Society's ChildS


Eye 1

DC cop suspected of running prostitution ring

cop car
© Mark Wilson/Getty Images/AFP
A police officer in Washington, D.C. is currently under investigation for possibly running a prostitution ring out of this apartment, where a 16-year-old missing girl was found on Tuesday evening The unnamed officer has yet to be to charged with a crime, though the Metropolitan Police Department has placed him on paid leave while it wraps up the investigation.

According to the Washington Times, the teenage girl told investigators that she met the officer in question two weeks ago. The officer allegedly took nude photos of her in glossy shoes and arranged a meeting with another man who would pay her $80 for sex. The officer would reportedly get a $20 cut of the bill, though it's not clear if the meeting ever occurred.

Additionally, the teenage girl told authorities that six other women were working for the officer, and advertisements for the operation were posted on a website called backpage.com.

Comment: Define 'few', please.


Bad Guys

Rapist jailed for identical attack

Brierley
David Brierley, who raped a teenage girl just four months after being released from prison for an identical attack, has been jailed for life.
A psychopathic rapist who raped a teenage girl just four months after being released from prison for an identical attack was jailed for life today. David Brierley, 34, repeatedly raped the 18-year-old victim during a horrific assault in Swindon town centre in February this year. Swindon Crown Court heard the victim thought she was going to die and begged Brierley to stop his violent attack but he ignored her pleas and carried on raping her.

The court heard that the burly monster had been jailed for eight years at Warwick Crown Court in 2001 for repeatedly raping and assaulting an 18-year-old girl in a Stratford upon Avon churchyard the previous year but had only finally been released from prison in October 2012 after being recalled for breaching his licence.

Brierley had been living in Birmingham and had moved to Swindon just two days before he attacked his latest victim, the court was told. He had been living under an assumed name in the Culvery Court hostel, on Harding Street - but on the night of the rape had been refused entry as staff believed he had been drinking. Tattooed Brierley, who is 5ft 10in tall and weighs 19 stone, had met the victim on the evening of February 23 in a takeaway in the town and bought her some food.

Eye 1

Flashback Men impersonating cops robbing people,were just cops robbing people

bad cops
© AP Two police officers, one of the Detroit department and one of St. Clair shores, have been taken into custody in connection with a robbery at a gas station on Detroit's east side, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said Monday, July 29, 2013.

A good Samaritan with a camera helped in catching an off-duty Detroit Police Officer and his former DPD accomplice, who were involved in a pistol-whipping and robbery outside a Citgo gas station. It was originally thought that the men conducting the robbery were impersonating police officers. Then, according to DPD Chief James Craig, "Several unidentified police officers were working this particular robbery case, recognized one of the suspects in the photographs as being a member of the Detroit Police Department."

According to WJBK, now under arrest are two police sergeants, a 47-year-old officer and 20-year veteran of the Detroit Police Department and his 42-year-old buddy from the police academy, who is a former DPD cop and 17-year veteran of the St. Clair Shores Police Department. The latter recently received a distinguished service award.

"In fact, they were police officers, just not working on-duty at the time," Craig said. One of the alleged victims identified the St. Clair Shores sergeant from a photo lineup.

Comment: It's becoming a lot more difficult to discern good guys from bad guys these days, isn't it?


Bulb

Why employers demanding Facebook passwords from applicants is now illegal In New Jersey

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© Shutterstock
Add New Jersey to the list of states where employers demanding passwords to Facebook and other online services from employees or applicants is now illegal, as a law took effect Sunday in the Garden State, The Record reported.

According to The Record, the new law does not cover social media accounts used for business purposes, and employers can still access all information that has been made public, as well as investigate harmful actions on social media sites, such as sharing confidential company information or harassment.

The first violation will result in a $1,000 fine, rising to $2,500 for further violations, The Record reported, adding that the bill was signed by Gov. Chris Christie Aug. 29.

Employers Association of New Jersey Head John Sarno told The Record:
The employer can't coerce or require an employee to give up a password for a privacy-protected personal website.

House

Man moves into home while family is away and claims he now owns it

Abandoned house
© Harry Engels/Getty Images
Imagine going out of town to visit a dying relative only to come home and find a complete stranger living in your house; and worse, that stranger now says he legally owns that house.

WLWT-TV reported that Robert Carr moved into a house, changed the locks, and emptied the house.

Carr says he is able to claim the property through something called a "quiet title." He says the family abandoned the house and gave up their rights.

Carr wants to keep the home and not have to pay a penny.

"What he's looking for is full title and ownership of the home," Alison Warner, the family's attorney, told WLWT. "He's in their home. They don't know when he's there. He can be there now."

The family has charged Carr with breaking and entering but he is even fighting that charge.

Comment: More on the story, courtesy of WLWT:




Arrow Down

Michigan police shoot dog 8 times after barking complaint

Lexie
© WXYZ.comBrittany Preston’s dog, Lexie.
Saint Clair Shores - When a man with dementia accidentally left a dog outside all night, neighbor's called police to silence the dog's barking. Police obliged by firing 8 rounds into the dog in its front yard.

