Orange County Sheriff Reveals Major Reorganization
from the Los Angeles Times
Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens unveiled a dramatic reorganization of the department that will consolidate such major services as operations and investigations and cut captains who oversee training and special projects. The changes combine similar services under one supervisor and increase the sheriff's role in overall operations. They are intended to help offset the department's $28 million budget shortfall. More

Fast Track Approach Helps Lower Inmate Count
from the Kerrville Daily Times
In recent years, the inmate population at the Kerr County, Texas jail -- which has 192 beds -- has averaged 170 a day, but no longer. Recent steps to lower that number have proven successful, according to Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer. More

Mexican Drug Cartels Setting Fire to National Forests
from The Examiner
The Santa Barbara County sheriff's office and the U.S. Forest Service held a joint press conference and stated that the Calif. La Brea Fire was touched off by a "cooking fire in a marijuana drug trafficking operation ... believed to be run by a Mexican national drug organization." While the La Brea Fire may represent the first time that the mainstream press has reported on a fire which was set by Mexican nationals, this incident is only the latest and perhaps most costly fire. Arson has actually become a favorite tactic used by those who now regularly invade this country. More

Boulder Police Chief Defends Taser Use
from the Daily Camera
Boulder’s police chief issued a letter defending an officer’s use of a Taser against a resident recently -- an incident that prompted the American Civil Liberties Union to ask the department to change its stun gun policy. More

Police Review High Speed Chase Tactics
from the Portland Press Herald
Scarborough, Maine police are reviewing the chase of a motorcyclist that reached speeds of 100 mph through four communities to determine whether it complied with the department's policy. Police have become much more conservative over the years in deciding when to initiate a pursuit and when to call it off, because high speed chases can be dangerous. More

Dallas Cops Report Increase in Stolen Gear
from NBC DFW
Official Dallas police gear such as guns, badges, and uniforms are floating around the Metroplex unaccounted for. While some of the items have been lost, the bulk of missing equipment has been stolen. In recent months, all types of equipment has been stolen from Dallas officers' homes and cars. Dallas police said they started seeing an increase in stolen equipment during the past year. More

Police Need Assault Rifles in Case of Terror Attack
from The Boston Globe
The top FBI agent in Boston said that the Menino administration should revive a controversial plan to arm neighborhood officers with semiautomatic assault rifles, saying the scarcity of such weapons on the force makes Boston more vulnerable to a terrorist attack similar to the 2008 rampage in Mumbai, India, that killed 166 people. More

Michigan Prison Opens Doors to California Inmates
from USA Today
Trying to close a $1.2 billion budget gap, Michigan corrections officials don't want to spend $31 million a year to run Standish Maximum Correctional Facility when they have room for the inmates at other facilities in the state. But Standish, with a workforce of 344 people, is the biggest employer in rural Arenac County. In a state already hurt by the recession, no one wants to lose those jobs. So the state put out the word to its 49 neighbors: relieve prison overcrowding by sending your inmates to Michigan. It's now working on a deal with California, where prisons are so overpopulated that on Aug. 4, a court ordered the state to reduce its prison population by 40,000 inmates within two years. More

D.C. Police Expect Fewer Than 100 Homicides This Year
from The Washington Times
Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said that she believes Washington (D.C.) can finish 2009 with fewer than 100 killings -- a figure that if achieved would be the lowest homicide total in the nation's capital since the Kennedy administration. The police chief said the target is achievable, thanks to technology that has improved the speed and efficiency with which police can react to and intervene in disputes before they lead to deadly violence and to a series of proactive policy initiatives that were aimed at building ties between officers and the neighborhoods they patrol. More

Ripon, California Police Department Uses Powered Parachute for Air Searches
from the Ripon Police Department
The Ripon Police Department recently received a Justice Department grant to acquire a powered parachute at no cost to the city. The grant provided $30,000 in equipment and training from the Rural Law Enforcement Technology Center. This is not a new technology, but a new use by law enforcement. There are only six others in the United States used for this purpose, and Ripon is the seventh -- and the only one in California. More