Posted on 08/20/2009 7:25:12 AM PDT by politicalmerc
Excuse the vanity but you guys MUST hear this. As you know if you have read any of my posts, I use to be an attorney. Well, my friendly local police department just made a HUGE MISTAKE and I can assure you they will pay for it. I post it here, not for sympathy but to show just how eroded our rights have become.
An open door allows the police to legally walk in and examine anything in plain cite (oopsy!). The closed door leads directly to the unlawful armed home invasion charge, particularly after the verbal reminder that the officers had no warrant to enter.
“Can you think of any other means to getting the governments attention to stop doing this? “
The officer should be punished by the law. It’s simple. If he/she broke the law, they should be held accountable.
Wrong agency. This is your new "Health Choices Administrator".
Cordially,
Excellent.
Don’t forget to get a copy of the original report that someone filed against you which kicked off this entire episode... and go after them for filing a false report, defamation of character, etc...
I'm not among them. I completely agree with you.
However, politicalmerc, as innocent as he may be, did not tell us all the relevant facts in his first post. He was accused of theft by another citizen. The fact that the local gestapo were actually investigating a reported theft does complicate the case a bit.
In fact, I'm surprised politicalmerc wasn't actually taken to the police station and held while his side of the story was checked out.
None of this excuses improper police behavior. That recording will be demanded in discovery, and if politicalmerc is accurate in all of his assertions, he will have a successful day in court... or settle before that day.
Ummmm,,,John,,,you “use” to be an attorney?,,,alleged stolen money, wife and baby, there’s a lot more to this story than meets the eye here.
“Got it. At least you can probably catch bass without harrassment.”
The California Fishing and Game has boat ramp check points, so they can freely harass anglers. Nobody gets a free ride.
It is the lack of a search warrant or arrest warrant that sends me a red flag.
No search or arrest warrant and then arrested for obstruction of justice? Depending on the facts of the case and laws, Police might be on shaky ground. Certainly possible grounds for a lawsuit against the department.
I understand, and I do agree that the officers were out of line. However, I have to reserve some judgment on this, as it sounds a bit like the whole Gates fiasco.
I know it will probably upset you that I'm not wholeheartedly behind you on this, but so be it. It doesn't affect your situation anyway.
*snicker*
“But whats a citizen to do?”
Think.
It’s a lose-lose. If you err on the side of going in, you get hammered by one side. If you don’t go in and there was a crime in process, you get hammered by the other side. Which side carries the most risk?
When I worked in EMS (pre-caller id days), we would sometimes come to a house where no one answered the door after supposedly calling for an ambulance. What to do?
________________________________________
Huh? Is English spoken in your home?
Actually, that’s not what the call said. The neighbor called and told them that we were target practicing in and “unsafe way”. The neighbor had videotaped us shooting and showed the tape to the cop before he came to our house. (The tape showed that we’d done nothing wrong, but the neighbor thought that the fact that we were shooting AT ALL was unsafe.) The cop watched the tape before he came over to talk to us about it.
This had been the fourth or fifth report the neighbor had filled over us target practicing. (He actually called one time because he didn’t like the fact that we’d set up a deer stand. The cops didn’t even bother to talk to us about that one.)
The incident ended when the cop informed the neighbor that he could be sued by the police department for abuse of services. (I don’t remember exactly what the charge would be, but the department lawyer dug hard to find something to end our harassment.) If he called again on this issue, *they* would sue *him*.
File in Federal court.
You can't destroy something that never existed in the first place; if you know what I mean. Trying to fight criminals with badges is almost impossible. Hell, you've seen it. Even with videotape and witnesses to police brutality they usually walk away with a 2 month paid vacation. Once in awhile it works in reverse. A damn good cop doing his job gets railroaded by a district attorney when a "minority" is involved. It's a real pity that these good ones get screwed by PC. But from what I've seen in my life there are just too many bad ones out there. Too much ego, too much power, not enough respect for the citizens they are paid to protect, and too little love of our Constitution. You see it in politicians all the time. It filters down.
I believe it, just hope the tape recorder was “working” and isn’t a “blank” tape.
HOW DID THEY FIND OUT THEY WERE WRONG?
According to you, they found out by going in the house. It sounds like that was the right answer. Jacking your jaws on the porch sure wasn’t getting it done.
Hey, you posted it. Don’t get pissed off at me because I commented on it.
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