Maryland’s highest court has tossed the conviction of a man on drug charges because the arresting officer in Prince George’s County based his search and subsequent arrest on the odor of ether, an ingredient in PCP. The officer found a small, half-full glass vial of the drug in the pocket of the suspect’s pants, but the court ruled that merely smelling it did not meet the requirements to legally conduct the search. According to a news report by Peter Hermann in the Baltimore Sun, the court’s ruling limits law enforcement officers during “stop and frisk” actions. Aggressive stop and frisks were associated with the so-called “zero-tolerance policing.”

In the movies you frequently hear the phrase, “No one is above the law.” It’s a nice idea. But what if you are local law enforcement and the suspect is a paid informant for the Feds? Anyone familiar with the sordid tale of Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger can tell you that these kinds of arrangements can get people killed. But there are other cases of a lower profile that, while not as deadly, can be every bit as frustrating for a police officer trying to bring a protected informant to justice. Meet Josef Franz Prach von Habsburg-Lothringen, the Prince of Austria. If that fake name is too much of a mouthful, try using the suspect’s real name –  Josef Meyers.

It does not matter how many people have been freed from death row based on new evidence or how much states and counties spend trying to carry out capital punishment. For the families and friends of the victims, you can not put a price tag on the sense of justice, and closure, that comes with a death sentence being carried out, survivors say. In Topeka, Kansas recently, relatives of murder victims pleaded with Kansas lawmakers not to abolish the state's death penalty, saying that the penalty should not be abandoned over concerns about what it costs the state. "You cannot put a price tag on my sister's life," Jennifer Sanderholm told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

To embrace community policing as the culture of our organization more closely, we have reorganized the San Francisco Police Department. A key component of this process is the effective integration of community stakeholders into our problem-solving efforts to reduce crime and the fear of crime. Community policing in San Francisco is becoming the way we conduct business every day. Our efforts are being focused on the shared responsibility of working with our diverse communities to nurture our relationships and create effective problem-solving models to enhance public safety.

Ladies and gentlemen, we may have a record here. Someone get the Guinness Book people on the phone. South Dakota authorities say a woman found passed out in a stolen delivery van recently registered a blood alcohol content of .708. That’s close to a whopping nine times the legal limit and a possible record for the state, if not the country.

According to an article by the Bloomberg News service, U.S. authorities prosecuted the fewest number of people and companies for criminal bankruptcy fraud this year since at least 1986. That happened as filings rose to new heights amid the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The FBI, which is the primary agency that probes such cases, says it is putting more emphasis on other white-collar crimes, including securities and mortgage fraud, but there is precious little in the way of action backing up those words. The bureau now considers itself primarily concerned with terrorism and everything else is a secondary concern.

In what can only be described as a massive kidney swap, highly skilled surgeons recently performed 26 operations on people in desperate need. The first of a kind organ exchange was the brainchild of a quick-thinking organ transplant expert and pulled off thanks to big-hearted donors like Police Officer Tom Otten. Otten took part in the recent record-setting kidney swap in the nation’s capital that was part of a major push to get transplants to patients who might not usually qualify. When it was over, all 13 people hoping and praying for a second chance had received lifesaving kidneys, according to a news story by the Associated Press.

A recent survey of retired New York Police Department personnel strongly implies that the police’s reporting of crime statistics in New York City has been skewed for years, with precinct commanders and others downgrading crimes to make their results look better. According to the survey’s authors, criminologists John Eterno and Eli Silverman, and to spokesmen for the Captains Endowment Association, the pressures exerted by the department’s CompStat crime-tracking program forced commanders and their subordinates to manipulate statistics to protect themselves from abuse at CompStat meetings, where their results were discussed. Nothing could be further from the truth.

America's Most Wanted, television's top crime-fighting show, with generous support from Sprint, is once again asking law enforcement officers around the country to nominate someone they know who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to serve and protect. It's the sixth annual America's Most Wanted (AMW) All-Star Contest, where the public gets to vote for the first responder they deem worthy of winning the top prize. Any first-responder is eligible and the nomination process is simple: Go to AMW.com and fill out a short online form naming a first-responder and explaining what makes this person an All-Star.

SWAT teams and law enforcement in general are routinely scrutinized for every decision and action, especially when it comes to interactions with the mentally ill. The incident in Eureka, California where Cheri Moore, who had a history of mental illness, was shot and killed by Eureka police officers in her second story apartment has received massive attention. Prior to the shooting and preceding two hour standoff, Moore brandished a flare gun, threw things from her second-story window and threatened to burn down the building. Police have said they believed Moore had put down the flare gun when the decision was made to storm her apartment. Upon entering, officers said they came face to face with Moore, who was pointing the flare gun at them. Officers shot Moore several times.