Demmler is reportedly a lifeguard at a Jewish center is fairly attractive. A sympathetic and attractive victim certainly will generate more public sympathy, I agree.
Posted on 08/24/2002 10:37:58 AM PDT by Dog Gone
"Simply issuing citations has had little or no impact"
08/23/2002
HOUSTON (KHOU) -- With parents still fuming over the arrests of hundreds of teenagers for trespassing, 11 news has learned the chief, himself, was apparently in on the planning for Operation E-racer.
Houston Police Chief Clarence Bradford made it clear this week that the raid on Westheimer would be thoroughly investigated. Hundreds were arrested in a sting operation set up to curtail street racers and trespassers.
But many have filed complaints saying the arrests were unjust. People like Emily Demmler. "I was handcuffed. I was put in the back of a van," she said. "And I sat in a jail cell from 4:00 to 9:00."
Monday night Chief Bradford called for an investigation of the controversial crackdown. He wanted to know who was in charge? What instructions were given to officers? And why were arrests made instead of issuing citations?
Who was in charge? It turned out to be HPD Captain Mark Aguirre. He told 11 news that he was surprised the chief had so many questions about the raid. "It was my understanding that Chief Bradford was in the loop," said Aguirre. "I assume that. Nothing of this magnitude would escape his attention."
Friday night 11 News obtained an interoffice correspondence, which appears to back Captain Aguirre's beliefs. The memo is the plan for last weekend's raid. It was sent to Chief Bradford on May 13, months ago.
In the correspondence Captain Aguirre explains to the chief the proposed solution for the problems in that area and why issuing tickets would not work.
Aguirre says, "Simply issuing citations has had little or no impact. By arresting individuals observed violating local, state or federal laws and towing violators' vehicles, law enforcement will have more of an influence over the individuals' future behavior."
Yesterday most, if not all, the officers involved in the raid were told to report to police headquarters where they picked up a set of over 20 questions. They'll all have to answer the inquiries about what happened last weekend, such as who was in charge. The questions came from HPD's Internal Affairs Division, which is investigating along with the Houston's Office of Inspector General.
Some people just don't trust their reason. Or, they feel they're "giving in" by changing their minds. They're wrong. There is absolutely nothing wrong with skepticism. But it doesn't work without reason to go with it.
LOL!!! I was going to post that one to tallhappy, but ya beat me to it!
But as more details came in, it became pretty clear that it wasn't like that at all. Now I'm coming to the conclusion that this is a story of police department that decided to use mass arrests in a deliberate plan to terrorize the citizens so that they wouldn't hang out in public on weekend nights. The fact that there is no law against that was irrelevant to them.
The lawbreaking here was on the part of the police, and that's now the story.
I'm sooo not surprised by your lack of response from tallhappy. You used no jokes or overheated rhetoric when arguing with him, which gives him something to complain about while ignoring your argument. See, if only you had called him names, he would have responded to your post by now. But since your post is polite and straight questions, he has nothing to work with.
Amendment IV The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
The police will be sucessfully sued for not showing cause.
Dog brought this to the attention of O'Reilly. I also sent a letter to O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes and Rush complete with all these links. Hopefully some others will do likewise. Maybe one of them will pay attention.
Sounds as if it couldn't happen to a more deserving guy. I wonder if this jackass is related to the Aguirre's that I had dealings with. One of them was thorn in my side for a good 10 years and still hasn't completely vanished. This boy's father was no better and when the family gathered it was with all the class of a pack of dogs getting acquainted.
Only one. He has his panties in a wad because pretty much everybody agrees on something and we just can't have that now can we?
LOL!
Why do I get the impression that a lot of Freepers would be less sympathetic if the people arrested were named things like Mufassa Dan Insana instead of Emily Demmler?
Demmler is reportedly a lifeguard at a Jewish center is fairly attractive. A sympathetic and attractive victim certainly will generate more public sympathy, I agree.
I disagree. It's the outrage that will prevent this from happening again. Regardless of the hyperbole, that's the important part -- the police won't have the opportunity to escalate the use of these illegal tactics.
It is worth nothing that this is actually the second such occurrence. An earlier one at a hot dog stand (James Coney Island, I believe) netted 25 arrests, some of which were the business' regular customers. The owner unwittingly cooperated with the HPD's "plan" to deal with the problem, but is now planning to file their own complaint.
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