Gangsters in Blue

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This past summer I was arrested, in Marietta GA., for blowing a .01 BAC % into a breathalyzer at age 19; which is illegal in the State of GA.  I also received a fraudulent possession charge for less than a gram of marijuana; which will be reviewed in court. My friend Mario Sanchez admitted to the cops prior to arrest that it was his marijuana.  Records can be retrieved from the Cobb County Magistrate Court.

When I first arrived in jail, the sheriffs painfully ripped colorful yarn out of my hair.  Shortly after, I was stripped and asked to squat down while female sheriffs snicked behind my nude body. During this early stage of my experience I overheard the civil police and sheriffs taunting an Asian man’s name and dietary habits.  A Hispanic woman, who later learned she would be deported and separated from her child, was ridiculed for her ethnicity.  My Hispanic comrade, Mario, was inappropriately groped and ridiculed.  Meanwhile, the police who arrested me mocked my last name and continued to browse my cell phone, camera, and Ipod; all trivial matters.

I was placed in a female holding cell alone. Fraught with humiliation, I hysterically shredded the toilet paper given to me in the holding cell for the sheriffs to pick up.  A group of sheriffs flooded into my cell with body chains.  I was chained  around my waste and violently thrown into solitary confinement – “female observation”- where I accepted my fate and concentrated on meditating.  Occasionally I stood up to look out of the window.  A male sheriff sexually harassed me outside the window,  provocatively taunting me to show him my tongue.  I complained to a sheriff of the incident and was told I could go online and file a code violation “17.4”; an option that I later learned was not available to the public. In the meantime, I was barefoot and denied socks because, “I wasn’t in Macy’s”.

As is routine, I was taken from solitary confinement into the nurse’s office to undergo a Tuberculosis test injection. The room was unsterile and smelled of urine.  Without explaining the shot, the nurse asked me to hold out my arm.  Because I refuted her request, a police woman, Officer Jerked, ordered me to subdue my arm or I would be taken “upstairs where people shit on each other, shit on themselves, and will shit on you”.  In response, I kept my word and disgraced her barbaric occupation, Officer Jerked grasped my shirt collar and violently slung me back into solitary confinement.

Midway through the experience I was temporarily released from solitary confinement to contact my parents; after spending approximately 6 hours meditating alone between four white walls.  I could not reach them.  At this stage, I was having my fingerprints taken and was charged $1300 to bail myself out of jail.  The possibility of losing financial aid and getting transferred to the “population” of the detention center flooded my emotions.  I was allowed to sit with the rest of the new inmates and cynically watch FOX news, if I behaved.

My father contacted the detention facility and negotiated the bail with a sheriff I had complained to.  In the meantime, I overheard Officer Jerked and her fellow minions taunt my desire to report sexual harassment.  Nearly hysterical and humiliated by her jests, I told Jerked that I didn’t want to “see her, hear her, breathe the oxygen she was breathing, smell her, or taste her”.  She angrily charged me, scaring me further into my seat.  She tore me out of my shocked position and hoisted me into the concrete floor where I suffered a subluxation in the upper region of my spine.  Sobbing, I was thrown back into solitary confinement where I was given Fritos and red punch.

Several hours later, a sheriff entered my cell to inform me that I was being released without bail.

To cope with this experience, I want to voice this experience through the United States’ Media to inform the general public of the degree of corruption existing in America’s jails.  The Cobb County Adult Detention Center is the black heart of this town, slowly pulsating venomous blood throughout our streets.  Solitary Confinement has not yet been reviewed by the Supreme Court of its Constitutionality;  neither has sexual harassment, or unjustified physical abuse.  This injustice must come to a standstill.

In the words of Martin Luther King;  “An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.”

I am currently gathering and organizing information to communicate this experience to Amnesty International in London, and I greatly appreciate any constructive feedback.

Amanda Constantinides

Victim of Police Brutality in Cobb County, Georgia is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

The recent video of a Manchester, New Hampshire student being violently arrested for what at most could be described as student misbehavior is just another example of the police abusing young people while they are in the care of the government’s school system.  You do not have to be very old to remember a time when it was rare for a school to have a full time police officer roaming the school campus.  Fueled by a media-generated perception that schools are a violent, dangerous place and by the resulting “zero tolerance” policies, this is no longer the case.

If a police officer’s role on school campuses was to provide security from internal or external violence, then their presence would not be so troubling, but instead of being limited to this function, officers are intervening in situations that are better handled by teachers and administrators.  In the past, misbehavior at school would result in a trip to the principal’s office, detention and maybe even a suspension for the most egregious behavior.  Today you are likely, at best, to receive a ticket and a stiff fine for disrupting class, using profanity, or being late for school.  At worst you may end up on the receiving end of a beating at the hands of an armed agent of the state.

A December 2010 report released by Texas Appleseed, a law organization with the mission of promoting justice for all Texans, details the increasing trend of issuing Class C Misdemeanor tickets to students as young as 6 years old.

“Criminalization” of student misbehavior extends to even the youngest students. In Texas, students as young as six have been ticketed at school in the past five years, and it is not uncommon for elementary-school students to be ticketed by school-based law enforcement…The increase in ticketing and arrest of students, in Texas and nationwide, has coincided with the growth in school-based policing. Campus policing is the largest and fastest growing area of law enforcement in Texas, according to its own professional association. With counselors stretched to handle class scheduling and test administration duties, school administrators and teachers are increasingly turning to campus police officers (also known as School Resource Officers or SROs) to handle student behavior problems.

In others words, teachers and school officials have abdicated their responsibility to discipline, or teach right conduct and instead have allowed armed agents of the state to enforce rules by punishment and extortion.  In the Dallas Independent School District alone, over 1,200 Class C Misdemeanor tickets were issued to elementary age children over the course of five years.  These tickets can cost a family as much as $550 dollars.  When Texas Appleseed released its report, Dallas ISD issued a statement saying that “Those who do receive tickets are hopefully learning that their actions have consequences.”    Having a student wash all of the desks in his class if he writes on his desk, is a consequence.  Keeping a student in from recess if he disrupts class is a consequence.  Making a student help the janitors clean the cafeteria for a week if he starts a food fight is a consequence.  Misdemeanor tickets are not consequences that help a child understand right conduct.  They do not teach a child why certain behaviors are wrong.  They are nothing but punishment and not even age appropriate punishment, at that.  Unless a 6-year-old has saved $550 in their piggy bank, my guess is that it is the parents that are forking over the money.

At the 2007 National Association of School Resources Conference, keynote speaker, John Giduck, told the audience,

“You’ve got to be a one-man fighting force…. You’ve got to have enough guns, and ammunition and body armor to stay alive…. You should be walking around in schools every day in complete tactical equipment, with semi-automatic weapons…. You can no longer afford to think of yourselves as peace officers…. You must think of yourself [sic] as soldiers in a war because we’re going to ask you to act like soldiers.”

It is no doubt that this type of mentality that has led to many reports of officers using violence on students.  I have reported before about an eight year old being pepper sprayed, a seven year old being choked while having a seizure, a teenager having his arm broken while attempting to leave school because he felt ill, and of course, the recent video of a Manchester NH student being slammed into a table.  In all these cases the argument centered on whether the amount of force used was excessive.  The question shouldn’t be whether the force was excessive, but rather, why are police officers, absent violence on a student’s part, being used to enforce the administrative rules of the school?  Why is any physical force being used?

Of course there are many who blame the students when they are the victims of violence at the hand of the thugs in blue.  “They need to learn to respect authority,” is the refrain so often repeated.  But my question is, why?  Sure, as adults, you will most likely have to answer to an authority, such as an employer, but that is a voluntary relationship, it is not an imposed authority.  What possible benefit is there to teaching young people to “respect” an authority that has been imposed upon them?   Is it so they will gladly assist in herding people onto cattle cars?  Is it so they will shoot civilians when ordered to do so?  There is simply no reason that “respecting” authority should be seen as a noble virtue that should be taught to young people.  People who think deferment to authority is the only way to achieve widespread right conduct by people that make up a society must themselves be completely devoid of a moral or ethical compass.   Discipline should not be about respecting authority; it should be about respecting people.

I have said it before but it is worth repeating, the embedding of police officers in all government schools is just another symptom of the police state.  What better way to desensitize the masses to the polices’ bad behavior than have them routinely yield to the demands of an armed agent of the government on a daily basis while they are young?

Criminalizing Student Misbehaviour is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

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Kalispell,MT-      One evening I was having a drink at a Hotel Lounge with an old friend from High-School that I bumped into earlier in the day. As part of our catch-up discussion, he told me of his time in the service and why he felt the need to get out. He had some very strong feelings that apparently offended a group of servicemen around the corner from our table. My friend left and after paying the tab, I too left out of a separate entrance.

