Posts Tagged ‘police’

Police State Tactics in New York

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

Teams of police officers equipped with submachine guns and bomb-sniffing dogs have become a part of the landscape of post-Sept. 11 New York, patrolling around Wall Street and such landmarks as the Empire State building.

Similar squads are set to begin daily patrols of the busiest sections of the city subways this month, in what officials describe as a first for a U.S. mass transit system.

So begins this article from the Associated Press.

The creeping tyranny which is swallowing this country is starting to bare its teeth. Ask yourself the simple question, “Why do police officers need automatic weapons?”

Submachine guns and machine guns are weapons designed to throw a lot of bullets in the general direction of the target in question, in hope that a bullet or two will hit the desired target, or that the spray of such a weapon will cause an advancing enemy to take shelter and cease their advance. Automatic fire is not fully controlled and highly inaccurate, which is exactly why such weapons are utterly useless in the role of civilian law enforcement!

There is only one reason for law enforcement to carry fully automatic weapons: intimidation.

Welcome to the new Amerika, where it seems everyday we’re closer to picking up where the Soviet Union left off.

Folks, this is going to continue until the People of this nation stand up and declare that we’re not going to be treated like criminals anymore. We’re showing all the signs of the nation’s various police forces stinking with the attitude of “us vs. them”, where the common populace is the enemy. As these Gestapo tactics continue and the tyrannical beast snaps at more and more ordinary citizens, more ordinary citizens are going to be hurt or killed without the slightest residual taint of reasonable cause.

If we continue on this march toward despotic rule, we the People will be eventually forced into making the decision of whether to submit to the Jack boot stomping on our face, or fight back.

Shocking Video

Wednesday, November 28th, 2007

There have been many outraged articles over the recent YouTube airing of Jared Massey being Tasered by Utah Highway Patrol officer John Gardner, back on September 14th. That outrage seems to be two sided as well. Those who believe in the ultimate authority of the state are claiming that Gardner did what he was supposed to do and that Massey was being confrontational. Those who believe that the police are servants of the people and not their masters (such as yours truly) know that what Officer Gardner did was unquestionably wrong, even though Massey was mildly agitated.

Over a conversation with a couple of friends of mine over this, the topic turned to the fact that Gardner was using lethal force without provocation. At first, that argument seemed a stretch to me – Tasers are considered to be non-lethal devices, but it was quickly pointed out that not everyone dies from gunshot wounds, or stabbings, which are also considered lethal force. To call a device which last year killed over 150 people in the USA alone, a lethal device, is no great stretch after all.Which leads me to several disturbing questions concerning this incident. First and foremost is why the Taser was ever pulled.Utah law allows the use of a Taser for the following reasons:

  • When a person is a threat to themselves, an officer or another person.
  • In cases where the physical use of force would endanger the person or someone else.
  • When other means of lesser or equal force by the officer has been ineffective and a threat still exists.

Absolutely none of these protocols existed at the time of the incident. When Gardner talks about the incident with a fellow officer after the event is done, he states several times that the Tasered Massey because the man failed to comply with his instructions and demands. He actually threatens Massey several times with another dose of the Taser for not following instructions. When Massey’s wife asks the officer why he pulled the Taser (8:00 minutes in,) Gardner claims he did it because, “it looks like he was leaving to me”. He also did not inform Massey that he was under arrest until after he had already Tasered the man.

Sorry, Officer Gardner but that isn’t a good enough reason to use lethal force. Ever. That is the sign of tyranny in action.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that he was wearing a brown shirt.

Among the other notable moments from the video, is how Gardner lies through his teeth to the other officer on how the event happened, claiming to have given warning that he was going to deploy the Taser (9:45) “turn around right now or I Taser you” and other recollections of the event that the video clearly shows did not happen. The three part unedited video shows even more of these lies than this clip does. (All available on YouTube as well.) This alone should be enough to remove Gardner from the Utah Highway Patrol.

Update: Jared Massey has now settled out of court for a $40,000 settlement.

Big Brother, Live

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

We have a whole new generation of sheep coming out of Amerika’s schools these days. Most students have been placid and pliable over the last half a century, but it has gotten to the point that they would rather give up all personal privacy, their very inalienable rights for that matter, in order to feel safe. My guess is that they couldn’t list their actual rights if they were pressed to, let alone understand their importance to a free society.

