WASHINGTON – A year after the U.S. raid that killed Usama bin Laden, Al Qaeda is hobbled and hunted, too busy surviving for the moment to carry out another Sept. 11-style attack on U.S. soil.

But the terrorist network dreams still of payback, and U.S. counterterrorist officials warn that, in time, its offshoots may deliver.

A decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that has cost the U.S. about $1.28 trillion and 6,300 U.S. troops lives has forced Al Qaeda's affiliates to regroup, from Yemen to Iraq. Bin Laden's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, is thought to be hiding, out of U.S. reach, in Pakistan's mountains, just as bin Laden was for so many years.

"It's wishful thinking to say Al Qaeda is on the brink of defeat," says Seth Jones, a Rand analyst and adviser to U.S. special operations forces. "They have increased global presence, the number of attacks by affiliates has risen, and in some places like Yemen, they've expanded control of territory."

It's a complicated, somewhat murky picture for Americans to grasp.

U.S. officials say bin Laden's old team is all but dismantled. But they say new branches are hitting Western targets and U.S. allies overseas, and still aspire to match their parent organization's milestone of Sept. 11, 2001.

The deadliest is the affiliate in Yemen.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/04/29/weaker-al-qaeda-still-plots-payback-for-us-raid/

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Fate of Brooklyn mom is on ICE as Feds move to close 16,000 immigration cases

Sara Martinez and U.S. born-daughter, 6, among many in depotation limbo

As the Feds move to close more than 16,000 deportation cases nationwide, experts say not everyone who deserves a reprieve is getting one.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced last week that it has reviewed nearly 220,000 cases at the request of President Obama, who wants to focus on deporting people with criminal records.

ICE is offering to close 7.5% of the cases using prosecutorial discretion, giving a break to those who came here as kids, served in the military or have citizen relatives.

But some local law-abiding immigrants haven't benefited from the top-level review.

Sunset Park mom Sara Martinez, whose 6-year-old daughter was born here, has asked ICE officials assigned to her case in Buffalo to use their discretion and let her stay — to no avail.

Immigration lawyer and Baruch College professor Allan Wernick, who writes an advice column for the Daily News, said Martinez's plight shows that ICE prosecutors unevenly apply the policy. “Maybe they didn't get the message,” he said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/fate-brooklyn-mom-ice-feds-move-close-16-000-immigration-cases-article-1.1069171?print

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'Can we all get along?' 20 years after the LA riots, leaders say yes

Instead, a shaken Rodney King offered a simple plea: "Can we all get along?"

King made the remark at a news conference as local, state and national officials tried to quell the lawlessness, looting and violence that tore apart the city after a Simi Valley jury on April 29, 1992 acquitted four police officers accused in King's beating.

By the time the violence ended, more than 50 people had died, 2,400 were injured, more than 12,000 had been arrested and an estimated $1 billion in property was destroyed.

The six days of rioting did more than scar the city's surface. They brought long-simmering racial tensions to the forefront of L.A.'s consciousness - and the nation's.

It was a quarter-century after the national civil rights movement, and while minorities had won equal protection under the law, many still felt like a distinctly oppressed underclass.

http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_20508151/can-we-all-get-along-20-years-after

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Times have changed since violence engulfed Long Beach during the 1992 L.A. riots

LONG BEACH - It's been 20 years since the Los Angeles riots erupted, then spread south to the cities of Long Beach and Compton, leaving a wake of burned-out buildings, battered businesses and families devastated by violence and financial ruin.

Today, portions of Lemon, Pacific and Atlantic avenues, Long Beach Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway that were hardest hit by mob violence, fires and looting look far different, thanks in large part to more than $1 billion invested in the past 15 years as part of redevelopment efforts.

But the nagging question remains - Could it happen again?

Though city leaders assure Long Beach is a much different place than it was in 1992, they also acknowledge anything is possible.

"You have in this city, like any other urban area, people who are struggling day to day. You have issues where emotions run high and people tend to focus on issues, particularly those given attention by the media, that are emotionally charged from an ethnic or racial standpoint," Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell concedes.

"But the political environment in 1992 and today's political environment are much different. ... I think we're in a much better place today than we were in 1992."

http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_20506514/times-have-changed-since-violence-engulfed-long-beach

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Apr 28, 2012

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From the Washington Times

U.S. Secret Service new rules: No boozing, racy bars

WASHINGTON (AP) — No excessive drinking — and no alcohol at all within 10 hours of working. Disreputable establishments are off limits, as is entertaining foreigners in the hotel room.

Those are among the tightened conduct rules the U.S. Secret Service issued Friday for its agents and employees. They apply even when traveling personnel are off duty.

The new behavior policies, issued in a memorandum obtained by The Associated Press, are the agency's latest attempt to shake off a prostitution scandal that surfaced as President Barack Obama was headed to a Latin American summit in Cartagena, Colombia .

