But through their shrewd use of Washington's Public Records Act, the two Seattle residents are now the closest thing the city has to a civilian police-oversight board. In the last year and a half, they have acquired hundreds of reports, videos, and 911 calls related to the Seattle Police Department's internal investigations of officer misconduct between 2010 and 2013. And though they have only combed through a small portion of the data, they say they have found several instances of officers appearing to lie, use racist language, and use excessive force—with no consequences. In fact, they believe that the Office of Professional Accountability (OPA) has systematically "run interference" for cops. In the aforementioned cases of alleged officer misconduct, all of the involved officers were exonerated and still remain on the force.

"We're trying to do OPA's job for them because OPA was so explicitly not interested in doing their own job," said Rachner.

Among some of Rachner and Mocek's findings: a total of 1,028 SPD employees (including civilian employees) were investigated between 2010 and 2013. (The current number of total SPD staff is 1,820.) Of the 11 most-investigated employees—one was investigated 18 times during the three-year period—every single one of them is still on the force, according to SPD.

In 569 allegations of excessive or inappropriate use of force (arising from 363 incidents), only seven were sustained—meaning 99 percent of cases were dismissed. Exoneration rates were only slightly smaller when looking at all the cases between 2010 and 2013—of the total 2,232 allegations, 284 were sustained.

Police investigating the 1996 murder of Angie Dodge targeted the wrong man as the suspect, after looking to Ancestry.com owned Sorensen Database labs for help. The labs look for familial matches between the murderers DNA and DNA submitted for genealogical testing after failing to find a match using traditional methods.

...

A promising “partial match” emerged between the semen sample and the genetic profile of someone within the Sorenson database. Although the name was initially shielded, police finally sought a court order last summer to require Ancestry.com to reveal Usry’s name to the police, despite it being listed as “protected” in the Sorenson database.

Ancestry.com failed to respond to questions about how frequently it receives court orders in criminal investigations or if the company attempts to resist law enforcement requests for peoples’ private genetic information, according to The New Orleans Advocate.

At this point in the story things became even more convoluted. The DNA from the Ancestry.com database linked a man, Michael Usry, to the case that didn’t fit the police profile, as he was born in 1952.

The cops then used the genetic information and traced his line of male descendants, ultimately finding his son Michael Usry Jr., born in 1979, which much more closely fit the police profile of the killer.

Once they had targeted Ursy Jr. as the suspect, they began to scour his Facebook page looking for connections to Idaho, finding a couple of Facebook friends that lived in the area of Idaho Falls.

Police then, by Google searching, realized that Usry Jr. was a filmmaker and had done some short films containing murder scenes. Law enforcement subsequently got a warrant for Usry Jr.’s DNA based upon the completely circumstantial evidence presented by Idaho investigators.

The cops then called Usry Jr. and asked him to meet them, under the guise that they were investigating a hit-and-run accident. Thinking he “had nothing to hide,” he agreed to meet with the investigators, without an attorney present. He was subsequently taken to an interrogation room where he eventually allowed them to collect his DNA.

Despite the flimsy circumstantial evidence used to get the warrant, ultimately the test showed that although there were a number of familial alleles shared with the murderers sample, Usry Jr.’s DNA did not conclusively match the killers.

This case is particularly troubling as it seems to decimate an individual’s right to privacy in the name of “public safety,” while allowing the police to run roughshod over people’s civil rights.

“It’s not very common to see this sort of thing, and I frankly hope it doesn’t become very common because an awful lot of people won’t bother testing” their DNA, Judy G. Russell, a genealogist and attorney who writes The Legal Genealogist blog, told The New Orleans Advocate.

The arrest of former Philadelphia narcotics Officer Christopher Hulmes on perjury charges has forced the review - and possible reversal - of hundreds of convictions in which he was a key witness, the District Attorney's Office said Monday.

First Assistant District Attorney Ed McCann said his office would work with the Defender Association of Philadelphia to determine which cases will be affected by the 19-year police veteran's involvement. Hulmes was arrested April 23 on multiple counts, including lying under oath.

"It's not thousands, but it's hundreds" of cases, said McCann, explaining the impact a single problem officer can have on the city.

In 2011, Hulmes, 42, admitted to a city judge that he falsified paperwork in a drug arrest. After the admission, Hulmes stayed on the street, making more arrests and testifying in court.

The case has been an embarrassment for the District Attorney's Office since last summer, when Philadelphia City Paper published an article detailing Hulmes' 2011 admission in court that he had falsified an arrest warrant.

In addition to perjury, Hulmes was charged with tampering with public records, false incrimination, obstruction of justice, and related offenses.

A former Middletown police officer was sentenced in U.S. District Court to seven years in prison May 1 to child exploitation charges after he pleaded guilty in September to receiving child pornography, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Samuel DiProto, 63, downloaded pornography files from a from a file sharing network for a four-year period from 2009-2013.

DiProto was a police officer with the Middletown Police Department from Sept. 21, 1987, to Aug. 19, 2009, according to police spokeswoman Lt. Heather Desmond.

