The cops' lawsuit, which was filed in 2012, charges that the officers were barred from returning to the field, and also refused transfers or promotions. The suit alleges that they were discriminated against because they are Latino and Washington was black.

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck maintains that race was totally unrelated to department’s decisions, the Associated Press reports.

Smith told the LA Times that officers “get blamed for making spot decisions” when they have not been properly trained to handle a situation. “You put officers on the streets to do a job, but they are not social workers,” he said.

He also told the LA Times that a white LAPD officer fatally shot an unarmed Latino man was allowed to return to the field after only a six-week probation.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury ruled in favor of awarding Diego $1.9 million, and Corrales more than $2 million.

Police officer Jenchesky Santiago was indicted last week for holding his gun to an innocent man’s head and threatening to shoot him.

Santiago was charged with first-degree assault and misconduct in office. He has been suspended since last June when the incident was reported, but has still been collecting a paycheck the entire time.

Prosecutors say that last May, Santiago approached two young men who were minding their own business and told them that they were illegally parked. However, the car was not illegally parked and one of the occupants actually lived at the home that the car was parked.

When one of the men attempted to enter his house, officer Santiago reportedly grabbed the man and held a gun to his head, threatening to shoot.

According to prosecutors, Santiago told the men, “We’re PGPD; we shoot people.”

Much of the encounter was actually recorded by the driver of the car, but the video has not been released.

“We do not train our officers in this manner. These actions are not indicative of the high standards we expect of our officers.” Prince George’s County police chief Mark Magaw said in a statement.

More recently, Villalba was thrust into the national spotlight when he proposed H.B. 2918, which would usurp citizens of the ability to hold law enforcement accountable for their actions. The bill would negate the people’s ability to create an accurate and impartial record of police interactions by restricting citizens from filming within 25 feet of an officer.

Now with H.B. 985, Villalba intends to give school officials the authority to force psychological screenings of students that teachers and staff diagnose as having mental health issues.

Once the process is set in motion by school officials, parents would be forced to take their child to a mental health professional within 30 days, under threat of suspension of the child from school.

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The idea that students’ personal information would be submitted to mental health facilities and police departments for complaints initiated and investigated by only school officials also causes serious concern.

Is it really necessary to criminalize kids based upon a teacher’s unprofessional assessment of a kids mental health? And what about the student that is mentally healthy, but simply defiant?

Perhaps rather than attempting to legislate away this perceived problem by criminalizing “problem” children, there is a better way. Villalba would have been better served by using his position to help create a program to build sustainable bridges of communication between parents and administrators that assist in identifying and combating mental health problems in students.

Instead, like so many tyrants before him, Villalba tries to solve complex problems using the force of the state.


Read more at New Bill Would Have Teachers Diagnose Psychological Issues in Children and Report them to Police | The Free Thought Project

A teen’s confrontation with off-duty police officers was caught on video, and now his parents’ say their behavior was inexcusable and they want action. NBC Chicago’s Natalie Martinez reports.

Cops can confiscate your cash without charging you with a crime

John Newmerzhycky was traveling down Interstate 80 in Iowa with his pal Bart Davis when an Iowa State Trooper pulled them over.

The Montville Township officer whose police dog died in a cruiser has been found guilty of one count of companion animal cruelty but not guilty of a second count.

Medina Municipal Court Judge Dale H. Chase found Sgt. Brett Harrison guilty of failure to provide K-9 Beny with sufficient food and water. Beny died of heatstroke Sept. 28 after being left in a police cruiser for more than four hours.

Harrison was found not guilty of "negligently, needlessly killing" Beny, a separate section of the companion animal cruelty statute.

Harrison will not serve jail time but must pay a fine of $500 plus court costs.

The Illinois State Police, St. Clair County Sheriff and officials with the State's Attorney's office were seen carrying equipment out of the Brooklyn, Illinois Police Station Wednesday.

A News 4 photographer was outside the department and saw various law enforcement officials carrying computers, weapons, boxes of equipment and paper materials out of the building.

Sources told News 4's Craig Cheatham said the raid was conducted because of concerns about how the Brooklyn Police Department handled cases and evidence, especially guns.

Allegations against the Brooklyn Police Department include mishandling of evidence. Former detective Chris Heatherly is accused of taking an AR-15 rifle out of an evidence locker and keeping it in the trunk of his car. Heatherly is also accused of posing for a picture with the rifle in hand. The photo was used in a police department calendar.

In a letter, St. Clair County's State's Attorney said the action is flagrant violation of police protocol and said it breached the integrity of the evidence in the case. The prosecutor also said he would not prosecute any more cases where Heatherly is relied on as a witness, and added the ammunition and suspected drugs that were seized in connection to the investigation involving the AR-15 have not been found.

