Fairfax County Police up to the letter B in self improvement course


Some cop in third world dictator glasses explains that the five year Fairfax County Police program to make cops literate is in its fourth year. "We is up to the number B" 

He later added that the cops shot the letter A because they thought it had a gun. 



Chief Another Fuck'n white guy in a silly suite makes statement


Fairfax County Police Chief Another Fuck'n White Guy in A Silly Suite explains to his thugs that they are not to shoot his white trash mobile (pictured right) "Cuss'n taint got no gun". The cops shot it anyway.

Couple sues cop, city in shooting of dog


HAMMOND | A federal lawsuit was filed Tuesday against a Hammond police officer and the city over the June 9 shooting of a dog in front of a couple's home.
Plaintiff’s Norma Maldonado and Dario Lemus have a differing view of the incident than the Hammond Police Department.
Attorney Trent A. McCain, representing Maldonado and Lemus, issued a news release stating Hammond Officer Timothy L. Kreischer “unholstered his weapon, pointed it at the dog and fired three times, shooting the dog in the face.”
The news release said the shooting took place near to the couple's 7-year-old child at their former Hammond home.
Lilly, an 18-month-old pit bull, survived the shooting.
The news release refers to a subsequent Facebook posting from Hammond Mayor Thomas M. McDermott Jr., defending the officer’s actions and saying the dog had lunged at him in attack mode.
“Lilly neither charged at nor lunged at the officer,” McCain said. “Lilly was standing almost within arm’s length of a 7-year-old when Officer Kreischer discharged his weapon from 15-17 feet away.”
In a June 24 blog posting on the city of Hammond’s police website, Police Chief John Doughty defended the officer’s actions in response to a 911 call about a loose dog in the 6500 block of Jackson Avenue.
Doughty wrote, “The officer saw a sign and two flags in the front yard designating an electric fence had been installed to contain their dog. It announced a boundary that the dog could not pass. Note, an electric fence is against city ordinance … They can fail.”
Doughty explained when Kreischer attempted to get the attention of an adult, the dog starting running toward him. But as the officer backed up past the electric fence, the dog continued through the fence and continued running toward him.
“The dog retreated after one shot was fired,” Doughty said. “Animal Control was called to the scene. The owners were found to be in violation of several city ordinances, including no (dog) license, failure to restrain their dog and failure to maintain an actual fence.”
He said there were no children in close proximity at the time of the shooting, and police collected evidence indicating the dog had been trained to bite.
The lawsuit contends Kreischer was “intentional, unreasonable and grossly negligent” amounting to “callous or reckless indifference” to the plaintiff’s constitutional rights. The complaint seeks unspecified punitive damages and attorney fees.
Hammond Police spokesman Lt. Richard Hoyda said the department backs Kreischer’s version of events, and he has not been disciplined over the incident.






Police officer who wrote on Facebook that Ferguson cop 'did society a favor' by killing black teen Michael Brown is put on administrative leave


•           Jason Lentz, a 17-year veteran of the Elgin PD in Illinois, posted 11 racially-charged or offensive messages on Facebook this year
•           Above a video showing Ferguson victim Michael Brown, 18, allegedly stealing cigars he wrote: 'Innocent victim my a***. Did society a favor'
•           He called a black highway patrol captain 'the enemy within' and agreed his kids should stay at home for Veterans Day if they're off for MLK day
•           He has been suspended multiple times before, including for failing to turn up to testify as a witness in a rape trial because he was going on vacation

