Samir Chopra, a professor in the Department of Philosophy, Graduate Center and Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, posed an interesting question on Facebook this morning: [fb_embed_post href=”https://www.facebook.com/samir.chopra.7737/posts/10100282856185893/” width=”550″ /] The consensus of the comments is that since arrest records are public, there is nothing that prevents police departments from posting them to…
According to the Polaris Project, one of the leading organizations in the battle against human trafficking, cases occur in every one of the nation’s fifty states. Even tiny Vermont, not typically thought of as a front-line location for human trafficking, has seen trafficking cases involving the sex trade, farming, and restaurants. Dustin Duncan, an assistant…
This message needs to be spread far and wide: People in the United States have the right to videotape the actions of government employees in public spaces. As I noted in an earlier post, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has published a useful summary of the rights of citizens to record interactions with…
The motto of the Providence, RI police department is “Semper Vigilans,” which translates as “always watchful,” or “always on watch.” It’s a encouraging slogan for the city’s police department, but apparently one that doesn’t apply to the city’s residents. Earlier this month, The Providence Journal reported on allegations by John Prince that city police officers…
A tweet by an Edmonton social services agency set off a caustic Twitter exchange with the Edmonton Police Department, leading to the discipline of an unidentified officer. On Tuesday, the Twitter account for the Inner City Frontline Workers of Edmonton (@InnerCityYEG) responded to the planned hiring of 49 additional Edmonton police officers: Please no more…
[Updated] A 15-year veteran on the Vermont State Police is under investigation for comments that he made on his personal Facebook account, according to reports by local television stations WCAX and WPTZ. The department was alerted to the contents of Corporal Jon Graham’s Facebook feed after a concerned citizen re-posted various comments by Cpl. Graham…
