LEO Round Table is an internet based law enforcement talk show. This is episode 43, recorded on 05/09/2016, with the following on-air personalities: Chip DeBlock (Host), Luke Lirot (Attorney), Bret Bartlett and Mark Hopper. We produce two 30 minute shows each week that are normally released on our YouTube channel Tuesdays and Thursdays. In addition to your host, the other panelists (except for attorney Luke Lirot) are active or retired law enforcement officers as well.
Topic 1 concerns cyber criminals attacking police departments with ransomware. These eastern European hackers (mostly from Russia and Eastern Europe) seize control of computer system files and encrypt them. They then hold the files hostage until the departments pay ransom money in the form of untraceable Bitcoins. If the departments do not pay, the files are deleted.
Topic 2 concerns an unnamed South Carolina teenager who planned to join the Islamic State terrorist group and kill American soldiers. He was involved in a plot to rob a gun store and then leave for Syria to join the Islamic State. The Muslim-American teenager was arrested and pled guilty to gun charges and was sentenced to 5 years in prison (federal charges were not pursued due to jurisdictional issues). The teenager has been granted parole after serving only 1 year of his 5-year sentence. Quoted in the story is York County (Washington) Sheriff Bruce Bryant.
Topic 3 concerns members of the Muslim Student Association at the University of Central Florida (UCF) being upset because of an alert issued by the school. After a 911 call and other emergency calls, UCT issued an alert about a Middle Eastern person with a gun. The university library was evacuated and classroom doors locked. The Muslim Student Association at UCF felt that the alert was based off of false rumors and shows misconceptions and stereotypes about Islam.
Topic 4 concerns a Muslim woman by the name of Kirsty Powell who has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Long Beach (California) Police Department for forcibly removing he religious headscarf during an arrest. Powell was arrested on outstanding warrants and, according to documentation, was forced to remain exposed overnight in view of other male officers and inmates.
Topic 5 concerns a fatal police shooting in Florida by Fort Pierce Police Officer Ralph Keith Holmes and Sergeant Brian MacNaught. Officers attempted to stop a car driven by Demarcus Semer. Semer tried to flee in the vehicle and ran over one of the officers, injuring his leg, while another officer was getting into his car. The second officer could not exit the moving vehicle and Semer was shot and killed. Fort Pierce Police Chief Diane Hobley-Burney asked St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara to investigate the shooting, but after public outcry Fort Pierce Mayor Linda Hudson asked the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to investigate on behalf of the City Commission.
Topic 6 concerns the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit handing down a decision that supports Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The court ruled that states can impose their own penalties against illegal immigrants who commit identity theft in order to get a job as long as the law applies to everyone.
Topic 7 concerns Harris County (Texas) Sheriff Ron Hickman standing up against the United We Dream organization (anti-deportation activists for immigrants) in support of his jail programs that cooperate with U.S. immigration laws to deport criminal illegal aliens.
