Law EnforcementEight NY police officers charged for gun-smuggling

NYPD past and present officers arrested in gun-smuggling ring // Source: mouse.cl

Eight police officers in New York City were chargedon Tuesday for taking part in a gun-smuggling ring.

The men stand accused of using their experience and authority to help illegally transport guns, slot machines, cigarettes, and counterfeit goods across state lines.

According to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office, the street value of the illegal goods was more than $1 million.

Janice Fedarcyk, the FBI New York assistant director in charge, said the officers’ crimes undermined public trust in law enforcement.

“The public trusts the police not only to enforce the law, but to obey it,” she said.

Five of the officers were active-duty while two were active part of the time and all eight of them worked in Brooklyn, mostly in the same precinct.

Among the items the men are accused of smuggling are twenty firearms including three M-16 assault rifles, a shotgun, and sixteen handguns. Most of the weapons had their serial numbers altered or defaced to make them more difficult for law enforcement officials to trace when found.

The men were caught as part of a sting operation in New Jersey where an undercover law enforcement agent provided the weapons, which had been rendered inoperable by the FBI, to the police officers.

“The fact that the goods really weren’t stolen and the guns didn’t work doesn’t lessen culpability, especially for those who had sworn an oath to uphold the law,” said Raymond Kelly, New York City’s police commissioner.

A New Jersey corrections officer, a former officer with the NY Department of Sanitation Police, and two other men were also caught as part of the gun-smuggling ring and charged on Tuesday.

Codes: VII – 5, 10

Riot police clear Oakland of Occupy Wall Street protestors

Early Tuesday morning, police officers clad in riot-gear arrested seventy-five people in Oakland, California as they cleared city hall of Occupy Wall Street protestors; the protestors had been camped out in front of Oakland’s city hall for about two weeks, before hundreds of police officers and sheriff’s deputies from more than a dozen local law enforcement agencies descended upon them firing tear gas and beanbag launchers

Early Tuesday morning, police officers clad in riot-gear arrestedseventy-five people in Oakland, California as they cleared city hall of Occupy Wall Street protestors.

The protestors had been camped out in front of Oakland’s city hall for about two weeks, before hundreds of police officers and sheriff’s deputies from more than a dozen local law enforcement agencies descended upon them firing tear gas and beanbag launchers.

According to the authorities none of the roughly 170 protestors were injured, although some complained of rough handling by police.

“It was definitely chaos. People didn’t want to get gassed,” said Anthony Owens, a forty-year old computer programmer from Oakland who was there protesting when police arrived.

When word arrived that the police would be clearing the site, some protestors left while the remaining ones locked arms in defiance of the officers that had surrounded the plaza, said Owens.

Authorities said the plaza had been “contained” within half an hour, and a smaller encampment of protestors nearby had also been cleared.

Throughout Tuesday morning, police continued to maintain a heavy presence around downtown Oakland closing off streets with barricades and at least two helicopters hovering above. Protestors briefly blocked traffic on a busy thoroughfare and riot-police were seen squaring off with the group.

The protest comes as part of a growing movement sparked by anti-Wall Street activists who have been camped out in Lower Manhattan for more than a month. Protestors are troubled with the current state of the economy, the growing income disparity, and the state of the financial services industry.  The movement has attracted college students, recent graduates, and unemployed people from across the country.