Daily Archives: December 6, 2014

Mayberry Sheriff’s Dept. by Bruce Plante

By Bruce Plante, Tulsa World (Dec. 1, 2014). Speaking of Mayberry, see this MRAP from the Bryant, Arkansas Police Dept.’s Facebook page in the same color, posted October 27th (via Arkansas Times today): Uncanny. Creepy, actually. Especially if you’ve been … Continue reading

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NY Times: Body Cameras Worn by Police Officers Are No ‘Safeguard of Truth,’ Experts

NY Times: Body Cameras Worn by Police Officers Are No ‘Safeguard of Truth,’ Experts Say by Vivian Yee and Kirk Johnson: Michael Brown’s family, on the night of the Ferguson grand jury decision, called for all police in the United … Continue reading

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NPR: NOLA Police Hope Body Cameras Provide Important Evidence

NPR: NOLA Police Hope Body Cameras Provide Important Evidence: Police officers in New Orleans started wearing cameras this spring. Independent police monitor Susan Hutson tells NPR’s Scott Simon how the NOPD’s camera implementation is going.

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NYTimes: Op-Ed Contributors: Eric Garner and the Legal Rules That Enable Police Violence

NYTimes: Op-Ed Contributors: Eric Garner and the Legal Rules That Enable Police Violence By Shakeer Rahman and Sam Barr: ERIC GARNER was not the first American to be choked by the police, and he will not be the last, thanks … Continue reading

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SCOTUSblog: Cases and controversies: Racial disparities in law enforcement practices

SCOTUSblog: Cases and controversies: Racial disparities in law enforcement practices by Eric Criton: In the 1996 case of Whren v. United States, the Court considered essentially the following question: If the police pull you over because you are black, but … Continue reading

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W.D.N.Y.: SW for dumpsters here didn’t violate “business curtilage” nor a REP

A search warrant was issued for dumpsters on a “large commercial property” for evidence of asbestos dumping in violation of EPA law. Accepting that there might be a “business curtilage,” the court finds this search warrant didn’t violate any reasonable … Continue reading

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S.D.N.Y.: No GFE where SW issued on bare conclusion of officer and CI

Here, the approval of the search warrant was mere ratification of the conclusion of the officer, so there was no probable cause and no good faith exception. United States v. Rutherford, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166917 (S.D. N.Y. December 2, … Continue reading

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HuffPo: Houston Police Chief Calls Drug War A ‘Miserable’ Failure, Says Feds Need To Lead Reform

HuffPo: Houston Police Chief Calls Drug War A ‘Miserable’ Failure, Says Feds Need To Lead Reform by Matt Ferner: The drug war is a “miserable” failure and the federal government needs to take the lead on reforming marijuana policy, Houston … Continue reading

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M.D.Pa.: Warrantless PO’s search of cell phone with reasonable suspicion was reasonable

Warrantless search of a sex offense probationer’s cell phone by state PO on reasonable suspicion he was arranging a liaison with a 15 year old was reasonable under Riley and Knights read together. United States v. Dahl, 2014 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading

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OH12: Def had no standing to contest pinging wife’s cell phone even though police were looking for him

Defendant was a suspected heroin dealer taking his family on runs to Boston to get the heroin. When defendant left, they went to his house and did a trash pull and got his wife’s cell phone number from a bill … Continue reading

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M.D.Fla.: Use of booking DNA statute to obtain DNA to link defendant to crime was unreasonable

Under Florida law, DNA is taken from certain types of offenders at the time of booking. The statute is constitutional under Maryland v. King. However, the taking of defendant’s booking DNA for “identification” (King) to link him to a gun … Continue reading

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