My girlfriend was getting off of work three blocks away and I was going to leave my vehicle in the Hotel parking lot and ride home with her. However, when I left, I was followed by the four angry servicemen who wanted to teach me a lesson in patriotism. Sometime during their assault on me, the police were called and they responded very quickly.

The men went inside and I was immediately treated as the suspect, searched, handcuffed, belittled, and sat on the curb. As the men were brought out and questioned, they had a few good laughs with the cops, shook hands, and were released.

Then I was asked, ¨Where’s the gun?¨.  Well, there was NO gun. They asked how I got there and I told them that I drove my vehicle that was parked in the lot. They asked which one, took my keys, and began to search my vehicle. One of them yelled out, ¨Look what we found”.   The officer accompanying me slammed me to the ground, put his knees into my chest, and drew his gun into my face saying, ¨Move, just F`ing blink and I’m gonna F`ing shoot you in the face, just move¨.

A Sheriff on the scene told the cop that he was out of line and to holster his gun and the city cop responded by telling him that he was out of his jurisdiction. He continued to wave his gun in my face and I could tell he really did want to pull the trigger.

So, back to what they found…a baseball bat. They came over and said ¨What is this?¨, as if they had just discovered an assault rifle. I wasn’t sure if it was a rhetorical question or what. I pointed out that it was a baseball bat, not a gun and that there is a HUGE difference. (Mind you I had not even entered my vehicle since I’d parked earlier on in the evening so how they were able to justify searching it was beyond me) Then, they asked very seriously and accusingly ¨Why do you have a baseball bat in your SUV?¨  I told them that if they would notice that the back of the vehicle was used for transporting my black lab as it had a dog blanket, black hair, and a big ball with teeth marks in it from when I would hit the ball for him to fetch…with said baseball bat.

They never cared to get a statement from me about the assault that had taken place; the issue now was what to do with me? I was charged with public intoxication, carrying a weapon, criminal mischief, and disorderly conduct. They did let me go in time to hitch a ride home with my girlfriend and meanwhile got my vehicle towed as well.

Jay Young

¨Move, just F`ing blink and I`m gonna F`ing shoot you in the face¨ is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

How does a cop with multiple incidents of alcohol fueled misconduct stay on the job for 20+ years? It’s a good question, and one that many people are asking in the wake of a recent late-night incidence of extreme violence, wherein veteran Washington D.C. Police Officer Kenneth Furr wound up standing on the hood of his Cadillac firing his service weapon into a car full of transgender women he’d just rammed into, screaming “I’m gonna kill all of you!” 3 people were injured, and one suffered multiple severe gunshot wounds in the attack. Furr blew a .15 BAC a full 5 hours after the incident, and was arrested on suspicion of DWI. He has since been ordered to stand trial for assault, though not the more serious but obviously appropriate charge of attempted murder. The good news is, he is being held without bond, so he will stay in jail until his next court appearance, due to the judge’s decision that based upon his record and the circumstances of the case, he presents a clear and present danger to society at large.

As I’m sure you’ve probably already guessed, Officer Furr has not yet been fired from his job, he’s on “on administrative leave while the case was reviewed by internal affairs,” and will likely be represented by counsel provided at the police union’s expense.

But the real scandal is that this event never had to happen at all, even without taking into consideration Furr’s seriously checkered past or his department’s utter failure to address it. The confrontation began in a CVS drug store earlier that morning, where he got into a verbal altercation -allegedly over the rejection of his clumsy advances toward one of the victims- that ultimately climaxed with him brandishing his service weapon and threatening them (were he a mere mundane, such an indiscretion would see him charged with assault with a deadly weapon, criminal negligence, menacing, or any number of other crimes), but the situation was diffused by another off-duty cop working security at the store. However, rather than arresting Furr and calling in back-up to detain an obviously intoxicated and dangerous man with a gun, this Keystone cop gave his “brother in blue” a free pass.

Even after the fact, in the midst of all the chaos Furr created, even after this horrific display of murderous intent, this callous disregard for public safety, this outrageous act of pointless mayhem and villainy, the Metro PD STILL saw fit to cover for their own guy by blaming the terrified and grievously wounded victims of  their officer’s drunken, insane rampage. Not only was the integrity and sobriety of the victims and several witnesses questioned at the scene and in court, but the defense attorney even made a play to bring their gender into question, until the judge wisely put a stop to it. The following comment posted to an article in the local media appears to be from someone involved, due to its detailed and specific nature. If true, it not only reveals a stomach turning disregard for the victims of this savage crime, and egregious insensitivity to their gender identity, but a complete betrayal of the public trust on the part of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. To wit:

Imagine.

You are hanging with friends, and go to a convenience store to get cigarettes or whatever before you go home. In the store, you get hit on by an older guy who you have no interest in. After you tell him you aren’t interested, he further insults you by offering you money. And then more money. You aren’t having any of it. A male friend asks him to leave you alone – nicely. You pay for your stuff and leave the store. The same nut job is outside and flashes a gun at your friend, threatening him. You leave in your car. Down the street, the nut job blocks the path of your car, screams ” I’ma kill you all” and opens fire with a semi-automatic glock. Glass is shattering. The back windshield explodes. You are cowering in the car, terrified that you will be killed. You are grazed by a bullet. Your friends are hit! Everyone is screaming! NUT JOB jumps on the hood of the car and keeps firing through the roof of the car – bullets are flying!

Now…..

The MPD arrives. They take the gun from NUT JOB, smoke still coming out of the barrel. They gently lead NUT JOB away, and escort him to a cruiser. MPD have their own weapons drawn, and they are pointing at YOU! They are telling you to lie down, and hands up…they are yelling at YOU! They handcuff you all and take YOU away. Your friends who are shot are put in a wagon…they take you all to a hospital. At the hospital, they call you sir even though you are obviously a woman. They intimidate you. What were you doing? Why were you there? Where are the drugs? What have you had to drink? You are bleeding. You are scared. You are in shock. MPD puts you in a room the size of a closet, and come in to interrogate you. You are in the room for what seems like forever…a couple of hours. You are misgendered some more. You are insulted some more. You are intimidated some more. MPD brass is there…they bring a friend to talk to you, to get you to cooperate. You tell them what happened. And then they just let you go.

They don’t offer victim services. They don’t even apologize for their insults. They let you go.

Later, morons on the internet blame you for being in a bad neighborhood. Or soliciting sex for money. or somehow deserving of all that has happened. You are young. You are black. You are pretty. You must be to blame. You asked for it. Because, after all, you are transgender.

Imagine. In a world that is hateful and insane, you are always somehow at fault.

And to all of you out there who would criticize these young women?

SHAME.

Shame, indeed.

Cop In Transgender Shooting Had Record Of Alcohol Abuse, Violence is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

According to Capitol Police, it’s illegal to sell Lemonade on “Capitol Grounds” without a permit. Permit being a fancy for, “you can’t unless you pay us first, allow us to regulate you and cut us in on a portion of your profit (they’ll call that tax). This past weekend local D.C area activist, including several from Virginia CopBlock, went out to “liberate lemons” for Lemonade Freedom, by setting up their own lemonade stand (see video above or this UStream by Meg) in protest of police shutting down lemonade stands before.

It didn’t take long for the Capitol Police to take notice and ramp up their intimidation towards those selling lemonade. First asking if they had a permit, when told no, the police then asked those selling lemonade to stop. When that didn’t work officers started surrounding the group, when the activists improvised and started delivering lemonade to those near by, the police started intimidating people trying to buy a drink. Staying things like, “they’ll give it to you for free but don’t give them money.”

What’s most disturbing is that Meg McLain, Will Duffield and Kassie Dill were handcuffed, taken to the police station and charged with several ‘crimes’ (Vending without a permit, Failure to obey a lawful order and Unlawful conduct). Now, instead of making a few bucks and providing dozens of people with a beverage they desired,  taxpayers will fit the bill (mostly) for court cost, police resources that were used and the possible jailing to come if found guilty. Single handedly the Capitol Police turned what could have (and should have) been a win, win situation for all involved, into a loss for everyone. Congratulations.

If you’re upset about the war on lemons, please call the Capitol Police (202.224.0908), let them know your thoughts. It’s obvious the officers weren’t in agreement, per the ending of the above video, but are willing to arrest anyone – as told to do so – to keep their cushy jobs. How much longer will you pay for this service?

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Selling Lemonade is a Crime? is a post from Cop Block - "Something must be done about vengeance, a badge, and a gun"

Chris and his brother, Shaun, were walking home Aug 18th around 2 am in Seaside Heights. They saw a police officer and decided to film. According to Chris, (via email):

Me and my brother were walking on the boulevard right off the boardwalk. A police car pulled up by us about 20 yards away so I pulled out my phone ready to film. Nothing happened after standing there for a minute so we started walking away. We were about 35 yards away when the cop got out of his car and told us to stop. This is when I pulled my phone back out and started recording the officer walking up to me. He quickly took my phone and violated my rights. Me and my brother were separated. He was handcuffed peacefully a short while later. Eventually he was thrown to the ground and beat. I continued to be harrassed for not giving my ID and was told I would be arrested if I didnt hand it over. I handed it over without consent after a very long time asking what crime I commited. I continued to be harrassed and after a while they gave me a ticket for public nuisance and my brother was arrested for aggravated assault. He was taken away and subsequently beat in jail. We got him out on 25000 bond the next day at the county jail. He has marks and scratches all over his body. He also broke his nose. After all was said and done I asked Officer Anderson for his badge number but he told me I better leave and refused.

Chris states that he’s contacted other civil rights organizations and hopes his and his brother’s charges will be dropped. I hope so too, yet the thin blue line may have other ideas. Chris also stated that Officers Anderson (featured), Sasso, and Rodriguez were on scene for sure, but that another 5 – 7 officers arrived later. All these officers need to be held accountable, even the ‘good’ cop in the video – the one trying to get Chris to calm his brother down – should be fired for allowing Anderson to get so out of control.

That’s why I decided to start a call flood to this department. It’s been awhile since I called, but I see nothing has changed when seeking accountability with police. Not only was I given the run around, but when I finally did get a hold of Sgt. Diaz, he refused to tell me anything and only provided lame excuses as to why. I did leave a message and will keep folks posted.

If you’d like, call the Seaside Heights police department, their number is 732.793.1800. If you’re so inclined, please record the conversation and send it to us via our contact tab. I’ll provide some free goodies (stickers, business cards) to such Cop Blockers. Thanks in advance.

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Seaside Heights, NJ Police – Who’s Acting Like an Asshole? You Decide…. is a post from Cop Block - "Something must be done about vengeance, a badge, and a gun"

Earlier this month, we covered the Kelly Thomas murder. Cops were allegedly responding to a report of an unidentified man attempting to burglarize cars. Cops stopped Mr. Thomas, who tried to remove himself from the situation. According to multiple witnesses, police then repeatedly beat Mr. Thomas with weapons and shot at him with Tasers. They kicked in his face and crushed a knee or two into his throat as he screamed for god and his father. He died in the hospital several days later.

One witness was purportedly recording the events on her cellphone. Police accused her of “interfering” with an investigation and demanded she cease recording. She refused, and was assaulted and battered. Another witness believes the witness with the cellphone was eventually taken into custody (interview with that witness here). I say assault and battery even though the account of the witness indicates she was grabbed and arrested because that is what assault and battery are, under the legal definitions used by police. Police like to scream assault and battery when you so much as scratch or spit at them, but when they twist arms and drag people off to jail, they like to call it “restraint” or “taking into custody.” Let’s be intellectually honest and call it what it is. If spitting on someone is assault, then certainly grabbing their arms and hauling them off to jail for wielding a cellphone camera is assault and battery.

The cops who seized the video were unnecessarily paranoid. They failed to place due trust in the thoroughly corrupt and evil system that almost always takes their side. Predictably, the vile ranks of law enforcement have treated this whole matter as less than problematic. The District Attorney’s office claims to be investigating, but any idiot can see through their lame and laughably transparent attempts to deceive the public. All of the officers are on paid vacation, while no charges have been filed. District Attorney Tony Rackauckas actually said his office is trying to determine whether officers used excessive force. Hmm, let’s think about that one.

The guy died, didn’t he?

Last time I checked, the penalty for being in the proximity of a car burglary – or even for being an actual suspect of the burglary – is not death. If the penalty for having the misfortune of being near a suspected burglary is less than death, then by definition, death penalty for such a transgression would be excessive.

Legal definitions can put a twist on things. So maybe the force was “excessive” based on a layman understanding, but what about the legal definition of excessive force? Legally, excessive force means the force used was unreasonable. So if this matter is actually debatable in Mr. Rackauckas’ mind, apparently there’s a chance beating a possible burglary suspect to death is “reasonable.” Reasonable if you live under tyranny, I suppose.

