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LA Confidential: Vintage crime photographs from the LAPD archives
04.22.2014
02:56 pm
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Morgue, man with floral tattoo, 1945
 
Back in 2001, photographer Merrick Morton—who also happens to be a reserve LAPD officer—came upon a massive archive of Los Angeles Police Department crime scene and evidence photos which had been hidden for decades in a huge storage facility in downtown LA. The photos were buried among 150 years of police records in cardboard boxes.

When it was discovered that some of the boxes contained decomposing cellulose nitrate negatives, a serious fire hazard, the Fire Department recommended that all the negatives be destroyed. The team lobbied for the archive to be only selectively destroyed and their efforts paid off; some boxes of images were determined to be unsalvageable and destroyed, while the remaining images were sent to a cold storage facility where they reside today.

Around one million photos have been unearthed so far and choice selections, presented by Fototeka, will be exhibited at Paramount Pictures Studios from April 25-27 in Los Angeles.


Detail of two bullet holes in car window, 1942
 

Shoes, arm, and knife, 1950
 

Victim’s feet hanging off bed, 1934
 

Detail of bullet holes in screen, 1930
 

Onion field reenactment, 1963
 

Bank robbery note, 1965
 
Via Feature Shoot

Posted by Tara McGinley
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04.22.2014
02:56 pm
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Not quite ‘Phase IV’: Woman kept awake at night by ants ringing her doorbell
05.31.2013
09:13 am
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A 75-year-old woman from Offenburg in Germany, was kept awake at night by a colony of ants ringing her doorbell.

According to the Metro the woman became so fed-up with the nocturnal bell-ringing that she contacted the police, in the hope of catching the prankster.

After an investigation, local police discovered the culprit was a colony of “prank playing ants.”

They said the insects had built such a big home that the nest pressed the switching elements together, keeping the bell ringing.

In the end, officers removed the nest with a knife, allowing the lady to enjoy a peaceful night’s sleep for the first time in a while.

There was no news on the ants but we wouldn’t be surprised if they’re off playing pranks somewhere else.

It’s a small pity Saul Bass didn’t include such larks when he made Phase IV, his cult film about intelligent ants at war with humanity.
 

 
Via the Metro
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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05.31.2013
09:13 am
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Cops and Nobbers: Police pounding the beat with a dildo in their hands
05.28.2013
09:13 am
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Oo-er. Bringing a double meaning to when a cop says “Assume the positions,” or “Up against the wall,” (fnarr, fnarr) Cops and Nobbers re-imagines different police forces pounding the beat with dildos in their hands. 

The future of policing? Think about it… who would want to take on a police officer if there’s a chance of getting battered by a double-ender.

A few more Cops and Nobbers here
 
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More truncheon vouchers, after the jump…
 

READ ON
Posted by Paul Gallagher
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05.28.2013
09:13 am
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Police use acne lights to get out of a spot of bother?

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Young troublesome teenagers may soon find themselves in a spot of bother, when Cardiff Police introduce pink beautician’s lights to disperse their unwanted presence. The “acne lights” will highlight any spots, boils, pimples, and blotches, which it is hoped will lead to much hilarity and so disperse the gangs. The police response comes after 18 ASBOs (Anti-Social Behavior Orders) were issued over the last 6 weeks. Acne lights have been previously used in Nottinghamshire. The Cardiff police are also considering other deterrents, including high-pitched mosquito alarms, and classical music.

I wonder what’s to stop these pesky kids from smashing the lights or nicking the speakers?
 

 
With thanks to Tom Law
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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03.12.2012
06:04 pm
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London Police prepared to use Rubber Bullets against Student Demonstrators

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I recall years ago, during the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, an article in a Socialist Republican magazine that stated if rubber bullets were to be used in the 6 counties, then one day, they would be openly used by the police on mainland Britain.

That day has arrived, as Scotland Yard announced yesterday that baton rounds, or rubber bullets, have been authorized for a student demonstration in London tomorrow.

What the fuck? A student demonstration merits rubber bullets?

According to the Daily Mail:

Baton gun rounds have never been used on the British mainland, but they have been linked to deaths in Northern Ireland.

Commander Simon Pountain, who is in charge of the police operation, said armoured vehicles, known as Jankels, would also be on standby if the protests saw a repeat of this summer riots or the chaos last year during the student fees demonstrations.

Baton rounds were pre-authorised during August’s riots but were not used. This is the first time they have been pre-authorised for a planned protest march on the mainland.

The march, organised by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, is due to go from Bloomsbury in Central London to the City. It is being kept away from the St Paul’s anti-capitalism protest but activists from the cathedral camp are expected to join in.

Last year, the then Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson was criticised for only sending out 225 officers who were overwhelmed by hordes of rampaging student protesters smashing into the Conservative Party headquarters on November 10.

And on December 9, during another student protest, Prince Charles’s limousine was besieged in the worst royal security breach in a decade.

The Duchess of Cornwall’s face was a mask of terror as rioters swarmed around their Rolls-Royce Phantom VI, kicking, hitting and rocking the car. One managed to poke her with a stick through a window.

I wonder if the Duchess’s face will be a “mask of terror” should any students be shot with rubber bullets tomorrow?

Baton Rounds are made of aluminium and plastic, and are fired from a Heckler & Koch L104A1 Launcher.

6 inches in length, and weighing 5 ounce, they can travel up to 135mph and accurate to 70 yards.

Unlike rubber bullets which are fired into the ground, baton rounds are fired directly at a human target.

The blog on the Adam Smith Institute has described the police plans as:

...a worrying step towards a dangerous “shoot first, ask questions later” approach to riot control, and should be reversed.

Despite widespread public perception of them as relatively harmless method of crowd control, rubber bullets are extremely dangerous. In a study of 90 patients suffering from injuries from their use in Northern Ireland, one person died and 17 were permanently disabled or disfigured. Over 35 years of their use in Northern Ireland, they have killed 17 people. Rubber bullets can be lethal to those they are fired upon.

Perhaps such force was needed at times in Northern Ireland. But it’s obvious that student protesters won’t present the same level of danger to civilians and police officers as riots at the height of the Troubles. Previous student protests have turned ugly, but not on a wide scale. The types of clashes that took place would not have been avoided by rubber bullets.

While the Daily Telegraph notes:

The talk of baton rounds ahead of what is intended to be a peaceful protest caused some consternation.

One member of the Metropolitan Police Authority compared the tactic to one used by a “murderous dictatorship”.

Jenny Jones, the MPA Green Party members, said: “Any officer that shoots a student with a baton round will have to answer to the whole of London.

“The police have a duty to facilitate peaceful demonstrations, which is why all this talk of baton rounds is very unhelpful as it will stop ordinary people from exercising their right to protest.

“The prospect of the police shooting at unarmed demonstrators with any kind of bullet is frankly appalling, un-British and reminiscent of scenes currently being used by murderous dictatorships in the Middle East.”

10,000 students are expected to march tomorrow against Fees and Cuts, and its not just the threat of rubber bullets the police have been using to bully the students.

The Guardian reports that some demonstrators have been sent a warning letter by the police.

The single page letter, which arrived through letter boxes on Tuesday, reads: “It is in the public and your own interest that you do not involve yourself in any type of criminal or antisocial behaviour. We have a responsibility to deliver a safe protest which protects residents, tourists, commuters, protesters and the wider community. Should you do so we will at the earliest opportunity arrest and place you before the court.”

Signed by Simon Pountain, the Met commander leading Wednesday’s operations, the letter goes on to warn of detrimental effects of conviction on their chances of employment and says that if people find themselves near disorder they should move away at the earliest opportunity.

Let’s be clear - these actions by the police are ill-conceived and dumb. By sending out what can only be described as threatening letters and by announcing they intend to use baton rounds, if required, the police are showing they are more interested in bullying the public with the threat of violence, rather than protecting them.

For details of the tomorrow’s student demonstration by National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts check here.
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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11.08.2011
05:12 pm
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After the London Riots: ‘These are your Police’
08.11.2011
10:55 am
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Go for a walk in London and you’ll be filmed by over 300 CCTV cameras - all without your permission. The footage is then used by various groups and authorities, including the Metropolitan Police Service, Transport for London and a number of London boroughs, who share the CCTV images between them.

But if you turn the tables and film the Metropolitan Police, this is what can happen, as RafousE16 found out:

Was on the barking road recording the police searching a young black male and watch how they reacted and what they did to me and you wonder why the youth are rioting police need to protect us no man handle people like they are doing. Also to add I am not black I am quarter cast and this shows you don’t need dark skin to be man handled…

 

 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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08.11.2011
10:55 am
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What your grow room looks like after the cops visit
05.20.2011
08:37 pm
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The Saginaw County Sheriff’s Department has claimed their “destruction policy” will change after a legal medical marijuana grower released photos of his basement grow room following a “visit” from the police, reports Toke of the Town:

Deputies will discontinue their policy of destroying all grow room equipment when they serve search warrants at the homes of medical marijuana patients or caretakers, Saginaw County Sheriff’s Detective Randy P. Pfau claimed.

Edwyn W. Boyke Jr., 64, of Saginaw Township, released the sobering photos after the raid conducted by deputies and federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents in the basement of his home, reports Gus Burns of The Saginaw News.

The police raid of Boyke’s home and the resulting photos raised public concern about police procedures when dealing with legal marijuana patients.

Police claim Boyke violated marijuana laws, and in the raid destroyed equipment which the medical marijuana patient said cost him $7,000.

“It’s so new to us, this new law,” Detective Pfau whined, “so we’re acting on protocol that’s been in place… forever with manufacture of marijuana.”

Not mentioned by Pfau is the simple fact that Michigan voters legalized the medicinal use of marijuana almost two years ago, which seems to this writer to be adequate time, even for thick-headed, pot phobic cops to learn the damned laws have changed, already.

Pfau claimed the old way of doing things was to “take a portion” of the grow equipment to present as evidence and document the rest with photos and inventory sheets.

Because the possession and farming of marijuana is no longer inherently illegal, due to Michigan’s medical marijuana law, Pfau said deputies will “adjust their procedures.”

Now, does that just mean they’ll smile more while they bust up patients’ equipment and destroy their medicine? Stay tuned.

Photos by Edwyn W. Boyke.
 
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Via Toke of the Town
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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05.20.2011
08:37 pm
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A Tale of Two Cities
04.30.2011
11:00 am
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A tale of two cities: London and Glasgow, yesterday, April 29 2011.
 

 
With thanks to Joseph Mckay
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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04.30.2011
11:00 am
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Controversial professor Chris Knight arrested over planned ‘Right Royal Orgy’ against Royal Wedding

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News reaches Dangerous Minds that one of the organizers of tomorrow’s Government of the Dead’s Right Royal Orgy / Zombie Wedding has been allegedly arrested for “potential breach of the peace.”

The Metropolitan Police is concerned over professor of anthropology, Chris Knight‘s intentions, to be-head of effigies of the Royal Family with a guillotine. Last year, Mr Knight, a professor of anthropology, made national headlines over his support for the student demonstrations at Tory HQ. In 2009, he took part in the “Hang a Banker” demonstration.

The Right Royal Orgy which will take place in London, at the same time as the Royal Wedding is advertised on Facebook as follows:

The Government of the Dead requests the pleasure of your company at The Right Royal Orgy mass bed in, love in and touch up in the shadow of the working guillotine!

Bring sumptuous trappings, extravagant and outre costumery, and duvets decorated with ‘blessings’ and ‘wellwishings’ for the royal nuptials.

We will gather from 10am in Soho Square, and process via Eros statue Piccadilly to bare our tidings of great joy to one and all in Westminster!

Yes folks, there will be a spanking new working guillotine on hand! The Hell’s Grannies’ team of tricoteuses will be directing the entire operation! Remember this is YOUR celebration! We’re paying for the party, so it’s OUR party! The invitations must have been lost in the post what with CUTS to the ROYAL MALE!

Suggested costume themes: Bunga Bunga bloc; Hieronymous Bosch bloc; Bloody Naked/Sluts v Cuts bloc; Big Penis bloc; Sheela-na-Gig bloc; Executioners bloc; Hell’s Granny Tricoteuses bloc (bring your knitting needles); Bunny Girrrll Bloc (is the year of the Playboy Bunny’s revenge!); Werewolf bloc; Balaklava Body bloc…and more than you can ever imagine!

casting couch auditions for Marie Antoinette (with cake!) and naked BUTTlers now on…
all genders need apply to the bunny boss!

For details of the event check here

Below is a video of Chris Knight’s arrest.

Update:

The Guardian confirms that Chris Knight has been arrested, along with Camilla Power and Patrick Macroida. The 3 activists were arrested outside Mr Knight’s home at 18.15 hours on April 28, as they were preparing to drive their theatrical props, including a home-made guillotine and effigies, into central London when three police cars and two police vans drew up near Knight’s home in Brockley. Fellow activist Mike Raddie told the Guardian:

“Chris was arrested first. He lay down on the pavement opposite his house to make the arrest difficult,” said Raddie. “He was pulled up by four police officers and two bundled him into the back of a van.

“Camilla was put in the back of one of the police cars. Patrick was dressed up as an executioner when he was arrested.”

Raddie said the police also seized a van containing the group’s props, which included a wooden guillotine. “It’s a working guillotine but it doesn’t have a blade – just wood painted silver,” he added.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: “This evening, 28 April, officers arrested three people – two males aged 68 and 45, and a 60-year-old woman – in Wickham Road, SE4 on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance and breach of the peace.

“They are currently in custody at Lewisham police station.”

A Channel 4 film crew were present during the arrests, filming for the Unofficial Royal Wedding,which is due to air at 19.10pm on Monday May 2. Some of their equipment, which was in the activists’ van, was also confiscated.

Read the full article here.
 

 
Previously on DM

Students demonstrate outside Tory H.Q. London


 
Bonus clip of Chris Knight on ITV Daybreak explaining plans for Right Toyal Orgy, after the jump…
 

READ ON
Posted by Paul Gallagher
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04.28.2011
06:46 pm
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BBC4’s Reggae Britannia documentary liberated

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Somebody’s finally liberated Reggae Britannia, BBC4’s excellent—though by no means not exhaustive—documentary on the origins, growth and influence of British reggae from the ‘60s to the present. Reggae Britannia takes you from the scene’s ska beginnings in the hands of the children of the country’s first post-war wave of Carribean immigrants (known as the Windrush generation), through to the emergence of Bob Marley, the first Brixton riots, the UK sound system phenomenon, the Two-Tone era, reggae’s merging with punk and appropriation by pop, and more. Reggae Britannia is definitely worth a look.

Here’s the trailer…click on any of the title links or graphic above to check the full thing. And please, watch instead of embed so we can hold off our friends at the Beeb from bringing it down for at least a short while.
 

Posted by Ron Nachmann
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02.19.2011
02:10 pm
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