Rap concert organizers did not violate a police official’s privacy when they recorded the officer’s backstage comments and included them in a DVD, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled last week.
However, the 6-1 decision in Bowens v. Ary, Inc. was a narrow one limited to the event in question and stopped short of holding that police officers have no reasonable expectation of privacy when performing their public duties.
The March 18 ruling came as the latest step in a 10-year legal battle between rapper Dr. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, and several Detroit officials, including City Councilman Gary Brown, who was the city’s police commander at the time of the July 2000 incident.
Brown sued Dr. Dre and the concert promoters, alleging that the recording violated the Michigan eavesdropping statute, which prohibits taping private conversations unless all parties to the conversation consent to the recording. Because Brown did not explicitly consent to the recording, the issue for the court was whether the conversation was a private one subject to the eavesdropping statute’s all-party consent requirement. Michigan courts define a private conversation as one in which a person reasonably expects to be free from casual or hostile intrusion or surveillance.
The Michigan ruling is among several recent legal challenges to citizen recordings of police conduct.
Last June, a federal judge in Boston denied several police officers’ motion to dismiss a civil lawsuit brought against them by a individual who alleged that the officers violated his civil rights when they arrested him for an alleged violation of Massachusetts’ wiretap statute. The man had visibly and openly used his cellular telephone to record the officers arresting a man on the Boston Common and allegedly using excessive force. In rejecting the officers’ argument that they were immune from liability because any First Amendment right that would bar arrest was not clearly established, the court in Glik v. Cunniffe stated that “in this jurisdiction, this First Amendment right publicly to record the activities of police officers on public business is clearly established.” The officers have appealed that ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston (1st Cir.).
Court ruling:
http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/docs/20110323_211541_michsupct.pdf
Link: http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/index.php?i=11773
Favorite Quotes
Thursday, March 31, 2011
MA.- Disorderly conduct charges called into question.
Lowell police Officer Brian M. Kinney was working the night shift three years ago when he was called to investigate a report of an unwanted person on private property.
He arrived to find Vesna Nuon, 43, a Cambodian father of two, who according to the police report, appeared to have been drinking, was belligerent, and refused to return quietly to his friend’s house.
“You’re a coward, hiding behind your badge,’’ Kinney said Nuon yelled as he stood outside the house. “Get off my property.’’
Kinney arrested Nuon on charges of disorderly conduct, forcing him to spend several hours in a city jail. The following week, the charges were dismissed, but Nuon, a community activist who disputes Kinney’s account, said he was infuriated and humiliated. He filed a complaint, alleging the arrest was without probable cause, and a federal judge this month agreed, finding Kinney liable for false arrest.
City officials defend the officer’s actions, but civil libertarians say the case reflects evolving attitudes about the use of disorderly conduct charges to arrest someone who is behaving aggressively or insulting an officer but not breaking any laws.
To justify a disorderly conduct arrest, an officer should show that the suspect prevented the officer from carrying out his or her duties, caused a crowd to form and possibly to riot, or had gotten too close to the officer, Shane said.
“It’s contextually based,’’ he said. “When John Q. Citizen is getting loud with you at a friend’s house and you say ‘I’m going to lock you up,’ you’re going nowhere with that. It’s a nowhere situation for the government and the police.’’
U. S. Magistrate Judge Leo T. Sorokin said in his summary judgment that he made his decision by looking at the incident from Kinney’s point of view. Even from that perspective, it was clear the officer arrested Nuon without probable cause, Sorokin said.
“Expressive conduct, even of a coarse and vulgar nature, cannot be punished as a disorderly offense,’’ he wrote in the 20-page decision.
Civil Court Filing link:
http://pacer.mad.uscourts.gov/dc/cgi-bin/recentops.pl?filename=sorokin/pdf/nuon%2009cv11161%20sj%20decision%20kinney%20and%20nuon%20final.pdf
Link:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/03/30/disorderly_conduct_cases_draw_fresh_legal_scrutiny/
He arrived to find Vesna Nuon, 43, a Cambodian father of two, who according to the police report, appeared to have been drinking, was belligerent, and refused to return quietly to his friend’s house.
“You’re a coward, hiding behind your badge,’’ Kinney said Nuon yelled as he stood outside the house. “Get off my property.’’
Kinney arrested Nuon on charges of disorderly conduct, forcing him to spend several hours in a city jail. The following week, the charges were dismissed, but Nuon, a community activist who disputes Kinney’s account, said he was infuriated and humiliated. He filed a complaint, alleging the arrest was without probable cause, and a federal judge this month agreed, finding Kinney liable for false arrest.
City officials defend the officer’s actions, but civil libertarians say the case reflects evolving attitudes about the use of disorderly conduct charges to arrest someone who is behaving aggressively or insulting an officer but not breaking any laws.
To justify a disorderly conduct arrest, an officer should show that the suspect prevented the officer from carrying out his or her duties, caused a crowd to form and possibly to riot, or had gotten too close to the officer, Shane said.
“It’s contextually based,’’ he said. “When John Q. Citizen is getting loud with you at a friend’s house and you say ‘I’m going to lock you up,’ you’re going nowhere with that. It’s a nowhere situation for the government and the police.’’
U. S. Magistrate Judge Leo T. Sorokin said in his summary judgment that he made his decision by looking at the incident from Kinney’s point of view. Even from that perspective, it was clear the officer arrested Nuon without probable cause, Sorokin said.
“Expressive conduct, even of a coarse and vulgar nature, cannot be punished as a disorderly offense,’’ he wrote in the 20-page decision.
Civil Court Filing link:
http://pacer.mad.uscourts.gov/dc/cgi-bin/recentops.pl?filename=sorokin/pdf/nuon%2009cv11161%20sj%20decision%20kinney%20and%20nuon%20final.pdf
Link:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/03/30/disorderly_conduct_cases_draw_fresh_legal_scrutiny/
Is Samsung using keylogging software on their new laptops?
A security researcher says he discovered keylogging software installed on two brand-new Samsung laptops that could be used to monitor all activities on the computer remotely.
Mohamed Hassan, founder of NetSec Consulting, discovered StarLogger software on Samsung laptops with model numbers R525 and 540 after running security scanning software on the systems when he bought them last month, he writes in a guest column in Network World posted today.
A Samsung representative told CNET this afternoon that the company would looking into the matter. Late this evening, Samsung Australia said in a statement that the keylogger reports were "not true. Our findings indicate that the person mentioned in the article used a security program called VIPRE [antivirus software] that mistook a folder created by Microsoft Live Application for...key logging software, during a virus scan."
Writing in Network World, Hassan concluded: "Samsung's conduct may be illegal; even if it is eventually ruled legal by the courts, the issue has legal, ethical, and privacy implications for both the businesses and individuals who may purchase and use Samsung laptops. Samsung could also be liable should the vast amount of information collected through StarLogger fall into the wrong hands."
Hassan said when he called and logged an incident report with Samsung on March 1, support personnel initially denied that keylogging software was on Samsung laptops and then referred him to Microsoft, saying "all Samsung did was manufacture the hardware," he writes. Eventually, a supervisor got on the phone and confirmed that Samsung put the software on the laptop to monitor machine performance "and to find out how it is being used."
"In other words, Samsung wanted to gather usage data without obtaining consent from laptop owners," Hassan wrote.
Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20048896-245.html
Mohamed Hassan, founder of NetSec Consulting, discovered StarLogger software on Samsung laptops with model numbers R525 and 540 after running security scanning software on the systems when he bought them last month, he writes in a guest column in Network World posted today.
A Samsung representative told CNET this afternoon that the company would looking into the matter. Late this evening, Samsung Australia said in a statement that the keylogger reports were "not true. Our findings indicate that the person mentioned in the article used a security program called VIPRE [antivirus software] that mistook a folder created by Microsoft Live Application for...key logging software, during a virus scan."
Writing in Network World, Hassan concluded: "Samsung's conduct may be illegal; even if it is eventually ruled legal by the courts, the issue has legal, ethical, and privacy implications for both the businesses and individuals who may purchase and use Samsung laptops. Samsung could also be liable should the vast amount of information collected through StarLogger fall into the wrong hands."
Hassan said when he called and logged an incident report with Samsung on March 1, support personnel initially denied that keylogging software was on Samsung laptops and then referred him to Microsoft, saying "all Samsung did was manufacture the hardware," he writes. Eventually, a supervisor got on the phone and confirmed that Samsung put the software on the laptop to monitor machine performance "and to find out how it is being used."
"In other words, Samsung wanted to gather usage data without obtaining consent from laptop owners," Hassan wrote.
Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20048896-245.html
Social media tools are being targeted by criminals to acquire coporate secrets.
Not long after airstrikes began in Libya earlier this month, certain attorneys at four U.S. law firms, known for having high-profile clients in the oil industry, each received a personally addressed e-mail message.
Each message carried an Adobe PDF attachment, purportedly an analyst report describing the impact of Libya’s uprising on oil futures. Each lawyer clicked on the attachment.
But the PDF was actually pre-set to deliver a quick-acting computer intrusion, says Chris Day, chief security architect at data security firm Terremark, who watched the attack unfold. Within a few seconds, the PC of each attorney who clicked on the attachment began sending a silent beacon to a command server controlled by the intruders.
Terremark alerted law enforcement, and the law firms were notified, cutting off yet another persistent intrusion — a distinctive type of hack that has quietly become a staple of the cyberunderground.
“We’re seeing criminal gangs using these tactics against commercial enterprises simply because they work so well,” says Day.
Such so-called spear-phishing attacks, which often enlist social-media tools to meticulously wedge into corporate networks, are increasingly used in computer thefts that pinpoint valuable corporate data, according to a report released today by IBM’s X-Force cybersecurity team.
“Cybercriminals have become more focused on quality of attacks, rather than quantity,” says Tom Cross, X-Force threat intelligence manager.
Elite cybercriminals are tapping into search engines and social networks to help them target specific employees for social-engineering trickery at a wide range of companies, professional firms and government agencies.
They wait patiently for an opportune moment to seed an infection, knowing they need only infect one well-placed PC to gain a foothold inside a company network. They then proceed to stealthily probe deeper over many months.
“It’s become very common for advanced groups to be in systems for a year or longer without being detected,” says Kim Peretti, forensics director at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The booty of choice: intellectual property.
One enterprising gang recently put a twist into spear phishing by noticing that more than a few executives have a penchant for using Google Alert in connection with their names. Google’s free service will e-mail a Web link to the executive every time the search engine indexes a Web page containing a fresh news article mentioning the executive.
The intruders figured out how to inject an infection onto such Web pages at just the right moment, so the infection has a low chance of being detected and a high chance of appearing as part of a Google Alert arriving in the executive’s in-box, says Mickey Boodaei, CEO of security firm Trusteer. One way they do this is by putting up an infectious Web page that redirects to a legitimate Web page carrying a news article about the executive; the link between the bad and good sites is enabled just after Google indexing has occurred. “These targeted attacks are very powerful and should be taken very seriously,” Boodaei says.
Link:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-03-31-hacking-attacks-on-corporations.htm
Each message carried an Adobe PDF attachment, purportedly an analyst report describing the impact of Libya’s uprising on oil futures. Each lawyer clicked on the attachment.
But the PDF was actually pre-set to deliver a quick-acting computer intrusion, says Chris Day, chief security architect at data security firm Terremark, who watched the attack unfold. Within a few seconds, the PC of each attorney who clicked on the attachment began sending a silent beacon to a command server controlled by the intruders.
Terremark alerted law enforcement, and the law firms were notified, cutting off yet another persistent intrusion — a distinctive type of hack that has quietly become a staple of the cyberunderground.
“We’re seeing criminal gangs using these tactics against commercial enterprises simply because they work so well,” says Day.
Such so-called spear-phishing attacks, which often enlist social-media tools to meticulously wedge into corporate networks, are increasingly used in computer thefts that pinpoint valuable corporate data, according to a report released today by IBM’s X-Force cybersecurity team.
“Cybercriminals have become more focused on quality of attacks, rather than quantity,” says Tom Cross, X-Force threat intelligence manager.
Elite cybercriminals are tapping into search engines and social networks to help them target specific employees for social-engineering trickery at a wide range of companies, professional firms and government agencies.
They wait patiently for an opportune moment to seed an infection, knowing they need only infect one well-placed PC to gain a foothold inside a company network. They then proceed to stealthily probe deeper over many months.
“It’s become very common for advanced groups to be in systems for a year or longer without being detected,” says Kim Peretti, forensics director at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The booty of choice: intellectual property.
One enterprising gang recently put a twist into spear phishing by noticing that more than a few executives have a penchant for using Google Alert in connection with their names. Google’s free service will e-mail a Web link to the executive every time the search engine indexes a Web page containing a fresh news article mentioning the executive.
The intruders figured out how to inject an infection onto such Web pages at just the right moment, so the infection has a low chance of being detected and a high chance of appearing as part of a Google Alert arriving in the executive’s in-box, says Mickey Boodaei, CEO of security firm Trusteer. One way they do this is by putting up an infectious Web page that redirects to a legitimate Web page carrying a news article about the executive; the link between the bad and good sites is enabled just after Google indexing has occurred. “These targeted attacks are very powerful and should be taken very seriously,” Boodaei says.
Link:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-03-31-hacking-attacks-on-corporations.htm
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
According to the FBI there were over 500,000 disorderly conduct arrests in 2009.
The FBI estimates that in 2009 there were 1,663,582 drug arrests in the United States, 45.6% of which (758,593) were for possession of marijuana. In addition, there were 8,067 gambling arrests, 26,380 vagrancy arrests, 471,727 drunkenness arrests, 518,374 disorderly conduct arrests, and 89,733 curfew and loitering arrests.
The racial disparity in many of these categories is striking: 36.7% of the disorderly conduct arrests and 44.7 % of the vagrancy arrests were of non-white persons.
Information taken from:
"Diverting and Reclassifying Misdemeanors
Could Save $1 Billion per Year"
Reducing the Need For and Cost of Appointed Counsel
By Robert C. Boruchowitz, December 2010
The racial disparity in many of these categories is striking: 36.7% of the disorderly conduct arrests and 44.7 % of the vagrancy arrests were of non-white persons.
Information taken from:
"Diverting and Reclassifying Misdemeanors
Could Save $1 Billion per Year"
Reducing the Need For and Cost of Appointed Counsel
By Robert C. Boruchowitz, December 2010
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Drug dogs are certified in only two states and yet they are being used in ever increasing numbers across the U. S.
“I’ve heard that there are as many as 18,000 police service dogs working in this country, doing narcotics control, explosives, tracking,” says Terry Anderson, president of the National Police Canine Association, an organization that trains and certifies police dogs and their handlers. But while these police dogs and their counterparts in the private sector bury their super-sensitive snouts into our business, who’s watching them? Certification is largely optional. “There’s only two states in this country that say if you want to have a police dog, these are the criteria you have to meet,” says Anderson, who also serves as a police officer in Pasadena, Texas.
While neither the federal government nor most states impose or even suggest standards for selecting, training, or evaluating detection dogs, the highest courts of the land give them plenty of leash when it comes to privacy rights. That started in 1983, when Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote in U.S. v. Place that a canine sniff of luggage at an airport is so limited—in both its intrusiveness and in what it could disclose—that it doesn’t qualify as a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, which bars “unreasonable searches and seizures.” A detection dog would only alert if a piece of luggage contained contraband, O’Connor opined, and contraband wasn’t subject to privacy protections.
Since then we’ve learned that detection dogs aren’t infallible. During a 1994 search that took place at a high school in Harborcreek Township, Pennsylvania, for example, a drug dog sniffed 2,000 school lockers and indicated that 18 of them contained contraband. Only one actually did.
Such incidents have done little to damage the reputation of drug dogs among the animal lovers on the Supreme Court. In the 2005 case Illinois v. Caballes, the Court ruled that a canine sniff for narcotics at a traffic stop was not a search, even when there was no reasonable cause for suspicion. In writing the opinion for the majority, Justice John Paul Stevens further enhanced the power of drug dogs by claiming that even their false alerts are no cause for concern, because no “legitimate private information” is conveyed when they indicate the presence or absence of contraband material.
But if a false alert reveals no legitimate private information, it does pave the way for a search that can do exactly that. In a 2005 essay for the NYU Journal of Law & Liberty, criminal defense attorney Ken Lammers translated Justice Stevens’ dubious argument into plainer language: “It is as if Justice Stevens had upheld a warrant by arguing: ‘When Officer Smith lied to Judge Jones in order to get the warrant, the lie, in and of itself, did not reveal any legitimate private information, and therefore the warrant is valid.’ ”
Imagine a world where meter maids provisioned with drug dogs routinely check your car for cocaine, where postal carriers and their drug dogs give your front porch a good going-over on occasion. This, essentially, is what Illinois v. Caballes makes possible, and as Lammers noted in his essay, “these types of canine searches are already taking place.” The venue? Schools like Temple City High.
