Gangsters in Blue

The write-up below comes to us from Jack Slade. I can appreciate his sentiment but differ in the solution advocated. Jack points-out the lower standards for police today and the lack of transparency with which they operate.  Both exist only due to perverse incentives, a direct consequence that stems from many people, including Jack, continuing to grant authority to the one-size-fits-all model of policing today. Just imagine how things could be done better were you able to contract for the level of protection services you desire. Why leave such an important good/service to a group of people who first claim the “right” to steal your money to protect you? Such an institution is flawed from the start. – Pete

“In Fear for his life or that of others” was meant to be a “Real” and “Intelligent” view of a situation that others could easily identify. We have a problem now. There have been so many Police Murders now that research has been slowed down. Police are refusing now to give out any details, Police Officer’s Bills of Rights and decisions like Copely v. Superior Court of San Diego, claim that all information is a “personnel Record” and of course “Closed Grand Juries”.

Police are sealing off crime scenes, and detaining anyone in the area and confiscating cell phone camera memory chips and video cameras. People are claiming to be held for forced debriefings to help police generate an uncontestable defense story. District attorneys are waiting for months to quietly exonerate the Officers after Cities reach Sealed Wrongful Death settlements.

We have many totally unqualified, poorly educated and poorly trained police officers all over the country. Thirty years of this kind of poor quality and upward mobility of poor quality candidates has filled our departments with the largest number of alcoholics, drug abusers, child molesters, and spousal killers in history.

There are intelligent degenerates in society, but when they move in mass into law enforcement we have the problem we have now. You can’t say that the public is bad mouthing the police. These people are not police officers, they are people who have gamed the system and reached a position of committing crimes and getting away with it. The foundation of their protection is the need for politicians to keep things quiet, hide settlements and hope to complete their terms.

All of you police officers are going to chime in but you don’t have the statistics that we have in our hands. We await challenges for that reason. It used to be 80% good cops and 20% unstables, now that is reversed.

DA’s like Jeff Rosen in Santa Clara County, CA ran on a justice ticket saying the souls of his holocaust family victims would never let him protect killers. Well he has exonerated some of the most bizarre police murderers that we have seen and he has another 10 that occurred in a six week period. He had to run around the county to police department briefings begging them to stop and they laughed him out of the buildings. Strangely one of his best DA friends ends up arrested for DUI. They tracked him and racked him one night.

After 9/11 all policemen became heroes, and that was the start of the problem. The only real heroes were the ones there who died. Then the economy went in the toilet and crime has risen. Now with people who have the same intelligence and morals as circus workers and frightened DA’s and Politicians, we have the inmates running the prison.

Jack Slade
40 years in Law Enforcement, no shootings and no IA Jacket before retirement.

Target Corruption via The Justice Program compiles every Police shooting throughout the Country with daily reports. Todays update is so large for 2012 that we just got the Chicago update: The rise in “Poor Judgement Killings is rising rapidly.

TARGET CORRUPTION
POLICE KILLINGS and PROSECUTIONS
State by State and City by City Report for Jan. 2012 to Date will follow Monday.

There have been so many that research has been slowed down. Police are refusing now to give out any details, are sealing off crime scenes, and detaining anyone in the area and confiscating Cell Phone Camera memory chips and video cameras. People are claiming to be held for forced debriefings to help Police generate an uncontestable defense story. District attorneys are waiting for months to quietly exonerate the Officers after Cities reach Sealed Wrongful Death settlements.

Police Shootings Will Begin To Be Watched More Closely is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

A Riverside, CA District Attorney has announced that police officer Enoch Clark has been charged with three felony counts of assault and one felony count of use of force causing great bodily injury for a routine traffic stop that resulted in permanent damage.

“On Feb. 21, 2012, Clark was on duty, working patrol in the city of Beaumont,” the district attorney said. “During his shift, Clark was involved in a possible driving under the influence investigation. While conducting that investigation, there was an altercation between the officer and a woman he was attempting to handcuff.

“Clark then pulled out a less-than-lethal device issued by his department called a JPX device. This device uses a ‘wafer’ of gun powder to propel a stream of pepper spray . . .  at a speed of more than 400 mph.”

“The minimum distance the device is to be utilized is about five feet with the optimum distance to be used being between six and 16 feet,” according to the
district attorney. “It was determined that Clark fired the JPX at the woman’s face from a distance of about 10 inches. Both of the victim’s eyes were severely injured and it is doubtful she will see again, according to medical reports.

The victim, Monique Hernandez is 30 year old. The incident occurred on February 21, in front of her own home. She apparently disputed with Clark during a routine sobriety check when he shot her.

Hernandez told the press that her deepest regret is that she will never again be able to see her 10-year-old daughter. “My daughter currently is not staying with me right now. She’s staying with my mom, because I can’t take care of her right now. I’ll probably imagine her looking like a 10-year-old all her life – that’s the worst part,” she told reporters on Tuesday.

“The force they used was excessive,” said Hernandez’ attorney. “She had no weapons. She posed no threat. Preliminarily, investigation shows both her eyes are affected. She’s totally blind in one eye.”

Clark has plead not guilty to all four felony counts. He returns to court on May 29th.

Police Officer Blinds a Mother with a JPX Device is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

Extraction teams caused a lot of panic during this year’s May Day General Strike for the Occupy crowd. Oakland Police sent large groups of officers into crowds of demonstrators to make surgical arrests. As many presumed, this type of police action created more problems then it solved. One “surgical arrest” would lead to panic, causing officers to arrest more people.

At one point there were there was at least 5 arrests taking place simultaneously, initiated after Oakland Police tackled a woman on a bicycle.

Thank you to Jacob Crawford of Oakland Copwatch for the video.

clip.

Video: Oakland Police use Concussion Grenades & Extraction Teams on May Day 2012 is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

Guest Post by Katie McCall

I must apologize… this story is a little old. But the victims are still suffering and it needs to be told.

Meet the Hendersons: Father, Jeffrey, is a big, intimidating individual but tenderly in love with his children. Mother, Erica, is a very nurturing mother. Together they have six children and lived together without incident in their Pasadena, California home.

Are they typical parents? No. They keep a kosher diet, they homeschool
and breastfeed and homebirth. They follow orthodox Jewish law. But is being “different” a reason to have your rights trampled?

In May 2010, the police were called by a disgruntled neighbor who reported having “heard” Jeffrey slap their oldest child. The police responded by demanding entry. Jeffrey and Erica
refused their requests and instead had the children come to the front window next to their door to show that they had not been harmed. Here you can see Jeffrey and Erica refusing entrance prior to deciding to parade their children’s well being in the window:

The Henderson’s refuse entrance to the police in Pasadena

Apparently, visually seeing the children was not enough for the Pasadena police. Without a warrant they barged into their residence as the family sang Jewish songs of worship. They beat Jeffrey to the point he needed to be hospitalized, removed the children and gave them to DCFS and locked both Jeffrey and Erica in a cage.

Surprise, surprise! The courts eventually found that the accusation that prompted the violence was unfounded and dropped all charges including an obstruction charge for not opening the door to their home.

But the damage control was already insurmountable. Erica spent two months in county jail where she suffered the pains of breast infection and was denied treatment. She was restricted from breastfeeding her two youngest children who had been placed in foster care as a seven month old, and two year old. She was not given access to a breast pump. Jeffrey was held for three months. Both Jeffrey and Erica lost their home and Jeffrey lost his job for being a no show while in jail. When they got out they found themselves penniless and homeless. They shared their story shortly after their release in this interview.

As if that isn’t ugly enough, here’s where it gets really ugly. Because DCFS decided that even though the Henderson’s were not prosecuted and were NOT convicted of any wrong doing by the court, they were somehow entitled to keep their children anyway. According to DCFS, the Henderson’s were abusive because they refused to open the door for police and therefor put their children at risk of being injured by the battering ram the police department used to gain (unlawful) entry to their home. Consider the absurdity that is the state – police are not punished for their violent, unjustified actions; instead, their victims are.

DCFS required them to show up for several visits per week when ordered which were, of course, scheduled in the middle of the work day. These visits needed to be complied with or DCFS would note their disinterest and lack of involvement in resuming custody of their children. And then there were all of the department mandated classes they were ordered to attend. All of this kept them from employment and finding a home. And then the most logical step of all… DCFS also required them to provide “proper” shelter for their
six children, which in their eyes was a lot more lush than they had originally provided their children. Yet still they are attempting to meet every requirement. Even going above and beyond the department’s requests… bending over backwards and jumping through fiery hoops while the department sits and watched, entertained.

