Website and automated forms processes, Copyright
2007, Matthew August LeFande.
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rights reserved. No claim to original government forms
Website and automated forms processes, Copyright
2007, Matthew August LeFande.
All
rights reserved. No claim to original government forms
Virginia to turn off 'spy' cameras
Red-light cameras in Northern Virginia will be unplugged tomorrow, as a 10-year pilot program expires.
A state legislative committee in February voted not to continue the automated traffic-enforcement program, which has been operating in six Northern Virginia localities and Virginia Beach.
Several already have turned off their cameras, but some local lawmakers plan to fight for the program, which they say is a cost-effective way to catch red-light runners and make roads safer.
"It's impossible to have enough police officers out to enforce red-light running. It makes sense to use technology," said state Sen. Jeannemarie A. Devolites Davis, Fairfax Republican. "There are more severe crimes that we want our police officers to be taking care of."
Critics, including delegates who voted to end the program, say the cameras are money-making devices that invade a residents' privacy and cause rear-end collisions.
Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax counties, Fairfax City, Falls Church and Vienna have used red-light cameras.
The pilot program began in 1995 and allowed jurisdictions to issue a $50 ticket through the mail. Legislation that was rejected this year would have extended the program until 2007.
Mrs. Davis was one of several lawmakers who tried to keep the program going. She said this week she hopes some localities will leave the cameras up so that residents will think they are in use and continue to stop at red lights.
"It clearly works. It clearly changes behavior," she said.
The program stands little chance of legislative approval without a major shift in the makeup of the Republican-controlled General Assembly. All 100 House delegates are up for re-election in November.
Bills that would strengthen or continue the program usually pass in the state Senate and fail in the House, where many lawmakers from rural areas say the cameras too closely resemble "Big Brother."
A December 2004 study conducted by the Virginia Transportation Research Council showed a reduction in car crashes at nearly all of the intersections where the cameras were placed.
The council, which was formed by the Virginia Department of Transportation and the University of Virginia, recommended the program continue and said the cameras "reduced the number of crashes directly attributable to red-light running."
The study also showed that the number of rear-end crashes increased at some intersections.
Results tabulated an "insignificant decrease" in the number of crashes in Fairfax City and Falls Church and a "significant decrease" in Fairfax County and Vienna. The other jurisdictions were not included in the results.
Arlington and Alexandria already have turned off the cameras, though officials in both localities would like the program to continue.
"It seems like such a simple idea to stop at a red light, yet too many people don't," Alexandria Police spokeswoman Amy Bertsch said.
"We have different traffic challenges in Northern Virginia than in the rest of the state. Photo enforcement was so much easier and far more cost effective," Miss Bertsch said. "No officer can stop every person who runs a red light, that's just not possible."
She said the city spent far more on the program than it reaped in fines. "If anyone thought we made money, they are wrong," she said.
Several jurisdictions predict their budgets will be better off after the program ends.
"We've probably lost $1 million over five years, and I hesitate to say 'lost,'?" Fairfax County Traffic System Program Manager Bruce Taylor said of the cameras. "When you look at societal costs, obviously, it prevents people from getting hurt."
Falls Church tallied its revenue impact down to the penny.
Over the three-year history of its red-light camera program, the city issued 25,000 violations. Minus administrative costs -- which include a uniformed officer viewing the cameras' videotapes and making a judgment on violations -- the city earned 6 cents per ticket, for an average of $500 a year.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20050630-124544-6347r.htm
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:47 AM
matt@lefande.com
Deputy involved in two wrecks in 8 hours
The cruisers were destroyed, but an Anderson County, TN deputy survived two crashes in eight hours. Deputy Mike Nations, 47, lost control of his patrol car around midnight Saturday while responding to a domestic call.
A tire apparently blew out, causing the vehicle to roll several times.
His wife, Robin, who was participating in the sheriff's ride-along program, was a passenger. Both were taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center for injuries. She was treated and released. He was kept a little longer.
Deputy Nathan Brown picked up Nations around 7 a.m. Sunday. While driving him home, Brown, 27, apparently went into a diabetic shock, lost control of his cruiser and crashed.
"We are thankful that no one was seriously injured or killed in either accident. We expect both officers to return to full duty soon," Sheriff Bill White said.
