A license-plate reader mounted on a San Leandro Police Department car can log thousands of plates in an eight-hour patrol shift. “It works 100 times better than driving around looking for license plates with our eyes,” says police Lt. Randall Brandt.
Credit: Michael Katz-Lacabe
When the city of San Leandro, Calif., purchased a license-plate reader for its police department in 2008, computer security consultant Michael Katz-Lacabe asked the city for a record of every time the scanners had photographed his car.
The results shocked him.
The paperback-size device, installed on the outside of police cars, can log thousands of license plates in an eight-hour patrol shift. Katz-Lacabe said it had photographed his two cars on 112 occasions, including one image from 2009 that shows him and his daughters stepping out of his Toyota Prius in their driveway.
That photograph, Katz-Lacabe said, made him “frightened and concerned about the magnitude of police surveillance and data collection.” The single patrol car in San Leandro equipped with a plate reader had logged his car once a week on average, photographing his license plate and documenting the time and location.
At a rapid pace, and mostly hidden from the public, police agencies throughout California have been collecting millions of records on drivers and feeding them to intelligence fusion centers operated by local, state and federal law enforcement.
An image captured by a license-plate reader in 2009 shows Katz-Lacabe and his daughters stepping out of a car in their driveway. The photograph made Katz-Lacabe “frightened and concerned about the magnitude of police surveillance and data collection,” he says.
Credit: San Leandro Police Department photo courtesy of Michael Katz-Lacabe
With heightened concern over secret intelligence operations at the National Security Agency, the localized effort to track drivers highlights the extent to which the government has committed to collecting large amounts of data on people who have done nothing wrong.
A year ago, the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center – one of dozens of law enforcement intelligence-sharing centers set up after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 – signed a $340,000 agreement with the Silicon Valley firm Palantir to construct a database of license-plate records flowing in from police using the devices across 14 counties, documents and interviews show.
The extent of the center’s data collection has never been revealed. Neither has the involvement of Palantir, a Silicon Valley firm with extensive ties to the Pentagon and intelligence agencies. The CIA’s venture capital fund, In-Q-Tel, has invested $2 million in the firm.
The jurisdictions supplying license-plate data to the intelligence center stretch from Monterey County to the Oregon border. According to contract documents, the database will be capable of handling at least 100 million records and be accessible to local and state law enforcement across the region.
Law enforcement agencies throughout Northern California will be able to access the data, as will state and federal authorities.
In the Bay Area, at least 32 government agencies use license-plate readers. The city of Piedmont decided to install them along the border with Oakland, and the Marin County enclave of Tiburon placed plate scanners and cameras on two roads leading into and out of town.
Law enforcement agencies throughout the region also have adopted the technology. Police in Daly City, Milpitas and San Francisco have signed agreements to provide data from plate readers to the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center. A Piedmont document indicates that city is also participating, along with Oakland, Walnut Creek, Alameda and the California Highway Patrol.
Katz-Lacabe, who was featured in a Wall Street Journal story last year, said he believes the records of his movements are too revealing for someone who has done nothing wrong. With the technology, he said, “you can tell who your friends are, who you hang out with, where you go to church, whether you’ve been to a political meeting.”
Lt. Randall Brandt of the San Leandro police said, “It’s new technology, we’re learning as we go, but it works 100 times better than driving around looking for license plates with our eyes.”
The intelligence center database will store license-plate records for up to two years, regardless of data retention limits set by local police departments.
Many cities use license-plate readers to enforce parking restrictions or identify motorists who run red lights. Police in New York City have used the readers to catch car thieves and scan parking lots to identify motorists with open warrants.
In California, Long Beach police detectives used scanner data to arrest five people in a 2010 homicide. Plate readers in Tiburon identified celebrity chef Guy Fieri’s yellow Lamborghini in March 2011, which allegedly had been stolen from a San Francisco dealership by a teenager who embarked on a crime spree two years ago and now faces attempted murder charges.
Sid Heal, a retired commander with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, oversaw the adoption of plate readers in his agency in the mid-2000s. Heal recalled the dramatic uptick the plate readers made in the auto theft unit’s productivity.
“We found 10 stolen vehicles on the first weekend in 2005 with our antitheft teams,” Heal said. “I had a hit within 45 minutes.”
Before, Heal said, police had to call license plates in to a dispatcher and wait to have the car verified as stolen. Plate readers, Heal said, “are lightning fast in comparison” and allow officers to run up to 1,200 plates an hour, as opposed to 20 to 50 plates per day previously.
But Jennifer Lynch, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the Northern California database raises significant privacy concerns. “Because so many people in the Bay Area are mobile, it makes it that much more possible to track people from county to county,” Lynch said.
In May, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s and Los Angeles Police departments for a week of data gathered and retained in a multiagency network. For now, it’s unknown which agency administers the Los Angeles database, how many agencies contribute or have access to the database, how many records the system retains or how long they are kept.
In San Diego, 13 federal and local law enforcement agencies have compiled more than 36 million license-plate scans in a regional database since 2010 with the help of federal homeland security grants. The San Diego Association of Governments maintains the database. Unlike the Northern California database, which retains the data for between one and two years, the San Diego system retains license-plate information indefinitely.
“License-plate data is clearly identifiable to specific individuals,” said Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “This is like having your barcode tracked.”
Few limits on license-plate data
License-plate readers are not subject to the same legal restrictions as GPS devices that can be used to track an individual's movements. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously last year that lengthy GPS tracking constitutes a Fourth Amendment search and may require a warrant.
But plate readers might not fall under such rulings if police successfully argue that motorists have no “reasonable expectation of privacy” while driving on public roads.
Then-California state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, introduced a bill last year that would have required California police to purge license-plate data after 60 days and applied that rule to companies that collect such data. Law enforcement and private businesses involved in the technology resisted, and the bill died.
“Do we really want to maintain a database that tracks personal movements of law-abiding citizens in perpetuity? That’s the fundamental question here,” said Simitian, now a Santa Clara County supervisor. “Larger and larger amounts of data collected over longer periods of time provide a very detailed look at the personal movements of private citizens.”
While some law enforcement agencies, like the California Highway Patrol, have their own data retention guidelines for license-plate scanners, Simitian said there still is no larger policy that protects the privacy of Californians on the road.
“Public safety and privacy protection are not mutually exclusive,” he said. “There's a balance to be struck, and most people understand that.”
Heal, the retired sheriff’s commander, said that absent clear legal limits on license-plate readers, law enforcement agencies will continue to expand their ability to gather such information.
“A lot of the guidance on this technology – the court doctrine – is nonexistent,” Heal said. “Until that guidance comes, law enforcement is in an exploratory mode.”
Write-up by Josh Wiley posted to CerebralIndustrialComplex.com This article is for the irate minority who, like myself, have come to the realization that government, by its nature, constitutes a monopoly on force. Sadly, we live in a world in which there exists at least two classes of citizens: The average public Joe and the enforcement arm of the state. Unlike a “normal” citizen whose right to self-defense is severely limited by law, law enforcement and military do not have such restrictions. In fact, they are virtually void of restrictions at all, having the legal authority to incarcerate, attack, and even murder other individuals who lack their uniform and shiny badge. Historical examples of such abuse of power are countless – the Kent State massacre; numerous undeclared wars, facilitated in our modern age by armed drones; the murder of Amadou Diallo; the illegal and racist stop-and-frisk policy of the NYPD, etc. Recently, the Occupy Wall Street protests (regardless of any opinion one may hold of the protesters) have put the issue of police brutality back into the public discourse:
Despite the sheer audacity of the expansion of the police state, there are indeed evil people in the world who are not part of military or law enforcement, a point which opponents of anarchy are keen to bring up whenever the term enters discussion. “If there’s no government, who would police the homefront? If there’s no government, who would defend our country from foreign invaders?” The short answer to these questions is that you and I, the average citizen, would take up this responsibility. The debate over having a standing army in America is by no means a new one. The argument extends back to the genesis of the country, the results of original cogitation on the subject being a matter of public record. Like so many Constitutional edicts, the original intent of the Founders has been muddled over the centuries by the expansion of Executive power. However, this deliberate manipulation of law to allow State force by fiat does not change the words of our forefathers, whose position on a standing army is clearly and unambiguously defined in one short sentence:
“To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years.” — Article I, Section VIII, United States Constitution
Thanks to the modern war paradigm spearheaded by the Military Industrial Complex, these original limitations on a standing army have long since faded from public memory. Despite clear wording stating that an armed land force in America could last only two years and would not be comprised of a national army, but instead by a coalition of State and private militias to be supported by the Federal government, the United States has institutionalized multiple permanent standing armies and spends more on them than the rest of the world combined. Should my interpretation of the Constitution not suffice, I would invite the reader to instead analyze the words of some of the very men who penned it:
“As the greatest danger to liberty is from large standing armies, it is best to prevent them by an effectual provision for a good militia.” — James Madison
“The Greeks and Romans had no standing armies, yet they defended themselves. The Greeks by their laws, and the Romans by the spirit of their people, took care to put into the hands of their rulers no such engine of oppression as a standing army. Their system was to make every man a soldier and oblige him to repair to the standard of his country whenever that was reared. This made them invincible; and the same remedy will make us so.” — Thomas Jefferson
At the very least, it should be clear that some of our founders had enough foresight to expunge from the Federal government the power to maintain a permanent ground force. It should be noted, however, that such provisions have not stopped executors from seizing such power regardless of the Constitution, a problem that will persist so long as there exists a centralized body with the power to steal from its citizens to fund such endeavors. Despite its brilliance, the Constitution does provide for a permanent Navy, proponents of which argue that, while a land force could potentially be used by elected tyrants to threaten the citizenry, a force relegated to the seas has no potential to do so. Jefferson advocated such a position in a letter to James Monroe in 1786.
“Every rational citizen must wish to see an effective instrument of coercion, and should fear to see it on any other element than the water. A naval force can never endanger our liberties, nor occasion bloodshed; a land force would do both.” — Thomas Jefferson
It is important to note that while Jefferson’s technical distinction between a standing army and navy may hold true, a permanent naval force allows for imperial conquest at great expense to both human life and the taxpayer. Astute students of American history will recall that Jefferson himself was indeed the first person to use the American navy as a force for conquest. The case for the abolition of a standing army in favor of an armed citizenry extends into modern history with the advent of World War II. An unsourced quote, supposedly attributed to Japanese General Isoroku Yamamoto, has been floating around the Internet for a few years now, contending that Japan feared a ground invasion of America due to the high rate of gun ownership among the populous. No historical evidence has been found to substantiate this quote; however, a similar quote uttered by an unnamed Japanese officer in conversation with Navy veteran Bob Menard aboard the USS Constellation years after the war may well be the source of this oft-mis-attributed statement:
“We did indeed know much about your preparedness. We knew that probably every second home in your country contained firearms. We knew that your country actually had state championships for private citizens shooting military rifles. We were not fools to set foot in such quicksand.”
— Unnamed Japanese Naval Officer
At the very least, it should be abundantly clear that Japan had no desire to invade the United States; not because of Her military might, but because of the sheer rate of private gun ownership. With the right to bear arms severely limited by government, it’s easy to see how the concern of the Japanese over citizen armaments would have been magnified if Americans were allowed to own war machines currently only allocated for military use, such as tanks and missiles. Up to this point, the reader will most likely notice that the bulk of this article has dealt with anarchic military as opposed to police. This is deliberate, as we have now entered an era in which there is virtually no distinction between soldiers and supposed “law enforcement.”
graphic via chibirmingham.com
Amidst the implementation of military-style checkpoints by DHS on American streets, the purchase of armored vehicles by police departments, and the use of armed surveillance drones by local police, the militarization of police in the wake of the War on Terror paradigm is blatantly obvious. As the old saying goes, “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.” Quack. Quack. Quack. Technical ramifications and pragmatic applications as to how the use of force would be managed in an anarchist society vary greatly depending on the school of anarchism; libertarian socialists and anarcho-syndicalists argue for the stateless collectivization of law enforcement, while anarcho-capitalists (like myself) believe a truly open and free market would provide for society’s enforcement needs. Whatever camp one may fall in ideologically, a schema for law enforcement in a stateless society should be built upon the non-aggression principle, a moral axiom that could be easily agreed upon by anarchists of all persuasions. For those interested in learning more about one possible archetype for law enforcement and military in an anarchist society, I leave you with an excerpt of the late Murray N. Rothbard‘s book For a New Liberty detailing how such a system would operate. Rothbard, the father of anarcho-capitalism, articulates this point far more eloquently than this writer could hope to do.
