EM: So the backstory that we haven’t told, because we don’t wanna get in trouble, is that we’ve been investigating the police chief [Gideon Cody]. When he was named Chief just two months ago, we got an outpouring of calls from his former co-workers making a wide array of allegations against him saying that he was about to be demoted at his previous job and that he retired to avoid demotion and punishment over sexual misconduct charges and other things.
We had half a dozen or more different anonymous sources calling in about that. Well, we never ran that because we never could get any of them to go on the record, and we never could get his personnel file. But the allegations—including the identities of who made the allegations—were on one of the computers that got seized. I may be paranoid that this has anything to do with it, but when people come and seize your computer, you tend to be a little paranoid.
It certainly explains why the cops were so willing to go along with an illegal search warrant. Heck, maybe it wasn’t even that the restaurant owner went to the cops to complain after the city hall meeting; maybe the police chief saw this as an opportunity to raid the newspaper and take the names and he approached the restaurant owner.
Edit: another story here has the police chief posting on the department’s Facebook page:
The Act requires criminal investigators to get a subpoena instead of a search warrant when seeking “work product materials” and “documentary materials” from the press, except in circumstances, including: (1) when there is reason to believe the journalist is taking part in the underlying wrongdoing.
Which is bull. The newspaper was emailed information which they did not publish and which they reported to the police. They were not ‘taking part in the underlying wrongdoing’. 1312, especially the Marion County police chief.
According to Meyer, a retired University of Illinois journalism professor, the raid came after a confidential source leaked sensitive documents to the newspaper about local restaurateur Kari Newell. The source, Meyer said, provided evidence that Newell had been convicted of DUI and was driving without a license—a fact that could spell trouble for her liquor license and catering business.
Meyer, however, said he ultimately did not decide to publish the story about Newell after questioning the motivations of the source. Instead, he said, he just alerted the police of the information.
“We thought we were being set up,” Meyer said about the confidential information.
The raid immediately sparked outrage online, calling into question why an entire police force was involved in a raid that could have violated federal law and could escalate the ongoing anti-press rhetoric that is dangerous for journalists simply doing their jobs.
RIP, Joan.
Also, the following is courtesy of @roguetrick in one of the other threads:
If I was one of those 6 people, I’d be moving the fuck out of Kansas ASAP. That’s seems like almost certainly a motive in seizing their equipment.
Where’s the FBI raiding the police department when you need them
It certainly explains why the cops were so willing to go along with an illegal search warrant. Heck, maybe it wasn’t even that the restaurant owner went to the cops to complain after the city hall meeting; maybe the police chief saw this as an opportunity to raid the newspaper and take the names and he approached the restaurant owner.
Edit: another story here has the police chief posting on the department’s Facebook page:
Which is bull. The newspaper was emailed information which they did not publish and which they reported to the police. They were not ‘taking part in the underlying wrongdoing’. 1312, especially the Marion County police chief.
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This is mentioned in this article anyway: