Police perjury, sometimes euphemistically called "testilying", is the act of a police officer knowingly giving false testimony. It is typically used in a criminal trial to "make the case" against defendants believed by the police to be guilty when irregularities during the suspects' arrest or search threaten to result in their acquittal. It also can be extended to encompass substantive misstatements of fact to convict those whom the police believe to be guilty, procedural misstatements to "justify" a search and seizure, or even the inclusion of statements to frame an innocent citizen. More generically, it has been said to be "[lying under oath, especially by a police officer, to help get a conviction."
The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, commonly referred to as the 1994 Crime Bill, or the Clinton Crime Bill, is an Act of Congress dealing with crime and law enforcement; it became law in 1994. It is the largest crime bill in the history of the United States and consisted of 356 pages that provided for 100,000 new police officers, $9.7 billion in funding for prisons which were designed with significant input from experienced police officers. Sponsored by U.S. Representative Jack Brooks of Texas, the bill was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Then-Senator Joe Biden of Delaware drafted the Senate version of the legislation in cooperation with the National Association of Police Organizations, also incorporating the Assault Weapons ban and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) with Senator Orrin Hatch.
A covert operation or undercover operation is a military or police operation involving a covert agent or troops acting under an assumed cover to conceal the identity of the party responsible.
The Bureau of Prohibition was the United States federal law enforcement agency with the responsibility of investigating the possession, distribution, consumption, and trafficking of alcohol and alcoholic beverages in the United States of America during the Prohibition era. The enumerated enforcement powers of this organization were vested in the Volstead Act. Federal Prohibition Agents of the Bureau were commonly referred to by members of the public and the press of the day as "Prohis," or "Dry Agents." In the sparsely populated areas of the American west, agents were sometimes called "Prohibition Cowboys." At its peak, the Bureau employed 2,300 dry agents.
Kathleen M. O'Toole is an American law enforcement officer who served as Chief of the Seattle Police Department (SPD) from June 23, 2014, to January 4, 2018. She was previously the first female commissioner of the Boston Police Department, when appointed by Mayor of Boston Thomas M. Menino in February 2004.
The Massachusetts State Police (MSP) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, responsible for law enforcement and vehicle regulation across the state. As of 2024, it has 2,330 sworn troopers and 611 civilian support staff for a total of 2,941 personnel, making it the largest law enforcement agency in New England. The MSP is headed by Interim Colonel Jack Mawn.
Thomas A. Constantine served as the 6th Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) from March 1994 to July 1999.
The Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) was an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, with the enumerated powers of pursuing crimes related to the possession, distribution, and trafficking of listed narcotics including cannabis, opium, cocaine, and their derivatives. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the FBN carried out operations and missions around the world. The bureau was in existence from its establishment in 1930 until its dissolution in 1968. FBN is considered a predecessor to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
William Joseph Bratton CBE is an American businessman and former law enforcement officer who served two non-consecutive tenures as the New York City Police Commissioner and currently one of only two NYPD commissioners being so(the other is Raymond Kelly). He previously served as the Commissioner of the Boston Police Department (BPD) (1993–1994) and Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) (2002–2009). He is the only person to have led the police departments of the United States' two largest cities – New York and Los Angeles.
Ethan A. Nadelmann is the founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, a New York City-based non-profit organization working to end the War on Drugs. He is a supporter of the legalization of marijuana in America.
The Bureau of Drug Abuse Control (BDAC) was an American law enforcement agency that investigated the consumption, trafficking, and distribution of drugs and controlled substances. BDAC was a Bureau of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In the sum total of the two years that BDAC existed, it investigated and closed around 300 criminal cases, seized 43 clandestine drug laboratories, and made over 1,300 arrests.
The Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), formerly Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization group of current and former police, judges, prosecutors, and other criminal justice professionals who use their expertise to advance drug policy and criminal justice solutions that enhance public safety. The organization is modeled after Vietnam Veterans Against the War. As of April 2017, they have more than 180 representatives around the world who speak on behalf of over 5,000 law enforcement members and 100,000 supporters.
The Sensible Marijuana Policy Initiative, also known as Massachusetts Ballot Question 2, was an initiated state statute that replaced prior criminal penalties with new civil penalties on adults possessing an ounce or less of marijuana. The initiative appeared on the November 4, 2008, ballot in Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition (MassCann) is a non-profit public education organization working for the moderation of marijuana laws. MassCann organizes the Freedom Rally on Boston Common every third Saturday in September. Their newsletter, Mass Grass, is published six times annually. Membership is open to the public and leadership is democratically elected at the annual winter membership meeting, usually held in March. In June 2019, MassCann had its status as an affiliate of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws suspended due to controversy surrounding now former Board Member Samson Racioppi.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is a state-wide investigative law enforcement agency within the state of Florida. The department formally coordinates eight boards, councils, and commissions. FDLE's duties, responsibilities, and procedures are mandated through Chapter 943, Florida Statutes, and Chapter 11, Florida Administrative Code. FDLE is headed by a commissioner who reports to the Florida Cabinet, which is composed of the governor, the attorney general, the chief financial officer, and the commissioner of agriculture. The commissioner is appointed to his position by the governor and cabinet and confirmed by the Florida Senate.
Police brutality is the use of excessive or unwarranted force by law enforcement against civilians. Police brutality involves physical or psychological harm to a person and can involve beatings, killing, intimidation tactics, racist abuse, and torture.
The militarization of police is the use of military equipment and tactics by law enforcement officers. This includes the use of armored personnel carriers (APCs), assault rifles, submachine guns, flashbang grenades, sniper rifles, and SWAT teams. The militarization of law enforcement is also associated with intelligence agency–style information gathering aimed at the public and political activists and with a more aggressive style of law enforcement. Criminal justice professor Peter Kraska has defined militarization of police as "the process whereby civilian police increasingly draw from, and pattern themselves around, the tenets of militarism and the military model".
Kyle Kazan is an American businessman who is the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Glass House Group. He is also a founder and chairman of Beach Front Property Management, Inc. and co-founder and managing member of Beach Front Properties, LLC. Kazan has also served as a special education teacher at LAUSD and a police officer at the Torrance Police Department.
Stephen Downing is an American screenwriter, producer, activist, and investigative journalist who began his screenwriting career in the 1960s while still working as a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer. Most of Downing's pre-1980 writing and producing credits appeared under pseudonyms to escape notice of the LAPD. Downing is active in the movement to end the international war on drugs and the militarization of police in America. In 2011, Downing became a board member of Law Enforcement Action Partnership, formerly known as Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), after years representing the group as a speaker. He left the board in 2019, but is still an advisory board member who gives speeches and writes op-ed pieces on behalf of the group. He also volunteers his time as an investigative journalist, with a focus on police corruption and reform, for a local print newspaper in Long Beach, California. As a television producer and screenwriter he is best known for the series Walking Tall, RoboCop: The Series, T. J. Hooker and MacGyver.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 was a policing reform bill drafted by Democrats in the United States Congress. The legislation was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on February 24, 2021. The legislation aims to combat police misconduct, excessive force, and racial bias in policing.
