Anonymous, who’s structure is similar – if not identical – to CopBlock.org’s (decentralized), is seeking the information of New York City Police Officers who abuse protestors. They’ve asked for as many photos and videos as possible (including any information you can add) so they can start to hold those abusing peaceful people accountable.

I’m not sure the exact operating status of Anonymous but I’d like to offer my help and ask other CopBlockers to join in. I’m willing to be a focus point for picture and video dumping. Everyday, or as often as needed, I can publish the videos/pictures sent in and ask others to identify the unknown officers. After their identity is know we can conduct Call Floods to those abusing their authority.

Feel free to contact me here.

Or submit your content for publishing here.

Anonymous Seeks to Collect Abusive (NYC) Police Officer’s Information is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

CCRKBA TO BLOOMBERG: ‘EXPLAIN THIS ONE’ AFTER NYPD COPS BUSTED FOR GUN SMUGGLING

BELLEVUE, WA – While Michael Bloomberg has been running around blaming gun laws in other states for his city’s crime problems, eight New York City police officers were allegedly involved in a gun smuggling operation “right under his nose,” the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

Reuters reported that eight officers have been charged in connection with the case. All were working in Brooklyn, and according to the District Attorney’s office, they “exploited their experience and credentials to assist in a variety of schemes involving the illegal interstate transportation…” of guns, cigarettes, counterfeit goods and slot machines, the news agency said.

“If I were a member of Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “I’d say it was time for Bloomberg to mind his own business. While he was busily suing legitimate gun dealers all over the country and going on television to brag about it, he should have been paying closer attention to what was happening in his own back yard. After all, it was his city employees that have been charged in this illegal gun trafficking scheme.”

Gottlieb said Tuesday’s revelation clearly underscores what is wrong with Mayor Bloomberg’s relentless campaign to “erode gun rights through the demagoguery of public office.”

“Bloomberg’s fiasco is steeped in irony,” Gottlieb continued, “because this New York gun trafficking operation was happening right under the mayor’s nose, and he didn’t even know about it. He was paying too much attention to telling everyone else what was wrong with their gun laws, when he couldn’t even keep his own cops from breaking the gun laws he thinks should be used as a model all over the country

“It may be time for Bloomberg to stop looking everywhere else for gun trafficking activity and focus his attention closer to home,” he observed. “It’s pretty hard to accuse citizens in other states of feeding New York’s illegal gun trade when some of Bloomberg’s own cops appear to be up to their badges in it.”

This story was submitted to CopBlock.org via the submit tab.

Editor’s Note by Ademo – I’d like to point out that the problem is more internal than this article states. It’s so close that it’s the actual government, in this case Bloomberg’s war on guns, that allows for such corruption and violence in the first place. Anytime government attempts to and/or does prohibit the trade of any good or service (whether that be guns, drugs or prostitution) they subsequently create a black market. The increased risk to trafficking banned goods the customers are the ones that suffer. Often times this leads to violence, since there’s no other way to recoup loss, and customers pay a higher price for such goods because violence – and bribery – aren’t cheap. If people would remove the restrictions government places on the free market, nothing should be prohibited, then there would be a great reduction in the amount of violence and corruption that stems from prohibition of goods and services.

NYPD officers caught smuggling guns by CCRKBA is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

In late 2010 Pete and I were in the mist of our second tour around the country doing LibertyOnTour.com. It was during that time we started shooting Uncle Sam videos. The idea for these videos is, if “Uncle Sam” – the government – was a real person what would he be like? Would he have any friends? Would people voluntarily hand over their hard earned money to  this asshole?

He’s been hiding out for most of this year but Uncle Sam was recently spotted in New York City at Occupy Wall Street. He was attempting to strengthen his relationship with ‘the few’ upset protestors. As you’ll see in the video below Uncle Sam doesn’t do very well with the public. Uncle Sam doesn’t understand that you can’t use money and/or force to solve problems. Yet, alot of protestors were willing to give Uncle Sam more of their freedom and money in exchange for just that.

We can’t turn to Uncle Sam to fix our economy, end the war or anything for that matter. He’s the man who wrote the checks for the bailouts, signed the papers sending the troops into other countries. All while demanding more taxes, on all kinds of things, and becoming more and more aggressive to those that speak out against his ideas. He’s the one that steals from one to give to another. After all, government doesn’t have anything it doesn’t take (I mean steal – because that’s what taxation is if you don’t want to pay them) from the productive people of the world.

So would you be friends with Uncle Sam? Would you voluntarily give Uncle Sam your money (ie – taxes)? If yes, would you give Uncle Sam more money to go after those who wanted to spend their own hard earned dollars?

Uncle Sam Visits Occupy Wall St is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

The October 22nd Coalition has since 1996 spearheaded The National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation to give a voice to those who have experienced the very real and very negative effects of individuals who work for an institution that claims a “legitimate” monopoly on the use of violence.

Some have called police “the largest gang in America” – it’s no surprise then that pro-police accountability rallies were held this past Saturday in so many locations: Albuquerque, Atlanta, Austin, Boise, Stockton, Chicago, Cleveland, Dayton, Detroit, Freehold, Fresno, Greensboro, Houston, Humboldt, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Richmond, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Syracuse and Montreal.

So how do we change the Statist Quo? A starting point, which is already being done, is to identify the problem – the clear double-standard for those who wear badges. But that’s not enough. Far from it.

If you want to live in a world where those who claim to “serve and protect” aren’t in reality those who are most-likely to violate your rights don’t get bogged down in minutia. Calls for a new “leader” or a petition or another reform are nothing but window dressing. Even if implemented the same system that allows for unaccountability still exists.

Strike the root. You know that badges don’t grant extra rights – communicate that to others and act accordingly. Hold individuals responsible for their actions, regardless of their employer. Refuse to grant authority simply because it’s claimed. Stand up for your rights and support others doing the same. Refuse to feed the beast. Failure to do so will only delay justice and in the meantime result in more victims of police brutality.

More:
Public vs. Private Police: Which Would You Choose? essay by Ademo
“Justice Without the State” by Bruce Benson video about law enforcement alternatives
National Day Against Police Brutality – Atlanta coverage of 2010 rally

Oct. 22nd Coalition: Protest to Stop Police Brutality is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

The above video is the second installment of “Better Than A Cop.” The purpose of “Better Than A Cop” is to highlight individuals who go above and beyond their regular activities. These truly heroic individuals often risk their own lives to save others, something officers claim to do all the time. I’m hoping that these videos will do two things. One, show folks that police don’t actually protect you, in fact, the police are awful at preventing crime. The second thing I hope these videos will show is you’re more likely to be saved by a random person than an actual officer.

If you have a suggestion for next week’s “Better Than A Cop” send it to us here.

This weeks story came from these sources.

Hero Halts Rape – New York Post

Former sheriff’s deputy convicted.. – LA Times

If you'd like a CopBlock.org Power Post - as seen above - contact us.

Join the forum discussion on this post

Better Than A Cop – Week of Oct 10th is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

Q. Without government cops, and government courts, and government prisons, who will stop unscrupulous criminals from robbing honest people blind?

A. We will.

(Via Jesse Walker 2011-05-13.)

Below are links to the stories in episode 22 of the Police Accountability Report:

•  

  Cop Nearly Doors Cyclist, Then Chases And Arrests Her

•  

  Procedures reviewed after KC police dog attacks bystander

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.

Police Accountability Report – Episode 25 is a post from Cop Block - "Something must be done about vengeance, a badge, and a gun"

• Another flabbergastingly stupid comment from Jim Pasco. Dr. Q, Gangsters in Blue (2010-10-18). Since the issue of filming police became a hot topic in the mainstream press (see here), I’ve been very interested in hearing the arguments that police use to justify placing limits on the right to record cops. To me, the idea that people ought to be allowed to film police... (Linked Monday 2010-10-18.)

• Boofrickityhoo. Unqualified Offerings (2010-10-18). "Now, I do realize that there might be economic repercussions if bankers are unable to recover some of their losses. Fortunately, I have a solution: They can sell their own organs to raise cash." (Linked Monday 2010-10-18.)

• The Explosion of Pink. Rachel, Our Bodies Our Blog (2010-10-12). It’s October, so the explosion of pink products at the grocery and other stores shouldn’t surprise us: it’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the time of the year when we’re asked to eradicate breast cancer by buying pink-ribboned  products. Over the years, many women’s health activists have criticized the pink... (Linked Monday 2010-10-18.)

• Primary Sources for USA vs George Donnelly. George Donnelly, Anarchoblogs in English (2010-10-18). As promised, here are my primary sources for the short film United States of America vs George Donnelly: How US Marshals Framed a Peaceful Photographer. I apologize for the delay. I’m working on getting even more information and hope to release it soon. Here is the raw video footage from... (Linked Monday 2010-10-18.)

• Kathryn Schulz on Wrongness. Igor Kandyba, FiveBooks (2010-10-17). The author of Being Wrong says punditry is conducive to bombast and certainty, both major contributors to wrongness. You are not more likely to be right if you’re on the left, or on the right. ‘If you think like a fox you’re more likely to have a sophisticated, nuanced way of thinking.... (Linked Monday 2010-10-18.)

• Drug cops smash into wrong house, terrorize elderly couple - Chicago Breaking News. www.chicagobreakingnews.com (2010-10-18). Andrij and Anna Jakymec were startled by a late night raid on their home by Cook County sheriff's police gang crimes narcotics unit officers executing a search warrant. (E. Jason Wambsgans/ Chicago Tribune) Cook County sheriff's police on a drug raid smashed into a Southwest Side house late Thursday night, (Linked Monday 2010-10-18.)

• Intellect as Evasion. Mel, BroadSnark (2010-10-14). Normally, I like Jay Smooth.  But this video really irritated me. I understand why people are critical of the anti-intellectualism displayed by right wing populists who seem so disdainful of reading books, processing facts, or critical thinking of any kind.  But it amazes me when otherwise observant people can’t see... (Linked Monday 2010-10-18.)

• To Protect and Serve. Daily Brickbats (2010-10-19). Cops are here to keep us safe. (Cont'd.) By running red lights, crashing into bicyclists, and leaving the scene of the accident. (Linked Tuesday 2010-10-19.)

• Little Miss Muffet. Jill, I Blame The Patriarchy (2010-10-19). “Here is my question,” announces blamer JenniferRuth. “Can arachnophobia be blamed on the patriarchy?” The answer is yes! Patriarchy is the gnarly firmament of dominant culture, and nothing may exist outside it; therefore absolutely everything can be blamed on it. This, friends, is the beauty of patriarchy-blaming. Whenever one encounters,... (Linked Tuesday 2010-10-19.)

• Letters Respond to Lancet Home Birth Editorial With Feminist Perspective. Rachel, Our Bodies Our Blog (2010-10-19). In July, The Lancet published an editorial, “Home Births: Proceed with Caution,” in which the editors discussed the apparent safety of home birth for most low-risk women, contradictory or low-quality evidence on infant outcomes, and the recent, controversial Wax meta-analysis. Perhaps most likely to cause feminist double-takes was the following... (Linked Tuesday 2010-10-19.)

• Civic Engagement is for Suckers. Kevin Carson, Center for a Stateless Society (2010-10-19). I frequently encounter “progressives” who argue that political involvement is the only way to achieve significant change. Refusal to participate in the process is “defeatist” and “irresponsible.” This, apparently, is what passes for gritty realism on much of the “progressive” Left. That argument is pessimistic beyond belief. The events of... (Linked Tuesday 2010-10-19.)

