Cop Shop

"If you have ever wondered when you get pulled over in a traffic stop whether your name is being fed into a terrorist database, rest assured — it is," says National Public Radio reporter Dina Temple-Raston.Temple-Raston went where no journalist has gone before: inside the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, which was set up after 9/11 in an undisclosed location in northern Virginia. When she entered, her escort shouted "uncleared" and all the computer screens inside the center were switched from their classified information to blank screens, or pictures of flowers and landscapes, she said.

A federal appeals judge says California’s death-penalty system is an "illusion," according to this story tonight on the Los Angeles Times website. The whole process, from crime to execution, takes more than 17 years in that state. That’s twice the national figure.Judge Arthur L. Alarcon, who is on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, supports capital punishment but says the process is too long, according to the newspaper. To clear out the state’s death row, California would have to execute five prisoners a month for the next ten years, Judge Alarcon says.In Arizona, the process takes even longer. Our state has far fewer convicts awaiting execution, but it takes Arizona about 19 years on average to complete it, according to a letter Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas sent to the U.S. attorney general in July.Some of Alarcon’s concerns echo those of Thomas, but each man has very different ideas on how to fix it all.

Police seized

A 26-year-old self-professed heroin addict who found a 70-year-old woman to be easy pickings was arrested Tuesday for a robbery on Monday.Michael Jon Pierce told police the robbery was supposed to be a joke, but he also needed money for food and his daily heroin fix, according to Mesa police spokeswoman Holly Hosac.A Mesa police summary states that the woman was walking east through a parking lot between Wal-Mart and Taco Bell at 6131 E. Southern Ave. at about 12:30 p.m. when a man ran up behind her and snatched her leather briefcase. The robber ran to a waiting 2005 Ford Mustang driven by another man.A witness got the license plate, which lead police to the driver, who said he didn

We got this from our partners over at ABC 15:The man suspected of raping and killing Gilbert teen Jackie Hartman planned to make a daring escape from custody last week, but his plan was foiled by jail officers, Maricopa County Sheriff’s officials said Tuesday.Jonathan Burns whittled a plastic toothbrush down into a handcuff key and was going to use it Friday to escape from jail, said sheriff’s spokesman Capt. Paul Chagolla.But jail intelligence officers learned about the plot and confronted Burns about it."In his mouth was this homemade handcuff key," Chagolla said.Sheriff’s officials also believe Burns had an accomplice who was going to wait for him outside the jail, but have not named any suspects.

Police zapped a Mesa man with a Taser early Tuesday after he assaulted his girlfriend, threatened to commit

The two Phoenix police officers who were injured early Sunday when the cruiser they were riding in collided with a car, have been identified as officer Sebastian Castillo, 27, and officer Nicholas Neidenbach, 24. Both officers have been with the department for two years.Police said they suffered serious injuries and are receiving treatment at a local hospital.The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

Two Phoenix sisters who have been missing since Saturday returned home late Sunday, police said.Police said Danielle Fornes, 11, and Jezreel Fornes, 9, had run away to a friend

Crime didn

Authorities have identified a man who drowned Saturday evening in Canyon Lake as 42-year-old Joseph Patrick Keller, of Gilbert.

Deputies recovered the man