We called the Fairfax County police for help....the punks they sent threatened to arrest us. One cop tells my wife that if she keeps crying he'll arrest her and the other cop, La Forge or something, says to me "You call the police this what you get"
I said that was wrong and he said
"Go ahead, say more fuck'n thing prick" and I thought "Well if you insist".
“Identification with one’s office or title is very attractive indeed, which is precisely why so many men are nothing more than the decorum accorded to them by society. In vain would one look for a personality behind the husk. Underneath one would find a very pitiable little creature. That is why the office is so attractive: it offers easy compensation for personal deficiencies.” Carl Jung
Charges have been filed against
a Roodhouse police officer and two dispatchers following with investigations
into the disappearance of prescription medication from the White Hall Police
Department.
On Friday, the Greene County
Sheriff’s Department began to serve warrants for the arrests of Roodhouse
Police Sgt. Steven L. Settles, 46, as well as Michele A. Stewart, 48, and
Amanda M. Morrow, 28.
Settles has been charged with
delivery of a controlled substance and official misconduct. Stewart and Morrow
were both charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance and theft.
Stewart and Morrow are accused
of stealing medication containing hydrocodone from a storage area in the White
Hall Police Department.
Greene County Sheriff Robert
McMillen said the charges that were filed against Settles are unrelated to that
theft, and he is accused of distributing medication he possessed with a valid
prescription.
“When we got the complaint
about missing medication from White Hall, we looked into that case and learned
of deliveries that had occurred involving Settles and opened up that
investigation a little broader,” McMillen said.
While Hall Police Chief Jack
Wallis said Stewart and Morrow were both part-time dispatchers at White Hall,
though Morrow resigned June 10.
Stewart was a full-time
dispatcher at Roodhouse and Morrow had also resigned this month from a
part-time position there.
The charge of official
misconduct filed against Settles accuses him of delivering controlled
substances in his official capacity and that “knowingly performed an act which
he knew he was forbidden my law to perform.”
Roodhouse Police Chief Kyle
Robison issued a written statement saying “my department will continue to
provide any information necessary to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office and
cooperate fully with the Greene County State’s Attorney.”
McMillen said Friday afternoon
that Stewart already had been arrested and released on $3,500 bail. Settles was
expected to turn himself in later Friday. He said Morrow was undergoing medical
treatment and was not yet arrested.
Wallis said that as a
part-time, on-call employee, Stewart is not allowed to work while the case is
ongoing. At the onset of the investigation, Robison placed two employees on
paid administrative leave. McMillen said he believed that continues to be the
case following the arrests.
HONOLULU (AP) — A former
Honolulu Police Department officer and a second man have been charged in
federal court with extortion and selling stolen vehicles.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports Roddy Tsunezumi and Jeremy Javillo were charged
in documents filed Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors say
Tsunezumi committed the crimes while employed by the police department.
Police spokeswoman Michelle Yu
says Tsunezumi "separated" from the department in April after nine
years but would not say why.
Tsunezumi's lawyer Megan Kau
declined comment. It's not clear if Javillo has a lawyer.
Prosecutors say Tsunezumi and
Javillo between June and October 2013 tried to extort $15,000 from two owners
of a Honolulu hostess bar.
They're also charged with
conspiring to buy salvaged vehicles, stealing similar models and switching
vehicle identification numbers to resell the stolen vehicles.
BUENA – A special police
officer was arrested at work here Friday for alleged on-duty misconduct
involving a 17-year-old girl he sexually assaulted, according to county and
local officials.
Sean R. Griffith, 24, of
Landisville was held in Atlantic County Jail on $100,000 bail, the county
Prosecutor's Office said.
Acting Prosecutor James P.
McClain listed the charges as official misconduct and sexual assault, both
second-degree offenses, and third-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
Giffith has worked here about a
year, according to borough Public Safety Director Daniel Caregnato. He's a
Class II special officer, meaning he was allowed to carry firearms while on
duty.
Griffith was suspended
immediately without pay, pending a Borough Council vote on whether to fire him,
Caregnato said.
The officer was used for patrol
duties, he said.
Caregnato said the Police
Department is not investigating the allegations and the borough has not been
fully briefed by county authorities.
McClain said Griffith
"committed the acts while holding a position of authority and disciplinary
power" over the alleged victim.
Griffith is scheduled to be
arraigned in municipal court on July 10.
In New Jersey, a second-degree
offense carries a potential prison term of five to 10 years. The term for a
third-degree offense is three to five years behind bars.
TEMPE, Ariz. -- An Arizona
State University professor who was arrested by campus police last month is
claiming self-defense, and the incident is getting a whole lot more attention
now that 3TV has obtained video of it.
