Make America 1930s Germany

 

This is a thing in Kansas?!

Think about it.  "Having sex during traffic stops" sounds like rape, to me.

Sexual relations are now outlawed for police “during the course of a traffic stop, a custodial interrogation, an interview in connection with an investigation, or while the law enforcement officer has such person detained,” The Kansas City Star reported Thursday.

  The Hill

Yep. That's rape. And if I'm not mistaken, rape is already illegal, even in Kansas.

But wait. It's not just Kansas.

New York passed a similar bill last month, closing a loophole in the state law by specifiying that people in police custody are unable to consent to sex.

WTF, people?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Larry Krasner and Philadelphia's criminal justice reform

Across the country, talking the talk of criminal justice reform has gotten many people elected as DA. Once in office, their reforms have often been painfully slow and disappointing. Krasner was the first candidate elected who publicly committed not just to intermittent changes, but a radical overhaul.

So far, having been office less than three months, he has exceeded expectations.

[...]

It’s a dream come true for those of us who’ve been fighting our hearts out for justice reform for years.

  The Intercept

Good luck to Larry Krasner for continued forward motion, and remaining alive.

This is going to be a very interesting case study.

Continue reading.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Police state on trial in Baltimore

The Baltimore Sun is reporting on some wild roguery in the police force - the Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force - that seems more common than rogue, including police officers robbing people, and Charlie Pierce has a commentary on it with this conclusion:

Ask yourself how calm you would be if, every day, corrupt cops came up and rousted you because they didn’t think you had a legitimate reason … for owning a backpack. We’ve gone backwards on [criminal justice reform], like we have on so many others. The ground we have to make up is about the width of a continent now. And that’s just to get back to 1789.

  Charles P Pierce

Of course, this is nothing new, and if you want to watch an entire documentary on mobster police that will leave you shaking your head, watch The Seven Five on Netflix.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

How is this a thing?

Police officers get "get out of jail free" cards to hand out to friends and family???

This is not The Onion.

The city’s police-officers union is cracking down on the number of “get out of jail free” courtesy cards distributed to cops to give to family and friends.

Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association boss Pat Lynch slashed the maximum number of cards that could be issued to current cops from 30 to 20, and to retirees from 20 to 10, sources told The Post.

The cards are often used to wiggle out of minor trouble such as speeding tickets, the theory being that presenting one suggests you know someone in the NYPD.

The rank and file is livid.

“They are treating active members like s–t, and retired members even worse than s–t,” griped an NYPD cop who retired on disability. “All the cops I spoke to were . . . very disappointed they couldn’t hand them out as Christmas gifts.”

A source said Lynch ordered the cutback to stop the sale of the cards, which were being hawked on eBay last week for as much as $200.

The PBA and the NYPD declined comment.

  NY Post

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

NYC redefines rape

It's now on-the-job sex.

Un-fucking-believable.

A loophole allowing them to have sex on duty.  WTF?  This is not sex.  This is rape.

A Brooklyn City Councilman is looking to make it illegal for police officers to have sex with people in their custody in the wake of an investigation into two Coney Island detectives accused of raping a teenager.

  DNA Info

One CANNOT "have sex" with someone in their custody. That's rape.

The push for legislation comes as the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office investigates detectives Richard Martins and Eddie Hall, who are accused of handcuffing an 18-year-old during a traffic stop, forcing her to perform oral sex and raping her in an unmarked van.

[...]

According to the woman’s lawyer, the pair picked up the young woman during a traffic stop in Calvert Vaux Park in Gravesend and drove her to a nearby Chipotle parking lot, where they told her she could have sex with them or go to the precinct.

The lawyer, Mark David, said both detectives forced her to perform oral sex on them and one of them raped her, all while she was handcuffed. But the officers have claimed it was consensual, sources said.

Consensual in the sense that she consented to that rather than a jail cell?!

Councilman Mark Treyger, who represents Coney Island, said he would draft legislation that would close the existing loophole in the law — which bans correctional and parole officers from having sex with detainees or parolees on the job, but does not prevent on-duty police officers from having sex with people they encounter in the course of their work.

How the hell would that be a loophole? The only people who should be having sex while on the job are sex workers, but for the love of Pete, it's not illegal, and shouldn't be. It could be a condition of their job that is signed into their contract of work if employers and hires so agree, but when someone is in handcuffs or in a jail cell, they are not simply "people they encounter in the course of their work!" WTF?

And, does the ban actually say "on the job"?  So, after their shift is over, it's okay?

Treyger wrote in a statement posted online [...] “We do not need a change in laws, however, to understand that what occurred was deeply, morally wrong.”

So why in the name of Sam Hill are you drafting one?  You surely already have rape laws.

Jesus wept.

Feud!

At a listening session with county sheriffs from around the country, Trump invited the sheriffs seated in the White House’s Roosevelt Room to make a statement while reporters were present. Rockwall County, Texas, Sheriff Harold Eavenson spoke up first to discuss asset forfeiture, a practice by which law enforcement can seize the cash and property of individuals suspected of committing a crime without a guilty verdict.

[...]

“On asset forfeiture, we’ve got a state senator in Texas that was talking about introducing legislation to require conviction before we could receive that forfeiture money,” Eavenson said.

[...]

“Can you believe that?” Trump interjected.

“And I told him that the cartel would build a monument to him in Mexico if he could get that legislation passed,” the Texas sheriff continued.

“Who is the state senator? Do you want to give his name? We’ll destroy his career,” Trump replied, presumably suggesting that the lawmaker would suffer for holding a position contrary to the president’s.

  Politico

And, if you've seen the video, everybody chuckles. Oh, Mr. President, you are such a card.

I don't know who that Texas senator is, but another one didn't take kindly to the remark.

In a Facebook post, state Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery [Pennsylvania],  [...] invited Trump to come after him as well.

  Philly Voice

Challenge accepted, I bet.

Leach's spokesperson, Steve Hoenstine, said in a statement the senator's post was inspired by justified anger:

"President Trump blithely talked about destroying the career of a man who disagreed with Trump on a policy issue. Then Trump laughed about it, which is just what you’d expect from someone who gets his kicks firing people on national television. Trump just continues to undermine democratic norms, America’s system of checks and balances, and the general principle of human decency. Senator Leach is mad as hell about it, as you can see from his tweet."

Game on. Who knew a Pennsylvanian would have more bravado than a Texan?

Chicago's Criminal Cops

Story at The Intercept

Chicago Is Still Chicago

[Chicago officials] prevented the public from viewing crucial incriminating evidence [in the first-degree murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald] — first one police car’s dashboard camera video; now, we learn, five such videos in total. And these senior officials turned a blind eye to the fact that 86 minutes of other video surveillance footage of the crime scene was unaccountably missing.

The Cook County prosecutor, Anita Alvarez, must have had probable cause to indict Officer [Jason] Van Dyke for the Oct. 20, 2014, shooting death of Mr. McDonald the moment she viewed the police dash-cam video, after her office received it two weeks later.

[...]

But the timing, in late 2014, was not good.

[...]

The video of a police shooting like this in Chicago could have buried [Rahm] Emanuel’s chances for re-election.

[...]

And so the wheels of justice virtually ground to a halt. Mayor Emanuel refused to make the dash-cam video public, going to court to prevent its release.

[...]

Then the city waited until April 15 — one week after Mr. Emanuel was re-elected — to get final approval of a pre-emptive $5 million settlement with Mr. McDonald’s family, a settlement that had been substantially agreed upon weeks earlier. Still, the city’s lawyers made sure to include a clause that kept the dash-cam video confidential.

[...]The city spent thousands of dollars in legal expenses to keep the video under wraps. And it would probably have continued to do so, had Judge Franklin Valderrama of the Cook County Circuit Court not ordered its release.


  NYT

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Do They Not Vet These People?

24-year old Matthew Adams is out of a job after San Antonio Police arrested him Monday Night on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Adams was hired by the Sheriff’s Office in August. He is one of 14 deputies arrested this year.

  KTSA (San Antonio)

Fourteen!?!?!?!

Time for a new sheriff, San Antonio?

Here is a list of the offenses of twelve of those deputies:

I guess we can say "at least they got arrested and not promoted."

Your Point?

Can't imagine why they would think that.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Seven?!

Seven people who worked in the maximum-security prison that held Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman have been charged in connection with his escape, Mexico's attorney general said Friday in a statement.

The prison workers will be jailed in the state of Guanajuato and the investigation continues, the statement said.

  CNN

It was thirteen years before they caught El Chapo after his first prison break.  Let the countdown begin for this one.

Ferguson Update

Investigators found [Judge Ronald J} Brockmeyer had boasted of creating a range of new court fees, “many of which are widely considered abusive and may be unlawful”. A city councilman opposing the judge’s reappointment was warned “switching judges would/could lead to loss of revenue”.

[...]

[Judge Brockmeyer is also] accused of fixing traffic tickets for himself and colleagues [and] also owes more than $170,000 in unpaid [federal] taxes.

[...]

Since November 2013, Brockmeyer has paid off another three overdue tax bills totalling $64,599.

[...]

[A] class-action federal lawsuit [...] alleges Ferguson repeatedly “imprisoned a human being solely because the person could not afford to make a monetary payment”.

[...]

Brockmeyer did not respond to multiple emails and telephone calls requesting comment.

  Guardian

The second-highest ranking commander in the beleaguered police department of Ferguson, Missouri, was one of two veteran officers to resign on Friday over racist emails uncovered by federal investigators.

Captain Rick Henke stepped down from his job together with Sergeant William Mudd, a fellow long-serving officer who was awarded the Medal of Valor more than 20 years ago, a spokesperson for the city confirmed on Friday.

Their departures came as Eric Holder, the US attorney general, said he was prepared to demand the dismantling of Ferguson’s entire police department if required for reforms ordered by his department this week in a scathing report on the city’s criminal justice system.

[...]

A second Justice Department inquiry that concluded simultaneously this week decided to bring no federal civil-rights charges against Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown.

  Guardian

Ferguson Federal Probe Completed

A federal review of Ferguson’s police force found officers disproportionately used excessive force against black people, who were also subject to arrests without probable cause and stops when driving without reasonable suspicion, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the department’s findings.

[...]

According to the law enforcement official, the department detected in Ferguson a pattern of racial bias in violation of federal laws and the 14th amendment to the US constitution, which guarantees equal protection under the law.

[...]

Racist emails sent by Ferguson officials – including one doubting Barack Obama’s ability to serve a full term as president because “what black man holds a steady job for four years?” – were also unearthed and are expected to be released to the public.

[...]

A spokesman for the city of Ferguson said in a statement on Tuesday evening that its leaders would not be commenting until the Justice Department released its report. Publication is expected on Wednesday.

  Guardian

You Remember Frank Serpico

Famed ex-NYPD officer and still NYPD persona non grata Frank Serpico, nearing 80 years old, recently wrote about how things have and haven't changed in police departments in the approximately 40 years since he put his life on the line (and nearly lost it) as a whistleblower against police corruption.

Today the combination of an excess of deadly force and near-total lack of accountability is more dangerous than ever: Most cops today can pull out their weapons and fire without fear that anything will happen to them, even if they shoot someone wrongfully. All a police officer has to say is that he believes his life was in danger, and he’s typically absolved.

[...]

In some ways, matters have gotten even worse. The gulf between the police and the communities they serve has grown wider. Mind you, I don’t want to say that police shouldn’t protect themselves and have access to the best equipment. Police officers have the right to defend themselves with maximum force, in cases where, say, they are taking on a barricaded felon armed with an assault weapon. But when you are dealing every day with civilians walking the streets, and you bring in armored vehicles and automatic weapons, it’s all out of proportion. [...] All that firepower and armor puts an even greater wall between the police and society, and solidifies that “us-versus-them” feeling.

[...]

Today it seems these police officers just empty their guns and automatic weapons without thinking. [...] They act like they’re in shooting galleries. Today’s uncontrolled firepower, combined with a lack of good training and adequate screening of police academy candidates, has led to a devastating drop in standards.

[...]

The shooters, of course, were absolved of any wrongdoing, as they almost always are. All a policeman has to say is that “the suspect turned toward me menacingly,” and he does not have to worry about prosecution.

[...]

We want to believe that cops are good guys, but let’s face it, any kid in the ghetto knows different.

[...]

As for Barack Obama and his attorney general, Eric Holder, they’re giving speeches now, after Ferguson. But it’s 20 years too late. It’s the same old problem of political power talking, and it doesn’t matter that both the president and his attorney general are African-American. Corruption is color blind. Money and power corrupt, and they are color blind too.

[...]

An honest cop should be able to speak out against unjust or illegal behavior by fellow officers without fear of ridicule or reprisals. Those that speak out should be rewarded and respected by their superiors, not punished.

We’re not there yet.

  Politico

Frank Serpico's way forward to eliminate police corruption and establish public confidence:

Frank Serpico, 1973

And It Will Ever Be Thus

And [on this day] in 1971, NYPD officer Frank Serpico, who refused to take bribes and had testified against corrupt cops, was shot during a drug bust. Serpico was surprised to discover that his fellow officers weren’t backing him up — and later learned that they hadn’t even called for an ambulance. He recently wrote that, more than 40 years later, “I still get hate mail from active and retired police officers.”

  Bill Moyers

One of Al Pacino’s best roles.