Archive for the 'Police State' Category
FBI Using Drones for Warrantless Surveillance Inside U.S.
July 28th, 2013Via: The Verge: Earlier this year, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) publicly revealed for the first time in a hearing that it has been using drones to conduct surveillance operations inside the country, a striking admission, given that domestic drone is a subject of intense debate and there’s still not a clear set […]
Cop Fired for Speaking Out Against Ticket and Arrest Quotas
July 25th, 2013Via: Reason: Auburn, Alabama is home to sprawling plains, Auburn University, and a troubling police force. After the arrival of a new police chief in 2010, the department entered an era of ticket quotas and worse. “When I first heard about the quotas I was appalled,” says former Auburn police officer Justin Hanners, who claims […]
Driving Somewhere? There’s a Government Record of That
July 17th, 2013Via: AP: Chances are, your local or state police departments have photographs of your car in their files, noting where you were driving on a particular day, even if you never did anything wrong. Using automated scanners, law enforcement agencies across the country have amassed millions of digital records on the location and movement of […]
Gangs Ruled Prison as For-Profit Model Put Blood on Floor
July 13th, 2013Via: Bloomberg: In the four privately run prisons holding Mississippi (BEESMS) inmates last year, the assault rate was three times higher on average than in state-run lockups. None was as violent as the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility. The for-profit detention center, surrounded by razor wire and near the forests and farms of central Mississippi, […]
Boston Police Officer Arrested in Plymouth for Possession of Military Grade Explosives
July 13th, 2013Via: CBS: A Boston police officer is free on $1,000 bail after police in Plymouth say they found a cache of military grade explosives in a shed at his former home. Kirk Merricks, 43, of Dorchester, was charged Friday with 11 counts of possession of explosives, along with theft and ammunition charges. Police say they […]
California: Female Inmates Pressured Into Accepting Sterilization Procedure
July 8th, 2013Via: Center for Investigative Reporting: Doctors under contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sterilized nearly 150 female inmates from 2006 to 2010 without required state approvals, The Center for Investigative Reporting has found. At least 148 women received tubal ligations in violation of prison rules during those five years – and there […]
The New Warrior Cop Is Out of Control
July 8th, 2013Via: Salon: SWAT teams raiding poker games and trying to stop underage drinking? Overwhelming paramilitary force is on the rise. Book: Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces by Radley Balko
License-Plate Readers Let Police Collect Millions of Records on Drivers
June 27th, 2013Via: Center for Investigative Reporting: When the city of San Leandro, Calif., purchased a license-plate reader for its police department in 2008, computer security consultant Michael Katz-Lacabe asked the city for a record of every time the scanners had photographed his car. The results shocked him. The paperback-size device, installed on the outside of police […]
San Diego Man Facing 13 Years in Prison for Writing Anti Bank Slogans on Sidewalks Outside Banks
June 27th, 2013Update: Acquitted Via: AP: The mayor called the case “stupid” and a jury swiftly said it shouldn’t stick, taking the eraser to vandalism charges for a man who wrote anti-bank slogans on San Diego sidewalks. A Superior Court jury deliberated for five hours after a four-day trial before acquitting Jeff Olson Monday of the 13 […]
FBI Has Started Using Surveillance Drones Inside U.S.
June 19th, 2013Via: Huffington Post: FBI Director Robert Mueller revealed Wednesday that the bureau uses drones to conduct surveillance on U.S. soil. Asked by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) if the FBI was following in the footsteps of the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in pursuing the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, […]
