Gotcha!

Radley Balko | December 6, 2008

Like Mark Draughn, I've been somewhat skeptical of Barry Cooper, the former drug cop turned pitchman for how-to-beat-the-cops videos. He comes off as more of a huckster than a principled whistle-blower, which I think does the good ideas he stands for (police reform) more harm than good.

But damn. I have to hand it to him. This might be one of the ballsiest moves I've ever seen.

KopBusters rented a house in Odessa, Texas and began growing two small Christmas trees under a grow light similar to those used for growing marijuana. When faced with a suspected marijuana grow, the police usually use illegal FLIR cameras and/or lie on the search warrant affidavit claiming they have probable cause to raid the house. Instead of conducting a proper investigation which usually leads to no probable cause, the Kops lie on the affidavit claiming a confidential informant saw the plants and/or the police could smell marijuana coming from the suspected house.

The trap was set and less than 24 hours later, the Odessa narcotics unit raided the house only to find KopBuster’s attorney waiting under a system of complex gadgetry and spy cameras that streamed online to the KopBuster’s secret mobile office nearby.

To clarify just a bit, according to Cooper, there was nothing illegal going on the bait house, just two evergreen trees and some grow lamps. There was no probable cause. So a couple of questions come up. First, how did the cops get turned on to the house in the first place? Cooper suspects they were using thermal imaging equipment to detect the grow lamps, a practice the Supreme Court has said is illegal. The second question is, what probable cause did the police put on the affidavit to get a judge to sign off on a search warrant? If there was nothing illegal going on in the house, it's difficult to conceive of a scenario where either the police or one of their informants didn't lie to get a warrant.

Cooper chose the Odessa police department for baiting because he believes police there instructed an informant to plant marijuana on a woman named Yolanda Madden. She's currently serving an eight-year sentence for possession with intent to distribute. According to Cooper, the informant actually admitted in federal court that he planted the marijuana. Madden was convicted anyway.

The story's worth watching, not only to see if the cops themselves are held accountable for this, but whether the local district attorney tries to come up with a crime with which to charge Cooper and his assistants.  I can't imagine such a charge would get very far, but I wouldn't be surprised to see someone try.

Here's some local media coverage:

Comments

Naga Sadow|12.6.08 @ 1:54PM|#

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!! Balko, this had better not be a rickroll or I might cry.

Stephen S|12.6.08 @ 2:14PM|#

Hopefully this will start a trend. What if people started doing this throughout the country?

|12.6.08 @ 2:15PM|#

This is awesome. It's going to be fun to watch these cops try and explain this.

jasno|12.6.08 @ 2:19PM|#

I think I speak for everyone when I say:

Fuck. Yeah.

Naga Sadow|12.6.08 @ 2:20PM|#

I'm buying Cooper a beer if he pulls this stunt in Mississippi.

|12.6.08 @ 2:29PM|#

What a great idea. This needs to start happening all over the country- though ALWAYS with the proper video recording to make sure the baiters don't get slapped with a made-up charge.

We don't have police in this country any more. We have glorified criminal gangs hiding behind de facto (and in some ways de jure) legal immunity.

Loupeznik|12.6.08 @ 2:42PM|#

He could easily set up a non-profit and get my donation.

Sam Grove|12.6.08 @ 2:49PM|#

He's moved up in the world, from cop to ex-cop.

inibo|12.6.08 @ 2:50PM|#

Wow!

That is as sweet as a baby's smile.

|12.6.08 @ 2:57PM|#

Radley, for all the times you've ruined my day, I unreservedly forgive you. Thank you ever so much for calling this beautifully executed sting operation to my attention. I will be e-mailing links to people about this and encourage others to do the same. Odessa is not unique.

REMEMBER KATHRYN JOHNSTON!

|12.6.08 @ 3:02PM|#

How long before this gets declared illegal, and they get fined or jailed?

|12.6.08 @ 3:04PM|#

The local news coverage completely abdicated their journalist duty to explain the facts of this case in favor of inane sound bites. Shoddy as usual. However, this was a fantastic move on the KopBusters part, and I hope this gets some major press outside of Odessa Texas.

|12.6.08 @ 3:07PM|#

Over/Under on how soon this guy gets arrested?

james_joyce|12.6.08 @ 3:17PM|#

They should've done this at Primatech Paper, 'cause then HRG would've shown the cops who's boss.

|12.6.08 @ 3:18PM|#

Over/Under on how soon this guy gets arrested?

Oh, he may not face repurcussions over this. Even cops sometimes realize that when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. Some of them, anyway.

A better question, what are the odds of some Odessa cop getting fired and prosecuted for perjury?

|12.6.08 @ 3:38PM|#

Bravo to Mr. Cooper and his crew. I'm not counting on the perps doing any time for this illegal search, but knowing that they might be watched could make them turn it down a notch.

-jcr

|12.6.08 @ 3:45PM|#

Balko, this had better not be a rickroll or I might cry.

Come to think of it, having that song playing when the cops bust in would be a nice touch. ;-)

-jcr

Elemenope|12.6.08 @ 3:47PM|#

How long before this gets declared illegal, and they get fined or jailed?

Not long. If I were willing to bet, I'd say that the charge to be created will be "Intentionally Wasting Police Resources". They'll make a bill to cover it, and it shall have a catchy acronym for a title.

But I've said too much...

|12.6.08 @ 3:48PM|#

"...whether the local district attorney tries to come up with a crime with which to charge Cooper and his assistants."

Easy one.

"Interfering with a Police Officer." Every jurisdiction has some ordinance of that nature on the books.

SIV|12.6.08 @ 3:58PM|#

Would have been better if the attorney had a retired police dog in the house with him.

|12.6.08 @ 4:02PM|#

Aresen-

How did they interfere? They did nothing to stop or interfere with anything the police did.

|12.6.08 @ 4:04PM|#

Barry Cooper = Hero.

We need more like him. Pronto.

That's all there is to it.

|12.6.08 @ 4:16PM|#

jmj-

As Balko noted, there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of Cooper personally. If more such cop-baiting goes on, and I hope it does, I really hope someone better than Cooper is in charge. If nothing else, he's a poor public spokesman.

|12.6.08 @ 4:30PM|#

Speaking of law enforcement, did you notice this little item in your morning paper?

Andy|12.6.08 @ 4:50PM|#

Good stuff, really.

The problem I see is that some continue to argue that libertarian ideas are becoming more popular, but my guess is this story isn't making many headlines. If people in this country don't consider cops barging in on legal activities in the privacy of their homes a huge problem, how libertarian can they be?

Just asking.

|12.6.08 @ 4:51PM|#

I'm guessing the DA will try to pin some sort of "illegally recording a police action" charge on these guys. He was clearly violating those officers' right to privacy.

Maybe their informant wandered into in the yard and noticed the electric meter running at a "suspiciously high rate" and notified the fuzz.

|12.6.08 @ 5:07PM|#

Come to think of it, having that song playing when the cops bust in would be a nice touch. ;-)

Brilliant!

Two Christmas trees, a couple industrial grow lamps, and a 60" plasma screen set to blast "Never Gonna Give You Up" as soon as the front door is broken down.

Come to think of it, screw the 60" plasma screen. Use a cheap yard sale TV since in about 15 seconds it'll be more full of lead than the Roman plumbing system.

