There are three things all of us should be concerned about w/ this Christopher Dorner saga.. First they are now using drones to hunt this man down.. On the surface that seems like no big deal, but because they are hunting for a ‘cop killer‘ who has stated via his manifesto that he has more in his sights, the police will equip drones with technology and use procedures that up till now are not allowed.

No I don’t think they will ‘shoot’ him from the sky.. But drones can be equipped with very intrusive snooping tools totally violate or constitutional and civil rights… Drones can be equipped to do everything from see behind walls to intercepting emails, text message etc.. Up til now the fight has been to limit law enforcement to use drones for search and rescue type operations.. They want search warrants and other legal documents to be in place before police use them…

But now the country’s second largest police department, LAPD can go all out testing and setting a precedent on using drones on American soil..bypassing the fight against them and current limits placed on them..In the search for Dorner, how much of our privacy will be violated? What sort of record keeping will be done on any of us? The justification process has already started with media and law enforcement now dubbing Dorner as a ‘domestic terrorist‘…If he’s a terrorist does that allow the indefinite detention provisions of NDAA National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 kick in? Can people who are suspected of being in association or sympathizing with Dorner now subjected to provisions in NDAA or other anti-terrorist laws?

Adding to this climate are recent remarks from LA mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have him framing Dorner as someone who is has a reign of terror over the people of LA.. Are the people of LA in trouble or LAPD? Does the average person walking down the street need to fear Dorner? Is he going after them or LAPD?

As far as we know LAPD has 50 security units guarding family of officers mentioned in Dorner’s online uncensored manifesto and they have safe houses in place..I wont begrudge police the right to protect themselves from danger, but let’s be crystal clear, if everyone is under a reign of terror as suggested by LA’s mayor, what protections do we have in place? … Heck, lets move beyond Dorner to everyday scenarios…If any of us was threatened because we stood up to the neighborhood criminal/thug as we are told to do by police would be no such protections or bright spotlights in place? Would they launch a thousand person manhunt to bring about justice as they are doing now? hell in many of the departments here in Cali, we are being told some crimes will not be investigated including burgalries

Second thing we should be concerned about is this move to do people in without a trial or due process. We see this playing out in the world court with Obama’s drone policies. Many of us have cheered and gone along with justifying it even to this date.. We now see it translating down on domestic/ local levels.. The shooting of the 2 women by LAPD and the man by Torrance PD was police shooting to kill, not follow the law.. It was shoot to kill and not bring Dorner before the courts, a right all of us no matter how despicable our actions, have a right to.. We should not get used to such draconian policies because with a few slight twists and turns one of us may suddenly find ourselves at the receiving end of this type of action which is now moving in the direction of policy..

We should be concerned that none of the officers involved with those shootings have been arrested. Forget firing them or giving the victims money.. Where’s the zero tolerance policy? Where’s the same zero tolerance that toward police neglect and abuse that they routinely apply to us.. .. Let one of us accidentally shoot a cop…There would be no leniency.. But here we are acting like this is no big deal. Some have gone so far to say.. “This happens all the time in the hood’.. Maybe it does.. but now with the world watching, we best be pushing the cause and making this be the example in which such actions end because a steep price is paid.. In short don’t let it slide… Again I remind folks, the police are not letting the actions of Dorner slide..

Also related to this… Do not be fooled by the slick PR move of LAPD re-opening the case Dorner’s firing.. Don’t get me wrong that case should be re-opened for all the public to see.. Transparency is needed. But lets understand what that really look’s like. Transparency with LAPD starts with us asking the right questions. For example, we should get an answer the conflict of interests, that was raised in the Manifesto where the sergeant who was accused of kicking a suspect if she had working relationships and strong ties to those judging her..We also need to see her record to see if she had a history of violence as claimed by Dorner…. Lastly we should not stop with that case.. We need to vigorously check out all the others while simultaneously making sure the recent shooting of innocent by LAPD is punished.

Third concern is that the police don’t use this incident to further strengthen the Police Man’s Bill of Rights that are already über restrictive..The law is so restrictive it took Colorlines and other news agencies two years to accumulate information for their groundbreaking story ‘How California Law Shield’s Violent Officers‘..

The point I was trying to get across when I was on the news show Democracy Now this morning, is that Dorner blew the whistle on fellow officers and gave us information that the public has little and now no access to even if an officer is on trial.. We should not take that for granted or overlook it..He said his supervising sergeant has a long history of violence. If this is true can we see her records? Can we see the complaints filed or are they tucked away and shielded because of the PMBOR? Here’s the link to my Democracy Now appearance http://www.democracynow.org/2013/2/11/wanted_for_killing_3_christopher_dorners

We should be pushing back and demanding such strict privacy be lessened.. I’m fearful after all is said and done, even the names of police will be hidden from us under the guise of ‘protecting’ them…

We should be concerned that what Dorner described in his manifesto seems to be a culture that severely punishes officers who whistle blow..It would be great if good officers who are subjected to witnessing abuses, but keep their mouths shut out of fear would find ways to help the public further open up the cracks we see around this Dorner case.. From looking at the legal documents files and the manifesto we see retaliation for reporting bad behavior as a recurring theme.. Contrast that with the current climate on the federal level where whistle blowers are routinely punished and then you can better understand why all of us should be re-thinking all of this.. ..You can download the Legal documents and court papers here..http://leaksource.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/christopher-dorner-investigation-documents-deposition-legal-papers-challenging-lapd/