Defending People

the tao of criminal defense trial lawyering

HPD and Video Redux

Mark Bennett | December 29, 2008

HPD Officer Paul Lassalle comments on this long-ago post about his communications with Harris County Assistant District Attorney Warren Diepraam (who will likely be at the coronation on Thursday) concerning whether HPD has to actually use the videotaping equipment that the statute requires them to have and maintain.
When a man with a gun and a [...]

More on those Ominous Black Boxes

Mark Bennett | September 26, 2008

Reader Trafficnerd gave us a few links to pages about the HPD’s DEA-funded PlateScan Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) systems.
None of them, oddly enough, mention the DEA funding that Officer Friendly told me about.
Here, though, is Houston HIDTA (High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force) director Stan Furce’s “So, you want an LPR” article from [...]

Big Brother on Wheels

Mark Bennett | September 24, 2008

According to Officer Friendly, those are DEA-supplied license-plate reading cameras mounted to the trunk of the patrol car.
I don’t like it, but it’s good for business — my business — I suppose.