The embattled Secret Service director, Mark Sullivan , urged agents and other employees to “consider your conduct through the lens of the past several weeks.”

Sullivan said the rules “cannot address every situation that our employees will face as we execute our dual-missions throughout the world.” He added: “The absence of a specific, published standard of conduct covering an act or behavior does not mean that the act is condoned, is permissible or will not call for — and result in — corrective or disciplinary action.”

“All employees have a continuing obligation to confront expected abuses or perceived misconduct,” Sullivan said.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/28/us-secret-service-new-rules-no-boozing-racy-bars/

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Child migrant surge to U.S. stresses support system

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — An unprecedented surge of children caught trudging through South Texas scrublands or crossing at border ports of entry into the U.S. without their families has sent government and nonprofit agencies scrambling to expand their shelter, legal representation and reunification services. On any given day this year, the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement has been caring for more than 2,100 unaccompanied child immigrants.

The influx came to light last week when 100 kids were taken to Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio for temporary housing. It was the first time the government has turned to the Defense Department — now, 200 boys and girls younger than 18 stay in a base dormitory.

While the issue of unaccompanied minors arriving in the U.S. isn't new, the scale of the recent increase is. From October 2011 through March, 5,252 kids landed in U.S. custody without a parent or guardian — a 93 percent increase from the same period the previous year, according to data released by the Department of Health and Human Services. In March alone, 1,390 kids arrived.

“The whole community right now is in triage mode,” said Wendy Young, executive director of Kids in Need of Defense, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that matches pro bono attorneys with unaccompanied minors navigating the immigration system. “It's important that the resources and the capacity meet the need, and we're not quite there yet.”

The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement facilities in 10 states range from shelters to foster homes and have about 2,500 beds. Government-contracted shelters were maxing out their emergency bed space, setting up cots in gymnasiums and other extra spaces.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/28/child-migrant-surge-us-stresses-support-system/

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House moves ahead with cybersecurity bill

WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday defended a cybersecurity bill as a common-sense approach to stopping electronic attacks on critical infrastructure and companies, rejecting White House criticism that the measure could lead to invasion of Americans' privacy.

“The White House believes the government ought to control the Internet, government ought to set standards, and government ought to take care of everything that's needed for cybersecurity,” Boehner told reporters at his weekly news conference. “They're in a camp all by themselves.”

The Obama administration has threatened to veto the bill, which the House began considering on Thursday. The bipartisan bill would encourage corporations and the government to share information collected through the Internet to thwart attacks from foreign governments, terrorists and cybercriminals. The information sharing would be voluntary.

The administration argues that the bill falls short of preserving Americans' privacy by failing to set security standards and broadly allowing liability protection for companies that share information. The administration wants the Homeland Security Department to have the primary role in overseeing domestic cybersecurity.

“Cybersecurity and privacy are not mutually exclusive,” the White House said.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/26/house-moves-ahead-cybersecurity-bill/

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From Google News

Portland using stats to curb crimes before they become a trend

PORTLAND, Maine — Lt. Gary Rogers of the Portland Police Department says crime statistics increasingly are being used to initiate a nearly real-time response to the community's needs.

Portland police don't typically look for trends over periods of several years, he said, but rather over recent weeks and months. The practice helps commanders assign more officers to a neighborhood where certain crimes are peaking.

“We want to be able to address crime as soon as we can,” Rogers told the Bangor Daily News. “If we see a high number of car break-ins in a particular neighborhood, for instance, there are certain things we can do to prevent those things from happening. It could just be a matter of having more officers more visibly on patrol in that area. Sooner or later the guy who breaks into cars is going to get caught. If we can get him sooner, he's going to have committed [fewer] crimes.”

Reflecting that philosophy, one of Police Chief Michael J. Sauschuck's first initiatives upon his appointment as chief in February was the creation of a Community Police Advisory Board. Its membership includes members of the local business and religious communities, educators, residents and youths reflecting the diversity of Portland's neighborhoods.

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/04/27/news/portland/portland-using-stats-to-curb-crimes-before-they-become-a-trend/?ref=videos

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Racial progress evident 20 years after Los Angeles riots

Fla. case a key test as tension simmers anew

LOS ANGELES - Twenty years after the Los Angeles riots that left dozens of people dead, neighborhoods in charred ruins and the nation soul-searching over the role race plays in the criminal justice system, Rodney King's plaintive "Can we all get along?" still resonates.

The King beating, seen in a grainy videotape of four White officers waling on an unarmed Black man, became a symbol of injustice for a nation with a 300-year history of racial strife -- so powerful that on April 29, 1992, when the officers were acquitted of state charges of assault and excessive force, inner-city Los Angeles erupted.

