blog of bile » law enforcement officers

Taser Axon: a Taser product I can support

bile — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:55:35 +0000

The AXON™ is a tactical computer that brings the power of incident video to every law enforcement officer. Law enforcement officers constantly face false allegations and complaints that question their integrity and honor. With AXON, you now have the ability to show administrators and even jurors exactly what you saw, from your visual perspective. The AXON system is designed to integrate seamlessly into your existing radio communications through a standard 3.5 mm headphone connection, providing two way communication in addition to full audio-video recording from a head camera the size and weight of a standard “bluetooth” headset.

If I’m going to be forced to pay for a Taser product I’m a lot less upset about paying for a camera which each officer would have to wear over an instrument of pain. Even if the evidence is uploaded to the database of the company which lives mainly on the continued existance of the war on drugs and police state.

The more likely scenario is that a police department would spend available funds on Taser products that harm people before these and these would be used as an excuse to spend more money.

Glenn Greenwald’s continuing coverage of Police State USA at the RNC

bile — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:21:53 +0000

http://www.salon.com/…

Following up on this weekend’s extreme raids on various homes, at least 250 people were arrested here today in St. Paul, Minnesota. Beginning last night, St. Paul was the most militarized I have ever seen an American city be, even more so than Manhattan in the week of 9/11 — with troops of federal, state and local law enforcement agents marching around with riot gear, machine guns, and tear gas cannisters, shouting military chants and marching in military formations. Humvees and law enforcement officers with rifles were posted on various buildings and balconies. Numerous protesters and observers were tear gassed and injured.

Sunday night he reported:

Today’s Star Tribune added that the raids were specifically “aided by informants planted in protest groups.” Back in May, Marcy Wheeler presciently noted that the Minneapolis Joint Terrorist Task Force — an inter-agency group of federal, state and local law enforcement led by the FBI — was actively recruiting Minneapolis residents to serve as plants, to infiltrate “vegan groups” and other left-wing activist groups and report back to the Task Force about what they were doing. There seems to be little doubt that it was this domestic spying by the Federal Government that led to the excessive and truly despicable home assaults by the police yesterday.

So here we have a massive assault led by Federal Government law enforcement agencies on left-wing dissidents and protesters who have committed no acts of violence or illegality whatsoever, preceded by months-long espionage efforts to track what they do. And as extraordinary as that conduct is, more extraordinary is the fact that they have received virtually no attention from the national media and little outcry from anyone. And it’s not difficult to see why. As the recent “overhaul” of the 30-year-old FISA law illustrated — preceded by the endless expansion of surveillance state powers, justified first by the War on Drugs and then the War on Terror — we’ve essentially decided that we want our Government to spy on us without limits. There is literally no police power that the state can exercise that will cause much protest from the political and media class and, therefore, from the citizenry.

He goes on to speak of his disgust for those who claim these people deserve this and questioning why the liberals who were denouncing the Chinese for the very same actions weeks ago at the Olympics aren’t speaking out against this now?

I know why Glenn… it’s because they are part of this system. They not only are complacent in it’s creation, they desire it.

Massive police raids on suspected protestors in Minneapolis

bile — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 02:18:26 +0000

http://www.salon.com/…

Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff’s department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than “fire code violations,” and early this morning, the Sheriff’s department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.

In the house that had just been raided, those inside described how a team of roughly 25 officers had barged into their homes with masks and black swat gear, holding large semi-automatic rifles, and ordered them to lie on the floor, where they were handcuffed and ordered not to move. The officers refused to state why they were there and, until the very end, refused to show whether they had a search warrant. They were forced to remain on the floor for 45 minutes while the officers took away the laptops, computers, individual journals, and political materials kept in the house.

Over at FDL, Lindsay Beyerstein spoke with the property owner whose house — the fourth one we now know of — was being raided while the raid was in progress, and Lindsay has details here (“About an hour and a half ago 20 to 30 heavily armed police officers surrounded the house. One of my roommates said ‘I want to see a warrant’ and she was immediately detained”). Meanwhile, Indy Media of Twin Cities — an association of independent journalists in the area — just told me that several of their journalists have been detained while trying to cover these raids. Their site, with ongoing updates, is here. The Uptake also has several reports of the various raids, including video of the raid at the property whose owner Bernstein spoke with as the raid occurred. That video includes an interview with a lawyer from the National Lawyer’s Guild who was detained and put in handcufffs, explaining that the surrounded house is one where various journalists are staying. Additionally, a photojournalist with Democracy Now was detained at that house as well. So, both journalists and lawyers — in addition to protesters — have been detained and arrested even though not a single violent or criminal act has occurred.

