MCSO anticipates 100+ arrests in early morning raid

08-13-2009 • AZFamily.com

PHOENIX -- Maricopa County sheriff's deputies are anticipating making more than 100 arrests in connection with an early morning [immigration] raid on a Phoenix paper plant.

S.C. Man Dies After Being Shocked By Deputy's Taser

08-13-2009 • Officer.com

The Greenwood County Coroner's Office said that a man died after he was shocked by a deputy’s Taser on Wednesday afternoon.

Laredo man says Border Patrol agents abuse their authority

08-12-2009 • Pro8News.com

Carlos Gonzalez says getting home to his ranch off highway 83 just north of Laredo means having to battle border patrol agents. “It's just harassment in its purest form out there.” He says he's been tailgated and followed onto his property for no apparent reason, not once but twice this week. “This is the second time in four days, four days apart I’ve had these incidents." He says this adds to a list of other instances over the past few months. On Monday night he was even maced, after asking an agent to leave his property.

Teen dressed in fatigues while hiking arrested

08-12-2009 • AZFamily.com

[He's really going to want to serve his country, now!] azfamily.com's Marissa Wingate reports a teen went hiking in full military fatigues with a fake gun and prompted women to call 911. [Charged with "Disorderly Conduct". for playing Army!]

Cop body slams knife-wielding 84 year old woman, nearly causing 'riot'

08-11-2009 • Rawstory VIDEO

On the night of August 1, at a Walmart, Virginia Dodson could not remember why she was sitting alone in a car. It dawned on her that she did not know how to unbuckle her seat belt either. Panic began to take hold.

Her solution was to scrounge up a steak knife and cut through the straps, eventually finding her way into the confusing world of the parking lot, still wielding the blade.

Cops Take Down 87 Year Old Lady

07-08-09 • Current.com

87 year old knife weilding grandmother was taken down, cane and all, by Columbus police in the parking lot of a local Wal-Mart.

Engineer vindicated in tribal roadblock case

08-06-2009 • KOLD News 13

He says because these officers were initially enforcing tribal law--looking for Native American DUI offenders at the sobriety checkpoint--they had no right to hold Bressi when it was obvious he wasn't intoxicated.

Appeals court clarifies tribal police jurisdiction on state highways

08-05-2009 • Arizona Daily Star

Tribal police officers do not have the same authority to stop and question non-Indians traveling on state roads within the reservation as they do tribal members, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. The judges said roadblocks set up on state roads are permissible — but only to the extent the stop is limited to determine if the person is an Indian.  

Two Florida men face prison for flashing gang signs on Myspace

08-05-2009 • Photography Is Not A Crime

In what will be a test for the future of First Amendment rights on the internet, two alleged gang members are facing five years in a Florida prison for flashing gang signs on Myspace...

Authorities: Hells Angels' rally warranted increased presence

08-05-2009 • Deluth News Tribune

“It’s very disheartening to have so many people complain,” Carlton County Sheriff Kelly Lake said. “I have heard people saying, ‘Nothing happened, we didn’t need you.’ But we say nothing happened because we were there.”

On Shutting Up and Doing As You’re Told

08-04-2009 • The Agitator

2 National Guardsmen filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Wisconsin Dells, its police chief and 3 officers because they were forced to lap up human urine from the ground last summer.

Houston Police Admit Tasers are Deadly Weapons

08-02-2009 • Chron.com (h/t Fark)

A Houston police officer fatally shot a man in Kingwood Saturday night after the suspect grabbed the patrolman's Taser, pointed it at the officer and threatened to shoot him with it, authorities said.

When Law Flies Out the Door

08-02-2009 • Washinton Post

In place of search warrants issued by a judge, ICE agents carry administrative warrants issued by one of their own officials that require that they "knock and talk" to gain entry into a home, a policy often abused.

The Cardozo study examined 700 arrests between 2006 and 2008 on Long Island and in New Jersey and found that agents said they had not received informed consent to enter the homes in 86 percent of the Long Island cases and 24 percent of the New Jersey ones.

Police in Parker-Broderick case arraigned in Ohio

07-31-2009 • AP

Two Ohio police chiefs accused of snooping on the surrogate mother for actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick were charged with several felonies.  The men conspired to steal items from the woman's home to sell to celebrity photographers.

The First Amendment and Insulting Cops

07-29-2009 • The Agitator

The plaintiff was suing under federal civil rights statutes after a [Arizona] police officer stopped and arrested him, apparently in retaliation for a series of obscenities the plaintiff had earlier directed at the cop.   Andrew Sullivan finds an eloquent opinion from federal appeals court judge Alex Kozinski.

Praetorian Presumptions - by Will Grigg

07-29-2009 • Pro Liberate

"[T]ough guys don't pack firearms. Fearful guys do -- people who see everyone around them as a threat and think the worst of faces they don't recognize. Guns don't showcase strength, they showcase weakness."
 

