U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers detain a suspect as they conduct a targeted enforcement operation in Los Angeles, California, U.S. on February 7, 2017.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Una nueva aplicación para teléfonos inteligentes ya está disponible en español y para toda una nueva audiencia: inmigrantes indocumentados que pueden necesitar ayuda antes, durante y después de una incursión de ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

La aplicación gratuita, llamada Cell 411 es una aplicación de teléfono disponible para Android e iOS; permite a los usuarios organizarse en “celdas” o grupos regionales que son descentralizados y gestionados por los propios usuarios. Esto permite a los usuarios que están en peligro alertar a otros miembros de su celda de la naturaleza de su problema y la ubicación exacta donde necesitan ayuda. Al enviar una alerta, las coordenadas GPS del usuario se transmiten a sus amigos de confianza con la dirección paso a paso la dirección a su ubicación. Esto permite en esencia a la colaboración abierta en emergencias sin la participación de la policía, que a menudo no son de confianza de las comunidades de inmigrantes y minorías.

El startup, Cell 411 Inc. fue fundada por Virgil Vaduva, que es un inmigrante mismo, después de ser arrestado durante una protesta de brutalidad contra la policía, después de lo cual no tenía medios para alertar a su familia y amigos de lo sucedido y su paradero. La aplicación se construyó como un medio descentralizado de ayudar a las comunidades y barrios a organizarse para ofrecerse mutuamente ayuda mutua en caso de emergencias sin pedir ayuda del gobierno, la policía y otras agencias estatales.

La aplicación permite a los usuarios enviar alertas de emergencia sobre problemas médicos, abuso policial, problemas con vehículos, crimen y otras cuestiones; las alertas se etiquetan con coordenadas GPS exactas y los amigos pueden obtener instrucciones paso a paso a la ubicación de los usuarios, si deciden venir y ofrecer ayuda. Los usuarios pueden transmitir vídeo en directo a sus celdas y el video no puede ser borrado por un usuario malintencionado que puede tener acceso a su teléfono. El video también puede ser transmitido en vivo a YouTube y Facebook y se distribuye al instante a todos los amigos, por lo que es prácticamente imposible de ser destruido o borrado a través de la censura.

El año pasado la compañía introdujo un botón de pánico bluetooth, que se puede usar en una muñeca, llavero o un broche para cinturón y permite a los usuarios enviar nuestra alerta de emergencia mucho más rápido, sin tener que desbloquear o tocar su teléfono inteligente.

La aplicación Cell 411 puede ser descargada de http://getcell411.com/download o desde la Google Store o la App Store.

El breve video a continuación describe cómo funciona Cell 411 y cómo puede ayudar a las comunidades a participar en actividades de ayuda mutua (en inglés).

Otro video didáctico también incluye detalles sobre cómo funciona la aplicación (en inglés).

A smartphone app which has been on our radar screen for the past year is now available in Spanish with new features and to a whole new audience: undocumented immigrants who may need help before, during and after a raid from ICE. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

The app, called Cell 411 is a smartphone app available for both Android and iOS platforms; it allows users to organize themselves in regional “cells” or groups which are decentralized and managed by the users themselves. The cells can have as little as 2 members and as many as 1,000 members or more, allowing users who are in distress to alerts the rest of the cell of the nature of their problem and the exact location of where they need help.  When sending out an alert, the users’s GPS coordinates are broadcast to their trusted friends and cell members with turn by turn direction to their location.  This allows in essence for the crowd-sourcing of emergencies without the involvement of police, which are often not trusted by communities of immigrants and minorities.

The startup, Cell 411 Inc. was founded by Virgil Vaduva, who is an immigrant himself, after being arrested during an anti-police brutality protest after which he had no means to alert his family and friends of what happened and his whereabouts. The app was built as a decentralized means of helping communities and neighborhoods organize themselves to offer each other mutual aid in case of emergencies without asking for assistance from government, police and other state agencies.

You can also create private cells which are only visible to you an not other users, and you can add your friends to your private cells.

The bluetooth button from Cell 411 Inc.

The app allows you to send emergency alerts about medical problems, police abuse, vehicle problems, crime, and other issues; the alerts are tagged with your exact GPS coordinates and your friends can get turn-by-turn directions to your location, should they decide to come and offer you help.  You can stream live video to your cells and friends, and the video cannot be erased by a malicious user who may gain access to your phone.  The video can also be streamed to YouTube and Facebook and is distributed instantly to all your friends, making it nearly impossible to be destroyed.

