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The very best cops in this country are the ones you never hear about. They go about their thankless jobs, they stick their necks out every day, trying to make the world a safer place. They sweep drunks off the street at 3:00 a.m. They fill out paperwork constantly. One their days off, their neighbors expect them to act as the neighborhood security guard, referee and guidance counselor. One fellow I know was a cop for several years, and upon leaving the profession, one of the first things he noticed was that his nose stopped hurting. Apparently he got into street fights every night, through no fault of his own, and it was just part of the job. For a good overview of the dirty work performed by ordinary cops, read What Cops Really Do. In fact, I've known a lot of people who have been law enforcement officers, and a few who still are, and they truly are America's Finest. Without people like them, this country (or any other) would be an awful place to live, because there are so many nearby residents who simply won't behave themselves without forcible external control (for a number of reasons). But unfortunately there are also the cops at the bottom of the curve. The ones who are only marginally qualified. The ones who should be at the city jail — on the other side of the bars. The ones who are only working as cops because that's the best job they can get at the moment. And worst of all, the ones with more ego than brains: self-important badge-happy goons who should never have been hired. Generally, cops of this sort are only found in small towns, because the police departments in major cities filter their applicants quite stringently. In some cases, formerly reasonable men and women have been put into positions where they have to justify their paychecks by generating revenue for the cities that hired them. It is a stereotype I'm sure you know very well: There's a cop in every small town handing out speeding tickets to tourists on the biggest highway around. But stereotypes don't just materialize out of nowhere. There really are small towns that make a lot of money off the speeders on interstate highways. Rather than taking a bite out of genuine crime, many cops spend their days hiding in the roadside bushes with a radar gun and writing tickets. This sort of activity has very little to do with public safety, but is instead a pretense to stop passing motorists and search their cars for guns, drugs, seat belt violators, or any of several other petty offenses. If you fail the "attitude test", you'll pay dearly. You might assume they're just following orders, but you might be wrong. This page shows some examples of what can happen when local and state police agencies have too much power, too little restraint, and too many bad ideas. Subtopics: Related pages: The Road to Tyranny is All Downhill From Here
The local police have been given too much authority LAPD uses January 6 techniques to identify Jewish students who fought back at a UCLA pro-Hamas protest. They're studying Facebook posts. They're using frame-by-frame video screenshots of faces to match with gargantuan databases of named faces. They're seeking and taking tips from "friends" and relatives and ex-boyfriends. For the UCLA Jewish students who got into a scrap with pro-Hamas illegal campout protestors, no doubt after hearing a slew of antisemitic statements and being blocked from attending class, they're doing exactly what they did to identify and hunt down January 6 protestors. [...] So now they're spending big bucks to target UCLA Jewish students again, with the same use of intensive investigative techniques as they used on January 6 protestors. They're taking years to do it, calling it their biggest operation, even as Los Angeles is awash with real crime, but this is more important to them, getting their man, or woman, as the case may be, championing a protest the establishment didn't like, same as they did with the January 6 protestors. Appeals Court Rules That Cops Can Physically Make You Unlock Your Phone. As we keep more and more personal data on our phones, iPhone and Android devices now have some of the most advanced encryption technology in existence to keep that information safe from prying eyes. The easiest way around that, of course, is for someone to gain access to your phone. This week, a federal court decided that police officers can make you unlock your phone, even by physically forcing you to press your thumb against it. In November 2021, Jeremy Payne was pulled over by two California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers over his car's window tinting. When asked, Payne admitted that he was on parole, which the officers confirmed. After finding Payne's cellphone in the car, officers unlocked it by forcibly pressing his thumb against it as he sat handcuffed. (The officers claimed in their arrest report that Payne "reluctantly unlocked the cell phone" when asked, which Payne disputed; the government later accepted in court "that defendant's thumbprint was compelled.") Keywords: arrogant, privileged, egomaniac, tyrant, loose cannon. San Francisco Police Spent 193 Hours Over 3 Months Watching Private Surveillance Footage. In 2022, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that would allow the city's police department to access footage from private security cameras under certain circumstances. A new city report sheds light on just how much the police have used the privilege. Between 2021 and 2022, news reports depicted a wave of "smash-and-grab" retail thefts across California. San Francisco Mayor London Breed complained that city policy did not allow police to access security camera footage during emergency situations. "Where there were multiple robbery crews hitting multiple stores, [police] couldn't even access those cameras, which is ridiculous," Breed said in December 2021. "There is a balance to be had, I know," she noted. "But right now, if our officers cannot use cameras during a mass looting event, then that policy is out of balance." This AI Watches Millions Of Cars Daily And Tells Cops If You're Driving Like A Criminal. In March of 2022, David Zayas was driving down the Hutchinson River Parkway in Scarsdale. His car, a gray Chevrolet, was entirely unremarkable, as was its speed. But to the Westchester County Police Department, the car was cause for concern and Zayas a possible criminal; its powerful new AI tool had identified the vehicle's behavior as suspicious. Searching through a database of 1.6 billion license plate records collected over the last two years from locations across New York State, the AI determined that Zayas' car was on a journey typical of a drug trafficker. According to a Department of Justice prosecutor filing, it made nine trips from Massachusetts to different parts of New York between October 2020 and August 2021 following routes known to be used by narcotics pushers and for conspicuously short stays. So on March 10 last year, Westchester PD pulled him over and searched his car, finding 112 grams of crack cocaine, a semiautomatic pistol and $34,000 in cash inside, according to court documents. A year later, Zayas pleaded guilty to a drug trafficking charge. The Editor says... Secret Police in America. [Scroll down] Now, take a real example from U.S. Federal law which is applicable here. Federal law prohibits propagating "hoaxes and false information" but then exempts the FBI, intelligence community, and local police from such a law. (A separate U.S. government document on other laws clearly explains such wording in the law is a "law enforcement exemption" and the Department of Justice uses nearly identical language in what it labels as "exceptions for law enforcement activities" in a separate Federal law. Thus, one might conclude that the law implies that "false information and hoaxes" may be propagated or enacted by entities like the FBI, local police, and secret police entities in America.) Reasonable Americans, then, might question reported crimes publicized in the media. Reasonable Americans also might question non-criminal occurrences published in the news as being potential intelligence community, FBI, or local police hoaxes. This is partially due to "law enforcement" including "crime prevention," getting "potential criminals" or "potential threats" "off the streets." Mugged By The State? Did you know that a doctrine known as "qualified immunity" shields local and state police from accountability? Federal cops enjoy an even broader, absolute immunity based on recent Supreme Court rulings that have eroded an earlier 1971 Supreme Court decision that allowed some lawsuits. Each of the federal circuit courts interprets prior high court rulings in its own way. In several cases, judges have shown common sense, allowing citizens to find a remedy when a federal cop violates their rights. Still, the weight of the law favors the feds. Bizarre rulings in the Fifth and Eighth Circuits establish that, unless a federal incident exactly mirrors the 1971 case of Webster Bivens — a man who was handcuffed, arrested, and later strip-searched by federal agents after a warrantless search of his home — people whose rights are trampled by a federal officer have no remedy available to them. Reading Body Language: The New Phrenology? America has excellent (but not perfect) procedures for settling disputes among citizens in civil court and attributing guilt for crimes based on evidence arising from the actions of the offense. Yet, America always has an audience for the alternative — including non-investigative, alternative methods to detect lies and withheld truths. Experts decipher the meanings of eye movements or gestures. Exotic drugs called truth serums supposedly do "in vino veritas" one better. A machine that measures breathing, sweating and heart rate, is fitted onto the interviewee after a practice session and elaborate explication of the examiner's expertise and the machine's reliability. (If it's the machine detecting lies, why do examiners boast expertise? A microwave heats food whether the button is punched by Gordon Ramsay or a toddler). The American justice system requires patience of participants and citizens[.] This virtue can be difficult for police wanting to reassure the community with a rapidly apprehended suspect. Police Get a Green Light to Use Force Against Unarmed Individuals Who Have Already Surrendered or Complied. The U.S. Supreme Court has once again refused to hold police accountable for using force on unarmed individuals who have already surrendered or complied with police orders. Despite a series of high-profile incidents involving the use of unnecessary and excessive force by police against unarmed individuals, the Court declined to narrow the scope of qualified immunity granted to officers who assault non-violent suspects who have ceased to resist arrest. Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute and Cato Institute had filed a joint amicus brief before the Supreme Court in Salazar v. Molina, challenging a lower court ruling that essentially gives police a green light to punish and harm suspects solely based upon their initial nonviolent resistance or flight. The legal coalition warned that the ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which granted qualified immunity to a police officer who tased a non-violent suspect in the back after he lay down to surrender, undermines public safety by discouraging suspects from surrendering or complying with police commands. Should the Police Be Allowed to Draw Your Blood? In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Mitchell v. Wisconsin that the police don't need a search warrant to have medical personnel draw the blood of an unconscious person suspected of DUI. This ruling significantly complicates life for emergency room doctors and nurses because if the patient is unconscious, the blood draw is legal, but if the patient is awake, verbal consent or a search warrant is required. Justices Alito, Thomas, Breyer, and Kavanaugh, along with Chief Justice Roberts, formed the majority opinion. Justice Thomas wrote that the evidence dissipates over time, and thus the states can invoke the "exigent circumstances doctrine" to allow for the exception to Fourth Amendment protections because the suspect could become sober by the time he finally regains consciousness. However, the Court ruled only that police officers can ask medical personnel to draw blood without requiring a warrant. The ruling doesn't say anything about the police officers drawing the blood themselves. Supreme Court Decides Suing the Feds is Mission: Impossible. The Supreme Court recently gave the cold shoulder to an American assaulted by a Border Patrol agent. No matter what party or ideology you ascribe to, this should set off alarm bells. Too often, conversations about U.S. border policy are swept up into culture war rhetoric and stick firmly to partisan lines. This pattern plays directly into the hands of bureaucrats who wish to centralize power, shred the Constitution, and build an apparatus that can ultimately inflict more harm on American citizens than on those attempting to cross the border. The recent Supreme Court 6-3 ruling in Egbert v. Boule is yet another example of this, as it strikes a blow to U.S. citizens seeking recourse when federal agents behave badly. While law enforcement officials deserve recognition for choosing a job that can put their life on the line, it is also true that the vast majority of Americans favor recourse for citizens wronged when those officials are negligent in their duties to protect and serve. NYPD Sued Over Illegal Collection And Storage Of Citizens' DNA. The NYPD's DNA database is comprised of an ever-growing number of genetic profiles of thousands of innocent New Yorkers, including children, a lawsuit alleges. The Legal Aid Society, in a suit filed Monday [3/21/2022] in Manhattan Federal Court, is asking a judge to declare unconstitutional the "practice of secretly taking, analyzing and maintaining peoples' DNA in its suspect index." The public defenders group seeks an order the NYPD expunge those DNA files and records. There are 31,826 DNA profiles in the database at last count, according to the suit. The database, which is maintained by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, has been the subject of much debate the past few years. Supreme Court Sees Nothing Wrong with Prolonged, Warrantless Spying of One's Home by Police Using Hidden Cameras. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to stop police from using hidden cameras to secretly and warrantlessly record and monitor a person's activities outside their home over an extended period of time. In refusing to hear an appeal in Travis Tuggle v. U.S., the Supreme Court left in place a lower court ruling which concluded that no "search" in violation of the Fourth Amendment had occurred because the private activity recorded by the hidden surveillance cameras took place in public view. The Rutherford Institute and the Cato Institute had filed an amicus brief in Tuggle warning that without adequate safeguards in place, there would be no turning back from the kinds of intrusions posed by such expansive, ever-watching surveillance technology capable of revealing intimate details of a person's life. Use of rape-kit DNA to probe other crimes shocks prosecutors. The San Francisco district attorney's stunning claim that California crime labs are using DNA from sexual assault survivors to investigate unrelated crimes shocked prosecutors nationwide, and advocates said the practice could affect victims' willingness to come forward. District Attorney Chesa Boudin said he became aware of the "opaque practice" last week after prosecutors found a report among hundreds of pages of evidence in the case against a woman recently charged with a felony property crime. The papers referred to a DNA sample collected from the woman during a 2016 rape investigation. Meet the Capitol Police's New Spy Chief. When most Americans hear the term "Capitol Police," they likely conjure visions of uniformed officers manning metal detectors at the numerous congressional buildings or helping tourists navigate the sprawling Capitol grounds: a D.C. version of a mall cop. That imagery, however, is in stark contrast to reality as Democrats have weaponized yet another federal agency to target their political enemies on the Right. After January 6, 2021, Capitol Police officials announced plans to expand beyond the legislatively authorized purview of the agency and open offices in Florida and California, as well as in other states. Congress overwhelmingly supported a bill last year to fork over $2.1 billion in new funding to the Capitol Police. Now flush with cash and immune from any serious public oversight, the agency is returning the favor by spying on dissidents of the Biden regime. According to Politico, Capitol Police investigators are preparing secret dossiers on lawmakers, congressional staff, donors, and even constituents who visit their representatives in public or in private. The Empire of Lies Breaks Down: Ugly Truths the Deep State Wants to Keep Hidden. [#6] More than terrorism, more than domestic extremism, more than gun violence and organized crime, the U.S. government has become a greater menace to the life, liberty and property of its citizens than any of the so-called dangers from which the government claims to protect us[.] [#10] You no longer have to be poor, black or guilty to be treated like a criminal in America. All that is required is that you belong to the suspect class — that is, the citizenry — of the American police state. As a de facto member of this so-called criminal class, every U.S. citizen is now guilty until proven innocent. [#12] Private property means nothing if the government can take your home, car or money under the flimsiest of pretexts, whether it be asset forfeiture schemes, eminent domain or overdue property taxes. Likewise, private property means little at a time when SWAT teams and other government agents can invade your home, break down your doors, kill your dog, wound or kill you, damage your furnishings and terrorize your family. [#14] All of those freedoms we cherish — the ones enshrined in the Constitution, the ones that affirm our right to free speech and assembly, due process, privacy, bodily integrity, the right to not have police seize our property without a warrant, or search and detain us without probable cause — amount to nothing when the government and its agents are allowed to disregard those prohibitions on government overreach at will. [#16] Our freedoms — especially the Fourth Amendment — continue to be choked out by a prevailing view among government bureaucrats that they have the right to search, seize, strip, scan, spy on, probe, pat down, taser, and arrest any individual at any time and for the slightest provocation. Blindly Defending Police Officers Is Not Conservative, It Is Authoritarian. For people claiming to cherish the idea of limited government as a foundational principle of their beliefs, many who call themselves conservatives don't seem to apply that principle in situations involving malfeasance committed by police officers. Over the past few decades, the conservative movement has developed a rather odd habit when dealing with corrupt law enforcement officials. At some point, too many on the right became something closer to right-wing authoritarians rather than actual conservatives. Whenever footage of a violent encounter with police becomes a national story, this authoritarian streak presents itself when right-leaning influencers employ a messaging strategy designed to protect the officer involved. [...] One can see this in action with the shooting of Daunte Wright. One did not need a crystal ball to predict how the authoritarian right would react to this story. As with other cases, the first step was to defend Potter, who recently resigned and is facing a second-degree manslaughter charge. In this case, it wasn't easy to defend the officer, but at least two right-leaning commentators argued that she should not be punished for her actions. Georgia Becomes The First State To Allow Police To Sue People For Harassment. Police across the country are so upset by public harassment that one state will allow cops to sue people who they perceive as harassing them. CBS 46 described Georgia's new 'police protection law' as giving police more rights. Mississippi Cops Can Now Use Your Ring Doorbell Camera To Live Stream Your Neighborhood. The Jackson, Mississippi police department is piloting a 45 day program that allows them to live stream private security cameras, including Amazon Ring cameras, at the residences of its citizens. It's no surprise that Amazon's Ring cameras were the only brand named for the pilot program, as EFF pointed out, since they have over 1,000 partnerships with local police departments. The program allows Ring owners to patch their camera streams to a "Real Time Crime Center" - i.e. a dispatcher on desk duty whose new favorite way of passing the time is to watch you bring out your garbage twice a week in a bathrobe. Protest Also Against Police Unions and Qualified Immunity. [Scroll down] I encourage you to listen to Juliette [Sellgren]'s entire discussion with [Clark] Neily. You'll learn much — including, especially, just how frighteningly dysfunctional is the legal doctrine of "qualified immunity" for police officers. This doctrine was created by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to Neily, "out of whole cloth." It effectively shields government officials, including on-duty police officers, from being held legally liable for whatever damages they have caused by violating a person's civil rights. This near-complete immunity from civil suits greatly lessens the incentives that would otherwise encourage police officers to act with common decency. When combined with the abominable role of police unions, along with some other defective institutions, police-officers' incentives to behave decently shrivel to gossamer weightlessness. Connecticut police to test 'pandemic drone' that monitors health of residents. Police in Westport, Conn., said they will be testing a "pandemic drone" that can scan the body temperatures of residents to determine if they have fevers or other health symptoms in an effort to combat the coronavirus. Aerospace company Draganfly announced in a news release the drones will be equipped with a specialized sensor and computer vision systems that can display heart and respiratory rates. They can also detect people coughing in crowds, police said. Authoritarian Overreach Is Unnecessary to Fight the Pandemic. "An overreach by our police officers." Yeah, I'll say. "Overreach" was the concession that the police department in Brighton, Colo., grudgingly offered regarding their arrest of Matt Mooney, a 33-year-old former state trooper. Mooney was handcuffed in front of his six-year-old daughter. His "crime"? Playing tee-ball with her on an empty field. Cops on the scene capriciously decided that this transgressed the state's social-distancing restrictions. The incident would be madness under any circumstances. But it wasn't even true as alleged. Under the rules — which are executive edicts, not criminal laws enacted by the people's legislative representatives — the fine print said the park was not closed to groups of fewer than five. Mooney, his wife, and their toddler were social distancing. Indeed, they were farther apart on the empty softball field than at home. [...] The state is really sorry. And its officials would love to tell us more but, you see, an internal investigation is underway so they can't be expected to comment — just to shelter in place, hoping this lunacy slides down the memory hole but quick. And who's to say it won't? Because all violent crime is completely under control... The Editor says... Tennessee Supreme Court Allows Police to Carry Out Warrantless, Suspicionless Searches of Probationers' Homes, Undermining Fourth Amendment. Pushing back against government efforts to chip away at the privacy and security guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment, The Rutherford Institute has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a state court decision allowing police to search the homes of probationers without any suspicion or justification. In an amicus brief filed in Hamm v. State of Tennessee, Institute attorneys have asked the Court to overturn a Tennessee court's ruling that police have carte blanche to search the residence of probationers, arguing that it violates the Fourth Amendment's overriding purpose to protect the sanctity and security of a person's home. If You've Given Your Genetic Code To A DNA Database, US Police May Now Have Access To It. GEDmatch lets users upload their raw genetic data, obtained from companies such as Ancestry or 23andMe, to be matched with relatives who have also uploaded their data. Law enforcement's capacity to use GEDmatch to solve crimes became prominent in April last year, when it was used to solve the Golden State Killer case. After this raised significant public concern around privacy issues, GEDmatch updated its terms and conditions in May. Under the new terms, law enforcement agencies can only access user data in cases where users have consented to use by law enforcement, with only 185,000 people opting in so far. The terms of the warrant granted in Florida, however, allowed access to the full database — including individuals who had not opted in. This directly overrides explicit user consent. DOJ allowing foreign police to see your private data. A privacy organization is lobbying Congress to stop an agreement that will allow police in the United Kingdom to access the online private information of Americans without a search warrant. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has posted an extensive report on the new law enforcement deal between the U.S. and the U.K. under the CLOUD Act, which was signed into law by President Trump in 2018. Your DNA Profile is Private? A Florida Judge Just Said Otherwise. For police officers around the country, the genetic profiles that 20 million people have uploaded to consumer DNA sites represent a tantalizing resource that could be used to solve cases both new and cold. But for years, the vast majority of the data have been off limits to investigators. The two largest sites, Ancestry.com and 23andMe, have long pledged to keep their users' genetic information private, and a smaller one, GEDmatch, severely restricted police access to its records this year. The DNA database used to find the Golden State Killer is a national security leak waiting to happen. A private DNA ancestry database that's been used by police to catch criminals is a security risk from which a nation-state could steal DNA data on a million Americans, according to security researchers. Security flaws in the service, called GEDmatch, not only risk exposing people's genetic health information but could let an adversary such as China or Russia create a powerful biometric database able to identify nearly any American from a DNA sample. GEDMatch, which crowdsources DNA profiles, was created by genealogy enthusiasts to let people search for relatives and is run entirely by volunteers. It shows how a trend toward sharing DNA data online can create privacy risks affecting everyone, even people who don't choose to share their own information. Florida Police Using FINDER System to Create Lists of Gun Owners. Pawnbrokers are required to enter information on firearms transactions into the FINDER system. The system transmits the serial number of the firearm along with the make and model to the local sheriffs' department to make sure that the person pawning the gun, did not steal it. A bug in the system also transmitted the names and addresses of the transfers to local law enforcement. The Charlotte County Sheriff's Department used the information to create a list of gun owners. Blank Check Policing: Cops Stop Cars Registered to Unlicensed Owners, Whether or Not Owners Are Behind the Wheel. The Rutherford Institute is challenging the police practice of stopping cars registered to unlicensed owners, whether or not the owners are behind the wheel (such vehicles are often driven by licensed family members and friends) and in the absence of specific wrongdoing. In an amicus curiae brief filed with the Supreme Court in State of Kansas v. Glover, Rutherford Institute attorneys argue that allowing police to stop a vehicle anytime the registered owner is unlicensed gives police too much leeway to violate the standards established by the Fourth Amendment requiring particularized and articulable evidence that the specific individual being stopped has, is, or soon will be engaged in unlawful conduct. When Does the Deep State Morph into the Police State in Our Country? The East German state police agency, the Stasi, was granted virtually unlimited power to monitor and spy on the lives of their citizens with the objective of maintaining absolute control over all aspects of the personal and professional lives of its people. The Stasi was renowned for being highly proficient and effective in its ability to subjugate East Germany's citizens. This movie is a warning to Americans about the dire consequences of increasing the powers of the state. Supreme Court: Police Can Forcibly & Warrantlessly Carry Out Blood Draws On Unconscious Drivers. In a ruling that gives police greater leeway to violate the Fourth Amendment rights of anyone driving on a public road, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that police may forcibly and warrantlessly carry out blood draws on unconscious drivers suspected of drunk driving. The Court's 5-4 decision in Mitchell v. State of Wisconsin found that an unconscious driver suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol constitutes an emergency situation that allows police to ignore the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement and draw blood from that suspect without consent or a warrant, regardless of whether there is an opportunity to obtain a warrant. How municipalities in St. Louis County, Mo., profit from poverty. [Scroll down] Some of the towns in St. Louis County can derive 40 percent or more of their annual revenue from the petty fines and fees collected by their municipal courts. A majority of these fines are for traffic offenses, but they can also include fines for fare-hopping on MetroLink (St. Louis's light rail system), loud music and other noise ordinance violations, zoning violations for uncut grass or unkempt property, violations of occupancy permit restrictions, trespassing, wearing "saggy pants," business license violations and vague infractions such as "disturbing the peace" or "affray" that give police officers a great deal of discretion to look for other violations. Police Facial Recognition Systems Have Registered Over 117 Million Americans. Massive nationwide study in 2006 reveals that thirty-six percent of Americans are in a facial recognition database, and the number is growing rapidly. Law enforcement is mostly unregulated and agencies are free to drift toward a police state reality. Supreme Court hears DUI case in which blood was ordered drawn from unconscious driver without a warrant. A Wisconsin DUI case in which police officers ordered the blood of an unconscious man be drawn for evidence without first getting a warrant was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday [4/23/2019]. Prosecutors argued that drawing the blood of unconscious drivers helps convict those who kill thousands of people a year in alcohol-related car accidents, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. They said the process of getting a warrant is too inconvenient and that Wisconsin's implied consent law does not require officers to get a warrant before drawing the blood of those suspected of driving while intoxicated, including individuals who are unconscious at the time. Police Sicced a Dog on a Surrendering Man. Will the Supreme Court Review the Doctrine That Gave Them Immunity? When two Nashville police officers responded to a home burglary report in 2014, they found Alexander Baxter hiding in a basement. Baxter put his hands in the air. Nevertheless, the police unleashed a K-9 unit, which bit Baxter under his armpit. Baxter sued the officers for excessive force, but in 2018 the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that, whether or not Baxter's rights were violated, the officers were immune from his lawsuit. It wasn't clearly established, the court said, that using a police dog to apprehend him while his hands were raised was unconstitutional. The decision hinged on a notorious doctrine, known as "qualified immunity," that protects police from lawsuits when reasonable officers wouldn't know they were committing a constitutional violation. Now the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is asking the Supreme Court to reconsider not just Baxter's case but the entire doctrine of qualified immunity, which has faced a growing bipartisan chorus of criticism. You may soon have to give your DNA to the state and pay $250 for the privilege. Arizona could soon be one of the first states to maintain a massive statewide DNA database. And if the proposed legislation passes, many people — from parent school volunteers and teachers to real estate agents and foster parents — will have no choice but to give up their DNA. Under Senate Bill 1475, which Sen. David Livingston, R-Peoria, introduced, DNA must be collected from anyone who has to be fingerprinted by the state for a job, to volunteer in certain positions or for a myriad of other reasons. Coming Soon to a Police Station Near You: The DNA 'Magic Box'. They call it the "magic box." Its trick is speedy, nearly automated processing of DNA. "It's groundbreaking to have it in the police department," said Detective Glenn Vandegrift of the Bensalem Police Department. "If we can do it, any department in the country can do it." Uncle Sam Wants Your DNA: The FBI's Diabolical Plan To Create A Nation Of Suspects. Actually, if the government gets its hands on your DNA, they as good as have you in their clutches. Get ready, folks, because the government — helped along by Congress (which adopted legislation allowing police to collect and test DNA immediately following arrests), President Trump (who signed the Rapid DNA Act into law), the courts (which have ruled that police can routinely take DNA samples from people who are arrested but not yet convicted of a crime), and local police agencies (which are chomping at the bit to acquire this new crime-fighting gadget) — is embarking on a diabolical campaign to create a nation of suspects predicated on a massive national DNA database. Twenty Things You Probably Didn't Know about Kamala Harris. [#2] Harris strongly supports "familial DNA searching," in which police take DNA samples from crime scenes and compare them to existing databases to look for not just any direct matches in criminal databases, but any familial matches. Police have gradually expanded the practice's reach, from checking DNA collected against existing samples of convicted criminals to checking them against samples in the databases of genealogy web sites and genetic-testing companies like 23andMe and Ancestry.com. California allows the collection and preservation of DNA samples from anyone who is arrested, even if they're not charged with a crime. Police Want the Ability to Control Self-Driving Cars. It seems the number of perplexing regulatory questions relating to self-driving cars are piling up as fast as automakers can create workable prototypes. So will we have it all settled by the time these autonomous vehicles are "street-ready?" A new report suggests — maybe not. Reuters recently covered a 39-page summary of a March meeting amongst regulatory stakeholders, including the federal DOT and several industry groups, where they settled on a fairly scary thesis: that the question is not IF but WHEN a massive cyberattack targeting autonomous vehicles would occur, and that it was imperative to spend time now in preparation. Incrementalism: The Editor says... Don't Register Anything. [Scroll down] Actually, entering your information into a medical marijuana registry can put a red flag next to your name in so many ways. Colorado marijuana patients have been surprised during traffic stops to discover that cops knew they were registered users. Cops are supposed to have access to the registry only under limited circumstances, but the data has obviously been shared more widely than many people envisioned. What Country Is This? Forced Blood Draws, Cavity Searches and Colonoscopies. Forced cavity searches, forced colonoscopies, forced blood draws, forced breath-alcohol tests, forced DNA extractions, forced eye scans, forced inclusion in biometric databases: these are just a few ways in which Americans are being forced to accept that we have no control over our bodies, our lives and our property, especially when it comes to interactions with the government. Worse, on a daily basis, Americans are being made to relinquish the most intimate details of who we are — our biological makeup, our genetic blueprints, and our biometrics (facial characteristics and structure, fingerprints, iris scans, etc.) — in order to clear the nearly insurmountable hurdle that increasingly defines life in the United States: we are now guilty until proven innocent. How the Supreme Court Came to Embrace Strip Searches for Trivial Offenses. The Fourth Amendment was designed to stand between us and arbitrary governmental authority. For all practical purposes, that shield has been shattered, leaving our liberty and personal integrity subject to the whim of every cop on the beat, trooper on the highway and jail official. The framers would be appalled. How California police are tracking your biometric data in the field. EFF and MuckRock teamed up in August to reveal how state and local law enforcement agencies are using mobile biometric technology in the field by filing public records requests around the country. With the help of members of the public who nominated jurisdictions for investigation, we have now obtained thousands of pages of documents from more than 30 agencies. Because of the volume of records we've received so far — docs continue to flow in faster than EFF and MuckRock's teams can read through them — we're starting with California. Nine of the agencies have responded to our requests with documents, while many more claimed they didn't have any records. Of those that did respond, most employed a digital fingerprinting device. Facial recognition has also been widely embraced among agencies in San Diego County, with Santa Clara County law enforcement agencies close behind. GA Cops Arresting Innocent SOBER People For DUI? Katelyn Ebner is one such victim who spent a night in jail and months fighting DUI charges, all because of what one attorney accurately calls police "guesswork." Georgia law enforcement officers are now given the amazing power of arresting people on the "suspicion" they're under some type of influence. You heard right. That means no breathalyzer or blood test. Just an certifiable "expert" law enforcement officer deciding he or she can know more than the processes that science has already proven it can do — with 99.9% accuracy. Washington's DUI-E Law Now Makes It Illegal to Text, Smoke and Even Eat While Driving. The charge of "driving under the influence" used to only apply to drivers who were under the influence of drugs or alcohol — but it will now apply to drivers who text, eat, smoke, read or groom while driving in the state of Washington. The implementation of the Driving Under the Influence of Electronics Act was expedited from January 2019 to July 23 after Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed a partial-veto, and insisted that "public safety is better served by implementing this bill this year." Appeals Court Says Right To Bear Arms Isn't A Right If Cops Are Banging On Your Door In The Middle Of The Night. Qualified immunity — a legal doctrine that originates from court decisions rather than statute — received another boost from the federal court system last week. Qualified immunity is the concept that allows overreaching and abusive government employees and officials to stay one step ahead of accountability. If their actions don't "clearly violate" established law and/or precedent, police officers, etc. can walk away unscathed from deprivations of other people's life and liberty. Cops Given Pass For Shooting Innocent Man In His Own Home. At issue in this case isn't whether these shootings by cop will continue in the future. They will, and this case just makes that more likely, but judges should not be deciding cases based on their social import. In other words, there is an objective standard against which their actions should be judged in this particular case, and that doesn't change one iota based on what may or may not happen in the future. Judges aren't social workers, soothsayers or witchdoctors — or at least, they shouldn't be. Cops given pass for shooting innocent man in his own apartment. There was no warrant and no reason to suspect the apartment resident in Lake County, Florida, of a crime. But police officers who said they were investigating a speeding motorcyclist, to which the man had no links, pounded on the door at 1:30 in the morning. When Andrew Scott, 26, answered the door, carrying a weapon for defense because of the vigorous knocking at an unlikely hour, an officer shot and killed him. Now, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has given the officer a pass for the killing, prompting an outraged dissent from four justices on the panel. How California police are tracking your biometric data in the field. [Scroll down] Nine of the agencies have responded to our requests with documents, while many more claimed they didn't have any records. Of those that did respond, most employed a digital fingerprinting device. Facial recognition has also been widely embraced among agencies in San Diego County, with Santa Clara County law enforcement agencies close behind. In addition, In addition, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department's biometrics system includes tattoo recognition, while the Orange County Sheriff's Department is also investigating iris recognition. Boston police pause plans for $1.4-million social media surveillance program. The Boston Police Department on Friday [1/13/2017] announced it was putting a hold on its plans to purchase $1.4 million worth of social media surveillance software, signaling a win for civil liberties activists who said the program was poised to chill free speech and hindered other constitutionally-protected activity. Local law enforcement had sought social media analytic technology capable of scouring the internet for potential threats, including the ability to monitor platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube in real time for any data of interest to investigators, according to an Oct. 2016 request for proposals. Police Use Surveillance Tool to Scan Social Media. A Chicago company has marketed a tool using text, photos and videos gleaned from major social media companies to aid law enforcement surveillance of protesters, civil liberties activists say. The company, called Geofeedia, used data from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as nine other social media networks, to let users search for social media content in a specific location, as opposed to searching by words or hashtags that would be less likely to reveal an exact location. Geofeedia marketed its abilities to law enforcement agencies and has signed up more than 500 such clients, according to an email obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union. Local Police Using CIA-funded Software to Track All Citizens' Social Media Posts. Stories from across the country have revealed that several local law enforcement agencies — in Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Oakland among others — and corporations — the Mall of America and McDonald's — have purchased surveillance software from a company called Geofeedia. The program will inform police of the physical location from which you made your last social media post. It will provide the content of your posts, too. Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook are all included in the surveillance sweep, and all the updates posted to any one of these popular services will be uploaded to one single database available all day, every day, to police. Geofeedia's pamphlet promoting the service touts their intelligence platform's ability to provide "targeted surveillance" and "perpetual monitoring" of social media posts. Literature produced by Geofeedia also promotes its software's ability to track large crowds, including "protests," athletic events, and natural disasters. Police use TEN different types of checkpoints, with more on the way. Police and the Border Patrol are using 'general crime control checkpoints' to harass and detain motorists across the country. [...] Sixteen years ago, the Supreme Court held that checkpoints established for general crime control purposes are unconstitutional. So why are police and the Border Patrol stopping innocent motorists? DHS admits DUI checkpoints are REALLY about checking a person's immigration status. Watched. Police forces across the United States are stockpiling massive databases with personal information from millions of Americans who crossed paths with officers but were not charged with a crime. A person can end up in one of these databases by doing nothing more than sitting on a public park bench or chatting with an officer on the street. Once there, these records can linger forever and be used by police agencies to track movements, habits, acquaintances and associations — even a person's marital and job status, The Post and Courier found in an investigation of police practices around the nation. What began as a method for linking suspicious behavior to crime has morphed into a practice that threatens to turn local police departments into miniature versions of the National Security Agency. In the process, critics contend, police risk trampling constitutional rights, tarnishing innocent people and further eroding public trust. 'Pre-Search' Is Coming to U.S. Policing. News that the city of Baltimore has been under surreptitious, mass-scale camera surveillance will have ramifications across the criminal justice world. When it comes to constitutional criminal procedure, privacy, and the Fourth Amendment, it's time to get ready for the concept of "pre-search." [...] Since January, police in Baltimore have been testing an aerial surveillance system developed for military use in Iraq. The system records visible activity across an area as wide as thirty square miles for as much as ten hours at a time. Police can use it to work backward from an event, watching the comings and goings of people and cars to develop leads about who was involved. [...] But the technology collects images of everyone and everything. From people in their backyards to anyone going from home to work, to the psychologist's or marriage counselor's office, to meetings with lawyers or advocacy groups, and to public protests. Supreme Court OKs warrant-less breathalyzer tests in drunk driving arrests. The Supreme Court on Thursday [6/23/2016] issued a split ruling on a trio of drunk driving cases, deciding that while law enforcement may require a breathalyzer for suspected drunk drivers without a warrant after an arrest, a warrant is required for a blood test in the same circumstances. The consolidated cases, referred to as Birchfield v. North Dakota, came from three separate drunk driving arrests where the men arrested were prosecuted or threatened with prosecution for refusing a blood or breath test. The Editor says... Supreme Court gives police more power to stop and question people. The Supreme Court on Monday [6/20/2016] gave police more power to stop people on the streets and question them, even when it is not clear they have done anything wrong. In a 5-3 ruling, the justices relaxed the so-called exclusionary rule and upheld the use of drug evidence found on a Utah man who was stopped illegally by a police officer in Salt Lake City. The court, in an opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas, said that because the man had an outstanding arrest warrant for a traffic violation, the illegal stop could be ignored. Opposing viewpoint: Oklahoma governor suspends use of controversial card readers. Oklahoma state police have suspended a program that uses scanner technology to detect counterfeit credit cards amid growing concerns that it could allow cops to empty the bank accounts of law-abiding citizens. The decision was ordered by Gov. Mary Fallin hours after FoxNews.com published a report Friday about concerns that the scanners could make civil forfeiture too easy. "The Department of Public Safety needs to formulate a clear policy for using this new technology," said Fallin. "It can be a viable tool for law enforcement only if authorities are able to ensure Oklahoma motorists and others driving through our state that it will be used appropriately." Pot breathalyzers and saliva tests: Indiana High Court Rules People Cannot Resist Illegal Entry by Police Into Homes. People have no right to resist if police officers illegally enter their home, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in a decision that overturns centuries of common law. Drone owners are warned that their aircraft will be SHOT DOWN if they fly within 32 miles of the Super Bowl. Drone owners have been warned to leave their aircraft at home during the Super Bowl. The FAA has released a statement insisting any unmanned planes flying within 32 miles of Levis Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Sunday [2/7/2016] will be shot down. The government agency produced a 20-second video that tells people to bring their lucky jerseys, face paint and team spirit to the game — but leave the gadgets as it is a 'No Drone Zone'. The Editor says... The Editor continues... The FAA says it will shoot down your drone if you fly within 36 miles of the Super Bowl. The Federal Aviation Administration is taking a tough stance on drones at the Super Bowl this year: bring them, and we'll shoot them down. The "no-drone-zone" spans much further than just the stadium itself too, extending out 36 miles from Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The no-fly zone encompasses nearly all of San Francisco to the north and west, Santa Cruz, Morgan Hill and Gilroy to the south, and San Jose and Pleasanton to the north and east. The new way police are surveilling you: Calculating your threat 'score'. As a national debate has played out over mass surveillance by the National Security Agency, a new generation of technology such as the Beware software being used in Fresno has given local law enforcement officers unprecedented power to peer into the lives of citizens. Police officials say such tools can provide critical information that can help uncover terrorists or thwart mass shootings, ensure the safety of officers and the public, find suspects, and crack open cases. [...] But the powerful systems also have become flash points for civil libertarians and activists, who say they represent a troubling intrusion on privacy, have been deployed with little public oversight and have potential for abuse or error. Supreme Court says police officers can be ignorant about the law, but you and I can't. The protests sweeping across the country in the wake of Ferguson, Mo., and the death of Eric Garner were sparked, in part, by the notion that police can get away with things no other person can. On Monday [12/15/2014], the Supreme Court added fuel to the fire when it ruled, for the first time, that police are allowed to make "mistakes of law" during the course of enforcing the law. If that doesn't make much sense, you've gotten a taste of how the Supreme Court works. Gun owners fear Maryland cops target them for traffic stops. A year ago this New Year's Eve, John Filippidis of Florida was driving south with his family on Interstate 95 when the Maryland Transportation Authority Police pulled over his black Ford Expedition and proceeded to raid it while his twins, wife and daughter looked on — separated in the back seats of different police cruisers. The officers were searching for Mr. Filippidis' Florida-licensed, palm-size Kel-Tec .38 semi-automatic handgun, which he left at home locked in his safe. Supreme Court Erodes Key Check On Government Power. Briefly, the facts in Heien v. North Carolina are that a North Carolina police officer pulled over Nicholas Heien because one of his car's brake lights was out. The state's law requires only one light to be working, so the stop was based on a mistake of law. After Heien was pulled over, he gave consent for the officer to search his car. The officer found cocaine in the car, then placed Heien under arrest. Heien later claimed the initial stop was not legal under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court ruled that the mistake for the initial stop, which was a seizure under the Fourth Amendment, was reasonable and therefore lawful. Residents criticize roadblocks in search for Pennsylvania ambush suspect. Last week, troopers issued a "shelter-in-place" order that kept some residents from leaving their houses for more than a day; those who weren't already at home could not go back. Residents contend the directive left elderly relatives unattended and pets unfed, and resulted in lost wages for workers who couldn't leave their houses. The American Red Cross opened a shelter for displaced residents from two townships late Monday [9/22/2014]. Suspect in Pennsylvania trooper slaying planned for months, police say. "Based on our investigations, we know Frein has prepared and planned extensively for months or maybe years," State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said Sunday [9/21/2014]. He planned his attack and retreat. However, we believe we are closing in on him." [...] Frein is on the run and possibly armed, but there is no indication that he is a danger to anyone other than law enforcement, Bivens said. [Italics added.]The Editor says... An Open Letter To My Friends In Law Enforcement. Let me just be blunt: ever since Ronald Reagan left office, both Republican and Democrat presidential administrations — along with both Republican and Democrat congresses — in Washington, D.C. are turning the United States of America into a giant Police State. [...] The totalitarian regimes of history could not have succeeded in implementing their enslavements over the people without the submission and cooperation of the citizen-policemen within their countries. Nor can a Police State be constructed in America without your submission and cooperation. My concern is, the Police State is already being constructed in this country; and most of you don't seem to even realize it — or don't want to realize it. In fact, some of you become angry with people like me when we try to warn the American people about it. This shows that you have already become acclimated and accepting of it. Here is the problem: in today's America, virtually every police agency and sheriff's office is being dictated to, intimidated by, and bribed by the federal government. Much of the policies you operate under — and training you receive — comes straight out of the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Justice Department. America's expanding police state. Keep in mind, people in the political class constantly reveal their contempt for regular citizens. That contempt is the inevitable result of a group of people who have convinced themselves that big government is necessary because the little people can't control their own lives. These same politicians and bureaucrats then begin to see themselves a genuinely better than everyone else. After all, if they were just like us, then they'd be part of the rabble, and they can't have that. The solution to their dilemma is a police state. Supreme Court: Pennsylvania cops no longer need a warrant to search citizens' vehicles. Pennsylvania police officers no longer need a warrant to search a citizen's vehicle, according to a recent state Supreme Court opinion. The high court's opinion, released Tuesday [4/29/2014], is being called a drastic change in citizens' rights and police powers. Previously, citizens could refuse an officer's request to search a vehicle. In most cases, the officer would then need a warrant — signed by a judge — to conduct the search. That's no longer the case, according to the opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery. The ruling, passed on a 4-2 vote, was made in regard to an appeal from a 2010 vehicle stop in Philadelphia. Checkpoint Charlie: Horror: Police force man to undergo invasive anal operation. When New Mexico police stopped a local driver for committing a minor moving violation, they decided to check whether he was carrying drugs in his anus. So they procured a warrant, drove him to two different hospitals, forced him to endure eight medical procedures — including an invasive colonoscopy — and stuck him with the bill. No drugs were found. The Drift toward Despotism. David Eckert was pulled over by police in Deming, N.M., for failing to come to a complete halt at a stop sign in the Walmart parking lot. He was asked to step out of the vehicle, and waited on the sidewalk. Officers decided that they didn't like the tight clench of his buttocks, a subject on which New Mexico's constabulary is apparently expert, and determined that it was because he had illegal drugs secreted therein. Supreme Court appears to support a warrantless police search. In a case that could narrow legal protections against police searches, a majority of Supreme Court justices sounded ready Wednesday [11/13/2013] to reject an appeal from an imprisoned Los Angeles gang member who contended that after he objected to a search and was then taken away under arrest, police unconstitutionally entered his apartment. Justices appeared to agree with attorneys for the Los Angeles Police Department, who defended the search as legal because the gang member, Walter Fernandez, was not present and his girlfriend gave police permission to enter their home. E-ZPasses Get Read All Over New York — Not Just At Toll Booths. After spotting a police car with two huge boxes on its trunk — that turned out to be license-plate-reading cameras — a man in New Jersey became obsessed with the loss of privacy for vehicles on American roads. The man, who goes by the Internet handle "Puking Monkey," did an analysis of the many ways his car could be tracked and stumbled upon something rather interesting: his E-ZPass, which he obtained for the purpose of paying tolls, was being used to track his car in unexpected places, far away from any toll booths. The Real Purpose of Oakland's Surveillance Center. City leaders have argued that Oakland needs a massive surveillance system to combat violent crime, but internal documents reveal that city staffers are also focused on tracking political protesters. NYPD Designates Mosques as Terrorism Organizations. The New York Police Department has secretly labeled entire mosques as terrorist organizations, a designation that allows police to use informants to record sermons and spy on imams, often without specific evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Designating an entire mosque as a terrorism enterprise means that anyone who attends prayer services there is a potential subject of an investigation and fair game for surveillance. The Editor says... Turning public schools into forts. [A]s I point out in my book, "A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State," with every school police raid and overzealous punishment that is carried out in the name of school safety, the lesson being imparted is that Americans — especially young people — have no rights at all against the state or the police. Indeed, the majority of schools today have adopted an all-or-nothing lockdown mindset that leaves little room for freedom, individuality or due process. Supreme Court OKs DNA swab in serious arrests. A narrowly divided Supreme Court ruled Monday that police can collect DNA from people arrested but not yet convicted of serious crimes, a tool that more than half the states already use to help crack unsolved crimes. The case, described by Justice Samuel Alito as "the most important criminal procedure case that this court has heard in decades," represented a classic test between modern crime-fighting technology and centuries-old privacy rights. Law enforcement applaud ruling on DNA swabbing. The Supreme Court has ruled that is now legal for law enforcement to take the DNA of people arrested, even though they have not yet been convicted of a crime. The decision was a big victory to police and victim rights groups in the fight over how and when your DNA can be used, with the justices being nearly split down the middle. Court: Police can take DNA swabs from arrestees. A sharply divided Supreme Court on Monday [6/3/2013] cleared the way for police to take a DNA swab from anyone they arrest for a serious crime, endorsing a practice now followed by more than half the states as well as the federal government. Court's DNA Ruling Brings U.S. a Step Closer to 'Gattaca'. The day that DNA cheek swabs officially became the new fingerprints deserves to be marked and remembered — and not just because of the inevitable march of technology. No, the Supreme Court's 5-4 holding today [6/3/2013] in Maryland v. King, that anyone arrested for a "serious crime" can have his or her DNA taken without any suspicion, is a landmark because it represents a major step toward a "Gattaca" world. This means that evidence of a crime can be collected without any particular suspicion, avoiding the pesky requirement of a warrant that the Founding Fathers thought would give us liberty and privacy. A few days later... Why were roadblocks in St. Clair and Bibb counties asking for blood and DNA samples this weekend? St. Clair and Bibb county authorities are confirming there were roadblocks at several locations in their counties Friday and Saturday [June 7-8, 2013] asking for blood and DNA samples. However, the samples were voluntary and motorists were paid for them as part of a study, they said. According to Lt. Freddie Turrentine of the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department, it isn't the first time such roadblocks have occurred in the area. The Editor says... Police Agencies Are Assembling Records of DNA. Slowly, and largely under the radar, a growing number of local law enforcement agencies across the country have moved into what had previously been the domain of the F.B.I. and state crime labs — amassing their own DNA databases of potential suspects, some collected with the donors' knowledge, and some without it. Another instance, in another state: Motorist checkpoint in Reading draws questions. A private firm with a federal contract — and backed up by city police — forced motorists off Laurel Street and into a private parking lot Friday [12/13/2013] to question them about their driving habits and ask for a swab of their mouth. "I feel this incident is a gross abuse of power on many levels," Reading resident Ricardo Nieves, one of those stopped, told City Council Monday. He said federal and local tax dollars were being used to stop innocent people without probable cause, and allow a private company to hire uniformed police to force citizens to listen to their questions. He said he wasn't told what the swab was for, but added, "Clearly it was for DNA." Police presence at traffic stop troubling. Appearance is everything. So when a police car's lights are flashing along the side of a city street lined with cones, and someone forces motorists into a parking lot that contains uniformed city police, forgive the motorists for believing police are operating that checkpoint. And when people with no ID tell motorists they want to ask about their driving habits but also ask for a mouth swab, forgive the motorists for believing they want a DNA sample without a warrant. And when the same people say the questions and the swab are voluntary but don't take no for an answer, forgive the motorists for thinking it's not really voluntary after all. Because that's the way it's supposed to appear: not voluntary. Red flags raised after local drivers asked for DNA samples at police checkpoint. Drivers in St. Charles County were asked to take part in a government survey that involved the odd request of blood and saliva samples. One driver who emailed News 4 said a deputy and others dressed in safety vests directed drivers to take part and answer questions about alcohol and driving. The study is being conducted by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and is supposed to be voluntary. Constitutional Law attorney Bob Herman said the study does raise some red flags. NTSB recommends lowering blood alcohol level that constitutes drunk driving. The National Transportation Safety Board voted to recommend to states that they lower the blood-alcohol content that constitutes drunken driving. Currently, all 50 states have set a BAC level of .08, reflecting the percentage of alcohol, by volume, in the blood. If a driver is found to have a BAC level of .08 or above, he or she is subject to arrest and prosecution. The Real Threat to America. Of the many uncomfortable truths emerging from last week's bombing and subsequent manhunt — including the fact that American cities are still vulnerable to Islamic terrorism — one of the most troubling but least talked-about is the fact that martial law may now become part of the municipal playbook. It was not two immigrant brothers — "losers," their uncle called them — who closed down Boston, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, put military vehicles in its streets, and sent men in helmets and flak jackets into peoples' homes. It was our elected leaders: our local, state, and federal political officials and law-enforcement authorities. If any Bostonians objected to having their civil liberties trampled on, they were drowned out by their cheering neighbors who massed in the streets to celebrate the authorities who had turned their city into something resembling Fallujah under American military occupation. Stop-and-Frisk Practice Violated Rights, Judge Rules. A federal judge ruled on Monday [8/12/2013] that the stop-and-frisk tactics of the New York Police Department violated the constitutional rights of minorities in the city, repudiating a major element in the Bloomberg administration's crime-fighting legacy. The use of police stops has been widely cited by city officials as a linchpin of New York's success story in seeing murders and major crimes fall to historic lows. The Editor says... Ted Nugent to Newsmax: 'Stop and Frisk Violates the 4th Amendment'. "As I sit here with you today, I am convinced that the concept of stop-and-frisk violates the Fourth Amendment," Nugent said in an exclusive interview with Newsmax before taking the stage at the packed House of Blues in Orlando. "But I don't agree with the judge in New York — that gal that presumed the cops are stopping someone based on the color of their skin. "That is wrong. They do not profile based on color of skin. They profile on suspicious behavior. It's a behavioral response, not an ethnic or skin-color response. I am certain of that." Stop-and-Frisk in Court, Police Testify About Orders to Increase Stops. The NYPD's stop and frisk program began in 2002 and since then, according to data compiled by the New York Civil Liberties Union, the police have conducted 4 million such "interrogations," peaking in 2011 with 685,724. The vast majority of stops are of blacks and Hispanics. Little more than ten percent end in any kind of summons. The program is currently being challenged in court, where testimony yesterday [3/21/2013] revealed police officers were ordered to increase their number of stop and frisks. Opposing viewpoint #1: Opposing viewpoint #2: Gun Conviction Buckles Under Stop and Frisk. Police officers may question an individual "where there is an 'objective, credible reason, not necessarily indicative of criminality,' to initiate the level one encounter," the unsigned opinion states. [Jeffrey] Johnson's conduct, however, "did not provide an objective credible reason" for the officers to question him. The officers said their suspicions were heightened because of a history of crime and drug dealing in the building, but the appellate majority rejected that explanation. Technologies of Surveillance. The NYPD is testing a new type of security apparatus that uses terahertz radiation to detect guns under clothing from a distance. As Police Commissioner Ray Kelly explained to the "Daily News" back in January, If something is obstructing the flow of that radiation — a weapon, for example — the device will highlight that object. Ignore, for a moment, the glaring constitutional concerns, which make the stop-and-frisk debate pale in comparison: virtual strip-searching, evasion of probable cause, potential racial profiling. [...] We're scared of both terrorism and crime, even as the risks decrease; and when we're scared, we're willing to give up all sorts of freedoms to assuage our fears. Often, the courts go along. NYPD Commissioner says department will begin testing a new high-tech device that scans for concealed weapons. The department just received a machine that reads terahertz [sic] — the natural energy emitted by people and inanimate objects — and allows police to view concealed weapons from a distance. "If something is obstructing the flow of that radiation, for example a weapon, the device will highlight that object," Kelly said. A video image aired at a Police Foundation breakfast Wednesday [1/23/2013] showed an officer, clad in a New York Jets jersey and jeans, with the shape of a hidden gun clearly visible under his clothing when viewed through the device. The Editor says... Could Martial Law Be Right Around The Corner For Americans? Merely a week after military exercises featuring Blackhawk helicopters were flown over the Miami skyline, the Florida Highway Patrol has informed the public that it will set up "vehicle inspection checkpoints" on specific roadways in at least six Florida counties that will be established during daytime hours. State troopers will be requesting drivers licenses and conducting a visual inspection of every third vehicle once the checkpoint has been established. Dear Mr. Security Agent, Today, we already see genital groping by federal agents and at least one Texas state trooper who was caught on film. Their goal is not "public safety," but public humiliation, intimidation, and control. Cowing the peasants into meek obeisance to unchecked authority. Can waterboarding American "detainees" in clandestine torture centers really be that far behind? Ron Paul Correctly Rebuts LaPierre's Call For Fed to Fund Armed School Guards. With just days remaining in his final term in Congress, veteran congressman Ron Paul has come out strongly against NRA President Wayne LaPierre's recommendation that armed officers should be stationed in schools nationwide. Paul has consistently called attention to the growing technological apparatus of the police state — surveillance cameras, metal detectors, X-ray scanners and other intrusive devices aimed at keeping tabs on criminals and ordinary citizens — some of which are necessary, other parts of which are questionable and objectionable. Guns and the Government. The Supreme Court has ruled consistently and countless times that the "police power," that is, the power to regulate for health, safety, welfare and morality, continues to be reposed in the states, and that there is no federal police power. It's not about public safety. It's all about raising money for the state government. HB 2525 would allow stops for no insurance. The proposed law, House Bill 2525, would allow law enforcement officers to pull over a vehicle if they believe it is uninsured. Currently, officers do not have "probable cause for a stop" on that basis alone. A blogger was dragged off to a mental ward because of his Facebook posts.
Exactly what you'd expect in North Korea, China, or Cuba. There is more about Brandon Raub on this page. The Case Against Driver's Licenses: Even a person merely walking down the street, having committed no crime, can be compelled to produce his ID. And if that person lacks an ID, that person will very likely be arrested on the spot and held until his identity is ascertained. This is the reality of Homeland America. You must have permission to move. You do not move freely. Even if you are walking. When Government Knows No Limitation: New DOJ Rules Allow More Intrusive Searches. Shouldn't law-abiding citizens be able to live their lives free from the fear that our own government would underhandedly manipulate our rights in their pursuit of an investigation? After all, the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution enumerates a limitation on the federal government, one that prevents "unreasonable search and seizure." Today, this enumerated protection is being ignored by — of all institutions — the U.S. Justice Department, under the darkened shadow of Attorney General Eric Holder. The Indiana Supreme Court Guts the Fourth Amendment. A ruling by the state of Indiana's Supreme Court last Thursday [5/12/2011] in Barnes vs. Indiana has seemingly vacated the Constitution's Fourth Amendment provision against unreasonable search and seizure. The case involved a domestic dispute and the Court ruled 3-2 that police can force their way into a person's home without a warrant if they deem such entry is necessary. Court: No right to resist illegal cop entry into home. Overturning a common law dating back to the English Magna Carta of 1215, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday [5/12/2011] that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police entry into their homes. In a 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David writing for the court said if a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the officer's entry. Supreme Court gives police a new entryway into homes. The Supreme Court, in an 8-1 decision in a Kentucky case, says police officers who loudly knock on a door in search of illegal drugs and then hear sounds suggesting evidence is being destroyed may break down the door and enter without a search warrant. Department of Pre-Crime. Moral of this story: If you hear the cops at the door, quietly get off the john, and whatever you do, don't flush. Read the whole account of the case, which ought to get your blood boiling. Indiana Sheriff: If We Need to Conduct Random House to House Searches We Will. According to Newton County Sheriff, Don Hartman Sr., random house to house searches are now possible and could be helpful following the Barnes v. State of Indiana Supreme Court ruling issued on May 12th, 2011. When asked three separate times due to the astounding callousness as it relates to trampling the inherent natural rights of Americans, he emphatically indicated that he would use random house to house checks, adding he felt people will welcome random searches if it means capturing a criminal. Giving too much license to cops. A series of recent court rulings, including one this week from the US Supreme Court, appear to erode one of our bedrock defenses against the arbitrary, abusive power of the state. At risk: the Fourth Amendment guarantee to all American citizens of the right to be "secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." Home Insecurity. While the U.S. Supreme Court said police may force their way into a home to prevent the destruction of evidence, the Indiana Supreme Court, in a less noticed decision issued the week before, said police may force their way into a home for any reason or no reason at all. Although the victim of an illegal search can challenge it in court after the fact, three of the five justices agreed, "there is no right to reasonably resist unlawful entry by police officers." They thereby nullified a principle of common law that is centuries old, arguably dating back to the Magna Carta. US Police State Begins Exponential Expansion. The recent Indiana Supreme Court ruling against the US Constitution, rendering the Fourth Amendment null and void in that State by patently leftist activist judges, is only the latest unconscionable step in a series of actions designed to unravel each and every portion of the Bill of Rights. It is also one of the latest actions designed to compliment and enhance the already jack-booted Obama police State march into our States, our cities and homes. Rally held in protest of 'unlawful police entry' ruling by Indiana Supreme Court. Protesters showed up on the south steps of the Indiana Statehouse Wednesday [5/25/2011], to rally against a controversial ruling by the Indiana Supreme Court. The ruling, which allows police to enter your home without a warrant, sparked threatening emails and phone calls from those angry with the court's decision. High court urged to rethink ruling on resisting police. A group of 71 state lawmakers is asking the Indiana Supreme Court to reconsider a ruling that says people don't have the right to resist police officers who enter their homes illegally. Tennessee Speeders Could Get Fingerprinted. Motorists stopped for traffic violations in Tennessee could be fingerprinted if state lawmakers approve a bill pending in the legislature. Currently, when drivers are cited during traffic stops, police officers ask for the driver's signature on the ticket, but the proposed bill would allow police departments to eliminate signatures and collect fingerprints. Cops pay 3 a.m. visit to tell man his door is unlocked. A Lakeville man says he feels violated after two police officers woke him up at 3 a.m. to tell him his door was unlocked. Their surprise visit was part of a public service campaign to remind residents to secure their homes to prevent thefts. The Editor says... Stories of Anguish at the Hands of Police: Nine stories of abuse at the hands of California policemen. California police state:
The totalitarians are fully in control of America's largest state. The California Supreme Court Washington DC is a police state. The End of "The Right to Remain Silent": Every kid who has watched a re-run of TV cop shows knows that "you have the right to remain silent" when the police come knocking. Except that, now, you don't. In Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District of Nevada, the Supreme Court, in one stroke, turned Justice Jackson's advice on its head, and turned generations of TV cop shows into so much false advertising. Silence, said the Court, is not only not privileged: it can get you thrown in jail. Court Opens Door To Searches Without Warrants. It's a groundbreaking court decision that legal experts say will affect everyone: Police officers in Louisiana no longer need a search or arrest warrant to conduct a brief search of your home or business. Leaders in law enforcement say it will keep officers safe, but others argue it's a privilege that could be abused. None Dare Call It Fascism. Fascism operates under the principle of "might makes right," through the exercise of raw, naked governmental police power. In America today, the increasingly rough-shod violation of constitutional rights by government agents in the name of "protecting the environment" or the "war on drugs" is an indication of how far we are proceeding in this direction.Busting Posse Comitatus: Military Cops Arrest Civilians in Florida City. In Homestead, Florida, Posse Comitatus is dead. The Air Force now responds to civilian crime in the small city, population around 30,000. "Here at Homestead Air Reserve Base we have the Crime Stop hotline that allows anyone either on base or off the installation to anonymously report a crime," explains the Homestead Air Reserve Base website. Police Turn to Secret Weapon: GPS Device. Across the country, police are using GPS devices to snare thieves, drug dealers, sexual predators and killers, often without a warrant or court order. Privacy advocates said tracking suspects electronically constitutes illegal search and seizure, violating Fourth Amendment rights of protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, and is another step toward George Orwell's Big Brother society. Random Pat-Downs Turn PATCO Into Police State. Commuters who ride PATCO trains between southern New Jersey and Philadelphia should expect random searches of their clothing, pockets, bags and vehicles on their morning trip to work. Twelve Transportation Security Administration screeners, armed with an explosive-sniffing K-9, checked 663 commuter bags randomly selected from the morning rush at the Lindenwold station Tuesday [9/7/2010]. ... "We can conduct any kind of search we want," said [Delaware River Port Authority Police Chief David] McClintock. Wisconsin court upholds GPS tracking by police. Wisconsin police can attach GPS to cars to secretly track anybody's movements without obtaining search warrants, an appeals court ruled Thursday [5/7/2009]. Courts Divided on Police Use of GPS Tracking. If a police officer puts a GPS tracking device on your car, should he or she have to get a warrant first? It's a simple question, but one, so far, without a clear legal answer. In an example of how unsettled the issue is, in just the past week, appeals courts in two different states delivered completely opposite rulings. Supreme Court to Decide Constitutionality of Warrantless GPS Monitoring. At the Obama administration's urging, the Supreme Court agreed Monday [6/27/2011] to review whether the government, without a court warrant, may affix GPS devices on suspects' vehicles to track their every move. The Justice Department told the justices that "a person has no reasonable expectation of privacy in his movements from one place to another," and demanded the justices undo a lower court decision that reversed the conviction and life sentence of a cocaine dealer whose vehicle was tracked via GPS for a month without a court warrant. Officer admits to hiding GPS device in woman's car. A former Costa Mesa police officer has admitted to hiding a Global Positioning System device in a woman's car without her knowledge, court records show. Aaron Paul Parsons pleaded no contest Monday to a misdemeanor charge of unlawfully using an electronic tracking device, according to Orange County Superior Court records. Cops must get warrant if DUI suspect balks at blood test. Blood samples taken from motorists without their explicit on-the-spot consent can't be used to convict them of drunken driving, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday. The justices acknowledged Arizona has an "implied consent" law saying motorists agree to provide a sample of blood, breath or urine for testing if they are charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Supreme Court to decide whether police can take your blood without your permission. The case involves a traffic stop in Missouri, but its ramifications could range far wider, potentially rewriting drunk-driving laws in all 50 states. "It comes down, basically, to are you going to see blood draws every single time someone gets pulled over for a DUI," said Michael A. Correll, a litigator with the international law firm Alston & Bird, who examined the legality of blood draws in the West Virginia Law Review last year. The NDAA Repeals More Rights. Innocent people are wrongly accused all the time. The Bill of Rights is there precisely because the founders wanted to set a very high bar for the government to overcome in order to deprive an individual of life or liberty. To lower that bar is to endanger everyone. When the bar is low enough to include political enemies, our descent into totalitarianism is virtually assured. Protests Near Secret Service Protected Folk Effectively Outlawed. In case you question the value of having a Justin Amash or a Ron Paul in the House of Representatives, they were two of only three votes against H.R. 347, the "Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011." ... Although [Secret Service] protection isn't extended to just everybody, making it a federal offense to even accidently disrupt an event attended by a person with such status essentially crushes whatever currently remains of the right to assemble and peacefully protest. Can the Secret Service Tell You To Shut Up? When the Framers of the Constitution wrote the First Amendment, they lived in a society in which anyone could walk up to George Washington or John Adams or Thomas Jefferson on a public street and say directly to them whatever one wished. They never dreamed of a regal-like force of armed agents keeping public officials away from the public, as we have today. And they never imagined that it could be a felony for anyone to congregate in public within earshot or eyesight of certain government officials. And yet, today in America, it is. Another Brick Removed. HR 347 was recently signed into law by President Obama. This statute had wide support amongst both parties of Congress. In essence, it criminalizes disruptive behavior upon government grounds, at specially designated national events (Super Bowl, nominating conventions, etc.) and anywhere that Secret Service is protecting "any" person. Obviously, the goal of this law is to enhance the ability of the Secret Service to protect those persons it is charged to do so; but in extending this power, this law eviscerates the citizens' rights to assemble and petition under the First Amendment. Surveillance without proper authority is illegal. On June 2, 2009, a janitor in an office building in New Brunswick, N.J., noticed what he thought was terrorist-related literature and sophisticated surveillance equipment in an office he had been assigned to clean. He told his boss, who called the local police, who notified the FBI. Later in the day, the FBI and the New Brunswick police broke into the office and discovered five men busily operating the equipment. Four of the men were officers from the New York City Police Department, and the fifth was a CIA agent. The conundrum faced by all of these public servants soon became apparent. Who should arrest whom? Supreme Court Ruling Allows Strip-Searches for Any Offense. The Supreme Court on Monday ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that officials may strip-search people arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no reason to suspect the presence of contraband. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, joined by the court's conservative wing, wrote that courts are in no position to second-guess the judgments of correctional officials who must consider not only the possibility of smuggled weapons and drugs but also public health and information about gang affiliations. Kentucky Supreme Court Rules Highway Checkpoints Illegal. Kentucky's Supreme Court has ruled that highway checkpoints of drivers who refused to display a $10 city sticker in their window are in fact unconstitutional and therefore, illegal. The city of Liberty required all 1,850 residents and anyone working within the city limits to purchase and display the sticker, but teachers at a local school had failed to do so, prompting local police to take action. Those individuals who refused to purchase a $10 sticker and place it in their vehicle windows were targeted by city officials, who mandated that police set up roadblocks. The Forfeiture Racket: Police and prosecutors won't give up their license to steal. [Scroll down] Criminal forfeiture can also prevent defendants from effectively contesting the charges against them. When the DEA accuses a doctor of illegally prescribing pain medication, for example, one of the first actions it takes is to freeze his assets for possible forfeiture. Since most doctors make their entire living from their practice, nearly everything they own can be frozen. Many accused doctors therefore don't have the resources to hire legal representation, much less experts to counter government assertions that they're prescribing controlled substances outside the normal practice of medicine. Forfeiture makes it nearly impossible for them to mount a credible defense. FBI, DEA warn IPv6 could shield criminals from police. Relax. This has nothing to do with criminals. It's cop bluster designed to get us to wiretap ourselves "before the cops get Congress to force us to". We Don't Need No Stinking Warrant: The Disturbing, Unchecked Rise of the Administrative Subpoena. Meet the administrative subpoena: With a federal official's signature, banks, hospitals, bookstores, telecommunications companies and even utilities and internet service providers — virtually all businesses — are required to hand over sensitive data on individuals or corporations, as long as a government agent declares the information is relevant to an investigation. Via a wide range of laws, Congress has authorized the government to bypass the Fourth Amendment — the constitutional guard against unreasonable searches and seizures that requires a probable-cause warrant signed by a judge. DNA test jailed innocent man for murder. Scientists, lawyers and politicians have raised new concerns over the quality of forensic evidence testing — so is the criminal justice system too reliant on lab tests without realising their limitations? Special rights and privileges for police officers Louisiana's New 25-Foot Legal Forcefield for Police Threatens Accountability and Civil Liberties. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry last week signed a law that criminalizes approaching police officers within 25 feet, provided that the officer tells any would-be approachers to stand back, effectively creating a legal force field that law enforcement can activate at their discretion. "No person shall knowingly or intentionally approach within twenty-five feet of a peace officer who is lawfully engaged in the execution of his official duties after the peace officer has ordered the person to stop approaching or to retreat," the law states. Offenders could receive a $500 fine and be jailed for up to 60 days. The bill was authored by state Reps. Bryan Fontenot (R-Thibodaux), Michael T. Johnson (R-Pineville), and Roger Wilder (R-Denham Springs). Fontenot argued that the legislation would give law enforcement officials "peace of mind" as they carry out their duties. Louisiana Law Sets 25-Foot Buffer Zone Between Disruptive Bystanders, On-the-Job Police. Critics of a new Louisiana law that makes it a crime to approach within 25 feet of a police officer under certain circumstances feared the measure could hinder the public's ability to film officers — a tool that has increasingly been used to hold police accountable. Under the law, anyone who is convicted of "knowingly or intentionally" approaching an officer, who is "lawfully engaged in the execution of his official duties," and after being ordered to "stop approaching or retreat" faces up to a $500 fine, up to 60 days in jail or both. The law was signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry and goes into effect Aug. 1. While the legislation's language does not specifically mention filming, critics say that by default it would limit how close a person can be to observe police. Opponents have also gone further to question the law's constitutionality, saying it could impede on a person's First Amendment rights. The Editor says... Criticising Cops May Soon Become A Hate Crime, New Law Proposal. Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), has asked Congress to expand the hate crime laws in order to protect law enforcement employees — calling on members of the public who "targets" these individuals to be punished. The definition of a hate crime, according to Congress is criminal offence against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation". But Jim Pasco, director of the National Fraternal Order of Police has said that the definition isn't enough. "Right now, it's a hate crime if you attack someone solely because of the color of their skin, but it ought to be a hate crime if you attack someone solely because of the color of their uniform as well". Kentucky Senate Passes Bill to Make Taunting Police a Crime. It could become a crime to taunt a police officer in Kentucky, under a bill that passed the state Senate on Thursday [3/11/2021]. The measure was filed months after Louisville, the state's largest city, became the site of huge protests in the wake of the police killing of Breonna Taylor. The bill passed the Republican-dominated Senate 22-11 and now awaits House input. Under the legislation, anyone who "accosts, insults, taunts, or challenges a law enforcement officer with offensive or derisive words, or by gestures or other physical contact, that would have a direct tendency to provoke a violent response" would be guilty of a misdemeanor and face up to 90 days in jail and fines. Kentucky Bill Would Make It A Crime To Insult Police Officers. A bill advancing out of a Kentucky Senate committee on Thursday would make it a crime to insult or taunt a police officer to the point where the taunts provoke a violent response. Senate Bill 211 passed by a 7-3 vote, according to reports. The proposal was a response to riots throughout the country last summer, said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Benton, a retired police officer. "In these riots, you see people getting up in officers' faces, yelling in their ears, doing everything they can to provoke a violent response," Carroll said, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. Georgia Gov. Kemp signs new law to protect police, other first responders. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law Wednesday a measure designed to offer additional protections to police officers despite opposition from a national anti-police brutality movement. House Bill 838 makes bias-motivated intimidation of first responders a crime. It would apply to anyone responsible in the death or serious bodily injury of a police officer, firefighter or emergency medical technician, and to anyone who causes damage of $500 or more to property owned by police and first responders. The crime is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. The measure says the sentence must be stacked atop any other related sentence, which could lead to long sentences for violations such as vandalism aimed at officers. Texas: Man Gets 99 Years In Prison For Kicking A Cop While Child-Murdering Cop Walks Free. The Free Thought Project has reported on, quite literally, thousands of instances of police officers hurting or killing citizens, many of them entirely innocent. In the overwhelming majority of the cases, the officers are not charged with a crime and most of those keep their jobs. If those roles are reversed, however, and a citizen dares fight against a police officer, that citizen will face punishment every single time. A Texas man learned this the hard way this week after being sentenced to 99 years in prison for kicking a cop. Sheriff Mistakes Innocent Man for Suspect, Dumps 10 Rounds Into Him — NO CHARGES. Kimble County Sheriff Hilario Cantu is taking fire in the form of criticism after he opened fire on an innocent man, dumping 10 rounds into him and his truck. Quite unlike what the general public would face, in the form of criminal charges, Cantu will likely face no charges, serve no time in jail, and will potentially not even be disciplined for shooting up the wrong moving vehicle. What started out as a traffic stop for a missing license plate nearly turned deadly for both one police officer and one hapless innocent bystander. After Admitting to Felony Sex Crimes, Deputy Gets No Jail, Won't Register as Sex Offender. A Contra Costa County cop who had sex with inmates will not have to face jail time nor will he have to register as a sex offender following what some are calling a sweetheart deal he and his lawyers made with prosecutors. NY bill to make water attacks on cops a felony faces Democratic opposition. A Republican bill that would increase penalties for throwing water on cops, after a series of incidents in which members of New York's Finest were doused by bucket-wielding mobs, is facing some initial Democratic opposition months before the bill could even be taken up. Republicans in the state's assembly were angered by viral videos of cops being drenched by groups of local residents — with NYPD officers apparently feeling unable to respond and walking away. Police have since made a number of arrests related to the cases, but the incidents have sparked national attention, with President Trump calling the incidents "a total disgrace" last month. The Editor says... Everything They're Telling You About Mass Shootings Is Wrong. Democrats have complained about police brutality for years. The police, they assure us, are out of control. And, the story goes, they have it in for anyone whose skin is not lily white. You can't trust the racist cops, they tell us. Remember Ferguson, Missouri, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Tamir Rice, and others. But these same Democrats also tell us that the police are the only ones who should have guns, which is to say that the police we're not supposed to trust, who are guilty — in their view — of unspeakable crimes against Americans, should be given a monopoly on physical force and that private citizens should be deprived of their most effective means of defending themselves. Mayor de Blasio's NYPD vehicle was driving wrong way when it crashed with truck, sparking cover-up. Mayor de Blasio's NYPD SUV was cruising the wrong way with lights and sirens blaring when it got into a car crash, sparking a frantic cover-up by his security detail, a new accident report obtained by the Daily News shows. NYPD Det. Edgar Robles was driving west against traffic on E. 135th St. in the unmarked black Chevy Tahoe when he collided with a boiler truck at Fifth Ave. at 8:15 a.m. on a Saturday in August 2015, according to the report provided by the department. The mayor and two other detectives were in the vehicle at the time. Rapper Charged With Terrorism for Lyrics Criticizing Police. Individuals who engage in controversial and unpopular political or artistic expression, by criticizing the police for example, can be labeled terrorists and subject to prosecution and suppression by the government as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to let stand a lower court ruling in Knox v. Pennsylvania. By refusing to hear the case of rapper Jamal Knox (a.k.a. "Mayhem Mal"), who was charged with making terroristic threats after posting a song critical of police on Facebook and YouTube, the U.S. Supreme Court has approved the government's expansion of the definition of "true threats." Under Texas Law Banning Annoying or Offensive Electronic Messages, Man Faces a Year in Prison for Criticizing Police. Warning that the government must not be given the power to criminalize speech it deems distasteful or annoying, The Rutherford Institute has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the prosecution of a Texas man who faces up to one year in jail and a $4000 fine for sending emails to police criticizing them for failing to respond to his requests for assistance. In an amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court, Rutherford Institute attorneys argue that the prosecution of Scott Ogle for sending complaints to a sheriff's office, including one email stating that officials were "[figuratively urinating]" on the Constitution, violates the First Amendment's safeguards for freedom of speech and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Moreover, Institute attorneys argue that the Texas law under which Ogle was charged, which makes it a crime to send "annoying," "alarming" or "harassing" electronic messages, is so over-broad that it could be used to punish a negative review of a restaurant posted online or caustic Facebook posts. Can It Be a Crime to "Intimidate" Police Officers by Threatening to Complain About Them? No, says the Fifth Circuit, striking down as unconstitutionally overbroad a Louisiana statute that apparently bans threatening public employees with lawsuits or complaints — and not just with violence — "with the intent to influence [the employee's official] conduct." Why should hitting a cop be a federal crime? Last week, the House of Representatives — by a margin of more than 10 to 1 — approved a completely gratuitous, blatantly unconstitutional bill that would make assaulting a police officer a federal crime. The lopsided vote was a bipartisan portrait in cowardice that vividly showed how readily politicians forsake their oaths of office to keep their hold on power. The Protect and Serve Act prescribes a prison sentence of up to 10 years for anyone who "knowingly assaults a law-enforcement officer," thereby "causing serious bodily injury," or "attempts to do so." Such conduct is, of course, already illegal in all 50 states, and there is no reason to think local law enforcement agencies are reluctant to arrest and prosecute people guilty of it. If You Limit ANY Free Speech, This Is What You Ge. There are so many problems with this law. Why are masks not protected forms of expression? What about hats, hoods, and sunglasses? At what point do those fit the definition of a mask? Ironically, police routinely wear gas masks and face-covering riot helmets at these kinds of events. Apparently, the law doesn't apply to them. But that is fitting since most laws don't apply to the people who enforce them. Have you ever threatened to shoot someone with a rifle because they had a mask on? Me neither. Police are a different breed. No Charges for Wichita Officer Who Killed Innocent, Unarmed Man in 'Swatting'. A Kansas district attorney announced yesterday that a police officer who shot an unarmed man on his own porch will not face charges because the officer was operating under the impression that he was responding to a hostage situation. The fatal shooting of Andrew Finch in Wichita, Kansas, drew national attention in December, as it appeared to be the first case of a "Swatting" call turning deadly. "Swatting" is a particularly nasty prank in which someone calls 911 and falsely claims to be involved in a dangerous hostage situation, drawing a SWAT raid to somebody else's home and terrifying the targets. In this case, a Los Angeles man reportedly made the false call as a result of some video game dispute. Off-Duty Cop Kills Baby After Smashing into Car Going 94mph — Mom Charged with Homicide. A mother has been grieving the loss of her baby for the last few months after an off-duty cop — recklessly driving 94 mph — smashed into her car, killing her daughter and injuring all the other occupants. Now, months after this officer took the life of her child, his fellow officers are charging HER with homicide. Brittany Stephens, 20, was arrested on Tuesday [2/27/2018] on charges of homicide — in spite of the fact that the officer caused the deadly crash. 8 Really Bad Laws That Went Into Effect Today. [#4] Enhanced sentencing for crimes against first responders: In Nevada, enhanced penalties kick in today [10/1/2017] for hate crimes committed against first responders, including police and firefighters, because they are first responders. Criminals convicted of such crimes can face between 1 and 20 years in prison on top of the sentence for the crime. The enhancement, at least, can't exceed the length of the original sentence. Police Union Tries to Cast Criticism of Police as 'Blue Racism'. The New York Police Department Sergeants Benevolent Association is catching hell — deservedly so — for a YouTube video titled Blue Racism. The union's video is exactly what its title suggests it is. It suggests that mass criticism of police behavior is akin to actual racism, judging people on the basis of wearing a blue uniform. Hate Crime Laws Codify Inequality. Because hate crime laws elevate some victims above others, their scope tends to expand over time. If race and religion are covered, doesn't fairness demand that disability, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity be included as well? A Louisiana law that took effect last summer classifies attacks on police officers, firefighters, or paramedics as hate crimes too. Similar "Blue Lives Matter" bills have been introduced in several other states. This unseemly competition, in which interest groups vie for recognition and status, has very little to do with justice, which requires equal treatment under the law. Louisiana Passes 'Blue Lives Matter' Law To Make Attacking Cops A Hate Crime. Louisiana enacted a new law Thursday [5/26/2016] to make it a hate crime to attack police officers. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the "Blue Lives Matter" bill Thursday afternoon, adding police to the list of protected categories under hate crime law such as race and religion. Louisiana law adds an additional five years in prison and $5,000 in fines for an offense against one of the listed groups, which now includes cops, firefighters, and EMS personnel. "The overarching message is that hate crimes will not be tolerated in Louisiana," Edwards said. Louisiana Makes it a "Hate Crime" to Target Police Officers! State Rep. Lance Harris introduced the bill after Darren Goforth, a Texas sheriff's deputy who was in uniform, was killed in 2015, while getting gas for his patrol vehicle. "It looked like it was strictly done because someone didn't like police officers, like a hate crime," Harris told CNN. "In the news, you see a lot of people terrorizing and threatening police officers on social media just due to the fact that they are policemen," he added. "Now, this protects police and first responders under the hate-crime law." A similar bill was introduced at the federal level in March. Blue Lives Matter bill makes targeting police a hate crime in Louisiana. Thursday [5/26/2016] the Democratic Governor of Lousiana, John Bel Edwards, signed a bill making it a hate crime to target police officers or other first responders. The bill is known as blue lives matter, a take off on the Black Lives Matter movement that has been critical of police in the past year. Louisiana governor signs 'Blue Lives Matter' bill. Louisiana's governor signed a first-of-its-kind bill Thursday afternoon [5/26/2016] that makes it a hate crime to target police officers and first responders. Called the "Blue Lives Matter" bill, the measure expands the state's hate crime law to include law enforcement officers, firefighters and other emergency medical services personnel. "The overarching message is that hate crimes will not be tolerated in Louisiana," Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards told FoxNews.com in a written statement. He added that he has "great respect" for the work that law enforcement officers do and the daily risks they take. The Editor says... Louisiana governor signs 'Blue Lives Matter' bill. Louisiana's governor signed a first-of-its-kind bill Thursday afternoon that makes it a hate crime to target police officers and first responders. Called the "Blue Lives Matter" bill, the measure expands the state's hate crime law to include law enforcement officers, firefighters and other emergency medical services personnel. "The overarching message is that hate crimes will not be tolerated in Louisiana," Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards told FoxNews.com in a written statement. He added that he has "great respect" for the work that law enforcement officers do and the daily risks they take. The Editor says... Killing law enforcement would be a hate crime under new bill. Attacking or killing cops and other first responders would be a hate crime under a bill passed by the state Senate on Tuesday [5/9/2017]. The Community Heroes Protection Act would make cops, firefighter and EMTs among those to be included in the state's hate crimes laws which bump violent crimes up a level and impose harsher penalties. The legislation, sponsored by retired Upstate undersheriff, Republican Sen. Fred Akshar, was spurred in part by the death of 135 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in the United States last year. That's the highest number since 2011 and 21 of those resulted from ambush killings, the highest number in two decades. The Editor says... Pawns: Cops used for political leverage and favors -- and scapegoats -- and guinea pigs. Electric police cars: another Harris/Biden boondoggle. Among the spectacularly bad ideas politicians foist on Normal Americans are Electric Vehicle (EV) mandates. Worse is mandating electric vehicles for police vehicles. As one might expect, early adopters of this idiocy are California police departments: [...] Police cars [...] can easily exceed 100,000 miles in 18 months, and by then they're usually ready for the scrap heap. They have to be able to run 24/7/365 with often inadequate maintenance, and they wear out tires in as little as 8,000 miles. They're constantly running, have enormous electric power drain, need full force heat in winter, full force air conditioning in summer, and have to be refueled toward the end of every shift unless call volume prevents it, then the next shift has to find time. Internal combustion engined (ICE) vehicles can handle it. EVs can't. Few EVs, other than full sized SUVs, are large enough for all the equipment police vehicles have to carry, to say nothing of transporting prisoners. California police agencies going green with Teslas complain they're 'nearly unusable' as squad cars. California police departments are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on Teslas to comply with the state's zero-emissions mandate — only for some to find them "nearly unusable" as squad cars. Multiple municipalities have started buying modified electric cars since Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill in 2020 ordering that all vehicles sold in California be zero-emission by 2035. The city of Irvine even spent a whopping $150,000 on just one tricked-out Tesla Cybertruck, drawing the ire of taxpayers because it is not for regular patrol but more to turn heads in anti-drug D.A.R.E. programs, according to LAist. Woman In London Is Attacked By A Migrant, and The Police Threaten To Arrest Her Because She Called Him A 'Filthy Migrant'. This woman went to Marks And Spencers in Chelsea, London and she was attacked again on Kings Rd by another migrant. The police don't turn up in time and when they do they are more interested in policing her speech instead of arresting the filthy migrant that attacked her. [Video clip] Two-tier policing is not a myth. The widespread claims that Britain has a problem with 'two-tier policing' have clearly touched a nerve with the establishment. Earlier this week, when a Sky News reporter asked Mark Rowley, Britain's most-senior police officer, if he would 'end two-tier policing', Rowley grabbed the mic from the journalist's hand and dropped it on the ground. He later issued a statement claiming that it is 'complete nonsense' that police would treat anyone differently according to their race, religion or political leanings. I dare say Sir Mark doth protest too much. The media have also declared, in unison, that there is no bias to be found in our police. Almost every major media outlet has carried an article purporting to 'fact-check' and 'debunk' the claims around two-tier policing. [...] That 'two-tier policing' is a myth, invented and spread by the far right no less, is simply taken as a given. This is a bit strange, no? In some cases, the very same outlets that, until now, have been running near weekly articles on how the police are institutionally or structurally racist, riddled with some '-ism' or '-phobia', proclaim that any suggestion of unfairness in policing is preposterous. UK Police March Leftist Agitators Down To A Peaceful Anti-Migrant Protest To Start Trouble. Man in Liverpool films the Police deliberately guide Far Left Protesters towards those deemed 'Far Right' by the Government to purposely spark conflict. This is an absolute setup. This is all planned. This is deliberate. [Video clip] Britain's two-tier policing favors Muslim extremists over British patriots. It is both disgusting and disrespectful that the Metropolitan Police are attacking British men and women so aggressively, arresting and handcuffing them, when they rarely lay a hand on violent Muslim agitators for fear of being called "racist." Shame on them. [Video clip] Even more outrageous, police have started raiding British patriots' homes. [Video clip] Florida teen charged with felony for leaving 'donut burnout' skid marks on LGBT pride mural. A Florida teenager was arrested and charged with a felony on Monday after leaving skid marks with his car on a street pride mural. Christian Maier, 18, was charged with felony mischief and racing on a street after surveillance footage caught him doing "donut burnouts" with his car on St. Petersburg's "Progressive Pride Street Mural" at 3:45 a.m. on May 22, according to the St. Petersburg Police Department. Police said the video showed Maier "recklessly maneuvering his car in a way to leave several tire marks across the mural and causing significant damage." The Editor says... Police criticised for ignoring sex of 'person convicted of rape'. Police have been criticised for describing as a "person convicted of rape" a male attacker who later chose to identify as a woman. [Paywall — no thanks.] Tampa Police Department touts Pride-themed badge 'as a conversation starter'. A collectible "conversation starter" was released for one Florida police department that left many challenging their prioritization for "gay badges." Community outreach from law enforcement officers has typically been encouraged and celebrated for fostering open lines of communication. However, the latest move from the Tampa Police Department to mark "Pride" month was readily razzed as a rainbow-colored waste of resources. Oh Boy, The Tampa Police Have Gone Full-Gay For Pride Month. [Video clip] Criminal Convictions and the Presidency. In 1996, Atlanta police detained and kidnapped the only black Republican candidate for President from the grounds of a local TV station hosting a Republican Presidential candidate debate from which Alan Keyes was excluded. Keyes compared Atlanta's civic behavior to that of the Soviet Union. Keyes was handcuffed, driven to the top of a distant city parking garage and dropped off by Atlanta police in order to prevent him from protesting his exclusion from the presidential debate. He was never charged with a crime. The Democrat mayor of Atlanta, who personally picked up Keyes, apologized for the city's conduct. Blue line getting thinner in West Coast states as police take refuge in Idaho. The Gem State has become a popular moving destination for both retired and active-duty police officers, a trend Horst and Idaho Fraternal Order of Police President Bryan Lovell broadly attribute to a more positive climate. "They come to Idaho where they can enjoy their career and make a difference," Lovell told Fox News Digital. "They see that, in large part, our communities are supportive of law enforcement and public safety." Cities large and small across the country suffered severe staffing shortages on the heels of anti-police protests in 2020. Four years later, some departments still can't stop the bleeding. Seattle's police staffing is at its lowest level since the 1990s, according to a March KING 5 report. Earlier this year in California, the Alameda Police Department offered a $75,000 signing bonus — the highest in the nation — on top of a six-figure starting salary to try to entice new officers. California hemorrhages its law enforcement officers to a red state. Men and women whose job may require them to lay their lives on the line, who handle some of the scummiest and darkest realities in the history of humanity, want to be respected and supported by their employers and community? No kidding. And it's not just a few cops here and there — deep blue pro-crime cities are hemorrhaging law enforcement officers: [...] But, what I find doubly obnoxious is that instead of implementing policies that work, like the tough-on-crime policies of red states, the government uses taxpayer dollars — like the $75,000 bonus in Alameda, California — to woo new officers. The people responsible for this don't pay, in the slightest, and it's enraging. White Pennsylvania State Trooper Is Fired For Arresting A Black Transvestite Who Clearly Broke Several Laws. The Pennsylvania State Police are no longer employing the state trooper who arrested Philadelphia transgender and husband LGBTQ+ officials back in March 'it's not cause you're black.' "We can confirm he's no longer employed by our department," a Pennsylvania State Police spokesperson said on Friday, May 10. Pennsylvania State Police said that the state trooper initially pulled over a gray Infinity sedan for 'multiple Vehicle Code violations.' Morrison's husband reportedly pulled up behind the trooper's car, and police said the driver was 'verbally combative' and 'resisted arrest.' [Video clip] DC Police Refuse to Clear Protesters From George Washington University Campus Because of Bad 'Optics'. At 3:00 AM on Saturday morning, Washington, D.C. police were lined up and prepared to enter the campus of George Washington University to clear anti-Israel protesters from a tent encampment they had built. [Advertisement] However, according to the Washington Post, the police got the order to stand down from their superiors. Two sources told the Post the cops were "worried about the optics of moving against a small number of peaceful protesters, according to two officials familiar with the talks." The office of Mayor Muriel Bowser was also involved in the decision for the cops to back off. The Post reported that "city officials told their university counterparts they wanted to avoid images of violent altercations between police and protesters flashing across TV screens across the country." The Editor says... London: Met Police Tell Jewish Man He Will Be Arrested For Being 'Openly Jewish' At A Pro-Hamas Rally. The Metropolitan Police of the UK approached a Jewish man who was walking near a pro Hamas protest: "You are quite openly Jewish. This is a pro-Palestinian march. I am not accusing you of anything, but I am worried about the reaction to your presence." Another officer "Because your presence is antagonizing them." [Video clip] Trans-hating 'parody of JK Rowling' was created by Police Scotland officers. A fictional trans-hating character called "Jo", who women's groups claim is an offensive parody of JK Rowling, was invented by Police Scotland officers, it has emerged. The national force faced scrutiny this week over a "scenario" presented at an official hate crime event in which "Jo", a gender-critical campaigner who, like Rowling, has a large social media following, states that trans people should be sent to gas chambers. The Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign group, which ran the hate crime event in collaboration with police, revealed the Jo character had been "written by officers at Police Scotland based on their expertise". Women's groups said the revelation raised new doubts over the ability of police to impartially enforce new hate crime laws, which come into force on April 1. They say the fictional narrative written by officers is offensive as it reinforces inaccurate claims commonly made by trans-rights activists that gender-critical campaigners such as Rowling have been radicalised. Swiss Police Shut Off Electricity During An Anti-Immigration Speech, Arrest Speaker. In a shocking development, armed police intervened to shut down the power and arrest Martin Sellner just as he was preparing to deliver a controversial anti-immigration lecture in Switzerland. [Video clip] NY cop claims he was fired for writing traffic ticket to lawyer who flashed PBA card to try dodge trouble. A Westchester County cop claims he was unceremoniously fired just months into the job for writing a traffic ticket to a PBA-connected lawyer — and is now suing the county in federal court. Joseph Saetta, 29, said he got into hot water with the suburban department just two months after joining the force — all because he didn't honor a police benevolent association "courtesy card," part of an unspoken code in law enforcement for cops to look the other way on minor infractions. It ended up costing him his job, the lawsuit claims. Polish Farmer: "Everything was peaceful and suddenly the police came out of nowhere, [...] simply provoking people". Just before I left on my vacation, demonstrations by farmers across Europe had made an impact, as the European Parliament nixed some of its unrealistic green plans for a global utopia. Gone, for example, are rules to force the reduction of nitrogen (essential for fertilizers) and methane (generated by cattle) and plans to persuade European citizens to eat less meat. At least for now. Protests are continuing, and in Poland, there are reports that farmers clashed with police. [...] Tomasz Obszanski, a farmers' union leader and protest organiser told Reuters that police began blocking protesters from leaving as the demonstration ended. "Everything was peaceful and suddenly the police came out of nowhere, there were loud bangs, the police started using (tear) gas and simply provoking people leaving the protest," said Obszanski, leader of the NSZZ RI Solidarnosc union for individual farmers. Another City 'At the Brink of Disaster' After Defunding Police. [W]ho could have guessed that defunding the police in your city would cause problems? Well, residents of Austin, Texas, have discovered just that the hard way. The city has been plagued by police staffing shortages and longer 911-call response times since the Austin City Council voted to defund the police department in 2020. Last week, the shortages resulted in a section of the city being completely without any police officers for a few hours. "Previous councils and leadership have actively worked against our officers and department, which has now put us in a free-falling staffing crisis," Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock told Fox News Digital. "Twice now we've had our contract voted down or it has been allowed to expire. Each year since 2017, we've lost more officers than we've hired. We had to gut our specialized units and force detectives to work backfill on patrol just to try and respond to 911 calls." Embattled Democrat mayor [is] accused of using police as personal 'Gestapo' to target those who didn't support her campaign. By now, you've probably heard of Tiffany Henyard, the embattled Biden-loving Democrat mayor of Dolton, Illinois, who recently came under fire for raking in a "combined salary of nearly $300k" to fund her glamorous first-class lifestyle and high-maintenance beauty routine — for context, the town's residents have a median income of around $24,000. But Henyard refused to concede that perhaps isn't the best example of a civil servant and lambasted her dissenters, telling them they should be "ashamed" of themselves for daring to petition for accountability and financial transparency. (Note: all Henyard's critics were also black.) Well there's been a development, and the allegations are simply scandalous. We're Living Under A Tyranny Of Mediocre Morons. You might think that it would be difficult to cause any kind of serious problem in a Wendy's drive-thru. The concept is pretty simple: You sit in the car, and when it's your turn, you drive up, get your order, and then you drive off. In an orderly society, it's a pretty straight-forward, fool-proof system. But in the days after George Floyd was canonized, of course, all rules were suspended. Things started breaking down. Accordingly, on June 12 of that year, a 27-year-old man named Rayshard Brooks decided to treat the Wendy's drive-thru like a motel room. He got drunk out of his mind and passed out in his car, as he waited to get his hamburger and frosty. Then, when two police officers arrived in an attempt to keep the drive-thru moving, Brooks started fighting with one of the officers, stole his taser, and began running away. A few seconds later, Brooks turned around and pointed the stolen taser at the officers, at which point he was shot and killed. It was not only a justified police shooting but perhaps one of the most justified police shootings ever caught on film. Nevertheless, just a few days later, the top prosecutor in Fulton County Georgia, a guy named Paul Howard, decided to charge both officers on the scene with a variety of crimes. The cops don't want to offend Muslims, even if they're murderers. Ohio Official's Arrest After She Criticized Sheriff at Public Meeting a Free Speech Violation, Judge Orders Damages. On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that the constitutional rights of an Ohio elected official were violated when she was arrested for criticizing the sheriff at a public meeting, AP reported. U.S. District Judge J. Philip Calabrese ruled that the arrest violated the First Amendment. Niki Frenchko, the sole Republican on the three-member Trumbull County Board of Commissioners, was arrested during a commissioners' meeting on July 7, 2022. She was charged under a contentious Ohio law that criminalizes actions or speech intended to "prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting." Blue
States Are Hiring Illegals as Police, Giving Them Guns. As you likely know, blue
states have been playing a cute and dangerous game to drive up their gun crime stats:
The Editor says... Canada Goes Full Communist After Cop Deliberately Walks Into Conservative Journalist, Then Arrests Him For Assault. "I came here to do my job, and now I'm handcuffed." Rebel News' beloved Mission Specialist David Menzies was just brutally arrested for practicing journalism in the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill. Menzies was physically obstructed by an unnamed RCMP officer, who interfered with his attempt to question Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. Menzies was then swarmed by officers and hauled off in a paddy wagon for an unknown charge at a memorial service held for Canadians killed after the Iranian military shot down Flight PS752 four years ago. "Welcome to [Justin Trudeau]'s Canada," Menzies can be heard saying. "This is what they do to journalists. I was merely trying to scrum Minister Freeland and the RCMP officer blocked me, and evidently this is a trumped-up charge of assault, folks. I came here to do my job and now I'm handcuffed." [Video clip] Toronto Cops Deliver Hot Coffee To Jew-Hating Protesters Blocking The Road To A Jewish Community. Facing mounting criticism for an alleged tolerance of a series of road-closing anti-Israel protests, Toronto police members have sparked renewed outrage thanks to a video showing them delivering coffee to said protestors. Posted to social media platform 'X' at 2 p.m. on Saturday by Toronto lawyer and online commentator Caryma Sa'd, the video shows a Toronto police constable — his face concealed behind a black neck gaiter — delivering a cardboard urn of Tim Hortons coffee and a stack of cups — to anti-Israel protestors occupying the closed Avenue Road bridge over Highway 401. The bridge, located within Toronto's largest Jewish area, was the site of numerous demonstrations by anti-Israel activists. That prompted Toronto police to close the bridge during the protests, prompting criticism of police kowtowing to protestors over enforcing the law. [Video clip] Philadelphia's police department fired its first-ever DEI officer. It is news that is sure to be welcomed by the throngs of people who are tired of the race-obsessed society the nation has become. Earlier this week, the Philadelphia Police Department fired its first-ever DEI officer, Leslie Marant, Philadelphia's WPVI reported. Marant was hired by former Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw in April 2022, according to multiple sources. It was considered an odd move at the time by Outlaw, especially since the city was in the middle of a wave of violent crime. Less than four months after setting a Philadelphia record for most homicides in a single year, Outlaw chose to pander to left-wing politics and hire Marant as DEI officer. Moreover, Philadelphia would go on to have the second-highest total for homicides in its history in 2022, recording over 500 murders for the second consecutive year. If it all goes wrong, with whom will the police side? [Scroll down] Local Police: These are county sheriff's offices and municipal police forces. There will be a real blue/red divide, but it will be pretty much limited to large blue cities and red everything else. [...] Line cops tend to distrust and dislike such political slugs as much as the political slugs distrust and hate them. [...] As with the military, some line cops will play along, at least at first, out of a misplaced sense of duty, but that won't last long, nor will they if they don't quickly wise up. As with our military, cops tend to be conservative. Duty, honor and integrity are part of their everyday lives, as are grooming standards. If a cop loses his reputation for integrity, his career is over. Americans don't realize it, but cops actively apply the Constitution every day. They may not be able to quote chapter and verse, but they know how vital it is. Some of them are also veterans or members of the National Guard. They're not going to be killing their friends, relatives, neighbors and the people they see every day. Law requires California police to use suspect's pronouns upon release of mugshot. A California law taking effect Monday will include preferred pronouns with suspects' mugshots while also limiting their presence on social media. California's AB 994 amended the current law on publishing mugshots, only allowing the mugshots of suspects with violent charges to remain on social media for two weeks. Those posted on social media should also only be posted if "the suspect is a fugitive or an imminent threat to an individual or to public safety and releasing or disseminating the suspect's image will assist in locating or apprehending the suspect or reducing or eliminating the threat." This law will apply retroactively, meaning that agencies will have to delete old mugshots from their social media. However, this law will not apply to the websites or data systems of agencies. The Editor says... Dem who defunded Austin police under fire for requesting enhanced patrols around his home. Just days after Rep. Gregorio "Greg" Casar of Texas openly criticized the Austin Police Department, and following his stint on the city council where he called to defund the same department, Casar reportedly "requested enhanced patrols around his house," according to the Austin Police Retired Officers Association. "It's come to our attention that Anti police king of the defund movement in Austin @GregCasar who only last week called APD an agency with racist practices has requested enhanced patrols around his house for the next week," APROA posted Tuesday on X. Pathetic Police In The UK Arrest An Elderly Man Because He Challenged The Pro-Hamas Mob Yet Didn't Break Any Laws. British police officers detain an elderly man dressed in a suit to 'prevent potential breach of peace' after he made a comment to pro-Palestinian protesters who had taken over Leicester city center chanting pro-Hamas slogans. [Video clip] Stalker case took deadly turn after police redeployed to monitor lockdown breaches. An investigation into a stalker who is believed to have gone on to murder a 23-year-old woman was dropped after police officers were redeployed to monitor lockdown breaches, an inquest heard. Gracie Spinks is thought to have been stabbed to death by Michael Sellers four months after she reported him to Derbyshire Police in February 2021. Sgt Matthew Adams, who supervised Pc Sarah Parker, the officer who initially investigated the case, gave evidence at day five of the inquest into the death of Ms Spinks at Chesterfield Crown Court on Monday. He told the court that during the coronavirus pandemic, Pc Parker had been moved over to a response team and therefore he had not been managing her, or the case, as closely as he normally would have. If the police can scour the internet for hate speech, surely they can arrest protesters calling for the eradication of a nation. On Saturday night, senior officers at Scotland Yard no doubt poured large Glennhoddles all round and congratulated themselves on a job well done. By their own estimation, they were certainly entitled to do so. After all, a potentially volatile large pro-Palestinian demonstration had passed off 'peacefully' and with few arrests. The fact that elements of the 100,000-strong crowd appeared to be calling for a holy war to wipe Israel off the face of the earth didn't seem to trouble the police. No laws had been broken, the cops insisted, pointing out that chants of 'jihad' could be interpreted in several ways. Five times the Met Police stood aside during pro-Palestine protests. The Metropolitan Police has been criticised for its handling of a pro-Palestine rally in London on Saturday. Police said that around 100,000 people attended the rally, where protesters scaled buildings in Whitehall, chanted "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free", and called for "jihad". Only 10 people were arrested during the protests. The arrests were for offences involving fireworks, public order and assaulting an emergency service worker. If you see something, say something. And you'll be ignored. Police should follow the law in the Nashville shooter manifesto case. It's been nearly seven months since a transgender man entered the Covenant School in Tennessee and shot and murdered three nine-year-old children and three adults. According to court filings, this murderer left behind at least 20 journals, a suicide note, and a memoir. Yet, they have not been released to the public to allow for an understanding of the killer's motive. Leftists have fought against the release, either knowing or fearing what information the documents contain. [...] The delay makes it appear that they are attempting to hide something, and since the shooting quickly became a political hot potato, it looks like they are playing politics. The delay only allows speculation to grow over what the documents contain, and that speculation could be more harmful than the truth. The Profit Incentives Driving the American Police State. As with most things, if you want to know the real motives behind any government program, follow the money trail. When you dig down far enough, you quickly find that those who profit from Americans being surveilled, fined, scanned, searched, probed, tasered, arrested and imprisoned are none other than the police who arrest them, the courts which try them, the prisons which incarcerate them, and the corporations, which manufacture the weapons, equipment and prisons used by the American police state. These injustices, petty tyrannies and overt acts of hostility are being carried out in the name of the national good — against the interests of individuals, society and ultimately our freedoms — by an elite class of government officials working in partnership with megacorporations that are largely insulated from the ill effects of their actions. Everywhere you go, everything you do, and every which way you look, we're getting swindled, cheated, conned, robbed, raided, pickpocketed, mugged, deceived, defrauded, double-crossed and fleeced by governmental and corporate shareholders of the American police state out to make a profit at taxpayer expense. Army called in as Met firearms officers put down their guns. Soldiers will be drafted in to replace armed police officers following a mass walkout by firearms teams to protest against the decision to charge one of their colleagues with murder. More than 300 officers — 10 percent of all firearms staff — have refused to carry a gun, forcing Scotland Yard to submit a formal request to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for help with counter-terror policing. On Sunday Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, issued an open letter calling for an overhaul of the way police officers are treated by the justice system and better legal protection for those who use force while on duty. His comments came just hours after Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, gave her backing to firearms officers and said she would launch a review "to ensure they have the confidence to do their jobs while protecting us all". DC-Area Police Department Turns to Puerto Rico To Alleviate Officer Recruiting Shortages. Officer shortages are so dire in the Washington, D.C., area that one county police department is planning to send officials to Puerto Rico in an attempt to bring back hundreds of new recruits, the department announced Monday. Law enforcement officials in Maryland's Prince George's County, which borders D.C., told the city's Fox affiliate that they plan to travel to the Caribbean island "soon" in an attempt to hire the roughly 350 officers they need to achieve a full staff. In addition to the tropical recruitment trip, the county's police department is targeting Hispanic communities at parades and other events across the country and running ads in Spanish. The effort provides a window into the unique strategies that police departments are employing as they work to address the officer shortages that have plagued America's police departments since the height of the Defund the Police movement in 2020. Trump Caravan Blocked in Manhattan by Three Leftists with a Sheet. Trump supporters organized a caravan in Manhattan today. The Trump supporters were planning on traveling through the city and passing by Trump Tower. But then three leftists with a spray-painted sheet stood in the street and blocked traffic. Police did nothing to remove the leftists from the road. [Tweet] The police did not remove the protesters blocking traffic. Asking About Dead Kids In Maui Is Not Allowed. [Tweet with video clip] Search warrant against Marion County Record is Withdrawn by attorney after raid on newspaper offices and 98-year-old co-owner's home triggered her death. The search warrant that authorized a sensational raid on a local newspaper's headquarters and its co-owner's home has been withdrawn. All seized items from the Marion County Record have been released to the newspaper's attorney, five days after they were swiped by the police department. The police chief, Gideon Cody, was accused by newspaper owner Eric Meyer of using 'Hitler tactics' during the raid. His mom, Joan, died following the intense stress. Did 'Gestapo' Raid Over Unpublished NEWS Article Lead To Elderly Woman's Death? Above a certain age, the body is less able to cope with certain stressors. A police raid of a newspaper owner's home over a story that had never been published is a serious source of stress. In the general sense, none of us is guaranteed to be here tomorrow, and the older we get the more deeply that truism is felt. How much more so when someone is nearing their hundredth birthday? But even if we're not guaranteed tomorrow, there is always the possibility that we can manage a few more trips around the sun, even at an advanced age like ninety-eight. Unless some kind of an unexpected shock puts a sudden strain on you. Local police raid, shut down local newspaper. A local news story out of Marion County, Kansas is rapidly going national because of its potential implications for the First Amendment and freedom of the press, along with the puzzling details that set the events in question in motion. The office of the local newspaper, the Marion Country Record was raided by the police on Friday, along with the home of the publisher, Eric Meyer. Computer equipment, cell phones, and boxes of records were seized. One reporter's hand was injured by a police officer. Mayer's nearly 100-year-old wife was so distraught by the events that she could neither eat nor sleep and she died yesterday, despite being reportedly "in otherwise good health for her age." The police claim they were justified in taking these actions, but outraged free speech advocates are demanding answers. This is not off-topic, once you hear the whole story. Police Officers Raid Local Newspaper, Sparking Major First Amendment Concerns. In a bizarre and alarming incident, local law enforcement in a Kansas town raided a newspaper, seizing computers, cell phones, and reporting materials. It is believed that the police department's actions were the result of a response to the media outlet's publishing of articles portraying a restaurant owner in a negative light. This is a rather strange case based on the details that are currently available. But the most obvious concern in this tale is the potential violation of the First Amendment protections of freedom of the press. [...] "As far as I can see, the entirety of law enforcement in Marion County was involved in this," [Eric] Meyer explained, noting that all four employees of the department were present at the search. There is quite a bit to unpack here. From a freedom of the press perspective, this action on the part of local law enforcement raises some critical implications regarding Constitutional protections for media. It is possible that the warrant used to justify the raid could violate federal laws protecting the ability to gather and distribute information. This raid could easily have a chilling effect on journalists in the state if it is allowed to stand. Critics like Emily Bradbury, executive director of the Kansas Press Association, blasted the raid as an "assault on the very foundation of democracy and the public's right to know." Update: Kansas Police Chief Who Led Raid on Small Kansas Newspaper Owner's Home and Caused Her Death Has Been Suspended. The Kansas Police Chief who led a raid on a small Kansas newspaper has been suspended from his post. Dave Mayfield, the mayor of Marion, suspended Chief Gideon Cody on Thursday. He did not go into detail or discuss whether or not he is being paid. The searches occurred on August 11th, and has brought Marion into the spotlight regarding freedom of the press and First Amendment rights. Another update: Wisconsin Police 'Acting Like Thugs' Arrest Christians for Preaching at 'Trans' Event Targeting Children. Crackdowns on religious — that is, Christian — freedom in America are growing. Over the weekend, a group of Christians protested a so-called "trans" event targeting children in Wisconsin. But once they began to read and quote from the Bible, police quickly moved into action, detaining, handcuffing, and arresting. The incident was videotaped. One speaker can be heard saying, "You guys are acting like thugs" to the police as they arrest a young man who is reading from the Bible. [Tweet with video clip] Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker Signs Law Allowing DACA Illegal Aliens to Police Americans. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) has signed into law a plan that allows foreign nationals with work permits, some of whom are illegal aliens, to become police officers in the sanctuary state. Democrat legislators, with a supermajority in the Illinois House and Senate, passed legislation in June that opens law enforcement jobs to thousands of illegal aliens enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program as well as thousands of other foreign nationals with work permits from the federal government. Illegal Aliens with Work Authorization Now Permitted to Become Police Officers in Illinois. It may be entirely possible in Illinois now for a police officer to demand to see your papers for identity compliance even though that police officer may be an illegal alien who broke U.S. law to enter the United States. Under a bill recently signed by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, illegal aliens can now become police officers. The downstream ramifications of this effort are not difficult to imagine. As if the crisis of confidence in the U.S. legal and law enforcement system was not under enough pressure, the reality of lawbreaking foreign nationals and border crossers now controlling law enforcement is a rather remarkable escalation in social fracture. LA police union boss tells cops to leave the city: 'Go somewhere that understands your worth'. The vice president of a Los Angeles police union encouraged officers to ditch the city and find work elsewhere during unsuccessful salary negotiations with the city. Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) Vice President Jerretta Sandoz made the statement in a comment from her personal Facebook page as the negotiations were being handled in late June. Sandoz wrote in the now-deleted statement that the L.A. City Council was stacked against police. "Go somewhere that respects the work you do and you don't have to beg for a great contract," she wrote, according to a screenshot of the comment posted last month and now obtained by the Los Angeles Times. "Go somewhere that has a city council or city manager that openly acknowledges the great work you do, go somewhere that doesn't have two or more City Council members who hate you (no exaggeration)." Boston mayor under fire after sending list of critics and protesters to police. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, a Democrat, is facing criticism for "Nixonian tactics" after her administration admitted to creating a list of her most vocal critics and providing it to local authorities. "The list was made in response to a request from the Boston Police Department after the Mayor had been harassed and physically intimidated by individuals for several months outside her home, at city functions such as the annual neighborhood parks coffee hours, and at other public events," Wu spokesman Ricardo Patron said in a statement to the Boston Herald. The acknowledgment by the administration that it had compiled the document came after the list was uncovered in an email obtained through a public records request by Wu's opponents, the outlet noted. Sanctuary State Illinois: Gov. Pritzker Considers Allowing DACA Illegal Aliens to Police Americans as Cops. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) is considering signing legislation into law that would allow illegal aliens, enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, to become police officers in the sanctuary state. Democrat legislators, with a supermajority in the Illinois House and Senate, passed legislation late last month that would allow thousands of DACA illegal aliens living in the state to become police officers or deputy sheriffs. Bill de Blasio ordered to pay $475,000 for misusing police detail during failed presidential run. New York City's Conflicts of Interest Board on Thursday ordered former Mayor Bill de Blasio to pay nearly $475,000 for misuse of his New York Police Department security detail during his failed 2020 Democratic presidential campaign. De Blasio was fined $5,000 for each of the 31 times he used city resources for non-city purposes by traveling with his NYPD security detail on out-of-state campaign trips from May 2019 through September 2019, the board's report states. The $155,000 fine is the largest ever amount issued by the board, according to Patch. The board also ordered him to pay the city $319,794.20 in travel costs for his security detail during those 31 trips. What Will Police Do if Ordered To Enforce Pandemic Quarantine? Dr. Bill Lionberger is a physician who has studied and is an opponent of the forced vaccination of America's military and police. He is part of the organization America's Frontline Doctors. He's also a 12-year veteran Police Officer. He foresees another pandemic in the future and knows that plans are being put into effect that the government may require the forced quarantine of those who refuse vaccination. The question is, who will enforce it? American Law Enforcement Community swears an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, so what will they do if ordered to enforce an unconstitutional order? Man Arrested While Attempting To Read Bible Verse At Pennsylvania Pride Event. A video shows Reading, Pennsylvania, police arresting a man after he tries to read a Bible verse during public Pride event. Damon Atkins was attempting to read 1 Corinthians 14:33 when the police confronted him. The Bible verse reads, "For God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the meetings of God's holy people." "Let them have their day. Respect it," an officer told him. Might as Well Put Them to Use: Chicago Police Stations Become Migrant Shelters. At last, the Left has found a use for police stations that is consistent with its guiding principles and overall philosophy. Chicago is a showcase city for far-Left policies. Crime is through the roof, drug use is rampant, and the police are cowed, defensive, and defanged. But now the city, in its infinite Marxist/Leninist wisdom has found a new use for the police stations that have become largely ceremonial in outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot's (and soon to be incoming Mayor Brandon Johnson's) Chicago: they're being used to shelter illegal migrants. How wonderfully fitting. Fox News reported Wednesday that "Chicago police sources say that their stations have become shelters for migrants, with at least two police precinct lobbies housing asylum seekers." How enlightened! How progressive! Report: U.S. Marshals Were Told Not to Arrest Protesters Outside Supreme Court Justices' Homes. U.S. Marshals assigned to guard Supreme Court justices during the controversy over Roe v. Wade last year were reportedly told not to arrest protesters that gathered outside their private homes. Last year, individual Supreme Court Justices were targeted by protesters after an illegal leak of a draft decision aiming to overturn Roe v. Wade before it had been officially decided. At the time, even the left-wing Washington Post admitted such protests were likely illegal according to Title 18, Section 1507, of the U.S. Code. For their personal feel-goodery, the Denver School Board shoots three, kills one, and endangers thousands at East High. Like many school boards, the Denver School Board years ago asked the police for help in quelling violence in the schools. The police succeeded to some extent. So far, so good, though it's a poor reflection on our society, our schools, our students, and their parents. In 1975, about 1% of schools had cops onsite. By a few years ago, it was over 50%. The presence of cops did help. But the Denver School Board was disappointed that the encounters by the school police involved a disproportionate number of students of color. That was no surprise to anyone paying attention to crime statistics. A disproportionate number of police encounters in society at large involve people of color, and so it's natural that it would be the same in the schools. All serious observers know that's because a disproportionate number of crimes are committed by people of color. [...] For example, it has been well documented that Black people commit murder at roughly seven times the rate of white people. Most people murdered by Blacks are themselves Black. The response of the Denver School Board was not to focus on the message that a disproportionate number of violent crimes are by students of color, but to shoot the messenger — the police. LAPD chief accused of feeding personal data to anti-police activists: 'Bounty on our officers'. Thousands of photos, names and other personal information for police in Los Angeles were released to an anti-police group that has published the material on a website — sparking a complaint against the city's top cop from the officers' labor union. The information's release endangers police across the city and exposes undercover cops, the union claims, though the group said the information is public information and doesn't include private addresses. "This site just went up a day or two ago and puts a bounty on our officers," Robert Rico, general counsel for the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL), told Fox News Digital on Thursday. "We are going to court to try and get it taken down and have sent cease-and-desist demands to Google and Twitter." Chicago Inmates Claim Guards Are Trying To Get Them To Vote Illegally For Mayor Beetlejuice. Chicago inmates have claimed they are being pressured to illegally vote in the city's mayoral election. The inmates, some who are accused of murder, argued guards at Cook County Jail were pushing them to vote - despite some being registered in a different jurisdiction. They claimed the guards were receiving orders from higher up and were 'just doing what I'm told' when confronted over the move. It comes amid fears of ballot harvesting as insiders claimed the jail was the 'ideal environment' due to no cameras or election observers. [Video clip] LA Mayor Bass calls to root out 'right-wing extremist' police, signals lowering the bar for new recruits. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called to remove "obstacles" for new police recruits and pledged to root out officers with ties to "right-wing domestic extremist organizations." Bass is looking to remove "obstacles" for police recruits who fail to initially qualify for training as a means of further diversifying the LAPD, according to a summary of her public safety goals obtained by Fox News Digital — but police union leaders are questioning the move. Bass' summary of goals for police reform includes a list of provisions as well as dates by which the department must report back regarding progress. One provision says a deputy mayor will work in conjunction with a "third party" to "evaluate the personnel process and identify obstacles to entry for recruits who fail to qualify for training." Forget 'Defund The Police': There's A New Movement To Handcuff The Cops. Leaders in multiple states and cities are embracing efforts to bar police from pulling drivers over for certain less-severe traffic violations, a move that some experts believe endangers public safety. Lawmakers in Washington state are pushing a plan that would forbid police traffic stops conducted to address some lower-level traffic lawbreaking, and Oregon has already established a similar policy, while San Francisco is considering a city-wide plan of this kind after Los Angeles and Minneapolis instituted their own. Such restrictions could effectively impede enforcement against more serious offenses and put innocent civilians at risk, according to experts who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation. 'Defund the Police' LA City Council member asks LAPD for extra patrols around his office. A newly-elected Los Angeles city councillor who campaigned on a pledge to abolish the police has been left red-faced after a staff member rang the LAPD to request protection for his broken-down car. Hugo Soto-Martinez, a trade union activist and member of the Democratic Socialist party, was elected in December. Soto-Martinez campaigned against 'armed militias occupying our neighborhoods,' saying that the existing policing system was 'completely corrupt, immoral, and needs to be changed drastically.' The Paul Pelosi Story Has Been so Thoroughly Muzzled, News Outlets Now Sue to Get Information. ## That a dozen outlets are banding together to get this access is a sign of how unique it has been to have these particulars held back from the public. It is a clear sign of controlled messaging taking place from a higher position. Just take as one item that police officers being outfitted with body cameras was pushed in order to have greater transparency with the public. This is footage intended to be revealed, and yet we are seeing it completely blocked from being released. The preeminent question in the face of this is, of course, "Why?" Even given the sensitive nature of things, you would expect that if this were as clear a crime as we're led to believe, there would be no need for this level of obfuscation. The argument of this being a public official and that personal or sensitive details might be revealed in the footage from inside the home is mitigated by having editing done or aspects of the video blurred out. What justification would there be to prevent the 911 call recording from being shared? Why can we not see the police interview with Depape from that night? Rebellion Against the People. They say they want to import these people to vote for Democrats, socialists, communists, but they're not here to vote, they're here to attack. They're here to trash what good is left, destroy what safety one might have felt in their small towns and rural existence. They're here to show Americans how to rid themselves of the last vestige of sovereign individuality and to demonstrate how to accept servility and kill them if they resist further. California intends to employ these disassociated masses as policemen, thugs, to terrorize and dispose of those who question their authority, any authority. Rogue Virginia ABC Sends Police to Enforce COVID Lockdown. Virginia has a famous Republican Governor, Glenn Youngkin, who has made his opposition to arbitrary COVID-19 mandates clear. But his predecessor, Democrat Governor Ralph Northam, although out of office for ten months, apparently still calls the shots at the Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Board. He does so through board members he appointed. Indeed, every one of them, including Board Chair Maria J. K. Everett and Board CEO Travis Hill, are rogue agents bent on enforcing Northam's infamous Executive Order 72 even after it was withdrawn in May of 2021. For the current members of the Virginia ABC Board, elections appear to be irrelevant. So long as the Board members have the power to contradict one of Governor Youngkin's key policy positions, they appear intent on doing so. And so it is that in all their fulsome Democrat glory, they authorized a police raid the early morning of December 2 against an honest, hard-working veteran who owns one of Fredericksburg, Virginia's most popular restaurants, Gourmeltz. That owner, Matt Strickland, is a prominent Republican, a popular prospective candidate for the Virginia State Senate, and a party opponent of the Board members. Policing in Democrat cities: Don't say we didn't warn you. Democrats have defunded their police departments, elected or appointed weak prosecutors, abolished pre-trial confinement for violent criminals, legalized drugs, weakened sentencing laws, and released violent criminals early from prison. Police unions have become typical left-wing unions that constantly demand more pay and benefits for police instead of advocating for better laws and policies to reduce crime and enhance the effectiveness of law enforcement while preserving constitutional rights. Many local and national police unions actually support left-wing Democrats, who enact policies that put police officers at risk, enable criminals, and endanger public safety. Police departments in big cities are adopting an unofficial "react after the crime" policy instead of being proactive and trying to prevent crimes from occurring. All too frequently now, police officers in many jurisdictions hesitate to enter a situation involving a high risk of injury, death, or use of deadly force to accomplish their mission to uphold and defend the Constitution and protect citizens' lives. Seattle Police Justify The "Defund the Police" Movement by Arresting a Preacher for Reading His Bible Too Close to a Gay Pride Event. I'm going to return to a theme that I've harped on in the past. Too many conservatives have bought into the "back the blue" nonsense in response to the "defund the police" movement and BLM rioting. This is misguided. Police aren't guarantors of freedom; they are the enforcers of the administrative state. Police unions and cliques of senior police officers are one of the major forces against gun rights. Time and again, you find the police cheerfully enforcing the most shameful regulations. During the "pandemic," police in (at least) New York and New Jersey broke up funerals and gatherings in private homes. They arrested people in empty parks and on deserted beaches. They arrested people for not wearing masks. Their record on protecting the First Amendment rights of Christians is similarly checkered. Dearborn, Michigan, had to pay a substantial settlement because the police arrested Christian preachers outside the venue of a Muslim street fair. 10 Cops Arrest Man For Reading His Bible Near Pride Event In Seattle. A Seattle street preacher says he was arrested for simply reading his Bible at a public park near a Seattle Gay Pride event. Matthew Meinecke was surrounded by Seattle police officers and taken to the police station, where he was fingerprinted before being released. "So at this point we can no longer stand by," a police officer told Meinecke as he arrested him. "The risk that you pose for public safety by remaining here can be mitigated if you leave, it's your last chance." "I don't want to leave because I'm not in danger," Meinecke responded. Internal probe faults Capitol Police for photographing congressman's private work. An internal investigation has confirmed Capitol Police entered Texas Republican Rep. Troy Nehls' office and photographed a whiteboard containing his sensitive legislative plans, concluding the officer who took the picture exercised "questionable judgment" and the department lacked policies and training to avoid an unnecessary intrusion on lawmakers' constitutionally protected work. The episode from last November exposed the need for Capitol Police to strike a "proper balance of protecting congressional representatives and their staff from physical outside threats while simultaneously protecting their legislative proposals and work product from possibly inappropriate photography, scrutiny, and questioning," the department's inspector general wrote in a lengthy report reviewed by Just the News. Leftist Infiltration of the Police Will Lead To Tyranny. There is an old saying in policing, "No one hates bad cops more than good cops." It's true. When good officers see videos of cops brutalizing unarmed, innocent, nonviolent citizens — they get a sick feeling in their stomachs. This reaction is caused by two things. First is the natural revulsion to the unfairness of seeing a bully abuse a weaker person. Second is the disgust of watching an officer who has sworn to protect the weak and uphold the rule of law — dishonor the oath, the uniform, and the badge. During the past year, I've felt this revulsion more than once. Most recently, observing the vicious brutality by members of the Ottawa Police Department (OPD) in their unjustified and criminal use of force against peacefully protesting truckers in Ottawa, Ontario. The images of the OPD Mounted Unit smashing into a peaceful crowd with their horses and trampling an elderly disabled woman, an officer repeatedly striking a protester with a rifle butt as he lay on the ground, and others savagely kicking an unarmed trucker who had just peacefully submitted to arrest — were disgusting. OPD's Interim Police Chief Steve Bell's enthusiastic execution of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's dictatorial orders to violently attack the truckers was particularly disturbing. With malevolent glee, Bell announced OPD's future mission. Instead of public safety, crime suppression, and crime prevention, his municipal police department will now identify, hunt down, and prosecute protesters and their supporters. The objective? To crush their finances and destroy their lives. This is what a police chief and department in the service of the totalitarian Left looks like. Woke Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has secret unit of 70 cops protecting her. One-time Defund the Police advocate Mayor Lori Lightfoot has a secret group of Chicago cops known as Unit 544 protecting her alongside her bodyguards, it has been revealed. The unit of 65 officers, five sergeants and a lieutenant are provide round-the-clock protection for the city's mayor, together with her bodyguard detail of about 20 men, The Chicago Sun Times has revealed, citing city records. The revelation comes as crime in the Windy City has surged to frightening new rates not seen in half a decade, and after Lightfoot proposed slashing a whopping $80 million from the Chicago Police Department budget in 2020 during the Defund the Police protests. Dozens of Chicago cops guard mayor and family in below-the-radar security unit created in 2020. Nearly two years ago, the Chicago Police Department quietly created a special unit to protect Mayor Lori Lightfoot's home and City Hall and oversee her personal bodyguard detail. Unit 544 began with a handful of officers and has grown, as of March 21, to a roster of 65 officers, five sergeants and a lieutenant, city records show. Like previous Chicago mayors, Lightfoot also has a separate personal bodyguard detail, which includes about 20 officers, the records show. More Than 100 People [in Germany] Have Their Homes Raided by Police After Insulting Politicians Online. Tuesday [3/22/2022], German officials searched and questioned more than a hundred individuals for hate speech on social media during election campaigns of 2021. More than 600 statements were analyzed and checked for criminal contents, according to police chief Holger Muench, The Local reported. "Freedom of expression reaches its limits as soon as it comes to defamation, insults and threats," Muench said. With Tuesday's action, he said officials are making it clear that "anyone who posts hate speech must expect the police to show up at their door," he said. For Whom the Horns Honk. The trucker's convoy was crushed as soon as the police were unleashed. It took law enforcement only two days to remove every protestor and vehicle from Parliament Hill. They used simple riot control techniques. Friendly and fraternizing police were replaced with tactical units, who had more protective equipment and better weapons, and unencumbered by body cameras and badge numbers. The suspension of usual protocols was likely planned to avoid accountability, since a future investigation would have been considered, especially due to the controversial invocation of the Emergency Act. For riot control purposes, police stand in what's called square formation, whereby officers position themselves side by side in echelons. Each echelon has a specific role. The first line was tightly formed of men, who would advance after a cannon shocked front-line protestors, forcing them back. They would only advance two or three steps at a time. This first echelon held riot shields and hardwood batons, and would bludgeon anyone who held ground. [...] It was the arresting team who were caught on video ramming gunstocks onto faces or lunging knees into ribs, to pummel already submitted protestors. Capitol Police issue emergency declaration over People's Convoy. US Capitol Police issued an emergency declaration on Sunday in response to the arrival of the 'People's Convoy' of truckers in Washington, DC to protest Covid-19 mandates and restrictions. The declaration will reportedly allow authorities to receive assistance from the National Guard and pay the food and accommodation bills for officers to stay nearby. According to Bloomberg, the Capitol Police Board expressed fears that the protesters could shut down roads and bridges in the US capital in a similar situation to what happened in Ottawa with the 'Freedom Convoy' last month. The State's Monopoly on Violence. [Scroll down] I live in downtown Toronto and everywhere I go I see police cars blocking of intersections, impeding or actually stopping traffic. There are so many of them that even the vehicles of parking constables and court agents have been commandeered into use. They haven't recruited the dog catchers yet — at least not in Toronto but in Ottawa they have indeed started impounding the truckers' pets under the pretense that the truckers are unable to take care of them. There is no truckers convoy here in Toronto. For some months now there have been entirely peaceful marches, first protesting vaccine mandates and then demanding freedom in general, that have ended up in front of the provincial legislature. These police cars are a warning: don't start up because if you do, we are ready for you with the entire force of the state. What they say is that the state has a monopoly on violence and will do everything it can to preserve it. Ottawa Police Highlight International Trend of Jackboot Aggression Toward Citizens. We have watched police disturbingly follow orders from federal, regional, state and local politicians throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. So much so, the severity of increasingly brutal tactics from law enforcement has been one of the most eye-opening revelations of recent memory. The most recent behavior by police officers and RCMP officials in/around Ottawa, Canada, reflects this increasingly hostile approach. There are thousands of recent examples from the U.S, U.K, France, Europe (writ large), Australia, New Zealand and now Canada. What was once rare, perhaps unimaginable, is now commonplace. It is far beyond unnerving to see this descent into totalitarianism, and it is even more unnerving to gain an understanding of how previous horrific events in history took place. Yet, we must face these issues as they exist, and not as we would prefer them to be. Unfortunately, the result of their behavior, a behavior that must be seen in the totality of its visibility, has been a significant drop in support from the general public. We have long passed the time when "a few bad actors" could be accepted as the excuse, and we now enter that dark period where most people accept that police officers as a group are the enemy of free and democratic society. Why are the police we revere doing the tyrants' bidding? The outrageous mismanagement of COVID as an instrument of population control will go down as the second worst political crime against the American people in U.S. history. The first is the Hillary Clinton-conceived Russia hoax. She and her cohorts belong in prison as do Fauci, Collins, Birx, and all those who pushed unsafe, ineffective injections on the millions of people who believed their lies about COVID. Each of those bureaucrats abused his position of power over the people and has blood on his hands. [...] So how do we explain the fact that in countries around the world, Australia, the U.K., the U.S., France, Belgium, Austria, and Canada, the police, those who were not fired for refusing the vaccine, have taken the opportunity to act like tyranny's handmaidens rather than protectors of the people, their essential charge, the reason they signed up for the job? In Canada, a few have sided with the truck drivers' cause, but the rest seem to enjoy the opportunity to roust good, law-abiding, non-violent protesters. Mayor Adams says it 'makes no sense' NYPD officers are allowed to live outside of NYC: Report. According to Mayor Eric Adams, it "makes no sense" uniformed police officers aren't required to live in New York City. Adams addressed the policy Monday following a press conference about gun violence, the New York Post reported. "I want you here in this city," Adams said. "I want you to go to the cleaners. I want you to go to the churches, to the supermarket, your children should be in our schools. We shouldn't have 30 something percent of officers residing [out of New York City]." The Editor says... The police and sheriffs protect us. Or do they? Will they? Ostensibly democratic governments around the world have reacted shamefully to the spread of COVID, with law enforcement personnel helping them abuse their power. What has happened in New Zealand and parts of Australia is truly frightening. Those two formerly free and democratic nations have seen the exercise of cruel totalitarianism in the past months. Despite the fact that lockdowns have not mitigated the spread of COVID anywhere in the world, despite the failure of mask mandates to affect the number of cases when compared to regions without mask mandates, some states in Australia and all of N.Z. have continued the most rigid restrictions, and their citizens are suffering the consequences. Top investigator: De Blasio NYPD detail used as 'concierge service' for son. The head of the city's investigatory agency ripped Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday [10/7/2021] for allowing his NYPD security team to be turned into a "concierge service" for his son. During a press conference following the release of a scathing Department of Investigation report, DOI Commissioner Margaret Garnett declared that the mayor's security team members have in recent years chauffeured son Dante de Blasio around the five boroughs for personal needs rather than the unit's intended purpose. "In practice, what is happening is that, you know, it's not security; it's essentially a concierge service, primarily for Dante," she said. "And that, I think, you know — based on the view of experts we spoke to, and our examination of the facts and this matter — it's either not good security, or it's not good government, or both." Nancy Pelosi Orders the Arrest of Those Without Masks and the Capitol Police Play Along. Throughout the "back the blue" craze of the Trump era, one thing became abundantly clear that largely quelled it — police follow orders. That includes orders that are patently absurd and violate the basic freedoms of individuals. Yes, law enforcement officers generally do good work and are to be respected for that, but if you are expecting them to stand up to their authorities to protect the rights of individuals, they are almost always going to disappoint you. Take that revelation and do with it what you will. [...] Another example of that has emerged within the Capitol of the United States. Nancy Pelosi has ordered the Capitol Police to arrest people who aren't wearing masks. [Tweet] If the USCP weren't such a ridiculously politicized department, they'd scoff at the notion of using manpower to arrest people for not wearing masks, especially when the edict is coming from a purely political place. There is no science behind the idea of further mask-mandates anywhere. That's especially true regarding the Capitol Building, where almost every person in attendance is vaccinated and has lasting protection from the effects of COVID. Pelosi put this mask-mandate back into place for one reason — to poke at Republicans. No data exists to actually supports the mandating of masks, much less in the Capitol. Miami-Dade police unveil LGBTQ Pride-themed patrol vehicle. The Miami-Dade Police Department is honoring the LGBTQ community with a rainbow-themed patrol vehicle. The vehicle — which is decorated with the colors of the Pride flag and the words "hope," "love," "equality," "inclusion," "kindness," "peace," and also the phrase "strength through unity" — will be used "to establish a more trusting relationship within our communities," MDPD Sergeant Orlando Lopez said during the unveiling ceremony on Thursday [5/27/2021] in Doral. New York Cops stationed at tunnels and bridges to scan license plates. Travelers coming into New York City from 35 COVID-19 hotspot states were met at road entry points Wednesday under a program announced earlier in the day by Mayor Bill de Blasio. At a press conference on Wednesday morning, de Blasio said those who do not self-isolate for 14 days once they arrive in the city from those locations could face a $10,000 fine. He failed to explain how he would enforce the order. Pictures taken by DailyMail.com show police officers stationed at the Goethals Bridge toll plaza Wednesday evening. The sheriff's department scanned plates and pulled people over, onlookers say. Charity Event for Mass Shooting Victims Canceled after City Officials Object to Republicans' Participation. A charity event in honor of a police officer killed while responding to a mass shooting in Thousand Oaks, California last year has been canceled after the local police chief and a Democratic politician objected to the participation of prominent Republicans, according to organizers who spoke with a local Fox affiliate. The event, a flag-football game called the Blue Bowl, was supposed to have taken place at Newbury Park High School in Thousand Oaks. Los Angeles Rams football players were scheduled to show up and sign footballs imprinted with pictures of the fallen officer, Sgt. Ron Helus. And thousands of dollars, which will now be returned to donors, had already been raised for Helus' family. Police charity event on hold after chief withdraws because Republicans were invited: report. A charity event planned in honor of an officer killed in a 2018 mass shooting at a country music bar in in Southern California has been postponed indefinitely — reportedly because a police chief didn't want Republicans invited. The Blue Bowl, a charity flag football game, was intended to raise money for the family of fallen Ventura County Sgt. Ron Helus as well as other officers killed in the line of duty, FOX 11 of Los Angeles reported. LAPD ad on pro-police Breitbart makes LAPD, leftists lose their minds. The Los Angeles Police Department was apoplectic over a recruitment ad appearing on the conservative website Breitbart News. But it seems the LAPD — and liberals in general — have little grasp of how Google Ads work. A more troubling take is just how liberal many police departments are in America. The left has the media and education on lockdown, and are making significant gains in religion and now law enforcement, too. Donor who gave $45K to elect sheriff got coveted gun permit from her office. A manager for a prominent private security firm that provides bodyguards to Silicon Valley executives received a concealed-gun permit from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office months after he made a $45,000 contribution to an independent committee supporting Sheriff Laurie Smith's 2018 re-election, newly disclosed records show. The campaign contribution is one focus of an investigation by the Santa Clara County district attorney's office into whether the sheriff gave out the coveted gun permits in exchange for campaign support, sources familiar with the probe have told The [San Francisco] Chronicle. Right Shrugs, as Left Protects Bad Cops. [T]wo reporters from UC Berkeley's Investigative Reporting Program made a routine public-records request to the Commission on Peace Ocer Standards and Training. POST provided the reporters with a list of thousands of current and past officers and police job applicants with criminal convictions in the past decade, which are used in background checks when hiring officers. This is how the system should work: Reporters make a legitimate request and receive important information from a public agency, which provided the information. Unfortunately, the story doesn't end there. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a progressive Democrat, ordered the reporters to destroy the records they legally obtained. He has threatened legal action, claimed the records were confidential, and said that POST inadvertently released them, according to news reports. Becerra also has been resisting immediate compliance with a new law that gives the public the right to view disciplinary records. This is typical. Despite some newfound enthusiasm for criminal-justice reform, the state's Democrats have largely been the tools of police unions. Is Anything Off-Limits for California's Police Unions? A few weeks ago the Costa Mesa Police Association (read: Police Union) and their former law firm agreed to pay $607,000 to settle a lawsuit after their scheme against two Costa Mesa city councilmen came to light. As I wrote in my book, this settlement represents a small but important victory in the broader philosophical war between California's public employee unions' unquenchable demand for more and the handful of public officials willing to stand and say there is simply no more to give. This result should also give hope to public officials across the state who have been at the pointy-end of the public employee unions' so-called "advocacy" during labor negotiations or an election cycle. Video shows de Blasio donors allegedly delivering bribes to cops. Accused cop-briber Jeremy Reichberg and cohort Jona Rechnitz donned Santa hats and cruised around in a black Aston Martin convertible to deliver Christmas grifts to officers on Staten Island, according to videos and photos released Tuesday [11/20/2018]. The pricey goodies, including Nintendo games and American Girl dolls, were delivered to Reichberg's co-defendant, former NYPD Deputy Inspector James Grant, as well as retired cop Eric Rodriguez and already-convicted ex-Deputy Chief Michael Harrington, Rechnitz testified in Manhattan federal court. California Mayor Who Proposed Pension Reforms Says Police Tracked and Intimidated Him. The recent announcement that a now-defunct law firm will pay $600,000 to a former Costa Mesa mayor and a current councilman and his wife puts to bed an ugly chapter in that Orange County city's recent history. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to ignore the deeper statewide lessons from that controversy, which also spotlights the aggressive "playbook" that some police officials had used to muscle political opponents into submission. Town's entire police force resigns, citing officer safety concerns. The entire four-person police department of Blandford, a small Massachusetts town, resigned Monday evening, citing various safety concerns. "Attention Blandford residents: If you have a police, fire or medical emergency, please continue to call 911 as you normally would. The entire Blandford Police Department resigned this evening, effective immediately," the department's Facebook post read. For now, 911 calls will be handled by county officials and other neighboring police forces. Legal Update: "What is the NYPD Hiding?". This is a story of a cop and the case that haunts him. Forty-six years ago, NYPD Patrolman Phillip Cardillo was gunned down inside Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam Mosque #7 in Harlem. After a lengthy investigation strewn with roadblocks Detective Randy Jurgensen made an arrest. But evidence had disappeared, the crime scene had been erased, and a special prosecutor later determined there was "a concerted and orchestrated effort" by senior members of the NYPD to impede the murder investigation. Jurgensen — a legendary NYPD detective who helped put away five cop-killers — believes he got the right man. Much of the law-enforcement community in New York agrees with him. But the trial of Lewis 17X Dupree resulted in a hung jury. Broward County deputies ordered to defend their Sheriff? The Sheriff of Broward County is taking some heavy metaphorical fire in the news, on social media and from the community over the failure of his former deputy to enter the school during this month's tragic mass shooting. Even more to the point, revelations that there were so many red flags about the shooter which resulted in no action which might have prevented the attack have people up in arms. Under conditions such as these, you would expect any agency to begin circling the wagons if the members were of a mind to protect their boss. But it's not the sort of thing one discusses in public, right? That's generally the case. But yesterday [2/26/2018], Laura Ingraham revealed an internal memo allegedly leaked by someone associated with the Sheriff's office indicating that this wasn't exactly a simple case of esprit de corps. The deputies were being instructed to go out and defend the Sheriff against the media onslaught. Safety second! Frisco's public transit officials shield thugs from racial stereotyping. The Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART) has been plagued by a spike of violent crimes with assaults, robberies and rapes up a staggering 41 percent from last year. [...] Yet again, public safety is supposed to be paramount, except when the progressives eclipse safety with political correctness. To avoid being accused of racial stereotyping, they're even willing to refer to rape, robbery and assault as "minor crimes." Frisco's public transit head honchos are more concerned about the race of thugs as opposed to doing the right thing for law-abiding people being victimized. PC Police: Seattle cops told to replace "suspect" with "community member". In an effort to be more sensitive and less judgmental, an edict was recently issued to law enforcement in the liberal paradise of Seattle that from now on, the correct term for "suspect" when writing up reports should be "community member". NYPD shows support for gay pride with new-look patrol SUV. The NYPD is supporting gay pride with a new rainbow colored patrol vehicle. The SUV was apparently painted for the city's gay pride parade Sunday in Manhattan and carries a message of support for Orlando in the wake of the country's largest mass shooting incident earlier this month. The vehicle also has a heart sticker that reads "NYC Pride 2016" and the words "Pride Equality Peace" — both in rainbow colors. They probably had a really good reason to do this, but still... Conversion to Islam: Immorality: Participating in a political vendetta: Harvesting data from government agencies: Your Personal Data Can Be Used For 'Law Enforcement, Audit Activities'. Maryland's Health Connection, the state's Obamacare marketplace, has been plagued by delays in the first days of open enrollment. If users are able to endure long page-loading delays, they are presented with the website's privacy policy, a ubiquitous fine-print feature on websites that often go unread. Nevertheless, users are asked to check off a box that they agree to the terms. Obamacare Exchange Confirms: 'We Are Required to Respond to Certain Requests from Law Enforcement'. An email had been sent to the MHC on October 3 requesting clarification of the policy, and included these inquires: Does that include both federal and state authorities? What type of information from the application might be of interest to law enforcement and/or state/federal auditors? However, no response was received before the story was published. An unnecessary show of force: Collusion with Big Brother: NEW Spying Scandal — Is This One the Last Straw? The NSA is spying on you and sharing this information with the DEA. The DEA is then sharing this information with local law enforcement. If you get arrested because of this, abandon all hope because [#1] Law enforcement is hiding where the evidence came from[, and #2] This means you cannot effectively challenge the evidence in court. But it gets worse... The DEA unit responsible for this program — the ominous sounding Special Operations Division — is a secret organization. It cannot be investigated by defense attorneys or called into court. Even the location of the Special Operations Division is classified. The NSA-DEA police state tango. In the latest post-Snowden bombshell about the extent and consequences of government spying, we learned from Reuters reporters this week that a secret branch of the DEA called the Special Operations Division — so secret that nearly everything about it is classified, including the size of its budget and the location of its office — has been using the immense pools of data collected by the NSA, CIA, FBI and other intelligence agencies to go after American citizens for ordinary drug crimes. Law enforcement agencies, meanwhile, have been coached to conceal the existence of the program and the source of the information by creating what's called a "parallel construction," a fake or misleading trail of evidence. So no one in the court system — not the defendant or the defense attorney, not even the prosecutor or the judge — can ever trace the case back to its true origins. Letting personal politics interfere: Back the Blue? However, my thoughts on this issue have taken a sharp turn in recent months, directly relating to behavior I've witnessed from law enforcement, particularly during the time of COVID lockdowns and restrictions. [...] In many cases, we have seen very troubling behavior by our police officers. We've seen them forcefully keep citizens out of public town meetings and the police stand by while Antifa thugs attacked people in the street. We've seen people arrested for not falling into line with mandates that are very questionable legally. We've seen businesses shut down and livelihoods destroyed by lousy public health policies. And who was there enforcing these lousy policies? The police. [...] Finally, probably the most high-profile situation to date is what is going on in Australia right now regarding their truly Orwellian mandates and lockdowns. The police are behaving in an incredibly disturbing manner. This video was recently posted on a story on the Gateway Pundit and shows exactly what is going on Down Under. The video makes it pretty damn clear that these aren't reluctant officers forced to do their duty but doing so in a caring and responsible way. No, this is a case where these people appear to have been given carte blanche to brutally quash any dissent and go out and crack some skulls. And they appear to be enjoying it. How Louis Farrakhan got a police escort for his 'unofficial motorcade'. Wouldn't it be great if you could get a police car to accompany you for "traffic control" when you drive somewhere? It would be sort of like the president, except for the bulletproof limo and Secret Service. Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam, despite lacking any public office, has enjoyed such convenience, courtesy of his son Mustapha, whose arrangements to drive a police car for escorting his father's "unofficial motorcade" are currently under investigation by a police agency in Illinois. The Nifonging of George Zimmerman. No civilized society can tolerate a sheep dog that turns on the sheep, or a police officer or prosecutor who uses his or her authority against innocent people for personal or political gain. Retaliation: If it had been a Christian event, we'd be hearing howls
about Separation of Church and State. Surveillance cameras Oakland [is] Installing Hundreds of Police Cameras. Liberals [are] Outraged. It seems as if the closure of In-N-Out Burger in Oakland, California was a bridge too far. Crime was already out of control in Oakland, particularly retail theft and carjacking. Now Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Sheng Thao are finally ready to do something about it. Or at least they're going to throw some money at the problem and give the appearance of doing something. The Governor announced yesterday that they have entered into a contract with Flock Safety to install nearly 500 security cameras around the city. The cameras will primarily monitor vehicular traffic. Unfortunately, the usual list of anti-police suspects immediately showed up to complain about a rising police state, racism, and all the rest of the accusations we typically hear any time anyone tries to do something about crime. A.I., Brain Scans and Cameras: The Spread of Police Surveillance Tech. A brain wave reader that can detect lies. Miniaturized cameras that sit inside vape pens and disposable coffee cups. Massive video cameras that zoom in more than a kilometer to capture faces and license plates. At a police conference in Dubai in March, new technologies for the security forces of the future were up for sale. Far from the eyes of the general public, the event provided a rare look at what tools are now available to law enforcement around the world: better and harder-to-detect surveillance, facial recognition software that automatically tracks individuals across cities and computers to break into phones. Advances in artificial intelligence, drones and facial recognition have created an increasingly global police surveillance business. Israeli hacking software, American investigation tools and Chinese computer vision algorithms can all be bought and mixed together to make a snooping cocktail of startling effectiveness. 11,000 Police Surveillance Cars With 360-Degree Cameras and "Perimeter Alerts" To Patrol NYC. The Wausau Police Department is already using Ford's 360-degree police surveillance vehicles to quietly surveil everyone. According to Yahoo News the New York City Police Department (NYPD), which employs more people than the FBI, has announced it is turning all their police vehicles into 360-degree surveillance vehicles. To put the public's mind at ease of having 11,000 spying police vehicles monitor everyone, the NYPD has decided to put QR codes on their new patrol cars. If and when the public finally cares about losing their privacy, all they have to do is scan a police vehicle's QR code. This will bring them to a carefully worded law enforcement website that will reassure them that the government really cares about their privacy and that 360-degree surveillance cameras are for the public's safety. When a concerned citizen approaches a 360-degree police surveillance vehicle, they may be surprised to find out what is really happening inside. Ford's Police Interceptors come with a factory-installed version of"Surveillance Mode" or a built-in "Police Perimeter Alert" that automatically analyzes people for officer perceived threats. Because nothing says public safety like an AI that automatically analyzes people for so-called threatening behavior. Court rules cops violated Constitution by filming man for 3 months. A police force can't set up a camera to peer over the top of a man's privacy fence, then record him for months, before finally filing criminal charges against him. That's the ruling from the state supreme court in Colorado, where the decision freed suspect Rafael Tafoya from what was expected to be a significant prison sentence. According to a report in Courthouse News, officers in Colorado Springs set up a special camera on top of a utility pole next to Tafoya's home after a "tip" from an anonymous source. Without a search warrant, they watched him and his property, recording events there, for months. 1 in 10 police departments can now access videos from millions of consumers' Ring security cameras. Nearly one in 10 U.S. police departments have access to videos from millions of privately owned Amazon Ring devices. Ring's Active Agency Map shows the home security camera company now has partnerships with more than 1,800 police departments in the U.S. out of nearly 18,000 total departments across the country. The company's "Neighbors" app notifies Ring users when neighbors or local law enforcement agencies send out public safety alerts. Drones With 'Most Advanced AI Ever' Coming Soon To Your Local Police Department. Three years ago, Customs and Border Protection placed an order for self-flying aircraft that could launch on their own, rendezvous, locate and monitor multiple targets on the ground without any human intervention. In its reasoning for the order, CBP said the level of monitoring required to secure America's long land borders from the sky was too cumbersome for people alone. To research and build the drones, CBP handed $500,000 to Mitre Corp., a trusted nonprofit Skunk Works that was already furnishing border police with prototype rapid DNA testing and smartwatch hacking technology. Mitre's unmanned aerial vehicles didn't take off. They were "tested but not fielded operationally" as "the gap from simulation to reality turned out to be much larger than the research team originally envisioned," a CBP spokesperson says. But the setback didn't end CBP's sci-fi dreams. This year, America's border police will test automated drones from Skydio, the Redwood City, Calif.-based startup that on Monday [3/1/2021] announced it had raised an additional $170 million in venture funding at a valuation of $1 billion. Detroit Police Commission Board Approves Use Of Facial Recognition Technology Despite National Backlash. The Detroit Board of Police Commissioners voted to approve the Detroit Police Department's use of controversial facial recognition technology on the public, Courthouse News reported. According to the directive, police would be limited to using the system when officers have "reasonable suspicion" of home invasions and violent crimes involving incidents like shootings, sexual assaults and carjacking. Further, the system doesn't have assess to check immigration status on individuals and was restricted from accessing live surveillance streaming video or any security camera device. Outside agencies would be allowed access to the information if needed after proper paperwork is filed. Don't Smile for the Camera. Great Britain is currently the most watched country in the Western world — watched, that is, by its own police forces. In London alone, the police have erected more than 420,000 surveillance cameras in public places. That amounts to 48 cameras per 1,000 residents. What do the cameras capture? Everything done and seen in public. The cameras use facial recognition technology that can capture a grimace, a pimple, a freckle, even an eye blink as you walk the streets. Software then compares whatever the camera captures to government databases. By touching the screen showing your image, the police can have at their fingertips instantly a full dossier on you — your medical, financial, law enforcement, educational, personal and employment records. [...] These procedures were recently challenged by a privacy advocate named Ed Bridges in a trial in Britain's High Court. CEO of facial-recognition company calls police use "irresponsible". Last month, controversy erupted around news that at least two police departments have deployed or tested Amazon's Rekognition platform. Facial-recognition algorithms have been shown to be less accurate at identifying people of color, often because their images are underrepresented in the datasets that algorithms are trained on. LAPD Drones Threaten Privacy. Today, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) civilian police commission voted to approve proposed guidelines for a one-year unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) pilot program. According to the LAPD's guidelines, UAVs will not be equipped with lethal or nonlethal weapons and will only be deployed in a narrow set of circumstances. The guideline also requires officers to obtain a warrant before using a UAV "when required under the Fourth Amendment or other provision of the law." This looks all well and good, except that the Fourth Amendment and California law provide little protection when it comes to aerial surveillance. The Fourth Amendment protects "persons, houses, papers, and effects" from "unreasonable searches and seizures." Many Americans could be forgiven for thinking that this constitutional provision would act as a shield against warrantless aerial surveillance. Sadly, this is not the case. Hackers Took Over DC Police Cameras Ahead of Inauguration. Police surveillance camera in Washington, D.C. were infected by hackers just days before Donald Trump's inauguration, the Washington Post reported Friday. City officials were cited saying 123 of the city's 187 cameras were infected with ransomware, leaving them unable to record between Jan. 12 to Jan. 15. Although the issue was reportedly resolved easily — by simply removing the software — it remains unclear who was behind the cyberattack. Philly cops try to illegally disguise powerful surveillance SUV as Google Street View car... and fail badly. A Philadelphia police surveillance SUV crudely disguised as the Google Maps car has left local residents baffled after it was spotted Wednesday [5/11/2016] — and triggered an internal investigation. The large silver SUV, which has chunky black cameras on its roof that can photograph thousands of license plates in a minute, looks nothing like the colorful cars that Google uses to create its 360-degree interactive Street View maps. But that didn't stop someone — presumably within the police — sticking a pair of large, unconvincing Google Maps decals on its back windows in an apparent attempt to disguise the vehicle's true purpose. BART killing exposes security gap — many train cameras are decoys. BART police investigating the weekend killing of a passenger on a train in Oakland have no onboard video of the crime, even though the transit agency had what appear to be surveillance cameras just feet from where the suspect shot the victim at close range, The [San Francisco] Chronicle has learned. Although all BART cars have what look like cameras mounted to their ceilings, the vast majority of the devices are decoys incapable of capturing footage, BART officials conceded Wednesday. And some of the actual cameras are broken, two police sources said. The Editor says... Hidden cactus cameras are freaking out the residents of a small Arizona town. In a small Arizona town, about half an hour drive from Phoenix, the hills don't have eyes, but the cacti do. Residents of Paradise Valley told Fox 10 that cameras have started appearing in fake cactus plants on the sides of roads throughout the town. [...] In fact, neither town police nor City Hall were eager to speak about the cameras, with city officials saying they were waiting until every camera was installed before making an announcement. Anti-Surveillance Camouflage for Your Face. I had slathered the paint on my face in order to hide from computers. The patterns in which I applied the paint were important: To the pixel-calculating machinations of facial recognition algorithms, they transformed my face into a mess of unremarkable pixels. In the computer's vision, my face caused a momentary burst of confusion. That's why the patterns are called computer vision dazzle (or CV dazzle). When it works, CV dazzle keeps facial-recognition algorithms from seeing a face. Cameras coming to monitor St. Petersburg trail. Police will soon have a new tool to protect cyclists and joggers on a crime-ridden stretch of the Pinellas Trail: camera surveillance. [...] The cameras are unlikely to be monitored 24 hours a day, but police officers would be able to view camera footage from police headquarters and in patrol cars using from laptops and smart phones. Has the Dept. of Homeland Security become America's standing army? As Charlie Savage reports for the Boston Globe, the DHS has funneled "millions of dollars to local governments nationwide for purchasing high-tech video camera networks, accelerating the rise of a 'surveillance society' in which the sense of freedom that stems from being anonymous in public will be lost." These camera systems, installed on city streets, in parks and transit systems, operating in conjunction with sophisticated computer systems that boast intelligent video analytics, digital biometric identification, military-pedigree software for analyzing and predicting crime and facial recognition software, create a vast surveillance network that can target millions of innocent individuals. New Chicago traffic cams hit as way to track innocent people. A new traffic camera that gives Chicago police a 360-degree view of an area is being hit as a way to potentially track people with no ties to criminal activity. The Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday that the American Civil Liberties Union in the state raised concern about using cameras from Xerox State & Local Solutions, while city officials insist they are not abusing citizens' rights. Court Says Police Can Install Cameras On Your Property Without Warrant If Your Property Is A 'Field'. This is in response to the two defendants in the case seeking to have footage from said surveillance cameras thrown out in their court case on unreasonable search and seizure grounds. Judge Griesbach made this ruling on the recommendation of US Magistrate William Callahan, who based his position on a US Supreme Court Case ruling that open fields were not covered under the 4th Amendment and didn't require a warrant. [...] And this doorway to abuse has been opened all because police didn't want to bother to get a search warrant to put video equipment on private property. Federal Judge OKs Installation of Surveillance Cameras Without a Warrant. On October 29, a federal district court judge ruled that police can enter onto privately owned property and install secret surveillance cameras without a warrant. The judge did set forth a few guidelines that must be followed before such activity would be permissible, but the fact that such a scenario is accepted as constitutional by a federal judge is a serious setback for privacy and for the Fourth Amendment. Surveillance Cameras Are Not All That. Cameras were a big help in Boston, but that doesn't mean they are generally a good idea. Mayor Bloomberg admits soon NYPD surveillance cameras will be on nearly every corner. Envisioning a future where privacy is a thing of the past, Mayor Bloomberg said Friday [3/22/2013] it will soon be impossible to escape the watchful eyes of surveillance cameras and even drones in the city. He acknowledged privacy concerns, but said "you can't keep the tides from coming in." "You wait, in five years, the technology is getting better, they'll be cameras everyplace ... whether you like it or not," Bloomberg said. The Editor interjects... Spy Cameras Won't Make Us Safer. CCTV cameras have minimal value in the fight against crime. While it's comforting to imagine vigilant police monitoring every camera, the truth is very different, for a variety of reasons: technological limitations of cameras, organizational limitations of police, and the adaptive abilities of criminals. No one looks at most CCTV footage until well after a crime is committed. And when the police do look at the recordings, it's very common for them to be unable to identify suspects. Criminals don't often stare helpfully at the lens, and [...] tend to wear sunglasses and hats. Cameras break far too often. [...] Cameras afford a false sense of security, encouraging laziness when we need police to be vigilant. GOP Rep. Peter King On Boston Bombing: "We Need More Cameras". ["]So yes, I do favor more cameras. They're a great law enforcement method and device. And again, it keeps us ahead of the terrorists, who are constantly trying to kill us.["] Boston's Top Cop Warns Against "Police State". Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis warned against creating a "police state" in the aftermath of the marathon bombings during testimony in front of a congressional hearing today [5/9/2013]. "We do not, and cannot, live in a protective enclosure because of the actions of extremists who seek to disrupt our way of life," Davis told lawmakers, adding "I do not endorse actions that move Boston and our nation into a police state mentality, with surveillance cameras attached to every light pole in the city." Australian Activist Defeats Spy Cameras In Landmark Case. Expansion of the global surveillance grid was dealt a major blow in Australia last week after a legal challenge by an individual against the State of New South Wales brought about a landmark ruling. A local resident opposed to the introduction of CCTV cameras succesfully [sic] proved that public surveillance carried out by his city council not only broke Australia's privacy laws, but also did nothing to prevent crime — the supposed reason for its installation. Seattle [is the] Latest City to Install DHS Surveillance Equipment. Add Seattle to the list of local governments taking money from the Department of Homeland Security to put their citizens under federal surveillance. [...] Perhaps wiring the city with high-tech, federally funded surveillance equipment is what Seattle mayor meant when he described the city's budget as "a moral document. It puts resources behind our vision of the city we want to see." Apparently, part of those resources are coming from the federal government and they are earmarked for use to putting the city under the vision of the Department of Homeland Security. Is Crazed Super Bowl Security a Taste of America To Come? In the run-up to Super Bowl XLVIII (just be happy they don't use Egyptian numerals), the New York City Police Department is deploying an "amazing arsenal of security initiatives," including 200 "temporary" surveillance cameras to ensure that dirty deeds remain undone at the big game. [...] But never fear, security at the the Super Bowl itself promises to make attendance at football's championship game an awful lot like spending several hours at a very cold TSA checkpoint — with some watery beer. Get used to it America, this massive demonstration of pointless security theater just may be a glimpse of the future. Homeland Security Uses Local Police to Set Up Surveillance Buffer Zones. In order to sweeten the pot of federalization, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is giving gifts of expensive gadgets to local police forces. [...] How is all this new technology being used? Who is being watched? Why are they being targeted for surveillance? Neither law enforcement nor federal agents are talking. License plate readers Hernando County Commissioner Calls For Transparency, Demands Explanation For Using "Chinese Spy Cameras". Cameras are everywhere, and privacy is not expected when you are outside and in a public area. However, when the government uses 'spy cameras' to track your every move, people say it violates their right to privacy. That's exactly what Hernando County Commissioner Steve Champion said during a recent Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting regarding the use of surveillance cameras by the Hernando County Sheriff's Office. [...] Flock Safety cameras are a type of automated license plate recognition (ALPR) system designed to capture vehicle license plates and associated data as they pass by. [...] The use of Flock cameras raises privacy concerns, as they collect data on individuals' movements without their knowledge or consent. Critics argue that such extensive surveillance can have a chilling effect on freedom and anonymity in public spaces. Illinois sued over proliferation of license plate reading cameras. Summons have been sent to the Illinois State Police, Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Gov. J.B. Pritzker in a case challenging the use of automatic license plate reading cameras across the state. On Thursday in the Northern District of Illinois federal court, the Liberty Justice Center filed the lawsuit. Reilly Stephens, counsel on the case, said the ALPRs are virtually everywhere. "Every time you drive on one of these expressways, they are tracking every time you go past one of these cameras," he said. "They're feeding that into a national database which is shared by thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country." [Advertisement] In January of this year, ISP said they were increasing the use of technology to "target and track criminal activity." "Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) capture a visual of vehicle license plates and anytime a wanted or suspected vehicle is detected by an ALPR, an alert is issued and law enforcement are better able to locate and track the vehicle," the agency said. NYC council members urge feds to crack down on 'ghost car' fake plates. Dozens of New York City council members have urged the Biden administration to step in and crackdown on bogus paper license plates amid a drastic influx of so-called "ghost cars" flooding Big Apple streets, The [New York] Post has learned. In a letter sent to Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg Thursday, 33 Big Apple pols called on the federal government to enact a slew of reforms to curb the sale of fraudulent plates in other states in a bid to prevent them from running amok in the city. "The sale and use of fraudulent paper plates has created new challenges in New York City: cars using such plates cannot be easily traced, and thereby pose a street safety threat to New Yorkers," the letter, led by Bronx councilman Oswald Feliz, said. Police Stop A Car Full Of Armed Carjackers & Things Got Wild Pretty Fast. Illinois is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States but lately, reminds us of our hard past in the wild West where street shooting is a daily routine! Security camera footage captured a wild shootout as Chicago police officers stopped a trio of carjackers in a stolen car, wounding one of the suspects. According to Cook County prosecutors, Perez was sitting in the passenger seat of a stolen vehicle Wednesday evening [1/26/2022] that was being driven by 20-year-old Noel Centeno. A third man, 21-year-old Jesse Sanchez was sitting in the back seat. The men were allegedly driving on Lower Wacker Drive near Columbus Avenue at around 8:48 p.m., when officers in a nearby squad car were notified by a license plate reader that the vehicle the men were driving had been reported stolen in a carjacking. COVID Became Excuse To Run Statewide Surveillance Programs. Cash-strapped states are using COVID as an excuse to create AI-driven vehicle recognition or license plate reader surveillance programs. As Rekor Systems president and CEO Robert Berman proudly boasts, "because our technology works so well for vehicle recognition, we do more, we identify the vehicle's make, model, color, body type, bumper stickers or window decals, rust, dents and other things like speed of travel and vehicle direction." Berman revealed that fast-food restaurants are using Rekor's vehicle surveillance program "because it helps the folks who are making the food to do it more efficiently" claiming that it helps companies like Starbucks, ID customers who order the same thing everyday. Berman also admitted that Rekor's vehicle surveillance program is tied to smart city surveillance, saying "this is where things are headed, this is where things are going to converge." State court allows spy operations by police using license plate readers. The Rutherford Institute is calling a decision by the Virginia Supreme Court to give police departments unrestricted use of Automated License Plate Readers to gather data statewide about residents a "blow to privacy." The legal team had asked the court to decide in its Fairfax County Police Department v. Neal case that the use of the computerized spy programs violated a state law restricting government collection of personal information. But the court ruled that Americans "cannot even drive their cars without being tracked by the government," according to the institute. The "Officer-Friendly" Police Fantasy. Uncle Sam has brought the surveillance state to the nearest police car dashboard. Federal grants have enabled many states and localities to equip police cars with license-plate scanners that provide plenty of bogus pretexts to harass hapless drivers. License-plate readers often misread plates. Brian Hofer was pulled off Interstate 80 in California and handcuffed and held at gunpoint after his rental vehicle was misreported as stolen. Hofer commented in 2019, "I'm sitting ice-cold and saying nothing because I do not want any itchy trigger fingers." With an error rate approaching 10 percent, license-plate readers effectively generate potentially thousands of false accusations each day. Clothing Line Fools Big Brother Surveillance by Making You Look Like a Car. As Vice explains, "If you've ever gotten a traffic ticket in the mail — sometimes complete with a photo of your vehicle, with yourself and passengers looking stunned in the front seat — your car has likely encountered an ... ALPR." "Like many surveillance technologies in American cities, ALPRs are everywhere, always watching," the site continues. "They're attached to everything from public telephone poles to cop cars, but they're much more than speed trap cameras. ALPRs are privately-owned systems that capture everything resembling a license plate within their purview, collecting up to a thousand plates per minute. So while you're driving around, or traveling in a rideshare, these systems read the vehicle's plates and collect its GPS location and registration information, as well as the date and time." Report: ICE Agents Given Access to Private License Plate Database. The more important lead story of this article is buried within the outcome story of ICE agents using a private license plate database to capture illegal aliens. [...] Use a private-sector database to track down people for missed property tax payments; or use the database to track lawful gun owners; or use the database to stop a traveler from entering an airport until they pay an unpaid parking fine, and hey, no biggie. But start using that private database to arrest illegal aliens, and Whoa, now the ACLU says we've got a problem. Customer loyalty rewards programs used to convince the public to accept 9,000 private license plate readers. The die has been cast, whether it is digital drivers licenses, digital license plates, license plate readers or facial recognition cameras. Everyone from private corporations to law enforcement follows the same script; offer Americans customer loyalty rewards programs in exchange for the loss of their privacy. Surveillance politics and law enforcement regularly tout license plate readers as a necessary extension of public safety at the expense of our privacy. But now things have gotten out of control as a recent Quartz headline warned "In just two years, 9,000 of these cameras (ALPR) were installed to spy on your car." A Massachusetts company called Novume which recently acquired Open ALPR Technology Inc. boasts that their free software is being used by private corporations and governments in more than 9,000 private license plate readers worldwide. Special laws for the rich: The Editor says... Florida man claims license-plate readers let cops know your 'daily routine' in suit. A Florida man earlier this month filed a lawsuit against his city and its law enforcement, claiming that its use of license-plate-reading technology is unconstitutional, The Miami New Times reported. Raul Mas Canosa, a Coral Gables resident, claimed in a lawsuit filed Oct. 5 that Coral Gables operates 30 cameras around the city and shares its data with at least 80 law enforcement agencies. "They pretty much know your daily routine every single day," Canosa told The Miami Herald. "I think they have a legitimate law enforcement purpose but what is troubling is what are the parameters for this?" Coral Gables will have scanned more than 30 million license plates by the end of the year, despite having a population of 50,000, according to The New Times. Turning the Tide on Police Surveillance. The stories seem non-stop. The NSA, FBI, and other federal agencies are spying on us in new ways and with new programs or authorities. But surveillance that is most overlooked, but is equally as pervasive, is how state and local police spy on their own residents. In Baltimore, the police department secretly deployed Stingrays to track the phone calls of residents in primarily black neighborhoods. In New Orleans, the police entered into a six-year contract with data mining firm Palantir to conduct predictive policing. When residents found out, their opposition was so fierce that within two weeks, the city canceled the agreement. And in cities and towns all over the country, police departments are tracking people's movements with surreptitiously installed automatic license plate readers. License Plate Risks. I leave it as an exercise for the reader as to what risks exist in either [regular or electronic license plates]. Asides that is from pointing out the stupidity of an electronic tag in the age of high quality Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems linked to a licensing computer. However, there is a second risk in being able to detect unlicensed vehicles; work overload. The Western Australian Police have had to turn off the unlicensed vehicle feature in their ANPR system because there are too many alerts! Georgia Power Company leasing license plate readers to police departments. It appears the police in Brookhaven, Georgia are not content with just having their own 'Operation Plugged In' cam-share program. What they have done is create one of the most disturbing corporate/police relationships I have had the displeasure of writing about. Last year the Brookhaven Police Department and the Georgia Power Company entered into a unique partnership. It is unique because the power company has begun leasing their utility poles equipped with their license plate readers and CCTV cameras to police departments. Liberals Upset That License Plate Readers Are Used To Find Illegal Aliens. The battle of public safety and law enforcement versus privacy concerns isn't going away any time soon. Much of the debate these days revolves around increasingly affordable and available technology allowing the use of publicly mounted (or drone-based) cameras which can record both automobile license plate numbers and even human faces. Scanners and facial recognition software can interpret this data and assist law enforcement agencies in locating suspects more quickly and accurately. But this has some people highly upset. ICE is about to start tracking license plates across the US. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has officially gained agency-wide access to a nationwide license plate recognition database, according to a contract finalized earlier this month. The system gives the agency access to billions of license plate records and new powers of real-time location tracking, raising significant concerns from civil libertarians. The source of the data is not named in the contract, but an ICE representative said the data came from Vigilant Solutions, the leading network for license plate recognition data. The Rise of the American Police State. The Mobile Plate Hunter 900 is a type of license plate reader that demonstrates the high-tech capabilities of the police. ELSAG, the company that developed the Mobile Plate Hunter 900, describes it as "a $20,000 piece of equipment ... consisting of two cameras mounted on top of a police cruiser to fit in light bars or can stand alone and can record up to 900 license plates an hour on vehicles driving at highway speeds." This license plate reader is currently used by over four hundred agencies across thirty U.S. states. The plate reader can have some difficulty reading plates from certain angles, but for the most part, the reader can chart and estimated eighty-five to ninety percent of the plates that pass by. ELSAG further explains, "The snapshot recorded is taken in order to catch fugitives, so the numbers are matched with a computerized list from the National Crime Information Center, alerting the officer within milliseconds of capture if there is a match." The plate reader therefore determines if the car's registered owner has a suspended or a revoked license, if the car has been reported stolen, or even if the car's owner has a criminal record. A Banana Republic, If We Choose to Keep It. Here's what Americans have learned in the last two weeks alone. As revealed by The Wall Street Journal, in 2010, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials "persuaded police officers to scan license plates to gather information about gun-show customers, government emails show, raising questions about how officials monitor constitutionally protected activity." How they do it? They use license plate readers. Why they do it is far more germane. Under the auspices of "fighting crime," government is taking down the license plate numbers of innocent Americans and putting them in a database. A database that can be used for detailed surveillance of peoples' daily activity. [...] When the Journal received documentation after filing an FOIA request they noted that "[M]ore than half of the pages provided by the agency were completely redacted, or blacked out; others have large sections redacted, apparently to keep secret how the surveillance was undertaken." Federal Agency Pushed Law Enforcement to Scan License Plates of Gun Show Attendees. The emails date back to 2010 and were obtained by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). According to WSJ, "[ICE] crafted a plan in 2010 to use license-plate readers — devices that record the plate numbers of all passing cars — at gun shows in Southern California, including one in Del Mar." ICE then "compared that information to cars that crossed the border, hoping to find gun smugglers, according to the documents and interviews with law-enforcement officials with knowledge of the operation." Automatic Number Plate Recognition: ANPR/ALPR. Number plate recognition cameras have been mis-sold to the public. Back in the 1980s it was claimed that the cameras were developed only to find stolen vehicles. Then as a nationwide network of thousands of cameras was quietly constructed in the early 2000's it was said to be for finding incorrectly registered, untaxed or uninsured vehicles. However another little noticed use was stated in the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) ANPR Strategy documents, that of tracking vehicle movements. Not just vehicles linked to ongoing criminal investigations but all vehicles, with the information to be stored in national and local databases for two years. This is a mass surveillance tool which was constructed without any public debate. Smile! Your Car's on Camera. It's an automatic license-plate reader, based on technology conceived in the U.K. in the late '70s. It comprises two external fender-mounted cameras that resemble Cyclops eyes, plus a breadbox-sized processing unit in the trunk. The cameras are essentially optical-character scanners similar to those that read bar codes at the grocery store. "They search for a defined pattern of numbers and letters," says Elsag's VP of marketing and communication, Nate Maloney, "and when they find that pattern, they take a picture of it." In August alone, the MPH-900 in [Officer Brian] Walczak's cruiser photographed 32,710 plates. City Wants Surveillance Cameras to Record Every License Plate. Police in North Carolina want to build surveillance cameras that would record every car license that passes by and run it through the FBI's criminal database, alerting authorities in real time if it finds a match. The system would store license plate numbers for up to a year to provide authorities with historic data should they want to review the data later. "There is no expectation of privacy to a license plate number," said John Carey, the police chief in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, since a license plate is a displayed public record. You Are Being Tracked: How License Plate Readers Are Being Used to Record Americans' Movements. A little noticed surveillance technology, designed to track the movements of every passing driver, is fast proliferating on America's streets. Automatic license plate readers, mounted on police cars or on objects like road signs and bridges, use small, high-speed cameras to photograph thousands of plates per minute. The information captured by the readers — including the license plate number, and the date, time, and location of every scan — is being collected and sometimes pooled into regional sharing systems. Oklahoma Robo Cop Alert! It's called ALPR-Automatic License Plate Reader, and these things are all the rage. ALPRs are not ordinary cameras. Attached to police cruisers, or fixed on telephone poles or other stationary places, the cameras snap an image of nearly every license plate they encounter. The device produces a file for each image captured, which includes searchable text displaying the time, date and GPS location of the car when and where the plate was 'read'. This information is fed into a database, where it can be shared with other agencies and databases, and "mined" or analyzed. Automated License Plate Readers Threaten Our Privacy. Law enforcement agencies are increasingly using sophisticated cameras, called "automated license plate readers" or ALPR, to scan and record the license plates of millions of cars across the country. [...] Photographing a single license plate one time on a public city street may not seem problematic, but when that data is put into a database, combined with other scans of that same plate on other city streets, and stored forever, it can become very revealing. Red light cameras more of a 'Go' sign for state license plate re-do. The economic future of Florida apparently relies on the redesign of our license plates. I had no idea what a problem the current license plates have been. But it turns out that they're wreaking havoc on what was supposed to be a lucrative business of photographing red-light violators at traffic intersections across the state. The Editor says... New Traffic Camera Checks Taxes, Insurance. Cities increasingly rely on traffic cameras as moneymakers, even though the evidence suggests they increase accidents. But there's so much more traffic cams could do. Finland is testing a camera system that can scan the license plate to see if taxes and insurance are paid up. Red Light Cameras Out, Mobile License Plate Scanners In. Arlington County, Va., tax collectors are using the mobile scanning of license plate numbers to search for individuals who owe the county money. Once the tax or parking fine scofflaws are discovered, treasury department personnel are then able to take their license plates away. California License Plates May Go Digital. California drivers may soon come bumper to bumper with the latest product of the digital age: ad-blaring license plates. State lawmakers are considering a bill allowing the state to begin researching the use of electronic license plates for vehicles. At Newark Airport, the Lights Are On, and They're Watching You. Visitors to Terminal B at Newark Liberty International Airport may notice the bright, clean lighting that now blankets the cavernous interior, courtesy of 171 recently installed LED fixtures. But they probably will not realize that the light fixtures are the backbone of a system that is watching them. Using an array of sensors and eight video cameras around the terminal, the light fixtures are part of a new wireless network that collects and feeds data into software that can spot long lines, recognize license plates and even identify suspicious activity, sending alerts to the appropriate staff. License plate recognition tools led to abduction arrest. The swift arrest of a San Jose man in the abduction of a 12-year-old girl this week was aided by an eye-opening gadget that can scan the license plates of a street full of cars and instantly alert police to which vehicles have been reported stolen. It was a breakthrough moment for license plate recognition, a technology that is spreading to law enforcement around the Bay Area — and is prompting privacy concerns. License reader company offers trove of info to Texas cops, for a cut. The long arm of the law in Texas is getting a controversial boost from a tech company's people-tracking database, in what one critic called a "huge invasion of privacy." Vigilant Solutions, which operates license plate readers around the state, has given at least two Lone Star law-enforcement agencies access to its massive automated database. Information culled from plate readers in police cars and affeixed to traffic signals, as well as software programs that analyze it, is used to help cops track down deadbeats and scofflaws. And Vigilant, which in one case even collects the debt on behalf of the public agency, get a 25-percent cut. License Plate Readers in Texas Are Now Also Debt Collectors. Vehicle surveillance broker Vigilant Solutions has offered Texas law enforcement agencies "free" access to its massive automated license plate reader databases and analytical tools — but only if the police give Vigilant access to all of their data on outstanding court fees and hand the company a 25 percent surcharge from money collected from drivers with outstanding court fines. Vigilant also gets to keep a copy of any license-plate data collected by the police, even after the contract ends, and can retain it indefinitely. The EFF warns that it turns police into debt collectors and data miners. Neither policymakers nor the public have evaluated the technology, it contains a non-disparagement clause, and it uploads everyone's driving patterns into a private system without any ways for these individuals to control how their data is used or shared. An Unprecedented Threat to Privacy. A private company has captured 2.2 billion photos of license plates in cities throughout America. It stores them in a database, tagged with the location where they were taken. And it is selling that data. License Plate Readers Exposed! ALPR systems are a form of mass surveillance, plain and simple. This technology captures information on every driver, regardless of whether they are under suspicion. In fact, when EFF and the ACLU sent a public records request for ALPR data to the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office, the agencies refused to hand over the data, citing a provision in California law that allows them to withhold investigative records. Who are they investigating? The answer: all cars in California. Reality TV: Live feeds from police license plate readers posted online, claims report. It was technology, not shoe leather, that brought to justice the killer of Walter Bailey, a 49-year-old grandfather who was gunned down for $10 on a Kenner, La., street five years ago this week. But now, automatic license plate readers — like the one that helped crack the Bailey murder case and send his killer to prison for life — and the company that manufactures them are under fire from a tech watchdog that found more than 100 of the systems streaming live on the web, potentially compromising personal information of countless Americans. Manhunt for TV shooter ended on the side of a Virginia highway after a license plate reader found his rental car. [Scroll down] Overton said they tracked the vehicle as it traveled along Interstate 81 for hundreds of miles after the shooting. A license plate reader was able to pick up the Sonic's location on Interstate 66 in Fauquier County, Virginia traveling east, where Virginia State Police Trooper Pamela Neff began to follow him until backup arrived to assist. More about Vester Lee Flanagan II a/k/a Bryce Williams. Woman goes to doctor for X-rays after hitting her head ... then her phone turns off. Connie Ditto hit her head when she fell last week. She texted her husband Mark that she was going to the doctor to get it checked out with X-rays. That was the last he ever heard from her. [...] Connie was eventually found by a police license plate reader, hiding out in an Extended Stay hotel. WSJ Report: "U.S. Spies on Millions of Cars" — Aligns With Our 2013/2014 Maryland MCAC Hub Research. Over a year ago we brought you the story of Mr. Filippidis and his family, a Florida Driver who was pulled over by law enforcement in Maryland. The traffic stop would have been typical except for the fact the responding officer demanded, at random, Mr. Filippidis's firearm. [...] Sensing more to the story, we began an official public records request inquiry to get to the bottom of the issue(s). What we found was a network of federally funded, but state operated, Maryland APLR (automatic license plate readers) which were tied into an intelligence hub (ie database) called MCAC (Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center). 8News Investigates: Mobile Plate Hunters. An increasing number of police forces throughout Central Virginia are using infrared cameras mounted on their patrol cars to snap photos of every license plate they pass. But many fear the revolutionary crime-fighting tool is a massive invasion of privacy. Spying On Every Car Entering And Leaving Town Ruled Disproportionate. The UK is famous for its abundant CCTV cameras, but it's also pretty keen on the equally intrusive Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras that can identify cars and hence their owners as they pass. Here, for example, is what's been going on in the town of Royston, whose local police force has just had its knuckles rapped by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for the over-enthusiastic deployment of such ANPR systems there: [...]
Mobile Plate Hunter-900. Operations Center User's Manual [PDF] U.S. Spies on Millions of Drivers. The primary goal of the license-plate tracking program, run by the Drug Enforcement Administration, is to seize cars, cash and other assets to combat drug trafficking, according to one government document. But the database's use has expanded to hunt for vehicles associated with numerous other potential crimes, from kidnappings to killings to rape suspects, say people familiar with the matter. The U.S. Homeland Security Role in the Mexican War Against Drug Cartels. The purpose of the LPR Initiative is to combine existing DEA and other law enforcement database capabilities with new technology to identify and interdict conveyances being utilized to transport bulk cash, drugs, weapons, as well as other illegal contraband. Almost 100 percent of the effort and cost associated with monitoring southbound traffic is directed at the identification, seizure, and forfeiture of bulk cash and weapons, while the effort and cost of monitoring northbound traffic is both enforcement and forfeiture related, in that suspect conveyances can be identified for later southbound monitoring. DEA components have the ability to query and input alerts on license plates via an existing DEA database, and other law enforcement agencies can do the same via EPIC. ACLU sues Fairfax County police over license-plate data. The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia is suing Fairfax County police over a policy in which they store data collected on thousands of drivers through the use of license-plate readers. Documents reveal that FBI lawyers were worried about invasive license plate readers. Privacy advocates have long raised the alarm about government use of license plate readers. But it appears the FBI itself has had serious concerns over their use and, at one time, was "wrestling over" their impact on privacy. Internal documents obtained by the ACLU reveal that, in 2012, the FBI's lawyers recommended that they no longer buy license readers. DHS, IRS, Debt Collectors Fight to Expand Use of License Plate Tracking Devices. Despite the objections of millions of Americans and civil liberties advocates, the Department of Homeland Security refuses completely to abandon its license plate tracking program. And now, other government and industry agencies are joining in the surveillance. While there has been some slight scaling back of the scope of the surveillance, DHS will continue using the controversial technology in almost half of the United States, comprising most of the largest population centers. "The LPR [License Plate Reader] data service shall compile LPR from at least 25 states and 24 of the top 30 most populous metropolitan statistical areas to the extent authorized by law in those locations," a contract issued by DHS Immigration and Customs officials reports. The end of the license plate. Public and private entities are scanning license plates, snapping photos of our cars, and storing the times and locations where they appear. Close correlation between license plate numbers and particular drivers means that databases of mundane information about auto movements also reveal quite sensitive information about doctor and psychologist visits, business meetings, trysts, gatherings of legal advice and participation in political advocacy. The DHS isn't backing down on tracking your license plate. A year ago, the Department of Homeland Security began a new initiative to track license plates nationwide. Luckily it was abandoned due to overwhelming opposition over privacy concerns. Organizations such as the ACLU warned that license plate databases could be used to track the locations of all American drivers, criminal and non-criminal. The ACLU even released a report — "You Are Being Tracked" — which detailed the issues with several localities that allow license plate readers. Authorities can keep tabs on people's movements with little regard for privacy. Georgia bill would regulate license plate readers used by police. Citing privacy concerns, House Republican leaders filed legislation this week that would regulate the license plate readers police use. House Bill 93 — Sponsored by Deputy Majority Whip John Pezold of Columbus — would require police to delete images captured by the devices after 30 days. Mounted on police cars, road signs or traffic lights, the readers capture images of license plates as well as the date, time and location of each scan. Police use that data to help spot stolen cars or suspects wanted on criminal charges. Why are a bunch of "3 letter agencies" gathering intel on gun owners? The NSA is monitoring phone calls and data, the Internet is an open book to the government and recently we learned that Uncle Sam has been tracking our vehicles. According to the Wall Street Journal, "The Justice Department has been building a national database to track in real time the movement of vehicles around the U.S., a secret domestic intelligence-gathering program that scans and stores hundreds of millions of records about motorists." We are continually assured this is for own safety; the government is not opposed to the citizens' rights, it is only looking to protect us with the data. License-plate readers violate our principles. In 2008, the Drug Enforcement Agency created a program to read and monitor vehicle license plates near border crossings in California, Arizona, and Texas. Seeking cooperation from local officials, federal authorities explained that the system would be used strictly to track the movement of contraband and money by Mexican drug cartels. Today, however, the federal government gathers information from hundreds of cameras and scanners from California to New Jersey to Florida. The resulting database tracks the movement of millions of vehicles — maybe yours — throughout the United States. Georgia bill would regulate license plate readers used by police. Citing privacy concerns, House Republican leaders filed legislation this week that would regulate the license plate readers police use. [...] Mounted on police cars, road signs or traffic lights, the readers capture images of license plates as well as the date, time and location of each scan. Police use that data to help spot stolen cars or suspects wanted on criminal charges. ACLU Report: Feds Using Mobile License Plate Readers To Scan Gun Show Vehicles For Database. According to emails obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, federal authorities planned to monitor gun show parking lots with automatic license plate readers. The insight comes from a damning report released by the ACLU this week on a secretive program by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to build a massive database of license plates['] images collected by automated license plate reader devices. DEA and ATF cooperated to record gun show attendee license plates. According to emails obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, federal authorities planned to monitor gun show parking lots with automatic license plate readers. The insight comes from a damning report released by the ACLU this week on a secretive program by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to build a massive database of license plates images collected by automated license plate reader devices. As part of this investigation, emails released through the Freedom of Information Act detailed a planned cooperation between the DEA's National License Plate Recognition initiative and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to scan and record the plates and vehicle images of gun show attendees. FOIA Documents Reveal Massive DEA Program to Record American's Whereabouts With License Plate Readers. The DEA is currently operating a National License Plate Recognition initiative that connects DEA license plate readers with those of other law enforcement agencies around the country. A Washington Post headline proclaimed in February 2014 that the Department of Homeland Security had cancelled its "national license-plate tracking plan," but all that was ended was one Immigrations and Customs Enforcement solicitation for proposals. In fact, a government-run national license plate tracking program already exists, housed within the DEA. (That's in addition to the corporate license plate tracking database run by Vigilant Solutions, holding billions of records about our movements.) Since its inception in 2008, the DEA has provided limited information to the public on the program's goals, capabilities and policies. Information has trickled out over the years, in testimony here or there. But far too little is still known about this program. U.S. Spies on Millions of Drivers. The Justice Department has been building a national database to track in real time the movement of vehicles around the U.S., a secret domestic intelligence-gathering program that scans and stores hundreds of millions of records about motorists, according to current and former officials and government documents. The primary goal of the license-plate tracking program, run by the Drug Enforcement Administration, is to seize cars, cash and other assets to combat drug trafficking, according to one government document. But the database's use has expanded to hunt for vehicles associated with numerous other potential crimes, from kidnappings to killings to rape suspects, say people familiar with the matter. DEA Has Abandoned Plans to Track Cars at Gun Shows. The head of the Drug Enforcement Agency announced yesterday [1/28/2015] that the agency had abandoned plans to use surveillance cameras to photograph license plates appearing in the vicinity of gun shows. [...] Why would the government even think it should "keep track" of law-abiding citizens participating in a purely legal social activity? Cameras are everywhere now, on police cruisers, utility polls, traffic lights and mounted in front of private businesses. Does the government have the right to catalog and monitor innocent comings and goings? As You Drive, So You Are Watched. Simply put, I am quite happy to live in a world in which, in the course of acting locally and in response to a discrete threat, the state is able to thwart the plans of those who would harm the innocent people. At the same time, I do not want to live in a world in which the state films everybody in public as a matter of unprovoked routine. As so often, the key here is necessity. Can the security forces intrude upon my liberties in a genuine emergency? Absolutely. Should they be watching or recording the movements of private citizens absent a specific, time-limited, and easily explicable reason to do so? No, they should not. DEA chief: US abandoned plan to track cars near gun shows. The Drug Enforcement Administration abandoned an internal proposal to use surveillance cameras for photographing vehicle license plates near gun shows in the United States to investigate gun-trafficking, the agency's chief said Wednesday [3/25/2015]. The next NSA? Police departments under scrutiny for phone, license plate surveillance. The NSA isn't the only government agency raising concerns about electronic privacy. Local police departments are coming under similar scrutiny — not only for using spying technology, but for hiding their use from the public. At least 25 police departments now use what is known as "Stingray," a briefcase-sized box that swallows up cell phone data within a mile radius. More than one in three large police departments are also using license-plate readers, which can record every plate — even on a four-lane highway — from vehicles going at speeds of up to 150 miles per hour. Justice Department Reportedly Spies on Millions of Cars to Build National Database. The U.S. Department of Justice secretly spies on millions of cars by gathering and storing information about motorists in order to build a national database to track movements, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal. The database was originally used by the Drug Enforcement Administration to hunt vehicles involved in drug crimes by tracking license plates, but according to the WSJ, the program expanded to hunt for criminals sought for crimes that were non-drug related. California man arrested, accused of duct-taping license plate to beat GW Bridge tolls. Ashwin Kumar, 28, of Pittburgh, Calif., was charged with theft of services and tampering with public documents, meaning his license plates, said Al Della Fave, a PAPD spokesman. The cash toll for six-axle vehicles, including tractor trailers, is $78 at all times. Surveillance For Hire: Would You Take Money to Record Fellow Drivers? If you could mount a camera on your car that simply scanned license plates as you drove — and earned you $200 to $400 each time it registered a stolen or repossessed car — would you do it? That's the gig several repo men have lined up across the country: selling location information they gather to companies like Texas-based Digital Recognition Network. Private Companies Are Scanning Your License Plate And Location, Selling The Data. When you hear the phrase "vast hidden network of cameras that scan license plates," what do you think of? The police? The Department of Homeland Security? While the government and privacy advocates argue over government use of plate-scanning data, private companies are already collecting and selling that data with little regulation. The Boston Globe's BetaBoston brought this industry to our attention. There happens to be a bill up for discussion right now that would ban private-sector license plate data collection and scanning in Massachusetts. Fort Worth firm creates high-tech aid for a repo man. On the streets of Laredo, repo man Rey Martinez bags three or four cars a week using license plate recognition cameras and software that instantly alert him to targets. Sometimes he gets a ping for a vehicle while cruising a Wal-Mart parking lot. Occasionally he snags a car that pulls in front of him on the road. "We follow them and eventually they stop and we explain to them what's happening and we take the vehicle," said Martinez, who owns Home Chasers Auto Recovery. Repo Scan: License Plate Readers Fuel Private Surveillance Industry. The privacy issues surrounding the use of license plate scanners isn't exactly a new story. [...] But The Boston Globe presents a troubling picture of how far and fast license plate scanning has come, and how the combination of super-efficient scanning with cloud based applications and Big Data analytics are empowering private companies to surveil law abiding citizens across much of the country. New East Palo Alto license plate readers will run plates through crime databases. By the new year, the East Palo Alto Police Department will be using automatic license plate readers to identify law breakers. The City Council has agreed to pay for the new devices — including two sets of high-speed cameras and sophisticated computers — with a $37,540 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. Has the Dept. of Homeland Security become America's standing army? DHS has already distributed more than $50 million in grants to enable local police agencies to acquire license plate readers, which rely on mobile cameras to photograph and identify cars, match them against a national database, and track their movements. Relying on private contractors to maintain a license plate database allows the DHS and its affiliates to access millions of records without much in the way of oversight. Use of license plate photo databases is raising privacy concerns. A growing number of cameras — hundreds around Los Angeles, thousands nationwide — are engaged in a simple pursuit: Taking pictures of license plates. [...] Law enforcement officials say the data collection is invaluable for tracking down stolen cars and catching fugitives. But such databases are also being built by private firms, which can sell access to anyone willing to pay, such as lenders, repo workers and private investigators. That is raising worries among privacy advocates and lawmakers, who say the fast-growing industry is not only ripe for conflicts of interest but downright invasive. Homeland Security is seeking a national license plate tracking system. The Department of Homeland Security wants a private company to provide a national license-plate tracking system that would give the agency access to vast amounts of information from commercial and law enforcement tag readers, according to a government proposal that does not specify what privacy safeguards would be put in place. The national license-plate recognition database, which would draw data from readers that scan the tags of every vehicle crossing their paths, would help catch fugitive illegal immigrants, according to a DHS solicitation. But the database could easily contain more than 1 billion records and could be shared with other law enforcement agencies, raising concerns that the movements of ordinary citizens who are under no criminal suspicion could be scrutinized. Lawmakers kill bill to spy on motorists with license plate scanners. Touting the privacy rights of New Hampshire citizens, House members Wednesday voted overwhelmingly — 250-97 — to kill a bill that would have allowed police to use license plate scanners, and then banned the issue for the rest of the session. With the House vote, New Hampshire continues to be the only state in the country to prohibit the use of license plate scanners. Collecting license plate information at toll booths and bridges is allowed. Recording license plate data is the same as Big Brother watching citizens in George Orwell's novel "1984" opponents said — or at least a big step down that slippery slope. Chips Could Track Car Plates. A controversial plan to embed RFID chips in license plates in the United Kingdom also may be coming to the United States, experts told UPI's Wireless World. Malaysia to embed car license plates with microchips to combat theft. Malaysia's government, hoping to thwart car thieves, will embed license plates with microchips containing information about the vehicle and its owner, a news report said Saturday [12/2/2006]. With the chips in use, officials can scan cars at roadblocks and identify stolen vehicles, the New Straits Times reported. The "e-plate" chip system is the latest strategy to prevent car thieves from getting away with their crimes by merely changing the plates, the report said. The Editor asks... Brit License Plates Get Chipped. The British government is preparing to test new high-tech license plates containing microchips capable of transmitting unique vehicle identification numbers and other data to readers more than 300 feet away. RFID-enabled license plates to identify UK vehicles. The UK-based vehicle licence plate manufacturer, Hills Numberplates Ltd, has chosen long-range RFID tags and readers from Identec Solutions to be embedded in licence plates that will automatically and reliably identify vehicles in the UK. Car tag scanners would track Tybee, Ga., tourists. City officials on Tybee Island want to know more about the tourists who visit Georgia's largest public beach, and they plan to spend nearly $29,000 on a pair of computer-linked cameras designed to read and record the license plate of every car and truck that comes and goes on the island. But the officials in this town may have inadvertently thrust it into a national privacy debate by approving the use of scanners to track cars entering and leaving their community. DHS Building National License Plate Reader Database. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is seeking to build a national license plate reader database, according to a recent job posting for government contractors. The posting, first reported by Ars Technica, seeks a contractor to build a national license plate recognition database for DHS and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Automated license plate recognition (ALPR) technology uses cameras to identify cars, alert police departments if they match a license plate on a "hot list," and track their movements. The Editor says... License plate readers: A useful tool for police comes with privacy concerns. Scores of cameras across [Washington, DC] capture 1,800 images a minute and download the information into a rapidly expanding archive that can pinpoint people's movements all over town. ... More than 250 cameras in the District and its suburbs scan license plates in real time, helping police pinpoint stolen cars and fleeing killers. But the program quietly has expanded beyond what anyone had imagined even a few years ago. National RFid Center General Newsletter 09/02/2006: The roadway, known as the "Golden Corridor" is the first in the country to install all-video toll collection. Using license plate information photographed by cameras, money will be deducted from customer accounts. Those without toll accounts will have bills sent to their address, based on information from their license plates. Video eye to scan for Newton parking lapses. Automatic license plate recognition — a kind of RoboCop of the parking world that uses a panoramic video camera, laptop computer, and sophisticated software — detects cars that have been parked too long and sounds an alert to write a ticket. The city bought three systems for $50,000 and plans to install them in parking enforcement vehicles this month. Police partner with license plate readers. A growing number of police departments are turning to mobile camera systems to fight motor vehicle theft and identify unregistered cars. The cameras read license plates of parked and moving cars — hundreds per minute — and check them against vehicle databases, said Lance Clem, a spokesman for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which purchased several systems for its police vehicles last fall. This license plate-scanning technology has been around for a few years already, and is in use on side streets as well as freeways. The following commentary was written in 2004: License Plate "Guns" and Privacy: New Haven police have a new law enforcement tool: a license-plate scanner. Similar to a radar gun, it reads the license plates of moving or parked cars and links with remote police databases, immediately providing information about the car and owner. Right now the police check if there are any taxes owed on the car, if the car or license plate is stolen, and if the car is unregistered or uninsured. A car that comes up positive is towed. Lawyer: Cop scanner 'crosses line'. Civil libertarians are raising the alarm over the state's plans to create a Big Brother database that could map drivers' whereabouts with police cruiser-mounted scanners that capture thousands of license plates per hour — storing that information indefinitely where local cops, staties, feds and prosecutors could access it as they choose. In England: A stalker's dream come true. Arkansas police photograph license plates, store data. Little Rock may not be a likely terrorism target or a gang crime hotspot, but the Arkansas capital has decided to follow the example of high-security cities by expanding electronic surveillance of its streets. DHS cancels national license plate tracking plan. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Wednesday [2/19/2014] ordered the cancellation of a plan by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to develop a national license-plate tracking system after privacy advocates raised concern about the initiative. The order came just days after ICE solicited proposals from companies to compile a database of license-plate information from commercial and law enforcement tag readers. Officials said the database was intended to help apprehend fugitive illegal immigrants, but the plan raised concerns that the movements of ordinary citizens under no criminal suspicion could be scrutinized. The Editor says... Testing the license plate readers: IRS, other federal agencies reportedly used license plate-tracking technology. The Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies reportedly awarded contracts to a license plate-tracking company to provide access to license-plate recognition databases or technology used to collect plate information. Bloomberg News reported that the IRS and other government agencies awarded about $415,000 in contracts to Livermore, Calif.-based Vigilant Solutions before the Department of Homeland Security dropped a plan for similar work after privacy concerns were raised. IRS Among agencies that hired license plate-tracking vendor. The Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies awarded about $415,000 in contracts to a license plate-tracking company before Homeland Security leaders dropped a plan for similar work amid privacy complaints. Federal offices such as the Forest Service and the U.S. Air Force's Air Combat Command chose Livermore, Calif.-based Vigilant Solutions to provide access to license plate databases or tools used to collect plate information, according to government procurement records compiled by Bloomberg. Toll road cameras looking beyond scofflaw drivers. Harris County Toll Road Authority cameras are now on the lookout for more than just those drivers who blow through EZ Tag lanes without paying. County authorities promise new, upgraded cameras can help catch murderers and other violent criminals. The cameras have the capability to search their databases and issue alerts to county dispatchers when a wanted criminal crosses their lenses. ... The system, which has been operating for about a month, has proved so promising that the Houston Police Department wants a piece of the action. Big Brother? — Area cameras would record all license plates. If recent grant applications win approval, all vehicles traveling on certain local traffic arteries would have their license plates automatically recorded and checked against a U.S. criminal records database. A surveillance system would run every plate number through the National Crime Information Center, a computerized index maintained by the FBI. If the number matches someone with an outstanding warrant, or a criminal record, or perhaps just a person of interest in a local investigation, police would be alerted.
