Special Units: Page 386

Officer Injured During 7-Hour Standoff With Suicidal, Armed Man

SWAT officers, who deployed a tactical robot, shot the man when he came out of the house and refused to put down his firearm.

Colombian Cartel Leader Heads to Prison For 45 Years

At its peak, the Norte Valle Cartel was responsible for 60 percent of the cocaine exported from Colombia to the U.S. Between 1990 and 2004, the cartel exported more than 1.2 million pounds, or 500 metric tons, of cocaine worth more than $10 billion.

Mission Pack System

Designed with and employed by Special Forces elements, S.O.Tech's new Mission Pack System was tailored for vehicle-mounted deployment as well as long-range foot patrol operations. Bail out modular Mission Go Bags can be pulled and deployed for short-range missions while primary packs are left in vehicles.

Feds Pressure Arpaio to Weaken Immigration Enforcement

Phoenix-area residents are getting used to the fanfare and bitter debate that accompany Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's "crime suppression operations," like the one in Chandler nearly two weeks ago. It has been 18 months since Arpaio launched the first raid in central Phoenix, but do they work?

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's 'crime suppression' sweeps to nab illegal immigrants has brought him unwanted federal scrutiny. Photo via writewingpolitics.wordpress.com.

Mexican Drug Cartels Smuggling Oil into U.S.

U.S. refineries bought millions of dollars worth of oil stolen from Mexican government pipelines and smuggled across the border, the U.S. Justice Department told The Associated Press – illegal operations now led by Mexican drug cartels expanding their reach.

Chicago Man Charged with Punching Police Horse

A 21-year-old man spent the night in jail after he allegedly punched a Chicago police horse near the Lollapalooza music festival.

Dormitory Burns in Prison Riot

A dormitory burned down and 55 inmates were taken to hospitals after a riot touched off by fighting among Latino and African American prisoners shut down a 1,300-man unit of a Southern California prison, the Los Angeles Times reports.

White Gang Tattoos

The Aryan Brotherhood, which is also known as "AB" or "The Brand," is a primarily white prison gang with about 15,000 members in and out of prison. According to the FBI, the gang makes up only one percent of the prison population, but is responsible for 18 percent of all murders in the federal corrections system. Members use symbols in their tattoos such as swastikas, SS lightning bolts, the number 666, and Celtic imagery.

Prison and Gang Ink Symbols

In addition to advertising gang membership, tattoos provide other details about the bearer. For the incarcerated, images of chains and locks represent the loss of freedom; an hourglass or clock face without hands indicate doing time; a string of numbers may be an inmate's prison ID; one laughing face, one crying face means play now, pay later or my happy life, my sad life; a tombstone with numbers may indicate years of incarceration; the face of a female crying usually means someone on the outside is waiting for them. Caption information provided by POLICE gang expert Richard Valdemar.

This tattoo of a prison tower, hour glass, and prisoner breaking out of the prison wall signifies this person has done prison time.

Backing Into Space

Dave Smith recounts his LAPD SWAT training, when he was "in the midst of a training scenario requiring a Spiderman-like trip from the top of a very tall building to a window on the sixth floor ... With only the hookers and cabbies of downtown Los Angeles to bear witness, I stepped backward into space 14 stories above the street."

In My Sights Web 1

Gang Graffiti

Graffiti continues to be used as a written form of communication between street gangs. An observant patrol officer can read graffiti and collect valuable information about past, current and future gang activities. Graffiti can be used to mark off turf boundaries, give insults to rival gangs, act as a warning of impending death, list fallen comrades, announce the presence of a gang in a certain area of the city or show gang alliances. Editor's Note: Images contain profanity.

NBA Player's 'Tweets' Use Gang Style

Denver Nuggets' guard J.R. Smith shuts down his Twitter account, amidst controversy that he may have been using it to promote the Bloods street gang, the Denver Post reports.

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