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Who Needs the 4th Amendment…

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Leahy’s rewritten bill would allow more than 22 agencies — including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission — to access Americans’ e-mail, Google Docs files, Facebook wall posts, and Twitter direct messages without a search warrant. It also would give the FBI and Homeland Security more authority, in some circumstances, to gain full access to Internet accounts without notifying either the owner or a judge. (CNET obtained the revised draft from a source involved in the negotiations with Leahy.)

Unpossible I say, a politician rewriting a bill to be counter to the interests of Americans after debuting it as being to their benefit?  It’s like they know the public doesn’t want this but it’s the only way they can pull it off.

Who needs the 4th amendment, am I right?  They’re not even trying to be overt about this anymore.  Can someone please explain to me why the government needs this kind of power.  How is it that the act of informing a judge and getting a warrant to express probable cause for the invasion of privacy is necessary is a hindrance?

Oh, that’s right, it’s a hindrance to finding undesirables to be weeded out of the population. While anyone with half a brain should know not to expect those things to be private, which is why I’m not a big fan of the cloud, it seems a far stretch the government cannot first obtain a warrant.

Contact your legislator now and start raising hell.  Just to illustrate the double standard of this, I’m reasonably sure it’s safe elected officials will be exempt and still require a warrant. Laws for thee not for me.  If these elected representatives want this, they need to make their services public for all to see… They’ve got nothing to hide right?  At least that’s what they keep telling us.

SSCC #457 – Pinellas Park

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Try to stop the flames of a fire from reaching your house because the fire department still hasn’t arrived, the police will tase you for it.

But after a few minutes passed without firefighters arriving, a frustrated Jensen stepped forward and leaned down to grab the skinny gray garden hose once again.

That’s when he heard the order.

“Hit ’em! Take him down! Tase him!”

The claim is that by attempting to defend his house from the fire he was endangering the officers and supposedly himself.

Well if the officers don’t want to get dirty, stay the hell back.  Second there was 10 feet between the fire and his house, plenty of room to maneuver.  My personal favorite though is this claim by the department.

Pinellas Park Capt. Sanfield Forseth told the Tampa Bay Times authorities could have even charged Jensen with obstruction, but decided against it.

Uhh, listen sparky, I can tell you exactly why the prosecutor, not your deputies, refused to press charges.  No jury in the world would convict or sympathize because what he was doing does not fit the legal definition of obstruction.  Tell me, how was he interfering with officers of the court?  Was he attempting to lie, give false information, or otherwise inhibit the investigation of a crime?

At best you could attempt to hold him for contempt of cop except honestly your officers didn’t have authority there either.  Personally if this guy is married, his wife should have grabbed the AR and shot every last one of them.  Seriously, that was uncalled for and unnecessary.

Personally had I been an officer there I would have helped keep the fire from his house, since if it spreads fighting it gets a lot worse.  This is what happens when you create monkeys who only know how to pull a trigger and are trained not to think.

What really pisses me off:

He said that when they arrived on the scene, they told him to back off and let insurance take care of it. He did for a few minutes but grew impatient and irate. He picked up the hose again because he thought firefighters weren’t getting there soon enough.

Hey assholes, some things are irreplaceable and there’s still this thing called a deductible   But it’s not your money right?

State Sponsored Criminal #457: Officer John Doe

Because a man attempting to prevent loosing his house to fire is an immediate threat to the public and requires the use of force to a level of which involves incapacitating him and could still be lethal.*

*It’s less lethal, not non-lethal there idiots.

h/t Uncle

SSCC #449 – Flint Township

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It is said that those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.  Take for example Flint Michigan.

A Flint Township police officer has been fired again following a vote by board members earlier this week.

The 5-to-0 vote — with Trustee George Menoutes and Treasurer Sandra Wright absent — came after a closed session and upon recommendations from Police Chief George Sippert and labor attorney Steve Shultz.

Township Supervisor Karyn Miller confirmed Officer Matthew Needham had also been terminated in November 2011 for violating four department rules and regulations, but she declined to give details on what specific incidents led to each vote.

Not once but twice.  You would think that they would have learned the first time.  Now it is worth noting that the union filed a grievance which is how he was allowed to return to the force.  He returned in June 2012, 5 months later he’s terminated again.

It’s almost like the unions are working to keep criminals on the street with a badge.

State Sponsored Criminal #449: Matthew Needham

Because cops shouldn’t be punished and held accountable for their decisions or actions.

SSCC #447–Snohomish County

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A longtime Snohomish County judge who presides over DUI cases will not face charges after being arrested on suspicion of drunken driving Aug. 29, the Everett Herald reported.

The claim is they didn’t have sufficient evidence to prosecute.  Evidently this centered around the fact that another judge was going to testify he wasn’t impaired and the prosecutor then wrote to the arresting officer:

"Although Judge (Ryan) lied to the trooper about the type and quantity of alcohol he consumed, the amount of alcohol that he did consume (i.e., 2 glasses of wine) is still insufficient to prove impairment under the circumstances of this case," Norgaard wrote.

Do you think any of us lowly peons would be given such courteousness if we found ourselves in the same position?  Yeah I don’t think so either.

State Sponsored Criminal #447: Judge Timothy Ryan

Because it’s only a problem when it’s a peon not a judge.  Judges can do whatever the hell they want and we’ll just look the other way.

via Ry.

