NYC To Crack Down On Mystery Fireworks That Are Fraying Nerves And Disrupting Sleep

The police department said there were 54 fireworks complaints in the first half of last year. In the same period this year, there have been more than 11,000. June 30, 2020 As mysterious displays of fireworks continue to be set off across the country – in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles – residents in New York City say the nightly cacopho...

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Internal audit reveals $150,000 missing from Lancaster County Drug Task Force

  It is a case of internal theft as the funds would have been kept in a secured area at their headquarters. May 2 ,2020 LANCASTER COUNTY — Officials say that an internal audit of the Lancaster County Drug Task Force revealed that $150,000 has gone missing. Task Force officials say the discrepancy was discovered on April 20, 2020 and belie...

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Sharon police incinerate years' worth of drug evidence

With crime down temporarily, there was time for spring cleaning May 17, 2020 SHARON — With people confined to indoors because of the COVID-19 pandemic, members of the Sharon Police Department had a little time on their hands. And the department has devoted that extra time to a spring cleanup of its evidence holding area. Sharon police Capt. Travis ...

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VSP: Former Manchester cop stole from evidence room

A Manchester, Vermont police officer faces charges of allegedly stealing money from an evidence room. May 14, 2020 Vermont State Police say officer Daniel Steere stole $2,000 from the Manchester Police Department's evidence room in 2018. The was cash seized during a police investigation in 2017. Steere was the evidence custodian during the time tha...

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Salisbury officer suspended, two employees cleared, one retires amidst four internal investigations

100% Inventory of Property Room under supervision of independent forensic auditor in partnership with Maryland State Police May 8, 2020 SALISBURY, Md. – City officials gave an update on Thursday regarding four separate investigations involving members of the city's police department. "We also want to reassure the public that their law enforcement o...

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SI 'bishop' arrested for 1980 cold-case murder of Brooklyn teen Lorraine Snell


Chief of the District Attorney's Forensic Science and Cold Case unit, worked closely with the NYPD to utilize enhanced DNA technology. March 12, 2020 STATEN ISLAND — The mother of a Flatbush murder victim who was just 19 when she was strangled in 1980 sobbed tears of relief Thursday when PIX11 showed her photographic evidence that the long-time per...

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A Man Awaiting Trial for Murder Is the First COVID-19-Related Death Connected to the DC Jail (Missing Evidence)

Trial was delayed due to federal prosecutors' failure to immediately notify the defense about missing body camera evidence. April 13, 2020 Delayed justice may have cost Deon Crowell his life. The 51-year-old was transported from the DC Jail to a hospital on April 7 after he tested positive for COVID-19. Less than a week later, he died of complicati...

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Justice Department watchdog finds flaws in how FBI handles missing firearms and keeps track of explosives

The Justice Department's internal watchdog found flaws in the ways that the FBI keeps track of its firearms, ammunition, nonlethal weaponry, and explosives, including those seized as evidence March 24, 2020 The FBI has "strong physical controls over its weapons, munitions, and explosives," DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz found. But a report ...

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Rape kits sit in labs, untested as required

As of August 2019, over 1,500 kits were still in the possession of State Police Enter Article DATE HERE ALBANY — Hundreds of rape kits are sitting untested in New York State Police crime laboratories as standards are being skirted, a situation that's left law enforcement officials also questioning whether the labs can keep up with new pre-tria...

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1991 Asbury Park Homicide Cold Case Solved After 28 Years

DNA profiles from the victim's body, stockings, slip, and dress were retained and tested Enter Article DATE HERE FREEHOLD– A 1991 Asbury Park murder has been solved after new DNA evidence testing provided a crucial break in the case, announced Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni. On the morning of March 27, 1991, the Asbury P...

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DNA ties 24-year-old cold case murder to suspect named in ‘Serial’ podcast

Committed suicide while serving time in Louisiana on an unrelated charge in 2008 February 15, 2020 North Myrtle Beach police have solved a 24-year-old murder using DNA evidence, naming a man tapped as a possible suspect in the 1999 death of Hae Min Lee by the podcast "Serial," according to WPDE. Ronald Lee Moore, who had also been named in a series...

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Salisbury Police employee accused of stealing from evidence facility

Enter Headline here February 15, 2020 SALISBURY, Md. – The Salisbury Police Department and the Wicomico County State's Attorney released details on Friday about an investigation into a police department employee, accused of stealing items from the department's evidence facility. The Salisbury Police Department (SPD) recently began an audit of its p...

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Orange police cruiser contaminated with fentanyl

  Police Department paid for a bio-hazard remediation team from Trauma Services LLC, based in Mansfield, to decontaminate the vehicle, due to the substance's extreme potency. January 28, 2020 ORANGE — A police cruiser was contaminated with fentanyl following an arrest in Orange. A person arrested Monday tried to conceal fentanyl, which ended u...

