Police

DeSantis Okay With Sheriffs Who Won’t Enforce Laws

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren isn’t the only elected official in Florida who has promised not to enforce laws he thinks are unconstitutional. Some elected sheriffs have suggested they wouldn’t enforce gun control measures, tapping into an ideology that sheriffs are the final arbiter of what is constitutional. But that movement hasn’t sparked action from …

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Texas Gov Appoints Indicted Cop To Oversee Police

The Texas Tribune reports: Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed an indicted Austin police officer accused of using excessive force during 2020 protests to Texas’ regulatory law enforcement agency. Justin Berry was among 19 Austin police officers indicted earlier this year in the protests spurred by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Berry is charged with two …

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Reuters: The Rising Threat Of Far-Right Sheriffs

Reuters reports: Since late 2020, Michigan Sheriff Day Leaf has been investigating one of Trump’s most fantastical false assertions – that vote-counting machines somehow flipped votes from Trump to Democrat Joe Biden. Leaf is in the vanguard of the so-called “constitutional sheriffs” movement, which asserts that sheriffs, typically elected in counties, possess supreme law-enforcement power in their jurisdictions – exceeding …

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Former Cop Sentenced 2.5 Years In George Floyd Case

The Associated Press reports: Family members of George Floyd say they’re angered at a federal judge’s sentence Thursday of 2 1/2 years for a former Minneapolis police officer convicted of a civil rights violation in Floyd’s killing. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson sentenced Thomas Lane well below the 5 1/4 years that was the bottom of a range called for …

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Far-Right Sheriffs Gather To Plot Surveillance Of Voters

Talking Points Memo reports: A half dozen sheriffs from across the country addressed a far-right conference focused on bogus claims of voter fraud this week. The event, hosted by the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, featured speeches from several Republican state lawmakers as well as fringe election deniers including MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, ex-Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne. The sheriffs …

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Florida Cop Busted Driving Nearly 5X Over DUI Limit

Orlando’s ABC affiliate reports: Apopka Police officer Oscar Mayorga, 25, was in full uniform when Eustis Police officers pulled him over on Monday. Body camera footage shows the interaction Mayorga has with officers during questioning. Mayorga seems visibly disoriented and his speech is slurred as he is placed on a stretcher. Mayorga denies being intoxicated and refuses a field sobriety …

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Derek Chauvin Gets 21 Years On Civil Rights Charges

USA Today reports: A federal judge sentenced former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to 21 years in prison for violating George Floyd’s civil rights when he killed Floyd by pinning the unarmed Black man to the pavement with his knee for more than nine minutes. Chauvin was convicted in a separate case on state charges of murder and manslaughter and …

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VA Police: We Thwarted Mass Shooting On The Fourth

ABC News reports: Richmond police said a tip from a “hero citizen” led to an investigation that thwarted a mass shooting plot targeting the city’s Fourth of July celebration at Dogwood Dell. Authorities arrested two men and seized assault rifles, a handgun and rounds of ammunition from a residence on Columbia Street after receiving a tip from someone who had …

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Uvalde Police Chief Resigns From City Council Position

CNN reports: Uvalde school district police chief Pedro “Pete” Arredondo has resigned his separate position on the Uvalde city council in the wake of the massacre at Robb Elementary School in May, according to a statement attributed to him in Saturday’s Uvalde Leader-News. “After much consideration, I regret to inform those who voted for me that I have decided to …

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False Gunfire Report Sparks Panic At SF Pride [Video]

San Francisco’s ABC affiliate reports: San Francisco’s Pride Festival was temporarily interrupted Sunday when a fight broke out near Civic Center, ensuing panic as the crowd ran from what they thought was an active shooting. Police say they were unable to locate any victims or witnesses, adding that there is no evidence of a shooting that took place during Sunday’s …

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RI Cop Arrested For Assault At Abortion Rights Rally

NBC News reports: An off-duty Rhode Island police officer who was running for state Senate was arrested on an assault charge after allegedly attacking his female opponent during an abortion rights protest Friday night. Providence police patrolman Jeann Lugo, 35, was arrested on charges of simple assault and disorderly conduct, state police said Saturday night. Lugo turned himself in, was …

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RI Cop Running As GOP Candidate Placed On Leave After Allegedly Assaulting Opponent At Abortion Rally

Providence’s CBS affiliate reports: A Providence police officer and political candidate has been placed on administrative leave after he reportedly assaulted a woman outside the Rhode Island State House Friday night. The Providence Police Department has confirmed that officer Jeann Lugo, a Republican who is running for state Senate, was placed on paid leave Saturday morning. Lugo, according to police, …

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SCOTUS Rules To Protect Cops From Miranda Violations

CNN reports: The Supreme Court limited the ability to enforce Miranda rights in a ruling Thursday that said that suspects who are not warned about their right to remain silent cannot sue a police officer for damages under federal civil rights law even if the evidence was ultimately used against them in their criminal trial. The court’s ruling will cut …

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Texas Calls Uvalde Police Response “An Abject Failure”

Axios reports: Law enforcement’s response to the Uvalde elementary school mass shooting was “an abject failure and antithetical to everything we’ve learned over the last two decades since the Columbine massacre,” Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a state Senate hearing Tuesday. “Three minutes after the subject entered the west building, there was a …

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NYPD Charges FL Woman With Anti-Asian Hate Crimes

The New York Daily News reports: A Florida woman has been busted for pepper-spraying four young Asian women during a caught-on-camera clash in Manhattan, police said Saturday. Cops in Chelsea took Madeline Barker, 47, into custody Friday after they recognized her as the woman in the bias-fueled June 11 attack, a police spokeswoman said. Barker, of Merritt Island, Fla., was …

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Uvalde Police Never Tried To Open Classroom Door

The Daily Beast reports: Police officers responding to last month’s mass shooting at an Uvalde, Texas, elementary school never even tried to open the door to the classroom where young children were trapped with the gunman, according to a new report. A law enforcement source cited by the San Antonio Express-News on Saturday said surveillance footage revealed no attempts by …

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DOJ Battles Riot Committee For Witness Transcripts

Politico reports: The Justice Department on Thursday revealed a deepening rift with the Jan. 6 House select committee, accusing the panel of a “failure” to share its 1,000 witness transcripts. Department officials say those documents would aid the prosecution of people who breached the Capitol, including leaders of the Proud Boys. “The Select Committee’s failure to grant the Department access …

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Capitol Cop Testifies To Assault By Proud Boys [VIDEO]

The New York Times reports: The prime-time hearing featured dramatic video of the Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist group, leading the assault on the Capitol, and the emotional testimony of a Capitol Police officer who suffered a traumatic brain injury at the hands of the mob. “What I saw was a war scene,” the officer, Caroline Edwards, one of the …

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Judge Won’t Reinstate Permit For Illinois City’s Pride

Chicago’s ABC News affiliate reports: An appeal by organizers of the 2022 Aurora Pride Parade was denied following a special hearing, after their permit was revoked over police staffing issues . The judge found the event is short about 20 police officers and that organizers were offered the opportunity to “close the gap” using sworn officers from other jurisdictions but …

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Illinois City Revokes Pride Parade Permit After Not Enough Police Volunteer To Work As Security [VIDEO]

Chicago’s ABC News affiliate reports: The City of Aurora has revoked a special permit for the 2022 Aurora Pride Parade due to security staffing concerns. The city claims organizers failed to retain the number of law enforcement officers for the parade. Since it’s a private event, the city said officers have to volunteer their time to work security. Last month, …

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