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Arizona Judge Tells Sheriff "Reveal Password Or Face Contempt"
An anonymous reader writes "Four days ago, deputies from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona conducted a raid against the county government building hosting computers for a law enforcement database. After threatening to arrest county employees who would stop them, the officers proceeded to secure the room and promptly changed passwords on many of the servers. In a hearing on Friday, a Superior Court judge threatened to hold members of the Sheriff's Office in contempt if they did not reveal the passwords by next Wednesday. Following this, the Sheriff's Office claimed to be conducting an investigation against other Superior Court judges. Courts have asked for passwords before, but never under conditions like this."
Fuck you Joe. I hope you burn in hell you d-bag. (*waves bye to his karma*)
So basically, -1 troll/offtopic is really slashdots way of saying "I hate that you thought of something before me."
Things like these could be easily avoded if people would remember to forget their passwords.
Summary doesn't make it clear that the Sheriff in question is Joe Arpaio, a sadistic, authoritarian monster that that believes in making prison as demeaning and painful affair as possible no matter what the offense. He's a sick, twisted psychopath that needs to be stopped at all cost.
The correct article is here.
Amazing this is happening in the United States
This raid looks pretty outrageous. The court is probably the least politicized and most appropriate agency to take control until the situation can be resolved. The silver lining to this is that it is so outrageous that it may finally get that madman Arpaio removed from office.
Amazing that you think it's amazing this is happening in the United States.
The actions of the sheriff's office demonstrate quite clearly that they are not willing to abide by the law and therefore seem to have decided the case already against themselves.
Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
Don't they have an IT guy who can root those? Sounds like they have physical access, should be pretty easy.
Rule #3 of the 10 Immutable Laws of Security: if a bad guy has unrestricted physical access to your computer, it's not your computer anymore.
Story should serve as a good reminder to everyone out there that in the end, no amount of encryption, biometrics, or obscurity will protect your network when a hacker brings a gun. Physical security trumps all.
... am I the only one thinking "block the doors, trip the halon"?
Amazing that you think it's amazing that he thinks it's amazing this is happening in the United States.
It is a Constitutional Federal Republic. This means that there are various check on the majority. 50.0001% of people can't vote to oppress the other 49.9999%. Things like constitutional law can only be changed by a very lengthy process (66% of both congressional bodies, 75% of all states have to approve it).
So while the majority may agree with what he's doing, or at least the parts of what he's doing they are aware of, that doesn't make it right, or legal. He has, on many occasions, been sued successfully for various rights violations.
It is something that needs to be fought, not something that people should just say "Well the majority elected him. Doesn't matter that they did, he is still accountable to the law. That's how the system is setup.
In more convenient linked form: Phoenix Police Seize PCs of a Blogger Critical of the Department
What the hell is going on there? Do people actually support this BS?
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
If its the admin/root OS password why not just mount the drive and copy over the DB and reinstall onto a different server?
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
But it also is a server and e-mail platform for several county agencies, including the Sheriff's and County Attorney's offices and the Superior Court.
That explains why the sheriffs department wanted them, they didn't want incriminating evidence coming out. But if we walk away from our servers, they're not going to be able to get into them. If they demanded admin passwords, I would have demanded a warrant. Arrest or not, that's a fight you can have later. If they arrested you for doing your job, then sue them later. Oddly, in this case you'd have the backing of the rest of the county board and the Superior Court. Seizing our computers wouldn't get them anything. I feel good about that but what happened in this case?
If they're Windows servers it shouldn't be too hard to crack them, right? I haven't used Windows servers since Server 2003, you could crack those. Is it much harder now? Especially when you have access to the hardware.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
...and the Sheriff's Office has been a joke for almost all of them. Sheriff Joe's predecessor utterly botched an investigation into a high-profile mass murder at a local Buddhist Temple, so voters here were looking for change at any price.
I'm pro-law and order, but law and order means, well, law AND order, not Sheriff Joe's thuggery. He's cost the county millions in unnecessary lawsuits for brutality in his jails, his law enforcement tactics exist solely to grab headlines and intimidate his opponents and he's ruined inter-agency cooperation in Central Arizona for at least the near future.
The sooner we elect someone else, the better off we'll be.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
(Amazing that you think it's )^2 amazing that he thinks it's amazing this is happening in the United States.
Hey look, three AC trolls replying with the same content within minutes of each other. Joe, don't you have other things to do than browse Slashdot?
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
Disclaimer - I work as the IT manager for a major university police department.
Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) Security Policy - the governing policy from the Department of Justice for managing criminal justice systems. The policy is law enforcement sensitive and not public.
The Sheriffs office is arguing that that the law requires this server, which has NCIC (National Crime Information Center) access, to only be managed by a criminal justice agency. There are entire previsions in CJIS that allow for delegation of CJIS management to noncriminal justice agencies including municipal governments and contractors. The only provision states that responsibility for management of security and network control remains with the criminal justice agency - meaning the blame for not following the CJIS security policy lies with the law enforcement agency.
Unless Arizona has different laws regarding NCIC access this looks like a power grab to me...
I think i'm going to be physically ill.
I've never been so ashamed of my country, hell even my race as a whole.
I wish i wasn't agnostic, so i could rest assured these men had a VERY long and hot vacation waiting for them after death.
This just screams coverup.
Sherrif Joe is afraid of the information on those servers ... why? It would be nice to know, wouldn't it? Streisand Effect, anyone?
The county should turn it all over to the FBI for forensic investigation after this. I don't care who you are, unauthorized access to a computer system is a felony in most states and a federal offense, too.
How the hell does a post whose entire content is "fuck you, [name]" get modded "insightful"?
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| PLEASE |
| DO NOT |
| FEED THE |
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the sign is there for a reason.
Feeding trolls and flamebaits can lead to excessive burns and karma loss
O.o
Sheriff Joe is an old man, can't they just check the post it note under the keyboard? Boom, Problem Solved.
Does it seem strange to anyone else that the Sheriff's office is conducting a raid on the Government offices and is disregarding orders from the justice department?
I always thought that law enforcement was supposed to be the arm of the government. It seems more like the arm is acting of its own accord in this case.
Thus I would suspect that a large portion of his constituency are woefully ignorant of his policies.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!
A good education is a bit like a STD - it makes you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and gives you a desire to spread it.
If its related to data involved in the Sheriff's office, the Feds will be peeking in on this one. Finally, now come down to Pima County and get rid of Dupnik next.
"They confiscated everything, even the stuff we didn't steal!"
I can't even imagine why the Sheriff's office would want to seize the records relating to law enforcement within the state, but I'm sure he has a Very Good Reason.
"With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is not necessarily a good idea...."
RFC 1925
Hey! We've got sane people too! They just aren't in charge.
His version of enforcing immigration laws goes way beyond the actual laws. You should have heard his press conference when he lambasted DHS because they told him to let some people go that he'd arrested quite against current law or immigration policy.
I heard a very interesting story Friday about how the Correctional Officers Union (or whatever it's called), a while ago, lobbied for things like "three strikes" laws. As result of their passage, the prison population has skyrocketed, many of them for non-violent offenses. A skyrocketing prison population heralded a huge increase in the number of correctional officers required to keep things in order. 10% of these officers make more than $100K per year (70% of the state's correctional budget of $10 billion goes toward salaries).
The union now boasts more than 45,000 members, and wields significant influence in the political arena. The sad part is that only 5% of the budget is available for rehabilitation, and consequentially, the recidivism rate has also skyrocketed. The California prison system has become a self-sustaining money pit, with much of funds going into the pockets of union members. Under the current system, there's no way out.
Where's the rest of the story? Why did the Sheriff's office attempt this action? Why was the information left out? If you answer those questions, then you'll have a decent story.
Different group of cops. Phoenix PD is not Maricopa County Sheriffs Department. MCSD can and doesn't go everywhere in the county while Phoenix PD only goes within the city limits of Phoenix. If you didn't know, most of what people think of as Phoenix is really about a dozen or so different cities that just run right up onto each other.
I'm wondering. What if there's incriminating evidence in those e-mail exchanges the Sheriff needs and wants to protect from tampering? It sounds a little like a Hollywood movie, but how do we know. Maybe he knew someone was going to remove that data and he needs it to expose corruption higher up.
I don't know anything about this Joe Arpaio, never heard of him, so it may be obvious this is not the case. But just exclaiming "Fuck you" didn't help me find out either.
Great example of conflict of interest... add in that somewhere around half our prisons are now run by for-profit corporations that get paid about $25k per warm body BY THE STATE (out of YOUR TAX DOLLARS) and it's clear that it's in their best interests if as many people are criminals and prison-bound as possible. To maximize profits, lobby for laws that everyone will break!!
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
If this happens to YOU in the future, pull the fire alarm or dump the UPS or whatever magic button your data center has to shut down the works. My computer center has a (five actually) Big Red Button to crash the whole system. Might have been a reasonable and prudent action in this instance.