The app also has a ride-sharing feature available and real-time chat between cell members, allowing users to discuss how an event unfolds in real time in order to offer help as necessary. (Note: chat feature will be released on March 3)

Last year the company introduced a bluetooth panic button, which can be worn on a wrist, key-chain or a belt clip and allows users to send our an emergency alert much faster, without having to unlock or touch their smart phone.

Available in Spanish, English, German, Portuguese and Romanian, the app is free and does not carry any service cost associated with the use.

It can be downloaded from http://getcell411.com/download

The short video below describes how Cell 411 works and how it can help communities engage in mutual aid activities.

Another walkthrough video also goes into more details on how the app functions.

Virgil Vaduva speaking with his family during his trial (Photo: Justin King)

The City of Xenia, Ohio made headlines two years ago when they decided to prosecute a local journalist for protesting against the city’s unconstitutional anti-panhandling ordinance.  In early 2015, journalist Virgil Vaduva asked the Xenia City Council to remove the anti-panhandling legislation from their code as it is unconstitutional and it violates the First Amendment rights of citizens, but after refusing to do so, he decided to protest the city’s panhandling ordinance by panhandling in front of the city hall and the police station in Xenia.  He raised about $42 which was donated to a local charity.

He was subsequently ticketed and went all the way through a jury trial leading to his conviction, and a 30 day suspended jail sentence and community service.

He wrote:

By dictating the nature of speech in a public space, the City of Xenia has directly violated the first amendment of the United States Constitution.  Of course, they deny this.  They are now in full damage control mode.  Less than twenty-four hours after I challenged their ordinance, they created a website where they are trying to address poverty in town by explaining why panhandling should be illegal.  Their bureaucrats are desperately trying to control the narrative by saying that they only banned “aggressive panhandling” and not all panhandling.  Of course they never explained why their police still ticketed me for very peaceful panhandling if the ordinance only bans aggressive action.

During the various hearings before the trial, one of the judges involved even stated, “there will be no mentioning of the Constitution here (in this court room).”  The statement drew harsh response from citizens across the country, including Alex Jones’ InfoWars website which discussed some of the details of the case.

But despite the lengthy and expensive legal engagement, Vaduva however won the case after an appeals court ruled that his rights to a fair trial were violated and eventually all charges against him were dropped.

Now, two years after the ordeal took place, a $1.6 million federal lawsuit has been filed against the City of Xenia, its agents and the two police officers involved in enforcing what is clearly an unconstitutional law.

The federal suit, filed in the Southern District of Ohio, names the City of Xenia and several individuals, including all the city council members who conspired to violate constitutional rights and the police officers involved in enforcing the law.  The suit demands relief for over $1.6 million under title 42 U.S. Code § 1983 for conspiring to use the color of  law in order to deprive citizens of their civil rights.

Vaduva claims that he intends to see this lawsuit through to a jury trial, regardless of how much it will cost, all in order to prevent future constitutional violations in the City of Xenia.  Furthermore, he claims that the neighboring cities of Beavercreek and Fairborn have identical anti-panhandling laws on the books, and they will be also targeted for constitutional violations in potential upcoming lawsuits. His hope is that his actions will motivate other activists and citizens in the area to engage in direct action to challenge constitutional violations and abuses of power by local politicians.

A small startup that has been around for less than a year has created a free mobile app aimed at helping Americans and people all over the world resist the police state.  The app, called Cell 411 (or Cell 112 in Europe), is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Romanian, and it helps activists and people from all political shades resist government abuse with decentralized GPS-based alerts and live video features. Whether you are a gun-rights activist, an anti-Trump protester, concerned with police brutality or simply a muslim woman concerned for her safety, this app can help you build decentralized groups, or “cells” of trusted connections which you can then use to dispatch when you need help.

Because this app has been so revolutionary in its approach to building a new way to handle emergencies and the police state, it has been selected by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London to be featured in the “Future of Design” exhibit in 2018.

Think of this app as an “UBER for emergencies” or a “911 on steroids” except it doesn’t involve government, police or people  you don’t trust.  The app was created by a small group of passionate engineers, activists and people concerned with the growth of police state all over the world.  It can be used by anyone with an Android or iOS smartphone and it has tens of thousands of users all over the world.