According to the Washington Post, “Rackauckas said prosecutors generally can file murder charges if they find that officers acted with such malice that it approached an intent to kill.” Yes, they can. But Rackauckas is being disingenuous here. Intent to kill is not required for a murder charge.

California Penal code 187  defines murder as the “unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought.” Malice aforethought can be express (intent to kill) or implied. Malice is implied if a defendant intentionally committed an act, the natural consequences of which were dangerous to human life, the defendant knew the act was dangerous, and acted with conscious disregard for human life (see CA jury instructions on malice here). Thus, intent to kill is not necessary for a murder charge.

Are we really to believe that when these 6 officers beat the living shit out of Mr. Thomas, they did not intend to beat him? Unless they were all suffering from involuntary epileptic seizures of some sort, this is not a credible claim. The 6 officers intentionally beat Mr. Thomas, which is an act that is dangerous to human life. The officers knew this was a dangerous act (even if you do not think officers are the brightest bunch, surely they know repeated beating and Tasering is dangerous), and consciously beat him until he was almost dead. If this not adequate grounds for a murder charge, I’m not sure what is.

And of course, when they murder someone, the taxpayers foot the bill. Mr. Thomas’ father was offered a settlement of $900,000 from an attorney representing the City of Fullerton. Why completely innocent residents of Fullerton who have never committed violence, much less murdered a man, should have to pay for the crimes of 6 heinous scumbags is beyond me.

This is to say nothing of the fact that if these officers were ordinary people, they would have likely been charged immediately, severely, and probably with additional crimes they didn’t even commit. They would most certainly be in jail, with bail set high. Whoever seized the cellphone would likely be charged with tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, resisting arrest, etc. However, as they are hallowed members of an elite gang, they are treated with undeserved deference and leniency, and when they destroy evidence, they are just doing their jobs.

For regular updates on this event, visit Friends of Fullerton’s Future. They have an entire page devoted to Kelly Thomas.

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Still no justice for Kelly Thomas is a post from Cop Block - "Something must be done about vengeance, a badge, and a gun"

This story was submitted using our Submit a Post tab and written by Jonathan.

Here’s the story, via Daily Times (Delware Co, PA):

Mayor Wendell N. Butler Jr. wants the officer who shot and killed a city man on Aug. 5 suspended without pay.

Butler said he made the decision after meeting with the family of Daniel Francis Simms, 21, who was gunned down in a backyard near the intersection of East 23rd and Crosby streets.

The Simms family and others have held two protests since then, including one outside police headquarters during which some of the protesters called for the lynching of the officer involved. Officials have declined to release the name of the officer, citing the ongoing investigation.

When asked if he agreed to the suspension in exchange for the family agreeing to stop protesting, Butler, a former longtime cop, said, “I talked to the family, but I don’t make deals.” (Read Full Story Here)

Found out about this from a facebook post – the poster, claiming to be the partner of the guys who fatally shot a Chester man in the back. The amount of hate towards the murdered man and the mayor who dares suspend the cop with no pay is absolutely incredible.

The overwealming sentiment expressed on this FB page is the typical “if you run from the cops and pull a gun you deserve to be shot to death” stuff. No remorse. Just the same old “Well, don’t you know, you don’t have much time to think in those situations.”

Since when is running from the cops a death warrant?

Chester, PA cops shoots man in the back is a post from Cop Block - "Something must be done about vengeance, a badge, and a gun"

Hello,
I wanted to submit my story to see if anyone else has been in similar situations with police officers where they haven’t been physically touched, and have had their lives threatened with a gun and what actually came out of it.

On February 25th 2010, I entered Shoppers Grocery Store in Largo, MD. Within two minutes of entering the store a male in regular clothes began to engage me for no valid reason. He made a comment of how I was standing in a grocery isle. I I told him that he didn’t need to engage me he became loud saying that I should turn my music down (I had earbuds but my music was turned off). We had an argument and when I told him that our conversation was over he followed me in the store and continued to harass me.

This is where I believe that that the store management and security is not necessarily at fault, but could have been more proactive because I later found out during police interrogation that the store manager was aware that two people were arguing in his store.

The store manager was questioned on the spot about whether or not he saw/heard anything, by Sergeant questioned him right in front of me. The  store manager himself stated that he hear the yelling and arguing (even cursing on Davis’s part) but that he didn’t see anything.