• So, I got married… Anarchoblogs in English (2010-10-20). In steampunk attire, of course. Mazel tov, Db0! (Linked Wednesday 2010-10-20.)

• Molly’sBlog 2010-10-17 17:35:00. mollymew, Anarchoblogs in English (2010-10-17). AMERICAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT MINNEAPOLIS:RNC (FOUR) AGREE TO PLEA BARGAIN:This the latest from the Defend the RNC 8 group. The four remaining defendants will likely enter a plea bargain next Tuesday. What this means the future will tell. Here's the story.@@@@@@@@@@Important Update on the RNC 8 Case: New Hearing Tuesday 10/19... (Linked Wednesday 2010-10-20.)

• Dissent in the age of Obama. Phil Dickens, Anarchoblogs in English (2010-10-05). Following on from Sunday's post on Barack Obama's appalling civil liberties record, I have come across an interesting opinion piece by Cindy Sheehan. It seems that Obama's line of dissidents carries echoes of the Watergate Scandal and even the Red Scare. Her thoughts can be found over on Al Jazeera;Recently,... (Linked Wednesday 2010-10-20.)

• Genes are left-wing. Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing (2010-10-13). Writing in the Guardian, clinical psychologist Oliver James claims that genetics has turned into a "left wing" science, because it has failed to identify any innate, genetic reasons why some people are winners and others are losers -- suggesting that, instead, it's society's fault that some people end up on... (Linked Wednesday 2010-10-20.)

• Another flabbergastingly stupid comment from Jim Pasco. Dr. Q, Gangsters in Blue (2010-10-18). Since the issue of filming police became a hot topic in the mainstream press (see here), I’ve been very interested in hearing the arguments that police use to justify placing limits on the right to record cops. To me, the idea that people ought to be allowed to film police... (Linked Monday 2010-10-18.)

• Boofrickityhoo. Unqualified Offerings (2010-10-18). "Now, I do realize that there might be economic repercussions if bankers are unable to recover some of their losses. Fortunately, I have a solution: They can sell their own organs to raise cash." (Linked Monday 2010-10-18.)

• The Explosion of Pink. Rachel, Our Bodies Our Blog (2010-10-12). It’s October, so the explosion of pink products at the grocery and other stores shouldn’t surprise us: it’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the time of the year when we’re asked to eradicate breast cancer by buying pink-ribboned  products. Over the years, many women’s health activists have criticized the pink... (Linked Monday 2010-10-18.)

• Primary Sources for USA vs George Donnelly. George Donnelly, Anarchoblogs in English (2010-10-18). As promised, here are my primary sources for the short film United States of America vs George Donnelly: How US Marshals Framed a Peaceful Photographer. I apologize for the delay. I’m working on getting even more information and hope to release it soon. Here is the raw video footage from... (Linked Monday 2010-10-18.)

• Kathryn Schulz on Wrongness. Igor Kandyba, FiveBooks (2010-10-17). The author of Being Wrong says punditry is conducive to bombast and certainty, both major contributors to wrongness. You are not more likely to be right if you’re on the left, or on the right. ‘If you think like a fox you’re more likely to have a sophisticated, nuanced way of thinking.... (Linked Monday 2010-10-18.)

• Drug cops smash into wrong house, terrorize elderly couple - Chicago Breaking News. www.chicagobreakingnews.com (2010-10-18). Andrij and Anna Jakymec were startled by a late night raid on their home by Cook County sheriff's police gang crimes narcotics unit officers executing a search warrant. (E. Jason Wambsgans/ Chicago Tribune) Cook County sheriff's police on a drug raid smashed into a Southwest Side house late Thursday night, (Linked Monday 2010-10-18.)

• Intellect as Evasion. Mel, BroadSnark (2010-10-14). Normally, I like Jay Smooth.  But this video really irritated me. I understand why people are critical of the anti-intellectualism displayed by right wing populists who seem so disdainful of reading books, processing facts, or critical thinking of any kind.  But it amazes me when otherwise observant people can’t see... (Linked Monday 2010-10-18.)

