Ottawa County Sheriff - Ottawa County Deputy Sheriff Association

The FBI has issued the preliminary statistics for 2007 for all reported crimes, and included are those statistics regarding Officers killed on duty.

This is information from the FBI reporting website:

According to preliminary statistics released today by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 57 law enforcement officers were feloniously killed in the line of duty during 2007. Geographically, 31 of the victim officers were killed in the South, nine in the West, nine in the Midwest, and seven in the Northeast. One officer was slain in Puerto Rico. The total number of officers killed is nine higher than in 2006.

By circumstance, 16 deaths occurred as a result of ambush situations, 16 died during arrest situations, 11 were killed while handling traffic pursuits/stops, six died responding to disturbance calls, three while investigating suspicious persons/circumstances, three during tactical situations, one while conducting investigative activities, and one while handling and transporting prisoners.

Washington D.C. Metro Police Department Assistant Chief Joshua Ederheimer said the department has spent the past year converting 500 AR-15 rifles from fully-automatic to semi-automatic and drafting training curriculum and policies governing the weapons.
An article at Officer.com says the department received the weapons as part of a Military surplus program.

After a weekend of violence and Chicago Police having arrested a man suspected of using an AK-47 during a shoot-out just after he allegedly used the gun to kill a man at a South Side plumbing business, Chicago Mayor Charles Daley announed he would be providing the Officers of CPD with M-4 rifles.

"I don't want people to wait for Mayor Daley to call a meeting. I want you to call a meeting in your home, with your children and loved ones. I want you to … talk to those children next door. I want the parents on the block to say, 'This block will be free of violence. This summer, not one child will be [killed by] gangs and drug dealers,' " Daley told a City Hall news conference.

Click here to read about Washington D.C. PD from Officer.com

Click here to read about Chicago PD from Officer.com 

Bob Kozminski's name was recently added to the memorial to fallen Officer's at Grand Rapids Police Department Headquarters. Kozminski's bronzed image and name were unveiled yesterday.

A local ceremony for Police Memorial Day is scheduled for Thursday at 10 a.m. at Rosa Parks Circle in Grand Rapids. This event will honor Kozminski as well as Officers that lost their lives around the country in an unprecedented year of violent deaths and attacks against Police Officers.

The Kozminski family privately viewed the Police Memorial but could not attend the local ceremony. Instead, they will be at the national ceremony, an honor for families of officers slain in 2007. They were to be escorted by their son's team; Carrier, his supervisor; and Lt. Mark Ostapowicz.

They will meet with President Bush during the event.

"(Richard Kozminski) is torn because he would like to be here, with the community and the police department, for our ceremony, but he realizes that the (national memorial) is a very important," Carrier said.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund has launched a blog for the National Police Week events in Washington D.C. next week.

The week long event officially kicks off May 11th, but the NLEOMF blog is already actively updating information with schedules, pictures and video on upcoming events and some pre-events that are already underway.

This would be a great place to keep track of what is going on if you are headed to D.C. or if you are unable to make it this year, like me.

Check out the blog at nleomf.blogspot.com  

In two seperate court rulings, one in LA and one in Ohio, deployment of Taser EMD devices continue to be held up as reasonable and unrelated to deaths of highly drugged suspects deaths.

A federal jury in Los Angeles last month quickly reached a unanimous “defense verdict” supporting Officers and their agency in a trial where the Officers where being sued for allegedly violating the rights of a female suspect who was resisting arrest and subsequently received a drive stun from one of the Officers.

Read more on the story and an analysis of the case from PoliceOne.com

Additionally, an Ohio Judge recently ruled that Summit County Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler must delete any reference that Tasers contributed to the deaths of three men.

The deaths of Dennis Hyde and Richard Holcomb, who were on drugs and in an agitated state when police shot them with Tasers, should be ruled accidental, visiting Judge Ted Schneiderman wrote in his ruling. Any reference to homicide or "electrical pulse stimulation" should be deleted from death certificates and autopsy reports, he said.

The order to change the ruling in the death of the third man, Mark McCullaugh, could be more far-reaching.

McCullaugh, who had a history of psychiatric illness, died in Summit County Jail on Aug. 20, 2006, during a struggle with deputies who used Tasers and pepper spray. Five sheriff's deputies were indicted in his death.

Schneiderman ordered Kohler to rule McCullaugh's death undetermined and delete any references to homicide and the death possibly being caused by asphyxia, beatings or other factors.

Click here to read more on this case from Officer.com

 Zeeland, MI —

Former Zeeland police Chief Bill Olney was unanimously reinstated by city   council Monday, May 5.

In a letter to the council dated April 29, Olney requested a withdrawal of his letter of resignation and a reappointment to his post.

“In the event I am reappointed, I am committed to remain in the position for a minimum of three years while realizing that I serve at your pleasure. Since I have been utilizing built-up vacation time the past few weeks, it is my understanding that all other conditions of my employment would remain in effect.

“I humbly apologize for the inconvenience I have caused the council and look forward to resuming my duties as soon as possible ... ,” he said in the letter.

 Deputy David Lee Steenwyk Memorial Scholarship

and

Center for Women in Transition

     The Deputy David Lee Steenwyk Memorial Scholarship has chosen The Center for Women in Transition to partner with for donations. Through the scholarship we have made a contact with a business in Grand Rapids that has been giving the scholarship donations. Some of the items donated cannot be used for the scholarship, so they will now be donated to The Center for Women in Transition. Some of the items include baby formula, diapers, makeup, and a kid's bicycle. Please contact Dave or Matt with any questions.

Thank you to everyone that attended the 3rd Annual Deputy David Lee Steenwyk Memorial Scholarship Fund Bowling Event. We had 109 teams play and numerous other members of our department attend the event. We raised just under $6,000.00 for the scholarship. Special thanks to Deputy's Arendsen, Wright, Wittum, and Vanliere for helping out at the event. Congrats to Deputy Anderson for winning the 50/50 drawing that was worth over $600.00. Hope everyone had a good time and see you next year. Look out for the info on the golf event in September, where there is a chance to win $10,000.00 !

Officers of the Holland Police Department teamed up against members of the Hope College Chapter of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity last week in a charity basketball game to raise money for an educational fund to help the children of the Dekleine Famly.

 Matt Day, a Phi Sigma Kappa member, said the plight of the teens, essentially left without parents is a community tragedy.

The fraternity organized Tuesday's game and will donate all proceeds to an education fund for Breanne, 18, and Christopher, 16, Day said.

"This all put things into perspective for a lot of people," he said. "We wanted to help however we could and approached the police, who also felt the effects of what happened.

"This is a wonderful event for a family that deserves it."

Click here to read the article from the Muskegon Chronicle

Baltimore Police Department Officer Norman Stamp was celebrating his 44th anniversary as a member of his department this weekend when things went very wrong.

According to reports from Officer.com, Stamp became involved in an altercation with other patrons of a Baltimore club and other Baltimore PD Officers were dispatched to there to quell the disturbance.

Stamp left the bar, still involved in the disturbance, wearing a pair of brass knuckles. Officer John Torres ordered Stamp to stop, and when he did not Stamp deployed his Taser, felling Stamp.

Stamp then pulled out his service weapon and Torres fired twice, striking Stamp at least once in the chest. The 65-year-old Stamp struggled to his feet and said: "I didn't know you were a cop," according to a person familiar with the investigation.

According to Baltimore PD officials, Torres did not recognize Stamp as a fellow Officer because he'd been assigned to a different area than Stamp for his 5 years with the Baltimore PD. 

Click here to read the article from Officer.com