Crime Reporting: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

[@jaungiga]

The house of a friend of mine was raided years ago. The local newspaper's headline read: "Hard hit to the narco in our city" and the article indicated that 20kg of marijuana had been seized. We were flabbergasted. I mean, we knew he smoked regularly but 20kg (44 lbs) is a huge amount even for the most enthusiastic pothead. Turns out the police had weighted the marijuana while still on the plant... flowerpot and soil included.

[@wolfeesmom]

😅

[@amyschmidt1113]

😆

[@jaungiga]

@@RenTheWren The procedure was so flawed that the charges were changed from "possession with intent to distribute" to "simple possession" almost immediately after his lawyer appealed. He spent a few days in a police jail regardless and then was sentenced to some hours of community service since marijuana is still illegal in our country

[@tomlxyz]

Let's smoke some soil

[@markfairbanks3533]

I'm so glad the police were able to confiscate that soil before it ended up in kids Halloween candy!

[@hilaryweiner893]

I have lived in the Washington DC area for many years, and have had the pleasure of watching Pat Collins' unique style of reporting. He also handles reporting of more serious crimes, always with a touch of humanity. Thank you for introducing him to a national audience.

[@arduinna7549]

A genuine national treasure, that man.

[@Moosesmeeses]

I am ride or die for Pat Collins. The man is a legend and one of the nicest humans on the planet.

[@RebaStevens3]

I will never be too old to look forward to and enjoy Pat Collins and his snow stick coverage.

[@sethmizrachi8337]

I would kill for Pat Collins. Not sure why I think he'd want me to, but the option is out there, Pat.

[@monroemullinix5974]

Ditto... He has to be one of my favorite individuals on the planet.

[@sacherry5300]

There was an amber alert for a girl named Savannah Graziano that went out in my area of Los Angeles not too long ago; I remember being shocked and horrified about how close she would have been when she was kidnapped, so I tried to follow the story to see if she was safe. Not even 24 hours later it came out that not only did the police shoot and kill the young girl when she was attempting to escape her kidnapper, they then proceeded to claim she was shooting at them and so they shot her multiple times in “self defense” (unsurprisingly, she didn’t have a weapon at all). They are so corrupt that they are actively trying to blame the child they were supposed to save for her own murder. And when you search for news stories about the incident, almost all of them describe the false report the police put out. It’s fucking disgusting.

[@Shuizid]

Just yesterday I read about a cop who shot an innocent guy eating in his car at McDonalds because the car looked the same as another one that seemed suspicious to him the day prior. [corrected:) He just walked up to the car, janked open the door, screamed at the guy to get out (no knocking on the window, not properly identifying as police), and because the shocked dude pulls the door shut and tries to drive away from what might have been a violent robber - the cop opens fire, while screaming "SHOTS FIRED" which was already a lie and reminds me of the Southpark hunters who scream "It's coming right at us" before shooting a bunny. So far the cop is fired (not in prison) and the guy is in the hospital now and might be in a grave soon. And if there happened to be a legal gun in the car, I know what story the jury would hear.

[@Alblaka]

@@Shuizid That doesn't match up with the video clip of his body cam. There, he just walks up to the car, opens the door, tell the boy to get out of the car. Boy instead tries to flee and cop promptly opens fire. It definitely sounds like the same story (eating in car at a McDs, based upon confusing the car with a similar looking one) though. Could be that the cop approached the car two times, and only the 2nd one was clipped, but that would make even less sense and your synopsis would still be inaccurate.

[@doricetimko332]

Tragic

[@Shuizid]

@@Alblaka Oh right, cop didn't interview the guy. Just a heavily armed dude coming up to a car, telling the guy inside to get out and the guy was freaked out and tried to drive away from someone who might very well be a criminal who just tried to rob him. Not that it matters because the cop just tried to kill someone for driving away - which last time I checked, is not a crime punishable by death. But ofcourse by screaming "SHOTS FIRED" the cop was already telling his first lie - because nobody but him was firing.

[@mgass1354]

@@Alblaka I'm guessing you're talking about this... kzbin.info/www/bejne/b4nUcqOhd71qhJI More on it here... kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXyZpYysn5KAl6s

[@fulltimervegan4998]

I paid a ticket once, and the department didn’t log that I paid it correctly, so they issued a warrant, arrested me, and booked me, only to release me nearly 3 hours later. Even though you could see online that my “charges were entered in error”, my picture was still in the JailBirds paper. 🙃 I will pay my tickets online in the future. I wish there was some recourse for this and the public embarrassment it caused me.

[@NotoriousLightning]

Is Jailbird Magazine like a school paper for inmates by inmates? If so, that sounds pretty harmless. Still annoying getting arrested though. I bet somebody just lost the original payment in their front pocket.

[@fulltimervegan4998]

@@NotoriousLightning where I live, they have a special weekly “newspaper” that shares every arrest, mugshot, and charge logged into the county data base the previous week. It’s sold at most gas stations in the county. I know several other counties in South Carolina also participate.

[@ryanjavierortega8513]

I remember seeing that, don’t worry, it sounded suspect

[@ccdanro]

People should never be arrested for not paying fines. It doesn't happen in most countries, but the americans seem to love imprisoning people over trivial issues.

[@TheDataHistorian]

This is crazy! Even if you hadn't actually paid, the idea of detaining people over things that should amount to administrative fine at most, is crazy 🤦🏾‍♀️

[@rabbit251]

I'm a retired attorney. When I first started 30 years ago I did criminal cases to gain trial experience. One of the cases I got was of an Asian man arrested for drunk driving. The cop testified that he pulled over the defendant because he had swerved over the yellow line several times. When stopped, the defendant smelled alcohol on the defendant's breath so he gave him a field sobriety test. He also testified that defendant had stopped his car under a street light and that visibility was very good. He did a field sobriety test which defendant failed. Defendant had refused the breathalyzer test at the station. These things were all in his report, except for driving over the yellow line repeatedly (the reported stated only once). The cop went on to testify which wasn't in his report that defendant had slurred speech and fell down during the encounter. (Sounds pretty convincing.) My turn. I introduce defendant's medical records that he was in a car accident the previous week and had a broken foot. He was physically unable to do the "walk a line" test, but cop never saw a cast on his foot. The police report said the car was brown, in reality it was green. Defendant's wife worked at the police department and he claimed he argued with the cop about going to the station because he knew that once taken there, even if he passed the breathalyzer, the police will not take you back to your car and he didn't want to be stranded miles away from home. He also believed he had passed the test, touching his nose, counting backwards, and thought he would be released so he refused the breathalyzer. He argued with the cop about this for several minutes he said and gave the reason of not being driven back to his car which he knew because his wife worked there. About details not in the report, I asked the cop what he did the day before / after arresting defendant. He couldn't remember if he even had worked. Asked how many people he had arrested since arresting my client, he said hundreds. Asked if defendant told him that his wife worked at the station doing prisoner intake, said he didn't know her. When she got up to testify she waved to the cop and called him by name, to which he responded back calling her name. I thought I had provided enough evidence to show there was doubt about my client's guilt. It took the jury only 20 minutes to convict him. So remember this, once you are arrested you basically already guilty. No jury in the US will not believe a cop regardless of the evidence otherwise.

[@Shuizid]

I was wondering how any reasonable person could believe the cop - but then I remembered I'm living in germany and we don't have some batshit "jury"-system in which a bunch of randos from the street get to decide guilt.

[@xmlthegreat]

Well that's fucking disheartening

[@Learning_new_things_70]

Sadly they convicted him and they really didn't hear any of the evidence that you provided because they already knew what they were going to do. Sad 🥺🥺🥺

[@peanutbutterjellyfish2665]

I was beaten by police for having a seizure, and somehow I beat myself up. Every policeman lied. Even with my neurologist, I was convicted of resisting arrest.

[@robdeskrd]

That was just racism & conditioning, 30 years people didn't know as much about how bad cops are but they were still super racist, even unconsciously race was a big deal- I mean did we need to know your client was an Asian guy? I hate this place

[@pragmaticsteve6149]

My brother was arrested for pocession of a "quantity of marijuana" there was a broken bowl and some microscopic green material that might of been grass or weed at a friend's house when the cops illegally raided it without a search warrant. The charges were dismissed after the cop admitted on stand he lied. The lying, the illegal raid, the 10% bond I paid for him and never got back and the fact that they arrested him at work 6 months after the illegal raid, never made the news but his arrest did.

[@nuclearwaste2062]

and I bet the police were never punished for breaking the law, nor was he compensated for the money he lost at work for an illegal arrest.

[@TheAgaskins]

Has he consulted an attorney regarding pursuing legal action against the officer/department

[@seankuhn6633]

Please do a story about lawmakers not making laws against what should be board room crimes or congress and senate crimes! PLEASE

[@engellefaucheux6107]

@@TheAgaskins Most likely it would cost him more for the legal actions than he would get with the US system.

[@_purge9488]

Just gonna point out that in the very first line you’re already misspelling possession. Which is going to make your random claim on the internet even less believable 😂

[@samanthasearles2568]

Unfortunately a lot of this starts at journalism classes in college. I just graduated last year and I'm working as a journalist and I and other young journalists are so upset by the courses we had with exercises like "Take this police report and rewrite it into a news story, you have 5 minutes."

