Justine Damond ping list.
This is justice. This story is absolutely heartbreaking. Her memory merits justice. She was unarmed and not a threat. Again this was Minneapolis, a place in need of some serious police training. As Rudy commented, when he was NYC Mayor, he insisted a senior experienced LEO be on the scene of any disturbance so that the young LEOs would learn properly how to handle different situations.
WIKI.......The funding of lucrative Somali piracy operations is now structured in a stock exchange, with investors buying and selling shares in upcoming attacks in a bourse in Harardhere.
Pirates say ransom money is paid in large-denomination US dollar bills.
It is delivered to them in burlap sacks which are either dropped from helicopters or cased in waterproof suitcases loaded onto tiny skiffs.
To authenticate the banknotes, pirates use currency-counting machines, the same technology used at foreign exchange bureaus worldwide. According to one pirate, these machines are, in turn, purchased from business connections in Dubai, Djibouti, and other areas.
Hostages seized by the pirates usually have to wait 45 days or more for the ships’ owners to pay the ransom and secure their release.[78]
In 2008, there were also allegations that the pirates received assistance from some members of the Somali diaspora. Somali expatriates, including some members of the Somali community in Canada, reputedly offered funds, equipment and information.[79]
According to the head of the UN’s counter-piracy division, Colonel John Steed, the Al-Shabaab group in 2011 increasingly sought to cooperate with the pirate gangs in the face of dwindling funds and resources for their own activities.[80] Steed, however, acknowledged that he had no definite proof of operational ties between the pirates and the Islamist militants.
Detained pirates also indicated to UNODC officials that some measure of cooperation with Al-Shabaab militants was necessary, as they have increasingly launched maritime raids from areas in southern Somalia controlled by the insurgent outfit. Al-Shabaab members have also extorted the pirates, demanding protection money from them and forcing seized pirate gang leaders in Harardhere to hand over 20% of future ransom proceeds.[81] It has been suggested that al-Qaeda have received funding from pirate operations.
A maritime intelligence source told CBS News that it was “’inconceivable’ to Western intelligence agencies that al Qaeda would not be getting some financial reward from the successful hijackings”.
They go on to express concern about this funding link being able to keep the group satisfied as piracy gains more publicity and higher ransoms.[82]
I thought the headline read “sentenced to death”