Cell Picture Of Undercover Officer Sparks Arrest

Tampa Bay Online ^ | March 16, 2008 | Michael A. Scarcella

[Lester Moore]

"While they may not have liked what he was doing, it was not against the law," said Sievert's attorney, Charles M. Britt III.

Public Servants had better just get comfortable with being photographed.

Smile! You're On!

[BullDog108]

Check out RateMyCop.com.

[BGHater]

‘Sievert refused a lawful command to erase the photographs’

WTF?

[Roccus]

Sorry ‘bout that Randy. We shouldn’t have arrested you. You can go home. By the way, we lost yer phone.

[steve-b]

Undercover officers routinely wear masks in public when participating in searches.

I thought it was bad when these guys were wannabe-SEAL; now they're wannabe-Batman.

[Digital Sniper]

If the police do not want undercover vehicles identified, they should not bring the cars and trucks when they execute search warrants, Britt said.

That's hard to dispute. If someone is "undercover," then they've clearly uncloaked if they're participating in the execution of a warrant as an obvious member of the police force. They have no grounds to claim that their cover was blown.

I'd say they're trying to use the Valerie Plame defense, if you know what I mean (and I think you do)!

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Why of course officer, I'll gladly erase them, I've already mailed them to a secure server off shore so I don't need to keep these.

Have a nice day sir.

[MEGoody]

Guilty!

[Dr.Zoidberg]

I thought it was bad when these guys were wannabe-SEAL; now they're wannabe-Batman.

Nah, they aren't wannabe SEAL and Superheros, they are ninja!

Running around in black pajamas and face masks, carrying weapons hidden all over and a mystical feeling of superiority...

Ninja.

[Niteranger68]

So, if someone in a house across the street were taking pictures, would the LEO's have had the right to demand they erase them? And why in the hell did they send undercovers for the raid?

This is still the money line:

"During the raid, deputies seized a box of ammunition and a checkbook but did not find any drugs. Sievert was the only person arrested that afternoon."

[Moonman62]

Sievert refused a lawful command to erase the photographs, Colonneso said. That "reasonable request" was to protect undercover officers.

Assistant public defender Jennifer Joynt-Sanchez called the arrest "beyond belief." Joynt-Sanchez, representing Sievert in court, said Sievert had a right to resist unlawful police detention.

Joynt-Sanchez wanted Sievert released from jail on his own recognizance. But Circuit Judge Debra Johnes Riva ordered Sievert held.

It seems there is a difference of opinion between the defense and prosecution on the applicable law and the judge is siding with the prosecution.

[shadeaud]

These undercover cops need to be brought back to reality by having them assigned traffic duty for a month or so and then the cold case division. Then they will realize they aren't what the tv shows portray them as. SWAT is a necessity because of the seriousness of some crimes, but the accountability should be higher than that of a grunt cop.

[VietVet]

It's fairly clear that this is a very one-sided article. The opinions of this man's family member and paid advocates must be taken with more than a grain of salt. For a criminal (he had a record) with prior involvement with drugs to be on the scene of a raid by narcotics detectives, taking pictures, leads to the reasonable suspicion that the pictures were intended to be used to “blow the cover” of the undercover officers, which would have endangered their lives.

That said, it seems that the sensible precaution against such loss of secrecy would be to have the warrants executed by uniformed officers in marked cars, or if a certain amount of stealth approach is needed, by detectives other than the undercover officers in unmarked vehicles other than the ones directly used in the undercover operations.

Given the state-of-the-art capabilities of photo-shop and virtual editing programs, I don't think any of us can be ‘comfortable with being photographed’ by persons with hostile intentions.

[ltc8k6]

If they appeared in public with their faces visible on a drug raid, then they blew their own cover, and anyone can take their picture.

[steve-b]

Fast food delivery might be more within their field of competence.

[stuartcr]

I wonder if he had a chance to send it somewhere?

[sheana]

That would be my take on it too.

[starlifter]

“Lawful order” to erase the pictures? Could you provide a citation?

Seized a box of ammunition? Why? Was it illegal to possess? We better start closing every Wal-Mart in America then.

Comes back to the War on Drugs, which is as silly today as prohibition was then. If anything, I'm willing to bet the house they raided was, at best, a low-level stash. But it was cool to get dressed in war paint, break out all the toys, and just generally play swaggering tough guy. (I'm probably getting a little carried away...)

What, actually, did they accomplish? Arresting a guy for taking photos of public servants doing their work? On the pretext that he was “obstructing” the raid? How can he possibly be obstructing?

[ansel12]

“It’s fairly clear that this is a very one-sided article. The opinions of this man’s family member and paid advocates must be taken with more than a grain of salt. For a criminal (he had a record) with prior involvement with drugs to be on the scene of a raid by narcotics detectives, taking pictures, leads to the reasonable suspicion that the pictures were intended to be used to “blow the cover” of the undercover officers, which would have endangered their lives.”

---

All that is irrelevant, it is how the police choose to eliminate the problem that concerns us.

Sometimes when the police run into a problem with our freedoms, they need to solve it internally by altering something within their way of operating, or in some cases such as right to bear arms, they just have to live with workplace reality.

They cannot just take the first obvious solution that pops into their head.

[School of Rational Thought]

Undercover officers routinely wear masks in public when participating in searches. I thought it was bad when these guys were wannabe-SEAL; now they're wannabe-Batman. Looks like they are taking the next step to terrorism.