They seem to be stepping it up from 2004. Preempting the entire thing, attepting to intimedate them. This could be an ugly week. Anyone wonder how it is these thugs know where these protesters live? Want to bet that they spy on them? Likely the groups had to register with the city… and that information is being used against them.

Not that we don’t already have McCain’s dream military style police state

bile — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 17:25:33 +0000

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/…

Just north of D.C., in the small suburb of Berwyn Heights, a county SWAT team raided a house last week after a shipping service delivered a large quantity of illegal drugs to the front door.

Good police work in the war on drugs? Probably not.

The house is home to Berwyn Heights mayor Cheye Calvo and his wife Trinity Tomsic, and their two black Labs (pictured left). Though the package containing more than 30 lbs. of marijuana was addressed to Tomsic, the couple may have had nothing to do with the drugs. In recent months there have been incidents in which large quantities of drugs were delivered to homes in the D.C. area, where they were then supposed to be intercepted by drug dealers — all without the package addressees’ knowledge or involvement. Calvo and Tomsic may have been caught up in just such a scheme.

This would make Calvo and Tomsic the unfortunate victims of an understandable error by the police SWAT team, except…

The police action was yet another guns-ablazin’, no-knock raid, in which the officers (in what seems like SOP) shot the couple’s dogs, even as one of the pups tried to run away. The cops then handcuffed Calvo and Tomsic’s mother-in-law and interrogated them for hours, while the dogs’ bodies laid in pools of blood nearby. The cops later found the package of drugs — unopened, as if it were an unexpected package. No arrests were made.

“My government blew through my doors and killed my dogs,” Calvo told the Washington Post. “They thought we were drug dealers, and we were treated as such. I don’t think they really ever considered that we weren’t.”

Of course, it may end up that Calvo and his wife are part of a drug distribution ring, and the police have gotten their man. But even if that’s true, was a no-knock, shoot-the-dogs raid an appropriate police action for a lousy shipment of pot?

And what if the current, emerging picture is correct, and this is yet another botched police raid and cops-gone-wild? If that’s the case (and I emphazie the “if”), the Prince George’s County SWAT team and its superiors need to be held accountable.

Law enforcement officers have a difficult and dangerous job, and I do not make light of that. But their sworn duty is to protect and serve the public, not blast their way into innocent people’s houses and shoot their dogs. If they cannot fulfill that duty, then they cannot be law enforcement officers.

All this over a plant people like to smoke.

With new TSA rules those who forget their ID asked to indicate political affiliation

bile — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:28:36 +0000

http://consumerist.com/…

David becomes our first reader to fly under the TSA’s new ID policy. Formerly, if you refused or were unable to show ID you could still fly — but were required to undergo secondary screening by the TSA. Now they’ve altered their position slightly— fliers who willingly refuse to show ID are now barred from flying. The new rule went into effect over the weekend, and David says that in order to board the plane after forgetting his driver’s license he had to answer questions about his political party affiliation and previous addresses.

The new regulation doesn’t apply to those passengers who claim to have forgotten their ID— so essentially you are barred from claiming that you have a constitutional right to refuse to show ID to get on a plane. Here’s how the TSA explains it:

Beginning Saturday, June 21, 2008 passengers that willfully refuse to provide identification at security checkpoint will be denied access to the secure area of airports. This change will apply exclusively to individuals that simply refuse to provide any identification or assist transportation security officers in ascertaining their identity.”

This new procedure will not affect passengers that may have misplaced, lost or otherwise do not have ID but are cooperative with officers. Cooperative passengers without ID may be subjected to additional screening protocols, including enhanced physical screening, enhanced carry-on and/or checked baggage screening, interviews with behavior detection or law enforcement officers and other measures.

It turns out that “and other measures” include questions about political party affiliation and other questionable invasions of privacy, according to David:

Finally satisfied that I didn’t have ID, Laurie took my boarding pass and went away. She came back a few minutes later having photocopied it, and also had an affidavit that she requested I sign. It asked for my name and address, and stated in small print at the bottom that I did not have to fill it out, but if I didn’t I couldn’t fly. It also said that if I choose to fill it out and then provided false info, I would be in violation of federal law.

After filling out the affidavit, Laurie called a service to verify my address. The service needed me to then correctly answer three questions about myself, which Laurie relayed to me. The first was my date of birth, the second was a previous address (which I only got right on my second try), and the third was “You are registered to vote. Which political party have you registered with?” I got all three right, and only then did Laurie clear me to go through security.

Your party affiliation is public information isn’t it? At least in most states? What good does that do in confirming who you are? If it wasn’t shouldn’t that data not be used for identification purposes like this?

