Web-erasing: Strom's JADE blog inspires Bell bill
If Delegate Bell's bill passes, police may be able to remove their address from government websites.PHOTO BY WILL WALKER
The woman jailed for publishing the address of an undercover drug enforcer has apparently inspired a new measure in the General Assembly that might let police officers pull their addresses offline–- even though civil libertarians say that the underlying law that criminalized the I HeArTE JADE blog and put its creator behind bars for a month is unconstitutional.
“This bill was inspired by a local website that seeks to identify undercover policemen,” says bill patron Rob Bell (R-Charlottesville). “The site includes photos of their homes that come from government sites. For the safety of the officers, I want to help them get that stuff off the government sites.”
Bell's bill, HB1382 (one of 41 he's introduced this session) was originally written so that any person or business–- such as a blog or newspaper–- publishing an officer's address was required to remove it after receiving a written demand.
"It doesn't look much like the original," says Bell. "This is more narrowly drawn."
And that's a good thing, says Kent Willis of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Elisha Strom was jailed for her I HeArT JADE blog.FILE PHOTO
"It had a pretty low threshold before," says Willis. "All it took was a written demand from an officer with no court proceeding. Any officer could write any person and say, 'Take it down; I feel threatened.'"
Under the revised bill, an officer must petition a circuit court to remove his address and phone number on government websites. In Albemarle and Charlottesville, property records are available online.
But what about amending a bill that the ACLU considers unconstitutional?
"There's more than one blatantly unconstitutional law on the books," says Willis. "It often takes the court to change the law."
Willis cites Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 ruling in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sodomy laws like Virginia's still-on-books ban on oral sex and other consenting adult practices was unconstitutional. Even though Virginia's sodomy law made such practices felonies, Willis notes that the General Assembly "couldn't muster the gumption" to vote it down.
As for the person who inspired Bell's new bill, Elisha Strom calls it "pretty rotten" because government websites are a key trove of information for the average citizen.
"Overall, it's trampling on everyone's freedom except law enforcement's," says Strom, who spent a month in jail following her July 16 arrest. "Most people wouldn't bat an eyelid about this, but in the long run it's taking more freedom away from us."
33 comments
New Hampshire has no state sales tax, so in theory it is easier to buy a car there. Would you presume that that the "iron pipeline" also runs from New Hampshire regarding automobiles used in crimes? "We'd have gotten him if he hadn't made his escape in that easily acquired car from New Hampshire..." Get a clue. You have more crimes in New York (City) because you have more criminals there. If they didn't use guns, they'd use something else. Seems to me that New York (state) should get rid of all their trees since they could readily be a source for clubs...
NYC needs to solve its own crime problem without pushing it off on any one of the other 49 states. This means you, Mr. Bloomberg...
And Mr. Bell helped today to get rid of that pesky "one gun a month" nonsense. Does that help Law Enforcement?
Let me take a wild guess here....
Islander is a jade coppie?
GSOE wrote ââ?¬Å?Here’s another example of how Facebook proves some people are too stupid to carry a badge and gun”
I don’t know if it proves some people are too stupid as much as it proves some officers genuinely believe the police should be the only ones with guns. Either way, Tuason’s comments definitely don’t make law enforcement look so great in the eyes of the public. Even cops are pissed about it.
http://beatandrelease.blogspot.com/2010/02/foul-mood-thursday.html
doesn't matter: If you let those mean New Yorkers steal YOUR guns and use them, maybe it "deserves YOU right"... BTW if you don't want NY trash stop accepting payment to dump it in VA landfills.
While Strom and her site seem obsessive and stalkerish, she has been careful (since her arrest) to use legally obtained information. I HeArTe JADE is creepy but legal. It is hard to get rights back once we allow them to be taken away.
Sorry. Above was suppose to read, "I would like to think such a bill would protect..."
Maybe officers shouldn't post pictures on facebook that appear as if they are high. It's even funnier when the picture on Strom's website links to a police brutality case.
Have you been living under a rock for the past several years? Everybody knows why she did/does it.
