Society's ChildS


Camcorder

Footage released of Spokane cops killing a suicidal man


RT
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 16:51 UTC
spokane police
© JThom / Liveleak
Police in Spokane, Washington have released footage from an officer's body camera which shows police fatally shooting a man earlier this year.

Officers Chris Lequire, Ryan Akins and Brandon Lynch were responding to a 911 call from a man threatening suicide. The footage, some of which has been redacted by the police, shows the officers arrive at the scene on State Street and attempt to start a dialogue with the man.

"Hey partner, my name's Chris why don't you talk to me?" Lequire calls out to the man, later identified as Michael Kurtz.

Kurtz starts moving towards the officers, holding a knife to his chest and shouting "Kill me!" as police ask him to back up and put the knife down.

Comment: Aiming at a non-vital body part was out of the question?

Read More...
Sheriff

Stop and frisk not good enough -- now there's stop and swab for DNA collection

Claire Bernish
The Free Thought Project
Fri, 16 Sep 2016 16:39 UTC
police swabbing
Without laws to guide them, police around the country have begun collecting people's DNA — even when no crime has been committed — using private labs which then store the genetic material for unknown periods to make identification simple in the event a crime is committed in the future.

Known generally as "stop and spit," the practice of requesting the DNA of adults and juveniles during routine traffic stops and even basic interactions with police, ProPublica reports, is not only wholly unregulated and unlegislated, it is alarmingly common.

"Over the last decade," writes Lauren Kirchner for ProPublica, "collecting DNA from people who are not charged with — or even suspected of — any particular crime has become an increasingly routine practice for police in smaller cities" in Florida, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.

For instance, Kirchner explained, police in Branford, Connecticut, are "instructed to request DNA from people they merely observe acting inexplicably or strangely."

Comment: Another question to be asked is what is the government doing with all this collected DNA.
Government breaks promise to delete DNA profiles of innocent people

Read More...
Camcorder

Not good enough: DC police body camera policy altered after deadly shooting goes unrecorded


RT
Fri, 16 Sep 2016 16:27 UTC
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser
© Joe Heim/The Washington PostD.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), flanked by Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Kevin Donahue, left, and interim Police Chief Peter Newsham, answers questions during a news conference Thursday at Anacostia High School.
Body cameras for the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia were already required to be turned on by officers responding to calls and encountering citizens, but a new amendment to the policy was just added following an unrecorded fatal police shooting of a motorcyclist.

"We have given the police officers a new tool. We have to do everything we can to make sure that new tool is being deployed properly," DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said Thursday, according to the Washington Post.

Announcing the new policy that Metropolitan officers must confirm with dispatch that they have turned their cameras on, the mayor told reporters that the purpose was to address crime in the District of Columbia.
Read More...
Attention

'We beat the odds': Abducted 6yo girl found alive and chained to tree, man in custody


RT
Fri, 16 Sep 2016 16:17 UTC
Steffany Lenneth Lopez-Castro chained to a tree
© Bob Bonner / Facebook
A six-year-old girl who was abducted from her North Carolina home has been found alive and chained to a tree. A convicted sex offender has been arrested and charged with first-degree kidnapping.

Police found Steffany Lenneth Lopez-Castro chained to a tree in a wooded area in New Hanover County on Thursday morning, about 2 miles (3.2km) from where she was taken from the driveway of her home the previous night, local CBS affiliate WNCN reported.

After locating the girl, police flagged down a nearby driver, asking if he had bolt cutters. The man gave officers a battery-operated saw to cut the child free.

The child was taken to a local hospital for evaluation and is said to be doing well.
Read More...
Magnify

Big brother alert: 'Rule 41' change allows FBI mass surveillance


RT
Fri, 16 Sep 2016 15:25 UTC
FBI coffee mug
© Chris Helgren / Reuters
The deadline is December 1. If Congress fails to act, the FBI gains the power to hack and surveil an unlimited number of computers, based on just one warrant from any federal judge. "Rule 41" marks a new line drawn in the cybersecurity-privacy battle.

The US court system has a process through which the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure are amended, and because these decisions are not made by elected officials, they are not supposed to deal with changes in the law or enacting policy.

Changes to Rule 41, however, will remove the limits on how the FBI can obtain search warrants for computer networks. As of now, a federal judge may authorize the feds to install malware to hack computers suspected to be involved in criminal activity. That judge may only issue the warrant when the device is in his or her jurisdiction, though. That barrier is scheduled to be lifted December 1, unless Congress prevents it.

Comment: Congress will do nothing to stop Rule 41.

Read More...
Pirates

Killary ripping off poorest campaign donors with multiple unauthorized charges to their bank cards

Liz Crokin
The Observer
Fri, 16 Sep 2016 15:08 UTC
DNC overcharge donars Wells Fargo
© Courtesy Carol MahreHillary for America processed a total of $94 in unauthorized charges to Carol Mahre’s US Bank account. This follows a pattern in which unwitting donors are charged multiple times, but always for a total of less than $100, which is a key trigger point for banks’ internal action systems.
Wells Fargo fraud department inundated with calls from low-income Clinton supporters reporting repeated unauthorized charges

Hillary Clinton's campaign is stealing from her poorest supporters by purposefully and repeatedly overcharging them after they make what's supposed to be a one-time small donation through her official campaign website, multiple sources tell the Observer.

