Trained to murder

EAST PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – An investigation is underway after 17-year-old Antwon Rose was shot in the back by an East Pittsburgh police officer while Rose was running from a traffic stop.

KDKA-TV has now learned that the officer who is accused of shooting Rose, was only sworn into duty a few hours before the fatal shooting.

‘You’re going to jail’: Officer fired for abuse of power after pulling over daughter’s boyfriend

On that day in April, John Kovach’s 18-year-old daughter, Katlyn, was dating an 18-year-old her parents didn’t approve of named Makai Coleman.
She wasn’t responding to her father’s attempts to talk, so Kovach tracked his daughter’s computer to a friend’s house on West 34th Street in Lorain, Ohio, he told investigators. Then he sat in his patrol cruiser, waiting.
When Coleman’s silver Pontiac drove past, Kovach flipped on his flashing lights and initiated the traffic stop that would end his two decades with the Lorain Police Department.
“You can get out,” the officer told Coleman, according to a profanity-filled video of the interaction. “You’re going to jail.”

But Kovach’s dealings with his daughter and her boyfriend were not the only issues that investigators say violated department policy that day.
The officer also got into it with Gloria Morales, whose children were riding in Coleman’s car when John Kovach pulled it over. The officer asked to search her home for his daughter and accused Morales of hiding the teen.
Morales accused him of abusing his authority to deal with family strife and using department time and resources to bully people into cooperating.
“You’re obstructing me,” he warned her in return. “This is your last warning.”

While Kovach was dealing with his daughter and her boyfriend, someone else needed his help.
Somewhere in another part of the city, a woman had dialed 911, the video showed. Her boyfriend or husband had threatened her with a weapon, and she wanted officers to come to the scene to defuse the situation.
Kovach was listed as available, so dispatchers summoned him — but he never responded to the call.

& now for something completely different :-)

When Mexican federal agents arrived in the town on Saturday to detain him, they were stopped by local police officers.
They returned with reinforcements on Sunday morning and arrested the entire force and their boss.

Entire police force arrested

With the current state of police forces, it doesn't bode well for 2026 when Mexico, America & Canada host the world cup. Will Canada end up embarrassing their fellow hosts?

The way matters are heading here, the police is the least of one's problems!

Josie Appleton from the Manifesto Club, which campaigns for civil liberties, has concerns over how CPNs are issued - and says they are "very hard to appeal".
"A CPN can literally be written on a form, and after that it's a crime for you to do what they say you do.
"I really think that councils are not in the position to be issuing these legal sanctions against people.
"It's a completely arbitrary power. And where you have arbitrary powers you have bad law enforcement."

But, unlike Asbos, the CPN warning letters can be issued by police and councils without proof of the claims being made, and without going through the courts.

Report

https://www.pe.com/2018/06/27/la-county-sheriffs-deputy-from-riverside-charged-with-illegally-padding-his-paycheck/

Matt Kochaon, 54, has been charged with six counts of removing, destroying or falsifying a public record while an official custodian of records and one count of grand theft, all felonies.

In September and October 2016, Kochaon, who was assigned to the Parks Bureau, drove his patrol vehicle to his Riverside home at the end of his shift. He would then log out from his shift at home, which resulted in salary overpayment, prosecutors alleged.

Kochaon also made patrol log entries claiming he responded to calls for back up, when he actually was at home, a news release said.

Kochaon faces a maximum possible sentence of nine years and eight months in custody if convicted as charged.

Trained to murder

EAST PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – An investigation is underway after 17-year-old Antwon Rose was shot in the back by an East Pittsburgh police officer while Rose was running from a traffic stop.

KDKA-TV has now learned that the officer who is accused of shooting Rose, was only sworn into duty a few hours before the fatal shooting.

Followup:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/27/us/michael-rosfeld-charged-criminal-homicide-antwon-rose-east-pittsburgh/index.html

Prosecutors charged East Pittsburgh police Officer Michael Rosfeld with criminal homicide Wednesday in the shooting death of 17-year-old Antwon Rose II, court records show.
New details, included in the criminal complaint against Rosfeld, indicate Antwon was shot in his face, right arm and the middle of his back. It also states that Antwon was in a car suspected in an earlier shooting but did not appear to be the shooter, and that Rosfeld made inconsistent statements about whether he believed Antwon had a gun when the officer opened fire.
Under Pennsylvania law, criminal homicide includes murder, voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter. Allegheny County District Attorney Steve Zappala said he believes Rosfeld acted "recklessly and without justification," and thus, the evidence supports charges of manslaughter and third-degree murder, and Zappala said his office has a "right to argue murder in the first," which the state code classifies as an "intentional killing."

Bent coppers!!!!!!! They're everywhere!

The Met Police said in a statement that they had stopped the poet for not displaying car insurance.

What a crock of shyte!

Doh, I think you twits in blue had better brush up on the law

Coin flip jail or ticket ...
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/07/14/georgia-cops-use-coin-flip-to-decide-whether-to-arrest-woman-video-shows.html

Gang in the police station
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-compton-sheriff-shooting-20180710-story.html

For decades, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has struggled to combat secretive cliques of deputies who bonded over aggressive, often violent police work and branded themselves with matching tattoos.

A federal judge called out the problem nearly 30 years ago, accusing deputies of running a "neo-Nazi, white supremacist gang" named the Vikings within the Lynwood station. Others followed with names such as the Regulators, Grim Reapers, Rattlesnakes and the Jump Out Boys. Inside the county’s central jail, the 2000 Boys and 3000 Boys ran roughshod over the lockup’s toughest floors.

Now, despite past attempts by sheriff’s officials to discourage internal cliques, fresh allegations have arisen of deputies in the department’s Compton station adorned with matching skull tattoos.

One deputy acknowledged in a recent deposition that he and 10 to 20 of his colleagues at the station had the tattoos but denied there was a formal clique.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-sheriff-tattoo-compton-investigation-20180713-story.html

Some members of a Los Angeles County watchdog panel are calling on Sheriff Jim McDonnell to launch a thorough investigation into allegations of a secret society of deputies that brands its members with matching skull tattoos.

The revelation this week that a deputy admitted to getting inked two years ago as part of a ritual within the Compton station has raised concerns that deputy cliques, long part of a controversial agency subculture, have persisted despite the department’s reform efforts.

Hernán Vera, who serves on the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission, said the deputy’s admission in a lawsuit over a fatal shooting that he and as many as 20 others have the signature tattoos was “thoroughly disturbing.”

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-adv-skin-and-contents-20180715-story.html#

After nearly two decades on the force, former LAPD Officer Jonathan Hall ended his career the way many veteran officers do these days, claiming job-related injuries across most of his body.

With the help of a boutique Van Nuys law firm that specializes in workers’ compensation cases for cops and firefighters, Hall filed claims saying he’d injured his knees, hips, heart (high blood pressure), back, right shoulder — even his right middle finger.

The ailments had existed for months, in some cases years, and had not previously prevented him from working, Hall said in a recent interview. But he was burned out, the target of an internal affairs investigation and desperate to avoid going back to the station.

“I just couldn’t put the uniform back on,” Hall said.

Hall’s timing raised suspicion, and he was soon videotaped leading scuba dives and lifting heavy equipment despite the alleged injuries.
...
Another attorney who worked at an L.A. law firm catering to injured cops and firefighters in the mid-2000s, who asked not to be named in order to avoid professional reprisal, put it this way: “An arm used to be worth $30,000, and now it’s $10,000. So let’s throw in heart problems and a bad knee to get it back to up $30,000.”

The strategy is common among veteran cops and firefighters who get up to a year off at their full salary, tax free, for each job-related injury their doctor diagnoses. Their employers also pay the associated medical bills and often a hefty cash settlement based on the extent and severity of the injuries, a cut of which goes to the injured officer’s attorney.

Multiple lawyers and patients involved with the workers’ compensation system described a similar process: An officer nearing the end of his career goes to an attorney’s office complaining about a sore shoulder and is asked how his knees feel, if his back aches or if he is under a lot of stress. He is then referred to a doctor with whom the attorney has a long-standing relationship.

After a few decades on the job, it’s not hard for a client to fill out what industry insiders call a “skin and contents” case, Young said. “I’m 52, and if somebody asked me what hurts I could start from the top and work my way to the bottom.”

#2 for today ...
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-glendale-indictment-20180515-story.html

As far back as 2015, a Glendale narcotics detective used burner phones to tip off gangsters about upcoming raids, once allowing a top target of federal law enforcement to elude arrest for a month, authorities said Tuesday.

John Saro Balian is also suspected of collaborating with other criminals to steal cars, presumably to sell abroad, and taking bribes to hunt people down.

When confronted by federal agents in four interviews over the last year, authorities say Balian, 45, lied about his ties to the Mexican Mafia and Armenian organized crime in Southern California.

NYT - Judge Orders Los Angeles Times to Delete Part of Published Article

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge ordered The Los Angeles Times to remove information from a published article on Saturday, a step that legal experts said was extremely unusual and conflicted with the First Amendment. The newspaper said it was appealing the order.

The article, published Saturday morning, described a plea agreement between prosecutors and a police narcotics detective in Glendale, Calif., who was accused of colluding with a Mexican crime syndicate.

The detective, John Saro Balian, 45, pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal charges that he had accepted a bribe, obstructed justice and lied to federal investigators about his involvement with organized crime. Judge John F. Walter of United States District Court for the Central District of California ordered the plea agreement sealed, but a reporter found it posted online on Friday in a public database of federal court documents.

It's sad that the media only headline issues when the police get it wrong. Hardly any mention of the times they get it right or go that "extra mile".

Police pick up walker...

That's a lovely article and gives us hope..

I don't know where to put this, so I'm putting it in here.

President Macron finally fires security aide

A top security aide to French President Emmanuel Macron was sacked on Friday after it emerged he had beaten a protester during a demonstration in May, the president's office said Friday.

He was allowed to dress up as a policeman, to observe the riot police apparently. And must have felt like... joining in I suppose... a lot.

edit: that is a lovely link, Sirius. Thank you :)

http://abc7.com/off-duty-officer-arrested-for-dui-in-upland-crash/3841081/

UPLAND, Calif. (KABC) --
An off-duty law enforcement officer was arrested for DUI early Saturday after a crash in Upland, police say.

Upland police officers responded at about 2 a.m. to the 500 block of West Arrow Highway, where the driver crashed into several parked cars, authorities said.

Through an investigation, officers determined the driver was driving under the influence of alcohol, and he was arrested for DUI-related charges.

Upland police confirmed the driver of the vehicle is an off-duty law enforcement officer from an outside agency, though it's unclear what department he belonged to.

http://abc7.com/pregnant-woman-goes-into-labor-after-kick-in-stomach-by-officer/3843871/

MIAMI BEACH, Florida --
A pregnant woman said a violent encounter with an off-duty Florida police officer put her in premature labor, WSVN-TV reported.

Miami Beach police said a mother went into premature labor after she was kicked in the stomach by an off-duty North Miami Beach police officer.

"It was stressful to go through it and luckily we got to Mount Sinai just in the nick of time because it only took seven minutes for the labor," Joseph Predulus, the baby's father, said.

After the attack, 27-year-old Evoni Murray began having contractions.

"You should have been more professional. Like I said, we had no problems with you," Predulus said of the officer. "We didn't come to start any trouble."

Predulus believed the officer was intoxicated during the incident.

"They probably was drunk," he said. "As I was talking to the police, I realized they were drunk, so I guess the alcohol probably kicked in. Like I said, we were minding our own business, just walked by, and I was talking to my baby mother, said she was so emotional, and the girl figured that she was talking to them. Like I said, she came towards, talking about, 'What that be said?' and then tried to attack her."

Despite the attack, baby Joe appeared to be healthy and was expected to be OK.

"When he was born, it put a smile on my face, and all my concern was if he was healthy," Predelus said.

The North Miami Police Department issued a statement saying Officer Ambar Pacheco, 26, has been relieved of duty pending an internal affairs review. She was charged with aggravated battery.

Quiet Skies"

"These concerns and the need for transparency are all the more acute because of TSA's track record of using unreliable and unscientific techniques to screen and monitor travelers who have done nothing wrong," he said.