Page 356 - Tim Cushing News Today

Someone finally hit an airplane with a drone while flying it near an airport. And of all people, it was the cops. (h/t Justin England...

About a half-decade ago, public records requesters discovered the Chicago Police Department had been spending seized funds on...

With a new Attorney General in charge and a new President in the White House, the Department of Justice is getting back to taking care...

Tue, Aug 3rd 2021 3:45pm — Tim Cushing Some regular, everyday highway robbery committed by an Oklahoma law enforcement agency is getting some airtime and additional scrutiny, which certainly isnt going to be beneficial to the Canadian County Sheriffs Office. (via Reason) Two businessmen from New Mexico were on their way to buy some land in Oklahoma when they were stopped by sheriffs deputies. After asking for the drivers license, the deputies began badgering the driver, Thai Nang, about the p...

Thu, Jul 29th 2021 3:39pm — Tim Cushing It looks like Detroit, Michigan is trying to corner the market on bad facial recognition tech. The citys police department is already associated with two false arrests based on bad matches by facial recognition software. This latest news, via Techdirt reader Jeffrey Nonken, shows mismatches arent just limited to the public sector. A Black teenager in the US was barred from entering a roller rink after a facial-recognition system wrongly identified her a...

Wed, Jul 28th 2021 1:42pm — Tim Cushing Earlier this year, the city of New York announced plans to send mental health professionals out to deal with mental health issues, rather than the standard-issue cops-and-EMS response teams. Its an idea thats gained recent popularity, given the difficulty law enforcement officers seem to have when dealing with things theyre not specifically trained to handle. And by "difficulty," I mean a lot of people who need professional help were instead being "trea...

Tue, Jul 27th 2021 3:33pm — Tim Cushing Earlier this year, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals awarded qualified immunity to officers who grabbed a tablet from Levi Frasier and tried to delete his recording of them. Frasier happened across these officers applying force during an arrest and decided to record it. The officer didnt like this so they took away his device and tried to find the video to delete it. Apparently unable to locate it, the officer yelled back to his partner that he couldnt...

We recently discussed the case of a man who thought Facebook owed him $10 million per day in damages for moderating his posts in which he deployed the n-word. According to this person, Facebook violated about half of the Constitutional amendments when it decided -- as a private company -- that it would not serve as the plaintiffs bullhorn while he shouted racist terms in a crowded social media platform. But that was a pro se lawsuit, one the plaintiff -- with no legal training or expertise (...

Fri, Jul 23rd 2021 7:39pm — Tim Cushing The state of Maine recently enacted the strictest facial recognition limitations in the country, prohibiting the use of the tech in most areas of the government and preventing state law enforcement from acquiring it. The tech can still be used, but all searches must be run through either the FBI or the states database via the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Citizens who believe theyve been unlawfully subjected to facial recognition tech can sue state agencies...

Wed, Jul 21st 2021 7:49pm — Tim Cushing It doesnt happen nearly often enough, but its always enjoyable to watch a court lay the smackdown on a law enforcement officers literally unbelievable assertions. And this case [PDF] -- via FourthAmendment.com -- contains a claim from a supposedly trained and experienced officer thats so ridiculous, the court has no choice but to discredit his testimony completely. Indianapolis police officer Daniel Hiser performed a traffic stop that resulted in the di...