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11/6/25 Torrance, Calif. police have faced intense scrutiny over a past litany of aggressive, racially-tinged
behavior. A former Torrance cop who was prosecuted for needlessly shooting a fleeing, knife-wielding Black man
in 2018 has just agreed to plead guilty and render community service. If David Chandler successfully meets the
conditions of release, charges will eventually be dismissed. Two Torrance cops - Cody Weldin and Christopher Tomsic
- recently drew probation after pleading guilty to felonies for spray-painting swastikas inside a suspect vehicle.
That happened in 2020. Two others - Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez - await trial for manslaughter in the 2018
death of Christopher Deandre Mitchell, whom they shot and killed as he sat in a stolen car, armed with an air rifle.
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11/5/25 "Data-driven, focused operations" by Cleveland police and
a consortium of local, state and Federal agencies are targeting the armed, violent repeaters who reportedly troll the
city's crime "hot spots." According to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, “You have to lock them up, and you have to keep them
locked up.” That, says D.A. Michael O’Malley, applies to violent juveniles as well. "At some point, the crimes they
commit dictate that they need to be removed from society.”
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Two days ago, two FBI agents who had once investigated President Trump were fired. But a few hours
later, their firings were rescinded. Then yesterday, they were fired once again. Two other agents with the same
unfortunate investigative histories were also terminated. A few days earlier, the same fate befell 27-year FBI
veteran Steven Palmer, who had led a critical incident response team. According to
People, Palmer may have been a source of media reports about FBI Director Kash Patel's unseemly use of
Government jets.
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11/4/25
"...a possibly illegal use of force." That's how Durango, CO police chief Brice Current characterized the video of
a masked ICE agent placing a woman in an apparent chokehold and (in the journalist's words) "throwing her down an
embankment." Chief Current said he's called in the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to determine whether the Fed broke
a law. If the answer is "yes," Durango's D.A. said he'd assess the pros and cons before filing charges. Meanwhile the
FBI is investigating whether protesters (of which the woman was one) will face charges for their behavior.
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When should "alternative responders"
be sent on 9-1-1 calls? And should they just help the cops or replace them altogether? In areas where such teams exist,
this decision is largely left to dispatchers. But an in-depth study at two agencies suggests that the "uncertainty,
subjectivity, and ambiguity" that characterizes many calls often drives dispatchers to simply send in the cops. That's
not always the best answer, and the article suggests approaches that can help call-takers decide when civilian experts
should take the lead.
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11/3/25 A 13-year old North Carolina boy was wanted for murdering his grandmother. And
when deputies finally cornered the youth, he grabbed a two-by-four and charged. So a deputy shot him dead. Hoke County
Sheriff Roderick Virgil asked that residents “come together with compassion and understanding as we all process this
difficult event.”
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In the
New York Times, a probing piece examines the sharp ideological divide between the three liberally (i.e.,
"Blue") inclined Justices and their six conservative (i.e., "Red") peers. At the former extreme lie Justices Kagan and
Jackson. While Justice Kagan reportedly tries to avoid publicly "steaming," and thus lose all influence, her colleague
has taken to authoring "blistering dissents" that openly accuse the majority of kowtowing to “moneyed interests.”
What's more, Justice Jackson openly conveys her views at public speaking engagements. “I’m not afraid to use my voice.”
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10/31/25 An analysis
by the Wall Street Journal reveals that between 2019-2024 "justifiable homicides" by ordinary citizens
increased 59% in the thirty States with stand-your-ground laws. In addition to eliminating the duty to retreat, many of
these States also passed laws that allow permitless carry. According to the WSJ's experts, when more persons routinely
carry guns, "the chances of using them in disputes" inevitably increases.
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According to a Federal indictment, bribes "as large as 30,000 and $37,000" were accepted by fourteen rural
Mississippi deputies, including two Sheriffs, in exchange for helping drug traffickers ply their trade. Arrested drug
dealers exposed the scheme, and during the ensuing investigation crooked deputies provided armed escort services to an
FBI agent who pretended to be hauling drugs. This episode marks another chapter in a years-long saga pitting the Feds
against misbehaving Mississippi cops.
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10/30/25 Second-degree murder. It's not the first-degree murder conviction that prosecutors sought. But the jury's
decision to take it down a (big) notch still means that former Illinois deputy sheriff Sean Grayson faces up to 20
years imprisonment for shooting and killing Sonya Massey, a distraught woman who allegedly threatened him with a pot
of boiling water. Ms. Massey ostensibly called 9-1-1 "to report a prowler," but then behaved oddly when Grayson and
his partner entered her home. Ms. Massey's father and her friends have voiced outrage that a lesser penalty will be
imposed. Sentencing will take place in January. Grayson had a sketchy pre-employment history, and Illinois laws that
regulate police hiring have been accordingly tightened up. Statute
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10/29/25 Arguing that the prosecution is "vindictive and selective," a consortium of university professors and
legal scholars filed a brief
in support of former FBI Director James B. Comey, Jr. Comey was recently indicted for allegedly falsely testifying
to Congress that he had never asked anyone in the FBI to leak information that disparaged President Trump. According to
the brief, the prosecution is politically-inspired and driven by a man who "has long viewed Mr. Comey as an adversary."
