The basic premise of Florida’s Public Records Act is that the public has a right to access any records dealing with official government business. Its purpose is to promote public awareness and knowledge of government actions to ensure the government remains accountable to the people.
The Arizona senator who was trying to pass a law that would have made it illegal to record police from within 20 feet withdrew his bill after a national backlash that anybody could have predicted.
Anybody except John Kavanagh, the retired cop turned republican legislator who failed to do his research before proposing such a preposterous law.
Florida’s famous Sunshine Law is under attack in the state legislature today as a state House Committee has already voted to eliminate the provision that guarantees government agencies must pay citizens’ attorney fees when public records are illegally withheld.
Its companion measure, Florida State Senate Bill 1220, passed in committee today with a 3-0 vote and two abstentions.
More than a year after he and his wife were fired from an Indiana sheriff’s office for a scandal involving $250,000 that went missing, the former deputy was arrested for having used his patrol car to protect a massive drug operation while he was still employed.
And that comes just more than a year after Jason Wood and his wife, Teresa, were arrested for possession of synthetic drugs, specifically Spice, a synthetic type of marijuana that was made illegal in 2012 after it was proven to be much more dangerous than natural marijuana.
Two seasoned Texas cops are being investigated by the federal government for running an illegal off-shore gambling scheme for over five years.
Houston police officers Steve Glezman and Brian Jordan have both been in the police force for over 20 years.
Oblivious to the backlash that left a Texas politician looking like an unconstitutional buffoon last year, an Arizona senator is proposing to make it illegal to record cops from within 20 feet.
John Kavanagh, a republican who is also a retired cop, said such a law is necessary for officer safety.
After it was revealed that Colorado has some of the weakest laws in the nation in weeding out bad cops, the state’s police certification board implemented new standards that would make it mandatory for all potential police officers to receive psychological and physical evaluations before they get hired.
The Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training also implemented new rules that would prevent rogue cops from simply transferring to a new department after losing their job over misconduct.
A New Orleans police officer was sentenced last week to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Michael Thomassie, 41, who in August was convicted of raping a 7-year-old girl more than 10 years ago, was sentenced by the New Orleans Parish criminal courts Judge Tracey Flemings-Davillier. He was found guilty of aggravated rape earlier this year on Aug. 20.
During jury selection of his trial, Thomassie sent a selfie and raunchy texts to his girlfriend in Florida.
Now, another inmate wants to make Thomassie his boyfriend.
A former NFL star, who then became a deputy for Osceola County in Orlando, Florida was acquitted on Saturday by a federal jury on charges of stealing people’s identities and over $500,000 in false income tax returns.
Titus Dixon, 49, who was a wide receiver for both the National Football League and Canadian Football League, was cleared by a jury in Tallahassee over the weekend.
He had been a deputy in Osceola County for nine years and was fired in 2014 when he was indicted.
A sergeant for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is being investigated after deleting video footage and failing to arrest an off-duty officer who was caught soliciting a prostitute for sex during a major prostitute sting operation in Florida.
Busted!
Sergeant Oscar Cardenas, who oversees the Lake Worth division, allowed the disgraced Boynton Beach cop to leave the scene of a prostitution sting operation without getting arrested after he was caught requesting oral sex from an undercover officer posing as a prostitute.