Link: http://reason.com/archives/2011/02/17/the-mans-best-friend
While neither the federal government nor most states impose or even suggest standards for selecting, training, or evaluating detection dogs, the highest courts of the land give them plenty of leash when it comes to privacy rights. That started in 1983, when Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote in U.S. v. Place that a canine sniff of luggage at an airport is so limited—in both its intrusiveness and in what it could disclose—that it doesn’t qualify as a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, which bars “unreasonable searches and seizures.” A detection dog would only alert if a piece of luggage contained contraband, O’Connor opined, and contraband wasn’t subject to privacy protections.
Since then we’ve learned that detection dogs aren’t infallible. During a 1994 search that took place at a high school in Harborcreek Township, Pennsylvania, for example, a drug dog sniffed 2,000 school lockers and indicated that 18 of them contained contraband. Only one actually did.
Such incidents have done little to damage the reputation of drug dogs among the animal lovers on the Supreme Court. In the 2005 case Illinois v. Caballes, the Court ruled that a canine sniff for narcotics at a traffic stop was not a search, even when there was no reasonable cause for suspicion. In writing the opinion for the majority, Justice John Paul Stevens further enhanced the power of drug dogs by claiming that even their false alerts are no cause for concern, because no “legitimate private information” is conveyed when they indicate the presence or absence of contraband material.
But if a false alert reveals no legitimate private information, it does pave the way for a search that can do exactly that. In a 2005 essay for the NYU Journal of Law & Liberty, criminal defense attorney Ken Lammers translated Justice Stevens’ dubious argument into plainer language: “It is as if Justice Stevens had upheld a warrant by arguing: ‘When Officer Smith lied to Judge Jones in order to get the warrant, the lie, in and of itself, did not reveal any legitimate private information, and therefore the warrant is valid.’ ”
Imagine a world where meter maids provisioned with drug dogs routinely check your car for cocaine, where postal carriers and their drug dogs give your front porch a good going-over on occasion. This, essentially, is what Illinois v. Caballes makes possible, and as Lammers noted in his essay, “these types of canine searches are already taking place.” The venue? Schools like Temple City High.
Link: http://reason.com/archives/2011/02/17/the-mans-best-friend
Private prisons are burdening states with huge tax payments.
It seemed like a good idea at the time when the west Texas farming town of Littlefield borrowed $10 million and built the Bill Clayton Detention Center in a cotton field south of town in 2000. The charmless steel-and-cement-block buildings ringed with razor wire would provide jobs to keep young people from moving to Lubbock or Dallas.
For eight years, the prison was a good employer. Idaho and Wyoming paid for prisoners to serve time there. But two years ago, Idaho pulled out all of its contract inmates because of a budget crunch at home. There was also a scandal surrounding the suicide of an inmate.
Shortly afterward, the for-profit operator, GEO Group, gave notice that it was leaving, too. One hundred prison jobs disappeared. The facility has been empty ever since.
For sale or contract: a 372-bed, medium-security prison with double security fences, state-of-the-art control room, gymnasium, law library, classrooms and five living pods.
Davis opens the gray steel door to a barren cell with bunk beds and stainless-steel furniture.
"You can see the facility here. It's pretty austere, but from what I understand from a prison standpoint, it's better than most," he says, still trying to close the sale.
For the past two years, Littlefield has had to come up with $65,000 a month to pay the note on the prison. That's $10 per resident of this little city.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the total correctional population in the United States is declining for the first time in three decades. Among the reasons: The crime rate is falling, sentencing alternatives mean fewer felons doing hard time and states everywhere are slashing budgets.
The Texas Legislature, looking for budget cuts, is contemplating shedding 2,000 contract prison beds. Statewide, more than half of all privately operated county jail beds are empty, according to figures from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
"Too many times we've seen jails that have got into it and tried to make it a profitable business to make money off of it and they end up fallin' on their face," says Shannon Herklotz, assistant director of the commission.
In Waco, McLennan County borrowed $49 million to build an 816-bed jail and charge day rates for bunk space. But today because of the convict shortage, the fortress east of town remains more than half empty. The sheriff and county judge, once champions of the new jail, now decline to comment on it.
Former McLennan County Deputy Rick White, who opposed the jail, had this to say about the prison developers who put the deal together: "They get the corporations formed, they get the bonds sold, they get the facility built, their money is front-loaded, they take their money out. And then there's no reason for them to support the success of the facility."
"When you put the profit motive into a private jail, by design, in order to increase your dollars, your revenues, your profits, you need more folks in there and they need to stay longer," says Bill Magers, mayor of the county seat of Sherman, a leading opponent.
Link:
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/28/134855801/private-prison-promises-leave-texas-towns-in-trouble
For eight years, the prison was a good employer. Idaho and Wyoming paid for prisoners to serve time there. But two years ago, Idaho pulled out all of its contract inmates because of a budget crunch at home. There was also a scandal surrounding the suicide of an inmate.
Shortly afterward, the for-profit operator, GEO Group, gave notice that it was leaving, too. One hundred prison jobs disappeared. The facility has been empty ever since.
For sale or contract: a 372-bed, medium-security prison with double security fences, state-of-the-art control room, gymnasium, law library, classrooms and five living pods.
Davis opens the gray steel door to a barren cell with bunk beds and stainless-steel furniture.
"You can see the facility here. It's pretty austere, but from what I understand from a prison standpoint, it's better than most," he says, still trying to close the sale.
For the past two years, Littlefield has had to come up with $65,000 a month to pay the note on the prison. That's $10 per resident of this little city.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the total correctional population in the United States is declining for the first time in three decades. Among the reasons: The crime rate is falling, sentencing alternatives mean fewer felons doing hard time and states everywhere are slashing budgets.
The Texas Legislature, looking for budget cuts, is contemplating shedding 2,000 contract prison beds. Statewide, more than half of all privately operated county jail beds are empty, according to figures from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
"Too many times we've seen jails that have got into it and tried to make it a profitable business to make money off of it and they end up fallin' on their face," says Shannon Herklotz, assistant director of the commission.
In Waco, McLennan County borrowed $49 million to build an 816-bed jail and charge day rates for bunk space. But today because of the convict shortage, the fortress east of town remains more than half empty. The sheriff and county judge, once champions of the new jail, now decline to comment on it.
Former McLennan County Deputy Rick White, who opposed the jail, had this to say about the prison developers who put the deal together: "They get the corporations formed, they get the bonds sold, they get the facility built, their money is front-loaded, they take their money out. And then there's no reason for them to support the success of the facility."
"When you put the profit motive into a private jail, by design, in order to increase your dollars, your revenues, your profits, you need more folks in there and they need to stay longer," says Bill Magers, mayor of the county seat of Sherman, a leading opponent.
Link:
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/28/134855801/private-prison-promises-leave-texas-towns-in-trouble
Should law enforcement be required to obtain a warrant when using cell phone data of U. S. citizens?
Prompted by privacy concerns, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is circulating draft legislation that would require law enforcement officials to obtain warrants before using data collected from mobile devices for tracking purposes.
If formally proposed as it’s now written, the bill would severely curtail the ability of police to use geolocation information acquired by wireless carriers. Such data is utilized frequently to pinpoint the whereabouts of criminals through items such as cell phones, global positioning systems and computers.
The law includes provisions that would allow usage of mobile data in the case of emergencies, national security concerns and other critical situations. But officials are concerned that making officers acquire a warrant to use geolocation information could cost lives.
“Law enforcement will say, ‘I don’t have time to get a warrant, so I guess we can’t do that,’” Paul Wormeli of the Integrated Justice Information Systems Institute said. “That puts the life of a victim in danger. There are consequences.”
Link:
http://www.govtech.com/geospatial/Law-Enforcement-Cell-Phone-Data-Citizens.html
If formally proposed as it’s now written, the bill would severely curtail the ability of police to use geolocation information acquired by wireless carriers. Such data is utilized frequently to pinpoint the whereabouts of criminals through items such as cell phones, global positioning systems and computers.
The law includes provisions that would allow usage of mobile data in the case of emergencies, national security concerns and other critical situations. But officials are concerned that making officers acquire a warrant to use geolocation information could cost lives.
“Law enforcement will say, ‘I don’t have time to get a warrant, so I guess we can’t do that,’” Paul Wormeli of the Integrated Justice Information Systems Institute said. “That puts the life of a victim in danger. There are consequences.”
Link:
http://www.govtech.com/geospatial/Law-Enforcement-Cell-Phone-Data-Citizens.html
Monday, March 28, 2011
Attleboro, MA- Police receive a complaint against two officers which falls on deaf ears.
The Attleboro Police Department took a complaint of misconduct and threatening behavior by one of its officers and ignored it.
Retired East Greenwich Police Lt. Steven Vander Pyl, who was on the job for more than two decades, said he is still waiting to hear back from someone at the police department regarding his verbal, then written complaint about an officer, which he filed back in August.
Vander Pyl claims he was threatened and insulted with racial slurs by one of two officers and told to never come back to Attleboro during an incident on Aug. 27. Vander Pyl, who manages property at 102 and 104 Pond St. in South Attleboro, was told by officers to leave the property he manages.
Police had been called to the property by Tyler Corsi, the son of a tenant who was in the process of eviction. Corsi called police after Vander Pyl had removed an old bumper and other rubbish from the property. Vander Pyl, who was in the process of painting the interior and cleaning the exterior, said he locked the apartment, got his briefcase and stood by his truck waiting for officers to arrive.
"Both white male officers exited their cruisers without their covers (hats)," Vander Pyl writes in his letter to the then-internal affairs supervisor, Capt. Kyle Heagney. "The shorter officer with dark hair walked directly to me and said, 'This is the second [expletive] time I've been here today and I'm sick of it get in your [expletive] truck and get the [expletive] out of here.'"
In his letter to police, Vander Pyl said he asked the officer for his name because he did not see a name tag or badge number on the officer. Vander Pyl made it clear in his letter that the second officer stayed by the cruiser and seemed disgusted by the first officer's actions.
That last comment prompted Vander Pyl to contact the head of internal affairs, Capt. Kyle Heagney. Vander Pyl said Heagney was astounded by what had happened, and he emailed a complaint form to Vander Pyl. The retired lieutenant filled out the form and personally delivered it to the Attleboro station.
"I haven’t heard anything from anyone from the Attleboro Police Department since I dropped off the complaint (in August)," Vander Pyl said. "I never heard from Capt. Heagney, nor did I hear from Chief [Richard] Pierce.
Link:
http://attleboro.patch.com/articles/complaint-against-attleboro-police-officer-goes-unanswered-by-administration
Retired East Greenwich Police Lt. Steven Vander Pyl, who was on the job for more than two decades, said he is still waiting to hear back from someone at the police department regarding his verbal, then written complaint about an officer, which he filed back in August.
Vander Pyl claims he was threatened and insulted with racial slurs by one of two officers and told to never come back to Attleboro during an incident on Aug. 27. Vander Pyl, who manages property at 102 and 104 Pond St. in South Attleboro, was told by officers to leave the property he manages.
Police had been called to the property by Tyler Corsi, the son of a tenant who was in the process of eviction. Corsi called police after Vander Pyl had removed an old bumper and other rubbish from the property. Vander Pyl, who was in the process of painting the interior and cleaning the exterior, said he locked the apartment, got his briefcase and stood by his truck waiting for officers to arrive.
"Both white male officers exited their cruisers without their covers (hats)," Vander Pyl writes in his letter to the then-internal affairs supervisor, Capt. Kyle Heagney. "The shorter officer with dark hair walked directly to me and said, 'This is the second [expletive] time I've been here today and I'm sick of it get in your [expletive] truck and get the [expletive] out of here.'"
In his letter to police, Vander Pyl said he asked the officer for his name because he did not see a name tag or badge number on the officer. Vander Pyl made it clear in his letter that the second officer stayed by the cruiser and seemed disgusted by the first officer's actions.
That last comment prompted Vander Pyl to contact the head of internal affairs, Capt. Kyle Heagney. Vander Pyl said Heagney was astounded by what had happened, and he emailed a complaint form to Vander Pyl. The retired lieutenant filled out the form and personally delivered it to the Attleboro station.
"I haven’t heard anything from anyone from the Attleboro Police Department since I dropped off the complaint (in August)," Vander Pyl said. "I never heard from Capt. Heagney, nor did I hear from Chief [Richard] Pierce.
Link:
http://attleboro.patch.com/articles/complaint-against-attleboro-police-officer-goes-unanswered-by-administration
U.Va. Law Professor Brandon Garrett's Book Examines Wrongful Convictions.
False confessions, invalid forensic analysis, eyewitness misidentifications and other systemic flaws in the criminal justice system contributed to the wrongful conviction of the first 250 people exonerated by DNA tests, University of Virginia law professor Brandon Garrett writes in "Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong," published this spring by Harvard University Press.
Garrett began by studying the original criminal trial records of the 250 people who were convicted of series crimes and later exonerated. "The goal was to see what patterns there are," he said.
In a way, it would have been a comfort if the wrongful convictions had resulted from idiosyncratic mistakes or even corruption, Garrett said. That would suggest that false convictions are exceedingly rare, as nearly all police officers, prosecutors and judges conscientiously seek to convict the guilty and free the innocent, he said.
"What I found, though, was that the errors that repeated over and over again across the 250 cases were the result of bad barrels, and not a few bad apples. They resulted from unsound but systemic practices that allowed well-intentioned people to contribute to convicting the innocent," he said.
Those practices included the use of suggestive eyewitness identification procedures, flawed forensic analysis, coercive interrogations, shoddy investigative practices, cognitive bias and poor lawyering, he said.
What was particularly haunting about the cases, Garrett said, was that at the time, before the DNA tests proved the convict's innocence, many of the prosecutions appeared uncannily strong. For example, some cases included false confessions in which innocent suspects seemingly supplied police with details of a crime that police claimed could only be known by the perpetrator. The false confessions were typically the result of long, undocumented interrogations in which investigators may have planted details of the crime with the suspect, he said.
Link: http://media-newswire.com/release_1146281.html
Garrett began by studying the original criminal trial records of the 250 people who were convicted of series crimes and later exonerated. "The goal was to see what patterns there are," he said.
In a way, it would have been a comfort if the wrongful convictions had resulted from idiosyncratic mistakes or even corruption, Garrett said. That would suggest that false convictions are exceedingly rare, as nearly all police officers, prosecutors and judges conscientiously seek to convict the guilty and free the innocent, he said.
"What I found, though, was that the errors that repeated over and over again across the 250 cases were the result of bad barrels, and not a few bad apples. They resulted from unsound but systemic practices that allowed well-intentioned people to contribute to convicting the innocent," he said.
Those practices included the use of suggestive eyewitness identification procedures, flawed forensic analysis, coercive interrogations, shoddy investigative practices, cognitive bias and poor lawyering, he said.
What was particularly haunting about the cases, Garrett said, was that at the time, before the DNA tests proved the convict's innocence, many of the prosecutions appeared uncannily strong. For example, some cases included false confessions in which innocent suspects seemingly supplied police with details of a crime that police claimed could only be known by the perpetrator. The false confessions were typically the result of long, undocumented interrogations in which investigators may have planted details of the crime with the suspect, he said.
Link: http://media-newswire.com/release_1146281.html
MA. Two police officers accused of using drugs will not be prosecuted or lose their jobs.
PITTSFIELD, MA.- A probe into illegal steroids has resulted in disciplinary action against two police officers, one of whom works for the Pittsfield Police Department.
Authorities have identified the city officer as David P. Kirchner, a former plainclothes investigator with the Pittsfield Police Drug Unit who recently was suspended. The other law enforcement official is a Massachusetts State Police trooper, whom officials have declined to identify.
No criminal charges have been filed against either officer.
The trooper, who is stationed at the Russell barracks and is believed to live in Berkshire County, was placed on "restricted duty." That means he was stripped of his service weapon and cruiser and placed on "desk duty," according to David Procopio, a state police spokesman in Framingham.
Procopio declined to comment on whether the trooper might be charged with a crime.
"I can't comment on an ongoing investigation," he said. "I will confirm that we do have an internal investigation into allegations involving a trooper and performance-enhancing drugs."
Kirchner was suspended in connection with an investigation by an outside agency, but now is "back on the street as a patrol officer," Pittsfield Police Chief Michael J. Wynn said Wednesday.
It remains unclear if Kirchner or the trooper might face charges in connection with the probe, which involved agents from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and possibly other agencies. A phone call to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to gauge that agency's involvement was not returned.
No criminal complaints had been filed against Kirchner as of Wednesday afternoon, according to officials in the Central Berkshire District Court clerk's office. However, a source told The Eagle that Kirchner would not be charged in connection with the steroid probe.
Link: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_17687021
Authorities have identified the city officer as David P. Kirchner, a former plainclothes investigator with the Pittsfield Police Drug Unit who recently was suspended. The other law enforcement official is a Massachusetts State Police trooper, whom officials have declined to identify.
No criminal charges have been filed against either officer.
The trooper, who is stationed at the Russell barracks and is believed to live in Berkshire County, was placed on "restricted duty." That means he was stripped of his service weapon and cruiser and placed on "desk duty," according to David Procopio, a state police spokesman in Framingham.
Procopio declined to comment on whether the trooper might be charged with a crime.
