The Union Leader’s Sunday News edition published an above-the-fold article on the findings of an independent law enforcement review panel investigating the April 12 no-knock raid in Greenland. The article indicates Attorney General Michael Delany had suspended the Drug Task Force commander James Norris, who happened to be on vacation on the evening of the raid that resulted in three deaths and four wounded police officers.
A recent Mother Jones’ article, Chalk a Sidewalk, Go to Jail by Josh Harkinson features a review of major incidents across the country of chalking arrests. The comprehensive article features references to stories previously covered on Free Concord, such as the chalking cases out of Orlando, Richmond, and LA. There’s even a reference early in the article to the Chalking 8. Midway through, there’s an interactive United States map with a brief description of events in each case. An incident not included in the map, but not forgotten nonetheless, are the original two War on Chalk arrests at the federal building in Concord, November 13, 2010.
Radley Balko, HuffPo journalist and chief of The Agitator blog reportson the increasing corporate media focus around a “war on cops”. 2012 is shaping up to be one of the safest years for law enforcement since 1944; a much different time for policing in the US.
A few other media outlets are now picking up on the massive drop in police fatality statistics this year (Welcome to the story!) But so far, none of them have questioned what happened to all of those alleged trends (gun ownership, increasing contempt for cops, videotaping of police misconduct, anti-government sentiment, decreases in funding for police departments) that they all reported were behind the non-existent “war on cops” they were all reporting last year. Or in the case of the New York Times, as recently as April.
If we use the numbers from the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, there are 800,000 cops on the streets. There have been 53 on-the -job fatalities so far this year. But 21 of those were car accidents. There have been 19 firearms homicides against police. I looked through the descriptions of this year’s officer deaths at the NLEMF page. Two of the fatalities were from firearms injuries sustained in previous years (in one case, 30 years ago). That puts us at 17 for this year. I then looked through the 13 deaths classified as “other.” Four of those appear to have been homicides—three stabbings, and one officer who died from a blot clot resulting from an altercation with an inmate. So let’s add those to our 17. That gives us 21 homicides in the first half of 2012 (I’ll go ahead and count the two officers killed during SWAT-like drug raids, even though it’s possible the tactics themselves may have contributed to the officers’ deaths).
By my math, that gives us a homicide rate of 5.25 (more…)
Earlier today I made public my raw footage taken the day of the police brutality protest outside of Manchester PD on June 4, 2011. The video begins around 4:20 in the afternoon with myself offering chalk to the small crowd gathering across the street before I take an exploratory walk into the police station. I spend the next few minutes inside, talking with civilians at the police department and watching out of the window as the protest swells. The chalking gets well underway while I am still inside, and police approach the crowd, but do not intervene. Time passes, some chalking spreads to the walls of the building, and the police reappear, this time ready to write tickets under the city’s vague graffiti ordinance. Moments after two chalkers are approached, they are arrested upon not immediately presenting identification. Once they are dragged inside, an order is given to start taking cameras from those present outside. Keeping my distance, I try to get as close as possible to get footage of the camera grabbing without becoming victimized myself. Shortly thereafter, two more arrests happen inside while my camera runs on the action outside. The last few moments of my video portray a more relaxed scene, as some of us present converse with officers stationed outside about everything from the events of the day to the morality of modern policing. After the sole battery I owned at the time exhausted, the final four arrests, including my own, would occur.
For the public record, here’s fifty-three minutes of unedited footage from the scene of the Chalking 8 incident.
It’s been brought to my attention that the FBI has been snooping around the Keene area for several months. First they called in a fellow Free Keene blogger (who asked not to be identified) and asked him if violence was advocated amongst those who frequent the Keene Activity Center. The Free Keene blogger clearly told them they had the wrong people and that if violence was ever advocated, it would be rejected as a means to the end by any real “Free Stater” (a term I use only as a way to identify a group, it should be understood that ‘free staters’, like everyone else, are individuals responsible for their own actions and thoughts).
Top this off with a few sketchy visits from new movers, who I now believe to be FBI agents or informants, and it’s almost comical – if not so scary – how pathetic the FBI’s attempts are at infiltrating the Keene Activity Center (KAC). One guy, ‘Michael’, came to the KAC for a visit (which is typical of new movers) and after a long conversation – where I asked him directly if he was an agent of the state (he said he was not) – it was decided that “Michael’s” views are not acceptable to those who frequent the KAC and he was asked to leave. He has never attempted a return but it should be noted that this man may still be trying to infiltrate liberty groups.
Fast forward a couple a months and the FBI – Phil Christiana – decides to interview another liberty minded person, Rich Paul. Known for his self ownership activism, relating to the war on drugs – particularly marijuana – Rich was targeted for allegedly making voluntary exchanges of substances the government deems illegal. Funny thing is, Phil and the state agent that was assisting him didn’t even care about the drugs. What did Phil and the FBI want? They wanted Rich to wear a wire into the Keene Activity Center. (more…)
While visiting the 21st annual Extravaganja festival in Amherst, Massachusetts, I had the chance to meet a long-time advocate for a peace declaration in the war on drugs. Jack Cole is one of the founding members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition who worked in undercover narcotics for a great portion of his police career. Though he had known for years while working in the field that he was actively harming communities by perpetuating an unnecessary war, it was some time before he decided to make speaking out against the war a major part of his life. Since doing so, he has found it difficult to, in good conscience, not continue to work hard to maintain the momentum LEAP has been building in opposition to prohibition policy.
In this interview, Jack overviews the surprising success LEAP has had since its formation in March 2002. Now spanning 86 countries, LEAP is beginning to have even more active duty criminal justice officials, as early on their public membership was almost exclusively retired individuals. Jack also gets into how the drug war is greatly decreasing the effectiveness of more imperative criminal justice functions because of the ease of fishing in the drug war.
Many thanks to Jack Cole and his fellow spokesmen for LEAP, who undertake the important task of disseminating unpopular truths. See the 13-minute interview embedded below.
The Union Leader’s Sunday News edition published an above-the-fold article on the findings of an independent law enforcement review panel investigating the April 12 no-knock raid in Greenland. The article indicates Attorney General Michael Delany had suspended the Drug Task Force commander James Norris, who happened to be on vacation on the evening of the raid that resulted in three deaths and four wounded police officers.
Earlier today I made public my raw footage taken the day of the police brutality protest outside of Manchester PD on June 4, 2011. The video begins around 4:20 in the afternoon with myself offering chalk to the small crowd gathering across the street before I take an exploratory walk into the police station. I spend the next few minutes inside, talking with civilians at the police department and watching out of the window as the protest swells. The chalking gets well underway while I am still inside, and police approach the crowd, but do not intervene. Time passes, some chalking spreads to the walls of the building, and the police reappear, this time ready to write tickets under the city’s vague graffiti ordinance. Moments after two chalkers are approached, they are arrested upon not immediately presenting identification. Once they are dragged inside, an order is given to start taking cameras from those present outside. Keeping my distance, I try to get as close as possible to get footage of the camera grabbing without becoming victimized myself. Shortly thereafter, two more arrests happen inside while my camera runs on the action outside. The last few moments of my video portray a more relaxed scene, as some of us present converse with officers stationed outside about everything from the events of the day to the morality of modern policing. After the sole battery I owned at the time exhausted, the final four arrests, including my own, would occur.
While visiting the 21st annual Extravaganja festival in Amherst, Massachusetts, I had the chance to meet a long-time advocate for a peace declaration in the war on drugs. Jack Cole is one of the founding members of 
