Latest Law Enforcement Headlines
All the headlines from our Law Enforcement Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Nearly 25K Citations Issued in First Year of Georgia Hands-Free Law
Jul 18 2019 // Citations for distracted driving have jumped in the past year since Georgia made it illegal to drive while holding a cellphone. A state law that took effect July 1, 2018, prohibits drivers from holding a cellphone while...
‘Operation Southern Shield’ Speeding Crackdown Underway in 5 Southeast States
Jul 16 2019 // Law enforcement officers in five southern states are planning a crackdown on speeding motorists next week. State troopers and local officers in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee are participating in a...
Houston Police: Number of Drunken-Driving Arrests Up Sharply
Jul 8 2019 // The Houston police chief says a citywide crackdown has led to a 75% increase in the number of people arrested for drunken driving in the first six months of this year. Chief Art Acevedo said that Houston police logged more...
$6M Death Claim Filed in Arizona Police Shooting
Jul 2 2019 // A law firm says it has filed a $6 million claim against the city of Phoenix in the death of a man who was shot by police officers investigating a string of armed robberies. News media was sent a copy of the notice that the...
Georgia Police Chief King Appointed Insurance Commissioner During Beck Suspension
Jul 1 2019 // An Atlanta-area police chief was appointed by Georgia’s governor last month to head the state’s insurance commission after the previous commissioner was indicted on federal charges. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp...
Police Say Defects May Have Caused Balcony Collapse that Injured Utah Couple, 5 Kids
Jun 19 2019 // A Utah couple and five of their nine children are recovering from injuries after the balcony on their home collapsed. Spring City police say the accident occurred about 9:30 p.m. Sunday. The Salt Lake Tribune reports Adam...
$10M Claim Says Police in Arizona Violated Family’s Rights
Jun 18 2019 // A $10 million legal claim was filed against the city of Phoenix that says police officers committed civil rights violations by pointing guns and profanely yelling commands at the father and pregnant mother of two young...
Rebranded Crime App Aims for ‘People-Powered Public Safety Net’
Jun 14 2019 // One afternoon in late October 2017, hundreds of students from the elite Avenues private school in Manhattan were loaded onto buses, ready to head home. Suddenly, school principal Abby Brody got a disturbing smartphone...
Georgia Gov Appoints Police Chief King as Insurance Head During Beck Suspension
Jun 14 2019 // An Atlanta-area police chief was appointed by Georgia’s governor Wednesday to head the state’s insurance commission after the previous commissioner was indicted on federal charges. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp...
Police Say Texas Bartender Over-Served Man Prior to Deadly Attack
May 9 2019 // A suburban Dallas bartender is accused of continuing to serve drinks to a drunken man who later went to his estranged wife’s home and killed her and seven other people while they were watching a Dallas Cowboys game...
Maryland Police Search for Survivors of Helicopter Crash
May 7 2019 // Rescue workers searched for survivors Saturday after a helicopter with two people aboard crashed into the Chesapeake Bay. The helicopter crashed into the water about a half-mile off Bloody Point, on the southern end of...
Augusta Police Department to Change Practices Based on NTSB Recommendations
Apr 29 2019 // The Augusta Police Department says it’s going to follow “best practices” outlined by the National Transportation Safety Board in a report on a 2017 pileup during the United Bikers of Maine Toy Run. The...
Customers of Florida Spa in Kraft Case File Class Action Suit Against Police
Apr 24 2019 // Nearly three dozen men and women have filed a federal class-action lawsuit accusing Florida authorities of unlawfully videotaping them as they received legal massages at a parlor where New England Patriots owner Robert...
Cops Draw Blood to Catch Impaired Drivers
Apr 23 2019 // It was about 6:30 on a Friday night in January when Phoenix Police Det. Kemp Layden pulled over a white Jeep Cherokee that was speeding and weaving in and out of its lane. The 47-year-old driver spoke slowly, his eyes were...
Student Sues Apple for $1 Billion, Blames Face-Recognition Tech for False Arrest
Apr 23 2019 // Apple is being sued for $1 billion in damages by an 18-year-old college student who blames the company’s facial recognition software for his false arrest and for wrongly tying him to thefts at Apple stores in several...
Digital or Plastic? Or Both? States Experiment with Driver’s Licenses
Apr 17 2019 // Millions of people may be able to show their smartphones rather than a plastic card to prove they’re legit to drive, vote or buy a beer in coming years. Louisiana in July became the first state to make digital...
Fire Chief Says Shop Owner Declined to Evacuate Before North Carolina Blast
Apr 15 2019 // The coffee shop owner killed in a North Carolina gas line explosion was last seen in the doorway of his business after firefighters evacuated his customers and told him to leave, the fire chief said Thursday, as city...
Mother Sues Vegas Police Over Teen Son’s Shooting Death
Apr 11 2019 // The mother of a teenager who died of a gunshot to the head after police chased him into her house has filed a federal civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit against Las Vegas police. Taccara Brooks alleges in the case...
MIT Researcher Exposing Bias in Facial Recognition Tech Triggers Amazon’s Wrath
Apr 8 2019 // Facial recognition technology was already seeping into everyday life — from photos on Facebook to police scans of mugshots — when Joy Buolamwini noticed a serious glitch: Some of the software couldn’t detect...
California Jury Awards $9M to Family of Woman Shot to Death
Mar 28 2019 // A California jury has awarded $9 million to the family of a woman fatally shot seven times by police in Long Beach in 2017 in what the family’s attorneys say is the largest such award in city history. The federal...
