5.5 Million in Stimulus To Fight Border Violence
from The Arizona Republic
Police and prosecutors in Arizona will get $5.5 million in federal stimulus money to help combat drug violence along the U.S.-Mexican border. Attorney General Eric Holder recently said in a news release that the money will be disbursed to agencies that support federal authorities in fighting narcotics syndicates. More

Police Reaching Out to Stem a Drop Off in Young Recruits
from The Boston Globe
Today’s youth, and even many adults, aren’t thrilled by officers’ relatively low pay, long hours, and dangerous line of work. And they don’t see policing as a long-term career. “It’s unbelievable the difficulties that we’ve seen,’’ said Terrence M. Cunningham, the president of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association. “Over the last eight to 10 years, it’s been difficult to get real strong, quality candidates.’’ More

More Threats, Fewer Bribes Confront Cops in Lean Times
from the Orlando Sentinel
People across Central Florida have offered cash, watches and even alluded to performing sexual favors -- all to escape a traffic ticket or arrest. When that doesn't work, some people resort to threats. According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, bribes have decreased during the past three years. The number of threats against officers, however, has climbed by the hundreds in that time. More

Beset by Bulk, Police to Refit Hybrid Cars
from The New York Times
Officers in all five boroughs have been testing out 58 hybrid Nissan Altimas in a pilot program to deploy the cars, which run on a lower cost gasoline fueled engine and electric motor. The Police Department’s new hybrid patrol cars are environmentally friendly, but for some officers, they are a pain in the hip. More

Ill Gotten Gains Put to Good Use by Feds
from The Houston Chronicle
As a Texas borderland drug gangster known as “Double Zero” sits in federal prison, a treasure chest of his gold and diamond-encrusted jewelry is about to be set free. The loot is headed for an auction to be simulcast on the Web after being seized by federal agents from Jose Luis Arce Jr.’s spacious Galveston County home. His assets, which also included homes, cars and bank accounts, are just a taste of the wealth taken from criminals nationwide under an increasingly utilized 25-year-old program that in the past five years has raised nearly $4 billion. More

Jefferson County Sheriff Asks Alabama Governor to Pay Deputies Or Send in National Guard
from The Birmingham News
Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale, facing a $4.1 million budget cut enacted recently, has asked the state to help pay his deputies' salaries or to put National Guard troops on the streets. Just hours after a Jefferson County Circuit Court judge allowed the County Commission to cut the sheriff's budget, Hale contacted Gov. Bob Riley to request the help. "If state funding of deputies' salaries is not an option, then I must call upon you to activate the National Guard," the letter to Riley said. More

Taser Hopes New Products Will Reduce Legal Costs
from Phoenix Business Journal
Taser International Inc. is rolling out new technology and weapons that executives hope will reduce the company’s legal bills by as much as 50 percent and decrease Taser-related litigation against its police customers. More

Federal Judges Order State to Release Thousands of Prisoners
from the Merced Sun-Star
In a historic move, a panel of three federal judges ordered the state of California to reduce its prison population by more than 44,000 inmates in the next two years. The order, which will not result in the immediate release of any of the state's 160,000 inmates, almost certainly will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, the first time the high court will have faced such a case. More

California Drug Court Funds Cut
from the Chico Enterprise-Record
Recent state budget cuts will mean many addicts in Butte County, Calif. will now have to pay for their own court-ordered treatment or face the prospect of jail. Among massive social service cuts Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made in an attempt to close a $26 billion budget deficit was $90 million from the Proposition 36 program -- virtually the entire budget. More

Riot Prevented at Jail
from TriCities.com
A team of 35 officers diffused a potential jail riot before it happened at the Washington County Detention Center in Jonesborough, Tenn. According to Sheriff Ed Graybeal, inmates grew angry after being forced to spend the night in three holding cells. Jailers moved the 17 inmates to the holding cells after they flooded a jail pod by stuffing fabric into toilets, Graybeal said. More