The case that affected me the most while working with the Detectives was a child pornography case. Officers recovered 50 hard drives worth of child pornography in one man's possession. The job of the detectives, and me... as their intern, was to go through all of the hard drives and find the 5 worst pictures or videos. How does one look through the thousands of horrible things on those hard drives and determine which 5 are the worst of the bunch? It was a long and arduous process which involved many disturbing hours of looking at things that should not under any circumstance, even exist in this world.
Child pornography should not only piss you off, but should make you want to hunt down these sons of bitches and castrate them, or torture them or lock them away forever.... so that they can never hurt a child again, and can never ruin another person's life. As I went through the material on these hard drives and saw the horrendous things adults force children to do, I felt a very distinct need to hunt down every person who owns, has distributed, or made child pornography and remove them from the face of the earth. My maternal instincts kicked into gear and I immediately wanted to rescue these tortured children. The worst part is knowing that most of these children will never be rescued from their life of hell and will continue to have to do these perverse things, until they are too old to be in child porn anymore. And what's even worse, is that many of these children will grown up to be abusers of children themselves, because that is how the cycle of violence works.
As my heart was breaking over these terrible acts, I noticed that the worst 5 on each hard drive had some similar characteristics. Massachusetts charges people more harshly if the pictures or videos depict certain things. There are 7 of these characteristics, but I only know a few. Bestiality, bondage, urination and incest are three of the characteristics that allow the lawyers to add more time to the offender's sentence. Disgusting, yes? Well, most of the pictures and videos chosen to show the jury had things like this on them. I was disturbed and upset. But in the line of work that I want to be part of, you cannot be bothered by things like that. You have to bear it, and get through the 50 hard drives, and have to understand that looking through all that material is the only way to put a criminal behind bars for at least a little while.
I won't get into it here because I don't want to rant to you all about how much I absolutely hate what goes on in the courts when it comes to people who rape children, who fantasize about raping children, and the people who put children through this for profit. I have very strong feelings that would get very mean, rude and horrible if I started getting into them.
But what i will say is this. The people who rape and hurt children should get the same sentence that murderes get. Instead of just removing the child from the earth, they subject them to violence, ruin their childhoods, their innocence, their lives. This means that these children are being murdered... but left alive to live with the scars, the lasting memories of what they went through. If that isn't cruel... I don't know what is.
Monday, September 2, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
Another Post About Phones.... You SHOULD read this.
Anything. I repeat anything you put on your phone can be seen again. This I promise you. Even things you think you deleted.
Today, we dumped an I-Phone of this shitty kid (excuse my language). Not only did he have over 1200 photos on his I-Phone, he also did not realize that he hadn't deleted incriminating evidence that the police can now use against him. There were pictures of him with brass knuckles and a couple other seriously incriminating pictures.
BRASS KNUCKLES ARE ILLEGAL WEAPONS.
So, not only did it take a while to sort through all his junky pictures.... (How many pictures of your girlfriend's nail polish and stupid text message conversations do you even need?!) but we were only looking for very specific things. To see if he was distributing marijuana, to see if we could put the brass knuckles in his hands, to see if he took any pictures at the scene of the crime.
Wanna know the best part? When you take pictures with phones, especially I-Phones for some reason, they take the latitude and longitude of the location where you took those pictures. That information is RAW data, and you can't change or remove RAW data. So this kid is basically screwed. Now, not only that, but you can get date, time, and any of those basic things you would want to know just from the picture itself. This also goes for facebook messages, videos, etc. He has provided the police with enough evidence to charge him... and they have evidence to back it up as well.
Basically, you should NEVER put anything online, or on your phone that you wouldn't want anyone to see. Especially the police.
Today, we dumped an I-Phone of this shitty kid (excuse my language). Not only did he have over 1200 photos on his I-Phone, he also did not realize that he hadn't deleted incriminating evidence that the police can now use against him. There were pictures of him with brass knuckles and a couple other seriously incriminating pictures.
BRASS KNUCKLES ARE ILLEGAL WEAPONS.
So, not only did it take a while to sort through all his junky pictures.... (How many pictures of your girlfriend's nail polish and stupid text message conversations do you even need?!) but we were only looking for very specific things. To see if he was distributing marijuana, to see if we could put the brass knuckles in his hands, to see if he took any pictures at the scene of the crime.
Wanna know the best part? When you take pictures with phones, especially I-Phones for some reason, they take the latitude and longitude of the location where you took those pictures. That information is RAW data, and you can't change or remove RAW data. So this kid is basically screwed. Now, not only that, but you can get date, time, and any of those basic things you would want to know just from the picture itself. This also goes for facebook messages, videos, etc. He has provided the police with enough evidence to charge him... and they have evidence to back it up as well.
Basically, you should NEVER put anything online, or on your phone that you wouldn't want anyone to see. Especially the police.
I am Wheel. Hear me Squeak.
So I am a part of the LEEP program. The LEEP program basically gives you money to do an internship over the summer, which is great. The internship that I have requires me to commute pretty far, and guess what. It's not cheap. So, I require the money from the LEEP program in order to get to my job two times a week. Sucks, right?
So I had to fill out allllllllll this paperwork. And I did. It was filled out and submitted before July even started. And then, on July 3, i get an email saying "I didn't get these last two pieces of paperwork from you", from my LEEP sponsorer person. Now, i had sent them in, and told her so. And forwarded the original messages back to her. This time she got them. However, she decided not to submit them to the financial office until July 8. Now, this seems like it wouldn't be a big deal.... but i needed the money to commute to work, pay for food, and for my utility bills. And because they weren't sending the money, i had to choose. Food, bills, or commute. I chose not to commute. (30$ per day) I missed an internship i love because the program that set me up with the internship wouldn't pay me on time.
So I started calling the LEEP office. Once a day, twice a day... but the head of LEEP was seemingly never there. Not at 9am, not at 11am, not at 230pm. It was seriously frustrating. I left several angry voicemails... and it took two weeks, but I finally got a response that said.... "We sent you the check, but your address doesn't exist." Let me tell you something Clark financial services... MY HOUSE EXISTS. I LIVE IN IT. IT HAS A NUMBER, AND I HAVE HAD PACKAGES DELIVERED TO ME. But no one had informed me that the check had come back to them. *I* had to call to find out that they had made the mistake, because they didn't think they had made one.
Moral of the story: Sometimes you have to be the squeaky wheel in order to get anything done.
So I had to fill out allllllllll this paperwork. And I did. It was filled out and submitted before July even started. And then, on July 3, i get an email saying "I didn't get these last two pieces of paperwork from you", from my LEEP sponsorer person. Now, i had sent them in, and told her so. And forwarded the original messages back to her. This time she got them. However, she decided not to submit them to the financial office until July 8. Now, this seems like it wouldn't be a big deal.... but i needed the money to commute to work, pay for food, and for my utility bills. And because they weren't sending the money, i had to choose. Food, bills, or commute. I chose not to commute. (30$ per day) I missed an internship i love because the program that set me up with the internship wouldn't pay me on time.
So I started calling the LEEP office. Once a day, twice a day... but the head of LEEP was seemingly never there. Not at 9am, not at 11am, not at 230pm. It was seriously frustrating. I left several angry voicemails... and it took two weeks, but I finally got a response that said.... "We sent you the check, but your address doesn't exist." Let me tell you something Clark financial services... MY HOUSE EXISTS. I LIVE IN IT. IT HAS A NUMBER, AND I HAVE HAD PACKAGES DELIVERED TO ME. But no one had informed me that the check had come back to them. *I* had to call to find out that they had made the mistake, because they didn't think they had made one.
Moral of the story: Sometimes you have to be the squeaky wheel in order to get anything done.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Gun Permits
Gun permits are a really big part of working in a police station. Lots of people want gun licenses, FICs, etc. But is everyone qualified to even carry a gun? No. No they are not. Part of what I did today was input information into Pro4, the police department's archaic information system. Like... this thing is old school man. So basically, i was handed a large stack of forms and told, "Make sure all the information is right". So I did. When someone moves, gets a new phone number, a new license number, a new anything... you have to update Pro4 so that everything is accurate. Massachusetts is especially strict about gun licenses.
There are several things that you need.
-Your form, filled out with correct personal information.
This is used to do a background check. if you fail the background check, you don't get a gun.
-A firearms safety class.
To even receive the background check, one must first do a day long class on gun safety.
-Recommendations from responsible people.
This is to make sure that you're not some crazy person with no criminal history who wants a gun.
-Luck.
Once that is all done, the Chief of Police decides to grant, or not grant your request. Afterwards, you
can get a gun, from the class that you were granted.
There are several things that you need.
-Your form, filled out with correct personal information.
This is used to do a background check. if you fail the background check, you don't get a gun.
-A firearms safety class.
To even receive the background check, one must first do a day long class on gun safety.
-Recommendations from responsible people.
This is to make sure that you're not some crazy person with no criminal history who wants a gun.
-Luck.
Once that is all done, the Chief of Police decides to grant, or not grant your request. Afterwards, you
can get a gun, from the class that you were granted.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Talking talking talking 'bout...
Police officers love to talk and that's a fact. Walking into the station this morning, I was greeted by the Lieutenant, and two other officers in a conversation about what they do with mice after they catch them... because their kids are against them killing pests. Later, the conversation turned to hockey, and stories about the force's hockey team, and who played hockey, and who was insane and who was crazy... and then got into funny stories about retired officers.
