The Five States With The Highest Police Killing Rates Will Surprise You

The Five Deadliest Police States Of 2014

 

 

 

 

” If you had to guess which states had the most per-capita police involved deaths, would you include states like California, Texas, or New York? Or maybe Florida, Missouri, or Washington? Strange as it may seem, although these states do have many police involved deaths, they do not fall within the five deadliest.

  California has a population of approximately 38,802,500. In 2014 there were around 106 killings, which calculates to about 2.73 police related deaths per million residents (PRDPMR). Texas had a population of about 26,956,958, and 53 killings, calculates to about 1.97 PRDPMR. With a population of about 19,746,227 and 19 killings, New York’s rate of deaths from police officers is only 0.96 PRDPMR. Florida’s rate is 2.01 PRDPMR, Missouri’s is 2.14 PRDPMR, and Washington’s is 2.55 PRDPMR.”

Get the specifics at CopBlock.com

” Six things you can do to reduce the slaughter:

1. Write letters to your state legislators and city councils demanding that they require police to get trained on de-escalation strategies and less-than-lethal methods, and that police and sheriff’s departments enact stricter rules for using lethal force.
2. Vote out prosecutors that refuse to charge officers who needlessly take life.
3. Write your local police chiefs and sheriffs demanding that they hold their officers and deputies to higher standards when it comes to the use of force. Let them know that you will hold them accountable for any loss of life that results from the excessive use of force from members of their agency.
4. Always keep a video recording device with you, record every police encounter you see.
5. Email the link to this article to all of your friends.
6. Visit VictimsofPolice.com and look up the police related deaths that have recently occurred in your state. “

 

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Corrupt Police Roundup 4.23.15

Cop Smash & Grab: Houston Police Caught on Video Kicking in Door to Business, Stealing Cash

SHOCK VIDEO: Cop Armed with an AR-15 Charges at Woman Filming Police, Smashes Her Phone

Cops Removed Clothes From Young Woman’s Dead Body, Took Nude Photos (VIDEO)

 

TEXAS STATE TROOPER SHOOTS AT MOTORCYCLIST ON BUSY HIGHWAY, THEN KICKS HIM AS HE’S SURRENDERING

 

Teenage Students Forced To Strip and “Shake” Their Breasts In School Drug Search

 

The FBI Faked An Entire Field Of Forensic Science

 

Two Weeks After Cops Beat This Man, He Received a $650,000 Settlement

 

Man Arrested For “Sagging Pants” Dies In Jail Cell After Several Guards Pile On Top Of Him

 

Virginia Cop Detains Washington D.C. Television News Videographer, Fearing Camera Vest Could be Tactical Gear (Updated)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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73 Year-Old Reserve Deputy “Confuses” Taser & Sidearm , Kills Unarmed Suspect

Oklahoma Deputy Tells Dying Man Shot By Accident, “Fuck Your Breath,” As He Gasps His Final Breaths

 

 

 

” A 73-year-old volunteer Oklahoma deputy who has donated thousands of dollars of items to the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office over the years was allowed to participate in a high-profile sting operation where he ended up killing a man by accident.

  Reserve deputy  Robert Bates said he only meant to tase Eric Harris instead of shooting him to death.

  Bates can be heard apologizing for shooting the suspect before dropping the gun in a body cam video that is going viral.

  The shooting took place April 2, even though the date on the body cam footage reads 2008.

  Harris, who had led deputies on a pursuit after he attempted to sell a gun and ammo to an undercover cop, is seen on the ground with a deputy’s knee on his head.”

 

Photography Is Not A Crime has more on yet another senseless police killing 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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MRAP Driving Florida Cops Assault Motorist For Flipping Them The Bird

Florida Cops Use Tank For Routine Traffic Stop, Assault Man For Flipping Them Off

 

 

 

 

 

 

” It is hard to imagine that this surreal story does not originate in a nation run by a violent warlord (or maybe it does), but it actually comes from Florida, where Lucas Jewell, a resident of Gainesville noticed local members of the Alachua County Sheriff’s Department were riding through town in a tank-like armored vehicle that appears to be a Lanco BearCat, an armored personnel carrier intended for military use.

  As Mr. Jewell believes that this is a gross abuse of taxpayers’ dollars and is opposed to the militarization of police, he found this display of military hardware on public roads offensive and showed the individuals in riding in the tank his middle finger and proceeded to continue on his journey.

  The deputies from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Department had other plans; they followed Mr. Jewell closely for several blocks and then decided it to pull him over in an attempt to punish and intimidate him.

  What appears to be paramilitary group of individuals exited the armored vehicle and immediately proceeded to assault Mr. Jewell, accuse him that he was receiving oral sex from his girlfriend and his middle finger gesture constituted an “improper hand signal” in violation of Florida traffic law.  The suggestion that a middle finger raised in the air was intended to be a traffic hand gesture is ludicrous, but it did not stop these cops from attempting to bully Jewell into submission.”

 

Read the rest at TruthVoice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Anonymous Releases Newest Video On The US Police State – #CodeBlue

Anonymous – Code Blue – 2015

 

 

 

 

Published on Mar 6, 2015

” ANONYMOUS WOULD LIKE TO DEDICATED THIS VIDEO TO EVERYONE WHO HAS BEEN AFFECTED BY POLICE BRUTALITY AND LET THIS VIDEO SERVE AS A WARNING TO THOSE CROOKED COPS WHO FEEL ITS THEIR JOBS TO INFLICT PHYSICAL HARM OR DEATH ON THEIR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS… WE WILL BE WATCHING…
FURTHER MORE, YOUR ACTIONS ARE BEING RECORDED AND WILL SERVE AS AN ADMISSION OF GUILT AS ANONYMOUS WILL DO EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER TO SEE THAT YOUR PAST ACTIONS OF VIOLENCE DO NOT GO UNPUNISHED…”

WE ARE ANONYMOUS…
WA ARE LEGION…
WE DO NOT FORGIVE…
WE DO NOT FORGET…
EXPECT US.