"Oh my god, they killed Rick Astley! You bastards!"

|12.6.08 @ 5:09PM|#

Andrew Craig | December 6, 2008, 4:02pm | #

Aresen-

How did they interfere? They did nothing to stop or interfere with anything the police did.

I agree it is not "interfering" in the sense that you or I would use the term, but I am confident of the ability of a prosecutor of the "thin blue line" mentality to find a way to stretch the definition.

|12.6.08 @ 5:14PM|#

As to whether Cooper et al. will be charged with anything, it all comes down to prosecutorial discretion.

Most likely the argument (and the charge(s) filed) would be something along the lines of what happens if you prank-call 911: by convincing public safety personnel of an emergency, you divert them from responding to real emergencies.

Of course Cooper would counter that there was no emergency, only two pine trees and a special lamp; it was the cops themselves who decided that this represented an "emergency."

The prosecutor would respond that that's all well and good if it was just two pine trees and a grow lamp, but the presence of the TV cameras, etc. demonstrated intent to distract police from their real work (i.e. busting down the doors of nonviolent drug offenders).

And this charge, since it stems from the intent to distract police and not so much from the act itself, could be applied even if it turns out that officers lied through their teeth to get a warrant.

Then the prosecutor just needs to find a grand jury which feels the same way, and it goes to trial.

Waffen|12.6.08 @ 5:24PM|#

He should have bought the equipment from the police for bargain prices.

His problem was he set up growing evergreens in a house (what reasonable person does this?). Most normal people would either grown them in a greenhouse (which would be visible and not in the house) or outside.

Thermal imaging is legal when you fly over an area looking for a suspect in hot pursuit, since they are legally using the thermal imaging, if they just happen to fly over a house with a growing operation inside they can take down the address, they can also read the meter if it is visible from street to check power consumption. High levels of electricity use, odd smells, and a legal thermal sighting while in hot pursuit is an easy search warrant because all three would give someone with similar law enforcement training to conclude the same thing. If I had all three I would probably start an investigation as well, maybe not search the house YET, but definitely check it out more.

oat willie|12.6.08 @ 5:53PM|#

With the current "foreclosure crisis", I can imagine a young, crafty drug reformer setting up empty foreclosed houses with grow lights and all the "appearances" of being an operating grow op, without any incriminating evidence, of course. 'Cause, you know, these houses aren't doing anything productive anyways. :)

"A concerned and outraged citizen" calls in an anonymous tip about an evil dope house and gets the SWAT teams all frothing at the mouth to make another bust.

Add a few remotely controlled cameras and the appropriate computer skill set and viola, instant viral videos of SWAT teams busting in on empty homes and looking for the evil weed and not finding anything.

If anything it will slow them down finding the real grow ops, kind of like decoy MIRV's on an ICBM fooling radars into making them track decoys rather than warheads, plus it could make some great comedy.

Awww, too bad, smile, you're the newest U-Tube Punk.

|12.6.08 @ 6:01PM|#

we need more this type of reverse sting!

they mobilized over 2 lights!

meanwhile there are crews sling'n crack rock or meth on corners or from 711 (24/7) themed houses!

|12.6.08 @ 6:04PM|#

This is a waste of tax payer money.

Obbop|12.6.08 @ 6:05PM|#

The elites of every country tend to do well unless they are deposed or lose a war with another group of elites but even then the losing elite(s) will often continue living an opulent life style.

Hey!!!! The elite class of every country/religion/cult/any type of social organization lives well and works less by skimming from the labors of the common classes.

That is what Marx and Engels tried to tell us!!!!

Those two should have stopped there rather than trying to concoct a cure for those burdensome elites.

Maybe elite classes are inevitable.

It's just a shame elites are so ready to brainwash, then up to murdering masses of common folks so as to enable them to maintain the status quo that is so beneficial to the elites.

I admit that some groups of elites are kinder than others.

Sure can't compare American elites with the acts of Idi Amin, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, etc. etc. etc.

But, the USA's elite class HAS murdered common Americans to maintain the status quo. Just look in the history books. Even women and children have died at the hands of jack-booted thugs, representatives of the elite class, to ensure that wealth and power remained in the hands of the elites.

Please, my fellow citizens. All I wish is that you attempt to cast off the years of indoctrination, the brainwashing all of us undergo to convince us that the way things are is correct, proper... as it should be.

From schooling to the mass media to general culture...we are constantly bombarded that the present status quo is the only RIGHT way to handle things.

Educate yourselves!!! Don't let the self-centered greedy elite class do your thinking for you.

Don't let the Rush Limbaugh's of the world implant their propaganda. Those folks are merely shills for the elite class!!!

I remain convinced that the greatest threat to our freedoms is our own elite class; more of a threat than all foreign terrorists combined.

http://obbop.wordpress.com/

kittymeowmeow|12.6.08 @ 6:06PM|#

i can has krismas twee.

yeahya|12.6.08 @ 6:07PM|#

i like the part where the hippie would fail a drug test

|12.6.08 @ 6:07PM|#

"His problem was he set up growing evergreens in a house (what reasonable person does this?). Most normal people would either grown them in a greenhouse (which would be visible and not in the house) or outside."

Luckily, it's none of the cops business if he wants to grow evergreens indoors, outdoors, or inside his car for all I care. What the cops did here was illegal and they should be hung in public.

|12.6.08 @ 6:10PM|#

Waffen |

His problem was he set up growing evergreens in a house (what reasonable person does this?).

-------

I agree only in that they should've had strawberries or rasberries growing instead!!!

but really whats unReasonable about growing produce or pine trees in your home?

it's your home bud! you paid for it with your money that You worked for.

the cops now get to decide if your hobby is ok or reasonable?
but only after they've lied to a judge so they can enter your home & inspect your life.

hey|12.6.08 @ 6:11PM|#

bitchin handlebars dude

Kolohe|12.6.08 @ 6:14PM|#

Excellent story, Mr. Balko.

Over/Under on how soon this guy gets arrested? Like others, I don't see them going after him for this particular issue. However, when put under a microscope, everyone has digressions in this day and age. Whether it's letting your insurance or tags lapse by a month, failing to come to a complete stop at a traffic sign, playing your radio a decibel too loud, etc, there are any number of things that I suspect (and 50/50 expect) the Odessa PD to be watching for him to trip up. Heck, since a person can be cited with DUI with just a judgement call in some jurisdictions (not sure about Tx), all they have to do is pull him over after having a single drink at the bar.

They'll make a bill to cover it, and it shall have a catchy acronym for a title.

Also remember, it doesn't have be an oxymoron, but it generally helps.

the Better Legal And Investigative Resources act?

if that's too subtle:

Occidental Rangers With Enhanced Legal Limits act?

- meh, still a work in progress.

Also,
Speaking of law enforcement, did you notice this little item in your morning paper?

Three Brazilian Housekeepers? Christ, how big is her condo?

(hmm, seriously, *three* housekeepers? How big *is* her condo?)

Colonel_Angus|12.6.08 @ 6:29PM|#

Possible ways they may find to fuck them over:

1) Cooper had paraphernalia that can be used to grow and distribute drugs. (Remember the evidence in the Frederick case?)

2) Growing pine trees indoors is somehow determined to be a zoning violation.

Nick|12.6.08 @ 6:30PM|#

Is it just me or has kopbusters.com and the related site nevergetbusted.com been removed? Your link doesn't work (anymore). Maybe they forgot to pay and was just a coincidence...or maybe not...

