sottnet--2019-07-01--Charges dropped for 119 people after cop caught on video planting drugs in innocent womans vehicle

Charges dropped for 119 people after cop caught on video planting drugs in innocent woman's vehicle

Wester is extremely nice to the woman, complimenting her, joking around, and making small talk. But in the back of his mind, he knew the entire time that he was going to plant meth on her and have her thrown in a cage-an insidious move indeed.  the system began to go after  A single cop framed dozens of innocent people and once a state attorney found the body camera footage from the arrests, the victims were vindicated.Dozens of innocent people who were rotting in jail have been freed and their charges erased after the corrupt cop who put them there was. Jackson County Sheriff's Deputy Zachary Wester has since been fired and a slew of lawsuits are now rolling in.Wester's fall from law enforcement grace and theare due largely in part to the diligence of a single person, assistant state attorney at the 14th Judicial Circuit, Christina Pumphrey.Pumphrey's job as assistant state attorney included reviewing evidence before moving forward with charges against individuals. When she began reviewing cases, she found something very peculiar."This is an exaggeration, but it felt like his (Wester's) name was on half the cases," Pumphrey told The Appeal. When Pumphrey began watching the body camera footage from Wester's arrests, she found something even more disturbing. Many times,. Also, his written affidavits did not match what she watched in the videos. But that wasn't the most telling aspect of all these videos.While it is no question that folks will claim that drugs found on them or in their possession "aren't their's" and "they don't know how that got there," nearly all of Wester's cases had this. The videos showed that people were utterly shocked when Wester claimed to have found drugs in their vehicles. While a single person may have been lying,Although she reviewed multiple videos, Pumphrey never saw the actual act of Wester planting drugs or otherwise hiding them. However, all that changed when Wester pulled over Teresa Odom in February of 2018.In that video, Wester pulls Odom over, claiming her tail lights aren't working. However, it would later be revealed that her tail lights were, in fact, working fine and Wester had targeted her to frame her.In the video,After threatening to have a K-9 come search her car, Wester tells Odom that she can avoid the K-9 if she just lets him search her truck himself - a huge mistake.As the body camera shows, Wester opens the door to Odom's truck and is cupping a small baggie with a white powder in it.Wester would plant the substance under a red towel in her truck and then pretend to find it later.After Pumphrey began to raise red flags in her department pointing out videos like Odom's, she saysAs The Appeal reports:Apparently, it wasn't just Wester who had an interest in locking up innocent people.Pumphrey said. "When it was ignorance it was one thing, but as soon as we know there are innocent people sitting in jail and we don't drop the charges, we're as guilty as he is."Although Wester was fired after Pumphrey exposed him,claiming they are still looking into it.Also, although these 119 people were vindicated, and a possible 30 more could be, they still face challenges from being framed."People still had consequences. It wasn't like this was just all erased," Pumphrey said. Dropped charges still remain on a person's criminal record. And "even though the charges got dropped. Or you've got people who have to spend money on supervision fees; they have to spend money paying for their own urine analysis test; they've done community service hours; they paid cost of bond - like $1,500. ... You're not getting back six months of your life. Or you're not getting back the job that you lost because you sat in jail for a week before your girlfriend could get the bond money."The next time someone tells you that obeying the law will keep you out of trouble with police, show them this article.


sottnet--2019-08-28--Cops put a gun to innocent mans head over window tint stop

Cops put a gun to innocent man's head over window tint stop

If ever you think that all traffic laws are for your safety, one thing can change that view — window tint. In the land of the free, if police feel that your window tint is too dark, they will claim the right to extort money from you. If you resist this extortion, police will claim the right to kidnap or kill you. Unfortunately, in the land of the free, these instances happen so frequently that they are often caught on video too. As the following incident illustrates, fearful cops whose only tool is the escalation of violence, will not hesitate to resort to deadly force over a stop for window tint.A video was submitted to the Free Thought Project this week showingIn California, police officers who target people for extortion over window tint have the option of issuing those folks a fix-it ticket. These tickets give the owner of the vehicle a certain time frame in which to correct the supposed violation. Typically, you pay a smaller fee and then prove that you "fixed" the problem, like remove the window tint or fix a broken taillight.Ornelas' fix-it time frame had not yet expired and he was still within the law. This did not matter to these officers though, who just knew they had nabbed themselves a criminal.Police then told Ornelas that he had a missing front license plate, which Ornelas already had a fix it ticket for as well. They then told him they saw him recklessly driving. However, once again, Ornelas had his entire drive recorded on the same dash camera that was recording cops, proving he did no such thing.During the stop, multiple officers continued to press this innocent man until another officer on a power trip approached the car. At this point, Ornelas asked her if this was "Nazi Germany" as his harassment was not keeping anyone safe and akin to a "papers please" shakedown.This comment seemed to push the officer over the top. She then asked Ornelas if he had any weapons and in California, you are legally required to tell police where it is when they ask. Ornelas told officers that he had a legally registered gun in his trunk and all hell broke loose.The frightened cop then pulled out a gun and held it to Ornelas' head. Naturally, this frightened the innocent man, who likely thought he was about to be killed. Ornelas cooperated with every single one of the officers' command as he was dragged from the vehicle."This is exactly why I wanted a supervisor," Ornelas says as he's being handcuffed at gunpoint over window tint."Stop resisting," the female cop says when it is clearly evident from the video that no such resisting is happening.When Ornelas asked once more why they were detaining him, once more, the officer could not give him a straight answer and said, "when we pulled you over, you were acting nervous."Ornelas was issued several citations during this stop, all of which he fought in court. This stop happened in November of 2018, but Ornelas just went to court for it this month. And, because he filmed the entire interaction, he won. He beat all the charges, which is why he decided to release the video below.Below is a video showing how police extortion for window tint can and will lead to your life being threatened by those sworn to uphold the Constitution.The Free Thought Project reached out to the Sacramento police department for a statement on this incident and we have not yet received a response.


tass--2019-02-18--Kremlin on Baring Vostok founders arrest Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law

Kremlin on Baring Vostok founder’s arrest: Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/. Founder of the Baring Vostok equity firm, Michael Calvey, who was detained on February 16 on suspicion of fraud, cannot be considered guilty on any charges until a court has handed down a verdict, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.  "We know that law enforcement agencies have questions for Michael Calvey, and we know that the court decided to detain him. Right now, we can say that he cannot be considered guilty on any charges, because there was no legal trial and he can only be convicted by a court’s verdict," the spokesman emphasized.  When asked if President Vladimir Putin discussed the case with anyone, in particular Russian businessmen, who said they were ready to vouch for Calvey, Peskov said: "No, this situation has nothing to do and should not have nothing to do with the agenda of the head of the state. This issue concerns the investigative agencies first and foremost. It may also partially concern the fiscal authorities since this is a really large investor in our economy."  Peskov stayed muted on how the court’s decision regarding Calvey complies with Putin’s earlier statement that the authorities should choose alternative measures to arrest with regard to the businessmen under investigation.  "I cannot comment on the court’s decision in any way," he stressed.  According to him, the Kremlin did not know when the decision to detain Calvey was made, because this ruling "was made not inside the administration, but within special departments, and the president was informed about it according to the established procedure after reports in the media were published."  On a similar note, Peskov stressed that it would be incorrect to compare Calvey’s case with the detention of Rauf Arashukov, a senator from Karachay- Cherkessia, who is facing charges of ordering two murders and organizing a criminal gang. The Kremlin official said that in Calvey’s case, the court is dealing with a foreign investor and a citizen of another country.  ## Calvey’s arrest  On February 16, Moscow’s Basmanny Court ruled to arrest the founder of Baring Vostok and co-owner of Vostochny Bank Michael Calvey for two months on suspicion of embezzling 2.5 bln rubles ($37.5 mln). That said, Calvey’s lawyers are going to challenge the ruling.  Baring Vostok is one of the largest private equity firms focusing on Russia and the CIS with $3.7 bln in capital. Since 1994, the fund has poured more than $2.4 bln of investments into 70 projects in the areas of financial services, oil and gas, telecommunications and media, and into the consumer sector.  Baring Vostok’s projects include CTC Media, Yandex, Avito, Ozon, ER-Telecom, 1C, and Novomet.


theblaze--2019-07-29--Report said police in Arizona town would be pulling innocent people over for following traffic laws

Report said police in Arizona town would be pulling innocent people over for following traffic laws — and people were not happy  Police had to clarify after confusion about "Positive Ticketing Campaign."


theblaze--2019-10-30--Police destroyed an innocent man's home pursuing a shoplifter — but the city won't pay any damages

Police destroyed an innocent man's home pursuing a shoplifter — but the city won't pay any damages  'What happened to us should never happen'


thedailymirror--2019-01-10--Payment giant PayPal is trying to make an innocent customer pay for the actions of online fraudsters

