According to this Dallas Morning News editorial piece, a small group of Dallas police officers have been pulling over drivers, and ticketing them for not being fluent English speakers. The confusion apparently arose from a drop-down menu item in the computerized ticketing system, which allowed for that option. The problem is, that option only applies to commercial drivers, which Dallas police officers do not typically enforce.
The author of the article states that the main problem is not that the oversight belonged to one, or even two confused officers, but to many, including those who are supposed to supervise the ticketing process. Police Chief David Kunkle has stated that he would “dismiss pending cases and investigate the officers involved.”
That said, the author brings up a good point. With the opening of the new Dallas Arts buildings, how can Dallas be taken seriously as an international travel destination if there are rumblings of racial profiling among the Police force?
What’s your take on the situation? Is it just a slight oversight, or something more serious that needs to be addressed?
A new debate is brewing. Exactly how much power and authority should a Dallas County Constable have?
In the past, Dallas County Constables were typically only responsible for tasks such as serving civil papers and provided bailiffs to justice of the peace courts. Now however, as outlined in this Dallas Morning News article, local Constables are expanding their reach into areas typically only served by local police forces, even in some cases assembling and hiring their own dedicated teams.
Dallas County Constables are now frequently filling in areas of law enforcement in areas where local police aren’t able to. While some Dallasites believe this is a positive development, others believe Dallas Constables are crossing the authority line. Others are concerned that these Constables are providing services in areas where they have little to no training, exposing local communities to unneccessary harm in the process.
Read the Dallas Morning News Article. What’s your opinion, are Dallas County Constables crossing the line? Or simply providing a necessary and needed service for the local community?
According to an obscure Texas law, you could. Originally penned in 1973, the law was written to be intentionally vague. Lawmakers at the time did not want the law to read as if the state were imposing what parents could teach their children. The problem is, according to Wynne Shaw, clinical supervisor at the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center, the practice of showing porn to children is often times a grooming practice for pedophiles. So the question becomes, is that something the state of Texas really wants to encourage?
Texas Lawmakers are currently pushing to have the law rewritten in the near future.
What’s your take on the situation? Is this simply a common sense law that’s been overlooked, or is there some value to having the law live in its current form?
Original article via Dallas Morning News.
Months ago Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Chief Gary Gee said on Sunday that the agency is “committed to completing an unbiased, thorough and detailed investigation” of the shooting death of Oscar Grant.
Read the recent article and see the video of the officer in court.
A Michigan man shot and killed a pro-life activist. Harlan James Drake, 33, was charged Friday with first-degree murder in the deaths of James Pouillon, 63, and Mike Fuoss, 61, said Shiawassee County Prosecutor Randy Colbry.
“The defendant had ill will toward these three individuals — not for the same reason necessarily, but had a grudge,” Colbry said.
Before classes were to begin Friday, Pouillon was protesting across the street from Owosso High School about 70 miles northwest of Detroit. Drake then drove by the school and shot Pouillon several times in front of horrified students and parents, officials said.
A 28 year-old Boston man has plead guilty in a Boston court today after stealing sensitive information from millions of people in Massachusetts and New York. Albert Gonzalez was able to get debt and credit card info from large retail chains such as TJX Cos Inc, parent of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls. Gonzalez could be facing up to 25 years in jail. Read the rest of the article.
Money laundering is often associated with images of 1930s gangsters like Al Capone, but these charges are still prevalent today. Many often ask the question what is money laundering?
“Money laundering” as it is commonly called, involves the transfer of monies that are a product of criminal activity – whether that activity is drug trafficking related or white collar crime related. Although there is a fairly broad definition of money laundering, the federal money laundering laws were enacted to attempt to take the profit out of criminal activity.
Congress has passed several laws over the years to prevent profits of criminal activity from being utilized, such as Currency Transaction Reports. The Anti-Money Laundering Statutes criminalizes the movement and use of profits/wealth created by criminal activity. See Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1956 and 1957.
In a popular news segment on Dateline, To Catch a Predator, many of the acting individuals filmed are charged with on-line solicitation of a minor for sexual purposes. In Texas you can be charged with this felony without even leaving the house. It has resulted in many, many arrests.
According to Dateline’s outsourced chat room decoys, 325 have been convicted of some level of this charge since June 2004. Get the facts of this serious charge below.
What is Online Solicitation of a Minor?
On-line solicitation of a minor for a sexual purpose, that is, with intent to commit a sexual activity with that minor, is one of the most investigated and targeted activities by both federal and state law enforcement in this day and age. The “on-line solicitation” as it is known as, is usually in the form of contact by electronic mail (e-mail), instant messaging, or other use of the Internet.
The contact with a minor (underage person), often a male contacting an underage female, becomes a violation of state and federal law when the conversation turns to content of a sexual nature to the extent that it appears that the contacting person is communicating in a sexually explicit manner with the contacted person.
Last week when Dallas County DNA exonerree Johnnie Lindsey appeared on the talk show The View, he and his fiancee said they weren’t getting married until he had a job.
Now, at least three people have offered him work. No details yet on what the jobs might be.
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins and Lindsey’s attorney, Dallas County public defender Michelle Moore, were also on the show.
They were promoting a new documentary style-show, Dallas DNA, about the Dallas County DA’s office and the work of the conviction integrity unit.
Read the rest of the article.
HOUSTON (Reuters) - The former chief investment officer of Stanford Financial Group will be indicted by a federal grand jury on Tuesday on more charges than the single count of obstruction she currently faces, Fox Business Network reported on Monday, citing the executive’s lawyers.
A court deadline to indict Laura Pendergest-Holt expires on Tuesday.
Dan Cogdell, Pendergest-Holt’s criminal defense attorney in Houston said the government had, by his count, until Wednesday to take action and, if an indictment is handed down, his client will plead not guilty.
Pendergest-Holt was arrested in Houston in February on one criminal charge of obstruction. She also faces civil charges for her role in an $8 billion fraud involving certificates of deposit issued by Stanford’s Antigua bank.
Read the rest of the article.