TSA to soon require identification

bile — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:40:45 +0000

http://www.tsa.gov/…

Beginning Saturday, June 21, 2008 passengers that willfully refuse to provide identification at security checkpoint will be denied access to the secure area of airports. This change will apply exclusively to individuals that simply refuse to provide any identification or assist transportation security officers in ascertaining their identity.

This new procedure will not affect passengers that may have misplaced, lost or otherwise do not have ID but are cooperative with officers. Cooperative passengers without ID may be subjected to additional screening protocols, including enhanced physical screening, enhanced carry-on and/or checked baggage screening, interviews with behavior detection or law enforcement officers and other measures.

Under the law that created TSA, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, the TSA administrator is responsible for overseeing aviation security (P.L. 107-71) and has the authority to establish security procedures at airports (49 C.F.R. § 1540.107). Passengers that fail to comply with security procedures may be prohibited from entering the secure area of airports to catch their flight (49 C.F.R. § 1540.105(a)(2).

This initiative is the latest in a series designed to facilitate travel for legitimate passengers while enhancing the agency’s risk-based focus – on people, not things. Positively identifying passengers is an important tool in our multi-layered approach to security and one that we have significantly bolstered during the past 18 months.

I think we can now agree that the reason for the TSA’s existence is control and security theater. Ignoring this. 1. No person with malicious intent would want to raise suspicion or awareness of themselves by refusing to show identification. They’d just get false IDs. 2. How is refusing those who refuse to show ID any safer than giving them a secondary search? You’re going to let these people still walk around the airport correct? If they are strapped with explosives and refusing to provide ID they could just take out all those in the security checkpoint which very likely is backed up because of the TSA’s inefficiency.

This puts people like myself in a difficult situation. Break our principles to ease transportation or utilize ground and water based methods and hope the State doesn’t move to “secure” them. I very rarely fly so the choice at the moment is simple.

Judge orders stun gun references removed from autopsies

bile — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:37:30 +0000

http://www.ktar.com/…

AKRON, Ohio – A medical examiner must change her autopsy findings to delete any reference that stun guns contributed to the deaths of three people involved in confrontations with law enforcement officers, a judge ruled.

Friday’s decision was a victory for Taser International Inc., which had challenged rulings by Summit County Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler, including a case in which five sheriff’s deputies are charged in the death a jail inmate who was restrained by the wrists and ankles and hit with pepper spray and a stun gun.

Kohler ruled that the 2006 death of Mark McCullaugh Jr., 28, was a homicide and that he died from asphyxiation due to the “combined effects of chemical, mechanical and electrical restraint.”

Visiting Judge Ted Schneiderman said in his ruling that there was no expert evidence to indicate that Taser devices impaired McCullaugh’s respiration. “More likely, the death was due to a fatal cardiac arrhythmia brought on by severe heart disease,” the judge wrote.

Schneiderman ordered Kohler to rule McCullaugh’s death undetermined and to delete any references to homicide.

The judge also said references to stun guns contributing to the deaths of two other men must be deleted from autopsy findings. Dennis Hyde, 30, died in 2005 after a confrontation with Akron police, and Richard Holcomb, 18, died the same year after being hit with a stun by a police officer in suburban Springfield Township.

It was unclear what affect Schneiderman’s ruling may have on the upcoming criminal trial of the five sheriff’s deputies. One of them, Deputy Stephen Krendick, is charged with murder. Other deputies face charges of reckless homicide or felonious assault. All have pleaded not guilty.

Krendick’s trial is scheduled to begin June 16. A spokesman for the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office, which is handling the case, said its lawyers are prepared to go forward.

Steve Tuttle, vice president of communications for Taser International, said the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company is pleased with Schneiderman’s ruling.

“Taser International believed from the beginning that these determinations of cause of death must be supported by facts, medical research and scientific evidence,” Tuttle said.

John Manley, a Summit County prosecutor who represented Kohler, said the judge’s order went too far. The county is considering an appeal, he said.

“Taser is quite a force to be reckoned with and does everything to protect their golden egg, which is the Model X26,” Manley said.

Wouldn’t a high voltage shock from a taser possibly aggravate “severe heart disease”? Exactly how is it that judge knows better then the medical examiner?

Police brutality cases on the rise since 9/11

bile — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:00:39 +0000

http://www.usatoday.com/…

Federal prosecutors are targeting a rising number of law enforcement officers for alleged brutality, Justice Department statistics show. The heightened prosecutions come as the nation’s largest police union fears that agencies are dropping standards to fill thousands of vacancies and “scrimping” on training.

Cases in which police, prison guards and other law enforcement authorities have used excessive force or other tactics to violate victims’ civil rights have increased 25% (281 vs. 224) from fiscal years 2001 to 2007 over the previous seven years, the department says.

