End Times and Current Events

General Category => Police State/NWO => Topic started by: Kilika on April 29, 2013, 05:06:38 am



Title: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Kilika on April 29, 2013, 05:06:38 am
It is pretty much guaranteed, at least once in your life in this world, you will encounter a law enforcement officer that is confronting you in some official capacity, be it a traffic stop, as a witness, etc., so it is wise that you get an idea of just what your rights are as a "Roman citizen". The Apostle Paul knew what his rights were under Caesar, and exercised it too, and because he was correct about what his rights were as a Roman citizen, they had to comply.

Well, at least Roman law said they had to, but the law hasn't ever stopped officials before. Police will for the most part go by the law, but they also tend to have a mentality of using the law against the ignorant public, and laugh about it. Check out this comment from a so-called police forum based the encounter in the video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hBWghJrVeYA


Quote
    I've learned most people just don't know the law. like consent to search. When I ask to search their car, they usually just agree because they think I'm allowed to without consent. same with ID.

    I've had also had people where they want to report something (they are the victim) and when I ask for their DL (so I can put them on the report) they don't want to give me their DL. most of the time I can pick it up from the info they give on the witness statement but...

    in that case, most officers don't know it's legal to open carry while fishing. so you will get hassled about it. few (like myself) know it's legal, so I wouldn't approach him about it. I might just give him that 'wave' if he acknowledges me, or even go make a citizen contact about it. knowing he is probably trying to challenge me (and i'm aware of these challenge videos) I might talk about guns, what he's carrying, caliber and just talk guns and let him be on his way. then if I must for investigative purposes run his tag.

    being in FTO though, I think my FTOs would handle it like the majority.

    now what would be really funny is if he's fishing from a bridge that has a city/county ordinance that doesn't allow you to. (we have 1 bridge like this) now he is committing a crime WITH a weapon. he's going to jail, and his gun will be taken away. LOL

    Last edited by 11B250; 10-06-2012 at 07:49 PM.


http://forums.officer.com/t181675/ (http://forums.officer.com/t181675/)

Browsing their forums might give some insight as to the mentality of law enforcement and how they think.

Many come into the situation with an adversarial attitude that your their opponent or enemy, and take a "tactical" attitude, trying to "out flank" you with mind games and trying to catch you in your words. To some of them, it's a game, a contest that amuses them, as evidenced by the above post. He literally thinks it's funny to trap a citizen into getting arrested. That is one type out there walking around with a badge and a gun, and is the very reason Jesus tells us...

"Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison." Matthew 5:25 (KJB)

This I believe follows what He tells us even in the Old Testament...

"Pride [goeth] before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16:18 (KJB)


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on April 29, 2013, 10:43:42 am
Very interesting...yeah, it seems like the perception among the masses is that cops are good, law-enforcing people that we should obey at all costs. But nonetheless how many times have they tried to manipulate you into letting them come into your house, look around your car, etc. It's not like the police departments can fire them, b/c if they do, it means they'll have to hire someone else and have to take their time training them to boot, and that person they hired could be pulling off the same games the previous guy did(which is why workforces generally don't fire anyone unless they do anything criminal). And then the entertainment media et al have conditioned the masses to accept these kinds of tactics as such - look at shows like "NCIS", where they constantly are invading people's property to search things without a warrant like they're given power to.

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Mat 15:18  But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
Mat 15:19  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Mat 15:20  These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.


And let's not forget about the Romans 13 passage - these cops that are playing mind games with others aren't bearing the sword against evil, not even close.

Rom 13:3  For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
Rom 13:4  For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.



Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Christian40 on October 09, 2013, 06:00:43 am
Veterans arrested during evening vigil at NYC Vietnam War Memorial

NEW YORK CITY, NY — Veterans and supporters stood around the 70-foot granite wall, reading the list of names of men killed in action during the invasion of Vietnam.  As they read names from the wall, police began to arrest the attendees, many of them senior citizens, and shove them into a paddy wagon.

"This disgraceful act took place last night, October 7, on the 12th anniversary of the American war campaign against Afghanistan.  In 2001, not even a month after the three World Trade Towers fell, the United States began bombing Afghanistan and preparing for its ground invasion, despite the fact that 92% of Afghanis have never heard of the 9/11 attacks.  The attendees, some of whom wore clothing emblazoned with various war protest slogans, were calling for an end to the current interventionist wars, but were silenced because their vigil went past 10:00 p.m.  NYPD enforcers stood ready to pad their monthly quotas by making some arrests.

Names of veterans who died at war still being read as arrest happening.  People singing “which side are you on?”

The total number of arrestees has not yet been released.  Their peaceful disobedience turned out to bring more attention to their cause than ever could have been achieved by obeying the enforcers’ demands to leave a public park.

The wall was dedicated to veterans in 1985 on the tenth anniversary of the end of the Vietnam occupation.  It was put up with tax dollars and dedicated by the NYC mayor.  But nearly 30 years later, no veterans’ vigil is going to stand in the way of police racking up some arrest numbers.  The right to peaceably assemble on public property evidently does not exist after 10:00 p.m."

http://www.policestateusa.com/2013/veterans-arrested-evening-vigil-nyc-vietnam-war-memorial/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fpwBH-vzZ-k


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Christian40 on November 02, 2013, 12:06:27 am
Police shot unarmed man, drove an armored truck through his door when he did not exit his property on command

SPRINGFIELD, VA — 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.

The situation began on August 29th around 2:40 p.m. when John Geer — a 46-year-old kitchen designer and installer — was told by his girlfriend that she had decided to leave him.  The couple had two daughters together, ages 13 and 17.  Emotionally distraught over the breakup, Geer exacerbated the situation by throwing her belongings onto the lawn of their townhouse.

This led to her calling the police.  She informed the dispatcher that he owned a firearm.  A SWAT team was sent to the quiet cul-du-sac.

Geer’s home was surrounded by armored vehicles and uniformed personnel.  A police sniper was photographed lying prone in a neighbor’s yard aiming toward Geer’s residence.  Men in helmets and military fatigues cordoned off the neighborhood.  Police began making their demands.  An armored truck a topside gun turret parked in his yard and prepared for a strike command.  As time went on, helicopters whirred overhead and K-9 units were seen by neighbors.

“We’re just here to help you — come out with your hands up,” recounted neighbor Edith Eshleman, of the police negotiations.

Fairfax County police officers spent approximately 40 to 50 minutes communicating with Geer, insisting that he either let them in his home or that he exit into their custody.  He did neither.  Geer was “a very stubborn man,” according to one of his relatives.

Geer’s girlfriend and two teenage daughters had already left when the negotiations came to an abrupt conclusion.  An officer shot Geer through a screen door as he stood facing outward at them.  Geer closed the door and retreated into his house.

Around 4:30 p.m., with Geer sill “barricaded” inside his home, police used their $250,000 armored Lenco Bearcat to drive a long battering ram through the front door.  SWAT team members made entry and ultimately found Geer deceased in his home.

Don Geer — the victim’s father — watched the scene unfold from the front lawn of the townhouse where officers positioned themselves with their guns trained on his son. He confirmed that his son’s hands remained empty and resting on top of a screen door throughout the confrontation with police. When John lowered his hands about six inches, according to Don Geer, one of the officers fired a shot and hit John, causing him to retreat.

Police did not immediately say whether John Geer was armed or why the officer decided to open fire, nor would they discuss the details of the conversation between the officers and Geer before the shooting. Geer’s father says that he was too far away to hear the conversation, but claims that a detective assigned to investigate the case told him that his son that his son was not holding a gun at the time of the shooting and that he did not have one on his person.

“It was very scary because I’ve never seen coming down the street a SWAT team — I mean, a SWAT team?!” exclaimed neighbor Valerie Findley.

Neither Geer’s father nor his good friend understand why the standoff ended in the death of a man with no prior convictions for violence. They do not believe that John was armed at the time, though both acknowledge that he owned a gun. Geer’s father said that the detective in charge of the investigation told him that a holstered handgun was found on the stairway landing a “couple of steps” from the front door where he was shot.

“If he doesn’t have a weapon in his immediate possession, the officer should not have fired,” Don Geer said. “He would have to have turned around, bent over and then picked up the gun to present a threat. It’s pretty hard to say the shooting was justifiable.”

The officer involved was placed on routine administrative leave while the investigation continues, and police are remaining tight-lipped about the details of the incident.  Fairfax County Police Chief Ed Roessler said that the shooting is still an active criminal investigation adding that he could not provide more information about what happened, or address neighborhood concerns just yet.  They have not yet revealed what justification, if any, their officer had for shooting Geer.  The police said in a written statement, “Precise movements, contents of the discussion between officer [and the] man, and all pertinent matters relating to the incident are under investigation.”

“It’s my goal when I can legally share that information with the community, I will,” Roessler told News4.  In September, investigators confirmed that Geer had been unarmed, according to WJLA.

The police response arguably escalated the situation instead of defusing it.  This is a recurring theme in a string of examples of how police suffer from a dearth of training in how to deal with unarmed, uncooperative citizens who had not been charged with committing any crime. What police lack in empathetic response, they more than compensate for with an excess of military toys and the use of force.

Their unsubstantiated concern for the safety of the public notwithstanding, the police are required to seek a warrant from an impartial magistrate before engaging in the search of private property and seizing of persons.  The allegation by an equally emotional girlfriend that John Geer was an owner of firearms does not constitute probable cause to violate his rights and ultimately end his life.  As John Geer had not yet committed any offense to warrant his arrest, and with his family already off-site, police should have defused the situation by themselves leaving the scene.

Refusing to be forced from your home or to allow agents of the state to enter without a warrant is not an offense punishable by execution. And though his mental state was, in the words of his friend Jeff Stewart, “emotionally wrecked that day,” the antagonistic response from the state cannot be touted as a positive outcome by any reasonable standard."

http://www.policestateusa.com/2013/john-geer-shot-by-police/


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on November 02, 2013, 07:43:32 am
Police Chief’s Creepy Threat to Citizen Who Complained on Department’s Facebook Page: ‘We Will Work on Finding You’

Interim Police Chief Ruben Santiago, with the Columbia Police Department in South Carolina, is under some scrutiny after making an apparent arrest threat to a Facebook user who was critical of a marijuana bust.
 
On Thursday, CPD first published a post about its “40K of marijuana” seized from an apartment in Columbia, prompting resident Brandon Whitmer to criticize the arrest of “a stoner that’s not bothering anyone.”


(http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ku-bigpic-620x345.jpg)
I'm gonna git ya sucka

“Maybe u should arrest the people shooting people in 5 points instead of worrying about a stoner that’s not bothering anyone,” he wrote. “It’ll be legal here one day anyway.”
 
It certainly was a critical and snarky comment by Whitmer, but was it enough “reasonable suspicion” for police to believe he “might be a criminal?” That’s what Santiago claimed in a reply:
 

“@Brandon whitmer, we have arrested all of the violent offenders in Five Points. Thank you for sharing your views and giving us reasonable suspicion to believe you might be a criminal, we will work on finding you.”

(http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ku-r.jpg)

The post was quickly deleted, but followed up by a clarifying post:

(http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ku-xlarge.jpg)

The website PopeHat.com reportedly received the following statement from CPD on Friday:
 

Chief Santiago did write those two posts. I believe the original comment was misconstrued. I appreciate you reaching out to CPD.
 
Chief was trying to say that he puts would-be-criminals on notice — if you commit a crime or plan to commit one, CPD will work hard to investigate and press charges according to the law.
 
It’s easy for social media posts to be misunderstood. The man who was so-called threatened openly admitted that he was not offended and appreciated the work of CPD.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/01/police-chiefs-creepy-comment-to-citizen-who-complained-on-departments-facebook-page-we-will-work-on-finding-you/

Bet he goes in all guns blazing!! Shoot first never so you never have to answer questions kind of guy, bet he kicks puppies too, because he would probably just shoot a grown dog


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on November 11, 2013, 11:17:20 am
7 Cops Watch Man Die Then In Frenzied Craze Beat Dead Body (Graphic Video)

While there are hardworking, brave police around the US, there are also the examples shown below of cops completely out of control, beating handcuffed suspects with billy clubs and fists, kicking suspects while they are down and in one case, 7 cops watching a man die then in a “frenzied craze’ beat the dead body.
We, as a country, criticize other countries brutality against their citizens but in the video compilation below we see that we definitely shouldn’t be throwing stones while we live in our little glass houses.

Via the YouTube details from David Vose:
Anglo American governments created police force in 1829. Rome did not have any police. No past empire ever policed humans and imprisoned people for being angry or for being on drugs or mentally ill. Russia and China do not imprison people for social behavior or being poor. The American police state is almost perfected. The only thing left is the mark on your forehead.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWej7sRVmOs&feature=player_embedded


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Christian40 on November 13, 2013, 03:38:24 am
US 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.

Though the U.S. government does not have a database collecting information about the total number of police involved shootings each year, it’s estimated that between 500 and 1,000 Americans are killed by police officers each year. Since 9/11, about 5,000 Americans have been killed by U.S. police officers, which is almost equivalent to the number of U.S. soldiers who have been killed in the line of duty in Iraq.

Because individual police departments are not required to submit information regarding the use of deadly force by its officers, some bloggers have taken it upon themselves to aggregate that data. Wikipedia also has a list of “justifiable homicides” in the U.S., which was created by documenting publicized deaths.

Mike Prysner, one of the local directors of the Los Angeles chapter for ANSWER — an advocacy group that asks the public to Act Now to Stop War and End Racism — told Mint Press News earlier this year that the “epidemic” of police harassment and violence is a nationwide issue.

He said groups like ANSWER are trying to hold officers accountable for abuse of power. “[Police brutality] has been an issue for a very long time,” Prysner said, explaining that in May, 13 people were killed in Southern California by police.

As Mint Press News previously reported, each year there are thousands of claims of police misconduct. According to the CATO Institute’s National Police Misconduct Reporting Project, in 2010 there were 4,861 unique reports of police misconduct involving 6,613 sworn officers and 6,826 alleged victims.

Most of those allegations of police brutality involved officers who punched or hit victims with batons, but about one-quarter of the reported cases involved firearms or stun guns.

Racist policing

A big element in the police killings, Prysner says, is racism. “A big majority of those killed are Latinos and Black people,” while the police officers are mostly White, he said. “It’s a badge of honor to shoot gang members so [the police] go out and shoot people who look like gang members,” Prysner argued, giving the example of 34-year-old Rigoberto Arceo, who was killed by police on May 11.

According to a report from the Los Angeles Times, Arceo, who was a biomedical technician at St. Francis Medical Center, was shot and killed after getting out of his sister’s van. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says Arceo “advanced on the deputy and attempted to take the deputy’s gun.” However, Arceo’s sister and 53-year-old Armando Garcia — who was barbecuing in his yard when the incident happened — say that Arceo had his hands above his head the entire time.

Prysner is not alone in his assertion that race is a major factor in officer-related violence. This past May, a study from the the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, an anti-racist activist organization, found that police officers, security guards or self-appointed vigilantes killed at least 313 Black people in 2012 — meaning one Black person was killed in the U.S. by law enforcement roughly every 28 hours.

Prysner said the relationship between police departments and community members needs to change and that when police shoot an unarmed person with their arms in the air over their head, the officer should be punished.

Culture of misconduct

“You cannot have a police force that is investigating and punishing itself,” Prysner said, adding that taxpayer money should be invested into the community instead of given to police to buy more guns, assault rifles and body armor.

Dissatisfied with police departments’ internal review policies, some citizens have formed volunteer police watch groups to prevent the so-called “Blue Code of Silence” effect and encourage police officers to speak out against misconduct occurring within their department.

As Mint Press News previously reported, a report released earlier this year found that of the 439 cases of police misconduct that then had been brought before the Minneapolis’s year-old misconduct review board, not one of the police officers involved has been disciplined.

Although the city of Minneapolis spent $14 million in payouts for alleged police misconduct between 2006 and 2012, despite the fact that the Minneapolis Police Department often concluded that the officers involved in those cases did nothing wrong.

Other departments have begun banning equipment such as Tasers, but those decisions were likely more about protecting the individual departments from lawsuits than ensuring that officers are not equipped with weapons that cause serious and sometimes fatal injuries when used.

To ensure officers are properly educated on how to use their weapons and are aware of police ethics, conflict resolution and varying cultures within a community, police departments have historically held training programs for all officers. But due to tighter budgets and a shift in priorities, many departments have not provided the proper continuing education training programs for their officers.

Charles Ramsey, president of both the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the Police Executive Research Forum, called that a big mistake, explaining that it is essential officers are trained and prepared for high-stress situations:

“Not everybody is going to be able to make those kinds of good decisions under pressure, but I do think that the more reality-based training that we provide, the more we put people in stressful situations to make them respond and make them react.”

GI Joe replaces Carl Winslow

In order to help local police officers protect themselves while fighting the largely unsuccessful War on Drugs, the federal government passed legislation in 1994 allowing the Pentagon to donate surplus military equipment from the Cold War to local police departments. Meaning that “weaponry designed for use on a foreign battlefield has been handed over for use on American streets … against American citizens.”

So while the U.S. military fights the War on Terror abroad, local police departments are fighting another war at home with some of the same equipment as U.S. troops, and protocol that largely favors officers in such tactics as no-knock raids.

Radley Balko, author of “Rise of the Warrior Cop,” wrote in the Wall Street Journal in August:

“Since the 1960s, in response to a range of perceived threats, law-enforcement agencies across the U.S., at every level of government, have been blurring the line between police officer and soldier.

“Driven by martial rhetoric and the availability of military-style equipment—from bayonets and M-16 rifles to armored personnel carriers—American police forces have often adopted a mind-set previously reserved for the battlefield. The war on drugs and, more recently, post-9/11 antiterrorism efforts have created a new figure on the U.S. scene: the warrior cop—armed to the teeth, ready to deal harshly with targeted wrongdoers, and a growing threat to familiar American liberties.”

As Mint Press News previously reported, statistics from an FBI report released in September reveal that a person is arrested on marijuana-related charges in the U.S. every 48 seconds, on average — most were for simple possession charges.

According to the FBI’s report, there were more arrests for marijuana possession than for the violent crimes of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible ****, robbery and aggravated assault — 658,231 compared with 521,196 arrests.

While groups that advocate against police brutality recognize and believe that law enforcement officials should be protected while on duty, many say that local police officers do not need to wear body armor, Kevlar helmets and tactical equipment vests — all while carrying assault weapons.

“We want the police to keep up with the latest technology. That’s critical,” American Civil Liberties Union senior counsel Kara Dansky said. “But policing should be about protection, not combat.”

According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, there are more than 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers in the United States. In 2012, 120 officers were killed in the line of duty. The deadliest day in law enforcement history was reportedly Sept. 11, 2001, when 72 officers were killed.

Despite far fewer officers dying in the line of duty compared with American citizens, police departments are not only increasing their use of protective and highly volatile gear, but are increasingly setting aside a portion of their budget to invest in new technology such as drones, night vision goggles, remote robots, surveillance cameras, license plate readers and armored vehicles that amount to unarmed tanks.

Though some officers are on board with the increased militarization and attend conferences such as the annual Urban Shield event, others have expressed concern with the direction the profession is heading.

For example, former Arizona police officer Jon W. McBride said police concerns about being “outgunned” were likely a “self-fulfilling prophecy.” He added that “if not expressly prohibited, police managers will continually push the arms race,” because “their professional literature is predominately [sic] based on the acquiring and use of newer weapons and more aggressive techniques to physically overwhelm the public. In many cases, however, this is the opposite of smart policing.”

“Coupled with the paramilitary design of the police bureaucracy itself, the police give in to what is already a serious problem in the ranks: the belief that the increasing use of power against a citizen is always justified no matter the violation. The police don’t understand that in many instances they are the cause of the escalation and bear more responsibility during an adverse outcome.

“The suspects I encountered as a former police officer and federal agent in nearly all cases granted permission for me to search their property when asked, often despite unconcealed contraband. Now, instead of making a simple request of a violator, many in law enforcement seem to take a more difficult and confrontational path, fearing personal risk. In many circumstances they inflame the citizens they are engaging, thereby needlessly putting themselves in real and increased jeopardy.”

Another former police officer who wished to remain anonymous agreed with McBride and told Balko,

“American policing really needs to return to a more traditional role of cops keeping the peace; getting out of police cars, talking to people, and not being prone to overreaction with the use of firearms, tasers, or pepper spray. … Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been in more than my share tussles and certainly appreciate the dangers of police work, but as Joseph Wambaugh famously said, the real danger is psychological, not physical.”

http://www.mintpressnews.com/us-police-murdered-5000-innocent-civilians-since-911/172029/


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Christian40 on November 16, 2013, 12:58:01 am
What's new in San Diego County

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BB5QJoOdAw


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on December 04, 2013, 11:56:23 am
‘Are You Aware Your Daughter Is With Two Black Men?’ Police Accused of Racial Profiling After Taking White Teen From Black Legal Guardian

An Oklahoma teen’s parents are accusing police in Houston of racial profiling after the girl and her companions for a dance event were stopped by authorities and she was taken to child protective services.
 
According to KHOU-TV, the incident happened Sunday when 13-year-old Landry Thompson from Tulsa, Okla., was in Houston to film a hip-hop dance video. Thomson was accompanied by her dance instructor, 29-year-old Emmanuel Hurd, and her dance partner, 22-year-old Josiah Kelly. Thompson is white and the two men are black.

The trio was stopped around 3 a.m. at a gas station in Texas while they were using GPS to locate a nearby hotel.
 
“They were convinced I was a runaway,” Thompson told KHOU.
 
Destiny Thompson, Landry’s mother, received a call from authorities.
 
“’Are you aware your daughter is with two black men?’ When I said ‘Yes, I’m aware of that,’ he called into questioning our parenting,” the mother told the news station.

All three of the dancers were handcuffed and Landry Thompson eventually was taken to child protective services.
 
“[The officer] puts the handcuffs on very, very tight [and] throws me in the back and does the same to Josiah,” Hurd told ABC News. “All the while I’m looking at Landry. She’s terrified.”

The two men were released and then waited for the teenager — outside CPS because they had been asked to leave the lobby — until she was released six hours later.
 
Destiny Thompson said she sent her daughter to Texas for the shoot with all the documents she thought she might need.
 
“Emmanuel had a letter signed by us, had every contact number they could’ve possibly needed, he had her insurance card, he had her original birth certificate, not a copy,” Destiny Thompson told KHOU.
 
In a separate report from KHOU, Hurd said he told officers he had “a notarized letter from her parents stating that we have full guardianship over her while we’re here.”


Mon Dec 02 20:51:41 PST 2013

HPD responds to accusations of racial profiling with Oklahoma teen, dancers

 The Houston Police Department is responding to charges of racial profiling after handcuffing a teenage white girl and removing her from the care of two black men. view full article
.
Houston police said in a statement that “given the age discrepancies … and the child had no relatives in the area, officers in an abundance of caution, did their utmost to ensure her safety.”
 
Destiny Thompson, Hurd and Kelly don’t fault the officers for initially asking questions about the situation, but consider it racial profiling that the teenager was not released when the appropriate documents were produced and confirmation was given by her mother.
 
Destiny Thompson told ABC the men are “close family friends that we trust explicitly with our children.”
 
“They just happen to be black,” she continued.
 
The teen’s mother and Hurd are considering taking legal action for the incident.
 
KHOU also reported that Destiny said she would still “love an apology” from authorities.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/12/04/are-you-aware-your-daughter-is-with-two-black-men-police-accused-of-racial-profiling-after-taking-white-teen-from-black-legal-guardian/


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on January 18, 2014, 05:36:11 am
Texas cops handcuff man after he gave change to homeless person

You may want to think twice next time you consider giving a homeless person some change, if one Texas man’s experience is any indication.

 Houston resident Greg Snider claims he was arrested and held for more than an hour after local police mistakenly targeted him as a criminal, all for giving a homeless man a few quarters.
 
Snider said he had pulled into a local parking lot in order to make a phone call when a homeless man came up to him and asked for some spare cash. Snider claims he gave the man 75 cents and left to continue on his way.
 
"I had no idea at all what was about to happen," he told KPRC Local 2 News.

As soon as Snider merged onto a local freeway, however, police followed him with flashing lights and sirens, ordering him to pull over.
 
“He's screaming. He's yelling. He's telling me to get out of the car. He's telling me to put my hands on the hood,”Snider said to KPRC. “They're like, 'We saw you downtown. We saw what you did.’ And I was like, 'Are you kidding me? I gave a homeless man 75 cents.'"
 