“The reason I’m talking to you
right now is because you are walking in the middle of the street,” Officer
Stewart Ferrin said to ASU professor Dr. Ersula Ore after stopping her near
campus. She was crossing College Avenue, just south of Fifth Street.
Click here to view the raw
video
But in less than a minute, the
conversation quickly began to escalate.
“Let me see your ID or you will
be arrested for failing to provide ID,” Ferrin said.
“Are you serious?” Ore asked.
“Yes, I am serious. That is the
law,” Ferrin replied.
According to police reports,
Ore said she was trying to cross College Avenue in the same fashion as several
others trying to avoid construction.
“I never once saw a single
solitary individual get pulled over by a cop for walking across a street on a
campus, in a campus location. Everybody has been doing this because it is all
obstructed. That’s the reason why,” Ore said to the officer. “But you stop me
in the middle of the street to pull me over and ask me, 'Do you know what this
is? This is a street.' ”
“Are you aware that this is a
street?” Ferrin asked.
“Let me finish,” Ore said.
“OK, put your hands behind your
back,” Ferrin said.
“Don't touch me,” Ore said.
“Get your hands off me.”
Seconds later, things escalated
even further.
“Put your hand behind your
back. I’m going to slam you on this car. Put your hand behind your back,”
Ferrin said.
“You really want to do that? Do
you see what I’m wearing? Do you see?” Ore said.
She was wearing a black dress
and after being "slammed" onto the car, she was wrestled to the
ground. Her dress hiked up and her body was exposed.
While both Ore and Ferrin
suffered some minor injuries, Ore was charged with aggravated assault on a
police officer in addition to criminal damage and obstructing a thoroughfare.
She intends to fight the charges.
Ore's attorney, Alane Roby,
says Ore is claiming self-defense.
"She was exposed, told
officer she was exposed," Roby said of her client while she was on the
ground. "Her dress was up; the officer was reaching toward her anatomy.
She felt uncomfortable with hands going there."
Professor Ore is an English
professor whose research interests include cultural studies, according to ASU's
website.
ASU released this statement to
3TV:
“ASU authorities have reviewed
the circumstances surrounding the arrest and have found no evidence of
inappropriate actions by the ASUPD officers involved. Should such evidence be
discovered, an additional, thorough inquiry will be conducted and appropriate
actions taken.
"Because the underlying
criminal charges are pending, there is not much more we can say at this time.
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has reviewed all available evidence,
including the police report, witness statements, and audio and video recordings
of the incident, and decided to press criminal charges of assaulting a police
officer, resisting arrest, refusing to provide identification when requested to
do so by an officer, and obstructing a highway or public thoroughfare.”
WEST ALLIS, Wis. (KTTC/AP) --
Bond has been set at $1 million for a former police officer suspected of
killing two women and hiding their bodies in suitcases dumped in southern
Wisconsin.
Steven Zelich, 52, is charged with
two counts of hiding a corpse in a case that brought investigators to
Rochester. Zelich appeared on video but didn't speak during a hearing Friday in
Walworth County Circuit Court.
Zelich's lawyer, Travis
Schwantes, asked for a far lower bond, noting his client hasn't been charged
with homicide. But District Attorney Daniel Necci said he expects homicide
charges to be filed where the women were killed. Investigators allege the women
were killed elsewhere in Wisconsin and in Minnesota
According to the criminal
complaint, Zelich is accused of stuffing the remains of two women in suitcases
he left along a southern Wisconsin highway. The complaint goes on to say he met
his victims online, bound and killed them and carried their bodies around in
his vehicle for months.
On June 5, a highway worker
discovered the two suitcases beside a road in Geneva, Wis., about 50 miles
southwest of Milwaukee. On June 12,
evidence brought investigators to Rochester where one victim, Laura Simonson,
37, of Farmington, Minn., was seen checking into the Microtel Inn and Suites with Zelich back on Nov. 2.
Zelich checked out alone the next day.
Police said Rochester could
have served as a common meeting point, as Simonson was from Farmington, and
Zelich is from the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis.
Zelich's apartment in West
Allis was searched Wednesday, as neighbors watched. They describe him as a man who kept to
himself, was quiet, and never stopped to talk.
Investigators said Zelich was
involved in bondage and sexual fetish websites, where he may have been looking
for a sex partner. Police said they don't know if that's where he and Simonson
first met. Meanwhile, the second woman killed is still unidentified.
The complaint says Zelich
killed one woman in Wisconsin in late 2012 or early 2013 and the other in
Minnesota last November. It says he hid the first body in his home, then later
stored it with the second body in his vehicle.
Both women were found bound,
and their bodies had started to decompose. One had a ball gag in her mouth
Zelich was a patrol officer for
12 years with the West Allis Police Department before resigning in 2001.
We'll have the latest on this
story on KTTC.com and the NewsCenter
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) --
Officials say a former Daytona Beach police officer will serve a three-year
mandatory minimum prison sentence for dealing in Oxycodone.
The state attorney's office in
Daytona Beach says 51-year-old Anthony Annatone Jr. pleaded no contest to the
drug charge and was found guilty on Wednesday.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
(http://bit.ly/1o9ZIlO ) reports Annatone was also fined $50,000.
The FBI conducted a two-year
investigation into Annatone, which resulted in his arrest. His son, 26-year-old
Aaron Annatone, pleaded no contest in March and was sentenced to 10 years in
state prison.
The decommissioned Metro police
officer accused of raping his ex-girlfriend will leave his post after a 29-day
suspension.
Lt. Curtis Watkins, 36, sent
his letter of resignation, effective at the end of his suspension, to police on
Thursday, according to a news release from the Metro Nashville Police
Department. He was arrested June 13 after a Davidson County grand jury indicted
him on three counts of rape spanning a two-year period.
Watkins was decommissioned Jan.
27 after the woman alleged victim contacted police with her concerns. The
suspect was the subject of two Metro investigations into the matter at the time
of his resignation, police said.
Before his decommissioning,
Watkins worked in the Investigations Unit at Metro's Madison Precinct. He was a
15-year veteran of the police department.
Watkins remains free on
$100,000 bond. His next appearance in court is scheduled for Aug. 6.
DAYTON -- A Dayton police
officer is facing three misdemeanor charges, filed June 25 by the Trotwood
Police Department, following an investigation.
Officer Erica S. Cash is
charged with one count of falsification and two counts of obstruction of
official business. Trotwood
investigators say that after a fatal crash on Little Richmond Road last
October, Cash hindered them from finding the main suspect, Jermaine Griffin
"The whole thought of an
officer not stepping up and doing what they're
supposed to do is very
disturbing." Captain John Porter of the Trotwood
Police Department told us.
Cash has been placed on
restricted duty pending the outcome of the criminal case. Cash graduated from
the Dayton Police Academy on July 11, 2008.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - A
Bakersfield Police officer accused of driving drunk and causing a crash is now
being sued.
Police say Officer Justin West
was drunk when he rear-ended another car and then veered off into several more
parked cars Monday night.
The man he hit says he had to
go to the hospital later that night.
He is suing West and his
attorney says his client’s injury could increase West’s charge to a felony.
The District Attorney's office
says they have not received the case yet from the Bakersfield Police
Department.
They say once they do they will
make a decision on whether to increase West's charge to a felony.
Shannon Maxwell, whose car was
hit while parked, says she called All-State Insurance to file a claim with
West's insurance, but found out the truck he was driving was not on the
family's policy.
This means the people whose
cars West hit may have to pay for their own repairs.
CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Va. – Two
teenage girls were victimized by a Virginia man who filmed or took pictures of
them in sexual situations, according to Virginia State Police.
Francis D. Marrin Jr., 42, of
Cumberland, Virginia, was arrested Thursday after a grand jury indicted him on
33 felony counts.
“In April 2014, Virginia State
Police Special Agent K.R. George initiated an investigation into allegations of
child pornography and sexual assault involving Marrin and a 16-year-old
female,” Virginia State Police wrote in a statement. “During the course of the
investigation, a second female teenage victim was discovered and identified.”
Marrin was indicted on charges
of:
Production and possession of
child pornography
Unlawful filming of another
(minor)
Aggravated sexual battery
Marrin, who lived in
Cumberland, was never employed by the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office,
according to Cumberland Sheriff Darrell Hodges.
“[He] was a former police
officer employed by another jurisdiction outside of Cumberland County,” Hodges
said.
State Police called its
investigation into Marrin “ongoing.” He is being held without bond at Piedmont
Regional Jail in Farmville.
The city’s legal tab, if the
Central Park deal is approved, would hit $101 million this year, compared to
$96.3 million for all of 2013. But some lawyers say the high numbers don’t
necessarily indicate a trend.
BY JOHN MARZULLI
It's already been a very
expensive year.
The $40 million Central Park
Five settlement would boost 2014 city payouts in police misconduct and civil
rights suits past last year’s total. And there’s still six months to go.
The legal tab, if the Central
Park deal is approved, would hit $101 million this year, compared to $96.3
million for all of 2013, according to figures provided to the Daily News from
City Controller Scott Stringer’s office.
Taxpayers shelled out $106.6
million in 2012 and $106.8 million in 2011 to settle NYPD misconduct and civil
rights cases, the controller’s figures showed.
“This should be a wakeup call
to the de Blasio administration that they have to do something about police
misconduct that’s costing taxpayers an outrageous amount of money,” said civil
rights lawyer Sanford Rubenstein.
A former Suffolk County police sergeant has
been charged with 20 more hate crimes in an indictment that accuses him of
repeatedly targeting and stealing from Hispanic motorists.
Scott A. Greene, 50, of
Shirley, who retired in April, already was charged with several counts of
fourth-degree grand larceny as a hate crime and official misconduct for
allegedly stealing from six Hispanic motorists.
The new indictment unsealed
Tuesday accuses him of stealing from 20 other Hispanic drivers who told
prosecutors what happened to them. For each victim, he is charged with larceny,
larceny as a hate crime and official misconduct.
State Supreme Court Justice
Fernando Camacho allowed Greene to remain free with no bail, although Greene
did spend the morning in handcuffs after turning himself in to face the new
charges. He pleaded not guilty and left the courtroom escorted by court
officers and his attorney, Timothy Mazzei of Blue Point. Greene and Mazzei did
not comment.
As with the previous cases,
District Attorney Thomas Spota said Greene pulled over Hispanic motorists
driving cars in Coram with out-of-state license plates. He asked for the
driver's wallet, went back to his patrol car and then returned the wallet --
minus about $100 -- and let them go without writing a traffic ticket.
Spota said investigators
"had to scour thousands of documents to corroborate" the accusations,
including radio transmissions, license plate checks and summonses written by
Greene.
He credited Hispanic advocacy
groups for helping the new victims come forward and testify before a grand
jury.
Spota said the investigation is
continuing and his office is still willing to hear from other potential
victims.
Irma Solis, Long Island
organizer for Make The Road New York, thanked Spota for taking the victims
seriously and pursuing Greene.
She and Spota differed,
however, on whether Greene acted alone. Spota said his investigation found no
other officer engaging in such behavior. Solis said that seemed unlikely, and
she urged prosecutors to cast a wider net.
"It's very difficult to
believe others [in the police department] didn't know what he was doing,"
Solis said. Greene should be held responsible for what he did, but not for
anyone else, she said.
Greene was first targeted in a
sting in January, a result of a half-dozen other drivers identifying him as the
officer who pulled them over and stole their cash, prosecutors said.
Greene was arrested Jan. 30
after he was recorded on video taking $100 cash from an envelope on the front
seat of a car driven by a Hispanic undercover detective on Granny Road in
Coram, Spota said.
Spota said Greene also stood
out for his seemingly zealous traffic enforcement. "It was an
extraordinary amount of stops for a sergeant," he said.
A second Baltimore City police
officer has been charged in connection with the death of a dog at the hands of
another city officer, police said. Thomas Joseph Schmidt, 52, of Abingdon, was
charged Thursday with aggravated animal cruelty, animal cruelty and malfeasance
in office charges, according to court records. He is scheduled for trial on
July 28 and was released Thursday after posting $75,000 bond. Schmidt had been
suspended on June 19. Police said Officer Jeffrey Bolger cut the dog's throat
after she disappeared from her home on June 14. The department accused Schmidt
of holding the dog down while Bolger killed her. Bolger remains free on his own
recognizance.
An internal investigation by
the Wilmington Police Department has found that an officer used excessive force
during an arrest in May in downtown Wilmington.
A cell phone camera captured a
police officer using his baton on a man during an arrest in downtown Wilmington
over the weekend.
Now, the man who was cuffed
says he wants an apology and wants to see the officer punished.
Earlier this week, WECT
obtained a copy of a letter sent from an internal affairs investigator to the
person who made the original complaint.
It specifically states that the
complaint against Officer A.J. Phillips was sustained, which according to the
WPD policy manual means the employee acted improperly.
A second officer involved in
the arrest was also investigated. That same investigation found there was not
enough evidence to confirm or refute the allegations.
The investigations stem from an
incident in May when Khale Gay was leaving a club on Front Street and walked
into a fray of pepper spray and police officers. Gay claimed before he knew
what happened he was under arrest and an officer was hitting him in the legs
with a flashlight.
Officer Phillips was suspended
for two days according the WPD.
At first, the WPD denied our
public records request, saying that any disciplinary action taken against an
officer would be kept in his personnel file and therefore would not be a public
record.
We pointed them to North
Carolina General Statue 160a-168 which specifically says the dates of
suspensions and other change of classifications are public record.
At that point the WPD said the
department does not keep track of suspensions. Cpl. Leslie Irving explained in
an email:
"I was informed that our
system is not set up to track suspensions because suspension does not change
salary. It only tracks changes in position and salary classification for
example: Administrative Leave with or without pay or Family Medical Leave. We
don't keep a public record that shows suspensions."