So, here we are. It’s now almost one year later. Where are the Hendersons? Well, the children still live in foster care and adoption is being fought for by the couple who have been caring for the youngest child. Most of their children are being held separately, not being fed the kosher diet their family raised them with, not attending the religious observances that are so close to their heart. Basically, the Hendersons are still desperately trying to reunite, despite a million miles of bureaucratic red tape.

Jeffrey has filed a habeas corpus and has made it public for anyone to see and use in their own defenses. He is resisting the assertion that the United States government has rights over his family. Interestingly, the Henderson’s youngest – a seven month old boy — had not yet had his birth registered when he was kidnapped by federal agents. He has no birth certificate and no social security
card. How can the United States government have any kind of say so in his welfare? How do they even know whose baby they took?

Those who believe badges grant extra rights apparently don’t just work in the police force.

In California, the Police are in the Business of Kidnapping Children is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

[originally posted by Jim Keane at AmericaMagazine.org]

Readers of this blog may recall my post from two weeks ago today about Joe Hoover, S.J., a classmate of mine at the Jesuit School of Theology who was found guilty of obstructing a public thoroughfare during an Occupy Oakland march on January 28, 2012.  Joe was sentenced on Easter Monday to ten days in the “sheriff’s work program,” a fine of $233, and two years probation.  Because Joe already had credit for time served for the four days he spent in jail after his arrest, he needed to serve only one more day in jail, which he did last Saturday at Glenn Dyer Jail in Oakland.

I bring the matter up again here because there has been a new development.  A member of the Occupy movement found that he had footage of the moments immediately before Joe’s arrest, and sent that ten seconds of video to Joe earlier this week.

Joe enters the screen from your left—he is the tall, slight man wearing black pants, a black clerical shirt, a blue windbreaker, glasses, and a tan Marquette University baseball cap.  What follows doesn’t need my narration, as you can watch it for yourself.  Make sure your sound is on, as the baton strikes are rather dramatic.

I would ask that you keep in mind a few things when you watch this:

1. Joe was convicted of obstructing a public thoroughfare.
2. The arresting Oakland police officer testified under oath that he arrested Joe because Joe was stopping in the street, and then walking very slowly when ordered to hurry, thus obstructing a skirmish line of officers.
3. The arresting officer also testified under oath that he was lined up “shoulder to shoulder” in a solid line of officers moving in sync up the street, and that his fear was that Joe was attempting to get behind them, which would put the officers in danger.
4. A California assistant district attorney commented in response to my initial post that my interpretation of Joe’s case was uncharitable toward the justice system, and that “it seems to me that our legal process, which you indict, has worked in his case.”

I encourage you to watch the video and decide for yourselves if the legal process worked in Joe’s case. While we’re at it, keep in mind that the prosecutor asked for a harsher punishment for Joe at his sentencing because he “maintained his innocence” and “insisted on taking this matter to trial.”

Editors note:
If you have the names and contact information for those responsible please leave it as a comment to this post so those so-inclined can follow-up and let their concern be known. After all, badges don’t grant extra rights.

Oakland PD Employee Testilying – Claims Clearly Conflict with Video is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing, which is why YOU should do something.”
-Benjamin Bartholomew

Delaying a police officer. That’s the action Russel and Benjamin Bartholomew are supposedly “guilty” of. Today a man in a black robe will tell the brothers whether he thinks they should be stolen from or caged. Or both.

UPDATE: Benjamin and Russel were sentenced to six months probation, one day in jail (time served), and the state of California’s mandatory minimum of a $120 restitution fine & a $70 court security fee, each. For a more-exhaustive overview of the sentencing, including the text of passages read by the brothers and their dad Cory, check out the post Results From Sentencing And Statements To The Court, which Benjamin made live tonight.

Ademo and I were able to meet Russel and Benjamin in late 2009 when in northern California on the last leg of Motorhome Diaries. They’re good guys – friendly, genuine, principled. It’s no surprise then, that they founded Good Men Do Something!

From the site:

we had decided to try and get a conversation started in our area over taxation.  We had seen people wave signs from overpasses before, but thought it would be more effective to have one large sign that was easy to read.  So we connected 11 pieces of poster board together (each having an individual letter on it) that said “TAXES=THEFT”.  Now, you can make practical arguments for taxes (we disagree with them), but you can’t argue logically that taxation is not theft.  We wanted people to think about how taxes were collected, even if they thought taxes were good or necessary.

