You screwed up and forgot your cellphone. It was important that you get it back that night, even though you had your mom's cellphone. Your friend only lived 20 minutes away (5+15=20) yet you asked her to get out of bed, get dressed, and drive most of the way to meet you in a deserted parking lot at 2am. Nice guy.
The cop may indeed be lying about the recent break-ins, I don't know. But compared to your story, it sounds like God's honest truth.
How about this:
Officer #1: How we doin? What’s going on?
robertpaulsen: Good morning officer. Oh, I'm waiting to met a friend. She's on her way.
Officer #1: Why you parkin here?
robertpaulsen: Well, this lot is about half way, and she's bringing me my cell phone that I forgot. Can I park here for about 15 minutes and wait for her? It’s a commuter lot right?
Officer #1: Yeah, but we have problems after midnight time. People break into cars. You got any ID on you?
robertpaulsen: Yeah, I do. Here ya go.
What's wrong with that?
Look. You may be a nice kid and all but I just don't believe you. You could have handled the situation differently but you chose to be a smart ass. I think it was your intent to antagonize the cop into doing something stupid on video and you succeeded.
If you would have been arrested, your girlfriend (asuming your story was true) would have been sitting in that vacant lot, all alone, at 2am, waiting for you to show. What about her? Not a good circumstance in the best of neighborhoods.
If your parents won't tell you, I will - you're playing a dangerous game, making this a personal vendetta. These guys have families, careers, and pensions, and you're a threat to all three.
Yeah, there are a few cops who are bad apples. A few who are rough around the edges. You push, they push back. But it is St. Louis, Missouri, not Boca Raton, Florida.
Given a confrontation between a citizen and a police officer, we're supposed to make the primary consideration the protection of the officers personal finances?
A dangerous game is being played Robert Paulson who believes having a few bad cops is ok and we must protect their careers and pensions by not invading their privacy with our cameras. He thinks it's ok for cops to destroy tapes that make them look bad and keep the ones that don't. He believes it is not ok for everyone else to tape or record cops because that could threaten the careers and pensions of the bad ones.
If it were a case of government mediocracy, he might have a point. Teachers or bureacrats might have some expectation of privacy because there are other ways to monitor their behavior. But a cop who overreacts in these and other situations is not going to be policed by the police, nor by anyone else. In fact, he will be defended and protected and covered up for. RP himself admits as much: "a dangerous game" trying to weed out the bad apples. Perhaps RP would go further and explain exactly what is so dangerous about recording the police? What, precisely, is the danger?
Yeah, there are a few cops who are bad apples. A few who are rough around the edges. You push, they push back. But it is St. Louis, Missouri, not Boca Raton, Florida.
Its hard to see why you are so concerned about the welfare of cops who behave inappropriately. Anyone who really believes in civil rights, personal responsibility and the rule of law would want them bounced, regardless of the impact to them and their families
Its also hard to understand why where this incident occurred mattered. The law is not appreciably different in FL vs MO vs IL vs CA. Admitedly St George is more of a speed trap than a real town, but basic rule of law should apply
About the only thing you are correct about in this thread is that he is taking a risk, and there have been online threats posted about him, purportedly by LEOs. I for one am glad he did it, since it got a bad egg gone. What have you done to contribute to freedom recently?
“You screwed up and forgot your cellphone. It was important that you get it back that night, even though you had your mom’s cellphone. Your friend only lived 20 minutes away (5+15=20) yet you asked her to get out of bed, get dressed, and drive most of the way to meet you in a deserted parking lot at 2am. Nice guy.”
If you read my post before, you would realized we talked about meeting in another parking lot, but it was on private property and we would have been stopped by the police. This was the only open lot between us.
It was important to get my phone back. That is my work phone for my painting business and I need it. She had work the next and I wouldn’t be able to get it until that night.
“Officer #1: How we doin? What’s going on?
robertpaulsen: Good morning officer. Oh, I’m waiting to met a friend. She’s on her way.
Officer #1: Why you parkin here?
robertpaulsen: Well, this lot is about half way, and she’s bringing me my cell phone that I forgot. Can I park here for about 15 minutes and wait for her? It’s a commuter lot right?
Officer #1: Yeah, but we have problems after midnight time. People break into cars. You got any ID on you?
robertpaulsen: Yeah, I do. Here ya go.
What’s wrong with that?”
Cause in my experience that’s not how it goes when I answer the LEOs questions. It goes more like this.
“Officer #1: How we doin? What’s going on?
Darrow: Good morning officer. Oh, I’m waiting to met a friend. She’s on her way.
Officer #1: Why you parkin here?
Darrow: Well, this lot is about half way, and she’s bringing me my cell phone that I forgot. Can I park here for about 15 minutes and wait for her? It’s a commuter lot right?
Officer #1: Yeah, but we have problems after midnight time. People break into cars. You got any ID on you?
Darrow: Yeah, I do. Here ya go.
Officer #1: Are you sure you’re not here to do drugs or buy some?
Darrow: No officer
Officer #1: Only people out at this time of night are cops, people coming and going to work, and kids up to no good. Which one are you?
Darrow: None of those officers
Officer #1: You calling me a liar? Get out of the car. I’m gonna search your car.
And so on... If you talk to an LEO, they get to personal, and you stop, that can be seen as suspicious according to the courts. A cop that approaches you isn’t looking to be your friend, he’s looking to bust you. He sees everyone as a criminal. Not that it’s really his fault. They teach them that in the academy.
I wouldn’t talk to a stranger about my business out in a parking lot and a police officer is no different. If you had seen this board LEO (you can see him waiting on their only main road waiting for someone going 1 MPH over the limit) turn around right away, come up behind me, and hit the lights, you would have been like WTF too. You have to know this town to know what I mean. They hire all the reject cops that can’t get on real departments and pay them hardly anything. It’s just the cops on power trips.