Category: Law Enforcement Misconduct

Maryland Court Rules that Video Taping a Cop Waving a Gun Around Like a Lunatic is Not a Crime

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The Cop is Completely Out of Control

Mr. Graber, was riding a motorcycle had a helmet cam.

He was also speeding and popping wheelies, which attracted the attention of the police, which is unsurprising.

What is a out of the ordinary is a police officer cutting him off in an unmarked car, and jumping out waving a gun and not identifying himself as a member of the police force until he basically had the gun in the guy’s face.

It looks all the world like an attempted motorcycle-jacking.

Well, Anthony Graber had a helmet cam, and posted the footage to Youtube a few days later, which is when things got hinky.

He was arrested, jailed, and charged with violating Maryland’s wiretapping stature, which forbids recording a private conversation without the consent of both parties, and faced 16 years in jail.

Despite the Maryland Attorney General’s advisory opinion that a public arrest is not a private conversation under the statute, the Harford County DA continued to pursue the suit, but the judge, just dismissed the suit:

Judge Emory A. Pitt Jr. had to decide whether police performing their duties have an expectation of privacy in public space. Pitt ruled that police can have no such expectation in their public, on-the-job communications.

Pitt wrote: “Those of us who are public officials and are entrusted with the power of the state are ultimately accountable to the public. When we exercise that power in public fora, we should not expect our actions to be shielded from public observation. ‘Sed quis custodiet ipsos cutodes’ (“Who watches the watchmen?”).”

Of course, that was the purpose of the charges, to intimidate people who would otherwise report on law enforcement misconduct.

The basic purpose of the arrest, and the ransacking of his house, and the felony charges, were retaliation for being a whistle blower.

Graber was also charged with possessing a “device primarily useful for the purpose of the surreptitious interception of oral communications” — referring to the video camera on his helmet. The judge disagreed with the prosecutor that the helmet cam was illegal, and concluded the state’s argument would render illegal “almost every cell phone, Blackberry, and every similar device, not to mention dictation equipment and other types of recording devices.”

A good decision, and perhaps the continued employment of the States Attorney and the police officers involved in this need to end.

This sort of abuse of power is antithetical to the rule of law.

Feds Sue Sheriff Joe Arpaio

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They have had a civil rights investigation of his department since (at least) 2009, and he has refused to turn over documents, so the DoJ has filed suit against the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.

Seeing as how it’s pretty clear that the Sheriff’s office is guilty, Arpaio has campaigned on harassing people on the basis of their ethnicity, one hopes that they get the documents, and an injunction, before Sheriff Joe goes and abuses his power to go Jim Crow on Hispanic voters this year.

Obama Administration Goes Full Eric Blair*

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Or maybe Franz Kafka.

You see, last month, the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights were retained by Nasser al-Awlaki, “the father of Obama assassination target (and U.S. citizen) Anwar al-Awlaki,” to get a court injunction to keep him from being killed by the U.S. government..

The government’s response was declare Anwar al-Awlaki a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist,” which meant that lawyers could not represent him without a special license from the government.

George W. Bush never asserted a right to assassinate American citizens, and they never used Treasury Department anti money laundering legislation to prevent lawyers from representing someone pro bono in a case to prevent their assassination:

Left with no choice, the ACLU and CCR this morning filed a lawsuit on their own behalf against Timothy Geithner and the Treasury Department. The suit argues that Treasury has no statutory authority under the law it invokes — The International Emergency Economic Powers Act — to bar American lawyers from representing American citizens on an uncompensated basis. It further argues what ought to be a completely uncontroversial point: that even if Congress had vested Treasury with this authority, it is blatantly unconstitutional to deny American citizens the right to have a lawyer, and to deny American lawyers the right to represent clients, without first obtaining a permission slip from Executive Branch officials (the Complaint is here). As the ACLU/CCR Brief puts it: “The notion that the government can compel a citizen to seek its permission before challenging the constitutionality of its actions in court is wholly foreign to our constitutional system” and “[a]s non-profit organizations dedicated to protecting civil liberties and human rights, Plaintiffs have a First Amendment right to represent clients in litigation consistent with their organizational missions.” The Brief also argues that it is a violation of Separation of Powers to allow the Executive Branch to determine in its sole discretion who can and cannot appear in and have access to a federal court.

Obama’s positions on national defense and surveillance indisputably worse than those of George W. Bush’s.

Bootnote:
After stonewalling for weeks, the Treasury Department granted a license once the ACLU and CCR filed a separate lawsuit against the denial of such a license, probably because they want to assert the right again, even if it is just for a few weeks to f%$# with the ability of some guy to get proper legal counsel.

I am so writing in “Howard Dean,” in the 2012 general.

*George Orwell’s real name.

