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A single shot fired through a door at police responding to a routine call left a 25-year-old officer dead and led to an eight-hour standoff yesterday that ended with the arrest of a paroled convict.

Armed tactical teams surrounded the apartment block in suburban Laval, north of Montreal, where Const. Valerie Gignac and her partner had responded to a noise complaint.

Gignac was rushed to hospital, where TV footage showed staff administering cardio-pulmonary resuscitation as she was wheeled inside.

She later died — the eighth Canadian police officer killed in the line of duty during 2005.

A man gave himself up after lengthy talks with provincial police negotiators, said force spokesperson Francois Dore.

“Towards 6:45 tonight, the man left his apartment and gave himself over to police in a calm and peaceful manner and suffering from no injuries,'’ Dore said.

The man, described as in his 40s, faces murder charges, police said.

He was the tenant of the apartment and was alone at the time.

Police responded to the shooting by flooding the neighbourhood with cruisers and evacuating the apartment complex.

Three schools in the area were also locked down.

Another police spokesperson said the suspect was recently released from prison under certain conditions, but he could not confirm that he had been charged with firearms violations.

A native of Quebec City, Gignac had served with Laval police for four years. Her boyfriend is on the force’s canine unit.

A police official who did not want to be identified said two shots were fired at Gignac, with one striking her. A witness said she heard only one shot.

Resident Danielle Lajoie dialled 911 as an officer feverishly performed first aid on his wounded partner.

Lajoie, 51, works nights and heard the shot. “The noise that I heard sounded like a door being slammed shut, not the sound of gunshot,'’ recounted Lajoie.

“Then I heard some noises in the stairway and I saw a police officer on the floor with another officer who had brought the (injured) officer down the stairs.

“She was shot upstairs and the other officer brought her down to my floor. I opened the door. The police officer asked me to call 911. I called and I passed the phone to the officer who was doing first aid on his partner.

“The bullet apparently entered under her vest.'’

There was a report that the bullet was fired from a high-calibre weapon.

Police Chief Jean-Paul Gariepy said his officers were in shock. “Right now, there’s really a deep sense of grief.'’

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The KillPolice.com crew would like to wish you a happy holidays.

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Feb. 28, 1997, is a day most cops won’t ever forget.

Two bank robbers wearing body armor and brandishing automatic weapons turned a quiet San Fernando Valley neighborhood into a bloody ambush.

North Hollywood, Calif., police officers were outgunned and forced to scramble for cover amid relentless gunfire. A quick-thinking sergeant commandeered nine rifles from a neighborhood gun store to end the melee, but when it was over, 11 police officers and six civilians had been wounded.

After that notorious shootout, a growing number of police departments across the country began issuing semi automatic weapons and body armor to their officers.

While a large number of agencies in South Florida — Hialeah, Pembroke Pines, Hallandale Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Coral Springs, Boca Raton and the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office — allow their road patrol officers to carry high-powered rifles, others — the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the Hollywood, Miami-Dade and the City of Miami police departments — have not yet armed all their officers with rifles.

Officers point out that criminals can easily buy high-powered weapons, both on the street and on the Internet. And recent crimes have raised concerns among police about their inability to protect themselves and the public from criminals who carry more firepower than they do.

Most of the handguns officers carry, including BSO, have an effective range of 25 yards, while a high-powered rifle, like an AR-15 that can be equipped with 40-round clips has an effective range of 300 to 500 yards depending on the barrel length and scope.

Deputies point to Ralston Davis as an example of the potential danger police can face when they aren’t adequately armed.

Davis, accused of killing three people, sent officers a chilling message when he was arrested Dec. 2 with a knock-off version of the high-powered AR-15 rifle:

‘’Hand me my [rifle] and a bullet, and I will kill you all,'’ Davis told BSO deputies. “Stand in front of me, and I’ll put a bullet in your face.'’

Deputies said that if Davis hadn’t run out of ammunition, he could have easily picked them off before they could take him out with their handguns, .45-caliber Glocks.

‘’The North Hollywood shooting showed the reason why cops should be armed with high-powered rifles,'’ said Hialeah Deputy Chief Mark Overton. “That shootout was a nightmare. Officers were pinned down and being shot through their Kevlar vests.'’

Not only local law enforcement officers see the need for high-powered weapons.

SEEN AS A NECESSITY

Federal agencies, like the Drug Enforcement Administration, have been outfitting their personnel with high-powered rifles for a number of years. It’s a necessity, DEA agents say, because the drug dealers they pursue have the money to spend on high-priced weapons to protect their product.

And agencies around Broward are arresting drug dealers outfitted with high-powered weapons.

‘’We’re taking AK-47s off drug dealers,'’ said Fort Lauderdale police range master Jim Decker, a former officer. “Whatever [weapon] is out there, they’re buying it.'’

The AK-47 (for Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947) is a ubiquitous assault rifle that can be equipped with 30- or 40-round clips or a 75-round drum. The ammo can be easily purchased on the Internet.

‘’My second day on the road, I was getting shot at with a high-powered weapon, and I couldn’t shoot back with my handgun,'’ Decker said. “And, what’s worse, the bad guys are training themselves so they can shoot better.'’

One survey, Decker said, showed that 79 percent of the people who killed officers practiced at the range at least once a month.

‘’They have them [rifles] and they know how to use them,'’ he said.

The National Association of Police Organizations, based in Washington, D.C., supports arming officers with high-powered rifles, saying the weapons are a tool, rarely used, but absolutely vital for the well-being of the public and for law enforcement.

‘Whether the rifle is carried in the trunk of the patrol car or in the front seat, like gas masks and helmets, it’s better for the officers’ safety and the public safety that it’s available should it be needed,'’ NAPO director Bill Johnson said.

KNEE-JERK REACTION?

But some experts say arming officers with rifles is a knee-jerk reaction.

‘’Because the bad guys have assault rifles, law enforcement officers should?'’ asks Tom Diaz, senior policy analyst for the Violence Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that advocates gun control.

“I don’t see the rationale behind that type of thinking. What’s next? Cops in armored cars and tanks? This is moving toward the militarization of law enforcement.'’

That same thinking is why some departments balk at arming their officers with assault rifles.

‘’Departments have to make sure they don’t have a weapon that is offensive to civilians or looks too militaristic,'’ said Miami-Dade range master and firearms instructor Sgt. Steve Mesa. “People don’t want their patrol officers looking like they are in a specialized unit, like SWAT.'’

But it can take a SWAT team 45 minutes to an hour to respond to a scene, a long time for an officer to wait while dodging bullets that can slice through Kevlar vests like a steak knife through butter.

Law enforcement is an evolutionary process, said former DEA agent Richard Mangan, who teaches criminology and criminal justice at Florida Atlantic University.

‘’I remember when bulletproof vests were something you only wore when making an arrest,'’ Mangan said.

“Now officers wear them all the time. If the bad guys arm themselves with rifles, then officers arm themselves with rifles.'’

Herald staff writer David Ovalle contributed to this report.

A former San Diego police officer convicted of making and possessing child pornography was placed on five years’ probation yesterday and ordered to stop operating an Internet-safety Web site.

Brett Kenneth Hensley pleaded guilty in June to one felony count of using a minor in the making of child pornography and three misdemeanor counts of possessing child pornography.

Hensley, a 12-year veteran who resigned in June 2004, surrendered in court Jan. 18. A search warrant had been executed nearly a year earlier at his Sabre Springs home by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and San Diego police. Soon after he was taken into custody, he posted bond and was released.

During a San Diego Superior Court hearing yesterday, Judge Charles Rogers told Hensley he could be sent to jail for a year if he violates the terms of probation. Rogers ordered him to complete 30 days of public service. Hensley also will have to register as a sex offender for life.

Deputy District Attorney Geoff Allard argued unsuccessfully that Hensley should do some jail time — up to 240 days — for his crimes. A forensic review of Hensley’s home and work computers revealed numerous images of child pornography and e-mail messages indicating he was communicating with female minors, according to court documents.

The agents also discovered that Hensley solicited phone sex with a teenage girl who lives out of state and requested that she e-mail him sexually explicit photos of herself. The girl believed she was communicating with a 16-year-old boy, the prosecutor said.

“Words really don’t do justice to the defendant’s crime. It’s all really about the pictures,” Allard told the judge.

Defense attorney Gerald Blank said in court that Hensley entered therapy soon after the search warrant was served and moved out of the house he shared with his wife and children.

“This is a gentleman who immediately responded to the problem,” Blank said, adding that his client committed the crimes “in the darkest and most difficult days of his life.”

Blank said the problem started when Hensley began downloading adult porn on the Internet at a time when he was having trouble in his marriage. Hensley never distributed child porn or tried to meet any minors in person, the attorney said.

Judge Rogers called the downloaded images “shocking,” “disgusting” and “degrading,” but said he believed the defendant was remorseful. The judge noted a report by an evaluator who said she didn’t believe Hensley was a pedophile.

However, the judge ordered the defendant to stop operating a Web site — www.safersurfers.org — through which he offered tips to parents on ways to protect their children from Internet predators. Rogers gave Hensley 90 days to sell or transfer ownership of the site.

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SAN FRANCISCO

A police officer who produced videos parodying life on the force was suspended Thursday after the mayor and police chief blasted the vignettes as racist, sexist and homophobic.

Officer Andrew Cohen, 39, said he was suspended for posting inappropriate and unauthorized pictures about the department on the Internet.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Cohen told The Associated Press. “I’ve never been in trouble before.”

Cohen is one of about 20 officers expected to be disciplined for video clips that Police Chief Heather Fong called “egregious, shameful and despicable.”

The skits featured uniformed and plainclothes officers making fun of Asians, blacks, women and gay and transgender people, Mayor Gavin Newsom said. He was particularly offended by a scene showing a white officer in a patrol car running over a black homeless woman.

“It is shameful, it is offensive, it is sexist, it is homophobic and it is racist,” Newsom said. “We’re going to make sure that it ends, it ends immediately.”

The video spoofs were shot over more than a year for a Christmas party, Cohen said. Most of the officers involved, including a captain, worked at the Bayview Station in the city’s roughest section, an industrial area with a large minority population and high crime rate.

The department’s internal affairs division launched an investigation after the videos were discovered on Cohen’s Web site, Inside the SFPD. Other city commissions also were assigned to look into the matter.

Cohen said Fong asked him to meet with her Dec. 14 and he will eventually have a hearing before the Police Commission.

The department did not release the names or ranks of the officers.

“I’m sorry they did it, and I’m sure they are sorry they did it, but do not confuse these videos with how these officers perform in the real world,” said Gary Delagnes, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association. “These were meant as comic relief, parodies of police work.”

Cohen’s lawyer, Daniel Horowitz, said his client was slandered by officials who drew attention to the matter and took the videos out of context.

“I think they wanted to be the poster children for the politically correct attitudes in the city and they misrepresented the contents of the tapes,” Horowitz said.

He added that the videos, which have been pulled from the Web site, were not insensitive, although some of the content was sophomoric.

Newsom’s spokesman, Peter Ragone, disagreed. “Perhaps Mr. Horowitz is the kind of lawyer who thinks that a white police officer running over a black woman is something to laugh at. We think he stands alone.”

SEE PART OF THE VIDEO HERE:
http://cbs5.com/video/?id=%209130@kpix.dayport.com

Two New York State Troopers executing a warrant were shot — one in the leg, the other in the bulletproof vest — in a shootout with a suspect in a house in the Schuylerville section of the Bronx.

Police say the troopers were hit when gunfire erupted inside 753 Revere Avenue just after 6 a.m. One trooper was shot in the leg and rushed to Jacobi Medical Center. That officer’s injuries were not believed to be life threatening.

Eyewitness News has learned the officer’s partner, also a New York State Trooper, was shot in the bulletproof vest. He was not injured. He was taken to Jacobi Medical Center to be checked out.

The suspect was shot and killed in the gunfire.

Sources say after the shooting, a bomb squad unit responded to deal with a live grenade found at the scene. The street was cordoned off but neighbors were not evacuated.

The warrant was part of an ongoing joint investigation between New York State Troopers, Yonkers Police Department and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.

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Johnston County, Indiana

A man police said shot an officer Wednesday morning has been found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Police said David Voght, 38, led them on a chase along Interstate 65 after the shooting. They found him in Taylorsville in Bartholomew County.

Police said Voght shot Johnson County Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Edwards Wednesday morning.

Edwards, a 15-year veteran of the sheriff’s department, was taken to Wishard Hospital, where he was listed in good condition.

Police said Voght is a former Fort Wayne Police officer and was most recently a civilian employee at Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center near Bloomington.

The incident happened in the Wakefield subdivision in Greenwood at about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Department said they were responding to a domestic call at 5783 Columbia Circle. When police arrived, they pulled over Voght. That’s when police said he fired at one of their deputies.

“He fired into a vehicle and hit one officer,” said Johnson County sheriff’s Lt. Gary Pickett. “Whether he was in his vehicle or not, we still don’t know. We tend to think he may have been. If he was, there’s going to be bullet holes in his windshield.”

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KillPolice.com has learned that Federal Bureau of Investigaton is now looking into complaints of brutality at the hands of a Shreveport police officer.

Shreveport resident Debra Turner, 45, and her daughter, Demiya, 24, originally filed the claim with the police department’s Internal Affairs Division in September. The two women say Cpl. Kevin Strickland, assaulted them Sept. 26 while trying to arrest another family member, Makiya Turner, 25. Debra Turner said Strickland threw her to the ground, handcuffing her, and punched Demiya in the face.

Another officer on the scene, Cpl. Tisha Lensey, also filed a report making similar claims about Strickland’s actions during the incident.

Last week, Mike Campbell, Chief of Police, told News 12 his department has received written complaints from both officers, each accusing the other of acting improperly during the incident. Campbell said the case is under investigation by Internal Affairs and should be completed with a few weeks.

There’s no word on how long the FBI’s investigation will take to complete.

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MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) – An angry crowd killed a state police officer in southern Mexico, exacting revenge for the shooting of a taxi driver in a barroom brawl, authorities said on Saturday.

Scores of angry residents in the town of Magdalena Tequisistlan broke into a municipal government building to seize the officer, who was thrown from the third story to the town plaza, then doused with gasoline and set on fire, according to the Oaxaca state attorney general’s office.

The officer reportedly had shot a taxi driver on Friday night after arguing with the man at a bar, and was later taken into custody by local authorities, in the town located 290 miles (470 kilometers) southeast of Mexico City.

Oaxaca Attorney General Patricia Villanueva said a state police commander in the area was fired for failing to react effectively as the officer was lynched.

The police response to the mob attack remained under investigation, Villanueva said. No arrests had been made in connection with the attack.

The killing came amid heightened concerns about vigilante justice in Mexico, where police are seen as inept or corrupt and people say they must take security into their own hands.

The attack in Oaxaca resembled a November incident in Mexico City in which an angry crowd beat and burned alive two plainclothes federal agents and severely injured a third.

In that instance, the killings were captured on live television long before riot police arrived.

President Vicente Fox responded by firing Mexico City’s police chief and the head of the Federal Preventative Police, blaming Mexico City’s government for tolerating vigilantism. Dozens of people accused of participating in that attack have been arrested.

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