De politie, uw vriend

Pop up policemen to patrol the web

Police in China's capital said they will start patrolling the web using animated beat officers that pop up on a user's browser and walk, bike or drive across the screen warning them to stay away from illegal internet content.
"It is our duty to wipe out information that does public harm and disrupts social order," the newspaper quoted the bureau's deputy chief of Internet surveillance, Zhao Hongzhi, as saying.He said the virtual police officers would protect "netizens" from harm.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/pop-up-policemen
Virtual police patrol China web http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6968195.stm

Now police are told they can use Taser guns on children

Police have been given the go-ahead to use Taser stun guns against children.
The relaxing of restrictions on the use of the weapons comes despite warnings that they could trigger a heart attack in youngsters...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=479341&in_page_id=1770

Man bursts into flames after being shot by a taser gun

Police are investigating the firey death of a man who burst into flames after dousing himself in petrol and then being shot with a taser gun.
Officers used the gun after the man had poured gasoline over himself.
Juan Flores Lopez, 47, died on Tuesday at a hospital in Texas.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=463321&in_page_id=1811

11-Year-Old Arrested For Using Rubber Band Gun

http://www.wftv.com/news/13448349/detail.html

Handcuffed 5-Year-Old Sparks Suit

St. Petersburg (Fla.) police officers handcuffed an unruly 5-year-old girl after she acted up in her kindergarten class.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/25/earlyshow/main690601.shtml

The police are becoming an anti-terror law unto themselves

THE Metropolitan Police took a lot of flak last week for using anti-terrorism powers to manage the Heathrow climate change protest.
Since 9/11 there has been a rapid increase in anti-terrorism powers and a consequent diminution in our own civil liberties. Indefinite detention without charge for foreign nationals, subsequently replaced (following legal challenge) by the control order regime; pre-charge detention increased from 14 days to 28 days; new infringements on freedom of speech; banning orders on non-violent groups which promote terrorism; restrictions on the right to protest ... the list goes on. http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=1355332007&format=print

After the Taser.. police gun that makes you sick

The latest weapon in the fight against crime is a "sick gun" that makes you vomit.
It looks like a normal torch but sends out rapidly-changing, different-coloured strobelights which blind and disorientate whoever it is shined at.
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/sunday/2007/08/19/chunder-arrest-98487-19658122/

U.S.: Attack Dogs Used Against Prisoners

Worst Offenders Are State Prisons in Connecticut and Iowa
(New York, October 11, 2006) – Five state prison systems in the United States permit the use of
aggressive, unmuzzled dogs to terrify and even attack prisoners in efforts to remove them from their cells, Human Rights Watch said today in a new report.
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/10/06/usdom14362_txt.htm

Egyptian Police Sexually Humiliate Female Demonstrators (Egypt finds democracy can wait)

President Hosni Mubarak's enforcers have a particular way of dealing with female demonstrators: they sexually humiliate them.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/egypt/story/0,,1775587,00.html

Tickets For Good Driving

Travis County deputies kicked off what has become a controversial reward program.
You know that heart-stopping feeling you get when seeing the flashing red lights of law enforcement in the rear view mirror? Well, you won't see that if you're a good driver, but you may get pulled over.
Getting pulled over for doing nothing wrong may not sound right to a lot of people.
http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=4605380

Related:

FBI to restrict student freedoms

US university students will not be able to work late at the campus, travel abroad, show interest in their colleagues' work, have friends outside the United States, engage in independent research, or make extra money without the prior consent of the authorities, according to a set of guidelines given to administrators by the FBI. Federal agents are visiting some of the New England's top universities, including MIT, Boston College, and the University of Massachusetts, to warn university heads about the dangers of foreign spies and terrorists stealing sensitive academic research.
http://pressesc.com/01182668252_espionage_indicators

School enforces strict No-Touching Rule

All touching -- not only fighting or inappropriate touching -- is against the rules at Kilmer Middle School in Vienna. Hand-holding, handshakes and high-fives? Banned. The rule has been conveyed to students this way: "NO PHYSICAL CONTACT!!!!!"
"I think hugging is a good thing," said Hal, a seventh-grader, a few days before the end of the school year. "I put my arm around her. It was like for 15 seconds. I didn't think it would be a big deal." That landed him a trip to the school office.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/17/AR2007061701179_pf.htm