Gangsters in Blue

On Friday I am commissioning my first ever official “overview” of government misconduct. The presentation will detail my case as to precisely how Keene Circuit Court-District Division Presiding Judge Edward Burke violated state law, the state Constitution, and judicial canons by telling a lie to have someone arrested. A lie that constituted False Reports to Law Enforcement, a crime under state law. A crime that if the exact facts and circumstances were brought before him in a criminal case where you did the same thing, he would find you guilty.

I am quite familiar with the crime as I have arrested people and prepared prosecution cases for it before. Judge Burke should have been arrested by now for what he did… but lucky for him, it appears that his friends in government are protecting him.

The presentation I will be burning to DVD and distributing to Governor John Lynch, the Executive Council, and every member of the New Hampshire General Court. Every mainstream media outlet in New Hampshire will also be receiving a copy.

Judicial Canon #2, the code of conduct for judges, reads as follows:

A JUDGE SHOULD AVOID IMPROPRIETY AND THE APPEARANCE OF IMPROPRIETY IN ALL OF THE JUDGE’S ACTIVITIES

I presume that includes impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all of the judge’s interactions with members of the free press who are asking constitutionally protected questions.  Especially when our own Constitution says:

FREE SPEECH AND LIBERTY OF THE PRESS ARE ESSENTIAL TO THE SECURITY OF FREEDOM IN A STATE: THEY OUGHT, THEREFORE, TO BE INVIOLABLY PRESERVED.

(not taken away in a creative attempt to cover up a criminal offense against CopBlock.org founder Ademo Freeman which clearly resulted in his constitutional rights being violated)

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Judge Edward Burke Misconduct Overview To Be Released On Friday is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

Article by Ali Winston with research by Jacob Crawford

One of the most indelible images of the Occupy movement to date is that of Marine veteran Scott Olsen being carried away from a skirmish line of riot police at 14th Street and Broadway on October 25 in Oakland. Stunned and bleeding from an ugly gash on his forehead, the 24-year-old Wisconsin native had been struck in the head by an unknown projectile during the first salvo of tear gas, flash-bang grenades, and less-than-lethal munitions fired at hundreds of Occupy Oakland supporters facing off against Oakland police and several other Bay Area law enforcement agencies called in on mutual aid.

Video from the tear gas-soaked night of the 25th shows a prone Olsen lying in front of metal barricades and police in riot gear. As several protesters ran to Olsen’s aid, someone from the cluster of police appears to lob a flash-bang grenade into the crowd gathered around the young veteran. The stun grenade explodes amid a cloud of tear gas and deafening noise, scattering Olsen’s rescuers.

The footage of the flash-bang grenade exploding practically on top of Olsen and his rescuers, as well as dramatic video of a stunned and bloody Olsen being carried away from the intersection, went viral within hours, propelling Occupy Oakland to international attention and setting the stage for the November 2nd General Strike.

In the weeks and months afterward, rumors and accusations flew about the identity of the officer who fired the projectile that wounded Olsen, and the one who threw the concussion grenade on top of him. Rumors circulated on the Internet that either a San Francisco sheriff’s deputy or an officer from the Palo Alto Police Department was responsible. Members of Anonymous even went so far as to publish pictures and the personal information of a San Francisco sheriff’s deputy they believe tossed the stun grenade at Olsen.

But an extensive review of video footage and Oakland Police Department records by this reporter indicates that Robert Roche, an acting sergeant in the Oakland Police Department and member of OPD’s “Tango Teams,” threw the flash-bang at Olsen and his rescuers. It’s also not the first time that Roche’s actions have come under scrutiny. Police records show that Roche had previously killed three people in the line of duty.

In one clip of footage shot on October 25 by KTVU, the camera zooms in on a helmeted, gas-mask wearing officer in OPD insignia pointing a shotgun at the crowd. Olsen’s inert body is also visible in front of the barriers. Another video clip shows the same officer training his shotgun on the crowd, lowering the firearm as a crowd gathers around Olsen, and stepping back behind a line of San Francisco sheriff’s deputies on the barricade line. A grenade is then tossed at Olsen’s body as rescuers arrive.

According to former San Francisco Sheriff Mike Hennessey and Sergeant Kara Apple, a Palo Alto Police spokeswoman, officers from neither agency were equipped with less-than-lethal shotguns or flash-bang grenades that night. A list of OPD crowd-control munitions published by Al Jazeera last year includes the Remington .357 shotgun and two types of CS or pepper spray-loaded blast grenades.