[@jayspeidell]

Yikes. I was on a school newspaper 15 years ago and they said it's not a story if you don't have multiple sources and perspectives.

[@nobodyspecial4702]

Journalism stopped being a respectable profession decades ago. Now it's all about sensationalism and lying to get views. Integrity isn't allowed and anyone who doesn't report the stories to paint the picture the people in charge want can go look for a new job.

[@Demmrir]

Hey, don't be upset. That's preparing you to work in the news industry more than any other exercise could. Hope you don't have journalistic integrity. It's going to hurt your chances of success.

[@Palestineexists]

Local news is a farce

[@tubensalat1453]

@@jayspeidell Regarding the multiple sources: although German police lie plenty, they're still treated as a "privileged source" (that doesn't need any confirmation) by most media here.

[@aryssamansfield9735]

That lady arguing in real time on air to push back the police story is a hero. That's so nerve-wracking to go off script on air like that. She knew it was more important than the teleprompter.

[@danieldaw1778]

I know this is late, but that lady is Olayemi Olurin. She's a public Defender in New York and she has a KZbin channel.

[@yl6442]

She was speaking for us all ❤

[@yl6442]

@@danieldaw1778thank you so much for the info. Looking her up rn.

[@haley9442]

I screamed when i saw her!!! I love her videos, she is an inspiration!!!!!

[@jpjm4385]

I went to law school with her. She's great! Really one of the good ones. A real person, not just doing it for fame.

[@emilyb.8219]

I was struck from jury duty a few months ago because I was the only one in the room who said I was skeptical of police and that they don't always tell the truth. I didn't really want to be selected but it seems pretty ridiculous and blatantly biased that someone not blindly believing police is an automatic disqualifier for jurors.

[@666Tomato666]

Well, the US is quite famously a country with a "justice" system (really, a prison industrial complex), that civilised countries, like Norway, won't extradite people to on that basis alone.

[@YouAreStillNotablaze]

@@666Tomato666 The mere fact that there is such a poor system of accountability for fraudulent prosecutions means the system will always be a joke.

[@rafa328]

When the police union becomes the strongest union in the country, it starts to act on it's own and make it's own demands.

[@slactweak]

It's not a matter of "not blindly believing police", it's a simple matter of the police being an integral part of a criminal investigation. If you express the belief that police don't always tell the truth during jury selection then the prosecution is most certainly going to exclude you because the police investigation makes up the bulk of their case. They aren't going to take the chance that you'll hang the jury, especially since you warned them beforehand that you just might do exactly that. Prosecutions, particularly prosecutions for major felonies, cost a lot of time and money. Any prosecutor who DIDN'T at least try to exclude you would probably lose his job if it turns out that you hung the jury based on your stated belief. It's the same thing as telling them that you can spot a guilty person a mile away. Any defense lawyer who didn't at least try to exclude you would go down in flames, in more ways than one.

[@emilyb.8219]

@@slactweak How does that go against what I said? I was struck from the jury for saying I was skeptical of the police, (which every logical and reasonable person should be), because prosecutors want only people who buy into whatever the police say as truth. That is biased and indicative of a problem with the justice system.

[@bscepter]

Massively important story. I also like that John and his team offer possible solutions at the end of every story. They really do deserve the accolades they get.

[@drsnova7313]

In my country, those accused of or arrested for a craime cannot be shown or named in media - UNTIL they are convicted. It always baffles me how in the US, you can. It seems so common sense to not destroy any innocent lives!

[@Sssssss527]

Exactly. I share this information all the time I can’t believe we allow it either. The US is one big corrupt place.

[@flavio4923]

Nice, that really sounds like an important step to fixing this. May I ask in which country you live?

[@jeredgibb5064]

Is that country Crimea?

[@hollybug-76542]

It's how they ensure someone is guilty in the court of public opinion. Just look at the poor fellow they fingered for the Olympic bombing in Atlanta. They didn't even have sufficient evidence against the guy but went ahead and tore his life apart. And I guarantee to this day he has that hanging over him even though he was innocent. You also have to look at the nefarious language used against POC by journalists. The language used has shaped perceived notions ppl have about POC. #UnacceptableAmerica

[@TerryTappArt]

The US and common sense are mutually exclusive

[@DPWFG]

My mother-in-law brought up drugs being in our kid's candy the other day, and both my husband and I were like, "drugs are too expensive to be giving them out to kids"

[@malikoniousjoe]

The shit older generations seemed to believe when we were kids is honestly astonishing. Who the fuck is just handing out cocaine to a market that won’t know what it is or how to keep up with an addiction?

[@Kevin_2435]

​@@malikoniousjoeIf drug dealers are doing this, let them! Hear me out for a second. Any drug dealer handing out free drugs secretly to a group that relies on someone else's money to purchase things for them, they'll be out of business in a week and stop dealing anything.

[@strange4change_6]

Not only that, I’m supposed to give up my escape for a child’s good time? I’ll be dammed if that’s so🤧

[@missdenisebee]

I’ve always said this too😂 Like, these people obviously don’t understand how expensive drugs are, wtf would you be wasting them on kids?!

[@ranjanbiswas3233]

*But but drugs are given free to kids* Why would ANYONE hand such expensive things free to kids? What do kids know about market value?

[@MrBentheretwo]

I use to work for a small town newspaper when one of our reporter's started doing a investigative story on the police department covering up a drunk driving accident involving a police officer. The police retaliated by making it as difficult as possible for the news paper to get the police blotter for that day. The reporter also was being followed by cops just to harass him

[@mjohnson1741]

That's a normal day for minorities.

[@sniperhare]

That's standard activity if cops anywhere. Talk to women who divorce cops. The bottom line is people have to be of a certain mentality to want to serve as the oppressive gang of the state and protect capital by brutalizing lower class citizens. We see time and time again that cops will stand by amd allow murder, lies, brutality, theft. And do nothing to make it right. If they turn on their fellow gang members they get killed.

[@allyabernathy4098]

ACAB

[@erikanders3343]

That's what gangs do.

[@danielcheng769]

@@erikanders3343 Some police are basically gangs paid by tax payer's money.

[@Pizzafrisbee]

As always a big round of applause for John Oliver‘s research department

[@Marijuanifornia]

When they're smart enough to find and report the official .gov link to the 14-minute 1942 USDA film *Hemp for Victory* which legalized "Marihuana" to save the world from fascism and genocide during World War II, then they can be applauded. Until then, they're just wasting everyone's time, perpetuating the ignorance of the voting public, week after week, for years, just like every other "comedy news" program on Earth. There is an official US government link to the film from the US National Archives. It's been public since 1990.

[@NativeTexMexican]

😎👍

[@phillrockman]

I'm very disappointed that the amount of free drugs I've been given in my life is far less than what I've been promised on the news.

[@SpecOps140]

Dugs

[@abigails4088]

likewise... I mean...I've been given a lot of free drugs over the years, but nowhere near as much as the fearmongering wants everyone to believe XD

[@Lock484]

Hugs

[@aidantak97]

You hang around the right people

[@flugsven]

Maybe this Halloween? 🤞😬

[@SeauxNOLALady]

I was assaulted by a stranger outside of my building (New Orleans is just circling the drain.) A surveillance video from almost 200 yards away, and with a privacy fence in between, evidently didn’t match my story. “ I wasn’t running like I was almost raped.” Actually, they ran my name, saw my record ( just drug charges); all of a sudden I was trash. They kept me there for 14 hrs, lied to my mother and said I had left, and I was not given a drop of water or crumb to eat. Nothing like being attacked and then being cuffed. I do not trust cops. Any of them, anywhere.

[@advisorywarning]

I very much relate to your story and wholeheartedly agree. I do NOT trust them, especially as a woman. I’m sorry that happened to you and i hope you’re doing better now

[@Thiefnuker]

Fully agree. Cops don't trust us and we should not trust them. I hope you found someone supportive and have a network of people you can rely on, should anything happen in the future. It's a bit of a lost practice to have feminist networks to assist one another, but I hope we can bring it back.

[@ryanhopper2854]

Just so y’all know Pat Collins is a legend in the DC area every news story he does no matter how serious is hilarious

[@redjed100]

He retired recently. Unfortunate, but he looked pretty old in the clips he appeared in, so I guess I’m not surprised.

[@agp11001]

Never forget when he decided to interview a kid who was suspended from school for running around in a banana costume... while wearing a grape costume.

[@falcolf]

Gosh he sounds amazing ❤️🤣

[@emmettbrown3463]

@@agp11001 even made a follow up interview later and he (banana man) is a rock n roll artist now! pretty awesome

[@powersquirrel8156]

The public defender in the last clip is Olayemi Olurin! She wrote an article titled "Law & Order Taught Americans to Root for the Police" for Teen Vogue which really sounds like something John Oliver has said.

[@Pedro_Larroza]

She's my hero forever. She bulldozed that biased douchebag into submission, with poise, truth and assertiveness, and established a precedent/cautionary tale for the entire crime reporting category. Thanks for the name! I've looked her up and her work seems truly important, in both the legal and media fields.

[@scorch527]

If we shouldn't take the police at their word, we shouldn't take a public defender at their word either.

[@Dopecheetah]

@@scorch527 Nah. Maybe we should be listening to public defenders more. It seems they would know what the police are up to more than anyone, since they have to deal with cases.

[@Poldovico]

@@scorch527 The problem is she was absolutely right. She said that they don't know what happened yet, which it's true, they don't, and that the initial police report is typically wildly inaccurate, which is true, it is. I'm sure if you look up the news story it will come out the singular shot from the suspect to the police's SIXTY was fabricated too, as is often the case when American police shoot someone dozens of times in the back. If in a room with a police officer, a journalist and a lawyer, you find out _the lawyer_ is the only one telling the truth, you know something's really broken.

[@Drekromancer]

@@Pedro_Larroza Seconded. Her retort was emblematic of journalistic integrity, professionalism, and the pursuit of justice all at once. This is the kind of woman we need to hear from more often.

[@Apropoetic]

For fucks sake, how many decades have people been trying to scare parents into thinking evil people are putting shit in kids Halloween candy? When I was a kid they told us to check all of our candy for needles and razor blades... Drugs in candy is even dumber for all the reasons stated in the video.

[@davidcohen4518]

its like "no Iam not giving my drugs to your kids for free, are you fuckin insane? those are MY drugs, let your kids get their own"

[@Hyde_Hill]

It's pretty much a yearly tradition for news outlets as it draws ratings. All comes from the pixy stix killer Ronald Clark O'Bryan. Who killed his own son with cyanide laced candy around Halloween.

[@mostmelon8243]

Yeah, obviously. How does someone logically conclude you can turn a person, a child no less, into a costumer by secretly and anonymously drugging them. They wouldn't even know what happened and they certainly wouldn't know where to get more.

[@lorehammer40k4]

The dumbest part to me is that the picture they keep showing of this supposed "rainbow fentanyl" is literally pressed to look exactly like a 30mg roxicodone pill from Mallinckrodt. Sure, the 30mg variety are only blue and all of those in the picture made to look exactly like a 30mg, but the other dosages come in the exact same "rainbow" of colors. So why isn't everyone freaking out over Big Pharma using the exact same rainbow of colors?

[@Tinil0]

Yeah, this stuff is generational at this point. And, if I can be so bold as to state the obvious, it's not just rainbow fentanyl, none of the blades or needles or anything was ever found in halloween candy, at least halloween candy distributed by strangers to children. IIRC, there were like 1 or 2 cases, but it is universally the parent trying to harm their child, not someone they got the candy from while trick or treating. I have no idea how some people are so gullible as to keep the story alive. It was one thing when the urban legend started and people were way more credulous, but like you said, generations of people have grown up being told it and the information about how often it happens is freely and easily available. Not to mention you have never known anyone that it happened to (Other than the miraculous friend of a friend who experiences everything unbelievable)

[@countryhat5531]

Absolutely vital issue. My parents watch daily news and I am constantly telling them to stop. They're terrified of me getting hit by crime in my perfectly safe apartment community.

[@shiitakestick]

just curious - how does your apartment building be a community ??

[@peggedyourdad9560]

@@shiitakestick I assume this might be because the people actually interact with each other.

[@milkan.8552]

It’s this critical eye on local news reporting that makes me glad that Last Week Tonight exists! Bravo John and your incredible team!

[@selanaris3640]

As a fresh producer at a very local station, seeing these criticism on news makes me double check my work and sources and double back on criminal stories for updates

[@DK-zu6tt]

Yay!!!! Good on you!

[@kkurova9345]

You'll probably get fired once the ratings plummet cause your work isn't clickbaity enough

[@logichaver5642]

So crime reporting leads to increase fear of crime, and tougher laws against crimes... and that's apparently bad. Doesn't the same effect happen with racism/racial news? The jussie smollet story definitely increased blacks fear of whites. And that's good?

[@brandonquist8394]

@@kkurova9345 And that is the crux of the problem in our society: we want a free press, but we don't want to pay for it unless it is about our problems, so to get paid, the news has to _make it_ our problem.

[@NFSHeld]

I hope you can keep it this way and don't get ground into the mill of "need more views, need more clickbait, need more extreme stories in less time".

[@chado8452]

Pat Collins is a local legend. He can make the most mundane story look like the most devastating news ever.

[@owenkelly2343]

I used to work in a coffee shop, and a cop used to ask one of the female baristas to write things like "sensitive bitch" on his cup. It was a really awkward and creepy situation. Eventually, she started hiding in the back whenever he came in. Thankfully, he stopped coming, but he held such power over her by virtue of being a policeman. She was afraid if she told him no, he could make her life absolutely miserable.

[@CollinMcLean]

Yeah it turns out a career where you get to carry a firearm, exercise authority over others, and command respect with a uniform doesn't attract the best kinds of people...

[@skittlemilks1614]

Gross

[@JasmineKerr-d8u]

What city?

[@jake_]

There are many and good reasons most countries in Europe do not allow the names, race, ethnicity and photos of suspects to be published before their trial. During the pre-trial proceedings, confidentiality is the prevailing principle. It ensures a fair trial, prevents the development of stereotypes and protects the reputation of those found innocent.

[@bazilda]

Also does not USA have the presumption of innocence? In the eye of law everybody is presumed innocent until proven otherwise? Ergo you treat you suspects as if they are innocent. You kinda go the judge-jury-executioner way in your policing which is fundamentally wrong.

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

Yeah, Americans forgot the Court does that since the Lindbergh baby trial. They don't want another one...

[@alanacrail3244]

@@bazilda America has the presumption of innocence in theory, not so much in practice

[@spritemon98]

@@bazilda everyone is guilty outright until proven innocent

[@omgandwtf1]

​@@bazilda I'd argue that use of lethal force when apprehending someone is a violation of their rights to a fair trial and a jury of their peers. I acknowledge that there are certain circumstances that lethal force is the only realistic option they can use to resolve a situation but that's more limited to hostage situations and active shooters. being a police officer is a dangerous job and if you're not comfortable risking your life it probably isn't the job for you. so there really should be some rule that makes it a crime for a police officer to shoot at someone who hasn't already fired a gun or maybe their running towards you with a knife but even then they have tasers for a reason and I can't imagine police officers are incapable of out running the average person.

[@vampiricn1ght]

The amount of stuff my mother heard was "definitely happening" in our town compared to how little actually happened is staggering, but entirely due to this kind of journalism

[@liamlindsay41599]

can we just say thanks to the team for putting this on youtube. I just lost HBO, and im so glad he posts it.

[@harambeegardens8705]

Same.

[@zaczane]

RIP.

[@banquetoftheleviathan1404]

Get a vpn. If its on streaming, its on pirate bay.

[@nicole_j235]

@@zaczane 😂😂😂not RIP

[@timberslut]

HA! Did you really "lose" HBO? Or did your local police seize it?

[@justinejoni5566]

This is so eye opening to me cuz in journalism school you really are taught to find crime stories through police press releases. I myself am complete distrustful of police but for some reason, never thought to question their press releases when quoting them for a story

[@brittanymiller3157]

Not just journalism school! I learned that in my high school journalism class. As a writer, I now take information from police with a huge grain of salt.

[@JadeDragon407]

I guess you can't look at it the same now after seeing this >>;=)

[@richardjohnson8545]

Pat Collins is an absolute legend in the DMV, he was so out of pocket that they make his segments longer on purpose. He also did a little of everything. From covering politics, to doing some weather, to sports, crime, and even doing reports on local schools and their events. Go look up some of his segments, the guy is hilarious.

[@Nicksonian]

I’ve lived in nearby Annapolis for 35 years. Worked nearly 30 in local media. Never heard of this guy Collins. Glad I haven’t. Not what’s needed.

[@secondubly]

@@Nicksonian He makes depressing news entertaining and easy to stomach - I personally wish we had more of people like him. As soon as I saw him on the screen I knew exactly what clip was going to play because he's just that memorable.

[@wishiwassleeping8382]

His cadence and delivery are so annoying

[@ryhauber6144]

Pat Collins snow stick forever

[@TrashHeapCustodian]

Pat Collins is the fuckin best ♥️ He's even a meme, if you've ever seen the meme of the reporter in a grape suit interviewing a kid in a banana suit, that's Pat! Everyone I've known around here who doesn't like him has been a real big curmudgeon you don't wanna talk to anyway :)

[@TeyLew]

As someone who lives in the D.C. area and has seen Pat Collins on my tv since I was a kid, I'm glad y'all get to see how much of a treasure he is

[@williamyoung9401]

Unlike every other local news station in the country that has been taken over by Big, Corporate, Conservative interests pushing their agenda and making us fearful of each other...

[@turquoisesnowflake4613]

He is the real national treasure

[@seancarson7103]

Who's pat Collins?

[@letusdebatenow]

And if you don't know Rob Wolcheck 😎 thank me later

[@letusdebatenow]

@@seancarson7103 he was the reporter from the clip near the beginning

[@rosemadder5547]

I saw a headline on these rainbow pills. My son is 9 and I showed him and told him, just so he knows, never eat weird candy laying around etc. He responded "I'm pretty sure no kid over 5 is going to pick up anything off the nasty ground and just eat it bc its pretty." Touchè son 😆

[@jmodified]

Better tell James Woods though.

[@RichardX1]

@@jmodified better not--you don't want to make it harder to get rid of him

[@ArcturusOTE]

Kid's pretty bright

[@VenetusAlpha]

That kid’s going places, I can tell.

