The Sisyphus Comments

Website: American Rhetoric – Historical Speeches

This is a fantastic site that features literally hundreds of historic speeches. These speeches are like a walk through American history. I took the opportunity to listen to King’s entire “I Have a Dream Speech” for the first time. The best place to start is to take a look at the 100 greatest American speeches of the 20th century. The transcripts are available for you to read or you can listen to audio recordings of them.

There are religious speeches that span centuries and clips from recent political conventions. There are even speeches from movies.

CLICK HERE:

americanrhetoric.com

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Use the Internet to Locate Wanted Persons

Criminal justice personnel spend a great amount of time, energy and resources trying to locate wanted persons or doing background investigations. Oftentimes we would have better success by working “smart” instead of working “hard”. Why not save your shoe leather and begin your search using the internet.

First, try a Web search. You may be surprised at how much information a Google search will turn up. Search using the person?s name in quotes and try different iterations. For example, if you are looking for James Smith, conduct a search for Jim Smith, also.

Many people register with sites like Classmates.com so they can keep in contact with old friend. You can search listings by school and graduation year. Browsing for names is free but you must upgrade to the paid version ($36) to contact someone through the site. Reunion.com is another similar site to visit but it is not a little smaller. The paid version of Reunion costs $24.

You can also try public information or “find anyone” sites but they charge a fee for their services. They assemble state public records into a searchable database.

Search Systems also provides links to state public records databases and it does not charge for assembling the information. However, the sources of the information, such as the individual states may charge for searches. You might want to try a record search at the county recorder?s office. Use caution as you surf through the site since they try to sell you a membership. They do indicate which sites charge fees.

US Search makes searching easier by keeping its own national database that you can use it to search by name and age. They charge ~ $20 for 24 hours of unlimited searches and the results include a full home address. Another similar site is PrivateEye.com. It charges about $15 for 24 hours of seaching the results will also include a full home address and phone number, if available.

Don’t forget to search death records. Just use the Social Security Death Index. It’s a record of deaths reported to the Social Security Administration. This reporting is usually handled by funeral homes. The index is not published for the general public but some genealogical organizations purchase the information and post it online. The largest is RootsWeb.com. You can search millions records for free.

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Website: Consumer Sentinel

The Federal Trade Commission manages the Consumer Sentinel that provides a wealth of information on frauds and identity theft. The site includes statistics and tips to protect yourself from identity theft and other on-line scams.

If you fall victim to fraud or identity theft, you can file a complaint on the site.

Consumer Sentinel

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Getting a Quick Police Response

George Phillips of Meridian, Mississippi was going up to bed when his wife told him that he’d left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window.

George opened the back door to go turn off the light but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.

He phoned the police, who asked “Are any of those people in your house?”
When he said no, the dispatcher told him that all patrols were busy, and that he should simply stay in his house, lock his doors and an officer would be along when available.

George said, “Okay,” hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again. He said, “Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people in my shed. Well, you don’t have to worry about them now cause I’ve just shot them all”. Then he hung up.

Within five minutes three police cars, an armed response unit, and an
ambulance showed up at the Phillips residence. Of course, the police caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the policemen said to George “I thought you said that you’d shot them!”

George said, “I thought you said there was nobody available!”

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Eminent Domain

Governments most commonly use the power of eminent domain when the acquisition of real property is necessary for the completion of a public project such as a road, and the owner of the required property is unwilling to negotiate a price for its sale. In many jurisdictions the power of eminent domain is tempered with a right that just compensation be made for the appropriation.

The U. S. Supreme Court recently ruled that it is also permissible for the governement to take private property under eminent domain to provide the property for use by a private developer.

Isn’t it interesting that loggers can be prevented from cutting trees if it disrupts an owl’s home but now the government can take your house to build a Walmart? It might be time to call your congressman.

