Make sure you have a clean record before questioning the police

  Sometimes people are hesitant to speak out or not to give that donation when solicited by phone  or when stopped at a traffic light only to have a canister pointed at you to drop money into, all for a good cause be it.

Local news story today: This lady certainly should have paid her fines but the situation could have been handled a little differently and why did it take so many years for the police to find this criminal?

  Beverly postal worker arrested

On Tuesday, Beverly police walked into the Beverly Farms post office and arrested Milo's owner on a warrant for failing to pay the $25 fine for that leash law violation in 2005.

Judith Little, a 53-year-old postal clerk who lives in Salem, was handcuffed, driven in a police cruiser to the Beverly police station for booking, then taken to Salem District Court, where she said she waited in leg shackles for four hours before going before a judge and paying a $100 fine.

Little's arrest meant the Beverly Farms post office, a small annex on West Street, had to be temporarily closed because Little was the only person on duty.

Little has accused police of arresting her as retribution for an incident the day before, when she filed a complaint after an altercation with a detail police officer on Hale Street.

"It was pure retaliation," Little said. "I can't complain for fear of retribution? These guys are not above the law."

But police paint a different picture, saying the 2005 warrant for Little's arrest came to their attention only after she drove recklessly and failed to heed the officer's instructions for her to stop.

"It's definitely not in retaliation," Officer April Clarizia, a Beverly police spokeswoman, said.

The turn of events began when Little was driving on Hale Street near the Landmark School on Monday afternoon. A section of the road was closed to one lane due to construction, and the area was being supervised by two police officers on private details.

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