This video was captured on May 19th at 10:55pm EST by Ustream user TRWBS (the revolution will be streamed).
It was shared with CopBlock.org via our submit tab.
Chicago police van rushes into crowd of protesters is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights
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
This video comes to CopBlock.org from Joey Boots and his YouTube channel YosefBootski. It really does cut through the lies and show why the lamestream media – which never questions the Statist Quo – is making itself extinct. -Pete
I Watch Sean Hannity on Fox News For The Lies and Comedy is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights
This post was submitted by a CopBlock.org visitor who choose to remain anonymous. S/he did leave some words of encouragement: “Keep up the good work of exposing corrupt cops. G-d willing America will remain the home of the Free and the Brave.” If we each stop being scared and stand on our conscience, the institutionalized violence done by those who claim to “protect and serve” will cease. – Pete
Corrupt sheriff gets taken down by a 20-year-old is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights
This information comes to CopBlock.org via an individual who goes by “Brutalized by Washington DC Police Department”
Why does the New York City police department have such a history of killing unarmed Blacks. Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo and Eleanor Bumpurs are just three.
Now come the tragic killing of Ramarley Graham in his own bathroom. The person who fired the single bullet that took his life was Richard Haste.
Haste and colleagues with the 47th Precinct Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit broke into Graham’s apartment and Haste confronted Graham in the bathroom, supposedly operating on incorrect information – which their own colleagues had confirmed to a supervisor as factual – that Graham had a gun in his waistband.
No gun was found on or around Graham. A grand jury is deciding whether charges against Haste are appropriate.
What is clear is that the actions Haste and his colleagues had observed had no victim.
Graham first came to the attention of NYPD employees because he had existed a storefront where they believed drug sales occurred. Where’s the victim? If an interaction is consensual what right does any other individual have to step between that with coercion?
It was later claimed that two witnesses
communicated to NYPD employees that they saw a gun on Graham’s person. The claim that Graham had a gun was then confirmed by two NYPD employees to their supervisor Scott Morris. That flimsy “evidence,” which sounds more from a bad game of telephone than professional police work (is there such a thing?) – was the rationale given by Haste for him taking the life of another person. Even if Graham had a handgun, where’s the victim? Are the double-standards so great that only those wearing badges have the right to have access to tools to defend themselves?
But even before the fatal shot was fired, why were Haste and his colleagues in Graham’s apartment in the first place? What reason did they – strangers to Graham – have to break into this residence? None.
Seems like Haste wanted to do his namesake true and be hasty in his actions. I wonder if any of his colleagues will have the integrity break the thin blue line’s code of silence and actually speak up for what they know is right. Regardless of the internal cover-up and omission that’s sure to happen, those who rallied in support of justice for Graham should internalize the fact that the only way to arrive at a place where badges don’t grant immunity is to cease buying into that bad idea in the first place. Why pay the salaries of those who you know initiate force? Why give them any allegiance?
NYPD war on Blacks? is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights
A story that demonstrates double-standards claimed by those with badges submitted by “Accountability.” As s/he noted, “There is are laws…one for police and one for you.” That view will change only when each of us sees that man-made legislation does not equal law. Note how, when an individual officer does wrong and is called-out for it, his colleagues do damage control to protect the image of their violent institution by stating that he “acted independently.” -Pete
Amazing to see Minnesota Police goons on video tape dealing free dope after picking up Minnesota Occupy protesters and driving them to an airport, doping the protestors and then asking them questions and trying to get the protestors to rat on other protestors.
Supposedly done for evaluations for police to be able to pick up people under the influence.
You just have to see the 35 minute video yourself. One dope dealing officer stupidly tells the person who is videotaping him to shut of the camera because he has a wife and kids and does not want any problems.
From the video description:
Video documentation by local activists and independent media shows that police officers and county deputies from across Minnesota have been picking up young people near Peavey Plaza for a training program to recognize drug-impaired drivers. Multiple participants say officers gave them illicit drugs and provided other incentives to take the drugs. The Occupy movement, present at Peavey Plaza since April 7th, appears to be targeted as impaired people are dropped off at the Plaza, and others say they’ve been rewarded for offering to snitch on the movement.
