Law Enforcement


NOTE: Cops Unimpressed by Claim of High Google PageRank

“I am a lawyer. You can Google me.” These may both be 100% true statements (they were in this case), but they still aren’t likely to keep you from getting arrested. Also, the odds of that are reduced greatly if…




Undercover-Barber Operation Fails Due to Bad Barbering

The New York Times reports today on an NYPD operation involving an officer posing as a barber in a shop suspected of dealing drugs. The owner of the shop was also a police officer, and apparently the plan was for Internal Affairs…



Police Shoot Photographer With Rubber Bullet, Just For Fun

Today Boing Boing asks the question, "Is it legal for police to shoot photographers in a public place simply because they do not want to be photographed?" Well, no. No it is not. That includes Oakland. This video, taken by the shootee,…


Woman Won’t Have to Pay for Her Own Cavity Search

Citing "credible information from a reliable source," New Mexico authorities got a search warrant describing, apparently with some particularity, a 19-year-old Las Cruces woman who their source claimed was smuggling heroin. The woman was detained and taken to Memorial Medical…


Movie Bombs Early When Police Blow Up Script

These are tough times for unattended packages. Used to be you could sit around for weeks with not a care in the world, but these days you can't get 15 minutes alone before somebody comes along and wants to blow…


Correction: Police Can Ask Beavers for Identification

I might have been a little hasty yesterday when I threatened to start a "Free Beavers" campaign to win the release of Phillip T. Beavers, the guy who was arrested in Utah and then refused to identify himself for about…