cop

On Nov. 26, 1983, six men robbed a warehouse serving London’s Heathrow Airport. Hoping to find £1 million worth of foreign currency, they found instead 6,800 gold bars, worth £26 million in 1983 money — a record-setting robbery at the time — under the temporary supervision of Brink’s-Mat. (A union of the American security firm and a British transport outfit.) This event has been transmuted into “The Gold,” an involving British drama premiering here Sunday on PBS.

The robbery itself takes up little screen time; the question on the criminal side becomes how to turn three tons of gold into cash, and for the police, one of recovering the loot and bringing the villains to justice. The cops and the criminals overlap here and there, a point screenwriter Neil Forsyth does not want you to miss, and is a particular bee in the bonnet of upright Detective Chief Superintendent Brian Boyce (Hugh Bonneville), self-contained but always ready to speak his mind. (He is also “infuriated” by what people get wrong about jazz, which he likens to police work.)

Recruited by Boyce to a special task force are detectives Tony Brightwell (Emun Elliott), historical, and Nicki Jennings (a charismatic Charlotte Spencer), invented, who are good company for the viewer and generally for each other, though as people who spend long hours sitting together in cars waiting for something to happen, they have their moments of friction, played for humor. As a created character, Jennings — who, as a woman, has to outline the many steps and hard work it took to achieve her position — offers an opportunity for emotional elaboration, notably in scenes (affectionate, prickly) with her father, Billy (Danny Webb), “by a country mile the worst villain in England,” his criminal career sidelined by ill health.

Though one of the actual robbers, Micky McAvoy (Adam Nagaitis), gets a good deal of attention, the bulk of the series involves three criminals subsequently processing the gold and laundering the money. Kenneth Noye (Jack Lowden) is “a fence with protection,” owing to his friendship with police officers through membership in the Masons. (When Boyce brings Jennings and Brightwell onto his team, he sets the rules as “no overtime, no drinking at lunchtime, no freemasonry.”) John Palmer (Tom Cullen), a dyslexic dealer in gold and jewelry, has a handy portable smelter in his yard. And the invented Edwyn Cooper (Dominic Cooper), an up-from-the-streets solicitor with posh airs and a rich wife whose snooty parents treat him with barely disguised disdain, finds himself working for “a group of businessmen who have a lot of money that needs to be made respectable,” in the words of liaison Gordon Parry (Sean Harris, sinister).

Stretched over six episodes, it’s not a speedy telling, and, in fact, a second series covering a long tail of aftermath has already aired in the U.K. Apart from some surveillance, tailing suspects, one fatal encounter and an occasional chase, there’s little in the way of capital-A Action, mostly just a lot of talk — inquisitive, instructive, threatening, discursive, domestic or speechifying. Though the production is naturalistic — in a way that ties it to an earlier, golden era of British productions — the dialogue can sound highly composed. Characters are given little monologues, often to explain how they became the person they are, that play as the sort of thing that might occur late in the last act of a stage drama: Jennings found the sirens outside her window comforting, which led her to police work, “so that kids like me will be safe”; Boyce had a life-changing moment involving a pair of red leather shoes while fighting in the so-called Cypriot Emergency. Some dialogue might have been lifted whole from a 1930s gangster film. Critiques of British class structure and bad actors within the police department are raised high enough to be impossible to miss.

There are a lot of moving parts in “The Gold,” represented in sometimes brief alternating scenes, and it may take a while, among the crooks, at least, to get a handle on things, to sort out where you are, who’s who, who’s married to whom, and what part each plays in the caper. Though Noye is arrogant enough to root against, Forsyth wants to show, as much as each character allows, the just-folks elements of his bad guys, psychologically relatable sorts who have, from early experience, a lack of opportunity, or a certain kind of genius, decided that the path to freedom is best paved with other people’s money. (“If it wasn’t for people trying trying to break out of the lives they’ve been given,” observes Boyce of his country’s social stratification, the police would be out of a job.) This may be soft-pedaling matters somewhat — to read the historical accounts might give you a different picture — but as drama it pays dividends.

As a period piece, it doesn’t oversell the era. There are old cars, of course, and more mustaches than we are currently accustomed to. But apart from the pop songs that run over the end credits, nothing screams These Are the ’80s. (Compare, for example, the “Life on Mars” sequel, “Ashes to Ashes.”) It’s more a question of what isn’t there. The detectives have a computer, but only Brightwell has an idea of what it’s for or how to use it. No cellphones, but there are walkie-talkies. A tracking device, apparently the only one in all of British law enforcement, has to be imported from Belfast (and sneakily at that). There is a refreshing absence of guns — none of those Kevlar-clad teams going in with pistols raised. (Just truncheons.) And the remodeling of East London into a gentrified glass forest, a minor plot point, has only just begun.

It’s like a vacation from now, and who can’t use one of those?

A SHAKESPEAREAN twist of fate brought two lovers together again, more than a decade after they first crossed paths.

A Tennessee woman who ran away as a teenager fell in love with one of the police officers tasked with finding her.

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Roshin Ali was just 13 years old when she fled her family’s home in Jackson, fearing her father would kill her.

Police had just begun their search for the missing teen when she returned home the following day.

Roshin landed a job at the same sheriff’s department 12 years later, where she met Tyler Schrupp.

Unbeknownst to the pair, Tyler had been in the unit of police searching for Roshin all those years ago.

He later said he didn’t recognise her when she started working at the sheriff’s department, but he was immediately drawn to her.

“He wouldn’t stop staring at me, but literally wouldn’t say a word at all,” Roshin said.

Tyler said he had been “kind of nervous” to talk to Roshin, because he “thought she was very beautiful”.

Eventually, Tyler mustered up the courage to say hello, and the two felt an immediate connection.

As their bond grew, Roshin started opening up about the trauma of her youth.

“We started putting the dates together and then she described the area,” Tyler said.

“That’s when I started to be like ‘Ok I was a part of that’. It’s crazy that back then I was looking for you, and now we’re sitting here talking.”

The pair are now engaged and share a five-month-old son.

Roshin shared the couple’s story to her TikTok account in July.

The story-time went viral, accumulating more than five million views.

Using a trending audio, she is shaking hands with Tyler, describing him as an “officer who went searching for me while missing”.

The video opened the floodgates to thousands of concerned comments asking if he had groomed her.

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In a follow up four-part series, Roshin, known as Roro Nicole on social media, set the record straight.

“Some of the comments were that he’s grooming me, he kidnapped me and I’ve been with him this whole time, [he] kept me in his basement,” she said.

In harrowing detail, Roshin told her story, beginning in 2010 when she was 13 years old.

Her father was a gambling addict who didn’t allow his children to leave the house.

He arrived home one day after losing all his money, threatening to kill Roshin and her siblings if he caught them outside.

“We immediately … ran into our bedroom because we were afraid that he was going to start beating on us like he normally does whenever he comes home upset,” she said in the video.

Her sister stood with her back against the closed bedroom door, with her feet jammed against the wall, keeping their father out of the room.

“He told my mom to go get a knife and then he began to try stab her through the door,” Roshin said.

Her father eventually got into the room, grabbed her sister by the hair and dragged her into their parent’s bedroom, where he began to beat her with a cable wire.

“We can literally hear her begging him not to kill her,” Roshin recounted.

“He duct taped her hands together, her legs together and then placed duct tape on her mouth so nobody could hear her screaming.

“The my mom walks into our room and she looks at us, and she goes ‘y’all are next'”.

Roshin and her brother fled the home, climbing out of their bedroom window to escape.

The pair ran to the nearest park, before their father called the police and reported them missing.

When police attended the family home, Roshin’s sister reported the savage assault.

Their parents were arrested, but only spent “a couple of days” behind bars.

Roshin and her brother, who was 12 at the time, were found the following day and placed into foster care with their two older siblings.

“I truly believe if it was not [for] me running away from the house that day and officers being involved, I don’t think that we’d still be here alive,” she said.

Tyler and Roshin – who plan to exchange vows in 2026 – said people are touched by their story.

“Somebody said he’s my hero,” Roshin said.

“And he is.”

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MYLEENE Klass today told a court she felt “sheer terror” after allegedly being targeted by a stalker who sent her gifts.

Peter Windsor is accused of hounding the former popstar and her Classic FM colleague Katie Breathwick over a four-year period.

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The 61-year-old allegedly sent Myleene items with “sexual overtones” – including a Catwoman outfit and set of handcuffs.

He also called her a “naughty vixen” and sent a police uniform to the Classic FM studio, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

Giving evidence today, Myleene said she was informed in an email in August last year that an “accumulation” of items had been sent to her.

The 47-year-old became upset when she was asked about being told how Royal Mail had “intercepted” an air pistol addressed to her.

She said “it just felt extreme on every front” after she was shown a list of items and photographs of letters Windsor allegedly sent.

Myleene added: “It was very clear very quickly that it was a highly volatile selection of items.

“It was a huge shock, especially the extent to which it had escalated.

“It was pretty overwhelming when you have the accumulation of a bundle of this information. It’s pretty terrifying.”

The ex-Hear’Say star described the overall context of all the items as “pretty bleak”.

She added: “It’s a huge violation. It’s sheer terror really.”

Myleene told the court how she was informed by police in September last year that an air gun had been intercepted by the Royal Mail.

She continued: “He said to me that whilst the gun wasn’t necessary for a licence in this country, at such close proximity right up to 6ft it could prove fatal and police took it very seriously.

“I was extremely shocked because suddenly it felt extremely real.

“This was very clear what the intention was. There was no grey area here.

“It’s a gun in a box with my name on it.”

The court was told Windsor also stalked Myleene’s Classic FM co-presenter Katie Breathwick.

She is said to have received a stamp collection, bottle of champagne, a will-writing kit and running shoes with spikes on among other bizarre letters and parcels.

Police later arrested Windsor at his home in Birmingham and found a number of items that caused them concern.

They included a map of London where the women worked, a pair of black leather gloves, ladies stockings and a pair of binoculars.

Windsor later told police he sent Klass items as a joke after seeing her in “provocative underwear” in a newspaper.

He denies two counts of stalking and the trial continues.

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In 1997, the comedy “In & Out” did its shiny, star-studded best to mainstream the story of a closeted gay man in a rock-ribbed American community embracing his truth. The fine new indie drama “Plainclothes,” which takes place in 1997 in Syracuse, N.Y., and centers on a young police officer in the throes of desire, wants to remind us that the reality of such reckonings was a bit more fraught.

In first-time screenwriter-director Carmen Emmi’s tense, sensitively threaded scenario, fresh-faced cop Lucas (Tom Blyth) isn’t just holding a secret — he’s involved in the enforced criminalization of it. His assigned undercover detail is the mall, using a seductive look (not entirely acting) to lure gay men to the restroom, silently clocking the moment they meet the minimum requirement for breaking indecent exposure laws, then having them arrested.

Something shifts inside Lucas during one of these stings, however, when he locks eyes with a target named Andrew (Russell Tovey), whose soulful return gaze promises a deeper connection than instant gratification. He spares Andrew the planned indignity waiting outside, but secures a phone number away from the watchful eye of his sergeant (Christian Cooke). Weeks later, the pair arrange to meet in the upstairs balcony of an old movie palace. (Though we never see the screen, sharp-eared film buffs will recognize allusions to Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 surveillance classic “The Conversation.”) After a couple of warm, intimate exchanges in secluded spaces, Lucas allows himself to imagine a future free from hiding, even if Andrew cautions that what they have can only ever be temporary.

Early in “Plainclothes,” thanks to changes in aspect ratio and Lucas’ facial hair, we realize that this timeline amounts to an extended memory, triggered in the present scenes by tense New Year’s Eve preparations at Lucas’ childhood home and a misplaced letter that he hopes neither his adoring, recently widowed mother (a wonderful Maria Dizzia) nor his obnoxious, hot-headed uncle (Gabe Fazio) find.

The backward-forward structure creates entwined tracks of suspense between the outcome of the Andrew relationship and the expected ramifications of what’s assumed to be a revealing letter. That framework gives “Plainclothes” the feeling of an emotional chase film where pursuer and pursued are the same, stuck in a loop of possibility, torn about what being caught really means.

Emmi’s well-conceived screenplay does justice to the ways a compartmentalized life can crack. When Lucas is with Andrew — and even in scenes with a nice ex-girlfriend (Amy Forsyth) — acceptance is palpable, understanding real. Among family, the pressure to conform activates his guardedness. And when his department, steeped in macho culture and eager for more mall arrests, starts deploying a video camera behind a one-way mirror, an increasingly anxious Lucas is made to feel nothing but risk about his identity.

There may be little that’s psychologically fresh about “Plainclothes,” but the fact that its low-key, close-framed style suggests a taut, moody gay indie you might have seen in the ’90s works in its favor. It’s also well cast, with the appealing Blyth always in control of the undercurrents, especially alongside the excellent Tovey, playing a sadder, wiser closetedness. I wish Emmi hadn’t overegged the visual motif that Lucas’ POV in moments of stress is akin to the fuzzy texture of Hi8 video: A little of it goes a long way and too often pulls us out of the tone in a room. But it’s the kind of choice that’s easier to forgive in a movie so well-attuned to shifts in perception, one that dimensionalizes the problem of achieving clarity when leading a double life.

BRITAIN’S top cop yesterday hailed Live Facial Recognition technology as a “game-changing tool.”

Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley revealed how more than 700 arrests have been made so far this year thanks to camera vans deployed on streets to find wanted suspects and offenders in breach of orders.

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Those arrested include 50 registered sex offenders in breach of licence conditions, Sir Mark said in a speech to the TechUK trade association.

He described Live Facial Recognition(LFR) – which uses biometric technology to identity wanted suspects from unique measurements of the face – as a “targeted” investment to back front-line policing.

Sir Mark told how he went on an LFR operation at last month’s Notting Hill Carnival, saying: “Every officer I spoke to was energised by the potential.”

He added of the Carnival operation: “Across the weekend, LFR delivered 61 arrests-including 16 for serious violence-related offences and 13 for violence against women and girls.

“The first arrest happened within five minutes of going live, locating someone wanted on a prison recall since 2015.

“Another suspect was wanted for GBH, having allegedly stabbed a victim five times with a machete.

“These results show that LFR played a critical role in keeping the public safe at Carnival.”

Sir Mark said LFR had made “a major contribution” to one of the safest Carnival events in years, with robbery down 70%, violence reduced by more than half and sex offences by 8% compared to 2024.

Meanwhile, the Met boss also revealed how the force plans to use drones to support public safety.

He said: “From searching for missing people, to arriving quickly at serious traffic incidents, or replacing the expensive and noisy helicopter at large public events.

“Done well, drones will be another tool to help officers make faster, more informed decisions on the ground.”

A data-driven approach to tackling violence against women and girls has led to more than 162 of “the most prolific and predatory offenders” in London being convicted, Sir Mark said.

The Met’s V100 programme uses data to identify and target men who pose the highest risk to women, enabling cops to focus their efforts on dangerous suspects.

Sir Mark also told how the London force will be using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help catch criminals caught on CCTV and translating languages of suspects, victims and witnesses.

He said: “CCTV helps secure thousands of charges against dangerous offenders, but trawls are time-intensive and rely on the human eye.

“Take Oxford Street, with 27 junctions—a trawl to identify a suspect’s route can take two days.

“Now imagine telling AI to find clips of a male wearing a red baseball cap between X and Y hours—and getting results in hours. That’s game changing.”

However, Sir Mark warned the current national policing model must be changed if the force can “unlock the full benefits” of AI.

He said the current setup of 43 forces using hundreds of technology systems “just won’t cut it.”

Sir Mark urged the Government to create a new national centre for policing and set up of regional forces to create shared technology platforms and make better use of data.

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Just how unsafe are American streets?

To hear President Trump tell it, killers lurk in every shadow not already filled by rapists and thieves.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom isn’t nearly as dire, pointing out that crime numbers are down.

But “numbers mean little to people,” Newsom lamented during a press gaggle in his office Thursday, where he ruthlessly trolled Trump with a flags-and-all setup that appeared to mock the president’s marathon Cabinet meeting earlier in the week.

Yes, folks, midterm elections are coming and crime is high — in our consciousness if not in reality. Although violent crime and some property crimes have declined in most California cities (and in many major cities across the country), the perils of city living remain stubbornly stuck in our collective psyches.

This angst has augured in another get-tough era of crime suppression, culminating with the fulfillment of Trump’s authoritarian fantasy of National Guard troops patrolling in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and potentially more cities to come.

Newsom is now offering up what many have framed as a counterpunch to Trump’s military intervention: A surge of California Highway Patrol officers in strategic locations across the state, basically Newsom-controlled cop boots on the ground to mirror Trump’s troops.

But looking at Newsom’s deployment of more CHP officers as no more than a reaction to Trump misses a larger debate on what really makes our communities safer. Understanding what makes cops different from soldiers — and Newsom’s move different from Trump’s — is ultimately understanding the difference between repression and public safety, force and finesse.

Newsom has been using the CHP to supplement local police departments for years. In 2023, when the Tenderloin area of San Francisco was plagued by open drug use, making it the favorite right-wing example of a failed Democratic-run city, Newsom sent this state force in to help clean it up (though that work continues). The next year, he sent it into Oakland and Bakersfield, both places where auto theft, retail crime and side shows were rampant.

Now, he’s expanding the CHP’s role in local policing to include Los Angeles, San Diego, the Inland Empire and some Central Valley cities including Fresno and Sacramento.

In each of those places, mobile teams of around a dozen officers, all of whom will volunteer for the job, will target specific crimes, criminals or problem areas. These officers won’t just be patrolling or responding to calls like the local force, but hitting targets identified by data or intelligence, or making their presence known in high-crime neighborhoods.

Here’s where Trump’s military approach has an overlap with Newsom’s — and where the two men might agree: It is true that a visible show of armed authority deters crime. Whether it’s the National Guard or the Highway Patrol, criminals, both petty and violent, tend to avoid them.

“We go in and saturate an area with high visibility and view patrol,” said Sean Duryee, commissioner of the California Highway Patrol, standing at Newsom’s side. “The people that have a problem with that are the criminal community.”

The approach seems to be working. I can throw the numbers at you — 400 firearms seized in San Bernardino, Bakersfield, Oakland; 4,000 stolen vehicles recovered in Oakland; more than 9,000 arrests statewide.

But numbers really don’t matter. It genuinely is how a community feels about its safety. Across California, many if not the majority of small and mid-sized law enforcement departments are understaffed. Even big departments such as Los Angeles struggle to hire and retain officers. There are simply not enough cops — or resources such as helicopters or K9 teams — to do the work in too many places, and citizens feel it.

Using these small strike teams of CHP officers fills the gap of both manpower and expertise. And by aiming that usage precisely at troubled spots, it can make underserved communities feel safer, and crime-ridden communities actually be safer.

Tinisch Hollins is the head of Californians for Safety and Justice, an advocacy group that works to end over-incarceration and promote public safety beyond just making arrests. She is “obviously not a huge proponent of sending law enforcement into communities like that,” she said.

But she lived in San Francisco when homicides topped 100 per year, and now lives in the Bay Area city of Vallejo, where the local police have been so understaffed and plagued by scandal that local leaders declared a state of emergency.

She has seen how the CHP has “made an impact” in the Bay Area.

“There are some very effective things happening,” Hollins said.

That buy-in from community, especially skeptical community, is a massive departure from the militarization of Trump, and also hints at the deeper difference between troops and cops.

California has been on the cutting-edge of law enforcement reform for years, though it is a conversation that has fallen from favor and headlines in the Trump era.

