Being a cop is not good for anyone’s health unless they’re assigned to bicycle or mounted patrol. Cops sit in a patrol vehicle answering calls and do minimal walking.
Cops never run on the job except when chasing offenders now and then. Cops eating habits are horrible because they don’t get to plan their lunch breaks. The number three on the McDonalds menu is the rut cops fall into.
Regular exercise for the most part is non-existent for too many cops.
The only cure for this is to give cops a 45 minute workout period before they begin their tour of duty. Paying them to exercise is cost effective when it keeps cops off the medical roles and covering insurance cost for their heart attacks.
Being a cop means that once they hit mandatory retirement at 63, they won’t be collecting their pensions for very long.
Some districts where our cops patrol have a serious shortage of clean and nutritious places to eat. Firemen are able to plan and make great meals to rival mom’s home cooking.
J-Fed seems to be trying to figure out a way to put cops into better shape. Any way at all but, allowing cops to work out on city time like our firemen. Ever notice that firemen are so much more fit then cops?
Too many Chicago cops are only one foot chase closer to a major heart attack.
A group of retired LAPD coppers have a sweet deal providing security for Hollywood’s Film Studios. They handle film location sets, and film premiers throughout Los Angeles. They wear LAPD style uniforms, weapons and drive look-alike LAPD motorcycles. Proudly they wear their retired shields.
The retired guys work under strict LAPD regulations just as they did when they were active officers. They are also part of The Motion Picture Officer’s Association.
Now the LAPD wants to boot these guys forcing the studios to hire current off duty and inexperienced officers. I say leave these guys alone! They’ve served their city and should be able to sweeten their retirement to help put their children and grandchildren through school. They protect all those around them when they work. The studios have years of confidence and trust invested in these fine men.
If you visit the massive Amber Fort in Jaipur you must arrive there by elephant. What a view! I was imagining that I was the Maharaja and my troops were behind me with 40 or 50 young and hot concubines waiting for my charms. As the dream was really getting good my elephant driver’s cell phone rang. Oh well…
Chicago--But he’s a mere child! Not really, he’s 19 years old. Javara Gardner’s 8th grade picture (Class of 2003) is proudly displayed by WMAQ-TV with allegations that an innocent man was shot down by police for no reason.
Some in the crime ridden neighborhood's 5800 block of South Damen Avenue now claim police planted a gun as evidence to frame the now paraplegic Gardner.
This is another racial hot potato that began Sunday afternoon when police responded to a 911, Man with a gun call.
They spotted Gardner who ran, dropped his gun and was shot while trying to retrieve it and shoot a cop.
Now the neighborhood called in all the reverends, lawyers and gullible news media to spin this story around and around.
They are screaming Gardner was shot in the back. That seems to match the officer’s stories because he’d have to bend over and expose his back if he was picking up a gun.
I ask my brothers in blue why bother to do your job if you are not wanted? I say Darwin’s law is the only one they need in Chicago anymore.
Officers should simply come in write, reports, allowing the streets and sanitation department and the cadaver removal services clean up the messes. The benefits are fewer complaints, lawsuits and you won’t be disgraced as you're stripped of your police star.
Like nearly all criminal defendants that choose to represent themselves as a lawyer, Anthony Pellicano proved he was not up to the task.
A jury just returned 76 out of 77 Guilty Verdicts. I have not attempted a time computation but suspect that the 64 year-old Pellicano won’t see freedom unless he lives a very long time.
Pellicano was a professional eavesdropper not an investigator.
Pellicano could only exist because people involved in litigation would do anything to uncover the lies and expose motives of liars and extortionists. A wire-tap is absolutely useless unless it can uncover lies people freely tell even while under oath.
What’s the bigger crime, the lies or the wiretaps? We live in an ugly world.
I suspect many of his culpable clients are safe because of the expiration of the Statute of Limitations.
Of course there are volumes of encrypted telephone calls and other computer files that the feds were never able to crack. Pellicano still holds the only key to Telesluth.
Pellicano for all practical purposes died today and the only CPR measure that can bring him back to life is for him to snitch like a magpie.
