By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A state Justice Department employee was among three people arrested for allegedly operating an underground police force in California. Brandon Kiel, 31, of South Los Angeles, was charged with seven counts of impersonating a police officer and is on administrative leave, SignalSCV.com reports. “We cannot comment on the ongoing personnel matter…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The Justice Department plans to help police departments equip officers with body cameras, The Washington Post reports. The DOJ is launching a pilot program to determine the impact of the cameras, which come at a time when protesters nationwide are accusing police of unlawful force and racism. The plan is to…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Less than two years after prosecutors discovered a pattern of racial discrimination, the nation’s largest sheriff’s department reached a sweeping agreement Tuesday with the Justice Department to restore civil rights. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved the deal 4-1 after patterns of abuse were found, including unlawful stops and…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com New Attorney General Loretta Lynch received her first big test after riots broke out in Baltimore this week. Lynch, the first black female attorney general, released a statement soon after violence broke out, examining what happened and “going beyond the criminal civil right investigations” launched last week by her predecessor Eric…
By Hemp Today A 2013 Department of Justice memorandum designed to prioritize the goals of anti-marijuana legislation should shield Indian tribes who are looking at growing hemp as an industrial crop, former ND Federal Prosecutor Timothy Purdon said. The so-called “Cole memo” is a policy statement based on Deputy U.S. Attorney General James M. Cole’s…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Freddie Gray was seen walking and talking when he was placed into a Baltimore police van. But when he emerged, Gray “could not talk, he could not breathe,” Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez said in a story in the Washington Post. Gray died after suffering a severe spinal cord injury. Six…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The FBI and Justice Department admitted for the first time that forensic unit for the bureau provided false testimony in nearly every trial that involved hair analysis, The Washington Post reports. All but two of the 28 examiners with the FBI Laboratory’s microscopic hair comparison unit “overstated forensic matches in ways…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The DEA is under examination for its handling of informant payments. The Department of Justice’s Inspector General probe comes as the DEA spends more money on informants. The DEA spent $33 million last year on informants but has done a poor job in the past tracking the money, wrote The Pittsburgh…