We took our “TAXES=THEFT” sign to a local highway overpass on April 28. It took us 5 minutes to setup our sign, 5 more minutes for police to show up, and 10 more minutes for them to put us in handcuffs and take us to jail, for wearing masks (which isn’t against the “law”).  Our sign, sunglasses, phones and camera have been held since then as “evidence”. But, thanks to Qik, video of our arrest was streamed to the internet and was waiting for us by the time we got home.

The mask-related charge (PC 185) essentially seeks to deter someone from wearing a mask in the commission of a crime. Obviously the brothers weren’t committing a crime and this charge was dropped. Another charge (PC 602) related to trespass / damaging “state” property ostensibly levied due to the hanging of the sign was later added then also dropped.

Even Kenny Sowles – the Yuba County Sheriffs Department employee who approached and handcuffed the brothers – verbalized that he was not correct in telling the brothers that they were committing a crime.

Yet Yuba County Deputy District Attorney Mike Byrne wanted his conviction so he claimed the brothers “willfully resisting, delaying or obstructing a peace officer while he or she was attempting to discharge the official duties of his or her office.” Yet at the incident in question it was Sowles who approached and engaged the brothers out of his own curiosity, which soon changed to being dumbfounded when the brothers chose to not turn-over their IDs on demand.

Bryne told the brothers that if they pled guilty to the charge they’d only each have to give him $195 for “court restitution.” In a phone conversation earlier this week Benjamin told me that, “I couldn’t be more offended,” and asked how “the court” had ever been victimized and thus deservant of their money.

To make the “delaying an officer” threat more palatable for the community Bryne and his colleagues worked to frame the Bartholomew’s as anti-tax protestors – a label not entirely true. Benjamin noted that he acted because he wanted people to ask themselves “if they’re willing to go to their neighbors to rob them,” that he “just want people to acknowledge what taxation is.” Theft. As Russel noted,  “It is what it is. it’s a fact.”

In their almost year-long misadventure the Bartholomew brothers have been subjected to many guilty-until-proven-innocent tactics  – their property (two Qik-enabled cell phones, a video camera and tripod, and the sign itself) was stolen, threats against them kept changing, dates they were ordered to appear constantly shifted and weird plea deals were offered.

On April 5th Benjamin and Russel were told to report to a Yuba County courtroom. After a two-hour trial that they were prohibited from filming an an hour of deliberation, the brothers were told that they were “guilty” of delaying an officer. They hadn’t violated any person or property, nor any man-made legislation but the don’t-question-someone-with-a-badge mentality ran deep among those in the jury.

Benjamin rightly noted that such a conclusion “essentially makes California a ‘stop-and-identify’ state, even though that’s not the law.” He added that the only thing he would have done differently was to ask from the very beginning if he was being detained.

Byrne – who had argued that they brothers actions necessitated punishment, stated, “this was never about the First Amendment. Protest to (legislators), not the blue collar cop just doing his job; he can’t do anything about it anyway . . . You don’t pick on the help. You go to the boss.”

Why should an individual first plead with strangers for permission before they engage in victimless actions? Are not “the help” responsible for their actions? And just how does Byrne (or the jurors for that matter) think “the boss” will ever hold himself or herself accountable? What incentives exists within the monopolistic institution that could ever result in such a desired outcome?

Paul Nicholas Boylan, the Bartholomew’s lawyer wrote afterward, “I should have won. I didn’t because every single person on that jury believed that, when a police officer asks for your identification, you should provide it. Period.”

The brothers face a maximum term of one year in a cage and/or a ransom of $1,000. If a ransom is imposed, morning radio show hosts Armstrong and Getty from 650 KSTE noted they’d personally contribute and would encourage their listeners to donate as well. Like I said, Benjamin and Russel are good guys. It’s easy for others to see.

Russel said the ordeal has “reaffirmed my principles.” Benjamin echoed the sentiment, “I still firmly believe that people should do something for that which they should believe in. Good men should do something.”

Whatever happens today in legal land, Benjamin and Russel are in control of their own lives, noting that “Once our trial ends, our focus will return to activism and moving to New Hampshire where our activism will continue and be amplified by all the wonderful activists already there.”