   

Apologies for the caps , but the post came that way and there was too much text for us to redo … the message remains regardless of the SHOUTING …

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Can’t Make It To Holman Square Protest Today ? Anonymous Shows How You Can Take Part On Twitter: #OPGitmo2Chicago

A Message From Anonymous To Chicago Police #OPGitmo2Chicago

 

 

 

Published on Feb 27, 2015

” #OPGitmo2Chicago

Saturday, February 28 at 3:00pm in CST
3379 W Fillmore St. Chicago, IL

More information here

https://www.facebook.com/events/77204…

IMPORTANT: DO NOT USE HASHTAG UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF THE STORM.

Please invite as many of your friends to this event as possible.

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

Copy + Paste these tweets or create your own. Do not retweet, the hashtag will not trend.

If you are writing your own tweets, make sure to include the #Gitmo2Chicago hashtag, also try to include @rahmemanuel!

You do not need to post more than once every five minutes, especially to avoid suspension of your account, although having a high volume of tweets all at once is the objective to make the tag trend and bring the issue to more people’s attention.
SAMPLE TWEETS:

Chicago Police are operating a secret detention facility that mirrors the CIA’s “black sites.”http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/20… #Gitmo2Chicago

Hubbard was found dead in an interview room, no records exist on cause of death. #Gitmo2Chicagohttp://thefreethoughtproject.com/secr…

Violations of due process to torture, revelations raise concerns of deteriorating state of freedom #Gitmo2Chicago http://theantimedia.org/nation-reacts…

The egregious nature of this danger to liberty cannot be overstated. Demand @rahmemanuel shut it down. #Gitmo2Chicago http://thefreethoughtproject.com/secr…

Join the Protest– Saturday, February 28 3:00pm https://www.facebook.com/events/77204…#Gitmo2Chicago

Scariest part is likelihood of more locations across US where police can secretly detain/kill #NDAA #Gitmo2Chicago http://theantimedia.org/nation-reacts…

Secret interrogation facility reveals aspects of war on terror in US #Gitmo2Chicagohttp://www.theguardian.com/us-news/20…

‘They disappeared us’: protester details 17-hour shackling without basic rightshttp://thefreethoughtproject.com/secr… #Gitmo2Chicago

Accounts describe police brutality, missing 15-year-old and one man’s death #Gitmo2Chicagohttp://www.theguardian.com/us-news/20…

Infamous GITMO “Interrogator” Also Tortured Americans And Forced Confessions As A Chicago Cophttp://thefreethoughtproject.com/infa… #Gitmo2Chicago

Military Police From the Torturous Gitmo Prison, Being Recruited as Copshttp://thefreethoughtproject.com/mili… #Gitmo2Chicago

 

Chicago police you can expect us tomorrow “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Chicago Cops Engage In “Extraordinary Rendition” Of Americans At Homan Square Warehouse

The Disappeared: Chicago Police Detain Americans At Abuse-Laden ‘Black Site’

 

 

 

 

” The Chicago police department operates an off-the-books interrogation compound, rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site.

  The facility, a nondescript warehouse on Chicago’s west side known as Homan Square, has long been the scene of secretive work by special police units. Interviews with local attorneys and one protester who spent the better part of a day shackled in Homan Square describe operations that deny access to basic constitutional rights.

  Alleged police practices at Homan Square, according to those familiar with the facility who spoke out to the Guardian after its investigation into Chicago police abuse, include:

• Keeping arrestees out of official booking databases.
• Beating by police, resulting in head wounds.
• Shackling for prolonged periods.
• Denying attorneys access to the “secure” facility.
• Holding people without legal counsel for between 12 and 24 hours, including people as young as 15.

  At least one man was found unresponsive in a Homan Square “interview room” and later pronounced dead.

  Brian Jacob Church, a protester known as one of the “Nato Three”, was held and questioned at Homan Square in 2012 following a police raid. Officers restrained Church for the better part of a day, denying him access to an attorney, before sending him to a nearby police station to be booked and charged.”

 

 

   The Guardian , doing the job American media refuses to do , has much more on the state of the American Police State .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Cops Efforts To Conceal “Stingray” Surveillance Technology Allows Criminals To Walk

Secrecy Around Police Surveillance Equipment Proves A Case’s Undoing

 

 

 

” The case against Tadrae McKenzie looked like an easy win for prosecutors. He and two buddies robbed a small-time pot dealer of $130 worth of weed using BB guns. Under Florida law, that was robbery with a deadly weapon, with a sentence of at least four years in prison.

  But before trial, his defense team detected investigators’ use of a secret surveillance tool, one that raises significant privacy concerns. In an unprecedented move, a state judge ordered the police to show the device —a cell-tower simulator sometimes called a StingRay — to the attorneys.

  Rather than show the equipment, the state offered McKenzie a plea bargain.

  Today, 20-year-old McKenzie is serving six months’ probation ­after pleading guilty to a second-degree misdemeanor. He got, as one civil liberties advocate said, the deal of the century. (The other two defendants also pleaded guilty and were sentenced to two years’ probation.)

  McKenzie’s case is emblematic of the growing, but hidden, use by local law enforcement of a sophisticated surveillance technology borrowed from the national security world. It shows how a gag order imposed by the FBI — on grounds that discussing the device’s operation would compromise its effectiveness — has left judges, the public and criminal defendants in the dark on how the tool works.”

 

Washington Post

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Barely A Month Into The New Year , Civilian Death Toll From Cops Already Exceeds 100

Nearly 100 People Killed By Police In First Month Of 2015- Zero Officers Killed By Suspects

 

As this chart shows , policing isn’t even in the top ten of most dangerous jobs .

 

 

 

” The Officer Down Memorial Page, which tracks the deaths of police officers, is reporting zero officer deaths from gunfire in 2015.

Line of Duty Deaths: 13

Automobile accident: 5
Heart attack: 3
Struck by vehicle: 2
9/11 related illness: 1
Gunfire (Accidental): 1
Vehicle pursuit: 1

  In contrast, Killed By Police has logged at least 91 people killed by police in the month of January alone.  At least 1,106 people were killed in 2014, a number which calls into question the integrity of the FBI’s previous estimate of around 400 per year.

