Photography is not a crime

Philly cop caught on camera slapping Chester woman gets his job back

Philadelphia Police public affairs confirms that Lt. Jonathan Josey got his job back after being fired by the Philadelphia Police Department after amateur video surfaced of him striking a woman during a Puerto Rican Day Parade post party last fall.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey stood by his decision to fire Josey."Just the rationale for having dismissed him - the video, the paperwork that was left," Ramsey said. "I'll go over everything in the process that I used to come to that decision."

Ramsey has yet to comment on Josey's reinstatement.

Back in October, cell phone video surfaced showing Josey striking a woman at the Festival de la Americas following the Philadelphia Puerto Rican Day Parade on Sept. 30. The video received more than 1.5 million views on YouTube.

The incident happened near Fifth and Lehigh streets in North Philadelphia, after the parade on the Parkway. Parade organizers say they had nothing to do with the North Philadelphia event.

Officials say Aida Guzman of Chester, was spraying silly string at officers involved in a traffic stop when she was hit by Josey. Her face was bleeding as officers took her away. Guzman was cited for disorderly conduct but the charge was subsequently dropped.

At a one-day, non-jury trial before Dugan earlier this month, Josey testified he thought Guzman had thrown beer on him. He said he told her to put down the bottle and then swung in an attempt to knock it from her hand. Guzman has said she didn't throw any liquid, but she did shoot aerosol string into the crowd.

Josey's reinstatement doesn't come as a big surprise. About 90 percent of Philadelphia police officers fired for wrongdoing find their way back onto the force.

Same old Culture of Contempt, different name.

                   

   How do we solve the police corruption problem in Fairfax County? 

   Easy.

   We bring in fresh blood. We hire someone who will adjust the attitude of arrogance and entitlement that permeates the department, an outsider who will change the culture of contempt and brutality that is the Fairfax County police.

   With an honest police chief, meaning someone who wasn’t bred in the Fairfax County Police department, we won’t need to discuss a citizen oversight panel to investigate entrapment and murders by the cops-from –another-county on the local citizenry.

   With an ethical man or woman at the top of the Neanderthal chain, the cops reckless spending could be roped in and the several thousand yearly misconduct complaints against the police would actually be investigated and the results of those investigations would be made public, since, after all, the public pays for them.

   And no, the Fairfax County Police ARE NOT investigating complaints against them.      Snap out of it.  This isn’t a fairy tale. This is a police force out of control and to prove that, not one incident report on the killing of eight unarmed citizens in the past decade has been released to the public in all probability because they were never investigated in the first place. 

   Anyway, back to an honest police chief.  The board of supervisors would fire an honest chief who tried to drag the Fairfax County police force into the light of day. They’d fire him and they would do it within a year.  And they would do that because it’s really a matter of values which is why Sharon Bulova and her cronies will never bring in an outside person to manage the police.  What the board wants is someone who has no values, someone who won’t question the practice of sweeping complaints about the cops under the carpet. And most importently they want someone who will make damn sure the right political contributions arrive into the right hands.

   To prove the point, instead of hiring an outsider who will change things, Bulova and her friends promoted whatever the hell is name is as chief of police….it doesn’t matter what his name because he doesn’t matter. He won’t rock the boat. He won’t change anything. That’s what matters to those people. To prove the point, when asked what his plans for the department are, Chief whats-it responded that he intended to hire more cops under the guise of diversity. We don’t need more cops, of any color or creed. More cops will just add to the problem. Fix the cops we have and then hire new ones.

  It doesn’t matter, really. None of this matters because it will never change.  This guy, chief what’s his face, will put in his time and retire with a pension that would make him a millionaire in most 3rd world countries.  And when he goes, the next irrelevant person chosen from the inside the department will take his place and nothing will change and Fairfax County, a 21st century place, will go on with its 19th century police force.

   And no, correcting the corrupt and often criminal Fairfax County Police Department won’t be solved by police oversight because oversight can’t fix the core of the problem within the Fairfax County Police Department which is contempt by the cops for the citizens who pay them (and pay them much too much, way above the national average)

   Oversight in Fairfax County will solve nothing except to give a bunch of angry and bored retired guys something to do while adding even more bureaucracy to a county government already saturated in red tape, overhead and redundancy.

    Want an example of costly overhead and redundant positions? Former police chief Rhorer’s six figure salaried job as “extra special police chief” or Head Dwarf in charge or whatever the hell he is this month, can’t be justified any more than the board of supervisors can explain the 20,000 foot, multimillion dollar addition to the McLean police palace or the several hundred unused cars the police department purchased and doesn’t use or the small fortune of public money the cops are secretly pouring into drones.

    Aside from not doing anything to change the cop’s culture of contempt the claim that a  citizen’s review board would  protect the public from continued unlawful actions by the Fairfax County Police is unfounded . The fact is that is no evidence can be found anywhere in the United States to justify that claim. Citizen’s review boards do not curtail violence and other felonious activities by the police upon the citizenry because virtually every citizen’s review board in the nation is a dismal failure. Most are powerless to enforce their will and are manipulated into subservience by local politicians, people like Bulova and Hyland and that’s exactly what will happen in Fairfax County if we get oversight.  

     It’s also not true that a citizen’s review board would protect the police department from unjustified criticism by the public.  Snap out of it….the cops in this county don’t give damn what the public thinks.  That’s mean you. They could care less what you think. You have no value to them and in so long as the board of supervisors continues to reward the cop’s culture of contempt the police will continue not to give a damn about what the public thinks of them or anything else.

    Bulova and Hyland handed us an “independent auditor” to investigate the hundreds and hundreds of complaints about abusive behavior by the occupying force of outsiders that is the Fairfax County Police. And to their credit they did with a straight face and doing anything straight must have been a real chore for Hyland but anyway……the reason the board of supervisors dreamt up the “independent auditor” wasn’t to derail calls for police oversight. They did it because they can fire anyone in the position who either audits the police or acts independently.

    Elected officials, generally, are all about power and live in the cult of self adoration.  They don’t want or give a damn about what’s good for you. They want what’s good for them and controlling the “independent auditor” is what’s good for them. Citizens controlling a police review board does not benefit members of the board of supervisors in any way, shape, manner or form. In fact, police oversight would draw attention away from people like Sharon “Show me the money” Bulova and Gerry Dearie Hyland and it would sap their control over the county.

   Besides, the fact that the board of supervisors funds almost 100 advisory boards but can’t bring itself to create a citizens advisory board should tell the citizens advisory board advocates that a citizens review panel ain’t gonna happen.……..so snap out of the piss trance and revert to plan B and make a real difference, here and now, through political action and pulic awareness because police oversight until pigs fly….pun intended.

    If you want change don’t expect the local government to bring about that change. The only way to rein the police in is to fire the people who hire the cops and you will only be able to do that if you have grass roots support. Form a political action. Work the polling precinct with handouts on the issue of police corruption.  That should be easy since Virginia seems to have elections every three weeks.

   Build blogs and websites aimed at informing the people of Fairfax County about how corrupt, contemptuous and bloated the Fairfax County Police are.  Send speakers to community groups and churches to bring the issue to light.  People will listen if you give them something to listen too and if you include them in the process.   

   Police oversight isn’t the silver bullet that will end the systematic corruption and contempt that is the Fairfax County Police ebcuase the answer to fixing the Fairfax County Police isn’t one thing it’s many things.

   Not running the police department like a secret hillbilly cult is also part of the answer.

    Firing Sharon Bulova and keeping her out of public office forever is a very large part of the answer.

   Holding Gerry…that’s Gerry with G dearies…..Hyland accountable for his “spend whatever the cops want” actions over the past few years is part of the answer as well.

  Putting a stop to the cops costly an unneeded publicity campaign is part of the answer.

   Forcing the cops to live in the county that pays them (and again, pays them better than the national average) is part of the answer.

    Cutting the police budget by at least 20% and placing that cash where it’s needed (Schools, highways, more roads) is part of the answer.

   Explaining to the cops that using lethal force when unnecessary is a bad thing. So is setting up school teachers and eye doctors for false arrest. The cops don’t understand that those are morally wrong things to do and their actions support the claim.

    As to the suggestion of  bringing in the FBI to investigate possible civil rights violation by the Fairfax County Police. Forget it, that ain’t gonna happen in a Democratic stronghold while we have a Democratic administration in the White House.

    Besides investigating civil rights violations isn’t what we need to investigate. What we need to investigate is the reason that our elected officials are so hell bent on making the cops happy. To find that out, don’t send in the FBI send in the IRS to investigate the hundreds of nickel and dime political contributions that come into the Board of Supervisors campaign offers. Have the auditors pay special attention to those contributions that come in from Louden and Prince William Counties….you know…those two places where 80% of the Fairfax County police force lives.  And the investigators should ask “Are these low ball contributions, intended to fly in under the radar, coming from the sons, daughters, in-laws and other relatives of the Fairfax County Police at the urging of the cops union and if so, what are the cops getting in return at our expense?  A lot, actually.

  

Huntington settles freelance journalist’s false arrest suit

Huntington settles freelance journalist’s false arrest suit

Joseph Pniewski an investigative journalist has agreed to settle his lawsuit against the city of Huntington alleging police violated his constitutional rights when they arrested him nearly two years ago for filming a traffic stop.

According to the suit filed Aug. 24, Pniewski witnessedcops  Cowell, Leist and Bentley conducting a search of a vehicle and its occupants in an alley off Northcott Court in the Fairfield West project on Sept. 29, 2011. Pniewski, who lives nearby on Daulton Ave., began filming the search.

Shortly thereafter, Pniewski was approached by Officer Dana Cowell, who inquired as to what he was doing. In response, Pniewski said he was “videoing for the purpose of community response and to assess if the officers were conducting their job properly.”

According to the suit, Cowell instructed Pniewski to “go around the corner.” Though Pniewski backed up a “significant distance,” Cowell again instructed him to go around the corner, the suit says.