Brown was listed Tuesday in stable condition at UT Medical Center, recovering from surgery Sunday for his minor injuries. He had to be cut out of the wreckage.
While the cars were lost, White said, "Our primary concern is with our deputies."
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/nation/12006957.htm
posted by Matthew LeFande 8:51 AM
matt@lefande.com
D.C. gun laws are reviewed by a congressional committee Tuesday
The House Government Reform Committee will hold an oversight hearing on the District's gun control laws at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The hearing will consider current gun control laws, current policies to combat violent crimes and - most controversial - the possible effects of repealing current D.C. gun laws. The committee will also discuss constitutional issues relating to the gun laws. This hearing will be in room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
According to the House Committee on Government Reform, identical bills in both the House and Senate would curb the D.C. Council and mayor's authority to regulate the possession of firearms in the city. Congressman Mark Souder, R-Ind., introduced H.R. 1288 in the House, and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, introduced S. 1082 in the Senate.
The possession of unregistered firearms has been illegal in the District since 1976. Registration of all handguns, automatic firearms and high-capacity semiautomatic firearms is also prohibited. Opponents of the restrictions say they are unconstitutional under the Second Amendment, but courts have upheld the District's gun control laws.
In 2004 there were 198 murders in the District, down 20 percent from 248 murders in 2003. According to a city press release, this is the lowest level in 18 years. Those who support the bills say that the homicide rate demonstrates the current law's ineffectiveness. Some supporters also say citizens should be allowed to use handguns for self-defense. Opponents argue the bills would flood the streets with guns and stop the decline of the murder rate.
http://www.dcexaminer.com/articles/2005/06/27/news/d_c_news/04newsdc27guns.txt
posted by Matthew LeFande 10:43 AM
matt@lefande.com
Murder Charges Filed in PG Police Shooting
Prince George's County police charged a 43-year-old convicted felon yesterday with killing Cpl. Steven Gaughan, as new details emerged about the fatal shootout at a Laurel area apartment complex.
Gaughan, 41, was the seventh county officer shot at this year and the first killed by bullets in the line of duty in at least 10 years, police said.
Robert M. Billett of Bladensburg was being held without bond yesterday on charges including first-degree murder. Police said Billett, a Jamaica native, used a .40-caliber handgun to shoot Gaughan as the officer chased him on foot Tuesday morning.
Detectives said they recovered the weapon and identified it as the one that killed Gaughan -- a husband, father of two and 15-year veteran of the force.
Gaughan came from a police family, with a father and three uncles who are Boston officers, his department colleagues said.
Billett, who has a history of drug and assault convictions, also is charged with shooting at two other officers during what began with a routine traffic stop at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
The other officers, Michael Eubanks and Shawn Phoebus, returned fire, hitting Billett in the arm, leg and side, according to police accounts and charging documents filed in Prince George's District Court. Billett, who is expected to be arraigned this afternoon, was in stable condition last night at Prince George's Hospital Center.
"We know Mr. Billett fired upon three of our officers with the intent to kill them," said Maj. Vincent Gay, commander of the Criminal Investigations Division.
Police changed their description of some aspects of the incident yesterday as they learned more about what happened. They initially said that Gaughan was wearing a bulletproof vest but said yesterday that he did not have the vest on, as required.
They also had said that Gaughan was wearing his uniform but said yesterday that he was in street clothes.
In an afternoon news conference yesterday, Police Chief Melvin C. High said he couldn't be certain that a vest would have saved Gaughan's life. According to several officers who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Gaughan was shot one time through the armpit area, and the bullet lodged in his abdomen, striking at least one major organ.
High said yesterday that whether Gaughan was wearing his vest was not the critical issue.
"The issue is that people simply cannot go out on the street and shoot police," High said. "It is unacceptable that people are running around and shooting police. That's the problem."
Percy Alston, president of the Prince George's police union, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 89, said officers were more focused on helping Gaughan's family than trying to determine why he wasn't wearing a vest.
"We don't know all the factors why he wasn't wearing the vest," Alston said. "He might have had it in the car and didn't have time to put it on because of the way things unfolded."
Gaughan's wife, Donna Gaughan, is an assistant professor of criminal justice at Prince George's Community College and previously worked as a Prince George's County police officer. The couple had recently adopted two children from Russia.
