Police/LEO News

By PoliceOne Staff

STAMFORD, Conn. — A patrol officer was critically injured Thursday after falling from a bridge abutment while chasing a robbery suspect.

Troy Strauser, 36, fell about 20 feet in the incident, and was taken to a Stamford area hospital to undergo surgery.

Police cruisers had converged on an area near an interstate in Stamford to respond to a report of two men beating and robbing another man, according to the Hartford Courant.

By the time police arrived, the suspects had fled, leaving a victim who required medical attention and was unable to speak. As police escorted an ambulance to the hospital, they spotted the white BMW wanted in connection with the crime.

Officers pursued the vehicle and deployed spike strips, which failed to end the chase. Moments later, the BMW crashed and a suspect fled on foot, running into woods at the end of a bridge near a highway abutment.

Strauser ran at full speed after the suspect and encountered shrubs that covered the abutment. He fell off the edge and landed face down, police said.

The suspect assaulted and choked a K-9 when he reached the other side of the highway and was arrested after a struggle.

By PoliceOne Staff ARANSAS PASS, Texas — An investigation was opened Wednesday after a cell phone video surfaced that shows two officers restrain a man while making an arrest.

In the video, officers appear to punch and kick Matias Vera III as he lies on the ground Monday after a vehicle pursuit. Although several law enforcers appear in the video, only one officer, whose name has not been released, is under investigation, according to Captain Roberto Gonzales Jr.

Gonzales said a sergeant on the scene during the struggle told supervisors the following day that he thought an officer might have acted wrongly.

Police will look at four dash cam videos in addition to the cell phone footage to try to determine what happened, KRISTV reported.

Gonzales said the officer has not been placed on leave, and the investigation could be finished sometime next week.

Vera was charged with possession, evading arrest and assaulting a public servant.

New Indian Express

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sikh police officers in the American capital will be allowed to wear turbans, beards and other religious items while on the job.

The new uniform policy announced by Washington DC police Chief Cathy Lanier Wednesday makes it the first major metropolitan police department in the US to permit Sikhs to maintain their articles of faith.

Developed with the Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDEF), the new police policy states that Sikh officers can wear turbans that are the same colour as the uniform that they would otherwise be required to wear, with the department badge that is normally on hats pinned to the front of the turban.

Male Sikh officers will also be able to wear beards that are neatly kept. Other officers are allowed to grow beards if they get a waiver from the department.

Lanier said that it is hard to find qualified police officers, so it is practical to accommodate candidates who would otherwise be fit for the job. "This is a common-sense decision," she said.

There are no known observant Sikhs among Washington's roughly 3,800 officers. However, the new policy was motivated in part because a Sikh who will graduate from the Police academy in August and plans to become a reserve officer, has requested the accommodation, Lanier said.

"This first of a kind guidance by one of the nation's premier law enforcement agencies serves as a model for other agencies across the country." said Jasjit Singh, Executive Director of SALDEF.

In other parts of the country, Sikhs have had to fight for religious accommodations, he said, noting that nine years ago members of the Sikh community sued New York City to become traffic enforcement officers.

In the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, observant Sikhs can serve in the reserves but not as full-time officers.

There are about 700,000 adherents to the Sikh faith in the US, according to SALDEF. Published by HT Syndication with permission from New Indian Express.

Copyright 2012 Expressbuzz

According to an old English proverb, a man is known by the company he keeps. On Facebook, some police officers are keeping company they wouldn’t otherwise, and the same officers who guard themselves, their families and colleagues diligently day in and day out are behaving as though they’ve forgotten they work in one of the most dangerous professions out there. The tables have been turned on law officers online. All those social engineering techniques police investigators do to ferret out pedophiles and gangbangers with fake profiles in social media are also being used by cop haters to gain intelligence about cops. People who would want to harm police officers are creating profiles to look like cops, and officers are friending them in the same way they’d have a buddy over for dinner, opening the front door and saying “come on in”.

There is no telltale sign that a profile on Facebook that appears to be a police officer is not really a police officer. It’s a combination of things that gives us reason to believe a profile might be phony. But those same reasons might also be interpreted as signs of a cop trying to protect his identity. Things like vague references to one’s employer, a profile photo depicting an eagle, the flag or even Jesus are all prevalent on these fake profiles. Look at the photo albums and there are rarely photos of real people. Instead we see images including cartoon characters, logos, random military and police photos.

One profile we know to have been fake is that of “Ron Swalows”. Have your laugh at the name — and then please take this seriously. It’s almost believable because in this case, there’s a photo of a real looking cop in uniform.

Close inspection will show (look just under his name) that he works for “Police”. Clicking that link will bring up a Wikipedia-style page defining a police officer. Facebook told me how many mutual friends we had. I emailed a couple of those friends, who are real friends I know in real life who are law officers. I emailed them to ask them what they knew about Mr. Swalows. “I don’t know him, but he posts all the time in a group I’m in and he seems like a really nice guy," they told me. Folks, that’s part of the ruse. Isn’t that what you do when you’re pretending to be a 15-year-old hottie with cleavage who likes bad boys?

The only way we knew for certain that this profile was fake was because we saw that the photo used was that of Larry Nehasil, an officer who was gunned-down in Livonia, Michigan in January 2011. Here’s his profile on the Officer Down Memorial Page.

These people are learning a lot about the cops who friend them, as well as their colleagues and family members. It sure would be easy to learn an officer’s kids’ names and where they go to school or take karate lessons. I’m extremely concerned for three reasons. By friending a cop, they gain:

1.) Access to a law officer’s personal information 2.) Credibility to your Facebook friends so they, in turn, friend them too 3.) Legitimacy, and therefore, entry into private groups on Facebook, gaining valuable intelligence you really don’t want them to have

The only way to guard oneself from these predators – and they are predators – is to be absolutely certain that everyone you friend on Facebook is someone you know is real. They may not be holding a gun to your head, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t wishing to harm you because you wear a uniform. It also doesn’t mean that they’re not just as dangerous as a loaded round headed in your direction. Kevlar doesn’t make a vest to protect you on Facebook. Your only protection is not to act carelessly, so keep your guard up as you are trained to do on the job.