• To Protect and Serve. Daily Brickbats (2010-10-19). Cops are here to keep us safe. (Cont'd.) By running red lights, crashing into bicyclists, and leaving the scene of the accident. (Linked Tuesday 2010-10-19.)

• Little Miss Muffet. Jill, I Blame The Patriarchy (2010-10-19). “Here is my question,” announces blamer JenniferRuth. “Can arachnophobia be blamed on the patriarchy?” The answer is yes! Patriarchy is the gnarly firmament of dominant culture, and nothing may exist outside it; therefore absolutely everything can be blamed on it. This, friends, is the beauty of patriarchy-blaming. Whenever one encounters,... (Linked Tuesday 2010-10-19.)

• Letters Respond to Lancet Home Birth Editorial With Feminist Perspective. Rachel, Our Bodies Our Blog (2010-10-19). In July, The Lancet published an editorial, “Home Births: Proceed with Caution,” in which the editors discussed the apparent safety of home birth for most low-risk women, contradictory or low-quality evidence on infant outcomes, and the recent, controversial Wax meta-analysis. Perhaps most likely to cause feminist double-takes was the following... (Linked Tuesday 2010-10-19.)

• Civic Engagement is for Suckers. Kevin Carson, Center for a Stateless Society (2010-10-19). I frequently encounter “progressives” who argue that political involvement is the only way to achieve significant change. Refusal to participate in the process is “defeatist” and “irresponsible.” This, apparently, is what passes for gritty realism on much of the “progressive” Left. That argument is pessimistic beyond belief. The events of... (Linked Tuesday 2010-10-19.)

• So, I got married… Anarchoblogs in English (2010-10-20). In steampunk attire, of course. Mazel tov, Db0! (Linked Wednesday 2010-10-20.)

• Molly’sBlog 2010-10-17 17:35:00. mollymew, Anarchoblogs in English (2010-10-17). AMERICAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT MINNEAPOLIS:RNC (FOUR) AGREE TO PLEA BARGAIN:This the latest from the Defend the RNC 8 group. The four remaining defendants will likely enter a plea bargain next Tuesday. What this means the future will tell. Here's the story.@@@@@@@@@@Important Update on the RNC 8 Case: New Hearing Tuesday 10/19... (Linked Wednesday 2010-10-20.)

• Dissent in the age of Obama. Phil Dickens, Anarchoblogs in English (2010-10-05). Following on from Sunday's post on Barack Obama's appalling civil liberties record, I have come across an interesting opinion piece by Cindy Sheehan. It seems that Obama's line of dissidents carries echoes of the Watergate Scandal and even the Red Scare. Her thoughts can be found over on Al Jazeera;Recently,... (Linked Wednesday 2010-10-20.)

• Genes are left-wing. Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing (2010-10-13). Writing in the Guardian, clinical psychologist Oliver James claims that genetics has turned into a "left wing" science, because it has failed to identify any innate, genetic reasons why some people are winners and others are losers -- suggesting that, instead, it's society's fault that some people end up on... (Linked Wednesday 2010-10-20.)

• Last month AOL News ran an anecdotal Data-less Trend Story about city governments in small towns firing the city government police force in order to cope with budget crunches.^[1] I’d like to know what the actual data here is; typically, cash-strapped city governments react by cutting everything except police and jails. If governments’ financing crises are finally leading them to reduce the number of police patrolling city streets, that’s surprisingly good news. Most of the towns mentioned are very small towns — with populations ranging from about 700 to 4,500. The outlier, Maywood, California, has about 30,000 people living in the town (with a whopping 4 murders in 2008! twice the national average!). Apparently part of the reason they fired the police department was because a lot of the city government’s $450,000 budget deficit, and its trouble securing insurance, came from lawsuits, many involving the police. Government employees and hangers-on are going nuts about all of this. After the vote in Maywood, ex-City Treasurer Lizeth Sandoval told the city council You single-handedly destroyed the city, by which she means that they outsourced the city government. (You won’t find any burned-out buildings, torn-up streets, or dead bodies; the places and people in the city of Maywood, California are still right where they were, going on as happily as they were before; the only things destroyed were the government jobs of tax-eaters like City Treasurer Lizeth Sandoval.) Jim Pasco, national executive director of the Fraternal Order of Pigs, said that decisions to fire local police were penny wise and pound foolish, because sheriff’s departments and state police will be spread thin patrolling larger areas, and no amount is too much to spend on city cops, because The absolute threshold responsibility of a government at any level is to ensure the safety of its citizens.

