The Battle for Police Oversight: Police sergeants' union sues to stop police-oversi...

The Battle for Police Oversight: Police sergeants' union sues to stop police-oversi...: The 13,000-member union representing New York Police Department sergeants is suing to block a police-oversight bill passed recently by th...

Cop Dog Killers: Family outraged after Boise police officer shoots ...

Cop Dog Killers: Family outraged after Boise police officer shoots ...: BOISE – A Boise family is outraged over the death of their 5-year-old dog. Sunday afternoon, a Boise Police officer fired his weapon at ...

cop gets 5 years in

Town Creek Police Department officer Brandon Shane Mundy was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Birmingham to five years in prison.

Judge R. David Proctor issued the sentence that included three years of supervised release and $3,745 in restitution for violating the civil rights of a man during an arrest.Mundy, 32, of Oxford, pleaded guilty April 25 to one count of willfully depriving a man “of his constitutional right to be free from excessive force by a law enforcement officer acting under color of law.”
Town Creek Mayor Mike Parker said Mundy had only been on the job two weeks when he beat a man on Nov. 22, 2009, with a baton or flashlight after a chase. Authorities refused to release the name of the man

Memphis officer charged with using fake prescription to get weight loss pills

MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Prosecutors say a Memphis police officer has been charged with using fake prescriptions to get weight loss pills. The Shelby County district attorney's office says 40-year-old Paula Jamerson has been indicted on four counts of obtaining a controlled substance by forged prescription between December 2011 and August 2012. Investigators say Jamerson stole prescription sheets from a medical clinic where she was a patient and had prescriptions for phentermine filled at various pharmacies.

Lindenwold settles brutality suit for $5M from police K-9 attack

LINDENWOLD — Borough officials have agreed to a $5 million settlement of a lawsuit filed after a Lindenwold man was attacked by a police K-9 unit.
The police brutality suit said James Black, then 40, was attacked in October 2010 by the K-9 after Black questioned a Lindenwold officer ticketing his wife in the parking lot of their apartment complex. It said Black had a massive stroke hours later, which required doctors to remove pieces of his skull.
The lawsuit said Black, formerly a taxi driver, “has suffered permanent and life-threatening injuries, has been deprived of his livelihood, and been disfigured for life.”

Chicago Alderman wants $20 million fund for victims of police brutality

Ald. Howard Brookins (21st), chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus  introduced the ordinance, was asked how the cash-strapped city could afford to pay $20 million in reparations.  Brookins said aldermen could easily “figure out a revenue stream,” then suggested one: the windfall expected to be generated by speed cameras installed around schools and parks. 

Guthrie police lieutenant accused of making false arrest of wife's ex-husband

A Guthrie police lieutenant accused of arresting his wife's ex-husband for no good reason following the Mumford and Sons concert last month has faced similar allegations in the recent past.Lt. Mark Bruning is accused of arresting the ex-husband following the concert and falsely alleging the man was drunk in public. Just last year, he was sued by a local bar owner who accused him and other police officers of harassing customers and bar staff, causing serious financial hardship to the business.In May 2012, bar owner Fazal Khan filed a lawsuit against Bruning and three other police officers, claiming the men acted to harass and intimidate the customers of Halftime Bar and Grill by “unlawful use of police force and presence.”
The lawsuit claims the targeted harassment began in the fall of 2011 as Khan and his wife were going through a divorce. Khan's present ex-wife is the sister of Brian Crumb, who was a Guthrie police officer at the time.


RI High ranking officer resigns

One of the highest ranking officers with the Rhode Island State Police has resigned.
Disciplinary action was taken against 45 year old Lieutenant Colonel Wilfred K. Hill, the third highest ranking officer. He was demoted to Lieutenant on Thursday night, but handed in his resignation Friday Morning.
State police announced at a press conference Friday Afternoon that Hill had an inappropriate relationship with a young woman who was trying to get into the force.
Former Lt. Colonel Wilfred Hill spent 22 years with the Rhode Island State Police. He climbed to the top, becoming the 3rd highest ranking officer in the force. He's stripped of those titles after a destructive affair, and state police inernal investigation.
"Lt. Colonel Hill's inappropriate action resulted in his demotion and departure from the agency that he loved,"said Colonel Steven O'Donnell.
In August, Hill filed a restraining order against his ex–girlfriend of 2 years. He stated that after they split in March, she stalked him. In one case, following him home from work on 95 "playing a dangerous cat and mouse game."
In another instance, Hill claims the woman attempted to extort money from him in upwards of 11–thousand dollars to pay for her college.
Hill's restraining order was granted and weeks later, the woman filed a no contact order against him. She claimed Hill was the violent one.
Stating, "Wilfred has harmed me, leaving bruises on my body."
In one encounter the woman claims "He took his hand, wrapped it around my neck, and choked me."
That restraining order was denied because the burden of proof was not met.
Colonel O'Donnell said, "the investigation also revealed that there was not enough evidence to support a prosecution."
After dedicating more than two decades to serving the state of Rhode Island, the former Lt. Colonel's career is over.
"It was awful, it was the most difficult thing I've done in 30 years of law enforcement," said O'Donnell.