Now, the calls for fairness are heard 2,500 miles away in Sanford, Fla., in the chants of "Justice for Trayvon" as the nation wrestles with the death of Trayvon Martin. The unarmed Black teen was shot and killed by a White Hispanic neighborhood-watch volunteer who thought the youth looked suspicious.

The shooter, George Zimmerman, claimed self-defense. Authorities did not charge him until widespread public attention and nationwide rallies called for his arrest. He has pleaded not guilty.

Both cases, 20 years apart, intensify the persistent debate over how fairly Black men are treated by police and the courts. Activists, scholars and some of those involved in the cases say the incidents occurred because of a stereotype of Black men as violent aggressors.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/04/27/20120427racial-progress-evident-20-years-los-angeles-riots.html

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From the FBI

Helping Victims of Crime
Therapy Dog Program a First for the Bureau

(Video on site)

Rachel Pierce is a victim specialist in our Office for Victim Assistance. Her partner is an 8-year-old German Shepherd/Siberian Husky mix, and together they form a unique and remarkable team.

The FBI uses a variety of working dogs, highly capable canines that can sniff out drugs and bombs, bolster security, and alert their handlers when they pick up the scent of blood. But Dolce, with his shimmering yellow coat and steel blue eyes, is the Bureau's one and only therapy dog.

The job of a victim specialist, or VS, is to ensure that victims receive the rights they are entitled to under federal law and the assistance they need to cope with crime. With his lovable personality, Dolce excels at comforting crime victims and their families. The story of how he became a VS—of the K9 variety—is a story in itself.

Pierce, a psychologist who worked for the Department of Defense and law enforcement before joining the Bureau about five years ago, suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic inflammatory disease whose symptoms can be debilitating when they strike. In 2004, she went to a local shelter looking for a puppy she could train to be a service dog. That's where she found Dolce.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/april/therapy-dog_042712/therapy-dog_042712

George Zimmerman: Prelude to a shooting

SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - A pit bull named Big Boi began menacing George and Shellie Zimmerman in the fall of 2009.

The first time the dog ran free and cornered Shellie in their gated community in Sanford, Florida, George called the owner to complain. The second time, Big Boi frightened his mother-in-law's dog. Zimmerman called Seminole County Animal Services and bought pepper spray. The third time he saw the dog on the loose, he called again. An officer came to the house, county records show.

"Don't use pepper spray," he told the Zimmermans, according to a friend. "It'll take two or three seconds to take effect, but a quarter second for the dog to jump you," he said.

"Get a gun."

That November, the Zimmermans completed firearms training at a local lodge and received concealed-weapons gun permits. In early December, another source close to them told Reuters, the couple bought a pair of guns. George picked a Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm handgun, a popular, lightweight weapon.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/25/us-usa-florida-shooting-zimmerman-idUSBRE83O18H20120425

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FBI: 'No Specific Threat' One Year After Bin Laden Killing

American law enforcement agencies say they have "no credible information" of a terror attack in the United States tied to next week's one year anniversary of the May 2 raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Even so, in an advisory issued late Wednesday and obtained by ABC News, FBI and Homeland Security officials warned of "renewed efforts to target Western aviation."

European law enforcement officials said stepped up security was being planned at major airports and transportation hubs over the next several days.

"While there is no credible threat, there is much preparation based on the common sense consideration of the date," said one intelligence official. Officials told ABC News there are several uncorroborated threats against U.S. interests, including some on the internet, that are being investigated but so far have low credibility.

"We assess that such threats are almost certainly aspirational and are not indicative of actual plotting," the law enforcement advisory said.

The killing of bin Laden by U.S. Navy SEALs led to numerous calls for attacks on the United States to avenge the terror leader's death.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fbino-specific-threat-year-bin-laden-killing/story?id=16217729

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Twenty years after Los Angeles riots, police have reformed

Twenty years after a video of officers kicking and clubbing motorist Rodney King made the Los Angeles Police Department the poster child for police abuse, residents and community activists say the department has turned a corner.

A succession of police chiefs – most notably William Bratton – have made reform a top priority. Eight years of federal oversight helped clean up the department. And the changing demographics of the LAPD – 37 percent white, compared with 59 percent in 1992 – has changed the character of the force, many say.

There are signs of slippage, some say, such as a reluctance to reprimand officers who were found by a commission to have killed or wounded people unjustifiably. But on a 20th anniversary bus tour of the riot areas Tuesday – organized by Operation Hope, which was formed in the wake of the riots to expand economic opportunity in underserved communities – the notes were universally positive.

“Don't you love the police when they're on your side?” said Eric Clay, HOPE's vice president for community lending, going for a laugh as tour guide on one bus, nodding out the window at the police escort.

The Los Angeles Times reports that 70 percent of Los Angeles residents now say they approve of the police department, and at one stop on the bus tour, the Korean owner of a small convenience store offers words of praise.

“Twenty years ago, when the police showed up, everyone got more tense. Now you feel they're here to help," he says. "That's a big change.”

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/twenty-years-after-los-angeles-riots-police-have-reformed?page=full&print=yes

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Bronx marks Crime Victims Week with Clothesline Project, a touching art display by brave survivors

Poignant display from victims highlights Crime Victims Week

Crime Victims Week Clothesline at Rotunda of Bronx County Building shows t-shirts designed by crime victims/ survivors.

Local high school students looked grim and spoke in hushed tones Wednesday as they toured the annual Crime Victims Week Clothesline Project in the Bronx County Building Rotunda.

The display features t-shirts decorated by children and adults traumatized by rape, child abuse, gun violence and other misfortune. The artwork educates the public and helps victims heal.

"Love me. Don't hate me," a small red t-shirt with a hand-drawn heart reads.

"I miss my two brothers. They died in the streets," reads a wrinkled white t-shirt with glitter glue writing.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/bronx-marks-crime-victims-week-clothesline-project-a-touching-art-display-brave-survivors-article-1.1067514

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Apr 26, 2012

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From the L.A. Daily News

4 TSA screeners at LAX arrested for allegedly taking bribes

Two former and two current Transportation Security Administration screeners have been arrested for allegedly accepting bribes to allow large shipments of cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana to pass through Los Angeles International Airport over a six-month span, federal authorities said Wednesday.

All four were arrested Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, accused of various narcotics trafficking charges and accepting bribes as high as $2,400, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.

Three alleged drug couriers also were named in a 22-count indictment issued Wednesday by a county grand jury.

"The allegations in this case describe a significant breakdown of the screening system through the conduct of individuals who placed greed above the nation's security needs," U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said.

Five drug deals spanning from February through July 2011 were allegedly orchestrated by former TSA screener Naral Richardson, who was fired from LAX nearly two years ago, according to the indictment.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_20478662/4-tsa-screeners-at-lax-arrested-allegedly-taking

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Napolitano: Secret Service scandal `inexcusable'

WASHINGTON - There was no risk to President Barack Obama as a result of a prostitution scandal at a Colombia hotel that involved a dozen Secret Service officers, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a Senate panel Wednesday.

Napolitano, who was facing questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee for the first time since the scandal erupted earlier this month, testified that the alleged behavior by Secret Service employees is "inexcusable" and a "thorough and full investigation is under way." She said the officers' behavior "was not part of the Secret Service way of doing business."

"All 12...have either faced personnel action or been cleared of serious misconduct," Napolitano said. "We will not allow the actions of a few to tarnish the proud legacy of the Secret Service."

Napolitano also said part of the investigation will include a review of training to see "what if anything needs to be tightened up."

When asked by committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., if Secret Service officers are specifically training on issues related to having intimate relationships with foreign nationals, she said the training is "focused on professionalism, on conduct consistent of the highest moral standards."

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_20477360/napolitano-secret-service-scandal-inexcusable

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From the Washington Times

U.S. seen as Iran ‘cyberarmy' target

Specialists to testify about threat

Iran is recruiting a hacker army to target the U.S. power grid, water systems and other vital infrastructure for a cyberattack in a future confrontation with the United States, security specialists will warn Congress on Thursday.

“Elements of the [ Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps ] have openly sought to pull hackers into the fold” of a religiously motivated cyberarmy, according to Frank J. Cilluffo , director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University .

Lawmakers from two House Homeland Security subcommittees will hold a joint hearing Thursday about the cyberthreat posed by Iran – as tensions over Tehran's nuclear program continue at a high level and as a possible Israeli strike against it looms.

The Washington Times obtained advance copies of witnesses' prepared testimony.

In his remarks, Mr. Cilluffo says that, in addition to the recruiting by the Revolutionary Guards, another extremist militia, the Basij, “are paid to do cyberwork on behalf of the regime, [and] provide much of the manpower for Iran 's cyber-operations.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/25/us-seen-as-iran-cyberarmy-target/?page=all#pagebreak

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U.S. needs top-level approval to launch cyberattacks

The United States would use cyberweapons against an adversary's computer networks only after those at the highest levels of government approved of the operation because of the risks of collateral damage, a senior U.S. military official said this week.

The director of intelligence at U.S. Cyber Command , Navy Rear Adm. Samuel J. Cox , said cyberattacks can do significant harm to a country's infrastructure and never should be carried out in a cavalier manner.

Offensive cyberoperations are difficult to conduct with enough precision to avoid unintended casualties and damage to unrelated systems, he said.

