Archive for the 'Police' Category

News from Williamsburg:

It took 19 hours for the Williamsburg Police Department and The York-Poquoson Sheriff’s office to tell the media one of YPSO’s deputies “accidentally” discharged his service weapon during a traffic stop.

[ … ]

“Anything than a less than perfect response regarding an interaction between police and citizens is something that should be reviewed. This was an unfortunate accident with no malice or ill intent towards the occupants of the vehicle. Thankfully no one was injured in this event.

It’s always worked for me.  I remember the last time I shot at a car.  I just told the cops I was “less than perfect,” and they nodded with understanding and let me go.

This is what happens when FedGov has to much printed currency to spend on unnecessary things like building tactical teams.

BUFFALO, NY (WIVB) It’s not the way you usually see the SWAT Team in action. On Wednesday, members of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office tactical units took part in the latest in a series of cold weather training on skis and snowshoes at Sprague Brook Park in the Town of Concord.

“I think one of the greatest strengths of what the Sheriff’s department can offer here, this is just a greater way for us to serve the community,” said Lt. Neil Held, a member of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team and Bomb Squad.

A few winters ago, when many people became trapped in their vehicles during a storm, the Erie County Sheriff’s Office took a better look at ways to get to them, according to SWAT Team Captain Warren Hawthorn. “If a vehicle, regardless of how large the vehicle is, can’t get into a narrow spot or snow is simply too deep for a snowmobile, the last resort is you have to go get those peple on foot or on skiis or on snow shoes and this gives us that ability to do that.”

The ability to get to them on foot could be a matter of life or death, according to Lt. Held. “Maybe it’s dropping off blankets to them, or some type of cold weather supplies to help sustain them through them being stranded wherever it is that they are, so if they need to be evacuated then we have that capability also.”

The Erie County Sheriff’s Office received a tactical team grant through the New York State Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services to pay for the type of training which took place Wednesday at Sprague Brook Park in Concord.

Why such a grant as this would go to a SWAT team rather than a local fire department isn’t clear, probably because there is no excuse for this.

And this is what happens when local taxpayers spend too much on their SWAT teams.

The United Arab Emirates’ record on human rights abuses and arresting dissidents has drawn criticism from the international community and the U.S. Department of State. But that didn’t stop three Florida sheriff’s office SWAT teams from attending a nearly two-week competition there earlier this month.

Dubai police have come under criticism for arresting people for posting videos to social media that are critical of the government or otherwise deemed offensive. Undeterred, sheriff’s offices from Flagler, Alachua, and Osceola counties — along with the New York Police Department — recently flew to Dubai to learn from those police agencies on trips subsidized by the UAE’s Interior Ministry.

The three Florida agencies and the NYPD were the only four American law enforcement agencies invited to the competition, which stretched from Feb. 4-14, according to the event’s agenda.

[ … ]

The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office told the Times-Union that the Dubai Police covered all expenses for the team to include travel, lodging, meals and “things needed for the competition.”

“The only expense we had was we paid the daily wages of the deputies involved and for travel insurance,” said Public Information Officer Art Forgey.

In its press release, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said Sheriff Rick Staly “personally met with the Dubai Police Chief and Deputy Prime Minister Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan.”

“He also learned how Dubai Police serve their community, which is significantly different than American policing and extensively uses advanced technology and does not use traditional patrols,” the sheriff’s public information officer said.

Dubai is blanketed with thousands of surveillance cameras that are connected to a central command center that uses artificial intelligence and facial recognition to monitor civilians.

Well I’m glad the Sheriff himself got to be a part of this shindig.  Perhaps they can figure out a way to blanket America with thousands of surveillance cameras along with all of those JTTF Fusion centers.  After all, the constitution doesn’t really matter.

Then there’s the issue of a standing army and the objections to it.  Not a standing army, you say?  Go take a look at the picture of the team.  It matters not how they’re dressed – what really matters is what they think of themselves.  You can tell it from the photo.

ABC13:

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo says ‘no-knock’ warrants will end on his watch after the controversial raid that left a man and his wife dead on the southeast side.

