From Google News

Houston cop shoots, kills man in wheelchair

HOUSTON (AP) -- A Houston police officer has fatally shot a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair after police say the double amputee waved a metal object that turned out to be a pen.

Police spokeswoman Jodi Silva says man cornered the officer early Saturday inside a group home after police were called there to check on a disturbance.

Silva says the man was making threats while trying to stab the officer with the pen. She says the officer did not know what the metal object was at the time.

Silva says the man came "within inches to a foot" of the officer and did not follow instructions to calm down and remain still.

Police did not immediately release the man's name. The officer, Matthew Jacob Marin, has been placed on administrative leave.

San Jose police search for new strategy with shrinking force

As San Jose seeks a new police chief, the city is also searching for something far more elusive: a new strategy to effectively police a diverse population of nearly 1 million residents at a time of increasing crime with a shrinking department plagued by a deepening morale crisis.

Chief Chris Moore's unexpected retirement announcement last week only intensified the spotlight on a troubled department already grappling with wrenching cutbacks and a contentious relationship with City Hall.

These are tough times for a force that has long prided itself on keeping San Jose among America's safest big cities. And now the public is left wondering if there's a way to reinvent a leaner department that can better protect the community.

"The resources just aren't there that they had five years ago, and that has affected the way the Police Department does its job," said Mark E. Correia, chairman of justice studies at San Jose State. "But that's not unique to San Jose. This is the way that policing in America is today. We don't have the luxury of having lots of officers anymore. That's why organizations have to adapt and become much more strategic in how they fight crime."

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_21608961/san-jose-police-search-new-strategy-shrinking-force

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Sept 22, 2012

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From Google News

3 wounded in Colorado mass shooting sue theater owner

(CNN) -- Three people wounded in the July mass shooting at a Colorado multiplex are suing the theater owner, claiming that security was lax the night a gunman opened fire and killed 12 people.

Two lawsuits filed Friday against Cinemark USA Inc., owner of Century Aurora 16, allege negligence on the part of the corporation because the theater lacked adequate security or sufficient alarm systems.

"Although the theater was showing a midnight premier of the movie and was expecting large crowds of people to attend the midnight showing, no security personnel were present for that showing," according to both lawsuits, which were filed by the same law firm.

"The exterior doors to the theater were lacking in any alarm system, interlocking security systems, or any other security or alarm features."

James Holmes, 24, is accused of opening fire on a crowded theater during the July 20 midnight showing of the latest Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises." Fifty-eight people were wounded in the attack.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/22/justice/colorado-shooting-lawsuit/

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Facebook posts by Pa. hostage-taking suspect, responses from family and friends concern police

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh police said they had serious concerns when an armed man took a business owner hostage in a downtown high-rise office building — and not just because he had a knife.

The suspect, 22-year-old Klein Michael Thaxton, made Facebook posts during the five-hour ordeal Friday, authorities said, and they feared that responses from friends, family and others might goad him into violence.

In the end, police say, Thaxton surrendered peacefully and released businessman Charles Breitsman.

Now police believe that Thaxton might have chosen Breitsman because he spotted a smartphone and computer in his office and saw a high-profile opportunity to express himself on the social networking site, Chief Nathan Harper said.

Thaxton was arraigned early Saturday on felony charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault and making terroristic threats. He remains jailed on $1 million bail.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/after-despairing-facebook-posts-hostage-taker-in-pittsburgh-high-rise-surrenders/

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Massachusetts

Holyoke police to drive all over Paper City to connect with people in high-crime neighborhoods

From Google News

Amish Sect Leader and Followers Guilty of Hate Crimes

Samuel Mullet Sr., the domineering leader of a renegade Amish sect, and 15 of his followers were convicted on Thursday in Cleveland of federal conspiracy and hate crimes for a series of bizarre beard-and hair-cutting attacks last fall that spread fear through the Amish of eastern Ohio.

The convictions of Mr. Mullet, along with several relatives and others from his settlement who carried out the assaults, could bring lengthy prison terms. The verdicts were a vindication for federal prosecutors, who made a risky decision to apply a 2009 federal hate-crimes law to the sect's violent efforts to humiliate Amish rivals.

Defense lawyers in the case and an independent legal expert had argued that the government was overreaching by turning a personal vendetta within the Amish community, and related attacks, into a federal hate-crimes case. But the jury accepted the prosecutors' description of the attacks as an effort to suppress the victims' practice of religion, finding Mr. Mullet and the other defendants guilty on nearly all the charges they faced of conspiracy, hate crimes and obstruction of justice.