On dozens of occasions in the
past, the WPD has provided WECT and other media outlets with information about
suspensions and officers who have been placed on administrative leave,
including just two weeks ago when Chief Ralph Evangelous announced another
officer had been placed on administrative leave in a separate excessive force
complaint: http://bit.ly/1lxNbsB
BOTHELL, Wash. - A Bothell
police officer was suspended for one day for his involvement in a high-speed
pursuit that resulted in a fatal crash in Everett.
Police Chief Carol Cummings
said Officer Mark Atterbury should have called off the pursuit earlier.
The discipline was reported by
The Daily Herald after it sought the information through public records law.
The pursuit took place in May
2013, when Atterbury spotted a man driving a stolen pickup and pursued him for
miles through Snohomish County at speeds of up to 95 mph. During the chase, the
pickup hit the officer's patrol car and another car before heading north up
Interstate 5.
The pickup eventually turned
off I-5 at Everett, turning onto Evergreen Way and heading north, blasting
through several red lights at high speed as the officer followed with emergency
lights and sirens on.
At the intersection of Rucker
and Pacific avenues in Everett, the stolen pickup collided with a car and
killed its driver, Rachel Kamin, 40, a registered nurse who was on her way to
work.
The driver of the stolen
pickup, later identified as Joseph Strange, is charged with murder for the
death and is facing trial in October.
DANBURY -- An attorney
representing a woman facing auto theft charges in Stratford claims that Danbury
police negligence is the reason his client was wrongly arrested.
Michael Bradley, a Norwich
attorney specializing in police misconduct cases, has filed a notice of intent
to sue the city on behalf of Rachel O'Rourke, 29, of East Starrs Plain Road.
"It's like a bad
dream," Bradley said. "She is absolutely in the right, and she did
everything she could under the circumstances."
According to the Stratford police
arrest warrant affidavit, O'Rourke rented a car from Enterprise and didn't
return it, owing the company $2,223. O'Rourke told them the car had broken down
and been towed in Danbury.
But when Stratford police
called Danbury police to verify her story, they were told there was no record
of the towing, Bradley said. She was charged in December with third-degree
larceny.
The charge is still pending in
state Superior Court in Bridgeport, even though a second records check by
Danbury police confirmed that they had in fact ordered the car towed and that
it had been in the possession of the towing company when Stratford police
inquired about it, Bradley said.
Under state law, when a person
contemplates a lawsuit against a municipality, notice of intent to sue must be
given within six months, Bradley said. O'Rourke's notice was received by the
town clerk June 12, two days before the deadline.
Assistant Corporation Counsel
Les Pinter said the matter has been referred to the city's insurance carrier
for review.
When the suit is filed,
O'Rourke will seek damages for false arrest, false imprisonment, emotional pain
and suffering and financial damages for "loss of time because she had to
attend court repeatedly," Bradley said.
A Danbury police spokesman said
this week he had no knowledge of the incident.
Court records indicate that
prosecutors in Bridgeport have offered O'Rourke a suspended sentence with three
years of probation. Her next court date is July 17.
LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - A group
is calling for more oversight over Louisville Metro police after a grand jury
decided there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute four young men after a night
of teen violence.
The Kentucky Alliance Against
Racist and Political Oppression wants an elected group of citizens controlling
Louisville Metro Police Department.
Kathleen Parks, chair of the
Kentucky Alliance, is proposing a Civilian Police Accountability Council.
"It would be a
democratically elected controlling body of the Louisville Metro Police
Department," Parks said during a news conference Thursday.
Parks made the announcement
while sitting at a table with four young men arrested following teen mob
violence.
A grand jury decided there
wasn't enough evidence to prosecute Craig Dean, 20, Shaquazz Allen, 18, Jerron
Bush, 21, and Tyrone Booker Jr., 19.
There's currently a Citizens
Commission on Police Accountability appointed by the mayor and approved by
metro council. Parks said that's not good enough.
"I don't have a lot of
faith in the current council they have right now. (LMPD) was not held accountable
for their actions in this particular case - that's a clear cut distinction
right there," Parks said.
Parks alleged LMPD racially
profiled in the wake of teen mob violence at Waterfront Park.
LMPD Chief Steve Conrad
responded with this statement:
"I can certainly
appreciate the perspective of the Kentucky Alliance Against Political
Repression and their call for a Citizens Review Board. These concerns have been
raised in the past and, in fact, there are already multiple layers of civilian
review. For over ten years citizens from throughout our community have reviewed
and issued recommendations on every police involved incident resulting in a
death as part of the Citizens Commission on Police Accountability. The Merit
Board, also consisting of community members, reviews all disciplinary actions.
Additional information on this group may be found at www.louisvilleky.gov.