By Lydia Warren for MailOnline

A police officer has been placed on administrative leave after writing on Facebook that the Ferguson, Missouri cop who shot dead an unarmed black teenager last month 'did society a favor'.
Jason Lentz, a 17-year veteran of the Elgin Police Department in Illinois, is under investigation after colleagues discovered he had written multiple racially-charged Facebook posts. Details of his posts have now been released to the Courier-News following a Freedom of Information request.
His suspension - the fourth in his career - comes after Ferguson cop Darren Wilson gunned down 18-year-old Michael Brown on August 9, sparking clashes between police officers and protesters.
In one online post on his personal Facebook page on August 17, Lentz posted a photo of Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson - who is black - with a black man and making an 'OK' hand sign.
'He is also in the Chicago Tribune hugging protesters. Just awesome… appears to be the enemy within,' Lentz wrote.
The post about Brown was made on August 15 above a video he shared entitled: 'Police Released surveillance footage allegedly showing Michael Brown stealing cigars befor[e].'
He wrote: 'Hmmm … Innocent victim my ass. Did society a favor.'
The Courier-News reported that after the post was seen by supervisors, Lentz was told to remove it - but he did not and simply shortened the message to read: 'Hmmm...'
In total, 11 Facebook posts made over the past year were included in his file.
Another included a photo of a letter a parent had written to a school, explaining that their child would not attend school on Veterans Day until students attend school on Martin Luther King Day.
Lentz wrote: 'Hell Yeah!!! I think next year I'll keep the kids home.'
He was placed on leave after another officer brought the posts to command staff's attention. Officials have said that the posts could violate the Police Department's social media guidelines.
The officer has previously served suspensions in 2001, 2012 and June, the Courier News reported.
Among these, in 2012, he was summoned to court to appear as a witness in a case about the rape of a 74-year-old woman in 2010.
But he failed to turn up, telling a supervisor and assistant states attorney that he was not able to attend because he was flying out for vacation.
Earlier this year, he was also accused of sending an email on the city system that included profanity.
The investigation is expected to take a few weeks. Depending on the conclusion, he could return to work or face termination.
Other police officers have found themselves in hot water for their comments following the Ferguson incident.
Glendale Officer Matthew Pappert lost his job after he commented on his Facebook saying the protesters should be 'put down like rabid dogs'.
In another comment, he said: 'Where is a Muslim with a backpack when you need them?'

Pappert later apologized, saying he was 'deeply remorseful' for the comments. 