According to PayPal, it’s doing the decent thing by refunding a customer who was the victim of an online fraud.  Trouble is, it’s doing this by trying to claw back money from another innocent victim of the same fraud.  The nightmare for Rosie Pritchard began with what appeared to be a Facebook message from a family friend asking for a favour: “I sold some things online and my account is currently limited. Can you receive a payment, withdraw it and then bank transfer to me?”  Rosie kindly agreed to help and £420 then appeared in her PayPal account, paid by someone called Nigel Stokes, and Rosie transferred it as requested.  Unfortunately, she sent it to crooks who had compromised the friend’s Facebook page as well as the PayPal account of Nigel Stokes.  When Nigel realised that the money had been stolen from his account, he complained to PayPal, who refunded him.  Then the payment giant debited the money from Rosie’s account and, because her balance was zero, that left her £420 in the red.  “I’m a single mum who simply doesn’t have this sort of money and I now face having to pay for the crimes of a scammer and PayPal’s insecure payment system,” said Rosie, from Leatherhead in Surrey.  PayPal told Rosie, “You used those funds”, which seems to be unreasonably implying that she got some sort of benefit from this fraud.  When she refused to repay the money, it emailed her: “This is an urgent matter that requires your immediate attention to ensure continued availability of your PayPal account to avoid additional collection efforts.”  Sure enough, it put debt collectors Wescot Credit Services on to her.  PayPal confirmed to me that it had refunded Mr Stokes “after a thorough investigation”, but blamed Rosie for “removing the money from the PayPal network” when she inadvertently forwarded it to crooks.  It insisted: “We are working with Ms Pritchard to find a way of helping her manage this debt” – missing the point that Rosie does not believe it is her debt at all.  I tried explaining to PayPal that she received the money in good faith and no longer has it, thanks to the actions of scammers, and is only in this position because Mr Stokes’ account had somehow been compromised.  “Should she carry full, or even any, responsibility for what has happened?” I asked.  PayPal responded by still blaming Rosie, saying: “We go to great lengths to protect our customers, but there are still some basic precautions we should all take to avoid scams.”  I persisted, in a series of emails with PayPal, telling them: “This happened because of a compromised account. Shouldn’t PayPal take responsibility for this?”  They wouldn’t budge, saying: “We have taken responsibility for that unauthorised payment by returning the funds to the sender.  “While Ms Pritchard was not responsible for receiving the unauthorised payment, she is responsible for sending the money to (presumably) the fraudster’s bank account.”  Strangely, Rosie has received a letter from the debt collectors saying they are no longer chasing the money, but she’s had no further word from PayPal.  Last summer, the Financial Ombudsman Service said that banks too often claimed that frauds were the fault of customers.  “The evolution of criminals’ methods, in particular, sophisticated use of technology and manipulative ‘social engineering’, means it’s an increasingly difficult case to make,” said Caroline Wayman, chief ombudsman. Maybe that should apply to payment facilities like PayPal as well as banks.


thedailymirror--2019-06-19--Woman falsely accused innocent cabbie of rape after she lost phone on night out

Woman 'falsely accused innocent cabbie of rape after she lost phone on night out'

A young woman falsely accused an innocent taxi driver of rape after she lost her mobile phone and became separated from her friends during a drunken night out, a court heard today.  Laura Hood, 27, wrongly told police the driver had stopped his cab at the side of the road and sexually assaulted her in the back seat whilst he was giving her a lift home at the end of the evening, it was said.  Detectives investigated Hood's claims during which they arrested Haroon Yousaf and also the driver of a different taxi with a similar number plate.  Mr Yousaf, 29, who was detained in front of colleagues at a cab rank spent a total 20 hours in custody and had to give intimate samples before he was released without charge and exonerated of any wrongdoing.  It was claimed police suspected he had been falsely accused when he gave details of a tracking device linked to the black cab which showed the vehicle had been driven straight to Hood's home in Stockport, Greater Manchester without stopping.  There was also no evidence of physical contact between them.  The other suspect was also cleared of any wrongdoing and Hood was subsequently charged with faking her account.  Details emerged at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, as she denied perverting the course of justice.  "If it were not for that tracker data Mr Yousaf may have found himself on trial for rape because the defendant made up a story about him," said Geoff Whelan prosecuting.  "Perhaps only the defendant knows why she would fabricate such an allegation, but make it up she did. A false allegation is a very serious matter.  "She accepts that she was in Mr Yousaf's taxi and she accepts that he drove her home. She further accepts that Mr Yousaf did not rape her - but says, somehow that she honestly believed she was raped whilst in that taxi."  The incident occurred on January 7 2017 after Hood, from Stockport had been out with friends at Revolution bar at the Deansgate Locks complex in Manchester city centre.  Mr Yousaf had just dropped off a fare when Hood got into his vehicle at 1.10am and asked to be taken home.  Mr Whelan added: "She appeared to be drunk as she did so and said she just wanted to go home as she had lost her friends and her mobile phone. She said she had £20 and asked how much it was going to be.  Mr Yousaf gave her an estimate of about £25 and she asked to be taken to a bank.  "Mr Yousaf drove her to a Tesco Express where CCTV footage showed the taxi stopping there at 1.22am with the defendant getting out to use the cash machine.  "By 1.23am the taxi was driving off again and Mr Yousaf followed the directions on his satnav and took her straight home and reached the destination.  "The fare was around £26, and the defendant gave him £30 and said "keep the change" and paid the money through the slot in the middle of all black cab taxis.  "Mr Yousaf then thanked her then turned around and drove back to town. That 26 minute journey was in all respects entirely unremarkable.  "But at 1.40 when the defendant got home, it seems she was quite noisy and her mother asking if she was ok. The defendant then went upstairs to her mother and stepfather's bedroom where she was sobbing uncontrollably as she came into the room.  "Her mother asked her what was wrong and she had lost her phone. She was crying, shaking and unable to breathe and then said that she had been raped.  "Her stepfather phoned the police and the defendant said she had lost her phone in Revolution and had started to panic and asked a taxi driver take her to Stockport.  "She said that they were going down the road and thought it was strange because he turned left when they live on the right.  "She said that he stopped and the driver got in the back of the cab, grabbed her and pulled her knickers down.  "Her mother asked her why she didn't fight back and the defendant said that she was scared and that she thought that it would get worse if she tried to fight back.  "She said that he dropped her off at the end of the road and that he wouldn't drop her off outside the house. The defendant was hysterical as she was speaking to her mother."  During her account, Hood claimed her assailant was an Asian male, aged about 58 with a thin face, no beard and no facial hair and claimed she was attacked about five minutes after stopping at the cash point.  She said that she was convinced the taxi driver was wearing a condom and said he charged her £30 for the fare.  A specially trained officer attended the family home where Hood was found to be "extremely distraught" and hiding under her bedding, the court heard.  She was said to be "crying loudly and was reluctant to engage."  In a statement to police Hood said: "I was out with my friends in Manchester, I lost my phone, I saw people getting out of a taxi I went over to it asked how much to Stockport.  "He indicated left and I knew he was going the wrong way. He pulled up, got in the back of the taxi and I was scared - he put on a condom and pulled my knickers down to my knees kissing me all over. His hands were all over me - he then tried to have sex with me it was hurting.  I didn't say anything, I was so scared, I couldn't fight him off, I just wanted it to end.  "When he finished he just got off me and drove me back to the top of my road. He was pulling me towards him as he was having sex with me."  Police tracked down Mr Yousaf and arrested him at a cab rank at Piccadilly railway station after checking the CCTV at the Tesco Express cashpoint.  Mr Whelan added: "He was interviewed and was able to give a full account of his actions. He said he didn't take any detours, he didn't stop off on any side streets and he dropped her where she asked him to on her road. He denied any sexual contact with the defendant.  "He then disclosed something that would turn out to be both very important in the course of the investigation and extremely fortunate for Mr Yousaf. His taxi was fitted with a tracker device that very precisely records the movements of the vehicle.  "The investigating officer spoke to the Tracker company which holds all the data for the tracker and they confirmed that the data cannot be changed by the user, and they provided the same data.  "They were able to add that if the taxi had turned off at any 90 degree angle it would have recorded it on the tracker."  "Mr Yousaf was released from custody at 5:32pm on 09/01/17 having spent nearly 20 hours in detention. His taxi had been forensically recovered, he was given bail to return two days later and was given a condition not to drive any taxi.  "Intimate samples were also taken from him and he suffered the indignity of being arrested in a public place in front of his colleagues. Fortunately the tracker data meant the police took no further action against Mr Yousaf."  Detectives subsequently tried to interview Hood but at home she initially stayed in her bedroom and did not come downstairs. When she eventually agreed to speak to officers there was said to be 'little or no eye contact' and she appeared 'withdrawn.'  When confronted with the evidence of the tracker and the fact Mr Yousaf did not match the description of the suspect, she maintained she had been raped.  However, she accepts she wasn't raped by Yousaf.


thedailymirror--2019-06-30--Evidence which proves labourer hanged for murder 81 years ago was innocent