The FBI Gets Stupid

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Click for full size


J. Edgar Hoover can bite my shiny metal ass!

This bit of FBI stupidity is a pretty good indication of how the current IP regime, and what people think the current IP regime is is a clusterf%$#:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken on everyone from Al Capone to John Dillinger to the Unabomber. Its latest adversary: Wikipedia.

The bureau wrote a letter in July to the Wikimedia Foundation, the parent organization of Wikipedia, demanding that it take down an image of the F.B.I. seal accompanying an article on the bureau, and threatened litigation: “Failure to comply may result in further legal action. We appreciate your timely attention to this matter.”

The problem, those at Wikipedia say, is that the law cited in the F.B.I.’s letter is largely about keeping people from flashing fake badges or profiting from the use of the seal, and not about posting images on noncommercial Web sites. Many sites, including the online version of the Encyclopedia Britannica, display the seal.

Other organizations might simply back down. But Wikipedia sent back a politely feisty response, stating that the bureau’s lawyers had misquoted the law. “While we appreciate your desire to revise the statute to reflect your expansive vision of it, the fact is that we must work with the actual language of the statute, not the aspirational version” that the F.B.I. had provided.

I can understand if it’s some smart ass blogger telling J. Edgar Hoover, “Bite their shiny metal ass,”* but this is a post of the seal on a damn encyclopedia.

Morons.

*Somehow, I don’t think that the G-men are coming after me, and neither does the New York Times, who also reproduced the seal.

Living in a Police State

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Case in point, the (black) school teacher who was tased and pepper sprayed by (white) police officers.

You see, she called in a complaint of a prowler around her house, and while waiting for the police to show up, called in a friend to stay with her for safety.

The police showed up, and promptly went jack booted thug on her because she did not want to give the name of her friend, so they handcuffed her, and then tased and pepper sprayed her.

It was so bad that the chief of police, who showed up at the end of this little drama, has publicly stated that he, “suspects the outcome would have been different if the woman had been white and the officers black.”

What is at the crux of this, is the belief, widely held in this country and universally held in the law enforcement community, that any order given whether justified or legal, must be obeyed.

That is, by definition a government by and for police, and hence a police state.

Unfortunately, no one has won political office by defending the rights of the citizen against bad cops.

New Orleans Police Supervisor Cops* Plea on Danziger Bridge Shooting

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I am stunned, because when cops shoot poor people, they generally get away with it, but with Retired New Orleans police Lt. Michael Lohman pleading guilty to obstruction of justice, it looks like these cops will not get away with murder:

Retired New Orleans police Lt. Michael Lohman has pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice in the Danziger Bridge shootings, which left two people dead and four others injured after police fired on a group of civilians trapped in the submerged city days after Hurricane Katrina.

Two men — Ronald Madison, 40, who was mentally challenged, and James Brissette, 19 — were killed. The survivors included a husband and wife, their two teenage children and a nephew.

Lohman, who helped orchestrate an elaborate cover-up of the crime, supervised the investigation and was at the scene on Sept. 4, 2005, according to an 11-page bill of information unsealed today.

According to the document, Lohman was aware that a subordinate planted a gun at the scene. He also wrote a 17-page police report full of lies about the incident and encouraged officers at the scene to remove shell casings.

I am stunned, and pleased, that the “thin blue line” has been broken, and the truth appears to be coming out any day now.

*Pun not intended.

This Explains a Lot About the Washington Post

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This story is old, I saved it when I was visiting my Mother-in-Law’s, but my sense of this remains the same.

There was a snowball fight in Washington, DC, and some people threw snowballs at a Hummer driven by a Washington, DC police officer, who then drew his gun and threatened the participants.

If it hadn’t been caught on video, and posted to Youtube (included), and the police claimed that it never happened, until, of course the video, and the photographs showed up all over the web.

This is actually pretty standard: Until you have outrageous law enforcement misconduct on tape, the police deny that it ever happened, and so I have very little to say about this.

That being said, I do have something to say about the Washington Post‘s coverage of the incident.

You see, they took the original police story, “Nothing to see here, move along,” at face value, and they did so despite the fact that a Washington Post editorial staffer was at the event and reported what happened:

Washington Post editorial aide Stephen Lowman was at 14th and U on Saturday when the controversial snowball-fight-cum-police-indiscretion went down. He wasn’t there on assignment–he was just taking it all in.

And take it all in he did. He eye-witnessed the snowball fest and the cop waving around a gun, not to mention all the hubbub that ensued.

So Lowman got on the phone to the Post, to give the newsroom a heads-up. He says he was placed in contact with staff writer Matt Zapotosky. Lowman told Zapotosky about the confrontation and the gun. It was just after 3 pm.

………………

Two hours later, at 5:40 pm, the inexplicable takes place: The Washington Post files a post by Zapotosky and Martin Weilrefuting the photographic evidence already on the Web and taking the official position of the D.C. Police Department. Here are some key excerpts:

Assistant Chief Pete Newsham, who leads the department’s investigative services bureau, said it appears the patrol officer acted appropriately, and the worst the detective might have done is use inappropriate language in dealing with the snowball fighters.

So, what we have by the time that the Post covers the story is:

  • A staffer who says that a cop pulled a gun at a snowball fight.
  • Pictures and videos all over the internet showing that the cop pulled his gun and brandished it, which is technically assault with a deadly weapon.

Now the folks at DC’s alternative paper, the Washington City Paper, whose link I am citing in the story, broke this. They had the pictures, they linked to the Youtube, etc., and they, or at least their reporter Erik Wemple, think that this is all about the WaPo not wanting to link to them, because they are a bunch of DFH’s* from the alternative weekly.

I think that they are wrong. I think that what is going on is far more malevolent.

I think that this has nothing to do with the Post dissing an alternative weekly competitor, and it has everything to do with being an upper middle class, and overwhelmingly white institution in a city that is majority black.

Simply put, they went with the police story, because the unspoken bias of the Washington Post editors is that they need to keep the N***ers down. They go with a blatantly false police account of the events for the same reason that they so so aggressively repeat and amply blatantly false Republican spin: They believe that the police and the Republicans are the best way to keep N***ers in their place in the District.

Then again, maybe I am just reading way to much into this, and it’s just a crappy and lazy reporter.

*Dirty F%$#ing Hippies.

How Quaint

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The 9th Court of Appeals has ruled that the police do not have the right to torture citizens they find inconvenient with Tasers:

A federal appeals court on Monday issued one of the most comprehensive rulings yet limiting police use of Tasers against low-level offenders who seem to pose little threat and may be mentally ill.

In a case out of San Diego County, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals criticized an officer who, without warning, shot an emotionally troubled man with a Taser when he was unarmed, yards away, and neither fleeing nor advancing on the officer.

(emphasis mine)

I’m sure that some will find this an outrage. After all, aren’t police supposed to use potentially lethal force on people who don’t comply immediately, like the kid who did not obey orders to get up because he had a broken back?

Hoocoodanode?

Needless to say, this cop still has his job, because, after all, law enforcement investigates itself in such instances.

They Were Photographing Me from Black Helicopters Today

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Because I was in the back yard, preparing Maghmūma With Asparagus, it’s a sort of an Arab pot pie called a “covered dish” from the book From Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens, translated by Nawal Nasrallah. It dates from the 1400s or so.

I was doing it in the fire-pit of my smoker, because I was checking out the recipe for “Trial by Fire”, a medieval cooking competition that is conducted under camping conditions, which means that I was preparing Arab food outside, which means that the FBI was surveilling me.

I know what you are saying: This guy has gone completely around the bend. Totally paranoid. The FBI isn’t profiling people because they eat Middle Eastern cuisine.

You know, what you are saying right now sounds right, but unfortunately, the FBI IS profiling people because they eat Middle Eastern cuisine:

Hoping that spikes in falafel and tahini purchases in the Bay Area would blaze a trail to Iranian secret agents, in 2005 and 2006, the FBI mined grocery store records for Middle Eastern food sales in the South San Francisco-San Jose area. According to Congressional Quarterly, the project didn’t last long and didn’t lead to any falafel-related prosecutions.

Not only is this morally wrong and unbelievably f$#@ing stupid, but it actually happened.

This is why civil rights and limits on law enforcement matter: because without these limits, law enforcement can, and will engage in the most abusive dumb-ass behavior imaginable.

BTW, the Maghmūma turned out very well, as did the crust, though next time, I’ll crack the coriander seeds.

I’m Shocked, Shocked To Find That Gambling Is Going On In Here!

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(Cue Captain Renault)

So, Tom Ridge tells us now that Bush and His Evil Minions™ manipulated terror alerts for political gain.

But he vehemently denied any such effort while he was in office, and delayed his resignation as head of DHS until after the election.

He knew that it was wrong, but he kept his mouth shut, and now he writes a book, and it’s supposed to make everything hunky dory….It does not.

Mr. Ridge, as I stated only yesterday, I do not take the term “treason” lightly, but it appears to me that your complicity in this affair, when you knew that it was happening, and you know that it was wrong, and you knew that it was damaging to the country, comes awfully close to that term.

Zimbabwe Update

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In a move that has “Epic Fail” written all over it, the Police are attempting to staff up by actively recruiting ZANU-PF youth militia members to the force.

As if the state security apparatus were not brutal, politicized and corrupt already.

We also have Arthur Mutambara, head of the MDC-M, stating the obvious, and noting that neither the MDC-M nor Tsvangerai’s MDC-T have any meaningful control of the government.

On the brighter side, we are now seeing divisions in the ZANU-PF over who should succeed late Vice President Joseph Msika, and it appears that the split is between the people originally from ZANU (Robert Mugabe) and PF-ZAPU (Joshua Nkomo).

One hopes that the MDC, both -T and -M, can use this discord to get some meaningful influence in this dynamic.

Gee, No Racist Cops in Cambridge

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Gawker has some pics of a Cambridge police officer’s vanity license plate, “WHY-TEE“, as in “Whitie,” get it?

Nope, nothing racist there.

Also note that he is parking illegally, and that I think that I have had a sub at this shop.

Even if this particular police officer does not have a single bigoted bone in his body (Yeah, right), this is clearly inappropriate, and the fact that no one has taken him aside to have a word with him on this is telling.

The Entire Officer James Crowley/Henry Gates Thing

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The basic point:

  • The police report shows that Officer Crowley knew that Henry Gates was in his own house, and there legally.
  • The police officer arrested him for being irate about his treatment.

Officer Crowley abused his position and should be fired, but he won’t be.

A police officer is a peace officer, and in situations like that their job is to defuse the situation, not arrest someone for being “mean” to them.

Whether or not Crowley refused to give his name and badge number, which is a crime in Massachusetts, and whether or not race was involved, the officer should simply have left once it was determined that Dr. Gates was in his own house.

This man should not be a police officer any more.

Obama’s Guantánamo Show Trials

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It just gets better and better.

So, the details of the plan are dribbling out and it’s a distinction without a difference as was made clear when the New York Times obtained a filing made to the judges running the military commissions.

Remember the statement that, “The accused will have greater latitude in selecting their counsel?”

Not so much, Bush and His Evil Minions™ required that the defendants’ lawyers be appointed by the Pentagon, and, “assigned to a special office of military defense lawyers for Guantánamo, which meant, among other things, that they had to be uniformed military, and in the filing to the judges, Obama and His Evil Minions™ say that a detainee would be allowed to select a lawyer of their “own choosing”, but that the, “requested lawyer must be assigned to the Pentagon’s office of military defense lawyers for Guantánamo.“

“Any color you want, so long as it’s black,” quoth Henry Ford.

Furthermore, the right to confront witnesses against them will be ignored by using a very broad hearsay rule, because, according to “senior administration officials” said that although federal courts bar many kinds of hearsay evidence, “the hearsay rule is not one of those things that is rooted in American values.”

The right to confront witnesses in court is one of the most basic of legal rights in our system since the excesses of the Star Chamber in England.

Note that while coerced testimony will not be allowed, that the defendant will not be allowed to question the primary source of the testimony, only their interrogator, or possibly just someone who reads the interrogator’s report, will confirm this.

Alaska Republicans: Go Cheney Yourselves

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In the wake of the DoJ’s decision to drop charges against Ted Stevens, Alaskan Republicans are calling for Mark Begich to resign so that they can get a new election for Senate.

Because, you know, some people probably voted for Begich because Stevens was a convicted felon, because, you know, no one ever votes on information that might not be 100% accurate.

Let’s be clear, Ted Stevens is still a completely corrupt son of a bitch, even if the Beltway Bozos and their Evil Minions™ are now wringing their hands over the injustice, as Zachary Roth ably makes clear:

But even leaving criminal wrongdoing aside, no one disputes that Stevens accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of home renovations and gifts (remember that massage chair?) from a supporter who had a slew of business interests that Stevens was in a position to affect as a powerful federal lawmaker and appropriator. That’s what we call “corrupt”.

I would add that he also did this supporter a lot of favors.

If the DoJ had done its job, Ted Stevens would die in a jail cell, and he still deserves that.

You Know that No One Will See See the Inside of a Cell

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Or even a few days paid suspension, but it’s pretty clear that Barry Cooper found some dirty cops in Odessa, TX.

He set up a house with surveillance equipment, and then put a couple of Christmas trees under grow lights, and 24 hours later, the police swore to probably cause to get a search warrant, and entered the house.

They are currently refusing to supply the affidavits, but it’s clear what happened: They illegally used infrared cameras looking for grow lights, and then lied to a judge to get a warrant.

Well Knock Me Over With a Sledge Hammer

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The investigation of Sarah Palin says the she abused her powers for personal considerations, which is not a surprise, and the Republican-dominated legislative council voted unanimously to release the report, which was a surprise.

My take on this: they know that McCain is going to lose, and the Republican primary for governor of Alaska just started.

Palin may not realize it, but her political career is over.