Reed MidekeAnd in case you were wondering whether anyone is trying to #FOIA any footage that may exist of Officer Franco getting his gun stuck to the MRI https://www.muckrock.com/foi/los-angeles-91/noho-diagnostic-center-173817/
LASD (of deputy gangs fame) makes another appearance in the thread, via @briankrebs in this wild story "The FBI alleges LASD officers had on several previous occasions tried to kidnap and extort E.Z. at Iza’s behest" https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/09/crooked-cops-stolen-laptops-the-ghost-of-ugnazi/
Indictment says Iza (the person indicted) didn't pay taxes on any of his ill-gotten millions, but has to add a footnote for the year some apparently unrelated(?) fraudster filed a 1040 in his name
Also, WTF is happening with LASD deputies 1-3?
LA times says:
The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment on whether the deputies … will be charged.
Several deputies, including a detective on the department’s notorious anti-gang unit, were recently relieved of duty in connection with a federal investigation, authorities said earlier this week. The Sheriff’s Department confirmed the move was linked to a probe “involving the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”
More from that story: "Tom Yu, an attorney representing one of the three current deputies mentioned in the complaint, told The Times that his client had not been arrested and stressed that he was only being investigated at the moment.
“I don’t think he did anything criminal,” Yu said"
Uh, I know you're paid to say that (at this point in the proceedings, at least), but good luck with, dude
“I don’t think he did anything criminal,” Yu said"
Uh, I know you're paid to say that (at this point in the proceedings, at least), but good luck with, dude
Cops get away with A LOT, but when the FBI has you identified in an indictment receiving hundreds of thousands in bribes for literal kidnapping, extortion and falsified warrants, "didn't do anything criminal" is gonna be a tall order. Though Deputy 3 is only identified receiving money, which they might plausibly argue was for a legitimate side gig as a security guard or something
While trying to dig up more on LASD deputies 1-3, I came across deputy Trevor James Kirk who allegedly didn't like a woman filming an arrest, and so threw her to the ground, choked and pepper sprayed her, and filed a misleading report about it
https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/los-angeles-county-sheriffs-deputy-charged-federal-civil-rights-violation-violent
https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/los-angeles-county-sheriffs-deputy-charged-federal-civil-rights-violation-violent
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Charged with Federal Civil Rights Violation for Violent Altercation with Woman
Today a federal grand jury returned an indictment against a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy alleging that he used excessive force when he assaulted and pepper-sprayed a woman during a shoplifting investigation outside a WinCo Foods in Lancaster last year.
QAnon-loving Millersville, TN assistant police chief Shawn Taylor makes another appearance*, with election-denying, failed AZ Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem bragging Taylor (illegally) provided him FinCEN data https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/qanon-comes-to-main-street/we-already-have-the-receipts-election-denier-says-his-group-gained-access-to-u-s-banking-data
* previously https://mastodon.social/@reedmideke/112958201730428269
'We already have the receipts.' Election denier says his group gained access to U.S. banking data
An election denier says his group — working through the assistant police chief in tiny Millersville — gained access to a confidential federal database that tracks Americans’ banking transactions.
"Trenton [NJ] officers slammed a 64-year-old man face-first onto his own front porch and pepper-sprayed him after he refused to let them search his house without a warrant … The police searched the residence anyway and did not find any illicit drugs or weapons … the man died at a hospital 18 days later of respiratory failure caused by the confrontation"
"[Australian] police officer [Kristian White] who Tasered a 95-year-old woman with dementia symptoms at an Australian care home has been found guilty of her manslaughter … White - a senior constable - argued at trial that his use of force was reasonable and proportionate to the threat" https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yp7g9r8j5o
Leaving aside SMUD sharing data without a warrant, one plaintiff writes "…two deputies from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department arrived at about 9:00 pm. They didn’t have a warrant, so I said they couldn’t come in. One pushed open the door and pushed my wheelchair aside so that he could enter and search my home"
https://www.eff.org/cases/asian-american-liberation-network-v-smud-et-al
Asian American Liberation Network v. SMUD, et al.
Sacramento’s public-owned utility and police are searching entire zip codes’ worth of people’s private data without any legal authorization or a specific investigation, creating a mass surveillance program that invades the privacy of entire communities.The Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (...
Also, some good old fashioned racism "In fulfilling Sacramento Police’s requests for data, SMUD has sometimes omitted homes in a predominantly white area. A Sacramento Police officer, in passing along a list of names provided by SMUD, removed non-Asian names from the list, leaving only Asian-sounding names for further attention"
https://www.eff.org/cases/asian-american-liberation-network-v-smud-et-al
Asian American Liberation Network v. SMUD, et al.
Sacramento’s public-owned utility and police are searching entire zip codes’ worth of people’s private data without any legal authorization or a specific investigation, creating a mass surveillance program that invades the privacy of entire communities.The Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (...
"Deputy J.W. Berkshire told NGUYEN that SMUD had told the sheriff’s office that his home used too much electricity. Berkshire … demanded that if NGUYEN had nothing to hide, he should let the deputies search … When NGUYEN told Berkshire to get a warrant, the deputy put his hand over his holstered gun as if preparing to draw it. He also screamed at NGUYEN, called NGUYEN a liar, and stated that he would come back with a warrant to arrest NGUYEN" https://www.eff.org/document/asian-american-liberation-network-v-smud-amended-complaint
Former South Bend cop Timothy Barber decertified in Indiana two years after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a 16 year old. No doubt a coincidence the decertification process started shortly after WaPo's original reporting on the case
https://wapo.st/49IFV9N
Indiana decertifies ex-cop who sexually abused a teen. It took two years and a Post investigation.
The state took action against former South Bend officer Timothy Barber after a Post story about his abuse of a 16-year-old girl. He’d kept his certification, despite pleading guilty in 2022 and registering as a sex offender.
WaPo with a look back on two years of reporting cops sexually abusing minors: "on average, a law enforcement officer has been charged with a crime involving child sexual abuse twice a week, every week, for 18 years… Nearly 40 percent of convicted officers identified by The Post avoided prison sentences"
NY corrections officers manage to record themselves so blatantly beating an inmate to death that even the union isn't defending them https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2ldwe1ypywo
9th circuit: Sure, Grant County (OR) Sheriff Glenn Palmer and prosecutor Jim Carpenter obtaining a cell phone system image from an unrelated agency in a different state without a warrant and disseminating nudes found therein "presents a troubling example of the intrusion on Fourth Amendment rights that can occur with respect to highly sensitive cell phone data" but no punishment for anyone involved
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/02/no-warrant-or-crimes-but-oregon-womans-nudes-were-shared-after-illegal-phone-search/
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/02/no-warrant-or-crimes-but-oregon-womans-nudes-were-shared-after-illegal-phone-search/
This Texas Observer piece outing ICE Assistant Chief Counsel James J. Rodden as the person behind racist twitter account starts out with a lot of "yeah, that's a heck of a coincidence" stuff, and then… "During the January court hearing the Observer attended, Rodden repeatedly used his phone at moments that corresponded to times GlomarResponder made posts"
https://www.texasobserver.org/ice-prosecutor-dallas-white-supremacist-x-account/
ICE Prosecutor in Dallas Runs White Supremacist X Account
The Observer has identified the operator of “GlomarResponder,” an overtly racist social media account, as ICE Assistant Chief Counsel James Rodden, based on an overwhelming number of biographical details matched through publicly available documents, other social media activity, and courtroom observation.
Cullman County, Alabama grand jury finds the Hanceville PD should be "immediately abolished" because it's a "particular and ongoing threat to public safety," has a "rampant culture of corruption" and has "recently operated as more of a criminal enterprise than a law enforcement agency"
Details not entirely clear, but it seems among other things they were using the evidence room as a drug stash and one of their dispatchers died after OD'd on said stash
"30 LA County detention officers face charges over 'gladiator fights' among youth at juvenile hall" https://abc7.com/post/30-la-county-probation-officers-face-charges-gladiator-fights-among-youth-juvenile-hall/15974434/
Erie County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics and Intelligence Unit chief Daniel “D.J.” Granville "…hit three groups of parked cars in a one-mile stretch … but he faced no charges related to drunk driving and [nothing] indicates he was required to undergo field sobriety tests or blow into a breathalyzer. Instead … was ticketed for a moving violation: driving the wrong way down a one-way street … that ticket was later reduced to a jaywalking charge"
https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/investigations/2-investigates/erie-county-sheriffs-chief-hit-seven-cars-but-wasnt-charged-crime-buffalo-wny-charges/71-7ce720f6-f122-4bee-89c8-db00e4c07e77
https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/investigations/2-investigates/erie-county-sheriffs-chief-hit-seven-cars-but-wasnt-charged-crime-buffalo-wny-charges/71-7ce720f6-f122-4bee-89c8-db00e4c07e77
Uh… "[NYC mayor Eric Adams] has been so closely connected to the unit, former senior officials said, that at one point he had special access to a livestream of the team’s body-worn cameras" https://www.propublica.org/article/eric-adams-nypd-community-response-team-police-nyc-misconduct-transparency
Jefferson Parish Sheriff's deputy Julio Alvarado "saw Arnold, covered in dirt, walking down the street. Arnold told the deputy she was attacked by a group of boys who frequently bullied her. When Alvarado ordered her to stop, Arnold said she just wanted to go home and kept walking. That’s when the deputy jumped out of his vehicle, grabbed Arnold and slammed her into the sidewalk"
Internal investigation determined Alvarado’s actions were "both reasonable and acceptable"
Four Years After Cop Was Filmed Slamming Black Woman to the Ground, Louisiana Passes Accountability Law
Despite being caught in a 2021 video ripping out Shantel Arnold’s hair, sheriff’s Deputy Julio Alvarado failed to report the incident. A new law authored by Arnold’s attorney will mandate excessive-force reporting for all law enforcement agencies.
"Alvarado received an “approximately” 40-hour suspension for failing to file a written report" and after being sued, the Sheriff's office settled for $300k, "the third — and largest — settlement involving Alvarado"
Alvarado was previously demoted from sergeant to deputy for "patronizing a massage parlor that was being investigated for suspected prostitution" but as of March remained employed by the department.
Four Years After Cop Was Filmed Slamming Black Woman to the Ground, Louisiana Passes Accountability Law
Despite being caught in a 2021 video ripping out Shantel Arnold’s hair, sheriff’s Deputy Julio Alvarado failed to report the incident. A new law authored by Arnold’s attorney will mandate excessive-force reporting for all law enforcement agencies.
It was obvious the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office were lying from the start, but it's nice to have slam dunk written confirmation: "In documents created prior to the publication of our article, there is zero mention of concern about the woman’s safety. The records show that the police retroactively created a separate document about the Flock search a week after our article was published"
Police Said They Surveilled Woman Who Had an Abortion for Her 'Safety.' Court Records Show They Considered Charging Her With a Crime
Court records show that the narrative Flock and a Texas Sheriff's Office has told the public isn't the whole story, and that police were conducting a 'death investigation' into the abortion.
Two years later, the only apparent criminal fallout from that absurd raid on the Marion County Record in 2023* "Former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody probably committed a felony crime when he told a witness to delete text messages they exchanged before, during and after he led raids on a newspaper office and the publisher’s home… "
Judge orders ex-police chief who led raid on Kansas newspaper to stand trial for deleted texts • Kansas Reflector
Former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody probably committed a felony crime when he told a witness to delete text messages they exchanged before, during and after he led raids on a newspaper office and the publisher's home, a district judge ruled Wednesday.
"Newell took the stand and testified that Cody told her during a phone call to delete text messages between the two of them so that people wouldn’t get the wrong idea about whether they were romantically involved"
Judge orders ex-police chief who led raid on Kansas newspaper to stand trial for deleted texts • Kansas Reflector
Former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody probably committed a felony crime when he told a witness to delete text messages they exchanged before, during and after he led raids on a newspaper office and the publisher's home, a district judge ruled Wednesday.
Ex Sangamon County Illinois sheriff's deputy Sean Grayson found guilty of second-degree murder for shooting Sonya Massey, which he justified with the absurd claim of fear she was going to throw a pot of boiling water at him
https://apnews.com/article/sean-grayson-sonya-massey-trial-34a5cb31ad44c6243d17cc4f598a9d5c
Illinois deputy found guilty of murder in the shooting of Sonya Massey
An Illinois jury has convicted a sheriff’s deputy of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Sonya Massey, a Black woman who called 911 to report a suspected prowler. The jury announced the verdict against Sean Grayson on Wednesday. Grayson arrived at Massey’s home in Springfield after she reported a prowler early on July 6, 2024. Massey was holding a pan of hot water and Grayson’s attorneys argued that he was afraid she would throw it at him. Grayson faces a sentence of four to 20 years in prison or probation when he is sentenced Jan. 29.
"Larry Bushart, 61, of Lexington, Tenn., had been locked up since Sept. 21 for posting a meme that quoted President Trump, saying "we have to get over it" in response to a shooting in Perry, Iowa" which Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems claimed was a threat of violence (actually, about Charlie Kirk). Charges dismissed after NewsChannel 5 "aired an interview with Weems in which he admitted that investigators knew that the meme was not about Perry County High School"
RE: https://social.freedom.press/@freedomofpress/115537727153605004
Marion County Record raid saga* costs the county another $3 million
https://mastodon.social/@freedomofpres[email protected]/115537727365751856
They didn't quite get an admission of wrongdoing but closer than most: "The Sheriff’s Office wishes to express its sincere regrets to Eric and Joan Meyer and Ruth and Ronald Herbel for its participation in the drafting and execution of the Marion Police Department’s search warrants on their homes and the Marion County Record. This likely would not have happened if established law had been reviewed and applied prior to the execution of the warrants"
Quelle surprise "Insurance covers most of those funds, but the county must pay Meyer $50,000" https://kansasreflector.com/2025/11/11/marion-county-agrees-to-pay-out-3m-for-newspaper-raid-express-regret/
"… Paul Campo, worked for the D.E.A. for about 25 years, the indictment said, first as a special agent in New York and eventually rising to become a high-level official … Mr. Campo laundered about $750,000 for the cartel by converting cash into cryptocurrency, and agreed to launder far more — $12 million in all … He also provided a payment for about 220 kilograms of cocaine" - Perfectly on-brand narc
"The union doesn’t want discipline to derail an officer’s career and for years has made that a central point in its labor negotiations with the city" - Classic cop brain: Everyone else has to follow the law or face consequences, and also, how dare you suggest we should face consequences for our actions!
Larry Bushart (with help from FIRE*) sues Perry County (TN) Sheriff Nick Weems for holding him in jail for 37 days over a facebook meme
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/12/man-sues-cops-who-jailed-him-for-37-days-for-trolling-a-charlie-kirk-vigil/
Texas Observer finds that extremely racist tweeter and ICE attorney James J. Rodden* is back on the job https://www.texasobserver.org/ice-prosecutor-racist-account-back-at-immigration-court/
* previously https://mastodon.social/@reedmideke/114033659855913080
Lenexa, Kansas police looking at what happened in Marion (see upthread) and going "Yeah, gotta get us some of that"
SCOTUS upholds immunity for St. Paul Police Officer Heather Weyker, despite multiple courts finding that she lied under oath and fabricated evidence in multiple cases
Background on the cases
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/12/us/federal-police-immunity.html
RE: https://newsie.social/@ProPublica/116296003942281833
"We're not a racist organization" shirt has people asking a lot of questions etc etc
https://mastodon.social/@ProPublica@newsie.social/116296007027521027
#AIIsGoingGreat / shitbag cops crossover: West Fargo PD used #ClearView to identify a suspect. Never mind that she lived in Tennessee and had no connections to North Dakota, they had her arrested, extradited and held her for 5 months before she got the case dismissed
Lest you think the shitbag part is uncalled for "At the news conference last week, a reporter asked Chief Zibolski, who has since retired, if the police should apologize to Ms. Lipps. He responded that the police were still investigating the bank frauds"
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/30/us/north-dakota-facial-recognition-ai-errors-bank-fraud.html
"She remained in a Tennessee jail for nearly four months without bail while awaiting extradition … Authorities in North Dakota did not transport Lipps from Tennessee until the end of October, 108 days after her arrest … Lipps was later released on Christmas Eve after [her lawyer] obtained her bank records and presented them to investigators … But Lipps said Fargo police did not pay for her trip home, leaving her stranded"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/12/tennessee-grandmother-ai-fraud
