Answering alarm, Oakland police kill family dog
by admin on Oct.01, 2010, under The C.L.E.A.R. Agenda
(09-30) 18:25 PDT OAKLAND
Mary Kate Hallock arrived at her Oakland hills home after running errands Tuesday and found a blue note fluttering on her front door. “Oakland police responded to your residence to investigate a burglar alarm,” the handwritten note read. “While circling the rear perimeter, lab advanced on officers in a threatening manner before being shot and killed.”
“Lab” was Gloria, an 11-year-old, arthritic yellow Labrador Hallock’s family had owned since she was a puppy. Oakland police shot Gloria three times with a 40-caliber Glock handgun in the family’s backyard while responding to a false burglar alarm at the property. The dog, police said, growled and barked at them.
“I probably read that note 10 times,” Hallock, an Oakland preschool teacher, said Thursday. “I was incredulous. Gloria’s never bit anyone. She’s just a gentle old dog, a classic Lab, always wagging her tail.”
Oakland police defended the shooting as a “necessary action”.
“My heart goes out to the family,” said police spokesman Jeff Thomason. “We never want to go into a situation where we hurt a family pet, but in the course of doing our job, sometimes we have to make split-second decisions.” The shooting occurred just a few months after Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts called for a review of police procedures after the controversial videotaped police shooting of a young deer that was cornered in an East Oakland backyard. Officers in that case fired six rounds.
The Tuesday incident began after Hallock left her home on Burgos Avenue in the quiet Knowland Park neighborhood just north of the Oakland Zoo. Hallock had set the burglar alarm, and as she had done many times before, she left the downstairs back door open so Gloria could have refuge from the heat in the fenced backyard.
The dog apparently tripped the alarm around noon, and the police showed up a few minutes later.
As officers circled the house, they saw the back door open and thought an intruder was inside, Thomason said. At that point, Gloria allegedly growled and barked at the officers, and one of the officers fired three rounds, all of which hit the dog – at least one in the head. Police declined to name the officer who fired his weapon. The officer has not been placed on leave and continues to work, Thomason said. “This situation was very unusual,” Thomason said, noting that officers usually encounter aggressive dogs in backyards during chases. “It was a very unfortunate but necessary action.”
‘The kids were crying’
When approached by a threatening dog, officers can use pepper spray, a Taser or gun to deter the animal. In this case, the officer probably didn’t have time for pepper spray or Tasers, Thomason said.The Hallocks, meanwhile, are devastated. On Tuesday, after the family called a number left on the note, they learned Gloria’s body had been taken to the city’s animal shelter. An Oakland police captain then showed up at the Hallock home to apologize. Hallock’s husband Ward, a warehouse manager, brought Gloria’s body home from the shelter, wrapped in a blanket. “The kids were crying,” Mary Kate Hallock said, referring to her children, Matthew, 15, and Isabel, 11. “We all sat around with her, put our hands on her, told stories about her.” On Wednesday, the family had Gloria cremated. They plan to bury the ashes in the backyard. Like many older dogs, Gloria suffered from hip dysplasia and other joint ailments that prevented her from moving freely, Hallock said. She barked occasionally at strangers, but her unease would quickly dissolve into friendly tail-wagging. While the Hallocks understand that police occasionally make mistakes, they’re still reeling from what they considered the department’s callous handling of the incident. “It was like a physical blow,” Hallock said. “It just didn’t feel right. The officer who later apologized sounded sincere, but it would have been nice to hear from the officer who actually shot her.”
Oakland police are reviewing the incident, which is standard procedure in any case involving a fatal shooing, Thomason said.
Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle, September 30, 2010 06:25 PM
Dallas police seek charges against officers in videotaped beating
by admin on Sep.16, 2010, under General
(CNN) — Dallas, Texas, police are seeking criminal charges against three officers in the videotaped beating of a motorcyclist after a chase.
One of the officers turned a second video dashboard camera away during the incident, Police Chief David Brown announced at a press conference Wednesday.
