Bryan Strawser

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FBI Holds Onto Passenger Records

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The Boston Globe reports today that the FBI has been keeping millions of records on air travelers who flew in the months before September 11th:

If you’re among the millions of Americans who took airline flights in the months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the FBI probably knows about it and possibly where you stayed, whom you traveled with, what credit card you used and even whether you ordered a kosher meal.

The bureau is keeping 257.5 million records on people who flew on commercial airlines from June through September 2001 in its permanent investigative database, according to information obtained by a privacy group and made available to The Associated Press.

Privacy advocates say they’re troubled by the possibility that the FBI could be analyzing personal information about people without their knowledge or permission.

”The FBI collected a vast amount of information about millions of people with no indication that they had done anything unlawful,” said Marcia Hofmann, attorney with the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which learned about the data through a Freedom of Information Act request.

And I say. BIG DEAL.

I believe in privacy. I’ve been a member of the ACLU since I was 16 years old – I’m a long time member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and other organizations – and I’ve written a ton of letters and done some individual lobbying about issues like the Clipper chip, digital telephony, and other issues.

But you also have to draw a line about what’s reasonable from the standpoint of investigations – and I’m trying to see the issue here.

If you think the FBI really has the time to go digging through these records to see if you and your mistress were flying somewhere together because they’re trying to co-opt your vote – then I recommend that you pull the tin foil hat down a little closer around your ears to block the alien rays.

Boston PD Accepts Responsibility for Death of Student

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It’s not often that you see a major police department in the United States make such a statement of responsibility so soon after an incident such as the one that killed College Student Victoria Snelgrove during the celebrations in Boston after the Red Sox won the ALCS two days ago. Details from the Boston Globe:

The Boston Police Department “accepts full responsibility” for the death of a 21-year-old college student killed by a police projectile fired to disperse crowds celebrating the Boston Red Sox victory over the New York Yankees.

Preliminary findings indicate that Victoria Snelgrove, a journalism student at Emerson College, was hit in the eye by a projectile that disperses pepper spray on impact, Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O’Toole said Thursday.

Snelgrove died at 12:50 p.m. at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, hours after the overnight melee.

“The Boston Police Department is devastated by this tragedy. This terrible event should never have happened,” O’Toole told reporters. “The Boston Police Department accepts full responsibility for the death of Victoria Snelgrove.”

I applaud the leadership of Boston PD for their handling of the aftermath of this incident….

Rest in Peace, Butler Officer James L. Davis, Jr.

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Butler University Police Officer James L. Davis, Jr. was laid to rest yesterday in Indianapolis, reports the Indianapolis Star:

Family, friends and the law enforcement community gathered Thursday to mourn the death of Butler University Police Officer James L. Davis Jr. by celebrating his life — a life grounded in family, faith and a commitment to helping others.

The emotion-packed “homegoing” at Mount Carmel Baptist Church marked the second time in five weeks that Indianapolis said goodbye to a police officer killed in the line of duty.

Davis — “JJ” to family and friends — was fatally shot Sept. 24 in a confrontation on the Butler campus involving a man with a history of mental illness.

He was buried in the Heroes of Public Safety section at Crown Hill Cemetery next to the fresh grave of Indianapolis Police Department Officer Timothy “Jake” Laird, 31, who was killed in the line of duty Aug. 18.

Davis, 31, was remembered at the two-hour funeral service as a dedicated family man who believed in education, the goodness of others and the glory of God.

“Officer Davis, we are going to miss you,” Mount Carmel Pastor Theron D. Williams I said during a 35-minute eulogy. “Your life, like a swelling river, has overflown its banks and rushed over us.”

The evil that led to the two police shootings, Williams said, should not make officers question their chosen profession or retreat from their duties. Instead, he challenged the men and women in uniform to press on in honor of Davis.

“Can God count on you to serve and to protect?” he asked.

Minutes later, the city’s public safety director, Robert Turner, answered the question.

“Reverend Williams — I do want to say yes,” said Turner. “Both you and God can continue to count on us to keep doing our job.”


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Butler University Officer Killed

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Indianapolis has suffered its second line in the duty death of a police officer with the murder this morning of Butler University Police Officer James Davis, reports the Indianapolis Star:

A Butler University Police Department officer was shot and killed this morning in the parking lot at Hinkle Fieldhouse, and his suspected assailant was shot less than three hours later a short distance away.

The officer, who university officials identified as James Davis, 31, was pronounced dead at 11:08 a.m. from a single gunshot wound to the head. He had been with the Butler police since January, 2003.

Police set up a perimeter from 46th Street to 49th Street between Sunset Lane and Boulevard Place as they searched for the suspect, who fled the scene of the 10:30 a.m. shooting on foot.

At 12:45 p.m., police engaged the suspect in the 4400 block of North Illinois Street. The suspect was shot and has been transported to Wishard Memorial Hospital.

Police late this afternoon identified the suspect as Kahdir Al Khattab, 26. He was in critical condition.

Al Khattab had been wanted on an arrest warrant for battery.

I’ll point out that Officer Davis was a year ahead of me at Indiana University. While I do not recall his name – his face is familiar to me. Perhaps I knew him – perhaps we took a class together – perhaps not. But I feel his loss nonetheless.

RIP Officer James Davis….

122 Arrested on First Day of Protests

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The protests are off and running at the Republican National Convention in New York City – and this promises to be quite a different show than the protests in Boston – where only twelve people were arrested. Already, in New York, more than 122 people have been arrested according to today’s New York Times:

Thousands of cyclists rode through the streets of Manhattan last night in an anti-Republican, pro-environment display of bike power that ended in more than 100 arrests by the police after the ride blocked some streets.

Despite tension over police warnings to obey traffic laws against blocking traffic and running red lights, the cyclists – numbering 5,000, the police say – did just that in a meandering course that started at Union Square and wound its way to the West Side, Central Park, Midtown and the East Village.

As of 11 p.m., Paul J. Browne, a police spokesman, said that officers were still processing people who were detained, but that he expected more than 100 people to face charges, mainly for disorderly conduct.

The arrests, two days before the convention starts, seemed to herald a busy period for the police, who must patrol a stream of demonstrations large and small, several each day. The police on Thursday made 22-convention related arrests, more than three times the number during the entire Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Tomorrow is the huge anti-war march by United for Peace and Justice.

May we live in interesting times….