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Teen fan tasered by Phillies security after running onto field during game
A 17-year old boy hopped onto the field in the eighth inning of a Phillies-Cardinals game; he fled security for a few seconds until a Philadelphia police officer fired a Taser gun at the boy from about 15-feet away, dropping him on the spot in left-center field
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Large U.S. companies allocate less money to executive security
The money spent on protecting senior executives in crime-ridden countries such as South Africa and Brazil, and in many Central American countries, is increasing every year; in these countries, targeting executives and their families for ransom is now a profitable industry; in the United States, however, the trend is in the other directions - companies pay less and less to protect their executives, evidence that executive-security is one perk corporate boards are scrutinizing more closely
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Going to South Africa for the World Cup? Stay low and keep out of the line of fire
The U.S. Department of State issues a travel advisory to Americans going to South Africa this summer for the World Cup; the Department’s discussion of crime in South Africa makes for a depressing reading; noting that “South Africa also has the highest incidence of reported rape in the world,” the Department advises victims of violent crime, especially women who were raped, “to seek immediate medical attention, including antiretroviral therapy against HIV/AIDS”
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BART police pull Tasers, will retrain officers in Taser use
A day after a sergeant fired the electric darts of his stun gun at a 13-year-old boy fleeing from police on his bicycle, the BART police instructed its police officers to surrender their Taser guns and report for retraining; the decision also comes after a recent federal court ruling that narrowed the circumstances under which police can use Tasers
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Documentary offers new insights into McVeigh's path to terrorism
MSNBC is airing ‘The McVeigh Tapes: Confessions of an American Terrorist,’ tonight at 9:99pm EST; the film draws on forty-five hours of never-before-released interview audiotapes recorded during McVeigh’s prison stay; the film reveals the bomber’s descriptions of the planning and execution of the horrific attack and offers insight into how a decorated American soldier became a dangerous, anti-government terrorist
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English Premier League soccer players advised to hire bodyguards
Players in the English Premier League should consider hiring private security guards to ensure the safety of themselves and their families, according to the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA); advise came after police received reports of players forced to pay protection money to gang members — often people the players knew when they were growing up
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Private security community find lucrative opportunities in Haiti
Debate intensifies over the deployment of private security companies to earthquake-ravaged Haiti; some see these companies as a welcome alternative to the traditionally brutal, corrupt, and ineffective local security forces; others argue that aid money should not be spent on hiring outside contractors but on building a better local security force
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Questions and answers on drug-related violence in Mexico
The security situation in Mexico is spiraling out of control; the drug cartels, heretofore content to kill members of rival cartels and the occasional local politician, have now dropped all restraint in their assault on the Mexican state; the cartels are now attacking the Mexican army directly, while no longer bothering to limit collateral damage to the civilian population; the Mexican government, in desperation, has deployed the army so extensively in its anti-drug campaign because it feels the police cannot be trusted; drug cartels with massive resources at their disposal have repeatedly managed to infiltrate the underpaid police, from the grassroots level to the very top; efforts are under way to rebuild the entire structure of the Mexican police force, but the process is expected to take years
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The FBI discusses the Sovereign Citizen Movement
The FBI is educating the American public about the threat of domestic terrorism; it has already provided information on its Web side about eco-terrorists and lone offenders, and in the latest installment it discusses the Sovereign Citizen Movement
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International companies in Mexico now target for cartel attacks
Until recently, few criminals dared to touch the factories and offices of the hundreds of multinational corporations — or maquilas — in Reynosa, Maxico; amid a violent three-way war among two cartels and the military, the maquilas are no longer untouched; none of the 140 maquiladoras in Reynosa’s eleven industrial parks have pulled out of the area, but many have developed exit strategies in case the violence does not abate
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Violence in Mexico increases sharply as a drug cartel coalition is trying to destroy Los Zetas
Drug-fueled triangle of death engulfs Rio Grande region; Mexico’s Gulf, La Familia, and Sinaloa drug cartels have formed an alliance in order to destroy Los Zetas — a group of mostly former and AWOL Mexican soldiers who began as a security and hit squad for the Gulf cartel, but last year broke from its employer
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Five full-body scanners to be used in Chile to catch drug traffickers
Chile is deploying full-body scanner at border crossing along its border with Peru to prevent drug smuggling; during a 1-year test period, two million people were scanned, and 51 kilograms of cocaine, carried by 42 different border-crossers, seized
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U.S. federal authorities fear surge of homegrown extremism
DHS officials and lawmakers have been warning for months that law enforcement agencies are unprepared to deal with what they say is a mounting threat. Experts note that Michigan, in particular, is vulnerable because of its growing number of anti-government militia groups and the attractiveness of its large Arab-American population to radical Muslim groups
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How do you quickly evacuate 70,000 sports fans from a stadium attacked by terrorists?
Sports fan do not like to stand in a slow moving, snaking line to get into a stadium for a big game; they do not like inching forward in a long, snaking line to get out of the stadium at the end of the game; imagine what would happen if a bomb were to explode, or a chemical agent released, in stadium packed with 70,000 spectators; DHS Science & Technology Directorate is working in a solution
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NYC takes extra measures to protect subway from terror
The New York City’s subway system is a porous, 24-hour-a-day system with 468 stations and an average of 5 million riders a day; NYC security officials insist the city remains the nation’s No. 1 terror target, and they devote extra resources to protecting Wall Street, the Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge. and other high-profile potential targets; their biggest worry — spurred by the recent bombing in Moscow and a foiled plot in New York — is the subway
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More headlines
The long view
What Can We Learn from the Nation’s Historic Decline in Murders?
The U.S. endured a spike in gun violence during the pandemic, but it’s subsiding in many places. A researcher puts the latest homicide statistics into context — and warns lawmakers not to become complacent.
Is Left-Wing Terrorism Making a Comeback in Germany? Analyzing the “Engel – Guntermann Network”
For Germany, the reemergence of more violence orientated left-wing extremist actors has diversified the threat posed by non-state actors even further. Violent left-wing extremism is also of growing concern across Europe. While left-wing violent extremism does not currently represent as acute a threat as currently manifested by jihadist and right-wing terrorist attacks, the recent concerning trend among German left-wing extremists is toward greater violence and transnationalism.