Early last month, Cop Block covered the horrible charges that Michael Allison is facing (read the in depth coverage here), but since the podcast reaches a different audience, I thought it would be a good idea to get Michael’s story to as many ears as possible. Listen to the podcast below, and if you feel so inclined, contact Tom Wiseman, the Crawford Co. state attorney that is pursuing these charges… 5 counts of felony eavesdropping that could put Mr. Allison behind bars for 75 years, basically a life sentence for this middle aged man.

Tom Wiseman
Crawford County Courthouse
105 Douglas St.
Robinson, IL 62454
phone: 618.546.1505
fax: 618.544.4912
email: twiseman@crawfordcountycentral.com

Special thanks to YouTube user MikeHansonArchives for compiling all of the NBC 2 news clips in one easy place that made this podcast possible. You can watch the full 15 minutes of coverage here.

If you would like to submit a story or record a segment for the Police Accountability Report (on lack of accountability for police in your area) please email podcast[at]copblock[dot]org. We also welcome feedback.

You can also hear the podcast and other great liberty minded programs on LRN.FM. If you have an Apple iPhone or iPad, you can download the free LRN.FM app and have access to the live LRN stream as well as quick and easy access to the podcast archives for all of the shows in the LRN family.

Police Accountability Report – Episode 38 – Michael Allison is a post from Cop Block - "Something must be done about vengeance, a badge, and a gun"

Below are links to the stories covered in this edition of the Police Accountability Report:

• Tiawanda Moore Acquitted (of Felony Wiretapping/Eavesdropping)
• Jose Guerena’s Family Sues Pima County Over SWAT Raid Killing

If you would like to submit a story or record a segment for the Police Accountability Report (on lack of accountability for police in your area) please email podcast[at]copblock[dot]org. We also welcome feedback.

You can also hear the podcast and other great liberty minded programs on LRN.FM.

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Police Accountability Report – Episode 37 is a post from Cop Block - "Something must be done about vengeance, a badge, and a gun"

“These people have tried to hide in the shadows. They don’t like being exposed.”
– Michael Allison

Do you know about Michael Allison? You should.

A mechanic and construction worker by profession, 41-year-old Allison just wanted to work on cars he owned that were parked on private property (his mom’s) in southeast Illinois, yet area bureaucrats, citing a local zoning ordinance, demanded that he register or garage each vehicle. Seeing such measures as nothing more than revenue generators, Allison filed suit against the city. They responded not with open conversation but with harassment from their enforcers – those wearing badges.

In a recent phone conversation, Allison noted that though he was caught off-guard the first time they showed-up, he was “ready and documented” their second visit via a digital recorder. He added that at the time his unwelcome guests were fully aware of the recording and didn’t lodge any objections.

Eventually Allison was charged with violating the ordinance and ordered to appear in court. An advocate of transparency, he inquired whether the proceedings would be recorded. Upon learning that it would not be, Allison informed court personnel that he intended to record the proceedings himself.

As he entered the Robinson, IL courtroom on January 13th, 2009, he was immediately approached by the judge who asked if he had a recording device. He replied in the affirmative. The judge then asked if it was turned on. He noted that it was. The judge claimed he had violated her right to privacy and, pointing to an already-opened law book with the statute she claims he violated, informed him that he was under arrest (his first ever) for eavesdropping.

Allison’s recorder was seized. He was held for one hour then released. He was told he’d be re-arrested a week later after a warrant was issued. No elaboration was given despite Allison’s questions. A week passed and he was left unmolested.

Then, five months later, when buying potatoes for his mom at a local grocery store, a man with a badge arrested him on what he claimed was an outstanding warrant stemming from the incident with the judge. When he challenged the arrest (since he hadn’t received the required speedy preliminary hearing within 60days of his first arrest) he was told the first arrest “didn’t count.”

If that’s the case then the seizure of his recorder violated the law since it was done without a warrant, and the content which it contained – Allison’s conversation with the judge and men wearing badges – are what his five charges of eavesdropping are based upon, each of which threatens up to 15-years in a cage.