Post-trial Boylan wrote on his blog, “I don’t want to believe that I live in a society where someone in uniform can say ‘your papers, please’ and I have to comply or else risk arrest and incarceration.” Me either. That’s why I encourage you to heed Benjamin and Russel’s call to action – stand on your principles, speak out when you see injustice, and join them at Facebook.com/GoodMenDoSomething

April 29th, 2011 – Brothers Film Arrest After Hanging Sign on Highway – CopBlock.org
May 27th, 2012 – Update on Brothers Arrested for Hanging Sign – CopBlock.org
February 14th, 2012 – Welcome to “Good Men Do Something 2.0″! – GoodMenDoSomething.Fr33Agents.com
April 5th, 2012 – Wheatland brothers convicted of delaying Yuba County deputy – Appeal-Democrat.com
April 11th, 2012 – Rebel of the Week – the Bartholomew Brothers – SilverCircleMovie.com

Click for three-video playlist from YouTube.com/GoodMenDoSomething

The Bartholomew Brothers – Good Men Doing Something is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

Doug Wylie posted up an article Friday over at PoliceOne.com about the marijuana legalization debate and what cops have to say about the issue. What’s most surprising is the poll results he posted about stating that 44% of cops on the site are in favor of legalization or on the fence, which is up from a 2009 poll they conducted that only recieved 36% in favor or on the fence.

It’s best to start with the reason marijuana is illegal in the first place, a history that has much to do with racism, control, and protectionism. For most of human history marijuana has been legal, and it’s use dates back to 7,000 BC. It had many uses, it was used for food, clothes, rope, paper and many other things. As a matter of fact, the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper. The first marijuana law in America was enacted in Jamestown Colony in 1619 ordering farmers to grow Indian hemp and you could actually be jailed for NOT growing hemp during shortages, it was even legal to pay your taxes with hemp at this time. The 1850 Census counted over 8,000 hemp farms in the US.

But then came the racism factor. In 1910 the Mexican revolution spread across the border and there started a rash of bad feelings between the smaller hemp farms and the larger ones who were using cheap Mexican labor. The Great Depression followed and when jobs became scarce, California passed a law outlawing “preparations of hemp” or “loco weed” as many Mexicans smoked marijuana.

Utah followed by outlawing marijuana after Mormons who traveled to Mexico were bringing the weed back to the state and smoking it. Targeting Mexican-Americans,  8 other states passed laws outlawing marijuana between 1915 and 1927. One Montana legislator, after the state outlawed marijuana in 1927, was quoted as saying,

When some beet field peon takes a few traces of this stuff… he thinks he has just been elected president of Mexico, so he starts out to execute all his political enemies.

A Texas legislator was quoted as saying,

All Mexicans are crazy, and this stuff [marijuana] is what makes them crazy.

In the East, it was all about stopping the “Negroes” from smoking it, as it was part of the Jazz scene sweeping the Eastern United States. Said most newspapers in 1934

Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white woman twice.

Alcohol prohibition was written into the Constitution because the view at the time was that the Feds did not have the power to outlaw alcohol and drugs (alcohol is a drug, so that’s like repeating yourself) therefore Congress passed the Harrison Act in 1914 to tax cocaine and opiates. If you did not follow the law you found yourself in a lot of trouble with the Treasury Department. Therefore, in 1930, the Treasury Department created the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, thus starting the all out war on marijuana. The following quotes are attributed to the founding Director Henry Anslinger

There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others.”

“…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”

“Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.”

“Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”

“Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing”

“You smoke a joint and you’re likely to kill your brother.”

“Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”

Anslinger then introduced the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, complete with racist remarks and stories of ax murderers who were high on the drug.  The legislation passed and the rest is history as they say.

Going back to the article in question, the debate was brought up after a Border Patrol agent  was fired for telling a coworker during idle chat that cross border violence would cease if the drug war was ended. A belief that isn’t really that uncommon amongst police officers. I know more than one police officer here in my small town that really has no problem with marijuana smokers. I’ve witnessed in person, a cop walk in on people smoking pot and done nothing about it, not even give them a warning.

But can a police officer actually be fired for voicing this opinion? It happens, as the New York Times has reported. Those cops in the story that were fired for their pro-legalization are now likely to win big settlements from their departments.

This revelation may upset some pro-drug war cops, like the ones cited in the PoliceOne article. It shows that alot of cops are actually against the drug war, and the poll numbers found by PoliceOne.com probably would be closer to 50/50 if more cops were not afraid of speaking out. But now that they are seeing they can speak out and win money because of it, you may see this more and more. I’d love to see the poll results in a couple years.