Evidence which 'proves' labourer hanged for murder 81 years ago was innocent

It was 54 years ago that the death penalty was abolished in Britain, after public opinion turned against the ultimate form of punishment, fearing that innocent people were being sent to the gallows.  Among the cases which swung feelings was that of Derek Bentley, who was hanged for the murder of a policeman - but won a posthumous pardon in 1998, 45 years after he was hanged in 1953.  But there could now be another case to be added to the list of Brits who were executed for crimes they didn't commit.  On May 26, 1938, Robert Hoolhouse was hanged on the scaffold in Durham after being found guilty of the rape and murder of a farmer’s wife.  The labourer, who had just turned 21, died protesting his innocence right up until his last breath.  Now, however, historians who have reexamined his case have concluded that Robert’s conviction was just as dubious as others who faced the hangman’s noose and were later declared innocent.  And many now believe his death was yet another miscarriage of justice which proves that the death penalty should never be allowed to return in the UK.  It was on January 18, 1938 that the village of Wolviston, Stockton-on-Tees, was shocked by the discovery of the body of Margaret Dobson, on a cart track leading to her home at High Grange Farm.  The 67-year-old wife of farmer Henry had been raped and then “severely battered” before being stabbed twice - once in the chest and once in the neck.  The murder gripped the community, with women so scared of the vicious murdered they would not leave their homes alone and children were kept indoors.  Mr Dobson had last seen her wife and mother of their three children earlier that day when they had shared a tea of beef sandwiches at around 3pm.  She then left the house to visit her sister in Hartlepool, walking along the cart track through field to the main road to catch her bus.  She was known to wear old boots on the muddy track and then change into a smarter pair of shoes before boarding.  But on this day Mrs Dobson never made it to the main road.  When she hadn’t returned that evening, Mr Dobson waited at the bus stop until the final bus had passed by at 11pm, then walked home and had a sleepless night.  The next morning he found his wife’s body dumped in one of his fields.  The North Eastern Gazette reported: "In the morning the animals had to be fed and work had to be done," reported the North Eastern Gazette.  "He started his work at about 5am. Somewhere between 7am and 8am men arrived to thrash his corn.  "At about 10am, after completing his work, he set out to make inquiries.  "He took a short cut to Wolviston through some fields. Something prompted him to look back.  "He saw something on the ground he could not understand and found the body of his wife lying on her back with head towards the farm and her feet toward the main road."  An autopsy found that the mum-of-three died within an hour and a half of eating her tea.  As police swarmed into Wolviston and the brutal murder made newspaper front pages, Durham County Constabulary released a statement saying they wanted to speak to a man aged around 30 with the appearance of a farm worker and had been seen on a bike in the area.  The next day 20-year-old Robert William Hoolhouse was arrested and charged with Mrs Dobson’s murder.  The police had based their belief that he was the murderer on an incident that had happened three years earlier, when the Hoolhouse family had been working on the Dobsons’ farm and lived in a cottage on the land.  But following an argument Mr Dobson sacked them and thew them off the land, warning them never to return.  At the time of his arrest, police also noted marks on Robert’s face which he blamed on “a spill he had with his bicycle”, while he blamed blood on the cuffs of his shirt on a shaving cut.  His trial later heard that the scratches could have be caused as Mrs Dobson tried to defend herself.  Police also claimed the timings of Robert’s alibis on the day the farmer’s wife died didn’t tally with the statements given by people he said he had been with.  However, other evidence and the statements of other witnesses which later emerged throw more than a little doubt on his guilt.  One, Margaret Barker, said she had travelled on the same bus as Robert had taken to go to the pictures at 6pm on January 18, which would have been after Mrs Dobson had been murdered.  But she said she hadn’t noticed any scratches to his face.  Perhaps even more importantly, when Margaret had been found she was still wearing heavy wooden gloves.  The police had experimented with these gloves, trying to cause similar scratches on a volunteer's face. A secretary with long nails was unable to inflict the slightest wound.  The other witness was Doris Teale, who lived next to the Hoolhouses, and said she had seen Robert standing outside his house at the time he was supposed to be murdering Mrs Dobson.  Even more conclusive was the footprint evidence. Henry Dobson had stepped around the body and his prints were clearly seen.  Other prints, presumably from the killer, were underneath Henry's. Plaster casts of those prints had been made, but they did not match any of Robert’s footwear.  And the description of a man seen at the farm at around 5pm on the night of the murder was also at odds with the young labourer’s appearance and the clothes he had been wearing that day.  Finally, there was the fact that no semen stains were found on Robert’s clothing, despite extensive stains being found on Margaret’s.  Despite the cast contradictory evidence, though, police were convinced they had the right man.  At his trial at Leeds Assizes Court, prosecutor Mr Paley-Scott KC described the brutality of the crime.  He said: "You will hear that whoever it was who had attacked her had battered with his fists into insensibility or, at any rate, into a state in which she, a woman 67 years of age, was no longer able to resist and had then ravished her and, one would suppose, had then decided to kill the only witness of his deed."  Robert was found guilty by a jury after four hours and sentenced to death.  Following the conviction an appeal was launched back with a petition of 14,000 signatures, but the last-ditch attempt to save him was rejected.  Protesting his innocent to the end, Robert was hanged at Durham by famous executioner Thomas Pierrepoint.  Years later, his father reportedly made a deathbed confession that it was he who was responsible for Mrs Dobson’s murder.  But he was not seen around the murder scene and it was thought he was making an attempt to posthumously clear his son.


thedailyrecord--2019-01-24--Alex Salmond says he is innocent of any criminality after appearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court

Alex Salmond says he is 'innocent of any criminality' after appearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court

Former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond has said he is "innocent of any criminality" and that he will "defend himself to the utmost in court" after appearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.  He was appearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today after being arrested.  No further details of the charge against the 64-year-old have yet been released.  He arrived at Edinburgh Sheriff Court just before 2pm and made a short statement after the brief hearing.  In it, he said: "Now that these proceedings are live it is even more important to respect the court and therefore the only thing I can say is I refute absolutely these allegations of criminality and I will defend myself to the utmost in court."  Salmond was arrested on Wednesday after attending a police station in central Scotland.  A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that a 64-year-old man has been arrested and charged, and a report will be sent to the procurator fiscal.  "Proceedings are now live under the contempt of court act."  Salmond, from Linlithgow, West Lothian, was Scotland's first minister from 2007 to 2014.  He resigned his membership of the SNP in August 2018.


thedailyrecord--2019-07-30--Innocent Glasgow man ordered to drop boxers and lift testicles as blunder cops raid wrong house

Innocent Glasgow man ordered to 'drop boxers and lift testicles' as blunder cops raid wrong house

A family say police raided their home with a drugs warrant and even ordered their son to strip to his underwear - before they realised they were on the wrong street.  The Gracey family were all staying at grandfather Joe's home after a party the day before to celebrate his granddaughter Ellie's 11th birthday.  But they were left baffled when 10 cops barged into the home, looking for people suspected of drug offences , they said.  Son Anthony, 23, was in bed when he claims officers told him to take off his boxers as part of the raid - before the entire family of six were gathered in the living room of their Glasgow home.  Joe, 60, said he told police to check paperwork "six times" and it was only when they called his ex wife Jacqueline, 56, by the wrong name, they realised their mistake, he said.  He said they were at the correct house number - but on the wrong street.  Grandfather-of-one Joe, lodged an official complaint with Police Scotland following the mix up, and the force said it is investigating.  Distraught retail worker, Anthony, said: "I was fast asleep and they woke me up.  "They came upstairs and into my room. One of them said 'drop your boxers'.  "I said 'are you being serious' but they made me do it. I felt guilty but I hadn't done anything wrong.  "They made me lift up my testicles. I didn't know what to think. I've never done anything wrong in my life.  "I said I was innocent but they said they'd arrest me if I didn't shut up.  "It was really embarrassing."  Police officers burst into Joe's home, in Easterhouse, Glasgow, at around 8.15am on July 15.  His granddaughter Ellie, 11, his sons, Anthony and Andrew, 32, and a friend, were all asleep, having celebrated the schoolgirl and ex-wife Jacqueline's birthday the day before.  Jacqueline came downstairs and noticed lots of police outside, so she opened the door and around 10 officers barged past her to get inside, he said.  "Ellie was fast asleep on the sofa and Anthony and Andrew were asleep upstairs," said Joe, who has a heart condition and has had two strokes.  "They said 'we have a drugs warrant' and wanted to search the house.  "Some of them went upstairs into the bedrooms everyone was woken up.  "Anthony was asked to take off his boxer shorts.  "I told them it must have been a mistake six or seven times but they didn't listen to me. I have never had anything to do with the police.  "But they just said 'we don't make mistakes'."  Father-of-three Joe said police threatened to arrest Anthony while he argued he was innocent.  He said he has never had any dealings with police and pleaded with officers himself too.  Joe claims the whole family were made to gather in the living room, and after 15 minutes of "sheer panic" the penny dropped when one of the officers called Jacqueline by the wrong name.  He found a letter with his name and address on, and police realised their "stupid" mistake.  Joe said: "I proved they had the wrong place with the letter.  "One of them said 'right, let's go', and they left, just like that, without an apology or anything.  "They all walked out and went to the right address.  "My granddaughter was terrified. She was inconsolable and doesn't want to come back to this house now."  Joe said a neighbour saw police enter the same house number as him on a nearby street, moments later.  A spokesperson for the force says officers were tasked with searching a property in relation to suspected drug offences.  A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Police Scotland has received a complaint after officers attended the wrong address whilst executing a search warrant in the Easterhouse area of Glasgow.  "Enquiries are ongoing and we are unable to comment further."


thedcclothesline--2019-02-22--Prosecutors Reviewing 1400 Cases Tied to Houston Cop Whose Lies Got Innocent Couple Murdered

Prosecutors Reviewing 1,400 Cases Tied to Houston Cop Whose Lies Got Innocent Couple Murdered

