Police in Texas Pressuring Bars to Ban “Motorcycle Colors”
Motorcyclists
from Texas and around the US, many wearing motorcycle-related patches
and colors, regularly visit public establishments and bars in San
Marcos, Texas.
Recently, the San Marcos Police Department
(SMPD) made a prejudicial recommendation to downtown San Marcos
businesses to implement a broad policy of discrimination against any
individual wearing motorcycle-related insignia or colors.
These
recommendations amount to coercive pressure from a government actor to
implement policies of discrimination. It is settled law that motorcycle
patches and colors are Constitutionally protected by the 1st Amendment
from acts of government discrimination. Prohibiting individuals from
expressing themselves with patches or insignia exposes the government to
liability under 42 USC §1983.
No agent of the government
may pressure or coerce any establishment to impose a dress code that
prohibits attendees from wearing clothing displaying the name or symbols
associated with a motorcycle organization.
The Motorcycle
Profiling Project (MPP), an organization representing the interests of
motorcyclists in Texas and across America, is requesting that the San
Marcos PD cease and desist from any further discriminatory
recommendations relating to motorcycle clubs and has sent the following
letter:
July 25, 2017
Chase Stapp – Chief of Police
San Marcos Police Department cstapp@sanmarcostx.gov
tel: 512-753-2110
Dear Chief Stapp,
Recently,
the San Marcos Police Department (SMPD) issued a prejudicial
recommendation to downtown San Marcos businesses to implement a broad
policy of discrimination against any individual wearing
motorcycle-related insignia or colors. These recommendations amount to
coercive pressure from a government actor to implement policies of
discrimination. It is settled law that motorcycle patches and colors are
Constitutionally protected by the 1st Amendment from acts of government
discrimination.
No agent of the government may recommend,
pressure or coerce any establishment to impose a dress code that
prohibits attendees from wearing clothing displaying the name or symbols
associated with a motorcycle organization. Prohibiting individuals from
expressing themselves with patches or insignia exposes the government
to liability under 42 USC §1983.
The Motorcycle Profiling
Project (MPP), an organization representing the interests of
motorcyclists in Texas and across America, is requesting that the San
Marcos PD cease and desist from any further discriminatory
recommendations relating to motorcycle clubs and issue a statement
informing the public based on the attached analysis. (See pages 2-4)
The MPP looks forward to your response and resolution of this issue.
The San Marcos PD is Encouraging Private Discrimination
Members
of motorcycle clubs and motorcycle organizations regularly frequent
public establishments in San Marcos, Texas to engage in protected
expressive conduct such as charitable and political benefits and
political benefits and fundraisers.
As
reported in the San Marcos Record, the President of the Downtown
Association of San Marcos has publicly stated that the San Marcos Police
Department has seen “an increase in the presence of the Bandidos Motorcycle Gang in the city and in downtown in recent weeks” and are “recommending
that downtown establishments to keep an eye out and consider
implementing strategies to make their space unwelcoming to this group.” One of those strategies is to post dress code signage at the door to include rules against “Gang related ‘cuts,’ ‘vests,’ or other insignia” in addition to any dress code rules. 1
Police Encouraging Private Discrimination Amounts to State Action
Prohibited state involvement can be found “even where the state can be charged with only encouraging,” rather than commanding discrimination, such as state actors encouraging owners to exercise their “right
to privately discriminate on grounds which admittedly would be
unavailable under the Fourteenth Amendment should state action be
involved.”2
Public
statements by city officials encouraging private discrimination can have
as much coercive potential as an actual ordinance. 3 Authorizing private discrimination
significantly involves the state with invidious discrimination. “The right to discriminate is now one of the basic policies of the State.” State action that encourages private discrimination “establishes the right to discriminate as a basic state policy,”” and “will significantly encourage and involve the State in private discrimination.” 4
State action “which authorize[s] private discrimination” makes the State “at least a partner in the instant act of discrimination. . . .” The courts “conceive
of no other purpose for an application of” such state recommendations
“aside from authorizing the perpetration of a purported private
discrimination. . . .” Such a recommendation “unconstitutionally involves the State in…discrimination, and is therefore invalid under the Fourteenth Amendment.”5
Police recommendations invoke state authority to discriminate so those practicing discrimination “need no longer rely solely on their personal choice.” They can now invoke express state authority, “free
from censure or interference of any kind from official sources. All
individuals, partnerships, corporations and other legal entities, as
well as their agents and representatives, will now discriminate…”6
Private
Owners are acting on the state’s authority to discriminate in San
Marcos. The President of the Downtown Association of San Marcos
has publicly endorsed the SMPD’s recommendations at a recent Downtown
Association of San Marcos organizational meeting, as reported by the
San Marcos Register. (See Supra note #1)
If
police recommend private discrimination, and are also responsible for
enforcing violations of that private policy of discrimination, then both
the recommendation and enforcement of violations are unconstitutional.
Even when a state recommendation is neutral in its terms, if the result
of its application would be to invoke the sanctions of the State to
enforce a concededly discriminatory private rule, such as arresting
violators for trespassing, then those recommendations and sanctions
would violate the Fourteenth Amendment. 7 The Supreme
Court has made clear the impetus for the forbidden discrimination
need not originate with the State if it is state action that enforces
privately originated discrimination. 8Imagine if the
recommendation was to make public establishments unwelcoming to people
wearing clothing or insignia indicating that they are republicans,
democrats, environmentalists, or Cowboys fans.
Private
owners confirm pressure from SMPD recommendations, against their own
wishes and economic well-being, are driving bikers NBC News affiliate
KXAN (Austin) reports that Kristan Alvarez, owner of KnDs in downtown
San Marcos, reports:“I want bikers in here; I would love to see more bikers here. Like I said, we do sale biker stuff and I’m totally against it,” says Alvarez.“I
know a lot of bikers, Bandidos specifically and I just feel like they
aren’t all bad people, they shop here all the time and I want to welcome
them here,” said Alvarez. “I was a little upset that they were kind of pushing them away, I lose sales because of that.” 9
Bar
owners have a constitutional right to pursue an occupation free from
government coercion. According to the Supreme Court, the Due Process
Clause of the 14th Amendment protects a liberty or property
interest in pursuing the “common occupations or professions of
life.” 10 The constitutional right infringed in cases
of excessive and unreasonable police pressure is “the right to pursue an
occupation.” 11
San
Marcos PD’s Recommendations Are Unconstitutional – Motorcycle Colors
are Protected from State Discrimination By the 1st Amendment – Courts
Have Rejected Generalized Gang Justifications
Cohen
California establishes that individuals have the 1st Amendment right to
wear clothing which displays writing or designs in public places. 12 The
United States Supreme Court has long recognized and protected the right
of an individual to freedom of association. Thus, a person’s right to
wear the clothing of his choice, as well as his right to belong to any
club or organization of his choice is constitutionally protected.
Federal Courts say,
“On balance, a motorcycle club member’s hardship in not being able to
express their views and the public interest in protecting speech
outweigh the Government’s interest in suppressing an intimidating
symbol.” 13 “Though the symbol may at times function as a
mouthpiece for unlawful or violent behavior, this is not sufficient to
strip speech of its First Amendment protection.”14 Prohibiting speech of this nature constitutes an attack on a particular viewpoint. 15
In
Sammartano First Judicial District Court (2002), the court applied
Cohen specifically to motorcycle club colors and rejected the gang
argument, the exact same rational being advanced by the SMPD.
In Sammartano, 10 individuals wearing motorcycle colors, including the
Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, refused to remove their colors and were
arrested for trespassing. The state asserted motorcycle club colors were
gang attire and could cause a potential threat of violence and
intimidation.The Federal Appeals Court rejected the government’s gang
argument and concluded generalizations were insufficient, explaining
that “a total ban on this expressive activity…is “an unreasonable means” of preserving a safe environment.” Any restrictions must be narrow and “specific to particular (apparently hypothetical) cases involving rival organizations.” Restrictions on motorcycle club colors are unconstitutional “absent a showing in the record of actual (or realistic threat of) interference or disruption.”16
SMPD’s
policy recommendation represents a total ban on expressive conduct and
is not based on a reasonable threat. The policy is far too broad to be
considered reasonable. The policy is not specific to particular threats.
The over-reaching policy encompasses many people wearing motorcycle
patches and colors and is therefore an unreasonable means of achieving a
safe environment under the 1s Amendment.
Generalizations
and past actions are insufficient policy justifications. Even a more
narrow policy applying only to individuals in a motorcycle club such as
the Bandidos would be too general absent proof of an actual and specific
threat. Motorcycle clubs, including those clubs labeled organized or
criminal gangs by some authorities, are protected associations.
Restrictions solely based on expressing those associations violate the
1st Amendment.There is “no evidence that by merely wearing [motorcycle club] “colors,” an individual is “involved in or associated with the alleged violent or criminal activity of other [motorcycle club] members.
It is a fundamental principle that the government may not impose
restrictions on an individual “merely because an individual belong[s] to
a group, some members of which committed acts of violence.” In fact,
the Supreme Court has long “disapproved governmental action . . .
denying rights and privileges solely because of a citizen’s association
with an unpopular organization.” Healy v. James, 408 U.S. 169, 185-86
(1972). 17
To permit restrictions on any person “who wears the insignia of [a motorcycle club],
without regard to or knowledge of that individual’s specific
intent to engage in the alleged violent activities committed by other
members, is antithetical to the basic principles enshrined in the First
Amendment and repugnant to the fundamental doctrine of personal guilt
that is a hallmark of American jurisprudence. 18
SMPD’s
recommendations defy logic. Insignia is incapable of action. Removing
all insignia does not remove the individual. The standard of a specific
and actual threat is superior because it preserves both the 1st
Amendment and a safe environment
Associating
with (or expressing association with) motorcycle clubs that government
authorities label criminal organizations or gangs, is considered
expressive conduct relating to an on-going public concern.
“[P]ublic
concern is something that is a subject of legitimate news interest;
that is, a subject of general interest and of value and concern
to the public at the time of publication.” 19 Further, the debate over the criminality of motorcycle clubs is a topic of “legitimate news interest.” 20“To
deserve First Amendment protection, it is sufficient that the speech
concern matters in which even a relatively small segment of the general
public might be interested.” 21
“Wearing
motorcycle club insignia is expressive conduct because it conveys a
message that the wearer supports or is proud to be affiliated with the
organization.” 22Wearing colors and associating with a
labeled organization may be perceived as expressing support for that
organization in protest of government condemnation. “Here, [an individual’s] wearing of [outlaw motorcycle club] insignia and associating with [outlaw motorcycle club] members could be perceived as public support of [that motorcycle club]— i.e., approving of the activities of a perceived criminal organization. This is a matter of interest to the community.” 23,24
Endnotes
1San Marcos Record, “Merchants Warned About Motorcycle Gangs Downtown”, June 30, 2017 2Reitman v. Mulkey, 387 U. S. 369, 387 U. S. 380 (1967) Pp. 387 U. S. 373-381 3Lombard v. Louisiana, 373 U. S. 267 4Supra Note 2 Reitman v. Mulkey 5 Supra Note 2 Reitman v. Mulkey 6Supra Note 2 Reitman v. Mulkey 7Moose Lodge No. 107 v. Irvis, 407 U.S. 163 (1972), 407 U.S. 179, citing Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U. S. 1 (1948) 8Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U. S. 1, 334 U. S. 13 (1948) 9http://kxan.com/2017/07/05/san-marcos-police-warn-downtown-businesses-of-biker-gangs/ 10See
Schware v. Board of Bar Examiners, 353 U.S. 232, 238-39, 77 S.Ct. 752,
755-56, 1 L.Ed.2d 796 (1957); Chalmers v. City of Los Angeles, 762 F.2d
753, 757 (9th Cir.1985). 11Benigni v. City of Hemet, 879 F.2d 473 (9th Cir. 1989) 12Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971) 13 Ramon Rivera v. Carter, ATF, Case No. 2:09-cv-2435 (C. D. 2009) 14Rivera citing
Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234, 253 (2003) (“The mere
tendency of speech to encourage unlawful acts is not a sufficient reason
for banning it. . . .First Amendment freedoms are most in danger when
the government seeks to control thought or to justify its laws for that
impermissible end.”) 15 See supra note 13 16Sammartano v. First Judicial District Court, 303 F.3d 959 (9th Cir.2002) 17Coles v. Carlini 162 F.Supp.3d 380 (2015) 18 id 19City of San Diego v. Roe, 543 U.S. 77, 83-84 (2004) (per curiam). 20id 21Roe v. City & County of San Francisco, 109 F.3d 578, 585 (9th Cir. 1997) 22 See Supra note 13, Rivera citing
e.g., Sammartano v. First Judicial Dist. Court, 303 F.3d 959, 966-67
(9th Cir. 2002), abrogated on other grounds by Winter v. Nat. Res. Def.
Council, Inc., 55 U.S. 7, 21 (2008) 23RONALD GODWIN v.
ROGUE VALLEY YOUTH CORRECTIONAL FACILITY, (RVYCF et al.,) U.S. Court of
Appeals, Ninth Circuit, No. 14-35042, AUGUST 10, 2016 24note
on Godwin- Different appellate circuits have traditionally handled
unpublished opinions differently. Some circuits openly accept them,
others do not. In 2006, a new rule was implemented under the Federal
Rules of Appellate Procedure. Rule 32.1(a) is intended to replace these
inconsistent standards with one uniform rule. Under Rule 32.1(a), a
court of appeals may not prohibit a party from citing an unpublished
opinion of a federal court for its persuasive value or for any other
reason. Rule 32.1(a) applies only to unpublished opinions issued on or
after January 1, 2007.
Last week the United States Department
of Justice announced it was cutting a fine levied against
Harley-Davidson a year ago from $15 million to $12 million.
The motor company was cited last August
for selling high performance electronic fuel injection tuners called
Screamin’ Eagle Pro Super Tuners. The Environmental Protection Agency
called the tuners “illegal tuning devices that increase air pollution
from their motorcycles” and fined Harley $12 million. The pollution
police also ordered Harley to contribute $3 million to an EPA project
that will replace conventional wood burning stoves with cleaner wood
burning stoves. What has changed is that the motor company no longer has
to buy $3 million worth of new and improved wood burning stoves.
Suck, Bang, Blow
For decades, Harley-Davidson has met
government mandated pollution standards by making their air-cooled
motorcycle engines run less efficiently. The engine was designed in 1907
and its operation is usually described as suck, bang and blow.
Basically, less air sucked into the engine’s combustion chambers results
in a smaller bang, the release of less energy when the fuel air mixture
ignites, and a corresponding decrease in the exhaust gases that result
from burning gasoline.
Eventually, the only way the motorcycle
manufacturer could make that strangled, old-fashioned engine meet
increasingly stringent pollution standards was by discontinuing
carbureted motorcycles. Carburetors, for those who are new, were
mechanical devices attached to the intake manifolds of gasoline powered,
internal combustion engines. With a basic set of tools including a
screwdriver, shade tree mechanics could tune their carburetors to run
with maximum efficiency. Harley stopped shipping carbureted motorcycles
in 2005.
Carburetors were replaced with
computerized fuel injectors. Because they were electronic, fuel
injectors became virtual black boxes for home mechanics. But Electronic
Fuel Injection could be tuned with a lap top computer and a device that
could reprogram the factory settings.
Opening The Black Box
That’s what the Screamin’ Eagle turner
did. The device, when attached to a computer and the motorcycle gave
mechanics the “ability to view the bike’s air/fuel ratio, O2 sensor
readings, engine speed and temperature, RPM and vehicle speed, throttle
position, spark advance and much more.” Harley said the tuner was
“designed to simplify management of street-legal performance
calibrations as EPA-compliant performance modifications are made. It
easily allows the rider or technician to view and evaluate engine
operating parameters.”
In a press release issued after Harley
finally cried “uncle,” the EPA alleged “that Harley-Davidson violated
the Clean Air Act by manufacturing and selling about 340,000 devices,
known as tuners, that allow users to change how a motorcycle’s engine
functions, These changes can cause the motorcycles to emit higher
amounts of certain air pollutants than they would in the original
configuration that Harley-Davidson certified with EPA.”
Tuner Equipped Bikes
Although the tuners were not equipment
attached to motorcycle but simply a diagnostic tool to help owners
understand the inefficiencies mandated by the EPA, the government still
required Harley to “conduct tests on tuner-equipped motorcycles and
provide the results to EPA to guarantee that their motorcycles remain in
compliance with EPA certification requirements for emissions.”
In a section written by somebody who
actually understood what tuners do, the release stated “Since January
2008, Harley-Davidson has manufactured and sold two types of tuners,
which when hooked up to Harley-Davidson motorcycles, allow users to
modify certain aspects of a motorcycles’ emissions control system. These
modified settings increase power and performance, but also increase the
motorcycles’ emissions of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides (NOx).
Hydrocarbon and NOx emissions contribute to harmful ground-level ozone,
and NOx also contributes to fine particulate matter pollution.”
“Exposure to ozone and particulate
matter pollution has been linked with a range of serious health effects,
including increased asthma attacks and other respiratory illnesses.
Exposure to these pollutants has also been associated with premature
death due to respiratory-related or cardiovascular-related effects.
Children, the elderly, and people with pre-existing respiratory disease
are particularly at risk of health effects from exposure to these
pollutants.
“By reducing the chance that
Harley-Davidson motorcycles produce emissions above their legally
certified levels, this agreement contributes to state and federal
efforts to meet air quality standards for ozone and particulate matter.”
Driver’s manuals in Arizona will now include a section detailing “how
not to get shot by police” during traffic stops, which is specifically
aimed at armed drivers in the wake of the shooting that killed Philando
Castile.
Democratic State Rep. Reginald Bolding told
the Arizona Daily Star that he pushed for a rewrite of the state’s
driver’s manual as a way to help educate drivers—especially those who
are black and Hispanic, because he said records have shown that they are
more likely to become victims of police shootings. “When you look at what’s taken place across the country, you have
seen a majority of individuals who are people of color that have had
higher incidence of interactions with law-enforcement officers,
particularly in shootings,” Bolding said. “Hopefully we can get to a place where that’s not the reality.”
One of the most recent incidents occurred in Minnesota when Philando
Castile was shot and killed by a police officer during a traffic stop in
July 2016. Castile followed basic protocol for individuals with
concealed handgun licenses, and he informed the officer that he was
armed and that he had a license.
As soon as Castile reached for his I.D., Officer Jeronimo Yanez
opened fire on the vehicle—with Castile’s girlfriend in the passenger
seat and her four-year-old daughter in the back seat—and he fired seven
rounds. Castile did not receive immediate medical attention, and was
pronounced dead 20 minutes after the shooting.
Despite the fact that the shooting garnered national media attention with both Dashcam video
and a Facebook Live video recorded by Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond
Reynolds, documenting the aftermath inside the car, the officer was
found not guilty on all counts.
Prior to the verdict, Yanez was facing federal criminal charges in November 2016. At the time, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said Yanez was being charged, because it was clear that “Philando Castile was not resisting or fleeing. There was absolutely no criminal intent on his behalf.” “No reasonable officer would have used deadly force under these circumstances,” Choi said during a press conference. “Philando Castile was not a threat.”
Choi also noted that not only was Castile not showing criminal
intent, he following all of the regulations for an individual with a
concealed weapon. Choi noted that Castile’s dead body was found with a
gun in one pocket, and his concealed handgun license in another.
“He emphatically repeated that he was not pulling out the gun, only that he was lawfully carrying,” Choi said. “His dying words were in protest that he wasn’t reaching for his gun.”
However, instead of looking at what the police officer had done wrong
in the shooting, Rep. Bolding looked for what Castile had done wrong.
He told the Arizona Daily Star that he reached out to eight different
police departments with questions about how Castile should have behaved
differently. “Some people said you immediately reach into your glove department to grab your license and registration,” Bolding said, noting that he received a variety of responses. “Others said to turn on the dome light. Others said to wait.”
As a result, Bolding pushed for a re-write to the state’s driver’s
manual, in an attempt to teach drivers—especially those who are
armed—how to interact with police. “No one should ever leave a traffic stop in a body bag,” he said.
The
recommendations for drivers include things such as remaining in the
vehicle after pulling over and parking the car, keeping seat belts
fastened, and keeping hands in a visible location while motorists wait
for officers to approach the vehicle.
“Other suggestions include: Lowering the windows,
especially if they are tinted; At night, turning on any overhead
passenger compartment lights; Informing the officer if the driver has a
weapon or if there are any in the vehicle.”
While lawmakers in Tennessee, Virginia and Illinois have created new
laws that require driver education courses to teach people how to act
during traffic stops, the Arizona Daily Sun noted that “unlike the guidelines published in Arizona, none of the laws explicitly mentions what to do when armed motorists are stopped.”
Arizona, which is known as a “gun-friendly” state, allows residents
to carry weapons without permits. However, the latest addition to the
state’s driver’s manuals raises new questions about how much
responsibility it is giving drivers, and how much accountability it is
taking away from police.
OFF THE WIRE
The charity guy who drives a Rolls Royce deals with karma...
By Matthew Russell
While J. Thomas Burch, founder of the National Vietnam Veterans
Foundation, may be in part responsible for the organization’s
tremendous fundraising, he was also responsible for its zero-star rating
and the squandering of most of that money.
J. Thomas Burch, CEO of the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation.
Burch helped the organization bring in over $29 million in donations between 2010 and 2014,
all under the mission of “aiding, supporting, and benefiting America’s
veterans and their families.” But Charity Navigator, a charity review
group, found that NVVF donated less than 2 percent of its income during
that time to charitable causes related to veterans. Only $122,000 out of
the $8.5 million raised in 2014 went to veterans’ causes. They gave the
NVVF a zero-star rating.
Charity Navigator has given the NVVF a zero-star rating.
“It’s a zero-star organization and you can’t go lower than that,” said Charity Navigator
CEO Michael Thatcher. “They don’t have an independent board of
directors, they actually don’t even have a comprehensive board of
directors—only three members on the board at this point in time and some
of them are family. So one can say, is this representative of an
independent board? It’s not.”
Listed in the NVVF’s expenses for 2014:
An $11,128 “emergency” infusion of cash to Burch’s brother
Travel: $133,000
Parking: $8,000
Unnamed “awards”: $21,000
Other expenses: $70,000
NVVF Vice President David Kauffman, in an email to CNN,
said the charity was actively involved in projects that “fed homeless
and unemployed veterans by donating to food banks, sent personal care
kits to hospitalized veterans, and donated blankets, hats, and gloves to
homeless centers.”
While
the NVVF took in around $29 million in donations between 2010 and 2014,
only 2 percent of that money went to veterans’ causes.
Burch took in $65,000 a year as CEO and founder of the NVVF. He’s
also deputy director in the VA’s Office of General Counsel—a federal
employee—working as an attorney for the Department of Veterans Affairs,
where his 2014 salary was $127,000. Burch lives in Washington, D.C.,
where he was recently seen skirting reporters in a Rolls Royce with a front vanity plant that reads “MY ROLLS.”
While holding a position at both the veteran’s charity and the
Department of Veterans Affairs is not a conflict of interest, according
to a VA spokesperson, Burch’s job at the VA was being reviewed by the agency’s Office of Inspector General.
In late 2016, New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman
announced that his office has reached settlements resolving
investigations into the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation, which also
operated as the American Veteran Support Foundation. They said that
former President and Founder, John Thomas Burch, Jr., and its Vice
President, David Kaufman had to repay Burch’s severance pay received
from NVVF and will cooperate with ongoing investigations into others
associated with NVVF and its fundraisers.
Burch issued an apology to donors of the charity and to Vietnam
Veterans whom he exploited in order for fundraisers to collect money.
Burch also admitted that the charity had paid 90% of its donations to
its fundraisers and admitted to deceptively marketing how solicited
money would be spent.Out of the many horrible abuses the investigators found was that funds for the charity were used to “pay
for foreign and domestic travel, frequenting night clubs in the
Baltimore area on a nearly weekly basis, ordering excessive and
expensive food and drink at the country’s top restaurants and lavishing
gifts on women.”
The good news now is that the charity has been dissolved and can no
longer fool people into donating to a charity that does not benefit
veterans. The bad news is that John Thomas Burch retired from the VA on
November 30th, 2016 with a full pension and lifetime health care.
Our military’s service members deserve the full support of those who
claim to gather donations for their aid. Unfortunately, there are some
who continue to take advantage of veterans and their family members
through deceptive practices. Read more about common scams that target
veterans in this story, and let others know to be alert.
Returning to civilian life after military service is a hard process. It’s twice as hard if you saw combat. Every day, hundreds of military vets make this leap. Often they feel alone. Fortunately, with the help of the military, organizations, and kind souls, this process becomes a bit easier.
Michael Ehline (left) looks on to the class of vets and active duty personnel with Joseph Low (right)
That was the scene down in Camp Pendletonin July. 84 Marines and Sailors attended the Veterans Transition Support“No Cost Transition Program” at the Wounded Warrior Battalion. Among the activities was a 10 hour OSHA Safety Course.
Russell Levy, head of the Veterans Transition Support program, set it up for the vets. The program continues, including another OSHA Safety course in August, October, and November. Furthermore, there are also other educational programs. These include a LEAN Continuous Improvement Cert, Warehouse Safety Plans, OSHA Record Keeping, VA Home Loan Benefits, and more.
Former Marine and current LA area injury attorney Michael Ehline was one of the guest speakers. Ehline spoke about how education makes a major difference both in and out of military service. In addition, he tied in the work ethic of the Service with other professions.
Many veterans enter various fields. These include factory work, contracting, and white collar jobs like accounting and law. That’s what Ehline did, reading the law before passing the bar. Ehline joined another Marine veteran attorney, Joseph Low, in the discussion.
There are many moving parts to the transition back to civilian life. These include the possibility of medical claims revolving around the time in the service. These often carry with the vet well beyond their time of service. Keeping detailed medical records and being in touch with officials offsets some of these issues.
“It was a great honor to help my comrades in arms,” Ehline said after the event. “They are not alone. We will fight with them.”
For more information about Ehline Law, please contact our office. We are veteran owned and specialize in aiding vets of all ages. Feel free to call us toll free at 888-400-9721.
There will be about 500 bike gang members in Calgary this weekend, and the police will be watching.
That’s
the message the Calgary Police Service and RCMP are sending in advance
of an expected influx of motorcycle gang members in Calgary in the
coming days. Of particular concern is the Hells Angels, according to
Calgary police.
“This event, based on our criminal intelligence,
is the 20th anniversary of the Calgary Hells Angels motorcycle chapter
since their inception, and it's also a Canada ride,” acting Supt. Joe
Brar said at a press conference Thursday.
Brar said Hells Angels
has held events like this in the city in the past without incident, but
police will be keeping an eye on it anyway, while noting members of the
public shouldn't be overly concerned.
"We know about this event
and we've been tracking their movements. There's no need to call us if
they see a bunch of motorcycles driving down the street. But if they see
any kind of criminality, we encourage them to reach out to us," said
Brar.
Hells Angels events are to begin Friday and wrap up Sunday,
but members started arriving in Calgary as early as Wednesday night. In
2014, the Hells Angels held a similar party with 300 members. The extra
200 attendees are expected to come from every province across Canada.
This
gathering also marks the 20th anniversary of the patch over, in which
the Hells Angels took over several Alberta Grim Reapers chapters. In
July 1997, the gang had chapters in Calgary and Edmonton, with satellite
chapters in Red Deer reporting to Edmonton, and Lethbridge reporting to
Calgary.
The Hells Angels' dominance in Alberta has been
challenged in recent years, with four international biker groups moving
in: The Mongols, the Rebels, the Vagos and the Warlocks. There's plenty
of fighting between those four as well — police documented 20 instances
of conflict between Angels and Warlocks over just two months last year.
The
Vagos opened a new chapter in Alberta in 2015. The Mongols, who have a
presence throughout the province, also opened a new chapter in 2015. The
Mongols haven't always been successful when expanding to Canada. In
2007, they opened a Toronto chapter, but shut down just a few years
later.
Police are aware of several scheduled events being held
over the weekend at the Hells Angels clubhouse on 84th Street S.E.,
however they expect members to spill out into bars and other venues in
the city. Calgary police point out motorcycle gangs host several events
across Canada every year, usually without incident.
However, five
men are facing assault charges following a fight at an annual Hells
Angels event in Kenosee Lake, Sask., over the May long weekend. Asked
what the police would be doing differently in light of those charges to
try to stop a similar event in Calgary, Brar said: "It's just like any
other major event that takes place in the City of Calgary. The Calgary
Police Service will be monitoring it, in conjunction with the RCMP and
other law enforcement agencies across Canada, and we will take
enforcement action as necessary."
Cathy Proswe, an adjunct
professor in criminal anthropology at the University of Calgary who
spent 25 years with the Calgary Police Service, says the gathering is a
potential gold mine for the police.
"Five hundred people, that's
great for intelligence. I'm speaking as a former intelligence officer
for CPS. With the outlaw motorcycle gangs, not much has changed: it's
largely been associated with drugs and weapons. Getting a chance to see
who is talking to whom over the weekend, that can be invaluable," said
Prowse.
Prowse doesn't think there's much risk to public safety,
because the bikers know they're being monitored and will take great
pains not to give the police an excuse to intervene. She says if
something goes wrong, it'll be because a rival gang decides to go after
the Hells Angels.
"We've had funerals, particularly in the
American context, where a rival group has shown up to cause problems. I
wouldn't anticipate that, not with this number. In the absence of that
kind of incursion by another group, this is going to pretty much be a
non-event for most Calgarians. And we certainly have no outward
indication of the kind of rivalry between the Angels and another group
that would lead to an incursion," said Prowse. Here's a brief history of the past 20 years of the Hells Angels' presence in the city.
July 24, 1997: The Calgary Herald reports on the patch over ceremony
in which Alberta Grim Reapers sew on their new patches to signify their
membership in the Hells Angels. The headline that day: "Hells Angels
welcome new Alberta members with 'exchange of colours'. July 24, 1997:
Police chief Christine Silverberg had this to say about six newly minted
Hells Angels rolling into Calgary: "Our greatest fear, for want of a
better word, has come true. We don't believe this is a good thing for
the city or the province, these people are members of a criminal
organization." April 2, 1998: Utility workers cut the gas and power to
the Hells Angels clubhouse on 35th Avenue N.W. after construction
workers ignored a stop work order issued because the Angels never
applied for permits. Feb. 4, 2001: Trial begins in the case of Kenneth
Szczerba, 44, accused of plotting to blow up the homes of alderman Dale
Hodges and two other people. Hodges was a strong opponent of the Angels'
clubhouse being built. Szczerba is later found guilty. Mar. 30, 2001:
About 200 police raid the Hells Angels' Ogden clubhouse and 26 other
locations, seizing $1 million worth of illegal drugs and weapons and
laying charges against 43 individuals, eight of whom were members of the
Hells Angels Calgary chapter. Jul. 23, 2007: Hells Angels celebrate
their 10th anniversary without incident. April 13, 2008: Calgary Hells
Angels member Randall Irons acquitted of police assault charge. Jun. 17,
2013: Altadore residents complain about Hells Angels renting a new
clubhouse in their neighbourhood. Police increase presence in the
community. July 20, 2017: Police announce they're expecting about 500
bikers for the 20th anniversary celebration of the Hells Angels' first
presence in the city. — With files from Adrian Humphreys
A few sentences in a 2,000 word speech
yesterday by Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III to the
summer meeting of the National District Attorney’s Association in
Minneapolis set off alarm bells among civil libertarians.
Sessions promised America’s prosecutors
that he intends to place “greater emphasis on dismantling gangs” – which
may mean you or someone you know.
And, near the end of his remarks he also
said, “we hope to issue this week a new directive on asset forfeiture –
especially for drug traffickers. With care and professionalism, we plan
to develop policies to increase forfeitures. No criminal should be
allowed to keep the proceeds of their crime. Adoptive forfeitures are
appropriate as is sharing with our partners..”
Words Words Words
The angle national news outlets followed
in this morning’s accounts was to contrast Sessions’ rhetoric with the
rhetoric of the Obama Administration, But it is a misleading angle and
the comparisons have been both fatuous and naïve.
“In 2015,” The Washington Post
noted this morning, Obama Attorney General “Eric Holder’s Justice
Department issued a memo sharply curtailing a particular type of
forfeiture practice that allowed local police to share part of their
forfeiture proceeds with federal authorities… criminal justice reform
groups on the left and the right cheered the move as a signal that the
Obama administration was serious about curtailing forfeiture abuses.”
But, of course, that was not what
actually happened. What Holder accomplished was a public relations stunt
that concealed the extent of an ever expanding police tyranny. In
January 2015, when Holder announced his “reform,” the Post
reported that Holder had “barred local and state police from using
federal law to seize cash, cars and other property without warrants or
criminal charges.”
Really, Holder’s forfeiture “reform” was just a smoke grenade. Two weeks later, the Wall Street Journal reported that what Holder was actually up to:
“The Justice Department has been
building a national database to track in real time the movement of
vehicles around the U.S., a secret domestic intelligence-gathering
program that scans and stores hundreds of millions of records about
motorists, according to current and former officials and government
documents,” the business paper reported.
“The primary goal of the License Plate
Tracking Program, run by the Drug Enforcement Administration, is to
seize cars, cash and other assets to combat drug trafficking, according
to one government document. But the database’s use has expanded to hunt
for vehicles associated with numerous other potential crimes, from
kidnappings to killings to rape suspects, say people familiar with the
matter.”
Asset Forfeiture Primary Goal
The same day the Journal
published its report, the American Civil Liberties Union argued in its
own report that “With its jurisdiction and its finances, the federal
government is uniquely positioned to create a centralized repository of
all drivers’ movements across the country – and the DEA seems to be
moving toward doing just that. If license plate readers continue to
proliferate without restriction and the DEA holds license plate reader
data for extended periods of time, the agency will soon possess a
detailed and invasive depiction of our lives (particularly if combined
with other data about individuals collected by the government, such as
the DEA’s recently revealed bulk phone records program, or cell phone
information gleaned from U.S. Marshals Service’s cell site
simulator-equipped aircraft.) Data-mining the information, an unproven
law enforcement technique that the DEA has begun to use here, only
exacerbates these concerns, potentially tagging people as criminals
without due process.”
The ACLU also reported that a DEA
document uncovered as a result of a Freedom Of Information Act lawsuit
described “asset forfeiture” as a “primary” goal of the program. The
documents also showed that the federal government had deployed hundreds
of license plate readers and had been sharing the information through
the network of federal fusion centers with local and state police
agencies since at least 2009.
Consequently, the important question is what Sessions’ words to prosecutors yesterday actually mean. Reason Magazine,
which is probably at the opposite end of the political spectrum from
the Post, reported that they represent “a disheartening setback in the
fight to protect Americans’ private property rights.”
The increasingly opaque Trump
Administration hasn’t offered any elaboration on Sessions’ remarks. But
it is a matter of public record that Trump intends to “crack down” on
legal marijuana which Sessions routinely describes as “a gateway drug.”
And, the most recent case against members of the Vagos Motorcycle Club
is, unusually, headed by an Assistant Attorney General rather than a
United States Attorney. Since organizations like the Hells Angels,
Vagos, Mongols and Bandidos Motorcycle Clubs are regularly described in
federal filings as “transnational drug gangs,” the “policies” Sessions
promises “to increase forfeitures” might be aimed at the bikers Trump
brags he loves.
Millennials might be heading out on the
highway and looking for adventure, but they're not doing it on
motorcycles and that's really hurting America's most iconic bike brand,
according to a new report.
Investment
management and research firm Alliance Bernstein downgraded
Harley-Davidson's rating from 'outperform' to plain 'market perform' in a
note it sent to investors on Wednesday.
The
downgrade was due to the fact that the firm's survey predicted flat
growth in motorcycle sales among millennials — 18-to-35 year olds.
Millennials, aka Gen Y, became the largest living generation in the US
after surpassing baby boomers in 2016.
Research
shows sales of Harley-Davidson motorcycles are falling due to a
generational gap. Popular among baby boomers, who recalled when the
bikes were featured in movies like 'Easy Rider' (above), new research
shows millennials aren't interested in motorcycles
Research firm Alliance Bernstein
downgraded Harley-Davidson's rating from 'outperform' to plain 'market
perform,' after research showed decreased millennials interest in
motorcycles
Harley-Davidson is hoping new models, like 2017's Street Rod, will appeal to millennials
Alliance Bernstein analyst David Beckel said in the report, obtained by CNBC, that data showed millennials just weren't developing a passion for motorcycle riding the way previous generations have done.
Beckel
added that, 'Gen Y's are aging into the important "pre-family" cohort
of riders and Boomers are increasingly handing over their keys to the
smaller Gen X population.'
The 'pre-family' age group was defined as age 25 to 35 and is Harley's target demographic.
Alliance Bernstein also lowered its previous 12-month Harley price target from $62 down to $55, reports Barron's, which added that the stock is down 12.6 per cent since 2017 started.
Harley-Davidson
bike sales in 2016 were down 1.6 per cent overall, compared to its 2015
figures, while the company's US sales fell 3.9 per cent, according to Business Insider. A significant drop, since Harley sales represent about about half of the American big bike market.
+7
Harley-Davidson bikes have a
long history of appearing in Hollywood films, including the 'Terminator
2: Judgement Day' and the 'Captain America' franchise
Share
Alliance Bernstein estimated that
bike 'rider growth has declined from a 3-5 per cent annual growth pace
pre-financial crisis to close to 0 percent today,' Beckel said, adding
that the firm expects that 'rider growth will dip into negative
territory in 2017 and stay in negative territory for at least the next
five years.'
This, despite the firm's
original optimism that Harley-Davidson would receive a bump following
President Trump's election, which came with promises of infrastructure
spending and middle-class or corporate tax cuts.
Analysts
suspect that one of the reasons why millennials are slow or reluctant
to buy into motorcycles is that the generation was heavily impacted by
the recession period they grew up during.
Describing
that recession period as a 'very significant psychological scar' that
'severely negatively impacted' one out of five US households at the
time, Morgan Stanley analyst Kimberly Greenberger told Business Insider
that, 'If you think about the children in that house and how the length
and depth of that recession really impacted people, I think you have an
entire generation with permanently changed spending habits.'
Charlie Hunnam developed a passion for Harleys while playing a biker on 'Sons of Anarchy'
Video playing bottom right...
Greenberger backed up sentiments
expressed in 2015, when Harley-Davidson's market share began to slide
and the almost 115-year-old company announced that it was cutting jobs
and dialing back production.
'Unless
you ride a motorcycle or scooter in a city as your transportation,
motorcycles are a splurge millennials can’t afford and have no interest
in – especially Harley-Davidson, which seems like a old white-guy
brand,' Michelle Krebs, an analyst for Kelley Blue Book told The Guardian in 2015.
In
an effort to appeal to the younger demographic and encourage them to
take another look at Harley-Davidson bikes now, the company revealed
earlier this year that it aimed to launch 100 new models within the next
10 years.
The reasoning behind the volume of new bikes, Harley-Davidson's CEO Matt Levatich told The Street, is 'the impact these bikes have and how they make a difference for an existing rider or inspire a potential rider.'
Levatich
pointed to one model in particular, the Street Rod, which retails for
$8,700 and was released in the first quarter of 2017, as being a bike
that is 'more inspiring to the urban population around the world, and
people that are looking to enter the sport.'
Harley-Davidson
was founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1903. Over the years, it's built
tremendous brand loyalty, counting celebrities including P!nk, Kid
Rock, Brad Pitt, Pamela Anderson, Katee Sackhoff, George Clooney,
Charlie Hunnam and Tricia Helfer among its fans.
Harleys
have also been featured in many iconic, Hollywood films over the years,
including 'Easy Rider,' 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day,' 'Rocky III,'
'Pulp Fiction' and the 'Captain America' franchise.
A three judge panel of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the dismissal of the
Justice Department’s racketeering case against the Mongols Motorcycle
Club today. The case will now return to the Orange County, California
courtroom of District Judge David O. Carter for trial.
The case is the most recent iteration of
the federal government’s $100 million dollar, decade long argument that
federal policemen may ban motorcycle clubs and their insignia without
violating the United States Constitution. There is significant case law
that recognizes motorcycle club insignia to be constitutionally
protected expression.
The federal government first tried to
confiscate the Mongols identifying “collective membership marks,”
including the name Mongols and a patch that depicts Genghis Khan riding a
motorcycle, as part of the 2008 case United States versus Cavazos and others.
The “Cavazos” in the case title was former Mongols president Ruben
“Doc” Cavazos who had trademarked the Mongols membership mark through a
corporation he personally owned. Cavazos was expelled from the club two
months before the indictment was unsealed and immediately agreed to
cooperate with prosecutors. As part of his plea deal, Cavazos agreed to
forfeit the Mongols insignia to the government.
Off His Back
At the time the indictment was unsealed,
a United States Attorney named Thomas P. O’Brien bragged, “In addition
to pursuing the criminal charges set forth in the indictment, for the
first time ever, we are seeking to forfeit the intellectual property of a
gang, The name ‘Mongols,’ which is part of the gang’s ‘patch’ that
members wear on their motorcycle jackets, was trademarked by the gang.
The indictment alleges that this trademark is subject to forfeiture. We
have filed papers seeking a court order that will prevent gang members
from using or displaying the name ‘Mongols.’ If the court grants our
request for this order, then if any law enforcement officer sees a
Mongol wearing his patch, he will be authorized to stop that gang member
and literally take the jacket right off his back.”
A Mongol named Ramon Rivera, who was not
indicted in the case, sued for the right to wear his patch and won. But
the same prosecutors who brought the Cavazos case, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Brunwin and Steven Welk, have continued to fight to seize the Mongols colors.
Carter’s dismissal of their case and the
Ninth Circuits reversal of that dismissal is based on semantics. In
order to successfully bring a case under the Racketeer Influenced and
Corrupt Organizations Act the government had to prove that the “Mongols
Nation, an Unincorporated Association” and the “Mongols Gang” were
separate and distinct entities. Prosecutors argued that the “Mongols
Gang” was a criminal enterprise and that “Mongols Nation” was a group of
people associated with the “gang.”
Eyes Glaze Over
In Carter’s court, the debate over their
distinctness involved questions such as whether hang arounds,
prospects, wives and children were part of the Mongols Nation or the
Mongols Gang and whether all patched, full members of the Mongols were
part of Mongols Nation or the Mongols Gang.Throughout a series of
preliminary herings, Carter asked prosecutors, “Who goes to jail?”
After considering the motion for
dismissal over most of a summer, Carter eventually ruled that “there is
no meaningful distinction between the association Mongol Nation and the
enterprise of the Mongols Gang.”
That ruling is what the Ninth Circuit
overruled today. “The district court erred in concluding that Mongol
Nation and the Mongols Gang are not sufficiently distinct,” the panel
ruled in an unsigned memorandum decision that cannot be cited as a
precedent.
“The indictment charged Mongol Nation,
an unincorporated association comprised of ‘official’ or ‘full-patch’
members of the Mongols Gang, as a RICO ‘person.’ The alleged RICO
‘enterprise,’ the Mongols Gang, is comprised of both Mongol Nation,
i.e., the Mongols Gang’s official or full-patch members, and various
associates…. Mongol Nation is a subset of the alleged enterprise, which
consists of legally distinct and separate persons in addition to the
Defendant…. Mongol Nation was alleged to be part of a larger whole, the
Mongols Gang, which is comprised of additional individuals who together
form the alleged enterprise, the district court erred by dismissing the
indictment on distinctiveness grounds.”
Case Continues
Joseph Yanny, the Mongols attorney in
this case had also argued that the whole point was to try to seize the
Mongols membership marks. It is, in fact, the truth. It was suggested to
prosecutors in open court as a way to do just that by a federal judge
named Otis D. Wright II. After the case lingered for years, Wright got
cold feet and abruptly recused himself. That was how the case wound up
in Carter’s court. But the appeals judges thought that was irrelevant.
Some secret one of them wrote, “argument
that remand will prove ‘futile’ because the government cannot obtain
forfeiture of trademarks registered to Mongol Nation is unpersuasive. It
would be premature to address whether the government will ultimately be
able to secure forfeiture under (RICO) as part of the sentence in the
event that the Defendant is convicted.”
So the case continues. And the Mongols legal bills grow. Which is now the actual point of the government’s case.
According to its anonymous author, the
page “is a grassroots social organization aimed at outlawing motorcycles
and prosecuting those who engage in ‘biker’ culture. Join our cause and
help us to rid the roadways of these savages!”
As of this morning, the page had 27
followers and 269 comments to posts like “Did you know biker clubs are
responsible for 90% of sex trafficking, drugs and child pornography in
America?”
And, “Like And Share If You Think Police
Officers Should Be Able To Search Motorcyclists Without Probable
Cause!” Of course, police do that already by using imagined traffic
violations, their expert “training and experience,” drug detecting
wonder dogs and the motor vehicle exception to the Fourth Amendment.
Wait For It
Creating yet more constitutional
exceptions for motorcyclists is something Citizens Against Motorcyclists
is “really trying to push. Here’s why. Bikers already look very
intimidating, most of them carry weapons and also have
Drugs/paraphernalia on them. If anything, Motorcyclists should be open
to this not only to prove they’re abiding all laws, but to also assure
the police officer’s safety. LIKE & SHARE IF YOU AGREE.”
Enjoy Citizens Against Motorcyclists
while you can. Chris Rock once said something like, “If you want to know
whether somebody is stupid or smart, tell him a joke.”
Like, “Don’t you hate people who use big words just to make themselves look perspicacious?”
Citizens Against Motorcyclists is one of those jokes. It is drily tongue in cheek and a little too subtle in the Age of Trump.
Satire Is Dead
Some commenters seem to get it. One describes the page as “PETA meets bikers.”
But satire is currently on its deathbed
so most of them don’t. “What the actual fuck. This is bull shit. If they
can just search me for being on my Harley then they can just search you
for driving your BMW and for being a dumb fuck,” one concerned biker
sputtered.
And, “Ru a fucking Asshole or what.”
And, “Fuck you and your ignorant stereotyping. You wouldn’t qualify to
be biker material. Our standards are far higher.” And, “Frkn nutz!! Get
rid of the soccer moms that are so fucked up on wine and prescription
drugs!!! Then get rid of the Trucking industry as well!!!” And, “…your
dumb ass should go get a booth at Sturgis and spread the word see how
that goes for you.” And, so on.
The real fun has yet to begin. There
are, after all, actual, grassroots groups with names like Concerned
Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles. So just wait until the bikers rights
crusaders discover this guy, whoever he is.
Another great article coming out of California: http://www.ocregister.com/…/lawmakers-should-think-careful…/
By Kerry Jackson | Orange County Register
Crime in California is on the rise and the solution offered
by Sacramento is … releasing suspected criminals back into the community
without requiring them to post bail?
Assembly Bill 42 would, if passed and signed, authorize the
pretrial release of an “arrested person,” and “set a time and place for
the appearance of the arrested person before the appropriate court and
give notice thereof” without the “arrested person” guaranteeing his or
her appearance with a surety bond. Suspects “arrested and booked into
jail for a violent felony” will first have to appear “before a judge or a
magistrate for a hearing” prior to them being “considered for release.”
The law would also transfer to pretrial-service agencies,
and away from judges, the authority to determine how much risk the
suspects pose to the community.
AB42, the California Money Bail Reform Act, is being peddled
as the needed reform of a system that discriminates against the poor.
The Legislative Counsel’s Digest says “this bill would state the intent
of the Legislature to enact legislation to safely reduce the number of
people detained pretrial, while addressing racial and economic
disparities in the pretrial system, to ensure that people are not held
in pretrial detention simply because of their inability to afford money
bail.”
It’s not quite a get-out-of-jail-free card, but Lipstick
Bail Bonds says it “has set the stage to make California the fugitive
capital of the world.”
Dog the Bounty Hunter, also known as Duane Chapman, said
California’s system needs to be modernized, but pointed out an
unintended consequence of the law. It could “let lawbreakers go home and
say they’re poor.”
“It’s not the poor man who runs” anyway, said Chapman, “he has no money to run, it’s just an excuse for someone to say that.”
In addition to increasing the risk of flight and the danger
to a community a non-bonded suspect would pose, the “reform” would harm
an industry. A 2014 Towson University study that looked at a similar
proposal that became law on Jan. 1 in New Jersey found that the “loss in
commercial bail usage will be manifested in the loss of commercial bail
employees and, eventually, the closing of commercial bonding firms.”
“We’re basically out of business,” Kirk Shaw, whose family
operates a bond company in Hackensack, N.J., told the New York Times a
month after the new system went into effect.
According to the study, the financial problems will filter
from the bail industry into the rest of the economy. For every 10
employees lost in the industry, seven additional jobs would be lost,
there would be a $2.1 million loss in economic output, and $600,000 in
wages would be forgone.
Taxpayers could also to take a hit. The report said the
pretrial service unit would cost taxpayers $215 million a year. Since
California’s population is about four and a half times that of New
Jersey’s, the cost here could be close to $1 billion a year if you
extrapolate accordingly.
The concept of bail has been around for centuries, its roots
traced back to medieval England. It was instituted, according to
aboutbail.com, “to balance the playing field among the rich, middle, and
poor classes when individuals were accused of a crime” — which sounds
much like the arguments that reform supporters are making. Previously,
“only those who had enough money and property to post a security were
lucky enough to secure temporary release pending their trials.”
Is it possible that only 21st century California could botch a system that’s worked well for centuries?
After falling for decades, crime in California is ticking
upward. Violent crimes increased 10 percent in 2015 over 2014, according
to the state attorney general. Homicides jumped 9.7 percent, robbery
and aggravated assault by increased more than 8 percent, and crimes
against property climbed 8.1 percent.
In Los Angeles, police say violent crime rose in 2016 for
the third straight year. The San Jose Mercury News reported in January
that that city had the most homicides it’s had in a quarter of a century
last year as violent crime grew 15 percent.
Will AB42 and identical Senate Bill 10 increase these
numbers if enacted? Before lawmakers turn California’s bail system
upside down, they need to watch New Jersey’s experiment. A little more
than one month into the new system there have already been some
“questionable” releases, New Jersey radio station WKXW reports. The
incidents have increased since then. Belleville, N.J., Mayor Raymond
Kimble says the system is “letting too many people out and then they’re
committing more crimes.”
It would irresponsible for Sacramento to act until it knows how its actions will impact public safety.
Kerry Jackson is a fellow with the Center for California Reform at the Pacific Research Institute.
Will your ID stop you from going about your business?... They say its for people on banning orders for violence or drug trafficking who else will be added to this list......your guess is as good as mine......
ID scanners launched across Queensland licensed venues
Tens of thousands of Queenslanders have had a safe night out at
licensed venues across the State after ID scanners were officially
launched last night.
Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Yvette D’Ath said 89,600 IDs were scanned in Safe Night Precincts.
Seven people on banning orders for violence or drug trafficking were flagged trying to enter clubs.
“It is early days but these are very satisfying figures to hear after
just one night of ID scanners officially operating in 180 venues in 15
Safe Night Precincts across Queensland.
“If this system only prevented one family from dealing with the aftermath of a tragedy this morning, it is already worth it.”
“I’d like to thank police officers and 42 compliance officers from the
Office of Liquor Gaming Regulation for their monitoring work on the
ground last night.
“And I’d like to thank venues and patrons for
embracing these new laws which are designed to keep everyone safe on a
fun night out.”
Brisbane Region Acting Assistant Commissioner
Brent Carter said State Liquor Coordinators across Queensland had
performed compliance operations in Safe Night Precincts with their
co-regulators at OLGR.
“Districts have used local
intelligence-led policing to assist with the start of inter-linked ID
scanners being used this weekend.
“Our priority has been to
ensure the safety of the general community as they enjoy a night out
around the state,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Carter said.
It is now law for patrons to have their ID scanned at premises in Safe Night Precincts for entry after 10pm.
“ID scanners are part of the Palaszczuk Government’s strategy to tackle
alcohol-fuelled violence and are designed to ban patrons who have a
history of violence, or drug trafficking convictions, from our venues to
ensure people can have a fun and safe night out,” Mrs D’Ath said.
“Remember, if you’re going out on the town make sure you are carrying ID.”
Tens
of thousands of Queenslanders have had a safe night out at licensed
venues across the State after ID scanners were officially launched last
night.
“It’s a zero-star organization and you can’t go lower than that,” said Charity Navigator
CEO Michael Thatcher. “They don’t have an independent board of
directors, they actually don’t even have a comprehensive board of
directors—only three members on the board at this point in time and some
of them are family. So one can say, is this representative of an
independent board? It’s not.”
Burch took in $65,000 a year as CEO and founder of the NVVF. He’s
also deputy director in the VA’s Office of General Counsel—a federal
employee—working as an attorney for the Department of Veterans Affairs,
where his 2014 salary was $127,000. Burch lives in Washington, D.C.,
where he was recently seen skirting reporters in a Rolls Royce with a front vanity plant that reads “MY ROLLS.”