Around the 5-min mark an individual identified as a Filmore County Sheriff deputy has a conversation:
“In this category we’re just doing eval’s. We don’t want people’s names, we don’t want to get anybody in trouble. We’re here to admit you to eval for us. . . If you smoke weed or something like that, we don’t care. We really don’t. . . What we want then is take you for about 45-minutes of testing. Cause we gotta go down to the airport. . . then, after 45-minutes of testing, we bring you right back, drop you right back off. So, that’s what we’re doing. And like I said, we’re, like, I’m not even from here. I’m from Fillmore County. So I’m way south of Rochester.”
This story was picked-up by The Guardian, which noted in part:
Public safety officials in Minnesota have launched a criminal investigation following multiple claims that law enforcement officers got Occupy protesters high on drugs in a program examining the effects of street marijuana.
A state trooper has been placed on leave in connection with the allegations and the program has been suspended. One participant in the program said police got him “high as fuck”.
The story was broken by independent journalists based in Minnesota who began recording officers picking up and returning protesters to a local park where the demonstrators have been camped out. Individuals repeatedly claimed that the police would provide them with marijuana, watch them smoke it, then observe their behavior.
Dan Feidt, an independent journalist with the Occupy movement, says he began noticing the activity two weeks ago. Feidt joined with other independent media outlets – including Rogue Media, Communities United Against Police Brutality, and Twin Cities IndyMedia – in documenting what was going on at the park.
The 35-minute video compiled by the group shows law enforcement officers from nearly a half dozen departments transporting people to and from the park. Numerous anonymous individuals interviewed in the video claim that officers had a practice of picking up people off the street who were under the influence of illegal substances, transporting them to a building at a local airport, then observing their behavior and administering evaluations as part of study.
Minnesota is among 48 states – as well as the District of Columbia and Canada – that participate in a so-called Drug Recognition Evaluator (DRE) program, aimed at helping officers learn how to spot impairment and troublesome drivers. The program began in Minnesota in 1991 and requires officers to perform evaluations on volunteers, generally recruited from the community, who are high.
The program does not permit officers to provide drugs to subjects, but that’s exactly what Feidt’s video suggests they did.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota State Patrol claims that there was “no evidence” to support the allegations made in the video but on Wednesday the Minnesota department of public safety issued a press release announcing that it had launched a criminal investigation into claims that a Hutchinson police officer provided marijuana to subject in the drug program. The allegation was made by an officer from another law enforcement agency. The DPS also announced that it was suspending the program.
Feidt says the program is consistent with police behavior he’s observed at Occupy camps around the country and told The Guardian:
What we saw happen in many, many different cities was they would take people that had chemical dependency issues, they would take people that had mental illness issues and that kind of thing and they would basically drop them off at the Occupy site
He hopes the video will call attention to the war on drugs. “For me, the cruel and dehumanizing nature of the war on drugs has been a major issue for a long time,” Feidt said. “There’s public debate about this program that never really happened, so I’m really hoping that we can have a constructive debate and finally wind down this incredibly destructive system.”
Minnesota Cops Smoke-up Occupy Protesters, Then Lie is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights
In 1993, I watched the Waco, “Standoff” live on the NBC Nightly News as a young man while eating meatloaf in front of the TV with my family. What exactly is a, “Standoff?” In my early years, I understood a standoff as an incident which one party was wrong and the State comes in to correct or murder them. I had a hard time comprehending why the military blazed in with tanks and burned a bunch of kids alive but understood that if the government takes such action, it must be justified. I also vaguely remember, “Ruby Ridge.”
My old man is a Navy Veteran. He served 4 years during the War In Vietnam. He worked on the ship’s engines to insure plenty of Vietnamese were killed by artillery from the Destroyer he occupied. He was just under ten when the last known US Civil War Veteran passed. He grew up in a time when government mandated reefer madness prevailed and The US Public Health Service was busy secretly infecting impoverished Black Americans with syphilis. We kept a flag flying on the front porch to show our unwavering support for our government, almost without question.
I’ve attempted to expose my father to the idea that just because this government is ours doesn’t mean it has our best interests in mind, to little avail. I believe he’s too conditioned to understand the idea of True Liberty.
I guess this is why I wasn’t overly surprised when he told me about a standoff a few blocks from his and my mother’s home in Janesville WI. He had told me that the previous evening they were walking the dog when the neighborhood erupted with screeching tires, sirens, and heavily armed men. He of course wasn’t able to walk up the street he’s lived near for almost 40 years because some twenty-something cop said he couldn’t.
We try not to talk about political issues due to our differences but I couldn’t help but notice that after 4 days with nothing in the paper he seemed concerned with what may have happened. I suggested he call the PD but after a week he hadn’t so I stepped in.