[@Lucy_Heart03]

I have a 9 year old sister and my older my sister showed me an article about the Rainbow Drug and was pretty worry, she heard it was going around school. But I told her not to worry because no one’s giving out drugs for free.

[@MandoPercussion]

Pat Collins has been an absolute national treasure for The DMV. He pulls no punches and tells everything like it is!

[@redjed100]

_blatant repost from elsewhere incoming_ He retired recently. Unfortunate, but he looked pretty old in the clips he appeared in, so I guess I’m not surprised.

[@TheAcenightcreeper]

The mugshot issue is a big one, people charged with crimes are not yet convicted, and splashing their faces all over the internet for eternity by third party websites, and being paid to take down only to have them appear on a sister site is disgusting. Local crime reports are the same

[@datonkallandor8687]

Also something that would be *hella* illegal in the EU. Personal Data is very protected and the punishments are hefty.

[@yeanah2571]

So that, and asset forfeiture before trial are things that need to go away immediately

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

I had to take calls for a website like this, which claimed they offered background checks and mugshots, but really, it was just old information they'd gotten from websites that sell your data. My own info was ancient information. If you want the info removed, you have to send in a copy of your ID, which given everything else about the site, is not something I would recommend doing. People would get small inquiry charges from the UK but the company supposedly was based in Florida and the site had one of those scammy scarcity countdowns for their free trial, which was always there. The website also had more Don'ts in their FAQ for what you could not use the "background checks" for than what you could use them for...which was essentially nothing. They knew the shit they offered was bad and so it could not be used in court, or for hiring someone, or anything except to just look at (and sadly, people would not see that FAQ link buried at the bottom of the website and would buy these things for those purposes). And in most cases, the reaults given for the person being searched was wrong. After the 3 day trial (which the trial did not operate on a complete 24 hour basis. If you started the trial at 11:59PM one day, that counted as a full day), the monthly coast was often about $45. When the pandemic hit and people began using the site much more out of boredom and the call volume exploded, it just became unbearable and I finally quit. Every single call was a pissed customer. Hard to enjoy your job when that's what you have to look forward to.

[@chadd990]

and don't forget, once it reaches facebook, it never goes away

[@kilo-1337]

i got charged felony burglary when i was only trespassing, everything was dropped. this story makes me wonder if i have a mugshot out there somewhere

[@saad9868]

Never been a fan of celebrities but if I ever saw John, i would definitely go over and say great work you've been doing man. Thank you.

[@joejacko1587]

john Oliver complains about sensationism holy shit thats this dude's whole thing see you now think a genocide is going on when it's like 70 150 a year and that's total not unjustified out of millions of encounters but see john is a pos he should lesson to the advice here

[@adcreel9079]

Or dont.... And just mind Your business 🤚😎

[@billlumbergh9251]

Bot

[@shermanculbertson6244]

My week just isn’t the same without it beginning with John telling me about some existential problem while simultaneously making me laugh.

[@penname8441]

+

[@Marijuanifornia]

If this show would tell you about the 1942 USDA film *Hemp for Victory,* then you'd know how the legalization of "Marihuana" was vital to stopping the Holocaust and saving the world, and is the key to reducing pollution, replacing fossil fuels, ending deforestation and stopping climate change, thus saving the world today. But this show will never tell you about *Hemp for Victory* because HBO's corporate masters have billions of dollars invested in maintaining the status quo. So, this show feeds you bullshit to make you feel informed without ever actually offering any real world-changing information. *Hemp for Victory* is online at an official .gov link from the US National Archives, and on several KZbin channels. It's been public since 1990.

[@bobbiemanning2181]

John Oliver is great. I appreciate how after all the doom and gloom, he always gives ways to change things. Keep up the good work, Last Week Tonight! ❤

[@harlequinade2709]

I'm a journalism major. The sad thing is, we're taught that the police is considered a solid source. Something that, as long as you quantify that it is the police's words and not your own, it's "protected" - you can't be sued for libel. The same is true for reporting on court room cases. Reporting crime straight from the police keeps you safe from lawsuits, sad as it is.

[@Drekromancer]

Damn. That's sad to hear, but it makes sense too. Thanks for sharing. Good luck out there.

[@TheJadedJames]

I have a journalism degree and one of my professors had a big “No One Source Stories” sign on her door

[@contedefees]

wow, sounds like we need to reform journalism training too

[@michaelodonnell824]

Exactly where did you check in the Moral/ethical when you CHOSE to become a Character Assassin?!

[@ElderStatesman]

In some ways, this almost makes me happy that I got academically-dismissed from college because of bullshit gen eds. I was going to pursue a journalism major in Plattsburgh State after community college. But considering that Plattsburgh Town Police got caught manhandling a suspect and some of their officers were forced to resign as a consequence, I could've easily been taught that same line of 'police are trustworthy just because we said so.' Nowadays, I'm an independent documentary filmmaker. Better to teach yourself the ropes on journalism and have a moral center than allow colleges to erase your conscience so you can become another mouthpiece for law enforcement.

[@audrey0554]

Favourite "cop faking fast food hate crime" was the guy who's starbucks drink label said "PIG" and everyone quickly pointed out that the part of the label was specifically for the name you give yourself for an online order lmao

[@cam9868]

Correct, this is actually evidence that the cop wrote it. Everyone knows that it is physically impossible for an employee to write on the customer section of the label, their hand would be disintegrated if they even tried. Edit - did you people watch the video??? It was handwritten, it wasn't the name the pig entered on the app. Christ, the number of idiot "gotcha" responses on the basis of something that never happened is incredible

[@daslynnter9841]

@@cam9868 yes this is exactly true, also an employee will immediately know if some dude named bob is a cop or not just by how the name pops up on their orders screen. So while they will know the anonymous name is a cop, they'll be powerless to write pig on it.

[@captaincrunch7944]

I'm with cam cops never lie they are perfect its always the poor Starbucks employee everyone knows they always get there way in life

[@koboldcatgirl]

@@cam9868 Audrey said an *online* order, to be clear, dear. As in, he instructed the employee online to put "Pig" on his cup, by his request. Which is even funnier. I'd love it if cops paid me to call them pigs. Throw in being allowed to unionize and it sounds like a great job!

[@laurie_guilbeau]

I heard a Starbucks employee was fired though?

[@jenpearson8339]

I was born and raised in Northern Va where Pat Collins is a national treasure. It made my insomniac heart happy to see him on Last Week Tonight

[@getweirdwes]

*regional treasure

[@katherinezimmerman6997]

@@getweirdwes He’s on HBO now, so he’s officially gone full national treasure.

[@getweirdwes]

@@katherinezimmerman6997 true

[@ETS186]

@@American_ZeR0 why stayed for so long?

[@BAValliere]

I also grew up in Northern VA and Pat Collins has been the bane of my father’s existence for about 30 years now. I find it hilarious that he’s getting so much good press from John Oliver when I grew up having to hear my dad groan every time he was reporting a story. 😂

[@Romanticoutlaw]

"your kids' halloween candy is fentanol" is the new "your kids' halloween candy is full of razor blades". The more things change, the more they stay the same

[@LynetteTheRogue]

Well they learned that "your kids candy is weed," cuz they learned no one is giving their edibles away for free

[@Lizzie-ve7kt]

My theory is parents just want an excuse to go through their kids candy to steal the best pieces before they hand it back to them. 😉

[@peggedyourdad9560]

I think there was 1 case of a child legitimately dying from poisoned Halloween candy, but it was his own father that did it. This happened in 1974 and the victim was a young boy named Timothy O'Brian. Other cases of children's deaths associated with Halloween candy were either verified by a coroner to have been caused by illness or an underlying condition or were caused by drugs that the child had found elsewhere. Actually, there have been 0 cases of a child, or really anyone, falling ill, being injured, or dying due to poisoned or otherwise tampered-with candy obtained from trick-or-treating.

[@youtubeuniversity3638]

Next up the fentanol will contain razor blades.

[@bumblebeeyellowdragon]

Razor blades are huge in comparison to the size of candy. How would you fit that in candy without it sticking out noticably?

[@AndreViens]

Thank you for validating me when I first heard that story on rainbow fentanyl, I was like why would dealers be trying to hook kids? There's no financial sense in that. That stuff is expensive and the kids have no means to pay for it.

[@justinklenk]

Don't underestimate those little -fuckers- fiends.

[@elizawulf8180]

Rebecca Watson did a segment on it as well ^^

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

I remember hearing about LSD in Halloween candy scare in the U.S when i was a child in the 70thies. Now i lived in Europe , but it was so sensational European newsoutlets just run with it .Years later i learned no kid ever had LSD in it's candy.Not even once So iguess not much has changed.

[@klh800]

Keep in mind that the dealers give it for free, and may never charge cash, but can move on to the real cost. Why do you think the cost is monetary. Dealers have a few methods of payment they are willing to take.

[@mantabsekali920]

@@klh800 but to kids tho? For what reason exactly?

[@jansmout4849]

The world needs more people like that public defendant. What a queen.