Allison now faces 75-years in a cage thanks to Tom Wiseman, Crawford Co. state attorney.

As Mark McCoy correctly noted: “That’s up to 75 years in prison for breaking a law Allison did not know existed, and which he violated in the name of protecting himself from what he saw as an injustice.”

On January 13th, 2011 Allison filed a civil suit against the City of Robinson for false arrest and imprisonment. A week before his trial was set to kick-off this past May a pro bono lawyer stepped-up and filed a number of motions, including one that challenged the constitutionality of the eavesdropping statute. The jury was sent home and the judge ordered a continuance to allow for Lisa Madigan, Illinois attorney general, to respond. A hearing date is now scheduled for August 18th.

Along with Maryland, where similar charges against Anthony Graber were dropped and Massachusetts, where a jury recently returned a “not guilty” verdict for myself and Ademo, Illinois has the most-draconian legislation used to target individuals from documenting their interactions with those who work for the government. This clear double-standard caused this quote by Max Stirner to come to mind: “The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual crime.”

Let’s work to make sure the real criminals are held accountable.

Help Allison on the ground:

• For those in/around St. Louis: get a copy of his case and share it online (Allison admits he’s not too tech-savvy and specifically requested this). The 112-page document can be obtained at the U.S. District Court – Southern District of Illinois Division – East St. Louis. Copies are $0.08/page, for $8.96 total. The first person to upload the document (and let us know) will be reimbursed by CopBlock.
• Join him on the ground on Aug 18th. 2nd Judicial Circuit Court, Crawford County, 1 Court St., Robinson, IL. Allison noted that the Copwatch crew from nearby Charlestown, IL have been present at previous proceedings with signs. Just imagine the message it’d send were they to be reinforced with activists from nearby Louisville, Indianapolis, St. Louis, or Chicago! FACEBOOK EVENT

Help Allison from afar:

• Share his story (this post or any related content) with others. Help win in the court of public opinion. The last thing those responsible for Allison’s harassment want is for their actions to become more well-known.
• Find an attorney to take on his civil case. His case, if you or your lead has access to Pacer, is 11-CV-43-MJR-PMF. Did the judge violate Allison’s right against self-incrimination when she acted in an executive capacity rather than judicial?
• Contact Tom Wiseman, Crawford Co. state attorney, and tell him to drop the five felonies he’s levied against Allison:
  Crawford County Courthouse
  105 Douglas St.
  Robinson, IL 62454
  phone: 618.546.1505
  fax: 618.544.4912
  email: twiseman@crawfordcountrycentral.com

For more:
Chicago State’s Attorney Lets Bad Cops Slide, Prosecutes Citizens Who Record Them by Radley Balko at HuffingtonPost.com
Valley Man Faces 75 Years In Prison For Recording Law Enforcement by Patrick Fazio at MyWabashValley.com
The War on Cameras by Radley Balko at Reason.com

75 Years for Recording Public Officials On Duty!? is a post from Cop Block - "Something must be done about vengeance, a badge, and a gun"

Narcs get rowdy at a narc convention and a pair of cops who couldn’t keep their paws off the pills. Let’s get to it:

In Hyannis, Massachusetts, a group of men attending the New England Narcotics Officers Association is accused by a Cape Cod DJ of twice attacking him at a bar after he tried to non-violently intervene on behalf of a woman being harassed by one of them. The narcs were in town for a convention. Duane Alves, better known as DJ Alvzie filed a report with Barnstable Police after the incident in which he said one of the men dumped a drink on his head, then punched him. The man’s comrades joined in the beating. Alves also said that the men then blocked the exits from the bar and attacked him again when he tried to leave. The second attack resulted in serious injuries, including broken bones around his right eye and a damaged nasal cavity. Alves managed to grab a cell phone of his attackers dropped, and Barnstable Police confirmed it belonged to someone who attended the narc-fest, but would not identify the owner. Barnstable Police continue to investigate.

In Napoleonville, Louisiana, a former Assumption Parish sheriff’s deputy pleaded guilty May 24 to a whopping 438 malfeasance and drug charges for using seized drugs to feed his own habits. Louis Lambert, 48, had been the evidence room technician for seven years when deputies discovered missing drug case evidence in April 2010. Lambert was arrested in June 2010 and fired and indicted in October. He copped to 336 counts of malfeasance for evidence tampering, 35 counts of pot possession, 24 counts of cocaine possession, 11 counts of prescription drug possession, one count of Oxycodone possession, one count of steroid possession, once count of Alprazolam possession,10 counts of drug paraphernalia possession, 14 counts of possessing a firearm while in possession of illegal drugs, four counts of firearms theft and one count of theft under $300. Charges against about 20 drug suspects had to be dropped because of the missing evidence. He faces up to 1400 years in prison when sentenced July 6.

In Yorkville, Illinois, the Yorkville Police deputy chief was arrested last Friday on charges he stole pain relieving pills from the department’s drug collection program.  Deputy Chief Dave Delaney is charged with possession of hydrocodone and theft of government property. Yorkville Police had become suspicious that some of the drugs turned in were missing and contacted the Illinois State Police, who conducted a week-long investigation. They marked some of the hydrocodone pills, then confronted Delaney and found he had several on him. He faces up to three years in prison on each count.

This Week’s Corrupt Cops Stories is a post from Cop Block - "Something must be done about vengeance, a badge, and a gun"

Narcs get rowdy at a narc convention and a pair of cops who couldn’t keep their paws off the pills. Let’s get to it:

In Hyannis, Massachusetts, a group of men attending the New England Narcotics Officers Association is accused by a Cape Cod DJ of twice attacking him at a bar after he tried to non-violently intervene on behalf of a woman being harassed by one of them. The narcs were in town for a convention. Duane Alves, better known as DJ Alvzie filed a report with Barnstable Police after the incident in which he said one of the men dumped a drink on his head, then punched him. The man’s comrades joined in the beating. Alves also said that the men then blocked the exits from the bar and attacked him again when he tried to leave. The second attack resulted in serious injuries, including broken bones around his right eye and a damaged nasal cavity. Alves managed to grab a cell phone of his attackers dropped, and Barnstable Police confirmed it belonged to someone who attended the narc-fest, but would not identify the owner. Barnstable Police continue to investigate.

In Napoleonville, Louisiana, a former Assumption Parish sheriff’s deputy pleaded guilty May 24 to a whopping 438 malfeasance and drug charges for using seized drugs to feed his own habits. Louis Lambert, 48, had been the evidence room technician for seven years when deputies discovered missing drug case evidence in April 2010. Lambert was arrested in June 2010 and fired and indicted in October. He copped to 336 counts of malfeasance for evidence tampering, 35 counts of pot possession, 24 counts of cocaine possession, 11 counts of prescription drug possession, one count of Oxycodone possession, one count of steroid possession, once count of Alprazolam possession,10 counts of drug paraphernalia possession, 14 counts of possessing a firearm while in possession of illegal drugs, four counts of firearms theft and one count of theft under $300. Charges against about 20 drug suspects had to be dropped because of the missing evidence. He faces up to 1400 years in prison when sentenced July 6.

In Yorkville, Illinois, the Yorkville Police deputy chief was arrested last Friday on charges he stole pain relieving pills from the department’s drug collection program.  Deputy Chief Dave Delaney is charged with possession of hydrocodone and theft of government property. Yorkville Police had become suspicious that some of the drugs turned in were missing and contacted the Illinois State Police, who conducted a week-long investigation. They marked some of the hydrocodone pills, then confronted Delaney and found he had several on him. He faces up to three years in prison on each count.

This Week’s Corrupt Cops Stories is a post from Cop Block - "Something must be done about vengeance, a badge, and a gun"

Big Brother-style surveillance in Chicago is a post from Cop Block - "Something must be done about vengeance, a badge, and a gun"

Over 50 officers, including officers of the South Suburban Emergency Response Team (SSERT), complete with camouflage, armored vehicle, and assault rifles, were involved in a “standoff” with a reportedly suicidal man who turned out not to even be home.  The mayor and many residents of Oak Forest Illinois are outraged over the fact that thousands of dollars of taxpayer’s money was wasted on the “standoff.” Unfortunately their outrage is not directed at the police’s complete over reaction, but instead at the man who committed no crime, but still had his home vandalized by the people supposedly sent to “help” him.

The incident began when a concerned friend of Mark Fitch called the police to report that he was suicidal and armed.   Oak Forest Chief of Police, Greg Anderson, said “The initial information we’re going off of is a friend who is very concerned about him where he had made suicide allegations that if police came, they would find him dead.” In response to this information more than 50 officers surrounded Fitch’s home and evacuated many of the surrounding homes. The police then attempted to contact Fitch on his home phone, but could not reach him.  This was the first indication that he was not home. Eventually, the police contacted Fitch on his cell phone.  The police say that he never indicated that he was not in the house, but they have not said whether or not they even asked.

It turns out that Fitch was sitting at a local bar watching the whole thing unfold on the news.  Who can blame him for not telling the police, “hey, I am down at Beggar’s Bar” when he can see on T.V. that several heavily armed men and their itchy trigger fingers have come to do what at most should have been a “wellness check”.

After 5 hours of waiting for Fitch to come out, SSERT decided to enter the home.  They fired pepper spray through the windows and then broke into the home only to find it empty.  Employees at Beggar’s Bar called the police and told them that the guy they were looking for was sitting at their bar.  Police apprehended Fitch there and took him to Palos Community Hospital for a mental evaluation.

Initial reports had varying degrees of misinformation, including that the standoff was the result of a hostage situation, but there is no evidence that the police had any reason to believe that Fitch had a hostage. There were also reports that the standoff began when a neighbor called to report that Fitch was in his yard with gun, but again this appears to be false and most likely stemmed from neighbors talking about seeing police with rifles in their yards.

When it became apparent that Fitch was not in the house the media began to call the whole thing a “hoax,” pinning the blame for the botched operation on Fitch, but even Chief Anderson explained that “He didn’t actually dupe us. He just was not in the house at the time when we thought he was based on the information – the best information we had at the time.”  What Chief Anderson hasn’t explained is why it was necessary to follow up on a report of a possibly suicidal man with a SWAT style team of heavily armed officers.

Despite the fact that even the Chief of Police has stated that Fitch did not commit a crime, the mayor and many residents want him to pony up for the cost of the standoff.  Estimates for the whole thing have been anywhere from $10,000-$75,000, mostly because of overtime pay for police officers.  Courts have rule over and over that the police have no obligation to protect someone, but bureaucrats like Mayor Hank Kuspa seem to think that when they do decide to respond to a call for help, even in the most ridiculous, over the top fashion, the person they were sent to help somehow has a obligation to pay for the cost of that response simply because he was not where the police believed him to be.

I suspect that their outrage is less about taxpayer’s money and more about the fact that the police looked foolish, not because of anything Fitch did, but because of their own over zealous use of their fancy toys.  If the outrage was really about money then the mayor and residents should direct the outrage at the police themselves and be demanding to know why SSERT was deployed in the first place and why it was necessary to have at least 50 officers respond to a suicide check.  If the outrage was really about money, then the mayor and residents should demand to know why so much money is spent on enforcing victimless crime laws, such as drug possession, when clearance rates for violent crimes and property crimes are incredibly low considering the amount we are forced to pay for the police’s “protection.”

Luckily, the police were unable to conjure up any crime that they could charge Fitch for, but he has still been victimized.  His home endured quite a bit of damage when SSERT decided to break in uninvited.  Do you think the police will pay for the damage?

The Standoff that Wasn’t Really a Standoff is a post from Cop Block - "Something must be done about vengeance, a badge, and a gun"

I can think of only two reasons that a police officer would feel it was necessary to use violence against a child.  Either they are bullies who enjoy preying on those that are weaker than them, or they are incompetent cowards.  I am not sure which of these reasons were at play when a Lakewood Colorado police officer pepper sprayed an eight year old boy, but neither should be acceptable to the public.

The police were called (instead of his mother) when eight year old Aidan Elliot began a violent temper tantrum in his Lakewood elementary school.  Aidan had knocked over some chairs and a T.V. cart before pulling a piece of wooden trim from the wall and threatening his teachers with it.  When the police arrived they ordered him to put the trim down and then pepper sprayed him in the face, not once, but twice.  There were no other children in the classroom and the teachers had already secured themselves in an adjourning office, but this grown police officer who supporters will no doubt tell you is so brave that he “puts his life on the line” every day, felt so threatened by this 82 lb child that he could not “disarm” him without spraying an irritating chemical into his eyes and face.

As if the story itself is not nauseating enough, Aidan’s statement on the Today show, that he “kind of deserved it”, literally makes me want to throw up.  What if it was his mother who had pepper sprayed him instead of a bully in blue?  Would people still be as supportive?  Would they still nod in agreement when an eight year old victim of abuse said he “deserved it”, or would they be outraged by a mother’s use of pepper spray on a young child?  Would a police spokesman call the mother’s use of pepper spray on a child a “great choice” or does he reserve that kind of praise only for abuse perpetrated by uniformed thugs?

Unfortunately, Aidan is not the first child to be abused at the hand of the police.  Bloomington, Illinois police officer, Scott Oglesby, choked a seven year old boy who was having a seizure while at school. The young boy’s seizures cause him to scream and act like a child having a temper tantrum.  Oglesby who was at the school after being called for an unrelated incident, “darted” into the room, told the boy that he was giving him a headache and then lifted him off the floor by his throat.  He then carried the boy to the Principle’s office and threw him into a chair.  After Oglesby returned to the classroom where the assault occurred, he asked the staff “You got any more?”  Not surprising, the State’s Attorney decided not to press any charges against Oglesby and at this time he remains employed as a police officer.

Children are not the only young victims of the police.  Teenagers are also being abused by police officers.  Clifford Griffing has filed suit against McKinney, Texas police officers for breaking his arm while he was a student at McKinney Boyd High School.  Griffing was attempting to leave prison school because he was ill.

Shortly after lunch time, Griffing felt that he could not physically attend the rest of his classes for the day.

He left the nurses office and was walking toward an exit door when he states an officer yelled “You got to get back in the school!”

After asking several questions, the officer wrote Griffing a truancy ticket. When he received the ticket, he turned and continued to walk through the exit doors.

According to the lawsuit, the officer yelled at Griffing and grabbed one of his arms and Officer McGrew grabbed the other. The suit states the officers twisted his arms and pushed him to the ground.

Griffing alleges he fell on his left arm and yelled to the officers that his arm was broken. The officers allegedly ignored Griffing and twisted his arms behind his back, causing a compound fracture with the bone protruding through the skin.

The high school student underwent surgery and physical therapy for the injury.

The embedding of police officers in all government schools is just another symptom of the police state.  What better way to desensitize the masses to the polices’ bad behavior than have them routinely yield to the demands of an armed agent of the government on a daily basis.  What does it say about government schools that they are so desperate to keep inmates students from escaping leaving that a “resource officers” reaction to someone who dares to walk out the door is violence?

As we have seen and read over and over in videos and news articles, the go-to reaction of many of today’s police officers is violence.  It seems as it is the only tool they have in their arsenal regardless of the circumstances.  Parents need to remember this when in moments of desperation they seek the help of what at some time in the past may have been a “peace officer”, but today is nothing more than an armed thug.  Unfortunately for her son, Stacey Brown learned this lesson the hard way.  Calhoun County Alabama Sheriff, Larry Amerson, was caught on surveillance camera choking Ms. Brown’s 14 year old son.  Ms. Brown had enrolled him into the county’s “scared straight” program after he got into some trouble at school.  According to the lawsuit filed by the boys mother “the sheriff assaulted and choked her handcuffed son in the county jail, after a deputy had threatened to ‘slit your throat, cut your balls off, shove them down your throat, and stomp you until you bleed.’”

All of these children and young people deserve their perpetrators to be held personally responsible for their crimes, but more importantly they deserve adults in their lives that will stop calling upon armed agents of the government to deal with their misbehavior.

Police Abusing Children is a post from Cop Block - "Something must be done about vengeance, a badge, and a gun"

Editor’s note: This does not include the most recent info submitted by Chris on Thursday March 3rd

by Christopher Drew

Illinois just took a big step toward bringing artist C Drew (Chris) to trial for audio recording a policeman in public. On November 22, 2010 Judge Stanley Sacks ruled the State can use the recording discovered without a warrant on Mr. Drew’s recorder as evidence to prosecute him for the crime of felony eavesdropping for recording his own arrest for selling art for $1 in Chicago.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office appears eager to try Mr. Drew and convict him on a charge that carries a sentence of 4-15 years in a state prison to demonstrate their power to shield police from public scrutiny. Mr. Drew’s crime of audio-recording his own arrest is legal in 47 of our 50 states.

The artist, out on a $20,000 bond, continues to print and give away free art-patches in public. Mr. Drew invites artists to submit art-patch designs for volunteers to screen print on cotton cloth to be given-away pinned to literature promoting First Amendment literacy and awareness that artists’ rights to sell art in public are being blocked by unconstitutional laws in Chicago.

Mr. Drew, who has advocated for artists for 23 years as the Executive Director of the Uptown Multi-Cultural Art Center, says. “Chicago ranks behind many other cities nationally and internationally in the public forums it provides to its artists in which to sell their First Amendment protected work. We even rank behind Moscow. We don’t have one open-air arts market where artists can sell their art freely.”

Many people in Chicago think that Mr. Drew’s long time criticism of the City’s policy toward artists is the real reason Anita Alvarez is charging the artist with this extreme 1st class felony for audio-recording his own arrest when he was picked up for a misdemeanor, which was dismissed as soon as the court found probable cause for the felony eavesdropping charge.

In the past, this eavesdropping law, on the books since 1994, was rarely enforced against citizens and when it was, the arrests often appeared to be politically and/or racially motivated. More recently, arrests for audio-recording police have increased in Illinois.

A more sinister motive may be behind the Anita Alvarez assault on Mr. Drew. Many citizens are using their cell phones to expose wrongdoing by police. The State of Illinois may be using this high profile prosecution to educate its citizens that in Illinois they should not expect to use their cell phones to gather evidence of wrongdoing by police to protect themselves or others in court. In that sense, Mr. Drew’s case is a bad example for other states on how to shield police by limiting citizens’ rights to bring evidence into court. Although there is First Amendment case law on our right to video record police in public, there is none on audio-recording.

Edolphus Towns, Congressman from New York, has proposed a House Congressional Resolution, H.Con.Res.298, stating that governments should not use wiretapping laws to charge citizens for audio or video recording police in public when they do not interfere with the officers work. Maryland has dropped the eavesdropping charges against Anthony Graber who Time Magazine recently made famous. The judge in Maryland ruled on-duty police have no privacy to protect in public. Illinois disagrees.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed suit against Anita Alvarez in federal court for enforcing this unconstitutional law against Mr. Drew and others. The State seems more aggressive toward the prosecution of this outspoken artist now that the ACLU is challenging Cook County State’s Attorney, Anita Alvarez, and the whole world is watching. What will the world see, the emergence of a new police state in Illinois or fresh case law that cements our freedom to bring truth from the public streets into our courts to do our democratic duty to oversee our public servants? Stay tuned for the answer.

A Cop Block reader and advocate for true justice, and privatizing systems of protection recently got a firsthand look at the injustice of our current “justice system.”  Shaun Lee became aware of the fact that a violent and disgusting crime had been committed against her friend. Even though her friend did not want to come [...]