The announcement came during a town hall meeting Monday night hosted by the Greater Houston Coalition of Justice.

Acevedo added that any exceptions to that rule will be circumstantial, and he’ll know about it.

He also promised a new policy, stating that undercover officers will wear body cameras during a raid.

[ … ]

“Under my watch, we uncovered it. Under my watch, we haven’t covered it up,” said Acevedo, who was interrupted many times throughout the meeting.

First of all, if you were transparent your officers would already have been wearing body cams.  Second, you’re a liar.  In spite of the fact that we pointed out to you that innocent people had been killed in a botched raid that should never have been conducted, and that the whole thing was your own damn fault, you went on national television and used this raid as an opportunity to pimp gun control.

You’re a loser, and the officers involved in this deserve to be in the state penitentiary.  Oh, and I noticed that this isn’t really the end of no-knock raids.  Some raids will be “circumstantial.”  Liar.

News from Texas:

A lead investigator lied in an affidavit justifying a drug raid on a Houston home in which two residents were killed and four undercover officers were shot and wounded during a gun battle, the city’s police chief said Friday.

In the search warrant that was used to justify entering the home, officers with the Houston Police Department’s narcotics unit had alleged that a confidential informant had bought heroin at the house the day before the Jan. 28 raid. The informant had also allegedly seen a handgun in the home.

But according to an affidavit filed as part of the ongoing investigation into the raid and made public Friday, the informant told investigators he or she had not bought any drugs at the home and had not been involved in any work leading up to the raid.

The heroin allegedly bought at the home had been obtained elsewhere, according to the affidavit.

The informant had allegedly been working with the lead investigator in the case, who was identified in the affidavit as Officer Gerald Goines. He prepared the search warrant and has been with the police department for more than 30 years, according to investigators.

Goines was one of the four officers who were shot in the gunfight that killed 59-year-old Dennis Tuttle and 58-year-old Rhogena Nicholas, who both lived in the home. A fifth officer injured his knee during the shooting.

Investigators also spoke with several other informants who had previously worked with Goines and all said they had not bought drugs at the home, according to the affidavit.

Well, don’t you feel stupid now, Art?  After we all told you the whole sordid affair was your own damn fault and that you were responsible for the deaths incurred?  Don’t you feel stupid that you turned this into a chance to be a political shill for gun control again?

And as for Goines, don’t you feel sorry and ashamed that your actions led to the death of others?

No, you don’t feel stupid, Art.  Because that’s just the kind of person you are.  And no, you don’t feel ashamed, Goines, because you have no scruples.

The Houston PD and Art Acevedo deserve each other.  What a sorry lot.

News from Florida:

A false threat made to Jefferson Davis Middle School prompted Jacksonville police to swarm the campus Thursday afternoon, according to a Duval County Public Schools spokeswoman. During the police response, an officer’s gun accidentally discharged outside the school, authorities said.

About 3:50 p.m., according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, 911 dispatch received two calls reporting there had been a shooting at the school. Officers arrived in full force to investigate and then determined the information was false. The incident report shows the calls came from within the school.

Just after 4 p.m., the Sheriff’s Office said, a police officer had an unintentional discharge from his agency-issued weapon and the bullet struck the sidewalk, causing minor surface damage. The Sheriff’s Office is conducting an administrative investigation into the unintentional discharge.

Gosh I just hate it when that happens to me.  Hmm … I recall the last time I did that.  Somebody conducted an internal affairs investigation and made me go home with pay for a week, counseled me when I came back, and then we all laughed and laughed about it.

No harm, no foul.

Reason:

This week a North Carolina mom told the Raleigh City Council that police “terrorized” her parents and her 6-year-old special-needs son.

A Selective Enforcement Unit (SEU) team—Raleigh’s version of SWAT—had a warrant to search Michael and Wanda Clark’s home last November. Michael’s nephew, Brian Clark, was a suspect in a recent armed robbery. Police found a box Brian had left at the scene of the crime with his uncle’s name and address on it, Indy Week reports. So they paid a visit to the Clark home, where Michael and Wanda’s daughter LaDonna had dropped off her son, who has autism and cerebral palsy, before going to work.

