Posted on 03/25/2003 2:40:51 PM PST by Tspud1
Something Suspicious Is in the Air
By Courtland Milloy Monday, March 24, 2003; Page B01
The sign above the highway leading into the nation's capital advised motorists to "Report Suspicious Activity" and gave an 800 number for the Office of Homeland Security. As a reporter, I figured this was right up my alley and set out yesterday to report on things that struck me as suspicious.
For instance, near the Jefferson Memorial, I saw a five-foot-tall metal box that was hooked up to an electrical outlet and equipped with a high-tech antenna and chrome-dome receptor. What was it?
I asked a couple of National Park Service workers and some Cherry Blossom Festival organizers whose tent was set up next to the thing if they knew. Little did I know that my inquiry would become a suspicious activity in itself.
"We hear you've been asking curious questions," U.S. Park Police officer Michael Ramirez said as he and fellow officer Karl Spilde approached me from behind a blossomless cherry tree. "Why are you doing that?"
Both officers carried 9mm semiautomatic pistols, Mace and batons. Perhaps because I had just left the Jefferson Memorial, where I'd read a few lines about "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and "all men are created equal," I felt bold enough to pose a question of my own: "Why are you asking me that?"
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
However, from what I have read here it appears that the police state doesn't appreciate the curious.
His tax dollars helped pay for that stupid box. If he wants to take pictures of it or ask what it's for, that's fine with me.
I saw the same thing at the DNC convention, there were hundreds of them. It was a ghastly sight indeed.
I guess that depends on what you are doing and saying. If he was really concerned about suspicious objects in the park wouldn't he have immediately identified himself and layed out his suspicions to the first authority figure to come along? Wouldn't he have been actively seeking one out?
Instead he was evasive and antagonistic. What is a cop supposed to think when that is coupled with a report that he was photographing equipment and taking notes?
You know, the ones who never met a jack boot that didn't sexually arouse them.
Be cordial, very cordial (put on your "honest concerned citizen just trying to help" hat) and explain that you were trying to report a suspicious circumstance as instructed and were treated quite rudely by the dispatcher. You can say that you're concerned that folks might not report the "big one" if the dispatchers don't handle things a little more carefully. I have had VERY good results approaching the folks in charge with my concerns in a very polite way. (I also make a point of writing "attaboy" letters when I see patrolmen doing a good deed or responding well to citizen calls.)
You frequently hear them punching cell phone buttons from under the bed.
1. A policeman may ask a citizen polite questions at any time. He may not impede your progress to do so, however. Inquiries have to be very basic and generic - what's your name? where are you going? - and (here's the key) the citizen does not have to answer. You can simply say, "I'm sorry, I don't wish to talk at this time" and go on your merry way. The GA courts have reversed convictions when the police dogged somebody who said he did not want to talk.
2. The "Terry" stop requires "reasonable and articulable suspicion" which as a practical matter does not mean they have to believe you have committed a particular crime, just that you are acting suspicious. Hostility, random or inconsistent or irrational answers to basic questions, sweating or other nervous behavior, etc.
3. Probable cause essentially means they would have sufficient evidence to put before a magistrate to get a warrant. That's the highest standard. Usually probable cause issues revolve around car stops, where the police don't have time to go get a warrant because the car will drive off . . .
Frankly, given the climate in D.C. these days and this guy's behavior (asking pointed questions and taking photos of odd stuff, enough for a citizen to call the cops, plus the belligerence when questioned) it's probably enough for a Terry. If he had been polite instead of evasive and rude when questioned, they probably would have thanked him and walked off. (But if they had wound up finding contraband on him in the pat-down and busting him, I think a GA court would have affirmed the conviction.) When you learn from the article that he was deliberately baiting the police -- then the police WERE right to have an articulable suspicion that something was up. Call it a false report of a crime.
This guy is an insufferable Bush hating liberal. Post runs his column just to keep Republican Blood pressure up. He is so absurd on some issues, I wonder if it isn't a put-on.
True. But the police have a duty to investigate suspicious activity which includes asking questions of any citizen they think may provide useful information.
(and this WAS an illegal detention) based on the asking of seemingly silly questions or the taking of seemingly suspicious photographs.
You'd be right if that was what they based their detention on. I imagine it was his belligerent, uncooperative attitude coupled with suspicious behaviour that gave them just cause.
The author sounds like a jerk to me and this is HIS version of the story. The story in post #16 is something to get bent about, not this.
That's bullshit. I'm usually accused of being a cop basher.
If we're ever going to return to a state where we are Citizens of the Republic, rather than merely subjects of civil authority, we're going to have to question the actions of those authorities who seem to think they are too important to provide civil answers to reasonable people.
I'm sure some of you folks out there will think the cops did just wonderful because they didn't decide to bash the guy's head in or arrest him for having the nerve to believe he had the riht to question them, but that is exactly a symtom of the problem.
I'm afraid that this is typical of these leftist idiots. They just "don't get it" that we are at war and that playing little games with the LEO's can bring trouble upon their puny little heads. I know he thought it was "cutsy" to answer questions with a question and play the race card but people, this is serious business and time to stop the games. Any problems he encountered were of his own making. An honest response and identification would have ended the questioning. period
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