Photography and video recordings both protect honest police departments against false accusations and assure communities receive information about instances of official misconduct. When citizens exercise their rights to photography and video recording, they are also bolstering the work of good officers by helping identify a few corrupt ones. Yet not everyone sees it this way,…
Law
Crime, Government Spending, Law, Liberty
On 40th Anniversary Of War On Drugs, Cops Decry Obama’s Drug Policy
by JOHN ADAMS •
The least one can say is that these last decades have failed to assure Americans’ health or safety. There’s irony, too, as even the regulation-favoring Richard Nixon would not have imagined nor supported the course the war on drugs has taken. We’ve wasted money, enriching only agencies and vendors quick to slop at a trough…
Freedom of Speech, Law, Liberty
Nat Hentoff: Anonymous Speech is Protected Speech
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Cato Institute filmed noted civil libertarian Nat Hentoff discussing topics of liberty in honor of his eighty-sixth birthday. Age has scarcely slowed Hentoff down, and he writes and speaks frequently on topics in law (and jazz, for which he is equally well-regarded). In this clip, Hentoff discusses the traditional American right to anonymous speech.…
City, Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Police, Politics, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Assembly Bill 173
by JOHN ADAMS •
Yesterday, Rep. Don Pridemore’s Arizona-syle immigration legislation received a numerical designation: Assembly Bill 173. The full text of the bill is online at the Legislature’s website. The bill has the following initial sponsors: “Representatives Pridemore, Wynn, LeMahieu, Kleefisch, Steineke and Jacque; Cosponsored by Senator Lasee.” One could have expected Wynn to support this measure. His…
City, Freedom of Speech, Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Police
The Government’s War on Cameras
by JOHN ADAMS •
Photography and recordings do much to safeguard citizens’ rights and protect honest officers against false accusations. Places in which officials discourage lawful, constitutional photography are ones in which officials not only act outside the law but also imprudently. There will be fewer injustices, and better policing, in a word of expansive photographers’ rights. By the…
Crime, Law, Walworth County
Update: Walworth County District Attorney Koss’s Foolish, Ignorant Price Tag on Justice
by JOHN ADAMS •
I wrote in January about Walworth County District Attorney Koss’s Foolish, Ignorant Price Tag on Justice, where D.A. Koss expected a crime victim to pay for the cost of an expert witness against the woman alleged to have defrauded her. Needless to say, this expectation called the prosecution of the criminal defendant, Beth Reeves, into…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Libertarians, Liberty
Impediments to Second Amendment Rights
by JOHN ADAMS •
There a story over at the Janesville Gazette that catalogs the objections that some police leaders have to concealed carry rights (and probably to many other gun rights). See, Law enforcement against concealed-carry legislation. I doubt that opposition to gun rights is nearly so strong among field officers as it is among administrators. In any…
Law, Politics, Wisconsin
Of JoAnne Kloppenburg
by JOHN ADAMS •
On the Saturday before the April election, JoAnne Kloppenburg visited Whitewater, and I went out to see her. Like most people, I’d never seen her in person, and wanted to hear her talk. (Justice Prosser’s had a more public career, in the legislature and more recently on the court; many people have run into him,…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Police
Institute for Justice Shines Light on Law Enforcement Slush Funds
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve posted before about the harm to sound law enforcement through ‘policing for profit,’ where the promise of financial gain motivates law enforcement efforts. Fortunately, the Institute for Justice has done fine work exposing the distortion — and lack of accountability — in departments that drift into this bad habit. See, for example, The Institute…
City, Law, Police
Simple and Reasonable Compliance with the Law
by JOHN ADAMS •
To enforce the law, one must observe the law. Conversely, one cannot credibly enforce the law by ignoring portions one does not like. This principle is so simple and clear that stating as much states the obvious. Whitewater has a lawful requirement that senior city leaders live within the city limits, among them nearly a…
Law
An Epic Eminent Domain Battle: Inner-City Kids, Boxing Gym Fight Back
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Institute for Justice highlights a case that’s heartbreaking — how developers and government collude in the wrongful use of eminent domain, to the harm of at-risk children. Here’s what’s at stake: A San Diego-area boxing gym that serves at-risk kids is showing what it takes to fight for what is right and to win.…
Law, Open Government
Sunshine Week, March 13 – 19
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s Sunshine Week in America this week. Here’s a quick description of the initiative, from the Sunshine Week website: Sunshine Week is a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in the public’s right…
Law, Liberty
Concise video on the Rule of Law
by JOHN ADAMS •
Elkhorn, Law, Walworth County
Walworth County District Attorney Koss’s Foolish, Ignorant Price Tag on Justice
by JOHN ADAMS •
Readers will recall a story from 2009 about Walworth County’s lawsuit against a crime victim to collect part of the cost of an expert the county hired to aid in the prosecution of those who victimized her. I wrote at the time that the county’s lawsuit was “an astonishing and disgraceful departure from legal…