Guarding the Halls of Justice against an Escalating Threat
from The Washington Post
When a federal judge's husband and mother were slain in their Chicago home, Lt. Jimmie H. Barrett of the Arlington County, Va., Sheriff's Office took it personally -- and it transformed him professionally. "It was a catalyst for me," said Barrett, who has supervised security at the Arlington courthouse for nearly a decade. "Our court system is central to the foundation of our democracy. If people are attacking judges and the courts, they are really attacking our government and our way of life." More

Police to Pay More for Booking Some Inmates at California Jail
from the San Jose Mercury News
Police departments soon will be paying more to book some people charged with misdemeanor crimes into the San Mateo County, Calif., jail. The sheriff's office currently charges "jail access fees" to police departments that book an excessive number of misdemeanor suspects, a policy that Sheriff Greg Munks said is intended in part to keep the county jail from becoming any more overcrowded. More

Senate Subcommittee: Criminal Justice System Requires a Comprehensive Review
from the Sentencing Project
The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs held a hearing last Thursday on the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009, introduced by Senator Jim Webb of Virginia. Chairman Arlen Specter lead the hearing which assembled a wide ranging panel. Despite the different political leanings of the panel members, they all agreed that the criminal justice system requires a comprehensive review. More

Armed with Knowledge, Residents Support Law Enforcement
from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Craig Henry and Matt Jendrzejczyk didn't want to be cops, they just wanted to learn more about the job. Both men went through an 11-week citizens academy at which they learned about the divisions of the Waukesha County, Wis., Sheriff's Department and areas including patrol, emergency dispatching, the detective bureau, the jail, courts, the medical examiner and the use of deadly force. More

U.S. and Mexico Agree to Improve Customs Processes and Secure Travel and Trade
from The Associated Press via the Chicago Tribune
The U.S. and Mexico formalized an agreement Monday to work together to secure legal travel and trade across the countries' shared border. The agreement is outlined in a letter of intent signed by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Mexico's Finance Minister Agustin Carstens. It expands a 2007 agreement and formalizes plans announced earlier this year to search vehicles at border crossings for bulk weapons and cash being smuggled from the U.S. into Mexico where more than 10,800 people have been killed by drug violence since December 2006. More

In Down Economy, Police Work Gains Allure
from the Hartford Courant
When the economy was flush, police in Connecticut and throughout the nation had to scour the land for qualified recruits. Departments marketed themselves aggressively and offered signing bonuses and additional vacation time. Some even lowered entry standards. The ongoing recession, however, has changed the scene, nudging many more applicants to police station doors. More

Residents in Utah City Turn Out to Discuss Police Proposals
from the Deseret News
Residents of Holladay, Utah, gathered in full force last week to express their views on two proposals before the City Council that would dictate how local police services operate. Nearly 100 residents filled the council chamber and spilled into the hallway and overflow area. In a near-unanimous consensus, residents expressed a desire to adopt the Salt Lake County sheriff's proposal instead of contracting police services with neighboring Cottonwood Heights. More

Inmate Reporters are Pen Men with a Difference
from The Associated Press
Like journalists everywhere, the staff of the San Quentin News cover news, sports and the local arts scene. But these reporters are pen men with a difference. They work for a paper written by and for inmates of San Quentin, Calif., State Prison. The revival of the News last year, after a hiatus of nearly two decades, goes against a national trend of shrinking prison journalism, said James McGrath Morris, who wrote about the penal press in his book "Jailhouse Journalism." More

U.S. Increasingly Unlikely to Take Any Guantanamo Detainees
from the Los Angeles Times
The Obama administration has virtually abandoned plans to resettle in the United States some detainees from the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, officials said, a recognition that the task had become politically impossible because of congressional opposition. The shift came even as the administration announced last week that it had transferred six detainees from the prison, including four Chinese Muslims sent to Bermuda, as it tries to meet a one-year deadline for shutting down the controversial facility. More

A Ray of Hope for Prisons
from the Citizen-Times
Long ignored like a hidden tumor, our cancerous prisons are finally getting some much-needed therapeutic attention. They’ve now become too expensive to overlook. Astonishingly enough, two “throw-away-the-key” states, Texas and Kansas, are leading the way. More