In yet another blatant example of political correctness, the City of Cleveland, Ohio has fired a 19 year veteran following his bench trial acquittal of misdemeanor Negligent Homicide charges. Office Alan Buford and another officer responded to a break-in at a Cleveland grocery store in 2015. Officer Buford fired a single shot claiming that the […]
Yearly Archives: 2017
Another prosecution fails
A jury in Mesa, Arizona found former police officer Phillip Brailsford Not Guilty of Second Degree Murder in the shooting death of Daniel Shaver in the hallway of a La Quinta Inn. The incident was captured on body cam, but was not released by the Judge in the case until after the verdict was rendered. […]
The realities of policing in the 21st Century
Sainthood is limited to less than a handful of individuals per generation because the standards are so high. Everyone else has the frailties of human beings. Growing up means learning from the mistakes that people make in their youth. Yet, the public expects young men and women who choose law enforcement as a career to […]
A job well done
Our deep gratitude should go out to the members of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for their professionalism and valor in handling the incident on October 1. There is no training to prepare for an incident of this magnitude. From a command standpoint, a tabletop exercise can prepare them for the aftermath of an […]
A time for a change in tactics
Few will dispute that the right to peacefully protest is constitutionally protected. But walking down the middle of an urban street or standing in the lanes of an Interstate highway is conduct which is not protected. Urban cities across the country have taken a “hands off” approach to demonstrators and the result is chaos. Like […]
Sample Chapter THE FEMALE RECRUIT
CHAPTER THREE THE FEMALE RECRUTI It was just another Tuesday when Lissa arrived for her shift. From three until seven, both her and Bill remained busy checking people out for the day. Bill took the first building round while Lissa manned the lobby console. At nine p.m., it was Lissa’s turn to make her rounds. […]
Sample Chapter THE NEW RECRUIT
CHAPTER ONE – THE NEW RECRUIT It was another beautiful Los Angeles morning as Matt walked the campus of UCLA. He marveled at the silence as the students were preparing for their final exams. Matt was saddened to think about the fact that his college life was coming to a close and now he would […]
Another prosecution FAILS
A judge in St. Louis, Mo. has acquitted a former St. Louis police officer of a first degree murder charge in an on-duty police use of deadly force. Former officer Jason Stockley shot and killed Anthony Smith after a high speed chase. This was a bench trial. In what appears to be another example of […]
President Trump releases military surplus
As a result of the show of force in Ferguson, Missouri, President Obama issued an Executive Order stopping local and state law enforcement agencies from receiving surplus military equipment. President Trump has rescinded that order and law enforcement agencies will again have access to military equipment for their use. The show of force that was […]
An open letter to BLM
The group needs to change the “NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE” which was created following Ferguson, Mo. because it is vengeance you seek, not justice. If black lives really matters, this group would be out on the streets of Chicago and Baltimore nightly where black men are being killed on a nightly basis. Last weekend SIXTY-THREE […]
The True Tragedy
Any loss of life in a police-citizen confrontation is a tragedy. Serious questions can be raised as to whether most of the high-profile cases was necessary, however there are no questions as to the reasonableness of the actions of the officer. The real tragedy comes in the aftermath for the officers who have been involved […]
Ohio vs Tensing has come to an end
In a Tuesday afternoon press conference in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio prosecutor Joe Deters announced that there will be no third trial of former University of Cincinnati police officer Raymond Tensing in the shooting death of Samuel Dubose after a traffic stop. In a diatribe that followed, Mr. Deters stated his belief that the Murder […]
Your fifteen minutes have expired
Family members of loved ones who die in a confrontation with law enforcement deserve the opportunity to express their outrage over the loss. But their fifteen minutes of fame should end when the case reaches a conclusion. That just is not the case. These families become wildly rich because governmental agencies operate in the politically […]
Three more cases, similar results
There were three concurrent trials of police officers involved in shootings over the past few weeks. The trial of a St. Anthony, MN police officer and a Milwaukee, WI cop both resulted in Not Guilty verdicts, while in Cincinnati, Ohio a second trial of a former University of Cincinnati Police Officer will result in another […]
Tensing trial week two
It took until Wednesday morning to get a jury seated and sworn in. The jurors were then taken to the scene of the shooting by bus. On Thursday testimony began with a University of Cincinnati Police Lieutenant who manages the department’s body cameras. The jurors were then shown the body cam of Tensing in real […]
The case for Raymond Tensing
On July 19, 2015, then 25 year old Raymond Tensing went to his job at the University of Cincinnati Police Department. He was assigned to patrol an off-campus area enforcing the traffic laws of the State of Ohio. During his shift, Tensing made three known traffic stops. All were African-Americans who committed traffic violations and […]
The Tensing Trial Week One
It is not unusual for opposing counsel in a court case to refuse to agree on the time that court starts, but the Murder trial of former University of Cincinnati police officer Raymond Tensing has taken an unusual twist. An attorney representing multiple media outlets filed an emergency appeal of the judge’s restrictions on seating […]
The circus returns to Cincinnati
The re-trial of a former University of Cincinnati police officer charged with Murder started Thursday in a Hamilton County, Ohio courtroom. It actually started the day before when the defense filed a Motion for Dismissal alleging that Prosecutor Joe Deters violated the Court’s gag order in an attempt to poison prospective jurors by doing a television interview.
Mr. Deters was too busy to personally attend the hearing on the motion sending his first assistant to apologize for the “mistake” of his boss. Judge Leslie Ghiz, who previously worked for Mr. Deters, ruled that she could not dismiss the case because “the community would not be served.”
The second day of the case presented other motions for the Judge to rule on. The defense requested that an undershirt, worn under the ballistic vest, which had a Confederate flag should be excluded from evidence. Judge Ghiz ruled that the prejudice would outweigh the probative value. The Judge also excluded a defense expert who did an animation from the body cam stating that it would make an imperfect event into a perfect event. The jury will still see a video enhancement which broke the event into milliseconds.
The jury will be picked after the Memorial Day holiday and the trial is expected to last about three weeks. There are cries of racism as the small number of African-American jurors in the pool have claimed hardships. The Black Lawyers Association is calling for the jury pool to include any person who possesses a driver’s license rather than only registered voters.
Mr. Deters, who led the prosecution in the first trial, assigned the presentation of the case to two of his senior prosecutors. The trial will be live-streamed on the websites of all of the local television stations and the jury will be sequestered for their deliberations.
New blogs will be posted each day to update the events of the day.
Thoughts on police training
American police training is recognized throughout the world as the best. Recruits are given intense training in a short period of time. In Scotland, police cadets attend (and live at) the Scottish Police College for five years before they ever see the streets. In England, officers receive eighteen months of training in pursuit driving on […]
Another police prosecution fails.
In another case involving police use of deadly force, a jury in Tulsa, Oklahoma has found a police officer not guilty of Manslaughter after nine hours of deliberation. There is an outcry from clergy members and the family of Terrence Crutcher claiming that the case was a trial of Mr. Crutcher rather than Police Officer […]
Charleston case reaches resolution
Michael Slager, the former North Charleston, South Carolina police officer who shot and killed Walter Scott after a traffic stop, entered into a plea agreement in Federal Court settling both the Federal and State criminal charges. The Times offered this analysis in a May 2 article, “The plea agreement, reached nearly five months after a […]
What the Ferguson Effect really means
A single event in the City of Ferguson, Missouri has law enforcement officers across the United States questioning what they do and how they do it. The event destroyed the life of a police officer who, after an exhaustive investigation by the DOJ and FBI, did nothing wrong. The event gave a group (Black Lives […]
Real and Fake news
With the exception of Federal, State and County agencies, Law enforcement exists with the permission of the community they serve and they deserve to be assured that the agency and individual officers are held accountable for their actions. Any death in an interaction with police is definitely real news as long as long as the […]
The “new and improved” DOJ
Attorney General Sessions just recently announced that Consent Decrees with police departments will be dissolved. That means that police departments like Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Albuquerque will no longer be required to pay ninety thousand dollars per year to a Federal Monitor. The Monitor is a political appointee by the Federal Judge assigned to […]
The politics of policing
The suspension of the three Chicago Aviation Police officers who responded to a call from United Airlines demonstrates the politics of policing today. The videos have caused a firestorm and attacks on police conduct. The incident, which occurred in Chicago, were posted on You-Tube and picked up by news outlets worldwide. The airline staff called […]