police

Sanford, Fla. -

The city of Sanford, Florida has sworn in a new police chief, Cecil E. Smith, Monday morning after he accepted the job in January. Smith replaced embattled chief Bill Lee who was fired following the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by accused suspect George Zimmerman.

Smith held the position of Deputy Chief of the Elgin, Illinois poice department before eventually moving to sunny Florida.

Smith will earn $114,757 annually, according to city officials.

New York City -

A federal jury has convicted 28-year-old Gilberto Valle of plotting to kill and cook "girl meat" to eat. During the trial, jury were shown evidence of Valle's strange sexual fetish of cannibalism and that he often talked about it online in various chat rooms.

Prosecutors say that an analysis of Valle's computer found he was taking concrete steps to abduct his wife and at least five other women he knew. They said he looked up potential targets on a restricted law enforcement database, searched the Internet for how to knock someone out with chloroform.

Oviedo, Fla. -

Police in Oviedo Responded to a home on Bay Club Rd overnight and burst into the home while the family was asleep, believing there was a hostage situation.

As members of the SWAT team searched the home and forced the family outside, reality set in, realizing the police were the victims of a hoax.

It started between two Xbox players online who got into a disagreement, resulting in one of them calling police reporting a hostage situation, but gave an incorrect address, hoping to lead police to the other users home.

Tallahassee, Fla. -

A Senate Committee has passed a bill unanimously that would ban to use of unmanned aircraft or drones from flying in Florida. The bill makes exceptions in cases where a warrant has been issued by a judge, hostage situations and terrorism.

Despite other states that have allowed drones to some degree or another, Florida's law makes privacy rights the top priorities. The original bill was a blanket ban, but after police chiefs objected, exceptions for warrants, hostage situations, fires and terrorism were allowed.

Sen. Joe Negron (R-Sutart) sponsored the bill.