Phoenix police raid home of blogger whose writing is highly critical of them

Phoenix police raid home of blogger whose writing is highly critical of them

www.azcentral.com

In what should send a frightening chill down the spine of every blogger, writer, journalist and First Amendment advocate in the United States, Phoenix police raided the home of a blogger who has been highly critical of the department.

Jeff Pataky, who runs Bad Phoenix Cops, said the officers confiscated three computers, routers, modems, hard drives, memory cards and everything necessary to continue blogging.

The 41-year-old software engineer said they also confiscated numerous personal files and documents relating to a pending lawsuit he has against the department alleging harassment - which he says makes it obvious the raid was an act of retaliation.

Maricopa County Judge Gary Donahoe signed the search warrant that allowed at least ten cops to raid his home in North Phoenix on March 12 while handcuffing his female roommate for three hours as they tore the place apart.

Pataky, who was out of town on a business trip during the raid, also believes police were retaliating against him for the content of his blog, much of it which comes from inside sources within the department.

“They broke into my safe and took the backups of my backups,” he said in a phone interview with Photography is Not a Crime on Wednesday.

“I can’t even file my taxes because all my business plans are gone. They took everything.”

The search warrant lists “petty theft” and “computer tampering with the intent to harass” as probable causes. He has yet to see an actual affidavit that lists in detail the probable cause and is skeptical that one even exists.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
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badphoenixcops.blogspot.com

Here they go again with the home land security!
What a joke, this man is well within his rites whether or not is criticizing the Phoenix PD. Now with Obama passing law that all of our electronic data can be searched with out a warrant, well i guess we can all be put in this mans shoes.
I'm sure that the Phoenix PD did not want this to go mainstream but it did at least on the internet, and I hope it hits mainstream news. We are just seeing the beginning of Police enforcement Home Land Security abuse.

www.azcentral.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Yeah, we definitely don't have any rights anymore.

That judge deserves to be disbarred, and every one of those officers should be suspended, if not fired outright. Sadly, they won't.

We live in a police state.

I see it is starting. This is unacceptable of ANY judge or ANY police outfit. This is absolute crap, and I hope these pigs rot in jail for such a gross disregard for Constitutionally protected rights.

[edit on 3-4-2009 by projectvxn]

I don't even know what to say about these things anymore, except that maybe they should just sew their swaztika's on their uniforms where we can all see them. Freedoms are a joke in this country now. Heck they not only went after this guy, but went after one of their own cops that went public about them

That will teach him to mess with sheriff Joe the crookest cop in the west.

His best bet would be to go to the nearest FBI office and file a formal complaint.

What he should have done is declare himself a candidate for the office of sheriff before messing with sheriff Joe.

Then he would have a federal case against sheriff Joe.

en.wikipedia.org...

If ANYONE else is reading this and can empathize with this man because you have a similar situation ongoing.... back-up your files with someone you trust OUT OF THE STATE that you reside in.

This lets your information be on a back-up outside of the jurisdiction of your local police.

If you keep the information on the move, it is harder to stop.

Back-up copies are a wonderful thing, but if they are in the same location, they do not amount to anything.






[edit on 3-4-2009 by TwiTcHomatic]

while handcuffing his female roommate for three hours as they tore the place apart.

I'm not sure about this blogger and what he may or may not have done, but I think this is way over the top.
Hope she has a good lawyer and decides to sue.

In all honesty, I believe the local police department was looking for his "inside sources" that he was getting his information from.

In this day and age we have to realize, most of the time the people who are reading our words are not the same people who agree with them.

Freedom of speech is going out the window quick, fast and in a hurry.

Originally posted by TwiTcHomatic
If ANYONE else is reading this and can empathize with this man because you have a similar situation ongoing.... back-up your files with someone you trust OUT OF THE STATE that you reside in.

This lets your information be on a back-up outside of the jurisdiction of your local police.

If you keep the information on the move, it is harder to stop.

This is fantastic advice. It's really true, information, once spread around, is impossible to stop. Police can only get one warrant at a time, and if you spread your info around well enough, they'd never be able to track it all down.

When cops start playing thought-police, they start a game they can't win.

