Vote all you want. The secret government won’t change. - The Boston Globe

The people we elect aren’t the ones calling the shots, says Tufts University’s Michael Glennon.

(via basedheisenberg)

New York Cops Know People Have a Right to Record Them; They Just Don't Care

laliberty:

From his car, Brooklyn resident Dick George sees a couple of cops exit an unmarked vehicle and perform a “stop and frisk” and three black youths. George takes pictures of this encounter. After the cops walk away, George tells youths that next time they should demand badge numbers.

Cops overhear this and one says “What did he just say to them, get our badge number? … Let’s go get him,” or words to that effect. The cops then accost George:

After stopping George’s car, the cops roughed him up, handcuffed him, and took him to the precinct house, where he was strip-searched, locked in a cell, and charged with disorderly conduct. When he got his cellphone back after being released with a desk appearance ticket, he found that the photos of the stop-and-frisk encounter had been deleted.

According to George’s complaint, the cops repeatedly told him he was getting what he deserved for “being an activist.” Ferber allegedly said something like: “Now we are going to give you what you deserve for meddling in our business and when we finish with you, you can sue the city for $5,000,000 and get rich. We don’t care.”

That estimate was off by a factor of 40. The New York Daily News reported on Monday that the city agreed to settle George’s lawsuit for $125,000. “After a thorough review of the case facts,” a lawyer for the city said, “it was in the best interest of all to resolve this matter without costly litigation and trial.”

The officers, of course, are not on the hook for any of that money, which will instead come out of taxpayers’ pockets. And judging from the comments reported by George, the prospect of litigation does not deter this sort of unlawful bullying. The problem was not that the cops didn’t realize they were violating George’s rights; it was that they did not care, because they did not expect to suffer any negative consequences as a result—for good reason, according to the lawsuit:

The supervisory staff of the NYPD has consistently failed to investigate allegations such as those contained herein and to discipline officers who have violated NYPD guidelines. The investigation of these incidents by central office and/or supervisory staff reflects a bias in favor of uniformed officers. Furthermore, officers and staff who are known to have violated an individual’s civil rights in one command are often transferred by NYPD to another command rather than be disciplined, demoted or fired by the NYPD.

The cost of settling lawsuits like George’s helps explain the recent NYPD memo. But reminding cops that they are supposed to respect people’s constitutional rights will not accomplish much unless they suffer personally for violating them. Since courts have ruled that cops do not receive qualified immunity in cases like this (because the right to record them is well established), officers can theoretically find themselves owing damages to the people they victimize. But the usual practice in settling cases is to drop claims against individual cops along with claims against the city and the police department. Maybe it is time to reconsider that practice. The threat of financial ruin would be harder to laugh off than the threat of taxpayer-funded damages.

Yet another example of the unofficial police policy on engaging suspects at work.

(Source: laliberty, via priceofliberty)

POLICE: 'Apple Will Become The Phone Of Choice For The Pedophile'

priceofliberty:

The FBI and local police forces have grown concerned over the level of encryption in Apple devices, as they claim that it’s becoming difficult for them to access iPhones even if they have a court-ordered warrant, if the owner refuses to give up their passcode.

Now, the chief of detectives for Chicago’s police department has issued an alarming statement on the effects of Apple’s heightened encryption.

Speaking to the Washington Post, John J. Escalante said, ” Apple will become the phone of choice for the pedophile. The average pedophile at this point is probably thinking, I’ve got to get an Apple phone.”

Previously, James Comey, the director of the FBI, said ”What concerns me about this is companies marketing something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law.”

And before that, Ronald Hosko, the president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund and a former assistant director of the FBI’s criminal investigative division, worried that people would be killed if police were unable to speedily unlock iPhones to get encrypted information on them.

The key change in iOS 8 is that iMessage texts are encrypted on the iPhone. As long as they’re not stored in the unencrypted iCloud backup system, the only way to get them is through the user’s passcode. Even a warrant won’t unlock them.

Please tell me no one is buying this bullshit fear mongering propaganda? What essentially amounts to “Apple kills babies” aka “think of the children!”

(Source: theghastlyordealofcorey, via priceofliberty)

NYC Doubles Down on Petty Law Enforcement: Respecting Authority is What Democracy Is About

laliberty:

As New York City continues to produce bad news it’s becoming harder and harder to feel sympathetic for the residents subject to the abuses of its government. New York City’s mayor and police commissioner have announced that, despite the death of a man taken into police custody because of suspicion he was selling untaxed cigarettes, the city’s police force (the world’s seventh largest army!) won’t re-examine how aggressively they enforce minor legal infractions.Via Gothamist:

According to Mayor [Bill] de Blasio and Police Commissioner [Bill] Bratton, the NYPD will continue to strictly enforce laws against loosie [loose cigarettes] peddlers and subway dancers. “I can understand why any New Yorker may say, that’s not such a big deal,” de Blasio said. “But a violation of the law is a violation of the law.”

Commissioner Bratton added, “It’s important that when an officer does approach you to correct your behavior, that you respect them. That’s what democracy’s all about.”

Keep voting for progressives if you want, New York City, but don’t expect things to change. New York residents weary of their overbearing government and its abuses should heed the warning of Malcolm X, who made a home in New York City in the later part of his life: “if you form the habit of taking what someone else says about a thing without checking it out for yourself, you’ll find that other people will have you hating your own friends and loving your enemies.” The disaster that Bill De Blasio is showing himself to be so soon after a rather decisive (if low voter turnout) victory makes Malcolm X’s warning that much more relevant. It wasn’t the Tea Party that killed Eric Garner and it wasn’t the Tea Party that supported the kind of laws that lead to confrontations like the one police had with Garner in the first place either.

Subservience to state agents is “what democracy is all about”?

Yikes.

Related: Petty Law Enforcement vs. the Poor, How Government Hurts The Poor

(Source: laliberty, via laliberty)

Government Caused iCloud Security Breach

laliberty:

It was government “back doors” that were exploited by hackers in the iCloud security breach, according to Wired:

“The fact that Apple isn’t complicit in law enforcement’s use of Elcomsoft’s for surveillance doesn’t make the tool any less dangerous, argues Matt Blaze, a computer science professor at the University of Pennsylvania and frequent critic of government spying methods. ‘What this demonstrates is that even without explicit backdoors, law enforcement has powerful tools that might not always stay inside law enforcement,’ he says. ‘You have to ask if you trust law enforcement. But even if you do trust law enforcement, you have to ask whether other people will get access to these tools, and how they’ll use them.’”

(Source: laliberty)

Dashcam video clears NJ man; Cops now indicted

laliberty:

The tale of the police dashcam video has now helped clear a Bloomfield, New Jersey man who faced a multitude of criminal charges, including eluding police and assault.

Investigative Reporter Sarah Wallace obtained the dashcam tapes, and has spoken exclusively with the 30-year old DJ who was looking at years in prison.

It was quite a turnabout, all the criminal charges against Marcus Jeter have been dismissed, and two Bloomfield police officers have been indicted for falsifying reports, and one of them, for assault.

A third pleaded guilty early on to tampering. It’s all thanks to those dashcam tapes. It’s the video that prosecutors say they never saw when the pursued criminal charges against 30 year-old Marcus Jeter . In the video, his hands were in the air. He was charged with eluding police, resisting arrest and assault. One officer in the video can be seen throwing repeated punches.

Sarah Wallace: “It this tape hadn’t surfaced?”
Marcus: “I’d be in jail.”

This video was only turned over by Bloomfield police after Jeter’s attorney filed a request for records; at the time prosecutors were insistent that Jeter do prison time.

“The first plea was 5 years,” said Jeter.

The incident began when cops were called to the Bloomfield home Jeter shares with his girlfriend. No charges were filed and Jeter says he left after briefly talking to officers.

Sarah Wallace: “They say you eluded police.”
Jeter: “When they got behind me, I pulled over.”
Sarah: “So you weren’t trying to escape.”
“No.” said Jeter.

You can clearly see Jeter pulling over and stopping on the side of the Garden State parkway. The cops pull out guns.

Sarah: “Why didn’t you get out of the car?”
Jeter: “Because I was afraid.”
Jeter: “There was a cop on my right with a gun, a cop on the other side with a shotgun.”
Jeter:”I’m afraid I might get shot.”
Sarah: “If you got out.”

The tape not initially turned over shows a second police car coming from the opposite direction, crossing the median into ongoing traffic, and then striking Jeter’s car. There is no mention of that in any police report. When Jeter first told his attorney that part of the story.

“It was incredible, I didn’t believe it at that point in time,” he said. He adds, “The next thing I know, one of them busts the door and there is glass all over my face.”

SARAH: “Your hands are up.”
Jeter: “My hands are up.”
Jeter: “As soon as they opened the door, one officer reached in an punched me in my face.” He adds, “As he’s trying to take off my seatbelt, I’m thinking something is going to go wrong.”

Jeter says the officers were hitting him and telling him not to resist arrest. “All I keep saying is I’m not doing anything,” he adds. “They handcuffed me and one of them hits me in the back.” The attorney for Jeter says while showing Eyewitness News the video, “Here a state trooper arrives on the scene and clearly wants no participation in it and that’s where one of the officers punch Mr. Jeter in the head after he was clearly placed in handcuffs,” said Steven Brown.

As soon as Prosecutors saw this video, they dismissed all of the charges against Jeter. Interesting to note, an investigation by Bloomfield PD’s scandal plagued internal affairs division had found no wrongdoing by officers.

Brown says, “I believe the blame is with the Bloomfield police department for not providing that tape. If we hadn’t had the tapes in this case, an innocent man would be in jail today.”

Notes Bob Murphy: “Another example of how the problem with police is NOT “just a few bad apples.” Look at how badly these officers lied about what happened, and how screwed this guy would have been had the video not surfaced. Again, the point here isn’t that once in a while somebody in a job ends up doing something nutty. No, the point is that the higher-ups cover this kind of thing up, and only take action when the evidence is incontrovertible and the public is outraged.”

(Source: laliberty)