Police Misconduct NewsWatch for 12-18-08

Watching the snow from a jail window

Been in a real funk lately, so I'm a little late with this one... Let's start local as usual, then fan out from there.

Urban Golfer Falsely Accused Of "Assault" By Man Hit By Foam Ball
Jonah at The Stranger posted about an "urban golfer" who's been charged with assault for allegedly accidentally hitting a bystander in the head with a foam ball. Besides it being a stretch to call being hit with a foam ball a matter of assault, it appears as though the SPD might have been arbitrary about who they arrested and charged for this "assault".

The person charged, a 25 year old computer security expert, says he's been falsely accused and is being used as a scapegoat by the SPD... and apparently he's right.

The person who actually "assaulted" the "victim" in this case has come forward... to talk to Jonah at least, even though he just did so to let people know why he's willing to let the accused swing in his place. This one ticked me off personally, not just because the charges of assault are utter bullshit, but also because the kid who is letting his pal take the fall for him, even though it is a bullshit charge.

In Jonah's article, the kid who actually hit the ball laughs while explaining that he's sure his friend will win the case since he's innocent... but the brat doesn't realize that being put through the justice system meat grinder is punishment in it's own right even when you're found innocent and his pal could still be railroaded, it happens all the time.

Now, the kid who actually hit the guy is unemployed. The guy taking the fall has a good job... so I'm wondering if the putz who's pressing assault charges for being hit with a nerf ball fingered the wrong guy on purpose in order to help with an eventual civil suit he's got planned, maybe?

In any case, lots of idiots in this one, from the city attorney moving ahead with this misuse of the court, to the SPD for grabbing the wrong people (they detained at least three people over this, none of them was the one who hit that ball), to the moron who got hit, and finally the butthead who let his pal get the shaft for this.

What a mess.

In National News:

Critical Mass NYPD Cop Indicted
That NYPD officer, Patrick Pogan, who had been caught committing perjury by falsifying a police report against a bicyclist he body-checked in order to cover for his assault on that cyclist has finally been indicted 5 long months after the incident.

If it weren't for video footage of that assault, apparently captured by a tourist, Pogan likely would have succeeded in punishing the cyclist for being the target of Pogan's pent up aggression. Instead, the video has made the rounds throughout the blogosphere and into mainstream news, costing Pogan his badge and gun while he now sits at a desk in the NYPD facing a number of charges ranging from felony counts of giving false statements to misdemeanor assault.

New Rochelle Police Officer Sues City For Suspending Him Due To A Parking Violation
Apparently this officer feels that he might have been kicked out for a minor parking infraction when other officers have done much worse there...

Hmm, now haven't I heard of New Rochelle's police department somewhere else recently?

Oh yeah, that's right, that's where Sgt. David Rodriquez worked when he was arrested for sexually assaulting a 17 year old. In that case, Rodriquez was allowed to resign and since he plead his felony charge down to a misdemeanor which meant he could be hired elsewhere as a police officer and, as far as we know, he isn't listed on any sexual predator lists either.

Maybe he's got a point?

Four Mt. San Jacinto College Police Officers Sue After Being Fired For Reporting Misconduct
Four campus cops are suing under allegations that they were sacked because they tried to report incidents of misconduct being performed by a friend of the police chief and it seems as though maybe the chief himself was doing a little dirty on the side too.

Former Flint Michigan Cop Denied Request To Expunge Manslaughter Conviction
A judge refused former Flint PD officer Martin Brock's request to have his record cleared of an involuntary manslaughter conviction over the beating death of Lance Lockrey in the 1980's, alleging that he's having a hard time finding work because of the conviction on his record.

Brock reportedly kicked and punched Lockrey even after Lockery was on the ground and unconcious. Lockery later died of head injuries and Brock was convicted of manslaughter, a conviction that was overturned in 1987 which prompted Brock to plead guilty to the lesser involuntary charge instead of risking going back to trial again for the more serious charges.

In his decision, the judge stated that if Brock wasn't a cop at the time of the crime, he likely would have granted the request... but, according to this judge at least, police officers must be held to a higher standard.

Hamilton Mass Police Department Operated Ambulance Service Without Certified EMTs
A city's selectmen have turned to the attorney general in Massachusetts about what to do with their police chief who has moved his retirement date up in order to keep his pension safe from the city firing him over a scandal involving the police department operating emergency medical services without certified EMTs.

Seems the off-duty officers that signed up to be EMTs never attended training and the trainer never even held the classes he let officers sign attendance forms for. The town is up in arms over this and demanding that the city do whatever it can to fire the chief before they're stuck paying his pension despite how he mishandled the department.

Misconduct Case Started In Ohio Over Police Chief Who Threatened His Own Son With Gun
Apparently the chief's fellow officers tried to keep the deteriorating mental condition of their chief under wraps, even after he threatened his own son with a gun and also threatened suicide as well. Now the officers who covered for the chief are facing allegations of misconduct over how they mishandled the incidents.


And for those neighbors in the great white north...

Remind me not to drive in Canada.
The Canadian Supreme Court has thrown out protections from unreasonable search and seizure for anyone traveling on Canadian roadways.Cops there can now stop you for any reason, at any time, and search you without any reasonable suspicion. When faced with the choice of how much misconduct to tolerate, the court erred on the side of misconduct instead of justice.

Excessive Force Complaint Sustained In Mark Hays Case -Updated

Originally posted at 02:08 on 12/16/08, updated 13:52 on 12/16/08

The Seattle Police Department's Office of Professional Accountability's Civilian Auditor released her biannual report recently and in it was a revelation that I wasn't aware of. It appears as though the OPA, the SPD's internal investigations division, may have found that officers used excessive force when they arrested Mark Hays and Michael Lujan earlier this year.

If you didn't remember, Mark Hays and his friend were walking back from a night out when they apparently jaywalked in front of an unmarked SUV full of undercover Seattle Police officers. The plainclothes officers, part of the "proactive policing" "Anti-Crime Team" yelled at the pair and told them they could be arrested for pedestrian interference. The pair apparently told the officers where they could put their interference and the officers piled out of their unmarked SUV and started arresting them.

What happened next, supposedly in front of several witnesses, is a matter of dispute. Officers allege that when they began arresting Lujan on charges of pedestrian interference that Hays jumped on one officers back, even though witnesses who talked to reporters but later refused to testify said they never saw Hays tackle an officer.



The ACT officers then arrested Hays for assaulting an officer and pedestrian interference, an arrest that was also partially caught on a responding unit's dashcam, as seen above courtesy of The Stranger's coverage of the incident. That video shows an ACT officer repeatedly punching and kneeing Hays after he was under control and face-down on the ground even as the cruiser approached the scene, and then showed even more punches and knees hit Hayes afterward as well.

Hays was later found guilty of assaulting an officer when none of the witnesses testified but Lujan was found innocent of pedestrian interference, essentially meaning that the initial excuse to effect the brutal arrest of Hayes was unfounded.

The SPD OPA Auditor, Katrina Pflaumer, had this to say about her review of a case that had some remarkable similarities with the Hays arrest...

"In another case I agreed with a Sustained finding for excessive force where the back-up officer’s in-car video had recorded the interaction. The officer had been jumped on from the rear as he took control of the subject’s jay-walking friend. When the attacking young man was down and under control, the officer continued to use punches and knee strikes, which he claimed were necessary to control resistance. In the majority of cases, the in-car videos I have seen support the officers. In this case, however, the video was at 180-degree variance with the officer’s perceptions or recollections and a Sustained finding was recommended by OPA and confirmed by the Chief."

While this finding may have been noted in a previously released monthly report from the OPA, generally the description of events in those findings are intentionally left vague, which makes it difficult to determine which person's complaint that finding is related to, but the description the auditor supplied leaves few reasons to doubt as to who this case is referring to... but because the OPA lacks any transparency, it's impossible to determine for certain if they are talking about the Hays case.

One point to remember is the recent contract changes between the city and the police union states that any officers who are found to have lied during an internal investigation are to be fired. The auditor, in this observation about the case, appears to be hinting that she felt the officer in question lied by saying his testimony was a 180 degree contradiction of the video evidence... but we've not heard of any officers being fired from the SPD recently.

