Florida Deputies were attempting to take Rodney Burton (pictured at left) into custody for auto theft in an Orange County gas station when Burton pulled a gun and shots were exchanged between him and the Deputies.

Ironically, Deputy Hope Cieszynski, from the fugitive unit, just happened to be in the store using the ladies room and was on a different radio channel so unaware of the impending arrest inside the store. A bullet went through the wall and either the bullet or shrapnel hit her in the leg. It's unclear who fired that shot.

Cieszynski's injuries were minor, unlike Burton's who was shot in the head or neck. Although he is expected to survive. 

Click here to read the full story from WFTV Florida via Officer.com

The telephone tax, successfully defeated with the help of DSAM 2 years ago, has been resurrected by Michigan House Appropriations Committee Chair George Cushingberry (D-Detroit). The article below is courtesy of MIRS. Hit the read more link for the rest.

House Appropriations Committee Chair George CUSHINGBERRY (D-Detroit) told MIRS today that he's bringing back a 2007 proposal to put a tax on telephone lines, but this time he's adding a sweetener to bring the telephone companies on board.  

Instead of making his primary sale that a phone tax is needed to maintain public safety levels in Michigan, Cushingberry wants to link a phone tax to a plan that would reimburse utilities for their costs of moving lines during road construction. Currently, utilities are forced to eat this expense, but Cushingberry is considering tapping into some federal road funding money to compensate companies like AT&T to some extent.  

As you all know by now, 100 Michigan State Police Troopers are facing layoffs this summer if something cannot be done about Governor Granholm's executive order axing them.

In the face of a worsening Michigan budget outlook, efforts by Democrats in the Michigan house to save those jobs seem to have stalled prompting a vote by the Troopers union to cut their pay across the board to save those jobs until the end of the fiscal year on September 30th.

All of this is happening as the debate has once again heated up in the Legislature over the Troopers new headquarters building in Lansing. The Michigan Senate voted on an ammendment to MSP's budget, proposed by Sen. Cameron S. Brown, R-Fawn River Township, that forbids tax-payer dollars going towards the new building which would cost tax-payers around $40 million dollars.

Sen. Cameron S. Brown is quoted as saying in a Lansing State Journal article that it is imprudent to move police headquarters from existing facilities in East Lansing when the state is preparing to lay off 100 troopers. "It was ill-advised and ill-conceived from the beginning," Brown said of the project. "It was crafted from the beginning without any oversight from the (full) Legislature. ... What do we say to the troopers who are being laid off?"

GCSI has their latest edition of their GCSIntel out and in it they sit down with Senate Fiscal Agency Director Gary Olson to talk about the state's budget process, timelines and the state's revenue picture.

It is an interesting read that you can get to via the link below.

In other GCSI related news, our lobbying group has been voted the "best and most effective" multi-client lobbying firm in Lansing by a wide margin.

Hit the link below for the latest GCSIntel or the "Read More" link to see GCSI's statement about their latest accolades.

Click here to download the latest GCSIntel

Troy Brake will face life in prison when he is sentenced on July 6th due in large part to the excellent work done on the quadruple murder case by Ottawa County Sheriff's Office Deputies and Detectives.

An article from the Grand Rapids Press says that family members of Sharmaine Zimmer and her sons, 17-year-old Tyler and 20-year-old Jeremy, along with his girlfriend and university student 18-year-old Katherine Brown applaud Ottawa County Detectives, who kept pictures of the victims on their desks while investigating the case, for helping bring justice to these victims.

Click here to read the article from the Grand Rapids Press

Showing that it pays to pay attention when on patrol, Kent County Deputy Sal Vitale solved a robbery last weekend before the robbery had even been reported by Marathan Gas Station employees.

According to meda reports, Deputy Vitale was driving by the gas station at 781 68th St. SE at about 4 a.m. Saturday morning when he saw a masked man carrying gun and running away from the store.

Deputy Vitale was able to take the man into custody as employees called 911 to report the robbery.

This article from the Detroit News takes a look at a Michigan State Police program that provides incentives to keep Troopers from retiring by providing them with hundreds of thousands of dollars when they do. Be sure to check out the comments on the Detroit News website after reading it.

As 100 soon-to-be-laid-off Michigan state troopers wonder how they're going to make the rent, dozens of the State Police department's most veteran officers -- including its director, Col. Peter C. Munoz -- are racking up millions of dollars in retirement nest eggs.