What a frighting trend. America has gone to hell in a handbasket...I agree with the one post, they might as well put the "SS" uniform on. we have lost allmost all out rights. Good info on the backup files. I give this thread a star also.

How many Rights did they step on? The 1st, 4th and 5th so far. I'm certain they plan on trampling this man's 6th, 7th and 8th as well. Truly sickening.

*

Does it smell like 1775 to anyone else?

Speak out against the local magistrate and all of a sudden the redcoats charge in and bust up/ confiscate your printing press!

Anyone remember what happened in 1776?

"New World Order" or disorder as this evil continues to grow. Scary to think what comes next but most of us here know it want be pretty. Evil will have its way for a time until it is stopped by a greater power. God forgive us and help us to stand in these days of great tribulation. I am truly grateful for web sites such as ATS and all those that realize how ugly and disfunctional life is with out freedom and the desire to help and not hurt, to love and not hate.

Nothing new out here in Phoenix. This was the Phoenix Police Department and not the sherrifs dept? Thats the first i.ve heard of the PD doing anything like this.

Sherriff Joe Arapio has had an ongoing fued with news organizatons for years out here, expecially The New Times.

He has arrested the Editors for not providing the names of people who had been to the New Times' website if you can believe that.

Not to mention the dozens of people who have died from neglect or literal torture in his jail. Most of which were waiting for trial, had not even been found guilty. He also has an "interegation chair" which his employees strap people to and cover their heads with a hood for "interegation." Truly barbaric.

He is out of control.

I'm using a mobile phone and cannot provide links.

Google Joe Arapio and The New Times. Tons of information abot him and his practices. Its like a soap opera., It doesn't seem real.

At least here is a search warrant signed by a judge in this case. This man has legal recourse if the warrant can be shown to be contrived at any level. Lets hope justice prevails.

Perhaps we should find out the phone numbers to the Phoenix Police agency associated with this Unconstitutional travesty and all drop them a call.
DO NOT threaten them...just make them aware that we know what is going on and will not stand for it.
Look up the term "Streisand Effect"

Remember Cockroaches scurry when bright light is shined on them.

Its cra\y how they can do what ever they want, isn't it. Pure ffing scum. Just make up anything they want to destroy anyones life, and they can live merry lifes.

Scum = police everywhere.

Well partly to thank for this is the family who worked on getting legislation passed because of the MySpace suicide ordeal. Remember they didn’t want anyone bothering others over the internet. While I agree it was a bad thing and the other adult was stupid there is more to that story than a simple few posts. But no one listens to normal people anymore. We now need laws to protect us from ourselves and make up for our obvious lack of common sense. So this is where the now said harassment could have come from, by posting “abusive” material about the police.

As for the petty theft that sounds strange unless someone is saying that he stole an idea of theirs and claimed it as his own. In other words plagiarism, it could be he used an image or even some wording without giving credit to the owner of said material.

I really do not know enough about the guy to say for sure if these are possible. I can say though that a lot of things can be done over the computer that at one time only a few years ago where no big deal, but because of many new laws being passed they have now become illegal. Mostly I think of the harassment stuff. Plagiarism though seems to be something that is becoming more popular (even the POTUS does it, though he got away with it). I agree do though think that something should be done about plagiarism.


It will be interesting to see the outcome of the signed search warrant. If the judge screwed this one up he/she will face repercussions as well. His will be worse than those the police will have to face. Most of those doing the warrant will most likely have known nothing about the case other than the fact they were supposed to serve it and collect evidence or possible evidence. Though at least one officer should have known something about the case prior to this.


Raist

You would have thought this guy would have uploaded some backups online or something at least. That's too bad.

But I assume after successful legal action proving his innocence he would be entitled to have all his property back?

Assuming these Gestapo nutjobs haven't destroyed it all.

reply to post by TwiTcHomatic


I think you are absolutely right here in your advice to people.

When the police do this kind of thing it usually just drives people to either shut up or publish in secret.

Most people will shut up and decide that this harrassment and intimidation is not worth the effort.

But there are people, bless their hearts, that cannot be shut up. They will not back down no matter the cost. They will be the noted ones when our history is written.