Trial set for Fullerton cops charged in Kelly Thomas beating death

Trial is expected to start next month in Orange County for two Fullerton police officers charged with the fatal beating of a homeless, mentally-ill man. A  third former officer charged in the case will be tried separately.

Former Fullerton Police Department Officer Manuel Anthony Ramos, 39, is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter and ex-Cpl. Jay Cicinelli, 41, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and excessive force in connection with the beating death of Kelly Thomas, a homeless man with schizophrenia.  
Both officers were dismissed from the Fullerton Police Department. 

Jury selection is expected to begin in early November and the trial is scheduled for November 18.

A Friday trial-setting conference scheduled for ex-Fullerton police officer Joe Wolfe, who is expected to go on trial after Ramos and Cicinelli, was rescheduled to January 24. Wolfe faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and excessive force in the Thomas beating.

In a videotape of the July 5, 2011 incident at the Fullerton Transportation Station, Wolfe is seen pinning Kelly Thomas on the ground. Thomas is heard during the altercation telling officers he could not breathe.  

Officer suspended for sleeping on job

Sandusky Ohio: Officer Robert Gardin will be suspended for 10 days — a total of 80 hours — without pay, according to police documents. On the morning of Oct. 1, Gardin’s police cruiser idled in front of the Cheap Tobacco store on West Perkins Avenue for almost two hours. Earlier in the shift, Gardin’s cruiser idled in the Maag’s Automotive and Machine lot on Columbus Avenue for a little more than an hour, documents stated.

Springdale cop suspended for having sex in police cruiser

Springdale has suspended one of its police officers after allegations he was having sex in a police car while on duty.The suspension came after a report filed by several juveniles who walked past an unmarked borough police car at Sherosky Way, just off Butler Street, near the Allegheny River. Polsinelli said Walton was the only borough officer on duty when the youths allegedly saw Walton and a woman, thought to be about 19 or 20.The allegations against Walton are the latest regarding the department.Last week, the borough's insurance carrier paid $225,000 to settle a federal lawsuit involving alleged civil rights violations against a man by former borough police Sgt. Mark E. Thom and other officers.
Thom pleaded guilty in March to a federal charge of depriving the man of his civil rights. Thom is scheduled to be sentenced in January in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh.

Quincy police officer given 10-day suspension

QUINCY — A Quincy police officer was suspended for 10 days over allegations that he lied about his reasons for pulling over a motorist on Nov. 10. The police chief wanted to fire Officer David Andersen but an agreement limited the discipline to 10 days of suspension taken from his annual leaveOn Nov. 10, according to Kruse’s report, Andersen made a traffic stop on a vehicle that came out of a storage facility in Quincy shortly after midnight. Andersen validated the stop by saying that he was suspicious of the time and place of the vehicle, and that a ball hitch obstructed the license plate and that a passenger was not wearing a seat belt. Kruse’s report notes that the ball hitch, when viewed later, did not appear to obstruct the license plate, and that tinted windows appeared to make it difficult for a pursuing officer to tell if someone was wearing a seat belt. A subsequent search warrant, based on Andersen’s statements, found no stolen property inside the vehicle.

Harrisburg police officer suspended pending probe into misuse of funds

A Harrisburg City police officer has been suspended with pay while authorities investigate allegations concerning the misuse of Police Athletic League funds , said Robert Philbin, the city’s chief operating officer.
Officer Jennie Jenkins turned in her badge and gun  to Chief Thomas Carter on Friday afternoon, Philbin said.

Natchitoches assistant police chief suspended for one day

Natchitoches Police Department Assistant Chief Cary Hargrove was suspended one day this month after he allegedly had a telephone conversation with a Natchitoches officer who was wanted in connection to a kidnapped Sabine Parish man in August.
Hargrove is alleged to have had a telephone conversation with a former fellow officer — 34-year-old Robert Barthelemy, who is charged in the beating death of Many resident Tony Procell, 25 — while Barthelemy was on the run from police in August. Barthelemy was indicated in September on charges of first-degree murder, home invasion and aggravated kidnapping.