General Assembly Considers Bill Requiring Police to Take Diversity Training

It seems Tennessee’s police officers need diversity training, one lawmaker believes, and he has filed a bill in the General Assembly to force that training. State Rep. Yusuf Hakeem (D-TN-28) of Chattanooga on Jan. 30 filed HB0321. The bill’s caption says it would require “law enforcement officers to satisfactorily complete a diversity training program created by the peace officer standards and training commission by July 1, 2021, or within six months of the officer’s date of employment.” State Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-TN-10) of Chattanooga is the Senate sponsor. The Chattanooga Times Free Press says the bill would require the training to take place every year. The bill caption does not mention annual training. According to the Times Free Press: “There is a concern within the city, and our community, as to what is perceived as excessive force,” said Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, a Democrat and the lone black member of Hamilton County’s legislative delegation. “I think part of the problem is that people don’t really know each other.” The legislation is in response to several encounters between police and black suspects. However, Hakeem’s and Gardenhire’s bills could be redundant in nature. Some skeptics say a directive from former Gov. Bill Haslam…

Read the full story

Ohio Sheriff Under Investigation for Stealing Drug Arrest Money

A Pike County Sheriff has been accused of stealing thousands of dollars, seized in various drug arrests throughout the county, and using the funds to fuel his “compulsive” gambling problem. The investigation, currently underway, stems from an anonymous complaint filed against Sheriff Charles Reader on November 9. The complaint (copied below) details that the sheriff was able to steal the money by taking the funds from an office safe that only he had access to. He was able to do so because the safe is kept inside his office and only he has access to it. The complaint notes that he “never has any money” and gambles compulsively. The funds in question were seized in local drug arrests made within Park County. He is also accused of taking cars out of the local impound lot and giving them to his daughter for her personal use, and demonstrating behavior unbecoming of an officer. The complaint alleges that he has also borrowed “large sums of money” from two of his deputies after gambling away his own, and owes a local car dealer more than $20,000. “[Sheriff] Reader just does whatever he wants and no one ever calls him on it,” the complaint states,…

Read the full story

ICE: Mexican National Released by Sanctuary County in New Jersey Went on to Commit Triple Murder

by Will Racke   A Mexican national charged with killing three people in Missouri in early November was released from a New Jersey county jail in 2017, despite being the subject an active immigration detention request, federal authorities said Friday. Luis Perez, 23, allegedly killed two of his ex-roommates in Springfield, Missouri, on Nov. 1 and then, a day later, shot and killed a woman who had accompanied him to the first two murders. Perez had been kicked out of his apartment by the roommates, Steven Marler, 38, and Aaron Hampton, 23, The Associated Press reported, citing a Springfield police probable cause affidavit. The charging documents further stated the Perez was a recent arrival to Missouri and that his immigration status was in question. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed Perez’s illegal status in a statement Friday and added that he had previously been released by authorities in Middlesex County, New Jersey, despite a detainer request. “Luis Rodrigo Perez was being held at Middlesex County Jail in December of last year on domestic violence charges,” the agency said. “ICE issued a detainer and requested notification prior to his release, so that he may be taken into ICE custody and placed in removal proceedings. In…

Read the full story

Migrant Killed as Second Caravan Clashes with Mexican Border Police

by Will Racke   Several hundred Central American migrants tried to force their way past police at a checkpoint on the Mexico-Guatemala border Sunday, sparking clashes that left one migrant dead and dozens more injured. The group of mostly Honduran men had broken through a gate leading to the border bridge between the Guatemalan town of Tecun Uman and Ciudad Hidalgo in Mexico. As they streamed onto the bridge, they were met by Mexican officers who had been ordered to block the unauthorized migrants. In the ensuing melee, one of the migrants was killed after being struck in the head by what Guatemalan authorities said was a rubber bullet, The Associated Press reported. Guatemalan authorities did not release the name of the man who was killed, but described him as a 26-year-old Honduran national. At a news conference late Sunday, Mexican Interior Secretary Alfonso Navarrete Prida denied that Mexican police were responsible for the man’s death. Navarrate Pida said the migrants attacked officers with rocks, glass bottles and fireworks and that some of the migrants were carrying firearms. He denied that Mexican officers were deployed with guns that fire rubber-tipped ammunition. The group of migrants involved in Sunday’s clash has billed itself as…

Read the full story

Commentary: Meet Them With Tanks?

by George Rasley   Conservative social media is awash with advice for President Trump on how to deal with the army of invading Central American aliens who are rapidly approaching our Southern Border. There is a strong current of opinion that says the whole “migrant caravan” is a set-up by Soros and his minions and that Democrats are cynically hoping for some sort of election-changing incident in which some poor Central American is martyred at the hands of the American military that the Left despises anyway. Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in. I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy. Must change laws! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2018 In the view of the “it’s a set-up” crowd the illegal aliens should be somehow treated “humanely” but not allowed to enter the United States. Who will corral them and where they will be interned is left to imaginary friends in the federal workforce who will be mobilized to the Southern Border. It may indeed be a set-up and…

Read the full story

Supreme Court to Police: Get Off the People’s Lawn

by Elizabeth Slattery and John-Michael Seibler   This week, the Supreme Court held that the Fourth Amendment does not permit a police officer to enter uninvited onto someone’s driveway to search a parked vehicle, without first obtaining a warrant. That’s an important ruling, since no one wants police officers roaming across their private property searching for evidence of a crime. But Justice Clarence Thomas raised another important issue in a concurring opinion: In that scenario, what remedy should there be against the officer’s unlawful behavior? Thomas proposed an answer that bucks Supreme Court precedent, but holds true to the original meaning of the Constitution. The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, and generally requires police to obtain a warrant before searching or seizing someone’s property. The Supreme Court has recognized several exceptions to the warrant requirement, however, including for automobiles—since they can be driven off at a moment’s notice, and are subject to manifold regulations, courts will allow police to search vehicles based on probable cause that a crime has occurred without first obtaining a warrant. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] The…

Read the full story

Briley Pushes $125 Million Flood Wall in ‘Residential’ Downtown Nashville While Firefighters, Police Get Pinched on Raises

Nashville Acting Mayor David Briley has resurrected failed plans for a flood wall in downtown, wanting to spend $125 million the city does not have. The latest big ticket item on Briley’s wish list comes days before the special mayoral election on Thursday. Former mayors Megan Barry and Karl Dean failed to get the project approved, The Tennessean said. That is because some City Council members wanted to focus on mitigation efforts in residential areas following the 2010 flood. Metro Water Services Director Scott Potter is trying to sell the flood wall by calling downtown another residential area, the newspaper said. The original flood wall price tag in 2015 was $110 million. Briley has added the wall to the city’s proposed capital improvements budget, which the council will look at next month. The City Council is not exactly rolling in cash — it is considering a proposal to raise property taxes by 50 cents as The Tennessee Star reported earlier this week. News4 I-Team recently ran a story saying former Mayor Dean used $7.4 million in HUD disaster relief money to pay for design and engineering work for riverfront development, including Ascend Ampitheater. You can read more about that report on…

Read the full story

The Ohio Police Officers Shot and Killed While Responding to a 911 Call Have Been Identified

Two Ohio police officers responding to a 911 hang-up call were fatally shot on Saturday after entering an apartment in a Columbus suburb, and a suspect was taken into custody, authorities said. Westerville Police Chief Joe Morbitzer said officer Eric Joering, 39, died at the scene and his colleague, Tony Morelli, 54, died at a local hospital. He said the officers were responding to a “potential domestic situation.”

Read the full story

Traffic Cameras An On-Going Fight in Tennessee

  One legislator is campaigning against efforts by local governments to collect traffic citations he says they have no right to obtain. State Rep. Andy Holt (R-Dresden) championed a 2016 law that said vendors’ contracts for speeding and traffic light cameras could not renew once their terms expired. That law did not apply to the contracts of cameras used in school zones and along S-curve streets. “Photo enforcement has not been banned in Tennessee, but that’s why I have been going on a full-bent effort to inform folks they do not have to pay photo enforcement citations,” Holt said. “I fully believe the best way to get rid of photo enforcement is to starve the beast.” A police industry spokeswoman disputes claims that the Legislature changed the laws governing traffic cameras. “They did not change the statute any,” said Maggi M. Duncan, executive director of the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police. “All it (the new law) did was say what’s in the statute. The back-and-forth has some drivers confused, like Wayne Forkum of Knoxville, which has cameras. “When the cameras were first installed, the duration of the yellow caution light was shortened in order to catch motorists expecting the…

Read the full story