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10/28/25 Despite the ongoing Federal incursion, D.C. continues to be plagued by gun violence. A dozen persons were
wounded in seven shootings that took place Friday night thru Saturday morning. Five of those struck had been attending
a Howard University homecoming event. Other victims included a child who was wounded in the face, a teenager who was
found lying on the street, and a man whom passers-by carried out from a building. The Howard shooting was apparently
prompted by an argument involving armed men. Two participants were arrested and police seized three guns.
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It's not only Cincinnati. Residents of Boston's South End are also fed up. They're hollering about public drug use, home
break-ins and rampant shoplifting. Police have responded with a wave of arrests: 478 in the beset area between May 1-
Aug. 24 compared with 182 during the same period last year. Ed Flynn, the area councilperson (and a former probation
officer) praises the cops. He also berates his colleagues for a shortage of officers and an (apparently halted) move
to defund the police.
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10/27/25 Ten years ago, then-LAPD officer Clifford Proctor shot and killed a homeless man with whom he had
gotten into a tussle. Although then-Chief Charlie Beck recommended manslaughter charges, then-D.A. Jackie Lacey refused
to prosecute. But her replacement, progressively-minded George Gascon, had promised to hold cops accountable. And shortly
before being voted out of office in 2024, he had former cop Proctor indicted - for murder. Proctor was just arraigned and
is being held without bail. But the new D.A., Nathan Hochman (he's promised to restore "balance") is re-examining things.
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"Dozens" of online videos of a large, early-morning North Carolina house
party show "underage drinking and people with guns." Attended by "well over 300," the Halloween-themed event descended
into chaos as two groups began to exchange gunfire. A 49-year old man and a 16-year old boy were killed, and twelve
others, ages 17-43, were wounded. A host of state, local and Federal agencies responded. As of yet, no arrests.
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Cincinnati residents are fed up with violence. So its Mayor has asked that officers "enforce
the law as it is written, no matter how low-level of a crime that it is." Police have accordingly ramped up their response
to 9-1-1 calls and instituted a street crimes task force. These moves mark a sharp "reversal" from a years-long drive to
develop a "community-oriented problem solving" approach that replaced hard-nosed policing with alternative responses, such
as mental-health teams. But observers worry that going back to the conventional model won't bring down crime, and that
community relations will suffer.
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Four men "scrambled
to escape" as a covey of Immigration agents descended on a Chicago neighborhood of "multimillion dollar" homes. ICE
has been conducting operations throughout the city, angering residents and leading to clashes settled with tear gas. In
this example the owner of a large home said he hired the workers to replace windows and siding, which they had been
doing for three weeks without incident. And no, he knew nothing about their immigration status. Three escaped; one was
caught and detained.
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10/24/25 A new Netflix documentary, "The Perfect Neighbor," depicts the
years-long struggles of a Florida neighborhood caught in the grips of a woman's obsession over kids who routinely played
in a vacant lot next to her home. Susan Lorincz frequently called police, and repeatedly invoked her supposed rights
under the state's "Stand Your Ground" law. And in June 2023 she acted on those "rights," shooting and killing the mother
of one of the youths. One year later a jury convicted Lorincz - of manslaughter. In a unique twist, the entire movie is
comprised of police bodycam footage.
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10/23/25 Students at Tartan High
School in Oakdale, Minnesota must now pass through a weapons detector when they walk in. Two-hundred guns have been
found in the State's schools since the pandemic. That, along with episodes such as the August shooting at a Minneapolis
parochial school that killed two and wounded thirty, has led schools to implement "secure entrances, lockdown systems,
reinforced windows and security cameras." Mental health support is being emphasized, and staffers trained in safety and
student behavior are being deployed.
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"She got mad." That, in a nutshell, is how the prosecutor in the murder trial of
former Illinois sheriff's deputy Sean Grayson explained why the accused opened fire on Sonya Massey when she refused to
put down a pot of boiling water. Deputy Grayson's lawyer, though, defended his client's response as necessary to protect
himself and his partner from being doused with the hot liquid. “What happened to Ms. Massey was a tragedy but it was not a
crime.” But as testimony began, Grayson's then-partner testified that he had only considered Grayson to pose a threat.
