A Thousand Cuts

"ID? Sorry, I must have left it with my box cutters."

138. The TSA will no longer allow air travelers to fly unless they produce ID . . . or claim they’ve lost or forgotten it.  The world is now that much safer against terrorists who can’t lie.

139. A high school principal who wrote a letter in support of Derrick Foster, who is charged with shooting two Columbus, Ohio, police officers (see # 134) has apologized publicly: “In no way do I support, in no way do I condone, the alleged actions of my friend.”

140. Denver city attorneys argue that a police officer who beat and stomped on a 16-year-old boy, leaving him with broken ribs and internal injuries, acted in self-defense and used “reasonable force.” Because, you know, having a beer while underage is totally grounds for getting pounded until a kidney bursts.  The cop has been suspended without pay pending felony assault charges.

141. Police in Detroit hit an art gallery, don’t find any drugs, weapons or fugitives, decide to ticket the gallery for holding a dance without a permit.  Gallery director Aaron Timlin: “We’re going to dance without a permit.  If we get a ticket, we’ll fight the ticket and change the law. People should be able to dance where they want.”

142. California seizin’: voters approved Proposition 99, which protects owner-occupied homes from eminent domain seizures (at least in some cases), but leave other types of property such as apartment buildings vulnerable to land grabs by local authorities for private redevelopment.  A competing measure that would have placed much broader restrictions on property seizures by the government was defeated, probably because it would have also done away with rent controls.

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“Papers, please” in the nation’s capital

137. Because the District of Columbia’s air-tight gun ban has worked so well in curbing the city’s murder rate, the police now plan to set up checkpoints to control access to the most crime-plagued neighborhoods:

D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced a military-style checkpoint yesterday to stop cars this weekend in a Northeast Washington neighborhood inundated by gun violence, saying it will help keep criminals out of the area.

Starting on Saturday, officers will check drivers’ identification and ask whether they have a “legitimate purpose” to be in the Trinidad area, such as going to a doctor or church or visiting friends or relatives. If not, the drivers will be turned away. . . .

Any driver objecting to being denied access to the neighborhood faces arrest.  And drivers are the only people being scrutinized; pedestrians will not be stopped.  Do they not have bus service in D. C.?  Or murderers who can walk or ride a bicycle?

The irony of the nation’s capital, supposedly the nexus of freedom, democracy and justice, modeling its crime prevention tactics after the Stasi is painful, but also completely lost on its municipal leaders.  As the city’s interim attorney general said, he’s “not worried about the constitutionality of it.”  Remember, it’s just a piece of paper.  In the meantime, let’s see yours, comrade.

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Tragedy and injustice in Chesapeake

136. Not surprisingly, Ryan Frederick was indicted by a grand jury yesterday for capital murder:

A Chesapeake grand jury indicted the 28-year-old Portlock man Tuesday on charges of capital murder, use of a firearm during the commission of murder and manufacturing marijuana. Frederick is accused of “willfully, deliberately and premeditatedly” killing Detective Jarrod Shivers the night of Jan. 17 while Shivers and more than a dozen other officers executed a drug search warrant.

Keep in mind, prosecutors hadn’t sought a capital murder charge against Frederick; the grand jury upgraded it from first-degree murder.  The more serious charge means the state can seek the death penalty against Frederick.

So many things have gone wrong with this case from the outset:

• The warrant was served on a tip that Frederick was running a massive pot-growing operation in his garage, but all the police found was a small amount of marijuana and no plants.  However, Frederick, an avid amateur gardener, did have some young Japanese maples growing under lights, which do bear some resemblance to marijuana plants.
• Frederick’s home had been broken into just a few days before the police raid.
• Oh, and the informant whose tip led to the warrant?  He committed the burglary on Frederick’s home.  He also had credit card fraud charges pending against him, which were dropped just days before the raid.

So based on information from a guy who broke into Frederick’s house and was facing jail time, the police busted in on the home of a man with no criminal record and had just dealt with a burglary, and the end result is a dead cop and another man facing lethal injection.

Radley Balko summarizes more absurdities from the DA’s office:

Special Prosecutor Paul Ebert pushed the unlikely theory yesterday that Frederick looked out his window, saw several police officers about to break into his home, heard them announce themselves as police, decided to shoot and kill just one of them, then surrendered. This is a guy who friends, former employers, neighbors and family describe as harmless and unconfrontational to the point of being meek. The idea that he’d knowingly kill a cop over a few joints is absurd.

Frederick had a job he enjoyed, a record of steady employment and strong recommendations from supervisors, and he’d just gotten engaged. Again, hardly the profile of a cop killer with a death wish.

The felony marijuana charge is even less comprehensible, apparently hinging on the fact that the police found equipment which can be used for indoor marijuana growing operations.  Just as a wire coat hanger can be used to break into a car, I suppose.  Does that make us all guilty of conspiracy to commit auto theft?

The police performed little due diligence on their tip about Frederick: no controlled buys to determine if he was dealing, no observation of unusual traffic or activity in front of his house.  Their background check revealed only traffic tickets.  Yet this was enough for them to break down his door at night.

It’s clear from all the charges they’ve thrown against him that the Chesapeake prosecutors are seeking a plea deal with Frederick.  That’s the saddest part of this very sad case.  Based on what we know so far, Ryan Frederick doesn’t deserve death for his actions, or even life in prison.  He doesn’t deserve to be in jail at all. The police performed one of their most dangerous actions, a no-knock raid, based on very little evidence, and one of their officers was killed when the homeowner, quite understandably, chose to defend himself.

The only possible bright side to this injustice is that the public in Chesapeake is not siding blindly with the cops.  They are asking questions and wondering why the authorities won’t answer them.  One can only hope this same skepticism will extend to the jury that will hear Frederick’s case.

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Qat scratch fever?

135. Washington, D. C. cops crack down on qat users, arresting dozens of people and seizing 30 pounds of the mildly stimulating plant commonly found in Africa and the Middle East.

The next night, seven people are murdered in “a spasm of violence” in the eastern part of the District, bringing the total number of murders in D. C. for 2008 to 72.

No, these events probably aren’t related.  But see how much the cops care for their citizens’ safety?  Assistant Police Chief Diane Groomes:

“We do not want to kick off the summer like this. We need to get the guns out of people’s hands.“

And the qat, too!  Just think of the carnage that might have erupted had they left those wild-eyed qat chewers loose on the streets.

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Who will be next?

134. The thin blue line closes ranks around two cops who were shot during a no-knock raid:

The friends who stood up for a man who shot two Columbus officers now are under fire from the local police union.

Derrick Foster, 38, has admitted firing the shots that struck two officers during a drug and gambling raid on April 30. Friends say it was a terrible mistake by a “gentle giant” who is a devoted single father to two daughters. . . .

At least 14 people, including former Ohio State University athletes who knew him as a Buckeye football player, have written letters of support for Foster, who is charged with four counts of felonious assault of a police officer. Weiner cited the letters in seeking Foster’s release on house arrest during a hearing on May 22.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David E. Cain denied that request. The Fraternal Order of Police passed on many of the supporters’ letters to its 4,100 members and encouraged them to express their displeasure or boycott their businesses.

“I still believe he’s a threat to society. The minute you put your thoughts on a letterhead, you open yourself and your business up to criticism,” said Jim Gilbert, president of Capital City Lodge No. 9. “We’re asking our officers and the public to stand up between the citizens and the violence they put against our officers.”

As I’ve noted elsewhere, the Columbus police seem to have a siege mentality when it comes to dealing with the citizens they have sworn to protect and serve.  Foster—a single father, former Ohio State football player, model city employee and so far as anyone knows, not a drug dealer or user—is now portrayed by the police union as a dangerous cop-killer.  Their efforts paid off in keeping Foster, who has no criminal record, locked up for now.

