Police Allegedly Destroyed $37,000 of Legal Hemp. Georgia's Supreme Court Just Upended 60 Years of Precedent.
The ruling has major implications for property owners when the government ruins their possessions in the exercise of "police power."
Law enforcement
Minneapolis Activists Used Encrypted Group Chats To Outmaneuver ICE. Now the Feds Want To Prosecute Them.
"I think courts are going to be very suspicious of how broad this is," one Minnesota lawyer tells Reason.
Judge Preliminarily Blesses $1.5 Million Settlement for Victims of a Tiny Town's 'Policing for Profit'
Financially motivated traffic enforcement produced a huge surge in revenue for Brookside, Alabama, where "fines and forfeitures" accounted for half the city's income in 2020.
Border Agents Nabbed Their Phones. These Two Floridians Are Fighting Back.
A former assistant state attorney and an immigrant rights activist both had their phones seized, despite having attorney-client privilege. They're suing to protect their data.
Your Right to Privacy Doesn't Disappear When You're in Public
Defenders of Flock-style surveillance systems argue that people “have no reasonable expectation of privacy in public.” They're wrong.
The 5th Circuit Rejects Qualified Immunity for Cops Who Searched a Driver After a Bogus Traffic Stop
"It is clearly established that an officer cannot pull someone over without reasonable suspicion and thereafter concoct a fabricated traffic violation," the appeals court says.
Police in Texas Totaled an Innocent Woman's Car. Why Did Houston Deny Her Claim for Compensation?
Law enforcement shot bystander Abigail Trujillo's vehicle dozens of times. Her struggle to get help is part of a larger pattern.
As Police Misuse Flock Cameras, 2 Senators From Opposite Parties Demand More Oversight
Sens. Raphael Warnock and Katie Britt would seem to have little in common, but they both feel people should have more protection from bad cops with surveillance tech.
Renée Good's Mom Wanted Trump to Protect Her Family. Her Daughter Was Killed by ICE.
Donna Ganger's heartbreaking testimony to a Senate committee offers a vital insight into the vicious politics of authoritarianism.
Banning Flock Won't Be Enough Without Police Reform
It was Flock that led cops to the wrong woman. It was police who ignored the other evidence and jailed her.
Homeland Security Is Monitoring Activists Building Anti-Flock Tech
SparrowMap uses volunteer cameras to track the police in the same way police track the public. The government considers it a potential threat.
Flock's Gunfire Alerts Raise a New Fourth Amendment Question
Gun owners should be paying attention to how police use gunfire microphones in conjunction with license plate cameras.
No Warrant, No Suspicion, No Problem: Flock and Border Cellphone Searches Excluded From 4th Amendment Rules
Cops keep carving out tech exceptions to the Fourth Amendment—and courts are giving them their blessing.
Customs and Border Protection Doesn't Deny Using Facial Recognition To Target Foreign OnlyFans Models
The immigration system has a confusing and opaque approach to foreigners who have done sex work.
The Shaky Evidence That Flock Cameras Reduce Crime Rates
Flock has been promoting a recent study of its cameras' impacts on car theft. But the paper didn't demonstrate a causal effect.
Border Officer Convicted of Raping and Robbing Chinese Sex Workers
Jurors didn't buy Luis Uribe's defense: that he was targeted by "hustlers" for being an immigration officer.
A Federal Judge Enjoins DHS From Threatening To Prosecute a Critic for Constitutionally Protected Speech
After David Streever castigated ICE's acting director in an email, investigators delivered a "warning notice" saying he "may be in violation of federal law."
Study: Reimbursing Victims of Police Property Damage Would Cost Very Little
And yet governments deny reimbursement claims more often than approving them, according to the Institute for Justice.
Why Conservative Republicans Are Worried About License Plate Cameras
Recent comments by Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis reflect a bipartisan backlash against warrantless surveillance.
A Federal Indictment Charges an ICE Officer With Lying About a Shooting That DHS Eagerly Defended
The habitually dishonest department uncritically accepted a story that was immediately contradicted by video footage and physical evidence.
The Lindsay Clancy Jury Was Tasked With an Impossible Question
In the court of public opinion, there is little room for ambiguity here. But those who watched the trial know that reality is far less satisfying.
This U.S. Citizen Is Suing ICE for Arresting Him 3 Times. His Lawsuit Is Moving Forward.
Despite carrying a REAL ID, Leo Garcia Venegas has been repeatedly detained by immigration agents. Now he’s suing to block immigration raids targeting Latinos on private construction sites.
A New Bill Reflects the Bipartisan Backlash Against Flock-Enabled Mass Surveillance
Criticism from Trump allies and recent survey results show that resistance to widespread deployment of automated license plate readers spans the political spectrum.
Prosecutors Say a North Carolina Teenager Committed Murder by Livestreaming a California Mosque Shooting
The case smacks of a desire for retribution that cannot be satisfied by prosecuting the actual killers, who committed suicide.
Cops in Polk County, Georgia, Fatally Shoot Petting Zoo Donkey
The donkey's owner says officers wandered onto her property without permission and shot the small donkey because they felt threatened.
What Craigslist and Backpage Can Tell Us About the Meta Settlement
It doesn't matter if you're right. If you don't cave, the government might stop at nothing to destroy you.
The Belated Backlash Against Flock Cameras
Americans are starting to recognize the dangers of pervasive surveillance by automated license plate readers.
Milo Yiannopoulos Wanted Millions Deported. He Didn't Mean Himself.
"I mean bad immigrants," Yiannopoulos said in a 2016 interview with Joe Rogan. "I don't mean handsome, charming, successful, blonde-haired British immigrants."
The CIA Is Making AI-Generated Reports for Local Police
The CIA has been using artificial intelligence to write “open source intelligence” analyses, which are being distributed to local police via DHS “fusion centers,” according to documents obtained by Reason.
Ron DeSantis Says Flock Cameras Are 'Out of Control,' But Florida's Already Flooded With Surveillance
Florida police departments have been adding drones, facial recognition technology, and license plate readers to their arsenals for years.
He Spent Nearly 6 Years in Prison Based on the Word of a Notoriously Dishonest Houston Drug Cop
In a federal lawsuit, Byron Prophet argues that police supervisors "turned a blind eye" for years as Gerald Goines framed innocent people.
Surveillance Camera Saboteurs Are Getting Government Officials' Attention
Sometimes direct action is the only way to get politicians to consider civil liberties.
Post-9/11 Fear Grew the Surveillance State. 25 Years Later, It's Still Growing.
The U.S. government responded in ways that are so integrated into daily life that we no longer recognize them.
Police in Atlanta Settle Eric André Lawsuit, End Airport Drug Searches
While the settlement is a good thing, it's unfortunately still the case that at airports, the Bill of Rights is more of a list of suggestions.
America Is Building a Surveillance State Like China's
"If there are Flock cameras in your city, they are tracking, logging and sharing your movements without a warrant," warns the ACLU.
ICE Admits It Investigated a Critic Based on Constitutionally Protected Speech
The agency’s attempt to intimidate David Streever is at the center of a First Amendment case.
Trump's Assault on Judicial Review Undermines a Crucial Safeguard Against Tyranny
In one case after another, the president has tried to cut the courts out of the picture painted by the Framers.
She Spent 7 Months in Legal Hell After Cops Used Flock Surveillance To Identify the Wrong Car
From wrongful arrests to officers stalking exes, license plate cameras keep exposing police failures.
Airports Are ICE's Latest Target, Raising 4th Amendment Concerns From Airlines
An apparent surge of ICE arrests in airport terminals has created viral videos and questions over ICE's authority to board planes without judicial warrants.
Texas Man Arrested After Ranting About Age Verification Laws Blocking His Anime
Did he make a true threat? Or was this just hyperbolic ranting about bad policy?
North Carolina Citizen Files Damages Claim After Border Patrol Arrested Him, Then Left Him on the Roadside
A viral video showed immigration officers uncuffing Fernando Vasquez and then dumping his papers onto the ground before driving off.
Police Mix Up Usernames, Man Spends 18 Months in Prison for Someone Else's Sex Crimes
"He should never have been charged, let alone convicted," judges now say.
Kansas Lawsuit: ALPRs Turn a License Plate Into the 'Functional Equivalent' of a 'GPS Tracking Device'
The Kansas Justice Institute argues that Wichita's "warrantless ALPR dragnet surveillance program" violates the state constitution's privacy protections.
A Pennsylvania Mom Says the Cops Were Called on Her 4 Times—for Letting Her Kids Be Outside
State lawmakers are mulling a law that would establish commonsense protections for families that give their children a reasonable amount of independence.
Georgia Cops Keep Getting Arrested for Misusing Flock Surveillance Data
Although Flock Safety’s auditing tools have helped catch the bad actors, more is needed to protect Americans’ privacy.
Florida Wildlife Agency Tracked Critics Using Law Enforcement Database
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says it followed the law when it pulled the driving records of more than a dozen critics of the agency.
The Homicide Rate Has Dropped to Historic Lows. Contrary to What Politicians Say, No One Really Knows Why.
The latest numbers from a sample of U.S. cities indicate continuing crime decreases that go beyond a reversion to pre-2020 norms.
