Reblogged from improving police:

Training matters.

In fact, it's a critical factor in improving our nation's police.

Maybe I can't get police leaders in the country to read my book, but will they listen to someone like Karl W. Bickel, a senior policy analyst in the COPS office?

I sure hope they will. Here are some of his more important findings about making community policing work. 

Read more… 563 more words

The Killing of Trevon Cole by

LVMPD Detective Bryan Yant is

Today’s “Raid of The Day“

Radley Balko, senior writer and investigative reporter for the Huffington Post, has extensively covered the erosion of our civil liberties at the hands of an increasingly oppressive criminal justice system. He is currently wrapping up work on his new book ”Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces.” 

As a prelude to the book’s publication, Balko has been featuring incidents of deadly police aggression he researched for the forthcoming book. Today, Balko took a look at the 2010 killing of Trevon Cole, by Metro’s most famous perjurer, Bryan Yant.

LVMPD’s Bryan Yant

Due out in July, but currently available for pre-order, Rise of the Warrior Cop, will take a look at how the implementation of SWAT teams by both the Philadelphia and Los Angeles police departments marked the beginning of a deadly movement by America’s law enforcement away from the friendly public servants of the 1950s to the cops of today who have increasingly come to resemble ground troops who no longer see the American home as the sanctuary our forefathers envisioned, and no longer see themselves in partnership with the community but been conditioned to see the citizens they serve as nothing more than the enemy. The type of police force we saw going door-to-door in Boston in  full combat gear searching homes without a warrant.

Related articles

• What Does the Fourth Amendment Say? (freedom.answers.com)
• 13 People Who Are Dead Because Of America’s Futile War On Drugs (huffingtonpost.com)
• Radley Balko’s Raid(s) Of The Day: The CAMP Raids (politicalcrazyness.tumblr.com)
• Militarized Cops and Drug War Victims (deafinprison.wordpress.com)
• Why Cops Bust Down Doors of Medical Pot Growers, But Ignore Men Who Keep Naked Girls on Leashes (newsforage.com)
• Radley Balko: “Why We Need To Stop Exaggerating The Threat To Cops” (c4ss.org)

Nevada’s NRS 484C.430 is A Crappy Law,

If You’re a Stripper,

If You’re a Cop, Well, Not So Much.

The former Nevada Highway Patrol sergeant who caused a fatal three-vehicle accident in 2008 entered into a negotiated plea agreement that will limit his potential prison term to no more than 6 years. Edward Lattin, a 22-year NHP veteran who, as a sergeant supervised a team that investigates fatal crashes, recently entered a guilty plea to a single count of felony reckless driving causing death.

Former NHP Trooper Edward Lattin

The 51-year-old Lattin, who police say had more marijuana in his system than state law permits while driving, was originally indicted under the same controversial Nevada law under which Jessica Williams was convicted following her 2000 accident that left six teenagers dead. The law’s controversy stemmed, in large part, due to the legal issues that allowed the jury to acquit Williams of driving under the influence of a controlled substance while still convicting her of driving with that same prohibited substance in her blood. Although the jurors determined Williams was not impaired, they also found that Williams had more than 2 nanograms of marijuana per milliliter in her blood. Williams’s appeal was upheld by the state Supreme Court which ruled the law did not require the driver to be impaired.

That is what makes Lattin’s plea all the more troubling. Lattin was indicted under NRS 484C.430 based on the testimony by authorities that blood drawn from the off-duty trooper immediately after the fatal crash tested positive for marijuana at a level of 5.6 nanograms per millilitre. Lattin faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Section 2 of NRS 484C.430 contains a unique provision.

“A prosecuting attorney shall not dismiss a charge of violating the provisions of subsection 1 in exchange for a plea of guilty…to a lesser charge or for any other reason unless the attorney knows or it is obvious that the charge is not supported by probable cause or cannot be proved at the time of trial. ”

Assistant District Attorney Bruce Nelson

After announcing the plea agreement in open court, prosecutor Bruce Nelson said the Clark County District Attorney’s office negotiated the case with Lattin because the blood test alone could not prove the former Trooper was impaired at the time of the crash, which seemed a rather odd assertion. Considering Nelson was the prosecutor who had previously convicted Williams under the same statute without proving she was impaired, this can’t be dismissed as simply gaff by prosecutors. It’s seems an obvious case of special treatment.

This plea agreement, which the statute clearly does not allow, will most likely allow Lattin to spend a mere fraction of the time Williams received for each one of her counts despite the facts of the cases being nearly identical. This comes as no surprise considering how Lattin’s case was dealt with in an entirely different manner than Williams from the very beginning.

Scene from the 2008 Crash caused by Lattin

Williams was placed in custody immediately following her accident and remained at the CCDC through her trial, unable to raise a bond of nearly $1,000,000 per victim. Lattin, on the other hand, was not arrested for nearly a month after his accident, and spent only a few days in jail after a judge set his bond at only $50,000 or about 20 times less than bond was set for the similar counts against Williams after his attorneys argued he deserved consideration because of his job with the NHP. This allowed Lattin’s defense team to request continuance after continuance while the former trooper remained free,, and perhaps that frustration lead Nelson to ignore the law and offer Lattin what essentially is a slap on the wrist.

Lattin, could be sentenced to probation or face one to six years in prison at a sentencing hearing set for June 3 before District Judge Kathleen Delaney.

 ”Because I have the right to.”

 Suddenly We’re Not So Afraid

For the Future of America

I’m just sorry it took us this long to uncover this YouTube video of a Las Vegas Metro Police officer and a 12-year-old boy named Jeremy Drew  who outed him for the coward he is.

KVVU Fox 5 has the full story.

Related articles

• Meet Jeremy Drew, America’s Hope For The Future (jonathanturley.org)
• 12-Year-Old calls out Vegas cop (VIDEO) (myfox8.com)
• ‘I have a right to know’: The moment a 12-year-old boy demanded a cop’s badge number after he parked illegally to buy a soda (refreshingnews99.blogspot.com)
• Home Finance of America is on YouTube (prweb.com)
• 12-year-old calls out law-breaking cop for illegal parking job (upi.com)