The SGVTA Contraversy
This is one part of a series of posts about The San Gabriel Valley Transit AuthorityThe mystery driver, "Detrick", has never been found. Nor have any more clues about his identidy been found. The "passenger", Swedish millionaire and convicted felon, Stefan Eriksson, is still free and sticking to his story.
It turns out that the Ferrarie was being driven at 162 mph, not 120mph as first reported, on PCH in Malibu when it crashed. It is amazing that no one was killed. Add the factor that Eriksson was over the legal drinking limit at the time, and the police still think he was the driver.
If also turns out that Eriksson was given the title "Deputy Commissioner of the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority's Police Anti-terrorism Unit" by simply promising to install a video survellence system on the SGVTA's 5 small buses. The SGVTA turns out to be nothing but a tiny private non-profit company that provides transportation to disabled citizens for Monrovia, a small city outside of LA. The SGVTA is run from a telephone in the office of a car body repair shop.
It also turns out the SGVTA's police department was started by the repair shop's owner, Yosef Maiwandi, simply because he could and it "sounded cool". He traded some motorcycles for an old bus, and founded the SGVTA with it in order to start the police department. He found that having his own private police department gave him access to all sorts of cool tools and resources, such as money.
It also has another benefit. Automatic weapons are illegal in the US, except for police departments. This allows Yosef Maiwandi, Eriksson, and other volunteers to the SVGTA Police Dept to have automatic weapons. Pretty cool, eh? Also also allows convicted felons, like Errickson, to not only have a weapon, but automatic weapons and a badge too!
It turns out that Eriksson's contribution to the SGVTA was his promise to use them to test out a face recognition video survellence system that he claimed to be developing. I find that very weak. How does making car racing video games translate into being an expert on face recognition software? That have nothing to do with each other. It instead sounds like he was laying the groundwork for a new scam. They knew that they could get large research grants development of such a system. They don't actually need to produce one. They just need to look like they can to get money.
So there you have it. With some paperwork and balls, you can start your own police department, arm it with automatic weapons and other cool toys, and bill the taxpayers for the expense.
Speaking of civilians with dubious law-enforcements credentials, the LA Times also reported that the LA County Sheriff Lee Baca issued photo identification cards to members of a volunteer group who had contributed to his political campaign. He had created the volunteer "Homeland Security Support Unit" for his contributers. For a few thousand dollars, you get an official badge and ID that to the untrained eye, looks like a real police badge.
In fact, they look so real that some of the holders have been able to use them for things like bypassing airport security checks. Since the article, the Sheriff has been trying to get the badges back.
There was all this uproar that the Septemeber 11 hijackers were able to get drivers licenese legally. Can you image what terrorist can do with their own police department?
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