Yearly Archives: 2013

Questions persist after Ark. SWAT team fatally shoots 107-year-old man

"When the time came to move 107-year-old Monroe Isadore to a new home, police say he resisted and barricaded himself inside. Authorities tried using a camera to monitor him, along with negotiating tactics, and finally gas to get him to come out. So, a SWAT team went inside and was greeted by gunfire, authorities say. The team fired back, and Isadore died. The weekend confrontation raised a flurry of questions Monday as residents struggled to make sense of how someone known as a pleasant, churchgoing man who was hard of hearing and sometimes carried a cane had died in an explosive confrontation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingQuestions persist after Ark. SWAT team fatally shoots 107-year-old man

New Orleans Cop Gets Four Years For Fatal Drug Raid Shooting

"On March 7 of last year, Colclough was among a group of officers who raided her home on Prentiss Street in Gentilly, looking for evidence of drug dealing. As they marched up the stairs, 20-year-old Wendell Allen appeared at the top of the staircase. He was shirtless, wearing only pants and a pair of sneakers. He had nothing in his hands, Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said Friday. He was unarmed. But Colclough fired his weapon once. The bullet tore through Allen’s chest, into his heart and his lungs. He fell on the landing and died within seconds." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew Orleans Cop Gets Four Years For Fatal Drug Raid Shooting

Is it time to get rid of the DEA?

"There is no doubt the agency should be reformed. It is also worth asking if it should continue to exist. According to a Reuters investigation, the DEA has been gathering information from other agencies, as well as foreign governments, for years. The DEA has also been collecting its own arsenal of data; constructing a massive database with about 1 billion records. This information is shared in secret. By hiding the origins of its data from defense attorneys, prosecutors and judges, the agency and its partners effectively are undermining the right of the people it targets to a fair trial." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs it time to get rid of the DEA?

Drug-Sniffing Dogs Pose a Problem in States That Legalized Marijuana

"Police in Tacoma, Wash., aren’t ready to retire their four-footed marijuana sniffers. 'There are several instances where marijuana is still illegal,' says officer Loretta Cool. 'If you are under 21, you cannot possess marijuana. If you have more than an ounce, it’s illegal.' But half an hour north in Seattle, police have stopped teaching drug dogs to recognize pot. 'There’s constant training to make sure their sniffers are up to snuff, where we use real drugs from evidence and a dog is rewarded for sniffing it out,' says Sergeant Sean Whitcomb, a spokesman for the Seattle Police Department. 'Marijuana is not something they are training on—that skill is no longer being reinforced.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDrug-Sniffing Dogs Pose a Problem in States That Legalized Marijuana

Prison Phone Call Industry Will Fight New FCC Rules Lowering Inmate Rates

"After a decade of delay, the FCC voted 2-1 in August to set maximum rates for collect and prison debit card calls. The new maximum rate for a collect call will be 25 cents a minute -- still far above the average for a traditional landline, but a serious reduction. In an interview with The Huffington Post, the CEO of the second-largest company in the $1.2 billion a year industry said he will go to court to stop the still-unreleased rules if they are issued as described in an FCC press release. He also lashed out at the industry's critics. After a decade-long period of consolidation and mergers in the industry, Securus and another company, Global-Tel-Link, control 80 percent of the prison phone call market." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPrison Phone Call Industry Will Fight New FCC Rules Lowering Inmate Rates

Private Plane Pilots Face Warrantless Drug Searches

"Private plane pilots, especially those traveling to or through states with relaxed marijuana laws, are being subjected to warrantless searches by state and federal law enforcement, the Toledo Blade reported Monday. 'None of the stops resulted in anything being found,' said Steve Hedges, a spokesman for the owners and pilots association. 'In most cases, the pilots were stopped and held while their planes were searched… I'm told one pilot was asleep in a motel room with his wife when agents kicked the door down and took them back out to the airport to search his plane, only to find nothing there.' The pilots' group has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for documentation justifying the searches." Continue reading →

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Texas Trooper Cleared in Helicopter Drug War Killings

"Trooper Miguel Avila was aboard the Department of Public Safety (DPS) chopper as it participated in the pursuit of the pickup. DPS said Avila believed the truck, whose bed was covered with a cloth, was carrying drugs, and that he opened fire to disable it because the fleeing vehicle was headed toward a school zone. (The shooting took place on an unpaved rural road.) The truck crashed after being fired upon. Police found no drugs, but instead found nine Guatemalan immigrants and a teenage driver. Six of the Guatemalans were in the bed of the pickup covered by a cloth. Two of them, Marco Antonio Castro and Jose Leonardo Coj Cumar, were fatally wounded by Avila's gunfire." Continue reading →

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Crooked cop admits to stealing $6K from DA’s office

"A crooked NYPD detective pled guilty last week to stealing nearly $6000 from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office where he had headed a wiretap and surveillance squad. Michael Bazerman, an 18-year veteran, copped to misdemeanor official misconduct, forfeited his $70k a year pension and medical benefits – worth an estimated $3 million – and must pay full restitution. The Staten Island father of two faced up to 7 years in prison on over 300 counts of grand larceny, forgery and other charges for submitting bogus expense reports to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office from 2009 to 2011." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCrooked cop admits to stealing $6K from DA’s office

The Attack on U.S. Property Rights Continues

"If Mayor McLaughlin delivers on her threat, banks will view mortgage lending in Richmond as a riskier investment. As a result, banks will make it harder to get loans in Richmond by requiring higher down payments to minimize the risk of the mortgage going underwater. They will also likely demand higher interest rates to compensate for the increased risk of lending in that market. According to Wells Fargo, Newark (NJ), North Las Vegas, El Monte (CA), and Seattle are all considering similar plans. Taken together, they will further contribute to the decline in the security of property rights in the United States and further jeopardize our economic prosperity." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Attack on U.S. Property Rights Continues

Lavabit’s Owner Appeals Secret Surveillance Order That Shuttered Site

"The owner of the encrypted email company Lavabit has formally appealed the secret surveillance order that led him to defiantly shutter the site last month. But the details of the case were immediately placed under seal in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, records show. The Texas-based email service shut down on August 8, blaming a court battle it had been fighting, and losing, in secret. In a statement announcing the closure, and in subsequent interviews, Lavabit owner Ladar Levison complained that he’s prevented from revealing exactly what the government asked him to do, or who it was targeting." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLavabit’s Owner Appeals Secret Surveillance Order That Shuttered Site