It's wishful thinking. The East Valley Tribune won a pulitzer for an expose of Sheriff Joe's tactics that concluded, among other things, that his focus on illegal immigration has actually stolen the focus away from violent crimes.
[snicker]
How many passwords do you think a system like this has?
If it'd been me, I'd have given them the root password to the network admin box. Let them have fun getting into anything else ....
Welcome to the Turing Tarpit, where everything is possible but nothing interesting is easy.
Uhh, 1968 called. They want their cheap political stereotypes back.
... he'd get to spend 60 days in his own jail.
There is a war going on for your mind.
And it will continue to be that way as long as it isn't required of prisoners. Want to be free? Just wait out your term.
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
this is probably just what that maniac wants. A showdown between a law-and-order sheriff and his former nemesis who now works for a liberal black president. Just the thing to catapult him to the national stage where he can gloat about how making prisoners wear pink underwear deters crime. If he had any charisma at all (fortunately he really doesn't), a Palin/Arpaio 2012 ticket may be just the shot in the arm US Republicans need....
I realize that I'm risking a sermon to the choir here, but who polices the police? This is precisely the sort of circumstance that justifies a codified right of citizens to bear arms... and perhaps any damned "arms" they see fit, large or small, automatic or not. When the police stop acting in the interest of the Common Good and act in their own unenlightened self-interest instead, and use force to do it, then it's up to an organized posse of citizens with guns and ethics on their minds to police the police. No guy in a robe in an air-conditioned building with wood-paneled walls is gonna accomplish anything in the short term.
I you don't mind going to jail for destroying evidence or interfering with an investigation yes that would work.
Sheriff Joe has in the past faked subpoenas, if he weren't an elected official he'd have been fired years ago for gross negligence. Your best bet is to let him arrest you then sue the county, that way you get the taxpayers of Maricopa to buy you a nice mansion on a lake far far away.
That it was asshat Arpaio's troops who did this.
Interesting a friend of mine worked for the local police department. I worked for the state AG's offfice. That police department (As well as Dept. of Children, Youth and Families) had access to both the RI Criminal History system and the Interstate Identification Index on that system.
There are Memo's of Understanding between all agencies. It'd be like me sending the State Police after my buddy because the local PD is the biggest in the state and they have data that we didn't.
...that Phoenix was just like LA, but with none of the advantages!
Good intentions do not exempt one from consequences for acting outside the rule of law.
He would be more of a joke if it weren't for his habit of abusing his powers, as this New Yorker article indicates. It's behind a pay-wall at the moment, but the upshot is that, at least in the greater Phoenix area, there is liberty and justice for the wealthy, and Sheriff Joe for everyone else.
Joe arpaio has gang of sherrifs who go down into the barrio and round up any "mexican-looking" persons, detain them, and try to deport them. this is done simply by checking the color of their skin.
i have spent a nite in arpaio's jail (wrongfully arrested) and eating the substandard "ladmo" bags with green bologna.
i have seen lives crushed and destroyed. i have heard journalists who were kidnapped from their homes at 4 am by men driving a car with sonora license plates. This was because they uncovered joe's illegal real estate investments
arpaio is a murderer, a torturer, rascist, and a fascist. he should be in PRISON
The password is $h3riff!
Good security is based upon reality and common sense. Common sense is a function of having common knowledge.
Those who can't play by the majority's rules can not be part of the game. It is NOT about punishment nor is it about rehabilitation! It is a practical reality: removal from society due to their inability to live by society's rules. Fundamentally this is the function; all the other stuff, that is just an additional layer of extraneous thought.
Many kinds of anti-social behavior are a result of mental sickness; therefore, rehabilitation is the logical conclusion-- treating a mental problem as a disease and trying to cure it. In these cases, its about mental health and not punishment which makes time periods ridiculous. A pedophile is sick in the head and until they are "cured" they should never be let out or with proper monitoring not let near children-- just like mentally handicapped can still be beneficial a part of society (just don't let one be president again.) Hans Reiser killed his wife - but he should be allowed to continue to work; never allowed to be married or date again if not simply isolated / monitored so he can't flip out and kill again; but turning a functional member of society into a burden to society is a waste.
The sick mentality in the USA for punishment and irrational assumption of guilt makes the public complacent to flaws in the prison system and legal system. We put the mentally ill in general circulation mixed with aggressive anti-social types and promote talk about prison rape and murder hoping to deter people... BTW, how many people commit a crime KNOWING they are going to get caught? (especially the young ones who make up a majority of 1st time offenders.)
Some people simply do not follow the rules of their society; they are the ones which must be forced to live my those rules even if it means they have to be separated from society. Possibly it can be solved with RELOCATION instead of incarceration. Punishment isn't likely to be that effective with them and it is not. Used to be in the USA that messing with the race laws was going against society and those who wouldn't comply either were in jail or they became refugees (or worse: they were actually punished for being evil criminals simply because they disagreed with popular racism.) Sure, there are people thinking you can beat the children into submission and it works on some... but it doesn't work that well and it will never lead to a Utopia. BTW, a you-topia is not that great of a goal; its pursuit caused more harm than good every time.
Humans do random shit; and the legal system tries to be too literal minded-- there are plenty of people with minor and major errors that got them into our sick system of punishment. Vengence drives a lot of the irrationality in all the legal systems of the world.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
this is clearly an unlawful seizure. Wether or not the search was valid all the sheriff needs for an investigation are images of the drives. Changing the passwords is like searching a house for drugs changing the locks and preventing the owners from using there own property. This is basically a hostage situation.
I'm curious as to where the 635kg of crystal meth they were supposed to have supplied the chemicals for is. I also suggest that US law enforcement consider enforcing the law instead of engaging in entrapment schemes to build cases out of UTTER BULLSHIT as some sort of political stunt to get publicity. It's a plan to extradite people based on a crime that didn't happen (there is no 635kg of crystal meth but it COULD have happened) but unfortunately the prison is not a fantasy. The 2003 Extradition Act looks like a very raw deal that exposes people to the worst that US Justice systems can offer instead of the best it can offer - expediency has it's price and it's likely that these two will suffer.
Now given the bizzare laws in some places I wonder if I've ever done anything that could get me extradited to Utah on some sort of morality crime.
Thus I would suspect that a large portion of his constituency are woefully ignorant.
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What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
Obviously, someone is modding from multiple accounts.
figure it out
Damn Californians.
Chasing down illegal aliens is the job of INS, not a county sheriff. And why is it that those 'corrupt judges' he's chasing down just happen to be signing warrants for state investigations into the Maricopa County sheriff department? County sheriffs don't investigate 'corrupt judges', either. That's the state Attorney General's job, or the Feds' job if the judge is a state judge rather than county. Joe wants to do everybody else's job rather than that of a county sheriff: serve warrants, secure the peace, investigate street crime in unincorporated areas. He'd rather have his thugs do the flashy arrests where nobody is shooting back at him, like that prostitution sting he ran that got him 80 arrests of people guaranteed NOT to shoot at his deputies.
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
Sheriffs themselves can be arrested by any other cop, state or federal. Please don't buy into that old myth.
I hate to tell you this, but federal district judges do not work with or control the FBI. If you suspect corruption on the part of a federal district judge, it is quite reasonable to go to the FBI.
hes a fascist.
I mean the guy runs internment camps in 35*c heat. He goes out of his way to fuck with brown people becuase he doesnt like them. Hes one of those people who should be strung up.
I would encourage you to read the new yorker article on him although i guess it is no longer available online? must be new... http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2009/07/william-finnegan-on-sheriff-joe-arpaio.html
The article actually has alot of background on the politics between this county and the sheriffs office. I believe he has some problem with the mayors wife? but i may be thinking of one of the many other people that this nazi has problems with.
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Good grief. Joe Arpaio really is an amazing individual. He has some sort of superpower that makes idiots believe his side of the story no matter what, even though a little diligence and research makes it obvious how corrupt he is. Like his bragging about how little he spends on feeding his prisoners, giving them spoiled food with inadequate nutrition. Authoritarian morons drool at this, because they love to see "bad guys" mistreated (and are too stupid to take note of the fact that these people mostly have not been convicted and are awaiting trial and, in some cases, may not have even been charged with anything yet). Meanwhile, those in his jail can actually get additional food by buying it in the commisary. From what I've read, the profits from the commissary are not actually accounted for anywhere.
One of the problems with Arpaio is that he tends to declare everyone who criticizes him publicly corrupt, and then uses his powers as Sheriff to harass them. In Maricopa County, the Sheriff seems to have strong authority of city police. I've never seen elsewhere in the US. He routinely harasses Mesa Police, the mayor of Phoenix, the Phoenix New Times newspaper, and the local residents of Guadalupe, Chandler, and Apache Junction. He makes many arrests; many of which are bad, and have resulted in big lawsuits against the state -- all of which have cost a lot of money. He likes to make regular television appearances. He's really big on being a star. He even has his own TV show akin to "Cops". He employs a posse - non-professional law enforcement, which he uses. He has business ties to foreign law enforcement endeavors with counties like Honduras and China. His police have conducted illegal sting operations. Recently, a man died in his custody. He was in solitary confinement, and yet somehow beat himself to death. There are mysterious deaths associated with Arpaio's people.
Just because he is against illegal immigration, it doesn't make him a honorable man and a fair, honest, or even productive sheriff.
If this computer system has access to the NCIC system, INTERPOL, or NLETS, then the sheriff SHOULD be the one in charge of it, not the CIVILIAN board of supervisors. Trust me, if NCIC does an audit and your T's aren't crossed and the I's not dotted, they can and will YANK your access. ANY law enforcement database should be managed by law enforcement agencies, NOT civilians.
I live in WA, though I'm a native Californian from Humboldt county
Oh--I was wondering why traffic was backed up for 10 miles on Friday. Thanks for clearing that up. ;)
There's no place like
I have 10 years of Karma to burn. After all it's good to be bad.
Om, nomnomnom...
http://delicious.com/clintjcl/JoeArpaio
Hopefully they're not dead. Stories that paint police in a bad light tend to disappear after a few months.
-Clio
Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
Hint: It isn't because "them libs" are for lax border enforcement.
It's because the business lobby (i.e., huge corporations) wants a class of what amounts to slave labour. So the next time you hear some Republican bellyaching on Fox News about illegal immigration, it would be best to suggest that he take a good, hard look in the mirror.
America could solve its illegal immigration problem tomorrow. How? Fine the hell out of the businesses that hire illegals. I believe the maximum fine is something like $10,000 per worker per day. If a few companies got slapped with those fines, I guarantee you all businesses would very quickly get religion about asking for "tarjeta azul." 'Course, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the other usual suspects would say that's "excessive governmental interference in free enterprise."
Oh, and Arpaio is a petty, vindictive asshole. When he was a DEA agent, he was known as "Nickel Bag Joe" for all of his small-time, chickenshit busts.
Yes, it is true that sheriffs get sued all the time, but Arpaio gets sued a lot more than most. I remember reading that Maricopa County has the highest municipal insurance premiums in the country. That alone should tell you that something is seriously out of whack. Still, that won't stop the mouthbreathing rednecks from voting for his stupid ass because Rush told them to do so.
Wrong. A gun is a thing that's designed to a put a hole in that thing over there. Just last week I was using my Mossberg to put holes in targets and, to spectacular effect, a full can of shaving cream. In a decade of ownership, I've never once used that particular gun to maim or kill.
I served in the Corps from 91-99 and never saw a tent with AC.
My wife and I have been Illegally Extradited to Arizona to Sheriff Joe Arpaio Prison. How can you accept that innocent people are treated and share the same treatment as guilty and convicted. The Inhumane treatment treatment in Arizona does nothing for reabilitation. The U.S stands proud to have 25% of the worlds prisoners behind bars. Here is a link about injustice in the U.S prison system, but I fear U.S Citizens like to put people in jail. http://extradition.org.uk/
Innocent of any crime but Arpaio has destroyed my family for selling Legal chemicals in the UK to the U.S. Guns are sold to the UK and are Illegal but we do not Extradite U.S Citizens when no law in the U.S is broken, Sheriff Joe Arpaio makes me sick to my stomach. http://taking-liberties.net/Extradition-Video-Home-Page.html http://extradition.org.uk/
Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been breaching Human Rights in Arizona prisons for many years. Here is the Final wake order from the court that shows he has been in breach for his whole Sheriffs term. He raid oposition to keep being realected, he raid the local papers and now he is under investigation by Obama and others. It might be worth mentioning that Sheriff Joe Arpaio has still not fixed the Human Rights breaches ordered by the court and he will not let the ACLU in to even check. http://taking-liberties.net/Final-Wake-Order-October-2008.pdf http://extradition.org.uk/
The paramilitaries (police) defy the courts, take control of critical infrastructure as part of their "investigation" into vaguely-hinted-at obscure misdeeds, exclude civilian oversight, claiming civilians are part of it. Repeat across the country. Voila, police forces answerable to nobody, able to do whatever they want. Sounds familiar...don't these militaristic types do this all the time?
See, I knew police were above the law! Imagine if a group of highschool kids did this? LOL