And anyone who might actually know Foster and dares to speak up on his behalf now faces the collective wrath of Columbus’ finest:

The first two union targets were Michael McGuire, the owner of a Budget car-rental location and a lifelong friend of Foster’s; and Pickerington Central High School Principal Scott Reeves, who met Foster at OSU in the mid-1980s.

McGuire said he felt threatened when one officer called him and the union sent him an e-mail after he wrote that Foster “is a tremendous role model to his children and other teens in the community.”

Reeves, who probably should not have written his letter in support of Foster on school stationery, was reprimanded by the district superintendent.  Even so, the police union plans on visiting the next school board meeting to further express their displeasure over Reeves’ temerity to defend his old college friend.  And as Radley Balko points out, even if Reeves erred in using his official capacity to support Foster, how many cops have done the same thing in harassing Foster’s supporters?

Given that his defense attorney might use some of Foster’s friends as character witnesses, the union’s behavior amounts to intimidation.  It’s not acceptable when mobsters do it, so why let the police get away with it?

But it’s the rhetoric from union leaders that disturbs me most.  The police seem utterly incapable of grasping the concept that when unknown assailants break into one’s home, exercising one’s right to self-defense is a perfectly reasonable option.  Would any one of these cops give up the right to defend themselves should a thug break into their homes?  Yet reverse the roles, and suddenly the private, gun-owning citizen is a threat to public safety.

The problem isn’t with individual cops, or even corruption like we’ve seen with the Atlanta SWAT unit following their brutal execution of Kathryn Johnston and their attempts to cover it up.  So far as I know, the two officers shot by Foster and another man on April 30 were not corrupt, or known to use excessive force.  They were just doing their job.

And that’s the problem: the job.  Any job which requires forcibly entering a private home without warning, for the purpose of finding evidence of non-crimes (and in this case, no drugs were found and no charges have been filed except those against Foster and his co-defendant), is not a job at all.  It’s a criminal act.  And people threatened by violent criminal acts may very well respond with force to defend themselves.  Self-preservation, and protecting others one cares about, can be a strong instinct.  But as far as the cops are concerned, that makes one a danger to the public.  Maybe that’s why they’ve come to regard every citizen as a potential threat, even as they fail to recognize it’s their own use of force which puts the public on edge.

How many more Derrick Fosters and Cory Mayes and Ryan Fredericks will spend the rest of their lives in prison, or even be sentenced to death, for exercising their right to self-defense in the face of unknown danger?  Who will be next?  Will it be you?

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Purity squads, then and now.

127. But now, they call it “community policing”: from 1947project’s always-fascinating social history blog On Bunker Hill, the Los Angeles “Purity Squad” raids the Saratoga Hotel in 1919, arresting 32 people “on charges of living in a house of prostitution.” And some alibis never change:

Many of those arrested said they worked in the movies as extras, but police determined that “extra work is not considered real work.”

128. Police in North Platte, Neb., respond to a complaint of a wedgie administered to an unfortunate youngster. No arrests were made, but a police spokesman warned such behavior would not be tolerated: “You might get away with that in Lincoln or Omaha. But we’re not going to allow wedgies in North Platte.” Because today’s wedgie-puller could be tomorrow’s school shooter.

129. The legislature and police have been busy in Florida:

• The state Senate passes a bill to criminalize salvia divinorum, citing its increasing availability online as a threat to children. (North Dakota has already banned the psychoactive herb and police in Bismarck have made an arrest.)
• An Opa-Locka family demands an apology from cops who busted down their door (wrongly, they say) during the ominously-named “Operation D-Day” drug sweep.

But most importantly, the Florida Senate has passed an amendment to ban “Truck Nutz” (see # 22, here), because ridding rear bumpers of hanging genitalia will prevent the terrorists from winning. Or at least they won’t be quite so offended while they’re here.

130. Hang up the damn dog and drive!

131. The long arm of morality laws has caught up with a San Diego wife and mother of three. Marie Walsh was arrested Apr. 24 by U. S. Marshals after she was identified by Michigan authorities as Susan Lefevre, who walked out of a Detroit corrections facility 32 years ago. She was convicted in 1975 on drug trafficking charges and sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison. She must serve at least nine more years before she is eligible for parole, at which point “mitigating circumstances”, such as the quiet family life she led in San Diego, may be heard to determine if she can be freed.

132. Crying over spilled milk: a Pennsylvanian Amish farmer was arrested, and his dairy operation shut down, for not having a state permit to sell raw milk. He also had been transporting the milk to Delaware and New York City, where the product is illegal but in apparently high demand. The farmer remains defiant: “The government doesn’t have the right to dictate what I eat, and never will.”

133. Denver police may be gearing up for a serious crackdown on protesters at the Democratic National Convention, which comes to town in August. In the past the police have issued citations for misdemeanor offenses committed by protestors, but now the city plans to arrest and detain protestors. The DPD first employed the policy at last year’s Columbus Day parade, where they arrested more than 80 people for attempting to block the parade route. At least now I know why they’re building the new county jail right downtown.

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Misdemeanors and misunderstandings.

118. A Federal appeals court rules that laptops can be subject to warrantless searches and seizures at customs checkpoints in airports, just as they are allowed at border crossings.

119. Frustrated that drivers arrested for DUI might actually be acquitted, a Tennessee lawmaker is pushing a bill that would ban defense attorneys from advertising DUI-related services.

120. While we’re in the Volunteer State, aspiring johns may wish to know that they could lose their car if arrested for soliciting prostitution.  Not convicted, mind you.  As Memphis Police director Larry Godwin put it, “I’d say seize every dadgum vehicle and send a message.”

121. Boston puts the kibosh on bottle service in bars and clubs, because according to the licensing board chairman, Beantown “has a lot more to offer than just getting people inebriated”.

122. Actor Wesley Snipes receives the maximum sentence—36 months—for not voluntarily filing his tax returns, although he was acquitted of the more serious charges of tax fraud and conspiracy.

123. Sheriff Joe, on the go: the self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff in America” sweeps through Arizona’s Maricopa County and rounds up troublesome Mexicans, half of whom might actually be here illegally.

124. Senate leaders agree to jack up taxes on fuel for private jets by 65 percent.

125. A Seattle man who smokes marijuana legally for medical purposes has been denied a life-saving liver transplant due to his drug use.

126. A utility subcontractor in Brooklyn Park, Minn., became lightheaded from chemicals in the bathroom of a home where he was installing a hot water heater.  He called the police, and on his word alone, they raided the home on suspicion that it housed a meth lab.  Instead they found vinegar and pickling lime, which the homeowner used to maintain his saltwater fish tank.

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Police, porn and power.

111. The police in Whitewater, Wisc. crack down hard on online bullies – particularly when they’re the target.

112. A-raiding we will go:

• Massive sweeps in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas nets hundreds of arrests, 1,300 traffic tickets and some seized cash.  All in the name of keeping us safe from terrorists.
• Police in Akron, Ohio continue a “Gun Violence Retention Sweep” that resulted in 72 arrests, although no guns were confiscated.

113. Minnesota seeks to conscript banks into its ranks of tax collectors, requiring them to rat out customers who owe the state money.

114. Another isolated Tasing incident leaves a a University of Miami graduate in critical condition.

115. Flying the heavily scanned skies:

• L. A. International Airport will start using body-imaging scanning to search for contraband under passengers’ clothing.  The technology “essentially shows how the person looks without clothing.”
• The Department of Homeland Security leans on airlines and cruise lines to collect fingerprint data from all foreign travelers departing the U. S.  Industry lobbyists claim the effort is cost-prohibitive.

116. Porn film producer John Stagliano faces multiple Federal charges of distributing obscene material.  Said “Buttman” of the charges: “With the war in Iraq going so well, Osama bin Laden captured, the economy thriving, our public school system fixed, and our crumbling infrastructure completely repaired, the Bush administration’s top priority seems to be harassing filmmakers and watching our movies.”

