Free Talk Live

Rank-and-file police from Connecticut to Chicago to Los Angeles have opposed what some experts say is a slowly emerging trend in the U.S. to collect officers' DNA. "From a civil liberties standpoint, there are a lot of red flags," said Connecticut Trooper Steven Rief, former president of the state police union. "It's not that the law enforcement officers are opposed to giving up their DNA," he said. "You need to have safeguards in place. Something that can tell you ... something intimate about someone needs to be treated with the utmost care." ... No kidding!

http://RevolutionNews.US - In a clear cut sign of the police state in America, officers in Albuquerque New Mexico are being paid after shooting and sometimes killing American citizens.

That’s right, a sort of bounty system operates in New Mexico which, under a union program, pays officers up to $500 dollars per fatal shooting.

For their part, the union has claimed the up to $500 is used to help officers cope with the “stress” of the situation.

Arbitrary violence is nothing new. The apparently systematic use of sexual assault against women protestors is new. I’m not aware of any reports of police intentionally grabbing women’s breasts before March 17, but on March 17 there were numerous reported cases, and in later nightly evictions from Union Square, the practice became so systematic that at least one woman told me her breasts were grabbed by five different police officers on a single night

The Oakland Police Department is feeling the burn of California's unending budget crisis, as 80 officers were laid off Tuesday night after negotiations between city and police union failed to reach an accord.

The department's chief had said in recent days that unless the city could meet the union's demands, officers would no longer respond in person to register sex offenders, or for reports of vehicle accidents, grand theft, identity theft, burglary, embezzlement, vandalism, stray animals and others.

" Chicago police retaliated against two officers who helped the FBI investigate police misconduct, warning them they risked "coming home in a box because the team won't help you on the street," the officers claim in Federal Court "

they where dealing with the drug war.. but it goes to show what happens when cops talk out.

Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland went on the defensive Thursday during a meeting with local journalists, saying officers have made recent traffic stops in which residents leave their vehicles to take pictures or shoot video — encounters he says could endanger officers and that have increased following the release of the Chad Holley beating footage.

Do you think your police department has a zero-tolerance policy for alcohol? Think again. Many suburban departments actually have clauses in their union contracts which prevent any kind of discipline for officers with substantial amounts of alcohol in their systems -- even those nearing the state definition of legally drunk, an investigation by the Better Government Association and NBC Chicago reveals.

A woman was shot dead by Somerville police after she stabbed three officers this morning, authorities said. The officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

The chain of fatal events began with a 3:30 a.m. domestic incident at the Syacamore Terrace home, a neighbor said.

Oakland laid off 80 police officers Tuesday after negotiations between city officials and union leaders failed on one simple matter: job security.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/14/MNV11EDUCC.D...