CALN POLICE DEPARTMENT

I just want to comment on the Caln Police Dept and Sgt. Beech or Beach, but they are great. They are professional and respond and take the local Caln residents reports seriously and try to help.  If there has ever been a great police dept. they are.

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CONGRATULATIONS TO LAUREN VELEK AND RYAN DONNON

CONGRATULATIONS RYAN AND LAUREN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We want to send out our wishes to a Chester County Couple  on their Engagement

John and Susan Velek of  West Bradford, Chester County would like to announce the Engagement of their daughter LAUREN VELEK to RYAN DONNON of Downingtown, Chester County.  Ryan is the son of Linda Donnon of Downingtown.   The Wedding Date has not been set yet.

Send out your Congratulations to  RYAN AND LAUREN

Wishing you the best!

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Police barred from searching vehicle if suspect is no longer a danger Supreme Court Ruling

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that police need a warrant to search the vehicle of someone they have arrested if the person is locked up in a patrol cruiser and poses no safety threat to officers.

The court’s 5-4 decision puts new limits on the ability of police to search a vehicle immediately after the arrest of a suspect, particularly when the alleged offense is nothing more serious than a traffic violation.

Justice John Paul Stevens said in the majority opinion that warrantless searches still may be conducted if a car’s passenger compartment is within reach of a suspect who has been removed from the vehicle or there is reason to believe evidence will be found of the crime that led to the arrest.

“When these justifications are absent, a search of an arrestee’s vehicle will be unreasonable unless police obtain a warrant,” Stevens said.

Justice Samuel Alito, in dissent, complained that the decision upsets police practice that has developed since the court, 28 years ago, first authorized warrantless searches of cars immediately following an arrest.

“There are cases in which it is unclear whether an arrestee could retrieve a weapon or evidence,” Alito said.

Even more confusing, he said, is asking police to determine whether the vehicle contains evidence of a crime. “What this rule permits in a variety of situations is entirely unclear,” Alito said.

Stevens conceded that police academies teach the more permissive practice and that law enforcement officers have relied on it. Yet, he said, “Countless individuals guilty of nothing more serious than a traffic violation have had their constitutional right to the security of their private effects violated as a result.”

Big impact on traffic arrests
Fordham University law professor Dan Capra said the ruling “will have a major impact when the driver is arrested for a traffic offense.” When police have probable cause to arrest someone for drug crimes, Capra said, they ordinarily will be able to search a car in pursuit of illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia.

The decision backs an Arizona high court ruling in favor of Rodney Joseph Gant, who was handcuffed, seated in the back of a patrol car and under police supervision when Tucson, Ariz., police officers searched his car. They found cocaine and drug paraphernalia.

The trial court said the evidence could be used against Gant, but Arizona appeals courts overturned the convictions because the officers already had secured the scene and thus faced no threat to their safety or concern about evidence being preserved.

Gant was placed under arrest for driving on a suspended license and he already was at least 8 feet away from his car when he was arrested.

Arizona, backed by the Bush administration and 25 other states, complained that a decision in favor of Gant would impose a “dangerous and unworkable test” that would complicate the daily lives of law enforcement officers.

But civil liberties groups argued that police routinely invade suspects’ privacy by conducting warrantless searches when there is no chance suspects could have access to their vehicles. The groups also suggested that police would not increase the danger to themselves by leaving suspects unrestrained and near their cars just to justify a search in the absence of a warrant.

Unusual divide
The justices divided in an unusual fashion. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, David Souter and Clarence Thomas joined the majority opinion. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy were in dissent along with Alito.

Scalia said in a separate opinion that he would allow warrantless searches only to look for “evidence of the crime for which the arrest was made, or of another crime that the officer has probable cause to believe occurred.” He said he joined Stevens’ opinion anyway because there otherwise would not have been a majority for that view and Alito’s desire to maintain current police practice “is the greater evil.”

 

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Treasury Timothy Geithner Defends Bank Rescue Program

 

WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner defended the bank resFund predicted U.S. financial institutions could lose $2.7 trillion from the global credit crisis. credit card loans, and commercial and industrial loans,” Geithner said.

WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner defended the bank rescue program devised by the Obama administration Tuesday as the International Monetary

Geithner, testifying before the rescue plan’s Congressional Oversight Panel, faced several questions about how Treasury is using the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program and how it intends to help rid financial institutions of their bad loans and securities.

His testimony came in the wake of a watchdog agency report that warned Obama administration initiatives could increasingly expose taxpayers to losses and make the government more vulnerable to fraud.

A special inspector general assigned to the bailout program concluded in a 250-page quarterly report to Congress that a private-public partnership designed to buy up bad assets is tilted in favor of private investors and creates “potential unfairness to the taxpayer.”