"I can't comment on an ongoing investigation," he said. "I will confirm that we do have an internal investigation into allegations involving a trooper and performance-enhancing drugs."
Kirchner was suspended in connection with an investigation by an outside agency, but now is "back on the street as a patrol officer," Pittsfield Police Chief Michael J. Wynn said Wednesday.
It remains unclear if Kirchner or the trooper might face charges in connection with the probe, which involved agents from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and possibly other agencies. A phone call to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to gauge that agency's involvement was not returned.
No criminal complaints had been filed against Kirchner as of Wednesday afternoon, according to officials in the Central Berkshire District Court clerk's office. However, a source told The Eagle that Kirchner would not be charged in connection with the steroid probe.
Link: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_17687021
Government agents can delay advising people of their Miranda rights, how long before it's abolished?
After being criticized for providing Miranda warnings in terrorism cases, the FBI has reminded its agents that in some instances they can question terrorist suspects without immediately reading them their rights.
The Justice Department said Thursday the FBI guidance told investigators they can delay telling suspects of their rights to an attorney and to remain silent when there is immediate concern for the safety of the public.
The guidance outlines how to use the public safety exception when appropriate.
The guidelines do not change Miranda or the public safety exception, which the Justice Department does not have the authority to alter because they flow from court decisions based on the Constitution.
"The evolving nature of the terrorist threat demands that we keep the men and women on the front lines advised of all lawful and appropriate tools available to them to identify, locate, detain, and interrogate terrorism suspects," the Justice Department said in a statement.
The FBI guidance was issued months after Attorney General Eric Holder offered to work with Congress on a law that would let law enforcement delay constitutional Miranda warnings to terror suspects.
Constitutional lawyers and former prosecutors have suggested that Congress could craft such a terrorism exception that could last up to 48 hours — longer than the court-mandated public safety exception that already allows law enforcement to hold off Miranda warnings for a short period during emergencies to save lives.
"This is a transparent political step," said Michael Volkov, a former federal prosecutor for more than 17 years in the U.S. Attorney's office in the District of Columbia.
"They are trying to inoculate themselves against charges by Republicans in Congress that they are not sensitive to the issue of giving Miranda rights to terrorism suspects," added Volkov, who was chief crime and terrorism counsel for the House Judiciary Committee from 2005 to 2008 and is now a partner at Mayer Brown in Washington.
Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110324/ap_on_re_us/us_miranda_terror
The Justice Department said Thursday the FBI guidance told investigators they can delay telling suspects of their rights to an attorney and to remain silent when there is immediate concern for the safety of the public.
The guidance outlines how to use the public safety exception when appropriate.
The guidelines do not change Miranda or the public safety exception, which the Justice Department does not have the authority to alter because they flow from court decisions based on the Constitution.
"The evolving nature of the terrorist threat demands that we keep the men and women on the front lines advised of all lawful and appropriate tools available to them to identify, locate, detain, and interrogate terrorism suspects," the Justice Department said in a statement.
The FBI guidance was issued months after Attorney General Eric Holder offered to work with Congress on a law that would let law enforcement delay constitutional Miranda warnings to terror suspects.
Constitutional lawyers and former prosecutors have suggested that Congress could craft such a terrorism exception that could last up to 48 hours — longer than the court-mandated public safety exception that already allows law enforcement to hold off Miranda warnings for a short period during emergencies to save lives.
"This is a transparent political step," said Michael Volkov, a former federal prosecutor for more than 17 years in the U.S. Attorney's office in the District of Columbia.
"They are trying to inoculate themselves against charges by Republicans in Congress that they are not sensitive to the issue of giving Miranda rights to terrorism suspects," added Volkov, who was chief crime and terrorism counsel for the House Judiciary Committee from 2005 to 2008 and is now a partner at Mayer Brown in Washington.
Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110324/ap_on_re_us/us_miranda_terror
Corporations data on Americans is expanding into people's personal habits etc.
As real-time and batch analytics evolve using big data processing engines such as Hadoop, corporations will be able to track our activities, habits and locations with greater precision than ever thought.
"It will change our existing notions of privacy. A surveillance society is not only inevitable, it's worse. It's irresistible," said Jeff Jonas, a distinguished engineer with IBM. Jonas spoke to a packed house of several hundred people Wednesday at the Structure Big Data 2011 conference here.
For businesses, knowing where people are by using geo-locational data will help them personalize advertising and marketing materials over the Web. For example, if a company knows a customer is in Aruba, it won't bother offering him or her advertising for restaurants in New York, but instead it may market sun-tanning lotion or scuba-diving excursions.
Knowing where people are will also determine with accuracy which potential customer is which. For example, if there are five people living in the U.S. with the same name and the same date of birth, but live in different cities, knowing their locations at a given time verifies their identities.
Other companies are using big data analytics to track the use of content on their Web sites in order to better tailor it to users' tastes.
Sondra Russell, a metrics analyst with National Public Radio, said she needed a way to track Web site audience use trends in near real time. NPR offers podcasts, live streams, on-demand streams and other radio content on its Web site. Her organization had been using Web analytics engine Omniture, but it felt like she was trying to jam log-based data into a client-side tracking system that couldn't handle the volume.
Russell said NPR experienced query delays that at best were six to 12 hours long and at worst, weeks long. The organization finally switched to Splunk's reporting tool, which crawls logs, metrics and other application, server and network data and indexes it in a searchable repository.
"I just want to know how many times someone listened to a program during a certain period of time," she said. "With Splunk I had no delays between data appearing in a query folder and data appearing in reports. I can get any number of graphs without weeks of prep time."
Link:
http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=1A7AAB63-1A64-6A71-CEB3FEE2FB6B5E04
"It will change our existing notions of privacy. A surveillance society is not only inevitable, it's worse. It's irresistible," said Jeff Jonas, a distinguished engineer with IBM. Jonas spoke to a packed house of several hundred people Wednesday at the Structure Big Data 2011 conference here.
For businesses, knowing where people are by using geo-locational data will help them personalize advertising and marketing materials over the Web. For example, if a company knows a customer is in Aruba, it won't bother offering him or her advertising for restaurants in New York, but instead it may market sun-tanning lotion or scuba-diving excursions.
Knowing where people are will also determine with accuracy which potential customer is which. For example, if there are five people living in the U.S. with the same name and the same date of birth, but live in different cities, knowing their locations at a given time verifies their identities.
Other companies are using big data analytics to track the use of content on their Web sites in order to better tailor it to users' tastes.
Sondra Russell, a metrics analyst with National Public Radio, said she needed a way to track Web site audience use trends in near real time. NPR offers podcasts, live streams, on-demand streams and other radio content on its Web site. Her organization had been using Web analytics engine Omniture, but it felt like she was trying to jam log-based data into a client-side tracking system that couldn't handle the volume.
Russell said NPR experienced query delays that at best were six to 12 hours long and at worst, weeks long. The organization finally switched to Splunk's reporting tool, which crawls logs, metrics and other application, server and network data and indexes it in a searchable repository.
"I just want to know how many times someone listened to a program during a certain period of time," she said. "With Splunk I had no delays between data appearing in a query folder and data appearing in reports. I can get any number of graphs without weeks of prep time."
Link:
http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=1A7AAB63-1A64-6A71-CEB3FEE2FB6B5E04
The FBI and local police to target Americans suspected of crimes.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations announced recently that it is dedicating up to $1 billion for a Lockheed Martin-developed system that will enable on-the-fly analysis of detailed identification information that can be instantaneously shared with law enforcement all around the world.
It's called the "Next Generation Identification System" (NGIS), and if you're a fan of television dramas like the CBS crime drama NCIS, it may sound pretty familiar.
The FBI says their forthcoming system is an "incremental" upgrade to their currently-existing "Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System" (IAFIS), but it's more than just an upgrade: it's a revolution in law enforcement technology that's bound to draw comparisons to the "Total Information Awareness" (TIA) project Congress ostensibly shut down in 2004.
The TIA project, however, was broader in scope, targeting private individuals all over the world instead of just suspected criminals or terrorists.
While the initial stage of NGIS deals solely with fingerprints, the FBI said it will eventually upscale to include detailed biometrics like retina prints, facial mapping, palm prints, voice
One aspect of the program that's likely to draw a sharp reacting from civil liberties advocates is the provision of electronic fingerprint scanners to state and local police agencies.
The FBI says these scanners will be used to collect biometric data from "suspects," as opposed to those convicted of crimes. That data would then be sent wirelessly to the NGIS, where it can be accessed by law enforcement anywhere.
Link:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/24/fbi-dedicates-1-billion-to-massive-biometrics-identification-program/
It's called the "Next Generation Identification System" (NGIS), and if you're a fan of television dramas like the CBS crime drama NCIS, it may sound pretty familiar.
The FBI says their forthcoming system is an "incremental" upgrade to their currently-existing "Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System" (IAFIS), but it's more than just an upgrade: it's a revolution in law enforcement technology that's bound to draw comparisons to the "Total Information Awareness" (TIA) project Congress ostensibly shut down in 2004.
The TIA project, however, was broader in scope, targeting private individuals all over the world instead of just suspected criminals or terrorists.
While the initial stage of NGIS deals solely with fingerprints, the FBI said it will eventually upscale to include detailed biometrics like retina prints, facial mapping, palm prints, voice
One aspect of the program that's likely to draw a sharp reacting from civil liberties advocates is the provision of electronic fingerprint scanners to state and local police agencies.
The FBI says these scanners will be used to collect biometric data from "suspects," as opposed to those convicted of crimes. That data would then be sent wirelessly to the NGIS, where it can be accessed by law enforcement anywhere.
Link:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/24/fbi-dedicates-1-billion-to-massive-biometrics-identification-program/
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Atlanta- Judge tosses out a man's indictment because the courtroom wasn't open to the public.
The dismissal of a 31-count racketeering and theft indictment against former Cobb EMC chief Dwight Brown over an access issue could put thousands of criminal proceedings in jeopardy, the district attorney for Cobb County said Wednesday.
That would include 15 indictments issued in the same new courtroom and on the same day as Brown -- that involved charges of rape, false imprisonment, child molestation, aggravated assault, armed robbery, illegal possession of firearms by a felon, auto theft and identity fraud.
Judge Robert Flournoy tossed out Brown's indictment when he ruled that the courtroom used was not open to the public, or accessible, as the law requires.
District Attorney Pat Head said thousands of other cases might be affected because they were conducted in courtroom facilities at the county jail, another potential access issue. The potential ripple effects of the ruling on the county's judicial system have caused Head's office to appeal Judge Robert Flournoy's ruling instead of re-indicting Brown.
Drew Findling, a local defense attorney, said he doubted the ruling would have a widespread impact, such as Head suggested, because of the unusual circumstances of the Brown indictment.
"I don't see this as a floodgate opening, "Findling said.
Findling said most indictments are handed down with no public present because no one knows when they're going to happen. The Brown indictment, though, was highly anticipated by the news media.
"What you had here is some highly skilled, highly intelligent and highly motivated attorneys who are going to do everything they can to get the indictment thrown out," Findling said.
Link: http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/cobb-da-said-emc-883622.html
That would include 15 indictments issued in the same new courtroom and on the same day as Brown -- that involved charges of rape, false imprisonment, child molestation, aggravated assault, armed robbery, illegal possession of firearms by a felon, auto theft and identity fraud.
Judge Robert Flournoy tossed out Brown's indictment when he ruled that the courtroom used was not open to the public, or accessible, as the law requires.
District Attorney Pat Head said thousands of other cases might be affected because they were conducted in courtroom facilities at the county jail, another potential access issue. The potential ripple effects of the ruling on the county's judicial system have caused Head's office to appeal Judge Robert Flournoy's ruling instead of re-indicting Brown.
Drew Findling, a local defense attorney, said he doubted the ruling would have a widespread impact, such as Head suggested, because of the unusual circumstances of the Brown indictment.
"I don't see this as a floodgate opening, "Findling said.
Findling said most indictments are handed down with no public present because no one knows when they're going to happen. The Brown indictment, though, was highly anticipated by the news media.
"What you had here is some highly skilled, highly intelligent and highly motivated attorneys who are going to do everything they can to get the indictment thrown out," Findling said.
Link: http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/cobb-da-said-emc-883622.html
Philadelphia police admit to wrongfully charging more than 1,147 people with DUI's.
An error in the calibration of several of the Philadelphia Police Department's Breathalyzer machines means that more than the people charged in 1,147 drunk-driving cases could ask for new trials, police said today.
Police said the improperly calibrated machines were used from September 2009 through November 2010. The District Attorney's office is in the process of notifying those charged in cases during that time.
The mistake was discovered last month by a defense attorney, who officials said brought it to the department's attention.
The glitch was due to "human error," according to Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, who said the officer in charge of calibrating the machines has been moved to a new job within the department. An internal investigation is under way, he said, and the department is currently having all its machines examined.
Link: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/118503859.html
Police said the improperly calibrated machines were used from September 2009 through November 2010. The District Attorney's office is in the process of notifying those charged in cases during that time.
The mistake was discovered last month by a defense attorney, who officials said brought it to the department's attention.
The glitch was due to "human error," according to Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, who said the officer in charge of calibrating the machines has been moved to a new job within the department. An internal investigation is under way, he said, and the department is currently having all its machines examined.
Link: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/118503859.html
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
DHS encourages Americans to spy on each other during the NCAA tournament.
Fans attending this year’s March Madness games will be greeted by a video of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and NCAA President Mark Emmert encouraging them to “say something” if they see suspicious activities.
The video, which will also appear at most other winter championship events, is part of a national campaign sponsored by Homeland Security to raise citizen awareness in high-profile environments such as major events and public transit.
Security at the games has always been a priority for the NCAA, but the rapid growth of the Final Four in recent years has prompted the Association to assess security practices even more closely and to scale procedures to fit the constantly evolving environment.
Communication among the various groups involved will be key, NCAA security expert Khalil Johnson of Common Sense Consultants said. In addition to constant communication among the various stakeholders, there will be daily briefings for all staff working inside the building.
“The level of information about what’s going on in and around Reliant Park will be staggering,” Johnson said.
In the end, said Johnson, “most of the things that relate to the fan’s experience from a safety standpoint, they won’t really be aware of.”
It should read: The level of surveillance on the public will be staggering! Most of the spying and encouraging the public to report on each other they really won't be aware of.
When fans arrive at Reliant Park, they will be funneled through an expanded perimeter, increasing the distance between the entry point and the facility. Johnson would not comment on specific security screening practices.
Link:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/resources/latest+news/2011/march/ncaa,+homeland+security+partner+in+planning+a+safe+final+four
The video, which will also appear at most other winter championship events, is part of a national campaign sponsored by Homeland Security to raise citizen awareness in high-profile environments such as major events and public transit.
Security at the games has always been a priority for the NCAA, but the rapid growth of the Final Four in recent years has prompted the Association to assess security practices even more closely and to scale procedures to fit the constantly evolving environment.
Communication among the various groups involved will be key, NCAA security expert Khalil Johnson of Common Sense Consultants said. In addition to constant communication among the various stakeholders, there will be daily briefings for all staff working inside the building.
“The level of information about what’s going on in and around Reliant Park will be staggering,” Johnson said.
In the end, said Johnson, “most of the things that relate to the fan’s experience from a safety standpoint, they won’t really be aware of.”
It should read: The level of surveillance on the public will be staggering! Most of the spying and encouraging the public to report on each other they really won't be aware of.
When fans arrive at Reliant Park, they will be funneled through an expanded perimeter, increasing the distance between the entry point and the facility. Johnson would not comment on specific security screening practices.
Link:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/resources/latest+news/2011/march/ncaa,+homeland+security+partner+in+planning+a+safe+final+four
How much does your state know about you?
"There are a lot of “big brother” types of news stories or columns in the media, and obviously, I don’t post all of them to my blog. But this one by Mike Myer in a West Virginia publication, The Intelligencer, is a terrific example of why the public should be concerned – or at least more aware – of how states compile detailed dossiers on us that may include incorrect information that can then either be used against us or can make things more difficult for us.
To protect privacy and security, I often give fake answers to security questions that are then stored in case I ever need to get a new password issued. Using a fake answer gives me some small – and probably unwarranted — sense of security that even if my account were hacked, the hackers would not obtain my true details on certain things. Of course, remembering what lie/fake answer you gave a few years later when you may need to remember it can be difficult, and I may re-use the same lie/fake info across multiple situations.
But what if those fake answers were viewed as accurate information on me because a government agency purchased a commercial database? How could that come back to create problems for me? Mike Myer gave truthful – and correct – answers to identity verification questions and had difficulty convincing the VISTA system that he is, indeed, himself. Where is the mechanism for correcting state or governmental databases? How do we find out what our states and federal government have on us in terms of all of these details?
And more importantly, why are they even collecting and retaining so much information? Does my state really need to know where I lived for a year in the 1970′s?
Just because states and the federal government can compile detailed dossiers of the details of our lives doesn’t mean they should. Who’s reining in this over-exuberant and troubling over-collection of often-incorrect information? While Congress debates legislation that would allow us to discover what information is available about us in databases and provide a mechanism to correct it, the burden seemingly remains on individuals. Why should we have to spend our time and money ensuring that some commercial database that profits from our information got it correct? Shouldn’t that be part of their cost of doing business?
