breaking news:

[correction: the arrest occurred in St. Paul, by Minneapolis Police.]

Democracy Now!

I was browsing through the City of Olympia website today and found that through a program with the Olympia police, while you're on vacation, you can have the Volunteers in Police Services (VIPS) conduct "low-level security checks" of your home while you're away:

 "Vacation Checks Now Available.  The Olympia Police Department Volunteers in Police Services (VIPS) are pleased to offer a vacation check program to the residents of Olympia.  This program allows residents to request that VIPS conduct low-level security security checks of their homes while they are away.  We believe our presence and observation of the residence may deter criminal activity and lead to better over-all safety in our community.

Residents wishing to use this service must appear in person at the Olympia Police Department front office during regular business hours (Mon-Fri/8 AM - 5 PM) and complete an application."

Anyone ever had this done?

Back by popular demand- Heard over the scanner two black male threatened a work release subject with a handgun on Evergreen Park Drive. All units requested to set up perimeter near Co. Court House. This all started at about 9:20 PM.

Just heard over the scanner of shots fired from a red small sedan-- possible drive by shooting near Martin Way in Lacey. At least seven 9mm casings found on the ground.

Whose near?

UPDATE: Ashley129 in the comments:

 

I live about 5 houses down from where the shooting was. I didn't even hear the gun shots. I was watching a movie fairly loud though. We don't really know much. My fiance came home from work at about 11:00 last night and they had our whole street blocked off. When he asked what happened the cops just said there was a drive by shooting and no one was hurt. We have a one year old and his bedroom is facing the street. This has me terrified! Our whole neighboorhood is full of families with small children. The house that was shot at is right next door to a daycare! Of course there is nothing in the Olympian about it today. I plan on calling the LPD to find out more.

 

WIP News Service covered May Day 2008 on extremely tight deadline, but the story which was published in May’s WIP seriously departed from the mission statement of Works in Progress, from human values, and from advocacy for justice.

The piece was published without an individual byline, but clearly argues in favor of the act of throwing rocks at events such as May Day. I quote: “Some will rightly point out that tactics need to be escalated…” “Anybody who is swayed against our cause by seeing people fight back was … never on our side in the first place.” These quotes are from an imaginary discussion with 20 imagined “anti-imperialists.” They are laid out in argument, counter-argument style in a common form of propaganda called false equivalence. The arguments are presented side by side as if they are equally valid, and the piece does not openly state that one or the other view is correct, except in its choice of the phrase “…rightly point out..” and “…our side,” as if we the readers are on the side of those who threw these rocks. The good intentions of those who threw rocks are also assumed by the author, opening the question of whether the author participated in this act.

Just before Works In Progress went to press, we were given the following account of the events that followed the downtown Olympia May Day rally. The May issue of Works In Progress, which includes this and other articles of local interest, is now available at the usual locations around town, and will soon be posted to the Works In Progress website.

May 1: Eyewitness Report of May Day Melée

Most people know what to expect from May Day in Olympia. Music, dancing, marching (usually without a permit). Food Not Bombs serving from a big tub of soup. A festival, both to celebrate Beltane, and in honor of those who died so we could have a weekend, overtime pay, and an end to child labor. In recent years, this has been complimented with May Day’s additional focus as an immigrant rights day, and with it a focus on multilingualism and the ongoing ICE raids.

All went as expected for most of the day. Indeed, there was music. There was dancing. There was marching (with a legal permit, this year). There were invited speakers, talking about things ranging from the Longshore work stoppage, to the proposal before the Olympia City Council to establish Olympia as a Sanctuary City for war resisters and immigrants.

In light of the Daily O's top story today, I thought these should be shared. Olympia's finest hard at work!

See more photos...

A new website exists (Beta) which allows persons to rate individual police officers. The site is: www.ratemycop.com Olympia is listed. Police in general are not happy. See this story: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=6006207 Of course, the 1st Admendment should trump any challenge to the posting of publicly available information concerning those that protect and serve. If they are good officers then they should have nothing to hide.

This report says that we are the biggest police state in the world. It also points at systemic racism. Link.

New High In U.S. Prison Numbers
Growth Attributed To More Stringent Sentencing Laws

By N.C. Aizenman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 29, 2008; A01

More than one in 100 adults in the United States is in jail or prison, an all-time high that is costing state governments nearly $50 billion a year and the federal government $5 billion more, according to a report released yesterday.

With more than 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States leads the world in both the number and percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving far-more-populous China a distant second, according to a study by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States.