Law Enforcement


Gorilla Update

After I posted the previous item on the gorilla said to be rampaging through Kansas City, the original article was updated (same link) and the ape in question is now reported to be a "large chimpanzee" (pan troglodytes) rather than a gorilla (gorilla…




Deputy Tracks Fugitive Through World of Warcraft

Alfred Hightower had been on the run since 2007, when a warrant was issued for his arrest on drug-dealing charges.   Hightower was apparently from Kokomo, Indiana, but had fled to Canada.  His downfall, though, was that he spent a…


Cat’s Relentless String Harassment Prompts Emergency Call

Given that Americans called 911 this year for emergencies that included missing shrimp, McNugget shortages, and (most recently) an unstoppable Playstation 3, it is somewhat reassuring to know that people in other countries are also defective. It may be that,…


911 Caller Declares Parenting Emergency

Police in Roxbury, Massachusetts, said that an exasperated mother called 911 on Saturday, saying she could not get her 14-year-old son to stop playing "Grand Theft Auto" and go to sleep.  Angela Mejia said she woke up at 2:30 a.m., hours…


Car Sounded Like It Was Speeding, Officer Testifies

In 2007, Daniel Freitag got a speeding ticket in West Salem, Ohio.  Patrolman Ken Roth said he had measured Freitag's speed with a radar gun, but that evidence was thrown out on appeal because the state had failed to provide…


Fake Policeman Stolen

Apparently hoping to save money on law enforcement costs, the county of Essex in the UK has deployed eight life-size cardboard cutouts of police officers, which have been posted in various shops "to deter and confuse would-be criminals."  Cardboard cutouts…


Bear-Disturbance Acquittal Follow-Up

Last week I mentioned that I was having trouble finding the law that Kenneth Herron supposedly violated when he infiltrated the bear grotto at the San Francisco Zoo.  I speculated that it might have been section 5.08 of the San…