The two officers who apparently were in the lead chase vehicle disregarded an order to stop the chase on the evening of Sept. 5, Brown said. A recording showed that either officer Kevin Ray Randolph or Paul Gregory Bauer said, “Keep us going. I’m going to kick the s— out of him.”
The video, which was discovered after an anonymous note, shows the police vehicle bumper tapping the motorcycle, which had by then stopped. Randolph is shown hitting Collins with a baton several times while Bauer uses his fists and knee, Brown said. Other videos of the incident have since been found. Police investigators will recommend to the Dallas County district attorney that Randolph, who was terminated Wednesday for failing probation, and Bauer be charged with misdemeanor assault, official oppression and felony tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, the chief said. The department put three other officers, Jeremy James Francis, Robert James Kamphouse and Daniel Stephen Malouf, on restricted duty. They were seen on the second video also having contact with Collins, but they are not clearly seen because officer Henry Walter Duetsch had turned the camera away from the beating, Brown said. Police recommend that Duetsch be charged with felony tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting a concurrent civil rights investigation. The chase suspect, Andrew Collins, is black.
“Every citizen deserves a measure of respect,” said Brown. “As chief of police for the city of Dallas, I expect citizens to hold me accountable for ensuring that Dallas officers treat all citizens with fairness and compassion.” Other officers on the scene will be interviewed and investigated.
Collins suffered bruises in the incident, developed blood clots and complained of pain. He initially was charged with three traffic warrants, evading arrest, resisting arrest, and possession of marijuana after his arrest. After seeing the video, Brown dropped the resisting arrest charge.
“This won’t be tolerated,” Brown said.
I’m Getting Tired!!!
by admin on Sep.08, 2010, under General
This is getting to be too much! I sit here on youtube every day and go through videos to make people aware of what’s going on out there. It’s never ending. The videos just keep coming. People still think that these are just isolated incidents. Do you have any idea what the odds are that with all of the police interactions we have every day, that the only one that involves misconduct, we just happen to have a camera on and running to catch it. All of the rest of them the, fine officer is telling the truth. He really doesn’t know how after being cuffed and put in the back of the police car the 100 pound girl received a concussion and 3 broken ribs. It may have been when he stopped fast for the light, or maybe when he hit that speed bump. How many cops are getting away with this just because there was no one there to catch it on video? People please, we have to put a stop this. Join C.L.E.A.R. and send a message that we have had enough!
Fire Trooper Danial Martin
by admin on Sep.03, 2010, under General
This is a story we’ve been following for a few weeks now. On May 24th 2009 Trooper Dainal Martin of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol was on route to a Stolen car call. After review of the dashcam video you can see that Martin was traveling at a very high rate of speed. We all know that finding a stolen car is a class 1 emergency. This is when he came upon an ambulance on route to the hospital. The video shows that a small car that was in front of the ambulance had pulled over to the side of the road. The ambulance being much bigger could not have stopped that fast so the driver went around. Within a mater of seconds the ambulance was pulled over to the side. No traffic was coming from the on-coming lane anyway, so Martin had plenty of room to go around, and did. That should have been the end of it. Martin went to his call and the ambulance continued on route to the hospital. When Martin got to his call, he found out that he wasn’t need. “Seems to be a common consensus” Now was his chance to show someone who’s really boss. Feeling dis-empowered by his peers, Martin then proceeded to chase down the ambulance. Once subdued, he then started yelling at the driver. Maurice White Jr, the EMT “who was in charge of the rig” got out to find out what was so important as to put his patients life in jeopardy. Martin started shouting profanities at White from the start. It was obvious that Martin was not in a rational state of mind. Even after he was told that there was a patient in the ambulance, Martin would not conseed. He felt that writing that ticket was important enough to put this persons life in jeopardy. White, having a moral obligation to do everything in his power to keep his patient from harm, tried to get Martin to follow them to the hospital, then he could do with them what he pleased. That still wasn’t good enough. That would mean, relinquishing power to White. Martin was not going to let that happen, no mater who had to die. Martin then grabbed white around the throat and held him there till other officers got there and told him to stop. After an investigation it was decided that a 5 day suspension was sufficient. Just like White had a moral obligation to keep his patient safe form Martin, All of us have the same moral obligation to keep the rest of the world safe from Martin. Please watch the videos on my Youtube page then go to the site: FireDanialMartin.com and put a stop to this mans terraney. He is an embarrassment to good officers everywhere and a danger to everyone.