Posted in Legal Issues | 2 Comments »

Seizures – Off Duty Officer

Wilson v. Commonwealth, Record No. 0560042 March 1, 2005 (Court of Appeals of Virginia)

An off duty officer was returning from vacation with his family when he was run off the road in another jurisdiction. Ultimately, the defendant pulled into a convenience store. The off duty officer called the local police and identified himself to the defendant. He told the defendant that a local officer was on the way. The defendant stayed without any commands from the off duty officer. The defendant argued that he was seized by the off duty officer, without jurisdiction and all the evidence should be suppressed. The court disagreed and did not suppress the evidence. The court noted that the officer did not do anything that an average citizen could have done in the situation.

This case provides good articulation of the facts that distinguish why this case is similar to a citizen arrest. The court points out that if an officer does not act in an official capacity outside the officer’s jurisdiction, the officer should be treated like a normal citizen.

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Search Issues – Misdemeanor Arrests

Russell McGuire heads The McGuire Consulting Group, LLC, a constitutional and criminal law training and consulting company. He has presented training seminars on legal issues at the academy in the past. Currently, he is a special prosecutor in the office of the Attorney General, although he is on active duty in Iraq at this time. He is a contributing author to the VML Brief Cases newsletter. The summer 2005 issues contained a review of the Moore v. Commonwealth case and Rusty’s comments regarding the issues of the case and he recommends that we refresh your knowledge of search and seizure laws as they relate to misdemeanor arrests.

Arrest/Misdemeanor section 19.2-74
Moore v. Commonwealth, Record No. 26480301 February 22, 2005 (Court of Appeals of Virginia)

The officer arrested the defendant for driving on a suspended operators license. During the search incident to the arrest, the officer discovered crack cocaine on the defendant. The defendant moved that the evidence be suppressed because the officer had no grounds to arrest the defendant. The court agreed and dismissed the cocaine charge.

When we consider whether to search incident to an misdemeanor arrest, we first need to read section 19.2-74 closely. You will notice that in all misdemeanors you start with the position that you shall release the person on a summons. If they are released on a summons, you cannot perform a search incident to an arrest. The exceptions that allow you to arrest and perform the search are:

Class 1 & 2 Misdemeanors

• Fail or refuse to discontinue the illegal act
• Person is a danger to himself or others
• Likely to disregard the summons
• Refuse to sign the summons

Charged with D.U.I. Class 3 & 4 Misdemeanors

• Fail or refuse to discontinue the illegal act
• Refuse to sign the summons
• Remaining at place of riot after warning

As long as the officer can articulate any of these facts, they can make a custodial arrest. adjudications because the statute does not specifically authorize the use of them.

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Good Riddance to Bad Bosses

Are you a bad boss? Do you bully employees, rely on intimidation to get things done, and “kiss up and kick down”? Or do you work for a bad boss-an egotist who thinks his every thought is golden and can’t abide dissent? The work world is full of bad bosses, to judge from the number of books, articles and websites devoted to getting out from under a tyrant (for instance, Brutal Bosses and Their Prey), getting even (When You Work for a Bully: Assessing Your Options and Taking Action), and complaining/commiserating (the discussion forum on Badbossology.com). No doubt the offices of CIOs hold their share of bad bosses. (Disclaimer: The great majority of CIOs I speak with are polite and personable-but then, I don’t work for them.) What is a bad boss, fundamentally?…

Full Story

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People Quit People, Not Jobs

A recent Gallup poll cites the three most common reasons why employees leave their jobs as follows:

1. Lack of faith in the leadership or vision of the company
2. Concern with the way management is treating people
3. Lack of management support in areas such as performance reviews and employee development

The single most important factor that impacts employee performance and commitment to staying with an organization is the relationship that an employee enjoys with his or her immediate manager. Employees leave their manager far more often than they leave the organization.

It is just good business to make employee retention a priority and part of your company’s overall strategic objectives. The cost of replacing an employee is estimated to be between 1.75 and 2.5 times his or her yearly salary.2

When people leave, they take their contacts with them which impacts the effectiveness of the organization. In addition to the normal costs associated with training and orienting new employees, when a top-performing employee leaves it can cause those left behind to question their own loyalty.

In a research report published in September 2003, Rainmaker Thinking, Inc., cited the importance of the supervisor in the workplace. According to Rainmaker Thinking, “The day-to-day communication between supervisor managers and direct reports has more impact than any other single factor on employee productivity, quality, morale, and retention.”

In a very comprehensive study of retention, researchers at the Family and Work Institute found that earnings and benefits have a 2% impact on job satisfaction, while job quality and workplace support have a combined 70% impact.

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New Mailing Address for DCJS

Effective immediately, the new address for the Department of Criminal Justice Services is:

Department of Criminal Justice Services
202 North Ninth Street
10th Floor
Richmond, Virginia 23219

During the weeks of July 4 through July 16, 2005, the Department is re-locating to the Ninth Street office building. New stationary and letterhead has been ordered to reflect the change of address. Please update your records accordingly. All staff phone numbers will remain the same. In addition, delivery of mail to the old address will be forwarded to our new location.

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Website: Summer Vacation Packing Help

Are you or your spouse an “over packer” – a person who packs a weeks worth of clothes for an overnight trip? Well check out this site for help. It gives you a list of what to bring for a two week trip. It even provides both a men’s and women’s lists for any kind of climate and situation.

CLICK HERE:

TravelSmith

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What’s in OpenOffice.org?

If you are tire of paying the high costs for Microsoft Office, it may be time to look into the Open Office suite. Open Office is an open source project which means it it FREE. It is compatible with Microsoft Office files (it can read and write them). Here is a description of its programs:

WRITER is OpenOffice.org’s word processor: use it for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book with embedded illustrations, cross-references, tables of contents, indexes, bibliographies… Auto-complete, auto-format, and real-time spelling check make light work of the hardest task. Writer is powerful enough to tackle desktop publishing tasks such as creating multi-column newsletters, brochures – the only limit is your imagination.

Use CALC to bring your numbers under control. This powerful spreadsheet has all the tools you need to calculate, analyse, summarise, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics. A fully-integrated help system makes entering complex formulas a breeze. Sophisticated decision-making tools are just a few mouse clicks away. Pull in external data using the Data Pilot, and sort it, filter it, and produce subtotals and statistical analyses. Use previews to select from thirteen categories of 2-D and 3-D charts including line, area, column, pie, XY, stock and net with dozens of variants.

IMPRESS is the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations. Your presentations will truly stand out with special effects, animation and high-impact drawing tools.

DRAW will produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations and special effects.

New to Version 2, BASE enables you to manipulate database data seamlessly within OpenOffice.org. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, either using your own database or Base’s own built-in HSQL database engine.

CLICK HERE:

Download Open Office

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Website: Instant Graph Paper From the Web

Tired of having to run to Walmart to pick up graph paper for those rare school assignments? In addition to inconvenience, you have to buy a whole package for an assignment that only uses a sheet or two. This website will come to the rescue. You can print a variety of graph paper designs from a .pdf format.

CLICK HERE:

Graph Paper

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Yahoo Closes Chat Rooms Over Sex Content

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Reacting to angry protests from several of its top sponsors, Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) has pulled the plug on perhaps hundreds of chat rooms operating on its site after a media report revealed that some of the rooms were used to promote sex with minors.

Companies such as PepsiCo Inc. (PEP), State Farm Insurance and Georgia-Pacific Corp. stopped advertising on Yahoo after they were informed that adults were attempting to lure children into sexual encounters within some of Yahoo’s user-created chat rooms, according to a report by KPRC-TV in Houston.

KPRC reported that in some cases, men were using Web cameras to send lewd pictures to minors in chat rooms with such titles as “Younger Girls 4 Older Guys” and “Girls 13 And Under for Older Guys.”

CLICK HERE:

Full Story

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