05 August 2008

memphis police director sues for names of critical bloggers

what really happened posted about this last week. drudge, for some mysterious reason started promoting it last friday morning.

it seems some members of the memphis, tennessee police department are fed up with the way the police chief larry GODwin (thats how they spell it) is running the department and decided to vent with an online blog.

the blog's opening post of 07 march 2008 says in part:
Some of you may not be aware of the concept of the MPD Enforcer. The "Enforcer" was a newsletter/website that was hosted on geocities.com some years ago. It was an outlet for officers to learn about the latest issues in the department and a good rumor mill for the years. The administration on the 12th floor had tried for years to find out who the authors of the "Enforcer" were as a lot of dirty laundry was being aired for all to read. First and foremost, I was NOT affiliated with the original enforcer and I do not know who they were. I've decided to create this space where my former brothers in the department could post and read all the latest shenanigans that happen day to day on the job. I will welcome all post/stories/information that concern the officers. ~ 'welcome visitors'
things seemed to have went downhill from there. amos maki with the memphis commercial appeal wrote on 22 july 2008:
Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin and the city of Memphis have filed a lawsuit to learn who operates a blog harshly critical of Godwin and his department.

The lawsuit asks AOL to produce all information related to the identity of an e-mail address linked to MPD Enforcer 2.0, a blog popular with police officers that has been extremely critical of police leadership at 201 Poplar.
[...]
It wasn't clear if the lawsuit is aimed at shutting down the site or if it's part of an effort to stop leaks that might affect investigations. ~ link
we find it hard to believe that policemen would post anything online that would hamper an investigation. how convenient that "many of the documents in the case, filed in chancery court on july 10, have been sealed by chancellor kenny armstrong."

the lawsuit doesnt seem to be affecting the mpdenforcer2.0 bloggers. one blogger goes by the name of "dirk diggler." he posted a copy of the subpoena. and then kept right on posting - what does the mpd have to hide? | director godwin, where are you? | director godwin addresses the media. | larry is blowing smoke. | and some others.

obviously we're on the side of the bloggers and mpdenforcer2.0 is an interesting read. this blog doesnt have too much police jargon in it -- but it did take us awhile to figure out what b.o.l.o. means. the first thing that came to mind was the classic 'bolo annals of the dinochrome brigade' stories by keith laumer.

EXTERNAL LINK

Posted by wst... at 23:04

Subscribe to: