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Finally our weather is permitting more range time. Up until the last few days, it was still in the high 20's and low 30's, and there was still a lot of snow on the ground. It is a great idea to train in adverse weather, which we do, but when the weather (cold mainly) negatively affects the training to the point that we lose the training value, it's time to do something different. In the winter months, we use several indoor options, drill using Simunition F/X weapons/ammo, work on hand to hand combat, weapons retention and take-a-ways, etc., but I must say, I've had enough of the cold weather for this season. I'm ready to hit the range. |
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Additional Information May Be Found On The Degrata Tactical Website
TURNER COUNTY SOUTH DAKOTA DEPUTY SHOT AND KILLED - by KSFY Staff
Thirty-Three year old Turner County Sheriff's Deputy Chad Mechels was shot and killed in the line of duty on Sunday morning at around 9 am. The murder happened during a routine call to a farm near Marion and the alleged shooter did flee the scene. That man, Ethan Johns later turned himself in at the Law Enforcement Center in Sioux Falls.
Mechels is a five year law enforcement veteran, but had only worked for Turner County since October of last year. The incident happened near the intersection of 275th street and 442nd avenue near Marion, which is normally a quiet area. Sunday afternoon Turner County Sheriff Byron Nogelmeier revealed the circumstances surrounding the shooting. "This morning, Chad Mechels, 33 years of age, a five year law enforcement veteran was shot and killed while doing a welfare check on an indvidual by the name of Ethan Johns" Stated Nogelmeier.
We also talked to Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead who said "it's a sad day for law enforcement in South Dakota and a reminder of the dangers our offficers face even in the rural areas." Deputy Mechels leaves behind a wife and two kids, a 7 year old daughter and a 3 year old son.
More Info: HERE
Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Awareness Training Program (AIATP)
This training program is a 1-day, introductory awareness program designed to provide line officers and first-line supervisors with a working knowledge of the criminal intelligence process and applicable laws, guidelines, policies, tools and techniques. Knowledge gained in this course will aid in the detection of pre-incident indicators related to terrorist activity in the community that may be encountered during the course of their law enforcement duties.
- Washington, DC -- April 8 or 9, 2009
- Fresno, CA -- May 6 or 7, 2009
- Portland, OR -- June 10 or 11, 2009
- Chicago, IL July 8 or 9, 2009
- Nashville, TN August 12 or 13, 2009
- Santa Fe, NM September 9 or 10, 2009
A United Nations Security Council committee confirmed on Tuesday that Iran violated U.N. sanctions by trying to send a ship with weapons to Syria. The high-explosive shells, including those than can pierce armor, and anti-tank explosives may have been destined for Hamas terrorists in Gaza, Hizbullah in Iran or Syrian-backed Iraqis, Council diplomats told the Associated Press.
The U.N. has banned Iran from exporting weapons or materials for the manufacture of arms.
The ship, chartered by the Islamic Republic of Iran, has been docked in Cyprus since January 29, when Cypriot authorities unloaded it and said there were no weapons aboard, although it found material that could be used to make ammunition.
However, United States military inspectors found artillery shells on the ship when it stopped in the Red Sea and said it was destined for Syria.
The U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committee told Cypriot authorities that the shipment contravened the U.N. sanctions. Officials from Cyprus said the weapons may be defused "at the appropriate time." Britain offered to help neutralize the explosives.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice condemned the violation, and France and Britain expressed concern. Iran and Syria were ordered to explain the shipment, but the U.N. has not stated if there will be any punitive action.
The sanctions were clamped on Iran after it refused to suspend its program for enriching uranium, a key material for manufacturing a nuclear weapon.
School resource officers and administrators face many challenges. The more challenges we experience will increase our ability to successfully face future ones. On the other hand, challenges that occur infrequently and require help from others may be difficult to effectively prepare for. One example is targeted school violence. Preparing can seem overwhelming, but learning these three steps can help you...PDF
I have read a fair amount of books on the subject of JFK and his assassination. This one, however, is different. In my opinion, most of the authors out there settle upon what they believe really happened, then present their findings to prove their case. Roberts doesn't do that. Instead, he goes about it as a crime scene investigator would, which makes sense because at the time of his investigation, Roberts was a police officer. He also has experience as a Marine Corps Sniper in Vietnam. The combination of Roberts' law enforcement and military skills, I believe, gives him a definite advantage. This was definitely an interesting read.
Minneapolis (AP) A Michigan man who allegedly came to Minnesota to attack the Republican National Convention has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for possessing Molotov cocktails. U.S. District Judge John Tunheim sentenced 23-year-old Matthew Bradley DePalma of Flint, Michigan, to 42 months in prison and three years of supervised release. He had previously pleaded guilty to possession of destructive devices. DePalma had made at least five Molotov cocktails by the time he was arrested on Aug. 28 in a Minneapolis apartment. He had allegedly told an FBI informant he planned to attack the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, where the Republican convention was held, and described a plan to use the fire bombs on police. DePalma had faced a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
by Laura McCallum, Minnesota Public Radio March 11, 2009
Washington DC Senior counter-terrorism officials say an East Africa-based terrorist group that is recruiting young Somalis from Minneapolis has ties to al-Qaida insurgents.
