LolOfficer

A Sussex police officer chased himself after his suspicious activity was registered on CCTV. He followed himself for twenty minutes before he was told of the mistake. It's lucky they found out before he caught himself, pinned his own body to the ground and pumped eleven bullets into his head.

Like bad pennies in broken jar

They just keep turning up! ‎"Make sure you do a lot with your 60 grand because you're not gonna get it no more bruv..." Well done the lad for standing up to racist bullies. He is an absolute hero! Take down PC Alex MacFarlane, racist PC Alex MacFarlane, violent racist PC Alex MacFarlane, take him down, all the way. While we're on the subject DISBAND THE MET!

Naomi Wolf on her recent arrest

Link here. The incident began at an evening dinner event called Game Changers 2011 - a group of OWS supporters wanted to speak to Governor Andrew Cuomo.

On our exit, I saw that the protesters had been cordoned off by a now-massive phalanx of NYPD cops and pinned against the far side of the street – far away from the event they sought to address.

I went up and asked them why. They replied that they had been informed that the Huffington Post event had a permit that forbade them to use the sidewalk. I knew from my investigative reporting on NYC permits that this was impossible: a private entity cannot lease the public sidewalks; even film crews must allow pedestrian traffic. I asked the police for clarification – no response.

I went over to the sidewalk at issue and identified myself as a NYC citizen and a reporter, and asked to see the permit in question or to locate the source on the police or event side that claimed it forbade citizen access to a public sidewalk. Finally a tall man, who seemed to be with the event, confessed that while it did have a permit, the permit did allow for protest so long as we did not block pedestrian passage.

I thanked him, returned to the protesters, and said: "The permit allows us to walk on the other side of the street if we don't block access. I am now going to walk on the public sidewalk and not block it. It is legal to do so. Please join me if you wish." My partner and I then returned to the event-side sidewalk and began to walk peacefully arm in arm, while about 30 or 40 people walked with us in single file, not blocking access.

Then a phalanx of perhaps 40 white-shirted senior offices descended out of seemingly nowhere and, with a megaphone (which was supposedly illegal for citizens to use), one said: "You are unlawfully creating a disruption. You are ordered to disperse." I approached him peacefully, slowly, gently and respectfully and said: "I am confused. I was told that the permit in question allows us to walk if we don't block pedestrian access and as you see we are complying with the permit."

If you want an illustration of the fear and loathing in in every copper's (reptile) heart:

He gave me a look of pure hate. "Are you going to back down?" he shouted. I stood, immobilised, for a moment. "Are you getting out of my way?" I did not even make a conscious decision not to "fall back" – I simply couldn't even will myself to do so, because I knew that he was not giving a lawful order and that if I stepped aside it would be not because of the law, which I was following, but as a capitulation to sheer force.

This is the point. If the police break the law what do you do? The police are a legalised crime syndicate, an armed gang employed to solve rich men's problems with force.

Ms Wolf was then arrested.

The police are now telling my supporters that the permit in question gave the event managers "control of the sidewalks". I have asked to see the permit but still haven't been provided with it – if such a category now exists, I have never heard of it; that, too, is a serious blow to an open civil society. What did I take away? Just that, unfortunately, my partner and I became exhibit A in a process that I have been warning Americans about since 2007: first they come for the "other" – the "terrorist", the brown person, the Muslim, the outsider; then they come for you – while you are standing on a sidewalk in evening dress, obeying the law.

The purpose of the War on Terror was not just to shift the balance abroad but at home as well. In many countries government agencies now have sweeping, ill-defined powers. Often you need a permit for most basic aspects of political activity (or if not the cop in question takes it for granted you do) - not so much different to Imperial Germany, where a policeman would sit on every platform in every public meeting to make sure the Kaiser wasn't insulted. We can't all be famous, well-to-do writers, there is only safety in numbers. We must exercise our rights or risk losing them, and at a time of greatest need.

Deaths in custody update

There have been three in the last week. Two of the people to have died at the police's hands were men in their twenties, not middle-aged alcoholic paper vendors, so no pretending they were just going to die somehow anyway, y'know, like. There was also this:

Armed police stopped two young girls aged 15 and nine in Birmingham last week.



The police claimed the eldest of the sisters fitted the description of an armed robber.

Two arms, two legs and a head... no gun though, but anyone could have made that mistake...

In fact she was on her way to collect her GCSE results from her nearby school.



Their mother, a youth worker, said, “This is the sort of thing which starts riots."

Indeed. It's amazing, isn't it? Hundreds of deaths - still no convictions.

Happy now? pt 2: have you ever seen a copper drink a glass of water?

No, me neither.



People often misuse "from the sublime to the ridiculous" (a phrase popularised by Napoleon Bonaparte). This is completely appropriate. One man with no previous criminal record gets six months for (almost) stealing £3.50 worth of water. Another man is charged under 2007 Serious Crime Act (note it's the Serious Crime Act, not the Silly Crime Act, the Serious Crime Act) for organising a waterpistol fight, bailed to appear in Colchester Magistrates on September the 1st.



You support the police do you? Are you happy now?

The internet told me to do it

During the Cold War every political event, even the most ephemeral, was granted some deeper, sinister meaning; it was all down to the International Communist Conspiracy. These neo-liberal days the powers that be try to render all events, even grand ones such as revolutions, as meaningless. What sparked the London riots? Not arrogant, corrupt policing. Not general political atrophy. Not low wages and unemployment, a lack of opportunity and a declining future. No.



It was social media, the mysterious cyber-Loki fanning enigmatic conflagrations from here to Cairo. Get ready for the 2012 bill banning the internet.

Policing - a lottery that rewards malicious negligence

John Yates, assistant commissioner, lead counter-terrorism officer, has resigned as a result of the phone hacking scandal. He is being replaced for the time being by Cressida Dick. Ms Dick, we know, has prior experience, helping keep London safe from the scourge of Brazilian electricians. For all she knows it could happen again. If it does certain newspapers will be no doubt be on hand to spread police smears and lies.