Geithner said the new plan “strikes the right balance” by letting taxpayers share the risk with the private sector while at the same time letting private industry use competition to set market prices for the assets.

“If the government alone purchased these legacy assets from banks, it would assume the entire share of the losses and risk overpaying,” Geithner said in his remarks. “Alternatively, if we simply hoped that banks would work off these assets over time, we would be prolonging the economic crisis, which in turn would cost more to the taxpayer over time.”

Geithner said “the vast majority of banks” have more capital than they need to be considered well-capitalized. But he said the economic crisis and the bad assets have created uncertainty about the health of individual banks and reduced lending across the system.

“For every dollar that banks are short of the capital they need, they will be forced to shrink their lending by $8 to $12,” he said.

While credit conditions have improved in the past few months, “reports on bank lending show significant declines in consumer loans, including

In a letter Tuesday to oversight panel chairwoman Elizabeth Warren, Geithner said that $109.6 billion in resources remain in the rescue fund. But officials expect the fund will be boosted over the next year by about $25 billion as some institutions pay back money they have received.

But under questioning from panel members, Geithner said that even if banks want to pay back the money, that doesn’t mean the government would necessarily accept the payment.

“Ultimately we have to look at two things, one is do the institutions themselves have enough capital to be able to lend and does the system as a whole, is it working for the American people for recovery,” Geithner said.

The government’s effort to stabilize the financial sector and unclog the credit markets has come under heavy scrutiny. Treasury officials say the Obama administration has been holding participants more accountable. Geithner sent key members of Congress six-page letters last week spelling out his department’s measures.

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Gun Rights Activists Hold Rally In Harrisburg

 

HARRISBURG (AP) — Hundreds of gun rights supporters held a noisy rally in the state Capitol on Tuesday, the fourth consecutive year they came to Harrisburg to remind legislators that constitutional gun-ownership protections are broadly supported in much of the state.

The Right to Keep and Bear Arms Rally focused on what several speakers described as threats to firearms rights granted by the state and national constitutions. Dozens of state lawmakers from both parties attended.

“The enemies of freedom are not giving up — not by a long shot,” said John Sigler, president of the National Rifle Association. He warned that too few gun owners understand that their rights are at risk.

The crowd booed heartily at the mention of a bill that would require gun registration and a proposal, backed by Gov. Ed Rendell, to limit handgun purchases to one per month.

“Make no mistake, if they limit you to one, they can limit you to none,” Sigler said.

Last week, Rendell, some mayors and other state officials asked Congress to ban assault weapons in response to the shooting deaths of three Pittsburgh police officers. They also reiterated support for giving local communities the right to draw up their own gun ordinances and for requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen handguns.

Kim Stolfer, chairman of the Pittsburgh-based Firearms Owners Against Crime, told the crowd they should not take the blame for the violent use of guns.

“The problem can be traced back to an indifferent justice system that allowed those people to be out on the street,” he said.

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CHEYNEY CALLING OBAMA WEAK?

The political back-and-forth over the Obama administration’s release of those interrogation memos now seems like something out of a “24” episode. Conservatives argue that the interrogations, including waterboarding, made the country safer. Some Democrats, on the other hand, want to prosecute the authors of those memos. And a former controversial vice president — Dick Cheney — who previously has contended that the current administration has made the country less safe, now says he has asked the CIA to declassify interrogation memos that apparently show successful results from the interrogation techniques. Indeed, in his interview last night on FOX, Cheney not only called for those memos to be declassified, he blasted Obama for “cozying up” to Hugo Chavez (“I think it’s not helpful… I think it sort of sets the wrong standard”), and for what he said was Obama apologizing “profusely” overseas for America’s past actions (“The world outside there … will be quick to take advantage of a situation if they think they’re dealing with a weak president or one who is not going to stand up and aggressively defend America’s interests”). Wow, did a former vice president just suggest that a sitting American president is weak? Is there a precedent to this in modern American history? 

 

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STOP SPEEDING ON SELTZER AVE.

  A reader posted the following comment for discussion!

  I live on Seltzer Ave. in Caln Township.  I am so mad at the people that fly by here every day.  Do they not see the 25 MPH speed sign.  I see business people, business trucks, young kids, people of all ages.  I am going to start filming their speed and getting their license plates to turn into the police.  Sometimes they are going so fast their a blur.  Some actually race by.  If the people are going to use Seltzer Ave. as a cut through they better start watching their speed or they may be filmed in the future.  People have Children, Grandchildren, and Pets.  Also many others and Seniors walk along the roadway.  Many of these same people are the ones who live in the nearby developments and want speed bumps to protect their children, yet choose to speed in other neighborhoods.  This goes for all speeders everywhere, not just Seltzer Ave.  We all love our kids and pets, so SLOW DOWN!!!

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