Thread: Florida cops are clueless about the law

Joe the Plumber

This jerk should be terminated. He and the city should both be sued for enough to put her kids through college. End of story!

Florida cops are clueless about the law

Posted by Michael Becker on Feb 22, 2014 in Culture

We’ve published several articles about the militarization of local police departments as well as cops who are simply out of control. Those are really two separate issues but both speak to a dangerous environment in local police departments around the nation.

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Today we’re writing about cops in Florida who are simply clueless about the law with a really pathetic result.



Let’s be clear, being a cop isn’t an easy job. They are usually dealing with people in less than ideal situations, the job can be dangerous, and we’re going to write about this particular aspect of the job next week. No hints.
The problem with police departments is that they are forced to hire from that group in the general population known as “people”. That creates a problem because “people” can be more than a little erratic, without regard to their job. This creates an environment, like in any workplace, where some relatively small percentage of the workforce are very high performers loved by all, most of the workforce is reliable and gets their jobs done with a minimum of drama, and a small percentage of the workforce are, well, for lack of a better term, assholes.
That formula works very well in every group of employees where the number of workers is over two. Got three employees? We’d bet that one falls into each group. It’s called life.
Here’s where we have issues with police. It’s often referred to as “the thin blue line”. In other professions, virtually all other professions, those who are in category three are recognized for who they are very quickly and some form of remediation happens, as they are shunned by co-workers and eventually terminated by The Boss. They aren’t tolerated, and nobody makes excuses for them, in fact co-workers may just find other stuff to blame on them because, since everybody KNOWS they’re a jerk nobody questions their guilt. It’s all pretty Darwinian and works pretty well in society at large.
Then, there’s “the thin blue line”.
Cops tend to have an “us vs. them” attitude for reasons that should be obvious. The net effect of that attitude is quickly destroying the credibility of local police in the eyes of the citizens they “protect and serve”. As a matter of fact, it’s so bad in most metropolitan areas of the nation that “protect and serve” is increasingly regarded as a joke.
This particular incident is a prime example of an asshole at work.
This officer doesn’t realize that recording a police officer is absolutely legal. Everywhere. In an effort to intimidate this young lady, he tells her that recording an officer is a felony and notes that he knows more about the law than she does.
In fact both of those points are lies.
Here’s Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, who wrote an editorial about this subject. Reynolds is a law professor in Tennessee.

All over America, police have been arresting people for taking video or making sound recordings of them, even though such arrests are pretty clearly illegal. Usually, the charges are dropped once the case becomes public, and that’s the end of it.
[…]
In these cases, the courts and juries stood up for the obvious proposition that police officers, doing their jobs on the public dime, don’t have a privacy right against the citizens who pay their salaries. In an era when government feels free to record citizens whenever they’re out in public, this works both ways.
[…]
Some have proposed a federal civil-rights law specifically recognizing the right of citizens to record police, and including severe punishments for police and prosecutors who violate that right. Frankly, it seems like a pretty good idea. Until then, however, we need to educate both police and citizens that photography is not a crime, even when those who wield government power, ostensibly on behalf of the citizenry, would rather not be photographed.

Just to drive the point, a judge in New York City who ruled against the “stop, question, and frisk” policy in NYC penned a requirement that police wear personal recording gear and inform the people they’re interacting with that they’re being recorded. There have also been studies that have found when police are recording interactions cooler heads prevail on both sides almost every time.
The reaction of the local police department is the real problem here. They admit they have a policy on recording that clearly allows it. The officer in question is currently being defended by his peers. See employee classification #3 above.
This jerk should be terminated. He probably should be charged with assault and battery and unlawful arrest (he clearly didn’t know either the law or his department’s policies). He and the city should both be sued for enough to put her kids through college.

Note: if you’re a police officer and you’re offended by this article you need to consider how the employee #3s in your department are treated. If you’re not actively working to get them off the force, you’re the problem.

If you would like to rebut anything we’ve said here please feel free to use the contact form and write a post in rebuttal. We’ll publish it.

http://joeforamerica.com/2014/02/flo...-clueless-law/

[WATCH] She Went on a Simple Jog and Ends Up Screaming and in Handcuffs

IN NEWS, VIDEOS / BY COREY BARROW / ON FEBRUARY 21, 2014 AT 4:36 PM /

Image source: YouTube/The Daily Texan/Chris Quintero

It all started with her jogging and wearing headphones. It ended in her screaming and being taken away in handcuffs. What happened in between is being disputed, but the video showing the incident is definitely gaining attention online.
An eyewitness video of cops detaining her on a sidewalk then placing her in a nearby squad car shows she was unhappy with their actions.

“I was doing nothing wrong,” she said while sitting on the sidewalk with her hands behind her and an officer standing over her. “I was just crossing the street.”

