Website and automated forms processes, Copyright
2007, Matthew August LeFande.
All
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 State Police testing new cars
Trooper Tom Cashin's new 340-horsepower Dodge Charger has been drawing quite a few stares.
That might be expected for a vehicle that hasn't traditionally been used as a police cruiser. But Cashin didn't foresee the car's head-turning public appeal, nor the remarks he got from one young admirer.
"Man, it would be an honor to be stopped by you," one teen recently gushed after he and a friend snapped pictures of Cashin's muscle sedan at an Interstate 64 rest stop.
Cashin laughed, telling the teen, "I don't think you'd feel the same way if you got a ticket."
Equipped with a souped-up, 5.7-liter hemi V-8 engine and customized 18-inch wheels, the Charger has made a noticeable impression during its first weeks on the road, Cashin said. Many other drivers do a double-take.
"When they see it, they stare," he said. "And you can see them turn their head almost all the way over as they're looking -- just to see the car as they drive by. I've seen people almost run off the road."
Officers say the new cars are easier to maneuver and more comfortable than other cruisers.
Virginia State Police have purchased 32 of the vehicles for about $21,000 apiece as part of a pilot program to add a new breed of car to their fleet. The cars will be used for traffic enforcement across the state.
"For some years now, Ford has been talking about getting out of the business of producing police package vehicles," state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said. "So we have sought out over the past few years other police package vehicles, [such as] Chevy Impalas and Dodge Intrepids."
State police are testing the Chargers, Geller said, to "see if this a viable option for us to order for an entire class."
Cashin, who works in New Kent County, received the department's first Charger about three weeks ago. He designed the vehicle's sleek new graphics, which are being added to every Charger.
Fourteen of the vehicles are on the road in several areas of the state, including Richmond, Culpeper, Appomattox, Wytheville, Chesapeake, Salem and Fairfax. The balance is expected to be road-ready the first week of March.
Twelve of the cars are marked, 13 are unmarked and seven are "slick tops," meaning they are marked with state police logos but have no easy-to-spot emergency light bar on top.
It's faster than the department's standard cruisers, the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor and Chevrolet Impala. The Charger can go from zero to 60 mph in 6.0 seconds.
The Dodge Charger had a reputation 30 years ago as a menacing muscle car. But police agencies across the country are now buying up these newly redesigned cars for their power, superior technology and better gas mileage.
They were even designed to look mean: "The angled, dual headlamps are pushed up and back into the far corners of the Charger's face, creating a furrowed brow and a bit of a snarl," according to a description of the vehicle on DaimlerChrysler's Web site.
They cost about $1,500 more than the standard Crown Victoria, but officials believe the cars are worth it and will save money in the long run.
For example, the Chargers run on all eight cylinders when officers need the power -- such as in a pursuit situation -- but they automatically shift to four cylinders when the car is idling, saving a tremendous amount of gas.
To optimize the overall performance of the rear-wheel drive cars, the Chargers come with an electronic stability program, which helps officers maintain directional stability in any weather condition.
"You never feel the wheel slippage," said Cashin, who drove the car in sand during a test exercise. "It keeps accelerating, it doesn't lag, it doesn't slow down and you just make it through . . . without a problem."
At 340 horsepower, the Charger has 100 more horsepower than the department's other cruisers, and presumably has more capability to catch fleeing criminals and traffic scofflaws.
The car's top speed is listed as 150 mph, but Cashin said one colleague reached 155. Cashin has accelerated up to 140 mph, but it felt like 85 or 90, he said.
The North Carolina Highway Patrol has purchased more than 200 of the Chargers. Many other state police or highway patrol departments have purchased them in bulk or are experimenting with them, including agencies in Arkansas, Georgia, Maryland, Oregon, Illinois and Texas.
Aside from the car's power and stylish looks, the Chargers are more comfortable and user-friendly, police say. Many believe they handle better, brake better, and take corners and maneuver better. Their doors open wider, making it easier to get in and out of, which is important when you have a gun and other accessories on your belt.
"I call it the sport sedan, where your Crown Vic is your standard 'grocery-getter,'" Cashin said.
Officer envy was almost palpable when state police displayed one of the Chargers at the Virginia State Fair.
"We were joking . . . [that] we were going to start charging the other police departments that would come by to look . . . " Geller said, "for drooling all over our car."
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149193392108&path=!news&s=1045855934842
posted by Matthew LeFande 5:20 PM
matt@lefande.com
'Cops Will Cry' Graffiti Lists Police Officers' Names, Patrol Car Numbers
Police in Cocoa, Fla., are under heightened alert after death threats were painted on homes identifying officers by name and listing targeted patrol car numbers.
Authorities said the threatening messages covered homes in the Barbara Jenkins Public Housing Unit located on Fiske Boulevard.
The messages promised that "all cops will cry" and said "we got guns too."
"The fact that they mentioned that we all need to die and they have guns too, you can understand our response level will now be heightened," Cocoa police spokeswoman Barbara Jenkins.
"By printing the names of officers and their patrol car numbers, it is almost as if the thugs are declaring war," Local 6's Jessica Sanchez said.
"Our resistance to calls, our resistance to bad guys has just been raised a notch," Matthews said. "And we feel we have the right to do that because they have threatened our lives publicly and openly."
Officers said officers in the area have been shot at twice in the last six weeks.
Some residents said they are tired of the stigma that plagues their neighborhood.
"But, despite that attitude, no one bothered alerting police while the thugs took the time to knock down the fence and spend hours painting their messages and that upsets Cocoa police officers," Sanchez said.
"We're fighting to keep their streets clean and their streets safe, we're not doing it for ourselves, we're doing it for them," Matthews said. "And you can't pick up a phone and call us when this is happening? Shame on you."
http://www.local6.com/news/11103385/detail.html#
posted by Matthew LeFande 11:01 AM
matt@lefande.com
Cameras nab cops going to emergencies
Police officers responding to emergencies are flagged constantly by the automated red-light and speed cameras in the District, forcing them to waste hours getting the tickets dismissed in court, according to the Fraternal Order of Police.
"It's just an enormous waste of resources and an enormous waste of time," Kristopher Baumann, the D.C. union's chairman, told The Washington Times. "Officers have had to spend months writing letters and getting different approvals to show what they were doing."
The District has installed 49 red-light cameras and 10 speed cameras that take photographs of offenders' license plates and issue tickets that are sent through the mail. Twelve patrol cars are equipped with similar automated cameras.
Mr. Baumann said officers are captured by the cameras as many as 10 to 15 times a day. His union represents the Metropolitan Police Department's 3,400 officers, sergeants and detectives.
D.C. police Capt. Melvin Gresham said while officers sometimes get tickets while responding to a legitimate emergency, the cases are dismissed. He also said he hasn't received any complaints from officers about the tickets.
"We have had individual instances where officers on legitimate calls for emergency services were captured by photo red-light cameras, and as longas they can justify their actions, then more than likely the infraction will be dismissed," he said.
Still, officers must spend a considerable amount of time dealing with them, and there have been instances where officers have paid their tickets to avoid the hassle, Mr. Baumann said.
Officers must deal with the tickets either by mail or through court.
When trying to get the ticket dismissed by mail, an officer must write a letter saying that he or she was on duty at the time and obtain a letter from a commander, as well as get radio logs and other data that would prove they were responding to a legitimate emergency.
But some get called to court, where they must explain where they were and what they were doing at the time the cameras captured their vehicle.
"These are man hours that could be spent actually doing police work," Mr. Baumann said.
A member of the D.C. police department, who asked not to be identified, said he has been flagged by the speed cameras numerous times in the past two years. He thinks officers have been ticketed hundreds of times since the inception of the District's automated traffic-camera program in 1999.
The last time he received a ticket, he had to make an appointment with an adjudicator and show evidence that he was on an emergency call -- in this case, a traffic accident in Northwest.
"It's a waste of time and money," the department member said. "I'm on duty when I'm down there."
Other police departments in jurisdictions that have speed or red-light cameras have systems in place that don't require officers to go to court.
In Baltimore, officers usually have to spend a few minutes gathering the evidence necessary to get an automated ticket dismissed, a process which is done in-house if the officer has been determined not to be at fault, Baltimore city Fraternal Order of Police President Paul M. Blair Jr. said.
"We're still handling them administratively -- we're not making them go to court," he said. "If you know what day it was and what you were doing, and you have a plate number, it takes about five minutes to write [a report] out."
However, all Metropolitan Police Department officers who receive tickets in the District must deal with the courts. Mr. Baumann said an in-house system for dealing with tickets could eliminate much of the problem.
"What the department needs to be doing is circumventing this process up front," he said.
Mr. Baumann said he hopes to discuss the issue with interim D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier.
The union's concerns "have fallen on deaf ears," ever since the officers began getting tickets, he said.
The District's automated traffic-enforcement program has collected more than $129 million since 1999. The city's red-light cameras have generated more than $34 million, including $5.2 million last year.
The speed cameras have generated nearly $95 million in fines since they were added to the program in 2001, including a record $28.9 million last year.
http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20070223-104642-4853r.htm
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:56 AM
matt@lefande.com
Officer pulls motorist from vehicle two seconds before impact with tandem trailer
Newly released video shows how close several people came to death on Interstate 75 in Northern Kentucky Tuesday night.
Instead, everyone at the scene of the crashes walked away with minor injuries, or none at all.
The trouble started as falling temperatures on the wet highway began to turn the water to ice, and cars and trucks started sliding. Among those involved: Preston Chisoll. An officer was assisting him with his damaged car on Northbound 75 near 275 when another car slammed into the officer's cruiser.
The officer was away from the car, and the striking driver, Ashley Walker wasn't seriously hurt, but the impact spun the officer's car completely around, so it ends up facing oncoming traffic.
Another officer started yelling for Walker to get out of the way, and they hustled both civilians over a concrete barrier just in time to escape a semi hauling double trailers which hit Chisoll's car, pushing it into the police cruiser and Walker's car.
The crash spun the cruiser around again, so the last thing you see on the video is the truck sliding to a stop in the distance.
http://www.fox19.com/Global/story.asp?S=6090626
posted by Matthew LeFande 10:20 AM
matt@lefande.com