[@88mphDrBrown]

This literally just happened to me, I watched a story about an officer shooting a kid that supposedly tried to run over the cop and hit his leg, then I watch the bodycam video and it's just the cop attempting to murder a kid eating a cheeseburger. Edit: The teen who was shot is named Erik Cantu, as of right now he's fighting for his life on life support. The shooting occurred in San Antonio, the officer involved has been fired and the DA says the internal investigation as to whether to charge the officer might take up to a year. The officer believed Cantu was driving a stolen car that had fled from him the previous night. All of the information I've seen indicates the car was Cantu's, the suspicion was wrong and the officer's attack was completely unwarranted. Edit: the officer has been charged with 2 counts of aggravated assault, if Cantu dies from his injuries it's very likely the officer will be charged with homicide.

[@stephaniechilders5176]

Link???

[@88mphDrBrown]

@@stephaniechilders5176 they shadow ban my links just search "SAPD releases bodycam teen shot at McDonald's", I'm trying to find the original news report I watched but the story blew up after the bodycam was released so its hard to find.

[@88mphDrBrown]

@@stephaniechilders5176 here's the original story I saw kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKPRc62qqtGUbbM

[@88mphDrBrown]

@@stephaniechilders5176 I posted a link to the original news story but if you can't see it just "Kens 5 man shot by officer after hitting officer with his car".

[@Wentr-z]

Do you live in San Antonio as well? I live here and couldn’t even stomach the video. Bexar county PD is notoriously brutal and imo… excuse my French, cunts.

[@schattentaenzerin]

Thank you so much for covering this very important issue. You're all doing a great job, LWT-Team. Would you please consider bringing back the official subtitles? It's a great help for people with hearing impairments and foreign speakers. My country doesn't have HBO, so I rely on KZbin. But we do have a lot of similar problems and I'm so happy to be able to watch these segments. A lot of them are internationally relevant anyways.

[@terriz.2981]

True! KZbin subtitles need work. If they’re the only subtitles you can use, they can be 10 seconds off, and they’re not accurate in terms of which words are spoken, where the pauses occur, etc.

[@saintpauli13]

Yes! It's baffling as to why every bigger show like this doesn't have official subtitles.

[@faraaq]

Truly.

[@francescacimino5315]

i don't know if commenting boosts the comment, but I'm also hearing impaired with 2 hearing aides and would seriously appreciate official subtitles!

[@modkhi]

they must actually have subtitles from the official tv broadcast right? the stephen colbert show just adds those to the youtube videos and even if theyre not 100% accurate a lot of times, they're still really helpful. I'm not hearing impaired or ESL but my speakers are really quiet so it helps me too

[@emilyfarfadet9131]

I cannot believe these halloween drug scares are still going. They should be required to hold a flashlight under their chin and use a spooky voice whenever they report that stuff.

[@erlindaalba1682]

I dunno but this made laugh. I can just picture a newsreporter doing a spooky voice 🤣.

[@AJ-nh8ik]

@@erlindaalba1682 i'd feel more comfortable if they did. Or let Ron Burgandy do the news.

[@positivevibetec]

When I was a kid it was razor blades in the candy. I heard about it every year

[@bassinc3039]

This is a boogeyman ghost from the past. Was used in late sixties, earlier seventies. Drugs in fudge, razor blades in apples, children kidnapped, by drugged up pot smoking hippies. MAGA GQP televangelist preaching fear, hate, separation.

[@HellHunter00]

I can't believe people actually fall for this. For one, wouldn't an adult dose OD a child? So much for hooking them. The colourful tablets are so clearly a marketing/product differentiation tool and it being put into a lego box was clearly as a disguise/hiding mechanism. I saw a news report of some illicit substances concealed in a fire extinguisher. Look out; they're targeting our fire fighters now! 🙄

[@brandonayong5823]

Watching episodes of LWT for a couple of hours will probably cover 3 or 4 school years as well as a year worth of going to a comedy club daily plus I'll never thank John Oliver enough for not having ads

[@btat16]

He probably doesn't need the ads with all those dragon dollars

[@nobody5867]

HBO doesn't have ads ever lol.

[@k8eekatt]

Or abs!

[@nobody5867]

@@k8eekatt I'm guessing you've never watched HBO. Abbbbbbbbbs are everywhere.

[@mind-of-neo]

@@btat16 tf are dragon dollars?

[@DeviantOllam]

I'm so glad to see John and the team tackle this incredibly important topic which is a national crisis and travesty by journalists.

[@dishonoredundead]

And yet every single comment on every single police Facebook page, pro police propaganda channel, Cops, LivePD, MSM is "Cnn hAteS cOpS!". Meanwhile CNN is covering for them and delivering their narratives verbatim, only when it makes them look good, or it's too big to ignore like with George Floyd. Leaving the average citizen thinking George Floyd was unique, and not something that happens literally several times a day, countrywide, to all races, genders, ages, and never see the light of day. Let alone get justice like in Floyd's case. And don't get me wrong, Floyd deserved justice, they all deserve that. The people just don't know, what they don't know. And they think because they see the tip of an iceberg that's all there is.

[@luke4338]

Yeah! I'm always surprised about these so called "victims". Like, where the hell do they find them? I used the subway today and didn't see anyone die. It's obviously being used for political gain! And don't get me started on those assault allegations, doesn't the media understand how damaging accusations are?

[@Khemith_Demon_Hours]

Right now the the right wing media (which includes MSNBC) are pushing the stupid crime narrative. OMG CRIME! Whenever I press people they can only give me stupid anecodal evidence.

[@Nightmare-pj4fg]

I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a travesty by journalists, but rather a success by American journalists. Firstly many news stories have been monopolized by either Turner or Murdoch, and so everyone has their hands tied to said propaganda. Secondly news in America has always been about either enforcing ideas of American Exceptionalism or infiltrating your mind with pervasive ideas of low level crime being widespread and evil, as opposed to the much more popular and detrimental so called white collar crime being the very nature of politics and economic function in this country, as well as other similar trends of getting you to be further divided as the working class while being duped by those who continuously exploit and do harm. It has been propaganda to implement and continue the implementation of Americas vile systems since day one, and has only changed in how it is presented, but not the content itself. This includes also giving legitimacy to systems such as the military and police department, when in reality their size and power is only a representation of how they serve to oppress, either internally or externally.

[@LordAJ12345]

It’s an international crisis. While some aspect of policing are pretty uniquely American, news parroting what they say without question is unfortunately common all over.

[@heatherglenfield9537]

Thank you John Oliver for continuing to be a voice (a very acerbic and funny one at that) for critical thinking, something that is becoming increasingly rare in our society.

[@laalaa99stl]

I bust a gut laughing at the El Cheapo bust. These are kids who grew up playing cops and robbers and have waited their whole life to take a pic like that. Cop cosplayers. 🤣

[@mattia_carciola]

Cops-players

[@fatbgmanbg975]

@@mattia_carciola no u

[@dishonoredundead]

It's funny until you start paying attention and realize how much copaganda you have been seeing. All of it. All of it is copaganda. And it's so bad when you read the news articles, the responses to the constant stream of MSM pro cop, pro state, pro drug war, propaganda is always something akin to "wow MSM hates cops and even they admit crime is getting worse". So the companies that ignore every single story about the failures of policing, the police state, the prison capital of the world, civil forfeiture, police corruption and incompetence, are also being viewed as "anti police". And that's really important, because think about it, people have been brainwashed so severely that they think the state, is anti state. Which is like living in a world that believes the Devil is out to spread negative information about the Devil. Which shows how bad things are in a way you may not even realize. And people are REALLY asleep on it. Things have spiraled out of control with our CJS. And it wasn't great to start with.

[@swistedfilms]

Counterpoint: Cheapo the Discount Villain was a real character on Stripperella. It's canon in the Marvel animated universe.

[@galactic85]

Being a cop is just cosplay. You aren't required to know anything about actual laws in order to be a cop.

[@andrekz9138]

My hat is off to the thousands of journalists in this country who maintain journalistic integrity at the undeserved peril of losing their jobs for the sake of viewership and money. May you ascend to editorship and beyond. Yours is the reason we have a semblance of fair democracy left in this country. Godspeed!

[@llebbkish5257]

John should literally do a TED talk on Crime Reporting because even in a comedy variety talk show he's still done a much better job than most News Stations in the past 8 years!!

[@harambeegardens8705]

Absolutely true (but sad).

[@joejacko1587]

john Oliver complains about sensationism holy shit thats this dude's whole thing see you now think a genocide is going on when it's like 70 150 a year and that's total not unjustified out of millions of encounters but see john is a pos he should listen to his own advice here

[@cobracyxx8808]

There may be something wrong with me but I feel like the daily show and it's Alumni inform me better that the actual (opinion) news. With sources and everything

[@inka8367]

Also this is not perfect but in my country if someone is charged but hasn't been sentenced their name and face is censored. Sometimes it leads to funny situations like "Patric S. who is accused of killing his father Michael Smith has been arrested", but most of the time you won't guess the identity of the arrestee if you don't know them personally. Also quite unlikely that it will come up when your name is googled by a prospective employer. It genuinely baffles me when I read news stories with not only the face, name, but sometimes even street address of a suspect in UK media

[@Lizzie-ve7kt]

This is SUCH a good idea! Especially with the way that the internet is forever, an innocent person could have their reputation tarnished for decades. Plus, there have even been cases where people with the same name as criminals have been negatively affected because journalists can sometimes use the wrong image to identify a suspect when it’s simply someone who has the same name as the person being arrested. I mean when you really think about it the policy of reporting all the identifying info on someone merely suspected of a crime completely defeats the purpose of innocent until proven guilty.