I will tell you the same thing I posted a while back. I knew a former local married cop who had his girlfriend on the side, like most do. He told his girlfriend that he was living with his sister. This sister was actually his wife. Anyhow, he led this girl on while he was getting the milk free. Ya know, don't buy the cow if you're getting the milk free. Well, when the girlfriend found out the truth... that the girl he was living with was actually his wife... all hades broke loose. This is why I call him a "former" cop above. This affair gone wrong was just the tip of the iceburg. He had already been involved in so many wrongdoings that the police chief finally gave him walking papers.
What's the old saying, "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." :)
Perhaps if NY put more effort into actually keeping their criminals in prison longer, they wouldn't be out and about buying/stealing guns. They treat honest people who have guns to protect themselves (and get caught with them) worse than the real criminals, e.g. poor fool Plaxico Burress who might as well have held up a convenience store the night he got caught with his pistol. His sentence probably would have been the same.
Quote Gasbag Self Ordained Expert One who appears to have two names, what is up with that?
Guess the world will never know. By midnight that officer had pulled his friends list and today he eradicated his whole Facebook account.
Law Enforcement sure has its fair share of sensitive fellows, doesn't it?
Happiness is a warm gun
Well if Va. causes gun crime in New York. Then why are most illegal guns in Conn. coming from New York. Where guns are under tighter control. Could it be because New York criminals are traveling out side of New York to commit crimes in both Conn. and Va. If New York had more crime control and less gun control then everyone would be better off
Brooklyn wrote "And Mr. Bell helped today to get rid of that pesky ââ?¬Å?one gun a month” nonsense. Does that help Law Enforcement?"
Does that hurt Law Enforcement?
But how is either question relevant?
That "pesky one gun a month nonsense," as you refer to it, had nothing to do with LE unless, like with us ordinary citizens, it prevented officers from personal monthly multi-gun-purchases.
People keep letting Law Enforcement stick their fingers in every piece of the prospective laws pie and all they're going to wind up with is an inedible dessert that they won't be permitted to even toss at a clown.
An inspiration? Moi? Say it ain't so!
Even if Mr. Bell, at the behest of the local fru fru officers, gets his way, it will not legally prevent me or any other citizen from publishing elsewhere the same information (that will be) formerly found on government sites; in fact because it won't be found on those sites anymore, it may be that some people will take it upon themselves to publish it elsewhere.
Bell and buddies can all pat each other's rumps for their effort though.
GSOE, with all due respect, that just does not make sense. Guns travel from places with less-strict gun laws (like Virginia) to places with more strict laws (like NY). If it is harder to get guns, fewer of them will be on "the street". The NRA spends millions trying to convince people that "Laws simply hamper the honest law abiding citizen".
Yeah, yeah, we know all about New York blaming VIRGINIA for all their gun problems. Get over it. It was never true... and it still isn't.
And whether you like it or not, gun rights are finally being handed back to it''s citizens. We have made it very clear to our representatives that they represent us, not the anti-gun lobby. If you want a second opinion just keep an eye on the pending gun legislation and votes in Virginia.
Brooklyn, no law in any state has ever prevented a criminal from getting a firearm if he/she wants one. Laws simply hamper the honest law abiding citizens.
duplicate - original post lost in space
How she is getting some of her information. Some of it is obvious... fb, news articles, etc. Who is she shacking it up with now? or who is leaking the information?
I like her 2-17-2010 post on the blog.
One of the cops looks like he is totally stoned out of his mind. But we all know cops do not use drugs off duty.
One sitting at a table with beer and beer bottles.
One playing with a toy tractor????
One with the proverbial donut gut (I am guilty of this too).
One who appears to have two names, what is up with that?
quote: "They (NY) treat honest people who have guns to protect themselves (and get caught with them) worse than the real criminals...
That's the direction Virginia was headed. The tide is turning now though. We let the legislators know we were fed up with their hitching their wagons to anti-gun agendas. There has NEVER been a "majority" of residents in Virginia that wanted to see more gun control laws.
I am wondering what fueled Ms. Strom's scorn? It is obvious she devotes (or wastes, depending on point of view) quite a bit of time on her little project that will ultimately end up in her likely being prosecuted a second time for her activities. So tell us Ms. Strom, what is your fascination? Or what did Jade do to you? And what thrill do you get out of chasing cops around? Just help us all to understand, because I do not believe many of us do. Keep in mind..the police did help get your allegedly abusive ex out of the picture, right? According to Kevin's site this seems to be the case. So if the police helped you, why are you out to get them?
