A national uproar over racial profiling erupted in the 1990s after New Jersey state troopers were found to have focused on minority drivers for traffic stops in hopes of catching drug couriers. Thousands of local law enforcement departments and more than a dozen state police agencies began collecting traffic-stop information as a result.In the seven…
Tag: police
Ferguson – You’re Doing It Wrong
Last night someone shouted. Last night someone moved a traffic cone. Last night someone stood in the street. Someone threw a bottle, threw a rock. Last night someone threw their hands in the air. Today, people are waking to closed schools and a state of emergency. They are waking to military troops and military vehicles. Some walk through streets…
Police refuse to release video after Dayton-area killing
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says that Crawford was shot while carrying a toy gun that fires BB pellets. Crawford had picked the gun up off the sporting goods shelf where Walmart displays it. The gun is manufactured by Crosman and is classified as a “variable pump air rifle.” Police said that Crawford was waving…
Court upholds “First Amendment” right to film police
A federal appeals court has ruled that the public has the right to film cops in public and has reinstated a lawsuit against a local New Hampshire police department brought by a woman arrested for filming a traffic stop. The plaintiff in the case, Carla Gericke, was arrested on wiretapping allegations in 2010 for filming…
Supreme Court Upholds Warrantless Collection Of DNA
By a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a Maryland law that allows police to collect DNA, without first getting a warrant, from persons who are arrested. “When officers make an arrest supported by probable cause to hold for a serious offense and bring the suspect to the station to be detained…
Supreme Court Inaction Boosts Right To Record Police Officers
The Illinois and Massachusetts laws have been used to arrest people who attempt to record on-duty police officers and other public officials. In one of the more notorious cases, Chicago resident Tiawanda Moore was arrested in 2010 when she attempted to use her cell phone to record officers in a Chicago police station. Moore…
Court Strikes Blow To Illinois Eavesdropping Law
In a blow to Illinois sweeping eavesdropping law, a federal appeals court on Tuesday blocked its enforcement in cases where someone is recording a police officer at work. It was a victory for activists who had feared that using smartphones or video cameras to record police responding to demonstrations during this months NATO summit in…
Police handcuff Georgia kindergartner for tantrum
A kindergartner who threw a tantrum at her small-town Georgia school was taken away in handcuffs, her arms behind her back, in an episode that is firing up the debate over whether teachers and police around the country are overreacting all too often when dealing with disruptive students. The family of 6-year-old Salecia Johnson…
Minneapolis Mayor, Occupy To Discuss Police “Ambush” And Arrests | The UpTake
Occupy Minnesota protesters showed their wounds and vented their anger Monday over what they say was a police “ambush” of a peaceful Easter eve protest. They are asking Minneapolis Mayor R.T Rybak to order police to stand down. The Mayor has agreed to meet with them Tuesday at 1pm. Saturday night, police arrested 12 activists…
Illinois Traffic Stop Of Star Trek Fans Raises Concerns About Drug Searches, Police Dogs, Bad Cops
Asset forfeiture is the process by which law enforcement agencies can take possession of property suspected of being tied to illegal activity. Under these laws, the property itself is presumed to be guilty of criminal activity. Once the property has been seized, it’s up to the owner to prove he obtained the property legitimately. In…
Watch: Police Get Violent As OWS Retakes Zuccotti Park
On Saturday, hundreds of protesters marked the six-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street by attempting to retake Zuccotti Park. By the end of the night, 73 had been arrested and the park forcefully cleared. In scenes that recalled the early days of the movement last fall, citizen journalists captured the New York City Police Department…
“We are just not going to allow a tent city. Just period.” – UC Davis Blames Violence on Budget
On Friday, a group of University of California, Davis students, part of the Occupy Wall Street movement on campus, became the latest victims of alleged police brutality to be captured on video. The videos show the students seated on the ground as a UC Davis police officer brandishes a red canister of pepper spray, showing…
Police: 177 Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested
At least 177 people have been arrested during clashes between police and Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in New York City, part of a day of mass gatherings in response to efforts to break up Occupy Wall Street camps nationwide. Thousands of protesters took to the streets around the U.S., including Los Angeles, Dallas, Portland,…
Mayor Jean Quan’s Legal Adviser Quits Over Clearing Of Occupy Oakland Camp
As a platoon of Oakland Police Department officers began clearing out Occupy Oakland’s encampment for a second time at Frank Ogawa Plaza downtown, one of Mayor Jean Quan’s advisers resigned in protest. Quan’s legal adviser Dan Siegel announced his decision via Twitter early this morning. Siegel tweeted: No longer Mayor Quan’s legal advisor. Resigned at…
Man Outed As Undercover Cop At Occupy Oakland Condemns Police Brutality, Supports The Movement
Across the country, police have used undercover and/or plainsclothed police officers to monitor occupations and protests that are a part of the 99 Percent Movement. Earlier today, the Tennessean published excerpts from emails sent by the Tennessee Highway Patrol that confirmed not only that police were infiltrating Occupy Nashville but that they were hoping for…
Student jailed 2 nights when she can’t show ID
Early in the morning on Oct. 22, a Saturday, Ms. Zucker, 21, and her friend Alex Fischer, also 21, were stopped by the police in Riverside Park and given tickets for trespassing. Mr. Fischer was permitted to leave after he produced his driver’s license. But Ms. Zucker, on a visit to New York…
Oakland Police Under a Cloud for Violent Occupy Crackdown
A shot-filled bean-bag round held by a protester at Frank Ogawa Plaza Tuesday night. Schuyler Erle/Twitter On Tuesday night I was at the intersection of 14th and Broadway, just outside Frank Ogawa Plaza, for several harrowing hours: I witnessed police officers firing projectiles indiscriminately into the crowd—not carefully targeting instigators, as OPD policy dictates. Freelance…
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan Says She Will Minimize Police Presence And That She Supports The Movement
After the first heavy-handed police crackdown on demonstrators in Oakland, Mayor Jean Quan wrote a statement on her Facebook page praising police for closing down the Occupy Oakland protest encampment. Now, facing anger from across the world, Quan is backing down on her aggressive language and even says she supports the goals of the movement….
Police pepper spray Haka dancers at football game
Union High School and Football field. Looks like plenty of exits. The group in Roosevelt, a town of 8,000, had traveled about 125 miles east from the Salt Lake City area to watch a relative play his final game for Union, which lost to rival Uintah and finished the season without a victory. The group…
NYPD Inspector Anthony Bologna Violated Pepper Spray Guidelines, Review Finds « CBS New York
An internal NYPD review finds a deputy inspector violated department guidelines when he used pepper spray on Occupy Wall Street protesters last month. Officials say Anthony Bologna, who works in Manhattan North, will lose 10 vacation days for his actions on September 24. He used the spray on women who were penned-in by police. via…