At Saturday’s protest of the hapless Fullerton Police Department, some perceptive folks espied a character who immediately drew suspicion, sore thumb-like, as some sort of plant. Of course they challenged this individual, who, thoughtfully provided a business card.
Craig Fury. “Law Enforcement Territory manager.” Aardvark Tactical.
FYI, an aardvark is a homely creature that roots through the dirt for bugs which seems aptly descriptive; the use of the name could also be a tactic just to get to the front of the phone book.
Our Friends discreetly followed Mr. Fury for several blocks down Commonwealth Avenue before he doubled back and wandered into – the FPD HQ! So what gives? Did the cops employ this clown to spy on peaceful protesters? If not why was he there?
I note that on their website that Aardvark “featured partners” include Safariland, the company that McKinley worked with (on the taxpayers dime) developing his special vest that was later purchased by the Fullerton Police Department. Aardvark is an “authorized dealer” of Safariland equipment. Did McKinley and the anti-recall drones employ this guy to take pictures of scary members of Kelly’s Army? If not why was he there, and why the loop-de loop?
I think somebody in authority (now who would that be?) needs to inform the police that the FPD facility is owned by the taxpayers (us) and that they had better stay out of politics on public time (ours) and in a publicly owned facility (ours).
Update 2: An FPD officer told a Friend last night that the police were in fact gearing up for potential protests in response to the DA’s announcement, which is expected in this coming week.
-Travis
Update: Travis, I can’t believe the FPD would be stoopid enough to start a riot at a benefit for the homeless (still, I’m wondering if their dumbness even has a bottom level). I truly believe the protesters in from of PD HQ are getting into their little heads. Everyone make as much noise as you want but PLEASE stay on the sidewalk!
– Mr. Peabody
Today a helpful Friend snapped these photos of Fullerton police officers dusting up on their riot control skills and baton swinging techniques inside the walls of the FPD compound.
The timing is curious. There is a rock concert for Kelly Thomas on Saturday. And the DA has hinted that he may make a big announcement about the cops who killed Kelly Thomas as early as Monday.
Nearby residents say that riot training is not a common occurrence in the FPD parking lot.
I wonder what’s going on?
An alert Friend reminded us today of a story that came to light last fall and that has eerie overtones of the subsequent Veth Mam case we have previously reported. The story is told in the OC Register, here.
The facts are simple. Even though an eye-witness ID’d another guy in a line-up, the Fullerton police arrested Emmanuel Martinez who unluckily just happened to be in the vicinity. Of course Fullerton “Officer” Miguel Siliceo told a hearing judge that he had indeed got the right guy and Martinez was locked up in the County jail for five long months awaiting the inevitable railroad job.
Martinez’s luck changed for the better when he got a public defender, Denise Crawford, who bulldogged the case. When audio evidence surfaced that proved Siliceo was telling tall tales, the DA, mirabile dictu, dropped the bogus charges against Martinez.
So Emmanuel can thank his lucky stars that he didn’t actually go on trial like Veth Mam, and then end up in state prison. And “Officer” Siliceo is lucky, too. Lucky he never had to perjure himself in front of a jury, and lucky he works for a police department where incompetence, and worse – felonious behavior are just par for the course.
Of course the story wouldn’t be complete without the bland statement by FPD spokesassclown Andrew Goodrich that the cops work “diligently” to arrest the right people and generously let ’em go if exculpatory evidence surfaces. Gee, thanks, Andy. Of course no mention is made by Goodrich of FPD hiding exculpatory evidence in the first place; nor is perjury; and of course there is no apology to the victim of FPD malfeasance. Wouldn’t want to undermine public confidence in our Heroes, now would we?
I wonder how much that one cost us.
Earlier we discovered a federal civil trial against the Fullerton PD and one of its cops named Albert Rincon, alleging that he serially sexually assaulted women in the backseat of his squad car. Since then, several interesting pieces of evidence have come forth.
That evidence shows how the FPD’s internal affairs department worked in tandem with a DA’s office that won’t prosecute cops, in order to derail an internal investigation against one of their own.
Follow along as we recite the successful formula:
1. Receive graphically detailed allegations that one of your officers had sexually assaulted a female in the back of his squad car.
