Tag Archives: police

Make Punishment Fit The Crime

What punishment should be imposed on a man who shot a police officer almost 40 years ago and fled to Canada, but went on to live an upstanding life as a husband and father who worked in a library?

There was a rare answer here on Friday: Require him to give $250,000 to a foundation that helps the families of injured Chicago police officers.

Joseph Pannell, 58, who admits that he shot a police officer here in 1969, will serve just 30 days in jail and two years’ probation as part of a plea bargain that legal experts called extremely unusual. Read more... (172 words, estimated 41 secs reading time)

Ballet Dancing Romanian Traffic Police

You are stuck in a traffic jam, impatient and frustrated, until a policeman runs off a sequence of pliés, arabesques and pirouettes right in front of your car.

It is bound to bring a smile to your face. At least that is the hope of police chiefs in the western Romanian city of Timisoara, who have sent their officers to ballet classes in the hope of helping them to manage the traffic with more grace and ease, and to encourage a reduction in road rage. Read more... (444 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)