Details on my income and the careers of myself and my wife, along with lots more information about how I get my money and how I spend it (tax returns). Perhaps, through the state Department of Education, officials may still have information on what I studied in school and how well I performed there.
This is only slightly less than scary, folks. The state instantly knows more about me than I can recall easily.
It's bad enough all that is available to who knows how many people in state government. But I suspect a moderately capable computer hacker could get the details on me, too - and then he would be off to the races with identity theft."
Amicus Brief:
http://epic.org/amicus/tolentino/Tolentino_Final.pdf
Links: http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=21799
http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/553181/Big-Brother-Has-Been-Watching.html?nav=509
To protect privacy and security, I often give fake answers to security questions that are then stored in case I ever need to get a new password issued. Using a fake answer gives me some small – and probably unwarranted — sense of security that even if my account were hacked, the hackers would not obtain my true details on certain things. Of course, remembering what lie/fake answer you gave a few years later when you may need to remember it can be difficult, and I may re-use the same lie/fake info across multiple situations.
But what if those fake answers were viewed as accurate information on me because a government agency purchased a commercial database? How could that come back to create problems for me? Mike Myer gave truthful – and correct – answers to identity verification questions and had difficulty convincing the VISTA system that he is, indeed, himself. Where is the mechanism for correcting state or governmental databases? How do we find out what our states and federal government have on us in terms of all of these details?
And more importantly, why are they even collecting and retaining so much information? Does my state really need to know where I lived for a year in the 1970′s?
Just because states and the federal government can compile detailed dossiers of the details of our lives doesn’t mean they should. Who’s reining in this over-exuberant and troubling over-collection of often-incorrect information? While Congress debates legislation that would allow us to discover what information is available about us in databases and provide a mechanism to correct it, the burden seemingly remains on individuals. Why should we have to spend our time and money ensuring that some commercial database that profits from our information got it correct? Shouldn’t that be part of their cost of doing business?
Details on my income and the careers of myself and my wife, along with lots more information about how I get my money and how I spend it (tax returns). Perhaps, through the state Department of Education, officials may still have information on what I studied in school and how well I performed there.
This is only slightly less than scary, folks. The state instantly knows more about me than I can recall easily.
It's bad enough all that is available to who knows how many people in state government. But I suspect a moderately capable computer hacker could get the details on me, too - and then he would be off to the races with identity theft."
Amicus Brief:
http://epic.org/amicus/tolentino/Tolentino_Final.pdf
Links: http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=21799
http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/553181/Big-Brother-Has-Been-Watching.html?nav=509
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
The U. S. military can manipulate social media websites and spread pro-American propaganda.
The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.
A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with United States Central Command (Centcom), which oversees US armed operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, to develop what is described as an "online persona management service" that will allow one US serviceman or woman to control up to 10 separate identities based all over the world.
The discovery that the US military is developing false online personalities – known to users of social media as "sock puppets" – could also encourage other governments, private companies and non-government organisations to do the same.
The Centcom contract stipulates that each fake online persona must have a convincing background, history and supporting details, and that up to 50 US-based controllers should be able to operate false identities from their workstations "without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries".
Link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks
A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with United States Central Command (Centcom), which oversees US armed operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, to develop what is described as an "online persona management service" that will allow one US serviceman or woman to control up to 10 separate identities based all over the world.
The discovery that the US military is developing false online personalities – known to users of social media as "sock puppets" – could also encourage other governments, private companies and non-government organisations to do the same.
The Centcom contract stipulates that each fake online persona must have a convincing background, history and supporting details, and that up to 50 US-based controllers should be able to operate false identities from their workstations "without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries".
Link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks
Is the U. S. court system waking up and questioning criminal science?
For decades, prosecutors have relied on crime-solving techniques such as fingerprints, ballistics analysis, and eyewitness accounts to put people behind bars, even on death row. Now, in the aftermath of the stunning impact of DNA testing, many of those time-tested methods are under legal attack.
With mounting proof that eyewitness accounts are often wrong, New Jersey is examining how such evidence should be used, while a Pennsylvania committee is expected next month to make recommendations aimed at preventing wrongful convictions.
Fingerprint and firearm analyses, arson investigations, and forensic conclusions about bite marks, footprints, and hair and fiber comparisons have, in varying degrees, all been called into question. There are even growing concerns about what was once considered unassailable evidence of guilt - a confession.
"People in the criminal justice system, including judges, have a lot more skepticism than they once had," said Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner, who has presided over criminal cases for more than 20 years.
David L. Faigman, a professor at the University of California Hastings School of the Law, said one day people would look back with dismay on all the defendants convicted of crimes based on "pseudoscience" and old-fashioned techniques.
"Our children's children . . . will say the legal system was profoundly ignorant about science," said Faigman. "We're turning a corner, but like a luxury liner, it takes a long time to change direction. And there are a lot of hurdles."
Link:
http://articles.philly.com/2011-03-21/news/29171675_1_dna-testing-wrongful-convictions-validity
With mounting proof that eyewitness accounts are often wrong, New Jersey is examining how such evidence should be used, while a Pennsylvania committee is expected next month to make recommendations aimed at preventing wrongful convictions.
Fingerprint and firearm analyses, arson investigations, and forensic conclusions about bite marks, footprints, and hair and fiber comparisons have, in varying degrees, all been called into question. There are even growing concerns about what was once considered unassailable evidence of guilt - a confession.
"People in the criminal justice system, including judges, have a lot more skepticism than they once had," said Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner, who has presided over criminal cases for more than 20 years.
David L. Faigman, a professor at the University of California Hastings School of the Law, said one day people would look back with dismay on all the defendants convicted of crimes based on "pseudoscience" and old-fashioned techniques.
"Our children's children . . . will say the legal system was profoundly ignorant about science," said Faigman. "We're turning a corner, but like a luxury liner, it takes a long time to change direction. And there are a lot of hurdles."
Link:
http://articles.philly.com/2011-03-21/news/29171675_1_dna-testing-wrongful-convictions-validity
Monday, March 21, 2011
Did the corruption investigation into Boston politics go far enough?
The FBI used Ron Wilburn, and then tossed him aside. The feds got Wilburn, a Roxbury businessman, to wear a wire while passing bribes to Dianne Wilkerson and Chuck Turner. But after snaring the two black Boston politicians, they shut their investigation down, leaving all sorts of white political crooks untouched. That’s Wilburn’s take on his role in the sting that netted Wilkerson and Turner stiff federal prison sentences.
For two years now, Wilburn has been a bitter critic of federal investigators and prosecutors. He stopped cooperating with the feds in February 2009, telling the Globe he was angry that their investigation hadn’t snagged anyone else inside City Hall or the State House. His anger at the prosecution was so great that he considered refusing to testify at Turner’s trial, telling the Globe, “You mean to tell me that the only people investigated in terms of criminal wrongdoing were Dianne and Chuck Turner? There's no way.”
Wilburn’s testimony shows federal prosecutors inquiring about Daniel Pokaski, the former head of the Boston Licensing Board; Steven Miller, an attorney whose law firm specializes in securing liquor licenses in Boston; Arthur Winn, the real estate developer behind a South End mega-development that was a pet cause of Wilkerson’s; the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, whom Wilkerson met with about casino gambling; developers Edward Zuker and Ed Fish; and contractor and Jay Cashman.
Link:
http://www.commonwealthmagazine.org/Voices/Back-Story/2011/Winter/Rumored-corruption.aspx
For two years now, Wilburn has been a bitter critic of federal investigators and prosecutors. He stopped cooperating with the feds in February 2009, telling the Globe he was angry that their investigation hadn’t snagged anyone else inside City Hall or the State House. His anger at the prosecution was so great that he considered refusing to testify at Turner’s trial, telling the Globe, “You mean to tell me that the only people investigated in terms of criminal wrongdoing were Dianne and Chuck Turner? There's no way.”
Wilburn’s testimony shows federal prosecutors inquiring about Daniel Pokaski, the former head of the Boston Licensing Board; Steven Miller, an attorney whose law firm specializes in securing liquor licenses in Boston; Arthur Winn, the real estate developer behind a South End mega-development that was a pet cause of Wilkerson’s; the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, whom Wilkerson met with about casino gambling; developers Edward Zuker and Ed Fish; and contractor and Jay Cashman.
Link:
http://www.commonwealthmagazine.org/Voices/Back-Story/2011/Winter/Rumored-corruption.aspx
Privacy policies on websites do they disclose enough?
In online privacy, for instance, giving notice about their practices is among the only affirmative obligations websites face. The strategy is also one of the most heavily criticized. Not only does no one read privacy policies, skeptics rightly point out, but many believe that their mere existence guarantees certain base level protections that may or may not exist.
Should we give up on notice? My recent draft paper argues: maybe not. We should explore two possibilities, at any rate, before we do. The first is that regulators may sometimes select the wrong form of notice for the job. Today most website “terms” say that the company “may disclose data pursuant to lawful requests.” That does very little to further user understanding or action. But maybe it could work to:
•Require a “warning” that email is about to pass 180 days into the territory of mere subpoena;
•Require law enforcement or permit companies to “notify” targets of a subpoena so they can fight it; or
•Require law enforcement and companies to “report” on the overall volume of subpoenas.
Link: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/node/6641
Should we give up on notice? My recent draft paper argues: maybe not. We should explore two possibilities, at any rate, before we do. The first is that regulators may sometimes select the wrong form of notice for the job. Today most website “terms” say that the company “may disclose data pursuant to lawful requests.” That does very little to further user understanding or action. But maybe it could work to:
•Require a “warning” that email is about to pass 180 days into the territory of mere subpoena;
•Require law enforcement or permit companies to “notify” targets of a subpoena so they can fight it; or
•Require law enforcement and companies to “report” on the overall volume of subpoenas.
Link: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/node/6641
Friday, March 18, 2011
Insurers are ruling some claims as suicide even though medical reports listed them as accidents.
Jane Pierce spent nine years struggling alongside her husband, Todd, as he fought cancer in his sinus cavity. The treatments were working. Then, in July 2009, Todd died in a fiery car crash. He was 46. That was the beginning of a whole new battle for Jane Pierce, this time with Todd’s life insurance company, MetLife Inc.
A state medical examiner and a sheriff in Rosebud County, Montana, concluded that Pierce’s death was an accident, caused when he lost control of his silver GMC pickup after passing a car on a two-lane road.
Their findings meant Jane was eligible to collect $224,000 on the accidental death insurance policy that Todd had through his employer, power producer PPL Corp. MetLife, however, refused to pay. The nation’s largest life insurer told Pierce on Dec. 8, 2009, that her husband had killed himself. The policy didn’t cover suicide, the insurer said, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its April issue.
Life insurers have found myriad ways to delay and deny paying death benefits to families, civil court cases across the U.S. show. Since 2008, federal judges have concluded that some insurers cheated survivors by twisting facts, fabricating excuses and ignoring autopsy findings in withholding death benefits.
Insurers can make erroneous arguments with near impunity when it comes to the 112.8 million life and accidental death policies provided by companies and associations to their employees and members. That’s because of loopholes in a federal law intended to protect worker benefits.
John Langbein, a professor at Yale Law School “It’s their job to protect the insurance pool by blocking undeserved payouts,” Langbein says. That doesn’t give them the right to wrongly deny claims, he adds. “There’s a profound structural conflict of interest,” he says. “The insurer benefits if it rejects the claim. Insurers like to take in premiums. They don’t like to pay out claims.”
Link:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-01/accidental-death-becomes-suicide-when-insurers-dodge-paying-life-benefits.html
A state medical examiner and a sheriff in Rosebud County, Montana, concluded that Pierce’s death was an accident, caused when he lost control of his silver GMC pickup after passing a car on a two-lane road.
Their findings meant Jane was eligible to collect $224,000 on the accidental death insurance policy that Todd had through his employer, power producer PPL Corp. MetLife, however, refused to pay. The nation’s largest life insurer told Pierce on Dec. 8, 2009, that her husband had killed himself. The policy didn’t cover suicide, the insurer said, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its April issue.
Life insurers have found myriad ways to delay and deny paying death benefits to families, civil court cases across the U.S. show. Since 2008, federal judges have concluded that some insurers cheated survivors by twisting facts, fabricating excuses and ignoring autopsy findings in withholding death benefits.
Insurers can make erroneous arguments with near impunity when it comes to the 112.8 million life and accidental death policies provided by companies and associations to their employees and members. That’s because of loopholes in a federal law intended to protect worker benefits.
John Langbein, a professor at Yale Law School “It’s their job to protect the insurance pool by blocking undeserved payouts,” Langbein says. That doesn’t give them the right to wrongly deny claims, he adds. “There’s a profound structural conflict of interest,” he says. “The insurer benefits if it rejects the claim. Insurers like to take in premiums. They don’t like to pay out claims.”
Link:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-01/accidental-death-becomes-suicide-when-insurers-dodge-paying-life-benefits.html
An unprotected wireless router nearly leads to an innocent victim being arrested and labeled a sex offender.
SARASOTA, FL - Malcolm Riddell awoke at 6 a.m. one day last year to some of the most heart-sinking words a homeowner can hear: "FBI, open up."
When he did, a dozen armed FBI agents swarmed through the lawyer's lofty Palm Avenue condo in downtown Sarasota. They held him against the wall, separated him from his wife and then questioned him on the porch looking down 12 stories onto Sarasota Bay.
Riddell says he was not nervous or scared, just clueless. The FBI agents searched through his computer equipment for a while, then made it all clear: child pornography images were flowing through Riddell's wireless Internet connection.
Riddell's unprotected(unencrypted)wireless router put him in the middle of a child pornography investigation that would eventually lead to a man who admitted possessing and sending 10 million illegal files from a boat in the Sarasota marina below Riddell's windows.
"How in the world could that be?" Riddell said. "We started discussing the possibilities."
The agents cleared Riddell that June morning of any suspicion. But for a short time, Riddell faced accusations of a felony crime that can lead to decades behind bars and a lifetime designation as a sex offender.
As the FBI searched his home, Riddell learned first-hand the dangers of leaving a home wireless router unprotected without a password, and open for others to jump on and use his Internet service.
But the dangers became clear when the FBI convinced Riddell to let them put a tracer on his router to see if they could catch the person using the screen names "Hardalone243," "Hardpedo" and "Hard_foryou68."
"At that point there were six people on my router," Riddell said. "We didn't know which one was the guy."
The FBI had been tracking "Hardalone243" since September 2009, but needed help identifying him, according to a special agent's affidavit filed in federal court.
Agents say they eventually tracked the images back to Mark Brown, 52, who was arrested Sept. 30 on a boat, "Aloan at Last."
Brown worked as the captain of the yacht, moored in the Sarasota Marina within view of Riddell's building. FBI agents say Brown used several unsecured, non-password protected wireless networks near the boat.
In interviews after his arrest, Brown told investigators he had more than 10 million files of child pornography photos and videos on his computer. Brown remains in custody while awaiting trial on a federal child pornography charge that could result in decades in prison if convicted.
Link:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110131/ARTICLE/101311038?p=1&tc=pg&tc=ar
When he did, a dozen armed FBI agents swarmed through the lawyer's lofty Palm Avenue condo in downtown Sarasota. They held him against the wall, separated him from his wife and then questioned him on the porch looking down 12 stories onto Sarasota Bay.
Riddell says he was not nervous or scared, just clueless. The FBI agents searched through his computer equipment for a while, then made it all clear: child pornography images were flowing through Riddell's wireless Internet connection.
Riddell's unprotected(unencrypted)wireless router put him in the middle of a child pornography investigation that would eventually lead to a man who admitted possessing and sending 10 million illegal files from a boat in the Sarasota marina below Riddell's windows.
"How in the world could that be?" Riddell said. "We started discussing the possibilities."
The agents cleared Riddell that June morning of any suspicion. But for a short time, Riddell faced accusations of a felony crime that can lead to decades behind bars and a lifetime designation as a sex offender.
As the FBI searched his home, Riddell learned first-hand the dangers of leaving a home wireless router unprotected without a password, and open for others to jump on and use his Internet service.
But the dangers became clear when the FBI convinced Riddell to let them put a tracer on his router to see if they could catch the person using the screen names "Hardalone243," "Hardpedo" and "Hard_foryou68."
"At that point there were six people on my router," Riddell said. "We didn't know which one was the guy."
The FBI had been tracking "Hardalone243" since September 2009, but needed help identifying him, according to a special agent's affidavit filed in federal court.
Agents say they eventually tracked the images back to Mark Brown, 52, who was arrested Sept. 30 on a boat, "Aloan at Last."
Brown worked as the captain of the yacht, moored in the Sarasota Marina within view of Riddell's building. FBI agents say Brown used several unsecured, non-password protected wireless networks near the boat.
In interviews after his arrest, Brown told investigators he had more than 10 million files of child pornography photos and videos on his computer. Brown remains in custody while awaiting trial on a federal child pornography charge that could result in decades in prison if convicted.
