature speeches from active and retired law enforcement professionals Kenneth Harms, James Smallwood, Lt. Randy Sutton, and Republican Senate candidate Bill Hagerty.

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High School Football Team Banned from Waving Pro-Police Flag After Online Backlash

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A Florida High School has reportedly banned their football team from waving a flag meant to memorialize a police officer after critics said the display is racist.

The Fletcher High School football team had been running onto the field with the pro-law enforcement sign since last year to honor one of the player’s late father, a former cop who died suddenly in August 2019 after 29 years on the job. However the display was stopped this week after complaints, News4Jax reported.

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Virginia House Caves on Anti Police Bill

Jacob Taylor

Democratic and Republican legislators on the House Courts of Justice Committee killed legislation on Tuesday that would have eliminated the six month mandatory minimum sentence for assaulting a law enforcement officer. 

Senate Bill 5032, sponsored by Sen. Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax County) was passed by indefinitely by a vote of 18-Y 1-N 1-A, ending any chance of being signed into law during the 2020 special session. 

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Virginia Senate Dems to House on Stripping Qualified Immunity: Not So Fast

Jacob Taylor

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted to pass by indefinitely and create a joint House-Senate sub-Committee to further discuss a bill to end the qualified immunity defense for law enforcement. 

The motion to pass by indefinitely was agreed to by a vote of 12-Y 3-N with six Democratic Senators voting alongside their Republican peers on the prevailing side. 

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House Revives and Passes Bill Ending Qualified Immunity for Virginia Law Enforcement Officers

Jacob Taylor

The House on Tuesday reconsidered and passed House Bill 5013, a controversial measure that allows law enforcement officers to be held liable in court for actions taken while on duty without qualified immunity as a defense.

The bill was originally defeated by the House on Friday (47-Y 48-N 3-A) with several Democrats opposing their party to vote in opposition. The bill was also defeated last Monday in the Appropriations Committee before being reconsidered and advanced.

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Fraternal Order of Police Endorses Trump, Including Lodge in Biden’s Home State

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The Fraternal Order of Police, one of the nation’s largest law enforcement organizations, on Friday unanimously gave its national endorsement to President Trump’s re-election, while its local lodge in Delaware turned its back on home state son Joe Biden to also support the GOP nominee.

“Look at what the national discourse has focused on for the last six months. President Trump has shown time after time that he supports our law enforcement officers and understands the issues our members face every day,” FOP National President Patrick Yoes said in announcing the endorsement. “The FOP is proud to endorse a candidate who calls for law and order across our nation. He has the full and enthusiastic support of the FOP.”

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Minneapolis Police Officer Falls to the Ground After Being Struck in the Head with Garbage Can Lid

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A Minneapolis police officer dropped to the ground after a metal trash can lid struck him in the head during a resurgence of rioting and looting in the city Wednesday.

The attack, which was reportedly broadcast on Facebook Live, showed a cop trying to open his driver’s-side door before the metal disk whizzed through the air and connected with the back of the unsuspecting officer’s head, according to the New York Post. The uniformed officer dropped to the ground and appeared to be rolling in pain, as fellow law enforcement in riot gear made their way to him, the Post’s video showed.

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Study Shows Collective Bargaining, Now Reinstated in Virginia, Shields Police Officers from Discipline

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A recent study of collectively bargained deals negotiated by police unions nationwide found these deals often scale back accountability and shield police from disciplinary action.

Before this year, public-sector collective bargaining was banned in Virginia. But after Democrats won control of the House and Senate, party leaders were able to pass legislation to end that prohibition, and Gov. Ralph Northam signed it into law. The law will go into effect in May 2021.

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Police, Criminal Justice Reform Advocates Share Some Views Ahead of Legislative Special Session

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Police officers and criminal justice reform advocates share some common ground going into Virginia’s special session to address policing reform, but the two groups break apart on some of the more controversial reforms.

“We are as repulsed by bad police officers … as anyone [else],” Wayne Huggins, executive director of the Virginia State Police Association, told Virginia House members Thursday during the last criminal justice reform hearing ahead of the special session, which convenes Aug. 18.

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