At that point, Pniewski inquired if he was not allowed to film the search to which Cowell allegedly replied “Yes.” After that, Pniewski says he backed away further.

When Cowell again ordered him to leave the area, Pniewski offered to back up even further, and inquired why he had to leave, he says. According to the suit, Cowell said he was concerned for his safety.

To help alleviate his fears, Pniewski says he offered Cowell to search him. Instead, Cowell arrested him, allegedly saying “It’s this simple, I told you to leave the area.”

According to the suit, Bentley took possession of Pniewski’s video camera after Cowell arrested him. Shortly thereafter, he, Cowell and Leist huddled around it before one of them allegedly erased the footage he shot.

Goon backs off

Philadelphia PD Sued Over Arrest of Student Photographing Cops

THE AMERICAN Civil Liberties Union plans to file two federal lawsuits today against the Philadelphia Police Department for wrongfully arresting a journalism student for photographing a cop and a West Philly woman who was observing police action in 2011.

The latest filings will be the ACLU's third this year in which citizens have been arrested for videotaping, photographing or observing police activity. Another was filed in January. These suits also come a week after a Philadelphia woman sued the city after a cop allegedly beat and arrested her and a friend for videotaping an arrest two years ago.

"Certainly the right to observe police officers and their interaction with the public is at the core of what the First Amendment is supposed to protect," ACLU attorney Molly Tack-Hooper said, adding that the latest cases are not isolated. "The Philadelphia Police Department has arrested numerous people for filming. These are unconstitutional arrests."

District attorney revises policy on police misconduct disclosure

The new directives require prosecutors to disclose all evidence favorable to the defense and allow information on officer misconduct to be added to a database.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey announced Tuesday that she has issued new policies on when to disclose information about police officer misconduct and other evidence in criminal cases to defense attorneys.

The move drew praise from the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which, along with other civil rights lawyers, sued the county last year accusing prosecutors of improperly withholding key evidence from defendants.

The new directives, issued last week, make it clear that prosecutors must disclose all evidence favorable to the defense and that they cannot rely solely on the contents of a district attorney's database that tracks police misconduct when they determine what evidence needs to be turned over.

ACLU attorneys said they dropped their lawsuit earlier this year after Lacey's office gave assurances that the policies would be revised. Lacey took office in December, replacing retired Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley.

Hector Villagra, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California, described the new policies as a major improvement that more accurately explains the legal obligations of prosecutors to disclose evidence to the defense.

"We're very appreciative of Ms. Lacey and her leadership and commitment to the office's obligation to ensure fair trials," Villagra said.

District attorney's officials downplayed the significance of the changes, saying the new policies were clarifications designed to accurately reflect the office's training and legal manuals as well as the practices already being followed by prosecutors.

"If there was any confusion about it at all ... we wanted to eliminate that confusion," said Assistant Dist. Atty. Pamela Booth, who oversees the office's administration. "We want our prosecutors to live up to the highest ethical standards."

ACLU's lawsuit alleged that the district attorney's office violated the rights of defendants by preventing prosecutors from disclosing information about law enforcement misconduct without "clear and convincing evidence" that the information is true. That is a higher burden than the "preponderance of evidence" standard required for police departments to discipline or fire officers.

The suit also claimed that the district attorney's office improperly withheld evidence during ongoing investigations into law enforcement officers, and that it only required prosecutors to turn over evidence if they believed it would probably affect the outcome of the case.

The district attorney's new directives explicitly follows California law. It says that prosecutors must turn over all evidence favorable to defendants and that information appearing to help a defendant should not be withheld simply because the prosecutor believes it might not affect the outcome of the case.

The new policies also tell prosecutors that information on pending police misconduct investigations can, in some cases, be put into the office's database.

Booth said the office has never prevented prosecutors from fulfilling their legal requirements to disclose information to the defense. She said that adding information about pending investigations to the police misconduct database is also nothing new, even though the previous policy appeared to prohibit it.

Despite objections from some civil rights attorneys, Booth said the office continues to use the "clear and convincing evidence" standard for including officers in its misconduct database, known as the Brady Alert System.

Last year's lawsuit filed by the ACLU, civil rights attorneys and legal scholars also accused the Sheriff's Department of failing to keep inmate complaints in the personnel files of the deputies accused of misconduct, requiring officials to hand-search thousands of documents to find complaints against specific jailers.

The ACLU dropped that part of the lawsuit last year after sheriff's officials announced the department had implemented a new system for tracking inmate complaints by deputy name and had also manually classified inmate complaints for the last five years

NJ Assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D-Gloucester County)

NJ Assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D-Gloucester County) was wrongly accused of drunk driving last year, the charges were dismissed and the cop who pulled him over has been indicted for false arrest.  There was a camera on the cruiser. Now Moriarty wants all police cars used for traffic stops to be equipped with dashboard cameras. The legislation calls for a $25 surcharge for drunk driving convictions to fund the cameras.