Many police officers still seemed stunned yesterday by Gaughan's death.
Capt. Kevin Davis, executive officer for the chief of patrol services bureau, called Gaughan a "5 percenter."
"That means he was part of the 5 percent of police officers responsible for 80 percent of the good police work that goes on," Davis said. "What's special about Steve is he was a better human being than he was a police officer, which is saying a whole lot."
According to police accounts and charging documents, Gaughan was killed while working on a special assignment team looking for stolen all-terrain vehicles, a growing problem in the county.
Eubanks spotted a green Chevy Tahoe with two people inside and tried to stop it for a traffic violation, according to the charging document. As the vehicle slowed, Gaughan and another officer were nearby and saw the passenger, later identified as Billett, throw a bag out the window containing "a white powdery substance," the document said.
The passenger got out of the Tahoe when it reached the parking lot of the Village at Montpelier apartment complex in the 11000 block of South Laurel Drive. He then ran, and Gaughan followed.
Eubanks saw Billett fire his gun at the officers, including Gaughan, according to the document. Eubanks and Phoebus shot back. "The suspect was struck and fell to the ground a short distance from where the shots were fired," the document states.
That was when the other officers figured out that Gaughan had been shot.
Detectives later found the gun used to kill Gaughan near where Billett fell, police said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062201564.html
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:16 AM
matt@lefande.com
Freed Australian apologizes to Bush
An Australian engineer held hostage in Iraq for nearly seven weeks arrived in his home country yesterday and apologized for his televised plea for coalition forces to withdraw from Iraq.
Douglas Wood, 64, who lives in Alamo, Calif., told reporters at Melbourne's airport that he supported the coalition forces' role in Iraq.
"Frankly, I'd like to apologize to both President Bush and Prime Minister [John] Howard for the things I said under duress," said Mr. Wood, with his American wife, Yvonne Given, and his brothers, Vernon and Malcolm, and their wives by his side.
"I actually believe that I am proof positive that the current policy of training the Iraqi army ... works because it was Iraqis that got me out," he said.
Iraqi and U.S. troops freed Mr. Wood during a search on Wednesday of a house in Baghdad. Insurgents had held him for ransom for 47 days.
Mr. Wood was abducted on April 30 when lured to what he thought was a business meeting. He had been working for more than a year in Iraq as a self-employed contractor.
A day later his captors released video images showing two masked figures pointing automatic weapons at Mr. Wood's head as he pleaded for U.S., British and Australian forces to pull out of Iraq.
Australia's top Islamic cleric, meanwhile, said the military operation to free Mr. Wood could have endangered the lives of two Iraqis still being held by the kidnappers.
"The stupid action that was taken last week has exposed the fathers of these families to death," Sheik Taj El Din al-Hilaly told reporters on his return from Baghdad, where he had tried to secure Mr. Wood's release. He said it was unlikely the Iraqi hostages would now be freed.
His comments, delivered in Arabic, were translated into English by his spokesman, Keysar Trad.
Australia sent a hostage-negotiation team with elite troops to Iraq to try to secure Mr. Wood's freedom. The government refused the kidnappers' demands that Australia withdraw its 1,400 troops from Iraq and pay a reported $19 million ransom.
Mr. Wood described his treatment at the hands of the kidnappers, who kicked him in the head and shaved off his hair, as "a bit intimidating." He said he sometimes feared for his life. He declined to discuss his captors, saying the ordeal was "too traumatic."
Mr. Howard welcomed Mr. Wood's apology, but said he had not sought it. "After what that poor man has been through, that would be the last thing I would want," Mr. Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20050620-115844-4630r.htm
posted by Matthew LeFande 8:07 AM
matt@lefande.com
D.C. Chief's Vehicle Snatched
Wanted: Stolen car. Make and model: Ford Crown Victoria. Owner: D.C. police department.
Reported stolen by: Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey.
So goes the saga of car theft in the District, where even the police chief's department-issued car can get swiped a block from his home.
"There is not a whole lot to add to it," Ramsey said. "The car was taken, and there was nothing of real value in it. Cars are getting stolen every day."
