Category: - Police - TARGETED AMERICA

We found 85,000 cops who’ve been investigated for misconduct. Now you can read their records.

5/1/2019

We found 85,000 cops who’ve been investigated for misconduct. Now you can read their records. USA TODAY is leading a national effort to obtain and publish disciplinary and misconduct records for thousands of police officers.
USA Today, John Kelly and Mark Nichols, Updated 5:04 p.m. EDT May 1, 2019

At least 85,000 law enforcement officers across the USA have been investigated or disciplined for misconduct over the past decade, an investigation by USA TODAY Network found.

Officers have beaten members of the public, planted evidence and used their badges to harass women. They have lied, stolen, dealt drugs, driven drunk and abused their spouses.

Despite their role as public servants, the men and women who swear an oath to keep communities safe can generally avoid public scrutiny for their misdeeds.

The records of their misconduct are filed away, rarely seen by anyone outside their departments. Police unions and their political allies have worked to put special protections in place ensuring some records are shielded from public view, or even destroyed.

Reporters from USA TODAY, its 100-plus affiliated newsrooms and the nonprofit Invisible Institute in Chicago have spent more than a year creating the biggest collection of police misconduct records.

Obtained from thousands of state agencies, prosecutors, police departments and sheriffs, the records detail at least 200,000 incidents of alleged misconduct, much of it previously unreported. The records obtained include more than 110,000 internal affairs investigations by hundreds of individual departments and more than 30,000 officers who were decertified by 44 state oversight agencies. . . .

Government Transparency, Invisible Institute, Police, Police Misconduct Records, USA Today

As Black Activists Protested Police Killings, Homeland Security Worried They Might Join ISIS

4/8/2019

As Black Activists Protested Police Killings, Homeland Security Worried They Might Join ISIS
Alice Speri, The Intercept_, April 8 2019, 8:23 a.m.

AS NATIONWIDE PROTESTS against police killings of black men began rolling across the country in 2014, federal and local law enforcement who were closely monitoring protesters’ online activities repeatedly expressed a bizarre concern: that the mostly black activists demanding an end to police violence in the U.S. might join with Islamic fundamentalist groups promoting violence abroad.

That concern was unequivocally baseless, and no evidence ever emerged to substantiate it. Still, documents obtained by the government transparency group Property of the People, which were shared exclusively with The Intercept, reveal that officials with the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence exaggerated the significance of isolated social media activity, mostly by foreign accounts, advocating for a connection between the domestic movement against police brutality and foreign terrorism. . . .

Activists, Al Qaeda, Baltimore, “Black Identity Extremists”, Black Lives Matter, Center for Constitutional Rights, Civil Rights, Conspiracy Theories, Dakota Access Pipeline Protest Movement, Department of Homeland Security, Domestic Terrorism, Ferguson, Fox News, Fusion Centers, Greater Cincinnati Fusion Center, Intelligence Agencies, Intercept, ISIL, ISIS, Islamophobia, Islamic Extremism, Islamic State, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Law Enforcement, Maryland, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Missouri, Muslims, NAACP Convention, National Security, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Palestinians, Private Security Companies, Police, Police Brutality, Property of the People, Riots, Standing Rock Protest Movement, St. Louis, Stereotyping, Terrorism

California court: Old police misconduct records are public

4/2/2019

California court: Old police misconduct records are public
AP News, Kathleen Ronayne, April 2, 2019

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Law enforcement agencies in California must release police misconduct records even if the behavior occurred before a new transparency law took effect, a state court of appeals has ruled.

The 1st District Court of Appeal’s decision released Friday settles for now a debate over whether records created before Jan. 1, when the law took effect, were subject to disclosure. Many police unions have sued to block the records release, while public information advocates argued the records should be disclosed.

The ruling applies to police agencies statewide, including the attorney general’s office, unless another appellate court steps in and rules differently, said David Snyder of the First Amendment Coalition. . . .

AP News, California, Government Transparency, Police, Police Misconduct Records

San Diego Has Been Turned Into A Massive Chinese-Style Public Surveillance Network

3/14/2019

Activist Post MARCH 14, 2019
MassPrivateI

Can you imagine a city in the United States secretly creating a Chinese-style public surveillance network that can identify everyone? Can you imagine that same city secretly creating a Chinese-style public watchlisting network?

Well imagine no more because it has already happened. . . .

Department of Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, Police, San Diego, Surveillance, Watchlisting

‘Shocking report’ reveals undercover police helped businesses blacklist workers

3/6/2019

Metro Wednesday 6 Mar 2019 12:02 am
Adam Smith

A shocking report has revealed how undercover police helped big businesses blacklist construction workers. The internal police report has been published today to coincide with 10th anniversary of the scandal, which ruined thousands of workers lives, went public.

The Creedon report details the lengths undercover policemen from the Met went to follow and spy on trade unionists and blacklisted campaigners, all paid for by the taxpayer. . . .

Blacklisting, Law Enforcement, Police, Surveillance, Unions, United Kingdom

Portland Withdraws From Federal Joint Terrorism Task Force, Again

2/13/2019

OPB Feb. 13, 2019 5 p.m. | Updated: Feb. 14, 2019 6:57 a.m.
Amelia Templeton

Portland is out of the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force again.

The Portland City Council voted 3-2 Wednesday to withdraw the city’s police officers from the JTTF, a partnership between federal agencies and local law enforcement.

Commissioners Jo Ann Hardesty, Amanda Fritz and Chloe Eudaly supported the change. They worry there is not enough civilian oversight to ensure Portland officers abide by civil rights laws and say there isn’t enough evidence to show the task force has made Portland safer. . . .

