Police Equipment Headlines for August 31, 2008

• Lawn businesses see rash of thefts
The community has had five thefts since May, police said. Police in Wayne and Macomb counties said they haven't seen a rash of lawn care equipment thefts ...


• Iraqi police want equipment to stop bombers
John Blankenhorn, a US officer in the area, said the US isn't planning to provide equipment to detect explosives, but noted that Tal Afar police have put in ...


• RNC Protests: Police Raid Headquarters
Two organizations said today they filed an emergency motion with the court Saturday to try to prevent police from seizing video equipment and cell phones ...


• Man arrested for police gear enters plea
"The equipment was removed in an effort to protect the public's safety," said police spokesman Officer David McCranie. "Our fear was he was potentially ...

Fake Cop; Real Equipment

In Lakewood, Washington, near Tacoma, police arrested a man apparently impersonating an undercover officer. They’ve been investigating him for about a month now after it was reported he’d walked into a sports bar looking for someone who’d parked in a handicap spot. He claimed that he was with a nearby police department.

When the police arrived at his home they found police equipment, guns His truck had been equipped to look like an undercover police vehicle complete with red-and-blue flashing police lights, sirens, K-9 stickers, a public address system and a police scanner. The police also found handcuffs, badges and a handgun.

Deciding to Record

Of all the tools in the police equipment closet perhaps the most useful in securing convictions is the recorder. Amazingly, though, despite the fact that recording technology – tapes, video and digital – have been around for decades there are still no clear guidelines regarding whether or not interviews with suspects will be recorded.

Take Cape Girardeau, a small river town in Missouri, for example. State regulations are unclear; a few years ago a bill to require all interviews was proposed but never passed. In neighboring Illinois it is the law that all interviews be recorded but in Cape it’s left almost entirely up to the officer.

In most cases recordings are made. Sometimes time and space constraints can make it difficult and occasionally the fact that a recording is being made can make a suspect stop talking but investigating officers generally make recordings whenever possible. They insure that the suspect cannot claim that they were coerced or otherwise abused into making whatever statements coming out of the interview.

Conventional Readiness

From new police equipment to restricted airspace; rooftop snipers to shutting down an interstate for four hours – these are a few of the things that the Denver police are doing to deal with the Democratic national convention this week.

Most convention goers will behave peacefully but some groups planning to attend promise to “disrupt” the week. What this means, exactly is hard to say. But Federal and local security personnel feel that they are prepared.

"That's not to say that things won't happen, but what we're saying is that we're prepared to deal with anything," says Mayor John Hickenlooper.