Here is how it works: users can freely download the app and signup for an account using their e-mail address of Facebook account. Once signed up, a user can join existing public “cells” or groups in their areas, or can create their own cells.  Joining a cell allows you to send and receive emergency alerts from the members of that cell.  Let’s say you want to create a cell in your town called, “Denver Mutual Aid.”  Al users in the Denver area will be notified when this cell was created and can join the cell in order to offer each other help when the members request the help.  There are thousands of cells all over the world used by users for many reasons, such as immigration help, neighborhood watching, etc.

You can also create private cells which are only visible to you an not other users, and you can add your friends to your private cells.

The app allows you to send emergency alerts about medical problems, police abuse, vehicle problems, crime, and other issues; the alerts are tagged with your exact GPS coordinates and your friends can get turn-by-turn directions to your location, should they decide to come and offer you help.  You can stream live video to your cells and friends, and the video cannot be erased by a malicious user who may gain access to your phone.  The video can also be streamed to YouTube and Facebook and is distributed instantly to all your friends, making it nearly impossible to be destroyed.

The app was specifically designed to be resistant to censorship and government surveillance and has been used successfully all over the world to save lives and keep users safe from criminals, police abuse and many other malicious actors.

The company also created a “panic button” which is a bluetooth device that pairs with the mobile app and allows users to issue alerts instantly without having to unlock the phone or spend precious time navigating an app. Recently a “ride sharing” feature was also added to the app to allow users to offer rides to each other when they need help and accept payments for cash, Bitcoin, silver and even bartering.

You can download Cell 411 for Android and Apple devices from http://getcell411.com/download

You can also watch a quick walk-trough of the main features of this app below:

The world of ride-sharing startups is ripe with investment failures, technical failures and even some outright fraud, but one thing is certain: Uber is still the king of them all, controlling a vast majority of the ride-sharing market out there, with 8 million users, hundreds of thousands of drivers and about a million rides each day.

Many other Uber “clones” or competitors popped up over the years, with virtually all of them offering the same service model, where drivers go through an application process to qualify, their vehicles are inspected, a background check is performed and eventually they are allowed to use a mobile app to get customers while paying 20-30% of the amount of fares back to the company.  Customers almost always pay via a credit card and depending on the market, time of day and other factors, Uber or the other ride-sharing companies keep a good percentage of the fare cost.

Many drivers absolutely hate this model, and here is why: it’s completely centralized.  Drivers and riders have no control on any of the ride sharing aspects of the transaction.  Uber decides what rider is paired up with a driver. Uber decides the payment method, the amount and the fees associated with it.  Worse, Uber will not even allow drivers to operate if they drive older vehicles or specific makes and models.

Cell 411 Inc., a small startup focused on user safety and emergency management wants to change this.  In the latest Version 5 of their platform and mobile app, they introduced a fully decentralized ride-sharing option.  What does this mean?  Well, it means that their ride-sharing model is the exact opposite of how Uber and Uber-like companies do things.  There are no background checks, no requirements to drive certain year car or model.  There are no fees, and no centralized controls on pricing and methods of payment.  Literally, the users are in full control of all aspects of ride sharing.

Users willing to offer rides using Cell 411 even have full control on the pricing formula.  Drivers can edit their own pickup cost, per-minute and per-mile costs before providing a final cost to riders, thus employing a bid-like system where drivers compete for rides from various users, giving users options and encouraging competition.

With about 64,000 world-wide users on their platform, Cell 411’s user base is tiny in comparison to Uber, but their revolutionary, one of a kind model can become a real threat to Uber’s dominance.  With no “how do I apply to drive for you” questions to be answered, drivers are flocking to Cell 411 trying to avoid losing 20-30% of their fares to a central authority.  Not only that, but drivers are able to accept any payment method they wish.  There are payment methods like Cash, Silver, Cryptocurrency (like Bitcoin), Credit Cards and even Bartering.  Yes, with this model you can literally offer someone a ride in exchange for a burger or a joint!

With version 5 of their app just released days ago, the company is planning a launch party in Austin, TX on November 5, where they will answer any questions related to their future plans and how they are planning to integrate their safety and emergency response workflow with the new ride-sharing feature.

This fully decentralized ride sharing model has not been tested before because nobody else has tried it until now, but the company says that users from all over the world have reached out showing interest in participating and joining the platform.

“Most users send us messages asking, ‘Where do I apply to drive with you’ showing that many people still have a hard time coping with the full freedom they have on our platform,” said Virgil Vaduva, founder of Cell 411.  “When the answer is ‘just install the app,’ it is really incredible to see how users respond when they realize that they have the freedom they don’t have with Uber,” said Vaduva.

To increase user safety and maintain accountability, the app verifies users’ mobile phone numbers via a simple process and employs a user-review process which encourages good quality service.  The app also allows users to build mutual-aid networks allowing users to use their network of friends and family members to respond in case of emergencies and if dangerous situations occur.

Drivers also have the option to purchase a hardware bluetooth panic button which will alert nearby drivers when dangerous situations occur.

“Our users’ safety is obviously our top priority, but we also choose to treat all our users as responsible adults.  No, we will not give you a $500 sign-on bonus, we will not buy you car insurance, and we will not micro-manage your lives,” said Vaduva. “Many Uber drivers lose hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a month to Uber.  Why not take a small portion of that money and purchase the insurance you wish?  Why not buy a panic button for $20 and alert your mutual-aid driver network if you get a flat tire or need help?  Everything we’ve done puts our users back in control; there is a reason Uber lost $1.2 billion in the first half of 2016…they are a mammoth, central authority and they do not understand that the market wants freedom, not control,” Vaduva said.

Whether or not this decentralized ride-sharing experiment will be a success is to be seen, but it appears that this model is the future of ride sharing; Uber may have to get creative in order to compete in the marketplace and survive in the long run.

Cell 411 can be downloaded from http://getcell411.com

A woman openly carrying a Glock was threatened by an armed felon in the early morning hours of 1 August, 2016.  She was leaving the gas station with a drink in her hand and the Glock on her hip.  Her daughter would be turning three in about a week. From abc15.com:

Link to video of interview with Carolann Miracle

Carolann’s father was a Marine.  He taught her well.  The pistol appears to be a Glock model 17 or 22, with night sights.

There are several things to note about this encounter.  Many elements of the story are items often found in armed robberies/muggings.

First is the approach.  It is common for robbers/muggers to use a pretext to close the distance and distract the victim.  Asking for a cigarret is a common pretext.  So is asking for the time.

Second is picking what appeared to be weak prey. Carolann is a small woman, 4’11, 85 pounds.  It is common  for human predators to pick on weaker prey. Maybe he did not see the Glock on her hip.  It was dark.  She was holding a drink from the gas station, probably in her right hand.  If she was wearing a dark top, as she was in the video, the Glock would not have presented much contrast.  While open carriers tend to be very aware of their defensive firearm, many people never notice it.

Carolann did many things right.  The first was to instantly recognize the threat.  Many become mired in the thought that “this cannot be happening”; “this is not real”.  People who carry are much less likely to do that because they have considered the possibility of attack and prepared for it.

She did the right thing when she dropped her drink.  Dropping things to access your weapon or to fight better is not an instinctive reaction.  Many people instinctively hang on to useless things that impede their ability to fight.  I taught my students to practice dropping things at the beginning of a fight so that they could draw their firearm, and fight more effectively.

She did the right thing when she fled the area in the opposite direction from the way the attacker was going.  Many attacks, perhaps 50%, involve an accomplice.  She purposefully made the decision, moved to safety, then called the police.

Carolann’s response is common.  She did not want to kill her attacker. It was a consequence of what he forced her to do.  She would have preferred that it never happened.

There were witnesses and surveillance video, both of which backed up her story.

Carolann says she “cocked it”.  I suspect she was carrying Israeli style, in condition 3, with an empty chamber.  If you practice pulling and releasing the slide as you draw, it can be fairly fast.

What did not happen.

Carolann was openly carrying.  She was accosted by a violent, armed felon.  He did not simply “shoot her first” as many who oppose open carry claim will happen.  Even though he “had the drop” on her, she won the gun fight.

Action beats reaction.  Dropping the drink likely gave her another second, as the felon probably thought  “dropping drink” not “drawing gun”.

It is a known gunfighter tactic that Louis L’Amore wrote about in one of his novels.  In that case, the fictional character let a match burn down to his fingers from lighting a cigarette, thus conditioning his opponents to expect him to flick his hand away from the burn.  Expecting that, they were surprised by the draw.

Maybe Carolann did not consciously make that decision; but the effect was similar.

Carolann Miracle; small woman, Marine’s daughter, open carrier, mother, now, undesired, gunfighter.  She survived and lived to see her daughter’s third birthday.

Update: Since the publication of this article, Facebook removed and blocked Cell 411 from allowing users to post live video to their own walls; the company is now trying to find a work around the Facebook block and still allow users to present live video streams to Facebook friends.

Startup Cell 411 Inc. (getcell411.com) has created a mobile app that makes it virtually impossible for governments, police and criminals to erase video which could serve as evidence of a crime or abuse.  The app, called Cell 411, has been around for a number of months but the newly-released version has features that are unseen in any other mobile apps used by activists, aiming to fight censorship and also criminal activity.

One recent glaring example of police censoring and blocking an abuse victim from streaming live video of police violence is the recent police shooting and death of Korryn Gaines, which was visited by a SWAT team over an unpaid traffic fine. During the standoff, the police ordered that Facebook turn off Gaines’ Facebook and Instagram accounts in an effort to prevent her from streaming live video to her friends. The police shot and killed Gaines and shot her young child who was hospitalized. Without access to social media, the victim had no opportunity to record and stream what transpired in her apartment.

Cell 411 is an emergency management platform and mobile app, which allows users to alert trusted contacts in case of an emergency. Whether it is a medical emergency, a car break-down, police interaction or government abuse, the app can alert trusted contacts in real time with the type and exact location of the emergency, allowing users to avoid interaction with police if possible and only involve individuals they trust. The app has been gaining traction in crime-ridden countries like South Africa and has been used to build neighborhood watch groups and also activist groups throughout the world.

Furthermore, Cell 411 allows users to stream live video and audio to potentially thousands or tens of thousands of users allowing them to download the video streamed by a friend to a local device.  The video can be distributed to large numbers of users in real time, making it impossible to be completely erased from any servers.  To add to this impressive list of features, the latest release will allow users to stream live video to their own Facebook wall, their own YouTube Live channel, and the Cell 411 official TV channels on Facebook and YouTube.  These features increase the distribution footprint for video streams, making it even more difficult for evidence to be removed or erased. The video is also saved on the local device in case a forensic copy needs to be recovered at a later time.

“Shortly after the shooting of Philando Castile, police officers confiscated his fiancee’s smart phone and attempted to erase the footage by accessing her Facebook account and removing the Facebook Live video she recorded,” said Virgil Vaduva, founder of Cell 411, “not to mention the recent example of Korryn Gaines who had her Facebook and Instagram accounts suspended by police shortly before police shot and killed her and shot her five year old son,” said Vaduva.

“While it is illegal to do so, there have been numerous cases of both criminals and government employees attempting to destroy recorded video evidence from devices or social media accounts or prevent users from recording and streaming video of alleged abuse. Our platform allows users to create a wide and decentralized network for distribution of video in real time to a large number of trusted users, making it very difficult if not impossible to destroy,” said Vaduva.

The Cell 411 app allows users to stream video to connected Cell 411 users, save it to the local device if the user’s device lacks an Internet connection, stream it to Facebook, YouTube and other distribution platforms the users choose to engage. The video cannot be erased from the platform once it is streamed and it can be downloaded by any of the trusted contacts chosen by the user.

While Cell 411 has received wide criticism from law enforcement, with Police One claiming that it endangers the lives of police officers, the app has also become extremely popular throughout the world and has been selected by the Victoria & Albert Museum to be featured in the Future of Design Exhibit in London in 2017. The exhibit will feature objects, ideas and designs which are likely to influence the future of mankind in a positive way.

The company denies that the app is aimed solely to law enforcement and points out how it is being widely used by neighborhood watch groups and families to keep each other safe in emergencies.

“We are simply building a platform to make the world a little bit better and safer, and encourage users to interact with each other on a voluntary basis. Good ideas don’t require force in order to be adopted, and users are voluntarily choosing our app because they want a non-violent way to solve conflict and keep each other safe,” said Vaduva.

The company has ambitious plans for growth and is planning to build a world-wide drone fleet and adding features to allow users to dispatch monitoring drones to locations where violence is likely to take place or medical response is necessary.

Users can download Cell 411 from http://getcell411.com

Ohio Democratic state Sen. Cecil Thomas, who is a former Cincinnati police officer, said Wednesday he will introduce a bill to give cities local control over open- or concealed-carry rules during events of regional or national significance.  The bill in essence would give local politicians and city governments the power to strip Ohioans of their 2nd Amendment rights during events deemed appropriate by these government employees.

Cecil Thomas, a former Cincinnati cop declined to offer additional comments regarding the constitutionality of his proposal or how this law would conflict with the needs of self defense that citizens may have especially in the emergency situations specified by the law.

The proposal comes on the heels of the head of Cleveland’s largest police union calling on Ohio Gov. John Kasich to temporarily restrict the state’s open carry gun laws during this week’s Republican National Convention.

Stephen Loomis the president of Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association said, “I don’t care if it’s constitutional or not at this point” and proposed that the Ohio Governor temporarily suspends the rights of Americans to carry firearms for self defense. The statement drew mocking and criticism on social media from enthusiastic gun owners, calling Stephen Looming an “oath breaker” and asking for his resignation.

“The idea the cops are enthusiastically defending our constitutional rights is a myth,” said Virgil Vaduva of Ohio Open Carry, an organization promoting and defending the rights of Ohioans to openly carry firearms.  “It is very clear that more often than not police take a stand against our 2nd Amendment rights. Police unions testified against the concealed carry law passed here in Ohio, they are openly advocating suspending Constitutional rights in Cleveland and now a former cop is proposing a law to that end. Clearly these cops who are in positions of authority are not only openly violating their oaths, but they are in fact proud of doing so,” said Vaduva.

Cecil Thomas refused to answer questions about this proposal.  His Ohio Senate office can be reached at (614) 466-5980 or on his website.

It turns out that Cell 411 Inc., the makers behind the emergency response app Cell 411 are concerned that demonstrators at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland may be assaulted and abused by police during the convention. To the dismay of many Cleveland political activists, the Cleveland Police have taken measures to handle a massive number of arrests daily. The City has plans to process up to 1,000 arrests per day, which raised eyebrows from community activists.

Cleveland also paid ahead of time $250,000 to reserve 200 extra jail rooms in the Cuyahoga County jail, according to the Republican National Committee budget.

When asked about the preparations, Calvin Williams, the Cleveland police chief said, “We don’t want anybody to trample on anybody else’s rights,” but did not clarify if he will make use of the preparations to arrest and incarcerate such a large number of people.

Virgil Vaduva, founder of Cell 411 also expressed concern at the news of police expanding their footprint: “America has a rich history of political dissent, and the heavy police presence, surveillance cameras and free speech exclusion areas are not indicators that this tradition of freedom of speech will be respected.”

Vaduva also explained how his company is planning on protecting activists during the RNC demonstrators saying, “We have created an official RNC public cell in Cleveland that anyone can join so that activists in the area can issue real-time alerts should they experience abuse at the hands of police.  We have also upgraded our server capacity for live video streaming, so activists using Cell 411 can stream live video to the entire RNC cell to ensure police accountability and prevent police from erasing any evidence of abuse and wrongdoing.”

Cell 411 is a mobile app which was created to allow individuals to respond and issue emergencies to trusted friends, neighbors and family members without using 911 or involving police, making it an ideal app for activists, neighborhood watchers and others willing to participate in helping their communities stay safe without calling police.

The company also said that they are sponsoring the official video feeds from several independent journalist outfits like The Activist Post and Cop Block.  Live video streams from journalists will be made available around the clock via the Cell 411 RNC cell and also social media video feeds like Facebook Live and YouTube.

Note: this article will be updated with additional information as it becomes available during the next several days. To join the RNC cell, download Cell 411, tap on Explore Public Cells and search for “RNC” to join the official cell. You will receive real time alerts and video feeds.

by Virgil Vaduva

Xenia is a small city in Ohio, peppered with foot-deep potholes, abandoned buildings with a high unemployment rate and very busy bureaucrats. Just a few months ago, the city’s council decided to spend $6 million on a new “Justice Center” and the cost is expected to balloon well into the $20+ million range. The city is in dire need of infrastructure upgrades, road repairs and sewage system improvements, but a new police station and a new office building for the city’s employees became critical.

But these are not even the worst things about the city of Xenia.  A few years ago, Xenia also decided to ban the practice of panhandling. At the request of the police department and cops who were “too tired” of dealing with homeless people on the street, the city decided to pass an ordinance that banned panhandling virtually anywhere in the city, making it impossible for anyone to ask another individual for financial help, anywhere in the city. In essence, the city has made it illegal for someone to speak with a stranger if the speech involves asking for immediate help.

Many individuals have been fined and prosecuted under this unconstitutional ordinance, raking in thousands of dollars of fines extracted from the most vulnerable and poor people on the streets.

A bit over a year ago I decided to speak to the Xenia City Council and warn them about the fact that their ordinance is unconstitutional. They ignored my warning, and as a result the very next day I decided to take the path of civil disobedience and panhandle in front of the city hall and police station. I raised $41.98 which was donated to United Voluntary Service, a charity helping the homeless in Xenia. I was also ticketed for violating this unconstitutional law, which led to a full-blown jury trial after which I was found guilty, sentenced to 30 days in jail, community service and fines. The jail sentence was suspended on the condition of good behavior for a term of 2 years. During the trial I was not allowed to talk about the constitutionality of the law and my first amendment rights, I was not allowed to even mention the constitution, or the fact that the police in town were behind the passing of this ordinance. A judge literally told me, “there will be no mentioning of the Constitution in this court room.”

After immediately appealing, the appeals court finally reversed my sentence and they sent the case back to the court to be retried. All the charges were dropped a few days ago, and the city’s attorney said they will change the ordinance or get rid of it. Right now it’s unclear what this means.

After about a year and a half, the swift hand of the judicial system finally found me innocent of any wrongdoing spending tens of thousands of dollars of the city’s money and my own money, hundreds of hours going into my defense and substantial effort aimed to win and undo the work of the Xenia bureaucrats. What took them only a few minutes to ratify with the stroke of a pen, caused hundreds, if not thousands of people to be harassed, arrested and fined by their cops. None of the cops and Xenia bureaucrats involved in this will ever be held personally responsible for their decisions, and while I am fortunate enough to afford the legal fees to pursue such a case just for the immoral and unconstitutional aspect of their law, most people cannot do so and rarely, if ever anyone speaks on their behalf or stands up for them.

Now while this may be a win for me personally, the issue is nowhere near close to being resolved. The hundreds of people who have had their first amendment rights violated will need retribution. I am in the process of collecting all the names of the individuals detained or fined under this law and bring this issue to the attention of federal courts.

To make matters worse, the city of Beavercreek, which is next door to Xenia, has an ordinance identical to the one in Xenia, also banning panhandling everywhere within city limits. More and more local bureaucrats decide on a regular basis and in a systematic way to violate the constitutional rights of people in need who are unable to represent themselves in court. Beavercreek is the same city where a police officer shot a black man named John Crawford in a local Walmart for holding a BB gun he picked off a store shelf.

Beavercreek will be our next target for their unconstitutional and illegal practices regarding panhandling, and there will be no rest for the corrupt and immoral politicians and cops running these cities and violating our rights. Yesterday I “panhandled” for charity in Beavercreek and I was given a “warning” from their police and asked not to do it again in the future. I raised $18 dollars which will also be donated to United Voluntary Services to help the homeless in the area.

Officers Hall and Darkow (the second officer involved in the shooting of John Crawford) of Beavecreek PD showed up and threatened, attempted to intimidate me and warned me about standing on a street corner with a cardboard sign that said, “Help the poor.”  In today’s America, this is now a crime.

Officer Darkow was the backup officer involved in the shooting and killing of John Crawford in a Beavercreek Walmart. He is currently being sued by the Crawford family.

Officer hall attempting to give me a written warning about panhandling in the city of Beavercreek and threatening me with arrest if I continue to peacefully raise money for charity

Officer hall attempting to give me a written warning about panhandling in the city of Beavercreek and threatening me with arrest if I continue to peacefully raise money for charity

The officers refused to answer questions about the constitutionality of the law and why they are violating their oaths to the Constitution by enforcing a law targeting Americans’ first amendment rights.

The same individuals who have sworn an oath to obey and protect the Constitution are actively using their roles to undermine the very document and rights they were entrusted to protect.

If you have been one of the hundreds of people harassed, arrested or fined by the Xenia and Beavercreek police for panhandling, please contact me as soon as possible at [email protected] so I can help you out. I want to hear your story.

Virgil Vaduva is a Libertarian security professional, journalist, photographer and overall liberty freak. He spent most of his life in Communist Romania and participated in the 1989 street protests which led to the collapse of the Ceausescu regime. He can be reached at vvaduva at truthvoice.com.