More info from KopBusters.com:

KopBusters rented a house in Odessa, Texas and began growing two small Christmas trees under a grow light similar to those used for growing marijuana. When faced with a suspected marijuana grow, the police usually use illegal FLIR cameras and/or lie on the search warrant affidavit claiming they have probable cause to raid the house. Instead of conducting a proper investigation which usually leads to no probable cause, the Kops lie on the affidavit claiming a confidential informant saw the plants and/or the police could smell marijuana coming from the suspected house.

The trap was set and less than 24 hours later, the Odessa narcotics unit raided the house only to find KopBuster’s attorney waiting under a system of complex gadgetry and spy cameras that streamed online to the KopBuster’s secret mobile office nearby.

The attorney was handcuffed and later released when eleven KopBuster detectives arrived with the media in tow to question the illegal raid. The police refused to give KopBusters the search warrant affidavit which is suspected to contain the lies regarding the probable cause.

http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/…

Odessa, Texas – They didn’t find any drugs; instead they found a poster telling them they were on a reality show called “kop busters.”

It’s an online reality show that goes around the nation exposing what they say is police corruption. The reason they came to Odessa is because they were asked to by a man who says his daughter is falsely imprisoned.

Video cameras, plants masquerading, as drugs, and a message are what police found while serving a search warrant today.

Barry Cooper CEO of Kop Busters.com said: “The best equipment known to man is what Cop Busters has and we’re going to continue going across America busting these cops.”

The reality show team out of Austin has been setting up the fake drug den for 6 months, going through painstaking methods to keep it a secret.

“We had to use encrypted emails, we had to use Wal-Mart blowup cell phones in case our phones were tapped,” said Cooper.

But why all the trouble? “Get Yolanda Madden out of prison,” said Cooper.

In 2005, Odessa woman Yolanda Madden was convicted of the possession of drugs with the intent to distribute. Now she’s serving a 7-year prison sentence.

“I could prove absolutely without a doubt she’s innocent,” said Raymond Madden

Her father says he’s been trying to get a court to retry the case since the conviction.

“We had a witness that planted the drugs he testified in court that he planted the drugs,” said Madden.

Cop Busters says the show exists to help fix the system.

Odessa police say the matter is still under investigation and at this point they are looking to see if any laws were broken.

Barry was really weak on the question at the end.

Also some info at CBS 7’s site and there is a thread about it over at the Free Keene forum.

Tonight on Free Talk Live Jason Osborne of Sakai/CAI called in toward the end of the show to report that earlier today a trap setup for local police was sprung. According to Jason, himself, Sam Dodson and Barry Cooper had rented a house in which they instrumented with audio and video recording equipment, created a faux marijuana growing environment and waited. They placed heat lamps in the home but instead of marijuana they had Christmas trees. The feeds from the multiple cameras were apparently fed into one or more DVRs and also streamed to an external site over the internet. The police got a search warrant (illegally according to Jason who said they had attorneys on hand) and raided the home. Jason was manning and controlling the cameras and mics and after the cops realized what happened Barry and Sam went in with camera rolling to ask them what they were doing. The cops threatened to confiscate the cameras and at some point went back into the home to talk about what was occurring. Jason reported that they started commenting on the cameras and how they would just take them when they noticed a router near the DVRs and realized the data was being stored remotely too. They then unplugged some of the equipment but apparently some of it was running on battery backup so footage was still gotten after they tried to disable it.

Jason said that the footage would likely be the pilot to a reality TV show they are working on called “Cop Busters” or the like. You can hear the info first hand on the 2008-12-04 podcast available here. It’s at the end of the show at 1 hour 56 minutes in. He also said it was to be on the 11PM news in the local TV station. I suspect they will be recording the segment and I will post it when and if it becomes available.

This is really interesting stuff. Makes me proud to be partnering with Sam on the Civil Disobediance Evolution Fund.