Officer Friendly.

[Blaidd Drwg]

A decade into its existence, a new report blasts the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as a 10-year-old monster child. From the Wash Post:

After a $56 billion federal investment in airline security, flying is no safer than it was before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the bare hands of passengers might be the best defense once a terrorist gets on board, two members of Congress [Reps. John Mica and Paul Broun] said Wednesday.

Deriding the Transportation Security Administration as a bloated bureaucracy that recruits security personnel with ads on gas pumps and pizza boxes, the two House Republicans said it needed to undergo almost a dozen reforms....

Mica and Broun, both longtime critics of the agency, challenged the need for 3,986 employees at its Washington headquarters, saying they earned an average of $103,852 a year.

http://reason.com/blog/2011/11/17/tsa-1 ... of-sucking

[Blaidd Drwg]

Dude, there's the usual and there's the exceptional. When the exceptional becomes the usual, I'll consider breaking out the .308 and making my 180 grain contribution to a better world.
Meanwhile, FC will be supporting participatory democracy.

[johno]

A decade into its existence, a new report blasts the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as a 10-year-old monster child. From the Wash Post:

After a $56 billion federal investment in airline security, flying is no safer than it was before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the bare hands of passengers might be the best defense once a terrorist gets on board, two members of Congress [Reps. John Mica and Paul Broun] said Wednesday.

Deriding the Transportation Security Administration as a bloated bureaucracy that recruits security personnel with ads on gas pumps and pizza boxes, the two House Republicans said it needed to undergo almost a dozen reforms....

Mica and Broun, both longtime critics of the agency, challenged the need for 3,986 employees at its Washington headquarters, saying they earned an average of $103,852 a year.

http://reason.com/blog/2011/11/17/tsa-1 ... of-sucking

1 - Republicans? I thought they were eeevil.

2 - The TSA at airports is accomplishing nothing that the private security guards weren't not accomplishing before.
The airplane cockpit doors are secure and the passengers won't put up with any shit. We're all good.

[Blaidd Drwg]

Republicans are evil????

I like to stay on message on this thread as much as possible. It's the very least I can do to honor the question that inspired it.."Why do you not trust the Police?" I simply cannot believe you're as deluded as Jack or Cleaner and assume anything can be reduced to right/left party lines. I'm a proud swing voter who takes my chances every time based mostly on local issues. Intellectually I'd prefer a libertarian but making deals with the devil is what grown ups do.

[Jag Panzer]

Dance, dance, dance. You support the Big Gov't implicit in the OWS demands.

The only demands I support are revocation of corporate personhood and stronger protections against big money influence in governance. The horrors of Big Government, right there.

Certainly on par with your support of police brutality and strong state measures that enforce that culture. Does it hurt, the sound of two contradictory ideas grinding so loudly in your head?

[Blaidd Drwg]

I support are revocation of corporate personhood

BINGO

[Fat Cat]

Dude, there's the usual and there's the exceptional. When the exceptional becomes the usual, I'll consider breaking out the .308 and making my 180 grain contribution to a better world.

Haha, check out tough guy over here.

[Dan Martin]

In the meantime, if you need to beat someone with your baton, restrict the impact area to collar bones and shins.

Negative.

D cell flashlight, straight jabs to the solar plexus, kidneys, strikes to the outside of the thigh, a solid body slam and finish up with an intermixing of knees to the ribs, and forearm strikes to uppper back. Holding a crackhead under water until he stops struggling is also a viable option when that fool is all "watered up."

Obviously, you're not a golfer.

[Holland Oates]

In the meantime, if you need to beat someone with your baton, restrict the impact area to collar bones and shins.

Negative.

D cell flashlight, straight jabs to the solar plexus, kidneys, strikes to the outside of the thigh, a solid body slam and finish up with an intermixing of knees to the ribs, and forearm strikes to uppper back. Holding a crackhead under water until he stops struggling is also a viable option when that fool is all "watered up."

Obviously, you're not a golfer.

Nope.

Officer Friendly has a weird way to celebrate.

http://www.app.com/article/20111118/NJNEWS10/311180028/

Authorities believe an off-duty police detective in New Jersey fired four shots into a grave to celebrate the life of a former teacher and coach.

[TerryB]

deleted

[TerryB]

gotta raise that money!

[Dano]

http://www.spokesman.com/topics/otto-zehm/

I work with the the mentally ill every day. This was pure brutality. During this thugs trial, Spoake PD did a full show of support for Thompson after leaving the courthouse, in full view of the family. He'd be in the bootyhouse except for a clever attorney.