Authorities were able to trace a computer with the pornographic photographs and videos back DiProto after logging into the publicly available file sharing network, the release said.

In a reversal of a decision from last year, the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled today that the government does not need a warrant to search wireless carriers' cellphone records.

The case focuses on Quartavious Davis, accused of a series of armed robberies, who prosecutors tracked using 11,606 location records from 2010, obtained from a carrier called MetroPCS. Although Davis' lawyers argued that the records were inadmissable, as they were obtained without a warrant or probable cause, and thus violated his Fourth Amendment rights, the court disagreed.

Instead, the court ruled, the government must only meet the standard for records obtainable under the Stored Communications Act, which requires that the government "offers specific and articulable facts showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe" the records "are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation."

Citing precedent from past cases, the court ruled that there was no reasonable expectation of privacy toward the records and that the records were not obtained by what constitutes a "search" under the law. "To prevail on his Fourth Amendment claim, Davis must show both (1) that the application of the SCA to the facts of his case involved a 'search' within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, and (2) that such search was unreasonable. This Davis cannot do," the ruling says.

The city of Chicago is expected to approve a $415,000 settlement with a woman who says she was sexually assaulted in 2011 by two on-duty police officers.

The woman's federal lawsuit follows a criminal case in which initial charges of sexual assault were dropped as part of a deal with prosecutors. The former officers, Juan Vasquez and Paul Clavijo, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of official misconduct and were sentenced to two years' probation each. The convictions disqualified them from working as police officers, reports the Chicago Sun-Times Media Wire.

An attorney for one of the officers has maintained that the sex was consensual but conceded that "some bad decisions" were made, according to the paper.

Prosecutors say the officers were on-duty when they found the woman, then 22, intoxicated and crying near a North Side transit station and offered her a ride home in March 2011.

They say she was sexually assaulted in the car and at her apartment.

The paper reports the woman had a blood-alcohol level of .38 at the time of the alleged assault -- nearly five times the legal limit for driving a car in Illinois.

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvaraz has argued the woman was so intoxicated that the couldn't possibly have given "knowing consent" to have sexual intercourse with the officers.

The City Council Finance Committee is expected to approve the $415,000 settlement Tuesday.

A Texas state trooper on the job for nearly 20 years is being reprimanded for posing in a photo with Snoop Dogg that went viral on the rapper's Instagram account in March.

Billy Spears, the trooper, is suing (PDF) the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) who dinged him for being in "a photo with a public figure who has a well-known criminal background including numerous drug charges. The public figure posted the photo on social media and it reflects poorly on the Agency," according to the reprimand.

"They kinda made this up on the fly," the trooper's attorney, Ty Clevenger, told Ars in a Tuesday telephone interview. "They could not point to any policy, rule, order, or law."

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Wednesday he has yet to see evidence that would justify one of his officers killing an unarmed homeless man in Venice Beach Tuesday.

Beck cautioned that his department's investigation was just underway but told reporters he was 'very concerned' by the deadly shooting that occurred as an officer struggled with the man on a block lined with bars and restaurants.
'Any time an unarmed person is shot by a Los Angeles police officer, it takes extraordinary circumstances to justify that, and I have not seen those extraordinary circumstances at this point,' Beck said.

Department investigators have not interviewed the officer, a veteran of the LAPD, because he is on medication to treat a knee he hurt during the struggle. He was observed at the crime scene Wednesday walking on crutches.
The officers were not wearing body cameras, but police have surveillance footage from nearby stores that shows the altercation, Beck said.

The confrontation began at 11.30pm at Pacific and Winward avenues when two officers responded to a 911 call saying the man, an African-American vagrant in his 20s, had been arguing with a bouncer who would not let him into the popular Townhouse & Del Monte Speakeasy bar and was pestering passersby, police said.

The officers spoke to the man, identified by an acquaintance as 29-year-old Brendon Glenn, who began walking away but then came back and began struggling with someone on the sidewalk, according to a police news release.

The officers tried to detain Glenn, who was shot during the struggle, police said. The cops called for an ambulance and then began performing CPR to revive the suspect.

cousin got stabbed, didn't see what happen. they wanted me to write a statement it just seemed pointless so I refused. but they didn't grill my cousin who got stabbed. I was lock up for 20+ hrs for no reason. filed a complaint still haven't heard back. money in my pockets gone. false arrest false imprisonment share, share, share, send this viral.

On January 9, 2010, Officers Larry Longley and Jeffery C. Thompson responded to a disturbance call in South Park, where black youths had reportedly grabbed shovels and engaged in a fight. Footage of the officers’ actions were captured in dashcam video.

Some of the audio is hard to make out because of their patrol car's wailing sirens, and it isn’t clear which one of them is saying what. But here's what their exchange sounds like:

“Can't we all get along? Maybe they thought they were picking up shovels, but they were picking up hos!"
"Oh! No you didn't!"
…
"I tell ya—one [inaudible] and they're all out."
"When that crack buzz wears off, you gotta wake up and hit it again."
"When we get there we'll find out the baby's momma has been cheatin' on the husband. She's already got four different baby daddies, and she's thirteen."
"Probably."