Victim 1 Deposition – Victim 2 Deposition
2. Ask the DA to “investigate” to see if a crime had taken place.
3. The DA investigator finds five more women who say they were sexually groped, penetrated or propositioned in the course of an arrest by Rincon.
4. Listen to the recordings and discover that the cop’s audio recorder was turned off just before every single alleged assault took place.
5. Despite an astounding number of victims and witnesses, Tony Rackauckas’ office declines to prosecute the cop for sexual assault.
6. Pretend you don’t know why the DA didn’t file charges. In fact, don’t even ask.
7. Let the Internal Affairs department use the DA’s decline to prosecute as a pretext to conclude it’s own investigation.
8. Set the accused sexual predator free! With a badge and a gun, of course. But for some reason he now has to wear a lapel camera on his shirt at all times.
Of course Pat McKinley’s long reign of error has now caught up with him, and the taxpayers of Fullerton, too. And the DA? Well, nothing there we didn’t already know.
Thursday afternoon I took a break from work and headed to the Civic Center in Santa Ana, to check out the public protest outside the Orange County District Attorney’s office. About 40-50 people had gathered on the sweltering hot sidewalks on both sides of Civic Center Drive, frankly a larger crowd than I expected given that A) it was hotter than Hell B) it was the middle of a work day and C) did I mention it was hotter than Hell?
The crowd was well-behaved, they took care to gather all trash as they finished water bottles or fast-food lunches, and they were careful not to block the sidewalk or bother pedestrians or bicyclists. Sorry Doc Jones, no lynch mob here. Click here to read the rest of Cynthia Wards awesome article titled: Justice For Kelly: D.A. Do Your Job.
UPDATE: Here is Goodrich as reported by Brian Martinez at the Register:
Fullerton police Sgt. Andrew Goodrich said drivers have been holding down their horns continuously for a quarter-mile up and down Commonwealth and Highland. He said the department received numerous complaints from nearby residents, businesses and park-users about the excessive honking and other instances of disturbing the peace such as yelling at and approaching drivers who don’t honk their horns.
Another outright Goodrich lie to the stupid. A quarter mile? Lie. Highland has been blocked off. A quarter mile south would take you under the tracks and past Truslow. A quarter mile east or west on Commonwealth would take you Richman or Harbor, respectively. Of course the trough feeding media are too dumb to even question any of Goodrich’s claims and absurd statements. So we’ll do it for them.
According to Marisa Gerber at the OC Weekly Fullerton cops started handing out tickets to motorists who showed their support for today’s protest. Fortunately some concentrated verbal rebuke from the protesters directly in front of the FPD building resulted in the cops beating a hasty retreat.
Goodrich says the police department has received “numerous complaints from residents and businesses” about the protesters in the past few weeks. The department received a complaint from one motorist who said their kids were frightened by a protester running in the streets.
“The question was being asked of us why were allowing protesters to flagrantly violate the law,” Goodrich says, adding that the department has worked to give protesters some “latitude”. The police department contacted protest organizers last night, and again this morning, to ask for cooperation, he says.
And, by-the-way, thanks awfully for “working” to give us “latitude” to exercise our Constitutional rights, Sergeant Slime Trail.
Coming from the department spokesassclown who has deceitfully spun portly pirouettes around all the reports of serial law violations perpetrated by his fellow union brothers and sisters in the past few months, it’s now impossible for any objective person to believe a damn thing that emanates from this baboon’s yapper.
Now, here’s a question being asked of us at FFFF: can the FPD and the City be so detached from reality that they believe the jackass Goodrich is in any way doing them any good? I guess that question really answers itself.
A month ago we posted the OCTA surveillance video that captured the immediate reaction of witnesses after the Kelly Thomas beating.
Here is the full video from OCTA Bus 5599’s DVR on July 5. Perhaps our more observant readers can glean new information from the 18 minute recording. As always, leave your observations in the comments section below.
Update: As suggested by EyeNeverSayNo, I ran the audio through a noise reducer to help clarify some of the conversation. That version of the video his here.
The video shows all seven cameras at once and is best viewed full screen at 720p.