• For example, consider local hero Officer Bryan Yant, liar and killer for the Las Vegas Metro police department, who by making up lies to obtain fraudulent search warrants and by violently breaking into citizens’ homes late at night, where he ensures the safety of Las Vegas’s citizens by kicking down doors and shooting unarmed black men with his AR-15 assault rifle, based on furtive motions and a glimmer or something shiny that nobody but Officer Bryan Yant ever saw, and which is plainly contradicted by forensic evidence related to the angle of the shot. Local government in Las Vegas has fulfilled is threshold responsibility by once again^[2] ensuring the safety of Officer Bryan Yant from any legal consequences for shooting innocent, unarmed men in the head during a hyperviolent raid to investigate a completely nonviolent, victimless crime, all of it based on demonstrable falsehoods and mistaken identity — oops! my bad! All of which should free Officer Bryan Yant up for a fourth Internal Investigation, in which his government colleagues will once again either exonerate him or let him off without any criminal penalties, for lying and fabricating fictitious search and arrest warrants in at least one other drug investigation involving another hyperviolent late night home raid. The polite term in local media for Officer Bryan Yant’s work ensuring the safety of Las Vegas citizens is sloppy. A better term would be fraudulent and lethally violent. How much safer does it make you feel that this lying, killing 4-time winner is still a fully-paid member of the Las Vegas Metro police force?

• Meanwhile, in El Reno, Oklahoma, government police officers are ensuring the safety of El Reno citizens by forcing their way into an 86-year-old bed-ridden grandmother’s home on a wellness check, and then, if she should object to 10 armed strangers busting into her house, by stepping on her oxygen hose and torturing her with electrical shocks in her own bed, until she passes out from the pain. El Reno Police Chief Ken Brown justified this use of extreme violence against an elderly woman who could not possibly have physically harmed anybody more than a couple feet away from her on the grounds that she was holding a kitchen knife, and she told officers She was in control of her life. Thus, Police were forced [sic!] to use a Taser on the woman until she could be forced into a hospital psychoprison — not because she was actually charged with any crime, of course, but so that she could be cured of her deranged and dangerous belief that she was in control of her own life.

• Meanwhile, in New York, New York, Officer Patrick Pogan, a government police officer working for the New York city government, ensured the safety of New York citizens by body-slamming an unarmed bicyclist to the ground for trying to avoid hitting him, and then lying about it in his police reports, where he claimed that his victim was trying to ram into him, rather than swerving around him. His government colleague Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley, in turn, fulfilled his threshold obligation by ensuring that this lying violent thug would face absolutely no criminal consequences whatsoever for the crimes that he had been convicted of.

• Also, in New York, New York, government cop Detective Louis J. Eppolito ensured the safety of New York citizens by taking a second job as an informant and hit-man for the Luchese crime family. He took a special interest in ensuring the safety of Brian Gibbs by framing him for murder — among other things, making up fictional witness statements, threatening witnesses in order to get testimony against Gibbs, withholding evidence that would have proven Gibbs’s evidence, and torturing Gibbs himself until he extracted a false confession. Brian Gibbs lost 19 years of his life locked in prison. The New York Police Department spent years fulfilling its threshold obligation to keep Detective Louis J. Eppolito safe from any consequences for his violent crimes, even though — years before he tortured and framed Brian Gibbs — they had direct evidence that he was working for the Mafia (including having his fingerprints on police reports he had handed off to a fellow gangster). The Incident was, of course, Internally Investigated, and Detective Eppolito was let off without even facing any administrative disciplinary actions. Which freed him up to go on murdering and imprisoning innocent people for the mob. The city government in New York still officially maintains that Brian Gibbs is guilty of murder. However, they’ve decided to sign a $9,900,000 settlement; dedicated public servants that they are, they will send the bill to innocent New York City taxpayers who had nothing to do with the crimes committed against Brian Gibbs.