Translation by Google: The Editor says... Warrantless GPS tracking GPS Tracking Devices. Do you ever get that feeling that you're being followed? Maybe you are. Court Rules Probable-Cause Warrant Required for GPS Trackers. An appellate court has finally supplied an answer to an open question left dangling by the Supreme Court in 2012: Do law enforcement agencies need a probable-cause warrant to affix a GPS tracker to a target's vehicle? The Third Circuit Court of Appeals gave a resounding yes to that question today [10/22/2013] in a 2 to 1 decision. "Today's decision is a victory for all Americans because it ensures that the police cannot use powerful tracking technology without court supervision and a good reason to believe it will turn up evidence of wrongdoing," said ACLU attorney Catherine Crump in a statement. "These protections are important because where people go reveals a great deal about them, from who their friends are, where they visit the doctor and where they choose to worship." Obama Administration Argues No Warrant Required for GPS Tracking of Citizens. The federal government informed an appeals court on Thursday [5/31/2012] that it has the right and the power to place GPS tracking devices on the privately owned vehicles of citizens without obtaining a warrant. This is in open rebellion to a Supreme Court decision from January that held that such warrantless installation of tracking devices on cars was unconstitutional. After GPS tracking banned by court, privacy fight turns to cell phone data. The D.C. nightclub owner at the center of a landmark Supreme Court case about GPS tracking is now also challenging prosecutors' extensive use of data from cell phone towers to monitor his location. The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that police violated Antoine Jones' Fourth Amendment rights when they placed a GPS device on his Jeep and tracked the vehicle for a month without a valid warrant. Groups warn high court of big government intrusion in GPS case. The high court will decide whether warrant-less GPS tracking by law enforcement is a violation of Fourth Amendment protections from unreasonable search and seizure. The U.S. vs. Jones case is scheduled for argument in early November. ... With an expired warrant that applied only to the District of Columbia, police officers installed a GPS tracker on nightclub owner Antoine Jones's vehicle when it was parked in a public lot in Maryland. The information they obtained from tracking Jones, whom they suspected of involvement in a cocaine-distribution operation, over the course of a month allowed them to trace Jones's movements to a house in Maryland. Police reportedly found cocaine, crack and cash inside the residence. High court case on GPS surveillance could break new ground. In a potentially groundbreaking case on high-tech tracking by police, the Supreme Court will decide whether constant surveillance is such an intrusion on people's lives that police need a warrant before attaching a GPS device to a person's car. Supreme Court Hears Whether GPS Counts as 'Big Brother'. Citizens traveling public highways should have no expectation of privacy just because police are tracking their movements through GPS rather than in person, the U.S. government argued Tuesday [11/8/2011] in a case before the Supreme Court that pits the interest of law enforcement against individual privacy rights. The dispute springs from a situation in which police affixed a GPS tracking device to a suspect's car without a proper warrant. It monitored the suspect's movements for several weeks, noting where his vehicle went and how long it stayed at each location. Supreme Court justice: Warrantless GPS tracking 'sounds like 1984'. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in United States v. Jones, a case that will determine whether the government has the right to use GPS devices to track the locations of criminal suspects without a warrant. Several justices reportedly expressed concern over the government's argument, but Justice Stephen Breyer seemed particularly unnerved, bringing George Orwell into the legal debate. Justice Breyer warns of Orwellian government. A Supreme Court justice on Tuesday [11/8/2011] expressed major concerns that the government would engage in round-the-clock surveillance reminiscent of the totalitarian world of the George Orwell novel 1984 if the court ruled in the government's favor. The court heard oral arguments in the Jones case, in which the outcome will determine whether warrantless GPS tracking by law enforcement is an invasion of Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure. Supreme Court: Police Need Warrant for GPS Tracker. The government argued that attaching the tiny device to a car's undercarriage was too trivial a violation of property rights to matter, and that no one who drove in public streets could expect his movements to go unmonitored. Thus, the technique was "reasonable," meaning that police were free to employ it for any reason without first justifying it to a magistrate, the government said. The justices seemed troubled by that position at arguments in November, where the government acknowledged it would also allow attaching such trackers to the justices' own cars without obtaining a warrant. All Hail Samuel Alito, Privacy Champion Extraordinaire! Yesterday [1/23/2012] the Supreme Court handed down the most important privacy case of the Roberts era, U.S. v. Jones. The unanimous decision is an occasion for dancing in the chat rooms. In holding that the government needs a warrant before attaching a GPS device to a suspect's car to track his movements 24/7 for a month, all the justices rejected the Obama administration's extreme and unnecessary position that we have no expectations of privacy when it comes to the virtual surveillance of our movements in public places. Why the Supreme Court GPS Decision Won't Stop Warrantless Digital Surveillance: On January 23 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that law enforcement authorities do not generally have a right to affix a GPS tracking device to a suspect's car without first obtaining a valid warrant. Of the many things that can be said about the case, which has been called the most important Fourth Amendment test in a decade, perhaps the most sobering in the long run will be this: the decision is based on technology assumptions that are rapidly becoming irrelevant. Setback for Big Brother. Authoritarians nationwide were disappointed to learn Monday that a unanimous Supreme Court had denied their ability to place hidden global-positioning-system (GPS) tracking devices on cars without a warrant. The decision is long overdue in a society where government officials have quietly turned to technology to spy on the public. A number of lower courts saw no problem with letting police record the movements of any motorist at any time for any reason. FBI Turns Off Thousands of GPS Devices After Supreme Court Ruling. The Supreme Court's recent ruling overturning the warrantless use of GPS tracking devices has caused a "sea change" inside the U.S. Justice Department, according to FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann. Mr. Weissmann, speaking at a University of San Francisco conference called "Big Brother in the 21st Century" on Friday [2/24/2012], said that the court ruling prompted the FBI to turn off about 3,000 GPS tracking devices that were in use. The Editor says... The militarization of the police I suspect the average cop probably watches too many crime-fighter movies. Ordinary cops are, with increasing frequency, acting like soldiers on a battlefield rather than professionals whose primary concern is law and order. This is particularly troublesome because of the military-style weapons they now use, which is the subject of the section below this one. DOD's Kathleen Hicks issues new directive authorizing military to use 'lethal force' when assisting local law enforcement in its operations. Kathleen Hicks is the Deputy Secretary of Defense, or Lloyd Austin's right-hand gal, and on September 27, the agency issued a new directive, approved by Hicks, that authorized U.S. military personnel to use "lethal force" when "assisting" local law enforcement in its operations. Hopefully your local police chief isn't corrupt, and your sheriff isn't a George Soros purchase! [...] So what does it look like when militarized federal agents get involved in matters of local law enforcement? Well, Ruby Ridge and Waco, to name a few. Report: Austin Police Knew About Dangerous Bean Bag Rounds Before May 2020 Protests. In a revealing report, the spotlight has been placed once again on the Austin Police Department (APD) over its handling of the May 2020 protests against police brutality. An internal investigation revealed some concerning details about the department's use of "less lethal" bean bag rounds that resulted in a slew of injuries to several people demonstrating in the city. The continued scrutiny comes amid a wider assessment by the Justice Department into the APD's practices and policies and a push on the part of the APD to promote transparency and accountability while still addressing crime. The KVUE Defenders published an exclusive report detailing Travis County's request to have the DOJ further investigate the matter. 22 Years of Blowback from the USA Patriot Act. A standing army — something that propelled the early colonists into revolution — strips the citizenry of any vestige of freedom. How can there be any semblance of freedom when there are tanks in the streets, military encampments in cities, Blackhawk helicopters and armed drones patrolling overhead? It was for this reason that those who established America vested control of the military in a civilian government, with a civilian commander-in-chief. They did not want a military government, ruled by force. Rather, they opted for a republic bound by the rule of law: the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately, we in America now find ourselves struggling to retain some semblance of freedom in the face of police and law enforcement agencies that look and act like the military and have just as little regard for the Fourth Amendment, laws such as the NDAA that allow the military to arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens, and military drills that acclimate the American people to the sight of armored tanks in the streets, military encampments in cities, and combat aircraft patrolling overhead. Police Killings More Likely in Agencies That Get Military Gear, Data Shows. Americans have seen it time and again in recent months on the nightly news: Protesters in the streets confronted by local police officers carrying assault rifles, some atop armored vehicles, looking more like soldiers than public servants. Much of that equipment has trickled down to police departments from a controversial Defense Department initiative known as the 1033 program, a 30-year-old federal initiative that provides a way for the military to dispose of surplus equipment by sending it to local police. The impact on policing has been huge. In Georgia alone, police departments and sheriff's offices have received more than 2,700 military rifles, night-vision goggles and laser gun sights, and literally hundreds of armored vehicles, including more than two dozen mine-resistant vehicles built to fight the war on terror abroad. To get the military equipment, police departments pay only for the shipping costs. But that does not mean the program comes without other costs. Opposing viewpoint: Pastor Jailed During 'Drag Queen Story Hour,' SWAT Team Snipers Positioned Atop Library Roof. A Baptist pastor was arrested and jailed on Saturday [6/15/2019] after refusing to move across the street from the Spokane, Washington Public Library while exercising his free speech against a "Drag Queen Story Hour." The event had a significant militaristic police presence, including camouflaged snipers positioned atop the roof to oversee the large crowd that stood both for and against the men dressed like women reading stories to children. Afhsin Yaghtin of New Covenant Baptist Church was arrested for obstructing an officer as he contended with police that the South Hill Library is public property and that he should be able to speak adjacent to the facility instead of being required to stand across the street. The Cops Were Chasing a Shoplifter. They Ended Up Destroying an Innocent Man's Home. Over the course of June 3 and 4, 2015, a devastating police raid systematically destroyed [Leo] Lech's old home. The cops were responding to a crime that Lech had nothing to do with: A suspected shoplifter had barricaded himself inside the house after a chase, sparking a 19-hour standoff with a multi-jurisdictional SWAT team. Unleashing a display of force commonly reserved for the battlefield, the tactical team bombarded the building with high-caliber rifles, chemical agents, flash-bang grenades, remote-controlled robots, armored vehicles, and breaching rams — all to extract a petty thief with a handgun. When it was over, Lech's house was completely unlivable. The City of Greenwood Village condemned it, forcing Lech to topple the wrecked structure. Making matters worse, the municipality refused to pay fair market value for the destruction. Now Lech is suing for compensation. The outcome of his case may bring clarity to the property rights of Americans living in the shadow of police militarization. The Militarization of the Hamptons. A few weeks ago, the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival held one of its occasional outdoor concerts at a nearby Long Island winery. It was well attended — 400 concertgoers came to sip wine and listen to the music of Bach and Django Reinhardt — but that wasn't a surprise: Now in its 34th year, the music festival is one of the mainstays of the Hamptons summer season. Here's what was surprising, according to my friend and former New York Times colleague Susan Lehman, who was there: "Driving in," she emailed me the other day, "it was impossible not to notice two figures with the word POLICE emblazoned in white on their spruce black costumes, and very noticeable automatic weapons in their hands." She added that while the musicians were on stage, "two armed guards milled around in the open space in the front of the tent where the concert was being held." Afterward, when someone inquired about the presence of these heavily armed police, he was told that the Southampton police department required the extra protection. Trump plans to lift Obama-era ban on giving local police military equipment. The Trump administration will bring back the movement of surplus military equipment to local law enforcement. Documents obtained by Fox News reveal President Trump will sign an executive order reversing an Obama-era policy which restricted local police agencies' ability to get access to gear such as armored personnel carriers, grenade launchers and other military-grade equipment. Trump's executive order will restore "The full scope of a longstanding program for recycling surplus, lifesaving gear from the Department of Defense." President Trump Reverses Obama Executive Order Blocking Military Surplus From Police Purchase. Today President Trump has issued an executive order revoking a previous Executive Order #13688, put in place by President Obama, which blocked local and state law enforcement from purchasing military surplus gear. Effective with today's order local law enforcement will have access to U.S. military equipment. Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited two studies which concluded that the use of military-style equipment can have positive effects, reducing citizen complaints and assaults on officers. Cops Gun Down Innocent 86yo Navy Vet as He Protected His Wife from Intruders. The widow of an 86-year-old Navy veteran who was gunned down by armed intruders in his own home, has filed a lawsuit against her husband's killers — the Santa Clara County sheriff's department. Eugene Craig was gunned down by police as he attempted to shield his wife from armed intruders who'd just broken into his home. The armed intruders were cops. [...] The tragic irony of this situation is that police claim they were there to protect the couple, noting that they had gotten word that someone inside the home was in distress. Sadly, this is what happens when militarized police are sent into an innocent couple's home to check on their wellbeing. Innocent 58yo Man Raided by SWAT, Assaulted, Flashbanged, Kidnapped for 3 Days for 'Welfare Check'. Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have identified eight members of a tactical police squad in an amended complaint to a lawsuit against Virginia police over a "welfare check" on a 58-year-old man that resulted in a two-hour, SWAT team-style raid on the man's truck and a 72-hour mental health hold. Cops Kill Man With Asperger's Whose Viral Video Touched Millions — Family Sues. According to Mesa police, they received a call about a suicidal person around 11 a.m. — it was Clarke's friend who'd just received an email from him saying "Take care of Sampson." Sampson is the dog seen in the viral video. When officers responded to Clarke's apartment, they say he stated that he had a knife and was going to hurt himself. At this time, police claim, Clarke moved toward them with a knife, causing them to fear for their lives and they both fired their duty weapons. Apparently, simply backing up was not an option — nor was waiting for the other officer who had just gone back outside to retrieve a beanbag gun. The Illusion of Freedom: The Police State Is Alive and Well. [Scroll down] In fact, the American police state has continued to advance at the same costly, intrusive, privacy-sapping, Constitution-defying, relentless pace under President Trump as it did under President Obama. [...] The Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security haven't stopped militarizing and federalizing local police. Police forces continue to be transformed into heavily armed extensions of the military, complete with jackboots, helmets, shields, batons, pepper-spray, stun guns, assault rifles, body armor, miniature tanks and weaponized drones. In training police to look and act like the military and use the weapons and tactics of war against American citizens, the government continues to turn the United States into a battlefield. A Journalist Accidentally Filmed Herself Getting Shot by DAPL Police. [J]ournalist Erin Schrode was not expecting to be shot in the face with a rubber bullet as she interviewed a peaceful protester on camera. The land she was standing on appears to be Standing Rock Reservation territory and is located on the opposite side of the creek where protesters were demonstrating. [Video clip] This incident of law enforcement using violence against a journalist is not isolated; rather, it's becoming a pattern at the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Dozens of journalists have been arrested, pepper sprayed, and now shot. Last week, our own Derrick Broze was tased by law enforcement while covering the protests for Anti-Media — immediately after he told officers he was with the media. The Imperial President's Toolbox of Terror: [Scroll down] A Dictatorship Waiting to Happen. What began in the 1960s as a war on drugs transitioned into an all-out campaign to transform America's police forces into extensions of the military. Every successive president since Nixon has added to the police's arsenal, tactics and authority. In fact, the Obama Administration has accelerated police militarization by distributing military weapons and equipment to police and incentivizing SWAT team raids and heavy-handed police tactics through the use of federal grants and asset forfeiture schemes. Militarized Police Turn Peaceful Native American Protest Into a War Zone. Following the activation of the North Dakota National Guard on September 8, peaceful Dakota Access Pipeline protests quickly became flooded with militarized law enforcement. Native American activists, or "water protectors," have been standing in the way of the pipeline's construction for months, successfully blocking it at the Sacred Stone camp near the Missouri River. When the situation initially took a turn for the worse earlier this month, journalists on the ground who were broadcasting live video complained Facebook was blocking their streams. Now, videos and images from Wednesday are emerging that show an overwhelmingly militarized response to the peaceful prayer and protest. New York City police upgrade gear after Texas, Louisiana shootings. "You name it, we're buying it," Police Commissioner William Bratton told a news conference. "There's not a police department in America that is spending as much money, as much thought and interest on this issue of officer safety." Bratton said the NYPD has purchased 20,000 military-style helmets, 6,000 heavy duty bullet-proof vests, trauma kits and ballistic doors and windows for patrol cars. He said the new bullet-proof vests are capable of stopping rounds fired from the type of weapon used in the Baton Rouge shooting that killed three officers and the Dallas shooting that left five officers dead and seven wounded. Do your local police have banned military equipment? Today, the Obama administration announced an immediate ban on certain types of military equipment transfers to local police, including grenade launchers and some armored vehicles. However, it's unclear what that means for ordnance the police may already posses — thanks to an earlier collaboration with The Marshall Project, you can find out if your local law enforcement agencies have any of the restricted gear. From the Pentagon to the Police: The 1033 Project. As we saw in Ferguson, and most recently in Dallas and Baton Rouge, every day American police look less like a neighborhood watch and more like a paramilitary force. Here's how and why that happened. In California, the officer driving a 18-ton MRAP could have as much as 20 hours of training time — or as little as 15 minutes. Much like our previous audit of Texas police departments' proposals to train officers in the operation of military-grade armored vehicles, similar documents from Californian law enforcement agencies revealed that there is no clear qualification standard when it comes to use of 18-ton Mine-Resistant vehicles. The biggest discrepancy between these proposals is the number of hours police departments are allotting to learn how to properly deploy and operate an MRAP. The Editor says... Cleveland seeking to buy 2,000 sets of extra riot gear for Republican National Convention. Cleveland is advertising for thousands of sets of riot suits and batons ahead of the Republican National Convention later this year. The Ohio city is stepping up it's [sic] preparations for security during the July event, including spending some of its' [sic] $50 million security budget on 2,000 sets of riot gear. This comes just months after an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department found that the Cleveland Police Department systematically engages in excessive use of force against civilians. Some Officers Bristle at Recall of Military Equipment. On the day a heavily armed couple fatally shot 14 people and wounded more than 20 others in San Bernardino, Calif., last month, Michael J. Bouchard, a sheriff here in the Detroit area, got an order to return his department's 14-ton armored personnel carrier to the federal government. It was one of hundreds of similar notifications from the Obama administration to law enforcement agencies across the country — from Los Angeles to rural areas like Calhoun County, Ala. — to give back an array of federal surplus military equipment by April 1, in response to concerns that the equipment was unnecessary and misused. The items to be returned: armored vehicles that run on tracks, .50-caliber machine guns, grenade launchers, bayonets and camouflage clothing. Government Seizes Sheriff's Armored Vehicle At Behest Of Obama. The federal government, under orders from President Obama, seized military surplus vehicles from Calhoun County, Alabama Sheriff Larry Amerson Wednesday [11/19/2015]. For over 20 years, under the federal government's 10-33 program, the Defense Department distributed military surplus equipment and vehicles to local law enforcement, such as the Calhoun County sheriff's department. Outrage as military vehicles, equipment taken from officers in wake of Obama order. Valuable vehicles and equipment are being yanked from law enforcement agencies across the country by the Obama administration in the wake of the president's post-Ferguson order — as sheriffs and lawmakers tell FoxNews.com the equipment is needed, and losing it could put officers and the communities they serve in danger. "These things are useful tools and the president taking them away will put more officers in jeopardy and at risk of harm or even death. I don't know how he can sleep at night knowing his actions will have those repercussions," Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., told FoxNews.com. Sheriff: Obama's 'Meddling,' Making Cops 'Less Prepared'. The sheriff of Oakland County, Michigan, Mike Bouchard, says the Obama administration's decision to ban armored tracked vehicles and bayonets for cops is "micromanaging police departments all across America" and "meddling in really something that's not their affairs." [...] Armored tracked vehicles are not the only tools being banned. Weaponized aircraft and vehicles, .50 caliber firearms and ammo, camouflage and bayonets, are also banned. Resistance To Militarized Cops Begins. [Scroll down] But now resistance to such militarization of local police has been enacted with a bill signed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie that bans local law-enforcement agencies from obtaining such equipment without authorization from their local government. According to the Tenth Amendment Center, which monitors and reports on issues of state and federal authority, it's "an important first step toward blocking federal programs that militarize local police." The bill, S2364, by state Sen. Nia Gill, a Democrat, puts local government officials directly between the federal government and local law enforcers. Obama bans police from using certain types of military gear. Thanks to military surplus programs and federal funding, in recent years local police forces have snatched up a bevy of heavy-duty military equipment — from armored tanks to grenade launchers. Ferguson threw this new, militarized law enforcement into the spotlight, as police in camouflage and armored vehicles faced down citizens. Obama blocks sale to police of paramilitary hardware in effort to halt decline in public trust. In a surprise announcement coming nine months after police in riot gear dispelled racially charged protests in Ferguson, Missouri, President Barack Obama is banning the federal government from providing some military-style equipment to some local departments. U.S. Cracking Down on 'Militarization' of Local Police. The federal government will no longer provide heavy military equipment like tanks and grenade launchers to local cops following weeks of backlash against officers who confronted protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, in armored vehicles and camouflage last year, President Barack Obama said Monday [5/18/2015]. And if they want other, less-imposing military equipment, local law enforcement agencies will have to submit to stringent federal oversight and restrictions, according to the White House. Obama orders review of police militarization. President Obama on Friday [1/16/2015] took steps to curb a federal program that arms local police with surplus military equipment. Through an executive order, the president created a working group — composed of top Cabinet officials — to examine the Pentagon's 1033 program and recommend reforms to ensure that the law officers receiving the equipment are trained both in its use and in "the protection of civil rights and civil liberties" of local communities. Obama Wants to Avoid 'Militarized' Police Culture. President Barack Obama said Monday [12/1/2014] he wants to ensure the U.S. isn't building a "militarized culture" within police departments, while maintaining federal programs that provide the type of military-style equipment that were used to dispel racially charged protests in Ferguson, Missouri. The Editor says... Fishing without a license in NJ? The game warden has a machine gun, aimed at you. Why does a New Jersey game warden need an M-14? Because, shut up. Obama to issue executive order on military weapons for cops. Obama, hosting a trio of meetings at the White House on Monday devoted to the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown, will instruct his staff to draft an executive order improving safeguards of a federal government program that allows local police departments to claim unused military weapons, senior administration officials said. The images of heavily armed officers in combat gear patrolling the streets in Ferguson invited comparisons to war settings, with some lawmakers suggesting that such equipment should not be used to break up violent protests. Militarization and Policing — Its Relevance to 21st Century Police. This work examines the blurring distinctions between the police and military institutions and between war and law enforcement. In this article, the author asserts that understanding this blur, and the associated organizing concepts militarization and militarism, are essential for accurately analyzing the changing nature of security, and the activity of policing, in the late-modern era of the 21st century. Dozens of police agencies report loss of Pentagon-supplied military weapons. The Daytona Beach Police Department was suspended after reporting a lost M-16 in January. "We still have not been able to find it," Daytona Beach Police spokesman Jimmie Flynt told Cox. The Napa County Sheriff's Office was banned after someone stole a rifle from an employee's personal vehicle. "If I knew where it was, I'd go get it," Undersheriff Jean Donaldson told Cox. "It's equipment we can obtain at no cost to our budget, so the taxpayers don't get taxed twice." The truth about libertarians, police and Ferguson's fury: Libertarians warned for years that government is force, that government always grows and that America's police have become too much like an occupying army. We get accused of being paranoid, but we look less paranoid after heavily armed police in Ferguson, Missouri, tear gassed peaceful protesters, arrested journalists and stopped some journalists from entering the town. [...] If authorities arm cops like soldiers, they may begin to think like soldiers — and see the public as the enemy. That makes violent confrontations more likely. Missouri Governor Helped Ferguson Get Surplus Military Equipment. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, who yesterday said he was "thunderstruck" to learn how militarized police in Ferguson had become, signed off as recently as January on statewide participation in a Pentagon program providing local police departments with surplus equipment. [...] Should Nixon, a Democrat elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012, have been surprised? Participating jurisdictions, including agencies in St. Louis County, received weapons and equipment as early as 2010 and again in 2012, 2013 and this summer. Ferguson is a St. Louis suburb. Jake Tapper compares the police presence in Ferguson to a U.S. base in Afghanistan. CNN's Jake Tapper called out police in Ferguson, Mo., on Monday night [8/18/2014], comparing the weapons and body armor employed by the police to Bagram, the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan. The clip above shows Tapper pointing at the protesters, showing them moving away from the police. Tapper then turns the camera on the police. Jake Tapper In Ferguson: "This Doesn't Make Any Sense". ["]Absolutely there have been looters, absolutely over the last nine days there's been violence, but there is nothing going on on this street right now that merits this scene out of Bagram. Nothing.["] Tanks? Grenade launchers? Police stocking up on military's gear giveaway. From California to Connecticut and several states in between, local police departments have been steadily arming themselves over the years with billions of dollars' worth of military-grade equipment — including grenade launchers, helicopters and machine guns. The materiel comes from a U.S. military program that, until this week, received little public attention. Colorado Law Enforcement Agencies Obtain Unwanted Military Equipment. The conflict in Ferguson, Mo., where an unarmed teen was shot by police has raised the issue whether police agencies are becoming too militarized. And records show several Colorado law enforcement agencies have an array of equipment that the military no longer needs. CBS4 Investigator Rick Sallinger looked at what local agencies have gotten and how they're using it. Playing Soldier in the Suburbs. In the name of local preparedness, Washington has been bestowing antiterror grants and Pentagon surplus on communities barely touched by major crime, let alone by terrorism. Tanks and aircraft, helmets and armor, guns and grenade launchers have flowed to police departments from Des Moines (home of two $180,000 bomb-disarming robots) to Keene, N.H. (population 23,000, murder rate infinitesimal and the proud custodian of an armored BearCat). Last week, The New Republic's Alec MacGillis ran the numbers for Missouri and found that the state's Department of Public Safety received about $69 million from the Department of Homeland Security in the past five years alone. Which helps explain why the streets of a St. Louis suburb flooded so quickly with cops in gas masks and camouflage, driving armored cars and brandishing rifles like an occupying army. Pentagon program put $4.3 Billion worth of equipment in the hands of American police forces. The U.S. Defense Department has been contributing to the militarization of local police forces since at least 2007, handing over heavy armaments, battle helicopters and armored vehicles for use in urban policing scenarios. 'I think it's probably useful for us to review how the funding was done, how local law enforcement has used grant dollars,' [President] Obama told reporters at the White House [8/18/2014], 'to make sure that what they're purchasing is stuff that they actually need.' 'There is a big difference between our military and our local law enforcement, and we don't want those lines blurred. That would be contrary to our tradition,' he said. Ferguson Is Not Binary. No conservative is saying police do not need to be able to outshoot and out arm the bad guys. But many of us are saying police are more quickly than ever before resorting to playing soldier when they could accomplish the same as just a policeman. One can view the events of Ferguson, MO and decide it was a good call to, before rioting even began, suit up the police as soldiers. But the world is not binary. Regardless of how one views the events of Ferguson, we should all be troubled by the over-militarization of routine police activity. We should all be troubled at the growing number of well documented cases of heavy handed local and state police. Ron Paul: Local police not 'warriors'. Former Rep. Ron Paul on Monday [8/18/2014] called for the elimination of the Defense Department program that has transferred billions of dollars in surplus military equipment to local and state agencies. "It should be gotten rid of," the Texas Republican said on MSNBC of the Pentagon 1033 program, which has come under increased scrutiny because of the equipment used by St. Louis County police forces in Ferguson, Missouri. "Police are supposed to be local people, and they're supposed to be peace officers," he added. "They're not supposed to be warriors." America has a 'militarization moment'. We have seen something like Ferguson, Mo., before. A police officer shoots and kills a young black man, which touches off protests and looting. Which prompts headlong rushes to judgment about the actions of everyone involved — the cops, elected officials, activists and the media. Which causes us to question our progress on race, our politics and our national character. We saw it with the beating of Rodney King in 1992 in Los Angeles. We saw it again with the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin in 2012 in Sanford, Fla. What's different this time is police officers armed with equipment and weaponry normally associated with overseas military operations. And a lot of Americans don't like what they see. Ferguson: A Fire Alarm in the Night. [Scroll down] It is sadly true that in the contemporary world we do have to worry about large-scale acts of violence associated with international (and sometimes homegrown) terrorism, and so law enforcement agencies, as first responders, probably need to be better equipped than they were before 9/11. However, it is also true that for normal police work, armored personnel carriers and the like normally do more harm than good. [...] Equipping local police forces like the 82nd Airborne is not the road to lower crime or to better relations between the forces of order and the communities they are supposed to serve. I can support Democrat Hank Johnson 100 percent on his latest bill. Under President Obama — who famously claimed (twice) that America needed a "civilian national security force just as powerful as the military" — law enforcement agencies around the country have become the paramilitary wings of local governments. Nowhere has this fact become more obvious than in Ferguson, Missouri in the aftermath of the shooting of a young black man. Now, Democrat Hank Johnson is calling for a demilitarization of law enforcement. Must We Have a Dead White Kid? Conservatives have long lamented the buildup of armaments and stockpiling of bullets by the Department of Homeland Security. The media has mostly treated these conservative concerns with derision. Suddenly, last week, when reporters were detained by the police in Ferguson, MO, the media had to pay attention to the militarization of the police and overkill by local police forces. Given what happened in Ferguson, the community had every right to be angry. The police bungled their handling of the matter, became very defensive, and behaved more like a paramilitary unit than a police force. Property damage and violence by the citizenry cannot be excused, but is also the result of a community seeing those who are to protect and serve instead suiting up and playing soldier. Opposing viewpoint: Congress goes after police. Lawmakers are targeting police with new and old pieces of legislation in the wake of riots in a St. Louis suburb sparked by the killing by a police officer of an unarmed black teenager. Much of the focus has been on the heavy military equipment many local police agencies have received from the Pentagon under a 1991 law meant to combat drug dealers. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Friday [8/15/2014] that program will not get a rubber stamp when it comes up for reauthorization later this year. How to Eliminate Almost Every Federal Agency. Since 2006, the Pentagon has distributed 432 mine-resistant armored vehicles to local police departments. It has also doled out more than 400 other armored vehicles, 500 aircraft, and 93,000 assault rifles. As The New York Times reported in June, the Defense Department has been making use of unused military equipment by giving it to local precincts. This is despite the fact that violent crime in the U.S. has steadily plummeted since 1993. Between 1993 and 2012, the violent-crime rate dropped by nearly 50 percent. Yet today, local police — in cities and small towns across the country — are increasingly loaded for bear. How did this militarization of the police force come about? It all seems to have started with an obscure section in a defense bill passed more than 20 years ago. How America's Police Became an Army: The 1033 Program. America has been quietly arming its police for battle since the early 1990s. Faced with a bloated military and what it perceived as a worsening drug crisis, the 101st Congress in 1990 enacted the National Defense Authorization Act. Section 1208 of the NDAA allowed the Secretary of Defense to "transfer to Federal and State agencies personal property of the Department of Defense, including small arms and ammunition, that the Secretary determines is — (A) suitable for use by such agencies in counter-drug activities; and (B) excess to the needs of the Department of Defense." [...] By providing law enforcement agencies with surplus military equipment free of charge, the NDAA encourages police to employ military weapons and military tactics. The Pentagon Equipped Ferguson's Police Dept.. This week, the Midwestern town of Ferguson, Mo., was transformed into a war zone — occupied by heavily armed police officers wearing Kevlar helmets, driving armored trucks and spraying tear gas at protestors and journalists. [...] Images emerging from the St. Louis suburb have alarmed the rest of the country. Most people don't expect to see Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) intended for the deserts of Afghanistan driving down the same roads normally occupied by school busses and minivans. "We rolled lighter than that in Afghanistan," Paul Szoldra, a Marine veteran-turned-journalist noted in Business Insider.
The Editor says... Cheyenne police get armored vehicle. As America's overseas wars have wound down, much of the military equipment used there has come home. But rather than sit unused, it is going to law enforcement agencies across the country, including right here in Laramie County. While the scope of police work in Wyoming is different from that of Iraq or Afghanistan, law agencies say they have found value in surplus military equipment like weapons, armor and vehicles. Even small departments have benefitted. Has the Dept. of Homeland Security become America's standing army? The DHS routinely hands out six-figure grants to enable local municipalities to purchase military-style vehicles, as well as a veritable war chest of weaponry, ranging from tactical vests, bomb-disarming robots, assault weapons and combat uniforms. This rise in military equipment purchases funded by the DHS has, according to analysts Andrew Becker and G.W. Schulz, "paralleled an apparent increase in local SWAT teams." The end result? An explosive growth in the use of SWAT teams for otherwise routine police matters, an increased tendency on the part of police to shoot first and ask questions later, and an overall mindset within police forces that they are at war — and the citizenry are the enemy combatants. War Gear Flows to Police Departments. During the Obama administration, according to Pentagon data, police departments have received tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft. The equipment has been added to the armories of police departments that already look and act like military units. Police SWAT teams are now deployed tens of thousands of times each year, increasingly for routine jobs. Masked, heavily armed police officers in Louisiana raided a nightclub in 2006 as part of a liquor inspection. In Florida in 2010, officers in SWAT gear and with guns drawn carried out raids on barbershops that mostly led only to charges of "barbering without a license." Cops, MRAPs and the Heartbreak of Police Operator Syndrome. I shake my head every time I see a cop dressed in modern Army camouflage; we soldiers hate that camouflage because it doesn't work anywhere, so why are cops wearing it? [...] I imagine many street cops aren't too excited about MRAPs either. They're bulky, slow, impractical and not likely to ever be needed. And based on what we see online and on TV, way too many cops seem to fall under a magical spell and think they have to dress and act like operators when their police department gets an MRAP. The absurdly dangerous militarization of America's police. [Scroll down] What we have here is the absurdly dangerous militarization of America's police departments. Our sprawling Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon (which gave the MRAP to Bastrop [Texas]) are haphazardly spreading war equipment, war techniques and a war mentality to what are supposed to be our communities' peacekeepers and crime solvers. Having the technology and mindset for military actions, local authorities will find excuses to substitute them for honest police work, turning common citizens into "enemies." Towns Say 'No Tanks' to Militarized Police. Residents in some towns have begun standing up to the large armored vehicles that local police departments are receiving from the federal government. Six-figure grants from the Department of Homeland Security have been funding BearCats and other heavily fortified vehicles in towns and cities nationwide since soon after the 2001 terrorist attacks. Beginning last summer, the government also has handed out 200 surplus vehicles built to withstand mines and bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is considering requests from 750 more communities. How Every Part of American Life Became a Police Matter. If all you've got is a hammer, then everything starts to look like a nail. And if police and prosecutors are your only tool, sooner or later everything and everyone will be treated as criminal. This is increasingly the American way of life, a path that involves "solving" social problems (and even some non-problems) by throwing cops at them, with generally disastrous results. Wall-to-wall criminal law encroaches ever more on everyday life as police power is applied in ways that would have been unthinkable just a generation ago. By now, the militarization of the police has advanced to the point where "the War on Crime" and "the War on Drugs" are no longer metaphors but bland understatements. Small town America shouldn't resemble war zone. Something potentially sinister is happening across America, and we should stop and take notice before it changes the character of our country forever. County, city and small-town police departments across the country are now acquiring free military-grade weapons that could possibly be used against the very citizens and taxpayers that not only fund their departments but who the police are charged with protecting. [...] This trend is not only sweeping America's small cities, it's hitting American college campuses as well. Ohio State University recently acquired an MRAP. Apparently, college kids are getting too rowdy. These are just some of the most egregious examples. There are countless stories of police departments getting (and often later selling) assault weapons, drones, and other military-grade equipment that is absolutely ill-suited for America's main streets. The Pentagon's 1033 program, which "provides or transfers surplus Department of Defense military equipment to state and local civilian law enforcement agencies without charge," is a big part of this disturbing trend. Scenes from a militarized America: Iowa family 'terrorized'. When critics (like me) warn about the dangers of police militarization, this is what we're talking about. You'll see the raid team, dressed in battle-dress uniforms, helmets and face-covering balaclava hoods take down the family's door with a battering ram. You'll see them storm the home with ballistics shields, guns at the ready. More troubling still, you'll see not one but two officers attempt to prevent the family from having an independent record of the raid, one by destroying a surveillance camera, another by blocking another camera's lens. [Video clip] From the images in the video, you'd think they were looking for an escaped murderer or a house full of hit men. No, none of that. They were looking for a few people suspected of credit card fraud. Troubling new details about the violent police raid in Iowa. The raid was apparently for suspected credit card fraud. Ankeny Police Department officials are now speaking out. But I'm not sure they're helping their cause. [...] So they see nothing wrong with how the raid was handled, and the department has no stated policy for executing warrants. All of that is troubling enough. (The lack of a written policy also suggests a lack of training.) As is the "officer safety" justification, as if that in itself trumps the rights of the people inside the house. Indiana town's police force gets armored carrier from military. An armored carrier the West Lafayette police department recently acquired from the U.S. military is being refitted and will soon serve as a "moving shield" for officers, the city's police chief said. DoD Program 1033 Militarizing Local Police Departments. Those who are paying attention are seeing the constant notices of military equipment from overseas war-zones being dispersed to domestic police departments. These giveaways are usually in the form of armored vehicles (as far as the public knows). This is all made possible by the Defense Department's Program 1033. In place since 1997, the program allows the DOD to give away the equipment — often free of charge — to local police departments who apply for the equipment grants. This year has been the year of the MRAP, or Mine Resistant Armor Protected vehicle. For the first time these fighting vehicles, costing an upwards of $600,000 each, are being sent out to American cops, and in rapid fashion.
Militarized police. With almost 13,000 agencies in all 50 states and four U.S. territories participating in a military "recycling" program, community police forces across the country continue to be transformed into outposts of the military, with police agencies acquiring military-grade hardware-tanks, weaponry, and other equipment designed for the battlefield-in droves. Keep in mind that once acquired, this military equipment, which is beyond the budget and scope of most communities, finds itself put to all manner of uses by local law enforcement agencies under the rationale that "if we have it, we might as well use it" — the same rationale, by the way, used with deadly results to justify assigning SWAT teams to carry out routine law enforcement work such as delivering a warrant. Leftover armored trucks from Iraq coming to local police agencies. The Albany County sheriff's office is among eight law-enforcement agencies in New York that have received the free mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, made for $500,000 apiece. Civil liberties advocates, meanwhile, see it as the increasing militarization of police forces.
Defense Department gives local police equipment designed for a war zone. The Defense Department recently announced it would be giving domestic law enforcement forces hulking vehicles designed to efficiently maneuver in a war zone for use in thwarting any potential high-scale activity. Will domestic law enforcement paranoia turn US into a police state? In an article for The Guardian earlier this month that raised questions about the 1033 program — an initiative that allows the Defense Department to donate surplus military equipment to local police forces — Michael Shank pointed to the mounting evidence that suggests the police force in America is looking more and more like the military. "The growing militarization of the United States appears to be occurring at home as well as abroad, a phenomenon which is troublesome and sure to continue without decisive action," he wrote, warning of, "the blurring line between military forces and the local police who are meant to protect and serve." Someone is training law enforcement officials in this heavy-handed behavior. The question is, why? Beware Of The Police's Increasing Militarization. In early August, a SWAT team broke through the gates of a 3.5-acre farm in Arlington, Texas, that promotes a sustainable lifestyle and did a 10-hour search of the property. Residents were handcuffed and held at gunpoint as police looked for nonexistent marijuana plants and various city code violations. As the owners watched, 10 tons of their private property was hauled off in trucks — dangerous items such as blackberry bushes, okra, tomatillo plants, native grasses and sunflowers that provided food and bedding for animals, everything from furniture to compost. Whatcha Gonna Do If They Come for You. [Scroll down] For [Radley] Balko, the crackdown on illicit drugs is the driving force behind police militarization. Battlefield rhetoric — we speak of the drug "war," for instance — encouraged an "us vs. them" attitude that superseded the old "protect and serve." Hundreds of police forces began to insist that they needed SWAT teams to combat dangerous drug traders. In dress and in tactics, SWAT forces are far closer to military than police. The book's cover features a phalanx of state troopers wearing Kevlar vests and face shields, gear more reminiscent of the battle suits from the Halo video game series than of a local sheriff. As military-style police became the norm, the need to treat suspects like enemy combatants changed the legal landscape. Will domestic law enforcement paranoia turn US into a police state? Judging by the way the Department of Homeland Security is spending your money, domestic unrest may be coming soon to a city near you. The DHS has been making purchases lately that seem to signal a federal fear of riots across the nation in the coming months. The obvious question is, what do they know that they American people don't? A more enduring and chilling question is what will be the end result of America's increasingly militarized police force? Dallas County Now Has Its Very Own Bulletproof, "Mine-Protected" Military SUV. The initial plan was to shove the vehicles, called MRAPS (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) into a warehouse and let them collect dust. That changed when someone decided that, having served so admirably overseas, it would be only just to bring the MRAPs stateside and deploy them in the domestic war on crime. And so, for the past couple of months, news reports have been popping up announcing that places like Murfreesboro, Tennessee and Ohio State University have been receiving their very own military-grade armored SUVs. The cops at Ohio State have an armored fighting vehicle now. The Ohio State University Department of Public Safety has acquired an armored military vehicle that looks like it belongs in Iraq or Afghanistan. Gary Lewis, a senior director of media relations at OSU, told The Daily Caller via email that the "unique, special-purpose vehicle is a replacement" for the "police fleet." He called the armored jalopy "an all-hazard, all-purpose, public safety-response vehicle" with "obviously enhanced capabilities." Lewis did not specify exactly what previous mode of transport was replaced. Is America Inching Toward a Police State? In his book, [John W.] Whitehead warns of the gradual transformation of America into a police state in which stronger law enforcement and a robust surveillance apparatus might give rise to a state governed by the strong arm of the law. He contends that the lines between foreign and domestic surveillance and between law enforcement and military agencies are dissipating. This has resulted in an increasing number of military-style SWAT raids and the rapid growth of the government surveillance programs led by the National Security Agency (NSA). Beware Warrior Cops. We need police to catch murderers, thieves and con men, and so we give them special power — the power to use force on others. Sadly, today's police use that power to invade people's homes over accusations of trivial, nonviolent offenses — and often do it with tanks, battering rams and armor you'd expect on battlefields. Lewiston police unveil armored vehicle at Night Out. People flocked to Marcotte Park on Tuesday for National Night Out as the Police Department showed of its newest additions: a robot and an armored personnel carrier. When your own police label you a terrorist. Concord Police Chief John Duval recently begged Washington, D.C., for more than $250,000 to buy a military-style "armored personnel carrier" — the Lenco BearCat G3. Chief Duval claims he needs this military personnel carrier because of groups like the "Free Staters." He stated in his application that their threats were "real and here" and are providing Concord police "daily challenges." A "Free Stater" is a person loosely participating in peaceful, social and economic migration: to move 20,000 Americans who believe in smaller, responsible government to New Hampshire. I did that. I came to New Hampshire for that very reason. So, yes, I guess I am a "Free Stater." I am also a Republican, a lawyer and a computer nerd. Concord police want a military-style vehicle because of people like me? Their Constitutional Rights Violated By Authorities. A Nevada family files a lawsuit after police literally seize their house to use as a command post after entering without a warrant and assaulting family members. Isn't this what helped start the American Revolution? A Real Live Third Amendment Case. The most obvious obstacle to winning a Third Amendment claim here is that police arguably do not qualify as "soldiers." On the other hand, as Radley Balko describes in his excellent new book The Rise of the Warrior Cop, many police departments are increasingly using military-style tactics and equipment, often including the aggressive use of force against innocent people who get in the way of their plans. If the plaintiffs' complaint is accurate, this appears to be an example of that trend. In jurisdictions where the police have become increasingly militarized, perhaps the courts should treat them as "soldiers" for Third Amendment purposes. And Now They Trample The Third Amendment. Henderson police arrested a family for refusing to let officers use their homes as lookouts for a domestic violence investigation of their neighbors, the family claims in court. [...] The Mitchell family's claim includes Third Amendment violations, a rare claim in the United States. The Third Amendment prohibits quartering soldiers in citizens' homes in times of peace without the consent of the owner. State Capitol troopers begin carrying assault rifles. Regulars around the state Capitol will soon be seeing something different: Troopers carrying military-style assault rifles. [...] Officers once armed only with handguns will be walking around the Capitol with M-6 carbines, a variant of the AR-15. We don't have to explain the irony. Not all officers will be so armed — just enough to make a public statement. Cops with Machine Guns: The Killing of Michael Nida. In October 2011, the police-related shooting death of unarmed man, Michael Nida, 31, raised serious questions about the state of policing in the city of Downey, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. Why did it raise questions? The father of four who worked in construction wasn't shot with a handgun by one of the Downey Police Department's officers. He was shot with an MP5 submachine gun, the same gun used by the Navy Seals. Battlefield Main Street. A rapidly expanding Pentagon program that distributes used military equipment to local police departments — many of them small-town forces — puts battlefield-grade weaponry in the hands of cops at an unprecedented rate. Through its little-known "1033 program," the Department of Defense gave away nearly $500 million worth of leftover military gear to law enforcement in fiscal year 2011 — a new record for the program and a dramatic rise over past years' totals, including the $212 million in equipment distributed in 2010. The Militarization of Policing in America. American neighborhoods are increasingly being policed by cops armed with the weapons and tactics of war. Federal funding in the billions of dollars has allowed state and local police departments to gain access to weapons and tactics created for overseas combat theaters — and yet very little is known about exactly how many police departments have military weapons and training, how militarized the police have become, and how extensively federal money is incentivizing this trend. Tanks on Main Street: The Militarization of Local Police. Take a close look at your local police officers, the ones who patrol your neighborhoods and ensure the safety of your roadways. Chances are they look less and less like the benevolent keepers of the peace who patrolled Andy Griffith's Mayberry and more like inflexible extensions of the military. ... Moreover, as an investigative report by Andrew Becker and G.W. Schulz reveals, in communities large and small across America, local law enforcement are arming themselves to the teeth with weapons previously only seen on the battlefield. "Many police, including beat cops, now routinely carry assault rifles. The Creeping Militarization of the Home Front: Deploying troops on the home front is very different from waging war abroad. Soldiers are trained to kill, whereas civilian peace officers are trained to respect constitutional rights and to use force only as a last resort. That fundamental distinction explains why Americans have long resisted the use of standing armies to keep the domestic peace. Unfortunately, plans are afoot to change that time-honored policy. Super Bowl 2012 Security Patrols Use Robots, Toxin Monitors, F-16s. Weeks before this year's Super Bowl championship contenders were set, massive security teams were hard at work to secure the city of Indianapolis, deploying some of the most advanced defense technologies ever used at the big game. The U.S. military, police and federal agencies, including NORAD and Customs and Border Protection, all have officers on the ground, who specialize in multiple types of emergency situations. World Trade Center to be kept safe using military-grade technology. The New York Post reported the high-tech system of thousands of "intelligent" cameras and computer processors can recognise people's faces and retinas and then compare that information with databases such as terrorist watch lists, sources said. Pentagon halts free guns for police. The Defense Department recently fired off a round of letters warning state law enforcement officials to track down every gun, helicopter and Humvee that the military had given them under a $2.6 billion surplus program, or have their access to the handouts cut off. "When the government fears the people, that is liberty. Ordinary cops have too much fire power The local police, with the help of the feds, have become militarized, using weapons and tactics that were once reserved for foreign battlefields. DHS has equipped 400 police departments with military-grade sound cannons. A recent article in the Mohave Valley Daily News revealed that DHS is using grant money to equip Arizona police departments with military-grade sound cannons or Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRAD). The Bullhead City Police Department received $54,000 in grant money to purchase a 100X model and a 450XL model LRAD. The mass media has known about DHS's plan to equip police departments with LRADs for more than a decade but has remained largely silent. A Washington Times article from 2009, titled "DHS helps local police buy military-style sonic devices" warned everyone that military-grade sound cannons are being used against Americans. Police across the country are adding sonic weapons to their crowd control arsenal. With forms of police crowd control such as worrying as tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets — not to mention batons, boots, and fists — why spend time covering long range acoustic devices? Connecticut Bill Would Allow Police to Arm Drones. The Connecticut State Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill on Wednesday [3/29/2017] that would allow local police to weaponize drones. [...] Three cities in Connecticut — Hartford, Plainfield, and Woodbury — already use unarmed drones. If this bill becomes law, it would make Connecticut the first state in the union to allow police to use armed drones in their work. Watch out, Yogi! Less-lethal weapons get new interest amid police shootings. Police in more than 20 North American cities are testing the latest in less-lethal alternatives to bullets — "blunt impact projectiles" that cause suspects excruciating pain but stop short of killing them. Or at least that's the goal. The latest in non-lethals: A stink bomb for crowd control. You may have heard of non-lethal weapons like Tasers, plastic bullets, flash bangs and smoke grenades. But there's a new kid on the block that has taken the playground concept of stink bombs to the next level. Skunk is like a grown-up stink bomb on steroids. It's been used in Israel, but it's now coming to the U.S. Both the Israeli police and the Israel Defense Forces began deploying the technology several years ago and it is now available in the U.S. through Bethesda, Md.-based Mistral Security. Blinded by laser-armed cops — scared yet? Last summer's riots in Ferguson, Missouri, prompted much talk by President Obama and certain members of Congress about the need to demilitarize local police forces. Nearly a year later, the opposite is happening. New and more powerful weapons are flowing into local police departments daily, and still others are new to the marketplace. One weapon about to make its debut is the "Z-Ro Retinal Obfuscation" gun. When fired, the gun allows an officer to temporarily blind his targeted subject for up to 15 minutes. The new "compliance weapon" made a splash at the Urban Shield trade show last October in Boston. Pinellas schools add M16 rifles to police cache. The Pinellas County School District has purchased 28 M16 rifles for its internal police department, according to Law Enforcement Support Office documents. The guns aren't currently in use, but school police officers will begin training to use and store the weapons, school district spokeswoman Melanie Marquez Parra said. Bring it back with a full tank of gas, and I don't want to see any scratches on it. The Kampus Kops get grenade launchers. What could go wrong? 13 Ways The American Police State Squanders Your Tax Dollars. [#1] $4.2 billion for militarized police. Almost 13,000 agencies in all 50 states and four U.S. territories participate in a military "recycling" program that allows the Defense Department to transfer surplus military hardware to local and state police. In 2012 alone, $546 million worth of military equipment was distributed to law enforcement agencies throughout the country. [#2] $34 billion for police departments to add to their arsenals of weapons and equipment. Since President Obama took office, police departments across the country "have received tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft." Surplus US military gear, including MRAPs, going to local police. But the program also has its critics, who say arming police with military-grade equipment blurs the lines between cops and soldiers and encourages unnecessary confrontations and injuries. "The military is trained to search and destroy — to go find the enemy and subdue them," said Tim Lynch, director of the Project on Criminal Justice with the Cato Institute, a libertarian think thank [sic]. "What we want from our civilian police departments is to use the absolute minimum amount of force that may be necessary in some cases to bring a suspect into a court of law, where disputes can be resolved peacefully." Incoming Boston mayor, police clash over AR-15 proposal. Boston police are clashing with the city's incoming mayor over a proposal to arm some officers with AR-15 rifles. Mayor-elect Martin Walsh came out against the plan over the weekend. The Boston Police Department had been pushing for a limited number of officers to carry the high-powered rifles, in light of recent mass shootings as well as the Boston Marathon bombing earlier this year. The Editor says... Cops can use radio waves to bring your car to a halt. Finding a safe way to stop fleeing cars has been a difficult problem for law enforcement for a long time. Police have tried everything from spike strips to PIT maneuvers to bring fleeing villains to a halt. Now, however, a British company has a slightly more high tech idea: radio waves. The company, known as E2V is working on a system called RF-Safe Stop that projects radio pulses which overwhelm and shutdown engine electronics. The Editor says... Online Ammunition Salesman Says One Police Department Is Ordering Lots Of Ammo. Seems like more than just the Social Security and DHS etc are gearing up for what is coming. Reading about these .gov agencies buying all the ammo that they have been buying is eye opening, but to be on the phone talking to someone trying to procure this much ammo for a police department, is chilling! On the other hand ... New York's Long-Distance Body Scanners Challenge 4th Amendment. The NYPD, sometimes referred to as the world's "seventh largest army" with 35,000 uniformed officers, already does a brisk business frisking potential suspects, with little pushback. In the first quarter of last year, 161,000 New Yorkers were stopped and interrogated, with more than nine out of 10 of them found to be innocent. And there are cameras already in place everywhere: in Manhattan alone there are more than 2,000 surveillance cameras watching for alleged miscreants. New Anti-Crime Cameras Being Installed Downtown. Officials said 38 anti-crime cameras will soon be installed in downtown Los Angeles. In the coming weeks, this new equipment will replace cameras which have been broken or failing for years. Police in Iowa city to buy their own semi-automatic AR-15s. Police in one Iowa city could soon be buying their own assault rifles to carry in squad cars to ensure they aren't outgunned by criminals in the wake of several high-profile shootings involving semi-automatic AR-15s, FoxNews.com has learned. Half of the 50-member force in Marion, Iowa, will take part in the upgrade, paying for the $2,000 guns in installments deducted from their paychecks, according to Police Chief Harry Daugherty. San Francisco to Test Big Brother Cameras. The United States continues its slow morphing into Big Brotherdom, this time through the use of cameras that predict crimes before they take place based on "suspicious" behavior. The cameras will then summon law enforcement to help pre-empt the crime from taking place. The Daily Mail (Britain) reports, "Using a range of in-built parameters of what is 'normal' the cameras then send a text message to a human guard to issue an alert-or call them." They can track up to 150 people at a time and will build up a "memory" of suspicious behavior to begin determining what is inappropriate.Just like the Telescreens in 1984: ACLU launches nationwide look into police 'militarization'. ACLU cites ten cases where the use of excess force and weaponry demonstrate the need for investigation. In one case, police blinded themselves with a flash bang grenade and then mistakenly shot a sleeping nine-year-old. Police in Paragould Arkansas had to pull back from a plan to patrol streets in full SWAT gear after public pressure mounted. The Paragould Police Chief had said he expected most people stopped would be innocent of any crime, but claimed it was the civilian's responsibility to "prove" innocence. DHS deploying in Homeland with 'weapons of war'. Compounded by the administration's now "on the radar" push to further restrict civilian firearm ownership, the recent controversy over the potential use of drones over American soil to kill citizens without due process, and a longstanding and documented train of abuses tied to the militarization of law enforcement activities, those who keep an eye on such things are noticeably distressed. NYPD's Kelly says cops could take down an aircraft. The NYPD now has anti-aircraft capability. New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly tells "60 Minutes" that the NYPD has "some means to take down a plane" in what he termed an "extreme situation," during an interview tonight on CBS, according to a transcript of the exchange. Bossier sheriff launches 'Operation Exodus'. The Bossier Parish sheriff's office is launching a program called "Operation Exodus," a policing plan for an end-of-the-world scenario involving a mostly white group of ex-police volunteers and a .50-caliber machine gun, inspired in part from the Book of Exodus in the Bible. Big Brother Not Only Watches Us, It Toys with Our Children. Lego, for example, in 2003 began marketing a plastic construction set depicting a police 18-wheeler housing a surveillance unit, complete with monitoring devices and control panels to track movements of little Lego citizens. … While the Lego surveillance play set is — according to the company — oriented toward 8-year-olds, a rival company, Playmobil, which produces plastic figures for younger darlings, apparently has determined there is a market for toys teaching 4-year-olds the benefit of submitting oneself to intrusive police searches. Court OKs searches of cell phones without warrant. The California Supreme Court allowed police Monday [1/3/2011] to search arrestees' cell phones without a warrant, saying defendants lose their privacy rights for any items they're carrying when taken into custody. Under U.S. Supreme Court precedents, "this loss of privacy allows police not only to seize anything of importance they find on the arrestee's body ... but also to open and examine what they find," the state court said in a 5-2 ruling. Where have you gone, Sheriff Taylor? [Scroll down] Not long ago I reported on an even more absurd case, in Shreveport, Louisiana. There, the police chief cooked up this hare-brained idea of holding gas station employees and owners criminally liable in cases where drivers drive away without paying. I can almost hear your incredulity. ... Well, you see, the chief got the town council to require station attendants to make their customers pre-pay. If they don't, and the driver drives off without paying, then the attendant is also a criminal! This sort of regulation of everyday life is all too common. The basic idea is to scribble out a criminal code to make it easy for law enforcement. The Rise of the American Police State. The increasingly antiterrorism-oriented police units have begun to regard dissenting citizens, or even innocent and unsuspecting citizens, as the "enemy" in domestic "war zones." ... The militarization of the police does not occur instantaneously, but is the cumulative result of each military tool amassed, each protester silenced based on his political views, or each wrongful search that goes unchallenged.
Our Growing Police State. The Giffords/Roll shooting was brought to an end by a bystander. The Ft. Hood massacre on November 5, 2009, which killed 13 American soldiers and wounded 29 others was brought to an end by two base police officers using conventional sidearms and procedures. The warning signs for this terrorist attack, the first on American soil since 9/11, were ignored and yet it was the local cops on the beat who faced and dealt with a terrible crime. Every case one can think of was resolved by conventional methods. And yet the police powers of government on a local and national level have been growing at an alarming rate. And despite a dissonant data base there is a growing trend towards militarization of police forces and of an invasive state security apparatus. Obama and his Syndicate. [Scroll down] Now the extremely bad news for US citizens. First, on 19 January 2012, multiple videos were made of a shipment — via rail — of hundreds of Bradley armored vehicles and related equipment moving from Northern California Southward. ... The US military, Department of Homeland Security and LOCAL Police are conducting "urban warfare exercises" in recent and unprecedented "showings of force" under the now undeniable (by any intelligent beings) Dictator-in-Chief Barack Hussein Obama. These military forces are inhabiting the streets and air of and over Los Angeles, Boston, Little Rock, Miami and Colorado amongst others. Homeland Security seeking assault and sniper rifles. The Department of Homeland Security issued a bid for 36 Colt LE901 rifle systems, which will accept and function any military specification (Mil-Spec) .223 caliber upper receiver, and is thus backwards compatible with all CBP/U.S. Border Patrol M4 upper receivers. Not surprisingly in this matter is the recent award by DHS, but no solicitation can be found for, .223 caliber Remington Enhanced Performance ammunition. Who Does The Government Intend To Shoot? The Social Security Administration (SSA) confirms that it is purchasing 174 thousand rounds of hollow point bullets to be delivered to 41 locations in major cities across the U.S. No one has yet said what the purpose of these purchases is, though we are led to believe that they will be used only in an emergency to counteract and control civil unrest. Those against whom the hollow point bullets are to be used — those causing the civil unrest — must be American citizens; since the SSA has never been used overseas to help foreign countries maintain control of their citizens. [...] If this were only a one time order of ammunition, it could easily be dismissed. But there is a pattern here. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has ordered 46,000 rounds of hollow point ammunition. It's illegal for passengers to ride in a trailer — unless you're a cop. Why do America's police need an armored tank? If the new American paramilitary is being created not to repel a massive invasion of Al Qaeda based terrorists unleashed on our homeland, then why are we militarizing our society to a point that surpasses the wildest dreams of former Iron Curtain leaders of the 1970's? Perhaps it is not to keep the masses protected but incarcerated; to hold their wealth and prevent it from leaving the country, to control their spending with strict illegal monitoring and currency manipulation, to tax without representation, and to modify behavior just like prison inmates are manipulated using controls beyond the scope of most inmates mental capacity. Somewhat related... The use of drones against civilians: Introduction: Police Use Drones To Spy On Suspicious People At "Potential Crime Scenes". For years, law enforcement has been claiming that drones will only be used for natural disasters, crime scene investigations, car accidents and rescue operations. That is the bill of goods, being sold to the public but it is all a lie. A perfect example of how law enforcement promises the public one thing and after time passes, uses it for something else is taking place in Texas at the Memorial Villages Police Department (MVPD). Two years ago, Click2Houston reported how the MVPD claimed that they would only use drones for "better emergency response during disasters." They also used police officer and UAV pilot, Larry Boggus to solidify their claim that drones would only be used for natural disasters saying, "drones are a huge asset for us because very quickly we were able to see the amount of houses that were damaged" during a 2018 storm. I love it when police department's provide comic relief to prove my point. Six ways to disable a drone. Civilian drone activity has increased exponentially as drones become more easily accessible and affordable. With more drones in the sky every day, there have been some creative and sometimes dangerous attempts to disable drones. The reasons for disabling a drone can vary from boredom and curiosity to privacy and safety concerns. To be clear, the Center for Technology Innovation does not condone or promote the act of harming drones. Pentagon admits it has deployed military spy drones over the U.S.. The Pentagon has deployed drones to spy over U.S. territory for non-military missions over the past decade, but the flights have been rare and lawful, according to a new report. The report by a Pentagon inspector general, made public under a Freedom of Information Act request, said spy drones on non-military missions have occurred fewer than 20 times between 2006 and 2015 and always in compliance with existing law. The report, which did not provide details on any of the domestic spying missions, said the Pentagon takes the issue of military drones used on American soil "very seriously." Pentagon admits operating military drone flights over U.S.. The Pentagon has deployed spy drones to fly over U.S. territory for non-military missions over the past decade, but the flights were few and lawful, according to a new report. The domestic drone flights have occurred less than 20 times between 2006 and 2015 and were always conducted in compliance with existing laws, according to the report by the Pentagon Inspector General which was made public under a Freedom of Information Act request, according to USA [T]oday. The Pentagon did not provide details of the domestic spy missions, but said it takes the issue of military drone flights over America soil "very seriously." American Police Start Pushing to Weaponize Domestic Drones. Police are now voicing their concerns about domestic drone use — specifically, they want the option to be able to employ weaponized drones in the future, should the need arise. As if police brutality and aggression weren't already an epidemic in the United States, police departments in Connecticut oppose a bill to outlaw the weaponization of drones. The bill also address unmanned aerial vehicles fitted with cameras, and their potential to violate the privacy rights of individuals. But law enforcement departments in the state appear far more concerned with being deprived of the possibility of arming them with weapons, rather than cameras. Can Police Drones Save Money for Ohio? Law-enforcement official in Ohio hope that drone deployment may make their jobs more effective and trim down their aerial budgets. Several departments across the Buckeye State are reporting successful uses of UAV tech to complement or even replace more expensive helicopters. WSYX reports: "If departments are successful in establishing drone projects, the unmanned aircraft will be whizzing 400 feet above neighborhoods." North Dakota just made it perfectly legal for cops to arm drones with weapons. Just when you think you've seen the wildest story about drones (like that kid who strapped a handgun to one), something even crazier always seems to be just around the corner. Well today we've reached that corner, as a recent bill amendment in North Dakota officially legalized police use of armed drones anywhere within the state. This is no joke. Cops in North Dakota now have the legal ability to tase lawbreakers with unmanned aircrafts. The First Legal, Armed Police Drones Are Here! It is a small start. The first armed police drones only have taser weapons. But it is still a start. Where will it end? The most disturbing element in this is the role of technology businesses in taking sides in the legislative process. Much of the Daily Beast article is taken up with the debate in the legislature about whether to require a warrant for drone surveillance over private property. I tend to favor a warrant but I can also see why law enforcement would claim they have a right to public space. It isn't a straightforward Constitutional issue because human flight was not reality when the Constitution was written. North Dakota cops will be first in nation to use weaponized drones. North Dakota's Bill 1328 was supposed to be cut and dry. "In my opinion there should be a nice, red line: drones should not be weaponized. Period," Rep. Rick Becker (R-Bismarck), the bill's original sponsor, told a committee hearing back in March, per The Daily Beast. That was going to happen too, at least until an industry lobbying firm got involved. Now, law enforcement agencies in North Dakota are legally allowed to arm their UAVs with any manner of weapons, so long as they aren't "lethal". Illinois State Police will fly "unmanned aircraft" not "drones". The Illinois State Police recently received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to add "unmanned aircraft" to its list of tools for the next two years. In a statement released to the Sun-Times Media Wire, the police department said that it was intentionally avoiding the word "drone" because "it carries the perception of pre-programmed or automatic flight patterns and random, indiscriminate collection of images and information." The state police said they worked with legal professionals and civil rights groups like the American Civil Liberties Union to minimize the privacy impact on average citizens. Homeland Security's Drone Program a Waste of Money, Audit Finds. Homeland Security's drone program has been a waste of money so far, according to the department's inspector general, who on Tuesday told the department to cancel plans to spend nearly half a billion dollars on more of the aircraft. The department paid more than $12,000 an hour to fly its drones, kept them in the air far less than it had promised and chiefly used them over just 170 miles of the 1,993-mile border. Domestic Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Drones. [Scroll down] The Governor of Virginia said in 2012 that he thought it would be "great" to have drones flying over his State. The Miami-Dade Police Department in Florida used Federal grant money to purchase a small drone vehicle. Reports dating back to 2008 explain that Miami was seeking to use a small drone known as a Micro-Air Vehicle, "to gather real time information in situations which may be too dangerous for officers." However, police have admitted that the drone can be used to look into houses. As of December 2010, the FAA was reporting that they were cooperating with urban police departments in Houston and Miami on test programs involving unmanned aircraft. One drone manufacturer advertises on its webpage that police offices that want to own a drone should seek funding from the Department of Homeland Security. Defense Department Launches Surveillance Blimps. On Friday, December 19, 2014, the US army will deploy drone surveillance blimps just north of the nation's capital. The surveillance blimp system, known as "JLENS," is comprised of two 250' blimps. As deployed in Iraq, one blimp contains aerial and ground surveillance technology that covers a 340-mile range, while the other has targeting capability including HELLFIRE missiles. The surveillance blimps fly as high as 10,000 feet and can remain operational for up to 30 days straight. The JLENS system is manufactured by defense contractor Raytheon. Raytheon has tested the JLENS system with the company's MTS-B Multi-Spectral Targeting System. The MTS-B offers long-range video surveillance that allows the real-time tracking of moving targets, including vehicles and persons, on the ground. Speaking of JLENS... Missing batteries among issues that caused Army's runaway blimp. The blimp that broke loose from an Army facility in Maryland last fall, wreaking havoc with its milelong tether, flew uncontrolled for hours because someone neglected to put batteries in its automatic-deflation device, Pentagon investigators have found. The pilotless, radar-carrying blimp was part of the troubled JLENS missile-defense system, which has failed to perform as promised while costing taxpayers more than $2.7 billion since 1998. Police employ Predator drone spy planes on home front. Local police say they have used two unarmed Predators based at Grand Forks Air Force Base to fly at least two dozen surveillance flights since June. The FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration have used Predators for other domestic investigations, officials said. ... The drones belong to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which operates eight Predators on the country's northern and southwestern borders to search for illegal immigrants and smugglers. The previously unreported use of its drones to assist local, state and federal law enforcement has occurred without any public acknowledgment or debate. Is there a drone in your neighbourhood? There are at least 63 active drone sites around the U.S, federal authorities have been forced to reveal following a landmark Freedom of Information lawsuit. The unmanned planes — some of which may have been designed to kill terror suspects — are being launched from locations in 20 states. Surveillance Drones Don't Live Up To Expectations. Predator Drones have proven not to be worth the cost in their ability to curb contraband, drug traffic, and illegal alien activity. Nearly two years after Predator B drones were deployed along the Texas/Mexico international border, the unmanned surveillance aircraft have proven to be, well, not worth it. The drones were intended to augment the presence of border agents and physical barriers such as some 700 miles of intermittent border fencing along the Rio Grande River. The Hill reported on June 10, 2010 that setting up a single drone in Corpus Christi, Texas (on the Gulf Coast), would have an estimated cost of between $20 and $80 million to focus on the Texas border alone. Krauthammer On Drones Flying In US: "Stop It Here, Stop It Now". "I'm going to go hard left on you here, I'm going ACLU," syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer said in opposition to the use of drones on the U.S. homeland. "I don't want regulations, I don't want restrictions, I want a ban on this. Drones are instruments of war. The Founders had a great aversion to any instruments of war, the use of the military inside even the United States. It didn't like standing armies, it has all kinds of statutes of using the army in the country." "A drone is a high-tech version of an old army and a musket. It ought to be used in Somalia to hunt bad guys but not in America. I don't want to see it hovering over anybody's home. [...]" A Predator Drone in the USA Could be Spying On You. Americans are familiar with unmanned spy drones providing surveillance of Iranian nuclear complexes and Taliban armed militants combating American troops along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Now the Obama administration has quietly authorized Predator Drone use by law enforcement officials in the United States to spy on American Citizens. Government Withholds Information on Drone Flight Authorizations. State and local law enforcement are increasingly using unmanned aircraft for investigations into things like cattle rustling, drug dealing, and the search for missing persons. Any drone flying over 400 feet needs a certification or authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration, part of the DOT. But there is currently no information available to the public about who specifically has obtained these authorizations or for what purposes. Privacy concerns as US government rolls out domestic drone rules. Unmanned drones could soon be buzzing in the skies above many U.S. cities, as the federal government green-lights the technology for local law enforcement amid widespread privacy concerns. The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday [5/14/2012] began to explain the rules of the sky for these newly licensed drones at potentially dozens of sites across the country. Is There a Drone In Your Backyard? Earlier this week, the federal government announced that the Air Force might be dispatching drones to a backyard near you. The stated purpose of these spies in the sky is to assist local police to find missing persons or kidnap victims, or to chase bad guys. If the drone operator sees you doing anything of interest (Is your fertilizer for the roses or to fuel a bomb? Is that Sudafed for your cold or your meth habit? Are you smoking in front of your kids?), the feds say they may take a picture of you and keep it. The feds predict that they will dispatch or authorize about 30,000 of these unmanned aerial vehicles across America in the next 10 years. Meanwhile, more than 300 local and state police departments are awaiting federal permission to use the drones they already have purchased — usually with federal stimulus funds. The government is out of control. Despite Change to Drone Policy, Drones Still Controversial. The use of drones by the United States is so controversial that even mainstream media outlets cannot ignore it. Earlier this week, CBS News asked who would be targeted by U.S. drones, and who would decide whom the drones target. According to that report, the decision would be "concentrated" in the hands of a very small group of people at the White House. America: The Home of the... Compliant? If you want a quick measure of the state of American society, you might consider the federal government's use of unmanned aerial drones to monitor U.S. citizens, and in particular the EPA's matter-of-fact defense of its use of drones over the Midwest as necessary to "verify compliance" with environmental laws. And as the EPA's "environmental justice" agenda is quickly becoming the government's official overarching priority, we might describe the Obama era as the dawning of the Age of Compliance. U.S. government to use 'drones the size of Golf Balls to spy on American citizens'. A 30-page memorandum issued by President Barack Obama's Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley on April 23 has stated that the drones, some as small as golf balls, may be used domestically to 'collect information about U.S. persons.' The photos that the drones will take may be retained, used or even distributed to other branches of the government so long as the 'recipient is reasonably perceived to have a specific, lawful governmental function' in asking for them. Sen. Paul proposes bill protecting Americans from drone surveillance. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Tuesday [6/12/2012] introduced the Preserving Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act, which would require the government to get a warrant before using aerial drones to surveil U.S. citizens. More broadly, Paul's bill is aimed at preventing "unwarranted governmental intrusion" through the use of drones, according to the lawmaker. Rand Paul Tries To Shoot Down Drone Surveillance. Does the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures include aerial surveillance of your house and property? Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., thinks so. Talk of drones patrolling US skies spawns anxiety. The prospect that thousands of drones could be patrolling U.S. skies by the end of this decade is raising the specter of a Big Brother government that peers into backyards and bedrooms. Dumb and Dumber Drones. On Valentine's Day (politicians know that holidays and weekends are ideal times to pull the wool over our eyes), Obama signed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act. This law allocates $63.6 billion to the Federal Aviation Administration between 2012 and 2015. Basically, it authorizes the FAA to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to loosen and expand drone regulations for both military and private/commercial use. The Drone Zone. It took a few seconds to figure out exactly what we were looking at. A white S.U.V. traveling along a highway adjacent to the base came into the cross hairs in the center of the screen and was tracked as it headed south along the desert road. When the S.U.V. drove out of the picture, the drone began following another car. "Wait, you guys practice tracking enemies by using civilian cars?" a reporter asked. One Air Force officer responded that this was only a training mission, and then the group was quickly hustled out of the room. GPS Hijacking: Team of U.S. Faculty, Students Take Control of Drone. Faculty and students at the University of Texas at Austin have proven that a sophisticated surveillance drone can be hacked mid-flight via its GPS. The same could be done with virtually any type of drone, or even with a commercial airliner. Drones, or UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), are used both domestically — particularly along our southern border — and by the military and the CIA abroad, especially in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere. Last week, a small team of faculty and students was able to take control of a Department of Homeland Security drone by "spoofing" its GPS. U.S. Drone Manufacturers Contribute Millions to Congressional Campaigns. President Obama's drone fever is contagious and is spreading worldwide, and the American industries that build the drones are slavering over the chance to supply the demand. Air Force Wants Tiny Drones That Squirt Trackable Sensor Goo. The Air Force wants a new kind of tracking tech in which a tiny drone surreptitiously "paints" an individual with some kind of signal-emitting powder or liquid that allows the military to keep tabs on him or her. Or perhaps upload his coordinates to a hellfire missile. On Tuesday, the Air Force put out a call for proposals for such technology, though it didn't specify exactly what kind of drone might deliver the magic powder, or what the magic powder might be. FAA Has Authorized 106 Government 'Entities' to Fly Domestic Drones. Since Jan. 1 of this year, according to congressional testimony presented Thursday [7/19/2012] by the Government Accountability Office, the Federal Aviation Administration has authorized 106 federal, state and local government "entities" to fly "unmanned aircraft systems," also known as drones, within U.S. airspace. "We are now on the edge of a new horizon: using unmanned aerial systems within the homeland," House Homeland Security Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Michael McCaul (R.-Texas) said as he introduced the testimony. Drone Use Increases Worldwide; Trade Rep Says Only the Guilty Need Fear. It's been about a year since a North Dakota man was arrested after a local SWAT team tracked him down using a Predator drone it borrowed from the Department of Homeland Security. Although the story has not been widely reported, Rodney Brossart became one of the first (if not the first) American citizens arrested by local law enforcement with the use of a federally-owned drone surveillance vehicle after holding the police at bay for over 16 hours. Laser-Powered Drone Could Remain Airborne Forever. A drone being used by the United States Special Forces has the potential to remain airborne indefinitely if engineers can get the science right. Using lasers beamed from the ground to the unmanned aerial vehicle, the military could send a continuous source of power to the drone allowing it to fly without landing for refueling. This is the "exciting possibility" demonstrated during an indoor test flight conducted by Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the Stalker drone. Lockheed Martin has already developed an electric version of the Stalker that has a two-hour battery life and this latest experiment is an attempt to perfect the technology that will recharge that battery from the ground while the drone remains in flight. Bill would clip wings of private drone use. Concern over the personal privacy implications of the nation's inevitable drone boom continues to grow on Capitol Hill. This week, Rep. Ted Poe, a Texas Republican and former judge, will introduce the Preserving American Privacy Act, which sets strict limits on when, and for what purpose, law enforcement agencies and other entities can use unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. Drones are being used on a limited basis by some police and federal departments, but they will be available for commercial and private use in 2015. Grain of salt: This comes from a Russian news site. This is an indication of the state of the art: Somewhat related: Remember, military hardware and tactics eventually find their way into local police departments. Drones in the sky over America. In a few years the skies over the United States will be filled with hundreds if not thousands of of drones, unmanned aerial vehicles, doing a variety of tasks — border security, disaster relief, search and rescue, counter-terrorism and looking down on people and streets on behalf of police departments. One nation under surveillance. America is no longer "one nation under God." Today, America is "one nation under surveillance." Cameras monitoring our every movement, satellites taking pictures of our homes, listening devices being used to record our conversations, hi-tech computers capturing virtually every piece of correspondence, banking institutions forwarding our private financial records to Big Brother, and now armed drones flying over the neighborhoods of the American citizenry all reveal that America is anything but the "land of the free." Police Chief Group Suggests Guidelines for Use of Police Drones. In advance of law enforcement's deployment of their drones, a group representing police chiefs have issued recommended guidelines for the lawful use of the unmanned aerial vehicles. The Aviation Committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) published a three-page pamphlet suggesting ways local police can successfully and safely include drones in their law enforcement efforts. The document breaks down its directions into four broad categories: community engagement, system requirements, operational procedures, and image retention. Law enforcement groups back drone-use guidelines. The Airborne Law Enforcement Association, the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association and the FBI National Academy Associates joined the International Association of Chiefs of Police in supporting rules designed to keep police and other agencies from abusing the power that comes with drone use. The guidelines call for law enforcement personnel to "secure a search warrant prior to conducting the flight" if a drone could infringe upon "reasonable expectations of privacy." Drone may be coming to Miami-Dade. A new piece of technology may soon be coming to South Florida, but is already raising concerns from residents. The Miami-Dade Police Department recently finalized a deal to buy a drone, which is an unmanned plane equipped with cameras. Drones have been used for years in Iraq and Afghanistan in the war against terror. Many residents are concerned that the new technology will violate their privacy. Drone Gives Texas Law Enforcement Bird's-Eye View on Crime. The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office is weeks away from launching an unmanned aerial asset to help deputies fight crime. The ShadowHawk helicopter is six-feet long, weighs fifty pounds and fits in the back of an SUV. At America's Biggest Drone Show, the Focus Shifts Toward Domestic Skies. If you want to know what the future looks like, sit down and have a talk with Roy Minson. He's the senior vice president and general manager of unmanned aircraft systems at Aerovironment, the manufacturer of nearly 85 percent of the Department of Defense's unmanned aircraft fleet — not the Reapers and Predators that so often make headlines, but small aerial systems that make up the vast majority of the DoD's 7,000 strong unmanned aircraft fleet. That is to say, business with the defense sector is good at Aerovironment. But today Minson is talking almost exclusively about non-military applications for the company's hardware — him, and just about everybody else at the nation's largest robotic systems show. U.S. Navy Cloak Blade Inherently Stealthy Micro-Copter Presentation. A presentation accompanied a recent demonstration of the Cloak Blade, a micro-copter developed by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory under contract from the U.S. Navy. Will Police Drones Destroy the Fourth Amendment? Although the president's use of drones to execute the war on terror and those he assumes are associated with it has so far occurred only outside the United States, soon drones will slice through the domestic skies, as well. While the sight of drones over U.S. cities and towns is rare now, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) predicts that by 2020, 30,000 of these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) will be patrolling American airspace. Scores of these UAVs will be deployed by state and local law enforcement, adding to the many that will be sent airborne by the federal government. The coming drone attack on America. Drones on domestic surveillance duties are already deployed by police and corporations. In time, they will likely be weaponised. The anti-drone hoodie which can make its wearer invisible to spies in the sky. Those concerned about the conspiratorial machinations of the state surveillance infrastructure can now swap their tin-foil hats for a more fashion conscious accessory. A New York-based artist has designed an 'anti-drone hoodie' stitched from metallised material used to counter the infra-red cameras that spy drones use to spot people on the ground. Incredible U.S. military spy drone. A sinister airborne surveillance camera gives the U.S. military the ability to track movements in an entire city like a real-time Google Street View. The ARGUS-IS array can be mounted on unmanned drones to capture an area of 15 [square] miles in an incredible 1,800 MP — that's 225 times more sensitive than an iPhone camera. City in Virginia Becomes First to Pass Anti-Drone Legislation. Charlottesville, Va., has become the first city in the United States to formally pass an anti-drone resolution. The resolution, passed Monday, "calls on the United States Congress and the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia to adopt legislation prohibiting information obtained from the domestic use of drones from being introduced into a Federal or State court," and "pledges to abstain from similar uses with city-owned, leased, or borrowed drones." Texas "Anti Drone" Laws Would be Toughest in USA. Texas would have the toughest anti-drone legislation in the country under a bill filed by State Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Terrell). Which police departments want drones? Following a FOIA request from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Federal Aviation Administration has released an updated list of bodies, both public and private, that have applied for permission to fly surveillance drones in U.S. airspace. The FAA lists 81 entities altogether including police departments, government agencies and universities such as Cornell and Penn State. FAA moves closer to widespread US drone flights with plan for test sites. A future in which unmanned drones are as common in U.S. skies as helicopters and airliners has moved a step closer to reality with a government request for proposals to create six drone test sites around the country. FAA To Kick Off State Drone 'Competition'. States will soon compete to operate six unmanned aircraft test sites, commonly known as drones, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on Wednesday [2/13/2013]. The FAA wants states to compete for the drone test sites, which were mandated by Congress last year in the 2012 FAA Reauthorization bill. The sites will test the safety of drones before they are introduced into the National Airspace System by 2015. Like a Swarm of Lethal Bugs: The Most Terrifying Drone Video Yet. An Air Force simulation says researchers are at work on killer robots so tiny that a group of them could blend into a cityscape. DHS re-designs Predator drones to spy on Americans. The documents provide more details about the surveillance capabilities of the department's unmanned Predator B drones, which are primarily used to patrol the United States' northern and southern borders but have been pressed into service on behalf of a growing number of law enforcement agencies including the FBI, the Secret Service, the Texas Rangers, and local police. US Drones Intercept Electronic Communications and Identify Human Targets. New records obtained by EPIC under the Freedom of Information Act indicate that the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection is operating drones in the United States capable of intercepting electronic communications. The records also suggest that the ten Predator B drones operated by the agency have the capacity to recognize and identify a person on the ground. Approximately, 2/3 of the US population is subject to surveillance by the CBP drones. Will drones be used to spy on Americans? A small group of police and fire departments around the country are using new high-tech drones for emergency response situations stoking fears about misuse of the unmanned aircraft. Some are using sophisticated fixed-wing drones that can remain in the air for hours as well as online digital mapping software to create virtual crimes scenes. Homeland Security Drones Designed to Identify Civilians Carrying Guns. Recently uncovered government documents reveal that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) unmanned Predator B drone fleet has been custom designed to identify civilians carrying guns and track cell phone signals. "I am very concerned that this technology will be used against law-abiding American firearms owners," said founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation, Alan Gottlieb. "This could violate Fourth Amendment rights as well as Second Amendment rights." Weaponized drones. Drone manufacturers may offer police remote controlled drones with weapons like rubber bullets, Tasers, and tear gas. Congress has required the Federal Aviation Administration to loosen their regulations on drones and allow more drones in domestic airspace by 2015. Oregon Company to Sell Drone Defense Technology to Public. Do you want to keep drones out of your backyard? An Oregon company says that it has developed and will soon start selling technology that disables unmanned aircraft. The company, called Domestic Drone Countermeasures, was founded in late February because some of its engineers see unmanned aerial vehicles — which are already being flown by law enforcement in some areas and could see wider commercial integration into American airspace by 2015 — as unwanted eyes in the sky. The Other Drone Question: Is Obama Building A Federal Police Force? [Scroll down] Put it all together, and it sure looks like Obama is building the backbone for that national police force he wanted the first time he ran for office. Worse yet, both Democrats and Republicans are now openly discussing a plan to put all the drones flown in America's skies, including those owned and operated by local police departments, under the ultimate supervision of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, consolidating the country's surveillance and law enforcement powers under one powerful federal police jurisdiction. 17 Civilian Drone Facts You Really Should Know. [#13] Connections between UAVs and the operators are easily broken. The frequency between the drone and its operator is easily lost. Civilian drones use the same frequencies (GPS) as your cell phone. The frequencies are subject to interference from variables such as weather or deliberate jamming. [#14] Drones are easily hacked. Under the direction of the US Department of Homeland Security, engineering students were told to see if they could hack a drone. They did, and were easily able to substitute their information for the drone's programming via GPS. GAO report on unmanned aircraft systems, September 2012. [Scroll down to page 36] Additionally, a June 2012 poll conducted by Monmouth University reported that 42 percent of those sampled were very concerned about their own privacy if U.S. law enforcement started using UAS [unmanned aircraft systems] with high tech cameras, while 15 percent said they were not at all concerned. However, the poll reported that of those sampled, 80 percent said they supported the use of UAS for search and rescue missions while 67 percent said they oppose the use of UAS to issue speeding tickets. Hundreds of Drones Go Homeless. As the war in Afghanistan winds down, many commanders are asking what is going to happen to the large fleet of drones that have patrolled the skies, according to the Air Force Times [...] The Editor says... Somewhat related: The Editor says... Glenn Beck: If Police Get Drones, 'The 2nd Amendment Is Absolutely Dead'. Senator Rand Paul's media tour following his "misunderestimated" statements on drones brought him to Glenn Beck's radio show Friday, where the two men discussed the prospects of a terrifying future where police cars have "robotic firing arms" that take down criminals with the push of a button. If that ever happens, Beck told Paul, "the Second Amendment is absolutely dead." Dodging drones. The mayhem following Boston's Marathon massacre left four dead and 260 injured, prompting Police Commissioner Edward Davis last week to endorse the use of unmanned spy aircraft above next year's marathon. "Drones are a great idea," he told the Boston Herald. Actually, they're not. [...] Surveillance cameras don't prevent crime. There was no lack of video footage of the marathon, and the images were useful in quickly identifying the suspects after the fact. Much of the useful footage came from men and women filming the finish line or from cameras installed to watch over nearby shops and stores. Government drones would not have thwarted the attack. Bill to Allow Police to Use Drones Without Search Warrant Heads to Maine Senate. In a narrow decision, lawmakers accepted an amendment to a bill offered by Sen. John Patrick, D-Rumford, that could allow police to use a drone without a search warrant. In a 7-6 vote on May 1, the Legislature's Judiciary Committee sided with Maine Attorney General Janet Mills on the issue of how police can employ unmanned aerial vehicles in criminal investigations. Chicago Suburb Approves Two Year Ban on Drones. The Evanston City Council voted 5-4 for a two year ban on the use of airborne drones. The vote brought together an odd coalition of people: the anti-war groups were joined by the libertarians and the privacy advocates to pass the measure. Mueller: FBI deploys drones in US for 'limited' surveillance. The FBI uses drones to watch specific targets within the United States, the bureau's chief said Wednesday [6/19/2013]. FBI Director Robert Mueller told senators the agency uses drones infrequently for surveillance in the U.S., and only in regards to specific investigations. "Our footprint is very small," Mueller said in testimony. "We have very few and have limited use." FBI Chief Admits Use of Drones in Skies Over U.S.. Federal Aviation Administration officials claim that within the next five years there will be close to 10,000 civilian drones in use once the FAA grants them greater access to U.S. skies. Congress had directed the FAA to provide drones with widespread access to domestic airspace by 2015, but the agency is behind in its development of safety regulations and isn't expected to meet that deadline even though the FAA has granted more than two hundred permits to state and local governments, police departments, universities and others to experiment with using small drones. Colorado town, concerned about surveillance, considers drone hunting licenses. The small Colorado town of Deer Trail is considering an ordinance that would create drone-hunting licenses and offer bounties for hunters who shoot down an unmanned aerial vehicle. "We do not want drones in town," Phillip Steel, a resident in town who drafted the ordinance and submitted it for approval by the town board, told The Denver Post. "They fly in town, they get shot down." FAA warns shooting at drone could result in prosecution similar to shooting at manned airplane. People who fire guns at drones are endangering the public and property and could be prosecuted or fined, the Federal Aviation Administration warned Friday [7/19/2013]. The FAA released a statement in response to questions about an ordinance under consideration in the tiny farming community of Deer Trail, Colo., that would encourage hunters to shoot down drowns. The administration reminded the public that it regulates the nation's airspace, including the airspace over cities and towns. The Editor says... Bravado is contagious. Drone industry gives journalists not-so-subtle hint — don't use the word 'drones'. "Drone" is a dirty word at this week's drone industry convention in Washington. The sector long has opposed use of the term, seen by some as having an inherently negative connotation that doesn't accurately describe the awesome technology and potential positive uses of today's unmanned aerial vehicles. Even a small aircraft overhead can put you in danger. Texas law gets tough on public, private drone use. More than 40 state legislatures have debated the increasing presence of unmanned aircraft in civilian airspace, with most of the proposals focused on protecting people from overly intrusive surveillance by law enforcement. What could possibly be the motive, other than chest-thumping supremacy? Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey to team for drone tests. Maryland has agreed to work with Virginia and New Jersey on research into unmanned aircraft, a move that could strengthen Maryland's bid to land one of the six drone test sites to be awarded this year by the Federal Aviation Administration. The three states are among the 25 finalists seeking an FAA-sanctioned site to study how unmanned aircraft might safely be integrated into U.S. airspace. Ignoring the Constitution. [Scroll down] The president also has stepped up the use of airborne drones to spy on Americans in apparent violation of the Fourth Amendment prohibition of unreasonable and unwarranted searches. Previously owning up to only two instances of domestic unmanned aerial surveillance, officials of the Customs and Border Protection service released a list last week of 500 occasions over three years in which the agency flew Predator drone missions on behalf of other federal agencies. How drones will change your life. Apart from what they do for the military; drones have already proven themselves capable sheep herders, delivery boys, tour guides, filmmakers, archaeologists, and — possibly — spies. The global economic potential of these machines is astounding; a recent study estimated the worldwide market for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at $89 billion in 2013. US announces six drone test sites. The US aviation regulator has announced the six states that will host sites for testing commercial use of drones. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) picked Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia. The sites are part of a programme to develop safety and operational rules for drones by the end of 2015. FAA says New York, five other states chosen to host drone test sites. New York was among six states selected Monday to develop sites to test drones, a decision that likely will bring the unmanned aircraft to New York's skies and badly needed jobs to upstate. The New York site will be at Griffiss International Airport, a former Air Force base in upstate Rome. Aerospace firms and universities in New York and Massachusetts will be involved in the research. FAA names 6 sites for testing drones. The Federal Aviation Administration named six teams across the nation that will host the development and testing of drones to fly safely in the same skies as commercial airliners. The announcement represents a major milestone toward the goal of sharing the skies by the end of 2015, in what is projected to become an industry worth billions of dollars. But technical hurdles and privacy concerns remain in a regulatory program that's already a year behind schedule. Blimplike surveillance craft set to deploy over Maryland heighten privacy concerns. They will look like two giant white blimps floating high above I-95 in Maryland, perhaps en route to a football game somewhere along the bustling Eastern Seaboard. But their mission will have nothing to do with sports and everything to do with war. The aerostats — that is the term for lighter-than-air craft that are tethered to the ground — are to be set aloft on Army-owned land about 45 miles northeast of Washington, near Aberdeen Proving Ground, for a three-year test slated to start in October. Drone Surveillance Leads to Man's Arrest, Prison Sentence. Rodney Brossart has a unique distinction, although it may not be one he wanted. The North Dakota man became the first person to be sentenced as a result of drone surveillance in the United States. Brossart's three-year sentence comes following a 116-hour stand-off with a SWAT team on his ranch in 2011. The team was called in after Brossart resisted arrest for not returning livestock from a neighboring farm that had wandered on to his property; Brossart and his three sons then engaged in the stand-off before authorities brought in the Predator drone. Meet CUPID: The Drone That Will Shoot You With an 80,000 Volt Taser. Are drones not scary enough for you yet? How about this? A drone helicopter that spots you and identifies you as an intruder. It tells you to stop and put your hands behind your head. Instead, you keep coming. The drone then shoots you with barbed Taser darts that pump 80,000 volts into you. If you try to get up, it will continue pumping voltage into you until you submit and the authorities arrive. This isn't some dystopian theory. It's very real already, and I just saw it in action. Yes, it is terrifying. Prepare for drones that 'perch' on power lines to recharge, never have to land. Imagine a world where drones never have to touch the ground after takeoff. That's what MIT PhD. candidate Joseph Moore did, and now he's on the cusp of creating a drone that can "perch" on power lines just like birds to recharge its batteries. L.A. drones: LAPD gets new UAVs to combat crime. The Los Angeles Police Department announced Friday [5/30/2014] it had added two "unmanned aerial vehicles" to it's arsenal on Friday. The department received the two Draganflyer X6 aircraft as gifts from the Seattle Police Department, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday [5/30/2014]. Both drones are equipped with a camera, video recording and infrared night-vision capabilities, the newspaper reported. LAPD officials were hesitant to refer to the gifts as drones, avoiding negative connotations the word has taken on alluding to privacy concerns. Somewhat related: Has the Dept. of Homeland Security become America's standing army? The DHS has been at the forefront of funding and deploying surveillance robots and drones for land, sea and air, including robots that resemble fish and tunnel-bots that can travel underground. Despite repeated concerns over the danger surveillance drones used domestically pose to Americans' privacy rights, the DHS has continued to expand its fleet of Predator drones, which come equipped with video cameras, infrared cameras, heat sensors, and radar. DHS also loans its drones out to local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies for a variety of tasks, although the agency refuses to divulge any details as to how, why and in what capacity these drones are being used by police. Military Blimps Will Float In Aberdeen, Tracking Potential Threats. As Mike Schuh reports, two large blimps will soon rise over Harford County and stay put. Radar blimps like these have been used on the battlefield to track the enemy, and in the Caribbeanto intercept drug runners. Testing in Utah is complete. Now they're being packed up and sent to Maryland. The cops like their drones, but they don't like YOUR drones. Seat belt laws: Seat belt laws give cops an excuse to stop motorists and look for other violations. This has nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with justifying the cop's paycheck. Your local TV reporter is much too eager to assist in this effort, telling you only the government's side of the story. Should you wear a seatbelt? Of course. I wouldn't drive 50 feet without wearing my seatbelt. But in a "free country" it should be voluntary. How Can We Lose? Thirty years ago I suffered my first infringement of reasonable liberty. It was a little thing, it was the passage of a seat belt law, that few thought meant very much at all. To me, it was the state laying claim to my body, determining that it was their role in my life to tell me when I should put Tab A into Slot B. Now, I have studied the statistics and I have never claimed that seat belts are not good ideas, or that they don't save lives, because it is and they do, but a law claiming that the state has a greater interest in my life than I do is absurd. It didn't take much digging to uncover the real factors involved, which were insurance company lobbyists and the statists teaming up to pass a law that instantly achieved two goals: 1) save money for the insurance companies; 2) establish a precedent that the state has the right and the role to dictate the actions of its citizens. Feds Propose Tracking Black Boxes in All New Cars. The vehicle black boxes — which are either tiny standalone devices or part of a vehicle's computer system — are to record speed, engine throttle, breaking, ignition, safety belt usage, the number of passengers, airbag deployment, and among other things time of the recording and sometimes a passenger's location, depending on a vehicle's model. The Editor says... Buckles and bucks: The seat belt mandate is back. The people of New Hampshire are about to find out if their legislators are so hard up for money that they will sell their principles for cash. Every legislative session, leftist and "moderate" lawmakers try to pass a law requiring drivers to wear seat belts. The argument is always the same: The law will save lives. This year, the argument is different: The law will bring cash. Facts About State Mandatory Seat Belt Harness Laws: While the use of a seat belt has saved some people in certain kinds of traffic accidents, there is ample proof that in other kinds, some people have been more seriously injured and even killed only because of forced seat belt use. ... The public is denied the right to know there is a legitimate contrary side to the seat belt law controversy. At one time, it was the same with air bags until one investigative reporter decided to start printing the truth about air bag dangers in certain kinds of traffic accidents.
The truth about seat belts: When we read the instructions to police officers and emergency personnel for filling out the FARS data forms, we learn that all persons who fell off the bed of a pickup truck or fell off a snowmobile or a three-wheel or four-wheel ATV or from a go-cart are to be listed as having been "ejected". Moreover, there is no evidence to prove that all the persons who are listed as having been "ejected" actually were. ... When we look at the actual data we find that most of these data points are coded as "9" which is the FARS code in this category for "unknown". In other words, all they really know in most cases is that the victims was outside the vehicle when they arrived on the scene. Seat belt laws: Primary seat belt laws give law enforcement agents a virtual carte blanche to conduct traffic stops. Nevada's recent experience proves states don't need more intrusive statutes to persuade more people to buckle up. The cops aren't always wearing seat belts themselves. Dangerous Changes in Seat Belt Law: Primary enforcement allows the police to freely go on a "fishing" expedition to find sometime wrong under the pretense of not using a seat belt. Primary enforcement resuscitates the once dreaded "general warrants" of King George III of colonial America against motorists. On the other hand... One more step toward cradle-to-grave nanny state paternalism: The Great Golden State Business Exodus. One would think that given the serious nature of [California's] problems, the legislature would focus on solutions at the exclusion of all else. Instead, lawmakers — what would we ever do without them? — found the time in 2011 to trespass even deeper into Californians' personal lives. Topping off Sacramento's monument to foolishness is a law requiring children younger than 8, except for those taller than 4 feet 9 inches, to sit in booster seats in cars. Previous law let kids leave their boosters at 6. Now children who had moved out of cars seats are being forced back into them. Actually, the law is more authoritarian — and offensive and infuriating — than it is silly. The Editor says... Not buckling up your pet in the car can mean big fines. Judging from the alarming number of summonses issued so far for failing to buckle up in the back seat, motorists don't seem overly concerned about the current Click It or Ticket crackdown. After all, most unrestrained drivers and passengers can afford a measly $46 fine. But if you drive with an unrestrained pet, don't expect a slap on the wrist. Penalties range from $250 to $1,000 and as much as six months in jail. The Editor says... Ranch exempt from 'Click It or Ticket'. President Bush found himself in a flap Tuesday about seat-belt use, a day after a federal agency began a campaign to encourage drivers to buckle up. Video cameras caught Bush without his seat belt while driving a pickup on his Texas ranch last weekend, giving a tour to NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The Editor says... 
If you're important enough, you don't need to wear seatbelts, even while surrounded by cops. (White House photo by Pete Souza) You're guilty of something, we just need to figure out what it is. There are so many laws on the books these days, it's almost as if every activity is either mandatory or prohibited. If you look suspicious and you fail the "attitude test", it won't take long for the neighborhood policeman to think of some charge to file. When you call 9-1-1 for help, the first thing the cops investigate is YOU. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has just handed down a refresher on suspicion. Police officers thought an anonymous tip about a man carrying a gun and someone running away from them created enough suspicion to chase down Daniel Brown, stop him at gunpoint, and search him for contraband. Contraband was found, leading to Brown's motion to suppress. The lower court said this combination — an anonymous report of a gun and Brown's decision to run when he saw the police cruiser — was reasonable enough. Not so, says the Ninth Circuit, pointing out the obvious fact that a person carrying a gun can't be inherently suspicious in a state where carrying a gun in public is permitted. Ninth Circuit: There's Nothing Inherently Suspicious About Running From The Police Or Carrying A Gun. [Scroll down] See, carrying a weapon isn't a valid reason to stop people, innocent or not. [Nathaniel] Black was in fact a felon in possession of a firearm and the Fourth Circuit let him go and vacated his sentence, as they should have. Innocence or guilt has nothing whatsoever to do with anything concerning rights, the behavior of the police, and precedent. But LEOs don't learn the law these days, so sadly, I know more about it than most cops do. And you do too. Notable testimony from the Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force corruption trial. A federal jury has convicted two Baltimore Police detectives, Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor, for their roles in one of the biggest police corruption scandals in recent memory. [...] [Detective Maurice] Ward testified that his squad would prowl the streets for guns and drugs, with his supervisor, Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, driving fast at groups of people and slamming on the brakes. The officers would pop their doors open to see who ran, then give chase and detain and search them. Ward said this occurred 10 to 20 times on slow nights, and more than 50 times, "easy," on busier nights. The officers had no reason to target the crowds other than to provoke someone who might have drugs or a gun into running. "A lot of times" guns and drugs were recovered in this way, Ward said. Students Sue After Entire High School Illegally Groped And Molested By Cops. Violated children and furious parents have just filed a massive lawsuit after the Worth County Sheriff's office conducted an illegal search of 900 students — in the name of the war on drugs. The rights-violating intrusive and aggressive patdowns and drug dog searches at the school yielded absolutely nothing. An Atlanta attorney is now representing multiple students who were subjected to invasive and outright horrifying body searches during a mass — and warrantless — search for drugs at a South Georgia high school. Attorney Mark Begnaud, who filed the class-action lawsuit, called out the sheriff for conducting "900 illegal, suspicionless searches." Playing with water guns is now deemed 'suspicious activity' by police. DHS must be throwing office parties nationwide, as Americans call police to report kids playing the "Assassin" water gun game. NH police, said the game poses a threat to public safety and has resulted in a rise in suspicious person calls. Neighbors are calling police to report 'suspicious activity'. DHS's "See Something Say Something" program is out of control, it's created a nation of spies. How One Missouri Town Generates Revenue By Treating Its Residents Like Criminals. One March day in 2013, Valarie Whitner received a rude welcome when she came home to Pagedale, Missouri: A police officer spotted Valarie, arrested her and threw her in the back of a squad car, before driving her to city hall. Only after Pagedale's chief of police became involved was Valarie free to go. Incredibly, an unspecified "building code violation" caused Valarie to get handcuffed. When everything is a crime. What began as a trickle has become a stream that could become a cleansing torrent. Criticisms of the overcriminalization of American life might catalyze an appreciation of the toll the administrative state is taking on the criminal justice system, and liberty generally. Kick
Open the Doorway to Liberty: What Are We Waiting For? Just consider some of the First Amendment battles that
have taken place in recent years, and you too will find yourself wondering what country you're living in: NY Deputy Attacks Man For Refusing Search Over Legal Gun. Saratoga County, NY Deputy Sgt. Shawn Glans can likely kiss his law enforcement career goodbye after assaulting a young man who refused to consent to the search of his vehicle after deputies spotted an otherwise legal rifle in the back seat of the vehicle. The stunning example of law enforcement abuse of power was caught on video. Connecticut Supreme Court Says State Cops Can Detain You Simply For Being In The Vicinity Of Someone They're Arresting. Gideon, the pseudonymous public defender who blogs at A Public Defender, has a thorough rundown of a very disturbing ruling recently issued by the Connecticut Supreme Court. It involves every Connecticut citizens' civil liberties, which have now been thrown under a bus bearing the name "officer safety." The court's decision basically makes everyone a suspect, even if they're suspected of nothing else than being in the relative proximity of someone a police officer suspects of committing a crime, or someone simply "matching the description." Cop beats up model Air Force captain in his own home, issues arrest weeks later. An Air Force captain discovered he was banned from Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California, due to pending charges against him from a previous encounter with a cop who had tried to arrest him for entering his own home. The charges — resisting arrest and obstructing an officer — have infuriated Captain Nicolas Aquino, a first-generation immigrant whose parents came to the United States from Paraguay as political exiles. Last December, an officer paid a visit to Aquino's Monterey residence. Apparently, a neighbor had seen a man entering Aquino's home, and reported a possible burglary to the authorities. The "burglar" was Aquino himself. No one else was in the house. Lawsuit: Cops found nothing in raid, so they planted drugs to frame innocent woman. California cops planted drugs in a woman's home to frame her after finding nothing in their illegal search of her home, a lawsuit alleges. Allison Ross has filed a federal lawsuit against against the Santa Clara sheriff's department, crime lab and 12 officers that she claims participated in a conspiracy to plant drugs in her house and frame her for a crime she did not commit. Ross was initially charged with being under the influence of methamphetamine, but the case against her was thrown out after the district attorney determined that the police made false statements about Ross's arrest. Annie Dookhan's Falsified Lab Data: Symptom of a Corrupted System. Friday [12/6/2013], former Massachusetts chemist Annie Dookhan pleaded guilty to all 27 counts of falsifying nearly 40,000 criminal drug cases, effectively upending the Massachusetts criminal justice system. Dookhan admitted to filing false test results, mixing drug samples together, and lying under oath about her job qualifications. [...] Dookhan's "dry labbing" is just one part of a structure that incentivizes people working in the criminal justice system to get convictions — not truth — and put as many people in prison as possible without regard to their actual guilt. No One Is Innocent. Have you ever thrown out some junk mail that came to your house but was addressed to someone else? That's a violation of federal law punishable by up to 5 years in prison. Harvey Silverglate argues that a typical American commits three felonies a day. I think that number is too high but it is easy to violate the law without intent or knowledge. We're all potential suspects and should be treated as such, apparently. Earlier today [6/19/2013], a Washington Examiner editorial warned that "if phone records are useful now in stopping terrorist attacks, how long before politicians and bureaucrats decide archiving the entire phone call would be even more useful? How long before the limitations and safeguards now in place are set aside?" Within a few hours, King provided an illustration of precisely what the [Washington] Examiner editors fear. Responding to a question by Fox News' Bill Hemmer about why the government needs everyone's phone numbers and not just suspects', King said, "Because if you don't have all of them, the system is incomplete." 6,125 Proposed Regulations and Notifications Posted in Last 90 Days — Average 68 per Day. It's Friday morning, and so far today, the Obama administration has posted 165 new regulations and notifications on its reguations.gov website. In the past 90 days, it has posted 6,125 regulations and notices — an average of 68 a day. Once You're On the 'List,' You Can't Get Off. Thanks to the all-encompassing nature of federal databases, and the seamless integration of the "Homeland Security" apparatus, every police officer and sheriff's deputy has the ability to ruin the life of any Mundane who displays something other than instant and unconditional submission. This was demonstrated in the case of Los Angeles resident Shawn Nee, an amateur photographer, who was accosted by sheriff's deputies while taking photos of subway turnstiles. Court Rules Motorists Can Be Detained For Paying By Cash at Toll Booths. The Eleventh Circuit US Court of Appeals has ruled that private contractors operating toll roads on behalf of the state have the power to detain and store records on motorists who pay by cash at toll booths — another example of how using cash is increasingly being treated as a suspicious activity. The 5 Dumbest Drug Laws in America. In Texas, it's illegal to buy or sell chemistry equipment without the state's permission. [...] In Florida, every drug user is a potential drug trafficker. Paying Cash for that Latte? It May Land You on FBI's Terrorist List. Really? Yes, crazy as it sounds, in our post-9/11 snitch/spy/surveillance society, if you "always pay cash," you may be marked as a potential terrorist. That's according to an FBI flyer that appears to be aimed at proprietors and employees of Internet cafés. Some laws are on the books just in case the cops can't think of anything else you've done wrong. Do You Like Online Privacy? You May Be a Terrorist. A flyer designed by the FBI and the Department of Justice to promote suspicious activity reporting in internet cafes lists basic tools used for online privacy as potential signs of terrorist activity. The document, part of a program called "Communities Against Terrorism", lists the use of "anonymizers, portals, or other means to shield IP address" as a sign that a person could be engaged in or supporting terrorist activity. The use of encryption is also listed as a suspicious activity along with steganography, the practice of using "software to hide encrypted data in digital photos" or other media. In fact, the flyer recommends that anyone "overly concerned about privacy" or attempting to "shield the screen from view of others" should be considered suspicious and potentially engaged in terrorist activities. Insult added to injury: Student jailed for 2 nights when she can't show ID. News about the Police Department lately could run under the headline of the daily Dismal Development, starting with a judge declaring Tuesday that an officer was guilty of planting drugs on entirely innocent people and continuing back a few days to gun-smuggling, pepper-spraying and ticket-fixing. Here, in the pointless arrest of Ms. Zucker, is a crime that is not even on the books: the staggering waste of spirit, the squandering of public resources, the follies disguised as crime-fighting. Did the U.S. Sanction Murder? In the Declaration of Independence, our Founding Fathers said one of the reasons for their rebellion against King George is that he had "erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance." Those brave gentlemen wouldn't believe how many Swarms of Officers harass us today, or how much of our Substance they consume. ... Our government has created so many rules and regulations and has so many agents and inspectors to enforce them, there is no way on earth you can obey them all. If they want to get you for something, they can. And worst of all, in many cases you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent. We All Have Something to Hide. Criminalizing huge swaths of behavior is one of government's favorite weapons. Not only does it bring much of life under rulers' control, it also silences dissent. Authorities can easily muzzle critics by investigating them. Given an endless list of laws and the likelihood of having broken some, which of us wouldn't quail at the threat of such a fishing expedition? Victims of Over-Zealous Police Officers: No one disputes the fact that seat belts save lives. Most states, therefore, have buckle-up laws that make it a misdemeanor to drive with being properly belted. However, in Texas, the Transportation Code not only permits a police officer to stop a driver for the non-use of seat belts, it also permits the officer to arrest the driver for violating that law. Gail Atwater was one of those unfortunate Texans. Running From the Police — Is It Sufficient For A Stop? In a 5-4 decision decided in January, the United States Supreme Court effectively dished up more power onto the plates of law enforcement officers, giving them the authority to detain a person who flees at the mere sight of a policeman. A nation choking on endless laws. Heading back to work this week, Americans were greeted not only by a new year but also by a whole slew of new laws — 31,000 of them at the state level — covering everything from guns to 100-watt light bulbs to, of course, "health care." As usual, most of these laws tell us what we can't do: texting while driving (duh), cyberbullying and smoking in bars. In the near future, everyone will be a criminal for at least 15 minutes, whether they know it or not. Every American Is Now a Criminal! You think you are a law abiding citizen, don't you? Think again! You have been, you are now, and you will continue to break the law for the rest of your life, because there are too many laws, with millions more laws to follow. Many of these laws are totally unconstitutional but have never been challenged in the courts. Sometimes you break the law without any knowledge of it, even though ignorance of the law is not an excuse, if you are caught. But worse, millions are breaking the law because they are convinced the laws are illegal, or just plain stupid. With more people intentionally breaking the law, eventually the rule of law breaks down, as does our Republic. The examples of stupid laws would fill volumes. Examples of conflicting laws would fill even more volumes. Top Ten Campus Follies of 2002: [For example] An American University student was pinned down and handcuffed outside a Tipper Gore speech by plainclothes campus police who refused to identify themselves. The student was charged with stealing Gore's intellectual property by videotaping her speech, which was open to the public. How Free Are We Really? There is neither such thing as a people with complete freedom nor one completely bereft of it; it's a matter of degree. While many realize this, few understand that there is a barometer with which liberty can be measured: The number of laws in existence. By definition, a law is the removal of a freedom, as it dictates that there is something you cannot or must do. ... Every year our nation enacts more and more laws but hardly ever rescinds any, which means every year we become progressively less free. I call this "creeping totalitarianism." Federal Regulations Back to Near-Record Levels. Federal government regulators issued 4,148 new rules in the 71,269-page Federal Register in 2003, 19 fewer than they did in 2002. The cost of those rules appears nowhere in the federal budget. According to the Federal Register, the five most active rule-producing agencies — the Departments of Treasury, Transportation, Homeland Security, and Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency — account for 46 percent of the rules under consideration. Ten Thousand Commandments 2011. Thanks to the bailouts and other amplified spending, CBO projects a FY 2011 deficit of a previously unthinkable $1.48 trillion, greater than FY 2010's actual deficit of $1.294 trillion. With the unveiling of the 2012 budget, President Obama projects an even larger FY 2011 deficit than CBO does: $1.645 trillion. This figure will be the largest deficit since World War II, at 11 percent of the entire U.S. economy. Time to stop the flood of federal regulation. According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute's just-updated annual snapshot of federal regulations — "Ten Thousand Commandments" — the federal government spent $49.1 billion to enforce regulations in 2008, costing businesses $1.17 trillion to comply. In other words, businesses are being forced to allocate vast sums of money and time to comply with the federal government's bewilderingly complex rules and mandates. 10,000 Commandments (2010 edition). Precise regulatory costs can never be fully known, because, unlike taxes, they are unbudgeted and often indirect. But scattered government and private data exist on scores of regulations and on the agencies that issue them, as well as on regulatory costs and benefits. Some of that information can be compiled to make the regulatory state somewhat more comprehensible. Earlier issues of "10,000 Commandments": Law restricting cell use in cars takes effect today. Beginning today [3/1/2008], police in New Jersey can write $100 tickets to motorists they catch using hand-held cell phones behind the wheel. Cell phone use by drivers has been against the law in New Jersey since 2004, but it has been a secondary offense. A police officer could only write a ticket if the driver had been pulled over for speeding or running a stop light or some other infraction. The updated law makes talking or texting on a hand-held cell phone a primary offense. The Editor says... Why the Proposed Car Cellphone Ban Is Wrong. It has been said that we can't go a day without breaking the law. This one is for those who haven't broken any of the millions of others yet. The ruling class can always put your in jail for something. You're only exempt if you are a member of the ruling class. 6 Laws You've Broken Without Even Realizing It. Say hello to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which makes it a crime to gain "unauthorized access" to a computer or a website. What does "unauthorized access" actually mean? Nobody knows. But the law says it applies to wireless routers. Buckle up laws were just the beginning. California's New Frisbee Law Just Latest Attempt to Raise Cash. This week, Los Angeles County okayed a new regulation banning the throwing of Frisbees or footballs on the beaches — which, of course, destroys the purpose of living in Southern California in the first place. The first offense will earn you a hefty $100 fine; the second, $200; the third and beyond, $500. You can, of course, apply for a permit. For parents with industrious children, holes deeper than 18 inches are also banned — so get your kids the cheap plastic shovels or pay a fine. Los Angeles County Bans Frisbees on Beaches. The moonbat micromanagers ruling La-La Land must finally be running out of things to ban. Now they're suppressing fun on the beach. End the Drug War, Mr. President. The War on Drugs has been a massive failure by any serious estimation. Sixty-seven percent of our nations' [sic] police chiefs consider it so. The War on Drugs: Because Prohibition Worked So Well ... Forty years ago, the United States locked up fewer than 200 of every 100,000 Americans. Then President Nixon declared war on drugs. Now we lock up more of our people than any other country — more even than the authoritarian regimes in Russia and China. A war on drugs — on people, that is — is unworthy of a country that claims to be free. Why black people don't trust the police: I don't trust cops and I don't know many black people who do. I respect them. I sympathize with them. I am appreciative of the work they do. But when you've been pulled over for no good reason as many times as I have; when you've been in handcuffs for no good reason as many times as I have; when you run out to buy some allergy medication and upon returning home, find yourself surrounded by four squad cars with flashing lights and all you can think about is how not to get shot, you learn not to trust cops. IRS May Draft Cops to Catch Tax Cheats, Official Tells Senate. One police officer's responded, "We're prevented from going after illegal alien lawbreakers, but we're going to go after American citizens who try to keep more of their own money?" Shredding the Constitution. In Dearborn, Michigan, in June, 2010, a pastor and two lay Christians were arrested outside an Arab festival, under the pretense that they were blocking a tent entrance, creating a public danger, and "screaming into a crowd." Video footage of the event clearly showed that this was untrue. Last year, an assistant evangelical pastor from a Southern California church and two church members were arrested by the California Highway Patrol for reading the Bible outside a DMV office to those waiting in line almost an hour before opening time. Although the Christians were 50 feet away from the entrance, they were cited for "impeding an open business." Radioactive man? Milford resident pulled over by state police. Mike Apatow was minding his own business Wednesday, driving to an appointment for work in Washington Depot when a state police car appeared suddenly and signaled for the Milford resident to pull over. [...] "I asked the officer 'What seems to be the problem?'" Apatow said. "He said 'You've been flagged as a radioactive car.'" Apatow's doctor had given him a document attesting that he'd had a medical procedure involving a small amount of radioactive material that he handed to the officer. A Stratford firefighter, Apatow was more curious than annoyed by the incident. "I had no idea the police even had devices like that," he said. The Editor says... Distracted driving Get Ready for In-Car Ads. Because being bombarded with roadside signage while taking a leisurely Sunday drive isn't enough, Ford has patented a new system that uses a vehicle's cameras to detect billboards and then pull them up on a car's infotainment display as inescapable in-vehicle advertisements. Political Idiocracy: Driving and Using a Zoom Background — While Debating Legislation on 'Distracted Driving'. The winner of this week's "Superior Achievement in the Field of Political Idiocracy" is GOP Ohio state Senator Andrew Brenner, who participated via video conference in the Ohio Legislature's Controlling Board Committee debate on legislation concerning "distracted driving." The meeting was conducted via Zoom, and Brenner attempted to use a couple of different virtual backgrounds behind him. To do so, he needed to handle his cell phone and pick a background to appear. But, that was just the beginning of the fun. Driver's Alleged Crime: Drinking Coffee. There's a good chance you broke the law on your way to work today — at least in the eyes of Minnesota police. The offense: drinking coffee while driving. Lindsey Krieger tells KMSP she was "dumbfounded" when an officer told her she'd been pulled over for the apparent crime in St. Paul on Wednesday [10/21/2015]. "It's against the law to drink coffee while you're driving,'" she quotes the officer as telling her. As it turns out, the cop let her off with a warning for the coffee but gave her a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt (which Krieger says she unbuckled only after being pulled over). So was the officer right? Well, "kind of," a post at Munchies explains, because drinking coffee would fall under rules against distracted driving. Text a driver in New Jersey, and you could see your day in court. [Scroll down] On Tuesday [8/27/2013], three appeals court judges agreed with it — in principle. They ruled that if the sender of text messages knows that the recipient is driving and texting at the same time, a court may hold the sender responsible for distraction and hold him or her liable for the accident. "We hold that the sender of a text message can potentially be liable if an accident is caused by texting, but only if the sender knew or had special reason to know that the recipient would view the text while driving and thus be distracted," the court said. Study: Distraction Behind Most Car Crashes. Those sleep-deprived, multitasking drivers — clutching cell phones, fiddling with their radios or applying lipstick — apparently are involved in an awful lot of crashes. Distracted drivers were involved in nearly eight out of 10 collisions or near-crashes, says a study released Thursday [4/20/2006] by the government. Statistics disprove the "study" cited above.
I'm not putting down ham radio, really. Why do you suppose I have a fresh copy of QST on hand?) Ham radio operators can and do provide valuable services in actual emergencies, when no other communications are available. Events like the charity bike ride (in the photo) are used as drills, so the hams will be ready if needed. This leads to another point: Have you seen the inside of a police car lately? Besides the lights and sirens, guns, and multi-channel two-way radios, they have computer terminals through which they receive almost all their instructions from headquarters. (Not to mention car-to-car text messages about where they're going to eat lunch.) Some have GPS maps that show the location of other police cars as well as their own. Occasionally there's a rowdy drunk in the back seat. So you see, the cops are in no position to judge others as distracted drivers. Talking on a cell phone or sending text messages while driving are serious concerns. And if that's what the distracted driving laws address, they have my support. But if the purpose of this campaign against distracted drivers is to establish another technicality and a very broad and fuzzy law that will allow the police to stop random cars and look for drugs, weapons, large amounts of cash, I'm opposed to it.
Police forced to get creative in battle to make drivers to put down their phones. In Bethesda, Maryland, a police officer disguised himself as a homeless man, stood near a busy intersection and radioed ahead to officers down the road about texting drivers. In two hours last October, police gave out 56 tickets. The Editor says... Oregon school district scrutinized after memo ordered bus drivers to stop playing rap music. An Oregon school district has discussed reversing its ban on rap music on buses after allegations of racism. The Oregonian reported Wednesday [8/24/2016] that Portland Public Schools had ordered its bus drivers to stop playing hip-hop music after it deemed rap "inappropriate." Teri Brady, the senior director of transportation in the district, sent a memo to bus drivers in March ordering them to stop playing "religious, rap music or talk show programs." The only acceptable music to play was pop, country and jazz, according to The Oregonian. The Editor says... Rise of Selfies Adds to Distracted Driving Problems Across the U.S.. Over the weekend, a driver in Maine injured several of his passengers after he attempted to take a selfie while behind the wheel. He now faces a distracted driving summons. On Saturday, August 29th, 29-year-old Jordan Toner of Hampden was driving himself and several friends through Orient, Maine, when one of his friends leaned in to take a selfie. Toner reportedly leaned into the frame for the picture, and ended up crashing into the tree. Indiana driver distracted by GPS, food in fatal crash is charged with misdemeanor. A warrant was issued Tuesday, Sept. 22, against Travis Fox, 40, for one count of moving violation causing death, a one-year misdemeanor, according to court records. He has yet to be arraigned. The crash, which occurred Aug. 3, was caused by Fox, who told police he was distracted while eating a sandwich and checking his GPS. He didn't notice the traffic in front of him had slowed due to construction. Driver in I-93 rollover accident charged with distracted driving under Hands-Free Law. A rollover accident on Interstate 93 in Canterbury on Monday night was caused by a distracted driver using a mobile device, police said. Two vehicles, a Honda Civic and a Toyota Tacoma, were involved in the crash on I-93 southbound about 9:30 p.m. Monday, said state police Trooper Micah Jones. The accident was caused by the driver of the Honda, he said, who was cited under the state's Hands-Free Law. Woman Charged in OC Distracted Driving Case Appears in Court. Jorene Nicholas' first trial ended in 2014 with a deadlocked jury. In court Wednesday, prosecutors showed jurors photos of a mangled Hyundai that belonged to 23-year-old Deanna Mauer. Nicholas is accused of killing Mauer in 2011. Prosecutors say Nicholas was using her cellphone while driving 85 miles per hour on the 405 Freeway. Traffic had stopped and she ploughed into Mauer's car in Westminster. No offense is too petty to overlook The Editor says... Mad Britain: Nine-Year-Olds Being Investigated by Police for Non-Crime Hate Incidents. Mainstream Britain might finally be waking up to the fact that it elected a totalitarian government that increasingly seems to behave like the Chinese Communist Party. Children as young as nine are currently being investigated by the police for non-crime hate incidents. [...] "Non-crime hate" is not exactly new. In 2014, the police introduced the Hate Crime Operational Guidelines, which have since been updated. According to the guidelines, any non-crime incident that is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person's race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity must be recorded, even if there is no evidence of the hate element[.] Man, 21, faces 10 years in prison for doing burnouts on LGBT mural. A Seattle man was arrested and could face 10 years in prison for doing burnouts on an LGBTQ+ mural. Ivan Barzul, 21, was taken into custody Tuesday at his home in Renton after being accused of vandalizing the City's LGBTQ+ Pride art piece, and nearly hitting pedestrians and cars as he did so. He's accused of committing the crime on three different occasions — July 14, September 7 and September 15 — at the mural, according to the Bellevue Police Department. The Editor says... New Jersey Cops Aggressively Arrest A Surfer Over Not Having A 12 Dollar Beach Badge. Police have revealed new details and body camera footage on what they said led up to the arrest of a surfer at a beach in Belmar, New Jersey. Cell phone video of part of the encounter made the rounds on social media, capturing officers pinning a surfer to the ground, allegedly over a beach badge. Liam Mahoney, a 28-year-old Belmar native now living in California, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstruction of justice. He was also issued a borough ordinance for Beach Badge Required. Video of that encounter has stirred controversy, with some beachgoers calling the officers' conduct, an overreaction to a minor issue. [Video clip] Suspect Busted For One Cent Bank Robbery. After a man handed a bank teller a note demanding cash, police swooped down on a Chase Bank branch in Florida and arrested the unarmed suspect for robbery. The amount he allegedly sought: One cent. The unorthodox robbery bid, cops say, occurred Saturday afternoon in Lady Lake, a town about 50 miles north of Orlando. According to an arrest report, Michael Patrick Fleming, 41, walked into the bank, filled out a withdrawal slip, and handed it to a teller. [...] Fleming claimed that he was expecting the teller "to give him the $00.01," adding that he "would then sit in the chair and wait for law enforcement." [Not shown here], Fleming "advised his goal was to be arrested." That plan worked to perfection, with Fleming being collared on a felony robbery count. [...] Until recently, Fleming rented a mobile home in Summerfield, a central Florida community about 10 miles away from the Chase branch. He was evicted from the residence in May for failure to pay his $900 month-to-month rent. The Editor says... Police detain man eating a sandwich on a San Francisco train platform. A police officer detained and cited a man eating a sandwich on a San Francisco train platform, a confrontation captured on a viral video. In the video posted on social media, the Bay Area Rapid Transit policeman told the man, later identified as Steve Foster, that eating on the platform is against state law. The officer keeps his hand on Foster's backpack while Foster angrily addresses the camera and the officer. Foster insisted he was doing nothing wrong and refused to give his name. The November 4 incident escalated and Foster was handcuffed when a second officer arrived at the train platform. The Editor says... Florida teen charged with felony for leaving 'donut burnout' skid marks on LGBT pride mural. A Florida teenager was arrested and charged with a felony on Monday after leaving skid marks with his car on a street pride mural. Christian Maier, 18, was charged with felony mischief and racing on a street after surveillance footage caught him doing "donut burnouts" with his car on St. Petersburg's "Progressive Pride Street Mural" at 3:45 a.m. on May 22, according to the St. Petersburg Police Department. Police said the video showed Maier "recklessly maneuvering his car in a way to leave several tire marks across the mural and causing significant damage." The Editor says... Wild Video Shows A Migrant Family Brawling With NYC Parks Enforcement Over Selling Fruit From An illegal Fruit Cart. Migrant family selling fruit involved in shocking brawl with NYC Parks Enforcement. Officers wrestled a migrant child resisting arrest to the ground and attempted to handcuff her before an angry crowd set her free. The migrants were operating a fruit cart without a license. [Video clip] The Editor says... California Woman Fined $88K After Children Pick Up Clams. A woman from Fresno, California, got a huge shock after taking her children on a family trip to Pismo Beach. At the close of 2023, Charlotte Russ visited the area with her children who wanted to collect seashells at the beach, ABC 30 reported on Thursday. But what the family did not realize at the time was they had actually picked up 72 clams. Clamming is regulated, so Russ was given a ticket and later got a notice that said she was being fined a whopping $88,000. [...] Russ's fine was later reduced to $500 after she explained what happened to a San Luis Obispo County judge. Crime-Infested Oakland Is Going After A 102 Year Old Wheelchair Bound White Man For Not Cleaning Graffiti. The city of Oakland is now going after a 102-year-old man in a wheelchair. His crime? He was unable to remove all the graffiti painted all over his home by thugs. Victor Silva Sr. faces a $1,100 fine, PLUS additional $1277 fines for each failed re-inspection. [Video clip] Calls for jobsworth councils to scrap speed limits which 'serve no useful purpose' and are fining 'terrified' pensioners for going 22 mph. Police forces are trying to fine pensioners for travelling just 2 mph above the speed limit in 20 mph zones[,] leaving them 'absolutely terrified', it has been claimed. The aggressive approach to enforcement in some areas in recent months has seen motorists in Britain face a record number of fines for 20 mph offences last year. More than 216,000 fines for travelling between 20 mph and 30 mph were handed out by forces across the UK in 2023[,] quadruple the number issued compared to 2018. He Was Arrested for Making a Joke on Facebook. A Jury Just Awarded Him $205,000 in Damages. On a Friday in March 2020, a dozen or so sheriff's deputies wearing bulletproof vests descended upon Waylon Bailey's garage at his home in Forest Hill, Louisiana, with their guns drawn, ordered him onto his knees with his hands "on your [...] head," and arrested him for a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The SWAT-style raid was provoked by a Facebook post in which Bailey had made a zombie-themed joke about COVID-19. Recognizing the harm inflicted by that flagrantly unconstitutional arrest, a federal jury last week awarded Bailey $205,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Making a crime out of something that is not a crime: Florida Man Arrested After Throwing Oreos at His Wife During Argument Over Empty Coffee Maker. A 70-year-old Florida man wound up taking a trip to jail this week after an argument with his wife over an empty coffee maker turned into an assault involving Oreo cookies. Police from the Lake County Sheriff's Office say an argument between John Sandoval and his wife of over 40 years took place last weekend when his morning coffee routine was ruined by a coffee maker without any water in it. People Who Were Arrested For Eating Food. Back in 2000, 12-year-old Ansche Hedgepeth got handcuffed for eating in a Washington, D.C., subway station. At the time, police were cracking down on people eating in the metro. Over a short amount of time, they arrested or cited 35 people, almost all of whom were minors. Hedgepeth, a seventh grader, was searched, handcuffed, booked, and fingerprinted after school for unlawful snacking in public. While the preteen knew she was not supposed to eat at the metro, she didn't believe it would lead to her arrest. [...] The transit police initially had no remorse for the arrest, citing its zero-tolerance policy. However, Ansche Hedgepeth's arrest led to a lawsuit, leading the Metro Transit Police to change its no-food policy enforcement policy from arrests to warnings. In her case, Hedgepeth requested her record be expunged because her Fourth Amendment rights were violated. Handcuffed and charged for public transit conversation? The Democracy Fund (TDF) has agreed to take on the cases of two men charged under a Calgary Transit bylaw for allegedly 'interfering with the comfort of an unknown transit user' while on their way to the 1 Million March 4 Children in Calgary, Alberta on September 20, 2023. The ambiguous and apparently selectively applied bylaw prohibits transit users from engaging in conduct that would "interfere with the comfort, convenience, or quiet use and enjoyment of the transit system of any reasonable person." Folks familiar with Calgary Transit, especially the downtown leg of the C-Train tracks, have no doubt witnessed their fair share of conduct that could be described as interfering with comfort, convenience or quiet on a near daily basis, and whether it be fisticuffs or drug related hysterics, those folks will attest that response times aren't always prompt. Alabama school suspends 1st-grader for making finger gun while playing cops and robbers, says outraged parent. An outraged parent and gun rights groups are speaking out against an Alabama elementary school that suspended a first-grader, reportedly for making a finger gun. Jerrod Belcher, whose six-year-old son J.B. attends Bagley Elementary School in Jefferson County, Alabama, says the school over-reacted to a game of "cops and robbers." A notice of suspension shared with Fox News Digital states that Belcher's son committed a "Class III" infraction on September 1 by "using his fingers to shoot at another student." Retired social worker, 73, is quizzed in her own home by hate-crime police for taking a photo of a STICKER. Police officers quizzed a pensioner in her home on suspicion of a hate crime after she stopped in the street to take a photo of a sticker which said: 'Keep males out of women-only spaces.' The sticker had been placed on to a LGBT+ pride poster which had the slogan Stand By Your Trans. Officers told the 73-year-old retired social worker that she had been identified from CCTV footage. The woman told The Mail on Sunday she was 'in a state of shock' when officers arrived at her door. The incident [...] comes after fury over police forces failing to send officers to investigate burglaries and other serious crimes. Just another Christian arrested for sharing biblical messages in public. In a video clip that has gone viral on social media, a young Christian man is seen being arrested by police as he and a few other young men preached at a recent Pride in the Park celebration in Watertown, Wisconsin. [Tweet with video clip] The footage shows a young man reading from the bible, speaking into a microphone, before he is surrounded by multiple police officers. One of the officers then grabs the microphone and pulls it away from the Christian while those around him question what the officers are doing. The person who recorded the video claims the group was told that they could speak outside on the sidewalk. However, another officer allegedly told them that they could not use the speaker and microphone to do this. In any case, several of the officers then proceed to grab the young man who was preaching and ask him not to resist as they arrested him and hauled him away. GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson Handcuffed, Detained While Trying to Help with Medical Emergency at Rodeo. On Saturday, trying to do the right thing led to Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas being put in handcuffs and briefly detained. The incident happened at the White Deer Rodeo in the town of White Deer about 40 miles from Amarillo, according to the Texas Tribune. A statement from Jackson's office said he was attending the rodeo when he was "summoned by someone in the crowd to assist a 15-year-old girl who was having a medical emergency nearby." The statement that Jackson, who was a White House doctor for former President Barack Obama, was informed by a relative that the girl needed help in addition to the assistance being provided because "no uniformed EMS providers on the scene at the time." The Editor says... Third lawsuit filed against cop who arrested veteran for 'God bless the homeless vets' sign. A third lawsuit was filed Monday against the police officer who arrested a veteran for holding a "God Bless the Homeless Vets" sign outside of a city hall building in Georgia, according to the watchdog group that filed the lawsuit. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a free speech advocacy group that provides legal defense, filed a lawsuit on behalf of Jeff Gray alleging that Port Wentworth police officer Robert Hemminger knew that Gray was within his constitutional rights to protest when he arrested him in 2021, according to the lawsuit. This marks the third lawsuit that FIRE has filed on behalf of Gray after the organization previously challenged another arrest of his and a citation he received. A Violent Horde of Police Break down a Door and Arrest a Father for the Crime of Piercing His Son's Ear. Police in full-on SWAT mode break down a door to arrest a father — for the 'heinous' crime of...piercing his son's ear? Yes, you heard that right. Apparently, this dad committed the ultimate parental sin of allowing his son to get his ear pierced, even though the boy had asked for it. It's a shocking and bizarre story that highlights the absurdity of some of our laws and law enforcement practices. [Video clip] No Constitutional Right To Honk Your Car Horn, Court Says. A federal appeals court says honking isn't First Amendment-protected activity. There's no constitutional right to honk your car horn, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The case involves Susan Porter, who repeatedly honked her car horn while driving past protesters in California in 2017. A deputy with the San Diego County Sheriff's Office issued Porter a ticket, saying she had violated a state law against misuse of car horns. Porter pushed back, filing a federal lawsuit in 2018. In it, she alleged that honking her horn in solidarity with the protesters was protected First Amendment activity and that the California law used to ticket her — which prohibits using a car horn except "when reasonably necessary to insure safe operation" or when used "as a theft alarm system" — was unconstitutional. Bad New Idea From Florida: Ban Dogs From Sticking Their Heads Out of Car Windows. Not content to merely regulate human fun, a Florida lawmaker has introduced a bill that would make it illegal for drivers to let their dogs stick their heads out of car windows. Senate Bill 932, introduced last week by state Sen. Lauren Book (D-Plantation), tackles a wide range of animal welfare issues. It would ban the declawing of cats, prohibit the sale of rabbits in stores in March and April, create a registry of animal abusers, and limit cosmetic testing on animals, among many other policies. The legislation centers on what Book believes would improve the quality of life for Florida's animals, but one section of the bill would single out a favorite activity of the state's canine population. Dogs would be banned from sticking their heads "or any other body part" outside a vehicle's window while on a public roadway. Drivers would also be banned from holding dogs on their laps while driving. Battling the Leftist Education Playbook. Several years ago, my husband and I learned a valuable lesson when we visited San Diego: Ignorance is not an excuse. After returning to our car from a beach trip, we noticed that we'd been ticketed. We drove to the police station and discovered that we'd parked in a red curb zone. We hadn't seen any No Parking signs, and the curbs weren't red. However, there doesn't have to be red paint to signify a restricted area; people are expected to know the rules. We weren't excused from that ticket, and we were chided for not knowing the law, even as vacationers. Obnoxiously loud car? A traffic camera might be listening. Over the years, there have been numerous efforts to quiet the cacophony [in New York City]. One of the latest: traffic cameras equipped with sound meters capable of identifying souped-up cars and motorbikes emitting an illegal amount of street noise. At least 71 drivers have gotten tickets so far for violating noise rules during a yearlong pilot program of the system. The city's Department of Environmental Protection now has plans to expand the use of the roadside sound meters. [...] The new devices record the license plates of offenders, much like how speedsters are nabbed by roadside cameras. Vehicle owners face fines of $800 for a first noise offense and a penalty of $2,625 if they ignore a third-offense hearing. City officials declined to reveal where the radars are currently perched. The Editor says... Police Arrest 82-Year-Old Alabama Woman For Not Paying $77 Trash Bill. An elderly Alabama woman last Sunday [11/27/2022] was arrested for an unpaid trash bill totaling $77.80. The 82-year-old woman was cuffed and charged with misdemeanor offense of 'failure to pay solid waste fees.' Martha Louis Menefield, of Valley was released on bond, according to a statement from Valley Police Chief Mike Reynolds. Ohio Cops Decide First Amendment Doesn't Exist, Arrest Newspaper Editor For Committing Journalism. Ohio cops just can't seem to get their head around First Amendment protections. A case hopefully en route to a Supreme Court review involves Parma, Ohio cops who decided it was completely legal to arrest a town resident for creating a clearly satirical Facebook page that suggested the Parma PD was offering free abortions in a roaming van and promoting a "pedophile reform" event. In another case, a cop temporarily managed to obtain an injunction forbidding people from publishing his name while he sued several Cincinnati residents for libel for suggesting he might be a racist. That cop's name is Ryan Olthaus and he has a long history of use of force complaints. And, in yet another case, a woman was arrested by Ohio cops for repeating a false rumor that a gun had been found at a school. She did not originate the rumor. She just repeated it. And for that, she was sentenced to 180 days in jail and stripped of access to social media sites for a year. It's now illegal for anyone under 21 to buy canned whipped cream in New York. It is illegal for New Yorkers under age 21 to purchase a can of whipped cream, according to recently-passed state law. The law, which went into effect in November 2021, is meant to prevent teenagers from using canned whipped cream to inhale nitrous oxide, otherwise known as "whippets." "Inhalants are invisible, volatile substances found in common household products that produce chemical vapors that are inhaled to induce psychoactive or mind-altering effects," according to a US Drug Enforcement Administration factsheet. Coming soon: You must also prove that you own a pumpkin pie. Couple fined $1,500 for parking in their driveway after nearly 40 years of doing so. In what appears to be an instance of bureaucratic excess if not a lack of common sense, San Francisco officials threatened to fine a couple $1,500-plus for illegally parking in their own driveway, a spot they've been using for nearly four decades. The sudden notification, which was reportedly prompted by an anonymous complaint, came from the city's Planning Department. Longtime residents Judy and Ed Craine, who live on a steep hill, received the $1,542 ticket, for parking on a carport in front of their home in apparent violation of code. Seattle Police Justify The "Defund the Police" Movement by Arresting a Preacher for Reading His Bible Too Close to a Gay Pride Event. A Seattle man was arrested for reading aloud the Gospel of Saint Matthew in a public park as a "Gay Pride*" event was taking place. Matthew Meinecke, often referred to as a "street preacher," was on public property reading aloud from the Bible without the benefit of amplification when he was rousted and then arrested by Seattle's finest. Meinecke was also arrested last week for reading his Bible aloud near a pro-Moloch demonstration. I'm not sure what the facts were there, but according to reports, the Seattle city prosecutor does not plan on charging Meinecke for anything. This reveals the true purpose of the arrest was to silence Meinecke so the Gay Pride bunch wouldn't be upset. Alabama man is fined and handed a suspended jail sentence for placing boxes of flowers on his fiancée's grave. An Alabama man has been convicted of criminal littering and ordered to pay $300 for repeatedly placing boxes full of flowers on the grave of his fiancée, whose father didn't like the gifts or approve of their relationship. Winston 'Winchester' Hagans was convicted Thursday in Auburn city court after the Reverend Tom Ford, the father of Hannah Ford, signed a warrant against him. Hannah died in a wreck in January 2021 about a month after becoming engaged to Hagans, according to The Opelika-Auburn News. Hey, subway cops: Arrest the mango merchants after you get real bad guys. "Broken windows" policing is a strong deterrent to more serious crimes. But the NYPD's mango-sale crackdown at a Brooklyn subway station was just goofy when cops seem unable or disinclined to go after the real bad guys right under their noses. Anyone who uses the Broadway Junction subway station in Brooklyn — which frightened me as a child and feels even creepier today — knows what might be in store. The dilapidated, century-old, mostly elevated iron structure where East New York and Ocean Hill touch is Brooklyn's third-busiest subway hub. With 100,000 daily users, it's intimidating despite omnipresent crowds that might lend a sense of safety elsewhere. Mayor Eric Adams defended the cops who cuffed the hapless mango merchant last month, an incident that went viral on YouTube: "Next day, it's propane tanks being on the subway system. The next day, it's barbecuing on the subway system. You just can't do that." C'mon, man! Denver man faces felony after city accuses him of making pickleball court without permission. A 71-year-old Denver man is facing a felony charge after city officials say he made a pickleball court without permission. With prosecution on the table, some believe the punishment doesn't fit the crime. "The whole pickleball community is really saddened and shocked," said Jan Devor, a friend of 71-year-old Arslan Guney and fellow pickleball player. Guney and others use a basketball court at Denver's Central Park Recreation Center for pickleball. Last Monday, the markings on the court had faded, so Guney re-marked them with a Sharpie. Three days later, an arrest warrant for felony criminal mischief was issued for Guney. The court document also claims ten thousand dollars in damages. Great-grandfather, 78, is handcuffed by cops in Ottawa for honking his car horn in support of Freedom Convoy. An elderly man was cuffed and arrested in Ottawa for honking his horn in support of demonstrators on Sunday [2/6/2022], a day before a judge outlawed honking, as protests against COVID-19 vaccine mandates rage on in the Canadian capital. A bystander filmed while two officers pulled over Gerry Charlebois, 78, for beeping his horn. 'What did he do wrong?' the bystander asked. 'None of your [...] concern, man,' one officer responded. The Editor says... Ottawa Police Are Now Arresting People For Honking Their Horns In Solidarity With The Truckers. An elderly man was arrested in Ottawa Monday morning after he was pulled over by police for apparently honking. He was arrested in a tense confrontation in which he refused to provide an officer his driver's license and people on the sidewalk derided the officer. [...] A passerby filming the incident informed the man he didn't have to show his identification to the officer. The officer replied he did because honking a horn "is an offense." [Video clip] Chicago: Authorities Seize 130 Fake Vaccination Cards as 22 Shot over Weekend. U.S Customs and Border Protection (CBP) authorities in Chicago seized two parcels of counterfeit vaccination cards bound to the greater Detroit area from Moldova. In a tweet Wednesday morning [1/26/2022], CBP Chicago announced it had intercepted the packages, one containing 100 false vaccination cards and the other carrying 30 phony cards. According to CBP Chicago, the cards were headed to two separate addresses in Livonia, Michigan, and were sent from the Eastern European country of Moldova. In a separate incident in upstate New York this month, a couple allegedly presented falsified vaccination cards to enter a Buffalo Bills playoff game on January 15, Breitbart News reports. They were arraigned Tuesday and could face up to seven years in prison if convicted. Pregnant Woman Is Detained By Police For Not Wearing A Mask Around A Swimming Pool. A pregnant woman and her husband were detained by police in Nanaimo, British Columbia recently for failing to comply with B.C.'s "Limitation Order #2", but more generically the infractions mentioned by police appeared to be for failing to wear a mask, provide identification and not having a vaccine passport. [Video clip] German police arrest Santa Claus for not wearing a mask at Christmas market. Perhaps panicking over Germany's record COVID case count (despite 68.1% of its population being fully vaccinated), the Polizei there have invited worldwide scorn and ridicule in recent days for their punctiliousness in enforcing arbitrary and mostly ineffective regulations supposedly aimed at inhibit the spread of the virus. Although it happened last month, video of police arresting a Santa Claus at a Christmas market in Stralsund, a Hanseatic city on the Baltic coast, has just surfaced in American media. German Jackboot Cops Arrest Santa For Not Wearing A Mask! German police arrested Santa Claus for not wearing a mask at a Christmas market, surreal footage shows. Video circulating on social media shows a group of police officers surrounding a man dressed as Santa before frog-marching him from the event as the crowd cheered for him in solidarity and booed the police officers. This comes just a day after German police were seen walking in between anti-lockdown demonstrators using a long ruler to keep them socially distanced by 6 feet. [Video clip] Watch As 16 Year Old Girl Is Arrested For Not Wearing a Mask In High School, Entire School Is Locked Down. A 16-year-old high school student was arrested Thursday over a mask dispute, forcing the school into lockdown for over an hour. Grace Smith, a student at Laramie High School, was suspended from school for six days via three separate two-day suspensions, she claimed in an interview with Wyoming Sen. Anthony Bouchard about her arrest. She also allegedly received $1,000 in trespassing fines for refusing to leave school grounds. "It makes me angry," Smith said. "It makes me feel unwanted by the school system. It makes me stressed out that I have to fight this battle as a 16-year-old. Right now, I should be playing sports and having fun. And instead, I'm fighting for the rights that were supposed to be won hundreds of years ago." [Video clip] Wyoming teenager arrested after refusing to wear mask on school grounds, family says. A 16-year-old girl in Wyoming was arrested Thursday [10/7/2021] at her school after she refused to wear a mask on school grounds, she and her father said. Grace Smith, a junior at Laramie High School, told state Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, in an interview posted online, that police placed her in handcuffs for trespassing after she was suspended for not following the school's mask mandate and refused to leave school grounds. 16-Year-Old Wyoming Student Arrested for Not Wearing Mask, Entire School Placed on Lockdown. A 16-year-old student in Wyoming was arrested and the entire school was placed on lockdown — all because she refused to wear a mask. Grace Smith, 16, had already been suspended twice from Laramie High School in Wyoming for refusing to wear masks in class. As the brave student attempted to go to class unmuzzled once again, she was met with police and given a $500 citation. When she was told to leave the school, she refused to comply. At that point, she was handcuffed and arrested. As the situation unfolded, an announcement over the loudspeaker said that "we are in a lockdown, please stay in your rooms." Concerned Parents Protesting CRT Arrested After Virginia School Board Meeting Declared Unlawful Assembly. Parents were arrested while protesting against Critical Race Theory (CRT) and a transgender policy at a Virginia school board meeting Tuesday [6/22/2021]. The meeting in Loudoun County, Virginia abruptly ended after the crowd became too rowdy and was later declared an unlawful assembly, footage posted to Twitter showed. Two arrests were reportedly made for trespassing after some parents refused to leave. [Video clip] Things Explode at School Board Meeting Over CRT, Arrests Are Made. Things are popping off in Loudon County, VA tonight as the debates over critical race theory and transgender issues in schools heat up. Over 200 parents signed up to give public comments at a local school board meeting, and things just got crazier from there. Eventually, an unlawful assembly was declared and several arrests were made. [...] All the crowd did was clap in support of someone's comment. That's literally the extent of their "eruption," but that was enough for the little tyrants on the school board to shut down the meeting and get the cops involved. Police Arrest Woman at School Board Meeting for Not Wearing Mask. You know, one argument AGAINST cops is they follow orders, like good Nazis — and at one level you can't blame them if they were ORDERED to arrest someone if a law was broken, but what law was broken here? NONE. [Video clip] Ontario is now handing out tickets for shaking hands. As a Michigander, I live pretty [...] close to the new totalitarian nightmare that is Canada. Having lived under Queen Gretchen's thumb for the past year, one of the only positives has been looking across the Detroit river and feeling sorry for the citizens of Ontario. If you're wondering just how far our neighbors to the north have descended into lunacy, they are now issuing tickets for shaking hands. Police Ticket Journalist For Violating Virus Rules - Including for 'Shaking Hands'. Whenever we think that the rules imposed upon us to "beat" the Wuhan coronavirus are screwy, just remember, you could always be in Canada, where it's still really nuts. Ontario is on lockdown with a stay-at-home order prohibiting people from having any social gatherings outside of their household. People are prohibited from traveling outside of their public health region and are only "allowed" to go out for necessities. If you don't comply, you can be fined and face potential jail time. Folks came out in Hamilton, Ontario to protest the rules on Sunday. They've gotten tickets in the past even when socially distanced. Efron Monsanto, who reports for Rebel News, came out to cover the action and he got nailed by the police, too. [Tweet] New Hampshire Police Arrest Maskless Parents Attempting to Confront School Board — Following Arrests Board Cancels Meeting To Avoid Parents. Comrades, it is interesting — some would say disturbing — to watch law enforcement arrest people for not violating laws. The requirement to wear a mask is a local school board policy, created by random fiat, not a law. The arrested maskless parents were proactively accused of 'disturbing the peace', before any disturbance could be identified. Police arrest unmasked attendee as maskless group shows up at Timberlane school meeting. A Sunday school teacher was arrested at Thursday night's [5/20/2021] Timberlane Regional School Board meeting moments after she and several other unmasked attendees showed up to demand an end to a school mask mandate. The meeting was planned to be held in person at the district's Performing Arts Center, but board Chairwoman Kimberly Farah quickly shut it down before it began and required that it be held remotely. "I didn't want to jeopardize the health of the staff and the students," Farah said as several Plaistow police officers and state police troopers swarmed inside and outside the auditorium. Security At A Baseball Game Cuff And Slam A Man In Front Of His Crying Child For Having His Mask Down While Eating. This was the pathetic scene at an Omaha Beef baseball game at the Ralston Arena last week when security cuffed, then body-slammed a man in front of his family for daring to eat with his mask down. They dragged the poor man out of the arena while his young son cried. [Video clip] Former Oklahoma resident had unknown charge of felony embezzlement for not returning VHS tape rental 21 years ago. A woman says she didn't know she had a felony charge for over two decades for not returning a VHS rental. Caron McBride says she found out she was charged with a felony when she changed her name on her driver's license in Texas after getting married. This is exactly the kind of cops America does not need: Roaming Mask Cops Writing Tickets for No Masks, Improper Wearing of Masks — 'We'll Arrest You Right Here'. Another sad day for civil liberties in America — or what's left of it. [Video clip]
Alameda Police Release Body Cam Footage Of Black Man's Arrest For Dancing In Street. A video showing Alameda police officers arresting an African American man who had been exercising in the street has gone viral and has prompted a response from city officials. The video shows four Alameda police officers restraining the unidentified man and wrestling him to the ground on the 2000 block of Central Ave. in Alameda. On Friday [6/5/2020], Alameda Police released several officer body camera videos of the incident along with the audio of the call to police dispatchers reporting an African American man walking and dancing in the street. As Rioters Destroy New York, Cops Kick Jewish Families Out of a Playground. Jewish community leaders are condemning New York Mayor Bill de Blasio for a "blatant double standard." He singled out the Jewish community in enforcing coronavirus restrictions, yet defended protesters who violated social distancing rules in order to protest the heinous police killing of George Floyd. In fact, videos showed police officers dispersing Jewish mothers and their children at a playground while a larger group of protesters gathered in violation of lockdown rules. Stopping Petty Tyrannies Is How We Beat the Serious Ones. As states across the country begin the process of reopening, Americans continue to battle over the methods governors and local authorities have used to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, many states and localities have set up arbitrary and, in many cases, absurd rules that do little more than aggravate citizens and almost nothing to stop the spread of the virus. For instance, some Americans have been pulled over and ticketed for merely driving, hardly an activity that is likely to spread disease. One Pennsylvania woman received a $200 ticket for violating Gov. Tom Wolf's statewide stay-at-home order when she said she had merely gone on a drive to relieve her quarantine restlessness, according to the York Dispatch. Cops Lecture Parents About 7-Year-Old's Toy Gun. There's really nothing worse than neighbors ratting out neighbors. But that's what Democrats are urging citizens to do across the country. And more often than not innocent Americans are getting caught in the crosshairs. Sheila Perez Smith tells the Todd Starnes Show that she was stunned when the police showed up at her home near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Smith's 7-year-old son had just completed a zoom class from the den of their home when she received an urgent email from her son's first grade teacher. It just so happened that the little boy had recently been gifted a toy gun and the child had placed his "new favorite thing" on the table next to the computer. Wisconsin Police Visit Mom Because She Allowed Her Child to Play at Friend's House. A video surfaced yesterday [4/30/2020] showing Wiscosin police officers visiting the home of a parent who allowed her child to play at their friends house during stay-at-home orders. The video starts as the mom answers the door and is greeted by two police officers, one male and one female. North Carolina Police Arrest Man for Attempting to Reopen His Business, Others May Follow Suit. As RedState managing editor Streiff wrote earlier today [4/29/2020], the "Reopen" rebellion against North Carolina's stay at home order is in full effect. The arrests of protesters are continuing as well, with four arrested during Tuesday's ReopenNC protest, which was the third one held to date. But in a disturbing incident that happened around lunchtime today, an Apex, NC man was seen on video being being led away by police from his business in handcuffs after attempting to reopen his tattoo parlor. Cops Wage Elaborate Undercover Scheme to Arrest Woman for Giving a Manicure Out of Her Home. Two Texas police officers went undercover in an elaborate sting operation to catch citizens giving salon services for money in their own home. The cops posed as regular citizens needing to get a manicure. Tipsters (also known in some neighborhoods as "rats" or "snitches") pointed police to a woman who was advertising manicure services on social media — the horror. Laredo police arrested Ana Isabel Castro-Garcia, 31, at the 1200 block of Harding Street after she allegedly agreed to provide an undercover officer with a manicure. Again, the horror. Castro-Garcia was arrested and charged with "Violation of Emergency Management Plan C/B" and was taken to the Webb County Jail where she was offered a $500 bond. Idaho Police Arrest Subversive Mom For Taking Children to Playground. Comrades, after the Meridian cornavirus enforcement police received several calls from compliant citizens, a dangerous group of subversive moms were identified engaging in non-approved playground activity against the interests of the state. Local authorities activated an emergency response task force & arrested the lead scofflaw mom at the park. According to video smuggled from the park by an underground network of rebellious female breeders, Mrs. Sarah Brady was instructed by the COVID-19 compliance officers to vacate the playground. Ms. Brady refused to comply with the order and was subsequently handcuffed and arrested for violations of the state lock-down, ie. misdemeanor trespassing. Gang Of Cops Arrest Some Guys For Eating Pizza In A Car Together. As first reported by Pedestrian.TV, footage from Facebook page Sydney Crime News shows a swarm of police on a group of four men in Condell Park, who had been eating pizza in a car on Saturday afternoon. The video begins with one man in handcuffs sitting on a driveway, with a friend soon tackled by four police after attempting to move his friend onto the grass as the two argue over the amount of police present. [Video clip] NYPD Arrests Young Boy Selling Candy On Subway. This video is blowing up all over social media showing a young boy being arrested by NYPD for selling candy and chips to make money for his family. A user posted: Thousands of NYPD officers have the coronavirus and they are still going all over the city harassing and touching and grabbing and breathing all over people. People are out here hurting. This boy wasn't selling drugs, he was selling candy and chips BECAUSE HE NEEDS TO. These boys are out here doing this because they provide for their families. [Video clip] Here's One Thing Officials Can Do to Make Lockdown Life Better: Stop Being Hypocritical Tyrants. Too many of our elected and unelected officials are acting like toddlers testing their boundaries. There are the police officers who thought it was a good idea to pester a little girl shooting baskets alone in a park. She was socially distanced. She was fine. If a game of street 3-on-3 suddenly broke out, well, that's a different story. But she was alone. So leave her alone. The police later apologized, but they should have just used some common sense and avoided the whole situation. And there are the police officers in Colorado who arrested a dad playing ball with his daughter in a park. Leave people alone or this could start getting ugly. Most Americans support the police, but we don't support a police state. Cops Smashed A Residents Door In Looking For 'Social Gatherings'. The Coronavirus will pass but losing our freedom is something that we will regret. The criminals are being released from prison and being replaced with peaceful, law-abiding citizens who dare go outside. [...] We don't know about third world countries but in Britain, we had the first case where the police entered a man's home and broke his door. In the recording, which went viral online, the officers appear to forcibly enter his house after he refuses to open the door over coronavirus fears. The "Officer-Friendly" Police Fantasy. [Scroll down] Unfortunately, there are endless pretexts for people to be arrested nowadays because federal, state, and local politicians and officials have criminalized daily life with hundreds of thousands of edicts. Capt. Steve Powell of the Colorado State Patrol commented, "Ninety percent of the cars out there are doing something that you can pull them over for. There are a jillion reasons people can be stopped — taillights, windshields cracked, any number of things." Gerard Arenberg, executive director of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, told me in the 1990s, "We have so damn many laws, you can't drive the streets without breaking the law. I could write you a hundred tickets depending on what you said to me when I stopped you." Jail time for defiant Ohio lady who feeds homeless cats. Finally, authorities in suburban Cleveland are cracking down on an old lady who feeds cats without homes. Now that officials in Garfield Heights have conquered serious crimes, they're focused on Nancy Segula, a 79-year-old widow who lost her husband two years ago. Segula feeds stray cats, lots of stray cats[,] and in bad weather she takes some in. Elderly woman given 10-day jail sentence for feeding stray cats. A 79-year-old woman has been given a 10-day jail sentence after she was repeatedly cited by police for feeding stray cats in her Ohio neighbourhood. Since 2015, neighbours of Nancy Segula have been complaining to officials about the strays. She claims the cats were left behind by an ex-neighbour. "I'm a cat lover," she told Fox 8 in Cleveland, after learning of her coming term in the Cuyahoga County Jail. Mrs Segula has been ordered by a judge to begin her sentence on 11 August. Man Gets Interrogated By Police For Liking A 'Transphobic' Limerick On Twitter — It's Recorded As A 'Hate Incident'. In the UK lives a man named Harry Miller. As per Metro.co.uk, Harry has a particular viewpoint: "Trans women are not women." On Twitter, there arose a post containing a limerick. The poem appeared to mock transgenderism. Harry "liked" the tweet. Subsequently, he was interrogated by police for half an hour. Texas is about to make sex jokes on campus a criminal offense. Republican lawmakers seem to have a better grip than their Democratic colleagues on the inherent censorship of so-called free speech zones and viewpoint-based security fees. David French of National Review counted eight states that have passed campus free-speech bills in less than six months, most recently Texas. He has one major quibble with the new Texas law: its failure to define a phrase that dictates when students can be punished for disruptions. Officer quits after confronting black man picking up trash. A white Colorado police officer who confronted a black man picking up trash around his dormitory resigned this week under an agreement that lets him collect $69,000 in salary despite violating department policies. Body camera footage released Thursday provided a full video account of the tense encounter, which gained national attention based on video shot by someone inside the building. Man charged after spraying children, home with water from a hose. An 18-year-old faces charges after authorities say he sprayed a group of children and their home with water from a hose, according to court records. A criminal complaint states Zachariah Manahan faces one count of stalking because of bias, a felony. He also faces one count of third-degree damage to property and one count of disorderly conduct. Australian man fined for giving money to a homeless man. [Scroll down] A motorist from Perth, Western Australia named Luke Bresland was fined A$50 earlier this year when he gave A$1.50 (that's a little more than 1 US dollar) to an apparent homeless man who washed his windshield while stopped at a traffic light. When the light turned green, Mr. Bresland continued on his journey, only to be pulled over by a local policeman. The policeman asked him if he had given money to the homeless man, and then cited him for violating a local ordinance. Under local law, it is illegal for anyone in a vehicle to buy or offer to buy an article or service from a person who is on the road. Fined over $1.50: Perth driver takes fight against obscure window-washer charge to court. WA Police have conceded a $50 fine handed to a Perth driver who gave a window washer some coins while stopped at traffic lights was "heavy handed". Luke Bresland was gearing up to fight the charge in court and had already entered a not guilty plea after receiving the obscure fine for 'buying a newspaper from a person' earlier this year. Cops Strip-Searched a 4-Year-Old After Mom's Errand Took Too Long. A mom who let her six children wait ten minutes in the car while she ran in to get them muffins at a local Kentucky cafe is the focus of this oped I co-authored in The Washington Post. Perhaps you can guess what happened next to the mom, Holly Curry. In fact, I'll bet you can. Though it was 67 degrees and partly cloudy, and though it is statistically safer to let kids wait in the car than drag them across a parking lot — the heart-wrenching stories of kids who die in cars almost always involve children forgotten there for hours, not simply waiting out an errand — Curry found herself in trouble with the police. Florida man arrested for refusing to remove vulgar sticker: 'They're just words'. A Florida man was arrested over the weekend for refusing to remove a sticker from his vehicle's window that crudely described a person's sexual appetites. Dillon Shane Webb, 23, was charged with misdemeanor counts of violating Florida's obscenity law and resisting an officer without violence, a Columbia County Sheriff's Office report said. Innocent Child Harassed, Threatened by Cops for Shoveling Snow Without a Permit. Residents in Normandy, Missouri are questioning a new ordinance they are calling ridiculous which requires anyone who wishes to shovel snow for money to have a permit. To be clear, this is not just for adults running businesses, but as the following case illustrates, it's being enforced against children trying to earn some extra money. Veteran facing fine for buying light bulb, bug spray. Police created a temporary zone of heightened security restrictions for the downtown mall area that required all people entering have their bags searched. Some items were being prohibited. However, a disabled veteran went into the mall, purchased a number of ordinary household items, and then was arrested when leaving the security zone because the items were banned. "Talk about overkill: government officials spent more than $3 million on security for the August 12 anniversary events, only to have a dozen police swarm a disabled veteran with a walker buying cans of iced tea and bug spray from a CVS," said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute. "This case is yet another vivid example of how dysfunctional, excessive and out of sync the government has become at all levels."
Michigan brothers face $450,000 in fines for tree removal on their property. Brothers in Michigan are facing nearly $500,000 in fines for allegedly removing more than 1,400 trees from their 16-acre property without permission, a report on Monday said. Gary and Matt Percy removed the trees with the intention of creating a Christmas tree farm on the Canton Township plot, their attorney Michael Pattwell told MLive.com. The attorney said that the land was filled with invasive plants. Vietnam War hero sentenced to 7 years for decades-old rifle purchase: report. A decorated Vietnam veteran and firearms collector was sentenced to seven years in federal prison Wednesday for a decades-old purchase of a rifle. Alfred Pick, 70, purchased the M14 — a fully automatic weapon illegal to own — at a Ft. Worth gun show in the early 1980s, the Dallas Morning News reported. The rifle, which had a scratched-off serial number, was similar to the one Pick used as an Army lieutenant in Vietnam, where he earned a Silver Star after participating in more than 100 combat missions and his brief time as a POW. "The man is a Silver Star winner, he saved lives, he took care of his wife, he's been in custody for a year, I would think that when a man turned 70 and is an American hero you don't destroy the rest of his life for one mistake," Mark Shackelford, a friend, told KDFW-TV. Virginia Cities Make it a Crime for Kids Older Than 12 to Go Trick-Or-Treating. A town in Virginia has now passed a law ruling that kids older than 12 can face jail-time for trick-or-treating on Halloween. And several other towns have similar rules, including hefty fines. You read that right. Cities in Virginia have passed rules to jail and/or fine kids for tick-or-treating and it's all in a purported effort to "keep everyone safe." Criminal Charges for North Carolina Woman Who Sheltered Pets During Hurricane Florence. A North Carolina woman says she just wanted local pets to have a safe place to stay as Hurricane Florence made landfall earlier this month. But now she's facing upward of a dozen criminal charges related to the medical care she freely provided to the animals. Michigan Cop Forced an 80-Year-Old Great Grandmother To Spend a Night in Jail Over an Expired Medical Marijuana Card. Your outrageous cannabis story of the day — maybe even the summer — comes from Clare County, Michigan, where 80-year-old Delores Saltzman, a great-grandmother and arthritis patient, was jailed for the first time in her life after a Clare County deputy found her in possession of a small amount of medical marijuana and an expired medical cannabis recommendation. Couple gets 'parking ticket' at their own wedding. A woman passing by a wedding at a town hall in Somerset, England was appalled to spot a parking ticket on the happy couple's car. The white Audi convertible was wrapped in a ribbon and clearly part of the festivities. She snapped a photo and shared it with local media, telling them "I was really shocked. I know a lot of newlyweds get money or gifts but that seems a bit extreme. They are now having to give someone else money on one of the happiest day of their lives." Lawsuit Argues Honking Your Car Horn Is Protected By The First Amendment. The First Amendment covers a whole lot of area. Since it covers "expression," it doesn't necessarily have to be anything commonly thought of as "speech." It doesn't have to be printed. It doesn't have to be said. Lighting a flag on fire requires no statement of intent. The act itself is expressive enough. Passively gathering information (like recordings or public records) is protected by the First Amendment. Taking photos is a protected act, even if the photos are never used to express anything more than a memory of an event or place. [...] A plaintiff currently suing a sheriff and the head of the California Highway Patrol is arguing that honking a car horn is protected speech and that the citation she received after engaging in this expression is unconstitutional. Woman detained in US for 2 weeks after accidentally jogging across Canada border. A French citizen visiting Canada said she was detained for two weeks after she accidentally jogged across the U.S.-Canada border in May. Cedella Roman, 19, said she did not realize she crossed the border during her jog along a beach in White Rock, British Columbia on May 21. The young woman said she stopped during her jog to take a picture of the beach before deciding to turn around to run back when she was apprehended by two U.S. Border Patrol officers who told her she illegally crossed the border into Blaine, Washington. The Editor says... Student, 13, Charged With Felony for Recording a Conversation With His Principal. Paul Boron is 13 years old. And he's facing a felony eavesdropping charge that could change the course of the rest of his life. His story stands as another chapter of controversy surrounding an eavesdropping law some experts have criticized as ripe for abuse and misapplication. On Feb. 16, 2018, Boron was called to the principal's office at Manteno Middle School after failing to attend a number of detentions. Before meeting Principal David Conrad and Assistant Principal Nathan Short, he began recording audio on his cellphone. Amarillo Man Arrested for Clapping. Let it be known that clapping is not allowed at Amarillo City Council meetings. Just ask Kip Billups, who was arrested Tuesday [4/3/2018] at the request of Amarillo Mayor Ginger Nelson after applauding a speaker during open forum. Ironically, the arrest was made in an attempt to create a "less intimidating" environment during city council meetings. "We are not going to clap," Nelson said at the beginning of the meeting. "I want to make sure that we create an environment that's not intimidating for folks ... If that's not something you can abide by that's fine, you can leave now." Billups, along with other attendees, applauded in response to public comments made by resident Michael Greene, who expressed grievances with the city council's conduct. Of those grievances, Greene noted city council's repeated violations of the Open Meetings Act as well as Nelson's "clapping ban" infringing on First Amendment rights. Amarillo man involved in the "clapping controversy" explains his applause. Applause is used to express approval, but clapping got one Amarillo man in trouble with the law. He spoke exclusively with ABC 7 News about the incident at Amarillo city council Tuesday night [4/3/2018]. "You can all clap if you want," said Mayor Ginger Nelson. It was a statement followed by applause after the Amarillo city council issued a proclamation on child abuse awareness. Minutes later that changed during public comment. "We are not going to clap," said Nelson. She followed that statement with a loud bang of her gavel. 'We are not going to clap' at council meetings, mayor said. One guy even got arrested. Clapping may be commonplace at council meetings when officials give out keys to the city or other grip-and-grin awards, but let it be known, there is to be no applause during the public comment portion of City Council meetings in Amarillo, Texas. You might even be arrested for it, as was Kip Billups, a local homeless advocate, according to the Amarillo Globe-News. Woman, 27, is arrested in Georgia for driving with a Canadian license after she was unable to show the police officer her original passport. A Canadian woman was reportedly arrested in Georgia last month because she was driving with a Canadian license. Emily Nield, of Ontario, said the arrest 'was the most horrendous incident of my life'. 'It was mortifying. I was terrified the entire time,' she told CBC. Nield, 27, who was charged with driving without a license, was traveling from Tennessee where she had just finished her master's degree in geology. Driver in Virginia Beach given $100 ticket for smoking in a vehicle with a child. A person in Virginia Beach has been ticketed $100 for allegedly smoking with a child in the car with them. According to the citation, which was tweeted out by Virginia Beach Police Department Traffic Safety, the violation happened on Monday [5/7/2018] around 8:30 a.m. The official charge on the citation was smoking in a vehicle with a minor present. A deputy sheriff came to inventory family's property — over a $160 trash bill. Joe Kirby was at work in Maryland when he got the phone call. He drove back to his Pennsylvania home, texting his boss that there was an emergency. His wife, Christina, was hysterical. There was a member of the York County Sheriff's Office going through every room of their house, taking inventory of their property to eventually put up for sale. The deputy sheriff told her he'd already done it with the cars in the driveway: a 2002 BMW 3 Series and 2007 Volkswagen GTI. It was over their unpaid trash bill to Penn Waste. What good are police? Police have morphed from the quaint notion that they were once "peace officers" into the reality that they are "law enforcers." But as the late columnist William Norman Grigg pointed out, policing was militarized from the start. LEOs see it as their job to "enforce" the law no matter what it takes, no matter how ridiculous the law may be or even regardless of whether the law actually exists. Most of the laws they enforce are victimless crimes (traffic laws, pedestrian laws, gun possession, prostitution, drug use, etc.) with laws forbidding those acts created to serve as revenue streams for local government and/or to steal the people's liberties. If there's no actual law to enforce, police often make one or more up out of thin air, claiming that innocuous activities like watching or videotaping police activities — including arrests on public streets, walking in certain neighborhoods, parking on certain streets and putting trash in trash cans — are crimes. Bill would charge owners of wandering chickens with trespassing. The New Hampshire Legislature is considering a bill that would make trespassing fowl a violation, not for the chicken, but for its owners. Under the proposal, anyone who knowingly, recklessly or negligently allows their domestic fowl to enter someone else's property without permission can be convicted of a violation if the birds damage crops or property. Texas Tech student questioned by TSA for brandishing school's 'finger gun' salute. Taking a semester off from Texas Tech University to help her family recover from Hurricane Harvey, Diana Durkin was thrilled to return to campus for her sophomore year. But ironically, it was her enthusiasm that nearly halted her plans when she was stopped by the TSA before a Jan. 6 flight out of William P. Hobby Airport in Houston. The 10 Worst Helicopter Parenting Moments of 2017. An Omaha woman taking her niece out of an SUV when the wind blew the door shut and the car locked with her keys and the child inside. The mom, the aunt and two other relatives tried frantically to open the door using a hanger and screwdriver, and when they couldn't, they called 911. The cops arrived, broke the window, and got the child out, safe and sound. Then ticketed mom on "suspicion of child abuse by neglect." Woman faces criminal charges for rescuing starving dog. A dog rescued in Scioto County was so emaciated, an official said it lost half of its body weight. That official, Rhonda Rose from the Scioto Area Humane Society, said she rescued the dog at the last minute, only to be charged with two crimes. Rose works as the Treasurer of the Humane Society. She has been charged with criminal trespass and petty theft after rescuing the dog. Good samaritan could face charges for trying to help rescue child from burning truck. An Idaho woman who acted as a good Samaritan when a child was stuck inside a burning truck could face charges — all over a fire extinguisher. "I'm in absolute shock," said Tequila Isaacson who jumped in to help when the pickup truck went up in flames. Food Truck Giving Free Food to Hurricane Workers, Kicked Out of Town for Not Having a Permit. After Irma devastated Florida, most restaurants and stores were shut down in certain areas. Green Cove Springs was one of those places. So, when Jack Roundtree, owner of the Triple J BBQ food truck, arrived in town, not only was he welcomed with open arms — he was desperately needed. As he sold BBQ to paying customers, Roundtree used the extra money to feed utility workers for free for all their hard work. However, once officials saw a man who'd dare sell food in their town without paying them first, police were called in to make quick work of this entrepreneurial good samaritan. Now, bringing an American flag to Arlington Cemetery can get you one year in jail. Current law does not permit people to bring American flags to grave sites after Congress passed legislation following protests from the Westboro Baptist Church at service members funerals, The Washington Post reported Tuesday [7/4/2017]. Former Michigan GOP Rep. Mike Rogers helped pass the Respect For America's Fallen Heroes Act in 2006, making it illegal to protest funerals within 300 feet of a cemetery. The legislation had the unintended consequence of barring the bringing of "any placard, banner, flag, or similar device." Flags are permitted, however, if they are "part of a funeral, memorial service, or ceremony." Violating the law can bring penalties of up to a year in jail. People's Cube Artist Faces 5 Years in Prison for Hanging Up Anti-Terror Posters at GMU. The artistic genius behind the highly acclaimed conservative satirical site The People's Cube has been arrested and released on $8,000 bail for putting up pro-Israel posters to combat a pro-Islamist conference at George Mason University. He now faces the prospect of five years in prison for allegedly committing a "class 6 felony." Beloved satirist Oleg Atbashian (who has contributed to PJ Media) has gotten in trouble for defying authorities before: "Back in my Soviet dissident days, when I was collecting signatures in defense of Andrei Sakharov, I was screamed at, threatened, and lectured by the KGB and Communist functionaries," Oleg says. "What I never imagined was that in the United States, the land of the free, I would not only be subjected to similar treatment, but go to jail." Who Knew It Was A Crime To Hang Anti-Terrorism Posters? My friend and compatriot Oleg Atbashian found that out the hard way. Imagine my surprise this morning to find out he had been roughed up and arrested in Fairfax, Virginia. His crime was hanging anti-terrorism posters on the university campus. Oh, and bonus... he wasn't even read his rights. Cop shoots driver — Justified? You be the judge. These incidents pretty much all seem avoidable. Blacks seem to want to run, even from a ticket. This infraction was "Driving While Dangling Your Handicap Sticker." Prosecutors Gone Wild? IHOP Employee Actually Arrested For Giving Away Too Many Free Drinks. The gig is up for a 27-year-old man accused of giving away $3,000 worth of free drinks at a Downtown Brooklyn IHOP. William F. Powell, was arrested after Akrell Cox, the owner of the IHOP, grew suspicious of Powell's dismal beverage sales. "I am the modern day Robin Hood," Powell told investigators after he was caught. "I am not stealing, I am serving the ones in need, I take from the rich and give to the poor," the former employee said, according to a criminal complaint. Single Mom Faces Jail Time After Participating in Facebook Food Group. A Stockton woman faces an impending trial and potential jail time after she joined a social media community food group, and sold some of the meals she cooked, which county San Joaquin County officials say is against the law. Mariza Reulas was cited by San Joaquin County for selling an illegal substance, but it wasn't a powder, a pill or a plant. It was her bowl of homemade ceviche. "It was just like unreal that they were saying you could face up to a year in jail," said Reulas. Florida man behind bars for having a milk crate. The crate was attached to a bicycle that Timothy Troller was riding when he was stopped in Auburndale Thursday night [10/6/2016] by a deputy with the Polk County Sheriff's Office, WFLA-TV reports. Troller was arrested and charged with possession of a dairy crate, a misdemeanor, the station reported Friday. As of Saturday the 34-year-old man was still being held at the Polk County Jail. Troller's grandfather Edward Hale told the station he didn't know having a milk crate was a crime. "I never heard of it," he said. "This is the first time ever. He didn't know it was against the law or he wouldn't have put it on the front of the bicycle and rode up and down the road." What a Middle Schooler's Arrest for Stealing 65-Cent Carton of Milk Says About America's Justice System. Teenager Ryan Turk faces criminal charges for disorderly conduct and petit larceny for allegedly stealing a 65 cent carton of milk from his middle school cafeteria in Virginia. That's right, the criminal justice system is utilizing the time, expense, and effort needed to adjudicate a criminal matter in a dispute over a carton of milk. The mere fact that an eighth-grader can face a criminal charge for such a minor transgression points to a failed exercise of discretion by both the school administration and the law enforcement official involved in this incident, which can be a significant contributor to overcriminalization — the misuse of criminal laws and penalties to try to solve every problem and punish every mistake. Ohio Man Acquitted For Making Parody Police Department Facebook Page that Led to SWAT Raid. An Ohio man facing criminal charges for making a satire Facebook page mocking the Parma Police Department got the last laugh last week after he was acquitted by a jury that unanimously decided the page did not violate the state's felony disrupting public services law. Anthony Novak made international headlines after he created the satire page on March 2 and posted jokes like suggesting helping the homeless was illegal for three months, encouraging minorities not to apply to the department and announcing a police-sponsored 'Pedophile Reform' event that offered sex offenders a chance to become an "honorary police officer of the Parma Police Department." Vietnam Vet Arrested for Hanging US Flag Upside Down to Protest Eminent Domain. Homer Martz is a 63-year-old Vietnam veteran who's never committed a crime. He is so dedicated to protecting and practicing his rights that he stood up for the rights of people to protest the Vietnam war — even after they spat on him. So, when Homer Martz is arrested for do nothing other than practicing the very rights he stands to protect, and the flag that ostensibly represents them — something has gone awry. Last week Martz attempted to practice the very rights that the United States government claims its military protects, and for this, he was arrested. Cops Force Activist to Stop Cleaning Up Neighborhood Trash Left To Rot by City. Government intrusion into the lives of private citizens knows no bounds. Reports of citizens living off the grid, camping on their own land, and collecting rainwater, for example, have pushed local and state governments to write, rewrite and re-interpret laws to punish those who have sought to diminish dependence on the existing social hierarchy and seize control of their own lives. Yet another example comes from the city of Fairfield, Alabama, where local activist Mercutio Southall Sr. — whom readers might remember as the first in a long line of people of color none too gently escorted from Trump rallies across the nation — stepped out onto the streets of Fairfield to visit family and noticed garbage was piling up. House after house had rotting piles of garbage possibly infested with rats, roaches, ants, and maggots in residential neighborhoods throughout the city. 13-Year-Old Strip Searched Then Thrown in Jail for Burping in Class. Because of his loud burps, his teacher, Margaret Mines-Hornbeck, reported the boy to Officer Arthur Acosta. The seventh grader was then taken to an administrative office after being searched for drugs, as the assistant principal accused the 13-year-old of participating in a marijuana transaction. During the search, the boy was asked to remove his jeans and shoes, then flip the waistband of the shorts he had been wearing underneath. This was all in vain considering no drugs were found. After the traumatizing experience, the boy was suspended for the remainder of the year, all because he burped too loud. But sure enough, that wasn't the end of it. Court rules for middle school, officer in teen's burp arrest. A federal appeals court has upheld the petty misdemeanor arrest of an Albuquerque student accused of repeatedly disrupting his middle-school class with loud burps [8/1/2016]. Michigan Family Arrested for Overdue Library Book. After receiving four notices from the library asking them to return the books and pay the resulting late fees, the Duren family did indeed return The Rome Prophecy. However, they did not return A Hatful of Seuss, as their son had lost it. Because the Durens did not return the Dr. Seuss book, the library contacted the Economic Crimes Unit (ECU) of the Lenawee County Prosecutor's Office. A detective by the name of Robert Kellogg became involved, demanding the family pay the library late fees; the amount owed has not been disclosed. However, local reporting by The Tecumseh Herald found that between 2013 and 2014, library patrons had a total of 248 overdue items, and those overdue items generated $3,061 in late fees. That equals, on average, around $12 in fees per item. The actual amount the Durens owed to the library remains unknown, but the Dr. Seuss book can be acquired on Amazon for as little as 63 cents. Man Asks Girls If They Are Selling Girl Scout Cookies. It Was Plausible. Cops Were Called. Let's hear it for the Caledonia, Wisconsin police, who are alerting neighbors in the proximity of something truly terrifying: A man who spoke to two girls without getting out of his car. Perhaps the best thing about this story is the headline, from WDJT in Milwaukee: "Potentially Suspicious Man Asks Girls about Buying Girl Scout Cookies. Is "potentially suspicious" even a thing? Aren't we all potentially suspicious? Parents to face charges if they approach school to pick up child under new policy. Texas parents have had enough of an elementary school's new pick up policy that reportedly could have them face trespassing charges if they try to get their child after the school day is over. Bear Branch Elementary in Magnolia implemented the policy at the beginning of the school year. Under the new rules, if a student does not take the bus, parents must wait in the mile-long car pick up line to get their child, according to Fox 26 Houston. Now, some parents have pulled their kids from the school. "She's threatening to arrest people," Wendy Jarman said about Principal Holly Ray to the Fox station. School's new policy bans parents from walking children to school. Pick your child up from school and you could be charged with trespassing. That's the threat against parents at Bear Branch Elementary School in Magnolia ISD. This is the school's tactic to keep parents who live close to the school from walking on school grounds. Bear Branch is losing students over this pick up policy, that's been in place since the beginning of this school year. The principal has decided that no matter how close the student lives to the school, the student must either take the bus, or the parent must wait in a long car pickup line. Try to walk your student off the campus and you could face criminal charges. The Editor says... Ohio Cops Think This Guy Should Go to Jail for Making Fun of Them. Anthony Novak's parody of the Parma Police Department's Facebook page included what the Cleveland Plain Dealer describes as "obviously fake news posts," but this is not one of them: The Parma Police Department wants to charge the 27-year-old with a felony for creating the page. The felony, disrupting public services, is punishable by up to 18 months in prison — a pretty steep penalty for irking local police officials. "We believe the material that Novak posted on the fake account crossed the line from satire to an actual risk to public safety," Lt. Kevin Riley told The Plain Dealer. "We presented the facts of this case and the investigation to our law department, and they agreed that Novak's actions were criminal in nature." It is hard to see how. Novak's page is no longer online, but there is nothing in The Plain Dealer's description of of it that sounds like a crime. Charleston's storied history is off-limits to the unlicensed. [Scroll down] And of course there's more antebellum mansions than you can shake a stick at. And if I were telling you all of this while standing on a street in Charleston, there's at least a small chance I'd be arrested for doing it. That's because anyone who wants to talk about Charleston's history must first obtain a license from the city. Getting that license means passing a 200-question written exam — a passing grade is 80 percent or higher — and then passing an oral exam conducted by taxpayer-funded city officials. To pass both exams, would-be tour guides have to memorize pretty much the entire history of Charleston. In advance of big storm, New Jersey lifts licensing laws for shoveling snow. Just days ahead of an expected blizzard on the East Coast, New Jersey has officially repealed a nonsensical rule banning the shoveling of snow without a license. Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday signed a bill making it legal for New Jersey residents to offer snow shoveling services without first registering with their town. Last year, two entrepreneurial teens going door-to-door and offering to shovel snow for a small fee were stopped by local police in Bound Brook. Man charged with felony for passing out jury rights fliers in front of courthouse. A Mecosta man is charged with a felony for obstruction of justice and misdemeanor of tampering with a jury for passing out fliers about jury nullification rights on the sidewalk of the Mecosta County courthouse. Keith Wood, 39, faces these charges after handing out about 50 fliers on Nov. 24, which the Fully Informed Jury Association wrote, that describe juror rights that are typically not given by judges during jury instructions before a trial. Florida Woman Arrested, Accused of Riding Sea Turtle. Multiple media outlets report that 20-year-old Stephanie Marie Moore was arrested by Melbourne police early Saturday [9/26/2015] on the felony charge of trying to "possess, sell, molest marine turtle." Student Arrested For 'Impeach Obama' Sign Sues the Police. I live on Long Island and am fairly sure no one ever got arrested for hanging an "Impeach Bush" sign anywhere, which there were a lot of. [...] The judge tossed the charges against him because it was a violation of his free speech. Marine Vet Charged for Painting Picnic Table. Charges are expected to be dropped against a disabled Marine veteran who painted a deteriorating picnic table at his Virginia apartment complex. Mickey Triplett was charged with destruction of property for painting a picnic table at the Potomac Ridge Apartments. Woman who lifted baton during fatal Los Angeles police shooting could receive long prison term. An officer dropped a nightstick during a struggle with a homeless man who was shot to death by police on Los Angeles' Skid Row, and the woman who picked it up now faces an assault charge that could send her to prison for 25 years to life. The Editor says... Woman Jailed For Not Renewing Dog License. This is just stupid. I can see charging her a fine for being late with getting the dog license, but this is way out of line. She is 3½ months late on renewing the dog license, gets repeated calls, emails and threats on it, with the last one being a threat of a warrant being issued. She renewed the license and went down the next day to prove it. Instead of accepting the proof, they left her 14 year-old daughter in the car, frisked her, printed her and threw her in jail. Since when are offensive signs illegal? Black Suspect Arrested After Racist Message Discovered Outside Predominately Black Church. A Colorado Springs man was arrested after police believe he left racist messages outside a church. Vincent Broughton, 44, who is black, is facing charges for committed a bias-motivated crime and disorderly conduct. Florida Town to Make it Illegal for Homeowners to Back Into Own Driveway So it's Easier for City to Fine Them. The city bosses in Jacksonville, Florida are floating a new ordinance that would make it illegal for homeowners to park their cars with the front end pointing toward the street. The new rule is meant to help city cops and government officials to more easily fine homeowners if they have a disabled car on their property. Federal Court Says It's 100% Legal To Give Cops The Finger. It's now perfectly legal to flip off a cop. A police officer can't simply pull you over because you gave them the "finger," according to a federal appeals court ruling from 2013. State Rep Wants to Make it Illegal to Taunt Police. Before he was elected to the House in 2009, Democratic Pennsylvania State Representative Dom Costa was the Chief of Police in Pittsburgh. In total, he spent nearly three decades as a member of the force. He was even shot in the line of duty in 2002. He is no stranger to what police have to go through on a daily basis. He knows that it's one of the toughest jobs there is. But it's more than a little troubling that Costa wants to take a permanent marker to the Constitution, drawing a big old line through that little thing we like to call the First Amendment. You see, Costa has decided that it should be against the law to taunt a police officer. Yes, taunt. Let 'free range' kids roam home. Two Sundays ago, Danielle and Alexander Meitiv of Montgomery County, Md., got a call from Child Protective Services. Police had taken their two children, ages 10 and 6, into custody three hours earlier and were holding them at the crisis center. Had the children been abused? No. Were they lost? No. So what prompted this extraordinary intervention? A concerned pedestrian had seen the children walking alone and called 911. It was the second time in four months that the Meitivs' children were reported to authorities as they walked home from parks about a mile away. 'Free range kids' and the dangers of an overprotective society. [Scroll down] In Sunday's event, the police lured the children into their car by telling them they would take them home from the park. Instead, they were, in their mother's words, "confined to the back of a police car for almost three hours without any explanation of why they were being detained." They were not fed and were unable to call or speak with their parents who were growing frantic with worry. 'Free-range' kids and our parenting police state. They were coming home from a park, on this gorgeous, blossoming weekend, after playing. And for this, a 10-year-old and his 6-year-old sister ended up in the back of a squad car. Again. For hours this time. In the bizarre nationwide culture war over how much freedom children should have to play outside alone, the youngest combatants — Rafi and Dvora Meitiv — are the ones being damaged the most. This is getting pretty ridiculous. Somehow we've morphed from being a village that helps raise children to a parenting police state. 'Free-Range' Parents Will Sue CPS for Grabbing Their Kids. The Meitivs are lawyering up, and will file some kind of lawsuit against Montgomery County, Maryland, officials who took their children while the youngsters were walking outside by themselves. [...] Aren't prisoners allowed one phone call, or is that just on TV? Because the Meitiv kids weren't able to contact their parents in the six hours they were held by the authorities. You are probably breaking the law right now. If you walk down the sidewalk, pick up a pretty feather, and take it home, you could be a felon — if it happens to be a bald eagle feather. Bald eagles are plentiful now, and were taken off the endangered species list years ago, but the federal law making possession of them a crime for most people is still on the books, and federal agents are even infiltrating some Native-American powwows in order to find and arrest people. (And feathers from lesser-known birds, like the red-tailed hawk are also covered). Other examples abound, from getting lost in a storm and snowmobiling on the wrong bit of federal land, to diverting storm sewer water around a building. Atlanta-area garbage collector jailed for going to work too early: 7 Online. A sanitation worker in an Atlanta suburb is behind bars for getting to work too early. Kevin McGill was sentenced to 30 days in jail for violating a Sandy Springs ordinance that says workers can only haul trash between the hours of 7am and 7pm. McGill was cited for picking up the trash just after 5am one morning. 72-Year-Old-Man Facing 10 Years In Prison Over Antique Pistol. Gordon van Gilder, a retired teacher and self-proclaimed history buff, is facing 10 years in prison and the loss of his pension over his possession of an unloaded antique flintlock pistol. The day after van Gilder told a deputy during a routine traffic stop about his antique gun, four law enforcement officers showed up at his house to arrest him, because New Jersey state law classifies antique firearms the same way it classifies regular guns. New Jersey man facing ten years in prison for possession of 300 yr old flintlock pistol. There's trouble brewing in New Jersey, as reported by our Townhall colleague Matt Vespa. 72 year old retired teacher Gordon VanGilder was arrested and now faces trial on weapons possession charges. That's a sad, but not terribly unusual story in the Garden State which remains fairly unfriendly to Second Amendment rights. What gives this story a seriously tragic twist is that the weapon VanGilder was "caught" with is nearly 300 years old. When letting your kids out of your sight becomes a crime. One recent Saturday afternoon, six police officers and five patrol cars came to my home in Silver Spring. They demanded identification from my husband and entered our home despite not having a warrant to do so. The reason for this show of force? We had allowed our children to walk home from a neighborhood park by themselves. A few hours later, a Montgomery County Child Protective Services (CPS) social worker coerced my husband into signing a "temporary safety plan" for our children by threatening to take the children "right now" — a threat she backed up with a call to the police. NYPD Has a Plan to Magically Turn Anyone It Wants Into a Felon. On Wednesday [2/4/2015], NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton urged state legislators to consider increasing the penalty for resisting arrest from a misdemeanor to a felony. The change, he argued, would help New Yorkers "get around this idea that you can resist arrest. You can't." It would also give cops an easy way to turn victims of their own worst impulses into the worst class of criminal. In theory, a resisting arrest charge allows the state to further punish suspects who endanger the safety of police officers as they're being apprehended; in practice, it gives tautological justification to cops who enjoy roughing people up. Police stop teens seeking snow shoveling work. School was closed for the blizzard that wasn't, but there was still enough snow on the ground that two high school seniors thought they could make a few extra bucks. In the process, Matt Molinari and Eric Schnepf, both 18, also learned a valuable lesson about one of the costs of doing business: government regulations. The two friends were canvasing a neighborhood near this borough's border with Bridgewater early Monday evening, handing out fliers promoting their service, when they were pulled over by police and told to stop. This is a lot like
the zero-tolerance nonsense in the public schools. George Zimmerman Police Report. Apparently the Lake Mary Police Department made the decision to charge George Zimmerman despite the non-existence of an actual cooperating victim. The LMPD went to rather extraordinary lengths in order to generate an arrest. [...] Six investigators, body cameras, squad car cameras, DVD's, neighbors questioned, and eight pages of investigative testimonials later — you discover the Lake Mary Police must have a lot of free time on their hands. Tea Party mom wins lawsuit after being arrested for her beliefs. The situation that landed 58-year-old Nancy Genovese in jail for four days in 2010 was subject to quite a bit of interpretation on the part of her arresting officer. The Long Island native might have been taking a picture of a decorative helicopter in the hopes of using it as a feature on a "Support our Troops" website after leaving a rifle range with her legally owned and registered weapon. Or she might have been taking surveillance photographs of the Gabreski Airport at the Westhampton Beach Air National Guard base with a deadly weapon in her car. Guess which of these interpretations won the day? Man From Fruitvale Arrested For Pointing Banana at Officer Bunch. Nathen Channing, a 27-year-old resident of Fruitvale, Colorado, was taken into custody on Sunday night for pointing a banana at a pair of Mesa County Sheriff's deputies, both of whom initially believed the piece of fruit was a handgun. The two involved Mesa County deputies were identified as Joshua Bunch and Donald Love, both of whom were identified as victims in the case against Channing, who was arrested on two counts of felony menacing. Man arrested after pointing banana at police. A man is facing a felony menacing charge, because two Colorado sheriff's deputies say they thought a banana he pointed at them was a gun. [...] According to an arrest affidavit, Mesa County deputies Joshua Bunch and Donald Love said Channing pointed the fruit at them while crossing a street. The deputies said they feared for their lives even though they saw that the object was yellow. Bunch wrote in the affidavit that he has seen handguns in many shapes and colors. Jail Time for Feeding The Homeless? Fort Lauderdale, Florida Police charged two pastors and a 90-year-old man, for feeding the homeless in public. The charges were made on Sunday [11/2/2014], following a new ordinance effectively banning feeding the homeless in public that took effect Friday. Is this the worst person in America? Somewhere out there, possibly in Rockaway, N.J., is a person who enjoys making senior citizens suffer. This hater of the aged decided to rain on their parade by reporting their 10-cent bingo game to the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs this past May, according to the Asbury Park Press. But don't place all the blame on that Grinch. For instead of laughing off the complaint — because come on, it's 10-cent bingo at a senior home — New Jersey's Legalized Games of Chance Control Commission made the decision to drop the hammer. Nanny-State Mindset Leads to Police Brutality. In Florida recently, police pulled up to a young boy playing in the park and asked where his mother lived. According to a report on WPTV, the mom was then arrested for "allowing her son to go to the park alone." Her son had a cellphone, and she would check in with him along the way. The mom believes "he's old enough, but Port St. Lucie Police disagree." There is a tendency to dismiss stories such as this as a silly mistake by an overzealous police officer, but sadly it's part of a larger problem. Md. police investigate 'No undocumented Democrats' graffiti as hate crime. Maryland state police are investigating as a hate crime graffiti that protested illegal immigration on the wall of a former Army Reserve Center that was mulled for use as a shelter for unaccompanied alien children. "No illeagles [sic] here. No undocumented Democrats," the graffiti said in capital letters, according to the Carroll County Times. Lt. Patrick McCrory, commander of the state police Westminster barracks, said the message likely went up Saturday night or early Sunday [7/13/2014]. He said he considered the message to be a hate crime. "This is definitely a racial, religious, ethnic incident," he told the paper. The Black Market For Dinosaurs. On the morning of October 17, 2012, a cadre of federal agents and sheriff's deputies in Gainesville, Florida, went to the home of a suspected fossil smuggler named Eric Prokopi and arrested him. As I reported in The New Yorker in January, 2013, the case against Prokopi was unusual and aggressive: it included several counts of felonious smuggling, and characterizations of the defendant as a "one-man black market." Two months after his arrest, Prokopi pleaded guilty to smuggling the bones of a Tarbosaurus bataar, a Tyrannosaurus rex cousin that lived seventy million years ago in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, which prohibits the commercialization of natural history. Texas man faces possible life sentence for selling pot brownies. A couple of weeks ago, I put up a post about the absurd method in which the drug laws allow law enforcement officials to determine the quantity of an illicit drug for which a suspect can be charged. The laws aren't written to punish offenders for the amount of a given drug they have made available to the public (or, put another way, for the amount of harm they have done). They're written to inflict the maximum possible amount of punishment. Diabetic pastor sues after being arrested, denied food and water for holding pro-life sign. On March 30, 2011, Pastor Stephen Joiner was driving through the streets of Columbus, Mississippi, when he saw dozens of members of Pro-Life Mississippi peacefully holding signs supporting the unborn child's right to life. He pulled over and learned they were trying to build support for the state's Personhood Amendment, which failed to pass the following November. Joiner, the pastor of the city's Church of the Nazarene, supported the cause, so he picked up a sign and stood alongside them. [...] Joiner says that Police Captain Frederick Shelton told him to move, because he was blocking traffic, although he was several feet from the road. Young children could face bullying charges in city. The Carson City Council gave preliminary approval this week to an ordinance that would target anyone from kindergarten to age 25 who makes another person feel "terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed or molested" with no legitimate purpose. ACLU backs Nebraska man arrested for handing out religious fliers. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska said Wednesday [4/16/2014] that Larry Ball was on a public sidewalk and exercising his First Amendment rights when he handed out the fliers. Rappers selling CDs in Times Square file joint suits against city. Eight rappers say the NYPD treats them differently than other vendors and argues that their music sales are protected free speech. The most common charges are for disorderly conduct and aggressive begging, but the rappers say the allegations are phony and their cases are ultimately dismissed. Austin Police Arrest Jogger Because She Couldn't Hear Them. Austin, Texas, is supposed to be weird. It is not supposed to be a police state. [...] Jaywalking is a class c misdemeanor, not typically an offense that leads to arrest. Police say the jogger was arrested for failure to identify herself and for a traffic signal violation. The arrest is under investigation. Municipalities often use traffic violation citations to generate revenue. Boy, 13, arrested for allegedly throwing snowball at cop. A 13-year-old boy arrested for allegedly hitting a Chicago police officer with a snowball says he was wrongly picked out of a crowd of kids walking home from school. And besides, he adds, the snowball didn't even hit the cop. "It made me mad," said the eighth-grader, who is facing a felony charge of battery to a police officer. Drivers ticketed for failing to clear snow off their vehicles under new 'ice missile' law. A new law requiring motorists to remove snow and ice from their vehicles has become a new source of revenue for Connecticut. State police are aggressively ticketing drivers who ignore the so-called 'ice missile' law. Since the law took effect Jan. 1, state police have issued at least 230 tickets to truckers and motorists who were driving snow-covered vehicles. At $120 per summons that amounts to $27,600 in tickets in a month and a half. The fine is $75, plus $45 in various surcharges. When you ask the police for help, the first thing they investigate is YOU. Woman jailed for not returning 2005 video rental. Kayla Michelle Finley may be wishing that services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime had been around a little earlier. The South Carolina woman spent a night in jail last week for failing to return a video she rented — in 2005. It was a VHS tape. Of a Jennifer Lopez movie. Finley, 27, was arrested Thursday in Pickens County, South Carolina, on a misdemeanor charge of failure to return the video, according to CNN affiliate WYFF-TV. Woman Says Duke Police Opened Investigation [of her] After She Called To Complain About Muslim Chant. An Ohio woman who says she called Duke University — to speak her mind about a plan to allow a Muslim student group to issue a weekly call-to-prayer on campus — claims she was contacted by a member of the Duke University Police Department who said she was conducting an investigation about the phone call. The woman, who asked to be identified only by her first name, Pam, said she called the office of the Duke men's basketball team early Thursday [1/15/2015] after she read that the school was planning to allow the Muslim Students Association to chant a call-to-prayer, the "adhan," over a microphone from the Duke Chapel bell tower each Friday. Man discovers it is illegal to wash his car in his own driveway. A couple of friends cleaning up a car they had just purchased were threatened by the police for car washing in their own driveway. The reach of the nanny state truly has no bounds when it comes to dictating what people must do on their own private property. Electric car owner charged with stealing 5 cents worth of juice. One Saturday in November, Kaveh Kamooneh drove his Nissan Leaf to Chamblee Middle School, where his 11-year-old son was playing tennis. Kamooneh had taken the liberty of charging the electric car with an exterior outlet at the school. Within minutes of plugging in the car, he says a Chamblee police officer appeared. "He said that he was going to charge me with theft by taking because I was taking power, electricity from the school," Kamooneh said. Kamooneh says he had charged his car for 20 minutes, drawing about a nickel's worth of juice. City Shuts Down 11-Year-Old Selling Mistletoe to Fund Braces. An 11-year-old Oregon girl who wanted to help her father pay for her braces by selling mistletoe over the holidays, found herself embroiled in city bureaucracy. On Saturday, Madison Root went to the downtown market to sell fresh mistletoe she cut and wrapped herself from her uncle's farm in Oregon. She told KATU News, "I felt like I could help my dad with the money." However, a private security guard hired by Portland Saturday Market blocked her path to a straighter smile by telling her to stop selling the mistletoe, citing city rules that ban conducting business or soliciting at a park without proper approval and documentation. Orders for mistletoe pour in after Oregon girl told she can't sell them, but can beg for money at city park. It appears the Oregon girl who was told she could not sell mistletoe in a public park, but could beg for money to pay for her braces, will be able to pay for dental work... and then some. Hundreds of mistletoe orders have poured in after reports of 11-year-old Madison Root being told by a security guard that she cannot sell the item at a public park, but she could, if she wanted to, beg for money, KATU.com reported. Georgia restaurant told to remove flags honoring USA, troops. Three months ago, Miller put up the American flag, the Georgia state flag and banners for every branch of the military. On Friday [11/15/2013], he was told they have to come down. "I'm just floored," said Miller. "And I called the guy and asked what they're for. And he said I'm in violation with my flags flying above my restaurant." Christianity Under Attack in America. [Scroll down] This prohibition against Christian religious practice is not limited to the military. Police throughout the land also frequently come down hard against Christians. In 2010, a group of students from the Arizona-based Wickenburg Christian Academy were ordered by a police officer to cease their quiet prayers on the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. The officer cited a statute that prohibits demonstrations on the steps, but no official policy bars prayer at that location. Woman Forced To Strip And Serve Jail Time For Overdue Ticket. A North Texas woman was handcuffed, stripped down and booked into jail — all because of an overdue traffic ticket. It was just a ticket. Sarah Boaz was cited in August after an officer said she ran a stop sign. D.C. businessman faces two years in jail for unregistered ammunition, brass casing. Mark Witaschek, a successful financial adviser with no criminal record, is facing two years in prison for possession of unregistered ammunition after D.C. police raided his house looking for guns. Mr. Witaschek has never had a firearm in the city, but he is being prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The trial starts on Nov. 4. The police banged on the front door of Mr. Witaschek's Georgetown home at 8:20 p.m. on July 7, 2012, to execute a search warrant for "firearms and ammunition ... gun cleaning equipment, holsters, bullet holders and ammunition receipts." The Editor says... Viva the shutdown! Like Atlas Shrugged in reverse. You or I might think one of the main points of sequestering a wilderness zone like Yellowstone Park would be so visitors could get more intimate with nature by skinny-dipping in a cooling stream, perhaps under the influence of alcoholic beverages. But the park rules say no — and there's a whole army of uniformed government employees just itching to enforce them. Is this really what government is for? Really? Park Service threatens to arrest WWII vets who try to visit their memorial. So, you've heard the story today about the group of World War II veterans who had to break through barriers deliberately placed there by the Obama administration as part of its game-playing over the Democrat-forced government shutdown. It's bad enough that they were deliberately inconveniencing 80-90 year old men who honorably served their country. I thought that was pretty low. And I was right, but I didn't think they could sink any lower. Well, they did. CO Rescue Pilot Issued Parking Ticket for His Helicopter. So ridiculous it's funny... and sadly idiotic. You step out of line, the man comes and takes you away. This was either an act of nit-picking legalism or political activism: Caught On Camera: Cop Kicks, Confiscates Pro-2nd Amendment Sign. A police officer from Somers Police Department in New York has been caught kicking and then taking a pro-Second Amendment sign from the yard of Jon Gibson of Lake Lincolndale, New York. Gibson's sign said, "Protect the Second Amendment," with a silhouette of an AR-15 across the top. Every action requires a permit. State Seizes Two-Year-Old Child From Parents Because They Smoked Pot, Child Dies in Foster Care. Statistics on child abuse in foster care are, perhaps unsurprisingly, hard to come by, but children in foster care may be up to 10 times more likely to die than children in the care of their own parents; one estimate places the number of children who die in foster care in the US every year at about 1540. Auburn cop fired for blowing the whistle on ticket, arrest quotas. Do police officers write tickets because of quotas? Most law-enforcement agencies will deny that any exist, but the police department in the college town of Auburn, Alabama will find that difficult. One of their officers secretly recorded briefings in which quotas were explicitly demanded for traffic citations, arrests, and other "contacts," which if enforced would have meant nearly 1.5 police contacts per resident each year. Man charged with Brandishing for putting gun away. [Scroll down] I grew up in a legal family, married a judge's daughter and have known dozens of judges both good and bad over the years. I have never however, seen a judge behave as badly as the one in this case. He simply did not want to hear any of the defense. Free Justin Carter Now. In the state of Texas, a 19-year-old man named Justin Carter sits in prison, ruthlessly stripped of his freedom for making an offensive joke. [...] For this he was arrested by Austin police, charged with making a "terroristic threat," and thrown into prison. He may languish there until the start of the next decade. [...] He's been incarcerated since March without trial. Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to Exercise Their 1st Amendment Rights. This last winter a Texas teenager, Justin Carter, made a very stupid and tasteless mistake. [...] Carter has been jailed on (an unaffordable) $500,000 bail since the late winter/early spring (accounts vary), through the spring and now well into the summer. According to his parents (who claim that he is a danger to no one at all), he has been assaulted numerous times and is now in solitary confinement on suicide watch, stripped naked in a dimly lit cell with a hole in the ground. Indiana man faces possible jail time for nursing bald eagle back to health. This reminds me of a 2011 story in which an 11-year-old Virginia girl rescued a woodpecker from the family cat only to be approached by a Fish & Wildlife agent flanked by an armed state trooper informing them of a court date and a $500 fee. When everything is a crime, government data mining matters. Prosecutors have become kings, with the ability to find a crime committed by just about anyone. Data mining and access to internet activity can help find terrorists, but it also can be used to find crimes which were not previously known to have been committed by political opponents. A "find the target first, then find the crime" political approach requires access to information of an unprecedented level. Which is exactly what is happening. Philly Activists Arrested and Cuffed at Independence Hall for Handing Out Fliers. Mark Passio wrote about his experience last Saturday [5/25/2013]. Yep, it's those last two bullets that'll really do some damage. DA Refuses to Prosecute Man Arrested For Having Two Extra Bullets. Gregory Dean Jr. was recently arrested — pulled over when authorities noticed a license plate lamp was out on his vehicle. The lamp wasn't the problem, however. Troopers noticed a handgun in the vehicle. The weapon was legally registered to Dean, but upon further inspection, the gun was noted to have 9 rounds as opposed to 7 — a violation of the SAFE Act. He was charged with 'Unlawful possession of certain ammunition feeding devices', and faced a possible 6 months in jail. For two extra bullets. Dad in New York Arrested For Letting His Daughter Play With Plastic Airsoft Gun in Park. A father in New York City has been arrested on a host of charges after letting his daughter play with an Airsoft Gun in a park. The father let the child fire a couple of plastic BBs at a tree and then carry the "gun" around the park. The father was arraigned Thursday on charges including reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child and violating city weapons laws. The man was also charged with resisting arrest after he objected to the arrest. Mother of 3-Year-Old Fined $2,500 for Toddler's "Public Urination". A Piedmont [Oklahoma] police officer was fired for writing an excessively hefty fine for her three-year-old's "public urination" on the family's property. The $4,000 Trash Can. [Martha] Boneta, a Fauquier County farmer, hosted a birthday party for eight 10-year-old girls — an occasion for which she lacked the proper "events permit." For this, the county slammed her with a $5,000 fine. She also got in hot water for selling items, such as yarn and birdhouses, that she had not made herself. The Mayor of East St. Louis is the New Baby Sitter. A new restriction passed by Mayor Alvin Parks of East St. Louis has enacted a new curfew and dress code for the city's youth. Anyone under 18 that is caught out of class during school hours, outside after 10pm or out of the house or school anytime without a parent or guardian, they will be arrested. Additionally, the mayor decided that youth should also be prohibited from wearing any blue or red. 'Overcriminalization' Making Us a Nation of Felons? Critics argue there are so many new laws, rules, and regulations that it's all too easy to violate one of these laws and never know you did it. Take, for example, Texas retiree George Norris and his wife, Kathy: federal agents raided and ransacked their Texas home in 2003. Originally, the indictment against them was sealed, so they weren't even told why they were targeted at first. [...] George wound up serving nearly two years in federal prison alongside killers, rapists, and other hardened criminals. What was his crime? A paperwork violation related to flowers in his backyard nursery: buying, importing, and selling perfectly legal orchids. The Environmentalists' Police and Welfare States. The story about the abuses by Fauquier County against Martha Boneta, the farmer, of pitchfork protest fame, just gets creepier and creepier. Duncan, South Carolina Police Ticket Parents for Cheering During High School Graduation. [In Duncan, South Carolina,] it's against the law to cheer for your kid during the graduation ceremonies. In the past, parents and relatives who cheered were escorted by cops from the stadiums. But Duncan residents went civil disobedience in response, standing to cheer and then simply leaving the stadium on their own. [...] This year, the cops busted 13 parents for nefarious cheering. The Nanny State Meets the Quota Cops. Here's the kind of story that makes me fear for the future of the nation. It is a disturbing example of both government stupidity and soft tyranny. Pitchfork Protest Farmer Confronts Government Corruption and Retribution. American Thinker was the first to report about how Fauquier County, Virginia attempted to fine farmer Martha Boneta for hosting a birthday party for eight 10-year-old girls without a special events permit. I'll bet they wouldn't have stopped a Muslim from doing the same thing. Connecticut town threatens to take overgrown pet bunny from girl, 7. A 7-year-old Connecticut girl will lose her 20-pound pet rabbit if North Haven officials get their way. Zoning Enforcement Officer Arthur Hausman issued a cease-and-desist order to the Lidsky family two weeks ago, informing them that they were violating town zoning regulations because their property was smaller than the 2 acres required to keep rabbits and other types of livestock. The Editor says... Oregon Man Sentenced to 30 Days in Jail — for Collecting Rainwater on His Property. Gary Harrington of Eagle Point, Oregon, says he plans to appeal his conviction in Jackson County Circuit Court on nine misdemeanor charges under a 1925 law for having what state water managers called "three illegal reservoirs" on his property — and for filling the reservoirs with rainwater and snow runoff. NJ dad saves 5-year-old, car plunges over cliff, dad gets traffic tickets. Some stories so teem with action that they create a nightmare for headline writers. This one not only teems with action but has a galling anticlimax. Business Owner Threatened with Jail Time for Flying American Flag. A Georgia man was slapped with a ticket and threatened with jail time after he refused to remove an American flag that's been flying outside his business for more than thirty years. An Albany code enforcement officer alleged that Tom Gieryic's flag was in violation of the city's sign ordinance. The standard size American flag was posted on a pole outside Gieryic's automotive repair shop. Choc and Awe. I am looking this bright Easter morn at a Department of Homeland Security "Custody Receipt for Seized Property and Evidence". Late last night, crossing the Quebec/Vermont border, my children had two boxes of "Kinder Eggs" ("Est. Dom. Value $7.50?) confiscated by Customs & Border Protection. Don't worry, it's for their own safety. Woman cuffed for not holding escalator handrail. Anyone who has ridden an escalator and bothered to pay attention has seen — and likely ignored — little signs suggesting riders hold the grimy handrail. In Montreal's subway system, the friendly advice seems to have taken on the force of law, backed by a $100 fine. Bela Kosoian, a 38-year-old mother of two, says when she didn't hold the handrail Wednesday [5/13/2009] she was cuffed, dragged into a small holding cell and fined. D.C. Cops Throw Drivers in Jail for Expired Tags. In a city that hosts its fair share of murders and terror plots, Washington, D.C., police are cracking down on another threat to the nation's capital — expired vehicle registrations. To the frustration of forgetful drivers, Metropolitan Police Department officers are throwing people in jail for letting their tag renewals lapse. Vertical tag law costs unsuspecting biker. Antonio Gonzales rode his customized Harley-Davidson from New Mexico to Bike Week, and then his wallet got a painful welcome from a Flagler Beach police officer — a $1,151 citation for having his bike's license plate mounted vertically on a saddle bag. "I rode all the way out here and all I have is 700 bucks," Gonzales said. "Then I get a $1,151 ticket." Many bikers who ride customized motorcycles mount their plates vertically. Girl, 10, Arrested for Using Knife to Cut Food at School. A 10-year-old Florida girl faces felony weapons charges after bringing a small steak knife to school to cut up her lunch, according to a report on MyFOXOrlando.com. School officials say the Ocala 5th grader had brought a piece of steak for her lunch, and a four and a half inch steak knife with which to cut it. According to the report, a couple of teachers took the utensil and called authorities, who arrested the girl and took her to the county's juvenile assessment center. Many more stories like this are on the Zero Tolerance Page. Topeka Cracks Down On Unlicensed Bicycles. Topeka police are warning local bicycle owners they could face up to $76 in fines and court costs if they're caught pedaling unlicensed bikes. Already this year 27 cyclists have received citations that include a $10 fine plus $66 court costs for riding unlicensed bikes. Police in Laramie, Wyo., Cite Teen Girls Who Threw French Fries for 'Hurling Missiles'. Three 13-year-old girls accused of throwing french fries during lunchtime at their school were cited for "hurling missiles," an adult infraction covered by city ordinances. Woman Arrested for Dancing at the Jefferson Memorial. At 11:59, just four minutes after the event's start, U.S. Park Police had detained and were handcuffing the aforementioned "Jefferson 1" … ostensibly for unauthorized dancing. Or, as former Bureaucrash chief Jason Talley puts it, "One minute I'm taking video of people celebrating the freedoms etched in the walls surrounding us, the next we see armed agents of the state putting chains on a friend of ours." Woman cuffed, booked for not paying library fines. A Wisconsin woman has been arrested and booked for failing to pay her library fines. Twenty-year-old Heidi Dalibor told the News Graphic in Cedarburg that she ignored the library's calls and letters as well as a notice to appear in court. Still, she was surprised when officers with a warrant knocked on her door, cuffed her and took her to the police station to be fingerprinted and photographed. The U.S. police state: Attorney Russ Stein details his arrest for "idling." You have to read it to believe it. Subway Rider Busted for Selling a Token. Transit police handcuffed and cited a man who sold a $1.75 subway token to another rider who was having trouble with a token vending machine. Transit authority spokeswoman Jocelyn Baker … acknowledged that [Donald] Pirone sold the token at face value and did not make a profit. But the law is the law, she said. A similar but different case: Police Arrest NH Man For Giving a Manicure Without a License. A self-proclaimed manicurist decided to open for business in Concord [NH] on Monday [5/9/2005] without the state's approval, attacking state licensing laws with a nail file. Michael Fisher, 23, of Newmarket, N.H., was arrested and charged with violating the state's license law. He said he organized the protest to call attention to what he said are needless obstacles facing small businesses in the state. … The manicure performed without a license was undertaken right outside the state Board of Barbering, Cosmetology and Esthetics office. HPD still issuing tickets for license plate borders. "It was never the intention of the Legislature for people to be receiving traffic citations for having license brackets," said state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, who sponsored the bill. "It's clearly out of bounds for them to be issuing tickets now." ... The [Houston police] department's most prolific officer, Matthew Davis, issued at least 1,216 license bracket tickets since January. He wrote 30 in one day in February and has issued more than 200 since [Governor] Perry signed Williams' bill. $185 fine for dropping sunflower seed. It could be called a case for the birds, but an Oklahoma woman is crying fowl over a $185 fine for dropping a sunflower seed in public. Boston transit police begin passenger ID stops. Although officials would release few details about the initiative, the identity checks will mark the first time local rail and subway passengers will be asked to produce identification and be questioned about their activities. It's illegal to recite the Gettysburg Address on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It is illegal to deliver the Gettysburg Address on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial without permission from the U.S. National Park Service. On President's Day — standing where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream Speech" — Phillip Howell, 25, recited Lincoln's famous address and was quickly stopped by a Park Police officer. He told Howell that he could not give speeches on the steps of the memorial without a permit. Woman Ticketed for Sitting on a Playground Bench with No Kids. The Rivington Playground on Manhattan's East Side has a small sign at the entrance that says adults are prohibited unless they are accompanied by a child. … [The ticket] could bring a one thousand dollar fine and 90 days in jail. What ever happened to respecting our elders? An 82-year-old California woman says an officer cited her for taking too long to cross an intersection. Mayvis Coyle insists when she entered the crosswalk the signal was green, but it turned red before she reached the other side where an officer was waiting with a $114 ticket. "He treated me like a six year old, like I don't know what I'm doing," Coyle said. Woman arrested over 96 cents. A Mansfield, Ohio, woman was arrested and jailed for failure to file a 2001 city income tax bill totaling 96 cents … [after] she explained the situation to a city employee who told her not to bother with the trifling amount. Handicap permit should let a man sit. Arthur doesn't want me to tell you his last name because he'd rather not get on the bad side of the police. … His wife walks into the store to shop. Arthur likes to wait in the car. "I can't follow her around for an hour and a half," he tells me. They've been doing it this way the past year and a half … This worked out fine until the other day when a community service officer working for the Cudahy Police Department leaned in Arthur's open window and told him it was not legal for him to sit in the car and wait like that. In a police state, everyone is a criminal suspect. Criminal barbering? Raids at Orange County shops lead to arrests. As many as 14 armed Orange County deputies, including narcotics agents, stormed Strictly Skillz barbershop during business hours on a Saturday in August, handcuffing barbers in front of customers during a busy back-to-school weekend. ... In "sweeps" on Aug. 21 and Sept. 17 targeting at least nine shops, deputies arrested 37 people — the majority charged with "barbering without a license," a misdemeanor that state records show only three other people have been jailed in Florida in the past 10 years. Pennsylvania Woman Cited for Cursing at Toilet. A Scranton woman who allegedly shouted profanities at her overflowing toilet within earshot of a neighbor was cited for disorderly conduct, authorities said. Dawn Herb could face up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $300. No suspect is too young. No suspect is too old. Police target careless drivers in crosswalk sting. Coos Bay Police were kept busy Tuesday [2/9/2010] targeting drivers who didn't comply with crosswalk safety laws during a pedestrian safety operation in Empire. For three hours Tuesday morning, officers were staked out at the intersection of Cammann Street and Newmark Avenue, while a non-uniformed decoy pedestrian used the crosswalk. Lawsuit: Student arrested for burping. A 13-year-old was handcuffed and hauled off to a juvenile detention for burping in class, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed against an Albuquerque public school principal, a teacher and a city police officer. DC Resident Fined Thousands For Not Recycling Cat Litter. Dupont Circle resident Patricia White says she has been fined eight times for throwing homemade cat litter in her trash. The fines total $2,000. White says she shreds old newspaper and junk mail to use as cat litter. She believes she is helping the environment by reusing the paper and avoiding cat litter you will find in stores. After being fined several times, White says she called the Department of Public Works inspector who issued the tickets. According to White, the inspector admitted to digging through trash looking for violations. Milledgeville Police Handcuff 6-Year-Old Girl for Misbehaving at School. Milledgeville's acting police chief, Dray Swicord, said Tuesday [4/17/2012] that he stands by an officer's decision to handcuff an elementary school student for safety Friday after she allegedly threw a tantrum. Swicord said the arresting officer is not under investigation for his actions. Taking a bite out of crime: The War on Little Kids with Lemonade Stands This isn't too far off-topic: Wyoming Girl Scout, 13, Fined $400 For Selling Cookies. No one likes a story where a Girl Scout doesn't win a prize for selling cookies. But that's just what nearly happened when a by-the-book municipal code officer in Pinedale slapped a Girl Scout and her mom hundreds of dollars in fines for selling cookies. Emma McCarroll, 13, almost didn't meet her sales goal because the code enforcement officer was an expert on the rules of where a Girl Scout in Pinedale can stand — and where her mom could park their car while selling them. Ohio girl's lemonade stand near food festival shut down after complaint. An 8-year-old girl selling lemonade near an Ohio food festival had her operation shut down by local police after they received a complaint. Asa Baker was selling lemonade in an alley outside the business where her father works near the Alliance, Ohio Rib and Food Festival last weekend when she says a local police officer asked her to shut down the stand, WJW-TV reported. "Well, they were really sad that they had to shut me down but they gave me $20 to try and pay for it," Baker said, explaining that the officer gave her $20 for her to use to purchase the needed permit. Alliance Police Lieutenant Don Wensel told WJW-TV that police received a complaint from festival organizers who seemed to be conflicted about voicing their concerns but ultimately, officers are required to enforce local ordinances. Everett neighbors say 7-year-old's lemonade stand shut down by the city while complaints over homeless encampment go unaddressed. An Everett neighborhood is confused at the city's priorities after a 7-year-old girl's lemonade stand was shut down in Rucker Hill Park while complaints over a nearby homeless encampment have gone unaddressed. Every summer, Elsa LaMaine sets up her lemonade stand at Everett's Rucker Hill Park. "It's so much fun!" Elsa said. She sold drinks, treats and flowers at her stand until one day her business was shut down due to a complaint. "There was a wicked witch who called the ranger," Elsa said, referring to a neighbor who complained to the city's parks department. A park ranger showed up last Saturday and told Elsa and her grandmother, Cherie LaMaine, to close up shop. According to the pair, they were told the city doesn't allow people to peddle products on public property. Texas children hit with cease-and-desist order from local government after selling eggs to neighbors. A pair of Texas children was hit with a cease-and-desist order by the local government after selling eggs to neighbors in the San Antonio area. The two girls, 10-year-old Indiana and 8-year-old Phoenix, started collecting extra eggs from the chickens on their property and sold them to those in the community following the devastating Lone Star State freeze in February that roiled the region's food supply. The sisters generated about $70 per week under the guidance of their father, Brian Johnson, an Army veteran, before the city of Bulverde intervened. Johnson received a letter in the mail that demanded that he and his girls stop selling the eggs, he told CBS Austin on Thursday [4/22/2021]. Sweet summertime story: KraftHeinz covering permits/fines for kids' lemonade stands. For generations, American parents have taught their children the entrepreneurial spirit by helping them open front-yard lemonade stands. Sometimes even stocked with homemade cookies. Don't know about you, but my car has to stop at every one of them. Inevitably, they can't change a $5, so we just have to leave it. But there's a problem, a big problem. In 36 of the 50 states, these innocent little kids' projects are illegal by municipal code. No license to sell. No permit. Whatever. Some grumpy neighbors, who can't remember being young, have even complained to authorities. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott just signed a law overriding such rules in his state and letting local police pay attention to real law-breaking. But Texas was only the 14th state to okay kids' lemonade stands. The Editor says... Texas Gov. Abbott signs law allowing kids to run lemonade stands. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law that allows kids to run lemonade stands without fear of being shut down. The law goes into effect in September and prohibits cities and neighborhood associations from implementing rules that block or regulate children trying to sell nonalcoholic drinks such as lemonade on private property, according to the Texas Tribune. New York state shuts down child's lemonade stand. A 7-year-old lemonade stand operator has been put out of business by the New York State Health Department. The shutdown occurred after vendors at a nearby county fair complained he was undercutting their price, according to the New York Post. The young entrepreneur, Brendan Mulvaney, was selling lemonade, water and Sno-cones from the porch of his family's home, which just so happens to be right outside the Saratoga County Fair in upstate New York. NY boy reopens lemonade stand, raises nearly $1K after health dept. shutdown. A 7-year-old boy running a lemonade stand in Ballston Spa, New York, raised $946 for a sick friend on Saturday, one month after the state's health department caused an uproar by shutting down his operation. Mulvaney donated proceeds to the family of Maddy Moore, a 12-year-old girl battling Blount's disease, a rare bone development disorder. When the stand first opened, he had been raising money for a family trip to Disney World. The Inexplicable War on Lemonade Stands. I'm beginning to think that there's a nation-wide government conspiracy against either lemonade or children, because these lemonade stand shutdowns seem to be getting more and more common. If you set up a stand for your kids, just be prepared for a visit from the cops. In Coralville, Iowa police shut down 4-year-old Abigail Krstinger's lemonade stand after it had been up for half an hour. The Government War On Kid-Run Concession Stands. Denver police shut down a lemonade stand [5/29/2018] that two young children were running to raise money to help a 5-year-old Indonesian child; the police claimed that the children were required to obtain a $125 permit from the city. The shut-down was prompted by a complaint from a nearby adult vendor who was trying to sell lemonade for $7 per cup — he was apparently frustrated that the children were selling their own lemonade at the price of two cups for $1. America's Attack On Lemonade Stands. If lemonade stands are symbols of the American dream, and if lemonade stands are under attack in the United States, then the American dream is under attack. Sure, it's a somewhat breathless syllogism, but there is truth in it. What's the point of regulating lemonade stands? In 1983, 6-year-old Ali Thorn's lemonade stand in Belleair, Fla., was closed down after police received an anonymous complaint that her sign did not comply with city ordinances, but was quickly allowed to reopen. In 1988, 9-year-old Max Schilling's seven-foot high lemonade stand in Watchung, N.J., was shuttered after city officials claimed it was a permanent structure that sat too close to the street and threatened to fine him $500 a day. After a brief legal fight, Schilling's stand was allowed to reopen. In 1993, 12-year-old Sarah Knott and 13-year-old Margaret Johnson's stand in Charleston, S.C., was shut down by police officers because they didn't have a peddler's license. However, after a public outcry, the city apologized to the girls and allowed them to continue. 6 Illicit Lemonade Stands Towns Had to Shut Down. For generations, entrepreneurial kids have set up card tables in front yards to sell ice cold drinks to passers-by. But sometimes the law catches up with these renegade youngsters. New York state shuts down child's lemonade stand. A 7-year-old lemonade stand operator has been put out of business by the New York State Health Department. The shutdown occurred after vendors at a nearby county fair complained he was undercutting their price, according to the New York Post. The young entrepreneur, Brendan Mulvaney, was selling lemonade, water and Sno-cones from the porch of his family's home, which just so happens to be right outside the Saratoga County Fair in upstate New York. A woman wearing a Health Department T-shirt turned up Friday [7/27/2018] and shut it down because the family didn't have a permit. Woman seen threatening to call cops on girl selling water resigns from job. The CEO of a San Francisco marijuana company resigned Tuesday [6/26/2018] after she was seen in a viral video appearing to call police on an 8-year-old African-American girl who was selling bottles of water. Alison Ettel, founder of TreatWell Health, ignited a wave of backlash after the girl's mother posted footage of Ettel on her Instagram account, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Kraft Heinz paying kids slapped with lemonade stand fines. Kids getting busted and fined by cops for running neighborhood lemonade stands without permits could come to an end this summer — thanks to food giant Kraft Heinz. The brand's Country Time Lemonade unit announced Thursday that it will personally defend and pay for any fines that children get for trying to sell the summertime drink. Cops Raid Little Boys' Lemonade Stand, Shut it Down for Not Having a Permit. A four-year-old and a six-year-old had their entrepreneurial spirit crushed this week as police descended on their lemonade stand and shut them down for not having a permit. California girl, 5, cited for operating lemonade stand without a license. A 5-year-old girl in Porterville, Calif., received a citation in late October for operating a lemonade stand without a license. In June, Autumn Thomasson decided to operate the stand to raise money to pay for a new bike. Gabby Dehaas, Autumn's mother, got the word out on social media about her daughter's idea, and in less than 24 hours the girl had enough money for a new ride. Ottawa bureaucrats shut down children's lemonade stand. Eliza Andrews, 7, and her sister Adela, 5 set up a lemonade stand to earn money for summer camp. They had been selling lemonade for $1 a glass from their front lawn for a couple of weeks, but then, like true entrepreneurs, they decided to change the location in order to increase their sales. That's where they went afoul of Canada's bureaucrats. They set up shop on federal land which means they needed a permit. Some passerby apparently snitched because before too long, an agent working for the National Capital Commission showed up and shut them down. This country has no shortage of power-crazed bureaucratic control freaks. The nationwide crackdown on lemonade stands is not about health concerns or standing too close to the street. It is all about control. No transaction can be allowed to take place without a stack of permits and, most importantly, sales tax. Almost all these stories have the same ending: The news media get involved and the public officials back down. They don't lose their pencil-pushing jobs, but they do back down when embarrassed by the local newspapers. Summer Has Arrived with the Annual Shutting Down of a Kid's Lemonade Stand. [Scroll down] It gets better, by which I actually mean worse. They can't get this permission that they need to get. Texas has legislation to regulate home cooks. Food that requires any sort of temperature control to prevent spoilage cannot be sold without inspection and a permit. Lemonade qualifies under this rule because it could grow bacteria if left out. Sisters selling lemonade to raise money for Father's Day gift shut down by police. Police in Overton, Texas, forced a pair of little girls to shut down their makeshift lemonade stand after only an hour of business. Sisters Zoey and Andria Green, 7 and 8, were trying to raise $105 for a Father's Day present to take their dad to Splash Kingdom, a local ABC affiliate reported. [...] She and her sister had been open for business about an hour Monday [6/8/2015] and had made more than $25 when police showed up. 25 Reasons To Dislike Liberals. [#1] Only liberals would be cruel enough to pick on kids running lemonade stands with a permit, children putting on Christmas plays at school and the Boy Scouts. Food Freedom Fighters Organize Lemonade Freedom Day. The Lemonade Freedom Day organization is drawing attention to the increasing number of incidents in which local officials have shut down children's lemonade stands because the kids hadn't obtained the proper permits or were otherwise violating ordinances known only to the bureaucrats. "Police in Midway, Georgia shut down a lemonade stand run by three girls trying to make money for a trip to a water park in Savannah because the youngsters didn't have the license and permits required for their fledgling enterprise," The New American reported last summer. "City ordinances require a business license, a peddler's permit, and a food permit for the vending of food or beverages, even on residential property." Why Lemonade Freedom? The lemonade stand is one of the great symbols of entrepreneurialism. When a child opens a lemonade stand, that child is learning how to operate a business, how to provide a product, and how to be a productive member of society all while having fun. In the recent past, bureaucrats and law enforcers have shut down lemonade stands for not having permits or licenses. Last year thousands of people across the world participated in Lemonade Freedom Day to show these bureaucrats and law enforcers that they could not shut down kids' lemonade stands. It was a great success. Lemonade Stands Find Government Hurts, Rather Than Helps, Business. Lemonade stands are an iconic American example of children opening businesses. No government program helps them and these businesses seek no special favors from the state. That does not mean, however, that the relationship between lemonade stands and government is nonexistent. As Reason magazine noted in an article one year ago, police have cracked down on unregulated lemonade stands. I Tried to Open a Lemonade Stand. In Midway, Ga., a 14-year-old girl and her 10-year-old sister sold lemonade from their front yard. Two police officers bought some. But the next day, different officers ordered them to close their stand. Their father went to city hall to try to find out why. The clerk laughed and said she didn't know. Eventually, Police Chief Kelly Morningstar explained, "We were not aware of how the lemonade was made, who made the lemonade and of what the lemonade was made with." Is this still America? Police officers in Midway, Ga., closed down three girls' front-yard lemonade stand. Why? "We were not aware of how the lemonade was made, who made the lemonade, of what the lemonade was made with, so we acted accordingly by city ordinance." Well, at least the enterprise-crushing control freaks can't be accused of age discrimination. Lemonade Wars: The State Battles Entrepreneurialism. Governments are targeting neighborhood lemonade stands throughout the land of the free. The reasons behind these "lemonade raids" are similar no matter their location. Young businessmen and businesswomen, like their mature counterparts, are running afoul of local codes and health ordinances, lacking required permits and licenses, or tripping over bureaucratic red tape. The Inexplicable War on Lemonade Stands. I'm beginning to think that there's a nation-wide government conspiracy against either lemonade or children, because these lemonade stand shutdowns seem to be getting more and more common. If you set up a stand for your kids, just be prepared for a visit from the cops.