Link:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110131/ARTICLE/101311038?p=1&tc=pg&tc=ar
A University of Georgia student used Facebook to foil armed robbery.
University of Georgia sophomore Nitesh Bhakta said Facebook helped foil an armed robbery in progress at his family's Cartersville home Wednesday night. The 20-year-old was in his room on his laptop when he heard his grandmother scream.
"As soon as I opened my door, I saw three hooded guys like all masked in black at the front door," Bhakta said. "I shut my door, locked it, grabbed my laptop, went into the attic and hid."
Having left his cell phone in Athens, Bhakta assessed his limited options.
"I don't think Facebook is really meant as a lifesaving tool, but it's the only way I could think of contacting someone immediately to call for help," he said.
So, as the intruders rifled through the home, Bhakta updated his Facebook status: "HELP, ROBBERS, NO PHONE." In all caps, naturally.
"A lot of people thought it was a joke," he said.
Fortunately his best friend, John Salter, took him seriously, notifying Bartow County sheriff's deputies as Bhatka hid in the dark.
Deputies apprehended one of the alleged thieves, who has not been identified. The others escaped but should be easy to trace.
Link:
http://www.ajc.com/news/uga-student-uses-facebook-876584.html?cxtype=rss_news
"As soon as I opened my door, I saw three hooded guys like all masked in black at the front door," Bhakta said. "I shut my door, locked it, grabbed my laptop, went into the attic and hid."
Having left his cell phone in Athens, Bhakta assessed his limited options.
"I don't think Facebook is really meant as a lifesaving tool, but it's the only way I could think of contacting someone immediately to call for help," he said.
So, as the intruders rifled through the home, Bhakta updated his Facebook status: "HELP, ROBBERS, NO PHONE." In all caps, naturally.
"A lot of people thought it was a joke," he said.
Fortunately his best friend, John Salter, took him seriously, notifying Bartow County sheriff's deputies as Bhatka hid in the dark.
Deputies apprehended one of the alleged thieves, who has not been identified. The others escaped but should be easy to trace.
Link:
http://www.ajc.com/news/uga-student-uses-facebook-876584.html?cxtype=rss_news
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Police state in Oklahoma City, a new bill authorizes law enforcement officers to arrest someone without a warrant.
OKLAHOMA CITY -- A sweeping anti-illegal immigration bill that allows police to arrest people they suspect are in the country illegally and seize property used to commit immigration-related crimes has passed the Oklahoma Senate.
The Senate voted 29-15 on Wednesday for the bill over the objections of some members who say the plan is unconstitutional and would be detrimental to Oklahoma's economy.
The bill authorizes law enforcement officers to arrest someone without a warrant, if the officer has "probable cause" to believe the person is in the country illegally.
It also allows police to seize property, like homes or vehicles, used to knowingly harbor or transport illegal immigrants.
Link:
http://www.kfor.com/news/local/kfor-news-illegal-immigration-bill-arrest-seize-story,0,5042120.story
The Senate voted 29-15 on Wednesday for the bill over the objections of some members who say the plan is unconstitutional and would be detrimental to Oklahoma's economy.
The bill authorizes law enforcement officers to arrest someone without a warrant, if the officer has "probable cause" to believe the person is in the country illegally.
It also allows police to seize property, like homes or vehicles, used to knowingly harbor or transport illegal immigrants.
Link:
http://www.kfor.com/news/local/kfor-news-illegal-immigration-bill-arrest-seize-story,0,5042120.story
Nation Institute of Justice report: A better way to interview child victims of sexual abuse.
Child protection authorities substantiated 68,000 cases of child sexual abuse in 2008, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. In many child sexual abuse cases, there is no witness other than the child and no corroborating evidence — the entire case can hang on a child's recollection of the alleged abuse. One way to help avoid false accusations and ensure justice in these cases is to strengthen law enforcement's ability to elicit accurate information from children. As the authors of the study discussed in this article note, "The quality of forensic interviewing practices is of utmost importance if child victims are to be protected, at the same time as the rights of the innocent suspects are to be upheld."
We have gained considerable knowledge in the last two decades about child development, memory and cognition, and researchers have developed several techniques for improving the way child victims of sexual abuse are interviewed. One technique that showed promise in a laboratory has now been tested in the field in Utah's criminal justice system. The interview protocol was developed by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The NICHD began developing its interview protocol in the 1990s. According to Margaret-Ellen Pipe, a member of the team that has developed and tested the protocol, "In the '80s people started recognizing children could provide reliable evidence. There had been real skepticism prior to that whether you would believe children."
In an NIJ-funded study, a team of researchers led by Pipe investigated how the NICHD protocol might affect prosecution outcomes. Their findings make it clear that the training and NICHD protocol elicit more information from possible victims. The findings cannot, of course, determine whether the information is more accurate — that is, the findings cannot definitively confirm details of what happened. But it is clear that after the protocol was introduced, prosecutors accepted more cases; and more cases that went to trial resulted in conviction than before the protocol was introduced.
At the beginning of the conversation, the child and the interviewer discuss expectations and set ground rules: this is the introductory phase. Interviewers then ask children to talk about events unrelated to the suspected abuse; the idea is to encourage the child to be comfortable leading the conversation by developing this rapport. In this phase, the "child learns the conversational rules, because they are different from many conversations in which children take part," Pipe explained.
Later, interviewers encourage children to recall the target incident and talk about it in a narrative stream, as opposed to answering directed questions about it, one after another. Evidence indicates open-ended prompts draw out more accurate information than ones that simply elicit a child's recognition. The techniques discourage suggestive leads or questions with yes/no or either/or answers: "Where were his clothes?" for example, is preferred over, "Were his clothes on the floor?"
Link:
http://www.nij.gov/nij/journals/267/child-victim-interview.htm#note1
We have gained considerable knowledge in the last two decades about child development, memory and cognition, and researchers have developed several techniques for improving the way child victims of sexual abuse are interviewed. One technique that showed promise in a laboratory has now been tested in the field in Utah's criminal justice system. The interview protocol was developed by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The NICHD began developing its interview protocol in the 1990s. According to Margaret-Ellen Pipe, a member of the team that has developed and tested the protocol, "In the '80s people started recognizing children could provide reliable evidence. There had been real skepticism prior to that whether you would believe children."
In an NIJ-funded study, a team of researchers led by Pipe investigated how the NICHD protocol might affect prosecution outcomes. Their findings make it clear that the training and NICHD protocol elicit more information from possible victims. The findings cannot, of course, determine whether the information is more accurate — that is, the findings cannot definitively confirm details of what happened. But it is clear that after the protocol was introduced, prosecutors accepted more cases; and more cases that went to trial resulted in conviction than before the protocol was introduced.
At the beginning of the conversation, the child and the interviewer discuss expectations and set ground rules: this is the introductory phase. Interviewers then ask children to talk about events unrelated to the suspected abuse; the idea is to encourage the child to be comfortable leading the conversation by developing this rapport. In this phase, the "child learns the conversational rules, because they are different from many conversations in which children take part," Pipe explained.
Later, interviewers encourage children to recall the target incident and talk about it in a narrative stream, as opposed to answering directed questions about it, one after another. Evidence indicates open-ended prompts draw out more accurate information than ones that simply elicit a child's recognition. The techniques discourage suggestive leads or questions with yes/no or either/or answers: "Where were his clothes?" for example, is preferred over, "Were his clothes on the floor?"
Link:
http://www.nij.gov/nij/journals/267/child-victim-interview.htm#note1
The world’s smallest digital video camera is the size of a grain of salt.
Tiny video cameras mounted on the end of long thin fiber optic cables, commonly known as endoscopes, have proven invaluable to doctors and researchers wishing to peer inside the human body. Endoscopes can be rather pricey, however, and like anything else that gets put inside peoples' bodies, need to be sanitized after each use. A newly-developed type of endoscope is claimed to address those drawbacks by being so inexpensive to produce that it can be thrown away after each use. Not only that, but it also features what is likely the world's smallest complete video camera, which is just one cubic millimeter in size.
The prototype endoscope was designed at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration, in collaboration with Awaiba GmbH and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering.
Ordinarily, digital video cameras consist of a lens, a sensor, and electrical contacts that relay the data from the sensor. Up to 28,000 sensors are cut out from a silicon disc known as a wafer, after which each one must be individually wired up with contacts and mounted to a lens.
The new camera has a resolution of 62,500 pixels, and it transmits its images via an electrical cable, as opposed to an optical fiber. Its creators believe it could be used not only in medicine, but also in fields such as automotive design, where it could act as an aerodynamic replacement for side mirrors, or be used to monitor drivers for signs of fatigue. The invention will have a myriad of applications in the medical and research fields, but just imagine the possibilities in surveillance.
Link: http://www.gizmag.com/salt-sized-disposable-endoscopic-camera/18108/
The prototype endoscope was designed at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration, in collaboration with Awaiba GmbH and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering.
Ordinarily, digital video cameras consist of a lens, a sensor, and electrical contacts that relay the data from the sensor. Up to 28,000 sensors are cut out from a silicon disc known as a wafer, after which each one must be individually wired up with contacts and mounted to a lens.
The new camera has a resolution of 62,500 pixels, and it transmits its images via an electrical cable, as opposed to an optical fiber. Its creators believe it could be used not only in medicine, but also in fields such as automotive design, where it could act as an aerodynamic replacement for side mirrors, or be used to monitor drivers for signs of fatigue. The invention will have a myriad of applications in the medical and research fields, but just imagine the possibilities in surveillance.
Link: http://www.gizmag.com/salt-sized-disposable-endoscopic-camera/18108/
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Why Former Attleboro, MA. Police Chief Richard Pierce was forced to retire.
Former Attleboro Police Chief Richard Pierce was pushed into retirement after 32 years on the force because he shared sensitive information about an investigation into alleged police brutality with one of the subjects of that investigation – his son, Patrolman Richard Pierce Jr.
The elder Pierce's handling of that investigation, which began last summer after a $400,000 claim was filed against the city and four of its officers, prompted a separate investigation, this one into Chief Pierce's actions. When that investigation was complete, Mayor Kevin Dumas gave the chief a choice: retire or face disciplinary action.
On Sept. 27, 2010, the same day he was informed in a letter by Capt. Kyle Heagney of an internal affairs investigation and complaint into his son’s conduct and recommendation for serious discipline, the elder Pierce contacted his son and advised him of the complaint and seriousness of the matter. It was the first of a few missteps involving communication with his son. It was later revealed that the chief allegedly brought case records to his son's house.
The chief's actions prompted a new investigation – of him. Private investigator and former Tewksbury Police Chief Alfred Donovan was hired by the City of Attleboro to investigate whether Chief Pierce violated the state law or any city procedures in the handling of the incident and was hired to investigate the allegations that excessive and unreasonable force was used by the Officers of the Attleboro Police Department, as alleged in a letter from Burns' attorney.
In his interview with the investigator, Pierce said it is standard procedure, whenever there is a complaint made against an officer, that they get a copy of the report or complaint reports even prior to an investigation.
"What is normal is you get served, you get documents and get it to the insurance company,” Mayor Dumas said. “It is not normal when you go to the employee’s house. You also don’t give them investigatory reports."
Chief Pierce claimed he was trying to keep his distance from his son's investigation.
“I asked him [Pierce Jr.] about the discrepancy in the report that mentioned Jason Burns being tasered in the ambulance,” Chief Pierce wrote in a letter to Mayor Dumas. “I told him that I would not be participating in this matter because of the conflict of interest issues. I gave him a copy of the reports that were submitted to me and advised he should contact his union representative because of the seriousness of the allegations.”
After reading all of the reports, the chief said, he determined that “this is something that I can’t be involved in because of the conflict of interest, that there were some serious allegations made, you know, against my son and that this was going to have to be referred to the mayor’s office.”
Link:
http://attleboro.patch.com/articles/former-attleboro-police-chief-was-forced-to-retire-or-face-disciplinary-action
The elder Pierce's handling of that investigation, which began last summer after a $400,000 claim was filed against the city and four of its officers, prompted a separate investigation, this one into Chief Pierce's actions. When that investigation was complete, Mayor Kevin Dumas gave the chief a choice: retire or face disciplinary action.
On Sept. 27, 2010, the same day he was informed in a letter by Capt. Kyle Heagney of an internal affairs investigation and complaint into his son’s conduct and recommendation for serious discipline, the elder Pierce contacted his son and advised him of the complaint and seriousness of the matter. It was the first of a few missteps involving communication with his son. It was later revealed that the chief allegedly brought case records to his son's house.
The chief's actions prompted a new investigation – of him. Private investigator and former Tewksbury Police Chief Alfred Donovan was hired by the City of Attleboro to investigate whether Chief Pierce violated the state law or any city procedures in the handling of the incident and was hired to investigate the allegations that excessive and unreasonable force was used by the Officers of the Attleboro Police Department, as alleged in a letter from Burns' attorney.
In his interview with the investigator, Pierce said it is standard procedure, whenever there is a complaint made against an officer, that they get a copy of the report or complaint reports even prior to an investigation.
"What is normal is you get served, you get documents and get it to the insurance company,” Mayor Dumas said. “It is not normal when you go to the employee’s house. You also don’t give them investigatory reports."
Chief Pierce claimed he was trying to keep his distance from his son's investigation.
“I asked him [Pierce Jr.] about the discrepancy in the report that mentioned Jason Burns being tasered in the ambulance,” Chief Pierce wrote in a letter to Mayor Dumas. “I told him that I would not be participating in this matter because of the conflict of interest issues. I gave him a copy of the reports that were submitted to me and advised he should contact his union representative because of the seriousness of the allegations.”
After reading all of the reports, the chief said, he determined that “this is something that I can’t be involved in because of the conflict of interest, that there were some serious allegations made, you know, against my son and that this was going to have to be referred to the mayor’s office.”
Link:
http://attleboro.patch.com/articles/former-attleboro-police-chief-was-forced-to-retire-or-face-disciplinary-action
Rehoboth, MA- Three police officers accused of conducting background checks used to intimidate a town official.
A federal grand jury in Boston is investigating three Rehoboth police officers, and officers in several other police departments, for allegedly conducting criminal background checks and motor vehicle checks in order to intimidate at least one town official.
One officer is under investigation for the use of a businessman's American Express card.
The federal grand jury is investigating Rehoboth officers James Casey, Bree Kransisanski and Brien Ramos for allegedly conducting unauthorized criminal and motor vehicle checks on former Rehoboth Selectman Christopher Morra.
The checks occurred between 2006 and 2008, according to an attorney for one of the officers.
The grand jury is also reportedly looking into whether officers in other Massachusetts police departments were also conducting the unauthorized checks.
One officer is under investigation for the use of a businessman's American Express card.
The federal grand jury is investigating Rehoboth officers James Casey, Bree Kransisanski and Brien Ramos for allegedly conducting unauthorized criminal and motor vehicle checks on former Rehoboth Selectman Christopher Morra.
The checks occurred between 2006 and 2008, according to an attorney for one of the officers.
The grand jury is also reportedly looking into whether officers in other Massachusetts police departments were also conducting the unauthorized checks.
Is net neutrality being threatened by large corporations?
AUSTIN, Texas — Sen. Al Franken claimed Monday that big corporations are "hoping to destroy" the Internet and issued a call to arms to several hundred tech-savvy South by Southwest attendees to preserve net neutrality.
"I came here to warn you, the party may be over," Franken said. "They're coming after the Internet hoping to destroy the very thing that makes it such an important medium for independent artists and entrepreneurs: its openness and freedom.”
Net neutrality, he added, is "the First Amendment issue of our time."
"Unfortunately one thing these big corporations have that we don't is the ability to purchase favorable political outcomes," he said. "Big telecoms have lots of lobbyists, and good ones, too. ... The end of net neutrality would benefit no one but these corporate giants."
Franken said talk of a "government takeover" of the Internet by net neutrality critics has as much credibility as claims of "death panels" in the health care legislation and claims that "Obama's a Muslim," calling them a "pantheon of lies."
Link: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51266.html
"I came here to warn you, the party may be over," Franken said. "They're coming after the Internet hoping to destroy the very thing that makes it such an important medium for independent artists and entrepreneurs: its openness and freedom.”
Net neutrality, he added, is "the First Amendment issue of our time."
"Unfortunately one thing these big corporations have that we don't is the ability to purchase favorable political outcomes," he said. "Big telecoms have lots of lobbyists, and good ones, too. ... The end of net neutrality would benefit no one but these corporate giants."
Franken said talk of a "government takeover" of the Internet by net neutrality critics has as much credibility as claims of "death panels" in the health care legislation and claims that "Obama's a Muslim," calling them a "pantheon of lies."
Link: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51266.html
FOIA requests and how buried statutes are keeping information secret.
When a government agency withholds information from a requester, it typically must invoke one of nine FOIA exemptions that cover everything from national security to personal privacy. But among that list is an exemption—known as b(3) for its section in the FOI Act—that allows an agency to apply other statutes when denying information requests.