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Philadelphia To Pay $4.15M To Man Over Wrongful Conviction

"It's a happy moment for me. It's been a long hard fight," January 3, 2020 PHILADELPHIA (AP) – The city of Philadelphia has agreed to pay $4.15 million to a man who spent 24 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit, one of the largest such payouts in city history. City officials agreed last week to settle a civil rights lawsuit filed by Shaurn...

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Trump signs bill to help eliminate backlog in rape kit testing

More than 100,000 rape kits remain untested. January 1, 2020 President Donald Trump has signed into law legislation that provides funding to help states eliminate backlogs in rape kit testing. The measure, signed Monday, will help deal with the more than 100,000 rape kits across the country that remain untested. Advocates say that, without proper f...

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Police search for owners of caged lizards found on Massachusetts street: 'This is not a misprint'

​Got Something - Your may not want! December 29, 2019 Police in Massachusetts are searching for the owner of several lizards that were found abandoned in cages on a street. The Stoughton Police Department posted photos of the reptiles on its Facebook page and asked for the owners to claim them. "Have you ever walked down the street carrying your li...

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Old Town Police Department Receives High Honors From The State

At the Old Town Police Department, is something of a Cinderella story December 18, 2019 In some ways, the scene at the Old Town Police Department, is something of a Cinderella story. They've gone from probably their lowest point ever, to as high a point as a police department can go. And it seems from here, the sky's the limit. Just a few years ago...

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Surveillance Footage of Jeffrey Epstein's First Suicide Attempt Has Gone Missing (Missing Evidence!)

"We want to be sure that all the evidence is preserved to show that Nick behaved appropriately and even admirably that evening, December 18, 2019 The New York Post has learned that the surveillance footage taken outside the cell of Jeffrey Epstein during his first alleged suicide attempt at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York has gone ...

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Alleged drug dealer throws loose fentanyl powder at cop’s face

"The officer exhibited fentanyl-related symptoms, including nausea and shortness of breath and was treated by emergency responders," December 15 An alleged narcotics dealer tossed a handful of deadly fentanyl powder at a cop investigating a Bronx drug packaging mill, authorities said Thursday. Members of the New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcemen...

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More than half of police, prosecutors miss N.Y. rape kit deadline

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers approved a law last year requiring the timely testing of rape kits, which contain physical evidence collected from the body and clothing of a victim in a possible sexual assault. December 13, 2019 ALBANY, N.Y. — More than half of New York's police agencies and prosecutors to report the number of untested sexual...

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Convicted killer charged in grisly 1980 killing of teen mom (DNA)

Charges come after DNA match in cold case December 13, 2019 Nearly 40 years after a 19-year-old mother was raped and killed in a Boston hotel room, the man authorities believe is responsible for her death has been charged, the Suffolk District Attorney's office announced Thursday. Steven Fike, a convicted rapist and murderer currently imprisoned in...

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Wrongful conviction: 3 Baltimore men freed after spending 36 years in prison for teen's murder

Lawyers involved in the case said they were "horrified" to see the amount of exculpatory evidence that was hidden from the defense team and jury. November 26, 2019 Three Baltimore men who spent 36 years in prison were released Monday after authorities say they were falsely convicted of a 1983 murder. Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins and Andrew Stewa...

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No jail time for Elizabeth Boro ex-police chief who stole heroin from evidence room

Butler explained he became addicted after taking prescribed Vicodin (opioid painkillers) for neck and back pain and blamed the doctors Enter Article DATE HERE Former Elizabeth Borough police Chief Timothy Butler will not serve any jail time after pleading guilty to emptying his department's evidence room of thousands of packets of heroin to fe...

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Lawsuit by former Fairfield cop convicted of stealing drugs heads to trial

Police said signed out more than 225 folds of heroin, more than 800 OxyContin pills and a few packets of cocaine from the department's evidence room on the pretext of needing to have the drugs tested. November 13, 2019 BRIDGEPORT — A former Fairfield police detective will be allowed to sue the town over his resignation, a judge has ruled. A Superio...

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State criminal reform law could cost NYPD close to $100M, O'Neill says

O'Neill said, cops will effectively have to turn over lab reports and other evidence to prosecutors within about seven or eight days of a person being charged. November 6, 2019 Changes in the law governing criminal evidence as part of a package of New York State crime reform bills are expected to cost the NYPD close to $100 million, outgoing Police...

