Law Enforcement

A Gallup poll conducted at the beginning of October shows that more Americans support the legalization of marijuana than ever before — even if the majority still think it should be illegal.

The law enforcement lobby has been conducting a full-court press against a medical marijuana bill that’s making its way through the legislature. But the claims made by Minnesota law enforcement officials are at best half-truths and exaggerations, and in some cases directly contradict government data.

In a tense exchange in the House Tuesday, Rep. Tom Rukavina, author of the medical marijuana bill, responded defiantly to testimony that law enforcement had met with him to voice concerns over the bill. “No member of your coalition has ever talked to me about this bill,” he said. “No one.”

A bill offered by Sen. Juliane Ortman, R-Chanhassen, and Rep. Dave Olin, DFL-Thief River Falls, would recriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana and increase penalties for possession of large amounts of marijuana and possession of marijuana plants. Minnesota decriminalized “small amounts” of marijuana in 1976, making the punishment for possession on par with a traffic violation.

While legislators debate making marijuana legal for individuals suffering from debilitating illness, law enforcement has testified that medical marijuana would post a risk to public safety. But as the Humphrey Institute’s Smart Politics reports, Minnesota law enforcement has scaled back its marijuana enforcement efforts significantly in the last few years.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman’s office issued a statement this morning announcing that the city attorney won’t prosecute journalists who were cited by authorities at the Republican National Convention (RNC) with “presence at an unlawful assembly,” a misdemeanor charge.

That pertains specifically to the journalists who were swept up in the massive arrests during protests in St. Paul on the convention’s first and last days (including MnIndy’s Paul Demko, who was arrested on the last night of the RNC). How many people that might include is unclear, but nearly 50 of the over 800 people arrested or detained were on-site to cover the RNC for professional media or citizen-journalism organizations.

In the third installment in our series on law-enforcement tools expected to be used at the Democratic (and maybe Republican) convention continues with Colorado Independent editor Cara DeGette’s look at a variety of police helmets, cudgels and armor. Read parts one and two.

They say that a best line of defense is a full body [...]

Our multi-part look at the kinds of high-tech law enforcement technologies that may be on deck for the Democratic (and perhaps Republican) convention continues. In this edition, Cara DeGette of our sister site, The Colorado Independent, looks at gear from rubber bullets to microwave “pain beams.” Read part one.

Get ready for some screeching. In [...]

Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado filed suit in Denver to demand disclosure of security-related equipment purchases by law enforcement for use at the Democratic National Convention. Police have been less than forthcoming about how its $18 million equipment budget — reported to include a “sonic ray gun” to quell feisty crowds — [...]