D.C. police officials said Ramsey's black unmarked car was stolen between Friday night and Sunday morning from a street in Southwest Washington. It had been left there Friday by a member of the force's motor pool so Ramsey would have it when he returned from a one-week trip to a counter-terrorism conference in Scotland.
Ramsey arrived home early Sunday. When he awoke to go to church later that morning, he couldn't find the black Crown Victoria, and he and his wife went to church in her personal car, he said.
The chief said initially he thought there was simply a misunderstanding about where the motor pool officer had left the car. But yesterday morning, after another fruitless search for the vehicle, he concluded that it had been stolen.
Police officials said they do not believe the thieves knew they were taking the police chief's car. No weapons were left in the Crown Victoria, but it was equipped with a police radio. Its trunk contained a large duffle bag filled with some of the chief's riot gear, police said.
Union officials said the chief should be investigated for leaving the gear unattended because officers would be disciplined in a similar situation, a claim that the chief denied.
"It's embarrassing," said Sgt. Gregory I. Greene, chairman of the D.C. police labor committee for Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1. "The chief is responsible for his own equipment."
D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), chairman of the council's Judiciary Committee, said the theft of Ramsey's unmarked car shows how serious the area's auto theft problem has become.
"People are going to say, 'If the chief's car is stolen, how do I know that my car is safe?' " Mendelson said. "This just points to the fact that lots of cars are stolen in the city."
A few hours after Ramsey reported the theft, investigators passed out fliers to commanders and other supervisors that described the missing Crown Victoria, which has District tags AL-6072. Although police do not distribute fliers for most stolen cars, investigators said they routinely do so when departmental vehicles are pinched.
Ramsey and other police officials said the theft of the car is not indicative of crime trends, which show auto theft dropping substantially in the city.
Through mid-June, police recorded 2,759 auto thefts, down 29 percent from the 3,880 tallied during the same period last year. In all of last year, 8,136 cars were stolen in the District -- a decrease of almost 15 percent from the 9,549 car thefts recorded in 2003, according to FBI statistics.
Ramsey is not the area's only top law enforcement official to have a car stolen in recent years. The van of Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey was stolen from in front of his house in 2002.
The county's auto theft rate has almost doubled in the past five years, with 18,485 cars reported stolen in 2004.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/20/AR2005062001003.html
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:31 AM
matt@lefande.com
Terror Expertise Not Priority at FBI
In sworn testimony that contrasts with their promises to the public, the FBI managers who crafted the post-Sept. 11 fight against terrorism say expertise about the Mideast or terrorism was not important in choosing the agents they promoted to top jobs.
And they still do not believe such experience is necessary today even as terrorist acts occur across the globe.
The FBI's current terror-fighting chief, Executive Assistant Director Gary Bald, said his first terrorism training came "on the job" when he moved to headquarters to oversee anti-terrorism strategy two years ago.
Asked about his grasp of Middle Eastern culture and history, Bald responded: "I wish that I had it. It would be nice."
"You need leadership. You don't need subject matter expertise," Bald testified in an ongoing FBI employment case. "It is certainly not what I look for in selecting an official for a position in a counterterrorism position."
In a development that has escaped public attention, FBI agent Bassem Youssef has questioned under oath many of the FBI's top leaders, including Director Robert Mueller and his predecessor, Louis Freeh, in an effort to show he was passed over for top terrorism jobs despite his expertise. Testimony from his lawsuit was recently sent to Congress.
Those who have held the bureau's top terrorism-fighting jobs since Sept. 11 often said in their testimony that they — and many they have promoted since — had no significant terrorism or Middle East experience. Some could not even explain the difference between Sunnis and Shiites, the two primary groups of Muslims.
"Probably the strongest leader I know in counterterrorism has no counterterrorism in his background," Bald insisted.
The hundreds of pages of testimony contrast with assurances Mueller repeatedly has given Congress that he was building a new FBI, from top to bottom, with experts able to stop terrorist attacks before they occurred, not solve them afterward.
"The FBI's shift toward terrorism prevention necessitates the building of a national level expertise and body of knowledge," Mueller told Congress a year after the suicide hijackings, as lawmakers approved billions of new dollars to fight terrorism.
