#policing — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #policing, aggregated by home.social.
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The group that I've been organizing with on police body cameras in Somerville just put out an update on where things sit, including the call-to-action with regard to Tuesday's hearing.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQrFlvLo_07XvQRMCu7cOk8Y2xXDWDTEXvS6MEKHFp1iub7uPiMq2JUOxqonE2jXmyvLdKmr1ign-Qg/pub -
The #UK government is funding a new National Roads #Policing Coordination Centre (NRPCC) to lead a nationwide crackdown on illegal number plates across #England. Police forces will share intelligence, data and technology to identify offenders and disrupt organised crime groups using the road network.
The NRPCC will trial #technology including specialised goggles designed to detect plates altered to evade cameras. Illegal plates, including cloned, ‘ghost’ and missing plates, can be used to avoid speeding, parking and clean air zone penalties, as well as conceal vehicles involved in serious crime.
Drivers using incorrectly displayed number plates can be fined up to £1,000. The initiative forms part of the government’s new Road Safety Strategy, which aims to improve enforcement and save thousands of lives. The DVSA and DVLA are also working with police to tackle businesses supplying illegal plates and support roadside enforcement.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/crackdown-on-illegal-number-plates-with-new-government-funded-roads-policing-team -
Community crime-fighting volunteers welcome new partnership with Enfield Council
Love Your Doorstep’s community patrol scheme is now receiving backing from the council for the first time since…
#London #Britain #UnitedKingdom #UK #GB #England #Headlines #News #Europe #EU #Enfield #Crime #EnfieldCouncil #EnfieldTown #LoveYourDoorstep #policing #socialenterprise #volunteering
https://www.europesays.com/gbr/london/20684/ -
https://www.europesays.com/videos/87841/ ‘Kids can’t go to school because of expected DISORDER’ | Middlesbrough schools FORCED to close early #Analysis #BreakingNews #ChildrenSafety #ConservativeParty #conservatives #CrimeInMiddlesbrough #ExpectedDisorder #GBNews #GBNewsLive #GBN #KidsGoingToSchool #MattVickers #Middlesbrough #MiddlesbroughCrime #MiddlesbroughDisorder #news #NewsUpdate #policing #politics #PublicSafety #Reports #SchoolSafety #ShadowPolicingMinister #StreetDisorder #uk #WorldNews
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If you are unable to comment on body cameras over Zoom, it is still valuable to send your thoughts to City Council via email.
You can email the City Clerk at
[email protected], and CC the City Council ([email protected]). -
If you are unable to comment on body cameras over Zoom, it is still valuable to send your thoughts to City Council via email.
You can email the City Clerk at
[email protected], and CC the City Council ([email protected]). -
If you are unable to comment on body cameras over Zoom, it is still valuable to send your thoughts to City Council via email.
You can email the City Clerk at
[email protected], and CC the City Council ([email protected]). -
If you are unable to comment on body cameras over Zoom, it is still valuable to send your thoughts to City Council via email.
You can email the City Clerk at
[email protected], and CC the City Council ([email protected]). -
Somerville residents concerned about deployment of police body cameras without civilian oversight, please consider giving public comment at Legislative Matters meeting at 6pm on September 8th:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WRdRHrGRTFC7GZuN1__1VATo provide comment, register for the Zoom meeting, join the call at 6pm, and when the body cameras hearing begins, raises your hand to request to speak.
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Somerville residents concerned about deployment of police body cameras without civilian oversight, please consider giving public comment at Legislative Matters meeting at 6pm on September 8th:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WRdRHrGRTFC7GZuN1__1VATo provide comment, register for the Zoom meeting, join the call at 6pm, and when the body cameras hearing begins, raises your hand to request to speak.
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Somerville residents concerned about deployment of police body cameras without civilian oversight, please consider giving public comment at Legislative Matters meeting at 6pm on September 8th:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WRdRHrGRTFC7GZuN1__1VATo provide comment, register for the Zoom meeting, join the call at 6pm, and when the body cameras hearing begins, raises your hand to request to speak.
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Somerville residents concerned about deployment of police body cameras without civilian oversight, please consider giving public comment at Legislative Matters meeting at 6pm on September 8th:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WRdRHrGRTFC7GZuN1__1VATo provide comment, register for the Zoom meeting, join the call at 6pm, and when the body cameras hearing begins, raises your hand to request to speak.
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The critical importance of good policy on police body cameras is made extremely clear following recent events in #CambridgeMA. On August 21, the Cambridge Police Department, who already have body cameras, fatally shot 64-year-old William Woodworth near Central Square.
Woodworth's family are fighting hard to get access to the body camera footage, but the District Attorney is insisting that the footage not be released yet.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/08/28/metro/cambridge-body-cam-footage/ -
Mayor Wilson would like to believe that Somerville residents are enthusiastically supportive of putting body cameras on police regardless of the policy surrounding use of the cameras.
This is why it is important not to let the September 8th hearing pass without significant public turnout, emphasizing that policy matters and that we insist on a civilian oversight body with real authority over the police department.
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It's very frustrating that Somerville is moving forward with an expensive (estimaed $400,000 per year) body cameras program without waiting for the hearing that residents have requested and have a right to.
As a reminder, Mayor Wilson's justification for urgency was that he didn't want to miss out on a quarter million dollar grant to cover the initial purchase, a sum that will be quickly outpaced by the ongoing costs of the program.
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It should be noted that the comments at the July 27th meeting against deployment of police body cameras included several activists who have been advocating for police oversight since 2020. Meanwhile, a large fraction of the comments in favor of cameras were members of the city's own past task forces on policing.
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At the Special Meeting on body cameras that Mayor Wilson called on July 27th, about two thirds of the public comments were in opposition to approval of the policy documents and/or in opposition to initiating an expensive body cameras program at this time.
Nevertheless, the Council voted to approve the policy and to accept the small federal grant for purchase of the cameras (which required that the cameras be purchased by the end of August).
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To give comments on police body cameras in Somerville, please use this link to sign up for the Zoom meeting, and raise your hand to request a chance to speak:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WRdRHrGRTFC7GZuN1__1VAIn particular, it's important to emphasize that a civilian oversight body should exist *before* police body cameras are deployed.
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There are some important updates on the #SomervilleMA police body cameras situation.
On Tuesday September 8th, the Legislative Matters Committee will be holding the public hearing on body-worn cameras that 89 residents requested by petition. If you're concerned about the issue, it'd be great if you can sign up to give comment.
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North-South divide in #policing resources (or maybe just sheer weight of #traffic ? )
Maybe easier for #Hantspol as the #ladette appears to have surrendered without incident when she was baulked by a traffic jam (didn't even ram civillians vehicles out of spite like I've seen in other pursuits), but NPAS (helicopter) was on standby, TVP ( #ThamesValleyPolice ) units were ahead and ready to deploy HOSTYDS ( Hollow Spike Tyre Deflation System / #stinger )
I was able to find at least one possible social media entry for her where she's pictured with a child, so maybe an incentive to realise its best to stay alive and accept the Courts penalties (although the way she was driving suggests she's used to going a bit fast, and simply hadn't been nicked before)
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CW: Policing, Stalking, Power Abuse
A Georgia Cop Used Flock to Track 2 Other Cops: His Ex and Her Friend https://www.wired.com/story/a-georgia-cop-used-flock-to-track-2-other-cops-his-ex-and-her-friend/
But in the police world, many officers have instant access to Flock—a powerful, informative, and invasive tool for tracking people’s locations. Across the country, there have been at least 45 documented incidents of police officers misusing Flock in order to look up or track current or former romantic partners.
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there is going to be an awful video of LAPD beating someone* in jail going around, be careful and maybe set filters
*who later? died, but i am not watching the video
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How AI‑powered policing is endangering the public’s trust in police
#Canada #AI #Police #Tech #RCMP #Policing #Surveillance #Privacy #Justice #Justice #AIEthics #Law #PublicTrust
https://the-14.com/how-ai-powered-policing-is-endangering-the-publics-trust-in-police/ -
"But to become my own man in the America I inherited, I realized I’d have to try to solve the paradox of my parents."
Read our excerpt from Wilbert L. Cooper's new #memoir, THE BLACK SHIELD:
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Ooof, per 404 Media:
"...The 43-page investigation found Fultz had posed for pictures as Adolf Hitler, freely used racial slurs in texts, masturbated on camera in his police vehicle, took pictures of his ex-girlfriend with his service weapon in her mouth during sex, repeatedly broke the law to generate clout online for his motorcycle themed Instagram and TikTok accounts, and used Flock to stalk his ex-girlfrie...."
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Today in #ACAB
Florida ‘Deputy of the Year’ Used Flock to Stalk Ex, Held Gun in Her Mouth, Did a Nazi Salute
The deputy resigned after an investigation uncovered an alleged history of racism, stalking, and sexual abuse.
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Our townhall events come as the use of AI tools in UK policing escalates dramatically.
The coalition calls for an end to so-called “predictive” policing with legislation that protects our rights.
There must be safeguards against the harms of AI and tech uses in policing and immigration settings.
We fight for a society where surveillance and digital policing isn't heralded as the answer to social and economic problems.
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Coming up, the #SafetyNotSurveillance coalition is holding townhall events across the country.
Join us to explore how AI and ‘crime-predicting’ tech is being used by local police forces. And what can be done about it.
⚫ London – 17 September
⚫ Manchester – 24 September
⚫ Bristol – 1 OctoberBook now ⬇️
https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/safety-not-surveillance-townhall/
#surveillance #policing #precrime #facialrecognition #ai #ukpolitics #ukpol
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"Dad got his gun from the City of Cleveland. That’s where Mom got hers, too. Both are tools of policing, the Cooper family business."
In our excerpt from THE BLACK SHIELD, Wilbert L. Cooper recounts how his mother Gayle joined the police force: https://longreads.com/2026/08/25/the-black-shield-wilbert-l-cooper/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
#Longreads #Reading #Books #Cleveland #Police #Memoir #Policing
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CW: CW: police violence, state violence
The astounding naïveté with which so many people, especially in Western countries, regard the police as the good guys is honestly quite something.
There seems to be this deeply ingrained fairy tale that the police are fundamentally benevolent people in nice uniforms who exist to protect us, and that whenever they hurt, intimidate, detain, or even kill someone, there must automatically have been a Very Good Reason™.
No. They are an institution with a monopoly on legitimate state violence.
Sometimes they abuse that power. Sometimes they enforce profoundly unjust laws. Sometimes they protect the existing order rather than the people who are suffering under it (because that is what the police is actually for!)
And the uniform does not magically turn coercive power into moral virtue.
If your understanding of police begins and ends with “they're the good guys,” perhaps you should read a little history.#Police #Policing #StateViolence #Power #HumanRights #CivilRights #SocialJustice #Antifascism #ACAB
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Vital work by law enforcement in Monterey County includes the work outlined in story by John C. Murray, who served for over 28 years in local law enforcement. https://www.montereycountynow.com/news/cover/a-decade-after-salinas-was-dubbed-the-youth-murder-capital-a-look-back-at-an/article_8129a930-d779-4034-bfc5-bf4855be1604.html. We biked those hoods regularly in those years, particularly North Hebbron. Murray’s story also brings to mind Bicycling Victims of Violence, 2012-2018: Juan Angel Perez, and Señores Amezcua, Cardenas, Martinez, Ramirez, Sanchez, Suniga, Trujillo https://bikemonterey.org/in-memory-of-people-murdered-while-biking.html
#MontereyCountyNow #PoliceWork #Policing #GangViolence #Salinas #GoodCops
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https://www.europesays.com/ie/512481/ EU’s big 6 pitch a rival to Wall Street – POLITICO #AssetManagement #BANKING #Banks #Business #CapitalMarkets #CapitalMarketsUnion #Conflict #CYPRUS #Economy #Éire #Finance #FinanceAndBanking #france #Germany #IE #industry #Investment #Ireland #Italy #Luxembourg #Markets #Negotiations #Pensions #Poland #Policing #Rights #Spain #TheNetherlands #Transition/implementationPeriod #UnitedStates #WallStreet
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EU’s big 6 pitch a rival to Wall Street – POLITICO
Back-to-back crises have limited the …
#NewsBeep #News #Economy #assetmanagement #AU #Australia #banking #Banks #Business #CapitalMarkets #Capitalmarketsunion #conflict #Cyprus #Finance #Financeandbanking #France #Germany #industry #investment #Ireland #italy #Luxembourg #Markets #negotiations #Pensions #Poland #Policing #Rights #Spain #TheNetherlands #Transition/implementationperiod #UnitedStates #wallstreet
https://www.newsbeep.com/au/705625/ -
EU’s big 6 pitch a rival to Wall Street – POLITICO
Back-to-back crises have limited the …
#NewsBeep #News #Economy #assetmanagement #AU #Australia #banking #Banks #Business #CapitalMarkets #Capitalmarketsunion #conflict #Cyprus #Finance #Financeandbanking #France #Germany #industry #investment #Ireland #italy #Luxembourg #Markets #negotiations #Pensions #Poland #Policing #Rights #Spain #TheNetherlands #Transition/implementationperiod #UnitedStates #wallstreet
https://www.newsbeep.com/au/705625/ -
EU’s big 6 pitch a rival to Wall Street – POLITICO
Back-to-back crises have limi…
#Economy ##banking #AssetManagement #banks #capitalmarkets #Capitalmarketsunion #conflict #cyprus #EconomyofEU #EconomyoftheEU #EUeconomy #Europe #Finance #Financeandbanking #france #germany #industry #investment #ireland #italy #luxembourg #markets #negotiations #pensions #poland #policing #rights #spain #thenetherlands #Transition/implementationperiod #UnitedStates #wallstreet
https://www.europesays.com/3026656/ -
Think twice before stealing a bike in Kalamazoo — A bait bike and a message from the police: www.mlive.com/news/kalamaz... #news #kalamazoo #michigan #police #bicycle #bike #crime #baitbike #policing #criminaljustice #poverty #homeless #journalism #FOIA #snapshot #citylife
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From 2021... This started before #Trump, but things are way worse now!
