Blog Posts - ROBERT E DUNN

virginia

8/27/2020

WSLS 10 News
Jeff Williamson, Digital Content Manager
Published: August 26, 2020, 5:38 pm
Updated: August 27, 2020, 1:41 pm

On Wednesday, the Virginia Senate voted 21-15 to pass SB 5032, which would allow an assault against a law enforcement officer to be a misdemeanor if the person attacked is not hurt.

Summary of Senate Bill 5032: Eliminates the mandatory minimum term of confinement for an assault and battery committed against a judge; magistrate; law-enforcement officer; correctional officer; person directly involved in the care, treatment, or supervision of inmates; firefighter; or volunteer firefighter or any emergency medical services personnel and provides that such crime can no longer be committed as a simple assault and must result in a bodily injury.

seattle

8/26/2020

Editorial by Law Enforcement Today Staff Writer, August 25, 2020

SEATTLE, WA – Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse… we were wrong. We’ve gone from protests… to anarchy… to straight up terrorism.

Late Tuesday night, Law Enforcement Today learned from sources about an active investigation into whether rioters tried to burn police officers alive....

Photos reveal that rioters used what is believed to be a quick-dry concrete to seal shut the door of the East Precinct at the same time that they lit the building on fire.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is working with the Seattle Police Department on the ongoing investigation.

Police say that officers holed up in the building while agitators vandalized the outside of it, and that they used the opportunity to use the quick dry cement to seal the officers inside of it.

It took place at the 12th street entrance.

Police say evidence suggests they mixed cement and water in a bucket with a wooden stick, then applied it to the door. Photo evidence also shows they destroyed the electronic key card off of the door. They believe it was to stop people from getting inside in a rescue attempt.

Then on the East Pine Street side of the East Precinct, the rioters torched the building – seemingly intent on burning the building with the officers inside.

Sources tell law enforcement today that the officers kicked the door open, escaped the building and the rioters ran.

One of the officers was hurt and one suspect was arrested.

Seattle Police Officers Guild president Mike Solan spoke about the terrorism on KTTH:

"We’re talking about a little over 100 people who continue to force their political agenda to push assaults on officers, destroy private and public property, to continue their dangerous ideology. What’s next has been seen before and I’m fearful that someone will lose their life in the coming days. This could all stop if our public officials would decry and push back against these criminal acts.”

richmond, ca

8/21/2020

Richmond Police Department 8-20-20

"With heavy hearts this morning, we said goodbye to Sergeant Virgil Thomas, who passed from complications due to Covid-19.

"Sgt. Thomas served over 24 years with the Richmond Police Department. Before coming to Richmond, Sgt. Thomas started his career as a police officer in the Albany and Novato Police Departments. In his long career with Richmond, Sgt. Thomas held assignments in the Neighborhood Services Team, Training Officer Program, and School Resource Unit at Kennedy High School. During his time as a School Resource Officer, he mentored and guided many of our under-served Richmond youth and was like a father figure. He also coached youth baseball and softball. At the beginning of this year he returned to the School Resource Unit as the unit supervisor where continued to embrace the youth.

"During his time with RPD, Sgt. Thomas was a mentor and friend to all. He was dedicated to public service – as President of the Guardians of Justice (a community charitable organization to ensure the fair treatment of African American officers), he led various neighborhood events and giveaways to enrich the lives of those in the Richmond community. He also held the position of Richmond Police Officers Association President.

"Sgt. Thomas was loved and will be missed by his Richmond family. We, as a department and community, will carry on his legacy in our work and service.
Our hearts are with his wife and four children during this difficult time."

communism

8/20/2020

portland

8/20/2020

Law Enforcement Today
August 20, 2020
"In late July, a convicted sex offender and Antifa-enthusiast reportedly stabbed a black Trump supporter who was documenting footage of riots in Portland. He was booked 7-25-2020. Now, the sex offender and alleged stabber in the July case has been bailed out, and sources are pointing to a bail fund established for Antifa militants that aims to get their “comrades” out of jail. Police arrested Blake David Hampe on July 25th for allegedly stabbing Drew Duncomb with a 7-inch knife in his lower-right flank. [Duncomb was filming the riots] Duncomb had asked Hampe why he was following him.... As of August 13th, Hampe was freed from jail after his bond was posted, which was set at $250,000. A GoFundMe account known as the PDX Protest Bail Fund has amassed over $1.3 million in funds exclusively for bailing out rioters and covering their legal costs. Considering most bail bonds companies require a 10% payment to get someone out of jail, Hampe’s case would realistically have cost about $25,000 to get him back on the streets."

portland

8/19/2020

Campussafetymagazine.com
By Robin Hattersley-Gray August 18, 2020

"Portland State University (PSU) campus safety officers will no longer carry guns when they are on patrol. The announcement that was made on Thursday cited the ”disproportionate impacts and unacceptable loss of life that policing has on Black people and people of color,” as its reasoning for the change in policy. “Over the past few weeks, we have listened to many voices across our campus,” PSU said in a statement. “The calls for change that we are hearing at PSU are ringing out across our nation. We must find a new way to protect the safety of our community, one that works to dismantle systemic racism and promotes the dignity of all who come to our urban campus.” Although PSU officers will no longer carry firearms, they will continue to be sworn officers with investigative and arrest capabilities. They will also carry tasers. When armed response is required, the Portland Police Bureau will provide assistance."

I was a campus safety officer for Academy of Art University in San Francisco from 2008-2016 and we were not armed. We treated everyone fairly and would have done so whether armed or not. That's true across the board. As you can see from the PSU statement, charges of racism are political and go unsubstantiated. My university was urban but, hey, they were dedicated art students, not time-wasters.

san francisco

8/19/2020

By Phil Matier - San Francisco Chronicle - Aug 18th, 2020

SAN FRANCISCO — As politicians debate the future of San Francisco policing, there is another discussion going in the station houses: the record number of officers resigning.

In the first six months of the year, 23 sworn officers resigned, Police Department records show. Of those, 19 took jobs at other law enforcement agencies, both in California and elsewhere.
...
By comparison, 26 officers resigned in all of 2019. And only 12 officers resigned in 2018.

If the police exits continue at the current pace, the SFPD is on track to lose nearly twice as many cops this year as it did last year and close to four times as many as in 2018.

“This is just the beginning. Dozens are actively in the hiring process with other agencies,” said Tony Montoya, president of the Police Officers Association. “The members are upset that the social experiment being conducted in San Francisco is failing, and they would rather work someplace that values them,” said Montoya, a constant critic of City Hall’s calls for police reform, which after the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis has taken the form of shifting money from the police budget to social causes.

“Members have gone to places like the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, Pleasant Hill, Beverly Hills, Petaluma, Palm Springs, Placerville, Long Beach, Idaho, Texas, Arizona,” Montoya said.

Police Chief Bill Scott said there has been an “uptick” in officers leaving this year but that many of the applications to leave predated the national unrest after Floyd’s death. “It’s a tough job, and for many officers it’s also long commute to and from work,” Scott said in a recent interview. “If there are opportunities closer to home, people are going to take them.”

Interviews with officers who have left, or are planning to leave, suggest a combination of reasons are at play. But many cited the frustration of working under Proposition 47, a statewide criminal justice reform measure approved by voters in 2014 that reduced many nonviolent felonies, such as hard drug possession and theft of less than $950, to misdemeanors that can be cited with little or no jail time.

The high costs of housing, raising a family and taxes in the Bay Area are also big reasons for the exits.

“I was getting a great paycheck, but 20% went to taxes,” said one former San Francisco officer now working at a police department in Texas who asked not to be named for privacy concerns. “Here I got a bigger house, a more affordable lifestyle and a commute that went from two hours each way to 15 minutes.”

“It’s also nice working at a place where everyone isn’t mad at you,” the officer said. “In San Francisco, everyone was mad. The homeowners would get mad because you didn’t move the homeless who were sleeping in front of their house. Then, when you tried to help the homeless, someone would start yelling about police brutality.
“And everyone had a cell phone camera on you,” he said.

Another officer, who also asked not to be named because he is planning to leave the SFPD, said that given the expected budget cuts, calls for pay freezes and more defunding, San Francisco “just doesn’t feel like a place to be for the long haul.”

Officers applying at other law enforcement agencies need to give the SFPD permission to share their personnel files with those agencies. The SFPD, however, doesn’t track personnel file-viewing inquiries, so it is impossible to get an accurate count of how many officers are looking elsewhere.

Meanwhile, an additional 31 officers have either retired this year or told the department they will retire by year’s end. Add in the 23 officers who have left already, and the SFPD will be down at least 54 people. That might be hard to make up, as the last police academy had only 19 cadets. Most classes are budgeted for 55 people.

Upshot: The city is 159 full-duty officers short of the City Charter mandate of 1,971.

Chief Scott declined to comment on how he plans to handle the exits and academy shortages, but it may not be much of an issue at City Hall these days.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed has proposed pulling $120 million from the police and sheriff’s departments and putting the money into programs that support the city’s underserved black community, a move the chief supports.

Longtime Police Commission member Petra DeJesus said she is confident the department will adjust — even benefit — from the changes. “Change is a difficult and sometimes heightens people’s fears on how it will affect them personally,” DeJesus said. “I hope that the changes may help the department recruit applicants that want to be a part of the new direction and change.”

Or they can go someplace else — it’s all about choices.

portland

8/18/2020

Law Enforcement Today News Brief

PORTLAND, OR- For almost three straight months, the city of Portland has been under siege by members of Antifa and Black Lives Matter. According to the Portland Police, hundreds of rioters marched toward the Penumbra Kelly Building, which contains the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and the Portland Police Bureau. This building is surrounded by a large residential area, which has not deterred members of the mob before. According to the Daily Wire, the rioters began chanting, “Kill a cop, save a life,” “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! If we don’t get it, burn it down!”

The crowd began to slowly dissipate, and the riot ended after 2am. Portland announced the following upstanding people were arrested for various crimes:

David Custodio, criminal mischief, interfering with a peace officer, disorderly conduct, riot, resisting arrest
Darwin Reimann, interfering with a peace officer
Egan Lawyer, assault a police officer (2 counts), disorderly conduct, riot, escape
Jonathan Bordas, interfering with a peace officer, disorderly conduct
Jonathan Draxton, assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, interfering with a peace officer, riot, disorderly conduct
Christina Brandel, assaulting a police officer, disorderly conduct, interfering with a peace officer
Solomon Reid, interfering with a police officer, disorderly conduct
Marcus Paul, assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, riot
Alex Hatzikos, assaulting a police officer (3 counts), disorderly conduct, interfering with a police officer
Alejandro Preciado-Mendoza, criminal trespass, disorderly conduct, and
Andrey Lyubinetsky, assaulting a police officer, riot, criminal mischief, and escape

minneapolis

8/17/2020

chicago

8/13/2020

According to Law Enforcement Today, rioters attacked Ronald McDonald House. On August 9, "the criminals did not seem to care that sick children were inside the charity and attacked it anyway in their fit of rage, in their ‘fight for reparations'...Thankfully, the only damage done to the charity were broken front doors, there was no reported damage done to the inside."

portland

8/11/2020

Officers arrested 16 people during the riot that took place in the Kenton Neighborhood. All were booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on the listed charges:

1. Norland, Zoe, 22, of Portland, Disorderly Conduct in the Second Degree, Interfering with a Peace Officer
2. Lorenze, Maxwell, 22, of Portland, Disorderly Conduct in the Second Degree, Interfering with a Peace Officer
3. Levelle, Rachel "Ramon", 23, unknown residence, Interfering with a Peace Officer
4. Pribbenow, Samantha, 22, of Tigard, Interfering with a Peace Officer
5. Doe, Jane, unknown age, unknown residence, Interfering with a Peace Officer
6. Van De Walker, Moira, 25, of Portland, Riot, Interfering with a Peace Officer
7. Hester, Demetria, 46, of Portland, Disorderly Conduct in the Second Degree, Interfering with a Peace Officer
8. Torres, Michele, 33, of Portland, Disorderly Conduct in the Second Degree, Interfering with a Peace Officer
9. Hamilton, Lavonna, 43, of Portland, Interfering with a Peace Officer
10. Ogunfiditimi, Folasade, 27, of Hillsboro, Interfering with a Peace Officer
11. Ankney, Olivia, 33, of Beaverton, Interfering with a Peace Officer
12. Riehl, Nicholas, 28, of Portland, Interfering with a Peace Officer
13. Alger, William, 21, of Portland, Interfering with a Peace Officer
14. Weber, Samuel, 24, of Portland, Interfering with a Peace Officer
15. Crissman, Tyler, 24, of Portland, Interfering with a Peace Officer
16. Britton, Jason, 30, of Gresham, Disorderly Conduct in the Second Degree, Interfering with a Peace Officer

Below is a burn injury to an officer.

laser

8/7/2020

boston

8/6/2020

Boston to disband SWAT team that captured Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Bothell, WA

8/5/2020

American

8/2/2020

Help

7/27/2020

FROM RICK on Face Book 6-21-20
So, this happened in Montana. I'm on my way to go to my interview this morning when I get pulled over. By a Montana officer. I am native American and my friend that was with me is black. Just saying. Both brake lights decided to go out this time. As he walked to the car and I was pulling out my stuff, he quickly said, "Don't worry about pulling anything out. I just want you to know that your brake lights are out." So, I'm immediately upset, because I just got them replaced like last month. So I explained to him how Firestone wants to charge me $600 just to run a test on the wiring of the car. He looked at me like (sad face emoji) and told me to pop the trunk. He checked the lights in the trunk and tapped them, but they didn't come on. So he told me to pop the hood to check the relay box then asked me to get out to check the other one. Then worked on the wiring under the dash. He could've easily given me a ticket, but Officer Jenkins stepped out of officer role, and into mechanic role, and human role...to make sure I was straight. By the way HE FIXED THEM. Not everyone is racist, or a bad cop.

terror

7/25/2020

Susan Rosenberg has served as vice chair of the board of directors for Thousand Currents, an organization that provides fundraising and fiscal sponsorship for the Black Lives Matter Global Movement. She was an active member of revolutionary left-wing movements whose illegal activities included bombing U.S. government buildings and committing armed robberies.

In her 2011 memoir, she recounted what she said during an unsuccessful 1997 parole application: “I outlined my criminal acts and what I felt about them then and now. I talked about the political ethos of the 1960s and how it had led me and my associates into thinking our activities were acceptable. I detailed how sorry I felt now, how I accepted responsibility for my past actions, and how I would never commit any crimes again. I tried to put my life within the context of the historical period when many Americans thought they could change the world and end war and racism and poverty. I tried to distinguish between my core values and my embrace of the use of political violence. I stated that I now rejected the use of violence. I meant all that I said.”

Believe her?

Clarke

7/24/2020

"It's not the police who need to be retrained, it's the public. We have grown into a mouthy, mobile phone wielding, vulgar, uncivil society with no personal responsibility and the attitude of 'it's the other person's fault', 'you owe me'. A society where children grow up with no boundaries or knowledge or concern for civil society and personal responsibility.

When an officer says "Put your hands up," then put your hands up! Don't reach for something in your pocket, your lap, your seat. There's plenty of reason for a police officer to feel threatened, there have been multiple assaults and ambushes on police officers lately. Comply with requests from the officer, have your day in court. Don't mouth off, or fight, or refuse to comply...that escalates the situation...."

~ David Clarke (6-30-20), Milwaukee WI County Sheriff 2002-2017

Even the king of beasts has to be patient

7/23/2020

patriot

7/23/2020

2nd amendment

7/23/2020

New york city

7/22/2020

From the desk of Ryan Saavedra, DailyWire.com, 7-17-20
Leaders in the black community in New York City have started to call on the NYPD to deal with the surge in violent crime around the city by bringing back the department’s plainclothes anti-crime unit which was recently dismantled as anti-police sentiment soared in the wake of the death of George Floyd. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a former cop, became the second prominent member of the African American community to call for the reinstitution of the Anti-Crime Unit, CBS New York reported Monday. “This, as shootings for the week went up 277%, 49 compared to 13 in 2019. The number of victims is up 253%, 60 compared to 17 in 2019.”

Portland, or

7/22/2020

Louisiana

7/22/2020

Recruit

7/21/2020

A police recruit was asking during an exam, "What would you do if you had to arrest your mother?" The recruit answered, "Call for backup."