Feeney & Gurwitz

11/12/2015

04/09/2015

Police regularly leverage their asymmetrical information advantage to craft the media story.

Compare the initial media story mirroring the police fantasy to the media story after the video-camera blew it up.

Before shocking video surfaced of a South Carolina police officer shooting a man in the back, most of the local press coverage, per usual, followed the police’s official narrative and amplified a s...

04/08/2015

Fortunately, this police officer’s lie was contradicted by video-camera footage.

EXCERPT – “The officer, Michael T. Slager, 33, said he had feared for his life because the man had taken his stun gun in a scuffle after a traffic stop on Saturday. A video, however, shows the officer firing eight times as the man, Walter L. Scott, 50, fled.”

The North Charleston officer had said that the man took his stun gun, but a video shows the officer firing eight times as the man, who was apparently unarmed, fled.

04/16/2014

Dashboard audio/video recordings are an effective way to check police abuses of their authority.

A 69-year-old man is filing a federal law suit against an Idaho State Trooper who, claiming that a “smell” constituted probable cause, stopped him and searched his car for ma*****na — and then found none. Caught on video, Trooper Justin Klitch followed Darien Roseen's truck to a “Welcome to Idaho” r…

04/17/2013

Justice cannot be regularly found when false accusers are not pursued with at least the same vigor as the accused.

In The Wall Street, Judith Grossman writes that unsubstantiated accusations against her son by a former girlfriend landed him in front of a nightmarish college tribunal.

04/03/2013

Any law enforcement agency claiming it seeks the truth should prosecute false accusers with a vengeance. Unfortunately, that rarely happens.

A day after a former high school football star had his r**e conviction dismissed, attention has focused on the woman who recanted the sexual assault claim she made 10 years ago.

04/01/2013

EXCERPT
During the sweep, the court filing said, the Hartes were told they had been under surveillance for months, but the couple "know of no basis for conducting such surveillance nor do they believe such surveillance would have produced any facts supporting the issuance of a search warrant."

LEAWOOD, Kan. (AP) — Two former CIA employees whose Kansas home was fruitlessly searched for ma*****na during a two-state drug sweep claim they were illegally targeted, possibly because they had bought indoor growing supplies to raise vegetables.

03/18/2013

EXCERPT -- “The Illinois Eavesdropping Act... violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution as applied to the open audio recording of the audible communications of law enforcement officers (or others whose communications are incidentally captured) when the officers are engaged in their official duties in public places.” (7th Cir.)

ACLU sued state lawyer for prosecuting cases in violation of First Amendment.

02/28/2013

Employees do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the electronics provided by their employer. Why should it be any different for on-duty police officer being recorded by a private citizen?

The Philadelphia police have shown a pattern of wrongfully arresting people who videotaped officers in public, according to a federal lawsuit.

02/04/2013

"In the war on drugs, federal grant programs like the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program have encouraged state and local law enforcement agencies to boost drug arrests in order to compete for millions of dollars in funding. Agencies receive cash rewards for arresting high numbers of people for drug offenses, no matter how minor the offenses or how weak the evidence. Law enforcement has increasingly become a numbers game." (EXCERPT)

Perversely, the criminal justice system gives officers an incentive to perjure themselves.

11/26/2012

"And they most likely knew who he was considering he won a $25,000 settlement from the same police department after they unlawfully arrested him on eavesdropping/wiretapping charges in 2005." (EXCERPT)

A California man was jailed for four days for attempting to record police officers on a public street. Daniel J. Saulmon was charged with resisting, delaying and obstructing an officer but the video shows...

11/20/2012

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. -- U.S. Constitution, Fourth Amendment

Proposed law scheduled for a vote next week originally increased Americans' e-mail privacy. Then law enforcement complained. Now it increases government access to e-mail and other digital files.