Finally, the LMPD must also
answer to the Metro Council, which includes representatives of all segments of
our community, as well as Mayor Greg Fischer. All of these bodies provide
several layers of accountability which, we believe, have been and continue to
be extremely effective in addressing the actions of our officers."
Kentucky Alliance is gathering
signatures for a petition that will be presented to Metro Council sometime in
2015, according to Parks.
We urge the Oakland City Council to place a measure on the
November ballot that would create a citizen-run Public Safety Oversight
Committee.
By Susan Shawl and Robert Oliver
Based on the most recent report issued by federal monitor Robert
Warshaw, the Oakland Police Department will most likely require months of
additional court monitoring — after eleven years of failure to comply with the
Negotiated Settlement Agreement (NSA). No other city in the United States has
taken so long to bring its police department into compliance with a federal
consent decree.
It is indisputable that the City of Oakland has lacked the ability
to hold its police department accountable to the public it is sworn to protect
and serve, and this inadequacy has led to the expenditure of many millions of
dollars on costly lawsuits, court monitoring, and outside consultants —
resources that might have been used to hire additional police officers or meet
other critical needs.
The Coalition for Police Accountability, composed of Oakland residents,
was formed to address this crisis and has drafted a ballot measure to amend the
city charter to create a Public Safety Oversight Commission (PSOC). This
initiative is being sponsored by City Council Public Safety Committee Chair
Noel Gallo and was scheduled to be discussed at its meeting on Tuesday, June
24.
Currently, the city administrator manages the personnel matters of
the Oakland Police Department (OPD) and all other city departments. This
authority is granted by the city charter. This initiative would transfer
authority to discipline officers found to have violated policy to the PSOC. The
PSOC would also make budget and policy recommendations to the mayor and city
council for implementation.
This structure is based on the police commission model in Los
Angeles and San Francisco. The PSOC would consolidate the staff of the existing
Citizens Police Review Board and Community Policing Advisory Board — so no
additional taxation would be sought. The mayor and city council members would
retain authority to make final decisions concerning the budget, policies, major
program initiatives, and the selection of the police chief.
The Oakland police union — the Oakland Police Officers Association
(OPOA) — believes that police officers do not need civilian oversight, and that
they can adequately police themselves. And for decades, the city's leadership
has deferred to this view. The result has been clear: OPD has failed to adhere
to the terms of the NSA and complete its mandated reforms within five years, revealing
an ingrained resistance to change that has prolonged noncompliance.
The solution we propose protects reforms and best practices
by using Oakland citizens — instead of expensive federal court monitors — to
oversee the implementation of structural change in OPD policy, practice, and
fiscal management. If the city's residents and leaders do not install adequate
civilian oversight of OPD, we may find ourselves going "back to the
future," with further expensive lawsuits and misconduct settlements after the
NSA is concluded.
These issues are critical. Neglecting the need to create adequate
local mechanisms of police oversight for so many years has resulted in massive,
prolonged expenses that Oakland simply can't afford. The city council owes it
to the residents, its constituents, to allow them to choose in November whether
or not to adopt this long-overdue corrective measure.
Two years ago, citizens' groups proposed a similar measure. But
our circumstances are very different now. In 2012, we didn't have the time and
the organization to get the ball rolling. In addition, a Public Safety
Oversight Committee, if it would have been created back then, would have run
afoul of the OPOA's contract with the city. But we believe that issue is no
longer a roadblock.
The provisions of the current measure, if passed by voters on
November 4, 2014, would not take effect until either 180 days after the
election or the termination of the NSA. That brings us up to around June 30,
2015, when the current OPOA contract expires. And this charter amendment would
preclude any provisions of a new contract between OPOA and the city that would
conflict with the language of the measure.
Military-style units
from government agencies are wreaking havoc on non-violent citizens.
By John Fund
Regardless of how people feel about Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s
standoff with the federal Bureau of Land Management over his cattle’s grazing
rights, a lot of Americans were surprised to see TV images of an
armed-to-the-teeth paramilitary wing of the BLM deployed around Bundy’s ranch.
They shouldn’t have been. Dozens of federal agencies now have
Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams to further an expanding definition of
their missions. It’s not controversial that the Secret Service and the Bureau
of Prisons have them. But what about the Department of Agriculture, the
Railroad Retirement Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Office of
Personnel Management, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service? All of these have their own SWAT units and are part of a
worrying trend towards the militarization of federal agencies — not to mention
local police forces.
“Law-enforcement agencies across the U.S., at every level of
government, have been blurring the line between police officer and soldier,”
journalist Radley Balko writes in his 2013 book Rise of the Warrior Cop. “The
war on drugs and, more recently, post-9/11 antiterrorism efforts have created a
new figure on the U.S. scene: the warrior cop — armed to the teeth, ready to
deal harshly with targeted wrongdoers, and a growing threat to familiar
American liberties.”
