secret police in Virginia?...

[St. Theresa (OP)]

Just  when you thought you couldn't hate law enforcement and our government any more...
Default Secret Police? Virginia State Senate has passed bill to withhold all officers' names
The Virginia State Senate has passed SB 552 which would exempt police names from being disclosed under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. The Fraternal Order of Police union lobbied for the bill in response to an investigation by two Virginia reporters in which the reporters requested police names and positions under the Virginia FOIA to trace "bad" police being transferred out to other jobs within the police.

The sponsor of the bill and friend to the Fraternal Order of Police, State Senator Cosgrove explained his support:
Quote “The culture is not one of respect for law enforcement anymore. It’s really, ‘How, how can we get these guys? What can we do?’ . . . Police officers are much more in jeopardy. There’s no nefarious intent behind the bill.”
The Washington Post reports that pushback has been strong and quotes Claire Gastanaga, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia:
Quote “To say every officer’s name ought to be confidential just a step too far in government secrecy. We are dangerously close to a police state in some respects.”
The bill has been sent to the House Committee and hearings are today, Thursday, February 25. Virginians can find out their representatives at Who's My Legislator

The Virginia Pilot series by Patrick Wilson and Gary Harki Virginia bill to keep officers' names secret would be first in the nation, experts say


https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+ful+SB552ES1

http://pilotonline.com/news/government/politics/virginia/virginia-bill-to-keep-officers-names-secret-would-be-first/article_f49aa653-a911-50a7-b77d-242ebc1f95fc.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2016/02/24/secret-police-virginia-considers-bill-to-withhold-all-officers-names/

[Anti-hero]

I read about this too
It's unfuckin believe able
The hunter now feels hunted

This opens the director for them
To do all sorts if shit

I can't even believe that this
Is real

[St. Theresa (OP)]

The unbelievable entitlement to want to block investigation into their chicanery of moving miscreant cops around reminds me of hiding pedophile priests. Looking at the history of the bill on the Virginia Legislative web site, you can see they hustled this through in record time. I think nobody knows about the public hearing in Richmond because it is all scheduled last minute. Still, it remains a test of the citizenry. If it goes down in Virginia, all the FOPs across the nation are going to push for it. Then we will have the Secret Police we deserve.

[Guts]

Wow... is this really happening? It's so crazy... they really want a full out civil war. Just because it passed the Senate doesn't mean it's inacted into law yet, right?

Americans are 58x more likely to be killed by a copper than by a terrorist.

Fuck the popo.

[Daughter of Dionysus]

This is insane
I'm just baffled by the idea
That anyone in the Virginia Senate
Would think this is o.k.

I thought senators and representatives
We're elected to protect
The interests of the people they represent

I must live on a different planet

[DeadCat]

Horrible. Giving police anonmynity is just begging them to act with impunity. The comment that "people are [in essence] "out to get police" is nuts. We WANT to trust police but this would put them outside the normal scope of responsibility.

I hope this doesn't make it through the senate, and failing that is vetoed by the governor. I also hope it helps wake people the fuck up as to the direction we are headed, whichi sn't good.

[Zoops]

FUCKING CHRIST ON A BICYCLE! I am speechless. And in my home state! God damn! You know for a fact that every force in the country will want this too if it goes over here. Gestapo, STASI, Tonton makoot (sp? - the Haitian version that baby doc had) all over again.

"To protect and serve" my fucking ass!

We have a Democrat governor in VA. I don't know if he's on board with this or not. Hard to tell. And to think there's lots of citizens who would unquestioningly support this, "to protect the good officers who put their lives on the line every day, to protect us all." Might be that the gov. wants to get the 'law and order' vote.

I'd be curious to see the debate on this - did they bring up the specter of terrorism? Like what are the reasons given for this. Why is this a good idea? St. T, did they say in the article? I'm about to read it all.

so so so so so sick of all this BULLSHIT!

Is a correctional officer who works in a prison a "law enforcement officer," how about a probation officer, who also works for DOC? Does this mean officers won't have to give you their name when they arrest you? Just a badge number? No more name badges on the uniform? Only a brass number badge in place? Creepy as FUCK!

[St. Theresa (OP)]

Good news peeps...

Virginia State Senate has passed bill to withhold all officers' names
UPDATE: I am beyond thrilled to report that SB 552 was killed:

Virginia House panel kills Sen. Cosgrove's police secrecy bill

Quote A state House subcommittee voted unanimously Thursday evening to kill a bill that would have allowed names of all police officers and deputies in the state to be kept secret.

The bill, SB552, by Sen. John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake, passed the state Senate 25-15, generating national attention because it would have made Virginia the first state to pass such a law, according to open government experts.

Cosgrove and representatives of several police associations said the bill was necessary to protect the safety of police officers.

Open government advocates and the Virginia Press Association argued that the public has a right to know the names of employees they pay and said transparency is important in policing.

[St. Theresa (OP)]

http://Virginia House panel kills Sen. Cosgrove's police secrecy bill


I don't know how this even got put up in the first place. You know how dicks in law enforcement are always saying "why do you care about privacy if you have nothing to hide?"...well it works both way, fuckers.

So glad this was squashed. 

But the fact that it even was brought into the senate is scary. Keep your eyes and ears open people.

[Zoops]

What a fuckin joke:
(from the Washington Post article)

Dana Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, said police in the commonwealth already have the option to withhold names, and Cosgrove’s bill merely codifies that discretion. She and Carroll, the police union president, both noted that 1,500 Virginia state employees had fraudulent tax returns filed last year, which officials think originated with an online database of employee names and salaries.

“We do not expect this to be abused,” said Schrad, who sent an email to state police chiefs saying: “We caution all of our agencies to use discretion in exercising this exemption. In order to build a trust relationship with communities, agencies should make sure that the communities know who their officers are. This exemption should only be exercised when trying to protect the identity of an undercover officer or when protecting the integrity” of an internal affiars investigation.

They already have the option of withholding names, but now they want an extra-special law to codify it, so that they don't have to divulge those names under any circumstance. "We don't expect it to be abused," what a bunch of horseshit. I do.

This exemption should only be exercised when trying to protect the identity of an undercover officer or when protecting the integrity” of an internal affiars investigation.

- Then why didn't they codify it that way?

[Zoops]

man I wish I lived in a country that held our Constitution up as a framework for government, and let people be free to do what they wanted to do!

I know, I'm misinformed, and non-realistic but a man can dream can't he?

[Anti-hero]

They got this thing
They think there is a war on cops
Because of all the bull shit they have been getting away with.
People are feed up
And they know it