Despite the testimony of its managers, the FBI said it has fundamentally reshaped itself to ensure the field agents on the ground who work the cases have the necessary skills, training and background for fighting terrorism. It noted it hired or redeployed more than 1,000 agents to counterterrorism and hired an additional 1,200 intelligence analysts and linguists.
"We fundamentally changed the criteria for hiring special agents and intelligence analysts to ensure that we get the critical skills, knowledge and experience we need to address today's threats," said Assistant Director Cassandra Chandler.
"New agents receive personalized training from Muslim leaders. Street agents and managers in every field office have gotten to know the Middle Eastern and Muslim communities in their territories and regularly attend training sessions sponsored by community leaders," she said.
Daniel Byman, a national security expert who worked on both congressional and presidential investigations of terrorism and intelligence failures, reviewed the Youssef case for the court. Byman concluded the spurned agent is one of the government's most-skilled terrorism fighters and that the FBI overall remains weak in expertise on the Middle East, terrorism and intelligence liaison.
"Many of its officers — including those quite skilled in other aspects of the bureau's work, lack the skills to work with foreign governments or even their U.S. counterparts," Byman concluded.
"Knowing about counterterrorism would help a supervisor ensure a proper investigation and avoid missing important aspects of the case," he said.
Dale Watson, the FBI's terrorism chief in the two years after Sept. 11, 2001, testified he could not recall a single meeting in the aftermath of Sept. 11 in which FBI leaders discussed the type of skills or training needed for counterterrorism.
Youssef's lawyer, Steve Kohn, pressed further.
"What skill sets would they need to better identify, penetrate and/or prevent a future Osama bin Laden-style terrorist attack?" Kohn asked.
Watson answered: "They would need to understand the attorney general guidelines for counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigation."
"Anything else?" the lawyer inquired.
"No," Watson answered.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/06/19/national/w072246D97.DTL#sfgatesfgate
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:53 AM
matt@lefande.com
Golden Retriever Summoned to Court
Murphy is awaiting his day in court. The question is whether court is ready for him. Murphy is a 3-year-old golden retriever who received a summons last week to appear in Newton, Mass District Court to answer a complaint that he was walked without a leash — at least twice — and was not up to date on his dog license.
Actually, it wasn't Murphy but his owner, Steven Dean, who was supposed to get the summons.
"He can't read, so I signed it on his behalf, requesting a hearing," Dean told The MetroWest Daily News of Framingham. "I don't even know if they'll let him into the courthouse."
Newton police fined Murphy $25 for not having a leash, and $25 for not being licensed when Animal Control Officer John O'Connell stopped Murphy and his master June 3.
Court Magistrate Henry Shultz said in his 35 years at the Newton District Court, he has never heard of a dog receiving a ticket.
"I think Murphy's the first offender," he said Monday. "We've had people bring their dogs into the courthouse, but not like this."
"What are we going to do if Murphy appeals to a higher court?" he added.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050615/ap_on_fe_st/dogged_defendant;_ylt=AsfziPRxo0ExptqUwTcgqxMsQE4F;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
posted by Matthew LeFande 9:10 AM
matt@lefande.com
Durbin Supports the Troops
Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, took the Senate floor yesterday and likened American servicemen to Nazis (link in PDF):
"When you read some of the graphic descriptions of what has occurred here [at Guantanamo Bay]--I almost hesitate to put them in the [Congressional] Record, and yet they have to be added to this debate. Let me read to you what one FBI agent saw. And I quote from his report:
On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold. . . . On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.
If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime--Pol Pot or others--that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners."
We are fighting an enemy that murdered 3,000 innocent people on American soil 3 1/2 years ago and would murder millions more if given the chance--and according to Dick Durbin, our soldiers are the Nazis because we aren't being nice to the captured enemy combatants.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/#nazis#nazis
Link to .pdf of Durbin comments in Congressional Record:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2005_record&page=S6594&position=all
posted by Matthew LeFande 8:12 AM
matt@lefande.com
Help wanted on U Street
Kamal Jahanbein stood in the blazing sun outside his restaurant on U Street NW last week, pointing up to a broken window on the building's third story.
"They hung from the roof by a cable," said Mr. Jahanbein, owner the Saloon Bar and Restaurant. "They were using it as a rope to hang over and break in and enter the building."
Mr. Jahanbein was describing a May 24 burglary -- one of three at his restaurant since April and one of about a dozen that have befallen merchants in the U Street corridor in the past two months, said Dee Hunter, an advisory neighborhood commission chairman for the area.
The burglaries have cost Mr. Jahanbein about $4,000 and irked him enough to place signs in the restaurant's windows inviting Mayor Anthony A. Williams, police Chief Charles H. Ramsey and D.C. Council members to discuss the situation over a beer.
So far, none has sent an RSVP.
"That sign is not gonna go down until one of those guys comes here," Mr. Jahanbein said. "I'm not interested in criticizing. I'm interested in the solution."
The story is the same up and down U Street, once known as "Black Broadway" -- a favorite hangout for musical legends Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and hometown hero Duke Ellington. Rioting after the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968 paved the way for crime to sweep through the corridor.
Now, after real-estate values have nearly quadrupled and ushered in an era of revitalization, merchants along the strip want to stop a new crime wave before it starts.
"I get frustrated," said Ibrahim Aden, a co-owner of Cafe Nema at 1334 U St. NW, which has been hit by burglars and vandals at least three times recently. "It's discouraging because when you're trying to work, you have many fronts to deal with, and then you have useless people that hurt the business."
Thieves have stolen the cafe's sound system and liquor and spray-painted its front windows. Mr. Aden said he and his co-owner, Harbi Duhel, put flower stickers up in the window to cover up the paint's remnants.
Many merchants said police are present in the area, but there is no bond between the officers and the community. Mr. Aden said officers used to make their presence known by stopping by businesses and restaurants.
"Before, some hung out, and you knew them by name," he said. "There's no community connection. That's what's missing."
Addie Green, who owns the Islander Caribbean Restaurant, said thieves tried to break in through her roof June 6. Multiple alarms thwarted their efforts, but she said police presence still needs to be increased.
"What they need is foot traffic -- people can run faster than you can park your bike," she said.
Mr. Hunter said business burglaries are not the only problems in the area. He said that employees of restaurants have been robbed while going to work and that patrons of restaurants have been carjacked.
"We clearly need more police protection," he said. "I really feel the police are dealing with this in a lackluster manner, and it needs to be afforded the same kind of reaction as if it were happening in Georgetown or Dupont Circle."
Representatives from the mayor's office have helped to organize a joint public meeting -- tonight at 8 at the True Reformer Building at 1200 U St. NW -- for police officers, merchants and homeowners.
Vincent Morris, a spokesman for Mr. Williams, said officers will discuss plans to address the burglaries at the meeting.
"The goal is to reassure the residents that there is a big presence there," he said. "They know this is an issue, and they're concerned."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20050614-121255-2591r.htm
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:45 PM
matt@lefande.com
Rebukes Prompt Taxi Inspector To Resign Post
John Hoffman had been assaulted, run over, kidnapped and dragged by fleeing cabs since becoming Montgomery County's first taxicab inspector in 2000.
Nicknamed by some the "Dirty Harry of Taxicab Inspectors," Hoffman went undercover as a clueless tourist, set up sting operations and investigated problems ranging from sexual assaults to cabbies who didn't show up on time.
But Hoffman resigned in protest two weeks ago following repeated clashes with county leaders over his tactics for ferreting out unscrupulous and illegal taxi drivers, many of whom had come to fear him.
"It was getting more and more difficult to do my job," said Hoffman, 62, a retired police officer. "My feeling is they were trying to obstruct me in doing my job. . . . You either stand up for what you believe in or you quit."
Hoffman's departure, which comes as Montgomery is trying to beef up its inspection and enforcement of its 580 licensed taxis, stems from a broad dispute over how best to enforce the taxi code.
While police departments in many Virginia counties are charged with inspecting taxis, in Montgomery the job falls to a civilian. Hoffman, however, was never quite able to give up his old policing habits, and county officials all but branded him a renegade inspector.
"Mr. Hoffman's heart was in the right place, but he often crossed the line in the execution of his duties, putting himself and others at risk," county spokeswoman Esther Bowring said.
Over the years, Hoffman employed a number of controversial approaches to ensure that county laws governing taxis and their drivers were adhered to.
In 2000, Hoffman asked a pilot friend to fly over the headquarters of the county's dominant taxicab provider, Barwood Inc., to photograph its parking lot and gather evidence for a case.
In December 2004, his superiors were surprised to learn that Hoffman had started an investigation into allegations of Medicaid fraud dealing with taxi service, a probe officials say is far outside the realm of a taxi inspector's normal duties.
Last year, a limousine hit Hoffman after he refused to move from its path while he was writing the driver a citation. It was the second time he had been struck while standing in front of a cab or limousine to prevent it from moving.
The incident caused superiors to order him to "cease and desist in certain types of aggressive enforcement," according to personnel records supplied by Hoffman.
Hoffman, who was Chevy Chase Village's assistant police chief from 1990 until 1997, got into trouble again last month after he received a tip that a driver was selling drugs from his cab.
On May 14, unbeknownst to police or other county officials, Hoffman confronted the driver, who he said tried to flee on foot. Hoffman said he searched the cab and found "numerous plastic bags and packs of cigars he was loading up for blunts."
His actions didn't sit too well with his superiors, who said he should have left the matter to the police. He was reassigned to a desk job May 27 for violating the earlier order to avoid certain enforcement actions, according to the personnel documents.
Hoffman, who has been an outspoken critic of what he sees as a cozy relationship between county leaders and Barwood Inc. owner Lee Barnes, said he was doing what any good investigator would do.
"The cab code says you can't have drugs in their cabs, and I enforce the cab code," he said.
Hoffman's direct supervisor, Nancy Kutz, said she is not allowed to discuss personnel matters. But the taxi inspector "is not supposed to be a police officer," she said.
Rules and regulations are outlined in Montgomery's taxi code, such as the licensing of drivers and the requirement that all drivers maintain manifests, or passenger logs. Because of lax enforcement, the county hired Hoffman in 2000. The inspector can issue civil citations of up to $500 to drivers as well as recommend license revocations.
In the past three years, Hoffman wrote about 1,200 citations. This year, County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) sent him a letter praising his work ethic.
Hoffman resigned May 31, four days after being ordered to take a desk job, because he said the county wasn't committing the resources he needed to do his job.
After he was run over in 2000, Hoffman requested a radio that would allow him to communicate with police. He said the request was not granted.
In 2003, Hoffman instead relied on his cell phone to call police after he said he was kidnapped while trying to issue a citation to a driver in Montgomery who was licensed in the District. Instead of stopping the cab, Hoffman said, the driver raced at speeds reaching 68 mph toward the District, where the inspector would not have power.
Hoffman said he had pleaded unsuccessfully with officials to allow county police officers to assist him in enforcement and undercover operations. "They kept sending me out to do a job but never gave me the assistance, the coordination or the backing of the police," he said.
Last fall, the County Council and Duncan agreed to amend the county's taxicab regulations to increase competition and improve service. The changes included adding funds to hire a second taxicab inspector. Today, the county will begin soliciting applications for both positions.
Hoffman said he has been told that the county won't be hiring any more former police officers as taxi inspectors.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/12/AR2005061201258.html
posted by Matthew LeFande 2:41 AM
matt@lefande.com
A bloody chain saw merits border welcome
Gregory Despres arrived at the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at Calais, Maine, on April 25 carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood. U.S. customs agents confiscated the weapons and fingerprinted Despres.
Then they let him into the United States.
The next day, a gruesome scene was discovered in Despres' hometown of Minto, New Brunswick: The decapitated body of a 74-year-old country musician named Frederick Fulton was found on his kitchen floor. The man's head was in a pillow case under the kitchen table. His common-law wife was found fatally stabbed in a bedroom.
Despres, 22, immediately became a suspect because of a history of violence against his neighbors. He was arrested April 27 after police in Massachusetts saw him wandering down a highway in a sweatshirt with red and brown stains. He is now in jail in Massachusetts on murder charges, awaiting an extradition hearing next month.
How could a man toting what appeared to be a bloody chain saw be allowed into the country?
Bill Anthony, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said the Canadian-born man could not be detained because he is a naturalized U.S. citizen and was not wanted on any criminal charges on the day in question.
Mr. Anthony said Despres was questioned for two hours before being released.
During that time, he said, customs agents employed "every conceivable method" to check for warrants and determine whether Despres had broken any laws in trying to re-enter the country.
"Nobody asked us to detain him," Mr. Anthony said. "Being bizarre is not a reason to keep somebody out of this country or lock them up."
Mr. Anthony conceded that it "sounds stupid" that a man wielding what appeared to be a bloody chain saw could not be detained. But he added: "Our people don't have a crime lab up there. They can't look at a chain saw and decide if it's blood or rust or red paint."
On the same day Despres crossed the border, he was supposed to be in a Canadian court for sentencing on convictions of assaulting and threatening to kill Mr. Fulton's son-in-law, Frederick Mowat, in August.
Mr. Mowat told police that Despres had been bothering his father-in-law for the past month. When Mr. Mowat confronted him, Despres purportedly pulled a knife, pointed it at Mr. Mowat's chest and said he was "going to get you all."
Police think the dispute between the neighbors boiled over in the early morning hours of April 24. They charge that Despres broke into Mr. Fulton's home and killed him and 70-year-old Veronica Decarie.
Mr. Fulton's daughter found her father's body two days later. His car was later found in a gravel pit on a highway leading to the U.S. border. Despres apparently hitchhiked to the border crossing.
In state court the next day, Despres told a judge he was affiliated with NASA and on his way to a Marine Corps base in Kansas when arrested.
After the case was transferred to federal court, Despres' attorney, Michael Andrews, questioned whether his client is mentally competent.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050608-122827-2141r.htm
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:28 AM
matt@lefande.com
Ehrlich Decries State Police Use of Night Vision Gear to Spot Seat Belt Violators
A stealth experiment using night vision gear to catch drivers violating Maryland's seat belt law was shut down yesterday after Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. declared the tactics "government intrusion into private decision making."
Last week, as part of a national campaign to encourage drivers to wear seat belts, state troopers in Montgomery County borrowed gear from the Maryland National Guard. During a three-hour effort on Rockville Pike, the state police identified 111 unbuckled passengers or drivers, fined $25 each.
The operation, covered by local TV stations, set off complaints on talk radio the next day. It also caught the governor's attention.
"It caused a lot of anger to me when I found out about it," Ehrlich (R) said Saturday on WBAL-AM radio. "There is an issue with government intrusion into private decision making."
Yesterday, he directed the Maryland State Police to stop using the equipment for seat belt enforcement, although troopers said the program had ended last week.
The governor has opposed other recent efforts to clamp down on traffic violations for similar reasons. Ehrlich vetoed legislation two years ago to allow radar-activated speed cameras throughout the state and rejected a narrower bill last month that would have let Montgomery County install the cameras near schools and in residential neighborhoods.
"The governor has strong views on Big Brother tactics," spokeswoman Shareese N. DeLeaver said. "The governor feels there is an appropriate use of the night vision goggles, however, he does not believe seat belt enforcement rises to that level."
State Sen. Ida G. Ruben (D-Montgomery), who sponsored the seat belt law in 1997, called the governor's decision to discontinue to the use of the night vision devices "absolutely wrong."
"The police are trying to prevent accidents from happening where someone could be killed, rather than saved," she said.
Deploying the night vision equipment, she said, is the equivalent of setting a speed trap. "They are hiding on side streets to prevent people from speeding," Ruben said. "What's the difference?"
A spokesman for Col. Thomas E. Hutchins, the state police superintendent, who is an appointee of the governor, said the equipment had been returned to the National Guard.
"It was tried that one time and won't be tried again,'' state police spokesman Greg Shipley said.
The use of the night vision equipment -- a six- to eight-inch hand-held device with a single eyepiece -- reignited debate about the state's seat belt law. In Maryland last year, 49 percent of the 643 people who died in traffic collisions were not wearing a seat belt.
Gregory Massoni, Ehrlich's press secretary, said the governor always wears a seat belt and encourages other drivers to do so. But he said Ehrlich opposes the state law that allows police to ticket unbuckled drivers absent another traffic violation.
Maryland is one of 21 states, plus the District, that have what is known as "primary enforcement" of seat belt laws.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/06/AR2005060601865.html
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:54 AM
matt@lefande.com
H&K - Accuracy, Reliability - No Compromise
This is what happens when you get a bunch of Madison Avenue types to do your advertising...
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:16 AM
matt@lefande.com