I contacted JPD about the incident in Oct. 2011 on Forest Park Blvd. Robin picked up the phone and I posed my question. She didn’t object to glancing at the log and dismissed it as a potential gun call where no gun was found. I persisted with questions and she stated that a twelve year old had been taking out the garbage around dusk and saw a person in a car with a gun. He ran back into his home and told his mom who called it in.
In WI concealed carry is legal. Open carry is also legal and it isn’t uncommon to see people on the side of the State Highways standing around with their shotguns or rifles heading into the fields to hunt wild game. People occasionally walk the grocery store isles with a sidearm on their hip and there usually aren’t problems.
I continued to question Robin at the PD despite her increasing reluctance to answer my questions. What’s the big secret? She reiterated that no gun was found and nobody was arrested so it wasn’t a big deal. I asked if the gun, “Suspect” was pulled out at gunpoint or searched. She stated she didn’t know. I asked if the dispatch actually vetted this child personally, again, no apparent answer. She stated I wouldn’t be able to obtain the police reports because none exist. Just a brief dispatch log.
It turned out that the gun was actually a cell phone. And the two alleged “gunmen” were 17 year old-ish boyfriend and girlfriend stopping by the house quick. My Dad said the cops were yelling but he couldn’t hear exactly what was being said. I’m guessing this is an experience these young people will never forget. It may seem like a funny story in hindsight but on the other hand, I’ve never had multiple guns pointed at my torso. I have been inadvertently swept by a live firearms and it really pisses me off.
Waukesha Standoff Society
On a regular basis the Waukesha Police play soldier in our neighborhoods. They call in the county tank and halt our outdoor activities by the sounds of cops yelling on a PA system. I’ve done several videos of these standoff when I happen upon them. I don’t use a scanner but every month and a half or so I can usually find one by just cruising.
They bring the shields and AR’s but overwhelmingly just hang out and soak up the overtime. I don’t often see anything in the news other than the fact that one of these occurred. It seems that if the police call these incidents, “Medicals” they can get away without scrutiny or further information. I’ve taken video of three in the last year or so.
I don’t need to ask what precipitates a standoff. Pretty much anything in this area. Perhaps a neighbor hears an argument and you choose not to answer the door for the cops? Maybe you’ve had a few drinks and throw on your favorite Metallica CD. As we all know the police have no legal duty to, “Protect us.” What if an, “Emotionally disturbed person who is potentially armed” is greeted by the mom or brother instead of a heavily fortified militarized sect of the police. Perhaps a well known, friendly, willing, neighbor would produce better results than flash bang grenades and sub-machine guns.
As is common, in the video above, no gun, according to local YouTube friends, and no real threat by the female suspect. I’d love to tell you the whole story but it seems to be a secret.
It appears standoffs will be entrenched in Waukesha culture for the time being.
John Freeman – Milwaukee area Copblock
Wisconsin Standoff Society is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights
New Kelly Thomas Murder Video
According to the article on The Huffington Post:
The 33-minute video starts with Thomas being approached by Fullerton Police Department Officer Manuel Ramos, who engages him in conversation. By minute 15, Ramos has already donned latex gloves… “You see my fists?” Ramos asks Thomas. “They’re getting ready to fuck you up.”
It appears to me that this thug could have easily handcuffed Thomas while he was sitting on the curb. He chose to brutally murder him instead.
John Freeman, Copblock Contributer
This Is How You Beat A Man To Death is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights
In late 2010 Derrek Shipley was at a bar on the outskirts of Pittsburgh where he spied a girl he found attractive. Shipley soon learned the girl wasn’t single and efforts to gain her attention were rebuffed. Her boyfriend, A.J., is part of the duo who launched Pittsburgh Cop Block, relevant because Shipley is employed at the Baden police department.
As if in some middle school relationship drama, Shipley started harassing AJ. At one point, he and two accomplices (Doug Miller, who wears a PA state police badge, and Scott Kweber, who wears a Ambridge, PA police badge), threatened AJ and literally chased him down the street. There were repercussions for this incident, but they were borne entirely by AJ – he was charged with simple assault and disorderly.
AJ stood his ground (and was supported by 911 tapes and two witnesses) and the threats were dismissed. It’s worth noting that this behavior isn’t new for Shipley – he’s previously been accused of rape and sexual assault, but unsurprisingly an internal investigation deemed those unfounded.
