NEW YORK (AP) - Three detectives were acquitted of all charges Friday in the 50-shot killing of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day, a case that put the NYPD at the center of another dispute involving allegations of excessive firepower.

Justice Arthur Cooperman delivered the verdict in a Queens courtroom packed with spectators, including victim Sean Bell’s fiancee and parents, and at least 200 people gathered outside the building.

The verdict provoked an outpouring of emotions: Bell’s fiancee immediately walked out of the room. His mother cried.

Outside the courthouse, which was surrounded by scores of police officers, many in the crowd began weeping as news of the verdict said. Others were enraged, swearing and screaming “Murderers! Murderers!” or “KKK!”

Full Story Here:
3 NYPD detectives acquitted in 50-shot killing

I can see it now, Je$$ie Jack$son and Al $harpton are on the way to the lead the protest, if they’re not there already…

I can understand the frustrations of the friends and families of the dead groom, and I also understand their hurling accusations and racial insults at the acquitted officers based on those frustrations, but I also believe that their anger clouded their judgement, Detectives Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper are black, and the last time I checked the KKK doesn’t let black guys in, it’s part of their Charter I believe, no blacks allowed, they’re kinda funny about that…

Wouldn’t the correct term for Detectives Isnora and Cooper be ‘Uncle Tom’??

And I just have to ask this question of the NYPD, who in the hell teaches your cops how to shoot??For crying out loud, 41 shots fired in an incident that took place in 1999, to kill 1 guy??

Amadou Diallo was an unarmed man reaching for his wallet and identification, and 50 shots to take out Sean Bell?? An individual that was also unarmed??

I’ve always felt that anything worth shooting was worth shooting at least twice, but don’t you think that firing a total of 91 rounds, and the result being only 2 dead guys is maybe, just maybe a bit of ‘overkill’??

I personally believe that the NYPD needs to teach their officers a bit of gun control, that gun control being defined as the ability to fully control the weapon being fired, thereby not wasting ammunition in a wild shooting spree…

Events such as these only illustrate just how quickly things can get completely out of hand in a street confrontation, I understand the victim and his friends wanting to have a rowdy bachelor party but I can also understand the apprehension, and even the underlying fear of the officers involved, they are the continuous targets of hatred, abuse, insults and threats, and they are on a very tight wire, and once in a while that wire snaps…

Looks like that’s exactly what happened here…

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The longest pause in executions in the U.S. in 25 years is about to end. A splintered Supreme Court cleared the way Wednesday, approving the most widely used method of lethal injection.

Almost immediately, Virginia lifted its moratorium on the death penalty. Mississippi and Oklahoma said they would seek execution dates for convicted murderers, and other states were ready to follow.

A nearly seven-month halt in executions was brought on by the court’s decision to review Kentucky’s lethal injection procedures, which are similar to those in roughly three dozen states. The break is the longest since a 17-month period ending in August 1982.

Voting 7-2, the conservative court led by Chief Justice John Roberts rebuffed the latest assault on capital punishment, this time by foes focusing on methods rather than on the legality of the death penalty itself. Justice John Paul Stevens voted with the majority on the question of lethal injections but said for the first time that he now believes the death penalty is unconstitutional.
(snip)
The case decided Wednesday was not about the constitutionality of the death penalty generally or even lethal injection. Instead, two Kentucky death row inmates contended that their executions could be carried out more humanely, with less risk of pain.

Full Story Here:
Executions to resume after high court OK’s lethal injections

Actually, I have very little to say on this matter other than to ask this of the death row inmates that are worried about their executions being carried out more humanely, with less risk of pain: Did you consider ANY of that when you committed the murders that landed you ON death row??

Did you consider the pain, the suffering or the sheer terror that was felt by your victims?? I seriously doubt it…

I hope it hurts like hell when they inject you with the killer cocktail, I hope it’s the most excruciating pain a body can know, it will help to prepare you for your next destination…

Edited to Add: AUSTIN, Texas - The U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding lethal injection sent a shudder through death row Wednesday, and prosecutors and governors around the country said they would move forward with carrying out death sentences as quickly as the courts can set execution dates.