I still don’t rule out a sentencing deal as that savvy former PI still has what prosecutors have been praying for. I think they still want to see some big Hollywood power brokers doing the perpwalk.
Before the GOP was firm in their stand on taxes, over-regulation, crime, rewarding productive Americans, and keeping government small. Not anymore.
Today Republican leadership has allowed and encouraged Mexico to export poverty, drugs and crime here with their actions on legislation and enforcement. They have gleefully joined in the over-regulation and over-spending ways of extremist Liberals.
Leftist politicians like John McCain have sought refuge in the party where voters assume the party’s platform is followed by those accepting the party label. New York has always led the way with the most Leftist politicians pretending t0 be Republicans.
The candidates offered up as presidential candidates were as bad as it gets. Ron Paul offered some hope but his age and lack of name recognition did him in early.
We have qualified Republicans in Congress like Arizona’s John Shadegg. Shadegg has a stellar reputation for honesty, electability and real charisma. The present Republican leadership is controlled by party infiltrators and interlopers with non-Republican agendas.
This election brought us candidates from every direction that have a very foul odor about them. I can’t imagine why in Hell we can’t do better.
Chicago--Daley appointed an overpaid law enforcement bureaucrat that will never enjoy success under the corrupt anti-police city administration.
The meeting was attended by 100 to 200 officers. Second City Cop readers and another fine blogger, Rue St Michael Bienvenue recorded the minutes for posterity.
J-Fed had nothing concrete to offer the undermanned, poorly equipped and demoralized officers. There were a few gripes put forth that J-Fed is taking under advisement.
Little was settled but J-Fed is figuring out he has no clue about the street police work he’s supposed to be running.
O.W. Wilson came in as a civilian but he was once a street cop before he became a criminologist and professor. J-Fed was a federal paper pusher.
J-Fed would do well to lose the uniform and gain respect. He needs to figure out how to get the worthless mayor and city council to bring the department into the 21st Century. J-Fed needs to deal with manpower, equipment deficiencies. Nobody can be expected to work where promotions are based on clout, race and sex quotas rather than ability and knowledge.
I have two words for J-Fed, short term. The real problem is a city administration mired in corruption and greed rather than any concern for public service.
I love going to India for work or play. You never get the feel of the country simply seeing their famous landmarks. I have 12 hours of video and thought my visitors might experience going for a short drive listening to Kenny G. The driving skills of local drivers meet or exceed Nascar standards.
The only problem I ever had is my disagreement with Indian food. Don’t worry many American chain restaurants like TGI Fridays, Ruby Tuesdays, Pizza Hut and many others can be found everywhere sans beef of course. Three months eating only chicken or fish will do us all some good. You never see many fat Indians do you?
Plymouth, MI—Despite being subjected to a long and horrid trip in chains from San Diego to Plymouth on a prisoner bus this Soccer Mom can still muster a smile.
Susan Lefevre now known as Marie Walsh is seen in her latest prison mug shot.
I don’t know too many women Walsh's age that can tolerate being photographed without having their hair done and without make up.
Walsh is preparing to make her case that she has been punished enough for that youthful drug commerce indiscretion as a teen 33 years ago in Saginaw, Michigan.
Walsh’s original sentence of 10 t0 20 years was off the charts of harshness for similar first time drug felons.
So far hundreds of citizens have called Governor Granholm and or signed petitions for Walsh’s speedy release.
Walsh’s husband and three children are struggling with this family disaster as best they can.
Right now Walsh is getting acquainted with her lawyers as they map out plans to prove Walsh has never re-offended in the 32 years she’s been a fugitive at the proper legal venues.
This ordeal is far from over. Many years and tears could pass before Walsh jumps all the hurdles to return to a life of wife and mother.
“Look! You fools! You’re in danger! Can’t you see? They’re after you! They’re after all of us! Our wives…our children…they’re here already! You’re next!”—Dr. Miles Bennell
I lifted line delivered by that wonderful actor, Kevin McCarthy from the great 1950’s film, Invasion of The Body Snatchers as a desperate warning of where we are headed.
