Local Police

WASHINGTON -- For five years, the National Rifle Association and its allies have successfully lobbied Congress to limit the ability of local police to access federal gun trace data. Now, by moving to remove those limits and increase the ability of local officers to track so-called crime guns, Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski is venturing into what is rapidly emerging as the latest battlefield in the war over gun rights. A provision first approved in 2003, when Republicans controlled Congress, sets tight controls on how the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives may share its gun data with local police departments.

State and local police are urging Carroll County residents to join their neighbors tomorrow in celebrating the 16th annual "National Night Out."The anti-crime festivities will kick off at 6 p.m. in Westminster and New Windsor, where residents are asked to turn on outside lights, lock their doors and spend the evening outdoors with friends and neighbors.Started in 1984, the program is designed to increase awareness of crime and drug prevention, generate support for and participation in local anti-crime efforts, strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community relations, and send a message to criminals that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

Police are looking for a hitchhiking couple accused of robbing a Westminster man and firing a shot into the air Sunday night, authorities said.The man gave a man and a woman a ride shortly before 9 p.m. to Carroll and John streets, where the couple took his money and fled on foot, state police said.When the motorist, who was not identified, followed the couple in his vehicle, they split up in an alley, state police said. The driver saw the woman a few minutes later and, as he confronted her, the male suspect showed up with a pistol and fired into the air before the couple again fled.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It is called the Nyala, described in promotional material as "the most cost-effective ballistic-protected vehicle in the world." It is 17 feet long, with a gun turret on top and a grenade launcher on the bottom.It looks like a long armored truck suitable for war. And for $250,000, General Motors will sell one to your local police department. For that, you get a choice of four-speed manual or five-speed automatic transmission and air conditioning.The police truck was one of the many items on sale at the 106th annual convention of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, a five-day gathering of thousands of top law-enforcement professionals from around the world that concluded Wednesday.

With dusk settling over Western Maryland College in Westminster, the annual Spring Fling in "Red Square" was exactly what students had hoped for -- music in the air, dancing with friends, a chance to take a break from studying.But on a grassy hill across from the red-brick plaza, police say a different scene was playing itself out Saturday evening. Nearly 300 revelers had gathered in the quad. Some were drinking alcohol, others were removing couches and chairs from dorm rooms. A campus security guard, with bullhorn in hand, tried to disperse the crowd, but the party continued, officials said.

Carroll officials plan to discuss today a proposal between the county and local police agencies that could augment injury and liability coverage for officers who might perform duties outside municipal limits.Officers in five of the county's eight municipalities frequently are asked to help state or area police agencies outside town limits. Under such circumstances, the officers are covered under the state's mutual aid agreement, but some have questioned if that coverage is sufficient.Details of the proposal were not available yesterday.

County police arrested two men on drug charges earlier this week after police seized 180 pounds of marijuana at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.Police said they were tipped by the Los Angeles branch of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency that a shipment of marijuana was on its way, wrapped in plastic wrap, then in fabric softener sheets to mask the smell.Local police kept close watch over the boxes at the airport until two men tried to claim them.Police charged Wilford Campbell, 31, of the 600 block of Kennedy St. in Washington and Kevin John Dunbar, 29, of the 9000 block of Canterbury Riding in Laurel with importing marijuana into the state, possessing drugs with intent to distribute and possessing drugs.

LITTLE COMPTON, R.I. -- In poor villages across Mexico and Colombia, drug money has brought incongruously modern schools and health clinics. In this little seaside community drug money is bringing a swanky station, big-city materiel and the trappings of a gendarmerie to a tiny police squad.Little Compton (population 3,400) had little choice about how to spend more than $4 million it has reaped as its share of assets seized in local drug busts. The law is unambiguous: "The local law-enforcement agency must be the beneficiary of the funds, not the community as a whole."

Police said light snow was falling in Westminster when a Manchester woman lost control of her pickup truck Monday and veered off Railroad Avenue, striking a utility pole.Julie A. Buck, 39, of the 4400 block of Jenny Court, was in serious but stable condition after being flown by helicopter to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore for treatment, a hospital spokeswoman said yesterday.Police said the truck was traveling north near Tuc Road about 7: 30 p.m. when it crossed the center line, rolled over a curb and slammed into the pole.

Spurred by two recent operations against major heroin, cocaine and marijuana networks in Carroll County, state and local police said yesterday that they plan a town meeting to bring together parents, students and community leaders to develop a strategy to stem drug abuse.State police and the Carroll County Chiefs of Police Association will co-sponsor a Forum Against Drug Trafficking (FAST) on Dec. 18 at Westminster High School to address concerns about drugs in the community. The program could serve as a model for community and law enforcement leaders across the state, said 1st. Sgt. Chester Miller, a spokesman for the office of policy and strategy at state police headquarters in Pikesville.

On the streets, where illegal drugs are still easy to get at affordable prices, Maryland police chiefs are losing the decades-long drug war. But many departments have come to depend on drug raids to increase their operating budgets. While the drug trade still enriches the bad guys, police chiefs now also get a piece of the action. Many states, wary of overzealous police departments, require that the proceeds from seized assets be used for education or other non-police purposes. But the 1984 federal Comprehensive Crime Control Act, a turning point in America's war on drugs, is a way to get around these state laws.

MONTEREY, CALIF. -- At first glance, recent developments in Northern Ireland offer signs of hope for mending Iraq. But the deepening peace in Belfast has taken four decades to craft, a sobering thought for those who want to see analogs with Baghdad. The lessons that can be drawn from Britain's longest-ever military occupation are many, but the element of time is the most brutal. The warring parties were all Christians, spoke the same language, were racially indistinguishable, and were all part of the same great Western "civilization."

WASHINGTON -- For five years, the National Rifle Association and its allies have successfully lobbied Congress to limit the ability of local police to access federal gun trace data. Now, by moving to remove those limits and increase the ability of local officers to track so-called crime guns, Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski is venturing into what is rapidly emerging as the latest battlefield in the war over gun rights. A provision first approved in 2003, when Republicans controlled Congress, sets tight controls on how the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives may share its gun data with local police departments.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Shiite militia fighters clashed with police yesterday in Samawa, a provincial capital in southern Iraq, transforming it into a lawless battleground and exposing rifts that increasingly divide Iraq's Shiite majority. Nine people, including four police officers, have died in the violence gripping parts of Samawa since Friday, police said. Yesterday, police, backed by Shiite tribal leaders, called in Iraqi army soldiers from nearby Diwaniya to help battle the militia. They closed entrances to the city, which is about 120 miles south of Baghdad, imposed a curfew and closed the schools as they traded fire.

ISSUE: Last week, Anne Arundel County police took in 103 boxes of cold and allergy pills from three Indiana young people who told police they bought them here with the intention of reselling them at a profit to dealers in their home state who cook methamphetamine, or meth. Police released the three after consulting with the state's attorney's office and learning that no Maryland laws had been broken. A new federal law preventing bulk purchases of cold medications goes into effect this week, but local police and prosecutors said they want a state law so cases like this can be pursued without involving federal agents.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes from state and local police and sheriff's reports in Carroll County. Eldersburg Vandalism -- A Howard County school bus contractor reported that three school buses had been driven into a concrete wall between Sept. 30 and Oct. 3, causing several thousand dollars in damage to the vehicles, according to the Carroll County sheriff's office. The buses were parked behind a vacant business on Lee Lane at Route 32. Finksburg area Theft -- A resident of the 2600 block of Cedarhurst Road told state police a $225 deer stand was taken between Sept.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes from state and local police and sheriff's reports in Carroll County. Finksburg Burglary: Someone broke the lock off a Hogg Construction trailer in the 1700 block of Emory Church Road sometime between 5 p.m. July 15 and 5:30 a.m. July 18, but nothing appeared to have been stolen. Hampstead Vandalism: A glass window was broken at the rear of a garage at Outside Unlimited in the 1900 block of Hanover Pike between 6 p.m. July 10 and 5 p.m. July 11, state police said.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes from state and local police and sheriff's reports in Carroll County. Eldersburg Thefts: Six residents of Vincenza Drive reported items stolen from parked vehicles June 2. On June 1, a digital camera was reported missing from an unlocked vehicle in the 1800 block of Vincenza Drive. Finksburg Arrest: Dustin Reed Barton, 18, of the 3200 block of Murray Road, Finksburg, was arrested and charged with the Feb. 15 armed robbery of a woman in a parking lot behind the Finksburg Plaza in the 3000 block of Gamber Road, state police said.

As part of what is described as the largest security effort ever in the nation's capital, officers from local police departments from Seattle to Baltimore are set to go to Washington for the first inauguration since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Baltimore County is sending 52 members of its special-response team. Baltimore City is lending 50 officers, and Howard County is sending 40 from its civil-disturbance unit. Maryland state troopers, along with officers from five other Maryland counties, also are expected to help out in Washington next week.

As part of what is described as the largest security effort ever in the nation's capital, officers from local police departments from Seattle to Baltimore are set to go to Washington for the first inauguration since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Baltimore County is sending 52 members of its special-response team. Baltimore City is lending 50 officers, and Howard County is sending 40 from its civil-disturbance unit. Maryland state troopers, along with officers from five other Maryland counties, also are expected to help out in Washington next week.