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Ed Krayewski Discusses the Controversial Use of Domestic Drones on RTAmerica

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Associate Editor, Ed Krayewski appeared on RTAmerica to discuss the pros and cons of having drones in private and public sector hands. Air date: June 21, 2012.

Approximately 7.09 minutes.

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Journalist Sam Slovick on Occupy LA: Scenes From a New Revolution

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 09:00:00 EST

"People say, 'What do these people want?, 'Where is the list of demands?' You know, it's like an embryonic movement," says journalist and filmmaker Sam Slovick. "You can't throw a crayon into daVinci's baby crib and tell him to paint the Mona Lisa, it's not there yet?"

Slovick is the writer and director of the documentary Occupy LA: Scenes from the New Revolution, a five part series produced by Take Part and Slake. He sat down with Reason.com's managing editor, Tim Cavanaugh, to talk about the documentary, how Occupy LA became the largest occupation, and the difference in media coverage between the Occupy movement and the Tea Party.

Approximately 9:36 min.

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Radley Balko talks HuffPo, Nashville, OWS, & Cory Maye

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:00:00 EST

"A story like the Cory Maye story is why you become a journalist," says former Reason staffer Radley Balko. "It's probably the most rewarding thing I'll ever do.” In 2006, Balko first reported on Cory Maye, a Mississippi man given a death sentence for shooting a police officer who was leading a no-knock raid on his apartment. Balko's continued coverage of the case, and the shakey testimony of expert witnesses, eventually led to Maye being released not just from Death Row but prison altogether. (For Balko's Reason archive, go here.)

Reason.tv caught up with Balko in Nashville, where he's been writing for the Huffington Post since May and helming The Nashville Byline, a blog that covers news and events in the Music City. He also continues to run The Agitator, his popular personal site.

In a wide-raning conversation, Balko discusses what working at the HuffPo is like, how Occupy Wall Street and Arab Spring protesters are using social media to make government more transparent than ever, and why Nashville nannies sometime push restaurant owners into serving hard liquor rather than beer.

About 4 minutes long. Shot by Anthony Fisher and Joshua Swain; edited by Swain.

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Katherine Mangu-Ward Talks Drone Surveillance on CNN's Outfront

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:00:00 EST

Reason Senior Editor Katherine Mangu-Ward appeared on CNN's Outfront with Erin Burnett to discuss new drone surveillance by police departments. Airdate: December 16, 2011.

Approximately 4:39 minutes.

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LAPD Raids Occupy LA

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EST

The Los Angeles Police Department raided Occupy LA in the early morning hours of November 30, 2011. There were more than 200 arrests made by the 1,400 officers on hand to clear out the park surrounding Los Angeles City Hall.

Reason.tv was on the scene when the raid happened and documented what may be the end of Occupy LA's encampment, but the beginning of a new chapter in the movement.

Written, shot and narrated by Paul Detrick

Approximately 2:00 minutes.

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Mike Riggs Discusses Local Governments vs. the Occupy Movements on the Alyona Show

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Associate Editor Mike Riggs appeared on the Alyona Show to discuss recent encroachments by local governments to stall Occupy movements from excising freedom of speech and assembly in their cities. Airdate: November 1, 2011.

6.20 minutes.

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Policing is Too Important to be Left to the Government: Economist Ed Stringham

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EDT

“Because police are so important, I think that we should abandon the idea that government needs to provide it.” says economics professor Edward Stringham. “Wherever we see government it’s not helpful, it’s bureaucratic, it’s not serving its customers and I would say that especially applies in the area of police.”

At FreedomFest 2011, Reason's Matt Welch sat down with Stringham to talk about privatizing security, real world examples in the United States and why this won't lead to police protection only for the rich.

Held each July in Las Vegas, FreedomFest is attended by around 2,000 libertarians and advocates of limited government. Reason.tv spoke with over two dozen speakers and attendees and will be releasing interviews over the coming weeks.  

Stringham is the L.V. Hackley Endowed Professor for the Study of Capitalism and Free Enterprise at Fayetteville State University and co-author if the 2006 Reason Foundation study "No Booze? You May Lose: Why Drinkers Earn More Money Than Nondrinkers "

About 5:30 minutes. Shot by Zach Weissmueller and Jim Epstein and edited by Meredith Bragg. 

Matt Welch Joins The Alyona Show's Happy Hour to Discuss OWS, TSA, and the Rapture

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Magazine Editor in Chief Matt Welch joins The Alyona Show's Happy Hour to discuss the Rapture that didn't happen, police violence at Occupy Wall Street, Tennessee's expansion of TSA to highways, and how opening an account at a Cezch bank can be "orgasmic." Air Date: October 21, 2011.

About 8 minutes.

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Fighting the War on Cameras: Jerome Vorus and the ACLU take D.C. to Court

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Can the police detain you for taking pictures of a routine traffic stop? Police in Washington D.C. say they can.

In 2010, photographer and student Jerome Vorus was detained and questioned by police after he photographed a traffic stop in Georgetown. The ACLU says he was illegally detained and has filed a lawsuit on his behalf. Vorus recently sat down with Reason.tv’s Nick Gillespie to discuss what happened that day and where his case currently stands.

With cameras and other recording devices becoming more affordable, cases like Vorus’ have become all too common. For more information on this disturbing trend, read Reason magazine's January 2011 cover story "The War on Cameras" with the companion piece "How to Record the Cops” and watch Reason.tv’s documentary “The Government’s War on Cameras!”

Shot by Jim Epstein and Joshua Swain. Edited by Swain. About 4.18 minutes.

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40 Years of Drug War Failure: LEAP's Neill Franklin

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:00:00 EDT

On June 17, 1971 President Richard Nixon launched the modern-day drug war, an effort perpetuated by every one of his successors.

As the reform group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) documents in a new comprehensive study, the drug war has destroyed lives and property, shredded the constitution, and distorted American education, health care, and even foreign policy. That's why, notes LEAP, fully 75 percent of Americans and 69 percent of police chiefs agree that the drug war has failed.

Reason's Nick Gillespie talked with LEAP's Executive Director Neill Franklin, a retired major in the Maryland State Police. As Franklin explains, he was one of the most bellicose drug warriors around until a comrade was killed during an undercover operation. The best way, argues Franklin, we can pay tribute to his fallen friend - and all the other people whose lives have been laid waste by a war on drugs that has caused far more bad than good - is to turn away from prohibition and embrace regulation and control similar to that used for alcohol.

Shot by Jim Epstein and Joshua Swain, who also edited.

For more videos and information about drug policy, go to here.

For more information on LEAP and to read "Ending the Drug War: A Dream Deferred," go to http://www.leap.cc/40years/

Lindy: "No Knock Raid"

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:00:00 EDT

Note: This video contains graphic images of violence and mature language. Viewer discretion is advised.

"No Knock Raid," written and performed by Toronto-based musician Lindy, is a searing indictment of one of the most aggressive, ubiquitous, and mistaken tactics in the War on Drugs.

Consider only the most recent raid to cause a national outrage: On May 5, 2011, 26-year-old Jose Guerena, who survived two tours in the Iraq War, was shot and killed during a raid on his house by a Pima County, Arizona SWAT team that fired dozens of bullets through his front door. Guerena, married and a father of two, had just finished a 12-hour shift at a local mine. Law enforcement sources claim he was involved in narco-trafficking but have yet to produce any evidence supporting that claim. Officers involved in the death have been cleared of wrongdoing.

Guerena's death is not an isolated incident. As USA Today reports, an astonishing 70,000 to 80,000 militarized police raids take place on a annual basis in America, many of them on mistaken suspects and many of them ending with injury or death for police and citizens alike.

As Reason Contributing Editor Radley Balko and others have documented, the militarization of standard police practice is a direct consequence of the modern-day War on Drugs, started 40 years ago by President Richard Nixon - and perpetuated by every administration since. (For a comprehensive report on the failure of the drug war to achieve any of its stated goals, read "Ending the Drug War: A Dream Deferred," by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.)

"No Knock Raid" written and performed by Lindy.

Produced and directed by Hawk Jensen.

Performance footage directed by Victor Tavares and Zachary Koski.

About 4.50 minutes.

For longer clips of the police raid footage used in the video, go here (March 7, 2008); here (October 17, 2008); here (February 11, 2010); here (October 16, 2010); and here (May 5, 2011).

For Reason's coverage of drug policy, go here.

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Tim Cavanaugh Discusses a SWAT Raid for Student Loan Debt on RT

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Reason columnist and Hit & Run contributor Tim Cavanaugh discusses the recent SWAT raid on a California man for student loan debt and the increasing amount of raids with Thom Harmann on RT.

Air date: June 8, 201

Approximately 9.29 minutes.

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Jefferson Memorial Dance Dance Revolution - 6/4/2011

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 00:00:00 EDT

One week ago, May 28, 2011, RT correspondent and former U.S. Corporal Adam Kokesh and four other participants began a flash mob-silent dance at the Jefferson Memorial to commemorate the arrest of Brooke Oberwetter for quietly dancing in the memorial on Jefferson's birthday in 2008. The park police responded by punching, body slamming, and arresting Kokesh and the others.

Today, June 4, Kokesh and Code Pink has initiated another flash dance this time pulling almost 100 more people through press coverage, Facebook, and word of mouth. The memorial was soon shut down before the event ended with the police slowly forcing everyone to leave. No arrests were made. Reason.tv’s Joshua Swain was there to report.

Read Reason's coverage of Obwerwetter.

About 1.40 minutes

Shot and edited by Joshua Swain; help from David Bier.

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Mike Riggs Discusses the Increasingly Violent Drug War in Mexico on The Alyona Show

Wed, 11 May 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Associate Editor of Reason Magazine Mike Riggs appeared on Russia Today's The Alyona Show to discuss the growing unrest in Mexico over the unsuccesful drug war and how intervention by the American government is making things worse. Air Date: May 10, 2011.

Approximately 7 minutes.

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Radley Balko Discusses Recording the Police with Stossel

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Senior Editor Radley Balko appeared on Fox Business' Stossel to discuss how technology has made it easier for people to film police misconduct and how cops have declared a war on cameras. Air date: April 21, 2011.

Approximately 8.25 minutes.

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Radley Balko on the 3 Worst Cases of Police Abuse in 2011

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Due to the violence depicted and discussed in this video, viewer discretion is advised.

The 1991 beating of Rodney King by the Los Angeles Police Department, which came to light after being caught on video by a citizen trying out a video camera, ushered in a new age of transparency and openness when it comes to law enforcement.

Since then, sound and vision from any number of sources - including cell-phone cams and pocket recorders, not to mention footage shot by police themselves - have captured law enforcement in action in a wide range of circumstances. Sometimes, the footage exonerates the police and sometimes it incriminates them. Always, though, we as citizens gain from having a better sense of how law enforcement operates, even (or especially) when what we see is hugely disturbing.

Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie talked with Reason columnist Radley Balko, proprietor of The Agitator and a long-time student of the increasing militarization of police. We asked Balko to talk about he thinks are the three most-schocking videos of police abuse that have come to light so far in 2011.

Ironically, Balko notes that widespread video of police at work gives rise to the misimpression that such violent abuse is on the rise while police are almost certainly more respectful of civil liberties than they were 50 or 60 years ago. He argues that it's precisely because citizens and watchdogs (including many with the law enforcement community) have more tools at their disposal to ferret out abuse that better practices are being employed.

Approximately 5.30 minutes. Shot and edited by Josh Swain, with camera assists by Meredith Bragg and Jim Epstein.

For longer videos of the incidents show in the interview, go here (Utah police kill a man brandishing a golf club); here (Seattle police shoot and kill homeless man); and here (Michigan police caught on tape discussing unwarranted seizer of musician's equipment).

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Radley Balko Discusses the Latest Tragedy in the Drug War on Russia Today

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 00:00:00 EST

Reason Senior Editor Radley Balko on Russia Today's The Alyona Show discusses the murder of a 68 year old grandfather, Eurie Stamps, who was killed in a SWAT drug raid and the police secrecy behind the shooting. Airdate: January 7, 2010.

Approximately 7 minutes.

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A Drug Raid Goes Viral: Radley Balko on the Missouri SWAT Raid Video

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:30:00 EDT

What happens when video of a routine police procedure is posted online? In the case of a Missouri SWAT raid, outrage, anger, and a viral sensation viewed over 1.2 million times.

Reason Magazine Senior Editor Radley Balko sat down with Nick Gillespie to discuss the raid, the video, and the fallout.

Approximately 10 minutes. Shot by Meredith Bragg and Dan Hayes. Edited by Bragg.

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Cory Doctorow on The War on Kids, Boing Boing, & His Next Novel

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 08:00:00 EDT

As one of the editors of Boing Boing, Cory Doctorow runs one of the best-known blogs on the planet. As the author of best-selling young-adult novels such as Little Brother and the new For The Win, he has his pulse on what it is like to be growing up in the 21st century. As a writer who simultaneously publishes his work online for free and via a traditional bookseller (Tor), he is at the bleeding edge of creating what he calls 21st century art: "contemporary art that is made to be copied."

In July Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie talked with Doctorow about raising free-range children, the future of copyright, and what makes Boing Boing tick.

Approximately 5.26 minutes. Shot by Gillespie and edited by Josh Swain.

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Policing for Profit

dan.hayes@reason.org (Dan Hayes) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Civil forfeiture laws represent one of the most serious assaults on private property rights in the nation today. With civil forfeiture, police and prosecutors can seize your property and use it to fund their budgets—all without charging you with a crime. Americans are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but with civil forfeiture, your property is guilty until you prove it innocent—and law enforcement has a huge incentive to police for profit, not justice.

If police suspect that you committed a crime, they can arrest you and put you on trial. At that trial, prosecutors must prove you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

But if police suspect your car was involved in a crime, they can take it, sell it and, in most places, pocket the proceeds to pad their budgets. They need not prove you committed any crime—or even arrest you—to take your property away.

Welcome to the upside-down world of civil asset forfeiture.
With civil forfeiture, your property is guilty until you prove it innocent to get it back.
And because most state and federal laws allow police and prosecutors to pocket the proceeds, they have a big incentive to pursue profits, not justice.

How big? In 1986, the Justice Departments forfeiture fund took in 94 million dollars. Now it has more than a billion. State and local agencies receive forfeiture funds, too—but we dont know how much because most states dont publicly report on forfeiture.

No surprise—abuse is rampant. One New York police department spent forfeiture funds on food, gifts and entertainment. In Georgia, forfeiture funds paid for football tickets for a DAs office. In Louisiana, cops used funds to pay for ski trips to Aspen. And a DA in Texas used forfeiture dollars to buy TV ads for his re-election campaign.

Meanwhile, citizens are seeing cash, cars and other property taken away for the flimsiest of reasons. Carrying too much cash? Police can accuse you of selling drugs or laundering money and seize it, no conviction or even arrest required.

An Institute for Justice study grades state laws on how well they protect people from wrongful forfeitures. Only three states receive a B or better. The rest range from mediocre to awful—and so does federal law.

Worse, a federal legal loophole allows police and prosecutors to bypass state protections and keep pocketing forfeiture money. IJs research shows that the easier and more profitable these laws make forfeiture, the more it is used and abused.

Its time to end civil forfeiture. People shouldnt have their property taken away without being convicted of a crime. And law enforcement shouldnt be policing for profit

Learn more at http://www.ij.org/PolicingForProfit