I don’t know about my fellow Americans, but the day they try this crap here is the Day I take up arms against my own government.
Ever since Edward R. Murrow hit the scene, TV news executives have not dared change their proven pattern of boring news presentation. That pattern survived through nearly 50 years as a time honored proven winner. A proven winner only if you have a captive audience with no real TV news alternatives.
Before the last decade or so we had only three TV channels all doing news on a Monkey See, Monkey Do format. With the cable explosion and now the Internet steadily drawing once loyal viewers away, the old ways need to change in a hurry.
If I was a general manager or news director with creative authority I would do it all so differently. Gone would be the trusted unchanging anchors. Instead reporters would assume those duties on a rotating basis from the newsroom instead of those sterile news sets. Messy reporter and producer’s desks are far more visual and interesting.
The attention span of today’s rapid-fire remote control viewers can’t tolerate the predictable old format anymore. I suspect if Murrow reappeared viewers would zap him back to his grave in an instant. Of course reporters doing stories out in the field have to continue to tell their stories pretty much the way they always have. Reporters and photographers must be encouraged to try new things.
The photographers need to lose their tripods but for press conferences and bring some excitement to their visuals. The viewers need to see the whole scene of these events both in front of and behind the cameras.
I’m not big on the VJ, system where a reporter becomes the photographer, producer, and sound man. However there is a place for those skilled players in every TV newsroom.
Clothing worn by reporters should match the stories and never be predictable.
TV news websites are getting better than ever. Court documents, police reports and such should be made available in their entirety on these well promoted sites.
The news outlet’s websites video embedded codes should be placed on all video packaged stories so the thousands of bloggers can be licensed to use them freely. This would give additional story life and revenue possibilities. The advantage here is a small ad clip goes with that story along full credit for the source.
Station General Managers and News Directors can change or they may find themselves working as Wal-Mart greeters. These are desperate times that call for radical experimentation.
The federal government has demanded that states allow and pay for programs that invite people to submit themselves for anonymous rape tests. Potential evidence would be sealed while the "victims" makes up their mind whether to accuse someone of rape.
Rape allegations are only a 911 call away. We can all remember that most famous rape victim poster children, Tawana Brawley and the whore the Duke LaCrosse players paid to strip at a party.
False allegations are made every day and thousands have gone to prisons for rapes that never occurred or after consensual sex.
I see this anonymous program inviting all manner of extortion games after a consensual sex acts. A false allegation will nearly always cause a criminal felony trial and a jury will decide just who they want to believe.
I don’t want to dismiss or discount the reality that real rapes happen along with an emotional nightmare for the victims. But encouraging people to wait rather than report crimes invites all manner of shenanigans and manipulation of the criminal justice system. Very often the lives of the falsely accused suspects are destroyed despite acquittal by a jury. This program was a really dumb idea.
Los Angeles--According to what one LAX Police official told the L.A. Times the vast majority of them are off duty cops and such.
Cops carry guns everyday of their lives and don’t dwell on that fact. They are comfortable in knowing they are supposed to do so. Cops are absent minded too.
An example is when a cop is getting on a plane to attend the funeral of a family member or dear friend. Grief and devastating news can consume any normal person who is allowed by law to carry weapons. Remembering that the gun in a bag you drive around with by automobile every day is suddenly contraband on the airplane escapes many. The same goes for retired cops, security people such as bodyguards and private eyes.
The sad news is that many of our law enforcement officers caught up in the TSA dragnet have their careers and in some cases lives shattered by these monumental and embarrassing events.
For safety of all passengers it’s better that trained, vetted cops and retired cops carry their firearms without questions, beyond their official credentials.
It’s mindboggling when you know that two of the four doomed planes on 9/11 had disarmed cops on board who could have stopped the hijackings but for an insane and stupid FAA policy backed by a dumb federal law.
Personally I believe the Second Amendment does not end at a TSA passenger screening checkpoint and neither does the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable search and seizure.
Accordingly, I don’t think it’s too much to ask our government to leave the cops and all American citizens alone if investigation reveals that there was no intent to do harm.
