Free Republic

A former chief executive officer of the red-light camera company Redflex has pleaded guilty to bribing Columbus elected officials - including Council President Andrew Ginther - through the Ohio Democratic Party to install the cameras and keep them operating in the city. Karen L. Finley, 55, of Cave Creek, Ariz., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, according a press release from Carter M. Stewart, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. Records from the U.S. District in Columbus show that from 2005 to 2013, Finley made campaign contributions to elected public officials in...

Yesterday I started to delve into the Dennis Hastert case, paying particular attention to the specific crimes with which the former Speaker is being charged. But even after I finished writing about it and reading some of the comments here, I wasn’t very happy with my conclusions. There’s something very unsettling about the entire case (leaving out the obvious, horrible alleged child rape parts of it) but I felt that I wasn’t quite able to put my finger on it. Today I found someone who has done a better job of wrestling those questions to the ground and it...

As the nation struggles with the idea of body cameras on police officers there are plenty of other places where some George Orwell style surveillance state technology may come in handy. One example of this may be found on the nation’s college campuses. Since our colleges are no longer institutions of learning and preparation for productive careers so much as they are factories churning out the next generation of liberal activists and community organizers, a new generation of problems have beset them. Even though each and every event must be squeezed through the sieve of liberal politics, we’ve seen...

Colorado’s state congress is taking another stab at banning red light cameras at intersections, according to the Denver Post today. The measure is the second one of its type in as many years, with last year’s attempt failing to gain traction. Red light cameras have been proven time and time again to be not only ineffective at making intersections safer, but have actually been demonstrated to increase the number of accidents in many places where they are used. However, they are huge revenue raisers for many states and municipalities. Opposition to the measure comes from misguided types that are unaware...

After long probe, Palm Beach billionaire faces solicitation charge By Larry Keller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Wednesday, July 26, 2006 Palm Beach billionaire Jeffrey Epstein paid to have underage girls and young women brought to his home, where he received massages and sometimes sex, according to an investigation by the Palm Beach Police Department. Palm Beach police spent months sifting through Epstein's trash and watching his waterfront home and Palm Beach International Airport to keep tabs on his private jet. An indictment charging Epstein, 53, was unsealed Monday, charging him with one count of felony solicitation of prostitution. ******...

Washington, D.C.-area public school districts have deployed more than 30,000 surveillance cameras inside school buildings, according to a review of security records by News4.

Legislation was recently introduced that would prohibit communities from using automated traffic enforcement devices as the basis for issuing traffic tickets. House Bill 5921 was introduced Nov. 6 by Rep. Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, in response to Senate Bill 1063, which – if enacted – would permit traffic tickets to be issued on the basis of photographs taken by unmanned cameras. “This (House Bill 5921) was a bill we had been looking at doing, similar to the newer driver protections they are passing in states like South Dakota and New Jersey,” Rep. Shirkey said. “They’re going 180 degrees out there, from...

Rialto, Calif., has seen a major decline in complaints of police violence since putting body cameras on it police. The technology has also helped resolve situations like the one in Ferguson, Mo.

Drivers in Chicago have gotten wise to speed cameras, budget figures show, and now the city needs to come up with $50 million in revenue. Chicagoans are costing the city tens of millions of dollars -– through good behavior. Mayor Rahm Emanuel underestimated the intelligence of Chicago drivers, and the city paid for it big time. On a smooth, wide, well-travelled stretch of Irving Park Road, running between two cemeteries — no homes, no stores, no parking — the city of Chicago is trying to balance its budget. Each flash means a photo; each photo, a violation. Each violation: a...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Meet Nixie, a wearable camera concept that flies off your wrist and turns into a remote-controlled quadcopter. It's the bizarre-yet-appealing wearable camera drone nobody asked for... and now I kind of want it. Intel is holding a competition to encourage new wearable technology ideas, and the Nixie is one of the finalists. So far, it's still in development, so the flying wristlet camera is rough around the edges. Team captain Christoph Kohstall eventually wants you to be able to send the the Nixie flying with a gesture. It would recognize where you're standing, snap a picture, then return to the...

Rumors are rampant about male public safety employees in Ceres placing hidden cameras aimed at women, and the city isn't saying much about it. The stories about cameras placed under a woman's desk and in changing areas at the Ceres Police Department came to the attention of the Stanislaus chapter of the NAACP. President Frank Johnson says they got so many calls they thought it was a prank, and he says if it's not true, they'll apologize - but if it is true, the organization will take action against it. The city attorney would only say action is being taken...

As long as players don't get caught knocking out women on camera for the world to see, they're cleared to play football in the NFL Ray Rice has become “Peck’s Bad Boy” for a deteriorating National Football League. When the first video of him dragging his unconscious fianc√©e out of an elevator appeared in July, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell slapped Rice’s wrist with a two-game suspension. Goodell went on to revise the league’s disciplinary policy regarding domestic violence to include a minimum six-game suspension or more for the first infraction and up to a lifetime ban for the second, with...

ANAHEIM – The Anaheim Police Department could be the first agency in the county to require officers to wear video cameras while on patrol, after the City Council unanimously approved the the $1.15 million purchase of 250 of the devices Tuesday. The first officers are expected to be outfitted with the body-mounted cameras in November, with all of them wearing the devices by April. It’s part of the department’s effort to increase transparency and mend a fragile relationship with the public after several high-profile shootings.

WFTV in Orlando, Florida reported Friday about a callous, violent robbery of an elderly white woman by three young black men that left the woman hospitalized with a serious brain injury and a broken clavicle. The Publix surveillance videos released to the media show rare, clear before, during and after video of the victim, the perps and the robbery. There will be no protests, no candlelight vigils, no statement by President Barack Obama, no Justice Department investigation, no visits by Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson. The race ‘healers’ won’t descend on Ocoee like they are doing in Ferguson this week...

Sanity appears to have prevailed in Manassas, Virginia, where authorities had planned to chemically induce an erection in a 17-year-old boy accused of making child pornography of himself by sending explicit photos to his 15-year-old girlfriend. The aunt says she's glad police are dropping the plan, but she won't be satisfied until they drop what she says are overblown felony charges of manufacture and possession of child pornography.

We now know when and where Minneapolis Police officers will soon be testing body cameras on the streets. The Minneapolis Police Department has confirmed that dozens of officers will test the body cameras in three precincts in late September or early October. The tests will be done in precincts that generally have higher police activity. MPD says the body cams will be used for testing purposes only in the First Precinct downtown, the Fourth Precinct in North Minneapolis and the Fifth Precinct in southwest Minneapolis. The city council set aside $400,000 to buy the cameras for the 2014 budget. Mayor...

Click on small front-page photo to left that's titled "You're being watched."

The new law makes South Dakota the sixteenth state to stamp out red light cameras and speed cameras by statute or state court ruling ... the cameras violate due process, don’t make intersections safer and generate revenue more for the red light vendor than the community. ... Brekford, based in Maryland, reported last week that it is losing money. .. Redflex Traffic Systems in Phoenix has even bigger headaches. The firm has been the subject of a federal bribery investigation in Chicago for the past year.

There are few medical procedures feared more than a colonoscopy. But what if there was another way to screen patients for colon cancer that's much less intrusive? Now there is: The PillCam, an ingestible camera that takes high-speed photographs as it works its way through the digestive system and helps doctors spot polyps and other early signs of colon cancer was just cleared by the Food and Drug Administration. The device is designed for patients who have had trouble with the cringe-inducing colonoscopy procedure, which involves probing the large intestine with a tiny camera embedded in a four-foot long, flexible...

A man who sued police in Colorado Springs, Colo., for violating his Second Amendment rights has reportedly won more than $23,000 from the city, as local officers apparently did not know it was legal to “open carry” firearms at public parks. The saga of James Sorensen began in July 2012 at a homosexual-pride festival, just one day after the shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., that left 12 people dead and 70 others injured. He was openly sporting a handgun on his hip, which prompted police to take him into custody. Sorensen’s arrest was caught on camera by...