SSCC #480-#483: McAllen

Federal prosecutors announced charges Thursday against four officers from a South Texas anti-drug task force who they say took thousands of dollars in bribes to guard large shipments of cocaine.

The officers — two from the Mission police department and two Hidalgo County sheriff’s deputies — were members of the “Panama Unit,” which is a joint task force between the two agencies that targets drug trafficking, according to prosecutors. Mission’s police chief said one of the officers was actually part of a different task force, but a prosecutor’s office official didn’t immediately respond to an after-hours seeking clarification.

This isn’t the first time the enforcers in the “War on Drugs” were personally profiting off of it.  But remember, it’s necessary for our safety and protection.   Since prohibitions are wonderful things and all and don’t have any negative effects.  Yes, that last sentence was seeping with sarcasm, just to make sure I’m clear.

State Sponsored Criminal #480: Rigoberto Espinoza
#481: Jonathan Trevino
#482: Fabian Rodriguez
#483: Gerardo Duran

Because the real reason to join the police is to abuse the law abiding while taking bribes to protect the criminals.

via Bob S.

SSCC #478 – Camden

A retired Camden police sergeant from Moorestown was sentenced to eight months in federal prison Tuesday for his admitted role as the supervising officer of a corrupt anti-drug squad that stole cash, conducted illegal searches, planted drugs and falsified reports.

State Sponsored Criminal #478: Dan E. Morris

Because by all means the way you protect and serve the public is by planting evidence and putting innocent people in jail.  Nothing like destroying their lives for your own personal gains.

SSCC #430–Billings

A 12-year-old girl suffered burns to one side of her body when a flash grenade went off next to her as a police SWAT team raided a West End home Tuesday morning.

Why would an officer feel he needed to throw a flash-bang towards a small young child?

Police Chief Rich St. John said the 6 a.m. raid at 2128 Custer Ave., was to execute a search warrant as part of an ongoing narcotics investigation by the City-County Special Investigations Unit.

Ahh, the war on drugs.  Supposedly they felt this to be a high threat raid, except no one bothered to take into account the two small children in the house.  Instead they felt it to be a better option to kick down the door, break windows, and emotionally scar them since you know, knocking on the door and serving the warrant would be some how bad.

The real clue is that no charges have been field, the police claim they found evidence, of what who knows.  Most likely they will use that “evidence” as leverage to prevent legal action on their negligence.

State Sponsored Criminal #430: The Billings SWAT Team

Because by no means should an officer use his own brain to think whether or not “X” is a good idea or actually required.  Even more so, hand the potentially dangerous material to someone too stupid to wait till it goes off before letting it go.

h/t The Wife.

SSCC #427 – DEA, BATFEieio

The nation’s top drug and gun enforcement agencies do not track how often they give their informants permission to break the law on the government’s behalf.

U.S. Justice Department rules put strict limits on when and how agents at the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives can authorize their informants — often drawn from the ranks of the criminals they are investigating — to commit a crime. But both the ATFand DEA acknowledged, in response to open-records requests and in written statements, that they do not track how often such permission is given.

(Emphasis mine.) When you see it written like that, it reads as the definition of a State Sponsored Criminal now doesn’t it?

State Sponsored Criminal #427: The Feds

Because if you want to get a crime, just ask the government for permission first.  If you have to sweeten the deal by squealing on your compatriots.  No honor among thieves you know.

 

SSCC #420 – New Orleans

Seriously I didn’t not plan for this in advance, the number and crime are purely coincidental.

Assistant city attorney Jason Cantrell was issued a summons after he dropped a joint while talking to a police officer in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court.

Cantrell, 43, was cited for simple drug possession and released under a city policy for low-level marijuana cases, according to police.  

Now while apparently the law was followed in this case, there is a reason I’m placing this under the criminal count.

Cantrell has practiced civil and criminal law in New Orleans for 17 years, including six as a public defender in Juvenile Court. In an ironic twist, the 43-year-old also worked as a drug court attorney.

(Emphasis mine.)  While it does seem that most of the work may have been on the defense side instead of the prosecution, he still was a city employee.  Charged with enforcing and upholding the law.

Now he has promptly resigned and the punishment matches what the rest of the public should see in that municipality if the article is to be believed.  Still, this fits perfectly with the, “Laws for thee, not for me” tag.

State Sponsored Criminal #420: Jason Cantrell

Because laws only apply to the lowly peons.  Those who work for the king are allowed to have any noun they want.

h/t Dave Hardy.

SSCC #404 – New Brunswick

The two students claimed in their lawsuit they were sleeping when plainclothes police broke down the door and rushed yelling into the basement apartment of the Somerset Street rental house about 4:30 a.m. on Dec. 10, 2010. The officers handcuffed and beat the two, the lawsuit stated.

The students also claimed a destructive search of their room was made by officers, while they were left in a cold room in only their underwear. They alleged they were called a slur against homosexuals.