Brittany Preston left her puppy, Lexie, in the care of her grandfather as she went to work an overnight shift.

Unfortunately her grandpa's mild dementia caused his memory to be impaired. During the evening he let the dog into the yard to go to the bathroom, and forgot to let the dog back in.

Hours went by. The dog waited by the door, barking for its owner's attention. Preston's grandfather failed to hear the barking or remember his mistake.

Neighbors, tiring of the noise, called the police. Sometime after 7:00 a.m., police arrived and surrounded the dog in the yard. Preston's grandfather was awake now, and opened the door to usher the dog back into the house. But the dog continued to bark at police instead of going inside.

Police asked if he was the owner of the dog. Fumbling the question, he said he was not. Of course, his granddaughter was, but he did not make this clear. Police made the assumption the dog didn't belong there.

Saint Clair Shores Police spent some time trying to lasso the dog with a dog stick, but were ultimately overcome by "fear for their lives," a common malady in police work.

According to the police report, police officers opened fire when the dog "charged" at them. Eight rounds were fired into Lexie.

Bad Guys

Two million Facebook, Gmail and Twitter passwords stolen by 'criminal gang'

hackers
© Alphaspirit/GettyHackers published two million passwords online, security experts have said.
Two million passwords for social media and email accounts have been released online by hackers, IT security experts have discovered.

The passwords for the compromised accounts are believed to have been collected by a botnet which uses infectious software to take note of the keystrokes of its targets.

Thousands of Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts were hacked with details published online by what are believed to be cyber criminals.

Of the passwords there were 318,000 Facebook, 70,000 Google (including Gmail, Google+ and YouTube), and 60,000 Yahoo accounts - though their age is unknown.

'We don't know how many of these details still work,' security researcher Graham Cluley told the BBC.

Attention

Pollution rife on Okinawa's U.S.-returned base land

arikaki
© JON MITCHELLTainted legacy: Seiryo Arakaki, chairman of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly's special committee on U.S. bases, stands at the former U.S. military land of Nishi-Futenma, while pollution fears leave the housing area's redevelopment in limbo.
When the last U.S. service members moved out of the Nishi-Futenma housing area at Camp Foster, in 2006, the land was slated to return to civilian use as part of ongoing attempts by Tokyo and Washington to reduce the military burden in Okinawa - host to more than 70 percent of American bases in Japan.

The reversion of the 52-hectare parcel - an attractive hilltop overlooking the East China Sea - was supposed to be a sign of improved ties between the U.S. military and its Okinawa neighbors. But instead it has come to signify a problem that is increasingly straining relations in the prefecture: military pollution.

Seven years after the land at Nishi-Futenma was vacated, its future is still in limbo. The dozens of beige bungalows that used to house U.S. families are abandoned - their screen doors torn and walls overgrown with vegetation.

People

Eco-community battles Greek crisis

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In light of Greece's economic crisis, a group of city-dwellers has built a self-sufficient eco-community. As many people struggle with growing food security problems, the group produces its own food and electricity.

Rain falls over a vegetable patch on the small Greek island of Evia where Apostolis Sianos, a tall, tanned 32-year-old man with long dark hair, picks vegetables. He will use these tomatoes, green beans, and eggplants for today's lunch.

The gardens here are teeming with life. Bees zip past the herbs and vegetables toward the new apple orchard.

"Natural farming has proven that one acre (4,840 square yards) is more than enough for a single family, as long as there are no animals on it," Sianos said. "We have about 15 acres, so you can imagine how much food we produce."

Sianos is part of the "Free and Real Community," as they call themselves. It's a group of city-dwellers who packed up their lives and moved into the country to build an eco-community off-the-grid. Just as they were breaking earth on their new plot of land, Greece began sinking into the most severe economic depression in living memory.

Attention

Congressman Eric Cantor's office calls in police to threaten singing children with arrest

A group of children calling for immigration reform were forced to leave House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's (R-VA) office on Thursday after Capitol Police officers threatened to arrest them.

In a video posted to YouTube by the group Keeping Families Together, the children are seen in Cantor's personal office singing: "We want reform, we want it now. We are titanium. Keep our families together. We want reform right now."

At that point an officer interrupted the protest to ask if anyone there was planning on getting arrested.

"I heard what you're doing, I appreciate what you're doing," the officer explains. "The congressman can't do anything right now, they can't meet with you. So, please, set [an appointment up] through email. Please don't sing again, guys."

"We have to ask you to leave. If you don't want to leave... if you want to stay in, you're subject to arrest," he adds.

After another verse, the frustrated officer warns against that "everyone that stays in this room may be arrested."

While the children did eventually decided to leave peacefully, another clip shows them being loudly scolded for singing outside Cantor's office.

Watch the videos below from Keeping Families Together, broadcast Dec. 5, 2013.