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, California outlawed controversial carotid restraints that can cut off breathing. The state put in place a method for decertifying officers found guilty of serious misconduct. It increased age and education standards for becoming a peace officer, increased transparency requirements and put more oversight on the use of military equipment by civilian forces, just to name a few reforms.

Most significantly, Newsom is championing a new vision of incarceration and rehabilitation modeled after successful efforts in Norway and other places that centers on the simple truth that arresting people does not end crime.

Most people who are convicted and incarcerated will return to our streets after a few years at most, and if the state does not change their outlook and opportunities, they will also likely return to crime — making us no safer than the day they were first put into cuffs.

But for a time, it seemed to some as if these reforms with their focus away from enforcement and toward alternatives to incarceration had gone too far. Images of marauding groups of retail thieves invading stores filled the news, and reasonably caused anxiety — leading to Californians passing the still-unfunded, tough-on-crime Proposition 36 that sought to create stiffer penalties for some drug and property crimes, along with mandated treatment for addiction, but which could also take money from rehabilitation programs.

As much as Trump, Newsom’s use of the CHP is the response to that pushback on reform, an acknowledgment that enforcement remains a key piece of the crime-stopping dilemma.

But Hollins points out that the rehabilitation aspect, the most innovative and arguably important aspect of California’s approach to crime, is getting lost in the current political climate.

“It’s not just arresting people that brings crime down,” she said. “The [penal] system isn’t going to deal with the drivers of the crime.”

This is where Newsom needs to do better, both on the ground and in his explanations. It may not be popular to talk about rehabilitation, and certainly Trump will seize on it as weak, but it is what works, and what makes the California method different from the MAGA view of crime.

For Trump, the be-all and end-all is the arrest, and the subsequent cruel glee of punishment. He has called for harsher and longer penalties for even minor crimes, and recently demanded the blanket use of the death penalty in all murder cases charged in Washington, D.C. His is the authoritarian view that fear and repression will make us safer.

“We lost grip with reality, the idea that the military can be out there in every street corner the United States of America,” Newsom said Thursday.

Or should be.

Soldiers on our streets just make even law-abiding citizens less free, and ultimately does little to fix the problems of poverty and opportunity that often start the cycles of crime.

This is the showdown happening right now on American streets, and ultimately the showdown between the Democratic view of crime prevention and Trump’s — soldiers or cops, the easy spectacle of compliance induced by the barrel of a gun or a complicated and imperfect system of community and law enforcement working together.

In December 2021, Eric Benjamin Halem was riding high.

Beyond his day job as an LAPD officer, he was juggling several lucrative side hustles, business records and court filings show.

Private security. An app for aspiring actors trying to land auditions. And an exotic car rental company, Drive-LA, that was gaining a following among rappers, influencers and executives.

But Halem’s comfortable life soon began to unravel. He left his full-time position with the LAPD after coming under internal investigation, according to records submitted as part of a lawsuit. Earlier this year, state authorities charged him with insurance fraud.

Then, a few weeks ago, L.A. County prosecutors accused him of masterminding a home invasion robbery with a man with reputed ties to the Israeli underworld — part of what authorities say is a growing trend of criminals targeting victims for their cryptocurrency profits.

How Halem, 37, became embroiled with one of his alleged co-conspirators, Gaby (sometimes spelled “Gabby”) Ben, remains a mystery.

Ben, who has twice been convicted of fraud, was a close business associate of Moshe Matsri, or “Moshe the Religious,” whom authorities describe as an L.A. leader of the Israeli underground who had long operated in the San Fernando Valley and had ties to the Abergil crime syndicate, according to court filings.

In the early morning hours of Dec. 28, 2024, Halem, Ben and Mishael Mann, 20, made their way into an apartment building in Koreatown, LAPD Robbery-Homicide Det. Guillermo De La Riva wrote in a sworn declaration in favor of denying Halem’s bail.

Pierre Louis, 26, had arranged to meet up with the victim for a “digital currency transaction,” which was a ruse to allow the three other men to enter the building and wait for the victim to return, De La Riva wrote.

The men handcuffed the victim and a second person, De La Riva wrote, ordering them at gunpoint to transfer money from a cryptocurrency account and fleeing with $300,000 worth of cryptocurrency, cash and jewelry.

De La Riva said he believed that after Halem’s arrest, other alleged victims might come forward.

When LAPD detectives arrested Halem earlier this month, they obtained search warrants for the $2.1-million home he had recently moved into in Porter Ranch, a scenic neighborhood in the Santa Susana foothills. They also reportedly recovered at least one of his guns from the home of his former police partner.

Halem, who went by Ben professionally, has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and robbery and remains in Men’s Central Jail after a judge denied his application for bail. His attorney, George G. Mgdesyan, declined to comment, saying he hadn’t yet reviewed the evidence against his client.

Halem has also pleaded not guilty in the state insurance fraud case. Ben, 51, is jailed on a federal immigration hold in Florida.

Louis, Mann and another defendant, Luis Banuelos, have pleaded not guilty to felony charges. Their attorneys declined to comment.

