The sports our children play often generate passion among parents.

Few places exemplify the parent/child bond through sports like Texas, but now the police have stepped in and penalized a 32-year-old suburban wife and mother named Jessica Curs in a town just south of Dallas called Alvarado.

Alvarado Police Captain Gary Melson, the second-highest ranking member of the department, believed his rank gave him the authority to censor free speech in a public fora.

So the Texas police captain arrested Curs for saying “Dick” in public while coaching a basketball game between 9-year-olds in a public school gym – an allegation that Curs and the game’s referee deny ever took place.

But even if she had said the word “dick” in public, she still would not have broken the law, making the arrest a blatant form of censorship – an act that his own department admitted to earlier today in a long and winding statement on its Facebook page with the dramatic headline:

*warning, language may not be suitable for everyone*

Indeed, in Texas, the use of free speech or expressive behavior in public, and especially near the sensitive ears of cops, is a leading indicator of one’s likelihood to being arrested as you can see from another PINAC story this week in Texas.

The city of Dearborn has agreed to pay $40,000 to a Detroit woman who was ticketed by a police officer because she had HIV.

Shalandra Jones of Detroit had sued the city of Dearborn in January 2014 after police Officer David Lacey berated her for not telling him earlier in a traffic stop that she had HIV. He expressed concern about contracting a disease, according to a video of the traffic stop in 2012 in the western part of Dearborn.

People with HIV are not required to tell police they have it. Jones told the officer she had HIV after he asked her about medication in her car that she uses to treat HIV. He ended up ticketing her on a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge; she had a marijuana medical card, but it had expired. The charge was dismissed last year.

"We believe this was an isolated incident with a single officer and not reflective of the behavior of our police department," said Mary Laundroche, spokeswoman for the city of Dearborn. "Respect for everyone is emphasized in all police department training."

Lacey said he pulled over Jones and driver Mark Scott because "I just rolled up and saw the brake light out, and I thought, 'Well, you know, what? I’m kind of bored.' So, might as well, it’s worth a stop," according to a video of the traffic stop.

The officer searched the car after smelling marijuana

After finding out Jones had HIV, Lacey said: "You just made me mad."

Lacey said he "did not want to take any diseases home to his family." The officer added that "Dearborn does not have that many people living with HIV, and the police do not like people with HIV."

Lacey then said to Jones: "Honestly, if it wasn’t for that, I don’t think I would have wrote anybody for anything. But that kind of really aggravated me, you know what I mean? You got to tell me right away. ... Because at that time, I wasn’t wearing any gloves."

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Fourteen French motorists who had been convicted of the crime of posting speed trap locations on Facebook were relieved Monday to learn of their acquittal on Monday. The Montpellier Appeals Court overturned the December 3, 2014 lower court decision that had found the leaders of a Facebook group guilty of violating a law banning radar detectors by regularly reporting on the locations of police ticketing traps.

"Between May 15, 2013 and July 27, 2013... [the defendants] used a device or product to avoid the detection of a road traffic offense, in this case equipping his mobile phone with the Facebook application to access 'The group that tells you where the police in Aveyron are' allowing him to escape detection of road traffic offenses," the charges stated.

A judge in the town of Rodez found the fourteen guilty as charged and imposed a one-month license suspension. Although the motorists successfully had these charges tossed out on appeal, their Facebook page remains unavailable.

Government officials wanted the popular page removed because it circulated memes mocking enforcement efforts as revenue raising expeditions. After the fourteen motorists were first charged, the constant media coverage helped the page nearly double in size to over 14,000 members. Prosecutors claimed the Facebook page was a "device" under French law. Since the page was accessible on the road through a mobile app, the page effectively allowed the public to know where the speed cameras were operating in the same way that an illegal radar detector does. The group's defense attorney argued that such a broad application of the law would have wide-ranging consequences beyond the social media website.

"If what they are doing is forbidden, then all warning radars should be banned, all newspapers and local radio stations that report radar locations should be closed," defense lawyer Remy Josseaume argued.

Josseaume's argument swayed the appellate court, which overturned the convictions on the simple grounds that Facebook is not a radar detector. Prosecutors have until the end of the week to appeal.

A man who investigates the Chicago Police Department for a living was beaten by officers once they discovered what he did, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.

George Roberts is a supervisor at the Independent Police Review Authority, the agency responsible for investigating claims of police misconduct and officer-involved shootings. On New Year’s Day 2015, Roberts was pulled over after he left a bar. One of six officers who stopped Roberts found his IPRA identification badge.

Immediately afterwards, the police dashcam recording the traffic stop cuts to black; Roberts alleges in his federal lawsuit against the police this is because another officer intentionally turned off the camera. Roberts’s attorney claims police paperwork did not even note any footage existed. In fact, police only admitted to its existence when Roberts’s criminal counsel discovered it during his trial for driving under the influence.

With no footage to contest their account of the incident, police told the media that Roberts was drunk and swerving his vehicle and that he refused to answer questions or to take a field-sobriety test. They arrested him for minor traffic violations and DUI. Police said he fell asleep in the back of the squad car and he soiled himself.

Roberts was acquitted on the DUI charge in a bench trial and he says police are lying about what really happened after the dashcam went dark—that he was thrown to the ground before he was handcuffed and put in the back of a squad car.

At 6-foot-3 and 315 pounds, Roberts’s wrists were too large for the single pair of handcuffs police slapped on him, his lawyer says. When Roberts complained that even the slightest movement caused the cuffs to cut into his wrists Officer “R. Adams” allegedly taunted him with Eric Garner’s last words.

“What are you going to tell me next, you can’t breathe?”

Roberts, who is black, claims he was pulled out of the car and thrown to the ground again—a collision so violent that it made him lose control of his bowels. From there Roberts was taken to the lock-up, where he stayed overnight in his soiled clothes.

The only visit from an officer that night was borne not of concern but jubilation, according to Roberts. A white-shirt officer, which denotes high rank, peered in on Roberts as he sat defeated on the cell floor, then pointed and laughed.

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Years ago, members of my extended family were gangsters connected with the Genovese crime family. They had the ability, which they used, to place people in favored positions within the New York City Police Department. I know this, because my father was offered one of those slots.

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The law enforcement connections continued and expanded. At the end of the 1960s, that crew pulled off an art heist that was elegant in execution, but went to hell pretty quickly. As it turned out the buyers they arranged were FBI agents. But the thieves were tipped off that the buyers were feds. And they were tipped off about a raid on a house where the paintings had been stored. As my father tells me, "they probably had a plant in the FBI as well." (If you're interested, and it's a hell of a tale, you can read the full story of the heist in Gallery of Fools.)

None of this is news to anybody who remembers Frank Serpico's revelations about the NYPD. But it's also something that doesn't go away. My father's brief opportunity for a law (non)enforcement career passed 60 years ago. The Knapp Commission convened over four decades ago. But the NYPD still faces allegations of corruption, including traditional ticket-fixing, outright theft of cash and jewels, and taking bribes to deliver accident reports to doctors and clinics who then market their services to the victims.

Honest cops who blow the whistle still suffer retaliation for their pains.

Not that the NYPD should be singled out. Baltimore cops have been accused of working as muscle for drug dealers. Cops elsewhere have been drug dealers, taking advantage of the opportunity afforded by their badges to shut down competitors in the illegal but highly profitable trade and keep the opportunities for themselves

And then there are the FBI agents who got tight with Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger.

Some of this corruption overlaps with civil liberties violations committed in the course of police work. Those jewel-stealing cops mentioned above also gained a taste for gathering evidence in the absence of warrants. It's probably not surprising that police officers who engage in theft, accept bribes, and carve out illegal narcotics empires might find the Fourth Amendment an unimpressive barrier to further depredations.

There may be no way of doing entirely without professional police forces that are paid and empowered to enforce the laws to some extent (though I'm very willing to consider alternatives). Like many things in life, there's probably no perfect fix. But, so long as we have police forces, we're going to have a problem with police who abuse their positions and succumb to corruption. We'll also have a problem with people who become cops just so they can exploit the opportunity to engage in abuse and get an envelope stuffed with cash every week, offered by the likes of Uncle Puggy.

Asking police officers to suppress highly profitable activities where there's money to be had just for looking the other way is just begging for trouble.

That's enough reason to give extra thought to every job, tool, power, legal protection, and consideration given to police officers. And it's reason to turn a skeptical eye on the people we've hired to keep the peace. Because, in the end, the only people watching the watchers are those realistic enough to admit that it's necessary.

Sergeant *** says she is honored to be the department's first woman sergeant and she hopes to serve as a role model for others.

"If I can do something to encourage other young girls to dream and strive to attain their dreams and goals -- if I can in some kind of way be even the smallest inspiration to them ... even though this is the 21st century there are still firsts out there to be made for women," she says.

A rural Wisconsin village will pay $35,000 to settle claims that it deleted profane Facebook comments that criticized its police as racist.

Thomas Smith brought the civil rights suit in question after he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for making disparaging remarks on the police department's Facebook page in 2012.

Smith had left the comments on a message Officer Nicholas Stroik had posted to Facebook, thanking Arena denizens for their assistance in the recent search for two suspects.

The post allegedly prompted backlash, with one commenter identifying "Stroik as the police officer who told her that the African-American suspects would stand out because they did not belong in Arena," according to the complaint.

Smith says he posted two comments: "**** the ******* cops they ant **** but ******* racist basturds an ******* all of y'all who is racist" and "**** them nigers bitchs wat you got on us not a dam thing so **** off dicks." [Spelling in original].

There were also comments praising the police, and Smith says these remained on the website but that his posts, along with all other criticism, were deleted.

Smith confirmed having posted the comments when police contacted him, and he was then arrested for disorderly conduct and unlawful use of a computer and telephone, according to the complaint.

Though a jury convicted Smith on some counts, an appeals court vacated the convictions last year.

In reply to Smith's civil pleadings, Arena and Stroik insisted that a First Amendment violation could not have occurred, since the Facebook page in question is not a village-sanctioned website.

Smith's attorney, Thomas Aquino, noted in a statement announcing the settlement Tuesday that the village abandoned this claim in subsequent pleadings.

Aquino praised the settlement agreement, adding that Smith is grateful to have the matter behind him more than three years after his wrongful arrest.

"In our country, we are entitled to criticize our government with passion," Aquino said in a statement. "The use of some four-letter words in the course of doing so is never a crime."

Meg Vergeront, an attorney for the village with Stafford Rosenbaum, described the settlement as simply a cash payment in exchange for a release of claims.

In settling, the village has not stipulated to changing how police monitor electronic communication, Vergeront said over the phone.

The above instance of brutality involves Officer Ryan Clark, who has been named in the lawsuit alongside the City of Dubuque, as attorney David O’Brien claims that the newest case illustrates a ‘systematic’ use-of-force problem, either because it is being ignored or encouraged by police officials.

Clark was already given a four-day suspension for his use of force and language during the event seen in the video, yet is still employed as an active patrol officer, despite his criminal behavior.

I was actually in Las Cruces today when I saw two Mesilla Police cars parked at a car wash and the two officers across the street searching the shrubbery at a local insurance office. I walked over to document the incident. These are the events that transpired.

A Syracuse business owner is claiming police caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage and misled the public when they raided his shop last week in a search for synthetic marijuana that proved to be futile.

Owner Ezzideen Alharbi of the Lodi Market at 308 N. Crouse Ave. claimed police burst into his shop Wednesday evening without a warrant and demanded to know where the "Spike" was. When employees denied having any, Alharbi said officers proceeded to raid the shop, sending merchandise across the floor and damaging valuable products.

In the end, police cited two of his employees with one misdemeanor untaxed-cigarette charge apiece. However, a news release distributed by the police department suggests that Lodi Market was involved in the sale of the drug.

...

Alharbi could not provide an exact dollar estimate, but he claimed police did a number on Lodi Market both by seizing cash and destroying merchandise and equipment. He provided photographs that he said corroborated some claims.

Alharbi claims Syracuse police:

Ripped cell phones from their cases and threw them on the floor;
Tossed merchandise into the aisles and stepped on it;
Destroyed his safe and cashiers despite employees' offers to open both safely;
Seized an "excessive" amount of cash and documents unrelated to the search; and
Destroyed camera evidence of the raid by ripping a hard drive from the wall and dropping it into a mop bucket
Alharbi is particularly concerned about the destroyed camera because, without it, there is no evidence of the raid. He also said there is now no way to prove his employees did nothing wrong.

Lt. Carr declined to address Alharbi's claims, saying the case was being prosecuted. He the search warrant was, as always, approved by a judge after police presented probable cause. He declined to say what that probable cause was.

"As to your other questions, due to the fact this case is still being prosecuted I am not able to answer any other questions regarding this matter," Carr said in an email Tuesday.

Syracuse City Court judge Rory McMahon signed the warrant Sept. 10. Court staff refused to provide the warrant.

An IRS agent was arrested this week after he was caught attempting to con a Seattle marijuana shop owner out of $20,000.

