Like the URL says, this website is about unknown news.
We present a concise once-weekly wrap-up of news that was underplayed, ignored, or simply lost in the non-stop news cycle. Our news comes only from mainstream, professional journalists or (rarely) other sources we trust entirely, with no nuttiness and no interest in the same news you see everywhere else.
About this "bad cops" page
Cops are very nearly worshipped in our society. On endless TV shows, in movies, police procedural novels, in the newspapers and on the nightly news, police are usually presented as virtue personified -- as if it's heroic to button up a blue shirt and pin on a badge.
It's not.
What some cops do while wearing the uniform makes them heroes ... and what other cops do, on-duty and off, reveals them as thugs.
So if you're looking for more news of police heroism, you've come to the wrong place. If you want to be told again that the policeman is your friend, that cops are the good guys and robbers are the bad guys, you'll find such reassurance on every newscast around the clock, and on every cop show from Dragnet to CSI: Miami.
This page is for readers brave enough to face facts:
All cops are not heroes and that's a fact, but because of the myth that "all cops are heroes," there's minimal call for disciplining bad cops, and maximal call for "forgiving," and "understanding" the tough work of being a cop. And that's despicable, and terrifying.
Police work is tough, of course. It's among the most difficult jobs in the world, work that deserves our respect. And turning a blind eye toward police misconduct -- allowing crooked, corrupt, outright criminal cops to have long careers in law enforcement -- only makes it more difficult and dangerous for the good cops.
Letting cops get away with crime, or "punishing" police misconduct with long, leisurely paid suspensions, or probation, or sweet deals that allow a policeman's own police record to be expunged, or any of the other special treatments cops typically receive when they're accused of wrongdoing, is assinine and counterproductive.
We'd like to see good cops get a raise, and bad cops held accountable for their crimes. Any other policy is an invitation to savages and brutes -- to button up a blue shirt, pin on a badge, and break the law with impunity.
--Helen & Harry Highwater, Unknown News
The bad news we're presenting here is, of course, only the tip of the tip of the iceberg.
As with any crime, only a tiny fraction of police misconduct is ever caught, and we can only guess what fraction of what's caught actually makes it into the newspapers, and of the rare police misconduct that is reported in the media, surely we stumble across only a tiny sliver.
Of that sliver, these are just a few selected highlights.
We'll say thanks on our main page if we use your link.
Some recommended resources
American Civil Liberties Union: I wish they had the funding and attitude to fight harder, but they do accomplish a lot of good and I'm a card-carrying member and if you're not you should be.
Blue Must Be True: "... to hold law enforcement officers and government officials accountable when police performance lacks integrity and professionalism."
BobbyWatch: Keeping an eye on police corruption in the United Kingdom.
Roadblock Revelations: "General information and discussions regarding growing threats to our right to privacy & travel".
CopWatch: Fights police abuse, brutality, and corruption. It's a national group with lots of local chapters, but it started with Berkeley Copwatch (I was a member when I lived there), and that's probably still their most effective local group. "Policing the police."
Drue Myers Journal: Ongoing coverage of official corruption cases, with a strong interest in criminal cops, prosecutors, judges, and jailers.
HighwayRobbery.net: Info & advice about California red light camera tickets.
Injustice Everywhere: "... gathering information about reported incidents of police misconduct across the US, analyzing and compiling statistics based from several sources, and then publishing the results of all this information in a reader-friendly way in order to encourage informed debate where it was once impossible to do.
Photography is Not a Crime: Activist Carlos Miller's blog keeps an eye on the more egregious cases of police misconduct, especially in interactions with reporters and photographers.
PoliceAbuse.org: Well-funded organization runs video stings of police operations.
PoliceCrimes.com: News and information on police brutality and criminality.
RateMyCop.org: "... allows registered users to leave written feedback about their interactions with police officers, and rank the officer's service based on three criteria: Professionalism, Fairness and Satisfaction."
RealCrimes.com: Real cover-up and corruption by law enforcement. Real family frustration and heartbreak.
Roadblocks: What to expect and how to handle the situation
Simple Justice: A New York criminal defense blog, with a healthy distaste for police corruption and misconduct.
Truth in Justice: An educational non-profit organized to educate the public regarding the vulnerabilities in the U. S. criminal justice system that make the criminal conviction of wholly innocent persons possible
