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posted by chromas on Monday July 02 2018, @08:48PM   Printer-friendly
from the css dept.

Judge slams Tacoma for not releasing stingray records

A judge in Washington state has excoriated the Tacoma Police Department for withholding public records pertaining to its use of cell-site simulators, also known as stingrays. Back in 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington state sued the TPD on behalf of four community leaders, arguing that the department has not adequately responded to their public records requests concerning the use of stingrays, which included asking for a blank form authorizing its use.

"The [Public Records Act] establishes a positive duty to disclose public records unless they fall within specific exemptions," Judge G. Helen Whitener wrote in her Monday opinion. "This mandates that the City, upon receiving a request for documents, must first do an adequate search and then must produce the documents requested if there is not an exemption. The PRA does not require the City to analyze the reasons why the document is requested or to determine the relevance of the documents requested even if they are blank forms. The blank form taken in context of the other forms may have meaning to the requestor, and it is not for the City to analyze its relevance. To adopt the City's interpretation of the PRA would defeat the broad mandate of the PRA to allow access to public records not covered by and exemption."


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 02 2018, @11:10PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 02 2018, @11:10PM (#701621)

    It's going to happen. Forgot where I heard the statistic, but I think the majority of Americans fear a civil war within 5 years.

    Majority of Americans believe in an all powerful imaginary friend and that their government is hiding little green men.

    Civil wars happen when the upper class's interests diverge to the point of no return. If Trump actually went and canceled the F-35 or NASA big-rocket-whatever-its called-program, Lockheed and investors would have cooked a civil war. But a few wage-slaves getting boot-stamped by the state is nothing new or particularly aggravating to the wealthy.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Monday July 02 2018, @11:23PM (1 child)

    by bob_super (1357) on Monday July 02 2018, @11:23PM (#701628)

    On one hand, revolutions happen when enough people have nothing to lose. Panem & circenses is currently working, with a critical mass of people still buying the "it would be worse for you" narrative.

    On the other hand, as the white majority is feeling more and more emboldened to push back the rights, and degrade the life, of minorities, $bad_stuff could start happening. Let's not forget that the security forces, military or security guards (less for the cops) tend to be a place where minorities find employment...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 03 2018, @07:28AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 03 2018, @07:28AM (#701779)

      revolutions happen when enough people have nothing to lose.

      Nope. That's just an unsupported quantitative measure. Rome and the Greek cities had a huge free-citizen to slave ratio and rebellions weren't common enough to upset the system. The French revolution was instigated by a few rich folks that felt threatened by the nobility. The American revolution and civil war followed the French example both in format and circumstances. What needs to happen for a revolution is that someone in power will have nothing to lose AND that's there enough mid-lower classes individuals that are willing to fight under that someone.

      And that's doubly so for modernity with standing armies and whatnot. Nowadays, you REALLY can't rebel unless you have not just a token upper class figure in your ranks, but a whole faction of upper class rebels. Otherwise, getting generals and logistics just isn't going to happen.