“If you're trying to do precision strike in cyberspace with a very high degree of confidence,” Adm. Cox said, “that takes enormous amounts of intelligence, planning, great care and very carefully crafted cybertools that won't boomerang against you down the road.”

Adm. Cox also downplayed the prospect that an enemy of the United States could completely disable the nation's electric power grid or shut down the Internet because these systems are designed to withstand severe cyberattacks.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/25/us-needs-top-level-approval-to-launch-cyberattacks/?page=all#pagebreak

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North Korean general boasts of defeating U.S. with ‘a single blow'

Military leader's rhetoric viewed as face-saving move

SEOUL — North Korea 's top general warned Wednesday that his army holds weapons that can defeat the United States – a threat that regional experts dismissed as face-saving rhetoric.

“The [North] Korean People's Army is armed with powerful modern weapons [that can defeat the United States] at a single blow,” Vice Marshal Ri Yong-ho , chief of the General Staff, told a meeting attended by new North Korean leader Kim Jong-un .

Vice Marshal Ri added that his army would “cut the throats” of anyone who defamed North Korean leaders.

The address, reported by North Korean state media, commemorated the 80th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean People's Army, and followed the totalitarian regime's failed rocket launch earlier this month intended to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the country's founder, Kim Il-sung .

The White House responded by urging North Korea “to refrain from any provocative acts that would threaten the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/25/north-korea-boasts-defeating-us-single-blow/?page=all#pagebreak

Black teenager, 18, admits beating and robbing white man as 'revenge' for Trayvon Martin death

A black teenager has told police he punched a white man to the ground and robbed him because he was angry about the Trayvon Martin case.

Alton Hayes III said he smashed his 19-year-old victim to a Chicago suburb road after pinning his arms to the side and threatening him with a tree branch.

Alongside a 15-year-old black accomplice, who cannot be named as he is a juvenile, he screamed at the man to 'empty your pockets, white boy'.

He then battered his victim, who he chose purely because he was white, on his back and head.

MyFoxChicago aaid Hayes told police his motive for the 1am, April 17 crime, was his anger over the death of Trayvon Martin.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2135549/Black-18-year-old-admits-beating-robbing-white-man-revenge-Trayvon-Martin.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

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Apr 25, 2012

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From the L.A. Daily News

Teens distilling, drinking alcohol from hand sanitizers

Local teenagers are gulping down hand sanitizer to get drunk - and many are landing in emergency departments instead, health experts warned on Tuesday.

Though it is a national trend for the last few years, Los Angeles teenagers have only caught on more recently. There were 16 countywide cases reported to California's Poison Control since March 1 and 60 statewide since 2010, health officials said.

"This is a rapidly emerging trend," said Dr. Cyrus Rangan, a pediatric medical toxicologist with Children's Hospital, who also is director of the county Department of Public Health's Toxic Epidemiology Program.

One small bottle of hand sanitizer contains 60 percent alcohol, or at least 120 proof, Rangan said.

"That's like drinking several shots of hard liquor," Rangan said.

While none of the local cases so far has been fatal, Rangan said the effects of drinking the product are similar to abusing liquor. Too much can prove dangerous, causing coma.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_20469031/teens-distilling-drinking-alcohol-from-hand-sanitizers

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From Google News

New Jersey

Fort Lee Police Taking Back Unwanted Prescription Drugs

Dispose your unused, unwanted and expired medications safely at the FLPD on Saturday

On April 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Fort Lee Police and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the public another opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs.

Chief Thomas Ripoli encourages residents to bring their medications for disposal to Fort Lee Police Headquarters at 1327 16th Street. Officers from the Community Policing Unit and the Evidence Bureau will present to provide the service which is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

Last October, Americans turned in 377,080 pounds or 188.5 tons of prescription drugs at over 5,300 sites operated by the DEA and nearly 4,000 state and local law enforcement partners. In its three previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners took in almost a million pounds, nearly 500 tons of pills.

This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs.

http://fortlee.patch.com/articles/fort-lee-police-taking-back-unwanted-prescription-drugs

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Apr 24, 2012

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From the Washington Times

Americans give peace a fighting chance

Study cites drop in violent crimes

America is peaceful. No, really.

Though Hollywood and the news media often portray the nation as a chaotic crucible of gangsters and crime, the U.S. is more “peaceful” now than in the past two decades. So says the United States Peace Index, released Tuesday by the Institute for Economics & Peace, a nonprofit research group that based its conclusions on federal statistics on homicides, crimes, police employees, small arms and the jail populations of all 50 states.

“The last twenty years have seen a substantial and sustained reduction in direct violence in the U.S. The homicide rate has halved since 1991, with a concurrent reduction in the violent crime rate from 748 to 399 violent crimes per 100,000 over this period,” the study said.

