Private Police Intelligence Network Shares Data and Targets Cash

Advocatus Diaboli writes Operating in collaboration with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal entities, Black Asphalt members exchanged tens of thousands of reports about American motorists, many of whom had not been charged with any crimes, according to a company official and hundreds of internal documents obtained by The Post. For years, it received no oversight by government, even though its reports contained law enforcement sensitive information about traffic stops and seizures, along with hunches and personal data about drivers, including Social Security numbers and identifying tattoos. Black Asphalt also has served as a social hub for a new brand of highway interdictors, a group that one Desert Snow official has called 'a brotherhood.' Among other things, the site hosts an annual competition to honor police who seize the most contraband and cash on the highways. As part of the contest, Desert Snow encouraged state and local patrol officers to post seizure data along with photos of themselves with stacks of currency and drugs. Some of the photos appear in a rousing hard-rock video that the Guthrie, Okla.-based Desert Snow uses to promote its training courses.

Comments

Time to exchange data on the American cops...

[gestalt_n_pepper]

...who do this sort of "civil forfeiture." Badge numbers, names, pictures, locations, perhaps home addresses and phones.

I'm sure they won't mind, just as they won't mind a "civil" lawsuit or two aimed in their direction. After all, fair's fair, eh?

Re:Time to exchange data on the American cops...

[Anonymous Coward]

but they're one of the few groups of people who accept the risk exists and chose to do a job anyway.

Bullshit.

Want to know who puts their life on the line every day at their job? Fishermen. Lumberjacks. Farm hands. Ironworkers. Garbagemen. Miners. Ranch hands. Truck drivers. Roofers. Roughnecks. Pilots. Bricklayers. Concrete workers. The blue collar workers that feed us and house us and move our goods are the people "who accept the risk exists and chose to do a job anyway"...even today, some of these jobs are 20x more likely to kill you than being a cop.

Police officer doesn't even make the list of the top fifty most lethal professions. It is on par with bartender and professional athlete in terms of risk.

Defund

[Anonymous Coward]

Think it is about time to curtail our police state and defund the and repeal the laws that make this possible.

Re:Defund

[Type44Q]

The question is ... is it legal?

If you can't find a prosecutor willing to investigate and press charges, it's a meaningless question.

Holy cow ...

[gstoddart]

Desert Snow contract employees took in more than $1 million over six months from drivers on the state's highways, including Interstate 40 west of Oklahoma City. Under its contract, the firm was allowed to keep 25 percent of the cash.

When Caddo County District Court Judge David A. Stephens learned that Desert Snow employees were not sworn law enforcement officers in Oklahoma, he denounced the arrangement as "shocking," and he threatened to put David in jail if it continued.

The state's American Civil Liberties Union chapter called for an investigation of the district attorney and criminal charges against Desert Snow employees for impersonating law enforcement officers.

Wait, so these guys are doing traffic stops and seizures (where they benefit from it) and they're not actually law enforcement?

So basically they're a shakedown racket? The more they seize the more profit they make? That's RICO level stuff there.

This kind of stuff is appalling, and it just means that a lot of stuff is being put into the private sector so they can ignore all of those pesky laws.

Unbelievable.

Re:Privatized=Compromised

[halivar]

Privatization is a means by which corrupt bureaucrats hide the largess of government from an unsuspecting populace. Then they run on a record of "shrinking" the government.

Undercover cop issue a non argument.

[gestalt_n_pepper]

The issue is random confiscation (aka. "theft") by local police. I don't have any problem with confiscation as long as a crime was committed and the defendant proven guilty. What isn't tolerable in any way, shape, or form is confiscation of my property because some dimwitted, local yokel cop *thought* about drugs while looking at my car.

Re:Undercover cop issue a non argument.

[gstoddart]

What isn't tolerable in any way, shape, or form is confiscation of my property because some dimwitted, local yokel cop *thought* about drugs while looking at my car.

I'm no longer willing to accept "dimwitted local yokel".

I go straight to assuming they know damned well they can do it, that they benefit from it, and since they don't really require any proof, why not do it and make themselves look good? I don't believe it's credible they do this in good faith.

And, of course, I'm sure they skim a little off the top for themselves.

The rest of the police complain that it's a few bad apples who do this, and that it makes the rest of them look bad. If the honest cops want to stop this perception, start arresting the crooked ones.

Re:Undercover cop issue a non argument.

[ShanghaiBill]

I don't have any problem with confiscation as long as a crime was committed and the defendant proven guilty.

You should have a problem with it. Even if the defendant is guilty, the punishment should be decided by a judge, not a cop. The current system, where the police department can keep what they confiscate, gives them a HUGE incentive to fabricate evidence.

Re:Undercover cop issue a non argument.

[jmcvetta]

If the honest cops want to stop this perception

There are no honest cops. Any decent, non-abusive, non-corrupt person who joins up is drummed out of the force within a year.

Aggravated Robbery

[Anonymous Coward]

Means, motive, opportunity.