The victims “simply wanted to be left to practice their own religion in their own way in peace,” Steven M. Dettelbach, the United States attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said in a news conference after the verdicts were announced. “The defendants invaded their homes, physically attacked these people and sheared them almost like animals,” Mr. Dettelbach said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/us/jury-convicts-amish-group-of-hate-crimes.html?pagewanted=all&_moc.semityn.www

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Detroit officials tout community policing effort

Detroit — City authorities are touting the success of a pilot community policing program as a way to curb crime.

Results released Thursday from an initiative the Detroit Police Department launched in June with residents and business owners in the Grandmont-Rosedale community and law enforcement, courts and researchers found a dramatic drop in home invasions.

In the first 120 days of the program, home invasions dropped 32 percent compared to the same period in 2011 northwest side neighborhood. Citywide, there was an 8.5 percent decrease.

Key to the initiative was a regular police presence in the area. Officers made 650 "proactive contacts" with residents. "The community was talking with us … to the point where they were pointing out suspicious vehicles that were ours," Insp. Vicki Yost said.

In addition, Corrections Department officials conducted more than 250 home visits with ex-inmates on probation and parole living in the project area. None committed crimes there during the 120-day period. Police made 11 felony arrests and one misdemeanor arrest, which officials said were tied to citizen tips.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120921/METRO01/209210371/Detroit-officials-tout-community-policing-effort

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Philadelphia Police Department tries more personal policing strategy

Last week, the PPD began what it is calling a “quality-of-life blitz” — a modified form of community policing

Policing in West Philadelphia is getting personal.

Last week, the Philadelphia Police Department began what it is calling a “quality-of-life blitz” — a modified form of community policing. Police officers and volunteer clergy members are going door-to-door discussing with residents ways to improve neighborhood security.

After finishing the 19th District last Thursday, police knocked on doors in the 18th District, which includes the Penn campus, last night. They will follow with the same procedure in the 12th district next Thursday. These three districts are identified as areas of high crime.

The 19th District, though it has not seen any recent increase in crime, does have more violent and property crime than surrounding areas, according to Philadelphia Police Inspector Dennis Wilson.

However, Wilson was surprised to find that over 20 vacant properties in the district that had previously been sealed by police had since been burglarized. He expects to see similar vacant properties in the 18th and 12th districts. Police will return to the properties to seal them again, he added.

http://www.thedp.com/article/2012/09/philadelphia-police-department-tries-more-personal-policing-strategy

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Sept 20, 2012

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From the L.A. Daily News

Mexico tunnel prison break: Only 3 of 132 recaptured

Three female inmates were found hiding in a prison visiting area, Jorge Luis Moran, the public safety secretary of the northern border state of Coahuila, told the television network Televisa.

Federal police units and Mexican troops, including 70 members of an elite military special forces unit, were searching for inmates who fled the prison in Piedras Negras, a city across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas. They escaped Monday through a tunnel 21 feet long and 4 feet in diameter and then cut their way through a chain link barrier.

Moran later said the jailbreak appeared to have been orchestrated by the hyper-violent Zetas drug cartel. "We assume that they organized it," he said.

He said some of the inmates might have been forced to take part in the jailbreak as a way to swell the ranks of the Zetas, who have been fighting a bloody turf battle in Coahuila with the Sinaloa cartel.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_21581765/mexico-prison-break-sees-capture-only-3-132

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From Google News

New Hampshire

Bedford PD Offers Many Community Progams

From Neighborhood Watch to Are You OK, Bedford Police are looking for ways to get you involved and/or to help those who need extra help.

The Bedford Police Department would like to remind residents that it offers numerous community policing programs including, but not limited to, the following:

• Senior Citizens Program : We offer the "Are You OK?" program that is a FREE telephone reassurance program for senior citizens who are disabled, medically infirm, or homebound. This service is a great peace of mind for family and friends. We also offer information to senior citizens to educate on crimes that target the older population, (ie. identify theft, fraud, and phone scams.)

• Youth Programs : Building a relationship with our youth is a priority at the Bedford Police Department. Some of our youth programs are story time to the daycares and schools.

• Neighborhood Watch : A crime prevention program that enlists the active participation of residents in town in cooperation with the Bedford Police to reduce crime, solve problems and improve the quality of life in the town of Bedford. We also offer tips and suggestions on how to protect you and your family.

