Law Enforcement

For 12 years Tyrone Powers worked in law enforcement, a writer trapped in, first, a state trooper's, then a G-man's, body.You have to wonder after reading his autobiography "Eyes To My Soul" if, during all those years, the writer in him was struggling to get out.This is no average autobiography, which is usually heavy on the auto and light on the bio. And Powers is no average writer. When he writes about an FBI agent trying to goad him into a confrontation, Powers puts the reader right in the office.

The Harford County Sheriff's Office will launch on Sept. 7 its first Citizens' Police Academy, billed as a way to give residents a better understanding of law enforcement practices and to create a base of volunteers for the agency.The free program is patterned after similar academies in Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Howard counties, and one on the Eastern Shore, said Cpl. Wayne Dougherty, training coordinator for the sheriff."It will help dispel [the public's] misperceptions and myths concerning the roles of law enforcement officers," he said.

Retired Maryland State Police Trooper James Emerick was honored recently by Westminster Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution.The group awarded Emerick the Law Enforcement Commendation Medal and Certificate at its annual open house and celebration.Jacob Yingling, chapter vice president, described how Emerick had helped set up a system to help battered spouses and rape victims. Also present for the award were Brig. Gen. John Burk, national trustee of SAR, and William Austin, state president.

Baltimore Police Officer Loretta L. Young has been named officer of the year by the Mid-Atlantic Association of Women in Law Enforcement for her work arresting prostitutes and their customers.Young, a four-year veteran assigned as an undercover officer in the Central District's vice unit, made 120 arrests last year, most of them in prostitution-related offenses, and has a 98 percent conviction rate.Her supervisor, Sgt. Craig Gentile, noted that Young often helps people she has arrested get into drug and counseling programs.

It was the mid-1970s and Allan Bakke had filed suit against the University of California's Davis Medical School for admitting a black applicant with lower test scores while rejecting him. The case ignited a controversy and spawned the phrase "reverse discrimination." It also sparked the interest of a young Rodney Stem, who was entering graduate school at Towson State University and wondering what his major should be.His choice was American minority relations. While studying that, he was allowed to take a third of the curriculum at the historically black Morgan State University, where his course work included black and women's studies.

WASHINGTON -- With the doomsday clock rapidly ticking down toward midnight New Year's Eve, the nation's angriest, most fanatic, most rage-filled government haters are primed and ready for action.John Trochmann, the gray-bearded leader of the Militia of Montana, foresees terrorist attacks around the country if computers fail and utilities go dark.Ted Gunderson, former head of the FBI office in Los Angeles and one of the country's leading far-right figures, predicts fire and chaos.Law enforcement wants to know whether they are all bluff and bluster.

When a police officer visited Karen Slack's eighth-grade clas to discuss a new law enforcement program for young people, he piqued her interest immediately. But as she approached him to learn more about the Police Explorer program, a boy interrupted her and yelled: "It's just for boys, you can't join."But Ms. Slack, now 18, didn't let the doubts of others stop her. "A lot of people laugh in my face, and say, 'you can't do that, you're a girl,'" she said. "But that only makes me want to be a cop even more."

STAFF MEMBERS of the Maryland House of Correction ran, walked and pulled their darnedest Tuesday at the ninth annual Department of Correction Law Enforcement Torch Run, Walk and Tug of War. Volunteers estimate that they raised more than $24,000 for disabled athletes to take part in the Maryland Special Olympics games next month. The morning began with the Torch Run, was followed by a Torch Walk around the seven buildings in the Jessup facility and culminated with the Tug of War with 18 teams of volunteers.

A tornado was spotted over the Patuxent River in Calvert County on Tuesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. The "waterspout," as tornadoes over water are known, was seen moving west over the river about 5:55 p.m. by law enforcement, said Heather Sheffield, a NWS spokeswoman. After the spotting, which came amid thunderstorms in southern Maryland, a short-lived tornado warning was issued for parts of Calvert, Charles, St. Mary's and Prince George's counties, Sheffield said.

The third class of 19 cadets in the Police Entry Level Training Program (PELTP) will graduate at 1 p.m. today in the Great Hall of Carroll Community College's annex campus, 1601 Washington Road, Westminster. The college and the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commissions jointly offer the program. The cadets will be commissioned at the graduation ceremony. They will receive a certificate from PELTP and a Letter of Recognition in Criminal Justice from the college. The Letter of Recognition will allow them to convert their 760 hours of training into college credits, which they may apply toward an associate degree in the Criminal Justice - Arts and Sciences transfer program at CCC. William Crabill, on-site training program manager, said it is a growing trend in the law enforcement field for officers to have an associate in arts degree and/or a bachelor's degree.