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SSCC #510 : Oakland County

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Oakland County prosecutors have dropped 16 drug cases in recent months — including one involving a large-scale marijuana bust — after an investigation determined a deputy on the county’s narcotics enforcement team falsified a search warrant and lied under oath.

County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper said she learned in September that Marc Ferguson, now fired, opened a shipping container at YRC Freight in Pontiac without a search warrant in June 2011. He discovered 78 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $300,000.

He has been fired, however I think that was more because of the fact his actions and getting caught compromised hundreds of cases.  No word on him being charged for violating peoples rights, and more importantly though as usual:

Ferguson was fired in December, following an internal investigation by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office. He has filed a grievance to get his job back.

I’m reasonably sure he will get his job back, Officer Roid Rage did.

State Sponsored Criminal #510: Marc Ferguson

Because when you violate someone’s rights being held accountable becomes a relative term when you’re a cop.

Quote of the Day – Joe Huffman (1/30/2013)

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Any attempt at gun registration in the U.S. will result in massive non-compliance on a scale that will make alcohol prohibition look like first graders failing to stay in a straight line while waiting to go on recess.

Joe Huffman – Background Checks

January 29th, 2013

[That is the most accurate example I’ve seen because with what’s going on in New York it’s obvious he’s correct.

Now I hadn’t thought about a license endorsement and that would work on the condition that it was automatic.  Everyone who satisfied the requirements was automatically endorsed.

I’m not a fan of the background check BS, however if we’re going to get stuck with it, we need to find a way to make it work and remove the loopholes they’re trying to create.  Though the idea of a public number to conduct background checks could be interesting.

Daughter has a new boyfriend?  Time to check him out.  Going on a date?  Verify they’re not a felon.  The number of ways this could be misused gives a solution to the idea of them recording every last call to make a registry would be impossible.  For those of us in the security world, it’s yet another example of the bane or benefit of false positives, positive or negative depends on which direction you’re looking.

The drivers license solution would serve an additional benefit of replacing NICS and decreasing additional costs.  Your background check is renewed every time you renew your license.  There is the problem though of the Feds could say that a national ID card would be required for the endorsement and give them another foot in the door for “Real ID.”  No matter how hard you try, it’s a cut towards the freedom of the law abiding, criminals don’t care. -B]

SSCC #509 – LAPD

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A secretive cellphone spy device known as StingRay, intended to fight terrorism, was used in far more routine LAPD criminal investigations 21 times in a four-month period during 2012, apparently without the courts’ knowledge that the technology probes the lives of non-suspects who happen to be in the same neighborhood as suspected terrorists.

According to records released to the First Amendment Coalition under the California Public Records Act, StingRay, which allows police to track mobile phones in real time, was tapped for more than 13 percent of the 155 “cellular phone investigation cases” that Los Angeles police conducted between June and September last year.

Comforting is it not.  Yet another piece of technology and it’s application that I have no doubt goes back to the Patriot Act.

I’m sure no one will be held accountable for this violation of the rights of citizens, as usual.

State Sponsored Criminal #509: The Entire LAPD

Because by all means violate the rights of law abiding citizens because a criminal has decided to live somewhere near by.  Though that is better than what they did to Jose Guerena for being related to a criminal.  

Quote of the Day – Awr Hawkins (1/29/2013)

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San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne is fully supportive of the Obama/Feinstein gun grab, and says if lawmakers play it right Americans can be completely disarmed within “a generation.”

Awr Hawkins – San Diego Police Cheif: We Can Disarm Americans Within a Generation
January 28, 2013

[Still have friends who think they don’t have skin in this fight?  Show them this and tell them to think again.  That is their end goal and they now have no problems making it known.

A citizen denied arms isn’t free, they’re nothing more than a slave. -B]

h/t Uncle

SSCC #508 – Citrus County

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Now, getting out of your car during a traffic stop is never a good idea unless ordered to do so.  That however doesn’t excuse that cops behavior and the way he made up the law as he went along.

This guy and officer Roid-Rage would get along great.

State Sponsored Criminal #508: Andy Cox

Because an officer of the law can just make it up as he goes along and in the end qualified immunity will protect him even if grossly negligent in his understanding.

h/t Uncle

Quote of the Day–Paul Barrett (1/27/2013)

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But only a small minority of cops practice diligently. “There’s this myth out there that all police officers are gun enthusiasts, and train like crazy and shoot all the time,” said Rutherford.  A dirty little secret of law enforcement is that many cops don’t take range time seriously.  And even in high-crime cities, the vast majority of officers go years, or even an entire career, without getting into a gunfight.  The average officer is a mediocre shot, or worse.

Paul M. Barrett – Glock The Rise of America’s Gun

Page 55

call5300

Image by Oleg Volk.

[First up, yes I’ve been slacking.  I’ve had this book for almost a year and have been distracted by reading other books.  I do need to come up with an efficient way to store and save quotes from books.  I started reading it just after Paul gave me a copy.  But it ended up being set off to the side and I picked it up and starting reading it again.  I’m glad I delayed it to the current political climate.  I’m going to have a small stack of quotes by the time I’m done.

It is worthy of note that Paul doesn’t sit really on either side of this debate.  He is educated on the subject due to the research for this book.  A book he wrote merely because he thought the growth and economic success story of Glock was interesting.  He’s right, it is an interesting story but one that is intertwined in politics.

Yesterday there was a “debate” on twitter and someone was throwing around the highly trained police argument again.  My video was dismissed as being biased and was implied to be unscientific.  Which is interesting because I provided all the information necessary for anyone to be able to recreate it.  Including the stage descriptions, the alterations made, why, and how the stages compared the LAPD stages.

There are some myths that just wont die.  I’m sure that this quote would be dismissed as being “biased” by this same individual.  Except this is the Rutherford providing the quote and commentary in Barrett’s passage.  is it really biased when police officers admit the “dirty little secret” as well?

People argue this point and refuse to admit they’re wrong for a couple of different reasons.

  1. It is the foundation for calling 911 and waiting for the police.  More training means they are better equipped to deal than yourself.
  2. They want to believe that the police are a superiorly trained force which allows them to feel safer.
  3. Their knowledge of firearms is 0 so police automatically gain a superior place in the knowledge department.  Everyone else is just like them right?

I’m sure there are other reasons, but we all know that you cannot rely on the police to come and save you.  That was ultimately decided by SCOTUS in Warren v. District of Columbia.  Not to mention your average police response is measured in minutes, not seconds.

You elected your officials because you trusted them to faithfully perform their duty and adhere to their oath.  I trust the people I love, one more than most, and that’s why I went out of my way to give her a gift for our wedding.

DSC00005

Image by Oleg Volk.

Our elected representatives however don’t trust you and want you disarmed.   They want to deprive you of a basic human right.  They want to make sure you are defenseless and reliant on the state for assistance from criminals.  They want you dependent and unable to revoke your consent in case of the event you deem that action as necessary.

Don’t fall for the lie.  Don’t believe myths with no evidence to support them.  Believe history and the lessons it teaches about civilian disarmament by governments.  –B   ]