Los Angeles--It seems that Dennis Farina forgot he had a little .22 pistol in his briefcase as he went through an airport checkpoint at LAX this morning. The TSA weenies saved us from yet another hijacking!
Farina honorably served as a Chicago cop spending most of his career as an Area Six burglary detective until he and and a former robbery sergeant, Chuck Adamson were discovered by legendary film director and Chicago native Michael Mann. Soon Farina took his leave of absence and early retirement to portray a cop in scores of projects on the small and large screen.
Farina has returned for many funerals of fellow officers and never missed a chance to help one of his own.
The TSA called LAX Police who booked Farina at the LAPD Pacific Division on a felony charge. Farina’s gun was allegedly not registered in California. California gives their residents a 60 day grace period in which to register firearms imported from other states. Farina told police he had recently brought the gun in from his home in Scottsdale.
Farina owns and lives in properties in Michigan, Illinois, and Arizona that I know about. Farina spends the least amount of time in Los Angeles and should not be considered a resident subject to local gun registration laws. Federal law lets retired officers carry firearms and another federal law protects non-residents from state and local registration laws where simple possession is involved. Police chose to charge Farina with a felony. Bail was set at $35,000.00, I never knew Farina was such a flight risk or so dangerous to the public.
Normally I avoid harsh language on my blog but this arrest is beyond CHICKENSHIT. What the Hell is going on in America?
The United States Supreme Court will be ruling on whether Americans have a right to keep and bear arms any Monday in D.C. vs Heller before the summer recess.
As I have always said, gun laws only impact the law-abiding. Will Farina get punished for being absent minded? I hope not. For now he is being punished with bad publicity, the Hollywood Perpwalk, court appearances and wasted time and money dealing with lawyers.
Through his publicist, Lori De Waal, Farina said "I apologize to anyone and everyone that I have caused any embarrassment or inconvenience to. It is my own stupidity to find myself in this embarrassing situation. I don't put the blame on anyone else but myself. I want to apologize to my friends, family and business associates who I'll explain to privately later. I'll be spending the next few days kicking my own ass. No one is more embarrassed than myself."
Here’s where Farina and I disagree. Obviously Farina did not intend to bring the gun onto the plane or hurt anyone. The police investigation should have uncovered that and they could have used discretion by releasing rather than booking the actor.
Farina obviously showed real class despite being subjected to an unnecessary trip through the criminal justice system as a defendant.
Farina’s latest movie, “What Happens in Vegas...” just had a premier at the Mann Village in Westwood, Los Angeles. Maybe the LAX Police are “helping” sell tickets?
An Update: Farina was released on bail after 12 hours in custody from the Van Nuys jail. I can just imagine fumbling around for cash on a Sunday when all the banks were closed for a bail bond from a jail cell must have been quite a challenge. Here is KTLA-TV's top story at 10:00 PM
Aside from more major newspaper editorial support for Marie Walsh’s freedom, she arrived somewhat early from her 2000 mile prison bus trip last night.
Walsh will be held in a quarantine setting for a while as she is processed into the general population at the Robert Scott Correctional Facility in Plymouth, Michigan.
Soon Walsh will have an approved list of people she can call by telephone assuming she has money in her personal prison account. It takes time for the bureaucracy to handle these things.
All of Walsh’s visitors including family members will have to undergo background investigations by prison officials before any visits can take place.
My hopes are that a defense lawyer can get the original Saginaw County Court to accept a motion for re-sentencing. Should the court take jurisdiction they may well set bail and release her pending a pre-sentence investigation and further court appearances.
Walsh’s former prosecutor publically said if he was the prosecutor today he’d join in Walsh’s motion to set her free. Walsh has been punished enough. Hopefully the current prosecutor may have a similar attitude. Of course the court will have to accept jurisdiction over this matter befor any movement here.
Should that effort fail a commutation application must be initiated and put into the Pardon Board’s overflowing caseload for consideration. A hearing would result and and recommendation made to the Governor. I know that Governor Granholm is well aware of this case but only she knows what she will do.
Let’s hope that this 33 year-old nightmare ends for Marie Walsh and is put behind her.
It’s actually very simple; Blacks and Hispanics live in these cities.
It’s really about the culture embraced by these minority groups and not the color of their skin.
The apologists can talk all they want about the root causes being poverty, ignorance and despair. Murder epidemics are just not present where these same issues plague White Americans.
I’m not suggesting that White people don’t murder or commit other violence; they just do it far less frequently.
Here is something that proves my point. Take your own Meghan’s Law sex offender web sites in large cities and examine them. Search for offenders by zip code and you will find very few offenders in predominately White zip codes. Do the same for sex offenders in the Black or Hispanic zip codes and see frightening numbers of rapists and child molesters.
In our large cities the jails are as high as 90% minority occupied. You can argue poor people have no money to post for bail but it’s also true for non-bondable offenses like murder.
To suggest that discrimination and racial profiling by police result in these crimes is a bogus argument. How these factors impact out-of-control minority related rape and child molesting crimes? They don’t because it’s a lawless culture problem.
There is no cure short of banishing minorities out of our cities to some other continent or even genocide. Those are not the practices of a civilized nation so another way must be found.
The Drug War has done nothing but provide opportunities for huge wealth in America. That has given the minorities reasons to kill each other. Disputes tied to territory, snitching, stealing and grudges have turned minority neighborhoods into war zones.
The Drug war bringing vastly inflated prices/profits for drugs that a significant percentage of Americans consume has brought us much more blight and crime than the drugs themselves.
The ugliest part of our Immigration mess is Mexico’s export of drugs, crime and poverty into the United States. If the drugs were legal the out-of-control violence would end. The flow of criminals bearing drugs, death and deatruction would also end.
Let’s spend the Drug War money on treatment for the drug dependent. As for those young, neighborhood drug dealers, perhaps their new unemployment may lead them into job training programs.
America is a great country that generates new millionaires every day. Perhaps a culture of violence can somehow change into a culture of productivity.
The larger than life O.J. Simpson was made for all manner of journalists. Sex, murder, rumors, lawyers, profiteers and Fred Goldman follow Simpson wherever he goes.
We can only speculate who murdered Nicolle Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. The public made their guess and jury verdicts notwithstanding, Simpson is standing alone as the killer.
The ongoing Las Vegas Palace Station robbery case is nothing but garbage. This sordid mess is not worthy of the tax dollars it will burn trying to sort out which group of thieves, thugs and liars robbed the other. Another fortune will be made by writers and pundits who cover the saga.
Simpson has made many careers and millions of dollars for so many writers and television personalities already. They include disgraced, former LAPD Detective and convicted felon, Mark Fuhrman.
Now comes yet another profiteer who is putting a new book up for sale, "How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of Violence, Loyalty, Regret and Remorse".
Had not the Statute of Limitations expired on felony Obstruction of Justice crimes the confession by the book’s author would bring him some well deserved prison time.
Who better to tell us about that book but the incomparable Associated Press correspondent, Linda Deutsch. Deutsch has been covering Simpson for the AP for a substantial period of her career.
I have a fondness for horses, but then what’s not to love about some of God’s masterpieces? This film will mystify and amaze you like it did me. Whatever you do, don’t try this at home!
This extraordinary case needs to run through the Michigan Parole Board and Governor’s commutation program at a record speed. I hope that the parole board sees things the way I do and so many kind people that have stepped in to help Marie Walsh.
Los Angeles—KNBC-TV veteran anchor Paul Moyer told viewers about newly released information on a July 4, 2002 terrorist attack at The LAX, El Al Airline ticket counter by a suicide gunman who unleashed a bloodbath.
I strongly recommend that citizens with adequate training ignore politician’s gun bans because as this story demonstrates self-help is all you have to survive the unthinkable. Carry your guns so you and others may live through events like the one Moyer reports.
Being a cop is not good for anyone’s health unless they’re assigned to bicycle or mounted patrol. Cops sit in a patrol vehicle answering calls and do minimal walking. 