Off-duty Officer Harrasses Pitsburgh CopBlock Founder is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights
PSOSGT, a frequent commenter on CopBlock.org, submitted the following as a guest post. He didn’t think it would be published but after reading it I thought it would make a good blog, including my responses to his statements. PSOSGT’s statements are block quoted.
I realize this isn’t going to be posted, but I think these two stories shed SOME light as to why police don’t like people behind them, filming or just watching, while dealing someone else. Yes, we use the tired saying of “officer safety” but these are two examples that happened over 2 days that show why police get “jumpy” at times when people walk up to traffic stops, or any other investigation.
Cops can’t read minds. We don’t know if your going to talk, film, watch, or pull out a gun.
http://www.odmp.org/officer/21040-sergeant-david-enzbrenner
Sergeant David Enzbrenner was shot and killed in an unprovoked attack while assisting a code enforcement officer serve a nuisance order at a home near the intersection of 12th. and Division Streets shortly after 4:00 pm.
A person unrelated to the order suddenly approached and opened fire without warning, killing Sergeant Enzbrenner. The man then committed suicide. It is believed the man held a grudge against law enforcement officers because his father was serving a life sentence without parole in Louisiana.
Ah, it says that, “a person unrelated to the order suddenly approached and opened fire.” There was no preventing this, nor is there any one reason as to why this happened, other than some guy wanted to kill this guy. There was no camera involved in this case and a number of things can be distractions, so where do you draw the line? Or why even draw a line? If filming officers makes their job more dangerous then I suggest they stop forcing people to pay their salaries.
http://www.odmp.org/officer/21038-police-officer-i-deriek-w-crouse
Officer Deriek Crouse was shot and killed while making a traffic stop in the parking lot of the university’s Cassell Coliseum, near McComas Hall, at approximately 12:15 pm.
At some point during the stop, a suspect unrelated to the traffic stop approached his unmarked car and shot him once in the head as he sat in his vehicle. The suspect fled on foot to a nearby location on campus and changed clothes. He was located in the university’s I-Lot approximately 45 minutes after the shooting and committed suicide as a Montgomery County deputy attempted to contact him
Again, this seems to be a predetermined event. Maybe this officer was corrupt? Maybe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time? Maybe, just maybe, this was a good officer who paid the ultimate price for another’s mistake. Officers who die in the line of duty are honored – parade and all – yet when officers kill someone the deceased are criminalized.
Neither of these examples prove PSOSGT’s point, that officer need to be wary of people filming. For one, both officers were preoccupied with enforcing some sort of victimless crime – code enforcement and traffic stop – which could be part of the reason for such hate towards LEO’s. Second, if someone had been filming they would have caught these murders on video and could have helped hold those responsible. In case it wasn’t justified, like when cops kill innocent people for being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
PSOSGT goes on to say,
On a personal level, and I’ve said it before. Showing only 1 side to the story, without context isn’t going to win you any favors, or bonus points with people if you truly want to change how police conduct business.
Everyone has a bias, no matter what they say. It’s natural. If there is a bias, and we show one side of policing, I think it’s obvious by the name – CopBlock.org. Atleast we don’t tell you this is the “No Spin Zone” while we jam our beliefs down your throat. Also, I encourage anyone to look at the other side of the coin, watch COPS, visit PoliceOne.com and research as much as you can about police.
How many LEO’s have ever thought about starting their own police service, without the government’s permission, that actually protects people? Are any officers out there sick of the politics involved with their jobs? Forced to do things they don’t like, told what laws/actions to arrest people for? Wouldn’t it be great to sit at home – or do routine visits to costumers – and wait for someone who actually needs help to call you? Have you ever thought of working for yourself, rather than the man?
I agree with anyone who looks at a call, video, report, or cops actions and says, “that’s fucked up” or disagree with what happened. It’s common. But the vast majority of people out there have NO IDEA what or why an officer acted or reacted in any given situation. I think it’s just as important to see what is put INTO law enforcement, that the result of an officer doing his/her job.
I think alot of us do see what’s put into law enforcement… law, which is simply words on paper that I may or may not agree with and enforce, which means if I don’t like it I’ll be punished. So, enforcement is what happens to those who don’t agree with the laws. And an officer’s job isn’t about what they believe but enforcing laws, even ones they know are bad/unconstitutional.
What do you think? Do cameras distract officers? Were these good examples to back that claim? Are people who aren’t police officers less creditable when discussing police issues? Would you hire a private company to provide you protection services if offered (instead of paying taxes to your local department)?
Why police don’t want you too close. is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights