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Image: Tony Talbot/AP
Look closely. See it?
The "pig" in the cow logo was added by a Vermont prison inmate who makes the decals for the state police cruisers:
According to the Burlington Free Press, who originally reported the story, Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn said the disclosure of the incident made him chuckle.
"This is not as offensive as it would have been years ago. We can see the humor," Flynn said.
He said the artist has talents that could be used elsewhere. "If that person had used some of that creativeness he or she would not have ended up inside."
Photo: Sergey Teplyakov/vkontakte
Russian police does not take kindly to protests, even those carried out by toys and dolls:
Police in the Siberian city of Barnaul have asked prosecutors to investigate the legality of a recent protest that saw dozens of small dolls – teddy bears, Lego men, South Park figurines – arranged to mimic a protest, complete with signs reading: "I'm for clean elections" and "A thief should sit in jail, not in the Kremlin".
"Political opposition forces are using new technologies to carry out public events – using toys with placards at mini-protests," Andrei Mulintsev, the city's deputy police chief, said at a press conference this week, according to local media. "In our opinion, this is still an unsanctioned public event."
Link - via Metafilter
If Occupy Wall Street was more like this, there certainly wouldn’t be so many fights between the protestors and the police.
Via Cute Overload
A $44,500 ticket is pretty outrageous, but it’s really bad when you consider that the citation claims the violation lasted for over 1,800 years. That’s right, it claims the person parked in their spot over 1,650 years before cars were invented.
How did that happen? The ticket was supposed to be dated back to 2008, but the officer missed one of those critical zeros, dating the ticket 208. Whoops! Since then everything has been fixed and the guilty party was happy to pay his 100 Euro fine.
Link Via The Consumerist Image Via Superchou [Flickr]
Artist He Xiangyu created a life-sized sculpture of activist Ai Weiwei lying face down as though he were dead. While it’s a great work of art with a powerful message, you can be certain that the police in Bad Ems, the German town that plays home to the gallery where the exhibit is shown, are not huge fans of the sculpture. That’s because multiple people have called the police to report the “dead body.”
Have you ever watched a police lineup on TV and wondered how real-life detectives manage to find so many similar-looking potential perps in a hurry? Sometimes they round up police officers or department employees, or friends of friends. But in New York, they sometimes call Robert Weston, police lineup casting director. It’s an odd job, but somebody’s got to do it.
Mr. Weston says he is always on call; his Bluetooth earpiece comes off in public only when he goes to the barber for his weekly $16 trim. His cellphone, he says, holds the numbers of some 100 potential lineup fillers, mostly friends and acquaintances from the Mill Brook Houses, the public housing project in the South Bronx where he has lived most of his life.
He often complains about how people hound him for the chance to make a few dollars through lineup work.
“I can’t even play basketball on the courts or sit here and drink a beer,” Mr. Weston said on a recent afternoon. “People are always asking me if there is a lineup.”
Fillers are paid $10 for a local lineup in the Bronx. For each lineup that Mr. Weston fills in the Bronx, he receives $10; he gets more if he sits in as a filler or if his services are required in another borough.
Read how he builds a lineup at the New York Times. Link -via Breakfast Links
(Image credit: The Bronx District Attorney)
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Justin Lee of Auckland, New Zealand, received a speeding ticket in the mail in 2004. He noticed a typo in the facts that stated the offense took place in 1974. Since that was a long time ago, he asked his mother for his alibi details. Then Justin wrote back to let the police know exactly where he was on June 23rd, 1974.
Firstly, the ‘date of offence’ is listed as the 23rd of June 1974 with the time being at or around half past six in the evening. This is of grave concern to me because I was not issued a drivers license until sometime in 1990 and I have no desire to be charged with driving while not legally licensed. I do not have a clear recollection of very much at all before I was three and a half years old, so I rang Mum to see if she remembered what I was doing that day. She said that – coincidentally – I was born that day!!
Mum mentioned that I was born at around five o’clock in the evening on that day in Porirua, which is not far from Wellington. She also said Porirua was a bustling suburb of young, low-income people who were trying to get ahead. Back in the 70′s, people were coming to terms with oil shocks, high-inflation and wage freezes, but that’s not important right now.
There’s more to his entertaining letter. And how did this episode turn out? Find out the final disposition of the case at Letters of Note. Link
A series of thefts has been solved at the Toledo Police Memorial Garden. Officers had noticed small flags went missing over several days, but found no clue as to the identity of the perpetrator. On Wednesday, two policemen saw who was doing it. One of them snapped a picture of a squirrel in the act of grabbing a flag and a pink flower from the garden! The squirrel fled the scene and took the loot to his nest, which was discovered to be already festooned with stolen flags. No arrest were made, and the suspect is still at large. Link -via Arbroath
(Image credit: Toledo Police Lieutenant James Brown)
Danger Room has photographs of what many of us would call costumes, but are actually regulation military or semi-military uniforms of various units from around the world. Pictured are Korean Honor Guards.
These South Korean Honor Guards proudly don Crayola Crayon-inspired outfits, complete with trumpets and peacock feathers, at the Honor Guard Ceremony in the War Memorial of Korea. In the summertime, these ceremonies are held every Friday and Saturday.
You might also notice how the US Army’s technical innovations make soldiers of the future look more and more like characters from a video game. Although the word “silly” is certainly in the eye of the beholder (but really, peacock feathers?) most of these would qualify. Personally, I think the Italian police uniforms are sharp. Link -via the Presurfer
(Image credit: US Army Korea)
In
Philip K. Dick's sci-fi novel The
Minority Report (which was later made into the blockbuster
movie starring Tom Cruise), Precrime officers apprehend would-be criminals
before they can commit crimes.
Well, it turns out that the Santa Cruz police department has a similar program. No, they don't utilize mutant precogs, instead they have something even cooler: a computer program that can predict when and where crimes will occur.
... Santa Cruz’s method is more sophisticated than most. Based on models for predicting aftershocks from earthquakes, it generates projections about which areas and windows of time are at highest risk for future crimes by analyzing and detecting patterns in years of past crime data. The projections are recalibrated daily, as new crimes occur and updated data is fed into the program.
On the day the women were arrested, for example, the program identified the approximately one-square-block area where the parking garage is situated as one of the highest-risk locations for car burglaries.
Erica Goode of The New York Times reports: Link (Photo: Jim Wilson/The NY Times)
Police in Forth Worth, Texas, chased a shirtless man driving a stolen forklift through city streets. The forklift had been taken from a construction site.
A witness videotaped the chase and then posted it to YouTube. He and his roommate had stopped for gas on University Drive when they saw the forklift go by.
Nathan Lowery said he was stunned as he watched the shirtless suspect raise and lower the forks. It looked like the man was trying to antagonize police, he said.
“When we passed him, the guy was standing up chugging a beer and threw it at the cop car behind him,” Lowery said.
Timothy Raines was eventually arrested on the interstate highway. Link (with videos) -via Arbroath
Scott and Tina Robbins called 911 after hearing a crash in the street outside their home in Salem, Indiana. A truck had hit a tree so hard that the vehicle appeared to be wrapped around it. The truck was driven by John Newcomb, a Seymour, Indiana police officer.
“He was sitting on the wall out of the vehicle, holding his head,” said Mrs. Robbins. But that wasn’t the only thing that stood out to the Robbins, it was the trailer Newcomb was pulling.
“It said DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) and Seymour Police Department- which made me think he was a police officer,” said Mr. Robbins.
Not only a police officer, but according to the Seymour Police Department website, he is the School Resource Officer, responsible for seven schools, acting as a mentor and providing students with a role model. It even states that he conducts lectures on narcotics and alcohol and their effects on driving.
“He’s not setting a good example for kids that see this,” said Mr. Robbins.
Newcomb said he crashed because a dog in the vehicle distracted him. He was taken to the Washington County Jail. Link -via Fark
Kids selling lemonade on a street corner is a classic American icon, but according to Georgia State Police, it’s actually against the law. Cops recently busted two tweens for selling without a business permit and a food vendor’s license. According to the police chief, the city won’t be backing down soon:
“We were not aware of how the lemonade was made, who made the lemonade, of what the lemonade was made with, so we acted accordingly by city ordinance.”
Who knew lemonade could be so dangerous to the public health?
Link Via Consumerist Image Via ChocoladeHam [Flickr]
Police in Timaru, New Zealand, pulled over a 15-year-old on State Highway 1 near Pareora and gave him a breathalyzer test. The unnamed driver registered three times the legal alcohol limit for teenage drivers. He was taken to the police station, where his mother was summoned to retrieve him.
She was subsequently stopped and arrested for drink-driving on Craigie Ave at about 2.14am, after blowing 776 mcg, nearly twice the adult limit of 400.
But it wasn’t over there.
The woman then rang her partner to come and pick them both up. He was stopped and arrested on North St at about 3am, when he blew 559mcg.
Supposedly the family was reunited -in jail. Link -via Arbroath
Remote cameras controlled by the traffic management center catch a family of Canada geese walking down I-90 near Seattle. They have a retinue of Washington State Troopers ensuring their safety. -via The Daily What
Move out of the way, police dogs! German police have a new best friend–the vulture. A team of three carrion-seeking birds have been trained to help officers find bodies. The only hitch is that the birds tend to peck at their finds. Um, yeah. That could be a problem.
Named Sherlock, Miss Marple and Colombo, the three vultures all have keen eyesight and an acute sense of smell. The idea is that birds could do a better job in handling rough terrain and scanning larger areas. Which is great and all but I hope the police remember that vultures are scavengers. So don’t be surprised if a body is missing a couple eyeballs and has more flesh wounds than it should because of the vultures.
Two
women got into a drunken argument after a night's drinking at the bar,
and decided that the only logical way to find out who's right is to let
the police decide:
Troopers said one of the drivers called authorities to report a dispute with another motorist about 8:15 a.m. The driver who called in then decided to drive to the district headquarters, and the other driver followed.
Troopers were waiting in the parking lot to speak to the drivers, according to Trooper Mike Link, a spokesman for the state police. The troopers found the two had been out drinking all night and were under the influence of alcohol.
Link said he isn't sure what the women were arguing about, but it started in a bar and was taken outside. The women didn't know each other, Link said. [...]
"We prefer that people stay off the roads altogether after drinking too much," Capt. Brad Parsons, the district commander for the state police, said in a statement. "But if you decide you don't want to stay off the roads, our second choice would be for you to drive to our headquarters and turn yourself in."
You’d think that being a Police Chief means that you can do police things. Like making an arrest, for instance. But you’d be wrong – at least according to the police union.
Here’s the strange tale of how Scranton, Pennsylvania, Police Chief Dan Duffy got into trouble for making a drug arrest:
The Scranton police union has filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the city for an off-duty drug arrest made by Police Chief Dan Duffy in March.
The complaint, which was filed with the state Labor Relations Board on April 14, takes issue with the chief arresting a man who was allegedly in possession of marijuana because the chief is not a member of the collective bargaining unit and was "off duty" when the March 20 arrest was made.
"I think it’s absurd. I’m not going to turn my head on crime that takes place," Chief Duffy said. "I took the same oath (as a police officer) that everyone else took.
"On my day off and I’m driving around as the police chief, and that’s wrong?" he asked.
The complaint states that "the work of apprehending and arresting individuals has been the sole and exclusive province of members of the bargaining unit," and that the city did not inform or negotiate with the union that the chief would be "performing bargaining unit work."
Sheriff’s deputies in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma noticed damaged wiring in their cruisers for weeks before finding out who the perpetrator is. Spokesman Mark Myer said the culprit is a squirrel who approaches the vehicles by a tree that hangs over the parked cars. Animal control officers have set traps, but so far the suspect has not been captured. Link -via Arbroath
Just when you think a Twitter feed is run by machines, something happens to remind you that a real person with a real sense of humor is on duty. The Boston Police Department assures us that they aren’t holding back pertinent information. -via Breakfast Links
You Tube Link
When Florida Police Officer Glenn Eppler came upon a group of ducklings in danger he didn’t just keep driving. He stopped traffic and saved the ducklings.
“This job, you never know what you’re going to see,” Eppler tells WINK News. “I saw the baby ducks and thought of my daughter. She loves ducks. She’s ten and I could hear her in my ear saying, ‘get out and save those ducks.’”
The Officer’s dash-cam caught the whole thing on tape.
Catching ducklings is no easy task. Lucky for the Officer a witness joined in and helped.
An estimated 500 to 600 drug traffickers were hiding in the Complexo do Alemão area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Over several days last week, shootouts between police and gang members left at least 42 people dead and residents terrified. The Big Picture Blog has 40 photographs from the raids. Some may be disturbing. Link -via Metafilter
(Image credit: REUTERS/Sergio Moraes)
Is that a Japanese Special Forces troop covertly monitoring nefarious terrorist activity? Well, not exactly. It’s all about catching illegal trash dumpers:
When they find an illegal dumping site, they send a stakeout team to watch the spot so that anyone who tries to dump again in the same place will be caught in the act. Because the dumping takes place in wooded mountainous areas, the cops wear camouflage and sneak around like commandos. [...]
The police stakeout shown in the video drags on for 88 days until they finally arrest one man who is dumping a small load of trash.
Japan Probe has the video clip: Link [embedded Daily Motion, in Japanese, but you'll get the gist]
A routine call turned out to be something straight out of Keystone Kops for two Cornwall policemen. It all started with a report of disturbance …
Police constable Jason Mepham was responding to a disturbance call in Redruth last month when things took a turn for the slapstick.
The officer, confronted by Jason King, whipped out his pepper spray and doused the suspect. Then a second blast blew back into the cop’s eyes, temporarily blinding him, according to The Independent. A second officer grabbed King, but another perp at the scene punched Mepham in the face, dislocating his jaw.
The other officer released King and fired his Taser at the new assailant. One of the electrodes hit the perp, but the other struck Mepham. Mepham collapsed and King allegedly kicked him in the face — strangely relocating the cop’s jaw.
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If you are going to help yourself to a five-finger discount, the worst of all possible times to do it would be during the “Shop with a Cop” event. But that’s exactly what happened Wednesday in Clackamas, Oregon. Portland police were at Fred Meyer to help children shop for back-to-school items when security personnel caught 20-year-old Shane Alexander and 30-year-old Jason Vantress allegedly filling their backpacks with store merchandise.
“They were a little freaked out when they saw all the cops at first, but then decided the police would be too distracted, helping kids to notice them,” said police Spokesman Pete Simpson.
Police officers assisted security in making the arrests.
Otherwise, the back-to-school event was a big success. Link -via Fark
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Last night, author Jami Attenberg returned to the place where she locked her bike and found it gone.
I didn’t cry but I jutted my lower lip out the entire way home. It was a genuine sad face. I tried to stop the sad face but I could not. I really love my yellow bike, and it is summer and riding your bike is the best, and also it is my main form of transportation around town. I didn’t know how I was going to be able to afford a new one, and seriously, I was super bummed. It is a material object, yes, and it can be replaced, but it’s MY BIKE AND I LOVE IT.
I sad-faced myself to sleep.
This morning I woke up around 9 AM and checked Craigslist to see if there were any reasonably priced bikes on there and lo and behold, there was a picture of my bike for sale for $75. They even had a picture of the scratches.
The story gets exciting from that point. Her friend did some detective work, and the police set up a sting operation. Then she had to meet the guy who had her bike. It sounds like a television show that wraps up in an hour, and it all happened just today. Link -via Buzzfeed
Sharing your chicken nuggets during school lunchtime? I’ve got two words for you: LAW BREAKER!
Adam was accused of stealing chicken nuggets from a $2.60 meal. Those are the nuggets his friend, Gakaree Garner, gave to him. Garner says, "Although that month I was fasting so I couldn’t eat meat, and we had chicken nuggets that day."
Garner gave the nuggets to Adam, who got in the lunch line to get some sauce for them. According to Garner and the police report the cafeteria cashier told the Assistant Principal Adam stole the chicken nuggets. The Assistant Principal then told the police officer in the school, who called a squad car. Garner says, "They actually put him in handcuffs, and actually tried to force him into the car."
Ava Hernandez says, "They were like, ‘Well do you know that friend receives federally free lunch?’, and I said, ‘I do now.’, and they said, ‘Well, it’s illegal to share a free lunch so either way Adam was breaking the law’."
Stupid: Robbing a Starbucks
Stupider: Cutting in line to rob a Starbucks
Even more stupider: the people you cut are police officers.
Neatorama-worthy: IN UNIFORM!
According to police, a short time later the officers were inside the coffee shop ordering at the till when the man they had spoken with outside walked directly up to the till, threw a drink at the employee and demanded cash.
"[The officers] looked at each other in astonishment that someone would attempt that with two uniform officers in the room," Sgt. Bruce Carrie told ctvbc.ca.
Link – via The Consumerist
Plattsburg, Missouri police officer Nick Shepherd responded to a call for help involving a dog stuck in a fence. The wire was twisted, and Shepherd cut the fencing to free the dog. He then tried to capture the dog. What happened next makes it worth sitting through the jumpy footage from Shepherd’s automatic camera. Link -via Buzzfeed
German police have trained “Sherlock”, a vulture, to hunt for dead bodies in remote locations:
Birds generally rely mostly on sight to locate their supper. But vultures like Sherlock have a keen sense of smell and are able to detect the scent of rotting flesh from 1,000 metres (3,000 feet) up in the air.
He can even find remains in woodland or in thick undergrowth. And unlike sniffer dogs, who need regular breaks, Sherlock is indefatigable and can cover vast tracts of land.[...]
The bird, whose is more at home soaring over South America’s Andes or the Atacama Desert than northern Germany’s Lueneburg Heath, is being taught by trainer German Alonso to love the putrid smell of dead human flesh.
Every day Alonso puts pieces of meat in small cups, on top of a strip of cloth — provided by the police — that has been used to cover a corpse. Sherlock’s mission is to locate these tasty morsels.
Link via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo: AFP