• Business and Retail: The Bedford Police meet with the business and retail establishments in town to educate and help reduce the different crimes that occur with in the business and retail groups in the town of Bedford.

http://bedford-nh.patch.com/articles/bedford-police-offering-many-community-progams

No community is immune to violence. Even one shooting is one too many, and we have seen far too many incidents of gun violence, including a fatal shooting in Reading last year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported that although rates of youth homicide have declined in recent years, homicide remains the second leading cause of death among youth aged 10-24 years in the United States, and violence is a major cause of nonfatal injuries among our youth.

When these senseless crimes happen in our communities and involve our young people, they are difficult to comprehend. But one thing is clear: we must continue to work to prevent future violence, and these crimes demand a community-wide response.

Law enforcement clearly has a leadership role, and our police departments are working together to prevent violence and keep us safe. The city of Malden has already acted to add police officers to its force and to step up regional coordination. Malden has been quick to solve many of these crimes and has active crime prevention and community policing programs.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/melrose/news/lifestyle/columnists/x1334620522/Sen-Katherine-Clark-Preventing-violence-requires-community-response#axzz270d8CWmv

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Police officials to discuss results of Detroit's ‘Broken Windows' pilot crime-fighting program

DETROIT — Chief Ralph Godbee and other police officials will discuss the results of a "Broken Windows" pilot program aimed at reducing crime in a northwest Detroit neighborhood.

The community safety meeting begins Thursday evening at the North Rosedale Park Community House.

The long-range strategy developed with the New York-based Manhattan Institute for Policy Research includes efforts to maintain order, reduce fear, cut crime and improve the quality of life of residents.

"Broken Windows" is a decades-old method of community policing.

The Manhattan Institute's George Kelling has been working with Detroit police on the crime prevention approach. Kelling is one of the authors of a 1982 magazine article spouting the benefits of saving neighborhoods by putting more officers on foot patrols and focusing on issues that might appear insignificant.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/c0b9fd46e6f142218b01dc246d1c74f6/MI--Broken-Windows-Detroit

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Sept 19, 2012

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From the L.A. Daily News

California

21-year-old Yale graduate arrested for alleged ESPN post threatening to kill Valencia schoolchildren

A 21-year-old Yale graduate whose home overlooks two schools in Valencia was arrested late Monday on suspicion of making online threats to kill the students there.

Eric Ting Yee wrote on an ESPN Web forum "that he could see children from where he was at and had no problem murdering them," Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Darren Harris said Tuesday.

The Sheriff's Department called his writings "terrorist threats" and said several weapons were found during a search of Yee's home, making the threats appear credible. Harris said they included handguns and "at least one high-capacity-type weapon."

"Nobody knows if we prevented something from occurring yesterday, today, a year from now," Harris said at the sheriff's Santa Clarita Valley station.

Yee was arrested at 5 p.m. Monday and was still being held on $1 million bail late Tuesday. He could face charges as early as Wednesday, when sheriff's detectives expect to present their case to the district attorney.

He was held on suspicion of making criminal threats, which carries a penalty of up to a year in jail, but prosecutors could file additional charges or different charges altogether.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_21570537/valencia-suspect-who-allegedly-threatened-shoot-children-arrested

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Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors declares today 'It Can Wait -- No Texting While Driving Day'

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors proclaimed today "It Can Wait -- No Texting While Driving Day" to remind motorists, and teens in particular, that those who text behind the wheel are 23 times as likely to be in a vehicle crash.

Supervisor Michael Antonovich joined with AT&T to highlight the dangers of texting while driving. The telecommunications company is sponsoring a campaign by the same name -- It Can Wait -- asking motorists to make a lifelong pledge not to text while behind the wheel.

"Text messaging is the main mode of communication for most American teenagers, with half of all teens sending between 21 and 70 texts a day," Antonovich said. "In an AT&T survey, 43 percent of American teenage drivers admitted to texting while driving, even though 97 percent know it is dangerous."

Though teens are targeted by the no-texting campaign, studies have also found that parents fail to follow the advice they give their kids about not texting. A Liberty Mutual Insurance survey found that dads are particularly at fault, and more than three-quarters of teens responding to the AT&T survey said their parents text while driving "all the time."

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_21572676/los-angeles-county-board-supervisors-declares-today-it

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Mexico prison break: 129 inmates on the loose, 3 recaptured

PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico - Officials said Tuesday they have found three inmates thought to have escaped through a tunnel at a northern Mexico border prison, lowering the number of escaped prisoners to 129.

Three female inmates were found hiding in a prison visiting area, Jorge Luis Moran, the public safety secretary of the northern border state of Coahuila, told the television network Televisa.

Federal police units and Mexican troops - including 70 members of an elite military special forces unit - are searching for inmates who fled the prison in Piedras Negras, a city across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas. They escaped through a tunnel 21 feet long and 4 feet in diameter on Monday and then cut their way through a chain link barrier and escaped onto a neighboring property.

The director and two other employees of the state prison have been detained for an investigation, and President Felipe Calderon called the jailbreak "deplorable" in a statement posted on his Twitter account Tuesday.

Calderon appeared to re-ignite the long-running dispute between federal and state authorities, writing that "the vulnerability of state law enforcement institutions must be corrected."

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_21571859/mexico-prison-break-129-inmates-loose-3-recaptured

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Internet Explorer has been breached, German watchdog warns

BERLIN -- The German government agency overseeing IT safety is warning of a security breach in Microsoft's Internet Explorer and recommending people use other browsers until the problem is fixed.

The browser's "weak point is already being used for targeted attacks," the Federal Office for Information Security warned, adding that the code behind the attack is freely available online and might therefore spread rapidly.

A spokesman for Microsoft said Tuesday the company is aware of the issue and is working on soon rolling out a software update, a so-called patch, to fix the browser's security features.

"This is not a massive problem. There have been only a small number of targeted attacks," said spokesman Thomas Baumgaertner. He could not provide a figure of the number of attacks recorded so far. The browser is used by hundreds of millions of consumers and workers around the world.

http://www.dailynews.com/business/ci_21570469/internet-explorer-has-been-breached-german-watchdog-warns

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From Google News

PHOENIX – A judge in Arizona ruled Tuesday that police can immediately start enforcing the most contentious section of the state's immigration law, marking the first time officers can carry out the so-called "show me your papers" provision.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton is the latest milestone in a two-year legal battle over the requirement. It culminated in a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that upheld the provision on the grounds that it doesn't conflict with federal law.

Now, with the requirement finally in full effect, both sides are anxious to see the outcome. The supporters want local police to use it vigorously, but worry federal immigration officials won't respond to calls to come arrest people.

"I am mulling what I will do if they don't respond," said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who more than any other police boss in the state pushed the bounds of immigration enforcement. "I don't feel comfortable letting the illegal alien back on the street."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/18/judge-police-to-enforce-ariz-immigration-law-now/

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Clinton vows to protect U.S. missions worldwide amid anti-U.S. sentiments

Washington, United States (4E) – In the wake of attacks on American consulates in Muslim-dominated nations, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday announced to take “aggressive steps” to protect its diplomatic missions around the world.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference, Clinton said that Washington is not yet sure on whether an attack on its ambassador to Libya that killed him in Benghazi with three others was planned or imminent.

“We had no actionable intelligence. Hence, we are taking aggressive steps to protect our staffs in embassies and consulates worldwide,” Clinton said. Her comments came after talks with Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa amid anti-U.S. march across South Asia, North Africa and the Middle East.

She further said that the U.S. is “reviewing security posture at every post and augmenting it where necessary.”

Meanwhile, fresh violence over the anti-Islamic video was reported in Afghan capital Kabul where an Afghan insurgent group Hezb-i-Islami's female suicide bomber killed 14 people, including 10 foreigners, on Tuesday. The victims were working under the United States government.

http://gantdaily.com/2012/09/19/clinton-vows-to-protect-u-s-missions-worldwide-amid-anti-u-s-sentiments/

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Oregon

Federal DOJ Report on Portland Police “Horrifying”

Q&A with Albina Ministerial Alliance representative Jo Ann Hardesty

http://theskanner.com/article/Federal-DOJ-Report-on-Portland-Police-Horrifying-2012-09-18

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Sign up for Citizens' Police Academy

PALM SPRINGS — The Palm Springs Police Department's 13-week Citizens' Police Academy started Tuesday , but people can still sign up, a police sergeant said.

The free course will be held each Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. through Dec. 11 at the police department's Training Center, 200 S. Civic Drive. Sessions will feature simulated live-fire exercises, a ride-along with a patrol officer and discussions about topics such as crime scene investigation, K-9, SWAT, community policing and narcotics, Sgt. Mike Kovaleff said.

The academy started in 1993 and has been running ever since, Kovaleff said.

