ARLINGTON, Texas — A woman filed a lawsuit in federal court this week accusing an Arlington police officer of using excessive force when he arrested her last year.

Vanessa Aguilar, described in the suit as a "slender, young female," says officer Juan Rangel, a "large, burly, professionally trained police officer," grabbed her by the neck, slammed her to the ground and punched her before attempting to place her in handcuffs.

Aguilar was "compliant, nonviolent and nonthreatening" during the arrest, the lawsuit states.

After Aguilar got out of jail two days later, the suit states, she went to a hospital and was treated for a sprained neck.

The suit seeks unspecified damages.

"From our view, this is a frivolous lawsuit and we have no intention of paying any money, and we look forward to having this resolved in court," Robert Fugate, of the Arlington city attorney's office, said.

Aguilar swung her arms and then hid her arms beneath her body while officers tried to arrest her, Fugate said.

The incident occurred Nov. 21 after Aguilar's father called police because he smelled alcohol on her breath when she arrived at his house in the 1800 block of Ida Street to pick up her son, according to the lawsuit. Aguilar's father did not want her to leave with her 2-year-old son, the lawsuit stated.

When Rangel and an officer called "Jane Doe" in the suit arrived, they arrested Aguilar on outstanding warrants from Arlington. Records from the Tarrant County district clerk's office show that a parole revocation warrant on a charge of driving while intoxicated was issued in July, Fugate said.

Copyright 2013 the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

OAKLAND, Calif. — A proposal to begin repairing Oakland's ailing public safety radio infrastructure has come under fire from the police union, which has been furious over the system's poor performance.

Sgt. Barry Donelan, who heads Oakland's police union, urged two council committees this week against approving more than $3 million for the radio system.

"I have no confidence in the system," he said. "I have no confidence that a $3 million expenditure will make it better."

Council members said they were frustrated by the system's frequent failures and the city's switch to a digital technology two years ago. They decided to hold off on recommending the expenditure and will revisit the issue later this month.

The police union considers the system a threat to officer safety and has been urging the city to scrap it and join a public safety radio consortium that includes nearly every city in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. But relations between the city and the East Bay Regional Communications System Authority are strained, in part because the network has refused to program Oakland radios to work on its system during an emergency.

Union officials fear that repairs to Oakland's radio system, which famously failed during President Barack Obama's visit last year, would make the city less open to joining the regional consortium.

But city officials said the improvements, which include providing backup power generators and curing static issuesat dispatch centers, would be required even if the city did switch systems. "Our biggest concern is that these systems may fail and put our men and women in the field at risk," Assistant City Administrator Scott Johnson told council members.

Copyright 2013 Contra Costa Times

BEARDSTOWN, Ill. — A new police chief for Beardstown has been hired, but Mayor Steve Patterson is not disclosing his name until an announcement Monday.

The new chief asked for the delay so he could inform his current employer of his decision to take the position, Patterson said Friday.

Patterson's brother, Tony Patterson, has been serving as interim police chief for six months, but he told the Journal-Courier that, for personal reasons, he did not want the position.

"Next week, for sure, I'm not going to be in the chief's position," Tony Patterson said. "It's my own decision. No one is pressuring me to step aside. As the chief, I had a lot going on and I just want to step away from that."

Patterson plans to remain on the police force as a patrolman.

"I will be on days, but I won't be working in the capacity of chief," he said.

Tony Patterson had been serving as acting police chief since his appointment by former Mayor Bob Walters in January, when the city's police chief, Tom Schlueter, went out on an indefinite leave of absence for medical reasons.

Steve Patterson — who was elected in April to succeed Walters as mayor — relieved Schlueter of his duties as chief about two weeks ago.

The mayor said he needed to move forward in finding a police chief.

"We've been without a chief for six months. We can't wait around any longer," Steve Patterson said. "We need to get some stability in there for the sake of the police force."

Schlueter remains on paid leave while the city awaits a decision on whether his workman's compensation claim will be approved, the mayor said. The nature of Schlueter's illness has not been disclosed.

Schlueter's removal as chief came on the heels of an internal audit of the police department, but the mayor has not said if it had anything to do with Schlueter, who had served as police chief since January 2003. He succeeded Steve Patterson as chief.

Copyright 2013 Jacksonville Journal-Courier

For me to speak authoritatively on discrimination will irk some who have lived in the overt and covert darkness of prejudice.

I can’t walk a mile in your shoes. I am, however, part of a hated minority.

This minority is subject to unprovoked violence and yet prosecutions are frequently denied when they are victims of violent crime. Not infrequently they get prosecuted for merely defending themselves.

While most people hold their tongues when criticizing groups in front of a member of that group, the same is not true of my tribe. Criticism, in fact, is often the first thing that confronts us in conversation.

With all the political correctness that has put a lid on slang, pejorative, and hurtful words, some of our finest citizens have no reservation about saying they hate us — that we’re corrupt, lazy, pompous, and stupid.

Why is blue so easy to hate?

Power Envy Critics will immediately challenge the thought that an armed government agent can claim that they are labeled or treated unfairly. It is true that we hold positions of power, but a look at our subculture can show a lot of areas where we as individual police officers have a very confined position legally, culturally, and organizationally.

Any power that we do possess is that which we mediate and administer on behalf of others.

But many people are jealous of the power and inequity symbolized by the badge and gun.

Media Coverage This is not a media-bashing statement. They can only report from the sources they find.

When events happen, even those that seem normal and neutral in our world, we are often not allowed to narrate or explain the event.

There’s no ‘Jesse Jackson’ stepping in to speak on behalf the police. We all know that raw video and angry relatives and activists without a police perspective is bad news for the cops.

Dedicated Hate Groups The Internet trumpets hate for the police with a constant discordant presence. An Internet search for the word police plus corrupt, abuse, brutality, etc. will bring up not just random rants, but organized hate movements and lots of attorney advertisements.

These three thoughts are just the beginning of the cop hate issue. Without being antagonistic or divisive, our safety on the street and our survival in the courtroom is severely compromised by this prejudice. What can we do?

Encourage Advocacy There are civic and faith groups that are supportive of law enforcement. Optimist International has had a respect for law effort since 1965.

One church in my area has a photo display of every law officer in the area (with their permission) for their members to remember in prayer. We should seek out opportunities to speak on the subject of anti-police sentiment in order to confront some common misunderstandings.

These presentations should be fact- and ethics-based, rather than the “I deserve respect because I’m out there with my life on the line every day.”

Other people have tough jobs, they don’t want to hear how rough it is in yours.

Make sure your prosecutor is tough on anti-police crime, too.

Preload Information to the Public Citizens are fascinated with police work. If you give them information they can use, they’ll pay attention and absorb it.

Efforts like the Hollywood V. Reality video can be very helpful.

Getting the idea out that the offender chooses how police act is a theme that bears repeated emphasis. As the Department of Justice says so flippantly “citizens bear some of the responsibility for the nature of relations with the police.”

The idea that police shoot people unnecessarily is unfounded.

Seek and Multiply Advocacy Venues My organization, the National Center for Police Advocacy, is available to be an objective voice for editorials, media interviews, and case studies where official silence is required.

I hope that other organizations will be created to do the same thing and more. Telling your success stories on Twitter and other social media can help balance negative stories and stale statistics.

Focus on what I call “Positive Policing” — tell your stories and light up your community with more than warnings and crime prevention tips.

Police hate is not just a public relations problem — it’s a survival problem.