I won't argue that I haven't had "good" encounters with LEO, but the level of aggression boarders on battle field levels. I've had guns drawn on me when I was the one calling the police to report a crime. Or being searched because I carry a concealed weapons permit despite showing my permit and stating I am not carrying. Why the fuck would I apply for a CCW if I'm going to draw down on an officer? Having that permit has led to more problems than not. Lesson: buy all firearms illegaly and don't announce anything to LEO.

[Shapecharge]

The latest on the former Marine killed in Tucson May of this year.

http://www.military.com/news/article/sw ... =marine.nl

[Turdacious]

The latest on the former Marine killed in Tucson May of this year.

http://www.military.com/news/article/sw ... =marine.nl

The other stop came Sept. 15, 2009, when the sheriff's office pulled over a truck leaving the home of Guerena's brother. Jose Guerena was in the passenger seat and another man was driving. Officers searched the truck and found commercial-sized rolls of plastic wrap that they say are commonly used to package marijuana. No arrests were made.

This is weak. I wonder what else they found. Coke cans that are commonly used to smoke out if you punch a hole in the side? Grateful Dead CD?

[TerryB]

The latest on the former Marine killed in Tucson May of this year.

http://www.military.com/news/article/sw ... =marine.nl

Kastigar is a real piece of work. He wonders what kind of person uses an AR15 to defend his home but finds no problem with a team of officers smashing in a door and shooting 71 bullets into a home with a woman and child, on the basis that the guy was pulled over twice, but never charged, and had a brother that was a piece of shit. Nice.

[Blaidd Drwg]

the stupider you are, the easier it is to see probably cause.

the plastic in my truck is for wrapping up bodies so HA!...joke is on them.

[TerryB]

I think these police departments like getting geared up and going bananas on somebody's front door. I'm sure they don't like a firefight but they like a one-sided show of force.

The part that really ticks me off about that case, and other cases, is how they immediately circle the wagons and prepare their story. The guy laid inside bleeding to death and they didn't call for help, but I bet they gathered together to figure out "yeah, I heard him say he was gonna shoot us."

[Blaidd Drwg]

Officer Friendly takes no chances Proto..

STOCKTON, Calif. (KCRA) -- Earlier this year, a Stockton student was handcuffed with zip ties on his hands and feet, forced to go to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and was charged with battery on a police officer. That student was 5 years old.

http://www.kcra.com/news/29847063/detai ... z1f8hHk9Za

[baffled]

edit to respond to BDs post.

What the fuck? I'm not really shocked that shit happened in Stockton. It has a way of creating crazy in everyone.

I thought this was important though:

"Some of that's really abstract," said UC Davis Professor of Education Shannon Cannon, speaking on how young children react. "We need to try to make it a little bit more concrete," she said, adding that young children are often more physical than vocal.

When KCRA 3 interviewed Cannon, her students were learning about dealing with problem behavior in the classroom. Cannon says she has seen children as young as 7 years old act out physically and they can get violent, even dangerous to others around them -- but adds that it is important to have a behavioral plan in place as soon as the child is diagnosed.

She says children as young as 5 years old may not be able to tell an adult what is bothering them.

"I have been around young children that, when they can't express themselves, and don't feel they're being heard," says Cannon, adding that "they really need to make a loud statement in some way and it's often a very physical statement."

Read more: http://www.kcra.com/news/29847063/detai ... z1f8j235Hi

I have no kids. I don't really want them, but I love my nieces and nephews and get it when they throw a tantrum and start kicking a bit. Kids often don't know how to use words effectively at 5 years old.

If most adults don't, how can anyone expect a child to?

[Crust Bucket]

[Turdacious]

edit to respond to BDs post.

What the fuck? I'm not really shocked that shit happened in Stockton. It has a way of creating crazy in everyone.

I thought this was important though:

"Some of that's really abstract," said UC Davis Professor of Education Shannon Cannon, speaking on how young children react. "We need to try to make it a little bit more concrete," she said, adding that young children are often more physical than vocal.

When KCRA 3 interviewed Cannon, her students were learning about dealing with problem behavior in the classroom. Cannon says she has seen children as young as 7 years old act out physically and they can get violent, even dangerous to others around them -- but adds that it is important to have a behavioral plan in place as soon as the child is diagnosed.

She says children as young as 5 years old may not be able to tell an adult what is bothering them.