Colonel_Angus|12.6.08 @ 6:34PM|#

Kopbusters.com and nevergetbusted.com just worked for me a few minutes ago. Now its not. Maybe it was just an action taken by their service provider because the owner didn't like it or something.

someguy|12.6.08 @ 6:37PM|#

Check this one out!!

[url]http://www.christianworldviewnetwork.com/article.php/4287/Brannon-%20Howse/By-John-Loeffler[/url]

Cops hold granparents, son & his todler children at Gunpoint for 9hrs ...

executing a warrant over an unlicenced Food Co-op!!!?

lolwut!

|12.6.08 @ 6:43PM|#

Yep. The sites r down now. They were working just a bit ago.

|12.6.08 @ 6:46PM|#

Is there anyway we can be updated with this story and what happens? I want to follow this, this is disgusting.

|12.6.08 @ 6:51PM|#

Now there's a TV show I want to see!

|12.6.08 @ 6:53PM|#

This post just hit the main page on Fark.com. My guess is the kopbusters site is just getting more traffic than it can handle.

Nick|12.6.08 @ 7:20PM|#

A few minutes ago, it had an "Account Suspended" page. Now it says it's down "due to high traffic."

|12.6.08 @ 7:25PM|#

"Florida | December 6, 2008, 6:04pm | #

This is a waste of tax payer money."


My ass that catching crooked cops is a waste of money.
Those WMD's? I think that's what you're MEANING to say but too ignorant to realize.

|12.6.08 @ 7:38PM|#

I wonder how tricky it would be to make a space heater that looks like a grow light on their IR scanners?

-jcr

Elemenope|12.6.08 @ 8:09PM|#

Occidental Rangers With Enhanced Legal Limits act?

Hmm. That's pretty good. I'd fuzzy it up a bit to make it less meaningful still:

Operational Response With Enhanced Legal Limits act

|12.6.08 @ 8:15PM|#

This should not die down, or be swept under the rug. Crap like this is happening more frequently, and it is becoming a police state in much of the orwellian sense. When is enough going to be enough. These police need to be fired, along with the judge that issued the warrant. I'd like to see them in the unemployment line, right next to the guys who's lives have been wrecked because of similar bogus charges. I am moving to Canada.

JL Smith|12.6.08 @ 8:29PM|#

Interesting - so the cops could only have found his operation by driving around town randomly searching people's houses for heat sources, according to what's in the article. Hasn't it been pretty cold in Odessa recently? I wonder how this random heat detection separated grow lights from space heaters and such (or why they would try such an operation this time of year)? Maybe the cops are psychic? Maybe something's missing from Barry's story? After all, the warrant affidavit is a public record, shouldn't somebody just post it?

JMonie|12.6.08 @ 8:54PM|#

United we stand!

|12.6.08 @ 9:21PM|#

The penal system is rapidly moving towards privatization. Judges have stock in these
companies. Have to keep the stockholders happy.
Don't look for the federal government to decriminalize marijuana anytime soon.

Dex|12.6.08 @ 9:51PM|#

Ya know, it'd be funnier than hell if they pulled this on me. Late winter or early spring, I fire up my grow-lights to get an early-germination start on some plants that go in the ground about mid-May. I'd love to see a dope-dog get a good whiff of my product, or better yet his handler snort a nosefull.

I've got my own cultivar of nuclear-hot red habanero peppers. Just opening the lid of the jar of powdered stuff from about three crops back will nuke the nostrils to a fair-thee-well.

AS|12.6.08 @ 10:07PM|#

As a criminal defense investigator I have conducted similar operations in a vehicle and have been stopped and searched without probable cause. Police routinely make up reasons to make traffic stops under the guise of a "legitimate" pretext stop. I worked on dozens of suppression cases and unfortunately this type of law enforcement behavior is common and not fought enough in the criminal justice system or media. I'm not too sure about the messenger either, but if it gets the news out about this stuff, I'll take it.

Danny M.|12.6.08 @ 10:16PM|#

This man is a hero.

Lewis|12.6.08 @ 10:49PM|#

All the arguements against what this man did are irrelevent. It is not illegal to consume electricity - maybe he has 40 computers running in there? It is not illegal to set up video equipment - it was his property. And its definitely not illegal to grow pine trees - MERRY CHRISTMAS

Kaiser|12.6.08 @ 11:29PM|#

I wonder how tricky it would be to make a space heater that looks like a grow light on their IR scanners?

-jcr

Not to difficult. To my knowledge those IR scanners can't actually see through the walls, but they detect the heat that is transfered to the outside walls/roof by the lamps and what not. If that is true, then all you would need to do is put the heater facing an outside wall or roof.


Great article Radley. Good to see something that brought me laughter and happiness. I wish more things like this would happen all over the country, hell if I had the money for a grow op I would do it myself. Keep up the good work. Hopefully this will get some national attention. Good to see Cooper doing something more useful now as well. I shared many of your same sentiments about him but this was one hell of a stunt to pull.

|12.7.08 @ 12:20AM|#

Scary, I live in Midland/Odessa. The cops here REALLY don't like to get punked. Of course I've been living in fear for the past 8 years-Bushie is from neighboring Midland.

|12.7.08 @ 12:44AM|#

its going to be interesting if anyone holds them accountable. usually in situations like this the police just say "were right because were the police" and nothing comes of it.
There was a case around where I live where a cop was speeding on a back road to get to the local Macdonald's before it closed and he hit and killed a woman who was jogging going 35 over the limit. It was a clear cut case of vehicular homicide and he walked without even a slap on the wrist. cops dont usually get charged because they ARE they authority. its really sad.

|12.7.08 @ 2:49AM|#

So wait, they setup traps for cops? Sounds like a speed trap with roles reversed?

Hypocrite, the usual Barry Copper. lmao

johnm214|12.7.08 @ 2:50AM|#

While I too am somewhat unsure of Cooper, this is a fantastic idea, and a great execution. So long as he didn't lie to the police or cause lies to be made, I think this was a wonderful thing.
I recall a case where a family was raided on the basis of taking their trash out the morning of pickup, which apparently is supicious behavior- gotta give the coons fair chance to eat your garbage, and a high electricity bill.

These things are always after the fact with uncertainties. In this case, it seems difficult to demonstrate any probable cause. It will be interesting to see if the cops lied. If they didn't it may spark good commentary on the silliness of our standards, however; if they did lie, hopefully they face serious consequences (jail, fines) and the public is alerted to the tenuous nature of the 4th amendment and our privacy.

Having been charged with traffic violations I didn't commit solely because I was pulled over driving home from work late on a weekend and refused a search, I know cops will lie about trivialities. Hopefully this will get some bad cops off the streets and do something to encourage debate. The drug war is bad, but an honest cop at least has the law to fall back on. Cops that lie have no excuse, moral or legal, and should be severely punished.

johnm2141|12.7.08 @ 3:26AM|#

Digg this story! Let's get this seen- the fourth amendment was made to protect the people from this type of harassment. These people were doing legal activities that would not give probable cause for a judge to issue a warrant under any sane standard.

http://digg.com/odd_stuff/Cops_busted_executing_an_illegal_search_warrant

iloveit9231|12.7.08 @ 6:40AM|#

hey now the cops driving around using thermal imagers is not that unbelievable, in calgary, AB the cops have begun aggressivley going after people with outstanding traffic tickets going so far as to search for their vehicles and enter establishments (like casino's) and finding the person/s in question. And as far as telling the lamps apart from space heaters and such, well i've used thermal image cameras before and you would be surprised the level of detail you can see through a wall, trust me they would know the differance between a space heater and a grow lamp.