Alone in the darkness with only the glow of the dash lights and the red, green, and amber lights of various electronics surrounding the drivers’ seat, thousands of police officers cruise, crawl, or careen through the streets and back roads of America every night of the world.

And yet they are not alone.

Some surround themselves with icons of the fullness of their life. A picture of their child or a statue of St. Michael, or a card printed with inspiring or motivating words. Memories accompany them, too. Words of an academy instructor. Advice from an old hand.

Lessons Learned... Confessions Heard The longer the years, the more stories they carry. It seems that every block or mile post reminds them of an incident. Even that old patrol car, the odometer marking each mile, can hold a lot of stories.

The other — and universal — companion of every officer is the constant presence of death. We can ignore it, reject it, fight it, accept it, or challenge it. death doesn’t care much what we think of it. However we ride with death it rides with us still. Will it meet us at the next call? Will he visit us before we get home again?

I am no stranger to death. As a lawman, I have had death in my nostrils. As a chaplain, I have officiated over its handiwork. As a coroner, I have declared it. As a messenger, I have announced its arrival. As an investigator I have probed it. As a human, I have touched its twilight with prayers for deliverance from it. As a son, I have watched the science of its arrival, measuring the absence of the breath and pulse of life in the clean, white room of my father’s last moments.

We can taste it in the wasted lives and vacant looks of the addicts. We see its shadows in the hopeless child. We see its wicked finger beckoning to the woman on the bridge whose life has lost its appeal. We see it reflected in the engravings on a thousand noble memorials to fallen warriors.

When we stand at those graves or under the half-lowered flags this police memorial week, has death won?

I say no. I claim with the Apostle, “O Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

I shake my fist at death and do not fear it.

If we have lived well and planted good works and wisdom, death does not win. If we serve daily in honor of those who served to the end, death does not win. If those who survive us can say we were good and faithful servants, death does not win.

If we look past our last breath and see a future that bears the mark of some good we have done, death does not win. If we cheat death’s purpose of robbing us of precious moments by burying them in silence and instead say today to those whom we love how much they mean to us, death does not win.

This week we will grieve.

Death has visited our brothers and sisters. It has taken warriors from us.

It has battered and bruised and challenged us.

But it has not won.

A couple of weeks ago, Gadsden (Ala.) Police Chief John Crane told his local newspaper that his PD has had unmanned aerial vehicles since 2010, but the UAVs — which have video surveillance capability — haven’t been used “because there hasn’t been a need.”

With no disrespect to Chief Crane, I read that line with my jaw on my collarbone. No need?

In a column I wrote in part because of that news article, I posed the question, “If your department had resources similar to those in Gadsden, what would you use them for?” and a few PoliceOne Members chimed right in with suggestions. One such individual was Curtis Sprague, a retired SWAT Officer and former Federal Air Marshal who now serves as director of the aviation division for a company called Tactical Electronics — click here for more on his story — and between just he and me we came up with a handful of outstanding ideas.

Search and Rescue Probably the most obvious use for a UAV in law enforcement is for search and rescue operations.

“The added benefit of UAV-borne surveillance equipment,” Sprague said, “is that it saves on the cost of operating expensive full-size aviation assets and keeps crews out of harm’s way.”

In many cases, UAV assets can be easily carried in the trunk of a patrol vehicle. In the hands of a skilled operator, they can be deployed and airborne before a host of other types of public safety assets can even be making their way toward the scene.

Whether searching for a suspect or a missing person, EO and Thermal sensors aboard a UAV can prove invaluable.

Traffic Investigations One of the least obvious applications is the use of UAVs during the investigation of traffic collisions. Using electro-optical sensors with photogrammetry software, the scenes of fatal vehicle collisions can be cleared in a fraction of the usual time.

“Taking measurements related to these collisions can be a tedious process,” Sprague explained. “Our VTOL platform can make one or two passes over the area taking high-resolution, still photos.”

These photos can then be stitched together using software. Photogrammetry technology enables each pixel of the image to be geo-referenced, meaning that measurements can be taken from the photographs back at the company.

“A process that normally might keep the roadway blocked for eight hours can now allow for the normal flow of traffic in the time it takes to remove the debris from the road. Photogrammetry also allows for a three-dimensional, photographic reconstruction of the scene,” Sprague stated.

HAZMAT Incidents In the event of a hazardous material spill or terrorist attack, atmospheric sensors can be attached to the vehicle and carried into the cloud or spill. Obtaining readings remotely keeps first responders from exposure to harmful substances and saves time and resources on decontamination processes.

Sampling mechanisms can augment the sensors and allow for the collection of samples when necessary.

SWAT / ESU / EOD Providing operators with a bird’s-eye view of the scene is important. It is tantamount to holding the higher ground, which has always been considered to give the operator an advantage. Being able to look into an elevated opening on a building can provide entry teams with valuable tactical information and intelligence related to the suspect and previously unseen hazards.

A UAV with the ability to hover, can be an asset to bomb technicians when rugged terrain or elevation prevents ground based robotics from accessing the suspect device. This UAV can provide detailed high-resolution images and could also be used to deliver a charge or other tools for the purpose of exploiting the device.

Narcotics Investigations Back to the more “obvious” applications, let’s close this column out with the use of UAVs for narcotics investigations. The use of a quiet, electric UAV to monitor undercover operations or to conduct surveillance of a suspected drug dealer is an asset any narcotics investigator could use.

Whether to gather descriptions for a search warrant, or to locate a remotely located marijuana plot, a UAV could be used regularly by any narcotics unit.

Get a UAV Program Aloft Aviation assets have become a valued tool in many law enforcement operations. While we’ll always have a need for full-size aviation — and I will always welcome the offer of a “fly-along” in your department’s full-size aircraft — there are some operations that are very well suited to UAVs.

Not only are today’s UAVs are relatively inexpensive, technology has advanced so much in the past few years that they’re not as difficult to fly as they once were. Furthermore, getting a UAV program started may involve a lot of work, it also may not be as impossible as some naysayers would have you believe.

You can read about some suggestions for getting your UAV program off the ground by checking out my featured column for today, where I continue my conversation with Curtis Sprague of Tactical Electronics.

I’ve written on the topic of police UAVs numerous times in the past — I’ve simply got a somewhat bizarre interest in the topic — and will almost certainly revisit it again down the line. The abovementioned uses for UAV in law enforcement are just the beginning. Add your own thoughts in the comments area below. Together we can do some good.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column on the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) for SWAT Operations. In that column, I referred to a Chief of Police who reportedly had said that he’d not yet used his recently-discovered UAVs “because there hasn’t been a need for them.”

I posed the question, “If your department had resources similar to those in Gadsden, what would you use them for?” and a couple of days later, came to begin to know Curtis Sprague, a retired SWAT Officer and former Federal Air Marshal who now serves as director of the aviation division for a company called Tactical Electronics. TE offer a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) system known as Remote Aerial Platform/Tactical Reconnaissance (RAPTR).

During the first few days of our burgeoning friendship, several follow-up column topics became plainly evident — the first of which is, “How does a patrol officer become a police UAV operator?”

The Pre-flight Checklist The first step an interested officer might consider taking toward achieving the goal of becoming a LE UAV operator is simply by becoming being a hobbyist and enthusiast, educating yourself on the operation of these aircraft and getting to know what’s out there.

“First, inform thyself,” Sprague explained. “There is a lot of information to sift through on the subject of unmanned aircraft systems. Subjects range from types of UAS, how to fly, cost, FAA regulations, law enforcement applications, peripheral equipment, training... the list goes on.”

The best way to gain this information, Sprague said, is to get involved in hobby flying RC aircraft. Although this hobby “can be addictive and expensive,” it is the best way to quickly educate yourself in the UAV/UAS operations.

Far more than simply building and flying RC vehicles, Sprague advises the seriously-interested officer to join an AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics) sanctioned RC club. Merely by being at the flying field with other club members, the hobbyist will be surrounded by experienced pilots who have a wealth of knowledge and insight into design and development of unmanned aircraft. There, the new hobbyist will be exposed to safety guidelines, aviation etiquette, and the FAA.

“There is not a flying field anywhere in this country where the FAA and current UAV regulation is not a topic of discussion and education. In this world, an aspiring UAS Operator will learn the pros and cons of basic fixed wing platforms as well as rotorcraft platforms. This is an important foundation needed before venturing into the world of advanced, autonomous systems,” Sprague said.

“Once an aspiring pilot has developed the skills necessary to pilot a vehicle, they can begin exploring the integration of on-board camera systems and video downlink hardware to install. With this development will come an understanding of vibration management, RF dynamics, and de-confliction of radio signals. Understand all this happens at a hobby level.”

Only after achieving a firm foundation of hobby- or recreational-leve use, should an aspiring pilot be moving into the realm of industrial/professional use of UASs.

In fact, this is exactly how Sprague did it.

Senior Pilots Start with Zero Hours “I’ve always been fascinated by helicopters. Even as a grown man with many hours in a helicopter, I will still stop what I am doing to look up into the sky and watch one fly over,” Sprague said. “About seven years ago, I purchased an inexpensive radio controlled helicopter which began a new obsession — uh, hobby — for me.”

Sprague explained that because he had no training and no one who knew anything about these contraptions to help him out, he had to learn by trial and error—a potentially expensive education if you keep crashing expensive aircraft. So, he started “small.”

“I realized how little I knew upon opening the box on my first kit,” Sprague said. “I put the battery in the helicopter and turned it on. This was when I learned the lesson of how important it is to turn the radio on first — the radio tells the helicopter how fast to go. Without the radio in the loop, the helicopter goes all out. I nearly ruined Christmas by dismembering the Christmas tree while my children watched in horror as the helicopter violently attacked it.”

Sprague told me that about five years ago, he got divorced (one has to assume that the Christmas tree entangled with an RC helo was not central to that life-changing decision). One of the byproducts of the divorce was that Sprague could no longer afford his hobby.

“I decided to put cameras on one of my helicopters and offer my services as an aerial photographer in an attempt to fund my beloved hobby. The learning began anew. Putting cameras and video transmitters on a radio controlled device is a challenge, to say the least. Learning about RF and frequency de-confliction became a necessity, as did vibration management.”

Ultimately, Sprague would build a very stable helicopter capable of carrying DSLR and HD video equipment, complete with a video downlink to the camera operator on the ground. He was barely into this venture when an opportunity of a lifetime came along.

“Tactical Electronics and Military Supply had been manufacturing high-end wireless systems for law enforcement and military special operations teams for many years,” he said.

“The company decided it was time to put their talents in the air by developing an unmanned aircraft system. A partnership was developed with Leptron Industrial Robotic Helicopters, who had perfected the ideal helicopter UAV platform. It was reliable, sturdy and met the needs of Tactical Electronics to a tee. I was working as a Federal Air Marshal at the time and was persuaded to leave a career as a public servant and pursue my passion at a commercial level based on my tactical background and experience flying radio controlled helicopters.”

Establishing a UAV Operator Position Had that turn in his career path not taken place, Sprague was very probably already on his way to becoming a police UAV pilot. Consequently, I wanted him to address some of the issues he’d foresee for officers who might one day hope to build out a proposal to take to the administration in favor of a PD UAV. What would be in that proposal?