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Maryland approves $9 million settlement for five wrongly convicted men

The settlement covers money for each year the men served after sentencing, not their pretrial detention. November 2, 2019 The state of Maryland on Wednesday approved payments of about $9 million to five wrongly convicted men, including about $3 million — the state's largest-ever such settlement — to a man who spent 39 years in prison for a crime he...

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This groundbreaking DNA testing method solved a 1981 cold case

Clippings from Brown's fingernails were kept on file — and OCME experts used their newly developed technique to see if she'd captured some of her attacker's DNA when they grappled. October 21, 2019 The city's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on Tuesday will teach labs across the country about a groundbreaking forensics procedure that helped sol...

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Allegheny County DA’s Office Collects About 700 Guns In Annual Gun Turn-In Day

Local police departments who don't need to keep guns in their evidence room can turn them in to the district attorney's office. October 8, 2019 SCOTT TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) – About 700 guns from local law enforcement departments were collected by the Allegheny County District Attorney's office. The Allegheny County DA's Twitter account shared a photo...

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Narcotics cop busted for using confiscated Porsche on stepdaughter’s school prom day

Police said Coolen seized the Porsche Cayenne SUV on April 16 during a drug investigation that resulted in an arrest and placed it on a department property receipt,​ October 5, 2019 A 24-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department assigned to the Narcotics Field Unit was arrested Thursday and charged with using a 2018 Porsche he confiscated ...

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Seized guns, OT piling up for some sheriffs' offices

Valley officials support the law, which is meant to remove weapons from the hands of domestic abusers, Enter Article DATE HERE More than 1,200 seized weapons may be in the hands of the Valley's five county sheriffs offices at any given time, according to department officials. That number has been rising so much since a new state law was enacte...

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Beaver County Commissioner Sandie Egley questioned why the county has to take responsibility for seized weapons.

Enter Headline here September 4, 2019 BEAVER — A county commissioner is questioning why the county has to hold firearms surrendered as part of final protection-from-abuse orders. Commissioner Sandie Egley questioned Sheriff Tony Guy, who has been working with Beaver County Public Works to expand the size of his evidence room, about the requirements...

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Ex-Police Chief Admits to Stealing Heroin From Evidence Room

Authorities say Butler became addicted to heroin after he was prescribed Vicodin for neck and back pain. Enter Article DATE HERE ELIZABETH, PA. (AP) — A Pennsylvania community's former police chief has admitted stealing thousands of small bags of heroin and fentanyl from his department's evidence room. Timothy Butler pleaded guilty Wednesday t...

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Border protection stored enough fentanyl to kill 794 million, but isn’t doing enough to protect its agents

CBP said it has trained more than 4,500 officers in how to recognize the signs of an overdose, deployed 3,300 dual-use Narcan kits in the field and outfitted its storage vaults with safety equipment such as gloves, masks and Tyvek suits. July 20, 2019 (NEW YORK) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection has stored enough fentanyl in the past year to kil...

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More than 30 years later, a break in the death of a R.I. 10-year-old

A forensic scientist at the Rhode Island Department of Health determined on Wednesday that DNA from blood stains on the crotch of Christine's pants "was consistent" with the DNA profile of a man who was living above Saints Market when she stopped to buy milk on Jan. 6, 1988 July 18, 2019 PAWTUCKET, R.I. — A man who had lived above a market where a ...

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Audit: New Jersey Police Agencies Need Uniform Policies For Rape Kits


Establishing formal procedures for the handling of kits by local law-enforcement officials could help ensure that cases are handled uniformly across the state, but the audit found more than half of local law-enforcement agencies lacked written policies in critical areas. July 12, 2019 New Jersey does not have a backlog for processing rape kits at s...

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Audit: New Jersey Police Agencies Need Uniform Policies For Rape Kits


"The lack of policies and procedures, or the reliance on informal policies and procedures, can lead to inconsistent sexual assault investigations among various (law-enforcement agencies)," the report states. July 12, 2019 No backlog, but questions persist about why results of some exams were never processed at state forensic labs New Jersey does no...

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West Side police to dispose of drugs with incinerator

The device, which cost $4,500, will be available to the 27 police departments on the West Side that belong to the association. June 20, 2019 KINGSTON TWP. — Police on the West Side of Luzerne County now have a new way to dispose of drugs and paraphernalia: burn them up in an incinerator. The Back Mountain Police Association on Wednesday unveiled th...

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Feds seize over $1 billion of cocaine in historic bust in Philadelphia, officials say

Federal officials made a massive cocaine bust in Philadelphia Tuesday, seizing an estimated 16.5 tons of the drug from a ship there June 20, 2019 Federal officials made a massive cocaine bust in Philadelphia Tuesday, seizing an estimated 16.5 tons of the drug from a ship there -- with a street value of over $1 billion, officials said. The historic ...