As LAPD detectives investigated the kidnapping and robbery, they took a closer look at Halem’s side businesses, according to two department sources — including whether his startup funding came from organized crime and whether his companies were a front for money laundering. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

In recent years, business was taking off at Drive-LA, which boasted a fleet of rare luxury vehicles for rent, including a 2020 Bentley Continental GT and a Lamborghini Urus, and had nearly 60,000 Instagram followers. With glowing media coverage and venture capitalists opening their checkbooks, Halem planned to open a second location in Phoenix.

He was co-hosting a podcast for car enthusiasts, and former associates told The Times that a reality show based on his life was in the works. On social media, he cultivated the image of a carefree young entrepreneur, with photos of himself posing on the steps of a private jet, at a Formula 1 race and courtside with NBA superstars Dwight Howard and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Halem launched an app called kaypr in 2017 that matched aspiring actors “to available roles,” allowing them to audition remotely from anywhere in the world. For a security firm where he had a leadership role, he worked “music festivals, celebrity details, and large-scale events.” Among his clients was action film producer Randall Emmett, who has faced fraud claims and allegations of abuse toward women. Emmett has denied the allegations.

In a blog post, Halem described himself as a thrill seeker who has always chased “speed, precision, and a little bit of calculated chaos.”

According to an online biography, Halem grew up in Los Angeles and attended UC Riverside before joining the LAPD. He spent nearly half his 13 years on the force as a training officer and was qualified as a sharpshooter.

His last assignment was at West Valley Division, which patrols areas featured in crimes involving suspects with ties to Israeli organized crime, including the wealthy enclave of Encino. Several former colleagues who spoke with The Times described Halem as a solid if unremarkable officer.

In 2014, Halem was injured during an encounter with a suspect in the West Valley area who had holed up inside an apartment and pelted officers with objects. An LAPD review board found that Halem’s decision to fire a beanbag shotgun at the suspect was in line with department policy.

By the time he left the LAPD in 2022, Halem was pulling in $188,500 in salary and benefits, according to the Transparent California database.

And his other businesses were apparently far more lucrative than his day job. In an interview with Internal Affairs detectives investigating him for insurance fraud, Halem boasted that he was raking in more than $1 million in profit annually from Drive-LA, according to a department source who reviewed the Internal Affairs file and was not authorized to discuss the matter.

Halem was also targeted by numerous lawsuits, one of which cited a WhatsApp conversation in which an LAPD sergeant said that Halem’s “business smells dirty” and suggested that there were other LAPD officers who were “involved in his business dealings.”

“[If] there is any misconduct on their part they will be held accountable,” the sergeant wrote in the WhatsApp exchange, referring to the other officers.

It’s not clear whether the LAPD investigated whether other officers were involved. The department did eventually clear Halem of the insurance fraud allegations. But his alleged misdeeds had come to the attention of the state Department of Insurance, which charged both him and his brother, Jacob Halem, with misrepresenting details in a roughly $200,000 insurance claim related to a Bentley crash in January 2023. The case is pending.

After leaving his full-time LAPD job, Halem worked as an unpaid reserve officer. In March, he was stripped of his police powers after he was charged in the insurance fraud case.

Ben, who moved to the San Fernando Valley from Israel as a young adult, worked in real estate and was a partner at his late mother’s restaurant.

Federal prosecutors described him as a flashy high roller with an affinity for high-end watches. His Israeli mafia connections allowed him to launder money through Jewish-owned businesses across the Valley, prosecutors alleged in documents filed in the case.

Ben was deported after each of his fraud convictions, federal court records show. In one of the cases, prosecutors alleged that he orchestrated a so-called bust-out scheme, recruiting people to open bank accounts on his behalf in exchange for a small fee.

He and his brother, Amin Ben, were also accused of defrauding senior citizens by entering their homes disguised as HVAC repairmen and then photographing their driver’s licenses and bank statements.

Based on wiretaps described in a federal sworn affidavit, federal investigators believed the brothers could move freely in and out of the country, despite their legal troubles, because of Amin Ben’s connection to an official at the Israeli Consulate who was “able to facilitate and issue travel documents.” Prosecutors also alleged that the brothers were captured on a recording threatening to kill the Israel-based family of an LAPD detective investigating one of the federal cases.

The check-cashing business that Ben ran with Matsri, the alleged Israeli crime boss, in an Encino strip mall was a front for alleged fraud schemes, according to a declaration filed in court by an LAPD Major Crimes detective.

Investigators determined that the pair bought more than 230 airline tickets, worth more than $600,000, using phone credit card approval codes and then resold the tickets to local Israelis at discount rates, an FBI agent wrote in a sworn affidavit.

When they arrested Ben and Matsri in October 2010, authorities seized 16 high-end watches and a handgun from Ben’s home.

In 2015, Matsri was sentenced in a separate federal case to 32 years in prison for drug trafficking, money laundering and extortion.

Land records show that Ben was living in a glitzy mansion in the Hollywood Hills, where neighbors said they often saw him driving a black Rolls-Royce. The mansion’s owner sued him after he stopped paying rent for five months, eventually racking up a $150,000 tab, court records show.