Two stripes and a star, OPD’s insignia for acting sergeants, are visible on the officer’s left sleeve. In both clips, the officer is holding his shotgun with his right hand on the trigger, his helmet visor is up and the numbers “35″ are visible on his helmet. According to an OPD roster of the three-digit helmet numbers assigned to individual officers and the personnel detail for October 25, Officer Robert Roche is the only one with a helmet number beginning with “35″ who was assigned to a Tango Team that night. Roche’s helmet number that night was “357,” according to OPD records.

Three attorneys who reviewed the two clips mentioned above concur that the shotgun-wielding officer is the same in both clips. “From the positioning of that officer in the line and his weapon, it appears it was likely the same cop who tossed the grenade at the medics trying to help Scott Olsen,” said R. Michael Flynn, president of the San Francisco Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. Jim Chanin, one of the two attorneys who have overseen OPD’s federal consent decree since 2003, concurred. “His movements and appearance strongly suggest that it’s the same officer that threw the grenade,” Chanin said. Chanin also observed that the officer’s helmet number began with “35.”

Rachel Lederman, another NLG-affiliated attorney, also believes the officer is the same and identifiable by the “35″ on his helmet. Lederman characterized the officer’s actions as “illegal” and “evil.” Tossing a flash-bang grenade into a crowd and at a wounded person is “not only improper under [OPD's] crowd control policy — the guy should be fired,” Lederman said.

Sergeant Chris Bolton, chief of staff to Police Chief Howard Jordan, said the investigation into the Olsen incident is ongoing. “Any known or alleged uses of force against Mr. Olsen are assigned to an independent investigator,” Bolton said in a statement. “Based on available video, photographs, and reports, the department has identified several officers that they are subjects of those open investigations.” Bolton added, however, that “no investigative findings or discipline have been announced or imposed.”

Roche is a rifle officer who has also served in gang enforcement units. He has been involved in three fatal shootings during his career. In 2006, he fatally shot seventeen-year-old Ronald Brazier after the teenager fired on Roche and two other officers. In 2007, Roche shot and killed an unarmed Jeremiah Dye in a crawlspace under an East Oakland house. Dye had run from police after his cousin shot and wounded an OPD officer during a traffic stop. In March 2008, fifteen-year-old Jose Buenrostro was shot to death by Roche and two other officers while in possession of a sawed-off rifle on 79th Avenue in East Oakland. Buenrostro’s family received a $500,000 wrongful death settlement from the City of Oakland in 2010, even though police claimed that Buenrostro pointed the weapon at them. Buenrostro’s family contended that he did not threaten the officers.

Alameda County District Attorney’s Office records indicate that Roche was cleared of criminal conduct in both the Brazier and Dye shootings.
Roche and Sergeant Ronald Holmgren, who supervised Tango Team 2 during the October 25 crowd control actions, were not assigned to the Tango detail on the evening of the November 2 General Strike, according to Oakland Police Department records. However, Roche was photographed on the street during the January 28 confrontation with Occupy Oakland protesters, shotgun in hand.
OPD’s “Tango teams,” or tactical teams, have been at the heart of some of the most intense clashes of the Occupy Oakland movement (see “Oakland Used Violent Cops Against Occupy,” 12/21/2012, “). Aside from the Olsen incident, video from the evening of the November 2 General Strike shows an unidentified OPD officer wearing a rucksack emblazoned with “Tango Team” striking US Army veteran Kayvan Sabeghi with a baton. Sabeghi was later hospitalized for a ruptured spleen.

Video by Jacob Crawford with the assistance of Ali Winston and Emma Armtstrong

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Oakland Cop Identified in Scott Olsen Incident is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

Walking up Arcadian St. in Waukesha I saw 2 cop cars. I filmed one going through the intersection. She drove by and I decided to film the other. Once he saw me with the camera he stopped cold in the gas station parking lot and starred me down for several minutes. He then adjusted his dash cam to fixate on me. I stood there for a bit and decided to approach this man with most likely, multiple guns, starring me down. I walked down to the crosswalk and the cop pulled out. I got a profile picture of him though he refused to look at me at close range.

The reason I film police is to protect myself and others. Waukesha police have a recent history of beating a 51 year old man with no record trying to comfort his daughter after a bad accident. After repeated requests for the video from the prosecution and defense, the police destroyed the 2 videos. They assure us it was a legit beating but a civil lawsuit is pending. They charged the beating victim but the judge dismissed it after seeing that the Waukesha police bosses and others accessed/showed the 2 videos at least 20 times then deleted them. She stated the custodian of those records acted in, “bad faith” insinuating a coverup.

