--The BPD tied up some loose ends with an armed robbery arrest that happened on the 23rd. They also arrested a 17-year-old and a 20-year-old for pot and guns, while a 17-year-old was arrested for breaking into cars in Dorchester and a 19-year-old was arrested for a road-rage incident on Milk Street. [BPD News] --That's not the last of the budding perps on today's blotter. A 15-year-old was charged with phoning in bomb threats to......

Famous people visit Harvard all the time, but the university announced that two equally well-known, yet quite different, women would be visiting soon. JK Rowling will be speaking at commencement, and the Harvard Lampoon will honor Paris Hilton on February 6. You'd think that Harry Potter creator JK Rowling and socialite Paris Hilton would have nothing in common, but you'd be surprised … Let's start with the obvious. Both are blonde. Both have an......

--The Boston Police Department and the DA's Office are investigating the death of an inmate at the Suffolk County House of Correction. 41-year-old Darryl Lee Leslie died on New Year's Eve while being moved to maximum security because he was, according to a jail spokesman, "planning a violent attack." An autopsy is being performed. [Boston Globe] --A 15-year-old who was shot in the stomach at a New Year's Eve party in New Bedford has since......

--Early yesterday morning, a 16-year-old was shot on Columbia Road. According to the BPD, witnesses said the victim was taking out the trash when he got hit. His injuries are non-life-threatening. [BPD News] --A driver who struck and killed a 13-year-old boy in Taunton early this morning and then took off surrendered to Taunton police this afternoon. [WCVB] --A woman stole a cab in Chelsea and wound up crashing it in Revere. That wouldn't be......

--An officer with the Boston Police Department was caught abusing his girlfriend in Baltimore, and now the BPD says it can't fire him. According to O'Ryan Johnson, Batlimore gave the officer, Lt. David Murphy, "probation before judgment," so he got 18 months probation. Commish Ed Davis says that since Murphy wasn't convicted, Murphy can't be punished. --As of this time, the BPD believes that the two fatal shootings in Dorchester and Roxbury on Friday were......

--The following falls more in the "Don't Panic" category instead of the "Blotter" category. If you stuck a TV set on top of a light pole at the corner of Main Street and Bishop Allen in Cambridge this morning, the Cambridge Police Department would like to have a word with you. You caused quite the freak-out. [Cambridge Chronicle] --The Christmas tree at the State House is covered blue light-emitting diodes," which conserve energy. However, the......

--Handheld red laser beams can be a lot of fun, but a guy from Medford with a laser beam caused a ruckus on Saturday night when he pointed his beam at a State Police helicopter. The State Police swiftly summoned themselves, the Coast Guard, the Medford Police Department, and the Somerville Police Department to find the person. The feds are investigating. --The man who is accused of being the "Green Line Groper" has pled not......

--Police Commissioner Edward Davis has reacted to the information that corruption in the Boston Police Department might have extended beyond former officer Roberto Pulido and his sketchy crew. He even put a video on YouTube declaring that he will investigate the allegations. He said, "I will continue to press for the strictest sanctions against police corruption so that the excellent police work that I see every day from our officers will not be tarnished."......

Boston city councilors Stephen Murphy and John Connolly aren't the only ones who have to learn how to get along. City councilor Chuck Turner, he of the stunning goatee, will also need to learn how to get along with Northeastern University, or vice versa depending which side you're on. Before the city council elections, Turner was angry with the school for not treating the neighborhood he represents with enough respect. He didn't mince words on......

--A man and his mother were shot while riding in a car yesterday in Dorchester. The Globe reports that Darnell Ricks Jr., 20, was hit in the arm, and his mother "appeared to have been grazed in the face by a bullet." Police have a detailed description of the alleged perps: "They were looking for three black males who appeared to be in their late teens and about 5 feet 8 inches tall. One wore......

--Did carrying around a bunch of mail-order catalogs and dodging dogs all day make an East Boston postal worker snap? Noelle Lacorte, 26, of Revere, was driving her mail truck yesterday morning when she almost ran over a police officer working a detail. The police took offense, and she took off. Here's what happened next, according to the Herald: “The officer observed the operator on her cell phone with a cigarette in one hand and......

Turkeys have been terrorizing Brookline for some time, but a Bostonist reader happened to catch one in the act, just waiting to strike on Washington Square. In September, the other BPD, the Brookline Police Department, warned residents about turkey trouble and what to do in case you are faced with the kind of wild turkey that doesn't come in a bottle. Our favorite tip from them is "Don’t let turkeys intimidate you — Don’t......

Update: Officer Talbot died of his injuries last night, but there's little word about events leading up to the shooting. Early this morning, someone shot Revere Police Officer Dan Talbot in the parking lot behind Revere High School. Talbot, who was shot in the head, is now in critical condition, and police were questioning people in the area to find out what happened. DA Dan Conley held a press conference, but the information was more......

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! Another banner week at Chicagoist started off with daily reports from food writer Lisa Shames on her attempt to eat only locally grown and raised foodstuffs all week as part of a farmers market......

We thought Oldies dee-jays were cheerful types who spun the Bay City Rollers and favored loud colors. But Barry Scott, who has a show on Oldies 103.3, is furious with the Provincetown Police Department after they hassled him while he was at a P-Town birthday party on Saturday night. Police say Scott was disturbing the peace because the music he was playing was too loud. Police officers told Scott to turn it down three times......

-- Boston Police's news blotter doesn't include the words "Bonbon Bandit" or "Sweet Tooth Robber" in the public safety notification it posted yesterday, but those who have been following the string of robberies at sweet shoppes (and a Yankee Candle) can add another crime to the list. The man seen on many a security camera as of late reportedly held up City Convenience on Albany Street at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday, brandishing a knife and......

-- A man was walking home on Normandy Street in Dorchester late Thursday morning when a young black male, one of a group of three, reportedly walked up to him and asked to see his iPod. When the victim declined the opportunity to show off his piece of gadgetry, one of the men drew a gun and placed it against the victim's temple and told another to take the iPod. They then walked away. Police......

-- The Boston Police Department's news brief headline summed this one up perfectly with "With Friends Like These...Who Needs Enemies": East Boston guy goes out with his friend on Monday afternoon. Friend goes back to guy's house, breaks through the window and steals some of the guy's toys (iPod, digital camera, PlayStation). When guy confronts friend about the theft, friend smashes guy's digital camera right in front of him. Bostonist says guy needs new friends.......

Thanks to Universal Hub (great detective work Adam) we're now a little more self-aware; a better scope of the breadth of what we do over here on this little corner of the internet has been uncovered. For a while we thought it was all typos and quickly written blurbs about news, sports, and current haps in and around Boston. Apparently Google is listing www.bostonist.com alongside the street address for Boston City of: Homicide Unit......

You'd think the Boston Police Department's high-profile recruiting campaign and the call for more efforts to stop crime would motivate more people to sign up to take the civil service exam. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case. The number of recruits who signed up to take the exam has dropped by 30 percent from 2005. It seems that some people might not be signing up because they don't understand the requirements. If you're interested in......

The friendly powers-that-be are setting the boundaries for this year's St. Patricks' Day festival. Whether or not these priorities are enforced remains to be seen, but you may as well know about them lest you become acquainted with someone who isn't quite feeling the luck of the Irish. The BPD released a statement on what you might be able to expect from law enforcement while you're celebrating: Throughout the weekend and on Parade Day, the......

Can you have a proper blotter if you can't report a crime? Yesterday afternoon, residents of East Boston lost 911 service briefly thanks to what the BPD described as "Verizon technical issues." In this world of iPhones and camera phones and phones that could butter your bread, not being able to call 911 because of "technical issues" is unacceptable. If you ever have 911 issues, the BPD website says you can call a BPD operator......

It would be nice if the blotter for the first day of 2007 focused on the typical New Year's Eve drunk and disorderlies. Unfortunately, six people were shot in four separate locations around 5 this morning in Dorchester. A 14-year-old died in the shootings. That makes yet another preteen who has been cut down in a matter of weeks. The Boston Police Department believes that two of the episodes unfolded at "private house parties"......

The emphasis on First Night has been as much on what you can't do as much as what you can do. So let's get what you can't do out of the way right now. Don't drive. Take public transportation. No excuses because the T will be free after 8 pm. The MBTA provides more details about the New Year's schedule here. And, as far as the law is concerned, the message is try not to......

Looks like we might have our very own case of Super Troopers in Boston. The Globe reported that 10 officers working in the Boston Police Department's drug warehouse have been transferred because someone among them may have been chipping off confiscated stashes. Captain Frank Armstrong, evidence management commander, ordered an investigation after an audit revealed drugs were missing back in August. Investigators kept taking stock of the drugs and found amounts missing. In their......

The Boston Police Department issued a press release today indicating that twenty-three people will be charged for crack and cocaine distribution in the Bromley-Heath housing development in Jamaica Plain. In season one of The Wire it was Avon Barksdale working for control of The Towers – its season four now and the lines are still tapped in hopes of shutting down Marlo Stanfield's operation. The fiction of HBO's drama is well developed and revolves around......

Much to the dismay of those hoping to keep up with non-fatal shootings, non-fatal stabbings, and bachelorette parties "gone wrong," BPD News, the Boston police department's online blotter, has fallen prey to individuals who claim to be Turkish hackers. "hacked by metlak / Ownz here / F*&k papa." originally replaced the site's content. Metlak, is that meant to be an insult of Big Papi? Metlak and company have left their fingerprints on Massachusetts news websites......

A story hit the wire today highlighting work not done, but paid, for the Boston Police Department. Menino's office has launched an investigation into the situation that allowed Christine Meegan to collect full time pay even after she had moved out of state. There's been talk recently about a citizen oversight panel for the Boston Police Department. The City refused oversight, but today questions arise as the report is made public that Meegan was able......

The Weekly Dig uncovered the Boston Police Department's relatively new blog, BPDNews.com. Many regulars in the Boston blogosphere have been aware of the site reporting daily incidents and special announcements since the site went live, print media faithful and those who are occasional surfers are now realizing the site exists and the information it delivers on a daily basis. Many of the items posted on BPDNews don't make it into the local papers – but......

Since November the Boston Police Department has been bringing a little bit of the blotter to the blogosphere. Reports of daily incidents, updates on publicly reported crime, announcements, and media corrections have been available on the BPDNews.com website. As usual Hollywood, well, LA, is getting all the attention. The AP picked up a story last week emanating from the LA Times and the Times of London about the Los Angeles Police Departments new blog. Apparently......