Map of the Government War on Lemonade
Stands. What's next, a "lemonade czar"? Appleton police shut down lemonade stand. It's a summer tradition, especially for two Appleton neighbors. "The kids have been setting it up for six or seven years now," said Margi Mann. Two young girls sell lemonade and cookies every year near their house during Appleton's Old Car Show. But this year that changed. The War on Lemonade Stands. In localities around the country this summer, cops have raided and shut down lemonade stands. The incidents get — and deserve — national attention as telling collisions between classic Americana and the senseless pettifogging that is increasingly the American Way. There should be an easy rule of thumb for when enforcement of a regulation has gone too far: When it makes kids cry. The War on Lemonade. America is a country founded on entrepreneurship and free enterprise. That's why one of its most enduring childhood traditions is the lemonade stand. It teaches children initiative, about the value of money and how to earn it. Recently, however, children have been learning entirely different lessons — that bureaucrats are in charge and you cross them at your peril. Government Declares War On Lemonade Stands. It is the startling fact that all across the country, children are being told that their lemonade stands are against the law. And not just lemonade stands, but sales of Girl Scout cookies and Japanese green tea have also been declared enemies of the State. I kid you not. In community after community, these budding entrepreneurs are being told to pack it up and scoot before they're charged with various violations. In some instances, in fact, fines have been levied. Georgia cops bust 10-year-old's lemonade stand. When three girls in Midway, Georgia set up their lemonade stand, they intended to raise enough money to go to the water park. But the ever-vigilant local police quickly identified the girls' effort as criminal enterprise and shut them down. The War on Lemonade Stands! Nanny of the Month, June 2011. This month's lineup of busybodies includes two regulars: the FDA, which is slapping new, more graphic, possibly counterproductive, warning labels on cigarette packs and the goldfish grabbers on San Francisco's Animal Control and Welfare Commission. But top dishonors go to the sour bureaucrat who put the squeeze on a group of kids for running a lemonade stand. Massachusetts State Police Shutdown Twelve-Year-Old's Green Tea Stand. Christopher Carr's twelve-year-old stepson had set up a smoothie and green-tea stand near their house when they moved back to the States after the earthquake in Japan. After they'd set up shop, Christopher took his daughter back inside to get some lunch, leaving his son to manage things at the stand. Girl's lemonade stand shut down. Police closed down a lemonade stand in Coralville last week, telling its 4-year-old operator and her dad that she didn't have a permit. Lemonade stand wins fight with city. The St. Louis Health Department closed a curbside lemonade stand run by two little girls, ages 10 and 12. A Health Department inspector told them they didn't have the proper business licenses and were selling unsafe ice cubes. The girls were using powdered lemonade mix with ice cubes bought from a store. Sweet
Lemonade Kid $lapped. Three sourpuss Parks Department agents put the squeeze on a 10-year-old girl
in Riverside Park yesterday, slapping the tyke with a $50 ticket for hawking lemonade without a permit.
Clementine Lee, who lives just blocks from the Upper West Side park, had dreamed of opening a lemonade stand
since last year and took advantage of yesterday's beautiful weather to set up shop.
Portland lemonade stand runs into health inspectors, needs $120 license to operate. Turns out that kids' lemonade stands — those constants of summertime — are supposed to get a permit in Oregon, particularly at big events that happen to be patrolled regularly by county health inspectors. Update: Girl With 'Illegal' Lemonade Stand Earns $1,838. The 7-year-old Oregon girl who found herself at the center of a national flap about childhood lemonade stands versus government bureaucrats is going to Disneyland. If Life Hands You Lemons, Don't Make Lemonade without a Permit. I know you all grew up watching movies about the Wild West and think everybody can just strap a shootin' iron to his hip and sell unlicensed lemonade willy-nilly, but this is reality. In a society facing threats like bird flu, obesity, and Glenn Beck, we can't let people just run around doing whatever they want. Obama couldn't run a lemonade stand. The Obama administration has mindlessly flooded the country with hundreds and hundreds of billions of federal tax dollars. ... Just as you would not pour gas on a fire in hopes of putting it out, infusing more than a trillion taxpayer dollars into the economy has not and will not work to put the economy on the path to prosperity. An artificial economy cannot be repaired with more artificiality. Who doesn't know this? Kids Lemonade Stand At U.S. Open Fined $500 And Shut Down By Montgomery County. You can make a fortune selling parking spots outside the US Open, but don't even dream of setting up a lemonade stand. Obama Era Economic Stagnation Explained by Lemonade and Cookies. In Bethesda, Maryland parents were fined 500 dollars when their kids had the temerity to run an "un-authorized" lemonade (and other cold drinks) stand. In fact, the venture was in part a fundraising effort to boot. ... The bureaucratic mindset regarding lemonade in blue-state Maryland stands as a microcosm of the Obama administration. All charges dropped against lemonade protesters. The Superior Court of the District of Columbia dropped all charges Monday [10/24/2011] against three activists arrested in August for selling 10-cent cups of lemonade on the lawn of the Capitol building. Will Duffield, Meg McLain and Kathryn Dill were arrested on Aug. 20 for selling the lemonade as part of National Lemonade Freedom Day — a nationwide protest formed in response to a recent rash of children's lemonade stands being shut down by police. And it's not just lemonade they're after... The Danger of Being Neighborly Without a Permit. Three years ago, The Los Angeles Times published a feel-good story on the Little Free Library movement. The idea is simple: A book lover puts a box or shelf or crate of books in their front yard. Neighbors browse, take one, and return later with a replacement. A 76-year-old in Sherman Oaks, California, felt that his little library, roughly the size of a dollhouse, "turned strangers into friends and a sometimes-impersonal neighborhood into a community," the reporter observed. The man knew he was onto something "when a 9-year-old boy knocked on his door one morning to say how much he liked the little library." Kansas boy fighting back after outdoor library shut down by ordinance. A 9-year-old Kansas boy says he is fighting back after city officials forced him to take down the outdoor library he had created on his front lawn as a Mother's Day gift. Spencer Collins told Fox4KC he had the idea to create a "free little library" after his mother, an elementary school teacher, saw the idea in another state. The idea is to share books and a love of reading among neighbors by placing books in a clear box, and encouraging others to take a book from it or leave a book in it. Government shuts down 11-year-old's cupcake business. The government has pulled the plug on an 11-year-old Illinois baker's oven. A day after a local newspaper ran a story about the young and ambitious Chloe Stirling, who operated a cupcake business out of her parents' kitchen, the local health department came calling. "They called and said they were shutting us down," Heather Stirling, Chloe's mother, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Boy, 12, fined for selling food to help vets. A twelve-year-old boy who raised more than $25,000 for World War II veterans faced the threat of substantial fines from a local health department in the small town of Chewelah, Washington last weekend. Chewelah boy fined for Honor Flight fundraiser. A Chewelah student who has raised more than $25,000 dollars for World War II Veterans is facing a hefty fine for his good deeds. 12-year-old Justin Peterson holds fundraisers year round for the Honor Flight Program. Last Saturday [8/4/2012], he held another fundraiser at the Chewelah City Park. While selling hamburgers, a health inspector stopped by Peterson's booth and fined him $170 for not having the proper food permit. Health Department fines Honor Flight fundraiser. While selling hamburgers for a fundraiser, a health inspector from the Tri-County Health Department stopped by [Justin] Peterson's booth and fined him $170 for not having a Temporary Food permit. Both Peterson's parents have food handler's permits. 10-year-old's salsa business gets visit from health department. Diego Bartolome just wanted to start a salsa business to help his mom after she lost her job. What the El Dorado County fourth-grader didn't expect was a crash course in red tape. Teen's Worm Sales Squished by Connecticut Town. For the last three summers, 13-year-old Joey Cadieux has headed outside with his flashlight on rainy nights to collect nightcrawlers from his yard. Purchased by passing fishermen for $2.50 a dozen, the wriggling worms brought him $7 to $10 in a good month, just enough for bike trips to his favorite neighborhood pizza joint. But when a town official recently objected to his stenciled black-and-white "nite crawlers" yard sign, Joey's business got the hook. Feds Target School Bake Sales. On December 3, the lame-duck House passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, previously approved by the Senate. President Obama, doubtless preoccupied with such trivia as taxes, unemployment, Korea, and China, has yet to sign it into law. A mere two hundred and twenty pages long, it has lots of provisions for allocation of funds, demonstration projects, and the like. Many may be worthwhile. However, included in the legislation is a provision authorizing the secretary of Agriculture to regulate school fundraising bake sales to ensure that they are infrequent and that the goodies sold are nutritionally acceptable. Far from innocuous, that is yet another distasteful and unnecessary intrusion of the federal government into our daily lives. Taking a bite out of crime... Armed environmental police shut down ice cream stand. Armed environmental police officers shut down a popular long-running ice cream stand in Massachusetts over the weekend and stood guard to make sure potential customers were turned away. The officers claimed that the operator had failed to secure construction permits to make improvements to the stand. But operator Mark Duffy, who has leased the property from the state for 26 years, says that he has never been required to get permits to make improvements. Bake sale ban in Massachusetts sparks outcries over 'food police'. A bake-sale ban in Massachusetts schools, designed to combat youth obesity, has spawned a sort of nationwide food fight. The crackdown on cookies is being met with a widespread criticism from bloggers, parents, and students who see it as a case of government gone too far. Turning brownies into contraband, they say, is the latest sign of a burgeoning "nanny state" that doesn't know its proper limits. Teenager not allowed to sell hot dogs now homeless. Nathan Duszynski, a 13-year-old whose hot dog cart was shut down by city officials in Holland, Mich., is now homeless, along with his disabled parents. Nathan had saved up money for a hot dog cart to help his parents pay their bills. His mother suffers from epilepsy and his father suffers from multiple sclerosis, limiting their ability to work. Cops believe their computer terminals, no matter what they say What is the Post Office scandal? The [British] Post Office had prosecution powers and, between 1999 and 2015, it prosecuted 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses — an average of one a week — based on information from a computer accounting system called Horizon. Another 283 cases were brought by other bodies including the Crown Prosecution Service. Some went to prison for false accounting and theft. Many were financially ruined, even though they had repeatedly highlighted problems with the software. After 20 years, campaigners won a legal battle to have their cases reconsidered. To date only 93 convictions have been overturned. Under government plans, victims will be able to sign a form to say they are innocent, in order to have their convictions overturned and claim compensation. Man was arrested, held for six days over faulty facial recognition tech: lawsuit. A black man visiting his mother in Atlanta was wrongfully arrested and held for six days after facial recognition technology incorrectly identified him as a fraudster and thief in Louisiana, according to the latest lawsuit aimed against the controversial tech. Randal Quran Reid, 29, was visiting his mother on Thanksgiving last year when DeKalb County police pulled him over, claiming he had two arrest warrants against him for crimes in Jefferson and East Baton Rouge Parishes, according to the lawsuit filed in Atlanta federal court in September. "I was confused and I was angry because I didn't know what was going on," Quran told the AP, as he tried to explain to the officers that he has never even been to Louisiana. Woman Sues City For Arresting Her While Pregnant Based On False Facial Recognition. A woman sued the city of Detroit following her arrest while eight months pregnant based on an alleged false facial recognition match, according to several reports. Porcha Woodruff, 32, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, alleging wrongful arrest, The New York Times (NYT) reported. Woodruff was arrested for robbery and carjacking back in February while eight months pregnant and getting her two daughters ready for school, per The NYT. Woodruff, a licensed aesthetician and nursing school student, reportedly asked the officers, "Are you kidding?" given her state of pregnancy. The carjacking victim had reportedly picked up a woman on the street and had sex with her in a liquor store parking lot. Afterwards, the victim allegedly gave up his car at gunpoint at a gas station to a man who was allegedly waiting to pick up the same woman, The NYT noted. Facial Recognition Software Leads to Mistaken Arrest of Georgia Man. Anyone who has ever seen a Hollywood dystopian action flick knows that the more automated life becomes, the closer we are to huddling in giant, underground cities while an elite few humans battle the machines for dominance of the planet. When it comes to law enforcement activities, the use of artificial intelligence takes on a particularly sinister feel. [...] One Georgia man recently discovered the dark side of facial recognition technology when he was arrested on a warrant from Louisiana. Randall Reid, 28, was picked up in DeKalb County, Georgia, last November. Authorities had connected him to a string of purse thefts in Jefferson Parish and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Randall insisted he'd never been to Louisiana in his life, and didn't even know what "Jefferson Parish" was. He couldn't have done it. The problem is, the computer said he did. Whistleblowers: Software Bug Keeping Hundreds Of Inmates In Arizona Prisons Beyond Release Dates. According to Arizona Department of Corrections whistleblowers, hundreds of incarcerated people who should be eligible for release are being held in prison because the inmate management software cannot interpret current sentencing laws. KJZZ is not naming the whistleblowers because they fear retaliation. The employees said they have been raising the issue internally for more than a year, but prison administrators have not acted to fix the software bug. The sources said Chief Information Officer Holly Greene and Deputy Director Joe Profiri have been aware of the problem since 2019. The Arizona Department of Corrections confirmed there is a problem with the software. Colonie mom spent three days in jail due to 'clerical error'. It began as a minor dispute over a free pizza. But when the police got involved, a Colonie mother ended up in handcuffs and thrown in jail for three nights due to a "clerical error" on an arrest warrant that should have listed her ex-boyfriend. A Mother Spends a Week in Jail, Is Fired From Her Job, and Temporarily Loses Her Kids After a Police Mix-Up. Aberdeen, Ohio, police are searching for two people accused of trafficking heroin and fentanyl and possessing drug paraphernalia. They identified two suspects a Facebook post on the department's page, including a woman named Ashley Foster. About a week after making the post, a deputy in Hamilton County found an Ashley Foster outside of a Target. It was the wrong woman. FOX 19 reports that the warrant used to arrest the wrong Foster contained the correct picture, birthday, and Social Security number, but had the wrong address. Though Foster insisted that the officers were mistaken, she was still handcuffed. Her two sons were in the vehicle and Foster said that she was not allowed to feed or change her 8-week-old as he cried. Child protective services took her children after the arrest. Peninsula woman battles DMV over alleged false conviction. Maryann Raab says she hasn't been to Florida since 1977, yet the DMV claims it has proof she was convicted of DUI there in 2005 and as a result suspended her driver's license last month. Innocent Man Stuck With 100 Parking Tickets. After two years, innocent man is still fighting parking tickets incorrectly issued because of a personalized license plate. In the two years since San Carlos resident Nick Vautier moved to California's San Francisco Bay Area, he has received over a hundred parking tickets worth $3000. He is not responsible for a single one of them, but several jurisdictions continue to prosecute him without ever having established any guilt. Elderly Woman Slammed in the Slammer. In a very sad story, 78-year-old Garland resident Betty Smith related her horrendous tale of woe to Dallas County Commissioners at their January 9th meeting. Her story of abuse by the Dallas County judicial system and Sheriff's Department began when she was awakened by knocks on the door at 4:00 one morning. The officer told her she was being arrested for illegally ordering a duplicate copy of her driver's license. Never mind that Ms Smith's car had been carjacked not long ago, along with her purse and personal belongings, including her driver's license. [...] On the way to jail, the deputy told her that her record indicated that she had committed a homicide in Arizona. Wyoming woman arrested on false federal charges. Hope Clarke was put in handcuffs on a bench warrant for failing to put away her marshmallows and hot chocolate while staying at Yellowstone National Park last year. Federal agents apparently blindly relied on a computer database, even though the court had a copy of the citation showing she had paid. Proof that the minimum wage is too high: Computer snafu is behind at least 50 'raids' on Brooklyn couple's home. Blame it on a computer. Embarrassed cops on Thursday [3/18/2010] cited a "computer glitch" as the reason police targeted the home of an elderly, law-abiding couple more than 50 times in futile hunts for bad guys. Homeland Security sifts through internet traffic looking for "suspicious" words. Fraudster escapes from one of Britain's most secure prisons by forging letter granting him bail. Neil Moore, 28, crafted an elaborate ruse to dupe wardens into believing he had been given bail by the court before brazenly walking out of Wandsworth jail in south London where he was being held for a £1.8 million fraud. Cops believe their polygraph machines, no matter what they say EU border 'lie detector' system criticised as pseudoscience. The EU has been accused of promoting pseudoscience after announcing plans for a "smart lie-detection system" at its busiest borders in an attempt to identify illegal migrants. The "lie detector", to be trialled in Hungary, Greece and Latvia, involves the use of a computer animation of a border guard, personalised to the traveller's gender, ethnicity and language, asking questions via a webcam. The "deception detection" system will analyse the micro-expressions of those seeking to enter EU territory to see if they are being truthful about their personal background and intentions. Those arriving at the border will be required to have uploaded pictures of their passport, visa and proof of funds. According to an article published by the European commission, the "unique approach to 'deception detection' analyses the micro-expressions of travellers to figure out if the interviewee is lying". Christina Blasey Ford's Polygraph Was [Suspicious]. The fact that Christine Blasey Ford's lawyers refused to release the results of her polygraph exam until the day before her testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee last month caused some suspicion. And when we finally got a look at them, a lot of Judge Kavanaugh's supporters were confirmed in their suspicions. [...] Even if Ford's exam had been entirely on the up and up, despite the credence most people give them, polygraph tests are something of a joke among serious research psychologists. The American Psychological Association will tell anyone who cares to listen (which unfortunately isn't many) that "most psychologists and other scientists agree that there is little basis for [their] validity." The APA has such a dim view of the procedure in part because, though research indicates that a polygraph exam can detect deception better than chance, there's still a significant likelihood of error. And doing better than flipping a coin isn't all that great when someone's reputation is on the line. The Truth About Polygraph Tests. News organizations would render a valuable service if, whenever they report that someone has taken or proposes to take a polygraph, they reminded readers (or explained to them) that polygraphs are voodoo. Junk science. They are no more reliable than a pack of Tarot cards. Polygraph evidence is inadmissible in court. There is a good reason for that. [...] The only value of a lie-detector test is as an interrogation tool — if you're dealing with someone who believes in it. But it's insanity to rely on it. People can be trained not to crack upon interrogation. If the polygraph is administered by someone friendly, there will be no interrogation. How to Beat a Polygraph Test. "A polygraph is nothing more than a psychological billy club used to coerce and intimidate people," says Doug Williams, a former Oklahoma City police detective and polygraph examiner who for 36 years has trained people to pass the lie-detector test. The first step is not to be intimidated. The Polygraph Has Been Lying for 80 Years. Eighty years ago, Leonarde Keeler's lie detector made its debut in court. Decades later, we're still paying the price for his con job. DEA settles suit alleging government lie-detector abuses. The Drug Enforcement Administration has agreed to pay 14 contractors $500,000 to settle a lawsuit that accuses the agency of illegally requiring them to undergo highly intrusive lie detector tests to keep their jobs as translators. The settlement appears to be the first time that a federal government agency has settled allegations involving contractors' lie detector tests since a 1988 law banned the use of polygraph screening for most private employees, said a lawyer for the group. Seeing threats, feds target instructors of polygraph-beating methods. [Scroll down] The federal government previously treated such instructors only as nuisances, partly because the polygraph-beating techniques are unproven. Instructors have openly advertised and discussed their techniques online, in books and on national television. As many as 30 people or businesses across the country claim in Web advertisements that they can teach someone how to beat a polygraph test, according to U.S. government estimates. How accurate are lie-detector tests? [Scroll down] If polygraphs are so fallible, why use them at all? In part because testing can intimidate people into confessing, deter bad behavior, and create an impression (however misleading) of vigilance. In other words: security theater. The Truth About Lie Detectors (aka Polygraph Tests). The accuracy (i.e., validity) of polygraph testing has long been controversial. An underlying problem is theoretical: There is no evidence that any pattern of physiological reactions is unique to deception. The truth about lie detectors. The county prosecutors offered Buzz a deal: they would drop all charges if he agreed to take a polygraph — a lie detector test — to prove his innocence. Convinced the whole episode was one big mistake, Buzz readily agreed. He took two tests but both suggested he was lying about his innocence. This, along with circumstantial evidence, sealed his 1979 conviction and he spent two-and-a-half years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. 'Elephant in the Room' Ignored by Prosecutor After Conviction of 'Beat the Polygraph' Instructor. As someone who spent much of the past four years conducting an exhaustive investigation of the U.S. Government's use of credibility assessment technologies, including the polygraph, I didn't expect MacBride to mention the proverbial "elephant in the room" — that is, the fact so many countermeasures exist to make it possible for any individual to "beat" or pass a polygraph exam. And he didn't. Indiana Man Sentenced to Prison for Teaching People How to Beat Polygraph Exams. Eight months in prison. That was the sentence handed down to Chad Dixon today by a federal court judge in Alexandria, Va. His crime? Teaching people — in particular, government job applicants — how to beat polygraph exams. The Editor says... The polygraph is merely a psychological rubber hose, not a way of detecting deception. [T]here is nothing in the polygraph procedure that can discriminate between nervousness caused by anxiety in the innocent in response to a question, and nervousness caused by fear of getting caught in a lie in the guilty. The Lie Behind the Lie Detector. The polygraph pens don't do a special dance when a person lies. The polygrapher scores the test by comparing physiological responses (breathing, blood pressure, heart, and perspiration rates) to these probable-lie control questions with reactions to relevant questions such as, "Did you ever commit an act of espionage against the United States?" (commonly asked in security screening). [...] If responses to both "control" and relevant questions are about the same, the result is deemed inconclusive. The curious story of how the lie detector came to be. Ninety years after its invention, the polygraph still has not been accepted by the scientific, legal or political communities. "The whole process smacks of 20th Century witchcraft," said Senator Sam Ervin, who died in 1985. It does not help that every now and again serious criminals trick the polygraph. In 2003, Gary Ridgway admitted he was the Green River Killer, having murdered 49 women in the Seattle area. Ridgway had passed a lie detector test in 1987, while another man — who turned out to be innocent — failed. Please refrain from defending your own life and property Arkansas Dad Arrested After Shooting Alleged Kidnapper of His 14-Year-Old Daughter. The father of an allegedly kidnapped 14-year-old girl is in jail in Lonoke County, Arkansas, after a shooting that left the reported kidnapper dead. The father said he found the man with his daughter, and a confrontation broke out as he tried to rescue her. Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley said in a Facebook post that his deputies received a call on October 8 about a missing 14-year-old girl. As the deputies were en route to the home of the missing girl, they received a call regarding a shooting. Helene and the totalitarian urge. [Scroll down] Sadly, we live in a Twilight Zone where, particularly in blue states, citizens are more likely to be prosecuted than the predators that force them to shoot. Even when a hurricane instantly reduces Americans to a state of nature, they can't be certain government won't arrest them for legitimately protecting their lives and property from bands of feral looters. As appalled Americans know, this state of nature exists in blue states where gangs, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, loot jewelry and other stores in broad daylight. Security guards, and the police, simply stand by knowing if they use any force against criminals, and worse, should they shoot one, they'll be in jail and ruined while looters never see the inside of a cell. With each theft, the foundations of civilization are chipped away. What are citizens, whose lives have been overturned, who stand, trying to protect what few possessions they have left, to do? There are no communications, no water, little or no food. The roads and bridges are out, and even if they could call the police, the police aren't coming. The minutes — under ideal circumstances — it would normally take for a police response, are now days, even weeks. NC Business Owner Says Local Police Threatened To Arrest Her For Trying To Retrieve Items Not Destroyed At Her Own Business. A business owner recounts how law enforcement in Asheville, North Carolina, threatened her with arrest simply for trying to retrieve items from her own business. She explains that she was attempting to salvage whatever was left before looters could come and take everything. [Video clip] Outrage Ensues After Veteran Attacked by Hamas Supporter Criminally Charged for Defending Himself. As RedState reported on Thursday evening, an Iraq war veteran named Scott Hayes was violently attacked by a Hamas supporter during a pro-Israel protest. The attacker was captured on video starting a verbal altercation by yelling across a street about "genocide" while making a false claim that 200,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza. He then charged through traffic and violently tackled the veteran. A scuffle ensued with the Hamas supporter attempting to punch the victim in the head. At that point, the veteran discharged a single shot from a pistol he was concealed carrying. The Hamas supporter was reported to be in stable condition, the incident appeared to be a clear-cut case of self-defense. 77-year-old Oakland homeowner arrested on suspicion of murder after fatally shooting robbery suspect: Report. A77-year-old Oakland homeowner was arrested on suspicion of murder after fatally shooting a robbery suspect earlier this week, KTVU-TV reported. The station said it's unclear whether the homeowner, whom KTVU isn't naming, will be formally charged or whether the homeowner was justified in the fatal shooting on self-defense grounds. Authorities said two men and a woman in a stolen Infiniti Q40 pulled up to a residence in the area of 98th Avenue and Burr Street in East Oakland just before 6 p.m. Monday, the station said. A witness told police the trio went on to the property, and one of the men had a crowbar, KTVU reported, adding that the witness then heard a gunshot. According to the East Bay Times, a witness saw the trio breaking into the man's house. Neighbors told the station they heard multiple gunshots in the area of 98th Avenue and Burr Street. 77-Year-Old Man Is Arrested For Murder After Killing A Robber Breaking Into His Home. A 77-year-old California homeowner was arrested on suspicion of murder after fatally shooting a suspected robber attempting to break into his home with two others. Two men and a woman arrived at the homeowner's East Oakland residence in a stolen Infiniti Q40. A witness reported that one of the men was carrying a crowbar before a gunshot was heard. [Video clip] Thousands Call on Queens D.A. to Drop Felony Charges Against Armed Store Owner. Francisco Valerio is still facing the possibility of serving seven years in a state prison after accidentally shooting one of two men who tried to steal from his liquor store, but thousands of people from New York and beyond are rallying to his defense and demanding Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz drop the charges he's currently facing. Valerio was fighting one of the suspects who had gone after Valerio's brother when the pistol in his hand discharged, injuring the suspect. Valerio was arrested on felony charges of reckless endangerment and assault; more serious charges than either of the two men who allegedly tried to steal from the shop before assaulting Valerio and his brother. Man Is Charged For Chasing His Own Stolen Truck While Prosecutors Downgrade The Thugs Charges In Washington. Aaron Babcock chased his stolen truck while law enforcement watched due to current laws. He has been charged with misdemeanor reckless driving and is scheduled to appear in court on May 13 in Eatonville, Washington. Pierce County deputies said Aaron Babcock ran two red lights during the pursuit. The suspect Kiliona Hunkin, 28, was initially charged with stealing a vehicle, failure to obey, reckless driving, duty in case of damage to the attended vehicle or property, and duty on striking an unattended vehicle. The prosecutor's office later amended the charges to second-degree vehicle theft. [Video clip] Arizona Man on Trial for Shooting Illegal Immigrant Walking Through His Property. A legal battle has begun in Nogales, Arizona, that captures the essence of the nation's border crisis. A 75-year-old rancher is facing charges of second-degree murder and aggravated assault after he fatally shot Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, a 48-year-old illegal immigrant who passed through his property while trying to gain entry into the country. [...] The group of illegals, including Cuen-Buitimea, had turned around after seeing Border Patrol agents as they attempted to make it into the country. They wandered through Kelly's property on their way back to Mexico. This is where the shooting occurred. This is a tragic case highlighting the negative impact the border crisis has had on everyday Americans. The proceedings come just weeks after the murder of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student in Georgia, at the hands of an illegal immigrant. Kelly, like many others living in border towns, appears to have experienced the same fears with people walking through their property from Mexico. These regions have become hotbeds for cartel activity as they smuggle and traffic humans across the southern border. Amazon driver fends off attack from drunk, naked NYC migrant — and ends up in cuffs. A Big Apple Amazon driver said he had to slam a naked and drunk migrant in the head with a snowball to keep the deranged asylum seeker from making off with his packages — only to find himself in handcuffs. The migrant, identified by police sources as Yeison Sanchez, 26, was allegedly stumbling drunk and clutching a beer bottle when the Amazon driver said he caught him red-handed trying to make off with packages he was delivering in Clinton Hill around 4:45 p.m. on Sunday. That's when things got out of hand. "I was unloading my stuff, and a guy — he was like a pervert, he had his penis out," the driver, who asked that he only be identified as Abu, told The [New York] Post on Monday. Porch pirates deserve privacy, police warn not to post pictures. Police officers are urging Canadians not to publicly share home security footage of porch pirate mail thieves, claiming it could be a violation of their privacy rights and defamatory. Quebec provincial police (SQ) communications officer Lt. Benoit Richard told citizens "You cannot post the images yourself because you have to remember, in Canada, we have a presumption of innocence." Instead, Richard suggested calling 911 if anything was stolen. "We'll do the investigation, bring that person to justice and file some charges," he added. Texas Woman Facing Eviction After Using Firearm To Shoot Intruder. A Forth Worth, Texas woman says she is facing eviction from her federally subsidized home due to using a firearm to defend her family against an intruder. The woman, Aleah Wallace, says she saw the outline of a person attempting to open her 8-year-old daughter's bedroom window. She says this was the second time in 24 hours that she was the target of an attempted home invasion. Wallace used her firearm to shoot the suspect who wound up being a 14-year-old male. The teenager died of his injuries. Wallace says she is sorry that the person wound up being 14, but she did what she did what was necessary to defend her four daughters. Her children range in age from 2 to 9. Legal experts say it is illegal for landlords in Texas to enforce an anti-firearm rule on tenants. Wallace faces no charges for the shooting. Jewish NYC Councilwoman Inna Vernikov arrested for carrying gun at pro-Palestinian rally. Republican Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov was arrested Friday [10/13/2023] after she was spotted toting a firearm at a pro-Palestinian rally on Thursday, resulting in calls for her to be removed from office. The councilwoman, who is Jewish and has spoken out against pro-Palestinian supporters, was in attendance as protesters convened on the campus of CUNY's Brooklyn College Thursday afternoon. Vernikov, 39, was seen "with the butt-end of a firearm protruding from the front portion of her pants" while observing the protest between noon and 2:45 p.m. Thursday, police sources told The [New York] Post. She turned herself in to the 70th Precinct with her lawyer shortly before 3 a.m. Friday. Man tells cops he tracked down teens he accused of stealing his car, shot them both amid confrontation — then police arrest and charge him. Houston police said they arrested a 22-year-old man who indicated he tracked down a pair of teens he accused of stealing his car and then shot them both amid a confrontation. Addrian Nicolas Garcia told investigators two males stole his vehicle from his residence, and he shot them both amid a confrontation around 5:50 p.m. Tuesday after he tracked them down in the area of the 8200 block of Gulck Lane, Major Assaults & Family Violence Division Detective Q. Nguyen said. Officers responded to the scene and found two juveniles had been struck by gunfire, police said. The juveniles, both 15 years old, were taken to area hospitals in critical but stable condition, police said, adding that they are expected to survive. Garcia remained at the scene, police said. Following further investigation and consultation with the Harris County District Attorney's Office, Garcia was charged with two counts of aggravated assault-serious bodily injury in the 248th State District Court, police said. When Americans Do the Job Their Police Won't Do. Recent instances of Vermont store-goers detaining and even assaulting would-be thieves reveal growing societal tensions seeded by progressive policies. Vermont's law enforcement services are anemic due to anti-police rhetoric, racialization of courts, and lax prosecutorial policies. Vermont is not enforcing basic criminal laws, as gang-related violence and property crimes transform communities, drug overdoses skyrocket, and businesses are compromised. Citizens are tired of being victimized by government failure: many are taking matters into their own hands. Punishing 'Hate' but Not Criminals. [Scroll down] To use an extreme but hardly inconceivable possibility, a local Progressive district attorney would likely dismiss charges against those robbing a 7-11 convenience store or at least reduce the offense to a minor infraction without jail time. But if the clerk shadows a young black who enters the store ("racial profiling") and waves around a baseball bat, he might be accused of race-based hatred. Thus, at least for the Progressive D.A., the clerk, not the would-be miscreants, must be punished. And this would occur even if the clerk did not physically injure the would-be thief or bar him from entering the store. In fact, woe to the clerk if he shoots that would-be black shoplifter in self-defense. The victim (the shopkeeper) now becomes the criminal while the shoplifter is transformed into the victim thanks to hate crime laws. [...] In the above hypothetical, the situation would be totally reversed if the would-be criminal were a rich white male and the clerk a black lesbian. Note that existing anti-hate laws have no provision for crime committed against whites due to hatred of whites, though such animus surely exists. Seattle law enforcement tells citizens to give criminals 'whatever they're looking for'. Seattle, like many American cities long controlled by Democrats, is experiencing significant police shortages and rising crime rates — especially large increases in staged carjackings. What does law enforcement suggest citizens do in these trying times? Sheriff David Robinson recommends that "they give up their car keys" and give the criminals "whatever they're looking for." That's the spirit! Just surrender to evil! It's the New American Way! Sikh Man Who Turned the Tables on Shoplifter Facing Criminal Charges. As RedState reported, a Sikh convenience store owner turned the tables on a shoplifter as he attempted to get away with thousands of dollars of stolen merchandise. The viral scene unfolded in California, showing a man shoveling entire shelves worth of tobacco and other products into a trash can while taunting the owner with proclamations that "there's nothing you can do." The shoplifter quickly learned that wasn't true, though, as he was tackled to the ground and beaten with a rod. [Tweet with video clip] Braveheart 7-Eleven shopkeepers could face action for defending their shop against an armed thug. [Scroll down] In a functioning society, the shop owners and their employees would have been felicitated for rising against lawless elements. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, they were doing the job that taxpayers pay law enforcement to do. Secondly, by giving the thugs his deserved comeuppance, they probably deterred him from repeating a similar offense. But in California, things don't quite operate that way. KCRA-TV reported that Stockton police said they are investigating the "assault of a 7-Eleven robbery suspect by two workers." Update: Update on the 7-Eleven Clerks Who Brought the Smack Down on Robber. The 7-Eleven clerks who were seen in a viral video stopping and beating a shoplifter, who threatened to kill them and has robbed the location before, are now being investigated by Stockton Police for assault. KCRA reports the shoplifter stole cigarettes on July 28 and threatened the clerk he would shoot him if he intervened. On July 29 at the same 7-Eleven, a worker said the suspect demanded money at the store while simulating that he had a handgun. When the worker didn't comply, the suspect grabbed food items and put them in a garbage bag before leaving. The suspect came back later that same day to steal even more cigarettes, this time using a garbage can to take more at once, and started to rob the place when the workers beat him with a large pole or stick. He's Facing Life in Prison for Owning Firearms Without a License. A New York City man is facing a mound of criminal charges and a sentence that would amount to life in prison after he shot and killed a man who, according to surveillance footage, was attempting to mug him. The kicker: The government appears to agree with the defendant, Charles Foehner, on at least one major point: that the shooting was justified. Indeed, prosecutors have not attempted to indict Foehner, 65, on any homicide-related charge. The counts he's facing — there were reportedly more than two dozen of them at his arraignment — are related to criminal possession of various weapons, after police searched his apartment and found that only some of his firearms are licensed with the state. In other words, he is staring down decades behind bars for having guns that didn't have the proper stamp of approval from bureaucrats, despite the government conceding that the practical use of his weapon — in service of protecting his life — was defensible. Now, TWO men who've stepped in to protect others on NYC subway have been arrested. Twitter tempers are boiling over in response to the arrests of New York City subway riders Daniel Penny and Jordan Williams, both of whom were forced to defend themselves and others against crazed threats from fellow riders with long rap sheets. "Both men were on the Subway when a lunatic started making violent threats. Both men stepped in to save the passengers and themselves. Both men get thrown in jail by New York DAs on manslaughter charges," the popular End Wokeness account tweeted. "Free Daniel Penny. Free Jordan Williams." Man who shot NYC mugger arraigned on multiple gun charges, held on $50K bail. The Queens man accused of gunning down a would-be mugger earlier this week was arraigned Friday on dozens of gun charges related to the weapon he used in the incident and for allegedly stockpiling illegal firearms in his apartment. Charles Foehner, 65, was slapped with 25 counts of criminal possession of a weapon for using an unlicensed gun to fatally blast mugger Cody Gonzalez, 32, in the chest in a Kew Gardens driveway Wednesday — and for allegedly keeping an arsenal of illicit handguns, revolvers and rifles at this home in the quiet neighborhood. In a confession, Foehner allegedly told authorities he was packing the illegal pistol in question to protect himself as New York City crime rates soar, Assistant District Attorney Joseph Randazzo said in court. Alvin Bragg to New Yorkers: don't get involved. Suppose I deliver a solid punch to the aggressor's head and, even though a punch is not reasonably expected to result in death or serious injury unless it is directed at a smaller and weaker person, he falls the wrong way, hits his head on the pavement, and dies. Then, even though I've just stopped a violent crime, I get charged with a felony in response to demands from leftists who think criminals have the right to do whatever they want to whoever they want. Now my freedom is at risk for trying to do the right thing, and I am likely to incur six figures in legal costs. Daniel Penny, man who choked subway rider Jordan Neely, to face manslaughter charge: DA. Daniel Penny turned himself in to New York City police on Friday to face criminal charges in connection with the chokehold death of Jordan Neely aboard a subway train. Penny, 24, was seen walking in to the New York City Police Department's 5th Precinct in Chinatown shortly after 8 a.m. ET. He's expected to appear in court Friday afternoon. We Must Defend Self-Defense. Their wicked plan is perfectly obvious — to criminalize normal people and normalize criminals. Thieves, bums, losers, junkies, whores, and other trash — they are the heroes in this morally bankrupt morality play, and we normals are the villains. The first step to fighting back is to see the truth, and the truth is right there. You just have to be hard enough to accept it and to not allow them to leverage your empathy or compassion into tolerating having to be afraid as some sort of price you owe for the crime of not being a lowlife. They want us, quiet, complacent, and obedient. They want a society where we live in fear. NY Governor says there's no right to self-defense. It's hard to find any other interpretation of Gov. Kathy Hochul's latest statement about the death of Jordan Neely; the mentally disturbed New York man who died after being placed in a chokehold by a Marine veteran on a NYC subway after allegedly threatening passengers. Hochul's been taking heat from progressive activists for not immediately condemning the veteran and convicting him in the court of public opinion, as well as for her first statement after the incident, in which she vaguely spoke about "consequences for behavior". It was unclear whether Hochul was talking about Neely or the veteran, but in her attempt to clarify her earlier remarks she also made it clear that she doesn't think self-defense is ever justified. Manhattanites are again reminded that self-defense is illegal. Manhattan under D.A. Alvin Bragg is Bizarro World. It's not just that this out-of-control politician indicted Donald Trump for a non-crime; it's also that he's making self-defense illegal for ordinary citizens. Last July in Manhattan, a video captured a thug brutally stabbing Jose Alba, a Manhattan bodega clerk. Alba, defending himself, proved to be the more effective fighter, leaving the thug dead. It was a textbook case of self-defense, so Alvin Bragg and his team charged Alba with murder and sent him to Rikers Island. Only a public outcry saved Alba from the maw of Braggs' criminal injustice system. Update: Bragg brings murder charges against man who shot thief who shot him first. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is really making a name for himself on a national level, likely much to his eventual regret. After convincing a grand jury to bring preposterous charges against Donald Trump, Bragg had to find something to keep himself busy until Tuesday, and a New York garage attendant named Moussa Diarra offered him that opportunity. Diarra was working the overnight shift yesterday when he spotted Charles Rhodie rooting around the garage with a bag, apparently attempting to steal some of the tools and equipment in the garage. Diarra confronted Rhodie and demanded to inspect the bag. Instead of complying, Rhodie pulled a gun from the bag and shot Diarra twice, once in the stomach, with the second shot grazing his head. Despite his injuries, Diarra wrested the gun away from Rhodie and shot him in return. So what did Bragg do about it? Obviously, he charged the garage attendant with attempted murder. Rancher, 73, is charged with murder on his Arizona land after shooting dead Mexican, 48, who had history of illegal crossings into US and multiple deportations. An Arizona rancher has been charged with first-degree murder and had his bail set at a whopping $1million for fatally shooting a Mexican citizen on his property. George Alan Kelly, 73, was arrested following the January 30 fatal shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, 48, on his ranch in Kino Springs, just a mile and a half north of the US-Mexico border. Authorities are still investigating the fatal shooting, with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's chief deputy saying it does not appear that Kelly knew Cuen-Butimea ahead of the shooting. Art Gallery Owner Who Was Caught On Video Spraying A Homeless Person Sleeping In Front Of His Business Is Arrested. The San Francisco art gallery owner who was filmed hosing down an unhoused person last week has been arrested, according to police. The San Francisco District Attorney's Office issued an arrest warrant for Collier Gwin on Wednesday afternoon. Gwin has been charged with misdemeanor battery for the alleged "intentional and unlawful spraying of water on and around a woman experiencing homelessness," DA Brooke Jenkins tweeted. [Video clip] New Jersey Bus Driver Gets Assaulted By Thugs, Pulls Gun And Shoots, Gets Arrested For Protecting Himself. A New Jersey Transit bus driver was arrested after allegedly shooting at several teenagers and critically injuring one of them after an altercation in Jersey City on Saturday night. Charles Fieros, 48, of Staten Island, was "outside the bus when he retrieved an illegal handgun and shot at the group of males who had allegedly assaulted him," Jersey City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said, adding that the weapon recovered by Jersey City police came back as stolen. The injured teen, a 15-year-old, arrived at a local hospital by taxi with three gunshot wounds to the abdomen and is in critical but stable condition, Wallace-Scalcione said. [Video clip] Baltimore police arrest 'good guy with the gun' who stopped armed attacker. After Marine veteran Lloyd Muldrow stopped an attack by an armed assailant at a Baltimore bar, police officers thanked him — and then they arrested him. Now the Good Samaritan credited with saving a man's life faces up to a year in prison, charged with violating a city ordinance that forbids bringing handguns within 100 feet of a public building, even though he neutralized the attack without drawing his pistol. Mr. Muldrow, a North Carolina security specialist, holds a concealed weapons permit, but it was issued in Virginia, not Maryland. Even so, he has no intention of accepting a plea deal when he appears at his Oct. 31 hearing in Baltimore Circuit Court. Man Tried To Rob Another Man By Gunpoint, However, The Man Being Robbed Also Had A Gun. During an attempted robbery at Ryan Howard Jersey store in Philadelphia, the would-be robber received instant justice and was killed. As a man tried to get money out of an ATM just after 1 a.m., another man walked into the store and announced a robbery, police said. Police believe the victim then took out his own gun and shoot the would-be robber who died. Police are now looking for the victim and they would like to charge him because of Pennsylvania's stand your ground rule. Mom who ran into Uvalde school during shooting to save her kids said police were more aggressive with her than the shooter. The mother who ran into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, during the recent mass shooting there told a news crew this week that police officers were "more aggressive" in trying to prevent her from entering than they were with the shooting suspect. The woman, Angeli Gomez, told the CBS News crew interviewing her that after rushing to the scene and seeing that responding officers were taking up positions along the school's perimeter even while gunshots were ringing out inside a classroom, she told police she was going inside to retrieve her two sons. Continuing, she said that officers told her she could not go inside and handcuffed her for a short time. After marshals removed her handcuffs at the direction of Ulvade police, she bolted over a fence and into the school, eventually returning with her sons. Uvalde mom handcuffed by 'coward' cops for trying to rush inside school and save her kids says police threatened her if she spoke to media. A mom who was handcuffed by cops for trying to save her children during the Texas school shooting has blasted police for threatening her for talking to the media. Angeli Rose Gomez slammed officers for warning her with a probation violation for obstruction of justice over her interviews with journalists. She said she was called by an officer who said she would be hit with legal trouble over a charge against her from over a decade ago. Mother trying to save children at Uvalde was handcuffed by federal marshals. After it was revealed on Thursday that not only did police delay their response to sending tactical teams into the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex. amid a school shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead but prevented parents from entering, the Wall Street Journal reported that one mother sprinted into the school to get her children, over objections from law enforcement. Angeli Rose Gomez drove 40 miles to the school upon hearing of the shooting, and she arrived, said "The police were doing nothing. They were just standing outside the fence. They weren't going in there or running anywhere." Fourth
Circuit: A Person has a Right to Come to the Door with a Firearm. On March 30, 2022, a three judge panel
of the Fourth Circuit published an opinion in the case of Knibbs v Momphard. The Court found for the Estate of Knibbs,
which is suing Deputy Momphard of the Macon County Sheriff's Department. It was a split opinion, for the Knibbs
Estate. Important precedents involving firearms and the Second Amendment are solidified by this opinion, which cites
several previous cases. The Constitutional Amendment primarily cited is the Fourth Amendment. However, the
citation to the Fourth relies on the Second Amendment, which includes the possession of a firearm in the home for self
defense. This author sees the important issues in this case, clarified by the March 30 opinion, as:
Car Owner Booby-Traps His Truck So When These Thieves Show Up, They Got A Big Surprise. A Metairie man rigged a flashbang to deter people from breaking into his truck, and the incident was caught on video. The man who rigged the flash bang said he understands this wasn't the best way to go about deterring car burglaries, but was frustrated with how often his truck was broken into it. He rigged a flash-bang inside his truck that would trigger if someone broke in. Surveillance shows that the flashbang went off while someone broke into his truck in New Orleans. [...] NOPD released the following statement about the incident: "While we understand the frustrations our citizens have with crime, rigging an explosive device to detonate inside a vehicle is illegal and a bad idea.["] Somewhat related: [Black] Creep Sexually Harasses Two [White] Women, One Woman Pulls A Knife To Warn Him Away, Both Women Get Arrested. Police arrested the two females after it was determined by police they got into a verbal argument with a male victim over political matters according to Sgt. Emil Brimway of the Burbank Police Department. "During the argument, one of the females pushed the victim. The second female then pulled a knife and walked toward the victim. The victim and suspects then separated without further incident. No injuries were sustained to the victim," according to Brimway[.] He identified the suspects as 21-year-old Miranda Marinch from North Hollywood who was arrested and booked for 417(a)(1) PC — Exhibiting a deadly weapon. The second suspect was later identified as 26-year-old Melissa Gutirerrez from Van Nuys who was arrested and booked for 242 PC — Battery. [Video clip] Trump supporter pulls a gun on ANTIFA rioter who tried to smash his truck's windows during clash between rival groups. This is the moment a Trump supporter pulled a gun on rock-throwing Antifa protesters after they vandalized his truck and maced him during a rally near the Oregon Capitol. Footage captured the demonstrators spraying paint across the windshield of the man's truck and smashing the tail lights in Salem on Sunday [3/28/2021]. The driver, who was wearing an American flag sweatshirt, stepped out of his vehicle as he engaged with the protesters, who then appeared to mace him. The video then shows him pulling out his gun and pointing it at the anti-fascist protesters. [...] As police arrived, the man could be seen putting his gun into the back of his truck before putting his hands up and kneeling on the ground. The man was rubbing his eyes as the officer approached to arrest him. ANTIFA Terrorists Throw Paint On Elderly Man's Car, Pepper Spray Him, Smash His Windows, Man Pulls Gun To Protect Himself, Salem Cop Arrests Elderly Man. One thing has been made crystal clear by those who run Oregon: STAY [...] OUT OF OREGON. That is if you are one that believes in freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of not being assaulted at random, equal protections, those sorts of things. This elderly man in Salam found out, none of those thing apply to him as ANTIFA terrorists destroyed his pickup for the crime of flying a flag off the rear bumper. The gentleman's car first had paint tossed on it. When he got out of the truck, he was pepper-sprayed, and then his passenger side window was smashed out. At this point, the elderly man pulls a gun to get the mob away from his vehicle. Now at this point of the story, you would have figured the cops, who were standing just about 50 feet away would have arrested a bunch of Black Blocheads but no, this cop pulls his gun and aims it at the victim, arrested the old man. [Video clip] Also posted under Violence and hate speech come from the left. Update: Additional update: The Left's Campaign Against Self-Defense. The case of journalist Michael Strickland is emblematic: he was found guilty by an Oregon court for defending himself by pulling out and pointing a gun for which he had a concealed carry permit. Covering an Antifa-BLM protest in Portland in 2016, he was surrounded and attacked. Fearing for his life, he pulled out his handgun — and with finger off the trigger — got the mob to back off so that he could escape. He was arrested, accumulated 21 charges, ten of which were felonies, found guilty by a stacked jury, and ordered to jail. The prosecuting attorney launched a media smear campaign against Strickland and the presiding judge, who ended up denying that the case met the "reasonable person" standard, refused to allow exculpatory evidence. Strickland served 40 days, received five years' probation, and was stripped of his Second Amendment rights. He is no longer allowed to practice journalism and cover leftist mobs. This is only slightly off-topic: Therese Duke, Massachusetts mom punched at DC rally, loses hospital job. The punched Massachusetts nurse who went viral after her teenage daughter publicly shamed her for being at a violent pro-President Trump rally has now lost her job of 15 years — and fears she'll never get another. Therese Duke told the Boston Herald she was innocently "looking for a place to eat" in Washington, DC, with "like-minded" Trump supporters when they were accosted by counter-protesters near the White House. The melee on Jan. 5 — the night before rioters stormed the Capitol — saw her getting punched in the face, with her sister getting arrested for retaliating on the alleged attacker. "I did nothing wrong," Duke insisted to the Herald. "I was the one who was assaulted." DC Police Chief Threatens Pistol-Packing GOP Rep. Boebert. It appears as though our country becomes more divided by the day, politically speaking, as evidenced by the behavior displayed by public officials in Democrat-run cities when it comes to Republicans and conservatives. You may have heard in recent days that freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) led a successful effort to preserve a 1960s-era congressional rule that allowed lawmakers to carry concealed weapons on the Capitol Hill grounds. In a letter signed by 83 current and freshmen lawmakers, she wrote to House leaders, "If Members can't carry on Capitol grounds, they can't protect themselves in D.C. while making their way to and from their offices to perform their official duties. The 'last-mile' transition of self-protection is critical. The current regulations provide transitional coverage once the Member is physically on campus." The Second Amendment is near and dear to Boebert. She is the owner of a gun-themed restaurant, Shooters Grill, in Rifle, Colorado (not even kidding) where the wait staff all open-carry handguns. In a fundraising message after arriving being sworn in, Boebert reiterated her support for our fundamental right to keep and bear arms — anywhere. GOP congresswoman Boebert defends decision to carry gun in DC: 'I am my own security'. U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., told "Fox & Friends" there is "no question" she will carry her Glock handgun in Washington, D.C., despite pushback from the chief of police. The newly elected lawmaker and owner of Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colo., defended her viral ad Tuesday [1/5/2021]. "It's right there in our Constitution. It's an amendment to our Constitution, and there's an absolute uproar over people wanting to defend myself," the 34-year-old mother of four said. "I mean, come on. I'm 5-foot, 100 pounds. I am now in one of the most dangerous cities in America. The violent crime rate here is 158% times the national average. I will be walking alone a lot," she said. "Just like I say in my ad, being a member of Congress is pretty basic. I don't go to work in an armored vehicle. I don't have personal police escorts. I am my own security here and my most basic right is my right to defend myself," Boebert concluded. CT man arrested after shooting bear to protect his dog. A 26-year-old Thomaston man was arrested Tuesday [9/22/2020] by environmental conservation police after killing a bear to protect his dog, officials said. The mother bear was killed and her two cubs survived. The dog was not hurt. Will Healey, spokesman for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said William O'Connor had let his dog outside Tuesday afternoon. The dog ran toward a bear and her cubs that were foraging in the woods near O'Connor's Walnut Hill Road property line. Buy Guns and Ammo — You can't count on the state for your security. Recently I have noticed an interesting new trend taking shape on my phone. More and more, my liberal friends are texting me with concern for their safety, wondering how to buy a gun. A friend in NYC was recently threatened with violence — he's gone from being passionately anti-gun to being dead-set on buying a firearm. But regulations in NYC make it practically impossible to do so. In today's world you can burn down a church, tear down an abolitionist statue, or pour fake blood on the portrait of a founding father, and you'll be praised. But don't dare defend your family from a violent mob threatening to kill you, your wife, and your children — that would be wrong. Governor says Pardon will be likely if St. Louis couple is charged. Missouri Governor Mike Parson (R) suggested during an interview that a pardon would likely happen if the controversial St. Louis couple was charged with a crime. The interview took place on the Marc Cox Morning Show, where they asked Gov. Parson if he would even consider issuing a pardon over this incident. "I think that's exactly what would happen," Parson said. He later added that based on what he knows about the case, "I don't think they're going to spend any time in jail." Hawley calls for civil rights probe of prosecutor investigating gun-wielding St. Louis couple. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) called on the Justice Department to launch a civil rights investigation into St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner and her office after Gardner announced an investigation into a white couple who were seen on video threatening Black Lives Matter protesters at gunpoint. In a letter to the Justice Department obtained by The Washington Post, Hawley said that Gardner had established "a pattern of politically motivated prosecutorial decisions" during her time as St. Louis's top city prosecutor. "The Second Amendment is not a second-class right. No family should face the threat of harassment or malicious prosecution for exercising that right," he wrote to Attorney General William Barr. Couple Who Defended Home: 'Rumor Is That We Are Going To Be Indicted Shortly'. Mark McCloskey, the homeowner who defended his St. Louis home recently from a large mob of demonstrators, told Fox News on Monday that he excepts to be "indicted shortly." The segment came after St. Louis law enforcement officials served a warrant on the McCloskeys late last week and confiscated the rifle that he used to defend his home. "The police were really very professional and very nice," McCloskey said. "The cops that came out to issue the search warrant on us, they were almost apologetic. They didn't want to have to be there. They were doing their job. Patty wanted to take a picture to document it, and she asked if they wouldn't mind facing away from the camera so that people wouldn't get mad at them if their faces were shown on TV." The Editor says... Local St. Charles Gun Store Announces Free AR15 to McCloskeys After Police Confiscate Their Rifle. On Friday night [7/10/2020] St. Louis Police served homeowners Mark and Patricia McCloskey with a search warrant and confiscated their rifle. The McCloskeys made national headlines when they defended their home from hundreds of BLM protesters who trespassed into their neighborhood to protest at the home of the St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson. Following the visit to their home by St. Louis City Police local gun store Alien Armory Tactical announced they will donate a free AR15 to the McCloskeys after Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner sent police to their house to confiscate their rifle. Missouri AG On Warrant Served On St. Louis Couple: Democrat Prosecutor Has History Of 'Politically Motivated Decisions'. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt responded to Friday night's breaking news that a search warrant was served and at least one gun confiscated from the St. Louis couple who defended their home last month from an angry mob by saying that the Democrat prosecutor who was handling the decision has an alleged track record of making politically motivated decisions. "I know this is being handled by a local prosecutor, not something you'd be involved with, but what is your take on what we're seeing tonight?" Fox News host Shannon Bream asked Schmitt. "The local warrant there signed off by a judge and being executed by St. Louis police?" Have we reached the point at which self-defense is a crime? Thirty-five American states have stand-your-ground laws, while the remaining fifteen require retreat only when it can be done with absolute safety (although none require retreat when the attack takes place in a person's own home or "castle"). America strongly supports self-defense. Or does it? Recently, activist prosecutors seem to be criminalizing self-defense when whites use it against blacks. [...] With Democrats defunding the police or driving them off the streets, people of all colors are going to resort to self-defense. It's legal in one form or another across America, and people's lizard brains are going to react hard when threatened. We're at a perilous moment in America if leftists first deprive people of police protection and then activist prosecutors criminalize self-defense only when whites do it. If people do not believe they are getting the benefit of equal protection under the law, they will stop complying with the law entirely. Missouri couple who defended home have rifle seized during police search: report. Authorities in St. Louis executed a search warrant Friday evening [7/10/2020] at the home of Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the couple who made headlines last month when they took up arms to defend their home from protesters. During the search, police seized the rifle that Mark McCloskey was shown holding during the June 28 incident, KSDK-TV of St. Louis reported, citing information from a source. The couple claimed the pistol that Patricia McCloskey held during the June confrontation was already in the possession of their attorney, the station reported. Police Consider Charging Crowd Confronted By Armed St. Louis Couple With Trespassing, Intimidation. A group of protesters in Missouri who famously found themselves facing an armed husband and wife may soon be facing multiple charges. As a group of demonstrators marched toward the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson's home on Sunday night to demand that she resign, they marched through an area that was closed off to the public, where a husband-wife team stood outside with a rifle and a gun to protect their property. St. Louis Authorities Will Investigate Homeowners Who Met Trespassing Protesters With Guns. St. Louis attorneys Mark and Patricia McCloskey went viral when they stood in front of their million-dollar home with firearms and confronted protesters — but now Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has vowed to have them investigated. The McCloskeys, Mark armed with a rifle and Patricia with a handgun, stood outside as protesters marched by on the way to Democratic St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson's home. The protesters had broken down a gate to march onto the private drive — and McCloskey repeatedly yelled at them that it was private property. Soros Funded St. Louis Circuit Attorney Threatens Legal Action Against Property Owners Who Defended Themselves Against Rampaging Mob. This is a great example why law-abiding citizens need to be very involved in local elections. The husband and wife who defended themselves and protected their property from looters/protestors are now being threatened by a Soros funded STL Circuit Attorney. Ms. Kimberly M Gardner is an activist within the legal profession who has an expressed purpose to destroy property rights, advance the cause of a socialist society, and collapse the legal system that allows citizens to protect themselves from the rampaging mob. Police Chief Forced Out After Offering Support For Armed Citizens. It's hard to believe that we're now at the point where expressing support for a constitutional right can cause a public official to lose their job, but that Orwellian nightmare's come true in Lowell, Michigan, where police chief Steven Bukala was forced to resign just days after expressing his support for armed citizens who decided to patrol the downtown area while legally carrying firearms in an attempt to thwart any looting in the area. The small town of about 4,000 people is located just a few miles from Grand Rapids, Michigan, where riots resulted in burned out buildings, looted storefronts, and the arrests of at least eight individuals on charges related to rioting or looting. Shortly after the riots took place, the Lowell police department posted on Facebook about several individuals who were lawfully carrying in the small downtown area in an effort to prevent looting or rioting. Virginia Store Employee Jailed for Shooting Masked Burglars. An employee working at a smoke shop business in Arlington, Virginia has been arrested and charged after the Arlington County Police Department says he shot at people trying to break into the store where he was working, according to The Daily Caller. Jowan Zuber, the smoke shop owner defended the jailed employee who could face decades in prison for firing his weapon at a group of masked burglars, wounding one. Virginia Clerk Is Locked Up for Shooting at 3 Masked Robbers in His Store. A Virginia store clerk heard a crash that sounded like a car had crashed into the place at 4:30 a.m. on Sunday. He grabbed a gun and shot at three masked men he found stealing merchandise and cash from the shop. When it was over, the clerk was the one in handcuffs. He now sits in jail on no bail, charged with crimes for which he could be locked up for 20 years. Those charges include: "Malicious Wounding, Reckless Handling of a Firearm and Violation of a Protective Order." Police say they'll get around to charging the robbers later. Busted For Defending Your Own Home. This is probably one of my least favorite subjects to cover, but it's the sort of thing we need to remain aware of. Questions of self-defense, the castle doctrine and home security come up often enough, and they can impact nearly anyone in the country if your luck runs low. But a story from upstate New York is now making the rounds for an unusual reason. The Daily Signal has the story of Ronald Stolarczyk, who lives in the Utica, New York region. He found himself forced into a position where he had to use lethal force to save his life in his own home when armed intruders broke in. He thankfully survived (the intruders did not) but that turned out to only be the beginning of his problems. This New York Man Got Arrested After Defending His Own Home. All too often, advocates of strict gun control promise that more complex and convoluted laws will save lives without imposing a serious burden on the right of law-abiding citizens to exercise their constitutional rights. Their argument simply doesn't hold up. Their gun control laws fail not only to address how actual criminals get their firearms, but they also impose a real burden on ordinary citizens' Second Amendment rights. They even risk making felons out of otherwise law-abiding citizens. If that sounds like an exaggeration, just look to the case of Ronald Stolarczyk of Oneida County, New York. Elderly Man Who Shot Two Burglars In His Home Charged With Felony Over Inherited Gun. An elderly man in New York was arrested for shooting two burglars in his house, not for murdering the intruders, but for shooting them with an unregistered gun. Elderly NY man kills repeat burglars, is charged for using inherited gun, loses his home. Imagine being arrested and losing your home after two repeat burglars break into your house again and rush toward you with the possible intention of murdering you. This exact scenario played out in New York late last month thanks to the far-left state's draconian gun control laws. A 64-year-old Deerfield homeowner was charged with illegal firearm possession and arrested after he used a gun he'd inherited from his deceased father to kill two repeat burglars. Then upon his release from a jail a couple of days later, he found himself homeless because his house had been condemned. Oklahoma: Cop Caught On Video Harassing, Fining Flood Victims For Trying To Help Each Other. Residents in Oklahoma are experiencing near-historic flooding this week as well as damaging wind and tornadoes. Thousands of people have been displaced and have lost everything. Adding to the extreme harsh hand dealt out by mother nature is the fact that in at least one instance, people trying to save their property or rescue others are being harassed and fined by police — for being good Samaritans. [...] In the video, we see the cop identified as Sperry Police Officer Bobby Sappington Jr. swearing at residents receiving help, calling them "stupid" and threatening to arrest them. Leader of armed militia that held migrants arrested on weapons charges. The leader of a militia operating along the southern border has been arrested by the FBI days after the armed group detained over 200 migrants who had just illegally crossed into New Mexico. Larry Mitchell Hopkins, 69, of Flora Vista, New Mexico, was arrested Saturday [4/20/2019] on charges of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition, the FBI Albuquerque office said. Hopkins was arrested in Sunland Park, New Mexico, which lies right on the border with Mexico and is just 8 miles northwest of El Paso, Texas. Maryland's "Red Flag Law" Claims Its First Victim As Police Kill Gun Owner. While most of us were focused on the upcoming election, there was a tragic story unfolding on Monday [11/5/2018] in Ferndale, Maryland, a suburb to the south of Baltimore. Maryland has enacted a new "red flag" law which allows people to call in reports of gun owners who are acting erratically and may present a danger to themselves or others. Under this new law, that gives the police the right to show up and confiscate their firearms. (The law has only been in effect for a month.) That's what happened to 61-year-old Gary J. Willis. Unfortunately, when the police rolled up at his house before six in the morning, Mr. Willis answered the door holding his handgun. Then everything went wrong. Police fatally shoot armed homeowner who had just shot and killed an intruder: 'Sad and screwed up'. Police fatally shot an armed homeowner in Aurora, Colorado, just after the homeowner shot and killed an intruder early Monday morning [7/30/2018], the Denver Post reported. Dispatchers received a 911 call about an intruder at the home, and officers heard gunshots from inside the home when they arrived around 1:30 a.m., the paper said. An officer shot an armed man police encountered — and that man turned out to be a resident of the home, the Post added. The armed homeowner — whose name hasn't been released — was taken to a hospital where he died, the paper said. Rancher faces 4 years in jail for stopping intruders. Eddie Maurice was home alone with his family when two people snuck onto his property, one was shot in the arm and now Eddie faces up to four years in prison. [Video clip] Connecticut assault victim gets 18 months in jail for stabbing attacker. A Connecticut man who was assaulted by three juveniles while at work has been sentenced to prison for stabbing one of the attackers. The Connecticut Post reports 21-year-old Jeffrey Sumpter of Bridgeport received 18 months in jail Monday [7/2/2018] at a Stamford courthouse. [...] Sumpter was working at a Dunkin' Donuts in Norwalk last October when he was jumped by three males. During the assault, Sumpter stabbed one of them in the leg. "I was defending myself," Sumpter said during the hearing. Man Shoots Intruder, Turns Out to Be Cop — Gets 13.5 Years. Tyler Harrell was found guilty of a charge of aggravated assault today in a case that should concern anyone who cares about the right to self-defense. Back in 2016, Harken [sic] grabbed his AK-47 after being awaken by a loud bang. With him and his mom believing his house was being broken in to, he went on to shoot one of the intruders in the knee. Unfortunately for Harken [sic], the people that broke down his door had government badges. The Austin SWAT team, allegedly responding to Snapchat photos of Harrell with drugs, guns, and cash, were conducting a no-knock raid on the house. Their search found no drugs, but Harken [sic] faced the assault charge as well as an even more ludicrous charge of attempted capital murder, of which he was found not guilty. He now faces thirteen-and-a-half years in prison. Redwood City man shoots and kills his own dog after surprise attack. A Redwood City man shot and killed his own dog when it attacked him on a walk Wednesday [12/27/2017], police said. The 76-year-old man was walking his dog, a large mastiff, in the 1300 block of Elmer Street in unincorporated Belmont when the dog turned and bit him in the lower leg. The attack continued, police said, until the man pulled out a handgun and fatally shot the dog. The man was taken to the hospital for treatment but police said he is expected to recover. The gun was recovered and secured as evidence. Police said the man did not have a permit for a concealed weapon. Father Uses .44 Magnum to Shoot Grizzly Bear off Son. [Scroll down] The FWP officers told Dave if he had bear spray, he might have avoided having to shoot the bear. Dave noted the FWP officers were all armed with shotguns and had loaded pistols on their hips. [...] Dave told me if he had spray and had sprayed the bear, he would have had to spray Rory as well. Then, if the bear turned on him, Rory would have been unable to help. [...] David Buckallew said "I will depend on my .44 magnum." The bear never vocalized during the attack. Dave said you could hear the loud breath of the bear, but there were no warning growls, or other sounds from the bear. FWP found the dead bear the next day. [...] The bear did not have any tags, or previous history of aggressive encounters with humans. Unprovoked grizzly attacks have been noted throughout the history of grizzly bears. The current fad is to always assign a human motivation. Army officer dealing with terror threats denied concealed carry permit in N.J.. The state of New Jersey told an Army officer dealing with terror threats at Picatinny Arsenal in Wharton that there is no "justifiable need" for him to have a concealed carry permit. Lt. Col. Terry S. Russell, the product manager for the Army's Individual Weapons and Small Arms program, requires a Top Secret Sensitive Compartmented Information clearance for his job. The base where he works was chosen as a terrorist "dry run" for a a Vehicle Borne Improved Explosive Device, and hackers have tried to obtain information on personnel. Regardless, Oceanport Police Chief Daniel W. Barcus still denied the solider a permit, a decision ultimately backed last month by Superior Court Judge Joseph Oxley. Guns found at TSA checkpoints could mean fine, jail time for travelers. Starting June 1, anyone who forgets they have a gun in their carry-on luggage will be looking at up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine if the firearm is caught at the security check point at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Until Georgia law was changed two years ago, "we didn't really have any issues here," Britt Johnson, who is head of the Atlanta FBI office, said of the "Guns Everywhere Law" that expanded the list of places guns were allowed. The law said gun owners with a permit could take guns discovered in their carry-on luggage back to their cars or give them to someone for safe keeping, and they would not face criminal charges. Brooklyn teen tries to steal Air Jordans, loses arm in Craigslist robbery gone wrong: police. A robbery victim, who decided to take the law into his own hands by mowing down an armed teen thief, severing his right arm, is now in handcuffs himself, police said. Police arrested the robbery victim, Philip Pierre, 39, of East Flatbush, Brooklyn, and charged him with attempted murder. The alleged teen thief, Zachary Sam, 17, also of Canarsie, Brooklyn, was charged with robbery and criminal possession of a weapon in the Craigslist robbery gone wrong. Both were charged on Friday [2/12/2016]. Police sources say the teenager connected with Pierre on Craigslist on Friday. Pierre was selling a pair of Air Jordan sneakers. The Editor says... NJ Man who Shoots Three Problem Bears gets $4,000+ Fines and Fees. In October, 2014, a 76-year-old New Jersey resident shot three problem bears on his property. One was an adult sow that was on his deck and looking in through his sliding glass door. The location of the two juvenile bears when they were shot, is disputed, but was either on the deck or close to it. Bears are more dangerous as they are larding up for the winter hibernation. Bears that display this level of familiarity with humans, who associate humans with food, are a severe problems waiting to happen. It is why the conservation community has come up with a well used phrase: A fed bear is a dead bear. Judge James G. Devine handed down the fines against Robert Ehling on the 28th of January, 2016. I found the judges attitude a bit disturbing in one particular sense. He thought that Robert C. Ehling acted as a "vigilante". Colorado homeowner robbed at gunpoint may face charges for killing suspect. A Colorado homeowner who was tied up and robbed at gunpoint Sunday [1/24/2016] may face charges for shooting and killing the suspect who was fleeing in a stolen car, Fox 31 reported. The unidentified homeowner, who managed somehow to untie himself after the robbery, reportedly went outside his home in Littleton and fired shots into the car at the fleeing suspect. The man in the car was reportedly identified as David Martinez, 38, who has a long criminal history of burglary, theft and drugs. Martinez crashed the car about a block later and died. The Denver Channel reported that under the state's Make My Day law, a homeowner is able to shoot an intruder who enters the home, but, according to one legal analyst, the law does not protect a homeowner if the shooting occurs from the porch, yard or driveway. Sacramento Democrats Made Students Sitting Ducks for Criminals/Terrorists. If you carry a gun on a California campus you are breaking the law. If you use your gun to stop a massacre or a terrorist event, YOU are in trouble for having a gun. The great news for wannabee terrorists is that they can shoot up a California campus and not worry about the teachers, professor's staff or students shooting back or trying to stop you. The Sacramento Democrats have students and professor's ducks in a shooting arcade, like at a Fair. [...] Think about this when you send your children off to a California college — they are not allowed to protect themselves from predators. This, in a so-called free nation. There aren't many cops near your house. South Carolina Pastor Defies Cop's Orders, Rescues Casket From Historic Flood. A South Carolina pastor defied police orders to save an unearthed casket from historic floodwaters. Pastor Wayne Reeves witnessed two caskets surface and began walking towards the water, but a police officer ordered him not to go. 11 Year Old Thwarts Home Invasion With A Gun, Cops Criticize Mother. An 11-year-old boy shoots an almost 17-year-old who had broken into his home, saving his 4-year-old sister and scaring away another burglar. The burglars repeatedly tried to break into the home, finally succeeding on their third attempt. The mother apparently purchased the handgun because of several previous attempted break-ins of her home. One can only imagine the relief that the mother had that her children were safe. Yet, the reaction from police and authorities was to question why the gun was so easily accessible. Police union wants more exemptions from L.A. proposal to lock up handguns. Los Angeles lawmakers have been mulling new rules that would require residents to lock up their handguns or disable them with a trigger lock when they are not being used. But the plan, championed by Councilman Paul Krekorian as a way to spare children from deadly accidents, spurred opposition from the city police officers' union, which argues that current and former officers shouldn't be held to those rules. The Attack on Self-Defense. Some years back, a public service TV ad depicted patients being told by a doctor that they had a tobacco-related illness: lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, etc. It asked, "If you're not planning to quit smoking, then what are you planning?" So let me ask: If you're not planning to use a firearm to defend your home against invasion, what are you planning to do? Homeowner is handcuffed after being gunned down by police after she shot estranged husband. This is the dramatic moment a homeowner was gunned down and handcuffed by police after she blasted her estranged husband who allegedly broke into her house and tried to kill her. Lisa Skinner, 52, shot the male home invader, who has now been identified as her estranged husband Bradley Skinner, 59, after he broke into the house she shared with her mother around 6 p.m. Police said Mr Skinner was armed with both a pistol and a large knife. Not Guilty, and Handcuffed; Woman Forced to Shoot Attacking Ex. If you are in a defensive shooting, do not be surprised if you are treated as a criminal as the police sort things out. This is especially likely in large city police departments, where crime is common, such as in Houston. Expect it. In some cases you will be held in jail for a period without seeing a lawyer or a judge. The police are allowed up to 24 hours to process your case. If they forget or make mistakes, it can take much longer. 911 dispatcher tells grandmother to 'put the gun down' during break-in. A Florida grandmother whose home was broken into says a 911 dispatcher ordered her to put her gun down in the middle of the invasion. NJ Logan, 80, was recovering from hip replacement surgery upstairs in her Holmes Beach home when she heard noises coming from downstairs, EAG News reported. "I kept hearing a commotion, like there were people walking around down there," she said. "Once I realized it wasn't my husband, you have no idea how fast you can go. ... Honestly, all I wanted was my gun." NYC alarms with notice: 'Immediately surrender your rifle'. New York City authorities have been sending out notices to residents who own guns that now violate new ammunition capability laws, demanding they relinquish their weapons — and even though the notifications may just be standard police procedure, the text is a shocker. At issue: Weapons that hold more than five rounds of ammo, The Blaze reported. Man shoots intruder at 2am, gets charged with murder. Defenselessly 'sheltered' as anti-gun fortress is breached. As any decent American knows, there is no feeling more powerless than to realize that a couple of mass murderers are loose in your neighborhood and you are denied the right to keep a gun to defend yourself, your family or your home. A sickening knot tightens in your gut. [...] Then came the latest Orwellian phrase in the "homeland security" lexicon: "Shelter in place!" So, not only are you not allowed to defend yourself against mass murderers, you are not supposed to run from them, either. This, my fellow countrymen, is pure insanity. Son who locked boys who were vandalizing father-in-law's home in a closet faces jail. A man who says he caught four boys vandalizing his father-in-law's home has been charged with child endangerment after corralling them in a closet until police arrived. Man Charged For Stopping Youth Gang Vandalizing Family's Home. And before you assume there is more to this story... there isn't. Just another victory for convenient 'victims' preying on the few producers that remain in Amerika. Get this, the four thugs are of ages 8 and 10. They and their 'parents' should be taken out to the woodshed. But they won't, because today's 'entitled misunderstood youth' and their [amoral] guardians are free to destroy anything that offends their parasitic reality-TV lifestyle. Clyde man arrested after corralling vandals in a closet until police arrived. [Scroll down] Upon entering the house, Daniels saw a great deal of the damage downstairs and went upstairs to confront the intruder. Jesse encountered four young boys, all with hammers. The boys tried forcing their way out several times, Daniels corralled them into a closet awaiting police arrival. Update: Millionaire points gun at burglar, and guess who gets arrested. George Bardwil, who owns linen company Bardwil Home, was at home in his E. 51st Street apartment in Manhattan in January, when a man broke in. Bardwil, 60, brandished the gun at the intruder, who then fled, and the businessman called 911. But when he showed police footage of the incident recorded on his home security system he was arrested on suspicion of possessing an illegal gun. The feverish de-legitimization of personal self-defense . Three Florida high school students disarmed another student who was armed with a loaded pistol while riding home on a school bus. The school district then promptly suspended all three students for being involved in an "incident" with a weapon. One of the suspended students asked, "How are they going to suspend me for doing the right thing?" Excuse Me, Your Illogic Is Showing: Orwell's Vision Emerges In California. Emeryville, California Police Chief Ken James claims that guns are not defensive weapons. If true, then why do police carry them? Why I own an AR-15. I bought an AR-15 so that I wouldn't have to ask twice for a criminal to get out of my house. California police chief: The idea that a gun is a defensive weapon is a 'myth'. California Police Chief Ken James insisted earlier this month that the idea of a gun as a "defensive weapon" was a "myth." Speaking at a news conference about gun control with California lawmakers, James explained that he was concerned with the amount of weapons owned by American citizens. "One issue that always boggles my mind is that the idea that a gun is a defensive weapon," James said. "That is a myth. A gun is not a defensive weapon." Utah Resident Forced to Forfeit Gun Used to Stop Home Invasion. In late January, 64-year old Clare Niederhauser was arrested for shooting at burglars fleeing from his property. At a plea deal hearing, he apologized for firing the shots, agreed to pay a $700 fine, take a weapons class, and forfeit the weapon he used. Fellow residents of Layton, UT are coming to the aid of the elderly man, who was arrested after firing a shot at a burglar's vehicle and a fleeing accomplice after they attempted to break in to his property with a crowbar. A Gun Ban That Misfired. The D.C. gun ban, enacted in 1976, prohibited anyone other than law-enforcement officers from carrying a firearm in the city. Residents were even barred from keeping guns in their homes for self-defense. Some in Washington who owned firearms before the ban were allowed to keep them as long as the weapons were disassembled or trigger-locked at all times. According to the law, trigger locks could not be removed for self-defense even if the owner was being robbed at gunpoint. If you're counting on the government to keep you safe, you can expect to be disappointed. Homeland Security has advice for confronting mass murders: scissors. Is your workplace getting shot up by a crazed gunman? No problem — just grab a pair of scissors and fight back! That's some of the helpful advice in a new instructional video from the Department of Homeland Security that was posted on the agency's Web site just a month after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. 'Tackle crazed gunmen with scissors or just hide under your desk'. The U.S Government has issued a controversial video telling office workers what to do should a crazed gunman storms their building. Issued by Homeland Security, the video, called Active Shooter Situation: Options for Consideration, tells workers to flee if it is safe or find a hiding place if trapped should a gunman storm the building. The video even advises using scissors as a weapon to defend yourself if your are caught in the open. Rep. Nadler: Two to Four Self-Defense Shots is Enough. Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) applauded his state's expansion of the current gun control laws on Tuesday [1/15/2013] telling Breitbart News, "I'm glad New York passed strong legislation. Would I have preferred stronger? — always — without knowing the details of what they did." The passage of the new gun control laws make the New York legislation the strictest in the nation. Chicago Police Chief: We'll Shoot Licensed Civilians With Guns. During an interview on radio station WVON 1690 am this week Chicago's Police Chief Gary McCarthy surprised listeners when he commented on the upcoming concealed carry law that must be passed in Illinois within the next six months. McCarthy made a scary prediction that citizens carrying legally could be shot by Chicago police. Chicago Police Chief: We'll Shoot Licensed Gun Owners. Under Chicago's Police Chief Gary McCarthy and the hack that hired him, Chicago has quickly become Murder City USA. Last year by a substantial amount, more Americans died from gunfire in the Windy City than died in Afghanistan. The gunfire is coming from the violent street gangs that infect the streets of Chicago. Since they have failed to solve the real problem of gunfire killing people in their streets, the current administration has invented a problem their media pals can fool the dupes that vote for them into thinking they are solving. Their invented problem is: what to do about "dangerous" people who are licensed gun owners? Tucson Gun Turn in — First Hand Account. As I walked the line for the next two hours, I saw very few guns that had any value in excess of the value of the $50 gift card being offered. Quite frankly, most of the guns were rusted, inoperable junk. I saw only three firearms that I would value in excess $400, two S&W revolvers and a single 4" blue Colt Python. Most of the guns worth anything were comprised of .22 rifles, and all of those were of nominal value. Progressives and the Phony Gun Debate. To typical Progressives, government is the very essence of life, and anyone who is not directly employed by government or who has been given police powers by the State stands in the way of the State providing life and happiness. Lest anyone believe that denial of individual self-defense is a top agenda for Progressives, think again. Both Canada and Great Britain essentially have outlawed individual self-defense, and should any individual use any kind of "offensive weapon" in self-defense, then that person faces extremely harsh punishments. People are Buying Guns and Ammunition for a Reason. Police response time to a 911 call is roughly 8 minutes, but making that call may attract the intruder's attention. There are other sounds that are sure to get his attention as well. For instance, there's the sound that a 12 gauge pump shotgun makes when you chamber a round, and then there's the sound of an AR 15 when you release the charging handle. Both of those sounds will put the fear of God into anyone with any sense, and the response time of an AR 15 is 3200 feet per second. Congratulations to Mayor Rahm Emanuel for Chicago's successful gun control policies: only 19 shot in 18 hours yesterday! Curious how the cities that are most restrictive when it comes to law-abiding citizens possessing firearms to protect themselves and their loved ones are also the cities that are awash in violent crime. Cops Arrest Homeowner for Crime of Self-Defense. A man in New York recently scared off some gang members by firing a couple of warning shots into the ground. When the cops arrived, did they congratulate the man for protecting his family and start looking for the thugs? That's what would happen in a logical and just society, but the anti-gun mentality in New York is so pervasive that the cops actually arrested the homeowner. Needless to say, I can't imagine this happening in Georgia or Wyoming — places where both the law and cops seem to be more rational. The police can't protect you. The Aurora, CO police force is a fine, highly motivated department — I know because the police association was formerly my client. There were officers already at the theatre for the midnight showing of Batman to deal with the anticipated crowd. Only 90 seconds elapsed between the first 911 call and officer's arrival on scene. This is a spectacular response time. Yet 12 people were already dead and 58 wounded. Which is why they are called "first responders" and not "first preventers." Gun Crazy II. [Scroll down] But waiting for the Man is not an option. "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away" — in Newtown, they were twenty minutes away. The obscene horror of mass-shooting sites is often compounded by how long the killers have to go about their deadly work in "gun-free zones" (which should be re-dubbed "free-fire zones") before being interrupted — at which point they typically kill themselves. In the recent Oregon mall shootings, the killer decided to turn his gun on himself when he caught sight of an armed civilian, and the Connecticut monster shot himself once the "first responders" started to arrive. Until We All Understand Police Limitations, Some Will Put Faith in Gun Control. [Scroll down slowly] Response times for emergencies vary enormously from place to place. In some rural or semi-rural areas, emergency response is measured in hours. Even in towns or cities, a five-minute response — from the moment an officer receives the radio call until he arrives in a school parking lot — would be amazingly fast. Consider, however, that a radio call likely would not have been made until someone at the school realized what was happening and made a call, a call that will take precious seconds — even minutes — to make and to be understood. By the time a radio signal flashes out, a shooter could easily have been shooting for five minutes or more. Sandy Hook shooting timeline. Authorities say the first emergency call about the shooting came in at "approximately" 9:30 a.m. "Sandy Hook school. Caller is indicating she thinks someone is shooting in the building," a dispatcher told fire and medical personnel, according to 911 tapes. Police and other first responders arrived on scene about 20 minutes after the first calls. Police report that no law enforcement officers discharged their weapons at any point. When Seconds Counted, The Police Were 20 Minutes Away. The murder of 26 students and teachers at Sandy Hook is both a massacre and a tragedy. The fact that the murderer met no armed resistance during the 20 minutes of his massacre is an obscenity. The solution to this problem seems pretty simple. The only way to stop a person with a gun is another person with a gun at the time and place of the crime — and, as former police officer Mike McDaniel writes at PJM, because of response times, that will rarely, if ever, be a member of the police. Disarming We the People. In America, there were no "police" forces as we understand them today until 1835, and their creation by no means negated either the citizenry's unalienable right of self-protection or the expectation that ultimate responsibility for the individual's safety fell squarely on his own shoulders. The police are public employees, there to add to the safety of the citizenry; they are not the sole arbiters of public order. To suggest otherwise is to misunderstand the role of government and its relationship to the individual. Cops: Man, 80, charged after shooting burglar in his Englewood home. Awakened by his 75-year-old wife, [80-year-old Homer] Wright confronted a 19-year-old burglar who had broken through some plywood over a bathroom window in hopes of stealing liquor, according to police. Wright grabbed his 38.caliber pistol, loaded with four rounds, and shot the intruder in the leg. The suspect was arrested — but so was Wright. 80-year-old bar owner who shot burglar would like his gun back. Homer "Tank" Wright says he's happy prosecutors dropped charges filed against him after he shot a suspected burglar last week. But the 80-year-old tavern owner in Englewood is upset they did not return the .38-caliber pistol he used to shoot the intruder in the leg. SWAT and the Second Amendment. In a free society, a society with a fundamental right to keep and bear arms, police officers believing they may shoot a citizen in his own home simply because he is carrying a firearm cannot be tolerated. Officers must absolutely avoid putting citizens in situations where they might be armed, or even pointing firearms in the direction of police officers banging on or breaking down their front doors. If such misconduct is tolerated, as in the cases of Jose Guerena and Andrew Scott, the next knock on any citizen's door may be the last they ever answer. City official insists residents shouldn't defend themselves. Shotgun-wielding Minnesota farmer, 74, charged after chasing down thief. A farmer who chased down a thief and held him at gunpoint until authorities arrived now faces a more serious charge than the thief himself. Kenneth Englund, 74, was charged with second-degree assault, a felony. The thief, who the sheriff said admitted stealing about $5 worth of gasoline from Englund's neighbour, was charged with misdemeanour theft. Felonized for Foiling a Real Crime. Bradford Township, Minn., doesn't have its own police force, relying instead on deputies sent from 15 miles away. When Bradford Township Board member Kenneth Englund detected thieves stealing gasoline from his neighbor's farm, he attempted to detain the thieves using his unloaded shotgun. ... [Now] Englund faces the most serious charge from the incident. The government goes after the victim rather than the perpetrators. Stolen Trailers. Say you're 82 years old. Say that you see two people a third of your age with criminal records stealing your trailer. Say that you run out to stop them and they almost run you over. You fire two shots. The thieves are let go, and you find yourself facing life in prison. It's not a hypothetical scenario. Defend your family, go to jail. A Brooklyn man who shot and wounded an intruder while defending his family will spend three days in Rikers Island, the same jail housing the burglar who terrorized his home, because he owns an unregistered gun. One law for us, another for you. The California state Senate voted 28-8 Wednesday [6/1/2011] to exempt itself from the pointless gun-control laws that apply to the rest of the populace. Legislators apparently think they alone are worthy to pack heat on the streets for personal protection, and the masses ought to wait until the police arrive. Thanks to Otis McDonald and the Supremes. The fact is that most crimes cannot be deterred because the bad guys don't generally mug people in front of the officer on patrol. Since the police can't be everywhere, people need a way to protect themselves. State "Emergency Powers" vs. The Right to Arms. After Hurricane Katrina, many New Orleans residents legally armed themselves to protect their lives and property from civil disorder. With no way to call for help, and police unable to respond, honest citizens were able to defend themselves and their neighbors against looters, arsonists and other criminals. However, just when these people needed guns the most, New Orleans's Police Superintendent ordered the confiscation of firearms, allegedly under a state emergency powers law. "No one will be able to be armed," he said. "Guns will be taken. Only law enforcement will be allowed to have guns." Why do civilians need assault weapons? One self-defense situation that comes to mind is the L.A. riots. Who can forget the nightly news's live footage of thugs hurling rocks at passing cars, buildings on fire, and looters smashing storefront windows? Then there was the savage beating of truck driver Reginald Denny. What was stunningly absent from the video footage? There were no police or fire personnel. According to the Los Angeles Times, police were ordered to stay out of the area for three hours. Numerous 911 calls for assault, murder, and fire-bombings went unanswered. [...] When there's no law and order — only chaos — that's when civilians need assault weapons. Dial 911 and Die. Do the police owe a duty to protect you from criminal attack? In most of the United States, the answer is "no." In fact, in most cases the police do not even have to respond to your emergency 911 call. Don't believe it? Read the true stories from all across America about citizens who depended solely upon their telephone and police response for emergency help against a violent criminal. Not only did those crime victims not get help, the local government and police escaped legal responsibility for failing to help those victims. DC 911 Puts Woman on Hold... During a Home Invasion. When seconds count, the cops are minutes away or... they put you [on] hold. A Washington DC woman was recently the victim of a home invasion and when she called the police for help, the 911 operator made her wait. As a reminder, the average crime happens in one minute. Sleeping 911 Operator Cost FL County $75,000. Pasco County, Fl. owes a family $75,000 because of a 911 operator who grew frustrated with a caller and dropped the call to fall asleep while the caller's girlfriend died due to choking. According to WTSP out of Tampa, Nancy McGhee died while choking on food because when her boyfriend called 911, the certified operator grew frustrated and passed the call along to his subordinate. The Best Defense: The basic premise of this book is: defensive use of firearms is not just for the military and police; it is for every citizen confronted or assaulted by violent criminals violating their personal and property rights. This book contains numerous examples of citizens who used firearms to save their own lives, or the lives of others, before law enforcement arrived. Cases in which guns saved lives: There are approximately two million defensive gun uses per year by law abiding citizens, according to a recent national survey.* The Police Have No Obligation To Protect You. Americans have come to believe that first responders, particularly the police, not only will protect them but have a duty to protect them. It is this belief that underpins arguments about gun control and every other nanny state social policy. Don't worry, be happy for the benevolent state will provide for and protect you. Leave it to the experts. In truth, the state can't protect anyone and has no such legal obligation. As the citizens of Alameda discovered, the state has no conscience and can decide — on the spot — which services it will provide. A little-known yet vital Supreme Court case explains why. Have gun, will travel. Law-abiding gun owners can run into serious trouble when on the move. Venturing into firearm-unfriendly states creates confusion about what individuals need to do to abide by a confusing maze of regulations. Congress should act to prevent honest citizens from winding up behind bars because police are misinformed. Gun Control Laws Only Control the Law Abiding. Just like the majority of police officers who never have to fire their gun during the course of a career, most civilians will never be shot at while watching a movie, browsing in a shopping mall or attending school. But for those few that do have the misfortune to be an unwilling participant in an ambush here are a few rules of thumb you may find useful. Dispelling bullet myths. Terms like "stockpile" are used to scare people, but gun owners know they can go through that amount in a couple days of training. The handful of people who buy ammunition with the intent of committing a crime could just circumvent Mr. Lautenberg's provisions by buying 999 rounds in local stores. As usual, the gun grabbers won't do anything to stop actual crime, but they'll hinder innocent Americans who just want to protect themselves and their families. Milwaukee Sheriff: Calling 911, Waiting Not Best Option for Defense. Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr. has released a 30 second public announcement calling on the citizens of Milwaukee to familiarize themselves with a firearm and aid the police in defending life between the time they dial 911 and the time the police arrive. Wisconsin sheriff urges residents to arm themselves. A sheriff who released a radio ad urging Milwaukee-area residents to learn to handle firearms so they can defend themselves while waiting for police said Friday that law enforcement cutbacks have changed the way police can respond to crime. Police Poll: Armed Citizens, not Gun Control, Will Lower Violent Crime. In a poll conducted by PoliceOne, a majority of law enforcement personnel said universal background checks, "assault weapons" bans, and "high capacity" magazine bans do not make police safer and will not lower violent crime. Armed citizens, on the other hand, do make a positive difference. Huge cop poll: 85% say gun control won't work, 86% want civilians armed . An authoritative new poll of more than 15,000 cops released on the eve of this week's Senate anti-gun debate shows that a sweeping majority of officers don't believe gun control will work or keep them safer, and nearly nine in 10 believe having more armed citizens would curb gun violence. News that must be suppressed. If our major media were not fully committed propagandists, they would report the findings of a large scale survey of law enforcement personnel on the subject of further gun legislation. After all, they are currently following the President's strategy of distracting the public from the awful state of the economy by exploiting the victims of Newtown to push for further erosion of Second Amendment rights. So the views of law enforcement personnel ought ot [sic] be of some interest. Sluggish response, or no response at all Video shows 70 flash mob looters ransack Oakland gas station, took police 9 hours to respond. A flash mob of roughly 70 looters ransacked a California gas station convenience store, which cost approximately $100,000 in losses. The owner said it took Oakland police about nine hours to respond to the looting. Around 4:30 a.m. on Friday, a flash mob looted the 76 Gas Station & Mini Market near the San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport. The owner, Sam Mardaie, said there were two employees working at the time and the looting lasted around 40 minutes. The business was only offering window service at the time of the pillaging. However, the looters broke into the market through the front door. "Shelves were ripped apart, all the grocery items were torn or stepped on or vandalized," Mardaie told KTVU. Additional information: Austin Police Tell Citizens Not to Call 911 for Robberies Amid Rising Crime and Staff Shortages. In response to surging urban crime rates and a concerning lack of personnel, the Austin Police Department in Texas has advised its residents to use the 311 hotline for reporting incidents of theft near ATMs. This is a marked shift from the more immediate 911 emergency service. The Austin Police Department conveyed the directive via a message on X (previously recognized as Twitter). The message emphasized, "Even if you are cautious & follow all the safety advice, you may still become the unfortunate victim of a robbery." The post further advised, "Make a police report & provide as much information as possible so we can recover your property quickly and safely." Austin police ask robbery victims to call 311 amid staffing shortage, crime crisis. Austin police in Texas are asking residents to call 311 if they get robbed near an ATM as the department struggles amid an increase in urban crime and staffing shortages. The Austin Police Department posted a graphic in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, to urge residents to call 311 or make an online report if they're robbed — 311 is a number usually used for non-emergency requests, as opposed to 911. "Even if you are cautious & follow all the safety advice, you may still become the unfortunate victim of a robbery," the Austin Police Department wrote on X. "Do you know what your next steps should be?" San Francisco Cops Sit In Their Cruiser And Watch A Car Get Jacked. A press conference meant to herald a renewed crackdown on vehicle break-ins in San Francisco instead got overshadowed on social media by two break-ins that went viral the same day. One theft happened right around the corner from where the news conference was being set up. The other was caught in a video that appears to show a San Francisco police officer watching a break-in happen right in front of him. [Video clip] Anarchic violence and the rising tide of medical tyranny in - you guessed it - Portland. First up, we have the story of Dr. Mary Costantino, a "highly distinguished" radiologist with institutions like Stanford and Georgetown on her curriculum vitae, who found herself on the receiving end of an unprovoked and violent attack. While walking with a friend last week in an upscale Portland neighborhood, Costantino was hit in the face by an aluminum water bottle, thrown by a homeless man. She was knocked unconscious, and when she awoke she dialed 911. However, thanks to the "defund the police" movement, officers didn't arrive until nearly thirty minutes later. Portland doctor knocked out by a 'homeless' attacker reveals bloody wounds to her face and blames the city for slow police response. A Portland doctor who was knocked out by a 'homeless' attacker has revealed the wounds to her face, and blames the city for the slow police response. Radiologist Mary Costantino was attacked last Friday night shortly after 10:30 in the Oregon city while walking with a friend. Shocking surveillance footage of the incident shows a man throw a large silver bottle directly at the 50-year-old, rendering her unconscious. Woman alleges police ignored 911 calls prior to her husband being killed. On Thursday, the family of a slain man in Colorado Springs accused the police for ignoring the 911 calls from the victim's wife before his death. Talija Campbell called 911 after receiving a text message from her husband Qualin that showed a picture of him in the car with another man, with the words, "911, Send please!" written. According to a KUSA, Campbell had called the police around 1 p.m. and told them that she believed that her husband had been kidnapped while providing them with his location. Campbell said she spoke to two different dispatchers who told her they would check on the issue and then get back to her. However, she felt there was no sense of urgency from either one. Cambell ended up driving to the location herself, where she found her husband slumped over in his work car without a pulse after being shot in the abdomen. Cops Basically Tell a Woman She's On Her Own as a Mob of [black] Kids Destroy Her Work Truck. In a shocking incident captured on camera, a woman finds herself in a nightmarish situation as a mob of unruly [black] kids unleashes chaos on her work truck. With no assistance from the authorities, she is left to navigate the mayhem on her own until an elderly man shows up and chases the little badasses off. [Video clip] What the Arrest of Daniel Penny is All About. Experienced subway riders know that they are trapped for minimally three minutes, longer on express trains and, occasionally even longer if there's a track fire, a broken switch, or a stuck train. You are also stuck with all the people on the ten-car train (usually a 100+). Furthermore, though walking between cars is prohibited, people ignore the restriction (doors are unlocked), so forget about choosing only cars with non-threatening fellow passengers. That scruffy vagrant you saw sleeping in the end car before you boarded a crowded middle car may soon be standing over you requesting a "donation." This is not an airplane with screened passengers, cabin staff, and FAA rules banning unruly passengers. The subway's unpleasant reality has been made even worse as cops now ignore turnstile jumpers. Nor is there any police protection while you are trapped. Mayor Eric Adams has flooded the subway with cops, but the bad news is that you only see them outside the train, often chatting while watching their cellphones. Worse, they typically just mill about at the station entrance many yards from subway platforms. In other words, when the next Jordan Neely corners you yelling and screaming, you're on your own until the next station and then, if lucky, you can exit to summon law enforcement. The Editor says... The disappearing law-enforcement presence in San Francisco. Last month a group of business owners in Seattle gathered for a town hall to discuss persistent crime in the city. All of the owners had experienced break-ins, often several of them in a year. And the cost to repair broken windows and doors was often more than the value of whatever thieves had stolen. Several of the owners had been dropped by their insurance because they'd made too many claims. They wondered why the police never seemed to have time to walk around their neighborhood at night to keep the thieves at bay. The situation doesn't seem to be much different in San Francisco. When Joe Vernieri, the owner of the Black Magic Voodoo Lounge, reported his bar had been broken into it took police 15 hours to respond and even then they responded in the middle of the night when no one was around. [...] So as far as Vernieri is concerned there are no police in San Francisco. None that will help him. Something About School Shootings. [Scroll down] Without fail, such events encourage those who'd like to wipe the Second Amendment off the books and deprive lawful citizens from the means to defend themselves. Does the fact that the cops stood outside the school for an hour during the slaughter give you comfort? It doesn't ease my friend Betsy Gorisch: "Among all the other things we need to keep in mind about the Uvalde school shooting there is this: In what is arguably the only true test of whether or not we should rely on the police to protect us, the courts have ruled that they cannot be sued for failure to do so." That's another way of saying law enforcement has no legal duty to protect you. Professor Ann Althouse also finds that the police response diminishes the anti-gun crowd's arguments: "If the police don't arrive and save us from violence, how can this event support the argument for restricting guns? This is the very situation that makes the most responsible people want to own guns. It reminds me of the summer of 2020, when there were riots, and the police stood down." Regarding the Uvalde shooter, are we really being told the truth? Where was Salvador Ramos born? Early reports say he was from North Dakota. North Dakota is a big state. In what town in North Dakota was the future mass killer born? Where is a copy of his North Dakota birth certificate? [...] America is sick and tired of the invasion aided and abetted by the Swamp in D.C. What would happen if we learned that our latest mass killer entered America illegally? What president and what party would get the blame? I realize that I will be labeled as racist and xenophobic for voicing these questions, but I suspect I am asking what many others are wondering. If Ramos is from south of the border, leftists will have a tough time pinning this latest fiasco on Trump. Didn't he warn us about the folks flooding into this country? Wasn't his election in 2016 a sign that Americans want a sensible immigration policy? Police Have No Duty to Protect You, Federal Court Affirms Yet Again. Following last February's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, some students claimed local government officials were at fault for failing to provide protection to students. The students filed suit, naming six defendants, including the Broward school district and the Broward Sheriff's Office, as well as school deputy Scot Peterson and campus monitor Andrew Medina. On Monday [12/17/2018], though, a federal judge ruled that the government agencies "had no constitutional duty to protect students who were not in custody." This latest decision adds to a growing body of case law establishing that government agencies — including police agencies — have no duty to provide protection to citizens in general. NYC woman calls 911 three times as she's terrorized, slashed by ex-boyfriend, but cops don't show up until next day. The breakup was followed by a break-in. And then — despite three calls to 911 — a Bronx mom's 12-hour wait for help. Jennifer Vega recounted the terrifying winter's night when her recent ex-boyfriend arrived uninvited through her apartment bedroom window, slashed her leg with a liquor bottle and hung around for hours as she waited in vain for someone to save her this past Feb. 18. Spurned boyfriend Manual Rivera at one point went outside to wait for police after hearing sirens during the ordeal on Teller Ave. near E. 166th St. Vega first dialed 911 after his 9:05 p.m. arrival and made the final call hours before help finally arrived at 9:27 a.m. the next day. Bowie woman waits 22 minutes for police during attempted break in. A Bowie woman said it took Prince George's County, Maryland, police over 20 minutes to respond to an unknown man trying to enter her home last Tuesday. They said it was due to staffing shortages. Kezia Williams was outside her house when a stranger in a Lakers hoodie came onto her lawn. She quickly went inside and called police. "I immediately started to put down the blinds in my house and shut my windows," Williams told our news partners at NBC Washington. Williams was on the phone with 911 dispatchers, who told her not to trigger an alarm and to wait for police to arrive. BLM: A Righteous Cause or Communism in Blackface? According to the Gallup Center on Black Voices, 81% of black Americans either want to retain police presence, or want more. [...] [I]n many cities, including my hometown of Stockton, California, one of our biggest complaints about the police is that they don't come fast enough when called; that sometimes, police don't show up for up to two hours, if they show up at all. In my city, that has a lot to do with the fact that our police officers were reduced by a third in 2010, after a former mayor cut $14 million from the department. The reduction was felt across the city as crime drastically increased in the subsequent years and Stockton set new records for most homicides in 2011 and 2012. When the cuts were made, it was so dire that Stockton PD officers had to reluctantly let the city know that they could no longer guarantee our safety. Sobbing mother stuck in raucous BLM protest is told police will not respond to her 911 call because it is a 'sanctioned event'. A 911 call has been released documenting a mother's frightening experience of having a stranger jump on her car during a Black Lives Matter protest in Virginia last month, and her futile attempts to get police to help her. On June 13, Tara Durant was driving with her 12-year-old daughter in the backseat in downtown Fredericksburg when she found herself trapped by a group of George Floyd protesters who were blocking Caroline and Hanover streets. Unable to drive through the intersection because of the crowds, Durant called 911 at 7.34 pm seeking assistance, only to be told that police 'can't do anything about it' beyond monitoring the protest, which has been sanctioned by the city. 911 calls bring no response after break in at auto shop near Capitol Hill protest zone. Capitol Hill auto shop, Car Tender, says it was broken into overnight by protesters in the "CHOP" or "CHAZ" area Sunday night. A suspect tried to start a fire and stole cash, as well as car keys. The business owner, John McDermott, says he and his son managed to detain the suspect — but despite more than a dozen 911 calls, police and fire never showed up. McDermott said he got a call Sunday after the suspect smashed a window and got inside his business. Aurora workplace shooter was set to be fired by company, police chief says. The gunman in a deadly shooting spree at a manufacturing warehouse in Aurora, Ill., where five employees were killed and five officers were wounded Friday [2/15/2019], was set to be fired by the company, Police Chief Kristen Ziman told reporters at a news conference Friday night. The suspect, identified as Gary Martin, 45, of Aurora, used a handgun and had worked for the Henry Pratt Co. — one of the largest makers of industrial water valves — for 15 years, she said. He was killed at the scene. The attack lasted 90 minutes. The Editor says... Maine: Gang of young Somali Muslim thugs are now attacking citizens in the streets of Lewiston. On any given day, dozens if not hundreds of Somali youth can be found occupying Kennedy Park and the violence is nothing new. Local residents bearing the brunt of these violent mobs are growing frustrated. Maine First Media was told it took police at least 7-8 minutes to arrive on the scene — despite the police station being right across the street from the park. Trenton man says he held off intruder for 30 minutes before police arrived. Police officials are examining the response to a 911 call Sunday night that left a city man struggling with an intruder at his building without any officers arriving. Dan Dodson said it was 20 or 30 minutes before two officers eventually arrived in response to his wife's calls to police telephone numbers. 911 Dispatcher Tells Woman About to Be Sexually Assaulted There Are No Cops To Help Her Due To Budget Cuts. An Oregon woman was told by a 911 dispatcher that authorities wouldn't be able be able to help her as her ex-boyfriend broke into her place because of budget cuts. Oregon Public Radio reports that an unidentified woman called 911 during a weekend in August 2012 while Michael Bellah was breaking into her place. Her call was forwarded to Oregon State Police because of lay-offs at the Josephine County Sheriff's Office only allows the department to be open Monday through Friday. Call 911, Wait two hours; Buy Gun. On March 16, Teri Bice awoke to the sound of someone trying to break down the door of her home in New Orleans. She did what most Americans would do: dial 911. One big problem, there was no answer at the other end. 10 things that just don't add up about the Las Vegas mass shooting. [#8] When seconds count, the police are only 72 minutes away... but why? I'm not trying to diss the cops here. As you know, I'm an advocate of honest, local police, and it's clear that the beat cops did a fantastic job helping people seek cover on the ground below. But I do have an issue with the 72-minute response time during a full-auto machine gun spree in a city where there are dozens of cops within a one-mile radius. Seventy-two minutes? Really? Was there a committee involved somehow? Why is it that the FBI's former traitor-in-chief James Comey can decide in an instant that Hillary Clinton is innocent of everything, but all the cops in Las Vegas can't breach a simple hotel door in anything less than 72 minutes? New Orleanians on average wait over 1 hour for police to arrive. New Orleans businessman Trey Monaghan, writing in an opinion piece last month, shared with agonizing detail how he chased a suspected burglar outside his newly opened restaurant on St. Claude Avenue, only to have to wait more than an hour for a police officer to show up. [...] A call to New Orleans police, many residents have learned, likely comes with a wait — a long wait in most cases. Family calls 911 when intruder tries to enter home, waits hours before police show up. [Terri] Bice believes it wasn't the door, but barking from Molly that stopped the intruder in their tracks. So, she did what anyone would do. Grabbed her phone and dialed 9-1-1. She got no answer. "We all know about first responders and what their importance is that's not going to happen if no one answers," said Bice. She documented her calls for help: two to 911; two to the NOPD's non-emergency line; and one to NOPD's Second District. The final call was answered and Bice confirms an officer showed up two hours after the attempted home invasion. Warrantless searches Big Brother Takes to the Skies. Intensifying the Minority Report vibe in an already dystopian 21st century, police departments across the country are deploying drones in a variety of capacities. One concept is called "Drone as a First Responder" (DFR). How's it work? When it gets a 911 call, the police department sends an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with a camera to the scene to check for dangers and acquire situational awareness. It's a practice that dates back half a dozen years. "DFR programs have been growing in popularity since first launched by the Chula Vista Police Department in 2018," according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). "Now there are a few dozen departments with known DFR programs among the approximately 1,500 police departments known to have any drone program at all, according to EFF's Atlas of Surveillance, the most comprehensive dataset of this kind of information." DFR raises many red flags. For example, the drone, while traveling to the site of the alleged offence, is likely to surveil and record everything in its path, according to the EFF. The practice could lead to "mission creep," policing of low-level infractions that previously wouldn't have attracted any attention because they wouldn't have been seen. This 9-0 SCOTUS Ruling on Guns Shows Just How Extreme (and Dangerous) the Biden Administration Really Is. Did you hear that Joe Biden's Department of Justice wanted the Supreme Court to rule that police could search Americans' homes for firearms — and confiscate them — without a warrant? In the case of Caniglia vs. Strom, this issue was in play. Had SCOTUS ruled that police could do that, your Second Amendment rights would have been in grave jeopardy. Supreme Court Strikes Down Warrantless Gun Seizure 9-0. In some ways this was a very narrowly tailored opinion, in that the Second Amendment was not invoked at all, only the Fourth. And indeed, Justice Samuel Alito' concurring opinion specifically states that "Our decision today does not address those issues" in relation to the constitutionality of red flag laws. However, the decision was a blow for individual rights against warrentless police seizures in the home. Also, by explicitly including guns as property that is equally protected from such warrentless seizures, the Supreme Court has properly supported Second Amendment rights against the state's overreach. The Supreme Court bans most warrantless gun seizures from homes. [Scroll down] During a fight with his wife, Petitioner Edward Caniglia grabbed his handgun, put it on the table, and said, "Shoot me now and get it over with." Instead, his wife headed for a hotel. The next day, when she couldn't reach him, she called the police for a wellness check. When the police met up with Caniglia, he willingly went for a psychiatric evaluation on the condition that the police wouldn't take his gun. The moment he was in the ambulance, using a ruse the police got Caniglia's wife to show them the gun, which they seized. Caniglia sued, claiming the police violated his Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures. The First Circuit gave the case short shrift. It relied on Cady v. Dombrowski, a 1973 case in which the Supreme Court held that, if officers patrolling public highways concluded that "community caretaking functions" militated in favor of seizing a gun from a car, they could do so. The First Circuit, therefore, declined to consider whether Caniglia consented, whether there were exigent circumstances justifying seizing the gun, or whether state law permitted the police to seize a gun from a home without a warrant. Justice Thomas, in a miraculously brief four-page opinion, reamed the First Circuit for its careless, cavalier, and erroneous decision. Supreme Court shuts down police attempts to search homes without a warrant. The case arose out of a 2015 incident in which a Rhode Island married couple argued over attempted suicide. At one point, the husband, Edward Caniglia, gave his wife, Kim, an unloaded gun and told her to kill him. She left the house instead and later called local police to check on him. When the police arrived, they entered the house and confiscated Caniglia's guns. He later sued. A district court sided against him. When he brought the case to an appeals court, it also decided against him — and extended the "community caretaking exception" for police to search cars without a warrant to homes as well. It was in this last decision, Thomas wrote, that the lower courts had erred, arguing that the home is a much more private sphere than a car. Oregon Supreme Court: Cops Can't Collaborate with Garbage Haulers to Paw Through Your Trash Without a Warrant. The Oregon Supreme Court scored a victory for privacy rights yesterday, ruling that cops can't paw through your garbage without first getting a warrant. The decision came in response to the case of a Lebanon, Oregon, couple, Tracy Lien and Travis Wilverding. Convicted of unlawful delivery of meth and heroin — both felonies — they appealed on the grounds that crucial evidence had come from an illegal, warrantless search of their garbage. Back in 2014, Lebanon law enforcement officers asked the local waste management company to collect the couple's trash separately so police could search it. Smartphone passcodes are protected by the Fifth Amendment, says US court. If someone wants to view your photos or contacts on your passcode-protected iPhone they may be able to gain access to the device with Siri. But if the federal authorities in the US want to see the contents of your phone in the old fashioned way — by asking you your password — they won't get any help from the judicial system. So says Judge Mark Kearney of the federal district court in Eastern Pennsylvania who recently ruled that passcodes on all such smartphones are protected by the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution. WSJ Report: "U.S. Spies on Millions of Cars". Over a year ago we brought you the story of Mr. Filippidis and his family, a Florida Driver who was pulled over by law enforcement in Maryland. The traffic stop would have been typical except for the fact the responding officer demanded, at random, Mr. Filippidis's firearm. Mr. Filippidis did not have his legally owned — CCW permitted — hand gun, it was home in Florida. Nor did Mr. Filippidis ever say he had a firearm — yet the officer was insistent Mr. Filippidis owned one, handcuffed Mr. Filippidis, and strip searched his vehicle on the side of the road. Numerous Maryland state police arrived to assist in the search. They found nothing, because Mr. F was telling the truth. After two hours Mr. Filippidis and his family were allowed to continue their travels, but the entire process was unnerving. New police radars can 'see' inside homes. At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies have secretly equipped their officers with radar devices that allow them to effectively peer through the walls of houses to see whether anyone is inside, a practice raising new concerns about the extent of government surveillance. Those agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, began deploying the radar systems more than two years ago with little notice to the courts and no public disclosure of when or how they would be used. The technology raises legal and privacy issues because the U.S. Supreme Court has said officers generally cannot use high-tech sensors to tell them about the inside of a person's house without first obtaining a search warrant. Chris Johnson: an Example of why you Do not Consent to a Search of your Car. It has become a hallmark of advice from lawyers. Do not give consent to police to search your vehicle or your home. If they had probable cause to search, they do not need to ask. Politely refuse to give consent. Believing that you "have nothing to hide" is escapist fantasy in today's world of overlapping amd vague laws. Report: D.C. police need guidance to avoid unlawful home entry. D.C. police officers need a refresher on when it's legal to enter a home without a warrant, according to a report issued Wednesday [6/12/2013] by the city's Police Complaints Board. The board said it routinely receives complaints about officers entering homes — the complaints comprise nearly 14 percent of all those received since 2009 — and recommends the department should write a general order clarifying the exigent circumstances that would justify a warrantless search. "Providing better training and developing a general order on warrantless entries for officers will aid them in carrying out their duties all the while protecting the rights of the public," said Philip K. Eure, director of the Office of Police Complaints. Suit Against SAFE Act Claims it Allows 'Warrantless' Police Searches. The registry process of New York's SAFE Act allows for warrantless police searches into gun owners' homes, a violation of the Fourth Amendment, according to plaintiffs of a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court Eastern District. The law firm representing plaintiff Gabriel Razzano argues the registry process is "essentially secret and results in a mandatory, warrantless Penal Law 400 gun removal visit from police." "The entire purpose of the registry is a sham to permit intrusions into a person's home on consent without a warrant for a 'gun removal,'" La Reddola, Lester and Associates said in a release. "The entire registry and database seek to justify warrantless police searches, which my client and I now believe to be the real purpose of the SAFE Act." The SWAT Team Would Like to See Your Alcohol Permit. How police use regulatory inspections to conduct warrantless searches. How police use regulatory inspections to conduct warrantless searches: In August [2010] a team of heavily armed Orange County, Florida, sheriff's deputies raided several black- and Hispanic-owned barbershops in the Orlando area. There were more raids in September and October. According to the Orlando Sentinel, barbers and customers were held at gunpoint, some in handcuffs, while police turned the shops upside down. A total of nine shops were raided, and 37 people were arrested. By all appearances, these raids were drug sweeps. Shop owners told the Sentinel police asked where they were hiding illegal drugs and weapons. But in the end, 34 of the 37 arrests were for "barbering without a licence," a misdemeanor for which only three people have ever served jail time in Florida. Two arrests were for misdemeanor marijuana possession. Just one person was arrested on felony drug and weapon charges. Local Government Stupidity Contest. [Scroll down] Contestant Number Two is the Metro Police in Washington, DC, which has decided to harass random travelers by searching their bags before they board the subway. This is akin to the TSA's mindless bureaucracy — but even worse. [...] Good intelligence by the CIA and FBI is the way to stop these crackpots, not empty security theater that makes life more difficult for law-abiding people. Police push for warrantless searches of cell
phones. This is an important legal question that remains unresolved: as our gadgets store
more and more information about us, including our appointments, correspondence, and personal photos and videos,
what rules should police investigators be required to follow? The Obama administration and many local
prosecutors' answer is that warrantless searches are perfectly constitutional during arrests. Editor's note: SWAT teams Map of Botched Paramilitary Police Raids. 78-year-old grandmother wins $3.76M in lawsuit after Denver police raid the wrong house. A 78-year-old woman has been awarded millions from a lawsuit against police officers after a jury found that the woman's rights were violated when Denver police executed a search warrant on her home. Law enforcement performed a SWAT-style raid on Ruby Johnson's home after using a cellphone-finding app in an attempt to locate evidence. Jurors found that two officers were liable for the raid, the officer who initiated the affidavit for a search warrant and the sergeant who approved it. Johnson was awarded $1.25 million from each in punitive damages and $1.26 million combined for Johnson's pain and suffering, totaling $3.76 million. The city will be ordered to pay the total damages, despite the officers being individually sued on behalf of Johnson by the Colorado ACLU. Elderly Denver Woman Wins Gargantuan Payout After SWAT Team Wrongly Raided Her Home. A Colorado resident has won a significant case against members of law enforcement who wrongly raided her home in 2022. She filed a lawsuit against the authorities after a SWAT team forced its way into her home under false pretenses, leaving her shaken. Now, the woman is about to be $3.76 million richer after a jury ruled in her favor. The raid has sparked discussions about police misconduct and qualified immunity. [...] To obtain the warrant to search Johnson's home, the officers overestimated the reliability of the iPhone app when it came to pinpointing exact locations. They provided erroneous information to the judge who issued the warrant. The lack of understanding about how the app works led to a terrifying experience for the homeowner. The ACLU explained that the SWAT unit "ransacked Ms. Johnson's home... based on an alleged location ping from an iPhone's 'Find My' app that the officers did not understand and for which they had no training." Who Pays the Price for Botched SWAT Team Raids? We Do. Nationwide, SWAT teams routinely invade homes, break down doors, kill family pets (they always shoot the dogs first), damage furnishings, terrorize families, and wound or kill those unlucky enough to be present during a raid. No longer reserved exclusively for deadly situations, SWAT teams are now increasingly being deployed for relatively routine police matters such as serving a search warrant. There are few communities without a SWAT team today, with more than 80,000 SWAT team raids carried out per year, often for routine law enforcement tasks. SWAT teams have been employed to address an astonishingly trivial array of so-called criminal activity or mere community nuisances: angry dogs, domestic disputes, improper paperwork filed by an orchid farmer, and misdemeanor marijuana possession, to give a brief sampling. Police have also raided homes on the basis of mistaking the presence or scent of legal substances for drugs. Incredibly, these substances have included tomatoes, sunflowers, fish, elderberry bushes, kenaf plants, hibiscus, and ragweed. In some instances, SWAT teams are even employed, in full armament, to perform routine patrols. These raids, which might be more aptly referred to as "knock-and-shoot" policing, have become a thinly veiled, court-sanctioned means of giving heavily armed police the green light to crash through doors in the middle of the night. Texas Cops Held a Terrified Couple at Gunpoint After Raiding the Wrong House. Tyler Harrington and his wife were asleep in their beds when four Harris County, Texas, Constable Officers burst into their home and held the terrified couple at gunpoint. While the cops eventually realized they were in the wrong house, they didn't leave without admonishing the couple for keeping their door unlocked. Harrington has now filed a lawsuit, arguing that the officers' invasion of his home was an unconstitutional breach of his Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure. Ohio SWAT Team Raids Wrong House, Seriously Injures Baby With Flashbang Grenade, Denies Responsibility. Courtney Price was at home on Wednesday taking care of her one-year-old son, Waylon, when they experienced a terrifying and traumatic altercation with local law enforcement. What should have been an ordinary day took a turn for the worse when SWAT officers broke into the home, searching for a suspect. In the aftermath of the raid, it was revealed that law enforcement had targeted the wrong home, and tragically, their actions resulted in the baby sustaining injuries. The events that unfolded left the family shaken and seeking justice for Waylon's suffering. Price told RedState that she had been staying with her aunt Redia and her husband for one week before the incident occurred. She recounted her experience, describing how she stood petrified as the police burst into her aunt Redia's home, throwing a flashbang grenade into the residence and breaking windows. She was feeding her son, who has a condition requiring the use of a G-tube because he cannot eat by mouth. Another SWAT raid screw-up? The New York Times reported that SWAT raids resulted in at least 81 civilians and 13 officers killed between 2010 and 2016. Unnecessary deaths, inappropriately equipped raids, and general incompetence have reflected badly on the organization. Because management has not intervened it appears that they are satisfied with current policies. [...] Law enforcement officers have been responsible for numerous deaths. Craig Robertson, Theodore Deschler, Ashli Babbitt and Vicki Weaver, who was shot in the head while holding an infant in her arms. These deaths have all been thoroughly investigated by their law enforcement agencies. Remarkably the law enforcement officers have all received a clean bill of health. Lon Horiuchi, Vicki Weaver's killer, retired from the FBI in 2006 with a full pension. Michael Byrd, the Capitol police officer who killed January 6 protestor Babbitt, apparently did not follow the use of force doctrine to not fire into a crowd, but nevertheless has been promoted. Media coverage of these killings does not compare with the George Floyd hysteria. Gang violence update: another SWAT raid fatality. [Scroll down] Christoper Wray claims that the decision to use SWAT teams is made locally. He testified, "Those decisions are made — as they should be — by the commanders on the ground, in the field office." Attorney General Merrick Garland said essentially the same thing: "The determinations of how to make arrests under arrest warrants are made based by the tactical operators in the district." Yet the similarities of these raids would mean that the "commanders on the ground" were using the same playbook. That's the playbook written by the Soviet KGB. This playbook recommends pre-dawn raids in which the arrested person is dazed and half-asleep. An enormous show of force is advised to terrify neighbors. Military equipment, helicopters and tanks emphasize the seriousness of the arrest. The raid on Joshua James's residence used an armored vehicle with a turret, two vans, six FBI vehicles, and three local police cars. These raids are an enormous expense. Top leaders cannot be unaware of this. Judge Andrew Napolitano estimated the raid on Roger Stone cost approximately half a million dollars. It is not unusual for SWAT raids to go terribly wrong. Innocent people, including children, have been maimed and killed in their homes. The New York Times examined SWAT team raids in 2017 and found that at least 81 civilians and 13 officers had died from 2010 through 2016 in such searches. Law Enforcement Severely Damaged an Innocent Person's Property. In a number of cases around the country, law enforcement agencies have destroyed or severely damaged the homes or businesses of innocent people. When property owners sue for compensation under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment (which requires payment of "just compensation" when the government takes private property), law enforcement usually claims they aren't required to provide it because their actions fall within the "police power" exception to takings liability. The latest case of this kind involves an LA SWAT team that severely damaged an innocent man's store in the process of unsuccessfully trying to detain a suspect. Chicago Police Raided at Least 21 Wrong Houses. Chicago police raided the wrong house at least 21 times between 2017 and 2020, according to an inspector general report released this week, but shoddy record keeping means the true number is unknown. The Chicago Office of Inspector General released its final report Wednesday on the Chicago Police Department's (CPD) search warrant policies, concluding that CPD's inadequate record keeping made it impossible to count or fully analyze wrong-door raids. The records the inspector general did get, however, showed that inexperience and failures to do basic investigative work contributed to botched raids. Homeowner is fatally shot by police when officers went to the wrong address. The Farmington Police Department released body camera footage from the deadly shooting at the wrong address earlier in April. FPD officers were dispatched to 5308 Valley View Ave for a domestic violence call. However, New Mexico State Police, who are investigating the fatal shooting, said FPD went to 5305 Valley View Ave. Farmington's officers were heard expressing confusion over whether they were at the correct address moments before gunshots were fired from FPD. [Video clip] Officers kill homeowner after responding to wrong address. Officers with the Farmington Police Department in northwestern New Mexico shot and killed a homeowner when they showed up at the wrong address in response to a domestic violence call, state police investigators said. The shooting happened around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. New Mexico State Police released more details late Thursday, and Farmington police confirmed Friday that the three officers involved are on paid administrative leave pending a review of the case. FBI handcuffs, interrogates innocent Delta Air Lines pilot in botched Boston training exercise. The FBI and other federal agents burst into the wrong Boston hotel room Tuesday night during a training exercise, startling the guest inside who had no idea what was going on as he was handcuffed. The incident occurred on the 15th floor of the Revere Hotel as agents were conducting a mock investigation. FBI agents were assisting the U.S. Department of Defense in a training exercise inside the hotel to simulate a situation that DOD personnel might encounter in a deployed environment. "Based on inaccurate information, they were mistakenly sent to the wrong room and detained an individual, not the intended role player," the FBI said in a statement. The agents targeted room 1505, where a Delta Air Lines pilot was sleeping inside and opened the door, WBZ-TV reported. Police Chief Under Investigation For Raiding the Wrong Home. Galveston, Texas, Chief of Police Doug Balli gets an unscheduled 10-day vacation on administrative leave while the internal investigation unwinds. His SWAT team raided the wrong house. They were searching for a teenager in connection with a murder. They had that wrong, too. The suspect was "falsely accused." Every day, it seems there's another story about investigators under investigation. From the FBI right on down to the individual precincts. Police have a huge target on their back to start with and what happened in Memphis, Tennessee, doesn't make their job any easier. We need law enforcement to keep the public safe from lawless anarchists. Thanks to the general deterioration of society, cops can't seem to do any better at their crucial job than the kids behind the drive through window. Illinois State Cops In Full Tactical Gear And Armored Truck Break Through Fence, Aim Guns At 6 Year Old Over An Old Property Dispute. Some larping Illinois state cops busted through someone's fence to point guns at their 6-year-old without a search warrant in their hand... over an old stolen property estate claim from 2018 that was settled in court. The cops came equipped with full tactical gear and armored truck as if they were raiding Osama Bin Laden's compound. [Video clip] SWAT Team Wakes Up Couple, Shoots Unarmed Disabled Husband, Attempts to Cover It Up. If you read the original headlines in December 2022 after police filled Jason Harley Kloepfer, 41, with bullet holes, you would have thought that police acted heroically and saved the day. Headlines, however, especially when they involve "official" statements from police, are often very wrong. [...] After the SWAT officer drags Koepfer's body from the trailer, they realize they are on camera and quickly acknowledge it. "F***, cameras," an officer says after seeing the video recording device. Police then turn the lights back on as they appear to put on night vision in a futile attempt to cover their actions — apparently unaware that the camera had night vision as well. Kloepfer, who was disabled before the shooting, has been in recovery ever since, having undergone multiple surgeries. He has been sharing his recovery on Facebook and says he and his wife are staying out of state, claiming they fear for their lives with the Cherokee county SWAT team giving them ample reason to do so. SWAT Team Storms Grandma's House Based On An iPhone Ping, Turns Out It Was The Wrong House. A SWAT team stormed a grandmother's home after an app led them to the wrong house, the ACLU of Colorado said in a recently filed lawsuit. Ruby Johnson, 77, was in her Montbello home of 40 years in January when a Denver Police Department SWAT team wearing body armor and holding automatic weapons rushed in, according to a news release by the ACLU of Colorado. The operation was "based on a manifestly deficient search warrant and turned up nothing," according to the lawsuit filed Dec. 1. The SWAT team left Johnson's home "damaged, in disarray and caused (her) physical and emotional harm," according to the release. [Video clip] SWAT Team Blew Up Innocent Woman's Home & Gave Her A $50,000 Bill! She Fought Them & Won! In July of 2020, Vicki Baker, 75, was excited to move on to the next chapter of her life in Montana by selling her home she owned for 12 years in McKinney, Texas. That sale would never take place on schedule, however, because the day before she was supposed to close, a SWAT team destroyed it. After destroying her home, Baker was told by local government that she was on the hook for the $50,000 bill to repair it. After fighting for nearly two years, however, a federal jury ruled this week that the city was liable and awarded her $59,656.59 in damages — and more may be coming. The case marks a "sea change in the law," according to Baker's attorney, Jeffrey Redfern of the liberty-minded Institute for Justice. Woman wins a round in fight over SWAT team's demolition of her home. A Texas woman has won a round in her fight to force the city of McKinney, Texas, to be held accountable for the destruction of her home. The Institute for Justice explained a federal judge ruled recently the lawsuit by Vicki Baker over the destruction of her residence by the city's SWAT team can move forward. "The court recognized that the city of McKinney is not exempt from the Constitution," said IJ Attorney Jeffrey Redfern. "This is the first step towards Vicki getting her due, but it's a big one. The government must compensate individuals when it deliberately destroys their property." And here's the rest of the story. BLM terrorists are not interested in the truth, but the Breonna Taylor case is not unique. There have been numerous cases of innocent residents being attacked in their homes due to no-knock warrants and that is the real case for reform. These warrants were originally approved to prevent criminals from destroying evidence like drugs or money. What is more important, loss of evidence or loss of innocent life? There is no need for tactical swat teams attacking private residence like they are cartel hideouts. These are the forces that need vigorous retraining and more strenuous vetting by judges of each individual case. If there is any positive result from Breonna's tragic death, it will be the complete end of reckless issuance of no-knock warrants. A Just Decision Not to File Homicide Charges in the Tragic Breonna Taylor Case. The criminal law is not designed to address every human tragedy. That is the lesson of the tragic death of Breonna Taylor. It was also the theme repeatedly struck by Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron on Wednesday, in announcing the indictment of one of the three officers involved in the raid that lead to her death. The charge will not satisfy the mob. Neither the peaceful protesters nor the radical rioters, who have taken to the streets since shortly after Ms. Taylor was killed on March 13, are interested in the facts of the case. They could not care less how the law applies to the evidence a Lexington grand jury pored over this week. Their interest is only to set in stone a distorted narrative: Police officers on the hunt for a young black man, callously gunned down an innocent young black woman after supposedly crashing into an apartment without warning. In light of that, the indictment will just fuel the mob's outrage. The two officers who actually shot Ms. Taylor a total of six times were not charged. The indictment, instead, lodges three counts of wanton endangerment — not homicide — against Brett Hankison, then a detective (since fired), whose wild firing put neighbors in harm's way but did not kill the young woman. Breonna Taylor: Yet Another Grand Jury Defies the Fake News Narrative. [Scroll down] The cops executed their warrant and never found any drugs. The boyfriend shot at men invading the premises without their manifesting clear reason to be breaking in. The cops shot back at a guy shooting at them. Horrible. Tragic. But not at all racial. It was just a horrible, horrible thing. The grand jury did not indict anyone for Breonna Taylor's shooting, but the City of Louisville agreed to pay her family $12 million and to adopt new police reforms so that this awful tragedy never recurs. Everything the Media Claimed About Breonna Taylor's Death Was a Lie. Everything the media and lawyer Ben Crump claimed about the death of Breonna Taylor and the circumstances around her death was based on lies. The officials in Kentucky allowed a mountain of lies to grow until the evidence was finally presented to a grand jury and the Kentucky Attorney General was forced to admit the truth. According to evidence revealed at a press conference by AG Daniel Cameron, the police executed a search warrant by knocking on the door. Breonna Taylor and her boyfriend Kenneth Walker refused to answer the door after the police identified themselves. The police broke down the door. Kenneth Walker was armed and shot first at police. The police returned fire and that's how Breonna Taylor was shot and killed. Breonna Taylor's Family to Receive $12 Million Settlement From City of Louisville. After months of protests that turned Breonna Taylor's name into a national slogan against police violence, city officials agreed to pay her family $12 million and institute changes aimed at preventing future deaths by officers. The agreement, announced Tuesday [9/15/2020], settled a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the young woman's family. As her mother, her lawyers and leading activists walked into the council chamber alongside the mayor, there was a momentary show of unity, after months of nightly, sometimes violent demonstrations that have left Kentucky's largest city boarded up. It comes six months after the death of Ms. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, in a botched drug raid, but before the state's attorney general has said whether the officers involved in the shooting would be criminally charged — a key demand of protesters. "My administration is not waiting to move ahead with needed reforms to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again," said Mayor Greg Fischer of Louisville. Three Nashville cops are 'decommissioned' after raiding the wrong home, again. Three Nashville police officers have been "decommissioned" (a.k.a. paid vacation to disneyland) after raiding the wrong home, again, and breaking down the door of an innocent family during a botched investigation early Tuesday morning [8/18/2020]. Lieutenant Harrison Dooley, Sergeant Jeff Brown, and officer Michael Richardson, were "suspended" on Wednesday, The Metro Nashville Police Department said. [...] Police Chief John Drake said officers did not give the family enough time to answer the door and failed to exercise due diligence in confirming that the person they were looking for lived at the apartment. [Video clip] 3 Nashville police officers decommissioned after raiding innocent family's apartment. Three Nashville police officers were decommissioned late Wednesday, and the metro police department has launched an investigation into the department's execution of a search warrant on an innocent family's residence. The department released body camera footage of the 6:05 a.m. Tuesday incident in which officers used a battering ram to knock in the door of a home occupied by a mother and her two children. The subject of the search warrant, however, was a 16-year-old who did not live at the home and had not resided there for at least four months, The Tennessean reported. Three Nashville Police Officers Decommissioned After Raiding Wrong Home. Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake has ordered an investigation into the department's execution of a search warrant at the home of an innocent family. He also decommissioned three officers on Wednesday while the investigation is ongoing and adjusted the approval requirements for search warrants. Officers at 6:05 a.m. Tuesday used a battering ram to knock in the door at the Edgehill home of a mother and her two children. MNPD has released body camera footage of the incident. Breonna Taylor and the Moral Bankruptcy of Drug Prohibition. Last Friday [6/19/2020], three months after Louisville, Kentucky, police officers gunned down a 26-year-old EMT and aspiring nurse named Breonna Taylor during a fruitless drug raid, acting Police Chief Robert Schroeder initiated the termination of Detective Brett Hankison, who he said had "displayed an extreme indifference to the value of human life" when he "wantonly and blindly fired 10 rounds" into Taylor's apartment. But Hankison's recklessness is just one element of the circumstances that led to Taylor's senseless death, which never would have happened if politicians did not insist on using violence to enforce their pharmacological prejudices. The March 13 shooting, which has figured prominently in recent protests against police brutality, followed a sadly familiar pattern. Hankison and two other plainclothes officers broke into Taylor's home around 12:40 a.m., awakening her and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who mistook the armed invaders for robbers. Walker grabbed a gun and fired a single shot, which hit one of the officers in the leg. The cops responded with a hail of more than 20 bullets, at least eight of which struck Taylor, who was unarmed. [...] Taylor had no criminal record, and there was no evidence that she or Walker was involved in drug dealing. I Like My Cops Like I Like My Surgeons: Cautious, and Not Looking to Kill Me. You only become a surgeon by excelling academically in school, getting a great grade on your MCAT, successfully completing your medical degree, successfully completing your medical residency, successfully completing your specialization in surgery, passing your board exams, and successfully interviewing and beating out several other candidates for an available position. And even still, despite all this education and training, and in the face of ample evidence of sound judgment and decision-making ability, surgeons STILL use a big black marker to draw a large 'X' on someone's leg so that they don't accidentally amputate the wrong limb. [...] I know this is going to sound crazy, but maybe our police need to adopt that same sort of precautionary attitude and approach before breaking into somebody's home. Just by having someone who waits outside of the home with a photograph of the suspect, for example, and who's responsible for comparing the person in the home to the person in the photo, and who, if the two don't match with 100% certainty, would be responsible for saying something on the order of, "The person who lives here is 7-feet tall with three arms, but the person in the photo is 2-feet tall with four legs. Weird. It's almost as if they're entirely different people. Perhaps we should take a beat to double-check everything before proceeding." A Kentucky EMT was shot and killed during a police raid of her home. Kentucky woman working as an EMT was killed after officers forced their way inside her home and exchanged shots with her boyfriend, according to a lawsuit filed by her mother. The officers were executing a search warrant in a narcotics investigation, the Louisville Metro Police Department has said, when they entered Breonna Taylor's apartment just before 1 a.m. on March 13. Taylor's mother, in a wrongful death lawsuit filed last month against the three police officers involved, argues that the officers should have called off their search of Taylor's apartment because a suspect police were looking for had already been arrested by other officers executing a warrant at a separate location. Armed SWAT Team Raids Bar Who Dared To Open During Lockdown! Texas police have arrested a bar owner and six armed men who were protesting lockdown orders issued amid the coronavirus pandemic. Cops were called to Big Daddy Zane's Bar in West Odessa Monday evening after owner Gabrielle Ellison, 47, re-opened the establishment, violating laws put into place by Gov. Greg Abbott. Upon arrival, cops were met by a group of men who said they were there to support and defend Ellison as she opened the premises back up. Six of the men were wearing armor and were armed with guns. [Video clip] Texas sheriff sends SWAT team with guns drawn to arrest armed lockdown protestors. A Texas sheriff sent his department's SWAT team with guns drawn to break up a rally in support of a bar owner who reopened her business in violation of Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) coronavirus lockdown on Monday [5/4/2020]. The protestors say they did nothing wrong and argue they were simply practicing their First and Second Amendment Rights, while the sheriff says the demonstrators exhibited "a show of force" in their demonstration. Eight people were arrested — six of them for unlawfully carrying a weapon on a premises licensed to sell alcohol. Texas sheriff receives threats from 'all over the country' after arresting anti-lockdown protesters. A Texas sheriff is being inundated with threatening phone calls days after his deputies arrested eight protesters outside a bar in Texas. Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis said anti-lockdown protesters had rallied outside the county's office and at a house they believe belongs to Griffis this week in response to his decision to detain bar owner Gabrielle Ellison and members of Open Texas, who attempted to reopen Big Daddy Zane's bar in Odessa on Monday [5/4/2020]. Dumb And Corrupt Cops Risk Losing Our Support. Here's the thing — we normals respect our police not merely because they have badges and funny hats but because they take personal risks to protect us from those who would violate our rights. Usually, these violators are criminals. But the category of "People who violate our rights" also includes political hacks and bureaucratic petty fascists. And we reasonably expect to be protected from those creeps too.
Innocent EMT Killed in Her Bed by Cops Raiding the Wrong Home. According to his attorney, Kenneth Walker woke up in the middle of the night to armed intruders kicking in his door. He then grabbed his legally owned firearm to defend himself. A hail of gunfire subsequently ensued, all but one of the bullets coming from police weapons, and Walker's girlfriend 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, a certified EMT working on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, was killed in her bed. [...] After the raid, Walker was arrested for defending himself in his own home against armed invaders because he shot one of the armed invaders in the leg. Showing the unnecessary nature of the entire deadly debacle is the fact that Walker was released from jail after his arrest because he is not a threat. Naturally, this infuriated the police union. Cops Destroyed This House To Arrest a Shoplifter. A Federal Court Says Police Don't Have To Pay for the Damage. A federal appeals court ruled this week that the Colorado man who had his home destroyed by a police raid in 2015 is not entitled to compensation for the damage, which was severe enough to require a complete demolition of the house. "Under no circumstances in this country should the government be able to blow up your house and render a family homeless," Leo Lech, the homeowner, told NPR after the court ruling on Wednesday [10/30/2019]. The raid that left Lech and his family homeless had nothing to do with any of them. They weren't even home when an armed shoplifter broke into their house on South Alton Street in the leafy Denver suburb of Greenwood Village. Although the burglar was armed only with a handgun and was fully barricaded inside the home, local police responded as if they were confronting Osama bin Laden. SWAT: Overkill and Out Of Control. Being a supporter of our Law Enforcement community does not mean that we give license to destroy a person's home without consequence. Special Weapons and Tactics Teams (SWAT) have increasingly gone beyond the pale to destroy homes and buildings with little to no reason for that level of destruction. When it happens, we expect that Law Enforcement Department to take responsibility for their over-zealousness, as we expect the average Joe to take responsibility for his behavior and actions. However, recent cases show that the situations are getting worse, not better. And the courts are backing up the fanatical destruction of these SWAT teams. Demonization of Gun Owners: Philadelphia "Wellness Check" Results in Hysteria, Propaganda. On 28 August, 2019, relatives of a former gun dealer called police because, they said, they were concerned the 72-Year-Old man might be depressed and/or suicidal. I do not know if the man was suicidal or not, but old white men commit the largest percentages of suicides. They tend to use guns to do the deed. The police raided the house, on the authorization of the relatives. It appears to be a nice home in a nice neighborhood. Bustleton is home to many of Philadelphia's police officers and firefighters. The wellness check turned into a full blown media circus. Swat was called "to assist in clearing weapons". The bomb squad was called. Hazmat was called. Why? Because the man involved, who had been a gun dealer, according to relatives, had a modest gun collection, some inert grenade bodies (easily and legally purchased), a smoke grenade (totally legal), some mercury (totally legal), and about a thousand rounds of ammunition. Amir Worship Lawsuit. Amir Worship is the 12-year-old son of Crystal Worship, an Illinois mother who filed a lawsuit Thursday [8/8/2019] accusing police of "terrorizing" her children. Amir, Ms. Worship's youngest son, was shot in the knee by a white officer while sitting on his bed with his hands raised. Arizona SWAT busts down door to take 2-yr-old unvaccinated boy with 105° fever away from home for help. After the parents of a sick 2-year-old child refused a doctor's recommendation late last month that they take their unvaccinated son to the emergency room for treatment for the boy's 105 degree fever, he reportedly sicced a police swat team on them via the Arizona Department of Child Safety. Shocking police surveillance footage released by the media this week shows Chandler Police Department officers busting down the parents' front door and storming into their home as if they were taking down drug dealers or trying to apprehend armed fugitives. Except they were, in reality, looking for the 2-year-old because they incorrectly believed he was in danger. Swat Team Takes Children from Home because of Political Liability. On 26 February, 2019, the Chandler Police SWAT team raided a home where the children were sick. The parents had not committed any crime, nor was any child in any substantial danger. The raid itself created far more danger than the danger it was supposed to mitigate. It was a perfect storm of the conflict of rights and the Nanny State, parental responsibility and bureaucratic fear of liability. In short, it resulted from the basic conflict in our society between those who insist on perfection, and reality. It shows how creeping tyranny is advancing in society. Phony Houston Drug Warrant Prompts FBI Investigation and Review of 1,400 Cases. The fraudulent search warrant that authorized last month's deadly Houston drug raid has prompted an FBI investigation and a review of more than 1,400 cases involving the narcotics officer who obtained the warrant. "The FBI Houston Field Office has opened an independent civil rights investigation into allegations that a search warrant obtained by Houston police officers was based on false, fabricated information," the FBI announced in a press release yesterday. "The execution of that search warrant at 7815 Harding Street, Houston, TX, on January 28, 2019, resulted in the deaths of Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle as well as serious injuries to several Houston police officers." Officer Gerald Goines, who was shot in the neck during the no-knock raid, obtained the warrant by claiming that he had sent a confidential informant into the house on January 27 to buy heroin from a man matching Tuttle's description. The C.I. supposedly returned with "a quantity of brown powder substance," subsequently identified as black-tar heroin, and reported that there many more bags of it in the house, along with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun. Police found neither of those things, or any other evidence of drug dealing, when they searched the house the next day after they killed Nicholas and Tuttle during a shootout they started by breaking into the house and killing the couple's dog with a shotgun. TBI investigating raid on wrong house in Bradley County; DEA apologizes to family. The Drug Enforcement Administration acknowledged it made a mistake when officers raided Spencer Renck's house Tuesday morning [5/29/2018]. The Bradley County Sheriff's Office assisted in the raid, which happened during the search for a murder suspect staying at the house next door. The federal agency says it's sorry for the mix-up. But, will it pay for any damages? On Wednesday morning, District Attorney General Stephen Crump asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to review the incident to see what went wrong. "Clearly on property issues, the DEA and/or the Bradley County sheriff's department is going to liable for that," said attorney Bill Speek. He sees a lot of situations like this unfold. There was severe property damage inside the Rencks' home. Door frames are busted, ceilings dented and clothes are ripped. The family says agents threw flash bangs while four children slept nearby. But Speek says it could have been much worse. The SWATting Death of Andy Finch. There's body cam video of the shooting, but the cops were a good distance away from Finch and the video provides little insight. You can hear a cop yell "show your hands, walk this way." To the cop, who knows why he's taking charge, his commands make sense. To a good guy, who couldn't possibly conceive of why a distant cop was yelling at him, it makes no sense. There is a good chance he wasn't sure they were yelling at him, and he was looking around to see who else they might be screaming at. The idea that police would command him to "show his hands," not the clearest phrase to a good guy to begin with, must have seemed absurd. Why would a cop tell him to show his hands? He was in his home, with his family, having an ordinary evening. Finch was unarmed. He didn't have any object in his hand that might have been mistaken for a gun, even though there would have been nothing wrong, nothing even unusual, if he had. The cops saw no glint of steel. They weren't open and exposed, but distant and protected. But the cops had it in their head that he was a killer, and so they saw his every move as a killer's move. Elderly Vet Accidentally Trips His Medical Alert System, Cops Show Up and Kill Him — No Charges. A police officer who shot and killed an innocent 68-year-old mentally ill veteran who accidentally hit the medical emergency button in his home, will face no consequences after acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim determined that there was insufficient evidence to press charges. The victim, Kenneth Chamberlain, accidentally triggered a medical alert through "Life Aid," which prompted police to visit his home. When the officers arrived unexpectedly, Chamberlain told the responding officers that he was OK and did not need any help. He refused to answer his door, and instead called Life Aid and told them that he did not need the police at his home. Wichita Swatting Victim's Mother Isn't Even Allowed To See Her Own Son. [Scroll down] While it's deplorable that someone would do this, it wouldn't be a problem if cops wore uniforms, didn't assume that the call was legitimate, and simply knocked on the door to chat with the occupants since, after all, it is their property. The practice of swatting is a problem only because of the hero soldier-boy complex that infects the police forces around the nation. 10 Facts About The Growing SWAT Team Raids In America That Everyone Should Know. The number of SWAT team raids in the United States every year is now more than 25 times higher than it was back in 1980. As America has conducted wars overseas in recent years, our police forces have become increasingly militarized as well. And without a doubt, many of our cities have become much more dangerous places. Thanks to relentless illegal immigration, drug cartels are thriving and there are now at least 1.4 million gang members living in the United States. But there are many that believe that the militarization of our police forces has gone way too far. Almost weekly, SWAT team brutality somewhere in America makes national headlines. Woman says cops raided her home, called her a drug dealer — but she's not. In a recently filed lawsuit, the homeowner, Patricia Gold, said she called police earlier on the night of Dec. 14, 2015 after a neighbor told her there was a suspicious minivan driving back and forth in front of her home. Police informed Gold that the minivan was, in fact, a UPS vehicle delivering packages and she later found a package outside her home, according to the complaint. All seemed well until about a half hour later, when Gold heard pounding on her front door and saw a State Police trooper outside, the complaint says. Assuming the trooper was responding to her earlier call, Gold says she opened the door. It was then that the trooper, later identified as Richard Nugnes, "grabbed her right wrist, threw it above her head and slammed her body into the center foyer wall," the complaint says. The Illusion of Freedom: The Police State Is Alive and Well. [Scroll down] In fact, the American police state has continued to advance at the same costly, intrusive, privacy-sapping, Constitution-defying, relentless pace under President Trump as it did under President Obama. [...] SWAT teams haven't stopped crashing through doors and terrorizing families. Nationwide, SWAT teams continue to be employed to address an astonishingly trivial array of criminal activities or mere community nuisances including angry dogs, domestic disputes, improper paperwork filed by an orchid farmer, and misdemeanor marijuana possession. With more than 80,000 SWAT team raids carried out every year on unsuspecting Americans for relatively routine police matters and federal agencies laying claim to their own law enforcement divisions, the incidence of botched raids and related casualties continue to rise. Army, Navy, Air Force, EPA. If sending Marines, Navy Seals, and Delta force to the world's trouble spots doesn't work, we could also send the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), or the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Both agencies have military equipment, weapons, SWAT teams, drones, and highly trained "Special Agents;" so do many others not traditionally considered law enforcement agencies. A new report from transparency watchdog group Open the Books documents an explosion in the number of federal agencies with gun-toting, badge-wielding law enforcement divisions. The report, called "The Militarization of America" details the astonishing scope of federal police power. There are now over 200,000 federal officers with arrest and firearm authority, in a whopping 67 different federal agencies. That is remarkable when you consider there are only 182,000 U.S. Marines. Those 67 federal agencies — 53 of which are not law enforcement agencies — spent a total of $1.48 billion on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment between 2006 and 2014. FBI Alaska SWAT Team Failed Breach. Did they leave an M4 or AR-15 leaning up against the garage door while they tried to break into the house? What was that dude in the truck doing with his time? Eating doughnuts? I think it might have been easier and done with greater tactical fidelity if they had gone up to the door and knocked. I hope they didn't just go in and shoot the dog, leave the door all broken and walk away like most other SWAT raids. Or confiscate an ounce of marijuana and call it a success. [Video clip] Keywords: trigger happy, urban gunslinger, oops. Judge Napolitano: FBI Transcript Shows Nobody Died in Orlando Shooting Until SWAT Teams entered the Building. What should have been front page news everywhere, somehow got buried amid the official narrative we were given about the Orlando shooting. Judge Andrew Napolitano told FOX News that an FBI transcript indicated that no one died until 05:13am Sunday morning when the police SWAT teams entered the building. "Here's what is news in the summary — nobody died until 05:13 in the morning, when the SWAT team entered. Prior to that no one had been killed. The 53 that were injured, and the 49 that were murdered all met their fates at the time of, and during, the police entry into the building," Judge Napolitano said. Militarized USDA and EPA using SWAT teams to terrorize innocent people including lemon growers and small farmers. The federal government is becoming increasingly militarized, with numerous agencies now employing their own SWAT teams to conduct raids on raw milk producers, beekeepers, lemon growers — or anyone else who runs afoul of agency policies. The trend has increased during Obama's presidency and is not only costing taxpayers enormous amounts of money, but also terrorizing citizens who could hardly be considered dangerous criminals by any sane estimation. The USDA is just one example. Empty home destroyed in 4-hour SWAT siege, innocent woman left with $100,000 in damages. A SWAT team spent hours firing "mortars, grenades, and teargas canisters" at an empty home. The 4-hour siege destroyed windows, doors, and walls and left the home in ruin. The suspect didn't even live at the address, and the innocent homeowner was left homeless for months and ultimately was stuck with over $100,000 in repair bills, which the responsible parties have refused to pay. Kids traumatized after SWAT team ransacks wrong home. A family was terrorized and accosted when a masked paramilitary outfit unexpectedly broke through their back door. Frightened children hid in a closet as the masked invaders spent hours tearing apart all the possessions in the home. The family assumed they were being attacked by robbers, but it turned out to be a SWAT team sent from the local "Department of Public Safety." Armed EPA Agents? The Truth Is Way Out There. According to a report released last week by a watchdog group called Open the Books, the EPA has spent millions of dollars recently on guns, ammo, body armor, camouflage equipment, and even night-vision goggles to arm its agents in the war on polluters. The Illinois-based investigative group examined thousands of checks totaling more than $93 billion from 2000 to 2014 by the EPA, and its auditors indicate that about $75 million is authorized each year for "criminal enforcement" of America's clean air and water laws. This includes cash for a cadre of 200 "special agents" that engage in SWAT-style ops. USDA and Submachine Guns: Latest Example of Mission Creep as Federal Policing Expands. Why does the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) need submachine guns? The agency's Office of Inspector General (OIG) is seeking .40 Caliber semiautomatic submachine guns. But while many may wonder why USDA agents need semiautomatic weapons, the OIG's request is not unusual for other similar and seemingly unlikely federal agencies that are rapidly becoming armed and equipped with police units of their very own. Why Do the Postal Service, USDA, EPA, And Department of Agriculture Need SWAT Teams? All throughout the United States there are government agencies who have no association with national security acquiring military-like equipment, according to news talk KFLD. Many agencies are also receiving SWAT teams including the Department of Agriculture, the Railroad Retirement Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Education Department. In almost prophetic fashion Ron Paul in a 1997 warned about the militarization of federal bureaucrats; including the BLM, which was not yet armed. Turning police into soldiers has made America into a war zone. The raid that wounded Bou Bou [Phonesavanh] has much in common with police SWAT deployments around the country, according to a new ACLU report on the militarization of America's police forces. Increasingly, police departments choose SWAT to handle relatively low-stakes and low-risk tasks in low-income communities of color. We found that police often opt for the SWAT team, with its 10-or-more officers armed with assault rifles, to do routine police work in black and Latino neighborhoods. We reviewed multiple cases in which SWAT teams held children at gunpoint, killed family pets, and destroyed property simply because the cops believed they would find drugs. In the process, they have brought terror into people's homes, eroded public trust in law enforcement, and undermined civil liberties. How to serve a warrant: 1972 versus today, by Lt. Harry Thomas. Since the early 80's, the use of SWAT teams in civilian law enforcement has increased about 1500%. No, those two zeros are not a typo. At least FORTY completely innocent American citizens have been shot to death by rogue police, either because incompetent law enforcement officials hit the wrong address, or because startled homeowners attempted to defend themselves against the masked strangers violently entering their homes and were gunned down. One of them, Kathryn Johnston of Atlanta, was 92 years old. The United States of SWAT? Dozens of federal agencies now have Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams to further an expanding definition of their missions. It's not controversial that the Secret Service and the Bureau of Prisons have them. But what about the Department of Agriculture, the Railroad Retirement Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service? All of these have their own SWAT units and are part of a worrying trend towards the militarization of federal agencies — not to mention local police forces. Dept. of Education SWAT Raid Update: Not for a Student Loan, DoE Says. This will certainly come as a relief to Millenial deadbeats, but the notion that "bribery, fraud, and embezzlement of federal student aid funds" is all it takes to get a paramilitary squad to bang down your door at 6 a.m, handcuff you in your boxers, and throw your three pre-teen children into the back seat of a squad car, all in the service of a warrant aimed at someone who no longer lives in your home, is frankly every bit as terrifying. Unless and until we hear that this "criminal investigation" involves some kind of imminent threat of violence, there will be no margin of excuse for it, only new opportunities for bureaucrats and commentators to demonstrate that they are perfectly content living in and even contributing to a police state. The Department of Education's S.W.A.T. Team. Since when does the US Department of Education have a SWAT team at their disposal? Official answer: they borrowed it from the Inspector General. Okay. Now, let's rephrase the question. Since when does the US Department of Education's Inspector General have a SWAT team at its disposal? The short answer? Since the enactment of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. President Jimmy Carter and a social progressive Democratic Congress created the Department of Education with Public Law 96-88 on Oct. 17, 1979, and George W. Bush and a Republican Congress armed them in 2002 with an extension of the Patriot Act in what can only be described as the silent creation of the Bully State. And, finally — why? When the other questions are pondered and answered, one nagging question remains. Since the Office of the Inspector General was specifically created to investigate waste and fraud by individual employees in the federal government, why would the IG for any federal agency need a SWAT team? Congressman on mission to disarm federal agencies. Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, introduced HR 4934, also called the Regulatory Agency De-militarization Act or RAD, in late June, and it has since gained more than 30 co-sponsors in the House. [...] In recent years, nearly every federal regulatory agency — from the U.S. Department of Education, to the Food and Drug Administration and the Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — has deployed some kind of SWAT-type unit with high-powered assault rifles, helmets, menacing black uniforms with faces covered, body armor and militarized armored vehicles. Stewart said it's disturbing for Americans to read stories of federal regulators armed to the teeth and breaking into homes and businesses with no reason to think there would be resistance. The Trivialization of SWAT. A couple of things going on in America are dramatically increasing the possibility of violence in these situations, which in the process undermines public support for legitimate law-enforcement tools. The first is the use of SWAT teams to serve search warrants on nonviolent offenders, enforce evictions, and otherwise get involved in cases where the use of force is unlikely to be necessary. The second is the growing use of SWAT teams and paramilitary tactics by government agencies that have no business employing such methods. As mentioned, these include the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, the National Fish and Wild Life Service, the National Park Service, and, perhaps the worst of all, the hated Internal Revenue Service. Bill seeks to disarm federal SWAT teams. Does the Department of Education really need SWAT teams? How about the Department of Agriculture or HUD? Finally, legislation has been introduced to reverse the militarization of the federal bureaucracy. Representative Cynthia Loomis (R-WY) has introduced lefgislation that would reverse the dangerous madness. Why does NASA need a SWAT team? A strong trend of militarizing law enforcement has been occurring for some time, and if this is a surprise to you, its time to catch up. Yes, even NASA has a SWAT team, and you may be surprised with some of their assignments, which include militarized perimeter security and robbing grandmothers of heirloom decorative paperweights. NASA's recent purchase of Armalite AR-15 rifles, documented on FedBizOpps.gov, is only the tip of the iceberg regarding NASA's equipment and capabilities. The space agency also has its own police department and round-the-clock SWAT team. The United States of SWAT — Federal Agencies. Many veteran law-enforcement figures have severe qualms about the turn police work is taking. One retired veteran of a large metropolitan police force told me: "I was recently down at police headquarters for a meeting. Coincidently, there was a promotion ceremony going on and the SWAT guys looked just like members of the Army, except for the police shoulder patches. Not an image I would cultivate. It leads to a bad mindset." Indeed, the U.S. Constitution's Third Amendment, against the quartering of troops in private homes, was part of an overall reaction against the excesses of Britain's colonial law enforcement. "It wasn't the stationing of British troops in the colonies that irked patriots in Boston and Virginia," Balko writes. "It was England's decision to use the troops for everyday law enforcement." There are things that can be done to curb the abuses without taking on the politically impossible job of disbanding SWAT units. Military-style units from government agencies are wreaking havoc on non-violent citizens. Our police forces have become dangerously militarized. We need cops, not soldiers on the streets of America. In fact it is pretty much against the American tradition to have what are essentially soldiers on patrol in our country. Most cities don't need Bradley Fighting Vehicles. But they are getting them. Most cities don't need SWAT teams, but they are expanding them. Much of this militarization has come from an influx of federal money aimed at fighting "terrorism." But Iowa City Iowa doesn't have much of a terrorism issue. Nor does 98% of the United States. But the cops in places outside of New York, DC, Chicago, LA, and San Francisco want their piece of the pie. And they've gotten it — to the overall detriment of civil society in the United States. Depth of federal arms race should
surprise, shock citizenry. It may come as a surprise to many U.S. taxpayers, but a slew of federal
agencies — some whose responsibilities seem to have little to do with combating crime — carry active
law enforcement operations. Here's a partial list: FBI reportedly to pay after botched raid destroyed family's Christmas tree. After a botched FBI raid in Kansas nearly destroyed a family's home, the bureau vowed to pay for damages including a ruined Christmas tree and lost toys, The Joplin Globe reported Wednesday [12/16/2015]. Law enforcement officers reportedly surrounded the home Monday night [12/14/2015] in Galena believing an armed gang member was holed up in the attic. He was wanted on charges including failing to appear in court on a misdemeanor assault charge. The FBI joined in Tuesday after a federal warrant accused the man of hopping state lines to avoid prosecution, the Globe reports. Peace Officer is a feature documentary about the increasingly militarized state of American police as told through the story of William "Dub" Lawrence, a former sheriff who established and trained his rural state's first SWAT team only to see that same unit kill his son-in-law in a controversial standoff 30 years later. Driven by an obsessed sense of mission, Dub uses his own investigative skills to uncover the truth in this and other recent officer-involved shootings in his community while tackling larger questions about the changing face of peace officers nationwide. Gov. Walker Supporters Claim Police Raided Their Homes Over Politics. Megyn Kelly shared new information tonight [4/23/2015] about a series of terrifying raids which were reportedly a form of political retribution against supporters of Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI). She explained that a few of the people who were raided came forward and spoke to the National Review about what they experienced. Kelly reported that Cindy Archer had a raid conducted on her home when she was sound asleep one night. Archer claims that more than a dozen police officers were yelling and pounding on her door. She said that police would not tell her why they were there as they ransacked her home, Kelly reported. Wisconsin's Shame: 'I Thought it Was a Home Invasion'. Wisconsin, the cradle of the progressive movement and home of the "Wisconsin idea" — the marriage of state governments and state universities to govern through technocratic reform — was giving birth to a new progressive idea, the use of law enforcement as a political instrument, as a weapon to attempt to undo election results, shame opponents, and ruin lives. Most Americans have never heard of these raids, or of the lengthy criminal investigations of Wisconsin conservatives. For good reason. Bound by comprehensive secrecy orders, conservatives were left to suffer in silence as leaks ruined their reputations, as neighbors, looking through windows and dismayed at the massive police presence, the lights shining down on targets' homes, wondered, no doubt, What on earth did that family do? 50 Real Numbers From 2014 That Almost Defy Belief. 80,000 — Back in 1980, there were only about 3,000 SWAT raids conducted in the United States. But today, there are more than 80,000 SWAT raids per year in this country. Bureaucrats With Berettas. It's a morning Kenneth Wright will never forget: 15 armed agents break in his front door and grab him by the neck, still in the boxer shorts he slept in. For six hours, a handcuffed Wright sat in a cruiser parked outside with his three children, ages 3, 7, and 11, while agents searched his house. "They put me in handcuffs in that hot patrol car for six hours, traumatizing my kids," the Stockton, Calif., resident told a local news outlet at the time. Drugs? Weapons? Domestic violence? No. As Wright later found out, his gun-toting visitors were from the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General (OIG). What the neighbors mistook as a S.W.A.T. team raid was really the execution of a search warrant in a student loan fraud case involving Wright's wife, who wasn't even there at the time. Ft. Bend Police, Prosecutors Accused of Abuse in SWAT Incident. "While I had my hands up naked in the shower they shot me with a 40 millimeter non-lethal round," said [Chad] Chadwick. A second stun grenade soon followed. "I turned away, the explosion went off, I opened my eyes the lights are out and here comes a shield with four or five guys behind it. They pinned me against the wall and proceeded to beat the crap out of me," said Chadwick. Sex, Spice, and Small-Town Texas Justice: The Purple Zone Raid. On the morning of May 7, 2014, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) launched Project Synergy Phase II, a national "day of raids" in 29 states, with the goal of taking down purveyors of synthetic drugs who funnel their proceeds to Middle Eastern terrorist organizations. The Purple Zone, a smoke shop in Alpine, Texas, owned by 29-year-old Ilana Lipsen, was the target of one of these raids. This particular raid was so heavy handed and its aftermath so clumsily handled by law enforcement that it drew national attention as a symbol of police militarization and the vagaries of laws pertaining to drug "analogues." Analogues are chemicals that are not prohibited but are similar enough to controlled substances that they become illegal depending on who interprets the data. Meet the New Serfs: You. The New Haven SWAT team must have been pretty amped up: It was midnight, and they were getting ready to bust down the door of a man wanted on charges involving weapons violations, robbery — and murder. They were not sure how many people were in the house, or how they'd react. After a volley of flash grenades that set fire to the carpet and a sofa, they moved in, guns drawn. A minute later, they had their man zip-tied on the floor. If only they'd double-checked the address first. Police raid roundup. [For example,] The grandson of a New Hampshire woman who was shot by police during a drug raid says she was reaching for her 18-month-old grandchild when the police fired at her. The bullet ripped through her arm and lodged in her abdomen. Two of the woman's daughters were arrested on drug charges during simultaneous raids, but neither lived with the woman. According to the grandson, the police then tore the woman's home apart but did not find any contraband. The militarization of America's police. Are SWAT tactics an overreaction? In many cases, yes. Of the 124 SWAT raids conducted daily, only 7 percent meet the original LAPD criteria. About 62 percent of the raids are mounted to conduct drug searches — many of them based on tips from unreliable informants. Most are undertaken to investigate nonviolent offenses. In Orlando in 2010, for example, heavily armed SWAT teams raided nine barbershops and arrested 34 people for "barbering without a license." Adrenalin-fueled SWAT teams have often been accused of overexuberance: In 2011, an Arizona paramilitary police unit riding in military vehicles — including a tank driven by special deputy and action movie star Steven Seagal — drove straight into the living room of an unarmed man suspected of staging cockfights. Such "no-knock" operations are now commonplace — often with tragic consequences. The nastiest political tactic this year. The early-morning paramilitary-style raids on citizens' homes were conducted by law enforcement officers, sometimes wearing bulletproof vests and lugging battering rams, pounding on doors and issuing threats. Spouses were separated as the police seized computers, including those of children still in pajamas. Clothes drawers, including the children's, were ransacked, cellphones were confiscated and the citizens were told that it would be a crime to tell anyone of the raids. Some raids were precursors of, others were parts of, the nastiest episode of this unlovely political season, an episode that has occurred in an unlikely place. This attempted criminalization of politics to silence people occupying just one portion of the political spectrum has happened in Wisconsin, which often has conducted robust political arguments with Midwestern civility. Massachusetts SWAT teams claim they're private corporations, immune from open records laws. These agencies oversee police activities. They employ cops who carry guns, wear badges, collect paychecks provided by taxpayers and have the power to detain, arrest, injure and kill. They operate SWAT teams, which conduct raids on private residences. And yet they say that because they've incorporated, they're immune to Massachusetts open records laws. Barney Fife Meets Delta Force. Historians looking back at this period in America's development will consider it to be profoundly odd that at the exact moment when violent crime hit a 50-year low, the nation's police departments began to gear up as if the country were expecting invasion — and, on occasion, to behave as if one were underway. The ACLU reported recently that SWAT teams in the United States conduct around 45,000 raids each year, only 7 percent of which have anything whatsoever to do with the hostage situations with which those teams were assembled to contend. Paramilitary operations, the ACLU concluded, are "happening in about 124 homes every day — or more likely every night" — and four in five of those are performed in order that authorities might "search homes, usually for drugs." Such raids routinely involve "armored personnel carriers," "military equipment like battering rams," and "flashbang grenades." Have police departments gone too far with SWAT units? At the end of the 1960s, the Los Angeles Police Department decided it needed a better way to handle situations, such as confrontations with barricaded gunmen or hostage takers, that presented a high risk of deadly violence. So it created Special Weapons and Tactics units, known thereafter as SWAT. In the decades since, these units have spread nationwide, contributing to a startling militarization of local police agencies. The American Civil Liberties Union now raises troubling questions about the blurred lines that come with arming and training domestic law enforcement officers as though they are an extension of the U.S. military. The Age of Mafia Government: People Wind Up Mysteriously Dead. The ultimate way to earn power over other people is to threaten not just their livelihood, but also their lives, and the lives of those they love. On that note, perhaps it's appropriate to mention that the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Education each have their own SWAT teams. [...] When black-helmeted men circle your home, break down your door, throw your children from their sleeping beds onto the dew-ridden lawn, and shoot you 22 times because some meathead mistook your house for a drug dealer's, it's clear government has gone from protecting you from threats to becoming a threat itself. Nanny-State Mindset Leads to Police Brutality. In Georgia, a SWAT team broke into a house searching for drugs and threw a flash-bang grenade inside a child's crib. The excessive force was disgusting to begin with. Even worse is the fact that the police had the wrong house and there were no drugs. The child is in critical condition. Amazingly, the local sherriff and other Georgia authorities said the officers didn't do anything wrong. That's ludicrous. They deployed a grenade developed for war in a private home and sent a child to the hospital fighting for his life. Something is terribly wrong. Baby in Coma After Police 'Grenade' Dropped in Crib During Drug Raid. A Georgia toddler has been put into a medically induced coma after he was badly burned by a police "flash bang" grenade that landed in the crib where the boy was sleeping during a drug raid, his mother told ABC News today. The raid occurred before dawn Wednesday night [5/28/2014] in Habersham County while the Phonesavanh family was sleeping. "It was a big flash, a loud bang, a bunch of yelling, and my son screaming," the boy's mom, Alecia Phonesavanh, 27, told ABC News. How Cops Became Baby Burners. The cops were looking for the Phonesavanhs' 30-year-old nephew, Wanis Thonetheva, who a few hours before had allegedly sold methamphetamine to a confidential informant from the same doorway through which the SWAT team entered. They had obtained a "no knock" warrant by claiming Thonetheva was apt to be armed and dangerous. Thonetheva was not there, and police did not find any drugs, cash, or guns either. When they arrested him later that morning at a different location, he had about an ounce of meth but no weapons. The Editor says... Amateur SWAT is Worse Than Regular SWAT. Here's a few fun facts
about the incident that wounded "Bou-bou" Phonesavanh. Update: Police Militarization, Abuses of Power, and the Road to Impeachment. Mountain Pure Water, LLC is headquartered on Interstate 30 just outside the town of Little Rock, Arkansas. The company manufactures and distributes beverage containers, spring water, fruit drinks, and teas. In January 2012, about 50 federal agents, led by Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) Special Agent Cynthia Roberts and IRS Special Agent Bobbi Spradlin, swooped in, guns drawn. Without explanation they shut down plant operations, herded employees into the cafeteria, and confined them to the room for hours. They could not so much as use the bathroom without police escort. Cell phones were confiscated and all Internet and company phones were disabled. Plant Manager Court Stacks was at his desk when police burst through his office door, guns drawn and pointed at him — a thoroughly unprofessional violation of basic firearms discipline in this circumstance, and the cause of numerous accidental SWAT killings. Wisconsin prosecutors abuse the law for partisan ends. Eric O'Keefe's refusal to be intimidated by lawless law enforcement officials produced [U.S. District Judge Rudolph T.] Randa's remarkably emphatic ruling against an especially egregious example of Democrats using government power to suppress conservatives' political speech. Wisconsin's sordid episode began, appropriately, with a sound of tyranny — fists pounding on the doors of private citizens in pre-dawn raids. While sheriff's deputies used floodlights to illuminate the citizens' homes, armed raiders seized documents, computers, cellphones and other devices. The United States of SWAT? Regardless of how people feel about Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy's standoff with the federal Bureau of Land Management over his cattle's grazing rights, a lot of Americans were surprised to see TV images of an armed-to-the-teeth paramilitary wing of the BLM deployed around Bundy's ranch. They shouldn't have been. Dozens of federal agencies now have Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams to further an expanding definition of their missions. It's not controversial that the Secret Service and the Bureau of Prisons have them. But what about the Department of Agriculture, the Railroad Retirement Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service? All of these have their own SWAT units and are part of a worrying trend towards the militarization of federal agencies — not to mention local police forces. Aggressive SWAT Team in Full Body Armor Raids Home, Confiscates ONE Dud Shell Casing, Federal Charges Laid. At 8:20 p.m. on July 7, 2012, SWAT agents showed up at Mark Witaschek's D.C. home to execute a search warrant for "firearms and ammunition ... gun cleaning equipment, holsters, bullet holders and ammunition receipts." Witaschek's 14-year-old daughter answered the door and let about 30 officers, who were in full tactical gear, inside. The officers immediately charged upstairs and demanded that Witaschek and his girlfriend, Bonnie Harris, surrender, face-down. Both were handcuffed. SWAT Mix-Up: U.S. Marshals Mistakenly Raid Home of Fla. Nurse. A police mix-up nearly had a disastrous outcome in Sarasota, Florida, when a SWAT team burst into a woman's apartment with their guns drawn. Louise Goldsberry, a 59-year-old nurse, was terrified when she saw a man with a gun outside her kitchen window. She then ran to her bedroom and grabbed her gun, leading to a tense standoff. Fortunately no one was injured during the confusion. Florida Nurse Terrorized by US Marshals in Warrantless Raid. It was a typical evening after work when Sarasota, Fl., resident Louise Goldsberry finished dinner and began to clean up. The nurse, employed by the Sarasota Doctors Hospital, proceeded towards the kitchen sink to clean the dishes when she gazed out her window. Her gaze met the eyes of a man wearing a hunting vest who was aiming a gun directly at her face. NYPD broke down door without warrant, beat up family, stomped pet bird to death. A Staten Island family barbecue turned into a nightmare when it was interrupted by police investigating the improper use of a parking cone to save a parking spot on the street. What resulted was a day the family will never forget, as their home was invaded without a warrant, several family members were bludgeoned, and a NYPD officer sadistically stomped on a pet parakeet that lay helpless on the floor. If Police Can't Identify a Masked Officer, How Can The Public? At a local public safety fair in Austin, Infowars Nightly News reporter Jakari Jackson asks Austin police officers about the masked Austin SWAT team member who confined him to his own home. [Video clip] Mother of three negligently shot in the head during botched drug raid. The American Drug War claimed another casualty when a woman was shot in the head while sitting on a couch by an incompetent police officer, who fired his weapon through an exterior wall prior to raiding the home. At about 10:30 p.m. on December 11th, a group of cops calling themselves the U.S. 23 Task Force swarmed the residence and prepared to break in and capture people for possessing drugs. Licensed to Kill: The Growing Phenomenon of Police Shooting Unarmed Citizens. I'm not talking about a situation so obviously fraught with risk that there is no other option but to shoot, although I am hard pressed to consider what that might be outside of the sensationalized Hollywood hostage crisis scenario. I'm talking about the run-of-the mill encounters between police and citizens that occur daily. In an age when police are increasingly militarized, weaponized and protected by the courts, these once-routine encounters are now inherently dangerous for any civilian unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. SWAT-Team Nation. In 1972, America conducted only a few hundred paramilitary drug raids a year, according to Michelle Alexander's "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness." By the early nineteen-eighties, there were three thousand a year; by 2001, Alexander notes, the annual count had skyrocketed to forty thousand. Today, even that number seems impossibly low; with one annual count of combat-style home raids hovers around eighty thousand. [...] But what's remarkable is how routine these tactics have become as a means of pursuing nonviolent suspects and low-level investigations, particularly in the war on drugs. Thousands of police departments nationwide have recently acquired stun grenades, armored tanks, counterattack vehicles, and other paramilitary equipment, much of it purchased with asset-forfeiture funds. 107-year-old Arkansas man dies in shootout with S.W.A.T.. A 107-year old Pine Bluff man died Saturday [9/7/2013] after a shootout with officers and S.W.A.T. members. The Pine Bluff Police Dept. released the following information about the incident on Saturday evening. Mission Creep: EPA Agents Enter Drug War. A large-scale narcotics investigation and sentencing in Montana has revealed that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has entered the enforcement of U.S. war on drugs. The EPA has full federal law enforcement capabilities, and their charter allows them to participate in the investigation and prosecution of "criminal conduct that threatens people's health," according to the EPA's Criminal Investigation Division (EPA CID). Armed EPA raid in Alaska sheds light on 70 fed agencies with armed divisions. The recent uproar over armed EPA agents descending on a tiny Alaska mining town is shedding light on the fact that 40 federal agencies — including nearly a dozen typically not associated with law enforcement — have armed divisions. The agencies employ about 120,000 full-time officers authorized to carry guns and make arrests, according to a June 2012 Justice Department report. Though most Americans know agents within the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Federal Bureau of Prisons carry guns, agencies such as the Library of Congress and Federal Reserve Board employing armed officers might come as a surprise. E.P.A. is the New Gestapo. Just recently, a task force including members of 10 state and federal law enforcement agencies descended on a gold mine in the tiny town of Chicken[,] Alaska[,] with a population of 17 last month, in what locals described as a raid. "Imagine coming up to your diggings, only to see agents swarming over it like ants, wearing full body armor, with jackets that say "POLICE" emblazoned on them, and all packing side arms," gold miner C.R. Hammond told the Alaska Dispatch. [...] According to the EPA The investigation was into possible violations of the Clean Water Act. The officers were part of the Alaska Environmental Crimes Task Force and visited the outpost near the Canadian border during the third week of August to investigate water discharges into rivers, streams, lakes and oceans. This is how the EPA handles an investigation, with rifles, handguns and bullet proof vests? Parnell orders investigation of mining raids. Enforcement officers with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Bureau of Land Management were armed and wore body armor, according to Parnell. He said an investigator with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation joined the agents, who said they were looking for violations of the Clean Water Act. The Editor says... Book Review: "Rise of the Warrior Cop". Today SWAT teams are nothing special. They've multiplied like mushrooms. Every city has a SWAT team; 80% of towns between 25,000 and 50,000 people do as well. These teams are busy; in 2005 there were between 50,000 and 60,000 SWAT raids in the U.S. The tactics are pretty much what you would expect — breaking down doors, rushing in with military weaponry, tear gas — but the targets aren't. SWAT teams are routinely deployed against illegal poker games, businesses suspected of employing illegal immigrants and barbershops with unlicensed hair stylists. Are Police in America Now a Military Occupying Force? [Scroll down] When considered in terms of cops per square mile, Los Angeles assigns a whopping 469 officers per square mile, followed by New York with 303 officers per square mile, and Chicago with 227 cops per square mile. [...] Consider that in 1980, there were roughly 3,000 SWAT team-style raids in the US. By 2001, that number had grown to 45,000 and has since swelled to more than 80,000 SWAT team raids per year. On an average day in America, over 100 Americans have their homes raided by SWAT teams. Armed agents raid animal shelter for baby deer. WISN 12 News investigates an operation raising questions about the use of government resources and the state policy that meant a death sentence for a fawn. "It was like a SWAT team," shelter employee Ray Schulze said. Two weeks ago, Schulze was working in the barn at the Society of St. Francis on the Kenosha-Illinois border when a swarm of squad cars arrived and officers unloaded with a search warrant. 13 Wisconsin officials raid animal shelter to kill baby deer named Giggles. Two weeks ago, Ray Schulze was working in a barn at the Society of St. Francis no-kill animal shelter in Kenosha, Wis., when officials swarmed the shelter with a search warrant. "[There were] nine [Department of Natural Resources] agents and four deputy sheriffs, and they were all armed to the teeth," Mr. Schulze told WISN 12. "It was like a SWAT team." The agents were there to retrieve a baby deer named Giggles that was dropped off by a family worried she had been abandoned by her mother, the station reported. Wisconsin law forbids the possession of wildlife. 13 Wisconsin officials raid animal shelter to kill baby deer named Giggles. Two weeks ago, Ray Schulze was working in a barn at the Society of St. Francis no-kill animal shelter in Kenosha, Wis., when officials swarmed the shelter with a search warrant. "[There were] nine [Department of Natural Resources] agents and four deputy sheriffs, and they were all armed to the teeth," Mr. Schulze told WISN 12. "It was like a SWAT team." The agents were there to retrieve a baby deer named Giggles that was dropped off by a family worried she had been abandoned by her mother, the station reported. Wisconsin law forbids the possession of wildlife. Rise of the Warrior Cop. The police say that they knocked and identified themselves, though [Matthew David] Stewart and his neighbors said they heard no such announcement. Mr. Stewart fired 31 rounds, the police more than 250. Six of the officers were wounded, and Officer Jared Francom was killed. Mr. Stewart himself was shot twice before he was arrested. He was charged with several crimes, including the murder of Officer Francom. SWAT Overkill: The Danger of a Paramilitary Police Force. [Scroll down] Abetting this trend was the federal government's willingness to make surplus military equipment available to police and sheriffs' departments. All sorts of hardware is available, from M-16s to body armor to armored personnel carriers and even helicopters. Lots of police departments grabbed the gear and started SWAT teams, even if they had no real need for them. The materiel was free, and it was fun. Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America. Americans have long maintained that a man's home is his castle and that he has the right to defend it from unlawful intruders. Unfortunately, that right may be disappearing. Over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units (most commonly called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine police work. The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home. These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they're sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as police officers but as soldiers. These raids bring unnecessary violence and provocation to nonviolent drug offenders, many of whom were guilty of only misdemeanors.
Second time this month: Obama gun-ban critic raided by heavily-armed fed contingent. I'm sure his opposition to the President's assault on the Constitution has nothing to do with the raid. Aren't you? This is the second known military-style raid on "preppers" in New Jersey in a little over a month based upon the word of informants, and I hasten to add, "known." There are quite possibly other raids that haven't made the news. In neither of these instances are the people raided known to have a violent record. Whether New Jersey is singling out preppers for these insanely over the top, highly dangerous, and extremely wasteful raids are legitimate questions that should be asked of the local, state, and federal agencies in New Jersey that are putting lives at risk to justify their quasi-military toys. Maryland State Police, FBI SWAT Teams Thwart a Guy with a Few Guns. You are forgiven for thinking that a major terrorist attack was thwarted in Sharpsburg, Maryland, this past Thursday. A Maryland State Police helicopter was in the air over 4433 Mills Road most of the day, as police, FBI SWAT teams, armored vehicles, and K-9 units converged upon the residence of Terry Allen Porter, 46. Porter, however, wasn't home. Nor, it turned out, was Porter on any "Most Wanted" lists. Terry Allen Porter's home was raided using all the power of the state security apparatus not because he was terrorist, a bank robber, serial killer, or a relative of the Kennedy clan, but because of an anonymous tip that he was an avid outdoorsman. Apparently, cops must watch a lot of television. Sometimes there is a good reason to send a dozen cops out to surround somebody's house, toss in some tear gas, and drag the bad guys off to jail. But it isn't necessary for the police to initiate violence against non-violent suspects. And in their zeal, they sometimes raid the wrong house altogether. SWAT team raids are probably really justified about once a month, but one article below says there are 4½ SWAT raids every day — in Maryland alone!* Remembering the Murder of Donald Scott. [Scroll down] More than thirty officers from five different agencies — including the DEA and the Forest Service but not, significantly, the Ventura County Sheriff's Office — took part in the assault on Scott's home. Two of the participants in the attack on Scott's home told Bradbury that the possibility of "forfeiting" the land was explicitly discussed during the pre-raid briefing. Man Dies in Police Raid on Wrong House. A 61-year-old man was shot to death by police while his wife was handcuffed in another room during a drug raid on the wrong house. Police admitted their mistake, saying faulty information from a drug informant contributed to the death of John Adams Wednesday night [9/26/2012]. They intended to raid the home next door. Florida Police Knock on Wrong Door at 1:30 a.m.
Without Identifying Themselves, Then Fatally Shoot Armed Resident. Via Instapundit comes the news that deputies in
Lake County, Florida, early on July 15, fatally shot a man named Andrew Lee Scott. Deputies say they didn't identify
themselves as police when they knocked on Scott's apartment door at 1:30 a.m. They also say that when Scott, 26,
answered The SWAT Shooting of Jose Guerena. All evidence suggests an incompetent investigation and raid resulted in the death of an innocent father and Marine. Marine Survives Two Tours in Iraq, then SWAT Kills Him. [Scroll down] KGUN's Joel Waldman says the SWAT team prevented paramedics from going to work on Guerena for one hour and fourteen minutes. The sheriff's department maintains that Guerena was holding an AR-15 when the paramilitary force fired 71 bullets in his home, but other key parts of the government story have collapsed. While PCSD initially claimed Guerena fired the weapon he was alleged to have been holding, the department now says it was a misfire by one of the deputies that caused this deadly group panic inside a home containing a woman and a toddler. A Guy Gets SWAT Team-ed for Not Securing His Wireless Network. [Scroll down] You know where this is going. They got the wrong guy. Someone else had used Covert's wireless connection to download child porn. ["]Law enforcement officials say the case is a cautionary tale.["] It sure is. I can certainly think of some lessons we might draw. One might be: Maybe the cops should check to see if a suspect's wireless network is secure, and therefore that they have the right guy, before they break into his home and point their guns at his head. The EPA's Swat Team: Hubert Vidrine, a manager at a refinery plant, was at work when FBI and EPA Criminal Division Agents stormed into his place of business using M-16s and police dogs. His alleged crime was storing waste covered by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) without obtaining a permit. Just wait, it gets better... DOE 'SWAT' raid still troubling after story corrections. The story was a sensation on Wednesday morning [6/8/2011]. A Department of Education SWAT team broke down the door to a house owned by a man whose wife was delinquent on her student loans, according to original reports. The man was handcuffed and, along with his children, put in a cop car for 6 hours. It turns out that some of this story was misreported. It wasn't a SWAT team but a special branch of the DOE who executes search warrants. And it wasn't for a student loan, but the warrant was in connection with a criminal investigation. But before you breathe a sigh of relief, it should be rightly asked: What ... is DOE doing with a paramilitary unit to serve warrants? SWAT team launch dawn raid on family home to collect unpaid student loans. A father was dragged from his home and handcuffed in front of his children by a SWAT team looking for his estranged wife — to collect her unpaid student loans. A stunned Kenneth Wright had his front door kicked in by the raiding party at 6 am yesterday before being dragged onto his front porch, handcuffed and led to a police car with his three children. SWAT Team Raids House at 6 AM ... for Estranged Wife's Defaulted Student Loans. If this story isn't a wake-up call about the militarization of police and criminalization of everything, then I'm afraid the patient is even deader than the Fourth Amendment. Read this, and weep for what your country has become. The cops raid the wrong house: Wrong house: FBI Executes No-Knock Raid — On The Wrong House. A young girl was nearly killed by FBI agents who not only raided the wrong house, but shot at an unarmed teenage girl. FBI Shoots Up House of Unarmed People. An FBI SWAT team stormed a family home in District Heights, Maryland, yesterday [11/15/2012] at 6 a.m. Agents fired at an unarmed 18-year-old woman in what appears to have been a no-knock raid. Oops! Wrong house. Wrong house again. Chicago mayor changes story about botched raid. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday [12/17/2020] that her staff informed her in November 2019 about a botched police raid that happened nine months earlier — thus revising her office's Tuesday claim that she hadn't learned about the February 2019 raid until this week. The mayor stood by her claim that she hadn't viewed video of the raid until this week but said she had no recollection of the November 2019 briefing from her staff when she spoke at a news conference Wednesday, Chicago's WBBM-TV reported. Mother, Children, Terrorized by Police by Mistake. Does this report sound like citizens encountering the police their taxes support? Or does this sound like the kind of treatment people get from troops in an occupying army? Uh-oh. Wrong house. Sorry we killed you. Minneapolis SWAT Team Raids Wrong House. Khang, a Hmong immigrant with shaky command of English, set down his gun, raised his hands and was soon on the ground, an officer's boot on his neck. The gunmen, it turned out, were members of a police SWAT team that had raided the wrong address because of bad information from an informant — a mistake that some critics say happens all too frequently around the country and gets innocent people killed. Murder with a badge. Public confidence in law enforcement is essential to maintaining a free and orderly society. The thin blue line frequently finds itself under attack from the left, so it's natural for conservatives to come readily to its defense. This instinct should be resisted when police make serious mistakes and engage in a cover-up instead of asking forgiveness from the public. The cops raid the wrong house, again: When cops knock, can they barge in? Police came to Maria Huff's Burbank home in 2007 after hearing that her son had written a letter threatening to shoot up his high school. They asked Huff if they could come in and she said no, not without a warrant. When they asked if there were any guns in the house, Huff said she would get her husband, then headed inside, followed by her son, who was also at the doorway, and four officers. After remaining for five to 10 minutes and finding no evidence of a crime, the officers left. In short order they were hit with a civil suit by Huff, her husband and son — who had written no such threatening letter — for entering the home without any legal justification. Guilty no matter the intent. In May of 2004, federal agents in a black sport utility vehicle ran Krister Evertson off the road, piled out of their vehicle in full SWAT gear, trained an automatic weapon at his head, and arrested him. Evertson's crime? He failed to put a federally mandated sticker on a UPS package. A jury acquitted Evertson of the charges, but the feds later charged Evertson for "abandoning" hazardous material. Evertson is an award-winning scientist working on fuel-cell technology, and the chemicals were both properly stored and necessary for his work. Nonetheless, he spent 21 months in federal prison. Armed and dangerous: Federal agencies expanding use of firepower BATF, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service, even the National Park Service and Department of Health and Human Services — all have their own SWAT teams. Former Marine killed by SWAT was acting in defense, family says. New details are emerging about Jose Guerena, the man killed last Thursday [5/5/2011] in a SWAT incident at his Tucson home. He was gunned down by SWAT members while his wife and young child hid in a closet. Now, the Pima County Sheriff's Department has taken responsibility for the fatal shooting. Sheriff Lott's New Toy. The Richland County, South Carolina Sheriff's Department just obtained an armored personnel carrier, complete with a belt-fed, .50-cal turreted machine gun. Sheriff Leon Lott has charmingly named the vehicle "The Peacemaker," and insists that using a caliber of ammunition that even the U.S. military is reluctant to use against human targets (it's generally reserved for use against armored vehicles) will "save lives." Can we call this overkill, yet? 4.5 SWAT Raids Per Day. Over the last six months of 2009, SWAT teams were deployed 804 times in the state of Maryland, or about 4.5 times per day. In Prince George's County alone, with its 850,000 residents, a SWAT team was deployed about once per day. According to a Baltimore Sun analysis, 94 percent of the state's SWAT deployments were used to serve search or arrest warrants, leaving just 6 percent in response to the kinds of barricades, bank robberies, hostage takings, and emergency situations for which SWAT teams were originally intended. Bellevue family sues FBI over 'terrifying' raid. The lasting impact of the raid on Gary Adams' home became clear in a comment from his 3-year-old granddaughter during a recent trip to the pharmacy. "She said, 'Granddad. Police. Hide,' " Adams, 57, of Bellevue recalled Wednesday while discussing the federal lawsuit he filed against the officers who burst into his home March 3. Botched Paramilitary Police Raids: An Epidemic of "Isolated Incidents". Map shows where incidents have occurred resulting in death or injury of a police officer, death of a nonviolent offender, raid on an innocent suspect, unnecessary raids on doctors and sick people, and other examples of paramilitary police excess. Stockton Homeowner Wants Police To Fix Trashed House. The San Jose Police Department stormed into a Stockton home searching for an accused killer, but they left without him, and left behind a complete mess. Apparently it was a SWAT raid for no reason other than intimidation. More about the raid on Gibson Guitar. "At least until the 1980s, SWAT teams and other paramilitary units were used sparingly, only in volatile, high-risk situations such as bank robberies or hostage situations. Likewise, "no-knock" raids were generally used only in situations where innocent lives were determined to be at imminent risk." Criminalizing everyone. "You don't need to know. You can't know." That's what Kathy Norris, a 60-year-old grandmother of eight, was told when she tried to ask court officials why, the day before, federal agents had subjected her home to a furious search. The agents who spent half a day ransacking Mrs. Norris' longtime home in Spring, Texas, answered no questions while they emptied file cabinets, pulled books off shelves, rifled through drawers and closets, and threw the contents on the floor. The six agents, wearing SWAT gear and carrying weapons, were with — get this — the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Unlikely Orchid Smuggler: A Case Study in Overcriminalization. George Norris, an elderly retiree, had turned his orchid hobby into a part-time business run from the greenhouse in back of his home. He would import orchids from abroad — South Africa, Brazil, Peru — and resell them at plant shows and to local enthusiasts. He never made more than a few thousand dollars a year from his orchid business, but it kept him engaged and provided a little extra money — an especially important thing as his wife, Kathy, neared retirement from her job managing a local mediation clinic. Their life would take a turn for the worse on the bright fall morning of October 28, 2003, when federal agents, clad in protective Kevlar and bearing guns, raided his home, seizing his belongings and setting the gears in motion for a federal prosecution and jail time. Federal SWAT Raid Over ... Orchids. So as it turns out, even the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has its own SWAT team. More about the George Norris case. Justice for Sal. Last week The Washington Post reported that Sal Culosi's parents have reached a $2 million settlement with Fairfax County, Virginia, police Detective Deval Bullock, who shot and killed the 38-year-old optometrist during a January 2006 SWAT raid on his home. The unusual settlement reflects the outrageous facts of this case, in which an unarmed man suspected of nothing more than betting on sports was recklessly gunned down during an unnecessarily violent operation. Pre-Crime Policing. An allegedly "disgruntled" man has his guns seized, and "voluntarily" surrenders to two SWAT teams and dozens of police officers for a crime that hadn't been committed. SWAT officers invade home, take 11-year-old at gunpoint. Nearly a dozen members of a police SWAT team in western Colorado punched a hole in the front door and invaded a family's home with guns drawn, demanding that an 11-year-old boy who had had an accidental fall accompany them to the hospital, on the order of Garfield County Magistrate Lain Leoniak. The boy's parents and siblings were thrown to the floor at gunpoint and the parents were handcuffed in the weekend assault, and the boy's father told WND it was all because a paramedic was upset the family preferred to care for their son themselves. Home your castle? Not anymore. [Scroll down] Meanwhile in Detroit, a 7-year old girl sleeping on her grandmother's sofa was shot as a SWAT team crashed into the home looking for a murder suspect. Turns out they had the wrong house. The murder suspect lived next door. Then there is the case of Cory Maye, a young man I've written about several times over the past few years. Maye fired blindly as intruders crashed through a back door into his baby daughter's bedroom. One of the intruders was hit. In the next moment the intruders identified themselves as police officers and Cory Maye immediately surrendered. He was convicted of murder of a police officer and sentenced to death. In Virginia, the Death Penalty for Gambling. [Scroll down] As [Salvatore] Culosi emerged from the doorway, clad only in a t-shirt and jeans, SWAT officer Deval Bullock's finger apparently slipped to the trigger of his Heckler & Koch MP5 semiautomatic weapon, already aimed at the unarmed Culosi. The gun fired, releasing a bullet that entered Culosi's side, then ripped through his chest and struck his heart, killing him instantly. It only got worse from there. Big News in Culosi Case. Apparently, the recommendation handed down by the internal police investigation is that the officer who shot and killed Culosi be given three weeks of unpaid suspension, and that he be removed from the SWAT team. I'm not as outraged by that recommendation as Culosi's family (though I fully understand their outrage). But as you expect, it's far less than one I would consider a just outcome. Mass SWAT Raids in Buffalo. [Scroll down] It'll be interesting to see how many of the 78 people arrested actually get charged and convicted. From the 38 SWAT raids, police seized a total of five guns, not exacty a data point in support of the argument that SWAT teams are necessary because drug dealers are overwhelmingly armed with high-powered weaponry. Also, given that police seized a grand total six pounds of marijuana and seven ounces of crack in the entire operation, it's probably a bit of a stretch to say the raids "put a dent" in the Buffalo drug trade. I'd imagine you'd find that much weed in a single SUNY-Buffalo frat house. Bringing the media along for the ride was a nice touch, though. SWAT Officer Killed by Non-Lethal Flashbang Grenade. The only malfunction with the flashbangs in these stories was the timing of their detonation. Had they not gone off prematurely, they would eventually have been used against U.S. citizens, just as they're used every day in America. Most of the time, they're used against people merely suspected of a crime, and most of the time those crimes are nonviolent, consensual drug crimes. That is, by design, when they're used exactly as intended, flashbangs cause serious, sometimes permanent injury to people who have yet to even be charged — much less convicted — of nonviolent, consensual crimes. This Is Your War on Drugs. We have another video of a raid by the Columbia Police Department. ... This isn't like watching video of a car accident or a natural disaster. This doesn't have to happen. You're watching something your government does to your fellow citizens about 150 times per day in this country. If this very literal "drug war" insanity is going to continue to be waged in our name, we ought to make [very] sure everyone knows exactly what it entails. Practice on the People. A reader sends this incredible column from Tactical Response magazine, which I gather is a periodical for SWAT types. ... The author is actually suggesting SWAT commanders lobby to have their teams deployed in situations for which they normally wouldn't be to ensure they're in good practice. Put another way, he suggests they practice their door smashing, room-clearing, flash-grenade deploying, and other paramilitary tactics on less-than-violent people, so they're in better form when a real threat arises. Sheriff: SWAT Team Necessary Because Man Is a "Self-Proclaimed Constitutionalist". As it turns out, the kid was fine. After the raid, a doctor examined him, and told him to drink some fluids and take a Tylenol. I'm even more troubled by the explanation for the aggressive tactics: ["]The sheriff said the decision to use SWAT team force was justified because the father was a 'self-proclaimed constitutionalist' and had made threats and 'comments' over the years. However, the sheriff declined to provide a single instance of the father's illegal behavior. 'I can't tell you specifically,' he said.["] The Deadliest Rhetoric. At 12:30 a.m. on January 5, just three days before Jared Lee Loughner opened fire at a Tucson gathering hosted by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), a SWAT team in Framingham, Massachusetts, conducted a drug raid on the home of 68-year-old Eurie Stamps. Stamps wasn't the target of the raid. Nor was he armed when the police shot him. In fact, police had found their suspects, Joseph Bushfan — the 20-year-old son of Stamps' girlfriend — and Devon Talbert, also 20. The two were arrested outside the home. They still went ahead with the raid, which ended with Stamps' death. Fourth Circuit Denies Qualified Immunity in Mistaken SWAT Raid. [Scroll down] I still wonder why gun rights groups like the NRA aren't more disturbed by the ubiquitous use of SWAT teams. Here, the fact that the Bellotte's were legal, registered gun owners was used as justification for the violent, volatile entry into their home. It isn't the first time this has happened. You'd think that's something that might concern Second Amendment acitivists. Brothers recall SWAT team break-in. Kenneth and James Jimerson were pulled from their bed, put in handcuffs and taken from their home. ... The SWAT team didn't any find anything in the brothers' home; turns out officers had invaded the wrong home. "They came back and said apparently we have made a mistake," said Kenneth. Swat Team turns house upside down looking for attempted murder suspect. The swat team turned his house upside down looking for a man with a gun, and now this local homeowner wants to know who is going to clean up the mess left behind. ... Alicia Jennings, a concerned neighbor, told our cameras, "They kicked in the doors... pulled out the windows... the cabinets. They destroyed this man's house." Another Isolated Incident. An elderly couple says Cook County sheriff's police on a drug raid smashed into their Southwest Side house late Thursday night, terrorizing them before admitting they had the wrong house. With her husband already asleep, 84-year-old Anna Jakymek was just turning out the lights when she heard loud noises at the back and front doors about 11:30 p.m. Her initial thought was that her 89-year old husband had fallen out of bed, but she realized something else was happening when she looked into the front room. Deadly Force. Civil libertarians argue that military-style raids escalate the level of violence in what could be routine police action, and are leaving a growing number of innocents terrorized, wounded or dead. "Botched raids are a staple of law enforcement," said Graham Boyd, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Drug Law Reform Project. "There is a never-ending stream of ruined homes, ruined lives and innocent people who are killed or terrorized." The Cato Institute Web site features an interactive map tracking hundreds of botched paramilitary police raids nationwide beginning in the late 1990s, including dozens of instances in which innocent people were killed. Elderly Woman Has Heart Attack: Mistaken SWAT Raid. Once again, a SWAT team in Georgia has raided the wrong house — this after a supposed two-year investigation. Maybe I'm missing something here, but it would seem that after two years they would know where they're supposed to be going. Does NASA have a SWAT team, too? Detroit tragedy shows the dangers of paramilitary-style policing across US. [Peter] Kraska estimates that the total number of SWAT deployments across the country "increased from a few hundred per year in the 1970s to a few thousand per year by the early 1980s to around 50,000 per year by the mid-2000s." Today, he says "every decent-sized city has a SWAT team, and most have several. Even absurdly small towns like Eufaula, Ala., (population 13,463) have them... Where their purpose once was to defuse an already violent situation, today they break into homes to look for illicit drugs, creating violence and confrontation where there was none before." Militarization and Policing — Its Relevance to 21st Century Police. This work examines the blurring distinctions between the police and military institutions and between war and law enforcement. In this article, the author asserts that understanding this blur, and the associated organizing concepts militarization and militarism, are essential for accurately analyzing the changing nature of security, and the activity of policing, in the late-modern era of the 21st century. Is this still America? Armed federal agents of the Department of Education conducted a pre-dawn SWAT-style raid on the home of a Stockton, Calif., man. Read that again: The Department of Education has taken up arms against the citizenry. Meanwhile, federal Transportation Security Administration officials routinely grope our 6-year-olds and conveniently arrange that attractive women are subjected to their full-body porn cameras. Not even George Orwell's 1984 dystopian police state went that far. Prohibition. Unlike Bill Clinton, President Obama admits he inhaled! "Frequently," he said. "That was the point." People laugh when politicians talk about their drug use. The audience laughed during a 2003 CNN Democratic presidential primary debate when John Kerry, John Edwards and Howard Dean admitted smoking weed. Yet those same politicians oversee a cruel system that now stages SWAT raids on people's homes more than 100 times a day. People die in these raids — some weren't even the intended targets of the police. SWAT Team + Hooters Girls + White Supremacist + Katrina Humanitarian Mission = Best Local News Story Ever. I really can't write a summary that does all of this justice. Botched Raids Not Rare. The botched Atlanta raid that ended in the shooting death of 88-year-old Kathryn Johnston was sad and tragic, but unfortunately, it was neither uncommon nor unpredictable. After taking a year to research and write a paper for the Cato Institute on the proliferation of forced-entry, paramilitary-style raids, I'm sorry to say Johnston is just one of at least 40 innocent people killed in botched raids over the last 20 years in America. Worse, there are dozens more cases of low-level offenders, bystanders — and police officers killed or injured. The Harding Street Raid Update: Illicit Deadly No-Knock Houston Raid of Innocent Couple. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg held a press conference on the 25th of January, 2021, to release details about new indictments from a grand jury in the ongoing investigation of the illicit no-knock raid which occurred on the 28th of January, 2019, in Houston, Texas, on Harding Street. A gunfight occurred when the plainclothes officers burst in and shot the couple's dog. [...] The coverup of what happened to lead to the raid, and what happened in the raid fell apart partly because the lead instigator of the raid, officer Gerald Goines, was wounded in the neck and unable to talk. [...] The grand jury, on 25 January, indicted a 2nd officer for murder, and five more officers for organized criminal activity. The investigation was led by the Harris County Prosecutor's office. More Felony Charges for More Officers from Houston No-Knock Raid. On 28 January, 2019, a Houston Police Department Narcotics unit executed a no-knock warrant on an innocent Houston Couple, Dennis Tuttle, a disabled Navy veteran, and his wife Rhogena Nicholas, a devout Christian. The raid was based on lies told to the court, about drug sales that never happened, to obtain the warrant. The couple were not drug dealers. When armed men burst into their home, without warning, and killed their dog, Dennis Tuttle is said to have fought back with his .357 revolver. Dennis and his wife Rhogena and their dog were all killed. The organizer of the raid, then officer Gerald Goines, was wounded in the neck. He could not talk. That may be why the coverup fell apart. Three other officers were wounded. Over the next year and a half, investigations forced onto the Houston police department by citizens, the FBI, the Tuttle family, and the Harris County Prosecutor, unravaveled a story of corruption and lack of accountability that lead to the Tuttle deaths. [...] Even without phones, all the other devices that record images and sounds are available to a competent government investigator. Surveillance cameras, doorbell cameras, and the ever more common body camera, all offer more information to digest, information which is less fallible than human eyes and memory. Police can no longer rely on the political machine to cover for them, or for the Media to kill stories of corruption that implicate the media's political favorites. Grand Jury Backs Murder Charges Against Houston Cop Who Lied to Justify a Deadly Drug Raid. "Because officers lied, people died," Harris County, Texas, District Attorney Kim Ogg said today at a press conference where she announced a grand jury indictment of two former Houston narcotics officers who were involved in a January 2019 drug raid that killed a middle-aged couple in their home. The indictment confirms the state charges filed last August against Gerald Goines, who is accused of lying to obtain the warrant for the raid, and Steven Bryant, who is accused of subsequently backing up Goines' false portrayal of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas as dangerous heroin dealers. Both men are accused of tampering with a government document, a felony punishable by up to two years in prison. Because Goines' misrepresentations caused two deaths, he is also charged with two counts of felony murder, which could result in a life sentence. FBI Arrests Houston Officers in Fall-out of Harding Street Raid. The Federal investigation into the no-knock raid on 7815 Harding Street in Houston Texas, on January 28th, 2019, where the married couple, Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas were killed in their home, has resulted in indictments and arrests for three people. Those three are former officers Gerald M. Goines, 55, Seven M. Bryant, 46, and neighbor Patricia Ann Garcia, 53. There were many suspicious facts about the raid that raised red flags from the start. Initially, the Houston Police Department, Police Chief Acevedo, and the Houstion Police Union circled the wagons and insisted the raid was legitimate. In August, the Harris County Prosecutor Charged Goines and Bryant with crimes. They were arrested and released on bond. Now, both have been charged and arrested on the federal charges, and the neighbor across the street, Patricia Ann Garcia, has been arrested on federal charges. [...] Police Chief Acevedo held a press conference shortly after the arrests were announced. His spin was considerably different from previous press conferences. In this press conference, he claims the investigation by HPD into Goines, Bryant, and Garcia all started mere days after the incident. New Evidence in Houston No Knock Raid Scandal. There have been startling developments in the investigation of the disastrous no-knock raid in Houston on 28 January, 2019. A middle aged couple were killed and four police wounded. In the light of contradictory police stories, the family of the couple who died hired an independent forensics firm to document the evidence at the home at 7815 Harding Street. The independent investigation took place after forensic data collection done by the local government authorities. The independent investigators invited the Texas Rangers and the Harris County Institute for Forensic Science to attend the investigation. Both declined the invitation. [...] Police claim Rhogena attempted to take a shotgun from a wounded officer. She was shot and killed. It is not clear if she ever touched the officer's shotgun. The independent forensics report claims she was killed by bullets fired through the wall of the home, where the person firing could not have seen her. [...] There was no ambush. The police fired first. It was a no-knock raid based on false evidence. Forensics Investigation Finds Cops Shot Each Other, Then Murdered Houston Couple. The murder of an innocent Houston couple made national headlines earlier this year as police took to smearing their names and threatening those who didn't believe their official narrative. As the months passed, we learned that the Houston police department's raid on the home of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas was based on lies and they were murdered for no reason. Now, the case has reached turning point after the family hired a forensics expert to examine the home and found that there is no evidence the officers encountered gunfire. Police Charged with Murder, Tampering with Document, in Homicide of Couple during No-Knock Raid in Houston. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg has announced felony murder charges for former Sgt. Gerald Goins of Narcotics Squad 15, the Houston Police Department (HPD), in the homicides of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas. The married couple, who lived in their modest Houston home at 7815 Harding Street for 20 years, were killed with their dog in a no knock raid on January 28th. DA Ogg also announced former officer Steven Bryant has been charged with second degree tampering of a government document. Houston No-Knock Raid where 2 Killed, 4 Police Wounded, Results in 4 Retirements so far. There are continued repercussions from the no-knock raid that resulted in the death of a middle aged couple in Houston, and the wounding of four police officers in the gunfight the raid engendered. The raid happened on January 28, 2019. Four officers have retired as of 22 March, 2019. Dennis Tuttle was a Navy veteran. His wife, Rhogena Nicholas, was a supporter of President Trump. They had no criminal records. They were married for 20 years and lived in their modest home in Houston for the same 20 years. The police broke down their door and shot their dog. That seems to have started the gun battle. Dennis is said to have shot back, wounding the officer that shot his dog. The police claimed he was shooting a .357 magnum revolver, but no revolver was found at the scene. It seems more likely he was shooting one of the two semi-auto hunting shotguns recovered at his home. Houston Cop Lied for Warrant, 2 Innocents Killed, 4 Police Wounded. The lead investigator and long term Houston Police Department undercover narcotics Officer Gerald Goines lied to obtain a no-knock warrant. The no-knock warrant lead to the death of a middle aged couple, their dog, and the wounding of four officers, at 7815 Harding Street on 28 January, 2019. [...] The Houston no-knock raid was characterized as an ambush by drug dealers. The evidence did not support that conclusion. The two homeowners killed had no criminal record. Dennis Tuttle was a Navy veteran. His wife, Rhogena Nicholas, was a supporter of President Trump. They had been married for 20 years and lived in their modest home in Houston for the same 20 years. The gun battle started when police broke down their door and shot their dog. Dennis started shooting back, wounding the officer that shot his dog. Police claim Rhogena attempted to take a shotgun from the wounded officer. They shot and killed her. [...] The exact timing of events is uncertain, because no officers wore body cameras. Surveillance video from the house next door was confiscated by the police. Cops and their dogs Georgia man dies after a police dog bites him during a chase by a state trooper. A man has died five days after he was bitten by a police dog during a chase in south Georgia. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Friday that it is conducting an inquiry after Kevin Kennedy of Pavo died in a Macon hospital on Tuesday. A K-9 bit Kennedy as a state trooper chased him across fields south of Moultrie on Aug. 22. The trooper saw that Kennedy was driving a blue four-wheeler along a state highway and had heard reports that someone driving a blue four-wheeler had been committing thefts and burglaries in the area, the GBI said. Investigators say Kennedy fled when the trooper tried to pull him over. Rioter who shouted in a police dog's face jailed for 20 months. A rioter who shouted in a police dog's face has been sent to prison for 20 months. Bradley McCarthy, 34, joined an anti-immigration march and was involved in clashes with counter-protesters and police in Bristol. McCarthy, who was heard to have a "stable family life", was one of more than 490 people to be charged in connection to the riots that spread across the country earlier this month. Video evidence showed McCarthy "threatening" people and shouting at police, including an officer's dog. Cop Assaults His K9 Partner For Doing What He Said. New body camera shows a Dayton police K9 bite his handler while trying to arrest two teenagers. News Center 7 previously reported that a video many said was "upsetting" spread on social media showing a Dayton officer hit his K9. A statement from Dayton police said that officers were chasing two teenagers who ran from a stolen car they were in. Video showed the K9 run toward one suspect as the officer gave the command to bite to help capture the suspect. The K9 wound up biting the officer twice on the legs and once on the hand, police said. [Video clip] Canton Ohio K9 officer on leave after video shows police dog attacking man lying on stomach, surrendering. An Ohio K9 officer is under investigation after police body camera video captured the officer's dog appear to attack a man on his stomach with his hands behind his back, authorities said Friday. The officer, Nicholas Casto, was placed on administrative leave while the inquiry into Thursday's incident north of downtown Canton is underway, a spokesman for the Canton Ohio Police Department said in a brief statement. "I take these occurrences very seriously," Canton Mayor Christian Turner said in a separate statement Friday. "I understand the community will have questions, and I will ensure that my office will be forthcoming with information as it becomes available." [Video clip] Texas police K9 receives Purple Heart. A Texas police K9 received a very special honor Tuesday evening after being shot in the line of duty in November, according to reports. K9 Jack with the Weatherford Police Department sustained gunshot wounds to the ear and paw as a warrant service turned into a gun battle with a suspect on November 16. The person being sought opened fire on law enforcement officers who then returned fire, killing the gunman, FOX 4 Dallas/Ft. Worth reported. The police agency announced last week that Jack is now fully healed and would be honored for his efforts by receiving a Purple Heart. Bodycam: Deputy Barks Like Police K-9 to Trick Car Theft Suspects into Surrendering. The spike deployment was perfect and got all 4 tires flat, however the suspects took off and the deputies had to terminate the pursuit. Officers later found the vehicle unoccupied and still running at 7500 Bridgeport Way. Other Deputies surrounded the nearby area and started to check for the juveniles. One deputy could see two of the suspects down in a creek bed. He chose a very interesting way to get them to comply. The deputy can then be heard barking like a dog. After the deputy imitated a dog bark multiple times, the four juveniles came out of the creek bed and surrendered. The Suspects actually believed there was a dog, and, in the end, they told the deputies, soon as they heard that dog, they gave up. Ohio police K9 handler fired following controversial deployment of service dog. A law enforcement K9 handler in Ohio has been fired after a controversial deployment of his police service dog (PSD) on a previously non-complaint truck driver who was reticently surrendering following a vehicle pursuit, reported News Channel 6. Ryan Speakman was identified as the police K9 handler in question. Circleville Police Chief G. Shawn Baer said in a statement Tuesday that Speakman was placed on paid administrative leave as the incident was under investigation by the town's civilian Use of Force Review Board, Law Officer reported. However, things progressed rapidly as the Circleville Police Department issued a statement Wednesday, saying Speakman had been terminated, according to NBC News. Ohio State Police In Hot Water After Releasing A K-9 On Black Man With His Hands Up, Mauling Him. A newly released body-camera video shows a police dog mauling an unarmed Black man who had surrendered to authorities after a high-speed chase in Ohio on the Fourth of July. The video of the incident, obtained by The Washington Post, shows the dog's handling officer being given several warnings from sergeants at the scene to keep the dog in check if the man peacefully surrendered with his hands in the air. The man complied. But the handler — identified by the Ohio State Highway Patrol as Circleville K-9 Officer Ryan Speakman — instead commanded the dog to attack. [Video clip] Cop Ignores Commands From Fellow Officers And Forces K9 To Maul Man On His Knees With His Hands Up. In a shocking display of what can only be described as a systemic failure in the proper execution of law enforcement tactics, the Circleville Police Department in Ohio allowed a police dog to brutally attack a surrendering suspect following a chase that covered three counties. The attack took place on July 4, but the unsettling footage of the incident was obtained by the Guardian, which made a public records request and made it available for public viewing this week. The driver, a black man, who had led troopers and deputies on a chase, had voluntarily disembarked from his semi and was actively complying with law enforcement commands. He had his hands in the air and was slowly backing away from his vehicle when Officer Ryan Speakman arrived at the scene with his K9 unit, Serg. Although the semi-driver was actively complying, Speakman, in stark contrast to his fellow officers' commands, decided to unleash his dog. Disturbingly, this happened even after a supervisor at the scene explicitly instructed him not to deploy the K9 as long as the suspect had his hands up and was following orders. LAPD Gets $278,000 Robot Dog, Dallas School District Adopts Pre-Crime Surveillance Technology. LAPD is the latest police force to incorporate "robot dogs" into its arsenal. [...] Referring to this device as a "dog" is obviously a manipulation of people's natural affinity for actual dogs. This is not a dog; it's potentially lethal police state tool ripped straight from dystopian science fiction. The reason the corporate state prefers to use robot "dogs," drones, etc., to execute enforcement actions is that machines don't suffer from the same hesitation to snuff out innocent life that non-psychopathic humans do. They don't ask questions. They are incapable of insubordination. Whatever the criminals in the government program them to do, they will do. The Editor says... Los Angeles approves $278,000 robot police dog despite "grave concerns". A $278,000 robotic dog was approved by the Los Angeles City Council, despite some council members expressing "grave concerns" about the Boston Dynamics-manufactured device. The "Quadruped Unmanned Ground Vehicle" was offered as a donation to the Los Angeles Police Department by the Los Angeles Police Foundation, according to CBS Los Angeles. If the council hadn't accepted the donation, the offer would have expired, it reported. On Tuesday, the L.A. city council voted 8-4 in favor of accepting the robot dog, which is unarmed but has surveillance technology. Members of the public spoke at the meeting, with most urging the council against taking up the offer, citing fears that the machine could violate resident's civil rights, CBS LA reported. But adding the mechanized creatures to policing efforts have also led to controversy, with concern that the machines could be used against people. The Editor says... Police Make K9 Bite Man Standing In Front Of His House. An attorney for a Sheffield man claims Sheffield Police Department Officers assaulted his client at his home. Newly obtained body cam footage shows officers grabbing Marvin Long and a K9 biting him on June 17, 2021. The footage started with Long and a Sheffield Officer exchanging words while he was standing in the road in front of his home looking on at an unrelated arrest. [Video clip] 'Horrible' bill banning police dogs from being used in arrests would 'embolden' criminals, sheriff says. A California sheriff criticized lawmakers who want to keep police dogs from biting suspected criminals or being used during protests, calling K-9s an important "less-lethal" option for law enforcement. "One of our one of our biggest successes and biggest tools to deescalate situations is the deployment of canines," Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told Fox News. AB 742 would prohibit police from using dogs to apprehend a suspect or for crowd control. Police dogs would not be allowed to bite people under any circumstances, according to the bill text. The bill does not prevent the use of search and rescue dogs or police K-9s that sniff out bombs or drugs. California bill would ban police dogs from arrests, crowd control; cites racial bias, trauma. The California Assembly's Public Safety Committee has approved a bill that would ban the use of police dogs for arrests, apprehensions and crowd control, apparently a first-in-the-country measure. The authors of the bill cited the need for the removal of police dogs due to racial bias and violence against Black Americans and people of color. Assembly Bill 742 seeks to ban the use of police dogs for arrest, apprehensions or any form of crowd control. The legislation would not prevent the use of police dogs for search and rescue, explosives detection and narcotics searches. Redding California Cops Now In Hot Water After Viral Video Shows Them Stomping On Suspect's Head, Releasing K9 On Him. Multiple videos have gone viral of a Jan. 23 incident on Willis Street in Redding that show a lengthy struggle between 39-year-old Kevin Hursey and several Redding Police Department officers, including a K-9 unit. Today Redding Police Chief Bill Schueller released a statement in response to the incident, and in acknowledgment of the dramatic footage captured by a number of witnesses. Opinions are divided regarding whether officers acted appropriately, or if they used excessive force. [Video clip] K9 Officer, Murder Suspect Killed In Police Shootout. A Georgia police K9 and a murder suspect were killed Friday in a police shootout. The Clayton County Sheriff's Office attempted to stop a car believed to be linked with a murder investigation, according to a Georgia Bureau of Investigation press release. [...] Figo [the K9] was airlifted after the shooting to a nearby animal hospital where he died, according to police. The suspect, whom police identified as 33-year-old Dexton Bowden, was also pronounced dead at the scene. The Editor says... Arizona SWAT Shoot Suspect Dead After He Aimed A Gun At K9's Head. On August 25th, 2022, the Tucson Police Department Special Weapons and Tactics team (SWAT) were conducting surveillance on Francisco Javier Galarza, a 49-year-old male, in relation to active felony arrest warrants for home invasion and bank robbery. At approximately 11:45 a.m., a blue BMW pulled into a Circle K parking lot located at 6090 S. Park Ave. Galarza exited the vehicle and entered the convenience store. At approximately 11:51 a.m., Galarza exited the store. Officers approached and identified themselves, instructing him to get down on the ground in order to effect an arrest. Galarza began to flee officers and removed a black handgun from a bag on his person. Ofc. Barrie Pedersen released his K-9 partner, Kiro, to apprehend Galarza. The K-9 ended the pursuit by bringing Galarza to the ground. While on the ground, he pointed a firearm at K-9 and officers. Officers Ernest Ortiz and Barrie Pedersen discharged their firearms. [Video clip] 63 YO Pediatrician Wins 325k Dollar Law Suit Against This Cop For Releasing K9 On Him, Biting Him While Cop Tells Him To Stop Moving. Town officials released video footage late Wednesday that shows a York Police Department officer using a K-9 to subdue local pediatrician Stephen Brennan during a traffic stop more than two years ago. The release of the footage comes about a week after Brennan's attorneys announced their client had reached a $325,000 settlement agreement with the town and Patrolman Jonathan Rogers, who had released the dog during the encounter on Sept. 20, 2019. In a joint statement released with the footage, York Town Manager Steve Burns and Acting Police Chief Owen Davis said Rogers "simply did his job to keep York a safe place." [Video clip] Dem law led to K-9 line of duty death but Seattle activists blame police. Washington Democrats passed a series of anti-police laws pitched as "reimaging" public safety. A police K-9 from the Seattle Police Department is dead because of it. Perhaps that's why anti-police activists in Seattle are blaming the cops for the K-9's death: They don't want to take responsibility for pushing Democrats to pass such dangerous laws. Police responded to a break-in at a home in South Seattle. The homeowner reported the man was armed with a machete. After police arrived, the suspect fatally stabbed the K-9 officer, Jedi. He also cut the face of an officer. The suspect was then shot and killed by police. The SPD had the perfect non-lethal weapon to subdue the burglar without using a K-9. But Democrats in the state legislature banned the weapon because it's a large caliber weapon. Without consulting law enforcement officials, the Democrats foolishly thought a large caliber weapon is inherently deadly. Hawaiian Police Purchase Robot Dog To Hunt Down COVID Infected Homeless People. Hawaiian police have enlisted the help of a robot dog as a means to aid infection mitigation efforts during the coronavirus pandemic. The dog, known as SPOT, has been used by the Honolulu Police Department to scan the temperatures of homeless citizens at police-run shelters, according to Hawaii News Now. SPOT is able to scan temperatures from approximately six feet away and then generate a photo of the person, along with their temperature, on its monitor. [Video clip] St. Louis Cops In Hot Water After Releasing K9 On Suspect Up Against Police Car. Earlier this week, Fox 2 obtained cellphone video of Woodson Terrace Police officers using a K-9 on a suspect. The incident happened near St. Louis-Lambert International Airport Monday morning [9/20/2021]. Friday, the Universal African People's Organization (UAPO) and other community leaders called for the officers to be fired. [Video clip] UK Police Use Attack Dogs On Anti-Vaccine Passport Protesters. The new world order will not tolerate non-compliance and will use any measure or violence necessary to get those not in line to heel. London police are now using K9 cops to attack anti-vaccine passport protesters. [Video clip] NYPD's robot dog will be returned after outrage. The NYPD will part ways with "Digidog," the robotic police dog that became the subject of a City Council subpoena after images of it went viral. The department told The [New York] Post on Wednesday [4/28/2021] that it ended a contract with Boston Dynamics to lease the four-legged robo-cop. "The contract has been terminated and the dog will be returned," a spokesperson said. The sudden termination comes after a clip of the machine patrolling a Manhattan housing project went viral, sparking backlash and drawing comparisons to the dystopic TV series "Black Mirror." Mayor Bill de Blasio then urged the NYPD to "rethink" its use of the robot. Eventually, City Council leaders agreed and decided to subpoena the NYPD to find out its cost. Police officials told The New York Times that the department had ended its $94,000 contract with the robot dog's maker on April 22 in response to the inquiries from Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Councilman Ben Kallos. Watch As The NYPD Unleash Their Creepy New Robot Dog During Arrest In The Projects. The NYPD's robot dog is once again stirring privacy concerns and cyberpunk prophesies of some New Yorkers, after the four-legged machine was spotted inside of a Manhattan public housing complex on Monday [4/12/2021]. A video shared on Twitter shows the robot trotting out of a building on East 28th Street in front of two NYPD officers, then slowly descending the stairs as bystanders look on in shock. "I've never seen nothing like this before in my life," one woman can be heard saying. Since October, the NYPD has dispatched the robot to a handful of crime scenes and hostage situations, raising fears of unwanted surveillance and questions about the department's use of public dollars. The mobile dog, which comes equipped with automated sensors, lights, and cameras capable of collecting "limitless data," is sold at a starting price of $74,000. [Video clip] Police Officer Is Charged With Felony Assault After Letting His K9 Bite Man For Several Minutes After Chase. A trooper of the Michigan State Police has been charged with felony assault in connection with a fail-to-yield traffic crash where he directed his K9 to remain on the bite for several minutes during the capture of the driver. Parker Surbrook, a trooper assigned to MSP's Lansing post, is on unpaid leave while the charges play out in court. He was also removed from the K9 unit [...] The driver fled and crashed the vehicle into a tree. The driver was out of his vehicle when Surbrook and an undercover officer from the Lansing Police Department arrived at the collision scene. As a result, Surbrook deployed K9 Knox in order to safely apprehend the suspect. Knox remained on the apprehension bite for several minutes at the direction of Surbrook. [Video clip] Cop Abuses K9 During Training. Salisbury Police Chief Jerry Stokes addressed the department's K-9 policy Tuesday after a video surfaced showing questionable actions taken against a police dog. [Video clip] COVID-sniffing dogs screen spectators prior to Nuggets-Heat game in Miami. As an added preventive measure on top of health questionnaires and a mask mandate, COVID-sniffing dogs are now being used to detect possible infection in fans waiting to watch a sports game. That's what happened before an NBA game between the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, January 27. The virus-sniffing dogs screened fans waiting in line to get into the American Airline Arena before entering the venue. [Video clip] The Editor says... Police Dog Killed in Action Buried in Special Portrait Casket. On February 13, Herriman City Police K-9 unit Hondo was killed in the line of duty. Hondo, a seven-year-old Belgian Malinois, was aiding in the pursuit and capture of a fugitive when he was shot in the sternum. Despite being rushed to a nearby veterinary hospital, he died soon after. Heartbroken officers immediately contacted Rawtin Garage, a local friend of the force. "They asked if we could get something together since we have done work on their motorcycles before," John Ward, owner of Rawtin Garage, told CNN. Twenty-four hours later, the casket was ready. Cop Demoted After Dumping His Retired K-9 Partner at a Shelter to Be Killed. Inside police departments across the country, hundreds of dogs are trained for various purposes. Some dogs sniff out drugs and bombs while others train to take out suspects who refuse to comply. In order to forge the bond between dog and handler, these K-9 units live with the officers whom they go out with every day. We often see stories in the media when K-9 officer is injured or dies and we are shown how the handler is suffering from a loss in this bond. What is not pushed to the front pages of the paper and the local news outlets, however, is when an officer abuses their K-9 or, as the following case illustrates, completely abandons them. Punk Slugs Cop Without Warning, Officer Introduces His Furry Partner. A man who tried slugging a cop with no warning apparently didn't notice the K-9 plate on the officer's vehicle. Thankfully, this punk's extremely painful mistake was caught on video and now serves as a warning to anyone who wants to throw down with an on-duty cop. When officer Roman Scuadroni of New York's City of Newburgh Police Department responded to a call about a man armed with a knife while trespassing, he likely didn't know it would escalate into a bloody brawl. [Video clip] The "Officer-Friendly" Police Fantasy. Police have gutted the Fourth Amendment with dogs that will give them a positive alert almost any time they seek a pretext to forcibly search someone's vehicle. The fact that canines are sometimes trained to give false alerts is irrelevant as long as the government always wins. Canine alerts to currency are routinely used to justify seizures even though most U.S. currency has trace amounts of drug contamination. For 30 years, the courts have condemned the abuses based on currency seizures due to dog alerts. But the official robberies continue. Video shows K-9 dog bite during arrest. The Greenville County Sheriff's Office released video Wednesday [6/12/2019] from an April incident in which a suspect was bitten by a K-9 police dog. On April 28, 2019, deputies responded to a residence on Columbia Avenue while attempting to locate Kevin Leroy Scott White, a suspect wanted out of Florida for violation of probation. The video was released as part of a critical incident briefing provided by the Sheriff's Office. Police Sicced a Dog on a Surrendering Man. Will the Supreme Court Review the Doctrine That Gave Them Immunity? When two Nashville police officers responded to a home burglary report in 2014, they found Alexander Baxter hiding in a basement. Baxter put his hands in the air. Nevertheless, the police unleashed a K-9 unit, which bit Baxter under his armpit. Baxter sued the officers for excessive force, but in 2018 the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that, whether or not Baxter's rights were violated, the officers were immune from his lawsuit. Cop Charged for Stomping Innocent Man As K9 Chewed Off 'Hunks of Flesh'. On the night of June 24, 2016, Frank Baker — an innocent man — 'fit the description' of a 'black man' in the area, so he was attacked by police and their K9. For several minutes, Baker was beaten, tasered, and viciously mauled by their K9. Now, over two years since that night, the officer responsible for the most vicious attack may be held accountable. On Wednesday, officer Brett Palkowitsch, 31, was charged with one count of deprivation of rights for kicking the innocent man while a K9 tore him apart, literally. TSA moving to all floppy-ear airport dog force because pointy-ear dogs 'scare children'. The Transportation Security Administration is in the process of swapping out pointy-ear dogs for floppy-ear ones in an effort to put more of the public at ease when interacting with its canines. "We've made a conscious effort in TSA ... to use floppy ear dogs," TSA Administrator David Pekoske said during a recent tour of operations at Washington Dulles International Airport northern Virginia. "We find the passenger acceptance of floppy ear dogs is just better. It presents just a little bit less of a concern," Pekoske said. "Doesn't scare children." Around 80 percent of the 1,200 canines TSA uses nationwide are ones with droopy ears, versus 20 percent that have cone-shaped ones. These police dogs are using body cams to stop crime. The devices generally attach to dogs' backs on a vest and transmit video to a handler watching from a screen, possibly on their wrist or around their necks. It's so the officers can better assess what they are up against before they go into a situation. Florida K-9 officer shot, killed chasing carjacking suspect. A K-9 officer was fatally shot in Florida on Sunday [9/30/2018] as authorities responded to a carjacking suspect. Fang, a 3-year-old German shepherd, worked as a dual-purpose bomb detector and patrol dog for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. Taxpayers to Be Held Liable after Graphic Video Showed Cops Torturing Handcuffed Man with K9. Attorney Joel Robbins, a Phoenix civil-rights attorney in practice for 25 years, could not believe what police and their K9 did to his client after he was accused of assaulting a police officer, "I've never heard of them bringing a dog into a holding cell... It just doesn't make sense." [...] Following the incident the Phoenix New Times' began investigating. Robbins provided the newspaper with body camera footage of the K9 attack on a handcuffed citizen. In the recording McGough can be heard asking, no less than 30 times, what he did wrong and why he was being arrested. He was handcuffed and escorted from the police squad car and then taken into the holding cell. Ohio officer forced to shoot K9 partner during attack. An Ohio officer shot his police dog after it attacked him, leaving him with serious bite wounds, the Columbus Police Department said. Officer Brian Carter underwent surgery at a hospital and K9 Benzi, a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois, was humanely euthanized. [...] It was the first time a Columbus officer has had to shoot a K9 partner, according to the spokesperson. Buda man shoots, kills off-leash dog that attacked him, his dog. The Hays County Sheriff's Office says a man was walking his dog, a small breed, when they were attacked by another dog — a large breed — that was off its leash. In response, the man, who is an officer with the Rollingwood Police Department, shot and killed the larger dog. The Rollingwood Police Department says it has begun an internal investigation into the officer's actions. Canton Police Sic Dog On Man For Refusing to Get Out Of His Car. According to local news reports, Wagner was pulled over by an Ohio Highway Patrol Trooper for having a handmade license plate. When asked by a police officer, he refused to hand over his driver's license or registration, or tell the officer his name. After the numbers on Wagner's handmade license plate returned a name linked to a concealed carry license, the officer called for backup. Police tried to coax Wagner out of the car for 20 minutes, during which he politely but firmly refused to comply. He also told police he wasn't armed. Officers then gave Wagner a final warning, broke his driver's side window, and sicced a K-9 unit, a Belgian Malinois, on him. (The Belgian Malinois is known among police and breed enthusiasts as the "maligator" because of its incredible bite strength and tenacity. Among dog breeds, it's one of the last you would want to latch on to you.) Police Say K-9 Units To Be Killed If Illinois Lawmakers Pass Bill. PJ Media reports that law enforcement officers in Macon County, Illinois have threatened to euthanize all K-9s if a law to legalize marijuana passes the state legislature. If the people of Illinois vote to legalize pot, "police may have to 'put down' many of the 275 K-9 dogs trained to recognize narcotic substances across the state," they claim. The plan is to simply execute them. Needless to say, "marijuana advocates have condemned them for dangling canine death as a political tool." Illinois police claim if marijuana is legalized, they'll have to kill their police dogs. The training director of a police K-9 academy in Illinois claims that if the state legalizes recreational marijuana, it will likely have to euthanize "a number" of its pot-sniffing dogs, The Pantagraph reports. There are approximately 275 trained narcotic K-9s in Illinois, with each costing the department thousands of dollars. Replacing the dogs would cost millions, and Chad Larner, the director of Maron County's K-9 Training Academy, said "retraining" the dogs would be "extreme abuse."
