“‘Are you finding that the Internet is a big thing?’ asked Jane Hulbert, a helpful McDonald’s media-relations person, with whom I spoke a short while ago. Yes, I told her. In some quarters, the Internet is a very big thing.” (NOTE: Yes, I know this article was written in 1994 — that’s what makes it fun. That not so long ago, major corporations were still figuring out whether this “Internet” thing was worth getting involved with.)
I blogged about this case shortly after it happened, but the wife of a public defender who was pulled over for DWI because, the officer said, of “the smell of alcohol coming from inside the vehicle” and that the woman “had bloodshot, watery eyes and a flushed face,” is now suing in federal court. The boilerplate language was exposed when the woman’s blood test came back negative for any trace of alcohol.
More allegations against Philly narcotics cop Jeffrey Cujdik and his crew, this time of planting drugs during a raid.
Man’s body decomposes in minivan while NYPD cops . . . continue to paper the van with parking tickets.
Beautiful time-lapse videos from Tokyo.
Dahlia Lithwick on the prison boom.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, June 7th, 2009 at 1:07 pm by Radley Balko
and is filed under Alcohol, General Criminal Justice, General Drug War, Motorist Freedom, Police Militarization, Police Professionalism.
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TheAgitator.com
I like the last paragraph of the prison boom article.
Looks like the McDonald’s link may be to a 1994 article.
We have a local one (for me) today. A man was tased for 49 seconds (5 cops) for refusing to leave a store. The problem is he wasnt charged with any crime and no store employee had asked him to leave. They had no issue with him being in the store at all.
http://sctimes.com/article/20090607/NEWS01/106070034/1009/Man+says+officers+violated+his+rights+in+Taser+incident
Man’s body decomposes in minivan while NYPD cops . . . continue to paper the van with parking tickets.
Sad and kinda gross but I’m not sure what the point is. Surely you wouldn’t prefer that they start cracking vehicles open on the off chance that the owner is dead inside…
Seeing that the McDonald’s article is from 1994, it doesn’t seem THAT ridiculous that a media-relations person would question the impact of the internet at the time, particularly considering that only 2% of American households had internet access back then. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/issuebrf/sib00314.htm#fig1
And yet in Holland they’re closing the prisons for lack of criminals:
http://www.nrc.nl/international/article2246821.ece/Netherlands_to_close_prisons_for_lack_of_criminals
But hey, we’re Americans, we don’t need to learn ANYTHING from ANYBODY, we always know what’s best for everybody.
“suspicion of DUI”
The MADDhatter says: “No need for a trial. That person might have killed someone. GUILTY.” In fact, all of you drinkers are potential dangers to us all. Surrender your booze, sayeth the MADD.
the prison debacle will impact us in many ways- they have the vaunted socialized medicine set up and delivering ‘top notch care to prisoners at an effective cost’… I can easily see where this model can be expanded to include all of us ‘free’ citizens. Just google ‘cms prison death’ for a preview.
Honestly, I’ve gotten so jaded about this sort of thing that I am just happy to find out it wasn’t the cops who killed him.
Not that I necessarily expect the police to carefully inspect the cars they ticket, either. I’ll admit I would be ill at ease due to fourth amendment concerns if they had entered the vehicle with no evidence that anything was wrong. But, the distinctive smell of decaying flesh at an obviously abandoned vehicle should have prompted the officer to at least ask a superior what they should do. I think the ticket jockey wasn’t interested in doing any legitimate police work; if it didn’t involve writing a ticket, he didn’t care and didn’t want to know.
I actually kind of wonder whether his family will be forced to pay for the tickets…
addendum:
I’m still waiting for “Mothers Against Text Messaging.”
Cops routinely lie about the reasons they use to pull people over. Minotities, the poor and those who flout convention are targetted most often. Until we start prosecuting, firing and jailing these folks, it will continue. Sadly, the average American has a cop fetish, the “brotherhood in blue” knows this and will continue to do business as usual.
REMEMBER KATHRYN JOHNSTON! See my comment immediately above. I find LEO testimony about as credible as a crack whore bystander’s, if that much. Don’t get mad at me, guys and gals, your “brothers in blue” are responsible for your loss of credibility in these quarters.
James Webb is favorite democrat. He displays leadership skills, something that the leaders of both political parties have shown no evidence of. I’m certainly not a fanboy, but ya gotta respect a man who takes up an unpopular cause just because it’s the right thing to do.
I refuse to believe that cops would plant drugs. Besides being unethical, not to mention illegal, it would show a complete lack of conscience (isn’t that the definition of a psychopath?). Surely, if there are any qualities that define our law enforcement professionals, its compassion, empathy, mercy, self-control, and an absolute commitment to the truth. And, as we all know, cops don’t tolerate anything less from other fellow officers.
:)
I was going to post a link to another video of a cop abusing someone during a DUI stop, but these videos and stories of cops acting like out-of-control thugs are becoming so common, that they almost don’t warrant any amazement anymore, just disgust.
@Dave Krueger
Well, and we’ve probably already seen it, if it’s more than a few days old. Do hook it up, though, otherwise.
While the NYPD does give out citations for parking violations, its only a tertiary function, and one mostly neglected because its seen as “beneath them” to administer (they still do administer citations for moving violations.)
Instead, the Department of Traffic has thousands of minimum wage ticketing officers who are bussed and vanned-in by the dozens, to prowl the wealthier enclaves (read: typically the non-minority neighborhoods) to help raise funding for NYC. In 2008, I think they helped steal, er, raise $600+ million.