“Establishing a UAS unit will be a sizeable chore," he said. “There are a lot of bases to cover, but the first thing the administration will need to know is the answer to the question, ‘What is in it for us to establish UAS capabilities?’ The answer to this question can be addressed on several fronts. First, is officer safety. Having a UAS asset gives officers the ability to see dangers in certain operations long before they have to be exposed to them, physically.”

For example, in the course of searching for a suspect in a large wooded area, the UAV can travel out in front of the search team and clear areas of hazard that remain unseen from the ground. Often, the use of thermal sensors can reveal the location of a suspect before officers are required to enter the perimeter of the operation, altogether.

Secondly, in the event the suspect is armed, UAV assets can get a close look and relay intelligence related to the suspect’s weapon.

“The use of full size aviation assets for this purpose is limited,” Sprague said, “Full-size helicopters cannot get very close without putting the crew — and the public — in danger. A small UAV such as the RAPTR from Tactical Electronics can hover at close range without putting anyone in undue danger.”

While we’re on the subject of full size aviation assets, we should address the issue of cost. This will be a primary interest of the command staff as well. While UAS assets may be perceived as expensive, when compared to the cost of its full-size counterpart, the costs are nominal.

A full-size helicopter can require an investment of around $1.2 million just to buy the vehicle — this doesn’t even include associated costs such as storage fees, ongoing maintenance, or crew training and salaries.

Unmanned aircraft like the electrically-powered RAPTR have no fuel costs associated with their operation. There are no hangar fees or flight crew salaries. Once the initial purchase of a system has been completed, there are very few other costs associated with operating a UAV.

A department may be looking at spending about $200K for a reliable unmanned aircraft system — including operator training and a year of maintenance — whereas the cost to operate a full-sized helicopter can range from $1,500 to $3,000 PER HOUR, depending on a host of factors such as the make/model of the craft, operating environment, and other variables.

One more thought on costs. A creative — and thorough — officer who aspires to be the department’s UAV operator must also be advised that there are grants available to fund the acquisition costs.

The Homeland Security Grant Program offers the Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) grant which boasted $490,376,000.00 in funding for FY 2012. Other options for funding a department UAS program might be asset forfeiture funds, lease programs like the one offered by Tactical Electronics, or private donations.

Why Rotors Over Wings? Like Sprague, I’ve loved helicopters since I was a very young man, and like him, I stop to observe a helicopter passing overhead. I’m so much of a geek that in many cases, I don’t even have to look in order to identify the model helicopter. The sound of the rotors and the power plant the Bell Jetrangers running tours above San Francisco is vastly different from that combo on the Coast Guard Aerospatiale Dauphin which flies regularly in the region.

Like Sprague, I have tried flying both fixed wing and rotor RC vehicles. Like Sprague, I advocate for the rotary-winged option for police despite the fact that many of them are more difficult to fly.

I say “many” because I think it is appropriate to mention here that RAPTR comes equipped with an autopilot that makes its operation extremely easy, even for novice pilots such as yours truly. In fact, in coming months I intend to spend a day with Sprague and his crew as they teach me how to fly RAPTR.

“It is so user-friendly and easy to operate it,” Sprague told me, “you’ll be soloing in an afternoon.”

The most obvious benefit of rotary winged UAVs is their ability to hover. This vertical capability enables the vehicle to hover and stare, loitering over a target. A fixed-wing asset achieves this mission by orbiting around the target.

Another benefit associated with VTOL platforms like the TE RAPTR is that it can travel to a target, land on an elevated surface like a rooftop, where the rotor system can then be powered off. The camera continues to gather information while flight batteries are conserved. This “perch and stare” capability can be useful in most tactical operations.

Finally, systems such as RAPTR have the innate ability to deliver payloads with precision onto a specified target or geographic waypoint.

Payloads dropped from a fixed wing asset are more difficult to deliver with any level of precision and due to forward momentum will typically tumble unpredictably when they hit the ground. RAPTR can gently place sensors or other payloads in a specific location and in a specific orientation, then bug out back to the command post or move along to another waypoint for observation. Finally, any payload delivered by RAPTR can also be recovered by RAPTR.

“Try that with a fixed-wing platform,” Sprague concluded.

A bead of sweat rolled down the brow, following a path furrowed by years of experience. The sweat slipped into the corner of the sergeant’s eye, stinging it sharply. This had not been an easy arrest. The suspect had fled first in a stolen car and then on foot, but the sergeant’s determined pursuit had brought them to this moment. The suspect was now handcuffed and the sergeant was escorting him back to the squad for transport.

Just then the miscreant turned to the sergeant and growled, “Pig! When I get out I will rape your wife, kill your family, and burn your house with your family in it!”

He then emphasized his point by spitting on the sidewalk, some splattering on the shoe of the sergeant.

Officer Override The imaged attacks instantly conjured by the sergeant caused rage to well up in him like the blast off of an Apollo rocket launch on its way to the moon. The sergeant’s grip on the suspect tightened, as his opposite fist clenched and a tell-tale temporal artery began to bulge from the internal pressure.

“Sergeant, they are calling you on the radio,” said the steady voice of the young officer who had seen the instantaneous reaction the words of the suspect had caused.

The sergeant took a breath and responded, “Thanks. I didn’t hear them. Take him to the squad.”

He passed the suspect to the younger officer.

“Search him again,” the sergeant directed, while slowing his pace.

He took some deep breaths and feigned talking on his shoulder mic. The sergeant immediately regained his composure. Rage changed to pride. He had trained the young officer well and that training may have just saved them both.

The sergeant more than anyone realized his career was saved by a tactic called in the State of Wisconsin, “officer override.”

This simple tactic is best utilized when officers — who know each other well — have discussed it in advance.

Here’s how it works. Instead of waiting until the temper is lost and blows are struck, which will undoubtedly be ruled as “objectively unreasonable,” partners become even better back-up officers by preventing the blow-up. When a backup officer sees that something that has been said or done purposely by a suspect to enrage their partner has had its desired effect officer override is a tactic, which can be employed.

