Local Cops Ready for War With Homeland Security-Funded Military Weapons. Nestled amid plains so flat the locals joke you can watch your dog run away for miles, Fargo treasures its placid lifestyle, seldom pierced by the mayhem and violence common in other urban communities.
North Dakota’s largest city has averaged fewer than two homicides a year since 2005, and there’s not been a single international terrorism prosecution in the last decade. But that hasn’t stopped authorities in Fargo and its surrounding county from going on an $8 million buying spree to arm police officers with the sort of gear once reserved only for soldiers fighting foreign wars. Sniper Detectors Coming To America's Heartland.
Members of a SWAT unit take aim at a second floor apartment window during a 2006 standoff in which a shooter wounded three police officers and a state trooper.AP Gunshots ring out in the dead of night, and not a single person reports it.
Yet police know exactly where the shots came from, even before they arrive on the scene. It sounds like a scene from The Minority Report, but it's real. A new technology called ShotSpotter enables law enforcement officials to precisely and instantaneously locate shooters, and it has been quietly rolling out across America. From Long Island, N.Y., to San Francisco, Calif., more than 60 cities in the U.S. have been leveraging ShotSpotter to make their streets safer. Minneapolis has already adopted it. The Youngstown Police Department decided to go very public by posting frank warning signs, such as this one at the Youngstown Elementary School:
ShotSpotter. Solutions SST products are the world’s most trusted, most scalable and most powerful gunfire alert and analysis solutions.
Agencies that have adopted SST solutions and best practices as part of a comprehensive crime-reduction strategy have reported reductions in urban gunfire by up to 80% and related violent crime by as much as 40%. Police and law enforcement agencies around the globe are using SST to provide real-time information about gunfire and explosions, enabling a more effective response to gun violence and giving them a more complete picture of crime, so that they can better protect their personnel and their communities. SST Solutions Providing constant, 360-degree wide-area acoustic surveillance of complex urban areas ShotSpotter gunfire alert and analysis solutions are a proven force multiplier, enhancing all aspects of policing related to gunfire.
ShotSpotter solutions deliver instant, accurate tactical awareness: Madness: Even School Children Are Being Pepper-Sprayed and Shocked with Tasers. December 21, 2011 | Like this article?
Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. There is something truly disturbing about a society that seeks to control the behavior of schoolchildren through fear and violence, a tactic that harkens back to an era of paddle-bruised behinds and ruler-slapped wrists. Yet, some American school districts are pushing the boundaries of corporal punishment even further with the use of Tasers against unruly schoolchildren. The deployment of Tasers against “problem” students coincides with the introduction of police officers on school campuses, also known as School Resource Officers (SROs). As far back as 1988, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, National Congress of Parents and Teachers, American Medical Association, National Education Association, American Bar Association, and American Academy of Pediatrics recognized that inflicting pain and fear upon disobedient children is far more harmful than helpful.
Derby student says cops used Taser, broke his arm because of sagging pants. DERBY — A Derby High School sophomore said today that he was hit by a Taser and had his arm broken by two school resource officers for refusing to pull up his pants.
The Derby Police Department said it will investigate the incident. The officers work for the department. The teen and the Police Department offered differing accounts of what happened. Jonathan Villarreal, 17, said he was walking with friends to the bus after school on Wednesday when one of the officers ordered him to pull up his pants. Derby police: Actions against high school student justified. DERBY — An investigation by Derby police says officers were justified and reasonable in actions against a student during a disturbance at the high school this past April.
The student's decision to talk to news reporters about the April 27 incident prompted Chief Robert Lee to order an internal investigation. The findings were released today. Jonathan Villarreal, 17, said he was walking to the bus with some friends after school, when school resource officers confronted him about his "sagging" pants, pulled him to the ground, used a Taser on him and broke his arm. Villarreal denied he was resisting the officers. Lee said in a statement today that Villarreal had been yelling racial slurs at a group of students. Lee said neither the student nor his family filed a complaint over the incident or asked for the investigation. Derby police asked the Sedgwick County District Attorney to review the case for possible criminal charges in juvenile court. They include: Read the news release: Hawthorne police review use of Taser on middle school student - Page 2.
A National Institute of Justice study last year found that the weapons are safe in the vast majority of cases but also said that more research is needed to determine the health effects of shocking small children and others, such as the elderly.
Steve Tuttle, a Taser International spokesman, said the number of law enforcement agencies that have given Tasers to officers who work on school campuses has grown to well over 4,000. He said the weapons are invaluable for officers dealing with intruders on campus, breaking up brawls or subduing violent students.