Federal officials today outlined their concerns that young Somalis who've left Minnesota are being trained by al-Shabaab insurgents.
The FBI's J. Philip Mudd told the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee this morning that his agency believes the number of missing young men is in the "tens."
While there is no credible evidence that the young men who traveled to Somalia have returned to plan attacks, "we cannot rule out that potential given the indoctrination and training they might have received in East Africa," said Andrew Liepman, deputy director of intelligence at the National Counterterrorism Center.
The State Department considers al-Shabaab a terrorist organization, with growing links to al-Qaida, something the group denies.
Al-Shabaab, which means "The Youth," has been gaining ground as Somalia's Western-backed government crumbles. The group's goal is to establish an Islamic state in Somalia.
The uncle of one of the missing young men, Osman Ahmed, testified that he believes his nephew got his radical ideology from leaders at the Minneapolis mosque he attended.
He said his nephew, Burhan Hassan, was just eight months old when he left his Somali homeland, traveling first to a refugee camp in Kenya before settling in Minnesota with his mother.
Hassan, he said, was a good student and was taking calculus and chemistry in his senior year at Roosevelt High School and studying Islam at the nearby Abubakar As-Saddique mosque.
Ahmed said others who disappeared also went to the mosque.
"We are not blaming the mosque. Mosque is our place. We worship. What we are blaming is the management. The mosque itself cannot indoctrinate for the kids," said Ahmed.
Abubakar mosque denies the allegations that it played a role in recruiting young Somali-Americans to join Al-Shabaab.
Mosque director Omar Hurre told MPR News the allegations are baseless and false.
Mosque leaders were meeting Wednesday afternoon to prepare a full response, but say today's testimony was not surprising, and there are serious legal dimensions to consider.
Al-Shabaab, which means "The Youth," has been gaining ground as Somalia's Western-backed government crumbles. The group's goal is to establish an Islamic state in Somalia.
According to Omar Ahmed, information the families have gotten back from people in Somalia suggests the teens are lured back with notions of Islamic utopia.
When they arrive, he said, they are whisked to military camps, and are told that if they try to return to the U.S. they will end up in the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba.
A young Somali man, Shirwa Ahmed, left Minneapolis in 2007, and set off a suicide bomb in October of last year as part of a coordinated series of attacks in Somalia. It was the first known time a U.S. citizen was a suicide bomber. Ahmed was buried in a Burnsville cemetery in December 2008.
Officials say they don't know how many young people have left Minnesota to go to Somalia, but suggest they were lured away through "sustained interaction" with extremists both in person and via the Internet.
The committee chairman, Sen. Joe Lieberman, says the problem threatens the security of the U.S. and the American dream for young Somalis.
"This is the most graphic and clear evidence that we've had thus far of a systematic campaign of recruitment of American youth, and in some ways the most promising of American youth, to leave the country to go fight a war that really will bring them to no good," said Lieberman.
The counterterrorism officials stressed that they are not seeing a widespread radicalization of Somali-Americans - many of whom fled the violence in their homeland.
Many, they said, are single mothers struggling to raise their families and fit in despite ongoing language and cultural hurdles.
Instead, the officials said they are most worried about al-Shabaab's links to al-Qaida and the possibility that Somalia will become a safe haven for insurgent training.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
Everything You Need To Know I Learned In The Marines
| Neatness | Punctuality |
| Brotherhood | Persistence |
| Pride | Respect |
| Shame | Responsibility |
| Achievement | Courage |
| Discipline | Loyalty |
The above is outlined and explained in his book "CORPS VALUES" (Copyright © 1996)
On 02-22-09 a District 2 patrol unit recovered a Mossburg 12-gauge shotgun concealed within a Super Soaker (water gun). The water gun was taken apart and altered allowing the shotgun to be encased within the water gun, and to remain fully functional.
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By Tim Gaynor
PHOENIX (Reuters) Hit men dressed in fake police tactical gear burst into a home in Phoenix, rake it with gunfire and execute a man.
Armed kidnappers snatch victims from cars and even a local shopping mall across the Phoenix valley for ransom, turning the sun-baked city into the "kidnap capital" of the United States.
Violence of this kind is common in Mexico where drug cartel abductions and executions are a daily feature of a raging drug war that claimed 6,000 lives south of the border last year.
But U.S. authorities now fear that violent crime is beginning to bleed over the porous Mexico border and take hold here.
"The fight in Mexico is about domination of the smuggling corridors and those corridors don't stop at the border," Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said.
