associated press

Police departments opting for Taser International’s body-worn cameras may have financial ties to the company.

Officials in states like Utah and New Mexico where police departments have opted to purchase body cameras made by Scottsdale, Arizona based company Taser, are raising conflict-of-interest concerns as several police chiefs appear to be participating in endorsement-like activities.

Travel expenses, including airfare and hotel costs, for police chiefs to speak at promotional conferences were paid for by Taser, according to records recovered by The Associated Press, which is an issue in the eyes of public officials public who have trouble seeing the benefit these engagements provide to their cities.

Charlie Luke, a Salt Lake City councilman, warns that these speaking engagements may cause trouble for police chiefs.

“Department heads need to be very careful to avoid that type of appearance of an endorsement in a for-profit setting,” Luke said. “It opens up the opportunity for competitors of these companies to essentially do what we’re seeing here – complaining about that public process.”

Retired chiefs whose departments purchased Taser cameras have also been hired to work as consultants, such as former Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz.

An investigation was brought on by Council members in Albuquerque when Schultz stepped down from his position and became a Taser consultant soon after. The U.S. Justice Department criticized the city for jumping into a contract with Taser and using the cameras before police were properly trained.

Body camera competitors, like Wolfcom Enterprises, are put off by the relationship between police departments and Taser as well.

“Every time I do a presentation, as I’m standing there looking through the room, I wonder, ‘Who is tainted by Taser?'” said Peter Onruang, president of Wolfcom Enterprises.

A recent report by The Police Foundation found that body cameras worn by police officers have led to a significant decrease in force-related complaints. The devices have potential to help mend the relationships between communities and law enforcement by keeping both parties accountable for their actions.

Several police departments are jumping on board with Taser, and the company announced that it has signed deals with 16 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. to use its cameras and software system.

However, not every police department has the resources to purchase cameras for hundreds of officers, sort through data from the recorded material, buy the storage software and distribute necessary clips to other agencies.

Phoenix Police Chief Joe Yahner said It would cost the department at least $3.5 million, a price that departments in cities of any size may struggle to afford.

Stephen Collins, the pastor father on the TV show “7th Heaven,” faces possible child molestation charges after recordings of the actor admitting to three instances of inappropriate behavior with young girls during a therapy session were released on Oct. 6.

And while some of the allegations are more than 40 years old, the popular actor could still face charges because of how the statute of limitations is applied to such cases.

The allegations could present legal difficulties for Collins, given the fact that his alleged confessions had been taped. TMZ obtained the recordings, which Mark Kaplan, Collins’ attorney, said his estranged wife, actress Faye Grant, must have released since she secretly recorded him and has been using the tape as leverage for money in their divorce case, USA Today reports.

Collins is heard speaking to Grant and to a therapist about exposing himself to three underage girls over the past decade, one of which is suspected by TMZ to be a relative of his first wife, Marjorie Weinman.

Grant told E! News that she recorded the therapy session as part of a request from law enforcement, but was not involved in the release of the tape to the media.

“I woke up today to learn that an extremely private recording I handed over to the authorities in 2012 per their request in connection with a criminal investigation was recently disseminated to the press,” she said.

The Associated Press reports that New York police have an open investigation into allegations that Collins molested a 14-year-old girl in 1972. Police spokesman Stephen David said the complaint was filed in 2012, and remains open although no charges have been filed, according to USA Today.

But while decades have passed since the molestation, Collins may still face charges depending on the statute of limitations surrounding the incident. Since authorities consider the actual crime date to begin when the case is reported, not when it occurs, Collins could face charges for a 42-year-old crime. For example, TMZ reports that the statute of limitations runs from the date of the reporting in 2012 on the New York case, not the date of the illegal act occurring in 1972.

Statutes of limitation vary by state, and are set time limits on how long after a civil or criminal act is reported that charges may be pressed and that a state can make prosecutions. For example, in New York, the statute of limitation for personal injury is two years, but there is no time limit for a rape or murder case.

A Missouri man who was sent to jail after going unnoticed for 13 years by the judicial system before officials realized he’d never served his sentence, has been released.

Judge Terry Lynn Brown decided that Cornealious Anderson successfully turned his life around during the 13 years he should have been in jail. He will not serve any additional jail time.

Judge Brown praised Anderson for his behavior, saying, “You’ve been a good father. You’ve been a good husband. You’ve been a good taxpaying citizen of the state of Missouri. That leads me to believe that you are a good and changed man,” NBC News reports.

The legal system is not flawless; there are times when sentences fall through the cracks and mistakes are made by law enforcement, but who is responsible for these errors? That’s exactly what Missouri man Cornealious “Mike” Anderson, 37, found out on May 6 when he was freed from jail and relieved of his former sentence.

Anderson was convicted of armed robbery of a Burger King manager in 2000, and spent 13 years awaiting his prison sentence. After being convicted, he was told to wait for instructions on when and where to report to surrender himself, but those instructions never came.

His case was nearly forgotten until July 2013 when a SWAT team arrived at his home one morning and took him to the Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston, Mo. the Associated Press reported.

During that 13-year period, he paid taxes, opened and registered three small businesses and even paid traffic tickets and never once received any notice from the Missouri penal system regarding his conviction.

As the years passed, Anderson remained in the dark about his case. His attorney, Patrick Megaro, told the AP that Anderson believed law enforcement must have changed their minds or stopped caring about his case because over ten years had passed and neither he nor Megaro had any new information on what he was supposed to do.

So Anderson went on with his life. He stayed in the St. Louis area and got married, fathered four children, coached his son’s football team, joined and volunteered at a local church all without concealing his identity or hiding from police according to the New York Daily News.

Megaro said that Anderson went unnoticed for so long due to clerical errors. Once the Missouri Department of Corrections realized this, they took Anderson to jail despite the fact that the 13 years Anderson was supposed to spend in prison had already passed.

Anderson, his family and Megaro hoped he wouldn’t have to stay in jail since his 13-year sentence was technically up in 2013, but the Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster said in a court response April 15 that the state was justified in making Anderson serve the sentence, according to the AP.

At first, it was unclear what would happen next with Anderson’s case. Koster said Megaro could re-file the case and target the director of the Department of Corrections, which could result in credit for time served as Anderson was supposed to be in jail and there had been other actions Koster and Gov. Jay Nixon could have taken toward Anderson’s case.

However, Megaro didn’t think the credit would apply since Anderson was never behind bars. Instead, he relied on case law, the AP said.

Megaro said he could use a case from 1912, the only other time a case like this occurred in Missouri, where the charged man was set free.

Anderson didn’t go unnoticed for long, this time for the better. The New York Daily News reported that an online petition on change.org was created in support of his freedom. As of April 21, the petition had more than 30,000 signatures.