New York Police Officers to Start Using Body Cameras in a Pilot Program


By J. DAVID GOODMANSEPT. 4, 2014

The New York Police Department will begin equipping a small number of its officers with wearable video cameras, a pilot program geared toward eventually outfitting the nation’s largest police force with technology that promises greater accountability.
A total of 60 cameras will be deployed in the coming months in five high-crime police precincts, one in each of the city’s five boroughs, Commissioner William J. Bratton said on Thursday.
“It is the next wave,” Mr. Bratton said at Police Headquarters with two officers who wore the small cameras on their uniforms. He likened the introduction of cameras to the rollout, decades before, of hand-held police radios whose crackling codes and blips are now a quintessential part of policing everywhere.
A federal judge last year ordered the department to test the cameras for one year in five precincts as a way of evaluating their effectiveness in curbing unconstitutional stop-and-frisk interactions by officers. The court ordered an independent monitor to help set the policy for the cameras, though that order has been delayed pending an appeal.
Mr. Bratton said the department was proceeding “independent of the order” because the subject is “too important to wait.” The announcement also comes in advance of federal guidelines on body cameras worn by the police, expected to be released by the Justice Department in the coming weeks.
The cameras, which attach to the uniforms officers wear on patrol, can offer visual evidence in he-said-she-said encounters between the police and the public. Calls for all officers to wear them have grown after the fatal shooting by a white officer of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., last month.
Darius Charney, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the stop-and-frisk case, criticized the department’s plans to move ahead on the cameras unilaterally.
“This kind of unilateral decision on the part of the N.Y.P.D. is part of the same uncollaborative, nontransparent, go-it-alone approach to police reform we saw with the prior N.Y.P.D. and mayoral administration,” Mr. Charney, of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said in an email.
The pilot program will hew closely to the judge’s order in some respects, but not in others. The precincts, selected in “direct response” to the order, Mr. Bratton said, include ones in Harlem; the South Bronx; East New York, Brooklyn; Jamaica, Queens; and northeastern Staten Island, where a man accused of selling loose cigarettes, Eric Garner, died after a police chokehold last month.
Mr. Bratton said the cameras would also be given to officers in a police service area covering housing complexes in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
But the department is eschewing the one-year timetable in favor of a less fixed time frame. The program is expected to begin in the fall, but Mr. Bratton did not say how long it would last.
Officers will participate voluntarily, with a goal of having at least one officer wearing a camera on each shift at the selected precincts.
Thousands of small- and medium-size police departments have been using the cameras for the past few years, and many big city police forces, including Los Angeles and Washington, have begun tests or have plans to do so.
But the participation of the New York department, with its 35,000 uniformed members and vast footprint on the country’s policing policy, could permanently shift the balance in favor of the cameras, which both civil libertarians and many police chiefs have cited as a way to improve relations between citizens and law enforcement, particularly in heavily policed minority communities.
In New York’s test, it is not a question of whether the city’s officers will wear video cameras in the future, but how best to have them do so, Mr. Bratton said.
The embrace of cameras, by Mr. Bratton and Mayor Bill de Blasio, is a major departure from the previous administration, with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg calling them a “nightmare.”
Under Mr. Bratton, police officials went to Los Angeles earlier this year to look at that department’s pilot program for cameras, where the first participants were also volunteers.
The New York police will test cameras made by two manufacturers: a one-piece device from Vievu and a two-piece system from Taser International, in which the battery and activation switches are separate from the camera itself. The companies’ cameras were selected, Mr. Bratton said, because they provide “end-to-end” systems that include storage both on-site and remotely.
The cost of beginning the program is $60,000, Mr. Bratton said, paid for by the Police Foundation, a nonprofit group that raises money for activities not covered in the department’s budget. The cost of storing the video and administering the program is expected to outstrip that amount quickly.
So far, departments around the country have been largely on their own in drafting policies over basic questions, like when the cameras should be turned on. Little research exists on the effect of the cameras on community-police interactions, though studies have suggested their use reduces both citizen complaints and officers’ use of force. Many departments allow the cameras to be employed at the discretion of the officer.
Mr. Bratton said the camera policy had yet to be finalized. He added that depending on the circumstance, officers could be required to record, prohibited from recording, or given the discretion to choose. Officers would be permitted to view video they recorded before making statements in cases where their conduct was questioned, he said.Patrick J. Lynch, the head of the union representing the city’s patrol officers, said in a statement that there were “many unanswered questions as to how this will work practically.”
“We await the answers,” he continued.



$40,000 to settle police excessive force case


Mayor and Board of Estimates approves the settlement to avoid a jury trial
Mark Reutter
The Board of Estimates today approved a $40,000 settlement with a 36-year-old man who accused three Baltimore police officers of using excessive force during a struggle at his Northeast apartment in 2010.
The officers came to the residence of Alex C. Dickson to help his former girlfriend pick up items pursuant to a protective order she had obtained against him. Dickson allegedly refused to allow Officer James Wilder entry to the apartment and exhibited threatening behavior.
Wilder responded by grabbing Dickson to place him under arrest. “A significant physical struggle took place between Officer Wilder, which caused Officers Michael Valerio and Gary Brown to assist,” according to the settlement sheet presented to the spending board this morning.
Wilder was subdued by the officers, who sprayed him with mace. He was transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital where he was treated for “significant injuries, including to his teeth, nose and ribs.”
Dickson filed suit in Baltimore City Circuit Court alleging false arrest, assault and battery, malicious prosecution and violation of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. Because of conflicting accounts of the incident and “legal concerns regarding the lawfulness of the arrest,” the city elected to settle the case rather than go to trial.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and the other board members approved the settlement without comment.






3 cops charged with stealing from police union


By Lisa J. Huriash, Sun Sentinel
6:28 p.m. EDT, September 4, 2014

Three Coral Springs police officers — including a detective assigned to embezzlement cases — were charged Thursday with stealing thousands of dollars from their own police union.
One, Officer Doug Williams, turned himself in at the Broward Main Jail early Thursday on charges of pilfering more than $1,500 and spending it at the supermarket, home improvement store and several restaurants.
The other two — his wife Sherry Williams, an economic crimes detective, and Michael Hughes, an undercover detective — were charged with multiple counts of grand theft and an organized scheme to defraud. Both are expected to surrender in "the next day or so," said their attorney, Michael Dutko.
Doug Williams, 56, former president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 87, was charged with grand theft. He joined Coral Springs in 1981 as an investigator, retired in September 2009 to collect a $4,999.02 a month pension and was re-hired immediately as a part-time officer. He has been suspended from the agency since October, records show.
According to an arrest report, in September 2009 Williams used the union's Wells Fargo debit card to make $1,584.80 in purchases, including items from Publix, Sears and Lowe's. He's also accused of spending the money at several restaurants, including Chili's, Fogarty's and Bru's Room Sports Grill, and making a $300 cash withdrawal.
Glenn Matonak, current FOP president, said Williams was president from 2002 to 2008, and was vice president when the alleged incidents happened. His card was strictly for union business and approved purchases.
"We're very disappointed in his actions," Matonak said.
Matonek said the investigation was sparked by a random audit by the IRS in 2012 which questioned improper transactions.
As a result, the 200-member FOP hired an accountant for a forensic analysis, said union attorney Alan Diamond. The review found excessive amounts of cash withdrawals and charges lacking receipts or invoices from January 2006 to December 2011.
"Thats when they realized the discrepancies weren't tax issues as much as they were legal issues," Diamond said.
Past union president Hughes is accused of spending $16,000 of union money on groceries, restaurants and cash withdrawals, according to union officials.
Hughes, 42, served as union vice president in 2006 and 2007 and president for four years, beginning in 2008.
He began his career with the Coral Springs Police Department in 2001 and earned $80,358, city officials said.
Sherry Williams was union treasurer from 1998 to 2011. She is accused of making cash withdrawals and purchases of over $30,000, union officials said. Among her improper expenses: a $400 office chair shipped to her father's house, union officials said.
Her personnel file includes praise for work as an economic crimes detective. "One of Sherry's notable cases involved an employee who embezzled over $300,000 from her employer during a three-year period," a job evaluation read. "Sherry was able to charge the subject and proved a theft amount of $148,000."
She had her share of discipline too.
In 2003 she was reprimanded for missing a court appearance where she was to testify as the arresting officer. Charges against the defendant were dismissed, according to her file.
In 2011 she was punished for taking her assigned car to Punta Gorda for a family emergency without permission. Former Police Chief Duncan Foster wrote that driving 440 miles while off duty was "irresponsible." He suspended her for 160 hours and ordered her to reimburse the city $224.40 for wear on the car.
Sherry Williams, 48, joined the department in 1994 as a service aide and was promoted to officer the following year. She was earning $86,537 annually, officials said.
Hughes was put on administrative leave with pay Wednesday, police said. The Williamses resigned Thursday.
Dutko, whose firm represents all three officers, said Doug Williams was released from jail on a $1,000 bond. "He maintains his innocence," Dutko said.
Said Matonak, "To discover that our leaders were stealing money from us is such a huge betrayal of trust."




The problem is arrogance because of power given to people to dumb to hold any other type of job


Miami police officer arrested on DUI, drug charges in Miami Beach
Christopher Vital arrested early Thursday morning
Author: Peter Burke, Managing Editor, pburke@local10.com
Hatzel Vela, Reporter
Miami cop fired after DUI, drug arrest on Miami Beach
MIAMI -
A Miami police officer has been arrested in Miami Beach on suspicion of drunken driving and drug possession.
Miami Beach police spokeswoman Vivian Thayer said Christopher Vital was arrested early Thursday morning.
Vital, 29, faces charges of DUI, driving with a suspended license, possession of narcotics and criminal mischief.
According to the police report, Vital was driving his BMW on the MacArthur Causeway when he sped past several emergency vehicles, reaching a speed of 100 mph.
When police conducted a traffic stop, they found marijuana, heroin and cocaine in Vital's car.
Police said Vital also banged his head on the arresting officer's partition while in the back of the cruiser, claiming he was going to blame the officer for his head injuries. Police said Vital also shattered the rear passenger side window of the cruiser and threatened to shoot himself.
Stefanie Malvin, who was a passenger in Vital's car, was also arrested on drug charges.
Last November, Vital was arrested on a charge of disorderly intoxication during a Miami Dolphins game at Sun Life Stadium.
When asked if he had any comment about Vital's arrest, Javier Ortiz, president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police, simply said, "Pray for him."
"The Miami Police Department frowns upon the behaviors alleged in the arrest of Christopher Vital," Maj. Delrish Moss said in a statement released Thursday afternoon. "As a member of law enforcement, Mr. Vital is held to a high standard and he is now the subject of an internal administrative investigation. He has been relieved of his police duties without pay pending his termination."

Moss went on to say that the Miami Police Department "will exercise its right to take appropriate actions based on the administrative findings. This holds true even if he is found not guilty in a criminal proceeding."



Why we need IQ standards for cops in America


City settles with Brooklyn men arrested by NYPD cops who confused Jolly Rancher candies for crystal meth

EXCLUSIVE: With their $33,000 payday, plaintiffs Love Olatunjiojo, Omar Ferriera and Jimmy Santos no longer have a sour taste in their mouths over the trippy busts last year in Coney Island.

BY JOHN MARZULLI
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, September 4, 2014, 2:30 AM

The city has dispensed a sweet settlement to three Brooklyn men who sued the NYPD after cops bizarrely mistook Jolly Rancher candies for crystal meth, the Daily News has learned.
With their $33,000 payday, plaintiffs Love Olatunjiojo, Omar Ferriera and Jimmy Santos no longer have a sour taste in their mouths over the trippy busts last year in Coney Island.
The city admitted no wrongdoing on the part of the cops, arguing they couldn’t be sure whether the red and blue rocks were illicit drugs or candy, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyer Kenneth Smith.
“To my knowledge there is no evidence in the scientific literature that crystal meth looks like Jolly Ranchers or rock candy, other than from the ‘Breaking Bad’ TV show,” Smith told The News.
 “Walter White may dictate what drugs look like in TV land, but not the narcotics policy of the NYPD,” Smith added, referring to the meth-dealing lead character of the acclaimed show.
Olatunjiojo, 26, and Ferriera 23, were stopped by the cops shortly after leaving the It’Sugar candy emporium on Surf Ave. where they had purchased various sweet treats including Jolly Ranchers, according to papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
Police Officers Jermaine Taylor and Jovanny Calderon handcuffed the men and claimed that an undercover colleague had observed them selling drugs, the court papers state.
 “Finding only candy, including the Jolly Rancher candy mentioned, the officers repeatedly searched Ferreira and Olatunjiojo and told them it was ‘only a matter of time before they found something,’” the suit states.
Sano, 27, standing nearby with his 3-year-old daughter, protested the arrests of his two friends. Officer Diana Pichardo ordered Sano’s arrest and he was allegedly punched in the face by an unidentified cop before all three men were transported to the 60th Precinct station house.
Court documents filed in connection with the drug possession charges against Olatunjiojo and Ferriera asserted that the cops had performed a field test on the candy and it tested positive for a controlled substance. Sano was charged with obstructing government administration. They spent about 24 hours in custody before a judge released them on their own recognizance.
A spokesman for the city Law Department said the settlement was in the best interest of all parties.
The NYPD laboratory later concluded the two red and four blue “crystalline rocks of solid material” were not drugs and the case went up in smoke.
After the suit was filed, Smith said he was informed by the city that there was in fact no drug field test performed and that the cops insisted the district attorney’s officer was never told otherwise.
Olatunjiojo and Ferriera will pocket $4,000 each and $25,000 to Sano to settle their claims, according to papers filed last month. Olatunjiojo and Ferriera will receive less because the cops determined during the booking process that there were outstanding bench warrants against them for failing to show up in court for quality of life summonses.
Smith said the summonses were not for drug-related violations.
A spokesman for the city Law Department said the settlement was in the best interest of all parties.





Durham police officer put on leave after arrest on assault charges


DURHAM — A city police patrol officer has been put on leave following his arrest Sunday on two counts of assault on a female while he was off duty.
Michael Ladle Hodrick, 27, was charged with the misdemeanors, posted a $2,000 bond and was released shortly after his arrest, records show.
He is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 17.
Police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said Wednesday that Hodrick had been placed on administrative leave, which is paid, while the charges are pending.
The charges do not involve Hodrick’s work with the department’s Patrol Services Bureau, which is in charge of the city’s five districts, Michael said



YouTube Video Incites Outrage Over Man Arrested, Tased While Picking Up Kids



A Minnesota man filmed police arresting and tasing him as he waited in a public place to pick up his kids from daycare, and posted the results on YouTube. It's now received over a million views and raised more questions about police use of excessive force against African-Americans.


Chris Lollie, a father of four and an aspiring rapper, said he had just finished the night shift cleaning at an Italian restaurant in St. Paul. He said in an interview on the Filter Free Amerika podcast that he had finished work early on Jan. 31, so he took a seat in the skyway outside the First National Bank as he waited to pick up his kids from daycare.
Lollie says a bank security officer told him the area was private and threatened to call the police. Because Lollie saw no sign saying the area was private property, he says he didn't think a police officer would mind his presence. When a cop showed up, Lollie videotaped the encounter.
The video, titled "Black man taken to jail for sitting in public area," was uploaded to YouTube on Aug. 26. (Lollie says the police department retained his phone for six months after the incident.) It quickly caused an uproar in the media, online and among civil rights groups.
In the video, a female cop, later identified as Lori Hayne, asks Lollie to identify himself. "I wanna find out who you are," the video records her as saying, which Lollie refuses to do. "I know my rights first off, I don't have to let you know who I am," he says.
In this case, he's right. Police have the right to stop and identify passersby in 24 states, but not Minnesota, according to the ACLU's Minnesota chapter. (Arizona, Colorado and New York are three states that do.) These stop and identify laws only apply to situations where the police have a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. In no state can police require a person to show an ID for no reason.
The problem is I'm black.
The problem is I'm black. No, that's the problem. It really is," Lollie says in the video.
Lollie repeatedly tells the police officer that he hasn't done anything wrong and that he's picking up his kids from New Horizons daycare. At that point male officers Michael Johnson and Bruce Schmidt arrive and tell Lollie he's going to jail. The video goes black as the officers restrain and tase Lollie.
"Can somebody please help me?" Lollie shouts, "That's my kids right there! My kids are right there!" The viewer can hear what sound like children's wails in the background as Lollie pleads to passersby: "Please help me! Please help me!"
Lollie calls the officers "racist motherfuckers," and accuses them of assault. "I don't have any weapons. You are the one with the weapons here."
According to St. Paul Police Department's statements on Facebook about the incident, Lollie was charged with trespassing, disorderly conduct and obstruction of the legal process. The charges were dropped in July. The SPPD's post, however, had over 2,000 comments at time of writing, mostly expressing outrage along the lines of reminding police to "protect and serve, not harass and taser."
The St. Paul police union defended the officers' actions, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune, saying Lollie was to blame for the escalation of the situation. “He refused numerous lawful orders for an extended period of time. The only person who brought race into this situation was Mr. Lollie,” the statement said.
In the podcast interview, Lollie shows a text from white reporter Kim Johnson, who says a security guard in that same skyway told her that the seats were open to the public. Citypages.com unearthed a 2009 First National Bank Facebook post inviting passersby to enjoy a "quick five" on those same seats.
The St. Paul police chief Tom Smith also defended the officers' actions. "At one point, the officers believed he might either run or fight with them," he said in an explanatory statement released by a local Fox affiliate on Aug. 26. That caused them to use "the force necessary to safely take him into custody."
The Star Tribune reports that St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman has requested a full review of the arrest. "It raises a great deal of concern, especially given this summer’s shooting death of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri," he said in a statement.

The Police-Civilian Internal Affairs Review Commission (PCIARC), which is made up of five citizens and two members of the police union, will be responsible for the investigation. Lollie has not yet filed an official complaint, though a local news station reported he was planning a federal civil rights lawsuit.