My concern is that the first amendment to the Constitution is the first for a reason. What I mean is that it isn’t the 5th, the 18th, or even the 21st. Gathering information on government then disseminating it is the core right in this society and that in itself is substantial. People understood 240 years ago that the government will grow and will attempt to repress the natural rights of humans.

With the relative ease of reaching a wide audience with video, citizens now have the ability, and in many cases, the determination to expose the many injustices and violations of rights that occur on a regular basis within the police community. The fact that currently my state to the south threatens to imprison a middle aged man for life for simply recording the actions of police is certainly relevant.

Although my camera which I wear around my neck everywhere I go doesn’t properly capture the look on this cop’s face, the look on my wife’s face told me she was thoroughly fearful. We’re homeowners and have never been convicted of any crimes. We should suffer no more scrutiny by filming police than a child riding her bike. That is not the case in Waukesha WI, though we will try to change that.

-WaukeshaCopWatch

InjusticeEverywhere.com Police Misconduct – The government doesn’t track police misconduct but this site does.

Freekeene.com – Liberty Activism (videos) at it’s best

Waukesha Police Officer Stalks Videographer is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

Last week Pete and I conducted our first weekly livestream, it went over well and we’re going to do it again this Friday at 4pm est. We’ll be livestreaming from one of our MAC’s at http://justin.tv/copblock and on Qik.com/copblock via my iPhone (see Qik video below of last weeks broadcast).

As Pete stated last week:

The impetus for our streaming this Friday is two-fold.

Firstly, we’ve long-discussed doing a regular segment. The benefit – discussing relevant content in another medium, especially one that allows for interaction (via chat) – is clear. We can all learn from each other and in the process safeguard our individual rights while growing larger and more tight-knit as a community.

Secondly, it will allow us to test the functionality of various streaming applications, which will be of use for those of you who have a smartphone. A couple of weeks ago I downloaded a number of streaming applications with the intention of writing a comparison post. When I’ve used each app, I’ve kept notes about the experience (quality, whether the stream fed correctly to the Internet, etc.). This Friday’s upcoming segment and future segments will allow for more data to be collected.

Again, we hope other CopBlockers join in, ask questions and seek accountability in policing today. We’ll see you there tomorrow.

p

Pete and Ademo Continue LiveStream Friday – Week Two Tomorrow is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

Antonio Buehler was doing the right thing when he questioned officers being overly aggressive with a non combative female. Antonio even took photographs of the officers for documentation, which lead to officers arresting his – see original CopBlock.org post here.

Now it’s time for Antonio to go to court, and he’s lawyered up, see video below.

It will be interesting to see the “City’s” stance on this case. I’m guessing that they’ll drop the charges and wait for Antonio to sue them. Once he does it will take two years to settle (or win in court) and Antonio will give “the city” (or taxpayers) a black eye, or about $20,000. I’ll keep you posted as this case develops and hope Antonio will blog updates here in the future.

For now, if you’d like to help Antonio you can call one of these “officials.”

 DEMAND they fire criminal cops Oborski & Snider.
Mayor Leffingwell: 512-974-2250
Police Chief Acevedo: 512-974-5000
City Council Members:
Chris Riley: 512-974-2260
Mike Martinez: 512-974-2264
Kathie Tovo: 512-974-2255
Laura Morrison: 512-974-2258
Bill Spelman: 512-974-2256

Update Antonio Buehler is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

Read Carlos Miller’s blog, “Photography is NOT a Crime” by clicking here.

+ enlarge image

As many of you who follow me on the social networks know, I was arrested Tuesday night while covering the Occupy Miami police evacuation.

I was released Wednesday morning after spending several hours in the Miami-Dade County jail and I spent the next several hours retrieving my possessions from the police department across town and then trying to recover video footage the cops apparently deleted.

I also fielded numerous calls from friends, reporters and supporters offering me their help. And I gave two online interviews, including one on Thomas Hawk’s Photo Talk Plus which lasts more than an hour, and one on a local program called Let’s Talk About it, which is much shorter.

The gist is that I was arrested for refusing to leave a public area, even though hordes of corporate journalists were allowed to remain, including one who recorded my arrest.