Academy participants must be at least 18 years old and have no felony convictions. For reservations, email Sgt. Kyle Stjerne at Kyle.Stjerne@palmspringsca.gov

Applications must be filled out online at www.pspd.com under “Community Policing, Citizens' Police Academy.” No one can join after the second week.

http://www.mydesert.com/viewart/20120919/NEWS08/309190024/Sign-up-Citizens-Police-Academy?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFrontpage%7Cs

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Mississippi

Dispatchers Address "Child Abuse" of 911 System

http://www.dailytimesleader.com/content/dispatchers-address-child-abuse-911-system

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Sept 18, 2012

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From the L.A. Daily News

Muslim, Coptic Christian leaders speak out against violence

In a news conference at Los Angeles City Hall, they also said the creators of the "Innocence of Muslims" need not fear retribution from them. The movie, a trailer of which was posted on YouTube, is considered blasphemous by Muslims because it mocks the Prophet Muhammad.

Dr. Maher Hathout, senior adviser of the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Southern California, called the movie "hate speech" and "instigation," but added, "We don't go after people for what they say."

"If he's hiding from us, he's wrong," Hathout added, referring to Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, an Egyptian Coptic Christian and naturalized U.S. citizen living in Cerritos purported to be one of the makers of the film.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_21565326/muslim-coptic-christian-leaders-speak-out-against-violence

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Cries for more anti-Muslim film protests bring out Hezbollah leader

Rioting demonstrators battled with police outside a U.S. military base in Afghanistan and the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia as violent protests spread to Asia after a week of unrest in Muslim countries worldwide.

The turmoil surrounding the low-budget movie that denigrates the Prophet Muhammad shows no sign of ebbing nearly a week after protesters first swarmed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, and the U.S. ambassador was killed in Libya. At least 10 protesters have died in the riots, and the targeting of American missions has forced Washington to ramp up security in several countries.

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah group, has rarely been seen in public since his Shiite Muslim group battled Israel in a month-long war in 2006, fearing Israeli assassination. Since then, he has communicated with his followers and gives news conference mostly via satellite link.

On Monday, he spoke for about 15 minutes before a huge crowd of hundreds of thousands of cheering supporters, many of them with green and yellow headbands around their foreheads - the colors of Hezbollah - and the words "at your service God's prophet" written on them.

Police officials estimated the crowd at around 500,000 - an exceptionally large turnout even by standards of the Hezbollah group whose rallies normally draw huge numbers.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_21563171/cries-more-anti-muslim-film-protests-bring-out

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From Google News

Thousands of LSU student return to dorms after bomb threat (+video)

Louisiana State University's entire campus was evacuated after a bomb threat was called in Monday morning. By evening students were able to return to their dorms after bomb-sniffer dogs had swept the area.

The thousands of students who live on the Louisiana State University campus will be able to return to their dormitories after bomb-sniffing dogs and police methodically swept residential halls Monday following a threat that sparked a campus-wide evacuation.

LSU spokesman Herb Vincent said officials hope to reopen the Baton Rouge campus by Monday night, but they aren't certain if a building-by-building sweep will be complete before Tuesday.

"Residential Life buildings have now been deemed ready to return to normal operations. That notification is going out now to the campus community," Vincent said.

Evangeline Hall, a residential building on campus, was reopened first and officials began siphoning some of the 6,000 on-campus residents into the building as the investigation continued, Vincent said. He said residential halls were searched first and buses to and from the campus have been running normally.

Thousands of students, professors and workers were told to leave campus after a threat was phoned into 911 about 10:32 a.m., university spokeswoman Kristine Calongne said. But the threat did not indicate a specific part of campus, so police and bomb-sniffing dogs have been meticulously sweeping each of the 250 buildings on campus.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0917/Thousands-of-LSU-student-return-to-dorms-after-bomb-threat-video

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Al-Qaeda threatens attacks on US diplomats

CAIRO (AP) -- Al-Qaeda's branch in North Africa on Tuesday called for attacks on U.S. diplomats and an escalation of protests against an anti-Islam video that was produced in the United States and triggered a wave of demonstrations in the Middle East and beyond. While demonstrations have tapered off in nations including Egypt and Tunisia, protests against the film turned violent in Pakistan and Indian-controlled Kashmir and hundreds of people rallied in Indonesia and Thailand.

