Florida cops storm barber shop to inspect licenses and sanitation

PoliceStateUSA.com ^ | 17SEP2014 | Staff Writer

[Jack Hydrazine]

ORLANDO, FL — Deputies and state regulators aggressively raided Orlando-area barbershops, roughing up innocent staff and handcuffing them on the floor in an effort to check if the barbers had acquired government permission to legally cut hair.

A series of these raids has recently come to light, one of which is making its way through the litigation process in the federal court system. This was the raid of the Strictly Skills barbershop in Pine Hills, Florida, in which government agents warrantlessly stormed in the establishment with as many as 25 customers and 6 staff members present.

[goldstategop]

Apparently cops found nothing better to do than to roust hard-working law-abiding citizens running a legitimate business.

And they wonder why people hate them so much? Incidents like this make people distrust law enforcement on sight.

Especially when they don’t have real criminals to apprehend.

[Rockingham]

The barber shops and their Black and Hispanic clientele naturally invited suspicion in that the shops are in or near high crime areas and had a core group of young male customers who dressed like gangsters, drove pimped up cars, and hung around during the day and long after closing.

Instead of conducting a proper investigation, the sheriff's office allied with the state's business regulation agency and organized raids based on minor violations. In spite of the hype and inflated expectations, the raids found little of consequence. Eventually, the sheriff's office settled the ensuing civil rights suits in federal court.

If the investigators had watched the movie Barbershop they might have understood that such barbershops are the poor man's country club and that their young male customers tend to dress like gang bangers because that is the style these days.

[Leaning Right]

This (tax cheating) is the only thing keeping many businesses open.

You've got that right, especially when it comes to the small mom-and-pop operations,

[kearnyirish2]

In my area this is also about legitimate (licensed) American barbers siccing the dogs on their under-the-table, unlicensed, unsanitary competition who undercut them.

I’m sure the state wants its annual licensing renewals as well.

As my area goes “off the grid” in terms of filling with illegals, these little shops are popping up everywhere; at the same time, as the state requires barbers to get licensing by passing a state test (that would allow one to do any kind of cosmetology), the old guy who just cuts guys’ hair is disappearing. The state grandfathered them years ago; no nobody going through the trouble of getting a license would limit themselves with such a small clientele.

[kearnyirish2]

These places are popping up in my area (along with South American greasy spoons), and you want them inspected by the board of health. Some areas turn a blind eye (preferring any business to an empty storefront), but it leads to a very Third World situation.

[servo1969]

Because:
1. The State wants its cut.
2. The cops like easy work without no fear of return fire.

[Jonty30]

I’m not quantifying how much businesses should pay in taxes, but they are supposed to pay on all the revenue they generate, subtracting their deductions of course.

Yes, we are over taxed.

[Ben Ficklin]

Last year Radley Balko published his book, "Rise of the Warrior Cop", and it was covered extensively by the press, with many FR threads.

One of the subjects covered in the book was the utilization of SWAT teams in code enforcement. I'm not sure if this particular event was covered in the book, but numerous examples were cited in the book. Its happening all over the US

[I want the USA back]

Fascism on the march.

[jughandle]

My barber (older Italian gentleman) only takes cash, I get a damn fine haircut and usually have to sit and wait a while for it. I swear he is on his feet from 7:00 to 6:30 five days a week!

[Psalm 73]

They should try that with abortion mills - notoriously unsanitary and law-skirting, (not to mention the torture-deaths of little baby boys and girls....)

[LFOD]

Good - stay away.

[trebb]

These moronic jackboots need to face resistance. They also need to face jurors who refuse to convict those that meet them with resistance. Jurors hold the power.

And if we really want to put an end to all the illegals in the nation, it will have to be just like that for quite some time - no graceful way to do it. Puts us in a bit of a quandary....

[Hulka]

That is true. . .but. . .barbershops in low income areas are well known to mostly deal in drugs, alcohol and gambling, and by conducting raids to verify licenses and health regulations are adhered to, this is one way to shut-down criminal activities.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Zackly.

[Shimmer1]

Chinese buffets too.

[Shimmer1]

yeah! Especially ILLEGAL raids!!! Cool!

[Hulka]

Love you too.

[deport]

This happened back in September of last year and could not find it posted on FR.

**************

Title search using— barber — gives the following:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3207085/posts
SWAT Teams Raid Barber Shops Over Permits ^
9-23-2014

[Shimmer1]

Beaming