Sources said Heatherly has resigned. Brooklyn Police Chief Steve Mitchell, who brought the case to the attention of prosecutors, declined to comment on the investigation.

A woman is suing the city of Jackson over allegations that she was raped by a Jackson police officer.

The officer, Everett Lamont Gray, was indicted on a charge of rape and resigned from the police department last year. He is next scheduled to be in court on that charge on April 27 at 8:30 a.m.

Attorney Michael Weinman filed two lawsuits Tuesday on behalf of the woman, one in Madison County Circuit Court and one in U.S. District Court in Jackson. The state lawsuit seeks damages of up to $1.5 million for injuries resulting from negligence by the city, and the federal lawsuit alleges violations of the woman's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights to due process and equal protection.

Attorney John Burleson, who is defending the city against the lawsuits, said in a written statement that city officials received the suits this week. Burleson said the woman who filed the suits "wrongly claims that the city knew Gray was a rapist. There are no facts that support these claims and we will defend the city against these false allegations."

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The suits say the officer who introduced the woman to Gray "negligently placed her in the position to be raped" because the officer "was aware that Officer Gray likely posed a threat to (the) plaintiff." The suit alleges that Gray "had a reputation in the JPD for being sexually aggressive with females," which the other officer was aware of.

The lawsuits also say that on the night of the alleged rape, Gray told other officers about his sexual intentions toward the plaintiff, and none of them took action to stop him or to warn her.

The lawsuits allege that Gray was under investigation for other misconduct while he was employed and on duty as a Jackson Police Department officer. "Upon information and belief, Officer Gray has been involved in other inappropriate incidents at his previous employer and current and former upper management of the defendant (the city) either knew of or should have been aware of this misconduct, which should have precluded his employment at the JPD," the lawsuits state.

Under the Federal Law Enforcement Animal Protection Act, anyone convicted of purposely assaulting, maiming, or killing federal law enforcement animals such as police dogs and horses could be fined at least $1,000 and spend up to 10 years in prison. Previously, the animals were covered by a variety of state, rather than federal, laws.

PITTSBURGH, March 10 (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania man was sentenced on Tuesday to at least 17 years in prison for fatally stabbing a Pittsburgh police dog while officers were trying to arrest him, officials said.

A jury found John Rush, 22, guilty in December of 11 charges including aggravated assault, torture of a police animal and disarming an officer in the killing of the 8-year-old German shepherd named Rocco.

Rush encountered the dog in January 2014 in the basement of a building where he was hiding from Pittsburgh police who were seeking to arrest him on outstanding warrants, parole violation and failure to register as a sex offender, according to police.

Cornered in the basement, Rush stabbed the dog before he was subdued by officers, police said.

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After the dog's death, former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett signed "Rocco's Law" that increased penalties for killing a police animal to 10 years in prison from seven and added a $25,000 fine for the offense.

A baby, authorities said, was abused by his police officer father has been left in a vegetative state, York County Solicitor Kevin Brackett said Wednesday.

Brackett made the announcement in court as Robert Jeffery Taylor appeared on child neglect and abuse charges.

Taylor, a former York police officer, had bail set at $100,000 after his attorney requested $20,000 bail.

Brackett said the 3-month-old boy has retinal hemorrhage and bruises around his neck. He said the boy is in a vegetative state with severe brain damage and likely won’t recover.

Taylor, 45, resigned a few days before his arrest but had been on administrative leave since his son was admitted to the hospital in mid-February.

The boy’s mother, Audrey Schurig, 36, was arrested this month and charged with unlawful neglect of a child or helpless person.

During Schurig’s court appearance, the prosecutor said Schurig knew Taylor beat the baby but still left the child with him.

Brackett and Schurig were arrested at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, where the baby is being treated. Investigators said the boy is still in the hospital.

An Alabama state trooper who was demoted following a domestic incident last October was sent to rehab instead of jail, despite the fact that he drove his patrol car while under the influence of alcohol, pointed his state-issued gun at his estranged wife and fled from Arab police officers when they responded to the scene.

No charges were filed against Gary Shannon Gates, who lives in Huntsville. He also kept his job, which internal documents related to the incident indicate went against the Alabama Department of Public Safety's own discipline guide.

The Department of Public Safety released the following statement last week, after the incident came to light:

Located about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, Rialto was the site of the first scientific study that attempted to gauge how the devices affect police behavior. Over the course of 2012, researchers at the University of Cambridge's Institute of Criminology (IoC) found that use of force incidents fell 60 percent among Rialto officers who wore the cameras. Complaints against officers also declined 88 percent compared to the previous year. On the flip side, the study found that Rialto officers not equipped with cameras were more than twice as likely to use force as their surveilled peers.