In Kabul, the Afghan capital, a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a mini-bus carrying South African aviation workers to the airport, killing at least 12 people in an attack that a militant group said was revenge for the film Innocence of Muslims , which was made by an Egyptian-born American citizen.

U.S. officials describe the video as offensive, but the American government's protection of free speech rights has clashed with the anger of Muslims abroad who are furious over the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud, womanizer and pedophile.

In a statement, Al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb praised the killing of Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11. The group threatened attacks in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania, and condemned the United States for "lying to Muslims for more than 10 years, saying its war was against terrorism and not Islam."

The group urged Muslims to pull down and burn American flags at embassies, and kill or expel American diplomats to "purge our land of their filth in revenge for the honor of the Prophet."

http://www.freep.com/usatoday/article/57799500?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cp

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Ohio

OSHP community policing program teaches citizens to spot illegal activity

COUNTY, Ohio — For the first time, the Ohio State Highway Patrol is recruiting the public for a new community policing program.

The new Community Shield Program will train citizens to better spot illegal activity. Starting in October, troopers will teach residents the signs of human and drug trafficking, impaired drivers and homeland security problems.

On Monday at the Wintersville OSHP post, troopers explained the program.

"We have an increased amount of criminal activity that occurs on our roadways. We're focusing a lot on our criminal control program, including the increased attention that human trafficking is getting," said OSHP Lt. C.L. Johnson.

Valeria Daniels, of East Liverpool, said she thinks it's a good program.

"The people are out on the road all the time. I think they see more cars than the troopers can. I think it's a good idea that they can call in and alert the troopers when they think there's somebody drunk," Daniels said.

http://www.wtov9.com/news/news/oshp-community-policing-program-teaches-citizens-s/nSDJg/

Sept 17, 2012

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From the L.A. Daily News

Effectiveness of do-not-call registry questioned as phone solicitation complaints rise

WASHINGTON - So much for silence from telemarketers at the cherished dinner hour, or any other hour of the day.

Complaints to the government are up sharply about unwanted phone solicitations, raising questions about how well the federal "do-not-call" registry is working. The biggest category of complaint: those annoying prerecorded pitches called robocalls that hawk everything from lower credit card interest rates to new windows for your home.

Robert Madison, 43, of Shawnee, Kan., says he gets automated calls almost daily from "Ann, with credit services," offering to lower his interest rates.

"I am completely fed up," Madison said in an interview. "I've repeatedly asked them to take me off their call list." When he challenges their right to call, the solicitors become combative, he said. "There's just nothing that they won't do."

Madison, who works for a software company, says his phone number has been on the do-not-call list for years. Since he hasn't made any progress getting "Ann" to stop calling, Madison has started to file complaints about her to the Federal Trade Commission, which oversees the list.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_21557199/effectiveness-do-not-call-registry-questioned-phone-solicitation

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New York State

NY State Police taking part in child safety week

ALBANY, N.Y. — Law enforcement agencies across New York state are participating in National Child Passenger Safety Week.

New York State Police, local police agencies and highway safety professionals are taking part in the weeklong enforcement effort that began Sunday and runs through Saturday.

Police officials say safety week is aimed at drawing attention to the threats faced by child passengers in motor vehicle crashes. Police will be checking vehicles carrying children to make sure they are properly secured in vehicles.

Federal program helps Mesa with crime-ridden neighborhood

After countless arrests but little change in a notorious neighborhood where two dead-end streets have often translated into dead-end lives, frustrated Mesa police were ready for a new strategy.

Allen and Doran streets define a harsh reality in central Mesa that is far removed from pleasant suburban neighborhoods only a few miles away. Their prison-oriented slang names describe what life has become: "Dblock" for Doran and "Felony Flats" for Allen.

Neither street can be seen from the nearest major intersection at Broadway Road and Stapley Drive. A series of fourplexes with asphalt front yards sit tucked behind the commercial clutter, where people mill about at night, fleeing their hot, small, swamp-cooled apartments.

But police say criminals have had few problems finding the low-income, highly transient neighborhood.

For decades, it has been known as a place where burglars and shoplifters come to trade stolen property for drugs, where prostitutes trade sex for drugs, where landlords know only the first names of tenants and accept payment in cash, where parents too often serve as poor role models for children who lost hope for a better life.

When the International Association of Chiefs of Police picked Mesa nearly a year ago as one of three cities to participate in a federally financed study, police, prosecutors, probation officers and community workers quickly embraced the project.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/20120819mesa-dblock-dead-end-streets-crime.html?nclick_check=1

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