Ben continued to live at the residence until moving out in March.

A GUNMAN who allegedly killed two police officers could be hiding in a cave as his family handed themselves in.

A major manhunt is still underway for Dezi Bird Freeman, 56, who allegedly gunned down “execution style” three officers who were conducting a search warrant at a property in Porepunkah, Australia, on Tuesday morning.

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Police sources told the Herald Sun it was a “straight-out execution” when Freeman allegedly opened fire with a shotgun as officers entered a bus where he and his family live.

A 59-year-old detective, just days from retirement, and a 35-year-old senior constable were killed in the horror attack.

A third officer, meanwhile, was shot in the thigh and is undergoing surgery in a Melbourne hospital.

The remaining seven members of the 10-officer team were unharmed.

On Wednesday, the search for the alleged killer continued as his family, who were feared to have been kidnapped by Freeman handed themselves in to authorities late on Tuesday.

Freeman’s whereabouts, meanwhile, remain unknown with cops believing he may have fled into the nearby dense bush.

The 45-year-old is well known to police, having been in and out of court for driving and traffic offences, defying police orders, and verbally abusing a judge in a roadside drug-test case last year.

In 2021, he was arrested at an anti-government protest. He has also previously compared police to Nazis.

Australian outlets are reporting that Freeman is a self-declared “sovereign citizen” – part of a fringe movement that rejects the authorities of Australian laws and government.

Often called “SovCits”, adherents have been Australia for decades, with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) previously describing them as mostly harmless.

But the movement has gained traction in recent years, fuelled by pandemic-era mistrust, and a 2023 AFP briefing note warned it has “an underlying capacity to inspire violence”.

Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush confirmed that ten officers went to the Porepunkah property around 10.30am on Tuesday to execute a search warrant when shots were fired.

He said: “They were fired upon. The two deceased officers are still at the scene. A third officer was seriously injured and is currently in surgery in hospital.”

Bush said the other officers on scene were uninjured, but stressed the incident was “still active and ongoing”.

“We have deployed all specialist resources into the area to arrest the person responsible… [they] are currently there looking for this person.”

That includes homicide detectives, the Armed Crime Squad, the Fugitive Squad and specialist police units.

Ambulance Victoria confirmed one person with serious lower-body injuries was flown to hospital in a stable condition.

The attack unfolded in Porepunkah, a small Alpine town of about 1,000 residents, located 186 miles north-east of Melbourne.

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The local primary school was placed into lockdown and the Alpine shire council closed all public facilities “effective immediately”.

Alpine shire mayor Sarah Nicholas said it had been an “unsettling” and “emotional” afternoon for the small community.

“Today has been a day of deep sorrow and shock for our community… We are grieving together,” she said in a statement, paying tribute to the officers killed and offering “thoughts, love and unwavering” support to their families.

“We hold our police in the highest regard. They serve with courage, compassion, and dedication, and their loss is felt profoundly across our region,” she added.

Nicholas also thanked teachers at the nearby school for keeping children calm during the lockdown, and locals for heeding police instructions. She closed with a plea: “Please stay safe.”

Prime minister Anthony Albanese said: “Our thoughts are with the police for the work they do, each and every day.

“The men and women who wear the uniform of the police force, take risks each and every day.”

Premier Jacinta Allan told parliament: “Victoria police officers and all of our first responders show extraordinary bravery and courage every single day. They are the best of us.”

A large police operation remains underway in Porepunkah, with about 50 officers and a police dog reported at the scene.

The local airfield has been shut to the public to allow emergency access.

Meanwhile, locals are being warned to stay indoors, with PCC Bush saying: “I want to further assure the rural community around Bright that we will do everything to bring this person into custody so that your community is safe.

“Can I please ask you just to stay at home, not go out and about at the moment, until this operation is concluded?

“I’m leaving now to head to the area to support our officers and support the operation.”

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Metropolitan Police Department cars are parked near their headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Friday, August 15, 2025. U.S. Marshals on Saturday arrested a man accused of hitting a MPD officer with an ATV in March. The arrest, according to the U.S. Marshals, is part of President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of the capitol’s law enforcement. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 18 (UPI) — U.S. Marshals arrested a 30-year-old man in Maryland over the weekend as part of President Donald Trump‘s federal takeover of Washington, D.C.’s law enforcement, saying he is accused of assaulting a Metropolitan Police Department officer in March.

Gerard Stokes was arrested by members of the U.S. Marshals Service Special Operations Group and the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force at 6:15 a.m. Saturday in Greenbelt, Md., the U.S. Marshals Service said in a Sunday statement.

Authorities accused Stokes of hitting an MPD officer with an ATV on March 14.

Police said the officers attempted to contact a group operating ATVs and dirt bikes near a gas station in the nation’s capital.

As the uniformed officers approached, “Stokes accelerated his ATV, raised the front tires in the air and aimed it toward the officers,” the U.S. Marshals Service said.