The cover officer says, “Partner. They are calling you on the radio.” This is a pre-arranged signal — which both officers have agreed upon in advance to use — when a suspect has gotten under a partner’s skin. The roles then switch and the primary contact officer is now the cover officer while the contact officer takes a step back employing some autogenic breathing to bring their heart rate back down and return perspective to the moment.

There is a fine line between a defensible use of force and a battery. That line is drawn by justification. Criminals are aware of this fact, and try with great effort to illicit an indefensible reaction from officers to a relentless even vile verbal assault.

Rank Neutral The suspects who officers come into contact with are often master-manipulators. They know a digitally recorded, unjustified beating can lead to the biggest pay day in their life — very much like winning the lottery. By contrast, for the officer it will be a career ender.

Officer override is a tactic, which if pre-trained can be employed regardless of rank to save a career. A career can be saved or lost in a moment. Here is what a career being lost in a moment looks like.

Save a Career Officer override should be trained as a career-survival tactic for a specific purpose. When a fellow officer succumbs to the verbal taunts of a suspect the career of every officer present will be affected. If a backup officer observes indicators that their partner, supervisor, or friend is falling victim to the manipulations of a suspect, remember that you can quite possibly save all present a lot of grief with seven little words, “Partner, they are calling you on the radio.”

Associated Press FULLERTON, Calif. — The mother of a mentally ill homeless man who died after a violent confrontation with Southern California police has accepted a $1 million settlement with the city of Fullerton.

The Orange County Register says the settlement was announced at Tuesday's City Council meeting. It was approved on a 5-0 vote.

In exchange, Cathy Thomas agreed to not pursue any further claims or lawsuits seeking damages for the death of her 37-year-old son, Kelly.

The deal does not involve her ex-husband, Ron Thomas.

A judge earlier this month ordered two officers to stand trial on criminal charges in the case. Their next court appearance is scheduled for May 22.

The incident last July also prompted an effort to remove three Fullerton councilmembers. They face a recall on next month's ballot.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press

Associated Press CHICAGO — Chicago police are planning a range of tactics — some old, some new — to control protests outside the NATO summit scheduled for May 20 and 21. A look at some crowd-control techniques and the department's position on them:

EXTRACTION: Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy says officers will attempt to extract individual lawbreakers from crowds to keep problems from escalating. He says the department does not want to disperse crowds.

CUT TEAMS: These teams will be dispatched to separate protesters who have chained themselves to each other in so-called "sleeping dragon" maneuvers to block vehicle or pedestrian traffic.

SOUND CANNONS: Long-range acoustical devices (LRADs) emit ear-piercing noise to paralyze or disperse crowds. McCarthy says he intends to use the devices only to get protesters' attention so police can better communicate with them.

TEAR GAS/PEPPER SPRAY: McCarthy has publicly raised doubts about the effectiveness of tear gas as a crowd control tool. Each officer will be equipped with pepper spray, but McCarthy says it should be used only to thwart assaults on officers.

CORRALING: Police sometimes surround a crowd so no one can move, a method known as "kettling." Chicago officers detained hundreds of people this way during an Iraq war protest in 2003 and recently paid more than $6 million to settle resulting lawsuits.

BICYCLES: Officers use their bikes for mobility but also to create a barrier to crowd movements. Chicago police used this tactic during a recent May Day march.

WARNINGS: During an Occupy protest last year, police methodically issued warnings to individuals and groups of protesters before making arrests. McCarthy says that method again will be used, if possible.

SHIFTS: Police will rotate officers off the front lines to guard against frayed nerves and fatigue that might contribute to confrontations with protesters.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press

By PoliceOne Staff WASHINGTON, D.C. — Authorities say a man who shot at police Monday night was killed by an officer.

The suspect, identified as Dominique Campbell, 41, was pronounced dead at a hospital, The Washington Post reported. The unidentified officer is being treated for non-life threatening injuries resulting from the shootout.

The exchange of gunfire happened as officers sought a suspect who was reported to have shot a man in the leg about 30 minutes earlier, D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said.

As an officer approached an armed man who matched the description of that suspect, the man opened fire, grazing the officer in the leg, Lanier said.

The man was hit when the officer returned fire, and a witness reported hearing five or six shots and seeing someone lying on the ground near an apartment complex.

Police are still investigating whether the two shooting incidents were related. Shell casings from a weapon that was not a duty firearm, as well as a gun, were recovered at the scene.

By Kristen Wyatt Associated Press DENVER — A marijuana blood limit for drivers was rejected Tuesday for a third time in Colorado, as lawmakers from both parties argued about how to fairly gauge whether someone is too stoned to get behind the wheel.

The bill would have made Colorado the third state in the nation with a blood-level limit for marijuana, much as the nation has a blood-alcohol limit of .08.

Currently, drugged-driving convictions depend on officer observations.

The Colorado Senate fell a single vote short on the bill setting a drivers' blood standard for THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. The measure failed on a 17-17 tie, one vote short of the number needed to advance it.

Earlier Tuesday, the state House signed off again on the bill that would limit drivers to 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood. Sponsors talked about Colorado's rising arrest rates for people driving under the influence of drugs, as well as data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showing more drivers in fatal accidents test positive for marijuana.

"It is past time to get this done," said Republican Rep. Mark Waller, sponsor of the bill.

However, marijuana activists and some lawmakers from both parties argued that the blood standard is an unfair measure of driver impairment. They pointed out that more than 90 percent of Colorado's drugged-driving criminal cases already end in convictions, so they questioned whether the 5 nanogram limit would change behavior.

"I don't think it'll make our roads any safer," argued Democratic Sen. Pat Steadman of Denver.

Some Republicans opposed the bill, arguing that the measure considered Tuesday should have targeted more than just marijuana use.

Opponents tried to amend the bill to exempt state-certified medical marijuana patients from the limit. The amendment failed.

