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Pennsylvania

4 Teen Girls Held in Taped Beating of Pa. Woman

Four teenage girls have been arrested outside Philadelphia in connection with the beating of a woman that was recorded on video and posted to Facebook.

Authorities say the teens will be charged as adults in the beating in the city of Chester. Police are looking for two more suspects.

Detective James Nolan said Friday the fourth suspect is a 16-year-old girl who was turned in by her father Thursday night. He says the teens appear to have attacked the woman "for fun" this week.

Video shows a group of girls walking along before suddenly deciding to attack the woman sitting on her stoop. They follow the victim into her home as she tries to escape, taking turns beating her.

Police describe the woman as "mentally challenged." She is being treated.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/teen-girls-held-taped-beating-pa-woman-17347562

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Arkansas

Police department to offer citizens' training academy

by Heather Sprinkle

For the next nine weeks myself and other citizens of Russellville will experience the ins and outs of the Russellville Police Department through the Citizens' Police Academy.

Drew Latch, RPD public information officer, said the academy was designed to bridge the gap between the citizens of Russesllville and the police department and to remind and encourage the community that the RPD needs their vigilance to be a productive, successful department.

I can't speak for the other cadets, but while I'm excited to get a behind-the-scenes peek at the RPD, I'm also nervous about the next few weeks.

During the course of the next few weeks, the CIP will go on patrol, try our hands at handling patrol cars through the Emergency Vehicle Operations Course, administer sobriety checks, undergo use of force training, fire arms training at the RPD range and even shoot what was referred to as crayon bullets at actual police officers during an active shooter exercise. The list of activities just goes on and on, each more exciting or depending on how you look at it, scary.

I'm much more comfortable as an observer than as a participant, so the academy should be an interesting experience for me. The thought of driving the obstacle course makes me nervous. I don't even want to think ahead to fire arms and active shooter exercises.

My kids are excited — in their minds, mommy can write tickets now. My husband is jealous and already laughing at my expense — he knows how I drive, and I think he has doubts about my shooting abilities as well. I am good shot with a BB gun.

Learning more about Internet predators, how the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) operates and just the ins and outs of the police force sounds like an amazing opportunity and one I look forward to sharing with others.

Tuesday night was more of an introductory session, but it also covered the history of policing. It sounds boring, but being the nerd I am, I enjoyed it.

At one point, Interim Chief Jeff Humphrey said he was going to ask the class what we wanted to get out of the course, but he changed his mind.

My answer before Tuesday night might have been to get out of speeding tickets in the future, because I would know the officers.

I think now my answer would be to gain a better understanding of what it means to be a police officer in Russellville and just exactly what role the community plays to ensure the police department functions at its optimal level.

http://www.couriernews.com/view/full_story/20288966/article-Police-department-to-offer-citizens%E2%80%99-training-academy