Category: Recent Developments

Thirteen Philadelphia police officers have been suspended for 30 days “with intent to dismiss” following an investigation into hateful or racist social media content compiled by The Plain View Project, the city’s police commissioner announced on Thursday. Four additional officers with less offensive posts will receive a 30-day suspension, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross Jr. said at Thursday’s conference. The commissioner said the department will not be naming the…

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SAN LUIS OBISPO — A California police chief whose personal handgun was taken after she left it in a restaurant bathroom will be disciplined but will keep her job. The San Luis Obispo city manager says Police Chief Deanna Cantrell will have a one-time pay reduction of about $1,600, must undergo firearm safety training and must talk to all members of her department about the incident and lessons learned….

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PORTLAND, OR – A medical call last weekend for Portland Fire and Rescue is shedding light on staffing issues within the department. On Saturday, at Southeast 11th Avenue and Division Street, a woman was in a dire medical situation. Portland Fire and Rescue Lt. Craig Gault was one of two from Station 23 who responded to the call. “There’s a lot to do, a lot of notes need to…

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Detroit — Weeks before a white rookie Detroit police officer was fired last year for a racially insensitive Snapchat post, a black sergeant reposted an article on Facebook bearing the headline: “White Americans are the biggest terror threat in the United States.” The sergeant, who was assigned to the unit that investigates officers’ use of force, was transferred to another command but received no further punishment. Another officer in 2016 posted a Facebook…

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The recent revelation of a secret Facebook group that included current and former Customs and Border Protection personnel who made offensive posts about migrant deaths and lawmakers once again raises the specter of law enforcement officers on social media. In this case, it is alleged that members of the group, which included current and former members of the Border Patrol, posted content that at the least is unprofessional and may be…

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BOSTON — A proposal to develop a statewide code for the use of police body cameras, and to exempt their footage from public record, is meeting pushback from police groups and the state’s top records overseer. Rep. Denise Provost’s bill, which had a hearing Thursday before the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee, would create a task force to “develop regulations establishing a uniform code for the use of…

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SANDY — Another Utah community is considering a property tax hike to pay for police and firefighters — and in this case, it’s likely to win approval. Sandy has already tentatively approved a budget that contemplates a roughly 34% property tax hike to pay for five new police officers and seven new firefighters. The tax hike faces one last hurdle before it receives final approval: a truth-in-taxation hearing expected…

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CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — New Jersey passed a firefighter cancer bill Monday, joining 47 states who already passed the bill, and leaving South Carolina as one of only two states without this protection for firefighters. Roger Odachowski, president of the South Carolina Professional Firefighter Association, says that firefighters are not just saving lives, they are putting their own health at risk. These risks include inhaling carcinogens in smoke that can…

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The Minneapolis City Auditor is taking a closer look at the off-duty and part-time work schedules of Minneapolis Police Department officers. Minneapolis City Council Member Linea Palmisano told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS she supports the audit of the department’s part-time workload, especially after information which came to light during the trial of former officer Mohammed Noor. Noor shot and killed Justin Ruszczyk Damond in July 2017 after he already worked a seven-hour shift at a private…

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A Los Angeles jury on Tuesday upheld allegations of workplace harassment and retaliation against Beverly Hills Police Chief Sandra Spagnoli, marking the latest defeat in a string of lawsuits lobbed at the chief from inside her own agency. Beverly Hills Police Lts. Renato Moreno, Michael Foxen and Shan Davis and a civilian employee named Dona Norris were awarded $1.1 million after three days of deliberations by the jury, said…

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BANGOR, Maine — A simple Google search will pull up first responder jobs from Buxton to Fort Kent — but no one seems to know why. “Newer people considering getting into the field are really weighing the benefits of getting into police work, especially for a career, versus the compensation,” Bangor Police Sgt. Wade Betters said. “Years ago, there were three hundred people for one or two jobs. Now,…

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ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Fire Chief said paramedics are quitting at such a high rate, he can’t replace them quickly enough.  The department should have 55 paramedics. Right now they have 35, Chief Dennis Jenkerson said.  Between two and four paramedics are quitting each month, and he said there’s no one in line to replace them.  “We have nobody left to interview. There’s nobody even left on…

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Starting as a 911 dispatcher five years ago, Michael Sarti expected the long hours and demands of the job. After all, the Allegheny County’s emergency response system needs people to take calls and coordinate police, fire and medical crews at all hours — and Mr. Sarti said he has volunteered to work some extra hours beyond his 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. shift. But he was unprepared for what has…

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Administrators say the officer shortage is causing a domino effect throughout the department, and officers are having to put in more hours to make ends meet. Department administrators say they have 124 officers and to be fully staffed they’d need 129. They say they still need to hire five officers. They say the problem is, they’re 17 officers down on the roads currently because of training and vacancies. They…

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Before Donna Cheney and her late husband, Dave, took on the city of Gladstone, no Missouri municipality had ever been ordered to pay workers’ comp benefits to a firefighter who claimed that his or her cancer was job related. Firefighters contract certain forms of the disease at higher rates than the general population. But Missouri is one of only a dozen states where the burden has been on first responders to…

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New Jersey’s first responders to the Sept. 11 attacks gained new protections Monday after Gov. Phil Murphy signed a pair of bills into law.  In a ceremony in Jersey City, across from the site of the attacks, Murphy paid tribute to the two North Jersey firefighters for whom the measures were named and noted the “stark contrast between how we treat our 9/11 heroes in New Jersey” and how Congress…

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The typical cost for one weapon-mounted cam is about $800 over a five year period. That’s compared to a body cam, which would be about $10,000 per year Police body cameras are a big discussion for many police departments nationwide and the Salem, Ill. police have found a solution to the high cost of data storage. It’s gun camera, attached to officer’s service weapon, that activates whenever the gun is un-holstered. Salem Police Chief Sean…

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IDAHO FALLS — As of Monday, post-traumatic stress disorder is now covered by workman’s compensation for first responders. In the 2019 Idaho legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill making PTSD in first responders coverable by workman’s compensation. Governor Brad Little signed the bill into law on March 12. That law went into effect Monday. “It’s a good thing. When they start studying PTSD, and you look at some of our volunteers,…

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JULIAN, N.C. — The former Julian fire chief is addressing his resignation following controversial comments made by his firefighter son on social media. Jeff Folwell told FOX8 his son’s comments were taken out of context and do not reflect who he is. “Basically, I hate that this has happened. The views that were expressed on Facebook are not my views nor were they the views when I was chief…

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Portland City Manager Jon Jennings ordered a brick bearing his name to be removed from the site of a memorial to fallen firefighters, amid an ongoing feud over the city budget. Jennings said in a radio interview Wednesday morning that his order was given to the fire chief in response to a “political campaign” waged by the union in opposition to a budget proposal to decommission a fire engine…

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Mills residents are again calling for Mayor Seth Coleman’s resignation over decisions about the town’s fire department. Leah Juarez, who has led the charge against the Town Council’s decision to eliminate the Mills Fire Department, created a website Monday that asks residents to sign a petition if they support recalling Coleman. “Mills residents will not stand for corruption. We stand together to remove Mayor Coleman from office,” the homepage of the…

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Buffalo, N.Y. (WHAM) – ‘Dynamic staffing’ has been in effect around Buffalo firehouses since 2014. The controversial plan is new to Rochester, and has been unwelcome by many. Buffalo Fire Commissioner William Renaldo says its model was made in agreement with the fire union there, but it is still unpopular among crews, and people who don’t want to see a firehouse out of service for a shift. “They don’t like…

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A Boston police patrolman, detective and three police unions are suing the Boston Police Department for subjecting its members returning from leaves of absence to what the members say are unnecessary psychological exams in order to return to work. “Boston Police Department … maintains a discriminatory practice that subjects officers who take leaves of absence to medical and psychological examinations unrelated to their leaves in order to return to…

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JEFFERSON — Police dogs won’t be used by the Sheriff’s Office until an ongoing lawsuit against the office by a former K-9 handler is resolved and funding for associated overtime costs is accounted for. Former Deputy Mark Mullett, who in April resigned from the Ashtabula County Sheriff’s Office, filed a federal class action lawsuit May 3 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio accusing…

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On the City of Gadsden’s website, there’s a prominent link for employment opportunities with the city, and one longstanding post is for entry-level police and fire jobs. It gives the dates that exams will be given, the deadline and how to submit an application, among other information. Despite the job posting and numerous other recruiting methods, the Gadsden Police Department is constantly looking for new officers. The problem of…

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