"Impaired is impaired, whether you have a (medical marijuana) card or don't have a card," argued Republican Sen. Steve King.

After the amendment failed, the entire bill collapsed. Its fate appeared to hinge on the absence Tuesday of a lone senator _ Republican Sen. Nancy Spence of the Denver suburb of Centennial.

Spence opposed the DUI measure last year, but changed course and gave the marijuana DUI a single-vote margin of victory in the Senate earlier this year. That bill didn't clear the House, though, as that chamber was embroiled in a last-minute standoff over civil unions for same-sex couples.

The pot bill came back to lawmakers in a special legislative session. However, Spence has been out of town all week and didn't make it to Denver for the vote. Her absence meant defeat for the bill.

While it's already illegal to drive while impaired by drugs, states have taken different approaches to the issue. More than a dozen states, including Arizona, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, and Rhode Island, have a zero-tolerance policy for driving with any presence of an illegal substance, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Minnesota has the same policy but exempts marijuana.

Nevada, which is among the 16 states that allow medical marijuana, and Ohio have a 2 nanogram THC limit for driving. Pennsylvania has a 5 nanogram limit, but that's a state Health Department guideline, which can be introduced in driving violation cases.

Voters in Washington state will consider a 5 nanogram THC driving limit this fall on a ballot measure about marijuana legalization. A legalization ballot measure pending in Colorado specifically leaves the question to lawmakers.

Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper added drugged driving to a list of measures he asked lawmakers to consider in the special legislative session expected to end Wednesday.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy has asked all states to adopt blood-limit, drugged driving laws and set a goal of reducing drugged driving in the United States 10 percent by the year 2015. But the White House doesn't tell states what nanogram limit to set for illegal drugs.

Law enforcement lobbyists in Colorado have vowed to keep trying to enact a pot DUI standard. Tom Raynes of the Colorado District Attorneys Council argues that even though medical marijuana is legal in Colorado, it's not dosed like prescription drugs and is easily abused.

"Folks don't know what they're taking," Raynes said. "It's like a doctor offering a bowl of drugs and saying, `Reach in, take what you think you need and go ahead and drive.' ... We've got to get a handle on this."

Copyright 2012 Associated Press

By Gene Johnson Associated Press SEATTLE — The Seattle Police Department is objecting to reforms proposed by the Justice Department as wildly unrealistic and expensive, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

The DOJ presented its confidential settlement proposal to the city at the end of March, after finding that Seattle police regularly used illegal force, often for minor offenses. The DOJ threatened to sue unless the problems were fixed.

The AP reviewed a copy of the proposal Tuesday, which shows the DOJ wants the city to change policies, add training for officers and hire more sergeants to supervise patrol officers. The city must also agree to the appointment of an outside monitor, at city expense.

A Seattle Police analysis of the DOJ's proposal, also reviewed by the AP, takes issue with the cost of the reforms — $41 million, according to a preliminary estimate — as well as the four- to six-month timelines for many of them. It complains that the 1-to-6 ratio of sergeants to patrol officers that prosecutors are seeking, as opposed to the department's current ratio of 1-to-8, is not a standard found in most major city police agencies, and would take, conservatively, two to three years to accomplish.

"Plainly stated, the overwhelming majority of programs proposed by DOJ cannot be implemented in less than one to three years, if at all," the analysis reads. "These timelines can only be described as impossible and prompt serious questions about the analytical thoroughness and organizational experience of those who proposed them."

The DOJ's proposal calls for reaching the 1-to-6 ratio of sergeants to officers in six months, but appears to give some flexibility by saying that before that, the city and police department should evaluate the ratio to determine whether the suggestion is appropriate.

In the first year, the analysis said, officers would be recruited and trained to fill in for promoted sergeants. The sergeant exam must be announced a year in advance, according to civil service laws, and by city rules, the exams are given every other year. Any shortcut to the rules can result in appeals, and typically no more than 20 percent of those taking the exam are promoted.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn is due to present his response to the DOJ's proposal this week, which he expects will be followed by "good-faith negotiations" between the city and DOJ. If no agreement is reached by the end of the month, the city expects to face a lawsuit from DOJ on June 1.

Last week, the DOJ sued tough-talking Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County, Ariz., over allegations that his department racially profiled Latinos. It was only the second time since the verdict in the Rodney King police brutality case and Los Angeles riots that the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against a law enforcement agency with which it was unable to reach an agreement.

McGinn first announced the cost estimate of $41 million on Monday, prompting the U.S. attorney's office in Seattle to describe the figure as inflated. The city is facing a budget hole of about $30 million.

"The budget numbers being projected by the city are simply wrong," Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Bates said in a written statement Monday. "The cost of any agreement will not be remotely close to the figure cited today. We are confident that once the city understands our proposed agreement, it will conclude that what we cannot afford is further delay."

The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment Tuesday.

The Justice Department launched its formal civil rights investigation early last year, following the fatal shooting of a homeless, Native American woodcarver and other incidents of force used against minority suspects.

Surveillance cameras and police-cruiser videos captured officers beating civilians, including stomping on a prone Latino man who was mistakenly thought to be a robbery suspect, and an officer kicking a non-resisting black youth in a convenience store.

In December, a DOJ report found that one out of every five times an officer used force, it was used unconstitutionally. The department failed to adequately review the use of force and lacked policies and training related to the use of force, it said.

McGinn has said he agrees with many of the DOJ's findings and has already pushed initiatives to address some of the issues raised. U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan has said those are encouraging, but too vague to satisfy the DOJ.

The mayor has expressed some heartburn over the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the changes, saying it could hamstring officers in some situations — for example, during a public safety emergency, such as rioting that gripped the city's downtown on May 1. The mayor has suggested that he would not have been able to take certain actions, such as issuing an emergency order authorizing police to seize bats and long sticks from the protesters, without advance approval from the monitor.

The DOJ has disputed that — "Constitutional policing does not inhibit or hamstring the police," Durkan said — and McGinn announced Monday that he ultimately will agree to the appointment of a monitor.

"The monitor shall not, and is not intended to, replace or assume the role and duties of the city or Seattle Police Department, including the chief of police," the DOJ's proposal reads.

The DOJ's 100-page settlement proposal includes a wide array of changes.

– Officers must use "disengagement and de-escalation techniques" to calm agitated suspects or call in specialized units to reduce the need for force, and only use force proportional to resistance used by suspects;

– Officers shall not use any weapon to strike someone in the head unless deadly force is authorized;

– All uses of force, including pointing a gun at someone, must be reported;

– No force can be used against someone who merely talks back to an officer;

– New reporting requirements for investigative stops of civilians, including duration of stop and perceived race of person stopped, to collect data to ensure bias-free policing.

– An expansion of the police department's crisis intervention teams;

– Policies to protect whistleblowers, with the presumed punishment for retaliation being firing;

– An expansion of the city's police-review board, the Office of Professional Accountability, to include a review of whether the board should report to the mayor rather than the police department. The city maintains that many of the changes to OPA would require negotiations with the Seattle Police Officer's Guild; according to the Seattle Police analysis, the last time changes to the OPA were negotiated, it cost the city more than $24 million in pay raises for union members.

The DOJ's proposed settlement also calls for 40 hours of annual training for officers, sergeants and commanders on topics ranging from role-playing in proper use-of-force decision-making, use of weapons, de-escalation techniques, crisis intervention, anti-bias training and evaluating written reports. The police department believes adequate training covering all those topics would take far longer than 40 hours — perhaps 120 hours or more of training beyond the 40 hours officers already undergo every year.

That would require other officers to fill in, on overtime, for those receiving training, the department said.

The department is already operating at a bare-bones level with 520 patrol officers and average response times hovering at just under six minutes, the analysis said, and it would be "preposterous" to simply promote 54 officers to sergeant without replacing them, the analysis said. Copyright 2012 Associated Press

On the saddest of days — when everything needs to go just right — are you sure your department would know how to conduct a proper police funeral?

At agencies where line-of-duty deaths are a rarity and there’s no proven protocol in place for honoring a dead officer, the skill to do the right things may not match the will.

Sergeant Scott Barthelmass of the Overland (Mo.) PD can help.

A 17-year law enforcement veteran, Barthelmass heads up a Law Enforcement Funeral Assistance Team for the state of Missouri, one of a handful of such organizations active in the U.S. In the last four years, his group has helped plan and/or conduct 70 law enforcement funerals or memorials, ranging from those for retired officers who suffered fatal heart attacks to officers killed in car crashes or gunned down on-duty.

Even K-9 funerals qualify for the team’s assistance.

In a presentation for the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police and during an interview later with PoliceOne, he spoke about the special needs of these solemn occasions.

“The way a police funeral is handled is critical to helping an officer’s coworkers, surviving family, and community begin to heal,” he says. “Everyone needs to see how heroic the dead officer was by the way his or her death is commemorated. You want the family to think, ‘Wow! He did make a difference’,” Barthelmass explained.

“Yet many agencies, especially small or medium-size ones, are overwhelmed and unprepared when a death suddenly strikes. They’re well-intentioned, but they don’t have the manpower, the knowledge, or the resources necessary to organize and execute appropriate memorial procedures. Most times, there’s so much emotion going on and so many details that are important to cover it’s hard to figure out what to do on the fly.”

Across his career, Barthelmass himself has experienced the deaths of seven friends killed in action. “Among them, there was one really, really bad funeral,” he says. “The agency didn’t communicate at all with the officer’s family — just did what it wanted to do and ended up making some very unfortunate choices. There are still scars.”

In 2008, several LEOs were killed in one month in Missouri, and as their grieving agencies stumbled through the hectic aftermath, “it became obvious that many departments need help when these tragedies occur,” Barthelmass recalls.

A volunteer firefighter as well as a cop, he was aware that the fire community has a proficient, nationwide network of funeral assistance teams to assure that fallen members get awe-inspiring sendoffs. He decided to gather a group of fellow officers who would help him develop a team for the Show Me State that would mirror the fire paradigm for cops.

Today, that team, operating from the St. Louis area, consists of some 10 core members, with the capability of more than doubling its size as demand requires. All members are extensively trained in death notification, in dealing with trauma, and in funeral protocol. The group is chartered as a nonprofit organization, funded by donations. Its services are provided free of charge (a similar team has subsequently been organized in the Kansas City region).

“We only respond when requested by an agency,” Barthelmass explains. “Our job isn’t to take over in a high-profile manner. Our mission is to quietly assure that things run smoothly and that all bases are covered in a collaborative manner in a short time, like an unobtrusive, behind-the-scenes event-planner.

“We don’t want most people to even know we were there. We want people to think the department really did a good job of burying one of their own.”

Among areas where the team often makes a positive impact:

Family-agency Liaison — “It’s important that what the officer’s family wants and what the department has in mind mesh,” Barthelmass points out. He recalls one instance where an agency intended to post an honor guard holding rifles at the dead member’s casket. Considering that the officer had just been slain by someone with a gun, the family recoiled at this idea. “Too often, communication with the family gets lost in the shuffle and bitterness results,” Barthelmass notes.

Crowd Management — “More people often turn out for a police funeral than agencies anticipate,” Barthelmass says. “Officers are likely to show up from out of town and need accommodations or direction. Over 22,000 people turned out in Lakewood, Washington, when the four officers were killed there. That can swamp a small town without the right crowd control. Disruptive elements may appear too. Religious radicals who heckle military funerals sometimes target law enforcement funerals, as well. We can make sure the family is shielded from them without creating liability regarding free-speech rights.”

