Here are a few odds and ends that won't make it into full posts but merit Grits readers' attention:
Scrutiny of police pension funds
The Austin Statesman and the Dallas News both have features today on police pension funds. In Austin, the issue is alleged conflicts of interest among trustees. In Dallas, high-dollar travel by pension managers. Glad to see more scrutiny in this area.
A non-sexual escort service in Houston
A pair of Houston police officers have been arrested and charged in federal court with escorting drug shipments for a Mexican cartel, potentially facing life without parole.
Live, from Huntsville
You've heard the Man in Black's albums from Folsom Prison and San Quentin, but did you know Johnny Cash's first prison concert was in Huntsville, TX? I didn't before reading this excellent, lengthy BBC item on "Johnny Cash and his prison reform campaign."
Hiccup in sale of scam charity's seized assets
Readers may recall that the Texas Attorney General seized control of the assets of a scam charity that claimed to be raising money for families of dead Texas state troopers. However, "Lawyers for the Texas attorney general's office said Monday that a “cloud of procedural impropriety” is casting a shadow over the pending sale of the former Texas Highway Patrol Museum, and they recommended that the building be put back on the market," reported the San Antonio Express-News.
Dallas DA may face primary challenge
In Dallas, former drug court Judge John Creuzot is contemplating a run against District Attorney Craig Watkins in the 2014 Democratic primary.
Big Business takes on criminal justice
At the Texas Tribune, Brandi Grissom has more details on the Texas Association of Business' new-found dedication to criminal justice reform.
Tech companies seek Fourth Amendment protection for cloud-based email
See Google's latest transparency report revealing how often law enforcement requests user data from the company and how frequently they comply. Google recently began requiring warrants signed by judges before releasing cloud-based email content held by the company, and to their credit, Yahoo!, Facebook, and Microsoft have said they'll follow Google's lead. Federal law allows law enforcement to access cloud-sourced email communications that are more than 180 days old without a warrant, so these companies bucking Congress and it's unclear as of yet whether the courts will endorse these pro-privacy stances.
Big Brother Tech: Gun tags suspects with synthetic DNA for future arrest
In Britain, a company is marketing a "gun" for use in riot situations, though one can imagine other applications, that "shoots criminals with DNA tags, marking them for later arrest." To apprehend them later, "Portable readers equipped with ultraviolet light scanners would be able to verify the synthetic DNA." One practical glitch: "The pellets come in rifle or pistol form, containing 14 pellets per
container. All pellets in a pack have the same DNA code. That means you
could tag a lot of people at one event, but you couldn’t necessarily
single him or her out in the crowd--so it would still be hard to tell
who may have incited a riot, rather than just taken part." I guess that means they'd have to arrest everybody. Ugh!
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5 comments:
"All pellets in a pack have the same DNA code. That means you could tag a lot of people at one event, but you couldn’t necessarily single him or her out in the crowd--so it would still be hard to tell who may have incited a riot, rather than just taken part." I guess that means they'd have to arrest everybody. Ugh! "
Not so Scott. Here in the UK we are the most scrutinised country in Europe (and possibly the world) when it comes to CCTV. These pellets would be used in conjunction with other detection and survelance methods, to reduce the number of people arrested at such riots.
Having said that, your US readers might be surprised to learn that our Police consider themselves to be doing a good job if fewer people are arrested, not more. Often a policeman will return from a shout without having arrested anyone at all, usually because there was no reason to and things calmed down while he and his colleague were on the scene (almost certainly beause no one there had a gun - cop or civilian). This works for us and is how we like it.
SW, I appreciate what you're saying about different tactics and attitudes of police, but I'm not sure being the most surveilled nation in the world is anything to be proud of, much less DNA tagging of human beings. I seriously doubt the technology will serve to "reduce the number of people arrested." Time will tell.
A couple of weeks ago I posted comments in response to a story about police corruption regarding an operation in Arkansas where much of one town's police department was arrested for escorting drug shipments. I wondered at the time if this was occurring in other areas as well. Now, we see it has been occurring in Texas. I bet this practice is much more widespread than we know.
I'm not proud of it, it's just a fact of life here. It also doesn't reduce crime by itself, but it does help to catch those who commit crimes.
Texas is a big part of US economy and business laws are rather complicated there. That is why I appreciate authors who can explain everything clearly. Would you like to write something to Attorney-Online.info ? You may publish your contacts in this article and promote your legal services. One more useful option is free submission of contacts to Attorney Directory, for example to the section of Texas business attorneys. You also may publish news and and blog posts, also with your contact information.
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