TL;DR: this is all fucking bullshit and the entire system needs to be scrapped as its been optimized to increase the number of stops, not correct wrong-doing.
Summary:
1. WhatsApp chat group alerts sheriff's deputies in Texas (known as the interdiction group) as to 'target' vehicles based on their travel history as collected by traffic camera/license plate readers (LPRs).
2. Stops from the 'interdiction group' have gone up over two years w/suspicious reasoning for stops, based largely on the myriad of reasons Texas law enforcement officers (LEOs) are free to stop vehicles. The results of these increased N in searches have resulted in fewer (percentage) of findings of wrong-doing.
3. Dashcam footage from the citizen stopped counters the LEO's claims that he went over the fogline several times. Bodycam footage of the later search show no evidence to support drugs that were supposedly indicated on by the K9 unit dispatched. Said K9's reward system has allegedly been altered by its handler to alert for reward, not for the presence of drugs.
4. Fictitious reasoning for stops are glossed over with a 'warning' or no-action which appeases most. This particular person sued, even though they were free to go, and it started a chain of events which uncovered the wrong-doing by LEOs.
5. This is all security theatre, at the expense of the citizenry.
Fun fact - there is a national register that PDs can use to track officers who have been terminated elsewhere, or resigned in order to avoid termination.
Additional fun fact - a huge swathe of Police Union Collective Bargaining Agreements forbid the use of this register in hiring decisions...
Summary:
1. WhatsApp chat group alerts sheriff's deputies in Texas (known as the interdiction group) as to 'target' vehicles based on their travel history as collected by traffic camera/license plate readers (LPRs).
2. Stops from the 'interdiction group' have gone up over two years w/suspicious reasoning for stops, based largely on the myriad of reasons Texas law enforcement officers (LEOs) are free to stop vehicles. The results of these increased N in searches have resulted in fewer (percentage) of findings of wrong-doing.
3. Dashcam footage from the citizen stopped counters the LEO's claims that he went over the fogline several times. Bodycam footage of the later search show no evidence to support drugs that were supposedly indicated on by the K9 unit dispatched. Said K9's reward system has allegedly been altered by its handler to alert for reward, not for the presence of drugs.
4. Fictitious reasoning for stops are glossed over with a 'warning' or no-action which appeases most. This particular person sued, even though they were free to go, and it started a chain of events which uncovered the wrong-doing by LEOs.
5. This is all security theatre, at the expense of the citizenry.