Another Sexual Assault In Service Of The Drug War

by Jacob Sullum.   Public servants or simple perverts, you decide. Yet another case of a driver sexually assaulted in the name of the war on drugs dramatically illustrates the dangerously broad power that police officers have to mess with motorists. According to a lawsuit filed last September, described in a February 3 ruling by federal judge in         ... MORE

VIDEO: Why The Public Is Losing Respect For The Badge

Public servants or statist bullies? You decide. 

Severin Johnson: Smartphone App Allows Citizens To Use Each Other For Emergency Services Instead Of Police

Given the danger of calling for police assistance.  We live in a world where we are forced to pay for services that are unreliable, corrupt and brutal. We are taught from a young age that you pick up the phone and dial 911 at the first sign of trouble. But sadly, we increasingly see the responders to our pleas for help showing up and making matters  ... MORE

Police Humor: Cops Scam Woman Into Her Bringing Meth In For Ebola Contamination Test, Then Toss Her Ass In Jail

by David Kravets.    Some hooks don't require bait. A Central Texas police department issued a "breaking news alert" on Facebook, cautioning residents that meth and heroin in the Granite Shoals area "could be contaminated with the life-threatening disease Ebola." Last week's fake Facebook alert urged the public "NOT" to ingest those illicit drugs  ... MORE

Matt Agorist: “Please Don’t Shoot Me” Body Cam Shows Innocent Unarmed Dad Killed By A Cop Begging For His Life

A simple execution.     Mesa Police Officer Philip Brailsford has been charged with the second-degree murder of Daniel Shaver, an innocent father of two. The shooting was captured on his body cam. On January 18, Brailsford, along with several other officers, responded to a call about a suspect with a rifle in a hotel room. The ‘rifle’ was nothing more  ... MORE

Lancet Commission Recommends Drug Legalization

by Jacob Sullum.      The last time the U.N. General Assembly held a "special session" (UNGASS) on drug policy, it was organized under the slogan "A Drug-Free World...We Can Do It." Pino Arlacchi, then executive director of the U.N. Drug Control Program, insisted "there is no reason" the world's supply of cocaine and heroin "cannot be eliminated in   ... MORE

The Brute Force Of Government Spending On Autopilot

by Debra J. Saunders.   My car was towed from an area near a train station in San Francisco last month. I had parked in front of a small "No Parking" sign that I had not seen. I spent an hour looking for my car and calling an attendant who didn't answer the phone. When someone finally answered, she told me my car had been towed. It cost me $350.  ... MORE

Sharon Cohen: Chicago's $662 Million Police Misconduct Bill

But few officers punished.   In this city's troubled history of police misconduct, Eric Caine's case may be unrivaled: It took more than 25 years and $10 million to resolve. For decades, he maintained he didn't brutally kill an elderly couple. The police, he said, beat him into a false confession. Locked up at age 20, he was freed at 46, bewildered by a world  ... MORE

Man Charged With Breaking A Trooper’s Fist With His Face

by Larry Hohol.   Public servants or government thugs? A motorist was viciously beaten, tasered, and maced repeatedly, then charged with 24 separate crimes and maliciously prosecuted for every one of them. He was beaten four (4) times over the course of 11-hours, and not once had he acted maliciously. The incident stemmed from his driving while  ... MORE

Woman Arrested For Protecting Dog From Cop Acquitted

by Jacob Sullum. Last week a West Virginia woman who stood between her dog and a state trooper intent on killing him was acquitted of obstructing an officer by a jury in Wood County. It took jurors just half an hour to acquit 23-year-old Tiffanie Hupp after they watched the video of the incident that Hupp's husband, Ryan, shot with his cellphone.  ... MORE

DC Cop Raids Are Undeterred By Lack Of Probable Cause

from the Washington Post. Government's domestic terrorists. Sallie Taylor was sitting in her apartment in Northeast Washington one evening in January 2015 watching “Bible Talk” when her clock fell off the wall and broke. She turned and looked up. Nine D.C. police officers smashed through her door, a shotgun was pointed at her face and she   ... MORE

M.L. Nestel: Cops Wake Up Naked Woman Who Was Asleep, Order Her To Show Them A Gun, Then Proceed To Kill Her

Trigger-happy public servants.   Deanne Choate was sleeping naked under the covers when a trio of cops flicked on the lights and came barreling into her bedroom with guns drawn, believing she posed a lethal threat. The police officers from Gardner, Kansas roused her awake and ordered her to show the gun her boyfriend told them she had    ... MORE

John Charlton: Connecticut Cops Push For Armed Drones

To promote "public safety."  The drone discussion has been buzzing around the state Capitol for hearings this week. Monday, a bill to ban the weaponization of drones was discussed, and on Tuesday, a bill to control the use of drones in many ways, including by law enforcement agencies, was debated. Lawmakers listened to testimony concerning      ... MORE

Virginia Senate Bill Seeks To Turn Cops Into Secret Police

by Clarice Palmer.    Shielding accountability. In the United States, the Fourth Estate, also known as the Fourth Power or the fourth branch of government, has always been a popular label for the media’s role in a free society. But in the state of Virginia, legislators want to remove that power from the press by shielding police officers from public scrutiny. ... MORE

Armed Marshals Bust Man Over Unpaid Student Loan

by Michael Harthorne.   And they aren't stopping there. Seven armed US Marshals in combat gear showed up on the doorstep of 48-year-old Paul Aker's home Thursday in Houston, the New York Daily News reports. His crime? Failing to pay a $1,500 student loan he received in 1987. "I say, 'What is this all about?'" Aker recalls. "They say, 'Shut up,   ... MORE

NYPD Wants To Make "Resisting Arrest" Into A Felony

by Cory Doctorow.      Cops want sharper teeth. It's no secret that "resisting arrest" is the go-to excuse for violence committed against suspects by corrupt cops -- it's practically a running gag. But if NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton gets his way, resisting arrest will offer near-perfect impunity to his force's most violent and sleazy officers,    ... MORE

Kade Crockford: This Federal Appeals Court's Ruling Put A Dent In The Police Officers' 'Qualified Immunity' Defense

Cop to be held accountable in killing of unarmed man.    A police officer is not immune from accountability after he points a gun at a non-threatening person, with his finger on the trigger and the safety off, and accidentally fires. So ruled the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston last week, in a case that has far-reaching implications for public ... MORE

Tim Cushing: Drug Dogs Don't Even Have To Be Right Half The Time To Be Considered 'Reliable' By The Courts

The pretense of probable cause.   All in all, this motion to suppress evidence worked out for the plaintiff, but it does little to address concerns that drug dogs are basically blank permission slips for inquisitive cops. The defendant -- Emile Martin -- was in a vehicle driven by another person (simply referred to as "Montgomery" in the opinion). This vehicle  ... MORE

City Of Buffalo Is Raking In Big Bucks From Auto Drivers After Wildly Expanding Their Traffic Citation Industry

by Matthew Spina.    Throughout last year, Buffalo police pulled over more drivers and handed more tickets to each. But the flood began in July – after City Hall created its new “traffic violations agency” to grab more money than ever from traffic fines. The traffic agency flung open its doors July 1. From that day through December, police issued 30,000    ... MORE

Police State Update: Ex-Cop California Assemblyman Wants Encrytion Keys For All Cell Phones Available To The Police

by Cyrus Farivar.    A second state lawmaker has now introduced a bill that would prohibit the sale of smartphones with unbreakable encryption. Except this time, despite very similar language to a pending New York bill, the stated rationale is to fight human trafficking, rather than terrorism. Specifically, California Assemblymember Jim Cooper’s (D-Elk   ... MORE