OFF THE WIRE By Micah McDunnigan, eHow Contributor No one likes seeing flashing blue and red lights in his rear view mirror. While the police officer behind you may simply be rushing to the site of some other crime, it could also mean you might have committed a driving infraction, and you may end up paying a ticket. When you are pulled over by a cop, be mindful of your legal rights to avoid incriminating yourself.
Officer Identification
You have the right to ask for the officer to identify himself and show his badge and identification. This information is important for two reasons: first, you want to ensure that you aren't about to become the victim of a criminal impersonating a police officer. Second, you will need this information if you feel that you were ill treated by the officer and want to file a complaint.
Do Not Answer Questions
When you are pulled over, be very careful of what you say. Besides providing your name, drivers license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance, you do not have to answer questions the officer directs at you. You are allowed to answer questions questions like "Do you know why I pulled you over" or "Do you know how fast you were going" with a simple "yes" or "no." You can also choose not to give an answer. Silence is not an admission of guilt, but the officer can use anything you say to write a ticket.
Vehicle Search
If you are pulled over by the police, they do not automatically have the right to search your car. However, if the officers have probable cause then they can. Probable cause can be established by the officers seeing something in your car through the windows, or by your actions. For example, if they see you throwing something out of your car as you are pulling over or if your actions create suspicion after they pull you over.
Admission of Guilt
When a police officer gives you a ticket for a driving infraction, it is not a summary judgment. Rather, the citation is a charge from the officer to which you can either plead "no-contest" and pay or challenge in court. As this is the case, you do not have to admit anything to the officer when you are pulled over. If he informs you that you were speeding, you can say "I see" or some other non-committal comment. You only have to acknowledge that you are being given a ticket, not that you deserve it.
OFF THE WIRE http://youtu.be/B3nok7Cby28 Eddie is an Air Force veteran that began realizing that the government was lying to the people at virtually every turn. He earnestly begin his research into government rules and statutes in the mid 90's after he witnessed his mother breakdown into tears of hopeless frustration over a property tax bill that threatened to take away her property and home.
Angry at the malicious and callous demeanor of those that supposedly worked for the greater good of the People Eddie began to carefully research and document the relationships between the various statutes and the legislative enactments that created them, especially the "ad valorem" property tax, and eventually the federal income tax. He has since spent the past eleven years researching the various Texas Codes such as the Transportation Code. Much to the dismay of many municipalities, police officers, and prosecutors he has thrown a very large monkey wrench into the gears of their money machine, using their own laws! With Randy Kelton's passed down knowledge about due process and criminal actions Eddie's research has become even more dangerous to them.
Vigorous study and research revealed the truth, most government employees know even less about the language and application of the law than the general public! Angered by the cavalier attitudes of public servants acting as if their ignorance was of no consequence, Eddie sought out other like minded people to exchange ideas and find a remedy, which led him to Rule of Law Radio.
Eddie has now dedicated himself to "fighting the good fight" against the total willful ignorance that consumes our public servants at every level of government, an ignorance in which too many people share by way of an apathetic attitude about our rights and liberties. The biggest problem with being apathetic is that it is a word comprised mostly of the word "pathetic". http://ruleoflawradio.com/
This video was uploaded to YouTube.com/RP4409 on May 14, 2013. In keeping with the decentralization of Cop Block, it’s shared here to help the free flow of this information so we can all be safer. For other such content see: CopBlock.org/Resources
From Video Description
4409 on twitter: https://twitter.com/tweet4409 4409 Store: https://wepay.com/stores/4409-store AZ: 13-2904 a 1 Disorderly conduct; classification TX: TITLE 9 CHAPTER 42 Sec. 42.01. CAL. PEN. CODE § 647 : California Code – Section 647 New York Penal – Article 240 – § 240.20 Disorderly Conduct Title 2C The New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice – 2C:33-2 Disorderly conduct Julio case: http://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc/…
AFTER TALKING WITH FELLA`S AND LEARNING ABOUT THEM, THEY MAKE ALL THE CLUB CUTS// LET MAKE YOURS, CHECK THEM OUT.... NUFF SAID.... JUST LET THE ESPINOSA`S, KNOW THAT YOU SAW IT HERE.. MLH&R SCREWDRIVER
Philip,
It was a pleasure meeting you (electronically) and an honor to be on your show. Per you request I have enclosed both the REVOLUCION magazine article and the bio from our website which combined give some background and facts of our shop and history. Just below are the bios of each member in chronological order. Thank you once again for your interest in our business and the opportunity to reach out to your fans.
Second Son - Works many evenings, weekends and shows/events
Rides 2000 Softail Duece
Eric Espinoza
Youngest - Works full time at Shop and all events/shows
Rides 2010 Street Bob
Revolucion Magazine Article
Gilberto, Joe, Gilbert Jr. and Eric Espinoza of Espinoza’s Leather tell their story: one of sacrifice and hard work that spreads over three generations.
The vest is sacred throughout the biker world and without saying a word it communicates who we are, where we come from and whom we ride with whether in a group or solo. When Gilberto Espinoza started making leather bracelets and belts after a farmer strike in 1971, he had no idea that it would eventually lead him, and later his three sons, down a path to becoming one of the industry’s most respected makers of biker vests and leathers. But the story of this family-run business goes far beyond leather hides and sewn-on patches. Their story is of one man making sacrifices for his family, only to have his family do the same in return to take care of him. This is the story of Gilberto Espinoza, a quiet and humble man, as told by his three sons, Joe, Gilbert Jr. and Eric.
How did you start making leather goods?
Joe
My dad left his home when he was only 8 years old. He made his way from his childhood home near central Mexico to Tijuana. After some diffucult years he made it into America where he started working as a meat cutter and that’s when he met my mom. My mother’s father was dabbling in belts and leather goods and my dad saw an opportunity to start his own business. He started out making berrets, key chains and bracelets with individual’s name stamped in them. We have pictures of a huge mountain of bracelets where people would come, pick one and we’d stamp in their name. The cost was one dollar and the stamp was free. That’s how my dad’s business first started in ’71.
Gilberto (The Father)
I started my business back in 1971. I was a meat cutter. One time the farmers went on strike and there was no more meat to cut. My father-in-law told me why don’t you go to the store get some leather, make some belts and wallets and sell them at the swap meet. While there I met a lot of bikers who would ask me to do little repairs and some other custom items. That’s how I first started working with bikers.
Joe
My Father started this business in the garage with a couple of wooden tables and a machine we still use today. My dad would be stamping out leather all day and my brother and I would paint the edges. My brother and I sacrificed every summer traveling to all the state fairs. There was one summer we had to work 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and 10 a.m. to midnight on the weekends. We grew up in that world. We didn’t really see it as a bad thing. It’s just what we did. Little did we know, that 40 years later we’d have this huge retail place with customers from all over the world.
Gilbert Jr.
My dad’s first customers were at the La Mirada swap meet. A guy named Popeye introduced us to the biker scene. We started with only one table and a Dodge Charger. My parents would have to sit in the Charger because we didn’t have a canopy for shade. My dad would always say “I know it’s tough on you guys but in the end it will benefit you.” Sure enough my dad has proven that to be true.
Eric
I was the youngest so I was a little more spoiled and started at age 12. I wasn’t ready to run the business but I had a general knowledge of how things worked. Joe taught me how to measure so we helped each other. Now I’m here everyday taking care of the customers. People come from everywhere. We had a guy come down from Switzerland just to buy an Espinoza T-shirt. Over the years my dad has built a steady clientele. We offer the type of customization others can’t. We can take a basic vest and do whatever you want with it. You might have a small chest and a big belly, but we can make a vest that fits right. That’s what my dad offers to the people that no one else can.
When it comes to the Chicano-style riders, the style has always been clean cut with ironed pants and shirts and never looking grungy. We always presented our bikes and ourselves the right way. That’s how we were as Chicano men back in the day and as time progressed that’s how we still are. Chicano men tend to want the longer vest that is fitted and looking good. They don’t want to go and buy a tiny vest. Also we treat everyone as family and with respect no matter what background you come from.
Joe
As you can see it’s always been a family business so it doesn’t feel like work, just spending time with the family. Eric is 100% like my dad. He has that type of personality that makes people want to come in and talk to him for hours. He acts exactly how my dad does by spending a lot of time with customers, but now my dad gets on his case for doing the exact same thing! (laughs). Two years ago I tried to figure out how to launch a Web site for a mass market. You can’t. How do you show a 100% custom experience to a mass market? The way I try to appeal to the public is to explain why it’s worth it to take a ride here whether you’re in San Diego, San Francisco or other surrounding states. Whenever you’re in California, come on in. I’ve been trying to get the word out that to wear an Espinoza cut is to have something special. We must be doing something right because we realize it’s more than a business when my dad shows up to an event and a crowd surrounds him. They all want to say hi to my pops. That’s when you know it’s more than making cuts for riders. Funny part is, my dad hates crowds and usually tells me ‘Mijo get me a beer’. They love you, huh dad?
Gilberto
The people they love me (big laughs).
Does the family ride together also?
Eric
My dad stopped riding in 1991 until about 3 years ago when I started working full time for him. Watching a pack of bikes leave the shop everyday, I’d get so pissed off and say “I need a bike! I need a bike!” I kept telling my dad I need a co-signer. (laughs) He finally said OK. I bought a 2010 Dyna Street Bob. I guess I was watching too much Sons of Anarchy. (laughs) When my dad was there with me, he fell in love with a trike and bought it on the spot.
Joe
I went with them just for moral support and sat on a Softail. I bought it that same day also. Two months later my brother ( Gilbert Jr.) bought a motorcycle and eventually, his son Gilbert III, bought a bike–now all three generations ride.
Gilberto - Final Thought...Thank you all for your business.
________
ESPINOZAS LEATHER WEBSITE BIO
Starting in 1971 with the manufacturing of leather bracelets and barrettes, immigrant Gilberto Espinoza was determined to grow his small one man operation into a prosperous business.
Soon leather belts, chain wallets and purses made its way into the inventory. The result was growth warranting the opening of a formal manufacturing location. So the garage was returned to the family car and small but suitable shop was found in a strip mall in Rosemead. In September of 1985 the first retail store was opened just two short blocks away from the first shop. Espinoza’s Leather Goods retail was born and the offering at the time was the same inventory of wallets and purses with some samplings of import products from Mexico. That summer the first motorcycle jacket was made and Gilberto never looked back. Leather jackets, vests and chaps are his passion coupled with customer satisfaction.
Please forgive us if our short term memory is a little lacking, but we could swear we looked at the calendar this morning and noticed that today is 4/20. Also, we could swear we looked at the calendar this morning and noticed that today is 4/20. Weed smokers of the world rejoice, it’s a celebration! As you bask in the glow of copious amounts of weed consumption today, as always, make sure to do so responsibly. We don’t mean “responsibly” in the “drink too much booze and you’ll wind up in a coma” sense. That’s not really a problem with the weed. Smoke too much and the worst that will happen is you’ll devour an entire large pizza and fall asleep for the night by 8pm. What we’re referring to, of course, are police. Nothing kills a good buzz like an undercover cop with too much time on their hands striking up a conversation with you out of the blue about what you’re smoking. So keep your glassy eyes peeled, and use these handy tips for spotting an undercover cop while you celebrate 4/20 today. Check Out the Car In a perfect world, all police would be required to drive around in 1992 Crown Victorias with gigantic antennas and a visible gun rack in the back seat. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. These days, undercover cops are tooling around in anything from minivans to Mustangs. So how do you spot a car that’s outfitted for the sole purpose of harshing your mellow? Fortunately, police need lots of special equipment in their cruisers to do their jobs effectively. If you look hard enough, you can see it. AOL, of all places, has a great guide to spotting undercover cop cars on their auto blog. Here are some highlights: On unmarked cars, lights are often placed in the grill, front windshield and exterior mirrors. Even if they aren’t turned on, you should be able to see them provided there is a sufficient amount of light. Look for stubby police antennas on the trunk lid and more lights in the rear windshield. Each state has special license plates that are issued to government workers. Learn yours. If you see it on the car that’s pulling up to the spot where you’re lighting up, swallow that weed like a professional. Pay Attention to Details Here’s the thing about undercover cops…they’re really good at blending in with the environment they’re in. Anyone who’s ever been enjoying a joint on a park bench only to have a guy in flip-flops and a Hawaiian shirt flashing a badge in their face out of the blue will surely attest to that. But everybody makes mistakes, police are no different. Does that shady weed dealer at your local park with the three day facial hair growth, unkempt hair and filthy clothes also have impeccably manicured fingernails? Is he wearing a beat to shit army jacket and four hundred dollar Armani jeans? If so, you probably shouldn’t buy your weed from him. Actually, you shouldn’t just walk up to anyone you don’t know and try to buy drugs from them. But if it’s come to that, at least watch for those little inconsistencies that might indicate that they aren’t who they say they are. Don’t Bother Asking There’s a popular myth that claims if you ask an undercover cop if they’re a cop, they have to tell you if they are. Not true, says Barry Cooper, a former undercover cop who came around to the good side and now gets paid to tell people how to spot and avoid being busted by undercover cops. In fact, he says this misconception actually helps law enforcement:
Many times as an undercover, suspects would ask if I were a cop and explain I must tell if I were. I would respond, “No. I’m not a cop and you are correct. I would have to tell you if I were.” The suspects were always comfortable with this answer and would sometimes comment on how cool the “must tell” law was.