But, interestingly enough, the auditor's report doesn't end there as she describes an identical case involving the same officer and, if the case is the Hays case, a member of the rather infamous SPD ACT.

"I was troubled by a case with very similar circumstances three months later, involving the same officer, same kind of strikes delivered, same justification claimed, and same words spoken; but where no in-car recording was available. In that case a person with a felony warrant fled from the officers, was tackled, and was delivered knee strikes in the mid-section during handcuffing. Since the officers’ testimony was consistent and supportive of each other, the result was a finding of Exonerated. The Director and I agreed that, despite some similarities, there was no evidence available to sustain an allegation of excessive force against the employee."

As we covered shortly after the Hays incident, the SPD ACT is responsible for a large number of excessive force complaints due to their aggressive form of "proactive policing" methods. It should be interesting to see if a civil case does develop from this case, if it is the Hays case, as Hays reportedly told reporters that he was in talks with civil rights attorneys shortly after his arrest. Per departmental policy, there has been no word on how the officer was disciplined, or if any discipline had been given over the sustained finding at all.

UPDATE 12/16/08-13:48:
I just realized that this finding may have actually been reported in one of the monthly OPA reports back in October, but the description of the complaint was so vague that there would be no way to link the finding with the case. I covered that report here back in October too... Just struck me now that the two were likely linked.

But again, because of the way the OPA is set up to protect officers, even when they have been found to break the rules, it's impossible to tell if this is the Hays case for certain, even though the similarities are very striking.

More Raising Cain In Bainbridge Island

It started with a 911 medical assistance call made by Seth Chipman's wife, a registered nurse named Rickie Chipman, for her husband's head injury and ended with Seth in jail instead of a hospital. Seth was in a state of mental distress and had hurt himself so Rickie Chipman called 911 to have Seth transported to the hospital. Two Bainbridge Island police officers showed up with the EMTs, one of those being officer Stephen Cain, and apparently things just went downhill from there...

Rickie Chipman alleges that, without provocation, officer Cain used a hair-hold takedown technique on her husband, (the hair-hold takedown was criticized last year by the DOJ during an investigation into mistreatment at the King County Jail as being too dangerous and degrading to be approved for use by law enforcement and corrections officers), grinding his face into the gravel, and then "took a knee" on his back when he arrested him and took him to jail instead of the hospital. Rickie states that she plead with officers to show restraint and was threatened with arrest herself and told that if she didn't calm down they would taser her husband... She didn't get to see him again for another 24 hours.

The officers, in their own defense, allege that Seth threatened them with a six foot long stick and a chainsaw, and then assaulted them when they took him into custody. However, Rickie gives a different story entirely and says officers assaulted her husband with no provocation, essentially suggesting that they made up the justification for arrest and that when police attacked Seth he was posing no threat at the time.

There has been no word on what EMTs allege to have seen that night, but given their close working relationship with the police it's doubtful that they wouldn't corroborate the officer's report. Seth is facing trial for three counts of assault arising from that incident in February and the department has no comment on the complaint against officer Cain.

Some readers might remember Bainbridge police officer Cain, (Copycat Cops and Copycat Cops Revisited) as he was accused of manhandling a female civil rights lawyer, Kim Koenig, earlier this year during a traffic stop. The police officer's union later sued reporters and a local blogger who were attempting to release details about Cain's disciplinary history in relation to that story and won, effectively keeping officer Cain's misconduct history a secret.

Police Misconduct NewsWatch for 12-12-08

In Local News:

9th Circuit Court Rules Seattle's Parade Permit Law Unconstitutional
The court of appeals ruled that Seattle's permit laws violate the constitution's first ammendment since it vests the Seattle Police chief with full authority to decide whether people may use public property to broadcast their message.

The ruling stems from a dispute between the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality and the city when the police, in 2003, refused to allow the group to march even after they had gathered permits for the protest.

