NEW YORK - The announcement boomed over the loudspeaker at 9 a.m. Thursday. It was the warmest Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on record, and Veronica Cherry seemed fairly certain she knew why.

November 26, 2004

November 25, 2004

NEW YORK - The announcement boomed over the loudspeaker 9 a.m. Thursday morning. It was the warmest Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on record and Veronica Cherry seemed fairly certain she knew why.

In a report completed by two policing experts and released by an Arizona government watchdog group on Wednesday, recommendations were made on how police departments can operate more efficiently during times of budget cuts without regressing to high levels of crime during the 1970s and 80s.

In a report completed by two policing experts and released by an Arizona government watchdog group on Wednesday, recommendations were made on how police departments can operate more efficiently during times of budget cuts without regressing to high levels of crime during the 1970s and 80s.

NEW ORLEANS - Their homes are gone, their families scattered, their reputations sliding by the day. Home for most New Orleans police officers is a cramped cruise ship, and work is 12- to 14-hour days in a wrecked city. When time off does come along, there is nowhere to go and no one to spend it with.

LOS ANGELES - Martin Scorsese's mob saga "The Departed" debuted as the weekend's top movie with $27 million, muscling out the horror prequel "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning."

The Mesa Police Department has become the third police force in Arizona to join the Major City Chiefs Association, giving the department a voice in efforts to address national policing issues.

Mark Grace will never forget the smell. At first, he wasn’t quite sure what was invading his senses that cold October morning. Then it occurred to him.

Mark Grace will never forget the smell. At first, he wasn’t quite sure what was invading his senses that cold October morning. Then it occurred to him.

Have you heard this one yet? A bartender walks into a restroom …

Mesa's overall crime rate has decreased by more than 15 percent in the past two years. And although the city's violent crimes have risen more than any other East Valley city, the overall odds that a Mesa resident will be victimized is on the decline.

Last year, Chandler Mayor Boyd Dunn thwarted a plot to divert a truckload of rubberized asphalt needed to complete the Loop 202 Santan Freeway. No, not really.

A powerful New York family filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing several Phoenix police officers of negligence and indifference in the death of a family member who died in custody last year at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

MIAMI - Police say they are secretly monitoring hip-hop stars P. Diddy, DMX and others in South Florida to protect them, but celebrities and critics see the surveillance as unnecessary and racist.

Wanted: 57 police officers to patrol East Valley streets. A shortage of qualified applicants to keep pace with the East Valley’s booming population has left departments from Scottsdale to Gilbert desperate for cadets.

The costs of policing and government are continuing to rise, but is the value of public safety services in a community also increasing?

Phoenix and Tempe police are asking for the public's help to identify three men who have been robbing fast-food eateries in both cities.

NEW YORK - Working through the night, police on Wednesday plucked the last of 69 people stranded up to 12 hours in two cable cars that got stuck after a power failure. No injuries were reported.

Six times a week during November, a television show produced by Tempe police aired on the city’s cable channel showing a white police officer telling two black men they could get out of a ticket if they performed a rap.

The word rape strikes terror in the hearts of women who are most often the targets of a rapist. Rape, often called sexual assault, is one of the vilest crimes that can be committed. It’s a crime I found in my career that can be uglier than a murder and often more difficult to investigate and solve.