Tasers aren’t safe for the typical target they’re used on. Tasers don’t reduce the use of lethal force by a police department but do lead to earlier use of higher levels of force. Tasers are frequently “recklessly deployed” in violation of standards. Montpelier police shouldn’t add them to their arsenal of weapons.
No Tasers In Montpelier, Review Panel Says
November 1st, 2011Get A Warrant
October 25th, 2011Vermont police are looking at the state Health Department’s prescription drug database in a way they promised they never would — as a law enforcement tool that they should be able to snoop through at will.
NY Study Finds Taser Misuse
October 19th, 2011Police officers throughout New York state are consistently misusing and overusing Tasers, according to a report released by the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Behavioral Targeting — The Ad Men’s Surveillance
October 12th, 2011Think of the Web as one big vacuum, sucking up every bit of information possible from the sites you visit, the things you click, the little bit of bio you might provide (log-in name, birthday, income, hobbies, favorite movie, etc.) Then put all that information together, where it can be used to create a specific profile of you and others like you. It’s the Holy Grail of advertising, targeting an ad message for small affinity groups or even one specific individual.
Profiling And Policing — Bad Combo
September 15th, 2011Police stop a car for speeding. The driver is ticketed. Usually, that’s the end of the story. But not this time. On Tuesday, Vermont State Police ticketed a driver for speeding on I-89. But then the arresting officer looked at the passengers, and based on what he saw, he started asking questions about their citizenship status.
Flip Public Records Switch From “Open” To “Closed,” State Says
September 13th, 2011The state Attorney General’s Office told the Vermont Supreme Court Tuesday that the usual presumption that public records be open to the public should be turned on its head when it comes to police records.
ACLU To Argue Search Warrant Case Tuesday
September 12th, 2011The ACLU will be before the Vermont Supreme Court Tuesday to defend the right of a Burlington Free Press reporter to see search warrants that have already been served and returned to the court. The hearing will be at 9 a.m. in the Supreme Court in Montpelier.
Students Can Say ‘No’ To Military Recruiter Info Sweeps
September 7th, 2011A provision tacked on to the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires schools to provide students’ names, addresses, and phone numbers to military recruiters, upon request by recruiters. But, thanks in part to a law passed by the Vermont Legislature in 2006, Vermont students can say “keep my personal info private.”
Inn Claims Right To Discriminate
August 23rd, 2011Claiming that it didn’t discriminate against a gay couple by refusing to host their wedding reception, the owners of the Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville nonetheless have asked a judge to declare Vermont’s public accommodations law unconstitutional.
From The FBI, A Child ID App
August 17th, 2011Ever wonder what kind of interest the FBI has in online technology? If a new app is any indication, the answer may be “lots.” The FBI has just launched its first mobile app, and it’s directed at a sympathetic corner of the agency’s law enforcement work. The new app is called “Child ID,” and, according to the FBI, the app “provides a convenient place to electronically store photos and vital information about your children so that it’s literally right at hand if you need it. You can show the pictures and provide physical identifiers such as height and weight to security or police officers on the spot. Using a special tab on the app, you can also quickly and easily e-mail the information to authorities with a few clicks.”