criminal justice?
hi. my server and whatnot works again. yay. otherwise, i've built a "new" workstation running the latest development linux kernel (2.5.71, released on my birthday) and do all my music there now in a program called rosegarden. trust me, not running ANY microsoft software is worth any inconvenience caused by the switch.
in other news, i got arrested several weeks ago. some friends and i were by the U of M campus walking along the river road around midnight. keep in mind that we were all legal adults walking on a public road. we werent doing anything wrong, but the cops decided we looked suspicious, so they stopped us. COP: "get up against the car! what the hell are you doing here?" US: "walking." COP: "don't fucking lie! what were you doing?" US: "nothing! just walking across the campus.." COP: "I know you're lying! get up against the car!"
they then proceeded to search all of us, verbally abuse us (one cop accused us (6 guys) of having a 'circle-jerk' in the park and 'crusing for anonymous gay sex' (6 of us? on foot? wtf?)), find some tools (i used to carry a wunderbar, among other things, in my backpack. bad idea.) on me, and arrest me for posession of burglary tools. they hauled me toward the station, stopped and searched my PARKED car, and then brought me in. i spent the next 20 hours in jail and was released without being charged, as they couldn't come up with any evidence that i had done ANYTHING wrong. the worst part of all of this is that under the law in Minnesota, i have NO legal recourse. The 'probable cause law' states that any citizen can be arrested at any time and held for up to 36 hours before they must be charged with a crime, if a police officer deems that there is 'probable cause' to believe that they may do or be doing something illegal. and if something does look suspicious (for instance, if there had happened to have been a burglary near where we were), they can hold you for an additional 72 hours 'pending investigation'. oh yeah, and weekends, holidays, and any day you're arrested after midnight but before 8am, DON'T COUNT against the number of hours you can be held for.
this all seems insane, right? i mean, why the hell would they do that? MONEY. i heard it said (by deputies in the jail) that the police department gets a kickback on any arrest that causes at least a 10 (iirc) hour hold. moreover, the jail gets funding for any inmate held for a similar amount of time.
the moral of this story: as American citizens, we are fast givng away our rights by not standing up against the corporate assholes who have taken power in this country. you can (and if you're like me and my friends and don't shop at the fucking Gap or Abercrombie to try to fit in, probably WILL) get arrested, strip searched, and held for no reason, without being charged, until they decide to let you out. this is 'pefectly legal' and since they haven't ever charged you with anything, IT DOESN'T EVEN GET RECORDED. i, having spent 20 hours in jail after being arrested for Posession of Burglary Tools (a felony offense), still have no criminal record past the mugshot and fingerprints they took. just another citizen on file, complete with a nice long SIN and barcode on the bracelet they riveted onto my wrist.
the USA Patriot I act was passed before most of the people signing it even read it. i fear USA PATRIOT II even more. and i'm a white midwestern kid, which makes me statistically one of the least likely to be 'targeted' by it. glad to know our leaders have our best interests in mind..
there was more too, but i don't feel like making this any longer..
peace
in other news, i got arrested several weeks ago. some friends and i were by the U of M campus walking along the river road around midnight. keep in mind that we were all legal adults walking on a public road. we werent doing anything wrong, but the cops decided we looked suspicious, so they stopped us. COP: "get up against the car! what the hell are you doing here?" US: "walking." COP: "don't fucking lie! what were you doing?" US: "nothing! just walking across the campus.." COP: "I know you're lying! get up against the car!"
they then proceeded to search all of us, verbally abuse us (one cop accused us (6 guys) of having a 'circle-jerk' in the park and 'crusing for anonymous gay sex' (6 of us? on foot? wtf?)), find some tools (i used to carry a wunderbar, among other things, in my backpack. bad idea.) on me, and arrest me for posession of burglary tools. they hauled me toward the station, stopped and searched my PARKED car, and then brought me in. i spent the next 20 hours in jail and was released without being charged, as they couldn't come up with any evidence that i had done ANYTHING wrong. the worst part of all of this is that under the law in Minnesota, i have NO legal recourse. The 'probable cause law' states that any citizen can be arrested at any time and held for up to 36 hours before they must be charged with a crime, if a police officer deems that there is 'probable cause' to believe that they may do or be doing something illegal. and if something does look suspicious (for instance, if there had happened to have been a burglary near where we were), they can hold you for an additional 72 hours 'pending investigation'. oh yeah, and weekends, holidays, and any day you're arrested after midnight but before 8am, DON'T COUNT against the number of hours you can be held for.
this all seems insane, right? i mean, why the hell would they do that? MONEY. i heard it said (by deputies in the jail) that the police department gets a kickback on any arrest that causes at least a 10 (iirc) hour hold. moreover, the jail gets funding for any inmate held for a similar amount of time.
the moral of this story: as American citizens, we are fast givng away our rights by not standing up against the corporate assholes who have taken power in this country. you can (and if you're like me and my friends and don't shop at the fucking Gap or Abercrombie to try to fit in, probably WILL) get arrested, strip searched, and held for no reason, without being charged, until they decide to let you out. this is 'pefectly legal' and since they haven't ever charged you with anything, IT DOESN'T EVEN GET RECORDED. i, having spent 20 hours in jail after being arrested for Posession of Burglary Tools (a felony offense), still have no criminal record past the mugshot and fingerprints they took. just another citizen on file, complete with a nice long SIN and barcode on the bracelet they riveted onto my wrist.
the USA Patriot I act was passed before most of the people signing it even read it. i fear USA PATRIOT II even more. and i'm a white midwestern kid, which makes me statistically one of the least likely to be 'targeted' by it. glad to know our leaders have our best interests in mind..
there was more too, but i don't feel like making this any longer..
peace