Seems like you can't keep your NY thieves up north, and OUT of VA- the criminals that steal OUR guns AND use them on NY'rs, HEY, that's okay! The criminals know better that to harass a Virginian that MAY be armed - LOL. The idiots WILL find guns - and they will find them ANYwhere. Outlawed or NOT. NONE of the guns were actually BOUGHT FROM the VA Gun Shows!!! They were stolen or ILLEGALLY obtained. DUH. Maybe your big NY government will wake-up and let REAL citizens own guns and PROTECT themselves AND take control. Deserves you right. Keep your trash, criminals and drugs "up" there!
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I think like to think such a bill would protect the "family", moreso than the actual cops.
If such a bill is passed, it should include all law enforcement. Namely... cops, former cops and retired cops. While being a sworn deputy sheriff in Virginia in 1997, I felt pretty uncomfortable when a rookie and now former cop screwed up, and subsequently ended up releasing my home address to the media and placing my family in danger.
I'm a big boy, I like to think I can take care of myself. But my family should not have been at risk because the cops screwed up so badly!
Well, sadly enough, to me it proves one thing. They can go up and down the Internet and post whatever they want about themselves, including PICTURES. But when somebody else does it, it's a cardinal sin and there sould be some sort of half baked law to deal with it!
Not to mention, a lot of intelligent, honest and decent cops have gotten in big trouble by posting stupid stuff on their on their various "look at me, I am the biggest and baddest SOB in the valley" web pages. One cop was fired recently when he wrote about and acknowledged the "us vs them" attitude is alive and well in law enforcement, and there wasn't a dayum thing anybody could do about it. Well, he found out his chief CAN do something about it. He had even bragged about police brutality and how it was his word against the suspects. And how anybody who messed with him received a fast dose of street justice if he didn't shoot them first. The foolishness on his Facebook page wasn't true, he was just running off at the mouth. But it cost him his job. (If he had been some kid running off at the mouth about shooting up a school..... he would be arrested.)
Here's another example of how Facebook proves some people are too stupid to carry a badge and gun....
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,585807,00.html
And here's an interesting discussion of Facebook. But keep in mind, some of the participants are cops, some are just pretending to be cops.
http://forums.officer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137477
Everyone should check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMJlRX9TjA8
Bell is so into freedom, ha!
Better yet, scroll down to the bottom and look at the gun poll here....
http://tinyurl.com/ybwq2sy
Of all places, Washington, D.C. and the metro area, 75% of Americans think guns should be allowed in restuarants.
Here's another poll...
http://tinyurl.com/ydow9uc
86% of Americans think concealed weapon permit holders should be allowed to carry their guns concealed in restaurants. The way the law is worded now I would have to take my coat off and display my firearm if I walk into a restaurant with an ABC license.
Name, I was pointing out the correlation between lax gun laws and easier gun access for criminals. Ever heard of the "Iron Pipeline"?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJoX8mj2kyM&feature=player_embedded
Ha!
Ya know what Islander? Good idea!
Help Wanted: Seeking Jack-of-all-trades. Duties include accumulating and organizing information about members of Law Enforcement. Applicant must be physically fit, capable of operating cameras and other recording devices, and have full command of the English language. Ability to whimsically mock Officers, as well as self, helpful but not required. Email resume to address found in above link.
So why don't the cops, prosecutors and Reps like Bell change drug laws so folks won't be so darned upset with them. Would Bell, no way, he slammed HB 1134 & HB 1136 for marijuana decrim & medical use! No wonder folks are just a little peeved.
Ya know what Strom? Help is available. SEEK IT.
"If such a bill is passed, it should include all law enforcement. Namely”Š cops, former cops and retired cops."
Seems like we'd be opening a can of worms. I mean, why stop there? Why not anybody who works or has ever worked for law enforcement, to include clerical and office staff and their families? How about court officials and their families? Court-appointed attorneys and employees of legal firms? Heck I have a few cop buddies - if they feel threatened, might not their friends and associates also feel threatened? So why not me and my family? Why stop at the immediate family? Maybe we should include extended relatives?