You can learn a lot about people who like to talk and talk and talk. You learn about their personality, their family life, what kind of person they are. It's all private and yet none of it is, because all these guys are friends. When you work at a dangerous job, you learn to be friends with your co-workers real fast. You not only want them to have your backs, but you're gonna want company during those slow days where nothing is happening... and as a college student with friends, I can tell you that you talk to your friends. All the time. About pretty much everything.
And another thing. Police officers swear a lot. Not all of them, but the Lieutenant does. Everything is always "fucking shit" and "goddamn" and it's all woven into his sentences, because hey, his job is to protect, he deserves leeway on his bad language. But he NEVER EVER talks like that around his kids. Only when he's on the job.
AND THE STEREOTYPE IS TRUE! Well... less about the donuts, and more about the coffee. The officers and Lieutenant I work with have so much coffee, it's kind of unreal. But then again, they work very hard all the time, and are very tired. The coffee is to keep them awake. Makes sense now, doesn't it. (I find the officers eating pizza more than any other thing to tell you the truth).
You can learn a lot about people who like to talk and talk and talk. You learn about their personality, their family life, what kind of person they are. It's all private and yet none of it is, because all these guys are friends. When you work at a dangerous job, you learn to be friends with your co-workers real fast. You not only want them to have your backs, but you're gonna want company during those slow days where nothing is happening... and as a college student with friends, I can tell you that you talk to your friends. All the time. About pretty much everything.
And another thing. Police officers swear a lot. Not all of them, but the Lieutenant does. Everything is always "fucking shit" and "goddamn" and it's all woven into his sentences, because hey, his job is to protect, he deserves leeway on his bad language. But he NEVER EVER talks like that around his kids. Only when he's on the job.
AND THE STEREOTYPE IS TRUE! Well... less about the donuts, and more about the coffee. The officers and Lieutenant I work with have so much coffee, it's kind of unreal. But then again, they work very hard all the time, and are very tired. The coffee is to keep them awake. Makes sense now, doesn't it. (I find the officers eating pizza more than any other thing to tell you the truth).
Police Work Can Be Unfruitful At The Worst of Times
So, a couple weeks ago, I was part of a suicide case that was happening here. Now, it was pretty open and shut... except, now, the dead guy's car has gone missing! Now, the usual suspects have been found. The owner of the guy's apartment, and the Realtor who sells the apartments for the owner.
So far today, one of the officers and I went out on a ride to take a look at all the Wholesale car sellers in the area. We were on the lookout for this car, which needs to be found so that we can determine who sold it, why they sold it, and what's so important about the damn car.
It is ILLEGAL to sell someone else's car without their permission, or the permission of their immediate family... if that person happens to be dead. You don't get to just take it and sell it... even if the guy owed you money and committed suicide in the apartment you own. That's not how the law works.
These guys are pretty legit scumbags.
Don't be stupid. Follow the law or you'll get busted.
So far today, one of the officers and I went out on a ride to take a look at all the Wholesale car sellers in the area. We were on the lookout for this car, which needs to be found so that we can determine who sold it, why they sold it, and what's so important about the damn car.
It is ILLEGAL to sell someone else's car without their permission, or the permission of their immediate family... if that person happens to be dead. You don't get to just take it and sell it... even if the guy owed you money and committed suicide in the apartment you own. That's not how the law works.
These guys are pretty legit scumbags.
Don't be stupid. Follow the law or you'll get busted.
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Stakeout 101
We've all seen the crime shows where you see the detectives looking all comfortable in their car while drinking coffee and they seem to be perfectly fine in whatever they're wearing, they're not complaining or having any real issues. Time seems so short and like it flies by like nothing is a problem. This is not what a stakeout is really like. Nothing like it. Using my own experience, I have created for you this list, so that when you go on your own stakeout, you'll know what TO do and what NOT to do.
What not to wear...
-Uncomfortable clothing. You WILL be sitting in one spot for more than 3 hours.
-Bulky or heavy clothing. Again, you WILL be sitting in one spot for more then three hours. Try to be comfortable.
-Police clothing. You are on a STAKEOUT. The last thing you want to do is attract any unwanted attention, or the attention of the people you are staking out.
-Anything out of the ordinary. You'll wan to be able to blend in with a crowd. Even if you're just hanging out in your car.
What to wear....
-Comfortable clothing. Sitting in a car for three hours is already uncomfortable. Make it better on yourself.
-Dress for the weather. If it's hot, don't wear anything that you wouldn't want to be wearing outside that day. Not all cars have air conditioning.
-Dress casual. No one cares if you're wearing a nice business casual outfit. You're just shooting yourself in the foot by not dressing casually.
-Comfortable shoes. No needs for stif shoes when you can just wear sneakers and flip flops. This a stakeout. Odds you're gonna be chasing someone, little to none.