Houston, TX — Despite their best intentions of sweeping the deaths of Dennis and Rhogena Tuttle under the rug, the Houston police department is currently under the microscope of the nation. Now, in yet another major move, the FBI is stepping in as well as Houston-area prosecutors, who will examine 1,400 other cases which are linked to the cop who fabricated evidence to spark the raid on this innocent couple—in which they were murdered in their own home by police.  One thing is nearly certain, and if this cop was willing to fabricate information to raid the home of an innocent couple who have lived in the same home for decades and were adored by all their neighbors—he’s likely done this before. So, prosecutors are stepping in and have their work cut out as HPD narcotics Officer Gerald Goines has been involved in more than 1,400 cases throughout his decades-long career of kicking in doors to find illegal substances.  NBC News reports that the FBI also said it has opened an independent civil rights investigation into Jan. 28 raid that left a man and a woman who lived at the home dead and several police officers shot and injured. The agency’s Houston office said the investigation is “into allegations that a search warrant obtained by Houston police officers was based on false, fabricated information.”  As TFTP reported over the weekend, after controversy and rumors have swarmed the case, the Houston police department has admitted that the entire raid was most likely based on the lies of one of their own.  “That’s totally unacceptable. I’ve told my police department that if you lie, you die,” Acevedo said Friday. “When you lie on an affidavit, that’s not sloppy police work, that’s a crime.”  When speaking of these crimes on Monday, Acevedo noted that the officer responsible for lying about this raid will likely be charged. As to what those charges are, however, we are still unclear.  Despite the fact that the officer has yet to be charged, the city’s proactive response to his deadly lies has been surprisingly swift.  “Our duty is to see that justice is done in every case,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. “Although the criminal investigation of Officer Goines is ongoing, we have an immediate ethical obligation to notify defendants and their lawyers in Goines’ other cases to give them an opportunity to independently review any potential defenses.”  What’s more, as TFTP reported Wednesday, the Houston police department is claiming they are taking steps to prevent future scenarios like this from happening—by ceasing the use of no-knock raids.  “The no-knock warrants are going to go away like leaded gasoline in this city,” Chief Art Acevedo said during a heated town hall meeting.  “I’m 99.9 percent sure we won’t be using them,” he continued. “If for some reason there would be a specific case, that would come from my office.”  With news of the 1,400 cases now being reviewed, others who say they have been unjustly charged are coming forward.  The family of a man arrested in one of the more than two dozen active cases currently tied to Goines is speaking out and has released a video of his arrest.  Exclusive video obtained by ABC13 Eyewitness News shows Goines’ arrest of Andrew Hebert last July.  ABC13 reports that Cheryl watched as her brother was arrested in front of the family home on Panay. Houston police said he led them on a chase, which he disputes. He followed their commands and surrendered. Cheryl then watched as Goines’ narcotics unit searched her brother’s car.  “They didn’t find anything inside his car,” she added.  Despite Cheryl noting that police didn’t find anything, Hebert was charged with two counts of possessing 200-400 grams of cocaine.  In light of the recent revelations, Hebert was just granted bail after being denied bond.  Another family came forward with even more damning information, claiming that Goines had a fit of road rage and killed a man.  Reginald Dorsey was fatally wounded in September 1997. What was first reported as a drug bust that turned violent, ended up being a case of road rage on the Southwest Freeway, according to ABC13.  Goines claimed Dorsey cut him off on the freeway and opened fire, leaving the officer no other option but to fire back. This was a claim the victim’s family denies and said Dorsey just defended himself from a plainclothes man who attacked him.  “We knew from the beginning it was a lie,” the victim’s sister, Rhonda Dorsey Williams said. “He murdered my brother. He murdered my brother.”  “You need to pay,” Williams said. “He needs to pay.”  “The concern, of course, is if it’s true, how much smoke is there and how much fire is there in his other cases? Is this just a one-off incident if he, in fact, lied or has been doing this in other cases, and that’s a grave concern to us as defense attorneys and our clients,” said Neal Davis, the vice president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association.  Eroding away the notion of this being a one-off incident is the fact that the officer had heroin in his car that fateful day. Was he using this to frame people? Was it for personal consumption?  Hopefully, as the investigation continues, the answers to these questions and others will come out.  Below is the video from ABC 13 of this former arrest:


thedcclothesline--2019-08-18--New Jersey Innocent Father and Daughter Held at Gunpoint on Knees as Cops Shot Their Dogs Lawsuit

New Jersey: Innocent Father and Daughter Held at Gunpoint on Knees as Cops Shot Their Dogs — Lawsuit!

Tinton Falls, NJ — Roberton Fullerton and his daughter Bobbi Rene Fullerton had committed no crime, had harmed no one, and were in their own home when police officers came to the door, ordered them to their knees at gunpoint and shot their two dogs. While apologists continue to claim “if you do nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about,” this case — like so many others before it — proves them entirely wrong. Now the taxpayers of Tinton Falls will be held liable for the officers’ actions in the form of a lawsuit.  The Fullertons are now suing the Borough of Tinton Falls, Police Officer Adrian Reyes, several officers referred to only as “John Does,” and Police Chief John Scrivanic in federal court for an amount “yet to be determined.” for the disturbing abuse doled out by the officers. On Tuesday, the lawsuit was scheduled for pretrial.  “They were victims of excessive force. They were held at gunpoint by this officer (Reyes). They were scared out of their minds. The whole thing was very traumatic,” the Fullerton’s attorney Thomas J. Mallon told the Asbury Park Press.  According to the lawsuit, the incident unfolded on Oct. 8, 2017. Robert and Bobbi were having a verbal argument at their home that night when someone overheard them and called 911. Police were then dispatched to the residence.  There was no physical assault, and before any officers arrived, Robert Fullerton received a phone call from “longtime friend,” Tinton Falls Police Officer Lt. Kyle Pearson, the lawsuit states. Pearson confirmed everything was okay and that Robert had simply been arguing with his daughter. Officer Pearson, according to the lawsuit, then attempted to notify the responding officers that “no assault had occurred.” However, he was too late.  As the Asbury Park Press reports, notwithstanding, the police went to Fullerton’s home and knocked on the door. Robert Fullerton opened the door and stepped outside. Sadie, one of the plaintiffs’ German shepherds, brushed passed Fullerton, walked onto the driveway “and was immediately shot three times,” by Reyes, or one of the John Doe officers, the lawsuit said.  Reyes then “ordered Fullerton at gunpoint, with the gun pointed at his face, to get on the ground,” according to the lawsuit.  While on his knees, Robert watched as police then ordered his daughter to her knees as their dog Hannah followed her outside. Police then opened fire on Hannah, shooting the German Shepherd twice.  According to the report, Sadie died from the gunshots while Hannah was taken to a veterinary hospital. The Fullertons claim they incurred over $7,000 in veterinary expenses.  After watching the officers shoot their dogs all the while having guns pointed at their heads, neither of the Fullertons were charged with any crime and the officers left.  Imagine for a moment that non-police officers had gone to the Fullerton’s home, held them at gunpoint on their knees and shot their dogs. This story would be on the front page of newspapers across the country and may even be the subject of a feature film.  However, because the assailants were police officers, there will be very little media coverage and they will face zero accountability. And, as the video below illustrates, this is all done by design.  Luckily for the Fullertons, when the police officers shot their dogs, neither of them were shot in the process. Others cannot say the same.  As TFTP reported earlier this month, in Texas, police were conducting a welfare check on a sleeping woman who was reportedly napping in a grassy area near Canton Drive and North Collins Street in Arlington. Instead of receiving help, however, this sleeping woman received a fatal bullet.  According to police, as the officer approached the sleeping woman lying in the grass, he saw a stray dog. The officer claims to have called out to the woman when all of the sudden, the dog started charging him, so he fired his weapon several times. The officer missed the dog, but hit the woman instead. She did not survive.


thedcclothesline--2019-11-01--Colorado: SWAT Team Blows Up Innocent Man’s Home in Search of Clothing Shoplifter—Deal With It, Says

Colorado: SWAT Team Blows Up Innocent Man’s Home in Search of Clothing Shoplifter—Deal With It, Says Court

Greenwood Village, CO – A Federal Appeals court has granted police new powers for which they will not be held accountable. They can now completely destroy your home and they will not have to pay for it. That’s what happened to Leo Lech’s home in 2015 after a shoplifter — accused of stealing a shirt — illegally entered his home, forcing Greenwood Village SWAT to go room by room ransacking the place with explosives.  The 19-hour standoff ended with the suspect being taken into custody, but not before the home, as TFTP previously reported, was destroyed. The place looked like it was hit with a bulldozer. None of the windows were intact, and the doors were blown off their hinges. The Lech family’s possessions were completely destroyed, left in tatters after the SWAT team showed no concern for the home nor its belongings. According to the DailyMail:  Initially, the Lech family was offered $5,000 in housing assistance and insurance deductible compensation, a far cry from what it would take to simply raze the home, let alone rebuild it. Leo Lech sued the city, but the court ruled what happened to the home did not amount to eminent domain and was simply a result of a police matter. Therefore, the city was under no obligation to condemn the home nor rebuild it. In other words, apart from the $5000, Lech was getting nothing else. Lech commented in 2015:  In 2017, after being offered the $5,000, Lech had this to say.  Lech appealed the decision to a higher court but on Wednesday was denied, yet again. He says he’s now going to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States and he has a lot more to say about how police upended his life and the lives of his other family members.  Leo Lech was renting the destroyed home to his son John, his girlfriend, and their son. Far from being a tenant in a rental home, when police destroyed all of John’s possessions along with his dwelling, he says he was forced to live with his parents, find another job, and force his son to attend another school. The chaos which ensued from the SWAT melee which included an estimated 50 officers, truly caused the family an enormous amount of discomfort the family says. And, rightfully so, they are upset, to say the least. On Tuesday, Lech told the Washington Post:  It’s true America. We don’t know whether to categorize it as the effects of a Police State or Judicial Tyranny, but one man’s quest to get his home rebuilt by the very police department which completely destroyed it with grenades, explosives, gas canisters, battering rams, and an armored personnel carrier (typically used by the military), ended in defeat.  In the land of the free, the cops can now destroy your home completely and you’ll be left to pick up the pieces. Hopefully, Lech and his lawyers will appeal to the SCOTUS and the dangerous precedent will be overturned. • Michigan: Mother and Children Left Homeless After Police Destroy House Looking for Non-Existent Suspect


thedcclothesline--2019-11-18--The rule of law has collapsed in America, a nation where the guilty go free while the innocent are p

The rule of law has collapsed in America, a nation where the guilty go free while the innocent are persecuted and silenced