CPD says goodbye to beloved K-9 officer. Chicago Police said goodbye Wednesday to a beloved member of their canine patrol, a 7-year-old black lab with brain cancer. With police canine handlers standing at attention, canine "Bob" went for her last walk Wednesday afternoon [12/7/2016] into the Niles Animal Hospital where she'd been treated in recent months. Man Who Killed Police Dog Sentenced to 45-Years in Prison. A 23-year-old Ohio man has been sentenced to 45 years in prison after exchanging gunfire with Canton police in January. This week, a judge sentenced Kelontre Barefield to be incarcerated for 11 years on multiple burglary charges and 34 years for the death of Jethro, a three-year-old German Shepherd who served as a member of the department's K-9 unit. Both sentences are to be served consecutively. Police shoot and kill suspect who fatally stabbed K9 officer. Police in western Pensylvania shot and killed a man who allegedly stabbed a Port Authority of Alleghany County police dog to death Sunday afternoon [1/31/2016]. Port Authority Police Chief Matt Porter told reporters that the K-9 officer, Aren, had been on the job for four years, working patrol and explosives details. [...] Aren suffered multiple stab wounds and was rushed to a local animal hospital, but died after being transported. The Tribune-Review reported that officers removed Aren's body, draped in an American flag, from the hospital hours later. Ready for duty: Pup sworn in as K9 in adorable ceremony. Labrador sworn in as victim assistance dog by Douglas County Sheriff in Colorado. [Video clip] Retiring officer forced to raise funds to buy his K-9 partner at auction. A just-retired Ohio police officer who sought to purchase his K-9 partner of four years from the city of Marietta received an unexpected reply: You're barking up the wrong tree. "I had the money for the dog and was ready to hand it to the chief of police, and the chief of police said he couldn't take it," Matthew Hickey told WCMH. At issue is a state code. Officers can purchase their K-9 partners for $1 when the dog retires. But, in this case, Hickey is retiring, not Ajax. Update: The Editor says... Suspect tried to drown dog, fought with officer before being shot, cops say. A suspected car thief who allegedly tried to drown a police dog and fight with an officer was shot by Tampa cops on Monday morning [10/26/2015], FOX13 reported. Supremes Slap Leash on Drug-Sniffing Dogs. Police aren't allowed to hold suspects absent probable cause while waiting for the drug-sniffing dogs to arrive, the Supreme Court ruled, in a 6-3 decision that spoke to the fate of the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment reins in government against unwarranted searches and seizures. The justices stipulated police can't detain suspects even for 10 minutes while the drug-sniffing dogs are en route, the Hill reported. Was funeral motorcade for slain K-9 officer excessive? A funeral that drew more than 1,000 people in Pittsburgh for a slain police dog has sparked a debate among some residents over whether the city went too far in its soldierlike salute to the animal. Friday's [2/7/2014] 45-minute memorial for Rocco, an 8-year-old German shepherd K-9 officer who was fatally stabbed while trying to apprehend a fugitive, featured a motorcade, bagpipers, barking canines and a procession of officers holding Rocco's photo, urn and a flag. "In Dog We Trust" printed within Pinellas County Sheriff's emblem on new rugs. Two newly rolled out rugs at the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office administration building sure looked nice while they lasted. They were placed at the front entrance — bright green with the sheriff's bold, yellow emblem. But there's one major problem. If you look closely, you'll see a major typo within one of the crests — "In Dog We Trust." The Editor says... Update: Drug Smuggler Sues U.S. Over Dog Bite. A man transporting marijuana over the border with Mexico says a Border Patrol dog mauled him — and the U.S. needs to pay. Tarrant County man stabs police dog; shot dead by cop. Police said Tuesday [8/26/2014] that 22-year-old Mark Salazar of Blue Mound, Texas, stabbed a police dog named Kye, then was shot to death Sunday by the dog's handler.
Police Dog Killed in Line of Duty, Receives Funeral with Full Honors. On Sunday, August 24, 2014, Kye, a three-year-old German shepherd K-9 officer for the Oklahoma City Police Department was killed in the line of duty when chasing down a burglary suspect. The dog was put to rest with full honors four days later, and hundreds of police officers and animals lovers were present to show their respect for the four-legged officer. K-9 buried with full police honors after dying in line of duty. More than 1,000 people and dozens of service dogs attended the funeral service last week for Kye, a 3-year-old Belgian German Shepherd that was stabbed to death by the suspect. Kye's partner since serving on the police department's K-9 unit, Sgt. Ryan Stark, shed tears and expressed a final farewell to the dog before his flag-draped coffin was buried and the canine was given out a 21-gun salute. This Dog Can Send You to Jail. [Scroll down] He said that he was going to write me a warning, and I said, 'OK, that's fine.' He asked me if I had any drugs in the car. I said, 'No, sir, I don't do drugs, and I don't associate with people who do.' He asked me would I mind if he searched my vehicle, and I said, 'Well, yes, I would mind if you searched my vehicle.'" But thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, the deputy did not have to take no for an answer. In the 2005 case Illinois v. Caballes, the Court declared that "the use of a well-trained narcotics-detection dog... during a lawful traffic stop generally does not implicate legitimate privacy interests." Machine Gun-Toting Officers To Patrol NYC Subway. The NYPD is pulling out all the stops to beef up safety of the subways. On Thursday it launched a new anti-terror effort called "Operation Torch," but the cost of the program is raising some eyebrows. The NYPD's new firepower consists of cops with Mp5 submachine guns, rifles, body armor and bomb-sniffing dogs. The cops are always looking for drugs.
Under attack: Depth of federal arms race should surprise, shock citizenry. In late February, four federal agents carrying side arms with a drug-sniffing dog descended on the Taos Ski Valley in what was called a "saturation patrol." Authorities were working on tips of possible drug selling and impaired driving in the ski resort's parking lot and surrounding area. But the agents weren't from the FBI, ATF, or even the Drug Enforcement Administration. Rather, the agents represented the U.S. Forest Service. [...] It may come as a surprise to many U.S. taxpayers, but a slew of federal agencies — some whose responsibilities seem to have little to do with combating crime — carry active law enforcement operations. 'Racist' LA police dogs only bite Latinos and African-Americans. Police officers in Los Angeles have long faced accusations of institutional racism, but now it appears their dogs may be unjustly discriminatory, too. A new report focusing on the Canine Special Detail of the LA Sherriff's Department (LASD) has uncovered a vast increase in the number of minority individuals bitten by police dogs since 2004. And in the first six months of this year, every single victim of a bite by a LASD dog was African-American or Latino. A Drug Dog Named 'Guilty'. Over the last 20 years or so, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the alert from a drug dog is enough to establish probable cause for a search. The problem is that while it's true that dogs have a finely tuned sense of smell, far better than any technology we humans have been able to develop, we've also bred into dogs a trait that can supersede that ability — an eagerness to please us. Without careful training, drug dogs will end up relying more on the body language of their trainers than on their olfactory prowess. That means that for many drug dogs, an "alert" is little more than a validation of the suspicions of its handler, [...] Police defend K-9 in attack on 8-year-old. Police say the Friday [11/25/2011] attack of the department's police dog, Storm, on an 8-year-old boy was an unfortunate accident, but Storm has done much more good than bad during his time with the department. The boy, Patrick Assion, was visiting his grandmother's house in Campbell and playing hide-and-seek with his cousin in the backyard when Storm took hold of Patrick's arm and dragged him to the ground. If a police dog barks at you, don't bark back. Ohio man charged after barking at police dog. Police say an Ohio man has been charged with a misdemeanor for barking at a police dog. Don't insult a police dog. County Sheriff Enjoys Fruits of Forfeitures. The sheriff's office in Douglas County, Neb., just finished a new $4.2 million crime lab and police-dog center thanks to money seized from people driving by on Interstate 80. That money is a small part of a large and controversial asset-forfeiture program known as "equitable sharing." Highway "forfeiture traps" are apparently still alive and flourishing. A few years ago these forfeiture traps on interstate highways were getting a lot of media attention. Television news shows such as 20/20 and 60 Minutes aired exposes on forfeiture traps in Volusia County, Florida, and Sulphur, Louisiana. Local police in these small towns made millions of dollars in profits by trolling the interstate highways and stopping travelers with out of state tags. The police typically claimed some traffic infraction, asked permission to search the car and got it, found no drugs but some cash, then brought in a drug sniffing dog, and after getting it to "alert," seized all the travelers' money. Cops and your dog Editor's comment: Cop Fatally Shoots Family's Dog In Front Of Two Screaming Young Kids. Disturbing surveillance video has captured the moment an Iowa cop shot dead a family's dog in front of two traumatized young kids — just weeks after the same officer allegedly mowed down another pooch nearby. Davenport Police Department officer Ethan Bock opened fire on the two-year-old beloved pet — named Myst — last Wednesday after responding to a separate 911 call about four other aggressive canines roaming the streets, cops said. Footage of the fatal encounter, which was released by the family in the aftermath, showed the officer pulling up alongside the boys as they rode their bikes up and down an alleyway with the tail-wagging dog in tow. Cop Who Shot Pet Dog Is Accused Of Running Over Another Dog A Month Before. Davenport, Iowa police officer who shot a family dog is accused of running over another dog in a separate incident last month. 2-year-old Myst passed away after getting shot by a police officer who was called after someone reported four dogs being aggressive. When the officer arrived, Myst confronted the officer who then pulled out his gun. According to the dog's owner Don Hesseltine, the police officer didn't even show up in the right neighborhood for the initial call. [Video clip] Officer fatally shoots small blind, deaf dog walking away with tail wagging, suit says. A Missouri police officer has been placed on leave after body camera footage showed him fatally shoot a small deaf and blind dog. On May 19, a woman found a small white blind and deaf Shih Tzu in her yard, later identified as "Teddy." The woman gave Teddy water and went on social media to try to find his owner, according to a lawsuit filed May 28 by the dog's owner. [Advertisement] On May 19, a woman found a small white blind and deaf Shih Tzu in her yard, later identified as "Teddy." The woman gave Teddy water and went on social media to try to find his owner, according to a lawsuit filed May 28 by the dog's owner. [Video clip] After about an hour, the woman called police to help her locate Teddy's owner, the lawsuit said. The dispatcher asked the woman if the dog was acting aggressively, and she said, "no, not at all," according to the lawsuit. [Advertisement] Body camera footage obtained by KOMU shows officer Myron Woodson attempt to catch the dog with a catchpole for several minutes. [Advertisement] "Come on baby," Woodson can be heard saying. "I'm gonna take you to get help." At no point in the video does Teddy bark at the officer. Off Duty Chicago Cop In Hot Water After Shooting A Man's Dog When It Started Chasing Hers. New surveillance video has raised questions over an incident last month involving an off-duty Chicago Police officer who shot and killed a dog in the Bridgeport neighborhood. On Tuesday, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability released two videos of the shooting and said the CPD should rethink the officer's employment status. Chicago Police issued no citations in the incident. CPD records show that around 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 21, off-duty CPD Officer Carmen Mostek was walking her corgi east in the 500 block of West 29th Street, just west of Normal Avenue. That was when her neighbor's dog, Aggie — described by Officer Mostek in a 911 call and by police in incident reports as a pit bull, but referred to by the owner as a "mutt" or a "mixed-breed rescue dog" — escaped from the backyard. According to Mostek, Aggie tried to bite the corgi. At that point, the surveillance video shows Aggie's owner on the ground trying to separate the dogs. Then, according to the video, Mostek shot the mixed-breed dog at very close range while Aggie was still in her owner's arms. [Video clip] Roommates sue Maryland county over death of pet dog shot by police. Roommates who sued a Maryland county Monday claim police officers illegally entered their apartment without a warrant, detained them at gunpoint without justification and unnecessarily shot their pet dog, which was left paralyzed and ultimately euthanized. The dog, a boxer mix named Hennessey, did not attack the three officers who entered the apartment before two of them shot the animal with their firearms and the third fired a stun gun at it, according to the dog owners' federal lawsuit. Cop In Hot Water After Shooting And Killing Family Dog. As the man yells at someone else to "stop it," the dispatcher attempts to calm him down. Police eventually arrived around 9:45 p.m. at the home owned by 33-year-old Amanda Bulick. Among those at the house was a more-than-100-pound Cane Corso named Bella, and police could be heard repeatedly calling on those present to "get the dog inside." Then, as the dog trots towards officers while, shots are fired. According to a police report, Bella "began bleeding profusely" after being hit and ran back inside the residence. Officers claim they attempted to save her life, but she ended up dying from her injuries. [Video clip] Incident Between Boston Police And Belligerent Woman Leads To 2 Pit Bulls Getting Shot. Two pit bulls were shot by police, leaving one dead, after they attacked an officer in Mattapan. It happened on Michigan Avenue Wednesday afternoon. Police said they were making an arrest at the apartment when the two pit bulls attacked an officer, biting him. A second officer shot both dogs, killing one of them. The second pit bull, a puppy, was left injured. "The next thing you know, when I get out, I see blood everywhere," said the dog's owner, who said she heard three gunshots. "It was just crazy." A teenager who lives in the apartment told WBZ-TV the dogs were just trying to protect her family. [Video clip] Detroit Woman Sues City After Police Officers Shot Her Dog and Left It in a Trash Can. A Detroit woman filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city today after police shot her dog and left it in a neighbor's trash can. In a complaint filed against the city of Detroit and an individual Detroit police officer, Tiffany Lindsay says her Fourth Amendment rights were violated last September when the officer entered her enclosed backyard without a search warrant and shot her pit bull, Jack. As Reason previously reported, Detroit police were searching for a carjacking suspect on the night of September 4 when an officer and his K-9 unit entered Lindsay's backyard, peeked into a doghouse and, unsurprisingly, found a dog. According to a police report filed in the incident, Lindsay's dog lunged at the officer and K-9 unit, biting the officer on the forearm and tearing his pants. It also bit his K-9 unit. The officer hit the dog with his flashlight several times before drawing his gun and killing the animal. Suing Bad Cops for Shooting Good Dogs. Under the United States and Colorado Constitutions, the shooting of your dog, whether it results in your dog's death or serious wounding, is an unlawful taking under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. In some circumstances, it can also fall under the 8th Amendment for Cruel and Unusual Punishment. In all circumstances, it is wrong and the culpable actor should be held accountable for his/her actions. Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act permits recovery by a pet owner for the shooting death or wounding of his/her dog. Time is of the essence in these cases to quickly move to collect evidence before it is "lost" or destroyed. Police State Madness — Man Given Traffic Ticket for Not Having a Seatbelt ON HIS DOG. While there is no shortage of videos of people being killed over seatbelt violations — or even dogs being killed by cops — we've never seen an incident in which someone was given a ticket for their dog not wearing a seatbelt. All that has changed this week, however, as the infamously ticket-happy police department in Washington, Louisiana has made news once again for issuing a ticket to a resident because his dog wasn't buckled up. US cop shoots dead Terrier mix dog on spot after it barked at him. A family in Arkansas is furious after an "investigator" shot dead their dog after he drove down the wrong driveway while conducting a compliance check on a sex offender. The incident occurred on Monday, November 9, in Greenbrier, Arkansas. The investigator, identified as James Freeman, went to the home on Autumn Hills Rd. However the house he was meant to visit was two doors down. As Freeman got out of his car, the dog — three-year-old Terrier mix Clide — started barking at him. He fired one shot, killing Clide instantly. [Video clip] Owner says shooting of dog unjustified; sheriff says deputy acted appropriately. A Minatare man has stirred up controversy on social media as he shared a photo of a Scotts Bluff County Sheriff's deputy and the man's dog, which the deputy had shot after he said the dog charged him. Scotts Bluff County Sheriff Mark Overman released video of the shooting, which involved one of the department's deputies, and says in a press release that the deputy acted appropriately. The video is an in-car video, Overman said, and shows the entirety of the event, except the moment when the deputy shot the dog. [Video clip] Florida: Cop Tries To Kill Innocent Family's Dog — Shoots Himself In The Foot Instead. Proportionately, cops kill far more dogs than they do people. It's quite a strange phenomena [sic] because postal workers, UPS drivers, and food delivery drivers don't seem to have the same problems with dogs like cops do. It's so devious, the killing of family pets by those sworn to serve and protect the public, we actually keep an archive of stories of cops killing man's best friend. But one cop learned the hard way shooting a dog can be dangerous. He shot himself instead of the dog. Chris Crenshaw, of Putnam County, had committed no crime and had harmed no one when a Putnam County deputy came to his home, walked into his gated yard and knocked on the front door before attempting to kill his dog. Cop Granted Immunity Despite Video of Him Shooting Little Girl, While Trying to Kill Small Dog. Last year, a cop was fired after he shot a little girl inside her own home while trying to kill her dog. Showing that they are willing to hold their own accountable, the officer was charged with felony aggravated battery the following March. However, this month, TFTP has learned that a Wichita judge ruled the cop is immune from criminal prosecution and can't be sued. Rochester police officer shoots dog. A federal lawsuit has been filed against the city of Rochester and several police officers after an officer fatally shot a dog while looking for a gun believed to be discarded by a suspect during a foot chase on Oct. 19, 2018. This is portion of the police body cam video showing officer Javier Algarin jumping a fence to enter Dempsey's yard, followed by the dog running out the bag door and getting shot. [Video clip] Woman Calls Police for Help Who Showed Up and Killed Her Service Dog. Jennifer Weir thought she was going to receive help for her stolen property last month when she called police to report a theft. However, when an officer arrived, instead of helping her, he shot her dog Juniper, killing her. Drug Dealer Ambush or Defense Against Home Invasion? The recent killing of a couple in Houston, Texas, and the wounding of four police officers, has been claimed to be an ambush of police by drug dealers. Later accounts by the police show the police broke into the house, and fired first, killing the couple's dog. The husband then fired back, wounding the officer who killed their dog. [...] We now know this wasn't an ambush by drug dealers. The police admit they fired the first shot, killing the family dog. That is not an ambush. How much was a legitimate defense of home against home invaders who, as far as the married couple knew, might be simply claiming to be police? How much was criminal resistance against a legitimate police action? Arkansas sheriff's deputy fired after shooting dog. A sheriff's deputy in Arkansas has been fired after he shot a dog Friday afternoon [1/4/2019]. Faulkner County deputy Keenan Wallace has been relieved of his duties after he discharged his gun near a man and injured the dog. Faulkner County Sheriff Tim Ryals announced Saturday evening [1/5/2019] that Wallace, a K-9 handler, "fell short" of the standards he expects of his deputies to "protect and serve" residents of their community. "I believe there were numerous opportunities to de-escalate the incident," Ryals said in a Facebook statement. Good Cop Saves Dog, Gave it Back to Family — Days Later, Different Cop Kills It. The same dog who was featured on the news as the friendly pit bull sitting in the front seat of a police car just two months ago, was featured on the news for an encounter with police once again this week — but this time, it was for a sad and heartbreaking reason. Graphic Video Shows Minneapolis Cop Shooting Two Innocent Service Dogs. The owner of the two dogs, Jennifer LeMay, is facing thousands of dollars in bills for vet care and surgery because of the gunshot wounds to her pets. Obviously distraught, LeMay uploaded a security video of her beloved dogs being systematically shot by a Minneapolis police officer. Neither dog looked to be a threat to the cop. Instead, they appeared to wagging their tails and greeting the Minneapolis police officer — who was in the dogs' yard. Maryland Jury Awards $1.26 Million to Family after Cop Wrongly Shot their Dog. A Maryland jury awarded a family $1.26 million Tuesday [5/9/2017] after deciding a cop wrongly shot and killed their dog, Vernon, on February 1, 2014 — the largest award in American history for such a case. "The verdict sends a strong message to the police about community expectations," attorney Carl J. Hansel said after the verdict, according to the Capital Gazette. Cops Go to Innocent Woman's Home, Shoot Her Dog for No Reason, Take No Responsibility. Kaytlin McClure didn't call the police. She had no need to do so. She was just minding her own business in her own home this week, when the police dropped by late at night to pay her a visit. They were canvassing the neighborhood and wanted McClure's help with their search for a fugitive. But rather than catching their man, they shot her dog. Animal Control Claims Longtime Family Dog Is 'Wolf Hybrid', Won't Return To Owners. A family in Aurora, Colorado is missing it's longtime four-legged companion today. The Abbato family reports that Capone, a dog they've owned for nearly 10 years, has been taken by Aurora Animal Control on suspicion that the pooch is a "wolf hybrid." Capone was seized by Animal Control after he jumped the fence in the family's yard. "They say he is a hybrid-wolf now and don't want to release (him) back to us because he is an exotic animal," Tracy Abbato told Fox 31 in Denver adding "I am 100 percent confident he is not a wolf, not a doubt in my mind." West Virginia Woman Arrested for Blocking Cop from Shooting her Dog Files Lawsuit. On May 9, 2015, West Virginia state trooper Seth Cook arrested Tiffanie Hupp, 24, on obstruction charges after she stepped between the trooper and her dog Buddy, who was chained to a tree on her family's property and wagging his tail when Cook aimed his gun at the dog's head attempting to shoot it. Cook testified that he was not in fear for his life, but was only following training that required him to kill all dogs that approach him, even if they are wagging their tails. Spray-painting 'Kill all police' on wall isn't a terrorist threat, judge rules. Spray-painting 'Kill all police' on a public wall doesn't rise to the level of a terrorist threat, a Detroit judge ruled Tuesday [12/13/2016]. Stuart Lewis, 49, of Detroit, faced a series of charges after police pinpointed him as the culprit who painted anti-police graffiti on a wall last October. After discovery of the graffiti threats, Detroit Police Chief James Craig vowed to find and arrest whoever was responsible. The department followed through, dispatching its Special Response Team — the equivalent of SWAT — to arrest Lewis at his home. The man's dog was killed during the raid. Why Are Detroit Cops Killing So Many Dogs? A group of Detroit police officers executing a narcotics search warrant knocked on Nikita Smith's door on January 14, 2016. The only fact that both Smith and the officers agree on after that point is that, a short while later, Smith's three dogs were all shot dead. What really happened in the moments between could be a costly question for the city of Detroit. In a federal civil rights lawsuit filed in May, Smith says the Detroit police executed her three pit bulls, Debo, Mama, and Smoke, without provocation. Essentially, they acted as a "dog death squad." Idaho Cop Murders Dog In Own Yard, Demands Cash from Owner for Remains. An Idaho cop murdered a dog in its own front yard while serving an arrest warrant on a compliant citizen after officers took advantage of a door left ajar. The arrest warrant turned into a death warrant for the beloved family pet named Targaryan. Now Caldwell police are threatening to charge an innocent woman with "having a vicious animal at large." And they sent her a $200 bill before they'll release the remains of her deceased beloved pet dog. Police claim the dog "lunged." But the body camera videos released today [9/16/2016] show a very different story. Ohio Cops to Pay $780,000 for Shooting 4-year-old Girl While Trying to Kill Family Dog. Ohio cops are expected to pay $780,000 in a settlement deal pending1 Columbus City Council's approval after an officer shot a 4-year-old in the leg while trying to shoot her dog that her family says was retreating from the porch when the officer unnecessarily fired his gun. He then fled the scene. Instead of rendering aid and making sure the child was OK, officer Jonathan Thomas1 then walked down the driveway, got in his patrol car and left the scene without administering aid or making sure an ambulance was on the way. Madonna Dancer's Dog Shot, Killed by Police in Brooklyn. A dog belonging to a professional dancer touring with Madonna was shot and killed by police officers while they were issuing an arrest warrant in Brooklyn Tuesday [7/12/2016], police and friends say. The officers went to a home on Montauk Avenue in East New York in the early evening to serve a warrant to a 29-year-old man wanted in an open complaint, police said. Family dog shot and killed by California deputies who went to wrong home. A California family's dog was mistakenly shot and killed by law enforcement officers who went to the wrong home Monday while responding to a domestic violence call, The Los Angeles Times reported. The deputies reportedly arrived at the wrong home and rattled the fence to see if there were any dogs outside the home. Once inside the gate, two small dogs approached them and a larger Husky mix, the report said. SWAT Team Kills Restrained Dog for Barking. In front of Child. [Video clip.] Cops shoot therapy dog during raid on wrong address over expired vehicle registration. Leander Police went to the home of James and Renata Simmons acting on a warrant for unpaid vehicle registration on June 17, 2013. The warrant, however, was for a completely different town — Cedar Park, TX, and was for a person named Bradly Neal Simpson, someone the Simmons family, who have lived at this address for the past nine years, have never even heard of. Officers walking around the rear of the property saw Vinny, a German Shepherd therapy dog, running free within his fence along with another German Shepherd. Police fired at Vinny, firing 3 times with one bullet hitting him in the back of his neck. Family Raided by SWAT and their Dog Shot, for Being Unable to Pay Utility Bill. Nothing says Police State USA quite like a SWAT team raiding a family home and killing their dog because they are unable to pay their natural gas bill. Officers Open Fire on Small Dog as it Runs Away From Them, Shoot it to Death. The argument escalated and one of the neighbors threatened to fight the other. At that point it is believed that a nearby witness called the police to calm the neighbors down. But when police arrived, the situation escalated far more than anyone could have predicted. [...] Unfortunately, however, a small dog was outside while the SWAT officers had their guns drawn. In the video, the small dog can be seen literally running away from the SWAT team, posing no threat at all, when the SWAT team opened fire and shot the dog to death. How often do SWAT teams kill dogs during their raid. I googled it and found more than I could possibly count. One poster said "If you don't want your dog shot, then don't call the police." Dog shot dead by SWAT team during alleged dispute over neighborhood dog waste. A SWAT team sent to handle an alleged neighborhood dispute over dog waste ended up killing the dog, and igniting a firestorm of criticism against the local police force. In dramatic video capturing the end of Saturday's hours-long standoff involving Racine, Wisc. police, a small dog is seen being shot dead by a line of approaching officers moments after set loose. St. Louis County SWAT Team Killed Family Dog Over Code Violation, Suit Says. On Tuesday [6/2/2015], a South County woman filed a federal lawsuit that dog lovers should read with caution — the allegations are pretty disturbing. In the lawsuit, Angela Zorich claims that St. Louis County Police tactical officers — aka the department's SWAT team — raided her house in April 2014 and killed Kiya, her four-year-old pit bull. Officer fatally shoots woman, dog at end of high-speed chase. Police in El Cajon said an officer has fatally shot a woman and a dog in a stolen car after the driver tried to run over the officer. Mystery shrouds shooting of cop outside Atlanta. A police officer was shot and critically wounded Monday when he responded to a call of a suspicious person and showed up at the wrong house, authorities said. The homeowner was also shot in the leg and his dog was killed in what DeKalb County police Chief Cedric Alexander is calling a complicated shooting. Why are police shooting so many family dogs? A rash of animal shootings by police officers nationwide has law-enforcement agencies running for cover amid growing public outrage that could force state legislatures to require greater accountability from men and women in uniform. Police in Utah shot a family's dog while searching for a lost boy, prompting hundreds of pet owners to protest June 28 in front of the Salt Lake City Police Department headquarters. They carried signs demanding "justice for Geist," a 110-pound Weimaraner shot by a city cop within the dog's fenced-in back yard. The "missing" boy was later found sleeping in his home. Utah rally: End police shootings of dogs. To the Guerreros, dogs are part of the family. So on Saturday [10/25/2014], the family — mother, two daughters, a grandson, a granddaughter, a great-grandson and a few four-legged members of the clan — joined a rally on the steps of the Utah Capitol calling for an end to police shooting dogs. They hope their show of force, along with about 50 other people and a dozen canines who joined the rally, will lead to change. "It shows them we're not going to let it go," Wendi Guerrero said of the campaign to change how police react when they encounter a family pet. Dog owners dispute officer's account of shooting pit bull to death. Video of a Cleburne couple's dog being shot to death is making the rounds on Facebook, and Cleburne police say one of their officers pulled the trigger. The department also says the short, edited video clip of the dog being killed doesn't give the full picture of what happened and why the officer fired his weapon. The video was captured by the officer's body cam. The militarization of America's police. [Scroll down] Perhaps the most common victim of police militarization is the family dog. About 250 to 300 cop-shoots-dog cases are now recorded in the U.S. media every year, according to Randall Lockwood of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and he estimates that another 1,000 aren't reported. Some of the shot dogs are dangerous breeds trained to attack, but many are family pets that simply get excited and fearful during raids and bark at police officers. The dead dogs include such breeds as Chihuahuas and golden retrievers, and even a miniature dachshund that made the mistake of growling at a police officer during one SWAT operation. "These guys think that the only solution to a dog that's yapping or charging is shooting and killing it," says former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper. "It goes with the notion that police officers have to control every situation." Family allegedly forced from home by police files rare Third Amendment suit. According to the complaint, it all began when the Henderson city police called Anthony Mitchell that morning to say they needed his house to gain "tactical advantage" in a domestic violence investigation in the neighborhood. The situation turned ugly when Mitchell refused repeated requests to leave and police smashed through the door, the 18-page complaint states. Mitchell alleges the police, upon entering his home, forced him to the floor at gunpoint, then shot him and his "cowering" dog with a few rounds of pepper-spray pellets. Uphold the Third Amendment. [Scroll down] Now we see another Third Amendment case, from Henderson, Nev., in which the plaintiffs, the Mitchell family, claim that Henderson police seized their home — battering the door open with a battering ram — so as to secure an advantageous position in addressing a domestic violence report involving a neighboring house. The police were quite rude — calling the inhabitants "a•••••••s" and shooting both Anthony Mitchell and his dog with a pepper-ball gun — before setting up a lookout post in the house. Should the Third Amendment have something to say about this? Woman issued citation by authorities for Facebook comment. Christine Adamski said she was surprised last week when she received a citation in the mail for a comment she made on Facebook, but she also knew immediately she wasn't going to pay it. Adamski, 25, opened the $50 ticket from the Will County Forest Preserve District last week and read the letter alleging she had used a dog park without a proper permit. The citation arrived at her Bolingbrook home with a letter explaining the ticket, an application for a dog park permit as well as a copy of her social media post "admitting her guilt." "I laughed," Adamski said Thursday. "I was like, this is totally untrue. Obviously I'm not going to pay this." Wrong house. Sorry about the dog. Family
questions SWAT drug search that led to dog's death. SWAT team breaks into home, fires seven
rounds at family's pit bull and corgi (?!) as a seven-year-old looks on. They found a "small amount" of
marijuana, enough for a misdemeanor charge. The parents were then charged with child endangerment.
So smoking pot = "child endangerment." Storming a home with guns, then firing bullets into the family pets
as a child looks on = necessary police procedures to ensure everyone's safety. Austin Police Officer Fatally Shoots Dog After Going To Wrong Address. An Austin police officer fatally shoots a dog after showing up at the wrong address for a domestic violence call. Buffalo Woman Says Police Raided Wrong House, Killed Her Dog. Prada was 5-years-old at the time. The black Labrador Retriever became more than a pet, but a part of [Rita] Hairston's family. A companion. Last Saturday morning, she returned to her E. Morris Ave. house in University Heights in Buffalo and discovered her home had been broken into and Prada was missing. There was a puddle of blood on the floor and bullet holes in the door of a bedroom where Prada slept. But it was not a burglar who broke in. Hairston found a search warrant, signed by a judge, issued to the Erie County Sheriff's Department, on her kitchen floor. Police Shot Dog in Apparent Raid at Wrong Apartment. Buffalo police are investigating a Breckenridge St. man's claims that police killed his dog when they mistakenly raided his apartment while executing a search warrant. Adam Arroyo wants police to apologize for the death of his pit bull Cindy, which was chained inside the kitchen during a raid on his home Monday [6/3/2013]. They Always Shoot the Dog. A cop on a paramilitary drug raid decided to cut across the lawn at an adjacent home. The homeowner's watch dogs did exactly what they're supposed to do when an uninvited guest trespasses on the property. They attacked. So the cop shot 'em. One thing I've noticed while picking through the depressingly long list of botched drug raids: The cops always shoot the dog. N. Texas deputy accused of shooting man's dog to death gets fired. A Rains County, TX sheriff's deputy accused of shooting and killing a farmer's dog for no reason has been fired, officials with the county sheriff's office confirmed Thursday. The deputy argued that the dog, Candy, threatened his safety. Candy's owner, Cole Middleton, is a third generation dairy farmer. After Candy died, Middleton began a campaign on Facebook that is getting national attention and said she was killed for no good reason. 300-lb. probation officer shoots woman's 12-pound dog in Albany. A probation officer in Southwest Georgia fatally shot a woman's 12-pound dog while on a routine visit Monday, an act the dog's owner claimed was unnecessary. Cherrie Shelton's dog Patches, a two-year-old Jack Russell Terrier, approached officer Antoine Jones as he arrived at her home, she told FOX 31 in Albany. Before Shelton, of Albany, could finish telling the officer the dog wouldn't bite, he had pulled out his gun and shot the dog. Police Serve Warrrant at Wrong House, Shoot Their Dog, Now Refuse to Pay Vet Bills. The City of Leander, Texas is refusing to pay the medical bills for a German Shepherd dog that was shot when police served a warrant at the wrong address. An officer shot "Vinny" in June, putting the dog in the hospital with $1,500 in medical bills. Luckily he survived and is recovering, but the city is denying the claim against them. The family is planning to sue. The raid on Mayor Cheye Calvo's house To paraphrase Ray Donovan, where do they go to get their dogs back? Prince George's raid prompts call for probe. When the shooting stopped, two dogs lay dead. A mayor sat in his boxers, hands bound behind his back. His handcuffed mother-in-law was sprawled on the kitchen floor, lying beside the body of one of the family pets that police had killed before her eyes. ... What police left behind was a house stained with blood and a trail of questions about their conduct. Police raid Maryland mayor's home and kill his dogs. Mayor Cheye Calvo got home from work, saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on a table. Suddenly, police with guns drawn kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to death the couple's two dogs and seizing the unopened package. Mayor Cleared In Raid That Killed Dogs. A small-town mayor whose dogs were killed in a drug raid was cleared of any wrongdoing after police had been reluctant to rule out his involvement in drug smuggling or apologize for the violent incident. Update: Another update: 4.5 SWAT Raids Per Day. Over the last six months of 2009, SWAT teams were deployed 804 times in the state of Maryland, or about 4.5 times per day. In Prince George's County alone, with its 850,000 residents, a SWAT team was deployed about once per day. According to a Baltimore Sun analysis, 94 percent of the state's SWAT deployments were used to serve search or arrest warrants, leaving just 6 percent in response to the kinds of barricades, bank robberies, hostage takings, and emergency situations for which SWAT teams were originally intended. Excessive force Disturbing Video Shows Oklahoma Cop Slamming 71-Year-Old Man To The Ground Hard During Ticket Dispute. In the video, taken nearly two weeks ago, a 71-year-old man can be seen being detained after a traffic violation. It's a story many have been curious about whether the officer used excessive force. The man has been hospitalized ever since, and the video has many people calling for justice. In the footage, the officer and the local Vietnamese man started arguing about a traffic accident and a citation for an improper U-turn and ended up with the man on the ground. "There is some very, very much uncalled-for excessive force and, I think, as a community, we are hurt by that," said Thuan Nguyen, president-elect of the Vietnamese American Community of Oklahoma. Nguyen said tens of thousands of Vietnamese people call Oklahoma City their home. [Video clip] Florida Cops Beat [Up] College Football Fans At The Florida-Georgia Game. Police officers were seen beating up fans at the Florida vs Georiga football game. One officer was seen punching a man on the ground while the other officer was punching what appeared to be an elderly man. Both men were covering their faces from the barrage of punches. [Video clip] Another Angle Shows Cop Beat A Man With Handcuffs As If They Were Brass Knuckles. A violent clash erupted between fans and police officers at the Florida Gators vs. Georgia Bulldogs game. A new video from a different angle shows a cop beating one of the men with handcuffs as if they were brass knuckles. The cop seems to be abusing his power. [Video clip] Update: There's more to this story... Cop Is Fired After Being Caught On Video Punching A Handcuffed Man. For the second time in months, a Fairfax County sheriff's deputy has been fired for allegedly assaulting a person in custody. The most recent incident happened earlier this month. Sgt. Joshua Silver was charged with assault and battery after he was seen on camera appearing to punch a handcuffed man repeatedly inside a marked cruiser. [Video clip] The 'Through Line' from Ashli Babbitt to Donald Trump. At the sight of a boisterous crowd on the far side of the lobby doors, Byrd panicked. Without a word of warning, he shot and killed unarmed Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt the moment she squeezed her 110-pound body into a broken window frame. Within a minute of the shooting Babbitt, the frightened Byrd made an astonishing radio call: ["]405B. We got shots fired in the lobby. We got shots shots fired in the lobby of the House Chamber. Shots are being fired at us and we're sh, uhh, prepared to fire back at them. We have guns drawn. Please don't leave that end. Don't leave that end.["] Byrd's, of course, was the only shot fired that day. No police officers were killed or serious injured. No members of Congress or staff were molested. In clearing Byrd of criminal action, Biden's DoJ insulted him, arguing that "fear, mistake, panic, misperception, negligence, or even poor judgment" do not elevate a police shooting to the level of crime. Like the Democrats in Congress, Byrd had fallen prey to the media scare stories about the MAGA hordes. As he would later tell NBC's Lester Holt, "I know that day I saved countless lives," and he seemed to actually believe what he was saying. Female Fort Worth Cop Slams Cop Watcher's Face First Into The Sidewalk, Knocking Her Out. Police have released body cam footage showing the arrest of Carolyn Rodriguez, a self-described "cop watcher" who claims Fort Worth police officers used excessive force while arresting her on Sunday. The video released Wednesday afternoon by the Fort Worth Police Department shows one of the officers asking Rodriguez to move multiple times while she was recording Fort Worth police investigating a hit-and-run incident. In response, she asks the officer "Why?" After the officer tells her she is "under arrest," the video shows Rodriguez falling to the ground. Rodriguez told CBS News — before the video was released — she was knocked unconscious and her elbow came out of its socket. [Video clip] Florida sheriff's deputy who fatally shot Black airman at home is fired, shooting 'not objectively reasonable'. A Florida sheriff's deputy who shot and killed an Air Force service member in his home earlier this month has been fired. The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office said Deputy Eddie Duran was terminated after an administrative investigation found his use of deadly force was "not objectionably reasonable" in the death of Roger Fortson, a news release states. "The objective facts of the administrative investigation concluded that Mr. Fortson did not make any hostile, attacking movements, and therefore, the former deputy's use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable under OSCO's [Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office] policy," it said. Grandmother wrestled to the ground, arrested by cops while rushing granddaughter to the ER. A local grandmother's urgent rush to get her granddaughter medical attention ended in her arrest after she allegedly evaded police. On Sunday, April 14, Misty Armitage, 53, said she was driving her 3-year-old granddaughter, who was "bleeding profusely from her nose" and "vomited blood," to the emergency room when Bartlesville Police Officer Reed Blackard pulled her over. According to Blackard's affidavit, Armitage did not stop immediately, leading him to a brief pursuit for less than a mile. After pulling over, Armitage explained that her only concern was to get her granddaughter to the hospital as quickly as possible. Despite her pleas, Officer Blackard forcibly removed Armitage from her vehicle and wrestled her to the ground with help from another officer after Armitage allegedly rolled up her window and refused to comply with his commands. [Video clip] Ex-Massachusetts Cop Charged With Assaulting After Punching Man 13 Times While Screaming At Him To Stop Resisting. A former police officer has been charged with assaulting a man during an arrest, allegedly punching the suspect 13 times, according to the feds. Ex-Weymouth cop Justin Chappell, 43, is accused of punching the man without legal justification. Chappell has been charged with one count of deprivation of rights under color of law, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's Office announced on Thursday. The alleged incident was on July 2, 2022, when Chappell was a police officer for the Weymouth Police Department. While arresting a suspect, Chappell allegedly punched the man 13 times without legal justification. [Video clip] Caught on Tape: Mississippi Police Chief's Aggressive Assault on Local Barber Sparks Outrage. In the quiet town of Senatobia, Mississippi, footage showing a harrowing encounter between police officers and a member of the community raises concerns about abuse of power within the local police department and other areas of law enforcement. Mark Lesure, a barber and longtime resident of Senatobia, was accosted by police officers after his girlfriend's 16-year-old son was approached by officers. [...] Lesure indicated that he and other residents have had discussions with law enforcement, telling them that they "don't' have to come with your guns and all that aggression," and said police approach members of the community in this way "for misdemeanor crimes, for warrants, for people missing court." The barber noted that the police "act like the community is a high-crime area when it's nothing but elders in this community." The numbers support Lesure's claim. Senatobia's violent crime rate is lower than the national average and most other American cities. "Everybody knows each other. You can leave your car door unlocked. You can leave your house unlocked... This is what community this is." Atlanta Cops In Hot Water After Grabbing Man By The Throat At His Front Door After Refusing To Answer Questions. Viral doorbell footage shows a suburban Atlanta police officer grabbing a man by the throat after he refused to answer his questions. The video, which has more than 300,000 views, was posted on YouTube by We The People University. Host Abiyah Israel, a former law enforcement official, said officers were conducting a probe in College Park, Georgia when they approached a couple. The incident happened on Dec. 15. [Video clip] AG: Police Officer Will Not Face Charges in Shooting Death of Elderly Woman With Dementia. The New Mexico Attorney General's Office has opted not to pursue criminal charges against a Las Cruces Police Officer involved in the shooting death of a 75-year-old woman in April 2022. The Attorney General's Office determined that the officer, Jared Cosper, "did not use excessive force under the circumstances when he discharged his weapon and shot Ms. Baca." Amelia Baca, 75, was fatally shot by Cosper in her home as she motioned toward him while holding kitchen knives. The AG acknowledged that Cosper's interaction with Baca was "in a manner that is not consistent with generally accepted police practices. His tone and manner of communication were inappropriate and likely did not de-escalate the situation. However, Officer Cosper's use of force was in self-defense." Doctors group withdraws paper on 'excited delirium,' a term used to justify excessive force. A leading doctors group on Thursday formally withdrew its approval of a 2009 paper on "excited delirium," a document that critics say has been used to justify excessive force by police. The American College of Emergency Physicians in a statement called the paper outdated and said the term excited delirium should not be used by members who testify in civil or criminal cases. The group's directors voted on the matter Thursday in Philadelphia. "This means if someone dies while being restrained in custody ... people can't point to excited delirium as the reason and can't point to ACEP's endorsement of the concept to bolster their case," said Dr. Brooks Walsh, a Connecticut emergency doctor who pushed the organization to strengthen its stance. Sergeant placed on leave after beating a 62-year-old for parking at a public Park to rest. A Spokane County Sheriff has placed a Sergeant on administrative leave following allegations that excessive force was used during an incident. Spokane County Sheriff John Nowles was told about an incident that occurred on Aug. 14. The Spokane County Prosecuting Office are following these allegations and made the Sheriff aware. [Video clip] Bodycam Video Shows Vermont Cop Beating [Up a] Man With His Hands Cuffed Behind Him. A body cam video shot by a Vermont State Police trooper and obtained by the Banner reveals the violent scene as a handcuffed individual berating troopers is punched in the back of his head and dragged along the ground to the VSP vehicle in his Shaftsbury driveway in 2021. The 44-minute video caught by Trooper David Pfindel's body camera shows Pfindel arriving at the snowy scene on Tinkham Road in Shaftsbury on Feb. 23, 2021, to find both VSP Trooper Jeremy Sullivan and Trooper Robert Zink ordering Christopher Campbell onto his knees in his driveway. [Video clip] Cop Under Fire For Drag A 60 Year Old Lady Out Of Car And Slamming Her To The Pavement Over A Busted Headlight. A routine traffic stop in Northampton quickly escalated into yet another example of what some are calling excessive use of force by a police officer. Within minutes of pulling over 60-year-Marisol Driouech of Holyoke for a broken headlight, police officer John Sellew yelled at Driouech, pulled her out of the vehicle and pinned her to the ground after she appears not to have understood requests made of her, as shown on dashcam footage of the incident on April 4. English is not her first language. A second officer arrived and pepper sprayed Driouech in the face, the video shows. [Video clip] Viral Video Of Cop Pinning Dude Over 5 Dollar Pizza That Was Paid For Sparks Outrage. A video showing a confrontation between police and a Walmart customer over a $5 pizza has gone viral, sparking outrage on social media and conversations about the use of force by police officers. The incident, which occurred on June 1 at a Kansas City Walmart, was recorded and posted to TikTok on June 2 and shows Dayton Borisouth, 24, get pinned down by security officers who questioned whether he paid for a frozen pizza. [Video clip] The Editor says... 80yo Man Chased Down, Tasered, Nearly Killed By Police — For Driving 3 mph Over the Speed Limit. For driving three mph over the speed limit, an 80-year-old man was nearly killed by police. In a shocking display of excessive force, an 80-year-old man from eastern Kansas found himself tased without warning by officers who chased him down for driving a mere three mph over the speed limit. This week, John Sigg filed a federal lawsuit against the Allen County sheriff's office, detailing the excessive force used against him and seeking justice for the outrageous actions of those sworn to protect and serve. On April 16, 2021, Sigg was clocked at 38 mph in a 35 mph zone by a lieutenant with the Iola Police Department in Allen County. Because his job description entails extorting, kidnapping, and caging people for arbitrary victimless crimes, the officer then decided to give "chase," and multiple police vehicles trailed Sigg for several minutes. Salt Lake City cop holds man accused of jaywalking at gunpoint before tackling, shocking him. Salt Lake City police officers tackled a man, shocked him with a Taser and held him at gunpoint in December 2019 after accusing him of jaywalking, body camera footage released Wednesday shows. Though the arrest unfolded more than three years ago, police announced Wednesday that a community member last month made a "renewed request" for body camera footage of the confrontation. Upon review of the footage, the Salt Lake City Police Department placed six "sworn employees" involved with the arrest on paid administrative leave and initiated an internal investigation, officials said. [Video clip] 3 Michigan State Police troopers accused of excessive force on man for riding his bike at night without a light. Three troopers from the Michigan State Police Flint Post are facing assault charges after the arrest of a bicyclist in Owosso last August. Troopers Ryan Fitzko, Cody Lukas and Justin Simpson appeared in Shiawassee County District Court for arraignment Friday. They are accused of using excessive force during the arrest. [Video clip] Surveillance video shows correctional officers beating an inmate to death. Pepper spray, kicks, punches — the video that led to the death of Gershun Freeman was released Thursday [3/2/2023]. It's the video that his family and attorneys wanted the public to see. For almost 40 minutes, the video shows some of the last moments of Freeman's life. "Frankly, I would challenge anybody watching the video for the first time to pick out a specific number of deputies. What I think we can be clear on it is that it was ten or more," said Jake Brown, one of the attorneys for the Freeman family. [Video clip] Deputy Now Facing Excessive Force Lawsuit For Body-Slamming Man Just Walking Down The Street. Tyler Canaris says his physical and mental health have taken a turn for the worse a year after a Paulding County deputy body slammed him. Now Canaris' attorneys say the case should not end with a GBI investigation. [Video clip] The Desperate Need to Blame Whiteness for the Death Tyre Nichols Only Serves the Needs of the Media. There is nothing but grief and anger to be generated by the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of police during what should have been a routine traffic stop. The police body cam footage shows this event escalated well beyond what is needed or even logical. Is there a need to get answers about what led to this grievous act? Absolutely, and indications are the authorities are taking these necessary actions. The officers involved were immediately fired and now have been charged with murder, and the special task force set up in Memphis — dubbed SCORPION — has been dismantled. Beloved 78 Year Old Street Performer Is Slammed To The Ground By Sydney Police, Leaving Him With A Brain Bleed. The "disturbing" arrest of elderly Sydney street personality Danny Lim that left him with a brain bleed and neck injury is being internally investigated by New South Wales police after earlier announcing an independent review. The "discontinued" arrest by officers on Tuesday morning in the Queen Victoria Building in the CBD is being treated as a "complaint", according to a police spokesperson, and as such will be investigated by another station. [Video clip] Phoenix Police Shoot and Kill Man Suffering From Mental Illness Throwing Rocks At Them. Family members received a heavily edited video of body camera footage showing Phoenix police officers shooting and killing 34-year-old Ali Osman on September 27. According to Phoenix police, two different officers were driving near 19th Avenue, south of Glendale Avenue, when they heard something hitting their patrol car around 6:45 p.m. The officers pulled over and saw Osman throwing rocks at them. They reportedly told Osman to stop throwing rocks, but when he refused, officers opened fire. The family held a press conference Friday afternoon. [Video clip] Not Going to Be a 'Punching Bag' for the Police: Freedom Convoy Spokesman Announces Peaceful Withdrawal From Ottawa. As police in Ottawa escalated operations for the second day in a row against the trucker protest opposed to the government's COVID-19 mandates, a spokesperson for the movement, dubbed the "Freedom Convoy," called for a peaceful withdrawal, saying they are not going to be a "punching bag for law enforcement." Speaking at a press conference at the Lord Elgin Hotel in downtown Ottawa on Feb. 19, retired Canadian military officer Tom Marazzo said many truckers feel that the best course of action for them and their families is to withdraw in order to avoid further harm. "As a movement, we have chosen to peacefully withdraw from the streets of Ottawa. There is nothing to be gained by being brutalized by police," Marazzo said. Police began escalating their operation against the protesters in Ottawa on Feb. 18, announcing mid-morning Feb. 20 that they have thus far made 191 arrests and had 57 vehicles towed away. Mounted police and officers on foot advanced on demonstrators, with horses knocking down protesters in some instances. Another Day Another Canadian Jackboot Thug Trampling A Peaceful Protester With His Horse. Just another day in baby Fidel's Canada. Watch as this woman, whose only crime is holding a sign, gets run over by a cop on a horse in Ottawa. Rebel News got a hold of text messages between Ottawa police and they clearly show great joy and enthusiasm towards abusing peaceful protesters. In the chat, RCMP Musical Ride member, Andrew Nixon sends a picture of a pint of beer hoping for his chance to abuse protesters: "Don't kick all of them out until next weeks group gets our turn" [Video clip] Watch As Trudeau's Jack Boot Thugs Beat A Freedom Convoy Protester With The Butt Of A Rifle. A disturbing video shared on social media shows a protester behind a police line repeatedly being smashed with an officer's rifle. Convoy organizer Benjamin Dichter also told the Toronto Sun "one of drivers had his truck windows smashed by Ottawa Police (with) guns drawn and (he was) dragged out of his vehicle by force." [Video clip] Ottawa Police Excuse for Horses Running Over Freedom Convoy Protesters Departs From Reality. The [Ottawa] police ran their horses into a crowd of protesters much faster than they should have, despite the protesters being peaceful. You can see them knock over a woman who was on what appeared to be a disability scooter, and a man in a brown coat with a knit hat, who was trying to shield her or push her out of the way of the horses. [Video clips] Both were knocked to the ground, as people yelled about them being trampled. There were later reports that the woman had died, but as far as we can tell, at this point, that was a false rumor, as she was standing up after the incident. The police say that everyone was able to get up okay afterward. But the police also appear to have told a whopper of a lie about the incident, claiming that a bicycle had been thrown at the horse. Canadian Gestapo Throw Down a Veteran Protesting for Freedom, Beat and Stomp on Him. Another video showing the Canadian Gestapo brutally beating a disabled veteran while trying to block cameras from recording. Congrats to Justin Tredeau for becoming the dictator that most of Canada began calling you over a year ago due to your ridiculous COVID measures that proved entirely ineffective. [Video clip] Woman Trampled By Horse in Canada, and Police Have Gall to Say At Least Nobody Died or Was 'Seriously Injured'. Each new development from what Canada has become as its government tries to stop peaceful demonstrators who are part of the "Freedom Convoy" protesting COVID restrictions is scarier than before. In this digital age, there's footage to provide proof, too. This was the case in the instance of a woman being knocked over and trampled by a police horse on Friday night. The image and video clip below may be upsetting to some and the video clip contains strong language. Images also show another man having been trampled, who appears to have been trying to help the woman. Police horses trample demonstrators at Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa. Turns out the lasting image of the Freedom Convoy protest at Parliament Hill will not be bouncy castles but that of a woman with a walker being trampled by a police horse. The violence the Prime Minister has expressed concern about during the three-week protest in Ottawa didn't unfold until Justin Trudeau's Emergencies Act police army was sent in to disperse the crowd. The three major incidents Friday, under a form of martial law, were grotesque. Video of Toronto Police Mounted Unit officers charging into the crowd and at least one horse trampling multiple people — including an elderly woman with a walker — was disturbing. [Video clip] Ottawa Mounted Police Charge Horses Into Crowd, Disabled Elderly Woman Using Walker Trampled. The Ottawa Police used horses to charge into a protesting crowd earlier today. An elderly disabled woman (identified by red jacket) was standing with her mobility walker as the mounted police charged. She was crushed by the horses and Fox News journalist Sara Carter is reporting she died from her injuries. That report of her death is now refuted directly by Ottawa police; however, she did suffer injuries. Shortly after the police mounted the charge and trampled the crowd, the Ottawa Police claimed via Twitter someone threw a bicycle at one of the horses. Video of the incident shows it wasn't a bicycle, and it was not thrown, it was the mobility walker of the victim as she was trampled by the horses. Bodycam Footage Shows Capitol Police Striking Unconscious Trump Supporter Who Died on Jan. 6. Heavily redacted bodycam videos from the West Terrace tunnel on Jan. 6, 2021, provide a glimpse into conditions at the time Rosanne Boyland lay unconscious — including the sound of her being beaten with a large wooden stick by police. Several bodycam videos obtained by The Epoch Times have much of the screen blurred out by authorities, but key audio and video clues back up witness statements and other videos previously released by the U.S. Department of Justice. A 39-second video clip from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department shows the gloved hand of Officer Lila Morris picking up a long stick that was lying alongside an unconscious Rosanne Boyland, and then striking the prone woman multiple times. The sound of the stick making contact with Boyland's body is clearly audible. Man Walking On The Highway With A Box Cutter Gets Executed Via Police Firing Squad In Broad Daylight. A portion of Interstate 65 in Nashville was closed for several hours Thursday after nearly a dozen local and state law enforcement fatally shot a 37-year-old man as he stood in the middle of the freeway. The Metro Nashville Police Department reported MNPD officers, Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers and an off-duty Mt Juliet officer fatally shot the man near Harding Place about 10 miles south of downtown. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the agency leading the investigation into the shooting, identified the man as Landon Eastep. No one else was injured in the shooting, the TBI reported. [Video clip] Five Aussie Cops Arrest Elderly Woman, Put Her In Paddy Wagon For Not Showing Her Vaccine Passport. An elderly woman has been dramatically arrested by five police at a popular cafe after refusing to show her vaccination certificate. Footage shows the moment police arrived at the Dayman General Store in Queensland's Hervey Bay -- before a woman was seen rushing out past officers. The video then shows the large squad of officers arresting the 46-year-old out the front of the store as she shrieked 'you can't arrest me'. She was bundled into the back of the police car, taken to the watchhouse, charged, and fined $1,300. [Video clip] The Editor says... 65 Year Old Veteran Is Abused By Aggressive Cops During Traffic Stop, Paralysing Him For Life. A 65-year-old Northern California man was paralyzed after being slammed to the ground during a traffic stop where police officers used "pain compliance" techniques and expressed disbelief when he repeatedly cried out "I can't feel my legs," according to a lawsuit announced Wednesday. Police video released by lawyers for Gregory Gross shows the incident and his arrival at a hospital, where Gross is handcuffed to a bed, his nose bloodied. [...] Gross ultimately required two surgeries to fuse his spine. In separate lawsuits, Gross alleges the combination of police and medical misconduct left him unable to walk or care for himself, and he will require round-the-clock nursing care for the rest of his life. [Video clip] Dutch Police Go Off The Rails During Anti-Lockdown Protest, Sick Dogs On Protesters, Beat Them With Batons. Riot police tried to break up thousands of Dutch protesters as crowds gathered in Amsterdam to protest Covid lockdown and vaccination measures in the Netherlands today. Demonstrators defied the local government's outlawing of the protest due to fears some demonstrators might be planning to attend 'prepared for violence'. Videos on social media showed one man try and escape a police dog biting his hand and in other clips showed chaos unfold as crowds ran around the city. [Video clip] Trump Supporter Victoria White gets Repeatedly Cracked in the Skull with a Baton while Pinned by DC Police on Jan 6th. According to attorney Joseph McBride: "She is hit approximately thirty-five times over the course of 4 minutes and 30 seconds, while appearing to be begging for mercy the entire time. She is hit with the baton while facing away. She is hit with the baton while facing forward. She is speared and poked with the baton about the face so as to inflict maximum pain. She collapses more than once and is stood up by the officers only to be maced and beaten again. At some point, White-shirt puts away his baton, not because he is showing mercy because he has a clear avenue to her face. As such, he unloads on the defenseless woman punching her five times in five seconds, directly in the face, with all of his might." [Video clip] Tuscon Police Officer Fired After Body Cam Video Shows Him Shooting Man In Wheelchair In The Back, Killing Him. A Tucson Police officer was fired Tuesday [11/30/2021] after he shot and killed a man suspected of shoplifting, according to Tucson Police. The man who was killed was accused of pulling out a knife when police and a Walmart employee confronted him. The man was in a motorized wheelchair and had his back to the officer when he was shot, according to the video of the shooting shared by Tucson Police and Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus. 12 Police Officers Tackle And Then Haul Off A Disabled Woman — They Allegedly Try To Stop The Spread Of Covid-19. More than 250 people who were protesting coronavirus lockdowns in Australia were arrested today and many faced fines for defying health orders, authorities said. At least seven police officers were treated for injuries after skirmishes broke out at some of the protests, which took place in multiple cities nationwide. The largest and most violent protest was in Melbourne. Many were organized by people in encrypted online chat groups. Sydney has been in lockdown for two months, while Melbourne and the capital, Canberra, went into lockdown earlier this month. Under the rules of the lockdown, people are mostly confined to their homes and have limits placed on their social interactions. [...] In the video, a disabled woman was arrested but also brutally attacked by the police! The video which was filmed in western Sydney shows several police officers tackling a woman to the ground as she repeatedly screams: 'I do not consent'. Aussie Cop Proudly Chokes A Man Not Resisting Blue And Unconscious. These are the thugs the Australian government has unleashed on the population as the harshest lockdowns on planet earth are set in place. A video has gone viral online showing an Aussie cop with a man in an illegal chokehold. The cop actually gives the man a wallop to the side of the head before tightening the choke on his neck. [Video clip] LAPD Opens An Excessive Force Investigation After Video Of NBA's Jaxson Hayes Arrest Surfaces. The Los Angeles Police Department has opened an investigation into allegations that officers used excessive force while arresting Pelicans big man Jaxson Hayes, LAPD chief Michel Moore said in a Tuesday press conference. [H]ayes was arrested last week on suspicions of resisting arrest. The police found the 21-year-old outside his girlfriend's home while responding to a domestic disturbance call. Officers said that Hayes repeatedly tried to enter, allegedly shoving an officer against a wall while he tried to restrain him. [Video clip] 5 Miami Police Officers Charged Criminally After Footage Of Very Violent Arrests Is Released. Five Miami Beach police officers are facing battery charges in connection with the rough arrests of two men last week, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced Monday. The state attorney said the charges are first-degree misdemeanors and additional charges may be filed as the investigation remains ongoing. [Video clip] Elderly man collapses to the ground after being arrested for 'failing to wear a face mask' while walking in a park. A man is demanding answers after sharing distressing footage of his elderly dad collapsing and suffering spasms as he's arrested for failing to wear a face mask in public. The stomach-churning incident was filmed on Monday morning in Brisbane's Botanic Gardens after Queensland's lockdown was extended to stem the spread of Covid in the community. According to the man's son, who shared the footage online, he suffers from a medical condition which causes him breathing difficulties and heart problems. Two Colorado Police Officers Arrested For Pistol-Whipping And Kneeling On Trespassing Man's Neck. A Colorado police officer has been arrested after video showed him using his pistol to beat a man he was trying to take into custody, choking him and threatening to kill him, while another officer was accused of failing to stop her colleague as required by a new police accountability law passed during racial injustice protests last year. Body camera footage was released Tuesday of the arrest in the Denver suburb of Aurora, whose Police Department has been plagued by allegations of misconduct in recent years, including the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who was put into a neckhold. [Video clip] Arkansas Cop Flips Pregnant Woman's Car For Not Stopping Fast Enough. A lawsuit has been filed by a pregnant woman for this incident caught on video where an Arkansas cop used a dangerous pit maneuver which resulted in flipping her car over. The pregnant woman slowed down, used her hazards, and waited for a safer place to pull over. As stated in the video, she did everything by the book. That didn't seem to matter to this officer and he instead performed a PIT maneuver that caused her to flip her vehicle. She could've been killed. A true example of excessive force. [Video clip] Capitol Police Fired Exploding Flash Grenade Into Crowd on Jan. 6 — into a Crowd of Men, Women and Children! On Jan. 6 Capitol Police started firing flash grenades and rubber bullets at peaceful protesters with US and MAGA flags. From the video you can see the protesters are NOT on the Capitol steps and were behind barriers. There were children, veterans and seniors in the crowd. The protesters were packed tightly together and the Capitol Police started firing on them. Man Goes Through Red Light On His Bicycle, Cops Treat Him Like A Serial Killer. A Texas man who was tackled and arrested by police for allegedly running a red light on his bicycle cursed out the officers as they handcuffed and tased him. The incident occurred on Wednesday in College Park, home of Texas A&M University. [Video clip] CCTV Released During Trail of Cop Who Went Full UFC on a Suspect at the Police Station. The trial has begun for a Cranston police officer charged with one count of simple assault for his actions following an arrest last year. Andrew Leonard pleaded not guilty to the charge last September. The bench trial, before Magistrate Judge J. Patrick O'Neill, held at Kent County Superior Court, following an investigation by the Rhode Island State Police into a use of force incident from March of 2020. Cranston Chief of Police Michael Winquist requested the investigation. Leonard arrested 27-year-old Gian Mattiello following a domestic dispute where Mattiello got into a fight with his brother and father. Mattiello claims the officer broke two of his iPhone screens during the arrest, and that's where things escalated. [Video clip] Disturbing Video Of Cops Abusing A 73 Year Old Woman With Dementia After She Stole 14 Dollars Worth Of Items, Laugh As They Dislocate Her Arm. The Loveland police officers who violently arrested a 73-year-old woman with dementia last year laughed about the incident afterward and congratulated themselves about the arrest, video released Monday by the woman's lawyer shows. The aggressive arrest not only put Karen Garner in a hospital, but also drastically worsened her dementia symptoms, her family said in an interview Monday, speaking publicly for the first time. Garner barely communicates now. Her family placed her in an assisted living facility in August because they no longer believed she would be safe living alone. "She hasn't come back the way she was before," her daughter-in-law Shannon Steward told The Denver Post. "It was too much." Video of the Loveland Police Department booking area the day of the incident shows the officers who made the arrest, Austin Hopp and Daria Jalali, re-watching body camera footage and laughing about it while Garner sat handcuffed to a bench in a nearby cell. [Video clip] Elderly woman with severe dementia, screams in agony as Colorado cop fractures her arm and dislocates her shoulder. A Colorado attorney has has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of an elderly woman with dementia who was aggressively arrested by police officers after she forgot to pay for items at Walmart. Karen Garner, 73, was arrested by Loveland Police on June 26, 2020 after Walmart employees noted that she left the store with a candy bar, a can of Pepsi and a t-shirt totaling $13.38. Store employees had stopped her at the exit and retrieved the items after refusing to let her pay, the Greeley Tribune reports. But as she walked home cops approached a visibly confused Garner, who does not understand why she is being stopped. A "male" officer is then seen dragging Garner — who is five feet tall and weighs 80 pounds — to the ground as she screams 'I'm going home'. [Video clip] 65-Year Old Texas Woman Tackled, Arrested For Refusing To Mask A Day After Abbott Lifted Mandate. Early on in the pandemic "lockdowns" it was sadly an all too familiar scene to see people getting arrested over standoffs that ensued when patrons of businesses refused to wear a mask. But in Texas despite Governor Greg Abbott having lifted the mask mandate and opened the state back up "100%" it's still happening, apparently. The mask mandate was lifted statewide on March 10, but the very next day on Thursday a 65-year old Texas woman found herself being tackled to the ground by police after being told by a Galveston Bank of America branch to mask up. Abbott had left it up to businesses or any premises on private property to decide if they want to require masks or not. New Haven Cop Knocks Out Man Refusing To Leave Walmart After Refusing To Wear A Mask. The police have opened an internal investigation into an incident this week at Walmart, in which an officer punched a man in the face during a confrontation after the man allegedly threatened to hit him. It's the ongoing probe into 2021 incidents in which an officer punched an arrestee in the head, prompting community discussion over how cops should handle difficult encounters. Five Oklahoma City officers charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of 15-year-old. Five Oklahoma City police officers were charged with first-degree manslaughter in relation to the shooting death of a 15-year-old in November, according to court records filed Wednesday [3/10/2021] in Oklahoma County. In an email sent to CNN, Dan Stewart of the Oklahoma City Police Department said that the department was informed on Tuesday that the officers would be charged. Only In Your Imagination Was That An Attempted "Coup". At no point yesterday was the American government at risk of being "overthrown," as members of Congress have laughably suggested. Per usual, our guardians of consensus can't bring themselves to describe what unfolded with any degree of dispassion or calm. Instead we're told by the incoming Senate Majority Leader, for example, that January 6, 2021 will now "live in infamy" right alongside December 7, 1941. Elected officials issued emotional notices that they were "okay," like they had just narrowly avoided being crushed in an earthquake, or escaped the World Trade Center on 9/11. This is made all the more odd because the only person upon whom lethal force was committed appears to have been a Trump-supporting woman who was shot point-blank in the throat by a Capitol Hill police officer. She's now dead. Congress was temporarily inconvenienced. Enough! There Was No Riot, Insurrection or "Storming!". [Scroll down] Aside from a couple of bozos who broke a window to get in, I clearly saw Capitol Police opening doors for protestors to enter, while appearing to cordially chat with them as they strolled through the building. [...] There was one fatality that has been confirmed as directly a result of a possibly unlawful act. That fatality was that of a U.S. Air Force Veteran who was shot by police while she was crawling through a hole in a door on her stomach and as such, absolutely no threat to anyone. My review of the stills taken at the scene, also showed law enforcement officers on her side of the door looking very relaxed as they made no effort to stop her... stop her before she was shot by another officer on the other side of the door. Federal Prosecutor Opens Excessive Force Investigation Into the Death of Ashli Babbitt: Report. Michael Sherwin, acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said that his office has started a federal, excessive force investigation over the shooting and killing of former U.S. Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt in the Capitol on Jan. 6. Sherwin confirmed the investigation with CBS News. His civil rights section will lead the prosecution, which is being investigated by D.C. police and the FBI. The Epoch Times hasn't been able to independently verify the investigation. Brian Hudak, Acting Civil Chief of the U.S. Attorney Office of District of Columbia, the FBI, and The U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) didn't respond to a request for comment. After Trump's Last Stand, Left Seeks Revenge. [Scroll down] Much about Wednesday's disturbance at the Capitol, during which a woman named Ashli Babbitt of San Diego was shot at close range and killed inside the building by a Capitol Police officer, remains unclear — who organized the attack on the building? Was the demonstration infiltrated (as seems highly likely) by agents provocateurs from Antifa? Why weren't the Capitol Hill police better prepared? (Where are the calls on the Left for justice for Ms. Babbitt? The name of Heather Heyer, who was accidently killed in Charlottesville during the 2017 clashes there, is consistently evoked on the Left, as are of course George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, secular martyrs to the BLM cause. Will the cop who shot her ever face charges, or even be identified? Does anybody besides her family care?) Capitol cop is put on leave for shooting dead Trump rioter and Air Force vet. A police officer has been put on leave pending an investigation after shooting dead a Trump-supporting Air Force veteran as a riotous mob stormed the US Capitol Building in Washington DC yesterday [1/6/2021]. Ashli Babbitt, 35, from San Diego, was shot in the chest when she tried to clamber through a barricaded entrance as police faced off with hundreds of MAGA supporters inside the legislature. She died several hours later. [...] The officer involved in the shooting has been placed on leave pending an investigation, the US Capitol PD confirmed in a statement Thursday. Ashli Babbitt, woman killed in Capitol riots, described as patriot who 'loved America with all her heart'. As dramatic scenes unraveled in the Capitol on Wednesday — with a horde plowing through security — the jarring live video showed a woman draped in a Trump flag who has been shot by a plainclothes officer as she allegedly purported to breach the storied chambers via the window. She was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition and later died from her wounds. That woman was later identified as a 14-year Air Force veteran from San Diego, Calif. Her name was Ashli Babbitt. Her husband, Aaron Babbitt, told KUSI-TV in San Diego that she was a "strong supporter of President Trump, and was a great patriot to all who knew her." Video Of Cop Beating An Elderly Man In Ohio Goes Viral, Has People Livid. Video of a fight between a police officer and a man is circulating on social media. Now, Hamersville police are launching an internal investigation. Shared thousands of times on Facebook, the video shows an unidentified officer fighting and punching a man in the middle of Highway 125. The video does not accurately portray the situation, according to Hamersville Police Chief Guy Sutton. The chief says the man seen in the video was not part of the initial traffic stop made by the officer. The man and another person "interjected themselves" into the situation, Sutton says. [Video clip] Mother Tased & Arrested for Not Wearing a Mask at Son's Middle School Football Game. An Ohio mother who drove an hour and a half to watch her seventh-grade son play football was tased and arrested for reportedly refusing to wear a mask. Did I mention the football game was played outside? As reported by the Ohio Star, Alecia Kitts was rooting for her son's visiting team from the Marietta City School District when she was reportedly approached by a police officer for not wearing a mask. In the video below, Kitts appears to be properly "social distancing" from other families in the stands. The encounter gets physical as the police officer attempts to arrest Kitts, and she resists. Kitts repeatedly tells the officer to "get off of me!" and at one point screams: "You're not arresting me for nothing, I ain't doing nothing wrong!" After a two-minute struggle, the officer tases Kitts. Victoria Cop Strangles Woman For Not Wearing A Mask. A Victoria Police officer has been filmed grabbing a young woman by the throat and forcing her to the ground she struggles and screams, "He's choking me!" The distressing footage of the woman being arrested — apparently for not wearing a face mask — was uploaded to Twitter on Tuesday [8/11/2020]. [Video clip] Librarians Get Me Thrown in Jail for 6 Days over Covid in Williston, North Dakota. I can't believe how aggressive the cops were to me, by throwing me in jail for having such a nice conversation about where I need to go for Covid seating. [Video clip] Off-duty police officer fires 11 rounds at man suspected of shoplifting a BBQ grill from Walmart. An off-duty police officer has been filmed opening fire on a Walmart customer suspected of shoplifting. Video taken Saturday in Oklahoma shows as the alleged thief tries to flee in his car before being shot at '10 or 11 times'. Del City police confirmed they are investigating after a clip of the incident was posted online. Neither the shooting victim, who is understood to have been taken to a local hospital in a stable condition, or the off duty officer involved have been named. [Video clip] America's Elites Attend The Court Of King Mob, Where There Can Be No Justice, No Peace And No Truth. [Scroll down] So long as society must charge citizens to enforce order, empowered with authority's monopoly on the legal use of force, the wicked and the weak will abuse that power. The alternative is no police, and with it the very type of street justice we now see delivering verdict and sentence on our fellow Americans under the cover of darkness. That doesn't mean nothing can be done to curb police brutality. The complete lack of a commanding officer on the scene of the Floyd murder, combined with the tacit-to-active agreement of Officer Derek Chauvin's colleagues, compounded by histories of use-of-force complaints about a number of the involved officers, point to serious breakdowns of discipline, training, supervision and culture in the Minneapolis Police Department. Minneapolis police rendered 44 people unconscious with neck restraints in five years. Since the beginning of 2015, officers from the Minneapolis Police Department have rendered people unconscious with neck restraints 44 times, according to an NBC News analysis of police records. Several police experts said that number appears to be unusually high. Minneapolis police used neck restraints at least 237 times during that span, and in 16 percent of the incidents the suspects and other individuals lost consciousness, the department's use-of-force records show. A lack of publicly available use-of-force data from other departments makes it difficult to compare Minneapolis to other cities of the same or any size. Police define neck restraints as when an officer uses an arm or leg to compress someone's neck without directly pressuring the airway. Officers involved in death of black man detained in Minneapolis have been fired. Four Minnesota officers have been fired following the detainment of a man who died Monday night after being pinned to the ground by an officer who put his knee on the man's neck for about eight minutes. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said it was the "right call" to terminate the officers in a tweet announcing the decision Tuesday. The police department said the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the FBI would be independently investigating the incident. Choking Out Our Freedoms. Several hundred U.S. protesters had taken to the streets after a video circulated of a Minnesota officer calmly kneeling for several minutes on the neck of an unarmed man named George Floyd. Meanwhile, three other officers helped subdue Floyd, who didn't seem to be resisting arrest (the police claim he was), but could be heard groaning, "Please, please, please, I can't breathe" and "Don't kill me." Floyd was detained for what the police department called a "forgery-related" case and then later died after a "medical incident" involving a "police interaction." That's police-speak for officers apparently suffocating a man to death after apprehending him for allegedly passing a counterfeit 20-dollar bill. Had it not been for the video, the police report would no doubt have allowed such passive-voice evasions to have been the final word on the matter. New York City Police Won't Enforce Face Mask Rule Following Outrage Over Woman's Rough Arrest. The outrage that followed the publishing of a video of a woman's rough arrest for not properly wearing a face mask on Wednesday morning led to a change in police policy. At a press briefing on Friday New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said: ["]NYPD will continue to enforce the ban on non-essential gatherings, prioritizing dispersing groups of 6+ adults. Absent a serious danger to the public, NYPD will not take enforcement action for failing to wear face covering[s].["] This was not an apology. Nor was his comment on Wednesday night when he tweeted: "Face coverings are important to protect everybody — they're not optional. But no one wants to see an interaction turn into this. We've made progress with de-escalation. This isn't it." Man sues Lynwood police officer claiming excessive force after 2019 arrest. A man has claimed a Lynwood officer used excessive force against him last year during an arrest and has filed a subsequent lawsuit. On May 17, 2019, Lynwood Officer Luke Tambrini approached Marcus Mosely's truck, which was pulled over near Glennwood Dyer Road and Torrence Avenue, after he believed Mosley just finished urinating in public. [Video clip] Criminalizing the businessmen is the socialist dream. Woman Getting Arrested For Not Wearing A Mask Gets Slammed Face First To The Ground. An altercation between a Birmingham police officer and a woman over the woman's apparent failure to wear a mask at a store was captured on video and now has prompted an investigation. The incident took place Tuesday night [5/5/2020] at Walmart in Roebuck. Video of the incident has been shared thousands of times on Facebook and shows the officer handcuffing a woman who is not complying. He then picks her up and takes her to the ground. [Video clip] Cop Under Investigation For Slamming 14 Year Old Down, Punching Him. A viral video fo a California police officer repeatedly punching a 14-year-old boy while trying to subdue the teen as he resisted arrest has sparked outrage online and an investigation by law enforcement. The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office says it has launched a use-of-force probe into the Monday [4/27/2020] incident involving a Rancho Cordova cop identified in reports as Officer Brian Fowell. [Video clip] California Cop On Horse Harassess 93 Year Olds For Sitting On Chairs On Beach. A new edict sent down from Gov Newsom and his peanut gallery: no sitting on chairs on the beach. Where is the scientific research that shows sitting in a chair on the beach increases your chances of catching COVID-19? [Video clip] Orlando Cop Fired After Local Media Leaks Arrest Video. The officer, Frank Sikos, a 20-year veteran of the Orlando Police Department, has been relieved of duty and is facing charges after newly released body camera footage shows him pushing a man to the ground, then choked him against the ground, prior to his arrest near Lake Ivanhoe last September. [Video clip] SWAT Raids Man's Home Over $100 in Pot, Fill Him With Holes, Lie About It. The taxpayers of South Carolina were put on notice this week that they will be the ones footing the bill for the cops who dumped dozens of rounds into a Myrtle Beach man over $100 worth of pot. The victim, Julian Betton was left paralyzed by Drug Enforcement Unit officers with Myrtle Beach police hell bent on eradicating a plant that is legal in some form in most of the country. Cops Taser, Tackle Grandma For Refusing to Let Them in Without a Warrant. Barbara Pinkney of Bradenton, in Manatee County, Florida wanted to see the warrant from the cops who had come to her home last week attempting to arrest a man who she says did not live there. Because she was steadfast in her decision to see the warrant, Pinkney, a 70-year-old grandma who had never been in trouble with police before, was tasered multiple times, thrown to the ground and arrested. 25 Baltimore corrections officers charged with 'illegal and excessive' force. More than two dozen Baltimore, Maryland, corrections officers were indicted Tuesday [12/3/2019] with allegations that they used "illegal and excessive" force against inmates in state jails. "All 25 of these correctional officers have allegedly abused their power and abused our trust," Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said during a Tuesday news conference. South Florida Deputy Caught On Video Grabbing A 15-Year-Old Female Student By The Neck And Slamming Her To The Ground. According to the Broward County Sheriff's Office, 38-year-old Willard Miller, a school resource deputy, was seen on Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) surveillance video, grabbing a 15-year-old female student by the neck and slamming her to the ground with what Sheriff Gregory Tony said was an "unnecessary level of force" for a minor. The incident occurred approximately 2 p.m. on September 25. Broward County Public Schools Special Investigative Unit reported the incident to the Internal Affairs Division two days later on September 27. [Video clip] States Are Depriving Innocent People of Their Second Amendment Rights. Shortly after 5 a.m. on November 5, 2018, two police officers arrived at Gary Willis' house in Glen Burnie, Maryland. They were there to take away his guns. They ended up killing him instead. According to the Anne Arundel County Police Department, the 61-year-old man, who at that hour presumably had just been awakened by the officers' knocking, answered the door with a gun in his hand. He put it down when he saw who was there. Upon learning that the two officers had come to serve him with an "extreme risk protective order" (ERPO) that barred him from possessing firearms, police said, Willis became "irate" and picked up the weapon again. As one officer tried to wrestle the gun away from Willis, it went off, whereupon the other officer shot him. No Charges for Cops Who Shot and Killed a Naked, Unarmed Teen. Isaiah Mark Lewis, 17, [...] was unarmed and naked when Edmond police ended his life during a confrontation. Despite these facts, Oklahoma prosecutors cleared both of those officers this week. Gilbert Woman Suffered Brain Injury During Violent Arrest. A Gilbert woman has filed a federal complaint against a police officer from her east Valley town, alleging that she suffers ongoing brain damage from his excessive use of force during her arrest. Bodycam video of the arrest obtained by Phoenix New Times shows the 36-year-old woman, Samantha Glass, inebriated and resisting arrest after the officer told her she was being detained at an apartment complex. She was later convicted on related charges. Police Shouldn't React Harshly To Moms Who Won't Put Down Their Babies. [Scroll down] Yet what appears, based on the partial footage currently available, to be highly unreasonable behavior doesn't end there. The other officer continued to point a gun into a car with a pregnant mother and children in it even after Ames had exited the vehicle and was well under officer control. Is being "loud, verbally abusive, and refusing" to put hands up and exit the vehicle, as Harper's behavior was described in the police report, an excuse to point a gun and scream profanities at her? If the audio of Harper's voice is to be believed, she was holding, or holding onto, at least one child at the time. Holding onto your child, as a mother, is not the same as holding onto a briefcase or a bowling ball. Phoenix police end silence over controversial doll shoplifting case. The Phoenix Police Department on Friday ended its silence about an incident that led to a family's $10 million claim against the city. Sgt. Tommy Thompson sent an email with information "being provided for clarification" along with the related incident reports about a shoplifting case involving a doll that sparked a potential lawsuit and internal police investigation. Horrific Body Cam Shows Cops Publicly Execute Man for Holding a Flimsy Stick. Henry Lane, 42, was in need of serious mental health help last month as he was seen banging on the door of a closed store. However, instead of mental health help, Lane got several Red Bluff police officers who chased him down and killed him. Body camera footage showing the cops execute the mentally ill man was just released this week. [...] To be clear, when police walked up on Lane that night, he had not committed a crime. He was merely accused of banging on some locked doors and screaming. A reporter declined to reveal his source. Then police showed up at his front door with guns. Bryan Carmody, a freelance reporter in San Francisco, awoke Friday to the sounds of someone trying to break into his house. About 10 officers from the San Francisco Police Department were bashing the front gate of his home in the Outer Richmond neighborhood with a sledgehammer, he said. It was just after 8 o'clock in the morning. Carmody called out and said he would let them into the house. The officers showed him a search warrant and proceeded to go through his home — from "top to bottom" he says — with their guns drawn. "They treated me like I was some kind of drug dealer," he said in an interview with The Washington Post. Carmody was being raided in connection with a criminal investigation. Two weeks before, police investigators showed up at his home to ask him, politely he says, to identify the source who provided him with a confidential police report about the February death of the city's public defender, Jeff Adachi. Carmody, who said he worked with three local television news stations on the story, declined. Cowboy Cop Jumps In Front of Unarmed Teen's Car and Murders Him. Deeply disturbing dash cam footage was released over the weekend showing a Wethersfield police officer jump out of his car and in front of the car belonging to 18-year-old Anthony Jose "Chulo" Vega Cruz and kill him. The teen was unarmed and not a threat to anyone when he was gunned down by the officer. [Video clip] Surgeon who hit NYPD cop with her car wins $1.2M in excessive force lawsuit. A jury has returned a $1.2 million verdict in a lawsuit that accused a New York City cop of manhandling a prominent cancer doctor before she clipped him with her car. Dr. Rachel Wellner, 43, had sued the NYPD, claiming she was the victim of excessive force during a 2016 traffic stop that ended with her arrest on charges of injuring the officer, the New York Post reported Friday [4/26/2019]. The breast cancer surgeon became a tabloid villain after telling cops during the incident: "I'm the hero; the cops are not." Texas officer charged for killing man who ran over his foot. A Texas police officer is charged with murder for fatally shooting a man who ran over his foot. Burnet Police Chief Paul Nelson says former Patrol Sgt. Russell Butler also had been fired for violating the department's use of force policy. KVUE television reports Butler was charged Tuesday [4/23/2019] with murder and three counts of aggravated assault by a public servant for the killing of 25-year-old Brandon Michael Jacque in the city about 55 miles northwest of Austin. 9-Year-Old Boy Knocked To The Ground, Handcuffed By Cops For Leaning On A Car. We've reported on everything from babies being disfigured by police grenades to the murder of little boys by those sworn to protect. To the apologist, this is merely collateral damage. But to the families affected by this violence, it is a very real problem. One recent case out of Washington D.C. has a mother crying foul after her son was mistreated by police — and she works in law enforcement. Last week, a nine-year-old boy was harming no one when a Washington Metropolitan police officer drove by in his cruiser. Police claim the boy was leaning against a car which prompted them to stop. When police told the boy to get off the car — which they had no idea who it belonged to — the boy "talked back to the officer." Apparently talking back to the officer was enough for the cop to go after the boy, who then gave chase. Taxpayers Pay $1.25 Million After Cops Beat Innocent Dr. on Video — for Stealing His Own Car. All too often, those who blindly support authority without question will say, 'If you don't want to get beat up by police, don't break the law.' However, time after time after time, they are proven wrong — often in the worst way. Dr. Lawrence Crosby is proof that not breaking the law is no protection against getting hurt by police as he was beaten and arrested by cops who thought he'd stolen his own car. Now, instead of the officers begin held accountable for this abuse, the taxpayers of Illinois are shelling out $1.25 million. As the AP reported on Wednesday [1/23/2019], a Chicago suburb has tentatively agreed to pay a former doctoral student $1.25 million to settle a lawsuit alleging police officers tackled him to the ground and arrested him for stealing a car that turned out to be his own, his attorney said. Broken taillight? Get slammed to ground face-first. In Shreveport, Louisiana, you can get "slammed to the ground face-first and pummeled by police officers" for that. In fact, a federal lawsuit alleges, you can end up being "beaten and punched in the face and body more than 20 times, then arrested and hospitalized for severe injuries to [your] face and arm." That would be because you "resisted arrest" by driving half a mile to a safe, well-lit area to stop for officers. Police Beat a Woman for Selling Flowers With No Permit - Taxpayers To Be Held Liable. In the Land of the Free, if you do not pay the State before you attempt to sell a product or service to a willing customer, you can and will be extorted, kidnapped and caged, with extreme prejudice. A video published to Facebook backs up this notion, showing a Riverside County Sheriff's Department deputy assault a woman who was selling flowers on the side of the road — because she apparently failed to pay the State for the privilege. Now, because the deputy's actions were so egregious, the taxpayers are going to be held liable. Veteran Cop in Jail After Savagely Punching and Stomping his Own Girlfriend. A veteran detective from the Milwaukee Police Department is sitting in jail after he was accused of grabbing his girlfriend, punching her in the face, throwing her to the ground and then stomping on her head. The department has since opened an internal investigation into Detective Jason Rodriguez, 39, who was arrested this week after the violent spat. According to police, a neighbor called 911 when a bloody and battered woman showed up banging on their windows, begging for help early Tuesday morning. Police Shoot Unarmed Teen Holding a Cellphone Trying to Call His Mom. Disturbing body camera footage was recently released showing Milwaukee police shoot an unarmed man on a rooftop. The man was holding nothing but his cell phone and had committed no crime when an officer opened fire. The newly-released body camera footage shows multiple officers chasing Jerry Smith Jr., who was 19 at the time. The officers have Smith cornered on a rooftop as they yell at him to put up his hands. According to police, officers thought Smith was armed. He was not. According to the legal team representing Smith, he was on the rooftop trying to call his mom when the officers opened fire. 59-Year-old Deaf Man Savagely Beaten by Cops Because He Couldn't Hear Them. Further proving non-compliance should never be an invitation for police to beat someone, Berkeley Township has agreed to pay a deaf man $85,000 for the excessive force one of its officers used when arresting him. Heriberto Carrasquillo, 59, of Rutherford was arrested May 1st, 2016, after police accused him of reaching for a weapon. The hearing-impaired Carrasquillo was the subject of a domestic dispute when police were called to his residence. They asked him if he had any weapons and he told them he had a "Cap" gun — as in a toy — in his shed behind the house. Carrasquillo was reading the lips of officer Patrick J. Stesner who told the legally deaf man not to touch the weapons.
Florida police officer kicks pregnant woman in the stomach, forcing her to give birth, authorities say. An off-duty North Miami Beach police officer is facing a felony charge after allegedly kicking a woman who was eight months' pregnant, in the stomach, officials said. Miami Beach Police were called to Espanola Way around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday [7/25/2018] over reports that a woman was having severe abdominal pain and contractions after being attacked by another woman, Miami New Times reported. Ambar Pacheco, 26, admitted to attacking the woman, claiming the victim's boyfriend kicked her sister in the face, prompting her to "beat [...] her," WPLG reported. The woman was taken to an area hospital, where she ultimately gave birth, The Miami Herald reported. Police Kill Man with Bulldozer over 10 Marijuana Plants. [Scroll down] What happened next is a little vague, thanks to police spokespeople's propensity to describe events in ways that leave out any sort of clear cause-effect relationship. But according to State Police spokesman David Boehm, the bulldozer was clearing a path through the underbrush when the state trooper on the bulldozer told the worker to stop. Then they looked behind the bulldozer and saw [Gregory] Longenecker's body. The subsequent autopsy determined that Longenecker died of "traumatic injuries." At the time of Longenecker's death, Boehm had tried to float the possibility that maybe the man died of a heart attack prior to being run over by a bulldozer. (Presumably the terror of having a bulldozer bearing down on him, about to run him over, caused Longenecker to have a heart attack and die, right before the bulldozer actually ran him over.) Boehm also told the [Reading] Eagle that the police do not think Longenecker's death was the result of a "police pursuit." He insisted they were just trying to "locate" him by commandeering a bulldozer and sending it racing into the brush while a helicopter hovered overhead. Two more Mesa police officers placed on leave after use of force incident involving 15-year-old. Two more Arizona police officers were placed on administrative leave Thursday after a use of force incident involving a 15-year-old — bringing the number of officers on leave to six following two separate incidents. Mesa police said the unidentified officers were placed on leave following an internal investigation stemming from an incident on May 17. Video of police fatal shooting of naked man raises questions, family says. In the footage, Marcus-David Peters emerges naked from a car and dashes onto Interstate 95 in Richmond, where he flails before running toward the officer while shouting threats. The officer deploys a stun gun before shooting Peters twice. Peters' sister, Princess Blanding, said at a news conference that her brother was clearly distressed and in need of help. She asked why the officer engaged with her brother after he noted that Peters seemed "mentally unstable" and why the officer told others at the scene further lethal force might be necessary after Peters was already on the ground, fatally wounded. 'Being Naked Does Not Remove a Threat': Says Chief as Cops Kill Unarmed Naked Teacher. The family of Marcus-David L. Peters — an honors graduate and high school science teacher — is asking for answers after a Richmond police officer shot and killed him while he was naked and unarmed. Not only did the officer swiftly escalate to unnecessary deadly force against a naked man, but now the department is telling the public that it was justified. Customer buying Mentos is confronted by off-duty cop: report. An off-duty police officer at a service station in Orange County, Calif., drew a gun on a man whom he suspected of stealing Mentos worth $1.19, video footage shows. Jose Arreola, 49, who lives near Los Angeles, told the Orange County Register that he and his wife were going to a club in mid-March when the incident occurred. They stopped at a gas station in Buena Park to withdraw cash from an ATM. Arreola's wife, Jacqueline, asked him to buy her some mints. Videos Show Indicted Fort Worth Officer Punching Man in Face. An indicted Fort Worth police officer punched a patient who had just been discharged from the hospital after the man called him "bro," according to videos of the incident obtained by NBC 5. Officer Jon Romer has been charged with official oppression, making a false report to police and lying to a grand jury, after the November 2016 arrest of Henry Newson. Several videos obtained by NBC 5 show security officers at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital tracking Newson with surveillance cameras. Deadly 'swatting' hoaxes and the dangerous conditioning of cops. The incident brings to mind the case of Daniel Shaver, the man killed by Mesa, Ariz., police in January 2016. In the terrifying, heartbreaking body-camera footage — among the worst I've ever seen — Shaver pleads for his life while crawling on the ground, struggling to comply with the confusing, often contradictory orders the police are barking at him. As Shaver crawls along, as instructed, his shorts begin to come down. He reaches down to pull them up. That act — that struggle to preserve some small bit of dignity — cost Shaver his life. There, too, the police had good reason to suspect Shaver was dangerous. Someone had seen him point a gun out of a window. But like Finch, Shaver wasn't a threat. Shaver worked in pest control. The gun was a pellet gun. Gang member is shot dead in court after launching at witness with a pen. This shocking footage reveals the moment a Crips gang member is shot dead in court after launching at a witness with a pen. [...] The Angilau family attorney, Bob Skyes, said the video shows that the marshal "panicked" and should have used other methods to subdue him. He points out that Angilau was already down on the ground for the final three shots and that a courtroom full of officers could have stopped him to stop him before he harmed anyone with the pen. Skyes said: "There was no need to use deadly force. They weren't entitled to use the death penalty on him for an assault." Cop Smashes Handcuffed Woman's Head In, Photographs Her Injuries And Brags to His Friends. A Schenectady police lieutenant — who should've been fired and arrested multiple times — is still on the job in spite of brutally attacking an innocent handcuffed woman, smashing in her head, and then lying on a report, claiming she attacked him. What's more, after he split her head wide open, he took a picture of it so he could brag about it to his friends and fellow cops. Video Catches Cops Savagely Beat Innocent Man with a Flashlight, The Lie to Cover It Up. Jerome Wright, 57, was accused of a minor traffic violation and subsequently stopped by an unmarked police car. Seconds later, he would find himself doused with pepper spray, thrown to the ground, kicked in the head, and savagely beaten with a flashlight. The attack was so excessive and brutal that the New Jersey taxpayers were forced to shell out $250,000 to pay for it. What good are police? The pro-police Right (what I call the "law and order" crowd) considers police all but infallible and believes everyone should submit to police authority — even when police are acting outside the law. Whenever citizens are beaten, tazed or shot, the "law and order" crowd will say that if the citizen had just complied with police, the outcome would have been peaceful. For them, justification can be found for almost any abusive, right-infringing action by law enforcement officers (LEOs, or as I call them, legally entitled to oppress), especially when it's exercised against minorities or those they consider society's dregs. Cops Raid House, Kill 72-Year-Old Woman Who Was Asleep, Woke Up, Tried to Defend Herself with a Pellet Gun. Police officers in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, killed a 72-year-old woman during a raid on her home. According to her 50-year-old son, who was arrested on drug charges during the raid, Geraldine Townsend was sleeping when police entered. She woke up, grabbed a pellet gun, and shot at the cops — and one of the cops shot back. Two of the officers suffered minor injuries, Bartlesville Police Captain Hay Hastings told local reporters. Townsend was transported to the hospital where she died from the gunshot wound to her chest. Unacceptable Police Procedure — the Deadly Game of Simon Says by Rob Morse. The police treat possible threats as lethal threats. They then kill unarmed and innocent civilians without warning. The murder is often preceded by a lethal game of simon-says where the police issue commands until the innocent civilian makes a mistake and is killed. In several fatal examples, there were no actual threats of any kind to the police officers involved. Ex-Atlanta Cop Found Guilty of Breaking Man's Leg Over a Tomato at Walmart. A federal jury has convicted former Atlanta Police Department Sergeant Trevor King, of Stockbridge, Georgia, of using unreasonable force when he arrested a Walmart shopper who the officer wrongfully suspected of shoplifting a tomato. King beat the victim with his police-issue baton, breaking two bones in the victim's leg. The jury also convicted King of writing a false incident report in an attempt to cover up his wrongdoing. Teacher handcuff video leads to death threats, investigation. A Louisiana school board's office was temporarily locked down after members received death threats when a video emerged Tuesday showing a teacher screaming while being handcuffed at a board meeting. Vermilion Parish School Board President Anthony Fontana told The Advertiser the threats came from as far away as South America, Australia and England, as well as other U.S. states. He said the threats have been reported to local police and the FBI. The threats came less than a day after middle school English teacher Deyshia Hargrave was forcibly removed from Monday night's meeting. She was handcuffed and jailed after questioning pay policies — specifically a proposed raise for the superintendent — during a public comment period. Louisiana Teacher Handcuffed at School Board Meeting After She Questions Administrator Pay Raise. An English language-arts teacher in Louisiana's Vermilion Parish School District was removed from a school board meeting and handcuffed Monday night after asking questions about administrator pay, video of the event shows. Deyshia Hargrave asked why board members were planning to give the superintendent a raise when teachers had not been rewarded a pay raise in years, the Washington Post reported. Unarmed man's death 'an execution' by Arizona officer, widow says. An unarmed Texas man who was shot and killed by an Arizona police officer in a controversial, widely seen videotaped slaying was the victim of "an execution," the man's wife said this week, adding she felt "betrayed" by jurors who acquitted the cop of murder. Laney Sweet said her husband, Daniel Shaver, 26, of Granbury, was executed in 2016 as he begged for his life. Arizona police in the Phoenix-area suburb of Mesa fired Officer Philip Mitchell Brailsford, 27, after the shooting. The Police Murder of Daniel Shaver. If you have the stomach for it, I want you to watch one of the most outrageous and infuriating videos I've ever seen. It shows the police shooting of Daniel Shaver in Mesa, Arizona. He was crawling on his hands and knees, crying, and begging police not to shoot him. An officer shot him anyway: [Video clip] Graphic Video of Fatal Shooting Released After Fmr. Officer Acquitted of Murder. On Friday [12/8/2017], a day after former Mesa, Arizona police officer Philip Brailsford was acquitted of second-degree murder charges, state officials released a graphic video of the shooting, showing the victim begging for his life. In the video, another officer, now-retired Sgt. Charles Langley, orders seemingly-terrified Daniel Shaver to cross his legs, crawl and keep his hands raised straight up in the air prior to the fatal shooting. Granbury man died because he failed Arizona police sergeant's bizarre 'Simon says' test. The more times I see Danny Shaver die, the sicker I get. I long for the police body-cam video showing the young Granbury man's 2016 shooting by police in Mesa, Ariz., to have a different ending. [...] So in this different ending, they might reasonably have made him come out of his room, lie on the floor, and maybe endure being handcuffed until officers located the pellet gun, by then securely returned to its case. Shaver, frightened and confused, would only have had to hold still until the cops sorted out what was going on. Instead, as the video records, the sergeant in command began shouting a rapid-fire series of threatening and sometimes contradictory commands: hands up, hands behind your head, hands out flat, cross your legs, crawl, shut up, and — frighteningly, "If you make a mistake ... there's a possibility you're going to get shot." Not "If you move" or "If you reach for a weapon." It's like a macabre twist on the childhood game "Simon Says," except that in this game, if you trip up over what Simon says, you die. Video: The Shooting Of Daniel Shaver. The headline should be "The murder of Daniel Shaver" but the cop who pulled the trigger was acquitted of that charge yesterday. I'm not even going to preview the clip for you. Just turn up the sound and watch. Radley Balko, who's spent years tracking cases of police brutality, calls it the worst police shooting he's ever seen. Is it reckless to shoot a sobbing, obviously terrified man who's made every effort to comply with your instructions, right down to which leg should be placed over the other while he's lying face-down on the ground? Is that a man who's likely to have a gun tucked away and is waiting for the perfect moment to pull it knowing that there's an officer with an AR-15 trained on his skull 15 feet away? [Video clip] The Editor says... Watch Math Professor Get Body Slammed to the Ground by Campus Police. A college professor says he was unjustly slammed to the ground by a campus cop during a board meeting last week and that the incident was caught on video. Steven Taylor said he signed up to speak at the board meeting, where a "no applause" rule had been put in place for speakers. Taylor told KMOV he stood to object and say the rule applied to administrators but not the teachers. Taylor was then grabbed from behind by a police officer, and a brief struggle followed, video appears to show. Video shows convicted ex-cop slamming woman's face into car hood. One day after a former police officer pleaded guilty to using excessive force, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department released body camera footage that shows the ex-cop slamming a woman's face into the hood of his patrol car. Former Officer Richard Scavone pleaded guilty Thursday to using excessive force in the January 2015 case, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. He also falsified his statement relating to the case, an indictment said. Cop Loses It, Break Girl's Jaw for Wearing Headphones in a Library. A mother has filed a lawsuit after a Lakewood officer was caught on video brutally assaulting her child for no apparent reason. The entire incident, according to the lawsuit was over her wearing headphones. Sabrina Robinson filed a lawsuit this week, alleging that officer Kevin Jones with the Lakewood police department violated her daughter's civil rights when he grabbed her for no reason, put her in a headlock and smashed her face into the book cart on the way out, slamming her down and leaving her bleeding out on the concrete steps of the library. Protesters call for firing of Salt Lake City detective seen in video arresting nurse. Nearly 100 protesters rallied outside the Salt Lake City Police Department Saturday calling for the firing of a detective who was seen on video arresting a nurse when she refused to allow officers to draw a patient's blood. The protesters demanded the firing of Detective Jeff Payne who was shown on video arresting University Hospital nurse Alex Wubbels on July 26. Protesters chanted, "Acts of police brutality, not in our community," and called for justice for Wubbels as they held signs declaring, "Hands off our nurses" and "Fire Detective Payne." Update: Cop who forcibly arrested nurse fired from medic job. Salt Lake City Detective Jeff Payne's termination came after he said on the video that he'd bring transient patients to the hospital and take the "good patients" elsewhere to retaliate against nurse Alex Wubbels. Daily Caller Raked By Twitter After Disaster Take Slamming Utah Nurse. In an early frontrunner for worst-take of the week, conservative tabloid Daily Caller published a piece aimed at the Utah nurse whose handcuffing and arrest went viral after she refused to provide a patient's blood to a police officer. In the piece titled "Arrested Utah Nurse Had It Coming," Daily Caller editor Gregg Re makes the claim that Salt Lake City-based nurse Alex Wubbels may have deserved the treatment she received. Utah nurse screams 'help me' as she's cuffed by cop for refusing to draw blood on unconscious patient, video shows. A Utah nurse screamed "help me" after a cop handcuffed her for refusing to draw blood on an unconscious patient July 26, police body camera footage showed. The video showed University of Utah Hospital nurse Alex Wubbels, an Alpine skier who participated in the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympic games, calmly explaining to Salt Lake Detective Jeff Payne that she could not draw blood from a patient who had been injured in a car accident, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. Wubbels told Payne the patient was required to give consent for a blood sample or be under arrest. Otherwise, she said police needed a warrant. Payne threatened to imprison Wubbels if he was not given the blood sample, according to the video. Nurse Refuses to Break Law for Cop. Cop Brutally Arrests Nurse. Whipping like wildfire across the internet is arguably one of the more shocking incidents of brute force displayed by law enforcement in the United States — indeed, a rare characterization, given American policing's interminable list of killings, beatings, corruption, lies, and general misbehavior — because, this time, the subject of a bully cop's strong-arm tactics was a nurse. A nurse, just doing her job. Cops Scream 'Stop Resisting' So They Can Beat A Man For Jaywalking. A viral video of police hitting a man in the head, while yelling "Stop resisting!" after they reportedly confronted him for jaywalking, has resulted in an official investigation in Millville, New Jersey. The video, which was recorded and uploaded to YouTube by "Hezakya News," shows a scene in which police already have the suspect pinned down on the ground. Because so much of the incident is not captured on video, it has yet to be determined what kind of an encounter led to police attempting to arrest the man. [Video clip] Trooper Arrested for Slamming Teen's Head Through Car Window. A Louisiana State Trooper has been charged with simple battery after an extensive investigation proved the officer to have used excessive force with a teen who was arrested. Master Trooper John Neal was on duty on February 11, 2017 when he was alerted to a stolen vehicle in Orleans Parish. Once he spotted the stopped vehicle, he confronted the perps inside. One of them fled the scene, 19-year-old male, and Neal followed on foot. The suspect was detained shortly after by another Trooper. SCOTUS tosses $4 million award for homeless couple shot by police. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday [5/30/2017] unanimously agreed that sheriff's deputies used reasonable force when in a 2010 shooting that left two wounded. Falling back on a longstanding objective reasonableness argument in use-of-force case law, the high court overturned a previous ruling in the case of Angel Mendez and Jennifer Garcia, between them shot 15 times by Los Angeles County deputies conducting a search. Two deputies, Christopher Conley and Jennifer Pederson, were part of a larger force of officers looking for a dangerous parolee when they came across the couple living inside a primitive shack behind the property being searched. Without a warrant or announcing their presence, the officers opened the door to the shack which prompted a napping Mendez, who had a BB gun on his futon that he used to kill rats with, to stand. Conely yelled, "Gun!" and the deputies opened fire, hitting both individuals. Mendez, shot 14 times, had to have a leg amputated while Garcia, pregnant at the time of the shooting and hit once in the back, feared to lose her child. The Supreme Court On Excessive Force. [Scroll down] But if Alito has destroyed the Ninth Circuit "provocation" rule, in one and the same sentence he has destroyed the notion that there can ever be such a thing as excessive force. He takes aim at the provocation rule, but in the process he runs roughshod over the specifics of the case where LEOs shot up two people who posed no danger to them because of "information they had at the time." Whether they should have had better information is left unaddressed, as it always will be. Whether the safety of the innocents should be as important (or more important) than safety of the officers is left unaddressed. Moreover, while the Supreme Court is protected by their own security, Alito doesn't address the fact that we — the ordinary peasants — simply cannot wait for alleged LEOs to finish their business while we lie around unmoved as I've observed before concerning a case of armed men dressed in SWAT uniforms who invaded a home. Dallas ISD officers' actions questioned after 7-year-old boy handcuffed, 12-year-old girl body-slammed. Dallas ISD is facing questions about the way district police officers handled two incidents last week, including one in which an officer is seen on video body-slamming a 12-year-old girl. In grainy footage, two girls are seen fighting at Piedmont G.L.O.B.A.L Academy when the officer steps in and separates them. The officer then picks up the girl and slams her to the ground, KXAS-TV (NBC5) reported. The girl was suspended for three days and hospitalized with a clavicle fracture, which her mother said was a result of being slammed into the ground, not the fight, NBC5 reported. She told the station that the officer also pepper sprayed the student. Cop Fatally Shoots Unarmed 73-Year-Old Grandfather. If what happened to Francisco Serna had happened to a black person, there would be riots, looting, and arson in the streets of Bakersfield, CA. Police shot and killed the unarmed 73-year-old grandfather, who is suffering from dementia, for reasons known only to the Bakersfield PD. [Indeed], there are riots when a black cop shoots an armed black suspect, but somehow this shooting barely gets a mention in the news. The LA Times reports that around 12:30 Monday morning the police received a call about a man brandishing a gun. Upon arriving on the scene, a witness pointed to Francisco Serna who was standing in a neighbor's driveway. With that, an officer drew his gun and fired several shots, killing Serna instantly. Reno School Cop Shoots Teen Victim of Bullying in the Chest — District Praises Cop for 'Protecting Children'. A school police officer at Hug High School in Reno, Nev., shot a 14-year-old boy who had a knife on him as the boy was trying to escape a crowd that had formed to see an anticipated beat-down of the boy, the teen's family's lawyer, David Houston, told the AP. The attorney described the boy as emotionally distressed and said he had already been hit when he was trying to escape. He was shot in the chest by an officer who has not been identified but who has been placed on paid administrative leave. Award-Winning California Deputy Still on Force After Beating 3 Citizens with Flashlights, Resulting in 3 Settlements. An award-winning California deputy who has been sued three times in six years for beating citizens with his flashlight remains on the force, even after the latest lawsuit against him settled for $200,000 on Tuesday [10/11/2016]. Of course, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department never admitted to any wrongdoing in any of the settlements involving deputy Paul "Scotte" Pfeifer. But two of three incidents were caught on video, showing us there was plenty of wrongdoing on his part. So it's only a matter of time before he strikes again with his flashlight. Were Charlotte Officers Right to Confront Keith Lamont Scott? A Law Professor Weighs In. If Mr. Scott was "brandishing" a firearm, the police would be justified in initially advancing on him. But brandishing a firearm typically means more than merely holding it in your hand. Federal law, for example, defines brandishing to mean that the person is pointing, waving, or displaying the firearm in a threatening manner. At common law, the crime of going armed to the terror of the people requires more than the mere display of a firearm. The person must display or hold the gun in an aggressive, menacing, or threatening manner. [...] To my knowledge, neither the Charlotte police nor any witness has said that Mr. Scott was brandishing a firearm or otherwise displaying it in an aggressive or threatening manner when the police initially observed him. Never Mind. He Was White. [Scroll down] Then there was this case in North Carolina. The man sat despondently in his white truck in the parking lot. He didn't want to put the gun in his hand down, even after being told to do so repeatedly by North Carolina law enforcement officers. When he finally opened the door, brandishing a firearm, an eyewitness with a cell phone camera recorded officers fired in excess of 100 rounds over the course of a minute, striking him 14 times. [...] The man involved in this incident was John Mark Coffey. He was shot at by seven Clinton, NC officers and a State Trooper in May. We didn't riot. We didn't threaten the police, or people of other races. We didn't commit arson, or murder each other. We are still patiently waiting for the investigation to conclude, instead of manufacturing fictional narratives and rushing to judgement. We acted like sane people, and let the criminal justice system work. 2 ex-officers charged in beating of Ohio defendant at park. Authorities say the officers followed up on a robbery report and were supposed to be taking two suspects to the police station but diverted to a park after verbal sparring with one of them. California Cop Caught in Chaotic Video Wrestling with Teen for Jaywalking. A California cop, who tried to detain a high school student for jaywalking, ended up wrestling with him for more than two minutes as the teen's friend recorded, landing both of them in jail. The incident took place Wednesday [8/17/2016] in Fresno near First and Barstow outside Hoover High School when a student known on Facebook as "KC" tried to cross a street, only for a cop to grab him and accuse him of jaywalking. The video, posted to Facebook where it is quickly going viral, begins as the Fresno police officer is struggling with the teen, grabbing him by his backpack, spinning him around and ordering him to sit down. VIDEO: Cop Loses It, Tackles School Kid, Chokes Him to the Ground — for Jaywalking. On his first day as a senior at Hoover High School, Keyshawn found himself in a struggle with a Fresno Police officer who put his hands around the student's neck, slammed him to the ground, and then employed a controversial chokehold — similar to that which killed Eric Garner — while his friend Johnny recorded the incident. His 'crime' was jaywalking. Although video uploaded to Facebook shows no evidence of weapons, much less violence or significant resistance against the cop who choked Keyshawn or other officers arriving on scene, both were arrested. What precipitated this scuffle and the arrests of two juveniles? Jaywalking and filming the police — two nonviolent, victimless acts. California Cops Shoot Man, but Don't Explain Why he was Detained in the First Place. California police shot a homeless man Monday after claiming he tried to grab one of their guns. The actual shooting, so far, has not surfaced on video, but the immediate aftermath was recorded and posted on YouTube, showing two Santa Ana police officers detaining a handcuffed man, who is shirtless and on the ground screaming in pain as witnesses yell at the officers to get off him. A Santa Ana police spokesperson said he was not sure why police tried to detain the 32-year-old man in the first place, but he was sure to mention the officers were in fear for their lives. Police shoot caretaker of autistic man as he lies in street. An unarmed man was shot by police in North Miami while assisting an autistic man and during the police press conference, the newly-appointed police chief announced that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is taking over the investigation. New video released reportedly shows the man, 47-year-old Charles Kinsey, lying in the street with his hands up. Update: The whole story on the Miami cop who shot the guy laying down with his hands up. According to a police union spokesperson "The cop was actually trying to kill the autistic man holding the toy truck in order to prevent him from killing his caretaker with the toy truck. At the time, the cop was still under the impression that the toy truck was a gun, so he wasn't taking any chances. This despite the fact that caretaker Charles Kinsey had repeatedly told officers that it was a toy truck. "The movement of the white individual looked like he was getting ready to discharge a firearm into Mr. Kinsey," said Miami-Dade police union boss John Rivera in a press conference today, attended by WSVN. And the officer discharged trying to strike and stop the white male and unfortunately, he missed." Rivera went on to slam the media for reporting on this story.
The Editor says... Florida Security Guard Smashes Phone, Opens Fire on Two Men for Peeing in Parking Garage. A Florida security guard opened fire after smashing a man's cellphone, when he recorded a disagreement over his friend peeing in a City of Tampa parking garage. After separating the witness from his camera, Everoy Farqharson opened fire on the both men. Luckily, neither was injured. The security guard fired his handgun four times, missing both men. Now, the Florida security guard is facing serious charges for the battery, the assault and his failed attempt to cover up the incident too. This Is Why Police Beat People: Two Police Academies Caught on Video Teaching Excessive Force. Not one, but two police training academies have now been suspended for what appears to be teaching the use of excessive force — as the norm — captured on video. After an investigation by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE), the Lower Rio Grande Development Council (LRGVDC) Regional Police Academy and the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office Training Academy have been suspended until two further investigations are concluded. School sends sheriff to order child to stop sharing Bible verses. A public school in California ordered a 7-year-old boy to stop handing out Bible verses during lunch — and they dispatched a deputy sheriff to the child's home to enforce the directive. "This is a clear, gross violation of the rights of a child," said Horatio Mihet, a Liberty Counsel attorney representing the first-grader who attends Desert Rose Elementary School in Palmdale. They are also representing his parents, Christina and Jaime Zavala. Cops Arrest, Attack Mom Who Let 11-Year-Old Son Drive Golf Cart. A North Carolina mom who let her 11-year-old son drive a golf cart on a vacation island for about 30 seconds was arrested, wrestled to the ground, handcuffed, and frog-marched onto a ferry to the police station, where she was jailed in leg irons and charged with child abuse. The mom, Julie Mall, was on vacation with her husband, son, 9-year-old daughter, 22-year-old niece, and their golden retriever, staying at a $1000/night cottage on Bald Head Island. On the evening in question, last July 26, they were riding on a paved path at dusk when the cart was pulled over by an officer. According to Mark Washburn in The Charlotte Observer, "Mall says there is no question she was wrong." No one is allowed to drive a golf cart without a drivers' license. But what happened next is in dispute. Was it Police Abuse or an Unruly Criminal? [Scroll down] The officer then radioed for backup. Backup — really? After "backup" arrived the officer told Julie to go back her cart or he would cuff her. That's when things got ugly and when her husband pulled out his phone and started recording. "He lunged across at me, twisting my arm behind my back. I'm hysterical. I've never been that scared of anything in my life," she said. She then fell to ground kicking and screaming as her husband filmed, all the while shouted "what is going on," at now the three cops atop his wife and one standing to the side. Yes, four cops dispatched to subdue this maybe 110 lb woman who claimed she had one glass of wine hours earlier. They never gave an explanation to the husband. After her arms and legs where shackled, she was lifted and placed in the back of an awaiting cruiser. All this is on video. After Julie was charged with resisting a public officer, intoxicated and disruptive behavior and misdemeanor child abuse, she was then taken by ferry to the mainland. She then had to appear twice in court later in 2015, where all charges were eventually dropped being that the arresting officer never showed either time. NYPD police officer guilty of stomping on suspect's head. Finding him guilty of misdemeanor assault, a judge said a New York City police officer "gratuitously" stomped on a suspect's head as fellow officers tried to handcuff the man. Man Beaten Then Jailed 3 Days for NOT Stealing a Tomato from Walmart. Tyrone Carnegay was leaving Walmart in October of 2014 when an off-duty police officer working as a security guard approached. Video footage of the incident shows Carnegay attempting to exit the store when Atlanta police officer Trevor King begins questioning him. After no more than a few seconds, King begins beating Carnegay with his baton. School officer fired after video showed him body-slamming a 12-year-old girl. A Texas school police officer who became enmeshed in controversy after he was captured on video seemingly body-slamming a sixth-grade girl has been fired from the San Antonio Independent School District. District officials said officer Joshua Kehm was terminated Monday amid an investigation into an incident last month at Rhodes Middle School, in which he appeared to restrain and then throw down 12-year-old Janissa Valdez. [Video clip] Jurors need to take the law into their own hands. Nationally, most of the people locked up for drug crimes are African American, in spite of studies that demonstrate blacks don't use or sell drugs more than any other group. We make up 13 percent of the country's population but nearly 60 percent of the people doing time for drug offenses. And an endless series of videos have shown how black people get policed: the mailman arrested in Brooklyn for yelling at the cops who almost ran him down; the teenage girl tackled by the cop at a pool party in McKinney, Tex.; Eric Garner, arrested for selling a cigarette in Staten Island and then put in a chokehold that killed him. Like a lot of African Americans, I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I encourage any juror who thinks the police or prosecutors have crossed the line in a particular case to refuse to convict. The Editor says... Florida Deputy Caught on Camera Beating Handcuffed Man in Back of Cruiser. A Florida deputy is facing charges after his abuse of a handcuffed suspect was caught on camera inside of a patrol car. Michael O'Connor is the Seminole County sheriff's deputy and ex-Navy serviceman charged with misdemeanor battery. Supervisors learned about video of him beating the handcuffed suspect, eventually bringing charges. Ham-Handed Arrest at Pediatric Clinic Highlights Official War on the Powerless. The cops raided my wife's pediatric practice looking for a fugitive, last week. Actually, let's put the word "fugitive" in quotes. The story is an eye-opening tale in itself. It's also a glimpse at how business-as-usual in courts and cop shops around the country screws with people's lives and alienates the public from those who are allegedly their protectors. My wife, Dr. Wendy Tuccille, was on her way to the office in Cottonwood, Arizona, when her phone rang. Frantic staff called to tell her that the clinic's parking lot was full of cops, there to arrest one of her employees, C.H. (it's a small town so we'll stick with her initials), on an outstanding warrant. When my wife arrived she found a gaggle of cops — 12 to 15 she told me, some in battle jammies — in plain view at the rear corner of the building. The parking lot was full of police vehicles, in sight of families and children arriving to be seen and treated. SWAT team ambushes innocent man as he works on tractor in his driveway. A man says that while he was working on his tractor in his driveway, a van pulled up and a dozen men with rifles piled out and assaulted him. As they bashed his head in, breaking bones in his face, he believed they were there to kill him. It was later determined that police had attacked a completely innocent man due to a false police report, drawing questions about why police acted so brutally against a man who did not resist and made no threats. Police shot unarmed man, drove armored truck through door when he didn't exit on command. A paramilitary force was dispatched to a townhouse after a woman reported a domestic dispute between her and her boyfriend. When her boyfriend stubbornly chose to stay inside his home, police shot him and drove an armored truck through his front door. If You Are Anti Police Brutality Does That Mean You Are Anti Police? Police should be objective, regardless of their personal beliefs or affiliation once a man puts on that blue uniform he is no longer representing himself but is representing the idea of liberty and justice for all. So if Police no longer represent objective and blind justice as the enforcement arm of the law then the contract between the people and the government is broken. In order for a lawful society to exist a majority if not all the people must trust that everyone is equal under the law once the perception of fairness is broken that is the end of a civil society. San Francisco police shot man 20 times, including 6 in back. An autopsy report shows a young black man shot dead by San Francisco police suffered 20 gunshot wounds, including six in the back, and had drugs in his system when he died in the shooting that sparked protests and calls for the chief's removal. Video, 911 call detail cops firing 33 times at man who refused to drop gun. The first 911 caller reported seeing a man walking down a street shooting a gun in the air. Authorities said they received five more similar calls from witnesses alarmed by what they saw. Responding Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies told the man to drop the weapon, investigators said. When he refused and started toward a gas station where a family was pumping gas, they opened fire, killing the man. Woman says Southlake PD overstepped powers. Constance Westfall is a partner at the Strausberger and Price law firm, but now, after what happened at her Southlake home in January of last year, she has filed a wrongful arrest, excessive force lawsuit against the Southlake Police Department. [...] "He had no basis to put his hands on her body, much less to slam her to the ground, and so the false arrest precedes everything," said Geoff Henley, Westfall's attorney. "I don't know they live with what they do, because not only did that officer do what he did, but the other officers covered for him," said Westfall. Police Brutality Cover Up. [The good cops] do their jobs and keep their noses clean while they do it. These are the cops who are never the news story. But for others, it is just too hard to do their jobs without hurting someone. But that's ok because when they hurt someone, there is a system in place to cover it up. That's the way it is in Baltimore, Maryland, where the City has been paying hush money to citizens who have been mistreated by their police. Video purportedly shows Texas officer grabbing student's throat. A 14-year-old high school student says a school resource officer used excessive force when he grabbed the teen by the throat after the student and another boy were involved in a scuffle at a Texas high school cafeteria. NYPD Releases Video Showing Moment Tennis Star James Blake Was Grabbed By Officer, Thrown to Ground. The New York Police Department released video Friday [9/11/2015] showing the moment an unsuspecting James Blake, 35, was grabbed outside a hotel and thrown to the ground by an undercover officer. The former tennis star could be seen in the footage casually waiting for a car when the officer rushed in and slammed him to the pavement, accidentally placing him under arrest before realizing he was not the suspect authorities wanted. Family Wants Answers — 30-Year-Old Arrested, Restrained and DOA At Hospital. After attending a concert on July 18, Troy Goode was arrested. He was hogtied by Southaven police and later died at Baptist Memorial Hospital. His family has been hoping an autopsy report would shed some light as to why Troy died that night. But after receiving that document, questions remain unanswered. "What really stands out to us is that there is not really a cause of death on there." Kevin McCormack, the Goode family attorney, told FOX13. Report: 33 cops fired 600 shots to stop Stockton bank robbers. Thirty-three Stockton police officers fired more than 600 shots last year at the getaway car used by three bank robbers, who took three women hostage and entered into a rolling gunbattle with cops that killed one of the hostages after she was struck by 10 police bullets, according to a report released Monday [8/17/2015]. The review by the Police Foundation, titled "A Heist Gone Bad," said officers made "a great many smart and courageous decisions." But it said 600 shots were "excessive and unnecessary," with some officers firing only because they saw their colleagues firing, and many officers shooting "after the threat had been eliminated." Could black people in the U.S. qualify as refugees? Suppose a client walked into my office and told me that police officers in his country had choked a man to death over a petty crime. Suppose he said police fatally shot another man in the back as he ran away. That they arrested a woman during a traffic stop and placed her in jail, where she died three days later. That a 12-year-old boy in his country was shot and killed by the police as he played in the park. Suppose he told me that all of those victims were from the same ethnic community — a community whose members fear being harmed, tortured or killed by police or prison guards. And that this is true in cities and towns across his nation. At that point, as an immigration lawyer, I'd tell him he had a strong claim for asylum protection under U.S. law. 'Black Lives Matter' Crowd Resists Truth About Resisting Arrest. South Carolina teen was sitting in his car on a date last month when a white cop pulled up and fatally shot him with his .45 caliber handgun. The 19-year-old was unarmed, parked outside a Hardee's restaurant. Police say that the cop was responding to a drug deal and fired in self-defense. But the victim's family isn't buying it and has demanded a civil rights investigation. Another unarmed black man shot to death by police? Actually, no. In this case, the suspect is white. The only racial element is the lack of national outrage. Ferguson police 'denied Michael Brown protesters civil rights as they used dogs to incite fear and deployed tear gas without warning', DOJ finds. Police trying to control the Ferguson protests wound up the crowds and violated free-speech rights, the Department of Justice has claimed. The report by the DOJ found that officers used dogs to incite fear and deployed tear gas without warning on people who could not safely retreat. More about Ferguson. McKinney: Of Pool Parties, Police Brutality, and Institutional Racism. Was the police response to the pool party incident in McKinney, Texas, a clear case of law enforcement overreacting — once again — to a trivial dispute, or a necessary response to the antics of delinquent teenagers? Did racial animus play a role, as one bystander claims, or were the black kids the ones who were misbehaving, as a neighborhood resident claims? The video evidence and eyewitness testimony suggests the former (although the latter may possess miniscule kernel of truth). Police responded to a fight that had broken out between a girl and a mother. A video of the encounter establishes that the fight did indeed take place, but it only involved a couple people — not the large swath of teenagers who were later detained by officers. McKinney officer resigns due to video of pulling gun on teens. McKinney Police Cpl. Eric Casebolt has resigned after video showed him pushing a 15-year-old girl in a swimsuit to the ground and pointing his firearm at other teens. Casebolt's lawyer informed FOX4 of Casebolt's decision on Tuesday afternoon [6/9/2015]. McKinney Police Chief Greg Conley said Casebolt's actions were "indefensible" during a Tuesday evening news conference. Activists Want Black Host Who Blamed Teens For McKinney Pool Fight Fired. Dozens of activists are calling on a Dallas-based video broadcast station to fire a black talk show host for blaming a group of mostly black teenagers for starting a fracas at a private swimming pool in McKinney, Tex. on Friday [6/5/2015]. [...] The outrage began with a seven-and-a-half minute video released over the weekend showing McKinney police officer Eric Casebolt throwing a 15-year-old black girl on the ground and pulling out his gun as he tried to detain a group of teenagers allegedly involved in the fracas. The Editor says... Officers who sat on handcuffed man not indicted. Lafayette Parish law enforcement officers who held a Scott man face down until he was unresponsive were not indicted by a grand jury Wednesday [5/27/2015]. Robert Minjarez Jr., 30, died five days after officers with the Carencro and Scott police departments and deputies with the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office arrested him on March 2, 2014, outside a gas station on North University Avenue. Initial police reports indicated Minjarez died from drug-inflected brain damage. The Lafayette Parish coroner's report listed the cause of death as "compressional asphyxia due to face-down physical restraint by law enforcement officers with contribution of rhabdomyolysis and cocaine toxicity." When They Come for the Smaller Groups.... Everywhere, totalitarian governments do the same: one group after another, singled out, marginalized, demonized, and then safely destroyed or brutalized. And the rest of the population remains silent. Why? Because "I am not a Jew, or a Ukrainian, or a Menshevik, or a kulak, or a person with glasses." The massacre in Waco of a few days ago bears all the marks of this tactics. A group is picked so small and marginal that most people won't associate with them. The group is then marginalized and demonized, and all kinds of false accusations are said about them — violence, illegal drugs, illegal weapons, etc. Then, when the group is so marginalized that the majority of the population won't trust them, and won't take their word for anything, the government ambushes them and guns them down. [...] It was that same Waco that saw an earlier version of the same tactics, with the Branch Davidians. 14 members of Waco PD involved in bloodbath. Video shows zero shots were fired inside the restaurant. Video shows only one biker fire only one round from the restaurant's patio. The officers present included a full uniformed SWAT team with fully automatic assault rifles and an MRAP. The police affidavit says a fight broke out in the parking lot involving as few as six people. This fight escalated to shooting. Police have not explained how a fight involving as few as six people led to over twenty people being shot, nine fatally. Update: Another update: The Reality of the Police State. The conspiracy that the US law enforcement would become much like Soviet Russia, Red China, and Cuba, has been around for quite awhile, and even speaking about it now can cause some to lower their expectations about you. With the rise of the Internet, video technology, and libertarian social pressure, police activity, or more clearly brutality, has become a clear, undeniable reality right here in the US. We've all probably seen the images of one man being held up by 10 police officers, or the SWAT team wearing full body armor with assault rifles. That may seem like enough to give you a scare and at least push you in the direction to consider this a problem, but it gets worse. 'Good Cop' Physically Stops Bad Cop From Abusing Handcuffed Man. As the nation has been torn apart by police violence and abuse, many citizens have begun to wonder whether there are any good cops at all. Critics have suggested that if there are "good cops," they should be out there stopping the bad cops from abusing their power. So where are these legendary "good cops"? Horseman beaten by California county lawmen to be paid $650,000. Officials in a Southern California county said on Tuesday [4/21/2015] they would pay $650,000 to a man whose beating by sheriff's deputies following a failed getaway by horseback was caught on videotape, prompting an FBI investigation. Thousands Dead, Few Prosecuted. Among the thousands of fatal shootings at the hands of police since 2005, only 54 officers have been charged, a Post analysis found. Most were cleared or acquitted in the cases that have been resolved. 10 California deputies placed on leave following violent arrest. A Southern California sheriff placed 10 deputies on paid administrative leave Friday [4/10/2015] after a local TV station recorded several of them beating a man following a 2½-hour chase during which the suspect rode away on a stolen horse. San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said the video "disturbed and troubled" him and appeared to show an excessive use of force. Cops Slam Unarmed Woman On The Pavement, Killing Her In Front of Family. Cleveland police officers recently killed a 37-year-old African American woman who died after police slammed her head on the concrete, just outside of her family's home. Her brother explained that Tanisha Anderson was pronounced dead at Cleveland Clinic after the assault by the Ohio cops. The pronouncement came early Thursday [11/13/2014] about two hours after the police "take down" caused Anderson to bash her head on the concrete outside of her home. Denver police fire officer after videotaped struggle with woman in cell. A video of the incident appears to show Officer James Medina struggling with Seryina Trujillo in the cell and then putting his knee on her neck until she goes limp and collapses onto the floor, KCNC-TV in Denver reported Tuesday [3/10/2015]. Expert says cop justified to use lethal force, surely beanbag rounds. In a PowerPoint presentation, prosecutors listed other options Park Forest police could have taken short of firing the beanbag rounds from the shotgun. In large white text, "Wait it out!" first appeared on the computer monitor. Prosecutors also suggested officers could have used their ballistic shield or pepper spray to disarm Wrana — or even knocked him over with the shotgun instead of shooting him. "John Wrana, a 95-year-old man, was absolutely not an imminent threat," Mescall said. "Absolutely not. Common sense dictates that." Albuquerque police officers to face murder charges in death of homeless man. A New Mexico prosecutor bypassed the state grand jury process on Monday [1/12/2015] and filed papers asking a judge to bring murder charges against two Albuquerque police officers who shot and killed a homeless man at his illegal campsite last March. Inspector general: Some NY police use chokehold as first response. A new inspector general blasted the New York City Police Department on Monday [1/12/2015] for failing to punish officers who used banned chokeholds on citizens, sometimes as a first response in a confrontation. Sheriff's deputy knocked out teen girl while trying to break up high school fight, and made the brawl even worse. A lunchtime fight at a Central California high school Wednesday ended with police swarming onto campus, closing the school and putting six students under arrest, authorities said. However, Ernest Righetti High School students say the initial fight was relatively minor, and that it was a Sheriff's deputy striking one of the girls involved in the brawl that sparked the mass violence on campus. Cops pummel bicyclist at Taco Bell drive-thru. A New Smyrna Beach woman who was refused service at a Taco Bell drive-through window because she and her husband rode up on bicycles said Wednesday [11/19/2014] she feels discriminated against by the business and that police used excessive force during her spouse's arrest. Kansas cops fatally shoot unarmed teen 16 times, media and DoJ silent. You probably haven't heard about the case of Joseph Jennings, the unarmed Ottawa, Kansas 18 year old who was shot 16 times by police on August 23. Eric Holder is not outraged, nor is Al Sharpton. The town of Ottawa has experienced no riots or even protest marches. After all, Jennings is only a Caucasian, and there is no profit to be had for the left in hyping an injustice done to a "white boy." U.S. Police Have Killed Over 5,000 Civilians Since 9/11. Statistically speaking, Americans should be more fearful of the local cops than "terrorists." Though Americans commonly believe law enforcement's role in society is to protect them and ensure peace and stability within the community, the sad reality is that police departments are often more focused on enforcing laws, making arrests and issuing citations. As a result of this as well as an increase in militarized policing techniques, Americans are eight times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist, estimates a Washington's Blog report based on official statistical data. The Editor says... Family of Bloomfield man shot by police claims shooting was unprovoked. The family of a man fatally shot by Bloomfield police said on Thursday [8/28/2014] that the officers rushed onto the property without knocking on the door and did not immediately provide medical assistance to the wounded man, who was unarmed. Police said they were responding to a domestic dispute call on Wednesday morning and were confronted by a man with a deadly weapon. John J. Rogers, of Bloomfield, was pronounced dead late Wednesday morning in the San Juan Regional Medical Center emergency room. Oh, the Things We Choose Not to See! You may believe the [Michael Brown] shooting was an act of fatal racism or the justified elimination of a garden-variety criminal whose race was irrelevant. Only one thing is certain and now obvious to nearly everybody now: Policing in the U.S. has gone completely wrong. Ferguson and St. Louis County police teamed up to turn a tense aftermath into a disaster. They tear-gassed and shot rubber bullets at non-violent protestors. They arrested reporters for the non-crime of taking video. They strong-armed innocent people more thuggishly than the robber of that Ferguson convenience store ever did. They acted in ways George Orwell warned about, informing protestors that "Your right to assembly is not being denied" — even as they denied it. They incited rage by witholding the shooter's name for nearly a week — something they would never have done had he not been a cop. 16 Reasons Why the United States is Going to Hell in a Handbasket. [#6] It seems that just about everyday I get emails from readers and read news reports of police abuse of power — everything from shooting and killing an unarmed and handcuffed man, to shooting a suspect in the back while running away, or a man executed by police for camping on public land (did you hear the "officer" yell, Booyah after shooting the man 6 times?), all justified of course, to police shooting and killing chained and caged dogs. Even puppies and a 5 pound Chihuahua aren't safe from thugs in uniform. Texas officer who shot armed 93-year-old fired. Officials in a small Central Texas town voted Saturday [5/10/2014] to fire a police officer who shot and killed an armed 93-year-old woman during a confrontation at her home. Supreme Court: Police Can't Brutalize Your Elderly Mother. Today's hypothetical: Police officers come to your home at 2 a.m., insist (as a result of their own clerical error) that the car you're driving is stolen property, order you to lie on your belly, slam your mother against a garage door, and then shoot you three times from 15 feet away when you protest. Is there some chance — some very slight chance — that their conduct violates a "clearly established" constitutional right? The Supreme Court on Monday [5/5/2014] said "yes." All nine justices agreed that a lower court that blew off the claim needs to go back and take a fresh look at the issue. Objections raised to handcuffing of 9-year-old in Portland. A year ago, two Portland police officers investigating a fight at a youth club came to the home of a 9-year-old Portland girl, handcuffed her as she stood in a blue and white bathing suit, and led her away to be processed downtown on an assault charge. Elderly man calls for ambulance, violent cops beat him instead. An elderly Missouri man dialed 911 and asked for an ambulance to come and help his ailing wife. Instead, the police showed up, threw him to the ground, sat on his head and handcuffed him. He later received stitches for his injuries. "I never had anybody jump on me for doing nothing," said the man, Elbert Breshears of Humansville, Missouri, in a statement to KSPR 33. Woman Killed In Capitol Hill Chase Was Shot Five Times. Six months after a Connecticut woman was killed in a hail of police gunfire on Capitol Hill, the federal investigation remains under wraps, even as new information has surfaced showing she was shot multiple times from behind, including once in the head. Three of the five shots that hit Miriam Carey, 34, entered through her back, and another struck her upper left arm, according to the official report of her autopsy, obtained by a lawyer for her family. An accompanying toxicology report shows that Carey, a dental assistant, had no drugs or alcohol in her system when she was killed. Tucson cop who randomly slammed woman to the ground not so tough after receiving threats. The Tucson police officer who was caught on video brutally pummeling a female student as she walked innocuously near the campus of the University of Arizona has been identified as Joel Mann, according to local ABC affiliate KGUN. The thuggish incident occurred on Saturday as packed bars near campus slowly cleared out after the Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team lost a thrilling overtime game. Mann, a sergeant with 18 years of experience, was one of a legion of officers deployed in full, pseudo-military riot gear. He wore a helmet and face shield. In the video, Mann comes out of absolutely nowhere and violently pushes woman over a metal frame. She is smashed head over heels to the ground. Suburban [Chicago] officer charged in 95-year-old's death. An officer was charged this morning in the police killing of 95-year-old John Wrana, the World War II veteran who was fatally shot with beanbag rounds in his apartment at a south suburban senior facility last year. [...] The elderly man had refused medical treatment for a urinary tract infection, and reportedly became belligerent. Police who were called to the scene fired a Taser that failed to hit Wrana, and then shot him with bean-bag rounds fired from a shotgun. He died hours later of internal bleeding, authorities said. Protesters Clash With Riot-Gear Clad Cops In Albuquerque. People are angry over Albuquerque police's involvement in 37 shootings, 23 of them fatal since 2010. Critics say that's far too many for a department serving a city of about 555,000. Student sues after being arrested for buying bottled water. A University of Virginia student arrested by Alcoholic Beverage Control agents who wrongly believed she'd illegally bought beer when in fact she only had bottled water is seeking $40 million in a lawsuit filed Tuesday [3/25/2014]. Elizabeth K. Daly, 21, alleges malicious prosecution, six counts of assault and battery and failure to appropriately train ABC agents in the suit which names the state and seven agents involved in her arrest. Daly was arrested on April 11, 2013 when ABC agents confronted her outside of a Charlottesville supermarket. Cops must face justice in killing of homeless man. The beating was caught on a surveillance tape. When you watch those 33 minutes of footage, assuming you can stomach the experience, it's hard to believe that anyone could declare the perpetrators "not guilty." The surveillance camera footage shows Thomas being beaten and stunned with a Taser by police until he was unrecognizable and unconscious. Police shootings of unarmed citizens. Owing in large part to the militarization of local law enforcement agencies, not a week goes by without more reports of hair-raising incidents by police imbued with a take-no-prisoners attitude and a battlefield approach to the communities in which they serve. Sadly, it is no longer unusual to hear about incidents in which police shoot unarmed individuals first and ask questions later, such as the 16-year-old teenager who skipped school only to be shot by police after they mistook him for a fleeing burglar. Then there was the unarmed black man in Texas "who was pursued and shot in the back of the neck by Austin Police... after failing to properly identify himself and leaving the scene of an unrelated incident." And who could forget the 19-year-old Seattle woman who was accidentally shot in the leg by police after she refused to show her hands? Woman Thrown Face-First into Concrete Slab Sues Cops. A Chicago woman is suing a police officer and the town of Skokie, Ill., claiming she was seriously injured when a cop used excessive force when he threw her face first into a jail cell's concrete bench following a drunk driving arrest. Cassandra Feuerstein, 47, claims in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday [10/9/2013], that she required reconstructive surgery to "replace the bones that had been shattered" after being pushed into the cell on March 10. 95-year-old man dies after police use stun gun on him. A 95-year-old Illinois man who allegedly confronted police officers with a knife and cane died after they shot him with a stun gun and bean bag rounds. Officers were called to an assisted living home in the village of Park Forest Friday after the man, identified as John Warna, allegedly became combative with employees of a private ambulance company who were attempting to transfer him to a hospital for medical treatment, The (Chicago) SouthtownStar reported. Autopsy: Bean bag rounds fired by police killed Park Forest man, 95. A 95-year-old man died of internal bleeding after police fired bean-bag rounds at him during a confrontation in a Park Forest senior living complex, according to an autopsy performed Sunday [7/28/2013]. Was police killing of 95-year-old necessary? When John Wrana was a young man, fit and strong and fighting in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps, did he ever think he'd end this way? Just a few weeks shy of his 96th birthday, in need of a walker to move about, cops coming through the door of his retirement home with a Taser and a shotgun. World War II veteran, 95, died after police shot him with TASER and bean bag rounds. A 95-year-old world War II veteran died after being Tasered and hit with bean bag rounds by police for threatening care home staff — but his family insist he was killed unnecessarily. Police say that John Wrana, who lived in a Chicago assisting living home, was brandishing his cane, a metal shoehorn and a knife before officers shocked him and hit him with bean bag rounds. Bottled-water purchase leads to night in jail for U.Va. student. When a half-dozen men and a woman in street clothes closed in on University of Virginia student Elizabeth Daly, 20, she and two roommates panicked. [...] A group of state Alcoholic Beverage Control agents clad in plainclothes approached her, suspecting the blue carton of LaCroix sparkling water to be a 12-pack of beer. Police say one of the agents jumped on the hood of her car. She says one drew a gun. Unsure of who they were, Daly tried to flee the darkened parking lot. "They were showing unidentifiable badges after they approached us, but we became frightened, as they were not in anything close to a uniform," she recalled Thursday in a written account of the April 11 incident. East Nashville Restaurant Owner Surprised By Raid. An East Nashville business owner was surprised with a late-night raid when a group of armed officers with bullet proof vests charged into The Family Wash restaurant. The business opened 11 years ago, and owner Jamie Rubin said he's never received a phone call about his restaurant like he did last Friday night. "That I better get in because there were more cops than they could count in here," explained Rubin about the phone call. Cop Backhands Handcuffed Suspect. This video depicts a suspect in handcuffs, who clearly is not aggressive in any manner. Apparently, the suspect says something offensive to the officer, which results in him being backhanded across the face. [Video clip] Bakersfield Man Dies During Arrest, Eye Witness Video Footage Confiscated. Kern County Sheriff's deputies were investigating David Sal Silva for public intoxication. In total, nine officers of the Kern County Sheriff's department and the California Highway Patrol beat Silva to death, as they claimed he resisted arrest. Vallejo, California: Six Fatal Police Shootings in 2012. [Scroll down] Officers then ordered [17-year-old Jared] Huey to raise his hands and stay still. An officer standing on a step stool then looked over the fence before pointing his rifle over. At the same moment, a second officer pointed his gun over the fence. "At this point, decedent [Huey] had his hands up in the air, and yelled, 'Don't shoot!' 'No! No!'" according to the complaint. The officers then collectively fired their weapons about 10 to 20 times at Huey. Florida Man Flees Seatbelt Stop on Foot, Cop Runs Him Over and Kills Him. Shortly after 12:30 a.m. this morning [5/8/2013] a Volusia County Sheriffs deputy saw Marlon Brown driving without a seatbelt, and attempted to pull him over. When Brown kept driving, the deputy gave up pursuit while reporting a fleeing vehicle. Almost immediately, reports the Daytona Beach News-Journal, officers with the DeLand Police Department (the county and city share a dispatch system) said they'd spotted the vehicle and began their own pursuit. What happened next absolutely should not have. Rochester, NY Police officers Assault Disabled Man in Motorized Wheelchair. Just when I think the Rochester, NY Police department can't sink any lower, they manage outdo themselves! Anonymous threatens to take down California police department. Members of the hacktivist collective Anonymous are demanding that a California police department remove an officer from the force after video has surfaced of the cop in question firing at a civilian 11 times at point-blank range. Houston PD Kills Wheelchair-Ridden Schizophrenic Double Amputee 'Armed' With Pen. The pen may be mightier than the sword, but it's definitely no match for a police officer's service weapon. The Houston PD demonstrated they'll be perfectly obedient New World Order minions when this past weekend they executed a schizophrenic, wheelchair-ridden double amputee who was apparently threatening to attack officers with a pen. The Predator State Goes Domestic. [Scroll down] A team of deputies tasered the 55-year-old farmer and took him into custody. His daughter Abby, frantic for the safety of her father, tried to intervene; for "striking" the sanctified personage of a deputy, she was arrested and charged with assault. When Brossart's wife Susan refused to help the deputies locate what they described as "illegal" firearms, she, too, was arrested and charged with lying to law enforcement officers (who are trained to lie and can do so without legal consequence). Policeman kills double amputee 'armed' with pen. A US police officer has shot and killed a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair after the double amputee waved a metal object that turned out to be a pen. Bail lowered for Robbinsville police officer who attacked child, mom in wheelchair. After his arrest Sept. 17, [Sgt. Mark] Lee was charged with official misconduct, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of endangering the welfare of a child, five counts of aggravated assault upon a police officer, and one count each of burglary, harassment and criminal mischief. Cops Strip Search Mom [...] for Maybe Rolling Through Stop Sign. Getting pulled over for rolling through a stop sign is whack. But getting pulled over, having a gun pointed in your face, and then being strip searched on the side of the road in front of your two children for rolling through a stop sign is, well, really whack and probably an excessive use of force. At least that's what a new lawsuit in the Sunshine State is claiming. A Report From Obama's "Humane" Drug War. At 5:30 a.m. on May 10, armed men broke into the bedroom of Kirk Kyle Farrar's 12 year-old daughter and shook her awake. The men led her downstairs at gunpoint and forced her to lie on the floor next to her mother and father, with her hands behind her head. Another armed man took Farrar's two-year-old son from his crib, and would not let his parents hold him. "My son screamed for his mother for what seemed like an eternity," Farrar wrote in an email to friends, obtained by Reason. "I will never forget the hopeless feeling of not being able to comfort my son or daughter." The armed men who broke into Farrar's home were officers with the Meridian, Idaho, Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration. SWAT and the Second Amendment. [Jose] Guerena's wife Vanessa saw armed men in the front yard and woke Jose, who had time only to hide her and their son in a closet as far from the front door as possible and to take up a rifle to meet the unknown threat. Jose would not take his rifle off safe or fire a shot. Smashing in the door, five members of the SWAT team fired 71 rounds into the home, shredding it from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. They hit Jose 22 times and denied him medical care for more than 74 minutes, ensuring his death. Kelly Thomas video: 'Dad, they are killing me'. Kelly Thomas repeatedly apologized to Fullerton police officers, saying he was "sorry" as they continued to pummel him with their fists and batons, a dramatic video of the July 5 beating of the homeless man reveals. The grainy black-and-white video, shown Monday on the first day of a preliminary hearing for two Fullerton police officers charged in the case, shows a shirtless Thomas being repeatedly struck. He eventually screams: "Dad, they are killing me." Doctor: Chest compression led to CA homeless death. The 37-year-old homeless man died from facial injuries, including blood in his nose, and mechanical compression to his chest that made it difficult for him to breathe and deprived his brain of vital oxygen, said Dr. Aruna Singhana, a forensic pathologist for Orange County. Thirteen kicks to the head "unjustified". The monotony of a surveillance camera inside a parking garage is shattered as a man runs into view. Immediately he's tackled by a second man who punches him in the face. A third man joins the fray and delivers repeated kicks to his head. Thirteen to be exact. An assault? Without question. But, despite the video evidence, it's doubtful the assailants will be held accountable. They wear badges. Or, wore badges. California Cop Handcuffs 5 year old and Charges Him with Battery. Earlier this year, a Stockton student was handcuffed with zip ties on his hands and feet, forced to go to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and was charged with battery on a police officer. That student was 5 years old. Michael Davis is diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD. His mother says it has led to fights at school. But when the school district said it had a plan to change Michael's behavior, his mother says things went wrong. Woman slammed against car by San Jose police officer wins appeal. [Scroll down] [Laura] Bushell-McIntyre, a pediatric nurse who had just graduated from San Jose State, was attending the fraternity party when police arrived in response to a disturbance call. The court said she had complied with Officer William Foster's request to leave the house, but touched his badge after repeatedly asking him for his badge number. Foster then put her in a pain compliance hold and slammed her against a car, the court said. Retired Police Sergeant Faces 35 Years for Not Producing a Drivers License. On July 18th, five deputies arrived in three taxpayer funded patrol vehicles to take one nonviolent [65 year old] man to jail, thus carrying out Judge Mackay's 90-day old warrant. [Raymond] Karczewski offered no resistance, yet his wife reports her husband was rammed up against the side of the house with his head slammed into the siding. If Karczewski is such a threat to society, why did the criminal justice system wait 90 days to act? In 90 days Karczewski could have been long gone but was arrested at home. A Beating in Pittsburgh. A year after three cops beat an unarmed music student, they are still getting paid to do nothing. 97-year-old handcuffed, jailed for unpaid traffic ticket. Police say they had no choice but to go by the book when they handcuffed a 97-year-old woman and took her to jail for failing to pay a traffic ticket. The Editor says... The Taser's Edge. Books such as Three Felonies A Day detail the near-impossibility of not violating some state or federal law (inadvertently or not) just by dint of getting out of bed and going about your day. The country is so thick with Thou Shalt Nots — laws, rules and regulations — that there's almost always a reason for some cop to pester you. When you get indignant and object, it's open season. ... We are talking about police tasing people — body-slamming them onto the ground and sometimes breaking their teeth off in the process — for things like talking back (or even just talking to themselves...). Why Cops Aren't Whistleblowers. While awarding Barron Bowling $830,000 last September for the beating he suffered at the hands of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in Kansas City, Kansas, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson went out of her way to acknowledge another victim in the disgraceful affair: Kansas City police detective Max Seifert. In January 2003, Bowling was on his way to fill a prescription when Timothy McCue, an on-duty DEA agent, tried to pass him illegally on the right side of a wide one-lane street. Bowling accelerated to prevent McCue from passing, and the two cars collided. After the collision, McCue and another agent got out of their car. McCue drew his gun, threw Bowling to the ground, and beat him to the point of inflicting brain damage. McCue later justified the violence by saying Bowling "resisted arrest" when he lifted his head from the pavement. Misconduct charges against two West Palm officers are dropped. More than three years ago, images of two West Palm Beach police officers kicking and punching a handcuffed suspect flashed across television newscasts, embarrassing city leaders and angering prosecutors who later called the case a "serious misuse of public trust." The recent dismissal of official misconduct charges against Louis Joseph Schwartz and Kurt Graham, however, came and went with much less fanfare. Atlanta PD Ignore Lawsuit to Censor Their Misdeeds. Just this year Atlanta PD was ordered to pay $40,000 settlement to East Atlanta Copwatch activists when their right to film was impeded. This is the kind of accountability that you get when there's no competition. Would you visit a grocery store that was known for brutalizing its clients? Do you want to pay men to beat up other people? To delete footage of their misdeeds? To shelter themselves from responsibility through language like "sovereign immunity?" SWAT Team Meets... Smoking Ban? [Scroll down] The police chief denies the charge, and says two of the cops were patrol officers, and two had just finished working a nearby DWI roadblock. Of course, even if the police chief is right, we've reached the point where are there are places in this country where four cops will come to haul you off in handcuffs... for smoking a cigarette in a bar. Police video shows officer firing at prone suspect. In the video, Flint Farmer was lying on the grass between the curb and the sidewalk. It was shortly before 2 a.m. on a June morning in the West Englewood neighborhood, and Farmer had been shot by a Chicago police officer. Then, according to the video, the veteran officer, Gildardo Sierra, stepped onto the parkway and walked a semicircle about the prone Farmer as three bright flashes went off. Obey the feds or else. We have a socialist President and an aggressive Administration where disobedience to its new rules will be severly punished. And, shockingly, such disobedience is already being punished in a park near you. A single event can beautifully illuminate the darkness ahead. "Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions." The Death of Laquan McDonald Introduction by The Editor: Black Lives Matter group is pressured to expand the scope of its outrage. Video released last month that shows a police officer killing 17-year-old Laquan McDonald with 16 bullets ignited passion on the streets of Chicago. Protesters disrupted shoppers along the famed Magnificent Mile, the city's police chief was fired, and the Justice Department launched an investigation into racial disparities in officers' use of force. Wagging the dog in Chicago. The [Laquan McDonald] incident was captured on police dash cam when it happened, so authorities knew right away what the truth was (the public, meanwhile, had to wait over a year for the truth). Not to mention multiple officers witnessed their colleague shoot a 17 year old in the back while he was walking away, and continued to pump him full of lead after he had collapsed to the pavement, convulsing as the bullets tore into his body. Nevertheless, the union wasted no time cranking up its PR machine in protection of the shooter. Republicans Must Save the Cities. A Chicago police officer has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager who was wielding a knife and who had PCP in his system. Chicago authorities apparently went to some trouble to sweep the case under the rug: A $5 million settlement to his family already had been approved; the officer wasn't charged until nearly a year after the fact; a police-camera video of the shooting was suppressed for more than a year, until an FOIA lawsuit forced its release. Chicago Deserves Riots Over The Laquan McDonald Shooting And Coverup. Chicago is bracing for riots after the release of a video of a black teenager, 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, being shot 16 times by a Chicago police officer. [...] From what we know, McDonald was hopped up on hallucinogenic drugs and in his addled state had attacked a police car and slashed its tires with a knife, so he was definitely a danger to himself and others and needed to be apprehended. But when he was shot, he was trying to walk away from police and did not pose an immediate danger to them, so the hail of bullets that took him down — and kept pumping into him after he was on the ground — was grotesquely excessive. But that's not the real grievance. The real grievance is the total contempt the city government of Chicago has always shown for its citizens. President Cop-Basher Strangely Mute on Laquan McDonald Case. You would think this one is right in his wheelhouse. A cop acted stupidly, it happened in his hometown and the mayor is his former Chief of Staff, so it's not as if he can't get the facts, right? By now Obama would have normally unleashed his Justice Department to get to the bottom of this obvious political cover-up. Strange. We just can't put out finger on why a guy with verbal diarrhea isn't expressing his outrage. Unless maybe, just maybe the fact Chicago is a Democrat cesspool of corruption. Could that be it? Chicago paid $5 million to shooting victim's family, keeping them quiet and video secret while Rahm re-elected. As Chicago is convulsed over video of Office James McDonald emptying his gun into 17 year old Laquan McDonald with 16 shots, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is so far escaping scrutiny over the city's successful effort to suppress the shooting as an issue in his re-election campaign. The shooting took place on October 20, 2014, and Mayor Emanuel was facing a nonpartisan election 4 months later, on February 24, 2015. Since no one received a majority of the vote (Emanuel received 46% to runner-up Democratic Cook County Commissioner Jesús "Chuy" García's 34%, a run-off election was held on April 7, with Emanuel winning 55.7% of the vote and a second term. Chicago's police scandal fueled by decades of one-party rule. Last year, police officer Jason Van Dyke killed Laquan McDonald, a black teenager. Van Dyke put 16 bullets in him. Five other officers claimed McDonald had lunged at them menacingly with a knife. But that's not what happened. A police dashcam video shows that although McDonald was carrying a knife, he was walking away from Van Dyke when the cop fired the first bullet. McDonald was lying on the pavement, motionless, for the next 15. The officer was out of his car for just seconds before he started shooting. Perhaps reasonable people — or at least Van Dyke's lawyers — can disagree about the first bullet, though I can't see what that argument would be. But the next 15? Alleging Cover-Up In Laquan McDonald Shooting, Rev. Jackson Planning Protest On State Street Sunday. Reverend Jesse Jackson plans to lead yet another protest of the city's handling of the Laquan McDonald case Sunday [12/6/2015] on State Street in the Loop, reports WBBM's Mike Krauser. The point of the protest, says Jackson, is the cover-up. There are written reports from officers at the scene when Jason Van Dyke shot Laquan McDonald 16 times that don't fit the dashcam video. DOJ launches investigation into Chicago police. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced Monday [12/7/2015] the launching of an investigation into the Chicago Police Department for possible civil rights and other violations. The investigation comes as the police force is under intense scrutiny since the recent release of a video showing white police officer Jason Van Dyke shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times. The announcement also comes just ahead of the expected release of similar footage in another young black man's death at the hands of an officer. The Death of Eric Garner Introduction by The Editor: Summary: Judge won't release grand jury testimony from Eric Garner case. A Staten Island judge ruled that testimony heard by the grand jury that declined to indict a cop in the Eric Garner chokehold death should not be made public. In his ruling, State Supreme Court Justice William Garnett said such a disclosure would threaten the independence of the secret deliberations and he notes that the U.S. Department of Justice is still investigating the proceedings for potential civil rights violations. FBI agents take 'fresh look' at Eric Garner case. A team of senior-level FBI agents with decades of experience in long-term criminal and public corruption cases are handling the federal civil rights investigation into the controversial chokehold death of an unarmed black man by a white police officer, two law enforcement sources said Tuesday [1/20/2015]. OCME: Police chokehold caused Eric Garner's death. The New York City medical examiner ruled Friday [8/1/2014] that a police officer's chokehold caused the death of a man whose videotaped arrest and final pleas of "I can't breathe!" sparked outrage and led to the announcement of a complete overhaul of use-of-force training for the nation's largest police force. Cop cleared in chokehold death of Eric Garner. A Staten Island grand jury cleared an NYPD cop in the chokehold death of Eric Garner during his caught-on-video arrest for peddling loose cigarettes, the Staten Island district attorney confirmed Wednesday [12/3/2014]. The panel voted a "no-bill" and dismissed all potential charges against Officer Daniel Pantaleo. The Actual Facts of the Eric Garner Case. The autopsy from the medical examiner attributed his death to homicide — meaning death at the hands of another party, not murder, in medical parlance — and stated that he died thanks to "Compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police." But the autopsy further noted that Garner died thanks to acute and chronic bronchial asthma, obesity, and heart disease. Blame only the man who tragically decided to resist. Eric Garner was a career petty criminal who'd experienced dozens of arrests, but had learned nothing from them. He was on the street July 17, selling untaxed cigarettes one at a time — which, as inconsequential as it seems, happens to be a crime. Yet another arrest was under way when, suddenly, Garner balked. "This ends here," he shouted — as it turned out, tragically prophetic words — as he began struggling with the arresting officer. Again, this was a bad decision. Garner suffered from a range of medical ailments — advanced diabetes, plus heart disease and asthma so severe that either malady might have killed him, it was said at the time. Still, he fought — and at one point during the struggle, a cop wrapped his arm around Garner's neck. Eric Garner's America. It is obvious from the video of the Garner incident that it was a feat of monstrous negligence by the New York Police Department. They had no excuse to take him into custody and did it brutally, and ignored his claims that he couldn't breathe. It was an even more outrageous performance by a gang of gonzo American police than the infamous Rodney King beating, which King, at least, survived, and in which he had apparently committed some traffic violations late at night. Garner had not apparently done anything seriously wrong (or perhaps anything wrong at all) and was harassed and baited in broad daylight by a group of policemen, some of whom were dressed like lager louts. There is no reason to believe that the policeman who applied the chokehold intended to kill Garner, but the whole group is guilty of criminal negligence resulting in involuntary manslaughter, and a serious investigation and legal process could establish levels of guilt and appropriate penalties. A Medical Perspective on the Garner Tragedy. Having reviewed the video several times now, and being a physician who specialized in the surgery of the very obese, I believe that the cause of Mr. Garner's death was not "police brutality" or negligence, but rather the unfortunate synergy between his disease of morbid obesity and actions most police perform countless times with only transient discomfort to the arrestee. The decision of the Grand Jury was reasonable. Mr. Garner's demise was the consequence of a confluence of many factors, most of which were beyond the ken of a policeman, and which occurred in devastatingly rapid sequence. The Role that Obama's Runaway Bureaucracy Played in the Death of Eric Garner. Garner starts off in the video showing anger that the police have confronted him repeatedly, over time, not just that day. He does not appear to be threatening anyone, and according to reports had in fact just stopped a fight between other people. So it's not clear why the police elected to use force on him. A citation would probably have sufficed. But a citation for what? Garner was reportedly selling "loosies," individual cigarettes taken out of their original packaging. That's a crime? Yep. Since 2010, that's a crime, sayeth the unaccountable bureaucrats at the Food and Drug Administration. More about cigarette taxes and nanny state restrictions on smoking. The Department of Justice vs Apple Computer This subsection has moved to this page.Anything you have ever said can be used against you Introduction by The Editor: Baltimore Brings Back Controversial Cellphone Hacking System. Cellebrite is a dream come true for police surveillance. Plug in any cellphone, even a locked one, and get a full report of every file on its hard drive. Cellebrite, along with its main competitor, Grayshift, is one of the few companies offering this service. No wonder the Baltimore Police Department, like 6,900 other law enforcement agencies, bought a subscription. Where police saw a dream, however, courts saw a constitutional nightmare. In September 2022, the 5th Appellate Judicial Circuit in Maryland ruled that police must stop using "general and overbroad warrants" to scrape the entire content of people's cellphones. After the ruling, Baltimore police announced that they would suspend their use of Cellebrite and work with lawyers "to ensure the current search warrant template is in line with all requirements." Less than a year after the ruling, Baltimore cops re-upped their Cellebrite subscription, Reason has learned. Your Car Stores Your Text Messages And Police Can Retrieve Them Anytime, After Federally Rejected Lawsuit. In a recent legal decision that's stirring debate, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that cars storing text and call information from cell phones don't violate privacy laws. This ruling is at the center of a significant legal battle and reflects wider concerns about the erosion of personal privacy in the digital age. The lawsuit involved major car manufacturers like Ford, General Motors, Honda, Toyota, and Volkswagen. The plaintiffs argued that these companies violated the Washington State Privacy Act by programming cars to automatically download and store all text messages and call logs from connected cell phones. They claimed this happened without their knowledge, presenting a serious invasion of privacy. Jack Smith Will Use Trump's Cellphone Data in Federal Election Trial. Anti-Trump special counsel Jack Smith revealed that he plans to present data analysts to comment on Donald Trump's White House cellphone and Twitter data in an upcoming Washington, D.C., trial in the federal election case. Smith wrote in a court filing on Dec. 11, 2023, that the government intended to call up to three expert witnesses to testify in the case. Trump is charged with four counts related to his post-election efforts to challenge the process and results of the 2020 election, according to the Epoch Times. The filing also explained how leftist prosecutors plan to use the mountains of data obtained under warrant from Twitter about Trump's account, including location data. After Seattle protests, texts from mayor's phone were deleted, court filing shows. A newly disclosed forensic analysis has found that 191 texts were manually deleted from an iPhone of former Mayor Jenny Durkan in the months after her administration's controversial response to racial justice protests in June 2020, according to the latest filings in a federal lawsuit. The previously unknown manual text deletions from Durkan's phone — along with other new details, including that "factory resets" were performed on phones of six other city officials in fall 2020, resulting in the deletions of thousands of other text messages — are among the revelations contained in the findings of an expert's 32-page report completed in April. The expert's report, along with a host of other exhibits, was filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle late Wednesday to bolster new arguments raised by attorneys for several businesses and residents suing the city for damages they say were caused by Seattle's weekslong tolerance of a sprawling protest zone two years ago. With the FBI seizing phones and computers, Congress should act. Peter Strzok, one of the major players in the Russia hoax against President Trump, put out a tweet boasting about how many cell phones the FBI has taken from people who support President Trump or question the 2020 election. [...] As Mike Lindell said when his phone was taken, he runs everything through it: his business and his personal life. Heck, even his hearing aids are managed through his phone. Presumably, though, like the other people from whom the FBI has seized their electronics, Lindell can replace phones and computers and, if he's smart, he has backups in his home or on the cloud. What about those people, though, who lack the means instantly to replace a seized computer or telephone? What are they supposed to do when the FBI walks away with it and refuses to return it for days, weeks, months, or years? The Editor says... CBP sparks privacy fears after it's revealed that 2,700 of its officers have warrantless access to travelers' confiscated phones. Thousands of US government officials have unlimited access to as many as 10,000 devices which are seized from travelers moving across the country. Electronic devices such as cellphones, iPads and laptops taken from those going through airports, seaports and border crossings are being mined for data. The leader of the Customs and Border Protection told congressional staff that the massive database can be accessed by 2,700 CBP officers without a warrant. During a briefing, which took place in the summer, officials also said that the data is maintained for 15 years. It has raised alarms in Congress about what the government is using the information or, with many of the devices taken from people not suspected of any criminal activity. Trump ally Rep. Scott Perry says the FBI seized his cell phone one day after Mar-a-Lago raid. Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania says that the FBI has confiscated his cellphone. Perry, in an exclusive statement, told Fox News on Tuesday that while traveling with his family earlier in the day, he was approached by three FBI agents who handed him a warrant and requested that he turn over his cellphone. The confiscation of the congressman's personal phone comes one day after FBI agents searched former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. FBI Doubles Down: Key GOP Congressman's Phone Seized. One day after the FBI raided former President Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago, agents confronted U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) and seized his cell phone while the congressman was at an airport with his family. Three FBI agents approached Perry, handed over a warrant for his cell phone, and then seized the mobile device — apparently without previously trying to contact his attorney. In a statement, Perry slammed the seizure and the Biden administration's politicization of the Justice Department. "This morning, while traveling with my family, 3 FBI agents visited me and seized my cell phone," Perry recounted. "They made no attempt to contact my lawyer, who would have made arrangements for them to have my phone if that was their wish." Joe Biden's Weaponized FBI Seizes Phone of Nevada GOP Leader in Ridiculous Move. The weaponization of the FBI continues after what some would describe as Joe Biden's personal police force seized the phone of a Nevada GOP leader on Wednesday. That report comes via 8 News Now, a local station in the state. Per their sources, the FBI served a search warrant on Michael McDonald, the Republican chairman in Nevada. They seized his phone in relation to an "investigation" into the so-called "fake electors" scheme propagated after the 2020 election. Capitol Police examines backgrounds, social media feeds of some who meet with lawmakers. After the Jan. 6 insurrection, the Capitol Police's intelligence unit quietly started scrutinizing the backgrounds of people who meet with lawmakers, according to three people familiar with the matter. Politico also viewed written communications describing the new approach, part of a host of changes that the department implemented after the Capitol attack. Examining the social media feeds of people who aren't suspected of crimes, however, is a controversial move for law enforcement and intelligence officials given the civil liberties concerns it raises. Among those who have been subject to new Capitol Police scrutiny are Hill staffers, the three people said. Los Angeles Police Tried Out Social Media Surveillance Software To Spy On The Public. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) partnered with a data analytics company to spy on social media profiles, according to internal LAPD documents. In 2019, the LAPD engaged in a four-month trial with data collection and surveillance software company Voyager Labs, according to documents requested by the Brennan Center for Justice and first reported by The Guardian. The software offers the ability to surveil and analyze massive amounts of data collected from social media profiles, according to communications between Voyager and the LAPD. Jan. 6 commission chair seeks texts, phone data from GOP members, Trump associates despite FBI findings. The Democratic chairman of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's select committee to probe the origins of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building said Monday [8/23/2021] he will seek text messages and phone records from some Republican colleagues as well as associates of former President Donald Trump as part of the investigation. While he declined to identify the GOP lawmakers whose records he is seeking, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said the panel is contacting technology and communications companies along with social media platforms and other sources for records from the day of the breach. "We have quite an exhaustive list of people. I won't tell you who they are, but it's several hundred people that make up the list of people we are planning to contact," he said after being asked if family members of the former president were included. FBI Uses Instagram, Etsy Review To Nab Woman Accused Of Torching Philly Cop Car. One accused arsonist learned the hard way that if you're going to wear your new shirt to torch a cop car, you may want to think twice about leaving a product review for your new threads. [...] The FBI says the system of tracking users through social media is called "open source intelligence" and can be very successful, particularly when suspects are of an age where social media use is ubiquitous. Police interrogate Alexa for clues in fatal spear-stabbing. Police in South Florida plan to interrogate a potential witness to a fatal stabbing: Amazon's Alexa smart speaker app. Last week, the South Florida SunSentinel reported that police in Hallandale Beach issued a search warrant for anything recorded by two devices — an Echo and Echo Dot — found in the apartment where a woman who was arguing with her boyfriend was killed in July. Police have accused Adam Reechard Crespo of murdering his girlfriend, Silvia Galva. Somewhat related: It's Easier to Track One Man Through His Cellphone Than a 110,000-Ton Aircraft Carrier. Recently the New York Times described how not just criminals but everyone is being tracked by Google. "Google is a dragnet for the police," wrote the NYT. "The tech giant records people's locations worldwide. Now, investigators are using it to find suspects and witnesses near crimes". [...] It turns out that people have been sending out tracking beacons for years. Google has "been tracking the location of almost every Android device owner for over a decade," according to ZDNet. New Documents Reveal DHS Asserting Broad, Unconstitutional Authority to Search Travelers' Phones and Laptops. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the ACLU today asked a federal court to rule without trial that the Department of Homeland Security violates the First and Fourth Amendments by searching travelers' smartphones and laptops at airports and other U.S. ports of entry without a warrant. The request for summary judgment comes after the groups obtained documents and deposition testimony revealing that U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorize border officials to search travelers' phones and laptops for general law enforcement purposes, and consider requests from other government agencies when deciding whether to conduct such warrantless searches. Google Tracks Your Location and Shares It With Police, Even When Your Phone is Off. Over the last two decades, cell phone use has become an everyday part of life for the vast majority of people around the planet. Nearly without question, consumers have chosen to carry these increasingly smart devices with them everywhere they go. Despite surveillance revelations from whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, the average smart phone user continues to carry the devices with little to no security or protection from privacy invasions. Americans make up one of the largest smartphone markets in the world today, yet they rarely question how intelligence agencies or private corporations might be using their smartphone data. Apple Gives Deep State Access To Roger Stone's iCloud Account, After Refusing To Violate Privacy of San Bernardino Terrorists. Three years after Apple refused to give the federal government access to the devices used by the San Bernadino terrorists who killed and injured dozens in a mass shooting event, the company has given the office of the Special Counsel complete access to Trump advisor Roger Stone's iCloud account, reports Apple Insider. Mueller has evidence from Roger Stone's iCloud account. Following former Trump campaign advisor Roger Stone's arrest last week, the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller said Thursday [1/31/2019 (?)] that it has obtained numerous electronic devices belonging to Stone, as well as access to his iCloud account. The evidence collected, per CNN, includes "multiple hard drives containing several terabytes of information consisting of, among other things, FBI case reports, search warrant applications and results (e.g., Apple iCloud accounts and email accounts)." Also included in the evidence are bank accounts and the hard drives of the devices themselves. Another former Trump adviser, Paul Manafort also had evidence from his iCloud account lead to major legal trouble in connection with the Mueller investigation. Stone and Manafort were business partners for a time in the '80s. iPhone hacking tool Cellebrite being sold on eBay. Cellebrite UFED, an iPhone hacking tool made in Israel and widely used by the law enforcement authorities including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Customs Enforcement and Immigration departments is surprisingly up for sale on eBay. This tool is mainly used for hacking or breaking open modern mobile phones such as iPhones and Androids for the sole purpose of obtaining data. The law enforcement authorities primarily use Cellebrite to extract data from Google smartphones and Apple devices. Reveal your passwords? Gun bill threatens more than 2nd Amendment. [Scroll down] The ink wasn't even dry on vote totals putting Democrats in charge of the State Senate when Brooklyn's Kevin Parker introduced a chilling bill. It would require anyone applying for a handgun permit or for the mandated recertification every five years to provide the State Police with their log-in and password so troopers can search their social media accounts for the prior three years and review their Google or Yahoo search history for the prior year. Police would look for everything from "commonly known profane slurs or biased language" to posts "threatening ... another person" to the ridiculously vague "any other issue deemed necessary by the New York state police." One hardly need be a constitutional scholar to recognize this blanket permission slip constitutes a blatant assault on free speech and an intrusion on privacy rights with no semblance of due process or judicial review. Police: Woman remotely wipes phone in evidence after shooting. A cellphone seized by police as part of an investigation into a drive-by shooting last month was remotely wiped by its owner, authorities said this week. Police believe Juelle L. Grant, 24, of Willow Avenue, may have been the driver of a vehicle involved in an Oct. 23 drive-by shooting on Van Vranken Avenue, near Lang Street, so they obtained her phone, according to police allegations filed in court. No one was injured in the shooting. After police took her iPhone X, telling her it was considered evidence, "she did remotely wipe" the device, according to police. Police decrypt 258,000 messages after breaking pricey IronChat crypto app. Police in the Netherlands said they decrypted more than 258,000 messages sent using IronChat, an app billed as providing end-to-end encryption that was endorsed by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden. Update: Through a representative at the American Civil Liberties Union, Snowden said he had never heard of the app until recently and has never endorsed it. In a statement published Tuesday [11/6/2018], Dutch police said officers achieved a "breakthrough in the interception and decryption of encrypted communication" in an investigation into money laundering. The encrypted messages, according to the statement, were sent by IronChat, an app that runs on a device that cost thousands of dollars and could send only text messages. What To Do If Your Phone Is Seized By The Police. You're taken to the police station, you're booked, and your phone is confiscated. When you're let out, after a few hours or even a few days, your phone is handed back to you in a plastic baggie; the SIM card and SD card taped to the back. Someone has definitely gone through your digital belongings. What does it mean? Your digital belongings — phone, SIM, SD card data could have been copied and gone through. Your phone may have been turned on, apps and browsers opened. The cops might have access to any accounts your phone was logged into, this means they may have read personal communication, noted your personal accounts including email addresses, social media account names to follow, sent messages or made posts using your log in. The SIM card contains a lot of personally identifying information that ties the phone to its user. It can also contain contact lists as a series of pairs of name and phone number. This means that if your SIM card is searched, it's possible that the police will now identify and target the people you have in your address book. Police track the location of individuals through the location of their mobile phone and SIM card, your unique phone and SIM combination may now be used to locate you. Sheriff's Dept.: The 1,079 Privileged Jailhouse Calls We Intercepted Was Actually 34,000 Calls. A few months back, the Orange County Sheriff's Department admitted it had been listening in on privileged conversations. Calls from inmates to lawyers were being swept up along with everything else by service provider Global Tel Link. This violation of state law (among other things) jeopardized dozens of prosecutions. In all, GTL's so-called "technical error" resulted in the interception of more than 1,000 privileged calls. The Sheriff's Department claimed it told GTL to fix the problem, but didn't appear to have been terribly bothered by this evidentiary windfall... some of which made its way into the hands of prosecutors. It made several disappointed noises about its provider when confronted in court, but its quasi-proactive "knock it off" — directed towards GTL — didn't explain its lack of proactivity when it came to informing criminal defendants and their legal reps their cases may have been compromised by attorney-client privilege violations. Feds took woman's iPhone at border, she sued, now they agree to delete data. An American Muslim woman who two months ago asked a federal judge to compel border officials to erase data copied from her iPhone 6S Plus has settled her lawsuit with the government — federal authorities have now agreed to delete the seized data. The case, Lazoja v. Nielsen, involves what's called a Rule 41(g) Motion, otherwise known as a "Motion to Return Property." Normally, this rule is invoked for tangible items seized as part of a criminal investigation, not for digital data that can easily be copied, bit for bit. Here, the plaintiff, Rejhane Lazoja, asked the judge to return data that she already has — after all, federal authorities eventually returned her iPhone after 90 days, fully intact. iOS 12 stops police unlocking your iPhone. Apple is constantly working to improve the security on its devices and protect our data. This has led to improved encryption and a shift from simple passcodes to fingerprint and most recently facial recognition on its smartphones. The security measures are so good, police seizing an iPhone have to be careful not to look directly at it. There is one thorn in Apple's side when it comes to security, though, and that's the company Grayshift. Founded in 2016, it offers law enforcement agencies around the world an iPhone unlocking device called GrayKey. It works, or at least it did until now, and has won Grayshift many customers. However, that all changed with iOS 12. Apple's iOS 12 update breaks iPhone-cracking GrayKey forensic tool. GrayKey is unable to crack the passcodes of iPhones running the new software, sources in the forensic industry told Forbes. The only possibility is a "partial extraction," meaning the downloading of unencrypted files and metadata such as filesizes and folder structures. It's even unclear what Apple did to improve security. "It could be everything from better kernel protection to stronger configuration-profile installation restrictions," said Elcomsoft's Vladimir Katalov. The GrayKey hardware uses a form of "brute forcing" to run through iPhone passwords, and with previous iOS releases was somehow able to defeat Apple's safeguards against the tactic. It's now in use with law enforcement in multiple countries, including the U.S. and the U.K. New Zealand tells travelers: Cough up your phone passwords or pay the price. Next time you're in New Zealand be prepared to hand over your phone password or cough up about $3,300. Under a new law, the Customs and Excise Act 2018, Kiwi officials will be able to demand that travelers unlock any electronic device at the border, so it can be searched. Refuse and those same officials could potentially confiscate your phone. The updated law makes it clear that travelers must provide access. That could be in the form of a fingerprint, a PIN code or a password. Going to New Zealand? You may need to hand over your phone password. New Zealand's Customs and Excise Act 2018 came into effect at the beginning of October. Under the new law, customs officers can now ask travellers for their password, fingerprint or pin code at the point of entry in order to access their device. Those that do not comply could be faced with a fine up to NZ$5,000 (£1,250). Under previous laws, customs officers could ask to see digital devices, but were unable to request passwords. Aside from the fine, if you are asked to unlock your device and do not comply, it can now be seized and withheld for forensic testing and you could face prosecution. [...] While you can currently be searched at the border into various countries around the world, New Zealand is the first to introduce fines. The US has a different way of dealing with the non-compliant. Visitors to Donald Trump's America could have their device simply confiscated and find themselves refused access to the country. You can be turned around and sent on your merry way — possibly without a phone to let anyone know. FBI repeatedly overstated encryption threat figures to Congress, public. The FBI has repeatedly provided grossly inflated statistics to Congress and the public about the extent of problems posed by encrypted cellphones, claiming investigators were locked out of nearly 7,800 devices connected to crimes last year when the correct number was much smaller, probably between 1,000 and 2,000, The Washington Post has learned. Over a period of seven months, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray cited the inflated figure as the most compelling evidence for the need to address what the FBI calls "Going Dark" — the spread of encrypted software that can block investigators' access to digital data even with a court order. FBI Admits It Inflated Number of Supposedly Unhackable Devices. We've learned that the FBI has been misinforming Congress and the public as part of its call for backdoor access to encrypted devices. For months, the Bureau has claimed that encryption prevented it from legally searching the contents of nearly 7,800 devices in 2017, but today the Washington Post reports that the actual number is far lower due to "programming errors" by the FBI. Frankly, we're not surprised. FBI Director Christopher Wray and others argue that law enforcement needs some sort of backdoor "exceptional access" in order to deal with the increased adoption of encryption, particularly on mobile devices. And the 7,775 supposedly unhackable phones encountered by the FBI in 2017 have been central to Wray's claim that their investigations are "Going Dark." But the scope of this problem is called into doubt by services offered by third-party vendors like Cellebrite and Grayshift, which can reportedly bypass encryption on even the newest phones. US cell carriers are selling access to your real-time phone location data. Four of the largest cell giants in the US are selling your real-time location data to a company that you've probably never heard about before. In case you missed it, a senator last week sent a letter demanding the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigate why Securus, a prison technology company, can track any phone "within seconds" by using data obtained from the country's largest cell giants, including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint, through an intermediary, LocationSmart. The story blew up because a former police sheriff snooped on phone location data without a warrant, according The New York Times. The sheriff has pleaded not guilty to charges of unlawful surveillance. Senator wants to know how police can locate any phone in seconds without a warrant. A senator is demanding that the FCC investigate why a company, contracted to monitor calls of prison inmates, also allows police to track phones of anyone in the US without a warrant. The bombshell story in The New York Times revealed Securus, a Texas-based prison technology company, could track any phone "within seconds" by obtaining data from cellular giants — including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon — typically reserved for marketers. The report said former Mississippi County sheriff Cory Hutcheson used the service nearly a dozen times to track the phones of other offices, and even targeted a judge. Service Meant to Monitor Inmates' Calls Could Track You, Too. Thousands of jails and prisons across the United States use a company called Securus Technologies to provide and monitor calls to inmates. But the former sheriff of Mississippi County, Mo., used a lesser-known Securus service to track people's cellphones, including those of other officers, without court orders, according to charges filed against him in state and federal court. The service can find the whereabouts of almost any cellphone in the country within seconds. It does this by going through a system typically used by marketers and other companies to get location data from major cellphone carriers, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, documents show. Supreme Court says warrant necessary for phone location data. Carpenter v. United States is the first case about phone location data that the Supreme Court has ruled on. That makes it a landmark decision regarding how law enforcement agencies can use technology as they build cases. The court heard arguments in the case on Nov. 29. The dispute dates back to a 2011 robbery in Detroit, after which police gathered months of phone location data from Timothy Carpenter's phone provider. They pulled together 12,898 different locations from Carpenter, over 127 days. The legal and privacy concern was that police gathered the four months' worth of Carpenter's digital footprints without a warrant. A Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals judge ruled that cellphone location data isn't protected by the Fourth Amendment, which forbids unreasonable search and seizure, and therefore didn't require a warrant. Supreme Court says government needed warrant to search cellphone tower records. The justices ruled for Timothy Carpenter, who is serving a 116-year sentence for his role in armed robberies in 2010 and 2011 at RadioShack and T-Mobile stores in and around Detroit. He was accused of being the ringleader of a gang stealing smartphones. One of the men arrested said Carpenter typically organized the robberies, supplied the guns and acted as a lookout. Authorities asked his cellphone carrier for 127 days of records that would show Carpenter's use of his phone. Such records indicate where a cellphone establishes connections with a specific cell tower and give a fair representation of the vicinity of the user. In Carpenter's case, the mass of information showed his phone at 12,898 locations, including close to where the robberies occurred when they took place. SCOTUS: Police State Surveillance Dealt a Setback, but Future Uncertain. Yesterday [6/22/2018], the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the case of Carpenter v. United States, reversing and remanding Mr. Carpenter's conviction for armed robbery. That conviction had been obtained in part by using detailed Cell Site Location Information (ACSLI), which the police acquired without a warrant and which showed Mr. Carpenter's whereabouts at the time of various crimes. This procedure, which allows law enforcement ready access to the whereabouts of every American with a cell phone every minute of his life, was authorized by Congress in the Stored Communications Act of 1986. In this case, the government obtained Carpenter's CSLI through use of a subpoena signed by a federal magistrate, which was based on "reasonable grounds" and a representation that the records were "relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation" — quite a departure from a warrant based on probable cause, as required by the Fourth Amendment. In this case, the government had argued that cell phone users "voluntarily convey" this information to their cell phone providers, even though few people even know what CSLI is or that it is being collected any time their phones are turned on, even when they are not using them. Cohen Prosecutors to Get Seized Phone Data by Wednesday. U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan will get a vast array of data seized from three phones belonging to President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen by Wednesday [5/30/2018], according to a filing from a retired judge reviewing materials taken by the FBI. Cops Kill Unarmed Dad in Parking Lot, Crash Funeral to Use His Dead Finger to Unlock Phone. [Scroll down] The family also claimed that police took Phillip's phone after they killed him and then visited the Sylvan Abbey Funeral Home and demanded access to Phillip's dead body so that they could use his finger to unlock the phone. Now, as this recent revelation confirms, police indeed crashed the funeral to use a dead man's finger to unlock his phone. Making the government less larcenous. On Sept. 21, 2015, [Gerardo] Serrano drove up to the Eagle Pass, Texas, border crossing, intending to try to interest a Mexican cousin in expanding his solar panel installation business in the United States. To have mementos of his trip, he took some pictures of the border with his cellphone camera, which annoyed two U.S. Custom and Border Protection agents, who demanded the password to his phone. Serrano, who is what an American ought to be regarding his rights, prickly, refused to submit to such an unwarranted invasion of his privacy. One agent said he was "sick of hearing about your rights" and "you have no rights here." GrayKey iPhone unlocker poses serious security concerns. Ever since the case of the San Bernadino shooter pitted Apple against the FBI over the unlocking of an iPhone, opinions have been split on providing backdoor access to the iPhone for law enforcement. Some felt that Apple was aiding and abetting a felony by refusing to create a special version of iOS with a backdoor for accessing the phone's data. Others believed that it's impossible to give backdoor access to law enforcement without threatening the security of law-abiding citizens. In an interesting twist, the battle ended with the FBI dropping the case after finding a third party who could help. At the time, it was theorized that the third party was Cellebrite. Since then it has become known that Cellebrite — an Israeli company — does provide iPhone unlocking services to law enforcement agencies. Austin bombing suspect dead, apparently tracked down by surveillance state. A 24-year-old "white male" suspect in the bombing spree afflicting Austin, Texas is dead after blowing himself up in his car while being fired upon by police. Information is still very fragmentary, but according to reports on Fox News this morning [3/21/2018], police were led to him through the blanket surveillance capabilities that have come characterize American society in the wake of the "war on terror." Truck driver caught texting about texting laws. It's one thing to get caught texting while driving, but getting caught texting while driving about texting while driving? That's a new one. It happened to a truck driver in Kent, U.K., on Tuesday [3/13/2018] after police pulled him over for using his smartphone behind the wheel. Police are creating a national surveillance network using COMTEC, Project Green Light etc. Detroit officials have been using the Macomb County Communications and Technology Center (COMTEC) to spy on everyone since 2013. According to an article in the Macomb Daily News, law enforcement and DoT officials are using CCTV cameras to spy on everyone. [...] But this year things changed for the worse; law enforcement soon made it mandatory for businesses to pay the police to let them spy on everyone. How police can find your deleted text messages. Smartphone forensics experts can retrieve just about anything from any phone. Police will often seize and analyze phones for evidence of things such as indecent photos and videos, what calls were placed when and to whom, browser history, calendar events and explanations of a suicide or murder. All of that can be uncovered whether or not a user deleted it from their phone. GPS is off so you can't be tracked, right? Wrong. Don't want anybody tracking you through your smartphone? Just turn off "location services" or whatever your device calls your GPS, and you will vanish from the online radar screen, right? Of course not. That's never been entirely true — since your phone continues connecting with cell towers even with GPS turned off, anyone with access to that data can come reasonably close to locking in on your location. Recall, as Naked Security's Lisa Vaas reported just a few weeks ago, that lawyers for Timothy Ivory Carpenter, convicted in 2014 of a string of robberies in the Midwest, are arguing that the convictions should be thrown out because prosecutors relied in part on cell tower data for which law enforcement didn't obtain a warrant. Legal arguments aside, the point here is that, as Vaas noted, whether he had his GPS turned on or not was irrelevant. Is Your Cell Phone Protected by the Constitution? If mobile technology reinvented the relationship you have with your phone, a case argued last month in the U.S. Supreme Court has the potential to transform the relationship the police have with it as well. Timothy Ivory Carpenter and his brother, Timothy Michael Sanders, were charged with committing a series of armed robberies in Michigan and Ohio from December 2010 to March 2011. Prosecutors presented evidence during the subsequent trial that when the crimes were perpetrated, the defendants were in the same location at the same time of the occurrences — or at least, their cell phones were. Cell-site location information ("CSLI") is intrinsic to every one of the more than 237 million mobile phones in the United States. This identification data, recorded and maintained by cellular companies, is needed to determine in every instant where to send and receive the information transmitted to and from the phone, so the device is constantly "pinging" or searching for the nearest cell tower. Police — acting without a warrant — obtained Carpenter's and Sanders's phone location information along with other evidence; the two men wound up being convicted of nine robberies. SCOTUS and the Spy in Your Pocket. For many of us, the information we carry around on a smart phone is the Rosetta Stone to decipher our lives. Our appointments, personal and business contacts, notes, favorite tunes, photographs, and many more windows into the inner recesses of our lives and livelihoods can be found there. Besides the incredibly personal and valuable information inside our smart phones, our cell phone service providers have plenty of our valuable information, such as with whom we have spoken and even a record of our locations. And under present law, police and prosecutors don't need a warrant issued after probable cause to obtain it from those companies and look at it. Is It Unreasonable to Expect Cellphone Privacy? A case that comes before the Supreme Court Wednesday [11/29/2017] may erode or solidify Justice Antonin Scalia's legacy. How the justices decide in Carpenter v. U.S. won't matter as much as how they reason. If they use the "reasonable expectation of privacy" test to decide whether the government can access cellphone users' location data without a warrant, Scalia's contributions to Fourth Amendment jurisprudence will be negated. But if the high court recognizes that data as owned in part by cellphone users, Scalia's legacy will be secured, along with the Constitution's safeguards against unreasonable search and seizure. The plaintiff, Timothy Ivory Carpenter, was convicted in 2014 of participating in a string of armed robberies in the Detroit area and sentenced to 116 years in federal prison. Investigators obtained court orders netting 127 days of Mr. Carpenter's cellphone records, showing that his phone was in communication with cell towers near the sites of four robberies. The court will decide whether investigators should have gained access to that data under a relatively low statutory standard requiring that the information be "relevant" to an ongoing investigation, or whether they should have asked a court for a warrant based on probable cause. Police are getting a lot of use out of cell phone extraction tech. Mobile phone forensic extraction devices have been a law enforcement tool for years now, and the number of agencies using them is only rising. As part of an ongoing investigation, we have finally been able to turn up some usage logs of this equipment, from Tulsa Police Department and Tucson Police Department. While the logs do not list the cause of the crime or any other notes about why the phone was being searched, it does list the make of the phone, the date, and the type of extraction. 8 Really Bad Laws That Went Into Effect Today. [#3] Cellphone tracking in Connecticut: Among the 140 laws going into effect in Connecticut today [10/1/2017] is one that aims to regulate cellphone tracking by police agencies. Unfortunately, the law gives cops too much discretion to use the cell site simulator devices that make phone tracking possible. Specifically, the law permits police to use such devices for 48 hours without a court order during "exigent circumstances" (despite it not taking nearly that long to obtain a warrant even in an "exigent" circumstance) and for two weeks under an "ex parte court order," which means police don't have to notify anyone about the tracking. Legislators also brought in use of cell site simulators to intercept communications under the state's wiretap laws, allowing prosecutors to ask a three-judge panel to issue ex parte wiretap orders for them. Facebook fighting court order over law enforcement access. Facebook is fighting a court order that blocks the social media giant from letting users know when law enforcement investigators ask to search their online information, particularly their political affiliations and comments. Should the government be able to get its paws on your cell phone info? That's what the Supreme Court must decide. By agreeing to review a case called United States v. Carpenter, the high court is wading into particularly treacherous waters. The issue: Should an individual's presumed right to privacy outweigh the ability of our law enforcement to use modern technology to solve crimes? Amorous trysts are one thing. Taking your cell phone with you to rob a bank is something else. If the information that your cell phone transmits to your carrier confirms your presence at the bank while it's being robbed, is that something the police should know? Police are getting a lot of use out of cell phone extraction tech. First, let's go over what extraction devices are being used here. Tucson PD opted for the brand that is arguably the worldwide leader in mobile device forensics, the Israeli company Cellebrite. Tulsa Police Department however opted for a few different models — they purchased two different password breakers from Teel Technologies in 2015, and in March 2016 gave about $1,500 to Susteen for their SecureView extraction device (SecureView was the product Susteen created when the FBI requested they create a more advanced extraction device for them). It does its work instantly, and has an incredible reach into a phone's data. They renewed this contract in 2017. In August 2016 they also purchased the Detective extraction device from Oxygen Forensics. Oxygen is much less common than Cellebrite, from what we have found. Supreme Court To Consider Fourth Amendment Implications Of Cell Site Location Info. We've been waiting a long time for the Supreme Court to tackle the Fourth Amendment implications of cell site location info. After putting it off for as long as possible (or so it seems...), the nation's top court is finally ready to handle yesterday's hotly-disputed tech/privacy issue. Sixth Circuit Appeals Court Latest To Say Real-Time Cellphone Location Tracking Not A Fourth Amendment Issue. The Sixth Circuit Appeals Court is the latest to weigh in on cell site location info. It joins every other circuit that has handled the issue in deciding the gathering of cellphone GPS data by law enforcement is not a search under the Fourth Amendment. This decision isn't too surprising considering the court reached the same conclusion last year in a similar case. The difference between the two is the latest case deals with real-time collection of GPS data, rather than historical GPS records. But that's the only difference. Mobile-Phone Privacy Case Draws U.S. Supreme Court Scrutiny. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up a major constitutional test of digital privacy, agreeing to consider whether prosecutors need a warrant to obtain mobile-phone tower records that show someone's location over days or even months. Critics say prosecutors obtain massive amounts of data without ever having to meet the "probable cause" standards for a search warrant. The largest telecommunications providers receive tens of thousands of requests for location information a year under the 1986 Stored Communications Act, which doesn't require a warrant. The court will hear an appeal from Timothy Ivory Carpenter, who is seeking to overturn his conviction for taking part in nine armed robberies of Radio Shacks and T-Mobile stores in the Detroit area. At trial, prosecutors used data obtained from mobile-phone carriers to show that Carpenter was within a half-mile to two miles of the location of each of the robberies when they occurred. Court: Law enforcement can view private Twitter messages. A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that law enforcement agencies can view private messages and tweets posted on Twitter. Anything You Say Around Your Smart Devices Can And Will Be Used Against You In Court. Are your smart devices spying on you for the State? In this video, Vin Armani discusses the danger of prosecutors being able to confiscate the entire voice history on your smart devices, like the popular Amazon Echo, to find wrongdoing. Government requests for Facebook data up 27 percent. Governments worldwide requested Facebook users' data nearly 60,000 times in the first half of 2016, a 27 percent increase over requests made in the second half of 2015, according to a Facebook bi-annual report published this week. In addition to government requests for user data, the report details which content Facebook restricts for violating local laws. The company says it studies each request carefully to determine whether or not it has merit, especially in emergency cases where imminent risk of serious injury or harm is involved. It ultimately handed over data in 80 percent of cases. Canadian man fined $500 for refusing to give cellphone password to customs officials. A Canadian man who was arrested and charged last year for failing to give authorities the password to his cellphone pleaded guilty Monday [8/15/2016] to violating the federal Customs Act and was ordered to pay a $500 fine. Alain Philippon of Montreal risked the possibility of prison time and upwards of $25,000 in penalties had he been convicted of "hindering" under section 153.1 of the Customs Act. Mr. Philippon, 39, was arrested in March 2015 after returning to Canada from the Dominican Republic. He was approached by officers with the Canada Border Services Agency upon arriving at Halifax Stanfield International Airport and was asked to provide authorities with access to his personal Blackberry. When he refused to give up the password needed to unlock the device, officials charged him with hindering, or preventing an officer from doing his job. Woman Accuses Cop of Texting Himself Her Naked Selfie During Traffic Stop. A federal judge is allowing a Virginia woman to move forward with part of her lawsuit against a D.C. police officer, who reportedly took her cell phone during a traffic stop and then proceeded to text himself a 'naked selfie' of the young lady. Officer Terrence Richardson took Natalia Argota's phone while another officer conducted a field sobriety test on her back in 2012, according to court records. He began perusing the images on it, until he came to a "naked photo of [Ms. Argote] that she had taken for her boyfriend." Without Ms. Agote's knowledge or consent, according to court records, Officer Richardson attached a copy of the photo to a text that he sent himself from Ms. Argote's phone. Court Says Police Don't Need Warrants to Get Your Phone's Location Info. After two robbers were tracked down by police who used data obtained from their phone companies, the question arose of whether they can get that sort of information without a warrant. Aaron Graham and Eric Jordan were convicted after officers obtained data from Sprint that let them determine their location. Police used roughly 29,000 location records covering 221 days, obtained without warrant. Whether or not they should have had access to the records was an issue that went before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Fourth Circuit had already upheld the convictions of Graham and Jordan. On Tuesday [5/31/2016], the court ruled after an en banc review (meaning all 15 judges looked at the case instead of the three-judge panel who first heard it) that police do not need a warrant for that information. State To Allow Cops To Snatch Your Phone After Being Stopped And Search It Using A "Textalyzer". New York was the first state to place restrictions on cell phone use while driving, which has prompted 46 other states to ban texting while driving over the last seven years. The issue of driving while distracted — especially texting — has undoubtedly become a huge problem. [...] New York legislators are seeking to expand the state's involvement in the issue, and this time with dire consequences for privacy rights. The proposed bill would allow cops to take a person's cell phone and connect it to a machine called the Textalyzer. Justice Department gets access to iPhone linked to Brooklyn drug case. The Justice Department said Friday [4/22/2016] it has withdrawn a request that sought a court order forcing Apple to assist in opening a locked iPhone 5s linked to a drug case in New York. According to a court filing, the Justice Department no longer needs Apple's assistance in unlocking the device because an individual provided investigators with the correct passcode Thursday [4/21/2016]. This ends months of litigation that has been unfolding in the Eastern District of New York tied to a locked iPhone 5s running iOS7 that belong to a convicted drug kingpin. Apple iPhone unlocking maneuver likely to remain secret. The company that helped the FBI unlock a San Bernardino shooter's iPhone to get data has sole legal ownership of the method, making it highly unlikely the technique will be disclosed by the government to Apple or any other entity, Obama administration sources said this week. The White House has a procedure for reviewing technology security flaws and deciding which ones should be made public. But it is not set up to handle or reveal flaws that are discovered and owned by private companies, the sources said, raising questions about the effectiveness of the so-called Vulnerabilities Equities Process. First came the Breathalyzer, now meet the roadside police "textalyzer". We're all familiar with the Breathalyzer, the brand name for a roadside device that measures a suspected drunken driver's blood-alcohol level. It has been in use for decades. Now there's a so-called "textalyzer" device to help the authorities determine whether someone involved in a motor vehicle accident was unlawfully driving while distracted. The roadside technology is being developed by Cellebrite, the Israeli firm that many believe assisted the Federal Bureau of Investigation in cracking the iPhone at the center of a heated decryption battle with Apple. Under the first-of-its-kind legislation proposed in New York, drivers involved in accidents would have to submit their phone to roadside testing from a textalyzer to determine whether the driver was using a mobile phone ahead of a crash. L.I. woman gets $45G over Queens cop's racy picture, video grab. A woman who accused a Queens cop of invading her privacy by texting himself racy pictures and videos from her cell phone has settled her suit with the city for $45,000, the [New York] Daily News has learned. The settlement is the latest bad news for 12-year NYPD veteran Sean Christian. He pleaded guilty last year to departmental charges, was docked 45 vacation days and placed on dismissal probation. He was also told the city would not indemnify him, exposing him to civil liability. Facebook Monitors Your Private Messages and Photos For Criminal Activity, Reports them to Police. Facebook has a new little known software that monitors your profile chat and pictures for criminal activity. The software will proceed to alert an employee at the company who will then decide whether to call authorities or not. The software will monitor individuals who have a 'loose' relationship on social media networks, according to an interview with Facebook Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan. Be careful what you say to 911. What you say on 911 is recorded. It can and will be used against you in a court of law. My friend and publisher of numerous books on gun laws, Alan Korwin, says that in the vast majority of cases where people involved in self defense scenarios end up in serious legal difficulties, it is what they said on 911 that got them into trouble. Investigators studying cellphone of engineer in fatal Amtrak crash. Investigators trying to determine why an Amtrak train barreled into a curve at more than twice the speed limit are studying the engineer's cellphone to see if he was distracted before the fatal crash, officials said Wednesday [5/20/2015]. The National Transportation Safety Board said the Federal Railroad Administration had obtained the cellphone records of Brandon Bostian, who was at the train's controls on May 12 when it derailed in Philadelphia. When Cops Check Facebook. For the past several years, police and prosecutors across the country have been quietly using social media to track criminal networks. Their methods have become more sophisticated: by combining social media APIs, databases, and network analysis tools, police can keep tabs on gang activity. In New York's Harlem neighborhood, at-risk teens are identified as members of gangs based on their affiliations and are monitored on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Risks of committing a crime while carrying a cell phone. Former NFL player Aaron Hernandez is currently on trial for murder. The investigation and trial testimony was largely based on evidence that was derived from cell phone records. Authorities created a detailed time line of Hernandez leaving his suburban home, driving to Boston where he picked up the victim, driving to a deserted industrial park where the murder occurred and then returning home. This was based on text messages and cell tower pings from both Hernandez and the victim. FBI says search warrants not needed to use "stingrays" in public places. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is taking the position that court warrants are not required when deploying cell-site simulators in public places. Nicknamed "stingrays," the devices are decoy cell towers that capture locations and identities of mobile phone users and can intercept calls and texts. The FBI made its position known during private briefings with staff members of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). In response, the two lawmakers wrote Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson, maintaining they were "concerned about whether the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have adequately considered the privacy interests" of Americans. DHS Funds Installation of White Boxes That Can Track Population of Entire City. Strange new off-white boxes popping up in downtown Seattle use wi-fi networks that can record the last 1,000 locations of a person using their cellphone's MAC address, but the Department of Homeland Security — which funded the network to the tune of $2.7 million dollars — has refused to address the nightmare privacy implications of a system that could lead to the permanent tracking of an entire city's population. Justice Dept. Caught Scooping Up Civilian Data From Fake Cell Phone Towers. The Justice Department is using fake cellphone towers on planes to collect metadata from thousands of innocent Americans without a warrant. The program is meant to target criminals, but the broad nature of the surveillance means that any phone that happens to automatically lock on to the tower's signal will have its data collected, without any suspicion of criminal activity. Cell Phone Tracking Methods. Cell phones, smartphones, and other mobile devices (e.g. laptops and tablets) can be located whenever they are turned on. Current location-tracking technologies can be used to pinpoint users of mobile devices in several ways. First, service providers have access to network-based and handset-based technologies that can locate a phone for emergency purposes. Second, historical location can frequently be discerned from service provider records. Finally, third party devices such as Wi-Fi hotspots or IMSI catchers can be used to track nearby mobile devices in real time. Americans' Cellphones Targeted in Secret U.S. Spy Program. The Justice Department is scooping up data from thousands of mobile phones through devices deployed on airplanes that mimic cellphone towers, a high-tech hunt for criminal suspects that is snagging a large number of innocent Americans, according to people familiar with the operations. Virginia judge: Police can demand a suspect unlock a phone with a fingerprint. A Virginia Circuit Court judge ruled on Thursday that a person does not need to provide a passcode to unlock their phone for the police. The court also ruled that demanding a suspect to provide a fingerprint to unlock a phone would be constitutional. The ruling calls into question the privacy of some iPhone 5S, 6, and 6 Plus users who have models equipped with TouchID, the fingerprint sensor that allows the user — and ideally only the user — to unlock the phone. Virginia Police Have Been Secretively Stockpiling Private Phone Records. The database, which affects unknown numbers of people, contains phone records that at least five police agencies in southeast Virginia have been collecting since 2012 and sharing with one another with little oversight. Some of the data appears to have been obtained by police from telecoms using only a subpoena, rather than a court order or probable-cause warrant. Other information in the database comes from mobile phones seized from suspects during an arrest. Cop charged with stealing nude pics from women's phones. Prosecutors in Contra Costa County, directly across the bay from San Francisco, have filed criminal felony charges against a former California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer, Sean Harrington, who is accused of seizing and distributing racy photos copied from arrestees' phones. Florida rules police can't track cellphones without warrant. Florida's Supreme Court has barred police from track suspects via cellphone signals without a warrant. "Because cellphones are indispensable to so many people are normally carried on one's person, cellphone tracking can easily invade the right to privacy in on'e home or other private ares," Chief Justice Jorge Labarga wrote Thursday [10/16/2014] in the 5-2 ruling, Reuters reported. FBI Chief: Citizens Should Be 'Deeply Skeptical' of Government. [James] Comey, 53, who became FBI chief in September 2013, cautioned that courts must grant law-enforcement agencies permission to telephones if the information is deemed to be critical to a criminal case or national security. His comments come in light of numerous leaks since last year by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealing that agency's extensive telephone and Internet surveillance programs and cell phones introduced last month by Apple Inc. that were designed to avoid surveillance by law enforcement. Government Set Up A Fake Facebook Page In This Woman's Name. The Justice Department is claiming, in a little-noticed court filing, that a federal agent had the right to impersonate a young woman online by creating a Facebook page in her name without her knowledge. Government lawyers also are defending the agent's right to scour the woman's seized cell phone and to post photographs — including racy pictures of her and even one of her young son and niece — to the phony social media account, which the agent was using to communicate with suspected criminals. FBI Questions Apple and Google Over Privacy Features. The FBI director criticized Apple and Google Thursday [9/25/2014] for adopting new policies that will block police from accessing private data on phones and tablet computers. Director James Comey told reporters he is "very concerned" that the new features could thwart critical police investigations. The bureau has contacted both companies to learn more, he said. "What concerns me about this is companies marketing something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law," Comey said, according to a transcript of the conversation provided by the FBI. FBI blasts Apple, Google for locking police out of phones. FBI Director James B. Comey sharply criticized Apple and Google on Thursday [9/25/2014] for developing forms of smartphone encryption so secure that law enforcement officials cannot easily gain access to information stored on the devices — even when they have valid search warrants. His comments were the most forceful yet from a top government official but echo a chorus of denunciation from law enforcement officials nationwide. Police have said that the ability to search photos, messages and Web histories on smartphones is essential to solving a range of serious crimes, including murder, child pornography and attempted terrorist attacks. The Editor says... I thought he resigned last week. The Editor says... FBI gags state and local police on capabilities of cellphone spy gear. The FBI requires state and local police to keep quiet about the capabilities of a controversial type of surveillance gear that allows law enforcement to eavesdrop on cellphone calls and track individual people based on the signals emitted by their mobile devices, according to a bureau document released recently under a Freedom of Information Act request. The December 2012 document is a heavily redacted letter between the FBI and police in Tacoma, Wash., as the local department sought to acquire an IMSI catcher, sometimes described as a "fake cellphone tower" because it tricks individual phones into routing their calls and other data through the surveillance equipment. The unintended consequences of unsearchable smartphones. The idea of these new systems is that once the owner of the phone enters a passcode, there will be no technical way for Apple or Google to get at certain of its data. They won't be able to answer a search warrant for data on even if they want to. "It's not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data," Apple's website says. Apple will no longer unlock most iPhones, iPads for police. Apple said Wednesday night [9/17/2014] that it is making it impossible for the company to turn over data from most iPhones or iPads to police — even when they have a search warrant — taking a hard new line as tech companies attempt to blunt allegations that they have too readily participated in government efforts to collect user information. The move, announced with the publication of a new privacy policy tied to the release of Apple's latest mobile operating system, iOS 8, amounts to an engineering solution to a legal quandary: Rather than comply with binding court orders, Apple has reworked its latest encryption in a way that prevents the company — or anyone but the device's owner — from gaining access to the vast troves of user data typically stored on smartphones or tablet computers. Apple: We can't, won't unlock devices for police. Even cops with a warrant to pull private user data off of someone's fancy new iPhone or iPad might be out of luck — Apple says that with the release of iOS 8, it's now not physically possible for even the company itself to access that info, reports the Washington Post. Supreme Court: No Cell Phone Searches Without a Warrant. The Supreme Court just ruled that police officers must obtain a warrant before searching through an arrestee's cell phone. This unanimous decision has huge implications as 12 million Americans are arrested every single year and most carry cell phones with vast amounts of personal information. Of course, this issue should be a no brainer. The Fourth Amendment, which clearly prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, should still apply in today's digital age. Up until now, however, the law has been unclear about smart phones. Supreme Court Says Phones Can't Be Searched Without a Warrant. In a sweeping victory for privacy rights in the digital age, the Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously ruled that the police need warrants to search the cellphones of people they arrest. While the decision will offer protection to the 12 million people arrested every year, many for minor crimes, its impact will most likely be much broader. The ruling almost certainly also applies to searches of tablet and laptop computers, and its reasoning may apply to searches of homes and businesses and of information held by third parties like phone companies. Supreme Court bans warrantless cell phone searches, updates privacy laws. The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that police must obtain warrants before snooping through people's cellphones, delivering a unanimous decision that begins to update legal understanding of privacy rules to accommodate 21st-century technology. Police agencies argued that searching through data on cellphones was no different from asking someone to turn out his pockets, but the justices rejected that, saying a cellphone holds the most personal and intimate details of someone's life and falls squarely within the Fourth Amendment's privacy protections. Supreme Court rules cell phones cannot be searched without a warrant. Police need a warrant to search the cell phone of a person who has been arrested, absent special circumstances, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled Wednesday [6/25/2014]. "Modern cell phones are not just another technological convenience. With all they contain and all they may reveal, they hold for many Americans 'the privacies of life,'" Chief Justice John Roberts wrote. "The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand does not make the information any less worthy of the protection for which the Founders fought. Our answer to the question of what police must do before searching a cell phone seized incident to an arrest is accordingly simple — get a warrant." Supreme Court requires warrants for cell phone searches on arrest. The Supreme Court has decided the cell phone search cases together in Riley v. California, and the result is a big win for digital privacy: In a unanimous opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, the Court holds that searching a cell phone incident to arrest requires a warrant. In 1973, the Supreme Court had held in United States v. Robinson that the government can conduct a complete search of the person incident to arrest. But cell phones present a different situation, the Court rules. Cellphones Can't Be Searched Without a Warrant, Supreme Court Rules. In a major statement on privacy rights in the digital age, the Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously ruled that the police need warrants to search the cellphones of people they arrest. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the court, said the vast amount of data contained on modern cellphones must be protected from routine inspection. The old rules, Chief Justice Roberts said, cannot be applied to "modern cellphones, which are now such a pervasive and insistent part of daily life that the proverbial visitor from Mars might conclude they were an important feature of human anatomy." Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Warrantless Cellphone Tracking. A federal court ruled for the first time that cell phone location data enjoys the same reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment as other information already included under that provision of the Bill of Rights. On June 11 the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals held in the case of U.S. v. Davis that although the defendant, Quartavious Davis, will still be subject to nearly the entire 162-year sentence imposed by a lower court, the evidence against him that was obtained from a warrantless search of his cellphone location data was invalid as it violated the rights guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment. "In short, we hold that cell site location information is within the subscriber's reasonable expectation of privacy. The obtaining of that data without a warrant is a Fourth Amendment violation," the decision reads. How the NSA Could Bug Your Powered-Off iPhone, and How to Stop Them. Just because you turned off your phone doesn't mean the NSA isn't using it to spy on you. Edward Snowden's latest revelation about the NSA's snooping inspired an extra dose of shock and disbelief when he said the agency's hackers can use a mobile phone as a bug even after it's been turned off. The Editor says... How the NSA Can Get Onto Your iPhone. The Snowden leaks have given security experts a look into the NSA's techniques in a way they could only have previously dreamed about. But it's often difficult to understand, from their jargon-filled technical specifications pages exactly what the agency is capable of. We asked security expert Ashkan Soltani to break down the leaked document about the NSA's DROPOUTJEEP program, which describes the agency's ability to infiltrate the Apple iPhone. Cellphone operator reveals scale of gov't snooping. Government snooping into phone networks is extensive worldwide, one of the world's largest cellphone companies revealed Friday [6/6/2014], saying that several countries demand direct access to its networks without warrant or prior notice. NSA Metadata Snooping Challenged. Metadata is transmission and billing information about whom you called, from what phone number, when, and for how long. This can include your location, because billing records note which cell tower your mobile phone is connecting through. George Orwell's book 1984 was meant as a warning. But it is shocking how many people view 1984 as a "how to" manual or blueprint for expanding their power and influence over the country. The book projects into the future how society has been heading towards a totalitarian society governed by pervasive government surveillance. When can cops search cellphones? The US Supreme Court on Tuesday takes up two cases testing whether the police, after placing someone under arrest, are free to examine the full contents of the arrestee's cellphone without first obtaining a search warrant. Two statistics illustrate the broad national implications of a ruling by the high court. [#1] Ninety percent of Americans own a cell phone. [#2] Roughly 12 million Americans are arrested each year. Low-level federal judges balking at law enforcement requests for electronic evidence. Judges at the lowest levels of the federal judiciary are balking at sweeping requests by law enforcement officials for cellphone and other sensitive personal data, declaring the demands overly broad and at odds with basic constitutional rights. This rising assertiveness by magistrate judges — the worker bees of the federal court system — has produced rulings that elate civil libertarians and frustrate investigators, forcing them to meet or challenge tighter rules for collecting electronic evidence. Secret military device lets Oakland deputies track cellphones. Oakland County commissioners asked no questions last March before unanimously approving a cellphone tracking device so powerful it was used by the military to fight terrorists. Now, though, some privacy advocates question why one of the safest counties in Michigan needs the super-secretive Hailstorm device that is believed to be able to collect large amounts of cellphone data, including the locations of users, by masquerading as a cell tower. "I don't like not knowing what it's capable of," said county Commissioner Jim Runestad, R-White Lake Township, who has met in recent weeks with sheriff's officials about his concerns. Cell Providers Collect Millions From Police for Handing Over User Information. Major U.S. cellphone providers received more than $20 million from law enforcement agencies in conjunction with more than 1.1 million user information requests in 2012, according to documents released Monday [12/9/2013] by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. Five of the seven companies queried by Markey offered precise or ballpark figures for the revenue they received from law enforcement in 2012. Obama Asks SCOTUS for Warrantless Cellphone Searches. Last week, the Obama administration asked the Supreme Court to rule that the Fourth Amendment allows for warrant-less cell phone searches. The administration filed a petition asking the SCOTUS to hear a 2007 case in which information was retrieved from a cell phone that was used to obtain evidence against the defendant. Obama administration asks Supreme Court to allow warrantless cellphone searches. In 2007, the police arrested a Massachusetts man who appeared to be selling crack cocaine from his car. The cops seized his cellphone and noticed that it was receiving calls from "My House." They opened the phone to determine the number for "My House." That led them to the man's home, where the police found drugs, cash and guns. The defendant was convicted, but on appeal he argued that accessing the information on his cellphone without a warrant violated his Fourth Amendment rights. Warrantless Cellphone Tracking Is Upheld. In a significant victory for law enforcement, a federal appeals court on Tuesday said that government authorities could extract historical location data directly from telecommunications carriers without a search warrant. The closely watched case, in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, is the first ruling that squarely addresses the constitutionality of warrantless searches of historical location data stored by cellphone service providers. NY troopers in big SUVs peer in on texting drivers. New York has given state police 32 tall, unmarked SUVs to better peer down at drivers' hands, part of one of the nation's most aggressive attacks on texting while driving that also includes steeper penalties and dozens of highway "Texting Zones," where motorists can pull over to use their devices. Blond beauty set to sue NYPD over sexy photos swiped from iPhone. A Long Island beauty says NYPD cops seized her iPhone and that one of them stole sexually explicit photos and videos meant for her boyfriend's eyes only. Pamela Held, 27, of Deer Park, is poised to sue the city and the Police Department, accusing a cop of invading her privacy by forwarding the provocative images from her iPhone. The steamy images of Held were sent to a personal cell phone that her lawyer said belongs to Officer Sean Christian. Cops usually need warrant to get cellphone locations, NJ Supreme Court rules in Middletown case. The state Supreme Court has ruled that police need a warrant to get cellphone location data in most cases. With Thursday's [7/18/2013] ruling, the court overturned an appellate decision, which said that a defendant in a Middletown burglary case did not have an expectation that the location information would be private. The federal government spies on everyone, even if the local cops don't. More about domestic surveillance. Cops: U.S. law should require logs of your text messages. AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and other wireless providers would be required to capture and store Americans' confidential text messages, according to a proposal that will be presented to a congressional panel today [3/19/2013]. The law enforcement proposal would require wireless providers to record and store customers' SMS messages — a controversial idea akin to requiring them to surreptitiously record audio of their customers' phone calls — in case police decide to obtain them at some point in the future. How Many Millions of Cellphones Are Police Watching? In response to a congressional inquiry, mobile phone companies on Monday finally disclosed just how many times they've handed over users' cellphone data to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. By the New York Times' count, cellphone companies responded to 1.3 million demands for subscribers' information last year from law enforcement. Many of the records, such as location data, don't require search warrants or much court oversight. Both police and cell service providers had long resisted releasing details on the scope of cellphone surveillance. City Is Amassing Trove of Cellphone Logs. When a cellphone is reported stolen in New York, the Police Department routinely subpoenas the phone's call records, from the day of the theft onward. The logic is simple: If a thief uses the phone, a list of incoming and outgoing calls could lead to the suspect. But in the process, the Police Department has quietly amassed a trove of telephone logs, all obtained without a court order, that could conceivably be used for any investigative purpose. Senate bill rewrite lets feds read your e-mail without warrants. A proposed law scheduled for a vote next week originally increased Americans' e-mail privacy. Then law enforcement complained. Now it increases government access to e-mail and other digital files. The Editor says... Update: Judge Protects Cellphone Data On 4th Amendment Grounds, Cites Government's Technological Ignorance. The feds, along with Los Angeles law enforcement agencies, have bypassed the protections of the Fourth Amendment by deploying roving cell phone trackers that mimic mobile phone towers. The FISA Amendments Act has been used as a "blank check" for wholesale spying on Americans and has been abused often enough that the Director of National Intelligence was forced to admit these Fourth Amendment violations publicly. If you carry a cell phone everywhere you go, it can yield a lot of evidence about your whereabouts and the contents of your text messages, emails, and phone calling history. More and more, the police are acting as if all that information is theirs for the taking. 18 Signs That Life In U.S. Public Schools Is Now Essentially Equivalent To Life In U.S. Prisons. The following are 18 signs that life in our public schools is now very similar to life in our prisons.... [For example,] #1 Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has announced that school officials can search the cell phones and laptops of public school students if there are "reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the school." Finally, A Bill Requires Police Get A Judge's Approval Before They Can See Your Texts Or Location. A month ago, we learned that more (and maybe many, many more) than 1.3 million people's cell phone data were handed over to US law enforcement agencies in 2011 alone. Text messages, caller locations, and records of who called whom and for how long had all been shared without a judges' approval — because, according to current law, no approval is needed. Last week, the Congressman who helped reveal how rampant and unregulated that sharing is introduced legislation to start restraining it. How Many Millions of Cellphones Are Police Watching? In response to a congressional inquiry, mobile phone companies on Monday [7/9/2012] finally disclosed just how many times they've handed over users' cellphone data to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. By the New York Times' count, cellphone companies responded to 1.3 million demands for subscribers' information last year from law enforcement. Many of the records, such as location data, don't require search warrants or much court oversight. Both police and cell service providers had long resisted releasing details on the scope of cellphone surveillance. But the new disclosures from cellphone companies still leave a slew of unanswered questions. More Demands on Cell Carriers in Surveillance. In the first public accounting of its kind, cellphone carriers reported that they responded to a startling 1.3 million demands for subscriber information last year from law enforcement agencies seeking text messages, caller locations and other information in the course of investigations. Is US government reading email without a warrant? It doesn't want to talk about it. After issuing hundreds of Freedom of Information Act requests, the ACLU learned that many local police departments around the country routinely pay mobile phone network operators a small fee to get detailed records of historic cell phone location information. The data tell cops not just where a suspect might have been at a given moment, but also create the possibility of retracing someone's whereabouts for months. The Most Powerful, Well Connected Company You've Never Heard Of. Have you ever heard of a tech company called Neustar? Probably not, and that's just the way the government wants to keep it. Neustar is a relatively new company that is playing a large, albeit secret, role in the expansion of the surveillance state. According to published reports, Neustar handles the law enforcement surveillance and user data requests for over 400 telecommunications companies. To accommodate their clients' demands, Neustar maintains a database containing information on every cell phone in the United States — including yours. Feds Sue Telecom for Fighting Warrantless Search. The Justice Department is suing a telecommunications company for challenging a request from the Federal Bureau of Investigation for customer information — despite the fact that the law authorizing the request explicitly permits such challenges. [...] Clearly the Justice Department is unaccustomed to having to defend its attempts to obtain customer data on its own say-so; and it isn't taking this fight lying down. Covert FBI Power to Obtain Phone Data Faces Rare Test. Early last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent a secret letter to a phone company demanding that it turn over customer records for an investigation. The phone company then did something almost unheard of: It fought the letter in court. The U.S. Department of Justice fired back with a serious accusation. It filed a civil complaint claiming that the company, by not handing over its files, was interfering "with the United States' sovereign interests" in national security. The legal clash represents a rare and significant test of an investigative tool strengthened by the USA Patriot Act, the counterterrorism law enacted after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Twitter data raises question: Who's following you? Maybe police. Everything is evidence. You might want to remember that the next time you log on. According to new data released by Twitter on Monday [7/2/2012], American police are leading the charge to get users' info from the popular San Francisco-based microblogging service. Overall, from Jan. 1 through June, the company received 849 law enforcement requests for individual users' information, granting 63% of those requests. American law enforcement accounted for 80% of those information requests compared to other nations, just as Americans are thought to make up a dominant share of the service's users. U.S. officials made 679 requests, getting what they wanted 75% of the time. Justice Dept. Wants to Track All Cellphones Without a Warrant. In its relentless never-ending quest for more power to track and follow American citizens through their cellphones, the Department of Justice (DoJ) requested last week that Congress give them easier access to location data stored by cellphone service providers. [...] In other words, because the laws protecting privacy vary somewhat depending upon where an individual citizen lives, Congress should come along and override them all and provide a federal, looser standard, all in the name of security. Obama DOJ Wants Greater Power to Access Cellphone Records. Barack Obama's Justice Department is requesting that access to cellphone records be made more available to the government. Jason Weinstein, a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's criminal division, asserted that warrants for early stages of investigations "crippled" prosecutors and law enforcement officials and thus should be abolished. Your Tweets Can Be Subpoenaed. Prosecutors don't have to get a warrant to subpoena your tweets, even if you delete them, because they're public information owned by a third party, a New York judge ruled on Monday [4/23/2012]. Police Are Using Phone Tracking as a Routine Tool. Law enforcement tracking of cellphones, once the province mainly of federal agents, has become a powerful and widely used surveillance tool for local police officials, with hundreds of departments, large and small, often using it aggressively with little or no court oversight, documents show. The practice has become big business for cellphone companies, too, with a handful of carriers marketing a catalog of "surveillance fees" to police departments to determine a suspect's location, trace phone calls and texts or provide other services. Obama wants to track you. Under federal law, even the most basic cellphone must collect location information so that 911 services can respond appropriately. The Obama administration wants the ability to seize this data for its own purposes. Last month, the Justice Department filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit insisting the government had the right to gather 60 days' worth of tracking information from a cellphone without a warrant issued on probable cause. Court Ruling Opens Phones To Warrantless Searches. Cell phone users might think that their phones can't be searched without a warrant any more than their homes can be. But one judge just gave cops engaging in warrantless cell phone searches a foot in the door. Judge Richard Posner of the seventh circuit court of appeals ruled Wednesday [2/29/2012] that the question of cell phone searches isn't whether law enforcement can open a phone and start snooping on its information without a warrant, but only how deep their warrantless search can go. Student cellphones confiscated in school's probe of drug selling. Stevenson High School in north suburban Lincolnshire is in the midst of a drug investigation that has relied on confiscated student cellphones to identify suspects, a school spokesman said today. Jim Conrey said school officials have looked at the phones' text messages to assist in their investigation into drug sales on campus. Judge OKs warrantless tracking of suspect's cellphone. Investigators seeking the location history of an armed robbery suspect's cellphone aren't required to obtain a search warrant before compelling the carrier to turn over the information, a federal judge has ruled. The decision, issued by US District Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the District of Columbia, said the Stored Communications Act doesn't require investigators to get a warrant based on probable cause to access the suspect's location history pulled from cellphone towers. California Governor Veto Allows Warrantless Cellphone Searches. California Gov. Jerry Brown is vetoing legislation requiring police to obtain a court warrant to search the mobile phones of suspects at the time of any arrest. The Sunday [10/9/2011] veto means that when police arrest anybody in the Golden State, they may search that person's mobile phone — which in the digital age likely means the contents of persons' e-mail, call records, text messages, photos, banking activity, cloud-storage services, and even where the phone has traveled. Wireless Technology: They'll Know Where You Are: Under the so-called Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA) police are given the authority to track the locations of any cell phone users even if they're not dialing 911. Digital Bread Crumbs: Following Your Cell Phone Trail. Cell phones leave a data trail, and it is becoming standard operating procedure for police departments and federal agents to use this data to locate and track people. Police push for warrantless searches of cell phones. This is an important legal question that remains unresolved: as our gadgets store more and more information about us, including our appointments, correspondence, and personal photos and videos, what rules should police investigators be required to follow? The Obama administration and many local prosecutors' answer is that warrantless searches are perfectly constitutional during arrests. Software Turns Your Cell Phone Against You. Malicious software for cell phones could pose a greater risk for consumer's personal and financial well-being than computer viruses, say scientists from Rutgers University. The scientists have made a particularly resilient malware, known as a rootkit, that can turn a cell phone's microphone, GPS and battery against the phone's owner. The Editor says... Cops' Easy Access to Suspects' iPhone Info Raises Privacy Concerns. Those who think an iPhone is only for saving address book entries may be surprised to learn police are using the devices' saved data caches to catch criminals. Global Positioning Satellite technology on the phone enables police to pinpoint precise locations and compare that information with statements made by suspects. Court OKs searches of cell phones without warrant. The California Supreme Court allowed police Monday [1/3/2011] to search arrestees' cell phones without a warrant, saying defendants lose their privacy rights for any items they're carrying when taken into custody. Under U.S. Supreme Court precedents, "this loss of privacy allows police not only to seize anything of importance they find on the arrestee's body ... but also to open and examine what they find," the state court said in a 5-2 ruling. Video: How to Cop Proof Your Cell Phone. Michigan cops imposing a digital police state. Michigan State Police are accused of stealing driver's cell phone data on routine traffic stops. Michigan has become a digital police state. And if people in Michigan just stand by and let this digital totalitarian [nonsense] continue, it will probably come to your state too. We are a nation of copycats after all, governments in the United States like to take other people's ideas to control people and make them their own. Should Cops Be Allowed to Scan Your Phone During a Traffic Stop? According to an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) letter to the director of the Michigan State Police on April 13, that department has several forensic cellphone analyzers deployed in the field. Forensic analyzers are routinely used in police investigations to recover data from computers and other digital devices. Lately, cellphones have become valuable sources of evidence for police, since one phone can include almost all of an individual's private communications (SMS, recently dialed numbers, email, Facebook and Twitter posts) as well as location data from the device's GPS unit. Should a Speeding Ticket Require Forfeiting Your Smartphone Data? Whatever ever happened to the good ol' days where getting pulled over just meant you would get a speeding ticket, or if you're lucky, just a warning? Well, if it's up to the Michigan State Police, those days are not only long gone, but a speeding ticket is now reason enough to harvest all the information possible on you, including all of your e-mail, social networking, texting, personal photos, and virtually anything else you might have on your cell phone, or in many cases, your smartphone. Michigan cops imposing a digital police state. Michigan State Police are accused of stealing driver's cell phone data on routine traffic stops. Michigan has become a digital police state. And if people in Michigan just stand by and let this digital totalitarian [nonsense] continue, it will probably come to your state too. We are a nation of copycats after all, governments in the United States like to take other people's ideas to control people and make them their own. Law enforcement to begin iPhone iris scans amid privacy concerns. Dozens of police departments nationwide are gearing up to use a tech company's already controversial iris- and facial-scanning device that slides over an iPhone and helps identify a person or track criminal suspects. Big Brother on Your Tail. Suppose I approached you with a request. I want you to carry a small gadget that will automatically transmit your location to the police, allowing them to track your every movement 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Chances are you would politely decline. Too late. You already accepted. That gadget, you see, is called a cell phone. For years, the cops may have been using it to keep close tabs on you without your knowledge, even if you have done nothing wrong. NYPD tracking cell phone owners, but foes aren't sure practice is legal. The NYPD is amassing a database of cell phone users, instructing cops to log serial numbers from suspects' phones in hopes of connecting them to past or future crimes. In the era of disposable, anonymous cell phones, the file could be a treasure-trove for detectives investigating drug rings and other criminal enterprises, police sources say. "It's used to help build cases," one source said of the new initiative. NYPD Tracking Phones and Owners. The capacity for tracking information is expanding so rapidly, it is truly breathtaking. The ability to correlate the numbers that make up so much of our lives is giving rise to dangerous threats to our right to live our own lives in peace. Suffice to say, the police gathering one more piece of personal information without our consent, and allegedly in the absence of the accusation of, let alone conviction for, a crime, makes all those affected a little less free. Cops love iPhone data trail. Detective Josh Fazio of the Will County Sheriff's Department loves it when an iPhone turns up as evidence in a criminal case. The sophisticated cell phone and mobile computer is becoming as popular with police as it is with consumers because it can provide investigators with so much information that can help in solving crimes. How Long Does Your Wireless Carrier Retain Texts, Call Logs? According to data gathered by the Department of Justice, it can be as little as a few days or up to seven years, depending on your provider. AT&T, for example, retains information about who you are texting for five to seven years. T-Mobile keeps the same data for five years, Sprint keeps it for 18 months, and Verizon retains it for one year. Verizon is the only one of the top four carriers that retains text message content, however, and it keeps that for three to five days. Which Telecoms Store Your Data the Longest? Secret Memo Tells All. The single-page Department of Justice document, "Retention Periods of Major Cellular Service Providers," is a guide for law enforcement agencies looking to get information — like customer IP addresses, call logs, text messages and web surfing habits — out of U.S. telecom companies, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. The document, marked "Law Enforcement Use Only" and dated August 2010, illustrates there are some significant differences in how long carriers retain your data. ... The document was unearthed by the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina via a Freedom of Information Act claim. Feds push for tracking cell phones. Even though police are tapping into the locations of mobile phones thousands of times a year, the legal ground rules remain unclear, and federal privacy laws written a generation ago are ambiguous at best. Are the Police Digging into Your Phone Records? The National Security Agency may not be the only one looking at your phone records. As the agency's controversial program of collecting Americans' calling data continues to draw heat, new questions have emerged about whether federal and local law enforcement officials are possibly skirting privacy laws by obtaining phone records from companies that get the information in a questionable manner and then hawk it over the Internet. How the Police Get Your Phone Records: Every time I receive a call, my cell carrier takes note of the incoming telephone number, the time, date and duration of the conversation, and — because the call is sent through a network of cell towers — my location. As it turns out, I'm also carrying the right kind of smart phone, which means my device itself jots down my spot on the earth, as well. Between the brick and carrier, I've amassed a strikingly detailed digital portrait of every chat, check in, text and voice message I've received and sent. And since the diary of events is not in my possession, it's possible that others could get access. The Snitch in Your Pocket. Amid all the furor over the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program a few years ago, a mini-revolt was brewing over another type of federal snooping that was getting no public attention at all. Federal prosecutors were seeking what seemed to be unusually sensitive records: internal data from telecommunications companies that showed the locations of their customers' cell phones — sometimes in real time, sometimes after the fact. Should Police Know Your Every Move, Thanks to Your Cell Phone? Cell phones have become ubiquitous in America, but people rarely think about the complex systems that make them work: how our phones connect with cellular towers to send and receive signals, and how the towers "hand off" our call to the next tower as we move around town. But law enforcement agents think about these things. In fact, police officers can obtain a great deal of information about our locations and our movement, just from our cell phone records. Michigan: Police Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops. The Michigan State Police have a high-tech mobile forensics device that can be used to extract information from cell phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan last Wednesday [4/13/2011] demanded that state officials stop stonewalling freedom of information requests for information on the program. It's Tracking Your Every Move and You May Not Even Know. A favorite pastime of Internet users is to share their location: services like Google Latitude can inform friends when you are nearby; another, Foursquare, has turned reporting these updates into a game. But as a German Green party politician, Malte Spitz, recently learned, we are already continually being tracked whether we volunteer to be or not. Cellphone companies do not typically divulge how much information they collect, so Mr. Spitz went to court to find out exactly what his cellphone company, Deutsche Telekom, knew about his whereabouts. The results were astounding. Michigan Cops Can Now Steal Your Cell Phone Data — 'Without the Owner Knowing'. It's a scary scenario. You're driving down the road and get pulled over by a state patrolman. After checking your license and registration, the officer asks for your cell phone, and then uses a futuristic machine to download all your data. In Michigan, it's happening. List
reveals keywords feds monitor on Facebook, Twitter. Have you ever wondered if the government — or more
specifically, the Department of Homeland Security — is monitoring your Twitter or Facebook posts? If the answer's
"yes," give yourself a pat on the back because you're right and not simply paranoid. There's even a list of keywords for which
subcontractors hired by the DHS check social networks.
EPIC Obtains New Documents on DHS Media Monitoring, Urges Congress to Suspend Program. EPIC has submitted a letter to Congress following a hearing on DHS monitoring of social networks and media organizations. In the letter, EPIC highlights new documents obtained as a result of a FOIA lawsuit and points out to inconsistencies in DHS' testimony about the program. Though DHS testified that it does not monitor for public reaction to government proposals, the documents obtained by EPIC indicate that the DHS analysts are specifically instructed to look for criticism of the agency and then to redirect reports that would otherwise be circulated to other agencies. FBI Pursues Social Media Surveillance to Gather Intelligence. In a formal "request for information," the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) asked software companies for a digital tool that would systematically scan the entire social media realm to find potential terrorist-related threats and intelligence information. While hundreds of intelligence analysts are already probing overseas Facebook and Twitter posts, U.S. law enforcement officials claim digital software could sift through more data than humans ever could. The Department of Homeland Security Is Searching Your Facebook and Twitter for These Words. The Department of Homeland Security monitors your updates on social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, to uncover "Items Of Interest" (IOI), according to an internal DHS document released by the EPIC. That document happens to include a list of the baseline terms for which the DHS — or more specifically, a DHS subcontractor hired to monitor social networks — use to generate real-time IOI reports. That's what Carnivore was all about. Cellphones or trackers? Debate hasn't kept pace with technology. [Kelsey] Smith's death led Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon to sign a bill compelling cellular service providers to provide phone information for missing people in danger. But in recent years, as phones have taken on the roles of navigator, assistant, researcher and memory box, they've become pipelines to vast reserves of personal information easily derricked out by government investigators. Those investigators' powers have been little debated — publicly, at least — and even less understood. Further, phones are still thought of as essentially private devices. That could be about to change. That's No Phone. That's My Tracker. The device in your purse or jeans that you think is a cellphone — guess again. It is a tracking device that happens to make calls. Let's stop calling them phones. They are trackers. Most doubts about the principal function of these devices were erased when it was disclosed Monday [7/9/2012] that cellphone carriers responded 1.3 million times last year to law enforcement requests for call data. The Results from ACLU's Nationwide Cell Phone Tracking Records Requests. If you're living in one of the places where local law enforcement agents reported tracking cell phones, or for that matter anywhere else in the country, you might be wondering under what circumstances your law enforcement agents are getting access to cell phone location information. Given the intimate nature of location information, the government should have to obtain a warrant based upon probable cause to track cell phones. That is what is necessary to protect Americans' privacy, and it is also what is required under the constitution. But is that what the police do? Police requesting Americans' cellphone data at staggering rate. Police are monitoring Americans' cellphone use at a staggering rate, according to new information released in a congressional inquiry. In letters released by Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), cellphone companies described seeing a huge uptick in requests from law enforcement agencies, with 1.3 million federal, state and local requests for phone records in 2011 alone. "We cannot allow privacy protections to be swept aside with the sweeping nature of these information requests, especially for innocent consumers," Markey said in a statement Monday [7/9/2012]. Landmark California Location-Privacy Bill Nears Governor's Desk. California lawmakers have approved legislation that would require the state's authorities to get a probable-cause warrant signed by a judge to obtain location information from electronic devices such as tablets, mobile phones to laptops. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), passed the Senate in May and the Assembly approved the plan late Wednesday [8/22/2012]. Ninth Circuit OKs Feds Use of Cellphone as Roving Bugs. The Ninth Circuit of Appeals ruled on July 20 that agents of the federal government may use a cellphone as a microphone and record the conversations overheard even when the phone itself is not being used otherwise. [...] There are, of course, far reaching implications of such a decision. As we reported recently, a person will not know, and perhaps will never know, if he has been the target of surveillance on the part of the federal government. Assuming, as many a savvy American would, that the federal government is liable to eventually want to monitor and record your personal electronic communication, is there not an expectation that when the cellphone is off the surveillance is suspended? Not anymore. In the wake of the Ninth Circuit's ruling in Oliva, "roving bugs" are likely to become a favorite weapon in the ever expanding arsenal of the surveillance state. In Cell Phone Privacy Case, Government's Arguing a Theory of the Fourth Amendment 'That No One's Ever Heard Of'. A federal appeals court in New Orleans is set to hear a case on whether the government can take possession of an individual's cell phone records from their carrier without a search warrant. A federal court has already denied the government's bid to obtain the records without a warrant. Judge Andrew Napolitano weighed in on Fox Business Network this morning [10/1/2012], saying the government's argument represents a new theory of the Fourth Amendment "that no one's ever heard of in 230 years." In this case, the victim's cell phone showed the police where he was murdered. This is an original compilation, Copyright © 2024 by Andrew K. Dart Stingray and Dirtbox Stingray: Homeland Security finds suspected phone surveillance devices in Washington. The U.S. government has acknowledged the existence in Washington D.C. of what appear to be devices that could be used by foreign spies and criminals to track individual cellphones and intercept calls and messages, the Associated Press reported Tuesday [4/3/2018]. In a March 26 letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the Department of Homeland Security admitted that it "has observed anomalous activity in the [Washington D.C. area] that appears to be consistent with International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catchers." DHS added that it had not determined the type of devices in use or who might have been operating them, nor did it say how many it detected or where. DHS Warns Of Unauthorized Spying Devices In Washington, D.C.. The Department of Homeland Security recently discovered a network of spying devices in Washington D.C. that are designed to intercept mobile phone calls. In a letter to Senator Ron Wyden, the DHS said the devices — known as 'stingrays' — track user location and can eavesdrop on cell phone conversations as well as messages. Rogue cellphone-tracking devices detected in Washington, feds say. For the first time, the U.S. government has publicly acknowledged the existence in Washington of what appear to be rogue devices that foreign spies and criminals could be using to track individual cellphones and intercept calls and messages. The use of what are known as cellphone-site simulators by foreign powers has long been a concern, but American intelligence and law enforcement agencies — which use such eavesdropping equipment themselves — have been silent on the issue until now. In a March 26 letter to Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) acknowledged that last year it identified suspected unauthorized cell-site simulators in the nation's capital. The agency said it had not determined the type of devices in use or who might have been operating them. Nor did it say how many it detected or where. US acknowledges potential unauthorized spying devices in DC. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is acknowledging for the first time that foreign actors or criminals are using eavesdropping devices to track cellphone activity in Washington, D.C., according to a letter obtained by The Hill. DHS in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) last Monday [4/2/2018] said they came across unauthorized cell-site simulators in the Washington, D.C., area last year. Such devices, also known as "stingrays," can track a user's location data through their mobile phones and can intercept cellphone calls and messages. A Whistleblower Just Exposed How the Government Spies on Your Cell Phone. A Stingray works by masquerading as a cell phone tower — to which your mobile phone sends signals to every 7 to 15 seconds whether you are on a call or not — and tricks your phone into connecting to it. As a result, whoever is in possession of the Stingray can figure out who, when, and to where you are calling, the precise location of every device within the range, and with some devices, even capture the content of your conversations. Both the Harris Corp. and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) require police to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDA) related to the use of the devices. Through these NDAs local police departments have become subordinate to Harris, and even in court cases in front of a judge, are not allowed to speak on the details of their arrangements. Due to this secrecy, very little has been known about how exactly the Stingrays work. Police use of 'StingRay' cellphone tracker requires search warrant, appeals court rules. A device that tricks cellphones into sending it their location information and has been used quietly by police and federal agents for years, requires a search warrant before it is turned on, an appeals court in Washington ruled Thursday. It is the fourth such ruling by either a state appeals court or federal district court, and may end up deciding the issue unless the government takes the case to the U.S. Supreme Court or persuades the city's highest court to reverse the ruling. The case against Prince Jones in 2013 involved D.C. police use of a "StingRay" cell-site simulator, which enables law enforcement to pinpoint the location of a cellphone more precisely than a phone company can when triangulating a signal between cell towers or using a phone's GPS function. Civil liberties advocates say the StingRay, by providing someone's location to police without court approval, is a violation of an individual's Fourth Amendment right not to be unreasonably searched. Federal agencies can spy on phones with 400 cell-site simulators. The Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department have spent collectively more than $95 million on secret cellphone tracking technology and own more than 400 cell-site simulators that can be used to zero in covertly on the locations of cellphones, according to a congressional report. A report released Monday [12/19/2016] by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee reveals a tally of how many cell-site simulators federal agencies own and recommends that lawmakers adopt a national standard to govern use of the devices by local and federal law enforcement agencies. With 194 cell-site simulators, the FBI has the most of any of the agencies identified as owning the devices, which often are referred to by brand names including Stingray or Hailstorm. Federal Judge Rejects Evidence Gathered With "Stingray" Warrantless Surveillance Tool. After several years of law enforcement agencies across the United States gathering evidence using a secret surveillance tool — and doing so without a warrant — a federal judge has struck down evidence collected by the U.S Drug Enforcement Administration. U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan ruled that the defendant's rights were violated when the DEA used a cell site simulator, also known as a Stingray, without a warrant in order to find the suspects home. The Electronic Frontier Foundation describes Stingrays as "a brand name of an IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) Catcher targeted and sold to law enforcement. A Stingray works by masquerading as a cell phone tower — to which your mobile phone sends signals to every 7 to 15 seconds whether you are on a call or not — and tricks your phone into connecting to it." As a result, whoever is in possession of the Stingray can figure out who, when, and to where you are calling, the precise location of every device within the range, and with some devices, even capture the content of your conversations. Stingray works because cell phones are promiscuous! Device used to trick cellphones into revealing location raises legal issue, lawmaker says. Cellular site simulators — known as "StingRay tracking" — basically are fake cell towers that use digital signals to trick a cellphone into revealing its location and other information. Law enforcement typically places the device near the location of a known suspect — but they also have been used at large gatherings such as rallies, where the digital information of hundreds, even thousands, is scooped up. And while law enforcement agencies turn to the courts for permission to deploy the devices, the requests typically are generic applications called "pen register applications," which only require the agency to affirm that the device will be used in a criminal investigation, without having to name a specific individual. That legal vagueness is what concerns lawmakers. Police secretly track cellphones to solve routine crimes. In one case after another, USA TODAY found police in Baltimore and other cities used the phone tracker, commonly known as a stingray, to locate the perpetrators of routine street crimes and frequently concealed that fact from the suspects, their lawyers and even judges. In the process, they quietly transformed a form of surveillance billed as a tool to hunt terrorists and kidnappers into a staple of everyday policing. The suitcase-size tracking systems, which can cost as much as $400,000, allow the police to pinpoint a phone's location within a few yards by posing as a cell tower. Don't be fooled, America, your government is still lying to you. Last week, we learned that the FBI is operating low-flying planes over 100 American cities to monitor folks on the streets and intercept their cellphone use — without any search warrants. Earlier this week, we learned that the Drug Enforcement Administration has intercepted the telephone calls of more than 11,000 people in three years — without any search warrants. We already know that local police have been using government surplus cell towers to intercept the cellphone signals of innocent automobile drivers for about a year — without search warrants. How dangerous this is. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. It applies in good times and in bad, in war and in peace. Head of U.S. Marshals Service Resigns Amid Investigation Of Domestic Surveillance Programs. An underreported story today comes amid the resignation of Stacia Hylton, the head of the U.S. Marshals Service. The timing of the resignation could not be more transparently tied to a growing investigation into domestic surveillance programs operated without oversight, and potentially unconstitutional. For the past several years stories have been quietly surfacing about the USMS using stealth cell phone captures via drone and fixed unit operations known as "Stingray Devices". Stingray technology secretly captures cell phone communication, data, voice and text from users without their knowledge. Cops must now get a warrant to use stingrays in Washington state. Law enforcement officials in Washington state will now be required to get a warrant before deploying a stingray, according to a bill that was signed into law by the governor on Monday [5/11/2015] after unanimously passing both houses of the state legislature. Washington's law, which takes effect immediately, is not the first in the United States, but it may impose the most stringent requirements. A handful of states, including Virginia, Minnesota, and Utah have similar laws on the books.
FBI would rather prosecutors drop cases than disclose stingray details. Not only is the FBI actively attempting to stop the public from knowing about stingrays, it has also forced local law enforcement agencies to stay quiet even in court and during public hearings, too. An FBI agreement, published for the first time in unredacted form on Tuesday [4/7/2015], clearly demonstrates the full extent of the agency's attempt to quash public disclosure of information about stingrays. The most egregious example of this is language showing that the FBI would rather have a criminal case be dropped to protect secrecy surrounding the stingray. Are your calls being intercepted? 17 fake cell towers discovered in one month. You wouldn't likely know if you are under cell phone surveillance, but you would if you were about to make a call and your phone displayed an unencrypted connection warning that states, "Caution: The mobile network's standard encryption has been turned off, possibly by a rogue base station ('IMSI Catcher'). Unencrypted calls not recommended." Through notifications such as that, CryptoPhone users found and mapped 17 fake "cell towers" in the U.S. during the month of July. While most phones can't find those interceptors, a $3,500 CryptoPhone 500 can. The phone has a Samsung Galaxy SIII body, but unlike the Android OS that comes standard on the Galaxy SIII and "leaks data to parts unknown 80-90 times every hour," ESD America hardened the Android OS by removing 468 vulnerabilities. When Will the UK Stop Pretending IMSI Catchers Don't Exist? Thousands of innocent people in London have had their communications spied on and collected through the use of invasive mobile phone surveillance technology, called IMSI Catchers, according to a recent report by the Times. IMSI Catchers are no longer, and have not been for a while, a law enforcement secret. Stingray Tracking Devices: Who's Got Them? Stingrays, also known as "cell site simulators" or "IMSI catchers," are invasive cell phone surveillance devices that mimic cell phone towers and send out signals to trick cell phones in the area into transmitting their locations and identifying information. When used to track a suspect's cell phone, they also gather information about the phones of countless bystanders who happen to be nearby. Law enforcement agencies all over the country possess Stingrays, though their use is often shrouded in secrecy. New Eavesdropping Equipment Sucks All Data Off Your Phone. In a Capitol Hill hearing room [in 2012], privacy activist Christopher Soghoian organized a stunning demonstration of some new police surveillance technology. [...] Since then, reports that federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are using such devices to track suspects and criminals without warrants have percolated in the national media, thanks largely to Soghoian, now the American Civil Liberties Union's top technologist on privacy issues. Meet the machines that steal your phone's data. The National Security Agency's spying tactics are being intensely scrutinized following the recent leaks of secret documents. However, the NSA isn't the only US government agency using controversial surveillance methods. Monitoring citizens' cell phones without their knowledge is a booming business. From Arizona to California, Florida to Texas, state and federal authorities have been quietly investing millions of dollars acquiring clandestine mobile phone surveillance equipment in the past decade. Now There's an App For Detecting Government Stingray Cell Phone Trackers. IMSI catchers, otherwise known as stingrays, are those surveillance tools that masquerade as cell towers and trick mobile phones into connecting, spewing private data in the process. Law-enforcement agencies have been using them for awhile, but there's never been a good way for individuals to detect them. But that was before SnoopSnitch. Released for Android on Monday [12/29/2015], SnoopSnitch scans for radio signals that indicate a transition to a stingray from a legitimate cell tower. The Further Democratization of Stingray. Stingray is the code name for an IMSI-catcher, which is basically a fake cell phone tower sold by Harris Corporation to various law enforcement agencies. (It's actually just one of a series of devices with fish names — Amberjack is another — but it's the name used in the media.) What is basically does is trick nearby cell phones into connecting to it. Once that happens, the IMSI-catcher can collect identification and location information of the phones and, in some cases, eavesdrop on phone conversations, text messages, and web browsing. The use of IMSI-catchers in the US used to be a massive police secret. DRTBOX and the DRT surveillance systems. A similar device (also known as IMSI Catcher, Cell-site Simulator or Digital Analyzer) used by American law enforcement agencies for tracking and intercepting cell phones is called StingRay, which is manufactured by the Harris Corp. The price of a StingRay device is between $60,000, and $175,000. Harris also provides related equipment under the nicknames AmberJack, KingFish, TriggerFish and LoggerHead. New York Civil Liberties Group Obtains LEO Records Showing Abusive Use of Stringray Technology. Stingray technology is a data tool for capturing cell phone communication and tracking cell phone users. Stingray Systems mimic cell tower signals and capture the content of targeted cell phone users. The New York ACLU went to court to force Erie County Sheriffs' to disclose details about the law enforcement use of Stingray Technology. What they uncovered is alarming. In 46 out of 47 examples law enforcement never sought a warrant to use Stingray intercepts, and in 46 out of 47 examples the same law enforcement used Stingray tools to track the movements of "suspects" — again without warrants or court oversight. To locate bank robber, FBI unusually asked for warrant to use stingray. Newly uncovered court documents in a federal armed New Jersey bank robbery case that went to trial in late February 2015 reveal an unusual back-and-forth between authorities and judges — ultimately resulting in the FBI seeking and getting a warrant to use a stingray. The move illustrates a rare known instance where authorities met the probable cause hurdle need for a warrant in a stingray deployment. In 2012, federal prosecutors went to a judge to ask for a "pen/trap order," a lower type of permission than a warrant. Such an order would have effectively authorized the use of a stingray. But the judge pushed back and imposed usage restrictions "in a private place." In January 2015, two United States senators made public the FBI's position that the agency could use stingrays in public places without a warrant. A Police Gadget Tracks Phones? Shhh! It's Secret. A powerful new surveillance tool being adopted by police departments across the country comes with an unusual requirement: To buy it, law enforcement officials must sign a nondisclosure agreement preventing them from saying almost anything about the technology. Any disclosure about the technology, which tracks cellphones and is often called StingRay, could allow criminals and terrorists to circumvent it, the F.B.I. has said in an affidavit. But the tool is adopted in such secrecy that communities are not always sure what they are buying or whether the technology could raise serious privacy concerns. Secrecy around police surveillance equipment proves a case's undoing. The case against Tadrae McKenzie looked like an easy win for prosecutors. He and two buddies robbed a small-time pot dealer of $130 worth of weed using BB guns. Under Florida law, that was robbery with a deadly weapon, with a sentence of at least four years in prison. But before trial, his defense team detected investigators' use of a secret surveillance tool, one that raises significant privacy concerns. In an unprecedented move, a state judge ordered the police to show the device — a cell-tower simulator sometimes called a StingRay — to the attorneys. Rather than show the equipment, the state offered McKenzie a plea bargain. 'Stingray' Phone Tracker Fuels Constitutional Clash. Stingrays are designed to locate a mobile phone even when it's not being used to make a call. The Federal Bureau of Investigation considers the devices to be so critical that it has a policy of deleting the data gathered in their use, mainly to keep suspects in the dark about their capabilities, an FBI official told The Wall Street Journal in response to inquiries. Cellphone data spying: It's not just the NSA. Local police are increasingly able to scoop up large amounts of cellphone data using new technologies, including cell tower dumps and secret mobile devices known as Stingrays. Data Spying in the States: Public Safety or Invasion of Privacy? Last month, USA Today reported that at least 125 police agencies in 33 states have used a variety of spy-worthy tactics and technologies to obtain information about thousands of cell phones and their users. The newspaper's investigation found that one in four law enforcement agencies use a tactic known as a "tower dump" to get the identity, activity and location information of any cell phone that connects with a particular cell tower in a specific timespan. Additionally, 25 law enforcement agencies used federal grants to purchase a piece of equipment developed for military and intelligence gathering purposes known as a "Stingray," which mimics a cell tower, allows police to track the movements of a specific cell phone and captures data from a cell phone, such as the phone numbers dialed and text messages received. Police Keep Quiet About Cell-Tracking Technology. Police across the country may be intercepting phone calls or text messages to find suspects using a technology tool known as Stingray. But they're refusing to turn over details about its use or heavily censoring files when they do. Pricey 'stingray' gadget lets cops track cellphones without telco help. Why would the well-heeled suburb of Gilbert, Ariz., spend a quarter of a million dollars on a futuristic spy gadget that sounds more at home in a prime-time drama than a local police department? The ACLU caused a stir Monday [4/2/2012] with its extensive report of cellphone surveillance by local police departments, which routinely request location information and other data from cellphone providers, often under vague legal circumstances. But one bit of information provided by Gilbert officials suggests that cops sometimes try to cut out the middle man.Has the Dept. of Homeland Security become America's standing army? Distributed to local police agencies as a result of grants from the DHS, these Stingray devices enable police to track individuals' cell phones — and their owners — without a court warrant or court order. The amount of information conveyed by these devices about one's activities, whereabouts and interactions is considerable. As one attorney explained: "Because we carry our cellphones with us virtually everywhere we go, stingrays can paint a precise picture of where we are and who we spend time with, including our location in a lover's house, in a psychologist's office or at a political protest." U.S. Marshals Seize Cops' Spying Records to Keep Them From the ACLU. Stingrays, also known as IMSI catchers, simulate a cellphone tower and trick nearby mobile devices into connecting with them, thereby revealing their location. A stingray can see and record a device's unique ID number and traffic data, as well as information that points to its location. By moving a stingray around, authorities can triangulate a device's location with greater precision than is possible using data obtained from a carrier's fixed tower location. The records sought by the ACLU are important because the organization has learned that a Florida police detective obtained permission to use a stingray simply by filing an application with the court under Florida's "trap and trace" statute instead of obtaining a probable-cause warrant. Why Are the US Marshals at the Center of All These Pen Registers? [Scroll down] While we don't yet know how many of the 9,000 requests the Marshals made in 2012 were for location data, the coincidence is mighty interesting. The Marshals do have cause to search for suspects' location. They claim they arrest over 300 wanted fugitives a day. That's where stingrays would be particularly useful, as they would help to identify the location of a known suspect. So how often are the Marshals using stingrays to do their work? And to what degree do they do so hiding behind even more obscure local pen register laws to do so? Dirtbox: Operation Dirtbox. The public reaction to Snowden and its political reflection were interesting for what they mean about America and what it portends. Much of the public political conversation was immediately negative, with commentators, news readers, and professional politicians of both major parties attacking him as a traitor. Democratic members of congress were no better than their Republican counterparts. Liberal luminaries such as Al Franken tried to pacify dissenters by saying that the NSA was only acting to protect us, and Hillary Clinton lectured the fugitive about 'coming back to face the music.' President Obama was on television, uncharacteristically awkward in reassuring the country that the NSA "isn't listening to your phone calls," which he knew to be false. Politicians are in some ways just like everyone else: they are uncomfortable with anything which might inconvenience them or even cost them their jobs. Operation Dirtbox. On Friday [11/14/2014], the Denver Post and other papers ran the story that the Justice Department is directing a massive spy operation which can suck up close to every cell phone communication in America. They've done this by installing fake communications towers on a fleet of Cessnas, beginning in 2007. Devices known as 'dirtboxes,' from the initials DRT of the Boeing unit which produces them, mimic cell towers of large telecom firms and trick cellphones into reporting their unique registration information. Investigators can harvest data from tens of thousands of calls in a single flight. The planes are said to cover most of the country. According to the Post article by Devlin Barrett, "people with knowledge of the program wouldn't discuss the frequency or duration of such flights, but said they take place on a regular basis." Dirtbox Devices: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know. Americans are outraged by news of "dirtbox devices." Under this Justice Department program, planes are scanning the cell phones of ordinary Americans. While this program is designed to capture fugitives and criminals, many Americans feel that these dirtbox devices are an invasion of privacy. Here's what you need to know about the dirtbox device program. 'Dirtbox' planes masquerade as cell towers to collect smartphone data in sophisticated spying ops. It's no secret anymore that governmental agencies in the U.S. and other countries have access to sophisticated tools that allow them to track and collect data from smartphones and other devices without users knowing anything is happening, and The Wall Street Journal has uncovered yet another such operation which uses a special "dirtbox" technology installed in special planes that can mimic cell phone towers and fool smartphones into believing they're connecting to a genuine carrier tower. US government planes collecting phone data, report claims. Devices that gather data from millions of mobile phones are being flown over the US by the government, according to the Wall Street Journal. The "dirtbox" devices mimic mobile phone tower transmissions, and handsets transmit back their location and unique identity data, the report claims. While they are used to track specific suspects, all mobile devices in the area will respond to the signal. The US Justice Department refused to confirm or deny the report. Americans' Cellphones Targeted in Secret U.S. Spy Program. The Justice Department is scooping up data from thousands of mobile phones through devices deployed on airplanes that mimic cellphone towers, a high-tech hunt for criminal suspects that is snagging a large number of innocent Americans, according to people familiar with the operations. Laptop computer searches and seizures Most of this happens at airports and border crossings, but if it isn't vigorously challenged in the courts, it will spread to the rest of the country. Protecting Yourself From Suspicionless Searches While Traveling: The Ninth Circuit's recent ruling in United States v. Arnold allows border patrol agents to search your laptop or other digital device without limitation when you are entering the country. EFF and many civil liberties, travelers' rights, immigration advocacy and professional organizations are concerned that unfettered laptop searches endanger trade secrets, attorney-client communications, and other private information. The Editor says... Public Pressure Mounts Against Invasive Border Searches. Random, invasive laptop searches and other digital privacy violations at the U.S. border are facing increasing pressure from the public and Congress. One of the big complaints EFF and others have had is the lack of information and accountability about the intrusive examination of computer files, cell phone directories, and other private information — and the indiscriminate copying of that data — as Americans come back home from overseas. Unsuspected travelers' laptops may be detained at border. This rings all alarm bells (also, the words 'police state' come to mind). I think that anyone who is considering traveling to the US should think twice before doing so. I wonder what would happen to anyone who has the 'wrong' combination of digital data and paperwork on him ... Now They'll Take Your Laptop. [Scroll down slowly] Being "randomly" wanded and frisked at an airport-security checkpoint is bad enough, but at least the inconvenience is brief. But the new seizure policy essentially keeps law-abiding business travelers, with their entire professional lives on laptops, hostage to a government agency and prevents them from doing their jobs — again, all without a hint of probable cause. That's more than an annoyance: It's official theft of your ability to make a living. Securing the Border Against Creepy Pictures on Some Guy's Laptop. As I noted in a column last year, DHS is not looking for bombs in those laptops; it is looking for incriminating files, and the charges that flow from the searches typically have nothing to do with terrorism, contrary to Napolitano's implication. It sounds like the Bill of Rights is taking a beating. Bush-Era Policy Kept To Search Travelers. The Obama administration will largely preserve Bush-era procedures allowing the government to search — without suspicion of wrongdoing — the contents of a traveler's laptop computer, cellphone or other electronic device, although officials said new policies would expand oversight of such inspections. The policy, disclosed Thursday [8/27/2009] in a pair of Department of Homeland Security directives... My laptop is password protected,
so I have nothing to worry about... right? If Cops Don't Know What You Encrypted, They Can't Make You Decrypt It. The last 24 hours [2/24/2012] have produced two opposite rulings about whether suspects in legal cases have to cough up the password to potentially incriminating data that they've encrypted on a hard drive. The two cases add up to a lesson: If the cops don't know what they don't know, your secrets are safe. But if they know what they're looking for, the world's strongest cipher isn't going to stop them from getting it from a suspect. ACLU Wins Legal Victory Against Border-Agent Laptop Seizures. A Massachusetts federal judge denied a motion by the government to dismiss a complaint filed on behalf of the organization created to raise legal funds for a soldier accused of leaking information to WikiLeaks. At issue is whether government agents possess broad powers to search electronic devices at the border without any justification. Radar traps: The cop's bread and butter. Scotland's solar speed cameras have failed, due to a lack of Sun!. They were envisaged as a simple, yet effective way of letting drivers know when they were speeding. However, radar speed signs — famous for their alternating happy or angry faces — are being rendered useless in Scotland due to budgetary constraints and the country's cloudy skies. A Mail on Sunday investigation shows some cash-strapped councils have abandoned the network of signs, with many left broken and others unchecked for as long as five years. Miguez measure would undo Atchafalaya bridge speed cameras. Only two years after the passage of a bill that put speed cameras on the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, the Louisiana Senate unanimously passed a bill this week to shut them down. Senators voted 38-0 on Tuesday, sending the legislation to the House of Representatives where the Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works next takes it up. Georgia man receives stunning $1.4M speeding ticket. Connor Cato was caught with a "lead foot" on a Georgia freeway last month. Though he admits speeding, the amount of the citation — $1.4 million — floored him, according to reports. Cato was traveling through Savannah while driving home Sept. 2 when the Georgia State Patrol caught him doing 90 in a 55-mile-per-hour zone, he acknowledged when speaking to WSAV-TV. As a result, he expected a heavy fine, but was stunned to receive a charge of $1.4 million. Naturally, he assumed it was a typo so he called the court. To his utter amazement, rather than acknowledge a flaw in "the system," he said a clerk told him to pay the amount or appear in court. Law enforcement, not 'self-enforcement,' is needed to curtail traffic accidents. The Department of Transportation — badly led by an ideologue who couldn't even fix potholes as a minor mayor — sees everything through the prism of equity. It issued the National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS), which downplays law enforcement in favor of a "Safe System approach," [...] Due to their misplaced obsession with equitable outcomes, the DOT's NRSS recommends studies to promote what seems like a foregone conclusion — the greater use of speed cameras. The overseeing socialists believe these will provide more equitable enforcement than police traffic stops. Not so fast (as it were)! Cameras may reduce speeding somewhat, but they are not a great deterrent to forms of reckless driving, like texting while driving or fleeing a crime scene. Nor do cameras do much to thwart carjacking, and they're utterly useless if the vehicle has an obscured (or no) license plate. If the burrowed bureaucrats truly want equity of outcomes, they shouldn't be weasels. Instead, they must admit an inconvenient truth: most carjacking is committed by minorities. Despicably, the DOT's egregious equity edicts exacerbate mistrust. Perhaps this is not surprising considering its feckless "leader" was installed largely on the basis of his identity. The Editor says... Drivers clocked speeding up to 169 mph on Maryland expressway. Police in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, are regularly catching drivers speeding well above 100 mph. [...] During a two-and-a-half-hour period midday, police officers made 19 traffic stops, issued 24 citations, and gave five warnings related to speed violations. The excessive speeds of some drivers on the Maryland Route 10 Arundel Expressway ranged from 110 mph to 169 mph, the press release said. [...] The posted speed limit on Route 10, a 7-mile expressway, is 55 mph, according to WTOP. The vehicle clocked going 169 mph was identified as a Ford Mustang. The Editor says... Unreliable Speed Cameras Line Government Pockets. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg's new National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS) promotes speed cameras nationwide to make our roads safer. But research shows that speed cameras are subject to error and actually end up serving as a means to generate government revenue. The Department of Transportation (DOT) cited the rise in fatal car crashes, with an 18.4 percent rise in 2021 compared to 2020 according to DOT statistics, as the reason for new safety measures. The DOT wants to take a more active role in centralizing highway safety, with one of the policies in this strategy promoting speed cameras. NRSS argues that the implementation of speed cameras is a "proven safety countermeasure." The Federal Highway Administration cites research compiled by the Virginia Department of Transportation that shows speed cameras reduce car crashes after they are implemented. However, the cameras can commit errors when it comes to actually ticketing the right offenders. This can be a problem for drivers — but a windfall for enforcers. Critics slam 'Pothole Pete' Buttigieg's plan to fix the nation's roads crisis with more speed cameras and lower speed limits that will guarantee fines for drivers. Pete Buttigieg's plan to add more speed cameras to America's roads as a way patrolling them more 'fairly' has been panned by critics who say it will only lead to more speeding fines under the guise of equity and road safety. Buttigieg announced the plan yesterday [1/27/2022] and claims it will reduce the number of deadly road collisions. The highway plan is receiving some $17 billion from Biden's $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which will be used in part to pay for the cameras. Police in this tiny Alabama town suck drivers into legal 'black hole'. Ramon Perez came to court last month ready to fight the tickets he'd been handed by Brookside police, including one for rolling through a stop sign and another for driving 48 mph in a 40 zone. He swore he'd seen the cop from a distance and was careful as he braked. "I saw him and we looked eye to eye," the Chelsea business owner said. "There's no way I was going to run that stop sign." When he got to court Dec. 2, he saw scores of people just like him lining up to stand before Judge Jim Wooten, complaining of penny-ante "crimes" and harassment by officers. [...] Months of research and dozens of interviews by AL.com found that Brookside's finances are rocket-fueled by tickets and aggressive policing. In a two-year period between 2018 and 2020 Brookside revenues from fines and forfeitures soared more than 640 percent and now make up half the city's total income. And the police chief has called for more. Speed cameras caught Councilman Justin Brannan 16 times. Councilman Justin Brannan — a speaker wannabe who has demanded New York drivers "slow [...] down" — is a lead-footed motorist whose car has been captured by speed cameras speeding in school zones 16 times, including on six occasions in the last five months, The [New York] Post has learned. Despite wagging his finger at speed demons, Brannan (D- Bay Ridge), has amassed 60 driving and parking violations since 2013 with his dark grey Ford SUV, public records show. Brannan has been a vocal supporter of school zone speed camera legislation — and has ripped scofflaws who drive at excessive speeds in his southern Brooklyn district. Speed camera tickets starting at 6 mph above the limit part of Mayor Lori Lightfoot's 2021 revenue packages. With 2021 upon us, Mayor Lori Lightfoot will soon end Chicago motorists' carefree days of driving up to 9 miles per hour over the posted speed limit. The city will start issuing tickets in the new year to people automated speed cameras catch driving between 6 and 9 mph too fast. Lightfoot is counting on millions of dollars in new revenue in 2021 from the $35 tickets to help close a $1.2 billion deficit. But city officials are so far offering few specifics on when and how the stricter enforcement will be rolled out, beyond saying speeders will receive a written warning in the mail after the first time a camera catches them exceeding the new threshold, before tickets for subsequent violations. Chicago Will Start Ticketing Motorists For Going 6 MPH Over Speed Limit. Here in Middle America, there are small towns where going a couple of miles per hour over the speed limit will get you stopped by the town's lone police officer. These "speed traps" are dotted throughout the region as, many times, a significant portion of a town's revenue comes from issuing these tickets. Now, the entire city of Chicago will become one, gigantic speed trap. Mayor Lori Lightfoot is going to rig traffic cameras to automatically issue tickets for residents going just 6 MPH over the posted speed limit. 'Lawlessness out there': Speeding epidemic sparked by stay-at-home orders. The coronavirus has left some Americans feeling the need for speed. With streets emptier than usual, drivers have begun to take more liberties. Stop signs in many neighborhoods have become little more than suggestions, and by at least one key yardstick, speeding is at epidemic proportions. Across 4,000 camera locations tracked by Verra Mobility, a photo enforcement company, traffic is down 45% but speed violations are up 16%. The number of vehicles going at least 20 miles per hour over the local limit increased 40% in April compared with the same month last year. State proposes spy cameras to charge 'presumed guilty' citizens. [The Virginia] legislature is considering the deployment of automated cameras and radar to "bring speeding charges for which the accused is presumed guilty." The Rutherford Institute is denouncing House Bill 1442, which would authorize "photo speed monitoring devices." "At a time when the Commonwealth of Virginia is struggling with critical issues on almost every front, it is a poor reflection on the General Assembly that one of its top legislative priorities — authorizing the installation and deployment of automated speed cameras throughout the state — involves a backdoor means of generating revenue for localities and police agencies at the expense of the citizenry's rights to privacy and due process," said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, the institute's president. "To the detriment of all, House Bill 1442 will further extend the government's pervasive and oppressive surveillance of citizens." Speed Cameras Ruled Unconstitutional, City Has to Pay Back Ticketed Drivers. A court ruling declared speed cameras or at least the process they engender is unconstitutional and the city that put them in must repay all tickets, according to Fox News. Speed light cameras are what you might see in a police state. They also take away due process. The court agreed. The case was complicated and the decision was based on several court cases. The judge agreed with plaintiffs that it was unjust enrichment. The cameras were put in by despots and a company made money from the practice. Police chief ordered ticket quotas to raise revenue, N.J. cops say in whistleblower suit. Six police officers in Mercer County have filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Lawrence Township and its police chief claiming they were ordered to write more tickets and impound as many cars as possible to meet an illegal quota. The suit, filed Monday [10/7/2019] in Mercer County Superior Court, claims Lawrence police administrators ordered officers to write tickets and impound cars "every time they are eligible and without discretion." The reason was that revenue was down, according to the suit. Driver fined thousands for using laser jammer. A driver trying to avoid a speeding ticket didn't get one, but she's still out $2,600. Police became suspicious when a speed camera van in North Yorkshire, U.K., registered interference coming from Debra Anne Brown's BMW as it passed by and couldn't determine its speed, SWNS reports. Driver jailed 3 months for using laser jammer. A businessman who attached a "laser jammer" to his BMW to dodge speed cameras has been jailed. Michael Twizell, 58, installed the device which works by blocking the signals which track how fast cars are traveling. But officers investigated when their device recorded an error code when Twizell drove past passed a police safety camera van last February on the A658 near Harrogate, England. Ticket quotas — are they real? Ridgetop, Tennessee: Population 2,076. The city located about 20 miles north of Nashville has a small police force, but the officers write a ton of traffic tickets. Last year, officers wrote more than $250,000 worth of tickets in tiny Ridgetop. Sound high? Ridgetop police chief Bryan Morris says too high. He goes even further and claims he is being forced by the mayor and vice mayor to write even more tickets, essentially being told to meet a quota. "It's a ticket quota that they have put on the department, and it's such an astronomical amount. I can't justify my guys sitting 10 to 12 hours running radar and doing nothing else," Morris said. Virginia Considers Cameras To Issue Tickets On Alternate Routes Around Toll Road. Drivers who take a highway exit to avoid having to pay a toll on Virginia's Interstate 81 could end up paying far more after a ticket arrives in the mail. The state Senate Transportation Committee will consider a proposal later today that would authorize tolling on I-81. Introduced by state Senator Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg), the measure would also allow private companies to operate a new type of automated photo enforcement camera that issues tickets based on a motorist's choice of route. Those attempting to save a bit of money by taking a side street could be subjected to a fine set by the Commonwealth Transportation Board. France's yellow-vests have something to say about those Orwellian speed cameras. [T]he tax-protesting revolutionaries, who lit the bonfire last November over the French government's scheme to raise fuel taxes in the name of "going green," have not only forced the unpopular government of President Emmanuel Macron to delay its much loathed fuel tax, but taken the battle to a related quality-of-life front that hurts them a lot: speed cameras. Those Orwellian devices that are everywhere in France, monitoring how fast people drive and issuing automated tickets for even the slightest over-the-limit infraction. The yellow vests have trashed more than half of the detested devices. Macron Govt: Yellow Vests Have Destroyed 60 Percent of France's Speed Cameras. Emmanuel Macron's interior minister has revealed that Yellow Vest protesters have destroyed 60 percent of France's speed cameras. "Nearly 60 percent of the radars today have been neutralised, attacked, destroyed" by the anti-globalist movement Christophe Castaner railed, disparaging the anti-globalist movement as "imbeciles." "I saw on social networks some idiots appear next to burned radars.... I do not wish them to face tomorrow the reality of a death on the road," he seethed, vowing "resolute action" by the Gendarmes — France's paramilitary police force. Speed limits are going up in L.A. so that police can write more tickets. Los Angeles officials on Tuesday raised speed limits on more than 100 miles of streets, saying the increases are the best way to quickly resolve a years-long problem that has prevented police officers from ticketing speeding drivers across the city. Despite concerns from neighborhood groups, the City Council voted unanimously to raise the speed limit on well-known thoroughfares, including portions of Mulholland Drive, San Vicente Boulevard and Reseda Boulevard. Most of the increases were of 5 miles per hour. Traffic camera in Italian village catches 58,000 speeders in two weeks. A tiny Italian town may have discovered a new revenue stream after its traffic camera caught 58,568 speeders in just two weeks, but it would prefer if drivers just slowed down instead. Sky News reports that the Northern Italian village of Acquetico, which has a population of just 120, trialed the camera in September as an effort to reduce speeds on the main two-lane road that passes through. That sign telling you how fast you're driving may be spying on you. The next time you drive past one of those road signs with a digital readout showing how fast you're going, don't simply assume it's there to remind you not to speed. It may actually be capturing your license plate data. According to recently released US federal contracting data, the Drug Enforcement Administration will be expanding the footprint of its nationwide surveillance network with the purchase of "multiple" trailer-mounted speed displays "to be retrofitted as mobile LPR [License Plate Reader] platforms." The DEA is buying them from RU2 Systems Inc., a private Mesa, Arizona company. How much it's spending on the signs has been redacted. Two other, apparently related contracts, show that the DEA has hired a small machine shop in California, and another in Virginia, to conceal the readers within the signs. An RU2 representative said the company providing the LPR devices themselves is a Canadian firm called Genetec. That Radar Speed Road Sign Might Be Saving Your License Plate for Later. Zooming down the highway past a radar speed sign can serve as a reminder you're going a little to hard on the gas pedal, but it can also get your license plate number siphoned into a massive data dragnet used by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). A new report in Quartz details an extensive new government contract between the DEA and RU2 Systems, a manufacturer of Radar Speed Display Trailers, and other contractors based in California, Virginia and Canada. A Billionaire and a Nurse Shouldn't Pay the Same Fine for Speeding. If Mark Zuckerberg and a janitor who works at Facebook's headquarters each received a speeding ticket while driving home from work, they'd each owe the government the same amount of money. Mr. Zuckerberg wouldn't bat an eye. The janitor is another story. For people living on the economic margins, even minor offenses can impose crushing financial obligations, trapping them in a cycle of debt and incarceration for nonpayment. Is Every Speed Limit Too Low? Every year, traffic engineers review the speed limit on thousands of stretches of road and highway. Most are reviewed by a member of the state's Department of Transportation, often along with a member of the state police, as is the case in Michigan. In each case, the "survey team" has a clear approach: they want to set the speed limit so that 15% of drivers exceed it and 85% of drivers drive at or below the speed limit. This "nationally recognized method" of setting the speed limit as the 85th percentile speed is essentially traffic engineering 101. It's also a bit perplexing to those unfamiliar with the concept. Shouldn't everyone drive at or below the speed limit? Where Radar Cameras Fear To Tread. A few years ago, county officials set up a mobile radar speed sign along the road to my old house. It looked lonely out there amid the tumbleweeds with only coyotes and rattlesnakes for company. Sure enough, within a day, I was treated to the sight of sheriff's deputies and county workers clustered sadly around the device, which had — apparently in despair over its isolated condition — leapt head-first into an arroyo. State residents were also unhappy when speed cameras sprouted along the roads with ticket books attached. In 2008, Arizona officials signed a deal with Redflex, an Australian photo-enforcement company, to pioneer the first statewide system for robotically extracting money from people's wallets — oh, and "to modify driver behavior and make our roads safer," as Redflex creepily puts it. It wasn't particularly plausible that officials were chasing people down for their own good, but the appearance in the state budget of a line item for revenue from "Highway Photo Radar" was a bit of a giveaway about the real motivations for the contract. 'New York Times' shows its 'gotcha' colors. [Scroll down] I have some firsthand experience with this phenomenon. A few years back I was leaving the Palm Beach International Airport on a divided multilane road with interstate signage, going about 50. I got pulled over in a radar trap, where I was informed that the speed limit was 35, though I hadn't seen any signs. The Problem With Funding Government Through Fines. Last week, Jim Hardesty, the chief justice of the Nevada Supreme Court, warned that the state's highest court was almost out of money. "If this is not addressed by May 1, the court will not have sufficient cash to operate," Hardesty told lawmakers at a committee hearing last week. "I believe the legislature has a constitutional obligation to fund the judicial branch of government. Do you want me to close the judicial branch of government at the state level on May 1?" Many states, including Nevada, have faced budget shortfalls since the Great Recession began. But this one isn't caused by a decline in tax revenue, but by a decline in traffic tickets, which provide the majority of funding to the state supreme court. Police unveil new technology to help crack down on speeding along 495. You might want to pump the brakes if you're traveling the I-495 corridor from now on; state police are introducing new "zero tolerance" patrols, and they have a new tool at their disposal. [...] The devices placed along the highway allow the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to track the average travel speeds of drivers. The data is then sent to state police so they can strategically put troopers in the right place at the right time to catch speeders and prevent possible accidents or fatalities. Infamous speed trap town Waldo investigated over tickets. The situation simmered for years until this month, when Police Chief Mike Szabo was suspended Aug. 12, apparently in response to an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement into suspected improprieties in the way officers write tickets. Speed Traps Fact Sheet. Speed traps are often used by municipalities as a method of generating revenue to run the government. "Safety" is given as the excuse for running a speed trap, but the real reason boils down to money. The police department wants more money for equipment and salaries, the city wants more money to avoid raising taxes, local residents and businesses often go along with speed traps because they reduce local taxes, and besides, they're usually not the drivers who get the tickets anyway. Ambushing drivers in speed traps must stop. Police operating speed traps are not interdicting aggressive drivers who pass in the right-hand lane, cut people off and speed to gain a few car-lengths. Aggressive driving behaviour is really dangerous and leads to fender-benders and cyclist injuries. If fine collection becomes the goal, aggressive driving gets less attention, while otherwise safe and responsible drivers get ambushed by police with radar guns at their favourite speed trap locations. People v. Goulet. ["]Traffic rules account for most of the contact by average citizens with law enforcement and the courts. Enforcement of laws which are widely perceived as unreasonable and unfair generates disrespect and even contempt toward those who make and enforce those laws.["] Officials Plan Adjustments as New York City Slows to 25 M.P.H.. Mayor Bill de Blasio's traffic safety push yielded perhaps its most significant change early on Friday [6/20/2014], when the State Legislature approved a plan to reduce the default speed limit in New York City to 25 miles per hour. Now comes the hard part: retooling the highly choreographed traffic dance in a city of 14,000 taxis, 12,700 signalized intersections and 6,000 roadway miles. The Editor says... Retired cop writes up small town, calls it a speed trap; state investigating. With a population of about 320, Sportsmen Acres seems more like a neighborhood than a town. But neighborly isn't the way David Farrow would describe it. Based on a complaint the Stillwater resident made to state agencies, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety is investigating the Mayes County community as being an alleged speed trap, in violation of state law, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. George Brown said. Speed Trap Spotlight: Louisiana. Louisiana is the latest state to try to outlaw speed traps. State Representative Regina Barrow recently proposed legislation that would define a speed trap as a stretch of road for which no valid speed study exists. In such cases, police would be prohibited from using radar enforcement unless the driver's speed exceeds the prima facie limit by 15 mph or more. A related bill would require municipalities that generate at least 50 percent of their revenue from speeding citations to post warning signs and flashing lights alerting motorists to upcoming speed traps. Speed trap signs drawing attention. The signs are set up along Springwood Road heading into Yoe borough. The speed limit along the road changes from 40 mph to 25 mph. Police often sit nearby and pull over people who do not slow down. "We've seen roughly probably close to four or five hundred people pulled over here," said Kline. He feels police should make themselves noticeable to drivers when trying to get them to slow down instead of being tucked behind cars. You would think police wouldn't appreciate the gesture but that isn't the case. Driverless cars could cripple law enforcement budgets. Local government has long looked to speeding tickets to increase revenue. What will they do when autonomous cars stick to the speed limit? Audit: Officials in speed trap Texas town caught lining pockets. If you've ever gotten a ticket at a small town speed trap and suspected the money ended up in somebody's pocket, you might have been right. An audit obtained by Watchdog.org shows that a group of current and former officials in Huntington, Texas — population 2,118 — collected pay for thousands of hours they either didn't work or weren't supposed to. Even as they complained that the town's coffers were running dry, they falsified traffic citation records to collect fines higher than those imposed by the court, according to court records. Florida lawmakers move to wipe corrupt 'Boss Hogg' town from map. One town in Florida is reportedly so corrupt — with one police officer for every 25 people and a long record of issuing traffic tickets simply to raise government revenues — that lawmakers are mulling a plan to wipe it off the map. Even the mayor says his town council members and officials are crooks — though he says that from jail, The Daily Mail reported. He's currently behind bars, awaiting trial on charges that he allegedly sold oxycodone to an undercover cop, the news outlet said. The town is Hampton, and it's home to about 500. But now Florida state legislators have heard enough of the community's corruption, much of which was revealed in a just-released audit, that they're pushing to shut it down, The Daily Mail reported. Speed trap city accused of corruption, threatened with extinction. How off-the-charts corrupt do you have to be to capture somebody's attention in the Sunshine State? You can lay claim to a 1,260-foot stretch of busy highway a mile outside of town and set up one of the nation's most notorious speed traps. You can use the ticket money to build up a mighty police force — an officer for every 25 people in town — and, residents say, let drugs run rampant while your cops sit out by the highway on lawn chairs, pointing radar guns at everybody who passes by. Of course, none of those things are illegal. But when you lose track of the money and the mayor gets caught up in an oxy-dealing sting, that's when the politicians at the state Capitol in Tallahassee take notice. Now they want this city gone, and the sooner the better. Texas Man Fights Charge of Warning Drivers About Speed Trap. A Texas man who was arrested for waving a sign to warn drivers of a lurking traffic cop defended himself in a court by saying his warning was "the same thing as a speed limit sign." Ron Martin, 33, appeared in court Wednesday [1/15/2014] to fight a misdemeanor charge of waving a homemade sign. He was arrested last October after Police Officer Thomas Mronzinski saw him on the median strip of a six-lane highway holding up the sign — he is a sign painter by trade — reading "Police Ahead." The Rape of Delaware County, Oklahoma. Bernice, which has a population of about 600, is bisected by Highway 85A. For the past quarter-century, the town has been one of the most notorious speed traps in the Midwest. Until recently, the town didn't have a police department; instead, it contracted with the Delaware County Commission, paying $5500 a month to rent sheriff's deputies to write speeding tickets and other citations. Texas Woman Arrested for Warning Drivers About Speed Trap. A Houston woman's attempt to save drivers from a speeding ticket landed her something worse: 12 hours in jail. As she rode her bicycle home from a grocery store last week near downtown Houston, Natalie Plummer noticed police officers pulling over speeders. After she parked her bike and turned one of her grocery bags into a makeshift sign warning drivers about the "speed trap" ahead, an officer drove up and arrested her. Natalie Plummer Arrest Protest to be Held Saturday. Houstonian Natalie Plummer was arrested on Thursday, June 21, for standing on the sidewalk and holding a paper sign. While riding her bike down West Dallas on her way home from the grocery store, Plummer noticed HPD pulling over cars that were allegedly speeding. She took videotape of this happening near downtown because she believed HPD was wrongly pulling over random people that were not even speeding. Pedestrian thrown in jail for 12 hours for holding up sign warning drivers about police speed trap. A woman in Houston, Texas, was arrested and jailed for 12 hours after she held up a make-shift sign to warn drivers about a speed trap. Natalie Plummer was officially charged with walking in the roadway — jaywalking, essentially — though she says the police officers who arrested her were just angry that she had tipped off speeders. Houston Residents Rally Behind Woman Jailed for 'Speed Trap' Sign. A Houston woman who was arrested after she attempted to warn drivers about a speed trap is receiving support across the nation after her story went viral. More than two weeks ago, as she rode her bicycle home from a grocery store near downtown Houston, Natalie Plummer noticed police officers pulling over speeders. After she parked her bike and turned one of her grocery bags into a makeshift sign warning drivers about the "speed trap" ahead, an officer drove up and arrested her. She was jailed for 12 hours. Bright Lights, Big Trouble. Erich Campbell thought he was being helpful. The Florida Highway patrolman thought he was being obnoxious and disrespectful and gave him a $101 fine. "I couldn't believe it," said Campbell as he paced next to Veterans Highway in Tampa, Fla. "I was in complete disbelief." Campbell's crime? He flashed his headlights to alert oncoming cars after passing that patrolman's speed trap. Florida Highway Patrol illegally tickets motorists who warn others about speed traps. When the Florida Highway Patrol pulls someone over on the highway, it's usually because they were speeding. But Eric Campbell was pulled over and ticketed while he was driving the speed limit. Judge rules flashing headlights is free speech in Oregon case. Judge Joseph Carter determined the law covering the use of high beams was valid, but was unconstitutional as it was applied by the deputy. Texas Man Arrested for Warning of Speed Traps. The capitol [sic] city of Texas has added another dimension to the town motto "Keep Austin Weird" with a bizarre crusade against speed traps. After launching his website, SpeedTrapAhead.org three years ago, Lance Mitchell became a burr under the saddle of officials in fast-growing Lakeway, a toney community northwest of Austin, by warning drivers of — well, speed traps ahead. But Mitchell's persistent crusade has now earned him an arrest and jail time for allegedly violating city signage laws, according to the Dec. 25 Austin American Statesman. Florida Highway Patrol tickets motorists who warn others about speed traps. [Eric] Campbell says the FHP trooper wrote him a ticket for improper flashing of high beams. Campbell says the trooper told him what he had done was illegal. But later Campbell learned that is not the case. He filed a class action suit which says "Florida Statue 316.2397" — under which Campbell was cited — "does not prohibit the flashing of headlights as a means of communications, nor does it in any way reference flashing headlights or the use of high beams." Drivers can tip others to speed traps. [Scroll down] One of the troopers who previously had been hunkered down in the median told him it was against state law to flash his lights to alert oncoming motorists to slow down to avoid a speeding ticket. A judge in Hillsborough County disagreed and dismissed the $115 ticket. Campbell filed a lawsuit last month on behalf of himself and the estimated thousands of others who have been cited as well. Radar traps - without radar. Federal Speed Traps: The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration last year raided $744 million that motorists paid in federal gasoline taxes and doled out the cash to the states in the form of "highway safety" grants. The word safety is meant to conjure images of responsibility, but the primary use of the money is paying overtime to cops running speed traps. Virginia, for example, claimed $18 million in grants this year, with $2.3 million allocated to the state police. That agency will use this money almost exclusively on ticketing blitzes and new radar guns. Illinois' Ticketmaster: State trooper has written more than 5,000 tickets. The 5,005 speeding tickets the 36-year-old veteran of 12 years has written since January 2000 is 603 more than his closest colleague, a Sun-Times analysis of more than 700,000 tickets shows. Or as he puts it, "If I have to get out of my car, you're usually getting a ticket." Assigned to the roaming Special Enforcement Team — unlike most troopers who patrol the same stretch of highway every day — Heinzl has gone as far as disguising himself a construction worker to nab speeders and is harder to avoid than most. Business owner casts reasonable doubt on accuracy of speed cameras. Will Foreman has beaten the speed cameras. Five times and counting before three different judges, the Prince George's County business owner has used a computer and a calculation to cast reasonable doubt on the reliability of the soulless traffic enforcers. After a judge threw out two of his tickets Wednesday [4/20/2011], Mr. Foreman said he is confident he has exposed systemic inaccuracies in the systems that generate millions of dollars a year for town, city and county governments. California drivers say money is motive for rise in traffic tickets. The reasons are in dispute, but the trend is clear: The California Highway Patrol is handing out more traffic citations than it did a few years ago, and that has generated tens of millions of dollars in new revenue for state and local government. As the state and cities wrestled with shrinking revenue and growing budget gaps, the California Highway Patrol issued about 200,000 more traffic citations in 2009 than it did two years before. Report: Memo Outlines Police Game for Writing Tickets. A police memo from a California city under federal investigation for overzealous motorist prosecution appears to outline a game in which officers competed to write tickets, impound vehicles and arrest drivers. The memo, from scandal-racked Bell, Calif., is entitled "Bell Police Department Baseball Game," and assigns "singles," "doubles," "triples," and "home runs" to various violations, The Los Angeles Times reported Monday [2/28/2011]. Racism, Injustice, and the Left. When I go to buy my newspaper on a Sunday morning, I always pass by at least three police cars. Sure, they're there to write traffic tickets, but they are there, and that prevents crime. When I drive through the ghetto, I rarely see any police presence. Fighting crime is expensive and dangerous, while tickets are safe and lucrative. Smile, speeders: SC town using I-95 speed cameras. Motorists zipping along a stretch of Interstate 95 South Carolina may soon find themselves on camera. Arizona May Abandon Speed Cameras on Highways. More than a year after Arizona became the first state in the country to deploy dozens of speed cameras on highways statewide, threats to the groundbreaking program abound. ... "I see all the cameras in Arizona completely coming down " in 2010, said Shawn Dow, chairman of Arizona Citizens Against Photo Radar, which is trying to get a measure banning the cameras on the November ballot. "The citizens of Arizona took away the cash cow of Arizona by refusing to pay." What I Saw At the Napolitano "Revolution". One of the most extraordinary components of [Janet] Napolitano's Arizona legacy has to do with her attempt to monetize state security. With virtually no input from the state legislature, Governor Napolitano used her executive powers to mandate the purchase and installation of speed-limit enforcing "photo radar" cameras which are now dispersed literally everywhere in Arizona — in the city, and throughout the state's vast rural regions as well. Napolitano's approach to speed enforcement is bad enough for its draconian, big-brother approach. But worse still, in a blatantly cynical move, Napolitano established that citations from the statewide "speed cameras" would carry with them no penalty to one's driving record — just a monetary fee. Say cheese, speeders. To make good on his offer to help Chicago combat violence, Gov. Blagojevich envisions putting speed cameras on interstates across Illinois — and using the revenue to form an "elite tactical team" that would operate in Chicago and other cities. The idea is in its infancy, with no budget and no timetable. Teen tries GPS defense to fight speeding ticket. A year ago July 4, Windsor teenager Shaun Malone, now 18, received a ticket on Lakeville Highway after a Petaluma police officer using radar said he clocked the teen's 2000 Toyota Celica GTS going 62 mph in a 45 mph zone. But Malone's family contends that a GPS system they installed in his car to monitor his driving habits proves he was driving 45 mph at virtually the same time and place the officer said he clocked him speeding. The Editor says... Troopers target speeders to replenish Pike coffers. State troopers have been ordered to ticket more Mass Pike motorists inside Route 128 as the cash-starved authority looks to pump an additional $600,000 in speeding fines into its coffers. Pike spokesman Mac Daniel admitted yesterday the turnpike authority lost $600,000 in revenue from speeding fines after the July 10, 2006, Big Dig tunnel ceiling collapse that killed Milena Del Valle of Jamaica Plain. The Editor says... Maine state police using unconventional tactics to get speeders' cash. Maine state highway patrolmen have increasingly used devious tactics to catch speeders, including posing as survey teams or having laser guns in the back of unmarked vans. One lieutenant tried to justify the methods by saying, "It's not entrapment, it's just unconventional enforcement." Court Upholds Mailing Tickets to "Speeders" Caught by Camera. An Oregon appeals court that views traffic tickets solely as civil matters rather than criminal cases has rejected a constitutional challenge to the controversial practice of mailing tickets to unwary speeders. Speed cameras in Montgomery County: The Baltimore County Council has approved the use of speed cameras in the county's school zones. ... About 15 cameras will be leased initially for about $6,400 each per month. The percentage of the revenues returned to the leasing company has not been determined yet. New York's phantom taxes. Reluctant to raise taxes publicly, the Bloomberg administration is pursuing a "stealth tax" — launching an unprecedented squeeze on Big Apple residents and businesses, cracking down on parking, health, safety and quality-of-life infractions with a vengeance, the data shows. The ongoing blitz has worked so well that City Hall bean counters expect to rake in a record $884 million in fines by the end of this fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010. It's not about public safety, it's all about raising money. Bill proposed to outlaw speed traps. A state representative says he plans to introduce legislation within the next two weeks that would compel communities to follow a public act requiring them to set speed limits according to specific formulas. State Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, said communities are preying on motorists by keeping speed limits too low. His legislation would force cities, townships and villages to conduct speed studies to properly set limits in accordance with Public Act 85 of 2006. New Mobile Service Fights Speed Traps. The developer of Trapster, Pete Tenereillo, said the system, which requires punching in a few keys such as "pound-1" to submit information to Trapster's database, should comply with laws banning talking on cell phones. Tenereillo insisted he isn't encouraging motorists to break the law or drive dangerously, saying drivers who speed are bound to do so anyway. And he said police officials he's talked to haven't complained about the service because it inevitably encourages drivers to slow down. The Crime of Committing 'Contempt of Cop'. According to Fox News, in December 2009, Erich Campbell noticed a police officer obviously running traffic radar parked near the Tampa International Airport. Campbell committed an egregious act of contempt of cop: he flashed his headlights at oncoming traffic to warn them of the speed trap. He was stopped and given a citation for "improper flashing of high-beams." The cost? $101.00. There is a happy ending to this morality tale: the citation was eventually dismissed and Campbell filed a class-action lawsuit against the state of Florida. NBS Special Publication 442, "Report of the
60th National Conference on Weights and Measures 1975," May 1976, pp. 42-47.
Related information can be found here, including news about license plate readers on the tollways (in lieu of toll booths), and a proposal to put RFID chips in all Texas license plates, which would effectively put a TollTag or TxTag on every car. The location of every vehicle on every major highway could then be recorded. That may also be a component of the proposed odometer tax system as well. "The makers of our Constitution … conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone — the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men. To protect, that right, every unjustifiable intrusion by the government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of the Fourth Amendment." Parking tickets and other fundraising mechanisms The question of racist red light cameras. The return of red light cameras to St. Louis City has been in the news, both print and TV. This is the result, particularly, of the rise in traffic fatalities. It is reported that in several cities and in the past, they were responsible for significant decreases in traffic violations. It is also reported that these will differ from the previous red light cameras in that they will take pictures of potential violations, the driver's face, and the license plate number. Adding the driver's face is to enable better results in identifying responsibility as well as protecting vehicle owners not involved. This news — encouraging to some, discouraging to others — has raised another surprising issue. In a Post-Dispatch article relating to an aldermanic bill proposal, this comment appeared: "The bill also aims to blunt concerns that the camera system will unfairly burden minority and low-income drivers and that the fines will be used as revenue generators for the city." War On Standards, Parking Ticket Edition. The [Washington] Post found that 62 percent of all [parking] fines were issued in neighborhoods where Blacks make up at least 70 percent of the population. [...] Do the Post's statistics demonstrate racial bias in enforcement or do they show that Blacks comply less with parking and traffic laws? They demonstrate neither. However, logic suggests that the latter explanation is more plausible. Take parking tickets, about which I have some first-hand experience. D.C. meter monitors, most of whom are Black as far as I can tell, have no incentive to give more tickets to Blacks than to Whites. Neither do their bosses or their bosses' bosses, who are also Black in most cases. The only incentive these men and women have is to give out as many tickets as possible, so as to maximize city revenue. As one of the Post's sources, a leading critic of parking and traffic enforcement, says, "their job is only to bring in revenue." Thus, in all likelihood, they mostly patrol areas where violations tend to occur. Quota Scheme Essentially Forced Cops to Ticket 6% of Entire Population Every Week. In the city of Honolulu, there are 1,820 sworn police officers on duty whose jobs consist of patrolling the streets and ticketing people for traffic infractions. Nearly two thousand cops writing tickets every week adds up, and a leaked memo of the department's quota scheme shows just how bad it is. An internal memo sent to officers in the Honolulu police department required cops to fulfill ticket quotas every week. The quota set a minimum number of tickets which includes writing at least five moving citations, five parking citations, and two DUI stops. At 1,820 officers, that is a lot of tickets: 21,840 tickets to be exact. Walsh wants big hike in parking ticket fees to fund transit work. Taking aim at one of Boston's most vexing problems, the Walsh administration is planning to crack down on parking violations, reserve more parts of city streets for buses and bicycles, and set up designated pull-over spots for ride-hailing services. Those steps, detailed by city officials Monday [4/2/2018], are part of a broad new transportation strategy that will be included in Mayor Martin J. Walsh's budget request for the next fiscal year. Washington, D.C. on track to make $148 million from traffic tickets this year. Washington, D.C., is on track to rake in $148 million from traffic tickets in 2016, a Tuesday report from AAA concluded. "Those drivers who were chanting 'Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead' a couple of years ago are probably regretting their words now. The speed camera program is back with a vengeance," John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic's manager of public and government affairs said in a statement. The District's speed cameras have issued more citations in the first four and a half months of fiscal 2016 than in all of 2014, AAA learned through a Freedom of Information Act request. Exec pleads guilty to kickback scheme with Chicago's parking meters. A former executive for the company that runs Chicago's parking meters pleaded guilty Thursday to taking kickbacks to steer a $22 million contract to install the privately owned meters. Philip "Felipe" Oropesa, 57, of Marietta, Ga., pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in federal court in Atlanta, where his case was transferred after he was indicted in Chicago last year, court records show. Oropesa also agreed to forfeit $90,000 in bribe money he was paid over the course of the scheme. The Brute Force of Government Spending on Autopilot. My car was towed from an area near a train station in San Francisco last month. I had parked in front of a small "No Parking" sign that I had not seen. I spent an hour looking for my car and calling an attendant who didn't answer the phone. When someone finally answered, she told me my car had been towed. It cost me $350. At least I could afford to pay to get my car back. California is filled with people who are one traffic ticket away from losing their means of independent transportation. They get a ticket for a busted taillight or a small-change moving violation. On paper, the fine is $100, but with surcharges, it adds up to a lot more. People who cannot pay often do not show up in court — which drives up the cost. According to the Judicial Council of California, about 612,000 Californians have suspended driver's licenses because they didn't pay fines. 'All about the money': Motorists plagued by sky-high Calif. traffic ticket fines. [Scroll down] "I had a ticket that went to $5,000," said Adolf Barley, as he joined 100 other motorists waiting to pay their fine outside the Los Angeles Municipal Courthouse. "You do one of three things. You either go to jail, community service or you pay it." Another driver in line went inside a drug store to get change to feed his meter. He came out to find a ticket on his car. When he missed his initial court date because of a hospital stay, the state suspended his license. "I found out I have a warrant for my arrest. A $2,500 warrant," he said. "I'm a good driver, but now I don't have a license." Public Safety Was the Last Thing on Their Minds. [A]ccording to a report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, 17 percent of licensed California drivers have suspended driver's licenses — not for dangerous driving but for failing to pay off citations for minor traffic offenses. [...] The report, "Not Just a Ferguson Problem — How Traffic Courts Drive Inequality in California," exposes how a $100 moving violation morphs into a $490 citation when surcharges are added. Failure to show up in court or to pay the fine in a timely manner can drive up the cost to $815. If a driver doesn't pay, courts can order the California Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend his or her license. A broken taillight can ruin a working taxpayer who lives paycheck to paycheck. In California, a worker without a driver's license could lose his or her job. The punishment far outstrips the crime. Parking-meter beaters on trial in New Hampshire. Parking tickets are an irritating fact of life for city dwellers. Though it's the most common contact a citizen has with the law, tickets rarely go before an actual judge, certainly not a panel of judges. But a parking-tickets case before the New Hampshire Supreme Court last week turned on the right of free speech and the proper role of government. The defendants call themselves "Robin Hooders," a merry band of do-gooders who roam the streets of Keene plugging quarters into parking meters showing expired time, to prevent a neighbor returning to his automobile to find bad news on the windshield. It's nice to be a good neighbor. New Hampshire city wants 'Robin Hood' meter feeders kept away from parking attendants. Armed with video cameras and pockets full of change, a group of self-styled "Robin Hooders" patrols the streets of Keene, N.H., filling expired meters and relentlessly questioning parking enforcement officers whom they believe are "stealing" from citizens to fill the city's coffers. The controversial practice is now before New Hampshire's highest court, which is deciding whether the six activists are within their First Amendment right to carry out such protests, while the parking enforcement officers claim their conduct is harassment and interferes with their ability to carry out their job. 'Robin Hood' parking meter watchers fight restraining order attempt by meter maids in state court. A band of self-styled 'Robin Hooders' has sparked outrage in a small New Hampshire city by filling expired parking meters with coins and lambasting traffic wardens for 'stealing' from citizens. The six activists trail parking enforcement officers around the streets of Keene with video cameras, relentlessly questioning them as they try to issue tickets. Now, after two failed legal suits, their targets have taken the case to the state Supreme Court, calling on a judge to issue a restraining order. Keene, New Hampshire, Continues Legal Fight Against Free Staters Paying Meters, Speaking to Their Meter Enforcement Agents. The city of Keene, New Hampshire, continues to spend its citizens money trying to prevent local Free State Project activists from daring to pay expired meters and talk to meter enforcement officers, as reported in the New Hampshire Union-Leader: [...] Parking meter 'Robin Hooders' facing NH Supreme Court. According to the [U]nion [L]eader, the state Supreme Court will hear arguments next week in the case of the so-called "Robin Hooders". They are six people accused of walking around Keene with video cameras and spare change while filling expired parking meters before city employees can issue tickets. L.A.'s Over-the-Top Parking Tickets Spark Revolt. If you've lived in a L.A. for even a short stretch of time you know there's a hidden but brutal tax in this city. It's called the parking ticket. Opponents of the tax scheme say L.A. generates $300 million a year in parking revenue, $150 million of that from tickets. When the police get entrepreneurial: The citizenry could become prey if police personnel find themselves rewarded for bringing in cash via the citations they issue. So close civilian oversight over any such efforts is necessary. More than just myopic legalism — this is about using traffic cops to raise money. Keene sues six parking meter 'Robin Hoods' who put money in expired meters. The city has filed a lawsuit against six citizens, part of a group dubbed Robin Hood of Keene that patrols downtown armed with video cameras and pockets full of change to fill expired parking meters. Also known as Robin Hooders, the six are associated with the Free Keene group. The Editor says... Sign of the times: 'Phantom Taxes'. Are you starting to get the feeling that there's a cop around every bend in the road just waiting to give you a ticket for speeding? Or a meter maid hovering near your parking meter waiting for the minutes to expire? ... When government feels compelled to enforce laws not for the sake of good government but because they need cash, it puts a decided crimp in personal liberty. But that hardly matters to governments who seek new revenue streams rather than cutting the size and cost of their operations. A 2-Bit Meter Feeder Frenzy. Parking-meter feeders are getting less bang for their quarter. At 47,000 meters around town, 30 minutes for 25 cents is being reduced to 20 minutes at the same price. It's part of Mayor Bloomberg's plan to raise an additional $16.8 million annually to help close the city's $4 billion budget gap. The move has business owners fuming. Speeding, Parking Tickets on Rise as Government Revenue Source. Drivers across the country, beware — a heftier fine could be coming to a dashboard near you. Faced with rising deficits and dwindling revenues, many states and local municipalities are turning to increased traffic and parking fines to fill their coffers. In California, the cost of a "fix-it ticket" nearly tripled on Jan. 1, meaning that drivers in the Golden State can pay up to $100 for having a broken headlight — an infraction that didn't even garner a citation years ago. Petty Police State: Some officers in the Dallas Police Department are doing things against the letter and the spirit of our laws. After writing a traffic ticket up, and getting the signature, too many on the force then add on infractions. Gretchen West was stopped for a burned-out tail light. She took away her ticket for $220. And paid. Then she got a letter in the mail, saying she owed an extra $378 for failing to wear a seatbelt and driving without her headlights on. But, but … the officer had not mentioned those alleged violations! Cops will not stand for insults Driver arrested after giving trooper middle finger settles for $175K. A $175,000 settlement has been reached in the lawsuit of a Vermont man who said he was arrested after he gave an officer the middle finger, the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday. The civil rights organization said a state police trooper pulled over Gregory Bombard, claiming he had made the gesture, which Bombard denied. An argument followed, and then Bombard did give the officer the middle finger, which led to his arrest on allegations of disorderly conduct, the ACLU said. "Police need to respect everyone's First Amendment rights — even for things they consider offensive or insulting," Hillary Rich, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Vermont, said in a statement. The ACLU of Vermont and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, filed the lawsuit against the trooper and the state of Vermont. Judge Orders Alabama Driver to Apologize or Face Jail for Telling Officer [to Get Out of His Way]. An Alabama man who told a police officer, "Get your [...] out of the way" after he was ticketed during a traffic stop last year says he was ordered by a judge to either apologize to the officer for having cursed at him or face up to 30 days in jail. But Reginald Burks says he is prepared to sacrifice his freedom because he believes his First and Eighth Amendment rights have been violated. He contends that his freedom of speech has been imposed upon and that he is facing a cruel and unusual punishment. While Alabama law prohibits using "abusive or obscene language" in public, Burks has not been charged with disorderly conduct and he does not believe the word "[...]" is barred under the law. Court Denies Qualifed Immunity to Officer Who Detained a Man for Using Profanity. In Buffalo, New York, a frustrated man's profanity-laced rebuke of a police officer led to a questionable detainment, which has now resulted in a legal battle over free speech and accountability among law enforcement. An appeals court recently ruled that the officer involved is not entitled to qualified immunity, which means that the lawsuit against the officers involved may proceed. The incident occurred on a 2016 evening after R. Anthony Rupp, an attorney, yelled at Officer Todd McAlister, who was "rapidly approaching" a crosswalk without his headlights turned on. The attorney and his wife were exiting Chef's Restaurant and were crossing the street to the parking lot, according to a legal filing. Dashcam shows Delaware cops conspiring to drum up bogus charge against motorist who flipped them off. A Delaware man is suing the state police, saying they destroyed a sign he made to warn people about their speed trap, and they created a bogus reason to charge him with an infraction because he gave them the finger, Delaware Online reported. Jonathan Guessford had launched a mini-protest by holding a hand-made sign that read, "Radar ahead." Body cam footage shows Cpl. Stephen Douglas and Officer Nicholas Gallo approach Guessford and incorrectly tell him he could not stand on the side of the road with the sign. Gallo eventually pulled the sign from Guessford's grasp and ripped it up. As he was leaving, Guessford gave the officers the finger, prompting them to follow him. [Video clip] Cops Invented a Reason To Cite Man Who Flipped Them Off. A Delaware man was ticketed after he flipped off local police — and newly released body camera footage appears to show that officers knew the citation was unlawful but decided to punish him anyway. In March 2022, Jonathan Guessford, a 54-year-old resident of Smyrna, Delaware, was confronted by police as he stood on the side of a road, holding a sign that read "radar ahead," a warning to drivers about a police speed trap. Two Delaware State Police officers, Stephen Douglas and Nicholas Gallo, seized Guessford's sign and ripped it up, according to body camera footage. As Guessford drove away, he flipped off the pair who pursued him, the officers even reaching speeds of up to 100 mph. After stopping Guessford and being joined by a third officer, Raiford Box, body camera footage shows the officers planning how to justify punishing Guessford. Louisiana Sheriff Arrested Man for Criticizing Officers. Now, the Fifth Circuit Has Ruled in Man's Favor. The Fifth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the plaintiff in a lawsuit against local law enforcement for violating his First Amendment rights. If this person is victorious, it will be a significant victory for liberty while sending a message to police officers who believe they are above the Constitution. The court took only eight hours to issue its ruling on Wednesday allowing the lawsuit to move forward: ["]The civil case surrounded Rogers' 2019 arrest for criminal defamation after he criticized members of the STPSO as "clueless" following failure to solve Nanette Krentel's murder investigation. Rogers won a lawsuit for false arrest and imprisonment in 2022. But Sheriff Smith and his deputies appealed the decision to the Fifth Circuit.["] Man Protests Police Department's Violation of Speech Rights, So Cops Arrest Him. The chief of police of Stamford, Connecticut, personally oversaw the arrest of a protester who held a sign that criticized the police department's disrespect for freedom of speech. In April, Michael Picard staged a protest outside the Stamford courthouse with a sign that read "F*** Free Speech — Stamford PD." Picard was showing support for a buddy, Michael Friend, who had been arrested earlier that month for standing around in public holding a sign warning drivers of a police checkpoint designed to catch and ticket distracted drivers. Police ordered Friend to dump the sign. He refused. He was then charged with a misdemeanor count of interfering with police. That arrest, of course, was a violation of Friend's speech rights, and that's why Picard showed up in front of the courthouse with his own sign when Friend was being arraigned. He had a fellow protester, Dawud Talib, recording him. Indiana man sues after being ticketed for giving state trooper the finger. An Indiana man has reportedly filed a federal lawsuit claiming his constitutional rights were violated when he was ticketed for giving an Indiana State Trooper "the finger." Mark May, of Terre Haute, is seeking unspecified damages against Police Master Trooper Matt Ames, the Tribune-Star reported, citing a complaint filed in court on Thursday [2/1/2018] by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana. Man who gave trooper the finger has charge dropped. The American Civil Liberties Union had argued that while the gesture may be have been rude, it amounted to protected free speech. An obvious violation of the First Amendment: Whatever you do, don't make the cops look bad. Whatever you do, don't make other city workers look bad. Whatever you do, don't break the code of silence. Jury rules Chicago police 'code of silence' protected felon cop. A pervasive culture of silence in the Chicago Police Department led officers to try to cover up the brutal 2007 bar beating of a 115-pound bartender by a 225-pound off-duty officer, a federal jury has decided. It was a big win for the plaintiff, Karolina Obrycka, who filed suit five years ago, and a big loss for the city. The jury awarded Obrycka $850,000 in damages Tuesday, deciding the police department had enabled the disgraced officer, Anthony Abbate, and shielded him from the attack's consequences until the case went public. Don't yell at a cop. Don't flip the finger. The Editor says... Gold Finger. An upstate New York man "gave the finger" to a cop using a radar gun and now may get paid for it. After the incident, the police officer followed the man, a passenger in a car driven by his wife, to their destination and arrested him. Here's where the stories diverge. The cop said he called for backup police and said he followed the man because he thought the extended middle finger was a sign of distress — that a domestic dispute was perhaps underway. The Editor says... Driver gets false 'revenge' ticket for telling-off parking officer. A Denver parking enforcement officer took revenge on a driver who called him a "meter maid" by asking a co-worker to write the driver a false parking ticket, [KUSA-TV] has learned. The parking officers then mailed the $150 handicapped parking ticket to the driver late, so by the time he received it, the fine had doubled. "This was a $300 ticket," Joshua Miscles of Denver said. "People get criticized every day and it doesn't give them the right to just write a ticket and a fake ticket to boot." The Erik Scott Case, Update 11.2: [Scroll down] Contempt of cop also applies to the worst instincts some police officers develop. In those cases, officers become "badge-heavy," they begin to take matters personally. They become hypersensitive to any insult, real or imagined. They don't consider the elements of the law, they take offense, act first and make up the rest later. Such officers are unpredictable and dangerous, not only to the public, but to their fellow officers who know that the bad will of the public is cumulative. Wasted money NYC mayor deploys a 'trash can on wheels' robot to deter out-of-control crime in the subway. If this is the Democrats' solution to the mess they created, it's no wonder that people are abandoning the party in droves... and how strategists, analysts, and the rest of the consultant class can't figure that out is beyond me. On Friday, New York City mayor Eric Adams held a press conference to reveal his administration's latest brainchild to tackle the crumbling city's growing culture of violent crime — it was such a rookie move, even the dullest of fellow Democrats called out the feckless flop. The secret crime-fighting weapon for all the assaults and knife attacks? A Knightscope K5 Security Robot which is basically a glorified Roomba®, or as Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge describes it, "a giant trash can on wheels." NYC: Mayor Adams' New Robo-Cops. New York City is losing cops fast and unable to recruit enough new ones, a problem the city's politicians created by maligning police, going soft on criminals and eliminating cash bail. Mayor Adams and the other socialist clowns at City Hall may eventually stumble on the idea of drafting illegal migrants for the NYPD, but until then, they've decided to spend more money that they don't have on some very expensive 400-pound robots. Watch your step: A new robot will police the NYC subways. New York City Mayor Eric Adams doubled down on his pledge to bring more technology to the nation's largest police department Friday when he unveiled an autonomous robot that will patrol one of the city's busiest subway stations. The device, known as K5 and produced by robotics company Knightscope, stood motionless alongside Adams at a Friday press conference, its shell emblazoned with NYPD colors and its unblinking camera lens pointed at reporters and commuters in the bustling transit hub beneath Times Square. [...] The city is leasing the drone, shaped like an upright rocket nose on wheels, for two months as part of a pilot. The machine will ply the Times Square station between midnight and 6 a.m., but will not go onto subway platforms. Mayor Adams And NYPD Unveil Dystopian Robot Dog To Fight Crime. Mayor Eric Adams and the New York City Police Department have reintroduced the controversial robotic dog for surveillance patrols, and there's another surprise this time: an R2-D2-style robot. These robots are set to debut in Times Square, making this already bustling area of the city appear even more than dystopian ever. According to local news ABC 7, Mayor Adams said Tuesday he is modernizing the NYPD with the latest technology to fight crime. The Editor says... Audit of fired DC police officers shows dozens [were] reinstated [and] $14 million in back pay [was] awarded. An audit reveals that dozens of fired Metropolitan Police Department officers in Washington, D.C., have been reinstated and received $14 million in back pay. According to the Office of the District of Columbia Auditor, two of every three officers terminated returned to the force "primarily because independent arbitrators believed firing was too severe a punishment or that the department had missed deadlines, overstepped its authority or provided insufficient evidence." The review found 36 of the 37 officers fired for various offenses were paid millions in back pay after complicated and costly reinstatement cases.
Despite Funding Cuts, LAPD Stuck With $10M Electric BMW Pilot Program. The "Defund The Police" movement has prompted the city to cut $150 million from the LAPD budget. But what about those expensive electric BMWs that were exposed in several David Goldstein investigations? David first reported on these LAPD BMWs back in 2017 — a $10 million pilot program that the department is still stuck with years later and for years to come despite calls to cut costs. Last year we found an LAPD employee using one of the department's fleet of electric BMWs to commute to and from work. Another one in 2017 using the car to get a manicure. And we found hundreds of others vehicles rarely used. A RoboCop, a park and a fight: How expectations about robots are clashing with reality. When a fight broke out recently in the parking lot of Salt Lake Park, a few miles south of downtown Los Angeles, Cogo Guebara did what seemed the most practical thing at the time: she ran over to the park's police robot to push its emergency alert button. "I was pushing the button but it said, 'step out of the way,'" Guebara said. "It just kept ringing and ringing, and I kept pushing and pushing." [...] About 15 minutes later, after the fight had ended, a woman was rolled out on a stretcher and into an ambulance, her head bleeding from a cut suffered during the altercation. Amid the scene, the robot continued to glide along its pre-programmed route, humming an intergalactic tune that could have been ripped from any low-budget sci-fi film. The almost 400-pound robot followed the park's winding concrete from the basketball courts to the children's splash zone, pausing every so often to tell visitors to "please keep the park clean." Robocop Fail raises questions. [Scroll down] So here's this woman witnessing a violent confrontation and she's frantically pushing the helpful looking button on the robot that says "Emergency Alert." But nothing happens. Her friend finally dials 911, but by the time the cops arrive (fifteen minutes later) there's a woman being wheeled out to an ambulance and the assailants are long gone. The (human) police had an explanation. As it turns out, the Emergency Alert button was never connected to the 911 dispatch office. The messages were being sent instead to the manufacturer of the robot, where they either didn't receive them or had no idea what to do with them. And after yelling at the women to get out of the way, the robot reportedly continued gliding smoothly along past the ongoing fight, continuing on its route through the park playing some sort of science fiction melody as it went. So how much did you pay for this robocop again? Boston police officers were highest paid city employees in 2018. Five Boston police officers that were reinstated following their dismissal ended up with massive paychecks, according to the city's 2018 payroll data obtained by the Herald following a public records request. Boston police officer Shawn Harris, the city's top earner, raked in $684,411 last year with back pay of $485,967. Officer David Williams, the second highest-paid city employee, brought in $677,681. Officers Ronnie Jones took in $577,123; George Dowling, $536,000; and Walter Washington with $494,320. Alabama sheriff's office mistakenly orders 24,000 rolls of toilet paper. Officials in an Alabama county have a financial mess to wipe up after the sheriff's department mistakenly ordered 24,000 extra rolls of toilet paper. WAFF-TV reports the Marshall County Sheriff's Office mistakenly spent $22,000 on toilet paper and another $9,000 for 450 cases of trash bags. That's a big problem, because its entire budget for janitorial supplies for next year is only $15,000. Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez Overspends $200,000 To Avoid Obeying The Law. Once again the "specialness" of Travis County Officials costs taxpayers money. This time it was Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez refusal to follow state and local immigration law that was the culprit. Feds order Georgia sheriff to return $69G spent on Hellcat muscle car. A Georgia police department is in hot water over the purchase of a Hellcat muscle car. Fox 5 reports that the U.S. Department of Justice has asked the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office to pay back $69,258 that it received from a federal program that distributes seized drug money to law enforcement agencies, which was used to buy the 707 hp Dodge Charger Hellcat in May. NYPD needs to replace 36K useless smartphones. The NYPD has to scrap the 36,000 smartphones it gave cops over the past two years because they're already obsolete and can't be upgraded, The [New York] Post has learned. The city bought Microsoft-based Nokia smartphones as part of a $160 million NYPD Mobility Initiative that Mayor Bill de Blasio touted as "a huge step into the 21st century." But just months after the last phone was handed out, officials plan to begin replacing them all with brand-new iPhones by the end of the year, sources said. A Familiar Pattern of Futility in the International Drug War. Strenuous efforts to dampen the supply of illicit drugs in one locale simply cause traffickers to move their production to other locations where the pressure is weaker for the moment. Detroit Police Chief James Craig on DPD inefficiencies. Detroit Police Chief James Craig came to Detroit as a department outsider and has in his first month tallied an unhealthy number of baffling observations. "I wish I could make this stuff up," said Craig Thursday [8/8/2013] after sharing some of those findings with media. The city received a nearly $400,000 federal grant to purchase a new Special Response Team BearCat, an armored personnel carrier. "But for whatever reason we decide and let the grant lapse and at the last minute a local law enforcement partner took advantage of it and now has this SRT vehicle," said Craig. Cut role of feds in local police, fire and education. The federal government had almost no role in funding before President Clinton created the Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, in 1994. COPS was supposed to give temporary grants to local governments to hire police officers until they could secure their own permanent funding. Of course, local governments just got hooked on the federal cash, and some even used it to replace local funding. Worse, a 2006 study found COPS grants were completely ineffective at actually reducing crime. Retiring Parsippany police chief to get $132K a year, state says. The township police chief will soon retire with an annual benefit of $131,951.76, according to state Department of Treasury spokesman William Quinn. Anthony DeZenzo filed a retirement application with the New Jersey Police and Firemen's Retirement System on Feb. 8, according to Quinn. Federal Support For and Involvement In State and Local Fusion Centers. [Scroll down to page 85] In 2011, the San Diego area's fusion center, known as the Law Enforcement Coordination Center (SD-LECC), spent $25,000 on high-tech surveillance equipment, most of which was so sophisticated it eventually returned it for simpler devices. This purchase was made, despite the fact that federal guidelines for fusion center key capabilities do not include covert or surreptitious intelligence gathering. Spending money just for the sake of spending it: In Canada: Feds find failures in Cook Co. homeland security project. Project Shield was supposed to make citizens safer. But in the end, the $45-million Homeland Security program more resembled a disaster, wasting taxpayers' dollars and failing to make a single citizen more secure. The failed Cook County initiative was replete with equipment that failed to work, missing records and untrained first responders according to a report by the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ... Under Project Shield, two police squad cars in all 128 Cook County suburbs were to be fitted with cameras capable of feeding live video to a central command. Detroit police stations to close to the public for 16 hours a day. The latest downsizing plan is already reigniting criticism of the police department. 'I was a police officer in Detroit for 35 years and I can tell you they have wasted money for 35 years," John Barr, a representative for the Police Officers Association of Michigan, said in a telephone interview. 'It's pathetic, just pathetic.' Oakland police radios fail during Obama visit. The year-old system has been plagued by breakdowns and dead zones that have left officers' digital radios prone to blackouts across the city and in most commercial buildings, including the basement of police headquarters. A city-hired consultant said last week that the system was not up to urban standards. [...] Oakland paid $18 million for the radio system when it became operational last year, largely using grant money. Incompetence Prisoner charged with escaping after Ohio sheriff's office accidentally let him go. Shawn D. Brookins was serving a 10-year stint for a firearms charge handed down from a federal judge in West Virginia. He was a felon in possession of a firearm that had been stolen in Ohio. [Advertisement] [Mugshot] Brookins was arrested in 2019 for having a homemade shiv on him. He was previously convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 2009 for a 2008 murder, and was arrested again in 2013 after assaulting two women (what a guy, eh?). Earlier this year, he was transferred from the FCI McDowell prison to an Ohio sheriff's department for a writ of habeas corpus to appear in court in Jefferson County. Apparently, that case went pretty well for him because when it was over, Jefferson County deupties uncuffed him and sent him on his way. Needless to say, the Federal Bureau of Prisons was none too happy about not getting their prisoner back. Now, they're charging Shawn D. Brookins for escaping from prison. Harris/Biden deconstructing America: the Ferguson effect. [Scroll down] Blue state/city police forces have found recruiting almost impossible, and as a result have dramatically lowered their hiring and training standards. Unfit applicants with DUIs, and all manner of other misdemeanor convictions, as well as alcohol and drug problems have been hired. That hasn't worked out well. DEI mandates have also ensured physically and psychologically unfit people have been given badges and guns. Even the FBI has been forced to hire and retain people who can't meet minimum physical standards and can barely read or write. As I recently noted in FBI Credibility?, D/s/c cities can't admit their crime policies are abject, dangerous failures, so they've stopped reporting crimes to the FBI, which following D/s/c mandates, inaccurately reports crime rates. Even if honest reporting were done, the numbers would still be skewed. In those blue cities, the police, badly understaffed, no longer respond to most 911 calls, write few reports, and as always, officers do as little as possible, hoping to eventually retire and get a pension without being prosecuted and jailed for doing their jobs. Biden DOJ Sues Police Department For Not Making Its Application Process Easy Enough For Women, Minorities. The Biden-Harris administration is accusing another jurisdiction of discriminating against women and African Americans by creating law enforcement examinations that are too hard for them. The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday announced a lawsuit against South Bend, Indiana. In their court filing, the DOJ accused the South Bend Police Department of creating a physical fitness test that discriminates against female candidates and a written test that discriminates against African-American candidates, allegedly because both groups were passing at considerably lower rates than their male and white counterparts, respectively. That kind of money will buy a lot of fake fingernails and lottery tickets. Committee says lack of communication, training led to thousands of dropped cases by Houston police. A breakdown in communication, a lack of training, inconsistent protocols and an ineffective records management system were some of the reasons that led to Houston police dropping more than 268,000 cases over nearly the past decade, a committee said Wednesday. The cases, whose existence was made public earlier this year, were never submitted for investigation as officers assigned them an internal code that cited a lack of available personnel. Among these cases were more than 4,000 sexual assault cases and at least two homicides. Poorly Trained Female Cop Pulls Gun And Fires At Man Who Is Not A Threat In His Car. A female police officer pulls a gun and fires at a man despite clearly not being in personal danger. Officer as Kayleigh Cooper tried stopping a 24-year-old man and woman who were suspected of shoplifting. When they refused to get out of the car and drove off, Cooper fired her gun at the fleeing car. Michael Campagna and Megan O'Brien were later arrested on shoplifting charges. [Video clip] Ten times cops [retreated from the] emboldened crooks around them. Readers of Blaze News no doubt recall the jaw-dropping moment a few months back when Toronto police told residents to leave their car keys at their front doors for thieves to take in order to lessen the risk of crooks physically attacking them in their homes to acquire their keys. Of course, the backlash was brutal for what smacked of total surrender. But in many ways the suggestion summed up the striking degree to which some police have thrown up their hands in numerous instances, in numerous places, bowing down as crime spikes around them. To be clear, it can be convincingly argued that police and their departments may not be at fault for this disturbing trend. Indeed, progressive politicians, woke judges, and soft-on-crime district attorneys have been hell-bent on dismissing criminal charges, siding with crooks, punishing cops, and literally defunding police — all of which demonstrates to lawless types that laws against crime often don't mean much these days. In the face of such lack of support — and particularly what leftists learned they could get away with after George Floyd and 2020's dubiously named "Summer of Love" — who can blame cops for thinking twice before taking action, or even out-and-out retreating? Here are 10 times police did just that: [...] Secret Service DEI Quota Hire Goes Completely Berserk at Andrews AFB. In 2016, Michelle Herczeg was a Dallas police officer when she "filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the city, claiming she was assaulted by a male superior and asking for more than $1 million in damages." The lawsuit was dismissed. Filing bogus discrimination claims would normally be seen as a red flag, and it turns out Michelle Herczeg had more red flags than a May Day parade in Beijing, but that didn't stop the Biden administration from hiring her as a Secret Service agent. This Perhaps Is The Best Video Showing Why Women Should Not Be Cops. A Queensland Police officer has been attacked by a man while on patrol on the Gold Coast, capturing the horrifying ordeal on a body-worn camera. The incident occurred after police were called by a member of the public over concerns about two men asleep inside a damaged Lexus parked on Greenacre Dr in Parkwood about 5.30am in December 2023. The man inside the car, Noah Spells, 40, can be seen lunging at the woman on her body-worn camera, after being ordered to exit the vehicle. Spells is tasered before the officer attempts to handcuff him. [Video clip] Contrasting madness. For those who have not seen or heard, a United States Air Force airman, in full uniform, covered himself in a flammable liquid and lit himself on fire. [...] If this appalling vision were not enough as his uniform melted and the fire finally made him fall, a Secret Service agent decided that the most appropriate response to a man engulfed in flame was to hold him at gunpoint. Seriously. Other officers appear with tiny extinguishers and do a frenzied and rather poor job of a reasonable response (though I understand, as they were all in shock), but this absolute lunatic agent kept his pistol pointed at the immobile smoldering man — only moving it when other responders interrupted his line of fire. What on earth did this psychopath think a gun was going to do? I have read some excuses for the Secret Service man, all of them absurd. In "defund the police" times, who are the police? To become a police officer, one must be at least 21, have no significant criminal record, be in good health and good shape, have at least a high school diploma or GED and be of average intelligence. "Average intelligence" because most police administrators don't want to hire smarter people. They're afraid they'll get bored and quit, and the money spent training them will be lost. Sadly, these days, particularly in blue states, hiring standards are being seriously dumbed down. Having been defunded and persecuted, capable officers are fleeing for red state agencies, retiring, or getting out of the profession. Recruiting is a nightmare, and agencies are taking people with drunk driving convictions, histories of drug use, and significant criminal histories, including some felonies, just to put bodies in blue suits. It doesn't take much imagination to see how diversity hiring mandates make a bad situation worse, but let's play along and see how things should work. [...] 4 Chicago Cops Learn It's Hard To Keep A Good Scholar Down. Video of a retail theft arrest at 95th and Ashland. The subject resists police and takes off running. [Video clip] Or, to put it another way... How Did Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal 'Lose' at Least 76 Service Weapons? It's entertaining when the Mexican government chirps up, complaining about weapons that flow across their northern border (frequently facilitated by US government agencies). Sure, the drug cartels that actually run our neighbor to the south find ways to move acquire firearms up here and move them south, but when your own military "loses" about one-third of their guns they've been entrusted with, the Mexican regime doesn't have a lot of room to talk. Which brings us to... Philadelphia. The City of Brotherly Love is doing its level best to become the next Chicago. They may not have elected (yet) a doctrinaire socialist who wants to further defund the police and open city-owned food stores, but give them time. They'll probably get there. The city's feckless mayor and Soros-backed prosecutor who's never seen a criminal he's wanted to prosecute love to inveigh against the Founders' original sin of protecting individual gun rights. The problem is never the rampant recidivism, the decarceration, the zero bail, or the flash mobs looting stores. As always... it's the guns. Female Cop Shows What A Diversity Hire She Was. This female cop nearly ran herself over when she forgot to put her cruiser in park and it almost rolled over her while she had her weapon unholstered. [Video clip] Useless San Fran Cop Stands Idly By as a Homeless Vagrant Destroys a Red Light. Do tasers not work or something? Standing here watching this guy destroy a light that will need to be repaired at the expense of taxpayers is not part of your job. [Video clip] Police unable to track GPS location of juvenile who ended up robbing more than two dozen people while on GPS ankle monitor. According to Channel 9, an 18-year-old has been accused of robbing more than two dozen people across the city while actively wearing a GPS ankle monitor. [Tweet] The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) said that they were unable to use the GPS ankle monitor to track and find the suspect, identified as Kaivon Belton. Belton was reportedly being monitored by the Department of Juvenile Justice. On Tuesday, October 25th, CMPD refused to do an interview with Channel 9. Reporter Dan Matics learned that detectives were trying to work with the Department of Juvenile Justice to track Belton's ankle monitor. However, they were unsuccessful. CMPD said they could not access Belton's ankle monitor due to "red tape" and while out on GPS, Belton was allegedly terrorizing Charlotte's Hispanic community by robbing several people at gunpoint. Embarrassing Video From Two Out Of Shape LA Cops Shows What Happens When You Defund Your Police. Not only are the officers out of shape and have no idea how to fight, but they lose their batons and fall all over the sidewalk. To make things worse, their use of appropriate force is limited by all the policies Los Angeles has implemented to try to correct the ["]systemic racism["] that's apparently rampant in every police department across the nation. [Video clip] Defund the Capitol Police. The new intelligence chief of the U.S. Capitol Police is off to a rough start. Ravi Satkalmi, a former high-ranking NYPD official, took over the Capitol Police's expanding intelligence unit this month. But his agency suffered a major humiliation Wednesday night after it forced the evacuation of the Capitol and surrounding buildings after spotting "an aircraft that poses a probable threat." Staff scrambled to exit the buildings in a panic, and news outlets interrupted coverage with "breaking news" bulletins about the suspicious aircraft. Roughly 15 minutes later, Capitol police backtracked and announced there was no threat; the aircraft, it turned out, was a U.S. Army plane preparing to perform a parachute stunt at the Washington Nationals baseball game. After issuing an "all clear" notice, a USCP senior security official told Fox News, "This is not supposed to happen. It looks bad." Amid NYPD manhunt, subway shooting suspect Frank James ate lunch at Katz's Deli, walked NYC in plain view of surveillance cameras. As the NYPD and federal law enforcement scoured the city for the accused Brooklyn subway shooter on Wednesday, the burly suspect enjoyed some of Manhattan's culinary delights. At 10:30 a.m., Frank James sat outside the trendy Chinatown restaurant Dimes, just staring into space, said a source who spied the suspect. A few hours later, James grabbed lunch at Katz's Deli, a separate source confirmed to the Daily News. Around 1 p.m., the 62-year-old, apparently fed up with the food tour, called Crime Stoppers on himself at an East Village McDonald's. An eagle-eyed worker spotted him and he was taken into custody at 1:42 p.m. at St. Mark's Place and First Ave. One day later, lower Manhattan was now at ease and abuzz with reported sightings of the gas mask-wearing gunman who shot 10 straphangers aboard an N train in Sunset Park and then wandered around the city. Here's How The DOJ And FBI Are Spending Their Time Instead Of Rooting Out Actual Extremists. The FBI never managed to thwart the NYC subway shooting suspect, who allegedly posted hours of extremist black nationalist and violent rhetoric on YouTube, but has repeatedly allocated resources to chasing hoaxes and false leads. The FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) have spent their efforts plotting an operation to kidnap a governor, busting out a team of 15 agents to investigate a rope in a NASCAR garage and investigating parents at school boards meetings as domestic terrorists, among other failed operations. The FBI has also denied knowing about the whereabouts of Hunter Biden's laptop. The man responsible for allegedly opening fire in a New York City subway car Tuesday walked away from the scene of the crime and, after waiting for the authorities to do something, decided to turn himself in, reportedly sitting on a bench relaxing before the NYPD nabbed him. "I'm Frank, I'm the person you're looking for. I'm surprised it took so long," Frank James, the alleged shooter, told police as they arrested him, according to the New York Post. James evaded arrest for over 24 hours despite hundreds of NYPD officers working to find him. Arrested trucker says police who broke up Ottawa's Freedom Convoy protests acted 'like the Keystone Kops'. A trucker arrested as police cracked down on Freedom Convoy protestors in Ottawa has told of the farcical way the Canadian capital's 'Keystone Kops' tried to bring the weeks' long demonstration to an end. Even the officers themselves were complaining about how disorganized the whole operation was, Guy Meister told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview. 'You could tell they were overwhelmed. They were as dumb as a bag of hammers,' Meister, 53, said. 'They wanted to take my booking photograph, but I had to wait for several minutes because they were having issues with the "mug shot board." They first took my picture before they realized that it didn't have any numbers on the board I was holding. 'What should have taken a few minutes turned into 20 minutes, all in the freezing cold. Black man arrested in Las Vegas as White felon twice his age looks to sue police. A 25-year-old Black man is suing two police agencies in Nevada after he was misidentified as a White ex-felon nearly twice his age, arrested, and held for six days in jails in two Las Vegas-area jurisdictions. Shane Lee Brown claims civil rights violations, false imprisonment, negligence and other wrongful conduct by Las Vegas and Henderson police and their top officials and seeks at least $50,000 in damages. The civil lawsuit describes Shane Neal Brown, now 51, as a White man with a bushy white beard who is taller than Shane Lee Brown. Man Gets "Robbed" For All His Belongings By Random Strangers While Being Apprehended By Police. Police allege a man arrested after a shooting on Railroad Avenue last month had Xanax, Suboxone, and fentanyl on him while being booked into jail on charges related to the shooting. During the intake process, corrections officers and deputies with the San Miguel County Sheriff's Office allege Martinez was carrying $2,254 in U.S. currency "in small increments," according to the affidavit. [...] Officers allege Martinez concealed the bottle in a hand and refused to let go of it. Corrections officers took Martinez to the ground and wrestled the bottle from his hand, according to the affidavit. [...] But a video that was released by locals this morning shows that the cops wrestled with him more than once and once again the female cop was doing nothing to help. On top of it, people that were passing by took all of his belongings. [Video clip] Man Disarms Female Deputy, Tries To Shoot Her, Other Cops Serves Him Instant Justice. There are significant policy-related differences between men and women. And it is likely in our best interest as police officers to capitalize on the differences and use them to our advantage. While on the other side, if the differences cause challenges, change our method of training to accommodate the differences. A video that we've received today shows why male and female cops should work together! [Video clip] Maybe This Video Proves All Female Cops Should Have A Male Partner? Watch as these two female cops in the UK try to apprehend a man and have a [difficult] time just getting his hands behind his back. The man suddenly realizes he can take these two lady coppers out by just pushing and pulling them, slipping out of his jacket, and taking off through the park. The lady cops fuel their embarrassment once they take off after him in their squad car, leaving their handcuffs behind. [Video clip] When it comes to policing, diversity is going to get someone killed. In 2005, Brian Nichols, who was awaiting trial at the Fulton County, Georgia courthouse, escaped and went on a killing rampage that ended when a hostage convinced him to surrender. What struck me most was that his spree started when he overpowered a female sheriff's deputy, beating her into a coma. It's entirely possible he could have done the same to a man, but I have no doubt that her being a female facilitated it. I thought of that sad story when Not The Bee dug up footage of two female police officers in Montreal struggling with a skinny man. The video from Montreal, I must admit, is incredibly funny. Two female police officers have a skinny guy up against their vehicle as they prepare to cuff him. Instead, he shakes them off with practically no effort and runs away. The women are too slow to chase him on foot, so they race back to the car and chase him — leaving their abandoned handcuffs lying in the gutter. People speaking what seemed, to my untutored ears, to be an African language laugh hysterically as this plays out in front of them. Report details mishandling of police emergency system on 1/6. U.S. Capitol Police didn't adequately respond to frantic calls for help from officers when they pressed panic buttons on their radios seeking immediate backup as scores of pro-Trump rioters beat officers with bats, poles and other weapons, an inspector general's report found. The report obtained by The Associated Press offered new details about the shortcomings by law enforcement during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. The report found that most of the emergency activations from individual officers' radios were never simulcast on police radio, a standard protocol designed to spread the word to other officers about emergencies and crises. The on-duty watch commander appears not to have been made aware of at least some of the system activations, the report said. Texas murder suspect granted bond after police data loss. A Texas man who was scheduled for trial on a murder charge this week was instead granted release on bond amid temporary concern that material in his case might be among troves of police data lost from the Dallas department's computer system. A Dallas County judge granted Jonathan Pitts bond Thursday after prosecutors asked the judge to delay his trial as they worked with police to determine whether case material was part of the information lost while the Dallas Police Department was moving data from a computer network drive. It was not immediately clear when Pitts would be freed from jail.
San Francisco Police Department Seeks Help To Solve Crime But Blurs Face Of Suspect. The San Francisco police posted a videotape of a man lighting the hair of a woman on fire on a bus. They were seeking the help of witnesses but bizarrely blurred out the face of the suspect. When confronted on the curious effort, the police insisted that it was just trying to get people to recognize the victim. Huh? Retired Capitol Police officer: 'How can you not have backup?' The more he learned about Wednesday's rioting that led to five deaths at the U.S. Capitol, the more incredulous Theotis "Butch" Jones, a retired Capitol Police officer, became. His first reaction to the coverage, which showed both Capitol Police and D.C. police outnumbered as mobs shattered windows and kicked doors, was: "How can you not have backup? That's the question. How can you not have it?" Jones, who was a member of Capitol Police from 1973 to 2009, told WTOP that preparations for major events always included layers of security. Capitol Police Rejected Help From National Guard, FBI Days Before Protest. The U.S Capitol Police rejected National Guard and FBI assistance in the days and hours leading up to a massive Capitol security breach carried out by protestors and rioters. Days before the event, the Pentagon asked the U.S Capitol Police if it needed National Guard manpower, but the offer was declined. Additionally, as the mob descended upon the Capitol, Capitol Police rejected an offer of FBI support from Justice Department leaders, but both offers were turned down according to Associated Press sources. Despite plenty of warnings, Capitol Police still found themselves overwhelmed when rioters began breaking into the Capitol, smashing windows and vandalizing offices. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday that a "painstaking investigation" would commence into Capitol security protocols. 'Institutional racism' is the new blood libel. [Scroll down] Unless there is new evidence, it looks like George Floyd was killed by a brutal, incompetent cop who should have been fired years ago. Three years ago, a 40-year-old white woman was shot and killed for no reason by a black officer of that same Minneapolis Police Department. Do the media, politicians, and black leaders care about fixing problems? If so, why don't they report and protest against corruption and incompetence by this Democrat-run city government? Why don't they talk about how public employee unions and civil service rules make it almost impossible to fire bad cops? Seven Thoughts on the Civil War the Other Side Wants So Badly. [#5] Virtually every one of the police departments the Left is screeching about is governed by Democrats. Where is their accountability? And what does that teach us? An obvious point, to be sure. And one we all know. But let's not ignore it, because it should be thrown in, for example, Jacob Frey's face every time he whines about "400 years of oppression." Hey jackass, your party has controlled Minneapolis for 60 years. You don't bear responsibility for its hideously unprofessional police force? Weed Warriors Who Mistook Tea for Marijuana Will Pay Their Victims $150,000. The Leawood, Kansas, couple whose home was raided in 2012 after sheriff's deputies claimed that loose tea found in their trash was marijuana will receive $150,000 for their trouble under a settlement agreement with the Johnson County Sheriff's Office. The settlement — which caps seven years of litigation, including two trips to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit — falls far short of the $7 million that Adlynn and Robert Harte originally sought. But it represents an implicit acknowledgment that the Hartes and their children suffered an outrageous invasion of their privacy and dignity in the service of a comically inept publicity stunt. Alabama Police Shoot Woman After Entering Her Home While Trying To Arrest Man Who Was Already In Jail. Police officers in Mobile County, Alabama, entered a home and shot a woman while trying to arrest a man who was already in jail. Authorities are now blaming the woman because she held up a shotgun at them after they entered her home erroneously. Police officers were dispatched to the home to arrest 41-year-old Nicholas McLeod, who used to live in the house that was stormed. McLeod had several outstanding warrants for his arrest. But McLeod no longer lived in the home. Cop who fatally shot Atatiana Jefferson wasn't sent on welfare check. [Scroll down] Retired Fort Worth chief of police and police consultant Jeff Halstead told CNN that nothing in the body camera footage suggests there was a crime happening. "They were standing literally at the front door, they could see whether the door was kicked on or not," he told the network. "The lights were on, there was evidence that people were living there, there were toys." "Why they advanced to an extremely dark backyard area without at least ringing the doorbell or checking the entrance? That's extremely concerning," he added. Documents released Tuesday indicate that Jefferson had picked up her gun before she was killed because she heard a noise outside. Sanctuary county releases rape suspect who immediately targets victim again: ICE. An Oklahoma sheriff's department defied ICE and released an accused rapist from jail this week — and within hours he was back at the door of his alleged victim, the agency said Thursday [10/10/2019], saying the county's sanctuary policy put the woman at risk. Antonio Ulises Perez was arrested on suspicion of forcible rape on Sept. 30. He made bond early Wednesday morning. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had asked that he be transferred to the custody of deportation officers, but it said the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Department refused and released him instead. Bronx DA names 75 NYPD members on 'naughty list' for shoddy police work. The Bronx District Attorney's Office became the first in the city on Monday [10/7/2019] to publicly release a "naughty list" of NYPD members whose credibility could lead to criminal cases being tossed. The heavily redacted records, obtained by The [New York] Post through a Freedom of Information request, names 75 officers, sergeants and lieutenants who have given questionable testimony in criminal cases or have had evidence tossed for unconstitutional policing. Dozens of other officers were included in the 11 pages of three separate adverse credibility lists reviewed by The Post — but their names were redacted because some of the cases are sealed.
The Editor says...
The Editor says... Homicide suspect accidentally released from Nashville jail is back in custody. A first-degree murder suspect accidentally released from the Davidson County Jail last week due to a clerical error was back in custody on Wednesday [9/4/2019]. Local and state authorities had been looking for 26-year-old Roberto Josue Viera-Aybar, who was mistakenly released on Friday, Davidson County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Karla West said. Man Spends Three Months in Jail Because a Drug Dog and a Field Test Said His Honey Was Methamphetamines. Another field drug test has managed to misidentify a common legal substance. This doesn't matter to the government, which is only out ~$2. But it does matter to the non-criminals being treated like criminals because the ultra-faulty tests are even worse than K-9s at detecting actual drugs. Field drug tests have determined everything from cotton candy to donut crumbs to drywall dust to bird poop (on the hood of a car no less!) to be illegal substances, resulting in a cascade of horrors on the innocent, starting with the arrest and criminal charges, and proceeding directly to indefinite pretrial detention and the loss of income, housing, etc. that comes with it. Cosmic Injustice. Do we remember the horrific 2011 Tucson shooter, the mass-murdering ghoul who mowed down 19 people, killing six and severely wounding Representative Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.)? Pima County Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik, without any evidence, immediately claimed that conservative anti-government hate speech had set off the unhinged shooter. One might have thought from Dupnik's loud blame-game commentary that supposed outgunned deputies on duty had shot it out with the killer in a running gun battle, and that he was furious that talk radio or right-wingers had somehow impeded him from getting enough bullets or guns to his men to protect the victims from such a right-wing ideologue. Hardly. This shooter had devoured both the Communist Manifesto and Mein Kampf. [...] The ubiquitous Dupnik in his efforts to translate his own incompetence and failure to secure the area where Giffords was to speak into media-driven celebrity, in cheap fashion blasted the Tea Party, critics of President Obama, and, of course, Rush Limbaugh as the culprits. Mother gets jailed for a week, loses her job and kids after being wrongly arrested due to police error. Police wrongly arrested and jailed an Ohio mother earlier this month, acting on a warrant intended for a drug-trafficking suspect who shared the same name. But before law enforcement realized the mistake, the innocent woman had spent a week behind bars, lost her job and temporarily lost custody of her children in the meantime. A Whistle Blowing Dallas PD Officer Is Coming Forward Against His Chief as Dallas Falls Deeper Into Crime and Murder. Veteran Dallas Police Officer Nick Novello has been speaking out against the mismanagement and incompetence displayed by the department's police chief U. Renee Hall for years, and as Dallas approaches unprecedented murder and crime rates, Novello is once again sounding the alarm. Recently, Hall appeared in the hot seat before the Dallas city council where she was raked over the coals for how horribly the department has managed both itself and crime within the city. As of now, Dallas is set to hit a decade high in homicide rates with a projected 228 deaths by the end of the year. Now rumors are swirling that Hall is about to get the boot, and Novello plans to deliver a letter to Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson that may just seal the deal as it details just how bad things are behind the scenes at the Dallas PD. Cops Raid Innocent Grandma's Home, Mistake Grandpa's Ashes for Heroin, Arrest Her. A family is speaking out against the NYPD after they were raided by multiple cops, had their house destroyed, and false charges brought against them for vials of ashes containing their late patriarch. The incident happened last year as Lucia Santiago, 65, was awakened in her bed by heavily armed NYPD officers and forced into the living room. Waco "Twin Peaks" Shootout — All Charges Dropped, Not a Single Successful Prosecution. Here's an update to a story we covered in detail for quite a while. After four years of seriously sketchy prosecutorial conduct, likely trying to cover up the number of people killed by police and SWAT units as they shot into the crowd, the McLennen county district attorney has dropped all charges against the bikers involved in the Waco "Twin Peaks" brawl. That means the old DA and the new DA were not able to achieve a single successful prosecution of any of the 177 bike club members, after the entire group was originally rounded up and locked in jail on $1 million bonds. Countless Americans carry guns. Police are killing too many of them. Certainly, if a man holds a gun at the scene of a shooting, police are more likely to zero in on him than on others. Officers arrive in the midst of extremely tense, life-threatening and fast-moving situations and must think quickly. Yet guns are ubiquitous in this nation, whether we like it or not. Many people carry them legally, and for just this kind of situation — to be the "good guy with a gun" who stops the armed bad guy. No less than the president of the United States has called for more armed citizens, so that in the midst of an altercation, many guns might be wielded by good guys and bad guys alike. Officers should expect it. They should be trained for it. Alabama Mall Shooter Gets Away After Police Show Up & Kill Different Man Who Reportedly Stopped Him. On Thanksgiving night, an armed assailant opened fire inside an Alabama shopping mall, shooting an 18-year-old male and a 12-year-old girl. Shortly after the shots rang out, a Hoover police officer engaged a man with a gun, opened fire and killed him. Police then released a statement championing their officer and patting themselves on the back for stopping a potential mass shooting. But the man they shot was not the shooter. Selfie saves innocent man facing 99 years behind bars. When cops showed up at Christopher Precopia's work at a lumberyard in Georgetown in September 2017 to arrest him for burglary with the intent to commit other crimes, he was stunned, KVUE reported. [...] On the night of the alleged attack, Precopia was actually 65 miles away at a hotel in Austin with his mom, Erin Precopia. Luckily, he decided to take a selfie of himself with his family that evening, which he posted on social media. Cop who fatally shot unarmed 17-year-old boy was sworn in just 90 minutes before, police sources say. An East Pittsburgh police officer who killed an unarmed 17-year-old while he tried to run away during a traffic stop was only sworn into duty around 90 minutes before the shooting, according to reports. Michael Rosfeld, 30, had been on duty in East Pittsburgh, Pa., for only three weeks and was only sworn in less than two hours before the incident, although he has been an officer in the region for seven years, according to KDKA-TV. Rosfeld had previously worked in Harmarville and for the University of Pittsburgh Police Department. Capitol Police Accidentally Gave Evidence To House Hacking Suspect's Defense Attorney. The Capitol Police turned over a trove of evidence in the alleged Imran Awan House cyberbreach and theft case to the defense attorneys when they were supposed to deliver it to prosecutors instead, according to court documents and a source. And hours after The Daily Caller News Foundation asked prosecutors about the disclosure, Awan's lawyer said he had learned of the forthcoming story from a source on Capitol Hill. TheDCNF had not told anyone other than prosecutors about it. Capitol Police Accidentally Gave Evidence To House Hacking Suspect's Defense Attorney. The Capitol Police turned over a trove of evidence in the alleged Imran Awan House cyberbreach and theft case to the defense attorneys when they were supposed to deliver it to prosecutors instead, according to court documents and a source. And hours after The Daily Caller News Foundation asked prosecutors about the disclosure, Awan's lawyer said he had learned of the forthcoming story from a source on Capitol Hill. TheDCNF had not told anyone other than prosecutors about it. "The cop came to [Awan's defense attorney] Chris Gowen's office with a stack of papers ... Then he came back and said, 'I thought you guys were the other party.' He was very, very angry. But Gowen made copies," the source, who's familiar with The Awans, told TheDCNF. Body camera footage shows police never got out of cruiser to check for Ohio teen crushed by minivan seat. Body camera footage from two Cincinnati officers showed they never left their patrol car to investigate the 911 calls about a teen being stuck in a minivan last week. Kyle Plush, 16, called 911 twice on April 10, 2018, from inside a minivan begging for help and providing a dispatcher with a description and location of the vehicle in a school parking lot. Plush suffocated after he became trapped under the third-row seat that flipped and pinned him while he was trying to reach his tennis equipment. Police said Amber Smith, the 911 operator who answered Plush's second call, failed to relay information to the additional officers who were at the scene. One dead after cops shoot up car thinking escaped inmate was inside — but he wasn't. Denver police officers opened fire on a vehicle — killing one man and injuring another — in the belief that it contained an attempted cop killer who escaped from custody, officials said Thursday [3/22/2018]. There was just one problem, though: They had the wrong guy. "Officers were acting on information provided to them that [the inmate] was in the passenger seat," Denver Police Commander Barb Archer explained at a press conference. "They believed that to be him," she said. "Their actions were based on that belief and based on his criminal history past of being an attempted murderer, that justifies their action." What Mass Shootings Mean for Good Police Work. In the weeks after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre (please don't call it a tragedy), the concepts of service and leadership have been churning in my head. As the events have unfolded, we've discovered four school resource officers were ordered not to enter, but to hold outside and secure a perimeter. [...] Fellow peace officers, if the day comes that you cannot look yourself in the mirror and say, "I will risk life and career for the people I serve," it is time to turn in the badge. Man disarms would-be church shooter, gets shot by police. A man disarmed a would-be hostage shooter at a church in Amarillo, Texas, but when officers arrived, he was shot twice. On Feb. 14, the same day the Florida school shooter killed 17 people, a gunman barged into the Faith City Mission during morning church service. Police said the initial call just before 9 a.m. referenced an armed suspect holding approximately 100 people hostage in the chapel. Just before police arrived, Tony Garces, a student at the city mission, snatched the handgun away from the would-be killer after others wrestled him to the ground. [...] When officers told Garces to throw the gun down, he hesitated for fear that the gun would discharge and harm someone. Instead, he tried to put the gun on the floor — that's when he said he was shot twice. Toy tiger sparks standoff with Scottish police. Armed police stormed a Scottish farm after receiving a report a tiger was on the loose — only to discover the big cat was a cuddling toy laying on the road. A Facebook group — UK Cop Humor — shared photos of the stuffed animal and poked fun at the officers who reported to the farm.
First Somali Police Officer In Maine Arrested At Concert. The first Somali person to become a police officer in Maine was arrested Saturday night [1/13/2018] for disrupting a concert and heads to court Wednesday to face multiple charges for her behavior. The 24-year-old police officer, Zahra Munye Abu, was arrested Saturday night at Palladium Nightclub in Worcester, Mass., for assault and battery and was charged with three other counts of misdemeanor, according to the Portland Press Herald. Abu was bailed out of jail at 1 a.m. Sunday, but the bail amount has not been disclosed. "She was (given) several opportunities to leave and refused. Eventually she was placed under arrest," Worcester police Sgt. Kerry F. Hazelhurst said. Recruiting woes: Dallas PD rips 'millennials who want all days off,' be chief within 'six months'. Millennials are proving themselves to be a giant recruiting headache for Dallas police and fire departments. Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall and Dallas Fire Chief David Coatney gave a pointed assessment of the generation Monday [12/11/2017] while discussing recruitment efforts before the city council, saying that shortages of police and firemen correlate with a millennial culture defined by impatience and unrealistic expectations. "We have nights, weekends and holidays — not attractive to millennials who want all days off and to be the chief in six months," Ms. Hall said, a local Fox News affiliate reported Monday. "We recognize that is a challenge." Chief Coatney said another challenge in hiring millennials is that "they're job-hopping every five years." California Sheriff 'Mistakenly' Released Illegal Alien Who Repeatedly Molested 5-Year-Old Girl. A California sheriff says a "screw-up" led to the mistaken release of an inmate who had pleaded guilty to child molestation. The Merced Sun-Star reported Thursday that Merced County jailers mistakenly allowed 38-year-old Primitivo Gonzalez to post bail on Nov. 22. Gonzalez had pleaded guilty to repeatedly molesting a 5-year-old girl. A judge had ordered him held without bail until sentencing, when he faced 35 years-to-life in prison. Law enforcement errors inflamed Charlottesville violence, report says. A string of law enforcement errors contributed to the eruption of deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, during a white nationalist rally there in August, an investigation found. In a months[-]long investigation, former U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy found that "planning and coordination breakdowns" before the Aug. 12 rally led to "disastrous results." The report, released Friday [11/30/2017], said the city failed by not adequately communicating or coordinating in advance, and by removing an officer from an area where a car plowed into counterprotesters and killed a woman. The Editor says... Why Bureaucracies Don't Stop Terror. Of course Sayfullo Saipov "had been on the radar of federal authorities," as the New York Times put it in a report that had the stink of inevitability on it. Who else was on the radar of the relevant law-enforcement and intelligence agencies? Omar Mateen, Syed Farook's social circle, Nidal Hasan, Adam Lanza, the 2015 Garland attackers, the Boston Marathon bombers ... The 2015 Paris attackers were "on the radar" of French authorities, as were the Charlie Hebdo killers. The Copenhagen terrorists were known to local authorities. Man Haron Monis, who staged an attack in Sydney, had written a letter to Australia's attorney general inquiring about whether he'd get into legal trouble for communicating with ISIS. The men behind the Quebec car-ramming and the shooting at parliament were known to Canadian authorities. Mehdi Nemmouche, who murdered four peoples at the Jewish Museum in Brussels, was a convicted armed robber who was under surveillance after traveling back and forth to Syria. [...] The Sayfullo Saipov case is another instance of serial institutional failure, from immigration authorities to domestic counterterrorism forces. We've given them tremendous amounts of money, manpower, and investigatory authority. Now we need to see results. What Happens in Vegas Doesn't Stay in Reno. [Scroll down] I don't know quite what's involved in "working" a crime scene but one would assume it includes at minimum securing the crime scene. Yet apparently not. Last weekend, Paddock's home in Reno was burgled. Just consider that for a moment: On Sunday night someone pulls off the worst single-shooter massacre in American history - and yet it's insufficient of a priority to the multiple federal, state and local agencies investigating it to prevent the supposed perpetrator's property being broken into under their noses. That seems odd, don't you think? Sometimes, in unusual cases, sleepy small-town two-man police departments find themselves a wee bit overwhelmed, and sloppy things happen. But how can it happen with these resources in the most prominent investigation in the country? It is unclear to the Keystone Kops what was taken from the Reno home. Of course. Since Day One, this entire case has been about what's missing, and what's missing seems to be getting larger. Police IQ Part 2. Experience has taught me police chiefs, sheriffs and politicians in general want police officers to be only smart enough and no smarter. It's primarily a matter of power and control. Many police executives see their subordinates, particularly patrol officers, which is where everyone starts in police work, as not particularly bright, requiring constant supervision to keep them from screwing up and getting their betters in political trouble. Simultaneously, they don't want those underlings to be too smart, because they might be able to see how administrators are screwing up, and they might be able to knock them off — politically speaking — and take their high paying jobs. The only way to make money in law enforcement is to get as far away from actually enforcing the law as possible. NYPD searches for handcuffed shoplifting suspect who escaped. New York City police are searching for a shoplifting suspect who escaped after officers had handcuffed him and were putting him in a squad car. 'Bust of the year': Texas cops mistake kitty litter for meth, hold suspect for 3 days. A man arrested in the biggest "drug bust of the year" in Harris County, Texas, has been cleared after police realized it was kitty litter and not methamphetamine that they had arrested him for. [...] LeBeau was arrested and spent three days in jail. The proud Harris County Sheriff's Office was quick to send out a press release complete with LeBeau's mugshot detailing the big bust. "They thought they had the biggest bust in Harris County," LeBeau said. "This was the bust of the year for them." California man to fight DUI charge after test results only show traces of caffeine. A California man is reportedly prepared to fight a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence after he was pulled over in 2015 and a blood test only showed traces of caffeine in his system. According to The Guardian, Joseph Schwab was allegedly driving erratically and cut off an officer from the California department of alcoholic beverage control in August 2015 in Solano Country. Schwab's attorney Stacey Barrett told the paper that he was given a breathalyzer test which showed that his blood-alcohol content level was at zero percent. A toxicology test also came back negative for drugs. Schwab was booked into county jail. Cop Goes to Wrong House and Kills Innocent Father of 3 — Will Not Face Charges. In a travesty of justice, a Henry County grand jury decided that a cop who went to the wrong house responding to a 911 call and killed the homeowner, an innocent father of three, will not be charged. Inattention to detail: Island County sheriff was inside mall during shooting — without a gun. Island County Sheriff Mark Brown was playing a game on his phone on Sept. 23 and relaxing after a drink and dinner. His wife was shopping at the Macy's in Burlington's Cascade Mall. Then Brown heard a series of pops. And a clerk ran by telling people to leave the store. A mass shooting that would kill five people was taking place. Punta Gorda Cop who Killed Woman has Long History of Abuse. The Punta Gorda police officer who shot and killed a 73-year-old woman during a citizen academy role playing session Tuesday [8/9/2016] has been identified as Lee Coel — the same cop who allowed his police dog to maul a man for riding his bicycle at night without lights in a video that went viral two months ago. A cop that should have been fired long ago, according to a Florida attorney who is suing the Punta Gorda Police Department over the dog mauling incident. "I've been saying for months that this guy was going to kill somebody and now he has killed somebody," attorney Scott Weinberg said during a telephone interview with Photography is Not a Crime Wednesday. Woman fatally shot by Punta Gorda cop role-playing as 'bad guy' during citizen police academy. At a news conference Wednesday afternoon [8/10/2016], [Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom] Lewis shared few details about how the tragedy unfolded but said his department was unaware that live ammunition "was available to the officer" during the class. Lewis has asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to conduct an independent investigation which, the chief said, will determine how the ammunition ended up in the handgun without anyone noticing. That same weapon has been used in previous simulation classes, which the department holds annually, Lewis said. You would think they'd be able to instantly recognize donut crumbs! Update: That's right — he GOT AWAY on a motorized wheelchair. Oops! Wrong house. Chicago police accidentally destroy daughter's final note to parents. Chicago police say they are sorry for destroying a daughter's last message to her parents, which had been kept as evidence in the woman's death investigation, CBS Chicago reports. "Dear Mom and Dad, I love you guys so much." Those are some of the last words Terry Porter's daughter, Nicole, wrote before she committed suicide with a lethal dose of insulin on Feb. 27, 2015. She was 29-years-old. Claims advance against cops who stuffed a man in a mental hospital. A federal appeals court has reinstated a constitutional violations damage lawsuit against several police officers who handcuffed a Waynesboro, Virginia, man and locked him up in a mental health facility for nearly week for having a chronic disease similar to multiple sclerosis. They believed he was hallucinating, and, according to the newest ruling in the case, from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, didn't bother with the facts. Multiple cops (with helicopter support) can't catch a 51-year-old woman: Cops Mistake Neurological Disorder for Insanity; Kidnap, Strip-Search, and Jail Man for Days. In response to a Fourth Amendment lawsuit filed by attorneys for the Rutherford Institute, government officials insist they had "probable cause" to arrest a 37-year-old disabled man, allegedly because of his slurred speech and unsteady gait. Gordon Goines, a resident of Waynesboro, Va., who suffers from a neurological condition similar to multiple sclerosis, was then strip searched by police, handcuffed to a table, diagnosed as having "mental health issues," and subsequently locked up for five days in a mental health facility against his will and with no access to family and friends. Suspect with 56 prior arrests escapes NYPD custody in cuffs. It was at least the fifth time since June that a suspect has escaped NYPD custody. "Once again, an embarrassment for the department and something that we will deal with very severely as far as the officers involved," Police Commissioner Bill Bratton fumed to reporters. [...] "I'm very concerned when somebody with a pair of handcuffs, handcuffed behind them, can flee from three of my officers and they can't catch him. I'm sorry — there's something wrong there when that's happening, repeatedly, over and over again." Florida Cops Laundered Millions For Drug Cartels, Failed To Make A Single Arrest. Posing as money launderers, police in Bal Harbour and Glades County, Fla. laundered a staggering $71.5 million for drug cartels in an undercover sting operation, according to an in-depth investigation by The Miami Herald. With fake identities, undercover officers made deals to pick up cash from criminal organizations in cities across the country. Agents then delivered the money to Miami-Dade storefronts and even wired cash to banks overseas in China and Panama. After laundering the cash, police would skim a three percent commission fee, ultimately generating $2.4 million for themselves. Ashley Gabrielle Huff Jailed After US Police Confuse Spaghetti for Crystal Meth. Ashley Gabrielle Huff, a woman from the state of Georgia in the US, was jailed for one month after police officers confused spaghetti they found on her spoon for crystal meth. The bizarre sequence of events started in July 2014, when Huff was pulled over by police in Gainesville, Florida. During the routine search, officers were alerted to a spoon with a dried substance on it and concluded it was the highly addictive drug crystal meth, despite pleas from the 23-year-old that it was residue from canned pasta meal SpaghettiOs. Cop instantly shoots, kills teen who answered door holding video game controller. A Georgia family is in shock following the death of their 17-year-old son, who was accidentally killed by a police officer who believed the video game controller he was holding was a gun, according to the family's lawyer. Christopher Roupe of Euharlee, Georgia heard a knock at the door of the family's home last Friday night. Upon opening the door, he was immediately shot by a female police officer. Roupe was pronounced dead upon arrival at a local hospital. New York police keep raiding dead man's home, lawsuit says. He's been dead for eight years, but try telling that to the NYPD. Cops have barged into James Jordan Sr.'s family home looking for him more than a dozen times since he died in 2006 — prompting his exasperated relatives to finally post his death certificate on the front door. "I tell them over and over, 'James isn't here! He's dead! It's that simple. What's so difficult to understand about that?'" the Brooklyn security guard's widow, Karen, told The [New York] Post on Monday [5/5/2014]. Gun tattoo in Maine prompts heavy police response. Police armed with assault rifles descended on a Maine man's home after members of a tree removal crew he'd told to clear off his property reported that he had a gun. Turns out the "gun" the tree crew had seen on Michael Smith of Norridgewock was just a life-sized tattoo of a handgun on his stomach. The Editor says... Man suing NYPD after candy leads to arrest on drug charges. A New York City man reportedly has filed suit in federal court after the NYPD arrested him for possession of methamphetamine that lab tests subsequently revealed to be Jolly Rancher candies.
Police smell meth, raid home, kill 80-year-old man, find no meth. The widow of an 80-year-old man who was shot dead by police during a drug raid on their home is suing for $50 million. On the night of June 27th, Los Angeles County deputies raided the home of Eugene Mallory and Tonya Pate. [...] Mallory was asleep in bed when police entered his home. Pate said her husband has bad eyesight, and couldn't tell that the men entering the house were police officers without his glasses. Officer shot unarmed man 10 times, police say. Investigators say an unarmed man was shot 10 times by a Charlotte police officer. Police said Monday that officer Randall Kerrick fired 12 times at 24-year-old Jonathan A. Ferrell early Saturday while responding to a breaking and entering call. [...] Kerrick has been charged with voluntary manslaughter. He is out on bond and expected in court Tuesday [9/17/2013]. Young Deputy Sheriff Guns Down Air Force Vet in His Own Garage. [68-year-old] Henry C. Taylor was inspecting his garage late at night after it had been robbed multiple times in the past week, according to WATE. Outside, Deputy Ernest Ragland, 22, peeked through the window and spotted Taylor with his handgun. That's when Ragland yelled at Taylor before shooting him multiple times, instantly killing the homeowner and veteran. APD officer not indicted for May shooting incident. The officer told investigators he feared for his life when Barton got out of his truck and walked toward his patrol car. While the officer told him to get back in his vehicle, Barton pulled out something black from his pocket. That's when Officer Boehm fired his gun one time, missing Barton. The object in his hand turned out to be his wallet. The Editor says... Navy Yard: Swat team 'stood down' at mass shooting scene. One of the first teams of heavily armed police to respond to Monday's shooting in Washington DC was ordered to stand down by superiors, the BBC can reveal. A tactical response team of the Capitol Police, a force that guards the US Capitol complex, was told to leave the scene by a supervisor instead of aiding municipal officers. The Capitol Police department has launched a review into the matter. Report: Armed Emergency Response Team Ordered to Stand Down at Navy Yard as Shooting Started. On Wednesday [9/18/2013], BBC News reported that an armed emergency response team arrived on site at the Washington Navy Yard within minutes of Aaron Alexis beginning his shooting spree, but was forced to stand down and was instead ordered back to Capitol Hill. Probe launched over claim that elite Capitol Police unit blocked from Navy Yard massacre. The board that oversees the U.S. Capitol Police has opened an investigation into whether a tactical team of officers that was one of the first on the scene during the Washington Navy Yard shooting was ordered to stand down. Several sources confirmed the probe to Fox News. The investigation follows reports that a highly trained and specialized Capitol Police team arrived soon after the shooting started, but was told by a supervisor to leave the scene. Navy Yard shooting: Swat team awaits answers. Members of a Washington DC Swat team who the BBC has learned were ordered not to respond to Monday's Navy Yard shootings have yet to be contacted by the authorities. The Capitol Police tactical response team was told by a supervisor to leave the scene instead of aiding municipal officers, sources told the BBC. Meanwhile, the department has installed a new leader of the elite unit. No reason has been given for the decision. The Editor says... Explosive BBC Claim: CERT unit at Navy Yard told to stand down as shooter raged. If this Capitol Police CERT unit is trained to even a fraction of a degree one would expect, then they would have greatly over-matched mass-murdering Alexis, a glorified electrician with the infantry combat experience of a Cub Scout. If it is determined that the Capitol Police CERT team were forced to stand down by a supervisor because of some petty jurisdictional turf war, then heads should roll. Congressman confirms 'stand down' order at Navy Yard. A congressman has confirmed a "stand down" order was given to a rescue team that could have responded almost immediately to the shooter running amok at the Washington Navy Yard more than a week ago. In an interview with Jake Tapper of CNN, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said his information came from a member of the rescue team. Calls for Capitol Police Navy Yard Congressional inquiry. The union representing officers with the US Capitol Police (USCP) has called for a congressional inquiry into the decision to pull a Swat team from the scene of a mass shooting in September. California College Campus Shut Down for Almost an Hour Over Cardboard Gun. A student taking place in a criminal justice exercise as part of class was carrying a cardboard cutout gun. This sparked calls to police who responded as if an active shooter was on campus, once again, even though campus carry is technically legal in California. Police responded, and after 45 minutes, they finally made contact with the student, who was making no effort to hide. Only the finest! Cleveland Police Engage in a Shootout with Unarmed Suspects. A November car chase ended in a "full blown-out" firefight, with glass and bullets flying, according to Cleveland police officers who described for investigators the chaotic scene at the end of the deadly 25-minute pursuit. But when the smoky haze — caused by rapid fire of nearly 140 bullets in less than 30 seconds — dissipated, it soon became clear that more than a dozen officers had been firing at one another across a middle school parking lot in East Cleveland. Massive Police Shootout in Cleveland Despite Lack of Criminals. This would have turned out very differently if the officers had assumed that, as is almost always true, the two people in the car were just two people in a car. Union Made Camden Police Expensive, Ineffective. Camden, N.J., is replacing its current 230-officer police force with a new, cheaper force of 400 in order to combat rising crime, according to NPR. The city currently spends 75 percent of its budget on police and fire departments but it remains one of the nation's most dangerous cities. The police cannot keep up with crime and the city cannot afford to hire more officers. Can't tell the difference between Apartment A and Apartment C: Sheriff sued by deaf man held 25 days. A Denver-area sheriff has been sued by a deaf couple who claim deputies failed to provide a sign-language interpreter for 25 days — from the moment the two were approached over an alleged disturbance to the day the man appeared in court on domestic assault charges. "There were 25 days of his life that he had access to nothing — no information on why he was being held, no information about his case or what was going to happen to him," attorney Kevin Williams said of his client Timothy Siaki in an interview with The Denver Post. The Creation of South Park Nation. Once again, we see how Hollywood fantasy collides with reality. The "superdetective" who uses deduction and intelligence to solve a crime simply does not exist, anymore, or if in existence, is a very rare species. Instead, police today depend heavily upon preconceived "narratives" in which they decide at the beginning who is "guilty," and how to construct "evidence" to prove that guilt. If the evidence does not fit the narrative, then police either ignore it or get prosecutors to do the legal version of pounding square pegs into round holes. [...] Modern criminal "investigations are not something out of "Bones" or "Law and Order." Instead, they are something out of South Park. Man Tells Police Dispatcher His Mentally Disturbed Brother Is Carrying a Fake Gun, Police Kill Him Anyway. Shortly before 8 a.m. on June 28, police in Broomfield, Colorado, shot and killed Kyle Miller after he brandished a gun at them. Miller was mentally ill. The gun was fake. Miller's younger brother told the police dispatcher both of these facts. For some unknown reason, reports the Denver Post, Broomfield police shot Miller anyway. Police shoot dangerous looking alligator, only to find it's a lawn ornament. Officers responding to a rare sighting in the [Kansas City] suburb of Independence, Missouri, left nothing to chance. Seeing the alligator's head lurking menacingly in the weeds leading down to a pond they fired off one shot with perfect precision. Noting that the beast hadn't moved, they fired again. Getting
away with murder is the norm in Detroit. [Detroit Police Chief Warren] Evans said that during
his brief tenure as police chief, he has discovered: Cowardice: When Officer Safety is Job No. 1, Citizens Die. "I think officer safety is the number one issue," Chief Dotson explained to reporters after two of his officers reportedly fired nine rounds into an accused shoplifter who was apparently armed with a knife. Such a statement may sound perfectly reasonable in the upside down world where allegiance to your labor union trumps allegiance to the public or allegiance to your employer. But step back and consider: Is a police officer's number one job really to protect himself and his partner? Really? Cowardice: Police have six-hour standoff with unconscious suspect. A suspect in a Massachusetts armed robbery was taken into custody and hospitalized for a drug overdose after a state Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team was called to a Nichols Road residence. Jeremy Q. Curtis, 40, of Hanover, Mass., was taken into custody and then brought to Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro following a six-hour incident during which Curtis was unconscious. NY Car Ticketed Repeatedly With Dead Body Inside. Police made a gruesome discovery earlier this week while getting ready to tow a heavily-ticketed van — a decomposed body in the back seat. It was that of a missing man, and now his family wants to know to how officers could ticket the vehicle numerous times — and never notice what was inside. Getting away with murder is the norm in Detroit. At least 7 in 10 people who committed murder in this city last year have gotten away with it. The most generous interpretation of 2008 homicide warrants and convictions supplied by local law enforcement officials shows that in more than 70 percent of homicide cases no suspect has been identified, arrested, charged or convicted of a killing. When Cops Can't Use Lights and Sirens. Sometimes police officers need to get from one place to another more quickly than traffic conditions will allow, which is why the cars they drive are equipped with sirens and bright flashing lights. "But, Dunphy," you say, "why write about something so patently obvious? Any fool knows that." No, there are in fact some fools who do not know that. Strangely enough, one such fool is a former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department who now sits on the Los Angeles City Council. Fake Teen Cop Fools Police, Patrols Chicago for 5 Hours. A 14-year-old aspiring police officer donned a uniform, walked into a Chicago police station and managed to get an assignment — patroling in a squad car for five hours before he was detected, police said Sunday [1/25/2009]. Not the 1st time boy was caught wearing cop gear. A 14-year-old boy charged with impersonating a Chicago police officer over the weekend had been caught twice before donned in a police uniform and pretending to be a cop. Prosecutors said he currently is on probation on a similar charge of impersonating an officer from December 2007. His pastor, Rev. Roosevelt Watkins, said the boy had also been stopped by officers just last month at the Ford City Mall for wearing a police uniform. Acting as if laws don't apply to cops: On the other hand, cops sometimes get in trouble if
they stop the Governor's speeding car. The TSA Is Coming To a Highway Near You. In order to help rein in the TSA I introduced H.R. 3608, the Stop TSA's Reach in Policy Act aka the STRIP Act. This bill will simply overturn the TSA's administrative decision by prohibiting any TSA employee who has not received federal law enforcement training from using the title "officer," wearing a police like uniform or a metal police badge. At its most basic level the STRIP Act is about truth in advertising. As TSOs continue to expand their presence beyond our nation's airports and onto our highways, every American citizen has the right to know that they are not dealing with actual federal law enforcement officers. Selective enforcement Related topic: Sanctuary cities. This Is The Kind Of Policing You Get When You Vote Blue. Watch as these thugs put everyone's lives in danger with their erratic driving, speeding and doing donuts as cops sit and do nothing. It makes sense, since either they will be accused of racism, and the perps will be let out without prosecution. [Video clip] Wisconsin Capitol Police decline to investigate leak of state Supreme Court abortion order. Wisconsin Capitol Police have declined to investigate the leak of a state Supreme Court abortion order in June citing a conflict of interest, but the court's chief justice told The Associated Press she is pursuing other options. Chief Justice Annette Ziegler told AP via email on Thursday that she continues "to pursue other means in an effort to get to the bottom of this leak." Antifa extremists take hold in Montreal as police look the other way. On last night's episode of The Ezra Levant Show, Rebel News journalist Alexa Lavoie joined the show to discuss her recent experience being attacked by Antifa extremists in Montreal. While reporting from an anti-Israel protest in downtown Montreal, several masked Antifa demonstrators holding umbrellas charged at Lavoie aggressively. Lavoie had paint sprayed on her by masked protesters during the encounter. Police stood by idly during the incident and according to Lavoie no arrests were made after she was assaulted. [Video clip] Man spits towards pro-Israel counter-protesters right in front of police, who then go on to do nothing. Shocking footage shows the moment a man spits towards a group of counter-protesters supporting Israel near a pro-Palestine demonstration in London. Police are seen speaking to an individual who then turns to the person behind the camera and spits in his direction, in full view of one of the officers. The officer then walks the man away from the group for a few steps, pushing him as he ushers him to leave the area near the University College London (UCL) campus in Bloomsbury, central London. The Met officer appears to take no further action against the man, instead responding to questions from the cameraman over whether he saw the incident by saying: 'Yes, I saw it, go away.' 'Total anarchy': Mass riot rages for hours at UCLA, police absent. Violent clashes took place at the UCLA campus on Tuesday night between protesters. The police were absent as protesters beat each other with fists, sticks, and pallets! [Video clips] Cops At UCLA Just Stand Around And Watch As A Pro-Hamas Protester Assaults A Man. Campus police appear to watch and do nothing as a pro-Hamas protester assaults a man and pulls out a taser at UCLA. [Video clip] NYPD: We're Handling Columbia Students 'with Kid Gloves' to Avoid 2020 Repeat. On Wednesday's broadcast of the Fox News Channel's "The Story," NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry stated that the Columbia demonstrators "are kids" and "we are handling them with kid gloves, as you will say," because they don't want things to turn into a situation like in 2020, but "if they try to pull this rhetoric on the street or setting up encampments" that won't happen. Host Trace Gallagher stated, "[I]t's kind of one of those things where you have to walk a very fine line, because we remember back to the Black Lives Matter protests and the arrests that were made and then the lawsuits that were filed against the New York Police Department and the millions of dollars that NYPD had to pay out, and that's why it seems like, sometimes, police officers are reticent to shut things down now like they used to five years ago." After Iowa Police Ignored Her Pleas for Help, Her Estranged Husband Killed Her. In October 2022, Angela Prichard was murdered by her estranged husband, Christopher Prichard. The crime wasn't entirely unpredictable; Angela Prichard had repeatedly sought help from police months before she was killed. But officers did nothing, even ignoring Christopher Prichard's repeated violations of a restraining order. Angela Prichard's family is now suing the city of Bellevue, Iowa, claiming that police inaction directly led to Angela Prichard's death and deprived her of her due process rights. In April 2022, Christopher Prichard was arrested on a domestic violence charge against Angela Prichard, and a no-contact order was issued — though that order was terminated less than a month later. Around July or August, the suit states that Angela Prichard found a tracking device in her car and several hidden cameras in her home. However, when she called the police to report the devices — a violation of Iowa anti-stalking laws — the officers did nothing. Pro-Palestinian protesters chant 'death to America' while NYPD cops seemingly stand idle. There were shocking scenes on the streets of New York City on Monday as Palestinian activists set fire to an American flag being held by Israel supporters while chanting 'Death to America!' right under the noses of the NYPD. There were audible gasps as the Stars and Stripes being held by a pro-Israel counter-protestor was set alight and then waved in the air[,] as bright yellow flames could be seen coming from the flag. Police officers stationed at the protest outside the New York Stock Exchange could be seen wrestling the flag and stamping out the fire as it was brought to the ground. Pro-Muslim Mob Yelling "Allahu Akbar!" Shuts Down Bridge for Hours; Cops Yawn. The latest example is how a pro-Palestinian, pro-Muslim mob — some of whose members reportedly yelled "Allahu Akbar!" (Allah is the Greatest!) — shut down an Interstate 40 bridge between Arkansas and Tennessee last Saturday, leaving thousands of motorists stranded for what some sources say were hours. Moreover, this malicious act was enabled, say critics, by law enforcement, which didn't act swiftly and surely to deter the mob. Of course, it's only people driving around releasing CO2 and is no big deal, right? That is, unless you're a parent running back home because your child has been injured, an on-call OB/GYN rushing to deliver a baby, an emergency vehicle requiring passage, or anyone else with a serious reason to quickly get where he's going. And all the way around, the mob was responsible for lost productivity and the wasting of gasoline (how much extra pollution is released when motorists must sit in traffic?). Pro-Hamas Thugs Storm A Mall In Toronto, Threaten To Kill Shoppers Who Question Them Ruining Christmas, Cops Do Nothing. Anti-Israel protesters in a shopping mall in Toronto threaten to kill Christmas shoppers who voiced their opposition to their decision to protest in a shopping mall. Despite the threat being delivered in front of a policeman, nothing is done. [Video clip] London Police Deliver Chilling Message to Counter-Protesters Opposing Pro-Hamas Mobs. London has become ground zero for some of the most disturbing pro-Hamas demonstrations in the world following the attacks on October 7th in Israel, and things just got a lot more chilling. As RedState reported, tens of thousands have marched through the streets, some shouting antisemitic slogans and declaring support for "intifada." The mobs have also taken over various British monuments, desecrating and damaging them. In light of that, counter-protestors showed up on Saturday to ask people to respect British heritage. Instead of being allowed to march down the street as the pro-Hamas protesters have done, though, they were forced to stay behind barricades. Why the disparate enforcement of the law? According to police on the scene, there are just too many pro-Hamas protesters. [Tweet] Liberal Students Protesting Trans Rights Burn Bibles, Cops Come and Arrest the Christian. A gathering of students and Christian advocates turned violent Wednesday after hostile pro-transgender activists allegedly assaulted Josh Alexander, 17, as he walked through a crowd of dozens of students in front of Western Canada High School. [Video clip] Seattle Cops Walk Through A Group Of Junkies Smoking Crack, Ask Then Politely To Put The Pipes Away. It's remarkable what bad policy can lead to. [Video clip] Chicago police investigating officers' response to mob attack in Loop after witness says police declined to help. The Chicago Police Department launched an investigation into how officers responded to violence that broke out late Saturday [4/15/2023] during a large gathering of young people in the city's downtown tourism district. The investigation comes after a viral video showed a mob attacking a couple as they exited a Loop store and it follows allegations of police inaction. As the attack unfolded, police failed to respond to calls for help and even drove past, said Lenora Dennis, who witnessed the beating and helped the couple get to safety. "It makes me feel scared. It terrifies me that people are either asleep at the wheel or that they're willfully blind," Dennis told the Tribune on Wednesday. The attack Dennis witnessed was one of the violent outbursts that emerged as hundreds of teens and young adults met up downtown. Denton, MD Police Stand Idly By as a Biker Argues, Threatens and then Smashes a Family's Front Door. This video is a prime example of why we should all have a biker smash our front door every once in a while, just to see how the police react. In Denton, MD, we witness a biker arguing, threatening, and ultimately smashing a family's front door while police officers stand idly by and do absolutely nothing. [Video clip] Authorities Yet to Arrest Anyone Over More Than 50 Pro-Abortion Attacks. Since May 8, pro-abortion radicals have attacked pro-life institutions nationwide, but authorities have yet to make a single arrest. So far, the "Summer of Rage" announced by pro-abortion groups has seen more than 50 attacks on pro-life groups, according to Catholic Vote. Attacks by pro-abortion groups have left a trail of smashed windows, graffitied walls, and firebombed buildings from Alaska to Florida. Some pro-life groups have been attacked multiple times. Northern Colorado pregnancy care clinic Life Choices saw its entire stock of baby clothes burn after a Molotov attack. Police officers watch pro-abortion vandals damage the home of prominent pro-life attorney. The home of pro-life hero attorney Thomas Brejcha was vandalized by a radical pro-abortion mob the night of July 1 as police officers stood by in squad cars and on bicycles observing and making no arrests. According to a Saturday email release from the Thomas More Society (TMS), Brejcha, who founded the organization and serves as its president and chief counsel, was targeted in advance of the attack by a terrorist group calling itself the "Reproductive Justice Union" (RJU). The Real Systemic Racism In Policing. Police in Washington state must now take a suspect's race into account before doing their job. The state Supreme Court unanimously ruled earlier this month that a suspect deserves special treatment should he happen to be nonwhite. [...] In effect, minorities can now claim they were unlawfully detained by police simply by pointing to their race — even if a cop had a legitimate reason for stopping them. If the new standard had been applied to the Sum case, the police would have to hesitate to approach any vehicle in a spot known for stolen cars if the occupants happen to be nonwhite. Just like 1950 — except now it's officially condoned, and pointed in the opposite direction. Portland police tells woke city's crime victims they're on their own. Portland's police department has warned residents of the woke but crime-ravaged Oregon city to expect delays in cops answering all but the most serious 911 calls. On Monday [12/6/2021], Portland Police were only responding to priority 1 and priority 2 calls — codes that refer to incidents that are life-threatening or with a potential for physical injury, as well as major property crimes. It came in the wake of a busy day for cops in the city, which included two carjackings, one of which ended with police shooting an armed suspect dead. Hamstrung by New Law, Portland Police Make No Arrests in Latest Riot. As a group of about 100 anarchists raged through a Portland neighborhood on Oct. 12, police reportedly remained in their vehicles. Some say their inaction is a direct result of confusion over an Oregon police-reform law passed last summer, which restricts how they can respond to such crowds. In less than two hours, the group did an estimated $500,000 of damage to 35 locations, including banks, retail stores, coffee shops, and government buildings. Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers issued verbal warnings through a megaphone. "Those who refuse to leave the area are subject to arrest," the warning blared on a loop. "The bureau will investigate crimes and will make arrests either tonight, or in the future." Police Work in 2021: When You Don't Arrest Anyone, No One Gets Hurt. It was a small story on a local news channel's website, one that may not have attracted much interest. "Pursuit and Standoff in Valley Village Ends Without Suspect in Custody," read the August 8 headline from CBSN Los Angeles. [...] In other words, the cops just gave up, apparently leaving the employees of the car dealership to their own devices should the suspect emerge from his hiding place. Impossible, you say. They wouldn't just skedaddle like that, not with a felony suspect hiding somewhere nearby, would they? They would, and they did. This is not an aberration, apparently. This week a similar incident happened, and though it wasn't reported in the media, I heard all the details from someone who was there. Documents Show Joe Biden's Brother Frank Caught Violating Florida Traffic Law, Case Dismissed Due to Police Officer Out for 'Training'. Public documents show President Joe Biden's brother, Frank Biden, was caught speeding in Florida and received no punishment in another example of how the Biden family lives above the law. Court video reveals the case was dismissed June 16, 2021, because the ticketing police officer was absent from the hearing attending police "training" instead, which began May 15 and ended June 17, one day after the hearing. The traffic stop occurred in January of 2021 in Palm Beach County, Florida. Footage shows cops doing NOTHING after innocent people are shot during Atlanta drive-by because mayor has banned police pursuits. This is the moment cops appear to do nothing amid a drive-by shooting in Atlanta as residents of the wealthy Buckhead area say it's a 'warzone' and demand to secede. The video, which was played on Tucker Carlson Tonight, shows people lining up near a dark-colored van that is parked on the side of the road when a white car passes by and shots ring out, with one going straight through the dark van, striking one of the passersby and sending people scrambling. A few seconds later, blue lights could be seen reflecting off the windshield of the black van, symbolizing police cars passing by and not stopping at the scene in the wealthy Buckhead neighborhood. Atlanta police apparently fail to pursue drive-by shooting suspect: Video. Atlanta-area law enforcement apparently failed to pursue a suspect vehicle involved in a drive-by shooting as crime in the city continues to rise, according to a video released Monday [6/14/2021]. A white sedan can be seen firing and striking a black van as bystanders flee the area, according to video from Bill White, the leader of the Buckhead City Committee, an organization of neighbors that seeks to fragment from Atlanta. Blue lights appear after the gunfire, though authorities are not seen chasing the white vehicle. North Carolina police force says it WON'T respond in-person to 911 calls about theft, fraud, or trespassing after 84 cops left the force since January 2020. The police department in one of America's fastest-growing cities is facing staff shortages so severe that it will not respond to certain 911 calls, including complaints of burglaries, theft, property damage, identity theft, or trespassing. The Asheville, North Carolina Police Department said that it has lost 84 officers since January 1, 2020. APD Police Chief David Zack says the attrition rate, which has accelerated since protests against law enforcement became widespread in the wake of George Floyd's death in May of last year, has reached crisis proportions. Woman In A White Car Serves Instant Justice To BLM Rioters Who Were Blocking The Road. Police in North Carolina has arrested a woman who was in a car that was stopped by BLM rioters in the street in Elizabeth City. She's charged with two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill & more. She may face hate crime charges too. Lisa Michelle O'Quinn, 41, was charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill by use of a motor vehicle, one count of careless and reckless conduct and one count of unsafe movement, Elizabeth City Police said in a news release. Investigators said they were still determining if the incident was a hate crime. The Editor says... Feet-of-Clay Icons. Finally, in 2021 it was not so much that Americans lost respect for the law as they were bewildered by it. Or rather they wondered whether it still even existed. Is it illegal to enter the United States without permission? Or does unlawful entry warrant instant state subsidy and federal legal help to further violate the law? Is everyone or just a few anointed allowed to carve out an entire urban no-go zone that even the police dare not enter? Is there a crime such as arson or looting? Are there even criminals such as arsonists and looters anymore — or just those naïve enough to try torching buildings or stealing from pharmacies in small numbers and without ideological pretenses? Does attacking Jews and Asian Americans constitute "hate crimes" — or does it depend on the race, ideology, or ethnicity of the attacker? Is defacing a monument or tearing down a public statue a crime or just woke exuberance? Are there good riots and good looting and good arson that are not indictable, and then again bad riots and bad looting and bad arson that are? Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Gets Involved After Plano Police Officer Allows BLM-Antifa to Illegally Block Traffic, Brandish Weapon. On Friday [5/7/2021] video was released of an armed Black Lives Matter-Antifa mob illegally blocking traffic in Plano, Texas. One man got out of his truck, confronted the mob and started screaming at them to get [...] out of the road! One of the left-wing protesters pulled out a weapon (presumably a pistol) and pointed it at the driver who confronted the mob. The Plano police officer took the side of the BLM-Antifa mob and allowed the dangerous left-wing militia to illegally block the highway. [Video clip] The man who attempted to clear the road was doxxed by leftists and charged while the law-breaking traffic-blockers walk free! Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton got involved since the Plano police chief refused to arrest the lawbreakers. Here's Why Plano Police Did Nothing After BLM Mob Pulled Gun On Angry Texas Driver. Yesterday morning [5/8/2021] a video surfaced where a patriot who looks like a real giant decided to face BLM rioters who were blocking a highway in Texas. Activists in Plano, a city about 20 miles north of Dallas, marched through the streets on Sunday to raise awareness about the death of Marvin Scott III. The 26-year-old black man died while in police custody at a county jail in March. Seven officers were fired and one resigned over the incident, which was ruled a homicide in April. In a now-viral video, demonstrators are seen blocking an intersection as they shout "Black Lives Matter" and wave signs reading "stop killing us" and other slogans. A large column of automobiles can be seen forming as motorists wait for the road to clear. Suddenly, a large man wearing sunglasses weaves between the stopped cars and heads straight towards the protesters. The brave patriot faced the group and one of the rioters pulled a gun on him, the man was not afraid and even faced the cowardly cop who didn't do anything about it. American Patriot Confronts BLM For Blocking The Road, Then Confronts The Police For Doing Nothing When They Pulled A Gun On Him. In April 2020 Democrats, Black Lives Matter, Hollywood, NBA, the tech giants, and Major US Corporations launched their official War on Police across the United States. The consequences of their actions have been devastating, resulting in 1,990 more homicides in urban centers this past year. The Democrat War on Civil Society resulted in a 33% increase in homicides across the major urban centers across the United States. We can all blame this on Democrats. But what happens when the Police themselves protect BLM who wants to abolish them instead of honest taxpaying patriots. Police Drag Away Man Attacked By BLM Mob, Take Orders From Protesters Via Megaphone. Video footage reportedly captured in the town of Stillwater, Minnesota shows a man being detained in his own neighborhood by police after he was attacked by a mob of Black Lives Matter protesters. Protest march leaders later bragged via megaphone that police had detained the man and forced him move his vehicle to accommodate the demands of the angry mob. The man's vehicle can be seen blocked at an intersection by three motorcycles, at which points he exits the vehicle and begins arguing with the protesters. Asian Woman Is Assaulted By A Family And Her Cat Killed 13 Year Old In Brooklyn, Cops Do NOTHING. Here is the account of what happened before, during, and after this video was shot from an eye witness's Facebook post: ["]Early in April, the Thai lady and her husband (American) walked their pets in the park in Brooklyn. She walked her cat on the leash as he was trained to do so. Then, there was a boy about 12 yrs old came from nowhere, dragged the leash using his body. The strength of that pull made the cat flung in the air and fell to the ground heavily. The boy didn't stop what he was doing although the cat was fear for his life and tried to escape. The owner was able to catch him and tried to calm him down. Sadly, the cat, Ponzu, didn't make it and died suddenly after that because of a heart attack.["] [Video clip] Capitol Police [were] Told to Hold Back on Riot Response on Jan. 6, Report Finds. The Capitol Police had clearer advance warnings about the Jan. 6 attack than were previously known, including the potential for violence in which "Congress itself is the target." But officers were instructed by their leaders not to use their most aggressive tactics to hold off the mob, according to a scathing new report by the agency's internal investigator. In a 104-page document, the inspector general, Michael A. Bolton, criticized the way the Capitol Police prepared for and responded to the mob violence on Jan. 6. The report was reviewed by The New York Times and will be the subject of a Capitol Hill hearing on Thursday [4/15/2021]. Milwaukee Black Panthers racially harass and force shutdown of Asian nail salon as media avert their eyes. "You do not disrespect black women from our community.... You do not disrespect Black Lives Matter.... You ever disrespect a black woman again, we're going to shut you down." With these and other words, a group of 10 Milwaukee Black Panthers invaded an Asian-owned nail salon and threatened it. Later, they returned, and police arrived. Instead of protecting the Asian owner, a female officer spoke cordially with the Panthers, addressing their leader as "General" and left the store saying, "All right, I'm sure that he got your message, sir, thank you so much. We really appreciate you coming down. Thank you though." All of this is on video recordings, boastfully posted to Facebook by the leader of the Panthers, who styles himself "King Rick" and who refers to Black female customers as "queens." Did Trump Supporters Storm The Capitol Or Were They Welcomed In? Watch As Capitol Cop Takes Selfie With Trump Supporter Inside Building. The media have been reporting all day that a significant group of Trump supporters 'stormed' the Capital building but several videos show otherwise. One video shows Capital police moving aside and letting the crowd inside, actually walking beside them. In this video, an officer takes a selfie with a Trump supporter as if showing solidarity. [Video clip] Video shows police officers stand by and do nothing as rioters charge into US Capitol. Disturbing video taken during the storming of the US Capitol shows five police officers apparently standing by doing nothing as throngs of President Trump rioters stream through a side entrance to the building. The clip, tweeted by OAN host Christina Bobb Friday [1/8/2021], shows dozens of MAGA-hat wearing rioters shouting "[...] traitors" burst through a set of doors as uniformed US Capitol Police officers, two of whom weren't wearing masks, stood motionless with their backs to the wall. As more and more marchers streamed into the building to stop a joint session of Congress attempting to certify Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden, the overrun cops stayed frozen in place, doing nothing to stop the insurrectionists, the clip shows. Capitol Police Open Doors to Let Protesters In. [Video clip] Capitol cop waving people in past the gates. [Video clip] Police LET the protesters into the Capitol? Does this look like the police were overwhelmed? They opened the gates and ESCORTED them! The people at the very end of the video when the bideo panned right were Trump supporters. The people that were led through the gate were Antifa posing as Trump supporters. They are the ones that caused trouble. [Video clip] Video shows police officers stand by and do nothing as rioters charge into US Capitol. Disturbing video taken during the storming of the US Capitol shows five police officers apparently standing by doing nothing as throngs of President Trump rioters stream through a side entrance to the building. The clip, tweeted by OAN host Christina Bobb Friday [1/8/2021], shows dozens of MAGA-hat wearing rioters [...] burst through a set of doors as uniformed US Capitol Police officers, two of whom weren't wearing masks, stood motionless with their backs to the wall. As more and more marchers streamed into the building to stop a joint session of Congress attempting to certify Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden, the overrun cops stayed frozen in place, doing nothing to stop the insurrectionists, the clip shows. Capitol Hill Protestor Suspended After Posting A Video Which Appears To Show A Police Officer Waving The Crowd Toward The Capitol Building. US President Donald Trump has urged his followers to leave the Capitol peacefully after they stormed the building following his angry speech denouncing the 2020 election results earlier in the day. Videos have emerged on social media that appear to show US Capitol Police officers pulling barricades away to let pro-Trump protesters through outside the US Capitol on Wednesday. The clip, posted on Twitter, shows a handful of Capitol Police officers possibly even moving the metal barricade themselves. One man was seen inside the barricade then urges the crowd, carrying Trump and US flags, forward, the video shows. [Video clip] The Left Finds Time for One More Big Lie Against Trump. Everyone knew in advance that Wednesday's demonstration would be angry. It was the protestors' very last chance to protest the Electoral College ratification of Joe Biden as our 46th President. Yet the same local governmental incompetence allowed Wednesday's demonstrators to find themselves facing an almost absent and remarkably fickle police presence. Look at this video of the moment the Capitol was invaded. Where was the massive police and security presence that should have been on hand? Where was the National Guard? The sergeant-at-arms has more than 800 employees who run security for the Capitol, while Capitol Police have 2,300 employees and officers. Beyond that, Metro police can be called. The rally was massive. If these people had come for insurrection, enormous blood would have been spilled. Instead, as evidenced by the video, relatively few removed the barricades, and the rest just followed the flow without any plan. A Capitol Offense. [Scroll down] "We're going walk down to the Capitol," Trump said, "and we're going to cheer on our brave senators, and congressmen and women. We're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong." What happened next should cause heads to roll among those responsible for securing the Capitol and its grounds. How on earth, in a city that sees protests every day, could there not have been sufficient security there? After all, it wasn't as if the event hadn't been planned for weeks. Heads are rolling: Capitol's top brass fired over Wednesday deadly siege. House and Senate leaders moved quickly to fire top congressional officials following the unprecedented siege in the U.S. Capitol Wednesday that resulted in four deaths, multiple injuries, and significant damage to the building. The House sergeant-at-arms, Paul D. Irving, has resigned his position, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she'll also seek the removal of Capitol Police Chief Steven A Sund. Across the Capitol, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat who will soon control the chamber, said he will seek the resignation of Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael C. Stenger. The two oversee the Capitol Police, who have come under intense criticism after the Wednesday siege and the inability of law enforcement to keep hundreds of protesters from forcing their way into the Capitol and, in other cases, simply allowing them to walk in. January 6, 2020, a Day that Will Live in Political Infamy. As we were able to position ourselves within 75 yards of the entrance, we noticed that among a large cadre of what appeared to be young Trump supporters there were many frankly stereotypical Antifa-looking militants waving Trump flags on the steps attempting to get to the doors as the useless barriers of portable and plastic fencing had been easily breached. These militants were at the entrance area before Trump's speech at the Ellipse (two miles away) was finished. The speech could not have incited the subsequent mayhem. It was obvious to me that the Capitol Hill and Metro police were deliberately ill-prepared for a crowd of any size, much less the hundreds of thousands that ultimately arrived. Further, the police presence was miniscule and their only attempt at crowd control were a few random canisters of tear gas. As the crowd at the steps grew, we saw the few police in attendance step aside and essentially allow the mob to flow into the Capitol.
Law Enforcement Draws Criticism After Breach of Capitol Building. Americans looked on in shock Wednesday [1/6/2021] as a calm protest turned into an angry mob that swarmed past barriers and stormed the Capitol — spraying officers with chemical agents, breaking windows and doors and looting sizable objects — as the Capitol Police struggled to contain the violence and sometimes simply retreated. The Editor says... D.C. Cops Direct Trump-Supporters into Gauntlet of Protesters, Do Nothing When They Are Assaulted. "The D.C. police failed me today," says a conservative attorney forced to walk through a gauntlet of BLM/Antifa protesters after police blocked the shortest pathway to his hotel. The incident happened after the Million MAGA March on Saturday as anti-Trump activists attacked multiple conservatives leaving the event. A video tweeted by Daily Caller field reporter Jorge Ventura shows a man who later identified himself as Christopher Horne and two other conservatives approaching a line of D.C. Metro police officers blocking people from entering BLM Plaza near the White House. The trio pleaded with officers to be allowed to proceed to their hotel via the shortest distance having already been hassled by BLM protesters, Horne said in a tweet. Los Angeles cops will no longer be answering certain calls. [Scroll down] Another 350 positions for uniformed officers will be eliminated by April according to the latest announcement. The LAPD will be reducing the number of cops on a variety of task forces, including (but not limited to) robbery, homicide, and gang and narcotics units. Boy... things must be really going well in Lalaland these days if they don't need to keep the police working as diligently in those areas. Oh, wait. That's not actually the case at all. In fact, murders in the City of Angels are up by 20% compared to the same time last year. And the number of arrests being made is down. Some of you may hear about the proposal to not respond to minor accidents anymore and see it as no big deal. But it is. It goes back to the basic premise of the theory of broken windows policing. Philly Police Ordered To Not Arrest Looters. As John pointed out yesterday [10/28/2020], the Mayor of Philadelphia imposed a curfew last night in an attempt to quell the ongoing rioting and looting. Shockingly, many of the people who were already in the process of breaking any number of laws didn't follow his orders and set out to continue the mayhem. [...] So why would the looters continue emptying the shelves of all the city's stores after they'd been put on notice by the municipal government? Perhaps it's because they'd heard that the cops had been ordered not to arrest any looters. Yes, you heard that correctly. The cops were told to simply "disperse" the looters and not take them into custody. This comes from one of the local Fox News reporters who heard it directly from multiple police sources. Report: Philadelphia PD ordered officers not to arrest rioters and looters — just disperse them — as [the] city was ransacked. As looters and rioters ransacked the city of Philadelphia again Tuesday night in response to the deadly police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr., the city police's response was reportedly obstructed by their own deputy commissioner. WTXF-TV reporter Steve Keeley tweeted Wednesday morning that police officers were "extremely frustrated" after Deputy Police Commissioner Melvin Singleton allegedly ordered both patrol and commanding officers to "not arrest looters just disperse them." "By the order of CAR-2, Philadelphia Police will respond to 'priority' calls only," the alleged directive from the department obtained by Keeley said. "This means no calls for disturbance, missing person, stolen vehicle, burglary or theft will be answered." Keeley added that some officers believe the order "leaves no deterrent to stop looting." Philly Police Ordered To Not Arrest Looters. As John pointed out yesterday, the Mayor of Philadelphia imposed a curfew last night in an attempt to quell the ongoing rioting and looting. Shockingly, many of the people who were already in the process of breaking any number of laws didn't follow his orders and set out to continue the mayhem. [Tweet] So why would the looters continue emptying the shelves of all the city's stores after they'd been put on notice by the municipal government? Perhaps it's because they'd heard that the cops had been ordered not to arrest any looters. Antifa Repeatedly Threatens Andy Ngo's Life. What Are the Portland Police Doing About It? On Thursday [10/22/2020], the Post Millennial Editor-at-Large Andy Ngo and author Douglas Murray posed in front of a large graffiti death threat in Portland reading, "Kill Andy Ngo." Ngo claimed he has reported many death threats to the Portland Police Bureau, but the police have yet to follow up with him on these threats. "One of many such signs in Downtown Portland. There is nothing normal about this. It is a call for the murder of a journalist in an American city. Shame on the Portland authorities for tolerating it," Murray tweeted. "All death threats and incitements to violence against me have been reported to [the Portland Police] since last year. I have not been followed-up with once," Ngo added. Aurora, Colorado residents figure out that the police aren't protecting them anymore. We've already seen two instances where the police in Aurora, Colorado have "stood down" when facing violent felons. The first incident involved a guy with a lengthy rap sheet who was exposing himself to young girls, destroying property, and threatening harm to the residents of an apartment complex. The cops stood down twice in two days rather than taking him into custody. The more recent incident involved a child abuse suspect with multiple warrants and who was on parole, who barricaded himself inside his home with one of his children and some firearms. The cops walked away that time also and the perpetrator is still on the loose. After that discouraging encounter, I pondered whether people would begin to notice the fact that the men and women in blue who are supposed to be protecting and serving don't seem to be doing as much of either these days. Minneapolis PD to business owners: Reinforcements aren't on the way. Just because you're not seeing as many headline stories about the chaos in downtown Minneapolis these days doesn't mean that conditions on the ground have returned to normal. While the size of the riots and demonstrations may have abated a bit, residents and business owners there are still dealing with a "new normal" that's anything but normal. Crime is up across the board, including both property crime and violent crimes against persons. Many residents have already described the situation as being akin to "living in a war zone." This is particularly true of the city's 3rd Precinct, where robberies and assaults continue to plague the people who live and work there. The owner of Pedego Electric Bikes sent an email to the local Police Chief saying that his employees are too frightened to come to work now. The answer he received was none too reassuring. In fact, it made it sound like the shop owners are pretty much on their own. Aurora, Colorado police stand down twice to avoid arresting violent felon. Guess why. A couple of weeks ago, some problems arose at an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado. One of the residents had unwisely invited Robert Thompson, 47, to stay at the apartment he shared with his girlfriend. He did this despite Thompson having a lengthy rap sheet and a history of criminal behavior. [...] The following day, Thompson's behavior flew further out of control and he wound up trapping McCoy's girlfriend in their bedroom along with a friend. He then took a golf club and began smashing everything in the apartment, moving on to vandalize cars in the parking lot. [...] The situation was so far out of control that the police believe it might result in someone winding up dead, but they were told to "stand down" and walk away. Twice. So what led to that decision? The Deputy Chief admitted that the choice made by the police was influenced by the death of Elijah McClain in police custody last month. DC Police Won't Say Why They Did Not Protect Politicians, Guests Leaving RNC. Washington, D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department refused to comment on why protesters were allowed to harass Republican National Convention attendees outside of the White House Thursday night, according to a Daily Caller report. "Protesters harassed Florida Rep. Brian Mast, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and his wife, RNC guests and police officers, multiple videos from the night show," Daily Caller reported[.] Washington D.C.'s Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department Peter Newsham said in a press conference Monday that the department had to plan for the convention on "short notice." "When you throw bricks, and rocks and bottles and urine and you set fires, there is going to be a police reaction," Newsham said at the press conference. "So folks who want to suggest or paint the picture that this was somehow peaceful, and the police indiscriminately used munitions against them, they're not being honest," Newsham added. A Tyranny Perpetual and Universal? [Scroll down] I also remember, in pre-apocalypse New York City, Antifa goons getting into a fight — it's hard to say who started it — with a group of men calling themselves the Proud Boys. Although no one was seriously injured, the NYPD expended significant time and resources tracking down the Proud Boys, but none whatsoever looking for any Antifa figures involved. Two Proud Boys were sentenced to four years in prison. No Antifa members were ever identified, much less charged with any crime, still much less tried or convicted. At most, the incident was a mutually idiotic brawl for which only one side was punished. The real distinction here is that the Proud Boys are regime dissidents while Antifa thugs are ruling-class shock troops. Outrage as Manhattan's district attorney drops the felony charge against BLM leader. The Manhattan District Attorney has dropped felony charges against the Black Lives Matter leader who was accused of assaulting a police officer, after an angry crowd chased off an NYPD team sent to arrest the man. DA Cyrus Vance personally ordered the charges against Derrick Ingram, 28, dropped from felony assault in the second degree to misdemeanor assault, a law enforcement source told the New York Post. Ingram is accused of injuring a female cop by shouting directly in her ear with a bullhorn on June 14, resulting in the officer being hospitalized with temporary hearing damage. NYPD backs down from bust of cop-assault suspect — on Dermot Shea's order. NYPD officers engaged in an hours-long stalemate with a cop-assault suspect Friday [8/7/2020] in Hell's Kitchen — before Police Commissioner Dermot Shea ordered them to retreat as a stream of protesters arrived on the scene, law-enforcement sources told The [New York] Post. The top cop's directive to give up — without the suspect in custody — left some NYPD insiders fuming, given the city's recent concessions to unruly protesters. "Another example of mob rules," an NYPD insider said. Police massed on West 45th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenue around 7 a.m. Friday to try to bring in Derrick Ingram, who is accused of screaming through a bullhorn into the ear of a cop at a recent demonstration, leaving her with hearing damage, sources said. Police Tell Business Owners in Seattle 'You're on Your Own'. Police in Seattle declared a riot in that city after peaceful protesters on Saturday were "provoked" by cops into setting fires and throwing explosives, rocks, and bottles that injured 21 officers and sent one policeman to the hospital after he was hit in the knee by an explosive device. A construction site on Capitol Hill was torched and another police precinct was broken into with "explosive damage" done to the walls. Another Starbucks was lit up, and numerous storefronts were vandalized. At least 45 people were arrested. In other words, just another typical peaceful, tranquil day for the residents of Seattle. Are there any businesses left in downtown Seattle? If there are, they may want to head for the hills. Denver Police Union Head Confirms 'Stand-Down' Order was in Place at Pro-Cop Rally. The president of the police union in Denver, Colorado, Nick Rogers, confirmed on Wednesday that there had been a "stand-down" order in place during a pro-police rally held by conservative activists, as reported by Fox News. Rogers, head of the Denver Police Protective Association, explained in an interview with local radio host Peter Boyles, on 710 KNUS. As a result of the order officially being in place, Denver police were prohibited from protecting attendees of the "Back the Blue" rally when Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and other far-left terrorist organizations suddenly appeared and began attacking the demonstrators. One of the leaders of the pro-cop rally was conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, who described the attackers as wielding collapsible batons as they attacked her and others who were speaking onstage when the chaos began. Numerous fistfights broke out, and at least one pro-police demonstrator walked away with a massive bleeding gash in his forehead. Michelle Malkin demands Denver cops' accountability for not protecting pro-police rally from violent attacks by BLM/Antifa/Marxist mob. The premeditated attack by violent leftists on Sunday that shut down a pro-police rally in Denver, injuring several of the speakers, is not being forgotten. Yesterday [7/22/2020], Michelle Malkin, the best known invited speaker who was roughed up and had to run for her life to safety, filed a formal Colorado Open Records Act Request addressed to the Denver Police Department. It asked for the following: [...] The request is based on video and other evidence, much of it linked from Malkin's Twitter account, that the Denver police did nothing to stop the leftist mob from attacking and shutting down the legal pro-police rally, allowing mayhem, injuries, and the squelching of free speech to go forward unchecked. Video shows man spray graffiti outside Manhattan courthouse as NYPD cops watch. Footage posted online this week captured the moment a vandal sprayed graffiti outside a Lower Manhattan courthouse, right under the noses of several cops — who do nothing but watch. The video, posted by the Sergeants' Benevolent Association on Tuesday and taken in broad daylight, shows the man tagging the base of a lamppost in front of the Surrogate's Courthouse at 31 Chambers St., which had already been vandalized amid Occupy City Hall protests last week. After the man finishes his scrawl, he strolls away, as three cops on the corner — and four on the next block — stand idle. George Floyd and the Fraternal Disorder. Observe the present conduct of the police in the face of riots. Police across the country are being ordered to stand down by mob appeasers, a response going back to 2015 when the mayor of Baltimore ordered police to give rioters space to destroy. The priority of the police should not be to avoid further unrest, but to protect the rights of citizens and enforce the law, in that order. Unfortunately, laws are so numerous that police departments do not have the resources to enforce them all; instead, they pick and choose what to enforce as directed by politicians. Observations By The Enemy Forces. [Scroll down] But in the mean time, we've learned a lot from this and other such incidents across the country. Militia shows up at a statue in New Mexico to protect it from being demolished by Antifa, and the militia ends up on the ground face down and arrested. This is just one example — in many of these cases, the police were there to protect the protesters, with willing acquiescence by the pols. Permits for marches were not acquired, roads were littered, windows were smashed, buildings were burned, traffic was brought to a halt, and people were injured. Let a conservative group try that and see how long until the police shut it down. No Police Raids? Syracuse Mosque Continues Holding Daily Prayers Amid COVID-19 Lockdown As Christians Are Threatened and Fined For Attending Drive-In Services. A Syracuse mosque is still open for daily prayers amid the Coronavirus shutdown as Christians are threatened and fined for attending drive-in services. New York is the country's Coronavirus epicenter with more than 18,000 deaths, however this mosque is still open for prayers. This mosque located on the north side was once the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, but it closed down due to lack of parishioners — now it is considered a victory mosque. New York Mosque Continues Operating During Coronavirus, No Word From Authorities. While virtually every church in the United States is shut down due to coronavirus, and those few willing to defy lockdown orders are threatened with arrest or hauled to jail, a New York mosque is operating with impunity during the pandemic. The mosque, in Syracuse, New York, had its operating procedures detailed by gushing local media, which described how the facility has modified its practices to adhere with social distancing during the China virus pandemic. Florida sheriff who arrested pastor now releasing 163 actual criminals (while you're locked in at home). In case you still think every unilateral action taken by local officials is driven by science and intrepid concern for public safety and health, I present to you the case of Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister. On Monday [3/30/2020], after holding a virtue-signaling press conference lecturing the public on the Bible, Chronister arrested Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne for holding services on Sunday, even though his lawyer says he was following CDC guidelines for sanitation and social distancing. "His reckless disregard for human life put hundreds of people in his congregation at risk and thousands of residents who may interact with them this week in danger," the sheriff said. The sheriff really cares about human life and public safety, right? Well, now channel 10 news in Tampa is reporting that Chronister has released 163 prisoners as a "precautionary" measure to avoid spreading the virus in jail, as if somehow taking them out of the ultimate quarantine into the general population will stop the spread, and as if criminals will actually abide by the home confinement Chronister so zealously wants to impose on all citizens. On Leaving the Golden State. [Scroll down] Let us talk about the authorities for a moment. What exactly are they doing to help? First, they threw open the borders and created sanctuary cities so that people that do not belong here can not be molested by law enforcement. Next, they decriminalized camping in public. People camping in public need something to do to while away the hours so they decriminalized drugs even going so far as to give away free needles. If that were not enough, they decriminalized theft up to $950 per day. This way any homeless person can walk into any business and brazenly steal whatever they wish without any fear of being sent to jail. Finally, they've arranged things such that the police will no longer respond to 911 calls pertaining to vandalism or burglary. You can watch from your bedroom window as a homeless person smashes your car windshield with a rock so as to ransack your car and if you call 911 it will be YOU that is in trouble for tying up their emergency line as someone vandalizing and robbing your car is a non-emergency and not worthy of any kind of response. Police Stand By While Conservative Reporter Assaulted by Antifa. Police stood by and watched while a conservative reporter was assaulted by Antifa members at a Seattle protest, reported The Blaze. Elijah Schaffer, a BlazeTV contributor and host of the show "Slightly Offens*ve," was roughed up as he tried to prevent an Antifa member from grabbing the camera of one of his producers. Video footage shows police standing by without intervening. Schaffer was covering the demonstration by a group called The Three Percenters, who met at City Hall for a demonstration for which they had a permit. Antifa members — dressed in black with masks on their faces — tried to take over The Three Percenters' space with a counter-demonstration, but were moved across the street. Another Left-wing group was also present and counter-demonstrating. Proud Boys Facing Up To 15 Years In Prison, Antifa Gets To Go Free. Maxwell Hare and John Kinsman, two members of the far-right group Proud Boys have been convicted of attempted gang assault, attempted assault, and riot for a fight that occured in New York City with Antifa members. The group is known for not starting fights, but finishing them. Proud Boys Release Official Statement After Portland Officials Target and ARREST Conservative Pro-Trump Patriots Before Saturday Rally. Far left Portland and Multnomah County officials sent out the police on conservative dissidents before a rally on Saturday. Several pro-Trump activists have been arrested over the last week, with warrants out for others, as the state officially files criminal charges stemming from the brawl that took place at antifa clubhouse Cider Riot. None of the antifa people involved in the melee face any charges, despite them throwing beer bottles at the Trump crew, pepper-spraying media, assaulting a student filmmaker and vandalizing his camera, and even wacking one guy with a baton as he was retreating. The Jeffrey Epstein Scandal Could Be Worse than We Know. Even by the standards of stomach-turning celebrity criminal scandals, the bits of information about multi-millionare Jeffrey Epstein and allegations of an underage sex-trafficking ring are utterly bizarre, pointing to something perhaps even bigger and worse going on. [...] After Epstein was labeled a "Level 3 sex offender" — meaning the worst — Epstein was required by law to check in with the NYPD every 90 days. He never checked in at all over an eight-year span. How did that not generate any consequences? NYPD let convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein skip judge-ordered check-ins. Convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein never once checked in with city cops in the eight-plus years since a Manhattan judge ordered him to do so every 90 days — and the NYPD says it's fine with that. After being labeled a worst-of-the-worst, Level 3 sex offender in 2011, Epstein should have reported in person to verify his address 34 times before he was arrested Saturday [7/6/2019] on federal child sex-trafficking charges. Violating requirements of the state's 1996 Sex Offender Registration Act — including checking in with law enforcement — is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison for a first offense. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler Under Fire for Not Stopping Antifa Protests. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler's hands-off policy when it comes to Antifa protestors came under scrutiny on Saturday after journalist Andy Ngo was assaulted by masked Antifa assailants. Wheeler, who is also police commissioner, said nothing on Saturday, as hundreds of Antifa protestors gathered on the streets, with some throwing milkshakes — potentially mixed with quick-drying cement — and assaulting Ngo. Ngo, shaken and bloodied, began livestreaming on his phone after his assault, and could be heard asking a police officer, "Where [...] were all of you?" Dallas Police Chief Defends Violent Criminals "Forced to Commit Violent Acts". This is the dumbing down of our criminal justice system and switching the blame from the criminal's personal responsibility to blaming society for this person's violence. Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall said with a straight face that the violent criminals have no other choice but to do what they do when she was speaking about two recent homicides. Billion dollar China deals, cocaine pipes, Joe Biden's son Hunter always has this way of skating. Joe Biden's son Hunter certainly lives a life of privilege. How [would] the cops treat one of us if they found a cocaine pipe in our car during a traffic pullover or a rental car return? 2016 Arizona Police Report: Cocaine Pipe Found in Car Rented by Joe Biden's Son Hunter Biden, Authorities Declined to Prosecute. Breitbart News has exclusively obtained a heretofore unreported-on police report from days before the 2016 presidential election that describes how a cocaine pipe that authorities determined was used to smoke cocaine was found in a rental car returned to an Arizona Hertz location in the middle of the night. Also found in the vehicle were several personal effects of Hunter Biden, then-Vice President Joe Biden's son, like two of his DC driver's licenses, multiple credit cards, and personally identifying information like a Delaware Attorney General badge and a U.S. Secret Service business card that police said bore his name. 1987 LGBTQ Demands Become Law in the Equality Act. I did an internet search for pictures of gay pride parades. I could hardly believe my eyes; men wearing giant genital costumes, nudity, men mock-performing various sex acts on each other. Such public debauchery would normally get one arrested. Because it was happening during a gay pride parade, city officials and police ignored it. Fellow Cop Let Drunk Sheriff Go After DUI Stop, Then He Smashed Into Woman Head On. Breckinridge County Sheriff Todd Pate was arrested in March after crashing his car into a woman while drunk out of his mind. According to the police report, Pate could barely talk, had bloodshot eyes, and had trouble even standing up. The report noted he had "blood shot eyes," "slurred speech," was "unsteady on his feet," and smelled a "strong odor of alcohol." When administered a breathalyzer, the sheriff blew twice the legal limit. The police report also noted that the arresting officer caught Pate hiding beer bottles in the woods after he crashed. Instead of rendering aid to his victim, the sheriff took to destroying evidence. When People Wonder Why Broward County, Florida Is Allowed To Be So Corrupt Show Them This. More and more are asking why the Broward County Elections Office, which has amassed numerous legal rulings against them both past and present, is allowed to continue largely unimpeded by any real oversight. Well, there are places in the United States where government corruption is part of a community's DNA: Detroit, Chicago, Austin, Sacramento, Baltimore, etc., and yes, Broward County, Florida. All of these examples and more are afforded protection from on high from the masters of the anti-American Progressive movement so long as they do one thing — help Democrats to win elections. Sen. Kamala Harris Given LAPD Protection, Even When She Wasn't in LA. Armed, plain-clothes LAPD officers were dispatched to California cities outside of Los Angeles at least a dozen times to provide security for U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris at public events, media appearances, and a party. LA taxpayers paid for airline tickets, hotel stays, car rentals, and meals, according to detailed expense reports obtained by NBC News. The total cost of the trips, not including the officers' overtime, topped $28,000. The Left Wants War, Give It to Them. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat who doubles as police commissioner, prohibited Portland Police from providing additional resources to federal officers begging for assistance. [...] It wasn't just federal authorities that Wheeler imperiled. Brianna Hakes, a food cart operator, was confronted by masked thugs who "threatened to hurt her and burn down the cart," but police did nothing. One 52-year-old local artist photographing the scene had his camera slammed into his face by protesters. Charles Williams, a 62-year-old man, was threatened with an allegedly "AIDS-infected needle" by protestors. Lisa Leonard, a 53-year-old disabled woman, told reporters that "occupiers hit her on her head, disabled her electric wheelchair, and lifted her in the air when she complained about loud drumming." Police made no arrests. Nor did police respond when protestors yelled racial slurs at ICE agents. One black agent was called the N-word, a "blood traitor," and an Uncle Tom. Nor did police respond when ICE agents were followed home. Anarchy Breaks Out in Portland, With the Mayor's Blessing. A mob surrounded ICE's office in Southwest Portland June 19. They barricaded the exits and blocked the driveway. They sent "guards" to patrol the doors, trapping workers inside. At night they laid on the street, stopping traffic at a critical junction near a hospital. Police stayed away. "At this time I am denying your request for additional resources," the Portland Police Bureau's deputy chief, Robert Day, wrote to federal officers pleading for help. Hours later, the remaining ICE workers were finally evacuated by a small federal police team. The facility shut down for more than a week. Portland mayor has 'failed miserably' as police commissioner, police union president says. The president of the Portland police union says Mayor Ted Wheeler has "failed miserably" as police commissioner by appearing to allow "personal, political bias" to influence his decisions on public safety services. The message comes a week after Portland police disbanded an encampment outside a federal immigration building. In a statement Thursday [8/2/2018] on the Portland Police Association's Facebook page, Officer Daryl Turner said Wheeler can have personal political beliefs as mayor but not as police commissioner. Turner suggested a "trained, experienced, police executive" should be deciding daily policing decisions. Lawyer Says San Jose Mayor May Have Ordered Police To Steer Trump Supporters Into Riot. "As we were leaving, the 250 riot gear clad San Jose police were there on the scene, forced all of the people leaving to come out through one exit and directed them away from the most direct path to the garages and into a riot of several hundred anti-Trump violent types waving Mexican flags with large 6-foot poles and the eggs are just one part of it," [attorney Harmeet] Dhillon stated, explaining the circumstances of the brawl. Ninth Circuit panel unanimously backs lawsuit against San Jose police who stood by and watched attacks on Trump supporters. Normally, suing police for failing to prevent crime is not allowed by courts. But a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has just allowed a lawsuit against the City of San Jose and its police department to proceed, despite this general presumption (called "qualified immunity") that police cannot be held responsible for failing to prevent crime. News media, both local and national, watched and recorded as San Jose police stood aside as people leaving a Trump rally in San Jose were heinously assaulted by anti-Trump thugs. [...] While San Jose may appeal to the Supreme Court, delaying the lawsuit from proceeding, once court proceedings begin, the extensive documentation of the violence with police watching will be powerful and persuasive evidence. Justices: Suit by Trump backers against San Jose police can proceed. A federal appeals court on Friday [7/27/2018] allowed supporters of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump to proceed with a lawsuit alleging they were beaten after San Jose police steered them into a crowd of anti-Trump protesters. Laws Are for the Little People. For aww-shucks acknowledgment of abuse of power, it's hard to beat Arizona-style honesty. When informed by a sheriff's deputy that doing 97 miles per hour in a 55 zone was a tad excessive, state Rep. Paul Mosley (R-District 5) answered, "Well, I was doing 120 earlier...This goes 140. That's what I like about it." Under fire from the public and the press, Rep. Mosley apologized both for speeding and for his "jokes about frequently driving over 100 miles per hour." But he drove away from that incident free as a bird, and likely faces no consequences more perilous than what the voters can muster up at the ballot box. As he explained to the deputy, he enjoys "legislative immunity." Georgia cops use coin flip to decide whether to arrest woman, video shows. A flip of a coin by Georgia cops determined a woman's fate during a traffic stop in April, body camera footage showed. The video showed Roswell police officers laughing as they used a coin-flip app to decide whether to detain Sarah Webb during a traffic stop, 11 Alive reported. Florida: Cop Threatens to Arrest Reporter Exposing Islamic Event feat Extremist Imam. On Saturday [4/13/2018], the Greenwood Lakes Middle School in coordination with Muslim community groups in Orlando hosted a Syrian sheik who has called for the killing of gays and all Jews. Conservative journalist Laura Loomer drove to Orlando to report on the event, which was described on the flyer as being open to the public. Besides being a public event, the event was hosted at a taxpayer-funded Florida middle school, which gives any member of the public and the press the right to come on the property. Cop Threatens to Arrest Reporter Exposing Islamic Event feat Extremist Imam. On Saturday, the Greenwood Lakes Middle School in coordination with Muslim community groups in Orlando hosted a Syrian sheik who has called for the killing of gays and all Jews. Conservative journalist Laura Loomer drove to Orlando to report on the event, which was described on the flyer as being open to the public. Besides being a public event, the event was hosted at a taxpayer-funded Florida middle school, which gives any member of the public and the press the right to come on the property. When Loomer approached the table to enter the event, organizers and an official from CAIR refused to admit Loomer and her cameraman into the event, and they were threatened with arrest by officers from the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. Illegal alien has gun. Police look the other way. The Indianapolis Star and other outlets report that police arrested an illegal alien from Saudi Arabia for possessing guns and ammo outside of a hotel where women were preparing for their Women's March in Indianapolis. "Federal law prohibits someone in the country illegally from possessing guns or ammo, but court records say police found him with weapons on two occasions in January," the Star reported. So twice they found him with illegal guns, and let him go — even though he threatened to kill two people. Is California Starting to Circle the Drain? I recently became a crime victim for one of the few times in my life. My car was burgled while I was up in the Bay Area on my weekly sojourn to the Peoples Republic of Berkeley. I say "burgled" rather than "broken into," because there was no smashed window, or picked lock, nor did I leave the car unlocked. Rather, I was the victim of a clever gang of organized car burglars in the Bay Area who are using sophisticated scanners to copy and boost the key-fob signal for recent model keyless entry and ignition cars. Once you latch on to the signal, the car door unlocks at the touch of your hand, as people with such models know. [...] This kind of activity is epidemic in the Bay Area right now. There were 30,000 car thefts reported in San Francisco last year (much higher in the Bay Area as a whole). The police are doing very little about it. NYPD ignored more than 1,500 federal requests to detain immigrants last year, official says. New York City police ignored all 1,526 requests from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain undocumented immigrants for up to 48 hours last year, a top NYPD official said Wednesday [2/7/2018]. The Daily News reported that Oleg Chernyavsky, the NYPD's legislative affairs director, revealed the numbers at a City Council meeting. The number of requests for 2017 was nearly 20 times higher than the 80 the department received over the previous year. Chernyavsky said the department responded to just two of ICE's 2016 requests because those immigrants had federal arrest warrants. NYPD got 1,526 requests to detain immigrants under Trump — and tossed them all out. The NYPD got a whopping 1,526 requests from the feds to detain immigrants in President Trump's first year in office — and rejected them all, officials said Wednesday [2/7/2018]. The number of detainer requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement was nearly 20 times higher than the 80 requests received in 2016, NYPD legislative affairs director Oleg Chernyavsky told the City Council. In 2016, cops complied with two of the 80 requests to turn over undocumented immigrants who got arrested to the feds for deportation. Of Crudeness and Truth. In England, in the city of Rotherham, at least 1,400 non-Muslim girls, some as young as 11, were brutally raped by Muslim immigrants over a period of years in the 2000s. Police and other officials worked to keep the facts hidden because, according to multiple reports, they were afraid of being called racist. Think about that: police officers did not want to seem racist, so they stood by and let their city's children be raped. The same thing goes on in other cities in England and throughout Europe. And in fact, some who have spoken out have had their careers curtailed by manufactured scandal. The message is clear: it's just not nice to tell the truth. It's just not done. Don't do it. Campus cops defend vandalism, destruction of property. Campus police officers at the University of Florida told conservative students that they couldn't prevent classmates from vandalizing flyers for an upcoming event, saying the flyers are "no longer yours" once they are posted. Video footage also shows one vandal knocking a cell phone from the hand of a student who was filming the altercation, but the officers justified that action by saying, "he defended himself because he didn't want to be videotaped." Leah Remini on Danny Masterson rape probe: Scientology 'aligned itself' with LAPD. The Church of Scientology has a strategic alliance with law enforcement, former believer Leah Remini said, one that potentially diverts scrutiny over matters like the multiple rape accusations made against church member Danny Masterson. In a wide-ranging interview with The Daily Beast, Remini said Scientology had "aligned itself" with the Hollywood division of the Los Angeles Police Department and its Captain Cory Palka through activities like fundraising. Cops backing off busts in South Bronx to avoid lawsuits. Cops in some crime-ridden South Bronx neighborhoods have all but abandoned aggressive or intuitive policing — to avoid getting sued or otherwise derailing their careers, officers admitted to The [New York] Post. The dangerous hands-off approach in the NYPD's 42nd Precinct is reflected in official crime statistics, which show that shootings are up dramatically there. "Usually, when you have people peddling hard drugs, you have guns nearby, inside a car or an apartment," a precinct cop said. But instead of being "proactive" in such cases, "I try to minimize incidents where I can get in trouble," the officer said. Muslims slaughter sheep in apt complex parking lot, no charges filed. A religious slaughter of a sheep in town Friday [9/9/2017] morning led Bismarck Police to request an opinion for future, similar matters. Lt. Steven Scheuer said officers, including animal control, responded to a report of a sheep being killed in a common parking area for apartments on the 2500 block of North Eighth Street. Police spoke with the man and woman there who were performing a ceremony in accordance with their Muslim faith, according to Scheuer. The couple will not face charges, but police sent the report to the Bismarck city attorney's office for guidance, Scheuer said. Cops must never stand down against 'antifa' thugs. Many on the left are starting to see the goons of Antifa as the menace they are. Too bad the Berkeley, Calif., Police Department remains clueless. The college town saw a large Rally Against Hate on Sunday, initially planned as a response to a right-wing demonstration that wound up canceled over security concerns. A few pro-Trumpers and other miscellaneous rightists still turned out to show their flags — and so did the ninja-wannabes. Yet when hundreds of masked, armored thugs arrived in quasi-military formation, carrying shields banned under police rules, the cops were ordered to retreat. Who Was Really at Fault in Charlottesville? [Scroll down] As the day unfolded, it was clear that orders had been given to the local police to ensure that a serious fracas occurred. The police did nothing to disperse the armed groups on each side, on several occasions herded them toward each other to encourage combat, and then withdrew at times to facilitate the violence. It must be assumed that orders for an insufficient law enforcement and ineffectual rules of engagement emanated ultimately from the governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, the ne plus ultra of Clintonian zeal and cynicism, and former Democratic Party chairman. Whose Side Is He On? I watched with astonishment the demolition of the statue of a Confederate soldier in Durham. No police at hand at all to stop the destruction of public property. No vote by any government body to remove the statue. Just a mob of "students" and a complete absence of police or law enforcement at all. This was mob rule. Pure, simple, and terrifying. Why even bother to have police at all if this is the way the law is protected? Why did Virginia's political leadership order the police and National Guard to stand down? Details remain thin. It is not clear, for example, how many alt-right demonstrators were there, though many reports indicate that they were substantially outnumbered by counter-demonstrators, largely drawn from the same crowd that has been rioting at the drop of Donald Trump's name since November 9. So, obviously, this was a fraught moment. But what would have been the outcome had the police and the Virginia National Guard — both on hand in strong numbers — done their duty, enforced properly obtained demonstration permits, and preserved the right of the warring parties to make their respective points without being physically attacked, one by the other and vice versa? It's worth remembering that Charlottesville did everything it could to prevent the demonstrations, issuing permits only after being sued by the ACLU. And when push came to shove — literally — on Saturday, police and National Guardsmen were to be found only on the periphery of the brawling. Democrats love Stand Down orders. The nagging question over what happened in Charlottesville is why were the police ordered to stand down? Sure, they were there in full force before Antifa arrived on their buses. But once the Unite the Right people were ordered to leave and sent into a gauntlet of Antifa thugs, the police were ordered back. Who gives a stand down order when violence and chaos are imminent? The same thing happened in San Jose last summer when anti-Trump rioters attacked innocent people on their way to a Trump rally. And the same thing happened in Berkeley — twice. Who is Behind the Police Decision to Ignore and Allow Facist Antifa Violence at Events Around the US? For over a year at nearly every event NOT sponsored by Leftist Democrat and Black Lives Matter groups, the Police have stepped aside and allowed horrendous acts of criminal violence against event participants while rarely arresting anyone committing these heinous acts. These violent groups, like Fascist Antifa, are now inciting murder at these events. Who is allowing this to happen? Will the FBI please investigate these groups and determine who is ordering the police to allow them to commit violence? San Francisco Transit Withholds Surveillance Tapes To Avoid Creating Racial 'Stereotypes'. The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in San Francisco and Oakland has been withholding video evidence of crimes committed on trains and at stations perpetrated by groups of teenagers, it has been revealed. According to CBS Local, dozens of teenagers committed large-scale acts of robbery and assaults in the months of April and June. In April, "forty to sixty" teenagers boarded a train at Coliseum stop, where they proceeded to rob seven passengers and beat up two. In June, four teens assaulted a passenger and stole his cellphone. Just two days later, about a dozen teens snatched the phone of a woman on a train. In each of these cases, BART has refused to publish surveillance footage, citing fears that the videos could create negative racial perceptions. The Editor says... Cop Caught Speeding Scolds Officer Who Stopped Her, Peels Out — Nothing Happens. An infuriating body camera video was released this week showing the callous disregard some police officers have for the very laws they enforce. The footage shows the above the law nature exhibited by law enforcement that would get the common citizen caged or killed. Known as blue privilege, there is an unwritten law among police officers: when they catch their fellow cop, or even their fellow cop's family member, breaking the law, they are let go without consequence. Last year, dashcam video was released showing preferential treatment of an Arkansas police chief who was let off — without so much as a warning — after speeding to an off-duty job as a referee at a football game. [Video clip] Police accused of just idly watching from patrol cars as violent clashes erupted between pro and anti-Trump groups during 'Tax Day' demonstrations. Police officers have been accused of abandoning the scene of wild protests in Berkeley on Saturday, allowing shocking street brawls to go unchecked. Thousands of people marched during 'Tax Day' demonstrations that were designed to pressure Donald Trump into releasing his tax returns. The tax day protests in more than a dozen cities were largely peaceful, however hundreds of pro and anti-Trump demonstrators clashed in Berkeley, California. The Rioters Are Winning. In Berkeley, police literally stood back and let the riot unfold, later defending their passive approach on the grounds that actually enforcing the law could have caused greater injury. As it was, they intervened on a case-by-case basis to stop individual beatings and let rioters vandalize 15 buildings. University police made one arrest. City police reported zero arrests on the night of the riots. Police Defend Lack of Intervention in Violent Protest at UC Berkeley. There has been much criticism surrounding the decision by campus police at the University of California, Berkeley not to intervene in the violent protests that successfully shut down a scheduled speech by right-wing gay provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. While eyewitnesses contend that the lack of police intervention allowed the protests to escalate, police are defending the decision to allow the protests to progress, stating that they believed officer intervention would only have served to inflame tensions. Sharia-compliant Long Beach Police now will allow Muslim women to wear headbags while in custody. In the wake of a CAIR lawsuit alleging officers forcibly removed a Muslim woman's headbag before booking her into jail, the Long Beach Police Department has changed its policy to let detainees wear Islamic supremacist headbags and other religious items while in custody unless there's a safety concern. Police Stand By as Protester Steals Pro-Life Display. The police do not have to agree with a position to enforce the law. Theft is theft. Pro-life groups have been fighting abortion extremists for decades. It's sad, however, when civil officials who have sworn to uphold the law ignore it. Maybe they've taken a page out of President Obama's political playbook. Policing is a profession: You don't get to pick and choose whom you serve and protect. Since the National Football League's kneeling controversy started, several police organizations around the country have stated they would not protect individual players or whole teams until all the players stood for the anthem. [...] Jeffery Bell, president of the International Union of Police Associations' Local 6020 in Miami, said in a statement that while he respects players' right to free speech, he believes that "in certain organizations and certain jobs you give up that right of your freedom of speech [temporarily] while you serve that job or while you play in an NFL game." That's the rationale Bell gave for asking his officers to stop providing security for players until they stand for the anthem. Of course, Bell fundamentally misunderstands the First Amendment, and history, for that matter. There is absolutely zero legal precedent for his assertion that NFL players lose their First Amendment rights. This claim from an official who represents sworn law enforcement officers is incredulous on its face. Nancy Pelosi blows off traffic laws — to shop at shoe store! [Scroll down] "A large perfectly polished and gleaming black SUV is attempting a left turn from Hunt onto southbound Main (not easy). Suddenly blue/red lights are flashing from the windshield area of the SUV (like you would see in an official fire/police vehicle)," he continued. "I said to my friends, I've never seen that before on a 'regular' vehicle and I'd think that's illegal and dangerous. They agreed." That's when the large black SUV jolted across two lanes of traffic, lights flashing, to park in front of a fire hydrant at the high end shoe boutique Footcandy. "A St. Helena police car happens to be going northbound and pulls into the center lane and the officer starts shaking his arm and hollering at the driver of the SUV. While this goes on a man exits the SUV assisting a woman from the vehicle. She dashes off to Footcandy while he waits by the SUV in the red zone," Smith explained. The police officer then drove off without confronting the driver, he wrote. Wasted DA Nearly Kills Multiple Motorists — No Arrest, Cops Change Her Tire, Let Her Drive Away! In a testament to the special privilege granted to those within government, a clearly inebriated district attorney was dangerously let loose back out on to the streets by, not one, but two separate police departments who stopped her for a DUI. Instead of arresting the woman, who was caught on video coming dangerously close to multiple head-on collisions, and completely unable to stay in her lane, cops changed her tire and sent her on her way. San Jose police chief who allowed mob attacks on Trump supporters is affiliated with La Raza. San Jose, California disgraced itself last week, allowing rioters to attack people exiting a political rally for the presumptive Republican nominee for president. Now, thanks to Aleister of Gateway Pundit, we know that the police chief of that city, Eddie Garcia, who admitted that he instructed his officers not to intervene and arrest the attackers, is aligned with an extremist race-based group, La Raza (Spanish for "The Race"). Do-Nothing San Jose Police Hammered for Allowing Thug Riot. This Silicon Valley city and its police department are facing mounting complaints of a tepid and tardy law enforcement response to attacks of Donald Trump supporters after a political rally. Court Requires NYPD to Purge Docs on Terrorists Inside U.S.. The New York Police Department has been directed by a U.S. court to remove from its online records an investigation pertaining to the rise of Islamic extremists in the West and the threats these individuals pose to American safety, according to legal documents. As part of a settlement agreement reached earlier this month with Muslim community advocates in U.S. District Court, the NYPD will purge from its website an extensive report that experts say has been critical to the department's understanding of radical Islam and its efforts to police the threat. New York Police Allow Muslims to Openly Attack Journalists, No Arrests Made. New York police stood by and did nothing as a pack of raving Islamists physically and verbally attacked several Egyptian journalists right out in the open, on the streets, and right in front of police. Members of the terror group the Muslim Brotherhood accosted the journalists who were in New York as part of the Egyptian media covering Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as he attends the 70th annual session of the United Nations General Assembly. NYC Police Ignore Muslim Brotherhood Assault on the Streets of New York. New York City residents were treated to a glimpse of their (and our!) future recently when Egyptian journalists in town to cover the visit of Egyptian president Al-Sisi to the U.N. were assaulted by Muslim Brotherhood agents — in full view of New York City police. The journalists were assaulted verbally and physically while New York's finest looked on, deigning to intervene in much the same way a schoolteacher does with a recalcitrant student — tut-tutting and tsk-tsking — rather than apprehending and jailing the violent assaulters as one would expect on the streets of an American city. Narcotics cops ordered to stop arresting suspects over 40. The city's narcotics cops are being told to stop arresting suspects over the age of 40 — a major strategy shift designed to target younger dealers, who are more likely to carry guns and use them, The [New York] Post has learned. Top brass issued a directive that makes it all but impossible for cops to bust older drug suspects, in order to combat a spike in shootings — which are up 7 percent in 2015 compared with the same period last year and 12 percent over the last four weeks, police sources said. The new policy was laid out in a May 14 memo obtained by The Post that scolded police bosses for busting people outside the 18-40 demographic — and demanded written explanations for arrests of midlife perps. LAPD under fire after giving escort to convicted Mexican Mafia hitman. Los Angeles Police Department is under fire for giving an escort to a convicted Mexican Mafia hit man so he could speak to a business leaders' conference. Rene Enriquez, 52, known as 'The Boxer', was a leader in one of the US's most notorious and violent gangs, the Mexican Mafia, and is currently serving two life sentences for murder. But yesterday [1/28/2015] he was given a police escort from prison to downtown Los Angeles to address a group of local police chiefs and wealthy business leaders. Los Angeles police reportedly spent $22,000 to get ex-Mexican Mafia leader to dinner. In all, 38 LAPD employees worked about 320 hours to prepare for the January event at a downtown building and protect Rene "Boxer" Enriquez while he was there, the inspector general of the city's police commission wrote. Tennessee cop lets Muslim drive off with dead child in trunk. What would happen to most people if they were pulled over by the police for a traffic offense and in the course of the traffic stop, they announced there was a dead body in the trunk of the car? At the very least, the police officer would order the driver to open the trunk so the officer could inspect the body. It could be a lot worse than that. Unless you are in Tennessee and you are Muslim. Cops who closed junkyard bar told to let it reopen. Not everyone in the NYPD got the "drunkyard" memo. Members of the Brooklyn South Vice Squad raided two illegal nightclubs set up in junkyards this past weekend — then got told by the local precinct to let them stay open, The [New York] Post has learned. Cops burst into the open-air watering holes in East Flatbush around 3 a.m. Saturday [8/30/2014], law enforcement sources said. When no one could produce a liquor license, the cops prepared to bust the bartenders and close the clubs, known as Tiki Village and Soca Village. From the Files of Police Squad: No CCWs Allowed? [A] Florida resident and CCW holder named John Filippidis was traveling down I-95 on the way home from New Jersey, when he was pulled over and his car was rifled through by Maryland law enforcement officers looking for the gun in his safe in Florida. [...] His wife made one of the classic mistakes. Never, ever volunteer information to the police, especially when you're just guessing. Driving Through Maryland — How The Lawful Florida Gun Owner Was Targeted. What would prompt the Maryland Transportation Authority Police (MTAP) to randomly select their vehicle? Because the first question to Mr. Filippidis was about his gun ownership, and the police search for the gun was based on his gun ownership, the Florida CCW permit that Filippidis holds was identified as the most likely impetus for the stop, questioning and search. [His firearm was locked in a safe in his Florida home.] This strikes us as highly alarming — so we contacted MTAP and we immediately filed public records requests to research what took place. New York cops call video taped 'Knockout' attack harassment, not assault. Rochester New York police are characterizing the brazen attack of an elderly woman as harassment rather than what it appears to be — another example of the hotly-debated "knockout game." The attacker, a young black male who operated a Facebook account under the name "True Goon Tocool Sneekey", narrated his plan for the camera. Smoking gun exposed — D.C. police covers up giving Feinstein illegal 'assault weapons'. Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier seems to think that gun-control laws don't apply to the liberal elite. The police chief helped Sen. Dianne Feinstein acquire "assault weapons," which are illegal to possess in the District, for a news conference early this year to promote a ban on these firearms, then tried to cover up the police involvement. Now, a response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request reveals Chief Lanier's shocking willingness to bend the rules for partisan and ideological purposes. It's the law: Washington state lawmakers don't get speeding tickets. A spokesman for WSP says Washington lawmakers are constitutionally protected from receiving noncriminal traffic tickets during a legislative session, as well as 15 days before. Capitol Hill Police Block Tea Party Activists from Immigration Rally. Capitol Hill police left a voicemail for Kevin Mooneyhan, Deputy Executive Director of Tea Party Patriots, saying that "your people" only are permitted to assemble for the event on the west side of the Capitol. The activists' presence at the immigration event on the east side supposedly violates the terms of the Tea Party's permit. Mooneyhan was instructed to move any activists who planned on attending the Tea Party rally away from the immigration event. Keep in mind, the immigration event is hosted by sitting members of Congress. The notion that citizens can't attend an event featuring duly elected Representatives in a public space is absurd. "The Capitol police are violating our rights to assembly and association," Mooneyhan told Breitbart News. "How does our permit limit the rights of individuals to attend public events? It's intimidation." Report: D.C. police fail to investigate sexual assaults. The D.C. police department does not adequately investigate sexual assaults and should have outside oversight to improve its detectives' sometimes inappropriate handling of such cases, according to Human Rights Watch, which on Thursday released the results of a 22-month investigation on the department's practices. Human Rights Watch was also critical of the police department's response to its investigation, saying in its report that the reaction of department officials to its findings was "extremely hostile and defensive in tone." No Speeding Ticket for Councilwoman Driving 105 mph. Prince George's County in Maryland has been a dangerous place for drivers and pedestrians. ... Karen Toles sits on the Prince George's County Council. On February 22, the councilwoman was clocked by the Prince George's County Police Department as traveling at more than 105 mph on the Capital Beltway which was 50 mph over the legal speed limit. Police originally would not state how fast she was driving, but that information was later released. Calling Out the Mobile Police Department. As I reported yesterday [4/25/2012], the Mobile Police Department is ludicrously claiming that it is likely that no more than three people will be arrested for the now-infamous mob beating of a man in Mobile because the other 17 or so people were supposedly just "onlookers." A Censored Race War? In Milwaukee, for example, an attack on whites at a public park a few years ago left many of the victims battered to the ground and bloody. But, when the police arrived on the scene, it became clear that the authorities wanted to keep this quiet. One 22-year-old woman, who had been robbed of her cell phone and debit card, and had blood streaming down her face said: "About 20 of us stayed to give statements and make sure everyone was accounted for. The police wouldn't listen to us, they wouldn't take our names or statements. They told us to leave. It was completely infuriating." N.J. state troopers face probe for 'Death Race 2012' down Parkway to AC. The State Police are investigating complaints that two troopers escorted a caravan of luxury sports cars at speeds in excess of 100 mph down the Garden State Parkway to Atlantic City last month. The occupants included former Giants running back and sports car enthusiast Brandon Jacobs, according to a source with knowledge of the trip. New Jersey State Police Officers Suspended For High Speed Escort, Lawyer Plans Investigation. The lawyer for a New Jersey state trooper who was suspended for escorting a high speed caravan of exotic cars to Atlantic City said today that such escorts "happen all the time." Sgt. 1st Class Nadir Nassry, 47, and trooper Joseph Ventrella, 28, were suspended without pay on Monday while the New Jersey Attorney General and state police investigate the March 30 incident. Police to White Victim: We 'Don't Mess' with Black Gang. Most of us have heard about how the media won't report on black-on-white crime. We also may know that authorities sometimes sweep it under the rug due to political pressure, usually with a wink and a nod. But not so in rural Alabama, where the police actually told a white crime victim that they "don't mess" with a local black motorcycle gang. The tragic event that led to this shocking admission occurred on March 28, as truck driver Nick Stokes and neighbor Johnathan Cooper were heading out of Birmingham hauling a portable cabin. Hacks behaving badly? Shocking! First time I heard this story, I was confused. I thought it was an old story. But then I realized I was getting it confused with a Boston firefighter being charged with threatening a Boston police officer. Or maybe I was getting it mixed up with the other statie in Essex County, Capt. Thomas McCarthy, who last month allegedly refused to get out of his car when cops smelled beer on his breath. He said, "You've got to be kidding me," and made a run for it down Route 1. Even though they found beer cans in his car, the Saugus cops didn't give him a Breathalyzer test. Capt. McCarthy made $213,474 last year. But no, this was a different state cop behind the eight ball. Occupy anarcho-fascists post own video of themselves destroying SF neighborhood. The amazing part? The San Francisco police were monitoring the whole thing, and followed behind the Occupy rioters in police vans, and yet did nothing to stop them, even after the mob attacked an officer inside a parked police car. Federalization of the local police Biden DOJ Perfects 'Equity' Blueprint For Destroying Police, Fire Departments. A recent string of lawsuits by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against police and fire departments could serve as a blueprint for erasing physical and mental standards in the name of equity. The DOJ settled two lawsuits and filed a third against local departments in October accusing them of discrimination after black applicants disproportionately failed to pass cognitive written tests and female applicants struggled to pass physical tests. The DOJ deemed the tests discriminatory due to the results, despite applicants of all races and both genders being subject to the same standards. The three lawsuits, all filed within weeks of each other, could be just the start as a Harris administration would accelerate the process "10x," one expert told the Daily Caller. Under an early October settlement, Maryland's State Police (MDSP) will pay previously denied applicants over $2.75 million in backpay after the DOJ launched a probe into "racially discriminatory hiring and promotion practices." It's the Great Reversal, Not the Great Reset. Not only have we experienced unprecedented unconstitutional abuse of government power exercised in response to COVID-19, 2020 election irregularities, and January 6, which has left our country in a state that has more in common with a banana republic than the constitutional republic that has defined us previously for some 230 years. Recent developments suggest that this could be a prelude to worse to come. [...] Most Americans are unaware of the August 27 and September 27, 2024, revisions to the U.S. Department of Defense Directive 5240.01, which authorizes and expands the reach of military power on U.S. soil — a development with extremely serious implications. When most think about military power being used in America, they think about foreign threats, with the military being directed against adversaries outside our borders. But what would happen if this directive would turn American military power inward? The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, passed after the Civil War during Reconstruction, was passed to prevent that possibility, explicitly limiting the federal government's ability to use the armed forces for domestic law enforcement and to avoid any blurring of the line between the military and police. They're coming after your cops. We all witnessed the stunning ineptitude of the U.S. Secret Service in Butler, PA on July 13, not only from poor security planning but watching Trump be escorted off the stage by a few men physically capable of doing the job and a few short and rotund women who demonstrated no real capacity to handle the job under pressure, much less holster a weapon. What did we learn from this? Apparently, nothing, because Biden's DOJ is now busy coming after your local police organizations. As recently as last Friday, Biden's DOJ is suing South Bend for discriminatory practices in hiring its police officers. Arizona Bill Would Prevent Federal Takeover of Local Law Enforcement. For a couple of decades now, the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has silently and gradually converted local police agencies into regional subdivisions of the surveillance state. From license plate readers to facial recognition software, from surveillance cameras to cellphone signal trackers, the DHS is providing police with all the gadgets, hardware, and software necessary to keep everybody under surveillance, without the targeted public ever realizing that it's D.C., not the cops, behind the monitoring. Not only do local police who participate in the program have access to a shockingly broad array of personal information on citizens, but facial recognition technology, license plate readers, and stop-light camera video feeds are all funneled to a Regional Operations Intelligence Center where FBI and DHS agents can watch the live feeds. In fairness, most police chiefs and sheriffs are unaware of the larger, more sinister DHS program to foment riot as a pretext for quelling it. But whether these lawmen realize it or not, when they accept federal gadgets and grants, they are surrendering their independence and their citizens' civil liberties. Police: National or Local? The right to be free and to defend oneself is fundamental and natural. That includes the right to bear arms in the defense of oneself, one's family, and one's community. It also includes the right to act together with others in a legal polity to delegate limited powers to designated full-time individuals "to serve and protect." We give them badges and guns and a certain measure of authority to carry out this task for the common good. However, as the human experience has shown (from ancient history to our present day), this authority is often abused, especially when it is expanded and centralized into a national force unaccountable to local control. A new GOP bill would make it virtually impossible to sue the police. The bill would create new federal crimes, impose federal police over the will of local officials and voters and shield police officers from virtually any civil liability, even in cases of egregious misconduct. Let's look first at the new federal crimes. The bill would create new federal crimes for killing, attempting to kill or conspiring to kill a state or local law enforcement officer who works for a police agency that receives federal funding. Because nearly all police agencies receive some sort of federal funding, including most local sheriff's departments and town police, the bill basically makes it a federal crime to kill, attempt to kill or conspire to kill any police officer (as well as any judge or first responder). The bill would also allow for the federal death penalty in such cases, and it would impose limits on the ability of defendants to file habeas petitions in federal court after they've exhausted their appeals. Leaked Memo Reveals Soros Plan for Federally Controlled Police. A leaked document from George Soros's Open Society Foundations exposes the billionaire's level of involvement in attempting to build what his organization describes as a "national movement" to reform local police forces across the U.S. The reform largely consists of federal guidelines for local police forces. UN Backs Secret Obama Takeover of Police. Here's how it works: the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice files a lawsuit in federal court against a city, county, or state, alleging constitutional and civil rights violations by the police or at a corrections facility. It is done under 42 U.S.C. § 14141, a section of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, granting the attorney general the power to prosecute law enforcement misconduct. The municipality then simply agrees to the judicial finding — without contest — and the result is a wide-reaching federal court order that imposes onerous regulations on local police. The federal court orders are designed to undo Rudy Giuliani-style policing tactics that were effective at reducing crime in big cities in the 1990s and 2000s. In short, the much-feared nationalization of local police departments is already being initiated by the Obama administration's Justice Department. And somehow nobody noticed. Obama says some local police departments need more resources. Obama said there is great interest among police departments nationwide in receiving additional training to deal with active-shooter events and to decrease tensions before violence occurs, but that more resources will be necessary. Obama Uses Police Shootings to Push for Nationalization of Police. Obama was quick to parlay the recent murders of five Dallas police officers into another attempt to push his agenda to turn state and local police forces into mere subsidiaries of the federal government. "I want to start moving on constructive actions that are actually going to make a difference," he declared at a press conference in Poland, in response to a question about the killings in Dallas. [...] So, whether it is a shooting of a citizen by a police officer, or the shooting of a police officer by a citizen, everything is an excuse to increase the control of the federal government over policing, in contradiction of the 10th Amendment, which makes most law enforcement a "reserved power" of the states and local governments. Obama Wants More Federal Oversight of Cops After Attacks on Cops. President Barack Obama is harnessing the increasing attacks on police — and the periodic shootings of people by stressed cops — to push his agenda to federalize state and local police forces. Obama and Hillary Exploit Murdered Cops to Federalize Police. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are exploiting the killing of five police officers in Dallas to push a range of assaults on the U.S. Constitution, including a decades-old plot to federalize America's local police departments without any semblance of constitutional authority. In between subtly demonizing law-enforcement officers as racists and touting the controversial Black Lives Matter movement, the two Democrat Party standard-bearers also seized on the Dallas police shootings to promote further infringements on the constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. Critics, though, including among America's police forces, blasted the Obama administration and its allies for fueling a "war" on law enforcement. The establishment plan to federalize and militarize America's state and local police forces has been underway for decades. In recent years, though, the Obama administration has pushed the agenda further and faster than ever. Among other schemes, the White House has used "executive actions," as well as bribe money provided by Congress and threats of lawsuits, to impose a wide range of unconstitutional federal "guidelines" and controls on law enforcement. Obama Pushes More Federal Oversight of Cops After Dallas Attack on Cops. President Barack Obama is harnessing the increasing attacks on police in Dallas — and the periodic shootings of people by stressed cops — to push his agenda to federalize state and local police forces. [...] The report urges the federal government to federalize police training and practices, via the use of federal lawsuits, grants and threats to cut federal aid. So far, Obama's deputies have cajoled and sued more than 30 police jurisdictions to adopt federal rules in a slow-motion creation of a national police system, similar to the slow-motion creation of a federal-run health-sector via Obamacare. Obama's federalization of police grows nationwide. Announced Friday [4/22/2016], 53 police departments around the country have signed on so far to the White House-pressed Police Data Initiative, a plan by President Obama to make crime-fighting more technology-driven and accountable to higher-ups, but that is seen by critics as a not-so-subtle federal takeover of community policing. The program, which comes by way of a recommendation from the Task Force on 21st Century Policing that Obama launched in December — which was created by the White House in response to widely reported instances of police-community clashes and alleged cop discrimination against minorities — is aimed at enhancing "data transparency and analysis" among police departments around the nation. Utah Republicans push to strip police powers from feds. Utah's four House Republicans introduced a bill Wednesday that would strip the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service of their power to police federal lands, and give that power over to local cops. Rep. Jason Chaffetz and his three GOP colleagues from Utah introduced the Local Enforcement for Local Lands Act. The lawmakers say the growth of police authorities in both agencies has distracted them from their main mission of managing federal land, and has created conflicts with local authorities. They also say federal agents are not as trusted as local police, and should be removed. Feds returning to local crime fight. Mounting concern over recent violent crime surges in some U.S. cities has prompted the Justice Department to call a meeting next month of more than a dozen local law enforcement officials to deal with persistent public safety threats, ranging from criminal gangs to domestic violence, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates told USA TODAY in an interview. The Justice summit builds on an increasing federal re-engagement with local police whose forces in the past two years have been buffeted by questions over lethal force policies and flagging public trust. Loretta Lynch Embeds Federal Agents In Baltimore To Help Control Embarrassment of Growing Crisis. The transparency of motive is brutally obvious. As Baltimore suffers the worst explosion of gun/homicide violence in 40 years, the race-based professional apologists have to move quickly to avoid the consequences from their own insufferable policy/agenda failures. Feds answer Baltimore's SOS on violence. Baltimore is turning to the federal government for help in stemming a dramatic uptick in violence over the last several months. Ten federal agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Marshals Service will embed with the police department's homicide unit for the next 60 days, city leaders announced Monday [8/3/2015]. Loretta Lynch Embeds Federal Agents In Baltimore To Help Control Embarrassment of Growing Crisis. The transparency of motive is brutally obvious. As Baltimore suffers the worst explosion of gun/homicide violence in 40 years, the race-based professional apologists have to move quickly to avoid the consequences from their own insufferable policy/agenda failures. Loretta Lynch Embeds Federal Agents In Baltimore To Help Control Embarrassment of Growing Crisis. The transparency of motive is brutally obvious. As Baltimore suffers the worst explosion of gun/homicide violence in 40 years, the race-based professional apologists have to move quickly to avoid the consequences from their own insufferable policy/agenda failures. ATF To Join NYPD In Fighting New York City Gun Crimes. Bullet-riddled windows, yellow crime scene tape, and evidence markers denoting where shell casings fell on the sidewalk are becoming all-too-familiar sights on New York City streets. Now in an unprecedented move, a federal agency is joining the effort to get gun crimes under control, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported Monday [6/15/2015]. DOJ Official: Slavery to Blame for Riots in Ferguson and Baltimore. Vanita Gupta, head of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, has told a lawyers group in Colorado that slavery and Jim Crow helped fuel the Ferguson and Baltimore riots. The last few days have seen a number of fanciful stories with the Obama administration seemingly questioning the authority of local police. I've long maintained that the administration is nakedly seeking to federalize policing standards — but get rid of local police? No way, that sounds like something broadcast from a shortwave station in Austin, Texas. But then up steps Vanita Gupta to lend some credibility to the idea that some want to disband local police and replace police powers with the federal government. Obama seeks to end immigration enforcement by local, state police. The administration issued a report Monday [5/18/2015] saying that in order to rebuild trust between police and their communities, the federal government should stop enlisting state and local police in most immigration enforcement, setting up another challenge as President Obama tries to please immigrant rights advocates while carrying out deportations. GOP Is Ready to Join Dems in Demanding Some Federalization of the Police. The Obama regime is pretending there is a crisis in local policing throughout the country. They have opened 21 investigations into local police departments and forced legally binding agreements on them, agreements that implement leftist ideals based on the assumption that policing is inherently racist and causes crime through escalation. The GOP is about to join them under pressure from the Obama administration who wants them to believe they must do so or risk looking like bigots. There are calls from within the GOP to come up with transformational legislation on policing in order to keep that minuscule 5% support from black Americans. Obama is also threatening his own fiats if congress fails to act. Obama's 'national civilian security force' endorsed. Back in 2008, Barack Obama, then a presidential candidate, called for a "civilian national security force." And he wanted it wanted it as big as all of the nation's military branches. Combined. Now black activist Al Sharpton is suggesting a path that probably would accomplish that: nationalize America's police forces. Want a lawless police force? Federalize it. The idea behind federal supervision of local police forces is that it will make them more accountable. Instead of a bunch of presumptively racist, violent hicks running things on a local level, we'll see the cool professionalism of the national government in charge. There are (at least) two problems with this approach. The first is that federal law enforcement, especially in recent years, hasn't exactly been a haven of cool professionalism. The second is that no law enforcement agency is very good at policing itself, meaning that a national police force is likely to be less accountable, not more. Obama and mayors planning not only to reform but to totally replace America's police forces. Republicans, who surrendered to the Democrats even after taking over House and Senate in last Midterm elections, have no dog in the racial riots in Ferguson, Baltimore and other cities, but Mayor Stephanie Rowlings-Blake, who ordered a police stand down in Baltimore, and a bevy of other Democrat mayors, do. With the undercover help of activist municipal mayors and councils, Obama seeks not to reform the nation's police — but to totally replace them. While diverting public attention by snubbing senators, and overriding both Constitution and Congress, Obama is now hammering the final nail in the Fundamental Transformation of America coffin. Proposed Federal Rules For NYPD Training Include Cop 101 Advice Like 'Don't Be Racist'. The federal monitor overseeing reforms to the NYPD wants the current class of Police Academy recruits to be taught groundbreaking new concepts like: Don't be racist, don't mock others, don't tell sexist jokes and don't hassle people for no reason. Holder: I'm Prepared to Dismantle the Ferguson Police Force. Despite a Justice Department report clearing police officer Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown, Attorney General Eric Holder says he will do everything he can to change the law enforcement culture in Ferguson, Mo. If he feels the need to, Holder says he will seek to dismantle the Ferguson Police Department. Obama to Ferguson: Accept the DOJ Findings — or Else. Remember, its the agenda that matters. Not the processes. The Constitution, the separation of powers, the rule of law — those are quaint constructs irrelevant to the modern march toward Social Justice. Holder: I'm Prepared To Dismantle Ferguson PD, If Necessary. Attorney General Eric Holder is convinced that there's major problems within the Ferguson Police Department, and he's willing to dismantle the entire force if necessary. In an interview with Friday's White House pool reporter on the Department of Justice's critical Ferguson report, Holder said, "We are prepared to use all the powers that we have... to ensure that the situation changes there. That means everything from working with them to coming up with an entirely new structure." The road to nationalizing the police. Federal judges and attorneys now routinely urge the appointment of monitors and the imposition of consent decrees to permit them to assume authority over wide swaths of local policing. In his final days as US attorney general, Eric Holder has suggested lowering the standard of proof in civil-rights cases to make it easier to bring federal charges against an accused police officer. As Holder put it last week, "We can make the federal government a better backstop, make this more a part of the process ... to reassure the American people that decisions are made by people who are really disinterested." Incidents that were once only of local interest are now fodder for the national news. Obama task force: Feds should be told of all police shootings. Police departments should take advantage of new technology such as body cameras as they seek to build trust with the public, the White House's task force on policing said Monday [2/2/2015] in a new report. The panel also recommended that all officer-involved shootings be reported to the federal government, a step that has been demanded by community groups who want greater oversight of law enforcement. "There's no reason for us not to have this data available," said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, who co-chaired the task force. Obama Unveils National ObamaLaw Plan. President Barack Obama today introduced his plan for a progressive takeover of state and local policing. "We have a great opportunity... to really transform how we think about community law enforcement relations," he said Monday. "We need to seize that opportunity... this is something that I'm going to stay very focused on in the months to come," Obama said, as he touted a new interim report from his Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Obama also instructed his media allies to help federalize policing, and to sideline the critics of centralized policing rules. Obama Announces His Plans to Nationalize Local and State Law Enforcement. Dictator Barack Obama has announced plans to nationalize law enforcement like all despots like Hitler, Mao and Lenin did: [...] Like all criminal enterprises, the Obama administration wants to consolidate power. By nationalizing the police force, liberals will be able to spare minority criminals from going to prison. It has long been their contention that too many blacks and Hispanics are sent to prison merely because they broke the law and the fact that a proportionate amount of whites should be in prisons. So either whites need to greatly increase the number of crimes they commit or we will be forced to only send 1 out of every 3 convicted blacks and Hispanics to prison. Obama's Task Force Envisions Cops As Community Activists. President Obama said his Task Force on 21st Century Policing has presented him with "a very specific set of recommendations," including the need for police officers to be "seen as enhancing the life of the community beyond law enforcement." To build trust, Obama's task force suggests that police officers "be engaged with the community, not just in a (police) stop but also in a school, also working with children, also being seen as enhancing the life of the community beyond law enforcement." The School Shooting in Parkland, Florida, February 14, 2018 Demolition begins on site of Parkland High School massacre. A large excavator tore into the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School's 1200 building on Friday morning, where 17 people were killed in the Parkland massacre. A 19-year-old gunman murdered 14 students and three adults in the 2018 attack. Survivors, teachers, and staff watched from about 100 yards away, and victims' families were given the chance to hammer off a piece of the building. Florida jury finds former Parkland school resource officer not guilty on all counts. A Florida jury has found former Parkland school resource officer Scot Peterson not guilty on all counts. Peterson faced seven counts of felony child neglect and was the first law enforcement officer in the U.S. to face criminal charges stemming from his alleged inaction during an active school shooting. He was also charged with three counts of misdemeanor culpable negligence in relation to the adults shot in the building. Additionally, he was charged with perjury for allegedly lying to detectives. Peterson would have faced prison time and a loss of his $104,000 annual pension if convicted of the child neglect charges. Scot Peterson Found Not Guilty of All Charges. Scott Peterson, the school resource officer who stayed outside Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School as Nikolas Cruz murdered 17 people inside, has been found not guilty of felony child neglect and other related charges. Scot Peterson, the Coward of Broward, finally heads to trial. Scot Peterson was the School Resource Officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Florida when shooter Nikolas Cruz entered the school and began killing people. Not only did Peterson not enter the building where the shooting was taking place, it's believed his calls over the radio helped dissuade other officers from entering the building. For his complete failure to act he was dubbed the "Coward of Broward" in the media. Judge Sentences Parkland School Shooter to Life in Prison after Tearful Testimonies. The Parkland school shooter was sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday [11/1/2022] after he perpetrated the 2018 massacre that left 14 students and three teachers dead and another 17 innocent individuals wounded. Nikolas Cruz received 17 life sentences for the murder of each of his victims at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The killer stormed the campus four years ago and opened fire with an AR-15 rifle. He abandoned his gun at the scene and slipped out with evacuating students, authorities confirmed later, before police apprehended him. They're reserving the death penalty for a REALLY serious crime someday. Broward superintendent, school board attorney both arrested amid probe of Parkland massacre. Broward County Public School District Superintendent Robert Runcie has been arrested for committing perjury before a jury investigating school safety, the possible misuse of state safety funds, and fraud. In addition, General Counsel Barbara Myrick is being charged with unlawfully disclosing secret grand jury proceedings. The Broward County School District includes Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which Runcie oversaw at the time of the mass shooting in 2018. Runcie originally hails from Chicago and reportedly had close ties to the Obama administration. The investigation involves the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act that was passed following the deadly Parkland school shooting that claimed the lives of 17 students and staff on Valentine's Day in 2018. Then-Gov. Rick Scott signed the legislation into law. Records: Superintendent lied to jury investigating massacre. The superintendent of the Florida school district where 17 students and staff died in a 2018 high school massacre was arrested Wednesday after investigators said he lied to a grand jury investigating events surrounding the shooting. Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie was arrested by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement at district headquarters and charged with perjury in an official proceeding, which is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Cop who was fired after Parkland shooting will get his job back: Union. One of the officers who was fired over his handling of the 2018 Parkland, Florida, high school shooting will get his badge back. Sgt. Brian Miller will receive full back pay and seniority when he returns to his duties at the Broward County Sheriff's Office, the Broward Sheriff's Office Deputies Association Union said Wednesday [5/13/2020]. Miller was one of four officers who were fired last year after an investigation deemed they had "neglected their duties" when they responded to the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead and 17 injured. Broward County Sheriff Who 'Neglected Duty' Gets His Job Back. Sgt. Brian Miller neglected his duty when a former student shot and killed 17 students and faculty members at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018. Miller was the first to respond to the shooting. But instead of jumping to action, he hid behind his car as the first shots rang out. He, along with four other Broward County deputies, were fired for their inaction. He's now getting his job back, along with full back pay and restored seniority, the BSO Deputies Association revealed Wednesday [5/13/2020]. Scott Israel sues in federal court to be reinstated as Broward sheriff. Calling his suspension from office "little more than a sham and mockery of fairness and due process," Scott Israel, the former sheriff of Broward County, has sued Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Senate President Bill Galvano in federal court. The lawsuit, filed at about 11 p.m. Friday [11/22/2019] in the Northern District of Florida, asks U.S. District Court Judge William Stafford to reinstate Israel to his post, or — barring that — to set up an adjudication process that does not violate Israel's due process rights. Scott Israel out as Broward Sheriff following Senate vote. Suspended Broward Sheriff Scott Israel has been permanently removed from office after a full vote by the state Senate Wednesday [10/23/2019]. That decision was largely by Republicans, with Democrats mostly voting to reinstate Israel, also a Democrat. But neither party voted unanimously, leaving the final tally at 25-15 in support of Israel's removal. [...] Israel came under fire after Deputy Scot Peterson, who was serving as the school resource officer on the day of the shooting, failed to confront the shooter. Investigations found several other BSO deputies also did not urgently enter the building. That led DeSantis and most Senate Republicans to the conclusion Israel should be removed. Dana Loesch Absolutely Obliterates Disgraced Broward Coward Scott Israel. The Florida State Senate on Wednesday [10/23/2019] decided to permanently remove suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel for his team's failure during the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last February. His deputies failed to go into the high school and engage the gunman while he opened fired on students and staff. Instead, School Resource Officer Scot Peterson hid while the gunman killed 17 and injured 17 more. [...] The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Commission found the Broward County Sheriff's Office had multiple failures. One of the biggest failures was that Peterson and other RSOs hadn't had active shooter training in two years. Instead of moving forward and attempting to engage the shooter, officers were focused on directing traffic and some, like Peterson, didn't move at all. Parkland SRO Arrested — Child Negligence, Culpable Negligence and Perjury Charges. The school resource officer, Scot Peterson, who did not respond during the shooting Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year, has been arrested on negligence, child neglect and perjury charges. Coward of Broward' sheriff's deputy arrested for inaction. The former school resource officer widely branded as a coward for failing to intervene during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting has been arrested for failing to act during the massacre. Scot Peterson, 56, was arrested Tuesday and charged with seven counts of neglect of a child, three counts of culpable negligence, and one count of perjury, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Rick Swearingen said Peterson did "absolutely nothing" to stop the shooting, which killed 17 and injured 17 others. Broward deputy arrested, charged with felonies for "complete inaction" during Parkland shooting. Rarely do cops get prosecuted for actions they do take. I've personally never heard of one being prosecuted for actions he didn't take. Police unions are going to have a collective aneurysm over the idea of officers being held criminally liable for excessive ... "caution," let's call it. 'Coward of Broward' Sheriff's Deputy Says He 'Did Nothing Wrong' During Parkland Shooting. Disgraced former Broward County sheriff's deputy Scot Peterson, who failed to act to stop the shooter who killed 17 at Parkland, Fla.'s Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School last year, struck a defiant stance in a recent report he sent to a state commission studying the tragedy, saying that he believes he did nothing wrong. Peterson, who was nicknamed the "coward of Broward" after he failed to enter the building where a former student was gunning down victims with an AR-15 rifle, said in the 14-page report that he has been made a "personal and political scapegoat" for the events of that Valentine's day. Suspension Of The Broward County Sheriff Following Parkland Shooting Is Upheld By Florida Supreme Court. In a sign that a long-running story in the South Florida region may have at least one chapter finally coming to a close, the State Supreme Court has upheld the decision of Governor Ron DeSantis to suspend Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel. Possibly the most polarizing individual to emerge from the Parkland shooting, Israel has faced numerous issues showing accountability was needed for the betterment of the community. After nearly a full year of controversy being exposed, Gov. DeSantis made the suspension of Israel a priority while campaigning. He wasted little time taking action, announcing the removal of the sheriff just days after being sworn into office in January. Florida sheriff Scott Israel, blamed in Parkland shooting aftermath, is dealt blow by state's Supreme Court. Florida's Supreme Court dealt a blow Tuesday to Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, ruling Gov. Ron DeSantis had the legal authority to remove the embattled lawman from office amid widespread criticism Israel failed to prevent the Parkland high school shooting. The state's highest court said DeSantis was within his rights when he suspended Israel from the Broward post in January. The justices noted, however, that, under the Florida Constitution, the state Senate is responsible for deciding whether the removal should be permanent. Florida sheriff Scott Israel, blamed in Parkland shooting aftermath, is dealt blow by state's Supreme Court. Ford is investing $500 million in the electric vehicle startup Rivian, and will sell a vehicle built on the company's platform in the coming years, the companies announced Wednesday [4/24/2019]. Rivian unveiled its own all-electric pickup and SUV models at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November with plans to put them into production late next year at its factory in Normal, Ill. At the time, the company said it was open to licensing the technology to other brands. Victims of Parkland shooting massacre launch 22 lawsuits against sheriff's office, disgraced deputy and school board. Survivors and family members of the slain victims of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida have filed almost two dozen lawsuits against the school district, the sheriff's office, a deputy and a school monitor, claiming their negligence allowed the massacre to happen. Lawyers for the victims planned to file at least 22 lawsuits in state court in South Florida over the next 48 hours, attorney Todd Michaels said at a press conference on Wednesday morning [4/10/2019]. 'What we've learned is that the massacre that happened at Parkland isn't something that simply happened. It is the result of rampant failures on the part of the people that have a duty and responsibility to keep our children safe,' said Michaels. Bill would strip Parkland deputy of retirement benefits. Florida lawmakers will consider a bill aimed at stripping former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School resource officer Scot Peterson of his retirement benefits following widespread criticism for not entering the school during the mass shooting. The bill will be introduced by Republican Rep. Spencer Roach during the legislative session that begins March 5. Peterson, a former Broward County Sheriff's deputy, was the target of scrutiny following the Feb. 14, 2018 massacre that ended with 17 students and faculty members dead. New Florida governor suspends sheriff over Parkland shooting. New Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel on Friday [1/11/2019] over his handling of February's massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, saying he "repeatedly failed and has demonstrated a pattern of poor leadership." Scott Israel Out, Gregory Tony To Take Over As Broward Sheriff. A retired Coral Springs police sergeant will take the helm of the Broward Sheriff's Office. On Friday [1/11/2019], Governor Ron Desantis suspended Broward Sheriff Scott Israel and named Gregory Tony as interim sheriff. The Sheriff, the Sheriff's Son, and the 'Coward of Broward'. Parents of children gunned down in the Parkland school shooting in Florida last year have never understood two actions taken by Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel: his refusal to fire a campus-based deputy who failed to enter the school during the rampage that took 17 lives, and his continued defense of controversial Obama-era school policies that allowed the accused shooter, Nikolas Cruz, to avoid arrest and a police record and thereby purchase the murder weapon. Unprepared and Overwhelmed. Failures by the Broward County Sheriff's Office and school district cost children their lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. A gunman with an AR-15 fired the bullets, but a series of blunders, bad policies, sketchy training and poor leadership helped him succeed. Information reported over 10 months by the South Florida Sun Sentinel reveals 58 minutes of chaos on campus marked by no one taking charge, deputies dawdling, false information spreading, communications paralyzed and children stranded with nowhere to hide. How Authorities, 'Unprepared and Overwhelmed,' Helped a Shooter Succeed in Parkland, Florida. A highly detailed analysis in the South Florida Sun Sentinel this weekend laid out the failures of personnel, policy, and character that contributed to the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, this past February. The shooting, by accused gunman Nikolaus Cruz, took the lives of 17 people. The report about the massacre — complete with audio, video, and interactive timeline-stamped maps and graphics — is memorable and noteworthy in that it left no stone unturned. It cast a particularly critical eye on armed school resource officer Deputy Scot Peterson; on Broward County Sheriff's Office training and personnel; and on school policies. Sun-Sentinel Finally Agrees That Broward County Sheriff Israel Needs To Go. It didn't take long after Parkland for people to figure out that something was up. Almost immediately, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel was ready to blame guns for the mass killing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He was ready to blame anything and everything outside of the control of him and his buddies in local government. But as time went on, we found a very different picture. We found one of Sheriff Israel's deputies hiding outside the high school rather than trying to engage the gunman. We discovered numerous times when his officers failed to arrest the future killer for crimes that would have prohibited him from buying a firearm. Sun Sentinel: Here's Why We Now Agree With Republicans That Broward Sheriff Scott Israel Should Be Removed. After defending Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel for months against Republican criticism over his office's failed handling of the horrific mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the left-leaning Sun Sentinel editorial board published a lengthy editorial Wednesday [12/26/2018] on "the failed leadership of Broward Sheriff Scott Israel" that explains why they now agree with Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis that Israel must go. "It's a big deal for a governor to remove an elected sheriff, especially if the governor is a Republican and the sheriff is the most powerful Democrat in Florida's most Democratic county," the Sun Sentinel editorial board states. But after reviewing a draft of the state commission's report on the shooting, the editors have concluded that Israel simply cannot be allowed to stay in office. Judge rejects Parkland lawsuit, saying failure to stop shooting didn't violate 14th Amendment rights. A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by 15 survivors of this year's shooting massacre at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, rejecting their argument that authorities' failure to prevent the shooting violated their 14th Amendment rights to due process. The students had sued Broward County, the sheriff, the school superintendent and a school resource officer last summer in connection with the February shooting in Parkland, alleging they failed to protect them. Dead Men Tell No Tales in Broward County: 3 Recent Whistleblowers Who Ended Up DEAD. Deputy Jason Fitzsimmons was the first of two Broward County Deputies to question the politicizing of the Parkland shooting by Democrats. Both ended up dead, under intriguing and suspicious circumstances. Another layer of incompetence and failure is revealed: New video shows school cop Scot Peterson hiding as gunman shoots Parkland students. The failure to act by former school deputy Scot Peterson was put on display Wednesday before the Florida state commission investigating the Parkland school shooting, as commissioners watched a surveillance video of his actions against an animation showing the shooter's movements through the school. The video shows Peterson taking up a position 69 feet from the door of the 1200 building, where the murders were taking place. Meanwhile, Peterson made radio calls for intersections to be blocked, which members of the commission said was precisely the wrong idea when an active shooter was busy killing people. Authorities botched attempt to redact report on Florida school massacre. School officials in Florida need to sign up for remedial computer courses. Authorities in Broward County, Fla., tried to literally cover up parts of a report on the Parkland school massacre — but failed because they didn't know that the sections they blacked out became visible when pasted into another computer file. A local judge had ordered sections of the report, written by a consultant, to be redacted to comply with the privacy rights of Nikolas Cruz, the accused killer of 17. But the public got to see the entire document because of the computer foul-up, the Sun-Sentinel newspaper reported. Parkland guard accused of sexually harassing students before massacre. A security monitor who might have been able to thwart the Parkland massacre sexually harassed two female students the year before, including one who died in the shooting, family members claimed. Andrew Medina received a three-day suspension for harassing Meadow Pollack and another teen last year at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida — even though a disciplinary panel recommended he be fired, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported Thursday [6/14/2018]. Officer Who Failed To Enter Building During Parkland Shooting Scene Speaks Out. Scot Peterson, the officer who failed to enter Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., during a school shooting spoke out about his judgment and failure to act Monday [6/4/2018]. [Video clip] This incident has turned into a cavalcade of government failures at every level. Paramedics asked 6 times to enter Parkland school during shooting but were rebuffed, new report says. Emergency responders were eager to enter Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the Valentine's Day school shooting but were repeatedly told no by Broward County Sheriff's Office, a new report shows. The department has repeatedly been criticized for blocking paramedics from entering the building while people were getting shot in the school. The criticism has prompted police departments to re-evaluate how they handle active-shooter situations. Michael McNally, the deputy chief of Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department, wrote in an incident report filed after the Feb. 14 shooting that he asked six times to send in a team of police officers and paramedics into the school, the Miami Herald reported. CNN Owes Dana Loesch An Apology, Especially After The Latest News On The Broward County Sheriff's Department. I thought the "most trusted name in news" should have apologized to radio show host and NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch for a good, long while now, but after seeing the latest news about how the Broward County Sheriff's Department handled the Parkland shooting, not apologizing to Loesch would be atrocious. You'll recall that after the Parkland shooting, CNN set up what it called a "town hall" for the Parkland citizens to chat with politicians, police, and the NRA. What it ended up being was a chance for CNN to hold a witch hunt/dog and pony show/kangaroo court. Parents call for investigation into Stoneman Douglas assault involving sheriff's son. Several parents of victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre said that if former Broward Sheriff's Office Deputy Scot Peterson, who stood outside the school for several minutes while bullets rang out, had done his job, their children might not have lost their lives. "I think Peterson is the lowest form of life available," said Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was gunned down on the third floor. "My daughter would be alive if not for him." Parkland Coward Deputy Allegedly Covered Up Sex Assault by Dem Sheriff Son. While the media keeps weaponizing Parkland against the 2nd Amendment, the real scandal involving their own party just got a lot worse. [...] Why would Sheriff Israel want to cover for [Deputy Scot] Peterson? The obvious answer is that protecting Peterson is self-defense. His deputy's actions reflect poorly on him. But there may be a bigger reason. Deputy Who Did Not Confront Parkland Shooter Collecting $8,700 Monthly Pension. Former Broward deputy Scot Peterson is collecting $8,702.35 per month on his pension, following his resignation after he failed to confront the Parkland shooter. The officer that Donald Trump declared a "coward" is currently collecting a healthy taxpayer stipend for his service. Peterson remained outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School while while Nikolas Cruz — who has confessed to carrying out the attack, according to his arrest affidavit — slew 17 people with an AR-15. Man Who Refused To Confront Parkland Shooter Gets $8,702 A Month In Pension. Imagine failing at your job so spectacularly that the whole world knows not just that you failed, but that your failure resulted in the death of as many as 17 high school kids? The whole world sees you as a coward for failing to act in the process. If that was you, what do you think you would deserve? As for me, I'd deserve nothing but scorn. I sure wouldn't deserve more than $104,000 per year in pension. Cop Who Cowered in Fear as Parkland Kids Were Murdered Now Receives $8.7K per Month Pension. The police officer who was publicly shamed after he was caught by surveillance camera waiting outside of a high school while children were shot and killed inside, was allowed to quietly retire and is now making more than $100,000 a year from state pension funds. Scot Peterson, 55, a sheriff's deputy who served as the school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was allowed to retire one week after a former student opened fire, killing 17 people on Feb. 14. Peterson was openly criticized for his blatant lack of response during the shooting, but after a few weeks, his name faded from the headlines. Parkland Resource Officer Who Failed to Confront Shooter Receives Monthly Pension of $8,702. Scot Peterson, the sheriff's deputy who received public scrutiny for failing to confront the shooter at a Parkland, Florida high school back in February, is now receiving his state pension of $8,702.35 per month. Peterson resigned and retired a week after the shooting when an initial investigation revealed he didn't go into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to confront the shooter, who is charged with killing 17 students and teachers, according to the Sun Sentinel. BSO deputy who froze during Parkland shooting reportedly getting $8k monthly pension. Despite resigning in disgrace after the Parkland school shooting, former Broward Sheriff's Office deputy Scot Peterson is receiving a generous state pension that will pay him more than he made in his last year on the force. Peterson's monthly pension, which began in April, clocks in at $8,702.35, according to a report from the South Florida Sun Sentinel published Tuesday evening. That's $104,428.20 per year in pension payments, compared to the $101,879.03 he was paid last year, the Sun Sentinel reports. School officials failed to send Nikolas Cruz to court after he violated Obama-era diversion program. After trashing a middle-school bathroom in 2013, Mr. Cruz received a three-day referral to a newly created diversion program called Promise designed to help kids who had committed misdemeanors avoid arrest and stay out of the "school-to-prison pipeline." He didn't show. At that point, school policy dictated that he should have been hauled before Judge Elijah Williams of the Broward County Delinquency Division, and yet there is no record that it ever happened, based on what the district has released, according to Timothy Sternberg, a former assistant principal who helped run Promise from 2014-17. "There's possible negligence here if no one ever followed up," Mr. Sternberg told the Washington Times. School district shuts down information after Stoneman Douglas shooting. The Broward school district's repeated, emphatic — and it turns out, false — statements that Nikolas Cruz had not been in a controversial disciplinary program fit a pattern of an institution on the defensive and under siege. Facing significant legal and political exposure over the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the district has tried to keep information from the public and put out untrue and misleading statements, frustrating parents who say this is the time for maximum transparency. The district is fighting in court against the release of school surveillance video. It flatly refused to issue any records regarding the shooting to the news media, in a possible violation of the state's open-records law. NOW they tell us. Broward Lied, Teens Died: Parkland Shooter Was in the Prison-To-School Pipeline. Pushing gun control conveniently covers many local sins. Parkland didn't happen because of the NRA. It happened because of multiple overlapping failures and bad policies by local officials, especially Sheriff Israel, and school officials. And Obama's pro-crime policies which trashed school discipline programs at a national level. Broward sheriff's deputies cowered behind cars, tree with Parkland shooter believed in school, report says. The deputies who were among the first to arrive to the scene of the Florida school massacre were found cowering behind their cars and a nearby tree and had no idea where the gunman was, according to an official report released Tuesday [4/24/2018]. The report from Coral Springs Officer Bryan Wilkins details how he arrived at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School within minutes of the active shooter alert — only to find Broward County Sheriff's Officers hadn't entered the school, but were instead taking cover. Kyle Kashuv: School Security Officers Used 'Very Harsh Intimidation Tactics'. During an appearance on Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight Tuesday, Parkland high school student Kyle Kashuv explained how armed school security officers aggressively interrogated him at school on Monday after he posted tweets showcasing pictures of his visit to a gun range with his father. "It was a clear attempt to intimidate me," Kashuv told Carlson. "And they used very,very, very harsh intimidation tactics," he added. The high school junior insisted he had done nothing wrong. "I mean, I posted a video of me showing my admiration for the 2nd Amendment and telling people to educate themselves about the 2nd Amendment because we can't trust our government to defend ourselves," he said. Broward Sheriff's Department Releases Incident Report on Kashuv Grilling; Kashuv Responds In Brutal Fashion. On Wednesday [4/25/2018], the Broward County Sheriff's Office released its police report on its grilling of Parkland pro-Second Amendment student Kyle Kashuv. Kashuv has spent the past several weeks meeting with legislators on both the right and the left in an attempt to broker legislation that would reduce violence in schools. But after Kashuv visited a gun range for instruction alongside his father, he was called in by armed school security for an interview. The story made national news. Now, the Sheriff's Office has released its report. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel Facing No-Confidence Vote From Deputy Union. "Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel is facing a no-confidence vote from the union representing his own deputies," reports CBS Miami. Sheriff Israel has faced pressure to resign after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in February. In a statement released Friday, the union said they're holding the vote due to "many instances of suspected malfeasance, misfeasance, failure to maintain fiduciary responsibility by the Sheriff, failure to properly investigate possible criminal misconduct by members of his senior command staff." Parkland shooting hero blames sheriff and superintendent for failing to prevent massacre. A student who was gravely wounded after being shot five times while shielding classmates during the Florida high school shooting in February criticized the county sheriff and school superintendent Friday [4/6/2018] saying they failed the victims by not arresting the shooter before the massacre. Mass shootings: Let's face it, the real issue is mental health. [Scroll down] Parkland school administrators knew of [the shooter]'s behavioral issues so well they expelled him. Local police knew about him from frequent calls. Social workers knew of his troubled life. Mental health counselors too. School friends joked he was a shooter. Yet he could still pull it off. And police responded by waiting outside the school. Some officials wanted Stoneman Douglas suspect Nikolas Cruz committed in 2016, documents show. Some school counselors and officials were so concerned about the mental stability of [the person] accused in last month's Florida school massacre, that they decided to have him forcibly committed more than a year before the shooting. However, the recommendation was never acted upon. Documents in the criminal case against [the shooter] showed that school officials at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and a sheriff's deputy recommended in September 2016 that Cruz be involuntarily committed for mental evaluation under Florida's Baker Act for at least three days, sources confirmed to Fox News on Sunday [3/18/2018]. Florida sheriff has heated standoff with reporter while trying to avoid media in wake of Parkland shooting. In the hours following the Valentine's Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel frequently appeared on television channels and news websites, as he criticized everyone from local politicians to the NRA to one of his own officers for failing to respond. But after calls to resign from lawmakers due to a failure to notice warning signs regarding the shooter, a rocky interview on CNN in late February and the subsequent release of a video showing Broward Deputy Scot Peterson standing idle outside the high school as the attack unfolded, Israel has kept away from the media — until he was tracked down earlier this week by WPLG Local 10 News reporter Bob Norman. "How do you have time to politick when you got all these problems?" Norman asks Israel as he's seen leaving a meeting of the Weston Democratic Club. Parkland School Shooting Survivor: Don't Blame Guns, Blame the 'Cowards of Broward County'. During the March 25 airing of Face the Nation, Parkland school shooting survivor Kyle Kashuv suggested people looking for something to blame ought to be pointing at the "cowards of Broward County" rather than guns. Kashuv was referencing the Broward County Sheriff's Office from which a deputy arrived on scene 90 seconds into the attack and waited outside the building while the gunman spent nearly five more minutes shooting innocents. Florida Deputy On Duty at MSDHS Shooting Suspended For SLEEPING In Patrol Car During Mass Shooting. Since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, it seems that a new element of sheer and deadly incompetence by the local police and FBI is revealed each and every day. In this latest finding, a Broward County Sheriff's deputy has been suspended after a student discovered him SLEEPING inside his patrol car outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as the shooting went on. Some officials wanted Stoneman Douglas suspect Nikolas Cruz committed in 2016, documents show. Some school counselors and officials were so concerned about the mental stability of Nikolas Cruz, accused in last month's Florida school massacre, that they decided to have him forcibly committed more than a year before the shooting. However, the recommendation was never acted upon. Documents in the criminal case against Cruz showed that school officials at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and a sheriff's deputy recommended in September 2016 that Cruz be involuntarily committed for mental evaluation under Florida's Baker Act for at least three days, sources confirmed to Fox News on Sunday [3/18/2018]. When the Shooting Starts, Would You Go In? Armed sheriff's deputies appeared on the scene of the recent school massacre in Florida while kids were still being murdered inside. But the deputies failed to storm the building to apprehend the killer, to rescue the assaulted, to stop the bleeding and to comfort the dying. They failed to do their jobs. Instead, they cowered behind their patrol cars waiting for, well, apparently waiting for the shooting to stop. Some 150 bullets and 17 lives later, it finally did and the killer walked away. Only then did the deputies enter the building. Broward County Sheriff's Office Training Materials Say First One or Two Officers on Scene should 'Confront the Shooter'. Judicial Watch today [3/15/2018] released Broward County Sheriff's Office training and operation materials that specifically dictate that the first one or two officers on the scene of an active shooter incident "will immediately go to confront the shooter." The Broward County Sheriff's Office's Standard Operating Procedure and lesson plans for an active shooter incident were obtained by Judicial Watch via a Florida Sunshine Act records request. The Broward County Sheriff's Office confirmed that armed school resource officer Deputy Scot Peterson was first on the scene of the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, but he did not enter the school to confront [the] shooter [...]. Deputy who hid outside Stoneman Douglas High as shooter murdered 17 is seen enjoying $60,000 a year pension he got by. The Florida school cop branded a coward for failing to tackle [a] mass shooter [...] is seen for the first time — enjoying his taxpayer-funded retirement. Sheriff's Deputy Scot Peterson, 54, chose to resign and retire rather than face an internal affairs investigation for 'seeking cover' while AR-15 wielding Cruz slaughtered kids inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. That means the 33-year law enforcement veteran will keep his $60,000 pension unless he's hit with a federal charge of failing to act, which legal experts say will be hard to prove. Video from outside Stoneman Douglas must be released, judge orders. The public must be allowed to see the security video from outside last month's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, a judge ruled Monday [3/12/2018]. The South Florida Sun Sentinel, along with other media organizations, sued the Broward Sheriff's Office last month for access to the video, arguing that it is critical for the public to analyze law enforcement's response to the shooting. Deputy Scot Peterson, the school's resource officer, resigned after Sheriff Scott Israel criticized him for waiting outside the school as [the] shooter [...] fired on students inside. The Sheriff's Office is investigating allegations that other deputies also waited outside. Broward's Bureaucratic Bumbler. We now know who gave the stand-down order that abandoned Parkland schoolchildren to an armed predator: a captain (an affirmative action diversity hire?). The captain ordered a perimeter established, despite the wisdom since Columbine 1999 that officers should go in ASAP. Broward's policy re entering buildings during shootings requires that a supervisor approve. Simply put, she didn't. Cops [Were] Told to Stay Away During Parkland High School Shooting. How the deuce does this story keep getting worse? It's like watching Amy Schumer's Netflix special. Over and over again. Sober. I mean, the failures surrounding the Parkland school shooting are well documented. Massive failures that at least indirectly are responsible for 17 students being murdered. It's bad. Then you hear the SRO telling the police to STAY AWAY from the shooting. Disgraced Parkland deputy heard shots inside school building, told cops to stay away. Roundly vilified for not entering a Parkland high school during a mass shooting, Broward Deputy Scot Peterson insisted publicly that he believed that gunfire was happening outside on campus — not inside the building. But internal radio dispatches released by the Broward Sheriff's Office Thursday [3/8/2018] show Peterson immediately fixated on Building 12 and even radioed that gunfire was happening "inside." And, just as school shooter Nikolas Cruz was fleeing the building after killing 17 people, Peterson warned his fellow officers to stay away — even as wounded students and staff lay inside. Two Miramar SWAT officers suspended for heading to Parkland massacre. When a gunman started shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, two Miramar SWAT team members did what comes naturally: They went to help. Now they've been suspended for it. The officers did not have permission to respond to the shooting at Parkland on Feb. 14, when 17 people were killed. And that created an officer safety issue and left them unaccountable for their actions, according to their police department. But their union reacted differently. Broward sheriff's captain who gave initial order to 'stage' — not enter — Stoneman Douglas is ID'd. The Broward County Sheriff's Office has identified to Fox News the captain who, according to sources, directed responding deputies and units to "stage" or form a "perimeter" outside Stoneman Douglas High School, instead of rushing immediately into the building, as the mass shooting unfolded there. Multiple law enforcement and official sources said the commands in the initial moments after Nikolas Cruz allegedly opened fire would go against all training which instructs first responders to "go, go, go" until the shooter is neutralized. As law enforcement arrived, the shooter's identity and exact location were still unknown. Commanding officer initially ordered responding deputies to 'stage' not enter Stoneman Douglas, sources say. Fox News has learned that in the critical moments as first responding deputies were searching for an active shooter on the property of Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, a commanding officer on scene apparently ordered some of the initial responders to "stage" and set up a "perimeter" outside — instead of immediately ordering or allowing officers to rush in to neutralize the suspect, [...]. "It's atrocious," a law enforcement source who was on the scene after the shooting told Fox News. "If deputies were staging it could have cost lives." The law enforcement source said responding deputies and officers were called to an active shooter scene in which they are trained to immediately "go, go, go" toward the direction of the shooter. "Every second is another life," the source said. Commanding Officer At Parkland Shooting Ordered Units To "Stage" Outside School & Not To Engage Shooter. What a bizarre situation surrounding a horrible tragedy that was apparently made much-much worse by the inaction of those trained to act in such events. The lawyers will be lining up in droves and the lawsuits will be legion over this. Fla AG Bondi says she knows 'a lot more' on shooting but can't say: Sheriff's office lied to me and governor. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was tight-lipped when asked whether a stand down order was given to Broward County deputies as a killer fired on students and teachers inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Appearing on "Fox & Friends" early Monday [2/26/2018], Bondi said Gov. Rick Scott has ordered a "full investigation" into Sheriff Scott Israel's handling of last week's shooting, saying "some people" are not being honest. Sheriff Israel told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday, "I can't tell you anything about that," when asked if a stand down order had ben given to his deputies. Laura Ingraham: Broward County Deputies Told Not to Enter School. This seriously changes everything. We may have finally gotten to the bottom of why the Florida school shooter was able to take the life of 17 of his fellow students. Previously, we reported that on-duty police officers at the site of the shooting neglected to enter the building while the shooting was ongoing, which could have cost an untold number of lives. Then the Broward County Sheriff attempted to defend his department, despite the clear cowardice displayed by his officers. Now we just received shocking news that the on-duty deputies were ordered not to engage with the shooter or enter the building. The Editor says... Broward's Cowards. It is impossible to imagine circumstances under which Broward County sheriff Scott Israel could attempt to perform his duties with the confidence of the public. He should resign immediately, and if, as he promises, he refuses to go quietly, then he should be shown the door by the people he professes to serve. The numbers tell the story: 23 sheriff's calls involving the Parkland shooter; 18 sheriff's calls involving the shooter's behavior directly (some of the others were principally about his brother); four sheriff's deputies, armed and trained, cowering outside the high school while the killer within carried out his massacre; 17 dead. Broward County sheriff received at least 45 calls about Florida shooter's family, not 23: Report. The Broward County Sheriff's Office received at least 45 warning calls about [the] Florida shooter [...] and his family over the last decade, not the 23 calls the office claims it received. CNN reported early Tuesday [2/27/2018] that records it got from the sheriff's office showed at least 45 interactions from 2008 to 2017 about [him] or his brother. Some of those warnings said Cruz could be a threat to the school he shot up on Feb. 14. The sheriff's office has said it only took 23 calls about [the shooter] or his family. CNN said the office has not responded to requests to explain the discrepancy. James Woods Says What We Are All Thinking About the Coward Broward Deputies. Three Broward County Sheriff's deputies arrived at the scene but were standing outside the school. With all of the failures leading up to the mass shooting, specifically the shocking inaction by the deputies on scene, many people are wondering if there was a stand down order of some sort. Patriotic actor James Woods said there is 'something rotten' in this whole deal and wondered if the Broward deputies were told not to engage [the] killer [...]. Broward sheriff's excuses are just obscene. The sheriff is an outsized figure in the American imagination. He is Wyatt Earp, shooting it out with outlaws at the O.K. Corral. He is John Wayne, a lonely instrument of frontier justice. He is Rick Grimes, the resourceful survivor of a zombie apocalypse in "The Walking Dead." Now, along comes Scott Israel to remind us, despite the legend, how a sheriff can be a hack politician whose primary concern is protecting his own political reputation and little fief. The Broward County sheriff, whose disgraceful performance in the Stoneman Douglas shooting has been a master class in evasion of responsibility, is the latest entry in why we don't trust our public institutions. Broward sheriff doesn't refute claim deputies were given 'stand down' order while gunman fired on students. When asked if a stand down order had been issued as a gunman fired on students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel responded by dodging the question. Deputies Were Told Not To Enter Parkland School Unless They Had Body Cams. There is a developing story that states the reason the deputies stayed out of the school was because they were told they needed working body cams to do so. They didn't have them so they stayed outside. First Responder at Stoneman Says He Was Ordered to Stand Down. A First Responder who was one of the first on the scene of the shootings at Parkland was told to stand down. He wanted to go in and try to save lives but he was told he couldn't until the scene was cleared. "Everything I was trained on mass casualty events says they did the wrong thing," he said. Records Show Far More Calls For Sheriff's Deputies To Visit Suspected Florida Shooter's Home. Broward County sheriff's officials said in a statement late Saturday that they responded only to 23 calls involving [the] suspected Florida school shooter [...] or his family over the years, but records obtained by BuzzFeed News show at least 45 responses since 2008. The number of calls made over the years involving Cruz or his family, according to the call records, are nearly twice the number publicly disclosed by the department. 4 Armed Cops Waited Outside Florida High School as Children Were Massacred. Coral Springs police officers were "stunned and upset" to learn that four Broward County Sheriff's Deputies were stationed outside the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and had not entered to face an active shooter, sources with the Coral Springs, FL police department told CNN. As the details behind the police response to the Valentine's Day massacre emerge, it appears that the Coral Springs Police department — which sent 130 officers to the scene — put their lives on the line while Broward County officers simply waited for backup as the scene unfolded, in what some Coral Springs officials perceived to be a dereliction of duty. Broward Sheriff Scott Israel facing calls for his ouster after Florida school shooting. Florida Gov. Rick Scott is facing a growing number of calls to remove Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel from his position over the department's response to the high school shooting that killed 17 people. Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Pasco County, sent a letter to Scott on Sunday asking the governor to suspend Israel. A day earlier, State Rep. Bill Hager, R-Boca Raton, urged Scott to relieve Israel from his duties for "neglect of duty and incompetence," the Palm Beach Post reported. A Total Failure of the State. During Wednesday's horrible fiasco of a "Town Hall", Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel spelled it out: ["]What I'm asking the law makers to give police all over this country is more power.["] I was sufficiently struck by the above to write it down — because it was clear even then that Sheriff Israel is an incompetent deployer of the power he already has. The scale of his department's appalling failure in the Parkland massacre gets worse almost hourly. NRA strikes back at Florida sheriff: 'Your office failed this community'. The National Rifle Association (NRA) on Friday slammed a local sheriff in Florida, saying his office failed to protect students in last week's high school shooting. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel had knocked the gun lobby during a televised town hall on Wednesday night, accusing the group of "not standing up for these students." Four Minutes of a Massacre That Demonstrate Why We Cannot Rely on the Police Alone. I'm rather stunned that someone can call 911 and say that you've put a gun to people's heads in the past, and they'll walk away after a mere conversation because you had "hugged and reconciled" with the person you threatened. But the worst revelation, that left many I spoke to at CPAC last night almost speechless with anger, is the news that an armed sheriff's deputy remained outside the high school building in Parkland, taking a defensive position and simply waiting for four minutes as the shooter murdered people inside. [...] For starters, isn't it convenient that this is revealed the day after Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel appeared on a nationally televised CNN forum? The Story Of The Deputy Who Stood Outside The School Shooting Keeps Getting Worse. [Scroll down] I'm trying to think of a legitimate reason that a sheriff's deputy would refuse to share information about a potentially threatening teenager with social services. The only thing that comes to mind is some kind of misguided concern about the privacy of reports relating to juveniles. I'm not an expert on the confidentiality of juvenile records in Florida, but it beggars belief that there was no legitimate route for this deputy to share information in such an investigation. The whole thing reminds me of the FBI, which took tips about the kid and refused to lift a finger to even find out who the kid was. The attitude is: not my problem. It's still not 100% clear what authorities could have done about this kid if they had done their jobs — but it is clear they didn't do their jobs. The FBI might not have been able to stop anything — but they didn't even bother to learn the kid's identity. The Sheriff's Department refused to share information with investigators, took dozens of reports, and did nothing. And then this deputy failed to act at the critical moment when he could have saved children's lives. Report: Four of Sheriff Scott Israel's Deputies Waited Outside Douglas High During School Shooting. A report released Friday claims four of Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel's deputies waited outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School while the attack was occurring. On February 22 Breitbart News reported that one deputy resigned after it was learned that he was on scene but failed to control Nikolas Cruz. Sheriff Israel told ABC 13 that video shows the deputy, Scott Peterson, "arrive at the west side of Building 12" and "take a position" outside the school — but never go inside. The sheriff's office moved to suspend Peterson, who resigned before the suspension could take place. Report: Four Deputies Waited Outside School During Shooting. According to a report by CNN's Jake Tapper, four Broward County deputies waited outside of Stoneman Douglas High School while shooter Nikolas Cruz took the lives of 17 students and staff members inside. Sheriff Scott Israel revealed on Thursday [2/22/2018] that the school resource officer on duty, Deputy Scot Peterson, "never went in" the school even though it was "clear" there was a shooting going on, but CNN's new reporting reveals there were three other deputies who reported to the scene shortly thereafter also failed to enter the school and attempt to engage Cruz. The report states that when Coral Springs police officers arrived on the scene, the four deputies were crouched behind their vehicles with their guns drawn and had not yet entered the school. Florida deputy who stayed outside school during massacre believes he 'did a good job,' union official says. The school resource deputy who remained outside of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., during last week's bloody massacre "believed he did a good job," a police union official said Thursday [2/22/2018]. According to the official, Broward County Deputy Scot Peterson thought he carried out his responsibilities during the Valentine's Day rampage, even though he failed to enter the school and engage a suspect who authorities say killed 17 students and faculty members with an AR-15-style assault rifle. "He believed he did a good job calling in the location, setting up the perimeter and calling in the description [of the suspect]," Jeff Bell, president of the Broward Sheriff's Office Deputies Association, told the New York Post. Cop who didn't enter school during Florida shooting resigns, has home guarded. The home of the former school resource deputy who stayed outside the Florida high school as last week's massacre unfolded was being protected Friday by law enforcement officials — even as President Trump called out the ex-cop, suggesting he was a "coward." While The Broward County Sheriff Berated Dana Loesch Last Night He Was Keeping This Terrible Secret From America. [L]ast night [2/21/2018] on CNN's anti-gun propaganda theater one of the stars was Broward County Sheriff and Hillary Clinton booster Scott Israel. [...] In fact, on Thursday night [2/22/2018], Israel was talking smack about the NRA and gun owners in general and finding no fault at all in the way his department had managed the situation. Earlier today, CNN revealed that on one of the 911 calls his guardian had made, she said that the shooter had held a gun on another person. A short while ago, the other shoe dropped. As it turned out, the Broward County Sheriff's Department had an ARMED school resource officer on site. And he did NOTHING. Here's the latest dumb "argument" to ridicule defending schools. [Scroll down] The Left wants to ban guns, and so leftists are seizing opportunities to ridicule any idea or proposal that does not reflect their anti-gun agenda. The latest variation of this argument that allowing teachers to carry guns is "stupid" comes after news that the armed sheriff's deputy assigned to protect Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School "never went in" to confront the shooter. The Miami Herald reports that the school campus cop "heard the gunfire and rushed to the building but never went inside — instead waiting outside for another four agonizing minutes" as the shooter murdered 17 people. It's unclear why the officer, who has since resigned and retired, failed to do his duty. 'School shooter in the making': All the times authorities were warned about Nikolas Cruz. Nikolas Cruz's dangerous and disturbing behavior was flagged repeatedly to authorities, both local and federal, over a span of two years starting in February 2016. But no one stopped him before he killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Here's a time line of incidents where Cruz was reported to law enforcement. Many of the incidents involve the threat of a school shooting. Cowards and Losers: Name One, Forget the Other. This is an ugly article, but it has to be written. The news broke Thursday [2/22/2018] that a pathetic excuse for a man named Scot Peterson had a chance to intervene and try to save the lives of innocent teenagers in Parkland, Florida. Instead, he waited outside like a detestable coward. All the while, a pathetic loser inside went about his evil business, killing America's sons and daughters. The killer ought to remain unrecognized. Let his name be consigned to oblivion. But Peterson, on the heels of this incident a newly retired Broward County Sheriff deputy and "school resources officer," is in need of forgiveness. In order authentically to get it, however, he first must be named and shamed. Sheriff's Officer On Site At Parkland, Who Did Nothing To Stop Shooter, Resigns. This is incomprehensible to me that an an armed officer was on site and did nothing to stop the shooter. One would think this is more than an offense over which one 'resigns.' Florida Capitol Republicans promise 'complete investigation' of what went wrong. A bombshell that South Florida police ignored tips that a teenager was planning an assault on a school and then failed to stop him when he attacked seems destined to complicate the election-year discussion around mass shootings. Even in the face of a student-led gun-control protest that has captured the attention of the nation, Thursday's admission that the Broward Sheriff's Office repeatedly blew chances to prevent a teenager's rampage in Parkland adds to the overwhelming evidence that the worst high school shooting in U.S. history happened in no small part due to law enforcement failures at every level. State social services and local schools officials were aware of the signs that [the shooter] was dangerous. The FBI blew a tip that he was planning to shoot up a school. And an armed Broward sheriff's deputy stood outside the freshman building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Feb. 14 and did nothing for four minutes as [the shooter] killed 17 teens and adults and shot 15 more with a semi-automatic rifle. Broward Coward — Armed County Sheriff Cowered Outside Building — Refused to Confront Parkland School Shooter. School Resource Officer (SRO) Scot Peterson, the armed deputy stationed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, stood outside the building during the shooting and refused to enter the building. He listened as the kids were being shot. Today [2/22/2018] Officer Scott Peterson resigned from the Broward Sheriff's department. [...] The lack of action by Broward County Officer Scott Peterson is not an outlier, it is the norm. His conduct and cowardly behavior reveals a larger sentiment within a heavily politicized law enforcement agency. Politics is the filter for all decision-making. Douglas school cop who 'never went in' after shooting has resigned. Eight days after [a] mass shooter murdered 17 people inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Broward's top cop on Thursday [2/22/2018] revealed a stunning series of failures by the sheriff's department. A school campus cop heard the gunfire and rushed to the building but never went inside — instead waiting outside for another four agonizing minutes as Cruz continued the slaughter. And long before Cruz embarked on the worst school shooting in Florida history, Broward Sheriff's Office deputies had multiple warnings that the 19-year-old was a violent threat and a potential school shooter, according to records released Thursday [2/22/2018]. In November, a tipster called BSO to say Cruz "could be a school shooter in the making," but deputies did not write up a report on that warning. It came just weeks after a relative called urging BSO to seize his weapons. Deputy failed in school shooting. Scot Peterson quit the Broward County Sheriff's department after video showed he failed to engage the shooter who entered and killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Peterson was the school's cop, or in the parlance of the bureaucracy, "resource officer." [...] Sheriff Israel immediately suspended Peterson without pay. Peterson then resigned. "Two other resource officers were placed on administrative duties as well in relation to the incident," ABC News reported. Thus not only did the FBI screw up in failing to follow up on the tips about the shooter, but the local sheriff's office had an officer on campus who did nothing to stop the shooting. So yes, let's talk about gun control. Worst Responders. If the Parkland shooter's 39 prior encounters with law enforcement coupled with the FBI's failing to "follow protocol" regarding a tip were not enough, the most recent report that School Resource Officer Scot Peterson did not engage the shooter, but instead waited outside for four minutes as the massacre took place, has truly changed the story from one of evil hardware to a story of a government unable to protect us. Revealed: Cops let Florida school shooter get away because they didn't realize they were watching security camera footage on a 20 minute delay. [The] Parkland massacre gunman [...] was able to escape the Florida campus undetected because security guards were watching surveillance footage on a 20-minute delay. The confusion caused police to believe that Cruz was still on school premises, even though he had already left and was on the way to Subway and McDonald's. Police searched for the gunman for 26 minutes using security cameras before realizing he wasn't inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Sheriff says office got 20 calls about suspected school shooter in recent years. A sheriff said Friday [2/16/2018] that his office received around 20 calls about [...] the 19-year-old suspect in this week's shooting at a Florida high school that left 17 people dead and wounded more than a dozen others. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters that his office had uncovered "approximately 20" 911 calls relating to [the shooter] over the last few years, and that his office would investigate how those calls were handled. "We have uncovered at the Broward Sheriff's Office that we've had approximately 20 calls for service over the last few years regarding the killer," Israel said. "Every one of these calls for service will be looked at and scrutinized." Police Called To Florida Gunman's Home 39 Times Since 2010. On Friday [2/16/2018], local Florida media revealed that local law enforcement was called to the home of [the] Florida gunman [...] over three dozen times over the last several years, which raises serious questions about why no action was taken when there clearly appear to have been significant warning signs. Broward County Sheriff's deputies were called to [the shooter's] home at least 39 times since 2010, Fox 61 reported. The Associated Press later added that the sheriff's office said it received approximately 20 calls about [the shooter] over the past few years. Deputies [were] called to suspected shooter's home 39 times over seven years. Before Nikolas Cruz carried out his mass killing at a Florida high school this week, police responded to his home 39 times over a seven-year period, according to disturbing new documents. Details about the calls to the Broward County Sheriff's Office — obtained from police records by CNN — were not immediately available and it was impossible to determine if all involved Cruz. But the nature of the emergencies at his Parkland home included "mentally ill person," "child/elderly abuse," "domestic disturbance" and "missing person," KTLA reported. And a schoolmate, Brody Speno, told the network that cops were called to Cruz's home "almost every other week." Alleged Florida school shooter was reported to FBI, cops, school — but warning signs [were] missed. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday [2/16/2018] ordered an "immediate review" after it emerged that the FBI had not acted on a recent tip that Florida school shooting suspect [...] wanted to "kill people" and there was the "potential of him conducting a school shooting." In a statement, the bureau admitted to receiving a call on Jan. 5 from a person close to Cruz who contacted the FBI through its Public Access Line (PAL) tipline to express concerns about his erratic behavior and disturbing social media posts. The School Shooting in Uvalde, Texas, May 24, 2022 Videos and 911 calls from Uvalde school massacre released by officials after legal fight. Police videos and 911 calls from the 2022 Uvalde, Texas, school massacre, which left 19 students and two teachers dead, were released Saturday by city officials after a prolonged legal fight. The release of the records came in response to a lawsuit brought by The Associated Press and other news organizations after Uvalde officials refused to publicly release documents related to the shooting at Robb Elementary School. Former Uvalde police chief slapped with 10 felony child endangerment charges. The former school district police chief who oversaw the failed response to the May 24, 2022, elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, has been indicted on 10 counts of felony child endangerment. An 18-year-old gunman entered Robb Elementary School and slaughtered 19 children and two teachers in adjoining classrooms 111 and 112. It was not until 77 minutes after police first arrived on the scene that U.S. Border Patrol neutralized the shooter. In the meantime, Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department Chief Pete Arredondo ostensibly worked against an effective solution and wasted precious time down the hall. Former Uvalde School Police Chief, Other Officer Indicted over Slow Response to 2022 Mass Shooting. Two former Uvalde school police officers on Thursday for the slow law enforcement response to the 2022 massacre at Robb Elementary school that left 19 children and two teachers dead, two Texas state government sources with knowledge of the indictment told CNN Thursday. Former Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo and former school police officer Adrian Gonzales were both indicted on criminal charges for abandoning and endangering a child. Arredondo reportedly turned himself in to Texas Rangers in Uvalde on Thursday, according to news reports. Uvalde: The monetization of suffering and victimhood. Before 2022, few people had heard of Uvalde, Texas. [...] A Uvalde resident and former student, aged 18, shot up Robb Elementary School and killed 19 children and two teachers there on May 24, 2022. The lawsuit alleges that Meta, Activision and Daniel Defense have been "grooming ... socially vulnerable" boys and young men by promoting first-person shooter video games and gun ownership, and these companies are therefore legally and financially responsible for the carnage at Robb Elementary. Salvador Ramos, the perpetrator, was indeed a frequent user of Instagram, which is owned by Meta. He played "Call of Duty," which is a combat-based video game released by Activision and enjoyed by millions of people all over the world. He also bought a rifle, a DDM4V7, from Daniel Defense mere minutes after his 18th birthday. None of this is in dispute. Now, reasonable people may question why so many young people (and not-so-young people) are obsessed with social media. They may question why so many boys and young men are spending so much time shooting fake people in virtual combat. Families of Uvalde Shooting Victims Reach $2M Settlement With City, Still Suing School Board, Officers. On Wednesday, 19 families of the victims of the 2022 Uvalde, Texas, school shooting announced reaching a settlement with the city for $2 million. The families will continue with lawsuits against law enforcement officers, the school district, and other officials over the failures to bring a quick end to the May 24, 2022, shooting rampage in the school: [...] The shooting began when 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a former student at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, was able to enter the school with a rifle and kill 19 students and faculty and wounding 17 others. Ramos had previously killed his grandmother and taken her F-150 pickup. Once the shooting in the school started, law enforcement waited outside the school and even prevented parents from entering. Over an hour-and-a-half elapsed between the first shots Ramos fired and law enforcement's breaching of the building and engaging Ramos, killing him. DOJ Report on Uvalde Shooting Lays Out 'Cascading Failures' by Law Enforcement. Much of the information contained in the DOJ's nearly 600-page "critical incident review" of the murders of 19 students and 2 teachers at Robb Elementary and the law enforcement response that was released on Thursday has already been publicly known, at least to some degree. However, there are still some valuable (if infuriating) facts to be found, starting with the confirmation that the dozens of officers who arrived on the scene could and should have engaged the killer as soon as possible rather than treating the classroom where he had holed up with students and teachers as a barricade situation. At one point there were nearly 400 officers on campus, but it still took authorities more than an hour to engage the attacker and enter the classroom. The DOJ report describes the decision to classify the shootings as part of a series of "cascading failures" by law enforcement, including the first officers to arrive at Robb Elementary. Uvalde School District Replaces Entire Police Force With New Officers. The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department (UCISDPD) has a completely new police force who have been undergoing intense scenario training as the department continues to try to rebuild in the wake of the deadly Robb Elementary School massacre. The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD) indefinitely suspended its entire police force in October of 2022, more than four months after an 18-year-old gunman carried out his attack inside a fourth-grade classroom. It took police 77 minutes to storm the classroom and fatally shoot the gunman. Nashville Heroes Expose The Lies Of Uvalde Cowards. The Nashville Police have released bodycam footage of its response to a terrorist shooting at Covenant Church school: [Tweet] The six-minute clip is shot from the perspectives of Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo, among the first two officers on the scene. It shows impressive bravery, determination, urgency, and skill. It's not an exaggeration to say they probably saved numerous lives. Their courage is also a reminder that if Uvalde cops responding to the Robb Elementary school mass shooting last year had shown any urgency or a modicum of bravery, rather than sitting around a parking lot and hallway debating what to do, they likely would have prevented the murders of many, if not all, of the 19 children and two teachers at the school. Recall that one of the officers had a rifle aimed at the shooter before he entered the school but didn't take the shot because he was awaiting his boss' permission. Incredible Body-Cam Footage of Nashville Shooting Destroys the Uvalde PD and Its Left-Wing Apologists. As RedState reported, dramatic body-cam footage of police confronting and killing the Nashville Christian school shooter emerged on Tuesday. It was a picture of heroism as officers rushed into the school to clear rooms and stop the carnage. Within minutes, they had located the shooter, with one officer taking down the self-identified "transgender man" with a precision that only comes from actual training and the courage to use it. Another officer finished the ordeal after the shooter again tried to go for her gun. Uvalde school police chief admits he deliberately left kids in classroom. The Texas police chief blamed for the disastrous response to the Uvalde school shooting admitted making the "horrible" call not to rescue kids trapped with the gunman — even after hearing "a lot" of shots and the killer reloading. Pedro "Pete" Arredondo, who was later fired as Uvalde schools' top cop, made the astonishing admission in his only briefing with investigators — a day after 19 kids and two teachers were slaughtered at Robb Elementary. He smiled and made jokes during the nearly one-hour interview obtained by CNN, defending his decision to evacuate the rest of the school rather than those trapped with 18-year-old mass shooter Salvador Ramos. He detailed being one of the first to arrive at the school, hearing too many gunshots to count. Eight Months Later, We Now Know the Reason the Uvalde Police Chief Didn't Confront the Shooter. One of the worst domestic acts of violence in American history, the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, still horrifies us even all these months later. And part of the reason we continue to be horrified is that we still don't know the full scope of the utter failures of law enforcement that took place that day. Law enforcement on the scene ignored their training (or, worse, weren't properly trained), leaving children and teachers trapped in classrooms with the killer. The fallout has been intense — firings from the top down, a town turned upside down, and even bipartisan legislation aimed at preventing another incident like it in the future. CNN obtained the one and only interview then-police chief Pete Arredondo gave to the Texas Department of Public Safety, giving us a glimpse into his logic that day, and it only further shows how flawed and troubling his decisions were that day. Mother of Uvalde elementary school shooter is arrested for threatening to kill her boyfriend. The mother of the gunman who murdered 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, has been arrested for threatening to kill her boyfriend. Adriana Martinez Reyes, 40, mother of Salvador Ramos, was charged with assault, battery and threatening an act of violence after an incident in Oklahoma City on Wednesday. Uvalde mom sues police, gunmaker in school massacre. The last conversation Sandra Torres had with her 10-year-old daughter was about her nervous excitement over whether she'd make the all-star softball team. Hours later, Eliahna Torres was one of 19 children and two teachers massacred at their elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. With little closure and few answers about law enforcement's 77-minute wait on May 24 in the school hallway rather than confronting the gunman, Sandra Torres filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against police, the school district and the maker of the gun the shooter used. Texas trooper fired amid investigation into the horror of Uvalde school shooting. A Texas trooper who was among the first to arrive on the scene of the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas in May has been fired. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) fired Sgt. Juan Maldonado, the first trooper to be fired. [...] More than 90 law enforcement officers and agents responded to the school shooting yet protocols were not followed. Law enforcement officers take part in drills to prepare for such events yet no one followed what they were taught to do. For more than 70 minutes law enforcement stood outside the school or in a school hallway and did nothing to save the children and teachers in that classroom. It's hard to wrap your head around the fact that absolutely nothing was handled according to training. The people who were trained and responsible to serve and protect only served and protected themselves that day. There has to be accountability and consequences for their inaction. Uvalde School District Suspends Entire Police Force. The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District announced Friday [10/7/2022] it has suspended its entire district police force, months after a shooting at Robb Elementary School left 19 students and two teachers dead, ABC News reported. Officials around the nation have questioned why it took 77 minutes for police to breach a pair of adjoining rooms where a gunman was mercilessly slaughtering fourth-grade students and their teachers. The Uvalde school board previously voted unanimously in August to fire district police chief Pete Arredondo over the botched police response. On Friday, the district said it has requested additional Texas Department of Public Safety troopers for its campuses and places where extracurricular activities occur. Uvalde School District Police Chief Fired 3 Months After Shooting. Uvalde school district officials fired embattled Police Chief Pete Arredondo three months after the Robb Elementary School shooting that left 19 students and two teachers dead. The district has not fired any other staff or officials who ignored school safety protocols and maintenance requests that could have prevented the shooting. The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees fired Arredondo at the end of a nine-minute hearing. The chief and his attorney declined to attend the meeting and instead, offered a 17-page written response, KENS CBS5 reported. Related story: The Editor says... Arizona parents arrested and tased trying to get on campus to protect kids during a school lockdown. Three Arizona parents were arrested Friday after scuffling with law enforcement as they tried to get into an elementary school to pick up and protect" their children during a school lockdown, police said. Thompson Ranch Elementary School in the Phoenix suburb of El Mirage was locked down for about an hour Friday morning after someone reportedly saw a man with a gun near the school, the El Mirage Police Department said. Authorities said the school was later cleared and the suspect, who was arrested by police, never gained access to the campus. But during the lockdown and before students and teachers could be evacuated, parents started showing up. Police said the group of parents got notifications from their children inside the school. [Video clip] Hmmm: Uvalde principal put on paid leave after [bad] report. Accountability may be coming for the failures that allowed a perp to murder 21 people in a Uvalde elementary school — but it may be coming slowly. Overnight, the school district announced without explanation that it had placed Robb Elementary principal Mandy Gutierrez on paid administrative leave, apparently indefinitely: [Tweet] The Texas legislative committee report offers some very obvious reasons for booting Gutierrez from the job, although the question should be why more aren't following her out the door. The school district installed locking systems designed to prevent active shooters or any other malevolent outsiders from gaining access to the interior of the school and the children inside. Robb Elementary had already been "hardened," so to speak, but only theoretically. In practice, Gutierrez and the entire staff undermined the hardening constantly. Texas House report on Uvalde shooting: 376 officers responded, 'systemic failures' cited. A total of 376 law enforcement officers responded to Robb Elementary School on May 24, when the gunman walked in and opened fire. The report faults a lack of leadership, communication, and urgency to stop the shooter. Many of the responding officers were from federal and state law enforcement agencies. Roughly 77 minutes passed between when the gunman entered the school and when law enforcement finally killed him. Video of inside the elementary school when the shooter burst into the building and fired into a classroom, as well as officers responding to the scene, was released last week. Up until now, Uvalde's school district police chief, Pete Arredondo, has faced the brunt of the criticism for the delayed police response. He was later sworn in to a seat on the City Council before resigning in early July amid controversy over his oversight of the shooting response. Uvalde massacre: Surveillance footage shows police just hanging around school hallway during carnage. Another wave of anger and suffering reverberated through Uvalde on Tuesday, July 12, with the emergence of surveillance footage showing the inaction of law enforcement during the Robb Elementary School mass shooting. The surveillance footage showed police officers in body armor just hanging around the school's hallway while the gunman was killing 19 children and two teachers inside the fourth-grade classroom. The footage published by the Austin American-Statesman is an 80-minute recording from a hallway camera inside the school. It showed Salvador Ramos, the gunman, entering the building with an AR-15 style rifle. A teacher was heard screaming, "Get down! Get in your rooms! Get in your rooms!" Just minutes later, two officers approached the classrooms, then ran back amid the sounds of gunfire. About 20 minutes before police breached the room, the video showed a man wearing a vest that says "sheriff" using the hand sanitizer dispenser mounted on the corridor wall. There is a lot more to this story than originally reported: Why The Uvalde Cop Was "Checking His Phone" In The Hallway Is Finally Revealed — Paints Totally Different. Twitter users have seized on one moment from the surveillance footage showing the police response to Uvalde school shooting. [...] That photo became the "face" of the cowardly response from Uvalde police.. a cop just standing there, looking at his phone while innocent people died. It was a horrific image. But it was wrong. We all got it wrong. That man's name is officer Ruiz, and his wife, a schoolteacher at the school, died that day. But before she died, she was sending him text messages, letting him know what was happening inside, and telling him she was shot and was dying. That's why he was looking at his phone. The image was likely taken shortly before he was disarmed and removed from the building while attempting to enter the classroom. 17 Uvalde officers RAN AWAY from gunman as he sprayed 100 rounds into two classrooms full of kids. The video showing how easy it was for teen gunman Salvador Ramos to saunter into Robb Elementary School on the morning of May 24 and slaughter 19 children as well as two teachers has been made public. Leaked footage shows how cops in Uvalde, Texas, stalled in the hallway for 77 minutes, checked their phones, used hand sanitizer and ran away from the gunfire at the school as Ramos fired more than 100 rounds at children in two classrooms. Close to the end of the stand off, Uvalde County Sheriff's Deputy Felix Rubio is shown being restrained by brother officers from engaging Ramos. Report shows three missed opportunities to slow Uvalde school shooter. A new report from the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center at Texas State University shows that law enforcement responding to the Uvalde school shooting on May 24 had three missed chances to slow the gunman before the fatal shooting that resulted in the deaths of 19 students and two adults. According to the report, a Uvalde officer armed with a rifle sighted in to shoot the 18-year-old gunman before he entered the school but instead waited for permission from a supervisor. The report states that the officer turned to the supervisor "to get confirmation" about shooting the suspect and that when he turned back to the shooter, he had missed his chance — the gunman was already inside the building. Two other key issues mentioned in the report involved the school's doors not being locked and one of the first responding officers driving at a high rate of speed through the school's parking lot, causing the officer not to notice the gunman who was in the very same lot at the time. Report highlights three missed chances to thwart Uvalde gunman before school entry. Just prior to the gunman entering Robb Elementary School, a Uvalde police officer requested permission to shoot him but did not receive a response in time, according to the findings of a new review. The incident was one of three missed opportunities to thwart the gunman before he was able to enter the building, all of which were highlighted in a report from the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center released Wednesday. The gunman ultimately carried out a mass shooting rampage that killed 19 students and two adults on May 24. The Uvalde DA is now on the hot seat. If you've noticed that we haven't been hearing much of anything from the Uvalde Schools Police Department lately, you're not alone. The residents of the town have grown to be more than frustrated by the lack of updates in the investigation. That is particularly true of the families and friends of those that were killed or injured. But after an initial flurry of constantly changing stories, almost all of which turned out to be blatant untruths, officials from law enforcement and the municipal government have gone silent. There was a very minor exception to that trend over the weekend, however, when the Uvalde District Attorney who is investigating the massacre and the police response answered a question from a reporter. But she didn't reveal much beyond saying that she has been "in touch with" the affected families. Uvalde Police Chief Resigns From City Council Just Months After Being Elected. Uvalde School Police Chief Pete Arredondo resigned from his position on city council on Saturday in the midst of a scandal receiving nationwide attention. Uvalde police are under intense scrutiny for their response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas that claimed the lives of nineeteen students and two teachers. Uvalde Cops Stalking and Harassing Hero Mom Who Ran Into School to Save Her Children. As TFTP reported last month, the Uvalde shooter was able to fire off rounds outside the school building for 12 minutes, unobstructed and unchallenged by law enforcement before he entered the school and murdered children. He then entered the school where he was allowed to remain unhindered for 1 hour and 17 minutes before a tactical unit with Border Patrol showed up, disobeyed the order not to go in, and finally took him out. Last week, a still shot from a surveillance camera inside Robb Elementary showed that Uvalde cops were well equipped to engage the shooter. At least one of the officers is seen with a bullet proof shield nearly an hour before police would enter the classroom. As parents were thrown to the ground, tasered, and handcuffed outside the school for trying to save their children, heavily armed officers — with the proper gear to take out a shooter — were inside the school just 19 minutes after the gunman arrived. Uvalde, Texas, school where deadly mass shooting occurred will be torn down, mayor says. The Texas elementary school where an 18-year-old gunman shot and killed 21 people will be torn down, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said Tuesday [6/21/2022]. According to CNN, McLaughlin said it was his "understanding" that Robb Elementary School, the site of the May 24 mass shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead, will be demolished. "You could never ask a child to go back or a teacher to go back to that school — ever," he told residents at a Uvalde City Council meeting, according to the news outlet. The Editor says... Many Uvalde residents want Robb Elementary torn down. The White House has offered to help. Uvalde residents and elected officials are pushing to raze Robb Elementary, where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers Tuesday [6/21/2022]. President Joe Biden offered to help the school district secure a federal grant for the building's demolition, state Sen. Roland Gutierrez said. "They don't want to go back into that school," said Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde. "It certainly needs to be a community decision, but that needs to happen." The Editor says... The worst Uvalde story yet. According to the timeline laid out by Texas DPS chief Steve McCraw, one of the Uvalde school district cops on the scene told the other officers that he'd been on the phone with his wife, Eva Mireles, a teacher at the school who'd been shot in room 112. She was dying, she had said. He relayed that information to them at 11:48 a.m. Police didn't enter the room and confront the shooter for another 62 minutes. How could the officer, Ruben Ruiz, not have ignored the warnings to stand down and rushed into the room to try to save his wife? It turns out that McCraw answered that question during his testimony yesterday. Watch 60 seconds here. We're almost a full month on from the shooting and somehow the police response continues to get less explicable and more outrageous. [Video clip] Uvalde school police chief suspended. Perhaps yesterday's news about the cop who was stopped from entering the school while his wife bled out inside was finally the straw that broke the camel's back. Uvalde schools police Chief Pete Arredondo has been suspended from duty as of yesterday evening. The decision was made by the district school superintendent, but his explanations as to why Arredondo was suspended now and what the suspension means were vague at best. Police had firepower, gear to breach Uvalde classroom and neutralize shooter much earlier: report. During the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, last month, multiple officers with rifles and at least one ballistic shield were inside the school for 58 minutes before breaching the classroom door and taking out the shooter, according to documents reviewed by the Austin-American Statesman. The officers waited in a hallway within nine minutes after the 18-year-old gunman, Salvador Ramos, had arrived at the school. White the officers stood in the hallway, the shooter could be heard firing rounds at 12:29 p.m., which was 29 minutes before the classroom was breached. According to a transcript of body camera footage, officers were trying to determine what actions they were to take next. Chief of the Uvalde school district police force, Pete Arredondo, was trying to find keys to unlock the classroom door, but officials do not believe the officers attempted to open the door. The officers didn't breach the room until 12:50 p.m. Texas releases most detailed timeline yet of Uvalde massacre. Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw lambasted the law enforcement response to the mass shooting in Uvalde as he testified before a Texas Senate special committee on Tuesday, while releasing to the public the most comprehensive official timeline to date. The timeline, based on security footage, phone recordings and police body cameras, places Pete Arredondo, the chief of police for Uvalde school districts, at the scene at 11:36 a.m. on May 24, just three minutes after the teenage gunman walked unimpeded into the school building. Uvalde police lawyer up indicating they know how badly they screwed up by waiting to confront school shooter. In today's society, one of the early indicators that someone feels they may be legally responsible for something is that they obtain legal counsel. And the police officers in Uvalde, Texas, who waited more than 75 minutes to enter Robb Elementary School while an 18-year-old shooter murdered 19 children and two adults have just lawyered up. What's more, according to reports, their lawyers are now pushing back on requests for information and records regarding police actions on that fateful day late last month, further indicating that the officers either have extremely guilty consciences (they should) or they believe they could be held legally liable for their cowardice, according to a report from Vice/Motherboard: [...] Outraged Uvalde Parents Call For Firing of Police Chief. On Monday, during a fiery school board meeting, school officials were urged by eight people who were a mix of relatives and residents, to fire their police chief Pete Arredondo. The group discussed the Chief's refusal to let officers engage an active shooter during last month's massacre at Robb Elementary School. Four weeks after the shooting, and with new photos from inside the school emerging, the riled community had an opportunity to speak out during the open forum, held at the school's auditorium. The meeting was filled with grieving parents upset over the lack of response to an active shooter in their school. Residents are horrified that police stood by while their children were being shot, and that no new safety procedures have been implemented since the incident took place. The Editor says... Uvalde classroom door wasn't locked, Texas chief of public safety says. The door wasn't even locked. Responding officers waited for a key to a classroom that couldn't be locked from the inside during the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the state's public safety director testified Tuesday. In the end, 19 children and two teachers were killed. Armed police reportedly waited nearly an hour outside the classroom that the gunman was in during the May 24 massacre. "I have great reasons to believe (the door) was never secured," Col. Steve McCraw said at a state Senate hearing Tuesday. "How about trying the door and seeing if it's locked?" Uvalde Commander 'Put the Lives of Officers Before the Lives of Children,' Texas Official Says. Law enforcement had a large enough presence at the scene of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, last month to have stopped the gunman within three minutes, but the on-scene commander "chose to put the lives of officers before the lives of children," the Texas public safety chief said Tuesday [6/21/2022]. "The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering room 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander," Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw testified before a state Senate committee. He said that the police response to the shooting, which left 19 students and two teachers dead, was an "abject failure." "The officers had weapons, the children had none," McCraw said. "An abject failure": Uvalde cops could have neutralized the shooter within three minutes, says Texas DPS chief. I've never seen a cop throw another cop under the bus like this in public testimony. But then, Texas DPS chief Steve McCraw was fed so much BS by responding officers about what happened during the standoff — much of which he regurgitated to the press — that he may have treated this morning's [6/21/2022] testimony before the Texas legislature as payback time. McCraw confirmed the bombshell reporting from this weekend that the doors to rooms 111 and 112 at Robb Elementary apparently weren't locked. The cops, who had solid firepower on the scene within 20 minutes of the shooting starting, simply stood there for an hour in the hallway. They could have gone in and confronted the gunman at any time. How many kids died in those classrooms while heavily armed police on the other side of the door did nothing? How long did the screaming of the wounded go on while they waited? The Editor says... New Surveillance Video Images Shows Uvalde Police Entering School With Guns And Sheilds Within Minutes Of Call. Multiple police officers stood in a hallway at Robb Elementary School armed with rifles and at least one ballistic shield within 19 minutes of a gunman arriving at the campus, according to documents reviewed by the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV, a devastating new revelation deepening questions about why police didn't act faster to stop the shooter who killed 19 children and two teachers last month. Even as officers with high-powered weapons and ballistic shields massed inside the blue and green hallway, the gunman could be heard firing rounds — including at 12:21 p.m., 29 minutes before officers entered the classroom and killed him, the documents show. [Video clip] News About the Uvalde School Shooting Just Keeps Getting Worse and Worse. [Scroll down] [T]he latest news from the investigation into the shooting looks very bad for the law-enforcement officials responding to the scene. Tony Plohetski, an investigative reporter for the Austin-American Statesman, tweeted a picture showing police stationed outside the classroom where more than a dozen children were murdered. The officers, armed with rifles and at least one ballistic shield, were in the hallway near the classroom at 11:52 a.m. — 58 minutes before they breached the locked classroom, and 19 minutes after the gunman entered the school. At 12:03 p.m. a second officer with a ballistic shield arrived, followed by a third a few minutes later. [Tweet] "Investigators believe this is significant because it indicates they had more than enough firepower and protection to enter the classroom before they did," wrote [Tony] Plohetski. "Officers were growing impatient far sooner: 'If there's kids in there we need to go in there,' one said on body camera video." Officers at Uvalde had rifles, ballistic shield — but still waited an hour to enter classroom. Multiple police officers armed with rifles and a ballistic shield were inside Robb Elementary School 19 minutes after the gunman, according to new details — yet law enforcement still waited roughly an hour to breach the classroom where the shooter carried out his deadly rampage last month. The new details were included in reports by the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE on Monday and mark the latest revelations in the botched police response to the May 24 mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 students and two teachers dead. Surveillance footage from inside the school showed the armed officers standing inside a hallway at 11:52 a.m. after gunman Salvador Ramos broke into the school at 11:33 a.m. through an exterior door that had failed to automatically lock. City of Uvalde Hires Private Law Firm to Stop Release of Shooting Information. The city of Uvalde, Texas, to trying to block the release of information about the response to the May school shooting that left 19 children dead. In response to 148 records requests received, the city has written Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to rule on what must be shared, according to NPR. "The City has not voluntarily released any information to a member of the public," Cynthia Trevino, a lawyer for the firm Denton Navarro Rocha Bernal & Zech, wrote in the letter. The city has hired the private law firm to represent it in the case, NPR reported. The letter, which NPR posted in full, includes a host of reasons why records should not be released. It said that state law allows the withholding of information in cases where there is no criminal conviction. Smoking Gun for the Uvalde Police Response to Deadly School Shooter Emerges. While the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, TX, has become overshadowed by a wider national push for "gun control," the response of the local police remains a top issue. As RedState has chronicled extensively, decisions were made that not only cost lives but also made no sense whatsoever. Reports in the immediate aftermath indicated the police refused to enter the school, choosing to harass and detain distraught parents instead. In the days following the shooting, revelations that the police waited for a "tactical team" and then wouldn't even allow that tactical team to enter until the Border Patrol agents finally disobeyed orders over an hour later painted a disturbing picture. Even past that, we've since learned that the shooter walked around for a full 12 minutes before entering the school, shooting indiscriminately. Given the police department itself is less than ten minutes away, that is inexplicable. But if there is any doubt left that the Uvalde police are directly culpable for allowing so much bloodshed, a smoking gun has emerged. Uvalde cops 'didn't even try to open door of massacre classroom for 77 minutes as gunman murdered 19 kids and two teachers inside'. Police in Uvalde, Texas never attempted to open the door of a classroom while a gunman spent 77 minutes killing 19 children and two teachers who were inside, it is claimed. Surveillance footage from inside Robb Elementary School is said to show shows that police made no effort to open the door, and there is reason to believe it may even have been unlocked, a law enforcement source told the San Antonio Express-News. The surveillance footage from inside Robb Elementary School during the May 24 massacre has not been publicly released, but has been seen by the Express-News. Uvalde cop wouldn't take aim at school shooter: report. Two Uvalde cops passed up a chance to take out the gunman who killed 19 kids and two teachers at a Texas elementary school before he entered the building, according to a report. The officers worked for the city, and one was armed with an AR-15-style rifle as the May 24 massacre at Robb Elementary School unfolded. But they hesitated to open fire at Salvador Ramos because they did not want to hit any nearby children, Chief Deputy Ricardo Rios of the Zavalla County Sheriff's office told The New York Times. The chance to stop the 18-year-old before he carried out his plans for a massacre passed quickly, perhaps in seconds, Rios said. Uvalde police claim they don't need to release records about shooting. There is an interesting pair of headlines out this weekend related to the Uvalde school shooting. One, from NBC, claims that the Uvalde police have "agreed to cooperate" with an ongoing probe. That announcement came from state representative Dustin Burrows who is the chair of the legislative committee investigating the shooting. He claimed that the city of Uvalde Police Department has agreed to send witnesses to testify before the committee. So that sounds helpful, right? It's been like pulling teeth so far, but we might actually get the information we need as districts across the country consider additional safety reforms. Report: Uvalde Police Officer Skipped Opportunity to Shoot Gunman Outside School. A police officer responding to the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde reportedly had the chance to shoot the gunman before he got inside the school, a report from The New York Times revealed Friday evening. One of the first officers on the scene had an AR-15 but did not want to risk harming children by attempting to take down the gunman, a senior sheriff's deputy told the NY Times. [...] Local police are now working with state investigators to get a clearer picture of what went wrong throughout the situation, NBC News reported Friday. Everything from the timing of 911 calls to Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arrendondo's actions is being heavily scrutinized. Texas school police chief says he didn't think he was in charge during shooting. The Texas school police chief criticized for his actions during one of the deadliest classroom shootings in US history said in his first extensive comments that he did not consider himself the person in charge as the massacre unfolded and assumed someone else was. Pete Arredondo, the police chief of the Uvalde school district, also told the Texas Tribune in an interview published on Thursday that he intentionally left behind both his police and campus radios before entering Robb elementary school. An 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers behind a locked classroom door that the chief said was reinforced with a steel jamb and could not be kicked in. Report: Over 12 Students in Uvalde Were Alive During the Hour Before Police Entered Classroom. Roughly a dozen students at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, were alive for over an hour before law enforcement made it into their classrooms, according to a new report by the New York Times. There were 33 children and 3 teachers in the path of the shooter, but police reportedly waited an hour- and-17-minutes before four officers entered the classrooms in question — despite 60 officers having arrived at the school, the report says. [...] The documents also reveal that the officers had long guns upon arrival, which means they were well-equipped to take down the gunman. As the Times notes, there would likely have been a decreased loss of life had there been a faster direct police response. It ended up being Border Patrol, not local law enforcement, that ended up killing the shooter, the Associated Press reported. The latest excuse for the Uvalde police isn't very good. Allahpundit went through the latest timeline of the Uvalde school shooting police response debacle last night, so read that first if you haven't already. And yes, it's every bit as awful and infuriating as you probably imagined. However, there was one additional detail we hadn't heard previously that Chief Pete Arredondo offered yesterday during an interview with the Texas Tribune. So why did it take 77 minutes before a law enforcement officer entered the classroom where the shooter was killing off students and teachers? According to Arredondo in the most recent version of the tale, nobody could find a key to the classroom door. He claimed that it took forty minutes to find "a set of keys" and then he had to try them all one at a time until identifying one that would unlock the classroom door. The number of things wrong with this story is staggering, including the major events that directly conflict with the reports from the Department of Public Safety. Mom who ran into Uvalde school during shooting to save her kids said police were more aggressive with her than the shooter. The mother who ran into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, during the recent mass shooting there told a news crew this week that police officers were "more aggressive" in trying to prevent her from entering than they were with the shooting suspect. The woman, Angeli Gomez, told the CBS News crew interviewing her that after rushing to the scene and seeing that responding officers were taking up positions along the school's perimeter even while gunshots were ringing out inside a classroom, she told police she was going inside to retrieve her two sons. Continuing, she said that officers told her she could not go inside and handcuffed her for a short time. After marshals removed her handcuffs at the direction of Ulvade police, she bolted over a fence and into the school, eventually returning with her sons. Uvalde funeral attendant who encountered gunman says he tried to go after shooter, was held back. Cody Briseno, a funeral attendant who works across the street from the site of the state's deadliest school shooting, was one of the first people to encounter the gunman on May 24. Briseno had rushed to help after the shooter's pickup crashed outside Robb Elementary School but fled after seeing the 18-year-old with an "evil look" holding a rifle. In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Briseno, who has helped bury several of the victims, including a relative, described the encounter and how he was prepared to charge the shooter after his wife brought him his gun but was told by arriving officers to back away. Uvalde mom handcuffed by 'coward' cops for trying to rush inside school and save her kids says police threatened her if she spoke to media. A mom who was handcuffed by cops for trying to save her children during the Texas school shooting has blasted police for threatening her for talking to the media. Angeli Rose Gomez slammed officers for warning her with a probation violation for obstruction of justice over her interviews with journalists. She said she was called by an officer who said she would be hit with legal trouble over a charge against her from over a decade ago. Robb Elementary and the cowardice of the elites. Everything about the Robb Elementary school massacre is grim. Nineteen children and two teachers shot dead. The husband of one of the teachers dying from a heart attack two days later. Then there are the bone-chilling stories of how the kids who were targeted in this barbaric assault, mostly aged 10 and 11, tried to avoid being killed. One reportedly smeared herself with some of her friend's blood and then played dead. This was a truly hellish event. Incredibly, there is another layer to this terrible act — the alarming failures of the authorities. On top of the moral vacuum in which the shooter was operating, there was the bureaucratic disarray of those charged with protecting citizens from such wicked individuals. Children were stuck in the classroom with the killer, with the mass murderer of their friends, for more than an hour before police entered and shot the gunman dead. This is one of the most extraordinary facts from that dreadful day in Uvalde. It is difficult to make sense of it. Texas officials revise story, say teacher closed school door before deadly Uvalde mass shooting. Texas officials are now saying that a teacher at Robb Elementary School had actually closed the door after previously stating that the teacher had "propped open" a door used by gunman Salvador Ramos during last week's deadly mass shooting. The unnamed schoolteacher shut the door behind her, but the door "did not lock as it should," Travis Considine, chief of communications with the Texas Department of Public Safety, told the media. "We did verify she closed the door. The door did not lock. We know that much, and now investigators are looking into why it did not lock." Uvalde schools Chief Pete Arredondo had no radio at Texas shooting: report. The cop in charge during the Uvalde, Texas, school massacre arrived without a police radio and immediately made the call to "fall back" rather than confront the gunman, a new report said. Uvalde school district police Chief Pete Arredondo was one of the first people on the scene after 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos stormed into Robb Elementary School with an AR-15-style assault rifle last Tuesday — but police communication was chaotic from the start, the New York Times reported. The [New York] Post had previously reported state investigators were looking into whether the embattled chief had a radio when he took charge, explaining why he was apparently unaware of 911 calls from kids inside the building. Report: Uvalde Police Officer Had No Radio, Made Call to 'Fall Back' Anyway. Uvalde school district police Chief Pete Arredondo had no radio when he arrived at the site of the horrific massacre but told officers on the scene to fall back anyway because he considered the suspect "contained." This judgment is in complete contradiction to active shooter protocols, which specify that police should advance on the suspect and neutralize him immediately. In Uvalde, however, law enforcement waited 78 minutes before engaging the shooter. Border Patrol Agents Stopped the Uvalde Shooter. Democrats Now Want to Investigate Their Actions. It has become increasingly evident that members of the Border Patrol, specifically those on the elite BORTAC team, defied orders from Uvalde police and breached the classroom the shooter was in at Robb Elementary School in order to stop the attack. The local police appeared to believe the situation had turned from an active shooter to a "barricaded" subject despite 9-1-1 calls being made by children who were trapped inside the classroom with the shooter. If not for the Border Patrol agents, the shooter could have claimed more lives. Now, House Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee want to investigate the agents' role in killing the shooter. Here Are Eight Lies Texas Officials Told About Uvalde That Should Get Them Fired. More than one week after an 18-year-old gunman stormed Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, state officials are still struggling to set the record straight on what really happened that led to the deaths of 19 kids and two adults. For a week now, the public, the press, and politicians have been on a wild goose chase to find out why it took more than an hour for good guys with guns to take down a school shooter in a small school in the small South Texas town last Tuesday. Unfortunately, Texas safety officials have traded the truth for multiple false, misleading, and vague statements that have significantly undermined the public's trust in law enforcement's ability to protect children like the fourth-graders who lost their lives in the attack. Not only have they severely undercut the trust of Americans, they've infuriated the mourning Uvalde community. Time to Reestablish the Concepts of Duty and Accountability. Kids are getting killed and you have a badge and a gun and you just sit there? For an hour? [...] Accountability is vital. We need to punish failure, because even where duty is the currency sometimes there are counterfeiters. The Uvalde cops who failed must be identified and shamed, to reinforce the idea that to fail in your duty is worse than to die doing it. But accountability is reactive. It is a Band-Aid on a bleeding wound in our culture. Accountability is there for the marginal and the weak, for whom duty itself is not enough and who need some further incentive. We want men and women to do their duty not because they are afraid of the consequences of failure but because they refuse to not do their duty. Where are the men of courage? They're gone thanks to 'toxic masculinity'. Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District had its own six-strong police force, armed security guards, perimeter fencing and a locked classroom policy, according to a security plan posted on its website. Still, the shooter found an unlocked door, and the only thing that might have saved those children were men of courage and action rushing into the line of fire. Yes, men. Instead, they had armed police officers milling about outside their classrooms, reportedly for over an hour, as blood flowed unchecked and innocent souls rose to heaven. If you were the desperate parents prevented by the cops from going inside the school to save your kids, your rage would be rightly insatiable. 6 Times A Stronger Civil Society Might Have Prevented Tragedy In Uvalde. By now it's maddeningly clear a perfect storm of institutional failure allowed the Uvalde shooter to carry out his ugly plan. The school was not adequately secured and the police were unacceptably slow. Every day, their bungled response looks worse. [...] At so many steps leading up to the first victim's death, the bare minimum of protocol seems likely to have stopped the shooter before the killing began. His trail of warning signs, both online and offline, is equally maddening. Of course, it's easy for Monday Morning Quarterbacks in media to cast judgment with the benefit of hindsight. The shooter is to blame for these deaths; they are not the fault of anyone who followed him on social media or had a strange discussion with him. Uvalde teacher closed propped-open door before shooting, Texas officials say. A teacher did not, as previously stated, leave a door propped open with a rock during the massacre at Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last week, but closed it before the attacks began — only for the door to not automatically lock, Texas state investigators said. The gunman used the door to get inside, where he killed 19 students and two teachers. The finding, released by Texas department of public safety on Tuesday, contradicts an earlier account in which they said a teacher had propped the door open shortly before Salvador Ramos, 18, entered the building. Law enforcement did not intervene in the attack for approximately one hour and 20 minutes. More on the Uvalde door that didn't lock. The school district police (who are no longer cooperating with state investigators or answering requests from reporters) had stated repeatedly that the shooter entered through a door that had been left propped open with a rock by a teacher. She allegedly did this because she was carrying in some food from her car. The first reversal we heard was that the teacher didn't prop the door open. By the end of the night, that story had changed again. She had propped it open, but when the shooter was approaching she "kicked the rock away" and either "pulled" or "slammed" the door shut. There is allegedly a video showing this happening but it's not being released. So now we have even more questions. [...] If there is a video of the teacher propping the door open or at least kicking the rock away and closing it, why not release it? I understand the need to protect her privacy (though plenty of locals are already suggesting they know which teacher it is), but couldn't her face and features be blurred? That may seem intrusive, but if you expect the public to have any faith in this investigation they need to start providing some incontrovertible evidence because we've been given no reason to believe anything they say at this point. Uvalde — the new face of policing. The story grows worse with each new detail. Cops took nearly twenty minutes to get to the school in a ten-minute-wide town. Once there, they entered the school, took some fire resulting in minor injuries, and fled — no Fallujah vets here. Outside, they harassed, attacked, and arrested fearful parents begging them to do their jobs. At some point, a number of off-duty Border Patrolmen arrived but were denied permission to engage. As many as eighteen locals finally entered the school, but their tac chief decided it had transformed into a "barricade situation," which, according to the book, evidently means that no action is necessary, so instead they moped about in the hallway. At last, after an hour and a quarter — not forty-five minutes, not an hour — the Border cops took matters into their own hands (one of them armed with a shotgun he borrowed from his barber), burst into the room and finished the shooter off. During that entire tract of time the gunman was executing children, which we know from the phone records of calls from within the classroom. Was he run out of town on a rail? No... Where is the Uvalde School District chief of police? Am I right that Pete Arredondo hasn't shown his face in public since the shooting? I'm not right, it turns out. He did address the press on the afternoon of the massacre to provide basic information about what happened. But that was before the response of his police department became a national scandal, and before it was known that Arredondo himself allegedly gave the order to wait the gunman out instead of storming the classroom where he was holed up. Since then, local police have given at least two press conferences about the force's performance, neither of which was conducted by Arredondo. And if I'm not mistaken he wasn't on the dais with Greg Abbott and various other officials, including Ted Cruz, when Abbott was heckled by Beto O'Rourke last week. Where is he? Uvalde teacher says she didn't prop open door that shooter used to enter. She has an incentive to lie here, of course. But so do the police. After all, if a teacher is at fault for propping open a door that's supposed to stay locked then the school district and its police force are less at fault for failing to properly secure the building. Here's the key bit from last week's media briefing, which Tim Miller called "the most enraging press conference in American history." This is the same one at which Texas DPS chief Steve McCraw said, "If I thought it would help, I'd apologize." [Tweet] [...] Remember, it's not 100 percent certain yet that Uvalde School District chief Peter Arredondo gave the order for cops to stand down. McCraw said he did, but why trust anything he said at this point? At least one officer present at the scene told the New York Post that Arredondo isn't to blame. We may yet have a seventh major error of fact by police before the dust settles, one that's led to Arredondo becoming the most hated man in America. Uvalde cops DID know kids were alive in classroom with gunman. Uvalde cops did know children were still alive inside the Texas elementary school during a shooting last week, [...] new footage reveals. Video originally shared on Facebook Live shows the chaotic scene outside Robb Elementary school as Customs and Border Protection agents spoke to a to an injured child during the massacre. [...] In addition, ABC News released footage Monday of a 911 call confirming officers knew children were alive after Salvador Ramos, 18, fired more than 100 shots into the classroom, contradicting the local police chief's claims that they thought the scene was no longer active. Police in Uvalde contradicted their own mass shooter training. A Twitter thread posted late last week following the horrific massacre of 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, examined actions taken by local police as the situation progressed, and found some shocking details. In a series of posts, New York Times national correspondent Mike Baker laid out several examples he and other Times reporters uncovered showing how Uvalde cops and other law enforcement responders to the scene acted negligently and counter to their own training — much of it only recently — that may have contributed to a higher number of deaths. Border Patrol Agents and First Responders Who Saved Lives of Children in Uvalde School Shooting Were Disinvited From Biden Event. On Sunday morning, Joe Biden visited Uvalde, Texas to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the shooting at Robb Elementary School. Last week, law enforcement officers who responded to the school shooting received an invitation to attend a private address from Biden. However, most were uninvited shortly after, being told that space at the venue is too limited to accommodate everyone — despite the fact that the venue can accommodate hundreds of people. More than 90% of the Border Patrol agents who had been invited had their invitation rescinded. From Senseless Trauma to Predictable Hackery. The more details emerge from Uvalde, the more disheartening the picture becomes. The reporting of recent days has called attention to the role that negligent security practices at the school (along with the inexplicable delay and hesitation of the police) may have played in worsening the tragedy. We are also compelled to recognize that this horrific episode was ultimately rooted in a failure to effectively address, or even recognize, yet another individual case of dangerously deteriorating mental health. How can such madness go unnoticed? Why was there no intervention? This was clearly someone that should not have been able to pass a background check — and yet did, and that must be addressed. Here, perhaps, is an opportunity for bipartisan action; evidence of adolescent insanity should prohibit one from purchasing a firearm as a legal adult. Strange Coincidence — A US Army Recon Plane Landed In Uvalde Before The Shooting And Left Just Before The Shooter Was Killed. On Tuesday morning, a gunman walked into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and opened fire in a fourth-grade classroom, killing at least 19 children and two teachers. Salvador Ramos, 18, had already shot and critically wounded his grandmother by the time he arrived at the grade school; ultimately, it was a U.S. Border Patrol agent, and not police officers outside the building, who killed Ramos at the scene. The attack had gone on for about 40 minutes before that. There are many details from the first official reports of the Uvalde shooting that have since changed or been completely debunked. For example, initial reports indicated that Ramos wore body armor during the shooting, though that does not appear to have been the case. Maybe that was the purpose. Uvalde School Police Held Active Shooter Drill Just Two Months Before Massacre. Uvalde school police held an active shooter drill just two months before Salvador Ramos massacred 19 schoolchildren. The Texas city's Consolidated Independent School District held the training session to "prepare as best as possible" for the exact situation that just occurred. Uvalde law enforcement has been heavily criticized after it was revealed that they waited outside for 40 minutes before entering the building. The goal of the training was to "train every Uvalde law enforcement officer so that we can prepare as best as possible for any situation that may arise." It was held in late March. Texas state law requires all public school districts to "adopt and implement" an emergency operation plan, and to carry out drills related to active threats or severe weather, according to KSAT. Texas Gunman Made 'Frequent' Death Threats And Disturbing Posts. Salvador Ramos, the shooter in the Uvalde, Texas massacre frequently threatened to rape and kill teen girls, and had a history of aggressive behavior and disturbing social-media posts, according to locals. "I witnessed him harass girls and threaten them with sexual assault, like rape and kidnapping," one 16-year-old told the Washington Post, adding that Ramos had been posting on social networking app, Yubo. "It was not like a single occurrence. It was frequent." All but one of the girls Ramos threatened reported him in the months leading up to last week's elementary school shooting, which left 19 children dead. Neighbor blasts Uvalde School Police Chief Pete Arredondo as 'a coward' in wake of massacre. The Texas cop under scrutiny for how he handled the response to the Uvalde school massacre stayed out of sight under police protection Saturday — while an angry neighbor slammed him as a "coward." Uvalde School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo made the call that the carnage at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday had gone from an "active shooter" situation to a "barricaded suspect" standoff, which a top state cop admitted was "the wrong decision." State investigators are probing whether Arredondo even had a police radio on him when he made the decision, a law enforcement source told The [New York] Post. Police waited more than a half-hour to breach the door to two classrooms connected by a bathroom where 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos was locked in with children, some of who were alive and made numerous calls to 911. Many Border Patrol Agents, Cops Who Responded to Uvalde School Shooting Uninvited from Biden Event. Biden administration officials uninvited many of the Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement officers who responded to the Robb Elementary School shooting from a meeting with the president scheduled for Sunday in Uvalde. Despite the event being planned for a large open-space facility, administration officials cited space as a reason for the retracted invitations. Law Enforcement officers who responded to the Uvalde school shooting at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday morning received an invitation to meet with President Biden during his planned visit to Uvalde on Sunday afternoon. According to a senior Customs and Border Protection source, the officers received the invitation late last week. Many had accepted and were scheduled to attend the private address from the president. Most are now being informed they are no longer invited. The Editor says... Did Uvalde tactical unit respond to Texas school shooting? Two years before the massacre at Robb Elementary School that left 19 fourth-graders and their two teachers dead, the Uvalde Police Department boasted online about having its own SWAT team. The department posted a picture on Facebook of nine heavily armed officers with the caption "Meet Our SWAT Team." The unit was making visits throughout the community that day "to familiarize themselves with layouts of our local schools and businesses," according to the February 2020 post. But when terror came to the tiny Texas town, it's not clear if tactical unit that seemingly trained for just such a moment turned out to respond, a law enforcement source said. Newly Uncovered Footage Of The Texas School Shooter At The Backdoor Of The School Raises More Questions. [Scroll down] There are many questions about this video. Why are the police there? How did they know the shooter would walk into the backdoor and why didn't they stop him? [...] Still, none of it explains why the shooter could simply waltz into the school, with what appears to be two cops standing there, looking on. DOJ says it WILL investigate the police response to the Texas school shooting. The Justice Department said Sunday [5/29/2022] it will review the law enforcement response to the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 students and two teachers dead. The review comes amid mounting pressure and questions about the shifting and at times contradictory information about what happened in the shooting last Tuesday at Robb Elementary School and how police responded. Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said the review would be conducted in a fair, impartial and independent manner and that the findings would be made public. Federal Agents Defied Local Police When they Took Down Shooter in Uvalde. In Uvalde, Texas, where one of history's deadliest and most tragic school shootings recently took place, police response time and inaction has been heavily criticized. Despite a police presence on scene for over an hour, it took federal agents to end the Salvador Ramos's vile massacre. Mistakenly believing that the shooter was contained and no longer a threat, as the belief held was that all students inside the classroom with the shooter were already dead, Uvalde Independent School District Chief Pete Arredondo ordered law enforcement, including Border Patrol, to stand back. Border Patrol and federal agents complied for about thirty minutes, however out of desperation as the volume of 911 calls from students within the school increased, they ultimately defied the chief's orders to enter the school and eliminate the gunman. Texas probing whether Peter Arredondo had police radio during disastrous school shooting response. Texas state investigators are probing whether Uvalde Schools Police Chief Peter Arredondo even had a police radio on him when he made the disastrous decision to have officers stand back — instead of confronting shooter Salvador Ramos, who killed 19 kids, a law enforcement source told The [New York] Post. The lack of a police radio may explain why Arredondo decided to hold officers back as multiple students called 911 from inside the school begging for help, investigators with the state's Department of Public Safety believe. "That's going to be key," the source said, "If those 911 calls were being communicated to the officers or the incident commander." NBC: BORTAC agents who were told not to enter the school waited 30 minutes and then went in anyway. As Allahpundit pointed out here, when BORTAC agents showed up at Robb Elementary School Tuesday, they were told by the on scene commander not to enter the school. The NY Times reported the agents had driven from the border and showed up between noon and 12:10 pm. And we know from an earlier timeline that they finally breached the door around 12:50 pm and killed the suspect within a few minutes. Now NBC has published a story with a small but significant update to what the Times reported earlier. It turns out the BORTAC agents who killed Ramos were never told to go inside. Instead, they got tired of waiting and simply decided on their own to go in. Border agents took matters into their own hands to stop Texas school killer hiding in closet. Federal agents ignored orders from local police and went after the shooter who killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, according to reports Friday. Border Patrol agents took matters into their own hands after waiting roughly 30 minutes to lead a "stack" formation of officers inside Robb Elementary School, federal law enforcement officials told NBC News. A member of BORTAC, or the Border Patrol Tactical Unit, has been credited with fatally shooting the gunman, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, who had barricaded himself in a classroom. An off-duty BORTAC agent was the first to arrive. The agent "basically said let's get this done" and began planning a way into the room, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official told the Washington Post. DPS offers timeline, admits on-scene commander got it wrong: 'It was the wrong decision. Period.'. [Scroll down] The next question is more clear. Why did they treat this as a barricaded subject when there were children inside the classroom, some of whom were still alive. McGraw replied, "Again, you know, the on scene commander considered a barricaded subject and that there was time and there were no more children at risk. Obviously, based upon the information we have, there were children in that classroom that were at risk and it was in fact still an active shooter situation and not a barricaded subject." That's [a very] big mistake to make and you do wonder why it took three days for them to admit it. Question number three is also about the delay. Again, McGraw says the commander on the scene made the decision to wait for a tactical team. Twice a Week School Lockdowns in Uvalde Became Routine as Biden's Open Borders Turned Texas Town into 'Wild Wild West'. Students in Uvalde, Texas say school lockdowns have become routine because of frequent high-speed car chases by Border Patrol of illegal aliens reported Buzzfeed this week. A year ago to the week of the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that took place Tuesday killing 19 third and fourth grade children and two teachers, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin told Fox News' Tucker Carlson that Joe Biden's open borders policies had turned his small western Texas town into the "Wild Wild West." [...] While Biden's border crisis did not play a direct role in the school shooting, the routine nature of the lockdowns because of the border crisis could have led to a routine rather than urgent response to the initial reports of gunfire near the school before the shooter, Uvalde resident Salvador Ramos, 18, entered the school to commit the massacre. Uvalde shooting no longer just about guns as police response scrutinized. The latest revelations about the police response to the deadly elementary school rampage in Uvalde, Texas, threaten to upend the drive to make gun control the central issue, as law enforcement's reluctance to engage the shooter could increase public reliance on self-defense. When President Joe Biden addressed the Texas school shooting at the top of his remarks at a police reform executive order signing, it seemed like bad timing. The White House had been trying to bolster its credibility on law enforcement for months, and a new gun control push was going to count heavily on trust in the police to protect citizens. Now, that trust is going to be as hotly debated as guns. A Border Patrol agent has been credited with shooting and killing the Texas shooter, but it appears it took law enforcement 90 minutes to stop the attack after the first calls to police came in Tuesday morning. Democrats aren't letting up on gun control. A Series Of Critical Failures Led To The Uvalde Tragedy. [Scroll down] Details remain unclear, but the shooter in Uvalde drove to the school and then crashed his vehicle. An eyewitness reports that he fired on nearby people as he left the truck. It was twelve minutes before he entered the school. It's unclear why either the police or the school did not get the message that he was headed to the school. Had that message been passed on, the school could have locked down, preventing his entry. This isn't new, since Uvalde schools get locked down almost every week due to violence related to illegal immigration. Another link in the chain remained intact. Related to this link is the fact that the back door of the school was unlocked. Had entry been restricted to one or two monitored points, his gun would never have been pointed at defenseless children. And that brings us to the last link in this critical incident chain. No one was armed inside the school. Uvalde is a high threat environment, as we see from all the lockdowns. It is criminally negligent not to prepare to meet the threats. But Texas law allows local school districts to declare themselves "Gun Free Zones," thereby becoming the favorite target of mentally disturbed mass murderers. Texas Gov. Abbott claims Uvalde cops lied to him about why they failed for an hour to take down teen elementary school shooter. Texas Governor Greg Abbott claims he was lied to about Tuesday's school massacre after it emerged cops didn't enter a classroom where the bloodbath was unfolding for 90 minutes. ["]I was misled,["] Abbott said on Friday [5/27/2022], addressing a press conference in Uvalde about Tuesday's shooting at Robb Elementary School which saw 19 students and two teachers murdered by Salvador Ramos, 18, who was eventually shot dead by cops. ["]I am livid about what happened. I was on this very stage two days ago, and I was telling the public information that had been told to me in a room just a few yards from where we are write [sic] now.["] Gun used in Texas school shooting made by Bryan County's Daniel Defense. According to multiple news outlets, including USA Today, the gunman in the Texas school shooting purchased the DDM4 V7 model online for his 18th birthday. The various DDM4 models on the Daniel Defense website retail between $1,870-$3,390. The company was set to attend the NRA convention in Houston this weekend, but has since backed out. Prior to the 2022 shooting, Daniel Defense was reported as the manufacturer of weapons used in the 2017 Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas. The Editor says... Daniel Horowitz on Twitter. The guy in Uvalde used a Daniel Defense V7, with an Eotech XPS optic. He had a $2,000 rifle with a $600 optic on it. The guy was a part-time burger flipper at Wendy's in Uvalde, Texas. I can barely afford a rifle like that. None of this makes sense. Texas Official Admits Officers Waited Too Long to Storm Classroom: 'It Was the Wrong Decision'. Addressing the mass-shooting that claimed 21 lives in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, Department of Public Safety Director Steven McGraw acknowledged Friday that responding officers waited too long to breach the classroom where the killing took place. Speaking to reporters at a press conference held at the scene of the shooting, McGraw said that the on-scene incident commander, the School District's Chief of Police Peter Arredondo, made the decision to fall back and wait for U.S. Border Patrol Tactical Teams to breach the classroom. McGraw said the decision to delay entering the classroom was mistaken. According to Texas active shooter doctrine, officers are required to make an immediate breach to neutralize the suspect when there is a risk to life. He said that Arredondo had "an obligation to move back to active shooter situation" and force entry into the classroom, even at personal risk, if he believed that children were still inside. "There should have been an entry as soon as you can," he added. Texas Department of Public Safety Provides Devastating Timeline of Uvalde School Massacre. Texas Director of Public Safety Steven McCraw led an emotional press conference Friday morning in Uvalde, Texas, to provide a timeline of Tuesday's massacre at Robb Elementary School based upon video and 911 evidence. McCraw also detailed the number of magazines and live and spent rounds collected at the various crime scenes from both the shooter and law enforcement, and clarified previous information reported about the killer's social media postings. The most devastating information McCraw shared was that officers didn't enter the classroom upon arrival — a total of 1 hour and 15 minutes elapsed from the time the first Uvalde PD officers arrived until the shooter was killed — because the on-scene commander "believed that it had transitioned from an active shooter to a barricaded subject," and during that time numerous 911 calls were made from inside the adjoining classrooms where the carnage was ongoing. Texas Dept of Public Safety Admits Officers Went Into The School To Save Their Own Children. Several children at Uvalde Elementary School made 911 calls begging for help as a lone gunman shot their classmates and teachers during Tuesday's massacre in the western Texas town of Uvalde that killed 19 students and two teachers. The report of the 911 calls was made by Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw at a press briefing Friday. McCraw also said the on scene commander, the Uvalde police chief, decided the situation was a barricade and not an active shooter, even as 911 calls came in throughout the hour from the children, and held off storming the classroom until a tactical unit arrived even though 19 officers had gained entry to the school. After an hour the 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos was killed by a Border Patrol agent who stormed the classroom. What Were Cops Doing Outside While Kids Were Being Slaughtered in the School? Video emerging online from Tuesday's schoolchildren massacre in Uvalde, Texas shows local police more concerned with stopping parents than stopping the killer. Parents were pleading, "Give me the vest, I'll go in there!" but some ended up in handcuffs instead of vests. Before you watch this video, please remember that these are Robb Elementary School parents who have been waiting fruitlessly outside of their own children's school while a madman was allowed all the time in the world to complete his rampage. There's no violence, no blood, and it's still one of the most difficult videos I've ever watched. [Video clip] Are the Police in Uvalde, Texas Cowards, Incompetent or Slaves to Doctrine? The horror surrounding the massacre of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas just got worse with confirmed information that the police waited more than forty minutes before entering the school and killing the 18 year old murderer. One mother who drove to the school from 40 miles away, arrived and was detained and handcuffed for insisting on going inside to rescue her two children. She was then unhandcuffed and moved away from the crowd, jumped the fence and ran inside the school and retrieved her two kids. This event is more than a black eye for the police. There are three possible explanations — cowardice, incompetence or slaves to doctrine. In an ideal world, police confronted with an active shooter will call immediately on a SWAT team. There was no SWAT team in Uvalde, Texas. Instead of improvising and conducting their own assault, the police chose to sit back and wait. Gunman Fired Outside School for Twelve Minutes, Federal Marshals Blocked Frantic Parents From School Before Shooting Started. A very alarming set of updates from the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting has everyone starting to question what was previously said by authorities about the events. The Wall Street Journal has some updated information that is extremely disturbing. Uvalde Shooter Fired Outside School for 12 Minutes Before Entering. Local residents voiced anger Thursday about the time it took to end the mass shooting at an elementary school here, as police laid out a fresh timeline that showed the gunman entered the building unobstructed after lingering outside for 12 minutes firing shots. Victor Escalon, a regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety, gave a new timeline of how the now-deceased gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, walked into Robb Elementary School, barricaded himself in a classroom and [... Paywall] DPS spokesman: Police 'could've been shot' and decided to 'contain the gunman' with his victims. Earlier today [5/26/2022] I posted a Today show interview with Texas Department of Public Safety Lieutenant Chris Olivarez. In the clip which was posted yesterday, he described the timeline of what happened at Robb Elementary School. As questions about the police response have been raised today, Lt. Olivarez appeared on CNN at least three times to talk about the situation. This afternoon he appeared on Wolf Blitzer's show. Wolf asked him directly about the police's apparent failure to kill the gunman immediately. [...] As I pointed out earlier, the recommendation from the FBI is that police should not wait to form a team or come up with a plan during an active shooter situation. Even if there's only one officer on the scene, the best practice is to go in immediately and engage the shooter. So with that in mind, here is Lt. Olivarez' full response to Blitzer's question. [...] Uvalde cops went into the school to get their own kids out? Nah, c'mon. There's no way. As badly as the local PD seems to have performed, I refuse to believe that they risked their lives to save their own children but let the shooter go about his business with others. Although there sure are a lot of people who watched this clip who think the officer being interviewed admitted to precisely that. [Tweet] I can't believe he means it the way it sounds. At the very least, if cops with children who attended the school were inside the building, they would have rescued their child's entire class, not their child alone. But even in that best-case scenario, it's unthinkable that a police officer hearing gunshots being fired nearby would decline to follow that sound and confront the shooter before he could kill more kids. No one faults a parent for prioritizing their own child's life. But when you take the pledge to protect and serve, you take it to the entire community. Imagine if it turns out that cops were inside the building and prioritized saving their own kids while their neighbors' were being slaughtered. How would Uvalde function going forward? U.S. Marshals Were Outside Robb Elementary as Uvalde Massacre Unfolded. After news broke Thursday that Uvalde police had waited outside Robb Elementary School for over an hour before a Border Patrol tactical team ended up clearing the building, it was revealed that federal marshals were also outside the building as well. The Marshalls allegedly handcuffed a Uvalde mother who wanted to enter the building and save her child, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. "The police were doing nothing," said Angeli Rose Gomez, who drove 40 miles to Robb Elementary School, where her children are in second and third grade. "They were just standing outside the fence. They weren't going in there or running anywhere." According to Gomez, numerous parents urged law enforcement to intervene. Parents at first asked "politely" but became increasingly frantic as police had still not entered the building. Eventually, Ms. Gomez was reportedly handcuffed by U.S. Marshalls, who told her that she was under arrest for obstructing an investigation. Hero CBP cop rushed to Texas massacre school after his wife who teaches there texted him. An off-duty border patrol agent has told how he evacuated children including his own eight-year-old daughter from Robb Elementary School, armed with a shotgun he had grabbed from his barber's as he left to dash to the site. Jacob Albarado, a father of three, received a text message from his wife Trisha — a fourth grade math and science teacher at the school — when he was in the barber's chair. 'There's an active shooter,' she said. 'Help. I love you.' Albarado leapt up and grabbed a shotgun the barber lent him, and rushed to the school. Inside, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a high school dropout and loner who had bought the rifles he used a week before, was murdering 19 children and their two teachers. He was eventually shot dead by one of Albarado's border patrol colleagues. Uvalde mom: The feds cuffed me when I begged cops to go in and confront the shooter. Feels like we have a full-blown scandal in the making here. Bad enough for the cops not to intervene while frantic parents begged them to go in. But to actually punish them, however briefly, for pleading for their children's lives? I'm trying to picture the scene outside the building at the next school shooting. (And the one after that, and the one after that, and the one after that.) How many parents will bring guns with them and race for the school's entrance before the cops can stop them? If you have reason to fear that your local PD won't put their lives on the line to save your child, you have only one option. You know the old saying among gun-rights advocates: "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away. Or seconds away, but chilling outside the building." Uvalde Police Face Criticism Over Response to Texas School Shooting. Law enforcement authorities in Uvalde, Texas are facing questions and criticism over how much time elapsed during the elementary school shooting Tuesday [5/24/2022], before a U.S. Border Patrol team burst in and shot the gunman to death, the Associated Press reported. There were conflicting reports on Thursday regarding the timeline of events, with some eyewitnesses saying police hesitated outside the building as the gunman, Salvador Ramos, was inside shooting schoolkids, while officials say the police engaged immediately. The 18-year-old's shooting rampage lasted 40 minutes to an hour, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw initially told reporters. A department spokesman on Thursday however clarified to say authorities were still working on an accurate timeline of the attack, and were uncertain whether that period of 40 minutes to an hour began when Ramos reached the school, or when he shot his grandmother at home earlier in the day. The Editor says... Texas Police Spox on Live TV Confirmed Cops Went In for Their Own Kids During Uvalde Shooting. Texas Department Public Safety spokesman Lt. Christopher Olivarez confirmed to a reporter during a live shot that police officers went into Robb Elementary School to get their own children during the massacre. Amid outrage over reports that frantic families who complained about police inaction during the massacre were held back by police, a clip of a live interview with Olivarez from Tuesday has gone viral. In the clip, Vanessa Croix of KENS 5 says she's heard that police went into the school to get their own kids while the shooting was going on, asks Lt. Olivarez about it: [Transcript, Video clip] Uvalde Shooter Fired Gun For 12 Minutes Outside School Before Entering. The gunman who massacred 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas lingered outside for 12 minutes firing shots at people in a funeral home across the street, before scaling a fence onto school grounds where he fired more shots. He then entered the school and barricaded himself in a classroom before opening fire, according to the Wall Street Journal. Victor Escalon, a regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said he couldn't say why no one stopped the deceased gunman, 18 year-old Salvador Ramos, from entering the school during that time Tuesday. Most of the shots Ramos fired came during the first several minutes when he entered the school, Mr. Escalon said. DPS officials previously said an armed school officer confronted Ramos as he arrived at the school. Mr. Escalon said Thursday that information was incorrect and no one encountered Ramos as he arrived at the school. Prepare for society to become more violent as insanity spreads. The recent shooting at the Uvalde school in Texas was allowed to happen. Police stood down and waited outside for 40 minutes to an hour while the gunman was inside, murdering children (and a teacher) at will. This is now confirmed by the Associated Press, no less. This means that law enforcement in Uvalde, Texas were negligent in the mass killings. They didn't do their primary job: To protect the innocent, even if it means putting themselves in harm's way. The typical excuse that they were waiting for SWAT to arrive doesn't fly. In an active shooter situation involving children, you go in with what you have right now, even if it's just one armed officer. You don't wait around while children are murdered. You don't wait around, that is, unless you actually want the mass shootings to occur because you're an advocate of gun control. So now we have to take a much closer look at the officers and department involved in all this, because there are a lot of pockets of Democrat-run gun control zealots in Texas, and this might be one of the operations they were willing to carry out on purpose, to allow the shooter to murder children so they could have the right narrative to push for the abolition of the Second Amendment. Texas Gunman Was In The Classroom For Half An Hour Before Law Enforcement Stormed In. Why? The gunman in the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting was reportedly left in the classroom full of children for over "30 minutes," raising questions about the timeline of the shooting, according to multiple reports. There are inconsistencies between different accounts of the timelines of the day, including whether shots were fired when an officer attempted to stop the gunman from entering the school, and questions remain about why law enforcement did not engage him sooner, according to various media reports. One witness told the Associated Press that onlookers had urged police officers to charge the school during the shooting, but to no avail. Salvador Ramos, the 18-year-old gunman, reportedly entered the building's back entrance without being engaged by the police officer on the scene, Republican Texas Rep. Tony Gonzalez said on "The Lead" with Jake Tapper Wednesday. The officer on the scene reportedly cornered the gunman in one classroom, where a brief firefight ensued through the room's door. Videos From The Texas Shooting Shows Armed Police Who Wouldn't Go In As Children Were Massacred — Parents Were Pinned Down. Unconscionable tragedy struck the once-quiet community of Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday morning. Situated eighty miles west of San Antonio and just over fifty miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, Uvalde was a place hardly known to anyone outside the tiny Texas vicinity before yesterday. However, in the span of a few minutes, the name has become synonymous with so many other fateful towns like Columbine and Sandy Hook. Videos that surface this morning show angry parents that are begging the police to react and if they don't do anything they wanted to let the parents react. Parents begged police for upward of 40 minutes to stop Texas school shooter: Report. Police stood by for upward of 40 minutes after a gunman stormed into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday and killed 19 children and two teachers in a classroom, according to a new report. Investigators are piecing together what happened over the course of the massacre, which ended with a Border Patrol team rushing in and killing the 18-year-old shooter. Witnesses cited by the Associated Press recalled shouting at police to enter the building to save the people inside. One even proposed having bystanders do the job that officers apparently refused to do as they stood outside. Did Uvalde cops refuse to enter the school while the shooting was happening? The headline is framed as a question because it seems too bad to be true. Would a swarm of cops really stand around outside a building while a mass shooting — of children — played out behind them? That would make the "coward of Broward" look like Wyatt Earp. We should be cautious about assuming too much here. But what else are we to conclude from this AP report? [...] Someone will have to explain these videos to me. To all appearances, not only were the cops standing around, they were actively intervening to prevent parents from storming the building to try to rescue their children — essentially, security guards for the shooter: [Video clip] New Details of the Police Response to Uvalde Shooting Paint an Incredibly Disturbing Picture. As RedState reported Thursday morning, questions are being raised after revelations from parents who were on the scene during the deadly shooting rampage of Salvador Ramos in Uvalde, TX. One father revealed that the initial police responding waited 40 minutes outside the school for a tactical team to arrive while the killer wiped out a classroom full of children. Video also showed officers subduing parents who were begging them to enter the building and take on the shooter. [...] I don't know the extent of the injuries the officers in question suffered, but given we haven't heard anything about them being in critical condition or even in the hospital, it's fairly certain they weren't incapacitated after first contact. And if they weren't incapacitated, then it is unforgivable that they retreated and left a shooter to his own devices inside a classroom full of children. There are hundreds of videos out there of switched-on cops going until the whistle after being shot. That's what was required here in a situation where you had dozens of kids being killed. Simply put, you do not retreat in that situation. You go until you are down. If an officer isn't ready to do that, they shouldn't be an officer. Report: Texas Shooter Barricaded Himself for 40 Minutes as Police Waited. The shooter who killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday reportedly barricaded himself inside as police waited outside for 40 minutes. According to people who were present at the scene, terrified parents were yelling at police officers to charge the school for 40 minutes until a Border Patrol team finally took him down. "Go in there! Go in there!" parents reportedly shouted. Americans Demand Answers After Reports of Cops Standing Outside, Blocking Parents During Uvalde Shooting. In the aftermath of the horrific elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday that left 19 children and two teachers dead, reports about police behavior during the tragedy are raising questions. The Associated Press reported Thursday that during the 40-minute massacre, onlookers and parents begged law enforcement to enter the building. "Go in there! Go in there!" witness Juan Carranza says he heard women shouting at the officers during the attack. Carranza, who said he was watching from outside his nearby home, said the officers did not go in. [...] Javier Cazares, whose daughter was killed during the attack, says he arrived to the school while police were still standing outside. Cazares reportedly suggested to other bystanders that they should rush in together, because law enforcement was "unprepared," reports AP. 'There was at least 40 lawmen armed to the teeth,': Furious father of Texas school shooting victim, 10, slams cops for letting gunman rampage for 90 minutes after massacre began. Frantic parents of the children murdered in their Texas school screamed at law enforcement officers to enter the school and discussed storming the building to rescue their kids, harrowing footage shows, as it emerged that the gunman was only stopped when authorities obtained a key to open the classroom door. New footage shows the chaotic crowd outside the school, as heavily-armed sheriffs and law enforcement stand guard and hold them back — in one case, seemingly wrestling a panic-stricken woman to the ground and pinning her down. 'What are you doing? Get inside the building!' one person can be heard screaming. The Editor says... Onlookers urged police officers to charge into Texas school where gunman killed 19 children, 2 teachers. Frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunman's rampage killed 19 children and two teachers, witnesses said Wednesday, as investigators worked to track the massacre that lasted upwards of 40 minutes and ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by a Border Patrol team. "Go in there! Go in there!" nearby women shouted at the officers soon after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who saw the scene from outside his house, across the street from Robb Elementary School in the close-knit town of Uvalde. Carranza said the officers did not go in. Javier Cazares, whose fourth grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the attack, said he raced to the school when he heard about the shooting, arriving while police were still gathered outside the building. The Case of Officer Mohamed Noor Update: Minnesota Supreme Court tosses Mohamed Noor's 3rd-degree murder conviction. The Minnesota Supreme Court has reversed the third-degree murder conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor. Noor was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and third-degree murder for shooting and killing Justine Ruszczyk Damond in 2017. The state's supreme court ruled Wednesday that Noor's actions were directed "with particularity," and therefore did not meet the "depraved-mind" requirement for third-degree murder. Ex-Minneapolis police officer sentenced to 12.5 years for fatal shooting of unarmed 911 caller. A Minneapolis police officer convicted of murder has been sentenced to 12.5 years in prison for the 2017 fatal shooting of an unarmed woman who called 911 to report a possible rape. On Friday [6/7/2019] Mohamed Noor, who shot the woman as she walked toward his cruiser in the alley behind her home, said he can't apologize enough "for taking the life of a perfect person." Recap: Minneapolis Muslim cop who killed unarmed woman seeks to overturn guilty verdict. Former Minneapolis Muslim police officer Mohamed Noor, "found guilty of murdering Australian life coach Justine Ruszczyk Damond claims he should be acquitted because he did not act "with a depraved heart" when he shot her dead." Noor appears to be acting with a "depraved heart" now. He has shown no remorse for murdering Damond and prosecutors already established that he "knew exactly what he was doing" and had "intent to kill". Noor guilty of third-degree murder, manslaughter in killing of Justine Ruszczyk Damond. Mohamed Noor became the first former Minnesota police officer found guilty of an on-duty murder Tuesday [4/30/2019] as a Hennepin County jury convicted him for the fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond in 2017. Jurors reached their verdict after about 10 hours of sequestered deliberations in a case that was closely watched nationwide and in Damond's native Australia. They convicted Noor of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter but acquitted him of the most serious count — second-degree murder. Who's the Victim When a Somali Muslim Police Officer Shoots an Innocent White Woman? The NYT Thinks It Knows. It's the New York Times, of course, so we know this is not really a question at all, and that it can only be hypocrisy that explains why Noor, a black Muslim immigrant from Somalia, is being punished for killing a white woman while white and Hispanic officers have escaped similar consequences for killing black men. And, lest you still entertain the notion that this could be an unbiased news story, consider that it was written by John Eligon, whose bio informs us he is "a national correspondent covering race," and that he "documents the nuances of America's struggle with race issues, from the protest movement over police violence to the changing face of the nation's cities and suburbs." Somali Muslim Officer Who Killed Woman Reporting a Rape is Found Guilty. The media usually wants to see police officers convicted when an unarmed civilian is shot and killed. The Mohammed Noor story has followed the opposite course. If the races and religions were reversed, if a white cop had shot a black woman who had called for help, there would have been protests and outrage. Instead, in the Mohammed Noor case, the media was complicit after the fact. Ex-cop: Saw woman at window, fired 'to stop threat'. Mohamed Noor refused to talk to investigators after the July 2017 shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond , a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia, making his testimony his first public statements since her death. The Editor says... The Trial of Mohammed Noor. The long-awaited trial of former Minneapolis police office Mohammed Noor for murder begins tomorrow in Hennepin County District Court before Judge Kathryn Quaintance. In an egregious example of police incompetence, Noor killed Justine Damond on July 15, 2017. Noor should not have been on the force. His killing of Damond represents an utterly needless tragedy that exposed Minneapolis's kakistocracy for the world to see and now, in the words of the old antiwar left, the whole world is watching. Minneapolis prosecutors: Muslim cop who shot unarmed woman "knew exactly what he was doing" and had "intent to kill". Betsy Hodges, the former Mayor of Minneapolis, should also face a jury for this, for this tragic incident is ultimately her responsibility. But she won't. Identity politics kills. If there is any lesson to be drawn from the killing of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, that is it. The city of Minneapolis was so eager to have a Somali Muslim police officer on the force that it hired a man who had been found incompetent to hold the job. Even worse, Minneapolis officials did not fire him even when he proved that he was indeed unfit to be a cop. [...] Not only that, but "[Mohamed] Noor was flagged by two psychiatrists during a pre-hiring evaluation in early 2015. The psychiatrists said he seemed unable to handle the stress of regular police work and exhibited an unwillingness to deal with people." Former Minneapolis officer charged with fatally shooting Australian woman sparked concern from psychiatrists, training officers. Psychiatrists and training officers had expressed their concern for former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor years before he fatally shot an Australian woman while responding to a 911 call. Noor, 32, shot and killed Justine Ruszczyk Damond on July 15, 2017 after she reported a possible sexual assault in an alley near her Minneapolis home. He was charged in March with second-degree manslaughter and third-degree murder, but his lawyers last month filed to have those charges dismissed, arguing that the ex-officer's actions do not meet the "depraved mind" standard under state law. Prosecutors in their response filed Wednesday said Noor "showed a reckless disregard for human life and the evidence of his recklessness more than meets the standard for probable cause," MPR reported. They argued his "prior acts of indifference as police officer" prove his "state of mind" the night he shot Damond. Family of Australian Justine Damond, killed by Minneapolis cop, sues for $50 million. THE family of Australian life coach Justine Damond Ruszczyk has filed a $50 million civil lawsuit in the US. The lawsuit names former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor, who fired the fatal bullet into Damond's stomach, his partner Officer Matthew Harrity, the city of Minneapolis and the former and current chief of the city's police department. "Justine died as a direct and proximate result of Noor's unconstitutional conduct and her next of kin were thereby damaged in an amount exceeding $50 million," the lawsuit, filed in the US federal court in Minneapolis on Monday [7/23/2018], states. Cop who shot bride-to-be is charged with murder. The Minnesota cop who shot and killed an Australian bride-to-be was charged with murder and manslaughter, according to a report Tuesday [3/20/2018]. Officer Mohamed Noor, 31 — who allegedly killed 40-year-old Justine Damond of Minneapolis in July — was booked into Hennepin County jail at 11:16 a.m., according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. Noor was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. His bail was set at $500,000, the paper reported. Noor and his partner, Matthew Harrity, had been called to Damond's home after she called 911 to report a possible sexual assault happening behind her home. Investigators say Noor, who was sitting in a police car, shot the Sydney-born yoga instructor in the gut while she was approaching the driver's window of the vehicle. Officer who fatally shot Justine Damond charged with murder, turns himself in. The Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an Australian woman in July was charged with murder Tuesday after he turned himself in when a warrant was issued for his arrest. Officer Mohamed Noor turned himself in Tuesday in connection with the 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, his attorney confirmed. Killer-Cop Mohamed Noor Who Shot Unarmed Pajama-Clad Justine Damond To Plead Self-Defense. Minneapolis Somali-Muslim cop Mohamed Noor shot unarmed, pajama-clad Justine Damond to death at point-blank range. That he is going to plead self-defense is outrageous, but it is a typical Islamic evasion of responsibility. Everything jihadis and Muslim criminals do is someone else's fault. The reality is that Noor should never have been a police officer, and only was because he was Muslim. Investigators get records of Minneapolis cop who fatally shot Justine Damond. The Star Tribune reports that the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension issued a search warrant for the training records of Officers Mohamed Noor and Matthew Harrity. Agent Brent Petersen wrote in his warrant application that the records will supplement the evidence obtained thus far. He received the records Friday [8/4/2017]. The BCA says records confirmed that both officers "completed state mandated training in order to maintain an active peace officer license," CBS Minnesota reports. Legal loophole means the police officer who shot Australian woman dead as she stood in a driveway may never face criminal charges. The U.S. police officer who shot dead Australian woman Justine Damond as she stood on a driveway outside her home may never face criminal charges. Rookie cop Mohamed Noor is maintaining his silence and continues to exercise his legal right not to be interviewed by investigators probing Ms Damond's death. However, when the shooting becomes the subject of an internal police investigation, Noor will be compelled to provide statement or face the sack from the force. The only catch is, any statement he provides during the internal investigation cannot be used in a criminal case due to a legal technicality, the Star Tribune reports. Search Warrants in Damond Shooting Indicate Woman Slapped Patrol Car. An application for a search warrant filed in Hennepin County District Court by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension states a woman slapped the back of the patrol car as officers from the Minneapolis Police Department arrived on scene just prior to firing a shot that killed 40-year-old Justine Damond on July 15 in South Minneapolis. Officer Mohamed Noor fatally shot Damond when she approached the patrol squad in which Noor was a passenger. Damond had called 911 more than 10 minutes earlier to report a possible sexual assault. Justine Damond: Killed By "Islamophobia". Mohamed Noor is a Somali Muslim. He was the first Somali Muslim on the Minneapolis police force. In 2016, Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges expressed her excitement about that fact: [...] Hodges wasn't excited because Mohamed Noor had the skills necessary to become a fine police officer. She was only excited because he represented a religious and ethnic that she was anxious to court. And it is increasingly clear, as we learn about Mohamed Noor's nervousness and jumpiness and lack of respect for women, and from his own account of events that he relayed to friends (that he was "startled" and reacted by opening fire), that Mohamed Noor was not cut out to be a policeman. He did not have the temperament for it, and if he hadn't killed Justine Damond, he would likely have done something similar at some point. So why was he on the force at all? Because he was the first Somali Muslim on the Minneapolis police force. He was a symbol of our glorious multicultural mosaic. He was a rebuke to "Islamophobes" and proof that what they say is false. Minneapolis authorities placed a great deal of faith in Mohamed Noor. He was for them the triumph of diversity, the victory of their worldview. The Islamophobia Industry Killed Justine Damond. It is a cherished fiction on the Left that there exists an "Islamophobia Industry," a well-funded group of propagandists who spread hatred of Muslims solely to line their pockets. This is as ridiculous as it is libelous, but there really is an Islamophobia Industry, and it is a group of well-funded propagandists. In reality, however, it is not in the business of spreading "anti-Muslim bigotry." Instead, it propagates the idea that Muslims in the U.S. are the recipients of widespread discrimination and harassment, and so must be accorded special accommodation and consideration. That idea has just taken the life of Justine Ruszczyk Damond.
Fake street signs warn of 'easily startled' police in Twin Cities. Joe Morino brought an incredulous friend to see the orange street sign he just spotted in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis. The official-looking metal sign read: "WARNING: TWIN CITIES POLICE EASILY STARTLED." It featured a graphic silhouette of a police officer, a gun in each raised hand, shooting in both directions. "There's a side of truth to the sign," Morino said after snapping a picture of it. "That tells you there is something wrong with the system." Muslim killer-cop's story falls apart: Justine Damond's neighbors heard no loud noises - multiple people interviewed. Mohamed Noor said he was "startled" by a loud noise. He sounds little a little girl (and a liar). That notwithstanding, neighbors said, they heard nothing. Pajama-clad Justine Damond was unarmed when Mohamed Noor fired multiple shots and shot her dead. She died at the scene. Minneapolis police chief resigns after Australian woman's shooting. Minneapolis police chief Janee Harteau resigned on Friday at the request of the city's mayor, who said that she and the community had lost confidence in Harteau following the fatal police shooting of an unarmed Australian woman. The death of Sydney native Justine Damond, 40, from a single gunshot wound to the abdomen fired through the open window of a police patrol car, has outraged her family members and the Australian public. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called it "shocking" and "inexplicable." The loud noise heard round the world. Minneapolis Police Chief Janeé Harteau returned from vacation and held a press conference yesterday afternoon on the shooting death of Justine Damond by Officer Mohamed Noor. [...] Harteau knows little more about the incident than what has been publicly released by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Noor continues to rest on his right to remain silent. He has spoken neither to the BCA nor to the department's internal affairs unit reviewing the shooting. The Editor says... Officer in Minnesota shooting was celebrated in Somali community. Mohamed Noor was celebrated when he became a Minneapolis police officer 21 months ago, joining a handful of other Somalis on the police force in a city with one of the United States' largest Somali communities. [...] Noor, 31, still has supporters after the shooting of Damond, who had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault in her neighborhood on Saturday. Police Claim Damond 'Ambushed' Cops-Unarmed in Pajamas-Family Blasts it as 'Disinformation'. While the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is still conducting its investigation into Saturday's fatal shooting of a beloved mother and life coach Justine Damond, sources close to the investigation are now saying Officer Mohamed Noor and Matthew Harrity believed they were being ambushed. But the attorney for Damond's family isn't buying that explanation. Cop startled by 'loud sound' before shooting bride-to-be: investigators. The Minnesota cop who shot and killed an Australian bride-to-be opened fire on her after being startled by a "loud sound" near his patrol car, investigators say. Officer Mohamed Noor, 31, began blasting at 40-year-old Justine Damond, of Minneapolis, just moments after he and his partner, Matthew Harrity, heard the noise in the alley behind her house, according to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Timeline of Muslim cop who KILLED pajama-clad unarmed woman leaves out two crucial minutes before shooting. He won't talk to investigators but he is telling friends a loud noise startled him. What is he? A little girl? A noise sets a cop off to firing? What kind of training did quick-trigger-Noor have? I think he is a liar. He has three violent complaints against him. Why did someone have to be murdered for the authorities to take action? The Editor says... Somali Police Officer Refuses To Give a Statement To Investigators. To say that something in Minneapolis seems sketchy would be a disservice to all things sketchy. Something is seriously odd about the Minnesota shooting death of Justine Damond by a police officer originally from Somalia named Mohamed Noor. Having followed several very high profile police shootings closely the same undisclosed media elements are present. Officer Mohamed Noor is refusing to cooperate with, or give a statement to, investigators from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. However, the second officer who was partnered with Noor is cooperating. Somali Muslim cop who shot unarmed white woman in cold blood could lose his job for not activating his bodycam. "LOSE HIS JOB?" But not a word about second degree murder charges? Somali Muslim Mohamed Noor was in breach of his own police department's strict bodycam rules when he opened fire and killed Justine Damond. He now faces "severe punishment," even if exonerated over the shooting, and could lose his job for not following the guidelines. Cop who shot bride-to-be from inside his squad car was breaking rules ALREADY by not switching on his bodycam as soon as he arrived at scene. Mohamed Noor was in breach of his own police department's strict bodycam rules when he opened fire and killed bride-to-be Justine Damond. He now faces severe punishment, even if exonerated over the shooting, and could lose his job for not following the guidelines. The 31-year-old officer knew he was compelled to switch on his body camera and record his interactions when answering a 911 call to reports of a sexual assault. Department policy says it should be switched on for 'any search', and crucially, 'prior to any use of force'. First Somali Muslim Cop Shoots & Kills Woman Who Called for Help. Mohamed Noor reached over and shot Justine Damond, 40, multiple times from the passenger seat of his squad car while she spoke to his colleague on the drivers side in a back alley behind her upscale Minneapolis home. Both officer's bodycams were off and the squad car camera not recording, but an audio exchange between dispatch and the officers involved captures the chilling moments directly after she was killed at around 11.30pm on Saturday [7/15/2017]. Somali immigrant cop Mohamed Noor, who shot Jessica Damond, was 'highly celebrated' by Minneapolis mayor in 2015. The Somali-born Minnesota police officer alleged to have shot and killed an unarmed Australian woman on Saturday [7/15/2017] had been lauded by Minneapolis' mayor and feted by the local community when he joined the force in 2015. [...] In his short time with the Minneapolis Police, Noor has had three complaints filed against him — two that are still open. The other was closed and Noor wasn't disciplined. On May 25, a woman accused Noor of assault and battery because he "grabbed her right wrist and upper arm" and inflamed a pre-existing shoulder injury while officers were forcibly removing her from her home and bringing her to a hospital. Sources Identify Officer Involved in Fatal Minneapolis Shooting. The Minneapolis police officer said to be the one who fired the shots that killed 40-year-old Justine Damond Saturday night in southwest Minneapolis had three complaints on file, according to city records. Multiple sources confirmed to KSTP Monday morning that the identity of the officer is Mohamed Noor. Woman who called 911 to report disturbance shot dead by cops. An Australian woman who was living in Minnesota and engaged to be married next month was shot dead by police — after she called 911 to report a disturbance behind her house. [...] Three sources with knowledge of the incident said that when they arrived, the officers pulled around back and were immediately confronted by Damond, who was in her pajamas. As she attempted to speak to the cop in the driver's seat, the other officer apparently unholstered his gun and started blasting — striking her through the driver's-side door, the sources said. No weapons were found at the scene or on Damond, and neighbors claim the area is well-lit at night, thanks to an array of telephone poles and motion-activated garage lights. Dishonesty Police Have the Right to Lie and Slander. To serve and protect, police are allowed to slander and destroy. Cops in many states and localities have acquired the right to lie about their shootings, searches, and practically anything else. Police have routinely planted drugs, guns, and other evidence to incriminate innocent people, while police labs have engaged in wholesale fraud blighting tens of thousands of lives. Supreme Court rulings turned a trickle of police perjury into a torrent. In 1967, the Supreme Court, in the case of McCray v. Illinois, gave policemen the right to keep secret the name of their "reliable informant" they used to get search warrants or target people for arrest. What to do if you're interrogated by the police. According to the attorneys at SBBL Law, "By far the most important thing to remember if you're being interrogated by the police is that you do not have to, and should not, answer questions. Depending on the circumstances, you may be required to provide your name, your ID, or immediately relevant details like proof of insurance — but insist on remaining silent for any other questions." This is so important because, as your Miranda warning suggested, "anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." Too often, people are convicted of crimes and go to jail simply because they didn't have the discipline or knowledge necessary to remain silent during questioning. They end up confessing to crimes, sometimes including crimes they didn't even do. They reveal information that incriminates them. Sometimes, they even accidentally confess to crimes separate from the one being investigated. Maine police officer charged for lying about a missing person, search continues. Apolice officer in Maine has been accused of lying about a missing-person case and was subsequently charged with several crimes, including falsifying a report where he claimed to have taken the 39-year-old missing man to a hospital when he really took him to a convenience store, according to the Associated Press. Washburn Police Sergeant Chandler Cole has reportedly resigned from his post after being charged with the following crimes: aggravated forgery, tampering with public records or information, falsifying physical evidence, and unsworn falsification. Reports confirmed Cole was arrested on May 29. Twelve lies the police love to use. [Video clip] Five Ways to Outsmart the Police. [Video clip] The Only Three Things to Say to The Police! [Video clip] Man arrested after King Co. detective made false statements gets $225,000 settlement. King County will pay $225,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit brought by a Black man who was arrested on drug charges after a veteran detective made false statements to obtain a search warrant, including misidentifying him in a photo. Detective Kathleen Decker, a now-retired 33-year veteran of the King County Sheriff's Office, was looking for a murder weapon when she asked a Washington state judge for a warrant to search the car and apartment of Seattle resident Gizachew Wondie in 2018. At the time, federal agents were separately looking into Wondie's possible involvement in selling drugs. Connecticut Police Caught Faking Thousands of Traffic Stops to Boost Numbers. Connecticut's law enforcement has been rocked by a potential scandal involving how its officers have been reporting traffic stops. An audit exposed a troubling pattern of state troopers manipulating records to make themselves appear to be more productive. The report reveals that at least 100 officers were fabricating traffic reports to boost their numbers. The revelation has raised questions about the credibility of officers tasked with upholding the law and has led some to question whether they can be trusted to handle more serious criminal cases. [...] The report also could also indicate other ramifications on the state's criminal justice system. A defense attorney representing a man accused of murder has argued that he should be informed if any of the officers caught in the audit were involved in his client's case. He suggested other defense attorneys might do the same. It's a valid question — if these officers can't be trusted to report traffic incidents honestly, how can they be trusted with more critical cases? Appeals Court Denies Immunity To Officers Who Fabricated Evidence To Wrongfully Convict A Man For Murder. When cops decide they've found the right perp, very little can persuade them to look elsewhere. This tunnel vision has the tendency to take years of freedom away from innocent people. And it would be terrible enough if officers simply refused to consider exonerative evidence. But in this case (like far too many others), the investigators went beyond simply ignoring other evidence to falsifying the "evidence" they had to ensure the person they picked out for the job ended up in jail. Cops sued for lying about reason for traffic stop. A lawsuit has been filed against police in Alexandria, Louisiana, for pulling over a couple and citing the driver for refusing to signal a turn. The problem for the officers? Their own dashcam tape revealed the driver was, in fact, signaling the turn. And that, combined with the officers' decision to grill the couple in the car about drugs, each other, and more, suggests they were using the pretext of a traffic violation to pull them over and question them. Seattle Police faked "right-wing insurrection" when CHAZ formed. According to the Seattle Office of Police Accountability, a funny thing happened on the night of June 8, 2020, just as liberal rioters were preparing to block off a portion of Emerald City to create an "autonomous zone" that would later be known as the CHOP or the CHAZ. A few members of the Seattle Police Department began reporting over the police radio system that some right-wing "extremists," specifically the Proud Boys, were on the march through the city with some of them being armed. They were reportedly heading toward the protest area and "looking for a confrontation." That certainly sounds like a potentially dangerous situation that the police would want to keep an eye on, right? There's just one problem with the story. The police radio chatter was all fake and it was intentionally planned and executed by the cops. Seattle police faked radio chatter about Proud Boys as CHOP formed in 2020, investigation finds. At a crucial moment during 2020's racial justice protests, Seattle police exchanged a detailed series of fake radio transmissions about a nonexistent group of menacing right-wing protesters. The radio chatter about members of the Proud Boys marching around downtown Seattle, some possibly carrying guns, and then heading to confront protesters on Capitol Hill was an improper "ruse," or dishonest ploy, that exacerbated a volatile situation, according to findings released Wednesday by the city's Office of Police Accountability. Seattle Police Officers Falsified Reports About Proud Boys Moving Toward 'CHOP:' Watchdog. Seattle police officers falsified a report of armed Proud Boys members heading toward the autonomous zone in the city in 2020, a watchdog found. The Seattle Police Department abandoned a precinct on June 8, 2020, and activists soon after established an armed protest zone in the area known by some as CHOP. That same day, officers over the radio said armed members of the Proud Boys, a right-wing group that has clashed with members of the far-left Antifa network, were heading towards the area where the autonomous zone cropped up. "We're going to be the one taking my group down around city hall to monitor the group of the Proud Boys gathering right now," one officer told a dispatcher. [...] Interviewed by the Seattle Office Police Accountability, the officer credited with coming up with the effort said officers put forth "misinformation" because they knew they would be overheard. Seattle police improperly faked Proud Boys radio talk during 2020 protests, watchdog group finds. An investigation by Seattle's Office of Police Accountability (OPA) shows officers exchanged fake radio transmissions about a nonexistent group of right-wing extremists at a crucial moment during 2020 racial justice protests. Fake radio chatter on June 8, 2020 about members of the Proud Boys marching around downtown Seattle, some possibly carrying guns, and then heading to confront protesters on Capitol Hill was an improper "ruse," or dishonest ploy, that exacerbated a volatile situation, according to OPA's report. A lieutenant with the Seattle Police Operations Center told OPA the radio communications may have been made to test "the response of individuals who the department believed was monitoring its communication channels." 'They lied to us': Mom says police deceived her to get her DNA and charge her son with murder. On an October morning in 2018, Eleanor Holmes and her husband left home to run an errand and found two men inside their front gate. They introduced themselves as detectives from Orlando, Florida, and said they needed the couple's help. Standing in the driveway, the casually dressed detectives said they were trying to identify someone who'd been found dead many years earlier, the Holmeses recalled. They were looking for the person's relatives, and were using DNA and genealogical records to stitch together a family tree that they hoped would lead them to a name. Friendly and businesslike, they said they'd already got DNA samples from Eleanor Holmes' sister and an aunt. And now they wanted hers. Holmes already knew about the detectives' visit to her sister. It worried her that someone in her family had died without anyone knowing about it. She had relatives in Orlando, including a niece whom she hadn't heard from in more than a decade. So she agreed. A Wrongfully Convicted Kansas Man Can Now Sue the Corrupt Cop Who Framed Him. Kansas man Lamonte McIntyre served 23 years in prison for murders that he did not commit. Last week, a federal judge ruled that McIntyre can proceed with most of the claims in his lawsuit against Wyandotte County, Kansas City, and Roger Golubski, the corrupt police officer who framed him. Officer lied about a pursuit that led to a fatal collision. A state Highway Patrol trooper has been fired after an investigation revealed he lied to supervisors about a pursuit that led to a fatal crash in Greenville this summer. Trooper Austyn Vaughn, 23, was terminated Sept. 25 after the Highway Patrol reviewed the case and found that he broke agency policy and lied about whether he was engaged in a pursuit before the crash. [Video clip] Court Rules Cop "Broke No Laws" When He Went to Innocent Family's Home & Shot Husband Through Window & Lied About It. In case after corrupt case, we have reported on police officers who shoot and often kill entirely innocent people — on video — and face no consequences. Even when they are caught lying about what actually happened, the officers involved in the shooting and the subsequent cover up, are almost never held accountable. Case in point, the following story out of South Carolina in which a cop walked up to an innocent man's home, shot him through the window, lied about it, and the department ruled that he "broke no laws." Officer Planting Drugs. Zachary Wester, a Florida cop, planted meth on random drivers, police say. One lost custody of his daughter. Wester was arrested Wednesday [7/10/2019] and charged with 52 counts of racketeering, false imprisonment, official misconduct, fabricating evidence and possession of controlled substances, among other charges. He's accused of indiscriminately targeting innocent drivers and hauling them off to jail after planting meth or marijuana in their vehicles while feigning a "search." U.S. News: Mother Cries Foul As Cops Claim Teen Shot Herself In Mouth While Hands Cuffed Behind Her Back. It's been nine months since police claim 19-year-old Sarah Wilson allegedly got a hold of a gun and killed herself in police custody while her hands were cuffed behind her back. Since then, her mother has been grieving and also crying foul after police are sticking by the story and refuse to release any information. As TFTP reported at the time, Wilson allegedly committed suicide on July 25, 2018, during a traffic stop near the intersection of Berkley Avenue and Wilson Road, according to the Chesapeake Police Department. According to police, while handcuffed with her hands behind her back, Wilson was able to acquire a Taurus Judge handgun, place it in her mouth, and pull the trigger. Dawn Wilson, Sarah's mother has since come forward to speak out about the inconsistencies in the case. The Brainwashing of a Nation. Brainwashing happens every day. It doesn't have to mean a complete transformation of identity. On the simplest level, it means compelling someone to believe something that isn't true. It's as simple as two cops browbeating an innocent suspect into believing that he's guilty. The officers and the suspect won't see their interaction as brainwashing. The officers can honestly believe in his guilt. And, at the end of the process, the suspect will also believe that he committed the crime. He will even be able to describe in great detail how he committed it. That's common, everyday brainwashing. Ohio: Police Chief Blows Past School Bus Stop Sign - Claims He 'Didn't Know it Was Illegal'. Disturbing video has surfaced this month showing a Newark police officer blowing through a school bus stop sign as small children exited the bus. After being questioned about the video, the department responded by claiming they didn't know it was illegal. Adding to the corrupt nature of this incident is the fact that this wasn't just any officer in the department — it was Newark's top cop, Chief Barry Connell. Incompetent, Preening Broward County Sheriff Gets Caught in a Lie. As the hours and days pass, it's becoming increasingly apparent how terribly law enforcement — and especially the Broward County Sheriff's office — bungled its collective handling of the Parkland massacre, from ignoring multiple red flags leading up to the horrific incident to deadly inaction during the shooting itself. We can now add 'lying after the fact' to the list. Facing intense questions about the department's disastrous response to explicit warning signs about the perpetrator, the Sheriff's office released an indignant statement at nearly 10 pm on Saturday night [2/24/2018]. ICE agent accused of pulling gun on man, then having him arrested. A federal agent allegedly pulled a gun on a man whose car was being repossessed by the agent's cousin in the Bronx, then had the victim arrested on bogus charges, a high-ranking police source said Sunday [2/18/2018]. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agent Omar Castro was accompanying his repo-man cousin to collect a car late Saturday when the owner, Christopher Jackson, tried to stop them, law enforcement sources said. Lawyer says body cam video shows LAPD officer planting drugs. Los Angeles police launched an internal investigation Friday [11/10/2017] after an attorney released body camera video that he says shows an officer planting cocaine in his client's wallet during an arrest. His 'Death is His Fault': Cop Testifies Unarmed Man with Hands Up Forced Her to Kill Him. Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby fatally shot 40-year-old Terence Crutcher in September when he experienced car trouble after leaving night classes at Tulsa Community College. On Monday, Shelby testified in her own defense to attempt to justify the killing of this unarmed man — and shamelessly blamed him — stating she has "no regrets" about what happened. 200 Cook County Jail officers call in sick on Mother's Day. More than 200 Cook County Jail officers called off work Sunday — which also happens to be Mother's Day. About 32 percent of the officers assigned to work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. did not go to work, according to the Cook County Sheriff's office. Institutionalized dishonesty: NYPD cop who retired with bad shoulder is now bodybuilding and collecting disability pension. He's pumping iron — and squeezing taxpayers for $40,000 a year. An NYPD officer who retired with a disability pension now regularly participates in bodybuilding competitions — and pension rules permit it. Derek Huebner retired on Aug. 31, 1996 after six years on the force, according to the New York City Police Pension Fund. He receives $40,885.20, tax-free plus benefits, every year from the fund, which has come under scrutiny following reports in the [New York] Daily News. Virginia Police Insist That Activist Was Not Under Arrest Even Though He Was Handcuffed and Taken to the Police Station. Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute are rebutting an attempt by a Virginia police officer to dismiss a lawsuit filed on behalf of a man who was arrested as he was engaged in a First Amendment protest against President Obama while lawfully carrying a rifle. Rutherford Institute attorneys are also challenging an assertion by police that Brandon Howard was not actually under arrest, even though he was detained by police at gun point, handcuffed against his will and transported against his will to a local police station. Why I'm Afraid of the Police. When American citizens exercise their rights, such as refusing that the passenger must identify him/herself with no cause or reason, officers often escalate the situation, forcing the "suspects" out of the vehicle, followed by a search and seizure, as well as a man-handling. A lot of times officers interpret actions such as "Am I free to go?" as suspicious and taunting. The reality is that the citizen is often protecting himself from further accusation, and simply exercising his/her rights. The individual does not have to answer the question, "Do you know how fast you were going?" The result is often being slammed up against your vehicle and groped, in the end violating your rights and conscious [sic]. Academics, Magazine Confirm Big City Police Are "Disappearing" Crime. I've been mocking the Chicago PD's numbers for three years because they were so manifestly phony. Going back to Police Superintendent Jodi Weis in 2009, for over 30 months, the CPD would report astronomical numbers of shootings and murders every month, even for Chicago, while asserting that "overall crime is down." As a practical matter, it is impossible for shootings and murders to remain constant or rise, while crime overall declines. Fabrication of evidence: Falsified records: Former detective testifies: So much for credibility... The Editor asks... Misbehavior and other objectionable traits
Missouri officers accused of pulling over women, searching phones for nude pictures. Two Missouri police officers were indicted separately this week and accused of similar crimes — pulling over women and searching their phones to find nude photos. The indictments of former Missouri State Highway Patrol officer David McKnight on Tuesday and former Florissant, Missouri, officer Julian Alcala on Wednesday were unrelated, but the indictments spelled out similar allegations. Both men face federal charges accusing them of depriving the rights of several women, and destroying evidence. Atlanta Sheriff Called For Backup Because Burger King Got His Order Wrong. Atlanta sheriff is under fire for calling backup to a Burger King after staff got his order wrong and asked officers to get the manager's name. Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens Sr. called for backup at a Burger King after receiving an incorrect order. In body camera footage, he asked officers, "Hey, do me a favor. I need to get — all I need is the owner name of whoever owns this d··· facility or the manager." Owens explained his order issue, stating, "I wanted her [passenger] a Whopper, no mayo, cut in half, right? I don't need no d··· money back no more. I just need to find out who owns this place so I can do an official complaint to complain about the service." [Video clip] What does it take to get fired as a Mercer Island police officer? A Mercer Island police officer is under investigation for two incidents, one involving a prank with a sex toy and another an apparent abuse of power. According to FOX 13 Seattle, Todd Roggenkamp found a sex toy in a Park-and-Ride lot and placed it on another officer's patrol car without his knowledge. The officer allegedly drove around the community for several hours with the toy attached to his vehicle. Roggenkamp later moved the toy to the truck bed of another officer's personal vehicle. During the investigation, Roggenkamp admitted he thought the prank was funny but acknowledged it was inappropriate. In an earlier incident, Roggenkamp attempted to use his rank to secure the release of his wife, Jennifer, after her arrest following a night of drinking. California Cop Enters A Woman's House Without A Warrant, Then Declares He Now Owns The House. Ask any lawyer and they'll tell you that it's vital that you know your basic constitutional rights, especially when it comes to dealing with law enforcement. A recent viral video underlines just how important this is. A woman's encounter with a police officer quickly crossed lines into territory many say was not just illegal, but unconstitutional. The video shows a cop barging into a woman's home without a warrant and declaring, 'I own your house now.' [Video clip] Tennessee Bureau of Investigations Raids Home of Millersville Police Chief. The assistant police chief of a Nashville suburb has taken to social media to warn about some serious corruption at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), Tennessee's version of the FBI. Millersville Assistant Police Chief Shawn Taylor says his department and his home were raided by the TBI after the Millersville Police Department uncovered crimes involving high-profile individuals tied to mortgage fraud, narcotics trafficking, election fraud and human trafficking. The corruption, Taylor says, extends far beyond Millersville, Nashville and even the state of Tennessee. And yet whoever is running the TBI is using the state agency to commit lawfare against local law enforcement for simply doing their jobs. Taylor says the crime ring involves members of the U.S. Congress, state attorneys general, other law enforcement agencies and even BRICS nations, particularly communist China. You Won't Believe What Toronto's First Black Female Police Superintendent Got Caught Doing. The first black female police superintendent of Toronto, Canada was demoted after she reportedly admitted to helping several black police officers cheat in order to get promoted. According to The Toronto Star, Supt. Stacy Clarke leaked confidential exam questions to six black police officers and "played the lead role in perverting their moral compasses," a police tribunal heard. The tribunal ruled this as "extremely serious" misconduct. "Honesty and integrity are non-negotiable character traits of a police officer. Superintendent Clarke's actions demonstrated both were absent," tribunal adjudicator Robin McElary-Downer reportedly said. [Tweet] [...] Reportedly, Clarke suggested that it was an "open secret" that senior officers help their favorites get promoted. Going forward, Clarke must reapply to become superintendent again. Clarke's supporters said that she will never again regain this title. Former police officer accused of killing pregnant girlfriend and staging it as a suicide. A former Massachusetts police officer has been accused of killing a woman he first sexually exploited when she was underage and then trying to stage the death as a suicide. Matthew Farwell was indicted Tuesday on charges he strangled Sandra Birchmore in early 2021 after she told him that she was pregnant and that he was the father. Birchmore was 23 years old at the time. South Carolina deputy charged with killing unarmed man and letting police dog maul innocent person. A deputy in South Carolina has been charged with voluntary manslaughter and assault after he fatally shot an unarmed suspect five times and his police dog mauled a different, innocent person, authorities said. State agents arrested former Florence County deputy Treyvon Jonathan Sellers on Wednesday. He was on leave after the May 26 shooting and was fired in July after an arrest in an unrelated domestic violence case. Texas Cop Gets Prison Time for Smuggling Drugs in Police Vehicle. A former Texas cop will spend more than ten years in prison for using his position to smuggle drugs and launder money. The former peace officer tried to claim that he had been doing undercover work while using his police vehicle to move drug loads across state lines, federal prosecutors said. U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal recently sentenced 50-year-old Mohammed "Alex" Ahmed Kassem to 121 months in prison on drug possession and money laundering charges during a hearing in Houston, Texas. A federal jury convicted Kassem earlier this year after a short trial. Kaseem had previously served as an investigator with the Waller County District Attorney's Office and tried to claim during his trial that he was working undercover investigations. Waller County is just west of the Houston metropolitan area. Two Tarrant County jailers indicted for murder in death of an inmate. Two Tarrant County Jail employees have been indicted for murder for their roles in the death of inmate Anthony Johnson Jr. The Tarrant County Sheriff's Office said in a statement Friday morning that detention officers Rafael Moreno, 37, and Lt. Joel Garcia, 48, were each indicted on a murder charge by a grand jury on Tuesday. Johnson, whose death was ruled a homicide by the county medical examiner, died during a struggle in the Tarrant County Jail in April. [Video clip] Police recruit who lost both legs in 'barbaric hazing ritual' sues Denver, paramedics and officers. A police recruit who had to have both of his legs amputated after losing consciousness and repeatedly collapsing during fight training at Denver's police academy is suing those who allegedly forced him to continue the "barbaric hazing ritual" after paramedics ignored warning signs. Victor Moses, 29, alleges in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that aggressive officers knocked him down multiple times in the second round of "fight day" last year, with one of them shoving him off the mat and causing him to hit his head on the floor. He said he was pressured to continue, with officers picking him up and setting him back on his feet, before paramedics standing by were asked to check him out, the lawsuit said. Ex-Florida [sic] police chief facing criminal charges one day after her resignation. Former Chattanooga Police Chief Celeste Murphy is now facing a 17-count indictment containing felony and misdemeanor criminal charges a day after she resigned from her position. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced Thursday that a Hamilton County Grand Jury returned the indictment after special agents started investigating her residency in April. "During the investigation, agents determined Murphy knowingly entered false information on several government documents related to establishing residency in Chattanooga, though swearing to their truth in signing the documents," the TBI said in a statement. Murphy, who was sworn in as police chief in April 2022 before resigning Wednesday, was charged with "one count of Illegal Voter Registration, one count of False Entries on Official Registration or Election Documents, three counts of False Entries in Governmental Records, three counts of Forgery, three counts of Perjury, and six counts of Official Misconduct," the TBI adds. Trooper with checkered FBI past convicted of child rape in Alabama. A former FBI agent was convicted Friday of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl while serving as an Alabama state trooper — a law enforcement job he landed even after he was kicked out of the FBI amid earlier claims that he raped a co-worker at knifepoint. Christopher Bauer's case, first detailed in an Associated Press investigation, showed how he was able to hide a checkered past and move from one law enforcement job to another with the help of an allegedly forged letter making it appear he was "eligible for rehire." Indiana Cop Used Facial Recognition Scans To Preform Non-Work-Related Searches. The use of Clearview's facial recognition tech by US law enforcement is controversial in and of itself, and it turns out some police officers can use it "for personal purposes." One such case happened in Evansville, Indiana, where an officer had to resign after an audit showed the tech was "misused" to carry out searches that had nothing to do with his cases. Clearview AI, which has been hit with fines and much criticism — only to see its business go stronger than ever, is almost casually described in legacy media reports as "secretive." But that sits badly in juxtaposition of another description of the company, as peddling to law enforcement (and the Department of Homeland Security in the US) some of the most sophisticated facial recognition and search technology in existence. Just like fire alarm tets: They're training you to ignore the alarms. Cops Psychologically Torture Man Into Falsely Confessing To Murdering His Dad. Footage released shows police psychologically torturing a man into giving them a false confession that he killed his father. Fontana, California police interrogated Thomas Perez Jr. for 17 hours and even threatened to kill his dog as they accused him of killing his dad. The police falsely claimed that his father was dead and they had his body which was at the morgue with a toe tag. Police tried convincing Perez that his mind was playing tricks on him and continuously lied to him so he would give them a false confession. After hours of torture and denying that he killed his dad, Perez eventually "confessed." Police were filmed laughing at him as he beat himself up over the false accusations. [Video clip] Houston Police Chief Resigns Amid Controversy. Houston Police Chief Troy Finner resigned on Tuesday after new developments in the 260,000 case controversy where incident reports went uninvestigated for eight years. When the story broke, Finner claimed he discovered cases were going uninvestigated when he was appointed chief in 2021 and immediately ordered the department to stop using it. An email thread newly obtained by KHOU found that the HPD command staff was notified of the issue in 2018. The thread included then-police chief Art Acevedo and Finner. In the email, Finner, the only one who replied, said, "This is unacceptable. Look into it and follow up with me," showing he was aware of the issue before he claimed to be. When news of the email broke, he released a statement saying he "had no recollection of it" until he was shown the email and he had been informed that it was included in the independent internal investigation, noting his lack of knowledge of it served as evidence of the true independence of the investigation. Deputy caught with 100 pounds of fentanyl was working for El Chapo's cartel, report says. The former Riverside County Sheriff's deputy who was allegedly caught with more than 100 pounds of fentanyl pills last year was nabbed as part of a high-profile investigation into the cartel once led by the drug lord known as "El Chapo," according to a report in the Press-Enterprise. Banning resident Jorge Oceguera-Rocha, 25, resigned his position as a correctional deputy after his arrest in September 2023. According to officials, he was driving his private vehicle in Calimesa when he was pulled over. Inside his car, investigators say they found a gun and 104 pounds of fentanyl pills. Missouri Police Officer Who Ran Anti-Crime Charity Indicted In $300,000 Fraud, Laundering Scheme. A Missouri police officer, Aaron Wayne McKie, 46, was indicted Tuesday for allegedly diverting over $300,000 in charitable donations he oversaw for personal use, Fox 4 reported. A federal grand jury indicted McKie with 14 counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering in an initially sealed case revealed after his arrest Friday, according to Fox 4. The investigation into McKie reportedly began in September 2023 when the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) uncovered potential fraudulent activities connected to the nonprofit. McKie served with the KCPD since April 2000, largely in the department's Crime Free Multi-Housing unit from 2002 to 2023, according to the outlet. He led Mid-America Crime Free, Inc. (MACF), a nonprofit which promotes anti-crime programs and training for the rental housing sector, from 2009 to 2023, The Kansas City Star reported. This Female Palm Beach Cop Was Fired And Now Being Sued For This Disgraceful Display. A former Palm Beach Gardens police officer, Bethany Guerriero, is facing a federal lawsuit after she pulled her gun on Ryan Gould, an unarmed man who had called 911 for assistance following an altercation at his apartment complex pool. Gould, who has since moved back to his home state of Illinois, is suing Guerriero and another officer, Joseph Strzelecki, claiming a violation of his civil rights, as reported by CBS 12. [Video clip] Reports Expose Disturbing Level of Corruption Among Capitol Police. Over the years, investigations and reports have revealed a disturbing culture of corruption, favoritism, and cover-ups among the leaders of the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP). With incidents dating back to the late 1990s, high-ranking officials, including assistant chiefs and deputies, have been implicated in various forms of misconduct including fraud, forgery, obstruction of justice, and others. A new Blaze Media investigation highlights some of the shadier aspects of the USCP, detailing a culture in which misconduct not only goes unpunished, but is often rewarded. "Corruption is endemic at the highest levels of the United States Capitol Police," the report reads. 2 Mississippi deputies sentenced for roles in 'Goon Squad' torture of 2 Black men. The second of six former Mississippi sheriff's deputies who admitted to the abuse and torture of two Black men in 2023 was sentenced Tuesday to more than 17 years in jail by a federal judge. Jeffrey Middleton — who plead guilty in August to a series of state and federal charges — is the second of what will be six guilty plea convictions this week by the former sheriff deputies after Middleton's former colleague, Hunter Elward, also was sentenced the same day to 20 years in prison. Michigan Detective Accused of Sending Nude Photos to Widow After Her Husband Committed Suicide. A Michigan State Police (MSP) detective is under investigation after a woman accused him of sending her unsolicited nude photos and videos. The ordeal occurred in 2020 after the tragic suicide of her husband. The detective assigned to the case allegedly abused his position to harass the victim. His alleged actions have traumatized the woman, while also drawing attention to the need for legislative efforts to prevent this type of digital misconduct. Albuquerque Officer Involved in Massive DWI Scam Resigns Before Facing Internal Affairs. A new development in the DWI scandal plaguing the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) has emerged. One of the officers suspected of being involved in a plot to extort residents has resigned as federal authorities continue investigating the matter. The scandal exposed a tangled web of alleged corruption within the APD's DWI unit as the community looks for accountability for those involved. Officer Honorio Alba Jr., one of those under investigation, decided to resign from his position prior to an interview with internal affairs. Mentally ill Alabama man jailed in 'the freezer' dies of hypothermia, ruled a homicide. An inmate in Alabama who had "serious mental and psychiatric needs" was reportedly put in a concrete tank known as "the freezer" before he died from hypothermia. The death has now been ruled a homicide, according to USA Today. Anthony Don Mitchell passed away on January 26, 2023, while in custody at the Walker County Sheriff's Department after spending two weeks "incarcerated under horrendous conditions" at the Walker County Jail. The institution is located in Jasper, about 40 miles north of Birmingham. Mitchell's mother, Margaret Mitchell, claimed in a 53-page lawsuit that officers at the jail deliberately exposed her 33-year-old son to freezing temperatures for more than 24 hours straight. She also claimed that the officers withheld medication, medical treatment, water, and even the toilet from her son. Exposed: Corrupt Albuquerque Cops Caught in DWI Extortion Scheme With Local Attorney. The police department in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is facing scrutiny from the Justice Department over an alleged DWI scheme perpetrated by police officers and an attorney. The story underscores the need for diligence in promoting transparency and accountability in law enforcement. The scam involves the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) collaborating with a defense attorney to extort money from residents accused of driving while under the influence. One of the reports chronicles the story of Carlos Smith, who was pulled over during a routine traffic stop for speeding. The officer's bodycam showed Officer Joshua Montaño's interaction with Smith, in which he subjected the motorist to a series of field sobriety tests that resulted in an unnecessary arrest. Police Officer Arrested for Allegedly Shoplifting While On Duty and In Uniform. A Mississippi police officer who was arrested Wednesday on a shoplifting charge was fired one day later. Officer Robin Conner was arrested at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in response to a complaint from Dick's Sporting Goods, according to WCBI-TV. Police Chief Joseph Daughtry said Conner was in uniform and was on duty at the time. "An employee observed them and detained the officer and called 911," Daughtry said, according to the Dispatch. Mississippi Police Killed Her Son, Then Buried Him in a Pauper's Grave Without Telling Her. Bettersten Wade had been searching for her missing adult son for seven months when she finally learned what happened to him. Just minutes after leaving home in March, 37-year-old Dexter Wade had been struck and killed by a police cruiser. Police didn't inform any family members about Dexter Wade's death, eventually burying him on the grounds of a penal farm. On March 5, Dexter Wade left his mother's home in Jackson, Mississippi, following an argument the two had over a broken window in the house. After not hearing from him for days, Bettersten Wade reported him missing to the local police. Bettersten Wade told NBC News that she had been hesitant to call Jackson police after an officer killed her brother in 2019 — an incident that resulted in the responsible officer being found guilty of manslaughter. Las Vegas officer gets 12 years for role in 3 casino heists, stealing nearly $165K. A Las Vegas police officer was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in federal prison for stealing nearly $165,000 in a trio of casino heists, including one in which he was found guilty of brandishing a department-issued weapon. Caleb Rogers, who has been on unpaid suspension in a solo jail cell since his arrest nearly 20 months ago, apologized before sentencing. His mother, Crystal Rogers, of Toledo, Ohio, told the judge that she was "not pleased" but that her son had full family support. Rogers, 35, brandished the gun during his arrest in February 2022 following a brief struggle with casino security officers in a parking lot not far from the Las Vegas Strip. One guard was so shaken he said he left the job shortly afterward and moved to a new line of work altogether. 17 Florida sheriff's deputies accused of stealing about $500,000 in pandemic relief funds. Seventeen Florida sheriff's deputies appeared in court Thursday on charges that they stole about half a million dollars in pandemic relief funds. The Broward County deputies, who are charged separately, are accused of a range of crimes, according to court records. Most are charged with wire fraud, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, though one deputy is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which has a maximum sentence of five years. California PD officers allegedly caught 'badge-bending' every time they get a civilian kill. In the Bay Area of California, former police captain John Whitney has finally reached a settlement with his former employer, Vallejo Police Department; in 2019, Whitney was terminated, shortly after blowing the whistle on questionable alleged behaviors in the workplace culture. As reported by the Los Angeles Times via Yahoo! News: ["]Whitney alleges in a lawsuit filed against the city and his former employers in 2020 that he was fired after he told Vallejo City Manager Greg Nyhoff, Mayor Bob Sampayan and then-City Atty. Claudia Quintana that members of the Police Department were bending the corners of their badges to commemorate every time an officer killed a civilian.["] According to the report, Whitney joined the department in 2000, eventually earning the rank of captain in 2015, which was around the time "badge-bending" first came to his attention; when a colleague was placed on administrative leave in 2019, he learned it was because of the practice. Whitney then reportedly asked commanding chief Andrew Bidou to look into the matter, who allegedly refused. Woman Goes To LAPD About Stolen Credit Card. One Of Them Stole It. Here's a short, scary video about a woman who's had thousands of dollars charged to her stolen debit card. Both Citibank and LAPD were unhelpful. Then she started investigating on her own, and discovered that store footage showed the perp was the LAPD officer she had handed her card to to bail out a relative. A Chicago Sex Scandal in Migrant Temporary Housing. No matter how many crimes occur in Chicago every day — carjackings, muggings, drug deals, political corruption — these rarely make the news, other than in reports of crime statistics. We hear numbers; we rarely learn the victims' names. There are just too many of them. It's the rarest of crimes — the incidents of severe police misconduct — that make the news. And the news of the day is a particularly disturbing story. The story broke on Thursday, July 6 that at least one Chicago police officer was being investigated for having sexual contact with illegal aliens (the press calls them "undocumented migrants," but we know what they mean), who were being housed in a police station in the North Lawndale neighborhood. The story grew by the hour, and by Friday, it was admitted that internal affairs was investigating at least four officers at the station in question, for sexual relationships with (allegedly) multiple girls sheltering there, at least one of whom is a minor, reportedly pregnant with a police officer's child. Virginia sheriff charged for allegedly giving out deputy badges for bribes worth over $70K. A Virginia sheriff faces federal fraud and conspiracy charges for allegedly giving deputy sheriff badges in exchange for money to fund his re-election campaign, according to CNN. Sheriff Scott Howard Jenkins of Culpeper County, Virginia, was named in a 16-count indictment along with three other businessmen who were accused of paying bribes to the sheriff. Small-town Pennsylvania officers kicked, punched and choked arrestees, indictment alleges. Three small-town Pennsylvania police officers collectively "kicked, punched, choked and otherwise used excessive force" in 22 arrests over a three-year period, according to a federal indictment unveiled Friday [6/16/2023]. The U.S. attorney's office accused Mount Carmel Borough Police Patrol Officer Kyle Schauer, 34, and two other former officers, former Lt. David Donkochik, 51, and Jonathan McHugh, 35, of violating civil rights in attacks between 2018 and 2021 that caused injuries. They were indicted Thursday. Caracas North: L.A. County sheriffs asked to show inspectors their gang tats. Amazing what happens when the police are demonized and nobody wants to be a cop. In Los Angeles County, they've got a real doozy of a problem — gangs turning up on the police side of the glass, inside the department itself. Female California police union exec, 64, is charged with running eight-year, global fentanyl operation from her gated community. A San Jose grandmother has allegedly been importing fentanyl from India and other countries into the U.S. and has been using her home as a base for the global drug operation. Joanne Marian Segovia, 64, is the executive director of the San Jose Police Officers' Association, and was charged with attempting to unlawfully import valeryl fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, federal prosecutors said in a statement Wednesday. If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in prison. Australia: Cop Who Brutally Body-Slammed A Peaceful Lockdown Protester Is Cleared In Court. A policeman who body-slammed a lockdown protester at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic has been cleared with his case being thrown out of court. Mobile phone footage of acting Sergeant Beau Barrett, 37, taking down Daniel Peterson-English was caught on camera at the Flinders Street train station in September 2021. Mr Peterson-English was part of an anti-vaccination mandate rally and was filmed talking to police before the 'sling-tackle' arrest. [Video clip] 11 East Cleveland officers indicted; videos show them beating, kicking suspects, destroying evidence. A rookie Elyria police officer was fired Wednesday after being charged with felony crimes in Cuyahoga County related to his former service as an East Cleveland police officer with video footage showing him assaulting suspects in two incidents. Elyria police officer Tristan Homan, 25, of Huron, was secretly indicted on charges of felonious assault, assault, interfering with civil rights and dereliction of duty by a Cuyahoga County grand jury on Feb. 28. The indictment was unsealed Wednesday [3/8/2023]. Jury awards $8.25M to Black mother, daughters handcuffed outside Castro Valley Starbucks for no apparent reason. A federal jury awarded a mother and her two daughters $8.25 million after they were unlawfully searched and handcuffed by Alameda County sheriff's deputies at a Castro Valley Starbucks on their way to taking one of the young women to a college math test in Berkeley. The women were not physically harmed by law enforcement, but the dollar amount of the award signals that the jurors felt the family's constitutional rights had been stripped from them because of the color of their skin. [Video clip] Cops Throw Handcuffed Suspect Face-First To The Ground, Busting His Face Open. An Aurora police officer is under investigation for an August incident in which he suddenly threw a handcuffed man to the ground, causing the man to bleed while escorting him out of the Medical Center of Aurora. The Aurora Police Department released body-worn camera footage of the incident, saying the footage had already been "released ... to the media in accordance with state law" but that they were "releasing the video to the public as part of our continued commitment to community transparency." The 7-minute-long video includes footage from the perspective of the officer who threw the suspect to the ground, as well as two other officers who were present. [Video clip] Civil rights lawsuit against Daytona Beach Police. A Volusia County man has filed a lawsuit against the Daytona Beach Police Department. Kary Jarvis says two officers violated his civil rights when they pulled him over for a traffic stop. An officer's body camera captured the whole incident. The two officers had minor injuries and Jarvis was arrested on multiple felony charges after the stop. But video of the incident led to a judge's written reprimand, saying the injuries resulted from the officer's illegal activity. [Video clip] Man froze to death after being locked in jail's kitchen freezer as punishment. A man froze to death while in police custody after he was locked in an Alabama jail's kitchen freezer as punishment, a new federal lawsuit alleges. The mother of Anthony Don Mitchell, 33, filed the lawsuit, alleging abuse and neglect leading to her son's death. According to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the Walker County Sheriff's Office requested an ALEA investigation of Mitchell's in-custody death that occurred at Walker Baptist Hospital on Jan. 26. [Video clip] A personal vendetta? Time to Police the Police Force. The events involving police actions in recent years illustrate these changes, and the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of police, following a seemingly standard traffic stop in early January is revealing a chain of failure in the police profession. These failures, unfortunately, seem to have become common now, more than sporadic. [...] Common sense tells that, those five officers charged in Nichols' death did not become killer police overnight. One of the five, Demetrius Haley, in fact, had been sued for beating a prison inmate while employed as a correction officer at the Shelby County Corrections Department in 2015. Thus, the first and most obvious question directed to the Memphis police department is: Did the department have any knowledge of those five officers' violent tendencies before and after their hiring? What precautions had been given to their violent tendencies in the process of their hiring and job assignments? Chicago police officer beats man in holding cell as another cop holds him down. Damien Stewart admits he has made mistakes in the past, which includes breaking the law, but the 31-year-old man said he never did anything to deserve a beating from two Chicago police officers while in a holding cell at the 4th District almost four years ago. "They struck me. I don't know why they struck me. I didn't say anything, or make any aggressive movements," Stewart said. Stewart said it all started with a traffic stop at the corner of 75th and Stoney Island during May 2019. [Video clip] Our Blue Problem. Once again, the Left has taken bad policing as an excuse for riots. Tyre Nichols was clearly terrified that what happened to George Floyd was going to happen to him, and it did, leaving us in the perverse position of having to say, "Thank God they were all Black." The Usual Suspects have erupted regardless, triggering disturbances and riots across the country. The standard declamations involving racism and "White supremacy," utterly senseless or not, have been trotted out as always. The American Left has sensed yet another opportunity to destabilize and destroy, and have leapt on it. Of course, racism has nothing to do with it. Instead, the cops, like so many other institutions in recent years, have encountered a technological revolution that they don't understand and for which they are ill-prepared. That technology consists of cheap digital video cameras and a network — the Internet — to distribute the resulting footage nationwide and beyond. Videos of rogue cops abusing their authority and committing crimes against the public have become staple viewing on YouTube, and to a lesser extent other services. Numerous YouTube channels now exist devoted to documenting police misconduct in video format. Affirmative-action Answer? Black Cops [are] More Likely Than White Cops to Shoot Blacks. Black and Hispanic officers are actually more likely to shoot black suspects than white cops are, according to studies. What's more, this phenomenon could be attributable to — and certainly is exacerbated by — affirmative action policies, which subordinate merit to racial quotas in the name of increasing police departments' non-white representation. The January 10 death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols at the hands of five Memphis police officers might've been at least partially a result of this quota mentality, too. For at least two of those officers were hired under dumbed-down, leftism-inspired standards, according to a report. Of course, if having the melanated as masters of a metropolis could deliver what the Left longs for, we wouldn't now be discussing Memphis. After all, the city's police chief is black, its city council is majority black, its population is 64 percent black, and its cops are 58 percent black (and three percent Hispanic). Where is the rest of the Tyre Nichols story? First, what were five members of what was described as an elite violent crime unit doing on traffic duty that night when they probably should have been hunting down gang kingpins? These weren't run-of-the-mill rookies fresh out of the police academy. They were experienced officers tasked with the job of tracking down some of the most dangerous criminals in Memphis. In the interest of fairness, let's assume that these SCORPION cops were on some other official business when they happened to allegedly see Nichols "driving erratically." Any police officer might be forgiven for stepping in and checking out the driver to stave off the possibility of someone being killed in a DWI crash. Fair enough. So erratic driving is frequently observed by the police and there is a standard response when that takes place. The police would typically pull the driver over, ask for their license and registration, and then administer a sobriety test. But as can be seen in the opening seconds of the video, these cops didn't do that. They rushed the car and they were already screaming at Nichols. As soon as the car was unlocked, they yanked open the door and dragged the driver out and onto the pavement. Memphis police shut down SCORPION unit whose officers are charged in death of Tyre Nichols. The Memphis Police Department Saturday announced that it has "permanently deactivated" its SCORPION unit, one day after the release of shocking video which showed the violent arrest of Tyre Nichols earlier this month. All five former officers involved in Nichols' arrest, who have since been charged with second-degree murder in his death, were part of that unit. The decision came after Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn "CJ" Davis met with members of the unit Saturday "to discuss the path forward for the department and the community in the aftermath of the tragic death of Tyre Nichols," police said in a statement. Officials came to the conclusion that it was "in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate the SCORPION Unit," the statement read. It was not race, but bad policing that led to deadly beating of Tyre Nichols. The release of the videos from the lethal arrest of Tyre Nichols, 29, is shocking for its lack of professional tactics and procedures. This looks like adrenaline-filled rage ... from the officers. At certain points, it is the suspect who sounds to be trying to de-escalate the situation. It is unfortunately not unique. In physical encounters, officers can escalate violence and lose control with lethal consequences. The footage helps establish a number of legal points. The force is clearly and undeniably excessive. It was a complete breakdown of training and supervision. CNN's Race-Baiter Van Jones Blames Racism for Black Cops Beating Tyre Nichols to Death. On the night of January 7th, 2022, in the city of Memphis, five Black men wearing badges and sidearms, who swore an oath to serve and protect, did none of those things. Instead, those now-fired police officers beat Tyre Nichols so badly that he died, from their multiple kicks and punches, in the hospital days later. Tyre Nichols was also a Black man. The difference was, the only criminals on the street that fateful night were wearing badges. One need only watch the video once, to see that what those men did to Nichols was utterly unjustified and criminal. UK Gov't Cover-Up Evidence of Massive Pedophile Ring Within Met Police. The British press and government have been accused of covering up evidence of a massive pedophile ring operating within the Metropolitan Police. Two retired Met police officers have been charged in connection with the huge pedophile ring, which has also been linked to the suspicious death of a serving chief inspector. Richard Watkinson, a West London Met police officer, was found dead at his home in Buckinghamshire last week. According to The Telegraph: The 49-year-old had been due to answer bail on the day he was found dead and was to be charged with a string of child sex image offences. Two former Scotland Yard officers have now also been charged as part of the same investigation and are due to appear in court next month. Massachusetts police officer arrested after allegedly crashing an unmarked police cruiser while driving drunk. A detective from Everett, Massachusetts is in hot water after she allegedly crashed a take-home police vehicle while driving under the influence on Monday night. According to WBZ-TV, detective Sarah Nawoichik was allegedly driving home after a party Monday night when she crashed an unmarked police cruiser into a parked SUV on Union Street in Everett. The force of the collision drove the SUV into a third car, which in turn was pushed onto the sidewalk and also damaged. Thankfully, although Nawoichik was briefly treated and released from a local hospital, no one was seriously injured in the incident. WBZ also reports that even though Nawoichik admitted at the scene that she "may have had a drink" earlier in the night, she was not required to take either a field sobriety test or a breathalyzer test at the scene. Cop sexually abuses teen, so government launches probe of parents! A court case has developed in Missouri that raises the question of whether county officials are allowed to retaliate against the parents of a victim of abuse by one of its own employees. The situation is that a 15-year-old boy was sexually abused by a deputy in Scott County, Missouri. The parents threatened to sue the county because it allowed the deputy, who had been disciplined in previous employment situations, to have a job, and the authority of a deputy, in the county. According to a report from the Institute for Justice, which is working on the case on behalf of the family, "Then, a few weeks later, the family heard a knock at their front door and found a juvenile officer and two highway patrol troopers accompanying a child-welfare investigator from the Scott County Children's Division. The child-welfare investigator informed the parents that they were being formally investigated for child neglect, claiming that an anonymous source called the state's child abuse tipline and reported the family." NYC Cop Is Filmed Ripping Down Republican Gov Candidate Lee Zeldon Signs. Video going viral showing a person in an official uniform with a badge on Ocean Parkway in Flatbush tearing down flyers supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Lee Zeldin has supporters of the GOP nominee and many in the Orthodox Jewish community up in arms. The individual taking the video is heard claiming that NYC government officials have ordered city employees to tear down Zeldin campaign posters and flyers in an attempt to tamp down support for the surging Republican. [Video clip] Former Philly Sheriff's Deputy Allegedly Sold Guns Used In School Shooting. Law enforcement arrested the former Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sheriff's deputy on Oct. 19 in connection with the unlawful sale of firearms that were allegedly used in a Sept. 27 school shooting in Roxborough, Pennsylvania, Fox News reported Friday. The former deputy, 29-year-old Philadelphia resident Samir Ahmad, was charged with firearms trafficking and selling firearms to a person unlawfully in the United States after his alleged sale of two semi-automatic pistols to a confidential informant. The sale allegedly took place while Ahmad. who became a sheriff's deputy in 2018, was still serving as a law enforcement officer, according to the DOJ release. Collin County detention officer fired. On Tuesday, October 11, 2022, officials announced that Collin County detention officer Tyler Moody was arrested for providing an inmate with a contraband phone. He was also subsequently fired from his position by the Collin County Sheriff. A detention officer discovered a cellphone and charger in an inmate's cell in the Collin County Jail on Monday, October 10. According to officials, Tyler Moody confessed to supplying the inmate with the phone. Moody, who has been a detention officer since October 2019, was charged with a third-degree felony for bringing prohibited substances and items to a correctional or civil commitment facility. [Video clip] Florida sex trafficking sting nabs 160 people including Georgia Deputy Police Chief Jason DiPrima. A sex sting operation that resulted in the arrests of 160 people also busted Georgia Police Officer Jason DiPrima. The Polk County Sheriff's Office announced on Friday that their week-long sting, called "Operation Fall Haul II," discovered at least two sex trafficking victims. Sheriff Grady Judd said during a press conference that there could potentially be more victims. "Our goal is to start services the moment that they are taken into custody and to treat them as what they are, victims, not as suspects in a criminal event," said Judd." Operation Fall Haul II" also led to the arrest of two Disney employees, a state corrections officer, several teachers and ex-Officer DiPrima. Tulsa Deputy Under Investigation For Shooting A Man Twice While Off Duty At His Home. An Adair County Sheriff's deputy is on leave Wednesday due to an investigation into an off-duty incident in Washington County, Arkansas. A video gained traction on Facebook showing Deputy Travis Adams in a heated argument with a gun in his hand. Toward the end of the video, the other man seems to shove Adams who then fires two shots at close range. The person who posted the video claims Adams was drunk at the time. [Video clip] Muslim Cop Who Tweeted Praise For Hitler Won't Lose His Job Or His Officer Of The Year Award. Cleveland's 2019 police officer of the year will keep his award and job after a months-long investigation into his anti-Semitic social media postings concluded without any charges being filed. Ismail Quran, who was the subject of a Cleveland police internal affairs unit investigation over "inappropriate social media content" that included praise for Adolf Hitler and the Hamas terrorist organization, will keep his job and not face any disciplinary consequences, according to information provided by the police department on Tuesday to the Washington Free Beacon. [Video clip] Polk County Prostitution Sting Nets Georgia Deputy Police Chief. A Georgia deputy police chief attending a polygraph training workshop in Orlando landed behind bars after Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said he was caught in a prostitution sting on Sept. 1. According to a Polk County Sheriff's Office arrest report, Jason DiPrima, 49 of Kingston, Georgia, was arrested on Sept. 1 for "soliciting a prostitute," which is a first-degree misdemeanor in Florida. He was arrested and booked into the Polk County Jail and later released on a $500 bond. The police report said that DePrima called an online ad for a prostitute, asked her rate and if she was available on the evening of Aug. 30. He then agreed to meet and have sex with the woman, who was an undercover detective, but told her he "got spooked" and asked to meet the following evening. Here's what you do if the ATF shows up at your door asking to see your guns. ATF shows up to your house looking for a gun you are "not permitted to own," what do you do? Well, you could call the cops like this Ohio resident did. Here's what happened (language warning): [Tweet with video clip.] The Editor says... Annoyed Cop Brake-Checks Motorcyclist. A video shared online shows a motorcycle riding behind a Dodge Charger, which turned out to be an unmarked police vehicle belonging to the Florida Highway Patrol's Davie district. We don't know what has happened before, and the speedometer on the motorcycle is obscured, so it's safe to assume that the biker was above the speed limit. But what happens next has made many people angry, as shown by the thousands of comments to the video. As the biker closes in and prepares to overtake the car, the officer brake-checks the bike once, probably as a light warning for what was next. The motorcycle is far behind at this time, so nothing bad happens. Probably not satisfied with this, the cop first accelerates and then brakes hard in the middle of the highway while at the same time engaging the police warning lights. Caught by surprise, the biker is left with no options and crashes into the back of the car. [Video clip] The Editor says... Video Shows Cop Execute Man With A Bullet To Back Of The Head Before He Could Comply — No Charges. It's been over a month since a Houston police officer shot and killed 29-year-old Jalen Randle and the officer who killed him with no warning is still on the job and has not been charged. Last month, video was finally released and this week, his family is demanding that the officer who killed their son face charges. The family correctly asserts that the video shows Randle's death was entirely unjustified and they are now filing a lawsuit. Alabama Corrections Officer Helps Convicted Murderer She Fell In Love With Escape Prison. Authorities are still searching for an Alabama corrections officer and inmate who escaped on Friday, but WAFF reports new details have been released involving the incident. Investigators confirmed that Vicky White and Casey White had a relationship at the Lauderdale County Detention Center, one that inmates called "special." That relationship has been confirmed through independent investigation, WAFF reported. On Tuesday, the U.S. Marshals Service released a statement to local police departments detailing what car the two may be driving. [Video clip] New Jan. 6 Bodycam Videos Show DC Police Officer Assaulting Unconscious Protester. A District of Columbia police officer used a large wooden stick to strike the body and head of protester Rosanne Boyland three times as she lay motionless on the ground on Jan. 6, 2021, according to bodycam footage from several officers obtained by The Epoch Times. Use-of-force expert Stanley Kephart, upon reviewing the previously unreleased footage, concluded that the three full-force blows by D.C. police officer Lila Morris constituted a felony assault with intent to cause great bodily harm. Kephart called Morris's use of force "indefensible" and the internal-affairs investigation of Boyland's death a "clear and convincing coverup." "I think that the first thing that occurred is an assault under the color of authority by Morris," Kephart told The Epoch Times. "That is a crime, an arrestable offense." Syracuse Cops Under Fire For 'Terrorizing' 10 Year Old Accused Of Steal A Bag Of Potato Chips. Police in Syracuse, New York, were caught on camera arresting a young black boy for stealing a bag of chips. The shocking video was caught on camera as at least four officers on the upstate force were seen dragging the 10-year-old boy, forcing him into a waiting patrol car. The youngster appeared to be deeply traumatized by the entire incident and was crying and screaming as he had his hands placed behind his back and was frog-marched towards the waiting police car. The video ends with the child crying hysterically as he sits in the back of a police car. [Video clip] Guy Gets Attacked in the Parking Lot by the NY Cop He's about to File a Report On. Alexander King didn't like how he was treated when Brewster police Officer Fernando Quinones gave him a traffic ticket one afternoon last fall. So King went to police headquarters to file a civilian complaint against Quinones, prompting a confrontation in the parking lot that ended with King's arrest. A short video recording of the encounter, made by King, appears to show Quinones with his hand at King's neck and raises questions about the officer's account in the criminal charges. [Video clip] Cop Illegally Breaks Down a Door and Enters a Home Claiming 'Glass Hit Me'. This cop clearly has a Napoleon complex, not only was he the reason the glass from the front doors window broke on him after trying to stop the homeowner from slamming it in his face, he was the one escalating the entire situation by breaking down the door and holding a man at taser-point. All that over a citation. This cop needs to go! [Video clip] Las Vegas police officer now accused of three casino heists. A Las Vegas police officer who was arrested last month for attempting to rob a casino on The Strip has been charged this week in federal court in connection with two other casino robberies, U.S. prosecutors said. The federal criminal complaint filed Friday accuses Caleb Rogers, 33, of arming himself in three heists dating back to November with the same .357-caliber service revolver that belonged to the Las Vegas Metro Police Department. Rogers, who has been a Las Vegas officer since 2015, is accused of stealing at least $90,000 during the three holdups, including nearly $79,000 when he demanded money at the cashier cage at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino's sportsbook on Feb. 27. 'Erosion of trust': Tensions bubble between House Republicans and Capitol Police. Outside of Washington, Republicans take pride in supporting police officers and shielding them from calls to defend their departments. But in the U.S. Capitol, tensions are rising between Capitol Police and members of the minority party. Some Capitol Police changes were implemented in response to security failures that allowed a mob to breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. But a number of incidents, from the installation of metal detectors outside the House floor to alleged questioning of a staff member about legislative notes written on a whiteboard, have some Republicans feeling as if they are under surveillance or being treated as perpetrators of violence. Texas grand jury indicts 19 police officers over protests in Austin. A Texas grand jury indicted 19 Austin police officers on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for their actions during 2020 protests over racial injustice that spread nationwide following the killing of George Floyd, according to people familiar with the matter. Multiple people spoke to The Associated Press Thursday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly. Austin Police Association President Ken Cassidy confirmed 19 officers are facing charges but did not have details. It ranks among the most indictments on a single police department in the U.S. over tactics used by officers during the widespread protests — methods that led to the resignation or ouster of several police chiefs across the country. D.C.'s Met police exonerate their own for beating an unconscious woman to death. Last year, without even bothering to interview him, the Capitol Police instantly exonerated Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, the man who shot an unarmed Ashli Babbitt in cold blood. Now we've learned that the Washington, D.C. police force's Bureau of Internal Affairs has exonerated a police officer who beat an unconscious woman to death. You know, as I do, that if the two dead women had been Black leftists, instead of White Trump supporters, the outcome of these two investigations would have been very different. New Zealand Police are Purposely Inciting Peaceful Protests by Assaulting them and then Arresting them. Police in New Zeland have adopted China's strategy to deal with protesters, stand directly in front of them and begin pushing and shoving them until they push back, once they do then you beat and arrest them. The tyrannical leader of New Zealand is hellbent on controlling every aspect of peoples lives, mandating the vaccine and then targeting those who refuse it by denying them basic human rights. These protests are another example of people who are fed up with their freedoms being stripped by governments who care more about big pharma's profits than their own citizens. [Video clip] New Footage Shows Police Sgt. Choking a Female Officer who Stopped him From Pepper Spraying a Handcuffed Man. A Sunrise Police sergeant is under investigation after body camera footage showed him putting his hand on another officer's throat. Sgt. Christopher Pullease has been relieved of supervisory responsibilities and is the subject of an internal affairs investigation following the Nov. 19 incident, Sunrise Police Chief Anthony Rosa said in a statement Friday [1/14/2022]. [Video clip] 5 Hennepin Co. commissioners call for Sheriff Hutchinson's resignation. Five out of the seven Hennepin County commissioners are calling for Hennepin County Sheriff David Hutchinson to resign, and a sixth says it's up to the voters to decide his future. Commissioner Chris LaTondresse released a statement Thursday afternoon [1/6/2022] saying Hutchinson's decision to drink and drive "violated the laws he took an oath to upload and enforce." "At this point, I believe it is in the public interest for Sheriff Hutchinson to resign," he added. NYPD rookie gives lieutenant a lap dance at a wild holiday party now under investigation. An NYPD rookie got down and dirty at a raucous holiday bash for her Bronx precinct — giving her lieutenant a raunchy, caught-on-video lap dance at the wild event, according to footage and sources. The not-so-Finest moment infuriated department higher-ups, who have launched an investigation into Thursday's [12/16/2021] incident — and already booted the lieutenant to Transit, sources told The [New York] Post. The newbie female cop is seen in the seamy footage wearing a checkered black-and-white miniskirt, black cut-off tank top and black knee-high boots as she grinds on top of 44th Precinct Lt. Nick McGarry in the Yonkers bar, according to law enforcement sources and several videos. Drunk Off-Duty Cop Breaks Into Woman's Car, Ransacks It, Leaves Phone Behind, Then Comes Back With Other Cops To Retrieve It. Law enforcement agencies in two counties are investigating after a woman filed a complaint accusing an off-duty deputy with the Passaic County Sheriff's Office of entering her parked car outside a restaurant, ransacking the vehicle while intoxicated and leaving his mobile phone behind. The woman also posted the allegations in a series of TikTok videos that included recordings of the sheriff's deputy having his phone returned to him the following morning outside Franklin Steakhouse and Tavern on Passaic Avenue in Fairfield. She accused police of treating the man differently because he works in law enforcement. Fairfield Police Chief Anthony Manna said Wednesday the incident is under investigation and denied his officers showed favoritism to another member of law enforcement. [Video clip] Suburban New York cop among half-dozen charged in sex-trafficking of underage girls from Mexico. A suburban police officer and five Queens residents were charged Tuesday with luring underage Mexican girls to New York and forcing them into prostitution, with the corrupt cop accused of accepting sex from the victims as payment for his work as a law enforcement mole. The long-running operation, dating back almost 20 years, involved a pair of Queens-based schemes: the Ced-Hernandez sex trafficking organization brought the young women to New York with false promises of a better life, authorities charged in a 14-count Brooklyn Federal Court indictment. The Godinez prostitution operation then drove the victims to meet with clients including Wayne Peiffer, a Village of Brewster police officer in Putnam County who also provided the ring with "advance warning of law enforcement operations," authorities said. Dead rats, death threats, destroyed careers. How law enforcement punishes its whistleblowers. To many in law enforcement, snitching against another cop is a betrayal that can't go unpunished. Those who enforce this code — the blue wall of silence — have stuffed dead rats and feces into fellow officers' lockers. They've issued death threats, ignored requests for backup, threatened family members and planted drugs on the officers who reported misconduct. Department leaders often condone these reprisals or pile on by launching internal investigations to discredit those who expose misconduct. Whistleblowers have been fired, jailed and, in at least one case, forcibly admitted to a psychiatric ward. The pattern of behavior is both destructive and widespread throughout policing, a USA TODAY investigation found. Departments across the country have adopted an unofficial system of retaliation that allows misconduct to persist and helps police leaders avoid accountability. Cop with $15K in unpaid tolls, fees tried to dodge trouble by flashing NYPD badge. A detective who racked up more than $15,000 in unpaid tolls and fees was busted for driving his unregistered vehicle in Brooklyn — and tried to get out of trouble by flashing his NYPD badge, sources said. Det. Yosef Aisaa was stopped in his Land Rover by Bridge and Tunnel officers just before 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday [10/5/2021] after he crossed the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge where cops spotted the unregistered vehicle, according to an MTA spokesman. The New York State DMV had stripped the cop of his registration for "persistent toll violations" that totaled $1,348.27 in unpaid tolls and $14,100 in fees, the spokesman said. But Aisaa, who is assigned to the 70 Precinct in Brooklyn, was "somewhat arrogant" when the Bridge and Tunnel officers told him they needed to impound his vehicle, MTA sources told The [New York] Post. Dozen FBI officers raid NYPD union office and home of its firebrand president Ed Mullins 'in connection with corruption investigation'. The FBI has raided the office of one of New York City's main police unions along with the home of its firebrand chief Ed Mullins, as part of an investigation that may be tied to mismanagement of funds. Close to a dozen federal agents carried boxes of paperwork out of the Sergeants Benevolent Association's (SBA) headquarters in downtown Manhattan Tuesday morning [10/5/2021], according to video from the scene. They descended on Mullins's Long Island home later in the day, according to the New York Daily News. FBI raids NYPD sergeants union headquarters in 'ongoing investigation': de Blasio. FBI agents raided the headquarters of the NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association Tuesday morning [10/5/2021], Mayor Bill de Blasio said. It was unclear why the FBI searched the SBA office, located on Worth Street in Lower Manhattan. De Blasio said the raid was part of an "ongoing investigation," but declined to offer further details. The SBA represents 13,000 active and retired sergeants of the NYPD. Watch As Melbourne Stormtroopers Swarm And Beat Shoppers, Protesters End Up Later Getting Some Justice. This was the chaotic scene this weekend in Melbourne as freedom-loving Aussies tried to reclaim their rights but were met with an army of stormtroopers who assaulted them for the crime of shopping. The protesters did extract some payback later in the day when a large group threw stones and bottles at patrol cars, chasing them out of the area. Over 100 protesters were arrested and fined. [Video clip] Rebel News in Victoria Hold Police Accountable, and The Police Do Not Like It. The Police in/around Melbourne Australia (State of Victoria) are becoming very uncomfortable that people are recording their beatings and brutality and posting them on social media. In an effort to stop media reporting on the continued police actions, law enforcement is now attempting to block media from being present. Kudos to Avi Yemini and Rebel News for refusing to acquiesce to the police thug tactics. Watch this insufferable exhibition of lawless cops with guns and badges attempting to intimidate Rebel News. [Video clip] Los Angeles County sheriff's unit accused of targeting critics, political opponents: report. An obscure unit in the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department has been accused of targeting critics and opponents of Sheriff Alex Villanueva, leading to calls for an investigation into an alleged abuse of power. The purpose and actions of the Civil Rights and Public Integrity Detail unit of the department are largely kept from the public and even other units, The Los Angeles Times reported. However, the investigations being handled by the unit have been discovered to be centered around critics of Villanueva. The Times reported that L.A. County Inspector General Max Huntsman and a nonprofit that oversees the sheriff's department have all been subject to investigation by the unit. Huntsman is one of Villanueva's harshest critics. Our 'Boy Who Cried Wolf' Government. A 74-year-old woman lies on her back, writhing in pain and clearly in distress on a blacktop road in Melbourne, Australia. Two police officers stand over her. Are they coming to her rescue and bringing her to her feet? No, they're dousing her with two separate streams of pepper-spray while keeping their free hands on military batons in case the tortured septuagenarian somehow springs up in attack mode to wrestle down the pair of twenty-something jackboots "just following orders." The woman had been participating in a freedom march against Australia's COVID-1984 insanity, but the government proved that Grandma was no match for goon squad brute force. Forget chivalry and common sense. [...] You can't scare schoolchildren into wearing face masks for the next ten years in order to "save Granny" while getting caught clubbing and macing Granny in the street. That contradiction just won't do. Yet contradictions abound, and normal people are opening their eyes long enough to notice. That's no good for the powers that be. [...] An avalanche of mendacity and treachery landing on them all at once, and the narrative engineers have real problems on their hands. You knock Granny on the pavement and nearly kill her for "her own good," however, and the jig is up. Cop Threatens American Patriot That He Will Arrest Him If He Wears His MAGA Hat. There have been many hits on the Right since Trump took office. [...] Now we're in a different phase of the ongoing color revolution against the American Republic. Famous and/or influential Patriots being purposefully shamed or attacked. [...] A video that was sent to us this morning shows a police officer as he threatens a patriot for wearing his MAGA hat. [Video clip] From what our team can tell in the video, it looks to be a voting location. There are laws against campaigning at the polls. We don't necessarily agree with those laws, but they have been implemented by both Democrats and Republicans. The law states that a poll worker is supposed to tell you to take the hat off. But then again the cop told the guy he will harass him for having the hat on, he even basically told the guy he would be released and there's no crime at the end of it. What context could possibly make his action justified? Video Emerges From 2019 Showing Louisiana Trooper Mercilessly Beating Black Driver With Flashlight Because Of Lawsuit Files. A white Louisiana State Police trooper, who resigned after being accused of simple battery in two separate incidents, also repeatedly struck a Black man with a flashlight during a 2019 traffic stop, resulting in the man suffering several broken bones. Body camera footage shows former trooper Jacob Brown arriving at the scene in Monroe, Louisiana, with motorist Aaron Larry Bowman, 46, already on the ground and in the process of being detained. Brown then pulls out his flashlight and strikes Bowman several times across his body as other law enforcement officers attempt to place Bowman in handcuffs. Bowman sustained three broken ribs, a broken wrist and jawbone and needed six staples to close a head gash, according to his lawyers, who released the body camera footage to NBC News. [Video clip] Providence Police Officers Suspended After Bodycam Shows Them Beating Teens Bloody And Spitting On Them. Providence police on Wednesday released a trove of body-camera videos offering a look at their response to a July 9 incident that prompted the attorney general's office to launch a criminal investigation of officers' use of force. The 41 videos, totaling more than seven hours' worth of footage, show officers chasing three teenagers driving a BMW through Providence, the teens allegedly pointing BB guns at people and police. [Video clip] Police Captain Found Passed Out Drunk In Traffic, Other Cops Don't Test Him, Let Him Drive Off. 9 Investigates why a Seminole County Sheriff's Office captain wasn't given a medical evaluation or sobriety test after being found passed out in traffic, his engine running and his foot on the brake, at a Seminole County intersection. Channel 9 investigative reporter Karla Ray was the only one to obtain video of the incident, which shows a responding deputy giving the captain a fist bump before sending him on his way. [Video clip] Philadelphia homicide detectives 'offered informants sex and drugs in exchange for false testimonies to secure convictions,' bombshell report claims. Philadelphia homicide detectives serving on the force during the 1980s offered jailhouse informants sex and drugs in exchange for testimonies — true or false — in murder cases, according to an explosive new report. The Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday [7/20/2021] published a detailed account documenting a police practice known as 'sex for lies,' which one legal expert called a 'shock the conscience' due process violation. A dozen current and former inmates described in interviews and court records how detectives Ernest Gilbert and Larry Gerrard, who have since died, would allegedly bring them to the Police Administration Building, nicknamed the Roundhouse, and allow them to have sex with women in interview rooms in exchange for their cooperation in homicide cases that the pair were eager to close. Two Tamil Nadu cops take bribe through Google Pay. [Scroll down] Both were on duty at the Asanur check post on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border on July 2. They intercepted a car coming from Karnataka. The duo found bottles of liquor in the car which were being smuggled from Karnataka. "They released the car without seizing the Karnataka liquor," said a police officer at the Erode district SP office. He also said that the duo had accepted bribes from the occupant in the car which was transferred through Google Pay. Unarmed Hunter Brittain Was Killed By Police But Unfortunately For His Family, He's White. Chances are you haven't yet heard about 17-year-old Hunter Brittain who, despite being unarmed, was shot dead by police during a traffic stop. It's not that this isn't a shocking and tragic story, but there has been a complete national media blackout on the incident because, unfortunately for Brittain's family, they're all white. Brittain was pulled over in the middle of the night last week in Cabot, Arkansas, for reasons that remain unclear. According to 16-year-old Jordan King, who was in the vehicle with Brittain, the truck was having gear trouble and would not remain in park, so Brittain exited to place a container behind a tire in order to keep it from backing up into the squad car. That's when the deputy fired at Brittain, striking him in the neck. King said he never heard the officer command Brittain to halt or return inside the truck. An investigation is underway. Former Irvine police officer gets a year in jail for stealing $68,000 by claiming unworked overtime. A former Irvine police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday [6/23/2021] and was immediately sentenced to a year in jail for stealing about $68,000 by putting in for overtime he never worked. Matthew Christian August, 49, of Aliso Viejo, was also placed on three years of formal probation upon pleading guilty to 34 felony counts of presenting a false claim and two felony counts of grand theft by an employee. August is scheduled to report on Aug. 20 to serve 364 days in jail. August will be applying for home confinement. Off-Duty NJ Cop Arrested After Pulling Gun During Road Rage Incident Caught On Cam. An off-duty Decherd Police officer was charged with aggravated assault after he allegedly pointed his department-issued handgun at a driver Sunday in Murfreesboro, a Rutherford County supervisor said. Mathew Ward, 31, of Cason Lane in Murfreesboro was charged after an investigation of the road rage case starting on Interstate 24, said Patrol Cpl. William Travis, who was the arresting officer. [Video clip] Former Florida Sheriff's Deputy Found Guilty of Planting Drugs on Motorists. A former North Florida sheriff's deputy was convicted Tuesday [5/18/2021] of planting drugs on innocent motorists. Following a week-long trial that included testimony from a dozen people who said they were framed, a jury found former Jackson County Sheriff's Deputy Zachary Wester guilty of 19 of 67 criminal charges, including racketeering, false imprisonment, fabricating evidence, official misconduct, and drug possession. The Tallahassee Democrat first reported in September 2018 that local prosecutors were dropping dozens of cases involving Wester after body cam footage appeared to show him planting a small baggie of meth in a woman's car during a traffic stop. The Democrat later published accounts by several other people who claimed they were framed by Wester during traffic stops. Florida cop charged with attempted Walmart shopping fraud, gets fired. A Florida police officer logged into a Texas woman's Walmart account and tried to spend $400 of her money on various items, police said. Jonathan Cain, 25, is charged with scheming to defraud the unidentified woman, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Investigators said he got her username and password from someone online. New Jersey police chief is demoted for offering cop a promotion in exchange for sleeping with his wife and underage daughter. A New Jersey police chief facing charges of insubordination over multiple accusations, including offering an officer a promotion in exchange for sex with his wife and daughter, should be demoted, a hearing officer has determined. Retired Judge Raymond A. Batten ruled that Vineland Police Chief Rudy Beu, 60, was guilty of insubordination, conduct unbecoming a public employee and neglect of duty as well as other charges. City officials wanted to suspend the chief for 180 days without pay as well as demote him, pressofatlanticcity.com reported. But in the April 23 written decision, Batten recommended that Beu be demoted to deputy chief. DC cops wreck their police vehicles while drag racing on duty: report. Two Washington DC officers crashed and totaled their police vehicles while drag racing on duty last week, a report said. The cops from the Metropolitan Police Department raced each other on Thursday at about 5 p.m. on Anacostia Avenue near Kenilworth Park, hitting speeds of at least 60 mph, Fox 5 DC reported, citing an internal email and sources. Commander Durriyyah Habeebullah ripped the officers' actions in the email sent to department management following the crash. City of Cedar Rapids to pay $8 million to Black man paralyzed by police officer. The City of Cedar Rapids announced on Monday [4/19/2021] that they would be paying Jerime Mitchell, a Black man who was paralyzed after a police officer shot him during a 2016 traffic stop, $8 million in a settlement. The settlement cancels a trial that was set to begin Tuesday and sets the record for most expensive payout over police misconduct allegations in Iowa history. The city's insurance provider, States Insurance, said in a statement that settling out of court was the best decision they could make in this situation. Hmm: DoJ won't charge Capitol officer in Babbitt shooting. Not unexpected, but this will generate plenty of controversy nonetheless. The Department of Justice declined to charge the US Capitol Police officer involved in the shooting of Ashli Babbitt, and might have even tacitly endorsed the officer's justification for using deadly force in the January 6th riot: [...] The question in any police shooting is whether lethal force was reasonable and justified in the situation. Babbitt was not herself armed, but the crowd had already seriously injured law-enforcement officers in other parts of the Capitol. This part of the mob tried smashing through the barricaded doors that led to the Speaker's Lobby, where members of Congress had sought shelter from the rioters. Two-Tiered Justice, DOJ Close Investigation into Murder of Ashli Babbitt With No Charges. Infuriating, and the timing of the DOJ announcement explains Biden on distract television today [4/14/2021]. Not only did the DOJ not prosecute the Capitol Hill police officer who murdered Ashli Babbitt, but they still refuse to name him. The sunlight upon the two-tiers of justice in the United States is at a supernova level of intensity. Decision Whether to Charge Capitol Police Officer in Shooting of Ashli Babbitt Is In. The decision of whether to charge the Capitol Police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt during the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6 is in. Perhaps there was never any question what the result would be. The Justice Department has announced that the officer will not face criminal charges. No Charges Against Officer Who Shot Ashli Babbitt: DOJ. The U.S. Capitol Police officer who shot dead an Air Force veteran during the tumultuous events on Jan. 6 will not be charged, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced April 14. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia and the DOJ's Civil Rights Division decided jointly not to pursue charges against the officer. The decision came after a "thorough investigation" into the shooting of Ashli Babbitt, a 35-year-old who joined others in storming the U.S. Capitol in Washington during a joint session of Congress in January. Babbitt was shot while trying to climb through a broken window into the Speaker's Lobby, adjacent to the House chamber. "Officials examined video footage posted on social media, statements from the officer involved and other officers and witnesses to the events, physical evidence from the scene of the shooting, and the results of an autopsy," the DOJ said in a statement. The Editor says... Officer Accused of Excessive Force Against Black Army Veteran Has Been Fired. One of the police officers involved in an incident in which a black veteran was pepper-sprayed during a traffic stop has been fired. The story elicited controversy when bodycam footage was released that showed the encounter, which occurred in December of last year. Fox News reported that "the town of Windsor said in a statement that it joined calls from election officials, including Gov. Ralph Northam, in requesting an investigation by Virginia State Police into the December 2020 encounter in which two Windsor officers were accused of drawing their guns, pointing them at U.S. Army second lieutenant Caron Nazario and using a slang term to suggest he was facing execution." Virginia cops 'threaten to execute' terrified mixed-race soldier in uniform during traffic stop, then pepper-spray him and his dog. A second lieutenant in the U.S. Army is suing two Virginia police officers over a traffic stop last December where officers drew their guns, pointed them at him and referenced the Green Mile to suggest he was facing execution before pepper-spraying him and knocking him to the ground. Body camera footage shows Caron Nazario, who is Black and Latino, was dressed in uniform with his hands held in the air outside the driver's side window of his new Chevy Tahoe as he told the armed officers: 'I'm honestly afraid to get out.' 'Yeah, you should be!' one of the officers — Joe Gutierrez — responded during the stop at a BP gas station in Windsor, Virginia. 2 Virginia Police Officers Threatened and Assaulted Service Member During Illegal Stop, Lawsuit Claims. Caron Nazario was driving his brand new SUV through the town of Windsor last December when he saw a police cruiser signal for him to pull over. The Army second lieutenant slowed down on U.S. Route 460, flipped on his turn signal, and looked for a lighted place to pull over because it was dark outside, according to a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Norfolk. Less than a mile away, Nazario saw a BP gas station. He drove his Chevrolet Tahoe into the parking area and stopped, the lawsuit said. In the meantime, Windsor Police Officer Daniel Crocker radioed he was attempting to pull over a vehicle with no rear license plate and tinted windows. He said the driver was "eluding police" and he considered it a "high-risk traffic stop," according to a report he submitted afterward and was included in the court filing. The written report acknowledged, however, that the SUV was traveling at a low rate of speed. Cop Resigns After Bodycam Footage Of His Stuffing Snow In Man's Mouth During Arrest Surfaces. An Ohio police officer who stuffed snow into the mouth of a man being arrested for domestic violence has resigned, interim Akron Police Chief Mike Caprez said during a Thursday news conference. The officer, John Turnure, submitted his resignation March 30. FOP Akron Lodge 7 issued a statement Thursday defending the actions of Turnure, who is white, during the arrest of Charles Hicks II, who is Black. The statement said Turnure's resignation was for "various personal and professional reasons" but it was not an admission of wrongdoing. [Video clip] Police Officer Shoots Blindly Into Closed Apartment Door. The incident occurred in September 2020. Apparently, an unarmed resident was hit by the bullets. Duluth Police Officer Tyler Leibfried will now face two felony charges after a recent Court Case hearing. [Video clip] There is a lot of arrogant nit-picking on both sides of this argument: Vancouver Cops Re-assigned To Desk Jobs After Posing With Dead Body While Laughing. The two Vancouver police officers who were videoed posing for photos in front of a dead man lying on Third Beach have been reassigned while investigations into their conduct take place. "As of yesterday [Monday 3/1/2021] morning, under Section 110 of the Police Act, the VPD has reassigned the two officers to non-deployable, administrative positions while the [Office of Police Complaint Commissioner] investigation is ongoing," said Simi Heer, VPD director of public affairs. "Any change in this status, will depend on the outcome of the OPCC investigation," she said. [Video clip] A New Orleans police officer groomed and raped a 14-year-old girl he was assigned to take to a rape kit exam, a lawsuit alleges. The mother of a 14-year-old girl has sued the city of New Orleans and a former police officer, alleging the officer groomed and raped the girl after he was assigned to take her to a children's hospital for a rape kit exam last year. The lawsuit, filed in federal court this week, said the police department dispatched Officer Rodney Vicknair to transport the girl to hospital on Memorial Day weekend of 2020. But while Vicknair and the girl sat in the waiting area, he showed the girl pictures on his phone of what he claimed was his 16-year-old daughter posing in bikinis and lingerie, according to the lawsuit. The lewd photos were just the beginning of a series of increasingly inappropriate encounters that would devolve into sexual assault and rape, the lawsuit alleged. Black officer is fired by Tampa police for using the N-word on bodycam and during an arrest. A black officer had been fired after a random audit of his bodycam captured him using the N-word multiple times, police have said. Delvin White was fired Tuesday [3/2/2021] for 'violations of policy that prohibit discriminatory conduct', according to disposition letter released by the Tampa Police Department. White — an eight year veteran of the department — was a resource officer at Middleton High School at the time of his firing.
Update: Six US Capitol Police officers have been suspended and 29 others are currently being investigated for their actions during the deadly DC riot. Six Capitol Police officers have been suspended and 29 others are currently under investigation for their conduct during the violent insurrection in Washington DC on January 6, officials have announced. The suspensions and investigations come as part of an internal probe at the Capitol Police Department, under the direction of Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman. Among those suspended is a cop who was filmed posing for selfies with rioters inside the Capitol, Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat from Ohio, previously confirmed. Police Did the Capitol Killings. It is time to honestly examine the deaths which occurred at the Save America protest on January 6th, in Washington D.C. Despite Big Media's fabrications and fantasies, the truth is that the patriotic protesters did not kill anyone. In direct opposition to weeks of media reports, Trump's supporters were the only ones who were killed on that day and they were killed by wanton police violence. It looks like the situation was carefully orchestrated to get people killed, so that their deaths could be used to satisfy a nefarious political agenda. [Video clip] Violent false arrest in Texas. I was doing some grocery shopping at Walmart with my 3 year old son. When police approached me investigating a report of an intoxicated person harassing people in Walmart parking lot. When they asked for ID. I asked if my identity really mattered considering the call they were investigating. They said yes it does matter and started pressing me to comply. [...] Little did I know, the 3rd cop that walked up is one of the worst kind of tyrants you can cross paths with. He's a Rambo wannabe. The first 2 cops get to thank Rambo for the lawsuit all 3 of them are in. Hundreds Of Years In Prison Without Killing Anyone? Back in 2005, a serious amount of corruption was discovered inside the ranks of the Baltimore Police Department, centered around the Public Housing Drug Unit. They were tasked with identifying and arresting known drug traffickers, almost all of whom were associated with the city's many gangs. It's always sad when you discover cops that have gone bad, but some of these officers were particularly egregious. A couple of them set up their own private enterprise to enrich themselves by shaking down drug dealers, taking their money and "product" (which they later resold to other dealers) in exchange for not arresting them. Fortunately, their scheme was uncovered and the officers were put on trial and convicted. But the sentencing phase went in an unexpected direction. The two former officers were sentenced to a combined 454 years in prison. Now, more than fifteen years later, their attorneys are arguing that the sentence was grossly excessive and they should be released. Clay County Cop In Hot Water After Asking 14 Year Old For Bikini Pics. A Clay County School District police officer is on administrative leave, accused of exchanging inappropriate messages with who he believed to a 14-year-old girl. The allegations surfaced in a Tuesday Facebook Live video recorded by Nathan Waits, president of 'Waits List.' Waits tells Action News Jax his organization communicates with adults by posing as children on social media. In Tuesday's [12/8/2020] video, Waits is seen and heard confronting the uniformed officer at a Clay County school. [Video clip] 4 Investigates: List reveals 'alarming' picture of police misconduct in New Mexico. Police misconduct in New Mexico can often be shrouded in secrecy, but after examining hundreds of law enforcement records, the KOB 4 Investigates Team has learned that officers accused of everything from sex crimes to excessive force still have state certifications to be a cop. There are currently more than 100 police misconduct cases pending before the state's law enforcement oversight board known as the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy Board. The cases range from officers accused of serious crimes to lying and excessive force. Many have been fired, but some are still on the job. Shaker Heights patrolman fired for giving finger to BLM protesters got drunk to avoid interview with superiors. The Shaker Heights police officer fired for flipping the bird to a group of peaceful protesters got drunk before his pre-disciplinary interview, so he wouldn't be available to give a statement, according to a copy of his termination letter. The letter signed by Shaker Heights police Chief Jeffrey DeMuth lays out a point-by-point accounting of why the city opted to fire Cpl. Michael Spuzzillo in the wake of the Sept. 29 incident during a peaceful demonstration outside the presidential debate in Cleveland. Lawsuit: Kansas woman posed no danger when deputy killed her. A Kansas woman who was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy after refusing to pull over was unarmed and posed no danger to him or the public, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday [9/29/2020]. The court filing paints a different picture to that recounted by authorities following the fatal shooting in Wichita of 51-year-old Debra Arbuckle of Andover by Sedgwick County Deputy Kaleb Dailey in the early morning hours of Dec. 30, 2019. Authorities said at the time that the deputy fired several rounds after Arbuckle put her car into reverse and accelerated toward deputies. The sheriff's department said the deputy feared for his life. Agent: Video contradicts Georgia trooper charged with murder. Dash camera video contradicts a former Georgia state trooper's statement that he fatally shot a motorist fearing the man was trying to run him over, an investigator testified in court. Jacob Thompson is charged with felony murder and aggravated assault in the Aug. 7 death of Julian Lewis. Thompson was on duty with the Georgia State Patrol when he tried to pull Lewis over for a broken tail light in rural Screven County. When Lewis refused to stop, the trooper chased him and forced his car into a ditch, then shot Lewis in the head. NYPD cop charged with serving as secret agent of Chinese government. A NYPD cop and Army reservist with a "secret" security clearance betrayed fellow Tibetans in the Big Apple by spying on them and passing the intel on to a Chinese government handler, authorities said Monday [9/21/2020]. Baimadajie Angwang, who worked as a community affairs officer in the 111th Precinct in Queens, allegedly began acting on behalf of the People's Republic of China in May 2018 with an unidentified handler stationed in the Chinese consulate in Manhattan, according to a complaint unsealed in Brooklyn federal court. His contacts with the consulate began in 2014, the papers note. An Apology is Owed in Chicago. On June 11, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot held a news conference with new Chief of Police David Brown. She was livid. She announced that she had been contacted by the office of Congressman Bobby Rush and presented with videos recorded on a night of rioting following anti-police protests at the end of May over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The videos revealed thirteen policemen in Rush's office, two dozing, others making coffee and preparing popcorn. Bobby Rush, indignant and upset, spoke as well. He castigated the officers for their having had "unmitigated gall" to make themselves coffee and popcorn, "my popcorn in my microwave." The mayor accused these police officers of lounging in Rush's office as their colleagues were being pelted with rocks while trying to prevent vandalism and looting. She demanded that the unidentified officers come forward for reprimand. She lamented that such police behavior confirms the impression that officers didn't care about looting on the lower-income South Side, but only about the more affluent or high-profile locations. [...] And even if the Police Department had been called to the scene, was it a good use of thirteen personnel members to deploy them for hours to one office? San Jose police officer charged with using private security company to launder $18 million. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office has charged a San Jose police officer with using his private security company to commit insurance fraud, tax evasion, wage theft, and about $18 million in money laundering. Robert Foster, 47, the Morgan Hill owner of Atlas Private Security, self-surrendered on Thursday [7/30/2020] and will be arraigned on Nov. 30 at the Hall of Justice in San Jose on felony charges. Former cop sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for abuse of women. Former police Officer Mark Icker was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison Friday for using his position to coerce sex from women in Luzerne County. U.S. District Judge Malachy E. Mannion found an agreement for 12 years in prison reached by federal prosecutors and Icker's attorney, Bernard Brown, "insufficient" to address Icker's crimes. The judge also required Icker register as a sex offender — something the earlier agreement would have let him avoid. Cop sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexual abuse. A former Pennsylvania police officer has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison following accusations that he sexually abused women while on duty, according to reports. Mark Icker, of Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, was sentenced Friday after he pleaded guilty to two counts of deprivation of rights. The plea covered charges against him at the federal and local level, alleging that he solicited sexual favors from women in order to decrease penalties, the Times Leader reported. 'Staggering' number of Minneapolis cops seeking disability benefits. The continued surge of Minneapolis police officers seeking disability benefits after the George Floyd unrest is heightening concerns of a police staffing shortage amid a wave of violent crime. Ron Meuser Jr., the lawyer handling the claims, said his office met with an additional 43 Minneapolis cops this week who have retained him. That's in addition to the estimated 150 officers who Meuser said at a July 10 news conference had retained him. And it brings the total closer to 200 now, out of a sworn force of about 850. Meuser said most of the officers starting the disability paperwork leave their jobs fairly quickly on a medical leave. The disability claims process can take up to six months. Pressure mounts to discipline cops who beat up and maced homeless man. Defense attorneys are not only calling for two NYPD officers to be fired after their own body camera video shows them beating a man, shoving him to the ground and macing him, lawyers are also calling for one of the officers to be charged with felony assault. The video, recorded on May 25, was only released on Wednesday [7/15/2020]. Edda Ness is a Legal Aid Society attorney assigned to represent the man. "It's unjustifiable what they did," Ness told PIX11 News in an interview. "They should have been fired immediately. This case should've never been prosecuted. Massachusetts detective, 30, is fired over Black Lives Matter post that suggested people should shoot back at the police. A Massachusetts police detective has been fired after posting a picture on social media of her niece at a Black Lives Matter event holding a sign that suggested protesters should shoot cops. Rookie Springfield Detective Florissa Fuentes, 30, said she was showing pride in her niece's activism at a late May protest in Atlanta. One of the signs being held at the protest read, 'Who do we call when the murderer wear the badge?' The Editor says... Retired Jacksonville detective arrested in cold case murder that took place while he was on force. A Florida man has been accused of killing a convenience store owner 21 years ago in a home invasion robbery that took place when the suspect was working as a detective for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and knew the victim from surveilling him for a drug investigation. William Robert Baer Jr., 64, and his ex-wife Melissa Schafer, 50, were arrested after the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said DNA and genetic genealogy linked them to the cold case murder and home invasion robbery of Saad Kawaf in the victim's Deerwood home in May 1999. Undersheriff Pat Ivey said Friday that Kawaf was beaten and fatally stabbed by two suspects, a white man and a white woman. The Left Craps Out. [Scroll down] From the Left's point of view, the murder of George Floyd (and it was a murder, the video allows no doubt about that.) came as a godsend. The Left immediately framed it as a racial crime, in the process obliterating the actual question, which has been staring us in the face for decades: why are psychopaths and demented narcissists allowed — not to say encouraged — to join police forces? (In particular, police forces in ultra-blue municipalities such as NYC, Baltimore, and yes, Minneapolis.) What Type of Fool Shoots a Cop With a Taser or Wrestles Him for His Gun? The very first time I saw the Derek Chauvin — George Floyd video I was disgusted. I yelled at my TV screen, "Get off the guy's neck, you #$%!" I likewise yelled at the three cops on my TV screen standing around watching. Not only is it right that Chauvin now faces second-degree murder charges but also that the three near him face severe felony charges and never serve in any protective or security-related field again. As I have written before, the other main head that would and should roll in a fair world would be that of Medaria Arradondo, the Black police chief of Minneapolis, who has been in his position for more than three years, yet has allowed a corroded climate to exist, ferment, and putrefy with rotten apples like Chauvin and moral incompetents like the other three holding their jobs throughout. Democrats (Accidentally) Make The Case Against Teachers' Unions. In the wake of George Floyd's death and the subsequent protests/riots calling for "defunding the police," Democrats have started targeting police unions, saying they are obstacles to accountability and reform. Do they realize that the same can be said of teachers' unions? In a recent interview about reforming the police in his city, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said that "The elephant in the room with regard to police reform is the police union. ... We do not have the ability to get rid of many of these officers that we know have done wrong in the past due to issues with both the contract and the arbitration associated with the union." He said that it "sets up a system where we have difficulty both disciplining and terminating officers who have done wrong." Minneapolis City Councilman Steve Fletcher said the police union "operates a little bit like a protection racket." A&E cancels 'Live P.D.' in wake of George Floyd protests and 2019 North Austin incident. On Monday [6/8/2020], The Austin-American Statesman reported that the "Live P.D." crew filmed video of an in-custody death of Javier Ambler when he was stopped for a traffic violation by the Williamson County sheriff's department in March 2019. As crews filmed, the 40-year-old black father of two was held down on a North Austin street while deputies used Tasers on him. According to the article, A&E confirmed that video of the arrest and death was captured by their cameras but stated that Austin investigators did not ask for the footage. It was destroyed within 30 days, and therefore can no longer be handed over to investigators. None of the officers involved have faced any repercussions, and a Williamson County internal affairs investigation found deputies did nothing wrong. Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore said she will be taking the case to a grand jury. Ten Cops Beat Native American to Death on Video, His Death Ruled a Homicide, No One Charged. Native American Jorden Stevens, a member of the Cocopah Indian Tribe, died on February 15, 2017, while in the custody of the Yuma County Sheriff's Office (YCSO) Adult Detention Center. Even though his death was ruled a homicide, not a single corrections officer has been charged with his murder. The Yuma County Sheriff's Office conducted an internal investigation but the details of their findings have not yet been made public. Now, Stevens' family — after more than a year of not getting any answers and having only the Sheriff's Office to blame — is planning on filing a lawsuit again the department for the death of their loved one. Cops Who Allegedly Assaulted and Arrested a Man for Standing Outside His Own House Are Protected by Qualified Immunity. Two police officers who allegedly assaulted a man outside of his own house and arrested him on bogus charges after failing to identify themselves as law enforcement are protected by qualified immunity and cannot be sued, a federal court confirmed Monday [6/8/2020]. Shase Howse, the appellant, alleges that on July 28, 2016, a group of men pulled up to his home in an unmarked vehicle without uniforms on and asked him if he lived at the residence. After Howse answered in the affirmative, Officer Brian Middaugh of the Cleveland Police Department (CPD) pressed Howse on if he was sure he lived there. "Yes, what the fuck?" Howse allegedly responded, still unaware Middaugh was a cop. Middaugh, commenting on Howse's bad attitude, then exited the unmarked vehicle and approached him on the porch, asking him once again if he lived there. Howse said he did. Following that exchange, Howse alleges that Middaugh commanded him to put his hands behind his back because he was going to jail. Howse did not oblige, telling Middaugh that he lived at the residence and that he'd done nothing wrong. Confronting Police Abuse Requires Shifting Power From Police Unions. By and large, police officers are heroes who put their lives on the line to protect the communities in which they live and serve. How then should we react to cases of police misconduct and brutality when they come to light? Confronting this requires what Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey referred to as "this one, nearly impenetrable barrier, which is the union contract and the way it is set up." Derek Chauvin, the now-fired police officer who was arrested and charged in George Floyd's death, had multiple complaints against him, only one of which resulted in a reprimand. Tou Thao, the now-fired officer seen standing guard in the video as Chauvin presses a knee into Floyd's neck, also had multiple complaints against him. Minneapolis settled a lawsuit that alleged brutality by Thao and another officer for $25,000 in 2017. Absolutely disgraceful! Massachusetts police chief Michael Shaw crawls like a worm on the ground before BLM. America, the world, is going nuts. [Video clip] Thousands of Complaints Do Little to Change Police Ways. In nearly two decades with the Minneapolis Police Department, Derek Chauvin faced at least 17 misconduct complaints, none of which derailed his career. Over the years, civilian review boards came and went, and a federal review recommended that the troubled department improve its system for flagging problematic officers. All the while, Mr. Chauvin tussled with a man before firing two shots, critically wounding him. He was admonished for using derogatory language and a demeaning tone with the public. He was named in a brutality lawsuit. But he received no discipline other than two letters of reprimand. Who is recruiting, moving and paying the professional anarcho-rioters? The death by cop of George Floyd in Minneapolis was grotesque, a clearer example of police brutality that has otherwise rarely been filmed for all to see. Even if, as has been reported, Floyd did not die of asphyxiation or strangulation as it appeared, his death was without a doubt caused by that officer's cruel and unnecessary action and the inaction of his fellow officers who stood by and watched. That officer has been charged with third degree murder and the other officers have been fired. Judicial due process will ensue, both state and federal. How Chicago racked up a $662 million police misconduct bill. In this city's troubled history of police misconduct, Eric Caine's case may be unrivaled: It took more than 25 years and $10 million to resolve. For decades, he maintained he didn't brutally kill an elderly couple. The police, he said, beat him into a false confession. Locked up at age 20, he was freed at 46, bewildered by a world he no longer recognized. Caine ultimately was declared innocent, sued the city and settled for $10 million. Mississippi cop on leave after video shows his hands around man's neck. A Mississippi cop held a young man by the neck as onlookers screamed, "He can't breathe!," troubling video shows. The 2-minute clip posted to Facebook Friday [5/29/2020] shows a uniformed Jackson police officer with both hands wrapped around the man's neck. [Video clip] California: Cops Accuse Man Of Carjacking His Own Car — Viciously Beat Him To Death. Last year, David Glen Ward was the victim of a carjacking. Like he was told to do, he reported this attack and theft to police. Sadly, however, after he would get his green Honda Civic back, police would mistake him for the thief, pull him over and kill him. Shocking video of the incident was later released. Now, the mother of the victim is suing the Sonoma Country Sheriff's office and others for the role in her son's death. What the heck has been going on in Glynn County, Georgia? The more we learn about what's been going on in that rural region of Georgia, however, the more it appears that there are justifiable concerns that need to be addressed. This was brought into focus when I was contacted by a reader with some direct experience in these matters. They are a resident of Glynn County and offered a statement on conditions of anonymity out of concerns over possible reprisal. The following is their statement regarding not just the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, but a lot more that's been going on in that region for many years now. To "Fight Sex Trafficking," Cops Coerced Potential Victims Into Sex Acts, Then Arrested Them For It. The Federal government concluded a three-year investigation into a criminal enterprise — dubbed "Operation Asian Touch" — in which women were forced to live in horrifying conditions while they were ordered to perform sexual acts on customers. The investigation fell apart, however, because the "heroes" investigating the human sex trafficking were, themselves, engaging in human sex trafficking. Georgia: Multiple Parents Shocked To Find School Cop Creepily Texting Their Middle School Daughters. Grooming is a manipulative process used by a sexual predator for the purpose of creating a sense of trust with a targeted person prior to the act of actual victimization. It's through grooming that these vile sexual predators are able to convince their victims, often times children, not to report them and endure years of abuse. Over the years, TFTP has reported on countless child predators — many of whom are cops, who are tasked with protecting children at their schools. In the instance below, we get a look into how this alleged grooming takes place as a Cartersville police lieutenant appeared to be engaging in grooming multiple middle school girls — yet he was not arrested or even fired. Cops Use 'Gifted' Chinese Drones by Firm Complying With CCP Data Requests. The drones, ostensibly used by law enforcement for a hands-off way to police social distancing, are made by a Chinese firm which sends data back to the Chinese Communist Party. The Daytona Beach Police Departments says the drones possess digital cameras and heat-detecting devices. These systems can detect body temperatures from 99 to 105 degrees. A graphic from the manufacturer — DJI Innovations based in Shenzen, China — reveals 100 drones have been gifted to law enforcement and local authorities in recent weeks. They claim: "...we're pleased to announce we are distributing 100 drones to 43 police, fire and public safety organizations in 22 states." Florida: Cops Arrest One Of Their Own For Using Job To Recruit Children For Porn. The Lake County Sheriff's Office in Minneola, Florida has arrested one of their own deputies this week after he was busted recruiting multiple girls to make pornographic videos for money. Deputy Jose Rodriguez is accused of recruiting several underage girls for these disturbing acts while he was on duty. San Francisco: Journalist Gets $369,000 After Cops Raided His Home & Kidnapped Him For Refusing To Name His Source. In the land of the free, journalists are raided by SWAT teams in an effort to find out their sources and this is in spite of the law protecting journalists from this very act. Freelance journalist Bryan Carmody fell victim to the police state in California last year as multiple San Francisco cops with sledge hammers and weapons began breaking down his door in an effort to find out his source for a leaked police report. Now, the taxpayers of San Francisco will be paying him $369,000 for it. School Rent-a-Cop Threatens To Shoot Student For Leaving School Grounds For Dentist Appointment. A video showing a school officer threatening to shoot a student who tried to leave school property in Florida is going viral after the student's mother uploaded it to Facebook. Nedra Miller uploaded the video of the interaction, which she obtained from the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, between the officer, a school discipline assistant and her 17-year-old son. It has been viewed 38,000 times and shared 716 times. Cop Found Passed Out Drunk in Patrol Car On Duty in Traffic, 5X Over Legal Limit — No Charges. In March, Aurora police officer Nate Meier was found presumably drunk and unresponsive behind the wheel of his police cruiser. Since the release of the body camera footage recently, the command staff at the Aurora Police Department (APD) have come under fire for not only not charging Meier with a DUI but allowing him to keep his job with APD. Rogue NYPD cops are using facial recognition app Clearview. Rogue NYPD officers are using a sketchy facial recognition software on their personal phones that the department's own facial recognition unit doesn't want to touch because of concerns about security and potential for abuse, The [New York] Post has learned. Clearview AI, which has scraped millions of photos from social media and other public sources for its facial recognition program — earning a cease-and-desist order from Twitter — has been pitching itself to law enforcement organizations across the country, including to the NYPD. The department's facial recognition unit tried out the app in early 2019 as part of a complimentary 90-day trial but ultimately passed on it, citing a variety of concerns. Those include app creator Hoan Ton-That's ties to viddyho.com, which was involved in a widespread phishing scam in 2009, according to police sources and reports. New Jersey cops told to halt all use of controversial facial-recognition technology. The state attorney general is ordering all New Jersey police to stop using a powerful new facial-recognition technology that's pulling millions of photos from social media. The order was issued Friday [1/24/2020] to county prosecutors, concerning a New York-based company called Clearview AI. "Like many people, I was troubled," state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said about the company's techniques, which were first reported by The New York Times. If he claimed to be a girl, he would probably have the city's full support. Governor calls on sheriff to resign over DWI conviction. Gov. Chris Sununu called for the resignation Thursday of Merrimack County Sheriff Scott Hilliard, who was found guilty this week of drunken driving. "The sheriff has been convicted of a serious crime and should resign immediately," the governor said in a statement. Arizona: "They Silenced My Daughter" — Mom Claims Cops Killed Her Daughter To Keep Her Quiet About Rape. A mother is speaking out and calling for justice this week, telling anyone who will listen that she doesn't believe the official story from police on how her daughter died in police custody last month. Deborah Sanchez is now claiming police silenced her daughter, Jorden Simms, to keep her from ousting officers who raped and attacked her. Days before police claim Simms broke free from her shackles and jumped out of the backseat of a moving police cruiser, Simms claimed a Safford cop violently raped her. Muslim Police Officer Hired to Promote Diversity Ends Up Being Part of Grooming Gang. A Muslim police officer in the United Kingdom who was hired to promote diversity ended up being part of a grooming gang that sex trafficked children. West Yorkshire PC Amjad Ditta, also known as Amjad Hussain, was charged with sex offences against children aged between 13 and 16. Ditta was appointed in 2016 as a diversity officer "to boost numbers of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) people applying to join the force" after then Prime Minister Theresa May said the number of black and Asian officers in the UK was "simply not good enough." Glendale officer suspended after punching driver during traffic stop. A Glendale police officer will be suspended for nearly a full work week after an allegation of excessive use of force during a traffic stop earlier this year. The original recommended suspension for Officer Matthew Salyers was 40 hours, but he appealed first to the police chief and again to the City Personnel Board. Glendale City Manager Kevin Phelps made the final decision Tuesday [11/26/2019]. [Video clip] The Mexicanization of American Law Enforcement. Or consider the case of border inspector Margarita Crispin — "precisely the kind of border corruption case that alarms us," says William Abbott, an assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's criminal branch in El Paso, Texas. In 2005, he says, a federal informant tipped off the Bureau that Crispin was deliberately ignoring traffickers who moved drugs and other contraband through her border post. Then, in the spring of 2006, a van that had just gone through Crispin's lane sputtered out of gas. The driver abandoned the vehicle and fled back across the border into Mexico — and when other inspectors opened the van's doors, they found nearly 6,000 pounds of marijuana in plain sight. Crispin couldn't explain why she hadn't noticed the stash when she had examined the vehicle, according to an FBI press release on the case and an official who worked on it. Another year of surveillance uncovered evidence of Crispin's drug-cartel connections. Though she lived simply in El Paso, she socialized with known drug traffickers in Mexico and had bought two expensive homes and several luxury vehicles there through straw purchasers. Crispin was then arrested. Cops Coerce Man with IQ of 63 to Confess to Crime He Didn't Commit, Gets Repeatedly Raped in Jail. An innocent mentally challenged man with the IQ of an 8-year-old was railroaded to jail, repeatedly raped while in jail, and released an innocent man after DNA cleared him of all wrongdoing. Charges dismissed against Montana men after massive pot bust on I-94. [Scroll down] The trooper saw their white Chevrolet pickup truck pulling a slide-in camper, and noticed a large horizontal crack in the truck's front windshield. The trooper caught up to the vehicle and pulled it over. [...] However, the men argued the search of the camper was an expansion on the original reason the trooper stopped them, and that the trooper didn't have any lawful reason or suspicion to search the camper. The court agreed with the men, stating the crack in the truck's windshield didn't affect the driver's line of sight, as its highest point was slightly above the driver's side windshield wiper, the order for dismissal states. The court ruled there was no objective basis for removing the driver from the vehicle or for detaining the men, and nothing else before Desroches was told to exit the vehicle was indicative of criminal or suspicious activity. Amber Guyger guilty in Botham Jean shooting, jury finds. The punishment phase of Amber Guyger's murder trial began Tuesday afternoon [10/1/2019], two hours after a Dallas jury found the former police officer guilty of murder. The jury took only five hours to decide that Guyger, a white cop who shot her black neighbor Botham Jean when she mistook his apartment for hers, was guilty of murder. She was the first Dallas police officer to be convicted of murder since the 1970s and faces up to 99 years in prison. Sheriff helped plot his own deputy's killing over 'racially offensive' tape, prosecutors say. Granville County Sheriff Brindell Wilkins learned one of his deputies had a tape of him making "racially offensive" comments, prosecutors say. So the North Carolina lawman encouraged another man to kill the officer, according to a felony indictment revealed late Monday night [9/16/2019]. "The only way you gonna stop him is kill him," Wilkins allegedly told the would-be shooter in a 2014 recorded phone call about a plan to kill former deputy Joshua Freeman. The plot was not carried out. Wilkins is charged with two felony counts of obstruction of justice charges for his failure to arrest the unnamed person or report the threat on Freeman's life, and for also allegedly giving the man advice about how to get away with the murder. Michigan cop who had KKK memorabilia in [his] home is fired. A Michigan police officer who was put on leave after a potential homebuyer found Ku Klux Klan memorabilia in the officer's house was fired Thursday [9/12/2019] following an investigation. Muskegon City Manager Frank Peterson told MLive.com that Officer Charles Anderson had been let go following an inquiry and a disciplinary hearing. Peterson said a redacted version of the inquiry report would be released to the public next week.
Serial rape suspect found after trying to join the police force hunting him. Cops hunting a serial rapist in Georgia found him right under their noses — when he tried to join their police force. Kenneth Thomas Bowen III, 24, only came into the spotlight when he joined the Clayton County Police Department's academy in 2018. He was fired after just a few months for lateness and constant lying. Officers later realized Bowen had been named a "suspicious" person after at least one of eight sex attacks that terrorized Jonesboro since 2015, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Detectives soon noticed the "striking resemblance" between Bowen's photo and police sketches, police said at a press conference. Killeen Police officer Texting & Driving with no seatbelt on. [Video clip] Cops sentenced after lying about arrest involving 'drive-by tasing'. Two former Willis police officers were sentenced to a year in jail after lying about an arrest captured on bodycam video. Kenneth Elmore and John McCaffery were each convicted of felony tampering with a government record. The charges stemmed from a July 2017 arrest. Bodycam video presented during the trial showed a man walking through a residential area as McCaffery joked about a "drive-by tasing." [Video clip] Baltimore's Battered Face. The broken and battered face of Baltimore reflects the city's abundance of criminals, but many of the broken facial bones are the result of hard kicks and slams from a few corrupt officers in the Baltimore Police Department. In June, Arthur Williams, a former Baltimore police officer, was convicted of second-degree assault and misconduct for beating a citizen on the street. In 2014, Baltimore Officer Vincent E. Cosom Jr. was caught on a surveillance camera sucker-punching a citizen at a bus stop and was charged with assault and perjury. The Baltimore Sun summarized the problem in the headline for its December 20, 2018 report, "Corruption, turnover, violence: Baltimore Police Department faced many problems in 2018." I strongly support law enforcement and know the Thin Blue Line stands between citizens and the anarchy and chaos of crime. But there are a few police in Baltimore who should not be in uniform and we need to recognize that in the totality of the problem. San Luis Obispo police chief accused of coverup over stolen gun. The search for the pistol that San Luis Obispo Police Chief Deanna Cantrell lost in a bathroom stall resulted in an apparently illegal search of a home without a warrant and the arrest of a couple on charges of child neglect for having a messy house. And, new information points to Cantrell's efforts to keep the news of her loss quiet despite her claim that she immediately reported the stolen gun. Cantrell left her pistol, a Glock with a 21-round magazine, in the bathroom of an El Pollo Loco restaurant about noon on July 10. A short time later, Cantrell realized she did not have her weapon and returned to the restaurant bathroom. The pistol was not there. In contrast to Cantrell's claim that she immediately reported her gun stolen, several officers said her attempt to cover-up the theft of her gun risked officer safety and led to the search of the home of a man incorrectly identified as the person suspected of taking the chief's gun. The Alaska village where every cop has been convicted of domestic violence. Dozens of convicted criminals have been hired as cops in Alaska communities. Often, they are the only applicants. In Stebbins, every cop has a criminal record, including the chief. Capitol Police officer arrested in Manhattan for brutal attack on his wife. A US Capitol Police officer was arrested in a Lower Manhattan hotel Saturday [7/13/2019] for allegedly beating and choking his wife in front of their teenage son, police sources said Monday. Staff at the AC Hotel New York Downtown called the NYPD around 10 p.m. to report two people fighting. When they arrived at the Maiden Lane hotel, cops arrested Ryan Gonzalez, of Virginia, for allegedly assaulting his wife, the sources said. Investigating discrepancies in Lee County Sheriff Marceno's background. Although the sheriff is an elected position, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno was appointed in 2018 by then-Governor Rick Scott, after the previous Sheriff, Mike Scott, resigned. Marceno has announced he will run for the top position in 2020, with the primary election fast approaching. A FOX 4 investigation now reveals big questions about Marceno's employment history. NYPD cop found guilty of running drug-trafficking operation out of her Bronx apartment. A drug-smuggling cop who helped run a heroin-trafficking ring and tried to squirm her way out of an arrest by claiming she was "on the job" was found guilty by a federal jury Thursday [3/7/2019]. Yessenia Jimenez, 32, and her boyfriend, Luis Soto, used her Bronx apartment as a stash house, where they kept kilos of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine they brought into the U.S. from Mexico, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug money, prosecutors said. Man left in anguish after wearing wire to bust NYPD cop girlfriend plotting hit on his teen daughter. The man who wore a wire to help the FBI bust his NYPD cop girlfriend on charges of plotting hits on his teen daughter and her estranged husband says he's anguished over their twisted relationship. [...] Federal authorities say Officer Valerie Cincinelli, 34, asked DiRubba in February to find a hitman to kill her estranged hubby, Isaiah Carvalho, who filed for divorce last year. Cop Who Said He'd Drown His Daughter If She Dated a "Negro" Promoted to Chief of Police. As TFTP reported back in 2017, the assistant chief of police for the Estherwood Police Department, Wayne Welsh resigned after coming under public scrutiny for sharing a racist meme on Facebook that went viral. After initially attempting to defend his actions on the social media website, the officer reportedly submitted his resignation. However, because the system is designed to protect racist and killer cops, this cop has since been promoted to the chief of police. Alabama woman loses unborn child after being shot, gets arrested; shooter goes free. A woman whose unborn baby was killed in a 2018 Pleasant Grove shooting has now been indicted in the death. Marshae Jones, a 27-year-old Birmingham woman, was indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury on a manslaughter charge. She was taken into custody on Wednesday [6/26/2019]. Though Jones didn't fire the shots that killed her unborn baby girl, authorities say she initiated the dispute that led to the gunfire. Police initially charged 23-year-old Ebony Jemison with manslaughter, but the charge against Jemison was dismissed after the grand jury failed to indict her. How Cars Transformed Policing. Before cars, police mainly dealt with those on the margins of society. Voluntary associations governed everyone else. Churches enforced moral norms, trade groups managed business relations, and social clubs maintained social harmony. Citizens and private groups, including banks and insurance companies, pursued criminal investigations and initiated prosecutions. Aside from the constable or sheriff, who worked for the court and mainly executed warrants, publicly-funded police rarely took part in private enforcement efforts. A nineteenth-century treatise on the "duties of sheriffs and constables" indicates that the bulk of their work was to serve summonses, warrants, and writs, as well as to supervise prisoners. [...] This would all soon change when Americans embraced the "horseless carriage." Baltimore Police praised and promoted Gun Trace Task Force leader despite complaints, allegations of misconduct. Wayne Jenkins was living a double life. Then 34, he was already an admired leader of aggressive street squads and would go on to head the elite Gun Trace Task Force, one of the Baltimore Police Department's go-to assets in the fight against violent crime. He was also the ringleader of a criminal enterprise of police officers who were robbing people and dealing drugs. NYPD cops caught on video brawling with each other in Harlem. The NYPD is investigating a scuffle between two cops on a Harlem street that was caught on camera, authorities said Monday [6/3/2019]. The video shows one of the NYPD officers get out of the driver's seat of a police cruiser and shove the other officer while they're standing in the street near Malcolm X Boulevard and 116th Street. The two cops then struggle with each other, and one of them shoves the other against the parked police car, the video shows. Other officers eventually break up the altercation. Officer resigns after bodycam footage goes public. A Boulder police officer who pulled out his gun during a heated confrontation with a college student picking up trash outside his Colorado dorm is resigning — and will continue to collect his paycheck for the next eight months totaling $69,000, city officials said. Boulder police officer who confronted black Naropa student to resign. The Boulder police officer who confronted a black Naropa student picking up trash outside his residence in March was found in violation of department policies and is resigning following an internal investigation. The officer was identified today [5/16/2019] as 40-year-old John Smyly, a 14-year veteran of the department with no prior disciplinary action. NYPD Officer Arrested After Trying to Have Hitman Hired to Kill Ex and Child: Prosecutors. An NYPD officer was arrested after she tried to have a hitman hired to kill her ex-husband as well as a child, prosecutors say. Valerie Cincinelli, 34, tried to get her current boyfriend to hire a hitman, a police official told NBC 4 New York. Cincinelli was arrested Friday [5/17/2019] by the FBI following a sting operation. NYPD Internal Affairs assisted in her arrest. At least 9 cases dismissed involving indicted ex-Dallas cop. Court records show Dallas County prosecutors have dismissed at least nine cases that were investigated by the former white Dallas police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man in his own apartment. Police officer resigns after stun gun video goes viral. A Waynesboro officer has resigned from the police department after a video showing him using a stun gun on a man went viral, leading to an investigation. Police Chief Holt Ross said officer James Kirkley's resignation was accepted by the Waynesboro Board of Aldermen on Friday [3/29/2019]. New Jersey cop charged with stealing cable box from police headquarters: report. A New Jersey police officer in charge of a small department is facing charges for allegedly stealing a cable TV box from police headquarters and getting paid for time he didn't work. Hamburg police lieutenant George Gunderman, 41, was taken into custody Monday while in uniform in front of the city's municipal building. He was appointed in charge of the eight-member Sussex County police force last year after the police chief position was eliminated. Police shot teachers with airsoft guns during active shooter drill: 'This is what happens if you just cower'. Indiana elementary school teachers were shot with pellet guns during an active shooter training drill in January, motivating the teacher's union to lobby for a legislative ban on the practice, according to the Indianapolis Star. The White County Sheriff's Office was conducting a training at Meadowlawn Elementary School. Teachers who participated in the drill complained of welts and bleeding from the airsoft gun pellets. "They told us, 'This is what happens if you just cower and do nothing,'" an unnamed teacher told the Star. "They shot all of us across our backs. I was it four times. It hurt so bad." DA: Area cop made, sold illegal guns, tipped off drug-ring suspect. A police officer with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has been charged with illegally manufacturing and selling dozens of guns and tipping off a drug suspect about an investigation, state police said Friday [3/1/2019]. Police said they learned about the activities of Gregg Marinelli, 38, of Plattekill, during the cocaine- and fentanyl-trafficking investigation dubbed "Operation: Bread, White and Blues" that resulted in more than two dozen arrests in February, although Marinelli was not charged in that case. L.A. School Police Officer Accused of Stealing $27K Through Payroll Scam. Prosecutors filed charges Thursday against an L.A. School Police Department officer they say stole $27,000 from the Los Angeles Unified School District by collecting overtime for shifts she did not work, officials said. St. Louis police may be blocking investigation into officer's death, prosecutor says. In a letter released Tuesday [1/29/2019], a St. Louis prosecutor has raised questions about whether the city's police department was blocking an investigation into an officer allegedly fatally shooting a fellow officer. In the letter, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner accuses the police department of being "obstructionist" in the investigation and claims that investigators reached a "pre-disposed conclusion" about the death of Officer Katlyn Alix, 24. West Virginia: Newly Elected Sheriff Arrested for Stealing Meth from Evidence Room on His Second Day on Job. To those who frequent the Free Thought Project, you will know that positions of power often attract unscrupulous individuals, who seek out this power to give themselves an advantage that doesn't come with being an average Joe. We see this from cops to politicians to priests who seek out these positions to prey on the weak or exploit their power for personal gain. One case out of West Virginia highlights this tendency of power corrupting quite well as a meth addict sought out the job of sheriff, won it, and was arrested on the second day on the job. In 2017, the newly elected sheriff of Roane County, Bo Williams was arrested and charged with grand larceny. Williams was caught stealing methamphetamine from the evidence room for his personal consumption. Alabama sheriff pocketed $1.5M from illegal immigrant fund: report. An Alabama sheriff has personally pocketed $1.5 million in federal funds intended to feed illegal immigrants housed in a detention center he runs — and it was all legit, according to a report. Sheriff Todd Entrekin acknowledged last March that he kept more than $750,000 in unspent food money at the Etowah County Detention Center between January 2015 and December 2017. But records show he actually took in twice that amount, AL.com reported on Sunday [12/30/2018]. San Francisco police officer who may lose job for racist texts is charged with robbing bank. A San Francisco police officer who was suspended for sending racist and homophobic texts was arrested Tuesday [12/18/2018] for allegedly robbing a bank last month. Rain Daugherty, 44, allegedly entered the East West Bank in San Francisco on Nov. 29 and handed the teller a note demanding money, federal prosecutors said. The teller said the robber said something like: "calm down, just do it," according to court documents. Feds: Ex-Baltimore police officer admitted misconduct, expanding scope of Gun Trace Task Force corruption probe. A former Baltimore police officer has admitted to the FBI that he stole money, lied in police reports and improperly used electronic surveillance devices, federal prosecutors in California said — widening the scope of police misconduct unearthed by the Gun Trace Task Force scandal. Former Det. Matthew Ryckman resigned from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Sacramento this fall after admitting the misconduct in an interview with the FBI, according to a Nov. 16 letter sent by the U.S. Attorney's Office in California to local defense attorneys that was obtained by The Baltimore Sun. Ryckman has not been charged with any crimes in California or Maryland, and declined to comment this week. Chicago area police sergeant charged in robberies suspended. A suburban Chicago police sergeant charged last month with taking part in the robbery of two gas stations at gunpoint has been suspended without pay from his job. Chicago cop charged with DUI while on duty. An on-duty Chicago police sergeant was charged with drunk driving Wednesday morning [10/17/2018] after failing a random drug and alcohol test at the police department's headquarters on the South Side. Maryland officer accused of raping woman during traffic stop. A Maryland police officer has been suspended without pay after allegedly raping a woman during a traffic stop. Six-year veteran officer Ryan Macklin was taken into custody Monday following the alleged Thursday morning incident, according to the Prince George's County Police Department. "The charges against this officer are highly troubling," Chief Hank Stawinski said in a statement. "Officers take an oath to protect others, not to abuse their authority in order to victimize someone." Hooker allegedly stole off-duty cop's car while he got cash to pay her. A prostitute allegedly stole an off-duty NYPD cop's car — with his gun on the front seat — after he left her sitting in the vehicle while stopping at an ATM in Brooklyn early Tuesday morning [10/2/2018], police sources told The [New York] Post. Police arrested the hooker and recovered the car Wednesday — but the gun is still missing, sources said. Dallas police officer Amber Guyger fired after fatally shooting neighbor Botham Jean. Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was fired Monday [9/24/2018], officials said, weeks after a racially-charged shooting in which the off-duty white cop killed her black neighbor, Botham Jean. An investigation determined Guyger "engaged in adverse conduct when she was arrested for manslaughter," Dallas police Chief Renee Hall said in a statement, adding Guyger may appeal her termination. Elite NYPD anti-terror unit wrote bogus tickets to fill quotas: whistleblowers. Members of the NYPD's elite Strategic Response Group — about 700 highly trained, heavily armed cops who respond to terrorism, mass protests and gun violence — say their bosses are demanding they write more "BS" tickets. The pressure to meet secret "quotas" — a practice the NYPD denies — will diminish public safety, whistleblowers told The [New York] Post. "We feel that we're not as sharp on our tactics, because they are pulling us away from tactical training to grab numbers," one said. Jon Burge, Chicago's Most Famous Corrupt Cop, Is Dead at 70. Jon Burge, the former Chicago Police commander synonymous with the city's history of police brutality and excessive force, died Wednesday at age 70. If you need to know exactly why Chicago's law enforcement environment is such a disaster, just google Burge's name. The disgraced cop even has his own Wikipedia entry documenting allegations of his abuse and torture across two decades of more than 200 people, mostly black men, in order to secure confessions. He and his detectives have been accused of beating, suffocating, burning, and even using cattle prods and full on electro-torture to force suspects to confess. Female Dallas cop who killed man in his home charged with manslaughter. A white Dallas police officer who shot and killed a black man in his apartment after she mistook it for her own has been arrested and charged with manslaughter, authorities said Sunday [9/9/2018]. Officer Amber Guyger, 30, was booked into the Kaufman County Jail Sunday evening after Texas Rangers arrested her in connection with the shooting of 26-year-old Botham Jean. She was later released after posting a $300,000 bond. Dallas cop will face manslaughter charge for killing man in apartment she thought was hers, police chief says. A Dallas officer faces a manslaughter charge a day after she fatally shot a 26-year-old man whose apartment near downtown she apparently mistook for her own. "This is a very unique situation," Police Chief U. Renee Hall said at a news conference Friday afternoon. "We have ceased handling it under our normal officer-involved shooting protocol." The Texas Rangers have been called in to conduct an independent investigation, the chief added. Lock-picking cops charged after kicking in door and handcuffing man. Two Texas police officers are facing charges of unlawful arrest, criminal trespass, and damaging property after forcibly entering a man's home. Bodycam footage shows Officer Mark Burke and Deputy Duncan Roberts attempting to use a lock pick before eventually kicking the door open. Corruption: LAPD Officer Caught Smuggling Illegal Aliens Into [This] Country. A Los Angeles Police Department officer was federally charged Wednesday [4/25/2018] with allegedly smuggling undocumented immigrants into the United States, court documents show. Mambasse Koulabalo Patara, identified as a 42-year-old LAPD officer of 10 years, was accused of smuggling two Mexican citizens near the area of Pine Valley, California, the complaint states. The LAPD said he is currently off the job due to his arrest, and on home stay in Rancho Cucamonga. Blaming the victim: Cops union USPOA founder sentenced to more than 3 years in Prison in New Jersey. The founder of the United Security and Police Officers of America (USPOA) on Thursday [8/16/2018] received a sentence of 37 months in prison for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars in union funds for his personal use, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. Assane Faye, 61, of Toms River, New Jersey, was previously convicted of all counts of an indictment charging him with two counts of embezzling union funds and seven counts of mail fraud arising from unemployment insurance fraud. Faye was convicted following a three-week trial before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan, who imposed the sentence in Trenton federal court. Distrust of Police Growing in Canada. The growing distrust of police was best seen in the hours after the mass killings in Fredericton, New Brunswick. On the morning of Aug 10, reports came out four people had been shot and killed outside an apartment complex. There was not then nor is there now any evidence the killings were terrorism-related. Yet people immediately took to social media criticizing the Fredericton police for not releasing enough information and doing what is now common; downplaying a terrorist act. Almost immediately, the police were criticized for not releasing the alleged shooter's name. With every passing hour, suspicion grew that there was a cover up of a terrorist attack. Georgia: Cop Runs Stop Sign with No Lights On, Not Responding to a Call, & Kills Man — Hasn't Even Gotten a Ticket. Highlighting the problem of blue privilege in America, an Atlanta police officer ran a stop sign, killed an innocent man on a motorized scooter and he hasn't even been issued so much as a ticket. A representative for the Georgia State Patrol said troopers were called to the intersection of Newcastle Street and Washington place around 4:30 Wednesday afternoon [8/8/2018] in response to the fatal collision. According to officials, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, Atlanta police Officer Ryan Chandler, 24, ran a stop sign and was not using emergency lights at the time of the crash. The man on the scooter was taken Grady Memorial Hospital, where he died. Police Using Mouth Swab Tests For Stoned Driving Despite Admitting They're Inaccurate. The Massachusetts State Police are testing a new saliva swab to detect if people are driving under the influence of cannabis. State police have recently tested roughly 170 people at sobriety checkpoints and drug treatment clinics with these swabs, but even they doubt that the tests will hold up in court. Boston is not alone either — there have also been similar programs announced in Colorado, California, Kansas, and Michigan. State police Maj. Rick Ball told the Boston Herald that police don't yet have technology comparable to a breathalyzer for cannabis. LAPD sent 5 officers to provide security for the wedding of Wesson's son. Staffers for two of L.A.'s most prominent politicians were united in marriage last year, celebrating the occasion with dozens of others at the historic Ebell of Los Angeles. [...] Turns out taxpayers were involved as well, paying $2,768 to have the Los Angeles Police Department provide security at the September 2017 event, according to information provided Thursday by the LAPD. Four police officers and a sergeant spent a combined 38 hours staffing the event, said Josh Rubenstein, an LAPD spokesman. Off-duty New York City cop shoots 'love rival' on the street. Surveillance video captured the moment an off-duty New York City police sergeant shooting and wounding a love rival on the street, the New York Post reports. The video shows Sgt. Ritchard Blake shooting Thavone Santana in East New York, Brooklyn, Thursday [8/2/2018], after the two men appear to argue. The NYPD's spy plane has become a mess of trouble. By itself, last week's Post story on the NYPD officers who used that anti-terror plane for a bit of obscene skywriting would be bad enough. But it follows at least two other apparent abuses — with little if any recent legitimate use. Which means this apparent boondoggle is likely to put all the city's federal anti-terror funding at risk. After all, the plane's last flight was July 5, to ferry Mayor de Blasio between his vacation in Canada and a ceremony in the city to honor a slain officer. And it seems to be grounded for anti-terror purposes by the dispute that prompted that raunchy aerial graffiti: a battle between the Aviation Unit boss, Inspector James Coan, and his unionized subordinates over whether the single-engine Cessna is safe to fly over open water — which (police sources say) is why the feds paid for it in the first place. Shocking video shows moment off-duty cop allegedly shoots romantic rival over woman. Surveillance footage obtained by The Post shows the moment an off-duty NYPD sergeant shoots a Brooklyn man with whom he'd been feuding over a woman. The nearly minute-long clip begins with the cop, Sgt. Ritchard Blake, appearing to argue with Thavone Santana under the elevated Livonia Avenue train tracks in East New York around 5 a.m. Thursday [8/2/2018]. Former Missouri sheriff, deputy had affair, now indicted on multiple felonies. A southern Missouri sheriff and a deputy with whom he had an affair were both indicted last week on felonies — including assault, robbery and harassment — in a scenario that the interim sheriff described as "wheels (falling) off." Former Texas County Sheriff James Sigman, 48, and Lt. Deputy Jennifer Tomaszewski, 38, also were indicted on child endangerment and unlawful use of a weapon. Sigman hired Tomaszewski as a jailer in December 2016, which was around the time they began a romance, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, citing court records. She was then promoted to administrator of the 72-bed jail seven months later, the report said. Dallas police officer suspected of violating protective order arrested twice in one month. A Dallas police officer was arrested on Monday — the second time this month. Officer Jerry Tames, 36, faces a charge of repeated violation of a protective order. Police did not release additional details. Tames was booked into the Dallas County Jail on Monday night. Bail has not yet been set. Florida police emergency-response team drank beer before city was slammed with Hurricane Irma: report. An emergency-response unit in Florida drank Coronas while on duty the night before Hurricane Irma made landfall, The Miami Herald reported on Monday [7/9/2018]. The paper reported that the 12-person unit was the city's only team on the ground and they were encouraged to drink by their commander. Affidavit: DPD officer bribed with Pappadeaux gift card in gambling scandal. The fourth Dallas police officer that had a warrant issued for his arrest this week has posted bond and was not booked in to any jail. A judge allowed Edrick Smith's book-in to be waived and [he] was able to post bond. He was arrested in 2017 when he was charged with several crimes including bribery of a police officer. The police officer Smith was accused of bribing is Sergeant Latasha Moore. She was arrested for her alleged part in a different gambling operation. She tipped off the Public Integrity Unit to what Smith was allegedly into and taped their conversations for police. Four Dallas police officers arrested in gambling investigation. Several officers turned themselves in to authorities in a corruption scandal that has rocked the Dallas Police Department. FOX 4 first reported Wednesday night [6/27/2018] about the arrest warrants issued against four officers charged with crimes ranging from gambling promotion to engaging in organized crime, bribery and fraud. Three officers turned themselves in on Thursday. The ordeal began with DPD Senior Corporal Edrick Smith from the South Central Patrol Division. He was first arrested in December for taking bribes and was already placed on administrative leave. Now, he is facing new charges along with three other officers. Multiple Cops Arrested in Massive Conspiracy, Stealing Tens of Thousands from Taxpayers. Going far beyond simply cheating on their time cards, three Massachusetts State Troopers have been arrested and charged with embezzlement. According to the allegations brought against the troopers, they stole tens of thousands of dollars when they billed the state for overtime they either did not work or time they stole when they clocked out early. The officers are Paul Cesan, Gary Herman, and David Wilson. In 2016, Cesan is believed to have embezzled $29,000, Herman $12,468, and Wilson $12,450, which amounts to a year's salary for some hourly workers. Following the discovery, Cesan and Wilson resigned, and Herman was suspended. NYPD cop accused in road rage beating 'never should have been hired'. An NYPD cop accused of brutally beating a motorist in a fit of road rage was deemed "unsuitable" three years ago, but a supervisor dismissed the red flags and green-lighted his hiring, records show. Michael Baror lacked "anger management," and "has a tendency to behave in an impulsive, reckless and careless fashion," an NYPD shrink concluded in an internal December 2014 report obtained by The [New York] Post. [...] Baror faces charges of assault, leaving an accident, weapon possession, reckless driving and menacing. Dirty Detective Louis Scarcella insists, 'I've done nothing wrong,' despite sending 13 wrongfully convicted people to jail. He handled nearly a dozen homicide cases that resulted in 13 people being wrongfully convicted and spending a combined 245 years in prison. The city and state have so far coughed up a total of $53.3 million in legal settlements to eight of those people over the shady investigations involving tainted evidence, misleading testimony or forced confessions — with more lawsuits pending. But retired Detective Louis Scarcella, 66, will never lose a day of his freedom or pay a cent toward those settlements because the law is on his side. Is all this secrecy really necessary? New law: Kansas cops can't have sex during traffic stops. A new Kansas law makes it a crime for police to have sex with people they pull over for traffic violations or detain in criminal investigations. The new law bans sexual relations "during the course of a traffic stop, a custodial interrogation, an interview in connection with an investigation, or while the law enforcement officer has such person detained." Now, you may be asking, wasn't that illegal already? Actually, it wasn't. Video: Cop beat up teen daughter in school office as employees looked on. A Florida cop was caught on camera beating up his 14-year-old daughter inside her school's main office as employees watched on, prosecutors said. In the video, released by prosecutors this week, Miami-Dade police officer Raymond Rosario is seen slapping the girl across the face, pulling her by the hair and whipping her with a belt on her leg. The Pinecrest Cove Preparatory Academy employees sitting a few feet away did not flinch, the Miami Herald reported. Why There Are So Many Bad Sheriffs. No matter how tight the food budget, you can always find ways to cut corners. The state of Alabama sends counties a paltry $1.75 per day to feed each inmate locked up in jail, but sheriffs often manage to spend a good deal less than that. They have a strong incentive to do so. The sheriffs get to keep whatever they don't spend, which in some cases has reached well into the six figures. Daily ration money adds up. Tapping into the food fund has become a tradition in Morgan County, which hugs the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state. Police commissioner kept $245K job amid hooker allegations. The police commissioner of a small Long Island village got reappointed to his cushy $245,000-a-year post amid allegations he took an all-expenses-paid trip that included hookers, court records show. Stephen McAllister, first appointed top cop in Floral Park in 2010, was voted in for a fifth term as head of the 35-member police force on April 2, according to official minutes. That was just three weeks before McAllister — who pulls down $19,000 more annually than Big Apple Police Commissioner James O'Neill — was named an unindicted co-conspirator by the feds in an NYPD corruption scandal that will soon head to court. (O'Neill oversees a force of some 36,000 cops.) FBI eyed former NYPD chief's mystery money. A man who was once the highest-ranking uniformed officer in the NYPD avoided charges in a corruption scandal that rocked the department — even though his bank records revealed some $300,000 in transactions that the FBI called the hallmarks of "money laundering," The [New York] Post has learned. The feds' investigation turned up surveillance photos that show former Chief of Department Philip Banks making some of the deposits, while other photos show "at least one other person, whom the FBI has not been able to identify, making deposits into these accounts," according to a sworn affidavit filed in Manhattan federal court. Florida deputy arrested on child porn charges. A Florida sheriff's deputy is facing charges of receiving child pornography through the Canadian-based social media messaging app Kik. Gang member infiltrates Metro Police Department. Jiyayi Suleyman became Nashville's first Kurdish police officer in 2012. It was a source of pride for both the community and the department. "He was the first Kurdish cop, so he made all of us proud," said Hamid Hasan, the owner of House of Kabab in Nashville. Now Suleyman is out of a job and in trouble. He's the subject of a criminal investigation. The NYPD must let out the truth about an unsolved cop-killing. Forty-six years ago today, an NYPD cop named Phillip Cardillo was gunned down inside a Nation of Islam mosque in Harlem. No one ever served a day in jail for the crime. And for 46 years, the NYPD has been withholding evidence in his murder case from the public. [...] The NYPD is not turning over anything. They say they do not have to make anything public, as it may harm an ongoing investigation. The facts contradict that claim, I'm sad to say. There is no investigation. State Police to eliminate Troop E in wake of overtime scandal. Governor Charlie Baker and the head of the State Police on Monday announced the agency would eliminate the scandal-plagued Troop E unit and begin tracking all cruisers through GPS monitoring — part of an overhaul in response to allegations that dozens of troopers put in for overtime they never worked. The changes laid out by Baker and Colonel Kerry A. Gilpin are designed to begin fixing what Baker called the police force's "tarnished" reputation. NYPD's Secret Tribunals May Keep Guilty Cops on the Job. New York Police Department (NYPD) employees who are found guilty of serious, sometimes even criminal, offenses by an internal tribunal frequently remain on the job with only a slap on the wrist, with devastating effects not just for their victims but for other civilians and cops as well. According to BuzzFeed News, secret NYPD disciplinary files obtained by the website "reveal that from 2011 to 2015 at least 319 New York Police Department employees who committed offenses serious enough to merit firing were allowed to keep their jobs." Chicago cop charged with sexually assaulting suspect in custody. An on-duty Chicago police officer, who once negotiated with a knife-wielding man for three hours, has been charged with sexually assaulting a male suspect in his custody last month at a local hospital. Carlyle Calhoun, a 10-year veteran of the department, was charged Tuesday [3/20/2018] with aggravated criminal sexual assault and official misconduct. He was ordered held on $200,000 bail. Sheriff defends [him]self after public outrage over $740G beach house, pocketing money from inmate food fund. The Alabama sheriff who came under scrutiny after he bought a fancy beach house with the $750,000 he pocketed from funds meant to feed inmates defended his decision this week to keep the cash and buy a $740,000 beach house. Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin told WBRC what he did was completely legal and if the public did not like the fact that he took the money to buy a beach home then they could ask their legislators to change the law. Sheriff who pocketed $750G from inmate food fund bought beach house for $740G. An Alabama sheriff who pocketed $750,000 from funds meant to feed inmates is coming under fresh scrutiny for the purchase of a beach house that cost nearly the same amount of money. AL.com reported Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin received $750,000 of "compensation" from a source he called "food provisions" during a three-year period. When AL.com contacted Entrekin about the money he did not deny he received it despite the money being "allocated by federal, state and municipal governments to feed inmates in the Etowah County Jail." Sheriff's hiring of political supporters under fire. Since winning one of the most powerful elected posts in Broward, Sheriff Scott Israel has hired from the ranks of his political supporters, building a community outreach wing his critics say doubles as a re-election team. [...] Israel's hiring practices have been criticized by his political foes since his 2012 election, but the controversy has moved to the forefront this year as he runs for re-election. I am surprised this is not illegal already. Tennessee: Convictions Thrown Out After Police Caught Paying Labs for Positive DUI Test Results. The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled that individuals cannot be convicted of "Driving Under the Influence" if their test results come from forensics labs that receive financial incentives for positive results to lead to their convictions. It may seem like an obvious conclusion, but the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has been generating around $3 million in revenue each year from the $250 fine motorists are forced to pay for the test, if they are convicted. Pennsylvania Police Chief Caught Soliciting Sex From Children Online. Mike Diebold, 40, has been a police officer for 21 years, and became chief of the Leechburg Police Department in 2007, according to a report from WPXI News. It is unclear how many minors he has solicited sex from, but court documents noted that he became the focus of an investigation in September 2017 when he posted an ad online soliciting sex. Florida 'hot cop' resigns amid investigation into anti-Semitic posts and sexual relations. A Florida police officer whose photo went viral while working after Hurricane Irma has resigned amid an internal investigation into anti-Semitic comments he made on social media and allegedly having sex while on the job. Michael Hamill, a former Gainesville Police officer, resigned from the force on Dec. 6, when he was supposed to appear for an internal affairs interview, the Gainesville Sun reported. Head of Troy police drug unit accused of covering up warrantless search. The veteran leader of the Troy Police Department's drug unit was indicted by a special Rensselaer County grand jury Thursday on nine misdemeanor charges tied to the alleged forgery of an incident report to cover up the unit's warrantless search of a home. Sgt. Ron Epstein pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include official misconduct, falsification of records, offering a false instrument for filing and other offenses that carry a maximum penalty of a year in jail. Epstein joined the department in 1998 and was promoted to sergeant in 2007. Ohio's Cops for Kids charity bilked donors out of $4.2M, state AG says. Cops for Kids, a charity that purports to help families or children who are victims of crimes, allegedly defrauded millions of dollars in donations, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the Ohio state Attorney General. The lawsuit claims that between 2005 and 2015 the charity spent less than 2 percent of the $4.2 million it raised on actual charitable giving, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. Meanwhile, the organization allegedly paid founders Thomas Duffy and Charles Hitzel a combined $614,000, and Telcom Enterprises of Ohio — the firm used for soliciting the donations — $3.3 million, the paper reported. Not All Stings Work. In his compelling new book, Blue on Blue, Charles Campisi, chief of the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau, tells how he was able to dramatically reform the bureau and improve the quality of NYPD policing. Campisi instituted what he called "integrity tests." These were more commonly known in the NYPD as "stings." In his newly proactive NYPD, Campisi ran as many as 500 to 600 integrity tests a year, in which cops had "the opportunity to do the right thing or the wrong thing." The key, writes Campisi, was "to make the situation seem real, so real ... the cop in question doesn't know he's being tested." Leaked Body Cam Shows Cop Film Themselves Planting Cocaine In Man's Wallet. One of the major criticisms against police-worn body cameras is the fact that the vast majority of police departments across the country have absolutely no transparency, and refuse to release footage of contentious arrests to the public. The Los Angeles Police Department is no different — however, 12 videos from a 2016 arrest were recently handed over to CBS2 by a defense attorney handling the case. This is the first time that footage has been released to the media since the body camera program was implemented in Los Angeles, and if this case is any indication of what the hidden footage looks like, things certainly do smell rotten at the LAPD. Pinellas deputy fired after investigation finds he invited woman he arrested to his home. Sheriff Bob Gualtieri fired a deputy Monday [10/16/2017] after an investigation found he offered to pay an 18-year-old woman he had recently arrested and her friend to come to his house while his young daughter was asleep in the home. Police officer in Texas suspended indefinitely for relationship with convicted prostitute. A 22-year police department veteran in San Antonio, Texas, has been suspended indefinitely because of a relationship with a convicted prostitute. Officer Mark H. Walaski was taken off duty in July for "consorting with persons of ill repute," the Houston Chronicle reported, citing police records. Ex-Chicago cop, a fugitive for almost 15 years, arrested in Detroit. Former Chicago police Sgt. Eddie C. Hicks was arrested in Detroit Tuesday morning, nearly 15 years after he fled on the eve of trial on federal drug conspiracy charges. Hicks, 68, has been the subject of an international manhunt since 2003, according to the FBI. He appeared in federal court in Detroit on Tuesday [9/19/2017] and was ordered held until he can be brought to Chicago to face the charges. Former New Jersey Trooper Admits Pulling Over Women to Ask Them on Dates: Attorney General. A New Jersey state trooper has admitted to tampering with evidence and falsifying records to cover up his habit of pulling over women to ask them on dates, and has agreed to forfeit his job, authorities say. Marquice Prather, 37, who has been suspended without pay since his arrest last December, pleaded guilty Monday [9/11/2017] to charges of invasion of privacy, tampering with physical evidence and falsifying or tampering with records. Roadside Crotch Search Was Unconstitutional, Indiana Appeals Court Rules. Last week the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that an Indianapolis police officer exceeded the limits imposed by the Fourth Amendment when she reached inside a woman's underwear to retrieve a blunt during a routine traffic stop. The logic of the decision suggests that victims of even more invasive public pot searches in Texas have a strong case that police violated their constitutional rights along with their privacy and dignity. Taccasia Porter was a passenger in a car that Officer Tiffany Wren pulled over on Lafayette Road in Indianapolis last October for an unspecified headlight violation. Wren testified that she smelled marijuana as she approached the car. She patted Porter down and looked in her pockets but found no contraband or weapons. She searched the vehicle and likewise turned up nothing. Returning to Porter, Wren again smelled "a very, very strong odor of raw marijuana coming from [her] person." She searched Porter again, this time reaching inside her pants. Chicago Police Officer Convicted for Opening Fire on Car Full of Teens. Officer Marco Proano, 42, was convicted Monday (after just four hours of deliberation) of two felony counts of using excessive force in violation of civil rights. The maximum federal penalty for his conviction is up to 10 years in prison. He will actually serve much less time, given his lack of a criminal record. Despite the drumbeat of stories about horrible behavior by officers in Chicago, actual accountability has been hard to come by. Muslim threatened to 'shoot wife in the head' night before [he was] sworn-in as cop. A rookie Minneapolis police officer has been charged with threatening his wife during an argument at their home the night before he was sworn in as a member of the city's police force. Dakota County prosecutors say Ahmed Jama, 29, got into an argument with his wife at the couple's Apple Valley home around 11 p.m. on Aug. 1, according to a criminal complaint. Jama threatened to shoot his wife in the head, authorities said, telling her that he would get away with it. Texas Cops Spent 11 Minutes Searching a Woman's Vagina, Found No Drugs. Charnesia Corley was a 21-year-old college student with no criminal record when two cops from the Harris County Sheriff's Office stopped her in June 2015 for running a red light. After searching her car, police claimed to have found .02 ounces of marijuana. That was enough, they apparently felt, to justify a full-body cavity search. When Corley refused to remove her clothes in the dimly lit parking lot where she was being detained, one of the officers threw her to the ground, pushed her partially underneath her own car, and yanked Corley's pants down to her ankles. For the next 11 minutes, dash cam video of the incident shows, she was held down by two officers while being searched. Corley claims that fingers repeatedly probed her vagina and that the officers ignored her protests. A third officer stood nearby holding a flashlight. No drugs were found on Corley's person. What Is The Quantum of Proof Necessary for Police to Rape and Torture you in New Mexico? By now you've probably heard the story of David Eckert. He's the New Mexico man who was stopped by police, detained based on a suspicion he was hiding drugs in his rectum, and subjected to increasingly intrusive anal probing and eventually sedation and a colonoscopy. You might have read about him at [...] any of the other places that reported on the ghastly episode. There was no police presence. I'd like to know how the police in Virginia could be so impotent. Are they so afraid of being accused of doing something wrong that they protect themselves by doing nothing? [...] The police were afraid of the guns? But no shots were fired, even in response to punching and brawling. That makes it sound as though those people with guns were quite restrained, and yet they terrified the police. 451 Crooked Cops Get Their Jobs Back As Liberal Union Orders Police To Give Badges To Convicts. Many of the people on the left support labor unions despite the fact that they're rife with problems. Among the most problematic are police unions. This is because police union contracts allow officers being disciplined to appeal their punishment. As a result, police chiefs are being forced to rehire officers who were fired for misconduct. According to reports, the Washington Post recently investigated roughly 1,900 firings, all of which took place after 2006. The firings were from a total of 37 different police departments across the country. During their investigation, they found that numerous police chiefs were told to rehire over 450 officers who were terminated for varying types of misconduct, including unbecoming behavior, assault, and sexual abuse. Court Rules in Favor of Police Who Pounded on Wrong Door, Didn't Identify Themselves, Then Killed Innocent Man for Holding a Gun. According to a federal appeals court, police will not be held accountable for banging on the wrong door at 1:30 am, failing to identify themselves as police, and then repeatedly shooting and killing the innocent homeowner who answered the door while holding a gun in self-defense. Although 26-year-old Andrew Scott had committed no crime and never fired a single bullet or lifted his firearm against police, he was gunned down by police who were investigating a speeding incident by engaging in a middle-of-the-night "knock and talk" in Scott's apartment complex. In ruling in favor of qualified immunity for police, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has given law enforcement agencies further incentives to engage in aggressive "knock and talk" practices, which have become thinly veiled, warrantless exercises by which citizens are coerced and intimidated into "talking" with heavily armed police who "knock" on their doors in the middle of the night. Busted: Vermont DMV Caught Using Illegal Facial Recognition Program. The American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont has obtained internal Department of Motor Vehicles records describing a DMV facial recognition program that is banned by Vermont state law and compromises the privacy and security of thousands of Vermonters. In a letter delivered yesterday to DMV Commissioner Robert Ide, the ACLU demands an immediate end to the program, which was first implemented in 2012. Vermont DMV records provided to the ACLU show the agency using facial recognition software (FRS) to search and share with other state and federal government agencies the photographs and personal information of Vermont ID holders. That violates a 2004 state law barring the use of technologies that "involve the use of biometric identifiers." Family Walks Outside to See a Cop Illegally Breaking Into Their Van. A Patterson [NJ] police officer was caught red-handed rummaging through a citizen's car and it was all caught on cell phone footage. The video has since gone viral as it clearly shows the cop callously breaking the law. The owner of the vehicle, a Dodge Caravan, came out of the restaurant where he said he and his family were eating to confront the policeman who acted like he'd just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
NYPD Officer Indicted for Allegedly Trafficking Cocaine, Marijuana. Prosecutors say a New York City police officer transported drugs for someone she believed was a drug courier, but was really an undercover officer. Nysia Stroud was assigned to the New York Police Department's Fleet Services division. Police Lieutenant indicted for having sex with prostitutes in squad car while on duty. An investigation by Special Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has resulted in the indictment of a Ripley police officer on charges of official misconduct and patronizing prostitution. At the request of 25th District Attorney General Mike Dunavant, on March 27th, TBI Special Agents began investigating Donald Bonds, who is a lieutenant with the Ripley Police Department, on allegations of sexual misconduct. Wife Calls 911 for Medical Help, Cops Come Instead, Beat Unarmed Husband to Death. According to national mortality statistics, it's fairly easy to get killed while operating heavy equipment or fishing. But while Jeronimo Zamora Junior of Galveston, TX enjoyed working in both fields, it was police who killed him, not his occupation. And now, the family wants answers. Zamora's wife Carrasco called 911 because, as she told reporters, he was having some sort of panic attack. Instead of medics responding like she asked, nine Galveston County Sheriff's deputies responded, and that's where things took a turn for the worse. Young Mom Dies in Jail Cell as Video Shows Officers Laugh & Gawk at Her — Lawsuit. [Scroll down] Police then brought [Somer] Nunnally to the hospital after they found out she had taken the pills. However, they did not bring her there for help. According to a lawsuit recently filed on her behalf, Nunnally was only brought to the hospital for a blood test to gather evidence against her. Once police took her blood as evidence, she was booked into the Mississippi County jail where she would die a slow and humiliating death — all as guards watched and laughed for their own amusement, according to the suit. Mom Charged with 4 Misdemeanors, Felony for Telling a Cop He Did a Bad Job. Kristy Hernandez, like any good parent, only wanted to take her son to school in a timely manner, but an average trip to Ben Sheppard Elementary School quickly turned into a nightmare — thanks to, of all people, a hero cop. Hernandez' son, Brandon, has autism — his myriad struggles with the developmental disorder forced the young mother to leave her job as a nurse in order to care for him — and after dropping her other son at school, she would ordinarily do just that. Officer Ismael Castilla, however, didn't have any parents' everyday lives in mind when he pulled over a parent outside the school — blocking the exit and preventing anyone from leaving for over 20 minutes — no matter what obligations would have been waiting for them. Nevada Jailers Beat Man to Death as he Cries for Help and they say, "We are the Help". For more than 30 minutes, more than a dozen deputies take turns kicking, tasering, insulting and crushing the wind from [Justin] Thomson's lungs even after he told them several times he could not breathe due to the mask over his head. When Thomson screamed out for help, a deputy replies, "We are the help!" "I believe anyone who watches this video will understand why I was concerned about the handling of this incident and why I immediately called for an outside investigation," said Sheriff Chuck Allen who runs the Washoe County Jail where a sharp increase of in-custody deaths began just after Allen took office. 5 Texas Border Sheriffs Who Were Linked to Mexican Cartels. The ties between elected officials and the Mexican transnational criminal organizations we call "cartels" do not stop at the U.S.-Mexico border. In many instances, such corruption manifested on the north side of the line. We detail below five such instances where Texas border sheriffs were indicted and sentenced to prison for such ties. N.J. police chief to get $127K retirement payout, report says. When the city's acting Police Chief Anthony Salerno retires Sunday [4/30/2017], he will receive a $127,000 payout on top of his pension for unused vacation and sick time, the Asbury Park Press reported. Louisiana officer convicted of manslaughter in 6-year-old boy's death. A Louisiana law enforcement officer was convicted Friday on a lesser charge of manslaughter in a shooting that killed a 6-year-old autistic boy, an encounter captured on tape by another officer's body camera. [...] Video from a police officer's body camera shows the father, Christopher Few, had his hands raised inside his vehicle while the two deputies collectively fired 18 shots. Ex-LA County Sheriff Lee Baca Found Guilty in Corruption Retrial. Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca was convicted Wednesday of obstructing an FBI investigation into corrupt and violent guards who took bribes to smuggle contraband into the jails he ran and savagely beat inmates. The trial, the second Baca faced after a jury last year deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquittal on obstruction charges, cast a dark shadow over a distinguished 50-year law enforcement career that abruptly ended with his 2014 resignation from the nation's largest sheriff's department as the corruption investigation spread from rank-and-file deputies to his inner circle. Miami police officer arrested after allegedly robbing people he pulled over. A rookie Miami police officer was relieved of his duties after being arrested on robbery charges, the Miami Police Department said on Saturday [3/11/2017]. Officer Jose Acosta, 21, was arrested and charged following an internal investigation. Acosta, who had been with the department for about six months, was charged with one count of armed robbery of a conveyance and one count of armed grand theft, the department said. Boy Scout leader charged with raping teen Scout. A Boy Scout leader in Ohio accused of raping a teen boy scout was ordered held without bond during a court appearance on Wednesday [3/8/2017]. Aaron Robertson, 28, who also serves as an auxiliary cop for the Olmsted Falls Police Department, was removed from all scouting activities since his arrest this week, Fox8.com reported. He was also relieved of all policing duties. California Law Enforcement Union Sues To Block Police Accountability. Because there's just not enough opacity shrouding police misconduct and not enough slanting of the criminal justice system against defendants, California police unions have decided to get involved in a judicial dispute over lists of law enforcement officers whose half of "our word against yours" isn't quite as bulletproof as is normally assumed. NYPD cops are using illegal license plate covers to thwart traffic cameras. Scores of NYPD cops have installed illegal flash-reflecting plastic covers on their personal-vehicle license plates that can thwart toll and traffic cameras — and officials said a crackdown is under way. An "Inside Edition" investigation shared exclusively with The [New York] Post before its airing Thursday [2/9/2017] found covers on the plates of more than 100 cars displaying NYPD placards parked outside station houses and courthouses around the city. The covers, which can be purchased online for as little as $6, allow the plates to remain visible but hide plate numbers on pics taken by toll and red-light cameras. NYPD officials admitted the covers have been an issue and said they're "working to address" it. Missouri Pays $9 Million Settlement to Family of Brandon Ellingson, Man who Drowned while Handcuffed in Custody of Police. The family of a man who fell off a police boat while handcuffed and allowed to drown by the Missouri state trooper operating the boat will receive a $9 million settlement, attorneys announced Thursday [11/17/2016]. And there is still a chance the cop will be convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Brandon Ellingson, a 20-year-old college student from Iowa who had been arrested for boating while intoxicated. Missouri Highway Patrol officer Anthony Piercy is scheduled for a hearing Monday for his upcoming trial. Corrupt Indiana Sheriff's Office Raided by FBI and State Police. The Lake County Government Center in Crown Point, Indiana was raided by FBI agents and Indiana State Police on Thursday morning. According to the Times of Northwest Indiana, federal agents and state police carried dollies into the office of Lake County Sheriff John Buncich and left later in the day loaded with several boxes full of documents. Upon entering, investigators ordered everyone, including employees, to exit the building immediately and began taking pictures of the entire office. State and federal cars were also parked outside of Buncich's home in Crown Point. Gay cops investigated for hosting 'breeding' sex parties for teens. The arrest of a police sergeant's live-in boyfriend has reportedly launched a multi-agency probe into allegations that gay cops in upstate New York may have hosted or participated in sex parties attended by teens not old enough to drink booze or give consent. The Times Union reports that Schenectady police Sgt. Jonathan E. Moore, 35, was at an auto dealership last month in Colonie, NY, when his boyfriend, Anthony Aubin, 27, was arrested after trying to use a counterfeit check to buy a 2016 Jaguar coupe for $92,000, according to arrest records. Aubin's arrest has since triggered a broader investigation into allegations that gay officers may have hosted "breeding parties." In reference to gay sex, the term "breeding" generally does not refer to propagation of the species. Police Break Woman's Windows to Rescue Kid Who Doesn't Exist. Perhaps due to embarrassment, or perhaps due to more pressing business elsewhere, the responding officers reportedly left the scene before Turner returned to her car. Turner claims police told her they wouldn't pay for her repairs, which she estimates will cost several hundred dollars. The Editor says... Kansas woman who claimed police told her to stop praying in her home fights court ruling. [Mary Anne] Sause, a retired Catholic nurse on disability and rape survivor, was at home on the night of Nov. 22, 2013, when two police officers approached her door and demanded to be allowed in. Sause said the officers did not identify themselves, and she could not see them through her broken peephole, so she did not open her door. The officers left, but returned later and demanded that Sause let them in. When Sause came to the door and the officers asked why she didn't answer the first time, she showed them a copy of a pocket Constitution given to her by her congressman. One officer laughed and said, "That's just a piece of paper" that "doesn't work here," while still not explaining the reason for their presence at her home. Supreme Court to Weigh 'Malicious Prosecution' and the 4th Amendment. On March 18, 2011, an Illinois man named Elijah Manuel was asleep in the passenger seat of his car while his brother was driving when their vehicle was stopped by Joliet police for allegedly failing to signal. Here is how the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit summarized Manuel's allegations about what happened next: ["]A police officer detected an odor of burnt cannabis from inside the car. Without warning, the officer flung open the passenger's door and dragged Manuel out. The officer pushed Manuel to the ground, handcuffed him, and then punched and kicked him. The officer then patted down Manuel, and in one pocket found a bottle of pills. The pills were then tested by officers who had arrived at the scene, and these officers falsified the results to show that the pills were ecstasy. Based on these results, Manuel was arrested. In grand jury proceedings on March 31, the police continued to lie about the test results.["] Real police brutality exists: "We need to pick and choose our battles wisely". Black Lives Matter will defend every single shot criminal, every single beat up bad guy and demonize every cop. It's why they've lost the respect of most reasonable people. They don't pick and choose their battles — they take on all of them, whether they were genuine cases of police brutality or not. People who are against BLM defend most cops. We understand the difficulty of their jobs and when they need to defend their lives. However the only thing that can set us apart from BLM is ability to see nuance. The reality is, not every cop is bad, but there are some cops that do abuse their power. Body Cam Footage of Police Shooting of 6-Year-Old Released. Footage of the fatal police shooting of 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis in Louisiana in September 2015 at the end of a police pursuit was released this week as part of the evidentiary hearing — two of the cops involved were indicted on murder charges for the killing. You can watch the video below. Michael Edmonson, the superintendent of Louisiana State Police, called the footage "the most disturbing thing I've seen." LA Police Union: Police Commission Wants Cops To Run From Armed Suspects. The Los Angeles Police Commission wants LAPD police officers to run away when a suspect confronts them with a weapon, warns the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the labor union of the city's police officers. The organization posted a blog post critical of the commission's recent decision to find that fault lay upon an LAPD officer who used deadly force when a female suspect, Norma Guzman, came at him and his partner swinging a large knife. San Diego Cop who Lied About Shooting Unarmed Homeless Man, then Cleared, was Never Interviewed by Internal Affairs. A San Diego cop who was allowed to change his story after he watched surveillance footage that captured him fatally shooting an unarmed, mentally ill homeless man in an alley was never interviewed by internal affairs investigators. Nor did the California cop have to answer to any superior officers in his department because none of them were interested in investigating the shooting. Ohio sheriff indicted on dozens of counts, including drug charges. An Ohio sheriff who is up for re-election this fall has been arrested on charges that he stole medications from prescription drug disposal drop boxes, deceived doctors into giving him painkillers and misused department funds. The NYPD paid over $428 million in settlements over a five year period. As part of an ongoing investigation, MuckRock's Todd Feathers asked the NYPD for a list of all civil rights lawsuits brought against the department. To his surprise, what he got was every case brought against the NYPD since 2009, and how much those cases cost them. To all of MuckRock's surprise, that amount is several hundred million dollars. A few bad apples? I don't think so. Take a look at the links [in this article]. These are all from the CATO institute's police misconduct site[.] These are the result of reports they published for part of July[.] They are a great resource and they have been tracking police misconduct since 2012[.] In that time they amassed 247 pages[.] NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton to resign. NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton is leaving the NYPD for a private-sector job and will be replaced by Chief of Department James O'Neill, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday [8/2/2016]. Bratton will officially leave One Police Plaza next month, with O'Neill assuming command Sept. 16, sources said. Bratton's impending departure comes after he repeatedly helped push crime to its lowest levels in recent history — but amid an unfolding police corruption scandal that he's called the worst since the Knapp Commission revelations of the early 1970s. Charges refiled against Reading police officer. Charges have been refiled against against a Reading police officer, who prosecutors said punched a woman and smashed her cell phone during a traffic stop. The Berks County District Attorney's Office made the announcement on Thursday [7/21/2016]. Officer Jesus Santiago-DeJesus faces charges of official oppression and several other charges. Md. Officer Took Upskirt Photos of Women, Off-Duty Police Officer, Police Say. A Prince George's County police officer is facing multiple charges after he allegedly took upskirt photos of multiple women, including an off-duty police officer, prosecutors say. James Sims was indicted Thursday on four counts of visual surveillance with prurient interest and two counts of misconduct in office. Unaccountable Police Unions Endanger Minorities and Everyone Else. [Scroll down] Conservative police apologists often dismiss this frustration, claiming that police shootings are the result not of bigotry and bias by police but greater black crime rates. And to prove their point they have seized on a study by Harvard University's Roland G. Fryer, black himself, that found no evidence that police are more likely to use lethal force against blacks and Hispanics than whites. But Fryer, a careful researcher with a stellar reputation, doesn't have great confidence in his own findings because comprehensive national data about police shootings doesn't exist. His investigation was therefore limited to select areas of Texas, Florida, and Los Angeles that were willing to share their internal records. And this, he acknowledges, introduced a massive self-selection bias in his sample. How
Many People Were Shot by Open Carriers at the RNC? We were warned. Prior to the Republican National
Convention, multiple mainstream media outlets warned about Ohio's dangerous gun laws that allow for the open carry of
firearms. The head of the police union wanted Ohio Governor John Kasich to (unconstitutionally) suspend the state's gun
laws. "We are sending a letter to Gov. Kasich requesting assistance from him. He could very easily do some
kind of executive order or something — I don't care if it's constitutional or not at this point,"
Stephen Loomis, president of Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, told CNN. Once one of the nation's most powerful cops, is ex-L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca heading to prison? Lee Baca was never an easy man to define. [...] Baca, 74, admitted in February that he lied during a 2013 interview with investigators in which he maintained he knew little of the efforts by subordinates to thwart the FBI's probe into the county jails. In fact, Baca conceded, he had known in advance of a plan to have deputies confront an FBI agent and threaten her with arrest. And he did not contest other allegations, including that he was aware an inmate working as an FBI informant had been hidden from agents. Baca retired months after the interview. 'Tens of Thousands' Wrongly Convicted Based on Unreliable Drug Tests. ProPublica reporters Ryan Gabrielson and Topher Sanders estimate that widely used but notoriously unreliable field tests for drugs have led to "tens of thousands" of wrongful convictions in the United States. The tests are not admissible in court, but that does not matter much, since the vast majority of drug cases — 90 percent or more — are resolved by plea deals. Gabrielson and Sanders' story, which was published in The New York Times Magazine over the weekend, illustrates that point with the case of a Louisiana woman, Amy Albritton, whose employment prospects were ruined by a felony conviction after Houston police pulled over her car in 2010 and found a white crumb they mistakenly identified as crack cocaine. The test that was used to incriminate Albritton involves dropping a suspected drug sample into a vial of cobalt thiocyanate, which is supposed to turn blue in the presence of cocaine. But as Gabrielson and Sanders note, "cobalt thiocyanate also turns blue when it is exposed to more than 80 other compounds, including methadone, certain acne medications and several common household cleaners." Due Process? A Drone Was Used To Blow Up A US Citizen Without Trial This Week. The Dallas shootings have ushered in a very new world for US citizens. For the very first time, drones have been used on US soil to kill Americans without trial or charges. The suspected shooter in yesterday's tragic killings, US Army veteran Micah Xavier Johnson, was, according to police and press reports, holed up in a parking garage and would not give himself up. After hours of what police claimed were fruitless negotiations with Johnson, a weaponized robot was sent to where he was hiding and blown up, taking Johnson with it. The Editor says... California Police Underage Sex Scandal Involves 28 Officers, 5 Departments. The California teen at the center of a multi-agency underage sex scandal is finally speaking out about the officer who took her from a pimp and turned her into a badge bunny for 28 cops across five different police departments. The fallout has caused two officer suicides. Fourteen Oakland cops have resigned already. Texas Cop Raped Prisoner, Entire Police Department Watched. A Texas cop raped his prisoner on video, while the entire department watched. Now the victim is suing the town of 4,000 residents for $5,000,000. The tiny border town of La Joya only has a total of 11 police officers, and seven active officers have been named in the lawsuit including the current chief. La Joya's former chief is also a named defendant. Even after several high-ranking La Joya cops, now named in the complaint, knew about their officer's sexual assault of "Autumn Renee" after witnessing footage from the jail's video-surveillance cameras, the officers never transported the victim to a medical facility, they also failed to give her an on-site examination, or even a welfare check. High-ranking New York City police officials charged in corruption case. Charges brought against four men arrested Monday [6/20/2016] in a widening city corruption probe include lurid claims that a top police official roomed with a prostitute during a Las Vegas trip as businessmen spent over $100,000 to ensure unformed officers were available as their private security force. Shady businessman bribed cops to close Lincoln Tunnel lane: feds. Cops shut down a lane in the Lincoln Tunnel so a visiting businessman could be escorted through it at the behest of a major de Blasio fundraiser, federal prosecutors charged Monday [6/20/2016]. The outrageous move was revealed as part of damning criminal indictments unveiled Monday against four NYPD officers and the shady "fixer" who allegedly arranged it. The stunning arrests marked the first time cops have been charged in the sweeping 3½-year corruption investigation rocking the department and Mayor Bill de Blasio's office, which is being probed for its fundraising. 4 NYPD officials busted in de Blasio fundraising probe. Four NYPD officials — including three high-ranking cops — have been busted as part of the sweeping federal corruption probe rocking the police department and Mayor Bill de Blasio's office, federal prosecutors announced Monday [6/20/2016]. "It is a heartbreaking thing," Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said. "An officer who betrays his badge betrays every honorable officer." Deputy Chief Michael Harrington, Deputy Inspector James Grant and Sgt. David Villanueva were arrested at their homes at 6 a.m. Monday by FBI agents and hauled into 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan, sources said. Officer Richard Ochetal has already pleaded guilty to accepting bribes in exchange for expediting gun permit applications, prosecutors revealed. 3 N.Y.P.D. Commanders Are Arrested on Corruption Charges. Three New York Police Department commanders, including a deputy chief, were arrested early Monday, along with a Brooklyn businessman, on federal corruption charges stemming from one of several continuing investigations into Mayor Bill de Blasio's campaign fund-raising, according to court papers. The arrests, of a deputy chief, a deputy inspector and a sergeant, were one of the most significant roundups of police supervisors in the recent history of the department. In striking the top ranks, the case is a particular blow to the storied — and sometimes sullied — reputation of the nation's largest municipal police force. Oakland Police Chief Steps Down After 2 Days on the Job. Oakland lost its third police chief in eight days Friday [6/17/2016] as it struggles with allegations that a number of officers had sex with a teenage prostitute and exchanged racist text messages. Police Officer Arrested 5 Times in One Year, Still on the Force. A Maui police officer who has been arrested for everything from child endangerment to a DUI to skipping court over the course of one calendar year is still employed by the Maui Police Department, according to an exclusive report by Hawaii News Now. The troubles of Rachel Garvin, a mother and eight-year veteran of the Maui police force, began in 2014 and allegedly stem from drinking. While picking her son up at school one day, two teachers at the school suspected Garvin of being drunk. Allegedly, they were right. Just a few minutes later Garvin crashed into a guardrail with her son in the car. Police officer charged after allegedly punching woman during traffic stop. A Pennsylvania police officer lied about the reason behind a traffic stop, then smashed the motorist's cellphone and punched her in the face after pulling her over without sufficient cause, prosecutors said. NYPD cops accused of beating FedEx worker who gave road directions to killer. Two New York Police Department detectives are charged with assaulting a FedEx worker who they knew had given street directions to a stranger who went on to kill two policemen minutes later. New Jersey police officer reportedly investigated for brake-checking motorist. A New Jersey police officer is being investigated after a dashcam video showed the officer suddenly braking in the middle of a roadway and then issuing the driver behind him multiple tickets, authorities said Friday [4/29/2016]. According to NJ.com, video of the March 19 altercation surfaced on YouTube last week. It shows a Clifton resident, identified only as Omar B., and shows the Clifton police officer slamming on the brakes in front of the man. There was no one in front of the officer at the time he slammed on the brakes. One Law for the Rich, Another for the Average. On Sunday [4/24/2016], authorities arrested Alex "Shaya" Lichtenstein on bribery and conspiracy charges relating to alleged efforts to bribe an NYPD officer in order to obtain handgun licenses, and previous successful attempts to do the same. The arrest was part of a wide-ranging Federal probe into corruption at the NYPD. New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton told the New York Post that the unfolding scandal is the worst for the department since the period surrounding the Knapp Commission in the early 1970s; [...] The new way police are surveilling you: Calculating your threat 'score'. As a national debate has played out over mass surveillance by the National Security Agency, a new generation of technology such as the Beware software being used in Fresno has given local law enforcement officers unprecedented power to peer into the lives of citizens. Police officials say such tools can provide critical information that can help uncover terrorists or thwart mass shootings, ensure the safety of officers and the public, find suspects, and crack open cases. They say that last year's attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., have only underscored the need for such measures. But the powerful systems also have become flash points for civil libertarians and activists, who say they represent a troubling intrusion on privacy, have been deployed with little public oversight and have potential for abuse or error. Orthodox Jewish leader allegedly bribed NYPD cops for pistol permits. NYPD cops pocketed cash bribes to "expedite" pistol permits for members of the Orthodox Jewish community — and a Boro Park Shomrim patrol leader offered another officer a near $1 million payday to keep the scheme going, the feds charged Monday [4/18/2016]. A cop in the NYPD's License Division allegedly confessed to the FBI that he and a supervisor accepted payments he called "lunch money" from Alex "Shaya" Lichtenstein, who was hauled into court Monday on bribery and conspiracy charges[.] Court papers say Lichtenstein was secretly recorded last week bragging about how he had secured 150 gun licenses through his connections in the division but needed a new hookup there following a crackdown. NYPD officers shared prostitute in private jet funded by businessman in corruption probe, reports say. Several New York police officials have been accused of having sex with a prostitute dressed as an air hostess while travelling on a private plane paid for by a city businessman at the heart of a federal corruption probe. The prostitute is said to have enacted a "Coffee, tea, or me?" routine during both legs of a return trip to Las Vegas, informed sources told the New York Post. The private plane was reportedly paid for by Jona Rechnitz, one of two businessmen with ties to Mayor Bill de Blasio who is being investigated over gifts made to five high ranking police officers. Mother: Deputies 'twisted' story of girls who drowned in stolen car. Attorneys representing the mother of 15-year-old Laniya Miller, who died March 31 when a stolen car she was riding in crashed into a pond, accused the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office of a "rush to judgment" and "smear campaign" against the girl. During a news conference Monday [4/11/2016] in front of the county's Justice Center, attorneys Michele Whitfield and Will Anderson said the sheriff's office misrepresented Laniya's criminal history and questioned investigators' reconstruction of events that led to the girls' deaths. The attorneys said they are conducting an independent investigation. "The story that law enforcement provided does not match the scene," Whitfield said. NYPD has at least five undercover 'Cop Cabs'. In 2010, the NYPD taxis briefly made headlines on the internet when a video of a cab pulling over a car surfaced on YouTube. Since then, occasional sightings have led to the expansion of the myth of the undercover "cop cab," but little has been proven. In an attempt to find out more about this elusive police tool, I made four requests to the NYPD through the state's Freedom of Information Law. Law Enforcement Investigators Seek Out Private DNA Databases. Investigators are broadening their DNA searches beyond government databases and demanding genetic information from companies that do ancestry research for their customers. NYPD Blames Man Reportedly Run Over by Cop on Cellphone for [his] Own Death. A New York Police Department legal filing asserts that a 61-year-old Spanish teacher who was run over and killed by a police van while crossing a street to which he had the legal right of way "caused or contributed, in whole or in part" to his own death, the StreetsBlog site reports. What's more, a witness reportedly told investigators that the officer driving the van that killed Felix Coss "was holding her cell phone up to her ear" when she turned into him. Port Authority salaries are so out of hand that the average worker makes $100K. The average salary of the Port Authority's workforce exceeded $100,000 last year, fueled by sky-high overtime run up by the bistate agency's police officers, a report released Tuesday [3/22/2016] reveals. One in 10 Port Authority cops — a total of 170 out of 1,649 — was paid more than $200,000, according to figures compiled by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Of the 36 workers making more than $250,000, 25 were cops. How Chicago racked up a $662 million police misconduct bill. In this city's troubled history of police misconduct, Eric Caine's case may be unrivaled: It took more than 25 years and $10 million to resolve. Low standards: 2 Los Angeles police officers charged with raping women on duty. On Wednesday [2/17/2016], prosecutors announced that veteran Officers James Nichols and Luis Valenzuela had been arrested and charged with repeatedly raping the four women over a three-year period, mostly while they were on duty. Corruption: Ex-L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca pleads guilty in jail scandal. Retired Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca pleaded guilty Wednesday [2/10/2016] to lying to federal investigators, a stunning reversal for the longtime law enforcement leader who for years insisted he played no role in the misconduct that tarnished his agency. 'Staggering corruption': 46 correctional officers charged in years-long drug trafficking sting. The FBI arrested 46 current and former correction officers in a sting at nine facilities around Georgia, as a result of a two-year undercover operation went down early Thursday [2/11/2016] with raids by FBI at the prisons. The indictments revealed "staggering corruption within Georgia Department of Corrections institutions," said John Horn, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. Among those arrested were five members of an elite squad aimed at busting up drug dealing in prison, called the Cobra unit. Also rounded up in the bust were two civilians and one inmate. Ex-Oklahoma trooper accused of rape during traffic stops due in court. Eric Roberts is due in Creek County District Court Thursday morning [2/4/2016] for a preliminary hearing on 11 criminal counts, including second-degree rape, indecent exposure, sexual battery and embezzlement. Ask yourself this question: Will the government use this technology for you or against you? Decades of big government have made Chicago ungovernable. Read the headlines from the city that two generations of Daleys governed effectively. Young males, usually blacks, are dying on the streets often from run-ins with the police. For a certitude, they are acting recklessly, carrying weapons, often knives and guns, but the cops are acting aggressively. Just the other day a young man, agitated and carrying a baseball bat, was shot to death by a cop. Obviously, Chicago cops are dangerous. Moreover, city government seems to be covering up for them. Most of former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly's emails [were] deleted before he left NYPD. Press delete. Then repeat. Most of former NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly's emails on his desktop computer were deleted at the end of his tenure despite an order they be preserved for a high-stakes class-action suit alleging a summons quota system within the department. New filings in Manhattan Federal Court show the city backtracking in an ongoing fight over Kelly's missing electronic correspondence. Guard dogs without teeth: Chicago Airport Police Told To 'Run And Hide' During Active Shooter Situation. The nearly 300 unarmed police officers patrolling Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports have been told to "run and hide" during active shootings. Internal aviation department documents obtained by CNN instruct officers not "to become part of the response" to an attack. "If evacuation is not possible, you should find a place to hide where the active shooter is less likely to find you. Block entry to your hiding place and lock the door," but Matt Brandon, secretary-treasurer of the airport officers union, told CNN they have serious issues with the protocol. Chicago Pays Millions but Punishes Few in Killings by Police. The gunshots blasted on and on, 45 in all, until Calvin Cross lay dead in a vacant lot. Mr. Cross, 19, had run away after three Chicago police officers pulled alongside him on a South Side street near his house. Bullets hit his chest, arm, back, face and the little finger on his right hand. The officers, who fired four weapons including an assault rifle that night in May 2011, said that Mr. Cross had fired at them. Investigators found an old revolver several hundred feet from Mr. Cross's path. But tests later showed definitively that the gun was inoperable and did not have Mr. Cross's fingerprints. Ex-police chief accused of DWI crash gets raise, nearly $260K, no criminal charges. The borough and its former police chief have reached a settlement that will allow the chief to retire following allegations that he drove while under the influence of alcohol, struck a parked car, and left the scene of a hit-and-run accident, according to a settlement agreement. Former Chief William C. King is also accused of lying about the crash when questioned by one of his officers. In accordance with the agreement, King will receive nearly $260,000 in sick time, vacation time, personal time, retroactive and compensatory pay and one-year's salary. Armed Citizens Make Fewer Mistakes Than Police. According to a study by Newsweek magazine, only 2% of civilian shootings involve an innocent person being shot (not killed). The error rate for police is 11%. What this means is that you are more than 5 times more likely to be accidentally shot by a policeman than by an armed citizen. But, when you consider that citizens shoot and kill at least twice as many criminals as do police every year, it means that, per capita, you are more than 11 times more likely to be accidentally shot by a policeman than by an armed citizen. That is as low as I can get that number. This is not meant to be an indictment of the police. In fact, because police often live on the edge, they naturally tend to shoot first and ask questions later. Although they are trained to repress this instinct, it does not always work, as evidenced by the number of innocent people killed by police. Also, since they are generally better marksmen, they tend to kill, rather than wound or totally miss their target. How America can be saved from stupid people. [Scroll down] Politicians also played on our fears about crime and, lately, terrorism, so they talked us into giving up many of our freedoms. We now have asset seizures without due process or proof of a crime, no-knock SWAT team raids where police "accidentally" kill citizens over misdemeanor crimes, warrantless "sneak and peak" searches, unconstitutional road checkpoints, wholesale phone eavesdropping on the American people, detention for "suspected" terrorists without a writ of habeas corpus, and restrictions on free speech with the creations of the ambiguous concepts of "hate speech" and "terrorist threats." Domestic violence at home: Destruction of evidence: False imprisonment: A Motel-Sized Victory for Privacy at the U.S. Supreme Court. Innkeepers may now challenge cops who want to spy on guests, but can still be jailed for failing to collect and store detailed information at check-in. Uncooperative agencies: Waco Police Claim Threats From Non-Existent Motorcycle Gangs. [Scroll down] To the contrary, the report factually stated in the first page that most sovereign citizens are nonviolent, and that it will focus only on the violent fringe within a fringe — the people it calls "sovereign citizen extremists," or SCEs. CNN Lied. The report describes their violence as "sporadic," and it does not expect its rate to rise, predicting instead that the violence will stay "at the same sporadic level" in 2015. The author or authors add that most of the violence consists of "unplanned, reactive" clashes with police officers, not preplanned attacks. CNN Lied. Of course, a week after the CNN propaganda the narrative of dangerous "Right-Wing Extremists" had already been embedded with the help of a liberal media. Ridiculously, the words "right wing" were never in the report in any shape or fashion. CNN Lied. Camden County Police Department struggling to keep officers. The Camden County Police Department, even as it has received praise for reducing violent crime in the city of Camden, has struggled to retain officers since it was formed two years ago. [...] County officials blame the turnover on some officers' struggling to adjust from the police academy to Camden's streets, historically ranked among the nation's most violent. The county force, through its Metro Division, currently patrols only the city of Camden. Several current and former officers cite other reasons, including having to work extremely long hours and being disciplined for minor infractions such as wearing the wrong jacket or forgetting to salute a supervisor on the street. Good Cop Files Lawsuit Against Corrupt Department That Told Him 'If you snitch, your career is done'. "Where are all the good cops?" Critics of police brutality and abuse of power often wonder this — sometimes aloud, often on social media. But there is an answer to that question — it's not purely rhetorical — the "good cops" are driven out of work by the bad cops. Far from being "a few bad apples," Detective Joseph Crystal of the Baltimore Police Department says that he was targeted by other officers for trying to root out corruption. Chicago City Council approves reparations for police torture victims. The City Council approved an unprecedented reparations package on Wednesday [5/6/2015] that will pay $5.5 million and provide other benefits to torture victims of notorious former police commander Jon Burge. The vote caps a decades-long push for restitution to some of the more than 100 victims — mostly African American men — who have alleged horrific abuse by police officers under Burge's command. The War On Drugs Encourages Roadside Sexual Assaults By Cops. Last week the Texas House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill that requires police officers to obtain a warrant before probing the anuses and vaginas of motorists during traffic stops. The fact that the bill was deemed necessary speaks volumes about the way the war on drugs has eroded our Fourth Amendment rights and encouraged cops to inflict outrageous indignities on people they suspect of violating pharmacological taboos. How often do Texas cops decide to perform body cavity searches on people they pull over for routine traffic offenses? More often than you might think. Jail time without charges: Half those arrested in riot released without charges. After arresting more than 200 people this week while bringing order to the streets of Baltimore, police said Wednesday [4/30/2015] they had to let half of them go. Port of Los Angeles police chief indicted for corruption. The police chief for the Port of Los Angeles has been charged with corruption in an alleged kickback and bribery scheme. Police departments hiring immigrants as officers. Law enforcement agencies struggling to fill their ranks or connect with their increasingly diverse populations are turning to immigrants to fill the gap. Most agencies in the country require officers or deputies to be U.S. citizens, but some are allowing immigrants who are legally in the country to wear the badge. From Hawaii to Vermont, agencies are allowing green-card holders and legal immigrants with work permits to join their ranks. At a time when 25,000 non-U.S. citizens are serving in the U.S. military, some feel it's time for more police and sheriff departments to do the same. Poor training: Cop Fights to Keep His Secret Mercenary Army. Oakley is a hamlet barely the size of a gnat on a Michigan map, but it has a cyclopean police problem. The 300 person town is farming out its law enforcement to 100 wealthy, mostly anonymous out-of-towners who pay big money to become reservist cops — complete with bulletproof vests and special gun permits. And while outrage has mounted over Oakley's glut of faceless reservists, the top cop there continues to lord over a pay-to-play-police racket. Now, state lawmakers and the feds are closing in with new laws and investigations focusing on town's cop kingmaker to force him to out his secret posse. Changes made for no reason: Invasion of privacy: Work stoppage: Misdemeanor arraignments dramatically drop thanks to NYPD slowdown. The wheels of justice require a lot less manpower at New York City courts — thanks to the NYPD slowdown. At Brooklyn and Manhattan criminal courts arraignments have been consolidated into one courtroom instead of the usual two because there simply aren't enough defendants. Courtrooms in all five boroughs have seen dramatic drops in the number of misdemeanor arraignments for crimes like selling untaxed cigarettes, public urination, or sleeping with feet on seats in the subway. Arrests plummet 66% with NYPD in virtual work stoppage. It's not a slowdown — it's a virtual work stoppage. NYPD traffic tickets and summonses for minor offenses have dropped off by a staggering 94 percent following the execution of two cops — as officers feel betrayed by the mayor and fear for their safety, The [New York] Post has learned. Cooking the books: New Orleans area police hand out $100 bills at traffic stops thanks to Secret Santa. A handful of New Orleans area police officers handed out $100 bills instead of citations this week as part of a Secret Santa event sponsored by an anonymous donor. Eight officers with the Covington Police Department participated in the event after an anonymous Secret Santa donated thousands to the department, The Times-Picayune reported. The Editor says... Misplaced priorities: Corruption: Abuse of power: New Jersey cop exposed himself to young male drivers during traffic stops. A Newton police officer was arrested Monday on accusations that he unzipped his pants and exposed himself to young male drivers during "numerous" traffic stops. [...] Miller would expose his genitals to motorists "to satisfy his prurient interests" and then let them leave without issuing traffic summonses, according to a police complaint. Abdication: New Police Tactic in Ferguson: Betray Local Business Owners. The highway patrol came in with a much softer and friendlier posture and it seemed to work Thursday night [8/14/2014] in reducing tensions, but it didn't last night. Shamefully, the cops evidently stood by while looters destroyed and stole things. We've heard an awful lot about the function of police in our society the last few days. Well, how about this as a function? Protect the property of innocent people. Store owners guard Ferguson stores with their own guns. FOX 2 [KTVI] reporter George Sells interviews store owners that brought their own weapons to guard their store from looters. They talked to police who the owners say were in the parking lot at Dominos and would not help. The owners are not sure that they're going to stay in business. Anything You Don't Say Will Be Used Against You. In People v. Tom, California's Supreme Court justices upheld the prosecution of a man based on the district attorney's argument that the defendant's silence was evidence of guilt. The cop shows make these matters seem simple. A person is arrested. The officer reads the suspect the Miranda wording. Suspects can then clam up and wait for an attorney. In real life, though, these matters can become more complicated and legalistic. NYPD ordered to 'drive around flashing lights' to deter crime. Members of the NYPD's elite Emergency Services Unit — many ex-military members who scale bridges to rescue jumpers and turn into rooftop snipers to nail hostage-takers — have been ordered to drive around the city's worst neighborhoods with their lights flashing to deter crime, The [New York] Post has learned. The voluntary overtime shifts were ordered last month for the unit, as well as for cops in the department's highway, patrol and warrants divisions, sources said. The Editor says... Six cops charged with robbery, kidnapping, extortion. Stories of shakedowns, brutality, kidnapping, and theft have dogged a group of the city's Narcotics Field Unit officers for nearly a decade. But despite multiple investigations, cases against them never stuck. Federal prosecutors set out to change that Wednesday [7/30/2014], laying out a sprawling racketeering case against six of the unit's former members. The charges paint them as rogue cops running roughshod over the rights of their targets, confident that few would believe anyone who dared complain. Taking a bite out of crime statistics: Secrecy: Organized walkout: Blaming the victim: Incomplete work: The Editor says... Video Surfaces of Texas Police Executing Handcuffed Prisoner. Earlier this year a grand jury declined to charge an El Paso police officer in the shooting death of a prisoner. A video of the incidenct [sic] was published on Monday [6/16/2014], after the Texas Attorney General instructed the city to fulfill a request processed by the El Paso Times. The events of the video are deeply unsettling, showing a police officer essentially executing a handcuffed man. Three cops in New Mexico's infamous anal cavity search case are still on the job. It's one of the most shocking and infamous cases to ever come out of New Mexico: A man, falsely suspected of carrying drugs, forced to undergo multiple anal cavity searches. Now, a year and half after the incident and six months after a settlement of $1.6 million in local taxpayer money was announced, New Mexico Watchdog has learned at least three police officers involved in the case are still on the job, while the status of three others remains a secret. Deming Police Chief Brandon Gigante told New Mexico Watchdog all three officers in his department who were listed as defendants in a subsequent lawsuit are on active duty. Gigante wouldn't say why or reveal if the officers were disciplined. Corruption: Soaking the taxpayers: Soaking the taxpayers II: Lodi police chief's $342K retirement payout prompts more calls for reform. Lodi Police Chief Vincent Caruso, whose long service was marked by a meteoric rise and controversy that nearly crippled his career, is walking away with a $342,000 check for unused time off — the latest public employee to retire with a six-figure check. As with similar big payouts recently, Caruso's send-off has prompted calls for meaningful legislative reform on policies dictating the way such time is accumulated and reimbursed. Florida man calls 911 during home invasion, gets transferred to voicemail. A Florida homeowner who called 911 during a violent home invasion Wednesday morning [6/11/2014] was transferred to voicemail at the height of the incident when the dispatcher tried to pass the call from the fire department line to police, MyFoxTampaBay.com reported. Women could be heard screaming during the wait as the recording advised, "If this is an emergency, hang up and dial 911." Trigger-happy aggressiveness: Power-crazed enthusiasm: Cop: I'd Love to 'Bang down Your Door and Come for Your Gun'. How would you feel if a police officer you knew for 20 years told you that if an order were issued to confiscate your guns, he wouldn't hesitate to "kick your door in"? This was the precisely the experience Connecticut resident, Navy veteran and former firefighter John Cinque had after commenting on his state's 2013 violation of the Second Amendment. Corruption: 18 Los Angeles sheriff's deputies arrested in federal jail investigation. One federal indictment filed Nov. 20 named seven deputies charged with conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Graft: Retaliation: Do as I say, whatever that may be. Sheriff Believes in Right to Bear Arms, Unless you Actually do. The vast majority of murders are committed by a small minority of violent individuals who have a long history of violence and criminal convictions. Cops are everywhere. "They Kidnapped our Child": Why CPS Needs Transparency Now. In April 2013, police officers and a social worker from Sacramento County's Child Protective Services entered the home of Anna and Alex Nikolayev and took their baby, Sammy, away from them. They had no warrant. "What they'd done was, basically, kidnapped our child with the help of police," says Alex Nikolayev. The young, first-time parents were not notified of where Sammy was being taken and wouldn't find out for a full 24 hours. This kind of behavior is frowned upon. Only the finest: Gun buy-back programs are the latest cash cow for the cops: Making up laws on the spot: Embezzlement: Hired despite disqualifications: Officer faces lawsuit over warrantless entry and arrest: Malfeasance: The City of Chicago Declared War on Cop Bloggers! The Chicago Police Department just promulgated a new General Order to its membership regarding blogging or posting on Social Media. It effectively outlaws posting anything not officially approved by the department. The penalty for disobedience is termination from employment. How the LAPD Lost my Trust. I am a certified firearms instructor who has taught CCW classes in Arizona since the beginning of the CCW program there in 1994. As we are on the border with California, I watch the developments there with some interest. Unfortunately, nearly everything that I have read and heard about the LAPD and guns has lead me to distrust them. Ineffectiveness: Malfeasance: Greed: Corruption: Nationalized police: Tyranny: A Clear Case of Armed Robbery (and More). If a private citizen were to have done what this officer allegedly did, I can assure you that he or she would be arrested and held on a very high bond. There is no way around the fact that this would constitute an armed robbery, and a district attorney easily could — and would — make that case. However, in this situation, the police officer is on paid leave and the other officer still is working his regular job at Denver's International Airport. Want Some Fries With That Felony, Officer? Two of Denver's "Finest" placed an order at a McDonald's drive-through in the early morning hours of May 21 [2009]. Distressed over what they perceived to be unsatisfactory service, the officers became agitated, and one of them "flashed his police badge and pointed a pistol through the drive through window in a threatening manner, before driving off without paying," reports the local CBS affiliate. 90-plus arrests of D.C. cops in under 4 years. In the past three and a half years, more than 90 D.C. police officers — from detectives to captains to the rank-and-file cops on the street — have been arrested, a Washington Examiner analysis of police data has revealed. Metropolitan Police Department officers have been nabbed within the District and as far away as Florida. They've been arrested on charges ranging from to child pornography to murder. The majority are DUI and domestic violence arrests, though some cases stand out. Citizen-Journalist Confronts Militarized Cops. Students were not told that militarized cops would be conducting a "live shooter" drill at Chaminade University in Cincinnati on Wednesday [9/12/2012]. A citizen journalist concerned about the brazen in-your-face "training" confronted the cops and demanded answers. Tempers flaring as gas lines continue to
frustrate drivers. [Scroll down] Cops, trying to keep order, threatened to close down the station after customers screamed at
officers who were allowing first responders cut into hours-long lines. The police-sanctioned line cutters showed their official IDs but were
almost always in unmarked cars and not in uniform. Civilian customers complained that cops were clearly allowing colleagues, not on the job,
to fuel up for personal use.  Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition, page 266. Feds in Kalispell taking Drivers Photos as they passed by the Fire Truck road barriers. Heading west on Hwy 2 we approached what we thought was an accident, fire trucks, a sign that said accident ahead and fireman with signs saying slow, the fire trucks were blocking the right lane which made you go around them and when you followed their directions, they placed us in front of two officers holding digital/face recognition cameras! I recognized the cameras from when I had to go to Homeland security for my TWIC card in Florida. There was no accident! Tyranny: Abuse of power: Not Being a Felon Is Not Enough to Avoid Going to Federal Prison for Being a Felon in Possession of a Gun. Following some lengthy, in-depth investigative work, USA Today has discovered more than 60 North Carolina men serving federal sentences for violating gun laws it turns out they didn't actually violate. The Arrival of The Police State. How many times have you seen a police officer and been afraid? Have you ever been worried just by the mere act of speaking to an officer of the law, that you might get in trouble? Police officers are public servants, with their original intent to be "Serve and Protect" the citizens. Somehow we have moved far away from that purpose. Police shoot dead a woman standing inside her front door defending against government intrusion! This family was just fine living in peace until the Census-taker knocked at their door, was turned away and called police. Unnecessary secrecy: Malfeasance: Malfeasance: Detroit police routinely underreport homicides. The Detroit Police Department is systematically undercounting homicides, leading to a falsely low murder rate in a city that regularly ranks among the nation's deadliest, a Detroit News review of police and medical examiner records shows. The police department incorrectly reclassified 22 of its 368 slayings last year as "justifiable" and did not report them as homicides to the FBI as required by federal guidelines. You must obey and instantly submit. The Sacred Cause of 'Officer Safety'. In the sacred cause of "officer safety," no precaution is excessive, no imposition unjustified — and no constitutional "guarantee" of individual rights is binding. Bypassing due process: Fishing expedition: The Editor says... Another fishing expedition: TSA Agents Harass Man Over Silver Coins. A traveler flying into Los Angeles was questioned by the TSA about his small collection of silver coins, another example of how the federal agency is acting more like a secret police unit than an airport security outfit, routinely interrogating Americans about their financial affairs. The Editor says... A Grope A Day Keeps Osama Away. Compare [an airport screening] with a traffic stop. A motorist has the name and badge number of the officer and local number to call if there's a complaint. If worse comes to worst, often you have the video from the dashboard camera to review. TSA has none of this. TSA employees have assumed the trappings of law enforcement without any of the training or responsibility. Consider the evolution of TSA uniforms. From the original white shirt with no badge we now have a blue uniform with a shiny gold badge, indistinguishable from that of a real police officer. Yet TSA guards lack the training of even a rural policeman. 10 of the Most Outrageous TSA Horror Stories: The people employed by the Transportation Security Administration, commonly referred to as "agents," as though they were educated professionals such as the men and women deployed by the FBI, are all-too-often little more than minimum-wage thugs. They frequently harass innocent travelers, leaving them feeling insulted, molested, humiliated and degraded past the point that any law-abiding citizen should have to endure. Arrogance: Suit: Cop used ticket to try for date. A Chicagoland cop may find himself on the wrong side of the law after a woman says he used his badge to try to score a date. Evangelina Paredes filed court papers last week accusing Stickney police Officer Chris Collins of violating her privacy when he used Department of Motor Vehicle records to locate her address — after he gave her a ticket for speeding, The Associated Press reported. Heroin Burritos a Big Hit in LA County Jail. The latest food trend to strike California would be burritos stuffed with heroin and refried beans and cheese that can be found in the Los Angeles County Jail served by allegedly corrupt sheriff's deputies. In Florida, You're Presumed Guilty. Florida is one of two states (the other is Washington) afflicted with drug possession statutes that don't require the government to prove criminal intent. The statute permits defendants to offer an affirmative defense of "unwitting possession" — which means that the defendant, not the state, has the burden of proof. The state Supreme Court, ruling the recent case of Florida v. Adkins, has rejected a challenge to that statute filed on behalf of dozens of defendants awaiting trial on drug possession charges. How Facebook Helped a Small Town Fight Back Against a Crooked Cop. [Scroll down] It's fair to say the town would still be shrouded in silence if Jennings hadn't spoken up in support of the Cook family, including Gary Cook, Patricia's devastated husband. "There is a fear of speaking up or speaking out against authority," says Jennings, who isn't done making noise. Now he wants the chief of police in Culpeper to hold a public post-mortem explaining why Harmon-Wright was hired despite objections from within the department. The Editor says... Injustice Everywhere: The National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project. NJ corrections officer, 5 NYPD officers arrested in gun-smuggling sting. A sting operation resulted in the arrests of 12 people, including five New York Police Department officers, on charges that they smuggled $1 million worth of firearms, cigarettes and slot machines they thought were stolen, authorities said Tuesday [10/25/2011]. Feds: Two Chicago cops took orders from Latin Kings. A bistate crackdown on the Latin Kings street gang on Friday [11/18/2011] snared two Chicago Police officers accused of using their badges to rob people in Northwest Indiana and Illinois. Their arrests were part of a broader crackdown against gang members and associates accused of taking part in 19 murders, attempted murder, drug trafficking, kidnapping and weapons violations, mostly in Chicago and Indiana but stretching down to Texas, said U.S. Attorney David Capp of the Northern District of Indiana. Bailiff charged in 3 rapes. A Boston bailiff turned the Edward W. Brooke Courthouse into his personal sex den where he forced shackled inmates to perform sex acts on him, prosecutors said. Michael Rubino, 35, of Braintree was released on $2,000 bail yesterday after being arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court on charges he raped two female prisoners a total of three times — twice in a courtroom and once in an elevator. Cops chase statie eyed in a sex act. The fed-up commander of the state police lashed out at the latest trooper to be arrested — this time on charges he was caught in an unmarked pickup in the midst of a sex act with an alleged hooker — saying the officer tarnished the badge. Lotto tickets bought with bags of coins lead to bust in massive Metro theft. A long-running scam to steal thousands of Metro riders' fares unraveled this week after a man in a police uniform driving a Jaguar bought thousands of Virginia lottery tickets with bags and bags of apparently stolen coins. A tip about the odd purchases led authorities to an extensive investigation involving GPS-tracked cars, surveillance videos from Woodbridge gas stations and money drops by an Alexandria underpass. FBI investigating drug bust by New Orleans area police officers. The FBI has opened an investigation into the recent arrest of a 25-year-old New Orleans man by a multi-jurisdictional police task force, after the man's attorneys claimed that officers ordered him to take them to his French Quarter apartment where they stole $3,500. Detroit citizens no longer rely on police as
self-defense killings skyrocket. Metro transit police: Not quite the region's finest. While police in Maryland, Virginia and the District work to keep the region safe, also among the mix is the Metro transit system's lesser-known 600-member force, which uniquely has law enforcement authority across all three jurisdictions. But records suggest that the agency has conducted little enforcement of the transit system's everyday rules and that the department also counts among its ranks people who have been arrested for violent and predatory crimes. Property seizures See also Gun seizures in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Records of police scheme to seize travelers' cash uncovered. The records of a police department scheme to stop travelers and seize whatever cash they might be carrying with them have been uncovered by the work of the Institute for Justice. The organization confirmed it has obtained records about cash seizures, drug seizures not involving cash, and other cases. The fight, a "prolonged" dispute the organization, said involves an annual search-and-seizure blitz on Interstate 85 in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. During a five-day campaign, law enforcement officers confiscated nearly $1 million in cash from travelers along that route. Tennessee Sheriff's Office Faces Scrutiny for Stealing Livestock Without a Warrant. In Marshall County, Tennessee, a law enforcement agency is under scrutiny for seizing animals without warrants. Current and former officials in the Marshall County Sheriff's Office reportedly admitted to the practice during a court proceeding. The story reveals how those purporting to fight for the rights of animals use their positions to steal people's property under the guise of stopping animal cruelty. [... "]Norman Dalton, who was Marshall County's sheriff from 2010 to 2014, said he was "shocked" at the amount of animals seized by the office since Sheriff Billy Lamb took over in 2014. Records filed in discovery in a lawsuit show the office seized animals from at least 10 people from 2014 to 2019, none with a seizure warrant. Detective Tony Nichols handled all the animal cruelty cases, Lamb said in a deposition in the same lawsuit.[" ...] Dalton explained that officers under Lamb did not follow proper procedures when handling these cases. "Every time you seize an animal, they should have had a warrant," he said. Former Marine Fights Back After Nevada Police Steal His Life Savings Under Civil Asset Forfeiture. Stephen Lara was driving to California in February 2021 to visit his daughters when he was pulled over by law enforcement in Nevada. What ensued was nothing resembling a routine traffic stop and ended with the officers violating Lara's property rights. The officers seized Lara's life savings, which amounted to $87,000, without charging him with a crime. They did so by declaring that it was likely being used for drug crimes and stole his money under civil asset forfeiture. Unfortunately for them, they picked the wrong person to target. Fight escalates over car confiscated from innocent man by county. It was about three years ago that Detroit resident Robert Reeves inadvertently got on the wrong side of law enforcement officials in Wayne County. And a lawsuit has just now been filed seeking a court decision that would punish officials who have waged their campaign against him. It got started, according to a report from the Institute for Justice, when Reeves, an auto mechanic and construction worker, in 2019 visited a job site where there were pieces of construction equipment that allegedly had been stolen from Home Depot. He arrived in his 1991 Chevrolet Camaro, but police, disregarding his statements that he knew nothing about any thefts, and ignoring that there was no evidence against him, seized his car. Judge dashes city's hopes that its car confiscation scheme will escape review. A federal judge has dashed hopes by officials in Wilmington, Delaware, that their scheme to confiscate vehicles will escape review. [...] In 2021, two victims of Wilmington's tow-and-impound racket, Ameera Shaheed and Earl Dickerson, filed a lawsuit seeking to bring an end to Wilmington's unconstitutional impound system. "This is a great decision, and we can't wait to get the city and the towing companies under oath at deposition," said IJ Attorney Will Aronin. "Wilmington empowered these companies to keep and scrap thousands of cars in exchange for running the city's impound program. That's unconstitutional and today's victory brings us one huge step closer to shutting the system down for good." The IJ explained Wilmington "contracts out its municipal impound system to private towing companies and funds the whole system by letting these companies wrongfully take and keep people's cars." The system puts Wilmington people at risk of losing their vehicles to an impound system that profits from scrapping the cars that are taken. California police stole $17,000 from these sisters. Did you know police steal more from Americans every year than burglars do? Civil asset forfeiture (CAF) is a legal practice so bad and so unethical that most people won't believe it's true until they read up on it. But under this system, police are allowed to take your property if they even just suspect you of a crime (No, not charge you with a crime. No, not convict you for a crime. Suspect). And they basically just get to keep it unless you have the ability (i.e. the funds) to challenge them in court and prove your innocence. It's a total perversion of our Constitution, which is supposed to ensure individuals are innocent until proven guilty and which places the burden of that proof on the accuser (the state). Boston Police Use Asset Forfeiture Funds to Secretly Purchase Stingray Spy Device. Civil asset forfeiture is a pernicious policy in its own right. It is nothing more than legalized, institutionalized, government-sanctioned theft. Forfeiture laws flip due process on its head and create perverse "policing for profit" incentives. It's bad enough that police can take people's stuff, oftentimes without even charging them with a crime. But the damage done by this insidious policy is magnified when police use asset forfeiture money to fund the ever-growing surveillance state. Such was the case in Boston. In 2019, the Boston Police Department bought a cell-site simulator with a price tag of $627,000. But the BPD didn't have money in its budget for such an expenditure. It paid for the invasive and controversial surveillance tech with asset forfeiture money. Commonly known as "stingrays," cell-site simulators essentially spoof cell phone towers, tricking any device within range into connecting to the stingray instead of the tower, allowing law enforcement to sweep up communications content, as well as locate and track the person in possession of a specific phone or other electronic device. Canadian police investigate officers' gloating texts after peaceful protesters were trampled by police horse. Police forces in Canada are coming under scrutiny for their excessive violence with peaceful Freedom Convoy protesters in Ottawa, as leaked text messages reveal a group of officers applauded the moment a grandmother was trampled by a police horse and joked about being 'kinder, gentler and handing out free hugs and unicorn stickers' to the demonstrators. The text messages, which were leaked by Rebel News and whose authenticity has not yet been verified, appear to show several officers delighting in the brutality via a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) group chat. The crackdown on the self-styled Freedom Convoy began Friday morning, when hundreds of police descended into the protest zone in Ottawa and began arresting demonstrators. At least 196 people had been arrested as of Monday and 115 vehicles had been towed, police said, while other trucks and vehicles left the protest zone after being warned starting Friday [2/18/2022]. Justin Amash Introduces Bill To End Civil Asset Forfeiture Nationwide. Rep. Justin Amash (L-Mich.) on Thursday introduced a bill to end civil asset forfeiture, which allows the government to take property from someone without ever charging them with a crime. Law enforcement on the local, state, and federal levels can seize assets if they were thought to be used in connection with illegal activity. That's often based solely on suspicion, though. Many people never receive their items back, even if they were acquitted or never charged in the first place. Since 2000, state and local governments have robbed people of more than $68 billion. Police often deposit those sums into slush funds for their departments. What's more, the property seized doesn't necessarily have to have been used by the alleged criminal in question. Such was the case with Kevin McBride, who had his Jeep taken by police in Tucson, Arizona, after his girlfriend allegedly used it to sell $25 worth of weed to an undercover cop. Bill designed to clamp down on property seizures in Arizona advances. Arizona lawmakers are moving to erect new hurdles to protect individuals from having their property seized by the state. SB 1556 would end the ability of prosecutors to be able to take property simply by convincing a judge that it is connected to criminal activity. Instead, they would have to actually first convict someone of a crime. The 6-4 vote Wednesday [5/20/2020] by the House Judiciary Committee came over the objections of prosecutors who argued that it would impair their ability to protect Arizonans from criminal activity. But Sen. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, who crafted the change, said their real objection is that the current law allows prosecutors — and the police agencies involved in the case — to keep what they seize. Michigan: Top Cop Arrested & Charged With Multiple Felonies For Stealing Asset Forfeiture Funds. Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith resigned after having spent 25 years as a prosecutor and assistant prosecutor. Smith has been at the center of a Michigan State Police investigation over how the prosecutor's office spent civil asset forfeiture funds from drug and alcohol forfeitures. To be clear, civil asset forfeiture, according to police accountability activists, is legal theft by law enforcement of citizens' personal financial assets because no crime has to have been committed or proven for law enforcement to steal your property. COVID-19 Panic Buying Reminds Us 'Price Gouging' Is Good. One of the most absurd and infuriating stories that illustrates how foolish it is to crack down on entrepreneurship comes from 2005's Hurricane Katrina disaster. When John Shepperson saw many had lost power from the storm and needed generators to restore electricity to their homes, he was inspired. The Kentucky resident bought 19 generators, rented a truck, and drove "600 miles to a part of Mississippi that had no electricity," John Stossel reported. While he could have probably charged more, he offered to sell the generators for twice what he paid for them. "People were eager to buy," says Stossel. "But Mississippi police said that was illegal." So Shepperson was arrested for the crime of selling a legal good to willing buyers. Who, then, benefited from Mississippi's anti-price gouging law? Not those who needed power. The police confiscated Shepperson's generators, said economist Mark J. Perry, and they "never made it to consumers with urgent needs who desperately wanted to buy them." After 7 years, will woman EVER get back her guns seized without a warrant? Guns belonging to a California woman that were seized without a warrant several years ago must be returned, contends a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court by the Second Amendment Foundation. The organization is seeking review of the case involving the city of San Jose and its police department. In 2013, police seized all the weapons from a home where a man had lived before he was taken to a hospital with a mental health issue. They included firearms belonging to the man's wife, Lori Rodriguez, which were locked in an approved gun safe. The city simply kept the guns. Missouri Cops Used Federal Loophole To Seize $2.6 Million From Drivers Who They Never Charged With Crimes. A new report uncovers a shocking civil asset forfeiture practice that allowed Missouri police to seize at least $2.6 million during traffic stops in a single year. As part of a larger series on national asset forfeiture cases organized by the Pulitzer Center, St. Louis Public Radio reported that St. Charles County law enforcement coerced at least 39 unsuspecting motorists into signing over their assets in 2018. According to the report, officers would lie in wait for a car committing a minor traffic violation. Upon seeing the minor violation, officers would then pull the car over, question the motorist, and then direct them to a private towing lot owned by Superior Towing. While in the lot, officers would ask more questions and search the vehicle, all in the hopes of finding large amounts of cash or connections to drugs. The "Officer-Friendly" Police Fantasy. Asset-forfeiture laws give police sweeping arbitrary power over Americans' wallets, cars, and homes. Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher told the Supreme Court in 2018 that the government is entitled to confiscate cars that exceed speed limits by 5 miles per hour — a standard that would justify seizing most vehicles. Between 2001 and 2014, lawmen seized more than $2.5 billion in cash from 60,000 travelers on the nation's highways — with no criminal charges in the vast majority of cases, the Washington Post reported. Police have been trained to confiscate private property of drivers by absurdly claiming that "trash on the floor of a vehicle, abundant energy drinks, or air fresheners hanging from rearview mirrors" are signs of criminal activity. Oklahoma Police Departments Destroy Valuable Property for Ideological Reasons. In April, two Oklahoma law enforcement departments auctioned off guns they had accumulated. The guns had not been used in crimes, but were seized for a variety of reasons. They were turned into the police by people who did not want them. They were seized from prohibited possessors. They were forfeited as part of plea deals. Oklahoma County auctioned off about 500 firearms they had collected. The guns were sold to dealers with federal firearms licenses (FFL). Tulsa County auctioned off over 700 firearms. They collected $129,000 from the auction. If the price per firearm in Tulsa averaged the same as in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma County would have received about $92,000. Watch as Cops Record Themselves Making Up Fake Charges to Kidnap Innocent Man, Steal His Car. If you still have any doubt that police are here just for your protection, the following video should be enough to convince you otherwise. An entirely innocent man, Charles A. Spradlin had committed no crime, had harmed no one, and was on his own property when two Georgia State Troopers illegally stopped him, kidnapped him, and stole his vehicle. The gross violation of rights was captured on video as the two troopers discussed the various ways to accomplish their illegal goals. The trooper's conduct is now the subject of a federal lawsuit. [Video clip] A critical Supreme Court victory for property rights. With each of President Trump's appointments to the judiciary, and especially to the Supreme Court, the activist Left has tried to scare Americans into believing that they are creating judges and courts with no common sense or fairness. Nothing could be farther from the truth. And clear, non-partisan evidence of this comes through every so often with a ruling that is both revolutionary in nature and broadly agreed to by jurists from widely divergent political backgrounds. Last week, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement can no longer make grossly disproportionate seizures of property, even from people who owe money after being convicted of crimes. Confronting Government's Revenue Addiction. The law of civil forfeiture allows police and prosecutors to seize and keep cash, cars, homes, businesses and property of all kinds without ever criminally charging or convicting the owners. As originally conceived, it was to be a deterrent by which law enforcement would transfer the ill-gotten gains of crime to the public treasury. But, as so often happens with governmental power, it has transmuted over the years into a semi-criminal operation in and of itself. Chicago Seized And Sold Nearly 50,000 Cars Over Tickets Since 2011, Sticking Owners With Debt. According to a WBEZ analysis of thousands of towing records and invoices, the city regularly pulls residents into a nexus of ticket-related debt and car seizures that is stunning in its scope. In 2017 alone, Chicago booted more than 67,000 vehicles for unpaid tickets. In about a third of those cases, the driver couldn't afford to remove the boot, and the vehicle was later towed to a city impound lot. Of those 20,000 impounded cars, more than 8,000 ended up like Botello's: They were sold off, with the owners receiving none of the sale proceeds. Instead, the city and its towing contractor pocketed millions of dollars, while residents were left with ticket debt. Policing For Profit: How Civil Asset Forfeiture Has Perverted American Law Enforcement. Picture this: You're driving home from the casino and you've absolutely cleaned up — to the tune of $50,000. You see a police car pull up behind you, but you can't figure out why. Not only have you not broken any laws, you're not even speeding. But the police officer doesn't appear to be interested in charging you with a crime. Instead, he takes your gambling winnings, warns you not to say anything to anyone unless you want to be charged as a drug kingpin, then drives off into the sunset. This actually happened to Tan Nguyen, and his story is far from unique. It's called civil asset forfeiture and it's a multi-billion dollar piggybank for state, local and federal police departments to fund all sorts of pet projects. With its origins in the British fight against piracy on the open seas, civil asset forfeiture is nothing new. During Prohibition, police officers often seized goods, cash and equipment from bootleggers in a similar manner to today. However, contemporary civil asset forfeiture begins right where you'd think that it would: The War on Drugs. Indiana Solicitor General: It's Constitutional to Seize a Car for Driving 5 MPH Over the Speed Limit. Civil asset forfeiture is such a farce that it took Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer only about 100 words to twist Indiana's solicitor general into admitting that his state could have the power to seize cars over something as insubstantial as driving 5 miles-per-hour over the speed limit. Yes, really. A big win for the little guys. In a big win for the little people, Philadelphia last week agreed to rein in its civil-forfeiture program and pay $3 million to innocents whose property it wrongly confiscated. Attorneys with the Institute for Justice sued in 2014 over policies that let law enforcement take property "suspected" of being tied to crime — even when the owner clearly wasn't part of the crime. The lead plaintiffs were Markela and Chris Sourovelis, whose home was seized after their son was busted for selling $40 worth of drugs outside it. Neither parent ever did anything wrong. In fact, they were driving their son to a court-ordered rehab program the day the police took their home. Philadelphia Will Dismantle Its Asset Forfeiture Program and Pay $3 Million to Victims. Four years after Philadelphia police seized the home of Markela and Chris Sourovelis for a minor drug crime committed by their son, the city has agreed to almost completely dismantle its controversial civil asset forfeiture program and pay $3 million to its victims. The Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm, announced today that the city had agreed to a settlement in a federal civil rights class-action lawsuit challenging its forfeiture program. "For too long, Philadelphia treated its citizens like ATMs, ensnaring thousands of people in a system designed to strip people of their property and their rights," Darpana Sheth, a senior attorney at the institute, said in a press release. "No more. Today's groundbreaking agreement will end years of abuse and create a fund to compensate innocent owners." Baltimore police keep 94 percent of seized cash, report says. Data presented to the Baltimore City Council Tuesday [4/3/2018] revealed that over a period of five years police seized more than $10 million from drug and gambling investigations but only returned $643,000, The Baltimore Sun reported. The data was revealed after a Baltimore councilman called for "a full accounting of all seized guns, drugs, dirt bikes, and cash over the last five years." Alabama Senate Considers Curtailing Civil Asset Forfeiture. The people's representatives in the Alabama State Legislature are considering curtailing the power of the state's law enforcement officers from seizing the property (including the money) of individuals who have not been convicted of any crime. Some sheriffs and other police agencies do not support this proposal, however. In fact, two law-enforcement officials are so adamant that lawmakers not revoke this power that they have penned an op-ed in opposition to the bill, and in that article they are remarkably frank about how fruitful the civil asset forfeiture policy has been for cops in the Heart of Dixie. Just how profitable has the program been in Alabama? A report published earlier this year revealed that in 2015, Alabama law enforcement seized nearly $2.2 million! The data was gathered from 14 of the state's 67 counties. It isn't unexpected, then, that police officials do not want that gravy train derailed. In their op-ed published on February 12 on AL.com, Brian McVeigh, Calhoun County district attorney and president of the Alabama District Attorneys Association, and Dave Sutton, sheriff of Coffee County and president of the Alabama Sheriffs Association, vigorously pleaded for protection of their power to seize people's property without due process. Senators Push To Defund Jeff Sessions' Civil Asset Forfeiture Expansion. Asset forfeiture — a practice that allows police to seize property suspected of being connected to criminal activity, even when the owner is not charged with a crime — has come under criticism in recent years from lawmakers and advocacy groups across the political spectrum. Police groups and prosecutors, as well as law-and-order conservatives like [Attorney General Jeff] Sessions, argue it is an essential tool to disrupt organized crime by cutting off illicit proceeds. Civil liberties advocates say it leaves far too few protections for property owners and creates perverse profit incentives for law enforcement. Alabama Police Use Asset Forfeiture to Ruin an Innocent Small Business Owner. A news report from Alabama offers two textbook cases of how sweeping powers of civil asset forfeiture allow police to seize people's property with near impunity. Under civil asset forfeiture laws, police can take property suspected of being connected to criminal activity, even if the owner is not charged with a crime. Law enforcement and prosecutors say the practice is a vital tool to disrupt drug trafficking and other organized crime by targeting ill-gotten gains. But in state after state, horror stories have emerged of regular people having their possessions expropriated and their lives turned upside down. In the Alabama case, around 20 heavily armed officers raided Frank Ranelli's computer repair shop in Ensley in 2010, on a tip that Ranelli was selling stolen goods. Police seized roughly 130 computers from the shop, most of them belonging to customers. Forfeiture Loot Corrupts Justice. In Ohio during the 1920s, people caught with "intoxicating liquors" could be tried by rural mayors, who were paid for each conviction and authorized to impose fines that were split between the village and the state. Four decades later, mayor's courts in Ohio were handling traffic cases, which did not reward the mayors directly but generated substantial income for their villages. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, both of these arrangements violated the right to due process, since the judges had a financial incentive to find people guilty. Civil asset forfeiture creates a similar problem, encouraging police and prosecutors to take property from innocent owners and turn a deaf ear to their objections. That is what happened to Rhonda Cox, whose pickup truck was seized in 2013 by Pinal County, Arizona, sheriff's deputies when they arrested her son for installing stolen parts in it. Guilty Until Proven Innocent. The United States Government seized more from private citizens than burglars in 2014. Current federal laws regarding civil asset forfeiture are overstepping private property rights under the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution. Under the Fifth Amendment it is the obligation of government to provide evidence against private individuals whereas current civil asset forfeiture laws require private citizens to prove innocence. Civil Asset Forfeiture, where government confiscation is acceptable if it's in the name of protecting the United States against drug lords by taking away private property. It is time for the federal Department of Justice to catch up with states like New Mexico where the burden of proof is on the state to provide the evidence that the seized property is associated with drug sales, rather than putting the burden on the citizen to provide evidence that their property is NOT associated with the purchase of drugs. In the fight against justice reform Jeff Sessions, fortunately, appears to be a lone supporter of Civil Asset Forfeiture at the Dept of Justice. U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Abusive Civil Forfeiture Law, Allows Police to Keep $201,000 in Cash from Legal Home Sale with No Proof of Criminal Activity. In refusing to hear a challenge to Texas' asset forfeiture law, the U.S. Supreme Court is allowing Texas police to keep $201,000 in cash primarily on the basis that the seized cash — the proceeds of a home sale — was being transported on a highway associated with illegal drug trade, despite any proof of illegal activity by the owner. Asset forfeiture laws, which have come under intense scrutiny and criticism in recent years, allow the police to seize property "suspected" of being connected to criminal activity without having to prove the owner of the property is guilty of a criminal offense. Lisa Leonard, the owner of the $201,000, had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to compel Texas to return her money, given that she was innocent of any crime. In a written opinion that denounced the profit incentives that drive asset forfeiture schemes, Justice Clarence Thomas concluded, "This system — where police can seize property with limited judicial oversight and retain it for their own use — has led to egregious and well-chronicled abuses." Jeff Sessions Lets Cops Be Robbers. Donald Trump made two things abundantly clear during a meeting with county sheriffs last February: He did not know what civil asset forfeiture was, and he wanted to see more of it. The president will get his wish thanks to a directive issued last week by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has a clearer idea of what civil forfeiture entails but is only slightly more sensitive to its potential for abuse. That potential is built into the very concept of civil forfeiture, which allows police to take property allegedly tied to crime without charging the owner. Worse, law enforcement agencies get to keep revenue generated by forfeitures they initiate, which gives them a financial incentive to target people based on the assets they own rather than the threat they pose. Policing for Profit: Jeff Sessions & Co.'s Thinly Veiled Plot to Rob Us Blind. [Scroll down] Most recently, under the guise of "fighting crime," [Jeff] Sessions gave police the green light to rob, pilfer, steal, thieve, swipe, purloin, filch and liberate American taxpayers of even more of their hard-earned valuables (especially if it happens to be significant amounts of cash) using any means, fair or foul. In this case, the foul method favored by Sessions & Co. is civil asset forfeiture, which allows police and prosecutors to "seize your car or other property, sell it and use the proceeds to fund agency budgets — all without so much as charging you with a crime." Under a federal equitable sharing program, police turn asset forfeiture cases over to federal agents who process seizures and then return 80% of the proceeds to the police. (In Michigan, police actually get to keep up to 100% of forfeited property.) Civil forfeiture has ruined countless lives. It's long overdue for reform. According to a report by the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm, the Justice Department's Assets Forfeiture Fund skyrocketed from just under $94 million to more than $4.5 billion between 1986 and 2014. State and local law enforcement can get a cut of the action, too, thanks to a program that Congress also created in the 1980s. Under "equitable sharing," police and prosecutors can bypass state laws and collaborate with a federal agency to forfeit property under federal law. If successful, local and state agencies can even receive up to 80 percent of the proceeds. The Other Side of Legalized Theft. During a meeting with county sheriffs in February, Donald Trump was puzzled by criticism of civil asset forfeiture, which all the cops in the room viewed as an indispensable and unobjectionable law enforcement tool. "Do you even understand the other side of it?" the president asked. "No," one sheriff said, and that was that. [...] Civil forfeiture lets the government confiscate property allegedly linked to crime without bringing charges against the owner. Since law enforcement agencies receive most or all of the proceeds from the forfeitures they initiate, they have a strong financial incentive to loot first and ask questions never, which explains why those sheriffs were not eager to enlighten the president about the downside of such legalized theft. DEA Seized $4 Billion From People Since 2007. Most Were Never Charged with a Crime. A report by the Justice Department Inspector General released Wednesday [3/29/2017] found that the DEA's gargantuan amount of cash seizures often didn't relate to any ongoing criminal investigations, and 82 percent of seizures it reviewed ended up being settled administratively — that is, without any judicial review — raising civil liberties concerns. In total, the Inspector General reports the DEA seized $4.15 billion in cash since 2007, accounting for 80 percent of all Justice Department cash seizures. Those figures do not include other property, such as cars and electronics, which are favorite targets for seizure by law enforcement. States Seize Control of Civil Asset Forfeiture. Last week, in refusing to consider a civil asset forfeiture case on procedural grounds, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas cast doubt that these practices could stand up constitutionally or be sustained by historical practice. We share his doubt. Civil asset forfeiture is a procedure where state and federal government actors seize property from private citizens under the suspicion that the property is somehow involved with a crime. Those citizens are rarely charged or convicted of criminal behavior, but the property is brought into a civil court of law, wherein the government must meet what is usually a low burden to "prove" that property's guilt. Civil Asset Forfeiture — Ruining Lives, While Failing To Stop Crime. Civil asset forfeiture is defined by Wikipedia as "a controversial legal process in which law enforcement officers take assets from persons suspected of involvement with crime or illegal activity without necessarily charging the owners with wrongdoing." The practice is commonplace in the war on drugs, but it can be extended to almost anything. What it means is that the government can essentially seize any of your assets it can find (be it in a bank account, or cash/gold/whatever you have in a safe or under the mattress), label them a part of a "criminal investigation," and keep them indefinitely, without sufficient due process for the citizen to challenge the seizures, and whether you are ultimately charged with a crime or not. Martin Armstrong of Armstrong Economics explains how police have every reason to seize assets, largely because these civil asset forfeitures are literally funding police departments: [...] Police Civil Asset Forfeitures Exceed All Burglaries in 2014. Between 1989 and 2010, U.S. attorneys seized an estimated $12.6 billion in asset forfeiture cases. The growth rate during that time averaged +19.4% annually. In 2010 alone, the value of assets seized grew by +52.8% from 2009 and was six times greater than the total for 1989. Then by 2014, that number had ballooned to roughly $4.5 billion for the year, making this 35% of the entire number of assets collected from 1989 to 2010 in a single year. According to the FBI, the total amount of goods stolen by criminals in 2014 burglary offenses suffered an estimated $3.9 billion in property losses. This means that the police are now taking more assets than the criminals. Does Anyone Besides Jeff Sessions Defend Today's Civil-Forfeiture Practices? For Christos and Markela Sourovelis, for whom the worst thing was losing their home, "Room 101" was Courtroom 478 in City Hall. This "courtroom"'s name is Orwellian: There was neither judge nor jury in it. There the city government enriched itself — more than $64 million in a recent eleven-year span — by disregarding due-process requirements in order to seize and sell the property of people who have not been accused, never mind convicted, of a crime. The Sourovelises' son, who lived at home, was arrested for selling a small amount of drugs away from home. Soon there was a knock on their door by police who said, "We're here to take your house" and "You're going to be living on the street" and "We do this every day." The Sourovelises' doors were locked with screws and their utilities were cut off. They had paid off the mortgage on their $350,000 home, making it a tempting target for policing for profit. Nationwide, proceeds from sales of seized property (homes, cars, etc.) go to the seizers. And under a federal program, state and local law enforcement can partner with federal authorities in forfeiture and reap up to 80 percent of the proceeds. This is called — more Orwellian newspeak — "equitable sharing." NYPD can't even count all the cars and cash it seizes. The NYPD admitted Thursday it has no idea how much money or how many vehicles it has seized — claiming any attempt to calculate the total would "lead to system crashes." The revelation came at the City Council's Committee for Public Safety hearing, in which legislation was offered up that would ultimately require cops to report how much property and cash the department obtains on an annual basis. The NYPD's Third 'Forfeiture' Option: Call Seized Items 'Evidence;' Never Give Them Back. It's not just asset forfeiture being used by law enforcement to take property away from people. With civil asset forfeiture (as opposed to criminal asset forfeiture), property is deemed "guilty," even if its former possessors are not. Kaveh Waddell of The Atlantic is highlighting another way law enforcement agencies are taking possession of property: by calling it "evidence" and playing keep away with former defendants who've had their cases dismissed or have been acquitted. Oklahoma governor suspends use of controversial card readers. Oklahoma state police have suspended a program that uses scanner technology to detect counterfeit credit cards amid growing concerns that it could allow cops to empty the bank accounts of law-abiding citizens. The decision was ordered by Gov. Mary Fallin hours after FoxNews.com published a report Friday about concerns that the scanners could make civil forfeiture too easy. "The Department of Public Safety needs to formulate a clear policy for using this new technology," said Fallin. "It can be a viable tool for law enforcement only if authorities are able to ensure Oklahoma motorists and others driving through our state that it will be used appropriately." States crack down on government cash grabs. States across the country are revising laws that allow police to seize a person's cash and property without a conviction, following widespread complaints about agencies profiteering off such legislation, holdovers from the "Miami Vice" cocaine era. Right now, 47 of the 50 states allow so-called civil asset forfeitures, with New Hampshire set to effectively end such practices, which allow property and currency to be seized even if it's only suspected of being connected to a crime. The changes in New Hampshire and elsewhere follow numerous, high-profile cases in which Americans have had their cash and other assets seized by state- and local-level police agencies without being convicted and of police departments appearing to aggressively pursue such cases to fill their coffers. New Mexico Ended Civil Asset Forfeiture. Why Then Is It Still Happening? Let's revisit a state law that emerged out of criticism of the process police use to seize assets they suspect are linked to crimes and keep those assets without having to convict the owner of anything. It's called civil asset forfeiture. Critics say it's abused by local police departments that see forfeiture as a source of funding. And New Mexico made news last summer when it passed a law ending that practice. NPR's Martin Kaste reports on how the new law is working out. New frontiers in asset forfeiture. The most common form of property seized is cash. In fact, carrying large amounts of cash is now in and of itself viewed as suspicion of criminal activity. People who still do carry a lot of cash today have as much to fear from law enforcement as they do from criminals, particularly if they're planning to fly or drive on a highway that passes through a "forfeiture corridor." The police theory has been that because most criminals work with cash (probably true), most people carrying a lot of cash are probably criminals (probably not true). Don't want to be under suspicion? Don't carry cash. But the Oklahoma state police are now using some new technology that could make that advice obsolete. OHP Uses New Device To Seize Money Used During The Commission Of A Crime. You may have heard of civil asset forfeiture. That's where police can seize your property and cash without first proving you committed a crime; without a warrant and without arresting you, as long as they suspect that your property is somehow tied to a crime. Now, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol has a device that also allows them to seize money in your bank account or on prepaid cards. It's called an ERAD, or Electronic Recovery and Access to Data machine, and state police began using 16 of them last month. Here's how it works. If a trooper suspects you may have money tied to some type of crime, the highway patrol can scan any cards you have and seize the money. The Editor says... How police took $53,000 from a Christian band, an orphanage and a church. [Scroll down] Eh Wah managed the band's finances, holding on to the cash proceeds it raised from ticket and merchandise sales at concerts. By the time he was stopped in Oklahoma, the band had held concerts in 19 cities across the United States, raising money via tickets that sold for $10 to $20 each. The sheriff's deputies in Muskogee County, Okla., pulled Eh Wah over for a broken tail light about 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 27. The deputies started asking questions — a lot of them. And at some point, they brought out a drug-sniffing dog, which alerted on the car. That's when they found the cash, according to the deputy's affidavit. There was the roughly $33,000 from ticket sales and donations, much of it earmarked for the religious college back in Burma, according to Eh Wah and the band members. Obama just gave cops the OK to simply take your stuff. When Attorney General Loretta Lynch decided late last year that the Justice Department would end the federal civil-asset forfeiture program, criminal-justice reform advocates proclaimed it a "significant deal. But late last month, less than four months later, the Obama administration reversed itself and reinstated the Asset Forfeiture Fund's Orwellian "equitable sharing" program. That's a shame, particularly when the only supporters of the policy are the law-enforcement agencies that directly benefit from it. Indeed, the federal program's combined annual revenue has grown more than 1,000 percent in the last 15 years, filling the coffers of federal, state and local police departments. Guilty Until Proven Innocent. After a months-long trip to visit extended family in Cincinnati, Charles Clarke was approached by local law enforcement while preparing to board a flight home to Orlando. A tip from a ticket agent, who claimed that Clarke's bag smelled like marijuana, had spurred the encounter. The officers, who were working with the Drug Enforcement Administration, began quizzing Clarke, a 22-year-old African-American and college student, on his travel plans. They also asked him if he was carrying cash. Believing he had nothing to hide from law enforcement, Clarke consented to a search of his carry-on bag. Clarke was carrying approximately $11,000 in cash, money he had obtained through legal means, including his job and student loans. Before taking his trip, he had decided to bring the money with him because his mother, whom he lives with, was moving and Clarke did not want his money to be lying around for movers to find. Florida Governor Signs Forfeiture Reform into Law. Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation that requires law enforcement to make an arrest before seizing property believed to be connected to a crime and increases the evidentiary standard the government needs to permanently keep seized property. The bill also offers procedural reforms, such as a $1,000 filing fee and $1,500 that the government needs to pay before beginning forfeiture proceedings against seized property. The bond would be payable to the property owner if the government fails to produce evidence that the property is connected to illicit activity. Surprising Number of Americans Affected by Police Taking Their Property. New polling data is shedding light on the widespread impact of pervasive property seizures under civil asset forfeiture laws. In both Utah and Florida, a substantial percentage of respondents — nearly 1 in 10, in fact — acknowledged that either they themselves or someone they knew had property seized without criminal charges being filed. [...] In a 2001 survey of 1,400 law enforcement executives, 40 percent of respondents reported that they considered forfeiture revenues to be a necessary component of their budgets. Since 2008, 298 police and sheriffs' department and 210 task forces have seized the equivalent of 20 percent of their budgets each year. Feds are out-burgling the burglars. The Department of Justice announced this week that it is resuming its Equitable Sharing program. "Equitable Sharing" sounds like a good thing, but it's actually too good to be true. It's just a cute moniker for a monstrosity (rather like the name "Department of Justice"). Equitable Sharing is a federal program that allows state and local police to get around tough state laws that limit how much property can be taken from citizens without being charged with wrongdoing, let alone convicted of a crime. By working with the federal government instead of enforcing state laws, money-hungry police departments can exploit these lax federal rules about confiscating people's property. The feds like this because they get a cut of the loot. Sneaky feds restart vile, corrupt civil asset forfeiture program. The federal government is bringing back its Equitable Sharing Program just months after shutting it down. The "Department of Justice" announced the decision to bring the civil asset forfeiture program back this week, meaning participating local and state law enforcement agencies will enjoy getting a piece of the pie whenever a task force seizes property. The feds have resumed a controversial program that lets cops take stuff and keep it. The Justice Department announced Monday that it is resuming a controversial practice that allows local police departments to funnel a large portion of assets seized from citizens into their own coffers under federal law. The "Equitable Sharing Program" gives police the option of prosecuting asset forfeiture cases under federal instead of state law. The Justice Department had suspended payments under this program in December, due to budget cuts included in last year's spending bill. "In the months since we made the difficult decision to defer equitable sharing payments because of the $1.2 billion rescinded from the Asset Forfeiture Fund, the financial solvency of the fund has improved to the point where it is no longer necessary to continue deferring equitable sharing payments," spokesman Peter J. Carr said. An unexpected New Year's present from Congress: Property rights. State and municipal law enforcement agencies make big money seizing property from owners who have not been convicted or often even charged with a crime, on the pretext that it was somehow involved in criminal activity. The burden falls upon property owners to prove it wasn't, and they might have to go to great effort and expense to recover what's theirs. It sounds terribly un-American, but it is a routine practice in most states. Some states, such as New Mexico, have already begun to reform it, requiring a criminal conviction before property can be lawfully seized. When state laws are passed restricting this dubious police practice, the cops sometimes circumvent them by involving the feds. That's because assets seized through joint federal task forces fall under federal law instead. The Justice Department just shut down a huge asset forfeiture program. The Department of Justice announced this week that it's suspending a controversial program that allows local police departments to keep a large portion of assets seized from citizens under federal law and funnel it into their own coffers. The "equitable-sharing" program gives police the option of prosecuting asset forfeiture cases under federal instead of state law. Federal forfeiture policies are more permissive than many state policies, allowing police to keep up to 80 percent of assets they seize — even if the people they took from are never charged with a crime. The DOJ is suspending payments under this program due to budget cuts included in the recent spending bill. When cops steal from innocent citizens. Not many people make a habit of carrying large amounts of cash around. After all, thieves could steal it. How ironic, then, that a growing threat to your money is the people you'd call if your money was stolen: the police. And all because of a little-known law-enforcement tool known as civil forfeiture. It allows police departments to keep the proceeds from whatever property they seize in the course of conducting an investigation or making an arrest. [...] Many victims of forfeiture abuse are not criminals at all, but ordinary people who happen to be carrying a large amount of cash at the wrong time and place. Forget Justice: Government Just Wants Money. The justice system is supposed to be about, well, justice. It's why district attorneys are ethically obliged to pursue convictions only against people they believe to have committed the crime. They are not supposed to pursue convictions at all costs to bolster their careers. Likewise, when police agencies use "civil asset forfeiture" to take private property, they are not allowed to build their budgets around such takings. The funds are supposed to support extra programs — not supplant current dollars. That's so agencies don't replace the pursuit of justice with the pursuit of cash. Feds fighting to keep cash seized from person never charged with crime. Federal prosecutors are battling in court to keep $167,000 in cash seized in a 2013 traffic stop, despite the motorist never being charged in the incident and the Obama administration clamped down this spring on such asset seizures and forfeitures. The case — which highlights the ongoing concerns about the government unjustly seizing money and property — began when a Nevada state trooper pulled over the motorist on a cross-country trip to California. The trooper stopped Hawaii resident Straughn Gorman's motor-home in January 2013 for allegedly going too slow along Interstate 80. Nine Times the Government Stole Americans' Cash, Cars. Today [6/16/2015], The Heritage Foundation releases "Arresting Your Property: How Civil Asset Forfeiture Turns Police Into Profiteers." This booklet highlights the important problem of civil asset forfeiture and tells lawmakers how states and the federal government can help fix these broken laws. The booklet reveals the dark side of civil forfeiture, where the government seizes your property without ever convicting you of, or even charging you with, a crime, and then keeps the profits for its own coffers. Arresting Your Property: How Civil Asset Forfeiture Turns Police Into Profiteers. Civil asset forfeiture is a law enforcement tool with a dark side. Meant to ensure that "crime does not pay," civil forfeiture laws allow police to seize property they merely suspect was involved in criminal activity. In many states, law enforcement authorities can keep whatever they seize as profits — leading some agencies to treat civil forfeiture as a way to raise revenue, often at the expense of innocent property owners. Every American knows that in a court of law they are innocent until proven guilty, but civil forfeiture flips this on its head: Your property is guilty until you prove your own innocence. Federal Prosecutors Fight Back After Judge Orders Motorist Be Returned $167K Seized. After a federal judge ordered the government return $167,000 law enforcement seized from a motorist driving through Nevada, federal prosecutors are fighting the decision. The U.S. attorney's office in Reno, Nev., filed documents with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Calif., earlier this month calling on the court to revisit a decision requiring the government to return cash it seized from Straughn Gorman several years ago. Gorman was never charged with a crime. Civil asset forfeiture in Tennessee allowed officer to take $6,000, audit says. In Morristown, Tennessee, police seized cars and demanded cash, which a police sergeant allegedly kept for himself — $6,000 in all, a state Comptroller's report says. Why Morristown officers seized the cars in the first place is unclear. Tennessee Department of Safety ordered now former police Sgt. Michael Hurt to return those vehicles to the original owners, according to state Comptroller Justin Wilson's report, released Wednesday [7/8/2015]. 3 Reasons Stopping Police From Wrongly Seizing Americans' Assets Will Be Tough. "There are two kinds of people," Robert Frommer of the Institute for Justice says: "those that don't know about civil asset forfeiture and those that are mad about it." This was the broad consensus at a recent event hosted by Americans for Tax Reform and Right on Crime, titled "Civil Asset Forfeiture: Undue Process and Overdue Reforms." Civil asset forfeiture essentially allows law enforcement to seize property which they claim has been involved in criminal activity. Drug cops took a college kid's savings and now 13 police departments want a cut. In February 2014, Drug Enforcement Administration task force officers at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport seized $11,000 in cash from 24-year-old college student Charles Clarke. They didn't find any guns, drugs or contraband on him. But, according to an affidavit filled out by one of the agents, the task force officers reasoned that the cash was the proceeds of drug trafficking, because Clarke was traveling on a recently-purchased one-way ticket, he was unable to provide documentation for where the money came from, and his checked baggage had an odor of marijuana. (He was a marijuana smoker.) Clarke's cash, which says he he spent five years saving up, was seized under civil asset forfeiture, where cops are able to take cash and property from people who are never convicted of — and in some cases, never even charged with — a crime.
Police, Prosecutors Fight Aggressively to Retain Barbaric Right of "Civil Asset Forfeiture". Efforts to limit seizures of money, homes and other property from people who may never be convicted of a crime are stalling out amid a wave of pressure from prosecutors and police. Their effort, at least at the state level, appears to be working. At least a dozen states considered bills restricting or even abolishing forfeiture that isn't accompanied by a conviction or gives law enforcement less control over forfeited proceeds. But most measures failed to pass. Armed Robbers With Badges: 'They Took Everything'. When the cops raided Ginnifer Hency's home in Smiths Creek, Michigan, in July, "they took everything," she told state legislators last Tuesday, including TV sets, ladders, her children's cellphones and iPads, even her vibrator. They found six ounces of marijuana and arrested Hency for possession with intent to deliver, "even though I was fully compliant with the Michigan medical marijuana laws," which means "I am allowed to possess and deliver." Hency, a mother of four with multiple sclerosis, uses marijuana for pain relief based on her neurologist's recommendation. Gun grabbing sweeping the nation. Cherished family heirlooms were among the 21 firearms Michael Roberts surrendered to the Torrance Police Department in 2010, after his doctor filed a restraining order against him. The court order was the result of a dispute Roberts had with a member of the doctor's staff and, after Roberts pleaded no contest, the matter was resolved. Yet, even though he filed the proper Law Enforcement Gun Release paperwork on four separate occasions, obtained clearance from the California Department of Justice and had two court orders commanding the return of his guns, police refused to hand them over. With the backing of the National Rifle Association and California Rifle and Pistol Association, Roberts filed a federal lawsuit in May 2014, over the $15,500 worth of firearms. In the end he got the money, but not the guns. The police had had them destroyed. Small Justice. Eric Holder's divisive tenure at the Justice Department is coming to a close, in at least one area, on a somewhat positive note. Last month, the outgoing attorney general announced that he would scale back the Justice Department's "equitable sharing" program, under which state and local police forces could use federal law to seize property and assets from citizens without charging them with crimes. When operating on federal mandates, the police departments kept up to 80 percent of the seized assets, while federal agencies "adopted" the rest. "With this new policy, effective immediately, the Justice Department is taking an important step to prohibit federal agency adoptions of state and local seizures, except for public safety reasons," Holder said. States seize cash, property from motorists. On a bright, clear morning in April 2013, two professional poker players from California were heading west on Interstate 80 in rural Iowa when they were stopped by two Iowa State Troopers. Before that stop was over, the officers had seized $100,000, which the men said was money to play poker. The troopers also called ahead to California authorities, who raided the men's homes and ultimately indicted one of them, John Newmerzhycky, on a charge of illegal possession of drug paraphernalia. If this sounds unusual and way out of the ordinary, it isn't. Holder limits seized-asset sharing process that split billions with local, state police. Since 2008, thousands of local and state police agencies have made more than 55,000 seizures of cash and property worth $3 billion under a civil asset forfeiture program at the Justice Department called Equitable Sharing. The program has enabled local and state police to make seizures and then have them "adopted" by federal agencies, which share in the proceeds. The program allowed police departments and drug task forces to keep up to 80 percent of the proceeds of the adopted seizures, with the rest going to federal agencies. Are Police Stealing People's Property? "Don't even bother getting a lawyer. The money always stays here." That's what the Tenaha Police Department told 27-year-old Arkansan James Morrow after they confiscated $3,900 from his car for "driving too close to the white line." The police reported the "odor of burned marijuana," though no drugs were found in the car. Morrow was carted off to jail, while the car was impounded. Eventually Morrow was released with no money, vehicle, or phone. 'Twas the Night Raid Before Christmas. In the midst of buying your own gifts for family and friends this holiday season, remember that the cops can just as easily seize your property, your rights and even your shark fins. Cops Seized Couple's $160,000 Wine Collection — And Want to Destroy It All. The police, who had made undercover buys at the home before, easily found what they were looking for. And they found lots of it. In a raid that lasted twenty hours, police seized thousands of ounces of alleged contraband from the couple's home. In addition to the seizure, police charged Mr. Goldman with a crime. So just what was it that led police to target the homeowners? Cocaine? Marijuana? Meth? Raw milk? None of the above. This bizarre and infuriating case involves no illicit substance whatsoever. It's a case about wine. Legally purchased wine, at that. This Police Department Seems to Think Law Enforcement Is a 'Get Rich' Scheme. The city of Sunrise is back in the headlines. Last year, city officials caught flack for luring criminals from around the country into the Florida community just to seize their cash and cars under civil forfeiture laws. Now, the city's forfeiture program has earned it a rebuke from the federal government. In an audit of the city's participation in the federal "equitable sharing" program, the Department of Justice inspector general found that the Sunrise Police Department was keeping shoddy records, violating its own internal procedures and perhaps even enacting sweetheart deals with a local law firm to get around federal rules governing how forfeiture dollars are spent. Highway seizure in Iowa fuels debate about asset-forfeiture laws. By the time the encounter was over, the gamblers had been detained for more than two hours. Their car was searched without a warrant. And their cellphones, a computer and $100,020 of their gambling "bankroll" were seized under state civil asset-forfeiture laws. The troopers allowed them to leave, without their money, after issuing a traffic warning and a citation for possession of marijuana paraphernalia that carried a $65 fine, court records show. Months later, an attorney for the men obtained a video of the stop. It showed that the motorists were detained for a violation they did not commit — a failure to signal during a lane change — and authorities were compelled to return 90 percent of the money. Police Use Department Wish List When Deciding Which Assets to Seize. The seminars offered police officers some useful tips on seizing property from suspected criminals. Don't bother with jewelry (too hard to dispose of) and computers ("everybody's got one already"), the experts counseled. Do go after flat screen TVs, cash and cars. Especially nice cars. In one seminar, captured on video in September, Harry S. Connelly Jr., the city attorney of Las Cruces, N.M., called them "little goodies." And then Mr. Connelly described how officers in his jurisdiction could not wait to seize one man's "exotic vehicle" outside a local bar. IRS uses drug trafficking and terror laws to seize bank accounts from taxpayers without ANY proof of a crime. The federal government is using a legal process called 'civil forfeiture' to seize massive amounts of money from unsuspecting Americans — without alleging that they've committed any crimes. [...] In one case, the IRS took $446,000 from a mostly cash-only small business that distributes candy, snacks and cigarettes to convenience stores. Brothers Jeffrey, Richard and Mitch Hirsch lost that money two years ago when the federal government raided their bank account. In another, the government grabbed $33,000 from Iowa restaurateur Carole Hinders, who deals only in cash. No criminal charges have been brought in either case. Asset seizures fuel police spending. Police agencies have used hundreds of millions of dollars taken from Americans under federal civil forfeiture law in recent years to buy guns, armored cars and electronic surveillance gear. They have also spent money on luxury vehicles, travel and a clown named Sparkles. The details are contained in thousands of annual reports submitted by local and state agencies to the Justice Department's Equitable Sharing Program, an initiative that allows local and state police to keep up to 80 percent of the assets they seize. American shakedown: Police won't charge you, but they'll grab your money. It usually starts on the road somewhere. An officer pulls you over for some minor infraction — changing lanes without proper signalling, following the car ahead too closely, straddling lanes. The offence is irrelevant. Then the police officer wants to chat, asking questions about where you're going, or where you came from, and why. He'll peer into your car, then perhaps ask permission to search it, citing the need for vigilance against terrorist weaponry or drugs. What he's really looking for, though, is money. Over $455,000 Seized from Medical Marijuana Patient Slapped with Civil Asset Forfeiture. In March 2013, Steve Oates' home in Goodyear, Ariz. was stormed by police, SWAT, and DEA agents because of a marijuana grow room in the guest house. "It was like something you see in the movies. It was 6:30 in the morning, and basically you hear 'bang! bang! bang!' on the door, and next thing you know you hear the crash of a battering ram," says Oates. Philly sued over $6-million civil asset forfeiture habit. It's a stultifying name for a frequently abused tool in law enforcement's arsenal. Civil asset forfeiture is the name for the state's ability to take your stuff if they suspect it's been used in the commission of the crime. The problem is your stuff isn't presumed innocent, and therefore getting it back can be a nightmare from which law-abiding citizens emerge stuff-less. The Institute for Justice, my favorite law firm for economic liberty, is suing the city of Philadelphia over its takings of property from thousands of citizens. The civil forfeiture apparatus in Philadelphia racks up $6 million a year, according to IJ. Stopping police asset-forfeiture predators. When the public is more afraid of the cops than the bad guys, the system is broken. [...] A 64-year-old Texas woman, for example, was accused of being a drug dealer simply because she was carrying cash in her pickup truck from the sale of her land. The cops took her money, though she had never been convicted of a crime in her life. She had to sue in federal court to get all of her money back. A family grocery store in Michigan was threatened by the IRS for "money laundering" because they handled money in the way their insurance policy required. Car owners giving friends a lift in New York City suffer their vehicles seized because the Taxi Commission thinks they're operating an illegal cab. Outrages like these have happened in every state in the union. 13 Ways The American Police State Squanders Your Tax Dollars. [#3] $6 billion in assets seized by the federal government in one year alone. Relying on the topsy-turvy legal theory that one's property cannot only be guilty of a crime but is also guilty until proven innocent, government agencies have eagerly cashed in on the civil asset forfeiture revenue scheme, which allows police to seize private property they "suspect" may be connected to criminal activity. Then whether or not any crime is actually proven to have taken place, the cops keeps the citizen's property. Eighty percent of these asset forfeiture cases result in no charge against the property owner. Some states are actually considering expanding the use of asset forfeiture laws to include petty misdemeanors. Minnesotans Score Small Victory in Civil Asset Forfeiture War. On August 1, citizens in Minnesota will rejoice that the police can no longer steal their property without their being convicted — or even charged with — a crime. Until then, Minnesota remains an upside-down world, as do many other states, where police can seize cash and property if they think that somehow that cash or property was involved in a crime. Until August 1, citizens who have had their property seized will still have to prove a negative: that their property was neither the "instrument" nor the "proceeds" of the charged crime. Lawmakers, advocates raise alarm at growing gov't power to seize property. Motel owner Russell Caswell wasn't expecting to find himself at the center of a national controversy when FBI agents came knocking on his door. They said they wanted his Tewksbury, Mass., business — and the land it was on — because they suspected it was a hotbed for drug-dealing and prostitution. The agents, who were working with state and local authorities, told a disbelieving Caswell they had the right to take the property, valued at as much as $1.5 million, through a legal process known as civil forfeiture. Caswell, 70, fought back, and the case turned into one of the nation's most contentious civil forfeiture fights ever — and one that legal experts say sheds light on a little-known practice that, when abused, is tantamount to policing for profit. Have you ever had a Gun or Knife Stolen by the "Authorities"? Has an authority figure ever used their power to steal something from you? I have seen it most commonly with guns and knives, where people often do not know the precise law, and allow the theft as a form of low level extortion. The trade off is clear: the authority figure ends up with your item, and they do not charge you with a crime. My first experience with this occurred at about age 14. Driver Who Had $50,000 Seized By A Nevada Cop Is Getting His Money Back. After Tan Nguyen was pulled over for driving three miles above the speed limit, he had $50,000 confiscated by a Nevada deputy. According to Nguyen, that money was casino winnings. As reported last week at Forbes, Nguyen "was not arrested or charged with a crime — not even a traffic citation." He filed a lawsuit in federal court, arguing his civil rights were violated by an "unconstitutional search and seizure." In that lawsuit, Nguyen claimed Deputy Lee Dove, who had pulled him over for speeding, threatened to seize and tow his car unless he "got in his car and drove off and forgot this ever happened." Give Us Cash or Lose Your Kids and Face Felony Charges. Imagine getting pulled over while on a family vacation and having small-town cops accuse you and your family of being drug couriers. Then imagine hearing that you have two options: Fork over your cash and continue on your vacation or face felony charges for money laundering and child endangerment, in which case you go to jail and your kids get handed over to foster care. That's what happened to Ron Henderson and Jennifer Boatright while traveling through Tenaha, Texas, a town that regards piracy as just another way to raise revenue. Pennsylvania Court Strikes Blow Against Asset Forfeiture Regime. A Commonwealth Court ruling is being hailed as a victory for property rights and a small blow against civil asset forfeiture laws, which allow the state to seize private property that may be connected to a crime. In a decision filed last month, Commonwealth Court Judge Dan Pellegrini called the state's civil asset forfeiture law "state-sanctioned theft" and ordered a lower court to re-examine a recent forfeiture case in Centre County. Taken. The basic principle behind asset forfeiture is appealing. It enables authorities to confiscate cash or property obtained through illicit means, and, in many states, funnel the proceeds directly into the fight against crime. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, cops drive a Cadillac Escalade stencilled with the words "This Used To Be a Drug Dealer's Car, Now It's Ours!" In Monroe, North Carolina, police recently proposed using forty-four thousand dollars in confiscated drug money to buy a surveillance drone, which might be deployed to catch fleeing suspects, conduct rescue missions, and, perhaps, seize more drug money. ATF's latest gun grab. The Obama administration is making it easier for bureaucrats to take away guns without offering the accused any realistic due process. [...] That means government can grab firearms and other property from someone who has never been convicted or even charged with any crime. Giving Cops Bad Incentives to Harass Victimless Behavior. The Washington Post has an interesting report about the huge amount of money that Fairfax County spends to go after gambling. The story cites critics who ask "why law enforcement spends valuable time and money on combating sports gambling. The answer is obvious — and explicit in the story: "...police in Virginia are allowed to keep 100 percent of the assets they seize in state gambling cases." In other words, harassing the gambling business is a profit-making endeavor for police. Officials Confiscate Cash and Property — for No Reason. A battle over civil asset forfeiture is raging in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, where a motel is being seized because, according to the local police and the DEA, it "facilitated" some drug related activity. The owners, Russ and Pat Caswell, are mystified and frightened. The motel has been in the family for two generations and has rented out its rooms more than 125,000 times since 1994, with about 30 drug-related arrests taking place there over that 18-year period. If the taking is successful, it will essentially render the Caswells penniless as they were depending upon the property for their retirement. Report Documents the Nationwide Abuse of Civil Forfeiture. It's called policing for profit and it's happening all across America. Police and prosecutors' offices seize private property — often without ever charging the owners with a crime, much less convicting them of one — then keep or sell what they've taken and use the profits to fund their budgets. And considering law enforcement officials in most states don't report the value of what they collect or how that bounty is spent, the issue raises serious questions about both government transparency and accountability. The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture. Civil forfeiture laws represent one of the most serious assaults on private property rights in the nation today. Under civil forfeiture, police and prosecutors can seize your car or other property, sell it and use the proceeds to fund agency budgets — all without so much as charging you with a crime. Unlike criminal forfeiture, where property is taken after its owner has been found guilty in a court of law, with civil forfeiture, owners need not be charged with or convicted of a crime to lose homes, cars, cash or other property. Americans are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but civil forfeiture turns that principle on its head. With civil forfeiture, your property is guilty until you prove it innocent. Policing for Profit: The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture. Civil forfeiture encourages policing for profit according to an analysis of national data by Williams, Holcomb and Kovandzic. Specifically, they find that when state laws make forfeiture more difficult and less rewarding, law enforcement instead takes advantage of easier and more generous federal forfeiture laws through equitable sharing. The researchers tested three elements of state law and found that all three, either independently or in combination, affect equitable sharing proceeds. As state laws improve for property owners, use of the equitable sharing loophole rises. When cops become robbers. Something is desperately wrong with our legal system when the government can take property from innocent people who have never been charged with a crime. It's happening all over the country thanks to the surreal doctrine of civil forfeiture, through which courts hold inanimate objects guilty of crimes, instead of going after the actual owners who — as actual people — would be entitled to the presumption of innocence. Guilty Property, Innocent Owners. Technically, civil asset forfeiture proceedings are brought against the property itself, not the owner. Hence they often have odd case titles, such as U.S. v. Eight Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty Dollars or U.S. v. One 1987 Jeep Wrangler. The government need only demonstrate that the seized property is somehow related to a crime, generally either by showing that it was used in the commission of the act (as with a car driven to and from a drug transaction, or a house from which drugs are sold) or that it was purchased with the proceeds. Because the property itself is on trial, the owner has the status of a third-party claimant. Once the government has shown probable cause of a property's "guilt," the onus is on the owner to prove his innocence. Police Tell Woman to Pay Son's Bail in Cash, Then Steal it. The good news: The Greers eventually got their money back. The bad news: This kind of organized police theft of property from people who are not even charged with a crime is common nationwide. When the looter is the government. In the lawsuit titled United States of America v. 434 Main Street, Tewksbury, Massachusetts, the government is suing an inanimate object, the motel [Russ] Caswell's father built in 1955. The U.S. Department of Justice intends to seize it, sell it for perhaps $1.5 million and give up to 80 percent of that to the Tewksbury Police Department, whose budget is just $5.5 million. The Caswells have not been charged with, let alone convicted of, a crime. They are being persecuted by two governments eager to profit from what is antiseptically called the "equitable sharing" of the fruits of civil forfeiture, a process of government enrichment that often is indistinguishable from robbery. Man Loses $22,000 In New 'Policing For Profit' Case. It was a routine trip to Nashville for a New Jersey insurance adjuster. That is, until he got stopped for speeding on Interstate 40 through the small town of Monterey, Tennessee. Before the traffic stop was over, the officer would take $22,000 cash that the man had been planning to use to buy a car — without charging him with a crime. Motel owner faces asset forfeiture despite innocence. The Motel Caswell, a modest motel just outside of Boston, has been owned by proprietor Russell H. Caswell's family for 60 years. Now he may lose it, if the Justice Department gets its way. The motel is the target of an asset forfeiture proceeding that entitles the federal government to seize property that has been used in the commission of a crime. This is true even if the owner is not accused of criminal wrongdoing. Local law enforcement groups that team up with the federal government may be awarded up to 80 percent of the proceeds from such seizures. Dallas cops keep $2,000 found by honest teen. Dallas will keep $2,000 found by a teenager in a parking lot last February. The money will go into the city's general fund — not back to Plano high school student Ashley Donaldson, who found the cash in an envelope at the Pavillion Shopping Center in North Dallas. Boiled Frog Alert ... The Editor says... Bandits with Badges: Society has no problem with law enforcement fighting crime or even confiscating property used in a criminal enterprise but, as with any law, the good intent for which the law was created, has been immensely abused to the point that innocent citizens are losing everything they ever worked for without even being charged or convicted of a crime. Clearly, states need to pass laws to safeguard the rights of the innocent from zealot law enforcement agencies run amuck from the smell of greed. The War on Crime: Today, more than 200 different kinds of forfeiture laws exist in America, and items are often seized on mere suspicion. Some 80% of people who have their property seized are never formally charged with a crime. Attempts to recover seized property is a legal nightmare for private citizens. DEA's crazy train: "Amtrak is providing federal drug police in Albuquerque with ticketing information about passengers," writes Jeff Jones in the April 11 [2001] Albuquerque Journal, "and Amtrak police get 10 percent of any cash seized from suspected drug couriers at the Downtown station." Government Property Seizures out of Control: Across America, the Drug Enforcement Administration is seizing the luggage, cash and cars of hapless travelers. And the government is keeping the property of people who have committed no crime. Railway Bandits: Amtrak manages to lose money on 39 of its 41 routes, but that doesn't stop it from making a killing off some of its customers. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Amtrak officials cut a deal with the Drug Enforcement Administration: In exchange for giving the drug police access to its booking system, Amtrak gets 10 percent of any money the cops take from hapless passengers. America is a police state. We actually had a U.S. senator introduce legislation that, if it had become law, would have permitted any local or federal law enforcement officer to seize your cash if he happened to find you carrying more than 10 grand in an airport, bus station, interstate highway or most other public places. No arrest, no questions, no charges ... just take the money. The legislation failed, but police agencies seize cash from hapless citizens just the same.Supreme Court Says Police May "Impound" House: The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 Tuesday (02/20/2001) that Illinois police acted constitutionally when they kept a man from entering his trailer home while they spent two hours getting a search warrant. Public Official Takes Civilian's Car for Joyride While He's Incarcerated. Rashad Lewis, 25, claims that whoever busted his car out of a police impound lot in Queens added insult to injury by not only racking up a $50 ticket for flying through a red light but also left the $50,000 car a lot worse for wear. "My back window was broken, my driver's-side door was keyed, and my bumper was scratched up," the college student said. "They were driving my car with the windows down and having a ball joy riding my vehicle." Video recordings made by the police: Secret Police in America. [Scroll down] Of course, at least some of the current and previous problems in America result from Americans not trusting government employees. For example, the anti-police riots in America were (reportedly) a result of Americans not trusting uniformed police officers. Some local governments responded by requiring police body-worn cameras. (It is somewhat off subject, but if police are exempt from prohibitions on propagating false and misleading information, or, if they are allowed to falsify information, then they might also be permitted to falsify or edit recordings from such cameras.) Whether one realizes it or not, the governing principle of truthfulness is implied in America's support for body cameras. Support for such technologies is due to Americans lack of trust in the honesty of government employees. Probably obviously, by supporting body cameras one does not necessarily support the liberal idea of getting rid of police altogether. Instead, support for cameras often implies support for at least some policing entities but at the same time acknowledging that some officers might lie about the actions of others. Police body camera ramp up started a decade ago. How well have they worked? Body cameras have proliferated in law enforcement agencies in the U.S. over the past decade, amid mounting scrutiny over how officers and agents interact with the communities they serve. They're forcing major changes in how policing is done, even as research is mixed on their effectiveness. The Associated Press on Thursday sat in on a discussion of the law-enforcement tool with representatives from more than 200 agencies nationwide, hosted by the think tank Police Executive Research Forum. The Paul Pelosi Story Has Been so Thoroughly Muzzled, News Outlets Now Sue to Get Information. ## That a dozen outlets are banding together to get this access is a sign of how unique it has been to have these particulars held back from the public. It is a clear sign of controlled messaging taking place from a higher position. Just take as one item that police officers being outfitted with body cameras was pushed in order to have greater transparency with the public. This is footage intended to be revealed, and yet we are seeing it completely blocked from being released. The preeminent question in the face of this is, of course, "Why?" Even given the sensitive nature of things, you would expect that if this were as clear a crime as we're led to believe, there would be no need for this level of obfuscation. The argument of this being a public official and that personal or sensitive details might be revealed in the footage from inside the home is mitigated by having editing done or aspects of the video blurred out. Key Detail Changed in New Filing Against Alleged Paul Pelosi Attacker. Authorities are now saying that Paul Pelosi did not open the door to the Pelosi residence when police officers arrived in late October, a change from before. [...] San Francisco Police Chief William Scott told reporters on Oct. 28 that officers did not open the door. "So when the officers arrived and knocked on the front door of the residence this morning, the door was opened by someone inside and the officers observed through the open door Mr. Pelosi and the suspect, Mr. DePape, inside the entryway of the home," he said. Some news outlets reported that a third person was inside and opened the door, but authorities later clarified that only two people — Paul Pelosi and DePape — were inside. Jenkins has also said that there was no security present when DePape allegedly broke into the residence and woke Paul Pelosi up. Authorities have refused to release the bodycam footage from the responding officers and any 911 calls connected to the incident. The Editor says... Black Florida cop who was fired for using [the] N-word gets [his] job back. A Black cop who was fired from a Florida police department for using the N-word is back on the job this week after officials determined the punishment was too harsh. Delvin White, a beloved school resource officer at Tampa's Middleton High School, was canned in March after an audit of his body-worn camera turned up at least two videos showing him using the racial slur in November 2020, according to police. In one of the incidents, the officer was heard referencing a group of people as "ghetto n-----s" during a phone call, the Tampa Police Department said in a statement early this year. While he was under investigation, White admitted to his supervisor that he also used the slur during an arrest that same month. Video of that second incident showed him uttering the N-word twice while arresting a suspect on trespassing charges, police said. Did Cops Attack and Provoke Peaceful Protesters on January 6? Joe Biden's Justice Department is using every legal maneuver at its disposal to keep under wraps more than 14,000 hours of surveillance footage captured by the United States Capitol Police security system on January 6. Prosecutors insist the recordings are "highly sensitive" material; USCP's general counsel warns that releasing the videos would provoke another "attack" on the Capitol complex. But the trove of footage held by USCP isn't the only video used as incriminating evidence in court proceedings, particularly hearings where prosecutors argue that a January 6 defendant should remain behind bars awaiting trial. The Justice Department also has footage recorded by body cameras worn by D.C. Metropolitan Police officers. (According to the USCP's general counsel, Capitol police officers don't wear body cameras. Interesting.) DOJ to require body cameras for federal police. The Justice Department is set to require body cameras for federal law enforcement when executing search warrants or making arrests. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco directed top brass at several agencies on Monday [6/7/2021] to draft policies on when the body-worn cameras must be deployed and under what circumstances footage may be released to the public, according to a memo obtained by the Washington Examiner. The move stands as a reversal of a yearslong policy in which federal law enforcement didn't use cameras due to the high presence of investigative casework. "I am proud of the job performed by the Department's law-enforcement agents, and I am confident that these policies will continue to engender the trust and confidence of the American people in the work of the Department of Justice," Monaco wrote. Justice For Breonna Taylor Isn't Indicting Police Officers For Acting In Self-Defense. [Scroll down] Much of the blame and justification for civil unrest is falling on the police officers and the life-and-death decisions they made in that moment. The assumption, it seems, is that unless the officers are charged with murdering Taylor, there is no justice. However, instead of blaming the police officers for acting in self-defense, a better question surrounds law enforcement's decision to raid her home in the first place — especially with a no-knock warrant so late at night. Yes, the investigation found the police did knock and announce themselves, but when people are half-asleep inside, the margin for error or a fatal misunderstanding is high. Another important question to ask is why the police weren't wearing body cameras that night. In 2020, that is inexcusable. Just Like That, Gun Control Support and COVID-19 Died This Week. George Floyd was arrested in Minneapolis for passing a counterfeit bill. He was a big man with a record of assaults and drug use. A video of his arrest shows he was handcuffed and seems to have resisted being placed in the squad car. We see him being pinned down on the ground by Officer Chauvin's knee. He seems to be wrestling about on the ground and talking. Soon after he stops moving an emergency medical van appears and he is removed from the scene. He was reportedly dead by the time they arrived. At least one report says the officers called for medical assistance early in the arrest when Floyd said he couldn't breathe. Is the video the best evidence of what occurred? No. The best evidence is the footage taken from the body cams worn by the four officers on the scene; evidence Minneapolis authorities have failed to disclose. Police Union Stands By Officer Who Turned Off Recording Devices So Amber Guyger Could Talk To Her Attorney. A battle between prosecutors and the president of the local police union has broken out in regard to former officer Amber Guyger's murder of Botham Jean. [...] On the night Guyger killed Jean, Dallas Police Association President Mike Mata arrived on the scene. Guyger, as reported by CBS DFW, was sitting in the back of a patrol car when Mata arrived. At trial, "prosecutors used security camera[s] video to suggest the Dallas Police Association acted improperly when DPA President Mike Mata arrived on the scene after the shooting," the outlet reported. The footage showed Mata leaning into the patrol car and then telling another officer to turn off the car's recording devices while Guyger was speaking to her attorney over the phone. This is what prosecutors and a civil rights group appear to be claiming is a cover up and some kind of conspiracy to alter Guyger's account of what occurred in the apartment. California Bill Would Ban Facial Recognition Tech On Body Cams. A proposed bill banning facial recognition features on police body cameras is waiting for California Governor Gavin Newsom's stamp of approval. According to reports, the state's legislature voted in favor of the controversial law Thursday [9/12/2019]. Supporters of the bill say the devices would be helpful to crack down on crime, but critics warn the new age technology comes with flaws. This comes as several studies have shown facial recognition technology to be inaccurate, especially when trying to identify minorities, women and in some cases even well known lawmakers. State GOP Learns to Love Big Brother. In Great Britain, officials are arresting people who refuse to submit to a random face scan. Their facial-scan system has proved wildly inaccurate, often leading to aggressive police actions against people misidentified as suspects. You can't walk around any British city without being monitored by police cameras somewhere — something that has turned once-free citizens into the kind of sheep who have to be careful about anything they say or do lest it trigger a police visit. American cities are trying to follow this police-state model, emboldened by tech companies that will earn a fortune by opening up this taxpayer-funded marketplace. California agencies want body cameras not only to record police encounters — something that protects the public from abusive officers and officers from unfounded abuse allegations — but to alert the authorities if the person's face matches that of a suspect on some growing database. The problems are obvious. Cuyahoga County Jail officer turn off body camera before pummeling inmate. Guards strapped Terrance Debose to a chair in a small cell tucked away in the Cuyahoga County Jail where no one else could see him. Corrections Cpl. Nicholas Evans stood next to the chair. He flipped his body camera off and pummeled the face of the 47-year-old inmate who suffers from an undiagnosed mental illness. Debose could not move his arms to defend himself from the onslaught. 'I'll kill you! Get on the ground!' Body camera footage shows deadly police shooting. A Memphis Police lieutenant won't face any charges for the April 2018 shooting death of Terrance Carlton. Officials have not identified the officer at this time, the DA's office did release body cam video and a paper trail to explain why charges won't be filed. Video shows police used excessive force during arrest. Police bodycam footage of Westover officers arresting Andre Howton on Jan. 1, 2019. Howton faces several charges — including battery of an officer — stemming from the incident. His defense attorneys claim police used excessive force. Should Americans Have to Pay to Access Police Body Cam Footage? Vermont continues to struggle with legal questions surrounding the use of police body cameras. The Vermont Supreme Court hears arguments April 17 to determine whether its citizens must pay money to access police video footage. In Doyle v Burlington Police Department, the police required a $220.50 payment for processing costs for the redaction of minors' faces before it would release a body camera video to the plaintiff. The police went to great lengths to prevent Doyle from obtaining this video footage. Police body cameras went dark during 'brutal' treatment of DeSoto family, footage shows. DeSoto police officers accused of brutalizing a family after a 911 call last August either did not activate their body cameras or wear them during some of the most heated moments, according to police officials and footage obtained by The Dallas Morning News. The lapses ran afoul of the Dallas suburb's policies requiring officers to wear cameras and keep them running during most encounters with the public, police chief Joseph Costa acknowledged in an interview. The Use and Abuse of Police Body Cameras. There is no stopping the demand for body cameras, even though, as a law enforcement executive, I know that they will not do what those outside of law enforcement think they will do. No one has even suggested that any reduction seen in police use of force or complaints against them may have been because the criminal element knew they were being filmed and changed their behavior, rather than the police changing their behavior. Yet this is my exact experience and every cop I have ever talked to will say the same thing. Body cameras routinely expose those that lie against law enforcement. Bill requiring federal law-enforcement officers to wear body cams introduced in Congress. Two House Democrats have introduced a bill that would require uniformed federal police officers to wear body cameras and mandating dashboard cameras in marked vehicles, seeking transparency as questions linger one year since U.S. Park Police fatally shot a motorist in northern Virginia. Introduced on the eve of Saturday's [11/17/2018] anniversary of the shooting that killed Bijan Ghaisar, 25, the bill was offered after the Fairfax County Police Department, not the U.S. Park Police, captured the only known video footage of the incident that ultimately ended in his death. After a harrowing night, this Pinellas cop backs body cameras: 'They can't lie'. Officer Matthew Holm shined a flashlight at the oncoming car, the bright beam cutting through the early morning darkness in this sleepy beach town. He motioned for the driver to pull over. Instead, the car accelerated right at him. Holm fired his gun once at the black Mazda before it hit him. The Indian Shores police officer landed on the hood, rolled up the windshield and then fell off the side. Four months later, a defense attorney took aim at the officer. The driver, who was arrested in the May 1 incident and is now in jail, got a bail hearing in August. A public defender challenged the officer's account. "They didn't believe it happened the way I said it did," Holm said. "She basically said I don't have any integrity." The Editor says... Police body cameras open to attack. Police officers in the US often wear body cameras to protect themselves and reduce complaints from the public. Now, though, a security researcher has revealed that these cameras could put evidence — and even police officers themselves — at risk. Josh Mitchell, a consultant at security firm Nuix, analysed cameras from five vendors who sell them to US law enforcement agencies. Presenting at the DEF CON conference last week, he highlighted vulnerabilities in several popular brands that could place an attacker in control of a body camera and tamper with its video. Police release body camera footage of Denver mayor's son's expletive-laden outburst at cop. The full body camera footage of a traffic stop in March that showed the son of the Denver mayor threatening a cop's job and cursing at him has been released. [...] A bodycam video of the encounter showed Hancock's immediate anger toward Officer Paul McClendon. He told the cop to pick up the pace and write him a speeding ticket, though the officer warned it wouldn't be quick because Jordan didn't have his license on him. Body Cams Demonstrate Their Indispensability In A Minneapolis Shooting. The more we learn the more it is obvious that requiring police officers to wear body cameras is critical to both suppressing police misconduct (it is amazing how people will conduct themselves when they know they are being watched) and to combating malicious allegations of misconduct. Just before Memorial Day, race-baiter extraordinaire Shaun King, aka Talcum X because to all appearances he's a white guy who is a victim of WrongSkin, tried to push a story that a Texas State Trooper had sexually assaulted a woman he'd arrested for DWI. Fortunately, [t]he officer was wearing a body camera which recorded the entire encounter. Black nurse says cop racially profiled her. Then dashcam footage comes out and changes narrative. Ciera Calhoun, a black nurse in her late 20s, accused police officers of racially profiling her and her friends during a traffic stop in Lee's Summit, Missouri, according to the Kansas City Star. In a viral — and since deleted — Facebook post, Calhoun said as a result of the treatment she and her fellow nurse friends reportedly endured at the hands of police, she no longer distrusts authorities — she outright hates them. Cameras often clear police officers falsely accused of misconduct. The revelation this week that a Texas woman had falsely accused a state trooper of sexually assaulting her during a traffic stop is the latest of several in the last two years alone in which video footage was critical to clearing a police officer of alleged wrongdoing. In this latest case, the woman, Sherita Dixon-Cole, had alleged that Officer Daniel Hubbard made sexual advances after she failed a field sobriety test. She went on to accuse Hubbard of assaulting her in his police car, and continuing to make advances, promising he'd release her from custody, on the drive to the police station. Body Cam Video Saved This Cop From Being Crucified By Race-Baiting Shaun King. About five years ago I was discussing the issue of body cams with a friend who is in an upper-level management position at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The cameras seemed an unalloyed good thing to me (this was before I'd pondered privacy, storage, access, and retrieval issues). He was a lot more conflicted. He said the issue isn't so much what happened, it is what the officer thought happened. So a body cam that shows a now-deceased person pulling a cell phone from their pocket doesn't mean the officer didn't think it was a pistol. But the presence of the video cuts against the officer's contemporaneous recollections and often leaves the impression that the officer is just making stuff up. He's right. But I'm not sure it matters. As I posted in February 2017, a body camera can make all the difference between and vicious thug righteously shot and an unarmed teenager profiled by police shot down in cold blood. Here is another case where an officer avoided disciplinary action and possible prison due to a body camera. Bodycam video reveals woman lied about being raped by cop who pulled her over for DUI. A woman in Texas made a startling claim earlier this week accusing a state trooper of raping her during a DWI arrest, but a newly released body camera footage has exposed her claims as lies and prompted her high-profile lawyer to issue a public apology. Bodycam footage documents NAACP state president lied about racial profiling. Poor Rev. Moultrie was a victim of racial profiling, if you believe this account. But I guess he didn't realize that the officer was wearing a body camera that recorded the entire incident. NAACP president in SC says he was racially profiled; body cam video shows otherwise. Timmonsville NAACP President the Rev. Jerrod Moultrie posted on Facebook on April 13 that he was racially profiled when a Timmonsville police officer pulled him over for a traffic violation near his home on Harkless Court in Timmonsville. After Controversial Traffic Stop, Police Chief Says He Won't Release Recordings To 'Anti-Police' Requesters. The Chesterfield County Police Department is willing to violate your rights. If it's not your Fourth Amendment rights, it'll be your First. And this is fine with the department's chief, who's gone on record as a supporter of rights violations. [...] This is beyond stupid. The best weapon against speech you don't like is more speech. If someone alters the video and/or adds commentary, the department can release unedited videos for comparison. You cannot withhold records just because you think you won't like how they'll be used. Chief Katz is violating Callahan's First Amendment rights because he apparently believes "anti-police" people have fewer rights than those with more neutral viewpoints. The benefits of police body cams are a myth. In the three years since Michael Brown's fatal shooting in Ferguson, police body-worn cameras have been sold to the public as a tool that would primarily deter police misconduct. One of the main selling points is the claim that the devices would have a "civilizing effect" on officers. Officers would behave better, the argument goes, if they knew their actions were being recorded. Camera vendors have told departments that their devices would reduce excessive uses of force and complaints against officers. But as it turns out, in one of America's largest police departments, body-worn cameras did not produce any of these benefits. New Mexico sheriff says body cam video [is] unfair to officers. The sheriff of New Mexico's most populous county will not require his deputies to use body cameras because he said the media would use the footage to unfairly criticize the officers. Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales told KOAT-TV in a story Tuesday [11/21/2017] that the video "gives a lopsided, one-sided story, which I think is a disservice to the whole community." Remember When Civil Rights Groups Wanted Police Bodycams? Look At What They're Saying Now. Remember when civil rights advocates demanded accountability from police and wanted them to wear bodycams? Those bodycams cost police departments a good chunk of money. But now, a group called The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights avers that bodycams pose a "threat to civil rights." They released a report titled, "The Illusion of Accuracy: How Body-Worn Camera Footage Can Distort Evidence," in which they decry bodycams because the officers can view the footage before they write incident reports. Roadside mugshots: Police Will Soon Get Instant Facial Recognition Features On Body Cameras. You will quickly see that DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is deeply involved in this technology, and invested directly in Neurala. DARPA develops technology for military use, and is heavily weighted toward transhuman advances that will lead to human-machine hybrids, or super-soldiers. With the implementation of 5G wireless being rolled out very soon, these cameras will have high-speed and real-time integration with the Internet of Everything, massive surveillance and intelligence databases. Cop Accused of Planting Drugs While Body Camera Catches It All On Video. The Baltimore Police Department and the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office have been thrust into investigatory mode as a video posted to Twitter last night shows a police officer reportedly planting drugs and then feigning discovery of those same drugs. [...] The video dates from January. The drugs originally believed to have been found by the officer were used as evidence to imprison a man who was held since then on $50,000 bail — which he could not afford to pay. Prosecutors had offered the man a three-year plea deal based on the manipulated evidence, but charges were eventually dropped once the Baltimore public defender's office flagged the video and its contents made their way up the chain of command. Somali Muslim cop who shot unarmed white woman in cold blood could lose his job for not activating his bodycam. "LOSE HIS JOB?" But not a word about second degree murder charges? Somali Muslim Mohamed Noor was in breach of his own police department's strict bodycam rules when he opened fire and killed Justine Damond. He now faces "severe punishment," even if exonerated over the shooting, and could lose his job for not following the guidelines. Cop who shot bride-to-be from inside his squad car was breaking rules ALREADY by not switching on his bodycam as soon as he arrived at scene. Mohamed Noor was in breach of his own police department's strict bodycam rules when he opened fire and killed bride-to-be Justine Damond. He now faces severe punishment, even if exonerated over the shooting, and could lose his job for not following the guidelines. The 31-year-old officer knew he was compelled to switch on his body camera and record his interactions when answering a 911 call to reports of a sexual assault. Department policy says it should be switched on for 'any search', and crucially, 'prior to any use of force'. BART Officials Hide Videos of Black Mob Violence. Transit officials in the San Francisco area do not release videos of black criminality because they do not want to make the black kids angry. [...] For years, passengers and former passengers complained about black violence, harassment, threats, robberies and even murder on BART. Especially aboard the trains going to and from the east bay destinations of Oakland, Richmond, etc. In April, a large group of black people swarmed through a BART train, beating [up] — then robbing — seven passengers. Similar but smaller events have happened at least three times since then. [...] After every episode of violence, reporters and passengers wait for BART to release the videos from the cameras scattered around the stations and inside the cars. But it never happens. All because BART staff fears the videos would cast black people in a bad light, said BART honcho Kerry Hamill in a memo to a BART director: [...] Cop Caught on [His] Own Body Cam Stealing [a] Dying Elderly Man's Christmas Money. A widow claims in court that a former Texas City police officer found her husband unconscious on the side of the road with more than $2,000 in cash meant for Christmas gifts and stole the money, just before the man died. Linda Mabe sued Texas City and former police officer Linnard Crouch Jr. in Galveston federal court Wednesday [7/5/2017], claiming Crouch stole $2,400 in cash from her husband, James Mabe, while he was incapacitated on the side of the road. Justice Is Bigger Than Narrative. Initially the police reported that officers fired on the car after it backed towards them in an "aggressive manner." Then they watched the body-camera footage, and the account changed. The car was actually driving away from police when the shooting started. Now the police chief says that he doesn't believe the shooting met the department's "core values." This is what body cameras are for: Bodycam Shows Confrontation Between Ohio Cop And EMT Worker. Portsmouth Police Chief Robert Ware says he did not see anything in a video between a police officer and an EMT that upholds claims of improper use of force. Chief Ware said Thursday [2/2/2017] at a news conference there will be no action taken against the officer and that he believed he acted in a way, considering the circumstance, he thought was best. Police body cameras bring more questions than answers. The increased use of body cameras was one of the top recommendations made by President Obama's task force on policing, meant to improve relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve. But as more agencies use the technology, another divide has emerged. Communities demand immediate access to videos that capture high-profile incidents, including police shootings, but law enforcement officials fear a hasty release could compromise investigations. U.S. police body camera policies put civil rights at risk - study. Police forces in 50 U.S. cities are failing to protect the civil rights and privacy of residents due to the inadequacy of programs that govern how their officers use body-worn cameras, a report by a coalition of rights groups said on Tuesday [8/2/2016]. [...] The study focussed on the nation's largest police departments that have body-worn camera programs, as well as programs that have received federal funding, and those in cities that have had high-profile incidents involving law enforcement officers. Videos of new police shooting of unarmed black man go blank at crucial moment. The decision to release all nine video segments for public viewing — some taken by a police car dash-cam and others by body-cameras attached to the officers' uniforms — is a first for the Chicago police department as it struggles to mend frayed relations with city residents. Baltimore County Cop Appears to be Wearing Body Cam in Korryn Gaines Standoff Despite Police Saying There Were None. [Scroll down] But once again, [Korryn] Gaines swore they would have to take her out in a body bag. And this time, she was armed with a shotgun. And this time, they killed her. Police said they fired first after a seven-hour standoff, but missed, which prompted her to fire back twice, but also missing, resulting in police shooting her back three times and killing her. Police claim none of the officers were wearing body cameras, but a video recorded by Gaines prior to the shooting shows a cop standing in her doorway appearing to wear one on his helmet. Why Police Say Body Cameras Can Help Heal Divide With Public. The 75 police officers of the Parker Police Department favor wearing cameras on their body to capture encounters with citizens. "I don't know if you could find one officer who would want to go back to not having body cameras," said Cmdr. Chris Peters, who designed Parker's body camera program, which is approaching its one-year anniversary in September. "Any officer who is doing the right thing on a daily basis would want to have a camera on them. What the camera provides is an unbiased third-party account, and helps reduce the amount of questions of what happened." McCrory signs bill restricting view of police camera recordings. Gov. Pat McCrory signed controversial legislation Monday [7/11/2016] regulating the release of recordings from police body and dashboard cameras. There were growing calls for McCrory to veto the legislation because it makes it difficult for the public — including people involved in a recorded police action — to see it. But the Republican governor said the law will strike a balance between improving public trust in the police and respecting the rights of officers. Illinois officers claim body cameras an invasion of privacy in lawsuit. Ten police officers in a Chicago suburb are suing the town, claiming the body cameras they wore never turned off and recorded them using the restroom and changing clothes. Chicago releases 'unprecedented' trove of videos, evidence from 101 investigations into police shootings and alleged misconduct. Officials here released a huge array of videos and police reports Friday [6/3/2016] from about 100 open investigations into police shootings and use of force, a sharp reversal in a city still reeling from the impact of long-withheld footage showing an officer fatally shooting a teenager. As the city's police department faces intense scrutiny and a looming Justice Department investigation, authorities promising reform and increased transparency said they were releasing the trove to try and restore trust between officers and the community. The agency that investigates allegations of police misconduct in the city posted this material all at once, which experts said was an "unprecedented" move. Cleveland police in riot gear won't wear body cameras during RNC. Many Cleveland police officers will not be wearing body cameras if protests turn violent during the Republican National Convention, officials said. Police officials have told officers that a host of logistical issues, including an inability to attach the cameras to police riot gear, means officers will not be able to wear the devices. The department says officers will use other methods to record police interactions with protesters and the public during the convention. But the head of a police union and the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio expressed concern that the officers who will be thrust in the most volatile situations will not be wearing a device that is a deterrent for both violence against police and officer misconduct. The Editor says... Los Angeles police delay implementation of body cameras over cost. The cost of body cameras is preventing the Los Angeles Police Department from equipping them on officers, officials said Saturday [4/16/2016]. Mayor Eric Garcetti had vowed to have the cameras on thousands of officers by the end of 2016. But the department doesn't expect to outfit 7,000 officers until the fall of 2017 at the earliest, the Los Angeles Times reported. The plan is projected to cost $58 million. Truth Comes Out: Police Dashcams and Audio Exposing Phony Racial-abuse Claims. In the wake of trumped up "racial incidents" such as Ferguson and Baltimore (Freddie Gray case), left-wing activists were front and center demanding that police be equipped with audio and video equipment. "Then we'll see who the true criminals are," was the idea. Well, more and more cops now have such equipment, and the truth is coming out: Most accusations of racial abuse made against police are bunk. Police Body Cameras and Realistic Expectations. The reality is that body cameras will not drastically change policing. Officers are still going to be involved in deadly force encounters and other controversial incidents. While early research suggested that body cameras would reduce use of force incidents, more recent reporting has shown that body cameras have little impact on the number of use of force incidents, and in the majority of those incidents, the officers were cleared of any wrongdoing. In my own experience, body cameras have not changed how people act. Cop Finally Fired After Refusing to Turn on Body Camera When He Shot Woman. An investigation that began back in April determined that Officer Jeremy Dear's camera was intentionally disabled right before he shot and killed Mary Hawkes, 19. Now, Albuquerque Police Chief Eden has fired Officer Dear, as part of what is being called a "zero tolerance" policy on police camera use during citizen interactions. Obama on police reform: 'The moment is now'. President Obama on Monday [3/2/2015] said police departments needed to do more to build trust in their communities, as a task force he appointed in the wake of the shooting of Missouri teenager Michael Brown recommended increased civilian oversight of officers and more body cameras for cops. Missouri lawmaker pushes back on police body camera footage. One Republican lawmaker in Missouri is pushing back on an effort to increase transparency between the police and residents that would require officers wear body cameras in the wake of the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown last year in Ferguson. Two measures have been introduced at the state level that would require law enforcement authorities to purchase body cameras with help from taxpayers. But Missouri state Sen. Doug Libla's new bill would exempt all footage recorded by police — both on body and dashboard cameras — from the state's open records law. The legislation would also prohibit the state from demanding that police departments use body cameras. City body camera no-bid contracts raise questions. In the race to equip police officers with body cameras, some cities are bypassing traditional purchasing rules to award vendors with controversial no-bid contracts. Hundreds of cameras and millions in public dollars have been committed in such deals involving Albuquerque, San Diego and Spokane. Los Angeles, meanwhile, has taken a different route: About $1.6 million in private funding, which is not subject to regular municipal controls, is financing the acquisition of about 800 cameras that could be on the streets in the next 90 days. How about a tax on violent criminals instead? New technology allows police cruisers to record nearly everything. In Palo Alto, every police car is equipped with multiple cameras that provide a panoramic view. "We've got now five cameras in every regular beat officer's patrol car that captures, like, a 270-degree field of view around the car," [Officer Zac] Perron explained. A touch screen allows Perron to tap on any one angle to pull it up. One camera points forward. Two side cameras cover blind spots. A prisoner camera watches the back seat. And then there's a rear camera. Obama to provide funding for 50,000 police body cameras. President Obama on Monday will announce $263 million in funding for law enforcement agencies to purchase body-worn cameras and improve training. The White House said the funding, which would need to be matched by state and local police, could purchase 50,000 body-worn cameras. The Editor asks... Police in Ferguson, Mo., clip on body cameras. Police officers in Ferguson, Mo., have begun wearing body cameras after weeks of unrest about the shooting death of an unarmed black man by a white officer and sharply differing accounts of the incident, officials said yesterday [8/31/2014]. Weare police officers to wear body cameras on patrol. As a result of recent lawsuits against the town, police officers will soon be wearing body cameras while out on patrol. "Yes, of course it's because of recent lawsuits settled," Weare Police Chief John D. Velleca said Thursday [6/26/2014]. "It's no secret there has been a problem in the department and this will give us a chance to identify problems with officers in the field and correct them through discipline or training. It's an early intervention in regard to that," Velleca said. Scotland Yard embarks on world's biggest trial of uniform-mounted cameras. This dramatic footage captured by police officers on the beat arresting criminals and helping victims was today released, as Scotland Yard begins the world's biggest trial of uniform-mounted cameras. [...] But privacy groups today raised concerns over how recordings made on the cameras will be handled, whether people will know they are being filmed — and if they will be able to access their own copy. After Two Officers Are Indicted For Shooting Citizens, Dallas Police Dept. Decides Body Cameras Might Be A Good Idea. Mandatory body cameras for police officers may not fix everything (see also: Albuquerque, NM), but it's a step in the right direction. The problem is that this directive usually follows preventable tragedies or years of systemic abuse (see also: New York City Police Department). The Dallas, Texas police department is next in line for body cameras, thanks to two of its officers being indicted following questionable shootings. Cops with cameras: the good and the bad. One system is currently being tested in Edmonton. Small video cameras are mounted just below the shoulder. They are not on all the time, but must be activated and police have to tell the person they are dealing with that they are being videotaped. Officers who have used the cameras say just knowing that the camera is on often defuses what could become a tense situation. Video cameras to be added to Oakland police wardrobe. Guns, radios and coming soon as tools of the trade, clip-on cameras. Within a few weeks, every Oakland police patrol officer and those who have other street assignments will be wearing a cell phone-sized video camera that officials say should increase officer safety, allow better interaction with the public, reduce misconduct complaints and help gather evidence at crime scenes. The City Council Public Safety Committee on Tuesday voted to recommend to the full council to spend $540,000 to purchase 350 video cameras, known as portable recording management systems that can be clipped onto uniforms. Some San Diego police officers to wear cameras on uniforms. Police patrolling San Diego's inner city will be the first in the department equipped with cameras that record their interactions with the public, Chief Shelley Zimmerman said Wednesday [3/19/2014]. Chest-mounted cameras are being tested now in the Central Division in the downtown area, and shoulder-worn cameras will undergo trials soon, Zimmerman told members of the City Council's Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee. Order That Police Wear Cameras Stirs Unexpected Reactions. In more than a decade in office, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has often championed the use of cutting-edge technology to help solve age-old problems in New York. [...] But when Judge Shira A. Scheindlin, of Federal District Court in Manhattan, ruled on Monday [8/12/2013] that the city's stop-and-frisk program was unconstitutional and ordered that police officers in certain precincts strap tiny cameras to their uniforms to record their dealings with the public, Mr. Bloomberg's response was immediate and emphatic. "It would be a nightmare," he said. "We can't have your cameraman follow you around and film things without people questioning whether they deliberately chose an angle, whether they got the whole picture in." Seattle Sues to Suppress Dash-Cam Disclosure. The Seattle Police Department has an image problem: It doesn't want you to see dashboard camera (dash-cam) videos of its officers behaving badly. The SPD is so adamant about preventing the public from seeing videos of on-duty SPD officers, the City of Seattle sued civil-rights attorney James Egan for requesting disclosure of SPD dash-cam footage. Egan says he considers the dash-cam footage essential to his clients' defense because each case involved officer misconduct. Video recordings of the police The cops have surveillance cameras all over town, pointed (for the most part) at law-abiding citizens. But if you dare to point your own camera at the police, there's gonna be trouble. Female Fort Worth Cop Slams Cop Watcher's Face First Into The Sidewalk, Knocking Her Out. Police have released body cam footage showing the arrest of Carolyn Rodriguez, a self-described "cop watcher" who claims Fort Worth police officers used excessive force while arresting her on Sunday. The video released Wednesday afternoon by the Fort Worth Police Department shows one of the officers asking Rodriguez to move multiple times while she was recording Fort Worth police investigating a hit-and-run incident. In response, she asks the officer "Why?" After the officer tells her she is "under arrest," the video shows Rodriguez falling to the ground. Rodriguez told CBS News — before the video was released — she was knocked unconscious and her elbow came out of its socket. [Video clip] Louisiana Law Sets 25-Foot Buffer Zone Between Disruptive Bystanders, On-the-Job Police. Critics of a new Louisiana law that makes it a crime to approach within 25 feet of a police officer under certain circumstances feared the measure could hinder the public's ability to film officers — a tool that has increasingly been used to hold police accountable. Under the law, anyone who is convicted of "knowingly or intentionally" approaching an officer, who is "lawfully engaged in the execution of his official duties," and after being ordered to "stop approaching or retreat" faces up to a $500 fine, up to 60 days in jail or both. The law was signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry and goes into effect Aug. 1. While the legislation's language does not specifically mention filming, critics say that by default it would limit how close a person can be to observe police. Opponents have also gone further to question the law's constitutionality, saying it could impede on a person's First Amendment rights. The Editor says... Cop Tackles A Marine Veteran On His Own Porch For Recording Him. A Marine veteran who was tackled on his own porch for filming a police officer has settled an excessive force lawsuit against the city of Vallejo, California, for $300,000, the Vallejo Sun reports. The settlement is yet another in a string of costly excessive force lawsuits against the city of Vallejo. Despite its relatively small size, the Vallejo Police Department has generated a large number of civil rights lawsuits and settlement payouts. In January 2019, Adrian Burrell, a documentary filmmaker and former Marine, saw the police stopping his cousin. Burrell used his cell phone to record the traffic stop from his porch. [Video clip] Judge Upholds Arizona Citizens' Rights To Record Cops. In a pivotal moment for defenders of free speech and police accountability, a US Federal Judge has upheld the First Amendment right of Arizonans to record law enforcement officers in action. This critical decision underscores the vital role of ordinary citizens, social activists, and legal observers alike in fostering public discourse and holding those in power accountable. The ruling comes in response to a 2022 Arizona law that prohibited filming personnel of the law within an eight-foot radius. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, along with two Arizona chapters of the National Lawyers, raised their voices against this potential suppression of free speech and pressed for a constitutional review. The court's ruling underscores the importance of the public's right to document and disseminate such incidents, preserving the integrity of the First Amendment. This decision is part of a broader national narrative, as courts across the US, including the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, have increasingly recognized citizens' constitutional right to record law enforcement officers performing their duties. A Civil Rights Attorney Started Filming a Traffic Stop. Then Police Arrested Her. When Jill Jefferson, a civil rights attorney, began filming the traffic stop of a black motorist in Lexington, Mississippi, police turned their attention to her — eventually "snatching" her phone, searching through her car, and arresting her. Now, Jefferson says that her arrest — and the charges against her — could have been retaliation for a pending lawsuit against the Lexington Police Department filed by an organization Jefferson founded. According to an interview with CNN, Jefferson says she was driving home from an event on Saturday when she saw Lexington police conducting a traffic stop on a black driver. Jefferson, a Harvard alumna, began filming police from inside her car. Police soon noticed her, and pulled her over as well. Jefferson says police asked for her ID, but she refused to give it — an assertion backed up by audio from the incident. After refusing to give police her ID, Jefferson says they seized her phone after "yanking" her out of her car. Jefferson also claims that officers began to search her car illegally. Louisiana Lawmakers Approve Bill Requiring Police Onlookers Stand Back 25 Feet. The Louisiana legislature passed a bill Monday requiring onlookers to stand 25 feet away while observing police, sending the bill to the governor's desk. In a 67-32 vote, the state House approved House Bill 85, which states that no person shall knowingly approach an officer within 25 feet if the officer has ordered that person to stop approaching and would punish violators with up to $500 in fines and up to 60 days in jail. The bill passed the state Senate on Monday and now heads to Democrat Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards' desk. LAPD Mistakenly Breaks Into a Home to Arrest a Teen, Then Slam And Arrest Her 14-Year-Old Brother For Recording. A family in San Gabriel, California is filing a lawsuit after Los Angeles Sheriff's deputies entered their home without a warrant and handcuffed their teenage sons during a search for a suspect who had already been apprehended. The family's attorney claims that the deputies used excessive force and violated the family's constitutional rights. The incident has sparked outrage and renewed calls for police reform. Boise Man Is Arrested For Filming The Police. A man stopped to film Boise Police in a parking garage — then, he found himself under arrest. "I was leaving a parking garage after work and saw officers," 29-year-old Ty Justin Werenka said. "I left the garage and came back to film what was going on. As I was leaving, police stopped me and said I was interfering." Werenka says he is known to the Boise Police Department because of his association to Boise Mutual Aid, and he said he films police officers anytime he sees them interacting with the public. He doesn't call himself an activist, rather, he said that he's a citizen that is concerned with protecting marginalized people in Boise. SWAT Team Wakes Up Couple, Shoots Unarmed Disabled Husband, Attempts to Cover It Up. If you read the original headlines in December 2022 after police filled Jason Harley Kloepfer, 41, with bullet holes, you would have thought that police acted heroically and saved the day. Headlines, however, especially when they involve "official" statements from police, are often very wrong. [...] After the SWAT officer drags Koepfer's body from the trailer, they realize they are on camera and quickly acknowledge it. "F***, cameras," an officer says after seeing the video recording device. Police then turn the lights back on as they appear to put on night vision in a futile attempt to cover their actions — apparently unaware that the camera had night vision as well. Kloepfer, who was disabled before the shooting, has been in recovery ever since, having undergone multiple surgeries. He has been sharing his recovery on Facebook and says he and his wife are staying out of state, claiming they fear for their lives with the Cherokee county SWAT team giving them ample reason to do so. Video Seems To Show NYPD Officer Plant Gun On Woman In Revenge For Filming Him. A young Bronx woman says NYPD cops got angry when she filmed them arresting her cousin — so they slapped her in cuffs on bogus gun possession charges. Anais Pagan alleges in court papers filed last month in Bronx Supreme Court that cops set her up when she was an 18-year-old high school senior. Surveillance video turned over through the wrongful-arrest lawsuit shows Pagan never had a gun, her attorney Neil Wollerstein writes in the April 26 filing. Utica Public Info Officer Gets Suspended by the Mayor After Assaulting and Arresting People Recording His Crimes. A Utica police detective sergeant has been placed on leave after an online video surfaced of the officer using profanity and charging at a man who had filmed him during an encounter, the department said Thursday. "The City of Utica takes these issues seriously and an investigation into the incident has been initiated," Deputy Chief Matthew Kaluzny wrote in a statement, adding the sergeant "has been placed on leave pending a full and transparent investigation into the matter." Other details about the Wednesday incident were not released. [Video clip] Police Officer In Hot Water After Tasing A Black Man For Recording His Traffic Stop. A Tennessee police officer fired his stun gun at a food delivery man who had begun recording his traffic stop for speeding and asked to see the officer's supervisor, video footage shows. The man wound up facing additional charges of resisting arrest and obstruction of justice, his attorney said. Attorney Ryan Wheeler released the video at a news conference Friday, saying Delane Gordon began recording when the March 10 stop started to make him feel unsafe. Police in Collegedale, a city of some 11,000 people about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Chattanooga, have thus far declined to identify the officer. Gordon is Black and the officer is white, Gordon's legal team said. [Video clip] The Editor says... Massive Brawl Breaks Out At High School, Student Who Records Is Told To Delete Video By Staff, Police Are Called And She Is Arrested. When a fight erupted in the courtyard of Palm View K-8 School in September, one 12-year-old student took out her cellphone and recorded video of the melee. School administrators ended the fight. Then, they quickly shifted their attention to the girl, demanding she delete the video and give up her phone. The student refused, setting off a chain of events that ended with a deputy twice forcing the seventh-grader to the ground and arresting her. George Schrenk, the sheriff's deputy who works as a school resource officer on campus, captured about an hour of video on his body camera. Throughout the footage, Palm View staff are seen contemplating how to handle the student. "I don't think I want her in handcuffs, but I do want a severe consequence and I want her off my campus," Principal Kaththea Johnson said in the body camera footage. [Video clip] Innocent Dad Beaten, Arrested for Filming Cops Arrest His Son for 'Wide Right Turn'. In one of the most blatant abuses of authority we've seen in a while, a power tripping cop arrested a completely innocent man for allegedly "making a wide right turn." This power tripping cop then called for backup and he and his backup then attacked, pepper sprayed, and beat that man's dad for filming the unlawful arrest. It is not very often that police departments issue an apology and admit wrongdoing. However, the following case was such an abuse of authority that it prompted the Keller police chief to call the family and apologize for the abuse and demote Sergeant Blake Shimanek for his role in the incident. The incident, which took place on Aug. 15, is now the subject of a lawsuit against the Keller police department. Recent Court Rulings Could Mean Jail Time for People Who Film Police. Filming the police, as the Free Thought Project has stated over the years, is a major tool in holding violent and killer cops accountable. However, a couple of recent court rulings have free speech experts worried that the person who films the next Eric Garner or George Floyd — may end up in a cage for it. Australian Man Films Massive Battalion Of Stormtroopers Marching Through The Streets For The Media, Tackle A Man For No Reason, Then Go After Him For Filming. The dystopian nightmare gets turned up another notch in the penal colony known as Australia as this citizen filmed a large battalion of uniformed stormtroopers, complete with an armored vehicled, storm through a street for no apparent reason other than for the media. There was no protest in this area at all so the cops must have wanted some good clips for the evening news. They even tackled and arrested a man on the sidewalk before rushing the man filming. The live video goes out just as they tackled him. Crime soars in Minneapolis as cops fear being unfairly targeted in woke viral videos. Proactive policing in Minneapolis plunged dramatically following the murder of George Floyd last year, even as violent crime soared, a new analysis reveals as the city prepares to vote on a ballot initiative to abolish the police department. In the year following Floyd's death, traffic stops in Minneapolis plunged 74 percent, patrols of known problem areas were down 76 percent, and stops of suspicious people plunged 75 percent, according to a Reuters investigation. Confidential police sources said that part of the slowdown was due to a staffing shortage amid an exodus from the department, but that much of the reduction in policing was due to a fear of being caught up in an incident that could go viral in a climate of anti-cop sentiment. Las vegas police tyrant tries to arrest me. Las vegas police tried to arrest me doing a silent police audit. This cop tried to claim privacy in a public place doing a first amendment protected activity. Was not doing any form of provoking whatsoever. [Video clip] Man Is Arrested For Recording Traffic Stop In His Own Driveway. This man was asking questions as to why his brother was being detained in his driveway while recording the incident when he himself was arrested. Happened in Beaumont Texas. [Video clip] Cops Pepper Spray, Arrest Dad Filming His Son's Arrest From Sidewalk Over A Traffic Violation. A man was pepper-sprayed in the face, arrested, and denied medical attention after he filmed a Keller police officer arrest his son over a traffic violation in August. On Aug. 15, two officers with the Keller police department pepper-sprayed Marco Puente directly in the eyes while they pinned him to the ground and handcuffed him. The entire incident was video recorded on multiple dash cam and body worn cameras. The Keller police chief apologized for his officers' behavior two days later and said they were in the wrong, according to a federal lawsuit Puente and his attorneys filed against the officers in Fort Worth District Court on Dec. 15. [Video clip] Should it be a crime to take pictures of accident scenes? After the crash of a helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant and several other people last year, a bit of a scandal erupted when it was determined that one of the sheriffs responding to the scene had taken photographs of the wreckage and the bodies of the victims. Those photos leaked out into the public over social media, causing distress to the families of some of the victims. But while certainly a tasteless thing to do, it wasn't technically illegal so there wasn't much to be done about it. That will change in the near future if a new bill introduced in the California Assembly makes it into law, however. The bill's sponsors are seeking to criminalize the taking or sharing of photographs of crime scenes or accident scenes by first responders. A Hero In Laguna Beach Tells The Police And City What He Thinks Of COVID Fascism. This guy is sick and tired and is not going to take it anymore. After stupid rule, followed by other stupid rules such as the banning of flagpoles in Laguna Beach have reached a crescendo, this patriot stands up to cops there to harass him and other law-abiding citizens. Notice how once he started video recording, they backed away and left. NEVER BACK DOWN! [Video clip, language warning] Police Officer Headbutted During Investigation. Raleigh police will seek the release of body cam footage after a weekend incident where an officer was head-butted by a juvenile during an arrest, according to a press release. Officers were heading to a home in the 5500-block of Wood Pond Court on May 10 to serve a warrant on multiple suspects when they saw four people standing near a car in the 5400-block of Talserwood Drive, police said. Two of the four were named in the warrant. As police moved closer to the car, they reported the odor of marijuana and "detained all four individuals," the release said. While searching one of the juvenile males named in the warrant, "he head-butted an officer, causing injuries that required the officer to seek medical treatment at a hospital. That subject was taken to the ground to control him and prevent any further injury," authorities said. [Video clip, language warning.] Philadelphia cops drag man off bus for not wearing mask amid coronavirus. The coronavirus crackdown on social distancing just might be going a bit too far. This, after a group of cops physically removed a man from a public bus Friday morning [4/10/2020], all of it caught on video by a bystander with a cellphone. The man's crime: Not wearing a face mask while hopping on the bus for his morning commute. As CBSPhilly.com reports, the incident is now under investigation by Philadelphia police. Also posted under The police state on wheels. Cop Appears To Plant Drugs Near Perp During Arrest. Video shows Louisiana police officers plant drugs on a man they have handcuffed and forced to the ground, then panic when they realize they are being filmed. It was filmed in Jefferson Parish on cell phone [3/16/2020]. [Video clip] Cops Frame Innocent Brothers For Cocaine — Tried To Destroy Video Evidence — It Survived. To all those who make the bogus claim of "if you don't do anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about," consider the following case as even more evidence of how ridiculous that assertion is. Two innocent brothers were framed by NYPD cops who were caught on video destroying video evidence of their egregious act. Luckily for the brothers, the hard drive in the video recorder survived and it caught these badged criminals in the act. It's official: You can record the police in public places. [Scroll down] You'd think it would be obvious that you can record anything in a public place — people, plants, pets, even police. But there have been countless arrests of people who were charged (and subsequently manhandled) for recording police, even in public spaces. The arrests finally subsided last December after a federal judge in Boston ruled that it is unconstitutional to arrest anyone for recording public officials, even if they are doing so (or attempting to do so) in secret. Since 2011, in Boston alone, at least eleven felony cases were filed in court against people who were recording the police in public; they were all charged with violating an obscure state wiretapping law. Federal Judge Rules People Can Secretly Record Police In Public Spaces. A federal judge ordered the Boston Police Department and the Suffolk County District Attorney to notify their officers and prosecutors that people have the right to secretly record police, as long as the police are on-duty and in public. Chief Judge Patti B. Saris' declaratory judgment Wednesday serves to enforce a decision from last December, when she ruled it was unconstitutional for police to arrest people for secretly recording government officials. Cop Arrested After Kicking Handcuff Kid Face — Didn't Know He Was Being Videoed. A Miami-Dade police officer has been arrested on charges of battery only because of a vigilant citizen who decided to film the police that day. Because Sgt. Gustavo Del Los Rios, 38, was recorded on video kicking a handcuffed boy in the face, he is now being held accountable for his crimes. The incident happened in February and investigators were in possession of the video since then. However, they only just released it this week. Because a Citizen Filmed It, Cop Found Guilty for Punting Handcuffed Teen's Head Like a Football. As TFTP reported in May, a vigilant citizen with a cellphone captured video of the ridiculously excessive force by police on 18-year-old kid who ran from them. In spite of teen being handcuffed, face-down on the ground, with another officer on top of him, a Franklin Township police officer is seen punting his face like a football. This week, in a rare move, the officer was actually found guilty for his crimes. This Siri shortcut quickly prepares your phone to record the police if needed. It's basically a workflow that stops whatever you were doing with your iPhone and quickly gets it ready to record your interaction with the police. According to a description of the shortcut, the shortcut pauses any music that might be playing, turns down the phone's brightness, switches on Do Not Disturb so no calls can come in to interrupt you, and it also sends a message to whatever contact you designate. A message that lets them know the police have pulled you over and provides your current location. After that, the shortcut opens up your front camera to starting recording video of your encounter. Once you stop the recording, a copy of the video is sent to a contact that you choose, the brightness goes back up and Do Not Disturb is switched off. iPhone can be turned into a bodycam to record police. Apple introduced iOS 12 following its historic iPhone event last month, adding the Shortcut app to let users allow Siri to do more tasks, such as take a photo, put your phone in 'Do not disturb' mode or making your commute more enjoyable. But one creative user has developed a way to turn iPhones into the civilian version of a bodycam, letting users record their interactions with police in a sly manner. Reddit user Robert Petersen has created the shortcut called Police, which triggers a series of actions. First, it lets users send a text message to a predetermined friend to let them know they are being pulled over. Then it pauses the music that might be playing in their phone and gets access to the camera to start recording the interaction. It also sets the phone in 'Do not disturb' mode. Journalist handcuffed and told to 'act like a lady' for filming incident. Last month, police detained Susan Greene, a reporter and editor for The Colorado Independent, for taking pictures while they attended to a nearly naked man on the sidewalk. She was handcuffed and held in a police car for more than 10 minutes before being released. [Video clip] Cops Shatter 53-Year-old Woman's Teeth, Fracture Her Skull After She Tried to Film Them. A game developer thought she was doing the right thing last week when she witnessed an arrest at a local gas station and tried to tell police that they had the wrong man. However, when she attempted to film the arrest, according to the woman, she was attacked, slammed to the ground, her teeth broken, and her skull fractured. Cop Not Fired for Assaulting Innocent Man at Gunpoint on Video. Alex Randall was on his way to work last year on his motorcycle when he was assaulted with a deadly weapon by King County Sheriff's Department detective Richard Rowe. The detective was in the midst of a power trip mixed with road rage when he held an innocent man at gunpoint. And, no one would've have known about it had Randall not been filming. Now, after the department "investigated" themselves, the officer responsible for assaulting an innocent motorist with a deadly weapon will not be fired. Instead, Rowe got a five day vacation and the taxpayers will be held liable. New Jersey cop caught on camera punching 20-year-old woman drinking beer during beach arrest. A hotheaded New Jersey cop is under investigation after a viral video showed him pummeling a young mother on the beach in front of horrified Memorial Day weekend revelers. What began as a day of fun in the sun Saturday turned into a beach-blanket beatdown after a Wildwood cop was caught slugging a 20-year-old woman in the head at least two times while trying to handcuff her, according to video of the encounter. The disturbing clash was caught on a cell phone camera by a woman who had been napping on the Jersey Shore. Update: Cops Kill Unarmed Dad in Parking Lot, Crash Funeral to Use His Dead Finger to Unlock Phone. [Scroll down] Surveillance footage from the incident, released last week and used to clear the officers of any wrongdoing, does not appear to show the officers in harm's way although police claim it does. It is also important to point out that police originally claimed this video did not exist. Making the government less larcenous. On Sept. 21, 2015, [Gerardo] Serrano drove up to the Eagle Pass, Texas, border crossing, intending to try to interest a Mexican cousin in expanding his solar panel installation business in the United States. To have mementos of his trip, he took some pictures of the border with his cellphone camera, which annoyed two U.S. Custom and Border Protection agents, who demanded the password to his phone. Serrano, who is what an American ought to be regarding his rights, prickly, refused to submit to such an unwarranted invasion of his privacy. One agent said he was "sick of hearing about your rights" and "you have no rights here." Cigarette Smoking Cop Tackles, Arrests Woman as She Films Him Harassing Teens. An alleged assault by a North Versailles police officer violently arresting a woman as she filmed him has sparked massive online backlash after video of the incident went viral. The incident happened on February 24 outside of a movie theater in North Versailles. The video was taken by Melanie V. Carter, who says she began filming when she witnessed a group of girls being called animals and getting harassed by officer Christopher Kelly and theater staff. Ohio news photographer reportedly shot by deputy while setting up to take pictures of traffic stop. A small Ohio news organization said one of its photographers was shot by a sheriff's deputy Monday night [9/4/2017] while he set up to take pictures of a random traffic stop. Andy Grimm "had his camera in his hand" when he was shot in his side by a Clark County sheriff's deputy in New Carlisle, which north of Dayton, The New Carlisle News said in a Facebook post. He was rushed to Miami Valley Hospital for surgery and is expected to recover. Grimm had left the newsroom around 10 p.m. on Monday [9/4/2017] to take pictures of a lightning storm, the paper said. While he was taking pictures, a traffic stop occurred on the same road, according to the article. Maryland Cop Attempts to Steal Phone From Citizen Recording Him, Now Suspended. Anne Arundel County Police Officer Scott Wolford was called to assist citizens with a dispute, instead, he had an issue with his activities being documented, tried to snatch a cell phone and is now suspended. All this happened in Severn area of unincorporated Anne Arundel County, Maryland on Saturday, August 5, 2017, after having a dispute with a customer Elias Crespo Tejada and his co-worker requested assistance from the police. State joins probe of officer filmed beating homeless woman. Authorities say the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has agreed to join the probe into a bystander's video of a police officer beating a homeless woman inside an Atlanta area convenience store. Another Court Confirms Constitutional Right to Record Cops. Yet another federal appeals has affirmed the constitutional right of Americans to record the actions of police officers as long as they're not interfering with their work or capturing a conversation with a confidential informant. Similar decisions already have been made by the 1st, 5th, 7th, 9th and 11th Circuits. The latest, by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, explains that such activity is "ubiquitous." The court concluded the officers who retaliated against two people who recorded their actions shouldn't be sued because the precedent in the circuit had not clearly been established. But the judges said there is no doubt that Americans have the right to record. Man Arrested and Camera Seized, for Documenting Police in Public, at Wal-Mart. A visit to his local area Wal-Mart, Khalfani Akata Bey arrived to discover an incident where an individual suspected of shoplifting had been shot and killed by an off-duty Jackson County Sheriff's Deputy who was working as loss prevention at the time of the incident. As you watch the video you can clearly tell that Mr. Bey is in no way interfering nor obstructing the scene, yet a he was placed in handcuffs, placed in the back of a patrol car and detained for simply documenting an incident. Recording Police Misconduct Is Just the Beginning. In a world in which police don't just bristle at recordings of their activities, but also threaten curious bystanders and delete inconvenient evidence, a new generation of mobile apps is making it easier for people to work together to monitor the cops — and maybe even replace them. The official line may be that it's all "standard procedure," but I'll take a wild guess that Fort Collins, Colorado, police are not entirely thrilled about a video of one of their "progressive and professional" officers slamming a woman to the ground during a dispute outside a bar. Nor are Chicago cops delighted to have to explain in court a video of one of their officers shooting a teen in the back. And North Miami police have their hands full with a hard-to-fathom recording of a cop shooting the unarmed caretaker of an autistic man. Filming Law Enforcement Officers Is a Protected First Amendment Activity. The Cato Institute was established in 1977 as a nonpartisan public policy research foundation dedicated to advancing the principles of individual liberty, free markets, and limited government. [...] Cato believes that it is important for the public to monitor the actions of public servants, especially those involved in law enforcement. And because most of the public cannot practically engage in such monitoring, it is important that people be able to record those actions and convey them to others. [...] Filming law enforcement officers who are performing their duties is protected under the First Amendment. And when constitutionally protected activity takes place in a traditional public forum, such as on a public street, the government's power to restrict such activity is sharply limited. Wilmington Officer Demoted After Telling Man Not to Record Video. The Wilmington Police Department has demoted an officer involved in an incident where an Uber driver was told recording video of them during a traffic stop was against North Carolina law. It isn't. WWAY reports Sgt. Kenneth Becker has been demoted to corporal, according to a public records request. The Wilmington TV stations says WPD spokeswoman Linda Thompson could not say whether the demotion was a direct result of an internal affairs investigation into the video incident. The demotion, which went into effect Wednesday, also lowered Becker's pay. Lying cop unaware of Uber driver's law degree; released video prompts investigation. Video of a North Carolina cop lying to an attorney during a traffic stop has prompted an investigation into a Mobile Field Force. Attorney Jesse Bright was driving through the Tar Heel State last month when he was pulled over by the Wilmington Police Department. Mr. Bright, who spends his spare time as an Uber driver, was threatened with jail for recording Sgt. Kenneth Becker's behavior. "Don't record me. You got me?" the officer said. "Be careful because there is a new law. Turn it off, or I'll take you to jail." "For recording you? What is the law?" the attorney asked during the Feb. 26 incident. He was never given an answer. California Cops Kill Man While Standing Behind Cars, then Claim he "Lunged" at Them. Facing a suicidal man who holding a knife to his own throat, California cops said they had no choice but to shoot him dead. After all, Santa Maria police said they had exhausted all nonlethal means during 30 minutes of negotiations with the 31-year-old man, which was when they shot him multiple times in front of dozens of witnesses, including one man who was recording. The video shows several police officers standing behind a police car when they opened fire on July 21. Prior to the video surfacing, Santa Maria police were claiming that Javier Garcia Gaona had "lunged" at them with the knife, making them fear for their lives. New York Cops Arrests Man for Recording, Telling Him, "I'm Going to F*** You Up". A New York cop finished making an arrest Thursday [7/28/2016] before turning to a man recording the arrest from across the street — a man who had not said a word to the officer — and threatened to arrest that man if he said another word. Maurice "Mo" Crawley did not understand what the cop had just said, so he asked him to repeat himself. And that was enough to get him arrested. [...] Police also say he "tensed" up when the cop pounced on him, which they interpreted as resisting arrest. If that is what they are basing their arrest on, it is obvious they have nothing. This article reeks with liberal bias, but it does contain at least one valid statement. Alton Sterling Witness: Cops Took My Phone, My Surveillance Video, Locked Me Up. The owner of the convenience store where Alton Sterling was killed last week by cops alleges in a lawsuit that police stole surveillance video from his shop, confiscated his cell phone, and locked him inside a car for the next four hours. Abdullah Muhlafi, proprietor of the Triple S Mart, saw police confront and kill Sterling who was selling CDs with his permission in the front parking lot last Tuesday night [7/5/2016]. Muhlafi recorded part of the incident in footage he gave The Daily Beast last week that shows Sterling did not have a weapon in his hand when Officer Howie Lake shouted "gun!" and Officer Blane Salamoni fired six shots into his chest. Muflahi claims in a lawsuit filed Monday [7/11/2016] in Baton Rouge district court that after Salamoni killed Sterling, he immediately told responding officers Lt. Robert Cook and Officer Timothy Ballard to confiscate the "entire store security system" and detain him. Gun charges dropped when video contradicts SF officer's testimony. A San Francisco police officer came under scorching criticism from a federal judge Thursday after a surveillance video contradicted his sworn testimony about an arrest and search of a man on a Tenderloin street corner, forcing federal prosecutors to abruptly dismiss gun-possession charges. "The worst thing in the world is the prosecution and conviction of an innocent person, or a conviction based on perjured testimony," U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said after granting prosecutors' request to drop charges against Brandon Simpson. "The affront is to all of us. ... I am not enraged, but I am deeply saddened." Judge makes controversial ruling on recording cops. The American Civil Liberties Union plans to appeal a recent federal court ruling that citizens can sometimes be stopped from recording police officers on duty. Philly.com says the appeal concerns a ruling issued Friday [2/19/2016] in Philadelphia by U.S. District Court Judge Mark Kearney. Kearney ruled that citizens don't have an unfettered right to record police activity. He said police are free to stop such recordings unless the person shooting the video announces he or she is recording as a challenge or protest to officers' actions. ACLU attorney Mary Catherine Roper says the ruling reduces "the ability of the public to monitor police activity." Cover-Up in Chicago. The city's leaders have now brought charges against a police officer, Jason Van Dyke, for the first-degree murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. But for more than a year, Chicago officials delayed the criminal process, and might well have postponed prosecution indefinitely, had it not been for a state court forcing their hand. They prevented the public from viewing crucial incriminating evidence — first one police car's dashboard camera video; now, we learn, five such videos in total. And these senior officials turned a blind eye to the fact that 86 minutes of other video surveillance footage of the crime scene was unaccountably missing. Chicago Burger King manager says police tampered with footage of teen's death. A Chicago Burger King manager who accuses police of erasing surveillance video in the case of a black teenager shot last year by a white officer said Saturday [11/28/2015] he testified before a federal grand jury investigating the shooting. Jay Darshane told the Chicago Tribune that the FBI also took the video recorder containing all of the fast food restaurant's surveillance images. The allegations of tampering has fueled the anger of protesters who say the city, police and local prosecutors have botched the case of Laquan McDonald's death. After months of refusals, the city released police squad car footage of the shooting Tuesday in response to a judge's order. Nuclear missile gets rear ended!. Have you ever seen a nuclear missile being transported in a convoy? Several helicopters in the air and federal marshals leading the way. The crazy thing is that the fed pulled over and was yelling and waving his hands that I can't record this video! And then a truck rear ended the nuke! Google Photos helps prove man's innocence after assault by police. According to the Toronto Star, which is Canada's largest daily newspaper, Abdi Sheik Qasim was arrested by Toronto police for reportedly assaulting a police officer following an exchange at his uncle's house in January 2014. After the constables established that Qasim was not wanted on any warrants, they refused to leave and instead insisted on entering the apartment. Qasim then took out his phone to record the transaction but Constable Dhaliwal knocked his phone out of his hand. Qasim was then arrested and charged for assaulting a police officer and failing to comply with a court order and once hauled to the police station, his phone went missing. After being released pending an appearance in court, Qasim still didn't have his phone but upon his return to his home, he found that Google Photos had automatically backed up the ten second video. What First Amendment? Virginia State Police Forced BBC Journalists to Delete Video. So I assume you have all heard that a homosexual African American shot and murdered to straight whites on live TV. This was, of course, not a hate crime and never will be labeled as one. This story from PRI caught my eye and makes me wonder why we even claim to have a First Amendment: "Virginia police order BBC journalists to delete footage of suspected shooter's crash." [...] What I find especially insulting about this is that it happened to BBC journalists. I don't know if they are British themselves, but it is galling to have a British media outlet learn just how flimsy our Bill of Rights really is. What is the point of having a First Amendment if the police can simply order censorship? More about Vester Lee Flanagan II a/k/a Bryce Williams. Self-appointed watchdogs of Texas police are in the streets and in your face. The national Cop Block campaign aims to police the police by filming traffic stops and watching for potential violations of search laws. Here in Arlington, the campaign has taken on a uniquely Texas spin. [...] [Kory] Watkins and [Kenny] Lovett also host a regular Friday night Internet radio show, urging people to know their rights, arm themselves and maintain vigilance against the police state. "Police get celebrated like rock stars when they slam someone's head in the pavement," caller Dominique Alexander reflected one recent night. "We need to fix this stuff." Where Waco Is Headed. F. Clinton Broden, the Dallas lawyer who is representing Scimitars Motorcycle Club member Matthew Clendennen in a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Waco and McLennan County, served a subpoena today [6/25/2015] for the video taken by the Waco Twin Peaks restaurant on May 17, 2015. Broden wants the video by nine o'clock tomorrow morning. He is probably not going to get it. [...] The video Broden subpoenaed is probably the only one anybody will ever see. The Waco police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and other police forces meticulously seized every possible video source. The video evidence that most directly contradicted the official police narrative was probably transferred to ATF custody the first week and sent someplace where it could be easily misplaced. The remaining, less dangerous videos were transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Marijuana raid footage puts Santa Ana in spotlight. In this era of ubiquitous surveillance, anyone can log onto YouTube and find countless videos of police officers, some acting like heroes and others like villains. The former are owed our thanks and praise. And they deserve to be rid of colleagues who tarnish the profession by misbehaving, as a number of Santa Ana police officers did during a now infamous raid on a medical marijuana dispensary. Baltimore Police Just Arrested Man Who Filmed The Freddie Gray Arrest. Kevin Moore filmed the police brutally arresting Freddie Gray. That footage went viral and began all of the protests that have been flooding the streets of Baltimore and sweeping the nation ever since. Now, after claiming the police had been harassing and intimidating him after he went public with the footage, Kevin Moore and two members of Cop Watch — Chad Jackson and Tony White — have been arrested tonight [4/30/2015] in Baltimore. Smartphone app from ACLU of California aims to preserve videos of police. When George Holliday recorded grainy footage of Los Angeles police officers beating Rodney King outside his apartment in 1991, he sold the video to KTLA for $500 and watched it become a worldwide sensation. This year, a man used his cellphone to record a fatal LAPD shooting on skid row and uploaded the footage to Facebook, where it drew millions of viewers. Now, in a sign of how amateur video has heightened scrutiny of police conduct, the American Civil Liberties Union has created an app for that. A Police Shooting Highlights Illegal Harassment of Camera-Carrying Bystanders. Although the First Amendment right to record the police as they perform their duties in public is well established, cops often violate that right by ordering people to turn off their cameras, confiscating their cellphones or arresting them on trumped-up charges. The shooting of [Walter] Scott, which last week led to [Michael] Slager's arrest thanks to the details revealed by Santana's video, illustrates both the prevalence of this contempt for constitutional rights and the importance of counteracting it. Ferguson residents begin using body cameras. A California-based group has distributed and trained some Ferguson residents on how to use body cameras to record police. Arlington 'cop watchers' arrested; police chief weighs in. Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson spoke out Monday following the arrests of three 'cop watchers' over the weekend. Cop watchers are known for following police around on their patrols and videotaping their confrontations. Johnson says there is a fine line between shooting video and interfering with a police investigation, and he says over the weekend, that line was crossed. Arlington police defend 'cop-watcher' arrests. Three people associated with a "cop watch" group were arrested on Saturday [9/6/2014] after getting into a heated exchange with Arlington police officers. A group of about 20 people from the Tarrant County Peaceful Streets Project went to a traffic stop off Cooper Street in Arlington when sharp words were exchanged between the two sides, and one woman was physically restrained by police. Three Cop Watchers Get Arrested For Videotaping Arlington, Texas Police. Three people on a "cop watch" were arrested while videotaping a traffic stop by an Arlington police officer late Saturday night [9/6/2014]. The people are part of organizations Texas Cop Block and the Tarrant County Peaceful Streets Project, whose members tape police in a effort to hold them accountable for their actions. Somewhat related: Man Who Leaked DHS Pictures Branded a Terrorist: "You Will Be Incarcerated". Did you know that taking pictures of Department of Homeland Security vehicles and posting them on the internet could land you on a terrorist watch list, or even in prison? Navy Veteran Mark Paffrath, who recently took pictures of DHS vehicles parked in full public view at the Drury Plaza Hotel in Missouri has been terminated from his job, threatened with imprisonment and branded a terrorist. Paffrath was on his way to work when he saw the vehicles and decided to snap some photos and a video. TV crew: Police shutdown in Ferguson was 'assault on freedom of press'. Did police in Ferguson, Missouri, deliberately fire tear gas and rubber bullets at a television news crew Wednesday night [8/13/2014]? Photos and videos from the Al Jazeera America camera crew were widely shared in the wake of Wednesday's incident, which Al Jazeera called an "egregious assault on freedom of the press that was clearly intended to have a chilling effect on our ability to cover this important story." The images showed a tear gas canister exploding close to the Al Jazeera correspondent Ash-har Quraishi, who tried to shield himself from the smoke. Was it intentional? Quraishi's crew members seem to think so. Federal Judge to Camera-Shy Austin Cops: People Have a Right to Record You. Deal With It. The case was brought by Antonio Buehler, an Austin, Texas, activist who has had several run-ins with camera-shy cops. The first incident occurred on January 1, 2012, when Buehler pulled into a 7-11 in Austin to refuel his truck and observed a traffic stop during which police dragged a screaming passenger from a car and knocked her to the ground. After Buehler took out his phone and began taking pictures of the encounter from a distance, Officer Patrick Obosrki manhandled him and arrested him for "resisting arrest, search, or transportation." [...] In yesterday's [7/24/2014] decision, which allowed the lawsuit to proceed, [U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark] Lane cites "a robust consensus of circuit courts of appeals" — including the 1st, 7th, 9th, 10th, and 11th — that "the First Amendment encompasses a right to record public officials as they perform their official duties." He also notes two decisions in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which includes Texas, "seems to assume, without explicitly stating, that photographing a police officer performing his official duties falls under the umbrella of protected expression." Troop leader: Customs and Border agent held Boy Scout at gunpoint. Jim Fox, the leader of the Mid-Iowa Boy Scout Troop 111, said the incident occurred earlier this month at a checkpoint along the Alaska-Canada border. The scouts and their leaders were on a 21-day trek from Iowa to Alaska — a trip that had been three years in the planning. As their vans were moving through a checkpoint into the United States, one of the scouts snapped a photograph. Agents stopped the van and ordered all the passengers to get out. They told the underage photographer that he had committed a federal crime. Man flips drone fear on its head, uses technology to monitor L.A. cops. A California man decided to turn the fear that drones will be abused by law enforcement officials on its head by using the technology to monitor police behavior. "I don't think it's a substitute for a hand-held camera, but it's definitely a complement," Daniel Saulmon of Torrance told the Los Angeles Times. Mr. Saulmon said he has been filming police behavior with the technology for a month, typically monitoring DUI checkpoints to make sure police aren't abusing their power. He added that he is careful not to run afoul of any laws while filming. 'Cop watcher' beats rap, runs for City Council. Andrew Henderson may be a political novice, but name recognition will be the least of his challenges. Henderson, 30, was charged with two misdemeanors connected to videotaping deputies and an ambulance crew dealing with a man outside his apartment building. The welder turned cop-watcher gripped this small Twin Cities suburb for 15 months. Now, Henderson is running for a seat on the City Council. Can I be arrested for videotaping or photographing police? Videotaping or photographing police in public places is usually legal, so long as you don't interfere with their activities. Nonetheless, doing so will often get you arrested. Police don't like to be watched or documented in any way, so they'll sometimes bend the rules to stop you. We've heard many stories about people who got arrested for taping police, and the charges are usually dropped. If you're taping or photographing police, make sure you don't interfere, because "obstruction" is the most likely charge, and you'll need to be able to defend against it. 7 Rules for Recording Police. Last week the City of Boston agreed to pay Simon Glik $170,000 in damages and legal fees to settle a civil rights lawsuit stemming from his 2007 felony arrest for videotaping police roughing up a suspect. Prior to the settlement, the First Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that Glik had a "constitutionally protected right to videotape police carrying out their duties in public." The Boston Police Department now explicitly instructs its officers not to arrest citizens openly recording them in public. Fall River Man Arrested For Videotaping Police Officer. A Fall River man says he was recording a police officer who was out of control, but instead, he was arrested and his cell phone was seized. Now the video he recorded is gone. Police say he erased it, even though they were the ones holding the phone. George Thompson says last January he was just sitting on his front porch, watching a Fall River police officer working a paid detail. Thompson says the officer was on his phone and was swearing very loud. That's when Thompson pulled out his phone. Thompson says Officer Tom Barboza then rushed him and arrested him, charging him with unlawful wiretapping. The Editor says... Can You Video Tape the Police? Should You Video Tape the Police? These are two very different questions. Like many situations, particularly in the criminal law arena, just because you have a legal right to do something doesn't mean you should. When it comes to video taping the police, this concept is particularly relevant — and a woman from Rochester, New York can attest to this fact. In that specific case, the woman made the choice to exercise her rights to video tape the police performing a traffic stop on the street in front of her house. As a result, the police arrested her. Ultimately, the charges were dismissed, but the woman says she would do it again. A New First Amendment Right: Videotaping the Police. The most powerful weapon against police misconduct — taping cops with cell-phone cameras — is getting support from the courts Supreme Court Upholds Legality of Videotaping Police. This Monday [11/26/2012], the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a decision by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocking the enforcement of an Illinois eavesdropping law. The broadly written law makes it a felony to make an audio recording of someone without their permission, punishable by four to 15 years in prison. In most states, like NY, only one person needs to consent, so the consent of the person who is recording it is enough to make it legal. Many states, however, including Illinois, have "all-party consent" law, which means all parties to a conversation must agree to being recorded before recording it can be done. But in all of those states — except for Massachusetts and Illinois — the laws include a provision that the parties being recorded must have a reasonable expectation of privacy for it to be a crime to record them. Since police do not have an expectation of privacy while they are doing their work on the public street, video or audio recording of a police officers would not be banned. The Editor says... Videotaping Police — What are your Rights? Following a number of incidents in which individuals were arrested for videotaping police officers, a federal appellate court has ruled that filming government officials while on duty is protected by the First Amendment, as most of the arrestees have claimed, but the ruling is binding only in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico. Police departments across the U.S. have long asserted that citizens don't have the right to videotape officers while they conduct official duties. The issue has become especially heated in the last few years because a growing number of law-abiding citizens have gotten booked for taping officers at work. One of the cases made it up to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which recently ruled that police can be recorded while they're working. Courts side with ACLU on videotaping police. The ACLU announced plans to launch an audio-video taping project, targeting Cook County (greater Chicago area) Illinois police officers performing their duties. Illinois is a two-party consent state, meaning that all parties to a conversation must consent to audio recording. Thus, unless the officers consented, audio-video recording would constitute an illegal wiretap. The ACLU launched a pre-emptive lawsuit against the Cook County prosecuting attorney, asking the court to block enforcement of the wiretap law in such circumstances. A federal district judge ruled against the ACLU on legal standing grounds prior to trial. The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed, ordering that the ACLU was entitled to a preliminary injunction and a full trial. The appellate court held that the statute unconstitutionally restricts free speech. Cyclist Arrested For Videotaping Cop During Red Light Stop. Photographing and videotaping anything in public view — including federal buildings and the police — is legal in NYC as long as the documentation does not impede any law enforcement activity. Nevertheless, plenty of people — including journalists — continue to be arrested and harassed by camera-shy NYPD officers. Will Paybarah, a 24-year-old Brooklyn resident, says this is exactly what happened to him in late March, when he was stopped for running a red light on his bike and then arrested for trying to videotape the officer with his cellphone. Will Apple technology prevent citizens from videotaping cops? With smartphones now having high definition video recording quality, cops are more regularly getting into trouble with breaking the law. Throughout the country, police enforcement is attempting to pass laws that would make it illegal to record them while they're working. In conjunction with that, Apple will soon release new technology that would put the power of turning on and off a phone's video recorder into law enforcement's hands, according to a report. Woman Charged With Wiretapping Because She Dared To Record The Cops. A Massachusetts woman with the good sense to record her cop encounter on her cell phone is now facing felony wiretapping charges because she did not inform the officers that they were being recorded — something state law requires. Karen Dziewit was drinking outside an apartment building in Springfield, Massachusetts on Saturday night [5/10/2014]. Residents complained that she was yelling at them and refused to calm down. They called the police. Man who recorded another man's arrest charged with obstructing justice. A South Florida man who used his cell phone to record a store owner getting arrested has been charged with obstructing justice, police said. Lazaro Estrada, a local disc jockey, was working a promotional gig at a store in Cutler Bay when the store's owner, Andre Trigiano, was arrested on outstanding misdemeanor traffic charges, a local CBS affiliate reported. Mr. Estrada began recording the arrest after Miami-Dade Officer Michael Valdez removed Mr. Trigiano from the store. Ex Cop: Everyone Behaves Better When They're on Video. Civilians shoot and upload police encounters to the Internet everyday using tiny cameras on their cell phones and other mobile devices. In fact it may be easier than ever to keep the police accountable with the technology we all carry around in our pockets. But police are looking to keep civilians accountable too by wearing cameras of their own. Cop tells student filming him: 'You just lost your free speech rights!' A chilling video of Maryland police silencing an innocent student who was recording the arrests of two other people has civil libertarians outraged. The arrests were made at night on the streets of Towson, Maryland. A University of Maryland-Baltimore County student who witnessed the arrests decided to record them using his cell phone. The student, 21-year-old Sergio Gutierrez, was soon approached by officers who objected — wrongly — to his actions. Gutierrez repeatedly told the officers that he knew he had the right to film them, but the cops were prepared to use any excuse to shut him down. Recording Traffic Stop Lands Davie Woman In Jail. A Davie woman plans to sue the Broward Sheriff's Office after she was forced to spend the night in jail for using her cellphone to record a deputy during a traffic stop. Last March, 33-year old Brandy Berning was pulled over by Lt. William O'Brien after she reportedly drove in the HOV lane at the wrong time, according to The Sun-Sentinel. As O'Brien approached her vehicle, Berning hit the record button on her phone. She recorded about 15 seconds of the conversation before telling O'Brien that he was being recorded. That's when the deputy told her she had just committed a felony and demanded that she hand over her phone. Berning refused. Massachusetts Cop Threatens to Smash Camera into Man's Face. A Massachusetts cop threatened to smash a camera into a man's face if he dared take one more photograph of her. Instead, he started video recording her. The video shows Barnstable police officer Gretchen Allen walking away from Robert Bastille, who runs a local news site called Hyannis News. Is it Legal to Film Police in London? Cameras are everywhere: in our pockets and on our streets. But what happens when we turn those cameras on members of law enforcement? In 2009, filmmakers Fred Grace and Gemma Atkinson were returning from a meeting in London. As they exited a subway ('Tube') station, Fred was stopped by officers from London's Metropolitan Police and searched for drugs — a procedure called 'stop and search' that's become common in the city. Grace had no drugs in his possession. Atkinson, Grace's partner, filmed the encounter on her smartphone. What happened next led Atkinson and Grace to challenge the way British law was being interpreted, and — now — an animated film about their experience. Police Officer Doesn't Want to Be Filmed, Gets Aggressive. There isn't much context as to what is going on in this video, but the officer's reaction to being filmed is pretty standard — unwarranted suspicion, aggression, and violation of rights. [Video clip] Cop Refuses Kid's Request to See Badge Number, Asks 12 Year old Kid for ID. So what do you do when you see a police officer breaking those same laws you would get a ticket for? You get video evidence and ask for his badge number. At least that is what 12-year-old Jeremy Drew did when he saw a cop parked illegally and called him out on it. [Video clip] TSA Confiscates Camera, Deletes Footage of Checkpoint. Despite the TSA admitting on its own website that there is no law which prevents people from filming TSA checkpoints, a man traveling through San Juan airport in Puerto Rico had his camera confiscated and footage deleted. [...] Tom McCormack explains how he was repeatedly harassed by TSA officers and then police simply for filming at a body scanner checkpoint, before TSA agents violently grabbed his camera from him and disappeared, a concerning development given the fact that TSA workers are routinely caught stealing expensive personal items belonging to travelers. More about TSA goons. Peaceful Streets Founder Snatched-up for Filming Austin PD Stop. Austin activist and Peaceful Streets Project founder Antonio Buehler was kidnapped and caged last night [8/25/2012]. Gross Abuse of Police Power. A cop arrested a woman for the supposed crime of not getting off her own front porch. Apparently, the cop didn't like the fact that she was observing — and perhaps even filming on her cell phone camera — a traffic stop. If there is any justification for what the cop did, it certainly is not apparent from the full story. What's particularly disturbing is not just that the cop made a seemingly abusive arrest, but that a judge then convicted the woman. Austin, Texas Man Faces 10 Years in Prison for Recording Cops. An Iraq War veteran faces ten years in prison after snapping photos of police making an arrest. Antonio Buehler was pumping gas last New Year's Eve when he caught sight of two Austin, TX cops "manhandling a woman" during a DUI investigation. Buehler, a resident of Austin, pulled out his cell phone and began taking pictures of the arrest. This is where the trouble began. Pa. Student Charged After Taking Traffic Stop Pics. Philadelphia police violated a college student's First Amendment rights by arresting him as he took photos of a traffic stop outside his house, a journalism advocacy group said Monday [3/26/2012]. Judge rules eavesdropping law unconstitutional. A Cook County judge today [3/2/2012] ruled the state's controversial eavesdropping law unconstitutional. The law makes it a felony offense to make audio recordings of police officers without their consent even when they're performing their public duties. Judge Stanley Sacks, who is assigned to the Criminal Courts Building, found the eavesdropping law unconstitutional because it potentially criminalizes "wholly innocent conduct." Courts and Dept of Justice Agree: Videotaping Police is OK. Ken Paulsen, president and CEO of the First Amendment Center, wrote in USA Today that "just as police officers use technology to watch citizens, including patrol car cameras, traffic light cameras and radar to track speeding, the public [also] has a right to monitor the work of officers on the public payroll." Right to record: It's yours, people. In abusing its authority, the Weare Police Department has inadvertently done every Granite Stater a favor. In July of last year, a Weare officer executed a traffic stop on William Alleman of 140 Helen Dearborn Road, Weare. ... Alleman recorded the police stop by calling a voice mail system with his cell phone and letting it run during the encounter. Seven months after the traffic stop, the Weare PD charged Alleman with wiretapping for recording the stop. He was never charged with any other violation. 'War on Photography' tramples rights. A simple Google search reveals countless incidents of overzealous law enforcement officials detaining or arresting photographers, and in many cases confiscating their cameras and memory cards, despite the fact that these individuals were in lawful places at lawful times, partaking in lawful activities. Often, law enforcement officials cite blanket notions of "national security" as their source of authority. Other times, they cite broadly worded criminal statues such as "obstruction of justice" or "interfering with a police officer." My personal favorite is "It's against the 9/11 law." War on Photography. We all know what happened that day. Many of us watched in person or on TV the events that start the War on Terrorism. So why do I mention this? Because, since the advent of Homeland Security and the heightened sense of vulnerability to terrorism, many LEOs have quote the 9/11 Law as reasons to ask photographers from making images in public places in completely legal venues. There is no such 9/11 Law that prevents a photographer from taking images. There are certain places where photography may be limited for national security (certain areas of military bases, certain areas of nuclear facilities) but trains, bridges and buildings are not on the list. But photographers have been arrested for taking images of all of these. Almost all the charges have eventually been dropped and some of the people are bringing suit for false arrest. The right to take pictures at security checkpoint is debated. Mind your camera when you're traveling this summer. Taking an innocent snapshot in a public area may get you in trouble, even if photography is allowed. It almost landed Ryan Miklus behind bars when he flew from Phoenix to Reno, Nev., with his parents recently. When Miklus tried to videotape an altercation between his mother and a TSA agent, another officer tried to stop him. "You are not allowed to film," the officer says on the video. "You need to go. You cannot film us." Another Marylander Arrested for Recording the Police. The city of Annapolis, Maryland recently received a Homeland Security grant for 20 new surveillance cameras in the downtown area. The city of Baltimore already has nearly 500. According to the watchdog site PhotoEnforced, the state of Maryland has at least 375 red light cameras and 80 speed cameras. Your government is watching you, Marylanders. But don't think for a second that it's going to tolerate you watching back. Another Illinois Resident Charged for Recording Police. The New York Times reports on the Illinois eavesdropping law, which allows for a felony charge and up to 15 years of prison for people who record police officers on the job. In addition to artist Christopher Drew ... the article finds another person currently being charged under the law. Tiawanda Moore, 20, goes to trial next month. The War on Cameras. As citizens increase their scrutiny of law enforcement officials through technologies such as cell phones, miniature cameras, and devices that wirelessly connect to video-sharing sites such as YouTube and LiveLeak, the cops are increasingly fighting back with force and even jail time — and not just in Illinois. Police across the country are using decades-old wiretapping statutes that did not anticipate iPhones or Droids, combined with broadly written laws against obstructing or interfering with law enforcement, to arrest people who point microphones or video cameras at them. It shouldn't be a crime to record the cops. I believe in the right to privacy. Yet I can think of someone who deserves very little privacy — a policeman making an arrest. Unfortunately, in some states it's a crime to make a video of a policeman doing just that. People recording police have been threatened, detained, or arrested. Some were jailed overnight. That's wrong. Police work for the public, they're paid with tax money, and most importantly, they have tremendous power. They've got the legal right to pull guns, detain us, lock us up and, in some cases, shoot us. The potential for abuse is great. So it's a good thing that modern video cameras are now so commonplace. Any abuse of police power in a public place is likely to be recorded. Why should that be a crime in some states? Las Vegas Man Beaten for Filming a Cop. [Scroll down] There's a strange history here, too. Crooks is also the man who videotaped the 2002 police beating of Inglewood, California teen Donovan Jackson. The officers in that case were suspended, fired, criminally charged (but not convicted), then later sued for racial discrimination, and were awarded $2.4 million in damages. One is back on the force. The "War on Cops" That Isn't. [Scroll down] It may well be true that the public is growing increasingly skeptical of law enforcement officers. The Internet, cell phone cameras, and other technologies are making it easier for citizens to hold bad cops accountable. Citizen-shot video is increasingly being used to show that officers lied on police reports. There has also been some controversy during the last few years about police officers who arrest, threaten, and intimidate citizens who record them (see "The War on Cameras," January). A bevy of watchdog websites has sprung up in recent years to document police abuses. The Government's War on Cameras! Police everywhere are cracking down on citizens using cameras to capture breaking news and law enforcement in action. In 2009, police arrested blogger and freelance photographer Antonio Musumeci on the steps of a New York federal courthouse. His alleged crime? Unauthorized photography on federal property. On photography, cops need to get a clue. Last week, Buzzfeed reporter Benny Johnson went to work on a list of the seven ugliest federal buildings in Washington, D.C. But what he found was even uglier than the buildings: ignorant, heavy-handed law enforcement officers who told him — wrongly — that he couldn't photograph the ugly architecture. Johnson repeatedly confirmed with the media-relations folks at these agencies that it was OK for him to photograph the buildings — as it is for any member of the public — but word hadn't filtered down to the guys with guns. Big Brother Is Watching You. In 1991, George Holliday filmed the LAPD's arrest and beating of Rodney King. The videotape provoked national controversy. If a similar incident happened today, it might provoke something else: the arrest of George Holliday. Cell phones and cameras with video-recording capability have become ubiquitous. This has led to an increase in the filming of police officers, which has led to a backlash: Cops have begun arresting those who film them, on charges such as interfering with an investigation — even when the filmer is not interfering and the officer is not investigating. Activist Emily Good stunned by fallout from video. Rochester activist Emily Good says she had no idea she would set off a firestorm when she stood on her lawn videotaping a police traffic stop on May 12. She never expected to be arrested, handcuffed for nearly an hour, or taken to jail in her pajamas, either. Charges Against Emily Good Dropped. Her video has been seen by people across the country, now the Rochester woman who was arrested while shooting that video has her name cleared. "People recognize me going down the street and they say 'wow, thank you for standing up to this,'" said Emily Good. "Because this is happening everyday and people just don't pay attention." It took less than a minute for a judge to dismiss an obstructing governmental administration charge against Good, saying there was no legal basis to move forward. Reporter Arrested For Filming Public D.C. City Meeting. Earlier this week, a shocking report from Reason Magazine revealed how one of its online producers had been arrested for filming the arrest of another reporter filming a public meeting of the D.C. Taxicab commission. That reporter, Jim Epstein, appeared earlier this week on Fox Business's Freedom Watch and told host Judge Andrew Napolitano that, now released, he had still not been given adequate explanation from police as to why he was arrested. See also The Photographer's Right - A Downloadable Flyer. An explanation of your rights when stopped or confronted for photography. Legal Rights of Photographers: A clear explanation of what is legal to shoot and publish. Police Chief Confirms Detaining Photographers Within Departmental Policy. Police Chief Jim McDonnell has confirmed that detaining photographers for taking pictures "with no apparent esthetic value" is within Long Beach Police Department policy. McDonnell spoke for a follow-up story on a June 30 incident in which Sander Roscoe Wolff, a Long Beach resident and regular contributor to Long Beach Post, was detained by Officer Asif Kahn for taking pictures of a North Long Beach refinery. First Circuit Upholds Right To Videotape Arresting Officers. The First Circuit on Friday [8/26/2011] issued an interesting opinion we thought worth mentioning. The court ruled that the Constitution protects the right to videotape police officers making an arrest. Court Denies Police Immunity in Video Arrest. Declaring a First Amendment right to videotape police making an arrest in public, the federal First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston has denied a police claim of immunity and allowed a civil rights suit against three Boston police officers to go forward. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Boston on behalf of Simon Glik, a Boston attorney who was arrested on the evening of October 1, 2007 for using his cellphone to record police officers making an arrest on the Boston Common. Glik's suit claims police violated his First Amendment rights by stopping him from recording and his Fourth Amendment rights by arresting him without probable cause. You have a right to record the police. All over America, police have been arresting people for taking video or making sound recordings of them, even though such arrests are pretty clearly illegal. Usually, the charges are dropped once the case becomes public, and usually that's the end of it. But sometimes things go farther, and in two recent cases, they've gone far enough to bite back at the police and prosecutors involved. Cell Phone Video Contradicts Police, Leads to Acquittal. A Compton, California, jury recently acquitted David Gipson, a 19-year-old charged with illegal gun possession, after cell-phone video cast doubt on the official version of his arrest at a South L.A. party last May. Irony: ACLU sues over man's arrest for videotaping police. The ACLU of Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Hill District man who was arrested for recording an incident between his friend and police. The suit, filed today [8/13/2009], stems from an April 29 incident between a friend of Elijah Matheny, 29, and University of Pittsburgh police officers. ... Matheny took out his cell phone and began recording the incident. ... Matheny was also charged with "possession of an instrument of crime" in regards to his cell phone, Walczak said. The Editor says... Man Threatened with Arrest After Taking Photos of Police. After taking several snapshots and without talking to the police, Parker said he left. After driving three blocks, he realized he was being followed by six squad cars. "I thought they were all just trying to pass me, so I pulled over. They come running out of their cars at me," he said. Convicted: Woman 'disobeyed' illegal order. An appeal is challenging a Christian activist's conviction for failing to obey a police officer's order to shut down her camera while she was filming fellow Christian missionaries at last year's Dearborn Arab Festival because the command apparently wasn't legal. According to the Thomas More Law Center, whose attorneys have filed the appeal with the Circuit Court for Wayne County, Mich., the city ordinances in Dearborn require that if a police officer wants his orders followed he or she has to be acting "in the lawful performance of his duty." Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police. That Anthony Graber broke the law in early March is indisputable. He raced his Honda motorcycle down Interstate 95 in Maryland at 80 mph, popping a wheelie, roaring past cars and swerving across traffic lanes. But it wasn't his daredevil stunt that has the 25-year-old staff sergeant for the Maryland Air National Guard facing the possibility of 16 years in prison. For that, he was issued a speeding ticket. It was the video that Graber posted on YouTube one week later — taken with his helmet camera — of a plainclothes state trooper cutting him off and drawing a gun during the traffic stop near Baltimore. Update: Expert: Photos erased from phone. The attorney representing businessman James Adkins yesterday said an off-island expert has determined all photographs on Adkins' camera phone were completely erased, either through damage or by a master reset of the device. Adkins has sued the police department for $3 million in federal court, alleging his civil rights were violated after Guam police arrested him for taking photos of an accident from inside his car on a public road. They detained him and confiscated his phone. AG: Photos not free speech. The government wants the federal court to dismiss the lawsuit of a local man who has accused police of violating his constitutional rights when they arrested him for taking photos of a traffic accident while on a public road. In Australia, don't take pictures of the police. Man who clashed with cops over legal gun was also armed with audio recorder. On a mild February afternoon, Fiorino, 25, decided to walk to an AutoZone on Frankford Avenue in Northeast Philly with the .40-caliber Glock he legally owns holstered in plain view on his left hip. His stroll ended when someone called out from behind: "Yo, Junior, what are you doing?" Fiorino wheeled and saw Sgt. Michael Dougherty aiming a handgun at him. Photography is Not a Crime. Carlos Miller has an excellent collection of news items about videotaping the police. NJ Cop Tickets Driver After Passenger Video Records Out Window. A New Jersey state trooper pulled a driver over after his passenger was video recording out the window. The cop told the occupants that it was illegal to video record on the Garden State Parkway because it was a "private roadway" or "semi-private roadway." The driver ended up receiving a ticket for "videotaping on authority property." New Jersey Cops Arrest Women For Videotaping Traffic Stop. Ridgefield Park police hate cameras so much that they refuse to place them in their squad cars or anywhere within the police department, including interrogation rooms, jail cells or the general lobby. So it's not surprising that they are accused of assaulting a pair of female passengers who attempted to video record them conducting a sobriety test. Ohio Dems Order GOP Blogger To Stop Video Recording Town Hall Meeting. Maggi Cook, a republican blogger from Ohio was video recording a woman who appears to be Alicia Reece, a democratic state representative. I say appears because Cook didn't bother identifying the woman at the podium in her Youtube description. However, the woman who confronted her, ordering her to stop recording identified herself as Bernadette Watson, a former Cincinnati councilwoman who became Reece's campaign manager last year. Indiana Man Arrested After Photographing Traffic Accident. All John Fearing wanted was test out his new camera when he decided to photograph a traffic accident a couple of blocks from his Indiana home last July. It ended up getting him arrested. Although the above video clearly shows he was not breaking the law, the judge denied his motion to dismiss the case. Woman Arrested After Taking Photos Of Atlanta Police Beating Man Files Lawsuit. When Felecia Anderson saw Atlanta police officers drag her neighbor out of his house in handcuffs, then kick him while he was down on the ground, she began taking photos. The officers threatened to arrest her if she did not stop, so she began walking back into her house. But one of the officers chased her down, demanding she hand over the camera. Somewhat related: What's the Law Say About Photographing Police? Hearing a helicopter circling his neighborhood at low altitude, Mitchell Crooks noticed the Las Vegas Metro Police dealing with several suspects near his home. Taking up his new, expensive video camera, Crooks stood in his driveway and filmed what appeared to be a completely unremarkable police action. Officer Derek Colling, transporting two prisoners in the back of his car, saw Crooks and spotlighted him. He stopped and approached Crooks, demanding that he stop filming. When Crooks refused, Colling attacked, knocking his camera to the ground — it kept recording. He hit, kicked, and taunted and threatened Crooks even as he lay bloody and unresisting, crying out for help. The Erik Scott Case, Update 10.2: Absent a specific statute, it is perfectly legal to video and audiotape the police as they go about their public, taxpayer paid business. As long as the person filming is not obstructing the officers, or endangering them or others, officers may not prevent such filming, nor may they seize cameras, film, tape or similar items. Case law is quite clear on this matter across the nation. Officers working in their official capacity in view of the public have no reasonable expectation of privacy. Indeed, professional, honest officers have absolutely nothing to fear and much to gain from such videotaping which should reveal reasonable, professional officers doing exactly what they are hired to do. Memphis Police Delete Photographer's Cell Phone Pictures. If you are on a public street and take pictures or video of Memphis Police with your cell phone, you could end up in the back of a squad car and your pictures could be deleted. ABC 24 News photographer Casey Monroe said that's what happened to him Sunday morning [1/29/2012]. Police never charged Monroe with a crime, but this could happen to anyone with a cell phone camera. Somewhat related: Don't take pictures of the cops, and don't listen to their radios.
Introduction: DC Gulag Bodycam Video Confirms J6 Prisoner Was Pepper-Sprayed in the Face Twice, Raising 'Serious Questions and Concerns'. An employee with the D.C. Central Detention Facility (DOC), better known as the D.C. Gulag, pepper-sprayed a January 6 prisoner in the face twice in less than a few minutes for not wearing a mask, bodycam footage obtained by the House Judiciary Committee confirms. [Advertisement] The altercation occurred at the facility on September 5, 2022, and is one among many allegations of abuse against J6ers at the facility. [Advertisement] Former DOC employee Lieutenant Crystal Lancaster allegedly sprayed Ronald McAbee with the chemical munitions after he removed his face mask and refused to comply with her lockdown order. [Advertisement] Last month, McAbee filed a federal excessive-force lawsuit against Lancaster for the 2022 pepper-spray attack. In his lawsuit, McAbee said he had removed his face mask to take oral medication. [Advertisement] "Defendant Lancaster knowingly, maliciously, and sadistically administered the chemical agent directly to Mr. McAbee's face from less than four feet away," the suit says. After the chemical attack, jail staff "placed him in a shower with only very hot water, which amplified the burning sensation of the chemical spray," the lawsuit states. "Mr. McAbee was not provided an opportunity to decontaminate thoroughly." Cop Fired After Continuously Pepper-Spraying A Black Woman. The Buffalo police union is asking a judge to overturn an arbitrator's decision upholding the firing of a police officer who pepper-sprayed a woman and repeatedly swore at her. This is a rare dispute. Erie County Supreme Court documents from 2013 show no other cases in which the city or police union asked a judge to overturn an arbitrator's decision on an officer's firing. Lakisha Neal, 42, filed an internal affairs complaint seven months after Officer Kevin Murphy arrested her on March 25, 2020. Body camera footage shows Murphy grabbing Neal, cursing at him and spraying him with water. Two rounds of pepper spray while other officers do nothing to intervene other than telling Neal to cooperate. "Get in the car or get sprayed!" Murphy asks after grabbing Neal by the arm and forcing her into a patrol car. Murphy deploys pepper spray after Neal says she's pregnant. [Video clip] Polish Police on a Power Trip Pepper Spray a Woman for Not Wearing a Mask. Welcome to COVAZI Poland, where police will pepper spray a woman with ashtma simply because she wasn't wearing a mask. Despite her having a medical exemption, the police decided they could care less and sprayed her in the face to test her out. Within seconds the woman's boyfriend tried to attack the police, only to be slammed to the ground and tased repeatedly, even after both hands were in cuffs. [Video clip] Watch As Sydney Police Pepper-Spray 12 Year Old, Arrest Her 20 Year Old Sister For Not Wearing A MASK. A 12-year-old girl was allegedly pepper-sprayed in front of shocked onlookers as her sister was arrested for refusing to wear a face mask during Sydney's Covid lockdown. Distressing footage of the melee was shared online overnight after the girl's family threatened to sue the officers involved for 'assaulting and harassing a child'. [Video clip] Video shows NY cops pepper-spray 9-year-old girl. [Scroll down] Nine police cars responded to the call, police said. The girl's mother, who was also not identified, is seen in the footage arguing with her daughter, who becomes increasingly agitated while her mother berates her. The woman is also seen cursing at passing motorists. "I'm not going to stand here and tell you that for a 9-year-old to have to be pepper-sprayed is OK," Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan said Sunday. "It's not." "I don't see that as who we are as a department," the chief said. "And we're going to do the work we have to do to ensure that these kinds of things don't happen." Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren said she was disturbed by the video. Woman Blind in One Eye After Cop Blasted It Out with 400 MPH Pepper Spray Gun. Tanisha White's nightmare with police started with a handshake and a hug for Officer Justin Curry, a Winnfield police officer. But before the contact would be over, White would lose her right eye and Curry would be accused of using excessive force against the female veteran. 'Dumb decision': Cops pepper-sprayed 84-yo black woman. The incident took place at 2:45am on August 7, when officers from the Muskogee police department chased an African-American man who ran a stop sign. Arthur Blackmon, 56, fled to his mother's house. The video shows police kicking down the door of the house, hitting Blackmon with a Taser. A female officer can be heard ordering around Geneve Smith, 84, who is protesting the police presence. After about 40 seconds, the officer pepper-sprays Smith, who falls to the floor. Muskogee Police Release Video of Officer Pepper Spraying 84-Year-Old Woman. In the video obtained by Fox 23 News, police officers are seen kicking in the door of Geneva Smith's home in pursuit of her son, 56-year-old Arthur Paul Blackmon in the early morning of Aug. 7. Police said officers were conducting a routine traffic stop on Blackmon, who allegedly ran through a stop sign, when he took off running towards his mother's residence. When Blackmon refused to follow officers' orders to come out of the home, police kicked down the door. UC Davis tried to wipe pepper spray news from search results. UC Davis spent a lot of money trying to scrub pepper spray from online search results after peaceful protesters were pepper-sprayed in the face — only to generate more pepper-spray headlines for the institution. [...] The company, which was paid nearly $100,000 through July 2013, gave UC Davis a proposal for "eradication of references to the pepper spray incident in search results on Google," with strategies including a "surge of content with positive sentiment. Experts say such efforts to bury bad press tend to backfire. Fort Worth Police Investigate Officer Who Sprayed Bikers. Fort Worth police removed an officer from patrol duties Monday [3/14/2016] after a video posted to YouTube showed him using pepper spray on a group of motorcyclists as they rode past him Sunday afternoon. Five people were treated at the scene for exposure to the spray and one man was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, said Medstar spokesman Matt Zavadsky. Records show police called an ambulance shortly after 3 p.m. Fort Worth Cop Maces Biker Group During Traffic Stop. [Scroll down] As the bikes approach the police car, appearing to give the officer a wide berth, he takes his pepper spray out of his holster and sprays it at the rest of the group. "We were trying to give the officer room and, as you can clearly see, he steps out toward the street, off of the shoulder and continues to spray," Stone says. Several of the bikers, according to [Chase] Stone, were hit by the spray. New video released in Fort Worth officer pepper spray incident. Fort Worth police release new dash cam video from an officers patrol car moments before he pepper sprayed a group of passing motorcyclists. Up until now, the only video seen of the traffic stop is one that shows Officer W. Figeuroa spraying a group of bikers as he gets out of his patrol car. Texas Cop Pepper Sprays Bikers, Gets Suspended. A Fort Worth police officer used his pepper spray on random motorcyclists driving full speed down a crowded highway, and was caught on camera doing it, leading to his suspension from patrol duties. The officer was standing next to his patrol car after pulling over a red Dodge Ram pickup truck which was the "chaser" vehicle, driving nearby in support of the motorcyclists. When the Fort Worth cop got out of the car, motorcyclist Jack Mckinney's helmet GoPro camera caught what happened next. Austin Police Grab Man's Cellphone, Then Pepper-Spray Him. The Austin Police Department (APD) is "conducting a review" after a video surfaced showing a mounted officer snatching a man's phone and throwing it on the ground while another officer pepper-sprays him. The Twitter user, who uploaded the video early Sunday morning [6/7/2015], started recording because he saw "someone get tackled by a single police officer," according to the video's description on YouTube. Other officers, including some on horseback, try to separate the rowdy crowd from officers who appear to be making an arrest. Several bystanders can be seen in the video with cellphones in their outstretched arms recording the altercation. Homeschooling Parents Pepper Sprayed and Tasered Because Home School Was 'Messy'. A family that home schools their children were attacked by government thugs with a home invasion where the parents were tasered, pepper sprayed and handcuffed and all this in front of their kids. And why was this done? Because the government thought the home school environment was "messy." This is the sort of stuff that you should expect from our thuggish governments. They really, really hate homeschoolers not only because they are usually conservative and religious but because it takes children out of the hands of government propagandists who want to indoctrinate kids. To the man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Elderly woman blasted with pepper spray. The photo was taken Tuesday evening [11/15/2011] by seattlepi.com photographer Joshua Trujillo at an Occupy Seattle protest at Westlake Park. The elderly woman featured in the photo was pepper sprayed by police just moments before. Her name is Dorli Rainey, and she's 84 years old. The cop is the "victim" after his wholesale use of pepper spray:
America needs cops, but America does not need self-important trigger-happy goons. Disturbing Footage Shows Phoenix Police Beat And Taser A Deaf Man With Cerebral Palsy. Alarming body camera footage recently obtained by Arizona's Family shows a man getting hit multiple times and tased by officers during an arrest in August. The suspect in the video, Tyron McAlpin, is deaf and has cerebral palsy, according to his wife. In the police body camera footage, you can see an officer immediately go after McAlpin. A nearby security camera shows the officer driving in front of him while he's walking before the officer engages him. According to the police report, that is when McAlpin fought back against officers. Another officer arrived on the scene, but his body camera flew off during the incident. In the video, you can't hear McAlpin talk, only yell. [Video clip] Man Wins 1.5 Million Dollar Suit After Cops Tasered His Face During Confusing Traffic Stop. A man has reached a $1.5 million settlement with Las Animas County and others two years after he was shocked in the face with a Taser and forcibly arrested by two sheriff's deputies. The settlement was announced Monday by the attorney for Kenneth Espinoza, who was shocked multiple times while handcuffed on Nov. 29, 2022. The Las Animas County Sheriff's Office fired the deputy and lieutenant involved in the stop in August after officials found discrepancies between body camera footage and their accounts of the arrest. "This settlement is not only a victory for Mr. Espinoza and his family," said Espinoza's attorney Kevin Mehr in a statement. "It's a victory for the people of Colorado and sends a clear message to thugs like this who think a badge is a license for brutality, your day is done. If the sheriff won't hold you accountable, we will." Espinoza and his son, Nathaniel Espinoza, were in Trinidad for construction work the day of the arrest. [Video clip] Police destroy evidence after tasing disabled man in 'Naruto' costume. A disabled San Leandro man who was stunned with a Taser and beaten with batons by police when he was dressed as the anime character, Naruto, is now accusing an officer of destroying critical evidence of what happened to him. Officer Ismael Navarro and the city of San Leandro "willfully destroyed video evidence, without credible explanation, along with records of Navarro's Taser trigger activations and entire use-of-force review file without any explanation at all," according to lawyers for Sorrell Shiflett, 37, who fell on his head and required three shoulder surgeries stemming from the violent arrest. And in doing so, Shiflett's lawyers claim, the city and police department "crippled" their client's ability to prosecute his excessive force claims. [Video clip] Excessive Force? Atlanta Cop In Hot Water After Tasing A Deacon To Death Over Refusing To Sign A Ticket. A 62-year-old Atlanta deacon died in August after an Atlanta Police Department officer hit him with a Taser and handcuffed him during a traffic stop. For months, Johnny Hollman's family has called for authorities to release police body camera footage of the incident. On Wednesday morning, prosecutors released the video. The bodycam video released by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis shows the confrontation between Hollman and the officer that led to Hollman's death. [Video clip] Bodycam Footage Shows High School Band Leader Who Got Tasers Did Nothing Wrong. Attorney Juandalynn Givan released a video on Monday from a bystander showing the moments that led to Birmingham Police using a stun gun to detain Minor High School Band Director Johnny Mims. Birmingham Police say it happened after the Minor and Jackson Olin High School football game last Thursday. On Monday night, BPD released the body camera footage showing the officer who used the stun gun on Mims. BPD said officers were trying to clear out the stadium when they asked both Minor and Jackson Olin's band directors to stop their performances. Police say Jackson Olin's band stopped while Minor's did not, and Johnny Mims didn't comply. Mims was treated at UAB Hospital and arrested. He was charged with disorderly conduct, harassment and resisting arrest. Following his arrest, Jefferson County Schools released a statement saying they are in the process of gathering all the facts and have no further comment. [Video clip] Grandmother, 95, dies after police shock her with stun gun: 'Community is outraged'. A 95-year-old Australian woman died after police shocked her with a stun gun, prompting public outcry and calls for an investigation into what went wrong. New South Wales police charged the officer responsible for Clare Nowland's death with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault, the BBC reported. The officer, a 33-year-old senior constable whom the Daily Telegraph Australia identified as Kristian White, will remain suspended from duty while the investigation continues and will face trial in early July. Reports remain unclear whether he was suspended with or without pay. Colorado Man Suing Police For Being Tased 35 Times. 11 News received new body cam video from Mehr Law, claiming a man was tased multiple times by deputies. The video is from November 2022 involving the Las Animas County Sheriff's Office. Mehr Law states the man, Kenneth Espinoza, was reportedly tased 35 times. This all happened during a traffic stop when Espinoza and his son were traveling to Walsenburg. Attorneys tell 11 News this incident happened when Kenneth Espinoza and his son were traveling through Trinidad in separate vehicles. Attorneys say Espinoza was told to move his truck from behind deputies cars during the traffic stop. [Video clip] Florida man 'cooked alive' after being tased by cop at gas station: lawyer. A Florida man is clinging to life with horrific burns to 75% of his body after a sheriff's deputy Tased him at a gas station, sparking a fire that "cooked" the victim alive, according to his lawyers. Jean Barreto is still recovering from the third-degree burns from the confrontation with sheriff's deputies in Orange County on Feb. 27, his attorneys said Tuesday [5/17/2022]. "He is wrapped and unwrapped in gauze daily, bleeding profusely still as he doesn't have the requisite amount of skin to contain his body fluids," the lawyers wrote of the burns, which cover three-quarters of his body. His lawyers said Barreto — a FedEx employee with no prior criminal record — was returning from a gathering of motorbike enthusiasts, which had been broken up by Osceola County deputies when he stopped at a Wawa gas station less than a mile from his home. Wait a minute — there might be another side to the story: Pennsylvania Police Under Fire For Punching And Tasing Woman At Bus Stop. SEPTA police say they're investigating after a series of videos showing officers hitting and then Tasing a woman at the Frankford Transportation Center on Wednesday surfaced on social media. In the video, which SEPTA said was filmed at about 9:30 a.m., the woman is sitting on a bench outside the center, bent at the waist. One SEPTA officer is holding her arm, and another hits her in the head. In a second video, a third officer tells the others to "Let go," and fires a Taser at the woman, who runs away. Then he fires a second time, and the woman collapses on a curb. As officers pull her arms behind her, one says, "Don't resist, or I'm setting it off again." Six Georgia deputies indicted on murder charges declared it was 'Taser Tuesday' before repeatedly tasing and beating to death a prisoner who exposed himself. A Georgia grand jury indicted six deputies on murder charges in connection to the 2018 death of an inmate at the Fulton County jail. The three current and three former deputy sheriffs from the jail's 2018 Direct Action Response Team where indicted on five charges on Tuesday including felony murder, aggravated assault, battery and violation of oath of office. The officers named in the criminal case are Arron Cook, Guito DeLa Cruz, Omar Jackson, Jason Roache, Kenesia Strowder and William Whitaker. Ocean City Police Tase Teenager For Vaping On Boardwalk, Refusing To Show ID. On Saturday [6/12/2021], at approximately 8:28 p.m., officers were on foot patrol in the area of 12th Street and the Boardwalk, when they observed a large group vaping on the Boardwalk. Officers approached the group and informed them of the local ordinance prohibiting smoking and vaping outside of the designated areas on the Boardwalk. As the group walked away, officers observed the same male start vaping again. Officers approached the group again to further address the violation. During the course of the interaction, the male refused to provide his proof of identification and became disorderly. A large crowd of people began to form around the officers. [Video clip] Cops Tased and Beat Teens While Enforcing a Local Vaping Ban. Over the last several years, people across the political aisle have conceded that parts of the drug war only serve to exacerbate certain problems. At the same time, politicians of both stripes have engaged in a bipartisan effort to restrict a new bogeyman: vaping. So they shouldn't be surprised that such restrictions are colliding with overpolicing — one of the most glaring issues with the war on drugs. On Saturday [6/12/2021] in Ocean City, Maryland, officers notified "a large group" that their vaping was in violation of a local ordinance that prohibits vaping and smoking except in designated areas. After walking away, cops noticed one of the same teens, Brian Everett Anderson, reengaging with his vape. "Officers approached the group again to further address the violation," reads a press release from the local government. "During the course of the interaction, the male refused to provide his proof of identification and became disorderly." A viral video making the rounds Sunday appeared to cast some doubt on the idea that the situation merited such force. The clip shows a teen with his hands up, surrounded by Ocean City officers and public safety aides. He is then tased, falls to the ground, and is later hogtied and carried away. Gooding Idaho Cop Suspended After Tasing And Abusing 78 Year Old Man. A Gooding Idaho deputy has been suspended after a video had gone viral of him tasing a 78-year-old man 4 times and roughing him up. The entire incident allegedly started when a trucker called the police during a road rage incident. There was a claim the elderly man was armed but he was not. [Video clip] Shocking Video Released Showing Cops Tasing A Marine Vet In His Infant Daughter's Hospital Room, Massive Lawsuit On The Way. A Marine veteran was tased twice and taken into custody by a sheriff's deputy in Colorado Springs after he refused to hand over his phone while waiting with his 19-month old daughter, according to a shocking video of the incident. Carl E. Andersen Jr., an upstanding father and man, was waiting in the hospital with his daughter Charlotte after his fiancé, Carissa Hiteshew accidentally struck her with a car on April 17th. Andersen, who was arrested and then interrogated by five officers without being read his Miranda rights, has filed a lawsuit against Colorado Springs' Teller County. In March of this year an officer attempted to have Andersen's case dismissed on the grounds that he never demonstrated police were inadequately trained in their work with him. [Video clip] Police Taser A Man Witnesses Say Flagged Them Down To Report An Accident. A video circulating online shows a deputy using a Taser on a man in Lennox on Monday morning [12/1/2020]. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy responded to a call of a crash near the intersection of 104th Street and Van Ness Avenue in the Lennox area of Los Angeles. According to deputies, a man "ran onto the roadway, blocking the path of the deputies' vehicle." Deputies then got out of their patrol vehicle and spoke with the man. LASD claims the man refused to follow the deputies' de-escalation orders and became hostile before one of the deputies used a Taser to stun the man. [Video clip] Texas cop tases man after pulling him over at gunpoint for 'dirty license plate'. A police officer in Texas has resigned after video showed him using a Taser on a Black man who was pulled over for allegedly having a "dirty license plate." City officials in New Braunfels shared body camera footage of the incident at a press conference on Monday [11/16/2020]. [Video clip] Two officers who allegedly used stun guns on man dozens of times charged with murder. Two police officers from a small southern Oklahoma town have been charged with second-degree murder after being accused of using their stun guns more than 50 times on a 28-year-old man who died. Wilson police Officers Joshua Taylor, 26, and Brandon Dingman, 34, were charged Wednesday in the death last year of Jared Lakey, according to court documents. Court documents said the two officers used their stun guns on Lakey more than 50 times, "which greatly exceeded what would have been necessary or warranted by the attendant circumstances," and was a "substantial factor" in Lakey's death. Oklahoma cops face murder charges for allegedly using Taser on man 50 times. Two Oklahoma police officers are facing charges of murder for allegedly using their Tasers more than 50 times on a man who refused to comply with their demands, court documents show. Wilson police officers Joshua Taylor, 25, and Brandon Dingman, 34, surrendered to authorities Thursday on second-degree murder charges in the July 2019 death of Jared Lakey, a 28-year-old man who died at a hospital days after being hit with stun guns "multiple times" by the two cops, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation announced. Lakey, of Wilson, died two days after encountering the officers on July 4, 2019, when Taylor and Dingman responded to a report of a man running down a street naked while screaming, the Daily Ardmoreite reports. Police Sued after video shows inmate being Tasered while strapped down. Lauren Gotthelf filed the federal lawsuit Tuesday morning [11/5/2019] for an incident that occurred Nov. 25, 2017. The 34-year-old was ticketed by a Boulder police officer for smoking on the Pearl Street Mall and allowing her service dog to be off-leash. When Gotthelf refused to sign the summons, she was taken to the Boulder County Jail. Once at the jail, Sgt. Chris Reiss can be heard on body cam footage telling Gotthelf, "Based on your suicide statements, you're going on suicide watch." Gotthelf is heard denying she made any suicidal statements but there is no body cam that recorded what she may have said moments earlier, only the interaction between her and deputies that followed. [Video clip] Man tased by an officer for calling a him a [derogatory name]. [Video clip] Outrage After Video Shows DC Metro Transit Police Taser Man. Metro Transit Police said it has opened an internal investigation into an officer's use of force during an arrest at the U Street Metro station in Northwest Washington after social media outrage. A video of the incident has sparked outrage on social media, as it shows a Metro Transit Police officer using a taser on a man who allegedly interfered in an MTPD investigation. The video appears to show two Metro officers asking questions of a group of juveniles on a Metro platform, while a man asks questions of the officers. Then, a third MTPD officer engages the man, pushes him back and uses a taser after the man raises his hands. Millions awarded to Denver woman falsely arrested while naked, tased while restrained. A Denver District Court awarded $3.6 million to Carolyn O'Neal; the damages stem from a series of civil rights violations by the Fremont County Sheriff's Department. Court documents say Sheriff's deputies falsely arrested O'Neal for cursing at them. During the 2014 arrest, they forcibly dragged her from New Creations Inn — a homeless transitional housing program in Canon City — after reports O'Neal made a suicidal threat. [...] A lawsuit filed against the Sheriff's department for violating O'Neal's rights says deputies later admitted O'Neal should have been taken to a hospital and not jail. O'Neal was charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct for "offensive utterances." A judge eventually dismissed those charges. Somewhat related: Family: Police use Taser to stun 87-year-old woman cutting dandelions. A Georgia police chief said an officer was justified in using a Taser to stun an 87-year-old woman after she didn't obey commands to drop a knife in her hand. Martha Al-Bishara was charged with criminal trespass and obstructing an officer Friday [8/10/2018], when police held her at gunpoint before bringing her to the ground with a jolt from the electrified prongs of a stun gun. Relatives said Al-Bishara doesn't speak English and was merely out cutting dandelions with a kitchen knife near her home in Chatsworth, about 85 miles north of Atlanta. The Editor says... Officer reportedly used Taser on 11-year-old accused of shoplifting from Kroger. An incident involving a Cincinnati police officer using a Taser on an 11-year-old girl is under investigation. This happened Monday [8/6/2018] at the Kroger on Kenard Avenue in Spring Grove Village. Cincinnati Police say the officer involved was working a detail and was investigating a group of girls who were allegedly shoplifting from the store. Ex-trooper charged had other Taser misconduct. Michigan State Police tried but failed to suspend a trooper for his use of a stun gun months before he fired a Taser at a teenager who crashed an all-terrain vehicle and died, according to records obtained by The Associated Press. Cops tase 91-year-old man with Alzheimer's. A sheriff's deputy in Kansas Tased 91-year-old man with Alzheimer's disease in his back after he refused to go to the doctor, shocking newly-released body cam footage shows. The unidentified man broke his wrist while being handcuffed during the wild ordeal — and relatives believe the shock from the electrodes weakened his heart and led to his death two months after the encounter last March, KWCH.com reported. NY AG will investigate stun gun death in police custody. New York's attorney general will investigate the death of an emotionally disturbed man who died after being subdued by a police officer with a stun gun. As trial ends, surreal scene leaves defense lawyer stunned with Taser, tackled by U.S. Marshals. Moments after the Oregon standoff defendants' acquittals were announced in court Thursday [10/27/2016], Ammon Bundy's lawyer Marcus Mumford stood before the judge, and argued that his client should be released from custody immediately and allowed to walk out of the courtroom a free man. Ammon Bundy, who chose to wear blue jails scrubs throughout the trial, was dressed in a gray suit Thursday. U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown told him that there was a U.S. Marshal's hold on him from a pending federal indictment in Nevada. Prosecutor will not bring charges in inmate's death. Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Morrogh said Tuesday [9/8/2015] he will not bring criminal charges against jail deputies who used a Taser on a partially restrained inmate who later died, calling the death a "tragic accident." Trigger-Happy Cop Zaps 76-Year-Old with Taser. The incident took place Thursday in Victoria, Texas, as Officer Nathanial Robinson, 23, pulled over local resident Pete Vasquez for an expired inspection sticker on the car Vasquez was driving back to Adam's Auto Mart, where Vasquez helps with mechanical work. SWAT Team Tasers, Pepper-Sprays Homeschoolers. A Missouri homeschooling family is suing a sheriff and another officer who forcibly entered their home without a warrant, Tasered the father, pepper-sprayed the mother and put their children in the custody of social service workers. A court already has ruled that the actions of Sheriff Darren White and Capt. David Glidden of Nodaway County, Missouri, violated the U.S. Constitution, resulting in the dismissal of charges of child endangerment and resisting arrest against the couple, Jason and Laura Hagan, of New Hampton. Video: Cop tases 62-year-old woman — while she's walking away from him. Via Becket Adams, it's been too long since we've had a food fight in the comments about tasers and excessive force. [...] The cops were in the neighborhood because they'd heard about drug-dealing going on, but per Adams, that's not what led to the confrontation. Three people were walking in the street; they moved out of the way to let the cops' squad car pass, but once it did they drifted back into the road. Tallahassee Police Launching Internal Investigation on Potential Use of Excessive Force. A Tallahassee Police officer caught on cell phone video tasering a 62 year old woman has now been placed on administrative leave. Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo announced during an overnight press conference that an internal investigation is now underway reviewing the actions of Officer Terry Mahan. "We reviewed all of the information we have at this point and we're concerned about what the video depicts and how they may be perceived," Chief DeLeo said. Traffic stop spirals out of control in Ohio. 'Stun gun' cop on paid leave. [Video clip] Former California transit officer cries while testifying about killing man at train station. Johannes Mehserle testified Friday in federal court in San Francisco that he meant to use his Taser rather than his gun to subdue Oscar Grant on New Year's Day in 2009. LAPD officer used Taser on handcuffed woman. A Los Angeles police officer shocked a handcuffed woman with a Taser stun gun while joking with other officers at the scene, according to interviews and law enforcement records, adding to a series of controversial use-of-force incidents at the LAPD. Officer Jorge Santander then appeared to lie about the December 2010 incident repeatedly in written reports. Blind stroke victim shot in the back with 50,000-volt taser by police. Police were accused last night of behaving like 'thugs with weapons' after firing a 50,000-volt Taser into the back of a blind man. An officer mistook stroke victim Colin Farmer's white stick for a samurai sword and discharged the stun gun — leaving the retired architect writhing in agony on the ground. McAlester Police Officer Uses a Taser on Woman in Custody. A McAlester police officer is now facing disciplinary action after using a Taser on a woman in custody. In Australia: The Taser's Edge. Argue with a cop — indeed, do anything other than submit immediately to his any and every command — and you risk being shot through with 50,000 volts of "non-lethal" (but sometimes not) Attitude Adjuster. It's happening all around the country, to people who likely never saw it coming or even conceived that such a thing could happen to them. San Bernardino County man dies after deputies use Taser to subdue him. A 43-year-old man died after San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies used a Taser gun to subdue him after a traffic stop, authorities said Wednesday [5/11/2011]. A deputy attempted to stop Allen Kephart, a disc jockey and teacher's assistant from Crest Park, after he allegedly ran a stop sign about 3:15 p.m. Tuesday on California 189 in Blue Jay, said Cindy Bachman, a Sheriff's Department spokeswoman. Astro's arrest leads to Galveston PD internal probe. Police have begun an internal investigation of a weekend confrontation between police and members of a wedding party that led to the arrest of Astros pitcher Brandon Backe. Witnesses said Monday [10/6/2008] that police needlessly beat, Tasered and pepper-sprayed wedding guests who were trying to comply with police commands during an incident in which officers arrested 10 people, including Backe, at an outdoor bar at the San Luis Hotel on Seawall Boulevard. Americans drop dead as police get Taser-happy. Even though the news is inundated with stories of people dying after being stunned by Tasers, police departments all over the nation are adding the electric-shock weapons to their arsenals, convinced the benefits outweigh the risks. San Bernardino County man dies after deputies use Taser to subdue him. A 43-year-old man died after San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies used a Taser gun to subdue him after a traffic stop, authorities said Wednesday [5/11/2011]. A deputy attempted to stop Allen Kephart, a disc jockey and teacher's assistant from Crest Park, after he allegedly ran a stop sign about 3:15 p.m. Tuesday on California 189 in Blue Jay, said Cindy Bachman, a Sheriff's Department spokeswoman.
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nbc4i.com Police Use a Taser on a 75 Year Old Woman. A Rock Hill [SC] police officer received a verbal warning and was required to attend a Taser retraining course after using a stun gun on an elderly woman. Taser victim wins settlement over police abuse. When the film of this ugly incident was put on Youtube an "official" investigation began. Of course, such investigations are always shams. They always turn out the same way. People are [angry] so the cops announce they will investigate to calm everyone down. Then once people have forgotten that our "finest" were once again acting like mentally-disturbed bullies the police announce that the thug in uniform was "cleared" of all wrongdoing. [Expletive], the abuse can be blatant and filmed and they still go through the routine cover-up for a bad cop. And that is what happened in Utah. The police officer was cleared and the victim of his attack was forced to pay a traffic fine even though he didn't break the law. To the man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Cops Just Love Those Tasers. Dayton police "mistook" a mentally handicapped teenager's speech impediment for "disrespect," so they Tasered, pepper-sprayed and beat him and called for backup from "upward of 20 police officers" after the boy rode his bicycle home to ask his mother for help, the boy's mom says. The Editor says... ACLU sues Wilmington for info on police stun-gun use, phone tracking. The ACLU of Delaware on Friday sued the city of Wilmington to gain access to information about how the police department uses stun guns and cellphone-tracking records. Citing an anti-terrorism exemption in the Freedom of Information Act, the city has denied the local ACLU chapter access to both records. The Editor says... Why Talk When You Can Shock? Tasers are not a replacement for guns; they're a replacement for talking, said author Naomi Klein at a town-hall meeting last night. "If it happened in a cell, we would call it torture and if it happens on the street we should not be afraid to call it torture," said Klein, who is the author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. The discussion on the police use of shock and stun guns was held at the University of Toronto in response to Toronto police Chief Bill Blair's request that 3,000 officers be armed with electroshock guns. Video: Police use Taser to Torture an Ohio Woman. Video: Driver gets the Taser for producing his license too slowly. Video: Are the police too trigger happy with tasers? Brief History of the Taser: Other Taser news: The Stun Gun: an all-purpose tool for every occasion. Sometimes tasers are ineffective: "When the government fears the people, that is liberty. The use of Traffic Signals as Fundraisers: This is an issue that has very little to do with public safety and a lot to do with capitalizing on other people's bad habits. When red light cameras were first deployed, there was a steep learning curve and apparently a lot of accidents were caused by people stopping as quickly as possible in order to avoid a ticket. In such cases, the cars without anti-lock brakes are at a disadvantage. This would all be a lot easier to swallow were it not for the anecdotes about cities shortening the durations of the yellow light at the intersections where cameras are installed. Personally, if I appear to have done something wrong, I would prefer to hear about it (immediately) from a bona fide police officer rather than from a robot (weeks later). Less Driving Amid Outbreak Is Hurting Red Light "S-Camera" Revenue. Since states began locking down in mid-March, unemployment has skyrocketed, businesses have shuttered their doors, and these uncertain times have grown more worrisome by the day. There is one industry that is hurting, however, that shouldn't bother many of us and that is the Red Light Camera industry. Cook County Official Patrick Doherty Indicted On Bribery Charges In Red Light Camera Probe. Patrick Doherty, a high-ranking Cook County official, has been indicted on federal bribery charges accusing him of conspiring to pay bribes to a relative of an Oak Lawn village trustee in order to install new red light cameras in the southwest suburb. Doherty, 64, who serves as chief of staff to Cook County Commissioner Jeff Tobolski, is charged with two counts of bribery and one count of conspiracy to defraud. Tobolski is not named in the indictment and has not been charged with a crime. Illinois corruption investigation breaks wide open with guilty plea of state senator for bribery over red-light cameras and more. Last Sunday in this space I wrote about the need to ban red-light cameras in Illinois — and nationwide. One of the reasons I gave was that the easy cash collected from these "safety devices" fosters corruption. Oh, as far as safety, I mentioned in that post that the record on safety involving red-light cameras is at best mixed. They may even cause automobile accidents. On Tuesday former Illinois state senator Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago), who has close ties to longtime state House speaker Michael Madigan — who also is the chairman of the state Democratic Party — pleaded guilty to bribery, tax evasion, and extortion charges in federal court. Sandoval is now cooperating with the feds. Sandoval is the former chairman of the senate Transportation Committee. Illinois red-light camera probe provides convincing evidence why they should be banned. There is a lot of red-light camera news in Illinois. As part of an overall corruption investigation in the state, federal authorities are into looking into the activities of Chicago firm, SafeSpeed, LLC, which installs red-light cameras in some Chicago suburbs. Last week the mayor of west suburban Oakbrook Terrace, Tony Ragucci, resigned. He is part of that SafeSpeed probe. Federal agents have also have raided the municipal offices of the villages of McCook, Summit, and Lyons in conjunction with this investigation. A state senator who is part of the red-light camera probe, Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) has since resigned. Last year federal authorities seized $60,000 from Ragucci's home, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, and $51,000 from a safe from Cook County Commissioner Jeffrey Tobolski's residence. Tobolski is also the mayor of McCook. Red light cameras undermine rule of law. Speed and red-light cameras are the bane of many motorists. A modern idea made possible by technology, they have been installed in at least 24 states. Although these cameras are a revenue boon for governments across the nation, their intrusion into daily life is disturbing, and their constitutionality is dubious. Specifically, use of these cameras could violate the Sixth Amendment. The Confrontation Clause grants criminal defendants the right to be confronted with the witnesses against them. Since it is a camera and not a person that witnessed the offense, such violations generally cannot be considered a criminal offense. The ticket is issued to the owner of the vehicle, not to the person driving it, leaving a lack of certainty as to the identity of the offender. Therefore, the "ticket" in most places is nothing more than a civil fine, making enforcement and collection difficult. Red light cameras banned in Texas. Drivers in the Lone Star State are about to be seeing less red. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Saturday evening [6/1/2019] he signed legislation that bans red light cameras across the state. House Bill 1361, authored by Republican state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, would prohibit the use of "photographic traffic signal enforcement systems." As Nevada Red-Light Camera Bill Stalls, Critics Point to Studies That Show They Don't Work. Proposed legislation permitting local law enforcement to issue traffic citations based on images taken by red light cameras did not make it past the Senate Growth and Infrastructure Committee this week, which is a good thing, the Nevada Policy and Research Institute (NPRI) argues because studies prove they don't work. A similar version of this year's SB43 to allow Automatic Traffic Enforcement Systems was proposed 10 years ago. It was killed by Sen. Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas, who is now the Senate Majority Leader and who still opposes the measure. Amy Davey of the Office of Traffic Safety says the bill authorizes local jurisdictions to decide if they want to install camera systems and local communities would have oversight of installation and enforcement. The bill specifically limits traffic citations to traffic light violations and speeding. Ex-Head of Dallas Bus Agency Pleads Guilty to $3M Bribery Scheme. Former Dallas County Schools Superintendent Rick Sorrells pleaded guilty to accepting over $3 million in bribes and kickbacks from school-bus camera vendor Force Multiplier Solutions, in exchange for helping the camera company secure DCS contracts worth over $70 million. Sorrells' corruption, coupled with financial mismanagement, plunged DCS into "ultimately debilitating debt" and precipitated the agency's demise. [...] Over $200,000 in bribe money was paid directly towards Sorrells' credit card and student loan debt. In return, Sorrells authorized DCS contracts with Leonard and Force Multiplier that included "purchasing millions of dollars worth of cameras, many of which were never installed on school buses and instead sat unused in a warehouse." Sorrells oversaw over $70 million in deals with the camera vendor. Do Traffic Cameras Really Make Streets Safer? They've been thinking about it a lot in Iowa, where an angry and long-running fight is taking place between cities that consider traffic cameras an essential component of safety and conservative state legislators who see them as one more scheme for fleecing taxpayers. Both sides accuse the opposition of playing Big Brother. But they have wildly different ideas about just who or what Big Brother is. To the anti-camera Republicans in the legislature, Big Brother is the cities that have installed the machines to snoop on motorists. To the cities, Big Brother is an insensitive state government trampling on local rights. Iowa began using the cameras in large numbers shortly after they were introduced into this country in the early 1990s. There are currently more than 75 of them in eight Iowa cities, placed strategically to photograph drivers going too fast or running red lights. In a typical year, the fines from these violations bring the cities about $12 million, which is their net take after they pay the private companies that install and maintain the machines. Why Cities Hit the Brakes on Red Light Cameras. Cities have been hitting the brakes on red light cameras, and no wonder. Outrage over the devices is no longer limited to angry motorists facing hefty fines. Judges have now tossed tens of thousands of tickets. Newspapers and government inspectors have exposed deep flaws in many cities' equipment and enforcement methods. And the former CEO of one of the two major camera manufacturers was indicted on bribery and other charges related to Chicago's red light cameras. The backlash began in 2013. After peaking at an all-time high in 2012, when 540 U.S. jurisdictions used red light cameras, the number dropped to 503, according to the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Traffic camera in New Orleans giving speeding tickets to parked cars. A New Orleans resident has received several speeding tickets over the past few years for racing through town at the blistering speed of ... 0 mph. Donald Schulz says he's been issued at least 10 citations since 2011 for having his pickup truck legally parked along Canal Boulevard. The street has a 35 mph speed limit and a stationary traffic camera on the median. "It's a nuisance; I've had to take time out of my day several times and go down there and correct the situation," Schulz told Fox News. "It got so bad that years ago I even had a [telephone] number of a person [in the traffic violations office] so that if I called them directly I didn't have to go down there." Ohio town must pay back millions of fines collected from speed cameras, court rules. A small Ohio town that lived by the red light camera could soon die by it, after a federal court ruled the speed trap has to pay back more than $3 million in automated speeding tickets. The case of New Miami, population 2,321, highlights the controversy behind the tickets, which make stoplight-running motorists see red, but help keep the budgets of cities and towns in the black. New Miami will almost certainly go bankrupt if the Supreme Court doesn't reverse a lower court's ruling and spare it from refunding tens of thousands of tickets at $180 apiece plus interest. Red-light cameras come under fire, at least 7 states trying to ban them. Traffic stop law enforcement, in the form of photo enforcement, is at the center of a heated national debate — and it has both sides seeing red. More than 500 communities in the U.S. have some type of red light or speed camera program to catch motorists who flout traffic laws. There are other municipalities who are either looking into starting to use them, or expanding their existing program. But now, there are a growing number of areas who are starting to question whether the speed camera programs are effective. Critics even call them unconstitutional. Last Day for Refunds on Chicago Red-Light and Speed Camera Tickets. Dec. 11 is the last day for more than 1 million motorists who were ticketed by the city of Chicago to claim a refund for a red-light or speed camera citation issued between March 23, 2010, and May 17, 2015. As part of a legal settlement reached in July, roughly 1.2 million motorists who've fallen prey to Chicago's infamous red-light and speed cameras can now apply for a refund of some of the money they paid on their tickets by going to the city's website, according to NBC 5 Chicago. Judge orders New Orleans to refund 3 years of traffic camera fines totaling $28 million. A judge this week has ruled that New Orleans must pay approximately $28 million in refunds to thousands of people who paid fines for traffic camera tickets during the initial years of the enforcement program, according to the lead attorney in the class action lawsuit Friday (Nov. 17). On Wednesday, Ad hoc Judge Robert Burns of the Orleans Parish Civil District Court ruled the city needs to return the money it collected on any tickets issued from Jan. 1, 2008, to Nov. 3, 2011, plaintiff's attorney Joseph McMahon said. He estimates a total of 250,000 people deserve to be refunded for the fines. Will Gov. Abbott Do His Part To Get Rid of Red Light Cameras? Grassroots activists from all over the state are calling on Governor Abbott to include a ban on red light cameras in the official call for the upcoming special session. They cite unconstitutionality, the violation of due process, and the overreach of municipalities in violating rights to raise revenue. You can read their letter and see the list of signers here. Several of these activists have been in the trenches over the last several years fighting the camera programs at the local level and seeing firsthand the lengths municipalities will go to in order to keep their revenue stream. "Local control" is a popular term among the municipal lobbyists and police unions who come down to Austin to testify against statewide camera bans. What they fail to understand is that when the rights of the people are violated, the State has a duty to step in and protect those rights. Due process is a bedrock principle of our Republic and is just one of many reasons these contraptions should go the way of the buffalo. Red Light Cameras May Mis-Issue Some Tickets. Oregon is one of the minority of states with a "restrictive yellow" traffic law. The driver is expected to stop at a yellow signal unless the driver "cannot stop in safety" in which case the driver must "drive cautiously through the intersection" and yet almost in contradiction to driving cautiously the driver must also be clear of the intersection before the red signal. The arguments in the case have to do with the definition of being able to "stop in safety" based on many factors — how far the driver is from the intersection, how fast the driver might legally be moving, and even the type of vehicle and whether the driver intends to turn. The length of the yellow phase therefore is critical because of the requirement to be out of the intersection before the red signal. In the other 37 states, entering the intersection on yellow is permitted, and only *entering* on red is a violation. I have learned for the first time from looking things up just now that my own state of New Jersey is restrictive while New York where I learned to drive is permissive.
State penalizes man who found problem with red-light cameras. Beaverton, Oregon, resident Mats Järlström — a Swedish-born electronics engineer by training and previous work experience — is $500 poorer after being fined by an Oregon agency following his attempt to point out a problem in the state's traffic lights that "puts the public at risk." Specifically, Järlström — after spending a year investigating the timing of yellow lights and red-light camera statistics — found people were being electronically captured running yellow lights because of misapplication of a timing formula developed in 1959 and still used internationally. "They only looked at a vehicle traveling safely directly through an intersection, however the equation they developed is not used for turning lanes," Järlström told Motherboard. "When you make a turn you slow down, but that's not accounted for in their solution, so people are getting caught in red-light cameras for making safe turns." Bribery Convictions Won't Shut Off Chicago's Red Light Cameras. A former Chicago city official is heading to prison after getting caught taking $2 million in bribes from a red light camera company. John Bills, former deputy commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation, was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in federal prison for taking bribes from Redflex Traffic Systems, an Australia-based company. Bills was found guilty in January of having accepted cash, a new Mercedes car and an Arizona condo from Redflex in return for helping the company secure a $100 million contract with the city of Chicago. Richardson Suspends Red-Light Camera Program Pending Court Ruling. The city of Richardson is immediately suspending its red-light camera program until further notice, following a court ruling that determined a driver was not liable for the fine for a red-light ticket. In a press release Tuesday the city said the red-light program will be suspended until a court provides clarification or a ruling on the legality of the program. Red-Light Cameras Shut Down in City of Richardson! All over North Texas people run red lights. In fact, people run red lights a lot. Sometimes it's on purpose, sometimes it's an accident. But when that $75 fine arrives in the mail, reality and remorse set in. Well, if you live in the city of Richardson, you just caught a big break. They've just suspended their red-light camera program until further notice. Richardson suspends red-light camera program after court ruling. The city's decision to suspend the program comes after state District Judge Dale Tillery decided last month that Russell Bowman, of Keller wasn't liable for a $75 red-light camera penalty he received from the city. Tillery awarded Bowman, a lawyer who represented himself, $27,500 in attorney's fees. The ruling also required the city to remove registration holds that had been placed on Bowman's vehicle. High rate of repeat offenders raise questions about Maryland traffic camera program. Hundreds of cities and states in the U.S. use cameras to combat speeders, red-light runners and toll skippers. To get a glimpse at how automated enforcement has played out in one context, The Wall Street Journal looked to numbers from Maryland, the most aggressive state in employing speed cameras in highway construction zones. While figures from Maryland's SafeZones speed-camera program show a reduction in speed through work zones, the $40 citation that accompanies violations hasn't been enough to slow down an incorrigible group of speeders. Some are willing to pay the fine and put the pedal to the metal because there is no increase in penalties for amassing dozens of citations — and some drivers do exactly that. Red light camera companies in Arizona violating private eye law, say officials. Companies that operate ticket-generating red light cameras in Arizona may have to take an unusual step if they want to stay in business in the Grand Canyon State — register employees as private investigators. The camera companies, popular with revenue-seeking local governments but hated by motorists, are violating a state law that allows only police and licensed private investigators to use cameras to gather evidence for use in legal proceedings, officials said. There are exemptions to the law, but none that would cover the camera companies. Missouri Judge Upholds County's Ban on Red-Light Cameras. A state Circuit Court judge in Missouri upheld a voter-approved ban on red-light cameras in St. Charles County, rejecting a legal challenge against the ban filed by local lawmakers in December 2014. In his decision, 11th Judicial Circuit Court Division 7 Judge Daniel Pelikan upheld the red-light camera ban, ruling municipalities did not have "exclusive control" over city traffic enforcement ordinances. The lawmakers argued county ordinances, such as the ban, do not supersede city governments' power to control local policies, like the use of red-light cameras. Center of Chicago Red-Light-Camera Scandal Found Guilty On All Charges. The final chapter in one of the biggest corruption scandals in Chicago history came to an end Jan. 26, as a federal jury convicted former Chicago transportation official John Bills on all charges. Formerly second-in-command at the Chicago Department of Transportation, Bills was convicted on 20 counts of mail and wire fraud, bribery, extortion, conspiracy and tax evasion charges. The jury found that Bills took hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and perks from Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. in exchange for helping the company win and maintain Chicago city contracts for its red-light camera system. The guilty verdict comes with a maximum potential prison sentence of more than 300 years, according to the Chicago Tribune, and serves as a case study in Chicago waste and corruption. A brief history of traffic signals in New York: Court documents: Ohio Democratic Party is caught up in major bribery scandal. In a plea agreement that was unsealed today [6/19/2015], a former chief executive officer of red-light camera company Redflex has pleaded guilty to bribing Columbus and Cincinnati elected officials. Karen Finley, the former CEO, was pressed by Democratic officials in both cities to make campaign contributions in exchange for giving Redflex the contract to install and maintain red-light cameras in the cities. According to the plea agreement, the company, at Finley's urging, would pay the contributions to a "consultant" for services never rendered and the consultant would then pass the money on to the campaigns either by direct donation or by using additional straw donors. $30,000 was passed through this way in 2007. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper vetoes two red-light camera bills. Gov. John Hickenlooper on Wednesday vetoed two bills designed to restrict red-light and speed cameras, even as he outlined his support for new limits on the devices. "While not always popular, when used correctly they make roads safer," the Democrat wrote in letters to lawmakers. The first vetoes of his second term did not come as a surprise, given how he outlined his objections to the conflicting measures before their passage. Huffines, Elkins file legislation to prohibit red light cameras in Texas. Senator Don Huffines (R-Dallas) and Representative Gary Elkins (R-Houston) have filed legislation that would ban red light cameras. Senator Huffines and Representative Elkins are proud to join the tens of thousands of Texans who have voted against and petitioned for the removal of cameras all across Texas. Senator Huffines, who is the author of Senate Bill 340, stated: "Red light cameras are unpopular, unsafe, and unjust. Texans not only reserve the right to face their accuser in court, but they also deserve the respect, discretion, and judgment of a peace officer instead of the cold and uncaring camera that generate images and revenue." Texas Senator Seeks To Eliminate Red Light Cameras. Running a red light comes with a price at some intersections. [...] Of course, not everyone is for cameras at red lights, especially when a $75 citation arrives in the mail. "I do hear it from my constituents all the time that they are tired of being found guilty by a machine," Senator Don Huffines, District 16 (R - Dallas), said. Red Light Camera Profits Continue To Tumble. Red light camera vendor Redflex Trafic Systems saw its stock plummet more than 16 percent overnight as news of its dismal financial performance hit investors. The company on Thursday [2/5/2015] formally announced a $10 million trading loss for the financial year, even though the company had previously said it would break even. The promised "recovery" never happened, largely because of increasing dissatisfaction throughout the United States with photo enforcement. As local red light camera debates rage, Texas bill seeks to hit the brakes. Red light camera debates continue nationwide and Texas is no exception. From city council chambers across the state to the Capitol in Austin, the red light camera (or photo enforcement) industry and its government allies face not only new battlefronts, but increasing opposition. Since 2009, when given an opportunity to vote on red light cameras, six Texas communities — College Station, Baytown, Houston, Dayton, League City and Conroe — have rejected them. Red Light Camera ban bill filed in Texas Senate! Several months ago, Texas Campaign for Liberty started working on one of our signature issues — banning the dangerous and unconstitutional Red Light Cameras in Texas. For too long, the camera industry and Texas cities have been picking the pockets of drivers using automated ticketing cameras. More often than not, these cameras actually increase accidents. Chicago Will Keep $7.7M From Quiet Change In Yellow Light Standard. Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration will not refund $7.7 million in red light camera tickets it collected after quietly lowering the yellow light standard, the city's transportation chief said Tuesday [10/28/2014]. The mayor told the Tribune earlier this month that he would consider refunds, but Chicago Department of Transportation chief Rebekah Scheinfeld made it clear that would not be happening — even though the city made a determination in September to restore the longer yellow light standard. DuVal drove while his license was suspended. Fred DuVal, the Democratic nominee running for governor, had his license suspended this year after he failed to pay a fine associated with a red-light ticket, his campaign consultant said Sunday. DuVal's license was suspended in June, consultant Rodd McLeod told The Arizona Republic. DuVal continued to drive during the suspension, McLeod said, but "had no idea the license had been suspended." The Editor says... Arlington council takes no action on red light cameras. The cameras at 19 intersections in Arlington were installed in 2007 and contribute $2 million a year to the city. Push to get rid of Arlington red light cameras draws support. An Arlington City Council member is getting a lot of support from citizens in his effort to get rid of red light cameras. The red light cameras went live in Arlington in 2007, and they were installed after a unanimous vote by city council. But now, at least one council member and a growing number of residents are calling for the cameras to be taken down. There are 23 red light cameras at 19 intersections in Arlington. Is traffic camera technology being misused? This summer, officials in New York's Nassau County had to dismiss $2.4 million worth of tickets because of inconsistencies in their speed-detector cameras. Some tickets for speeding through a school zone were issued when schools were closed, leading to about a quarter of the citations being invalidated. The Long Island county nonetheless plans to move ahead with the system when schools reopen, and drivers who fail to slow down will receive $80 fines in the mail. New Jersey May Shield Drivers From Other States' Red Light, Speed Cameras. New Jersey may soon prohibit other states from issuing traffic citations to its residents for alleged violations caught on speed or red-light cameras. Lawmakers in the Garden State have introduced a bill that would stop New Jersey's Motor Vehicles Commission from providing license-plate numbers or other identifying information to another state or an interstate information network for the purpose of doling out a fine. "I've been getting loads of complaints from people," state senator Nick Sacco told The Star-Ledger, the state's largest newspaper. "They drive to Virginia to visit relatives. They go through Maryland. They come back home and start receiving tickets in the mail. And they swear that they're not speeding; that they're keeping up with the traffic." Chicago mayor tries to contain furor over red-light cameras and unexplained spike in tickets. Chicago city officials are scrambling to contain a controversy over the city's red light camera system, which may have issued thousands of tickets under questionable circumstances. 13 Ways The American Police State Squanders Your Tax Dollars. [#12] $84.9 million collected in one year by the District of Columbia as a result of tickets issued by speeding and traffic light cameras stationed around the city. Multiply that income hundreds of times over to account for the growing number of localities latching onto these revenue-generating, photo-enforced camera schemes, and you'll understand why community governments and police agencies are lining up in droves to install them, despite reports of wide scale corruption by the companies operating the cameras. Although nine states have banned the cameras, they're in 24 states already and rising. Ambushing drivers in speed traps must stop. When red light cameras were introduced, the private company selling this equipment convinced the decision-makers that red light cameras would improve safety, be self-funding and contribute funds to the police service based on the fines they collected. As it ' turned out, drivers adjusted their behaviour, and fine revenue failed to yield the promised bonanza, but a poisonous seed was planted. The rationale of public safety became confused with the goal of generating funds to support policing efforts. Revenue Drives Red Light Cameras, Not Safety. "Revenue seems to be driving the red light camera rage," said Eric Skrum, Communications Director for the National Motorists Association. "If cities were truly concerned about intersection safety, their engineers would be applying sound engineering practices that improve compliance with traffic laws and traffic signals while reducing accidents rather than installing ticket cameras. Skrum continued, "I find it very revealing that Lockheed Martin, one of the biggest manufacturers of red light cameras in the U.S., has included clauses in their contracts that prohibit city engineers from applying engineering practices that improve compliance and reduce accidents, apparently to maintain the flow of ticket camera revenue. [...]" NMA Objections To Red Light Cameras. [#1] Ticket cameras do not improve safety. Despite the claims of companies that sell ticket cameras and provide related services, there is no independent verification that photo enforcement devices improve highway safety, reduce overall accidents, or improve traffic flow. Believing the claims of companies that sell photo enforcement equipment or municipalities that use this equipment is like believing any commercial produced by a company that is trying to sell you something. One traffic-ticket camera kickback scheme hits a red light. Municipal managers everywhere assume the familiar grave tone to explain that these devices are for the public good. "If it saves just one life," they say, trying to keep a straight face, "it's worth it." It sounds so plausible. Traffic tickets are deeply unpopular, so when a city writes 600,000 of them, as Chicago did last year, the cameras must yield great safety benefits. Transportation officials produce charts in bright colors, with graphs and accompanying texts to show that streets are safer than ever. It's mostly fibs, stretchers and other misrepresentations of the facts. Angry motorists want to put brakes on red light cameras. Angry motorists are fed up with having to shell out big bucks to pay fines generated by red light cameras and speed cameras. Take Jim Mehlhaff, an elected municipal official in Pierre, S.D. He got a speed camera ticket on busy I-29 in Sioux City, Iowa. He was fined $168. Complaints from Mehlhaff and others recently prompted South Dakota lawmakers to act. They passed a bill to put the brakes on red light cameras in the state and to bar red light vendors from going after South Dakotans for citations from other states. Republican South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed the bill into law last week. Red light camera at Florida hospital ticketing those seeking emergency help. Authorities installed red-light cameras near the emergency room entrance at University Hospital in Tamarac to nail traffic violators, but those rushing to the facility for medical attention are getting ensnared. Stop the cash grab and bag the cameras. In the South Florida city of Tamarac, officials placed a red-light camera at an intersection by the local hospital's emergency room. According to the website Florida Watchdog, a man who thought he was having a heart attack was rushing for treatment at that hospital when he was stopped by a traffic light. He said he waited several minutes at the intersection but the light didn't change. He told Florida Watchdog he was feeling "desperate," so he ran through the intersection. The Big Brother eye in the sky, pointed only in his direction, captured it all. A few weeks later, the man received notice of a $158 fine, the standard under the state's red-light camera law. He contested the fine and even showed his hospital discharge papers, but was told by the magistrate that a medical emergency didn't constitute a "sufficient excuse." The Editor says... Fired red-light camera executive: Company bribed officials in 13 states, including NJ. A fired executive from one of New Jersey's red-light camera vendors contends in a lawsuit filed in Arizona that the company provided lavish gifts and bribes to government officials in 13 states — including New Jersey — to secure new contracts. The brief but bombshell reference to New Jersey and other states in a 13-page counterclaim was made by Aaron Rosenberg, former nationwide lead salesman for Redflex Traffic Systems of Phoenix. He did not mention specific municipalities from any of the states. Speeding in Philly Changes Traffic Light to Red. If you drive too fast on one particular street in Philadelphia, the light at the intersection ahead will turn red. [...] The city has put a series of sensors in the pavement to measure how fast a car is going, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Tuesday [11/19/2013]. Florida Police Jail Man For Protesting Red Light Cameras. Police in Apopka, Florida arrested a man on Saturday morning for distributing a petition that would put the issue of ending red light camera use to a public vote. Mark E. Schmidter, a 66-year-old commercial roofing contractor, stood on the side of the road waiting for the light to turn red at the corner of East Main Street and South Park Avenue. Once traffic came to a stop, he would walk in between cars and distribute a double-sided sheet of paper. Memphis Red Light Camera Has Southaven Family Seeing Red. Mississippi has issued two tags (and probably many more) with the same numbers. The one photographed by the red light camera in Memphis, TN was a handicapped tag with the prefix DB and the number 8699. The person who received the automated citation has a normal usage tag of DB8-699. [Synopsis provided by the RISKS forum.]Afraid of refunds, Washington, DC and Salisbury, Maryland
conceal evidence that could reveal camera inaccuracy. N.J. red-light cameras ensnaring motorists with quick yellow lights, lawmaker says. A forensic video analysis of red-light traffic cameras in New Jersey has found what many ticketed motorists have long contended: The yellow lights are too quick. Working with an expert in video timing, state Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon (R-Monmouth) said today the yellow light times were shorter than what is required by law, causing drivers to be ticketed illegally. New York City Gets Legislature's Nod to Install Speed Cameras. New York State lawmakers voted on Saturday [6/22/2013] to allow New York City to install cameras to catch speeding motorists near schools. The measure was one of many bills approved in the middle of the night just before the Legislature ended its annual session. Does the Road to Hell Have Red Light Cameras? Longtime Weekly Standard contributor Steven Hayward, in an item at the Powerline blog, draws our attention to a report by the Federal Highway Administration and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on "Red Light Camera Operational Systems." As is typical with government reports, the soporific wording of the title seems designed to deter anyone from finding the fascinating information inside. The report looked at red light cameras around the country — justified in the name of safety — and found that they are actually hazardous to drivers. Traffic cameras bring Ohio town to screeching halt. Those traffic cameras drivers hate and municipal bean counters love have brought a small village in Ohio to a grinding halt. Elmwood Place (pop. 2,188) has seen four of its six Village Council members resign amid public outrage over a flurry of fines issued by the cameras. The devices have raised nearly $2 million for the tiny Cincinnati suburb, but angry drivers and shopkeepers complain the ticket blitz from above could turn downtown Elmwood Place into a ghost town. New red light camera law could raise cost of appeals. Appealing a red-light camera citation in Florida could be getting a whole lot more expensive. Drivers who challenge camera citations and lose could pay as much as $408 under a new state law passed last week. Red-light reversal? Lawmakers push to rein in traffic cameras. It's the technology that, for years, local officials embraced and drivers loathed. Red-light cameras have steadily popped up across the country, snagging supposed scofflaws and generating untold numbers of traffic tickets. But despite the revenue boost, some state and local lawmakers are beginning to fall out of love with these electronic tattle-tales. In Florida, a push to force the state to ditch its red-light cameras is gaining momentum in the legislature. Baltimore issues speed camera ticket to motionless car. An automatic speed camera citation was issued to a car owned by Daniel Doty for going 38 in a 25. But there was a problem, as his car was standing still. The Baltimore City speed camera ticket alleged that the four-door Mazda wagon was going 38 miles per hour in a 25-mph zone — and that owner Daniel Doty owed $40 for the infraction. Residents who paid tickets want full audit of speed cameras. It's a quandary that affects drivers throughout the city and the surrounding area. Baltimore officials have acknowledged issuing at least 350 tickets in error, while the cameras' professed error rates suggest that many more have not been identified. Legal experts say motorists like [Matthias] Manz can ask the courts to reopen their speed camera cases, even if they've already paid. Maryland State Highway speed camera tickets spike overnight. More than 40 percent of all speed camera tickets issued to drivers in Maryland highway work zones have been doled out between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., times when crews often aren't on the job. Counties skirt intent of state speed camera law. Some state lawmakers who authorized speed cameras in Maryland are calling that limitation a clear violation of the law's intent, while others think it's so egregious that they want each of the million-plus tickets issued by those jurisdictions to be refunded or dismissed. "You have to prove guilt, and it sounds like the jurisdictions other than Baltimore City aren't doing anything to do it," said State Sen. James Brochin, a Baltimore County Democrat. "When we wrote the law, the assumption was they were going to do it the proper way. I guess you can't assume." Drivers adapt to red-light cameras. "A pilot program for red-light cameras in New Jersey appears to be changing drivers' behavior, state officials said, noting an overall decline in traffic citations and right-angle crashes. The Department of Transportation also said, however, that rear-end crashes have risen by 20% and total crashes are up by 0.9% at intersections where cameras have operated for at least a year." Red light cameras more of a 'Go' sign for state license plate re-do. The economic future of Florida apparently relies on the redesign of our license plates. I had no idea what a problem the current license plates have been. But it turns out that they're wreaking havoc on what was supposed to be a lucrative business of photographing red-light violators at traffic intersections across the state. The Editor says... Whenever a tax proves to be unpopular, politicians always find a way to say, "It's for the children." Traffic Cameras in Chicago — For Safety or Money? The experience of red-light enforcement cameras lends credence to the idea that Illinois municipalities are motivated by traffic cameras' revenue rather than safety. The cameras are manufactured and installed by private companies such as RedSpeed Illinois, based in the Chicago suburb of Lombard, and the international safety camera conglomerate Redflex Group. In a typical arrangement, the camera company monitors the cameras and mails tickets to those caught in an intersection on red, taking up to half the ticket revenue in the process. Study slams traffic cameras. New cameras snap hundreds of photos a day at red lights across the Tampa area. Motorists are paying millions in fines. But University of South Florida researchers say the devices do nothing to make the roads safer. Red-Lighting Photo Traffic Enforcement. Colorado State Senator Scott Renfroe is introducing a bill to ban photo traffic enforcement, including both speed and red light cameras, statewide. Sen. Renfroe frames it properly: "People need to be held accountable for their actions, but government should be about safety not revenue." The speed-camera lie. Traditional law-enforcement duties are best performed by men, not machines. This is the case in Maryland, where speed cameras continue to pronounce the innocent guilty, regardless of mounting evidence that the measuring devices are faulty. ... "Not only are the cameras still not functioning properly, they are now producing violations for invisible vehicles going 76 miles per hour (violation #79) and bicycles going 38 and 57 miles per hour (violation #2790 & #2783)," Town Administrator David Warrington wrote in a July 26 letter to Optotraffic, the operator of the dodgy equipment. Red-light violators will pay starting Tuesday. Red-light cameras became operational Oct. 1 at 19 Tampa intersections, but the city agreed to issue only warnings for the first month instead of fines. Since then, police have sent out nearly 4,000 warnings for drivers caught running red lights by cameras positioned at the intersections. And because there's a delay between when the images are captured and reviewed, police so far only have analyzed potential violations through Oct. 11. Judge Overturns Red-Light Camera Ban. Houston residents have learned their vote may not matter after all. A federal judge has overturned on a technicality the results of a ballot measure held last November that would have banned the City of Houston's use of red-light traffic enforcement cameras. Camera opponents vow to continue the fight. The District's spy network. Washington's speed and red-light cameras, once ostensibly installed for safety, have a new purpose. They're watching you. ... While mobile photo-radar vans and intersection cameras are known for their blinding flash when issuing citations, the devices don't just take Polaroid-style snapshots. They're rolling digital video 24 hours a day. Red Light Cameras, Highway Robbery. Thankfully, people are fighting back against this legalized robbery of the citizenry. Lawsuits have been filed in several cities not only claiming, but proving that some cameras have shorter yellow-light durations than state law requirements in order to catch drivers running red lights and boost ticket revenue. The implications of those findings are frightening when you realize that a city can increase revenue enormously simply by tweaking the time frame by a split-second, thereby making violators out of lawful citizens and ripping them off with impunity. Mayor Bloomberg pushes for traffic light cameras 'on every corner'. Mayor Bloomberg wants to blanket the city with red light cameras — and maybe even publish the names of scofflaws who blow through intersections. "I think we should have 'em on every corner if we could," the mayor said of the controversial cameras that trigger tickets to drivers caught running red lights. Run a red light, win $1,000. The lure of easy money can't be resisted. It tempts the defenders of red-light cameras to say whatever it takes to keep the money-making machines running. ... Local governments around the country have been eager to hand over law-enforcement responsibilities to private companies that only care about exploiting public fears to make big money. Red-light-camera flop. The traffic-camera industry must be getting desperate. The Los Angeles Police Commission unanimously voted on June 7 to end the use of red-light cameras in America's second-largest city. Voters in Houston last year amended the city charter to compel a reluctant city council to unplug the devices, which had been generating $10 million in annual revenue. Faced with the prospect of losing generous revenue streams in other major cities, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) on Thursday released a purportedly scientific study of public opinion on the matter. Rejecting red-light cameras in L.A.. The traffic cameras cost the city of Los Angeles money while having dubious safety benefits. A civilian board has voted to eliminate them, and that makes sense. L.A. traffic cameras may get the red light. The Los Angeles Police Commission has voted to kill the city's controversial red-light camera program, rejecting claims that the system makes streets safer while costing the city nothing. Tuesday's vote means that the red-light cameras installed at 32 intersections throughout the city could stop operating within a few weeks unless the City Council takes the unusual step of stripping the Police Commission of its authority over the issue. Red-light cash grab accelerates. In 2009, Fairfax struck a midnight bargain with an Australian company, Redflex Traffic Systems, that will issue tickets in return for a cut of the profit. Although officials insist "saving lives" is their sole motivation, data obtained from VDOT indicate their true interest lies elsewhere. Cameras will be installed at Fairfax Circle and at the intersection of University Drive and North Street, where there was a combined total of 73 accidents between 2007 and 2009. None of the incidents were fatal and only 10 were bad enough to have caused an injury. Do Red Light Cameras Make Green (Money) Or Red (Blood)? There is a fervor in many state legislatures and in regional referendums to ban "red light cameras". The reason is that in some cases the devices seem to cause an increase in accidents at intersections. How's that? Most of the cars ticketed by the "red light cameras" are those that entered the intersection when the light was yellow and on the verge of turning red, many state legislators from Washington state to Florida have discovered. When motorists fear a photo ticket in these intersections, they tend to slam on their brakes, increasing the number of rear-end collisions, and possibly deaths. Red-light cameras switched on in Falls Church. Commuters passing through Falls Church be warned: Tuesday [1/18/2011] marks the first day that cameras along Route 7 (Broad Street) will stick red-light runners with a $50 ticket, delivered to mailboxes. While the effectiveness of red-light cameras in deterring accidents remains up for debate, Robin Gardner, a Falls Church city councilmember for 11 years, said she's confident the city made the right decision to use them again after removing them several years ago. DHS Conducts 'Drive-by' Surveillance. What's Next? It was Adolf Hitler who first used science and technology to monitor people, places, and things. Closed-circuit television, or CCTV, was developed for the Third Reich by Siemens AG to observe V-2 rocket launches and operators at the Peenemünde Research Center in Germany. ... Flash forward 70 years and surveillance systems have, like it or not, become broadly accepted as part of 21st century life — from traffic cameras, to nanny cams, to business cameras. America's Worst Speed Traps. If you've ever been pulled over for speeding, you know it feels like you're a gazelle that just got taken down by a lion. And, while this recession, and the gaping budget holes that resulted, have turned most cities into a jungle for motorists, there are some cities that have far more speed traps than others. And automated traffic cams have only egged them on. Now, they can snag just as many motorists for speeding, if not more, with less manpower. Normalizing the Surveillance Society. The District of Columbia, like other metropolitan areas, has been using traffic cameras to catch motorists who speed or run red lights. It has even deployed surveillance cameras in neighborhoods. Moreover, if security officials have their way, both the number of cameras and the uses to which those cameras are put in the nation's capital will be ramped up. Freedom 15, Big Brother 0. It's time for elected officials to park the photo-radar vans and pull down the intersection spy cameras. Aside from a gullible minority, you're not fooling anyone. Republicans, Democrats and independents rarely agree on issues of public policy, but on this they speak with one voice. State legislatures in Arkansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin have listened to the people and adopted statewide laws prohibiting automated enforcement. It's time for the rest of the states to give Big Brother his walking papers. The Stop Sign Mystery: It turns out that the streets in the town of Cranston, Rhode Island, have 692 stop signs that the city government never approved. The signs are there because the state government of Rhode Island wanted them there. And that's only the beginning, because there seem to be even more signs on state roads in Cranston. We are told that the "city's legal staff was researching the legality and enforceability of those signs installed by the state without city approval." The traffic-camera scam. Proponents claim that traffic cameras enhance public safety, but two Georgia state Republican lawmakers are calling the safety bluff. Last year, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, District 14 state House Republican, and Sen. Jack Murphy, District 27 state Senate Republican, introduced a bill to add a few restrictions on the use of traffic cameras. One provision requires the addition of one extra second to the duration of the yellow warning period at any intersection where red-light cameras are used. The law took effect three months ago, and the results underscore the revenue-orientation of photo-enforcement programs. In Praise Of Inefficiency: A Manifesto. Huzzahs could be heard across the country this week when Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jerald Bagley ruled that Florida law doesn't allow cities to use red-light cameras. The case involved the city of Aventura, but it has other Florida cities wondering whether their traffic cameras are legal. Cash-starved municipalities are pushing the state legislature to change the law so that they can continue to use motorists as rolling ATMs. Red Light Cameras Unconstitutional. The Minnesota Supreme Court today [6/19/2007]delivered the highest-level court rebuke to photo enforcement to date with a unanimous decision against the Minneapolis red light camera program. The high court upheld last September's Court of Appeals decision that found the city's program had violated state law. The supreme court found that Minneapolis had disregarded a state law imposing uniformity of traffic laws across the state. Four weeks, 10,000 traffic tickets. City officials say they were shocked by the number of violations recorded during the first month of traffic-camera enforcement and decided to make it cheaper to protest multiple tickets. More than 10,000 violations had been recorded by Heath traffic cameras through Tuesday [7/28/2009]. At $100 apiece, that would net the city a little more than $830,000 after paying the vendor, Redflex, its share. Get the Feeling You're Being Watched? Once a rarity, traffic cameras are filming away across the country. ... Cities and states say the devices can improve safety. They also have the added bonus of bringing in revenue in tight times. But critics point to research showing cameras can actually lead to more rear-end accidents because drivers often slam their brakes when they see signs warning them of cameras in the area. Others are angry that the cameras are operated by for-profit companies that typically make around $5,000 per camera each month. Red-light violators are a significant source of funding for Chicago. [Alderman] Burke threw off any pretense that the cameras' primary purpose is to reduce the number of traffic accidents at dangerous spots where motorists run reds. Revenue from the $90 fines at camera-guarded intersections "is budgeted in our annual appropriation ordinance," the alderman said. "That is why all these cameras are being installed. … The reality is that people blow through these intersections and they are going to be caught and they are going to be fined. It has become a big revenue source, absolutely." Red Bank Red Light Cameras Make More Money Than Expected. Since Red Bank [Chattanooga] installed cameras to catch drivers speeding through red lights last year, it expected to make $95,000. Instead, the city made $450,000 from sending out tickets for $50 from red light cameras on Ashland Terrace and Signal Mountain Boulevard. Red-light special: Traffic cameras blossom in Texas. Red light cameras, and the through-the-mail citations they generate, have caught on in cities and hamlets across the state. More than a dozen municipalities, including Dallas and Houston, have them in place to catch red light runners. And more than 60 cities joined an informal "red light camera coalition" that hovered over the Legislature this spring as it considered how to regulate the emerging trend. Red-light cameras' revenue falls sharply. Revenue from the District's red-light camera program fell steadily during the same period that many of the automated enforcement devices were broken, according to statistics from the Metropolitan Police Department. About half of the city's 50 red-light cameras were reported out of service — some for as long as six months — before a new contractor began administering the program in March. Red-light cameras cause more accidents. Red-light cameras save lives but result in more crashes that cause property damage, a new study says, as drivers slam on their brakes at camera intersections to avoid tickets, causing chain-reaction crashes from behind. Researchers at the University of Florida College of Public Health say the findings, based partially on statistics from Toronto's red-light cameras, show the program is flawed. Woman's Lawsuit Threatens To Remove Red-Light Cameras. In November 2005, [Kelly] Mendenhall got a ticket from a red-light camera. It stated she was going 39 mph in a 25 mph zone on Copley Road in Akron. ... [Her husband] Warner Mendenhall is now representing his wife in the case before the Ohio Supreme Court, challenging all red-light cameras in the state of Ohio. "It is big brother absolutely," Mendenhall said. Read the "Cop in the Box" Complaint. Red Light Cameras: Public Safety Tool or Cash Cow? The 2007 [Dallas] budget amendment that got the nod Monday morning includes the addition of $8.2 million in projected revenues from the city's soon-to-be-installed red light cameras. This reliance on red light tickets, however, raises the question about whether the red light cameras are more a public safety tool or more a revenue generating tool…. The State Wants a Share of Red Light Revenue. If you're caught running a red light, you get a ticket and pay a fine to the city. But now, the city owes the state, because half of the red light-running revenue won't stay local. "It's a shame the legislature saw it fit to take half of it away," said Plano [Texas] mayor Pat Evans. "We're very disappointed." The Editor asks... Bill's aim: camera tickets. Knoxville's use of cameras to ticket motorists who run red lights has come under attack in the [Tennessee] Legislature, with some lawmakers contending the system is designed to raise money rather than promote safety. State May Share Revenue From Red-Light Cameras. Sen. John Carona's (R-Dallas) legislation on the controversial use of red-light cameras took an unusual twist Feb. 21 at the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security committee meeting. Carona, who told LSR last month that he wanted to take the profit motive out of the use of automated red-light cameras, has struck a compromise with cities and towns. He has offered legislation that would allow the state and municipalities to share in the excess revenue generated from the use of photo radar cameras at intersections that catch red-light runners. Court upholds ruling against traffic cameras. The city of Minneapolis' use of unmanned traffic cameras to ticket owners of cars that go through red lights is illegal, the Minnesota Court of Appeals agreed Friday [9/22/2006]. The appellate judges upheld an earlier decision by Hennepin County District Judge Mark Wernick that use of the cameras is unconstitutional. Wernick had found earlier that use of the cameras violated a state law, the Minnesota Highway Traffic Regulation Act, with conflicting burdens of proof of guilt. People received tickets simply because they were the registered owner of the motor vehicle. Red-light camera critic gets ticket, not lawsuit. A critic of the city's red-light camera system today [9/17/2006] intentionally ran a downtown red light to get caught on camera so he could sue the city over the program — only to get ticketed by a Houston police officer instead. That means he will have to face a criminal misdemeanor with a maximum $200 fine instead of the civil citation and $75 fine that's issued to violators caught on tape. DC Red-Light Cameras Fail to Reduce Accidents. The District's red-light cameras have generated more than 500,000 violations and $32 million in fines over the past six years. City officials credit them with making busy roads safer. But a Washington Post analysis of crash statistics shows that the number of accidents has gone up at intersections with the cameras. The increase is the same or worse than at traffic signals without the devices. AAA pulls its support for traffic cameras: One of the foremost advocates of traffic safety has withdrawn support for the District's traffic camera enforcement program after city officials conceded revenue was a primary motivation. AAA names D.C. as top town for traffic tickets. The country's largest automobile-owner group warned its 46 million members yesterday [11/18/2005] that the District and its web of traffic-enforcement cameras is no place for speeders and red-light runners. Here is a five part series about red-light cameras in the District of Columbia: [Part 1] Inside the District's Red Lights: Red-light cameras are all over Washington — and coming to a city near you. The science behind them is bad and the police are using them to make money, not save lives. It's much worse than you thought. [Part 2] The Yellow Menace: The police could make intersections safer with longer yellow lights. But the city wouldn't make any money that way. [Part 3] The Safety Myth: Photo-radar cameras are designed to catch speeders and save lives. Only, there's not much evidence that the speed limit is any safer. [Part 4] Getting Rear-Ended by the Law: Red-light cameras actually cause an increase in rear-end accidents. The pro-camera forces know this and are trying to keep you from seeing the data. [Part 5] Fighting the Good Fight: Camera advocates claim that most people like red-light cameras, but citizens across the country are taking to the barricades against them. Same issue, but this is from Hawaii: Pinal County shelves speed-camera program. Pinal County supervisors Wednesday bid goodbye to photo enforcement. Their vote to terminate their contract with Redflex, the company that operates the cameras, came at the recommendation of the county's top law-enforcement official, new Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu. "I'm against photo speed enforcement completely," Babeu said, walking the three-member panel through a detailed PowerPoint presentation. "Here in Pinal, it's failed miserably." Armey takes on traffic-surveillance cameras: Lawmaker says cities have shortened yellow lights to raise revenue. Loophole threatens Virginia red-light program. A loophole in Virginia's law on red-light cameras that states a summons must be hand-delivered to a motorist threatens to "completely undermine" the program, according to a new study. "The average citizen is probably not aware of this … but if word were widely disseminated, such knowledge could completely undermine the effectiveness of red-light camera programs," said members of the study, commissioned by the state's Department of Transportation. Radar camera is just the ticket. [Washington DC's] newest photo-radar camera, near the entrance of Gallaudet University, has caught more than 10,000 speeding drivers in 15 days and is expected to generate millions in ticket revenue after the one-month warning period ends. Some drivers fume, see red over cameras. Red-light and speed-detection cameras have popped up in more than 100 communities across [Canada]. Part two: Zero tolerance comes to two Tucson intersections. "From what I've seen the first three days, I'm not sure we have enough cops to take care of all the infractions," said one Tucson policeman after watching vehicle and pedestrian traffic at one of the targeted intersections. They plan to issue citations for just about everything as part of a "traffic safety" campaign. Hasty Speeding Tickets: Lon Anderson, who does public relations work for AAA Mid-Atlantic, suggests that maybe speeding-ticket cameras should be getting tickets themselves. They are too fast on the draw. And they're too often being used to bring in revenue rather than to improve safety. Smile, You're on Candid (Speed) Camera! Companies hoping to supply traffic cameras to Arizona are bidding on a variety of services, not all of them exactly reminiscent of "the land of the free" in a general sense. And, right on cue, a company in Australia is toying with automatic control of cars based on the speed limit. Automotive "black box" data used in trial. The Montreal Gazette recently reported that a man was convicted in a recent traffic accident case based on data from an automotive "black box". "Eric Gauthier, 26, was sentenced yesterday [4/14/2004] to 18 months...." "...police [used] information culled from the data recorder, better known as a black box, from Gauthier's car." The Editor says... Rigging traffic lights hurts safety. The use of shorter yellow intervals along with the adoption of automated camera enforcement has become a huge cash cow for municipalities, as well as for the private company that shares the revenue collected. The District of Columbia, for example, estimated it will collect $16 million via camera enforcement. Big Brother's Camera: While such devices could be a useful tool in discerning traffic patterns or dangerous intersections, right now they're little more than Orwellian cash cows. Camera technology has been used for years in countries like England and France to catch those who speed or run red lights. A machine-generated ticket arrives in the mail with a de facto presumption of guilt, and in almost all cases it costs more to go to court than pay the fine. A Different Sort of Zero Tolerance Tale. Ambulance drivers dealing with emergencies have been known to put on their lights and sirens, followed by occasional speeding and the running of red lights. Police generally do not pull over the ambulances and fine the drivers who are behaving in this fashion. But police officers have human discretion, while cameras that automatically record speeding or red-light running offenses do not. The risks of automated radar guns: A Belgian motorist received a speeding ticket for traveling in his Mini at three times the speed of sound. The ticket claimed the man had been caught driving at 3379 kph (2,100 mph) - or about Mach 3 - in a Brussels suburb, according to Belgian newspaper. Red Light Cameras: Protectors of Public Safety or Unconstitutional? Red light cameras violate constitutional privacy and due process rights if you ask the American Civil Liberties Union and U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Tex.). The cameras are "untrustworthy and unreliable," if you ask California Superior Court Judge Ronald Styn. Or they're a great source of revenue and a promoter of safe driving if you ask local governments. Rear-end crashes go up after red-light cameras go in: When the nation's No. 1 cheerleader for red-light cameras admits there might be one teensy-weensy downside to the program, you just know it's going to be a lulu so large it couldn't be crammed under the carpet without making a bulge the size of a circus tent. Traffic lights con cost drivers £5m. Four people have been arrested and dozens investigated after Italian police smashed a doctored traffic light scam thought to have cost motorists more than £5 million in fines. Detectives acting on a tip-off carried out a six-month operation on dozens of traffic lights on roads across Italy. The scam involved the timing mechanism which should give a three-second delay between a green light and a red light. The doctored lights went directly to red, triggering flash cameras which meant a 137 [Euro ?] (£107) fine for duped motorists. Vigilante Drivers Disable British Speed Cameras. A network of vigilante British motorists has vowed to continue its campaign of destroying and disabling automatic speed cameras despite calls to stop the vandalism. Capability creep strikes again. Private companies in the US are hoping to use red light cameras and speed cameras as the basis for a nationwide surveillance network similar to one that will be active next year in the UK. Redflex and American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the top two photo enforcement providers in the US, are quietly shopping new motorist tracking options to prospective state and local government clients. Business booming for Scottsdale speed-camera firm. The Scottsdale company known for its speed-enforcement cameras has been doing some speeding of its own, at least in terms of business growth. American Traffic Solutions Inc. has boomed with employees and clients over the past five years, executives told a business audience Thursday. Drivers use GPS to avoid speed traps, high fines. For Washington-area motorists who live in fear of the flash from a speed camera and the costly ticket that will surely follow, there is hope. Joe Scott has an answer to their nervous prayers. The 39-year-old D.C. resident has invented a GPS application that alerts motorists to speed traps and red-light cameras. He is marketing his PhantomAlert software as a way to help motorists avoid becoming entangled in the rapidly expanding web of traffic-enforcement cameras. Police chief denounces 'cowardly' iPhone users monitoring speed traps. Area drivers looking to outwit police speed traps and traffic cameras are using an iPhone application and other global positioning system devices that pinpoint the location of the cameras. That has irked D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier, who promised her officers would pick up their game to counteract the devices, which can also help drivers dodge sobriety checkpoints. The Editor says... Red-light cameras raking in cash. When the very first red-light camera was planted in the suburbs at 25th Avenue and Harrison Street in Bellwood, it instantly became more than just a traffic control device. It became a cash machine. That one device generates $60,000 to $70,000 a month in revenue from traffic fines for the western suburb, Bellwood Comptroller Roy McCampbell once declared as he likened the camera to "Lotto or casino type operations." Jefferson Parish headed toward legal dispute with stop-light camera company. Interim Jefferson Parish President Steve Theriot said Monday he finds it curious that Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. threatened a lawsuit just two days after the Parish Council approved his plan to audit the company's stoplight camera contract. Graph of the Day for April 1, 2010. Annual revenue from red-light cameras in Chicago: $59 to $64 million. Minimum yellow light duration suggested by the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices: 3.0 seconds. Chicago's yellow light duration: 3.0 seconds. Red light camera pact would need exemption from Arizona boycott. On Tuesday [6/22/2010], the City Council is scheduled to consider — and appears likely to approve — an exception to the boycott allowing a 10-month extension of a multimillion-dollar agreement with Scottsdale-based American Traffic Solutions. The firm operates cameras at 32 city intersections that catch tens of thousands of red light violators each year. L.A. City Council Makes Exemption for Lucrative Traffic Camera Contract. Los Angeles council members voted Wednesday [6/23/2010] to make an exemption to its self-imposed boycott of Arizona, opting to extend a contract with an Arizona-based company that operates enforcement cameras at Los Angeles intersections — a program that earned the city $6 million last year. Controversy Over Red Light Cameras in Texas. The Houston Police Department says the city's red light cameras have been effective. Since they went up in 2006, the city says red light running and traffic fatalities have gone down. Plus they've generated 18 million dollars in revenue for HPD's traffic division and per state law, another 15 million dollars for Texas trauma centers. "That money is now gone," says Vicki King, HPD's assistant chief. Drivers can disregard red-light camera tickets in L.A.. City officials debating the future of the photo-enforcement system recommend that citations stop being issued at the end of the month and that the program be phased out. Blinding Red Lights. Jay Beeber, a San Fernando Valley writer and producer, began his uphill struggle against traffic light cameras in Los Angeles mainly out of curiosity. "I had seen a news report that said these cameras actually increased accidents at these intersections," he says. "I've never gotten one of these tickets. I haven't gotten a moving violation in probably 20 years." Yet Beeber's campaign to inform the Los Angeles City Council and L.A.'s civilian police commission about the case against traffic light cameras has come to a dramatic pass. In June the commission voted unanimously to defund the city's cameras. At press time the city council was split between camera defenders who are cozy with American Traffic Solutions, the city's camera supplier, and a growing number of skeptics who have converted to Beeber's position. Speed-camera explosion. Criminalizing ordinary, harmless conduct is the key to a high-volume ticketing enterprise. In Prince George's County, parking and automated speeding tickets are handled, appropriately enough, by the Revenue Authority, which expects a total haul of $55,698,000 by the end of the fiscal year. This reflects a doubling of income that will come from a boost in the number of speed vans from 55 to 72 and the number of red-light cameras from 25 to 50. Maryland motorist takes his best shot at speed camera. Bruce May got nabbed twice in recent weeks by Howard County speed cameras. That might explain in part why the 50-year-old Ellicott City man is now facing second-degree assault, destruction of property and reckless endangerment charges. Police on Wednesday [6/25/2012] said Mr. May used a slingshot to fire marbles from his moving minivan at a camera operator stationed alongside U.S. Route 144 near Manor Woods Elementary School. Stage Two: Stop Sign Cameras Drivers' newest nemesis — stop-sign cameras. On top of red-light cameras and speed cameras, some jurisdictions are starting to install stop-sign cameras in their seemingly never-ending quest to monitor drivers and catch them in the act of some ticket-able offense. California has already rolled out cameras at stop signs. Maryland and the nation's capital could be next. Stop-Sign Cameras Ticket 70,000 in Los Angeles Parks. Red-light cameras have been turned off in many California cities because data showed the costly tickets didn't make streets safer. Last year, the presiding judge of Los Angeles Superior Court questioned the constitutionality of camera tickets, which rely solely on photos to prove who was driving. Los Angeles shut down its red-light camera program in 2011, but the stop-sign camera controversy is just warming up in the Santa Monica Mountains. Stage Three: School Bus Cameras Dallas green-lights school bus cameras to crack down on reckless drivers. The Dallas City Council passed an ordinance Wednesday [5/23/2012] that clears the way for cameras to be installed on 1,700 Dallas County School buses. The ordinance, two years in the making, will operate much like the laws that allow for red-light cameras. Footage of the violation will be recorded and sent to law enforcement, and the vehicle's registered driver will receive a $300 ticket in the mail. School Bus Stop Arm Cameras Up & Running. As of Monday [8/27/2012], Dallas County Schools and the City of Dallas are now using a high-tech program to protect students getting on or off school buses. Video cameras have been installed on the automated stop sign arm. The cameras are set up to identify license plates. The recordings are later reviewed by a licensed police officer and offending motorist is issued a $300 ticket by mail. Dallas approves crackdown on stopped school bus violators. The Dallas City Council Wednesday [5/23/2012] approved a crack down on drivers who pass stopped school buses. The council passed unanimously a new plan to save lives — and make some money. [...] In a month-long study with just six camera-equipped buses, DCS found a driver illegally passed a stopped bus with its stop sign extended at least once every trip. Ticket Cameras on School Buses? The only difference (we have found) between this proposed bill and current law regarding red light and speed cameras is that if you don't pay school bus tickets you won't be able to renew your license until you do. According to Alan Jones the director of the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction out of 20,000,000,000 kids loading and unloading buses there are 8-10 deaths per year, nationwide! That's a 1 in 2,000,000,000 chance that a child will be killed. Your chances of being killed by an insect bite (1 in 30,589,556) are higher than that! The Editor says... New school bus cameras to keep students safe. Houston Independent School District officials have installed exterior cameras on 400 of the district's approximately 1,000 buses, all of which already were equipped with interior cameras, officials said Tuesday [8/21/2012]. HISD spokeswoman Erica Hilliard said the exterior cameras are mounted on the front, back and side of the buses. It costs $2,000 to equip each bus with interior cameras, and an additional $400 to add the outside cameras, she said. Related items: Don't Let Police, Media Mislead You About Fentanyl Exposure Overdoses. Once again, media outlets are rushing to sow panic by blindly accepting a police department's claims that an officer may have accidentally overdosed by being in close physical proximity to fentanyl, reinforcing the false message that you can potentially overdose on the drug even if you don't intentionally consume it. This time we head to Tavares, Florida, where the Tavares Police Department distributed to the local press body camera footage of Officer Courtney Bannick appearing to collapse and pass out after encountering what turned out to be fentanyl and meth in a rolled-up dollar bill she found in a routine traffic stop. Local news outlets lapped it up (the story, not the fentanyl) and the video footage ran on WESH (the local NBC affiliate), FOX 35, and elsewhere. In none of the initial stories does anybody so much as question whether what they're seeing is actually being caused by exposure to fentanyl. Laramie County, Wyoming withholds prison phone contract under "trade secret" clause. According to the Laramie County Sheriff's Department in Wyoming, a request for its contract with inmate phone service provider Inmate Calling Solutions (ICSolutions) cannot be made public because the agreement itself is consider a "trade secret." Georgia county receives 77% commission from inmate phone usage. A recently-released contract for prison phone services in Bartow County, Georgia shows that the County receives a commission of 77% from its current provider of inmate communications, ICSolutions. [...] Most local jails and detention facilities in the United States receive some cut of costs that inmates pay for phone usage; these agreements also contain provisions for advances on that commission and generally require the phone company to cover maintenance and other costs. Even a police loudspeaker could have disrupted the Parkland killer. For first responders in an unknown shooter situation, the cops don't even have to get physically into the combat zone. All they have to do is make the killer think they are there. Physicist Writes Mathematical Study to Avoid Traffic Ticket. A physicist faced with a fine for running a stop sign has proved his innocence by publishing a mathematical paper, and has even won a prize for his efforts. The ups and downs of parking meter rates. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which developed and is overseeing the program, is tracking demand via sensors embedded in the asphalt that shows when a vehicle is parked at a metered space. The idea behind SFpark is to use pricing to influence where and when drivers park. A perfect balance would be struck when there's always one parking space available on each block. Citizen activist grates on state over traffic signals. David N. Cox says he was merely exercising his right to petition the government, but a state Department of Transportation official has raised allegations that Cox committed a misdemeanor: practicing engineering without a license. Cox and his North Raleigh neighbors are lobbying city and state officials to add traffic signals at two intersections as part of a planned widening of Falls of Neuse Road. After an engineering consultant hired by the city said that the signals were not needed, Cox and the North Raleigh Coalition of Homeowners' Associations responded with a sophisticated analysis of their own. Citizens Must Know Their Place. In North Carolina, some state functionaries and politicians believe citizens must be credentialed by the state in order to be allowed to analyze and criticize certain state government plans. Absent those credentials, citizen transgressors should be investigated and potentially face criminal penalties. Would anyone be surprised that those politicians were Democrats? The issues have to deal with road-widening and traffic signals in the city of Raleigh, the kind of local matter that is mundane unless it involves the streets your children travel. Big rigs may get speed control. Federal transportation officials are weighing a proposal to require devices on commercial trucks that would limit their top speeds to 68 mph. The idea is supported by many large trucking companies and opposed by many smaller, independent carriers. [Please keep in mind that there are some sections of Interstate highway where the speed limit is 80 mph.] Opticon user caught. No green light for driver with traffic signal gadget. This is a brilliant idea, except that it only works one time. New York's Video Vigilante, Scourge of Parking Enforcers. He calls himself "Jimmy Justice," a self-styled "cop-arazzi," armed only with a video camera as he prowls the streets of New York looking for law enforcement officers who are breaking the law. His targets are illegally parked city government vehicles — particularly cars of traffic cops blocking bus stops, sitting in "no parking" zones or double-parked. Cop cars blocking fire hydrants make him particularly incensed. DC Officials park where and when they please. Members of Congress granted themselves special parking privileges in 1925. This allows members of Congress to park at red meters, within 45 feet of an intersection, in bus zones, in residential parking permit areas and in business intersections — infractions that would cost a D.C. resident a total of $165 in tickets. Somewhat related:
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