[@Heynmffc]

That makes wayy too much sense for the US.

[@redflamelcd]

As a starting reference, whenever the police start talking I automatically assume they're lying to cover their asses.

[@tazhienunurbusinezz1703]

Yep. I have a cousin who is a detective & who actually tries to do the right thing. The stories about his coworkers would freak everyone out. He has told all of us to never talk to cops without an attorney. He doesn't trust them at all.

[@Marijuanifornia]

The US government has lied to everyone for generations about the so-called "dangers of marijuana" in order to funnel billions of dollars every year to police and prisons and the war on drugs. The US legalized Cannabis Sativa in 1942 after the attack at Pearl Harbor to make equipment for the military during World War II. The federal permit to grow Cannabis that is shown in the 1942 USDA film *Hemp for Victory* reads, "Producer of Marihuana." This was only five years after "Marihuana" was outlawed as "the most dangerous narcotic ever known to Man." The film is online at an official .gov link from the US National Archives, paid for by the same tax dollars that still wage the war on drugs. It became public in 1990. Yes, every cop, lawyer, judge, politician, professor, priest, pundit and parent in the United States of America is lying to you about "Marihuana" because they were all lied to about "Marihuana."

[@bobobandy9382]

Oh, well that level of bias is incredibly silly. But at least you're honest about it, you big ol' part of the problem, you!

[@uncannyvalley2113]

@@bobobandy9382 being sceptic is essential

[@bobobandy9382]

@@uncannyvalley2113 That's not what skepticism is, but sure.

[@davidpumpkinsjr.5108]

That Miss Piggy joke crossed the line in the best way possible.

[@jondunmore4268]

There's a reason we call cops pigs. All you have to do to understand why is to deal with a cop.

[@Sunprism]

Last year around Halloween in Washington, the news channels were making a big deal out of pot edibles, and how people were giving them to innocent trick or treaters, and All I could think was, "Do you people know how Expensive weed gummies are?!?"

[@amberandrews6842]

Indeed!! It would be cheaper to give king-size candy bars!

[@natenate33]

yeah i saw this on fox news today but fentanyl and im thinkin do people actually think this is a thing lol. what kinda drug dealer is gonna waste product on unsuspecting kids

[@MyssBlewm]

every year a new moral panic over Halloween candy and drugs from the cops

[@Baughbe]

I'm thinking it's adults now getting revenge because they didn't always get the candy they wanted. So they are out to ruin it for kids now, even though it is no more dangerous now than back then.

[@yal100]

I take it a drug dealer needs to "know" his victim for the comeback dollars, not some risky freebie to some unknown kid. Too much dealer cost and too much risk, pretty sure thats the opposite of drug dealing. Don't mind me, just using my brain here lol

[@YeowooBBCVIP]

Working in journalism, this video is SO important. There's something wrong with how we report news in the digital era. I highly advise all my friends to always check stories from outlets with different political affiliations and to read journals. Journals are the only way of reading high quality and verified information today.

[@AbbreviatedReviews]

It was disturbing hearing the police press release of the George Floyd case. To have a murder boiled down to something that sounds like a mild inconvenience makes you wonder how many similar cases have been swept under the rug.

[@samuela-aegisdottir]

I am afraid that there are many.

[@tnp1047]

Most of them.

[@anjetto1]

All of them cops ALWAYS get passive wording and positive coverage by the American media. Helps support the racial pecking order and keeps rich whites ontop

[@88cryingwolf]

Thousands I'm sure

[@nicolechai1]

As someone in Minneapolis area during time when George Floyd case happened, yeah it was absolutely outrageous the report they filed. Partly why it took so long for charges to be filed to the officers and then trial and all. Though it helped having the new guy on team because he wasn’t as stuck in the ‘close rank’ mindset police usually have. Not to mention the police unions always blocking whatever they can. Honestly it’s one of those stories that - if it hadn’t gotten the attention and protests that it did - would’ve ended up a footnote in some press release archive. It’s led to a lot of attempts on police reform and budgets and number of offices, training etc. Buuutttt, so far - hasn’t amounted to much aside from more people paying attention to police actions. I feel like I’ve always been pretty hyper-aware of cop presence, but now I’m paying closer attention to details with a more critical eye. If all is well, they got no worries of more scrutiny.

[@DemonEyes23]

I was once arrested (on charges that were later dropped) and the police claimed I was hiding from them because the futon I was sleeping on faced away from the door. When they came to the door and asked if I was there I I stood up right away and went with them.

[@mattdad8429]

That's super messed up. That sucks, bro. Glad everything worked out though.

[@seffishestopal5950]

What the fuck?

[@JasonX909]

Glad to hear the charges were dropped, hopefully that didn't cost you too much

[@Amy-dw7ii]

I have had 2 encounters with the police in my 50 year lifetime where they purposely lied to the judge and in reports. And I’m a boring white lady. I was shocked. They are a gang of criminals.

[@DemonEyes23]

@@JasonX909 this was forever ago and my parents did have to hire a lawyer so probably a few thousand. Alls well that ends well I guess.

[@K4R007]

"El Cheapo" got me laughing way too hard.

[@mikemartin6410]

Love to see Pat Collins! He's a legend in DC and Maryland news. He was man about town and always cheeky in his stories and reporting about often overlooked injustices. Always looked at the human element to every situation.

[@abcddcba09]

That El Cheapo joke had me in tears!! Genius!

[@Robert_McGarry_Poems]

I absolutely love, both, the reaction from the audience, and his very professional, very well maintained smile, after saying maybe the NFL shouldn't exist. So much to unpack...

[@xiala_]

There is! I’m fairly certain some years or so ago he covered concussions and essentially ragged on football, as a sport, for killing many, many people. Football is really dangerous but people don’t often hear about the deaths of the many players that are let go. Once they’re not a player anymore they’re forgotten. And these are deaths that resulted from complications they got from playing the game. Or anyway that’s what I remember. There are probably a decent few specific details I’m not getting right since it has been years since I watched that video

[@definitelynotRoberto]

That woman whose laughing so loud has me cracking up, laughter truly is contagious 😂

[@Snowneutrino652]

She's in the audience every week it seems like too

[@chazdomingo475]

I think it's Chrissy.

[@hannahbanana7723]

The genuine loud laughs are always the best 👌 I've gotten the giggles just listening to others crack themselves up

[@maikeld73]

inserted during editing

[@tiagoribeiro8060]

I know riggttth

[@billnye69]

Taking the police at their word after they are directly involved in the situation is a massive conflict of interest.

[@Alex-rd2ur]

I think "hate crime against police" is the funniest joke i have ever heard

[@andrewphilos]

Personally, it made me roll my eyes so hard my retina hurt and mutter, "You've gotta be fucking kidding me," but yeah.

[@tigerofdoom]

"We're being persecuted!" - people doing the persecution everywhere

[@Poldovico]

I mean, it's not like in the abstract it couldn't happen, but...

[@ILoveGrilledCheese]

Technically you can persecute the group known for persecuting others. This isn’t a defense of the police just a fact.

[@jonc4403]

@@Poldovico It literally could not happen. Pigs are not a protected category. There is not and cannot be a hate crime against the fucking pigs.

[@AustinJohnPlays]

This Vehicle Vandal reporter looks a lot like the reporter that wore the grape suit to defend the kid who dressed up as grapes and got suspended. Edit: IT IS! Pat Collins. Real recognize real.

[@TheMullet85]

This guy haunted my dreams when I was younger. Couldn't stand him.

[@jaredlachmann]

This comment needs more likes, they should get that man on as a co-host with John for shits and giggles.

[@kristopherthompson1342]

Finding Austin John randomly in a John Oliver comment section is so weird. Lol.

[@edgarallenhoe3518]

I strongly suspect that LWT reached out to him to do a cameo in this episode, and either he declined or didn't respond.

[@foxroxy86]

They did an update with the Banana Boy. He’s a rocker in L.A. now named Leon Knight. His music sounds pretty good. Like a mix of Lenny Kravitz and Prince.

[@slayersupershow]

24:00 has the best co-anchor clapback I have seen in trusting their source over basic human decency. "Baby Ryan Seacrest getting his ass absolutely handed to him," was priceless. 💯😃

[@Poldovico]

Isn't she a public defender? I must assume she's a guest.

[@Vynjira-chan]

​@@Poldovico Olayemi Olurin and she seems to be a regular enough host and she is a lawyer. She's had some other major clapback moments on their show too. Which seems pretty good.

[@nurselunaaudio3758]

She said what we were thinking 🤬

[@myronaustin]

We need folks like this at the podium ALL the time!

[@theBear89451]

She is factually wrong. He was not shot for speeding.

[@jnielsen90]

Shot 60 times for a traffic infraction????? You don't even need to shoot a zombie 60 times to stop it!!!!!!

[@thatfuzzypotato1877]

In college a kid mouthed off to a security guard. News showed up and reported it as a mass shooting calling us the next Virginia Tech. Making a half dozen NOTHING HAPPENED EVERYONE IS FINE phone calls was *fun* The tempation to go outside and punch the reporter who did this outside my goddamn dorm was a little too high

[@benjaminshinar9509]

What? Did they somehow confuse "shouting" with "shooting"?

