April 30, 2007

Court: High-speed chase suspects can't sue police

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave police officers significant protection from lawsuits by suspects who lead them on car chases.

The justices ruled 8-1 against Georgia teenager Victor Harris, who was left a quadriplegic after a police vehicle rammed his car off the road in 2001.

A police officer used "reasonable force" when ramming the teen's speeding car, the high court ruled. A videotape of the pursuit played a key role in the decision. (Watch the Cadillac flip on its side )

"The car chase that [Harris] initiated in this case posed substantial and immediate risk of serious physical injury to others," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority. "[Deputy Timothy] Scott's attempt to terminate the chase by forcing [Harris] off the road was reasonable."

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that Harris' lawsuit against the deputy could go forward. The justices overturned the lower court ruling, meaning the suit can be dismissed.

Eight of the nine justices said they had closely viewed the videotape of the six-minute nighttime chase. It was taken from the dashboard of Scott's car and from the vehicle of another deputy from a neighboring county.

Similar pursuits have been aired, sometimes live, on many cable and broadcast television stations, and entire programs have been built around such incidents, such as "World's Wildest Police Chases."

Tape fascinates justices

The tape seemed to fascinate some of the justices. Scalia referred to the videotape repeatedly in his opinion, calling it a "wrinkle" that clearly swayed the bench.

Departing from the lower court's conclusions, Scalia wrote, "The videotape tells a different story."

He continued, "Far from being the cautious and controlled driver the lower court depicts, what we see on the video more closely resembles a Hollywood-style car chase of the most frightening sort, placing police officers and innocent bystanders alike at greater risk of serious injury."

Harris, 19 at the time, was driving on a suspended license, when he refused to pull over for speeding. The police video shows him accelerating at speeds more than 100 mph, leading officers across two counties outside Atlanta. He can be seen crossing the double yellow line on the road to pass about three dozen cars.

At one point, Harris is shown pulling into a shopping center parking lot, with Scott, a Coweta County deputy, and two colleagues trying to block him. Harris then hits Scott's vehicle while fleeing. The officer radios his supervisor, requesting permission to use potentially deadly force to stop Harris.

"Let me have him, my car's already tore up," Scott says on the tape.

Police tactics described

The supervisor gives permission for the PIT maneuver -- precision intervention technique -- which involves the police car tapping the pursued vehicle at an angle so that it spins out. "Go ahead and take him out," the supervisor orders.

But Scott later said Harris was going too fast and he was worried about other drivers on the road, so the officer rammed the escaping Cadillac directly with his push bumper, causing it to go airborne down an embankment and crash.

Now 25, Harris resides at an assisted-living facility. He refused an interview to discuss the case, as did Scott. In previous testimony, Harris said he was scared when officers first turned on their sirens and that he did not want his car impounded.

"[Harris'] version of events is so utterly discredited by the record that no reasonable jury could have believed him," Scalia said. "The Court of Appeals should not have relied on such visible fiction; it should have viewed the facts in the light depicted by the videotape."

The lone dissenter was Justice John Paul Stevens, who made his views known in a rare oral summary during Monday's public session. He said the other justices got carried away by the tape.

"I can only conclude that my colleagues were unduly frightened by two or three images on the tape," Stevens noted.

The justice said it was not clear the chase threatened the lives of other citizens since the roads were mostly empty. "The risk inherent in justifying unwarranted police conduct on the basis of unfounded assumptions are unacceptable, particularly when less dramatic measures ... could have avoided such a tragic result," he cautioned.

Deadly force in car chases

It was the first time the high court has heard a case involving the use of deadly force in police chases, and federal appeals courts have been split on the issue. Under generally applied Supreme Court precedents, an officer must show a suspect poses a "significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others" before using deadly force.

And other federal courts have said officers can be stripped of qualified immunity from lawsuits if every "reasonable" law enforcement official would have known his actions were violating clearly established law.

Law enforcement groups argued a ruling against Scott would hamstring every police official, who often would have to make split-second decisions about whether to wait until someone gets hurt -- including innocent victims or the officer himself -- before they could stop escaping motorists.

Legal analysts said it was not surprising the conservative court under Chief Justice John Roberts was inclined to give officers the kind of discretion they have sought, particularly since 9/11.

"Nobody is going to suddenly say its OK to use deadly force against a fleeing felon who poses no threat to society," said Edward Lazarus, a Supreme Court legal analyst. "They're just going to say, I think, that a speeding car going down a two-lane road at 100 mph is, in and of itself, necessarily a danger."

January 6, 2007

New York Post Reporter goes to Cop Class

By ERIKA MARTINEZ

I came face to face with a very bad man holding an AK-47 yesterday. I managed to squeeze off six shots from my 9 mm semi-automatic - but only hit a couple of trees, a parked car and the outside of a day-care center.

The life-and-death confrontation was part of my adrenaline-pumping run through the NYPD's Firearm Training Simulator (FATS), designed to familiarize recruits with the kind of street encounters they will face on the job.

FATS is one aspect of the department's firearms policies and training that the RAND Corporation will examine during its six-month study to determine how effectively the NYPD prepares cops for dangerous situations.

When I arrived at the gun range at Rodman's Neck in The Bronx, two instructors briefed my group on tactics and explained how the system works - basically, you're a live player in a large video game.

The handguns feel like real weapons, but are actually air pistols covered with sensors that allow trainers to monitor your grip, how you squeeze the trigger, how many bullets are fired and where they end up.

While I didn't have the foggiest idea what kind of situation awaited me, I was sure of one thing - I am a good shot. I have fired various firearms while going to the range with my dad, a retired cop. I chose a 9 mm Sig Sauer as my weapon of choice.

My first "job" was a domestic disturbance. A woman had stabbed her boyfriend - and then was cursing out the police and brandishing the knife. After a few shouts of "drop the knife," she did - but then whipped a liquor bottle from behind her back.

I held my fire - and she walked away harmlessly. A perfect outcome.

But my next run was to investigate a report of a suspicious man looking into windows, and I quickly experienced how adrenaline and rattled nerves can distract you and distort your judgment and perception of reality.

Instead of taking cover behind the barrel when a thug jumped out of a car with an AK-47, I stood there like a deer in headlights. The good news was, I got off the first shot before he fired at me - the bad news is I missed and my bullet slammed into his car. So much for being a good shot.

My three partners began shooting immediately after I started - later they said it was because they saw the gun, not because I fired.

In the end, most people had no idea how many rounds they fired and some were astonished to learn what they thought was two turned out to be 12 - and vice versa. The parallels to the killing of Sean Bell, who died in hail of 50 police bullets, were immediately apparent to all of us.

In a few minutes of training, I felt a fraction of the terror that a real cop in a real gunfight faces. And unlike them, I had the comfort of knowing I was going home at the end of the day.

erika.martinez@nypost.com

Editor’s Note: Erica is the daughter of Dan Martinez, Executive Director of the New York State Shields. She is an accomplish author of many police-related articles in the New York Post. ALL “fair and balanced”!

NATIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS MEMORIAL FUND

PROTESTS 25 to LIFE© VIDEO GAME

     The "25 to Life"© video game allows players the option to role-play by shooting gang members and police officers and using innocent bystanders as human shields. The Web site advertising the game boasts that players have "more than 40 weapons to choose from, including shotguns, machine guns, stun guns and tear gas."
     Due to the disturbing nature of the game, last fall high-profile law makers and citizens protested its release, which the NLEOMF believes helped to delay its entry into the U.S. market. Although the manufacturers have chosen to release the game this year, YOU can help limit its access to the young minds that this game will be promoted to.

     Parents and caregivers are urged to boycott this violent game. More than 100,000 have signed this boycott petition of this violent video game. Add your voice TODAY to this vigorous campaign discouraging parents and caregivers from purchasing or allowing children access to the 25-to-Life video game.

Click here for more information.
Click here to sign the online petition to protest "25 to Life"©.

Maker: Vests may not be bullet-resistant

Thursday, June 23, 2005 Posted: 0610 GMT (1410 HKT)

Second Chance body armor is used by police departments nationwide.

(CNN) -- A maker of body armor said Wednesday that nearly 100,000 of its vests may not be bullet-resistant and urged police departments nationwide to replace them.

Second Chance Body Armor said it issued the safety notices after research "showed that protective vests constructed only partially from Zylon may fail to perform and result in serious injury or death."

The company has received no reports of field failures, but "we felt it was our obligation to report these new research findings immediately," said Matt Davis, vice president of sales and marketing.

Zylon was introduced in body armor in the late 1990s as a lighter alternative to fabrics such as Kevlar. Second Chance introduced its products with Zylon in 1998.

The notices apply to about 58,000 Tri-Flex vests and another 40,000 Ultima and Ultimax vests with Performance Pacs and recommended they be replaced with products that do not contain Zylon.

But, the company added in a statement posted on its Web site, some protection is better than none, and "until the affected vests are replaced, officers should continue to wear" them.

Second Chance, which filed last year for bankruptcy, plans "to petition the bankruptcy court for a procedure for police departments and safety officers to present claims that may result from this new information."

The company, based in Central Lake, Michigan, describes itself as "the nation's largest manufacturer of modern, wearable, concealable body armor."

"The safety and well-being of all the officers who wear our body armor is of primary importance to Second Chance and we strongly encourage all officers to replace ballistic vests that contain Zylon as quickly as possible," the statement said.

The problems are industry-wide, he said, adding that the company is "aggressively pursuing litigation" against the fiber's maker, Toyobo Co., Ltd., based in Osaka, Japan.

Toyobo officials did not immediately return an e-mail message or a phone call seeking comment.

In September 2003, testing of used vests containing only Zylon "showed degradation problems with the fiber that potentially shortened the wearable life of the vest," Second Chance said.

The company filed for bankruptcy in October 2004 after recalling more than 130,000 vests made wholly of Zylon, but it did not recall vests made of Zylon blended with other protective fibers.

But further investigation by a polymer chemist found the material contained up to eight times the desired level of acids that can result in the rapid and dramatic loss of strength in the clothing, the company said.

"These test results lead us to believe that even products that contain relatively low percentages of Zylon by weight may fail to perform as expected," Davis said.

"In our line of business, any potential failure is unacceptable, and we moved immediately to alert our customers -- and others within our industry -- of this problem."

The FOP Grand Lodge Presidential Endorsement

[From the Grand Lodge web site 7/19/04]

Background and Methodology:

The presidential endorsement resolution called for the screening committee to develop a questionnaire; distribute the questionnaire to each viable presidential candidate; attempt to conduct interviews with the candidates; meet in executive session in order to make a written report; and to submit its report to the National Trustees.

The standard questionnaire was developed with the assistance of the National Legislative office and is attached to this report. The 24-question survey was divided into two categories: employee’s rights issues (seven questions) and criminal justice issues (seventeen questions).

The committee met in phone conference on May 17, 2004 and established a general timetable for the distribution of the surveys, candidate interviews and scheduling an executive session meeting in order to complete its report to the Trustees.

The questionnaires were to be distributed no later than the last week of May or first week of June. The questionnaires were to be returned by June 18th, and interviews would be scheduled between June 18th and July 2nd. The committee also scheduled a meeting, in Washington, DC to complete its final report on July 12th & 13th.

The committee decided that with regard to the interviews of the candidates, if both candidates could not be interviewed then neither candidate would be interviewed to insure fairness to the process. Further, the candidate interviews would not take place until after the questionnaires were returned to the committee in order to give the committee an opportunity to review the positions of the candidates on the issues important to the FOP. The committee also agreed that the resolution called for a report of the committee and did not call for the committee to make an endorsement recommendation of one candidate over another. Therefore, the committee’s report is a finding of fact and does not contain an endorsement recommendation.

The surveys were mailed via FedEx to President Bush and Senator John Kerry on June 3rd. The President Bush campaign returned their questionnaire on June 18th. As of the date of this report, the Senator John Kerry campaign has not returned his survey.

National Legislative office records indicate that two FedEx delivery attempts were made on June 4th and the package was delivered on June 7th to Senator Kerry’s staff. There have been several contacts between the Kerry campaign and the National FOP Legislative staff:

• June 16th — the Kerry campaign phoned to acknowledge receipt of the questionnaire and our request to schedule an interview;

• June 18th — four contacts between the parties; the Kerry campaign requested additional time to complete the survey;

• June 21st — Brian Levine of the Kerry campaign called the National Legislative office and advised that the campaign would return the questionnaire as soon as possible.

There have been other attempts by the National Legislative staff to reach the Kerry campaign regarding the questionnaire. These attempts were met with negative results. In the event the Kerry questionnaire is returned after the date of this report, the survey results will be forwarded to the Board of Trustees and National staff for distribution to the FOP membership. Because the Kerry campaign failed to return the questionnaire, no interviews were scheduled with either candidate.

Questionnaire Responses/Committee Analysis:

Past committees have analyzed the candidate’s responses for the purpose of comparing and contrasting the responses. Due to the fact that only one candidate has responded to the questionnaire, the committee decided that no such analysis could, nor should, occur. The committee believes that the responses speak for themselves and that the board members can draw their own inferences from the responses.

The questionnaire submitted by President Bush is printed in its entirety in the “Members Only” page of the Grand Lodge web site [http://www.grandlodgefop.org ].

Thursday, July 08, 2004 9:16 AM

FOP News: H.R. 218 Passes the Senate!!!!

H.R. 218 Passes the Senate!!!   
Measure will now go to the President for his signature

Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Grand Lodge, Fraternal Order of Police, hailed today’s unanimous passage of H.R. 218, the “Law Enforcement Officers’ Safety Act,” in the United States Senate.

“Today’s victory in the Senate was a long time in coming,” said Canterbury. “For more than a decade this legislation has been the number one legislative priority of our nation’s rank-and-file officers and of the Fraternal Order of Police.  The Senate’s unanimous vote on this bill, and the passage in the House by voice vote, demonstrate the truth of what we have said all along: this is a common sense bill that will make our nation, our neighborhoods, and our law enforcement officers safer.”

The legislation, sponsored by Representative Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA), was passed by the House in June.  It exempts qualified active and retired law enforcement officers from State and local prohibitions with respect to the carrying of concealed firearms.  It had previously passed the House on a 372-53 vote in 1999 and, in March of this year, passed the Senate on a 91-8 vote when it was offered as an amendment to another bill.

“Every time this legislation has been considered by the House or the Senate it has passed,” Canterbury said.  “And President Bush, who is a strong supporter of this legislation and was a tremendous help to us in getting this bill through the House last month, is eager to sign the bill.”

The Senate passed H.R. 218 without amendment, so the measure will now go to the White House to be signed into law by President Bush.  Once signed, active and retired law enforcement officers will be able to carry their firearms even when traveling outside their own jurisdictions.

“Our victory in the Senate today owes a great deal to the leadership of Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, the sponsor of the Senate companion bill to H.R. 218.”  Canterbury said.  “The membership of the F.O.P. is particularly grateful to the Judiciary Committee’s Ranking Member, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the bill’s chief cosponsor, without whom we would not have been able to get this bill off the ground.  The F.O.P. is fortunate indeed to have such strong advocates in the United States Senate.”

The Fraternal Order of Police is the largest law enforcement labor organization in the United States, with more than 318,000 members.