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Boston Pays Out $170,000 To Man Arrested For Recording Police

Ian Lamont writes "The City of Boston has reached a $170,000 settlement with Simon Glik, who was arrested by Boston Police in 2007 after using his mobile phone to record police arresting another man on Boston Common. Police claimed that Glik had violated state wiretapping laws, but later dropped the charges and admitted the officers were wrong to arrest him. Glik had brought a lawsuit against the city (aided by the ACLU) because he claimed his civil rights were violated. According to today's ACLU statement: 'As part of the settlement, Glik agreed to withdraw his appeal to the Community Ombudsman Oversight Panel. He had complained about the Internal Affairs Division's investigation of his complaint and the way they treated him. IAD officers made fun of Glik for filing the complaint, telling him his only remedy was filing a civil lawsuit. After the City spent years in court defending the officers' arrest of Glik as constitutional and reasonable, IAD reversed course after the First Circuit ruling and disciplined two of the officers for using "unreasonable judgment" in arresting Glik.'"

270 comments

  1. I just wish... by TWX · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...that a precedent had been set in by court instead of by settlement. When one party (in this case, the government) is forced by the court to do something, it tends to have more legal weight behind it than when the party instead voluntarily takes an action.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:I just wish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      At least this will encourage others to file similar suits, though. There's more than 1 way to skin a cat.

    2. Re:I just wish... by atari2600a · · Score: 0

      That's the point dude-- why rewrite the law in the inconveniently right favor when they can simply shut up anyone that makes too big of a fuss about it?

    3. Re:I just wish... by hey! · · Score: 5, Informative

      The precedent has *already* been set, and the City of Boston settled *as a result*.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    4. Re:I just wish... by Mitreya · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I just wish... ..that a precedent had been set in by court instead of by settlement

      Yes! I also wish to know which one will be chosen here: "The two officers, ... , face discipline ranging from an oral reprimand to suspension, a department spokeswoman said yesterday."
      Why do I think it will be a lot closer to the former?

    5. Re:I just wish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The precident is that police don't know the first fucking thing about the Constitution or your civil rights. Police can and will do whatever the fuck they want and your only recourse is to try and file a complaint about it after the fact (in the meantime, shut up and do what you're told by the officer).

      If cops actually had a clue about law, they wouldn't be cops.

    6. Re:I just wish... by oracleguy01 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That is kind of what I was thinking. The officers got off very easy, they probably should have been fired. The IAD officers should be disciplined as well for their poor handling of the case. Even if the arresting officer didn't know (which is no excuse) that what Gilk was doing was legal, IAD certainly should have.

    7. Re:I just wish... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So, the range of punishments is from being told not to do it again, all the way up to being given some paid time off? Where do I sign up?

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    8. Re:I just wish... by Blindman · · Score: 1

      According to the article, the City of Boston had a policy allowing officers to arrest people in those circumstances. No one will get fired for following this type of policy. I'm thinking the punishment will be an informal finger wag.

      --
      I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person that I'm preaching to.
    9. Re:I just wish... by Moryath · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not just that, cops are dumb as shit thugs to start with.

      They're legally allowed to refuse to hire anyone "too smart" to do the job.

    10. Re:I just wish... by WaywardGeek · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm just glad this suit went the right way. Cam-coders in every cell phone will have a major impact on both crime and enforcement in the future. People are getting filmed while robbing or committing other crimes right and left, which is a very good thing, and a major disincentive to commit major crimes. Note that no one is trying to make us to stop recording crimes in progress, unless it's policemen committing them. The impact this has on enforcement should be equally positive, creating a major disincentive for the police to act above the law. If this had gone the other way, it would have been a blow to freedom from government oppression.

      --
      Celebrate failure, and then learn from it - Nolan Bushnell
    11. Re:I just wish... by WillDraven · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The average cops attitude reminds me of the Roman consul Gnaeus Pompey, who conquered Syria and Jerusalem without the senates prior approval. When some of his victims complained that his actions were unjust, he responded "Stop quoting the laws to us, we carry swords."

      --
      This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
    12. Re:I just wish... by nomel · · Score: 1

      I just wish I had $175,000...which is probably what he wished.

    13. Re:I just wish... by icebike · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But the price was not high enough for every officer on the line to get the message. They pay more for your average car crash involving a city vehicle.

      Add three more zeros to the end of that number and this practice of arresting photographers ceases everywhere in the country overnight.

      The court ruling helps. but not enough. It was only the First Circuit. We went years with GPS tracking sans warrant being legal in one circuit and illegal in another before the SCOTUS stepped in.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    14. Re:I just wish... by Jessified · · Score: 1

      No doubt, but it's easiest to discipline the lowest people on the totem pole.

    15. Re:I just wish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course the punishments always seem pretty weak when we're pissed.

      But on the other hand, cops lose their jobs and careers (or even lives) over far less, all the time.

      It just depends on the 5 W's.

    16. Re:I just wish... by icebike · · Score: 1

      The average cops attitude reminds me of the Roman consul Gnaeus Pompey, who conquered Syria and Jerusalem without the senates prior approval. When some of his victims complained that his actions were unjust, he responded "Stop quoting the laws to us, we carry swords."

      So, fast forward, substitute M16s for Swords....?
      Seriously, when and where has it EVER been different?

      By the time State actors and armies are involved there exists no law. Until or unless a bigger army comes along, Bashar al-Assad can do as he wishes, just as Genghis Khan could.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    17. Re:I just wish... by sjames · · Score: 2

      Yes, an oral reprimand ending in "don't let me CATCH you doing that again" (nudge nudge).

    18. Re:I just wish... by JoeMerchant · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You would think $17M would get attention, but I have seen cases with $7M settlements where similar abusers just yawn and say "so sue me."

      It took this guy and the ACLU a couple of years to get here, I'd feel ripped off if I only received $170K for two years of seriously disrupting my life.

    19. Re:I just wish... by SvnLyrBrto · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Even being fired, they would have been let off too easy. At the very minimum, that $170K should have come out of the officers' assets and future earnings; not from the taxpayers.

      I'd even say that when the cops decide to make up false offenses and arrest people for them like this, the cops involved should, themselves, be facing jail time.

      --
      Imagine all the people...
    20. Re:I just wish... by ae1294 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      According to the article, the City of Boston had a policy allowing officers to arrest people in those circumstances. No one will get fired for following this type of policy. I'm thinking the punishment will be an informal finger wag.

      Yes they where just following orders... I wonder what other orders they follow?

    21. Re:I just wish... by SvnLyrBrto · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So?

      Who cares what some bureaucrat wrote in some city policy? If what Glik, and people like him, were doing was not, in fact, against the law; then the cops were 100% out of line in even speaking to him, much less arresting him. And they should be facing catastrophic civil and even criminal penalties of their own.

      How the heck does anyone figure that policy overrides the law?

      --
      Imagine all the people...
    22. Re:I just wish... by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But the price was not high enough for every officer on the line to get the message. They pay more for your average car crash involving a city vehicle.

      Add three more zeros to the end of that number and this practice of arresting photographers ceases everywhere in the country overnight.

      How about firing everyone up the chain of command who supported them.
      Taxpayers pay for those fines, but taking away their jobs and pensions is more appropriate - after all when the police abuse their powers it generally ruins the lives of the people they do it. Turn about is fair play.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    23. Re:I just wish... by DaleSwanson · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I just wish that a precedent had been set in by court instead of by settlement.

      I wish the money had come from the pockets of those responsible, and not the tax payers.

    24. Re:I just wish... by ancient_kings · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Now if they made the officer pay at least half of $170,000, and then take the rest from the entire police officer's pension plan instead of the tax payer, then you'll see these type of evil, cowardly arrests stop overnight. Nothing like sharing the pain to stop this...

    25. Re:I just wish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He does make a succinct point. Do you really think complaining to the people who just conquered you is wise?

    26. Re:I just wish... by ooshna · · Score: 0

      Yep that's right just take it out of the pension who cares who many innocent cops and their families will suffer just to teach someone else a lesson.

    27. Re:I just wish... by publiclurker · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Nothing like sharing the consequences to make sure the honest cops keep the lesser ones in line.

    28. Re:I just wish... by Alranor · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Charge the officers involved with kidnapping.

      Then you'd see them stop.

    29. Re:I just wish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Maybe those "innocent" cops could spend a bit more time arresting the worst of their non-innocent colleagues or bosses.

    30. Re:I just wish... by sFurbo · · Score: 2

      How is making up false offenses and arresting people not kidnapping? Why are the cops not tried for kidnapping? (Yes, yes, I know, who should arrest them, who should file the charges, but it would be nice to live in a slightly fairer world.)

    31. Re:I just wish... by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

      Yeah, because collective punishment is more than just a war crime, right? Seriously, people with a "kill em all and let god sort it out" mentality are the last people on Earth I would want to see wearing a uniform.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    32. Re:I just wish... by Joce640k · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "After the City spent years in court defending the officers' arrest of Glik..."

      I wonder how long they'd have fought if they hadn't had taxpayer money to pay the lawyers.

      --
      No sig today...
    33. Re:I just wish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At the very minimum, that $170K should have come out of the officers' assets and future earnings; not from the taxpayers.

      If the general population refuses to take action when their cops pull this shit, then yes they should have to pay. But it's easier to bitch to your friends at the local bar about the extra fifty cents on next year's local taxes then it is to actually take any kind of action to correct the behavior, such as protests, petitions, etc.

    34. Re:I just wish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      How the heck does anyone figure that policy overrides the law?

      They have for over a century, why stop now?

      The USA police force is one of the most abusive and corrupt of any first world country. Only the most extreme cases of this have a chance to become public knowledge, and sometimes even enough for the three branches to act on it (not necessarily with anything worthwhile).

    35. Re:I just wish... by BlueStrat · · Score: 2

      How the heck does anyone figure that policy overrides the law?

      Because they have an organized and heavily-armed domestic para-military force (which the Federal government has been encouraging the creation & use of, and providing local PDs grants and other funding mechanisms to create) with which they respond with overwhelming and deadly force to any perceived resistance from any common citizen, but are almost never employed in the rare arrests of politicians, the super-rich, and others in equally "elite" positions.

      Many people are intimidated out of complaining too loudly, as there's always *some* law that could be used as a pretext for a raid. And gee, it's sooo hard for the SWAT officer to tell that, after being told to be ready for anything, and in the confusion of a raid in a darkened house at 4 AM, looking down the narrow beam of the flashlight attached to the barrel of that military assault rifle through vision-impairing combat goggles, that you're actually reaching for your underwear and not reaching for a gun...

      I'm sure they'd send flowers for the services, however.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    36. Re:I just wish... by rohan972 · · Score: 1

      According to the article, the City of Boston had a policy allowing officers to arrest people in those circumstances. No one will get fired for following this type of policy.

      Then fire the person who wrote the policy with a lifetime or long term ban on them being hired by any government department or government contractors. Make writers of policy for government departments extremely wary of violating constitutional rights.

    37. Re:I just wish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Why should money be a factor in how justice in a community is kept? Do you believe that before anyone seeks justice he should perform an economic analysis?

    38. Re:I just wish... by Fjandr · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, too many people are generally impressed by uniforms and titles. It allows thugs of a certain stripe to attain an air of legitimacy, without which they would be gunned down for their behavior and nobody would shed so much as a single tear.

    39. Re:I just wish... by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      Nah, let the taxpayer pick up the bill. Cops have enough problems of their own. Where's the fun in being a cop if they film you?

      --
      No sig today...
    40. Re:I just wish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, the range of punishments is from being told not to do it again, all the way up to being given some paid time off? Where do I sign up?

      pretty much any government department

    41. Re:I just wish... by rufty_tufty · · Score: 2

      "Do you believe that before anyone seeks justice he should perform an economic analysis?"
      If I cannot afford lawyers then yes, I have no choice.
      If i cannot afford the years of legal battle needed to win against a vastly better funded opponent then yes.
      It's not how it should work, but it is how it does work.

