FLE

Scientists fleeing border, smugglers Biologist Karen Krebbs used to study bats in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on the Arizona-Mexico border. Then, she got tired of dodging drug smugglers all night. "I use night-vision goggles, and you could see them very clearly" - caravans of men with guns and huge backpacks full of drugs, trudging through the desert, Krebbs said. After her 10th or 11th time hiding in bushes and behind rocks, she abandoned her research. "I'm just not willing to risk my neck anymore," she said. Across the southwestern U.S. border and in northern Mexico, scientists such as Krebbs say their work is increasingly threatened by smugglers as tighter border security pushes trafficking into the most remote areas where botanists, zoologists and geologists do their research. "In the last year, it's gotten much worse," said Jack Childs, who uses infrared cameras to study endangered jaguars in eastern Arizona. He loses one or two of the cameras every month to smugglers. Scientists, especially those working on the Mexican side of the border, have long shared the wilderness with marijuana growers and immigrants trying to enter the United States illegally. But tension is rising because of crackdowns on smugglers by the Mexican military, increased vigilance in the Caribbean Sea, new border fences, air patrols, a buildup of U.S. Border Patrol agents and a turf war between cartels. Smugglers are increasingly jealous of their smuggling routes and less tolerant of scientists poking around, researchers say. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument stopped granting most new research permits in January because of increasing smuggling activity. Scientists must sign a statement acknowledging that the National Park Service cannot guarantee their safety from "potentially dangerous persons entering the park from Mexico."....
Gun seized after Katrina? NRA wants you The National Rifle Association has hired private investigators to find hundreds of people whose firearms were seized by city police in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, according to court papers filed this week. The NRA is trying to locate gun owners for a federal lawsuit that the lobbying group filed against Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent Warren Riley over the city's seizure of firearms after the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane. In the lawsuit, the NRA and the Second Amendment Foundation claim the city violated gun owners' constitutional right to bear arms and left them "at the mercy of roving gangs, home invaders, and other criminals" after Katrina. The NRA says the city seized more than 1,000 guns that weren't part of any criminal investigation after the hurricane. Police have said they took only guns that had been stolen or found in abandoned homes. NRA lawyer Daniel Holliday said investigators have identified about 300 of the gun owners and located about 75 of them. Some of them could be called to testify during a trial, he added....
Deaths surge for law officers A record number of fatal traffic incidents and a sharp rise in shooting deaths has led to one of the deadliest years for law enforcement officers in the United States in almost two decades. With the exception of 2001, which saw a dramatic increase in deaths because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, 2007 was the deadliest year for law enforcement since 1989, according to a preliminary report being released jointly today by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and the Concerns of Police Survivors. The report lists 186 deaths as of Wednesday, up from 145 last year. Eighty-one officers have died in traffic incidents, which surpassed the record of 78 set in 2000, the report said. Shooting deaths increased from 52 to 69, a rise of about 33 percent. Texas led the nation with 22 fatalities, followed by Florida (16), New York (12) and California (11). Police fatalities have generally declined since peaking at 277 in 1974, the report says. At one time, officers were more likely to be killed in an attack than to die accidentally, but 60 percent of this year's deaths were accidental....