The 'Constitutional Sheriffs' are a strange group of vigilante police officers, who believe they have a supreme authority, and are the highest law in the land. They are a conspiracy-fuelled movement with links to violent militias, spreading radical ideas in their local communities. They answer only to the people, God... and Donald Trump.

They are one of those groups who exist in Donald Trump's orbit. They are a piece in the puzzle of modern America - alongside the likes of QAnon and Proud Boys. At their most extreme - they are part of the story of the poisoning of America's mind, and the characters who are doing the poisoning.

Journalist Marnie Duke has been researching and speaking to them for an episode of her superb podcast The Hole Truth.

The Constitutional Sheriffs: America’s vigilante police

Have you heard of the shocking story of a father in Colorado who had an affair with his step-son, before the whole thing ended in a grizzly murder? 

A YouTube video about the case on a true crime channel has had millions of views, and people have been asking the local paper why they haven't covered the case.

They hadn't covered the case because... it isn't true. The story - and the video - was produced by AI and posted to a thriving YouTube channel of not-true True Crime. It's been getting huge audiences, making decent money for their makers and making it hard for audiences to know what to believe.

So... fair game or a harmful new phenomena? I spoke to journalist Henry Larson, who has been piecing this strange new industry together, and AI Ethicist Olivia Gambelin.


AI Generated 'True' Crime: harmful or harmless?

Meet Cameron Mofid, one of the youngest people ever to visit all 195 countries... even North Korea.

Cameron Mofid: visiting every country in the world

You know that awful, gut-wrenching feeling in the pit of your stomach when you when you realise something has gone terribly wrong? The bosses of M&S know that feeling well. A few weeks ago, a cyber-attack crippled their business. We don't know much about what the hackers have demanded, but we do know they sent emails to the companies executives gloating that they had infiltrated their business, and we know that negotiations have begun to try and get whatever data and systems they have taken hostage back. 

This isn't uncommon. Thousands of attacks like this happen every day, most of which you will never hear about. It's common a problem for businesses, and in some cases individuals, that it's given birth to an industry of cyber-attack negotiators - people whose job it is to negotiate with the hackers and try to end their cyber-hijacking.

Kurtis Minder - CEO of the cyber-security company GroupSense - is the man people call in a panic when their systems have been compromised. He takes over, begins communication with the hackers, and tries to negotiate you out of their cyber-head-lock. 

Last week on Times Radio, I spoke to Kurtis to ask him... how DO you negotiate with cyber-criminals?

How to negotiate with hackers

Broadcaster / Documentary-maker / Northerner / Catch me on Times Radio, Saturday and Sunday, 10pm-1am

How to negotiate with hackers

OfficialDarrylMorris

Related tracks