During the same period, the department says it won 53% more convictions (391 vs. 256). Some cases result in multiple convictions.

Federal records show the vast majority of police brutality cases referred by investigators are not prosecuted.

I’m glad this information is coming out in a paper like USA Today. Those of us who pay attention to police brutality have seen the stories increase. We’ve known that the number of cops have increased as federal funds have poured into local governments since 9/11. Now we have government statistics proving what we all felt was obviously true. Besides the expectation that an increase in personnel and events will result in an increase in faults we have admission that because their is a shortage of supply they are having to lower the requirements and/or the training. Just as our military has been doing. With less qualified and trained individuals you would also expect a greater incident rate. Anthony Gregory last year wrote a great summary of why our socialist law-enforcement system fails. As these statistics and more stories of police corruption and brutality come about I hope that people will come to realize the danger in giving the state a monopoly on justice and legal violence.

Quest for Freedom by Elaine Brown

bile — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:29:03 +0000

http://www.keenefreepress.com/…

By Elaine Brown

Where do we stand today in our country in the matter of freedom? Do we even know what freedom is today? The founders of our country knew, but it took them a couple of years to realize it.

After escaping from Britain and the rules of the king, it took those brave pilgrims some time to fully realize and be able to appreciate the fact that they had no one to whom to answer, save their own conscience and common law (common sense). What joy to know this kind of liberty, which they had never before experienced. They could now conduct themselves as freely as they wished, as long as they honored their contracts and did no harm to another. This is the total of common law; this is the law by which the people, the sovereigns, of this country are to abide, the law we were intended to obey.

How ludicrous to think that our fathers would leave the tyranny of the king, only to implement a tyranny of a strong central government. As Mel Gibson’s character in The Patriot asked, “Why would I trade one tyrant three thousand miles away for three thousand tyrants one mile away?”

My thanks and appreciation to Robert Hart in his enlightening book, Citizen/Slave, Understanding the American Sovereign Spirit,” for reminding me of one crucial fact: the constitution was written not only to guarantee our God-given rights by the Bill of Rights, but also to give the guidelines for the federal government to conduct itself. All laws, statutes, policies, etc. apply ONLY to them. NONE APPLY TO YOU AND ME, PRIVATE PEOPLE. The constitution is meant to tie down the government from mischief.

Title 28 USC defines the United States as a federal corporation. If you are not a part of that corporation, i.e., you have no contract with it, you are not employed by it, you are accepting no benefits from it, then by the ‘right of association’ clause of the first amendment, you are not required to obey any of its dictums; it has no jurisdiction over you. This is where we have all gone astray. We have been made to believe, through fraud and trickery, that everything congress dictates applies to us, when in reality it applies only to themselves and consenting corporations (which are a creation of the state.)

Of course, one can always volunteer to join the corporation, and by so doing enjoy the privileges bestowed by it, keeping in mind that for every privilege one accepts, one gives up a right. Freedom is not for everyone; some people want to be taken care of; that’s OK. We all have different desires, limits and abilities. It is for none of us to judge those who choose a different path. But for those of us who choose freedom, we have not chosen the easy road. Freedom is hard, it is work, it is constant vigilance. It means taking care of yourself and yours, of accepting responsibility for your actions (and non-actions), of being aware and considerate of those around you so as to do them no harm.

Ed and I have said ‘enough,’ and even though we are currently unable to leave our home without risking being unlawfully assaulted by the federalies, we are more free now than we have ever been, as we have boycotted any and all government claims on us. At the same time the government has unlawfully attacked us by terminating our electricity, internet access, television satellite, telephone, and mail (the federal marshalls keep all mail that is sent to us.) The federal marshalls have said they know we have broken no laws, but they will come against us when ordered to. That makes them mercenaries, not law enforcement officers. On the local level, even though the law states that the police and the sheriff are duty bound to protect us from foreign assault (the federals are foreign inside any of the fifty states), Sullivan County Sheriff Michael Prozzo, Plainfield Police Chief Gordon Gillins, and the Plainfield Selectboard have all stated that they will not protect us. I include this personal account only to make the point of the dangers of a strong central government. Remember, injustice to one is injustice to all; what will you do when they are at your door?

Our country has gone astray, my friends, and it needs to be put right. It is time for a third Continental Congress. We are ordered by the Declaration of Independence and by the New Hampshire Constitution, Article 15, The Right of Revolution, to throw out the old and put in the new when the government no longer serves the needs of the people. We are on dangerous ground with an ever increasing central government that infringes on states’ rights and on our God-given rights. When will we stand together and say, ‘enough?’ When will you stand? When the critical mass point is reached, when enough Americans take the stand, we and thousands of Americans like us will be able to walk in that freedom.

Yahweh bless and protect us all.