Task force to focus on violent crimes.

I can remember when we used to have a task force every summer to deal with the typical spike in violent crime due to hot weather, but I also recall that we had a Gang Unit that gathered intelligence on their movements and activities and a Street Crimes unit that dealt with these problems year round.

Let's see what happened to those units? Oh yes that's right, Chief Robert White got rid of them because he thought they were unnecessary. Every year since then our violent crime and homicides have continued to increase. All of a sudden it is a good idea to create a task force.

Don't get me wrong, any help in my division is welcome. The problem is that instead of two units that specialized in these areas now we have a group that is being thrown together to sandbag the town before the flood. They are all good people but they don't have the intelligence and resources that were there before that White foolishly got rid of.

Wait a minute, White has NOT been saying for years that we have gangs, he has been saying the exact OPPOSITE!

First of statistically these areas aren't bad just ask the trucker about statistics..he'll clear that up for you. Secondly we don't have a gang problem in Louisville I was taught that in the Academy. And thirdly the task force will be using undercover cars and will have a monthly charge of $20 extra added to their car fee.

ONE STEP FORWARD...THREE STEPS BACK !!!!!

I CAN'T WAIT TO RETIRE

Yay!! STREET CRIMES UNIT IS BACK!! i'm just sayin',,,

Fat Head Jerry met with Metro Council today. For some reason we still have a $20 million shortfall going into next years budget. Next budget due no later than end of June 09. Car fees will go to $200 / WATCH

Turner Yarbrough drove his 18-wheeler into Dallas one afternoon in August 2004, hauling a load of medical waste. A 15-year veteran of the road, he was a crack cocaine user with a long criminal record.

At an exit on LBJ Freeway, he plowed into a line of cars. Three people were hurt, including a 76-year-old man who later died. The trucker, tests showed, had cocaine in his system. Mr. Yarbrough may not be the typical trucker on Texas highways, but he is hardly unique. Faced with a shortage of experienced drivers, some trucking companies are turning to ex-convicts as an attractive pool of low-cost labor. And the state of Texas is helping to train them.

Of 953 truckers faulted in fatal crashes from 2000 through 2005, a Dallas Morning News analysis found, at least one in four had been convicted of a criminal offense or received deferred adjudication before the crash. In deferred-adjudication cases, a defendant's record doesn't reflect a conviction as long as probation is completed.

More than 14 percent had committed drug or alcohol offenses prior to their accidents, and more than one in 10 were felons.

The News' analysis also showed that at least 137 truckers had one or more criminal offenses in the 10 years prior to their fatal accident. At least 72 had an offense within five years, and 28 truckers had at least one offense in the two years before their fatal accident.

"I'm all for people rehabilitating themselves and getting jobs," said Tom Smith, who heads the Texas Office Of Public Saftey For The Citizen, a consumer advocacy group. But when it comes to putting felons in 18-wheelers, "clearly there should be limits."

State taxpayers are helping to put some of these former criminals behind the wheel of big rigs through classes that train Texas prison inmates to become truck drivers.

Over the last 10 years, a Texas Department Of Criminal Justice program has trained more than 1,200 inmates to drive big trucks. More than 900 received their commercial driver's licenses while in prison, state records show.

How these drivers have performed on Texas highways is unclear. The state-run school district that trains inmates to be truckers said it doesn't track them once they leave prison. It refused to release inmate names so The News could cross-check them with Texas accident and driver's license records, and it declined a request to let reporters observe prison truck-driver training classes. The newspaper has asked the attorney general for a ruling under the Texas Public Information Act.

However, The News has determined that a number of truckers who received their commercial driver's licenses while in prison were later faulted in accidents.

By analyzing public records databases and matching names and dates of birth against the Texas Department of Public Safety truck accident database, The News identified 80 truckers faulted in accidents from 2000 through 2005 who received their commercial driver's licenses at the two prisons where the truck-driver training program is offered.

The Texas Workforce Commission also is spending state and federal tax dollars to send former prison inmates, parolees and probationers to truck-driving school, on the premise that it is worthwhile rehabilitation.

All of this is legal. With only a few exceptions, it's also legal to hire drivers with criminal records.

"It's like anything else: It's good if it's watched, regulated and there's proper training," said Dr. James Marquart, director of the crime and justice studies program at the University of Texas at Dallas and a former correctional officer in the Texas prison system.

But government oversight groups say putting a driver with a history of questionable judgment behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound rig jeopardizes public safety.

The job pressures truckers face and the fact that 5,000 people a year already die in large-truck crashes in the United States make felons and big rigs a potentially dangerous mix, said Joan Claybrook, national president of Public Citizen.

"I'm not saying everyone who has a prison record is incapable of doing this job," she said. "But my concern is the way the system is set up with so little oversight, such harsh working conditions and cheating already ? I worry it's going to get even worse."

When the Labor Board releases its ruling on car fees and everyone turns in their cars, it will look like the streets of Mexico in the westend. Drug wars with bodies piling up and no police in sight.

Just to enlighten your knowledge. Check this out abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=7354412.

Hey FOP? whats theyresults of the hearing? If i recall john sent an email saying it will be out no later than the 16th?????????????????????

Any of my fellow corrupt, gang member brothers in blue have a DOT quick sheet to pass along I know there are all kinds of things we can write semis for. My platoon and I are starting our own task force soon on trucker violations any help would be greatly appreciated.

Gee Wally, you are right, locking up dirty truckers is more fun than catchin' frogs in cat tails. Shucks Beaver, it's not enough to lock them up, if you really want to see them whine - tow their truck and trailer too!! Hey Wally, if we lock up enough truckers, do you think maybe that annoying trucker who posts here all the time will go away? There's a really good chance Beav. That or the people he hauls with will take care of him for bringing the heat down on the few honest truckers still out there.

election times are coming to Louisville soon. Hopefully all the people that have been screwed, thrown under the bus, and robbed by Jerry Abramson-Cordish will come out to play. Louisville's soul and finances have been sold out of state in crooked deals with a Baltimore company at the expense of all the citizens. I can't imagine what will be next. Jerry is running out of groups from which to take their money. I can't understand why the police or firemen even go to work here anymore. I wouldn't be able to stand it. somebody, anybody - step up and oust this fat-headed, crooked, arrogant vampire from Louisville - the working people are running out of blood.

ITS THE 18TH NOW, I GUESS THE FOP DOESN'T WORK ON THE WEEKENDS OR THEY ARE COMING UP WITH A WATERED DOWN WAY OF TELLING US THAT WE LOST. :-(((((((((((((

PARK EM !

FROM CONCERND FOP MEMBERS ACROSS THE METRO.

If anyone has a facebook page go check out the new pics under "People against jerry abramson "

get rid of the command in Homicide and things would be better