[@quinnmarchese6313]

ah great, yet another mass shouting

[@OALXI]

​@@benjaminshinar9509 Oh my God, I think they actually did

[@tracycraft]

Wow! No one wants to have to call every one under the son to explain that nothing happened. The fear and concern of your family and friends must have been very high.

[@riptaway]

I'm confused...

[@mxochimera]

It took 10 minutes to find out why John was smirking extra hard when he made the McGruff joke at the start of the segment. It was totally worth the wait.

[@bencoomer2000]

Problem is that the crime we should investigate is done by the powerful and their enforcers...

[@danilooliveira6580]

that is why I sincerely believe we should focus on reporting white collar and corruption crimes, there is nothing you can do about violent crimes on the street, they happen all the time and reporting about them won't make people safer or be of any use to them, it will only help to fuel their misconceptions, fears, bias, and racism. but reporting on white collar and corruptions crimes will help you decided what products to buy or what politician to vote for.

[@Lucas-pw8tp]

Wage theft gets almost none of the coverage, even though that's most of the crimes.

[@SharienGaming]

@@Lucas-pw8tp but thats done by the powerful - the powerful dont do crime... they do "business" ... by definition... by them...

[@Pinfeldorf]

@@danilooliveira6580 There are plenty of things that can be done to stop street-level violent crimes, but all of it involves racial and socioeconomic equity, and nobody with money or power is interested in that.

[@capealio]

Epstein didn't kill himself

[@majones117]

I had a criminal charge thrown out of court against me because the cops broke into my mom's home. Their reasoning was that there was a medical emergency. There wasn't. They tried to get my brother and I for not opening the door for them.

[@CybershamanX]

The Internet Historian did a couple of videos on the AMAZING story behind balloon boy. Basically, due to the police falsely accusing the father, he had to plead guilty, because they were threatening to deport his wife and losing his kids. At any rate, seek out those videos he did. He even interviewed the dad. It's a really sad story and makes you pissed at the police department in that town.

[@fredspipa]

It would have been fitting to mention it in this episode also, as it was mostly due to the medias reaction and reporting of it and NOT the actions of him or the family. It's kind of ironic how John uses it here, as the "second half" of the story he's referring to is just the end of the "first half".

[@CybershamanX]

@@fredspipa My heart was ripped from my chest when I heard the father's story. The utter helplessness and then fury at having to plead freaking guilty and then spending a year in jail when everyone knows what happened... Just infuriating to behold. And the sad thing is this poor guy just faded into history and all he'll be remembered for is "staging" his son riding in a balloon. At least he still has his family. 😕

[@Illlium]

They will do everything they can to make you plead guilty, every defense attorney would tell you that, it doesn't matter what transpired, gotta have that K/D maxxed out bruh. You want to let a dude out without admitting they did something bad? What are you, a pre-school teacher?

[@Fetidaf]

Isn’t there evidence that the dad planned the whole thing and it was all just a publicity stunt?

[@CybershamanX]

@geterhero The story is sad and infuriating. Basically, the police department was known to be corrupted. Seriously, check it out. Internet Historian initially thought it was going to be just another funny video of a stunt for publicity, but the more he looked into it, the more he realized things didn't add up. Again, it's an amazing and infuriating look into police corruption. EDIT: added "corrupted" in the first sentence after I somehow deleted it while dealing with the YT auto-flagging system.

[@theodorec5775]

After graduating from college with a Mass Communications degree I was excited to get a job as a photographer at news station. After I had done the job for about 6 months I found myself in the newsroom one day waiting for an assignment and the News Director couldn't come up with any place to send me. He and the anchor were bemoaning a "slow news day" and the anchor said to, pretty much the whole newsroom: "What I wouldn't give for double homicide right now". After that I started to notice more comments like this and that ultimately led to me getting the hell out of there.

[@JadeDragon407]

We live in a sick society where some people thrive off the pain, suffering, even death of others. Guess with a slow day, they never thought to cover something upbeat or positive in the community.

[@professorsypher6174]

The real reason for the different colored fentanyl is to replicate the actual pills they're being pushed off as. In the case of the pictures show here, they are replicating a type of oxycodone that goes by the street name roxies, specifically M-boxes. The different colors represent the different milligrams of the pill. They use the same sized pill with more or less fillers depending on the mg. For instance, a 20mg pill is green, but a 10mg pill is pink. Source: I was an addict and have been clean for 6 years.

[@ladyluna457]

Glad you're doing better now mate 👍

[@onkelpappkov2666]

Worst of all, damn, even if it looks like candy, don't eat random shit that looks like candy. I mean. Who raises these children? Let natural selection run its course. _"It is not your fault as a parent if your kid is doing dumb shit and eating stuff from the ground like a hungry dog. Be angry at life exposing your weak parenting skills!"_ -- *News reports, repeatedly.*

[@evah4431]

@@onkelpappkov2666 eh, parents can be doing their best and kids will still find a way to do dumb stuff

[@firstlast8258]

@@ladyluna457 I’ll drink to that 🍻

[@firstlast8258]

Drugs are bad mkay

[@MultiJimmyjammer]

This episode needs to be spread - it's very important!

[@riku3716]

If you report about someone being accused of a crime there should be a legal mandate to publish a follow-up/correction if found innocent or not even charged.

[@EmanDeMoan]

Yes or just don't show their name and face if they're not convicted yet. That would be far less damaging

[@medievalbeekeeper8994]

I would get an attorney and sue for defamation

[@Fetidaf]

While that’d certainly be nice, it would open up first amendment concerns. The government shouldn’t ever have any say in what is or isn’t reported by the press. They should be completely separate.

[@laalaa99stl]

Letting cops write their own press is like letting lobbyists write their own laws. No need to replace "police say" with "police claim." Save time by assuming they're making shit up from the gitgo.

[@francookie9353]

from the gitgo?

[@sloanekuria3249]

@@francookie9353 stop

[@xshme]

The worst thing is that lobbyists also write their own laws.

[@cattibingo]

"Letting lobbyists write their own laws" I have some bad news for you

[@jeppe5942]

@@sloanekuria3249 He has a point. What is gitgo and why is it infinitely cringe?

[@cody7812]

When I was on drugs it was 100$ a day minimum, I am just trying to imagine a kid trying to figure that hussle out in-between first grade.

[@tesstickle6462]

Yep. when things got bad before the H and fent and I was doing 10-30z a day and 80z when I could.... even with the hustle and the freebies it was a couple hundred.

[@PaperMario64]

Kudos to you, JO and team. I don’t know if you’re being held hostage by a group of black grandmas or not, but you’ve been consistently covering issues that have plagued us for an eternity. Just want to add: i noticed that in Baltimore, our local media has found a way to inform the viewer as to the race of a suspect, victim or people involved when they don’t want to come out and say it: the camera man will film below the neck of the crowd to let you know the skin tone. They’ll show you the neighborhood so you can get an idea from that. Lol. One of our anchors had what seemed to be a personal vendetta against a black mayor and was in ecstasy that she could report the mayor accepting gift cards. These news people want to make a name for themselves and they’ll step on your corpse to do it.

[@cameronjadewallace]

oof, I dunno... JO isn't what I'd go with man 😬

[@shotelco]

"...issues that have plagued us for an eternity. "

[@fedbia2003]

Or you just live in Baltimore which is literally rated one of the highest murder per capita in the world.

[@Karebear9950]

Carron feeders bottom feeders

[@ZTK-RC]

@@cameronjadewallace I think it’s now the only appropriate way to refer to the business class bird man

[@technogeek8594]

Pat is a national treasure. He even has his own snow stick

[@TheChronozoan]

Snow stick????

[@rubberducky301]

Yup I love him so much

[@drunkensailor112]

Oh another comment about pretty much everyone being a 'national treasure'. 🙄

[@mothboy420]

@@drunkensailor112 very cool take drunkensailor112

[@roonilwazlib9877]

@@drunkensailor112 Don't worry Buddy, no one will ever say it about you.

[@bradford433]

Seeing that reporter shut down her ignorant cohost with stone cold logic was absolutely beautiful to see. What an absolute tool that guy was.

[@MusicialInsomnia]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck that guy. That condescending laugh after she said “first let me say this” made his stupid face that much more punchable.

[@vincentavangogh3636]

That was priceless, albeit a little irritating that she had to be the one to fact-check him and remind him of his job. People like that man and the situations they put us in are exhausting.

[@Sweetyhide]

@@vincentavangogh3636 About him doing his job... isn't he just an anchor? I thought the journalists go out and get the story and the anchors just read it. Maybe I am wrong. I never researched this. (edited to add: I researched her. She is a lawyer/activist and her name is Olayemi Olurin

[@rahvlanthal8583]

"now we have have to calculate pi by hand because he plugged in the Overlord"

[@Renvaar1989]

Yeh, she really did her fact-checking! She even mentioned there WAS a gun in the car and he DID fire it at police! ...Oh wait...

[@zxuiji]

Another way to convince them is to tell them this "This time it was someone else, what if the next time it's YOU who's falsely accused of a crime?"

