New York City, September 1969
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Marijuana Dispensary Sues Los Angeles Police Department
One medical marijuana patient collective in Los Angeles is taking a unique approach in its fight to defend itself from being forced to close. It is targeting the L.A. Police Department in a lawsuit.
Other suits have been filed by other dispensaries and collectives following the city council’s unanimous decision to ban the shops from operating, but this is the first lawsuit to directly take on the city’s police department, reports the Cannabis Law Group.
The case is Collins Collective v. City of Los Angeles, LAPD. Cannabis Law Group attorney Damian Nassiri is handling the case.
According to the collective, the reason for the suit is that L.A. police officers, in violation of California law, threatened “severe repercussions” on August 13 if the collective continued in its efforts to establish a storefront dispensary. Cops said that if the collective opened, they would forcibly shut it down and arrest the members.
New York City: Tens of thousands joined a silent march against “Stop-and-Frisk” and other racist police abuses, June 17, 2012.
Photo by G. Dunkel
I wish I had time to go to these.
Genius Cops Caught Apparently Planting Evidence By Own Dash Camera
Here’s a video of two Utica, N.Y. police officers searching a car during a traffic stop. At 1:02, one officer pulls a small baggie of something out of his pocket and ducks into the car; at 1:31, he emerges again, holding the same baggie. Oops!
The video was obtained by the Utica Phoenix, which goes to great lengths to avoid specifically accusing the officers of evidence-planting. We understand! The cops are only “apparently” planting evidence: it’s also possible that they just completely and egregiously mishandled the evidence they found. Utica cops [are] also “apparently” really good at finding drugs on the property of black residents. +
Raw footage of retired Philadelphia Police captain offering advice to the Occupy movement
it looks like he’s moshed and opened pits before
“Those are great, the creaming kids are a hoot. I’m going to watch some more during football breaks. I’d love to see fire hoses employed, it would clean them up and clear the streets and sidewalks for traffic. We’d miss out on the entertainment though.”
“Yeah…I love how the chick just falls to her knees and starts screaming! I saw a guy do that when I went through the OC instructors course…it wasnt pretty”
“I thought that NYPD Lt. did a nice takedown on that kid in the orange shirt.”
“I havent dropped to my knees and cried like that since the last time my Dept told me I had to work OT on a Friday night.”
“LOL, those POOR protesters….i’ll lite a candle.”
“pray to mother earth for their speedy NATURAL recovery”
“To Serve, and Protect”
Occupy Wall Street: Legal Information
If you are participating in actions on or following September 17 related to Occupy Wall Street, you might want to familiarize yourself with the following legal information:
Download this document to print and circulate (PDF)
Preparation
If you receive a phone call from the Intelligence Division of the Police Department asking for information about September 17, you are not required to answer them. It is recommended that you arrive to Wall Street with legal contact information written on your wrist or ankle; there is no guarantee that information written on paper will be accessible in the event of arrest.
During the Occupation
Provided that you do not block building entrances or more than half of a sidewalk, it is legal
to have a moving picket line and hand out literature. You are also legally allowed to use whistles, drums, and any other non-amplified generators of sound. Unless a permit is obtained, it is unlawful to march in the streets, have a procession with 50 or more automobiles or bicycles, gather with more than 20 people in a public park, or use amplified sound. Public parks close at 10 PM. A permit is not being requested for the occupation. According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, amplified sound is prohibited “within 500 feet of a school, courthouse or church during hours of school court or worship, or within 500 feet of a hospital… [and] between 10 p.m. and 9 a.m. in nonresidential areas.”It is illegal for more than two people to wear masks, including bandanas, during a demonstration. The New York City Police Department will take away any signs that use wooden sticks, metal, or PVC pipes, as well as any signs that are affixed to public property. Hanging a banner from a bridge can lead to being charged with reckless endangerment.
You are allowed to sleep on the sidewalk as part of a political protest without a permit (Met Council v. NYPD, 2000); however, you must keep half of the sidewalk clear for pedestrians. It is unlawful for structures such as tents to be erected.
If You Come into Contact with the Police During the action, if police prevent you from leaving, ask if you are free to go. If they ask to search you or your bag, you should repeatedly state, “I do not consent to a search.” The New York City chapter of the National Lawyers Guild advises that if you are arrested, it is best to say, “I am going to remain silent. I want to speak to a lawyer.” The police can legally lie when attempting to acquire information from you. You have the right to ask for an officer’s name and badge number. If you are mistreated, obtain this information as well as contact information of witnesses. If you are injured, take photographs of the injuries as soon as possible. Lastly, the National Lawyers Guild states, “If you are undocumented, out of status, a legal permanent resident (green card holder), or a citizen, you do not have to answer any questions about your immigration history [to government officers].”
Daryl Hannah arrested for protesting proposed Canadian oilsands pipeline
Actress Daryl Hannah, famous for her movie roles in Splash and Wall Street, was among dozens of anti-oilsands activists arrested Tuesday at the White House in ongoing “sit in” protests against TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
“Stop the Keystone pipeline,” Hannah shouted as she was being handcuffed by SWAT team officers. “No to the Keystone pipeline.” (Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
The riots that began in Tottenham and have spread across London over the past few nights are a predictable consequence of the breakdown in trust between large and growing numbers of alienated youth and the Metropolitan Police over recent years. A culture of corruption at the top has long been tolerated within the Met, which has infected the entire force with a gung-ho attitude and mindset when it comes to policing on the ground. This has reached the stage where nothing less than a root and branch structural reform will suffice if public confidence is to be restored.
In recent years we’ve witnessed the police execution of Jean Charles De Menezes at Stockwell tube station and the officers responsible being exonorated. Worse, in what was a low point for then mayor, Ken Livingstone, the existing Met commissioner, Ian Blair, kept his job while the commanding officer of the operation, Cressida Dick, not only kept her job but was later promoted.
The confrontational approach to policing the 2009 G20 protests, involving the kettling of large numbers of protestors for hours on end, and where Ian Tomlinson was killed as a direct result of an incident of police brutality as he attempted to make his way home, has since been joined by recent revelations surrounding the corrupt relationship that existed for years between Met officers and the Murdoch press, involving ranking detectives and officers accepting bribes for confidential information regarding ongoing criminal investigations.
Along with the myriad daily incidents of police brutality and corruption experienced by those living in low income communities around London, the shooting dead of Mark Duggan in Tottenham on Thursday in what is daily emerging were dubious circumstances, has resulted in an inevitable explosion of anger and violence.
For people to have confidence in the police the police must be accountable to the communities in which they operate. As things stand the Met are unaccountable and have been for far too long. In fact increasingly the Met has appeared more akin to an organised militia intent on enforcing its writ via confrontation rather than consensus and cooperation with the public it is meant to be policing and protecting, especially young people living in low income and working class communities.
The ongoing economic crisis and the increased level of social and economic injustice it has presaged as a direct result of the government’s response is another factor in these events that cannot be ignored. The blatant and callous disregard for the human cost of the swingeing cuts to the welfare system is made worse by the lack of pain being endured by those responsible for the recession, the banks and the rich.
Law and order without justice is impossible to maintain for long in any society, and the outburst of rioting and anger London is currently witnessing will have come as no surprise to anyone living in the communities concerned.
Time and again events prove that where there is no justice there can be no peace.
August 8 - Third night of anti-racist rebellion in London
“Two police cars, a double-decker bus and a shop were set alight in north London on Saturday night during riots sparked by the fatal shooting of a man by officers last week.”
