10 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: MAY 2017 NATIONWIDE What’s up in law enforcement across the U.S.A. THETOPTEN Miracle In St. Louis, voters approved a local sales tax increase to boost officers’ pay. In addition to providing cops with raises, the revenue from the tax increase is ex- pected to help the city hire more officers and maybe even get some new gear. Proposition P, the bill that raised the taxes, was supported by 63 percent of voters. City officials say the money will go to raises, increas- ing the number of two-person police cars and the use of dashboard and body cameras. “I don’t think this is new support” from the public, said County Police Chief Jon Belmar. “This is support that’s been there before. Frankly, it’s humbling.” Ten million In Oklahoma, a jury recently reached a verdict in a case involving Tulsa County jailers and a prisoner that died in their custody. The family of Elliott Wil- liams was awarded $10.2 million in compensatory damages. Former Tulsa County sheriff Stanley Glanz is on the hook too, and will be forced to pay $250,000 in punitive damages from his own pocket. Williams died while in custody in October 2011. He was ar- rested on a misdemeanor obstruction complaint but he was dead before the charges were filed. The award is the largest ever in a civil case awarded by the federal court in Tulsa. Eggheads be gone Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Trump Justice Department plans to end a partnership with inde- pendent scientists that aimed to improve the reliability of forensic science. If you read American Police Beat you may have read about the unreliability of things like drug tests that use hair follicles or the discredited methods the FBI once used to match bullets to the guns that fired them. Instead of working with any scientist, DOJ will instead appoint an “in-house adviser” as well as creat- ing an “internal committee” to “study improvements to forensic analysis,” Sessions said. Death from above Connecticut could become the first U.S. state to allow law enforcement agencies to use drones outfitted to fire on people with firearms (no word on explosive ordinance) if a bill currently being consid- ered by the state legislature should pass. Originally the legislation was written just to ban armed drones in general before lawmakers carved out the law enforce- ment exception. Demotion In North Carolina, a police officer has been demoted after he was caught on camera telling an Uber driver he could not record a traffic stop in yet another viral video. Multiple media outlets reported that that Wilm- ington police Sgt. Kenneth Becker was demoted to corporal. That means a pay cut worth $1.38 an hour. After the video hit the internet, Wilmington Police Chief Ralph Evangelous and New Hanover County Sheriff Ed McMahon issued statements clarifying the fact that filming law enforcement is entirely legal. The officer who was demoted is a 17-year veteran of the agency. 1. Crash diets 2. The war on drugs 3. Senators 4. The Department of Homeland Security 5. The rhythm method 6. Charlie Sheen 7. Diet soda 8. The lottery (you’ll never win and if you do your entire family could sue you to get a piece) 9. Posting on Facebook when really, really wasted 10. Drug testing welfare recipients things that don’t work at all but are still very popular Here comes the heat: Arlington (TX) Police Cpl. Elise Bowden throws out the ceremonial first pitch before the first inning as the Texas Rangers welcome the Oakland Athletics to Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas. Cpl. Bowden was run over twice by a fugitive during a traffic stop earlier this year and sustained serious injuries. (Brad Loper/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS via Getty Images) Pedro Viloria works the drive-through counter at a McDonald’s in Doral, Florida. He took a woman’s order and waited for her to swing around to pay and grab the chow. It turns out the driver was an off-duty Miami-Dade Police Officer with her two kids. She pulled up to the win- dow as Viloria got the order ready to hand through the window. But something was wrong. He saw that the woman was struggling to breathe and in deep trouble. She appeared to loose consciousness as her foot slid off the brake. Now the SUV is rolling with an unconscious driver and two terrified kids to- wards traffic or who knows what. Viloria immediately jumped through the win- dow, stopped the vehicle and got the off-duty officer out. Thankfully there were two paramedics that happened to be eating at the location and along with another McDonald’s employee they rendered assistance and got the lady breathing again. McDonald’s released a statement praising Pedro Valario for his actions. At the time this article was written the off-duty of- ficer was still unidentified and her medical status was unknown. Worker restores faith in humanity