Brian Clark did not live at his uncle’s house and was not there at the time. Nonetheless, police forced Michael, Wanda, and their grandson to walk out of the house and sit on the ground. “On a 35-degree and rainy night, my son with autism was forced out of the home with military-style rifles aimed at him and made to sit on the cold, wet ground for over an hour by RPD SWAT,” LaDonna told the city council Tuesday.

“You can sit down there, or I will handcuff you,” an officer told her father, according to a complaint Michael Clark later filed with the department.

“Having guns pointed at a six-year-old was extremely frightening and completely unnecessary,” Wanda Clark wrote in a complaint of her own. “Even now, I still have nightmares about those guns being pointed at me and my grandson.”

“Not only was I not allowed to see the footage of my son being terrorized,” LaDonna told the city council, but the police wouldn’t give her an internal affairs complaint number unless she specifically stated which department policies had been broken and agreed to an in-person interview. At this point, the police already had three written complaints describing the incident.

That’s because you’re not special and they are because they are cops.

Why didn’t they just walk up the sidewalk and knock on the door?

I think the entire unit, including cops who didn’t participate in the raid, should be forced to strip naked and parade through the streets of Raleigh from one side of the town to the other, with the entire city watching, wearing signs that say, “I am a toad.”

Right before they are all fired and hauled into court for breaking and entering, assault with a deadly weapon, and carrying firearms to the terror of the public.

News from Colorado:

A Denver police officer will be suspended for 10 days without pay for almost shooting a man in the head by accident.

The Denver Post reports Asher Rose will begin his suspension later this month for the Dec. 15, 2017 incident.

The officer joined the department in January 2017 and did not have any previous disciplinary issues.

Investigators say Rose and another officer were responding to a report of a drunk man trying to stop traffic in south Denver. The man ran away and hid under a truck.

According to Rose’s disciplinary letter, the officer accidentally fired his gun as he was turning on his weapon-mounted light.

For the 3648th time, do … not … do … that.  It’s dumb and it violates the rules of gun safety.  If you need illumination, find another way to get it, like carrying a tactical light.

Prior: Gun-Mounted Flashlights Linked To Accidental Shootings

Via Gryphon, Zero Hedge:

We are sick and tired of having dirtbags try to take our lives when all we are trying to do is protect this community and protect our families…

Well just know, we all got your number now.

We are going to be keeping track of all of ya’ll, and we’re going to make sure we hold you accountable. Every time you stir the pot on our police officers. We’ve had enough, folks.

We’re out there doing our jobs every day, putting our lives on the line for our families. Enough is enough. Now please, keep these officers in your prayers.

No narcotics were found.  There were no criminals there.  The raid was based on a prank or mistaken tip, or an intentional lie.

We’ve rehearsed this before, but let’s do it again for good measure.  A man’s home is his castle.  This is called Castle Doctrine, and it is well known, coming from English common law, which is at its root based on the Holy Scriptures.

A man has a right to defend against home invasion.  No one can know if a home invasion is being conducted by cops or someone pretending to be cops (see also this).  It is irresponsible and most likely deadly to lay down, disarm and obey orders when someone comes banging on your door in preparation for a home invasion.  Someone doing that can’t be trusted, regardless of who it is.

This man was defending his home, nothing more, nothing less.  The Houston police know that, they just don’t like guns in the hands of anyone other than cops.

Furthermore, there are other ways to conduct police investigations.  I do not support or believe in the so-called “war on drugs,” or a war on anything in America.  I think I’m in good company.  The founders opposed a standing army or requirements to quarter troops.  But in spite of this opposition, the notion that without SWAT raids the police will lose evidence is a lie and a red herring.

They can stake out homes, enter them when no one is there, arrest perpetrators in driveways in the daylight, deploy investigations instead of would-be soldier-boys who have never served overseas.  By the way, my son despises the concept of men dressing in tactical garb and busting in doors who lack the courage and have never flown across the pond to do it for real.  Do it in Fallujah like my son did and then maybe I’ll have some respect for you.

In this particular case, the cops weren’t protecting anyone from anything, nothing was accomplished except murder, and the cops have given more reason for people not to trust them for anything under the sun.  It was an abject failure from start to finish.  But then, I’ve outlined hundreds of such failures before, so this is nothing new.

But the Houston Police Officer’s Union response above was given by President Joe Gimaldi, and in his response we learn the most useful information in the whole failure.  “Well just know, we all got your number now.  We are going to be keeping track of all of ya’ll, and we’re going to make sure we hold you accountable. Every time you stir the pot on our police officers.”

Other than being stolid and stilted prose suitable for only an elementary school student, these are threats.  The attitude is thuggish and gang-like.  It’s full of hate and vengeance and threats of retaliation, just like the Crips, Bloods or MS13.  “Stirring the pot” can’t be interpreted any other way than speaking one’s mind.  So in other words, we can conclude that Mr. Gilmaldi only supports the first amendment with the stipulation that cops aren’t criticized.

So much for his oath.  He and Art Acevedo deserve each other.

WOWKTV.com:

MARTIN COUNTY, KY (WOWK) – A Kentucky Sheriff has had enough after he says budget cuts have ravaged his department, telling citizens “Folks, lock your doors, load your guns and get you a barking, biting dog. If the Sheriff’s Office can’t protect you, who will?”

Martin County Sheriff John Kirk wrote on Facebook addressing citizens of the county on Sunday.

According to the Sheriff, with the recent cuts to the department, he will have to move his only other deputy to dayshift, leaving no protection on nights.

The sheriff said quote “I’m sure the thieves and drug dealers will have a ball.”

He is inviting citizens to attend a court meeting on Monday around 1 p.m.

He’s just trying to scare people.  There are plenty of rural counties that don’t have coverage in remote parts of the county at all hours, day and night.  Nor should they have to – it isn’t their job to protect you, nor can they accomplish such a thing.  They know that, the Sheriff just wants to increase the size of his department.

But his advice is good regardless of why he gave it: “Folks, lock your doors, load your guns and get you a barking, biting dog.”

You should have done that a long time ago.

Greenville News:

When a man barged into Isiah Kinloch’s apartment and broke a bottle over his head, the North Charleston resident called 911. After cops arrived on that day in 2015, they searched the injured man’s home and found an ounce of marijuana.

So they took $1,800 in cash from his apartment and kept it.

______

When Eamon Cools-Lartigue was driving on Interstate 85 in Spartanburg County, deputies stopped him for speeding. The Atlanta businessman wasn’t criminally charged in the April 2016 incident. Deputies discovered $29,000 in his car, though, and decided to take it.

______

When Brandy Cooke dropped her friend off at a Myrtle Beach sports bar as a favor, drug enforcement agents swarmed her in the parking lot and found $4,670 in the car.

Her friend was wanted in a drug distribution case, but Cooke wasn’t involved. She had no drugs and was never charged in the 2014 bust. Agents seized her money anyway.

She worked as a waitress and carried cash because she didn’t have a checking account. She spent more than a year trying to get her money back.

[ … ]

Police are systematically seizing cash and property — many times from people who aren’t guilty of a crime — netting millions of dollars each year. South Carolina law enforcement profits from this policing tactic: the bulk of the money ends up in its possession …

Officers gather in places like Spartanburg County for contests with trophies to see who can make the largest or most seizures during highway blitzes. They earn hats, mementos and free dinners, and agencies that participate take home a cut of the forfeiture proceeds.

That money adds up. Over three years, law enforcement agencies seized more than $17 million, our investigation shows.

Did you know that?  They have parties where they get to brag about how much they took from citizens.  How does that strike you?

Civil asset forfeiture.  Or in common parlance by ordinary folk, theft.  Immoral, unbiblical theft.  The Scriptures nowhere gives the state the right to confiscate wealth like that, and I defy anyone to prove that it does.  But don’t look to the pastors of churches to point to LEOs who do this and call them out on it as thieves during services.  The pastors are morally bankrupt.