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Saint Kavanaugh

Pierre Tristam | October 4, 2018

Whether Kavanaugh was confirmed or not is irrelevant: whoever’s next might be less personally sleazy, more temperamentally amoebic, but judicially? Same shill, different name.

Cops’ Stop and Frisk Is Cut Back. Crime Doesn’t Spike. It Tumbles.

FlaglerLive | January 21, 2018

Police have radically cut back their controversial use of stop-and-frisk policies in New York. To the surprise of some, crime didn’t spike, but tumbled yet again.

Cops Aren’t Under Siege.
Civilians and Liberties Are.

Pierre Tristam | December 9, 2016

It’s a widely accepted but dangerous myth: that cops are under siege, handcuffed by “new restrictions.” The reality is the opposite, with more unbridled and brutal policing than we care to admit.

Can You Be Punished For Refusing DUI Test? 2 Highest Courts About to Decide.

FlaglerLive | May 31, 2016

Sept. 1 arguments before the Florida court on the question may be made moot by a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, expected in June, on the same issue. U.S. Justices were skeptical of breath tests.

Profiling By Computer in Florida: What Algorithmic Injustice Looks Like in Broward

FlaglerLive | May 26, 2016

Courtrooms are using computer programs to predict who will be a future criminal, informing decisions from bail to sentencing. Meant to be fairer than human biases, one such program in Florida is particularly likely to falsely flag black defendants as future criminals, wrongly labeling them this way at almost twice the rate as white defendants.

License for Probable Cause: Justices Rule You May Be Pulled Over For Any Visible Tag Issue

FlaglerLive | May 13, 2016

Florida Justices, in a 5-2 decision, rejected an appeal from a driver stopped by Orlando police because a tag light and wires were hanging over the license plate on a vehicle he was driving.

Sheriff Applauds New Law Regulating Police Authority to Seize Cash and Property

FlaglerLive | March 17, 2016

“Civil asset forfeiture” is a controversial practice that gives police authority to seize cash, cars, homes or pother property suspected of use in a crime even absent an arrest. Florida just reformed the law to make forfeiture more difficult and accountable.

From a Speeding Stop to an Accusation of Rioting at Flagler Jail: Dustin Singleton’s Spiral

FlaglerLive | October 29, 2015

Dustin Singleton, 35, was accused of inciting a riot at the Flagler County Jail Tuesday, a 2nd degree felony, after he refused orders to go to his bunk. He was serving 30 days on a misdemeanor probation violation over a minor pot possession.

For Flagler’s NAACP, More Trust Than Fear of Local Police as Body Cams Clip On

FlaglerLive | October 28, 2015

Flagler NAACP members were mostly reassured by use-of-force evidence that, according to the Sheriff’s Office, has declined in Palm Coast, thanks in large part to police body cameras.

Sheriff Plans DUI Checkpoint Saturday at SR100 East of Old Kings Road Saturday Night

FlaglerLive | August 27, 2015

The checkpoints typically result in far fewer arrests for drunk driving than for other reasons: drivers may charged with a host of issues that have nothing to do with drunk driving, including for drug possession or for non-moving violations such as non-functioning headlights or tail lights or irregular registration.

Backdoor Snooping: Why the U.S. Is Wrong to Oppose Full Encryption of Your iPhone

FlaglerLive | June 29, 2015

The U.S. argues that the country will be less safe if the proper authorities have no “backdoor” – a piece of code that lets them in. Software engineers call backdoors “vulnerabilities,” deliberate efforts to weaken security.

Taxpayers’ Tab in Gov. Scott’s Losing Drug-Testing Lawsuits: $1.5 Million

FlaglerLive | June 19, 2015

The $1.5 million in legal fees, including nearly $1 million to civil-rights lawyers, are because of Gov. Scott’s failed push to force welfare applicants and tens of thousands of state workers to submit to suspicionless drug tests.

Stupid Pot Busts

FlaglerLive | June 5, 2015

The conviction for pot smoking of a Palm Coast resident who’d never had so much as a traffic ticket illustrates the sickness of a police and judicial system’s wrongheaded marijuana fixation.

As Compliance Replaces Controversy, Sheriff Cautions of 2 DUI Checkpoints in Palm Coast

FlaglerLive | December 18, 2014

The checkpoints, which must follow strict guidelines, will be located at Palm Coast Pkwy NW and Frontage Road as well as State Road 100, East of Old Kings Road.

Cops Get Away With Murder Because They Know They Can. It’s America In Black and White.

FlaglerLive | December 7, 2014

Resisting arrest is a cop’s license to kill: In retrospect there was little doubt that grand juries in Missouri and New York would let off the cops responsible for the killing of two unarmed black men.

Fifth Court Decision in a Row Calls Rick Scott’s Drug-Testing Scheme Illegal

FlaglerLive | December 3, 2014

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a Florida law pushed by Gov. Rick Scott requiring welfare applicants to submit to drug tests before they can receive benefits.

Gov. Scott Gives Up Drug-Testing Half of State’s Workers, But Still Aims Pee Cup at Rest

FlaglerLive | July 9, 2014

The governor has not conceded that forcing state employees to undergo urinalysis is unconstitutional despite lower court rulings that spurred the concessions. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year refused to take up the case, but it is believed Scott will again ask the high court to rule on the case if he ultimately loses in lower court proceedings.

ACLU Sues Sarasota Police For Access To Records On Cell Phone “Stingray” Tracking Program

FlaglerLive | June 8, 2014

The ACLU of Florida has been seeking public records for several months now from about 30 police departments and sheriffs’ offices all over Florida in an effort to access whether or not police are not trampling on privacy rights.

No Castle Doctrine: A Homeowner Is Arrested in F Section For Refusing to Let In Cops to Serve a Warrant

FlaglerLive | June 3, 2014

Susan Jones, for more than seven years a home owner on Palm Coast’s Ferdinand Lane, was arrested when she attempted to refuse entry to deputies who wanted to serve an arrest warrant on another woman staying in Jones’s house.

0-For-5: In latest Blow to Scott, U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Appeal on Drug-Testing State Workers

FlaglerLive | April 21, 2014

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision not to take up the case means that the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling stands: Drug tests can’t be justified constitutionally for many of the 85,000 workers who would have been subject to Scott’s policy. The two sides continue to carry out a painstaking process of looking at different categories of workers to determine whether some could be subject to drug testing — a process stemming from the appeals court ruling.

Despite Parental Notification Law, Court Finds Room for Teens to Protect Privacy When Seeking Abortion

FlaglerLive | April 16, 2014

Florida voters in 2004 approved a constitutional amendment that requires parents to be notified before their minor daughters can have abortions. But an appeals court ruling released Friday shows how far teens can go to challenge the law–and preserve their privacy when seeking an abortion.

Federal Lawsuit Against Palm Coast Code Enforcement Charges Search and Due Process Violations

FlaglerLive | March 13, 2014

Linda Thomas, a retired attorney in Palm Coast, filed the lawsuit in federal district court, charging the city’s code enforcement division with violations of the 4th and 14th amendments. Flagler County circuit court in two rulings already found the code enforcement division had improperly and arbitrarily cited Thomas, but the court did not address constitutional issues.

Arrested For Felony Child Abuse and Pot Possession: The Mother’s Account

FlaglerLive | February 5, 2014

Sophia Zhudro is the 30-year-old resident of Palm Coast’s B-Section who was arrested on Jan. 24 for marijuana possession as she was parked with her 15-month-old on the side of a residential street in her neighborhood. She tells her side of the story, taking issue with the way the incident was related by police.

He Won’t Give Up: Scott Taking Drug Testing of State Employees to U.S. Supreme Court

FlaglerLive | January 15, 2014

Lawyers for Scott filed a petition this week asking the Supreme Court to hear the case, after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year ruled against across-the-board drug testing, but various groups blasted the Scott administration for continuing to pursue the drug tests. They pointed to repeated past rulings against such drug testing.

Gov. Scott Now 0-For-4 on Drug-Testing as Federal Judge Harshly Criticizes Violation of Welfare Recipients’ Rights

FlaglerLive | January 2, 2014

In a harshly worded, 30-page opinion, the judge concluded that “there is no set of circumstances under which the warrantless, suspicionless drug testing at issue in this case could be constitutionally applied.”

Your Backpack Please: Florida Appeal Court Rules Legal Search Based on Anonymous Tip

FlaglerLive | December 27, 2013

A high school student who took a loaded gun to school argued that the search of his back-pack, based on an anonymous tip, was illegal. A 2-1 ruling of the Third District Court of Appeal disagreed.

CSI Flagler: Sheriff Launches Crime Lab and Inks $75,000 Deal With Private DNA Lab

FlaglerLive | October 14, 2013

Anticipating the day when FDLE’s crime labs will not be as readily accessible, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is investing in a crime scene investigator of its own, a mobile CSI unit, and a $75,000 annual contract with DNA Labs International, a private company, to more aggressively use DNA testing in property crimes.

Should Cops Have Power to Track You in Real Time Through Cell Phones? Court Will Decide.

FlaglerLive | October 7, 2013

Grappling with privacy rights amid fast-changing technology, the Florida Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments in a challenge to police using “real-time” cell-phone information to track a suspect in a drug case.

SWAT Team Deployed Again–For Minor Drug Arrest on Palm Coast’s Pine Grove Drive

FlaglerLive | September 26, 2013

Two young children and a middle-aged woman were detained while, for the second time in four days, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday deployed its SWAT team to serve a warrant on a suspect later charged with possession of marijuana, cocaine, and prescription pills without a prescription.

5th Amendment Extends to iPhone Passcode, Court Rules, Denying Police Access to Defendant’s Phone