  Unlike the independent logging done by Killed By Police, the FBI collects their statistics only from reports voluntarily given to them by law enforcement agencies.  Only around 750 agencies, or 4 percent, out of 17,000 law enforcement entities across the United States offered this data to the FBI.

  Those who prefer to turn a blind eye to police abuse often refer to police as heroes who “deserve to make it home to their families” or speak of the difficulties of a job where your life is perpetually at risk.”

 

 

   The Free Thought Project has much more and be sure to view the death toll at Killed By Police which , as of February 5th , numbers 109 citizens dead of police gun fire .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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How License Plate Readers Are Eroding Your Privacy

They’re Tracking You Everywhere You Drive

 

 

 

” Towing companies are a necessary evil when it comes to parking enforcement and property repossession. But in the Google Earth we now inhabit, tow trucks do more than just yank cars out of loading zones. They use license-plate readers (LPRs) to assemble a detailed profile of where your car will be and when. That’s an unnecessary evil.

  Plate readers have long been a tool of law enforcement, and police officers swear by them for tracking stolen cars and apprehending dangerous criminals. But private companies, such as repo crews, also photograph millions of plates a day, with scanners mounted on tow trucks and even on purpose-built camera cars whose sole mission is to drive around and collect plate scans. Each scan is GPS-tagged and stamped with the date and time, feeding a massive data trove to any law-enforcement agency—or government-approved private industry—willing to pay for it.

  You’ve probably been tagged at the office, at a mall, or even in your own driveway. And the companies that sell specialized monitoring software that assembles all these sightings into a reliable profile stand to profit hugely. Brian Hauss, a legal fellow for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), says: “The whole point is so you can figure out somebody’s long-term location. Unless there are limits on how those transactions can be processed, I think it’s just a matter of time until there are significant privacy violations, if they haven’t already occurred.”

  (How Is This Even Legal? License-plate-reader companies don’t have access to DMV registrations, so while they can track your car, they don’t know it’s yours. That information is guarded by the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994, which keeps your name, address, and driving history from public view. Mostly. There are plenty of exceptions, including for insurance companies and private investigators. LPR companies say only two groups can use its software to find the person behind the plate: law-enforcement agencies and repossession companies. In addition, the encrypted databases keep a log of each plate search and allow the ability to restrict access.)

  The companies that push plate readers enjoy unregulated autonomy in most states. Vigilant Solutions of California and its partner, Texas-based Digital Recognition Network, boast at least 2 billion license-plate scans since starting the country’s largest private license-plate database, the National Vehicle Location Service, in 2009.

  In total, there are at least 3 billion license-plate photos in private databases. Since many are duplicates and never deleted, analytics can paint a vivid picture of any motorist. Predicting where and when someone will drive is relatively easy; software can sort how many times a car is spotted in a certain area and, when fed enough data, can generate a person’s driving history over time.”

 

Read the rest at Popular Mechanics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Escorts Required For Media Lapdogs At Dem’s Retreat … Even To The Loo

At Retreat, Dem Staffers Escort Reporters To Restroom

 

 

 

” Reporters covering the House Democrats’ retreat in Philadelphia this week are having a much different experience than when they’re on their home turf on Capitol Hill. 

  Reporters are being escorted to and from the restroom and lobby and are being barred from entering the hotel outside of scheduled events, even if they’ve been invited by a member of Congress. 

  During Vice President Joe Biden’s remarks at the retreat Friday, reporters were required to have a staff member, usually a junior member of the press team, escort them when going to the bathroom or to the lobby. The filing center for reporters was at a separate hotel from where the retreat was taking place, so access was limited to members of Congress specifically made available to the press.

“ It was a police state. It was absurd how heavy handed the capitol police and Democratic staff were in trying to control everywhere the press went,” New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters said in an interview.”

 

Read more about the media being shut out by their own home team here . The irony is delicious .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Police “Flashbangs” Taking An Ever-Increasing Toll On Citizens … Over 50 Killed Or Maimed

Why Police Are Maiming, Killing With ‘Grenades’

 

 

 

 

” Following a drug tip, nearly 20 cops stormed a small apartment outside Atlanta in 2010. Invading officers found only a little weed, but managed to seriously injure resident Treneshia Dukes with a flashbang grenade—a police device that’s drawing increasing attention and controversy, Pro Publica reports. Cops often toss the flash-and-bang devices to disorient suspects during drug raids, but critics note that the grenades’ flash is more hot than lava.At least 50 Americans, including children and cops, have been killed, maimed, or injured by flashbangs that landed near them or went off too soon. Even Bill Nixon, an Arkansas man who used to make flashbangs for police (before an officer lost a hand demonstrating one to Boy Scouts) doesn’t get why cops use them regularly. “It boggles my mind,” he says.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

” Police in Little Rock, Ark., used them on 84% of raids from 2011 to 2013, although the raids usually just turned up minor drug paraphernalia. But a police rep defends flashbang use, saying that “what we see is a large service of warrants without gunfire.” Still, horror stories include a 19-month-old Georgia baby who suffered severe facial injuries during a drug raid when a flashbang landed in her crib, WOKV reports. A grand jury didn’t indict the officers involved but suggested two ideas that are going around: better police training (there are no national flashbang training standards) and fewer “no-knock” warrants that permit police raids. Meanwhile, Dukes—who suffered second-degree burns over her body—has filed a civil suit alleging excessive police force. “My skin is ugly, and I feel like I’m ugly,” she says. “When I talk about it, I just get angry.” “

 

Thanks to Newser

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Daily Police Misconduct 1.19.15

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 01-15-15

 

 

 

 

 

” These are the nine reports of police misconduct tracked for Thursday, January 15, 2015:

• Update: Buffalo, New York (First reported 08-12-14): A now-former police officer was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay $300,000 for his role in a large marijuana grow operation. http://1.usa.gov/1C8RtOH
• Titusville, Florida (First reported 03-07-14): A now-former officer was found guilty on drug conspiracy charges. He accepted $500 to guard what he believed to be a cocaine deal while he was in uniform. He also accessed police database in furtherance of his illicit activities. http://ow.ly/HkYe5
• Los Angeles County, California: Three deputies have been suspended while they are investigated for bribery involving a towing scheme. No criminal charges have been filed yet so their names and other details have not been released. ow.ly/HnRnU 
• Update: Baltimore, Maryland (First reported 06-18-14): One of the two officers charged with animal cruelty for slitting a dog’s throat had his case dismissed. Charges against the other officer are still pending. ow.ly/HnIDY 
• Shelby County, Tennessee: A deputy has been suspended while he is investigated for assaulting his girlfriend’s two-year-old child. He allegedly disciplined the child for having a dirty diaper. ow.ly/HnB07 
• Durham, North Carolina: An officer was suspended because he is being investigated for domestic assault against his wife. ow.ly/Hn5ya 
• Update: Bridgeport, Connecticut (First reported 08-08-14): One of the three police officers caught on video “stomping” a suspect in a park was acquitted for civil rights violations after a three day federal trial. The other two now-former officers previously pled guilty and did not testify in this trial. http://ow.ly/Hn7tQ 
• Update: Tuckerton, New Jersey (First reported 04-15-14): An officer was indicted on falsification charges stemming from an incident where he sicced a K9 on a 57-year-old woman in custody. The prosecutor alleged the officer lied on official documents to cover-up his conduct. ow.ly/HnDEn 
• Coraopolis, Pennsylvania: The police chief was charged for his role in a vehicular accident that left a woman seriously injured. ly/HnOXX 

 

 

This work by Cato Institute is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Wisconsin Gun Dealer’s Audio Tapes Reveal Feds Effort To Strangle Legal Businesses Through Operation Choke Point

Audio Tapes Reveal How Federal Regulators Shut Down Gun Store Owner’s Bank Accounts

 

 

 

 

” Conversations recorded by a Wisconsin gun store owner provide perhaps the clearest glimpse yet into how the federal government uses regulators to target legal firearm and ammunition sellers.

“ Our hands are tied by it,” a regional manager with Heritage Credit Union told Hawkins Guns owner Mike Schuetz of federal regulations which forced the institution to close Shuetz’s bank accounts in November.

  Recordings of Shuetz’s conversations with the manager and a bank teller, which were published online by the U.S. Consumer Coalition, make it clear that the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) examined the credit union’s books and forced it to close Shuetz’s account — a move he blames on a Department of Justice initiative called Operation Choke Point.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

” Schuetz’s saga began on Nov. 13, when he says Heritage Credit Union informed him that it would have to close his bank accounts.

“ I received a call from Heritage Credit Union in Hawkins, where I set up my business account for Hawkins Guns. They told me I had to close the account because they do not service companies that deal in guns,” wrote Shuetz on Facebook at the time.”

 

 

    Below is a screen shot from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s report from December 8, 2014 , “Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Involvement in “Operation Choke Point” detailing some of the legal businesses Obama’s Federal regulators have determined are not suitable for the American public to be exposed to . Warning: PDF

 

 

 

 

 

Daily Caller

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Daily Police Misconduct 1.14.15

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 01-10-15 to 01-12-15

 

 

 

” Here are the 10 reports of police misconduct tracked for Saturday, January 10 through Monday, January 12, 2015:

• Savannah-Chatham, Georgia: A now-former officer pled not guilty in federal court to conspiracy to distribute ecstasy. He is alleged to have been involved in an ecstasy distribution scheme while he was employed by the department, though not  while he was on duty. http://ow.ly/H9k4t 
• Plano, Texas: An officer was arrested for possession of child pornography on his phone. He had been arrested three weeks prior to this incident for indecent contact with a minor, allegedly inappropriately touching a nine-year-old girl. He is on administrative leave pending the investigations.http://ow.ly/H9lqO 
• Sarasota, Florida: A department sergeant was arrested for battery. After finding his wife seated to another man at a bar, the sergeant allegedly put the patron in a choke hold after accusing him of having an affair with his wife. http://ow.ly/Hbf1T 
• Marion County, Florida: The sheriff’s office settled a lawsuit for $30,000 stemming from an incident at a party. The plaintiffs, a couple, alleged they were unlawfully arrested for disobedience when the police showed up to a party at their place. Specifically, one of the arrests was for filming the officers and thus the arrest violated her constitutional rights. The sheriff’s office refused to accept culpability in the settlement. http://ow.ly/Hbhz5 
• Update: Memphis, Tennessee (First reported 12-15-14): A now-former officer received a one year suspended sentence and two years of probation in a sexual misconduct case. The officer pulled over a car with two men in it, instructed the passenger to get out, and told the other occupant of the car to perform a sex act. The victim reported the incident to the police six days later. http://ow.ly/HbxBE 
• Hodgenville, Kentucky: The police chief was charged with misconduct for sharing DUI dashcam footage with members of the media.http://ow.ly/HbyQj 
• Little Silver, New Jersey: An officer was arrested and charged with domestic violence. He is alleged to have gotten into a physical altercation while driving with a friend or acquaintance. http://ow.ly/HbQl9 
• Update: Albuquerque, New Mexico (First reported 03-27-14): The two officers shown on video shooting a homeless man who was camping have been charged with murder. http://ow.ly/HbSt7 
• Albuquerque, New Mexico: A police lieutenant shot an undercover officer during a methamphetamine bust. The investigation is on-going.http://ow.ly/HcJ9S 
• Update: Memphis, Tennessee (First reported 06-09-14): The officer who had been fired for attempted theft from a Make-a-Wish family has been indicted by a grand jury. In a scuffle at the airport, the now-former officer allegedly tried to steal a bag of t-shirts and a credit card meant for a family as part of the Make-a-Wish program. http://ow.ly/HbWX1 

 

 

This work by Cato Institute is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Daily Police Misconduct 1.12.15

National Police Misconduct Daily NewsFeed Recap 01-08-15

 

 

 

 

 

 

