by Travis Mateer
Since Clark Fork Valley Press reporter, Monte Turner, stopped responding to my texts, I can’t ask him how exactly he thinks “high-tech dash cameras” will produce the result the opening line of his article hilariously claims:
It just became much tougher to be a criminal in Mineral County.
In order to back up this conventional impression of decisive law enforcement using technology to catch the bad guys, here is an image of Sheriff Toth pointing at something.
And here is how this tech will supposedly help facilitate the outcome of catching bad guys who do bad things like steal cars:
“These dash cameras automatically scan license plates, run them through the system and instantly display on the laptop screen if the vehicle has been stolen. They have a 90-degree angle so when driving through a parking lot they are scanning both sides of the patrol unit. Then while driving, it catches every license plate up to 4-lanes over,” explained Mineral County Sheriff Mike Toth.
Toth worked with an earlier model when he was with the Seattle Police Department and was impressed then with the capabilities.
High tech cameras was not the only thing about Toth’s police work in Seattle that impressed him. The excitement of seeing someone shot ALSO seemed pretty engaging for this wannabe actor:
After five years, he accepted a position with the Seattle Police Department which was a huge eye opener for Toth.
“Within my second or third week being there, my training officer shot and killed a guy in front of me. ‘Wow! I’ve made it to the big show’, I thought. We drew our weapons a lot out there and the culture of carrying personal weapons or firearms is totally different from Montana.”
My interest in what’s about to go down in Mineral County and, you know, who might report on it, is because a letter exists that I teased last week, a letter I still find to be pretty eye-opening.
And here it is, the letter in full. Is it going to be a fun week in Mineral County? Stay tuned.
JC
This new tech purchased by Sheriff Toth will only work if the Deputies turn it on. On July 20, 2021, when Sgt Ryan Funke responded to a call regarding my daughter, Rebekah Grace Rose Barsotti at the Alberton Climbing Rock, he did not have his Body Cam turned on. BTW – the NEW Body Cams had recently been purchased by Sheriff Toth with COVID money. It was one of his boasts of upgrading technology as well. Just sayin.
And NOW the mystery of Bell’s presence at proceefings is finally revealed?
License plate readers will soon be followed by facial recognition cams. The degree of violation of civil liberties. civil rights and constitutional protections possible with this technology, especially in the hands of someone like Toth, is staggering. Fot example, let’s say you and al cadre of good citizens are having private meetings to discuss the police state and official misconduct of a particular Sheriff and his cronies. An agent of the Sberiff in an unmarked vehicle just does a quick drive-by and voila! A liat of attendees. This is the same danger posed by RF ID tags on credit cards and drivers licenses. An undercover government agent simply moves through a demonstration crowd, and a device in the agent’s pocket captures the identities of everyone at the protest. BTW, a few years ago, an amateur radio operator deminstrated that the return from an RF ID tag could be received and decoded from several hundred feet, contrary to what is claimed. He did it by simply using a small loop antenna, from the third floor winsow of a hotel.
As for the writ of mandamus, I hate saying this, but I think its chances are slightly better than the chanve that you could empty Lake Michigan with a fork, for a variety of reasons. But the filing of the petition for a writ of mandamus together with supporting affidavits, will be a blockbuster and perhaps spur recall of Toth at minimum. Perhaps it will induce investigative reporting by a national program such as 48 Hours. If I recall correctly, MT District Court judges can convene special investigative grand juries (not that a Mineral County judge would do so). Kudos to Courtney for undertaking this! A kwy feature of mandamus is that it won’t lie where there is another potenrial speedy and adeqiuate remedy at law. A sought remedy of “order Mineral County officials to obey the Constitution” wouldn’t be specific enough. But as far as seeking performance of specific acts, it seems there is.no procedural remedy other than mandamus. The evidentiary hearing on the mandamus petition will make one Hell of a record. A full hearing clearly would take many days. I wonder if one will be allowed. If not, probably a Petition for Writ of Superbidory Control filed in the MT Supreme Court would follow, seeking an orfer to the District Court to hold an evidentisry hearing. That would sqiuarely place before the MT Supreme Court the question of whether the underlying petition for writ of mandamus would lie evem if an evidentiary hesring were held and the averments in the mandamus petition’s supporting declarations were deemed founded.
Wow. This is a really BFD!
I gotta attend these proceedings.
Correction: Kudos to Lance Jasper!
And after re-reading the letter following my morning coffee and my brain noting especially the part about women allegedly sexually assaulted by Toth DeputiesI revise my prediction re likelihood of success on the mandamus petition: in one fashion or another, shit is gonna come down, especiafly if the MT Supremes issue a writ of supervisory control.
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