The proliferation of paramilitary federal SWAT teams inevitably
brings abuses that have nothing to do with either drugs or terrorism. Many of
the raids they conduct are against harmless, often innocent, Americans who
typically are accused of non-violent civil or administrative violations.
Take the case of Kenneth Wright of Stockton, Calif., who was
“visited” by a SWAT team from the U.S. Department of Education in June 2011.
Agents battered down the door of his home at 6 a.m., dragged him outside in his
boxer shorts, and handcuffed him as they put his three children (ages 3, 7, and
11) in a police car for two hours while they searched his home. The raid was
allegedly intended to uncover information on Wright’s estranged wife, Michelle,
who hadn’t been living with him and was suspected of college financial-aid fraud.
The year before the raid on Wright, a SWAT team from the Food and
Drug Administration raided the farm of Dan Allgyer of Lancaster, Pa. His crime
was shipping unpasteurized milk across state lines to a cooperative of young
women with children in Washington, D.C., called Grass Fed on the Hill. Raw milk
can be sold in Pennsylvania, but it is illegal to transport it across state
lines. The raid forced Allgyer to close down his business.
Brian Walsh, a senior legal analyst with the Heritage Foundation,
says it is inexplicable why so many federal agencies need to be battle-ready:
“If these agencies occasionally have a legitimate need for force to execute a
warrant, they should be required to call a real law-enforcement agency, one
that has a better sense of perspective. The FBI, for example, can draw upon its
vast experience to determine whether there is an actual need for a dozen SWAT
agents.”
Since 9/11, the feds have issued a plethora of homeland-security
grants that encourage local police departments to buy surplus military hardware
and form their own SWAT units. By 2005, at least 80 percent of towns with a
population between 25,000 and 50,000 people had their own SWAT team. The number
of raids conducted by local police SWAT teams has gone from 3,000 a year in the
1980s to over 50,000 a year today.
When I think of SWAT teams I
think of bank robberies not ordinary drug busts. The latter, I think, fall more
into the category of routine than special and can be taken care of with
ordinary weapons and tactics. - Matt
The American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU) published a study Monday that found excessive militarization of
police due to the rising use of SWAT teams to execute ordinary search warrants
is disproportionately affecting minorities, and African-Americans in
particular:
All across the country, heavily
armed SWAT teams are raiding people’s homes in the middle of the night, often
just to search for drugs. It should enrage us that people have needlessly died
during these raids, that pets have been shot, and that homes have been ravaged.
Our neighborhoods are not
warzones, and police officers should not be treating us like wartime enemies.
Any yet, every year, billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment flows
from the federal government to state and local police departments. Departments
use these wartime weapons in everyday policing, especially to fight the
wasteful and failed drug war, which has unfairly targeted people of color.
SWAT team usage has gone up for
two main reasons: Post-9/11 spending security increases and the shift to what
are called “multi-jurisdictional” SWAT teams.
A Salon.com story last year
explains the first phenomenon well with contributions from the Washington
Post’s Radley Balko, an expert on police state excess.
“Since 9/11, the newly formed
Department of Homeland Security has distributed billions in grants, enabling
even some small town police departments to buy armored personnel carriers and
field their own SWAT teams,” Alex Halperin writes.
“Once you have a SWAT team the
only thing to do is kick some ass. There are more than 100 SWAT team raids
every day in this country,” he continues. “They’re not chasing murderers or
terrorists. For the most part they go after nonviolent offenders like drug
dealers and even small time gamblers.”
Balko noted the correlative
relationship between SWAT teams and the war on drugs, in conjunction with
post-9/11 security increases.
“The drug war is what got us to
a crisis point and Sept. 11 just kind of blew it out of the water. A Pentagon
program hit its record in 2011 by giving away about $500 million of equipment.
[Department of Homeland Security] grants in the last 10 years have given away
$35 billion. DHS has accelerated the trend,” Balko said.
Multi-jurisdictional SWAT teams
have given SWAT teams usage even more reason to go up, having “reduce[d] the
budgetary constraints of local departments and agencies, as these costs are
shared between several organizations.”
In fact, “SWAT teams are
currently called out over 540,000 times a year nationwide, as opposed to just
3000 times per year on average in the 1980’s, but most of these ‘call-outs’,
according to statistics, were to serve warrants (Balko 2006).”
All of this leads to one big
question and then a subsequent question with a smaller scope: Is it a good idea
to use SWAT teams to serve warrants as general rule, and are our reasons to
extend that usage to serving non-violent drug offenders sufficient?
The evidence, especially that
provided by the ACLU, seems to indicate no.
