Holy Sonic Boom, Batman!

Image via Wikipedia

When NASA’s shuttle Endeavour landed in Florida Wednesday June 1 to end its last-ever trip into space, the orbiter also apparently doubled as a crime-fighting machine.

As Endeavour re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and glided toward the runway at Kennedy Space Center at a blistering pace, the orbiter heralded its arrival with two sonic booms — a trademark of all shuttle landings. The shuttle’s sonorous notes woke up a Florida woman who then witnessed two men inside her car in her driveway and called the police, according to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.

via FoxNews.com

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• Space shuttle sonic boom foils car theft (cbsnews.com)
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Kansas Police shoot concrete alligator…twice

Police responding to a rare alligator sighting in suburban Kansas City took quick action to dispatch of the beast, shooting it in the head, as instructed, while it lurked menacingly in the weeds leading down to a pond.

It wasn’t until a second rifle shot bounced off the reptile’s head that the officers realized they had mortally wounded a concrete lawn ornament.

via Kansas Police Open Fire At Lawn Ornament

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I think this guy was in the bathroom last time I flew

A crafty thief nabbed more than a quarter of a million dollars from a Caribbean-bound airplane after crawling through the bathroom to access the cash-stocked cargo hold, police said.

The unidentified crook complained of feeling sick and spent most of the flight in the bathroom, flight attendants told police.

But in fact, airline officials said, the man was tearing out panels in the restroom in order to crawl into the cargo hold.

via Thief nabs nearly $250,000

Do you wonder how he knew the money was in the hold and where it was in there? Maybe the cops will want a little chat with the baggage handlers.

“After careful review…”

The owner of a family van was surprised to receive a ticket in the mail from police in the southern Italian town of Oria accusing him of driving 1230 km/h 764 MPH. The Lizzanello resident had been driving his Fiat Doblo on the SS7 in the province of Brindisi on November 6 and weeks later received a letter demanding that he pay 165 euros US $223.

Italian tickets allow a five percent tolerance to account for the possibility of error. At 1230 km/h, the motorist exceeded the 90 km/h 56 MPH speed limit with an adjusted velocity of 1078 km/h 669 MPH, according to the notice signed by two officers view ticket. Oria police insist that the camera managed by the private firm Sodi Scientifica SpA is perfectly accurate. Officials blamed the incident “clerical error” in a statement issued Thursday.

via Italy:  764 MPH Ticket | The Truth About Cars

A great example of the care taken by a police agency to review and evaluate the results of camera enforcement of traffic laws. The officers involved should be disciplined but it’s unlikely that will happen unles it is for making their department the butt of internet ridicule.

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The long arm of the law is seldom this long

You may think that being ticketed twice in two years by the same police officer for speeding isn’t too unusual but you’d be wrong in this case. An unnamed New Zealand driver was ticketed in the UK for speeding and then two years later ticketed by the same officer but this time it was in New Zealand— two years and 12,000 miles away. Both men had relocated from the UK to New Zealand.

 

via  Autoblog

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• Driver caught speeding in two countries (confused.com)
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The robots are coming! The robots are coming!

Denver police swung into action Wednesday afternoon closing off a 100 yard safety zone as the city faced a harrowing robot threat that shut down part of the city for more than two hours.

It all began when a citizen reported a possible deadly robot glued to a pillar on a footbridge. The eight inch tall, white plastic  terror of Denver (maybe an advance scout for a robot invasion ?) was “rendered safe” by a bomb-squad robot and examination showed that there was no public danger.

But seriously, folks, if this little guy had been packed with one of the newer, more powerful explosives, it could have done considerable damage and the police action was justified.

Link

Tip of the hat to Technudge.

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• Okay, Who Left Their Robot Out? (wired.com)

Maybe the father of “The Boy With Green Hair?”

Hampshire police have been criticized for releasing the “funniest e-fit ever” – of a man with a “lettuce” on his head.

Cops issued the picture of a man they want to question over a distraction burglary in which an elderly woman had £60 stolen from her handbag at home.

But the likeness they sent out has drawn laughter from people living in Stockbridge because of the green hair given to the suspect.One resident is reported as saying: “It looks more like a bald man stood in front of an iceberg lettuce.

via  lettuce for hair From Daily Echo.

Related Articles

• Plot thickens over ‘lettuce head’ suspect (bbc.co.uk)
• Police defend ‘lettuce-head’ e-fit of burglar (independent.co.uk)

Crime tip: When playing “Fake Cop” don’t stop a real cop.

A Long Island man faces impersonation charges after police said a driver he pulled over for a traffic stop turned out to be a legitimate detective. Suffolk County Police said 35-year-old Victor Alfaro-Marquez of Selden was arrested Monday night, hours after the attempted traffic stop.Detective William Zambito was driving home from work at about 4:30 a.m. when an unmarked car with flashing lights and sirens stopped him. When Zambito told Alfaro-Marquez he was an off-duty officer, police said Alfaro-Marquez fled the scene.

via Alleged police impersonator pulls over detective EarthLink – Strange News.