Guess He Skipped a Day of Class…

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Someone bumped me this across twitter and initially I thought it was SSCC material.  The more I thought about it though it’s really hard to tell.

A Salem police officer shot and killed a pit bull dog as it attacked him Saturday, and a man who jumped into the middle of the attack also was struck, receiving a non-life threatening gunshot wound to the foot.

Now it is worth noting, they were evidently in a house talking with residents.  It appears that this was their dog, it was not during the execution of a no-knock, however the officers were there searching for a wanted individual.

First let me note, don’t ever let the police into your house, even if you call them.  Second of all, keep your animals away from the officers.  It is difficult to tell if the officer was really being attacked.  I have to say if I was attacked by a dog I wouldn’t just try and push it away.  The dog is probably going to be injured from my kicking it and it will be followed shortly there after with a shot.

I don’t know of anyone who would just push a dog away when being “attacked”.  Maybe the dog was wanting attention, who knows?   But the owner then tried to intervene to protect the dog, obviously late to the party because he reacted as it went south.

My guess is the dog was hopping up and putting his paws on the officer, the officer drew his gun to shoot after pushing the dog away didn’t work, because you know that’s a serious threat right there.  You know, so serious it’s worth discharging your firearm with other people present.  When the owner saw the officer start to draw his gun he attempted to restrain the dog and the officer already having made the decision ended up shooting the dog as well as the owner.

The big issue here is how readily and quickly officers will descend to the use of lethal force, even against an animal when it’s most frequently unnecessary.  It’s getting to the point where even lawful uses of force could be seen as yet another example of puppycide since it’s become so common.

The answer is to have officers use their heads. The problem is they’re never held accountable for their decisions so there’s no incentive to think prior to acting.

The quickest way to look at this is the fact that had this been any average citizen and not and officer, the would be arrested and probably jailed for their reckless actions.  Bottom line is he wasn’t sure of his target and what’s beyond it, which in a dynamic scene like that is difficult.  Either way though it is yet another indicator of problems in the system.

SSCC #435 – NYPD: Update

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The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office announced yesterday that it has dropped charges of assaulting a police officer — and other less-serious offenses — against a Crown Heights man who earlier this month got the crap kicked out of him by a police officer for no apparent reason.

The D.A.’s Office tells the Voice that it’s yet to make a decision about whether to charge the officer.

Thankfully they dropped the charges against the victim.  It is worth noting that most likely it was video of the incident which saved this man’s bacon.  Which is ironic considering the efforts officers will go through to prevent people from recording their interactions with the public.

Now hopefully the DA will step up and do the right thing and charge this corrupt bully with a badge.

State Sponsored Criminal #435: John Doe

Because cops are better than everyone else, didn’t you get that memo!?

update via Ry

SSCC #435&#436: NYPD

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The Brooklyn DA and NYPD Internal Affairs are investigating cops caught on tape beating a man wrongly suspected of trespassing in a Crown Heights synagogue, authorities said yesterday.

So the security guard screwed up and called police when he really didn’t need to.  However this is how the cops behaved upon showing up:

To put the icing on the cake.  Here is how the department has responded to the behavior of the officers.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said one of the cops involved, a 49-year-old man, “has been placed on modified assignment.”

Yup, business as usual for our anointed overlords.  When they say “To Protect and Serve” they really just are leaving off the hidden word at the end, “Themselves.”

State Sponsored Criminal #435: John Doe

#436: John Doe

Because by all means beat the hell out of someone without actually talking to them first.

SSCC #433 – Utah Highway Patrol

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A supervisor warned in 2010 that Utah Highway Patrol Cpl. Lisa Steed, who is under investigation by her own agency, was frequently arresting people for driving under the influence of drugs who had no drugs in their systems.

The response of the Utah Highway Patrol, bury it so defense attorneys don’t find out.  This wasn’t just a minor screw up either, blood tests confirm the officer was lying.

In seven of those [20 reviewed] cases, toxicology tests showed the driver had only metabolite, Nixon wrote. Metabolite is the remnants of drugs or pharmaceuticals in the bloodstream, though not necessarily the illegal kind.

Four other drivers had no drugs in their system, according to Nixon’s memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune.

The UHP continued to allow the officer to retain the same position and took no corrective action.  The memo and findings were also with held from defense attorneys   How heavily was it buried?

The memo is “extraordinary,” said Joseph Jardine, a Salt Lake City defense attorney who earlier this year successfully petitioned a judge to gain access to Steed’s discipline record. Jardine said the memo was not included in the records he viewed. The Salt Lake Tribune showed Jardine and Skordas the memo Tuesday.

When the light was finally shined on the mold, the UHP finally removed her from road duty and began an investigation which is obviously at this point almost 3 years over due.

It gets even better though because in 2007:

Utah Highway Patrol Officer Lisa Steed is the Utah Highway Patrol’s new Trooper of the Year. The Utah Department of Public Safety made the announcement after Steed made more than 200 DUI arrests this year.

Looks like we all know how she made that accomplishment now don’t we.

State Sponsored Criminal #433: Cpl. Lisa Steed

Because when you want to come in first, arrest anyone and every one you can as long as you can trump up an excuse.  Their lives don’t matter, only your career matters!

via Tango