Kriston Kapps of Citylab.com
notes that “67 percent of Americans think U.S. policy should focus on
treatment, with just 26 percent favoring prosecutions for people who use
drugs.” Even still, “79 percent of the incidents reviewed by the ACLU involved
a SWAT team searching a person’s home” and “more than 60 percent of the
incidents reviewed involved a search for drugs.”
The ACLU’s graphs yield some
staggering numbers, particularly the wide racial disparities.
A DEA Agent stopped at a ranch in Texas and talked to an old rancher. He told the rancher, "I need to inspect your ranch for illegally grown drugs." The rancher said, "okay, but don't go into that field over there...", as he pointed out the location. The DEA Agent verbally exploded and said, "look mister, I have the authority of the federal government with me!" Reaching into his rear back pocket, the arrogant officer removed his badge and proudly displayed it to the rancher. ..."See this badge?! This badge means I can go wherever I want... On any land! No questions asked, no answers given! Do you understand old man?!"
The rancher kindly nodded, apologized, and went about his chores. Moments later the rancher heard loud screams, he looked up and saw the DEA agent running for his life, being chased by the ranchers big Santa Gertrudis Bull...... With every step the bull was gaining ground on the officer, and it was likely that he'd sure enough get gored before he reached safety. The officer was clearly terrified. The old rancher threw down his tools, ran as fast as he could to the fence, and yelled at the top of his lungs......
"YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR BADGE!"
A former city police officer
was sentenced to 30 days in jail Thursday for stealing more than $3,000 from
three prostitutes.
Michael Mobley, a 30-year-old
who also served on the department’s dive team, pleaded guilty in February to
two counts of misdemeanor embezzlement. He faced up to two years in jail. He
can serve his sentence on consecutive weekends.
According to prosecutors,
Mobley approached prostitutes on two occasions in July 2012. He entered their
Greenbrier hotel rooms and questioned them under the guise of a police
investigation.
Mobley seized money from the
three women and told them it would go to Chesapeake schools. Instead, he
pocketed it.
Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney
Derek Wagner said Thursday that Mobley’s actions were worse than other thefts
because he “used his badge to steal money.”
Mobley declined to comment
after sentencing, but he said in court that the past few years have been the
hardest of his life.
Defense attorney Teddy Black
said this was an isolated wrongdoing by Mobley, who resigned in February before
his plea.
Since then, he has been a mate
on boats and plans to go to dive school, Black said.
“He made a terrible mistake,
and he’s going to pay for that mistake for the rest of his life,” Black said.
EX-COP RAFAEL CORDERO and his
supporters passionately told a federal judge yesterday that Cordero swayed from
his law-abiding ways to help a family member.
Cordero, 53, was convicted by a
jury in December of passing sensitive law-enforcement information about drug
investigations to his half brother, David Garcia, who was a member of a
Kensington heroin drug-trafficking ring.
"This is a unique set of
circumstances, dealing with a brother who [Cordero] has been tortured with over
the years," defense attorney Jack McMahon told U.S. District Judge Paul
Diamond.
Cordero tried to get Garcia on
the right side of the law, McMahon said.
One police officer, dressed in
his uniform, came to court to support Cordero. Officer Mario Santiago, of the
traffic unit, told the judge: "Sometimes, we as a police officer think as a
family first."
Cordero, rocking back and
forth, tearfully told the judge that when he told the information to his half
brother in 2011, he wasn't acting as the cop that he was, but was "looking
at [Garcia] as my brother."
But Diamond saw the case much
differently.
He said the jury rejected that
Cordero was just trying to help his half brother.
Before sentencing Cordero to 15
years in prison, Diamond said Cordero "was not trying to help his brother
stay alive," but "was trying to help his brother sell drugs."
The judge noted that Police
Commissioner Charles Ramsey had submitted a letter asking for the maximum
sentence allowed, 20 years in prison, for Cordero.
During the two-hour hearing,
the judge and McMahon verbally sparred over elements of the case. At one point,
McMahon told the judge he believed the government's portrayal of Cordero to be
"disingenuous," prompting the judge to interrupt.
Cordero was aiding a drug
organization that was "helping to kill the city he [Cordero] swore to
protect," the judge said.
After McMahon heatedly
disagreed, arguing that the facts didn't fit into a neat, little pattern, the
judge called for a brief break.
During the government's turn,
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Brenner called Cordero "deceptive, defiant
and duplicitous," saying he lied to his fellow officers, to the FBI and to
the jury at his trial.
The jury convicted Cordero of
two counts each of obstruction of justice and of lying to the feds.
After the hearing, McMahon and
Cordero's family were visibly upset by the judge's sentence. McMahon called the
long prison term "unspeakably cruel."