King County Deputy Testifies Against Fellow Deputy In Federal Civil Rights Case
King County Deputy Thomas Calabrese testified against deputy Brian Bonnar in a criminal deprivation of civil rights case stemming from an October 2005 case where a suspect rammed two police cars while trying to flee while allegedly under the influence of crack and alcohol.

Bonnar allegedly fired his taser at the female driver when she refused to get out of the car and another deputy smashed the window. The woman was then pulled from the car while she struggled against deputies. Another deputy punched the woman twice and she stopped resisting while she was put in restraints. But the allegations allege that Bonnar looked aroun then dropped a knee on her head twice while she was restrained.

Deputy Calabrese then alleges that Bonnar then yanked her up by her hair and that Bonnar then slammed her face down on the back of a patrol car while Calabrese tried to position her away from Bonnar. Calabrese later filed a misconduct complaint against Bonnar in relation to the incident which reportedly divided the department between deputies who wanted Bonnar fired and those who felt he shouldn't be punished.

The Sheriff, Sue Rahr, had to send out a memo to deputies ordering them to attend the trial in civilian clothes and on their own personal time after a memo circulated in the department asking deputies to attend the trial in support of Bonnar. Bonnar was suspended for 20 days after an internal investigation into the case, but was never fired despite recommendations suggesting he should be.

Gig Harbor Washington Cop's Perjury Trial May Endanger Several Drug Convictions
While Gig Harbor Washington police officer Matthew Dougil awaits his court date in February for charges of perjury related to allegations that he prevented other officers from searching an informant's car prior to drug buy sting operations and then filed police reports stating that those requisite searches were completed the city has aleady paid $45,000 to one person convicted by one of Dougil's busts... with more lining up to challenge their arrests and/or convictions.

In National News:

Sandy Oregon Officer's Plea Postponed In Bizarre Courtroom Twist
The Sandy Oregon police officer, William Bergin, who stands accused of giving teenage girls drivers licenses that he confiscated from drivers he stopped was due to enter his plea in court when, in a strange twist, his lawyer was served with a subpoena to testify against Bergin in a civil case against him for the wrongful death case of Fouad Kaady.

Bergin's lawyer asked the judge to reschedule the plea so he could recuse himself and help Bergin get a new lawyer. The Kaady case involved Bergin and a Clackamas County sheriff who shot the unarmed Kaady after Kaady was badly burned in an auto accident in 2005. While never charged or disciplined in that case, Kaady's family filed a civil suit against Bergin in a trial due to start in 2009.

Local papers have opined that if Bergin doesn't plea guilty in the identity theft criminal trial, that other details will emerge that could implicate Bergin in his relationship with those underaged girls he gave IDs to.

From Western Massachusetts Copwatch: Cops Who Shot Unarmed Teen Go Unpunished
The Hampden County DA will not charge two Springfield Massachusetts police officers for shooting an unarmed teenager, allegedly because they mistook a bottle the teen was holding for a gun.

The police commissioner hailed the officers as heroes for shooting the unarmed teen, stating that they "exemplify the type of courage that our officers display every day..." The injured teen is still recovering and is considering a civil suit against the city.

Also In Springfield Mass... Two Cops Arraigned For Theft
Two Springfield police officers are facing charges of larceny after they were accused of stealing at least $2,000 from three immigrants during a traffic stop. The trio claim that during the stop the officers took their wallets, presumably to review their ID's, but when the wallets were returned their money was missing.

In an odd "coincidence", a local restraraunt where the three usually hang out was recently raided by the police and workers there claim they were harassed by the police because of this case.

Tip thanks to akahn from www.westernmasscopwatch.net

Hunter NY Police Officer Charged With Rape And Child Endangerment
The North Country Gazette reports that a Hunter New York police officer has been arrested and charged with rape, criminal sexual acts, and child endangering related to accusation that he had sex with an underaged girl on multiple occations, some of those while he was on-duty.

New York State Trooper Indicted For Writing False Tickets For Revenge
A NY State Trooper is facing 17 charges related to his writing traffic tickets against someone he never pulled over. The tropper, Lester Hooper, apparently got into an argument with someone while off-duty and wrote down the person's licence plate number. Later, the trooper wrote him several tickets for speeding as revenge for his refusal to move his parked truck during that dispute.

