An article in the Washington Post that has been widely syndicated discusses how the collection of evidence by the use of drug detector dogs will be considered by the united states supreme court. Two cases are pending on the docket, both from Florida, which question the effectiveness as well as the constitutionality of canines for drug detection use. The article cites studies from the University of California at Davis in which 18 police canine teams were sent through a facility and tasked with finding hidden drugs. Though there were no drugs in the facility, 17 of the teams reported alerts. Barry Cooper, former police officer and producer of the Never Get Busted educational film series has discussed his own manipulation of police canines while he was working as one of the most successful narcotics interdiction detectives. Anyone who has owned a dog knows that their life revolves around serving their pack leader. There are no objective standards or testing done of the animals to demonstrate their effectiveness. In a 2005 case, former supreme court judge David Souter stated that the infallible dog “is a creation of legal fiction”.
Last year, the Florida supreme court had thrown out a case from 2006 which featured questionable probable cause for a search after a police dog sniffed and acted playfully. Judge Barbara Pariente wrote: (more…)
How did it happen? Looks like someone posted the video to reddit with the title, “We’ve seen lots of bad cops treating citizens poorly; Here’s some bad citizens treating a good cop poorly.”
The comments section is full of Stockholm Syndrome sufferers who excuse the officer’s aggression by claiming he’s just doing his job and was “respectful”. They ignore that officer Harrington aggressed against a peaceful driver who had not endangered anyone, then attack Derrick for daring to keep his privacy (and the heat in the car) by only cracking his window to talk to the officer. (Among other nasty, vitriolic comments.)
The reddit comments are a sad reminder of how worshipped the police are – how people will excuse their aggression so long as they are nice-seeming about it. It really highlights why its so important for liberty-loving people to move to NH and get together – lots of people love their oppressors and we are highly diluted across the country and world. If you haven’t signed up yet, hop on over to the Free State Project site and get onboard – we just crossed 13,000 signers!
As you may recall, at the very beginning of the year, half-a-dozen liberty activists were banned “forever” from Cheshire “superior” court for the horrible crimes of asking bureaucrats questions and singing parody Christmas carols in the parking lot.
Kelly, Derrick, and I were all arrested at the court in February and charged with “Criminal trespass” for simply trying to go to court. Heroic first amendment attorney Jon Meyer joined the case on my defense and filed a motion to dismiss.
Now David Lauren, the attorney representing “the state” has responded with a ridiculous “Answer and Objection to Motion to Dismiss” and “Motion for Protective Order“. Essentially, Lauren argues that our rights weren’t violated because we could have asked to come anytime and it would have been granted. He also claims that court employees were afraid for their personal safety as well as that of their family and home. Apparently singing songs strikes fear into the hearts of government bureaucrats.
Sounds to me like they are projecting. Hey bureaucrats – us activist-folk are peaceful – it’s YOU guys that are supporting and doing violence every day in your role in the aggressive court system. No activist has ever harmed a court employee or destroyed their property. There’s no reason to be afraid, but they are so fearful that their attorney has motioned for a “protective order”, which, if granted, would allow the court bureaucrats to submit affidavits without last names or addresses! What cowards!
Yesterday’s article featured video of a police encounter from May 17 that resulted in no searches or arrests outside of the initial detainment. Today’s entry features another encounter from later that same day, this time elsewhere in the bay state.
Earlier that Thursday, myself and a large group of Occupiers were stranded at South Station in Boston after our bus to Chicago had broken down twenty minutes outside of the city. We had spent the night prior inside the disabled vehicle at a rest stop while a mechanic tried futilely to revive it. We returned to Boston around 8:00am, and had our itinerary restored by 3:00pm. Once we discovered that we would be getting flown to Chicago the following morning, we made our housing arrangements for the night.
I had taken a bus out of the Shire to Boston the evening prior, and rather than traveling back and fourth again, I was invited to await departure with young occupiers from Acton. It was my first time in the quaint town, and in my short time there I met many wonderful people. But as is often the case, when too much of a good time is had, the police are bound to arrive and investigate. (more…)
I’ve just gotten around to finalizing more videos from the NATO Summit in Chicago, and today I uploaded this short encounter from after our group’s second attempt to leave Boston. The third time proved to be a charm, and the whole story will be laid out in a cut of most of the footage I am currently working on.
In this video from May 18, a bicycle police officer on patrol around South Station picks out an individual and harangues him for being suspected of smoking herb before letting him return to the group. Police were only operating on smell and had no physical evidence, as this encounter demonstrates the difference between Massachusetts’ decriminalized cannabis status compared to other states, where this same encounter may have resulted in coerced searches or arrest. The second officer to appear on the scene says shortly before leaving, “It’s legal, but your still get a fine.”