#AntiProtestLaws Threaten #Indigenous and #Climate Movements
“#CriticalInfrastructure” laws in over a dozen states wrongly invoke national security to justify targeting #PipelineProtesters.
Kaylana Mueller-Hsia, March 17, 2021
"In 2016 as a member of Congress, #DebHaaland stood for four days in solidarity with protesters at the #StandingRockSioux Reservation against construction of the #DakotaAccessPipeline. Today, as the first #NativeAmerican to be the secretary of the interior — the first to lead any cabinet department — she has the opportunity to support the #FirstAmendment rights of the protesters she joined in the past.
"With her authority over energy development on federal lands, Haaland can be a voice for Indigenous and climate movements facing an urgent threat: the rapid spread of laws to protect 'critical infrastructure' that single out activists.
"Since 2016, 13 states have quietly enacted laws that increase criminal penalties for trespassing, damage, and interference with infrastructure sites such as oil refineries and pipelines. At least five more states have already introduced similar legislation this year. These laws draw from national security legislation enacted after 9/11 to protect physical infrastructure considered so 'vital' that the 'incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety.'
"Many industry sectors are designated critical infrastructure, including food and agriculture, energy, water and wastewater, and communications, but most state critical infrastructure laws focus more narrowly on oil and gas #pipelines. While protecting critical infrastructure is a legitimate government function, these laws clearly target environmental and Indigenous activists by significantly raising the penalties for participating in or even tangentially supporting pipeline trespassing and property damage, crimes that are already illegal. Many laws are modelled on draft legislation prepared by the American Legislative Exchange Council, also known as #ALEC, a powerful lobbying group funded by #FossilFuel companies like #ExxonMobil and #Shell.
"Central to the new critical infrastructure laws are increased criminal penalties and vague, broad definitions that could discourage protest and particularly, nonviolent civil disobedience. Many laws make any 'damage' to or 'interference' with a facility deemed critical infrastructure a felony. Under #Ohio’s law, trespass with the purpose of 'tampering' with a facility is a third degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. In Indiana, a felony conviction is applied for any facility trespass, a crime that is typically a misdemeanor or fine.
"Vague language like 'damage,' 'tamper,' and 'impede' in critical infrastructure laws makes it unclear if, for example, knocking down #SafetyCones and starting a fire next to a natural gas facility are the same under the law. Many critical infrastructure laws do not clarify if they apply only to land a company fully owns or also to pipeline easements, which run through both public and private lands. At least some laws apply to both. Only a week after Louisiana’s critical infrastructure law was enacted, opponents of the Bayou Bridge pipeline were charged with trespassing for boating on public waters on the border of a pipeline easement.
"The combination of overly broad language and steep penalties in critical infrastructure laws make it likely that future activists and supporting organizations will be discouraged from exercising their First Amendment-protected protest rights. A lawsuit brought in response to the #BayouBridge charges will test the laws for the first time on First Amendment grounds.
"Many of these laws even extend beyond the protesters. In a proposed law in #Minnesota, anyone who 'recruits, trains, aids, advises, hires, counsels, or conspires' someone to trespass without a 'reasonable effort' to prevent the trespassing is guilty of a gross misdemeanor. In #Oklahoma organizations that conspire with perpetrators are liable to be fined up to $1 million. These laws may infringe on the freedom of association protected under the First Amendment. Indeed, the Supreme Court ruled that the illegal actions of a few individuals do not implicate an entire group.
"The criminalization of environmental protest is fueled by federal security agencies and oil and gas companies, who are often major political donors. For years, the Department of #HomelandSecurity and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have labelled activists at infrastructure sites as #DomesticTerrorists and violent extremists in order to justify further #surveillance and #policing. Government documents have been released that detail the FBI’s focus on '#AnimalRights / #EnvironmentalExtremism,' describing even #NonviolentProtesters as #extremists.
"At Standing Rock, a private security firm [#Blackwater] hired by the pipeline companies consistently referred to protesters as 'terrorists' while working with law enforcement. Ahead of the #KeystoneXLPipeline protests in 2018, #DHS agents held an '#AntiTerrorism training' for state and local authorities. In contrast, members of the #FarRight militant group the #ThreePercenters have established a significant presence at oil and gas plants with little law enforcement reaction.
"To be sure, as the recent power outages in Texas showed so vividly, the United States needs reliable energy. But it’s questionable whether pipeline construction sites that could feasibly be moved or replaced with renewable energy sources should legitimately be considered 'vital' to the energy grid. Furthermore, a singular focus on this aspect of security comes at the cost of others. Whose essential resources do pipeline projects protect and whose do they threaten? Black Americans are disproportionately likely to live near natural #GasPipelines and experience higher #CancerRisk due to unclean air. An oil spill from the Dakota Access Pipeline could devastate the #SiouxTribe’s water source. Meanwhile, on some reservations, 10 percent of households lack electricity and as many as 40 percent of households must haul water and use outhouses. The well-being of these communities must count too.
"The rise in critical infrastructure laws may foreshadow more anti-protest legislation to come. A similar wave of anti-protest laws has already begun in response to the 2020 #BlackLivesMatter protests. State legislators contemplating critical infrastructure laws should bear in mind that laws that criminalize trespassing and protect the safety of construction workers and law enforcement already exist. Critical infrastructure laws don’t fill an unmet need — they only raise the penalties for specific groups of people. Courts adjudicating #FirstAmendment challenges in the coming years should recognize that these laws are overbroad and impose disproportionately severe penalties that chill freedom of assembly and association.
"As secretary of the interior, Haaland promises to uplift the voices of Indigenous and climate protesters in the Biden administration. State legislators, law enforcement, and the fossil fuel industry should follow suit and listen to these activists rather than suppressing constitutionally protected activity under the guise of national security."
#BrennanCenter #Authoritarianism #Fascism #NoDAPL #NoKXL #PipelineProtests #WaterIsLife #ACAB #ErikPrince #BigOilAndGas #Oiligarchy #CorporateColonialism #EnvironmentalRacism #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #ExxonLied #Blackwater #StandWithStandingRock #StandingRockSioux
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The Data Bill strips back your right to human review of automated decisions that have life-changing impacts.
It flips the script, forcing you to prove a mistake has been made when AI gets it wrong – the scales of justice further imbalanced.
Sign our petition ⬇️
#DataBill #DUABill #dataprotection #GDPR #privacy #automateddecisionmaking #AI #policing #police #ukpolitics #ukpol
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Even the limitation on automated decision-making using 'special category data' could be sidestepped by relying on the loophole of 'authorised by law' in the UK Data Bill.
The letter warns that "police will be able to conduct ADM without limitation and to conduct ADM involving sensitive data with very few limitations."
#DataBill #DUABill #dataprotection #GDPR #privacy #automateddecisionmaking #AI #policing #police #ukpolitics #ukpol
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Automated decisions could be made in policing "on the basis of their socioeconomic status, regional or postcode data, inferred emotions, or even regional accents."
The UK Data Bill puts marginalised groups at risk of opaque and unfair automated decisions that replicate inherent biases in the data.
#DataBill #DUABill #dataprotection #GDPR #privacy #automateddecisionmaking #AI #policing #police #ukpolitics #ukpol
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The UK Data Use and Access Bill strips away your right to not be subjected to life-changing decisions made solely by AI, apart from where special category data is used.
But, as the letter says, "there are many contexts in which non-special category personal data acts as a proxy for protected characteristics."
#DataBill #DUABill #dataprotection #GDPR #privacy #automateddecisionmaking #AI #policing #police #ukpolitics #ukpol
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The UK Data Bill could unleash unchecked automated decision-making in policing ⚠️👮
ORG has signed Big Brother Watch's open letter to warn that removing safeguards could greatly expand "possibilities for bias, discrimination and lack of transparency".
#DataBill #DUABill #dataprotection #GDPR #privacy #automateddecisionmaking #AI #policing #police #ukpolitics #ukpol
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The War on #Masks Has Taken on a New Meaning
This time, the masks have nothing to do with #COVID19.
By Henry Grabar
Feb 05, 20254:57 PM"Last month, state legislators in New York introduced a bill that would create a new crime: 'masked harassment.'
"That, the law explains, is when you wear a mask 'for the primary purpose of menacing or threatening violence against another person' or 'placing another person or group of persons in reasonable fear for their physical safety.'
"If that seems like a bit of a niche offense—threatening violence is already a crime, after all—it’s because the language has been watered down to attract political support. It’s a sign of New York Democrats’ cautious new approach over masks in public life, and a retreat from last spring, when anti-Israel protests, on top of a widespread urban crime panic, pushed leaders from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to consider mask bans.
"In its original form, the New York bill would have banned masks at public assemblies entirely. But the outcry from #DisabilityRights advocates, #CriminalJustice reformers, #HealthCareWorkers, and #CivilLiberties groups was swift, and so New York wound up with this bill on 'masked harassment' instead.
"Elsewhere, the pandemic-era leniency on masking in public is over. #NorthCarolina Republicans overrode a gubernatorial veto last summer to once again #BanPublicFaceCoverings, except to stop the spread of contagious diseases. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost dusted off an old law to threaten #StudentProtesters with #felonies. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has asked the state’s Senate to consider a bill to #unmask #protesters this year.
"For Republicans, it’s a chance to kill two birds with one stone. They can strike back against the perceived overreach of pandemic-era #HealthDirectives and make it easier to arrest #demonstrators at the same time.
"In #Ohio and North Carolina, the original statutes were written in the 1950s to stop demonstrations by the #KuKluxKlan, but had been ignored or suspended during the #pandemic and the #GeorgeFloydProtests. Many lawmakers have cited the recent demonstrations in defense of #Gaza as a reason to crack down again. Defending the proposed mask ban in New York, Anti-Defamation League [#ADL] president Jonathan Greenblatt said the demonstrators were using '#KKK tactics' to intimidate Jewish New Yorkers.
"That instinct was bolstered by the sense among many city residents and elected leaders that widespread masking was a factor behind the pandemic-era crime spike. That led to #Philadelphia banning #SkiMasks in parks, on trains, and in public buildings. A more recent, high-profile example came in December with the Midtown Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO #BrianThompson by a #MaskedAssassin, which prompted New York Mayor Eric Adams to call for cab drivers and business owners to ask customers to remove their masks. The new New York bill has won over the liberal Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who endorsed the 'tailored' approach. As the police say: #NoFaceNoCase.
"For what it’s worth, there are too many confounding variables and too little data to be sure if mask-wearing is associated with crime, said Ernesto Lopez at the Council for Criminal Justice, which collects crime reporting statistics from various cities. 'From a theoretical statement it makes sense that could occur, but it has not been demonstrated that’s the case,' he told me.
"But if all that weighed in favor of more mask bans, there was also widespread resistance. Disability advocates mobilized to defend the right to mask; North Carolina had to write a medical exemption into their bill at the insistence of a GOP House member. #PoliceReformers observed that #MaskBans have often been used for pretextual #policing and racial profiling against #BlackAmericans. (#AtlantaGeorgia tabled a mask ban for that reason.)
"What looms largest, as the second Trump administration begins, is the role of protest. As Semafor’s Dave Weigel has noted, masks have become a badge of left-wing protest culture. That’s in part an extension of politicized COVID-era concerns about health and civility, but at this point it is mostly a tactic to preserve anonymity in an era of #FacialRecognition, streaming video, and #doxing. Last year, the anonymous #ProIsrael website the #CanaryMission posted photographs of hundreds of students and faculty at campus protests and posted their names and photos online, labeling some as supporters of terrorism.
"'The concern takes on new urgency as Donald Trump pledges to revoke the visas of pro-Palestine protesters, and the Trump-Musk GOP embraces the naming and shaming of otherwise private citizens. A conservative group called the American Accountability Foundation has begun circulating lists of federal workers, many of them Black, who should be
'targets' for their alleged involvement in #DEI initiatives at work."Clearly, the masked protest does not always sit well with an older generation, many of whom cut their teeth in the protests of the pre-internet age. As Georgetown professor Michael Kazin told the New York Times last year: 'I do think if you are going to demonstrate, and it’s something you feel deeply about, you should be willing to stand up and be counted.'"
Source:
https://slate.com/business/2025/02/mask-bans-new-york-los-angeles-crime-protests-criminalize-face-coverings.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
#Fascism #AuthoritarianRule #BigBrother #BigBrotherIsWatchingYou #SurveillanceState #SilencingDissent -
Hisham Matar: "Acrobatics […] so as not to name the crimes for what they are, but name some of them, so as to have named something"
Kate Greenberg: https://vashtimedia.com/translation-of-solidarity-amsterdam/ 🧶
#discrimination #moralBeauty #liberals #policing #respectability #Zionism #JewishState #israelism #Maccabi #TelAviv #MaccabiTelAviv #NL #Netherlands #Amsterdam #UK #silencing #PalestinianLivesMatter #fragility #warOnGaza #GazaWar #IsraelHamas #genocide #ethnicCleansing #October7 #JewishSupremacy #supremacy #VashtiMedia #Vashti #hasbara #hasbarah #grievability #racism #islamophobia #community #solidarity #conflation #confusion #antisemitism #antiZionism #politics #recycling #manipulation #coOpting #coloniality #proZionism #StandWithIsrael #lineOfColor #raceMaking
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CW: Harrowing “solidarity tours” of Israel are reinscribing American Jews’ sense of victimhood 🧶
"The trips I joined seemed intended to reassure participants that they could support @israel while retaining the moral clarity of the victim."
"The trips not only blur past and present Jewish trauma, but encourage visiting Americans to assume an Israeli identity—and the sense of embattlement that comes with it."
Maya Rosen: https://jewishcurrents.org/the-rise-of-october-7th-tourism
#liberals #victimhood #tourism #darkTourism #separatism #communautarism #policing #respectability #Zionism #JewishState #israelism #fragility #warOnGaza #October7 #JewishSupremacy #supremacy #hasbara #hasbarah #grievability #racism #islamophobia #community #solidarity #conflation #confusion #antisemitism #politics #recycling #manipulation #coOpting #coloniality #StandWithIsrael
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#WarOnDrugs = #PoliceMilitarization + Constant Prisoner Flow
#PrisonForProfit = #Lobbies To Protect Interests (while court precedents destroy constitutional rights for all, via)
🚨 📰NEWS: #Alabama prisons caught organ harvesting w/out consent? = #criminal
#HumanRights #USA #policing #organharvesting #Law #Justice
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/11/alabama-prison-missing-organs
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Nationwide protests against anti-Black racism and police violence have sparked demands and reckonings in several corners of higher education and academe.
The latest to join the fray is the discipline of #mathematics.
Ten mathematicians from eight universities and one company wrote an open letter calling for mathematicians to cease collaborating with police departments. The letter also urges math scholars to publicly audit influential algorithms and to embed learning outcomes related to #ethics in #data #science curriculums.
"It's a political belief, that collaborating with police in any capacity contributes to white supremacist violence and oppression," said #Tarik #Aougab, a math professor at Haverford College and one of the letter writers, speaking personally on his motivations. "Really any collaboration between mathematics, which is something that I love and that I find extremely beautiful, and the institution of policing shouldn't happen."
The letter has 1,500 verified signatures from mathematicians, Aougab said, although that number is not limited to academic mathematicians. The letter has been submitted to and accepted by the Notices of the American Mathematical Society.
The letter writers take particular aim at "predictive policing," which involves using data and mathematics to predict where crime will happen.
"Many of our colleagues can and do work with police departments to provide modeling and data work," the letter said, noting that in 2016 the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics (#ICERM) at Brown University held a one-week workshop on #predictive #policing.
#PredPol, a major predictive policing company, says that its technology is being used to protect one out of every 33 people in the United States.
Opposition to predictive policing is not new. Academics have raised concerns in recent years about the mathematical theory underlying the technology and its tendency to create self-reinforcing feedback loops ("It is predicting future policing, not future crime," said a 2017 paper on the subject).
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/06/24/mathematicians-urge-cutting-ties-police