What these anti-legalization cops do not understand, is that their belief kills innocent, peaceful people. Domestic drug law enforcement has killed 48 people in 2011 (as of December 9), the latest being 24 year old Samyr Ceballos of Santa Monica, California. After being investigated by the police, he was followed home and tazed after refusing to get out of his SUV. Cops then claim he reached for his gun and was then shot and killed. Police are refusing to release the names of the officers after threats from a local gang.

Which brings me to my next point, gangs are what they are because of prohibition. Al Capone would have been a nobody had alcohol never been outlawed, and big time notorious gangsters these days would be nobodys if not for drugs being outlawed. When you outlaw something like drugs and weapons, it just goes underground, where lots of shady and dangerous people make a profit off of it. They will do whatever it takes to transport these things to the people that want them because the demand is still there. The more police crack down on drugs, the more dangerous the work becomes for the gangs to get their products to their clients, therefore the price of those illegal products rises.

And to be able to move the products, they have to buy off police officers, which is where corruption comes from. Border Agents, sheriff deputies and local cops everywhere are being bought off by drug cartels in order to look the other way when shipments come in to their jurisdiction. And can you really blame them? These people have families to feed and take care of and who can’t resist a little extra cash? Men are easily corruptible, a lesson I reinforce to my daughter everyday, it’s the danger of having too much power.

The Drug War is also costing alot of money to enforce, it pads the budgets of police departments, which is why a lot of cops are in favor of it. It allows them to get more money from the federal government, which they use to buy more guns and, nowadays, tanks. But police departments aren’t immune from this recession, as departments nationwide have been laying off officers to save money across the board. But Philadelphia found a way to fight back against this, they essentially decriminalized small amounts of marijuana posession and actually saved $2 million.

Michael S. Rozeff wrote a short piece on the Lew Rockwell blog over the summer about the unintended consequences of the drug war,

1. The state forbids something, like drugs.

2. Production MUST therefore be illegal, and production will occur because the demand doesn’t disappear when the drug is made illegal.

3. Going illegal is a necessary condition for all those who are willing to  produce and supply the drug. The profit motive remains, even heightens, and so there will always be people who will go illegal.

4. The people attracted into the illegal business are going to be the people who already have the least inhibitions about doing anything immoral and illegal. They are the ones most willing to take risks.

5. Competition is all within illegality. This means that moral rules that govern peaceful competition do not prevail among the suppliers. They therefore select among any actions and rules that bring them survival, profits, and growth. The most effective means of gaining market share and preventing the incursion of rivals within a situation of illegal rivalry will include a reputation and readiness to kill and maim so as to enforce one’s will.

6. The means include corrupting law enforcement. This is virtually a necessity and always occurs in these conditions. The results include gang warfare. It also includes uneasy peace among gangs and division into territories and fiefdoms.

7. The competition need not lead to the practices mentioned in this article whose aim is to find and groom the most merciless killers. Yet it probably happened in the 1920s gangs that this mode of competition also prevailed as the many stories of Capone suggest. Most gangster movies also depict that the more brutal gangsters rise to the top.

One thing the government is either ignorant about, or just ignores, is that they can’t even keep drugs out of their own prisons, so how they can they keep them out of the entire country? Marijuana, as is the case with most every outlawed drug, has many health benefits. One of the most recent findings is that it may make you a better driver.

An amazing study authored by professors D. Mark Anderson (University of Montana) and Daniel Rees (University of Colorado) shows that traffic deaths have been reduced in states where medical marijuana is legalized.According to their findings, the use of medical marijuana has caused traffic related fatalities to fall by nearly nine percent in states that have legalized medical marijuana (via The Truth About Cars).

Legalizing Marijuana: Police Officers Speak Out (A response) is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

Via Guardian

The video shows Kayvan Sabehgi being hit numerous times by an officer clad in riot gear Link to this video

Video footage has emerged of a police officer beating an Iraq war veteran so hard that he suffered a ruptured spleen in an apparently unprovoked incident at a recent Occupy protest in California.

The footage, which has been shared with the Guardian, shows Kayvan Sabehgi standing in front of a police line on the night of Occupy Oakland‘s general strike on 2 November, when he is set upon by an officer.

He does not appear to be posing any threat, nor does he attempt to resist, yet he is hit numerous times by an officer clad in riot gear who appears determined to beat him to the ground.

Sabehgi, 32, an Oakland resident and former marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has since undergone surgery on his spleen. He says it took hours for him to be taken to hospital, despite complaining of severe pain. Police have told the Guardian they are investigating the incident.