You know why officers would do something like that in New Jersey?  Their odds of getting shot are quite low thanks to their gun control.  Neither of these individuals were arrested or charged either.  You’ll be glad to know though the city and the police department are picking up the costs for those officers actions.

State Sponsored Criminal #404: John Doe

Because cops should be able to kick down any door for any reason and beat the people inside.

SSCC #401 – Wayne County

On August 15, 2012 Wayne County Sheriff’s deputies, along with Macedon, NY Police broke into 75 year old Phyllis Loquasto’s Plank Road home in the town of Walworth, NY, forced her at gunpoint to lay on her bathroom floor, screamed at her to close her eyes and stay down, then executed her dog “Duke.”

This officer evidently couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn either.

“The dog hadn’t even barked, yet I heard one of them say, he’s aggressive, shoot him! I’ll never forget the sound of that gunshot and the blood flying everywhere. They did all this while forcing me to lay on the bathroom floor, screaming at me to stay down, and holding me at gunpoint. I couldn’t get up if I wanted to. I’m 75 years old, had three strokes and knee replacement, and can hardly walk. There was nothing I could do to help my pet.”

Unfortunately, Duke died a slow death. 

“They shot him with a shotgun in such a manner that he ran around in pain and bled all over the house and suffered a slow, cruel death. There was no reason for this kind of treatment, they killed my dog for no reason. This was the sweetest and most gentle animal anyone could want, I would trust him with a baby.”

That’s right folks, those officers wounded an animal that wasn’t a threat and then let it suffer.  The put the grandmother then in a car for an hour.  All of this was because evidently her grandson had placed two plants of marijuana on the her property.

They physically assaulted her and shot her dog over a plant of marijuana.  This is unsurprising given the comments from the police chief involved.

Again, when I asked Chief Colella if in fact officers with his WayneNET task force held a 75 year old grandmother at gunpoint on her bathroom floor, Chief Colella replied “I don’t care if she is 2 years old or 75 years old.”

Evidently the concept of reasonable use of force is lost upon this police chief and he obviously isn’t out to serve his community but would rather abuse, intimidate, and terrorize them.  Since you know heaven forbid the possibly use a brain about what is actually necessary.  Any man who would make such a statement has no business in law enforcement.

State Sponsored Criminal #401: John P. Colella

Because it doesn’t matter if it’s a baby or a grandmother, if we can shoot it we damn well will, unreasonable force be damned.

*If you would like to contact the Chief or his officers:

Macedon, NY Police Chief
and WayneNET Commander
John P. Colella
315-986-7103, -7262, -5932
E-mail: [email protected]

WayneNET Sgt.
Roger LaClair
(315) 947-9711

WayneNET
Chief Deputy
Bob Hetzke
(315) 946-9711

Feel free to link them here and let them know they have joined the ranks of State Sponsored Criminals.  However they’ll probably consider it an honor since it basically lets them get away with murder.

Attempted “Gun Death” with a Pocket Knife

Normally I kick these over to Weer’d for his “Gun Death” files.  This one though wasn’t successful but it shows how pointless prohibition and laws are at actually stopping stupid behavior.

The Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office is still on the lookout for a Lewiston man who allegedly stabbed a man in the chest on Saturday.

Unsurprisingly though the roots of this incident come back to something all too common.  Something we regularly see or hear about when it comes to “Gun Deaths”.

"I can’t say that a couple of drunks got into a big fight and somebody got stabbed, because we’re not really sure," said Madison. "We know that it was present, we know it was consumed, we just don’t know how much."

So we have alcohol being a factor, witness claim one was quite intoxicated but the other was sober and hadn’t been drinking.  No matter how hard you try, no matter how many laws you pass, you will not stop people from doing stupid things and exercising poor judgment.

You can ban and outlaw “X” but people will either resort to other means, or obtain the items outside the law.  All it actually serves to do is prevent those who do exercise good judgment and those who would use the tool properly from using “X”.

Outlawing concealed carry doesn’t stop those who exercise bad judgment from carrying.  Just the same, outlawing firearms doesn’t actually stop people from doing stupid things.  What it does do is stop those who do not exercise bad judgment from being able to carry an effective tool for self-defense.  Banning knives stops people who carry them for their utility, it doesn’t stop someone from using it in poor judgment or in violation of the law to commit assault or murder.  Someone who is willing to commit murder gives no extra thought to the legalities of the tools.

The War on Nouns is doomed to failure.  The war on Alcohol failed miserably and proved that prohibition of any kind was impossible to enforce.  Prohibitions on any noun never benefit the law abiding, quite far from it.  The enforcement of the prohibition as well as the actions of the criminal enterprises place the law abiding in the middle.  The reasonable and law abiding suffer from these choices and it provides no actual benefit to their situation or safety.  In the end, the side effects of the cure end up being considerably worse than the disease.