They are selective in choosing the territories they prowl for enforcement very much alike the notorious bank robber Willie Sutton, who when asked why he robbed banks told them “because that’s where the money is”.
Lithwick’s article is spot on. From the responses about the cops and their abuses- a new question emerges- are we locking up the right people?
It’s here. It was posted on 5/30, but the video has a 2006 date on it. Last time someone posted a link to a video from this guy (“polidic”), I subscribed to his channel. I don’t know if he’s libertarian, but he doesn’t seem to have much affection for cops who act like thugs.
The prison boom is bad for at least three reasons:
First, it means that many many towns throughout the U.S. from Newton, Iowa to Bordentown, New Jersey and beyond are totally dependent on prisons for their economic needs. When the local barbershop, diner, discount mart etc etc all depend on prison salaries, there is no incentive for reform and besides “company towns” are so 19th century that all these places will go the way of Flint, Michigan soon enough because….
Second, prisons are not cheap. You got wardens, guards, security gates, prison doctors, barbed wire, electric bills, etc etc all paid by taxpayers who can only cough up so much. And for what? For a chance to have the corrections department do what my hometown of NYC does, which is to incracerate for years and then drop prisoners off in Long Island City, Queens at 4 AM, give them a $2.00 metrocard and wish them well? Guess what, that’s no way to fight crime and recidivism.
And finally, because if we are gonna fight the war on terror on a moral plane, we have to, yanno, be moral. This means that at some point, disenfranchising 50% of the black male population of the U.S. will be a big no no.
I guess I can use the police misconduct news feed to add to the conversation a bit since I don’t have time to write at my own site at the moment…
The drug planting charge isn’t the only new development with the Cujdik crew…
Philladelphia PA police officer and member of scandal-prone narcotics team has been accused of sexually assaulting 3 women: http://tinyurl.com/l7qpxt
Oh, and someone mentioned the Kathryn Johnson raid? There was a new development there too…
Atlanta GA cop who took part in infamous Kathryn Johnston raid might now face charges for assaulting a bicyclist: http://tinyurl.com/o4jznk
Z,
Not only that, but they’re branding a big F (for felon… I could have gone with P, I suppose..) on their foreheads.
So now, they’re out of prison after some bullshit drug bust… and they have to register with police for parole and must also inform pretty much everyone that are a convicted felon.
Good luck getting a break, Mr. Newly released from prison!
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-14/124434756832320.xml&coll=1
Jersey wants to pass a medical marijuana bill without curtailing our dear, dear Drug War. Essentially, it would be restrictive, but availability would extend presumably beyond terminal illnesses, as patients with cancer would be legally able to purchase pot. I take this to mean those undergoing chemo. So, better then nothing.
I appreciate the first graph –
“The State Police and the New Jersey Army National Guard took to the South Jersey skies in a Black Hawk helicopter last week to train officers how to locate and bust marijuana growers. ”
They get to fly in copters! Weeee!
@Dave Krueger
Whoa, that’s a new one! Chrissake. It’s hard to process the narrator, you know? At times he seems glib, other times, rather piercing. The sound effects don’t help much, either way. You’re right, though, Dave: there is a sense of “ho-hum” there, which is terrifying in itself. Thanks, man.
Also, @Packratt
I’ve been meaning to say it at InjusticeEverywhere for a while now, but thanks for what you do; it’s important, and we surely do recognize the time and effort you put into it. Just so’s you know.
I think Officer by Operation Ivy should be a theme song around here.
Alex Jones is going crazy tonight. Yeah!!!!
@Gonzo
Thanks… It gets hard to do what I’m doing in a vacuum, so to speak. A lack of feedback or evidence that it’s adding any value to the debate makes it hard to stay motivated doing something that is demotivating by nature. (researching all these horrible stories each day really gets to you)
So, it’s nice to hear someone is at least reading the stuff every now and then, so thanks for saying that!
#6 JS
“But hey, we’re Americans, we don’t need to learn ANYTHING from ANYBODY, we always know what’s best for everybody.”
Yeah, that’s right. And we have tanks, jet fighters, battleships and nuclear weapons if you don’t see it our way. We lock-up a large part of our otherwise productive population and you should too.
Why does this guy still have a job as a police officer? Why isn’t he in prison?
“NOTE: Yes, I know this article was written in 1994 — that’s what makes it fun…”
Thanks for the clarification, Radley. Remember that some of your readers aren’t in the most lucid state by the time Sunday morning rolls around.
“Sad and kinda gross but I’m not sure what the point is. Surely you wouldn’t prefer that they start cracking vehicles open on the off chance that the owner is dead inside…”
Absolutely correct, although it puts one of the previous articles in an interesting light (the Public Defender DWI). If as stated in the article is true there was a window cracked and the Police couldn’t smell a decomposing body, how is it that they can smell alcohol? Or are all the crime drama’s wrong and it isn’t a distinctive and pungent smell?
“So, it’s nice to hear someone is at least reading the stuff every now and then, so thanks for saying that!”
For what its worth, altho ive never posted there, i read it a couple times a week as well. I did the same with the seattle local one you had up til a couple weeks ago. Good job.
Why does this guy still have a job as a police officer? Why isn’t he in prison?
Yes, let’s make everyone pay for his mistakes. And provide him free room and board to boot!
Screw that. Make him work the rest of his life to provide for the family of the woman he helped to kill.
#10 – I kind of like MADAM – Mothers Against Dumb Ass Mothers!
@damaged justice
Sure, let him work off his debt to society…
…just not as a police officer, who’s salary and indiscretions the taxpayer pays for, please.