(Natural News) As of November 15, 2019, the rule of law no longer exists in the United States of America.  This has become abundantly apparent with the rigged jury decision to incarcerate Roger Stone for the “process crime” of misstating memories during interrogations with federal agents. In an era where Hillary Clinton is openly allowed by the director of the FBI (treasonous criminal James Comey) to destroy evidence, obstruct justice and get away with high-level crimes because “she didn’t mean to” violate the law, Roger Stone is about to be sentenced to what will essentially be life in prison (he’s 67 years old).  In an era when former president Barack Obama illegally laundered billions of dollars through international banks in order to fly actual pallets of cash to Iran to fund their nuclear weapons program, Julian Assange rots in custody, denied his freedom, his health and his sanity for over a decade, all as punishment for daring to expose the dark secrets of the military industrial complex.  The jury against Roger Stone was rigged with over 90% of the people in the jury pool found to be supporters of Hillary Clinton. The malicious fake news media smeared Stone for years, installing intense hatred in the minds of the jurists and cementing the outcome of the “trial,” if it can even be called that.  take our poll - story continues below  Meanwhile, Adam Schiff (Loonbag-CA) holds secret trials with secret transcripts in secret dungeons, coaching witnesses to say what he wants them to say while editing secret transcripts to make those witnesses appear to say things they never said. The treasonous media runs with every lie Schiff hands them, having long abandoned any last shred of journalistic integrity or basic human decency.  The rule of law has collapsed in America, and no one is safe from the hate-filled left-wing mob that now openly seeks to criminalize all political opposition.  If you oppose the Democrat mob, you will be targeted and destroyed  If you oppose the Democrats, you will eventually be targeted by the IRS (Lois Lerner, anyone?), arrested by the Feds in a midnight raid that’s coordinated with CNN (a la Roger Stone), de-platformed from all the major tech platforms, smeared on Wikipedia with an onslaught of fabricated lies, demonized by the fake news media with coordinated hit pieces (as the NYT just did with John Solomon) and harassed in public by violent, drooling left-wing mobs that are triggered into rage by the very sight of the American flag or a MAGA hat.  The juries in left-wing cities will never find a violent Leftist guilty, nor a conservative patriot innocent. A jury in San Francisco, for example, set an illegal alien free after he shot and killed an American woman in an obvious case of manslaughter, if not homicide. But he was set free because San Francisco is a “sanctuary” city, which means the people who run that collapsing sh#thole of feces and filth have decided to ignore the laws they don’t like.  And this is how things are now progressing — if you can call it that — all across the country, where the rule of law is abandoned at will, replaced by a raging, anti-American, anti-Trump, anti-freedom tyranny of the left-wing majority mob.  The left-wing dedication to authoritarianism and tyranny is now so complete that all the tech giants recently conspired to memory hole the name of the deep state spy “whistleblower” Eric Ciaramella. Even uttering that name will get you banned on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Indeed, stating a name now gets you banned from the public square for the simple reason that the deep state has ordered the tech giants to eliminate that name from public discourse.  Similarly, the tech giants have now banned a Republican candidate for congress simply for being a Republican. Under the tyrannical thumb of Jack Dorsey, an un-indicted criminal guilty of treason against America for rigging elections, Twitter is now banning people for merely tweeting, “I hired Donald Trump to fire people like Yovanovitch,” referring to the lying former ambassador of Ukraine, who is whining about being fired after wasting taxpayer money by doing a lousy job as ambassador.  The effort to criminalize Trump’s foreign policy, you see, is really just a symptom of a much larger effort being pursued by the lawless, deranged, lunatic Left: The complete criminalization of “disobedience” to the left-wing agenda.  The real goal is the criminalization of conservatism  Try standing up at your local city council meeting and declaring, “There are only two genders,” and you’ll get a taste of the level of outright lunacy, violence and authoritarianism that has now infected the minds of the American people (including those who call themselves “conservatives” but have surrendered to the insanity of the Left in order to try to sue for peace).  The real goal of the authoritarian Left is to criminalize conservativism, Christianity and disobedience against every left-wing agenda, including their desire to pump your children full of chemical castration drugs in the name of “transgenderism” justice — just the latest mental illness to sweep through the ranks of deranged Leftists whose cognitive function now resembles that of zombies.  The attacks on Trump, Roger Stone, Alex Jones, John Solomon, Sean Hannity and other prominent independent analysts were never about the real rule of law… it has always been about criminalizing opposition and using the twisted “injustice” system to incarcerate anyone who stands in the way of the lawless left-wing mob and its criminal mafia mob bosses like Hillary Clinton.  Now, because of the collapse of the rule of law in America, here’s where we find ourselves: • There is now no point in surrendering to any federal agent in any circumstance, since there is zero possibility of experiencing a fair trial. Everything will be rigged against you: The evidence, the judge, the witnesses, the jury and the media. You will be gagged, denied your right to defend yourself and denied the right to say “you didn’t mean to” like Hillary Clinton got away with. • Federal law enforcement is hopelessly corrupt, with the FBI now running political smear operations and staging nearly all the domestic terrorism plots in America. The FBI, under people like Mueller and Comey, has not only been involved in covering up the truths about 9/11, Oklahoma City, the assassination of Dr. MLK, Jr., the Waco raids and the 1993 attempted bombing of the Twin Towers; it actually turns out the FBI ran those operations. (See FBIcorruption.news.) • Federal judges have zero loyalty to the rule of law and absolute loyalty to the deep state. They have abandoned any last shred of even the pretense of following the Constitution and now exploit their positions of power to shore up the power of the deep state while destroying all those who threaten it. • There is no expectation of safety for a law-abiding citizen, since any person can be targeted by the left-wing mob (a la Adam Schiff, the left-wing media, the tech giants, deep state agents, etc.) and then silenced, assassinated, indicted, audited or otherwise destroyed by any combination of establishment weapons against dissent. • Elections are now hopelessly rigged, with Democrats controlling nearly every election outcome through a combination of illegals voting (14 states give driver’s licenses to illegal aliens now), ballot harvesting and vote stuffing by using cyber warfare techniques to make sure all the people who previously left a particular state magically vote for Democrats. This is how Kentucky’s recent election was rigged. • Democrats are now openly calling for acts of violence and street warfare against not just conservative candidates but their financial supporters. Recently, a Democrat in Texas doxxed Trump donors, releasing their names and home addresses to the public in order to encourage left-wing Antifa brownshirts to harass and intimidate Trump donors. • There is no free speech in America, as the tech giants have now brazenly conspired to silence all pro-Trump voices in their highly illegal conspiracy to rig all future elections. Yet somehow, they seem to face zero push back from regulators, the FTC, the DOJ or Republican lawmakers (with a few exceptions such as MO Sen. Hawley, who is leading the charge against Big Tech’s illegal censorship). • Second Amendment rights are being rapidly dismantled by left-wing cities and states as they seek to completely disarm the citizenry so that no resistance can be mounted against the corruption, treason and tyranny of left-wing government run by extreme criminals known as “Democrats.” • The “mainstream media” has now devolved into nothing but a coordinated smear engine to de-legitimize and de-humanize the political opponents of the radical Left. NBC News, in particular, is engaged in such malicious smears that one of their hate pieces targeting my own publishing company resulted in hundreds of deranged, violent left-wing lunatics calling and threatening the employee of a hosting company that hosts some of our websites. The child of one employee was even threatened in public school by other students who were children of radical left-wing Antifa parents. As All News Pipeline reports, “With the MSM also releasing ‘hit pieces‘ upon outlets such as The Federalist and the Western Journal, we keep coming back to just how deeply the CIA had infiltrated the mainstream media going all the way back to the early 1950’s and ‘Operation Mockingbird‘, the large-scale propaganda program designed to manipulate the news media and, in so doing, manipulate the minds of every man, woman and child across America.” • Driven to psychological extremism by the hate-filled fake news media, Leftists are now openly celebrating the abandonment of due process and the politically targeted extermination of free speech, claiming that these basic civil rights of speech and law have no place in a “tolerant” society. Yes, that’s their actual argument. They claim free speech is “violence.” • As a result, Twitter has now collapsed into a cesspool of radical left-wing extremism and “groupthink,” where all voices of opposition are silenced, effectively creating a feedback loop of left-wing insanity that now drives Democrat candidates to positions so extreme and insane that even Barack Obama now claims the Left has gone way too far. (When Obama tells you that you’ve gone too far to the Left, you’re beyond all hope…) • Mass mental illness is now parading around as “progressivism,” even when the signs of mental illness are irrefutable, such as parents trying to physically chop off the reproductive organs of their baby boys in order to convert them into transgenders.  Under the tyrannical rule of lawless, mentally ill Democrats, the government is now run like an organized crime syndicate. John W. Whitehead of The Rutherford Institute sums it all up perfectly in a recent column:  All of us are in danger.  In an age of prosecutions for thought crimes, pre-crime deterrence programs, and government agencies that operate like organized crime syndicates, there is a new kind of tyranny being imposed on those who dare to expose the crimes of the Deep State, whose reach has gone global.  The Deep State has embarked on a ruthless, take-no-prisoners, all-out assault on truth-tellers.  Activists, journalists and whistleblowers alike are being terrorized, traumatized, tortured and subjected to the fear-inducing, mind-altering, soul-destroying, smash-your-face-in tactics employed by the superpowers-that-be.  Following the current downward trajectory, it won’t be long before anyone who believes in holding the government accountable is labeled an “extremist,” is relegated to an underclass that doesn’t fit in, must be watched all the time, and is rounded up when the government deems it necessary.  Eventually, we will all be potential suspects, terrorists and lawbreakers in the eyes of the government.  Now the collapse will accelerate, and America will become Venezuela  Now that the rule of law has collapsed in America, and the media has become a psychological terrorism hub run by the CIA, and the courts have abandoned all justice, and the elections are all rigged by treasonous Democrats, we are going to witness a rapid collapse into despotism, lawlessness and desperation.  The model for this collapse is already on display for the world to see: Venezuela.  A doctor who still survives the collapse of civil society in Venezuela, Maybell Nieves, has written about how this collapse accelerates year after year, stripping away every right and last shred of human decency from the citizens as the corrupt, treasonous government becomes powerful and treacherous to everyone:  That’s probably why those first few years didn’t really feel like something was taken away from us… Later came the control of the prices of basic products, which caused the disappearance of those items and initiated a black market that is also very much in force to this day.  The decay was soon seen in many aspects. There was no longer maintenance on public roads, and public services failed often until reaching the point of constant failures of electric service, even for days. The public health situation is also getting worse and worse. As a health professional, I have seen this deterioration for the last 10 years.  The state will rip you off, but it doesn’t happen all of a sudden. There are a lot of logistics; it takes a long time to develop the kind of policy that makes citizens totally dependent on the state.  You start by losing something unimportant, like some kind of monetary bonus now given to you as government-run grocery store credits, and you end up losing your freedom and all kinds of rights, including freedom of speech and protest, but these issues are so extensive that they require an article of their own to explain them properly.  The state has taken charge, with great success I must say, and you are now living in fear of the so-called public authorities, meaning police and military police, since they serve as pro-government forces of repression.  In any public protest, savage repression is a constant. That violence is what we Venezuelans have become used to.When there is no public or social security, when the devaluation of the currency is occurring on a daily basis, and when you don’t know if the bakery on the corner is going to be broken into tomorrow, at that moment, the debacle has already occurred.  So the mismanagement of incompetent and corrupt civil servants results in the deep separation of three social classes: extreme poverty, which represents more than 80% of the population and is totally dependent on the government; the working middle class, which manages to subsist through one or two basic incomes plus the economic help of family members abroad; and those who do business with the government and can live in a very comfortable, ideal world that has nothing to do with reality.  There comes a point at which the only thing in your mind is to know if you will return home alive. Everything else is secondary. At that point, the state has already massacred you internally. You can never be the same again. I’m sure I am not.  This is the future for America if We the People do not take this country back from the lawless, treasonous, eternally corrupt deep state puppetmasters  What you read above is what you will be living soon in America as the collapse continues: • The streets of left-wing cities will be running with feces and filth. In many cities, they already are. • The collapse of the rule of law will lead to exploding crime rates everywhere. • Corporations like Google will decide all future elections, and if your speech does not agree with the ideas of unelected Google engineers, you will be silenced and demonized. • The deep state will make sure that all voices of opposition to the corrupt establishment — including independent journalists — will be criminalized, arrested, indicted and likely “Jeffrey Epsteined.” • As the rule of law collapses, business transactions will become increasingly difficult to complete. Eventually, food supplies will collapse and deliveries will cease, leading to mass food riots in the nation’s most populated cities. • After Trump is removed from power by treasonous criminals in the deep state (Brennan, Comey, Mueller, McCabe, etc.), the federal government will declare war on the American people and go door to door, seizing guns, executing Christians, setting fire to the homes of conservatives, looting household valuables and kidnapping wives and daughters for human trafficking operations run in conjunction with UN troops which will also occupy U.S. soil. • America will be turned into a war zone, with the government waging war against the Constitution, the People and human rights. • The economic collapse will accelerate, leading to widespread impoverishment, starvation, desperation, crime and corruption. • The violence of the lunatic Left will rapidly increase to the point where Leftists openly engage in executions, rapings, kidnappings, lootings and anything else they can get away with, always targeting conservatives and “white people,” thanks to the hatred pushed by the NYT, WashPost, CNN, MSNBC and late night comedy shows like Jimmy Kimmel.  The rule of LAW now collapses to the rule of FORCE  You can probably imagine what else will occur. Basically it’s the collapse of human society. During all this, of course, armed American patriots will be taking it to the criminal traitors in all sorts of various ways, all across America. It will probably be open season on corruption, everywhere across America. Sadly, with the rule of law now dead in America, any reasonable person must wonder incentive remains for anyone to abide by any law whatsoever?  The only thing that matters to the corrupt Democrats now is force. The radical Left will use force to destroy you if you don’t comply. They will have you arrested at gunpoint or attacked on the streets at the hands of violent Antifa mobs. They will even force you to vaccinate your children at gunpoint… or they will medically kidnap your children at gunpoint if you refuse to comply.  Force is now the only rule remaining in deep state-controlled America. Everything else has collapsed. There is no free speech, no fair trial, no system of justice, no reasonable expectation of human rights anywhere, no fair elections, no honest news, no honest Wall Street operations, no real public education, no clean food, no certainty of safety with products purchased on Amazon.com, no faith in the broken banking system, no faith that any elected official will keep any promises, no trust in the FBI or federal law enforcement and no reasonable expectation that anything will get better.  Just as I promised they would, the Democrats are destroying everything of value as they seek to demolish human decency, human rights and human society. This is their goal. Do not be deluded into thinking anything else.  It won’t be long before this website is blockaded by all internet tech companies, by the way. All voices of dissent will be erased and memory holed. You will soon be on your own.  Prepare to take steps to defend your survival, for that is what all this has come to. If you aren’t willing to defend your nation, your Constitution, your life and the rule of law, then the DEMONrats have already won and humanity will be extinguished in no time at all.  The Second Amendment tipping point now appears imminent.


thedenverpost--2019-11-04--Guest Commentary: Lying jailhouse informants shouldn’t put innocent Coloradans behind bars

Imagine being convicted of a brutal crime you did not commit as a teenager. The recent Netflix series “When They See Us” told the story of the Central Park Five, a group of teenagers who were wrongly convicted of raping a jogger in New York City. Korey Wise was one of those young men, and he is the namesake of the innocence project that I direct at Colorado Law.  Similar injustices have happened in our state. This week marks 18 years since Lawrence Montoya was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the 2000 murder of a teacher in Denver. At the age of 15 he was sent to prison because of lies told by a jailhouse informant.  The prosecution’s case largely relied on a jailhouse informant who claimed that Lawrence confessed to him when they shared a room together in juvenile detention as Lawrence awaited trial. The jailhouse informant gave details that appeared to be corroborated by a crime scene expert, and the jailhouse informant’s mother said that he told her about the alleged confession shortly after it happened.  To a jury, it looked like the jailhouse informant was telling the truth. In reality, he never shared a room with Lawrence. His testimony was inconsistent with both the physical evidence and earlier statements he gave to law enforcement. The prosecution also denied that the jailhouse informant got a deal. However, his probation sentence for burglary was terminated shortly after he agreed to testify. The prosecution failed to meet its constitutional obligation to disclose this information to the defense. As a result, Lawrence’s lawyers could not adequately expose the jailhouse informant’s motivations and credibility to the jury.  On November 3, 2000, Lawrence was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. It would take over a decade for DNA testing to undermine the conviction and for Lawrence to finally be released from prison.  It was too easy for lies told by a jailhouse informant to wrongfully convict Lawrence Montoya. The unchecked system of offering leniency for testimony also harms crime victims and public safety. When a jailhouse informant receives a reduced sentence or gets his charges dismissed, what kind of message does that send to the victims of his own crimes? Plus, when the questionable testimony of an informant leads to the conviction of an innocent person, the actual perpetrators may go on to harm others.  As more cases like Lawrence’s have come to light, there has been a growing national movement to increase transparency and scrutiny around jailhouse witnesses. This year, Connecticut passed a new law that will create the nation’s first statewide system to track the use of and benefits provided for their testimony. The measure will give prosecutors more complete information to vet potential jailhouse witnesses before putting them on the stand.  Additionally, Connecticut and Illinois require judges to hold pre-trial hearings to screen out unreliable testimony before it is heard by jurors. Recently, Nebraska and Texas passed laws specifying when and what types of evidence the prosecution must disclose to the defense if it plans to use a jailhouse witness.  Nebraska’s law also requires that victims of a jailhouse informant’s crimes be notified if charges are dismissed or reduced in exchange for cooperation. A number of states including Oklahoma and Utah give special jury instructions about the specific factors that should be considered when evaluating jailhouse informant testimony.  What happened to Lawrence Montoya shouldn’t happen to any other innocent person. Colorado should adopt the safeguards that have been implemented in other states when the legislature meets this session.  Anne-Marie Moyes is the program director of the Korey Wise Innocence Project at Colorado Law. which investigates claims of wrongful convictions and advocates for policies that address and prevent wrongful convictions.  To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.


theguardianuk--2019-02-11--Spare innocent men anguish India ruling aims to end false rape claims

'Spare innocent men anguish': India ruling aims to end false rape claims

Their romance began at work. She asked him out for coffee with her friends. He took her out for lunch. Dinners and walks in New Delhi’s Lodhi Gardens followed. Then, for 18 months, they were in a sexual relationship.  But last year, when Pavan Gupta* turned 24, his parents began pressuring him to marry. When they introduced him to a girl he liked, Gupta ended his relationship with his girlfriend, Geeta Jain, telling her he could not disappoint his parents. “I liked her but I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with her. I always told her I was an only child and would have to go along with my parents’ choice,” says Gupta.  In March, as Gupta was preparing for his wedding, Jain went to the Delhi police and accused him of rape. She said she had slept with him only on promise of marriage and, since he had not married her, consent was procured on a false pretext, making the sex rape.  “Even if I had misled her and told her I’d marry her, it still wouldn’t make the sex rape. How can consensual sex for over a year be rape?” asks Gupta.  Last month, the supreme court ruled that rape cannot be invoked in cases of consensual sex after a relationship ends and the man declines to marry the woman, for whatever reason. The judges said a clear distinction had to be drawn between the two. But the ruling is of no help to Gupta. His life has already been shattered.  His mother had a heart attack a week after she learned of the accusation against him. She died a few days later. His fiancee called off the wedding. He lost his job. His peace of mind was destroyed. The trial is dragging on because Jain frequently does not attend hearings.  Something strange is going on in India. Women are becoming more educated and confident. Pre-marital sex is on the rise – a hotel chain called StayUncle offers rooms for an hour or two to couples seeking somewhere to have sex. But at the same time, so are the number of women alleging rape on false promise of marriage.  According to the National Crime Records Bureau, a total of 38,947 rape cases were reported in India in 2016. In 10,068 cases – about a quarter – the women claimed it was rape on false promise of marriage. In Andhra Pradesh state, 45% of all rape cases filed in the past two years fell into the false marriage category.  “When a relationship ends, women who have had consensual sex make false accusations of rape under promise of marriage out of vengefulness, to hurt the man. Or they do it to extort money out of him, promising to withdraw the charge if he gives them what they want,” says lawyer Vinay Sharma.  Sitting in his tiny chambers in Dwarka, Sharma, who is handling 90 such cases, gestures discreetly to two families waiting for him on the other side of the glass partition. “The girl’s family has agreed to withdraw the charge in return for 500,000 rupees (£5,400),” he says. “Tell me, would any parent settle for money rather than justice if she’s really been raped?”  In many cases, false rape accusations are simply the result of parents covering up the “shame” of an unmarried daughter having sex. Research carried out in 2015 by journalist Rukmini Shrinivasan, who worked for the Hindu newspaper at the time, revealed that when parents discover their unmarried daughters are in a sexual relationship, their horror at potential “dishonour” to the family name leads many to make spurious allegations of rape, having first bullied their children into submission.  By their logic, saying a daughter has been raped is preferable to people thinking she is sexually active. Shrinivasan stumbled upon this finding after discerning a pattern in the charge sheets she examined in Mumbai. Time and again, it was the same story: the victim had been picked up in a moving car, given a drink laced with sedatives to render her unconscious, and raped.  The recurrence of the sedative-laced drink seemed striking. Then the penny dropped. “This allegation is important because it is necessary to show that consent was not given, to protect the girl’s reputation,” says Shrinivasan.  Sharma supports her findings. He says the same story can be found in 50 of his 90 cases. “Only the names, dates and locations are different, otherwise they all narrate the story of sedatives and drinks when in fact the girls were in a relationship and willingly having sex,” he says.  Shrinivasan’s research into the 460 rape cases that came to trial in New Delhi in 2013 revealed that “more than one third turned out to be cases of couples having consensual sex outside marriage but, when the parents found out, they went to the police to end the relationship”.  Men’s rights groups and some lawyers believe these false allegations of rape by women who have been in consensual relationships trivialise the seriousness of rape. They raise plenty of questions, too. Even if a man promised to marry a woman, can he not change his mind? How can judges determine a man’s sincerity or falsity in talking of marriage?  Even more troubling is that the notion of sex constituting rape if a man “reneges” on a promise of marriage is not in the penal code. It has evolved on a case-by-case basis as a result of judges choosing to interpret the notion of “consent” in this fashion. As a consequence, men can be charged with rape if they falsely obtain consent for sex by promising to marry a woman and then changing their mind.  The only solace for men who have been falsely accused is that many of these cases are thrown out of court. The supreme court ruling last month, for example, related to a nurse at a government hospital in Maharashtra. She was a widow who fell in love with a doctor and moved in with him. After living together for some years, he left her and married someone else.  The judges said that having lived with the man for some years, the nurse could not allege rape. They pointed out that it was possible the doctor, on account of circumstances he could not have foreseen or could not control, was not able or willing to marry her. Whatever the reason, it was not rape. The doctor was acquitted.  But between the arrest and the acquittal lies much distress. Jeevan Kishore is married with two children and works as a “halwai” or sweet maker in New Delhi. He started a sexual relationship with a much older woman who was separated from her husband and had two children. “She was financially in bad shape. I used to lend her money, pay for her rent sometimes, and for medical costs if her relatives back in the village fell ill,” says Kishore.  When her young son fell ill, Kishore paid the hospital bills. When he died, he paid for the funeral. Then, he says, she began demanding larger and larger sums of money. “She told me if I didn’t give her the money, she would accuse me of rape. I was dumbstruck,” he says.  Eighteen months ago, that’s exactly what she did. Last month, he was acquitted. “My wife was angry with me over my unfaithfulness but she knew I was incapable of rape. I thank God the judge realised it was a false case. But for 18 months, I burned with shame every time I went out or met anyone,” says Kishore.  Vivek Deveshwar, a software engineer in Bangalore who runs a men’s rights group, has come across far too many shattered men. “Their trust in human relationships is destroyed. They withdraw into a shell, not knowing who they can trust and they are very frightened of embarking on another relationship,” he says.  He believes that parents who make false allegations of rape are encouraged by the fact that rape victims’ identities are not revealed. Consequently, there is no social embarrassment. “I believe a man’s identity should also be kept secret until the trial is over and a verdict has been reached. It would spare innocent men a lot of anguish,” he says.  Seema Misra, a lawyer in New Delhi, says that false cases under breach of promise to marry are a “huge” issue, one that she finds upsetting. “There is a limit to how far women can portray themselves as victims. At some point we have to take responsibility for our actions – 90% of the cases I have seen are false,” she says.  For feminist lawyers like Misra, the subject is fraught with problems. They realise that such cases reflect the premium put on a woman’s chastity by a very patriarchal society – no unmarried woman can be seen to be sexually active outside marriage – but oppose the abuse of rape laws.  Many observers feel that false claims brought by women who argue they were duped into losing their virginity serve only to undermine efforts to promote gender equality. “These cases should not be treated as rape. If we are talking of women’s agency, then we can’t have it both ways,” says lawyer and activist Vrinda Grover.  Grover believes that last month’s supreme court ruling will help in setting a precedent for the lower courts to follow. Ultimately, though, she believes the legal system must find another way to give women justice if they have suffered harm at the hands of a man. “The system needs to offer some form of relief – either damages or in some other way – because desperate women are resorting to the rape charge, which is wrong, but that’s because they have no other remedy. The law needs to develop a different perspective,” says Grover.  In the meantime, she worries that false charges of rape over consensual sexual relationships serve only to dilute genuine cases and distort the debate about rape in India. On this, Deveshwar concurs: “The tragedy is that with so many false cases, genuine victims of rape may find it harder to get justice.”  * Names of the accused men have been changed to protect their identities


theguardianuk--2019-05-07--Pamela Anderson visits innocent man Julian Assange in prison

Pamela Anderson visits 'innocent man' Julian Assange in prison

Pamela Anderson has described Julian Assange as “the world’s most innocent man” and said a fight was on to “save his life”, after the actor and model visited the WikiLeaks founder at Belmarsh prison.  She was accompanied by the website’s editor-in-chief, Kristinn Hrafnsson, for what WikiLeaks described as Assange’s first social visit since he was arrested by police after Ecuador revoked the political asylum granted to him at the country’s London embassy.  A struggle over a US request for Assange’s extradition is under way after he was jailed for just under a year for breaching bail conditions to avoid being extradited to Sweden. Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition over sexual assault allegations, which he denies.  “He does not deserve to be in a supermax prison. He has never committed a violent act. He is an innocent person,” Anderson said outside the prison in south-east London, which is a maximum-security jail but holds a range of prisoners.  Anderson said he was “really cut off from everybody” and had not been able to access the internet, use a library or speak to his children.  “He is a good man, he is an incredible person. I love him, I can’t imagine what he has been going through,” said Anderson, who was wearing what appeared to be a cape covered with text that made references to prison, tyranny and Oliver Cromwell.  She tweeted a link to a Wikipedia page for John Lilburne, an English Leveller who was a friend of Cromwell but whose opposition to the policies of his regime led to his trial for sedition in 1649. She also tweeted a photograph of a handwritten letter that appeared to have been signed by her and another celebrity supporter of Assange, the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood.  “We need to save his life. That is how serious it is,” Anderson said.  Hrafnsson, who last week criticised “austerity and cutbacks” in the prison system and said Assange usually spends 23 hours a day in his cell, added: “He has lost weight but his spirit is strong and that is the most important thing.”  During a court appearance last Thursday, Assange declined a chance to consent to his extradition to the US in a hearing at Westminster magistrates court, where lawyers for Washington began pressing the case to take him across the Atlantic. Ben Brandon, the counsel for the US government, said the charges related to one of the largest compromises of information in US history.  Swedish prosecutors have said they are considering reopening the investigation into rape and sexual assault allegations against Assange.


theguardianuk--2019-10-16--'It breaks down innocent people': the interrogation method at center of Ava DuVernay lawsuit

The director Ava DuVernay and Netflix are facing a lawsuit from the police consulting firm behind a widely criticized interrogation technique referenced in the miniseries When They See Us.  John E Reid and Associates, a US company that trains law enforcement on interrogations, filed a defamation suit on Monday, challenging DuVernay’s critically acclaimed Netflix drama based on the case known as the Central Park Five. When They See Us is a four-part dramatization of the true story of five black and brown teenage boys from Harlem who were wrongfully convicted of the rape of a white woman in Central Park in the spring of 1989.  The case is now known as one of the most notorious examples of police coercing people into giving false confessions, and the show powerfully depicts the harrowing interrogations the young boys faced and the racist prosecution that followed. The five teens went to prison and were eventually exonerated by DNA evidence.  Since the 1970s, John E Reid and Associates has taught an interrogation method known as “the Reid technique”, which was directly discussed in DuVernay’s series.  The complaint cited a quote from a prosecutor character in the series who questions a police detective’s interrogations of the boys, saying: “You squeezed statements out of them after 42 hours of questioning and coercing … The Reid technique has been universally rejected.” The detective responds: “I don’t even know what the fucking Reid Technique is.”  The firm’s lawsuit accuses Netflix of making false and defamatory statements, seeks damages and demands an injunction blocking Netflix from streaming the series, unless they “delete the defamatory references”. The suit alleges that the show misrepresents the nature of the Reid technique by suggesting that “coercing” statements from juveniles after “long hours of questioning without food, bathroom breaks or parental supervision” is “synonymous” with this method.  It’s unclear exactly how defamation laws might cover this fictionalized dialogue. The complaint is, however, bringing renewed attention to the Reid technique, the company’s trainings, and related interrogation techniques and controversies.  The technique, which was devised by a former police officer and polygraph expert, has increasingly been the subject of scrutiny by scholars and lawyers, who say that research and ongoing exonerations have shown it leads to false confessions. Critics charge that the method and similar practices involve interrogators pressuring and intimidating suspects, making it seem as if the police have proof of guilt, “minimizing” the seriousness of crime and potential consequences and presenting confession as the easiest way out of the situation.  In 2017, Wicklander-Zulawski and Associates, a large consulting group that has worked with the majority of police departments across the US, announced it would stop using the Reid technique, specifically due to concerns about false confessions.  Alan Hirsch, the chair of the justice and law studies program at Williams College, has testified in roughly 30 cases about the Reid technique.  “It’s an interrogation method designed to create anxiety, stress and eventually desperation,” he told the Guardian. “The suspect concludes that confessing is the best or even the only way out … It breaks down innocent people as well as guilty people. It’s too effective.”  The “overwhelming majority of PhD social scientists who research and write about the Reid method of interrogation believe that it can be and sometimes is psychologically coercive” and increases the risk of false confessions, added Richard Leo, a law and psychology professor at the University of San Francisco and leading expert on the subject.  Keren Goldenberg, a criminal defense lawyer in Massachusetts, said the depictions of interrogations in When They See Us rang true to her.  “The Reid technique really capitalizes on the fear and the weaknesses of the person who is sitting in front of the interrogator,” she said.  John E Reid and Associates was “grasping at straws and fiercely protecting their brand”, added Hayley Cleary, an associate professor of criminal justice at Virginia Commonwealth University and an expert on police interrogations. She noted that other countries had largely moved away from the practice.  Cleary said she was grateful to When They See Us for potentially helping future jurors understand that people can be pressured to confess to crimes they did not commit: “Normalizing the idea that false confessions can happen is really, really important.”  Representatives for DuVernay and Netflix did not respond to requests for comment. John E Reid and Associates and their attorneys in the case, Jack Carriglio and Corey Hickman, also did not respond to interview requests.  The company’s lawsuit includes the defense it has repeatedly offered – that false confessions don’t come from the application of the Reid technique, “but rather they are usually caused by interrogators engaging in improper behavior that is outside of the parameters … behaviors which the courts have found to be coercive – threats, promises, denial of rights”.  The technique does not involve assaulting suspects, denying them rights, conducting excessively long interrogations and some of the other particularly brutal tactics depicted in the series, the lawsuit also said.  Goldenberg predicted the company’s suit would only escalate scrutiny of its methods and make its PR problem even worse: “The more attention drawn to the technique, the less police departments are going to want to use it, because there’s this negative association.”


thehuffingtonpost--2019-05-04--Wells Fargo Botched A Fraud Inquiry An Innocent Man Landed In Court

Wells Fargo Botched A Fraud Inquiry. An Innocent Man Landed In Court.

Over the past two and a half years, Wells Fargo has admitted to mistakenly foreclosing on hundreds of families, illegally repossessing more than 27,000 cars and fraudulently opening over 3 million accounts for people who never asked for them. The bank has undertaken at least four separate marketing campaigns aimed at improving its dreadful corporate image, issuing official apology after official apology for its litany of abuses. It has rolled out a new logo and a new brand tagline, and replaced its CEO twice since the fake account scandal started to make headlines.  For Edwards, the madness began in April 2018, when the New Jersey Turnpike Authority noticed a problem with several checks the agency had written. Somehow the checks were being deposited not once but twice, with different dollar amounts each time. The immediate suspicion was check forgery ― someone, it seemed, had copied a stack of legitimate checks from the agency, scanned in a new name and new dollar amounts, and deposited the forgeries at a Wells Fargo branch in Parsippany.  The police decided not to charge Mathis, concluding she was a victim of the scheme, rather than a culprit. It’s common, in fact, for scammers to talk people into depositing checks on their behalf. Banks make money available to their customers immediately after a check is deposited, and it can take a few days for the transaction to be flagged as fraudulent. When that happens, whoever received the bogus funds has to pay everything back in full ― even if they’ve already handed over some of the money over to someone else, like the mysterious Cousin Swing.  None of this should have been a problem for Edwards. He’d never met Mathis or Cousin Swing. But he had deposited four checks of his own on April 16, at the same Wells Fargo branch where Cousin Swing deposited the forgeries. And Wells Fargo seems to have screwed up the surveillance evidence it provided to the police, handing them images from the bank’s ATM of Edwards depositing his checks. Edwards didn’t fit the description Mathis had given police of Cousin Swing ― but police trusted the bank to have its records straight. Neither Wells Fargo nor the New Jersey State Police would comment for this story, citing ongoing litigation.  Edwards had been going to the same bank branch for nearly three decades, remaining a customer as new corporate owners took over his account via a series of mergers. The bank became a Wells Fargo in 2008, when Wells took over the remains of Wachovia, which failed during the financial crisis. The church even kept its official accounts there. So Edwards knew there were bank records that would show that his deposits on April 16 were ordinary, legal transactions. He reached out to the police, sending Detective William Condron his bank statement and copies of the legitimate checks he’d deposited, explaining there had been a mistake.  Condron was skeptical, but he went back to Wells Fargo and asked the bank to make sure Edwards was the right guy. This should have been a red flag for both the bank and the police. Check fraud isn’t a super-sophisticated crime, but usually the perpetrators are smart enough to avoid using their own local bank. If the bank catches you engaging in fraud on camera, there’s a decent chance they’ll recognize you whenever you come back in. It was extremely unlikely that the person running the fraud scheme was a long-term customer who just happened to start sprinkling bogus checks in with his regular banking activity.  Edwards didn’t hear back from the police for a while. A little over a week after he first reached out to them, he called Condron again to follow up. Edwards says Condron told him he was getting bounced “from department to department” by the bank. He was dealing with people deep in the Wells Fargo bureaucracy ― the subpoena compliance team and someone from a “research unit,” at least one of whom, the detective said, was in Arizona.  So Edwards went down to his local branch, hoping to put everything to rest with the bank itself. The branch manager had never heard of his case, but promised to bring it up with her bosses. When he checked back a few days later, Edwards was told it was now in the hands of the bank’s “resolutions” team ― at least the third internal department at Wells Fargo to touch the debacle.  Edwards didn’t learn about the other photograph and the other forged check until months later, when his case went to trial. On Sept. 4, the police called Edwards and asked him to come down to their headquarters ― more than an hour’s drive from where he lived ― to clear everything up. When Edwards arrived the next day, he was taken to an interrogation room and berated. Police showed him the ATM photos with the forged check numbers scrawled across them, saying these images proved he was guilty of a crime. He’d better confess if he knew what was good for him.


theindependent--2019-01-31--Innocent people caught up in serious police investigations due to data-handling errors watchdog fin

Innocent people caught up in serious police investigations due to data-handling errors, watchdog finds

Innocent people were wrongly caught up in serious police investigations such as child pornography and paedophile grooming because of data-handling errors, a watchdog found.  The failures led to homes being searched, equipment seized, and people being arrested for crimes they had nothing to do with.  In its first annual report, the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (IPCO) said it carried out 33 “serious error investigations” in 2017 – 24 of which were deemed to be serious errors.  In many cases they were caused by the submission of an incorrect phone number or IP address – sometimes by just one digit.  They resulted in 11 cases, affecting 19 individuals, where innocent people were interviewed or arrested by police.  In seven cases, affecting 10 people, police visited the home or work address of an individual with “no sustainable link” with an investigation.  Fifteen of the investigations related to unspecified “public authorities” and the rest to internet or communications service providers.  “Errors in this context can have grave consequences for the victims of the mistake, together with his or her family and friends,” the report said. "This is particularly evident when home or offices are searched and the nature of the investigation is revealed to members of the individual’s family, and his or her neighbours or employer.  “Children are at risk of being taken into care and individuals in notifiable, and other, occupations may be suspended or dismissed. Strict bail conditions can result in a suspect having to leave his or her home.”  Overall, the IPCO, which has taken over the work of three predecessor bodies, found that while the number of serious cases was broadly the same as the previous year, the total number of errors reported was down from 1,200 to 926.  It said that it was unable to say with “absolute confidence” that the fall was significant, and that it was “in all probability a positive development”.  The Investigatory Powers Commissioner Lord Justice Sir Adrian Fulford expressed concern that the IPCO’s inspectorate and “numerically small” legal and policy team may have been “insufficiently resourced” to carry out the functions assigned to it.