“One officer was able to move out of the way of the oncoming ATV, the other officer was struck head on by the ATV and drug approximately 15 feet across the gas station lot by Stokes who then fled the scene without stopping.”

The injured officer, who was transported to WHC Medstar, is still recovering from his injuries, the service said, adding that he has not returned to full duty.

A July 15 search of Stokes’ listed home in Greenbelt produced multiple rifles, shotguns, pistols and 720 rounds of 5.56 ammunition, authorities said. Stokes has a criminal history of robbery, aggravated assault and carrying a pistol without a license with a large capacity magazine.

“This apprehension during this public safety surge proves that we are making a difference by getting ruthless and dangerous criminals off the street,” U.S. Marshals Service Director Gadyaces Serralta said in a statement.

According to the Marshals Service, the arrest is part of Trump’s federal crackdown in the nation’s capital.

Trump earlier this month signed an executive order declaring a crime emergency in D.C. The American president has mobilized the district’s National Guard for policing and Attorney General Pam Bondi has installed the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration as the temporary police chief of the MPD.

The federal takeover of D.C. is being challenged in courts and in the streets, where thousands protested nationwide over the weekend.

POLICE say a “lone shooter” has been “neutralised” after an officer and three civilians were shot in a brazen daylight attack in New York City.

The gunfire erupted inside a swanky skyscraper on East 52nd Street between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue on Monday — home to corporate giants Blackstone and the NFL.

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Authorities have yet to release full details of the incident, but a law enforcement source told Reuters that at least one NYPD officer and three civilians were hit by gunfire.

New York City Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch later posted on X: “UPDATE: At this time, the scene has been contained and the lone shooter has been neutralized.”

The crazed gunman clad in a bulletproof vest and carrying an assault rifle stormed the building before barricading himself inside, law enforcement sources told the New York Post.

He was reportedly equipped with a silencer when he opened fire in a room of the skyscraper where about 30 people were gathered, according to the American outlet.

The suspect was later discovered on the 33rd floor, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the NY Post and CNN reported, both citing police sources.

Chilling images shared by the Post appear to show the gunman casually walking through the entry plaza of the Park Avenue skyscraper with an assault rifle at his side.

The suspect has not yet been officially identified.

In footage captured by Fox 5, officers were seen carrying a bloodied victim while others tended to a person lying on the ground outside.

Witnesses reported hearing gunshots echoing through the area around nearby 51st Street and Park Avenue.

One told the New York Post: “It sounded like a barrage of shots …Like an automatic weapon. Like a high-capacity weapon.”

A heavy police presence quickly flooded the block as officers from both the NYPD and the Sheriff’s Department arrived in tactical gear with weapons drawn.

According to reports on X, the terrifying attack prompted a Level 3 mobilization, one of the highest alerts, bringing in counter-terrorism units, a bomb squad, and a heavy weapons team.

Emergency medical units were seen rushing to the 44th floor, while reports suggest the suspect may have barricaded himself on the 32nd floor.

Hundreds of people are now said to be sheltering in place inside the skyscraper as elite units continue to comb the floors.

The NYPD has urged the public to steer clear of the area as the situation remains active.

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The force said in a post on X: “Expect emergency vehicles & delays in the surrounding area.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams wrote on X: “New Yorkers: there is an active shooter investigation taking place in Midtown right now.

“Please take proper safety precautions if you are in vicinity and do not go outside if you are near Park Avenue and East 51st Street.”

The FBI said agents from its New York field office were also responding to provide support at the scene.

The skyscraper at 345 Park Avenue houses a number of financial firms, including Blackstone, Deutsche Bank, along with the NFL headquarters and the Consulate General of Ireland.

The tower also contains a Bank of America branch and office space for the accounting giant KPMG.

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BRITAIN’S top cop has criticised Labour plans to slash jail time — saying police will struggle to cope with the surge in crime.

Met Police boss Sir Mark Rowley warned putting more criminals back on the street risked overwhelming officers.

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He accused the Government of doing “no analysis whatsoever” on the impact of freeing thousands and risking the prospect of “generating a lot of work for police”.

He told the BBC: “Every time you put an offender into the community, a proportion of them will commit crime, a proportion of them will need chasing down by the police.”

But the Ministry of Justice hit back in the war of words, saying its top priority was to “keep people safe”.

Standing by its changes, it said: “That is why we are building prisons faster than at any time since the Victorian era and, through our sentencing reforms, we will make sure the public are never again put at risk of running out of prison places.”

Sources also insisted a full impact assessment on early release is under way.

The Sun revealed last week Sir Mark was among senior officers who wrote to Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood questioning prison reforms.

Her plans include scrapping most short sentences, releasing lags after a third of time served and monitoring with tags to free up cells.

Sir Mark said: “If probation are going to spend more money on trying to reform offenders, reduce their repeat offending, that’s fantastic.

But a proportion will be committing further offences because probation can’t do a perfect job — it’s impossible.”

The Scotland Yard chief also said forces are still “carrying the scar tissue of years of austerity cuts”.

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