They Can Do That?! 10 Outrageous Tactics Cops Get Away With

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/they-can-do-10-outrageous-tactics-cops-get-away



***SNIP

1. Infiltration, informants and monitoring. The NYPD's Demographics Unit has engaged in a massive surveillance program directed at Muslims throughout the entire Northeast region, ignoring any jurisdictional limitations and acting as a secret police and intelligence gathering agency – a regional FBI of sorts. The AP's award-winning reports on the Demographics Unit helped bring some information about the program to light, including the revelation that its efforts have resulted in exactly zero terrorism leads.

***SNIP

2. Warrantless home surveillance. Just in case you still think there must be some limit on how the authorities can surveil you, there's this -- a federal agency, not the police, but the larger point stands. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that it is legal for a law enforcement agent to enter your house and videotape you without your consent. The case, United States v. Wahchumwah , revolved around a U.S. Fish and Wildlife undercover agent who recorded Wahchumwah without a warrant. The Ninth Circuit found the search to be “voluntary,” which led the EFF to write on its Web site: "The sad truth is that as technology continues to advance, surveillance becomes 'voluntary' only by virtue of the fact we live in a modern society where technology is becoming cheaper, easier and more invasive.”

***SNIP

3. Preemptive visits and harassment. One of the favorite tactics of police departments is targeting activists a day before a large event. We saw this on May Day in New York City, as cops descended on several activists' apartments before the day of action, and in Chicago before the massive No NATO protests. The Cleveland 5 were also arrested before May Day, and back in 2008 the RNC8 were also preemptively arrested.

4. Creating call logs from stolen phones. If you lose your phone in NYC and report it to the police, they'll help you find it. So far, so good. Where the agreement turns pear-shaped, however, is what they do with your call logs. The NYPD subpoenas your call log from the day it was stolen onward, under the logic that the records could help find your phone.

[lunatica]

1. We are going out with a whimper

We've watched the slow coup by the Republican party, with the help of the Supreme Court and the media simply overthrow our government. Now it's quite commonplace to have elections stolen. What do we do to fight it? We just out vote them, instead of seriously going after them. Then we act as if they won legitimately so all is OK. We're watching the same thing with our police state. Nary a soul doth protest. Too busy shopping, just like George Bush admonished us after he won his Trifecta.

sigh...

[Hydra]

3. A whimper indeed

And don't forget how many Reps from our party have gleefully helped with this.

Senator(at the time) Obama supported FISA going away, even though it was laughably enforced at that point. That was a fun one along with the Military Commissions act of 2006.

[Egalitarian Thug]

2. 12/12/2000 The day the United States of America died. n/t