“It’s just terrible,” said Paris Powell, a convicted killer at the Oklahoma State Prison in McAlester. He added: “It’s like the air has just been let out of a balloon. There’s disbelief that the ruling came so quickly, but it goes further than just right now. It’s now official that the death penalty is here to stay forever, really.”

Full Story Here:
Killer on execution ruling: ‘Just terrible’

It sucks to be you, do you suppose you should have thought of how terrible it was for the person you killed?? Before you killed them??

And here’s something to think about while you wait for the needle, the death penalty may very well be here forever, but for the person you murdered, their death is here forever too, chew on that while you wait!

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A vagrant wanted for questioning in a rape overpowered a police officer who was trying to handcuff him, then shot her to death with her own weapon Monday, police said.

The officer’s death was a blow to this city, where hopes were high that a new year could hold back a wave of crime that has been a dark backdrop to the rebuilding effort since Hurricane Katrina.

“When it hits home like this, it hits you tremendously,” said Police Superintendent Warren Riley, who was charged with energizing a demoralized police force in the 2005 storm’s wake.

Officer Nicola Cotton, 24, approached the suspect in her police cruiser and began questioning him. When she tried to handcuff him he attacked her, and a seven-minute fight ensued, Riley said.

The officer managed to use her radio during the struggle to call for backup, but the man grabbed her weapon and shot her repeatedly, Riley said.

Full Story Here:
New Orleans police officer killed by vagrant

It breaks my heart to read a story like this…

Any time an officer goes down in the line of duty it’s a terrible thing, they are out there, every day, 24 hours a day, they sacrifice themselves to protect us, they do the best they can to clean the streets of America, clean them from the dangers of the human garbage that threaten us all, and for the most part, they do their jobs very well and to the family of this officer I say, God bless you, may you find peace in this, she died doing the job she loved, she fought valiantly and she was an officer to be proud of, I hope you can find some peace in that thought…

We are a police family, with several relatives that are retired from police work and some still on active duty in their departments, we understand what the family is going through and offer our most sincere condolences…

Rest in peace Officer Nicola Cotton…

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A record number of fatal traffic incidents and a double-digit spike in shooting deaths led to one of the deadliest years for law enforcement officers in more than a decade.

With the exception of 2001, which saw a dramatic increase in deaths because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, 2007 was the deadliest year for law enforcement since 1989, according to preliminary data released jointly by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and Concerns of Police Survivors.

The report counted the deaths of 186 officers as of Dec. 26, up from 145 last year. Eighty-one died in traffic incidents, which the report said surpassed their record of 78 set in 2000. Shooting deaths increased from 52 to 69, a rise of about 33%.

“Most of us don’t realize that an officer is being killed in America on average every other day,” said Craig W. Floyd, chairman of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

Officer fatalities have generally declined since peaking at 277 in 1974, the report said. Historically, officers have been more likely to be killed in an attack than to die accidentally and shootings outnumbered car crashes. But those trends began to reverse in the late 1990s. This year, about six of every 10 deaths were accidental.

Full Story Here:
U.S. police fatalities spike in 2007

Mr. Floyd points out, “Most of us don’t realize that an officer is being killed in America on average every other day,” and he is quite correct, a tremendous number of people aren’t aware and quite frankly, they don’t care…

Many feel that the police are the enemy, and in many of those cases, that assumption is correct as well, if they are criminals, you betcha, the cops ARE the enemy, and in many cases the cops are outnumbered, out-gunned and are forced fight with their backs against the wall because their every move is subjected to intense scrutiny, their arrests a negated by liberal judges that take the side of the criminal, in some cases, the bad guys are back on the street before all the reports are filed, unscrupulous defense attorneys have them bailed out before the shift is over…

The bad guys know all of this, and they play on it, it’s their security blanket, and they don’t hesitate to take a few shots at a police officer, it’s a badge of pride to the ghetto gang bangers and assorted drug dealers and various definitions of thuggery, their right of passage into full blown criminals…

And then there’s the liberal citizens among us, those that cry like babies any time a criminal goes down at the hands of the police, those that scream about the rights, human rights, that some animal supposedly has after being witnessed killing a person(s) in public, but the liberal, bleeding hearts see this as a violation of the criminals rights, it doesn’t matter that the guy was armed and threatening even more people, when the police do their jobs and the libbers go nuts…

But what about the times the police capture a bad guy without firing a shot?? What about all the bleeding hearts that piss and moan when an officer uses a Taser instead of deadly force, and in many Taser use scenarios, deadly force could have be used and would easily result in a ruling of justifiable homicide?? What about those guys?? They take a chance and make every attempt to SAVE a life, even if that life is someone that theoretically is a homicidal maniac, but there are those that accuse the cops of being judge and jury, and on some occasions, executioner as well when the officers have risked their lives to keep the public safe…

It’s a terrible shame that we lose officers in ANY number, being a police officer is a dangerous, underpaid and thankless job and the men and women of law enforcement know what they are up against every time they strap on a gun and pin on a badge, and given the current pulse of the criminal element of this nation and the liberal judges that support them, I don’t blame the cops for engaging in what some see as overly vigorous tactics, in fact, speaking for myself, I applaud the officers for exhibiting the restraint that they do, God knows, the bad guys will offer no quarter…

I know some of you have read here and seen where I posted about the border states being in an almost warlike setting in our border areas, well folks, our police officers, Deputies, State Police and Federal agents face a war zone every time the go 10-8, no matter where they are…

Ask yourself this question, and answer honestly, ‘What would I do if I were faced with the life and death situation faced by officers?’, faced with those situations every day, sometimes several times a day…

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SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Border Patrol says its agents have been assaulted 250 times along the Mexican border since Oct. 1, a number that represents a 38 percent increase from the same period last year.

Officials say the rising violence indicates smugglers are frustrated and more desperate as it has become more difficult to cross the border illegally. Agents have been attacked with rocks, vehicles and Molotov cocktails.

“Criminals are discovering they can no longer operate with impunity in certain areas and are systematically being prevented from using the border for their criminal activities,” Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar said in a news release.

The agency’s San Diego sector, which encompasses western California, reported the steepest increase. Assaults more than quadrupled to 110 from Oct. 1 through Sunday, up from 24 in the same period last year.

Full Story Here:
Border Patrol Agents Face Massive Increase in Assaults

Correct me if I am wrong but if our agents are coming under attack from Mexicans, on the Mexican side of the border, isn’t that easily interpreted as an act of WAR??

It’s very good news that some of the routes have been shut down and that the smugglers and so forth are having a more difficult time, but when are we going to have leadership with the balls to say ENOUGH and tell the Mexican government, ‘That’s it, one more time and we blow your GREASY asses to hell!’…

What’s it going to take before WE act, some of our Border Patrol agents getting killed by these criminals and ILLEGAL invaders??

I have several issues with George W. Bush that I am not happy about but this is my biggest one, and I do NOT bite my words in saying this, Bush is a wetback loving moron and is, without a doubt, the worst President of MY lifetime and I have seen a few losers too, and I mean worse than Clinton or Carter, and folks, that took some doing too…

Our Border Patrol officers are scared to do their job because Bush will have his buddy Johnny Sutton prosecute and imprison them for ANY action against the INVADERS that looks like it was less than PC, we have our Border Patrol attacked from across an international border, an act of WAR, and Bush sits on his ass and does NOTHING…

Mr. Bush, what are you, a coward, an idiot or do you really love the Mexicans that much?? And if you DO love the Mexicans that much, why in the hell don’t you resign and go live with your amigos you gutless bastard??

I don’t care WHO this pisses off, Bush is an idiot, we ran off to Iraq because Saddam made threats against Bush 41, and that IS the reason we went there, they didn’t attack us but we took our Army and went to Iraq because Bush 43 was pissed off at Saddam, but when Mexico actually ATTACKS us, Bush sits on his ass and does NOTHING, maybe we should have listened to the left a while back, the man needs to be removed from office, he is a DISGRACE to ALL legal and Conservative Americans…

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