I’ve been holding off writing this post in the hopes that I can find the clip that I thought I had shot in the moments before my arrest, but after a very slow download, I have a bunch of unrecognizable MTS files, so now it’s a matter of converting them to see if I retrieved anything from the arrest.

I will post it as soon as I can, but this may take a while.

Photo by Carlos Miller

When I first realized that the clip leading up to my arrest was not included, I thought perhaps I just wasn’t recording. But then I noticed there were several other clips that I know I had recorded that were missing, so it seems as if the cops deleted the last few clips I shot right before my arrest.

However, a television news videographer was on the scene and he recorded my arrest because I saw him pointing the camera directly on me as I was being handcuffed.

But I don’t know what station he is from and I have not seen it used in any of the news clips I’ve seen on the evacuation.

Moments after we had been evacuated from the park with county hall looming behind the officer (photo by Carlos Miller)

I was covering the evacuation for Miami Beach 411 where I’ve been covering the Occupy Miami movement since it began last October.

This is what happened:

Miami-Dade County issued an evacuation notice to Occupy Miami, which had their encampment set up in a park in front of Government Center, which is county hall, since October 15.

The order was that they needed to evacuate by sunset, so the media was all there to catch all the drama.

Most of the activists were complying with the order because they are already focusing their efforts on other issues throughout South Florida, mainly addressing the huge foreclosure problem we have down here.

But six activists decided they were going to stay in defiance. They had barricaded themselves behind some pallets and had linked arms and were prepared to go to jail to make their statement.

Six activists who were ready to subject themselves to arrest did not get arrested (photo by Carlos Miller)

So naturally, my goal was to get as close to these arrests as possible to ensure the cops did not get physically abusive.

At one point, police corralled the media behind yellow police tape, but several of us remained in the park, including a few reporters and a bunch of activists.

Then almost 100 police officers donned in riot gear began surrounding the park while ordering everybody out through a megaphone. Then they started marching towards us with their shields in front of them.

So we all marched backwards as they marched towards us. Many of the activists were taunting, mocking and insulting the cops and I just kept recording as many others did.

They forced us out of the park onto the sidewalk, which is City of Miami jurisdiction. So after several minutes of activists and police squaring off against each other, a multitude of Miami police officers came marching towards us.

Kevin Young of Occupy Miami tries to debate Miami police officer (photo by Carlos Miller)

About 150 cops in riot gear combined then forced the crowd back a few blocks with the activists continuing to dance in front of them and yelling at them.

At one point, police announced that everybody in the block in front of them was under arrest, which prompted the activists to disperse quickly. It was pretty surreal considering how defiant they had been, but I guess they figured the cops were going to make good on their word.

But I was taking my cue from the other journalists in the area, which included a writer for the Miami Herald, a photographer for the Miami Herald and about three videographers from local news stations as well as their respective reporters and a handful of others I did not recognize.

At one point, the cops marched right past those journalists, which clearly indicated they were not among the ones who were going to get arrested.

But I kept moving backwards as the cops moved towards me, even though at this point I was the only one in front of them. My plan was to make a left at the next block and just walk back to my car and go home to edit my video.

But as I rounded the corner, another group of cops in riot gear were marching up.

Seeing how the other journalists were not bothered, I asked if I could walk past them on the sidewalk to get to my car but one of them blocked my way, so I walked back towards the intersection and watched both lines of cops plant themselves on their respective corners.

At this point, the only other way out of the area was to walk underneath the I-95 overpass, which would have placed me alongside the Miami River and completely away from my car.

Standoff between Miami-Dade cops and activists after they forced us out of the park (photo by Carlos Miller)

So I asked one of the officers in riot gear in the first line of cops if I would be allowed to walk past them to get to my car and he ignored me, so I figured the best thing to do is find the commanding officer and explain my situation.

Keep in mind there were several journalists in the area, including several behind the first line of cops on 3^rd Ave.

As I asked the officer if she would allow me to walk back to my car, which was at Government Center and she immediately began yelling out “Arrestee! Arrestee!”.

That prompted several cops in riot gear to apprehend me in a very aggressive manner while ordering me to “relax!”.

I told them I was relaxed, that there was no need for them to tackle me. I turned to my left and saw the news videographer recording my arrest, so I lifted my arms to show the world that I was not resisting.

The woman cop demanded to know if I had any drugs or weapons, which I said no, but she kept asking and I kept saying no.

I told them I was a journalist as if all the camera gear wasn’t an indicator of that. She told me that I was getting arrested because I had defied their orders to leave the area, so I asked about the other journalists, but she didn’t respond to that.