The dashcam video was part of an OPA investigation into allegations by one of the arrestees, Julian Harris, that Officer Longley beat him and used excessive force. The incident takes place off camera. During the altercation, the officers said, they found marijuana and PCP in his pockets.

In his complaint and testimony to OPA, Harris, an African-American who was 19 years old at the time, said of Longley, “The police like him, don’t like us.”

Harris' mother said Longley is one of the officers who “harass[es] her and her kids.” In a police report, she alleged that this harassment was because they are black.

The OPA flatly rejected the allegations against Longley. It did not, as far as we know, take any action against Longley and Thompson, and both officers remain on the police force, according to SPD.

In an email, SPD spokesman Sean Whitcomb wrote, "This incident occurred over 5 years ago and was investigated by OPA and reviewed by the OPA Auditor and OPA review board. We’ve instituted many reforms since then. Just last year we launched our new Bias-Free Policing and Use of Force policies, plus every officer attended Bias-Free Policing training."

In the past year, Chief Kathleen O’Toole has suspended officers for similar kinds of comments after they were unearthed by The Stranger. Unlike officers Christopher Hall, Cynthia Whitlatch, and Sam Byrd, however, Longley and Thompson made their remarks while on duty, not on social media.

A police officer in Carbon County has been charged with homicide by vehicle for his alleged role in a deadly crash. Nesquehoning Ofc. Steven Homanko was arraigned Wednesday morning on charges of homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter and other offenses in a wreck that took the life of Carola Sauers, 69, on the evening of May 12, 2014, on Route 209 in the borough. Homanko was released on $100,000 unsecured bail after his arraignment.

According to the criminal complaint, investigators with the Pennsylvania State Police determined Homanko was driving north on Route 209 at approximately 115 mph when he lost control of his 2009 Ford Crown Victoria police car at 6:35 p.m. A witness to the crash told police the marked cruiser was sliding sideways into the path of a southbound Toyota Yaris occupied, by Sauers and her husband, Michael Sauers, 62, who was critically injured in the crash.

...

Homanko told investigators he was in pursuit of a Dodge Neon he saw illegally pass two vehicles on Route 209 and he did not recall traveling any faster than about 70 miles an hour or losing site of the car, according to the complaint.

Homanko told investigators he radioed Jim Thorpe police to stop the Neon, which had no place to turn off of Route 209 before reaching the borough and therefore he was not concerned with catching the vehicle.

According to investigators, video surveillance footage from Kreitz Automotive, located at Route 209 near Route 93 captured the Neon passing a single vehicle, an orange utility truck. Investigators said video retrieved from Homanko's police cruiser shows the Neon passing the orange truck and places the officer on Route 93 heading toward Route 209 at the start of the pursuit.

According to the complaint, the cruiser was traveling with its emergency siren and lights activated as it pursued the Neon. Police said the vehicle's video recording system "abruptly" stops recording just seconds after Homanko turns onto Route 209 and begins his pursuit of the Neon.

Homanko told police he did not shut off his vehicle's video recording system and he gave no reason why it did not record, according to the complaint.

He also acknowledged that he knew the system automatically begins recording when the emergency lights are activated, police said. Analysis of the Kreits Automotive video indicates Homanko was about 1/4-mile behind the Neon at the start of his pursuit.

The driver of the Neon, Deanna Przewoznik, told investigators she never saw a police car until she was stopped by Jim Thorpe police.

Police said five other witnesses saw Homanko driving fast for "no apparent reason" along Route 93 about an hour before the crash.

Cops frequently decry this no-snitch culture as hindering their ability to put bad guys behind bars. But the trial of Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo has highlighted the hypocrisy of their message.

Brelo is charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter in the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams following a Nov. 29, 2012, police chase and shooting that involved 62 cars and more than 100 officers and supervisors.

But few of these officers and supervisors – who are witnesses to the chase and shooting -- are talking.

The reason: Cops have their own no-snitch rule.

Why else would numerous cops refuse to testify when Cuyahoga County prosecutors called them before the grand jury prior to Brelo's indictment? Seven of Brelo's colleagues did the same during trial, which concluded Tuesday. They all invoked their Fifth Amendment right, which allows any of us to refuse to offer testimony that could incriminate ourselves.

Count Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty said these cops were under no threat of prosecution. He refused to offer them immunity in exchange for their testimony, he said, because cops have a sworn duty to testify to what they see. (He ultimately granted two officers immunity during the trial, though only one was called to the stand.) McGinty also told the court that police officers had refused to come forward with important information. And he strongly suggested they were following their no-snitch code.

Prosecutors presented during the trial a text message from an officer involved in the police chase.

"I was told to keep my mouth shut by the union," the officer wrote in a text message to a police dispatcher with whom he was discussing the chase.

I want to be clear on this point: The cops' refusal to testify is not evidence of Brelo's guilt or innocence. But it's overwhelming evidence of the cops' no-snitch code.