The latest test bed of managing the herd comes from New Jersey, where at least one school now has complete camera surveillance, fed live to the police, during all school activity. Big Brother is watching you, watching Telescreen. Only this isn’t a joke.

“I would want the police to be there right away if something happened to our school. Especially with all these bomb scares happening now, I know the high school had a couple,” says one student.

I’ve got news for you little lamb, the police won’t be there. They’ll see it happen, but they won’t be there. They’ll be hanging around outside, waddling their fat asses around sheltered barriers, while they wait to see what happens. Just like they did at Columbine. Just like they did at Virginia Tech. You see, they want to go home to their families and they can’t do that if they risk their lives for you. “To serve and protect” is just a motto. You cannot hold the police responsible for failing to protect you. The Supreme Court has ruled that unanimously in over fourteen cases to date. You’re on your own, whether you realize it or not.

Anyone who believes that having the police monitor your every move somehow makes you safer, is living in a dream world. The best it provides is the ability to gather evidence against the people that killed you. In the meantime you’re living your life as a lab rat, confined, controlled and monitored.

Don’t bother making a fuss about it. Take your Ritilan and shut up.

Total MADDness

Monday, November 12th, 2007

The Agitator.com brings us this wonderful bit of news.

It is amazing how far down the road to tyranny we’ve slid. That the police can force you to give up portions of your body’s tissue at will is something that we once shuddered over when we read about Joseph Mengele’s horrid works during the Nazi’s reign in Germany. Now it is considered status quo in some states of the USA, performed by people with absolutely no medical training whatsoever, at their whim.

I have to agree whole hearted with the author’s last paragraph:

Give MADD its due credit. They’ve managed to shred the Bill of Rights almost single-handedly, with little more than a brilliant, two-decade public relations campaign. Even the drug warriors have to be envious.

“911 emergency. Please give us your mailing address…”

Thursday, November 1st, 2007

Well, what’s a Halloween without a horror story?

Proposition 1 is a $192 million public safety bond, aimed to pay for new police and fire headquarters, an emergency operations center, and a public-safety center, among other things, in various locations in Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake police have gone as far as having a Halloween spectacle for the kids to share in, in the current capital public safety building. The goal was to show the public through this event, how shabby the building is, in order to draw further attention and hopefully sympathy for Proposition 1.

Personally, I don’t know enough about Proposition 1 to have an opinion on its merit. I don’t live in Salt Lake City either, so this doesn’t effect my taxes. It’s been off my radar. It took the email of a friend to clue me in on it.

It appears that “a chief”, either Police Chief Chris Burbank (who denies it) or some other police chief, or Fire Chief Dennis McKone (who’s keeping his mouth shut) or some other fire chief; directed 911 dispatchers to stuff envelopes with propaganda pushing to support Proposition 1 in Salt Lake City during their “down” times on the job.

It is first claimed that no chief was involved. Then, when an email was leaked, the claim has changed to it being the act of an “over-zealous employee”, who’s identity has not been released. Burbank denies any involvement at all, claiming he was out of town at the time. However, the email sure seems to say that either he, or the fire chief, not only knew what was going on, but orchestrated it.

The e-mail in question is from Dispatch Supervisor Roxann Cheever to all 911 dispatchers:

We have been asked by the chiefs of police and fire to help stuff envelopes with information in regards to our new building. There are 50,000 envelopes that need to be stuffed with a pre-folded letter and building brochure. If you all could please help by kindly taking a box of each to stuff over the weekend as they need to be done by the first of next week. Consider this our part of helping with the campaign for the new building! The envelopes do not have to be sealed, just put the stuffed ones back into the boxes for administration to pick up.

The materials are located in the lineup room and the hallway (west end), be sure to stuff each envelope with a letter and brochure.

The chiefs have expressed their appreciation to all of you for your time!

All told, an estimated 40,000 envelopes were stuffed, by between 14 and 16 dispatchers during the graveyard shifts.

No matter who was behind it, state law was violated. City employees are forbidden from electioneering on taxpayer’s money. Police administrators shut down the project the moment they found out about it and City Attorney Ed Rutan ordered that none of the mailers will be sent. Burbank has claimed they will be destroyed.