C.L.E.A.R.ing Things up
by admin on Aug.31, 2010, under The C.L.E.A.R. Agenda
OK…Here it is. I don’t know if it’s just that people don’t read the whole post, or if it’s just that, they get from it what they want to here. I will try to make this as simple as possible. Most people get what we are all about right from the start. The Phrase we hear most often is “It’s about time”. Most people understand what we are trying to do here. I will say this for the last time! WE ARE NOT! anti-police. We believe in law enforcement. It may not sound like it at times, but we really are. When we say “We want to take the police off the streets and put them back into our neighborhoods”. That doesn’t mean that we want total chaos and anarchy on our roadways. We understand that we can’t have everyone driving as fast as they want to. But when I here people say “If you don’t break the law, the police won’t bother you” I just want to tazer them. These are people that follow all of the traffic laws all of the time. Or so they think. I have a question for these people. If you are following the flow of traffic down a stretch of highway and everyone is driving about 80 mph, and the speed limit is 65 mph, but this a common practice. Do you deserve a ticket because you drive a certain type or color of car? Do you believe that, if you get a ticket, you should be forced to sign this legal document against your will? And that this should be an arrestable offence? How about stop signs? If you can plainly see very far down the road, do you think you should have to stop completely and sit three for 3 seconds before you go? Do you? Every time? These are just some of the things that we are talking about. The police think that these law need there attention far more then say, people breaking into your home, or stealing your car. The police even think that these traffic infractions need there attention more then our children being abducted. Please tell me I’m wrong!!! If they cared about our children they would have most of the cars stationed along the walking routes from our elementary schools after school. Kids that young don’t walk far. Most places have a 1/2 mile limit for walkers. Everyone else takes the bus, almost to there door. It wouldn’t be that hard! You see there’s no money in protecting us, just attacking us. Then there’s the issue of all of the police mis-conduct. And again…I AM NOT!!! Saying that all police are bad. But there are a lot of bad ones out there. And a lot of there behavior boarders on psychotic. Just watch some the videos on our youtube page. All we ask is that the police treat citizens with a little respect when they have a need to pull us over. It’s wrong to treat us like an al-Qaeda terrorist for rolling through a stop sign or having a supended drivers licence. We want, no we need to put things back to the way they used to be, when the criminals feared the police, and the people respected them.
Justice for Dunkin…”at all cost!!!”
by admin on Aug.25, 2010, under General
I am very passionate about the whole subject of police mis-conduct, and I try to stay politically correct. Sometimes a story comes across my desk that just sets me off like a time bomb. This is one of those stories. Please go to the link below and read some of the blog. Rosamaria and her service dog Dunkin had just ended a wonderful camping trip to Sadona Arizona on the 4th of July. She was traveling on I17 when she was pulled over by Arizona police. She 
was hand cuffed and put in the back seat of the squad car. Rosamaria has MS and this was very traumatic for her. The officer wouldn’t tell her what she was pulled over for. When the cop opened the rental car door, “I guess to illegally search the car” he had let Dunkin out. He chased the dog for awhile but was unable to catch him. He would not let Rosa try to call for Dunkin. When back-up arrived, they tried to help catch Dunkin but could not. That’s when they chased him into the road. Dunkin was gone, he was her best friend and her independence.
There was no arrest, no charges, and no apology. This cop needs to understand the kind of impact something like this has on the victims he leaves in his wake. Please go to the link below and let Rosamaria know that she’s not alone. All of us at C.L.E.A.R. send out our deepest condolences.
I had heard from a few people that, my words may have been a little strong and unprofessional. I changed the ending statement slightly so as not to sound as heartless and uncaring as the police that stole Dunkin’s life. I hope this flows better.
I give credit where credit is due
by admin on Aug.19, 2010, under General
My faith in humanity was renewed today. A nice officer tried to help me today. I couldn’t believe it. My wife and I were on the side of the road trying to get a phone number off a real estate sign. We had our flashers on for safety and a police car pulled up next to me and asked if everything was OK. I explained what I was doing. He said, OK…asked again if everything was OK and said “be careful” then what happened next floored me. He left…He didn’t ask me for ID…He didn’t ask me to step out of the car. He didn’t detain me for an hour. He just asked me if I was OK and Left. That is how an officer is suppose to behave. This is what C.L.E.A.R. is fighting to get back. Helpful, courteous officers that we don’t mind interacting with, through out our day. If all cops acted in this manner, we would not be needed.
Cops Don’t Break the Law…They Are the Law!!!
by admin on Aug.10, 2010, under General
- Car #1561, Plate #ZBM98
This post is primarily directed to motorcyclists, who have received tickets for parking in the white striped area at the front of most parking lots. This area is considered to be a handicapped access area. I do want to make it absolutely clear that we are not advocating parking in handicap spots!!! Anyone who does this and is not handicapped deserves what they get. Motorcycles are often parked at the front of the lot, in order to keep a close eye on them and the belongings that are there. i.e. helmets, safety glasses, jackets, etc. since the bikers know that the police won’t do it for them. This off duty officer, who was working security for Hobby Lobby on Atlantic Blvd., Saturday 08/07/2010 during his evening shift (I was there from 4:00pm – 5:30pm) obviously felt the law did not apply to him, nor his desire to park at the utmost front of the parking lot. I guess next week he’ll just move on up to the fire lane. While I was shopping, I observed him, in uniform, pushing a cart around, that was full of returned items, which he was restocking to the various department shelves. We encourage anyone who has received a ticket for this same issue, to contact the police department and force them to issue the same violation to this officer. On the pictures, you can see the car number and tag, and I have given you the date and times. In case you can’t see the numbers on the pictures. The car number is: 1561, and the plate number is ZBM98
Trapster.com
by admin on Jul.29, 2010, under General
OK…This thing is awesome!!! Trapster is a speed trap sharing system that you can download to your mobile smart phone. It is powered by Google maps and lets you know where nasty things like speed traps and red light cams are. If you come across one that’s not on the system, you can report it and Trapster will upload that location, so no one else gets a bad surprise. Face it! We need all the help we can get out there. This is a great start, and the best part is it’s FREE. That’s right, it’s FREE!!! This just goes to show that there are some good guys still out there, who are not trying to make a fast buck off of other’s misfortune. This man deserves a medal and we at C.L.E.A.R. salute you.
Where’s Robinhood?
by admin on Jul.24, 2010, under General, The C.L.E.A.R. Agenda
Today’s police state is reminiscent of the days of old, when the Sheriff of Nottingham would ride around the country-side collecting revenue, at the tip of a sword.
No one was safe from the tyranny. Taxes were collected at all costs, regardless of the consequences. Well the consequences are apparent today in the escalation of neighborhood break-ins, car thefts, child abductions, and gang related violence, to mention only a few. These are all issues that occur in the residential neighborhoods, where we are now lacking the visible presence of our local law enforcement officers. The only time you see an officer in a residential neighborhood, is when someone has called in a problem. Even when you call in to report a problem the dispatcher will ask if you really need them to send an officer out. They would rather take your info over the phone so that they can prepare a report for you to give your insurance company. They don’t even want to be bothered with actually coming out to investigate and look for clues. Where is the profit in that. Certainly no tickets to write. If anything, they may actually catch the criminal and then have to arrest them, file reports, and not be out on the highway getting that revenue coming in.