Until now, no one has known just how extensively these other laws were used across the federal government. New data compiled by the Sunshine in Government Initiative [14], a coalition of journalism and transparency groups, shows that agencies have applied more than 240 other laws in withholding information over the last decade.
“FOIA is supposed to be a disclosure act, and these b(3)exemptions make it more of a withholding act,” said Patrice McDermott, director of another transparency group, openthegovernment.org. “They can have a detrimental effect to know what government’s doing and hold it accountable.”
For years such provisions could be easily slipped into legislation without notice. But changes to FOIA that went into effect in 2009 require that proposed legislation must specifically say that it will create a new b(3) exemption. As part of their annual FOIA reports, agencies are now required to disclose not only which exemptions they used but also how many times each was invoked.
Links: http://www.propublica.org/article/foia-exemptions-sunshine-law
http://www.sunshineingovernment.org/
http://openthegovernment.org/
Until now, no one has known just how extensively these other laws were used across the federal government. New data compiled by the Sunshine in Government Initiative [14], a coalition of journalism and transparency groups, shows that agencies have applied more than 240 other laws in withholding information over the last decade.
“FOIA is supposed to be a disclosure act, and these b(3)exemptions make it more of a withholding act,” said Patrice McDermott, director of another transparency group, openthegovernment.org. “They can have a detrimental effect to know what government’s doing and hold it accountable.”
For years such provisions could be easily slipped into legislation without notice. But changes to FOIA that went into effect in 2009 require that proposed legislation must specifically say that it will create a new b(3) exemption. As part of their annual FOIA reports, agencies are now required to disclose not only which exemptions they used but also how many times each was invoked.
Links: http://www.propublica.org/article/foia-exemptions-sunshine-law
http://www.sunshineingovernment.org/
http://openthegovernment.org/
Monday, March 14, 2011
Committee for Public Counsel Services a model for the country comes under fire by Governor Deval Patrick.
Massachusetts - It is easy to imagine that public defenders who work full time for the state, probably burdened with heavy caseloads and a lighter paycheck than they could earn in the private sector, could feel burnout kick in fairly quickly. Many or most would likely be relatively new to the profession, whereas bar advocates are often farther along in their careers and bring valuable legal savvy and experience to the courtroom and to their interactions with the parties involved. The state could mitigate these problems by increasing compensation for its staff lawyers, hiring more of them, or reducing caseloads. For the latter, tighter verification of indigence, and reclassification of some relatively minor offenses to eliminate the requirement for representation, have been proposed.
But the governor’s idea seems destined to barely keep up with the quality of legal help given indigent clients now.
And then there’s the money. Public defense is always on the public’s dime. But contracts case-by-case with private lawyers avoid overhead expenses that would mount steeply under the plan: office space, equipment, travel expenses for courthouses around the state, vacation and holiday pay, pensions, and so on.
In states that use a system along the lines of what Gov. Patrick proposes, the quality of justice tends to suffer, Mr. Benedetti told the editorial board. He said Massachusetts’ system is viewed by outsiders as a model; and said that, far from saving $45 million a year, the change could end up costing taxpayers more in the long run.
A part of Mr. Patrick’s proposal we endorse, as does the CPCS, is stepping up efforts to verify an accused person’s ability to pay for a lawyer. Reducing caseloads, and collecting at least something toward the cost of counsel, would save money while being eminently fair. But that and other improvements can be done through judicious changes to the current system.
Link:
http://www.telegram.com/article/20110313/NEWS/103130469/1020
But the governor’s idea seems destined to barely keep up with the quality of legal help given indigent clients now.
And then there’s the money. Public defense is always on the public’s dime. But contracts case-by-case with private lawyers avoid overhead expenses that would mount steeply under the plan: office space, equipment, travel expenses for courthouses around the state, vacation and holiday pay, pensions, and so on.
In states that use a system along the lines of what Gov. Patrick proposes, the quality of justice tends to suffer, Mr. Benedetti told the editorial board. He said Massachusetts’ system is viewed by outsiders as a model; and said that, far from saving $45 million a year, the change could end up costing taxpayers more in the long run.
A part of Mr. Patrick’s proposal we endorse, as does the CPCS, is stepping up efforts to verify an accused person’s ability to pay for a lawyer. Reducing caseloads, and collecting at least something toward the cost of counsel, would save money while being eminently fair. But that and other improvements can be done through judicious changes to the current system.
Link:
http://www.telegram.com/article/20110313/NEWS/103130469/1020
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Is the war on drugs a war on the "underclass"?
David Simon, the creator and executive producer of HBO's The Wire, said the war on drugs had devolved into a war on the underclass after actress Felicia Pearson was arrested in Baltimore on drug charges.
Thirty-year-old Pearson had served a prison sentence for murder before join the cast of The Wire, an television drama series about inner-city life in Baltimore that premiered in 2002 and ended five seasons later in 2008.
"In places like West and East Baltimore, where the drug economy is now the only factory still hiring and where the educational system is so crippled that the vast majority of children are trained only for the corners, a legal campaign to imprison our most vulnerable and damaged citizens is little more than amoral," Simon told Slate.
"Both our Constitution and our common law guarantee that we will be judged by our peers," he continued. "But in truth, there are now two Americas, politically and economically distinct. I, for one, do not qualify as a peer to Felicia Pearson. The opportunities and experiences of her life do not correspond in any way with my own, and her America is different from my own. I am therefore ill-equipped to be her judge in this matter."
In an essay published by TIME magazine in 2008, Simon and other writers for The Wire said the war on drugs caused more harm to society than the drugs it sought to eliminate.
"What the drugs themselves have not destroyed, the warfare against them has," they wrote. "And what once began, perhaps, as a battle against dangerous substances long ago transformed itself into a venal war on our underclass... All to no purpose. The prison population doubles and doubles again; the drugs remain."
Link:
http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/homegrown-terrorism-the-threat-of-homeland-security-and-spy-agencies/
Thirty-year-old Pearson had served a prison sentence for murder before join the cast of The Wire, an television drama series about inner-city life in Baltimore that premiered in 2002 and ended five seasons later in 2008.
"In places like West and East Baltimore, where the drug economy is now the only factory still hiring and where the educational system is so crippled that the vast majority of children are trained only for the corners, a legal campaign to imprison our most vulnerable and damaged citizens is little more than amoral," Simon told Slate.
"Both our Constitution and our common law guarantee that we will be judged by our peers," he continued. "But in truth, there are now two Americas, politically and economically distinct. I, for one, do not qualify as a peer to Felicia Pearson. The opportunities and experiences of her life do not correspond in any way with my own, and her America is different from my own. I am therefore ill-equipped to be her judge in this matter."
In an essay published by TIME magazine in 2008, Simon and other writers for The Wire said the war on drugs caused more harm to society than the drugs it sought to eliminate.
"What the drugs themselves have not destroyed, the warfare against them has," they wrote. "And what once began, perhaps, as a battle against dangerous substances long ago transformed itself into a venal war on our underclass... All to no purpose. The prison population doubles and doubles again; the drugs remain."
Link:
http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/homegrown-terrorism-the-threat-of-homeland-security-and-spy-agencies/
Friday, March 11, 2011
Budget cuts in police departments allow private contractors to step in.
Budget cuts have opened the doors for private companies to move in. In St. Clair County, an alarm company has taken advantage of the new situation: starting February 1, for an extra $25 Barcom Security will send an armed guard to the homes of their customers whose alarms are triggered.
In Naperville, the police likely will seek out private contractors this summer to provide security at festivals and other public events rather than pay overtime to regular officers. In Southfield, Michigan, the police began contracting in mid-2008 with the security company G4S to operate a holding facility for prisoners before they are transported to the county jail a task previously managed by the county sheriff’s department.
Police elsewhere are outsourcing core functions. For example, in the face of budget cuts, Oakland, California, contracted armed private guards in 2009 to patrol one troubled neighborhood instead of hiring more police. And the Schaumburg, Illinois police have contracted out their internal affairs investigations.
Those moves are part of a longer term trend, according to economist Simon Hakim, who directs Temple University’s Center for Competitive Government, which studies innovative practices and privatization in government.
In the 1970s, says Hakim, there were 40 percent more police than private security guards. By 2009, those positions had flipped, with about 60 percent more private guards than public officers.
Hakim thinks partnerships between police and private companies make sense. In such arrangements, police still handle most investigations and arrests. But highly specialized tasks, like investigating identity theft, Internet fraud, or counterfeit goods, can be farmed out to firms with specific expertise.
For example, last year the companies Coach, Chanel, and Oakley contracted with Stumar Investigations for an undercover probe of merchants selling counterfeit goods in the Philadelphia area. Once Stumar had done the background investigations, they turned their files over to the police to make the arrests.
At the other end of the spectrum, Hakim says contractors can manage more straightforward tasks like transferring prisoners and providing security in public buildings. In Florida’s Hernando County, for example, private security guards from G4S took over courthouse security from sheriffs’ deputies in 2009, a move expected to save between $142,000 and $176,000 a year.
Savings like those can be traced in part to the wage difference between police and private guards. The yearly average salary of a private guard in 2009 was about $26,000, less than half that of a police officer, which averaged $55,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Neither figure includes the value of benefit packages; Department of Labor figures for 2009 show that the benefits of state and local government workers averaged $13.65 an hour, while private-sector packages were worth $8.02.
Police also have at least high school and often college degrees and usually go through rigorous police academy coursework, often lasting 12 to 14 weeks. Security guards often don’t need a high school diploma and get far less training.
Link:
http://www.thecrimereport.org/news/inside-criminal-justice/2011-03-outsourcing-the-police
In Naperville, the police likely will seek out private contractors this summer to provide security at festivals and other public events rather than pay overtime to regular officers. In Southfield, Michigan, the police began contracting in mid-2008 with the security company G4S to operate a holding facility for prisoners before they are transported to the county jail a task previously managed by the county sheriff’s department.
Police elsewhere are outsourcing core functions. For example, in the face of budget cuts, Oakland, California, contracted armed private guards in 2009 to patrol one troubled neighborhood instead of hiring more police. And the Schaumburg, Illinois police have contracted out their internal affairs investigations.
Those moves are part of a longer term trend, according to economist Simon Hakim, who directs Temple University’s Center for Competitive Government, which studies innovative practices and privatization in government.
In the 1970s, says Hakim, there were 40 percent more police than private security guards. By 2009, those positions had flipped, with about 60 percent more private guards than public officers.
Hakim thinks partnerships between police and private companies make sense. In such arrangements, police still handle most investigations and arrests. But highly specialized tasks, like investigating identity theft, Internet fraud, or counterfeit goods, can be farmed out to firms with specific expertise.
For example, last year the companies Coach, Chanel, and Oakley contracted with Stumar Investigations for an undercover probe of merchants selling counterfeit goods in the Philadelphia area. Once Stumar had done the background investigations, they turned their files over to the police to make the arrests.
At the other end of the spectrum, Hakim says contractors can manage more straightforward tasks like transferring prisoners and providing security in public buildings. In Florida’s Hernando County, for example, private security guards from G4S took over courthouse security from sheriffs’ deputies in 2009, a move expected to save between $142,000 and $176,000 a year.
Savings like those can be traced in part to the wage difference between police and private guards. The yearly average salary of a private guard in 2009 was about $26,000, less than half that of a police officer, which averaged $55,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Neither figure includes the value of benefit packages; Department of Labor figures for 2009 show that the benefits of state and local government workers averaged $13.65 an hour, while private-sector packages were worth $8.02.
Police also have at least high school and often college degrees and usually go through rigorous police academy coursework, often lasting 12 to 14 weeks. Security guards often don’t need a high school diploma and get far less training.
Link:
http://www.thecrimereport.org/news/inside-criminal-justice/2011-03-outsourcing-the-police
Law enforcement use of global positioning (GPS) devices to monitor motor vehicles: Fourth Amendment considerations.
This report discusses the basics of GPS technology, society’s reliance on it, and some of the related legal and privacy implications. In addition, the report examines legislative and judicial responses on both federal and state levels.
As technology continues to advance, what was once thought novel, even a luxury, quickly becomes commonplace, even a necessity. Global Positioning System (GPS) technology is one such example. Generally, GPS is a satellite-based technology that discloses the location of a given object. This technology is used in automobiles and cell phones to provide individual drivers with directional assistance. Just as individuals are finding increasing applications for GPS technology, state and federal governments are as well. State and federal law enforcement use various forms of GPS technology to obtain evidence in criminal investigations. For example, federal prosecutors have used information from cellular phone service providers that allows real-time tracking of the locations of customers’ cellular phones. Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1958 (P.L. 90-351) regulates the interception of wire, oral, and electronic communications. As such, it does not regulate the use of GPS technology affixed to vehicles and is beyond the scope of this report.
February 28, 2011 Report:
Link: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41663.pdf
As technology continues to advance, what was once thought novel, even a luxury, quickly becomes commonplace, even a necessity. Global Positioning System (GPS) technology is one such example. Generally, GPS is a satellite-based technology that discloses the location of a given object. This technology is used in automobiles and cell phones to provide individual drivers with directional assistance. Just as individuals are finding increasing applications for GPS technology, state and federal governments are as well. State and federal law enforcement use various forms of GPS technology to obtain evidence in criminal investigations. For example, federal prosecutors have used information from cellular phone service providers that allows real-time tracking of the locations of customers’ cellular phones. Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1958 (P.L. 90-351) regulates the interception of wire, oral, and electronic communications. As such, it does not regulate the use of GPS technology affixed to vehicles and is beyond the scope of this report.
February 28, 2011 Report:
Link: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41663.pdf
Thursday, March 10, 2011
The DHS created "The Precious Treasure Holiday Company” website which was used to entrap people.
In an aggressive bid to entice prospective “sex tourists,” the Department of Homeland Security last year launched an undercover web site that purported to arrange trips from the U.S. to Canada, where clients could engage in sexual activity with minors, The Smoking Gun has learned.
The “Precious Treasure Holiday Company” web site was active until a few weeks ago when its Massachusetts-based web hosting firm removed the site from its servers, apparently in response to a complaint about its content. Now, visitors to precioustreasureholidaycompany.com are greeted with the message, “This site has been suspended.”
To draw visitors--and potential targets--to the site, DHS agents early last year began seeding a wide variety of sketchy web sites with mentions of (and links to) “Precious Treasure Holiday Company.” Investigators touted the undercover business on Russian and Swedish web sites, assorted chat rooms, and online destinations with words like “jailbait” in their addresses.
Five years ago, FBI agents concocted a similar sting, launching “Wicked Adventures Travel,” a web site purporting to offer pedophiles "exotic excursions" to the Philippines and Thailand. That operation yielded at least one felony conviction.
According to court records and several sources familiar with the sting operation, the “Precious Treasure Holiday Company” web site was operated by investigators assigned to DHS’s Cleveland office. In affidavits sworn by Agent Gabriel Hagan, the undercover web site is described as “offering ‘international travel’ from Cleveland, Ohio, to Canada for the purpose of engaging in sexually explicit conduct with minors.” While records reveal that the site was first registered in February 2010, further details about its owner (as well as administrative and technical contacts) have been carefully cloaked.
Link:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/internet/undercover-web-site-derailed-hosting-firm
The “Precious Treasure Holiday Company” web site was active until a few weeks ago when its Massachusetts-based web hosting firm removed the site from its servers, apparently in response to a complaint about its content. Now, visitors to precioustreasureholidaycompany.com are greeted with the message, “This site has been suspended.”
To draw visitors--and potential targets--to the site, DHS agents early last year began seeding a wide variety of sketchy web sites with mentions of (and links to) “Precious Treasure Holiday Company.” Investigators touted the undercover business on Russian and Swedish web sites, assorted chat rooms, and online destinations with words like “jailbait” in their addresses.
Five years ago, FBI agents concocted a similar sting, launching “Wicked Adventures Travel,” a web site purporting to offer pedophiles "exotic excursions" to the Philippines and Thailand. That operation yielded at least one felony conviction.
According to court records and several sources familiar with the sting operation, the “Precious Treasure Holiday Company” web site was operated by investigators assigned to DHS’s Cleveland office. In affidavits sworn by Agent Gabriel Hagan, the undercover web site is described as “offering ‘international travel’ from Cleveland, Ohio, to Canada for the purpose of engaging in sexually explicit conduct with minors.” While records reveal that the site was first registered in February 2010, further details about its owner (as well as administrative and technical contacts) have been carefully cloaked.
Link:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/internet/undercover-web-site-derailed-hosting-firm
Miami, FL-The police can now spy into your homes without a warrant.
Miami, FL -The MAV is used by the military to scan dangerous areas before troops are sent in. Miami-Dade police used a $50,000 grant to buy one, but not everyone is happy with the purchase.
“What happens when they fly over backyards and they see something without a warrant that they want to take against,” said ACLU Executive Director Howard Simon.
Police admit the MAV, if flown low enough, has the ability to look into people’s home, but that is not its intended purpose.
“If this thing is deployed, it’s only going to be used in situations where we already have an ongoing police scene,” said Cohen. “They are going to know we are there because we will have tactical teams, SRT teams, we’re going to have a perimeter, it’s going to be secure.”
