Police Academy

Unable to get your law-enforcement fix on TV? Flirting with a career in police work? Just curious about crime in Chester County? If you fall into any of those categories, District Attorney Joseph W. Carroll has a solution: the first Chester County Citizens Police Academy. Designed to provide county residents with an overview of the criminal-justice system, participants will spend two hours a month interacting with police officers, detectives, and prosecutors - without fear of being handcuffed.

Cop accidentally shoots self A 61-year-old female Philadelphia police officer accidentally shot herself at the Police Academy in Northeast Philadelphia yesterday. The officer, a 29-year veteran, was at the academy for an annual firearms qualification. She accidentally shot herself in the hip about 12:40 p.m., police said. The officer, whose name was not released, was expected to be treated and released at Aria Health's Torresdale campus. Accused in theft, cop gives up Kenneth Crockett, the Philadelphia police officer who was charged last week with stealing $825 from a safe in a bar in the Lower Northeast, surrendered yesterday, authorities said.

A Philadelphia police officer was in stable condition Friday after accidentally shooting herself in a hip. The officer, 61, was participating in a training exercise at the Police Academy in Holmesburg and discharged her weapon at the firing range about 12:40 p.m. The injury was not severe, police said. She was treated at Aria Health-Torresdale. - Sam Wood

A Philadelphia police officer is in stable condition this afternoon after accidentally shooting herself. The officer, a 61-year-old woman, was at the Police Academy in Holmesburg where she was participating in a training exercise. She accidentally discharged her weapon at the firing range about 12:40 p.m. injuring her hip. The injury was not severe, police said. She was taken to Aria Health - Torresdale for treatment. Contact staff writer Sam Wood at 215-854-2796 or samwood@phillynews.

AFTER reading about crooked cop Alhinde Weems, who pleaded down his sentence for dealing drugs while in uniform, I almost wanted to vomit. The story stated he was a drug dealer before he joined the force. How in the world does this happen? I think the department should look at those who do the investigations if they allow this type of person through the doors of the police academy. Maybe that's where the problem is. To those cops on the street, there is a group of supporters out there who love you all and know what type of job you do every day, this one loser is not going to spoil the entire bunch.

IN RECENT Daily News stories about the unfolding controversies at the Delaware River Port Authority, it was reported that DRPA Commissioner John J. Dougherty, whom I count as a friend, had recommended my brother Dan for a position within the DRPA's law-enforcement division. Someone at the DRPA leaked this information to imply that John Dougherty's recent tough questioning of DRPA's management and board was a retaliatory move against the authority for not hiring my brother.

Mayor Nutter kept his promise to balance the 2010-11 budget with across-the-board cuts to police, fire, arts, education, and neighborhood cleanup Wednesday, but he relieved library lovers by breaking his vow to reduce branch operations. In announcing $47 million in cuts to what is now a $3.8 billion budget, top administration officials said they were acting to contend with inadequate revenues provided in City Council's approved budget. In addition, business and real estate tax revenues continue to disappoint.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show (3 p.m., NBC10) - Wanda Sykes; Evan Lysacek and Anna Trebunskaya; Jason Castro performs. The Oprah Winfrey Show (4 p.m., 6ABC) - Oprah reveals her feelings about Michael Jackson's death. Community (8 p.m., NBC10) - Jeff has to make a tough decision when the date he scheduled with a statistics professor clashes with the Day of the Dead party that Annie has planned for their Spanish class. Futurama (8 p.m., COM) - More than six years after it ended its original run on Fox, Matt Groening and David X. Cohen's subversive and satiric sci-fi send-up returns with a batch of new episodes on a new home.

Police officers swarmed the Art Museum steps yesterday. But they weren't flocking to a crime scene. They were there to celebrate the donation of 21 motorcycles, 21 mountain bikes and 100 shotguns to the department, through the work of Jimmy Binns. Binns, a police patron and humanitarian, founded the CopWheels program in 2007 to raise money for law-enforcement equipment and to create memorials for fallen officers. "CopWheels' mission is to make sure our police officers are armed with state-of-the-art equipment," Binns said.

EXPERIENCE and common sense ought to spare the city of Philadelphia from ever facing another situation remotely like its confrontation with MOVE 25 years ago. But never say never. Mayor Wilson Goode appointed a commission to investigate the disaster and "make suggestions for future handling of similar situations. " After a nine-month probe, the panel issued a scathing report with 38 recommendations for change in the structure and operation of city government. Kevin Tucker, the recently retired chief of the Secret Service in Philadelphia, took over the Police Department from Gregore Sambor.