Hypnotizing Witnesses – Two Texas Death Row inmates seek to block their executions because their convictions relied in part on the testimony of a witness who had been hypnotized, which they attack as too unreliable to be accepted in court. Along with Richard Childs, an alleged accomplice, Charles Don Flores was accused of murdering a […]
Category: Policing Techniques
Article: NYC “Anti-Gang” Raids Swept Up Many Youth Not in Gangs
A little over three years ago, a large-scale raid by hundreds of New York City police and numerous members of federal law enforcement agencies swept through a North Bronx neighborhood’s homes and a housing project in the early morning hours of April 26. Backed by armored vehicles and helicopters, SWAT teams and over 700 New […]
Article: Top Virginia Court Allows Lawsuit on License Plate Reader Data
The Virginia Supreme Court on April 26 decided to let a lawsuit go forward challenging how long a county police department retains data gathered by automatic license plate reader (ALPR) machines. In doing so, the top state court reversed a lower court ruling which dismissed the case on the grounds that a license plate doesn’t […]
Article: Can Police Make You Unlock Your iPhone with Your Face?
Facial recognition technology is touted as the newest security feature on some of the latest model smart phones, like Apple’s iPhone X. Just like its earlier Touch ID system, which authenticated the user through a sensor which read your fingerprint and compared it to the one you had registered in the phone’s security system, Apple’s […]
Article: Will New York Police Get to Use “Textalyzers” to Show Drivers Were Texting?
New York, like nearly every state, has a law against texting while driving, yet the practice is still fairly common, according to surveys of driver behavior. One reason is how difficult it is to detect: unless a driver admits it, or a police officer observes a driver using a handheld electronic device, there’s rarely any […]
Article: ICE Uses Cell Phone Tracking to Hunt Undocumented Aliens
Cracking down on illegal immigration was a central part of the Trump presidential campaign and continues as a major emphasis of the new administration. ICE and the administration have widely publicized some of their immigration enforcement initiatives, such as round-ups targeting alien gangs like MS-13, or raids aimed at non-citizens illegally here who have criminal records. […]
Article: Do Not Talk to the Police
If there is one piece of information I wish my clients had when they are the subject of a criminal investigation, it is not to speak to the police. If you might be a suspect, you may find the officers attempting to engage you into questioning. Although it might be obvious that an officer suspects […]
Article: Cop Fired for Arresting Nurse Who Blocked Unconsented, Warrantless Blood Draw from Patient
Videos, taken on July 26 in the emergency room of the University of Utah hospital’s burn unit, show Jeff Payne, a veteran Salt Lake City policeman, growing increasingly frustrated as he argues with Alex Wubbels, the unit’s head nurse, a blonde female in blue scrubs, over the cop’s intent to draw a blood sample from […]
Article: Glazed Doughnut Leads to Florida Man’s Arrest on Drug Charges
From time to time, you may have treated yourself to a delicious Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut – but after you hear of a Orlando man’s experience last year with police in that city, you may want to rethink that indulgence, at least when you’re visiting that Florida vacation spot. Shortly after driving away from a […]
Article: DOJ Sets New Guidelines for Using Photos to Identify Suspects
2017 Photo Array Guidelines Champion Modern Police Technique The Department of Justice (DOJ), for the first time in nearly two decades, has issued new guidance for federal prosecutors and DOJ law enforcement agencies — which include the FBI, DEA, ATF and the U.S. Marshals Service — on best-practices procedures for conducting photo arrays, the most […]