Furthermore, public servants should not be allowed to hide the identify of someone who is breaking the law. Cheever won’t name names, but has come out to say that it was “a chief” and that she would have never sent such a memo without that chief’s instigation.

Chief Burbank has said that he has no intention of punishing or even identifying the “over-zealous employee”, claiming that, “It was an error in judgment, but not a matter that requires discipline.”

The message here from the Salt Lake police is very, very clear: If one of The Blue breaks the law, we won’t even tell you who it was. We are above the laws we enforce. Or perhaps that should be, we are above the laws that we force on you.

Stupid Cop Tricks

Tuesday, July 10th, 2007

Government regulations are often stupid. I’m used to that. Government regulations which fly in the face of the laws of nature, simply amaze me.

Case in point, a 70 year old woman in Oren, Utah, (just south of Salt Lake City) was supposedly man handled by police over not watering her lawn. Read the BBC account (the most rational of them) here.

Not only is this a prime example of a stupid law, in this case demanding that you water your lawn in a desert – but it is a prime example of a simple concept of the law that most people seem to forget. All laws are enforced by the barrel of a gun.

Betty Perry claims that the officer hit her in the face with a pair of handcuffs, whereas the officer in question claims that she slipped and fell. I’m sure there are more than a few people out there who have personal experience with the “slipped and fell” clause that cops dish out. It’s amazing how many people slip and fall while under police “protection”.

I have no reason not to believe a 70 year old woman’s story about the incident, but mounds of reason to distrust the police’s version. There have been so many cases of police corruption, abuse and general misbehavior these days to give the cops a free ride, just because they are cops.

She was treated in a local hospital for the cut to her nose and for other bruises before being taken to jail. But she was let go when police realised there were “other ways” of finding out her identity without jailing her, a police spokesman said.

There are ways of finding out who people are without arresting them? No way! How does that work? Does it require a license? Do I need to file such a request through the Department of Redundancy Department, or the Commission for Duplicative Commissions?

Back to the case at hand…

“The officer had judged that Ms Perry’s “sadly neglected and dying landscape” breached an Orem city guideline and was attempting to issue a formal caution when the 70-year-old was injured.”

Let me express again, Utah is a desert. I know this, because I currently live here in Utah, just north of Salt Lake City. Orem is no different from where I am. To make matters worse, we’re in a drought. Every morning on the way down the mountain for my commute to work, I marvel at Antelope Peninsula (used to be an island) sitting out in the Great Salt Marsh (used to be a lake.) Yet, the powers that be have made laws and continue to enforce laws, which are designed to waste water trying to keep Kentucky Bluegrass alive in a bloody desert!

Is it just me, or are there some damn stupid people making up these rules?

Here are some more to titillate readers outside of this Mormon mess:

  • Birds have the right of way on all highways.
  • It is against the law to fish from horseback.
  • A husband is responsible for every criminal act committed by his wife while she is in his presence.
  • It is illegal not to drink milk.
  • It is considered an offense to hunt whales.
  • Alcohol may not be sold during an emergency.
  • It is a felony to persistently tread on the cracks between paving stones on the sidewalk of a state highway.
  • It’s legal for restaurants to serve wine with meals, but only if you ask for the wine list.
  • In Monroe county, daylight must be visible between partners on a dance floor.
  • In Provo, throwing snowballs carries a $50 fine.
  • Finally, in Salt Lake County, no one may walk down the street carrying a paper bag containing a violin.

To be fair, other states have stupid laws as well, but very few have laws so stupid as to demand growing a lawn in the desert. Maybe they should try making smog illegal next, so that the news can stop reporting that we’re having a “hazy” day.

This leads me to one more comment on “official responses” and people’s addiction to them. We have several wildfires raging in Utah right now, which have engulfed dozens of square miles of forest and field. Even the I-15 freeway has been shutdown several times and the smoke from some of these fires is hovering over the Wasatch Front (where Salt Lake City and related communities lie.) My wife caught a blurb about the smoke on the evening news (I still haven’t determined what disease causes her to watch that drivel) which included a call-in from a viewer. The viewer’s response to the fires and smoke, “They need to do something about the air quality over the city.”

???

Hey, moron – hundreds of fire fighters are risking their lives, trying really hard to put out the fires. What do you want here, air filters over the city?