Glimmer of Hope? D.C. Agrees to Mass Arrest Settlement

The District of Columbia has settled a decade long class action lawsuit over the illegal mass arrest and detainment of peaceful protesters.  The fact is this will make no difference in New York or Los Angeles, or Chicago until similar suits have sat in courts for a decade or more.  It is shameful that the people we hire for cops have no time for serving the public because they believe the public is a bunch of prisoners they have to beat.

Kop Busters

Proving yet again the endemic corruption and disregard for the Constitution or law of any kind by our nation's police force. The Odessa, Texas police force is apparently driving around scanning houses with infrared calendars which the Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional.

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

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

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so amazing. here’s why the cops were definitely up to no good: “There was nothing illegal going on the bait house, just two evergreen trees and some grow lamps. There was no probable cause. So a couple of questions come up. First, how did the cops get turned on to the house in the first place? Cooper suspects they were using thermal imaging equipment to detect the grow lamps, a practice the Supreme Court has said is illegal. The second question is, what probable cause did the police put on the affidavit to get a judge to sign off on a search warrant? If there was nothing illegal going on in the house, it’s difficult to conceive of a scenario where either the police or one of their informants didn’t lie to get a warrant.”

this is interesting in part because arguments that police are doing illegal drug raids are usually raised by people who were raided and found to have illegal drugs, who don’t make great spokespeople for why the police shouldn’t be allowed to do this kind of thing. (boingboing)

Thanks to JM for the heads up.

I Hate Cops

I hope where you live the cops aren't the worthless sons of bitches they are here in Louisville. I could tell endless stories of their shitfuck behavior but I'll just tell you about how my day started off today.

I went to pick up my helper for the drive out to Prospect (I think it's about 20 miles away) and, like every day, I pulled up across the street from his house, in a No Parking zone and waited for him to come out. A cop pulled up behind me and wrote me a ticket. He was brusque and simply ordered me to move after giving me the ticket. So I went down the street, turned around, and parked on the other side of the street. When I looked at the ticket I saw he had circled "No Stopping." He was writing another ticket for a car that was parked (as opposed to standing as I was doing) so I walked up to him and said, "Excuse me, sir, did you mean to circle 'no stopping' on the ticket because the sign says 'no parking.?'" Guess what his answer was? Well, it wasn't anything nice. What he said was, "OK, I'll write you a State citation." He ticketed me for having out of state plates (I just bought the van from my cousin in Tennessee) as well as being in a "No Parking" zone. Fucking asshole.

It really sucks that the only people Louisville seems to be able to find to be cops are thugs and bullies just looking for a fight. Now I have to waste my time going to court because of this stupid fucker and I'm pretty sure I'll get off. I have pictures of his car next to the "No Parking" sign and I'm well aware that you are allowed to stand in a no parking zone.

Someone explain to me why I should respect these people. Because they've got a badge? Mall cops have badges too. Louisville cops are the worst I've ever encountered. The attitude is "I AM THE LAW!" The attitude is almost exactly the same as that of the deputized Eric Cartman in the cartoon South Park, especially in the case of my cop today (I believe his name is Ryan. His badge number is 2780). He wrote me the extra citations because I didn't respect his authority (pronounced "uh-thor-ih-thai"). I have a feeling if he'd been down by my other house in the "black" area downtown he would've beaten me for questioning him.

The culture in this police department is historically thuggish. I have heard many stories from long-time Louisvillians that, though shocking, would not seem unusual today. In most cities these events would have resulted in firings and demotions. Here nothing happens.

I have no doubt that despite my filing an official complaint against this officer tomorrow that nothing will ever happen to him. He appeared to be in his late 40's and I'm sure he's been being a dick for years with no punishment other than having to drive around giving parking tickets in school zones.

What the hell is wrong with this country that we deserve public servants like him?