Police reportedly said they saw Snider give the homeless man drugs and asked to search his car. Snider was placed in handcuffs and held in the back of a police car for an hour or so while ten other police vehicles arrived at the scene and used dogs to search his car.
 
Once the search failed to uncover any illegal substances, Snider was freed and told the situation was a misunderstanding.
 
Houston police have declined to comment on the incident, though they did confirm that Snider has filed a complaint.
 
Prosecution of the drug war has come under scrutiny lately as more Americans question the overall effects of police behavior. In two particularly disturbing cases, New Mexico men were pulled over and suspected of carrying drugs in their anal cavities. The men were then taken to hospitals outside of police jurisdiction where doctors performed invasive medical procedures that failed to turn up any drugs.
 
One man, David Eckert, was subjected to multiple enemas and rectal finger examinations. This week, he was awarded $1.6 million as the city and county involved settled their portions of the lawsuit.
 
http://rt.com/usa/texas-police-handcuff-change-homeless-795/


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on January 22, 2014, 06:25:08 am
Jackson: Gun owner unarmed, unwelcome in Maryland

John Filippidis, silver-haired family man, business owner, employer and taxpayer, is also licensed to carry a concealed firearm.

He'd rather he didn't feel the need, “but things aren't like they used to be. The break-ins, the burglaries, all the crime. And I carry cash a lot of the time. I'm constantly going to the bank.

“I wanted to be able to defend my family, my household and the ground I'm standing on. But I'm not looking for any trouble.”

Filippidis keeps his gun — a palm-sized Kel-Tec .380 semiautomatic, barely larger than a smartphone in a protective case — in one of two places, always: in the right-hand pocket of his jeans, or in the safe at home.

“There are kids in the house,” Filippidis says, “and I don't think they'd ever bother with it, but I don't want to take any chances.”

He's not looking for any trouble, after all.

Trouble, in fact, was the last thing on his mind a few weeks back as the Filippidises packed for Christmas and a family wedding in Woodridge, N.J., so he left the pistol locked in the safe. The state of Florida might have codified his Second Amendment rights, but he knew he'd be passing through states where recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions affirming the rights of individuals to keep and bear arms have been met by hostile legislatures and local officials.

“I know the laws and I know the rules,” Filippidis says. There are, after all, ways gun owners can travel legally with firearms through hostile states. “But I just think it's a better idea to leave it home.”

So there the Filippidises were on New Year's Eve eve, southbound on Interstate 95 — John; wife Kally (his Gulf High sweetheart); the 17-year-old twins Nasia and Yianni; and 13-year-old Gina in their 2012 Ford Expedition — just barely out of the Fort McHenry Tunnel into Maryland, blissfully unarmed and minding their own business when they noticed they were being bird-dogged by an unmarked patrol car. It flanked them a while, then pulled ahead of them, then fell in behind them.

“Ten minutes he's behind us,” John says. “We weren't speeding. In fact, lots of other cars were whizzing past.”

“You know you have a police car behind you, you don't speed, right?” Kally adds.

Says John, “We keep wondering, is he going to do something?”

Finally the patrol car's emergency lights come on, and it's almost a relief. Whatever was going on, they'd be able to get it over with now. The officer — from the Transportation Authority Police, as it turns out, Maryland's version of the New York-New Jersey Port Authority — strolls up, does the license and registration bit, and returns to his car.

According to Kally and John (but not MTAP, which, pending investigation, could not comment), what happened next went like this:

Ten minutes later he's back, and he wants John out of the Expedition. Retreating to the space between the SUV and the unmarked car, the officer orders John to hook his thumbs behind his back and spread his feet. “You own a gun,” the officer says. “Where is it?”

“At home in my safe,” John answers.

“Don't move,” says the officer.

Now he's at the passenger's window. “Your husband owns a gun,” he says. “Where is it?”

First Kally says, “I don't know.” Retelling it later she says, “And that's all I should have said.” Instead, attempting to be helpful, she added, “Maybe in the glove [box]. Maybe in the console. I'm scared of it. I don't want to have anything to do with it. I might shoot right through my foot.”

The officer came back to John. “You're a liar. You're lying to me. Your family says you have it. Where is the gun? Tell me where it is and we can resolve this right now.”

Of course, John couldn't show him what didn't exist, but Kally's failure to corroborate John's account, the officer would tell them later, was the probable cause that allowed him to summon backup — three marked cars joined the lineup along the I-95 shoulder — and empty the Expedition of riders, luggage, Christmas gifts, laundry bags; to pat down Kally and Yianni; to explore the engine compartment and probe inside door panels; and to separate and isolate the Filippidises in the back seats of the patrol cars.

Ninety minutes later, or maybe it was two hours — “It felt like forever,” Kally says — no weapon found and their possessions repacked, the episode ended ... with the officer writing out a warning for speeding 71 mph in a 55 mph zone.

“All that time, he's humiliating me in front of my family, making me feel like a criminal,” John says. “I've never been to prison, never declared bankruptcy, I pay my taxes, support my 20 employees' families; I've never been in any kind of trouble.”

Face red, eyes shining, John pounds his knees. “And he wants to put me in jail. He wants to put me in jail. For no reason. He wants to take my wife and children away and put me in jail. In America, how does such a thing happen? ... And after all that, he didn't even write me a ticket.”

Even now, John Filippidis has no idea how the officer learned about his concealed-carry permit, and the MTAP isn’t saying.

Now, despite having fielded apologies from the officer's captain as well as from a Maryland Transportation Authority Police internal affairs captain, John is wondering if he shouldn't just cancel his CCW license.

For a guy who's not looking for trouble, that's not an unreasonable conclusion. And it would please fans of gun control by any means. But let's hope John Filippidis, American family man, taxpayer and good guy, doesn't cave, because it would be a sad statement about the brittleness of our guarantees — some would call them sacred — under the Constitution.

http://tbo.com/list/columns-tjackson/jackson-gun-owner-unarmed-unwelcome-in-maryland-20140112/


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Kilika on January 22, 2014, 03:24:32 pm
Quote
Even now, John Filippidis has no idea how the officer learned about his concealed-carry permit, and the MTAP isn’t saying.

It's done all the time by law enforcement agencies. It's why they want gun registrations, so they theoretically know who is armed and a "potential" risk.


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on January 28, 2014, 06:28:38 am
Bystanders Rescue Dog Stranded on Ice Covered River After Authorities Arrive at Scene and Decide to Do Nothing

Two good samaritans sprung into action and rescued a dog stranded in the middle of an icy Delaware River Sunday after authorities arrived at the scene and opted not to do anything.

According to WPVI-TV, Trenton fire and police were called to the scene after concerned individuals notified them that a dog was stuck on the ice-covered river, but ultimately decided to do nothing, fearing for their own personal safety.

However, Russ Miller and Ciro Silvestri couldn’t stand by and watch the dog suffer in the freezing conditions.

“I didn’t think. I just went out there and got him. We had the canoe in case anything happens,” Miller said.

Miller was called in by animal control and Silvestri rushed to the scene after being notified of the situation by a relative.

“She said that fire department isn’t really wanting to do anything about it, they don’t want to endanger themselves. If they are not going to do something, I will,” Silvestri told WPVI-TV, who added, “I love animals, that’s it.”

Employing a kayak and moving slowly on the icy river, the two eventually made their way to “Duke.”

“He was scared, he was sitting still. He wasn’t moving for us so we had to just pick him up and put him on the canoe and go,” Silvestri said.

Shortly after the incident, the dog’s owner arrived at the scene in tears, saying “Duke” had escaped her backyard. Her relative saw the dramatic rescue unfold on local television.

“We had been missing our dog for the last three days. I went to every animal shelter and everything looking for him. I was just about to put out flyers and then I got the call,” Keonna Wilson told WPVI-TV.

“I just want to thank whoever did it. I thank you so much for risking your life for the safety of my dog and that he is okay and that the men are OK,” she added.

“Duke” appears to be fine and not harmed by the incident, according to Ewing Animal Shelter officials.

Officials had reportedly told bystanders not to take action, as they could put themselves and others at risk.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/01/27/bystanders-rescue-dog-stranded-on-ice-covered-river-after-authorities-arrive-at-scene-and-decide-to-do-nothing/

Typical of the police, but i dont think this story is over yet, as the Police had their PRIDE bruised by this story. I bet they charge the people that saved the dog.



Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on January 28, 2014, 03:06:36 pm
Not really the POLICE, but its still up there right along with them...

Infuriating Accusation: D.C. Man Dies After Collapsing Across the Street From Fire Station…and Firefighters Refused to Help

Being across the street from emergency responders didn’t mean help was nearby for a 77-year-old Washington, D.C. man who died over the weekend after first responders at one of the capital city’s Fire/EMS stations allegedly refused to help him.

Medrick “Cecil” Mills was running errands with his family when he suffered a massive heart attack and collapsed. Because this happened across the street from a D.C. fire station, several people ran across the street believing help was nearby, WTTG-TV reported Monday.

“When it’s a cardiac case, seconds matter and they didn’t help my dad,” said Marie Mills, the man’s daughter, in an interview on the Fox affiliate.

“He said something about his lieutenant and some type of authorization, and that he could not come and to recall dispatch and advise them that they needed to send somebody, and that the condition of the patient could be getting worse,” the daughter explained regarding the response Good Samaritans received.

“When I saw my dad was having shallow breaths, I ran to the curb and started screaming for him to come and help my father,” she added.”

Medrick collapsed in Northeast D.C. But when an ambulance and engine were actually dispatched from another location, sources told WTTG, they went to the wrong address on the other side of the city.

D.C. Fire Department spokesman Tim Wilson told TheBlaze the department is conducting a full investigation of the matter, which happened outside Engine 26.

“Our duty is to respond to all requests for emergency assistance,” Wilson said. “If it is determined that proper protocols were not followed at the conclusion of our investigation, then appropriate action will be taken. No further comment will be provided by the department.”

WTTG says that Mills talked to D.C. Fire Chief Kenneth Ellerbe on the phone. The chief promised her an internal investigation.

“I mean everybody was screaming and hollering at him across the street,” Marie Mills said. “Why [couldn’t] he come? It’s not making sense and I think it was three separate people who went across to the fire station.”

Watch Marie’s emotional interview: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/01/28/infuriating-accusation-d-c-man-dies-after-collapsing-across-the-street-from-fire-station-and-firefighters-refused-to-help/

edrick was himself an employee of the District of Columbia. Even at age 77, he continued working for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.

“That’s how much he loved Department of Parks and Recreation and his city,” Marie Mills said, “And he died in the city that didn’t do anything to help him.”



Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Kilika on January 29, 2014, 01:33:44 am
Not surprising at all. EMS services are usually private companies with contracts and corporate rules and policies. They have a weird way of responding. If you were to collapse in the parking lot of a hospital, the hospital still calls EMS to pick you up. They WON"T role you into the hospital ER. They WILL require you to take an ambulance first. Basically, it's lawyers that have got things this way, because they don't want the liability.


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on February 05, 2014, 07:27:41 am
Scenes from a militarized America: Iowa family 'terrorized'...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2014/02/04/scenes-from-a-militarized-america-iowa-family-terrorized//?print=1

Authorities destroy cameras to prevent account of raid...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2014/02/04/scenes-from-a-militarized-america-iowa-family-terrorized//?print=1


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on February 05, 2014, 07:40:51 am
Stop Resisting Execution: Cold-Blooded Arizona Cops Assassinate Suspect with His Hands in the Air

For absolutely no reason other than “because they could”, cops in Pinal County, Arizona executed a suspect who was standing there, not near any of the officers, with his hands in the air, offering no threat whatsoever. Without trial, judge, or jury, they simply assassinated the man, as his family looked on in horror. Warning: There is some graphic violence in the video below.

This is your police force, America. Protecting and Serving you to death.

- See more at: http://www.thedailysheeple.com/stop-resisting-execution-cold-blooded-arizona-cops-assassinate-suspect-with-his-hands-in-the-air_022014#sthash.X2nydgnz.dpuf


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Kilika on February 05, 2014, 09:58:52 am
Quote
Pinal County, Arizona

Yep, the sheriff there is gay, Paul Babeu, who came out last year, announcing he was dating an illegal from Mexico! No, that is not a joke and is confirmed by news interviews of him saying it.



Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on February 07, 2014, 06:18:26 am
Cop Handcuffs Firefighter For Trying to Protect Crash Victims

“To detain one of our firefighters in the middle of an incident is ridiculous”

Stunning video shows a California Highway Patrol officer handcuffing a firefighter who was trying to help victims of a serious car crash in Chula Vista.

videos: http://www.infowars.com/cop-handcuffs-firefighter-for-trying-to-protect-crash-victims/

The incident occurred on Tuesday night after a car overturned and another fell down an embankment on the 805 Freeway.

Chula Vista Firefighter Jacob Gregoire responded to the accident by following standard protocol of parking his fire truck in front of the crash scene to protect the victims as they were being treated and loaded into an ambulance.

However, when a CHP officer asked Gregoire to move the truck he refused and returned to helping the crash victims, prompting the officer to handcuff Gregoire and temporarily place him under arrest in front of a TV news camera.

“This is ridiculous. CHP is arresting engineer for where he spotted the fire engine,” states a voice on the Fire Department radio frequency. “We’re in the middle of patient care with patients on the freeway and we’re trying to protect our scene and they’re putting him in handcuffs at this time and walking him away.”

Gregoire was detained in a CHP squad car for half an hour before supervisors from both agencies arrived.

“It’s unbelievable that you guys have to treat us like this. We are on the road trying to help people,” states Gregoire as he is being handcuffed.

The CHP say they are investigating the incident but have refused to name the officer involved or say if he has been reprimanded.

“To detain one of our firefighters in the middle of an incident is ridiculous, and it doesn’t provide the good customer service, the good public service that both of our agencies were there to do,” said Chula Vista Fire Chief Dave Hanneman, adding, “He protected the scene, in this case protected the back of the ambulance where the patients had to go into.”

Representatives from the CHP and Chula Vista Fire Department met yesterday to discuss the incident and released a joint statement saying it would be “a topic of future joint training sessions, in an ongoing effort to work more efficiently together.”

President for Local IAFF 2180 John Hess told CBS 8, “I’m very proud of Jacob. He did a good job. He made all firefighters look good. He was there to protect the citizens and he was willing to take a stand to do that.”

“We are stunned,” said Fire Engineer John Hess, President of the Chula Vista Firefighters Union. “Our Engineer parked his vehicle consistent with our standards and training. We cannot imagine what possible explanation could be given to justify this conduct by the CHP officer. This removed a valuable fire apparatus and crew out of service for approximately one hour. This occurred at the same time another Fire Engine was moved to San Diego to support their fatality structure Fire. We had two districts without service for over an hour.”

This incident again highlights how some police officers think that their duty is not to protect and serve, but to ensure that all their orders, no matter how dangerous, illogical, or inane, are obeyed without question.

Recall the June 2009 incident when an Oklahoma police officer pulled over and assaulted an ambulance driver, despite the driver making it clear that he had a sick patient who needed to get to hospital.

We recently covered an even more harrowing story centered around a Missouri father who attempted to save his dying son from a burning house.

When the father refused to follow police orders not to enter the house in a vain attempt to rescue his son, a city police officer tased Ryan Miller three times. 3-year-old Riley Miller was later found dead near the doorway to his bedroom and the house was completely destroyed.

http://www.infowars.com/cop-handcuffs-firefighter-for-trying-to-protect-crash-victims/


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on February 14, 2014, 03:29:18 pm
Video Surfaces Of BART Officer Repeatedly Using Stun Gun On Passenger

Video has been obtained by KPIX 5 showing a BART police officer who repeatedly used a stun gun to subdue a passenger in front of other riders.

A woman who witnessed the incident, who did not want to go on camera, told KPIX 5 the man was harmless and that the officer used the stun gun for no reason.

The video, which was taken on the evening of January 29th, begins with the BART officer giving the man a stern warning on a train at the San Bruno station.

“Sir, get off the train. Get off the train, Sir!” the officer said.

KPIX 5 has learned that someone on the train called BART Police to say the man was harassing riders. An officer arrived and tried to convince the man to come talk to him on the platform. He did not comply.

While witnesses were heard on the video saying the man had done nothing wrong and not bothering anyone, the officer used the stun gun on the passenger.

As riders look on, the video shows the man being dragged to the aisle. “Don’t move or I’ll tase you again,” the officer was heard saying.

But that was not the end. Moments later, the officer said to the man, “Get on your stomach or I’ll tase you again.”

Minutes pass and more officers arrive. As the man was being held down and handcuffed, the video shows the same officer using the stun gun on the passenger for five seconds.

One witness was so horrified that she wrote a blog post about the incident and later reported it to BART Police.

In a statement to KPIX 5, BART said, “As per policy and protocol, BART Police has initiated the proper investigation into the incident.”

The video has been forwarded to the independent auditor for BART Police.

The man was booked for resisting arrest and public intoxication that night. Officials said he also had a warrant for a parole violation.

BART policy states that a stun gun can only be used if the suspect poses an immediate threat of bodily harm to the officer or another person.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/02/13/video-surfaces-of-bart-officer-repeatedly-using-stun-gun-on-passenger/


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on February 19, 2014, 08:17:35 am
Single Mom Spends Night in Jail After Cop Accuses Her of Committing a ‘Felony’ During Simple Traffic Stop… Except She Didn’t

A Florida woman spent the night in jail after a Broward County sheriff’s deputy accused her of committing a “felony” by audio recording their conversation during a simple traffic stop. Upon review, all charges against her were dropped — but now the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) is facing a lawsuit.

Brandy Burning, a single mom, was pulled over by BSO Lt. William O’Brien for driving in an HOV lane. After some back-and-forth about her traffic violation, Burning informed the officer that she was recording their conversation.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you I was recording our conversation,” Burning is heard saying in the audio.

“I’m sorry?” O’Brien responds.

“I have to tell you, I forgot to tell you I was recording,” she repeats.

It was at this point that O’Brien accused her of committing a “felony” and demanded the cellphone. He also told her he knows the law better than she does.

“You are committing a felony. Hand me the phone,” O’Brien orders.

“No, I am not,” the defiant woman says in the audio. “I am not giving up my phone.”

As Washington Post opinion blogger Radley Balko correctly notes, “[In] every state in America, you are well within your rights to record an on-duty police officer.”

“There are a few limited exceptions, such as if while recording you physically interfere with an officer trying to perform his duties. But as long as you aren’t in the way, you’re protected by the First Amendment,” he writes.

After allegedly climbing into the car and attempting to take the phone forcefully, O’Brien removed Burning and arrested her. The mom can be heard screaming on the tape, demanding the officer take his hands off of her.

“Get off of me! You are breaking the law!” she yelled. “I am not getting out of my car. Get off of me!”

Burning was eventually charged with traffic violations and resisting arrest — but no crimes related to the recording. All charges were eventually dropped.

The single mom still spent a night in jail and claims she suffered several bruises and scrapes during the traumatic experience.

“Touching me, trying to take my personal belongings from me, trying to put me in jail for something so small,” she recalled in an interview with WPLG-TV.

Burning’s attorneys have already notified the Broward Sheriff’s Office that they are planning to file a lawsuit on grounds of battery, false arrest and false imprisonment.

It also came to light that a former deputy with the Broward Sheriff’s Office is facing criminal charges after allegedly smashing a woman’s phone for videotaping him.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/02/18/single-mom-spends-night-in-jail-after-cop-accuses-her-of-committing-a-felony-during-simple-traffic-stop-except-she-didnt/


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Kilika on February 20, 2014, 01:44:41 am
Quote
s Washington Post opinion blogger Radley Balko correctly notes, “[In] every state in America, you are well within your rights to record an on-duty police officer.”

“There are a few limited exceptions, such as if while recording you physically interfere with an officer trying to perform his duties. But as long as you aren’t in the way, you’re protected by the First Amendment,” he writes.

That is unfortunately not true. There are plenty of videos of cops arresting people for taking photos and videos. Some have been challenged in court, or charges are dropped like this case, but police departments across the country are arresting people for taking images of cops "on the job".

As far as protected by the 1st Amendment, not so fast. The key is just where was the filming done from and when, etc. It's not cut and dry as this person says. It should be, but it isn't.


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on March 25, 2014, 04:54:01 pm
Woman Claims Police Forced Her To Poop In Yard

A Florida woman claims in a lawsuit that police officers forced her to poop in her yard while they were searching her home for meth.

In a lawsuit that a federal judge said must be amended, Dawn Brooks is suing Volusia County and New Smyrna Beach for the alleged incident, according to Courthouse News Service.

In the lawsuit, Brooks claims that officers refused to let her use the bathroom inside her home or in the officers’ truck after she was led out in handcuffs.

The officers reportedly “told her to ‘just use the restroom right there’ in the front yard,” U.S. District Judge Roy Dalton Jr. wrote, Courthouse News Service reports.

The lawsuit states that the officers laughed at her while she was changing into a plastic jumpsuit after going to the bathroom in her yard.

Brooks claims in the complaint she was caused mental anguish and humiliation and the officers conducting the search were not trained properly by the city.

Judge Dalton dismissed the claims last week and Brooks can amend her civil rights complaint until April 4.

http://tampa.cbslocal.com/2014/03/25/woman-claims-police-forced-her-to-poop-in-yard/


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on April 27, 2014, 08:04:03 pm
This is just unacceptable, why aren't we revolting enough to change our governments? 

EXCLUSIVE: Shocking moment a Tennessee police officer choked an unresisting college student until he fell UNCONSCIOUS

    Deputies were called to a University of Tennessee student party that spilled out onto a residential street
    Students threw beer bottles at officers and several people were arrested
    A photographer on the scene took a series of photos of a deputy choking 22-year-old Jarod Dotson into unconsciousness
    The young man did not resist arrest, says the photographer
    He was complying with officers when the officer began to choke him
    Two other officers were behind Dotson, handcuffing him
    Knox County Sheriff's Department has not issued a statement on the incident
\

IE: fat doughnut cop, why cant we find FAT DOUGHNUT cop?

A Tennessee photographer has captured the frightening moment a police officer used what looks like excessive and unnecessary force on a college student.

The sequence of photographs show the young man, Jarod Dotson, 22, from Knoxville, complying with Knox County deputies as they lead him to a police van at the University of Tennessee, before an officer uses two hands to choke the student until he is unconscious.

Dotson was arrested, along with a number of friends, during a wild college party celebrating after a week of finals that spilled out onto the street on Saturday night.

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/04/27/article-2614386-1D67E04400000578-766_634x422.jpg)

rest of fat doughnut cop chocking a person: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2614386/Tennessee-police-photographed-choking-unresisting-college-student-passes-out.html


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on May 06, 2014, 03:19:31 pm
‘Ghostbuster’ cops keep raiding dead man’s home: suit

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 Post on Monday.

James Jordan Sr., who died from diabetes at age 46, was last arrested in 1996 — for turnstile-jumping, said Karen Jordan, who has filed a lawsuit against the city in Brooklyn federal court.

But cops still routinely ransack the family’s Bushwick home on Sumner Avenue, demanding to see him — coming four times this year alone, Jordan said.
Modal Trigger

James Jordan Sr.

The widow finally taped his death certificate to the door.

“I wanted it to be the first thing they saw before they came into my home and flipped it upside down,” Jordan said. “I can’t hide anyone in my apartment. It’s not big enough for that. But they keep coming and insisting that he’s in my house.”

Jordan said she’s mystified by the NYPD’s apparent obsession with her late spouse because he had such a minuscule criminal history. Law-enforcement sources said Jordan Sr. had three sealed arrests in 1996.

“He was a hardworking man, and he took care of eight kids,” the widow said. “It isn’t right for them to be coming after him like this. There’s no reason for it.”

Jordan said the NYPD’s visits leave their home a wreck.

“They tell me to be quiet or they’ll lock me up,” she said. “So they go through my entire house, turning out drawers, looking in closets, harassing my children and asking them terrible questions.

“I’m at my wit’s end,” Jordan said, adding that she also keeps the death certificate at the ready right next to the door on a dresser.

Jordan’s son, James Jr., 31, said officers rushed into the apartment in July and arrested him when he told them his name.
Modal Trigger

The death certificate for Jordan Sr.

“I told them that my father was gone,” he said. “They just didn’t believe me. When they came in, they came in like a riot team. It was like a raid. Six officers rushed into the apartment and woke me up.”

Jordan Jr. and a pal were hit with weapons-possession charges that were later dropped, family lawyer Ugo Uzoh says in the suit. He has no other criminal history.

“My dad’s spirit is here. But you can’t arrest his spirit,” Jordan Jr. said. “I just want my dad to rest in peace. Even when you’re dead, you still get harassed.”

The city’s Law Department declined to comment.

http://nypost.com/2014/05/06/nypd-has-raided-dead-mans-home-over-and-over-suit/


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on May 07, 2014, 12:15:53 am
http://www.policymic.com/articles/44423/10-professions-that-attract-the-most-sociopaths
10 Professions That Attract the Most Sociopaths
5/26/13

Our notions of good and evil are as malleable and evolving as the society around us. Whereas once we used to burn opinionated women as witches, or assume seizures were a sure sign of demonic possessions — we now rely on scientific inquiry and skepticism to define the world around us. This has led to a wide array of psychological categories, groups and behaviors through which we self-identify: Introvert, type A, depressed, delusional, egotistical or sociopath!

There are still ongoing disputes in field of psychiatry, and the inner workings of the mind remain a great scientific mystery yet to be fully explored. However, when it comes to sociopathy, we seem to have a somewhat functioning definition: a lack of empathy, emotions, or ability to identify with others coupled with a superficial charm, persuasiveness, focus, and egomania.

It might surprise some to learn, however, that the vast majority of sociopaths aren't killers lurking in the shadows. Most of them are walking around among us, immersed in careers that nurture their psychological traits, and in some cases even reward them.

Here are the top ten jobs that attract sociopaths, according to author Kevin Dutton:

1. CEO

With the heartless greed and sadistic ambition displayed on Wall street since the 2008 financial collapse, it may come as no surprise that the first place on the list goes to the modern-age equivalent of a pharaoh. Capitalist positions of leadership offer power, autonomy, command, and status — a perfect battlefield for the ambitious and ruthless to compete. Where once pyramids littered the dessert in tribute to vain kings, we now have skyscrapers and corporate logos filling the clouds above.

2. Lawyer

Lawyers cloak themselves in the language of their field, making the laymen reliant on their expertise to survive in a courtroom. In the fog of legalese linguistics and glibly twisted logic, you better pray your lawyer is the most bloodthirsty of the two. There's a reason Shakespeare hated them so much, and why they continue to be the butt of so many jokes. Lawyers have a reputation for distorting the systems of equality, specifically for the purposes of ensuring their financial success. For every white knight district attorney looking to uphold the pillars of justice, you are sure to find a handful of bleak-hearted cynics and cutthroats.

3. Media

If our collective society is a living organism, where better for the egomaniac to reside than on the radio or TV? To be the voice of the people, the face of their information and entertainment, and to influence our collective minds. Of course, once your self-worth becomes invariably tied to your ratings and popularity, you're in for an eventual downfall of depression and despair.

4. Salesperson

In a numbers game, there's no room for emotion. Who has the greatest mental prowess? Manipulative charm? Who can wield the finest array of half-truths to convince a customer and close a sale? For those who like to compete for status and feed an ego through the defeat of colleagues, there is no better place to be than sales.

5. Surgeon

The field of surgery offers more than the power of life and death. It's a clinical world of high-pressure stakes, where decisions must be made without emotion. What job nurtures a bigger power complex, than one where you can cut people open on a daily basis, tinker with their frail internal mechanics, and aggrandize your status as a giver or taker of life?

6. Journalist

Much in the same way that media attracts the egomaniac, journalism (and writing in general) can draw those who wish to be revered from a distance. The ability to embed ideas and conversations in paper, and have them be absorbed en masse by readers, has only grown with the proliferation of the Internet. Now everyone with a phone, ipad, laptop or Google glasses can connect to an instantaneous world of information that stretches across the planet in seconds. The champions of that information are the self-appointed revealers of "truth" – constantly seeking to influence others through their articulation and mental prowess.

7. Policeman

The power of life and death on your hip, a badge of authority on your chest, a uniform of distinction, and a really loud siren! Everyone’s familiar with the stereotype of a bad cop — those officers who readily abuse their power, resent the people they are meant to protect, and use cold-hearted superiority to justify their viciousness. It's an unfortunate reality that some of the biggest criminals lurk among those who've sworn to uphold the law
.

8. Clergyman

What better way to fulfill your God complex than become one his messengers? If you embody and speak for the higher forces of the universe, people’s admiration and congregation around you will constantly stroke the darkest portions of your vanity — at least until they catch you abusing children. It's no wonder religions have veered away from monastic humility towards gaudy temples of lavish gold and marble.

9. Chef

There are few things we do on a daily basis that are more intimate than eating food. The sustenance we put in our body can heal us, warm us, increase our pleasure and decrease our stress. It can also poison us, infect us or outright kill us. The seduction and love of food is very powerful — and controlling it, corrupting it, or being worshipped for creating it can greatly appeal to the egomaniac.

10. Civil Servant

Whether you're a minor-level bureaucrat suffocating the masses in red tape protocol, a hair-piece smiling robot claiming to embody the American dream, or a hypocrite ranting about moral platitudes while keeping your gay sex slave locked in your closet — there’s always plenty of room for sociopaths in the political arena.


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on May 12, 2014, 06:05:12 am
Police Shooting Frenzy Raises Concerns :Bullets were sprayed everywhere. They hit the Volvo, other cars in the lot, fence posts and neighboring businesses.Total of 23 officers fired a total of at least 377 round sat 2 unarmed suspects!

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/05/06/police-shooting-frenzy-raises-concerns/

This was nothing more than a public execution by thug cops. The passenger was 100% innocent. Every single one of these pigs should be arrested for murder and nothing less.


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on July 10, 2014, 06:38:12 am
Police Pull Rifle Out On Man Trying To Clean Up Dog Poop In His Car

A well-known American Indian artist says police in New Mexico pulled a rifle on him after his dog pooped in his SUV and a woman mistook his cleanup efforts for a burglary.

Pueblo painter Mateo Romero told The Associated Press that a Santa Fe officer pointed a weapon at him during the bizarre misunderstanding Monday.

According to a police report, the officer pulled out a rifle and detained Romero after Maria Markus reported a burglary in progress at her home.

Romero says he parked into her private driveway after his Shih Tzu named Han Solo relieved himself inside his SUV and Romero sought to clean the mess.

Romero says Markus spotted him in her driveway, boxed him in with her vehicle and called 911.

He says Markus refused to talk to him before police arrived.

http://lasvegas.cbslocal.com/2014/07/09/police-pull-rifle-out-on-man-trying-to-cleanup-after-his-dog-pooped-in-car/


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on September 04, 2014, 10:46:34 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CZh9xumD1cQ


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Boldhunter on September 04, 2014, 11:54:17 pm
What 3 forms of ID should they produce, and how do you know what a true legal warrant (certificate? document?) should look like?


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on September 05, 2014, 06:34:53 am
What 3 forms of ID should they produce, and how do you know what a true legal warrant (certificate? document?) should look like?

Valid Search Warrant? 3 Things to Look For

Knock-knock. Police officers are at your door, armed with a search warrant. But is that search warrant legally valid?

The Fourth Amendment protects your privacy by generally requiring police to get a valid search warrant before they can conduct a search of your home (or other places where you have a reasonable expectation of privacy). The warrant must be filed in good faith by an officer and be based on reliable information showing probable cause to search your premises.

There are, however, a few additional warrant requirements that you'll want to look for if presented with a search warrant. A warrant must include:

    A magistrate's signature. After an officer applies for a warrant, a neutral and detached magistrate must issue the warrant and sign it. That means the magistrate must be impartial and outside of the "competitive enterprise" of law enforcement. For that reason, police officers and prosecutors generally can't serve as magistrates. State laws on magistrate qualifications vary widely; some states require that magistrates have an attorney's license, while others require only that magistrates be literate. If a proper magistrate never issued or signed the warrant, then the warrant (and the search) may not be valid.

    A description of the place to be searched. The warrant must specifically state the place to be searched. For most residences, a street address usually satisfies this requirement -- unless the warrant designates an apartment complex, hotel, or other multiple-unit building, in which case the warrant must describe the specific sub-unit to be searched. This may seem like a given, but little mistakes can lead to innocent persons being ambushed by police in their own homes, as allegedly happened in one notable case reported by SF Weekly.

    A description of the items to be seized. Finally, the warrant must specify "with particularity" which items are to be seized during the search. However, police may also seize contraband that isn't specified in the warrant (such as illicit drugs) if the contraband is in plain view of the officers performing the search.

So what if you challenge police over a questionable search warrant? While it may seem unfair, you can potentially be arrested for resisting a search -- though you can always file a claim afterwards alleging a violation of your rights. But keep in mind that police don't always need a warrant to conduct a search, so be sure to familiarize yourself with exceptions to the warrant requirement.

If you're still confused, or if you think you've been subjected to an unlawful search, you'll want to contact an experienced criminal defense lawyer right away.

http://blogs.findlaw.com/blotter/2013/07/valid-search-warrant-3-things-to-look-for.html

Quote
What 3 forms of ID should they produce,

Im thinking normal ID, Police ID, and a badge. If you are still in question you should actually call the police to see if they sent an officer out to your place. Also never stop for flashing lights on a lonely deserted road, always go to a lighted place with people.

P.S. cops are not your friends, they are a private military force employed by a city to collect monies anyway possible. Thugs with guns.


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on November 10, 2014, 08:41:25 am
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.

“A guy drives up in a 2008 Mercedes, brand new,” he explained. “Just so beautiful, I mean, the cops were undercover and they were just like ‘Ahhhh.’ And he gets out and he’s just reeking of alcohol. And it’s like, ‘Oh, my goodness, we can hardly wait.’ ”

Mr. Connelly was talking about a practice known as civil asset forfeiture, which allows the government, without ever securing a conviction or even filing a criminal charge, to seize property suspected of having ties to crime. The practice, expanded during the war on drugs in the 1980s, has become a staple of law enforcement agencies because it helps finance their work. It is difficult to tell how much has been seized by state and local law enforcement, but under a Justice Department program, the value of assets seized has ballooned to $4.3 billion in the 2012 fiscal year from $407 million in 2001. Much of that money is shared with local police forces.


rest: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/us/police-use-department-wish-list-when-deciding-which-assets-to-seize.html?_r=3


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on November 23, 2014, 02:57:58 pm
Homeschooling family tasered, arrested after being accused of having a ‘messy’ house

A homeschooling family has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit after they say their home was illegally searched by the sheriff’s department.

hsldaThe Home School Legal Defense Association is aiding Laura and Jason Hagan. Their house was raided by Nodaway County Sheriff Darren White and Chief Sheriff’s Deputy David Glidden.

According to the HSLDA, “child protective services (CPS) caseworker had been inside the home several days earlier to investigate a report of a messy house and had returned for a follow-up visit.”

When they declined to let her in, the CPS worker summoned the sheriff.

They, too, sought to get in the house but they didn’t have a court order and Hagan declined their request.

Then, according to HSLDA:

As Jason turned to go back inside, Glidden sprayed him with pepper spray—first at the back of his head and then directly in his face. Glidden also sprayed Laura, who fell to the floor. Glidden then turned to Jason, who was still standing, and shot him in the back with his Taser. As Jason fell, Laura closed the front door. Glidden triggered the Taser three more times through the closed door.

Sheriff White joined Glidden on the front porch. Together they forced open the door and found Laura and Jason lying on the floor. Glidden sprayed Laura in the face a second time while White sprayed Jason and tried to turn him over onto his stomach.

Laura shouted to the officers that Jason had been taken to the emergency room earlier in the week for chest pains. White nevertheless continued attempting to turn Jason over and sprayed him a third time when he was unsuccessful. The officers also sprayed the Hagans’ dog with chemical agent and threatened to shoot it if it didn’t stop barking.

Finally, the officers handcuffed and arrested Laura and Jason and charged them with resisting arrest and child endangerment.

All of this took place in front of the Hagans’ three young children, who were then taken to the emergency room to be evaluated for exposure to pepper spray.

 This all took place on September 30, 2011.

Because of the warrantless search, the judge dismissed the case against the Hagans.

“The State has not offered sufficient, if indeed any, evidence of an exception that would justify a warrantless entry,” the judge wrote in his ruling, according to the home school group.

The HSLDA filed suit in federal court on November 14, 2014, alleging White and Glidden violated the Hagans’ Fourth Amendment rights.

“All too often, law enforcement officers and child-welfare workers act as if the Fourth Amendment does not apply to CPS investigations. They are wrong. The Fourth Amendment is a legal shield that protects people from exactly the kind of mistreatment the Hagans endured,” the organization writes.

http://eagnews.org/shock-homeschooling-family-tasered-arrested-after-being-accused-of-having-a-messy-house/


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on December 08, 2014, 06:46:54 pm
Wisconsin Police Ask Residents To Volunteer For House Gun Search
"Gun violence is as serious as the Ebola virus .."


In an effort to reduce gun violence, police in Beloit, Wisconsin, have kicked off a new initiative asking residents to volunteer to allow police to search their homes for guns.

"Gun violence is as serious as the Ebola virus is being represented in the media, and we should fight it using the tools that we've learned from our health providers,” said Police Chief Norm Jacobs.

Skeptical that people will actually call, Jacobs' hope is that the ones who do will allow the cops to find guns that residents did not even know were there.

“That's really what we're looking for,” he said. “Maybe we'll find a toy gun that's been altered by a youngster in the house — and we know the tragedies that can occur there on occasion.”

Seven people have been the victims of seven gun homicides in Beloit in 2014.

Jacobs said:

The problem with weapons in Beloit, as well as with many communities, is a very serious issue. People were looking for some leadership to do something and so we said, “Well, let's see if we can help people make themselves safer.” They can actually take responsibility for the violence that they are so scared of out in the neighborhood. Eight police, 16 police, 60 police driving around in your community are not going to do as much as a community that will do everything they can to try to prevent violence ... We try to find weapons in cars where these things occur, but these weapons are also in these persons' households, and there's some people in Beloit that don’t know that they are in their house and being used for crimes.

http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/wisconsin-police-ask-residents-volunteer-house-gun-search


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on January 20, 2015, 08:22:56 am
Georgia Cop Tickets Motorist For Eating McDonald's Double Quarter Pounder While Driving

A motorist was cited for “eating while driving” after a cop spotted him noshing on a McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese as he drove along a Georgia roadway.

Madison Turner, 36, was ticketed by a Cobb County policeman shortly after he left a McDonald’s drive-thru in Marietta on January 10. The ticket issued to Turner, a web developer from Alabama, alleges that the driver failed to exercise due care while behind the wheel.

In the ticket’s “remarks” section, Officer Delaney wrote, “Eating While Driving.”

Turner, who was pulled over around 3:40 PM, told TSG that the cop specifically told him that his 2009 BMW was not swerving in the roadway, nor was he driving above the speed limit.

Turner, seen above, contends that he was not distracted while enjoying his McDonald’s grub.

Turner, who intends to fight the ticket, is scheduled for a February 3 court appearance.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/driving-while-eating/eating-while-driving-charge-890761


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on February 21, 2015, 04:43:05 pm
No Charges for Cops Who Broke Into Innocent Man’s Home While He Slept and Shot Him 16 Times

Dustin Theoharis was asleep in his bed when a Department of Corrections officer, and King County Sherriff’s deputy rushed into his house on February 11, 2012. The two cops busted into his bedroom and began to unload their pistols on this unarmed man.

It is estimated that the two officers fired over 20 rounds of which 16 landed in Mr. Theoharis. According to Theoharis’s attorney, Erik Heipt, “Theoharis suffered “a broken shoulder, 2 broken arms, broken legs, he had a compression fracture to his spine, damage to his liver and spleen.”

To add insult to attempted murder, Theoharis was not the guy the police were after. According to King 5 News Seattle, the King County Sheriff’s deputy and Washington Department of Corrections officer who shot him were at the house to arrest a man who’d violated his parole.

Cole Harrison, who was at the house, described it this way:  “They (the officers) rushed into that room like they were going to get somebody.  I mean they rushed down there and then all of a sudden. Boom, boom, boom, boom.”

King County reached a settlement with Theoharis in 2013, agreeing to pay him $3 million. But Theoharis brought a federal lawsuit against the officers.

Officers claimed that Theoharis was reaching for a gun. Although Theoharis would have been entirely justified reaching for a gun, as his life was clearly in danger, he denies this claim.

According to the Seattle Times, in his federal suit, Theoharis alleges Rongen and Thompson fired at him after asking for identification.  Theoharis contends he reached to the floor for his wallet and was turning back with it when he was struck with about 16 shots in the face, arm, legs and abdomen.

After hearing the details of this case on Feb. 6, 2015 US District Judge Richard Jones ruled Theoharis’ excessive-force claim in his suit should be heard by a jury in a trial scheduled for June 1.

But this week all that would change.

In a travesty of justice, reacting to Jones’ ruling that raised questions about the deputy’s and officer’s version of events, prosecutors said in statement that insufficient evidence remains that the two acted with malice or bad faith in violation of state law.

After reviewing the conflicting reports of that fateful evening, it is clear that prosecutors are either covering for their boys in blue or haven’t looked at any of the evidence.

A review was requested by Charles Gaither, a civilian watchdog of the Sheriff’s Office in July of 2013. The review was conducted by a police accountability expert, Merrick Bobb.

The review showed that the officers refused to be interviewed on the scene, and no internal investigation was ordered. In fact, Deputy Aaron Thompson didn’t even issue a statement until a month later. Presumably after he was able to fabricate the events of that evening.

The report also suggests that the Sheriff’s Office did more to cover for the two officers than it did to investigate the shooting; citing an apparent conflict of interest right from the start.

    “Under KCSO policy, the first supervisor to arrive at the scene is obliged to assume control of the crime scene, direct involved personnel, and take on preliminary investigation responsibilities. (G.O. 6.02.015, subd. Clearly, given the sensitive issues that often accompany deadly force incidents, the neutrality of the supervisor needs to remain unquestioned. In this case, however, the first responding supervisor, KCSO Sergeant D, did not maintain the position of neutrality. Shortly after arriving on the scene, he switched roles from supervisor and neutral party to officer advocate.”

Also noted in the report is the severe incompetence or deliberate deficiency of the Sherriff’s Office when conducting the investigation.

    “Nonetheless, we were deeply troubled by serious deficiencies in the underlying investigation and the apparent unwillingness of KCSO to question its own officers about the use of deadly force once it appeared that they have not committed a crime. For example, the involved officers were not immediately interviewed about their actions, but instead were given over a month to provide a written account of the shooting. In addition, physical evidence was overlooked or moved, witness interviews were not thorough, and inconsistencies were not adequately addressed.”

Meanwhile, Dustin Theoharis has undergone 12 surgeries and will never be the same again. This is a travesty of justice. And sadly it’s just another example of how police can shield themselves from crimes they commit by being the enforcement cog in the rusty bureaucratic machine that is the state.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/charges-cops-broke-innocent-mans-home-slept-shot-16-times/#p2SfJZLqmPSh8B9E.99


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on March 14, 2015, 06:52:03 am
Texas Bill Would Make Recording Police Illegal

 bill introduced in the Texas House of Representatives would make it illegal for private citizens to record police within 25 feet.

House Bill 2918, introduced by state Rep. Jason Villalba (R-Dallas) on Tuesday, would make the offense a misdemeanor. Citizens who are armed would not be permitted to record police activity within 100 feet of an officer, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Only representatives of radio or TV organizations that hold an FCC license, newspapers and magazines would have the right to record police.

The legislator disagreed with people on Twitter who said he's seeking to make all filming of cops illegal.

"My bill ... just asks filmers to stand back a little so as not to interfere with law enforcement," Villalba tweeted.

The bill would go against precedent set in 2011 by an appeals court, which found that citizens are allowed to record police, according to the ACLU.
Quick Poll
Should recording police within 25 feet be illegal?

Yes, recording interferes with law enforcement.

No, we need to have the right to record officers of the law.

Villalba's bill comes at a time of increased public scrutiny over the police killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and others. In Garner's case, a grand jury didn't indict the police officer who put Garner in a chokehold before his death, but another grand jury did indict the man who filmed the incident on weapons charges.

Last year, HuffPost reporter Ryan J. Reilly and another reporter were detained and assaulted while attempting to film a swarm of police officers filling up a McDonald's in Ferguson, Missouri, the town where Brown was killed. That filming, as well as other recordings of police interactions by the public, are currently legal.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/13/bill-recording-police-illegal_n_6861444.html


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Christian40 on April 02, 2015, 05:02:38 am
(http://s2.postimg.org/mtcgpxfo9/1937474_10203543479842599_4696613106088266817_n.jpg)


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on April 10, 2015, 09:12:19 am
Sheriff Orders Immediate Internal Investigation Into Arrest Seen on "Disturbing" Video

The San Bernardino County Sheriff ordered an internal investigation Thursday into an arrest caught on NBC Los Angeles' NewsChopper4 video that showed deputies beating a suspect when they caught up to him following a wild desert chase on horseback.

Aerial footage showed the man falling off the horse he was suspected of stealing during the pursuit in San Bernardino County Thursday afternoon.

He then appeared to be stunned with a Taser by a sheriff's deputy and fall to the ground with his arms outstretched. Two deputies immediately descended on him and began punching him in the head and kneeing him in the groin, according to the footage.

The group surrounding the man grew to 11 sheriff's deputies.

video+rest: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Man-on-Stolen-Horse-Stunned-by-Sheriffs-Deputies-in-IE-299250951.html


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on April 18, 2015, 05:07:46 am
Confiscating 'Criminals’' Property Is a Cop Racket

Until last week, police in all 50 states had the power to take your property—cash, cars, houses, or anything else—based purely on their assertion that the property was “guilty” of a crime.

This means that police and prosecutors can confiscate your stuff, sell it and pocket the money without even charging you with a crime, as long as they say that the property was connected in some way to illicit activity. The burden is then on the owner to hire lawyers to prove, not that they are innocent, which would be horrific enough, but that their property is.

This shakedown scheme is called civil forfeiture, and it’s how you get cases with titles like United States v. $124,700 and 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Pennsylvania. It’s also how police departments line their pockets: In many cities and states, cash and property seized under civil forfeiture go directly back to the departments themselves, incentivizing more and more seizures.

But on Friday, New Mexico became the first state to abolish this reprehensible, unconstitutional practice. The legislature voted unanimously to replace civil forfeiture with criminal forfeiture, requiring the government to first prove beyond a reasonable doubt, to a jury of their peers, that people are actually guilty of a crime before taking their property.

Forfeiture laws started from a reasonable-sounding premise, that criminals should not be able to keep proceeds of their illegal activity, and that by “taking the profit out of crime,” cops could both discourage criminals as well as help to better equip law enforcement to catch them. The good guys get stronger as the bad guys get weaker, or so the theory went.

The problem was that by trying to take the profit out of crime, civil forfeiture laws put it in policing. Because of forfeiture, cops are more likely to pull over drug suspects on their way out of cities than on their way in: mules bring drugs in, but they carry cash out. Cops seize the cash, buy more cruisers, pull over more drivers, and seize more cash—even if they can’t prove cash had anything to do with drugs.

Citizens who want to fight it face big costs and enormous obstacles in a confusing and byzantine legal process where the slightest misstep means they lose their homes, money, or vehicles for good. Police and prosecutors often seize property on the thinnest pretext and then bully owners into settling with them for a fraction of its value—money that then goes to pay the salaries of the prosecutors who took it.

This vicious logic is how we got from the reasonable-sounding premise to the city attorney for Las Cruces, New Mexico, gleefully telling a room full of cops, “Think about it, this is a gold mine. A gold mine. You could seize a house, not a vehicle.… Just think what you could do as the legal department. We could be czars. We could own the city.”

Not anymore. At least not in one state.

New Mexico is small, but this move is significant because it shows the breakdown of a decades-old national political consensus between law enforcement bureaucracies and “law and order” politicians, a Bootlegger-and-Baptist coalition that helped create and sustain the civil forfeiture regime.

Combined with former Attorney General Eric Holder’s modest reform of a federal program that allowed police to do an end-run around state laws limiting forfeiture, there is hope that the moral cover for this deeply corrosive practice is being stripped away, and the public will finally see it for what it is: a racket.

http://www.newsweek.com/confiscating-criminals-property-cop-racket-323041


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on April 21, 2015, 08:49:51 am
District Attorney Says Encrypted Phones May Make You a Terrorist Because They “Cannot Be Accessed by Law Enforcement”

The attack on personal privacy continues.

From every angle big government politicians and officials are doing everything they can to take away your ability to be secure in your person or possessions. Under terrorism laws like the Patriot Act the government has given itself the right to wire tap your home or enter your personal premises without so much as a warrant so long as police or federal law enforcement officials can show that your activities may be related to terrorism. And as we know, being associated with a terrorist nowadays requires absolutely no concrete facts according to President Obama’s latest initiative. Simply being suspected of being suspected of terrorism (whatever that means) can now qualify you for a terror watchlist or further investigation.

As we reported last week, even the Third Amendment can now be violated so that law enforcement officials can forcibly occupy your home to gain a tactical advantage against criminal or terror suspects.

This is America in 2015 so it’s no surprise that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. wants total access to your personal effects. If it were up to Vance, you as an individual would have no right to secure your personal phone or computer data. As far as the DA is concerned, if you are encrypting your passwords, private messages, and personal notes you are denying nosy big government operatives the intrusive access they so desperately need to control you.

statist-vance

    We’ve heard some pretty outrageous ramblings from the government regarding Apple’s use of encryption in its mobile devices in the past—including a claim from the Department of Justice that some day it will result in the death of a child—but Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. might have just dethroned the DOJ as king of hyperbole.

    Yesterday morning during a radio interview, Vance claimed that Apple’s encrypted software will make the iPhone the communication tool of choice for terrorists:

    “Apple has created a phone that is dark, that cannot be accessed by law enforcement even when a court has authorized us to look at its contents,” Vance warned on “The Cats Roundtable” show on WNYM/970 AM.

    “That’s going to be the terrorists’ communication device of choice.”

    Source: 9 to 5 Mac

What we know as a matter of fact is that smelting your own gold, making your finger into the shape of a gun, storing seven days worth of food, and homeschooling all qualify you for investigation under domestic terrorism guidelines.

Now, you can also be suspected of being suspected of terrorism for simply having your mobile phone locked and inaccessible to the prying eyes of government.

Slowly, but surely, all Constitutionally protected rights are being eroded by the likes of Cyrus Vance, Jr.

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/district-attorney-says-encrypted-phones-may-make-you-a-terrorist-because-it-cannot-be-accessed-by-law-enforcement_04202015


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on April 21, 2015, 06:58:11 pm
Video Appears to Show U.S. Marshal Destroying an Onlooker's Cell Phone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=O-J-6SkuKJ0


The U.S. Marshals Service says it’s investigating a video taken this weekend in California that appears to show an agent rip a phone away from a woman who had been filming him before destroying it.

The agents were reportedly investigating alleged biker gang activity near the South Gate home where the video was recorded, when Beatriz Paez walked by. Via the LA Times:

    U.S. Marshals and local law enforcement officers had blocked off a stretch of San Juan Avenue and had eight to 10 people lying on their stomachs with their hands on their heads when Paez took out her Samsung cellphone and began recording, she said.

Standing a few feet away from them and filming, she can be heard repeating something about feeling unsafe and having a “right to be here.”

South Gate police confirmed the Marshals service was involved in the incident, and a Marshals spokesperson tells the Daily Dot that the man in the video appears to be an agent and that the incident is under investigation.

http://gawker.com/video-appears-to-show-u-s-marshal-destroying-an-onlook-1699298257


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on May 09, 2015, 05:15:26 am
DEA Steals $16,000 In Cash From Young Black Man, Because He Must Be A Drug Dealer

After scraping together enough money to produce a music video in Hollywood, 22-year-old Joseph Rivers set out last month on a train trip from Michigan to Los Angeles, hoping it was the start of something big.

Before he made it to California, however, Rivers fell victim to a legal form of government highway robbery.

Rivers changed trains at the Amtrak station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on April 15, with bags containing his clothes, other possessions and an envelope filled with the $16,000 in cash he had raised with the help of his family, the Albuquerque Journal reports. Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration got on after him and began looking for people who might be trafficking drugs.

Rivers said the agents questioned passengers at random, asking for their destination and reason for travel. When one of the agents got to Rivers, who was the only black person in his car, according to witnesses, the agent took the interrogation further, asking to search his bags. Rivers complied. The agent found the cash -- still in a bank envelope -- and decided to seize it on suspicion that it may be tied to narcotics. River pleaded with the agents, explaining his situation and even putting his mother on the phone to verify the story.

No luck.

“These officers took everything that I had worked so hard to save and even money that was given to me by family that believed in me,” Rivers told the Journal. “I told (the DEA agents) I had no money and no means to survive in Los Angeles if they took my money. They informed me that it was my responsibility to figure out how I was going to do that.”

Rivers, who has since returned to Michigan, fell victim to civil asset forfeiture, a legal tool that has been criticized as a violation of due process and a contradiction of the idea that criminal defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Asset forfeiture allows police to seize property they suspect is related to criminal activity, without even charging its owner with a crime. The charges are filed against the property itself -- including cash, jewelry, cars and houses -- which can then be sold, with part of the proceeds flowing back to the department that made the seizure.

“We don’t have to prove that the person is guilty,” Sean Waite, the agent in charge at the DEA's Albuquerque's office, told the Journal. “It’s that the money is presumed to be guilty.”

The burden of proof lies with those whose property is taken, who often are forced to wage costly court battles to prove they came by their possessions legally.

That's where Michael Pancer, a San Diego attorney who now represents Rivers, comes in.

“What this is, is having your money stolen by a federal agent acting under the color of law,” Pancer told the Journal. “It’s a national epidemic. If my office got four to five cases just recently, and I’m just one attorney, you know this is happening thousands of times.”

Pancer is challenging the DEA asset forfeiture on Rivers' behalf, and wrote in a letter to Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), obtained by The Huffington Post, that Rivers' race "played a role in the incident." Conyers' office wouldn't comment on active litigation.

A February report by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian group that focuses on civil liberties, showed how widespread civil asset forfeiture has become. The federal program led to nearly $6.8 billion in seized cash and property from 2008 to 2013, the report says. A series in The Washington Post published last year showed that since 2001, $2.5 billion had been seized in cash alone -- all from people who were never charged with a crime and without a warrant being issued.

While law enforcement officials argue that civil asset forfeiture is an important weapon for fighting the drug trade, stories like Rivers' emerge regularly, suggesting that plenty of innocent people have become collateral damage.

Take the case of Matt Lee, 31, who in 2011 was pulled over by police in Nevada while on the last leg of a cross-country move from Michigan to California. In an ensuing K-9 search, police discovered $2,400 in cash, loaned to Lee by his father. Though officers had no proof of any connection to a crime -- Lee had never even been arrested before -- they seized the cash and left Lee with $151. Lee later hired a lawyer, and the county eventually agreed to return his money. By then, his legal fees had reached $1,269, leaving Lee with less than half of the money that had been taken from him.

Civil asset forfeiture isn't just being used to take down big-time drug dealers. A recent study by the Drug Policy Alliance on the practice in California found that the average value of a state forfeiture in 2013 was $5,145, adjusted to 1992 dollars. This number has changed little since 1992, when 94 percent of state forfeitures involved seizures of $5,000 or less.

A DEA list of recently seized property, released on Thursday, reflects this trend, listing seizures of a few hundred dollars alongside high-value items and cash.

Growing criticism of civil asset forfeiture has led to calls for change in some states. In New Mexico, where Rivers' money was seized, Gov. Susana Martinez (R) signed a set of reforms last month that will effectively end the most controversial use of the practice by police at state level. In Montana, a new law will scale back civil asset forfeiture by state and local police.

But these reforms don't affect the ability of federal agents to seize property under federal rules, meaning we will likely continue to see stories like Rivers'.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/07/dea-asset-forfeiture-joseph-rivers_n_7231744.html


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on August 12, 2015, 11:44:27 am
FBI admits flaws in hair analysis over decades

The Justice Department and FBI have formally acknowledged that nearly every examiner in an elite FBI forensic unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered evidence against criminal defendants over more than a two-decade period before 2000.

Of 28 examiners with the FBI Laboratory’s microscopic hair comparison unit, 26 overstated forensic matches in ways that favored prosecutors in more than 95 percent of the 268 trials reviewed so far, according to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and the Innocence Project, which are assisting the government with the country’s largest post-conviction review of questioned forensic evidence.

The cases include those of 32 defendants sentenced to death. Of those, 14 have been executed or died in prison, the groups said under an agreement with the government to release results after the review of the first 200 convictions.

The FBI errors alone do not mean there was not other evidence of a convict’s guilt. Defendants and federal and state prosecutors in 46 states and the District are being notified to determine whether there are grounds for appeals. Four defendants were previously exonerated.

The admissions mark a watershed in one of the country’s largest forensic scandals, highlighting the failure of the nation’s courts for decades to keep bogus scientific information from juries, legal analysts said. The question now, they said, is how state authorities and the courts will respond to findings that confirm long-suspected problems with subjective, pattern-based forensic techniques — like hair and bite-mark comparisons — that have contributed to wrongful convictions in more than one-quarter of 329 DNA-exoneration cases since 1989.

(https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_1484w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2015/04/18/Local/Graphics/FBI-hair0419.jpg?uuid=bG4muOYVEeSuD_jEaqjDpA)

In a statement, the FBI and Justice Department vowed to continue to devote resources to address all cases and said they “are committed to ensuring that affected defendants are notified of past errors and that justice is done in every instance. The Department and the FBI are also committed to ensuring the accuracy of future hair analysis testimony, as well as the application of all disciplines of forensic science.”

Peter Neufeld, co-founder of the Innocence Project, commended the FBI and department for the collaboration but said, “The FBI’s three-decade use of microscopic hair analysis to incriminate defendants was a complete disaster.”

“We need an exhaustive investigation that looks at how the FBI, state governments that relied on examiners trained by the FBI and the courts allowed this to happen and why it wasn’t stopped much sooner,” Neufeld said.

Norman L. Reimer, the NACDL’s executive director, said, “Hopefully, this project establishes a precedent so that in future situations it will not take years to remediate the injustice.”

While unnamed federal officials previously acknowledged widespread problems, the FBI until now has withheld comment because findings might not be representative.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a former prosecutor, called on the FBI and Justice Department to notify defendants in all 2,500 targeted cases involving an FBI hair match about the problem even if their case has not been completed, and to redouble efforts in the three-year-old review to retrieve information on each case.

“These findings are appalling and chilling in their indictment of our criminal justice system, not only for potentially innocent defendants who have been wrongly imprisoned and even executed, but for prosecutors who have relied on fabricated and false evidence despite their intentions to faithfully enforce the law,” Blumenthal said.

(https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_1484w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2015/04/18/Local/Graphics/fbihair0419-promo.jpg?uuid=RnrsIOYVEeSuD_jEaqjDpA)

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and the panel’s ranking Democrat, Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), urged the bureau to conduct “a root-cause analysis” to prevent future breakdowns.

“It is critical that the Bureau identify and address the systemic factors that allowed this far-reaching problem to occur and continue for more than a decade,” the lawmakers wrote FBI Director James B. Comey on March 27, as findings were being finalized.

The FBI is waiting to complete all reviews to assess causes but has acknowledged that hair examiners until 2012 lacked written standards defining scientifically appropriate and erroneous ways to explain results in court. The bureau expects this year to complete similar standards for testimony and lab reports for 19 forensic disciplines.

Federal authorities launched the investigation in 2012 after The Washington Post reported that flawed forensic hair matches might have led to the convictions of hundreds of potentially innocent people since at least the 1970s, typically for murder, **** and other violent crimes nationwide.

The review confirmed that FBI experts systematically testified to the near-certainty of “matches” of crime-scene hairs to defendants, backing their claims by citing incomplete or misleading statistics drawn from their case work.

In reality, there is no accepted research on how often hair from different people may appear the same. Since 2000, the lab has used visual hair comparison to rule out someone as a possible source of hair or in combination with more accurate DNA testing.

Warnings about the problem have been mounting. In 2002, the FBI reported that its own DNA testing found that examiners reported false hair matches more than 11 percent of the time. In the District, the only jurisdiction where defenders and prosecutors have re-investigated all FBI hair convictions, three of seven defendants whose trials included flawed FBI testimony have been exonerated through DNA testing since 2009, and courts have exonerated two more men. All five served 20 to 30 years in prison for **** or murder.

University of Virginia law professor Brandon L. Garrett said the results reveal a “mass disaster” inside the criminal justice system, one that it has been unable to self-correct because courts rely on outdated precedents admitting scientifically invalid testimony at trial and, under the legal doctrine of finality, make it difficult for convicts to challenge old evidence.

“The tools don’t exist to handle systematic errors in our criminal justice system,” Garrett said. “The FBI deserves every recognition for doing something really remarkable here. The problem is there may be few judges, prosecutors or defense lawyers who are able or willing to do anything about it.”

Federal authorities are offering new DNA testing in cases with errors, if sought by a judge or prosecutor, and agreeing to drop procedural objections to appeals in federal cases.

However, biological evidence in the cases often is lost or unavailable. Among states, only California and Texas specifically allow appeals when experts recant or scientific advances undermine forensic evidence at trial.

Defense attorneys say scientifically invalid forensic testimony should be considered as violations of due process, as courts have held with false or misleading testimony.

The FBI searched more than 21,000 federal and state requests to its hair comparison unit from 1972 through 1999, identifying for review roughly 2,500 cases where examiners declared hair matches.

Reviews of 342 defendants’ convictions were completed as of early March, the NACDL and Innocence Project reported. In addition to the 268 trials in which FBI hair evidence was used against defendants, the review found cases in which defendants pleaded guilty, FBI examiners did not testify, did not assert a match or gave exculpatory testimony.

When such cases are included, by the FBI’s count examiners made statements exceeding the limits of science in about 90 percent of testimonies, including 34 death-penalty cases.

The findings likely scratch the surface. The FBI said as of mid-April that reviews of about 350 trial testimonies and 900 lab reports are nearly complete, with about 1,200 cases remaining.

The bureau said it is difficult to check cases before 1985, when files were computerized. It has been unable to review 700 cases because police or prosecutors did not respond to requests for information.

Also, the same FBI examiners whose work is under review taught 500 to 1,000 state and local crime lab analysts to testify in the same ways.

Texas, New York and North Carolina authorities are reviewing their hair examiner cases, with ad hoc efforts underway in about 15 other states.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/fbi-overstated-forensic-hair-matches-in-nearly-all-criminal-trials-for-decades/2015/04/18/39c8d8c6-e515-11e4-b510-962fcfabc310_story.html


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on June 09, 2016, 01:33:11 pm
Oklahoma Cops Unveil New Device Enabling Direct Seizure Of Bank Accounts, Credit Cards

We have covered the disgusting topic of civil asset forfeiture numerous times (most recently here), but the latest move by Oklahoma police is quite simply shocking.

As News9 reports,

    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 local police chief explains... "it's not about taking money..."

    The one state that has gone complete anti-democratic is Oklahoma. It is wise not to travel in that state at all. Oklahoma should be on a no fly zone. Now Oklahoma police can outright just seize everything you have from debit cards to bank accounts on a traffic stop without any criminal charges being filed – just some policeman “thinks” and your life is over. With no money, you cannot hire a lawyer so they can now just rob everything you have on a whim.

     

    The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has introduced a device that also allows them to seize money in your bank account or on prepaid cards, which they call ERAD, or Electronic Recovery and Access to Data machine. State police began using 16 of theses last month and this is a state now where the police have become literally the highway robbers. This makes the traffic cops in Russia pulling you over for speeding and you just pay them and they go away as a far more civilized arrangement. Here, they can rob you of everything.Let’s say a state trooper “suspects” or just “thinks” you may have money tied to some type of crime – any crime. He can now scan any cards you have and seize the money in your wallet. He does not have to charge you with any crime. He just “thinks” you might be connected to anything he can imagine. There is no right to remain silent, for he is not charging you. He is after all your money because they are broke.

     

    Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. John Vincent said. “We’re gonna look for if there’s a difference in your story. If there’s someway that we can prove that you’re falsifying information to us about your business.” So all he has to do is “believe” you lied about anything and he has the right to take everything you have. They justify this claiming it is not about seizing money. Of course not. It is criminal prosecution but there is no crime. Forget innocent until proven guilty. That will not apply. They pretend the money committed the crime – not you.

     

    This is simply nullifying the Constitution. You have absolutely ZERO rights. He can rob you of everything and leave you with no money even for gas. The police have become the criminals. This is precisely how Rome fell. When they could not could not pay the army, they began sacking their own cities. This is exactly what the police are doing now and there is nobody to defend us against this new criminal organization.

     

    Just stay out of Oklahoma at all costs. If other states follow, you better migrate to another country and fast. One not based on common law (English countries). This will destroy the freedom to even travel as broke police are nothing more than highway criminals with guns.

As we detailed yesterday,

    As long as the current system of civil asset forfeiture remains intact, new federal guidelines or policy are unlikely to be effective, said Steven L. Kessler, a New York attorney who has defended a number of clients in high-profile forfeiture cases. He believes clear legislative action is needed to keep the government from compromising people’s property rights in the hunt for money.

     

    “When the government says they’re going to do that on their own, they’re going to make the change, everyone is very happy and we move on to the next story,” said Kessler. “Rarely does anything change, because we’re dealing with a guideline — we’re dealing with something that is within the full discretion of the government.”

     

    There are some rumblings in Congress for a legal overhaul.

     

    Last week, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and a bipartisan group of co-sponsors introduced a bill to rein in civil asset forfeiture. Among the most significant measures, the Deterring Undue Enforcement by Protecting Rights of Citizens from Excessive Searches and Seizures Act of 2016, or the DUE PROCESS Act, would shift the burden of proof from the property owner to the government, and raise the standard needed to validate a forfeiture. If passed, the new law would require the government to provide “clear and convincing” evidence that property was substantially connected to criminal activity — still below the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard for criminal convictions.

This must pass!

And finally, as Liberty Blitzkrieg's Mike Krieger previously concluded:“

    "The way you would expect the criminal justice system to work if you were reading your high school civics textbook is that you’d expect the government first to investigate people, then to obtain an indictment if they think something wrong has happened, and then to obtain a conviction and then finally to punish them... But in many cases that has happened exactly backwards.”

This is not what freedom looks like.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-09/oklahoma-cops-unveil-new-device-enabling-direct-seizure-bank-accounts-credit-cards


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on July 22, 2016, 09:06:20 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jan_lH14aiY


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on September 29, 2016, 06:44:11 pm
Kansas Police: You Can't Pray in Your Own Home

According to attorneys representing a Louisburg, Kan., woman, police forced their way into her home, telling her the Constitution was "just a piece of paper" that "doesn't work here," before telling her she could not pray in her home.

All over a simple noise complaint about her radio being turned up too loudly.

According to attorneys for the First Liberty Institute, which are representing Mary Anne Sause, a Catholic former nurse, she was home late at night when the police came to her home. When they knocked at the door, they did not identify themselves as police, and with her front door's "peephole" inoperative, she did not open the door.

They returned later and identified themselves as police, then demanded to be let in to her apartment. As they berated her for not letting them in the first time, they refused to give a specific reason why they were there, as is required. When she showed them a copy of the Constitution and Bill of Rights given to her by her congressman, one of the officers mockingly said, "that's nothing, it's just a piece of paper—[it] doesn't work here."

The officers continued to act in a belligerent manner toward Sause, telling the terrified woman she should prepare to go to jail. She asked if she could pray beforehand, and while one of the officers granted her request, the other told her she could not pray in her own home.

"No American should ever be told that they cannot pray in their own home," First Liberty Institute Associate Counsel Stephanie Taub said. "The right to pray in the privacy of one's own home is clearly protected by the First Amendment."

According to the officers' version, they said her prayer was interfering with their ability to ask her questions—in other words, to continuing berating and harassing her—over the simple noise complaint. She was ultimately given a citation to appear over the violation, and not arrested as the officers had threatened.

"The police are supposed to make you feel safe, but I was terrified that night," she said. "It was one of the worst nights of my life."

When First Liberty attorneys took her case to federal court, the district court threw out the complaint entirely, denying Sause her day in court. Her attorneys have now filed a brief with the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking to have the case remanded back to the lower court with instructions to hear the case.

"As Ms. Sause explained in her complaint, two Louisburg police officers abused their power and violated her First Amendment rights by ordering her—under threat of arrest and without any legitimate law-enforcement justification—to stop praying in her own home," said attorney Bradley G. Hubbard, a litigation associate with Gibson Dunn, the local law firm assisting with the case. "We urge the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to reverse the district court's decision and allow Ms. Sause a meaningful day in court as she attempts to vindicate her constitutionally-protected religious liberty.

http://www.charismanews.com/politics/issues/60254-kansas-police-you-can-t-pray-in-your-own-home


Title: Re: Police Encounters - The Mind Of Law Enforcment
Post by: Mark on March 19, 2018, 09:59:14 pm
Not wearing seat belt prompts cops to seize $92,000

The issue of rules that allow law-enforcement agencies to confiscate cash or other property during an investigation has drawn attention recently.

Such confiscations are often allowed even if no criminal charges are ever filed, and those losing the property must go to court to get their property.

For lawmakers in one state, however, those laws have gone too far.

The Institute for Justice is reporting lawmakers in Wyoming have banned the practice by officers of “badgering” drivers stopped on traffic infractions to sign pre-written waivers transferring title to property, including cash.

The bill, “Roadside waiver of property rights prohibited,” was signed recently by Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead.

It states plainly, “A law enforcement officer may not request, require, or in any manner induce any person to execute a document purporting to waive, for purpose of forfeiture under this section, the person’s interest in or rights to property seized.”

It also states any such document “is null and void.”

And finally, it allows confiscation “after a hearing and a finding of probable cause as required” by the law.

IJ said that previously, “during traffic stops, officers have badgered drivers into signing pre-written waivers that not only waive their rights to their property, but also waive their right to the limited protections offered by the state’s civil forfeiture laws.”

Wyoming’s bill, sponsored by Rep. Charles Pelkey, puts the state in the company of just two others, Texas and Virginia, that have similar bans.

“Due process doesn’t happen on the side of a road and we’re pleased to see Wyoming ban this abusive tactic,” said Institute for Justice attorney Dan Alban. “But the state’s civil forfeiture laws remained unchanged, and still need major reform. No one should lose their property without being convicted of a crime.”

IJ reported the law was in response to a case in which Wisconsin musician Phil Parhamovich had his “entire life savings” of $91,800 seized by highway patrol officers.

He was stopped for not wearing a seat belt. The officers searched his vehicle and found his savings, which he intended to use as down payment on a recording studio, hidden in a speaker.

“After aggressively interrogating Phil, and while still on the side of the interstate, officers pressured him to sign a waiver form ‘giving’ them his money,” IJ reported.

The organization described that waiver as “bizarre.”

It stated: “I … the owner of the property or currency described below, desire to give this property or currency, along with any and all interests and ownership that I may have in it, to the State of Wyoming, Division of Criminal Investigation, to be used for narcotics law enforcement purposes.”

Aside from a $25 ticket for not wearing his seatbelt, Parhamovich was never charged with any crime.

He spent months trying to recover his funds then worked with IJ on the case.

“Just hours after his case went public, a Wyoming judge ordered the state to return all of Phil’s money,” IJ reported.

“It’s a great relief to know that no one will have to go through what I went through,” Parhamovich said. “Obviously our police system is in need of many reforms but this is a step in the right direction.”

WND has reported on the move against the state allowances for forfeiture before a conviction.

A year ago, Ohio adopted a law that requires criminal charges be filed before police can take an individual’s assets.

The Heartland Institute, a free-market think tank, said there are 17 states that have taken similar actions.

“Reducing perverse economic incentives, the new law prohibits local governments from using the U.S. Department of Justice’s ‘equitable sharing’ program as a loophole to bypass constitutional protections on property rights in most cases, while still allowing government law enforcement agents to perform their duties and protect people,” said Jesse Hathaway, a research fellow and budget-tax expert at the institute.

“Government law enforcement should not be financially motivated, but motivated by a desire to protect and serve taxpayers. Civil asset forfeiture creates an economic incentive to engage in the forfeiture process, perverting the law. This measure reduces that incentive to do wrong and will help protect against the possibility of abuse,” Hathaway said.

http://www.wnd.com/2018/03/no-seat-belt-prompts-cops-to-seize-92000/