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 4012 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: JUNE 2016 There were 15 bouts between members of Oklahoma law enforcement and Oklahoma firefighters during the recent Smoke & Guns III held at the BOK Center in downtown Tulsa. The event was held to raise money for worthy causes. Cops were fighting for the Oklahoma Special Olympics while the firefighters put on the gloves for Oklahoma Firefighters’ Burn Camp. It was all for charity, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t some serious hitting. “It’s amateur fights, it’s not professional fights, but we’re going out there to win just the same,” said Kyle Younger, a Tulsa firefighter who took on Atoka County Sheriff’s Deputy Trevor Dean in an MMA match. W henitcomesto the issue about whether or not cops should wear bodycams, almost everyone thinks it’s a great idea. And in many agencies where bodycams have been purchased and deployed, officials say they’re already making a positive impact. But in Minooka, Illinois, the police are giving up on bodycams – at least for now. Minooka Police Chief Justin Meyer says that he just doesn’t have the personnel to keep up with requests for video footage from citizens and the media alike. Chief Meyer says he was pleased with the cams until suspects and their lawyers started demanding footage. “It just became a bit bur- densome for our administra- tive staff,” Meyer told the Morris News Herald. Fifteen Minooka officers were given body cams be- ginning last July as part of a 60 to 90 day trial. The policy was cut and dry. Officers were required to turn the cameras on dur- ing any law enforcement situation whether they were directing traffic or respond- ing to a report of a major crime. Video from the cam- eras was then downloaded and stored. Chief Meyer says it all sounded great in theory. But in practice it just didn’t work. “You could have four of- ficers on a call for a domestic incident,” Meyer said. “If they are on scene for an hour – whether there’s an arrest or not – that’s four hours of video that has to be uploaded.” We’re cops, we’re not video editors! It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day’s toil of any human being. – John Stuart Mill Here’s how “news” in the age of so-called “social me- dia” really works. Someone you know on Facebook will send you a link to an article that seems legit. You read the article and find it outrageous. You then send it to more people on Facebook, Twitter or what- ever. This is how things “go viral.” What really helps a story go viral is the fact that it’s not even remotely based on the truth. The BS busters at Snopes recently checked out a claim on the web site, World News Daily Report, that North Carolina police tased and “brutally ejected” a woman from a ladies’ rest- room because they thought she was transgender. Here’s the fake quote from the fake victim in the fake story. “I was taking a crap when police officers started yell- ing at me and telling me to open the door but I wasn’t finished, so they kicked the door open and grabbed me with my pants down and rushed me outside,” recalls the victim, visibly trauma- tized by the latest events. World News Daily Report (WNDR) is wildly popular, particularly with the elderly and easily duped. It’s a click- bait web site that traffics in fake news stories. WNDR even has a dis- claimer that says all of the site’s articles are “entirely fictional.” But the folks that are con- vinced that the Sinola Cartel has teamed up with Al Qa- eda in Delaware to smuggle anchor-babies through the drug tunnels aren’t usually too concerned with details. Forget the truth. They want to be engaged, enraged and entertained. ISIS and Juarez cartel team up with Zika virus mosquitos to invade USA! Spotting fake or misleading news stories and web posts is pretty simple – just consider the source.