Meanwhile the police department is awaiting approval from the FAA before they can use the MAV. They have submitted the application, but the approval process can take up to six months.
Link: http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/03/09/dade-cops-waiting-to-get-crime-fighting-drone-airborne/
“What happens when they fly over backyards and they see something without a warrant that they want to take against,” said ACLU Executive Director Howard Simon.
Police admit the MAV, if flown low enough, has the ability to look into people’s home, but that is not its intended purpose.
“If this thing is deployed, it’s only going to be used in situations where we already have an ongoing police scene,” said Cohen. “They are going to know we are there because we will have tactical teams, SRT teams, we’re going to have a perimeter, it’s going to be secure.”
Meanwhile the police department is awaiting approval from the FAA before they can use the MAV. They have submitted the application, but the approval process can take up to six months.
Link: http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/03/09/dade-cops-waiting-to-get-crime-fighting-drone-airborne/
Utah passes law restricting FOIA requests, will other states enact similar legislation?
The Utah statehouse was teeming with protesters last night, even as the governor put his signature on a new "transparency" law that would severely restrict public access to government records.
Citing in recent days a need to protect lawmakers' and constituent privacy, the Utah legislature pounced on a bill that would restrict the public's access to government records, passing it in record time and catching detractors off-guard.
Even as the public had just begin to mobilize against the legislation, the state's governor announced last night that it was a done deal.
"The bill was introduced on March 2 in the Utah House and two days later, it passed the Utah Senate. After that, it was lobbed to the governor’s desk with the expectation he will rubber-stamp it over the weekend," wrote Salt Lake City Weekly columnist Jerre Wroble.
Link:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/09/protesters-flood-utah-statehouse-as-governor-signs-law-restricting-access-to-public-records/
Citing in recent days a need to protect lawmakers' and constituent privacy, the Utah legislature pounced on a bill that would restrict the public's access to government records, passing it in record time and catching detractors off-guard.
Even as the public had just begin to mobilize against the legislation, the state's governor announced last night that it was a done deal.
"The bill was introduced on March 2 in the Utah House and two days later, it passed the Utah Senate. After that, it was lobbed to the governor’s desk with the expectation he will rubber-stamp it over the weekend," wrote Salt Lake City Weekly columnist Jerre Wroble.
Link:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/09/protesters-flood-utah-statehouse-as-governor-signs-law-restricting-access-to-public-records/
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
The TSA is turning our country into a police state.
The lawmaker behind a bill Texas that would levy felony charges against overly-touchy security personnel may be staunchly Republican, but he truly believes his cause isn't one tied to the political left or right.
"We're talking about what would be a criminal act in any other place," Rep. David Simpson (R) told Raw Story on Monday. "If you viewed someone naked without their permission or consent, or as a condition of travel, it would be sexual harassment or vouyerism. If you touched people's privates, that would be sexual assault.
"This is not a left or right issue," he added. "They are treating American citizens with great indignity, and we've got to make this right."
What we're saying here is, these bureaucrats have gone too far," he continued. "We're not against national defense; we're not against security. We just don't want to do it at the expense of our liberties. The terrorists want to take away our liberties and here we have our very own government terrorizing innocent travelers. Traveling is not a criminal act. You need probable cause to conduct a search.
"Unless there's reason to believe someone has an explosive or intends to commit a criminal act, you shouldn't be treating them as a criminal and that's what we're doing. It's un-American and it needs to stop. C.S. Lewis once wrote ... that tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive, and I agree with him. They're trying to make us think we're safer, but we're not."
"It needs to stop somewhere," he insisted. "If we don't nip this thing in the bud it's gonna come to our sidewalks, to our football games. The DHS was considering as recent as five years ago doing covert scanning of the public, but they've denied pursuing that any further. That they would consider it shows they have no regard for the Fourth Amendment."
Link:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/08/exclusive-if-we-dont-fight-tsa-like-security-coming-to-sidewalks-football-games-texas-rep-warns/
"We're talking about what would be a criminal act in any other place," Rep. David Simpson (R) told Raw Story on Monday. "If you viewed someone naked without their permission or consent, or as a condition of travel, it would be sexual harassment or vouyerism. If you touched people's privates, that would be sexual assault.
"This is not a left or right issue," he added. "They are treating American citizens with great indignity, and we've got to make this right."
What we're saying here is, these bureaucrats have gone too far," he continued. "We're not against national defense; we're not against security. We just don't want to do it at the expense of our liberties. The terrorists want to take away our liberties and here we have our very own government terrorizing innocent travelers. Traveling is not a criminal act. You need probable cause to conduct a search.
"Unless there's reason to believe someone has an explosive or intends to commit a criminal act, you shouldn't be treating them as a criminal and that's what we're doing. It's un-American and it needs to stop. C.S. Lewis once wrote ... that tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive, and I agree with him. They're trying to make us think we're safer, but we're not."
"It needs to stop somewhere," he insisted. "If we don't nip this thing in the bud it's gonna come to our sidewalks, to our football games. The DHS was considering as recent as five years ago doing covert scanning of the public, but they've denied pursuing that any further. That they would consider it shows they have no regard for the Fourth Amendment."
Link:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/08/exclusive-if-we-dont-fight-tsa-like-security-coming-to-sidewalks-football-games-texas-rep-warns/
Tennessee: A police detective posed as a defense attorney so a suspect would incriminate himself.
It seems that in 2008, Monroe County Sheriff's Detectives Doug Brannon and Pat Henry actually posed as a federal defense attorney in an attempt to get incriminating information out of suspect John Edward Dawson, who was in jail on a host of charges, including theft and drug distribution. Not only that, but in doing so, they also talked Dawson into refusing to cooperate with his public defender and to plead guilty to the charges against him. They communicated with Dawson via a jailhouse informant.
The conduct of the law enforcement officers in this case, and in particular Detective Henry, is so egregious that it simply cannot go unchecked. That Detective Henry would illegally pose as an attorney and arrange the circumstances of the defendant’s case to make it appear as though he had successfully undertaken legal representation of the defendant is abhorrent. That the detective would specifically instruct the defendant not to communicate the relationship to his appointed counsel, in what we can only assume was an effort to enlarge the time for the detective to gain incriminating information from the defendant, renders completely reprehensible the state action in this case. Given the unconscionable behavior of the state actors in this case and the fact that the defendant was essentially prevented from proving prejudice through no fault of his own, we have no trouble concluding that the only appropriate remedy in this case is the dismissal of all the indictments.
Links:
http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TCCA/PDF/111/State%20vs%20John%20Edward%20Dawson.pdf
http://reason.com/blog/2011/03/08/tennessee-cops-posed-as-a-defe
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/jan/20/investigators-trickery-voids-criminal-case-monroe/?partner=RSS
The conduct of the law enforcement officers in this case, and in particular Detective Henry, is so egregious that it simply cannot go unchecked. That Detective Henry would illegally pose as an attorney and arrange the circumstances of the defendant’s case to make it appear as though he had successfully undertaken legal representation of the defendant is abhorrent. That the detective would specifically instruct the defendant not to communicate the relationship to his appointed counsel, in what we can only assume was an effort to enlarge the time for the detective to gain incriminating information from the defendant, renders completely reprehensible the state action in this case. Given the unconscionable behavior of the state actors in this case and the fact that the defendant was essentially prevented from proving prejudice through no fault of his own, we have no trouble concluding that the only appropriate remedy in this case is the dismissal of all the indictments.
Links:
http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TCCA/PDF/111/State%20vs%20John%20Edward%20Dawson.pdf
http://reason.com/blog/2011/03/08/tennessee-cops-posed-as-a-defe
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/jan/20/investigators-trickery-voids-criminal-case-monroe/?partner=RSS
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Anatomy of an epidemic, prescribing medications to millions of Americans and the long term ill effects it's causing.
The modern era of psychiatry is usually said to have begun with the introduction of Thorazine into asylum medicine in 1955. This kicked off a “psychopharmacological revolution,” or so our society is told, with psychiatry discovering effective drugs for mental disorders of all kinds. In 1988, the first of the “second-generation” psychiatric drugs--Prozac--was introduced, and these new drugs were said to represent another therapeutic advance. Yet, even as this “psychopharmacological revolution” has unfolded over the past 50 years, the number of people disabled by mental illness has soared.
In 1955, there were 355,000 adults in state and county mental hospitals with a psychiatric diagnosis. During the next three decades (the era of the first generation psychiaric drugs), the number of disabled mentally ill rose to 1.25 million. Prozac arrived on the market in 1988, and during the next 20 years, the number of disabled mentally ill grew to more than four million adults (in 2007.) Finally, the prescribing of psychiatric medications to children and adolescents took off during this period (1987 to 2007), and as this medical practice took hold, the number of youth in America receiving a government disability check because of a mental illness leapt from 16,200 in 1987 to 561,569 in 2007 (a 35-fold increase.)
The astonishing increase in the disability numbers during the past fifty years raises an obvious question: Could the widespread use of psychiatric medications--for one reason or another--be fueling this epidemic? Anatomy of an Epidemic investigates that question, and it does so by focusing on the long-term outcome studies in the research literature. Do the studies tell of a paradigm of care that helps people get well and stay well over the long term? Or do they tell of a paradigm of care that increases the likelihood that people diagnosed with mental disorders will become chronically ill?
Anatomy of an Epidemic
by Roger Whitaker
Link:
http://www.madinamerica.com/madinamerica.com/Anatomy%20of%20an%20Epidemic.html
Book Link:
http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Epidemic-Bullets-Psychiatric-Astonishing/dp/0307452417
In 1955, there were 355,000 adults in state and county mental hospitals with a psychiatric diagnosis. During the next three decades (the era of the first generation psychiaric drugs), the number of disabled mentally ill rose to 1.25 million. Prozac arrived on the market in 1988, and during the next 20 years, the number of disabled mentally ill grew to more than four million adults (in 2007.) Finally, the prescribing of psychiatric medications to children and adolescents took off during this period (1987 to 2007), and as this medical practice took hold, the number of youth in America receiving a government disability check because of a mental illness leapt from 16,200 in 1987 to 561,569 in 2007 (a 35-fold increase.)
The astonishing increase in the disability numbers during the past fifty years raises an obvious question: Could the widespread use of psychiatric medications--for one reason or another--be fueling this epidemic? Anatomy of an Epidemic investigates that question, and it does so by focusing on the long-term outcome studies in the research literature. Do the studies tell of a paradigm of care that helps people get well and stay well over the long term? Or do they tell of a paradigm of care that increases the likelihood that people diagnosed with mental disorders will become chronically ill?
Anatomy of an Epidemic
by Roger Whitaker
Link:
http://www.madinamerica.com/madinamerica.com/Anatomy%20of%20an%20Epidemic.html
Book Link:
http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Epidemic-Bullets-Psychiatric-Astonishing/dp/0307452417
Monday, March 7, 2011
Sacremento, CA.- Police to monitor private business security cameras, without a warrant.
The Sacramento Police Department will soon have more eyes on the streets.
They’re going to be partnering with public and private entities to tap directly into existing surveillance cameras across the city.
Officers say this will allow them to get to surveillance video more quickly.
“There are hundreds of cameras across Sacramento and if we can tap into just some of those it will give us more eyes on the streets,” said Sacramento Police Department Sgt. Norm Leong.
Police already have three cameras up along Del Paso Boulevard.
They say they won’t be watching the new cameras live but will review tape after a crime is committed.
Link:
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2011/03/04/sac-police-to-tap-into-business-security-cameras-to-deter-crime/
They’re going to be partnering with public and private entities to tap directly into existing surveillance cameras across the city.
Officers say this will allow them to get to surveillance video more quickly.
“There are hundreds of cameras across Sacramento and if we can tap into just some of those it will give us more eyes on the streets,” said Sacramento Police Department Sgt. Norm Leong.
Police already have three cameras up along Del Paso Boulevard.
They say they won’t be watching the new cameras live but will review tape after a crime is committed.
Link:
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2011/03/04/sac-police-to-tap-into-business-security-cameras-to-deter-crime/
The Federal Government's Secure Communities program will soon be in every community by 2013.
Secure Communities is a program between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Justice that automatically sends name and fingerprint information submitted through a federal file-sharing system, where it’s checked against both the FBI criminal history records and biometrics-based immigration records in the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Automated Biometric Identification System.
Deportation programs like the Department of Homeland Security’s misnamed “Secure Communities” program are set to be in every U.S jail by 2013 without the public, elected officials, and sometimes police chiefs themselves knowing. Indeed, the program has been advanced in secrecy despite significant public attention paid to the devastating consequences to communities where police enforcement of immigration law has been piloted.
Internal e-mails obtained by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network show how ICE spokespersons rehearsed phrases that would frame Secure Communities as targeting the most violent illegal immigrants, even as evidence mounted that the majority of those deported through Secure Communities were arrested for a non-violent crime or detained despite having no criminal record.
Among documents released is an undated internal memo titled “Guidance for Handling Sensitive Jurisdictions.” The memo coaches ICE staff to say Secure Communities “focuses ICE enforcement on the worst of the worst,” emphasizing that the program “does not focus on undocumented aliens who are victims of, or innocent witnesses, to crime.”
Across the country, communities have raised concerns about the impact on community-police relations, the high number of those deported under the program with no conviction record, and the evidence of crime victims being swept up in its dragnet. Advocates continue to call for a moratorium on the program’s implementation due to the extent of disinformation and the questions raised by these new documents.
Links:
http://uncoverthetruth.org/
http://uncoverthetruth.org/internal-documents-prove-ice-misled-public-about-secure-communities
http://www.ice.gov/secure_communities/
Deportation programs like the Department of Homeland Security’s misnamed “Secure Communities” program are set to be in every U.S jail by 2013 without the public, elected officials, and sometimes police chiefs themselves knowing. Indeed, the program has been advanced in secrecy despite significant public attention paid to the devastating consequences to communities where police enforcement of immigration law has been piloted.
Internal e-mails obtained by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network show how ICE spokespersons rehearsed phrases that would frame Secure Communities as targeting the most violent illegal immigrants, even as evidence mounted that the majority of those deported through Secure Communities were arrested for a non-violent crime or detained despite having no criminal record.
Among documents released is an undated internal memo titled “Guidance for Handling Sensitive Jurisdictions.” The memo coaches ICE staff to say Secure Communities “focuses ICE enforcement on the worst of the worst,” emphasizing that the program “does not focus on undocumented aliens who are victims of, or innocent witnesses, to crime.”
Across the country, communities have raised concerns about the impact on community-police relations, the high number of those deported under the program with no conviction record, and the evidence of crime victims being swept up in its dragnet. Advocates continue to call for a moratorium on the program’s implementation due to the extent of disinformation and the questions raised by these new documents.
Links:
http://uncoverthetruth.org/
http://uncoverthetruth.org/internal-documents-prove-ice-misled-public-about-secure-communities
http://www.ice.gov/secure_communities/
Saturday, March 5, 2011
The DROP pension program in CA allows police & firefighters to abuse the system and collect extra money before they retire.
The DROP program is an expensive public pension program that hardly anyone knows about, but pays out lump sums that average $200,000 and up to nearly a million dollars in some cases. KPCC's Madeleine Brand spoke with KCET's Judy Muller, who investigated the DROP program.
"DROP" stands for Deferred Retirement Option Plan. LAPD and L.A. Fire Department personnel who've worked for at least 25 years and are at least 50 years old can "retire," then go back to work immediately. When they return to work, pension payments are held while they continue collecting a salary, and after five years, they can leave and collect that money in a lump-sum payment.
By postponing their retirement for five years, they accumulate pension payments (which are also collecting interest) and wages simultaneously.
Many current city officials haven't taken a stance on the program yet, but they're likely to support it due to the strength of the police and fire unions. No politician who wants to get voted into anything else is likely to go up against the unions on such a popular program.
Link:
http://www.scpr.org/news/2011/03/03/little-known-la-policefire-retirement-plan-lets-of/
"DROP" stands for Deferred Retirement Option Plan. LAPD and L.A. Fire Department personnel who've worked for at least 25 years and are at least 50 years old can "retire," then go back to work immediately. When they return to work, pension payments are held while they continue collecting a salary, and after five years, they can leave and collect that money in a lump-sum payment.
By postponing their retirement for five years, they accumulate pension payments (which are also collecting interest) and wages simultaneously.
Many current city officials haven't taken a stance on the program yet, but they're likely to support it due to the strength of the police and fire unions. No politician who wants to get voted into anything else is likely to go up against the unions on such a popular program.
Link:
http://www.scpr.org/news/2011/03/03/little-known-la-policefire-retirement-plan-lets-of/
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Incriminating alcohol tests face fresh scrutiny.
Fail an alcohol test and you could lose your job. But confidence is draining from the blood and urine tests that are supposed to show conclusively whether someone has been drinking – and the US government has decided it's time to take another look at them.
Typically, the body destroys alcohol within 6 hours, so the tests are designed to pick up tiny amounts of substances such as ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulphate (EtS) that are formed exclusively from the breakdown of alcohol. These remain detectable in urine for almost a week.