Charges Dropped Against Woman Framed by Cops

07-29-2009 • NBC News

Alexandra Torrensvilas was the target of cops who pinned a DUI on her for an accident they caused. Now she has been cleared of charges after the Broward State Attorney's Office officially dropped the four DUI citations.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: The Police Report

07-26-2009 • Smoking Gun

Here is the police report detailing the confrontation between Harvard professor Henry Gates and Cambridge cops, who were condemned by President Barack Obama for acting "stupidly" in arresting the African-American scholar. Cops responded to Gates's house after neighbor Lucia Whalen reported spotting "two black males with backpacks" trying to gain entry to the home (Gates, returning home from a trip overseas, and his driver were contending with a stuck front door). The Cambridge Police Department reports, authored by Sergeant James Crowley and Officer James Figueroa, quote an incensed Gates yelling, "This is what happens to black men in America!," and, when asked by Crowley to speak with him outside the residence, Gates replied, "ya, I'll speak with your mama outside." A disorderly conduct rap was filed against Gates, but quickly dropped by prosecutors. Gates is reportedly considering legal action against the Cambridge polic

As Officers Face Heated Words, Their Tactics Vary

07-24-2009 • NY Times

There is nothing in the equipment room to give an officer thicker skin.

That tool — as vital to an officer’s safety and the public’s as anything clipped to his belt — is developed in training, and its strength differs from one officer to the next.

How we handled the bad cop

07-24-2009 • BOLT of California

[Condensed to fit] ...We were asked by a few motorcyclists to help them with Officer Love in Vacaville, CA. The cop had been making some serious problems for riders in Vacaville, writing many helmet tickets, along with various other types of harassment, and Rights violations. We decided to jump in and get our own tickets, instead of just helping them with their court paperwork. [We] rode to Vacaville to find the helmet ticket writing cop. We found him. Police use intimidation and falsehood as leverage against you. Some who have seen the video consider it a teaching tool. Could be right. Notice how the cops back off when they realize they can't fool you. Now the fun begins. Through court papers we discover how many legal mistakes the cop knew he was making, and how many mistakes he didn't know he was making. Mark Temple Charter Member BOLT of California

Denver Officer Pulls Weapon Over Slow Service

07-24-2009 • Officer.com

A Denver police officer assigned to Denver International Airport was on administrative leave Tuesday after employees at an Aurora McDonald's said he pulled a gun on them when his order wasn't filled fast enough.

Obama: Police who arrested professor 'acted stupidly'

07-23-2009 • CNN

President Obama said police in Cambridge, MA, "acted stupidly" in arresting a prominent black Harvard professor after a confrontation at the man's home.  

"I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played," [but I'll comment on it anyway] Obama said while taking questions after a White House news conference.

Cambridge authorities dropped disorderly conduct charges against Henry Louis Gates Jr. on Tuesday.

Charges dropped against black Harvard scholar

07-21-2009 • AP

[in under 24 hours!]  Police said the 58-year-old Gates was arrested [for disorderly conduct] after he yelled at an officer [inside his own home], accused him of racial bias and refused to calm down after the officer demanded Gates show him identification to prove he lived in the home.

Cops tasered 3 kids, threatened one with sodomy

07-20-2009 • Rawstory

On the way to the closet, Deputy David Bowers lifted Megan Geisler off the ground, pressed her against a wall and choked her. While choking her, Deputy David Bowers said, ‘do you want to live or die bitch’ to Megan Geisler. Megan Geisler was then thrown into a closet. At this time she began vomiting and heaving.”

Black scholar accuses police of racism after being arrested trying to break into home

07-20-2009 • Daily Telegraph

Henry Louis Gates Jr, America's most famous black scholar, has accused local police of racism after he was arrested while trying to break into his own home near Harvard University. 

Court rips San Carlos cops who broke into home

07-19-2009 • San Francisco Chronicle

Police in San Carlos who heard that a man had been in a minor traffic accident and may have been drinking can't justify charging into his home with guns drawn by claiming they feared he was in a diabetic coma, a federal appeals court ruled.

NYPD typewriter bill nearly $1 million

07-16-2009 • UPI

Dr. Edith Linn, a retired New York police officer and professor of criminal justice, said many of the 500 police officers she interviewed told her the outdated equipment makes them less likely to perform arrests for minor offenses. [so, good?]

Pre-Crime Enforcement Suffers Due to Mass. Decrim

07-16-2009 • Boston Herald

MA police spotted a suspected perv smoking pot in a car filled with coils of rope, a pair of handcuffs and bottles of NyQuil. But they had to let the man go, even though he was awaiting trial on child sexual assault charges.

Said Deputy Chief Russell Jenkins, “Had the law not been changed, he absolutely would have been placed under arrest.”

Suspect puts drugs in his mouth; cop breaks his neck

07-14-2009 • Rawstory

A 42-year-old Louisiana man has died, apparently of a broken neck, after being pulled over by a police deputy.

A dash cam video shows Deputy Chris Sturdivant of the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office with his arms around Adam Stogner’s neck after the officer suspected the man of putting a small quantity of drugs into his mouth.