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DNA evidence exonerates man who spent 35 years behind bars for murder, lawyers say

"For the last 35 years, he has been confined to a prison cell, without family, without friends for a crime he didn't commit," said Radha Natarajan, of The New England Innocence Project. May 31, 2019 MILFORD, Mass. — Lawyers for a Taunton man who has spent 35 years in prison for the murder of his great aunt are asking for a new trial to vacate his c...

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Former Fairview Township Police officer loses appeal of federal conviction for stealing drug money

Baker claimed at trial that he only intended to keep the stolen money temporarily, but prosecutors pointed out there was no way for him to return the cash once he took it. May 31, 2019 YORK COUNTY — A former Fairview Township Police officer serving time in federal prison for stealing cash while on duty had his felony theft convictions upheld by a f...

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Harvey Cedars detective, the mayor's son, is charged with theft of silver necklace

He was the custodian of the department's evidence during the theft of the jewelry, valued at more than $200, authorities said.​ June 14, 2019 HARVEY CEDARS - A borough detective, son of Mayor Jonathan Oldham, has been charged with theft in connection with a silver necklace found missing from the evidence room during an audit. Christopher Oldham, 32...

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Kathleen Flynn cold case homicide: Suspect tracked for decades

The warrant details the process on how other suspects in Kathleen's murder were eliminated through DNA testing and hair samples. June 14, 2019 ORWALK — Marc Karun first popped onto police radar as a potential suspect two weeks after Kathleen Flynn was found sexually assaulted and strangled to death near Ponus Ridge Middle School in September 1986. ...

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Police said a trooper collapsed from an incidental overdose. Now they’re saying nothing.


The substance that he handled during a traffic stop shortly before his collapse turned out to be heroin, a less potent drug, undercutting Birmingham's theory that Flansburg suffered from an overdose from contact with powerful synthetic opioids. Enter Article DATE HERE Before Vermont's public safety commissioner publicly concluded that one of h...

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State Police probe alleged theft of gun parts from evidence

It is at least the second time since 2013 that State Police have conducted an internal investigation of allegations that its members were stealing items from evidence lockers. June 1, 2019 CATSKILL — An internal State Police investigation is probing allegations that a longtime investigator assigned to the Catskill barracks has for years been removi...

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Former Steelton cop gets probation for stealing money from evidence department

Rupert stole money from the Steelton Police Department evidence room from Aug. 19, 2009, until "on or about" Feb. 20, 2017. May 2, 2019 Former Steelton police officer Scott Rupert was sentenced to two years' probation in Dauphin County Court on April 4 after pleading guilty to stealing money from the department evidence room. Rupert, 47, of Newberr...

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After scandal, ‘nothing to hide’ in new Braintree police evidence room

Braintree police are about to put a one-of-a-kind, $500,000 evidence room into service, built in response to a scandal that shook the department. April 18, 2019 BRAINTREE − There's a whole lot of glass inside the Braintree Police Department's new evidence room, but not a single window to the outside. From where the evidence officers sit, they can l...

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Former Kenmore police chief gets probation for stealing painkillers

He claims he used just a few each week. "He was in excruciating pain," said defense attorney Thomas Eoannou. April 13, 2019 Even though he stole painkillers from a community drop box, Peter J. Breitnauer says he was never an addict. The 32-year veteran of the Kenmore Police Department, who spent the last six as police chief, also says he is now fre...

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Backlog of untested rape kits in Pennsylvania could be cleared by this fall

The backlog of untested rape kits in Pennsylvania has dropped almost 90 percent -- from more than 3,000 in 2016 to 339 by the end of 2018, the state's auditor general announced on Thursday. April 11, 2019 y Sarah Cassi | For lehighvalleylive.com The backlog of untested rape kits in Pennsylvania has dropped almost 90 percent -- from more than 3,000 ...

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Trenton cop who allegedly stole from evidence room gets PTI, loses job

He was also required to give up his $105K-a-year job on the force April 10, 2019 TRENTON — Hector Gonzalez's sticky hands have landed him in the unemployment line, but he managed to avoid jail and a felony record as part of a sweetheart deal with prosecutors. The Trenton cop quietly charged with stealing from the police evidence room agreed to give...

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New Elizabeth Borough police chief working to move department past scandal

Chief Tim Butler, who resigned before being charged with stealing drugs from the evidence locker April 5, 2019 ELIZABETH BOROUGH, Pa. - Nearly four months after a scandal rocked the Elizabeth Borough Police Department, the new chief is taking steps to make sure it doesn't happen again. In a one-on-one interview with Channel 11, new Police Chief Bil...

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