Some states are more peaceful than others. Maine sits at the top of the list, Louisiana at the very bottom. New Jersey, at No. 28, is more peaceful than New York at 31, while Virginia (25) outranks Maryland (38), and Florida languishes in 47th place.

Peace is cheaper, the researchers insist. “Containing violence” costs the U.S. $460 billion a year for law enforcement and incarceration - or $3,217 for each U.S. taxpayer, the study said.

“What this research really says is that America is a much safer place than the average citizen might think. People are more fearful than they need to be,” Steve Killelea, chairman of the research organization, told The Washington Times.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/24/americans-give-peace-a-fighting-chance/

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Pentagon pulls clearances in Colombian sex scandal

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said Monday that service members who possibly were involved in the prostitution scandal in Colombia before the president's visit last week have had their security clearances suspended.

Mr. Panetta spoke to reporters traveling with him on a plane en route to Colombia, where he is scheduled to meet with the Colombian defense minister in his first trip there as secretary of defense.

“My biggest concern is the issue of security and what could possibly have been jeopardized by virtue of this kind of behavior,” Mr. Panetta said.

Eleven military personnel are being investigated for their role in the scandal, but it's not clear how many had security clearances.

Mr. Panetta will be in South America for a week and will visit Colombia, Brazil and Chile.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/23/pentagon-pulls-clearances-colombian-sex-scandal/

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From Google News

A Would-Be Shoe Bomber Testifies in a Terror Trial

He was supposed to be the other shoe bomber. Saajid Badat said Osama bin Laden himself had dispatched him to board a plane with a bomb sewn in his shoe, which he would detonate in midair as part of a choreographed attack that would crash the American economy.

But unlike Richard C. Reid , a member of Al Qaeda whose unsuccessful attempt in 2001 to detonate explosives in his shoes on a Paris-to-Miami flight changed airport security, Mr. Badat did not follow through with the attack.

On Monday, over 10 years after he backed out, hiding the equipment under his bed in Britain, Mr. Badat testified by video to his role in the shoe-bombing conspiracy in Federal District Court in Brooklyn in the terrorism trial of Adis Medunjanin, a Queens man who is accused of joining his high school classmates in a separate plot to blow up New York subways.

Another admitted terrorist, Bryant Neal Vinas, a Long Island man who fought with Al Qaeda against American troops in Afghanistan, also appeared in court as a government witness on Monday. He had pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

The testimony of the two men was a brief departure from the facts of the subway bombing plot, which federal authorities have called one of the most dangerous threats to America since the Sept. 11 attacks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/nyregion/at-adis-medunjanins-terror-trial-a-would-be-shoe-bomber-testifies.html

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Dangerous booby traps found on popular Utah trail

SALT LAKE CITY— The 20-pound spiked boulder was rigged to swing at head-level with just a trip of a thin wire -- a military-like booby trap set on a popular Utah canyon trail.

Any unsuspecting hiker exploring the makeshift dead-wood shelter could have fallen prey.

Two men arrested over the weekend on suspicion of misdemeanor reckless endangerment told authorities the traps were intended for wildlife, but investigators don't believe the story.

"This is a shelter put together by people, visited by people -- anything that would be impacted by their device would have to be humans," Utah County sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon said. "It took some time to build these traps. They took rope, heavy-duty fishing line, and they intended what the traps were going to do."

U.S. Forest Service Officer James Schoeffler came across the trip wires last week while on routine patrol on the popular Big Springs hiking trail in Provo Canyon about 50 miles south of Salt Lake City. Having had previous military hazardous device detection training, Schoeffler immediately knew it was a threat. If not disabled, both devices -- one set to swing down at head-level, the other designed to trip a passer-by into a bed of sharpened wooden stakes -- could have been deadly.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2012/04/24/dangerous_booby_traps_found_on_popular_utah_trail/

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New Jersey

Police Department Offers Tips for Homeowners to Avoid Theft

The Bloomfield Police Department addresses the increase in recent home burglaries, offering valuable advice for residents

A recent spike in home burglary incidents in Bloomfield was reason for a special meeting last week between concerned residents, Bloomfield Chief of Police Christopher Goul and the Bloomfield Police Department.

After the meeting, Officer Kevin O'Connell of the Community Policing Division released the following Public Service Announcement for residents to safeguard their homes and valuables. Here are some preventative awareness tips for homeowners from the Chief Goul and the Bloomfield Police Department.

1. Is your home well lighted with particular attention to exterior doors?

2. Are all exterior lights and security devices in good working order and protected from breakage?

3. Can your main entrance be seen from the street?

4. Are all trees and shrubs pruned and well maintained to prevent anyone from hiding? << more >>

http://bloomfield.patch.com/articles/police-department-offers-tips-for-homeowners-to-avoid-theft#photo-7933143

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Florida

Port St. Lucie approves high-tech surveillance cameras at parks after shooting last month

The plan, crafted by the city's Parks and Recreation and Police departments, also includes the addition of two parks officers and heightened community policing efforts to monitor activity in various parts of the city's 42 parks. Additional lighting in the parks and adjacent parking lots and removal of landscaping in each of the parks that can obstruct police officers' views are also part of the safety plan.

