Friday, August 27, 2010

"Showtime Syndrome" Strikes Las Vegas

Bryan Yant during his 2002 coroner's inquest.
"He made me do my job," insisted Bryan Yant when asked to explain why he gunned down 21-year-old Las Vegas resident Trevon Cole last June in what was clearly an act of criminal homicide.

Yant, who is employed by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police as an undercover counter-narcotics detective, claimed that Cole -- who was accused of selling 1.8 ounces of marijuana -- "made an aggressive act toward me," which was "enough to make me fear for my life."

Cole's finance, Sequoia Pearce, offers a much different story. She maintains that Cole was cooperative, putting up his hands and saying "All right -- all right" in the instant before Yant fatally shot him. At the time, Pearce -- who was nine months pregnant with the couple's child -- was kneeling on the floor with a gun to her head.

Of the six-member narcotics squad involved in the late evening raid on the tiny one-bedroom apartment, Yant was the only one who claimed that Cole made a "furtive movement." Interestingly, he was also the only one carrying an assault rifle.

Unlike his comrades, who were armed with with department-issued handguns, the former Marine decided to bring along his personal AR-15. This isn't to say that the co-assailants earn points for restraint, given that the entire raid was an exercise in overkill. Trevon Cole's needless death was an outcome nearly as predictable as the result of the perfunctory coroner's inquest, which ruled that the murder was a "justifiable" exercise of lethal force.

On three separate occasions in the weeks leading up to the June 11 raid, police "arranged to meet with Trevon in the parking lot of his apartment complex" to conduct drug buys, attorney Andre Lagomarsino told Pro Libertate. "Trevon was never armed or dangerous, and he wasn't exactly a high-rolling dealer either, given the fact that he didn't even have a car." 

In the hours leading up to the raid, "the police had the apartment under surveillance, and they knew that there was a pregnant woman in that room," continues Lagomarsino. "They had already established that this guy wasn't a threat. They had probable cause to arrest Trevon; why didn't they simply arrange to meet him in the parking lot and cuff him, and then execute a search?"

Nevada law doesn't criminalize individual possession of up to an ounce of marijuana. Each of the "controlled buys" the police set up with Cole involved amounts he could legally possess. The cops tried, without success, to bait Cole into selling larger amounts.

Although the police -- with the help of a camera crew from Langley Productions, which produces the execrable COPS "reality TV" series -- had captured Trevon Cole selling marijuana on video, the affidavit Yant filed to obtain an arrest warrant was fatally flawed. (Remember the COPS connection; we'll return to it anon.)

Trevon and Sequoia in happier times.
Yant misidentified the Las Vegas resident as another individual -- a Houston resident with a lengthy criminal record. The two men -- who had different birthdays and middle names -- looked nothing like each other. Trevon, a former college football player, was roughly 100 pounds heavier and three inches taller than the individual described in the affidavit. 

It's impossible to dismiss Yant's misrepresentation as an innocent mistake. He had all the necessary information from Cole's California driver's license. Rather than correctly describing the subject as a young man with no prior criminal record, Yant depicted him as a dangerous repeat offender. This, in turn, prompted a judge to approve Yant's request for an armed, night-time raid on Cole's apartment. Res ipsa loquitir.

 When the cops invaded Cole's apartment, the lights were out and a television offered the only illumination. In defiance of protocol, Yant -- acting without backup -- kicked in the bathroom door. He found Cole squatting in front of the toilet, apparently trying to dispose of a minuscule amount of marijuana. 
 
According to the story Yant told the inquest, Cole "turned towards me, rotated his body," and assumed a shooter's stance. The detective was supposedly able to see all of this despite the fact that it was dark and the barrel-mounted flashlight on his rifle wasn't working.

That account can't be reconciled with the findings of Dr. Lisa Gavin, a medical examiner with the Clark County Coroner's Office, who said that the physical evidence shows Cole was facing away from Yant when he was fatally shot. The bullet that killed Cole followed a downward trajectory through his cheek into his neck. 

During the inquest, Assistant District Attorney Chris Owens suggested that this was "consistent" with an accidental discharge of Yant's rifle as he kicked in the door. However, Pearce insists that Cole had sufficient time to raise his hands and signal his compliance before Yant gunned him down. Her account actually confirms Yant's testimony that the gunshot was a deliberate act, not an accidental discharge. 

When coupled with forensic evidence indicating that Cole was shot from behind, this looks suspiciously like an execution-style murder -- or at the very least, something that should be prosecuted as an act of criminal homicide. Thanks to a system designed to validate questionable use of lethal force by police, Yant may conceivably lose his job, but he won't be put on trial.

Lagomarsino, who is preparing a lawsuit against the Las Vegas Metro Police on behalf of  Cole's family and former fiance, describes the County Coroner Inquest procedure as "a kangaroo court and a dog and pony show." That is also the view of Don Chairez, a former Nevada District Court Judge who is a current candidate to be Clark County District Attorney. Chairez, who describes the typical inquest as "a search for justification of an officer's actions."

Inquest critic: DA candidate Chairez.
The inquest procedure was introduced in 1969. Since 1976, more than two hundred lethal force incidents have been examined by a seven-member jury. Only one of them was ruled "negligent" -- and that decision was overturned on appeal. This isn't a surprising result, given that the inquest procedure is designed to be collaborative, rather than adversarial: The D.A.'s office literally orchestrates the questioning with the police department prior to the hearing. 

Lagomarsino observes that no cross-examination of police officers is permitted. "We were allowed to submit written questions, one at a time, to the prosecutor, but we couldn't cross-examine Yant" or even ask follow-up questions, he told Pro Libertate. The prosecutors don't bother to present a summation for the jury, and established procedures also permit judges to offer what Lagomarsino called "very vague" instructions to the jury. 

 Additionally, jury nullification would avail little in this setting, since the inquest -- unlike a grand jury -- cannot return an indictment. At the end of the inquest into the Trevon Cole shooting, comments Don Chairez, it appeared that the judge "was almost asking for a directed verdict."

This wasn't the first time a coroner's inquest has rescued Bryan Yant. In 2002, Yant,  at the time a 25-year-old street officer, shot robbery suspect Richard Travis Brown following a foot pursuit. Yant claimed that he had returned fire after Brown shot at him during the chase. Eventually Brown "buckled and fell face-first on the ground," Yant told the inquest. Sprawled on the ground with a "wild-eyed look," Brown supposedly pointed his gun at the officer, who unloaded the volley that killed him.

Brown was being pursued as a suspect in a violent crime. But he shouldn't have been summarily executed -- which is what apparently happened to him, given that the gun he supposedly pointed at Yant was found 35 feet from the spot where the officer shot him to death. This oddity didn't prevent the inquest from quickly validating Yant's actions as "justifiable."

Yant's "error" in describing an entirely different person in his arrest affidavit for Trevon Cole was hardly his first "mistake" of that kind. According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, Yant "is under investigation for apparently lying about drugs he didn't seize and actions he didn't take during a 2009 police raid that never happened."

More than a year before compiling an arrest affidavit that contained "gross misstatements about Cole's criminal history," Yant and fellow Officer David Goris falsely reported that "they sat in a car [and observed] ... while a confidential informant bought drugs from a man they identified as William Sigler," reports the Review Journal. "That alleged buy was used to justify a nighttime search of Sigler's home 12 days later. Police arrested Sigler and his girlfriend and seized prescription drugs, marijuana and cocaine from the home."

However, the charges were thrown out last week when it was established that "the informant did not buy drugs from Sigler." At the time the "controlled buy" purportedly took place, Sigler was in the Bahamas.

During the January 2009 raid on Sigler's residence, "Yant tore up and left three documents ... [describing] a different raid of Sigler's home, one that never took place," continues the paper. A "declaration of arrest" form claimed that police had detained suspects and collected evidence at Sigler's home in a December 2009 raid. "Evidence" supposedly collected in that fictitious raid supposedly tested positive for cocaine. All of this was was unalloyed perjury.

Ready for my close-up: Sheriff Gillespie.

At present, Yant remains on paid vacation. Clark County Sheriff Douglas Gillespie insists that the coroner's inquest conducted by his office was the epitome of institutional transparency. Gillespie acknowledges that there is room for improvement in the procedure for serving narcotics warrants -- which is why this task will now be assigned to the Las Vegas SWAT team. 

Bear in mind that militarizing the execution of arrest warrants is presented here as a "reform" triggered by an incident involving the needless use of lethal force. It's not obvious how this policy change would reduce the likelihood of unnecessary civilian deaths. It is obvious, however, that SWAT teams are much more telegenic than run-of-the-mill counter-narcotics units -- and there's reason to believe that Sheriff Gillespie, like Detroit's recently ousted police chief Warren Evans, is playing to the "reality TV" audience

In May, the Las Vegas Tribune described a "mandatory meeting" called by Lieutenant Clinton Nichols that involved "more than thirty detectives" from the Metro Police Department. The detectives "were introduced to four civilian visitors, [who] were the production staff of the `COPS' reality show. All thirty-three detectives with the robbery division were ordered, by the supervisory staff ... to cooperate, participate and assist all four of those television producers while in Las Vegas...."

Detective Gordon Martines, a 36-year veteran police officer, was among those present at that gathering. Martines asked Langley Productions representative Susan Carney "who ordered the production." According to Martines and at least one other officer who witnessed the conversation, Carney replied: "The Sheriff ordered this; we are here to help him with his campaign for re-election."

That statement was greeted with expressions of stunned disbelief from the officers. Carney broke the awkward silence by asking if she had said something wrong.

Gordon Martines
"Maybe we should introduce you to Sheriff candidate Martines," one of the other officers tersely explained.

On May 7, continued the Tribune, Martines filed a complaint with Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller alleging that Gillespie had violated election laws by using the television production company as a taxpayer-subsidized propaganda vehicle.

By any rational standard, it's an act of corruption for a Sheriff or police chief to enlist the officers under his command as armed bit players in an election-year "reality" show -- and it's likely that Gillespie's torqued priorities contributed to Trevon Cole's eminently avoidable violent death.


The meeting described by Martines occurred before the COPS film crew recorded the "controlled buys" outside Trevon Cole's apartment complex -- stings in which the police tried, unsuccessfully, to lure Cole into selling them cocaine and firearms. According to several accounts, the COPS film crew was supposed to be "embedded" with Yant's home invasion squad during the June 11 raid, but wasn't available. That would explain why the serial killer and impenitent perjurer who led that raid selected a big-ass gun that would look good on TV, rather than being content with his department-issued sidearm.

In a rational world, nobody would be punished (let alone killed) for selling or consuming marijuana. Trevon "most likely would have gotten probation, given his lack of a criminal background," according to Lagomarsino -- if his arrest had been carried out by peace officers, rather than paramilitary poseurs.
Gunned down: Erik Scott.



On September 22, the same inquest system that has repeatedly exonerated Bryan Yant will meet to ratify the actions of the Metro police officers who gunned down Erik Scott a month after the killing of Trevon Cole.

The 39-year-old West Point graduate was shot seven times by three officers in the parking lot of a Costco store. Metro Captain Patrick Neville said the police had responded to complaints that Scott was armed and behaving erratically.

Scott, who had a concealed weapons permit, was carrying two weapons at the time he was killed. Neville claims that "a dozen witnesses" saw Scott pull a gun. That account is disputed by many other eyewitnesses who were present at the crowded retail store on a busy Saturday afternoon. Significantly, the relevant security camera video has been withheld, and the police have suggested that the most crucial video evidence may be lost to a mysterious -- albeit oddly predictable -- "glitch. "

"Showtime Syndrome" probably didn't play a significant role in the killing of Erik Scott, which was most likely a product of police over-reaction to the presence of an armed citizen. His father, William Scott, is an aviation journalist of national stature with "extensive contacts in military and intelligence circles."

Thanks to William Scott's influence, there is an anorexically slender possibility that the coroner's inquest will be a legitimate investigation. If this does happen, more that a few Las Vegas residents will be prompted to ask why the same wasn't true in the case of Trevon Cole. That's when things could get really interesting....

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21 comments:

sidewalk surfer (retired) said...

The punishment does not fit the crime. 1.8 grams is about one and a half joints. WTF kind of department lets police carry their personal weapons? Gee chief can I bring my .454 Casull on duty there is some wild bears on the strip, that won't do sir I'm bringing my Barrett .50cal in case I need to take a mile long shot.

Cody said...

"Gillespie acknowledges that there is room for improvement in the procedure for serving narcotics warrants -- which is why this task will now be assigned to the Las Vegas SWAT team."

That is supposed to be an IMPROVEMENT? I guess this will "improve" the egos of the tax-feeding bullies who derive sadistic pleasure from forcing the Untermensch to submit.

Only the government would attempt to remedy the abuses associated with an over-zealous display of force with something that will involve an even more extreme display of force. Of course, at this point I think it is safe to assume that our "Selfless Public Servants" are not interested in remedying these abuses, but rather are interested in making them systemic and commonplace.

Dr. Q said...

Will, I've been following the adventures of Bryan Yant and had plans to write a story in the near future. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that anything I produce will pale in comparison to your detailed account.

Keep up the great work.

Ron Lennex said...

RANT: The Hypermilitarization of “Peace Officers” http://undoctrination.org/2010/07/20/rant-the-hypermilitarization-of-peace-officers/

Anonymous said...

And it just gets better.....


http://www.lvrj.com/news/officer-under-suspicion-101541563.html

dixiedog said...

I have little respect for coppers anywhere these days, but the big urban jungle variety are becoming intolerable precisely because of what apparently seems to be a huge(?) market of damned mundanes gripped with a salivating appetite for "reality" TV. It's really "gothic" or otherwise outlandishly attired hip-snot folk performing what would otherwise be mundane everyday jobs in "high drama" fashion for the hordes of mind-numbed couch slogs. As this pertains to Leviathan's paladin brigade, I guess it could be looked upon as a scripted "life and times of the modern hip-cop."

It seems to me that we've reverted back culturally -- in a modern context, of course -- to the era of Roman gladiator games where the "mere" mundanes cheer at the sight of other "mere" mundanes being slaughtered by state-sanctioned "gladiators." Except today's variety is actually more barbaric as only one side is state-sanctioned and well-armed.

Anyway, could you explain this minor quibble I have with this section, Will:

That account can't be reconciled with the findings of Dr. Lisa Gavin, a medical examiner with the Clark County Coroner's Office, who said that the physical evidence shows Cole was facing away from Yant when he was fatally shot. The bullet that killed Cole followed a downward trajectory through his cheek into his neck.

I've never claimed to be the sharpest tool in the shed, and I'm sometimes sloooow on the uptake. So if I've missed something please forgive me. When you say above, "...facing away from...," did you mean that only his literal head (face) was turned to the side (facing to the side rather than away) with his body still upright (on his knees, perhaps?) also on its side or "facing" Yant when shot? Otherwise, I can't picture the bullet trajectory as written above, ie. traveled downward "...through his cheek into his neck."

Just trying to garner a picture of the scene in my mind. Thanks.

idahobob said...

With the increased instances of murdering the "civilians" by the JBT's in our country, the level of my rage has reached the boiling point, so, I do not feel that I can make an appropriate response, that would be honorable to my Lord and Savior.

Bob
III

William N. Grigg said...

Dixie Dog, here's a summary of Dr. Gavin's findings, per the Review Journal:

"Dr. Lisa Gavin, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy, testified that a single bullet hit Cole's left cheek and lodged his neck, sending a shock wave through his head that caused a fatal concussive brain injury. She also said the position of Cole's body on the bathroom floor indicated he was facing toward the toilet when he was shot. Prosecutors said Cole was flushing marijuana down the toilet when Yant kicked open the door."

If Cole had been facing Yant in a "shooter's stance" when the latter fired, I can't see how Cole could have taken a round through his left cheek and ended up facing the toilet. Yant was most likely behind Cole and to his left when he fired the fatal shot.

Combining that finding with Pearce's testimony it would appear that roughly the following took place: Yant kicks in the door and finds Cole flushing marijuana down the toilet; Cole -- who is kneeling or crouching -- says "all right, all right," and puts up his hands while still facing away from Yant; Yant fires a round that enters through Cole's left cheek.

Anonymous said...

Marijuana down the toilet? So they say! If the incident is so cockeyed and cooked up then I doubt even this is true. And in regards to the Scott "suicide by cop" incident, you'd have to be brain damaged to believe that in THIS instance at the moment this happens the Costco video develops a technical "glitch". Oh, yeah?.... What are the odds? They refuse to release 911 tapes and mysteriously have to send hard drives with video out to forensics. Can you believe that tripe? Video surveilance systems routinely have redundant backups or even off-site recording done with, there again, backups in case of disaster. No multi-billion dollar corporation is going to do less. Smells more like the cops are fishing for some technical botch up to suddenly appear out of thin air to rescue their posteriors from a well deserved spanking. The men, both of them, were "murdered by cop" MBC. Scott, due to his past history and family connections, has a greater chance of bringing these killers to heel than some low level pot selling character could even hope to. May it be so.

Anonymous said...

Another interesting observation about the Scott "Murder by Cop" incident. They say he had two (2) guns on him. Now why in the world would he be mentioned as having two when what the cops are doing is trying to corrupt the narrative by painting him as some "gun nut"? And nobody says they even saw this second mystery gun until later... And exactly WHO says this? No doubt the very killers who deep sixed the man. Probably a convenient throw down weapon kept on hand for just such an occasion. Just consider the source when it comes to these "revelations". And seven bullets in him for what exactly? Shoplifting? Let his membership lapse? Or coupons for bullets?

serdwalk sipher (reinstated) said...

Ohh it says 1.8 ounces not grams so an .oz and an eighth. The punishment still doesn't fit the crime. Dying for 36grams of pot?!

Lemuel Gulliver said...

Mister Spock,

Below Mr. Grigg's last blog article on the so-called 9-11 mosque, "Is the Muslim my Neighbor?" I have posted a reply to your comments upon my comment. If you like, please go back and let us continue the conversation? (I do not want to take this article's commentary off-subject.) Thank you.

Yours in Christ,
Lemuel Gulliver.

Lemuel Gulliver said...

So a few people have died to assist in Sheriff Gillespie's re-election campign? Par for the course where Leviathan is concerned. Thousands of Americans (and about a million Iraqis) have died in the TV docudrama known as The Iraq War Against Arch-Terrorist Saddam Hussein, all in order to ensure the re-election of George W. Bush and his monkey-handler Nosferatu Vlad Cheney. And it worked!! Hey, if it works, don't knock it. This is America. Nothing succeeds like success: Screw you, buster, I'm OK and I don't give a fly-fart about you or your mother or anything about you. Yay! We love Amurrika! God bless Amurrika!! One nation Under God!! (Ours, not theirs, naturally.)

Get me some soap. I feel the need to wash.

Lemuel Gulliver.

sam said...

The cops get away with the shootings because the city/county/state has an interest in exonerating the murderer. Else the city/county/state will be liable for a nice lawsuit! And anyway even if the lawsuit wins the money comes from the taxpayers and mr. cop is slapped on the wrist and goes to kill and be sued again.

Therefore the only way to remedy the situation is for the "mundanes" to be able to directly sue the Police Unions. Not only will the shootings stop but the serial killers like the officers described in this article will be cast out lest the police union be bankrupt.

In my view the Unions should be required to buy insurance for the "suicide by cop" or "accidental falling by cop" etc. That way the rates would reflect the amount of psycho cops proportionally.

The cops don't really have an incentive to clean house cause the taxpayer is picking up the bill. hit em in the pocketbook and watch the fun.

Marc Swanson said...

I may be mistaken, but I think that "COPS" was filming the Waco raid as well. The reason for the military style raid was alleged (UPS tipster) technical violations of federal firearms codes. Child abuse suspicions were, of course, quickly added after things went dreadfully wrong. The subsequent industrial style tear gassing and immolation by fire was not regarded as a form of abuse.

Will German said...

Having worked in law enforcement for years at the federal level I've always been troubled by the immaturity of so many "cops" that are trusted to carry and use firearms.

This childish attitude is expressed quite well by the character Joker in the movie "Full Metal Jacket" when he says, "I want to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill".

I also found that many federal cops, certainly not all, are physical cowards. They have mob courage as was expressed in Mark Twain's, "Huckleberry Finn" by the old soldier talking from his home balcony to the angry gang gathered below him; "Each of you only have the courage of an army, there is not a real man among you".

This in part explains the trend toward SWAT team "showtime" operations. That being to get a personal kill (or arrest) and have some excitement at almost no personal risk. In the case discussed in this article it would have been easy for a fully uniformed street cop to execute the warrant alone or perhaps with one backup officer. But this would require a degree of personal risk and certainly no glory.

My eyes were fully opened to the "Showtime" syndrome during the botched Randy Weaver raid. The local sheriff could have likely walked up to Weaver and made an arrest, but the Feds wanted a show.

Same situation happened at Waco as is now well known. In this case the ATF made a military raid for which they were not trained and organized. Consequently they likely ended up killing three of their own along with a number of Dividians. One Texas Ranger or the county sheriff could have gotten the information needed from the "Compound" members and made an arrest if that was justified.

As mentioned in this article and in other articles by Will Grigg is the tendency for law enforcement to become militarized. Despite the superficial appearance, law enforcement and the military are different.

As a police administrator I would be very reluctant to hire ex-military from combat units such as the Yates character described by Grigg in this article. Effective military training instills necessary aggressive attitudes in young troops toward whomever is designated as the enemy. These combat reactions become second nature and are triggered without thought. Of course this is what you want in a soldier, but not a in a cop.

Military training also teaches working with a team of heavily armed compatriots to present overwhelming force to whomever is selected for elimination. Hence we have SWAT teams.

These are two destructive tendencies to law enforcement; SWAT teams combined with military attitudes.

There are many other dangerous trends affecting policing that Grigg has pointed out in his articles.

One that I have observed is the rise of the taser cops. Tasers for local cops, like guns for most federal cops should be removed. There are exceptions for the feds of course. One being the Border Patrol and another the Park Police. The latter have duties similar to city street cops.

Sadly young Trevon Cole lost his life in what I consider a Juvenal prank perpetrated by immature and poorly trained and abysmally supervised cops.

SWAT teams should be abolished. They cause more harm than good and soak up resources that could be used by ordinary beat cops who still do their jobs.

liberranter said...

Therefore the only way to remedy the situation is for the "mundanes" to be able to directly sue the Police Unions. Not only will the shootings stop but the serial killers like the officers described in this article will be cast out lest the police union be bankrupt.

In my view the Unions should be required to buy insurance for the "suicide by cop" or "accidental falling by cop" etc. That way the rates would reflect the amount of psycho cops proportionally.


Sam:

You're definitely on the right track, but what I have advocated repeatedly, on my own blog and over at Copwatch.net, is that criminal cops (I know, I know, the granddaddy of all tautologies) found liable for misconduct in civil suits be made to pay compensatory and/or punitive damages to their victims out of their own pockets/assets. To involve a third party in payment of such damages, even insurance companies, shifts the costs of the criminal cop's actions to other innocent third parties who should not be made to suffer for something for which they are not in any way culpable. In the case of municipal insurance premiums, it is the taxpaying citizens who foot the costs of said premiums, so if a city faces skyrocketing premiums due to the unchecked criminality of its municipal employees (including its Fat Blue Line Gang chapter), then it will be the innocent taxpayers of that city, already overburdened and oppressed, who will suffer even further.

No, if Officer Oinky is found liable in civil court, even after being acquitted in the rigged criminal court system, let HIM be held liable for every penny of compensatory or punitive damages owed to his victim. I don't give a damn if that means that he loses his home, his vehicle, his pension, or the shirt off his back, or if it costs his spouse her inheritance and his children food out of their mouths. The only way Oinky and his gangbanger buddies in crime will EVER get the message that their lawbreaking will NOT be tolerated is if they bear the costs directly and feel the agonizing sting of liability PERSONALLY. And yes, there are precedents for such judgments. Private-sector corporations routinely hold employees liable for damages if they act clearly outside the scope of their employment duties in committing a tort. Municipal employees are no different, no matter what contortions black-robed frauds try to cook up to declare otherwise.

So let's shift the punishment to where it should be borne. I guarantee that the "blue crime wave" will become a thing of the past once accountability is enforced.

drifter said...

Cops; Undereducated cowboys who, without someone to tell them what to do and cover their crimes, would probably be in prison.
Unfortunatly, this will only get worse.

Anonymous said...

Liberanter, I think what Will is advocating can work when the unions are footing the bill for the insurance and not the municipalities. Not even a hint of financial support, dues, etc. and those insurance "rates" would rise or fall based on the "loose cannon" factor. Those cities with higher than average cop-on-civilian violence would see higher premiums so it would behoove the union to set themselves straight or else go bust. Now the game I see them playing is to ramp up the fear factor in the public by wailing and moaning about their "pay" and how this is such a dangerous job... blah blah blabbity blah blah, and how they SO need a raise to cover the "burden" of such insurance. You see these rats, like any politician, will weasel themselves out of having to bear the cost unless you bloody well nail them to the ground. And keep them there! Otherwise I don't see the point in having public cops at all. I say privatize everything and lets see what can be done. Can it be worse than now? That way the ivory towers they've built can finally be torn down and maybe, just maybe, we can see a return to liberty.

bobn said...

At the time the "controlled buy" purportedly took place, Sigler was in the Bahamas.

During the January 2009 raid on Sigler's residence, "Yant tore up and left three documents ... [describing] a different raid of Sigler's home, one that never took place," continues the paper.


Even if this asswipe weren't evil, he'd still be too stupid to trust with a gun and a badge.

God have mercy on him; no one else will.

Arthur Itarian said...

We can't let those people smoke their pot and get high and not bother anyone. I mean, people might die or something.

Long live the leviathan state! (In fact, it's sodomizing me right now, and I love every minute of it!)