Civil Rights, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Joint Terrorism Task Force, Law Enforcement, Police, Portland

Details of Fusion Center Surveillance Revealed

2/2/2019

Details of Fusion Center Surveillance Revealed
The New American Joe Wolverton, II, J.D. Saturday, 02 February 2019

The federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is silently and gradually converting local police agencies into regional subdivisions of the surveillance state.

Typically, we get only occasional glimpses of the despotic disregard for the Constitution and egregious violation of the rights of the people committed by DHS fusion centers.

Thanks to a presentation delivered by a sheriff’s department sergeant at a casino in West Virginia, the scope of the surveillance and the blurring of the lines between federal, state, and local law enforcement were revealed without the typical reserve shown at similar gatherings. . . .

Charleston, Constitution, Department of Homeland Security, Federal, Fusion Centers, Local, New American, Police, Sheriffs, State, Surveillance, Suspicious Activity Reports, West Virginia

California's landmark police transparency law takes effect after court denies police union effort to block it

1/2/2019

California's landmark police transparency law takes effect after court denies police union effort to block it
Los Angeles Times, Liam Dillon, Jan. 2, 2019, 1:03 p.m.

A new state law allowing the public disclosure of internal police shooting investigations has gone into effect after the California Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a bid by a police union to block it.

The law opens to the public for the first time internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Employees’ Benefit Assn. challenged the law last month, asking state Supreme Court justices to decide that the law only apply to incidents that occur in 2019 or later. The court rejected that request Wednesday, allowing members of the public to seek all applicable records held by police departments. Union president Grant Ward said in a statement that his organization was disappointed with the decision and is now seeking other legal options.

"We feel this is a statewide issue and should be considered accordingly," Ward said.

Last month, the city of Inglewood authorized the destruction of more than 100 police shooting investigations and other records in advance of Jan. 1, when the disclosure law was scheduled to take effect. California law requires police departments to keep such records for five years, and Inglewood City Council voted to destroy records older than that. Mayor James T. Butts has said the decision had nothing to do with the new law. . . .

California, Government Transparency, Los Angeles Times, Police, Police Misconduct Records

Four St. Louis Police Officers Indicted for Civil Rights Violations and Obstruction of Justice

11/29/2018

Department of Justice - Office of Public Affairs Thursday, November 29, 2018

A federal grand jury in St. Louis indicted four St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) Police Officers for their conduct in connection with the arrest and assault of a fellow SLMPD police officer who was working undercover in downtown St. Louis during last year’s protests following the acquittal of a former SLMPD officer of a first-degree murder charge brought by the State of Missouri relating to the shooting death of a civilian.

The indictment charges Officers Dustin Boone, 35, Bailey Colletta, 25, Randy Hays, 31, and Christopher Myers, 27, with various felony charges, including deprivation of constitutional rights, conspiracy to obstruct justice, destruction of evidence, and obstruction of justice.

18 U.S. Code § 242 Deprivation of rights under color of law,
18 U.S. Code § 371 Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States,
18 U.S. Code §1512 Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant,
18 U.S. Code § 1519 Destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in Federal investigations, Department of Justice, Federal, Law, Law Enforcement, Missouri, Police, St. Louis

Blacklisted: The Secret Government Rulebook for Labeling You a Terrorist

7/23/2014

The Intercept July 23 2014, 2:45 p.m.
Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Devereaux

The Obama administration has quietly approved a substantial expansion of the terrorist watchlist system, authorizing a secret process that requires neither “concrete facts” nor “irrefutable evidence” to designate an American or foreigner as a terrorist, according to a key government document obtained by The Intercept.

The “March 2013 Watchlisting Guidance,” a 166-page document issued last year by the National Counterterrorism Center, spells out the government’s secret rules for putting individuals on its main terrorist database, as well as the no fly list and the selectee list, which triggers enhanced screening at airports and border crossings. The new guidelines allow individuals to be designated as representatives of terror organizations without any evidence they are actually connected to such organizations, and it gives a single White House official the unilateral authority to place entire “categories” of people the government is tracking onto the no fly and selectee lists. It broadens the authority of government officials to “nominate” people to the watchlists based on what is vaguely described as “fragmentary information.” It also allows for dead people to be watchlisted. . . . .

Blacklisting, Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, "Known or Suspected Terrorists", "Known Terrorists", Law Enforcement, March 2103 Watchlisting Guidance, National Counterterrorism Center, National Security Agency, No Fly List, Obama Administration, Police, "Reasonable Suspicion", Secondary Security Screening Selection, "Suspected Terrorists", Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, Terrorist Screening Center, Traveler Redress Inquiry Program, Watchlisting, Watchlist Sharing

IN THE NEWS

We found 85,000 cops who’ve been investigated for misconduct. Now you can read their records.

As Black Activists Protested Police Killings, Homeland Security Worried They Might Join ISIS

California court: Old police misconduct records are public

San Diego Has Been Turned Into A Massive Chinese-Style Public Surveillance Network

‘Shocking report’ reveals undercover police helped businesses blacklist workers

Portland Withdraws From Federal Joint Terrorism Task Force, Again

Details of Fusion Center Surveillance Revealed

California's landmark police transparency law takes effect after court denies police union effort to block it

Four St. Louis Police Officers Indicted for Civil Rights Violations and Obstruction of Justice

Blacklisted: The Secret Government Rulebook for Labeling You a Terrorist

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