• NYPD issues strict guidelines for use of social media by officers

    The New York Police Department (NYPD) has issued strict guidelines for employees using social media, and ordered its employees to take a second look at their profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites to ensure they conform to the new rules. The NYPD follows other police departments around the country in insisting that police officers draw a clearer line between their private life, as reflected in their social media postings, and their official duties.

  • Spotting potential killers, rather than armed guards, would make schools safer: study

    Tragedies involving children, such as the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School, fuel outrage and calls for immediate action to prevent similar atrocities. Lawmakers are debating different gun control measures, while the National Rifle Association’s unveiled a plan – the National Shield School Proposal — which calls for placing armed guards at schools. Three criminal justice researchers argue that the NRA’s proposal is problematic, expensive, and would not be effective. The researchers say there is evidence to show that in the majority of school shootings, the assailant suffered from some type of mental health issue, dysfunctional family, problems at school, social isolation, and in some instances, bullying. The article authors suggest that it is these issues that are the root cause of these tragedies, and that in order to prevent school violence, society must address troubled youth.

  • Aryan Brotherhood suspected in Texas prosecutors killings

    The FBI and other law enforcement agencies believe the white supremacist group the Aryan Brotherhood could be behind the murders of a Texas district attorney and his wife last weekend, and the death of an assistant district attorney earlier this year.

  • Pervasive surveillance threatens privacy, gives power advantage to the watcher

    Surveillance is everywhere, from street corner cameras to the subject of books and movies. A researcher says that pervasive surveillance menaces our intellectual privacy and it gives the watcher a power advantage over the watched, which can be used for blackmail, persuasion, or discrimination.

  • FBI wants 1994 online surveillance law updated

    The FBI said the agency’s top priority this year is to update a surveillance law so authorities can monitor in real time Web activities of Americans suspected of committing crimes. The 1994 law, known as the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), applies to telecommunication companies, but only partially to Web-based companies.

  • Debate in California over reward money for killer’s finders

    Several donors in California have pulled back their portion of a $1 million reward which was offered for information leading to the capture and conviction of Christopher Dorner, who went on a 10-day shooting spree and killed four people, including Riverside police officer Michael Crain, earlier this year. The donors who pulled back their pledges say the criterion for the reward has not been met because Dorner killed himself. Those donors who have decided to pay up say it would be disingenuous not to honor the reward pledge.

  • DHS agent charged with sharing child porn

    A DHS agent was charged and arraigned in San Francisco on Tuesday for possessing child pornography. The large number of material prompted DHS Security to launch a lengthy investigation.

  • Pennsylvania Sheriff charged for making terrorist threats

    A Pennsylvania sheriff was arrested and charged Monday for threatening to chop off a Democratic campaign worker’s hands, shoot a reporter, and intimidate witnesses.

  • DHS denies plan for large ammunition buy

    DHS announcement that it was planning to buy 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the next five years was greeted with questions by some and a sense of alarm by others. Now DHS is explaining its move.

  • Police departments report difficulties buying ammo

    Local law enforcement agencies around the country are finding it hard to buy ammo these days. The shortage is in part due to gun owners stocking up on bullets due to concerns about new gun laws at the federal and state levels. DHS plan o buy 1.6 billion bullets only adds to the ammo shortage.

  • Gun manufacturer to leave Colorado after governor signs gun bill

    Colorado governor John Hickenlooper on Wednesday signed a state gun control bill which will expand background checks and limit ammunition magazine capacity. The measure is notable because Colorado has been considered a firearm-friendly state.

  • Alabama wants to teach you how to deal with active-shooter situations

    The Alabama Department of Homeland Security (ADHS) has paid for a series of billboards, informing the public there is a video on how to deal with an active shooter situation in a work place or other public settings.

  • Fighting gun restrictions on the international scene

    The National Rifle Association (NRA) has taken its campaign against measures aiming to tighten gun control to the international level. The organization has been leading a campaign fight a UN treaty designed to restrict the flow of arms to conflict zones. The treaty is likely to pass, but the NRA appears to have enough support in the Senate to prevent ratification.

  • Was Mexican border firefight killing 40 real?

    It would seem that drug violence only stops at the Mexican border in the imaginations of Washington politicians. On example: Mexican journalists, because of fear for their own lives and the safety of their families, are increasingly reluctant to cover drug cartels’ violence and mayhem. What has occurred in recent months is that American reporters located in American border cities also have stopped reporting on drug-related violence across the border for the same reasons as their Mexican counterparts.

  • Gun manufacturers take action against states which passed tough gun laws

    Gun manufacturers are starting to push back against strict gun laws in some states by refusing to sell their products to law enforcement agencies in these states, or to employees of these agencies. So far, more than 110 specialty manufacturers of firearms have joined the movement, which calls itself the Firearm Equality Movement.