While police escorted her away as pedestrians walked by, things turned ugly.

“I didn’t f**king do anything wrong! I didn’t do anything wrong!” she screamed while being placed in a squad car. She began crying, “I f**king crossed the street.”

Image source: YouTube/The Daily Texan/Chris Quintero

The Daily Texan reported that police arrested her for failing to provide proper identification.

Student Chris Quintero said he witnessed the woman jogging with headphones on when police chased after her. When the woman failed to stop, the officer grabbed her and handcuffed her, according to Quintero.

“She repeatedly pleaded with them, saying that she was just exercising and to let her go,” said Quintero, who shot a video of the incident and also took photographs.

In a statement made to The Daily Texan, police spokeswoman Lisa Cortinas said, “[In this case], the call is titled failure to identify.”
Here’s Quintero’s video with embedded close-up photos:



(H/T The Blaze)

http://madworldnews.com/watch-she-we...in-handcuffs/#

Judge Andrew Napolitano via The Libertarian Republic

Lawsuit: Cops Hit Man's Car, Check To Make Sure They Aren't On Camera, Arrest Him To Cover It Up (VIDEO) http://bit.ly/1c8e3aK

Lawsuit: Cops Hit Man’s Car, Check To Make Sure They Aren’t On Camera, Arrest Him To Cover It Up

ABUSE OF AUTHORITY

Posted by Austin Petersen on 21 Feb 2014 / 108 Comments
154

Cops Hit Man’s Car, Check For Security Cameras, Arrest Him

BROOKLYN, NY - Two police officers are being accused of hitting Robert Jackson‘s car and then arresting him to cover it up. Surveillance footage shows police cars driving the wrong way down a street and sideswiping the SUV. Officers then exited their vehicles and appeared to search for cameras before arresting Jackson for destruction of city property.
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Jackson claims he was sitting inside his legally parked car outside an apartment when the accident happened. “I was smiling, like, ‘How’d you run into me?’ ” he said. “Then the cop said, ‘Dude, you ran into me.’ I just wanted them to fix the damage and apologize, but it didn’t turn out that way,” Jackson said. “They were trying to cover it up. When they thought no cameras were on. I saw their gloves go on, and that’s when I was arrested,” Jackson said.
Fortunately the officers missed the one camera that was recording the entire incident. The video appears to show that Jackson is correct. The police cars were going the wrong way down a street and scraped his SUV. Then they are allegedly shown searching for security cameras before arresting him. Jackson was arrested for destruction of city property, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

The charges were eventually dropped against Jackson but he had to spend the night in a “filthy, overpopulated, rat- and rodent-infested cell,” his suit says. “The officer who arrested me said if I took care of the expense on my vehicle, they would take care of their vehicle and I wouldn’t have gotten arrested,” Jackson remembered. “He knew he was wrong.”
The lawsuit is seeking unspecified monetary damages.

Video at the Page Link:

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Child Gunned Down by Cop for Answering Door Holding Wii Controller (VIDEO)

ABUSE OF AUTHORITY

Posted by Joe Trotter on 19 Feb 2014 / 305 Comments
470

A Wii Remote In No Way Resembles A Firearm

EUHARLEE, Ga. — A Euharlee police officer opened fire on 17-year-old Christopher Roupe while serving a warrant for probation violation on the child’s father, claiming the boy pointed a gun at her.
8 L.A. officers won't be punished for firing 103 times on two unarmed women
Cops Break Disabled Teen's Arm Arresting Him (VIDEO)
(WARNING, GRAPHIC): "Cop Killer" Ambush Caught on Video

But when neighbors ran up the home, they instead found a Wii remote in the boy’s dead hands.
According to the attorney for the family, Cole Law, “The eyewitnesses on the scene clearly state that he had a Wii controller in his hand. He heard a knock at the door. He asked who it was, there was no response so he opened the door and upon opening the door he was immediately shot in the chest.”
The victim, a student at Woodland High School, aspired to join the Marines and participated in his school’s ROTC program.
The officer responsible for the shooting is currently on administrative leave.
How much longer will Americans tolerate the shield of “qualified immunity” that allows police officers to put their lives before those of the citizens they are allegedly sworn to protect? This shooting comes on the heels of the decision to put the eight Los Angeles police officers responsible for firing 103 shots at two women in a pickup truck delivering newspapers back on the streets with no punishment.
According to the district attorney in that case, the police officers “honestly and reasonably believed” that an armed suspect was driving the truck. Just like this police officer probably “honestly and reasonably” believed that this 17-year-old child’s Wii remote was a gun.
So much for “protect and serve.” Welcome to “shoot first, justify later.”

Video at the Page Link:

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