The overcharges are occurring so often that the fraud department at one of the nation's biggest banks receives up to 100 phone calls a day from Clinton's small donors asking for refunds for unauthorized charges to their bankcards made by Clinton's campaign. One elderly Clinton donor, who has been a victim of this fraud scheme, has filed a complaint with her state's attorney general and a representative from the office told her that they had forwarded her case to the Federal Election Commission.

"We get up to a hundred calls a day from Hillary's low-income supporters complaining about multiple unauthorized charges," a source, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of job security, from the Wells Fargo fraud department told the Observer. The source claims that the Clinton campaign has been pulling this stunt since Spring of this year. The Hillary for America campaign will overcharge small donors by repeatedly charging small amounts such as $20 to the bankcards of donors who made a one-time donation. However, the Clinton campaign strategically doesn't overcharge these donors $100 or more because the bank would then be obligated to investigate the fraud.

Comment: Perfectly in keeping with the Clintons' psychopathic sense of entitlement. The cold calculation of this strategy just adds to everything else wrong about Killary.

Read More...
Sheriff

Hidden cameras catch cops in illegal smash and grab raid on legal pot shop, CMPD wants to move case against it to federal courts to avoid restitution

Justin Gardne
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 15 Sep 2016 14:48 UTC
cops raid pot dispensary
The Costa Mesa Police Department (CMPD) is trying to pull a fast one after a lawsuit was filed against it for the illegal raid of a medical cannabis dispensary. Knowing they have little chance in state court to defend their actions, which were caught on hidden cameras, the CMPD is attempting to move the case to federal court because cannabis is prohibited under federal law.

In January, cops busted into the Costa Mesa Collective in militaristic fashion, pointing guns at customers and telling them to get on the ground. They immediately began removing surveillance equipment, but didn't know about the four hidden cameras which caught them damaging store property, interrogating customers and seizing cannabis, money, confidential patient records and other property.

These seizures were done with no legal justification, as police Chief Robert Sharpnack said they had obtained an inspection warrant, "which is used to enter a premises to investigate whether it is complying with building, fire, zoning and civil codes."

According to the Orange County Register:
"If a business refuses access, a city can obtain an inspection warrant and seek a judge's permission to make forcible entry, but investigators can't seize evidence for a criminal case, said Jen McGrath, another attorney representing Costa Mesa Collective."
But there's more. The OC Register has not been able to find any type of warrant for the operation, and Chief Sharpnack has refused to provide a copy of the supposed warrant used to carry out the raid.

Even if such an inspection warrant exists, it does not allow for the seizure of cash, assets and medical records that was recorded by the hidden cameras.

Cops involved in the raid, believing they had removed all video recorders in the store, proceeded to violate the law and the constitutional rights of people inside the store.

Comment: If the US government and military can get away with anything in their attempts to conquer the world and seize all of the it's wealth and resources, then why can't the police? Monkey see, monkey do.

Read More...
Stop

Nanny state: Maryland police ban tourists from taking roadside pictures with sunflowers

John Vibe
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 15 Sep 2016 14:32 UTC
woman with sunflowers
Each year, towards the end of summer, sunflowers pop up in fields across Harford County and they become somewhat of an attraction for people who want to take pictures or pick a few flowers to take with them.

However, this year, local police have ruined the fun and issued a statement telling motorists that they are no longer allowed to pull over to appreciate the sunflowers.

There has not been a major incident or accident to prompt this ban, just some complaints of minor traffic slowdowns on a country road. The field is located on a country road and near a red light, so while cars would have to stop to allow pedestrians to cross the road, the traffic on the street is so calm that it does not cause any major congestion.

Nonetheless, police will now be patrolling the area to stop these "criminals."

Last week, the Maryland State Police issued this warning on their Facebook page:

"Please do not stop along Jarrettsville Pike north of Hess Rd to photograph the sunflower field. It creates a tremendous traffic hazard as well as a danger to the pedestrians."
Read More...
Attention

Small miracle: Apology issued after cops raid wrong home


CBS Denver
Thu, 15 Sep 2016 15:25 UTC
drug raid apology
Police in Mesa County are issuing an apology after officers raided the wrong home.

The incident happened on Tuesday at Coronado Court in the town of Clifton in Mesa County.

Police said they thought they were targeting a methamphetamine operation and instead forcefully entered a couple's condo with five children inside.

Mesa County and Grand Junction SWAT members surrounded the condo and broke down the front door and destroyed windows as they breached the house.
Read More...
USA

The acts of three cops that explain why athletes across the country aren't standing for the National Anthem

Claire Bernish
Free Thought Project
Thu, 15 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
3 cops anthem
When the nation exploded in fury over San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand for the national anthem in protest against police brutality, those of us less prone to blindly worship state authority found it sadly ironic how everyone seemed to miss the point.

Several NFL players, and even an entire team, have since joined Kaepernick in riding the bench or taking a knee as the national song plays before the start of football games, but most outrage still focuses on that peaceful protest — not the violent policing behind it.

In fact, the corporate media pundits most intent on chastising Kaepernick and the others deny police brutality is a problem — despite an epidemic-level number of beatings, shootings, maimings, and killings by officers across the United States.

For those feckless deniers, perhaps the following three examples will provide much-needed insight into why the tradition of standing for the Star Spangled Banner matters not one iota in comparison to the issue of ruthless, merciless policing with impunity.
Read More...