So that’s a bummer. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t mention the police at all if you think an undercover is in your midst… Did You Hear the News? Did the police make a significant bust in your area recently? If so, mention it. Undercover cops are trained to stay relaxed in high pressure situations, but by bringing up some especially noteworthy piece of police news, you’ve just entered something into the mix that normally isn’t present…their ego. Try mentioning that you don’t see what the big deal is about the bust that was all over the news last week and then, just like in poker, wait for the tell. Nobody likes to have their pride injured, and that’s exactly what you’re doing. If the guy hoping to sell you a pound of kush suddenly snaps at you about how that bust was a HUGE deal, you’re probably dealing with a cop. Watch for any reaction that strikes you as out of the ordinary. If your gut is telling you to flee the scene, do it. Hits From the Bong This tidbit is especially for the dealers out there, and once again, it comes from former undercover agent Barry Cooper. If you suspect that the person you’re selling to is a cop, offer them a bong hit. Not a joint, not a blunt, not a hitter…a bong hit. Why? Because undercover cops are strictly prohibited from actually partaking in drugs while in the field. Some are even tested immediately after returning from their crime fighting missions. That said, they are trained to hit a joint or some other lightweight toking apparatus without taking any smoke into their lungs. They just pass it through their nose and back out into the air. What a waste! But anyone who knows anything knows that hitting a bong without using your lungs is literally impossible. No respectable drug purchaser is going to pass on the opportunity to sample what you’re selling prior to paying for it, be it in a joint, a bong or a hollowed out apple. If you offer up your intricately handcrafted, dragon shaped bong and they refuse, something is amiss. Tell them to kick rocks and live to sell the good stuff another day.
OFF THE WIRE THANK YOU, JOHN LIFE IN THE FAST LANE A collection of lane-related information
by John Del Santo
GENERAL If our bike is equipped with working electric directional signals the law requires that we use them when changing lanes. (CVC 22110). The State handbook also suggests that during times of heavy traffic, or poor visibility, that we also use hand signals so that cars are better able to see what our intentions are.
SIGNAL LANE CHANGES Before each lane change….Check your mirrors……Signal your intentions……Check your blind spot…..Make your move.
The CA Drivers Handbook suggests that at freeway speeds we signal for at least five seconds before a lane change.
Traffic lanes are often referred to by number. The left, or “fast” lane is called the “Number 1 Lane”. The lane to the right of the “number 1 lane” is called “The Number 2 Lane” ,then the “Number 3 Lane” etc.
If you are pulling a little camping trailer behind your motorcycle or car you now come under the same 3-axle category as a tractor trailer. You are restricted to the two right lanes of the freeway, restricted to 55 MPH, and not allowed to use the HOV lane. (P-35 CA Drivers Handbook)
FOLLOWING DISTANCE California Vehicle Code 21704 (a) States that ) “ The driver of any motor vehicle that is operated outside of a business or residence district, shall keep the vehicle he is driving at a distance of not less than 300 feet to the rear of any other motor vehicle”. That’s a space that would fit about five tractor-trailers, or is almost a football field long. --------------------------------------------------------- ON THE FREEWAY Miles per Hour...Times 1 1/2 …Equals Feet-Per-Second traveled. At 65 MPH a vehicle is traveling about 100 feet Every Second. Many motorcyclists prefer traveling on the freeway in the Number 1 lane (far left). This leaves the rider able to only worry about bad moves from the vehicle to the right, and the vehicle behind. Riding in the number 1 lane also leaves the shoulder on the left as an escape route to avoid dangerous moves from other drivers. Unlike many other states, If you are traveling in the left lane….the number 1 lane…and you are maintaining the the posted speed limit….There is no legal reason for you to move out of that lane unless an emergency vehicle comes up behind you showing lights and/or siren. The California Motorcycle Handbook (p-13) tells us “There is no “best lane position” for riders in which to be seen and to maintain a space cushion around the motorcycle. Position yourself in the lane that allows the most visibility and space around you”. Generally speaking, I have been told by highway police that their attention is most drawn to vehicles that are jumping around from lane to lane, not to those that stay mostly in one lane.
the drivers handbook suggests that at freeway speeds we signal for at least five seconds before a lane change.
GROUP RIDING “If you ride with others, do it in a way that promotes safety and doesn’t interfere with the flow of traffic” If the group is more than four or five riders, divide it into two or more smaller groups. Use a staggered formation and keep a 2-second following distance from the rider directly in front of you. (P-32 CA DMV motorcycle handbook). When we are riding in a group on the freeway with five or ten other vehicles, WE ARE NOT AN EXCLUSIVE GROUP……..to the law and to the rest of the world, we are just ……five or ten individual vehicles. If other vehicles want to, or need to, make a lane change into our lane, they have every right to do so, and we have no right to try to stop them from doing so. Even convoys of army trucks or funeral processions lose their right to exclusivity when they are on a freeway.
HOV LANES (HIGH OCCUPANCY VEHICLE )(Carpool lane)
No vehicle may cross double yellow lines into or out of an HOV LANE . In some areas, such as near Los Angeles , the double-yellow lines are about 18 inches apart. These are still double-yellow lines which no one may cross into or out of an HOV lane……..Contrary to some popular belief, these are NOT teeny little HOV lanes for motorcycles.
ONE OR TWO PERSONS ON A MOTORCYCLE OR TRIKE (3-wheeled motorcycle) ARE ALLOWED TO USE AN HOV LANE, unless otherwise posted. (P-34 CA Drivers Handbook).
No vehicle pulling a trailer may use an HOV Lane .
EMERGENCY VEHICLE STOPPED ON FREEWAY CVC-21809. (a) A person driving a vehicle on a freeway approaching a stationary authorized emergency vehicle that is displaying emergency lights, a stationary tow truck that is displaying flashing amber warning lights, or a stationary marked Department of Transportation vehicle that is displaying flashing amber warning lights,
shall approach with due caution and, before passing in a lane immediately adjacent to the authorized emergency vehicle, tow truck, or Department of Transportation vehicle, absent other direction by a peace officer, proceed to do one of the following: (1) Make a lane change into an available lane not immediately adjacent to the authorized emergency vehicle, tow truck, or Department of Transportation vehicle, with due regard for safety and traffic conditions, if practicable and not prohibited by law. (2) If the maneuver described in paragraph (1) would be unsafe or impracticable, slow to a reasonable and prudent speed that is safe for existing weather, road, and vehicular or pedestrian traffic conditions.
OFF THE FREEWAY
CENTER LEFT-TURN LANES A set of yellow solid lines with dotted yellow lines just inside them. These are to be use to start or complete left turns or to start u-turns. We may not stay in them for more than 200 feet (three tractor trailer lengths).
DOUBLE-DOUBLE YELLOWS SETS OF double-double yellow lines are considered a barrier or island. We may never cross those even to get into or out of our own driveway Or to make a u-turn.
NARROW STREETS When riding in parts of town with small, narrow streets…..where there is not a centerline painted in the street, A CA Driver Handbook suggests that we ride out near the middle of the street, when no traffic is approaching us from the opposite direction. This reduces the chances of someone in a parked car making a move that would surprise or endanger you. Naturally, near an intersection we would be back towards the right side of the roadway.
TURNOUT AREAS AND LANES Special “turnout” areas are sometimes marked on two-lane roads. Drive into these areas to allow traffic behind you to pass. If you are driving slowly, you are required to pull in if there are five or more vehicles behind you that want to go faster. (p-35 CA Drivers Manual). SOMETIMES THESE TURNOUT AREAS ARE UNLIT AND UNPAVED, AND ESPECIALLY AT NIGHT, MOTORCYCLISTS WOULD HAVE TO MAKE SERIOUS CHOICES TO USE THEM OR NOT.
PEDESTRIAN SAFETY ZONE A "safety zone" is the area or space lawfully set apart within a roadway for the exclusive use of pedestrians and which is protected, or which is marked or indicated by vertical signs, raised markers or raised buttons, in order to make such area or space plainly visible at all times while the same is set apart as a safety zone. CA Vehicle Code 540.
CROSSING BICYCLE LANES As long as there are no bicycles using the bicycle lane anywhere near enough to you to be a hazard, you may cross a bicycle lane to turn into or out of a driveway. If there is a bicycle lane, and no bicycles are using it, and you plan on turning right at the next corner, you should check your mirror, signal, check your blind spot, and move into the bicycle lane NO MORE THAN 200 feet from the corner (three tractor-trailer lengths) to approach your right turn. You may park in a bicycle lane, as long as there is no sign that proclaims “ Bike Lane No Parking”. Motorists Passing Bicyclists Be patient when passing a bicyclist. Slow down and pass only when it is safe. Do not squeeze the bicyclist off the road. If road conditions and space permit, allow clearance of at least three feet when passing a bicyclist.
THESE RULES AND LAWS MAY BE DIFFERENT WHEN LEAVING CALIFORNIA AND ENTERING OTHER STATES. -------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER AND WARNING :This guide is to provide accurate and authoritative information on this subject. If expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought John Del Santo At Intersections, and In Your Blind Spots, "Check Twice for Motorcycles".
P.S. I was just reading my article "Life in the fast lane" which is a collection of info regarding lane laws and rules....and I realized that I had not mentioned "Lane Sharing" so I entered these lines into the article FYI thanks John
The California Vehicle Code does not allow “lane sharing, lane splitting, etc.
Today, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Salinas v. Texas. Surprisingly, the Court did not answer the primary question court watchers were expecting, which was whether a prosecutor can deride a person’s reliance upon the right against self-incrimination when that person has not been arrested. The Court said it did not have to reach that question because the person here, Salinas, never really properly invoked his constitutional right against self incrimination. And because he didn’t, there was nothing wrong with the prosecutor’s comments at his trial. This is a lousy ruling. A bit more background. Everyone knows from TV shows, that once a person is arrested and the police start an interrogation, the Miranda warnings are given. “You have the right to remain silent, right to a lawyer if you cannot afford one and anything you say can be used against you in court, etc” The Supreme Court has also held, properly, that if anyone declines to take the witness stand during the trial, the prosecutor can’t attack that choice to the jury with comments like, “He could have taken the stand to tell us his side of the story, but he didn’t. That tells us quite a bit, doesn’t it?” The rationale against allowing that sort of “evidence” is that if one really has a right against self-incrimination, the government should not be permitted to attack it. The prosecutor must use other evidence to persuade the jury of guilt. So, again, the government can’t offer negative comments on the choice not to testify and may not offer negative comments on a person’s choice to remain silent after an arrest. Salinas brought the question, what about silence before an arrest? Cato filed a brief saying prosecutors should also be barred from attacking pre-arrest silence. Justice Alito announced today that the main question is again postponed for another day. The Court said Salinas simply remained silent and did not “formally” invoke any constititional right, so prosecutors could offer commentary to the jury. What’s most disturbing about the ruling is its discussion of “burdens.” The plurality put the onus on the individual, not the government. That is the profound error in the decision. As the dissenters noted, in the circumstances of the case, it was evident what Salinas was doing. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has complicated the law for persons who are the most vulnerable–persons who lack education, persons who do not speak English very well, persons who may suffer from mental problems, and persons who may be under the influence of alcohol. This is a bad day for the Bill of Rights.
OFF THE WIRE agingrebel.com There is a battle for history going on in America. The winners will write it and for all the rest of human time the losers will be whatever the winners say they are. The fight is hardly over truth, justice, philosophy or perspective. It is all about the dollars. And a good illustration of this new history in our recently commoditized world is a book “written” by a self-proclaimed hero currently named Charles Falco with the assistance of the “true crime” writer Kerrie Droban. The book is titled Vagos, Mongols and Outlaws: My Infiltration of America’s Deadliest Biker Gangs. It will be officially published by the Thomas Dunne division of St. Martin’s Press on February 5, 2013. I started looking for this Falco guy in May 2012 after he was interviewed by a Fox crime reporter in Los Angeles. The reporter’s name is Chris Blatchford. His “investigative report” was titled “The Green Nation is on a mission to replace the Hells Angels as the baddest outlaw biker gang.” The Green Nation – for anyone who just stumbled upon these words while searching for discounted beauty products or classic rock CDs – refers to the Vagos Motorcycle Club. Members of that club tend to wear a lot of green. Police have long accused the Vagos of being a ruthless mafia. And, although the Vagos sincerely feel exactly the same way about the police, correct thinking Americans are compelled by both right wing and left wing social orthodoxy to agree with the cops. At the same time there is no denying that outlaw bikers are now a mass media commodity. You’ve probably noticed this. If you haven’t there may be other subtleties of the post-millennial world that yet elude you. Like, that little thing you see everywhere that looks like a model of one the black slabs in 2001: A Space Odyssey, is called an iPhone. Yes. It is spelled just like that. Welcome to Eisenhower’s nightmare. An unignorable segment of the world’s male population, with a correspondingly obvious pile of loose cash, is fascinated with men like the Vagos. Motorcycle outlaws are the new James Bond. Like Bond, no one wants to defend them, no one wants to know them, no one in his right mind even wants to stand next to one of them lest they get blown up but very many men want to be them: Because of the untraceable guns; the uninhibited stompings and stabbings; the beautiful, easily available, wanton, multi-orgasmic women; the forbidden intoxicants; and, best of all, because outlaws demand the fear and respect that is usually reserved only for political nerds and the business school graduates who majored in stealing other people’s houses and pensions. The Vagos represent something unacknowledged but unforgotten in postmodern males. And, this fantasy identification with capable, confident, free, proud and dangerous men may say something about what has gone wrong with America. It might even partly explain the continuing cablecast of Sons of Anarchy on FX and The Devils Ride on Discovery. But, history is no longer about meaning. Blatchford illustrates that. Blatchford was working both sides of this street during his two part, Sunday night, sweeps month news event. The story was so important that Fox devoted almost 15 minutes to the subject, divided between two newscasts, betting that Blatchford could manufacture enough vicarious thrills that his audience would tune in and then not change channels minute after minute after endless, commercial free, television minute. Fox accused the Vagos of being traffic scofflaws, psychopaths and sexists. Blatchford owns a George Foster Peabody Award, but in L.A. he is more famous for his dramatic delivery. He is to Los Angeles something like what John Facenda once was to Philadelphia. Blatchford explained one snatch of footage with a stentorian, “Even their own women, as you can see spelled out on the back of their jackets, are branded property of the Vago who owns them.” No matter how this pronouncement might look on a page it sounded more important when Blatchford said it. Falco was one of the biker authorities Blatchford interviewed on camera. Falco is a large man with a slight lisp. He wore cool, dark glasses and the television reporter identified him as “Charles Falco who infiltrated the Vagos for two and a half years.” I have a long and continuing interest in the world of motorcycle clubs and it seemed to me at the time that what Blatchford’s story really meant was that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was preparing for the long-expected racketeering case against the Vagos by softening up the jury pool. Now I think Blatchford’s expose had at least as much to do with history, cross media synergy and, of course, bucks. The ability to type words into the Google search field also revealed that Falco was the subject of a forthcoming book then titled Inside Out: My Life Undercover with the Vagos. It took months to find the capsule review Blatchford wrote for Falco’s book. Chris loved it. “The paranoia of crooks, the desperation of incarceration, the fear of getting whacked, and survival working undercover in a brutal biker world devoid of common decency. You can read about it all in this book. But Charles Falco actually lived it and miraculously came out a better man. Chris Blatchford, author of The Black Hand”
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I started looking for Falco approximately as an ugly, old drunk looks for love. I blindly bumped into bodies until eventually, one metaphorical closing time, I got lucky. Falco’s name used to be Ashley Charles Wyatt. I don’t quite believe him when he tells me this but I later learn that he is at least named Ashley Wyatt and he has always answered to Charles. He went to high school in the San Fernando Valley and he has Wyatt tattooed on the back of his head. At one point he also had a Vagos Victorville side rocker tattooed on his right torso. Vagos remember him well. In the club he was called Charles or sometimes Tijuana Charles – the latter because he was almost arrested one night for pissing on a wall down Mexico way. The club name he gives himself in interviews including his interview with Blatchford and in “his” book is Quickdraw. That phrase was a jest thrown at him one night in a bar. The throwaway line was preserved on audio, in a device hidden in his asthma inhaler and apparently, after almost seven years reflection, he decided he liked Quickdraw better than Charles. There isn’t anything particularly wrong or unusual about revising one’s personal recollections. “Yes, I have a thousand tongues,” Stephen Crane confessed, “And nine and ninety-nine lie.” I think the lies mean something different with Falco than they did with Crane though, because Crane was honest and self-deprecating about his life while Falco now seeks to alchemize his personal recollections into a valuable commodity. “What do you think when you hear that? ‘Quickdraw,’” a gracious gentleman asks me as I prepare to write this. “Gunfighter,” I answer. The gentleman makes a silent, contemptuous gesture. Falco also claims that members of the American Outlaws Association may remember him as “Chef,” possibly a reference to a previous career he claims as a methamphetamine manufacturer. Falco has a Reno phone number but, he tells me, “I do not live in Reno and never have. I entered the Witness Protection Program in 2007. Thus, I was given a complete new identity which is what I use now.” After riding with the Vagos the snitch earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, mostly online, in Bible Studies from Liberty Christian University and he went significantly into debt doing it. That surprised me. I had not previously known that a seeker could actually go into debt studying the Bible but Falco told me he had. And, even the United States Marshals are powerless against the kingpins of the student loan racket. “The Marshals do not allow you to get out of past debt,” Falco explains. “So in my case I owed several thousand dollars in student loans that I still pay under Ashley. These bills are sent to Marshal mail drops, which are then sent to DC, which are then sent to my area Marshal field office, who then sends them to me. I have several of these Marshal mail drops in California and Nevada that I use. Kind of cool on how this works! I am no longer in this program, but they still forward my mail. Even after you leave the WPP you keep your new identity, since it is now your legal new name. I hope that makes sense.” The logistics made sense even if the part about going into debt reading the Bible did not. A face-to-face interview might have helped me better understand but my conversations with the snitch were accomplished in writing, by email with his muse and chronicler Kerrie Droban acting as an intermediary. Falco has a GMX.com email address. Global Mail Exchange is a German telecommunications company. And, after I wrote to him at charlesfalco@gmx.com he insisted that we use one of Droban’s email accounts. I suspect he is in Phoenix. If he wanted to avoid Vagos, Mongols and Outlaws as he has reasons to do, he might feel most safe in Cave Creek near Sonny Barger’s home, but that is only my blind hunch. Even if Falco is exactly where I think he is as long as he is careful he will remain virtually invisible. There are at least two other Charles Falcos in Arizona. One of them is an almost famous, Harley riding, physics professor in Tucson. That Charles Falco was one of the curators of the Guggenheim museum’s famous exhibit “The Art of the Motorcycle.” So if you just Google Charles Falco and Arizona and motorcycle you will get the wrong man every time. The professor and the snitch both wear dark mustaches. A second Charles Falco in Arizona is an old guy in Yuma.
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Falco agrees to be interviewed. “I am not doing this interview because I think you will make my book a best seller,” he explains. “My main purpose is to give you correct information.” I begin with the obvious. “Will you be answering the questions or Kerrie? I’m sure it would be lovely to have a conversation with her but I would prefer to have a conversation with you.” “I don’t know how to prove to you that I am not Kerrie,” the snitch replies promptly, “but I can tell you that she is a much better writer than me.” He answers multiple questions in a single paragraph. “I have never had anything to do with the HA. They were hunting us as Outlaws though, so I know how they operate. I never heard of a five part plan to get rid of motorcycle clubs. The ATF is not interested in motorcycle clubs, just motorcycle gangs. I think the ATF has done a great job in decreasing the amount of criminal activity these gangs participate in. If you compare the U.S. biker gangs of the seventies and eighties with current U.S. biker gangs, they have about ten percent of the criminal power they once had. I believe this (is the result of) the great job law enforcement (has done) in bringing these gang members to justice. I truly believe that.” Maybe he truly does. The interview with the snitch stretches out. Near its conclusion, I while away a pleasant evening near the Beverly Hills end of the Sunset Strip with some gracious gentlemen who knew Ashley Charles Wyatt during all of his adventure with the Vagos. In the course of the conversation, as the night turned cold and I began to shiver, I asked the gentlemen to summarize Ashley Wyatt for me. “Pussy,” one answered immediately. “Snake!” A gracious gentleman shook his finger and another nodded his head up and down. “In a word, snake.” “Punk,” one of them added in case I missed their point. “Also, he is stoned all the time.” “Like obnoxiously stoned. Constantly.” “And, he’s not very smart.” Falco’s stupidity may be why he, unlike most biker authorities, has heard of me. “I have been reading your articles for years,” he tells me, “and I know you lean toward the one percenter side of stories.” He is broadminded and tolerant of my shortcomings. “While, I know most of what you believe about the ATF is incorrect I still value your right to free speech.” If only we had been able to meet face to face I’m sure I would have said, “Thank you.” Falco is evasive and vague about the events that led him to betray a group of men who all call each other “brother.” The gracious gentlemen in West Hollywood are much more straightforward. “Charles was arrested in 1995 in Las Vegas for armed robbery. He got 5 years. Not sure if it was suspended or how that ended up. He was then rearrested at LAX for failing to declare over twenty thousand in cash that he was carrying on his person. Then he admitted it was drug money. He sold himself to the world and in March 2004 he started hanging around the Vagos. The raids were in March 2006 so he was around the club for a few days less than two years. Does that help?” It helped. While Wyatt/Falco was awaiting sentencing, “he called every police force he could find and volunteered to work for them. He finally hooked up with the DEA and then with the ATF.” Falco’s version is more cinematic. It is also contradicts what I have been told by multiple sources. Not that that means anything. Truth plus two dollars will buy you a cup of coffee.
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“I started as a DEA informant,” Falco says, beginning where all good story tellers begin, in the middle of things, “and I was one for two years before I became an informant for the ATF. Prior to becoming an informant for the DEA, I was a drug dealer. “I was one of the most loyal criminals I had ever met. I made most of my closest friends a small fortune. During those years I would have died before turning. That was before I was betrayed by everyone, loved ones, friends and business partners. Of course, shortly after this life changing betrayal, the DEA and US Customs raided my house. I had been betrayed in every way even though I had been loyal in every way. When the cops raided my house I was in a bottomless pit and that day my life was saved. I became an informant. But not by betraying friends. Instead I worked the streets like an undercover going after criminals that I had no prior relationship with. I started to enjoy the work and started realizing the horribleness of my past deeds. Working undercover made me feel like I was repenting for my misdeeds and I felt like I was paying back society. “After two years of working for the DEA I decided that I wanted to do something big, like infiltrating a gang, but I was not sure which kind or which one. I convinced my DEA handler that me infiltrating a gang was the best way I could help society and myself. My handler referred me to a Detective in the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department who worked organized crime groups. I spoke with this detective and told her I could infiltrate any gang that a white male could become a member of and that all I needed to know was where they hung out. She said the gang that was committing a high amount of serious crimes was the Vagos MC. I had heard of them, but I had no prior relationship with any biker gang members, period. So she gave me the names of the bars where they hung out and from that information I was able to infiltrate the Victorville Chapter of the Vagos. Once I started to get close to some of the Vagos and it seemed I might be able to get in I was introduced to Koz and Carr (ATF Agents Darrin Kozlowski and John Carr). From there, the DEA handed me over to the ATF and Koz became my handler.” “Koz is my hero. No other man has done more for me than him. He is a great man! You have wrong impressions of this guy and the rest of his team. They never, ever, went after these gangs as a personal vendetta. The ATF works gangs, that’s what they do. “Koz is a great man. He always treated me with respect. He never looked down on me. He became a friend. He has always been there for me. Since I was an honest and devoted CI the ATF treated me as one of their own. In fact, they told the Vagos this when they arrested them. They still treat me this way. In fact, everyone I meet in law enforcement treats me as an equal, which is awesome. The government is much more loyal, fair, respectful and honest than any biker gang, criminal organization or maybe even any organization period. They are a true brotherhood of loyal, and honest friends. “Ciccone (ATF Agent John Ciccone), Carr and Koz work biker gangs not because they have something personal against biker gangs but because it is their job to bring gang members to justice. The conspiracy stories are fiction when it comes to these three guys.” In his book Falco describes himself as “a former Marine and ‘hard-core drug dealer,’ a ‘coyote’ who once smuggled human cargo across the border from Mexico.” When asked to elaborate on his days in the drug business the snitch tells me, “I did move weight…I was a horrible man. From 1991 to 1995 I was a mid-level cocaine dealer. In 1996 I switched to selling meth. From 1998 to 2001 I manufactured about 125 pounds a year in meth, mostly in LA.” I wanted to know more about his tragic betrayal by his friends. “My betrayal I will not go too much into because I have forgiven and gone on with my life. It is very painful to reflect back, but I will tell you that everyone I was close to, with the exception of one person, betrayed me. Shortly, after the betrayals I became addicted to my own meth and shortly after that I was busted, so the police came at the perfect time. I was near death when they raided my house which turned around my life. After getting out of federal jail, I gave up meth and gave up living as a criminal.” Falco’s statements to me and in his book are all a weird mix of truth and lies. It is obvious that he thinks I am so stupid that I will never catch on – and that I am so clueless that I will never try to verify what he says. For example, he does not tell me the name of the “Detective in the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department who worked organized crime groups.” In his book Falco calls her “Samantha Kiles.” Multiple public documents call her “Shelli Kelly.” The lie about Samantha/Shelli/Kiles/Kelly stands out in hindsight because it is blatantly gratuitous. I began to realize that Wyatt/Falco lies because he likes to lie and also because he can’t stop himself. He tells me: “I was not paid anything for Operation 22 Green…. You don’t work for the ATF for money. If you are doing it for money you would work for the FBI or DEA…. I did it because I felt like I was doing something great for our society and the government asked for my help.” So I asked him, “How did you survive while you were doing volunteer undercover work? The usual procedure is that registered CIs earn a salary, which is now up to about $2,500 a month. In general, CIs participate in criminal activity. That is the point of CIs. Officially UCs, undercover agents and TFOs, tactical field officers, cannot commit crimes so CIs do the crimes instead. In general, CIs keep the profits from their crimes. Additionally, CIs are paid a performance bonus that typically reaches six figures when their work on their case is done. Let me ask you again, what and how were you paid?” He replies, “While I was doing the Vago case I was told even a DUI could put me back in jail. We knew I would have to get in bar fights occasionally, but that was it. I took it on myself to take a hit of a marijuana joint if it was passed around and I was in front of a large group of Vagos. I did this so that they would not think I was a law enforcement officer. The ATF did not want me to even do something as minor as smoking a joint, but I thought I needed to. Otherwise, I would have looked too clean. If a CI is committing serious crimes while working undercover he or she would be charged for a crime just like anyone else. Just because you’re a CI does not mean you are above the law.” I am still too dull to understand how Falco kept a roof over his head, food in his belly and gas in his tank. “It was fair that I did not get paid for Operation 22 Green; I was still under heavy charges. Even though I had already done a couple years of work for the government I felt like and still do that I owe them my life. For me Rebel, the government saved me, so I feel forever indebted.” “I am a Christian. I teach the youth group at my church. For me God and the Government saved my life.” “I do not have anything personal against one percenters. I look at them as the same as any other gang, no worse no better, but they are a gang. They fight and kill over territory they do not own. While doing the Vagos’ investigation I worked a 9 to 5 job. I delivered car parts for a dealership. I also worked as a handyman for the Vago chapter president of the chapter I infiltrated.” That Victorville chapter President was Scott “Psycho” Sikoff. He was Wyatt/Falco’s most loyal friend and defender in the club and his only visible means of support. The snitch later reported to his handlers that his friend had sold him weed and fought by his side. Sikoff was subsequently charged with assault with a deadly weapon and distribution of marijuana.
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When I become too annoying Falco writes, “I think you still look at our society from a one percenter view point which is anti-social. I could be wrong but your opinions seem slanted that way. I hope that does not offend you. In no way do I think I am better than you or anybody else. As an ex-criminal the first thing I had to change when going straight was the way I thought. When you’re a criminal or gang member you try to justify why you do what you do. When I was a criminal I thought the only thing that was wrong to do was hurt or kill the innocent or snitch. That is a completely anti-social way of looking at the world.” “These one percenter clubs, gangs, are not as loyal as people think. After Operation Black Diamond (Falco’s last infiltration for the ATF) more than half the members (of the American Outlaws Association that were) charged turned. The loyalty and brotherhood these clubs say they have for each other is one hundred percent bullshit. Not only do they betray each other after being arrested, but they were doing it all the time behind each other’s backs – fucking each other’s old ladies, lying, gossiping, and backstabbing each other for power. Betrayal is the normal part of the outlaw lifestyle and I don’t say this just because of my betrayal when I was a drug dealer, but because it was a constant part of what the outlaw bikers did to each other. I witnessed it day in and day out. It is not CIs and UCs these gangs should be watching out for. It is themselves.” Some of what Falco tells me about this counterculture is true and some of it is not. The Vagos, like all outlaw clubs, strictly forbid adultery with a club brother’s woman. The old lady to whom he refers was the wife of the other ATF confidential informant in Operation 22 Green. All motorcycle outlaws gossip and they probably gossip a little more about each other than the general population because clubs tend to be very closed societies. I am not sure Falco really wants me to pursue the subject of truth and lies with him. “I have told some people that I am interviewing ‘a snitch,’” I write. “Is that a fair term, in your opinion? Do you consider yourself a cop? I watched a little of a bad Tommy Lee Jones movie called Black Moon Rising the other day. The blurb described Jones’ character as a ‘freelance FBI agent.’ Ever consider yourself a ‘freelance ATF agent?’” “Calling me a snitch is a little harsh, since I did not snitch on these guys, but I can picture you referring to me as a ‘snitch,’” he answers. “Again, I was never (one of those) one percenter(s) who got busted and decided to rat his friends out so he did not have to go to jail. From the first second, I met these guys I was working for the government. Their true brothers that betrayed them would be snitches, not me. I always called myself a private government contractor. Of course, I don’t think I am a cop. I’m not crazy. But they do treat me as one of their own.” I sought and interviewed Falco/Charles/Tijuana Charles/Ashley because I was interested in the psychology of men who do what the snitch did. My first guess was that maybe he identified with the police. And near the end of his book he or Droban wrote, “Post-traumatic stress – it floated through my subconscious…. I escaped into the company of other agents. We formed our own brotherhood bound by common trauma…. All of us prepared each day to sacrifice our lives for a greater cause…. Like the other agents, I lived my life off duty.” I conclude the snitch is a narcissist and probably a psychopath. No, I am not a psychologist. You don’t exactly have to be Sigmund Freud to see that Falco is a narcissist. You only have to have gone to community college. That one time. For a couple of days. Or so.
6
Factually, Falco was a participant in three, intertwined, ATF run, biker investigations. All three were connected to a small cadre of ATF agents that members of the Bureau have frankly called “Ciccone’s Gang” after ATF biker specialist John Ciccone. Ciccone, who expects to retire in another two years, has spent most of his career in the Bureau investigating, collecting intelligence about and making cases against outlaw motorcycle clubs. He has – by his own account but there is no reason to doubt him – participated in more than 200 motorcycle club investigations. He works out of the ATF Field Office in Glendale, California. And since 1997, beginning with a “One Percenter Task Force” investigation of the Hells Angels and the Sundowners Motorcycle Clubs in Los Angeles, Ciccone has worked with ATF agents William Queen, Jay Dobyns, Vincent Cefalu, John Carr and Darrin Kozlowski on multiple occasions. Ciccone is a short, appealing and handsome man who has taken pains to avoid public attention but two of the associates, Queen and Dobyns, have written best selling books. Dobyns and Cefalu have reinvented themselves as “ATF whistleblowers.” Carr has participated in a direct way in at least four investigations of biker clubs. Kozlowski has participated in undercover investigations of the Vagos twice, the Warlocks twice, the Outlaws, the Hells Angels, the Mongols and the Sons of Silence. An outlaw named Kevin “Spike” O’Neill who is now serving a life sentence has called Kozlowski a psychopath. Most Americans think police investigate crimes. Ciccone’s gang tries to catch club members in the act of committing crimes. Sometimes they suggest the crimes. Frequently, these government agents facilitate real or imagined crimes – going so far as to act out episodes of “guerilla theater” (a term used by an Assistant U.S. Attorney following one of these investigation) including staged gunfights and game planned drug transactions. Typically, these investigations involve extensive electronic and other surveillance and data mining of club members in the hopes of catching someone somewhere doing something illegal. What those members get caught doing are usually minor assaults and minor drug and firearms transactions that would be prosecuted in state court if they were committed by anybody but a motorcycle club member. But, motorcycle club members and associates are almost always prosecuted under the racketeering statutes called RICO and VICAR which carry penalties of up to life imprisonment. Although it is not illegal to belong to a motorcycle club, club members are frequently coerced into pleading guilty to that non-existent crime. The ATF, to a lesser extent the FBI, and with increasing frequency the Department of Homeland Security are all at war with motorcycle clubs. The war is international and it is intended to drive all motorcycle clubs out of existence. Creative legal strategies have been devised to punish members for simply belonging to clubs like the Vagos, Mongols and Outlaws. In the most successful investigations, ATF agents or their proxies, called Confidential Informants or Sources of Information, actually join clubs in order to both gather information about the membership and practices of the target organization but also, when the opportunity presents itself, to discover or manufacture reasons to prosecute club members. It is an astonishingly expensive war on social and political dissent. It has intensified since the September 11, 2001 terrorists attacks. It is, in fact, the greater part of the domestic “war on terror.” This part of the war against Al Qaeda is legitimized by rhetoric. Members and associates of clubs like the Vagos and the Outlaws are routinely called “domestic terrorists” and “street terrorists.” The clubs themselves are usually called “transnational gangs.” Falco was an agent proxy in Operation 22 Green, Operation Black Rain and Operation Black Diamond. The names of these investigations are coined by bureaucrats for their estimated public relations effect. Operation 22 Green employed two confidential informants, many dozens of ATF Agents and local police and lasted three years. During that time Falco and another informant made 25 alleged contraband purchases. At the conclusion of the long investigation police seized 132 legal firearms and two illegal firearms, 46 grams of cocaine, a total of about ten ounces of methamphetamine (I neglected to ask Wyatt/Falco if he cooked that crank), $15,000 in currency that was all later returned, firecrackers which were identified in the press as “explosives,” more than one thousand rounds of legally purchased and owned ammunition and numerous articles of clothing that indicated the wearer belonged to or supported the Vagos. Police also confiscated personal computers, photo albums, family souvenirs, cell phones and other personal items. The raids themselves were intended to punish their victims for belonging to a motorcycle club. At the conclusion of 22 Green 700 militarized police carried out an infantry assault intended mostly to punish club members and their families by wrecking their homes. During the raids one Vago was found to have a Chinese throwing star embedded in a wall. He was charged with possession of a deadly weapon. Another Vago, a former martial arts instructor, home made a set of nunchucks thirty years before then literally nailed them to his garage wall as a decoration. He was charged with manufacturing a deadly weapon. During the dawn raids, a mother was pulled from her shower and dragged outside naked. A nine-year-old girl was only allowed to urinate if she let two Sheriffs watch. Falco’s crowning achievement in this investigation was the tape recording of incriminating statements by a man who had knowledge of a homicide. The homicide was the result of a drug robbery gone wrong. One shot was fired, arguably by accident. One man was killed and a woman was wounded by the same bullet. Two subjects were charged with murder. One of them became a cooperating witness and was sentenced to one year in jail for voluntary manslaughter. The other suspect, Daniel Lee Foreman, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. It was not an open and shut case. Foreman would later write, “I was originally offered a seven year plea agreement on this same case…. The fact is, I turned it down on principle. Why should I accept any time for a crime I hadn’t committed?” Falco told me, “Operation 22 Green was successful in my eyes, just for the murder case alone….” After entering the witness protection program in 2007 Falco relocated to Lynchburg, Virginia and worked as a mechanic. He decided the next year “to return to my life undercover, but this time as a well-paid informant.” He volunteered with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to try to infiltrate the Hells Angels in Ontario in return for $1 million. When that fell through his mentor and hero Kozlowski introduced him to the Richmond, Virginia chapter of the Mongols. At the same time, Kozlowski was working undercover as a member of the Cypress Park, California chapter of the Mongols. It was the conclusion of ATF Operation Black Rain and the Virginia Mongols were entirely the invention of the ATF. The Bureau, using a paid confidential informant named Daniel Horrigan and a source of information named Lars Wilson, established the Virginia Mongols as a way to gain information about other motorcycle clubs in Virginia. After the raids that officially concluded Black Rain, the three ATF agents and two paid confidential informants who comprised the Virginia Mongols applied for membership in another motorcycle club, the American Outlaws Association. That investigation was eventually named Operation Black Diamond. Twenty-seven Outlaws were indicted for racketeering in June 2010. Most of them pled guilty to racketeering, which might sound impressive unless you understand that under current case law every organization is a racket and every member who has broken any law in the last ten years is a racketeer. The Boy Scouts and the Catholic Church are, technically, rackets. Virtually no one beats a racketeering charge at trial. Everybody except for the very rich and powerful pleads guilty to racketeering because it is usually the smart move. One Outlaw was gunned down by federal agents in Maine. The charges against another were dropped. The racketeering acts with which the men were charged included having illegal slot machines in Outlaws clubhouses, buying and selling contraband and several minor and not so minor assaults. The big target in Operation Black Diamond was Outlaws National President Jack Rosga, a 53-year-old grandfather with no criminal record who was convicted of racketeering and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Falco/Chef played virtually no part in Operation Black Rain and was mostly an observer during Operation Black Diamond. All of the war on the motorcycle outlaw menace in this moment in America is a kind of a circus. And in that circus Ashley/Falco/Charles/Chef was once one of the clowns. And that proves to be the single most annoying thing about “his” book. The putative author has no story to tell.
7
“How did you connect with Kerrie Droban?” “I saw Kerrie on Gangland,” the snitch answers. “So, I read her book. I thought it was great. I found her email address and asked if she would be interested in writing my book.” Blatchford? “Blatchford was doing a story on the Vagos and he was referred to me. We talked on the phone and I told him I would love to do an interview with him. I watched him for years in L.A. and have always enjoyed his reports. He was very nice, professional. Other than that I don’t know much more about him.” “Who referred you?” “Blatchford was referred to me by my agent. He seemed to be a bright and nice guy. He loves to expose the truth about gangs, which I think is a noble thing.” Falco’s agent is San Diego literary agent Jill Marsal. Marsal politely declined to comment about the Falco book. But she probably represents Falco in only a limited way called “hip-pocketing” which means she represents Falco for this one project. Her relationship with Kerrie Droban is more established. Droban is an attorney, a former prosecutor and a mother who practices law in a country club suburb north of Phoenix. She aspires to earn what Robert Frost’s called the “gift word,” which is “poet.” Droban is widely reviled in the outlaw world. Many club members think her total lack of sympathy for and her fatuousness about motorcycle outlaws is annoying. And, just when she is starting to enjoy some commercial success she seems to be fading as a writer. Long before she became a biker authority Droban wrote a few lines I particularly like. I’ll tell you about my days in Kenya:Inevitably, flying termites litter the porchWith wings in the season of heavy rain.Males struggle naked on the stones,Their female mates already gone.Umbula, the cook, fries them in chocolate.I cannot describe the tasteThere has never been much money in poetry and after her days in Kenya, if there actually were days in Kenya, Droban became a prosecutor. Her prince turned out to be a Glendale, Arizona homicide detective named Sergei Droban. She turned to prose and she had no more success than most writers until her social and professional connections introduced her to the ATF infiltration of the Arizona Angels. Her first publishing success was Running With The Devil. It was the best book published about Operation Black Biscuit. Although, that is faint praise. The other writers were the pompous and self-important Julien Sher, the psychotherapeutically intriguing Jay “Bird” Dobyns and the children’s book author Nils Johnson-Shelton. Voila! The poet began to appear in publicity photos wearing a black leather jacket. Step by step, Droban stopped being a writer and instead became a “brand.” As dogs learn to sit up and beg, she learned to say, “My author brand is graphic realism. Raw, gritty stories that demand an audience.” Marsal became her agent and she sold Droban’s second biker book, Prodigal Father, Pagan Son: Growing Up Inside the Dangerous World of the Pagans Motorcycle Club, to a mystifyingly successful writer and editor at St. Martin’s Press, named Rob Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick, 43, became a big success after he wrote a bad and un-insightful book about the year 1969 called 1969. He sold and was paid for what the world most needs now, yet another biography of Bruce Springsteen, and he published a biography of former Senators shortstop Cecil Travis. He has been described as “a journalist, a historian, a sociologist, and a sportswriter.” He has been a talking head on the History Channel and he “also writes about film, music, sports, and cultural issues for The Huffington Post.” After he published Prodigal Father, Pagan Son he bought the rights to Droban’s collaboration with Wyatt/Falco in November 2011. About his work as an editor Kirkpatrick has written, “I specialize in narrative nonfiction and have built an eclectic list including history, sports, pop culture, and biography/memoir. I look to publish entertaining and compelling stories – especially books that should have been written before but hadn’t – and seek to effectively position all my books with memorable titles, enthusiastic blurbs, and eye-catching covers. In my ‘free’ time, I’ve also completed a PhD in English….” Kirkpatrick ignored a request to answer basic questions about the Falco book. The questions he would not answer included “How was the book fact checked? Was it submitted to the ATF for authorization?” “Should a ‘true-crime’ book be true? Is it necessary that it be true?” And, “Briefly, in what ways are you responsible for this book?” I believe he wrote the book blurb that he expects will “effectively position” the Wyatt/Falco/Droban collaboration. The blurb argues, “In separate investigations that spanned years and coasts, Falco risked his life, suffering a fractured neck and a severely torn shoulder, working deep undercover to bring violent sociopaths to justice.” Falco’s injuries are significantly overstated. The snitch couldn’t keep up with an ATF agent while riding his motorcycle in the rain in Virginia, ran onto the grass and went over the high side. Kirkpatrick continues, “Falco’s engrossing account of the dangers of the biker underworld and justice is perfect for fans of FX’s Sons of Anarchy as well as Hunter Thompson’s classic Hell’s Angels.” Kirkpatrick’s job is to create book products that pander to niche marketing categories. With this book he is chasing the Sons of Anarchy audience. He is also chasing after people who have read Hunter Thompson’s book about the Angels. He wants to tell those audiences a story that looks to him like a proven success. In other words he thinks the snitch’s tale is the exact same story that has sold well for almost fifty years. And also, he thinks Falco’s book is exactly the same as a story that was invented in a conference room in Hollywood. He either doesn’t care or notice that neither Droban or Falco is exactly in Thompson’s league as a writer, or for that matter even Kurt Sutter’s. You should know about Kirkpatrick because whatever story Falco told Droban, and whatever story Droban wrote, it has now been tailored to fit a well worn editorial formula. This is simply how modern publishing works – just as Blatchford trading his cache as a journalist to ingratiate himself to Marsal and Kirkpatrick is exactly how modern journalism works. This is how Jenna Bush became a best selling author and journalist. Kirkpatrick exemplifies what Jay Dobyns meant several years ago, by “some 5th Avenue pogue whose biggest risk in life has been to decide how much of his 401k to take out to buy his yacht.” St. Martin’s offices are on 5th Avenue in Manhattan.
8
The product of all these invisible social and economic forces, of Wyatt/Falco’s egomania, Kirkpatrick’s fatuousness and Droban’s ambition, is a dismal and bloated vampire novel with Falco starring in the role of Van Helsing. Just as the snitch now called Falco truly believes in his own importance I truly believe that publishing this waste of perfectly good trees should be prosecuted as an environmental crime. Most of what Wyatt/Falco/Droban/Kirkpatrick tell readers are lies. Not mistakes, not hyperbole but simply lies. There are so many lies that a legion of fact checkers would go blind trying to correct them all. Over and over, Vagos, Mongols and Outlaws are described as rabid, ravenous wolves. Civilians are innocent, fluffy, little bunnies. Oh no, little bunny! Don’t go in that bar! No! No! Because Falco did so little other than get stoned and incriminate a man who may or may not be guilty of murder, much of the book attempts to describe what Wyatt/Falco dreamt. “I dreamed of rushing rapids, of light shallow water, of warning Vs in the ripples. There’s something down there, I shouted into cold winds. But no one heard me. River left. I paddled furiously toward shore. River left. Get out. Get out. Eddy the boat. Obstacle ahead.” Apparently Droban thought that if she just free associated enough of this crap, the word count might eventually total the number specified in her contract. Most of the book is written in a narrative voice authors usually use to manipulate their readers into closely identifying with a fictional hero. “My heart hammered against my chest. Surrounded by dark shapes clad in denim and dirty patches of heat, I had never felt more alone. As an informant, I had no backup, no surveillance team, no one to hear the bullet penetrate my skull if things soured…. Not only had I confirmed for the government that the Vagos trafficked in drugs and illegal weapons; I had also established they were involved in committing homicides, the violent trademark of motorcycle gangs. I swelled with a sense of duty, of serving society. My role was no longer about self-preservation, it was about justice.” Over and over Falco wears his duplicity like a Silver Star: “I wanted to shout out, ‘Not me, not me, I’m not one of them. I’m one of the good guys.” “I wasn’t my costume, I wasn’t a badass. I was one of the good guys.” “Through our testimony we would likely join the ranks of other ‘brave and noble’ men who paid the price to crush Al-Qaeda terrorists or chill further mob violence.” “Meanwhile, Koz worried that I had become too soft, ‘too nice, too much of a gentleman’ gangster. He didn’t want me to be like ‘fucking James Bond,’ but he urged me to ‘be more aggressive, act more like a real gangster.’” “For three years I knew my role, and the culmination of my life’s work.” “Strangely, the lying bothered me the most even though I had been deceptive about my life since I was nineteen years old: first as a drug dealer, then as an informant and now as a completely revised person.” “Like soldiers returning from war, I imagined I experienced similar post-traumatic stress.” “Neither Twist nor the Vagos loved me or each other, they loved the idea of me and their brotherhood.” “For the briefest of moments I felt what a celebrity must.” “The whole idea that Vagos would defend each other, even die for each other, was bullshit. Code, club colors was all illusion and delusion. The seduction of being someone else was an addiction.” “I drifted off to my safe place, my subconscious.” “Some experiences are too profound to translate: war, military service, and life undercover.” “In a few hours, I would return to that lonely place, to the underworld, inhabited by undercover operatives, where my life completely transformed.” Really sings doesn’t it? Maybe it was the prose Blatchford loved. How about you? Do you think you would like to read another 70,000 words of this? The phony Falco informs his eager audience that all Vagos are phonies. “The notion that motorcycle gangs had any interest in charities or children was perverse. They needed money to fund their drug and arms deals. And they fit into the real world the way sociopaths blended, by mimicking human emotion and wearing acceptable masks, by pretending to care about children’s causes.” And, among other atrocities, members of the Outlaw Motorcycle Club are anti “little people.” In one of the dozens of story lines in this insider account Falco becomes afraid that his new club brothers might force him to fuck the three-foot-tall porn star Bridget the Midget. “That night I crawled into the van, but sleep eluded me. Bridget floated into my conscience.” Into his “conscience.” Not his consciousness but his conscience.
Postcript
I finish Falco/Wyatt/Charles/Droban/Kirkpatrick’s rotten book and abandon the interview with him. I know before I write half of it that this article is already a loser. I don’t want to write about Falco. I don’t like Falco. I want to punch him in the face. I want to punch Falco in the face that night on the Strip. I want to punch somebody in the face as I make the always thrilling, diving right turn from Sunset onto La Cienega with a very important taxi in a hurry just behind me. I want to punch the cab driver in the face. I want to punch somebody in the face because I have been told, by people who love me, that I have anger issues. And, also I want to punch somebody in the face because we now live in a moment of lies. The government lies to us. The government lies to itself. The police lie to judges. Doctors lie to patients. Charles Falco, Kerrie Droban and Rob Kirkpatrick are all lying. And, I know those lies are tomorrow’s historical truth. And, if I throw enough punches at history maybe I will leave a mark.
You have rights during a traffic stop or during any police encounter. Learn what your rights are and use them!
1. Your Safety -Start by putting the police officer at ease. Pull over to a safe place, turn off your ignition, stay in the car and keep your hands on the steering wheel. At night turn on the interior light. Keep your license, registration and proof of insurance close by like in your "sun visor."
Be courteous, stay calm, smile and don't complain. Show respect and say things like "sir and no sir." Never bad-mouth a police officer, stay in control of your words, body language and your emotions. Keep your hands where the police officer can see them. Never touch a police officer and never run away!
2. Never Talk To A Police Officer -The only questions you need to answer is your name, address, date of birth, sometimes your social security number but NOTHING else! "In some states you can refuse to give your I.D. card to a police officer, know the laws of your state." Instead of telling the police officer who you are, give him your driver's license or your I.D. card. All the information the police officer needs to know about you, can be found on your i.d. card or drivers license. If you can keep your mouth shut, you just might come out ahead more than you expected.
I'm Going to Remain Silent- The Supreme Court says you should never talk to a police officereven if you're not under arrest, without an attorney. The Supreme Court ruled you must speak up and SAY to the police officer "I'm going to remain silent" and then keep your mouth shut even if you're not under arrest. How can you be falsely accused and charged with a crime, if you don't say anything? Never talk to a police officer before or after you get arrested. Anything you say or do, can and will be used against you at anytime by the police.
3. Just Say NO to Police Searches! -If a police officer didn't need your permission to search you, he wouldn't be asking you. Never give permission for a police officer to search you, your car or your home. If a police officer does search you, don't resist and just keep saying "I don't consent to this search."
4.Am I Free to Go? -As soon as the police officer ask you a question ask him, "Am I free to go?"You have to ask if you're "free to go," otherwise the police officer will think that you're voluntarily staying around to talk with him. If the police officer says that you're being detained or arrested tell the police officer, "I'm going to remain silent."
Anything You Say Can And Will Be Used Against You!
Silence is not an admission of guilt and can't be used against you in court.
Police officers will be videotaping or audio recording you and this is why you must NEVER talk to the police officer. You have every right NOT to talk to a police officer and you should NOT talk to a police officer unless you have first consulted with a lawyer and the lawyer has advised you differently. Police officers depend on fear and intimidation to get what they want from you and this includes giving up your rights. The government made a law that allows police officers to lie to American citizens. That's another reason not to trust the police or the Federal government.
Never voluntarily talk to a police officer, there's no such thing as a "friendly chat." Let the police officer do all the talking and you stay silent. The Supreme Court has recently ruled that you should NOT talk to a police officer if you have NOT been arrestedand you must say out loud "I'm going to remain silent." It can be very dangerous to talk to a police officer or a Federal Agent. Innocent people have talked to a police officer and ended up in jail and prison all because they spoke to a police officer without an attorney.
Police officers have the same right as you, "Freedom of Speech." Police may ask you anything they want, but you should never answer any of their questions. Don't let the police officer try and persuade you to talk! Say something like "I'm sorry, I don't have time to talk right now." If the cop insists on talking to you, ask him "Am I free to go?" The police officer may not like when you refuse to talk to him and challenge you with words like, "If you have anything to hide, why won't you speak to me? Say to the officer again "I told you I don't have time to talk to you right now, Am I free to go?" If you forget or the police officer tricks you into talking, it's okay just start over again and tell the police officer "I'm going to remain silent."
The Supreme Court has ruled that if a police officer doesn't force you to do something, then you're doing it "voluntarily." That means if the police officer starts being intimidating and you do what he "ask" because you're "afraid," you still have done it voluntarily. (Florida v. Bostick, 1991) If you do what the police officer "ask" you to do such as allowing him to search your car or answer any of his questions, you are "voluntarily" complying with his "requests."So don't comply, just keep your mouth shut unless you say "Am I Free to Go?"or "I don't consent to a search."
Keep your license, registration and proof of insurance in an easily accessible place, like your sun visor. When pulled over by a police officer stay in the car, turn on the interior lights and keep your hands on the steering wheel. Sit still, relax and wait for the officer to come to you. Any sudden movements, ducking down, looking nervous or appearing to be searching for something under your seat could get you shot.
Don't forget during traffic stops the police are videotaping you, this is why you must NOT talk to the police officer. Police officers like to ask the first question and that's usually, "do you know why I stopped you? Do you know how fast you were going?" The police officer is trying to get you to do two things, admit that you committed a traffic violation and to get you to "voluntarily" start a conversation with him.Remember the police officer is not your friend and should not be trusted! The only thing you need to say is "I'm going to remain silent or am I free to go?"
The police officer might start asking you personal questions such as "where are you going, where have you been and who did you see, ect." At that point it's the perfect time to exercise your rights by asking the police officer "AM I FREE TO GO?" There's NO legal requirement that American citizens provide information about their comings and goings to a police officer. It's none of the police officers damn business! Keep asking the police officer "AM I FREE TO GO?" You have to speak up and verbally ask the police officer if you're allowed to leave, otherwise the courts will assume that you wanted to stay and talk to the police officer on your own free will.
Passengers in your vehicle need to know their rights as well. They have the same right NOT to talk to a police officer and the right to refuse a search "unless it's a 'pat down' for weapons." The police will usually separate the passengers from each other and ask questions to see if their stories match. All passengers should always give the same answer and say, "I'm going to remain silent and am I free to go?" Remember you have to tell the police officer that you don't want to talk to him. It's the law
How long can a police officer keep you pulled over "detained" during a traffic stop? The Supreme Court has made mention that no more than 15-20 minutes is a reasonable amount of time for a police officer to conduct his investigation and allow you to go FREE on your way. But you have to keep asking the police officer "AM I FREE TO GO?"
During a traffic stop a good time to ask "AM I FREE TO GO," is after the police officer has given you a "warning or a ticket" and you have signed it. Once you have signed the ticket the traffic stop is legally over says the U.S. Supreme Court. There's no law that requires you to stay and talk to the police officer or answer any questions. After you have signed the ticket and got your license back you may roll up your window, start your car and leave. If you're outside the car ask the police officer, "AM I FREE TO GO?" If he says yes then get in your car and leave.
Car Searches and Body Searches
Remember the police officer wouldn't be asking you, if he didn't need your permission to search! "The right to be free from unreasonable searches is one of America's most precious First Liberties."
Police officers swore an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and not to violate your rights against unreasonable search and seizure Fourth Amendment. Denying a police officers request to search you or your car is not an admission of guilt, it's your American right! Some police officers might say, "if you have nothing to hide, you should allow me to search." Politely say to the police officer "I don't consent to a search, am I FREE to go?"
For the safety of police officers the government allows the police to pat down your outer clothing to see if you have any weapons. If the police officer feels something that he believes is a weapon, then he can go into your pockets and pull out the item he believes is a weapon.
A police officer may ask you or even demand that you empty your pockets, but you have the right to say "NO! AM I FREE TO GO?"There's NO law that requires you to empty your pockets when a police officer tells you to do so. The only time a police officer are allowed to be taking your personal property out of your pockets is after you have been arrested.
The police officer is allowed to handcuff you and/or detain you in his police car. Don't resist or you will be arrested! There's a big difference between being detained and being arrested. Say nothing in the police car! Police will be recording your conversation inside the police car, say nothing to your friend and don't talk to the police officers inside the car!
If you are arrested and your car is towed, the police are allowed to take an "inventory" of the items in your car. If anything is found illegal in your vehicle, the police will get a warrant from a judge and then charge you with another crime.
Don't Open Your Door At Home If A Police Officer Knocks!
If the police knock on your door at home, there's no law that says you have to open your door to police officers. "Don't worry if they do have a search warrant, they'll kick down your door before they knock." * There is NO law that requires you to open your door to a police officer.* Don't open your door with the chain-lock on either, police officers will shove their way in. Simply shout to the police officers "I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY" or just don't say anything at all.
Guest and roommates staying in your home/apartment/dorm need to be told of their rights and not to open the door to a police officer or invite police officer into your home without your permission. Police officers are like vampires, they need your permission to come into your home.
Never agree to go to the police station if the police want to question you. Just say, "I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY."
* In some emergency situations (for example when a someone is screaming for help from inside your home, police are chasing someone into your home, police see a felony being committed or if someone has called 911 from inside your house) police officers are allowed to enter and search your home without a warrant.
Teenagers have rights also, if you're under 18 click here. If your children don't know their rights and they go talking to a teacher, school principal, police officer or a Federal agent without an attorney, it could cost your family dearly and change the lives of your family forever!
Dealing With a Police Officer In Public
NEVER give consent to a police officer and allow for a conversation to start. If a police officer stops you and ask to speak with you, you're perfectly within your rights to say "I do not wish to speak with you," then say good-bye. At this point you should be free to leave, but the police officer might ask for your identification. If you have identification on you, tell the officer where it's at and ask permission to reach for it. "In some states you're not required to show an I.D. unless the police officer has reasonable suspicion that you committed a crime, know the laws of your state!"
The police officer might start asking you questions, at this point you may ask the officer "Am I Free to Go?"The police officer may not like this and may challenge you with words like, "If you have nothing to hide, why won't you speak to me?" Just like the first question, you don't have to answer this question either. Police officers need your permission to have a conversation. There is NO law that says you have tell a police officer where you are going or where you have been, so keep your mouth shut and say nothing! Don't answer any questions (except name, address and age) until you have a lawyer.
Probable Cause
A police officer has no right to detain you unless there exist reasonable suspicion that you have committed a crime or traffic violation. However a police officer is always allowed to initiate a "voluntary" conversation with you. You always have the right not to talk or answer any questions a police officer might ask you. Just tell the police officer, "I'm going to remain silent." Under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, police may engage in "reasonable" searches and seizures. To prove that a search is reasonable the police generally must show that it's more likely than not that a crime has occurred and that if a search is conducted it's probable that the police officer will find evidence of the crime. This is called "probable cause."
Police may use first hand information or tips from an informant "snitch" to justify the need to search your property or you. If an informant's information is used, the police must prove that the information is reliable under the circumstances to a judge.
Here's a case when several police officers took the word of a "snitch," claiming he knew where a "drug dealer" lived. Corrupt police officers in Houston Texas took it upon themselves to go to this house that the snitch had "picked at random" and the officers kicked in the front door at 1:30 in the morning. Police never bothered to get a warrant from a judge. The aftermath was... Police Officers In Texas Are Allowed to Murder Innocent People and Get Away With It
Should We Trust Police Officers?
Are police officers allowed to lie to you? Yes the Supreme Court has ruledpolice officers can lie to the American people. Police officers are trained at lying, twisting words and being manipulative. Police officers and other law enforcement agents are very skilled at getting information from people. So don't try to "out smart" a police officer and don't try being a "smooth talker" because you will loose! If you can keep your mouth shut, you just might come out ahead more than you expected.
Teach your children that they must call a parent for permission before they're allowed to talk to police officer. Remember police officers are trained to put your child at ease and build trust. A police officers job is to find, arrest and help convict a suspect and that suspect could be your child!
Although police officers may seem nice and pretend to be on your side theywant to learn your habits, opinions, and affiliations of other people not suspected of wrongdoing. Don't try to answer a police officers questions, it can be very dangerous! You can never tell how a seemingly harmless bit of information that you give to a police officer might be used and misconstrued to hurt you or someone else. Also keep in mind that lying to a federal agent is a Federal crime. "That's why Martha Stewart went to prison, not for insider trading but for lying to a Federal Agent."
Lies Police Officers Will Say To Get You to Talk
There'smany ways a police officer can LIE and trick you into talking. It's always safe to say the Magic Words: "Am I free to leave? I'm going to remain silent and I want a lawyer."
The following are common lie's the police use when they're trying to get you to talk:
* "You will have to stay here and answer my questions" or "You're not leaving until I find out what I want to know."
* "I have evidence on you, so tell me what I want to know or else." (Police can fabricate fake evidence to convince you to tell them what they want to know.)
* "You're not a suspect, were simply investigating here. Help us understand what happened and then you may leave."
* "If you don't answer my questions, I won't have any choice but to take you to jail."
* "If you don't answer these questions, you'll be charged with resisting arrest."
* "Your friend has told his side of the story and it's not looking good for you, anything you want to tell me?
If The Police Arrest You
"I WILL NOT TALK UNTIL I HAVE A LAWYER!"
* Don't answer any questions the police ask you, (except for your name, address and age.) Any other questions the police officer ask you, just say I want to talk to my lawyer.
* Police officers don't always have to read to you the Miranda Rights after you've been arrested. If you "voluntarily" talk a police officer, the police officer doesn't have to read your Miranda Rights. Talking to a police officer at anytime can be very dangerous!
* Never talk to other jail inmates about your case.
* Within a reasonable time after your arrest or booking, you have the right to make a local phone call to a lawyer, bail bondsman, relative or any other person you choose. The police can't listen to you your phone call if you're talking to your lawyer.
* The longest you can be held in jail is 72 hours. If you get arrested on a 3 day weekend you may not see the judge until Tuesday morning. Otherwise youwill usuallyget out of jail in 4 to 24 hours if you can make bond.
* If you're on probation or parole tell your P.O. you've been arrested and say nothing else to him!
Surveillance video from the Henry Hotel reveals that SFPD narcotics officers falsified police reports in order to justify searching residences without warrants or consent. at the public defender's office in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, March 1, 2011. Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle
Police officer perjury in court to justify illegal dope searches is commonplace. One of the dirty little not-so-secret secrets of the criminal justice system is undercover narcotics officers intentionally lying under oath. It is a perversion of the American justice system that strikes directly at the rule of law. Yet it is the routine way of doing business in courtrooms everywhere in America.Count this as one more casualty of the "war on drugs." It is simply additional collateral damage from using the American criminal justice system as the battlefield of that war. It stands alongside the wasteful wreckage of hundreds of thousands of imprisoned Americans locked up for drug use, and the destruction of Mexico as a functioning state because of criminal cartels enriched through outlawed American drug use. The corruption of America's police officers as the most identifiable group of perjurers in the courts is one more item on that list. Why do police, whom we trust as role models of legal conduct, show contempt for the law by systematically perjuring themselves?The first reason is because they get away with it. They know that in a swearing match between a drug defendant and a police officer, the judge always rules in favor of the officer. Often in search hearings, it is embarrassingly clear to everyone - judge, prosecutor, defense attorney, even spectators - that the officer is lying under oath. Yet nothing is done about it. There are rare cases in which the nature of the testimony and the physical evidence make it absolutely impossible to credit an officer's version and the judge must rule the search illegal. When this happens, the judge rules hesitatingly and grudgingly for
the defense. Indeed, judges sometimes apologize to the officer for tossing out illegally seized evidence where the cop has just committed felony perjury in the judge's presence. Another reason is the nature of most drug cases and the likely type of person involved. Usually police illegally enter a home, search it and find drugs. Like the recent scandal in San Francisco concerning the Henry Hotel residents, the defendant is poor, uneducated, frequently a minority, with a criminal record, and he does have drugs. Police know that no one cares about these people. But the main reason is that the job of these cops is chasing drugs. Their professional advancement depends on nabbing dopers. The dominant culture they grew up with is popular mythology glorifying rogue cops like Popeye Doyle from the 1975 film "The French Connection." It's reinforced by San Francisco's own sorry history of infamous undercover narcotics officers promoted to top levels in the department despite contempt for the law shown by bullying, brutality and perjury in carrying out illegal searches and arrests. So the modern narcotics officer is just following a well-worn path. Maybe the video tape scandal from the Henry Hotel will help change this culture. I hope so
OFF THE WIRE INTRODUCTION These California Public Records Act guidelines describe the prescribed steps necessary for requesting access to inspect and/or obtain copies of public records maintained by the Department of California Highway Patrol (“the Department”) OR ANY CA POLICE DEPT... The legislative enactment of the California Public Records Act (“the Act”) constituted a statement of policy that access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state. This policy was made part of the California State Constitution in 2004. It is the policy of the State that governmental records will be disclosed to the public upon request, unless the law provides an exemption from disclosure. The general assumption is that all records held by state agencies are public and must be made available to the public promptly upon request. However, the Legislature has recognized the need to balance the public’s right to know against compelling rights to privacy and the government’s need to perform its functions in a reasonable efficient manner. As such, the Act contains several specific exemptions from disclosure and incorporates several other statutes that prohibit state employees from disclosing certain types of public records. It is the Department’s burden to justify any withholding of public records. The Act also establishes reasonable procedures providing for prompt disclosure while allowing state agencies the time to locate records and to determine which records, if any, are exempt from disclosure. The Department’s policy is to provide all members of the public convenient access to, and to promptly make the fullest possible disclosure of, its public records. Department personnel are available to assist persons making such requests and will solicit the assistance of the requestor when clarification of requested records is needed so as to make focused and effective requests that reasonably describe identifiable records. As a law enforcement agency the Department is entitled to treat certain records as exempt from disclosure, and express provisions of the Act, Penal Code, and Vehicle Code, among others, preclude public disclosure of certain records. When a request to review or obtain records is received, whether made in person, by mail, or by other means, it may be necessary for staff to first locate, then secure, and then review the requested items so that a determination can be made whether one or more exemptions apply, prior to having the records made available for viewing or copies provided. HOW TO REQUEST ACCESS TO A PUBLIC RECORD Anyone wishing to make a public records request in person may do so during regular business hours at any Department office that is open to the public. Department personnel shall not ask or demand that persons requesting to inspect records provide their identification or the reasons for wanting to inspect records. However, if records are to be picked up or mailed to a requestor, relevant identifying information must be provided. Written requests to inspect or to obtain a copy of a public record should be addressed to the Department, to any area office, field division office, or to Department Headquarters. The Headquarters address is California Highway Patrol 601 North 7th Street Sacramento, CA 95811 Attention: Public Records Coordinator The Headquarters facsimile for requests under the Act is 916-322-3219. The written request need not be in any particular form, but should sufficiently describe the requested records to enable Department personnel to identify and locate the records sought. While not required by the Act, it is helpful for the request to include a telephone number or address where the person requesting the record can be reached to expedite the resolution of any questions concerning the request that may arise. THE DEPARTMENT’S RESPONSE TO PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS If the records are clearly disclosable, they will be made available as soon as possible. However, in most cases staff will have to review the records to determine whether all or part maybe privileged, confidential, or otherwise exempt from disclosure. Within 10 days from the date the request is received, the Department will determine whether the request, in whole or in part, seeks copies of disclosable public records in the Department’s possession and notify the requestor of such determination. In unusual circumstances, the 10-day time limit may be extended up to an additional 14 days by written notice to the requestor, setting forth the reason for the time extension (i.e., the request is too voluminous, seeks records held off site, or requires consultation with other agencies). The Department may need to request additional information if the request is not specific enough to permit the identification of the requested records. If the determination by the Department is made to comply with the request, the records will be made available as promptly as is reasonably practicable. While the Department will disclose or otherwise make available identifiable and existing records, the Act does not require the Department to create, synthesize, manufacture, or summarize records: the Act specifically does not obligate the Department to develop new records so as to be able to respond to a request. Any request may be denied if the records sought are determined to be privileged, confidential or otherwise exempt from disclosure, or are not found in the Department’s files or records. Notification of such a determination will be provided. The Department must justify the withholding of any record by demonstrating that the record is exempt under the Act or that the public interest in nondisclosure outweighs the public interest in disclosure. In most circumstances, when the Department removes or redacts exempt information from the record, it will disclose the remainder of the record. REQUESTS TO VIEW PUBLIC RECORDS Public records may be reviewed during regular business hours (generally weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. excluding holidays), at Department offices open to the public. Individuals who are interested in viewing public records are encouraged to make an appointment in advance. Appointments are not mandatory but can help Department staff facilitate the request, and the failure to make an appointment may result in a delay while the records are located and reviewed. Persons wishing to enter secured parts of the Department buildings must comply with the Department’s security protocol, including providing identification. REQUEST FOR COPIES OF PUBLIC RECORDS The Department will make copies of records for members of the public upon request. The Act provides that copies of records will be made promptly available upon payment of fees that cover the direct costs of duplication. The Department currently charges $0.30 per page for copying. The direct cost of duplication includes the pro rata expense of the duplicating equipment and the staff required to make a copy of that record. Direct costs of duplication does not include the staff person’s time in researching, retrieving, redacting and mailing the record. When the Department must compile electronic data, extract information from an electronic record, or undertake computer programming to satisfy a request, the Department may require the requestor to bear the full costs, not just the direct cost of duplication. A public record that is not exempt from disclosure that is in an electronic format will be made available in an electronic format, if requested, but only if it does not jeopardize the security or integrity of the record or any proprietary software. The requestor will be charged the cost of producing an electronic copy of the record. Alternative charges apply for public records that are maintained in other formats, such as audio or video. HOW TO CHALLENGE THE DEPARTMENT’S DETERMINATION NOT TO DISCLOSE RECORDS Under the Act any person may seek mandamus, injunctive or declarative relief in any court of competent jurisdiction to enforce the right to inspect or to receive a copy of any public record. These guidelines are posted in a conspicuous public place at Department offices that are open to the public, are available free of charge to any person who requests them, and are also available on the Department’s website (www.chp.ca.gov).
This document seeks to impart on the reader some best-practices to be effective and safe when Copblocking. It was created by Pete Eyre and Ademo Freeman (and thus does not speak for others involved at the decentralized CopBlock.org). COPBLOCKING 101 Goal: Transparency, safeguard individual rights, outreach, erode violence-based monopoly Overview: Armed with cameras, communication and more, Copblockers proactively respond to and document police stops. Details: Set a time and place to meet-up with other Copblockers. Don’t waste your time in sparsely-populated part of town, instead, head to areas with heavy foot traffic or where police harassment is known to occur. You may want to meet at a location different than the area you plan to patrol for two reasons. First, use it as a time to make sure everyone is on the same page. Folks may RSPV on a Facebook event but you won’t know until it’s go-time how many people will participate and what technology they’ll bring. Also, you may have some new-comers. Use this time to answer their questions and set them at ease by reviewing possible scenarios. Second, if your patrol is to include a mobile unit (see below) other vehicles can be left behind, which can mean lower (or no) meter or garage expenses (since Copblocking is usually done in dense urban areas) and a safer location. While it may seem a good idea for everyone to split-up to cover more ground, it’s much safer when Copblocking to be in pairs, if not more numerous teams. Each team should have at least two people with cameras. The more the better. Alternatively, one activist with a camera and a second activist with a livestreamed-enabled smart phone is a good combination since content on the latter can’t be deleted by aggressive strangers wearing badges. Information is power. Share cell phone and emergency contact information with a friend or those on another team before heading out. If possible, bolster your effectiveness by having at least one radio per team (to communicate) and at least one person monitoring area police scanners (more below). Have handouts – such as quarter-sheet flyers, stickers or business cards to distribute. When Copblocking you’ll meet a lot of receptive people – if you can provide them with a resource they’ll be much more likely to follow-up later and may even one day join you on the streets or donate to help you continue your activities. Roles
Camera A– point person closest to scene that uses livestreaming technology if available (free smartphone app). Each situation is different but generally it’s a good idea to approach a scene in the line of sight of the cop, both for your safety and so they can’t claim they were caught off-guard. If the scene is a traffic stop and the cop is running information in their cruiser it could be a good opportunity to communicate with the person stopped.
Camera B– back-up person at periphery armed with a video camera. If the point person (Camera A) is arrested or their camera is stolen, safeguarding footage of the incident is paramount. If the point person ends up in court the footage collected by the back-up person (Camera B) will ensure the person wearing a badge doesn’t create a reality that exonerates their actions. Use of a monopod – which is lighter and more compact than a tripod is suggested for clarity of video.
Mobile Unit– vehicle(s) involved in Copblocking activity expand the range of coverage and can act as transports for Copblockers if needed. Though it’s not mission-critical it often helps to have wheels when on patrol. At a minimum two individuals should be in each mobile unit – one to focus on driving and a second to maintain communication with those on foot and film. The second person can also monitor scanner traffic if so-equipped. Usually it’s a good idea for the vehicle to be driven by the owner, since they know where their line is. Keep in mind – it’s far easier for someone with a badge to “legally” stop and harass you when driving a vehicle than when on foot. This is especially at night when a burnt-out taillight may give someone wearing a badge the belief they can stop and harass you. If you do plan on driving, mitigate such risks. Have a friend do a walk-around of your vehicle while you test brakes, turn signals and reverse lights. Also, feel free to stay out of sight. Park along a curb on a busy street near an intersection to have eyes down four streets. Radio in locations of incidents to your colleagues on the ground, or drop them off a block or two away.
Scanner– person can be stationary at their residence or another offsite location listening to a scanner or via an Internet feed on their computer or mobile in a vehicle or on bicycle/foot with a handheld scanner or via free smartphone app (for Droid search Market for “Scanner Radio”).
Debrief As with any other skill, to continue to improve it’s important to reflect on what went well and areas that could be done different. Solicit feedback from those who participated in the Copblocking. Share content Tips
Charge all electronic devices such as cameras, phones, radios, etc. before heading out. Carry spare batteries just in case.
Always document your interactions with individuals who claim to protect your rights. If you wind up in court without video or audio evidence it’ll be your word against theirs. Almost without exception courts side with them.
Leave a resource with those whom you interact. Almost without exception, whatever you do it’s important to carry materials to leave with those you meet – a flyer, CopBlock.org business card, DVD or your own contact info. The more tangible the connections between you and those in your area the sooner you’ll achieve your goal.
Well we all hear about the stories, Where Stars give back, I`m here to say that I know a, REAL STAND UP GUY & his Beautiful wife YADI.. While talking to, Emilio & Yadi, I could tell ,by the feelings, emotion, passion, I saw this was heartfelt desire to give back.. It`s Called " THE LEFTOUT KIDS ", it benifits the ones who get to play little league baseball, and kids otherwise not able to go to high school proms. the shirts you see here are a limited run of 3000 shirts. the website will be up a running in afew weeks, as soon as it is, all the links will be posted here. you can check out facebook, Emilio Rivera fanpage to check it out.
Info on my LEFTOUT T'S for my Charity.
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T with autographed headshot. Send $30.00 money order or cashiers check only to Left Out P.O. Box 93087 Los Angeles California 90093. No tax and shipping for these shirts is free. We have L XL ,2XL make sure to include your size.
