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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: police department

police department stories: 15 news summaries

Taser Tells Cops: Don't
Aim at Chest

Company cites 'extremely low risk' but insists stun gun is safe

Oct 21, 09 11:35 AM CDT
(Newser) - Stun gun maker Taser has issued an advisory to police departments suggesting cops not aim at a suspect’s chest because it poses an "extremely low" chance of triggering an "adverse cardiac event." The company insists its product is safe, but if something goes wrong, "it... More »

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Arizona • ACLU • American Civil Liberties Union • heart attack • cardiac arrest • Colorado • Taser • stun gun • police department

(Newser) - Another black member of Harvard's faculty has accused the Cambridge Police Department of racism, the Boston Globe reports. S. Allen Counter, a Harvard Medical School professor, was arrested outside his home in 2006 on assault and battery charges. “I was polite, and yet police lied and said I was... More »

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Harvard Medical School • African Americans • racism • professor • police department • Harvard University • Henry Louis Gates Jr • Cambridge, Mass. • S. Allen Counter

(Newser) - Henry Louis Gates is upset about his arrest, in which he sees wide implications and a potential "teachable moment." The Harvard professor talks it over with the Daily Beast in the person of Elizabeth Gates, who happens to be his daughter:
  • On the police: "I’m
... More »

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Cambridge • racism • arrest • racial profiling • police department • Harvard University • Henry Louis Gates Jr • Skip Gates • Elizabeth Gates • black people

 Boy Scouts Train to Fight Terror, Patrol Borders
 

Program trains kids in terror threats, border protection

May 14, 09 7:02 AM CDT
(Newser) - Think of it as Extreme Boy Scouting: the co-ed Explorers program has trained kids across the country in law enforcement techniques for decades. But lately “our emphasis is on terrorism, illegal entry, drugs, and human smuggling,” says a Border Patrol agent of the program. That means charging around... More »

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FBI • counterterrorism • Border Patrol • training • police department • Boy Scouts of America • Explorers

(Newser) - Law enforcement officers from across the country descended on Oakland today for the funerals of four cops gunned down by a fugitive last weekend, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. All 815 members of the Oakland force attended while officers from other jurisdictions patrolled the streets in their stead. An... More »

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California • law enforcement • police • murder • fugitive • Oakland • funeral • police department • parole violation

 China Busts 100 Monks 
 After Attack on Police 

Protest sparked by alleged suicide of police escapee

Mar 22, 09 12:16 PM CDT
(Newser) - China arrested almost 100 monks after hundreds of Tibetans attacked a Chinese police station, the AP reports. Police nabbed six while 89 others, almost all monks, turned themselves in, said the state news agency. The uproar appeared to be over a Tibetan who disappeared after he escaped from police, the... More »

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China • arrest • Tibet • police department • Tibetan monks

NYPD Clashes With Justice on Surveillance

Cops say feds blunt anti-terror efforts; AG testy in series of letters

Nov 20, 08 10:24 AM CST
(Newser) - The Department of Justice has firmly rejected efforts by the New York Police Department to relax restrictions on eavesdropping, triggering a war of words between the agencies’ heads, the New York Times reports. The NYPD wants broader latitude for electronic surveillance, and less red tape for its requests, but Justice... More »

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Department of Justice • NYPD • New York • FISA • Michael Mukasey • eavesdropping • electronic surveillance laws • police department • Raymond Kelly

 Cops Can't Afford
 Gas Prices Either 

Bike patrols get popular to save at the pump

May 26, 08 7:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - With gas prices near $4 a gallon, more US police are saving money by peddling around, the AP reports. One cop shop in Bedford, Va., for example, has saved up to 400 gallons of fuel per month by buying just 8 bikes. But the two-wheelers don't come cheap: With crime-stopping... More »

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police • gas prices • oil price • bicycle • police department

 Cop Stomp Video
 'Worse Than
 Rodney King' 

Philly officers ordered off streets amid furor

May 9, 08 8:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - Authorities have ordered 13 Philadelphia police officers involved in the videotaped beating of three black suspects off the streets, AP reports. The video shows the suspects being kicked, punched, and hit with nightsticks while appearing to offer no resistance. Rev. Al Sharpton compared the incident with the videotaped beating of... More »

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Al Sharpton • Philadelphia • police department • Charles Ramsey • videotaped beating • Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski • Internal Affairs • assault weapons

Miami Hopes to Patrol Streets With Flying
Spy Drones

Police nationwide are clamoring for the 'bots

Mar 26, 08 11:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - A flying spy drone may soon join the ranks of Miami's finest, pending FAA approval of the 14-pound bot. "Our intentions are to use it only in tactical situations as an extra set of eyes," says a department spokesman. The US military has been using spy drones for... More »

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Florida • police • Miami • drones • police department • spy drones

Cops Closing Doors on
Cold Cases

Funding to crack unsolved mysteries declined 40% in '07

Feb 3, 08 11:15 AM CST
(Newser) - Amid shrinking budgets and shifts in focus, US police departments are downsizing their cold-case divisions, USA Today reports. Federal funding for the units dropped 40% in 2007, and departments are reducing the hours devoted to long-unsolved cases—and even eliminating the positions entirely. Experts in the field worry that such... More »

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law enforcement • murder • violent crime • police department • cold cases

LAPD Scraps Muslim Mapping Program

Mayor rips 'counterproductive' police plan

Nov 15, 07 6:22 AM CST
(Newser) - Following a frenzy of controversy, the Los Angeles police department is scrapping its much-criticized plan to "map" Muslim communities. The department had hoped to pinpoint isolated Muslim communities in an attempt to identify problem hot spots. Critics said the plan was a form of religious profiling, and that it... More »

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Islam • Europe • Muslims • Muslim Americans • religion • Los Angeles • LAPD • police department

LAPD Plan
to Map Muslims Raises Furor

Police say they need data to reach out; critics call it religious profiling

Nov 10, 07 12:55 PM CST
(Newser) - A plan by the LAPD to map Muslim communities in the city is drawing flak from civil libertarians and others who say it smacks of religious profiling, the LA Times reports. Police officials, though, defend the plan as a way to help them reach out to Muslims through social services.... More »

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Muslims • Los Angeles • LAPD • American Muslims • European Muslims • racial profiling • police department

Single-Officer Police Force
May Be Cut

Dawson, TX, wonders whether it's overstaffed

Aug 14, 07 6:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - Dawson, Texas, has one police officer, and that may be one too many. Almost a tenth of the town's 800 residents attended a meeting where eliminating the department altogether was discussed. In general, however, the crowd seemed to support Nicole McMahan—the single officer—although the department was attacked as... More »

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Texas • police • Nicole McMahan • Dawson • Paula Sears • police department

LAPD Chief Orders Elite Officers Retrained

Bratton mops up after May Day rally violence

May 7, 07 8:42 AM CDT
(Newser) - Citing "things that shouldn't have been done," LAPD Chief William Bratton apologized yesterday for the actions of an elite platoon that broke up a pro-immigration May Day rally and said the officers involved are off the streets and will be retrained. The officers' prestigious assignment is in jeopardy... More »

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immigration • police • William Bratton • Los Angeles • rally • LAPD • police department

15 Stories


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