[@youtubeuniversity3638]

Unfortunately many need it to happen to them or they'll choose death over caring...

[@hello7032]

Volunteered at a harm reduction site and all the other volunteers and the folks passing through were absolutely lovely. In a little alley next to us was a cop in their suv with their light off…just sitting their ominously waiting to catch people using. Then eventually turns his light on and it’s a very ominous dark red light. Wasn’t there to help out at all.

[@guyshepard9658]

Lol. Wtf. If you don’t like him there ask management to get him to leave.

[@hello7032]

@@guyshepard9658 can’t exactly as we barely got permission to operate out of this little parking lot as is. Also we aren’t there for him or confrontation, we’re there to help people and keep them safe.

[@lucienfortner841]

@@guyshepard9658 Bruh, how do you think that would play out in reality? You know the cop would have escalated instead of politely agreeing to leave.

[@guyshepard9658]

@@lucienfortner841 that’s why you call their supervisor at the station. Not everything has to be a direct confrontation. You don’t have to do the first thing that pops into your head. Tf is wrong with you. What’re you 13?

[@GraphiteShores]

I love paying for our own murderous bullies :)

[@eiennonakama]

Here in Germany, news outlets regularly remind us that police press releases are to be taken with a grain of salt.

[@cyborgninjamonkey]

you might be surprised how much you can do with the advantage of that knowledge... casually pointing out to americans on the internet that what's happening in america is not normal, as a foreigner with no stake but from an allied nation... there's something particularly effective about that.

[@kalamir93]

​@@cyborgninjamonkey Is that really so? I have the feeling that the reaction of showing US-Americans an european angle, is twofold: Either they know already about the thing in question, or they don't want to hear a different angle. Quotes like "you don't even live here!" and "We like it that way" is something I read frequently. Edit: Well, or I get called a spy, antiamerican troll, communist, etc. But I get that this is just a very loud and annoying minority.

[@KiraDaBeastNY]

@@kalamir93 Oh no as an American that will definitely happen. There is a brand of Americans who do not care and like things the way they are, and they're a miserable sort who I despise. That said, showing an outside angle whether the European angle, or another would frankly be beneficial for the ones who don't already know or who don't care.

[@SheriffValentine]

@@kalamir93 I'm American and honestly didn't know and am open to hearing about these things

[@imaramblins]

@@cyborgninjamonkey I've been surprised just how well papers like The Guardian have reported US news seemingly better than US outlets, or had additional facts I hadn't heard about. It's almost kind of embarrassing. I find myself questioning how is it possible that an out of the country news outlet is able to find better sources, or "facts" than a domestic one?

[@Garrth415]

Thank you last week tonight team for showing that Subway in Layton UT - I lived about 3 minutes away from it when that story happened. They tried to charge a teenager who was saving up money for his LDS mission with drugging the officers and the teen worker settled with the city for thousands. The business owners tried to sue but failed because they lost a ton of business and other subways in the area had employees making comments about their location.

[@erickalear7609]

Thank you for giving me additional material to show when I'm educating people in my community on truth vs myth of fentanyl!

[@zachandbro]

I heavily agree that watching tragic local news coverage can inevitably make you feel as if your community is not safe. That’s why it is important to do your own research and ensures that stories are followed up and not left to the interpretation of the viewer.

[@danilooliveira6580]

you can't possibly do your own research on every little thing you see, otherwise you won't have time for anything else. we need to fix the outlets of information so they can be trusted.

[@bazilda]

@@danilooliveira6580 I think he was talking about the news crew, who literally have that in a job description. Reporting unbiased facts should the the basic premise.

[@tysonreuter5788]

It’s easy for crime stats to go down when nobody leaves their home anymore because of crime, it happened in Mexico.

[@lent6114]

Another Emmy worthy performance on an extremely timely issue. I so look forward to your weekly show.

[@joejacko1587]

john Oliver complains about sensationism holy shit thats this dude's whole thing see you now think a genocide is going on when it's like 70 150 a year and that's total not unjustified out of millions of encounters but see john is a pos he should listen to his own advice here

[@itsmeaubree]

I've long thought that the tainted Halloween candy stories were in place to make sure that parents got a share of their kids candy at Halloween

[@EndPoliticalCorruption]

I would always claim 10% as a "finders fee" since I was the one to escort them around the neighborhood. (The "neighborhood" being through-roads rather than residential developments.)

[@bikeny]

I know my 3 brothers and I had to pay tribute to our mom. Yep, she collected from us 4 boys, the chocolate bars and other good stuff. Dad didn't really take much, if anything. But, any and all loose stuff was tossed. And this was in the 60's so the stories have been around for a long time.

[@bubbles0216]

The real "Candy Man" was a guy who poisoned pixie sticks of 2 of his kids and 3 other kids with cyanide for financial gain and misdirection. One of his kids ate one and passed. All the rest had their poisoned pixie sticks collected before they consumed them. So some of the paranoia about Halloween candy could be based on that actual crime with poison, not sure if the drug aspect came from something else. Wouldn't be surprised if that case was propagandized into the current yearly news story about drugged candy. I can't imagine users or dealers just giving that away to unwilling participants, but people are evil. I highly doubt the rainbow fentanyl story is accurate. The Candy Man POS was willing to take out other kids to cover his actions, but luckily 4/5 were saved.

[@JanVaskoSG]

THANK YOU MY BROTHER FROM ANOTHER COUNTRY AND ANOTHER FAMILY!!!

[@grantzolldan]

Pat Collins is a national treasure. I grew up watching him and he's always been a delight.

[@Nicksonian]

Really? I never heard of him and I live in Annapolis and have been involved with area news coverage for decades. But then I’ve never paid much attention to DC TV media.

[@grantzolldan]

@@Nicksonian Not sure where exactly it's televised. I'm in northern Virginia.

[@AdamSDoyle]

I would love to see a companion series that just focused on the after effects of LWT’s stories. This show is making serious impacts.

[@jaipiepeach]

I would ABSOLUTELY watch this. Meanwhile, I’m patiently waiting for the LWT team to win some sort of humanitarian service award. They will, won’t they?!? Surely...

[@mikeday2393]

like the walking dead wrap up with Chris harding, but relevant. im on board.

[@Anne--Marie]

True. Except for net neutrality

[@faraaq]

I believe there's Wiki article about this called The Oliver Effect (or something similar)

[@nofocus9329]

John Oliver is the only KZbin content that I don't watch at a higher speed. It's not just his rate of delivery... it's the paragon of brilliant, tightly written, expertly delivered, smartly edited content with great graphics work to boot.

[@glenn6583]

Yes, that is true!

[@user-vk7cp1op9p]

Astoundingly well done! You are the voice of the society we wish we had, as opposed to the one we deserve. May God bless you and yours.

[@MsAnimeEagle]

DC news watcher here, Pat has ALWAYS been a gem XD

[@k8eekatt]

We need more Pat 😄

[@tngdrczp120]

Pat for the next US president! I’d vote for him in a heartbeat.

[@capealio]

Is he ✡

[@robertmedina3982]

Thank you John Oliver… if it’s worth anything you helped remove a lot of fear I was carrying from the news outlets. I will listen for key words more. Thank you.

[@singlesideman]

As a motivated musician who had once worked for a non-profit alternative arts space, the oldest in the country, and in a volunteer capacity, I learned how to write, and wrote my own press releases, and it was shocking how often they appeared as unedited, verbatim articles in various periodical publications. I'll never forget what happened when I wrote a press release for an upcoming live, improvisational performance with me and two musician friends who I really connected with, in New York City, and it was reprinted, verbatim, in several print journals with significant readership. One of the wonderful two others in that ensemble called me on the phone - remember those? Phones that were used as phones? You know, phone calls? - and he said, did you see this amazing article about us and our concert that's coming up this week? I had to break the news to him... But what a brilliant moment...

[@artonaut]

I'm curious: when your press release was reprinted, were you credited as the author, or did so-called "journalists" get the by-line? Many years ago I contributed to a Wikipedia article (about a fish, lol) and - much like the PR-writing cop in Oliver's monolog - I loved getting Google notifications of "news articles" on the topic… only to find I'd been copy-and-paste plagiarized by "journalists" paid for their by-lines!

[@singlesideman]

@@artonaut there was no by line for an individual reporter, as I recall. I think it said something like '(name of periodical) staff'.

[@jaymejoyce6401]

🔥🔥🔥This segment should be taught in broadcast journalism courses

[@riptaway]

I like how she emphasizes "two POUNDS" of marijuana like it's a staggeringly high amount

[@chenstormstout9456]

I mean its a dried plant. You know how much you need for TWO POUNDS?

[@d.leesheppard7607]

@@chenstormstout9456 I'm no botanist, but I'm gonna guess roughly 2lbs

[@meanmutton]

I mean, here in Michigan where we have legal recreational pot, the per-person limit is 10 oz. An ounce is about 30 grams so that 10 oz is about a month's supply if you smoke a gram ten times a day. Two pounds would be enough for a heavy smoker to smoke 10 g a day for 3 months.

[@X.3.N.0.N.2]

Yeah, these things are measured by volume and not weight. You'll be surprised how much water weighs.

[@wendybusby9415]

I know my weed I had to crack up when I saw that photo and they said two pounds maybe a half pound put together