by Ed Lyon
For decades, officers with California’s Los Angeles Police Department (“LAPD”) have utilized Field Information Cards (“FIC”) for reference whenever they interact with citizens. This contact may take the form of a traffic stop whether or not a citation is issued, obtaining a witness statement, or incidental to ...
by Ed Lyon
Until recently, California was one of only four states in the union that had no mechanism to decertify bad cops. Whenever a cop was fired for misconduct there always seemed to be another police department ready and willing to hire the miscreant.
Law enforcement unions consisting of ...
by Ed Lyon
In the early 20th century, unions were beneficial in that they pushed for safe working conditions and decent wages for the working class. The way our society has evolved, not all unions are what they seem. This seems to be especially true of police unions.
A prime ...
by Ed Lyon
Television may well be the most effective propaganda tool in the world, especially when it comes to portraying forensic scientists and their laboratories as dispassionate and dedicated professionals and their laboratories as pristine and state-of-the-art on shows like CSI and FBI. Long time CLN and PLN ...
by Ed Lyon
For those who have suffered through seemingly endless, slow-moving lines at your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”), only to come up against rude, condescending, petty bureaucrats, there is a brand-new reason to dislike and fear that particular agency. Many DMVs are augmenting their legislative budget allotments ...
by Ed Lyon
Guy Frank first became involved with Louisiana’s criminal justice system in 1975 at age 22. Over the next quarter century, Frank would be arrested 36 times and would be convicted several times for theft and possession of cocaine. He served a three-year prison term at one point ...
by Ed Lyon
Civil asset forfeiture (“CAF”) began as a legal way to take oceangoing vessels from owners who allowed their ships to violate customs regulations, laws, or outright contraband smuggling. After the first declaration of the war on drugs by President Richard Nixon in the 1970s, CAF was expanded ...
by Ed Lyon
Most Americans are probably aware that the U.S. deploys a police force of sorts called the Border Patrol along the country’s Southern border and might be surprised by its growth.
Prior to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center Towers and damaged ...
by Ed Lyon
Despite being the capital of the nation’s largest Red state, Austin, Texas, is as liberally Blue as a city can be, proudly sporting the motto “KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD.” Whether weird or empathetic, Austin has made great strides toward diverting money from its police department to improve law ...
by Ed Lyon
There is evidence of legal systems, considered primitive by some, that have required a false accuser to face the same punishment the falsely accused would have had to suffer had the false accusations resulted in a conviction. What a completely different, fair, and equitable justice system the ...