Insecure security

A security vehicle for Detroit Mayor Dave Bing had its tires and rims stolen when it was parked at an east-side condo building, according to officials from the Detroit Police Department and mayor’s office.

Sgt. Eren Stephens said the vehicle was assigned to the executive protection unit.

via freep.com | Detroit Free Press.

100 km traffic jam…nine days and counting

Maintenance work, wrecks and broken down cars caused a nine-day traffic jam in China that stretched for more than 100 kilometres, Chinese daily newspaper The Global Times reported. The traffic jam, on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway between Beijing and Huai’an, began on August 14 when thousands of Beijing-bound coal and fruit trucks jammed the roadway . A major cause of the congestion was maintenance work on the nearby National Expressway 110, which had suffered damage from heavy vehicles.

The roadworks work forced drivers to use the Beijing-Tibet Expressway instead. Coupled with several minor accidents and broken down cars, traffic has now been stranded on the expressway for the past nine days.

The traffic jam is expected to last for almost a month with maintenance work on the National Expressway 110 (is) not due to be finished until September 13.

via News.com.au

400 police officers have been assigned to the 100 km stretch to maintain order.

Bee calm

A police officer was trapped in his patrol car for three hours – by 50,000 angry honeybees.

Sheriff’s Deputy Brandon Jenkins, 31, had been called out after a lorry broke down near Raleigh, North Carolina. The lorry was pulling a trailer loaded with 60 boxes of bees and the insects had escaped, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Deputy Jenkins arrived at day break just as the bees were waking up and they swarmed him, forcing him to retreat to his car and radio for back up.

More via Policeman trapped – by angry bees | Orange UK.

A bit breezy, I would think

A motorcyclist caught the eye of a police officer in Ontario Sunday, not just because he was speeding, but because he wasn’t wearing pants or underwear.The 40-year-old Hamilton man was clad only in a T-shirt, the Hamilton Advocate reported.

via Bottomless biker arrested in Canada – UPI.com

Why, yes. Alcohol was involved.

Deputy making arrest has to pay admission to get in to a fair to do it

A police officer responding to the LaPorte County Fair to make an arrest was delayed by an attendant at the gate who insisted that he pay.

It’s an incident that officials with the fair and sheriff’s office were reluctant to speak much about Monday.

via  WSBT -South Bend | Local News.

Thou shalt not speed

Police in Switzerland have started hiring an actor to dress as an angel and stand at the side of busy roads.

Complete with a white suit and feathered wings, the angel is being employed for 20 hours per week to wave at speeding motorists in a bid to slow them down.

via Odd News | newslite.tv.

See that big eye in the sky? That’s the UK watching its’ people

A new type of speed cameras which can use satellites to measure average speed over long distances are being tested in Britain. The cameras, which combine number plate reading technology with a global positioning satellite receiver, are similar to those used in roadworks.

The AA said it believed the new system could cover a network of streets as opposed to a straight line, and was “probably geared up to zones in residential areas.”

More via New speed cameras trap motorists from space – Telegraph.

I used to think that England was a free country but I’m beginning to question that with the 24/7  police surveillance that they seem to be working toward.

Crime tip: When fleeing the cops wear a belt…and suspenders too

A 58-year-old Hampden man who led police on a car chase, then a brief foot chase Wednesday night is back behind bars one week after completing a 15-month jail sentence for cocaine trafficking.

The suspect’s attempted flight to freedom ended abruptly when his pants fell down around his ankles, causing him to fall to the ground, police said Thursday.

More via  Bangor Daily News.

Talk about a wrong turn…

Police arrested a 44-year-old Port Orchard (Washington) man for DUI Monday night after he reportedly drove his truck right onto a track where officers were conducting emergency vehicle training, according to documents filed in Kitsap County District Court.

via Kitsap Sun.

Monkey Police? To improve their image?

A Thai police force has begun taking a monkey dressed in officer’s uniform on patrol each day to help improve relations with Muslim separatists.

Other forces are said to be considering enlisting a monkey to improve their image

More via  Sky News.

You’ve heard about police dogs. How about a police cat?

A cat has been appointed an unofficial police officer in a Chinese city where it joins officers on patrol.Police cat /Quirky China NewsThe black cat spends most of its days in the police station in the Shapingba district of Chongqing, reports the Hualong Network.But when officers go out on patrol, the cat follows them so much that citizens have started calling it ‘Officer’.

via Ananova – Cool cat joins police force.

Crime tip: Don’t ask a cop for directions while you are driving a stolen car

Officer Theresa Lubrano said she was in the drive thru line at McDonalds when she gave directions to a man driving what turned out later to be a stolen vehicle.

Friday around 10:30 p.m. a SUV pulled along side Lubrano’s vehicle and the driver asked for directions to the interstate. Lubrano gave the driver the directions, but said she had to repeat them several times as the driver was having trouble understanding them.

Officer Lubrano said when the SUV drove off, she ran the license plate and found the vehicle had been reported stolen out of Kenner on March 5.

via Top News Stories at Officer.com

The driver was arrested shortly after by other officers that had been alerted.