The store (Shopper in Largo, MD) does not necessarily ‘owe’ customers protection when they enter the store but it is very strange that the manager admitted himself that he heard disorderly conduct between a male and female in his store in which he was managing and did not see fit to at least see what was was going on. That was his store and you would think that he would think that Shoppers would want their customers to have a pleasant experience in his store and I think that it is very unfortunate that he didn’t think to ‘intercede’. I am not blaming him or Shoppers for what happened but Davis should have been asked to leave the store before things had escalated for trying to become combative/argumentative with a woman he didn’t know (which had nothing to do with his status as a police officer) a male should not be allowed to come into a store and treat a woman, or any person like that. His behavior should have dealt with and his presence should have been removed from the environment so that people could have shopped in peace.

I had a younger brother (16) who was in another store in the shopping center. I told him to come into the Shoppers and shop with me because a strange guy was harassing me in the store. My brother had met up with some of his friends in the store so when he came to store he had a few of his friends with him. My brother asked me what was the issue and who had been giving me a hard time and I pointed at guy who had been harassing me. My brother asked the guy is there was a personal problem that the guy had with me, and he cursed at my brother, saying, ‘I don’t have s— to say to you’. He began to exit the isle and my brother stood in front of me blocking him from getting any closer to me. Without any notification he pulled out his gun on us, pointing it at my brother and one of my brother’s friends (14). We ran out of the store. I was unaware at the time but my brother had two other friends in the store waiting for him and when they tried to follow us he grabbed them. On our way home we received a phone call from stating that PG police had two of my brother’s friends and that they needed me to make a statement because the guy who pulled a gun us is an MPDC Forensics officer and told officers that he had a small argument with me (didn’t state that he was harassing me and following me) and that I called people up there to ‘threaten him’ and that’s why he pulled out his gun on us because he felt threatened by me(a 25 year old woman) and a 14 and 16 year old males. He also claimed he announced himself as a police officer but footage clearly showed us running from him like our lives depended on it. I returned to the store and told PG police exactly what happened. They took my statement, the officer’s statement. They concluded with giving me his name and badge number Tirik Davis #3296, giving me the opportunity to report his hostile behavior. I filed a complaint and he was exonerated, unfortunately the other kids who he unlawfully detained didn’t want to have anything to with it (probably because they know they didn’t do anything wrong,and weren’t arrested).

The officer’s Lt., not only exonerated him but told me it was my fault and she also said that he did nothing wrong and that the culpability lies with me. It’s interesting because the store manager himself said that he heard Davis yelling at me in the store and MPD disregarded that. I filed an appeal. During the appeal, Lt. of Investigative Services Bureau (a seperate department of MPD) looked into the incident and saw that he was clearly wrong and probably lying becuase it’s pretty impossible for an adult male to get into it with a woman in a grocery store unless he’s clearly crossing boundaries. He made recommendations to put Davis in an early intervention program and also put points of misconduct on his record because if he really had announced himself as an officer, we should have been under arrest for ‘resistint arrest’. He could clearly see Davis was lying.

Unfortunately Davis’s Commander, had the last say and overulled the recommendations, he was advised by Chief Lanier to talk to Davis about how his actions impacted the events so that it would never happen again. I found out from the Commander that this never happened he just ‘discussed’ what happened with him and did nothing to show Davis that he was wrong. His department also inflated the information that they had, during the first investigation they said they had one eyewitness and during the appeal they all of a sudden had several eyewitnesses.

When I spoke to the Captain of Internal Affairs, about this, his only response was ‘it must have been a mistake’. Another statement that Captain made to me that I thought was very strange was, ‘we know that the two of you had an argument. He (Tirik Davis) said that he got into an argument with you. The issue here is who was more aggressive’. I found his statement to  be very strange because I know (based on Lt Michelle Milam’s statement) that MPD has only one eyewitness (and based on the fact that they later increased that number I don’t even know if the one eyewitness is ‘valid’ or even truly exists). The ‘eyewitness’ that they have did not see the beginning or even the majority of the altercation, meaning that they must have only seen a portion of the altercation.

