Police States

[Catwoman]

Ross, while I try to stay away from the Politics thread (and I am sure that will draw some comments from more than a few people), I think you should realize the part that demographics play here.  If, in Elk County population in 2010 of 2,882 people, there is one person who seemingly threatens the safety of a police officer, that roughly translates to approximately 3,000 to 4,000 thousand people in a county the size of Los Angeles.  This means for every nut job that threatens a cop in Elk County, we have that many more thousand potential individuals who could do the same.  If you have 2 nut jobs then there is maybe 7,000 of them here and I will grant you we have more than our fair share of nut jobs many of whom are armed and on drugs,  Because of the lure of big city jobs and easy access to drugs and guns we attract them by the thousands.  if I were a police officer and I was faced with an individual who wasn't complying to commands such as "keep your hands where I can see them" and they reach into their pocket or a bag, you can bet I am going to shoot first.  Any person in their right mind in this area would follow the police officers instructions for fear of getting shot.  And, because of the those same demographics there are going to be mistakes like the ones you mentioned. 

As far as the LAPD being a militarized group, hiring former military personnel is more reasonable than hiring someone who has not had military training.  Back in the dark ages, I once applied to the local police department here for a job and although I was a veteran and scored high on their tests and did well in the interview the job was given to a former Green Beret who had just returned from Vietnam.  Why?  Because he had combat experience, had handled weapons in a shooting situation and faced the threat of losing his life.  I did not go to a war zone, well, an active was zone and I was a medic.  In the police department's eyes he was the easier person to train, one who would willingly follow orders and would see a dangerous situation faster than I would.  It was the right decision.  Many police agencies will hire those who have been through the police academy before hiring anyone else.

So my point here is.........They are what they are because they have to be.  I don't blame any police officers for doing their job.  In a police force the size of the LAPD there are going to be those who make mistakes.

It happens.

Larryj

Well stated, Larry. 

[Ross]

Opinion's are great, everyone has one. Me. Too!

Ya failed to mention the ratio of cops to civilians.

While militarizing the police force and trying to disarm America's and labeling nearly every American a national terrorist of one kind or anther and terminating Military Officers that say they will follow the law and that they will not fire on American Citizens and saying it is okay for police to shoot and kill an un-armed homeless man or have ten cops beat an un-armed homeless man is just plain wrong.

That is what this thread is about.

So Larry J claims to e qualified, look for a job somewhere else. He won't be the first beat out by a veteran and won't be the last. None of what you say justifies police abuse of power.

I do have family members that are LEO's and I would expect exemplary behavior from them.

The Police and Law enforcement motto is to "Protect and Serve" not Over Power and Abuse their positions."

That is my opinion --- far too much is done inappropriately when innocents are killed just because.

I have informed our local Sheriff and deputies if I happen to be in an area where they may be having trouble and ask my help, I will help, I will follow their lawful instructions. Just don't ask me to do anything unlawful.

No, I am not a radical, I won't do crazy.

Thank You.

[Ross]

[Ross]

In these Kansas towns,
driving a car makes you a potential criminal

By Travis Perry │ Kansas Watchdog  June 19, 2014

OSAWATOMIE, Kan. — Have you ever driven a car through Lenexa, Olathe, Overland Park or Prairie Village? Then congratulations! Local law enforcement considers you and me — everyone on the road — to be a potential criminal.

In April, my fellow Watchdog.org reporter Kathryn Watson had the tenacity to ask police in Alexandria, Va., what information they had collected on her through the use of automatic license plate readers. What she found was nothing short of creepy. Law enforcement records tracked her vehicle home, around Old Town Alexandria and even on her way to Bible study.

My curiosity piqued, I set out to do the same, only to run into a brick wall tossed up by law enforcement.

I have no way of knowing when and where police in Lenexa, Olathe, Overland Park or Prairie Village have recorded my movements with automatic license plate readers, because all three departments cite an exemption to the Kansas Open Records Act.

What exemption is that, you ask? The one explicitly reserved for "criminal investigation records."

I was more than a little alarmed the first time this blockade was tossed in my face. Sure, I have a few speeding tickets on my record, but as far as I know I haven't committed any criminal activity in the aforementioned municipalities. Wes Jordan, Prairie Village chief of police, John Knoll, Overland Park assistant city attorney, and MacKenzie Harvison, Lenexa deputy city attorney, assured me I wasn't the focus of any investigation.

I'm still waiting on clarification from the Olathe Police Department, but I expect a similar response.

With that being the case, I'm left with only one alternative.

These law enforcement agencies consider everyone to be a potential criminal — you just may not have committed the crime yet.

"It seems to infer that," said Holly Weatherford, advocacy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas.

For the record, state law defines criminal investigation records as any police evidence or information "compiled in the process of preventing, detecting or investigating violations of criminal law."

"To me, you know, it seems like a core principle in our society that government doesn't invade peoples' privacy, they don't collect information about citizens and our activities just in case they do something wrong," Weatherford said. "And refusing to disclose your personal activities or information to you claiming it's a part of a criminal investigation seems to fly in the face of that principle."

My colleague in Virginia was able to acquire her information because of the state's Government Data Collection and Dissemination Act, which instructs public entities to fulfill open records requests for personal information like this. Kansas has no such directive.

"Kansas has one of the most restrictive open records laws in the country, so we're paying attention and we're really interested when people are asking for information and being denied and for what reason, we're really trying to understand how the different government agencies in Kansas use those exemptions," Weatherford added. "This is one I haven't heard yet."

For what it's worth, Harvison said while Lenexa wouldn't give me any actual information because of the cited exemption, they don't yet have any record of my plates in the system.

Hooray?

http://watchdog.org/155274/automatic-plate-reader-criminal/?roi=echo3-21041033561-20535803-3b14ff0e80147fdda35fa2ddbdf38d33

[Ross]

The Police States of America:
Five stories that prove we've lost the battle
against police

By Eric Boehm  /   June 25, 2014

By Eric Boehm | Watchdog.org

MINNEAPOLIS — It's the land of the not so free and the home of the heavily armed.

The week has been filled with stories from all sides of America's growing police state. New studies show we're not just at the top of the world's incarceration list but we're running away with the title, while police misconduct and the militarization of those same police forces are raising questions from coast to coast.

Here's five reasons the United States is the world's biggest police state:

1. If the states were individual countries, the U.S. would have the 35th-highest incarceration rate in the world

It is common knowledge — or at least it should be — that the United States jails a larger part of its population than any other country on the planet, with the possible exception of North Korea; it's hard to get reliable statistics from there.

The United States has about 5 percent of the world's total population but about 25 percent of the world's prisoners. About 700 out of every 100,000 people in the United States are serving time behind bars, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies. The regimes in Russia, Rwanda and Cuba only wish they could do as well at locking up their own citizens.

But when you break the numbers down, things look even worse.

If the United States were divided into 51 separate countries — all the states plus Washington, D.C. — 35 of those new countries would have a higher incarceration rate than Cuba, which ranks second on the world list, according to a new study from the Prison Policy Initiative.

In the new hierarchy, Louisiana would lead the way because more than 1,300 out of every 100,000 residents of that state are in prison.

Vermont, with the lowest incarceration rate in the United States — a measly 254 inmates per 100,000 residents — still ranks ahead of Colombia, Mexico, Botswana and, well, most of the rest of the world.

(Click picture for a larger view)

WE'RE NUMBER 1 (THROUGH 35): If each state were its own country, the United States would have the 35 highest incarceration rates in the world. (Source: The Prison Policy Initiative)

2. Insane prison sentences help keep us on top[/b]

Maybe you think people should go to jail for doing drugs. Maybe you think all drugs should be legal and no one should go to jail for making the voluntary choice to use drugs, unless they hurt other people in process.

Either way, you'd probably agree it's ridiculous to sentence someone, anyone, to life in prison without parole because they were caught with 32 grams of marijuana. In case you're not aware how much pot that is, a gram is about the size of a quarter, give or take.

But that's exactly what happened to Anthony Kelly in 1999. He was arrested with enough marijuana to barely fill a sandwich bag and will spend the rest of his life in a Louisiana prison.

He is only one of 175 inmates serving life without parole in Louisiana for nonviolent crimes — mostly drug offenses, according to the Reason Foundation.

These 175 inmates alone will cost Louisiana taxpayers about $87.5 million over the duration of their incarceration, according to the ACLU.

Although Louisiana has particularly harsh mandatory minimum sentencing laws and requires harsh punishments for repeat offenders, even nonviolent ones, most states have some sort of mandatory sentencing provisions for repeat offenders, taking decisions out of the hands of judges and juries and driving up incarceration rates.

3. With all those "criminals" out there, police forces are bulking up

The Department of Defense is unloading vehicles, fresh from the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan, at bargain-basement prices, and local police departments are acting like your crazy aunt at the flea market.

Michael Gayer, sheriff of Pulaski County, Ind., is the new proud owner of an MRAP — mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle, or basically a lighter version of a tank with wheels instead of treads — which, he says, is necessary for his sleepy corner of middle America because "the United States has become a war zone."

Gayer told the Indianapolis Star police departments had to start using military-class vehicles because of more violence in schools, workplaces and the streets.

Never mind the fact that crime rates in most states are lower than they've been in decades. In Indiana, the violent crime rate in 2012 was at its lowest since 1988.

But from New Mexico to Minnesota and from Idaho to Iowa, cops are loading up with the sweetest toys, as Watchdog.org has reported. And it's not just vehicles on offer from the DoD, everything from rocket launchers to bandages are being gift-wrapped for local police.

4. Tactics that match the fear, not the facts

Most police departments began using SWAT teams over the past few decades, but unlike the cop dramas on TV, in which their use is always justified to stop a homicidal maniac or disrupt a hostage situation, the majority of SWAT deployments in the United States are used for routine police work.

Maryland is the only state that requires police departments to file public records regarding their usage of SWAT teams, but there is no reason to think it's an outlier on the national stage.

Since Maryland starting tracking SWAT deployments in 2009, there have been an average of 4.5 deployments per day, two of every three deployments included forced entry and 90 percent of all deployments have been for the purposes of serving warrants — not confronting dangerous and deadly criminals posing an immediate threat to human life.

The middle-of-the-night SWAT raid on a home in Georgia made national headlines last month when officers detonated a "flash-bang" grenade and burned an infant so severely that doctors had to induce coma — all to serve a warrant for someone who was not in the home at the time.

According to the ACLU, which released a new report this week after researching 800 SWAT deployments by 20 law enforcement agencies over the past two years, 68 percent of all SWAT team uses involved drug searches.

"The use of hyper-aggressive tools and tactics results in tragedy for civilians and police officers, escalates the risk of needless violence, destroys property, and undermines individual liberties," the ALCU concluded.

5. These cops arrested someone and didn't like getting filmed, and you won't believe what happened next

While the United States is putting more people in prison and giving cops more firepower to use on the streets, there's also a dangerous shortage of accountability for the actions of those same officers.

We could talk about the unfortunate habit of New York City police officers getting drunk and discharging their weapons at innocent civilians, or we could talk about the Green Bay, Wis., officer who recently body-slammed and assaulted a young man for no good reason.

But the best, most recent example comes from California.

Two police officers in Glendale were in the process of arresting a man suspected of driving while intoxicated, but they decided to harass someone filming the DUI checkpoint at the same time.

While the officers walked halfway down the block to confront a man with a cell phone camera, the suspect took advantage of the situation and fled the scene. Of course, the police then tried to arrest the guy with the camera (and his friend) for distracting them from the investigation.

The Glendale Police Department did not return calls from Watchdog.org

http://watchdog.org/156142/police-states-america-five-stories-prove-weve-lost-battle-police/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=saturday_26

[Ross]

It Only Took This Army Vet 3 Minutes
To Destroy Obama's Gun Control Plan .

[Ross]

Greetings,

     Would you believe it if I told you that armed federal agents with the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General broke down the door of a Stockton, California, home one morning at 6 a.m., and handcuffed a man suspected of student aid fraud? 

How about if I told you that the Department of Agriculture is seeking to order a large stock of submachine guns? 

Or that armed EPA officials raided a mine for suspected violations of the Clean Water act?

     Over the last decade, federal agencies have steadily accrued larger budgets they don't know what to do with.  Of course, they'll tell you that their limited resources prevent them from being able to competently execute their missions, but you and I know better.  After all, these agencies have so much money that they've been beefing up their armories.

     Yes, you read that right:  Their armories. 

This image is from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's
(NOAA) own website.
Does NOAA need bulletproof vests and sidearms?

On Monday, I joined Congressman Chris Stewart as he introduced the Regulatory Agency De-militarization Act, which seeks to stem the trend of federal regulatory agencies developing SWAT-like teams.  From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Food and Drug Agency to the Department of Education, federal agencies have created their own special law enforcement teams to conduct their own arrests and raids.  This is in part a product of the 2002 Homeland Security Act, which gave most Offices of Inspector General arrest and firearm authority.

     This law repeals that authority.  Not only has such power been overkill (no pun intended), but also we simply can't afford to turn federal regulators into weekend warriors.  That's not their job.

     It's crucial that regulators understand that their job is to work with the American people, not arm up to raid them. We need common sense in Washington--not more paramilitary regulators.

Sincerely,





Mike Pompeo
Member of Congress

[Ross]

Speeding Cop Who Threatens Truck Driver
Has A Change Of Heart
When He Finds Out He's Being Recorded

A trucker, Brian Miner, caught an Illinois state trooper speeding while talking on his cell phone on a wet road. Miner used his horn to pull him over.

The trooper pulls over and when the trooper confronts Miner, he threatens to write him a ticket for unlawful use of a horn.

Miner tells the trooper that he's being recorded, and the trooper then goes back to his squad car with his information.

Suddenly, the officer has a very obvious (and very immediate) change of heart; he decides to not write a ticket and even does something to help Miner. He records the stop as a safety inspection with no violations, which may just earn the driver some brownie points with his company.

Maybe it is sometimes a good idea to record your encounters with the police...

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/06/152176-trucker-pulls-cop-speeding-gets-away/

[Ross]

Policing the Internet, oh yeah!
(My comment above)

June 28, 2014

Minister's popular website seized,
shut down!

By Rev. Austin Miles

Comrade Obama-Dictator for Life

WASHINGTON, DC – Obama does keep his promises. He has let it be known that He intends to control the internet. That would include blogs and websites not to his liking. As his former "pastor" Jeremiah Wright proclaimed, "The chickens have come home to roost." They sure have with more coming.

My website, www.revaustinmiles.com, in the few years it has been up, had become the 'go-to' website, with almost 3 million viewers with a couple thousand new visitors every day. We broke original stories that the Socialist media tried to hide and many readers gave their hearts to God reading the posts. This has upset Obama and his Communist handlers more than anything else.

On Friday, June 20, 2014, my website, without any notice or warning was suddenly shut down. The explanation was that it needed to be 'renewed.' We hit that link and were confronted with demands for personal information that nobody could produce. At one point, after providing the answers demanded, with the help of my webmaster, Timothy Vaughn, Jr., we received notice that all information requested had been completed and that we should be back on the air in 72 hours.

When that time passed I contacted the people who had shut me down saying that I had been promised it would be back up. The "customer service" rep stated that the one who told me that had no authority to say such a thing.

There was no particular name that I could request to talk to since nobody seemingly knew who was there or where. I asked to speak to a supervisor and that was denied.

I called in Pati Neal, whose husband LB Neal had set me up on the web, and she contacted them. She and her husband, who passed away last year, were partners in owning the site. She too was yanked around by the staff. No matter what she provided to them was not enough.

Now the final insult: We have been informed that my site will go up for auction and that we could bid in that 'auction.' And you can bet that even if I took part in that outrage, to bid for my own site, the bid would never go through.

This is only a start in what is coming down the pike with more and more chickens coming home to roost as Obama's promises are fulfilled..

I once wrote for a prominent Christian news site based in D.C. I wrote about the coup of The White House by Obama and his handlers, Communist Party USA (CPUSA), and how he claimed to be voted in. Those 'votes,' were proven fraudulent including hundreds of thousands of votes by dead people. So many dead people "voted" with 'votes' that were counted that they should put up polling stations in cemeteries.

Within an hour of the posting of that story, it was yanked down and scrubbed. The editorial offices are within walking distance of The White House. The only explanation given was that 'somebody' complained about the story. When one of the editors of that news site quit and moved on, he told me that yes, they had 'a visit' from somebody requiring my story to be taken down. And I was axed from the pool of writers there.

This is only the beginning. Obama has done everything he has promised. He promised Joe the Plumber, before he was put into office, that he would 'redistribute the wealth.' And he has kept that promise, even though a lot of that wealth was received by him and his family who have squandered at least a billion dollars taking elaborate vacations and using Air Force One as a taxi while the nation struggled..

He promised CHANGE in America. Why did we need change from our Constitution and the Godly principles of our founders? He made a change which we see daily. Today, San Francisco along with other cities in the U.S. and overseas, are celebrating Gay Pride Day, with shocking vulgar displays including nude people and sex on display. And last night, San Francisco had its first ever Transgender Parade. Again he TOLD us that is what he would do. And nobody challenged him.

He has destroyed the morals of our country which weakens everybody, making us vulnerable for take-over. Do you notice how many muggings and robberies take place near porn shops or bars? The robbers look for weak people exactly like the Communist Party has engineered.

Efforts to bring us to Communism dates back a long way with individuals. In 1900, the first ever Communist Organizational Meeting took place in Indianapolis. In the 1960s, fully orchestrated, it broke forth with the stoned hippies as 'useful idiots,' who, given the promise of 'freedom,' were supplied drugs, alcohol and easy women. Slam-bang Rock music replaced the soothing music of the past.

Their chant was "challenge authority" which would have meant Christian based government, the churches, marriage and family.

U.C. Berkeley became noted for The Free Speech Movement. What a misnomer and deception. We had that already. They meant free speech for those who would deviate from ethical living and open the way for those who want open vulgarity, sex, drug use and chaos.

Communism which is already in place, is brought to light gradually. It is due to hit full blast soon, when a 'neighborhood captain,' will knock on your door and say, "Here are your orders.

There will be no election in 2016. Obama intends to expand a crises just before that time, declaring a national emergency and proclaiming himself Dictator for Life. That is exactly the plan unless Congresspersons do what they should have done the moment of the fraudulent takeover of the Oval Office and remove Obama from that office before we are totally destroyed. He CAN be removed..

Even if my website goes back up there will no doubt be a loss of visitors. That is the goal. To do their best to silence. and to slow down those of us who write truth.

Meanwhile I will continue to write on internet websites where truth can be found.

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/miles/140628

[Ross]

Opinion

Cops Use Traffic Stops To Seize Millions
From Drivers Never Charged With A Crime

License, registration—and your cash.

A deputy for the Humboldt County's Sheriff Office in rural Nevada has been accused of confiscating over $60,000 from drivers who were never charged with a crime.  These cash seizures are now the subject of two federal lawsuits and are the latest to spotlight a little-known police practice called civil forfeiture.

Civil forfeiture allows law enforcement to seize property (including cash and cars) without having to prove the owners are guilty.   Last September, Tan Nguyen was pulled over for driving three miles over the speed limit, according to a suit he filed.  Deputy Lee Dove asked to search the car but Nguyen said he declined.  Dove claimed he smelled marijuana but couldn't find any drugs.  The deputy then searched the car and found a briefcase containing $50,000 in cash and cashier's checks, which he promptly seized.  According to the Associated Press, Nguyen said he won that cash at a casino.

Nguyen was not arrested or charged with a crime—not even a traffic citation.  In the suit, Dove threatened to seize and tow Nguyen's car unless he "got in his car and drove off and forgot this ever happened."  That would have left Nguyen stranded in the Nevada desert.

Almost three months later, Ken Smith was also pulled over for speeding.  During the stop, Deputy Dove performed a warrant check and found a warrant for a Ken Smith.  On that basis, Dove detained Smith.  But according to a lawsuit filed by Smith, the Ken Smith on the warrant had a different birthday and was black.  The pulled-over Smith was white.  As the lawsuit puts it, Smith "should have been cited for speeding and let go, if there was probable cause for speeding violations."




Instead, Smith was "unarrested" and allowed to leave with his car if he signed a waiver to surrender $13,800 in cash he had in the vehicle.  The Humboldt County Sheriff's office also seized a .40 caliber Ruger handgun from Smith, though Smith claimed he did not waive his right to that firearm.

After their experiences, both lawsuits argue these stops and cash seizures violate the Fourth Amendment's right to freedom from unreasonable search and seizure.  Americans for Forfeiture Reform has links to the two suits filed against the deputy.

The incentives behind civil forfeiture make accusations like these all too plausible.  Nevada has scant protections for property owners against forfeiture abuse, according to "Policing for Profit," a report published by the Institute for Justice (IJ).  Police can seize property under a legal standard lower than the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard used in criminal convictions.  Owners bear the burden of proof, meaning they have to prove their innocence in court.  In addition, law enforcement agencies keep 100 percent of the forfeiture proceeds.  While they are required to keep records on forfeiture, Nevada law enforcement refused to provide IJ with such information.

Nor is Nevada an outlier.  Twenty-five other states allow police to pocket all of the proceeds from civil forfeiture.  Property owners must prove their innocence in civil forfeiture proceedings in 37 other states.

"Asset forfeiture today, the way it exists federally, as well as in many states, is an institutional corruption,"  said Judge Jim Gray, who had three decades of experience on the bench in California.  Now retired and a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Gray would rather see forfeiture proceeds funneled to a specific neutral fund like education or feeding the homeless.  "None of the [forfeiture] money should go to law enforcement.  That provides them an inappropriate incentive," he continued.

Across the country, institutional incentives have led to police misconduct.  Virginia State Police stopped Victor Luis Guzman for speeding on I-95 and seized $28,500 from him. But law enforcement didn't ticket or charge him with any crime.  A church secretary, Guzman said he was transporting the cash for his church.  The money in question was from parishioners' donations.  He was able to retrieve the cash only after an attorney who served in the Justice Department's Asset Forfeiture Office during the Reagan administration took his case pro bono.




In a similar vein, police in Tenaha, Tex. stopped hundreds of predominantly African American and Hispanic drivers and seized about $3 million from them.  If drivers refused to cooperate, police would then threaten to file "baseless criminal charges," according to the ACLU, which settled a class action lawsuit against the town in 2012.  The New Yorker reported that cops even threatened drivers, that, if they didn't turn over their cash, their children could be taken by Child Protective Services.

Unsurprisingly, seizing cash from traffic stops can earn millions for law enforcement.  Two of the biggest moneymakers in the country were Sheriffs Bob Vogel and Bill Smith.  Vogel seized $6.5 million in cash from cars going southbound on I-95 in Volusia County, Florida.  But usually the cars that smuggled drugs went northbound.  Plus, part of the "drug courier" profile for Sheriff Vogel "was that cars obeying the speed limit were suspect—their desire to avoid being stopped made them stand out."  The Orlando Sentinel later found that in three out of every four cases, no charges were filed.  Ninety percent of the seizures involved African Americans or Latinos.

About two hours up north on I-95 was Sheriff Smith's forfeiture corridor in Camden County, Ga.  The sheriff seized more than $20 million over two decades, with most of the money coming from intercepting cars on the highway.  As mentioned in the video below, Smith would use these proceeds to make ridiculous purchases, including a $90,000 Dodge Viper and paying convicts to build him a "party house."   As Kevin Drum at Mother Jones put it, "'forfeiture corridors' are the new speed traps."

Cops' desire for fast cash cannot trump the Constitution.  It's time to end policing for profit.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/instituteforjustice/2014/03/12/cops-use-traffic-stops-to-seize-millions-from-drivers-never-charged-with-a-crime/