Officer Down
SUPREME SACRIFICE E-mail
Written by Craig W. Floyd   

New York City Police Detectives Rodney J. Andrews and James V. Nemorin worked in the elite 23-member Firearms Investigation Unit of the Narcotics Division. According to one of their colleagues, “Our job is to get guns off the streets before they are used to commit a crime or kill someone.” They work undercover and often deal with cold-blooded street thugs who would think nothing of killing a cop. A veteran of the all-volunteer unit put it this way, “In this job you’re pretty much bait, and I know that a big fish could come along and eat me any time.” The worst of those fears came true on the night of March 10, 2003.

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Multiple LE killings were up in 2009 E-mail
Written by Craig W. Floyd   

This past year has been punctuated by intense bursts of violence against our nation’s peace officers.  Fifteen law enforcement officers have been shot to death over the last 12 months in just five separate multiple-death incidents. The most recent of these heinous acts occurred just after 8 AM. on Sunday, November 29, when a lone gunman walked into a Pierce County, Washington coffee shop and opened fire on four officers from the Lakewood (WA) Police Department who were going over plans for their upcoming shift.  The four officers killed that day were Sergeant Mark Renninger and Officers Tina Griswold, Ronald Owens, and Greg Richards. None of the other civilians in the coffee shop were targeted or injured.

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Stabbed Cop Mounts Amazing Recovery E-mail
Written by Robert Mladinich   
On the evening of January 15, just hours after a pilot "landed" U.S. Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River, NYPD Sgt. Timothy Smith of the 101 Precinct in Queens responded to a seemingly routine job regarding an emotionally disturbed person (EDP). The police had been summoned to the location by the EDP's wife, who grew concerned when he started babbling incoherently while chopping vegetables with a knife. Armed with a non-lethal Taser gun, Sgt. Smith, an 11-year department veteran, knocked on the bedroom door where the EDP had sequestered himself.
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Fewer deaths provide no comfort E-mail
Written by Craig Floyd   

According to Mike Prosperi, owner of the Imo’s Pizza near City Hall, everyone in Kirkwood (MO) knew Charles Lee “Cookie” Thornton.  “He always had a smile on his face,” according to Mr. Prosperi, and “he was always saying, ‘God bless you.’” But there was another side to Thornton.  He was a regular presence at City Council meetings and he was not there to listen quietly. A newspaper correspondent, Janet McNichols, who covered those Council meetings, said Thornton would “come to the meeting and he’d have a big easel and a picture of a donkey on there and call the Council asses.”

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In Their Time of Greatest Need E-mail
Written by Scott Barthelmass   

When a police officer dies in the line of duty, shouldn't the individuals and the badge they wear receive the proper respect?  If the officers and their grieving families were to be forgotten, that would only make the hurt more painful. Unfortunately, many police agencies do not have the resources to undertake large-scale official funerals.

Since the state of Missouri was established in 1821, it has suffered more than 620 line-of-duty deaths, many of them in recent years. When two policemen were murdered in the suburban St. Louis community of Kirkwood on February 7, 2008, a group of officers came together to begin creating the Missouri Law Enforcement Funeral Assistance Team.

Over the last year, these officers have devoted hundreds of hours to research and to planning this new organization.  They have assembled a Missouri-specific law enforcement funeral guide, have put in place a structure to establish funeral response teams, and have developed training criteria for volunteers who will assist police departments and officers' families through the aftermath of a line-of-duty death.

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More female officers killed in the line E-mail
Written by Craig W. Floyd   

A convenience store camera had caught the entire incident on videotape – every horror-filled moment. Nicola Cotton, a 24-year-old New Orleans police officer, had been brutally murdered while attempting to arrest a rape suspect. It was a Monday morning, January 28, 2008.

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Famous LE deaths in US History E-mail
Written by Craig W. Floyd   

Harry Aurandt’s life was tough in the beginning. His father died before his second birthday. But his mother did a fine job raising him, and eventually Harry led a very successful life as a devoted family man and police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Unfortunately, however, Officer Aurandt’s life would end as tragically as it began. On Sunday evening, December 19, 1921, Harry and Tulsa’s chief detective, Ike Wilkinson, were driving on a road five miles from the city when they spotted a suspicious vehicle and stopped to investigate.

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Holiday dangers for Law Enforcement E-mail
Written by Craig W. Floyd   

While thousands of others gathered to celebrate the New Year in downtown Baltimore on December 31, 2007, Courtney G. Brooks, a Maryland Transportation Authority police officer, was setting out cones along a busy interstate highway to keep commercial vehicles from coming into the city. Corporal Brooks, 40, was one of many officers that night who were giving up their own time with family and friends so others could enjoy the holiday.

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Released offenders a deadly threat to law enforcement E-mail
Written by Kevin P. Morison   

For two decades, Franklin Township (NJ) Police Sergeant Ippolito “Lee” Gonzalez distinguished himself as a no-nonsense cop who had a keen eye for suspicious activity and never shied away from following his instincts. The night of May 6, 1995, was no different. At 10:30 p.m. – just a half hour before the end of his shift – Sergeant Gonzalez pulled over a suspicious vehicle occupied by two men. Working alone, he called for backup, but by the time assisting officers arrived, it was too late. As Sergeant Gonzalez was examining the driver’s license, he was shot twice, and died a few hours later.

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FBI Issues Annual Report on Officer Deaths and Assaults E-mail
Written by APB Staff   

More than 59,000 law enforcement officers were assaulted last year, according to the most recent statistic from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports. The annual report also shows that 57 officers were "feloniously killed" in 51 separate incidents for the reporting year 2007 in its' line-of-duty-deaths section. That's up from 48 in the previous year. "Offenders used firearms to kill 55 of the 57 victim officers. Of these 55 officers, 38 were slain with handguns, eight with rifles, and eight with shotguns," according to the Bureau.

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Hispanic officers make the ultimate sacrifice E-mail
Written by Kevin P. Morison   

Mario Moreno’s life ambition was to give back to his beloved community of San Antonio. Born and raised there, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating from McCollum High School and served in Operation Desert Shield/Storm. But after four years of honorable military service, he chose to return home. While completing his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice at Wayland Baptist University, Mario joined the San Antonio Police Department in 1996. He excelled as an officer and was promoted to detective in June 2007, landing an assignment with the elite “Repeat Offender Task Force,” which targets some of the most violent recidivists in the city.

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