How do you keep youngsters from participating in dangerous street races?

In Florida, a new program called Beat the Heat, lets anyone over 18 race a cop for $25.

(Photo: IBS/WPLG-TV)

The New York Times has a story on its Web site this morning on a new study that raises the question whether surveillance cameras deter crime.

The story points out that while the cameras might not cut crime, they help law enforcement solve crime. Pierce County law enforcement agencies have had success in solving crimes - in particular bank robberies and the like - after releasing still images and video footage to the media.

Click here for the story.

The Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition has joined a public-private coalition that is letting people log into video cameras aimed at remote border crossing areas.

Citizens can sign up as Virtual Texas Deputies(SM) to participate in border surveillance through this social network. Virtual Texas Deputies(SM) from around the country will monitor the streaming video from these cameras 24/7 and report any suspicious activities directly to the Border Sheriffs via email. All emails regarding suspicious activity will be submitted anonymously.

For example, you could click on Camera 64 -- "This is a known drug traffic area. If you see people or vehicles in this area please report this activity."

You can follow the link to their site at www.blueservo.net.

The U.S. Border Patrol put out a memo of yearly stats -- they're nationwide numbers, not local.

While personnel, technology, and infrastructure increased, there were significant decreases in arrests and drug seizures. The United States Border Patrol arrested 723,825 illegal aliens in FY 2008, a 17 percent decrease compared with 876,704 in FY 2007. Border Patrol agents seized 1,642,420 pounds of marijuana, 9,272 pounds of cocaine, and 735 ounces of heroin, decreases of 12, 35, and 61 percent, respectively.

The full press release is after the jump.

=> Read more!

Plywood covered four of the picture windows in the Wells Fargo home mortgage office in Old Town Tacoma on Sunday. Inside a woman with a purple vacuum strapped to her back sucked shards from the carpet.

The vandalism of the storefront at 2215 N. 30th St. appears to be part of a larger social protest rather than a random act of mischief.

Vandals have targeted the San Francisco-based financial services company’s offices and ATMs in several states in opposition to its stake in The GEO Group – a private company that operates prisons including the Northwest Detention Center, a federal immigration lockup on the Tacoma Tideflats.

The News Tribune received an e-mail Saturday, claiming the weekend attack was “done in solidarity with the 13 people recently detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in Shelton, WA and the people recently detained in San Francisco, CA.” It’s not clear if any other local branches were hit, but the e-mail only mentioned one.

“They are blinded by their greed and will allow the most dreadful things to arise in their quest for profit,” the e-mail continued. “... While the bankers count their money, the jailers in the detention center treat the people inside like subhumans.” (The full e-mail is posted after the jump.)

Attempts to reach officials with Wells Fargo and GEO Group’s corporate offices Sunday were not successful. Tacoma police took a phone report on the incident, spokesman Mark Fulghum said.

Wells Fargo owns 8 percent of GEO Group’s stock, making it the third largest shareholder, according to federal Securities and Exchange Commission filings and fatpitch.biz, a Web site that compiles stock ownership information.

Wells Fargo held more than $51 million in GEO Group stock in its Advantage Small Cap Value fund at the end of September, according to the bank's Web site.

In July, a study – released by the International Human Rights Clinic at Seattle University’s law school and the Seattle-based group OneAmerica, With Justice for All – alleged mistreatment at the Tacoma facility ranging from excessive strip searches and overcrowding to a lack of due process, the Associated Press reported.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement called the report “a work of fiction.”

Throughout the summer vandals have smashed windows, spray painted polemics and destroyed cash machines at Wells Fargo branches in California, Oregon and Washington, according to the September/October issue of Earth First!

The article says a branch in Tacoma was hit June 10 and “stop prisons” was spray painted on the wall. An independent media Web site also listed an August attack in Minneapolis.

=> Read more!

This is a little out of our usual jurisdiction, but there's nothing from the wire services on it yet.

A Denver TV station is reporting that authorities may have uncovered a plot to assassinate Barack Obama during his Thursday night acceptance speech and have made several arrests.

CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass reported one of the suspects told authorities they were "going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a ... rifle … sighted at 750 yards."

Law enforcement sources tell Maass that one of the suspects "was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative."

The Rocky Mountain News also has a story, which credits CBS4 for the scoop.

The station is reporting the U.S. Attorney's office in Denver has scheduled a press conference on Tuesday.

Update: This just came across from the Associated Press. The tone is a little more skeptical:

DENVER (AP) — The FBI is looking into reports in Denver media outlets that a man under investigation for drug and weapons violations may have made threats against Barack Obama, officials said Monday.

“It’s premature to say that it was a valid threat or that these folks have the ability to carry it out,” said a U.S. government official familiar with the investigation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Obama will be in Denver this week to accept the Democratic nomination for president.

FBI spokeswoman Kathy Wright confirmed the FBI was investigating the reports but declined to elaborate. The Joint Information Center — a command set up by Denver, state and federal authorities to field media inquiries during the Democratic convention — said it had no immediate comment.

Aurora Police Detective Marcus Dudley said Monday that 28-year-old Tharin Robert Gartrell was arrested early Sunday in a routine traffic stop in the Denver suburb of Aurora. He is being investigated for possible methamphetamine and firearms violations, officials said.

Two other people were arrested in the case, Aurora police said in a statement. They didn’t immediately release more details.

Law enforcers in Denver are trying to find out whether the reported threats to Obama were valid.

“It could also turn out that these were nothing but a bunch of knuckleheads, meth heads,” the U.S. government official said.

Gartrell was being held at the Arapahoe County jail on $50,000 bail on a felony charge of special offender, drug violations. The jail said he didn’t have a lawyer yet but was due in court Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said in a statement that federal charges were anticipated. Eid did not elaborate, but officials with the FBI; Secret Service; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and Aurora police set a news conference for Tuesday afternoon.

Here's an interesting piece by the San Francisco Chronicle about where the major presidential candidates line up on the death penalty and criminal justice issues.

A study published by Wake Forest University has found that the use of Tasers is relatively low-risk for those zapped with the devices.

Some civil rights groups question the results.

What to do about sex offenders?

This place wants to ban them from the city limits.

Click here.

Comments welcome on this one.

Hmmmmm.