Ashley's Blog

In UK parents of sick toddler Alfie Evans lose court appeal. Britain's Court of Appeal rejected a new bid by the parents of Alfie to take him to Italy and continue his life support against the wishes of his doctors on Wednesday. Alfie suffers from degenerative neurological condition that has left him with almost no brain function. Doctors at Children's Hospital in Liverpool have said he will not get any better so the life support was withdrawn after court rulings sided with the doctors and blocked further medical treatment. His parents arranged for him to be transferred to Italy to be cared for at the Vatican's children's hospital but the court wont allow them to take him there. The hospital in Italy has already said they are willing to take him but the court wont allow it. His father says he has continued to survived even after life support was withdrawn. Under British law it is very common for courts to intervene when parents and doctors disagree on the treatment of t...

Today, Bill Cosby was found guilty of sexual assault in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Cosby, who is 80 years old was found guilty on three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and violating a Temple University employee, named Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia home in 2004. After a two week retrial in which prosecutors brought up five other women who testified against Cosby reporting that they had been drugged and violated, the jury finally found him guilty. Cosby can now face up to 30 years in jail. Link: http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-cosby-found-guilty-in-sexual-assault-trial-2018-4

Romeoville Mayor John Noak was pulled over by an officer who received a call from a witness who claimed the man was driving recklessly. When the officer put on his emergency lights to pull him over, he did not appear to acknowledge the signal to pull over. When the officer went to the mayors vehicle, he appeared to be on his phone talking to somebody. He didn't even acknowledge the officer, so the officer knocked on the window. The officer asked him if there was a reason he was unable to stay in the lane. The mayor responded saying "Totally...I was talking to people". Once he was cuffed Noak refused to answer questions and claimed he would not consent to a breath, blood or urine test once he was cuffed. The mayor was given citations for DUI, improper lane use, and driving without proof of insurance. He handed over his license and $100 for his bond. As the mayor was leaving he told the Chief "I'm coming for you". He threatened him but the chief told his offic...

On Monday in Toronto, a white van struck a crowd of pedestrians on a Toronto sidewalk, killing 10 people and injuring 15 others. A Toronto police officer is being praised for his response during a tense standoff with the man who was suspected of driving the van that killed 10 people. During the standoff, the man told the officer to kill him and shoot him in the head. The suspect also alleged he had a gun but the officer responded "I don't care. Get down". The suspect was later identified as 25 year old Alek Minassian and was arrested by the officer and no shots were fired. Police said the suspect wasn't armed. The officer was praised for him being so calm and restraint during the encounter. The officer was taught to use as little force as possible and that's exactly what he did. Minassian was charged with 10 counts of murder and 13 counts of attempted murder on Tuesday. He is being held without bond and is scheduled the next hearing for May 10. Link:  https://ww...

A 32 year old man tried a different method of avoiding arrest Sunday when he was confronted on an outstanding warrant. He threw a puppy at the Alaska State Trooper Jared Noll and attempted to run. State trooper spotted the suspect at night in the Williwaw subdivision. When Noll made contact with Melton, Melton threw his puppy at the trooper and attempted to flee on foot. Thank god the officer caught the puppy and also arrested Melton. Sadly he wasn't charged with animal cruelty. The warrant was for fourth degree misconduct involving a controlled substance. On Monday Melton posted $1,000 cash bail and is now out of custody. Link:  https://www.policeone.com/bizarre/articles/473989006-Authorities-Man-throws-puppy-at-trooper-in-failed-attempt-to-escape-arrest/

A New Jersey state trooper was indicted after he completed improper stops on two women and tried to convince them to give him their phone numbers. State trooper Eric Richardson was charged with criminal coercion, tampering with public records, wrongful access/disclosure of information, and falsifying with records. He allegedly stopped each women repeatedly and deactivated the dashboard camera during some of the stops. One women was pulled over three separate times, and the last was to determine if she was getting his messages. In the official report of the incident, he falsely claimed that he's stopped to aid a motorist. When he pulled over the second woman he threatened to arrest her if she did not give him her phone number and showed her his handcuffs. He issued a warrant out for her arrest and after obtaining her phone number she was released despite the active warrant. Richardson was also charged with wrongful access/disclosure of information and obtaining information from a mo...

It's becoming really dangerous to be a police officer. Police officers are under attack in the United States. I feel like anytime I watch the news there is always a police officer that is killed. This week reports emerged that violent gang MS-13 had directed its member to take out a cop on Long Island. Then in Florida a man named John Hubert walks into a Chinese restaurant where two sheriff deputies are eating and shoots and kills them. He later kills himself in his car. These 2 men protected and served for our country and a man walks in their and just kills them. What the hell is wrong with this world?  Links: https://www.policeone.com/officer-shootings/articles/473791006-Sheriff-2-deputies-fatally-ambushed-because-of-LE-hatred/ http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/04/20/dan-bongino-murder-deputies-florida-ms-13-threat-danger-law-enforcement

K9 Officer Sean Gannon's police dog, Nero was taken into surgery because of gunshot wounds he received on Thursday. In the shooting K9 Officer Gannon was killed. Nero was shot in the head and the neck but was stabilized at the scene. He was rushed to an emergency veterinary facility. He was taken into emergency surgery and on Friday Nero survived the surgery but doctors still say he is not out of the woods. I'm praying for a full recovery!   https://www.policeone.com/K-9/articles/473559006-Slain-Mass-officers-K-9-survives-surgery/

Michigan State Police Lt. Michael Shaw said they received a call early Tuesday about a man standing on an overpass above Interstate 696 threatening to commit suicide. 13 tractor trailers lined up beneath the freeway to help police trying to help a man who was about to commit suicide. The incident lasted 4 hours until he walked off to officers to seek medical help. Troopers said typically truckers help during such incidents but it was unusual to have so many involved. Link:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/midwest/ct-michigan-truckers-help-stop-suicide-20180424-story.html

Building my interviewing and interrogation skills is an important process to me because having these skills will help me in the future when i get into my career. The piece on the Reid technique helped me develop my interview and interrogation skills by learning not to use the Reid technique because its based on outdated science. People thought they could see anxiety in peoples body language. If a suspect had his arms folded and looked away from the officer, the officer would think he was being anxious and that he was lying. After 40 years of research both of these turned out to be untrue. Anxiety has nothing to do with lying. There are many people that can look into someone's eyes and tell a lie. The Reid's technique lead police in the wrong direction and can lead to wrongful convictions. As i was reading the piece on Reid's technique I was wondering why someone would confess to a crime they really didn't commit. Why would someone want to go to jail for a crime they d...