"I have been around young children that, when they can't express themselves, and don't feel they're being heard," says Cannon, adding that "they really need to make a loud statement in some way and it's often a very physical statement."

Read more: http://www.kcra.com/news/29847063/detai ... z1f8j235Hi

I have no kids. I don't really want them, but I love my nieces and nephews and get it when they throw a tantrum and start kicking a bit. Kids often don't know how to use words effectively at 5 years old.

If most adults don't, how can anyone expect a child to?

Of course, back in the old days principals at schools kept a paddle in the office for when kids got out of line.

[baffled]

edit to respond to BDs post.

What the fuck? I'm not really shocked that shit happened in Stockton. It has a way of creating crazy in everyone.

I thought this was important though:

"Some of that's really abstract," said UC Davis Professor of Education Shannon Cannon, speaking on how young children react. "We need to try to make it a little bit more concrete," she said, adding that young children are often more physical than vocal.

When KCRA 3 interviewed Cannon, her students were learning about dealing with problem behavior in the classroom. Cannon says she has seen children as young as 7 years old act out physically and they can get violent, even dangerous to others around them -- but adds that it is important to have a behavioral plan in place as soon as the child is diagnosed.

She says children as young as 5 years old may not be able to tell an adult what is bothering them.

"I have been around young children that, when they can't express themselves, and don't feel they're being heard," says Cannon, adding that "they really need to make a loud statement in some way and it's often a very physical statement."

Read more: http://www.kcra.com/news/29847063/detai ... z1f8j235Hi

I have no kids. I don't really want them, but I love my nieces and nephews and get it when they throw a tantrum and start kicking a bit. Kids often don't know how to use words effectively at 5 years old.

If most adults don't, how can anyone expect a child to?

Of course, back in the old days principals at schools kept a paddle in the office for when kids got out of line.

Yes. Then it moved to telling kids to stand in the corner.

Now I would guess that would be grounds for a student, teacher, principal conference.

[Zombomatic]

Officer friendly has air support:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 4348.story

By Brian Bennett, Washington Bureau

December 10, 2011, 6:12 p.m.
Reporting from Washington—
Armed with a search warrant, Nelson County Sheriff Kelly Janke went looking for six missing cows on the Brossart family farm in the early evening of June 23. Three men brandishing rifles chased him off, he said.

Janke knew the gunmen could be anywhere on the 3,000-acre spread in eastern North Dakota. Fearful of an armed standoff, he called in reinforcements from the state Highway Patrol, a regional SWAT team, a bomb squad, ambulances and deputy sheriffs from three other counties.

He also called in a Predator B drone.

As the unmanned aircraft circled 2 miles overhead the next morning, sophisticated sensors under the nose helped pinpoint the three suspects and showed they were unarmed. Police rushed in and made the first known arrests of U.S. citizens with help from a Predator, the spy drone that has helped revolutionize modern warfare.

But that was just the start. Local police say they have used two unarmed Predators based at Grand Forks Air Force Base to fly at least two dozen surveillance flights since June. The FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration have used Predators for other domestic investigations, officials said.

"We don't use [drones] on every call out," said Bill Macki, head of the police SWAT team in Grand Forks. "If we have something in town like an apartment complex, we don't call them."

The drones belong to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which operates eight Predators on the country's northern and southwestern borders to search for illegal immigrants and smugglers. The previously unreported use of its drones to assist local, state and federal law enforcement has occurred without any public acknowledgment or debate.

Congress first authorized Customs and Border Protection to buy unarmed Predators in 2005. Officials in charge of the fleet cite broad authority to work with police from budget requests to Congress that cite "interior law enforcement support" as part of their mission.

In an interview, Michael C. Kostelnik, a retired Air Force general who heads the office that supervises the drones, said Predators are flown "in many areas around the country, not only for federal operators, but also for state and local law enforcement and emergency responders in times of crisis."

But former Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice), who sat on the House homeland security intelligence subcommittee at the time and served as its chairwoman from 2007 until early this year, said no one ever discussed using Predators to help local police serve warrants or do other basic work.

Using Predators for routine law enforcement without public debate or clear legal authority is a mistake, Harman said.

"There is no question that this could become something that people will regret," said Harman, who resigned from the House in February and now heads the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a Washington think tank.

In 2008 and 2010, Harman helped beat back efforts by Homeland Security officials to use imagery from military satellites to help domestic terrorism investigations. Congress blocked the proposal on grounds it would violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the military from taking a police role on U.S. soil.

Proponents say the high-resolution cameras, heat sensors and sophisticated radar on the border protection drones can help track criminal activity in the United States, just as the CIA uses Predators and other drones to spy on militants in Pakistan, nuclear sites in Iran and other targets around the globe.

For decades, U.S. courts have allowed law enforcement to conduct aerial surveillance without a warrant. They have ruled that what a person does in the open, even behind a backyard fence, can be seen from a passing airplane and is not protected by privacy laws.

Advocates say Predators are simply more effective than other planes. Flying out of earshot and out of sight, a Predator B can watch a target for 20 hours nonstop, far longer than any police helicopter or manned aircraft.

"I am for the use of drones," said Howard Safir, former head of operations for the U.S. Marshals Service and former New York City police commissioner. He said drones could help police in manhunts, hostage situations and other difficult cases.

But privacy advocates say drones help police snoop on citizens in ways that push current law to the breaking point.

"Any time you have a tool like that in the hands of law enforcement that makes it easier to do surveillance, they will do more of it," said Ryan Calo, director for privacy and robotics at the Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society.
"This could be a time when people are uncomfortable, and they want to place limits on that technology," he said. "It could make us question the doctrine that you do not have privacy in public."

In North Dakota, Janke learned about the Predators last spring after local law enforcement was invited to a briefing on how two Customs and Border Protection drones based at the Grand Forks air base could assist police. He immediately saw advantages.

"We don't have to go in guns blazing," the sheriff said in a telephone interview. "We can take our time and methodically plan out what our approach should be."

Macki, head of the regional SWAT team, decided drones were ideal for spotting suspects in the vast prairie, where grassy plains stretch to the horizon except for trees planted to stem erosion from the winds.

"Anything where we need an advantage, we try to give them a call," said Macki, who declined to specify how often or where he has used the Predators. "We are very fortunate to have them in our area willing to assist us."

The first known use was June 23 after Janke drove up to the Brossart farm with a search warrant for cattle that supposedly had strayed from a neighboring ranch. The sheriff says he was ordered off the property at gunpoint.

The six adult Brossarts allegedly belonged to the Sovereign Citizen Movement, an antigovernment group that the FBI considers extremist and violent. The family had repeated run-ins with local police, including the arrest of two family members earlier that day arising from their clash with a deputy over the cattle.

Janke requested help from the drone unit, explaining that an armed standoff was underway. A Predator was flying back from a routine 10-hour patrol along the Canadian border from North Dakota to Montana. It carried extra fuel, so a pilot sitting in a trailer in Grand Forks turned the aircraft south to fly over the farm, about 60 miles from the border.

For four hours, the Predator circled 10,000 feet above the farm. Parked on a nearby road, Janke and the other officers watched live drone video and thermal images of Alex, Thomas and Jacob Brossart — and their mother, Susan — on a hand-held device with a 4-inch screen.

The glowing green images showed people carrying what appeared to be long rifles moving behind farm equipment and other barriers. The sheriff feared they were preparing an ambush, and he decided to withdraw until daybreak. The Predator flew back to its hangar.

At 7 a.m. the next day, the Predator launched again and flew back to the farm. The drone crew was determined to help avoid a bloody confrontation. No one wanted another Ruby Ridge, the 1992 shootout between the FBI and a family in rural Idaho that killed a 14-year-old boy, a woman and a deputy U.S. marshal.

This time, Janke watched the live Predator feed from his office computer, using a password-protected government website called Big Pipe.

Around 10 a.m., the video showed the three Brossart brothers riding all-terrain vehicles toward a decommissioned Minuteman ballistic missile site at the edge of their property. The sensor operator in Grand Forks switched to thermal mode, and the image indicated the three men were unarmed.

Janke signaled the SWAT team to move in and make the arrests. No shots were fired.

A search of the property turned up four rifles, two shotguns, assorted bows and arrows and a samurai sword, according to court records. Police also found the six missing cows, valued at $6,000.

Rodney Brossart, his daughter Abby and his three sons face a total of 11 felony charges, including bail jumping and terrorizing a sheriff, as well as a misdemeanor count against Rodney involving the stray cattle. All have been released on bail. Calls to Rodney Brossart were not returned Saturday. The family is believed to be living on the farm.

(bold emphasis is mine)

[Holland Oates]

I'm all for using technology to save lives but much like anything else. It will get overused and abused.

[Turdacious]

Cattle rustlin' must still be a hangin' offense up there. Did help avoid bloodshed though-- I'm all for that.