The 42-year-old agent, Paul G. Hurley, reportedly demanded a $20,000 bribe from the shop owner, in exchange for a break on an audit. In fact, Hurley had said that he saved the business owner over a million dollars on his tax return, and that his current tax bill was just under $300,000.

The shop owner was not even concerned with getting a break, so when the agent left he contacted federal authorities who set up a sting operation wherein the shop owner gave the IRS agent money for the bribe.

Hurley met with the owner on several occasions during an audit and mentioned how he was unhappy with his job at the IRS and that he was living paycheck to paycheck. The two met at a nearby Starbucks on several different occasions to discuss the deal and each time the shop owner wore a wire and was followed by undercover police.

The agent allegedly threatened the owner with a massive tax bill, saying that he owed an obnoxious amount because he was involved in the marijuana industry which is illegal on the federal level. The agent asked for $20,000 up front, and at one point in the negotiation asked the owner to help him pay his student loans over time.

Hurley is currently facing up to 15 years in jail for charges of soliciting and agreeing to receive a bribe and two counts of receiving a bribe by a public official.

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The state failed to provide any evidence that any other vehicle, including the officer's squad car, was affected by Nelson's failure to signal. The judges, however, refused to suppress the obstruction charge.

"We cannot find that [Nelson's] alleged obstructive behavior to be the product of Officer Turnbough's illegal stop," Judge Hudson wrote. "[Nelson's] decision to behave as he did was an independent and voluntary act which broke the link to any taint caused by the illegal stop."

The judges noted that they had never before considered whether the common law right to resist an unlawful arrest applied to a traffic stop. They used this case to reject the idea.

"The typical motorist simply is not equipped to make a determination of whether there is a legal basis for a traffic stop," Judge Hudson concluded. "Whether the officer did, in hindsight, have probable cause to make the traffic stop should be resolved in a courtroom, not in the streets. To permit otherwise would effectively encourage drivers to engage in potentially explosive self-help methods. This, in turn, would increase the risk of escalating what should be a relatively benign interaction between law enforcement and a driver into a potentially dangerous or violent interaction."

A judge granted a bond modification for Stephen Rankin after a request made by the defense.

The bond modification allows for former Portsmouth police officer, Stephen Rankin, to attend his father-in-law’s wedding in Duck, North Carolina. He is allowed to leave the area beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday, September 25, 2015 and must return by 6 p.m. on Sunday, September 27, 2015.

Rankin has surrendered his passport.

A grand jury indicted Rankin on first-degree murder and weapons charges in the shooting death of William Chapman. The shooting took place in the Wal-Mart parking lot on Frederick Boulevard in April.

A trial date is scheduled for February 22, 2015.

Rankin shot dead 18-year-old William Chapman at a Walmart last month, four years after he was barred from patrols for killing another citizen. But he is a good fit for a police force that goes to great lengths to attract military men

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“What’s the difference if it was one round or 11 rounds or 111 rounds?” he wrote, using the screen name ‘yourealythinkthat’. “When I was in Iraq, that would have been a good shoot,” he said later. “In fact, nobody would have really given it a second thought.”

Speaking under oath six months and 246 supportive comments later, Rankin, a US navy veteran, admitted that ‘yourealythinkthat’ was him.

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He was chided by police chiefs when he publicly referred on Facebook to his firearms case as “Rankin’s box of vengeance” and said it “would be better if i was dirtying them instead of cleaning them!”

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However, one officer who worked alongside Rankin said he was unsteady. “He was afraid of his own shadow,” said the officer, who has since left the department.

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And several complaints were filed about his use of force, according to a police supervisor in the department at the time. The retired supervisor told the Guardian that senior commanders were formally warned by Rankin’s lieutenant weeks before his first fatal shooting that he was “dangerous” and likely to cause someone harm.

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Delaware police officers shot and killed an armed man in a wheelchair after responding to a call that the man had a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Wilmington Police said in a news release that they encountered the man Wednesday afternoon "armed with a handgun" at Tulip and S Scott streets.

Authorities say "a departmental shooting ensued" and that the man died on the scene. The news release did not elaborate and police would not release any additional information when contacted by telephone.

According to a city spokeswoman, Police Chief Bobby L. Cummings went to the scene and met with neighbors and relatives.

Wilmington spokeswoman Alexandra Coppadge also said that police told her the man had shot himself Wednesday before they arrived.