A few weeks ago, the New York Times published an illustration showing the evolution (and increased militarization) of riot police in America over the past few decades. Based on those, and the rapid adoption of wartime technologies for civilian uses, here’s what protesters can expect in the near future: the Occubot. (Image: Nate Cepis/ANIMALNewYork)
Friday, UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi had ordered the police to chase out student protestors from the campus quad. So, have you seen the footage of Lieutenant John Pike casually spraying a row of peacefully seated protestors in their faces, as if he was watering his plants? Have you seen him pepper spraying his way through art history? Read more »
In what has to be some of the more remarkable OWS-related news to come out in recent days, both local police and state troopers defied an order from Albany mayor Gerald Jennings—at the urgings of Governor Cuomo—to move in and arrest protesters en masse for violating a curfew order. Read more »
The New Zealand police force wants to recruit “edgy,” “culturally aware and savvy” young people, so they paid a street artist to create a series of ads with Banksy-esque style stencils. Spraypainting in broad daylight with cops’ blessings? Whaaa? Naturally, this one got tagged, days after appearing. Read more »
The premiere of a documentary about Electric Daisy Carnival at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre got crowded last night when DJ Kaskade tweeted “ME+BIG SPEAKERS+MUSIC=BLOCK PARTY!!!” and 2,000 people showed up, followed by the LAPD, followed by a “near-riot.” Read more »
The head of Russian Ministry for Internal Affairs issued a warning at a press conference today: All “thick and paunchy” cops will be fired! The head of Georgia’s Internal Affairs implicated an identical policy last year — his highly publicized police image reform noticeably replaced old cops with thin youth as he repeatedly reminded the nation: “These are not the pot-bellied, bribe-taking cops you remember. These have honor and duty!” Finally! A solution for Russia’s corrupt, delinquent police force… a diet!
Thank goodness for the ACLU. The defenders of the Constitution are calling attention to the Michigan State Police for using a gadget that can download personal data from the cell phones of persons they pull over… even if they haven’t been charged with a crime. Called “extraction devices,” the gizmos are capable of capturing “text messages, photos, video, and even GPS data” reports CNET. Ironically, the company that makes the rights-trampling machine refuses to release any info on it.
Since You Are Listening to Los Angeles, the hypnotic police radio masher-upper has sprouted four more varieties. Is that an “officer down” dispatch I just heard at the NYC version? The ambient music gurgling is decidedly more suspenseful on ours. Plug into San Fransisco, Chicago, and for calm Canadian police chatter en français, oui oui, Montréal.
Apparently, some cops in Atlanta weren’t aware that documenting police activity on a public street is a citizen’s legal right. So the officers yanked that pesky lensman by the arm, grabbed his camera phone and deleted his videos, which was all against the law. Now the city owes Marlon Kautz $40,000. Whoops. Kautz is a member of Copwatch of East Atlanta. Surely, they can find a good use for that money.
While conducting a no-knock search warrant on Todd Blair, a 45-year-old Utah man who was either selling small of drugs or just using them—details are still hazy—a police officer shot and killed him. Read more »
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