Eideard

When a burglar stole Joshua Kaufman’s laptop, the police wouldn’t help him find it – so he turned to the Internet.

“I came home late on a Monday night in March, and someone had broken into my apartment through my window,” Kaufman, an Oakland, Calif. resident, told the Daily News. The thief made off with his MacBook, his Kindle, and a few pieces of jewelry, stuffed into a computer bag.

Kaufman called the police who filed a report on the incident, but they quickly shelved the case as a low priority. Luckily, he also remembered he had installed a security program on his computer called “Hidden,” which works to track a stolen device by triangulating its location and taking photographs with the computer’s camera.

He didn’t see anything for a few days after activating the program, but then he hit the jackpot.”The following Thursday I started getting images and location information,” he said. “I was amazed. I was like, this thing actually works!”

“Hidden” captured a series of images of a man using the stolen computer – snapping him riding in a car, browsing Middle Eastern YouTube music videos, changing the device’s administrative profile, and even typing in his work email address to access a Facebook account.

Using this information, Kaufman was able to tie the man to a cab company affiliated with the email address he entered, and pinpoint his location to within just a few blocks. “I was excited, honestly,” Kaufman said, thinking he’d cracked the case and police would be able to “nail him.” But they brushed the evidence off, explaining they didn’t have the manpower to pursue it despite the leads.

Frustrated, Kaufman posted the pictures online to a Tumblr blog called “This Guy Has My Macbook,” which quickly drew thousands of fans and Twitter followers. “It feels like the power of the Internet is on my side,” he said.

Soon he was flooded with requests from media outlets who also contacted the police, forcing them to take a second look. “They said, we’re really sorry you fell through the cracks,” Kaufman said Tuesday night, after he was finally contacted by Officer Holly Joshi, the Oakland police department’s director of public relations…

After two months of ignoring Kaufman’s information, Oakland police kicked the search into high gear on Tuesday night and were able to nab the man caught on camera.

The police department’s excuse is the same everywhere. Mostly crap.

The information provided was sufficient for an arrest. There was nothing additional needed when they finally got round to grabbing this punk.

Refrigerator magnets
Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

Anticipating California voters will back a November ballot measure to legalize casual marijuana use, officials in Oakland have approved two tax rates on pot sales in their city, already a hub of the state’s medicinal marijuana scene.

Oakland’s city council…approved the rates — a 5 percent gross receipts tax on licensed marijuana growers and on businesses selling marijuana for medical purposes, and a 10 percent rate on sales of marijuana used for recreational purposes.

California voters in 1996 approved a measure allowing marijuana use for medical purposes and would legalize its recreational use if they approve Proposition 19 in November.

The measure would allow marijuana possession for personal use and would authorize local governments to issue permits for pot production and sales and to tax it under state law. Selling marijuana would remain illegal under federal law…

Federal authorities have not aggressively interfered with sales of medicinal marijuana sales in California.

Cripes. I’ll bet that even bible-thumper/stoners living in Oakland will vote for Prop 19. Sooner or later, enlightened self-interest has to overcome hypocrisy.

Only the “saved” who want to stick with alcohol for their highs and resent anyone having alternatives will fight to jail people for possession.

Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

Officials have agreed to pay $1.5 million to the daughter of a man fatally shot in the back by a transit police officer on New Year’s Day 2009 in Oakland, California.

A bystander’s cell-phone video of the shooting on a transit platform was widely circulated on the Internet and on news shows.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit train system late Wednesday announced the settlement over the killing of Oscar Grant, 22.

“It’s been a little over a year since we experienced the tragic death of Oscar Grant,” BART Board President James Fang said. “No matter what anyone’s opinion of the case may be, the sad fact remains this incident has left Tatiana without a father. The $1.5 million settlement will provide financial support for her.” Grant’s daughter, Tatiana, is 5.

The video showed then-Officer Johannes Mehserle, 27, pulling his gun and shooting Grant in the back as another officer kneeled on Grant.

The shooting sparked large protests in Oakland and led to Mehserle’s arrest on a murder charge. The case against him is pending.

There are no social or political excuses for a judicial system where and when a civil settlement can be reached before the criminal side of a case has been decided. Isn’t it time to sort of wheat from the chaff in due process?

Authorities say they will not charge a tourist who killed one of his attackers during a robbery in Oakland, Calif.

The 23-year-old tourist, who was visiting from the East Coast, allegedly was robbed by two men after withdrawing money from an automatic cash machine. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday that the tourist told a friend by cell phone he had a bad feeling about two men approaching him at a BART station.

The newspaper said Victor Veliz, 18, allegedly held a knife with a 5-inch blade to the tourist’s neck while Christopher Gonzalez, 18, threatened to shoot him Thursday night.

The victim, whose name wasn’t reported, grabbed the knife from Veliz and punched the other man– all as his friend listened on the phone.

Police said the man unknowingly stabbed Gonzalez, who stumbled to his family’s home around the corner and died.

The newspaper said Veliz was arrested at Gonzalez’s home after police allegedly found him with the East Coast visitor’s cell phone. He will be charged with murder in the death of his accomplice, along with a robbery count, prosecutors said.

The real trip is following the timeline backwards in Google News. The first newspaper and TV reports follow it as if someone had attacked “poor” Christopher Gonzalez – relating how his father tried to keep him alive with CPR after he staggered home. All very moving and really tough on the kid’s parents.

Thanks, Mr. Justin