A bill that would prohibit local governments from limiting the ability of a law enforcement agency to conduct routine traffic stops passed the Tennessee Senate on Thursday.
Read the full storyTag: police
Pennsylvania Opioid Crisis ‘Not a Situation That Can Be Solved by the Police’
Treating drug addiction is two-fold: one part is law enforcement reducing the supply and another is getting addicts the help they need to recover.
Such is what legislators heard during a House Republican Policy Committee on Thursday as Pennsylvania continues to deal with an opioid crisis that outpaces the rest of the country.
Read the full storyTennessee Law Increasing the Penalties for Distracted Drivers Now in Effect
A law increasing the number of points charged to a person’s driving record for violations of driving while using a cell phone went into effect on Monday.
Read the full storyOhio Officials Among Those Targeted in Nationwide Swatting Campaign
Four Ohio officials were targeted over the past week in a nationwide swatting operation, according to reports.
Read the full storyCincinnati Fraternal Order of Police Elects New President
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.
Read the full storyPolice Officers from Other States Flock to Florida for Bonus Program
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ police recruitment program, launched last year, has now drawn police officers from all 50 states and two U.S. territories to relocate to Florida.
Recruits have either moved to Florida or joined the profession since Florida launched its Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Program last year. This year, the legislature allocated additional funding to expand and continue the program.
Read the full storyAtlanta Police Arrest Protesters Who Chained Themselves to Construction Equipment at the Future Public Safety Training Center
The Atlanta Police Department (APD) announced Thursday that five individuals were arrested after trespassing onto the site of the City of Atlanta’s future Public Safety Training Center and chaining themselves to a piece of construction equipment.
Read the full storyMilwaukee Police Union Chief Says Socialist Lawmaker Who Claims There’s No Dignity or Value in Policing Should Apologize
State Rep. Ryan Clancy, one of two members of the Legislature’s Socialist Caucus, is an espouser of the law enforcement-hating, defund the police movement.
The Milwaukee Democrat recently proclaimed that police officers’ jobs “have neither dignity nor value.”
Read the full storyU.S. Attorney’s Office in Georgia Organizes Gang and Violence Prevention Program for SROs in Metro-Atlanta Schools
The Northern District of Georgia U.S. Attorney’s Office organized an initiative to provide law enforcement training for more than 40 police officers from school systems in the northern district of Georgia to prevent and reduce delinquency, youth violence, and gang membership.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office partnered with the Georgia Alliance for School Resource Officers and Educators, the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, and the Georgia Gang Investigators Association to provide the officers with Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.).
Read the full storyChamblee Police Department Launches New K9 Program Following City Council Approval
The Chamblee Police Department (CPD) recently launched a new K9 program following approval from the city council.
Read the full storyFIRE: Street Preacher’s Arrest at Pennsylvania Pride Event and Subsequent Dismissal Is a Free-Speech Lesson
Charges were dropped this week regarding Christian street preacher Damon Atkins who was arrested for speaking negatively about an LGBTQ pride-flag-raising he attended at Reading, Pennsylvania City Hall on Saturday.
“After review of the video of the incident, including body-worn cameras, and a review of the case law, we did not believe we could prove a criminal case of disorderly conduct,” Berks County’s District Attorney’s office said in a statement.
Read the full storyExclusive: Left-Wing Agitators Say Ending Police Would Make Communities Safer
In secretly obtained recordings of a training session for far-left activists held Saturday in Nashville, participants said communities would be safer without any police at all.
During a part of the training hosted by Katia Carillo, who runs a small upstart community group called Conmigo, Carillo asked the trainees what their perfect utopian communities would look like.
Read the full storyNational Police Week Particularly Poignant in Wisconsin, as State Mourns Shooting Deaths of Four Officers
The people who knew and loved Milwaukee Police Officer Peter Jerving fully understand the perils of policing.
Jerving, 37, was fatally shot by a robbery suspect in the line of duty on Feb. 7, the first of four officers killed on the job in the past few months.
Read the full storyLaw Enforcers in Philadelphia Suburbs Blame Krasner’s Performance on Spreading Crime
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.
Read the full storyViolent Criminal Who Shot at Police and Injured Pregnant Woman Now Behind Bars
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) announced Friday that Christopher John Garcia, 34, has been placed behind bars after being convicted of violent crimes against police officers and a pregnant woman.
“Victims of violent crime carry with them a lifetime of trauma that in many cases is difficult to overcome. This defendant is where he needs to be; away from society so he will not hurt again,” said County Attorney Rachel Mitchell (R). “To the victims of this crime and all victims in our community, you are the forefront of why we do the work that we do.”
Read the full storyConservative Duo Vies for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Commission
As recently as the mid-2000s, row offices were unwinnable for Democrats in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania — a GOP stronghold for over a century. By 2011, the Democrats would take over the Board of Commissioners. They now enjoy a three-to-two voter-registration advantage.
But now some Republicans sense voters are wearying of what the Democrats have overseen during their dozen-year ascendancy, including a “bail reform” measure that has unsettled local police. The commissioners also frequently increase property taxes, most recently by eight percent in 2022.
Read the full storyState to Fund Public Safety Office in Atlanta’s Buckhead Community
A week after state lawmakers killed a proposal to de-annex and incorporate a portion of Atlanta as Buckhead City, state leaders announced they plan to fund a state patrol office in the community.
Last week, the state Senate voted 33-23 against Senate Bill 114, which would have allowed residents of the proposed Buckhead City to vote on the measure in November 2024. This week, House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, announced the proposed fiscal 2024 budget will include nearly $1.3 million for the state patrol’s “satellite post.”
Read the full storyShapiro’s Planned Spending Increase Alarms Pennsylvania Budget Hawks
Pennsylvania Josh Shapiro asked the state General Assembly members on Tuesday to support his requested $45.9 billion budget, which would increase spending by approximately 4 percent over current outlays.
The governor insisted he based his plan for Fiscal Year 2023-24 on “conservative” revenue estimates. And he did include some provisions appealing to anti-taxers and free-marketers including nixing the state cell-phone tax, a move he estimates would save Pennsylvanians $124 million annually.
Read the full storySoft-on-Crime Progressives Push for Laws to Prevent Traffic Stops for ‘Less Severe’ Violations
Leaders in multiple states and cities are embracing efforts to bar police from pulling drivers over for certain less-severe traffic violations, a move that some experts believe endangers public safety.
Lawmakers in Washington state are pushing a plan that would forbid police traffic stops conducted to address some lower-level traffic lawbreaking, and Oregon has already established a similar policy, while San Francisco is considering a city-wide plan of this kind after Los Angeles and Minneapolis instituted their own. Such restrictions could effectively impede enforcement against more serious offenses and put innocent civilians at risk, according to experts who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Read the full storySt. Paul School Promotes Message That Police Hate Minorities
A St. Paul public school is displaying a poster in its hallways that accuses police of hating minorities.
An image obtained by Alpha News of a poster from Johnson Senior High School depicts a fist breaking a law enforcement badge and reads, “No more police hatred toward minorities.”
Read the full storyMinnesota High School Scraps Race-Based Entry for ‘Police Encounters’ Training
Following a civil rights complaint, Roseville Area High School scrapped “priority” entry for non-white students and members of its Black Student Union (BSU) to a “know your rights” training event.
The high school’s media center initially sent an email Dec. 16 informing parents about a Dec. 20 student training event that discussed “navigating police encounters involving yourself — or others, in a way that protects your rights and helps keeps you safe.”
Read the full storyFraternal Order of Police Reports 323 Officers Shot in the Line of Duty in 2022, Including 12 from Tennessee
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.”
Read the full storyMinneapolis Police Department Remains Critically Low on Patrol Officers
The Minneapolis Police Department only has 235 officers available to respond to 911 calls throughout the city, according to internal numbers obtained by Alpha News.
“The Minneapolis Police Department continues to face critical staffing shortages and remains far below its authorized strength,” Sherral Schmidt, president of the Minneapolis police union, told Alpha News.
Read the full storyOhio’s Democratic U.S. Senate Hopeful Projects Police Advocacy While Voting to Defund Them
Ohio Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Representative Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) is projecting a pro-police stance as part of his platform while simultaneously voting to defund them.
On March 3, 2021, Ryan voted against a motion to condemn calls to defund, disband, or abolish the police while at the same time also voting to allow for the federal government to micromanage local police and potentially defund them.
Read the full storyDetroit Drug Raids Decline 95 Percent Due to Cannabis Legalization, Changing Priorities
Drug raids in Detroit have fallen 95% since a peak in 2012, largely as a result of voters’ decision to legalize recreational marijuana and shifting other police priorities.
Detroit police conducted 3,462 drug raids in fiscal year 2012. Nearly every year since then, that number has declined. Last year, police conducted 186 drug raids, according to the city’s annual financial report.
Read the full storyOhio Law Enforcement Utilizing New App for Anonymous Tips
Law enforcement around the state has begun implementing a new app to help residents find information about their department, view alerts, and submit anonymous tips from their smartphones.
The app is known as tip411 through CitizenObserver. It allows law enforcement to engage with the public by creating awareness through community alerts, expanding social media, and allowing the public to share anonymous tips and information with law enforcement. Officers are also able to reply back to these tips in real-time in an anonymous two-way conversation.
Read the full storyOhio Law Enforcement Agencies Add Eyes in the Skies with Drones
Several counties in Ohio are looking to use drones to respond to calls for critical injury, surveillance, security, accident reconstruction and measuring, evidence gathering, and fatal crashes.
Drone Pilot, Helicopter Pilot, and Supervisor of the Traffic Unit, Sargent Steven Poff with Butler County Sheriff’s Office, told The Ohio Star that there is a time and place to use a drone.
Read the full storyOhio Congressional Candidate Landsman Changes Tune on Police Funding
In a new television advertisement, Ohio Democratic congressional candidate Greg Landsman, who is challenging longtime Cincinnati-area incumbent Steve Chabot (R-OH-1), suggests in contrast to his actual record that he consistently supported robustly funding police.
The spot, which features Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey (D) and Cincinnati City Councilman Scotty Johnson (D), posits that Landsman actually backed substantially increased funding for law enforcement in his tenure as a Cincinnati City Council member. These officials blast Republicans for insisting that Landsman wanted to defund city police.
Read the full storyMinnesota DFL Candidate Defends Rioting, Supports ‘Abolishing’ Police
A DFL candidate who has the support of some of the party’s top officials wants to abolish the police and defended rioting during a June speech.
Leigh Finke won the DFL nomination for House District 66A in August and will likely win November’s election in the solidly-blue district.
Read the full storyCities Across Ohio Establish ‘Safe Exchange Zones’ for Internet Trades, Purchases
Cities throughout the state have been responding to safety concerns from residents about online purchases by creating monitored safe zones at police stations for transfers of goods.
There are several online platforms such as online auctions, Craigslist, and Facebook Marketplace, where buyers and sellers will need to meet in person to make a transaction.
Read the full storyArizona Attorney General Will Not Defend New Law Prohibiting People from Filming Police Up Close
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) recently submitted a legal filing, sharing that he will not be defending the legality of House Bill (HB) 2319, which is set to go into effect on September 24th.
“The Attorney General is not the proper party to defend the merits of A.R.S. § 13-3732. The Attorney General will provide notice to the President of the Arizona State Senate and the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives that local and county prosecutors are the proper entities to defend this statute,” wrote Brnovich.
Read the full storyElection Integrity Event Organizer Says Fake Police Showed Up at Her Home, Detained Her
A Gwinnett County woman who held an election integrity panel over the weekend to educate Georgians says men who she believes were impersonating police officers showed up at her home and detained her hours before the event began.
“The long and short of what occurred, is I had an encounter with the police right before I went to the event,” Surrea Ivey told The Georgia Star News. “Initially, I didn’t think anything about it. When somebody – I say somebody because I subsequently found out it was not the police – when these individuals knocked on my door, they were in police uniform and they said they had reason to believe I was in possession of government equipment.”
Read the full storySevierville Police Department to Increase Impaired-Driving Enforcement Beginning August 17
The City of Sevierville announced in a press release that the Sevierville Police Department (SPD) is partnering with the Tennessee Highway Safety Office (THSO) for its “Booze It and Lose It” campaign from August 17th to September 5th, surrounding the Labor Day holiday.
Read the full storyOhio Police to Get $5 Million for Body Cameras
Ohio police agencies will soon be eligible to receive $5 million in new funding for body cameras and related equipment, according to Gov. Mike DeWine (R).
Many law-enforcement organizations in the Buckeye State have wanted to equip their officers with video recorders but costs have reportedly proved prohibitive for many localities. This led DeWine to launch the Ohio Body-Worn Camera Grant Program which awarded its first $4.7 million in January.
Read the full storyKnoxville Police Department Announces It Will No Longer Respond to Certain 911 Calls
On Monday, Knoxville Chief of Police Paul Noel announced that the Knoxville Police Department (KPD) will no longer respond to certain non-injury crashes beginning September 1st.
Read the full storyChief of Police Announces Enhanced Security Plans for Metro Nashville Schools
Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake announced Tuesday that police coverage at Metro Schools for the upcoming school year will be the highest ever, and will include elementary, middle and high school campuses.
Read the full storyTennessee Representative David Kustoff Introduces Resolution Calling on Congress to Address Rising Crime in the U.S.
Tennessee Republican Representative David Kustoff (R-TN-08) recently introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives that calls on Congress to create a strategy to address the rising violent crime in the United States. A similar resolution was also introduced in the U.S. Senate by Republican Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
Read the full storyMinneapolis Residents Resort to Crowdfunding to Pay for Neighborhood Policing
Residents in Minneapolis are crowdfunding to get off-duty police officers to patrol the streets as the city continues to experience staffing shortages and an uptick in violent crime.
The Minneapolis Safety Initiative (MSI), a nonprofit seeking to increase law and order, is raising money to “buyback officer patrols.” Funds that are raised through the volunteer-led initiative will be sent to the Minneapolis Police Department to get officers deployed for shifts that the officers would otherwise not be working, MSI says.
“Officers working a buyback shift patrol in MPD vehicles, respond to 911 calls, and deter criminals—just as they do in a normal shift,” according to MSI. “All people working on this initiative are volunteers. There are fees for payment processing but otherwise, all contributions will go directly to paying for MPD buyback officer patrols.”
Read the full storyTexas Offers $30 Million More to Local Law Enforcement for Border Security Efforts
An additional $30 million in Operation Lone Star (OLS) grant money is available to Texas cities and counties to enhance border security operations, the governor’s Public Safety Office (PSO) announced.
The announcement came two days after six county judges and sheriffs asked the governor to declare an invasion at the southern border, and to do more to help them thwart illegal activity in their counties after experiencing a surge of drug and human smuggling and other criminal activity resulting from the Biden administration’s border policies.
Read the full storyAkron Council Resists Prejudgement in Walker Shooting; Ohio House Democrats Still Blame Police
Akron, OH’s Democrat-controlled City Council issued a statement this week lamenting the death of 25-year-old Jayland Walker while resisting prejudgement of the police officers’ who shot him.
Some Ohio Democrats, like their party’s state House caucus, continue to react differently, deciding the shooting lacked justification even before an external investigation concludes.
Read the full storyAkron Maintains Curfew in Wake of Walker Shooting
A curfew imposed in downtown Akron, OH on Monday, July 4, continues in the aftermath of the death of Jayland Walker by police gunfire.
The curfew applies during the hours between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. It resulted in the cancellation of fireworks to celebrate July Fourth at several sites in the city. Municipal officials noted that although protests in response to the shooting were peaceful early on Monday, evening demonstrations turned violent and resulted in serious damage to businesses on Main Street.
Read the full storyRegional Blue Alert Shooting Suspects No Longer at Large; Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Addresses Concerns About Duplicate Cellphone Alerts
Wednesday morning, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) addressed reports of some Tennesseans receiving duplicate Blue Alerts on their mobile devices in the overnight hours for two separate officer-involved shooting suspects.
Read the full storyRyan Now Blasts Ohio Senate Rival Vance on Law Enforcement, But Once Called Criminal Justice System ‘Racist’
Advertising from Democratic Ohio Senate candidate Tim Ryan, which alleges that his Republican opponent J.D. Vance has disparaged law-enforcement officers, prompted Vance this week to recall Ryan’s own severe criticisms of law enforcers.
A video ad that appears on the Ryan campaign’s YouTube channel features a monologue by Stark County Sheriff George T. Maier.
Read the full storyMinnesota Gov. Walz Appointee Reduces Bail from $5 Million to $100,000 for Man Who Shot at Police
A man who shot at police because he was “frustrated” after driving drunk with his pregnant wife in the passenger seat had his bail reduced from $5 million to $100,000.
Pablo Nava Jaimes, 30, allegedly fired at least 10 rounds at police during a pursuit while leaving a barbecue after “8 or 9 beers” on June 5, according to a criminal complaint. The report also states he “took full responsibility” for the shooting after he was apprehended.
Read the full storyDeWine Authorizes Nearly $4 Million for Local Law Enforcement Across Ohio
At a visit to Springfield this week, Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) announced his authorization of nearly $4 million in grants to 16 police and sheriff departments across the Buckeye State.
The allotments come as the third round of DeWine’s Ohio Violent Crime Reduction Grant Program. Springfield’s police department itself gets a grant of $305,206.94. Those funds will go toward video-recording systems and automated license-plate readers to gather intelligence pertaining to gun-related violations.
Read the full storyCommentary: No Duty to Protect
The May 24 massacre in Uvalde, Texas outrages the conscience, though not for the facile and stupid reasons spewed by every prominent Democratic Party politician, half-witted newspaper columnist, and vapid television talking-head.
Liberals and other simpering dunderheads make fetishes of objects, focusing on the tool rather than the tool’s misuser. “Nobody needs an AR-15,” goes the refrain, when need has nothing and right has everything to do with it. “But the tool is so easy to misuse and abuse!” comes the ovine rebuttal, when we know as a matter of fact the tool is used in a small fraction of violent crimes.
Read the full storyMinnesota Man Shot at Police, Was Beaten, Sued City, Wins $1.5 Million
A St. Paul man who shot at police during the riots following George Floyd’s death will be paid $1.5 million plus legal fees by the city of Minneapolis.
Jaleel Stallings opened fire on police on May 30, 2020 after they first fired nonlethal ordinance at him from an unmarked vehicle. The officers were enforcing a curfew during the George Floyd riots. Stallings claimed he was acting in self defense, not knowing the police were in fact law enforcement officers. He instead thought they were some of the “white supremacists” Governor Tim Walz had warned were stalking the city during the riots, per the Star Tribune.
Read the full storyWisconsin DOJ: Most People Injured by Police Are Young, White Men
The first report on officer-involved use-of-force in Wisconsin may surprise some people.
Attorney General Josh Kaul on Monday released the numbers on cases where suspects died or were hurt, or where police officers fired their gun while chasing or arresting a suspect.
Read the full storyCambria County Prosecutor: Difficulty Recruiting Police Is Fueling Pennsylvania Crime
FBI data currently indicate that Pennsylvania’s violent crime rate exceeds any other northeastern state’s, and a county prosecutor told state senators this week he attributes much of that reality to difficulty recruiting and retaining police officers.
Cambria County District Attorney Gregory Neugebauer testified before the Senate Republican Policy Committee alongside other law-enforcement professionals to illuminate what is driving up crime in the Keystone State and what can be done about it. The hearing, held at the Cambria County Courthouse in Ebensberg, was the first of several the panel is hosting this week to address crime prevention in conjunction with National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.
Read the full storyTennessee Highway Patrol Welcomes New Out-of-State Troopers
On Thursday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced efforts to recruit out of state law enforcement to the Tennessee Highway Patrol have “netted early results as the administration focuses on proven crime prevention methods and addressing law enforcement staff shortages.”
Read the full story