COTEP.org - Big Brother Is Watching You!

Sent: Friday, February 21, 2014 11:21:50 AM
Subject: Big Brothers got an eye on you

Big Brothers got an eye on you

If you have a CCW (carrying a concealed weapon)

This is an example of what the current administration has been secretly doing. It all boils down to the administrations Homeland Security agency that has been organizing for some time now, and has become the " national police " that Obama wants to create/has created. This national police organization just this past week, assisted by other agencies, raided a home in the Antelope Valley looking for a porn suspect. Homeland Security has been active in various parts of the country, impinging on what should be the duties of local law enforcement. Folks, be aware that "Big Brother " is on the hunt .

... A Florida man was traveling South with his family on the way home from a wedding in New Jersey when the Maryland Transportation Authority Police (MTAP) began tailing his Ford Expedition. After about 10 minutes, the police pulled him over and told him they knew he owned a gun. They demanded he produce it for them on the spot; even though the firearm was locked away in a safe 1,000 miles away.

John Filippidis of Hudson, Fla., told The Tampa Tribune he wasn't speeding or doing anything illegal when the cops took an interest in his car. In fact, he'd intentionally left his Kel-Tec .38 pistol locked up at home precisely because he understood the potential legal headaches that can arise when traveling through multiple State jurisdictions with a firearm.; I know the laws and I know the rules, he said. But I just think it's a better idea to leave it home; So when the Maryland police pulled him over, they took his license and registration back to the patrol cruiser, then returned to the car and ordered him to get out.

Here's the Tribune's narrative: Ten minutes later he's back, and he wants John out of the Expedition. Retreating to the space between the SUV and the unmarked car, the officer orders John to hook his thumbs behind his back and spread his feet.; You own a gun, the officer says.; Where is it? At home in my safe, John answers, Don't move, says the officer. Now he's at the passenger's window. Your husband owns a gun, he says. Where is it? First Kally [John's wife] says, I don't know. Retelling it later she says, And that's all I should have said. Instead, attempting to be helpful, she added, Maybe in the glove [box]. Maybe in the console. I'm scared of it. I don't want to have anything to do with it. I might shoot right through my foot.

The officer came back to John. You're a liar. You're lying to me. Your family says you have it. Where is the gun? Tell me where it is and we can resolve this right now. Of course, John couldn't show him what didn't exist, but Kally's failure to corroborate John's account, the officer would tell them later, was the probable cause that allowed him to summon backup & three marked cars joined the lineup along the I-95 shoulder and empty the Expedition of riders, luggage, Christmas gifts, laundry bags; to pat down Kally and [daughter] Yianni; to explore the engine compartment and probe inside door panels; and to separate and isolate the Filippidises in the back seats of the patrol cars. Ninety minutes later, or maybe it was two hours, It felt like forever Kally says, no weapon found and their possessions repacked, the episode ended ... With the officer writing out a warning.

The incident left Filippidis angry and embarrassed, outraged that his children had to endure the unnecessary ordeal while watching the police treat their father like a criminal. And he has no idea how the Maryland Transportation Authority Police knew about his lawful firearm, obtained and maintained in the State of Florida. MTAP wouldn't comment to the Tribune, citing an internal investigation into the matter.

The police captain who supervises the officer who made the stop has apologized to Filippidis, along with an MTAP Internal Affairs officer. But Filippidis still doesn't know why he was stopped, how any of them knew that he was a lawful gun owner in Florida or why it made any difference to the police once they had him in their sights.

Yesterday we spotlighted a story about a Florida family driving through Maryland and mysteriously being targeted for a police stop. They were questioned about owning a gun, detained, searched, their car contents emptied &; searched, and after approximately 90 minutes to 2 hours of detention during the search they were released. Obviously for the driver, John Filippidis, and his family, this was alarming. What would prompt the Maryland Transportation Authority Police (MTAP) to randomly select their vehicle? Because the first question to Mr. Filippidis was about his gun ownership, and the police search for the gun was based on his gun ownership, the Florida CCW permit that Filippidis holds was identified as the most likely impetus for the stop, questioning and search. [His firearm was locked in a safe in his Florida home] This strikes us as highly alarming &; so we contacted MTAP and we immediately filed public records requests to research what took place. However, our interest has also spurred numerous contacts, tips and directions to help understand what's going on. We now know where else to look to find out what exactly is going on. Mr. Filippidis' experience is merely the tip of the iceberg.

Next Day follow up
What is written below explains how the family was targeted; why the family was targeted; and what intentions were behind the MTAP engagement. Maryland State has invested heavily in Homeland Security technical capabilities, and they have structured their law enforcement community to engage in very specific activity surrounding their investment. Maryland State has a network of technical security databases which access the databases of all other states who comply and coordinate with them. For states who do not willfully comply, or those who are not set up to align technically, Maryland mines data from various LEO systems. Maryland has a rather innocuous sounding name for the intelligence hub which contains this data, it's called Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center. The intelligence analysis hub has access to, and contains, Florida's CCW list (among other identification systems) and mines the state's database systems for vehicle plate numbers of the holders. These license plate numbers are then stored in a cross referencing database within the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center. The database is directly connected to another Maryland technological system & ndash; Their ALPR (Automatic License Plate Reader) system is synergized with the MCAC Hub. Every time one of the flagged license plates are detected by the ALPR an alert is generated. Mr. Filippidis license plate was picked up at the Fort McHenry Tunnel on I-95 as he noted within the article. The Maryland Authority Police pursuit car was probably positioned a couple miles from the ALPR camera. The camera(s) located at the tunnel itself. More than 320 ALPRs are in use across Maryland. Information about every scanned license plate & ndash; even non-criminal & ndash; is stored at the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center.

These days cameras are everywhere, but some do more than watch; they automatically run criminal records. Specially assigned police officers have LPRs mounted on their cars. Said Det. Brian Ralph, Baltimore Police. Ralph can scan up to 3,000 tag numbers a shift, searching for stolen vehicles and violent criminals. Once the pursuit car was alerted by the ALPR system the simple chase was on.
As the Tampa Tribune indicated in the article, the patrol car came abreast of Filippidi; this was to allow the MTAP officer to visually confirm the driver ID from the high resolution photo from Filippidis driver's license which was automatically on the officers on board computer screen. Mr. Filippidis was identified by the database, his license plate cross referenced to his Florida CCW permit, an alert transmitted to the patrolling Maryland officer, and the rest is outlined in the article.

"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the government take care of him, better take a closer look at the American Indian."

... Henry Ford