Rhode Island @ MindSay 
Law Enforcement Agencies Introduce Information Network
Enctoday.com, (08/21/2008), Francine Sawyer
Using an award of $365,000 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 14 agencies in eastern North Carolina are now linked via an information network that will allow them to share information. Officials implemented the network, dubbed the Eastern Regional Information Center, to allow the agencies to collaborate on issues that may have ties to terrorism, or to other criminal or security activity. Information shared with the center will then be disseminated to state agencies as well.
www.enctoday.com/news/information_41747_nbsj__article.html/new_agencies.html
Red Light Cameras Give $381 Tickets for Rolling Right Turns in Los Angeles
Los Angeles Times, (08/16/2008), Rich Connell
After legal review by Los Angeles city officials, the practice of "California stops," which are rolling right-hand turns against a red light, will now result in a $381 fine. Red-light cameras in the past have handled this activity as a vehicle code violation. To bring Los Angeles more in line with other California jurisdictions, the city will handle it as a red light violation, which more than doubles the present fine of $159.
www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-redlight16-2008aug16,0,733533.story
License Plate Readers To Be Used in D.C. Area
Washington Post, (08/17/2008), Mary Beth Sheridan
Officials in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia announced plans to install 200 automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) on police cruisers and at roadside points to deter potential terrorist attacks. The announcement comes on the heels of last week's announcement by New York City officials to implement a plan to scan vehicles coming into Manhattan. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded the D.C. region a total of $59.8 million as part of the Urban Areas Safety Initiative (UASI) project. The ALPR project is one of roughly a dozen projects slated for the Washington region under the UASI funding. Officials also plan to spend $4 million for personal radiation detectors for officers, $5.6 million for equipment and training for bomb squads, and $18 million for assistance to local hospitals and medical personnel for equipment, planning, and training in dealing with disasters.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/16/AR2008081602218.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Growth Forces Law Enforcement Agencies to Get Bigger
Opelika-Auburn News, (08/21/2008), Vasha Hunt
Communities in Alabama are being forced to examine the potential for population growth as it relates to a nearby Kia manufacturing plant in Georgia, base realignment and closure of Ft. Knox, and subsequent expansion of Ft. Benning, Georgia. The city of Valley, located in eastern Alabama, will likely see a population increase as a result of the Ft. Benning expansion, and the city police chief wants to examine all options on coping with the potential for more Crime. The implementation of more Technology to help officers is certainly plausible. Traffic in the area is already increasing, and the chief wants to create a traffic enforcement unit and implement cameras and lights to help with the situation. Other regional departments, like Chambers and Lee County, as well as Auburn and Opelika city, are going to add officers to their forces.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/16/AR2008081602218.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Tools of Technology
Sbsun.com, (08/17/2008), Stacia Glenn
Since the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office created the Hi-Tech Crime Detail in 1999, the workload has doubled. The detail was created as part of the Specialized Investigations Unit to work on cases such as theft, fraud, or child exploitation. Last year alone, the unit handled 438 cases, and in the first 6 months of this year it has taken on 321 cases. This increase is tied to officers' understanding of evidence that may be on seized computers or cell phones. Today the list of crimes handled by the unit includes identity theft and DVD or music pirating. This jump in the amount of cases handled has allowed the group to request and receive $190,000 for equipment upgrades to help it try to stay ahead of the criminals.
/www.sbsun.com/news/ci_10233435
New Camera Technology Could Boost School Funds
Warwickonline.com, (08/19/2008), Matt Bower
The school system in Warwick, Rhode Island, may get some financial help through tickets issued to drivers who illegally pass school buses. The city's school committee, with the help of SmartBus Live, may obtain some much needed revenue from tickets issued to drivers who pass buses that are stopped and have their red lights flashing. The SmartBus system operates in two phases. Phase one is an external system that generates live digital feeds of all bus stops. This is accomplished using eight external cameras on the buses' left side that can capture up to six lanes of traffic. The second phase involves those feeds being sent to a central monitoring facility, where staff monitor images and footage of vehicles observed passing a stopped bus. The images are time and date stamped and the footage is verified before staff send it to police for processing. The system allows bus drivers to concentrate on the children's safety rather than have their attention divided by trying to ca! pture violators' license plate information. SmartBus will install and set up the system; costs will come out of a portion of the revenue generated by the tickets.
warwickonline.com/warwickonline/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=38354&Itemid=174
Fuel Prices Cause Law Enforcement To Examine Many Options
Stereo AM 610 KCSR, (08/21/2008), Chris Frankhauser
Rollercoaster fuel costs are causing Law Enforcement agencies to re-examine budgets and explore alternatives to reduce costs. The Dawes County Sheriff's office in Nebraska uses vehicles for all essential functions, so that only leaves cutting funding for non-job-related training for officers. The Nebraska State police use roughly 660,000 gallons of fuel, averaging about 10 million miles per year, and is on a current pace to spend about $800,000 more on fuel this year than was budgeted. The agency is exploring Technology and teleconferencing options for officer training and meetings, and considering schedule changes to help reduce trooper travel. The Chadron City police Department is exploring the expanded use of equipment it currently has to reduce fuel costs. The department has motorcycles, but it will have to pay to equip the motorcycles for training purposes. Also, there are only two certified officers in the department, so additional officers will need to be trained. ! Departments are faced with many considerations when attempting to deal with the price of gas as it relates to budgeting and operations.
www.chadrad.com/newsstory.cfm?story=11057
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
April 26, 2008 - The cost of a pound of coffee in Colombia: $8. A hand-carved souvenir iguana from Cuba: $10. A cold beer in Honduras: $1. Traveling throughout Central and South America talking to soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines and seeing firsthand the U.S. military's role in the region: priceless.
"You can't put a price on that," said Dan Simons, president of The World Company in Lawrence, Kan. "It's off the charts."
Simons and about 50 other participants in the 75th Joint Civilian Orientation Conference wrapped up their week-long journey to parts of the U.S. Southern Command area of operations here last night with a dinner and an opportunity to chat with the command's top officer, Navy Adm. James Stavridis. Miami serves as the headquarters for the command.
The JCOC is the Defense Department's oldest outreach program. In this trip, participants traveled to Brazil, Cuba, Honduras, Colombia and here. The U.S. Southern Command area encompasses more than 30 countries and covers about 15.6 million square miles.
During the conference, participants stood on the deck of the USS George Washington and witnessed hair-raising night landings on the nuclear aircraft carrier up-close. They fired machine guns in Cuba, rode in helicopters in Honduras, and rappelled off towers in Colombia.
The civic and business leaders toured maximum-security detainee facilities in Guantanamo Bay, sped across the Keys in super-fast U.S. Coast Guard drug interdiction boats and saw what a jungle cocaine lab looks like.
And while all are quick to say those experiences were exhilarating, stimulating, and sometimes frightening, being able to talk with U.S. servicemembers was the highlight of the trip, they said. SouthCom is home to more than 1,200 military and civilian personnel from all services. During the trip, the group dined in a Navy's ship's galley and chatted with sailors. They shared field rations with soldiers and airmen and talked about military life with Marines.
"I leave with a real sense of pride, and am just in awe of the men and women who serve," said Saul Kaplan, executive director of Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, Providence, R.I.
This is the first time a JCOC has toured Southern Command since the program began in 1948. And it is the first JCOC to see more of the U.S. military's "soft power," or humanitarian assistance and other aid-oriented missions. This group got to talk about drug eradication efforts with Colombian police who risk their lives spraying the coca plants across the country. They delivered school supplies and soccer balls to children in Honduras. They talked with the doctors who provide the medical care for the detainees at Guantanamo.
Many of the participants said that they're returning from the trip with a deeper understanding of the importance of the region to U.S. national security interests.
"We tend to think of the military as arms and defense. We saw the human heart of the military and the focus and concern for all people," said Rebecca Upham, head of the Buckingham Brown and Nichols School in Cambridge, Mass.
And as the event wrapped up, the business leaders and educators talked about how they could spread the word of what they saw in their travels. Entrepreneurs penciled thoughts on paper for upcoming speeches, and authors sketched out ideas for upcoming seminars. No one is leaving without a sense of urgency to tell their story on some scale within their communities.
Simon said the trip gave him new appreciation for the efforts of U.S. servicemembers. He admitted he had become somewhat apathetic regarding their service, because it did not have a direct, personal impact. Now he is going to work with United Service Organizations on an upcoming project, and is also teaming with a nonprofit organization to sponsor races to be held across the country on Sept. 11.
"I could have been working on this for a couple of years," he said.
Michael Roberts, the chairman and chief executive officer of The Roberts Companies in St. Louis, said his experiences on the trip will be part of his regular speeches. As an entrepreneur and author, Roberts regularly speaks to businesses and on college campuses such as Harvard.
"In those environments, I can say to them what the military is about from a humanistic perspective, as opposed to a strict warring and defense operation," Roberts said.
Roberts used a sports analogy to sum up his impressions of the military's use of soft power: "The best defense is a good offense." He said the humanitarian missions of the military, such as building schools, countering narco-terrorism and providing health care to impoverished countries, is a side of the military most people do not know about.
In the end, the trip was a call to action for him and the others, Roberts said.
"We need to do what we can to spread the word about the humanitarian mission of the U.S. military," he said. "We do have a 'good neighbor' policy. And the world is our neighbor."
Yes it would be something to potentially be able to say that I met the president at blank. But she's going to get beat in the democratic race by Obama anyways, so then she just falls back to "bitch that Bill cheated on." I think I respect her less because she let Bill in any female he want and said nothing. Gravy train him as far as you can. I think if she publicly stood up for herself I'd have more respect for her. On a side note, no politician ever cares about Rhode Island. They only care this time because the races are too close for comfort, and stuff is up for grabs. Usually, by the time RI's primary comes around, stuff is decided and they barely use RI to take a bathroom break between the other states nearby. Dumbasses in RI don't know that. They are too busy worrying about two inches of snow like they forgot we get snow every year. Assholes. Don't ransack the grocery stores of every loaf of bread and gallon of milk when you hear we're getting a dusting.
Wow tangent. Ok, my point. Drove past a bunch of idiots thinking they are friends with Hilary now. These people will vote for her only because they happened to be eating when she walked into the same building. I couldn't care less.
Longing to be somewhere warmer? Me too. I've been a busy person but that won't keep me away from here.
I love this picture but I think I may like this one a little more. We ate at a great deli/restaurant called Anthony's Seafood. The stuffies are to die for!
Paths4byzantium pointed out this abandoned house in the middle of town. Something about it really intrigues me.
Here is the diner that was mentioned in the previous post.
On the cliff walks again with Josh and Mom. (Oh, Nomad, here is the picture I was telling you about. Teehee)
I asked Josh to take a picture of us Gals on the rocks.
I have one last post left that will have the pictures from our RI trip. I will either post them tomorrow or Monday depending on my schedule. Till then my friends!!
To help distract here are some more pictures.
This wasn't a planned shot but I loved how the lights give that oh-so-eerie feel. They were waiting in the car for me while I was getting in some final photos.
My pictures are totally out of order but I really don't care right now. :) Here is Chi-town(chicago) on our way home in the (cold) early morning hours.
My first shot from my new camera evah. Obviously its Josh on our way OUT to RI. :P
In a great Irish pub in Newport. We played some billiards, drank a little & had a yummy batch of foodstuffs. Not to mention the bartender was a real cutie and her accent really got me. ;)
Taken at the cliffwalks. Apparently this batch is a Josh heavy bunch.
AND as a final treat here is a drawing that I finished yesterday. Please see it full view to see the details.
Glimpses of You. by *ForeverKnight on deviantART
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