Body Escort — Usually the family and agency appreciate having the fallen officer’s body accompanied by a continual police presence from death through the burial. Barthelmass’s team can coach and equip honor guards to make that possible. In one exceptional case, an officer died in one state but was to be interred several states away. The funeral team arranged not only for a police escort for the long journey but had a squad car or fire engine visible from the highway at every overpass en route.

Street-coverage Logistics — Police services for the community need to be maintained during the funeral, but this can strain small agencies where members of the force, including dispatchers, want to attend or be involved in the memorial. “We can help recruit and coordinate substitutes to cover dispatch and patrol so there’s no disruption,” Barthelmass says.

Photographic Record — “We can provide a photographer to create a record of the event,” Barthelmass says. “The family often doesn’t remember what happened because of the stress and emotion they’re experiencing at the time. We can prepare a nice CD or DVD for them to view later and have as a keepsake.”

Memorable Touches — The variety of component pieces that Barthelmass’s team can provide seems limitless: Prayers and readings that are law enforcement-specific, flags from all military branches for veterans, albums in which people can write messages, help in tracking down a bag piper or a chaplain, guidance for helping survivors get the federal benefits they’re entitled to. “There can be a massive amount of planning that goes into a police funeral,” Barthelmass says. “We try to think of everything. We’ve never had a request we couldn’t fulfill.”

In Missouri and its surrounding states, the team can work with an agency in person. The team travels with a trailer stocked with an inventory to meet every contingency, from fuses for light bars to white gloves for pallbearers to toys for kids to arm bands and bunting to a sound system capable of broadcasting to huge crowds at a cemetery.

For departments beyond the team’s immediate geographic reach, Barthelmass can consult without charge by phone and email. “We’ve gotten so proficient at doing it, we can help anyone,” he says, “even if we’re not there in person.” And if you’d like to organize a funeral team in your area, he can send useful documents from a 150-page how-to manual he has compiled and guide you through the process.

“We can’t stop every line-of-duty death,” Barthelmass says. “We always hope another one won’t happen, but they do. It’s imperative that we lay fallen heroes to rest in the most honorable and dignified way possible.”

Scott Barthelmass can be reached at: sbarthelmass@yahoo.com or by cell phone at: (314) 565-2480. Access the team’s website for helpful information at: www.mopolicefuneral.org

By Robert Sanchez Chicago Daily Herald

ROSELLE, Ill. — A 2-year-old pit bull named Chooch died last week when Roselle police officers used a stun gun to subdue the dog after he bit a family member. Now Chooch's owners — Haley Alexis Pekala, 20, and her boyfriend Micheal Kotas, 22 — say police used excessive force to get the roughly 50-pound pit bull under control.

"They overreacted," said Pekala, of Roselle. "The dog didn't have to be Tasered. They Tasered him so bad that I have pictures of where his skin turned black. They took it way out of control."

Roselle Deputy Police Chief Roman Tarchala said Monday the department is investigating to make sure officers followed proper policy and procedure when they responded about 9 p.m. May 8 to Kotas' house in Roselle to a report of a dog bite. Kotas' mother had been severely bitten in the leg while trying to break up a fight between Chooch and another pit bull at the home, Tarchala said.

The dogs started fighting when someone arrived at the house to deliver food. Kotas' mother was taken to Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, police said, where she needed surgery and remained hospitalized Monday.

On the night of the incident, paramedics were treating Kotas' mother in the front yard while Kotas' father was trying to calm Chooch down in the kitchen. When police officers entered the house, the dog started barking at them.

"When you are walking into a house, and you're in uniform and everything, what is the dog supposed to do?" Pekala said.

Tarchala said officers were aware that Chooch had bitten someone previously. Pekala said the earlier bite happened more than a year ago at her house when a family member attacked the dog in what was later determined to be an animal abuse situation.

"They (authorities) didn't take away the dog or anything," she said. "They did nothing last time."

Nevertheless, Tarchala said officers decided to take added precautions while trying to take the dog. When they saw Kotas' father struggling with Chooch, the officers stunned and noosed the dog "to get it under control," Tarchala said.

"In the process, the dog was unresponsive," he said. "They transported the dog to the animal hospital in Schaumburg. That's where the dog died."

How many times the stun gun was used is under investigation. But Kotas says he believes the device was used at least twice because of marks on the dog's body.

"Personally, I think they used excessive force," Kotas said. "I don't think the dog needed to be Tasered in the first place, considering the fact that my dad had him cornered in our kitchen and was calming him down."

Tarchala said officers can use a stun gun on a dog in certain situations.

"It's allowable to use on animals if they are vicious animals," he said.

But Kotas insists Chooch "never once made an attempt to go after" the police officers.

"Yes, he bit somebody," Kotas said. "But it wasn't acceptable to use excessive force to the point where he passed away."

Copyright 2012 Paddock Publications, Inc.

Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Authorities say a retired Los Angeles Police Department detective has been arrested in Hawaii in the death of his wife six years ago.

A Hawaii County prosecutor tells KHON that Dan DeJarnette pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder during his arraignment Tuesday.

The Los Angeles Times says DeJarnette was taken into custody Monday night at his home on the Big Island in connection with the slaying of his wife, Yu DeJarnette.

The former detective said at the time of his wife's 2006 death that he had awakened and found her lying on a lava embankment about 20 feet from the couple's home. She suffered severe head trauma and was pronounced dead at a hospital.

DeJarnette was booked at the time for investigation of murder and later released because of lack of evidence.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press

Associated Press

OREM, Utah — An 18-year-old Utah man was arrested on suspicion of burglary after police say he left his homework at the crime scene.

Police in Orem say they tracked a USB drive found at the burglarized home to Dallas Naljahih. They say the computer hard drive contained his homework and was in a backpack abandoned in the backyard.

A 75-year-old man and his wife reported their home had been burglarized early Saturday. The husband says he was woken up by a light in his office, and found a man who was looking through a desk.

The suspect punched the man and fled on foot.

Police say that Naljahih was found asleep at his house along with evidence connecting him with the burglary.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press