The failure of the exclusionary rule
Many years ago the Supreme Court created the exclusionary rule in an attempt to discourage violations of constitutional rights. With the rise of car travel and the war on drugs, it’s clear the rule has failed. Thenewspaper.com calls attention to a recent court decision. Driving along I-40 Deputy Leonard R. Armijo glanced in his rear […]
A one night vacation
Nine police officers in Lakeland, Florida lost one or two shifts as punishment for dangerous driving and tampering with evidence. The only reason they’re in any trouble at all is they blew past an employee of the state Attorney General’s office. Nobody was supposed to know. The Lakeland officers inserted full memory cards in their […]
What are you in for?
A recent decision of the Massachusetts Appeals Court gave us the first murder conviction for a death caused by an accidental car crash in Massachusetts. The defendant, who had a suspended license, took off when stopped by Brockton police. During the chase he drove at 50 to 60 miles per hour on city streets, ran […]
Who do you trust?
An article from Utah brought back memories. A man left Wells, Nevada one step ahead of the law and moved his scam to a new state. His scam was, seemed like everybody who stopped at his service station needed new tires. I might have been one of his victims. Or not. I’ll never know if […]
They did their job too well
A small town replaced its police force because officers were ticketing residents. Utica, Indiana (poulation 800) is a suburban enclave within the city of Jeffersonville. It used to have 10 police officers, mostly volunteers, with the Sheriff for backup. 800 people, 10 officers, and too many stop signs. Nobody said so on camera. Behind the […]
As safe as water
I met the OSHA equivalent of traffic rules recently, detailed yet useless advice meant to shift liability more than protect people. If you want to see what happens when lawyers displace human beings in society, look up the Safety Data Sheet for water. You will learn what to do if your water catches on fire […]
In which engineers discover professional ethics
Lincoln, Nebraska city councilors have a message for their traffic engineers: If you do your job, we’ll replace you with somebody who won’t. The problem started when city engineers said some school zones were unnecessary and unsafe. Their decision was made based on actual crash reports, not wishful thinking. City councilors didn’t get elected by […]
Your immunity has just been revoked
The biggest fringe benefit of a police job is immunity from prosecution. Drunk and reckless driving, no problem. Perjury, that’s “testilying” and everybody does it. Beat up your girlfriend, go outside and cool off. There are limits. If an innocent bystander dies, investigators may take the death halfway seriously. That happened in Connecticut recently. Off-duty […]
Arkansas DOT says “no”
Since the national speed limit was repealed several state legislatures have attempted to raise speed limits only to be denied by a governor or DOT director who is afraid of drivers obeying the law. It happened in Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Oklahoma, and now Arkansas. Arkansas lawmakers requested a speed limit increase to 75 and the […]
Carnival of thieves
What’s the difference between paying off a cop and paying off a prosecutor? The prosecutor is the one who decides whether to charge you with bribery. Louisiana District Attorneys have a deal for you. Pay $175 and they’ll make your speeding ticket go away. And they won’t charge you with bribery. Corruption is a state […]