117. Shock to the system: a Colorado man convicted of murder served 20 years in prison, where the state put his electrician skills to good use, transporting him all around the correctional system, and even driving him to Denver to take his exams and paying his license renewal fees.  But now that he’s paroled, the state licensing board is threatening to pull his license based on his murder conviction, even though they’ve known about it for years.

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Uprooting the tree of Liberty.

103. More isolated incidents: an ATF squad hits the wrong house in Miami, damaging the front door and breaking windows from tear-gas canisters fired into the house.  Among the non-criminals in the house were a woman and her 3-year-old son.

104. Hey you damn kids, get off my monument: a group of libertarians observe Thomas Jefferson’s birthday by heading down to his D. C. memorial for a midnight dance (to music played through iPods).  The National Park Police take exception to such a brazen display of revelry and break up the fun, arresting one of the participants in the process.

105. The Supreme Court heard arguments this week on whether Louisiana can put child rapists to death in a case that could have wide-ranging implications for other states looking to expand the death penalty to crimes other than capital murder.

106. Sheriff José, er Joe Arpaio uses Maricopa County tax dollars and funds from RICO seizures to provide training and equipment to Honduras police, although they’re tightlipped on why they’re doing it or how taxpayers in Arizona might benefit.  Cheaper bananas, maybe?

107. But at least Arizona is cracking down hard on working mothers for driving under the influence, even when they’ve had hardly anything to drink.

108. Other things you can no longer do in motorized vehicles: stay in one spot for longer than an hour in a taco truck in Los Angeles (see #91, below), or smoke in the car when kids are present in Maine.

109. In the hallowed halls of public education:

• A philosophy professor at a Long Island community college demands that his students acknowledge that their religious beliefs may be in error in order to participate in his class.  The American Center for Law and Justice is on the case.
• A high school student in Texas is suspended after receiving a phone call during class from his father, who is stationed in Iraq.

110. Apparently it’s a no-no in New Mexico to decline someone’s business on the basis of one’s religious beliefs.  Remember, the First Amendment is just printed on a goddamned piece of paper.

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Would the government ever lie to you?

97. Our heroic war on drugs:

• Two teens are shot by a Howard County, MD police officer during an investigation into suspected drug activity.
• A couple in Pennsylvania, Steve and Karen Haver, narrowly avoids losing their home after police, while investigating a burglar alarm at their residence, found five marijuana plants growing in their basement.  Although state law authorizes forfeiture of property, including homes, after a drug arrest (not just conviction), the couple agreed to a plea deal that allowed them to keep their home.  But Haver’s wife has already been fired from her job, and Haver expects to lose his when his contract expires in June.
• A Denver man is shot to death by police during a drug raid after undercover officers purchased crack from him a few days earlier.  Family members claim that Nathan Aguillard suffered from schizophrenia and was “too paranoid” to sell drugs to other people.  “They chose what seems to be the most confrontational approach to arrest him,” said a lawyer for the family.

98. The California legislature considers a bill to ban metallic balloons filled with helium, which can float away and make contact with power lines, causing power outages.  While they’re at it, I hope they can do something about those damn sneakers that always get hung up there.

99. The Pentagon prepares to issue hand-held lie detectors to U. S. troops in Afghanistan in the ongoing war on terror.  I promise you, these will never be used here on civilians.

100. Government money grabs:

• Dallas drops the timing of yellow lights at select intersections to below the minimum standards set by the Texas Department of Transportation in an effort to increase red-light violations.
• The state of New York plans to raise its cigarette tax to $2.75 per pack, which could push the price of a pack in New York City to more than $9.  Already the high taxes on smokes have led to a healthy black market.
• And not content to tax smokers into oblivion, New York also plans to go after Internet shoppers with a new online sales tax.
• The District of Columbia goes after a Montgomery County man for a $200 parking ticket . . . which had been issued to his car after it was stolen.

101. The Army kills a suspected terrorist, approximately seven pounds and answered to the name of “Fluffy”.

102. Police in Oakland ask very nicely if they can enter people’s homes and search for guns.

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