Feed Editor 19 Nov 2009 07:37:29 CST The National Sheriffs Association Weekly Update provides industry-specific news and information to law enforcement professionals. Delivered weekly, the publication keeps sheriffs, their deputies, chiefs of police, and others in the field of criminal justice informed of topics that impact law enforcement. http://www.multibriefs.com/briefs/nsa/nsaupdate.xml en As an investigator with the Newton County Sheriffs Office (NCSO), Sharron Stewart works with runaways and child molestations and the families of missing persons. She also assists on the more gruesome felonies such as homicides, but it's her part-time position that garners the most attention: her work as an undercover investigator in charge of catching online predators. 19 Nov 2009 07:37:29 CST http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b044c873ec23 1 Three recent drug arrests on Kent State University's campus raise the question: How common are drugs around here? They're not as frequent as you'd think, says Portage County Sheriff David Doak. He said the Portage County Drug Task Force just goes wherever drug activity is greatest. "Dealers don't think about penalties," he said. "They just go wherever they can, and, where you have large numbers of people, business becomes lucrative, and they make sales. They go wherever the sale is made." 19 Nov 2009 07:37:29 CST http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b0448360fb28 2 A six-month investigation into a major drug-trafficking organization by Santa Barbara Sheriff’s narcotics detectives has concluded with the arrest of 17 suspects, along with the seizure of millions of dollars worth of drugs and weapons. 19 Nov 2009 07:37:29 CST http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b0427c874d3a 3 One lawmaker believes the state can save money and reduce recidivism by ex-prisoners by implementing a series of administrative and legislative reforms. Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-Mercer, has staged a series of "Second Chance" hearings, designed to look at all facets of incarceration. She plans to introduce a six-bill legislative package to meet those goals. 19 Nov 2009 07:37:29 CST http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b0447953ed67 4 About 1,000 Tasers will soon hit the DeKalb County streets, marking the second time the police department has carried the stun guns. DeKalb County Police lieutenants and sergeants will train on the 50,000-volt stun guns on Monday. The rest of the force will train later this month and next month, DeKalb Police Officer Jason Gagnon said. In 2005, DeKalb police took its 125 Tasers off the street after the company issued a warning that multiple or prolonged blasts could impair breathing and lead to death. 19 Nov 2009 07:37:29 CST http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b042268cbe1c 5 The number of highway patrol officers has shrunk in a dozen states in the past 13 years and failed to keep pace with population gains in others, leaving stretches of highways unpatrolled during late-night and early-morning hours, a USA Today analysis of federal and state data finds. The shortages, which come as states battle billions of dollars in budget gaps, have forced places such as Oregon to cut down on 24-hour patrolling. Other states, such as Michigan, also have limited how many miles a trooper can drive per day. 19 Nov 2009 07:37:29 CST http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b04257d70e75 6 In the down time before another head count, two prisoners play cards. One inmate shuffles and the other flicks his hand, a mystical cutting of the deck. The dealt cards land on the lid of a garbage can used as a table, falling on top of one another, face down. A form of gin rummy breaks out in the courtyard of the Campbell Pre-Release Center as the inmates, Mark and Mario, toss their unwanted cards into the discard pile. But from deuce to ace, nearly every card is a face card, looking up in silent appeal. The cards ask: Do you know who killed me? And they ask: Do you know where I am? And they ask: Do you know something? Anything? The South Carolina Department of Corrections started selling these decks in its prison canteens for $1.72 about a year ago; since then, inmates have bought more than 10,000 packs. 19 Nov 2009 07:37:29 CST http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b0421df78029 7 Federal grant money from Operation Stonegarden may seem like a windfall for the cities and counties that have eagerly accepted it. But the funds have not been totally free -- and in some communities taxpayers will be obligated for decades. City and county governments had to foot the bill for mileage and maintenance -- and employee-related expenses in some cases -- during the first two-year grant cycle. Officials at the 10 state agencies included in the Arizona Daily Star's investigation couldn't provide actual costs and declined to estimate, but it likely cost an estimated $910,000 statewide, according to calculations done by the Star. 19 Nov 2009 07:37:29 CST http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b044cfb2738e 8 Hot sauce and a comb were all an al-Qaida suspect in New York needed to nearly kill one of his guards nine years ago. The bloody episode suggests that security worries in bringing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other 9/11 suspects to trial here could be just as big inside the courthouse as outside. Already, the U.S. marshals are promising the highest security possible -- an acknowledgement of how dangerous terrorism suspects have been in the past. 19 Nov 2009 07:37:29 CST http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b0421accb03f 9 While violent gun crime rates in Maine traditionally hover among the lowest in the nation, trafficking in guns -- buying them in Maine and transporting them across the border where some end up used in crimes -- appears to be a growing trend. 19 Nov 2009 07:37:29 CST http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4b044a1f02127 10