26Gary Ridgway
Police almost arrested Gary Ridgway, the Green River killer, years earlier, in 1983. A boyfriend of a victim had seen her get into his truck before she vanished. The next day, he went with her father and found it; it belonged to Ridgeway. The tip wasn’t enough to get police to arrest him.
27. In 1981, law enforcement swept in to stop a band of Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, weapons smugglers, and mercenaries- all armed to the teeth- from invading Dominica and establishing a private state complete with casinos and drug manufacturing facilities.
28. In 2012, a Vermont State Police trooper discovered a pig-shaped spot in a cow in the logo on his patrol car. Inmates at a correctional facility were responsible for printing the decals.
29. In 2007, Boston Police Department shut down waterways, highways, and bridges after mistakenly identifying battery-powered LED placards of characters from the Adult Swim show Aqua Teen Hunger Force as improvised explosive devices. The devices were being used as a guerrilla marketing campaign.
30. John J. O'Connor, the chief of Police in St. Paul let mobsters like Machine Gun Kelly, John Dillinger, and Baby Face Nelson live in the city as long as they didn't commit any crimes there. They were also protected from extradition and tipped off of any federal raids.
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
31Angilo Freeland
When a sheriff named Douglas Speirs from Florida was asked, why deputies shot a suspect named Angilo Freeland 68 times, he replied: "Because we ran out of bullets."
32. An undercover officer named Bob Lambert dated an activist while infiltrating her group, and even fathered a child, despite already having a wife and children. When the assignment ended, he simply vanished, leaving a two-year-old son behind. The London police paid £425,000 to avoid court.
33. Law enforcement officials in New Jersey busted 29 restaurants selling cheap liquor in top-shelf bottles and called it "Operation Swill". It even included a restaurant selling rubbing alcohol and food coloring disguised as scotch.
34. In 2018, cops in Scotland had a 45-minute standoff with a stuffed tiger.
35. In 2015, police in the town of Anderson, California were trained to use nunchucks as a form of non-lethal force.