The savings plan, which was launched in 2004 to keep veterans on the force, will lead to lump sum payments of up to $560,000 at retirement in addition to their annual pension checks. The payments -- which could total more than $40 million -- are now being questioned by state and police union officials.

"When we're talking trooper layoffs and having other state workers take unpaid days off, we should review any program which provide incentives for people to stay on working while in retirement," said state Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills. "This is a time we should be offering employees incentives to leave state employment -- not stay."

Click the "Read More" link to read the rest of the article

Article from MIRS:

The union representing the Michigan State Police (MSP) troopers has outlined a series of cost-saving efforts aimed at keeping 100 troopers on the job.

Appearing before the House MSP Appropriations Subcommittee, union vice president Chris LUTY called for the regional consolidation of the 9-1-1 emergency phone system, allowing senior officers to retire after three years in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (PLAN) program instead of the current six and delaying the opening of the new MSP headquarters building in downtown Lansing.

Committee Chair Richard LEBLANC (D-Westland) added one more alternative. Would the union members take time off without pay? Luty said he would ask his membership about a furlough program for troopers. Every other state employee union has furlough days written into their contract.

In expanding on his recommendations, Luty reported in major cities around the county the 9-1-1 call system is centralized in one location. In Michigan, call centers are all over the state. The union leader argued regional consolidation would save money. What he didn't say is that the workers in those call centers could lose their jobs if that happens.

Click the "Read More" link for the rest of the article

Although no one would believe that this Deputy did not deserve some punishment for his negligence in contributing to the death of a child, the judge's legal thinking here is interesting. Check out the article from the Chicago Tribune:

LAFAYETTE, Ind : A former Tippecanoe County sheriff's deputy who lied during a deposition that he had seen a 4-year-old abuse victim who later died is not immune from a wrongful death lawsuit, a judge has ruled.

Glen Keller of Lafayette is named in a lawsuit filed by the birth mother and grandparents of Aiyana Gauvin. Keller had asked to have the case against him dismissed because he was acting within the scope of his duties as a deputy.

But Special Judge Thomas Milligan of Montgomery County denied his motion in a recent order, saying Keller violated department policies by lying to dispatchers.

"Deputy Keller's lying was without the authorization of the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Department," Milligan wrote. " ... In fact, if lying were acceptable to law enforcement and considered within the scope of employment the whole fabric of society would be destroyed and anarchy would reign.

" Milligan ruled that the county was not liable because Keller acted outside the scope of his employment.

Keller, a three-year member of the sheriff's department, was dispatched June 5, 2004, to the home of Michelle and Christian Gauvin to investigate a complaint that Christian Gauvin's 4-year-old daughter, Aiyana, had been abused.

Keller told supervisors that he had checked on the girl and found her uninjured. He repeated that account in an October 28th deposition at the Tippecanoe County prosecutor's office.

Two days later, however, Keller admitted to Sheriff Smokey Anderson that he had never seen the girl during his visit to the home, speaking only to the parents at the home's door. Deputy Keller was subsequently charged criminally, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced for perjury.

Aiyana died in March -- nine months after Keller's stop at the home -- from blunt force trauma to her head after what investigators suspect was months of abuse by her father and stepmother.

Other defendants are Child Protective Services, now called the Department of Child Services, and the Division of Family and Children. Those agencies are accused of failing to adequately investigate complaints of abuse of Aiyana. The complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages.

Step-Mother Michelle Gauvin is serving a life sentence for murder in the girl's death. Her father, Christian Gauvin is serving a 50-year sentence for neglect.

The Ingham County Commission voted recently to cut 34 county funded Deputies and Administrators by 2010 and shift the cost to mostly rural townships who have to now decide whether to contract with the Sheriff's office, create their own police departments or rely on the State Police. 

Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wrigglesworth has come out in defense of his Deputies calling the proposed number of uniformed officers dangerous, saying it would take his staffing level to what it was in 1960. "It's not a reduction - it's an amputation," Wriggelsworth said. "It'll not only be dangerous for the community, but it'll be dangerous for the officers. We're worried." 

Recently Ingham county citizen's have come to the defense of their Deputies as well as you can see from the video after the "Read More" from WILX News 10. 

Hit the "Read More" link for a video and article from the Lansing State Journal