But the tests can return a positive result in people who haven't drunk any alcohol but have been exposed to minute quantities of it in alcohol-based hand-wipes and mouthwashes, alcohol-free wine, and even foods such as bananas and sauerkraut.
In the US, several legal cases are under way in which doctors, nurses and other professionals who were being monitored for abstinence but tested positive are protesting their innocence.
The courts need guidance from SAMHSA," says William Meyer, a senior fellow of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. "Can SAMHSA set a cut-off level which will reliably predict knowing alcohol consumption, and exclude accidental exposure?" he asked.
Claims of "false positive EtG tests" from incidental exposure to alcohol began to occur. An online registry and listserve was developed for for those who claimed they'd been falsely accussed of drinking. The clamor of concern among this group rose rapidly and became extremely vigorous. This phenomenon of incidental exposure is very similar to the phenomenon of poppy seeds causing positive tests for morphine and is discussed in more depth in a separate section of this website. A factor that makes incidental exposure to alcohol a concern is that there are literally thousands of items used every day that contain ethanol and exposure can occur from multiple sources and is additive.
Links:
Alcohol Marker test website: http://etg.weebly.com/
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20112-incriminating-booze-tests-face-fresh-scrutiny.html
Typically, the body destroys alcohol within 6 hours, so the tests are designed to pick up tiny amounts of substances such as ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulphate (EtS) that are formed exclusively from the breakdown of alcohol. These remain detectable in urine for almost a week.
But the tests can return a positive result in people who haven't drunk any alcohol but have been exposed to minute quantities of it in alcohol-based hand-wipes and mouthwashes, alcohol-free wine, and even foods such as bananas and sauerkraut.
In the US, several legal cases are under way in which doctors, nurses and other professionals who were being monitored for abstinence but tested positive are protesting their innocence.
The courts need guidance from SAMHSA," says William Meyer, a senior fellow of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. "Can SAMHSA set a cut-off level which will reliably predict knowing alcohol consumption, and exclude accidental exposure?" he asked.
Claims of "false positive EtG tests" from incidental exposure to alcohol began to occur. An online registry and listserve was developed for for those who claimed they'd been falsely accussed of drinking. The clamor of concern among this group rose rapidly and became extremely vigorous. This phenomenon of incidental exposure is very similar to the phenomenon of poppy seeds causing positive tests for morphine and is discussed in more depth in a separate section of this website. A factor that makes incidental exposure to alcohol a concern is that there are literally thousands of items used every day that contain ethanol and exposure can occur from multiple sources and is additive.
Links:
Alcohol Marker test website: http://etg.weebly.com/
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20112-incriminating-booze-tests-face-fresh-scrutiny.html
DHS is turning America into a police state on May 11th., 2011 with the introduction of "REAL ID."
In just more than three months, millions of law-abiding Americans might face new hassles when traveling on commercial flights if they hold driver's licenses or identification cards issued by Maine, South Carolina, Montana, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, and up to 15 other states plus the District of Columbia that have rejected the Real ID regulations on privacy and cost grounds or have not agreed to comply.
This represents a potentially embarrassing political setback to the Bush administration, which has championed Real ID as a way to identify terrorists and criminals. But instead of what supporters hoped would be a seamless shift to a nationalized ID card, the requirements have created a confusing patchwork of state responses. In addition, the administration has been forced to scale back Real ID after an outcry from state motor vehicle administrators.
Does Homeland Security have the authority to do that kind of expansion, or can only Congress expand Real ID?
Homeland Security has the authority. The text of the law says that, starting May 11, "a federal agency may not accept, for any official purpose, a driver's license or identification card issued by a state to any person unless the state is meeting the requirements of this section." Official purpose is defined to include "any other purposes" that Homeland Security thinks is wise.
The potential list of "purposes" could be long. Real ID could in theory be required for traveling on Amtrak, collecting federal welfare benefits, signing up for Social Security, applying for student loans, interacting with the U.S. Postal Service, entering national parks, and so on.
Link:
http://news.cnet.com/Real-ID-could-mean-real-travel-headaches/2009-1028_3-6228133.html
This represents a potentially embarrassing political setback to the Bush administration, which has championed Real ID as a way to identify terrorists and criminals. But instead of what supporters hoped would be a seamless shift to a nationalized ID card, the requirements have created a confusing patchwork of state responses. In addition, the administration has been forced to scale back Real ID after an outcry from state motor vehicle administrators.
Does Homeland Security have the authority to do that kind of expansion, or can only Congress expand Real ID?
Homeland Security has the authority. The text of the law says that, starting May 11, "a federal agency may not accept, for any official purpose, a driver's license or identification card issued by a state to any person unless the state is meeting the requirements of this section." Official purpose is defined to include "any other purposes" that Homeland Security thinks is wise.
The potential list of "purposes" could be long. Real ID could in theory be required for traveling on Amtrak, collecting federal welfare benefits, signing up for Social Security, applying for student loans, interacting with the U.S. Postal Service, entering national parks, and so on.
Link:
http://news.cnet.com/Real-ID-could-mean-real-travel-headaches/2009-1028_3-6228133.html
Why police aren't whistlebowers.
It may be true that abusive cops are few and far between, as police organizations typically claim. The problem is that other cops rarely hold them accountable. Perhaps that’s because they know they will be treated the way Max Seifert was. For all the concern about the “Stop Snitchin’ ” message within the hip-hop community, police have engaged in a far more impactful and pernicious Stop Snitchin’ campaign of their own. It’s called the Blue Wall of Silence.
In October The Village Voice reported another troubling incident, in which 10 rookie New York cops viciously beat a cabbie outside an Upper East Side bar in 2008. None of the cops were charged, although a few faced administrative discipline. Their captain was promoted. The only cop to suffer any serious repercussions was Sgt. Anthony Acosta—the one who tried to stop the beating. He was stripped of his gun and badge and assigned to desk duty.
There are more stories like these. Last year a former Albuquerque cop named Sam Costales was awarded $662,000 in a lawsuit against his own department. In 2006 Costales testified against fellow officers after an incident that resulted in the arrest of the retired race car driver Al Unser. Costales said Unser did not assault or threaten officers from the Bernalillo Sheriff’s Department, as claimed in police reports, and his testimony helped Unser win an acquittal.
None of the Bernalillo deputies were disciplined. But by now you probably can guess who was: Sam Costales. His own chief opened an internal affairs investigation of Costales for wearing his police uniform when he testified in Unser’s case. Albuquerque cops apparently are permitted to wear the uniform when they’re testifying for the prosecution, but not when they’re testifying for the defense.
As is often the case when an officer is investigated, the police union got involved—but not to protect Costales. James Badway, secretary of the Albuquerque Police Officers Association, sent an email message to the Bernalillo sheriff stating that the union was “embarrassed” and “ashamed” that Costales would testify against fellow officers.
The most disturbing aspect of these stories is not that there are bad cops in Kansas City, New York, and Albuquerque. It’s not even that other cops covered for them, or that unions have institutionalized the protection of bad apples. It’s that the cover-up and retaliation extend all the way to the top of the chain of command—and that there has been no action, or even condemnation, from the elected officials who are supposed to hold police leaders accountable.
Link:http://reason.com/archives/2011/01/25/why-cops-arent-whistleblowers
In October The Village Voice reported another troubling incident, in which 10 rookie New York cops viciously beat a cabbie outside an Upper East Side bar in 2008. None of the cops were charged, although a few faced administrative discipline. Their captain was promoted. The only cop to suffer any serious repercussions was Sgt. Anthony Acosta—the one who tried to stop the beating. He was stripped of his gun and badge and assigned to desk duty.
There are more stories like these. Last year a former Albuquerque cop named Sam Costales was awarded $662,000 in a lawsuit against his own department. In 2006 Costales testified against fellow officers after an incident that resulted in the arrest of the retired race car driver Al Unser. Costales said Unser did not assault or threaten officers from the Bernalillo Sheriff’s Department, as claimed in police reports, and his testimony helped Unser win an acquittal.
None of the Bernalillo deputies were disciplined. But by now you probably can guess who was: Sam Costales. His own chief opened an internal affairs investigation of Costales for wearing his police uniform when he testified in Unser’s case. Albuquerque cops apparently are permitted to wear the uniform when they’re testifying for the prosecution, but not when they’re testifying for the defense.
As is often the case when an officer is investigated, the police union got involved—but not to protect Costales. James Badway, secretary of the Albuquerque Police Officers Association, sent an email message to the Bernalillo sheriff stating that the union was “embarrassed” and “ashamed” that Costales would testify against fellow officers.
The most disturbing aspect of these stories is not that there are bad cops in Kansas City, New York, and Albuquerque. It’s not even that other cops covered for them, or that unions have institutionalized the protection of bad apples. It’s that the cover-up and retaliation extend all the way to the top of the chain of command—and that there has been no action, or even condemnation, from the elected officials who are supposed to hold police leaders accountable.
Link:http://reason.com/archives/2011/01/25/why-cops-arent-whistleblowers
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Is the Bill of Rights Being Eroded?
Jessica Stilling lives in New York City and is a guest blogger for My Dog Ate My Blog.
I do not think I need to start by explaining what the Bill of Rights is or why it was created. Let me assume that if you are reading this you have a basic understanding of the Bill of Rights and a basic understanding of why it exists. The question is, has the Bill of Rights been trampled on in recent, or not so recent, years. If we look at the amendments we can see that in many cases no, the Bill of Rights is very much intact. Troops do not march to the doors of American citizens and demand that they be allowed to stay and states still have the final say on many issues. There are some aspects of the Bill of Rights where their strength is iffy. Freedom of religion? Do we still have that? For the most part we do. Sure, there are certain groups of people who dislike certain religions, but that’s a societal issue and not a legal one. Sure, there are gun laws, but for the most part people who should be allowed to have guns are allowed to have guns.
It’s the rights of prisoners, or those accused of crimes, that I’d like to look at. In the Bill of Rights people are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. In fact, this is what America prides itself on. I remember my teacher in my high school Government class giving a speech about how in France you’re guilty until proven innocent while in America you are always treated like an innocent person. I would like a definition of what being treated like an innocent person is. Is it being locked up in a cell for thirty hours before arraignment? Is it being put in jail without a charge or a phone call for half a day? Is it having to be handcuffed to a group of people while you wait in line to get a mug shot? Is it sitting in a small cell with bright lights on you for all hours while you wait thirty, sometimes forty-five hours for an arraignment? If that’s how innocent people are treated then I’d rather be guilty.
A friend of mine was recently arrested. The reason isn’t important, what got to me was the treatment that he dealt with before he was processed and charged with anything. Before he even had a chance to tell his story, because a police officer suspected him of a crime, he was put in jail, made to wait a day and a half to be arraigned and during all this time no one bothered to ask him for his story.
There is something seriously wrong with a criminal justice system that treats the people whom it arrests this terribly. Sure, some people might be guilty, some might be very, very guilty, but that does not mean they should be stripped of their dignity before a judge or jury has made that determination. Not only that, but holding people for that long, feeding them, guarding them, costs money that most states don’t have right now.
People aren’t thrown in prison without a trial in America, but they are thrown in jail, sometimes just for looking at a cop the wrong way. They are made to experience horrible, sad conditions, even if no one can prove they did anything wrong. While the Bill of Rights may not technically be violated by this treatment, it sure is in spirit.
I do not think I need to start by explaining what the Bill of Rights is or why it was created. Let me assume that if you are reading this you have a basic understanding of the Bill of Rights and a basic understanding of why it exists. The question is, has the Bill of Rights been trampled on in recent, or not so recent, years. If we look at the amendments we can see that in many cases no, the Bill of Rights is very much intact. Troops do not march to the doors of American citizens and demand that they be allowed to stay and states still have the final say on many issues. There are some aspects of the Bill of Rights where their strength is iffy. Freedom of religion? Do we still have that? For the most part we do. Sure, there are certain groups of people who dislike certain religions, but that’s a societal issue and not a legal one. Sure, there are gun laws, but for the most part people who should be allowed to have guns are allowed to have guns.
It’s the rights of prisoners, or those accused of crimes, that I’d like to look at. In the Bill of Rights people are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. In fact, this is what America prides itself on. I remember my teacher in my high school Government class giving a speech about how in France you’re guilty until proven innocent while in America you are always treated like an innocent person. I would like a definition of what being treated like an innocent person is. Is it being locked up in a cell for thirty hours before arraignment? Is it being put in jail without a charge or a phone call for half a day? Is it having to be handcuffed to a group of people while you wait in line to get a mug shot? Is it sitting in a small cell with bright lights on you for all hours while you wait thirty, sometimes forty-five hours for an arraignment? If that’s how innocent people are treated then I’d rather be guilty.
A friend of mine was recently arrested. The reason isn’t important, what got to me was the treatment that he dealt with before he was processed and charged with anything. Before he even had a chance to tell his story, because a police officer suspected him of a crime, he was put in jail, made to wait a day and a half to be arraigned and during all this time no one bothered to ask him for his story.
There is something seriously wrong with a criminal justice system that treats the people whom it arrests this terribly. Sure, some people might be guilty, some might be very, very guilty, but that does not mean they should be stripped of their dignity before a judge or jury has made that determination. Not only that, but holding people for that long, feeding them, guarding them, costs money that most states don’t have right now.
People aren’t thrown in prison without a trial in America, but they are thrown in jail, sometimes just for looking at a cop the wrong way. They are made to experience horrible, sad conditions, even if no one can prove they did anything wrong. While the Bill of Rights may not technically be violated by this treatment, it sure is in spirit.
Bad lawyering puts a man on Death Row.
Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman needed a really good lawyer. Prosecutors claimed to have a mountain of physical evidence and powerful eyewitness testimony against him in a murder case. And they were seeking the death penalty.
Cellmates at the Nashville jail where Abdur'Rahman was being held told him there was only one lawyer to call: Lionel Barrett.
Barrett, they said, never turned down a client in need, no matter how controversial the case was, how bad the facts were and how impossible the defense seemed.
"I never said no," Barrett confirms. "I took cases no one else would. Everyone deserves representation."
But in 1987, Barrett should have said no. Because he didn't, Abdur'Rahman's life now hangs in the balance.
"It was the perfect storm," Barrett says, looking back on the case some 24 years later. "Everything I could have done wrong, I did."
Now Barrett is pleading for forgiveness from his former client and apologizing to his colleagues in the bar. The case, he says, is "a daily burden" and was one of the key factors that drove him from law practice a decade ago.
Now Barrett is pleading for forgiveness from his former client and apologizing to his colleagues in the bar. The case, he says, is "a daily burden" and was one of the key factors that drove him from law practice a decade ago.
"It is every lawyer's nightmare to have a case like this in their life, a case they screwed up so badly. This case is my nightmare," says Barrett, who now works as a nonlawyer adviser for the Davidson County (Tenn.) Election Commission.
"Abu-Ali is on death row because of me. I failed him," he says. "I have no excuse. This is the only case in my entire career that I would do anything to be able to do over again." But he's finding there are no do-overs.
Abdur'Rahman's case, which is once again in the hands of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Cincinnati, has been passed up and down the state and federal appellate systems more times than Brett Favre comebacks. At the heart of the appeal is one question: Did Barrett's ineffective representation, combined with claims of prosecutorial misconduct, cause Abdur'Rahman's trial to be constitutionally flawed?
Link:
http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/lawyers_attempt_to_keep_his_head_above_water_landed_a_client_on_death_row/
Cellmates at the Nashville jail where Abdur'Rahman was being held told him there was only one lawyer to call: Lionel Barrett.
Barrett, they said, never turned down a client in need, no matter how controversial the case was, how bad the facts were and how impossible the defense seemed.
"I never said no," Barrett confirms. "I took cases no one else would. Everyone deserves representation."
But in 1987, Barrett should have said no. Because he didn't, Abdur'Rahman's life now hangs in the balance.
"It was the perfect storm," Barrett says, looking back on the case some 24 years later. "Everything I could have done wrong, I did."
Now Barrett is pleading for forgiveness from his former client and apologizing to his colleagues in the bar. The case, he says, is "a daily burden" and was one of the key factors that drove him from law practice a decade ago.
Now Barrett is pleading for forgiveness from his former client and apologizing to his colleagues in the bar. The case, he says, is "a daily burden" and was one of the key factors that drove him from law practice a decade ago.
"It is every lawyer's nightmare to have a case like this in their life, a case they screwed up so badly. This case is my nightmare," says Barrett, who now works as a nonlawyer adviser for the Davidson County (Tenn.) Election Commission.
"Abu-Ali is on death row because of me. I failed him," he says. "I have no excuse. This is the only case in my entire career that I would do anything to be able to do over again." But he's finding there are no do-overs.
Abdur'Rahman's case, which is once again in the hands of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Cincinnati, has been passed up and down the state and federal appellate systems more times than Brett Favre comebacks. At the heart of the appeal is one question: Did Barrett's ineffective representation, combined with claims of prosecutorial misconduct, cause Abdur'Rahman's trial to be constitutionally flawed?
Link:
http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/lawyers_attempt_to_keep_his_head_above_water_landed_a_client_on_death_row/
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