The footage was recorded by artist and photographer Neil Rivas, who said Sabehgi was “completely peaceful” before he was beaten. “It was uncalled for,” said Rivas. “There were no curse words. He was telling them he was a war vet, a resident of Oakland, a business owner.”

Sabehgi has previously said he was talking to officers in a non-violent manner prior to his arrest, which the footage appears to confirm.

The 32-year-old can be seen standing in front of a line of police officers, all of whom are in riot gear. The officers walk forward, chanting and thrusting their batons, and Sabehgi starts to walk backwards.

Although the video is dark, an officer can clearly be seen beginning to hit Sabehgi around the legs with a baton, then starting to strike him higher up.

Sabehgi then appears to be bundled to the ground. He was later arrested.
Rivas said the footage was shot around midnight on 3 November, as police approached Occupy Oakland following the 2 November general strike.

Police deployed teargas and non-lethal projectiles that night, after some protesters entered a disused building north of Frank H Ogawa Plaza, but Rivas said there did not appear to be an immediate threat to police at the time of the video.

“It was pretty much just Kayvan and myself right there at that moment when he got beat,” Rivas said.

“I couldn’t help but start yelling out for them to stop. He was not fighting back; he was moving away from the officer. It did not feel good.

“I saw him being taken down to the ground and I tried to keep my camera focused on that as well, but they were pretty quick at setting up a barricade between myself and Kayvan at that point. I was shoved out of the way, and I had several guns pointed my way.

“I remember specifically one officer right in front of me having his gun pointed point blank at me.”

Rivas said he realised the man in his video was Sabehgi after reading that a second Iraq war veteran had been injured, and seeing television footage.
Oakland television station KTVU TV-2 has previously shown footage of Sabehgi in handcuffs just after he was arrested, but Rivas believes this is the only video of him being beaten.

Sabehgi has previously told the Guardian he was walking away from the main area of police clashes – at 16th Street and Telegraph, just north of the Occupy base at Frank H Ogawa Plaza – when he was beaten and arrested.

Several police agencies were involved in the operation on 2 and 3 November, but Rivas said the officers who appear in front of Sabehgi at the beginning of the video were from Oakland police department.

A spokeswoman for Oakland police said: “The Oakland Police Department is currently investigating the incident.”

Occupy Oakland: footage shows police beating ‘peaceful’ Iraq war veteran is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

According to SFGATE.COM

Dozens of campus police in riot gear descended on students in a violent confrontation outside UC Berkeley’s Sproul Hall on Wednesday and arrested seven protesters as they tried to set up an “Occupy Cal” encampment.

The protesters were among about 1,000 students, faculty and Occupy activists participating in a statewide protest that marked the first banding of the Occupy movement with students against the financial handling of the state’s higher education system.

Students voted to set up an encampment in defiance of university orders, and as soon as they had three tents erected in front of Sproul Hall, baton-wielding police moved in on them.

“Put the guns down!” shouted students who had linked arms as police shoved and swung batons, whacking anyone who stood between them and the impromptu encampment outside the administration building.

“It really, really hurt – I got the wind knocked out of me,” said doctoral student Shane Boyle, raising his shirt to reveal a red welt on his chest. “I was lucky I only got hit twice.”

Six UC Berkeley students and one faculty member, English Professor Celeste Langan, were arrested for resisting and delaying police officers, said Lt. Alex Yao of the UC Berkeley Police, which got help from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and other UC police.

Full article

Berkeley Police Violently Attack College Kids With Batons 11/9/11 is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

The Twin Rivers Police Officers Association, which is a California school police officers union, has sparked public outrage for creating and selling a t-shirt depicting a child behind bars with the slogan “U Raise ‘em, We Cage ‘em”.  The Sacramento Bee reports that:

On Monday, community leaders and child advocates said the T-shirts are highly offensive and could validate feelings of mistrust for the Twin Rivers’ school police force. The agency has been under intense scrutiny over complaints it has overstepped its authority.

“There is nowhere on the planet where it is OK to wear a shirt like this,” said Ed Howard, senior counsel for the University of San Diego’s Children’s Advocacy Institute, after seeing the image of the shirt.

I wish we could get community leaders to be just as outraged about the actual criminalization of child misbehavior and abuse of children at the hands of school police officers, as they are over a t-shirt depicting the criminalization and abuse of children.

Photo by Bryan Patrick

Twin Rivers Police Officers Association – “U Raise ‘Em, We Cage ‘Em” is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights