The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Politics & RKBA => Topic started by: Rastus on July 12, 2011, 05:51:45 AM
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Bad situations can bring out the worst in virtually anyone. You can't depend on the institutions that worked fine before a disaster to work fine after a disaster and bad institutions less so. Like the one in New Orleans that already had a shady reputation and history of abuse and murder as listed below. Partner's killing partners, drug running, protection rackets...etc.
In a disaster I think it would be a good practice to watch the "choke points" or "check points" for a while to see how people who navigate them seem to fair before committing one's self or family to such a route. It may be better to wait to be part of a crowd moving through such an area or to find an alternate route. I like the alternate route option, but there can be protection in numbers sort of like being in a school of fish.
In case someone calls into question this article as being fanciful and a "he said, she said" type of thing, read the last paragraph and look it up on your own.
http://news.yahoo.com/ex-cop-says-helped-cover-katrina-shootings-181631947.html (http://news.yahoo.com/ex-cop-says-helped-cover-katrina-shootings-181631947.html)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A former police detective testified Monday that he participated in a plot to fabricate witnesses, falsify reports and plant a gun to make it seem police were justified in shooting unarmed residents on a New Orleans bridge after Hurricane Katrina.
Jeffrey Lehrmann, a government witness in the federal trial of five current or former officers, said he saw Sgt. Arthur "Archie" Kaufman retrieve a gun from his home several weeks after the deadly shootings on the Danziger Bridge. Kaufman later turned the gun in as evidence, claiming he found it under the bridge a day after the 2005 shootings that left two people dead and four others wounded.
Lehrmann said Kaufman instructed him to fill out paperwork that claimed the gun belonged to Lance Madison, whose mentally disabled brother, Ronald, was shot and killed on the bridge. Lance Madison was arrested on attempted murder charges and held for more than three weeks before a judge freed him.
Lehrmann said Kaufman, his supervisor, had grown concerned because the judge who freed Madison didn't believe Kaufman's testimony at the hearing.
"Therefore, we needed a gun," Lehrmann said.
Lehrmann said Sgts. Robert Gisevius and Kenneth Bowen joined him and Kaufman when they drove to Kaufman's house to retrieve a gun. Kaufman emerged from his garage carrying the gun in a brown paper bag, calling it a "ham sandwich," Lehrmann said.
Kaufman's attorney, Stephen London, suggested during cross-examination that Lehrmann was trying to shift blame to his client and has changed his story over time. Lehrmann accused London of "nitpicking," while London chided Lehrmann for smiling during his testimony.
"My client is on trial. Is that funny?" London asked.
"No, it's not funny at all," he responded.
On Sept. 4, 2005, Lehrmann drove himself to the Danziger Bridge after a truckload of officers responded to another officer's distress call and began shooting. He isn't accused of firing his gun that day.
Lehrmann said he handcuffed Ronald Madison on the west side of the bridge after he was shot, then felt badly about it when another officer told him he already was dead.
Lehrmann said the officers immediately afterward started to "get their stories straight."
"We had a lot of problems because it was a bad shoot," he said.
"What was the goal of the cover-up?" prosecutor Cindy Chung asked.
"Protect the officers from legal ramifications," he said.
Lehrmann said he helped Kaufman with an initial, 32-page report that was bounced back by Lt. Michael Lohman, who also has pleaded guilty to participating in a cover-up.
"Lt. Lohman became irate with Archie because he thought Archie's report was garbage," Lehrmann recalled.
Lehrmann said the false accounts of what officers did on the bridge continually changed as they honed their cover story.
"The lies changed whenever we needed to change them," he said.
Lehrmann said he made up the name "Lakeisha" for a phony witness to the shootings when Kaufman called out, "Hey, somebody give me a name!" He said they also fabricated a witness named "James Youngman" and reported he lived at a large, storm-damaged apartment complex where it would be hard to prove the witness didn't exist.
Weeks after the shooting, Lehrmann said he and Bowen returned to the bridge a day before crime scene technicians were to collect evidence. Lehrmann said he saw Bowen kick shell casings off the bridge where police shot several people.
Gisevius, Bowen, Officer Anthony Villavaso and former officer Robert Faulcon are on trial for charges stemming from the shootings. Kaufman is charged in the alleged cover-up.
Lehrmann, who already has been sentenced to three years in prison, is one of five former officers who pleaded guilty to participating in a cover-up. He is the fourth of those officers to testify at the trial, now entering its third week.
Need we say anything about our helpful ATF?
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Most of what I have observed over the past many decades would probably not lead me away from your conclusions. However, here are just a few things to think about.
Lousy-anna has been a cesspool of corruption since the War of Northern Agression, and maybe even before that. New Orleans has, historically, equalled Chicago in terms of lawlessness and evil in local government. It may possibly be even worse--where else can you find Congress Critters with hundreds of thousands of dollars in marked bribe money sitting in their freezer?
When the working environment is colored by true evil (and, yes Quaker, there is such a thing as "true evil") even potentially good personnel are soon corrupted--their very survival depends on covering for the "sins" of their "superiors." And they quickly observe the way to "make it" is outside the bounds of law.
So, while none of what happened post-Katrina New Orleans was particularly surprising, I continue to believe police and National Guard members in most other areas affirm what the Oath Keepers traditionally stand for. I do not expect the cops in Pinellas County to shoot citizens, or deprive them of other Constitutional rights because some Chicago thug in the White House says it's what has to be done. I don't expect Arizona's Sheriff Joe to announce gun confiscation. I think that most of these boys will be on the side of right.
Should I be wrong (always a possibility), I also believe that the initiation of physical gun-grabbing would be the final tipping point leading to a violent solution (the one Bogan is always whining about). That would be (I think) the sheeples' last straw. And it would quickly get ugly.
Offered for your thoughtful consideration by,
Crusader Rabbit (who remains well armed and vigilent)
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CR, I hate to burst your bubble, but . . .
In a remote ND county, I saw a County deputy who had been on the premises for 15 minutes, all of a sudden notice hand-rolled cigarettes and then loudly announce "I smell marijuana" for probable cause to conduct a field test. There was no MJ, just fraud on the part of the deputy.
In another ND county, I had a deputy, a Field Training Officer no less, inform me that if I told him during a traffic stop - a legal requirement in some states BTW - I had a CCW permit and a concealed weapon on my person, he would get me oput of the car and handcuffed "for officer safety". To hell with the state's Constitution which clearly states I get to have one. His rationale - no jury would convict him.
These events were in North Dakota! Not Chicago, NYC, or NO. In the first case, the County Sheriff himself was present (and he himself has issues of corruption) and did nothing. In the second case, there were 2 County Sheriff Sgts. (including the Patrol Sgt, the FTO's superior) and a Captain who also did nothing to stop the FTO from saying what he did, nor did they do anything other than say - yeah, it's about officer safety.
CR, cops are trained this way these days, trained to lie, cheat, steal, plant evidence, whatever. The good cops may not actually do any of that, but they also don't seem to be particularly forthcoming when bad cops do bad things either - unless they are implicated. IMHOYMMV
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Path, You are right that this type of conduct isn't confined to any one place, bad cops can turn up anywhere.
But CR and Rastus are correct when they characterize NOPD as a bad Dept.
When the new Mayor took office he requested an federal Justice Dept probe of the PD at that time there were 3 unrelated murder investigations under way. The Danziger Bridge incident is the last to go to trial, the other 2 ended in convictions .
Rastus is also absolutely correct in suggesting "route recon" of choke points.
To show that it isn't just N. O.These 2 stories are from today alone.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1351424&srvc=rss
Barnstable detective charged with drunk driving
An off-duty Barnstable police detective is facing charges that he was driving drunk when he drove a Barnstable Little Leaguer to an all-star tournament in Rehoboth.
Edmund Scipione, 41, of Centerville was arrested by Swansea police Saturday and charged with operating under the influence of alcohol and reckless endangerment of a child, according to police records.
Scipione, an assistant coach with Barnstable Little League’s all-star team, was bringing a 9-year-old player to the tournament that was not his own child, league president Micahael LeBlanc said this morning.
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http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1351421&srvc=rss
Lowell police officer arraigned on rape charges
LOWELL — A Lowell police officer has pleaded not guilty to charges that he raped two prostitutes and solicited prostitution from others while he was on duty.
Prosecutors allege that 31-year-old Aravanh Lakmany of Dracut would approach the women, ask them to get into his cruiser or personal vehicle and drive them to an isolated area where they would engage in sexual conduct.
Prosecutors say in one instance Lakmany offered not to arrest a woman wanted on outstanding warrants in exchange for sexual favors.
Lakmany was arraigned Tuesday on charges of extortion, three counts of rape and three counts of solicitation of prostitutes.
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