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10/22/25 Ruling 2-1, a Ninth Circuit panel overruled a lower judge's ruling that prohibited
President Trump from federalizing members of the Oregon National Guard. Federal law, the Justices said, lets the
President federalize National Guard troops if "regular" methods prove insufficient for enforcing Federal law. But the
panel didn't address a second ruling by the same lower-court judge that prohibited using National Guard troops to protect
ICE facilities in Portland. The Federal government argues that this ruling was nullified by the panel's decision. But
Oregon disagrees. In its view, protests in Portland are "generally peaceful" and don't rise to the level that requires
deploying troops. So the legal battle continues.
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10/21/25 "Shoot it up." That's what family members told 9-1-1 that Billy Joe Cagle, 49, intended to do when he arrived
at Atlanta's airport. Police quickly moved in and arrested Cagle, whom they found hanging around a TSA checkpoint. A
loaded AR-15 style rifle was recovered from his truck, which was parked near the terminal. Cagle had streamed his evil
intentions on social media, and also posted that he was on anti-psychotic medication. Cagle is reportedly a convicted
felon, thus prohibited from having guns. And that's one of a host of charges he's now facing.
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Can illegal drug users have guns? Not according to Federal law (18 USC 922g3). That's the statute that
the Feds used in 2023 to indict Ali Danial Hermani. Suspicion that he was involved with Iranian terrorists had led to
a search of his home. All that turned up, though, was a Glock pistol and marijuana. Hermani was also supposedly a user of
pot and hard drugs. And that's what the Government pounced on. So far, though, Federal courts have refused to go along. In
their view, Bruen and other cases have rendered the drug-user/gun prohibition Unconstitutional. But the Government
appealed. And the Supreme Court has just agreed to decide.
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10/20/25 In 1994 an L.A.-area man with an extensive prior criminal history drew 46 years for "a
string of robberies." In 2022 a compassionate judge granted him early release. But a year later, Markham Bond robbed an
armored car "at gunpoint" and fled with $145,000 cash. Despite his lawyer's pleas for mercy and a "second chance," a
Federal judge just imposed a 29-year term for the new crime on the 62-year old man. Meanwhile, another Southern California
man, Jake Haro, just pled guilty to murdering his 7-month old son. Two years ago he was convicted of a felony (and his former
wife of a misdemeanor) for badly injuring an infant daughter. Haro's present female companion is also being prosecuted
over the boy's death. His remains have not yet been found.
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It's not just
"ghost guns" anymore. Prohibitions on the unregistered sale of parts kits that can be used to assemble firearms have
helped control the proliferation of unserialized, thus untraceable "ghost" guns. But there are no equivalent preventive
measures for guns that consumers can make from scratch with 3-D printers and "blueprints" that are readily available online.
Some printer manufacturers have programmed their machines to recognize when guns parts are being made, and to block the
process. Police report seizing "more than 300" 3-D made weapons last year. And the number promises to keep growing.
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10/17/25 Each year, DOJ estimates rates of violent and
property crime victimization with a national self-report survey known as the NCVS. Historically, its numbers have
always been substantially higher than for crimes officially reported to police. For 2024 the rate/1,000 persons for self-
reported violent crime was 23.3, about twice the 11.2 rate for like crimes reported to police. Self-reported rates for
2022-2024 were about the same, but significantly higher than like rates for 2020 (16.4) and 2021 (16.5). Present rates
are nonetheless far lower than the 80-range self-reported (and 25-range police-reported) violent crime rates of the
early 1990's, when crime was at a historical peak.
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10/16/25 In 2003 a New York judge
tossed the murder convictions of Dennis Halstead, John Restivo and John Kogut, releasing them from prison and
clearing them of the 1986 rape-murder of a 16-year-old teen. Their convictions had been gained through the coerced
confession of one of the accused and the since-discredited testimony of an analyst who said that hairs found in a suspect
vehicle closely resembled those of the victim. A fourth man, Richard Bilodeau, 63, now awaits trial for that crime. Recently developed as a likely
suspect, he was arrested after DNA from a drinking straw recovered by a surveillance team matched the DNA of his
alleged victim.
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10/15/25 In The Trace, Dr. Tim Kummer, the first physician on the scene of the August, 2025 mass shooting at
Minneapolis' Annunciation Catholic school, expresses his heartfelt support for banning assault weapons. "We have a right
to the greater good, not just about what one person does or does not get to own." But moves for a special legislative
session to consider such a move are at an "impasse," and it's unknown what Gov. Tim Walz and his "Blue" colleagues can do
to move things forward.
