Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: FEBRUARY 2017 3 Order your own MONTHLY subscription today. Call 1-800-234-0056 or go to www.APBweb.com American Police Beat (ISSN 1082-653X; USPS #24948), also hereafter referred to as “APB,” is published twelve times a year for $12 per year, $20 for two years or $26 for three years. APB is published by First Strike Media, LLC, 505 8th Avenue, Ste 1004, New York, NY 10018. Periodicals Postage Paid at New York, NY and Additional Mailing Offices. Telephone: 800-234-0056. Subscriptions: info@apbweb.com. Website: www.apbweb.com. POSTMASTER: send address changes to American Police Beat, 505 8th Avenue, Ste 1004, New York, NY 10018. I n Virginia, a federal appeals court has ruled that the Petersburg Police Department’s policy barring its employees from criticizing the depart- ment on social media is unconstitutional. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Petersburg P.D.’s social me- dia policy is a violation of officers’ rights. Two cops filed a lawsuit after they were disciplined for talking on Facebook about concerns they had regarding inexperienced officers being promoted and running train- ing programs. It’s unclear from the news reports if the officers made the comments on their own Facebook pages or the agen- cy’s page. The department’s policy was pretty standard. It pro- hibits employees from post- ing anything that would “tend to discredit or reflect unfavor- ably” upon the agency. The 4th Circuit said po- lice officials and agencies cannot be allowed to “wall themselves off from public scrutiny and debate,” even though in this case the scru- tiny was coming from two police officers. Officers win big social media lawsuit In Ohio, the Columbus City Council recently ap- proved a contract that will provide body cameras for police officers. The total cost is expected to be about $9.1 million over five years. There’s no word yet on when the cameras will be de- ployed. However, as many as 12 officers in Columbus are probably already using them if things went accord- ing to plan. According to the Columbus Dispatch, roughly $4.1 mil- lion of the total cost will go towards data storage and the city will pay $3.6 million for the cameras. Whatever’s left over gets divided up between training, licensing fees and other accessories. Law enforcement agen- cies around the country are signing on to the body cam movement. All stud- ies report that the cameras dramatically cut down on complaints. Deal is made for body cams Saco (ME) Police Officers including Kyle Moody salute Police Chief Brad Paul after Paul was escorted home after his last day on the job with the Saco Police Department. (Photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)