Execution style murders, violent home invasions , and a spiraling kidnap rate in Phoenix -- where police reported an average of one abduction a day last year linked to Mexican crime -- are not the only examples along the border.
In southern California, police have investigated cases of Americans abducted by armed groups tied to the Tijuana drug trade. One involved a businesswoman and her teenage daughter snatched in San Diego last year and held to ransom south of the border.
In south Texas, a live hand grenade traced back to a Mexican cartel stash was tossed onto the pool table of a bar frequented by off-duty police officers in January. The pin was left in it and the assailant fled.
COPING WITH SPILLOVER
Mexican traffickers have always been violent, but the death toll has soared since President Felipe Calderon took office in late 2006 and sent tens of thousands of troops to fight the country's powerful cocaine cartels.
Soldiers have fought pitched battles with drug gangs in several Mexican towns and overwhelmed police officers have fled municipal forces the length of the border. In many cases, police officers have been paid off by the drug gangs or even joined them.
In a sign of an increasingly desperate struggle to rein in the violence, Calderon this week ordered 5,000 more troops and federal police to Ciudad Juarez , just across the border from El Paso, Texas.
The cartels have killed 250 people in Ciudad Juarez in the past month, forced the police chief to resign, and shut down the airport with bomb threats.
The struggle by outgunned Mexican authorities to contain the violence was highlighted for Arizona state police last November, when Mexican police officers pinned down in a raging gun battle in Nogales, Sonora, reached out to them with an urgent request for more bullets.
While U.S. authorities stress they have not seen anything like the kind of street battles and horrific beheadings that are now common in Mexico, they are already taking action to curb was has become known as "overspill".
Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he wants 1,000 troops to guard the border. The state's Attorney General Greg Abbott is backing legislation to crack down on money laundering and human, drug and weapons trafficking through the state by the warring Gulf and Sinaloa cartels.
Lawmakers in Arizona heard testimony on border violence last week from police and prosecutors, who are seeking more robust measures to seize smugglers' assets, as well as cracking down harder on gunrunning to Mexico.
PLANNING FOR THE WORST
Washington has stepped up support for Calderon, pledging to give Mexico helicopters, surveillance aircraft, inspection equipment and police training under a $1.4 billion plan to beat the cartels in Mexico and Central America.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano -- a former Arizona governor -- told a Congressional hearing last week she was focused on curbing the southbound traffic in guns that are being used to arm the violent cartels.
In a measure of that commitment, a Phoenix gun dealer goes on trial next week on charges he sold hundreds of weapons, including AK-47 assault rifles , to smugglers knowing they would send them to a powerful cartel in Sinaloa state on Mexico's Pacific coast.
As the spiraling drug violence shakes Mexican cities and towns along the U.S. border, U.S. Senate lawmakers announced last week they would hold two hearings to assess the ability of U.S. security forces to deal with the rise in crime on the U.S. side.
Senator Joseph Lieberman , chairman of the homeland security governmental affairs committee, said the panel would assess border security programs already in place and review whether federal, state and local authorities are ready to respond to any serious spillover of the Mexican drugs war.
For the sheriff of Hidalgo County , in south Texas, where the live grenade was thrown into a bar in Pharr , possibly by street gang members armed by a Mexican cartel, that renewed attention to the war on his doorstep can only be welcome.
"It's the first time we've had a hand grenade attack ," Guadalupe Trevino told Reuters. "I believe there's more out there that we need to find."
By The Associated Press
A gunman opened fire at a high school in southern Germany on Wednesday. Here is a glance at some of the worst school shootings in recent years:
Sept. 23, 2008: Matti Saari, 22, killed nine fellow students and a teacher before shooting himself at a vocational school in Kauhajoki, Finland.
Feb. 14, 2008: Former student Steven Kazmierczak, 27, opens fire in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, fatally shooting five students and wounding 18 others before committing suicide .
Nov. 7, 2007: Pekka-Eric Auvinen, 18, shoots and kills eight people and himself at a high school in Tuusula, Finland.
April 16, 2007: Cho Seung-Hui , 23, fatally shoots 32 people in a dorm and a classroom at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, then kills himself in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
Nov. 20, 2006: Sebastian Bosse, 18, goes on a rampage at his former high school in Emsdetten, Germany, near the Dutch border, shooting and injuring four students and the school janitor. Police commandos later found Bosse dead.
April 26, 2002: Robert Steinhaeuser, 19, previously expelled from a school in Erfurt, Germany, kills 13 teachers, two former classmates and a policeman, before committing suicide.
April 20, 1999: Students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold open fire at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, killing 12 classmates and a teacher and wounding 26 others before committing suicide in the school's library.
March 13, 1996: Thomas Hamilton, 43, killed 16 kindergarten children and their teacher in Dunblane, Scotland, and then killed himself.