I like cops|12.7.08 @ 7:45AM|#

But those cops can go fuck them selves with a razor tip dildo. Up hold the law as well as the integrity of the shield. Cops aren't bad, Bad cops are bad.

Federal Dog|12.7.08 @ 8:01AM|#

"As a criminal defense investigator I have conducted similar operations in a vehicle and have been stopped and searched without probable cause."

AS -- would you be willing to describe what you did?

|12.7.08 @ 8:54AM|#

If they tried this in NJ they could be arrested.

There must be some damn law here requiring you to call 1-800-bst-acop to get the proper permits and inspections before you run your sting. There is for everything else.

As stated above, whatever else this guy is, he is potential hero material. Now if he can sustain this he might rise into the ranks of policeabuse dot com or perhaps even the Innocence Project.

Though he does need more bandwidth, his site is hosed right now.

ed|12.7.08 @ 10:09AM|#

The local news coverage completely abdicated their journalist duty

I enjoyed their description of the house as "drug-infested." Truly comical.

|12.7.08 @ 10:44AM|#

The perfect song about the cameras would be, "I Shot the Sheriff".lol

BTW-How long till the swine begin to go after cameras.

They are the REAL terrorists of the world.

sage|12.7.08 @ 11:17AM|#

Cops aren't bad, Bad cops are bad.

Sadly, I used to agree with you. But if there were any good cops they would arrest the bad ones. And as you know, they ain't.

|12.7.08 @ 11:50AM|#

I knew someone that worked in the electric company. He mentioned how the cops had direct access to their customer database. I wouldn't be surprised if they monitor accounts for unusually high usage.

mc|12.7.08 @ 11:55AM|#

As a rural WV resident, I have seen some of the worst police corruption in the country. Our cops and politicians do things that would make dirty vice in big cities look like girl scouts. Off the top of my head, I can think of a cop who shot the town mayor in a "hunting accident" because the mayor was going to clean up the police, my sister's best friend and boyfriend getting pulled over no less than 10 times in one day because she was divorcing her cop husband; multiple cops who are having affairs with and supplying drug dealers while falsely imprisoning innocent people to go down for the crimes; cops' families doing pretty much whatever they want including breaking the speed limit by 40 miles in a residential neighborhood, killing a beloved family pet and keeping on driving; and, one of the worst situations, a cop making an illegal turn at a very high speed, slamming into people obeying all traffic laws on a motorcycle, paralyzing the driver, and ONLY getting 2 weeks of desk work as a result. In another part of the state, a cop shot a man point-blank in front of his entire family, for "killing your kid" in what was actually a tragic, unavoidable boating accident.
I would LOVE for them to take on the cops back here...although I wouldn't put it past them to kill the guys, though...

drogenfahnder|12.7.08 @ 12:10PM|#

ein wahrer held!!
:-)

ClassicAmerican|12.7.08 @ 12:27PM|#

No one seems to be commenting on the Judge that issued the warrant.
Quiet often the judges are "in" with the scamming cops, and will issue warrants at a drop of the hat.
This judge failed in his duties and initiated an illegal operation.

|12.7.08 @ 12:35PM|#

I'm gonna go buy some hard ware today and start me a couple of tomatoe plants, this could get fun.

Obbop|12.7.08 @ 12:43PM|#

http://tinyurl.com/59ycsx

A handy link to a Google search for "police militarization".

There are some excellent essays that should be, to a freedom-loving patriotic American, quite scary.

From the smallest hamlets to the federal jack-booted thugs, America's law enforcement bureaucracies are increasingly becoming an enforcement arm of the "status quo," the people and organizations within the USA that are becoming increasingly wealthy and powerful at the expense of the common folks, the vast majority of Americans whose wealth is being skimmed to provide luxurious lives of ease to a very small class of elites.

The mass media typically refrains from covering what has become, in my opinion, class warfare due to the owners of the mass media being part of that oppressive ultra-wealthy and powerful elite class.

http://obbop.wordpress.com/

AS|12.7.08 @ 12:51PM|#

"AS -- would you be willing to describe what you did?"

Simply drove a vehicle with out of state license plates in a completely legal manner on the freeway. I would get pulled over for a non-existent violation and see what tactics the cop would use to search the vehicle. We filmed my driving and I wore a wire to capture the conversation between me and the officer. We then submitted the results to the court.

Do any of us actually believe that someone with a few hundred pounds of pot in a car would speed or fail to use a turn signal?

I suspect in the Cooper case, the cops either had a source at the electric company, or the seller or shipper of the grow lights. I'm real interested to see the warrant application.

|12.7.08 @ 1:30PM|#

Snap. The ex-cop has turned the tables on the narcs. And on streaming video. He now has visual proof the cops are falsely arresting/incarcerating INNOCENT people. Maybe this will start a nationwide movement and expose law enforcement and their ILLEGAL fascist tactics !!!

JBurt|12.7.08 @ 1:36PM|#

Well of course if Barry had called the police or similar then he could most likely have been charged with something...but in this case it was the police that decided to direct their efforts (illegally it seems) towards a 'grow-op'...

As no charges around the 'grow-op' will occur I wonder whether Barry Cooper will get chance to examine the affidavit - certainly not in court?

|12.7.08 @ 2:18PM|#

Take a page from the cop/district attorney training manual. Come up with as many as possible charges against the police, 'informant', DA, power company et al and see what actually sticks. Don't forget federal civil rights violations as well as personal civil suits against individuals. Do this sting in enough cities/jurisdictions and gather evidence of organized criminal law enforcement then file RICO lawsuits. Since pot has 'ne medical benefits' why are big Pharma allowed to investigate and sell synthetic versions for up to 50.00/pill? Another round of lawsuits right there. After all as the fake 'war on terror' shows if you can't beat em with lies then use their own tactics against them.

|12.7.08 @ 3:00PM|#

As no charges around the 'grow-op' will occur I wonder whether Barry Cooper will get chance to examine the affidavit - certainly not in court?

He probably can. He's got standing to sue the cops for illegal entry and for conspiracy to deprive him of his constitutional rights under color of authority.

-jcr

Federal Dog|12.7.08 @ 3:03PM|#

AS--

Thanks for the explanation. I am now doing criminal defense work and deal with vehicle stops all the time. Out of state plates? Wow. They're banking on people being unwilling/unable to defend themselves in foreign jurisdictions, and thus settling quietly to be done with the allegations.

Sorry to be so nosy, but I am just plagued by these damned cases: How did the cops justify the warrantless searches? What happened when the court reviewed your evidence?

|12.7.08 @ 3:54PM|#

I have said before, most federal crimes should not be federal crimes.

The MAIN job of the FBI should be to investigate civil rights violations done by other police departments.

Clearly from some of the stories on this thread, someone must police the police, they are not policing themselves.

|12.7.08 @ 3:57PM|#

What a waste of time. This will change nothing! The only way to clean the corruption in this slime infested world is to start killing them. Kidnap them, setup the live feed and start chopping off heads, burning to death, drowning , etc...

Send the message the is our world and they work for us. We don't pay taxes to give them the means to rule us.

Anything other than brutally murdering the corrupt is complete waste of time. Just look back at every single second of our species history for proof.

miche|12.7.08 @ 5:07PM|#

Ahh, here in Holland I had a lengthy chat with the man who sold me some pre-rolleds about how far behind we Americans are. Unfortunately, the Dutch are trying like mad to regress to the official American position.

Thankfully, the mushroom ban isn't yet being enforced in smart shops and they've not cut the number of coffee shops. Amazingly enough, I've only managed to disturb the peace at this website. ;o)

|12.7.08 @ 5:32PM|#

Ah, what a treat! I love to see the cops get stung for their abusive behavior. Once cops really were out there to "protect and to serve," but now most are just Nazi wannabee walking egos with a badge, who care nothing about the law.

|12.7.08 @ 5:47PM|#

Quick point here...
Kyllo did not forbid the use of FLIR technology. It forbid the use of technology not commonly available to the general public without a search warrant. If the police use a thermal imager (as opposed to FLIR) or a standard FLIR scope or FLIR camera (as opposed to the miltech used in Kyllo), that is allowed without a search warrant under Kyllo.

Abdul Alhazred|12.7.08 @ 5:54PM|#

Radley, this made up for every depressing quasi-suicidal urge your stories have ever awoken in me, ever.

What can we do to support this guy? I think I read he's running for congress?

This needs to become a trend, I think indoor gardening should become America's new past-time! With enough people sporting grow-lights over sapling trees and peppers and berries and tomatoes, the cops will not only be confounded in their efforts to (illegally) identify grow-houses, the torrent of bogus raids and you-tube videos will help draw massive public attention to †he creeping fascism in their midst.

AS|12.7.08 @ 5:57PM|#

"Sorry to be so nosy, but I am just plagued by these damned cases: How did the cops justify the warrantless searches? What happened when the court reviewed your evidence?"

Usually the justification is reliant on a hit from a drug dog (which did happen in two cases). Police have greater leeway in searching vehicles (though there is a pending case in the SCOTUS that may limit some of that ability). These drug interdiction cops are trained to gain try to get consent as well. However, refusing consent rarely matters as they'll just call a dog anyway (who will hit on your vehicle, guaranteed).

As far as what happened, cases were either dismissed because the evidence was suppressed or the defendant received a favorable plea offer. Part of the frustration is that there is absolutely no oversight within the police departments, state governments or the media. I hope this gets more attention.

Federal Dog|12.7.08 @ 6:55PM|#

"Usually the justification is reliant on a hit from a drug dog (which did happen in two cases)."

I've seen this too. The dogs often hit just to please their handlers. If you can get the dogs' training histories, and they show repeated false hits, that can serve to disqualify them as showings of probable cause.

I have also seen cops claiming to smell burned marijuana -- failing to find something simply means the evidence was smoked -- or seeing (in one case) a crumpled baggie in the glove box "consistent with the packaging and storage of marijuana." The cop smelled the empty bag, said it smelled like pot, and ordered everyone out. Frisks, interrogations, confinement in cruisers -- the works.

Yeah, getting in a car is practically an invitation to search and seizure. At least the Odessa case involved standards governing entry into a home.

Thanks again for writing back. Good work.

|12.7.08 @ 7:14PM|#

I was thinking one thing that would make this thing better would be if they had set of sprinklers, and that the sprinklers were freezing cold water, and dye.

Blue dye or something so that everyone can recognize the liberty violating cops in the street.

Jay|12.7.08 @ 7:58PM|#

If KopBusters were to try a stunt like that in NYC, they would be face down on the floor in 2 seconds and gotten shot anyway...

Remember Hilton Vega and Anthony Rosario...

|12.7.08 @ 8:03PM|#

Great start!

Now lets go after that unconstitutional federal asset forfeiture law where the cops can seize cash, cars, and houses, if they "think" it was associated with drugs, and don't have to prove it.

"You are carrying a large amount of cash, you must be dealing drugs."

|12.7.08 @ 8:07PM|#

""Interfering with a Police Officer." Every jurisdiction has some ordinance of that nature on the books." he didn't inform them himself, he didn't tip them off, he didn't do anything to alert them of the potential grow-op. They found it themselves, probably using thermal cameras that the supreme court already ruled unconstitutional. They don't have a leg to stand on.

The Serpent subtlest beast of |12.7.08 @ 8:16PM|#

They don't have a leg to stand on.

That never, uh, stood in my way.

Steve in MT|12.7.08 @ 10:02PM|#

Probably needed more than just the electric bills and any thermal imaging. My guess, is that they related to a known informant that there was a grow operation, and the cops relied upon it. Doesn't excuse the Constitutional violation, but might get them off the hook. Does burn the snitch forever though.
What we need to do as citizens, is to find our state representatives, big city council members and such, and show them the joys of growing orchids in their home under grow lights. A pleasant and wonderful hobby. Of course, if some unknown and otherwise anonymous informant were to call a tip line, our fine upstanding leaders of government could quickly find out what the rest of us live under.
Nothing will change a law faster than strict enforcement.

Rick H.|12.7.08 @ 10:05PM|#

Does anyone have a direct link to the YouTube video that's embedded here? The player's code is fucked and thus cannot be copied into a browser.

oat willie|12.7.08 @ 10:09PM|#

"Scary, I live in Midland/Odessa. The cops here REALLY don't like to get punked. Of course I've been living in fear for the past 8 years-Bushie is from neighboring Midland."

I lived in Midland from 1970-1984 and I don't remember GWB going to either Midland or Lee High Schools (the 2 schools there). I understand he went to an exclusive prep school back east.

Bushie might claim to be from there, and he might have lived there for a while during his Arbusto days, but he is from Midland like he is going back to ranch in Crawford after his presidency is over. Both Midland and Crawford are convienent props in GWB's political career.

anarch|12.7.08 @ 10:22PM|#

Rick H., is this what you want?

|12.7.08 @ 10:22PM|#

Wow, you gotta admit thats pretty funNY!

JESS
www.internet-anonymity.net.tc

Robocop ;c)|12.7.08 @ 10:36PM|#

go big blue!

Rick H.|12.7.08 @ 11:52PM|#

anarch: muchas gracias.

M. Simon|12.8.08 @ 12:20AM|#

Federal Marshall says drug war is ethnic cleansing

|12.8.08 @ 1:09AM|#

Anyone else go watch the youtube footage of them entering the house?? They didn't even identify themselves!

Add to the growing list of reasons these pigs should lose their jobs.

Hucbald|12.8.08 @ 1:14AM|#

I love it when a little bit of light shines on the machinations of The Thin Blue Mind. This is the best news I've heard since I read about that group of ex-cops who formed End Prohibition.

Cops aren't irretrievably lost, they're just brainwashed. Some of them - not enough, to be sure - will eventually be confronted by reality and will snap out of it. I know a former Texas Ranger and County Sheriff who agrees with the End Prohibition folks, and he was a major hard-ass LEO in his youth.

Oh, and Midland/Odessa is the nearest "city" to me at 135 miles. LOL!

|12.8.08 @ 1:38AM|#

Why amd I thinking the Cops theme - In reverse - the COPS are the bad boys - what are they going to do when they come for you?

|12.8.08 @ 1:59AM|#

This don't prove shit to a train. What a fucken joke. Yolana is a fox but hucksters snookering the police with this lame scam doesn't do any good on her case. It is up to the courts tp deal with the facts on the record. Pretentious after the case lies from an informant stinks up the appeal. Kop Busters..not even funny. Get a life.

|12.8.08 @ 2:06AM|#

I hope thse faux dopers feel good about all that wasted energy. I hope it cost them through the nose for those kilowatt hours. Big carbon footprint..huh ??

g Anton|12.8.08 @ 2:28AM|#

I wonder if the cops are going to plead entrapment. Odessa is probably one of those cities that give police applicants an intelligence test, and then only hire the failures.

|12.8.08 @ 4:11AM|#

Obviously, this Barry Cooper guy isn't a professional in the MSM sense, but I'm sure that he has his lawyers and equipment to fight back with.
It was suggested in an earlier post that this could take off around the country, and indeed, I hope that it does.
But I wouldn't do it without plenty of legal backup. If your cops are dirty to begin with, you can bet that they won't take it lying down.

|12.8.08 @ 7:36AM|#

ttttttttttssssssssssssssssssssyeah!!!!


sweet az a nut!!!

The Democratic Republican|12.8.08 @ 10:09AM|#

To the two cops that just showed up to post:

this is a free country, and they can buy all the kilowatt hours they want. They won't leave nearly the big, pointless carbon footprint that cops do when they drive around in their cars looking for someone to harass while they go 20 miles an hour over the speed limit.

bouly|12.8.08 @ 10:14AM|#

fuck tha police. they got nuttin better to do but have coffee and nuts. They hand out tickets and pull u over 4 nuttin. Just because they have a gun they want u to b scared. Good 4 nuttin shit stains. Tha news tell u there roll models for tha youth, fuck that. Most police r pussies who where picked on as kids and by becomin police they think that we can't pick on them anymore, yah right. here is a big FUCK UUU Keep on bustin them Cooper

|12.8.08 @ 10:53AM|#

A.S. notes "Do any of us actually believe that someone with a few hundred pounds of pot in a car would speed or fail to use a turn signal?"

Er, actually, yes. Very often. Where I police (australia is a long way away, I admit...) a lot of the drug arrests I've personally had stem from a normal traffic stop for bad driving. Who'd have thought that drug use impairs a persons driving, eh? Or that people who exhibit criminal behaviour in one area might be more likely to in another? I'd advise googling what anti-social personality disorder means, for anyone interested in the personality traits offenders often show.

I can't see the original article Radley linked to (site has crashed, sadly) but if the scenario is exactly as he paints it, I can speak from experience that the story is....untrue. Very much so.

It is physically impossible for a hot IR signature within your house, by itself, to get the police knocking within 24 hours. I know this because I've worked with the stuff here in Australia where its use in this way is legal.

There are just too many legitimate hot IR signatures in any town or city. An oveflight of a populated suburb would throw up far too many. If you acted on them all without other evidence you'd have to search hundreds of thousands of homes, and you wouldn't be doing it in 24 hours from the start of the signature.

I would have thought this was blindingly obvious to anyone who can read up on IR technology.

Someone told the police that house had a drug crop, then sat back and waited. So Cooper or someone close to him told lies, possibly even in a signed statement, to police. So a guy testing police credibility has to cheat and lie to do it? Hmmmm.

Please, people. If you think a hot signature in your garage will get the police knocking in 24 hours, try it immediately and tell us how you do. I can guarantee you'll die of old age first unless you get someone to tell lies to the police in order to get them looking at your individual home first. Then the IR signature might back up what they've been told and assist in getting a warrant.

A lone hot IR signature will only matter to people who wear tin foil hats.

|12.8.08 @ 11:05AM|#

The whole drug war is BS. If they want to stop the drugs comming in then why don't they close the effing border?!? My Mom use to fight the drug war for the feds until she found out that the whole war on drugs was BS. I'm a former lawman turned government analyst and I too can tell you the drug war is big business for the government and the banks that launder the money.

Jason

|12.8.08 @ 11:12AM|#

Whoooooa. On re-reading Radley's post, I spotted the biggest hole of all in Cooper's story. This happened in less than 24 hours from lamp start up to raid?

The IR overflight MUST be done at night time in order to pick up hot spots. How many police helicopters are there in Odessa? How did this place get supposedly scanned on the very first night, not just the very first day?

Cooper isn't telling you everything. I'll bet he's got a bunch of people to call in and act like legitimate neighbours, offering information over several weeks. Some of them may even have provided signed statements. He'll also have got several people, over weeks, to drive up to the house, stay for 2-3 minutes, then leave quickly stuffing something in to their pockets as the leave.

I sincerely doubt there was ANY IR overflight at all. This is a con.

|12.8.08 @ 11:34AM|#

Yes it great to catch the cops at what they do best -lie.

Problem is nothing happens to cops and prosecutors when they get caught so that's one reason why they do it repeatedly.

The other reason is the more pain they cause the farther thye go. Thus by ruining Jim's life they get a new car or a bigger house.

The focus has to be on punishing cops when caught.

|12.8.08 @ 11:49AM|#

In response to jp carlos comment>''As to whether Cooper et al. will be charged with anything, it all comes down to prosecutorial discretion.

Most likely the argument (and the charge(s) filed) would be something along the lines of what happens if you prank-call 911: by convincing public safety personnel of an emergency, you divert them from responding to real emergencies.''

To be charged for wasting polices time, you actually have to directly waste their time. That would mean actually reporting the fake grow room, and thus tipping them off. But in the situation where he sets a grow room and keeps it secret, not telling anyone, there is no reason for the police to bust the place for any other reasons than their own. Basically meaning they make the bust on their own accord. To waste polices time, you have to directly do it. Setting up a fake grow room in hope to be busted is still a safe move, because if they are actually going to bust the place, they have to have their own reasons to do it, otherwise its illegal. Even if they did try to prosecute you on the basis of, ''you set us up by making a fake growing room, knowing that we would bust you'' .. they still would have no case. You can simply tell them that yes, you wanted to get busted, but the decision to act upon it was theirs not yours. They could of just as easily ignored it.

Ruko|12.8.08 @ 11:51AM|#

I believe it is our right to privacy what we do in our homes. If they have the right and the time to take to look through our electricity bills to see what we are doing on a daily basis in our homes, what the F are they doing with everything else!? My sister got held up by gun point and they stole her purse and her friend's purse, and the police did nothing!!! People are getting charges and arrests for the stupidest or smallest insignificant crimes yet the real people that are on the loose NEED to be locked up for the real crimes being committed!

RUKO|12.8.08 @ 11:53AM|#

I say F the POLICE NO JUSTICE NO PEACE!

Alex M|12.8.08 @ 11:55AM|#

Remember: Don't kill the messenger. Whatever happens to Barry Cooper, his message is still extremely valid.

|12.8.08 @ 12:01PM|#

On the MSM I hear nothing about this, but in my minds eye I can hear tens of millions of pot smokers cheering "FUCK YEAH!"

Chuck|12.8.08 @ 12:12PM|#

As a practicing lawyer I can tell you that COPS LIE. They lie on the street, they lie in their homes, they lie on camera and they lie in court. Nothing is ever done about it, and it is unlikely that anything ever will until we can get the word to the citizenry in a message that they can understand. I had the pleasure last year of showing a video to the jury proving that all six of the cops testifying in the trial were lying, which resulted in my client's acquittal on two first-degree felony counts. We do not often get lucky enough to find that kind of evidence, so we need other methods of getting the truth out. In that case, despite damning evidence of perjury, the District Attorney did not even investigate. She knows who gets her convictions for her. However, just this year she had a woman indicted for perjury who accidentally checked the "No" box on a jury form asking if she was a US citizen. The fact is that when your top-cop (District Attorney) is a criminal, nothing will ever change until the citizens rise up against the corruption.

I have friends who are cops. They may be good cops, but I am not sure. The fact is that they seem to be good people, fun to hang out with, etc. But I don't feel that I can or ever will trust them professionally. They are cops.

Vanessa|12.8.08 @ 12:15PM|#

If they really did nothing more than grow two Christmas trees under a grow light, it's hard to see how they could be busted for wasting police resources or some such, because the fact is that growing a legal plant in a house, by itself, wouldn't lead to a raid if the coppers were behaving ethically and within the bounds the law.

On the other hand, the spectacle of cops pleading what would essentially be entrapment would be pretty funny.

Mindtripper|12.8.08 @ 12:37PM|#

Ha Ha, I love it.... So it was Never green they were growing, just Evergreen!

|12.8.08 @ 12:42PM|#

Way to go!!!

|12.8.08 @ 1:48PM|#

I've got my own cultivar of nuclear-hot red habanero peppers. Just opening the lid of the jar of powdered stuff from about three crops back will nuke the nostrils to a fair-thee-well.

Well, you know how that'd play out "After he used the chemical on us, we opened fire in self-defense..."

Abdul Alhazred|12.8.08 @ 2:38PM|#

Might as well weigh in with my own stories of local police corruption, there is a certain officer from my hometown who has been "suspended" from TWO different police forces. My experience with him was when he targeted my brother for harassment, he claimed he found a marijuana seed in his car once, which promptly disappeared. He had been known for beating people up for not "showing him the respect he deserves," he jerked one of the local teachers' husband out of his car, threw him on the ground and put his boot on the back of his head because he had a rifle in the back seat of his car (extremely normal in this part of the country) Anyhow, my mother was one of many to go in and try to complain to the chief of police, she was told that "they get a little rowdy sometimes, but they're good boys" and "now, they're just hot-doggin' they're good boys."

Anyhow, he "resigned" from the local police force when they came under pressure from some of the prominent families in town, without any official action whatsoever, and he took a job on the Rolla police force, where he was just suspended for beating up a woman (in her 70's) for asking to see his ID when she pulled him over.

Oh, and he has a body-count, he beat one man so severely that he died, and threw another face-first into a puddle where he drowned.

|12.8.08 @ 2:40PM|#

I also think this is great. I can't wait to see the video.

As for him being in trouble I doubt it. Not to say they won't try as I am sure they will since NO ONE makes the po po look like fools, well except for the po po themselves.

So what even if he called the tip in himself who cares. It is not like the police are all of a sudden only counting on informants with the highest of values. They bust in doors on tips all the time and even after killing someone innocent they refuse to release the informants name. If the cops are willing to take any tip they get and run with it that is their mistake. A mistake that could be their very undoing if enough false tips were given to raid the right peoples homes.

Oh and all you saying the cops here would have yada yada yada.. They wouldn't have done shit because they are all by themselves in the house. The candid camera video is being fed far away and cached on several servers to make sure no evidence goes missing. They are punked plain and simple. If they weren't so overzealous to make a bust and done some investigating they wouldn't be looking like the dumbass cops we all knew they were.

|12.8.08 @ 3:41PM|#

Too funny. Radley keep us posted on this one.

Abdul Alhazred|12.8.08 @ 3:51PM|#

"On the MSM I hear nothing about this, but in my minds eye I can hear tens of millions of pot smokers cheering 'FUCK YEAH!'"

Don't expect to hear anything about it on the MSM, it's up to us, the concerned citizens to get the word out about things like this.

MadMan|12.8.08 @ 4:28PM|#

Hell, fuckin' yeah!! These a$$holes need to understand they are not above the law!! They are working for us...they are our employees! These guys and others deserve to rot in hell.

|12.8.08 @ 5:15PM|#

Barry Cooper?

Sounds like a typical wily jew.

He IS a jew, right?

|12.8.08 @ 5:49PM|#

"Whatever happens to Barry Cooper, his message is still extremely valid."

So it's 'fake but accurate?'

|12.8.08 @ 6:04PM|#

By the way, this is Cooper's lawyer:

http://www.abovethelaw.com/2008/03/lawyer_of_the_day_adam_reposa_1.php

Tim King|12.8.08 @ 7:44PM|#

Radley, I want to add my thanks for posting this. I've been wrestling recently with comments of disbelief by reviewers of my civil-rights novel, which describes abuses exactly like this one and those that other commenters here have described. The discussion here (ironically) encourages me.

-TimK

Chima|12.8.08 @ 9:42PM|#

I'm from Odessa and I know from first-hand experience there are WAY plenty of crooked cops. I have also witnessed them planting drugs on people. This absolutely HAS to stop. Way to go KopBusters!!!

|12.9.08 @ 12:36AM|#

"He should have bought the equipment from the police for bargain prices.

His problem was he set up growing evergreens in a house (what reasonable person does this?). Most normal people would either grown them in a greenhouse (which would be visible and not in the house) or outside.

Thermal imaging is legal when you fly over an area looking for a suspect in hot pursuit, since they are legally using the thermal imaging, if they just happen to fly over a house with a growing operation inside they can take down the address, they can also read the meter if it is visible from street to check power consumption. High levels of electricity use, odd smells, and a legal thermal sighting while in hot pursuit is an easy search warrant because all three would give someone with similar law enforcement training to conclude the same thing. If I had all three I would probably start an investigation as well, maybe not search the house YET, but definitely check it out more."

What "hot pursuit" are you referring too? Lying to a judge is perjury whether you are a police officer or pedestrian. What Barry did was legal. Growing plants in a house with security equipment setup. I don't think he intended for the cops to show up. Intent was of the cops actions. He might have been looking for a result. Kind of like putting up a sign on a highway saying slow down for check point only to find out there is no check point.

Abdul Alhazred|12.9.08 @ 2:50AM|#

"Lying to a judge is perjury whether you are a police officer or pedestrian."

In theory yes, but how often do you see police officers charged with perjury?

|12.9.08 @ 10:07AM|#

well, I've seen lawyers commit perjury more times than I can count, and I certainly haven't seen any of THEM charged in a long time.... except for a Judge recently caught out in Sydney.

Heraldblog|12.9.08 @ 10:49AM|#

"I'd say that the charge to be created will be "Intentionally Wasting Police Resources". They'll make a bill to cover it, and it shall have a catchy acronym for a title."

Deliberately Obfuscating Narcotically Unauthorized Transactions - DONUT

|12.9.08 @ 12:13PM|#

Ok we were punk'd I should have known my ex-partner (Barry) would eventually get me. I know one of Barry's cronies called in the fake tip to set OPD up. We had it coming though because OPD is a corrupt police force.

Joe Commander

|12.9.08 @ 12:37PM|#

fucking AWESOME

|12.9.08 @ 12:44PM|#

His problem was he set up growing evergreens in a house (what reasonable person does this?). Most normal people would either grown them in a greenhouse (which would be visible and not in the house) or outside.

Nonsense. Lots of people do. Not christmas trees, but lots of other plants. My wife starts out her garden vegetables in the bathroom under grow lights in early spring.

Anonymous For Ron Paul|12.9.08 @ 1:34PM|#

I can not believe all of the retarded comments in this thread.


Bravo Barry, bravo. If this is being a huckster then keep on being a huckster you Heroic bastard!

|12.9.08 @ 2:09PM|#

puff puff pass........eeeerrrrrrrrr.....

|12.9.08 @ 2:09PM|#

He'll probably go to prison for this. 'Intent to make corrupt incompetent cops look like what they are.' That's a hangin' offense!

|12.9.08 @ 4:44PM|#

Too bad they weren't waiting on the other side of the door with AK-47s or a flamethrower.

Anonymous Please|12.9.08 @ 6:05PM|#

Houston we have a problem! ... that is the bottom line ... corruption ... in all it's forms ... & it appears to be systemic ... from the police right through to the D.A.'s office ... & beyond ... to bureaucrat and politicians ... I hope the FBI are straight ... that is our last hope for justice ...
You know I do not feel bad about the news groups going out of business ... they are part of the problem ... they use to be part of the solution ...

|12.10.08 @ 9:46AM|#

Did jewboy Barry Cooperstein tell us how many times he has tried this trick and FAILED?

Uh, nope.

|12.10.08 @ 9:57AM|#

Take back our country and our freedoms!!!!

Stop letting the system put good people away for years for petty little crap....beer, cigarettes & wine kill more people than weed does....by the hundreds of thousands.

the system is so twisted and broke....many of these swat team like cops are out of control. Raiding old women and what not, because they had the wrong house or some junky looking to get off gave them random intel and they do NO checking on it.

|12.10.08 @ 9:59AM|#

"His problem was he set up growing evergreens in a house (what reasonable person does this?). Most normal people would either grown them in a greenhouse (which would be visible and not in the house) or outside."

why does that matter? its a free country if someone wants to grow f'n douglas firs in their toilet...they can. What kind of a slave mentality do so many of you people have....ther is a sickness in america. A lot of people who think they are free and are not.

|12.10.08 @ 10:01AM|#

How many people who rail against marijuana go out at night or home later on and get drunk and smoke a pack of marlb reds....both of which will kill you 100 times faster.....so many hypocrits.

Obbop|12.10.08 @ 9:03PM|#

The elite's government FEARS you!!!!!!

Their fear is manifested in the laws they pass. Here is a law banning what MANY of the Founders wrote is a RIGHT of citizens when a government no longer represents them:

Section 2385. Advocating overthrow of Government

Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or
teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of
overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or
the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession
thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by
force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any
such government; or
Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any
such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates,
sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed
matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity,
desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any
government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts
to do so; or
Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society,
group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the
overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or
violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any
such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes
thereof -
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than
twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by
the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five
years next following his conviction.
If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in
this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned
not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for
employment by the United States or any department or agency
thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
As used in this section, the terms ''organizes'' and
''organize'', with respect to any society, group, or assembly of
persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new
units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes,
and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.


The federal government is allowing MILLIONS of illegals to invade our country who are causing immense economic harm to America's working poor. Corporate America is becoming increasingly more powerful and influential. Yet, according to the government of for and by the elites YOU, a citizen, have to accept whatever the government does with NO recourse other than voting...... and there is sufficient proof that shows to me voting is worthless since the entrenched power structure ensures that the emplaced elite class can not be removed.

Several Founders specifically wrote of the people's right to abolish a government when it no longer represents them.

We are forced to live under an elite's TYRANNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://obbop.wordpress.com/

|12.11.08 @ 12:26PM|#

You are cordially invited to Portland Oregon.

lisa|12.11.08 @ 2:47PM|#

http://www.rallycongress.com/fight-cps/1448/cps/

|12.11.08 @ 7:27PM|#

Jakers | December 9, 2008, 12:36am |
"Lying to a judge is perjury whether you are a police officer or pedestrian."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


To me it's a lot worse than perjury. Every one of these officers has sworn an oath to the Constitution.

By "testi-lying" and fabricating evidence to "get around" such technicalities as probable cause, they are circumscribing and subverting the very Constitution they are sworn to uphold.

That alone meets my definition of treason, though the legal definition requires making war on same.

Which they are. (War on Potheads=War on the Constitution).

(How lame do you have to be to declare war on a group like that (potheads), wage said war for decades, and not win.)

|12.12.08 @ 12:25AM|#

The video is "no longer available" Can someone please forward it to me since I grew up in Odessa. Thanks.

Socrateez|12.14.08 @ 1:26PM|#

If the police had actual evidence other than a anonymous tip, they would be shoving their warrant in everyone's faces. They have no corroborating evidence to show other than an unverifiable tip that they have labeled false.
They didnt suspect it could be false if they did an actual investigation. So did they have a witness? FLIR? Trash pull evidence? I think not, since nothing illegal was being grown.
Any evidence to support their warrant will be manufactured and supported by snitches like the one they used on Yolanda. If they back down...well that says a lot. If they go forward and try to charge one of Kop Buster's, well, then they have to produce a witness and the tip, and the other things I mentioned. Which we all know to be suspect considered the results of the "raid"
Go Kop Busters! and Remember...
Never Get Busted!

Jack Cole|12.15.08 @ 8:30PM|#

I called the Odessa Police Department and even sent emails to the clerk of courts --

I SUGGEST ALL START CONTACTING THE ODESSA POLICE DEPARTEMNT AND DEMAND THE SEARCH WARRANT (THAT IS HIDDEN, I TRIED TO FIND)

DEMAND ACTION. TELL THEM THEY WERE BUSTED.

THEY ARE in Ector County Texas, and Odessa Police Department.

Email them! Tell them you're going to do the same thing in your city/state, tell them we're sick of crooked cops and we want our

4th amendment PROTECTED.

Do it my friends.

http://www.odessapd.com/contact.asp

YOU CAN SEND IN YOUR INFORMATION AND TELL THEM THEY ARE CROOKED AND USED ILLEGAL FORMS TO FIND THESE 'PINE TREES' GROWING.

THE MORE PEOPLE THE BETTER.

http://www.odessapd.com/contact.asp

Email them and said "I demand the search warrant to be turned over." Tell them they are crooked.

YES WE CAN
WE CAN DO THIS

IT TAKES WORK BUT I'M TAKING THE FIRST TAKE

FOLLOW ME

http://www.odessapd.com/contact.asp

WRITE THEM, TELL THEM HOW HORRIBLE THIS INCIDENT WAS --

DON'T BE afraid to include your email or phone --- let them contact you as you DEMAND TO SEE THE SEARCH WARRANT THAT WAS SIGNED BY A JUDGE.



DO IT

DO IT NOW

DO IT FOR OUR 4TH AMENDMENT.

DO IT FOR RIGHTS AS AMERICANS.

DO IT FOR THE PROTECTION OF OUR CHILDREN.

DO IT TO AVOID A POLICE-STATE.

DO IT!
DO IT!
http://www.odessapd.com/contact.asp

|12.19.08 @ 11:05AM|#

You have to see the search warrent to begin to unwind this issue and see if laws were broken. At a minimum we should expect the police to act within the law and we should not fear them. However if they did act outside the law they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.