Law Enforcement

A dream had carried the boys so far from home, some 5,000 miles across the ocean to a cramped and dingy apartment in Philadelphia: a hope that ice hockey could change their lives. Ivan Pravilov could fulfill that dream, they were told. He could take them from the daily grind of post-communist Ukraine to the gleaming ice of the NHL. He'd done it before. He'd done if for Andrei Zyuzin, who went on to play for six NHL teams. He'd done it for Konstantin Kalmikov, a third-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia on Sunday announced that it had found two more priests unsuitable for ministry following claims that they had sexually abused a minor. The Archdiocese said it had substantiated the claim against Msgr. George J. Mazzotta, who most recently served at Stella Maris Parish in Philadelphia and Saint Madeline Parish in Ridley Park. Msgr. Hugh P. Campbell, who was retired but most recently served at Saint Maximilian Kolbe Parish in West Chester, told the Archdiocese himself in December that he had sexually abused a minor, according to a brief release from the Archdiocese.

An audit announced yesterday by the state Attorney General's Office criticized the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office for the aggressive manner in which it has spent more than $648,000 in forfeiture funds since Andrew N. Yurick took over as prosecutor 21 months ago. The audit did not say the funds were misspent but indicated that Yurick could have been more prudent in "prioritizing law-enforcement needs. " Yurick's spending - on items ranging from bulletproof raincoats to high-tech weapons - has been criticized by county and state officials, including State Sen. Raymond J. Zane (D., Gloucester)

America has just won an acknowledged, much-publicized war. And now we find ourselves losing another one. It is the real war, down the street. It is the war we can somehow never bring ourselves to officially declare, properly name, dedicate songs to, form support groups for or rightfully acknowledge. Now it announces itself in the person of Rodney King of Los Angeles, kicked and clubbed by a group of police officers in a glaring police brutality case that has filtered into our living rooms on the television like those beams of light from the spaceship in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

IT TAKES only a sewing needle, a patch and a leather or denim vest to instantly transform a motorcyclist into a rolling controversy who elicits fear from the public and scrutiny from law enforcement. Bikers who choose to patch-in with clubs the FBI considers outlaw motorcycle gangs inherit the baggage that makes them notorious: drug and weapons trafficking, extortion and explosive, deadly violence. They call themselves Hells Angels, Outlaws and Warlocks, and in South Jersey, law-enforcement officials say, more and more bikers are calling themselves Pagans.

At least eight men founded the Junior Black Mafia in 1985, according to federal, state and local law enforcement sources, and street sources. They have been identified as: James Cole, 35, and his brother, Hayward Cole, 36, convicted drug traffickers who were enforcers in the 1970s for the old Black Mafia, police sources say. Some investigators believe the Coles, whom drug informants refer to as "The Big Bosses," continue to lead the...

WE CAN see the executives for Coppertone dancing in their offices. A father has been indicted and charged for not putting enough sun-screen on his 12-year-old son. Can a bill outlawing going outside without slathering on a healthy dose of suntan lotion be far behind? Walter McKelvie, of Vineland, now faces 18-months in prison because, according to the indictment, he failed to "apply enough sunscreen causing severe sunburn to" his son, who is only identified as R.M. in court documents.

THERE can't be a double standard when it comes to obeying the law, for police as well as citizens. There plenty of people who've experienced harassment and even physical abuse by police officers - and not all are criminals. (But this is in no way means it's OK to kill or disrespect anyone in a position of authority.) But when the Daily News printed the articles about the investigation of an alleged corrupt officer, it should open the doors for some serious dialogue and more oversight into claims of illegal actions by police officers.

Federal authorities were in the air, on the street, and at their computers yesterday, preparing for today's official start of the Republican National Convention - and all the security challenges that come with it. Teams of FBI agents were on standby to deal with such situations as terrorists, bombs, and hazardous-material problems, and there has been a special emphasis on the need to protect federal property - especially historic buildings at...

A South Jersey man has been arrested in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old New York City boy Etan Patz. It's the first arrest ever made in a case that helped give rise to the nation's missing-children movement. Pedro Hernandez, said to be in his 50s, has lived in Maple Shade, Burlington County, with his family for several years. According to the New York Times, citing an unnamed law enforcement official, Hernandez admitted that he strangled the boy, wrapped his body in a bag and put it in a box. Hernandez reportedly stowed the box, but when he returned to retrieve it, the box was gone.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia on Sunday announced that it had found two more priests unsuitable for ministry following claims that they had sexually abused a minor. The Archdiocese said it had substantiated the claim against Msgr. George J. Mazzotta, who most recently served at Stella Maris Parish in Philadelphia and Saint Madeline Parish in Ridley Park. Msgr. Hugh P. Campbell, who was retired but most recently served at Saint Maximilian Kolbe Parish in West Chester, told the Archdiocese himself in December that he had sexually abused a minor, according to a brief release from the Archdiocese.

Perhaps the only silver lining to the Great Recession is that it brought a new focus on manufacturing in the United States. After 25 years of being sold a shiny vision of a service-dominated postindustrial economy, we are rediscovering the importance of actually making things. Corporate cost calculations undergird the newfound appreciation of U.S. manufacturing. The offshoring of manufacturing was rooted in rock-bottom wages in nations such as China and the aggressive attraction and infrastructure strategies of foreign governments.

HARRISBURG — An admission by state agriculture officials Wednesday that fewer than half the large breeding kennels in Pennsylvania were meeting the full requirements of the 2008 dog law and that the state had decided not to enforce some provisions of the law touched off a series of heated exchanges between officials and animal-welfare advocates. Officials told members of the governor's Dog Law Advisory Board — meeting for the first time since Gov. Corbett took office 15 months ago — that only 17 of 52 commercial kennels were in compliance with regulations governing temperature, humidity, ventilation, and ammonia levels that were supposed to take effect almost one year ago, prompting one board member to ask why they were allowed to stay in business if they were violating the law. Lynn Diehl, director of the Office of Dog Law Enforcement, said state dog wardens were working with the remaining kennels to get them into compliance.

A three-month child-pornography investigation has led to the arrests of 27 people across New Jersey, including a 66-year-old Pennsauken man who was downloading images when police swarmed his home, state Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced Tuesday. The investigation, dubbed "Operation Watchdog," culminated over several days last week with a police sweep in more than two dozen towns, nearly half of them in South Jersey. The suspects, including a 20-year-old woman, have been charged with distribution and possession of child pornography.

GREENLAND, N.H. - A man suspected of killing a New Hampshire police chief just days from retirement and wounding four other officers was found dead along with a female acquaintance early Friday, ending an overnight standoff that plunged a small town into fear and grief. The officers were part of the state attorney general's drug task force and were trying to serve a search warrant on Cullen Mutrie around 6 p.m. Thursday when Mutrie opened fire. Greenland Police Chief Michael Maloney was killed and four detectives from other departments were injured.

POLICE IN SANFORD, Fla., marched a handcuffed George Zimmerman into police headquarters the night he shot and killed Trayvon Martin, and a video shot by a security camera picked up no obvious sign of injury to the neighborhood-watch volunteer. The video first aired Wednesday night on ABC's "World News with Diane Sawyer. " Zimmerman shot and killed Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old from Miami Gardens Feb. 26. Police said that Zimmerman told them he shot Martin in self-defense after the 6-foot high-school junior punched him, got on top of him then began banging his head into a sidewalk.

DETROIT - A federal judge on Tuesday gutted the government's case against seven members of a Michigan militia, dismissing the most serious charges in an extraordinary defeat for federal authorities who insisted they had captured homegrown rural extremists poised for war. U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts said the members' expressed hatred of law enforcement didn't amount to a conspiracy to rebel against the government. The FBI had secretly planted an informant and an FBI agent inside the Hutaree militia starting in 2008 to collect hours of antigovernment audio and video that became the cornerstone of the case.

WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union released records Tuesday obtained from the FBI that it said showed the bureau's San Francisco division used its Muslim outreach efforts to collect intelligence on religious activities protected by the Constitution. Under the U.S. Privacy Act, the FBI is generally prohibited from maintaining records on how people practice their religion unless there is a clear law enforcement purpose. ACLU lawyers said the documents, which the organization obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, showed violations of that law. After reviewing the ACLU documents, the FBI said the reports that contained notes about religious activity were appropriate because the agents were meeting with members of the Muslim community for law enforcement purposes.