Utah's Hero Cop Faces Multiple Misconduct Complaints
With the filing of a federal civil rights lawsuit against Ogden police officer Ken Hammond come new disclosures about an officer who racked up several misconduct complaints that were apparently ignored due to his newfound hero status after he stopped a man who had went on a murder spree in an area mall.

The lawsuit filed against the city of Ogden and Hammond alleges that Hammond took a woman he detained into a dark street away from other officers and began pulling her hair and wrenched her handcuffed wrists behind her back, causing her to fall. It then alleges that he slammed her to the ground, afterwards he then pulled her pants down while walking her back to his cruiser where he rubbed up against her while her pants were around her ankles.

Hammond was suspended earlier the same week this lawsuit was filed in a seperate, but as of yet unspecified, allegation of misconduct.

Worcester Massachusetts Police Finally Comply With Public Records Request... By Giving Paper Inked-Out Records
The Worcester Telegram & Gazette in Massachusettes is considering asking a judge to force the Worcester Police Department to release more details about the history of complaints against police officer Mark Rojas. The newspaper claims that of 1,508 pages of internal affairs files related to complaints against the officer that were released under a public records request, 776 were completely or at least so blacked out with redactions.

State records experts say that it should be difficult, under disclosure laws in the state, to justify the redaction of so much information, especially related to such records.

Baton Rouge Newspaper and TV Station Fight To Gain Access To Misconduct Records
In a seperate effort to gain access to secretive police misconduct files, The Advocate in Louisiana is arguing in court that the rules surround what police may redact when they release disciplinary records should be less vague in their battle to get files related to alleged Katrina-related abuses that occured in Baton Rouge that were so bad they caused volunteer officers from other states to withdraw their offers of assistance during that disaster.

In International News:

"Rainbow Killer" Serial Murderer May Have Been A Cop
Finally, MSNBC reports that Brazil's Rainbow Killer, who is suspected of murdering 13 homosexuals, may be an ex-cop. Brazillian authorities have detained an ex-cop after a witness claimed to have seen the officer shoot a man multiple times in the park where the murders occurred and that he's seen the officer try to pick up other men in the park many times.

Vindictive Vancouver - Punishing Good Cops For Telling The Truth

In 2006, the city of Vancouver Washington fired an officer that they described as the dirtiest cop in Clark County’s history for allegedly falsifying reports and they sent out Brady notifications which effectively ended his career in law enforcement.

Following that dismissal the city then fired another officer in 2008 for allegedly falsifying a search warrant, branding that officer as a dirty cop as well which effectively ended his career as well.

At first glance, this might Sound like a city taking steps to clean up it’s police department, it might sound like something that should be applauded...

But you might be surprised to learn that it might be the exact opposite; that it may well be an attempt by city officials to rid it’s department of officers who have refused to be silent about the corruption they’ve seen occur within their police department at the direction of the city government.

The Story of Officer Navin Sharma

This story starts with Officer Navin Sharma, a decorated and respected police officer who was described as distinguished and dedicated and who was credited for saving countless lives by incorporating a medical unit into the SWAT division…

at least until he testified against other officers in an 1998 internal investigation about misconduct that occurred during a domestic violence prevention presentation that ultimately led to two sergeants being disciplined.

In reward for his honest testimony Sharma was rewarded with 8 long years of retribution that included racial epithets, offensive messages broadcast over the 911 dispatch radio system, and even failures to provide Sharma with backup when he was responding to reports of shots fired.

In 2000 Sharma filed suit against the city for discrimination and in 2001 he won a settlement of $750,000 that he negotiated down to $287,000 in order to gain a provision that let him remain on the force. But that didn’t end the abuse which included a 2003 incident where a city supervisor referred to Sharma as “the sand nigger that won a lawsuit against the city” and culminated in his firing in April of 2006.

Officer Sharma was fired for what DUI experts with the Washington State Patrol described as training issues, he made some errors while filling out DUI reports that are quite typical and were described by those experts as incidences that normally wouldn’t result in discipline beyond requiring the officer to attend additional training.

Instead of additional training, Sharma was fired, the city sent out Brady letters describing Sharma as an officer who’s testimony cannot be used in court, and city attorney Ted Gathe attempted to file criminal charges against Sharma over the alleged offense.

Sharma then filed another lawsuit against the city and won a record setting $1.6 million dollar lawsuit against the city for civil rights violation, a win that many accredit to the testimony of fellow police officers like Chris Kershaw.

The Story of Officer Chris Kershaw

Chris Kershaw is described as a dedicated officer with no prior record of misconduct. He was a distinguished Gulf War veteran with 10 years of experience in law enforcement that included his being awarded the medal of valor and life-saving medal for his actions that saved a SWAT officer’s life after he was shot in the back during a hostage situation… at least this was how he was described until he testified on Navin Sharma’s behalf in his civil rights suit against the city of Vancouver.

In late 2006, shortly after Officer Sharma’s firing, Officer Kershaw offered his testimony on Sharma’s behalf and as duty required he reported that intent to his supervisors in the VPD. Kershaw’s testimony proved pivotal to Sharma’s win against the city and, as filing papers indicate, retribution was swift once city attorney Ted Gathe found out about Kershaw’s plans to testify.

It was a testimony that ended prophetically with Kershaw stating the following:

“I must spend time to prepare myself… and prepare my family for the hardships we will most likely endure as a result of the discipline I believe will soon be imposed upon me.”

Just as in Sharma’s case, an investigation that was overseen by a VPD Commander named Kistler and Ted Gathe was started and Officer Kershaw was eventually disciplined and fired for allegedly misdating a search warrant which was, incidentally, the first search warrant that he had ever filled out and had done so without any prior training… a search warrant that the issuing judge had reviewed and described the dating error as “inadvertent and something that could be addressed with additional training”.

The city of Vancouver, just as in Sharma’s case, didn’t stop there. Just like Sharma, Ted Gathe then sent out Brady letters describing Kershaw as a liar and effectively ended Kershaw’s distinguished career, all allegedly for inadvertently misdating a form that he had never filled out before and had no training to show him how to fill it out properly.

However, it’s far closer to the mark to say that Kershaw’s career has been ended and his reputation ruined for testifying on behalf of a good cop who was persecuted for his own honest testimony against officers who did something wrong.

In response to his own termination from the Vancouver Police Department, Officer Kershaw has also filed a suit against the city that alleges he was fired in retaliation for his testimony on Officer Sharma’s behalf and has garnered the support from fellow officers, including retired Command Lieutenant Bruce Hall, a 20 year veteran of the VPD who supplied the following testimony for Offficer Sharma’s case in regards to what he was repeatedly told during a meeting he attended with VPD commanders and city officials:

“There are three kinds of employees. The first are those that are absolutely loyal, to a fault. They back each other no matter what… The next are those who need to be moved laterally or given some kind of “pay off” to get them out. The third kind needs to be actively and aggressively pursued in order to get them out, and you do it anyway you can… ride them until they quit or write them up until you can fire them.”

All of this in a department where other officers have been found to have lied in the presence of internal affairs officers during investigations into sexual abuse, intentional falsifications of records, and other more serious abuses of power that resulted in far less disciplinary actions, if any actions at all.

These two officers, who both had distinguished careers and were described by other officers, officials, and citizens alike as dedicated, trustworthy, and passionate about saving lives in their roles as law enforcement officers and medics, were fired for what everyone involved describes as inadvertent training-related errors by a city attorney who has refused to discipline one of his own city attorneys who had recently been arrested for his third DUI… an attorney who also works in the prosecutor’s office.

It doesn’t even stop with the persecution of Navin and Kershaw, in fact the the Clark County 911 operator, Holly Starr, who reported the incidents of racially-charged broadcasts targeting Navin Sharma won a whistle-blower lawsuit settlement for $260,000.

Ultimately, what is happening in Vancouver is the complete opposite of a city holding officers accountable, it’s a city that is refusing to hold itself accountable… and ultimately the citizens are the ones who will suffer for the loss of good officers like Navin Sharma and Chris Kershaw, all while ignoring and defending the real misconduct that occurs around them.

As I said before, sometimes officers can be the victims of misconduct too, and by all the evidence piled against the city of Vancouver, this certainly appears to be a textbook example of injustice done to some of the best officers that city has ever had.

References:
Good Cop, Mad Cop - Willamette Week Online
Ex-Officer Files Claim Against City - The Columbian
Filing Papers -Chris Kershaw's Notice Of Tort Claim Against City of Vancouver
Navin Sharma - Injustice In Seattle

Construction Zone

Yes... I'm in the process of changing the site design, so don't be alarmed if you're a frequent visitor and things look different.

Thanks for visiting, and hopefully the changes are for the better... and, as always, constructive suggestions are welcome!

All Around The Blogs... And Some News Too

I'm mixing things up a bit for this edition of NewsWatch. There's been a lot going on that I wanted to cover, much of it already being covered in other blogs, so here we go.

...First we'll start out locally as always:

Is King County Executive Ron Sims' Head In The Clouds?
The Seattle Weekly asks if King County Executive Ron Sims already has his head somewhere other than in his own troubled county as rumors abound about him being offered a position in Obama's administration...

Well, given his abysmal record of civil rights abuses in King County in defunding the Sheriff's department's accountability efforts and for the deadly abuses still occurring at the King County Jail that he's personally defended by suggesting that detainees have no rights to protect, we can only hope that he'll be gone soon...

Of course, only given with the provision that he's not given a post with Obama that has anything whatsoever to do with civil rights.

Five Before Midnight Reports On Suit Against Riverside Police Filed By LAPD Officer
FBM at Five Before Midnight writes about the LAPD officer who is suing the city of Riverside, where he lives, after he was harassed in his own yard by Riverside police officers for, well, apparently for being black in the wrong neighborhood.

She posts some of the more disturbing details concerning how officers forced him to the ground and had him lay on hot pavement in 90+ degree heat while several other patrol cars arrived, despite the off-duty officer's plea to let him show officers he lived there and was a fellow officer.

Later in that same post, however, it gets more disturbing as FBM talks about how Riverside police officers have been harassing her over the years. Sadly, as citizens who report on police abuses and misconduct, we are expected to be harassed, at least according to lawyers I've talked with in the past about my own experiences with police writing me.

It's strange really, if any other public official were to use the threat of their own public office against a citizen it would be all over the news, but if it's a cop threatening civilians who report on police misconduct, it's looked at as a good thing by the public... which reminds me...

More Details Released About Maryland Cops Who Spied On Peace Activists
Apparently, the Maryland State Patrol had been spying on peace activists for years and had added many of them to federal terrorist watchlists and databases. Those accused of being terrorists include:
1 former congressional candidate, 1 registered lobbyist, and 2 catholic nuns...

The ACLU of Maryland has filed a lawsuit in the case, which led to the release of files which have now revealed the latest facts in this case and is working to have these people removed from the databases they were wrongfully added to and to prevent the police from doing this again.

Now, I'm pretty sure I've been spied on, I get several hits a month from the local police department here to the site. I'm also pretty sure I've been added to at least a TSA watchlist given the way I was treated the last time I flew... But the Washington State ACLU would never do what their counterparts in Maryland are doing to protect civil rights, judging by how they mishandled their obligation to monitor detainee treatment at the King County Jail. I guess the left coast isn't so left after all.

Will "KopBusters Cause More Harm Than Good?
Scott from Simple Justice wonders whether the sting operation performed by self-help video site "KopBusters" might turn into a shameless type of Running Man-type reality show, which would do more harm than good to the police accountability movement. I sort of wonder the same thing, actually...

but then I asked, if not that, what can we do to convince the public that addressing rampant police misconduct is in everyone's best interest? If all the news stories out there, all the video evidence, all the court trials and settlements, all the investigations, and even the shameless stunts by organizations like KopBusters can't convince the public that there is a systemic problem with police abuses that is affecting them... then what will?

We're all still looking for that answer, I'm afraid.

The Agitator: Policewoman's Home Surrounded By SWAT Teams...For Being Charitable
Radley Balko at The Agitator posts about Captain Christine Michalosky, a police officer long respected both inside and outside of the department, who prompted a SWAT team to surround her house and terrify her neighbors because the police thought she might be mentally ill...

why?

...because she bought presents for underprivileged kids in her district.

The Latest On Mineo at Blue Must Be True
Karl at Blue Must Be True discusses the latest development in the Mineo Case where three NYPD officers that were accused of assaulting and sodomizing Michael Mineo with a collapsible baton have been indicted.

Karl thinks this case doesn't seem to rise to the same purposeful intent of torture that the infamous Abner Louima case in NY did... of course, I can't say much because it seemed too outrageous to be believable at first that the same department that went through so much negative press for officers sodomizing someone in the past would have officers brazen enough to dare and do it yet again...

Shows what I know.

More Details Released About That FBI Sting Operation In Chicago
The Chicago Tribune has released some of the text in the DOJ's case against 15 law enforcement officers in the Chicago area, including this pertinent passage that explains exactly what those corrupt officers were caught doing:

"A six-passenger, twin propeller engine aircraft flew on May 13 this year into west suburban DuPage Airport where three men awaited its arrival. Two of them—Ahyetoro A. Taylor and Raphael Manuel, both Cook County Sheriff's Office correctional officers—accompanied an individual whom they believed brokered large-scale drug transactions but, in fact, was an undercover FBI agent. They boarded the aircraft, which was operated by two other undercover agents, and began counting packages of what was purported to be at least 80 kilograms of cocaine stashed inside four duffel bags.

Taylor, Manuel and the undercover agent they accompanied removed the duffels from the plane and took them through the airport lobby to the trunk of the agent's car in the parking lot. Taylor and Manuel, in a separate car, followed the agent to a nearby retail parking lot, where the agent parked and got into the officers' vehicle. Together, the trio watched as yet another undercover agent arrived, removed the duffels from the trunk of the parked car, placed them in a Mercedes and drove away. The FBI agent posing as the drug broker then paid Taylor and Manuel $4,000 each—allegedly their most profitable payday in the corrupt relationship they began with the undercover agent at least a year earlier."

Again, apparently even a sting like this, run by our own government, isn't enough to convince people that police misconduct is a serious issue that affects us all. After all, as one busted Chicago officer said a while back, it all starts out small, then the next thing you know, you're doing all sorts of illegal stuff as an officer while convincing yourself that you're still one of the good guys.

The Innocence Project Blog: DNA Tests Could Exonerate Connecticut Man
The Innocence Project Blog talks about how their requests to have evidence tested in a 20 year old murder case has led police to a different suspect with a history of sexual assaults.

The interesting thing about this is the news article they point to which merely mentions the fact that a man has sat behind bars for 20 years for a crime he never committed, while a guilty man ran free and committed more assaults and murders, as an aside... missing the point that when police go after the wrong person they have also caused the public harm by letting a guilty man go scott-free... and showing that the media tends to be reluctant to talk about when our justice system fails us.

West Haven Connecticut PD Pays $400,000 Excessive Force Settlement
In September of 2002, 18 year old Gary Tyson was hiding in bushes along side Route I-95 when officers released a police dog to flush him out. Tyson ran and was killed by a truck as he crossed the highway. An autopsy later revealed that he had 24 separate puncture wounds from multiple bites, all stemming from an alleged fist fight.

Officers were cleared in an internal investigation and never faced criminal trial, but the city claimed it didn't know how a jury would look at police unleashing a dog on a misdemeanor suspect like that and would rather have insurance pay a settlement instead of risking having to pay for a full finding against them in court.

Sadly, this is the way governments look at the problem... Apparently it's cheaper for them to let their cops abuse citizens and let insurance providers soak up the costs in the aftermath... Meanwhile, Gary's family will never get their son back, and who knows what the next family will have to endure as well.

We reported on another settlement yesterday in Connecticut... how can one state so small have so much police misconduct?