Latest Law Enforcement Headlines
All the headlines from our Law Enforcement Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Massachusetts Police Cracking Down on Distracted Driving
Apr 13 2016 // State and local police across Massachusetts have launched a crackdown on texting behind the wheel and other forms of distracted driving. The effort by the Executive Office of Public Safety Highway Safety Division is...
Many Chinese Patients Forced to Buy Hospital Appointment Tickets from Scalpers
Apr 12 2016 // As day breaks, hundreds of patients wait to see doctors in a queue that snakes around the Peking Union hospital in Beijing. Many will wait in vain – “scalpers” like Yu Wei have already illegally bought...
How Police Dog Bites Woman Became a Federal Case
Apr 7 2016 // Dog bites man may not be a news story — but in nine western states, it’s grounds for a constitutional case. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has allowed a lawsuit by a woman who fell asleep in her...
Police: Rash of Burglaries in Minot ‘Almost Overwhelming’
Mar 16 2016 // A spike in burglaries in Minot, N.D. last year has continued into this year, and police say the rash of break-ins has become “almost overwhelming.” Authorities are investigating 16 burglaries in seven days,...
Police: 1 Injured When Generator Explodes at Texas Refinery
Mar 7 2016 // One person was injured when a generator inside a refinery near Houston exploded, authorities said on March 5. The incident occurred at the Pasadena Refining System Inc. The injured person was taken to a nearby hospital but...
Training for Penn. Police Aims to Reduce Traffic-Related Deaths
Mar 3 2016 // Training showing police ways to reduce the chances of dying in a traffic-related incident included something as simple as buckling up. For 27-year police veteran Scott Slagle, the message provided during a recent training...
Timeline: Workplace Shootings in U.S. Over Past 5 Years
Mar 3 2016 // On Feb. 25, 15 people at a Kansas factory were shot, three of them killed, by a co-worker whom police say had also shot two other people as he drove toward the facility. The shooting at Excel Industries in Hesston, Kansas,...
Louisiana’s New Auto Insurance Monitoring System Now in Effect
Mar 1 2016 // A new real-time auto insurance monitoring system is now being used in some parts of Louisiana to help police enforce the requirement that drivers are up to date on paying their premiums. The American Press reports the new...
St. Louis Police Sargeant Prevails in Discrimination Suit; City to Pay $800K
Feb 26 2016 // A St. Louis police sergeant who won a racial discrimination case over a police academy promotion will be paid the $620,000 he won in a federal lawsuit, plus $172,000 in attorney’s fees. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch...
Nashville Police Remind Citizens Not to Help Thieves Steal Cars
Feb 22 2016 // Nashville Police say some citizens are unwittingly helping car thieves steal their vehicles. Police say a review of reports of vehicles stolen from the week of Jan. 31 to Feb. 6 showed that 68 percent of the automobiles...
Tennessee High Court Rules to Make it Easier to Arrest, Convict Drunk Drivers
Feb 19 2016 // In two unanimous decisions, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Feb. 11 that police have the right to stop motorists if their vehicles cross roadway markings, even if briefly, essentially making it easier to arrest and...
Florida State Troopers Report 186 Deaths from Hit-and-Run Crashes in 2015
Feb 19 2016 // State troopers say 186 people died in hit-and-run crashes in Florida last year. According to statistics released Monday by the Florida Highway Patrol, more than half the fatalities last year were pedestrians. Officials say...
Law Enforcement, Private Firms Look to Evolving Drone Defense Industry for Protection
Feb 18 2016 // The drone intruder was roaming around the Rose Bowl Stadium as 94,000 fans cheered, oblivious to the threat. But scientists testing a new security device at the game knew: they detected its radio signals and seized control...
Police Warn of Uptick in Car Thefts in Dayton, Ohio
Feb 8 2016 // Police in a southwest Ohio city are warning residents of an increase in vehicle thefts. The Dayton Daily News reports Dayton Sgt. John Riegel says many car theft victims who left their vehicles running. He says it’s...
Pennsylvania Police Challenged in Catching Texting Motorists
Feb 4 2016 // Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Assistant District Attorney Heath Long could not prove that a young man was texting when he careened his pickup into another, killing a grandfather and his teenaged granddaughter. “What...
Report: Lawsuit Settlements Reach $34M for Small Group of Chicago Cops
Feb 2 2016 // A group of 124 Chicago police officers has cost the city $34 million in misconduct settlements since 2009, according to a newspaper report. While the officers represent a fraction of the police force’s roughly 12,000...
A Drunk Driving Case Made for TV’s ‘Law & Order’
Jan 29 2016 // I can’t be the only one who thinks they should bring back the original “Law & Order.” If NBC did, the show’s first case should be one that went on trial this week in a local court in Mineola,...
Robbers Crash Minivan into Dallas Chanel Boutique
Jan 20 2016 // Police have detained seven robbery suspects, two of whom are juveniles, after a minivan smashed into a Dallas-area Chanel boutique and about 50 pricey purses were stolen. Some of the high-end bags, known for selling at...
Connecticut Cops Consider ‘Angel’ Program to Combat Heroin Scourge
Jan 15 2016 // A growing chorus of law enforcement leaders, drug addiction experts and parents of addicts say arresting and jailing heroin users will not stem the surge in deaths and overdoses. “We realize we’re not going to...
Brazil Police Accuse Vale, Samarco of Environmental Crime for Mine Disaster
Jan 15 2016 // Brazil’s Federal Police accused Vale SA and its Brazilian joint venture with BHP Billiton Ltd of environmental crime related to a November dam collapse that destroyed a city in the country’s southeast and sent...
