Chicago, IL —The laws that were in place here for decades made carrying a concealed weapon by anyone other that a sworn peace officer, and few others a felony ( UUW Unlawful Use of a Weapon ). It was after police encountered mass killer Richard Speck with a concealed gun in 1966 that attitudes significantly changed.  Speck had just  slaughtered  eight student nurses and was not yet identified as the killer.  Just days later he was at the old Raleigh Hotel on the near North side,   where he got into a fee dispute with a local prostitute and threatened her with a gun. Mass Murderer Richard Benjamin Speck The police were called and it was not handled as an emergency.  Cops responded, confronted and frisked Speck.  They found his .38 snub-nosed revolver.   Rather than arrest Speck the simply did what cops did in those days.  Since nobody was injured they just confiscated Speck’s gun and sent him on his way.  Rathe...

Phoenix, AZ —Usually when police fail to respond to radio or MDT transmissions it’s usually the failure of equipment that’s responsible. Officers are trained to check their radios if there are prolonged periods of silence perhaps due to a dead battery. The South Mountain precinct is usually a busy assignment for any cop. There are trailer parks, loads of very modest homes and often they include various farm animals and chickens. There is the South area of the state capital campus that’s patrolled by the Capital Police Department . At night this area is desolate and void of all but a few homeless types that can be found sleeping there. The Capitol police have their own radio frequencies and generally are not alerted about nearby matters handled by Phoenix police. Sergeant Sean Drenth of the South Mountain Precinct was missing and incommunicado. Fellow officers along with the helicopter unit began a search just after 10 PM last night. An hour later a Capitol police civilian security...

Chicago, IL— There is a war going on in the Windy City and cops have been random targets. They are armed with their service pistols that are too often, underpowered 9MM semi-automatics. Adding insult to this is the department’s inadequate in-service training with the weapons. A mere 30 rounds per year for in-service training will do little more than guarantee more police funerals. The officers should be able carry serviceable .12 gauge shotguns or a range of carbines both rifle and pistol caliber. Uniformity is not nearly as important as having sufficient weaponry to gain parity with the ghetto rats. The department will not purchase the weapons but many cops have them already or have access to them. If the officers have them they should be allowed to bring them. Every California police department regardless of size or location has had both a shotgun and carbine since the Bank of America shootout in North Hollywood more than a decade ago. Officers should simply document their tr...