Thirty Houston police officers were suspended without pay or given written reprimands for working at part-time security jobs while the department believed they were still on duty. Houston’s Internal Affairs Division began an investigations back in May of 2007 into allegations that some officers were still supposed to be working their scheduled shifts when they were working jobs as private security guards.

In an effort to end illicit online sales of its iconic license-plate frames, the board of the California Highway Patrol’s (CHP) 11-99 Foundation has voted to stop issuing the frames to new donors, effective January 1. The foundation, which provides scholarships and hardship support to the family members of officers with the California Highway Patrol, also is considering how best to address the status of the frames inscribed with “Member 11-99 Foundation” and “Member CHP 11-99 Foundation” that already have been issued over the past 25 years.

In Maryland, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Ronald B. Rubin has ruled that the county’s plan to record conversations in police cruisers does not violate the state’s wiretap laws or infringe on the privacy of police officers. “There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in an officer’s patrol car,” Rubin said in his ruling, issued just a month ago.

On February 12, 2008, a young female officer from the Fairfax County Police Dept. was involved in a fatal traffic collision on her way to a call. Just recently, she was found not guilty of any criminal conduct surrounding the accident. There are no winners in this story. It is, however, an illustration of how media and politics can influence events, and why a strong union and a dispassionate examination of the evidence can belie the public’s original impressions that this was an overzealous rookie, in  over her head driving to a “hot” call.

If you read American Police Beat you may have had a leg up in not getting blindsided by the Wall St. meltdown. While the average 401k account holder is just waking up to the fact that there’s something wrong with the markets, public service professionals like police officers have seen the writing on the wall for years. Deficits at the state level are in the billions in many parts of the country and that can only mean one thing:  wacky plans to save tax dollars by endangering police officers and the public they serve.

Not every law enforcement agency can afford a helicopter. But there are alternatives when it comes to policing from the skies. In Fremont County, Colorado, law enforcement and local farmers are using a unique flying system to get a better look at their crops and to undertake search and rescue missions. Sergeant Bryon Parker with the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office has been flying powered parachutes for more than 10 years.

If Omaha City officials get their wishes, a state labor court would draw up a police contract that would dramatically alter officers' pay and benefits, affecting both working and retired cops alike. Under the proposed changes, it could take as many six years longer for officers to reach the highest pay scale than under the current plan. But that's just the beginning. Health benefits could vanish for officers who retire under the new contract and pensions might be calculated to exclude wages earned from overtime, comp time or holiday pay.

After a lengthy absence, criminal and domestic security intelligence functions are once again being resurrected by law enforcement agencies across the country.  For well over two decades, budget shortfalls, political correctness, and real or imagined civil rights concerns have contributed to the down-sizing or, in some cases, complete scrapping of police intelligence units.  During this period, the mere mention of "intelligence" conjured images of Nixon-era domestic spying and dossier building and caused many police administrators to quake in their boots.

The First District Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled that police review boards like one in Berkeley, California must continue to keep the public out of their meetings in order to insure that the personnel records of the officers who are being reviewed be kept strictly confidential. The Appeals Court used a state Supreme Court ruling handed down in August of 2006 that required civilian review boards who oversee law enforcement disciplinary matters to keep their hearings and documents confidential.

The Kwame Kilpatrick saga has come to a close in Detroit and incoming mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. is receiving rave reviews for his choice of new leadership for the police department. Resumes just don't get more impressive than that of new Detroit Police Chief James Barren. He can fly helicopters, counsel troubled cops and has the kind of street experience that the rank and file say inspires confidence. His new challenge will put all his skills to the test.