Prior BLM abuses in Nevada have been documented.
Same BLM offices were involved in over-reaching enforcement activity from 2007 as quoted and linked below. (My sources indicate that “Roop” was involved, and document references confirming that will be retrieved and provided later today).
In other words,this appears to be part of an ongoing PATTERN of abuse by the BLM in Nevada!
“This year many people entering the events passed a gauntlet of BLM officers looking for any possible vehicle infraction as an excuse to initiate a usually physically probing encounter. People were warned by Rangers that open backpacks were being considered ‘probable cause’ for searches on the open playa. Two large BLM rangers, according to a report I consider probably truthful, pounced on a small woman who had been seen going through her bag, holding a gun to the head of this unresisting but terrified woman while shoving her face into the dirt and forcing her arm behind her back. People caught (urinating) on the playa were often searched, looking for infractions beyond what was initially being cited. People were confronted and asked ‘what they were on’. Participants near the fence who felt intruded upon when approached were ordered to produce their ticket stub, loudly threatening instant ejection from the event.
The Opulent Temple Dome at the 2:00 Esplanade was the site of repeated massive sting operations, many crossing the lines of defensible legality. After being pointed out by camouflage wearing BLM rangers using night goggles people were accosted and searched by teams of up to half a dozen armed rangers. Random camps were invaded by teams of four BLM rangers demanding people turn over drugs and consent to searches, threatening to bring in dogs if they refuse.
In 2006 there were 155 BLM citations, mostly for smoking or having pot. During the 2007 event 331 such tickets were written! The police, apparently on the lookout for more substantial crime, made only 8 arrests in that week. Mark Pirtle, ‘special agent’ for the BLM seems to be the person who shapes the interactions with Burning Man. He announced the suicide at the event, and spread the false story that poor Jerm had hung in full view for two hours , and that ‘His friends thought he was doing an art piece’, which was picked up and echoed worldwide.
His main concern about his agency’s performance at Burning Man was that a lot of potential busts were missed because each citation temporarily removed two agents from patrol and required 10 hours of paperwork. Rather than seeing such misuse of resources to produce petty citations as wasteful, he wants to saturate the event with more officers since the limiting factor in issuing citations seemed to be the rate at which they could be issued and processed. This ludicrous escalation of harassment of the event may be partially prompted by a desire to justify more funding for his rangers’ activities, which could easily cost more than what the existing standards for land permit allocation fees per numbers of people provides. The problem is not a terrible crime wave in Black Rock City, it is the mass disrespect shown for people and for the personal rights we were told were part of what made America special...”
http://www.donaldedavis.com/BM07WEB/BM07page6.html
Am I wrong to think the Burning Man Festival is not popular among the locals? The BLM and other federales may have been taking some liberties, but I would not be surprised if they had the support of the locals.
Nothing could be farther from this than what happened at the Bundy ranch, where the locals are madder than heck.