I was charged with obstruction of justice and resisting arrest without violence, even though the cops wrote that I was “taken into custody without incident” on the arrest report. They also said that I was ordered to leave the area for my “safety.”

Then I learned that the cops screwed up and did not include the statute number for the obstruction charge, so I am now only facing the resisting arrest charge, which seems to be the story of my life.

If you remember, I was convicted of resisting arrest in 2008 after I was acquitted of several other charges stemming from my 2007 arrest for photographing cops, even though it doesn’t make sense to be convicted of resisting if there are no other underlying charges to actually resist.

I did have that conviction reversed in an appeal and the state attorney’s office chose not to pursue the matter.

Then I was charged with a single count of resisting arrest in 2009 after photographing a Miami Beach cop against his wishes. That case was dropped when he failed to show up to trial twice.

And now I am facing a single count of resisting arrest, even though the arrest report clearly states I was taken into custody “without incident.”

So it obviously doesn’t take too much to make these cops look like idiots.

Five Occupy Miami activists were also arrested, but none of the original six who were willing to get arrested. Two of them were charged with felony inciting a riot after they were dancing in the streets while the cops marched towards them.

And another three were charged with loitering and prowling after they were sitting in their pick-up truck a few blocks away waiting to transport fellow activists. Their charges have since been dropped.

I’ve included a map below highlighting the details of my arrest, including where my car was parked, where I was arrested, where the other journalists were standing and where they apparently expected me to walk.

ss 
View Carlos Miller’s arrest map in a larger map

UPDATE: This is the cop who had me arrested. I took this screen shot from the footage they had deleted after I had recovered it. I’m still working on this recovery but it’s looking good so far.

I Was Arrested Covering The Occupy Miami Evacuation by Carlos Miller is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

One of the most common statements I hear about CopBlocking (monitoring the police) is, “we don’t have enough people.” If that is the case where you live, considering moving to the Shire (aka New Hampshire). Liberty minded folks are moving here daily to live better lives, one where the government isn’t always sticking its nose in thier business, and CopBlocking is a major part of that. Check out these two CopBlocking videos from local Shire residents Ian and Derrick.

By Ian Freeman, via FreeKeene.com

Nemi is pulled over on the way back from Concord by a statie for her outdated inspection sticker. The statie attempts what is becoming a common intimidation tactic: claiming to a cameraman he’ll be arrested if recording continues. I continue anyway and he backs down from the threat, just like happened to Ademo and Luthor & Derrickr ecently in other incidents.

 

By Derrick Freeman, via LiveFreeorDance.com

I was pulled over while driving 50 mph in a 55 mph zone. The officer alleges I was going 72. That is impossible because I was stuck behind a slow-moving pickup truck for about 20 miles, and that truck was keeping me slowed at a pace of 50 mph.

I was driving from Keene to Manchester with Luthor Kingsley of the Shire. We were about halfway there when I passed a cop. Luthor pointed him out; he was hiding on the side of the highway with his lights off. I checked my speed and was relieved to notice that I was going 50mph. I almost certainly would have been going faster if not for the truck in front of me holding me up in the single lane of traffic. Then I saw the blue lights behind me. I fired up my camera and asked Luthor to record.

The cop told me I couldn’t see the radar, that Luthor had to turn off the audio on the camera, that Luthor had to give the cop his ID, and that it was illegal wiretapping to record audio of him without his permission. We gave him a bit of a schooling in the law with polite refusal to comply with his demands. He returned with a ticket for $103.33.

I’ll be seeing him in court. I would rather be left alone. I don’t enjoy giving up my valuable time and energy and resources to defend myself against being extorted by agents of the state. I’ve already spent about 24 hours in filming, editing, researching law, and posting about this event. Now I’ll have a day in court, travel expenses, plus the opportunity costs of a day’s work in order to attend court, or I will have a warrant out for my arrest. Then, in court, if I am found guilty, I will likely face 2 days in jail to pay off the fine at $50 a day.

Some stranger with a badge is incentivized by a quota system to spend his time pulling over people like me who haven’t victimized anyone. For him, it’s 15 minutes and he can wash his hands of the situation and collect his paycheck–unless someone takes the issue to court rather than paying the fine. In that case, he is rewarded for his victimization by being paid time and a half for his appearance in court. The taxpayers of his town will be forced to foot the bill for that expense. As a result of his actions, I could be put in a cage (again at the expense of the taxpayer) for what was a non-situation.

The absurdity makes my head spin. If you’d like to help me meet expenses to handle this case successfully and document the process with video, please donate at LiveFreeOrDance.com

CopBlocking Grows in the “Shire” is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

By Ian Freeman, blogger at FreeKeene.com:

Back in 2010, on a visit to the NH Attorney Genital’s office, we met “investigator” Dick Tracy. More recently, Copblock’s Ademo and I were in the area so we dropped in again with some more questions, this time meeting “investigator” James Brown. Neither man was interested in speaking on the record and Brown attempted to intimidate us into not recording. We did not stop. Here’s what happened:

Remember, it is supposed to be your right to record government bureaucrats in public places. Though, we know they don’t care about what your rights are, so there’s always a chance you could be aggressed against and caged. Sometimes it can be scary when they threaten you, but if you have backup also willing to not back down, your odds of walking away without being caged increase.

Just say NO – to demands you quit recording them.

Don’t Stop Recording: Meet James Brown is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

The text below was sent to us via our submission tab from Grace, who thinks:

Police officers are brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, and children. Showing up to traffic stops with signs saying they are harrassing us is just rediculous. I’ve gotten a couple tickets in my life, yea it sucks but its the law. Go do something to help the homeless, donate your time to a womens shelter, help kids who have nothing, or go work at an animal shelter. Saying the police are harrassing citizens, come on. The streets are already dangerous enough without you trying to interfere with them doing their jobs. Do something to better your community which is not standing around with signs protesting the people actually out there trying to protect us.

-Grace

Grace, let me ask you this. What would you do if I forced your car to the side of the road, demanded your identification, yelled at you for your speed or broken tail light and demanded money from you for the encounter? What if I get eight of my friends to raid your home and search it for whatever we consider to be illegal? What if I also used some more of my friends to force you to pay for my actions? What if I did these things to you? Would you then hold a sign in displeasure outside my office? Or film me while me and my friends did the same to others? What would you do?

What if, by targeting the police, who seem to do any act their told to because ‘it’s their job’, we’re actually making the homeless, batter women and kids who have nothing at all lives better? After all, the homeless are routinely harassed by the police, at times even murdered. Spouses of police officers have a higher rate of domestic abuse than most professions, maybe because of all the guilt/pressure that comes with their jobs. Or by questioning police about victimless crimes and the failed war on drugs, we’re really helping the kids who have nothing. Since their parents where carted off by Drug Task Force and SWAT members – again on your dime -, leaving them with nothing.

I hope to target, highlight and protest policing until the money – and we’re talking BILLIONS  of dollars – that is spent on the police state is allocated to starter programs for the homeless, abused people to leave their abusers and kids who’s parents are addicts. Of course, you’d get to decide what to spend your money on and no one would be able to force you, via taxation, to pay for anything you didn’t want. But what do I know, I’m the disrespectful one who’s harassing people by holding a sign and pointing out the double standard of police today.

Be Respectful… is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

Above is the video encounter with myself and the Londonderry police officer who claims audio recording him is illegal.

An unknown, because I forgot to get his name (major fail), Londonderry Police officer tried to tell me that audio recording police doing their public duty was illegal. At one point stating, “check yourself.” Since I’m already facing three counts of wiretapping, and have spent the last year caught up in court cases, I turned the camera off. I told the officer that he was wrong and left to seek the others who came to support Kelly and her TSA activism – see this video of the demonstration.

It amazes me that public officials (especially police officers) still feel they have an expectation of privacy while conducting public duties. Again how, after the national publicity Glik received and the ever growing cell phone technology, can anyone – let alone police – have any expectation of privacy while in public or open space is beyond me. If the bank on the corner isn’t filming you, the gas station is and if  not those I bet someone is near by with a smart phone. Unless you’re in your own home, on your own property, you have no expectation of privacy, sorry.

The solution to this would be to rid ourselves of public servants and replace them with privately run businesses. This way when officer Londonderry tells me I can’t film the actions which I pay him for, I can simply stop paying him and find someone who provides the service I want. You don’t see me making videos about Piggly Wiggly (grocery store chain) and the bad service I feel they provide. Why is that? Because I’m able to go to Market Basket (another grocery chain) instead and Piggly Wiggly isn’t allow to force me to pay for their service (which is food distribution). If only policing were the same.

Londonderry (NH) Police Officer Receives 101 on Filming Public Officials is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights