03-07-03

TCLEOSE Announces Training Site

TCLEOSE is proud to announce the opening of its new internet training portal. The POSEIT site is currently in a testing phase, therefore not all elements are functioning or put into place. TCLEOSE would like individuals to begin taking and testing the courses as they come online and provide feedback. Feedback will permit TCLEOSE to build this portal to be the best training tool available over the internet for peace officers.

Visit POSEIT at http://www.texas-poseit.org

Tuesday morning at 7:30 police were responded to a burglar alarm in Wasilla, Alaska. While making sure there was no break-in the responding officer was greeted by the aroma of marijuana. The owners of the residence were nowhere to be found so the officer drove away, got a warrant, came back and discovered a marijuana growing operation worth an estimated 4 million dollars. Officers found 2,475 plants that were confiscated, as well a boat, snowmobile and an ATV purchased with profits from the operation. Charges are pending against the owners.

Crooks in Alaska: Welcome to the land of the midnight dumb.

Suspect Tries to Carjack Unmarked Police Car

Police in Tennessee say a man's run from the law ended when he tried to carjack an unmarked police cruiser. They say it happened Wednesday after the suspect led police on a chase through four counties in a stolen Grand Am.

He was running out of gas when he pulled up beside two officers who were waiting for him in an unmarked car. The officers say the man pretended to have a gun and ordered them out of the car. He was startled when the officers pulled guns on him.

After his arrest, one officer said he heard the man say he couldn't believe he tried to carjack a police car.

© Dumb Crooks
Www.dumbcrooks.com
Used with permission

Modern Words of Wisdom

Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach that person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs.

I read recipes the same way I read science fiction. I get to the end and I think, "Well, that's not going to happen."

Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying

of nothing.

Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

In the 60's people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

You read about all these terrorists--most of them came here legally, but they hung around on these expired visas, some for as long as 10-15 years. Now, compare that to Blockbuster: you're two days late with a video and those people are all over you. Let's put Blockbuster in charge of immigration.

Never give yourself a haircut after three margaritas.

You need only two tools: WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use WD-40. If it moves and shouldn't, use the tape.

The five most essential words for a healthy, vital relationship are “I apologize” and “you are right.”

Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.

When you make a mistake, make amends immediately. It's easier to eat crow while it's still warm.

If you woke up breathing, congratulations! You have another chance!

Work is good, but it's not that important. Money is nice, but you can't take it with you. Statistics show most people don't live to spend all they saved; some die even before they retire. Anything we have isn't really ours; it was given to us by God. He just let's us borrow it while we're here...even our kids.

And finally...Be really good to your family and/or friends. You never know when you are going to need them to empty your bedpan.

Legal Issues - Search and Seizure

SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR LEADS TO DETENTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF PROBABLE CAUSE FOR ARREST.

A police officer was dispatched to investigate two black men reported to be selling drugs near a gray car at a certain location. When he arrived at the address, the officer saw two black men under a tree near a gray car.

After they had seen the marked police car, one of the men gave the defendant something, and the defendant began to walk quickly away from the patrol car. The officer told the man to “wait a minute.”

When the defendant continued to walk away, the officer ordered him to stop, pulled his pistol, ran in front of the defendant, and told the suspect to show his hands. After determining that the defendant was not holding a weapon the officer holstered his pistol and asked for the man’s name.

The defendant ignored the questions, so the officer handcuffed the suspect, frisked him for weapons, and put him in the back of the patrol car. As the officer frisked the suspect, he noticed that the man was trying to swallow something.

When the defendant would not spit out what he had in his mouth, the officer “pressed his asp on [the defendant’s]” cheek causing the suspect to spit out 12 rocks of crack cocaine.

Three witnesses testified at the suppression hearing that the defendant’s companion never handed anything to him; that the defendant already was walking away from the tree before he saw the patrol car; and that the officer ordered the defendant to lie down on the ground and handcuffed him, “slamming” defendant’s face to the ground, choking him, and forcing his asp into the defendant’s mouth.

The defendant’s motion to suppress was denied. He was convicted and appealed.

Holding: Reasonable suspicion is determined by reviewing the facts known to an officer at the time of the detention. “The police officer must be able to point to specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts and the officer’s experience and general knowledge, reasonably warrant the intrusion.”

Information from an anonymous tip must be corroborated by other facts within the officer’s knowledge in order to establish reasonable suspicion. In this case, the officer testified that he saw a man hand something to the defendant, and that the defendant fled.

These observations made the tip more reliable, as did the fact that the officer saw two black men near a gray car at the scene. It was not the defendant’s furtive movement alone, or the area’s reputation for drug dealing that made the officer suspicious.

While “an individual has the right to refuse to answer a police officer’s questions and walk away,” and that behavior would not create reasonable suspicion, the officer in this case was justified in detaining the defendant based on the informant’s tip accurately describing the scene, the exchange between the two men, and the defendant’s attempt to avoid the officer.

“An investigative detention must be temporary and last no longer than is necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop. The investigative methods employed should be the least intrusive means reasonably available to verify or dispel the officer’s suspicion in a short period of time.”

It was reasonable for the officer in this case to handcuff the defendant and place him in the patrol car. He suspected the defendant had drugs; he was alone in a drug-trafficking area; the defendant did not respond to questioning; and the officer was afraid the defendant would flee.

Once the officer had detained the defendant, he saw the man trying to swallow something that turned out to be cocaine. Probable cause developed during the reasonable detention of the defendant, and justified the man’s arrest. Zone v. State, No. 01-01-00057 (Tex. App. – Houston, 8-1-02).

Aviation Truisms

For those budding pilots in our midst:

Never trade luck for skill.

The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in aviation are, "Why is it doing that?", "Where are we?" and "uh oh..."

Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers.

Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; we never left one up there!

If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter -- and therefore, unsafe.

Flashlights are tubular metal containers kept in a flight bag for the purpose of storing dead batteries.

Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground who is incapable of understanding it or doing anything about it.

Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death I Shall Fear No Evil For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing (sign over the entrance to the SR-71 operating location Kadena, Japan).

Basic Flying Rules: 1. Try to stay in the middle of the air. 2. Do not go near the edges of it. 3. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there.

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people can be. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, “How did you like the trip?”

“It was great, Dad,” he said. “Did you see how poor people can be?” the father asked. “Oh, yeah,” said the son. “So what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father. The son answered, “I saw that we have one dog, and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, and they have friends to protect them.”

With this the boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, “Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are.”

Too many times we forget what we have and concentrate on what we don’t have. What is one person’s worthless object is another’s prize possession. It is all based on one’s perspective. Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for all the bounty we have, instead of worrying about wanting more.

Take joy in what you have!

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