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Effective next year, a new California law bans the sale of semi-auto pistols, such as those
manufactured by Glock Arms, that can be readily fitted with devices which enable full-auto fire. Possessing pistols
that are so outfitted will also be explicitly prohibited. Challenges to the law are already mounting. Bill text
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10/14/25
Eduardo Valdivia was an FBI supervisor. And, as well, a "tattoo artist" who enticed women into his secretive Maryland
studios by promising to get them modeling gigs. In July, a State jury convicted Valdivia - the FBI suspended him after his
arrest last year - of raping three clients. He faces up to 122 years in prison. In 2022 a jury had found Valdivia not guilty
of assault for shooting a panhandler. And in Los Angeles, former DEA supervisor James Young awaits a State trial for assaulting another agent with a gun.
Young reportedly exhibited concerning behavior over the years, but was nonetheless twice promoted. He retired last year.
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10/13/25 Gunfire broke out at high-school graduation celebrations in three Mississippi communities Saturday night.
Six persons were killed in Leland and two in Heidelberg, and "more than 20" were wounded. A third shooting took place in
Sharkey County, but there is no word as yet on deaths or injuries. An 18-year old man was arrested for the Heidelberg
shooting, and two were arrested for the episode in Sharkey County.
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More than $100 million
bucks. That's what crash-related lawsuits against LAPD have cost taxpayers over the past decade. Many involve officers
hurrying to crime scenes or pursuing speeding motorists. In a recent example of the latter, two brothers in their mid-
seventies were making a left turn at an intersection when they were smashed into by a patrol car that had been doing 80
miles per hour. While both victims survived, they sustained life-changing traumatic brain injuries. And yes, the city
settled the case. For $18 million.
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"With the
blessing" of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, members of the National Guard are patrolling Memphis. But they're not making
arrests. Instead, they're supporting the "Memphis
Safe Task Force," a coalition of local and Federal law enforcement agencies that has reportedly made hundreds of
arrests in the last two weeks. So far, though, Federal appellate courts have upheld lower court rulings that quashed the
Administration's attempts to deploy National Guard troops on the streets of Chicago and Portland.
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10/10/25 Controversy over the use of "shaken baby syndrome" to convict Robert Roberson has again spared the condemned
Texas man from execution. And again at the last moment, as the fateful day was in a week. This time the state's high court
cited its ruling last year ordering the reexamination of another conviction in a shaken baby case, as scientific advances
had brought its justification into question. Roberson gets a lower Court to take another look. According to his lawyers,
the two cases are "indistinguishable."
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Nearly a fourth
of FBI agents - 3,000 out of 13,000 - are now assigned to immigration work. That's the conclusion of the Washington
Post, which reviewed official data obtained by a "Blue" Senator. Sources within the FBI say that this diversion of
resources has generated considerable discontent, as it diminishes its capacity to conduct the intensive, complex work for
which its agents are noted. And it's not just the FBI. Personnel grabs to help ICE do its chores have affected other Federal
law-enforcement agencies as well.
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10/9/25 Indiana's Crime Gun Task Force reports that seizures of illegal machinegun conversion
devices are way up - 184 this year compared with 20 for all of 2024. According to Indianapolis police IMPD Lt. Jered
Hidlebaugh, these highly lethal devices can "empty an entire magazine of 30, 40 or 50 rounds in three to five seconds.”
Focused efforts against illegal guns and violent criminal repeaters, said Hiddlebaugh, have reduced violent crime in the
state's capital city by twenty percent in 2025.
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Three days, three gun
homicides in D.C. Those killed include a 33-year old woman, who was found shot dead in her home; a 26-year old man, who
was shot dead by two men following a street altercation; and a 17-year old teen, who was shot dead near a transit stop. So
far there's been one arrest. Awkwardly, this "uptick in killings" comes during a time when D.C. crime was dropping sharply,
ostensibly because of a highly expanded law enforcement and National Guard presence.
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10/8/25
In a perhaps unexpected move, the Supreme Court refused to allow a Missouri law that sharply expands gun rights to go
into effect. On October 6 the Justices rejected Missouri's challenge to an Eight Curcuit decision that nullified a Missouri
state law which bars state and local officers from enforcing (or helping to enforce) Federal gun laws that go beyond
what the state already prohibits. Supreme Court docket entries
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Two former Uvalde, TX
school cops, Pete Arredondo and Adrian Gonzales, were to be tried this month on dozens of felony counts of failing to
promptly act after a shooter opened fire at Robb Elementary School in 2022, killing nineteen students and two teachers. But
the trial has been postponed. Gonzales' bid for a change of venue was granted, and he will be tried separately. Arredondo's
case will also remain on hold as lawyers battle over the State's move to force the testimony of two Border Patrol agents
who helped in the response.
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