-Anything unnecessary. Seriously. This is pretty self explanatory category and covers a wide range of things. For example, you do not need to bring a cat, a baseball or a cast iron skillet with you.
What to bring...
-You WILL want to bring a pad (or several) of paper. You will want to take notes on some things.
-Lots of pens. You will drop them, you will somehow lose them in the car. No idea how or why, it just happens.
-Water or some sort of drink. You are going to want to stay hydrated. But don't drink enough that you'll constantly need to use the bathroom... especially if you're on stakeout alone.
-A snack or some food. Same kind of thing. You need energy to stay alert.
-Binoculars. You may need to see things that are far away. Surprisingly, if you're in a car, you're not necessarily visible to other people. Windshields have glares. That being said, don't bring the biggest pair of binoculars to the party. Smaller more easily concealed ones are better, especially if they have an image stabilizer.
-Your cellular device. You'll need o look normal if anyone spots you... also, it's good to keep in touch with your superiors and the rest of your team.
-Any kind of charger. Keep your electronics charged.
-Anything that could come in handy.
-"This will be a walk in the park." Sorry, but no. It will be hard to see things that you need to see, and that you need to write down... such as license plates numbers. They're hard to see on moving cars, and hard to write them down while you have to be looking at and seeing the next license plate number.... It's not easy.
-"This is going to be so exciting!" It's not going to be. You're there to watch and listen, not to make an arrest. You're going to be in that place, or car for over 3 hours, doing nothing but watching your target or taking notes, or license plate numbers. Do not expect to have any fun.
-"I'm going to see a crime take place!" Probably not. Sorry.
What to think....
"This could take a while." It can and it will. Police and Detectives will put in hundreds of stakeout hours into a single case in order to find people, get evidence and make a case. Be prepared to spend a lot of time on stakeouts.
-"I'm really helping with this case." You are helping out. Anything you see could be important. Not everything... but anything could be. You could find the car, see the act or the piece of evidence that helps crack the case.
Stakeouts are all about surveillance. Not about making the arrest. You are observing and collecting notes on the comings and goings. You are doing the boring part of police work, but although it may be boring, it is a necessary part of working certain types of cases... such as drugs and prostitution.
Attire
Welcome to this special episode of "What Not to Wear.... on a Stakeout". You would think that this would be pretty straight forward, but it's really not to some people.What not to wear...
-Uncomfortable clothing. You WILL be sitting in one spot for more than 3 hours.
-Bulky or heavy clothing. Again, you WILL be sitting in one spot for more then three hours. Try to be comfortable.
-Police clothing. You are on a STAKEOUT. The last thing you want to do is attract any unwanted attention, or the attention of the people you are staking out.
-Anything out of the ordinary. You'll wan to be able to blend in with a crowd. Even if you're just hanging out in your car.
What to wear....
-Comfortable clothing. Sitting in a car for three hours is already uncomfortable. Make it better on yourself.
-Dress for the weather. If it's hot, don't wear anything that you wouldn't want to be wearing outside that day. Not all cars have air conditioning.
-Dress casual. No one cares if you're wearing a nice business casual outfit. You're just shooting yourself in the foot by not dressing casually.
-Comfortable shoes. No needs for stif shoes when you can just wear sneakers and flip flops. This a stakeout. Odds you're gonna be chasing someone, little to none.
Equipment
What not to bring...-Anything unnecessary. Seriously. This is pretty self explanatory category and covers a wide range of things. For example, you do not need to bring a cat, a baseball or a cast iron skillet with you.
What to bring...
-You WILL want to bring a pad (or several) of paper. You will want to take notes on some things.
-Lots of pens. You will drop them, you will somehow lose them in the car. No idea how or why, it just happens.
-Water or some sort of drink. You are going to want to stay hydrated. But don't drink enough that you'll constantly need to use the bathroom... especially if you're on stakeout alone.
-A snack or some food. Same kind of thing. You need energy to stay alert.
-Binoculars. You may need to see things that are far away. Surprisingly, if you're in a car, you're not necessarily visible to other people. Windshields have glares. That being said, don't bring the biggest pair of binoculars to the party. Smaller more easily concealed ones are better, especially if they have an image stabilizer.
-Your cellular device. You'll need o look normal if anyone spots you... also, it's good to keep in touch with your superiors and the rest of your team.
-Any kind of charger. Keep your electronics charged.
-Anything that could come in handy.
Attitude
What not to think...-"This will be a walk in the park." Sorry, but no. It will be hard to see things that you need to see, and that you need to write down... such as license plates numbers. They're hard to see on moving cars, and hard to write them down while you have to be looking at and seeing the next license plate number.... It's not easy.
-"This is going to be so exciting!" It's not going to be. You're there to watch and listen, not to make an arrest. You're going to be in that place, or car for over 3 hours, doing nothing but watching your target or taking notes, or license plate numbers. Do not expect to have any fun.
-"I'm going to see a crime take place!" Probably not. Sorry.
What to think....
"This could take a while." It can and it will. Police and Detectives will put in hundreds of stakeout hours into a single case in order to find people, get evidence and make a case. Be prepared to spend a lot of time on stakeouts.
-"I'm really helping with this case." You are helping out. Anything you see could be important. Not everything... but anything could be. You could find the car, see the act or the piece of evidence that helps crack the case.
Stakeouts are all about surveillance. Not about making the arrest. You are observing and collecting notes on the comings and goings. You are doing the boring part of police work, but although it may be boring, it is a necessary part of working certain types of cases... such as drugs and prostitution.
HOWEVER, THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF BEING ON A STAKEOUT IS ACTING NATURAL. YOU DON'T WANT ANYONE TO SEE YOU, OR MAKE YOU AS A COP. ACT. NATURAL. ACT LIKE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE THERE.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Don't Let Your Emotions Get the Best of You
Right now, I am angry at this man. I'm completely pissed that he could do something like this, and I despise the fact that he has hurt these children. But at the same time, I'm working towards stepping back and getting a grip on my emotions. I need to be able to help this case. Not hinder it. And you know, it really does suck. Thinking about what this man has done just makes me flinch with disgust and it makes me feel gross on the inside and makes my skin feel so oily and gross... but I have to put that aside and just take it one moment at a time and really help make a difference in this case. More to come.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Cool things that happen to me.
I'd like to let you all know that I am part of a confidential ongoing case that I currently cannot talk about at all.
How to Hang Out at a Crime Scene
This is part two of my posting today. Because of a lovely thing that happened on patrol, (and of course my experience from Forensics class) I can tell you what REALLY happens at a crime scene and how to handle it.
1. The first officer there makes sure the scene is safe and keeps people from coming in who shouldn't be in there in the first place.
Communication is key. Everyone needs to know what is going on... that is, the law people. But safety is first. Also, it's highly important that every person that enters the crime scene gets documented as being there. No random person can just ENTER.
2. The primary officer (WHILE WEARING GLOVES) surveys the scene and looks around while keeping safe.
The primary officer is in charge. Until someone higher up takes jurisdiction.
3. Tag the evidence with evidence numbers, make a sketch and make sure all the evidence shows up on the sketch.
It's very important to know what all the evidence is, and where it is. Because of evidence tampering, a jury needs to know that the police didn't plant anything when they made their search.
4. Photos of the scene are taken, as well as a video of the scene.
It is really important that everything is correctly documented. Court cases require air tight evidence with no mistakes. Otherwise we end up with a case like OJ Simpson's... where the man was obviously guilty, but the police fucked up big time. All photo and video evidence is done in RAW format, which means even in photoshop or editors, the originals cannot be changed.
5. Evidence is collected.
There are very specific ways to collect the evidence from the crime scene. In my forensic class, i learned that there are some pieces of evidence that can be put in plastic bags. However, in the real world, they always play it safe by using paper evidence bags instead.
6. The chain of custody must never be broken while moving evidence, opening evidence and sealing evidence.
I must keep saying and reiterating that the chain of custody is the most important thing. Anyone who touches, moves, opens, closes... anything from the crime scene, enters the crime scene, touches evidence... MUST sign off. Must put correct times and dates, must initial. It's all a very thorough process.
7. Witnesses to crimes are very important. More important than you think. They can give you details that can help solve the case, or completely confuse you. And sometimes, these witnesses are the actual perpetrators of the crime.
But the process is long and rather tedious. Name, birthday, license. Then you get run through the system. They look at your B.O.P. which is a number that gives a good estimate on the number of crimes they have committed in the past. So many people have to be called, and the background of the person must be constantly checked to see if anything was missed. It's actually quite a boring practice.
Anything else you need to know... send me a message, send me a comment. I know the system. I know how it works and why it's important. :)
Communication is key. Everyone needs to know what is going on... that is, the law people. But safety is first. Also, it's highly important that every person that enters the crime scene gets documented as being there. No random person can just ENTER.
2. The primary officer (WHILE WEARING GLOVES) surveys the scene and looks around while keeping safe.
The primary officer is in charge. Until someone higher up takes jurisdiction.
3. Tag the evidence with evidence numbers, make a sketch and make sure all the evidence shows up on the sketch.
It's very important to know what all the evidence is, and where it is. Because of evidence tampering, a jury needs to know that the police didn't plant anything when they made their search.
4. Photos of the scene are taken, as well as a video of the scene.
It is really important that everything is correctly documented. Court cases require air tight evidence with no mistakes. Otherwise we end up with a case like OJ Simpson's... where the man was obviously guilty, but the police fucked up big time. All photo and video evidence is done in RAW format, which means even in photoshop or editors, the originals cannot be changed.
5. Evidence is collected.
There are very specific ways to collect the evidence from the crime scene. In my forensic class, i learned that there are some pieces of evidence that can be put in plastic bags. However, in the real world, they always play it safe by using paper evidence bags instead.
6. The chain of custody must never be broken while moving evidence, opening evidence and sealing evidence.
I must keep saying and reiterating that the chain of custody is the most important thing. Anyone who touches, moves, opens, closes... anything from the crime scene, enters the crime scene, touches evidence... MUST sign off. Must put correct times and dates, must initial. It's all a very thorough process.
7. Witnesses to crimes are very important. More important than you think. They can give you details that can help solve the case, or completely confuse you. And sometimes, these witnesses are the actual perpetrators of the crime.
But the process is long and rather tedious. Name, birthday, license. Then you get run through the system. They look at your B.O.P. which is a number that gives a good estimate on the number of crimes they have committed in the past. So many people have to be called, and the background of the person must be constantly checked to see if anything was missed. It's actually quite a boring practice.
Anything else you need to know... send me a message, send me a comment. I know the system. I know how it works and why it's important. :)
Reasons I don't want to work in a High School...
Today will probably be a multi-post day because already I have a lot to cover. Today, I went to the high school in the town that I am working in. It's a decent sized high school, and 300 people per grade. And there I met with the safety officer and the officer who deals with Juveniles... So what i did for the first two hours of my day was talk to him. About everything involving high school security, the idiots that go to high school, the dumb people that run the high school, how much the system sucks and a whole bunch of stories that I will share with you now... without names and personal details of course... because who needs those?
So going back to an older case, there is this girl... and she is an adult, and she is at risk of being charged with a felony... and yet, even though the DA is telling her to take this really good deal, she won't, because she is "evidently" really scared of the people she'd be flipping on... despite the fact that the police have offered her protection. But as dumb as not taking the deal is, there is something worse. The other girl involved in the crime is a juvenile. A Juvenile who now walks around her school like she's untouchable... a juvenile girl who has not had any charges brought against her, even though there are now TWO crimes she is a part of.
Fair or No fair?
If you know me at all, you'll know that this pisses me off. Being a freshman girl in highschool does not excuse you from criminal charges. It does not excuse you from the law. It does not make you above the law. Lady Justice does not smile upon this case, or this girl. And neither do I. I assure you there will be more on this case to come, mostly because it bothers me and it's taking a long time to deal with.
Another thing with high school kids is, they don't learn. And they don't listen, even when you think they have a soul and you think that there is a good quality about them. They just... suck. So take this one kid, right? He gets caught with marijuana and so gets 20 hours of community service, the officer at the school does him a solid, and is helping him out with the community service and getting to know the kid. The kid does everything right. Later, the officer finds out that the boy is hanging out with the wrong kids. These are bad kids let me tell you. So, the officer tells the kid "Don't hang out with him, he's bad news". The kid says "well, i've known him forever." And then the kid gets a kind but stern lecture.
Can you guess what happens next?
About two weeks later, said kid gets arrested for assault. And who is he with at the time? The bad kids. You see what happens when you don't listen to people who know best and understand the law and have seen all this shit happen before? You get arrested. In high school. For assault.
Now... speaking of this bad kid... and this I swear to god is a bad kid. He doesn't want to go to school, so he doesn't. He deals drugs, he assaults people. And seriously man, he's gotten away with it for however long he's been at it. His parents think the sun, moon and stars shine out of his ass and refuse to ever believe he's done anything wrong. That's the first problem. The second problem is that no one has stuck this royal douchebag into a juvenile detention center... although.... this kid is now an adult. LET'S SEE YOU TRY THAT SHIT NOW SUCKER.
And now, I just want to list some stupid things kids at this high school have done. Stolen paper from the copier in the main office when secretaries were right there, tried to break back into the high school during school hours when he no longer had anymore classes that day, parked in a staff parking spot so many times that she got over $200 in tickets, attempted to get out of a signed contract by threatening to call their attorney (a school contract none the less), and many many more things.
Damn, high school kids SUCK.
But then you have to think about the policy of the school... and the police. It all sucks. The school won't do anything about delinquents if they don't do it on school property. Kids don't get really punished. Basically, you're living in a glass bubble where you can do no wrong. And then the school has some serious issues with attendance... like the situation where a kid ran away to Michigan and the teachers were still marking the kid as present in the class. Or the time when a kid attempted suicide and the teachers marked him as present in school when he hadn't been in school all day. This is what we call negligence and it's both wrong and disgusting... especially coming from the people who are supposed to be teaching these children. Also, the school won't put in any surveillance cameras... even though most schools have... especially after Newtown. Schools should really want to protect their kids... and you know, in a wealthy area, this school should have so much more money to put towards school security.
Now... a quick rant.
NO 16 OR 17 YEAR OLD BRAT NEEDS A BRAND NEW CORVETTE/MERCEDES/AUDI/ PORSHE ETC. YOUR KID WILL CRASH THAT CAR WITHIN TWO YEARS, AND THEN, YOUR ALREADY HIGH INSURANCE WILL GO UP. IF YOU'RE GOING TO BUY THEM A CAR, GET THEM A NICE USED CAR THAT WON'T RAISE YOUR INSURANCE BY THE COST OF ANOTHER CAR. YOUR BRAT IS NO DIFFERENT THEN ANY OTHER KID AND NEEDS TO LEARN THAT INSTEAD OF YOU TEACHING THEM TO BE MORE MATERIALISTIC THEN THEY ALREADY ARE. SHEESH.
End Rant.
So going back to an older case, there is this girl... and she is an adult, and she is at risk of being charged with a felony... and yet, even though the DA is telling her to take this really good deal, she won't, because she is "evidently" really scared of the people she'd be flipping on... despite the fact that the police have offered her protection. But as dumb as not taking the deal is, there is something worse. The other girl involved in the crime is a juvenile. A Juvenile who now walks around her school like she's untouchable... a juvenile girl who has not had any charges brought against her, even though there are now TWO crimes she is a part of.
Fair or No fair?
If you know me at all, you'll know that this pisses me off. Being a freshman girl in highschool does not excuse you from criminal charges. It does not excuse you from the law. It does not make you above the law. Lady Justice does not smile upon this case, or this girl. And neither do I. I assure you there will be more on this case to come, mostly because it bothers me and it's taking a long time to deal with.
Can you guess what happens next?
About two weeks later, said kid gets arrested for assault. And who is he with at the time? The bad kids. You see what happens when you don't listen to people who know best and understand the law and have seen all this shit happen before? You get arrested. In high school. For assault.
Now... speaking of this bad kid... and this I swear to god is a bad kid. He doesn't want to go to school, so he doesn't. He deals drugs, he assaults people. And seriously man, he's gotten away with it for however long he's been at it. His parents think the sun, moon and stars shine out of his ass and refuse to ever believe he's done anything wrong. That's the first problem. The second problem is that no one has stuck this royal douchebag into a juvenile detention center... although.... this kid is now an adult. LET'S SEE YOU TRY THAT SHIT NOW SUCKER.
And now, I just want to list some stupid things kids at this high school have done. Stolen paper from the copier in the main office when secretaries were right there, tried to break back into the high school during school hours when he no longer had anymore classes that day, parked in a staff parking spot so many times that she got over $200 in tickets, attempted to get out of a signed contract by threatening to call their attorney (a school contract none the less), and many many more things.
Damn, high school kids SUCK.
But then you have to think about the policy of the school... and the police. It all sucks. The school won't do anything about delinquents if they don't do it on school property. Kids don't get really punished. Basically, you're living in a glass bubble where you can do no wrong. And then the school has some serious issues with attendance... like the situation where a kid ran away to Michigan and the teachers were still marking the kid as present in the class. Or the time when a kid attempted suicide and the teachers marked him as present in school when he hadn't been in school all day. This is what we call negligence and it's both wrong and disgusting... especially coming from the people who are supposed to be teaching these children. Also, the school won't put in any surveillance cameras... even though most schools have... especially after Newtown. Schools should really want to protect their kids... and you know, in a wealthy area, this school should have so much more money to put towards school security.
Now... a quick rant.
NO 16 OR 17 YEAR OLD BRAT NEEDS A BRAND NEW CORVETTE/MERCEDES/AUDI/ PORSHE ETC. YOUR KID WILL CRASH THAT CAR WITHIN TWO YEARS, AND THEN, YOUR ALREADY HIGH INSURANCE WILL GO UP. IF YOU'RE GOING TO BUY THEM A CAR, GET THEM A NICE USED CAR THAT WON'T RAISE YOUR INSURANCE BY THE COST OF ANOTHER CAR. YOUR BRAT IS NO DIFFERENT THEN ANY OTHER KID AND NEEDS TO LEARN THAT INSTEAD OF YOU TEACHING THEM TO BE MORE MATERIALISTIC THEN THEY ALREADY ARE. SHEESH.
End Rant.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Let's have a discussion about commuting...
Commuting is a pain in the ass for everyone. It's especially a pain in the ass for me. I commute 1.5 hours one way, and 1.5 hours back. Every Thursday for June, every Thursday and Friday for July etc. You get the point. And it's even more of a pain when the person living in your house... who has a car... is too "busy" with herself to come get you from the train station (which is 5 minutes away) at 530, once or twice a week. It's kind of sad too, because, well, isn't that what friends do?
But I seem to have a savior this week. Chris King. Friend. Wonderful person. Great RA. He offered to drive me to the train station. IN THE MORNING AT 630. But also come and pick me up at 530 later that day. Like, who does that? A true friend, that's who. I appreciate this so much... so freaking much. It feels nice to know that someone is going to help me out instead of just being lazy about everything and sitting on the computer all day and only caring about them self....
Anyways, I got a ride. I'm happy about it. It makes me feel good that someone in the world isn't a douchebag who ignores other people in need. We can't all be rich and have cars you know. Some of us have shitty commutes to work and really need to catch a break on part of it. When you start spending 35-40$ a day to get to work, you'll understand what I mean. It's long and it's hard, but I still do it and it's worth it. It's just wonderful to know that there are real friends out there who want to help, and will help because they're good people.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Day One of Being Olivia Benson
Today was day one at the Crime Lab. And of course, like every good Law&Order SVU fan, I was channeling my inner Olivia Benson. Now, this is not an SVU unit, but they do work with some... less than appealing evidence. Sexual assault via internet and smartphone, child pornography, potential rape... I got to read the files, review the cases and then talk about them to someone very high up in the chain of command.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start with the beginning of the day. Anyone who knows me knows that I am rather scared of trains... if I am on them alone. And my commute... well, it requires 3 trains. Two commuter rails and the T. It's about a 2 hour commute. Surprisingly, it's not that bad. I can use that time to study in my GRE book. So, it's really not all that bad. Although the guys at the station seem to think it was pretty bad. I don't really think so because most of the time I'm just sitting still and waiting most of the time. And it gave me time to calm my nerves about being on a train. Because like i've said, trains are scary.
Now, the first thing I did was meet everyone and explore the building. I met the dispatchers, the detectives, the secretaries... I saw the cells, where people get booked and where evidence is kept (I also saw the largest evidence bag that i have ever seen... it was half my height!). But overall, it was pretty simple.
The next part of the day was going to a computer forensics lab. In this lab, I got to help with a phone dump. A phone dump is when a phone in evidence is given to the Forensics unit, and they take all the information off of it using some pretty cool software and then all the information is put onto the computer. Something very important I learned is that if you delete something, the file is still there. They can still get the file with this software and you don't even know it. ESPECIALLY with I-phones. We dumped an I-phone and I swear to god you knew everything in about 15 minutes. Locations, pictures and videos that had been deleted etc. You need to be really careful about what you text, what you take pictures of, and what the settings are on your phone. If the NSA scandal didn't scare you, this will. The police can get anything they want off your phone in less than an hour. Whether or not you have deleted it in the past. Of course they need a warrant, but if you've done something wrong, it's really not that hard to get one. So be careful about what you put on your phone.
Now that i've given you that obvious little piece of advice, you should know that working with detectives and within a crime unit isn't... always fun like you see on the TV shows. Every day isn't fast paced criminal catching, in fact, it's a lot of paper work and writing affidavits and just bumming around waiting for things to happen. Now, some days you're on your feet constantly, doing everything, meeting everyone, doing whatever you can to be a help to the detectives and officers.
I'm very excited and happy to be working here and getting all this new experience. Over the summer, I will get to ride in a patrol car (and hopefully get to turn on the sirens), sit in on an interrogation, go on a stakeout and meet a DA. Lots of things to do, and so little time to do it! But hey. it's gonna be cool.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start with the beginning of the day. Anyone who knows me knows that I am rather scared of trains... if I am on them alone. And my commute... well, it requires 3 trains. Two commuter rails and the T. It's about a 2 hour commute. Surprisingly, it's not that bad. I can use that time to study in my GRE book. So, it's really not all that bad. Although the guys at the station seem to think it was pretty bad. I don't really think so because most of the time I'm just sitting still and waiting most of the time. And it gave me time to calm my nerves about being on a train. Because like i've said, trains are scary.
Now, the first thing I did was meet everyone and explore the building. I met the dispatchers, the detectives, the secretaries... I saw the cells, where people get booked and where evidence is kept (I also saw the largest evidence bag that i have ever seen... it was half my height!). But overall, it was pretty simple.
Now that i've given you that obvious little piece of advice, you should know that working with detectives and within a crime unit isn't... always fun like you see on the TV shows. Every day isn't fast paced criminal catching, in fact, it's a lot of paper work and writing affidavits and just bumming around waiting for things to happen. Now, some days you're on your feet constantly, doing everything, meeting everyone, doing whatever you can to be a help to the detectives and officers.
I'm very excited and happy to be working here and getting all this new experience. Over the summer, I will get to ride in a patrol car (and hopefully get to turn on the sirens), sit in on an interrogation, go on a stakeout and meet a DA. Lots of things to do, and so little time to do it! But hey. it's gonna be cool.
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