      --
      "The weirdest thing about a mind, is that every answer that you find, is the basis of a brand new cliche" -
    42. Re:I just wish... by Marcika · · Score: 2

      So you're saying you prefer collective punishment of all the taxpayers in the entire county/state (including the victim) to collective punishment of just the offender's police department?

    43. Re:I just wish... by TFAFalcon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Do you support arresting everyone then? After all, they could all be planning to commit a crime in the next few minutes.

      There are rules about what the police can and can't do. Just like for everyone else. If they break those rules, they should be punished for it. If they thought the law allowed them to detain a person, but it actually didn't, then they should be treated the same as everyone else : Ignorance of the law is no defense. They should of course be offered a plea bargain, where they get reduced sentences if they testify against the person who gave them the order to arrest people taping them. And that person should be charged with conspiracy at least.

    44. Re:I just wish... by TFAFalcon · · Score: 1

      Then why not punish the people who wrote the policy?

    45. Re:I just wish... by Rich0 · · Score: 1

      Yup, either that or fine the mayor in charge at the time.

      When the people who make decisions collect pay, and when bad decisions are made the fines are paid by taxpayers, consumers, or shareholders, then you have a system ripe for problems like this.

      Police abuse taxpayers, and taxpayers pay the fine. Yeah, that will teach them a lesson!

    46. Re:I just wish... by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      No, but I am pointing out that much of hysteria in this thread is insane. If you start charging police officers with kidnapping, as grandparent suggests, you're going to have a hole lot less of arrests that desperately need to be made.

      It's cutting off your face to spite the nose.

    47. Re:I just wish... by Alranor · · Score: 1

      With no legal right to do so, these officers took that man off the street and locked him up in a small room against his will.

      Explain to me how that's not kidnapping?

    48. Re:I just wish... by Chaos+Incarnate · · Score: 1

      They have a badge that says it's okay.

      --
      Benford's Corollary to Clarke's Law: "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."
    49. Re:I just wish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      feh do it like a real DA
      kidnapping under color of authority
      unlawful imprisonment
      conspiracy to commit kidnapping
      aggravated assault under color of authority
      larceny

      I'm sure I'm missing some but you get the point. the DA will always charge you with a bazillion things so you'll plead guilty to 1 or 2 and he won't have to actually prove anything in a court cuz that is a hassle and a lot of work

    50. Re:I just wish... by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      I would feel annoyed and inconvenienced, but that's well over twice my salary even split over the two years. Feeling ripped off... perhaps not so much?

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    51. Re:I just wish... by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Hint: it's not the badge that makes it okay.

    52. Re:I just wish... by TFAFalcon · · Score: 1

      So? Should crimes be ignored because there are a lot of them? How would that work?

      If police officers start shooting people at random often enough, should they be allowed to get away with it? Should murderers, rapists and drug dealers be set free because it's just too much of a hassle trying to arrest them?

      If a crime is committed then the person responsible should be punished. It shouldn't matter if they are a cop or not.

    53. Re:I just wish... by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Because it's an arrest. Technically you're arguing that it's a kidnapping, and you'd probably be right - arrest is a form of kidnapping.

      A legally sanctioned form of kidnapping that is. And in some cases, when police act in good faith that they're following the law, they're not. That's for court to decide, alongside with punishment for such possibility.

      But to argue that an arrest that ended up being illegal but was made in good faith is the same as the act of kidnapping a child is akin to MPAA saying that copyright infringement is the same as armed bank robbery. It's insanity.

    54. Re:I just wish... by metacell · · Score: 1

      Nothing like sharing the consequences to make sure the honest cops keep the lesser ones in line.

      That's a textbook example of collective punishment, which is generally banned or frowned upon in civilised countries.

    55. Re:I just wish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Righteous shooting - he had a concealed camera your honour!

    56. Re:I just wish... by Jawnn · · Score: 1

      Not just that, cops are dumb as shit thugs to start with.

      They're legally allowed to refuse to hire anyone "too smart" to do the job.

      Jeezuz....
      Generalize much? And this is stupid shit gets modded up as "Informative"? Damn...

    57. Re:I just wish... by metacell · · Score: 1

      They're specially ordained to pick up people from the street and lock them up, and are required to follow strict codes and regulations. That may be abused every so often, but it's still a lot better than a band of common citizens trying to make citizen's arrests.

      We can't punish people for making mistakes in their work. That just causes people to do as little as possible so they won't have to take responsibility for anything. Punish the organisation or the higher-ups.

    58. Re:I just wish... by Alranor · · Score: 1

      And in some cases, when police act in good faith that they're following the law, they're not

      So, basically, you're arguing that ignorance of the law is a perfectly valid excuse for breaking it?

    59. Re:I just wish... by DavidTC · · Score: 1

      There is a difference between arresting someone because the police wrongly think the person is guilty of an actual crime, and arresting someone they think is 'guilty' of something that is not, in fact, illegal.

      Especially when the reason they do that is because the person is documenting their misbehavior.

      No one says the police should be charged with anything if, while investigating a real crime, they arrest the wrong person. The police have a much lower standard than the courts, and do not have to prove people are guilty before arresting them. That is for the court system to prove.

      But that's not the same thing as seeing someone and arresting them for no reason, or just making up a clearly bogus reason.

      --
      If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
    60. Re:I just wish... by pavon · · Score: 2

      Yeah, but it's a shame that they agreed not to continue against the IAD. Individual police officers breaking the law isn't a huge threat to society if they are held accountable for it. However, when the IAD, whose entire job is to keep the cops in line, refuses to take legitimate complaints against the police, and the DA turns around and presses charges against anyone who does complain, that is when you know you have big problems. It shows the system is corrupt to the core, not the result of a few bad apples. Without the IAD and DA being held accountable as well there will be no real change, just a few scapegoats.

    61. Re:I just wish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but does the cat appreciate the distinction?

    62. Re:I just wish... by David+Chappell · · Score: 1

      But to argue that an arrest that ended up being illegal but was made in good faith is the same as the act of kidnapping a child is akin to MPAA saying that copyright infringement is the same as armed bank robbery. It's insanity.

      For what its worth, the city settled after a court ruled that the officers did not act in good faith. The reasoning went something like this: They arrested him for violating a law against the making of secret recordings. But they had admitted to the court that the reason they knew he was making a recording was because he was holding up a recording device for all to see, so it obviously wasn't secret.

      The city tried to argue that the legal questions involved were too subtle to be decided in the field and so the officers were right to arrest him and let a judge sort it out, but the court rejected that argument too ruling that the matter was clear cut.

    63. Re:I just wish... by David+Chappell · · Score: 1

      So?

      Who cares what some bureaucrat wrote in some city policy? If what Glik, and people like him, were doing was not, in fact, against the law; then the cops were 100% out of line in even speaking to him, much less arresting him. And they should be facing catastrophic civil and even criminal penalties of their own.

      How the heck does anyone figure that policy overrides the law?

      It doesn't override the law, which is why Glik won. But it does make it hard for the police department to punish them. How does this sound: "Yes, we know we told you to do this, but it was illegal and so now we are going to punish you?"

    64. Re:I just wish... by Grygus · · Score: 1

      Isn't your line arbitrary? Those police officers were paid and trained by the citizenry, who knew this was going on and did nothing to stop it, so how are they not also culpable? The mayor, who in most places has a great deal of authority over the police department, is directly elected; how is the mayor not culpable, and therefore the voters? We're all in this together.

      I don't know anything about city budgets, but I suspect that the taxpayers are not being punished because the fine comes out of the police department's budget, which in a large city probably has a line item for just this sort of thing. The taxpayers were paying that money no matter what... the difference is that it didn't stay within the police department. Isn't that exactly what you are asking for?

    65. Re:I just wish... by Grygus · · Score: 1

      If the world were that simple we wouldn't even have crime.

    66. Re:I just wish... by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      No, I'm arguing that idiotic comparisons that make a point to ignore the reality in favour of masturbatory fantasy of a libertarian anarchist are not something "insightful".

      Your post makes for a great example of such comparison.

    67. Re:I just wish... by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Your argument hinges on it being "clearly bogus reason". I would argue that in modern world, where police are being actively hounded by people who wait for them to make a mistake and then sue for money, while their reason for arrest was invalid, it most certainly was not "clearly bogus".

      It's worth noting that it took several different levels of police investigation and a court of law to finally find it bogus. Which strongly suggests that a police officer on the street was indeed acting in good faith.

    68. Re:I just wish... by horza · · Score: 1

      It is not insanity, and it is not kidnapping. The term for it is false imprisonment . A bit like the Enright v. Groves case mentioned, what he was arrested for doing was not a crime. The police officers commited a criminal offence and should be punished for it. Compensation for the victim is just a bonus.

      Phillip.

    69. Re:I just wish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They are not 'actively hounded by people who wait for them to make a mistake and then sue for money'.
      They are being observed by citizens, citizens who often document them BREAKING THE LAW.
      It is not a fucking 'mistake' when they break the law. It is a crime.
      They lie on the stand, lie on legal documents. They abuse people, they beat them.
      Without video this conduct is never proven.
      Without lawsuits nothing changes.
      It is clearly bogus to arrest someone for recording a police action.

      It's worth noting that a 'police investigation' of police misconduct is worth less than used toilet paper. At least toilet paper does not chap my ass. Unlike the paper they waste on these 'investigations'.

      There have been dozens and dozens of police officers in the US just this year convicted of rape, drug dealing, harassment, child porn, aggravated assault and a host of other things.
      Also dozens of cases of police getting a slap on the wrist when the evidence is overwhelming as to their crime.

      http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/

    70. Re:I just wish... by metallurge · · Score: 1

      Well, if you were really gutsy, you could always perform a citizen's arrest of the policeman for violation of civil rights under color of law and give a call to the local FBI office to come and take custody.

      http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/civilrights/color_of_law

    71. Re:I just wish... by gknoy · · Score: 1

      Are there guidelines on how to (safely) make a citizen's arrest? I mean, without being beaten soundly and charged with resisting arrest?

    72. Re:I just wish... by zzsmirkzz · · Score: 1

      It doesn't override the law, which is why Glik won. But it does make it hard for the police department to punish them. How does this sound: "Yes, we know we told you to do this, but it was illegal and so now we are going to punish you?"

      It sounds a lot like personal responsibility to me. The officers took an oath to uphold the law not the police department's policy on the law. That is an oath they should expect to be held to and should, in fact, actually be held to. They should have known that the policy was against the law and should have fought with the superiors over being required to follow it, or at very least, chosen not to and force their superiors to punish them for following the law over policy.

      The bottom is this (something America, and perhaps the world, has forgotten): Regardless of what anyone else tells you to do, you are in full control of and therefore responsible for your own actions. All of them.

    73. Re:I just wish... by Bigby · · Score: 1

      Someone in the City government has got to know a lawyer, right?

    74. Re:I just wish... by xycadium · · Score: 1

      Exactly! I don't understand why he went with a settlement unless he didn't have the funds to continue the suit. If that was the case, perhaps he should had tried a website appealing for donations for his suit and why it was important for the rest of us to do so. I'm sure I would have given him five bucks, at least. Without knowing the details, speculation as to the reason is all we have.

      I personally wish we'd see some kind of charges brought on the officers and even the internal affairs officers responsible for all this crap. A few years in prison for each of them would go a long ways in changing things ... or at least a good start in going a long ways in changing things.

    75. Re:I just wish... by David+Chappell · · Score: 1

      It doesn't override the law, which is why Glik won. But it does make it hard for the police department to punish them. How does this sound: "Yes, we know we told you to do this, but it was illegal and so now we are going to punish you?"

      It sounds a lot like personal responsibility to me. The officers took an oath to uphold the law not the police department's policy on the law. That is an oath they should expect to be held to and should, in fact, actually be held to. They should have known that the policy was against the law and should have fought with the superiors over being required to follow it, or at very least, chosen not to and force their superiors to punish them for following the law over policy.

      The bottom is this (something America, and perhaps the world, has forgotten): Regardless of what anyone else tells you to do, you are in full control of and therefore responsible for your own actions. All of them.

      I don't disagree with anything you have said above. All I am saying is that the punishment has to come from outside the police department.

    76. Re:I just wish... by zzsmirkzz · · Score: 1

      I don't disagree with anything you have said above. All I am saying is that the punishment has to come from outside the police department.

      Not necessarily. It only has to come from above whoever instituted the policy and apply to everyone involved with it; its creator, its supporters and all of its followers. Everyone, all the way down, who should of done/said something but didn't should be hit by this. That way, next time, there will be a well established reason for arguing against policies that violate the law because otherwise it is your ass on the line.

    77. Re:I just wish... by David+Chappell · · Score: 1

      That sounds reasonable.

    78. Re:I just wish... by reboot246 · · Score: 1

      He should have sued each individual officer involved for violation of his Constitutional rights. That would get their attention.

    79. Re:I just wish... by DavidTC · · Score: 1

      while their reason for arrest was invalid, it most certainly was not "clearly bogus".

      Are you an idiot?

      The police are allowed to arrest people who they suspect have broken the law.

      The 'this person is the one who broke the law' is debatable, and no one suggest police officers should be sued over that. (All the police can do is hold someone for a day or two anyway, anything past that, it's the DA fucking up, not the police.)

      Likewise, 'What this person is doing is in violation of the law' is also debatable. It can look like someone is breaking into a house, but it turns out it's their house. No one suggests lawsuits belong there.

      What is not debatable is the actual law. When the police arrest people for things that are not crimes, you fucktard, of course they should be held liable. The police are only allowed to arrest people for violating an actual law.

      They arrested him on three completely nonsensical charges. Assisting in the escape of a prisoner (Which was so bogus the DA refused to prosecute), disturbing the peace (Which he was not doing, and they dropped.) and violating the wiretapping law, which requires secretly recording people, while he was doing in clear sight of everyone.

      None of his actions were ever in dispute. This is not 'We suspected that he was doing X, a crime, but he was not'. This was 'We all admit, from the start, he was doing X, which is not a crime, but we arrested him anyway.'

      It's worth noting that it took several different levels of police investigation and a court of law to finally find it bogus. Which strongly suggests that a police officer on the street was indeed acting in good faith.

      Hey, look, in this fucktard's universe the fact the police's own investigation repeatedly upheld a clearly bogus arrest somehow means that arrest was justified, instead of demonstrate, as has been repeatedly pointed out, that the police are utterly unaccountable to anyone.

      --
      If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
    80. Re:I just wish... by TWX · · Score: 1

      That isn't a pittance, that's right at the 50th percentile in American income, ie, RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE. That's making more money than half of everyone in the country.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    81. Re:I just wish... by metallurge · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't presume to advise. One should probably bear in mind that the probability of a bad outcome seems... high. One shoud also probably consult a lawyer, which I am not.

    82. Re:I just wish... by alexo · · Score: 1

      Not just that, cops are dumb as shit thugs to start with.

      From the article you linked to:
      Jordan [...] scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125. But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27 [...]
      The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104, or just a little above average.

      How exactly does "just a little above average" equate to "dumb as shit"?

    83. Re:I just wish... by Occams · · Score: 1

      How about firing everyone up the chain of command who supported them. You have a point. The Police must have had some very bad legal advice not to see the difference between using a cell phone as an audio recorder, and makiing a recroding through the telecommunications network. In this country we are entitled to record our own conversations, so the question is whether the arrest scene voices can be regarded as a conversion of the person doing the recording. It is not so clear whether it is OK to record background noise that includes the conversations of others. I suspect that it is OK, but the recording cannot be used as evidence in court. To make this clear the person recording should say something very softly and this may make it a legal admissable conversation. The legal advisers are professionals who must carry insurance for professional indemnity. This insurance is there to be tapped when they make mistakes like this that cause great budget wastage and humiliation for state services. The other people in the chain of command should be able to trust the advice of in-house or external legal advisers.

      --
      Heavy is the head that wears the tinfoil hat.
    84. Re:I just wish... by ToddInSF · · Score: 1

      What a scam the police and the DA have going; they get to fuck-up and violate the law, arrest otherwise innocent and harmless people to keep the public from knowing what they are up to, and make the public pay them to do it, and for their fuck-ups.

  2. Amazing! by Mitreya · · Score: 5, Funny

    And it only took 5 years! And it didn't invalidate similar laws in other states, either.

    1. Re:Amazing! by interkin3tic · · Score: 2

      Did it even invalidate similar laws in THAT state? It sounds to me (IANAL) that they just said "Alright, we messed up this time." Not "Alright, it's utterly insane that we would even try this and we'll never arrest someone for filming police in public again."

    2. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And it only took 5 years! And it didn't invalidate similar laws in other states, either.

      I can't understand how the heck the above is modded funny and not insightful.

    3. Re:Amazing! by micheas · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Quoting from the apeals court ruling: "The presense of probable cause is not even arguable here."

      I wouldn't want to try arguing a similar arrest was legal when the court uses language like that in it's ruling.

      The court didn't say that they didn't find the police officers arguements unconvincing, they more or less said get a clue.

      The police were told that it did not matter what their boss told them, they were still guilty of violating Gilk's first amendment rights, and could be personally sued for it. Which should put a chill in law enforecement officers making those types of arrests.

    4. Re:Amazing! by micheas · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The apealls court claimed that the police officers position was "not even arguable" Ouch.

    5. Re:Amazing! by neo8750 · · Score: 1

      I dont know if it did or not by why would they? I mean next time this happens I'm sure they will be betting that the person doesn't know their rights and just goes to jail quietly and gets suckered.... Means more money in fines

    6. Re:Amazing! by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

      And what does that really mean? That they'll take a different approach next time the ACLU takes them to court for arresting someone for filming public servants in public?

    7. Re:Amazing! by digitig · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It means that Glik is likely to get hauled in on a jaywalking charge if the light ever changes when he's partway across the road, and he'd better make sure his vehicle never ever has a bust light.

      --
      Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
    8. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They need to bury the case, since it is making them look bad... bringing too much attention to the issue. It probably coincides with the TSA problems (federal) which they have been trying to suppress.

    9. Re:Amazing! by demonlapin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      could be personally sued for it.

      I don't see that anywhere. Revocation of qualified immunity would be an immense boon to public liberty and would drop the hammer on bad cops, but his payout appears to be coming from the city of Boston, not from the officers themselves.

    10. Re:Amazing! by codegen · · Score: 4, Informative

      In the earlier appeal decision (a href="http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/pdf.opinions/10-1764P-01A.pdf">pdf) on the motion to dismiss, page 24, the final two sentences are

      For the reasons set forth above, we affirm the district court's order denying appellants' claim of qualified immunity. So ordered.

      The defendents are the city of Boston and the three officers involved. The city may have chosen to shoulder the costs, but several cities in the first circuit have specifically sent out warnings to thier police officers that they may be personally held liable for false arrests arising from public recording

      --
      Atlas stands on the earth and carries the celestial sphere on his shoulders.
    11. Re:Amazing! by demonlapin · · Score: 1

      Thank you.

    12. Re:Amazing! by Fnord666 · · Score: 2

      but his payout appears to be coming from the taxpayers of Boston,

      FTFY

      --
      'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
    13. Re:Amazing! by demonlapin · · Score: 1

      The taxpayers of Boston undoubtedly bear the highest burden, but with the way state and federal grants work, it is unlikely they are the only poor bastards who end up paying for this. My phrasing was KISS at work.

    14. Re:Amazing! by Cytotoxic · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's a great step forward. It is extremely rare for the courts to do something like this.

      As strong as the police "get out of jail free card" of qualified immunity is, the prosecutor's absolute immunity is even stronger. Last year the Supreme Court held that prosecutor's offices cannot be sued when they repeatedly violate defendant's constitutional rights and put innocent people on death row. Because judges are lawyers, they created the concept of absolute immunity for their brothers in the prosecutor's office. There is no law granting them this protection, the courts just decided that it wasn't fair for prosecutors to be liable for any actions they might take in office - like framing an innocent man and putting him on death row. What did Mel Brooks say? "It's good to be the King!"

    15. Re:Amazing! by zildgulf · · Score: 1

      Not if he moves out of the town or out of the state.

    16. Re:Amazing! by ToddInSF · · Score: 1

      No, arrest records follow you no mater where you go.

      And just about anybody who works for law enforcement has quick and easy access to them.

  3. When it comes down to it people want $ not justice by Kenja · · Score: 1

    Not that I wouldn't do the same thing in his shoes, but I would still have liked to see this go the distance rather then it just being a payout of tax payers money.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  4. Its close by cheater512 · · Score: 1

    Its close but its not April 1st yet guys!

  5. lose-lose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Boston has paid out nothing; Boston tax payers have paid out. There is no downside to law enforcement breaking the law, as they simply fall back on the (apparently) bottomless pockets of the general population. It's unlikely those involved will receive so much as a reprimand, let alone be fired. Even when officers are fired, they simply get re-employed as another location. It's a lose-lose situation for everyone but the officers.

    1. Re:lose-lose by Sique · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Let it be a lesson to those people electing someone on a "tough on crime" ticket (which in turn means: free reign for the police to do as it likes.) They pay with their tax money for their mistake.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    2. Re:lose-lose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Boston's taxpayers should have voted for officials that obeyed the law, then.

    3. Re:lose-lose by Alien+Being · · Score: 2

      But let them (cops, captains, chief, IAD, DA) pull the same shit again and heads will roll. This is a win for the good guys no matter how you cut it.

    4. Re:lose-lose by Alien+Being · · Score: 2

      That's not one of the choices.

      Boston is actually pretty good as far as major cities go. It does suck, just not as bad as most.

    5. Re:lose-lose by micheas · · Score: 2

      One thing that I don't get from the article is if the suit against the officers has also been settled. The appeals court said they had no reason to suspect their actions were legal, no matter what their bosses told them, and could therefore be personally sued.

    6. Re:lose-lose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No more likely Boston's insurance paid out. Which might cause bostons insurance premiums to bump up a little.

    7. Re:lose-lose by sjames · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but just think how much Navy Seal wannabee gear they could have bought! They would have looked so badass nobody would even notice the next time a lite brite made them piss their pants!

    8. Re:lose-lose by rahvin112 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You didn't read the story then (duh). The court tossed qualified immunity for the officers. Glik sued both the city and officers in question and in theory the city could force the cops to split the tab with them (I doubt they will). This should send a big chill through the nations police force as it's now precedent that they can lose immunity for false arrest. That's a HUGE precedent and exposes officers violating peoples rights to civil suits that take them for everything they are worth. Now an officer has to make the choice to falsely arrest someone with the understanding that they could end up in civil court and ordered to pay that person a bunch of money for violating their rights.

  6. police department AND Internal Affairs are blind? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    should be 10x that.

    Make an example of them until they take our rights seriously. It's obviously a cultural problem they have deep into the roots.

  7. Re:Ridiculous amount. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For 5 years of hassle to a citizen's effort to keep the government honest? I think it's a bargain compared to the payments we give out to politicians. Compare this to the millions that CEOs receive? A rounding error. This number is too small, not too large.

  8. Re:Ridiculous amount. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So you've never heard of punitive damages? You think he had no legal fees?

    The money has to go to somewhere, and we don't generally give it to charity by default.

  9. Re:Ridiculous amount. by yodleboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ridiculous for falsely arresting someone, then dragging it through the courts for years? Anyway, it says it paid damages AND legal fees. What do you want to bet that 5 years of legal fees are about $160,000? The city got of easy.

  10. same story yet again by berashith · · Score: 3, Interesting

    this also happened in Mass around 2001 or 2002, where someone was getting harassed and decided to record the procedure. He was a musician and had a recorder of some sort in his car. After all the grief that he took, he brought the tape to internal affairs to have the offending officers reprimanded, and they used the tape against him in a wiretapping case. Now he has been harassed and arrested. WINNING

  11. Yeah, really! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How can it be "wire" tapping to record what your eyes can plainly see, in public? What wire? What tapping?

    1. Re:Yeah, really! by oldwindways · · Score: 1

      At least in Massachusetts, the wiretapping laws cover both in-person and telephone conversations being recorded. The key bit is that unlike the majority of states, both parties need to consent to recording in MA. http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleI/Chapter272/Section99

      --
      "Si vis pacem para bellum" -Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus
    2. Re:Yeah, really! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      How can it be "wire" tapping to record what your eyes can plainly see, in public? What wire? What tapping?

      The wiretapping law is about recording audio, and last I checked, your eyes don't see audio.

      Furthermore, he was not being specifically charged with "wiretapping" but with violating the law which is commonly referred to as the wiretapping law (don't know what its actual name is) but also covers some related issues of recording. Remember, a law isn't just about the name it is referred to as. Or do you think the PATRIOT act is just about being patriotic?

    3. Re:Yeah, really! by David+Chappell · · Score: 1

      How can it be "wire" tapping to record what your eyes can plainly see, in public? What wire? What tapping?

      Despite what the summary says, he was not accused of wiretapping. He was accused of violating a law which is often (and somewhat erroneously) referred to as the "Wiretapping Statue". It is actually entitled "Interception of wire and oral communications".

  12. Re:Ridiculous amount. by poity · · Score: 2

    Yeah public apology and implementation of more stringent training would have been better, but 170k is pretty good as punitive fine and sets a precedent for future lawsuits. It doesn't say if the department intends to dock the officers' salaries to offset the cost (I hope so).

    --
    your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
  13. Typical /. by Beelzebud · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I knew that there would be more people whining about tax money here, than the violations of the man's rights.

    1. Re:Typical /. by mmcxii · · Score: 1

      No, it's not more about tax money than a man's rights. It's more about a non-punishment of paying a settlement out of tax payer money instead of some kind of repercussions against those who violated a man's rights. For the most part, the government doesn't pay for their abuse when the repercussion for a crime is handing out "free" money and hoping the other party shuts up about rights violations... you pay for this and the abuse goes on.

    2. Re:Typical /. by Rockoon · · Score: 0

      I guess that tax payers have no rights that have been violated here?

      Unless it is your contention that the IAD was negotiating with the best interests of the tax payers in mind, then I think you should take a big long think about this.

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    3. Re:Typical /. by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

      Maybe because the violation of his rights is plain as day, while the slap on the wrist that really only hurts the public is a little bit more subtle.

      A while back, there was a school that was fined for giving students laptops with webcams and spying on the students at home. My initial reaction was "Good!" until I read the comments, and it was similiarly pointed out that it was taxpayer money being awarded, not really punishing the school officials who made the idiotic decision to invade privacy.

    4. Re:Typical /. by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      They're related. If public servants can abuse members of the public and then pass the responsibility for restitution on to other members of the public, then they have no incentive to stop. If the fine were paid by the officers in question, then it would be a different matter.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    5. Re:Typical /. by micheas · · Score: 1

      The appeals court did rule that the officers could be personally sued, but I don't know what became of that.

    6. Re:Typical /. by Beelzebud · · Score: 1

      You're acting as if this man wasn't a tax payer...

    7. Re:Typical /. by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      I find more people whine about the cold air conditioning in stores in the summer than the hot temperatures outside. You don't need to complain about the heat, everyone else is aware of it.

  14. Re:Ridiculous amount. by wurp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not ridiculous. He was arrested, then spent years in court trying to get the police to do the right thing. What should he have done instead? Stopped when the time he invested became ridiculous? Then they would never change their behavior, and our rights would be even worse off than they are.

  15. Re:Ridiculous amount. by AG+the+other · · Score: 1

    I bet he won't even get half of that as the lawyers will get a good portion. The idea of this kind of settlement is to make the defendant not do it again. You can bet that in morning roll call there will be some orders there about not arresting people for using phones to record police.

    --
    Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro
  16. Re:Ridiculous amount. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What do you think the 5 years a legal costs might amount to?

  17. Re:Ridiculous amount. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Arrested and five years of being run-around and fighting in court.

    I don't know about you, but I feel five years of my life is worth more than $170k. Our civil rights as citizens are worth much more than that as well.

  18. Re:When it comes down to it people want $ not just by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously, you are an idiot.

    Glik did not ask to be arrested, but he was. He asked the IAD to investigate, they told him to fuck off and file a civil suit. So he did. And by winning it and costing them $170,000 the Boston police department did what they should have done in the first fucking place - the disciplined the officers involved.

    Maybe the tax payers should pay more attention in the future to their local cops.

  19. $170,000!? by ToiletBomber · · Score: 1

    Dayum, I need to record cops and get myself arrested!

    1. Re:$170,000!? by cduffy · · Score: 1

      Dayum, I need to record cops and get myself arrested!

      He ended up with $50K after his lawyers were paid, for 5 years spent in court. I can think of easier ways to make $10K/year.

    2. Re:$170,000!? by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 0

      He ended up with $50K after his lawyers were paid, for 5 years spent in court. I can think of easier ways to make $10K/year.

      He wasn't in court every day.

      Or most days.

      Or even very many days. Figure he probably spent three weeks, tops, actually in court as a result of this.

      And did his normal job the rest of the time. So this is a bonus. Not a huge one, but it paid for his new car, no doubt.

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    3. Re:$170,000!? by cduffy · · Score: 1

      So this is a bonus. Not a huge one, but it paid for his new car, no doubt.

      And if he'd lost he would only be out $120,000 in legal fees, a huge amount of time spent (not just in court, but preparing for court), and some amount of professional embarrassment.

      Keep in mind, again, that this case began over him getting prosecuted for something he did to expose police brutality ("excessive use of force") that wasn't hurting him personally.

      Why you'd want to paint someone who took huge personal risks standing up for the rights of others as in it for a profit motive is simply beyond me.

  20. Re:Ridiculous amount. by wisnoskij · · Score: 1

    Well most of it is probably going to a lawyer. In fact 170K is very cheap for employing a lawyer for 5 years.

    --
    Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
  21. Meanwhile in Philly by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 4, Interesting
    --
    "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
    1. Re:Meanwhile in Philly by cain · · Score: 1

      You lost me when you linked to WND. If you've got other sources, I'd be glad to see 'em.

    2. Re:Meanwhile in Philly by abigsmurf · · Score: 1

      I find it rather suspicious the 4 misdemeanours weren't named in that article wheras the dropped felony was. Use of ellipsis in quotes also raises alarm bells. I suspect there's a bit more to that than the articles are saying.

    3. Re:Meanwhile in Philly by russotto · · Score: 1

      It's not that the cops are slow to learn. It's that the lesson they're being taught is they can do whatever the fuck they want, and the worst possible outcome for them is a paid vacation. The most likely outcome is they get away with it clean and their victim is punished. You want the cops to sit up and take notice? Judges need to start having them taken out back of the courtroom and summarily executed for pulling this shit. Won't happen, because most judges (and juries) are on the side of the cops no mater what.

    4. Re:Meanwhile in Philly by phorm · · Score: 1

      Does it? The felony charge was dropped, which indicates it was B.S.
      Misdemeanour's are less notable in light of the felony, but tacking on extra - lesser - charges is apparently pretty common as it allows the police to come up with the "just plea to this lesser charge" bargains.
      I'd imagine that resisting arrest was at least one of the charges.

    5. Re:Meanwhile in Philly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The linked source of that story is at the The Philadelphia Inquirer:

      http://articles.philly.com/2012-03-26/news/31240585_1_police-officer-cops-misdemeanor

      The article is titled Temple student: Cops pinched me for taking pictures
      and is dated March 26, 2012 and has the byline WENDY RUDERMAN, rudermw@phillynews.com 215-854-2860

      The incident also caused a brouhaha at the National Press Photographers Association. The police are claiming that he was arrested for "hindering arrest" and not for his photograpy. Note that the Boston police also had the charge of "abetting escape" initially placed on the actor of this slashdot's article's story, but that charge was subsequently dropped.

  22. Re:Ridiculous amount. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Simon Glik was only able to afford this because he's a lawyer and had the ACLU backing him up. The government is never in a hurry, and has no shame when it comes to spending someone else's funds.

  23. What is the world coming to by fermion · · Score: 1, Troll

    Recording cops get you arrested, but carrying a gun hoping for an excuse to murder someone, then chasing down and killing a random child in cold blood does not even get you detained.

    --
    "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    1. Re:What is the world coming to by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Child? I like how the pictures show him as a kid, not as an over 6 foot troubled 17 yo that needed help.

    2. Re:What is the world coming to by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 4, Informative

      Child? I like how the pictures show him as a kid, not as an over 6 foot troubled 17 yo that needed help.

      I like how quickly you fell for a Stormfront scam.

      --
      The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
    3. Re:What is the world coming to by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Modded troll? For what? There is nothing trollish about this post. It's clear, concise commentary on the irony of the policing systems within the United States of America. You expect a person who exercises their First Amendment rights to be unmolested. You also expect that someone who shoots and kills an unarmed person (regardless of what the shooter may have believed at the time) would at least be detained. Yet the complete opposite occurred in both cases.

    4. Re:What is the world coming to by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ok, sure. It's pretty sad they couldn't scare up a more recent picture than the one from 4 years ago, though. You know, the picture that makes him look like a cute little kid.

      Apparently, Trayvon Martin of Florida didn't have gold teeth or tattoos. He was, however, 6 feet tall and beat the shit out of Zimmerman. He was also pretty troubled, what with the suspensions and accusations of burglary and marijuana selling.

    5. Re:What is the world coming to by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He was, however, 6 feet tall and beat the shit out of Zimmerman.

      That tends to be expected when you face someone who is killing you.

  24. Re:Ridiculous amount. by schnikies79 · · Score: 1

    Another site, Ars, I think, stated that we will get around $50k. The rest going towards legal fees.

    --
    Gone!
  25. Re:Ridiculous amount. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    we=he

  26. Re:Ridiculous amount. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's true of any lawsuit against the government. The point is for the penalties to be so ridiculous, so often, that the populace gets sick and tired of shitty cops, to the point that they pressure the police departments into keeping these goons in check and ensure that they don't trample on people's rights. $170,000 is a drop in the bucket compared to what the taxpayer is spending to employ these buffoons. You want to save money, cut back on the PDs. Less spent on payroll and lawsuits.

    The problem here is that the settlement isn't nearly ridiculous enough. The cops' penalties range from "oral reprimand" (i.e. nothing) to "suspension". They should be fired at a minimum and possibly have criminal charges brought against them for abuse of police powers.

  27. Whoa, back up a minute. by Dancing+Propeller+He · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So until, the police and Internal Affairs get caught breaking the law, the law on the books isn't actually followed by the exact people who should know the law? Vigilante justice from within the police system is not a good culture to have brewing. Shouldn't anyone within the policing system that breaks the law or supports breaking the law be fired? Seems to be a conflict of interest to me.

    1. Re:Whoa, back up a minute. by abigsmurf · · Score: 2, Insightful

      They acted in a way they believed the law specified. It took 5 years of lawyers and judges wrangling for it to be conclusively decided that the law didn't specify that and the arrest was wrongful.

      If it took people who have been studying law most of their lives that long to decide, what chance does a police officer, with a comparatively small legal knowledge and a few minutes under pressure to make his mind up, have to get to the right decision? It would be more than a bit harsh to brand cops criminals when they were forced to make a decision that was beyond their capability.

    2. Re:Whoa, back up a minute. by reve_etrange · · Score: 2

      Are they capable of patriotism and the respect for rights and the rule of law that that patriotism (in the US) entails?

      --
      .: Semper Absurda :.
    3. Re:Whoa, back up a minute. by deblau · · Score: 1

      I would think that with enough precedents against them and enough six figure settlements, any city would catch on pretty quickly that they need to fire such law-breaking cops. Hell, if another cop pulls this shit in Boston, you can bet the suit won't be for $100,000, but for a ton more because the city is showing signs of being a "habitual offender".

      --
      This post expresses my opinion, not that of my employer. And yes, IAAL.
    4. Re:Whoa, back up a minute. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That, sir, is utter bullshit. If we as a society are going to give you a gun and the legal power to detain, pepper spray, taze, and shoot citizens then you damn well better know what you're doing. What happens when someone gets killed because an officer misinterprets something? As history shows, not much,

    5. Re:Whoa, back up a minute. by dcollins · · Score: 4, Informative

      Oh god, please. Compare to this case in Baltimore from just last month: BPD is hauled into court by the ACLU for routinely arresting people when they video police, under wiretapping statutes. Three days before the court hearing, BPD announces that they concede that people shouldn't be arrested for photography -- but within the same day, BPD are still arresting people taking video: except the charge has now magically changed to loitering.

      http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bal-in-federal-hill-citizens-allowed-to-record-police-but-then-theres-loitering-20120211,0,3706866.story

      The police departments are very consciously corrupting the law to benefit themselves, doing everything they can to delay and obstruct justice, and prosecutors are helping them along. If they get definitively slapped down in court for one thing, then within 24 hours they come up with brand-new bogus legal readings and go on with their abusive behavior unchanged. This is not remotely a "decision beyond their capability" one-time accident.

      --
      We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
    6. Re:Whoa, back up a minute. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So, cops can get away with "ignorance of the law...", and the rest of us can't?

      That is so awesome. /s

    7. Re:Whoa, back up a minute. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If it took people who have been studying law most of their lives that long to decide, what chance does a police officer, with a comparatively small legal knowledge and a few minutes under pressure to make his mind up, have to get to the right decision? It would be more than a bit harsh to brand cops criminals when they were forced to make a decision that was beyond their capability.

      maybe we should expect commissioned officers tasked with sheperding the safety and freedom of the citizenry to be capable of making these kinds of decisions. maybe we should expect the law not to be so twisted and convoluted as to render that impossible. maybe the reluctance of people, who've studied law all their lives, to reach a conclusion /. audiences met in 15 minutes is a sign as to how messed up and wide-spread this problem is.

      you sound like a standard police apologist, and your username sounds like a cop's.

    8. Re:Whoa, back up a minute. by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Informative

      It took five years because the party that was guilty of violating citizen's rights was stubbornly insisting that they "didn't do anything wrong", and then later on that they "didn't know it was wrong", and the court was forced to not only find whether there is any truth to their claims, but whether it can even serve as a plausible excuse - i.e. whether they could have reasonably not understood their obligations under the 1st Amendment. And the court, basically, ruled that they did not, and that the right that was infringed was clear and unambiguous. From the ruling:

      In summary, though not unqualified, a citizen's right to film government officials, including law enforcement officers, in the discharge of their duties in a public space is a basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment. Accordingly, we hold that the district court did not err in denying qualified immunity to the appellants on Glik's First Amendment claim.

      (I recommend you actually read the full text of the ruling - it's not all that long, and the arguments are surprisingly clear and easy to follow)

    9. Re:Whoa, back up a minute. by am+2k · · Score: 1

      If it took people who have been studying law most of their lives that long to decide, what chance does a police officer, with a comparatively small legal knowledge and a few minutes under pressure to make his mind up, have to get to the right decision?

      So it's perfectly fine that every adult has to know the law, including case law, perfectly (otherwise facing heavy fines and/or imprisonment when doing something wrong), except for police officers? Remember, not knowing the law does not make you innocent.

      (Maybe, just maybe, the law is far too complicated nowadays?)

    10. Re:Whoa, back up a minute. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If it took people who have been studying law most of their lives that long to decide, what chance does a police officer, with a comparatively small legal knowledge and a few minutes under pressure to make his mind up, have to get to the right decision?

      Ignorance of the law, however convoluted, is no excuse. If that standard applies to the citizenry, it damn well ought to apply to the police force, who deal with the law on an applied level as their job.

    11. Re:Whoa, back up a minute. by Xanlexian · · Score: 1

      I thought, "ignorance of the law is no excuse". Like everything else, I guess it doesn't go both ways.

      --
      "Congratulations, Boots. Your robot has become self-aware. You're a daddy now." -- Dr. Rho Bowman
    12. Re:Whoa, back up a minute. by jammer170 · · Score: 1

      While I understand where you are coming from, if a police officer isn't capable of knowing what is and is not against the law, why can a private citizen be branded a criminal for the same reason? The fact is Congress has basically run amok making millions of laws that affect the day-to-day lives of common citizens, followed by the state and local governments doing the same thing, and now no one knows what is and is not against the law. The idea of "ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking the law" no longer holds if it takes five years and multiple courts to determine what is legal.

      --
      Remember, you can't look dignified when your having fun! Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out of it alive
    13. Re:Whoa, back up a minute. by ErikZ · · Score: 1

      It didn't take me very long to figure out.

      "If you're a public servant, being recorded doing your job should be legal."

      It's a weapon against corruption and abuse.

      --
      Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
    14. Re:Whoa, back up a minute. by David+Chappell · · Score: 1

      They acted in a way they believed the law specified. It took 5 years of lawyers and judges wrangling for it to be conclusively decided that the law didn't specify that and the arrest was wrongful.

      If it took people who have been studying law most of their lives that long to decide, what chance does a police officer, with a comparatively small legal knowledge and a few minutes under pressure to make his mind up, have to get to the right decision? It would be more than a bit harsh to brand cops criminals when they were forced to make a decision that was beyond their capability.

      I think you should go read the appeals court's decision. This question was specifically addressed.

    15. Re:Whoa, back up a minute. by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      No it didn't take 5 years to decide. It took five years for all the legal maneuvering, postponments and delay tactics to play out. To the claim that it was a gray area of the law, the judges decision basically said "Are you fuckin' kiddin' me?" in a very nice way.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    16. Re:Whoa, back up a minute. by The+Wild+Norseman · · Score: 1

      They acted in a way they believed the law specified. It took 5 years of lawyers and judges wrangling for it to be conclusively decided that the law didn't specify that and the arrest was wrongful.

        If it took people who have been studying law most of their lives that long to decide, what chance does a police officer, with a comparatively small legal knowledge and a few minutes under pressure to make his mind up, have to get to the right decision? It would be more than a bit harsh to brand cops criminals when they were forced to make a decision that was beyond their capability.

      Then maybe -- just maybe -- the cops SHOULDN'T HAVE MADE AN ARREST IN THE FIRST PLACE THEN if they didn't really know for sure. I mean, what was the emergency here? Was somebody going to die in the next five seconds? Was somebody being raped in the parking lot? Was a hostage situation going down?

      NO.

      A bunch of thugs with badges didn't want their crimes to be recorded in public, so they drummed up any old excuse to harass an innocent person -- all the moreso that they decided on a felony to try an intimidate the guy rather than a misdemeanor.

      To "err on the side of caution" should mean "maybe I'd better not waste time and effort in arresting some dude if I really don't have a rock-solid reason" rather than "jail 'em all and let a judge sort it out."

      --
      "A government is a body of people usually -- notably -- ungoverned." -Shepherd Book
  28. Re:Typical Human by SeaFox · · Score: 2

    If anything, I expect a larger outrage here about the rights than you would get in most news circles. The average person doesn't care about the rights issue because it's happening to "someone else", whereas the settlements (and the money to fund it) is coming from them the taxpayer and does have an effect on them personally (if it changes tax rates or effects funding on things the other individual cares about). Plus there's the whole "he got money for nothing" angle which is more a jealously thing.

    You're not complaining about Slashdot, you're complaining about human nature.

  29. On the way out of the courthouse... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...his attorney puts two quarters in a vending machine, selects a pack of chewing gum and hands it to him, saying "Here's your portion, have a nice day."

  30. Re:Ridiculous amount. by Githaron · · Score: 1

    Agreed. I thought the courts ripped this guy off. He should have received more.

  31. Money is not enough by markdavis · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So, does that compensation include:

    1) Removing his fingerprints from not only Boston police's files, but the FBI and every other system it was instantly and permanently sent to?

    2) Removing all records of his improper and illegal arrest from every system?

    Somehow I think information, once collected, is forever there. He will now be "searched", like a suspect, every time prints are run.

    1. Re:Money is not enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Precisely. Many do not know how easily accessible this information is today.

      You are always made to look guilty of some crime even if you were innocent. Police records are permanent and they are not there to help you.

      Even if you think a charge is expunged, the government still has access. And now, employers can request an FBI report containing all "reported" arrests nationwide (eventually being guilty of a crime or not guilty) going back forever... With the "information" economy, most states are fully reporting to the federal level.

      You will be forever be punished in the fear driven economy.

      By the way, FCRA has nothing to do with type of reporting. No time limits or SOL.

  32. Re:Ridiculous amount. by DataDiddler · · Score: 1

    After paying his lawyer and taxes, he'll end up about $20 in the black.

    --
    Working...
  33. Re:When it comes down to it people want $ not just by DigiShaman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not sure what this guys occupation is, but 5 years later with $170,000 isn't much to show for it. That's $34,000 a year. It's also a payout for his legal fees. Net profit??? In fact, he could still be in negative when it's all said and done.

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  34. Re:Ridiculous amount. by timeOday · · Score: 1

    In order to change anything, it has to be enough for the offender to sit up and take notice. Now if only the officers in question were liable for 1% of the settlement, we would make some real progress.

  35. Re:I just wish... GRANTED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Agreed. This is why so often government agencies settle rather than go to court and be proven wrong. Sometimes we get lucky when they are dumb enough to not only get caught, get sued but also don't settle. Then we get precident, but ONLY when the ruling is actually "published". A quirk of court that keeps many very helpful rulings from helping real citizens.

    There are other instances where citizens have won over government on this level of grand stupidity, however the regulations literally state the standard of justice is the regulators re correct unless it can first be proven in their own court (that's right) they are arbitrary and capricious. It rarely happens of course and that standard of justice flies in the face of preponderance of the evidence, but, rarely, it can happen:

    http://www.v-serv.com/usr/ATFE-03-16-09.pdf

    JJ

  36. Re:Ridiculous amount. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A part of the legal fees will go to ACLU, not a bad deal at all.

  37. Imagine crowd-circles of recording wannabe's... by ivi · · Score: 1

    So, now that if could be worth almost $120K to be arrested for recording police in action, I wouldn't be surprised if the next big craze (or How to Make Money scheme) will be to look for & start recording any police action (from the common ticketing of a motorist to questioning witnesses or suspects near the scene of an incident, etc.)

    It's perhaps like a lottery... some officers will be either unaware of the final outcome of the Glik story or perhaps simply lose their cool in the heat of the moment.

    1. See & Record some police-in-action sequence
    2. Be arrested for it
      : (be lucky enough to have an outcome like Glik's)
    3. Profit!

    1. Re:Imagine crowd-circles of recording wannabe's... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There are several people on YouTube that do exactly that.

    2. Re:Imagine crowd-circles of recording wannabe's... by nightwraith22 · · Score: 1

      $120k over 5 years comes out to $24k a year. Not exactly a big profit.

    3. Re:Imagine crowd-circles of recording wannabe's... by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      I think the commercial, like those looking for people harmed by a drug or asbestos, would be hilarious.

      Have you had the snot beat out of your for filming an arrest?
      Have you been arrested for having a cell phone.
      Call the law office of Wescrew and Good for a free consultation.
      We'll smack them bitches down, for ya'!!

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
  38. Re:When it comes down to it people want $ not just by timeOday · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The taxpayers are also the voters. They deserve to pay until they take notice and send a message to their government.

  39. Re:When it comes down to it people want $ not just by hawguy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Seriously, you are an idiot.

    Glik did not ask to be arrested, but he was. He asked the IAD to investigate, they told him to fuck off and file a civil suit. So he did. And by winning it and costing them $170,000 the Boston police department did what they should have done in the first fucking place - the disciplined the officers involved.

    Maybe the tax payers should pay more attention in the future to their local cops.

    I don't think the parent poster was lamenting the fact that the guy got a big payout, but that this ended up with a cash settlement instead of being played out to the end to set a legal precedent. Even if he ended up getting $170K (or more) in the end, at least it would have set a legal precedent that should make this kind of thing less likely in the future.

  40. I picture by ILongForDarkness · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Elmer Fudd comes out and says "Tony you been warry warry baddd".

    Seriously oral reprimand? Something like "hey dumbass you just cost us two years of your wages". The sad think is it is the public's money that is going to be used to pay this. So you pay for a police officer, he pisses on a citizens rights then you tax the public some more to pay off for the damage you did. Nice.

    1. Re:I picture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually it's closer to 3-4 years of his wages, but otherwise pretty accurate.

    2. Re:I picture by usuallylost · · Score: 1

      It sounds like the city had a policy of doing this. So you have some officials of the city saying arrest people with the cameras. Even though it is likely illegal (they didn't have precedent yet so they can claim they where acting on their understanding of the law) and most likely won't stand up in court. They are not going to do anything to the officers who enforced the policy. If they do the logical next thing for the officers to do is to start pointing the finger at whomever is above them that ordered them to do this. The last thing the city government is going to want is for accountability to start moving up the chain of command. From their point of view it is much better to let the guys on the bottom of as lightly as they can legally get away with so that this goes away.

    3. Re:I picture by ILongForDarkness · · Score: 1

      Kind of like the mob. "Hey Tony take the fall on this rather than admit is a rico offense and rat me out. It would be VERY good for you and your family if you do that" :-)

      A lot of the times harassment is hard to prove and I'm sure if you make things a pain for your coworkers they'll find a way to pick on you even if it is giving you the crap assignments permanently. "Oh you do such a good job in syringe alley we are promoting you to syringe enforcement officer and permanently stationing you there" :-)

    4. Re:I picture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is Elmer now Russian? Wouldn't he instead say: "Tony you been vewy vewy baaaad".

    5. Re:I picture by David+Chappell · · Score: 1

      It sounds like the city had a policy of doing this. So you have some officials of the city saying arrest people with the cameras. Even though it is likely illegal (they didn't have precedent yet so they can claim they where acting on their understanding of the law) and most likely won't stand up in court.

      The city lost because the court ruled that there was precedent. A court had already ruled that if someone has a tape recorder out and ready for use, any recording that he may be making is not secret, even if he doesn't say "this thing is on".

    6. Re:I picture by ILongForDarkness · · Score: 1

      No but my girlfriend is and I lived in Germany for a couple years now I have problems getting regional pronunciations of v right :-)

  41. It's only when these nazi thugs face punishment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's only when these nazi thugs face punishment, public humiliation, lose their jobs (and I mean they'll carry such shame they will have a hard time getting a job cleaning up porno booths, or even Assistant Crack Whore) that they'll start to get the message. This police state is going to cost a lot of money.

  42. Freedom of the Press by cpu6502 · · Score: 3, Informative

    I can't believe this was ever an issue. Recording events as they happen, whether it's with a video, audio, or the old-fashioned pen-and-paper method, is a protected right under the first amendment of both the U.S. and most State Constitutions.

    And to the person who wished a precedent had been set? Here it is: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/28/2030243/mass-court-says-constitution-protects-filming-on-duty-police

    --
    My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
    1. Re:Freedom of the Press by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except when the police, government, or corporations do it, right? Then it's TEH EVILZ ZOMG PRIVACY INVASION!!!
      LOL at the CAPTCHA code: WARRANTS. I bet this guy didn't have one when he filmed the cops going about their jobs.

  43. Wow what a crappy way to spend 5 years. by Stoutlimb · · Score: 2, Insightful

    5 years. Way to go USA justice system. You suck.

  44. Re:When it comes down to it people want $ not just by c0lo · · Score: 1

    Not that I wouldn't do the same thing in his shoes, but I would still have liked to see this go the distance rather then it just being a payout of tax payers money.

    Yes, that is exactly the problem: have your fight for 5 years and all the others only cheering on the margins (if ever). That's no longer justice, it's "entertainment"... and of a dubious quality.

    --
    Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
  45. Just take photos non stop by giorgist · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I guess the beginning is for the brave, but if everybody just takes photos non stop ... eventually the police will be decentitized. Everybody knows that there are cameras everywhere noways so much like open source ... a million eyes will eventually weed out the bugs in the system. We are living in times of change.

  46. Re:When it comes down to it people want $ not just by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

    It's a bonus on top of whatever his ordinary salary is, not a replacement. I dare say most people would be happy with a bonus of $34,000 a year.

  47. Re:Ridiculous amount. by Hatta · · Score: 1

    You're absolutely right. The correct thing to do in this case is to try the officers in question for kidnapping, and their superiors AND the IAD for being an accessory to kidnapping. Making settlement payouts from the general fund does nothing to deter future crimes on the part of these thugs.

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  48. Crime pays for smart people. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I once talked to someone who knows Nancy Grace - that shrill fat chick on TV. She lives in Atlanta, GA - in a really expensive suburb.

    Anyway, they "bragged" how she never lost a case when she was a prosecutor. I had to inform this person that prosecutors cherry pick cases. In other words, they set themselves up to win.

    My point? If you're a smart criminal the "justice" system is easy to beat because it's filled with stupid people and people too lazy to work to put away smart criminals.

    Crime pays for smart people. And if you're really smart, they pay you to steal Case in point: Wall Street.

  49. Meter maids working overtime by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I was wondering why the meter maid were working overtime these last few days, I got a ticket last week at 9pm at night, usually they are mostly gone by 7pm in most areas. In the end, we locals pay the bill.

    1. Re:Meter maids working overtime by iphinome · · Score: 1

      When the next election rolls around make a fuss, point out to everyone that the police have cost you money with their thuggish tactics, demand candidates for the city council reduce the police budget by 170k demand the officers be fired. Your city officials allowed this, hold them accountable for it.

  50. It should have been a LOT more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cockroaches scurry away when they are exposed to the light.... Just like cops hate to see their actions on the 5 o'clock news...

  51. Even though it was wrong to begin with by BatGnat · · Score: 1

    how can IAD call it"unreasonable judgment if they had been supporting the idea for 5 years?

  52. Re:Ridiculous amount. by trout007 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So government employees do something wrong and the court punishes the taxpayers? How about paying that $160k out of the cops retirement fund?

    This is like when a Priest gets caught molesting a kid and the Church pays the victim with the congregations money.

    --
    I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
  53. what a joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the police should be in prison

  54. Oh boy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sting is getting grumpy in his old age.

  55. Re:Ridiculous amount. by interval1066 · · Score: 1

    I'm with you on this 100%.

    --
    Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
  56. Re:Ridiculous amount. by OhPlz · · Score: 1

    Mayor Mumbles should put this in his pocket and raise it again the next time the city has to negotiate with the Boston patrolmen's union. The overall cost is higher. $170k is just the settlement. This whole debacle will have cost Boston taxpayers more than that from start to finish.

  57. Re:When it comes down to it people want $ not just by codegen · · Score: 4, Informative

    The guy is a family court lawyer. The settlement is $50,000 + lawyers fees (he was represented by the ACLU). The case is decisive in that Boston attempted to have the case dismissed base on limited immunity(i.e. can't sue police for doing their job). The trial court ruled against them (i..e. lawsuit can go ahead). The ruling was appealed and the appeal court handed down a ruling (pdf) that left little doubt how the rest of the trial would go. The appeal court ruling said, in no uncertain terms, that the recording was legal, that it was not secret and Mr. Gliks rights were violated. Given that ruling on a motion to dismiss, there is no way the city would go ahead with a lower trial that would just confirm what the appeals court already said, so they settled.

    --
    Atlas stands on the earth and carries the celestial sphere on his shoulders.
  58. Re:When it comes down to it people want $ not just by codegen · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you mean "go the distance" as in set a precedent, then this case already did.

    Early in the trial, the city attempted a motion to dismiss on the ground of limited immunity(i.e. can't sue police for doing thier job in good faith). The Citiy's argument was that the wiretap law says you "can't record in secret" and since it wasn't clear that the phone was recording audio, then the audio part of the recording was secret, and therefore the was probable cause for the arrest, and thus limited immunity applied. The appeals court handed down a decision(pdf) in 2011 that drew on over 10 years of precedents that said in no uncertain terms that it wasn't a secret recording, that Mr Glik had the right to record police in public and that any resonable person would have known this. Therefore the police cannot claim llimited immunity.

    Faced with such a strong appeals court ruling on the motion to dismiss, it was clear any trial would be lost by the City. So they settled.

    The 2011 dismissal appeal decision is a precedent, and has already been used as binding precedent in 1st circut, and as non-binding precedent in all of the other circuits on similar cases. There is one case, I have misplaced the link, where the lawsuit is for an incident that happened before the 2011 glik decision and the police are claiming that since the incident happened before the glik decision, they couldn't know that it was a civil rights violation to arrest someone for this. As far as I can tell, they aren't getting anywhere with that argument. The language of the glik decision makes it clear that it has always been a civil rights violation to arrest someone for openly recording the police in a public space.

    --
    Atlas stands on the earth and carries the celestial sphere on his shoulders.
  59. Re:Ridiculous amount. by yodleboy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I agree it sucks that taxpayers pick up the tab but I doubt there's a legal way to get at retirement funds. The alternative is they don't pay at all. I don't think that's fair either. If the cops had falsely arrested this guy and the city said "whoa! that's just wrong, you're fired" then maybe it would have been enough. Those taxpaying citizens should be more concerned with false arrest by the people they are paying to enforce the law and by a city government that pisses away money for 5 years defending that action. Maybe some of them will be mad enough at the waste of money to vote out the retards that are in office.

    To your priest example, it's completely fair that the congregation that stood by oblivious while some priest molested children for years pays for that. I just find it hard to accept that hundreds, maybe thousands of people were members of these churches and not once did someone notice or have the balls to say "About Father Bob..." It's ludicrous that someone can get away with this stuff for decades. I guarantee that any congregation that's paid out because of molestation is a hell of a lot more careful about who is in the clergy and what they are doing, especially where kids are involved. Sometimes messing with peoples money is the only way to get a change.

  60. Re:Ridiculous amount. by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So government employees do something wrong and the court punishes the taxpayers? How about paying that $160k out of the cops retirement fund?

    This is like when a Priest gets caught molesting a kid and the Church pays the victim with the congregations money.

    The cops were working for the city. They authority they abused was derived from the city. The city -- and thus the citizenry -- is responsible for their actions.

    Now if the city thinks that it is not at fault for the actions of these employees -- that it wasn't bad management or poor training, etc., but rather something completely out of their control -- then perhaps the city should sue the officers to recover the money.

    At any rate, it is important for all employers -- cities, churches, banks, etc. -- to ensure that they hire, manage, and train the employees acting in their name to obey all relevant laws and regulations in the course of their duties. To do any less is to expose the organization to unnecessary liability. This is especially important if you issue the aforementioned employees badges, guns, foreclosure forms, or the ability to invoke eternal damnation.

    --
    I am not a crackpot.
  61. Meanwhile in Ft Collins, CO by gstrickler · · Score: 1

    Not arrested for filming, but officers were filmed arresting a guy after one of the officers assaulted him.

    --
    make imaginary.friends COUNT=100 VISIBLE=false
  62. 'right' of arrest by PMuse · · Score: 1

    According to TFA, things should be better now that:

    "There is no right of arrest for public and open recordings under this statute," a training bulletin instructs police.

    Or maybe things won't be much better, since even the police trainers seem to think that laws confer a "right of arrest" on police officers.

    Authority? Yes.
    Duty? Yes.
    A "right"? Never. That's severely twisted thinking.

    --
    "We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
    1. Re:'right' of arrest by hoboroadie · · Score: 1

      Twisted? Yes.
      geez...
      Have you ever talked to a police officer?

      --
      They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
  63. Re:Ridiculous amount. by penix1 · · Score: 1

    Come down off your high horse there for a moment and think about this. There are times when recordings of police action can put lives at risk. Think about the under cover cop busting a gang up. Record him doing his job and releasing that recording would put not only the cop at risk but anyone around him. His family, friends and coworkers would quickly become targets.

    Look, I am not saying what these police did is right but I am also not going to condemn the whole force or the policy they are following in limited cases. The fault lies in their training and supervision. A lack of either will result in instances like this.

    Lastly, it was the city attorney and police chief that decided this case had merit enough to pursue it all the way to the appeals court. That was a foolish mistake that the Mayor and city government is ultimately responsible for. Want to punish someone, punish them.

    --
    This is a sig. This is only a sig. Had this been an actual sig you would have been informed where to tune for more sigs.
  64. Blaming the officers by bug1 · · Score: 1

    disciplined two of the officers for using "unreasonable judgment" in arresting Glik

    The city fight tooth and nail, doing everything it can purely to defend the officers judgment, they must be a very noble bunch of people to be so selfless in defending the actions of their employees.

    Ohwait, could it be they where really trying defend their own actions as well as the officers. Hmm... na, that doesnt make sense, if that was the case they would have taken their share of the blame.

  65. conceal your recording devices by ffflala · · Score: 1

    It's curious to note that a dystopic system of constant video and audio surveillance would actually serve to check this particular behavior, as long as the cameras were not controlled by any government department or organization in the regional executive branch.

    1. Re:conceal your recording devices by hellop2 · · Score: 1

      Trust me bro, the cameras are never on when the footage the took would implicate a cop.

      --
      How many more years will slashdot have an off-by-one error on your Score in your profile?
  66. I DON'T GET IT. by ancient_kings · · Score: 1

    Help me out people. SO this new job I have, I get to lock/bitch slap people who don't respect my "authorita" and even if I screw up (on purpose), SOMEBODY ELSE pays my legal bills and any judgements against me??? Sweet!!! What a deal!!! Sign me up. Even the mafia couldn't do this... AWESOME!!!

  67. Re:Ridiculous amount. by NemoinSpace · · Score: 1

    If you think the citizenry of this semi fascist community should be off the hook, then I suggest more than a few of them get on the phone with the mayors office and ensure the officers get more than a reprimand. Rank and file thug officers are hard to come by. Police chiefs usually serve at the pleasure of the city manager. My most haunting thought is half the people in this town think the police were right.
    As an aside, what percentage of people in your community derive their income from the police state you live under? You know we're screwed right?

  68. Re:Ridiculous amount. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Uh.. if the under cover is performing the bust... his cover is already blown because the people he is arresting have seen his face. Since you are going with a gang example.. the arrested members can and will pass that information on to their outside fellows. And the danger you say would exist because of a recording will exist without one. So.. try again?

    Also.. the police officers themselves deserve to be punished. They have powers of arrest. If they don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt that what they are doing is legal, they shouldn't be fucking doing it. We could call it something new and crazy .. like "responsibility" If these officers don't want to be responsible with power, they can get a job without the bloody power.

  69. Re:Ridiculous amount. by b4dc0d3r · · Score: 1

    If you're doing anything other than pointing out the law, which a judge will either agree with as written or you appeal to the higher courts, you will need expert testimony.

    A good expert will be $5000 plus travel, adjust for better/worse and the city. He may have paid someone $10k just to review the evidence and testify on the technical side of things. Was the video doctored? I bet the police defense asked those types of things. Poke any hole at all in the evidence.

    "The lawyers" get all the money in class action lawsuits, where they have to compile piles of suits into a single one and coordinate. Excessive, even they will do a lot of work. IP suits, especially where the language of the contract is at issue (such as the Novell IP with Unix/SCO), they will spend a while interviewing people and reviewing evidence and come away with a huge payday. These are the areas where you get to say "the lawyers probably took it all."

    This type of suit, "legal fees" includes a lot more than just what the lawyer gets. Especially when it's $50k over 5 years. $10k/year, allowing for one expert per year, is not a whole lot.

  70. From the misleading title Dept... by havana9 · · Score: 1

    I was wondering why someone was arrested for bootlegging a show made by Sting, Andy Summes and Stewart Copeland, and why Tom Scholz and Michael Sweet have to pay $170.000 to him.

  71. JFGI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1
  72. Re:When it comes down to it people want $ not just by Rich0 · · Score: 1

    Yeah, good luck holding a job after spending who knows how long in jail, followed by having to make court appearances over a five year trial...

  73. Re:Ridiculous amount. by Rich0 · · Score: 1

    The cops were working for the city. They authority they abused was derived from the city. The city -- and thus the citizenry -- is responsible for their actions.

    The problem with this sort of logic is that it is almost impossible for concerned citizens to reform this kind of behavior. The people making the decisions wield too much power and our electoral system shields them from most accountability. Financial immunity just means they have virtually no incentive at all to do the right thing. Re-election chances have much more to do with prevailing politics than individual actions, even if the latter is what makes it into the issue ads that the candidate with more money runs.

  74. nothing to see here... by hoboroadie · · Score: 1

    I almost got arrested once for watching the cops beat down an innocent man, but I was generously offered the option to leave, rather than go with him.
    So, some cops are cool.

    --
    They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
  75. About time by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 1

    It is about time that they had accountability for their actions, and too many in the gov. were helping sweep the problem under the rug. Now we have a first case precedent that will help with all future case (hopefully) and allow a more controlled approach to video taping cops doing their jobs, which we should be able to do!

  76. Re:Ridiculous amount. by TFAFalcon · · Score: 1

    If exposing an undercover cop put so many lives at risk, then why don't more of them get killed? After a person is arrested, they aren't kept from communicating with the outside world. And the cop probably has to testify against them at trial. So you definitely have people who both know the person was an undercover cop AND what he/she looks like.

    On the other hand what rules are there against filming a cop maintaining his cover? The person filming can't know the person is a cop. It could be just a good citizen trying to help the police top the neighborhood gang.

  77. Off topic, don't mind me by Gazzonyx · · Score: 1

    Hehe, it sounds better than what that troll APK is doing to you right now. He does know who you are and what you've accomplished, yes? I am slightly amused, just not in the way APK was intending...

    --

    If I mod you up, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with what you've said, sorry.

    1. Re:Off topic, don't mind me by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Hehe, it sounds better than what that troll APK is doing to you right now.

      I'm finding it hilarious. He's attempting to disprove my comment that mentioning hosts files makes him post a long, rambling, off-topic comment by... posting a long, rambling, off-topic comment on everything I post.

      He does know who you are and what you've accomplished, yes?

      Oh, I doubt it. I don't really tie my /. identity to other stuff I've done unless it happens to be on-topic, and he barely reads the posts he replies to let alone other ones. Still, I'm looking forward to his demonstration of more detailed knowledge of computing than me. It should be highly informative.

      I am slightly amused, just not in the way APK was intending...

      He seems to think I'm downmodding him now, ignoring the fact that even if I had mod points I couldn't mod in threads I'd posted in. Apparently the idea that someone else might think he's trolling by pasting the same off-topic rambling on everything I post has never occurred to him...

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  78. $170K is a lot by davidwr · · Score: 1

    How much of that is "actual economic" damages, how much is "loss of reputation/pain and suffering," and how much is punitive?

    Normally, I would say that the amount that is "punitive" should go to the government or taxpayers, but since this was the government screwing up, it should go to a charity instead.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  79. Troll or confused? by Zinho · · Score: 1

    What you just said is exactly right, even though you stated it sarcastically. Police performing official duties in public have no expectation of privacy. When they get home, though, they have the same right to not have their phone calls snooped that every private citizen enjoys in their own home.

    Wiretapping laws exist to defend every citizen's reasonable expectation of privacy, an extension of the constitutionally-guaranteed right to be "secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches". Any recording of U.S. citizens' private conversation for the purposes of law enforcement should therefore be a special exception to the rule, not a matter of routine procedure; it is by definition an invasion of privacy, is only acceptable when there is probable cause to suspect a crime is being committed, and even then only under supervision of judicial authority (warrant issued by a judge).

    Anyone walking down the street, however, has the right to see anything that's visible to them. Cameras (whether they be still or video) serve as memory augmentation devices; the photographer uses them to help remember what they saw. And, according to this ruling, everyone in the U.S. has the right to photograph anything that they can see from a public place (although that precedent had already been set prior to now). So if they see a policeman arresting someone, they have a right to record it. In contrast, however, the city putting up police cameras everywhere and monitoring it with software that can track an individual's face as it moves from one camera to another is exactly equivalent to close surveillance, another activity that U.S. courts have declared an invasion of privacy.

    The biggest difference between private actions here and state actions, however, is the implied threat of force. A private citizen following someone else around the city with a camera without the subject's permission is simply harassing the subject. A policeman doing so is collecting evidence, and does so with authority to detain, arrest, prosecute, and imprison (with authorized used of deadly force if necessary to perform such acts). It is a violation of the subject's rights regardless of who is doing it (be it a private citizen, a police officer/other government official, or a corporation), but I find it particularly offensive when the government i pay for with my taxes and which is supposed to be acting to defend my rights violates them with an implied threat of violence and a "what are you going to do about it" attitude.

    I suspect that you're actually just trolling; if that's not the case, however, I hope that I've at least made clearer the position of the people you were mocking in your comment.

    --
    "Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
  80. Justice......Squirrel Jail by realsilly · · Score: 1

    .... well not quite, but it seemed like a funny reference.

    --
    Life takes interesting turns, but the most interest is when you're off the beaten path.
  81. Re:When it comes down to it people want $ not just by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

    How long do you imagine he spent in jail for filming the police?

    Do you know what his job is? Heres a clue.
    http://gliklaw.com/gliklaw/About_Me.html

    I can guarantee you neither of these things you mention were any problem for him at all. They'll have taken up some amount of time over the years, but they won't have stopped him working on many other cases as well.

  82. I see TheRaven64 accomplished running away by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anytime you *think* you have the intellect to 'get the better of me'? Come on over here -> http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2734503&cid=39493361 & disprove any points I have made on hosts files there!

    (Along with the thoughts & opinions of your /. peers that outnumber your craven tactics 40++:1 and actually agree that hosts files are useful for speed, security, and more of beneficial value to they and others)

    After all - You're 'so brave' doing cowardly little trollish ad hominem attack attempts, in your snide little comment there directed my way, first -> http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2734503&cid=39406223 !

    Let's see how well you bear up under fire when you're challenged to disprove not only the thoughts of others on hosts files benefits they have gotten using custom hosts files, but also points I have made in favor of hosts files that have gotten myself modded up MANY TIMES here by others also (which is tough to get as an AC since /. buries our posts by default).

    * It is going to be a PLEASURE annihilating you...

    So yes - that's right: I am going to make it a point to humiliate you now, worm.

    Especially since you saw fit to attempt to try to 'start up' with me there with an off-topic illogical failing attempt @ ad hominem attacks directed my way there!

    So - now the shoe's on the other foot, except that it will illustrate your inadequacy in things technical in computing hugely, proving this is no mere ad hominem attack on my part (only payback you merited, and best part is? YOU only did this, to yourself, worm)... apk

    APK

    P.S.=> Lastly? LOL, what have you accomplished (before I have, earlier, & better) in the realm of computing in comparison to myself?

    Yes - I'd compare notes w/ you on that account, and we'd see!

    However: I cannot respect that you TROLLED ME FIRST, ran, and now you cannot handle it being exposed how YOU YOURSELF operate as well as running away from disproving points I made on hosts files, troll... period! apk

    1. Re:I see TheRaven64 accomplished running away by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenia. You need medication. Treatment can help, but you need to take the first step and seek it out. Don't ignore this; I'm trying to help you.

  83. What has he done? What about YOU too?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What have YOU ever done (alternate registered account of TheRaven64)? Do you know things I did in software before you were out of diapers?? In fact, in addition to TheRaven64 disproving points I made on hosts files since he saw fit to troll me FIRST on them?

    Well, I'd like to see what "theRaven64", a proven troll here no less by his own off topic trolling being shown doing it to myself first no less, has done.

    I asked it of he, let's see it. I'd compare notes with he on that account, but I'd like to know it aas done earlier, more times, better, & in equally respected areas in computing (he'd better have commercially sold software code to his credit for over 15++ yrs. now as I do, as well as MsTech Ed 2000-2002 finalist placement in its hardest category as I have and FAR more)...

    APK

    P.S.=> Seeing him RUN from disproving what he tried to give me a hard time on first in hosts files though? Priceless... so much for your "technical hero", because he's showing us ALL he is anything but worthy of that much... period! apk

    1. Re:What has he done? What about YOU too?? by Gazzonyx · · Score: 1

      I'm not TheRaven64. Among other ways to tell (uids, posts, etc...), he's English and I'm American. You can tell by this (old) post : http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2563666&cid=38310690. He spells it "vapour" and I spell it "vapor".

      --

      If I mod you up, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with what you've said, sorry.

    2. Re:What has he done? What about YOU too?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You were asked a question, so was TheRaven64. Answer it. You too TheRaven64. I am curious myself now on what either of you have done. I've seen apk's list before he has put up when confronted by lesser mortals around here. Match or exceed it. As to your prevarications and easily seen thru smokescreen facades? Why don't you just telegraph your b.s. and methods you use to use your alternate registered sockpuppet accounts TheRaven64. Others here do it like tomhudson = Barbara, not Barbie, and have been caught in it. Do you think you're suddenly defending TheRaven64 fools us not? Not.

    3. Re:What has he done? What about YOU too?? by Gazzonyx · · Score: 1

      You were asked a question, so was TheRaven64. Answer it. You too TheRaven64. I am curious myself now on what either of you have done. I've seen apk's list before he has put up when confronted by lesser mortals around here. Match or exceed it.

      I have patches in Samba and there is a patch in Linux-3.4 based on a patch I wrote a while ago that was picked up by Red Hat. Every modern Linux distro ships code that I wrote.

      As to your prevarications and easily seen thru smokescreen facades? Why don't you just telegraph your b.s. and methods you use to use your alternate registered sockpuppet accounts TheRaven64. Others here do it like tomhudson = Barbara, not Barbie, and have been caught in it. Do you think you're suddenly defending TheRaven64 fools us not? Not.

      What does this even mean? Do you still think I'm TheRaven64? Was the fact that we speak different dialects of English not enough? Do you really believe that someone would go through the trouble of running two accounts (registered hundreds of thousand users apart) using two dialects of a language just to screw with you? I assure you that no one cares that much.

      --

      If I mod you up, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with what you've said, sorry.

  84. Re:Ridiculous amount. by horza · · Score: 1

    He worked on behalf of all United States citizens for years, protecting your rights, so maybe he should receive more. Who says it needs to come from the courts? Get him to put up a page with his Paypal details. If you all sent him $10 for the 5 years of work he put in on your behalf then you can probably double his $50k compensation within a day.

    Phillip.

  85. It's "Dr. Quack - the ac 'SiDeWaLk-ShRiNk @ /.'" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    U've delusions of grandeur thinking ur a PhD in psychiatric sciences and stupid because without them you are clearly libeling myself.

    APK

    P.S.=> Care to show us your license to practice psychiatric sciences and your degrees in them that area also as well as your formally administered diagnosis of myself given in a professional psychiatric environs?

    Just to prove you can actually LEGALLY do your "insta-snap" prognosis of my alleged mental state, with you as "Dr. Quack - the ac "SiDeWaLk-ShRiNk @ /.'"?

    LOL! Again we know you don't have any of the above, but, we DO know you are guilty of libelling myself.

    (You know - the ones you do NOT have anymore than you do, say, a doctor's right to prescribe meds (or as one of the two in psychiatry or psychology can, but I am not sure there so do not quote me on it))... apk

  86. Re:Ridiculous amount. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Sometimes messing with peoples money is the only way to get a change"

    Well, they are messing with our tax money, so maybe it is time for a change?

  87. Not enough! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    WOW..... Only $170,000. As a few people have mentioned - this is coming out of the taxpayers pockets. Heads should roll and fresh blood is needed in the Bostion Police Department. And I'm sure that guy is now in the homeland security database....and will come up as a trouble maker the rest of his life!

  88. 2011 Initiative Petition to Amend MGL ch272 S99 by tobyknudsen · · Score: 1
    http://www.mass.gov/ago/government-resources/initiatives-and-other-ballot-questions/current-petitions-filed.html

    "Below is a list of initiative petitions filed with the Attorney General's Office and the Attorney General's certification decisions." See Initiative Petition 11-31. It got certified last summer, a good sign for the voters next time around.

    I was tortured with a handcuff on only one arm by a Trooper trying to get me to resist. As I had stood in front of his cohort's police car moments before so he wouldn't drive away with the key to my bike, I had clearly started video recording him out of concern for being run down by him. He returned the key when Trooper B showed up, who sadly did not get to call the tow truck on my account. Did my phone make record of the entire encounter?

    Glik has returned my call on a couple occasions and I celebrate his reasonable compensatory award with him in spirit. His ACLU lawyer also returned my call. I'm not a lawyer, but Wendy Kaminer's book about the ACLU "Worst Instincts" gets some validation from what I've observed. Perhaps it takes the added value of a lawyer to assist the ACLU--or does it take a lawyer to get them to serve their function? I'm not done with this episode although the statute of limitations has passed. You see, there are some outstanding matters to still be addressed.

    Massachusetts is troubled place when you get a view on the behavior of Commonwealth employees from police, RMV, to judges. What relief we get is a market of cowardly attorneys and legislators that double-down on attempts to improve things. I live in a troubled place, indeed.

    J. Toby Knudsen

  89. YOU? Clearly NOT my "peer" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "My Name is Ozymandias: King of Kings - Look upon my works, ye mighty, & DESPAIR..."

    ----

    Windows NT Magazine (now Windows IT Pro) April 1997 "BACK OFFICE PERFORMANCE" issue, page 61

    (&, for work done for EEC Systems/SuperSpeed.com on PAID CONTRACT (writing portions of their SuperCache program increasing its performance by up to 40% via my work) albeit, for their SuperDisk & HOW TO APPLY IT, took them to a finalist position @ MS Tech Ed, two years in a row 2000-2002, in its HARDEST CATEGORY: SQLServer Performance Enhancement).

    WINDOWS MAGAZINE, 1997, "Top Freeware & Shareware of the Year" issue page 210, #1/first entry in fact (my work is there)

    PC-WELT FEB 1998 - page 84, again, my work is featured there

    WINDOWS MAGAZINE, WINTER 1998 - page 92, insert section, MUST HAVE WARES, my work is again, there

    PC-WELT FEB 1999 - page 83, again, my work is featured there

    CHIP Magazine 7/99 - page 100, my work is there

    GERMAN PC BOOK, Data Becker publisher "PC Aufrusten und Repairen" 2000, where my work is contained in it

    HOT SHAREWARE Numero 46 issue, pg. 54 (PC ware mag from Spain), 2001 my work is there, first one featured, yet again!

    Also, a British PC Mag in 2002 for many utilities I wrote, saw it @ BORDERS BOOKS but didn't buy it... by that point, I had moved onto other areas in this field besides coding only...

    Being paid for an article that made me money over @ PCPitstop in 2008 for writing up a guide that has people showing NO VIRUSES/SPYWARES & other screwups, via following its point, such as THRONKA sees here -> http://www.xtremepccentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=ee926d913b81bf6d63c3c7372fd2a24c&t=28430&page=3

    It's also been myself helping out the folks at the UltraDefrag64 project (a 64-bit defragger for Windows), in showing them code for how to do Process Priority Control @ the GUI usermode/ring 3/rpl 3 level in their program (good one too), & being credited for it by their lead dev & his team... see here -> http://ultradefrag.sourceforge.net/handbook/Credits.html or here http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=2993462&group_id=199532&atid=969873

    AND lastly: http://g-off.net/software/a-python-repeatable-threadingtimer-class where I got other programmer's work WORKING RIGHT (in PyThon no less, which I just started learning only 2 week ago no less) by showing them how to use a "Dummy Proxy Function" as I call it, to make a RepeatTimer class (Thread sub-class really) to take PARAMETERIZED FUNCTIONS, ala:

    def apkthreadlaunch():
    getnortonsafeweb(sAPKFileName = "APK_1_NortonSafeWeb360Extracted.txt".rstrip())

    a = RepeatTimer(900, apkthreadlaunch) # 900 is 15 minutes... apk

    Where it was NOT working for many folks there, before (submitted to the maker of the RepeatTimer class no less, & yes, it WORKS!)

    ----

    What do I have to say about that much above? I can't say it any better, than this was stated already (from the greatest book of all time, the "tech manual for life" imo):

    "But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." - Corinthians Chapter 10, Verse 10

    (And, because I got LUCKY to have been exposed to some really GREAT classmates, professors, & colleagues on the job over time a

  90. Re:When it comes down to it people want $ not just by alexo · · Score: 1

    by winning it and costing them $170,000 the Boston police department did what they should have done in the first fucking place - the disciplined the officers involved.

    You have several small inaccuracies in your post.

    1) It cost the taxpayers $170,000. No one in the chain of responsibility will be out a single penny.

    2) The "discipline" is most likely to be an "oral reprimand". Unless I misunderstood the term and the "oral" part refers to the officers being forced to fellate Mr. Glik, this is not much of a punishment.

  91. Let me guess how the officers got 'disciplined'... by sydbarrett74 · · Score: 1

    ...they got sent home with pay. That's what always seems to happen.

    Police Chief: 'Officer Dickwad, we're going to punish the hell out of you. You have to stay home for a month at 100% pay.'

    Dickwad: 'C'mon, Guv! Don't make me stay home and get paid to do nothing! Oh the horror!'

    --
    'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
  92. Re:When it comes down to it people want $ not just by Rich0 · · Score: 1

    Fair enough - if you're a lawyer you might not be crippled by a lawsuit.

    Not really sure it changes the fact that the system is pretty broken.

  93. Others thoughts about U, TheRaven64 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    From the security community along with others of "your kind" that give me a hard time on hosts files TheRaven64:

    "I don't actually get time for many sites such as slashdot anymore, but certainly see my fair share of trolls on the MyWot (Web of Trust (I'm a moderator there, and MyWot includes hpHosts in their "ratings")) and Malwarebytes forums, and you're correct - it's always either users of malicious software/sites, or the owners of such, that are doing it." Mr. Steven Burn - services@it-mate.co.uk -> hpHOSTS/malwarebytes http://hosts-file.net/?s=Download

    * So, that "all said & aside"? Do you *think* that others here aren't thinking the same of YOU (or anyone else) that tries to give me a hard time about hosts files usage for added security, speed, & even better "anonymity" vs. tracking online?

    APK

    P.S.=> Guess again IF you think they don't... & you FAILED hugely (even as ac posting to try to 'hide it was you' in this very exchange to attempt to do so)!

    Especially where I disproved each of your 'so-called points' point-by-point in your ac reply failing, & I did so, with ease -> http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2734503&cid=39497061

    For your trolling/harassing myself as you & your kind here usually do starting it up with me -> http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2734503&cid=39406223

    ... apk

  94. 170 of hush money by silas_moeckel · · Score: 1

    Is it really anything if they paid out 170k to avoid having a judge rule? Did they terminate the officers involved?

    Until officers fear loosing there jobs for infringing on the general populaces rights these abuses will continue.

    --
    No sir I dont like it.
  95. PROVE u have those patches by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After this -> http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2750603&cid=39501471 I know you're FAR from my 'peer' in the art & science of computing. Far from it!

    That much I am certain of now!

    However & in fairness?

    Ok - I give you 1 thing (assuming it's even the truth): Prove what my subject-line asks above, & I will believe you. Once you TRULY prove you're the guy behind these alleged 'patches' (easy to do imo, I've done a TON for others I noted some in my replies to you).

    * Yes, it's THAT simple... go for it. Good luck... but then again? If you're being honest?? Should be easy!

    APK

    P.S.=> If you can prove it? I will @ least congratulate you for having done SOMETHING (since TheRaven64 outright RUNS when asked to prove his bullshit he SAYS he does, but nobody really ever sees - such as these 'books' he allegedly writes (I think it's bs. because I blew him away technically EASILY))

    Yes, and, because you'd be only the 2nd troll here on this forums that has EVER shown me something!

    (The other one had to prove it too, was minor, but it was something @ least - So, that said? Well - then, I extend that opportunity & COURTESY to you, to prove your words... shouldn't be hard, IF YOU ARE TELLING THE TRUTH!)

    ... apk