• Meanwhile, in Sebastian County, Arkansas, government drug investigators are ensuring the safety of citizens by staging heavily armed, late-night raids on citizens’ houses, where they threaten the lives of everyone in the house, including sleeping babies — without bothering to check the address on the mailbox to see whether they are actually even forcing their way into the right house. (Oops! My bad!) Then, after releasing their innocent victims from the shackles they had forced them into, the cops they went down the street to the right house, where they broke into somebody else’s home, threatened three other innocent people’s lives, and forced them into cages at gunpoint, for the completely nonviolent offense of having marijuana.

• Meanwhile, in Universal City, Texas, government police are ensuring the safety of citizens by surrounding innocent women and children in their cars, pointing guns at them and screaming at them to put their hands up, and then forcing their way into the car before they realize — oops! our bad! — that they had the wrong car and the wrong people, and were threatening the lives of a black woman with three children who had nothing to do with the white man they were trying to ambush. Since government police never face any consequences whatsoever for their fuck-ups, no matter how high-stakes, violent, reckless, traumatic or dangerous to the safety of innocent citizens, the police department is waving it off as an unfortunate coincidence. They refer to the use of such high-stakes, violent tactics in uncertain situations, with incomplete information, to terrify and overwhelm innocent women and children, as doing our jobs, and publicly state that We would not change what we did. Of course they wouldn’t; who’s going to make them?

• Meanwhile, in Tavares, Florida, government police are ensuring the safety of citizens by interrogating and then arresting Latina women who are not suspected of any crime, for not giving her name fast enough or producing identification papers on demand. The government police officer told his victim that she had to provide ID because he needed to put her name in a database. When she said she needed to go to the car to get it, the cop arrested her for resisting arrest and had her locked in a jail cell for 5 hours.

• Meanwhile, in Hamilton, Ontario, government police are ensuring the safety of citizens by staging hyperviolent drug raids, forcing their way into apartments at gunpoint, forcing the citizens in them to the floor, then slamming their faces into the floor and kicking them when they try to explain that the cops have the wrong address. Po Lo Hay’s safety was ensured so good and hard that he ended up with stitches above his eye, a bloody nose, welts, and a broken rib.

• Meanwhile, in Bridgewater, England, government police are ensuring the safety of citizens by threatening them with electrical torture devices and then accidentally hitting them with a 50,000 volt electric shock to their genitals, in the course of an unnecessary traffic stop intended to investigate whether or not they were committing the completely nonviolent offense of driving without government-mandated corporate car insurance. For accidentally inflicting the worst pain that this innocent man has ever been subjected to in his life, government cops are offering an Oops! Our bad!

I sure am glad that government cops are out there to ensure our safety, and local governments are there to extract tax dollars to force us all, on threat of prison, to pay for this threshold obligation. If government cops weren’t there to harass, threaten, torture, frame, jail or kill innocent citizens, all with complete legal impunity so long as they can shout an Oops! My bad! that some fellow cop or other government employee will believe, who would keep us all safe?

1. ^[1] When city governments fire police forces, county sheriffs or state police forces generally take over the busting of heads and jailing of suspects. But the shift does mean that patrol cops are fewer and farther between, and local taxpayers are much less likely to get soaked with local tax increases to pay for salaries or benefits packages. ↩
2. ^[2] Yant has gunned down three people during his police career — killing two of them, including Trevon Cole — and has been exonerated by the police department and the Clark County government’s coroner’s inquest. ↩