” Here are the nine reports of police misconduct tracked for Thursday, January 8, 2015:

• Wichita, Kansas: An officer was arrested on seven counts of domestic violence. The officer is a 19-year veteran of the department.http://ow.ly/GWKSv 
• Los Angeles, California: An officer was charged with exposing himself to five people at the Huntington Beach nature preserve. The victims, all female, range between 12 and 80 years of age. He is alleged to have victimized one 12-year-old girl twice. http://ow.ly/GWNJo 
• Update: Park Ridge, Illinois (First reported 03-07-12): A police commander had aggravated battery charges reinstated. He is accused of beating two teenagers. http://ow.ly/GZM4U 
• Update: Greene, New York (First reported 04-30-14): The now-former police chief was sentenced to pay restitution for buying personal items—tires and a vacuum cleaner—with public money. http://ow.ly/GZMVv 
• Cedar Park, Texas: An officer was fired for lying about his personal relationship with a “known criminal.” The police found pictures of the officer and the suspect together on the suspect’s cell phone during the course of an investigation. According to the news report, the police department said that not only did they fire the officer for being dishonest, but because he accessed police databases about the suspect without legal reason to do so. The suspect has a history of sexual assault and is characterized in other reports as a potential “serial rapist.”http://ow.ly/GZPlT 
• Tipton County, Tennessee: A sheriff’s deputy was fired for crashing his cruiser while off duty and intoxicated. His six-year-old son was in front seat of the car and not properly restrained in a booster seat. No injuries were reported from the accident.  http://ow.ly/GZQfD 
• Edwardsville, Pennsylvania: An officer was charged with obstruction of emergency services. He arrived at the scene of a one vehicle accident and knew the driver. He attempted to get the other first responders to not write-up the driver’s intoxication in their reports. http://ow.ly/GZRdd 
• Update: Chattanooga, Tennessee (First reported 09-10-14): A detective who was already suspended for DUI in September was arrested on domestic violence charges. He is alleged to have struck his mother-in-law in the face.http://ow.ly/GZSPd 
• Irvington, New Jersey: A police captain was arrested and charged with stalking, criminal mischief, assault, and weapons charges. The captain had been promoted to that rank the morning of the incident and had been at a celebration of that promotion beforehand. She allegedly confronted a city councilman at his home around 11 P.M. that night and repeatedly rammed her car into his.  http://ow.ly/H0EBX 

 

 

 

This work by Cato Institute is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Police Chief Magazine: It’s All About The Revenue Stream

Generating New Revenue Streams

 

 

 

” The common reaction to a budget crisis is reducing personnel and cutting services. The focus of this article is to provide police agencies with an alternative to personnel and service reductions. This alternative could help the survival of a city and maintain or expand police service through generating new revenue streams as a proactive approach to meet the fiscal crisis of today and the uncertain future of tomorrow.

  While generating revenue streams is not new to most agencies, the focus and resources necessary to meet current and emerging public safety needs are unprecedented in law enforcement’s history. Law enforcement executives are accustomed to the ebb and flow of fiscal budgets. The current trend, however, is much more far reaching and will impact almost all cities in California and most likely all communities in the United States.

  Five years ago, the current state of the economy facing cities and counties was not even a concern. Now, however, many law enforcement agencies are facing the reality of severe budget cuts, reduced workforce, and the elimination or reduction of many law enforcement programs. Today, police chiefs are being asked to look for ways of economizing, increasing efficiency, eliminating redundancies, and finding revenue sources.

  This trend will be prompted in two possible ways. First, increasing financial pressure will require more severe budget cuts to the point that many agencies will be able to provide only basic services. Second, cities will begin to see successes at nearby agencies and look to new revenue streams as a panacea to forestall reduced services or even bankruptcy. Based on the research for this article, there is a clear presumption of need for law enforcement to generate new income streams. A first necessary step in that process is to examine possible revenue-generating ideas.
Possible New Revenue Streams

  A group of experts in the fields of city government, business, real estate, and entrepreneurship assembled in April 2008 to identify possible new income streams that could be initiated by law enforcement.² Their suggested new revenue streams serve as an example of ideas that can be generated in a short period of time. Each idea must be weighed against the feasibility of implementation, profit potential, and appropriateness for law enforcement involvement. Their most prominent recommendations were

• fees for sex offenders registering in a given jurisdiction,

• city tow companies,

• fine increases by 50 percent,

• pay-per-call policing,

• vacation house check fees,

• public hours at police firing range for a fee,

• police department-run online traffic school for minor traffic infractions,

• department-based security service including home checks and monitoring of security cameras by police department,

• a designated business to clean biological crime scenes,

• state and court fees for all convicted felons returning to the community,

• allowing agency name to be used for advertisement and branding,

• triple driving-under-the-influence fines by the court,

• resident fee similar to a utility tax,

• tax or fee on all alcohol sold in the city,

• tax or fee on all ammunition sold in, the city,

• public safety fees on all new development in the city,

• 9-1-1 fee per use,

• police department website with business advertisement for support,

• selling ride-a-longs to the public, and

• police department–run firearm safety classes.

  In addition to concepts that may lie ahead, there are also many examples of revenue-generating ideas that have been tried and proven in actual use. “

 

 

    Yes , as this police chief acknowledges however inadvertently , it’s all about the revenue generation and less about public safety …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Daily Police Misconduct 12.24.14

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 12-20-14 to 12-22-14

 

 

 

 

 

” Here are the 9 reports of police misconduct tracked for Saturday, December 20 to Monday, December 22, 2014:

• New York, New York: A police officer was suspended after a video that showed him repeatedly striking a 16-year-old in custody went viral.  http://ow.ly/GfVie 
• Sierra Vista, Arizona: An officer was fired after causing a chain-reaction traffic accident under the influence of alcohol. Two other vehicles were damaged but no injuries were reported after the 7 A.M. fracas.   http://ow.ly/GfVPb 
• Update: Atlanta, Georgia: A now-former police officer was sentenced to five years in prison, with another five suspended, after being found guilty on four of five counts related to excessive force allegations.http://ow.ly/GfWNw 
• New York, New York: An officer was arrested for allegedly stealing and then pawning her boyfriend’s mother’s jewelry. She faces charges of possession of stolen property and petty larceny. http://ow.ly/GfX7
• San Francisco County, California: A deputy was charged with assaulting a hospital patient and filing a false report to cover it up. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the victim had been sleeping in a chair when the deputy approached him and began to question him. When the victim attempted to walk away with the help of a cane, the deputy grabbed the man’s throat and choked him. Authorities say they have video of the incident. http://ow.ly/GfXws 
• Denver, Colorado: A sheriff’s deputy was arrested and accused of assaulting her wife in a dispute over lost car keys. http://ow.ly/GiFCM 
• Dallas, Texas: A 26-year veteran officer was arrested and accused of coercing prostitutes to perform sexual acts.  http://ow.ly/GiR8S 
• Derry Township, Pennsylvania: A now-former police officer was charged with stealing prescription drugs from the evidence room at the police station. He admitted to taking and consuming the drugs as a result of a substance abuse problem.  http://ow.ly/GiRDe
• Update: Milwaukee, Wisconsin: A now-former police officer will not face charges in fatal shooting of mentally ill black man he encountered in a park. The officer was fired after the incident for initiating a pat-down of the victim against policy that preceded the shooting.  http://ow.ly/GiUeo

 

 

This work by Cato Institute is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Daily Police Misconduct 12.23.14

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 12-19-14

 

 

 

 

 

 

” Here are the 11 reports of police misconduct tracked for Friday, December 19, 2014:

• Indianapolis, Indiana: A police officer was arrested and charged with theft, mishandling of evidence, and obstruction of justice. He allegedly stole three firearms and some ammunition that had been seized as evidence.http://ow.ly/Gb4M8
• Boulder, Colorado: A police officer was charged with three felony stalking counts after allegedly tracking and harassing his estranged wife in a neighboring county. According to police, he called her incessantly and texted her 2,650 times between June 12 and October 2. He resigned from the police department several days after his arrest. http://ow.ly/GbtxT
• Marion County, Indiana: A sheriff’s deputy was arrested and charged with rape. He had been on administrative leave pending investigation and was fired when charges were filed. http://ow.ly/Gb6m8
• Update: Lamar County, Mississippi: A now-former police officer who had already been jailed for sexual battery was convicted of attempted murder of wife and step-daughter. The alleged sexual battery happened while he was on the force, but the attempted murder charges were a result of actions he took in jail after he’d retired from the police department. He still awaits trial on the battery charges. http://ow.ly/Gbsyj
• Richmond, California: A police sergeant was fired after allegedly tipping-off drug dealers to police activity and exposing the identity of an informant. No criminal charges have been filed against the former sergeant yet.http://ow.ly/Gb7NL
• Bryan, Texas: An officer was indicted for 58 counts of child pornography possession. Law enforcement had been alerted by a friend of the officer who found the material on the officer’s cell phone. He resigned upon arrest. ly/GaYTG
• Dalton, Tennessee: An officer was arrested and charged with child molestation. He was a new hire and on force fewer than 90 days. A woman had filed a complaint that her daughter had been touched inappropriately by a police officer and was told not to tell anyone. ly/GaWJa
• Update: Emmett Township, Michigan: An officer already charged with multiple counts of sexual misconduct was charged with two additional sexual assault charges and related firearms charges. ly/GaUJx
• Chicago, Illinois: An officer was stripped of his arrest powers after being stopped for suspected DUI and firing his weapon at the off-duty officer who pulled him over. Neither officer was injured by the gunfire. ly/G7IMe
• Update: Waupun, Wisconsin: A now-former police lieutenant was sentenced to three years’ probation for auto theft. He currently awaits other charges related to a two-day crime spree apparently triggered by being caught in a burglary by another officer. ly/G7FwB
• Update: Lompoc, California: A police officer was arrested for violating court order stemming from previous domestic violence arrest. ly/G7DhH

 

 

 

This work by Cato Institute is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Daily Police Misconduct 12.20.14

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 12-17-14

 

 

 

 

 

” Here are the 21 reports of police misconduct tracked for Wednesday, December 17, 2014:

• Greene County, Ohio: A now-former sheriff’s major was convicted on two of seven counts for illegally purchasing a machine gun. He forged a superior’s name on the federal paperwork to acquire the gun and then kept it for his personal use. http://ow.ly/FWCAG 
• Boston, Massachusetts: A state trooper has been placed on restricted duty. The state police are investigating an incident caught on video in which the trooper verbally abused and pepper sprayed a peaceful protester.http://ow.ly/FYX4c 
• Huntsville, Alabama: A police officer was arrested by FBI for bribery. The highly decorated officer was arrested under sealed affidavit so few other details are currently available to the public. http://ow.ly/FWFa7 
• Baton Rouge, Louisiana: An officer has been named in two federal lawsuits alleging excessive force. The lawsuits allege a documented history of violent behavior by the officer. http://ow.ly/FZy6u 
• Espanola, New Mexico: A police officer was arrested for aggravated driving while intoxicated. His law enforcement certification has been suspended pending outcome of the criminal case. http://ow.ly/FZAWH 
• Baltimore, Maryland: The police department is being sued by woman who claims she was verbally abused, tasered, and arrested for recording a police stop of another person. She claims the police erased the encounter from her cell phone, but she was able to recover the footage that included her own arrest because she had an application that automatically backed up her data. http://ow.ly/FZFIv 
• Chillicothe, Ohio: An officer was suspended and then resigned amid administrative and criminal investigations into an alleged sexual assault. The victim originally refused to speak to anyone in law enforcement when she was admitted to the hospital. The following day, she returned to the hospital to talk with sheriff’s department detectives from the county. She described the officer and he was identified. http://ow.ly/FZJZ3 
• Jefferson Parish, Louisiana: A deputy was fired and arrested for having sex with suspect in exchange for not taking her to jail. The deputy had responded to a reported theft from a car. He learned that the caller had a warrant and two other outstanding attachments. They reached a compromise. However, when she called-in another theft, according to the news report: “A different deputy responded and told the woman about the attachments and warrant….The woman then informed the deputy of her previous arrangement with his colleague. But no similar terms were struck. The deputy arrested the woman and informed supervisors about the allegation.” http://ow.ly/FZZS8 
• Update: Colchester, Vermont (First reported 11-12-14): A detective has been indicted for stealing $5,000 in cash and drugs from the evidence room, giving a firearm to a felon, and heroin distribution. http://ow.ly/G05dV 
• Salem, Virginia: An officer and DEA task force member pled guilty to bribery. He had been accused of soliciting sex from a cooperating witness in exchange for his support at her sentencing. http://ow.ly/G078w 
• Onondaga County, New York: Three sheriff’s deputies have been indicted for filing false time sheets for public transit duty they didn’t serve.http://ow.ly/G1dHV 
• Denton County, Texas: A deputy has been indicted for child exploitation. He is alleged to have downloaded and stored child pornography on his computer. http://ow.ly/G32hB 
• Victoria, Texas: An officer was suspended and is under investigation for excessive force after tasing a 76-year-old man over expired inspection tags for his vehicle. The video of the incident has gone viral. http://ow.ly/G3aRQ 
• Update: King County, Washington (First reported 03-04-14): A deputy pled guilty to reckless driving, a misdemeanor. He had originally been arrested for DUI and hit & run. Investigators alleged that he took sleeping pills an hour before the accident. http://ow.ly/G2YV7 
• Aledo, Illinois: Two deputies were arrested on the same day after a state police investigation into an allegation of an inappropriate relationship between a member of the department and a minor. One deputy was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse, meaning he had sexual contact with someone between 13 and 17 years old. The other was charged with indecent solicitation of a child.  http://ow.ly/G34DB 
• Buffalo, New York: An officer has been suspended without pay after a video surfaced of him beating a man with a baton Thanksgiving morning.http://ow.ly/G37NB 
• St. Petersburg, Florida: An officer was arrested for suspicion of DUI after running red light. He has been suspended pending an investigation into the incident. http://ow.ly/G3BlC 
• Salem, Massachusetts (Massachusetts State Police): A state trooper pled not guilty to DUI and other offenses stemming from Spring 2014 car accident. The vehicle hit a utility pole and a 53-year-old passenger in the car had to be airlifted to the hospital to be treated for his injuries. The trooper refused a field sobriety test and refused medical treatment, thus precluding a blood test. http://ow.ly/G45cK 
• Update: Los Angeles County, California (First reported 01-18-12): A now-former deputy has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for obstructing federal civil rights investigation. The former deputy was the last of a number of department members prosecuted for abusing prisoners in the jail and covering up investigations into that abuse. http://ow.ly/G49ij 
• Update: Clay County, Florida (First reported 02-27-14): The sheriff’s office has settled a wrongful arrest suit for $50,000. Two detectives jailed the wrong teen for child sex abuse and held him for 35 days.http://ow.ly/G3Gbg 
• Update: Honolulu, Hawaii (First reported 09-19-14): An officer pled not guilty to three sexual assault charges and is awaiting trial.http://ow.ly/G43nw 

 

 

 

 

 

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Your Social Media Posts Are Being Used By The State To Profile Your “Threat Rating”

Cops Are Scanning Social Media To Assign You A “Threat Rating”

 

 

” Online activity, purchases, and “comments that could be construed as offensive,” all contribute to your threat score.

  Imagine the following scenario: You are on your way home from work, driving down the road, when you notice police lights in your rear view mirror. You are being pulled over.

  As you sit there, on the shoulder, adrenaline rushing, simultaneously angry and nervous, the police officer, in his patrol car behind you, is sizing you up based on an algorithm that determines your “threat rating.” 

  The officer enters your license plate into a mobile application on his laptop. In a matter of seconds, this application crawls over billions of records in commercial and public databases, including all available social media engagement, recent purchases and “any comments that could be construed as offensive.” The application then determines if your “threat rating” is green, yellow, or red.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

” Imagine that you are one of our informed and frequent readers and understand the importance of police accountability and are unafraid to voice your completely peaceful, yet strong opinion about police misconduct. Imagine that you left a comment on Facebook this morning about a particular officer’s misconduct; imagine that it is this particular officer who just pulled you over.

  Up until this point, you have never committed a crime, you have never been violent, you have never even so much as run a stop sign. However, this police officer now knows that you made a comment about him punching the (insert handcuffed and helpless victim example here) on Facebook, and he literally sees red (your threat rating).

  What happens next? Does a routine traffic stop for driving 10 miles over the speed limit morph into a situation in which you now have a Smith and Wesson M&P 9mm pistol with Streamlight TLR-2s laser site being aimed just above your left ear?

  Do you receive multiple erroneous citations because this officer now has access to your personal life? Do you get cited where the officer would have otherwise let someone else go?

  Or, maybe you are a cop or a judge, or the mayor, but this application confuses you with someone else and marks you as “red,” then what? What if you are driving someone else’s car?

  The reality is, that any number of unimaginable things can and would happen next. And now, thanks to a particularly ominous product, by a company named Intrado, and the Orwellian nature of police in this country, those unimaginable situations are now a reality.

Read more at The Free Thought Project

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Daily Police Misconduct 12.18.14

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 12-16-14

 

 

 

 

 

” Here are the 10 reports of police misconduct tracked for Tuesday December 16, 2014:

• Update: Oldham County, Kentucky (First reported 10-14-14): A now-former police officer was sentenced to nine months in jail for sending lewd text messages to a teenager he met during a traffic stop. http://ow.ly/FWfGR
• Update: Woonsocket, Rhode Island (First reported 08-22-12): A now-former police officer was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with all but six months suspended, for choking his 9-year-old sister while she was in his custody.http://ow.ly/FWjWa
• Update: Berkeley, New Jersey (First reported 06-11-14): The police department settled an excessive force lawsuit for $110,000 from an incident in January 2013. Video evidence shows an officer punch a handcuffed man in custody. The offending officer had been involved in another excessive force lawsuit in 2008 that also resulted in a $110,000 settlement.http://ow.ly/FWlpY 
• Colfax, Louisiana: A now-former police chief was sentenced for one count each of malfeasance in office, obstruction of justice, and theft of a firearm for pawning seized police evidence. He received five year sentences, suspended, on both the malfeasance and obstruction charges. He was sentenced to seven years hard labor, with five suspended, on the gun charge. http://ow.ly/FWoCz 
• Update: Alton, Illinois (First reported 08-14-14): An evidence officer is accused of destroying forensic evidence, including a rape kit and clothing. The discovery was made during an investigation into missing evidence in 130 cases. It is unclear whether this officer is responsible for the other missing evidence. http://ow.ly/FWvnC 
• Update: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (First reported 04-01-14): The department settled a lawsuit by a teacher for wrongful arrest. The teacher was arrested outside a public meeting that had been discussing police/community relations. http://ow.ly/FYGZw 
• Suffolk, Virginia: A female officer was arrested for assault after confrontation with another officer’s wife. The wife had filed charges against her husband but subsequently dropped them. Both officers are currently under investigation. http://ow.ly/FYE4d 
• Update: New York, New York (First reported 12-10-11): A now-former police officer was sentenced to 12.5-14.5 years in prison for grand larceny, robbery, and drug possession. This conviction was the latest in a string of cases that originally stemmed from a ticket fixing scandal that uncovered a drug ring and other corruption in the NYPD. http://ow.ly/FYQ1d 
• El Paso, Texas: A police officer was fired after the investigation into the fatal shooting of a handcuffed man who was sitting on the ground outside the local jail. The officer had been on leave since the incident in March 2013. The victim’s family has filed a civil suit, but the district attorney declined to file criminal charges. http://ow.ly/FWAu2 
• Starr County, Texas: A sheriff’s deputy was indicted for smuggling 77 pounds of marijuana across US-Mexico border. The deputy and her brother were arrested November 10 at a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol checkpoint with bundles of marijuana hidden in their vehicle’s floor.http://ow.ly/FYS2T  “

” This work by Cato Institute is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

 

 

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Daily Police Misconduct 12.17.14

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 12-03-14 to 12-15-14

 

 

 

 

” Here are the 15 reports of police misconduct tracked for Wednesday December 3 to Monday, December 15, 2014:

• Corpus Christi, Texas: A police officer has been disciplined after dash cam video showed he asked woman to delete video of chokehold by county official. ly/FUGrY
• Colcord, Oklahoma: A police chief has been arrested for driving under the influence in his police cruiser. It’s his third DUI since 2004. ly/FUNb4
• Pittsfield, Massachusetts: A man claims he was arrested for recording a traffic stop with his cell phone. He is challenging the arrest at his trial for disorderly conduct. ly/FV3fJ
• Memphis, Tennessee: A police officer resigned and pled guilty to a charge of misconduct. He was accused of coercing a fugitive to perform sex acts.ly/FV6u4
• Riverside County, California: A sheriff’s sergeant was charged with battery on a spouse, false imprisonment, assault, and illegal possession of controlled substances. ly/FVn0f
• New Straitsville, Ohio: The police chief was indicted for records tampering for second time in the past two years. The newer charges are related to complicity in his wife’s alleged food stamp and Medicaid fraud charges, for which he faces up to seven years. A former Perry County Sheriff’s deputy, he was already slated for a trial for tampering with records and unlawful use of a law enforcement database. He faces up to 14 years in that case.http://ow.ly/FVplR
• Update: Los Angeles, California (First reported 8-30-12): The police department settled excessive force suit for $550,000. The plaintiff had video showing officers body slamming her to the ground twice after she talked back to one officer. One officer involved in the case was suspended and the other was fired. http://ow.ly/FVvdU
• Update: Los Angeles County, California (First reported 9-13-13): A now-former sheriff’s deputy pled no contest to charges related to a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl. The highly decorated 22-year veteran was sentenced to three years in prison. http://ow.ly/FVCjn
• Update: Eutawville, South Carolina (First reported 8-16-13): A now-former police chief was indicted for murder stemming from 2011 shooting of unarmed man in parking lot. He had been charged in relation to the case with misconduct in office, but a judge recently ruled he could not use a Stand Your Ground defense and subsequently a grand jury indicted him for murder. http://ow.ly/FVHJy
• Carbon County, Utah: A county sheriff was charged with misuse of public funds and equipment. He allegedly used department funds to pay for $2000 worth of gasoline for his personal use. He also used the department’s search and rescue trailer to move into his new home in a neighboring county. http://ow.ly/FVQJj
• Clewiston, Florida: A police officer was arrested for assaulting a Hendry County sheriff’s deputy at a gas station. Both officers were off duty but the assaulting officer was still wearing part of his uniform at the time of the alleged attack. http://ow.ly/FVXmK “

 

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Daily Police Misconduct 12.16.14

Police Departments On Trial

 

 

 

 

Tweet

 

” From the Economist:

  So far much of the debate within America has focused on race. That is not unreasonable: the victims were all black, and most of the policemen involved were white. American blacks feel that the criminal-justice system works against them, rather than for them. Some 59% of white Americans have confidence in the police, but only 37% of blacks do. This is poisonous: if any racial group distrusts the enforcers of the law, it erodes the social contract. It also hurts America’s moral standing in the world (not aided by revelations about the CIA’s use of torture—see article). But racial division, rooted as it is in America’s past, is not easily mitigated.

  There is, however, another prism through which to examine these grim stories: the use of excessive violence by the state (see article). It, too, has complex origins, but quite a lot of them may be susceptible to reform. In many cases Americans simply do not realise how capricious and violent their law-enforcement system is compared with those of other rich countries. It could be changed in ways that would make America safer, and fairer to both blacks and whites….

  In many ways America remains a model for other countries. Its economic engine has roared back to life. Its values are ones which decent people should want to spread. Yet its criminal-justice system, the backbone of any society, is deeply flawed. “

 

 

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