Park attendants and additional police patrols may be added by June, with the installation of 20 $2,500 cameras by September.

The beefed-up surveillance comes as a result of a March 14 shooting on the basketball courts at Sportsman's Park. Sportsman's and Whispering Pines Park, both of which have seen increased levels of crime over the past six months, will be used a pilot to test the new surveillance program.

If successful, the new program could extend to other high-trafficked parks such as Lyngate, McChesney and Rivergate, Parks and Recreation Department director Sherman Conrad said.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/port-st-lucie-approves-high-tech-surveillance-cameras-2321703.html?viewAsSinglePage=true

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California

100 blocks in Oakland to see fewer police

Six months after Oakland Mayor Jean Quan vowed to shower what she called the most violent blocks of Oakland with extra police and social services, the Police Department says it will reduce the number of officers in those areas.

The move comes weeks after residents in the Oakland hills criticized Quan's crime plan, known as the 100-block plan, saying it had resulted in a decrease in officers in their wealthier neighborhoods, which were seeing an uptick in burglaries.

It also comes as police reveal that the crime rate for the city's most serious crimes - including homicides, robberies and burglaries - is up 21 percent compared with this same time last year.

Last year, Oakland reassigned 22 police officers from their community policing beats, including several from hills neighborhoods, to crime-reduction teams working on violence reduction. Much of that violence reduction work took place in the areas of East and West Oakland designated under Quan's 100-block program, which she unveiled in October as her solution to the city's violent crime problem.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/23/BAMF1O7PGB.DTL

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From the White House

Combating Sexual Assault in the United States Military

Nowhere is our responsibility greater than in the military. Women and men who step forward to serve our country must be protected from this devastating crime, and offenders must be held appropriately accountable. Secretary Panetta has said loud and clear that sexual assault has no place in the United States military. Together with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dempsey, the Secretary is taking important steps toward achieving this vision.

On April 20, Secretary Panetta issued a directive that will require certain sexual assault complaints to be elevated to more senior levels of command. This significant change means that more experienced commanders will be making the initial disposition decisions for these cases. Specifically, the officers handling these cases will be at least in the grade of 0-6, meaning at least a colonel in the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force; a captain in the Navy, and must possess at least special court martial convening authority. This new policy underscores the gravity of these crimes and may give victims greater confidence to come forward.

The Department of Defense (DoD) recently has taken other steps to continue the fight against sexual assault. Victims can now request an expedited transfer to leave their unit or installation and records are retained for a longer period of time making it easier for veterans to file a service-related disability claim. Victim advocacy services and a confidential reporting option are now available to military spouses and adult military dependents, and emergency care will be available to DoD civilians reporting sexual assault while stationed abroad.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/04/23/combating-sexual-assault-united-states-military

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From the Department of Homeland Security

Kicking Off National Severe Weather Preparedness Week

Apr 23, 2012

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From the L.A. Daily News

With growing number of parolees in San Fernando Valley, LAPD scrambles to keep its eye on them

The children playing and laughing in the backyard next door couldn't see it, but police officers had forced open a safe in their Woodland Hills neighbor's garage and found a collection of guns and rifles.

The team led by LAPD Sgt. Jeff Nuttall had gone to the home to check on Byrone London, who had recently served a prison sentence for obstructing and resisting arrest.

London was supposed to stay away from weapons and drugs or risk ending up back behind bars. But here he was, living in a relative's house where firearms were stored and, officers believe, facing a risk of abusing drugs again.

His wife, who lives in the house with him, was arrested there for possession of methamphetamine only weeks before, according to police.

"Here's a meth head with a safe full of weapons," Nuttall said. "What if he gets high and decides to open it?"

http://www.dailynews.com/crime/ci_20452670/back-streets

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From the Washington Times

Pressure mounts to fire Secret Service agents in hooker scandal

Lawmakers express confidence in quick reaction by director

Most of the Secret Service agents embroiled in a South American prostitution scandal are likely to lose their jobs — some as soon as Monday — a powerful Republican lawmaker said Sunday.

“You can't allow 11 men to tarnish the great reputation that this agency had,” Rep. Peter T. King , chairman of the Homeland Security Committee , said on NBC 's “Meet the Press.” “In the next day or so, I think we're going to see more Secret Service agents leaving.”

The New York Republican, whose committee is investigating the incident, told “Fox News Sunday” that “most … [will] either resign, retire or will be forced to leave.”

Six of 12 Secret Service agents and supervisors involved in a night of partying with prostitutes in the Colombian city of Cartagena on the eve of President Obama's arrival for a hemispheric summit have stepped down or have been fired since the scandal broke. Eleven military service personnel also have been implicated.

The Secret Service said Friday that a 12th employee had been implicated in the probe and another had been cleared of “serious misconduct” but would face administrative action.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/22/pressure-mounts-fire-secret-service-agents-scandal/

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Missing boy spurred era of anxiety

Probe for Etan forces parents to remember ‘chill'

NEW YORK — A generation of sheltered American children grew up in the shadow of anxiety that fell over this country one day in 1979, when a little boy with a charming grin vanished from a Manhattan street corner.

They never knew his name or saw that angelic-looking face. But their parents would never forget it.

For some, their caution was simply a result of what they read in news reports. Others, including Jim Stratton , had an immediate and very personal reason to be afraid.

“It sent a chill through everybody,” said Mr. Stratton , 73, whose son was in the same neighborhood play group as Etan Patz , the 6-year-old who never boarded his school bus on May 25, 1979. “You could not leave your child for a minute. Anywhere. It was like a dark cloud had come over the neighborhood.”

Before Etan disappeared, the notion that a child could be abducted right off the street, in broad daylight, was not familiar. Children roamed their hometowns freely, unencumbered by fear. They could walk to school and the bus stop and just about anywhere they pleased all by themselves. That all changed after Etan set off for school in his favorite pilot's cap and corduroy jacket and did not return.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/22/missing-boy-spurred-era-of-anxiety/

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Thousands of computer users might lose Internet

Advertising scam by hackers spurs problem

For computer users, a few mouse clicks could mean the difference between staying online and losing Internet connections this summer.

Unknown to most of them, their problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of infected computers around the world. In a highly unusual response, the FBI set up a safety net months ago using government computers to prevent Internet disruptions for those infected users. But that system is to be shut down.

The FBI is encouraging users to visit a website run by its security partner, http://www.dcwg.org, that will inform them whether they're infected and explain how to fix the problem. After July 9, infected users won't be able to connect to the Internet.

Most victims don't even know their computers have been infected, although the malicious software probably has slowed their Web surfing and disabled their antivirus software, making their machines more vulnerable to other problems.

In November, the FBI and other authorities were preparing to take down a hacker ring that had been running an Internet ad scam on a massive network of infected computers.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/22/thousands-of-computer-users-might-lose-internet/

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From Google News

Cybersecurity bills aim to prevent 'digital Pearl Harbor'

Foreign spies, criminals are inside virtually every U.S. company's network

Foreign spies and organized criminals are inside of virtually every U.S. company's network. The government's top cybersecurity advisors widely agree that cyber criminals or terrorists have the capability to take down the country's critical financial, energy or communications infrastructure.

"The reality is that our infrastructure is being colonized," said Tom Kellerman, former commissioner of President Obama's cyber security council, at a Bloomberg cybersecurity conference held in New York last week. "The terrifying thing is that governments no longer have a monopoly on this capability. There is code out there that puts it in anyone's hands."

Using cyberspace to take over our infrastructure, turn off our electricity or release toxins would amount to "a digital Pearl Harbor," Richard Clarke, the coordinator of President George W. Bush's counterterrorism initiative, famously said in 2009.

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/money/Cybersecurity-bills-aim-to-prevent-digital-Pearl-Harbor/-/9379180/11603950/-/7wtakkz/-/

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LAPD goes from longtime oppressor to community partner

In 1992, the LAPD was regarded with suspicion and downright hostility by many in South Los Angeles. Now, two decades after the riots, the 'siege mentality' is gone, crime is down significantly and 70% of city residents approve of the department.

What LAPD Sgt. Rick Arteaga remembers most about the first night of the riots is a curbside history lesson at the intersection of Manchester and Vermont.

Six police officers were trying to face down 400 angry residents. The Los Angeles Police Department brass had just ordered the officers to withdraw. "Get in the car!" Arteaga yelled. But his rookie partner froze, unwilling to turn his back on the advancing mob. In those menacing seconds, a single fear grabbed them both: This was a crowd bent on vengeance and they were about to be lynched.

Arteaga grabbed the shotgun from the floor of his patrol car and made a noisy show of loading a round. The crowd backed off just long enough for his partner to retreat.

The "not guilty" verdicts in the Rodney King case had, in minutes, reached the streets. Arteaga had never seen anything turn so bad so fast. People were cursing and shouting at him: Four hundred years! You've been suppressing us for 400 years!

Arteaga, just 29, was thinking, "What did 400 years have to do with me?" Everything. Because he wore the uniform of a force that had ruled South Los Angeles like an occupying army.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-riot-cops-20120422,0,443854,full.column

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