MPD knows for a fact that the incident started with Davis approaching me because Davis admitted it himself. MPD also knows that Davis was loud and yelling at me because the store manager gave this information to PG police and all of that info must have been available to MPDC because there was a police report done. So if they do have a witness who may have seen me saying something to Davis then they know that it was in verbal defense of the hostility that was brought to me and I think it’s shame that the Captain of Internal Affairs would know for a fact that I did not start or cause the altercation, that I am a woman, and I didn’t have or draw a weapon (which Davis did and drew on us) and actually state that I was more aggressive, it’s disgraceful. I am now trying to sue Davis personally for intentional infliction of emotional stress/PTSD. Since the incident I haven’t been able to work nor rarely leave the house. I simply don’t feel safe because I should have been ‘safe’ in the grocery store. This person was in regular clothes and pulled out a gun on me and my brother, I thought he was going to kill us and for what? He knew that wasn’t right which is why he covered his tracks and said that he did follow protocol. Also, this incident had made me lose faith in the police department because I did nothing wrong. I am just a woman who was going about her daily business and a person who is supposed to have integrity used his position to get over on me for absolutely no reason. They tried to make it seem as it was my fault. I didn’t cause this, I had no weapon, and I I even tried to walk away from him and be the bigger person. MPD literally worked together so he wouldn’t have to face any consequences for harassing a woman and attacking minors. The biggest mistake I made was not seeking legal assistance from the begginning because he had a whole department to protect his bad behavior and I had no one to stand up for me (legally). I just recently accessed the police report becuase I am trying to sue Tirik Davis in court, the police department wrote the entire police report from his perspective and Tirik Davis slandered me by claiming I said things I never said and left out things that he said and did to me (i.e. yelling and following me in the store). This is a big mess and everything has unfortunately been set up to be in his favor.

Officer Pulls Gun on Woman is a post from Cop Block - "Something must be done about vengeance, a badge, and a gun"

“I said to (Haynes) that if we come up short and there are some acquittals in our cases, it will at least validate the process.”

“At which point, his eyes got wide and he said, ‘Wait a minute, we can’t have acquittals. If we’ve been holding these guys for so long, how can we explain letting them get off? . . . We’ve got to have convictions.’”

- Morris Davis to William J. Haynes II (Former General Counsel for Department of Defense) on Guantanamo trials of detainees during the War on Terror.  The current War on Terror inaugurated in 2001 by Bush II ushered in an era when the US government made torture its official policy as I wrote here.  It also started a broad fusillade against every basic liberty of every human living within the borders of the American tax jurisdiction.  While ostensibly a full scale assault on “terrorists”, it has provided an object lesson in how one becomes what one hunts.

I will state my desire up front:  I don’t want the police to be reformed, watched, video-recorded, monitored, disarmed, watch-dogged, controlled, quality checked, investigated, punished, prosecuted or anything else.  I simply want them gone.  I want their current employment  to cease and desist.  From the FLEAs (Federal Law Enforcement Agents) all the way to the local constabulary, all must be permanently furloughed and asked to find more productive work like mowing lawns, bagging groceries or playing video-games.  It could be somewhat cathartic to have apology tours across the nation by every cop employed or retired through the communities they “served”.  We could provide them with a by-name list of anyone they have harassed, fined, kidnapped, caged or maimed to map out their respective apology tours.  Those murdered by departments could have their graves identified for the appropriate visit by the acknowledged killer (who most likely served nothing more than a paid administrative “leave”) in the thin “black and blue” line.

I have made a comprehensive case for the reduction and elimination of police forces already and will not make the case here.

All department buildings, vehicles, uniforms and the miscellany of appropriated goods can be sold at auction to include all asset forfeiture and seizure “property”. The proceeds would be disbursed to all the arrested and caged victims of consensual and non-violent crime enforcement.

A free society would not require the tattooing or branding of these former officers to readily identify them as a threat to polite society but a shunning campaign could be instituted for the more egregious bullies in their ranks.

Before the 20^th century, cops were few and far between in these united States, yet today most of the populace mewl in fear when one proposes the cops simply go away…forever.

What are they afraid of?  The police have no duty to protect individuals from harm in society.

“The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled numerous times since 1856 that law enforcement officers have no duty to protect any individual, despite the motto “protect and serve”.

Their duty is to enforce the law in general. The first such case was in 1856 (South v. Maryland) and the most recent in 2005 (Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales).^[69]” Their charter is clear and always has been:  they enforce the laws of our rulers no matter how unjust, silly, murderous or just plain stupid.

They constantly and insipidly insist that they are simply doing their jobs, much like the Nazi defendants at Nuremberg.  Their behavior is much more like an occupation force than a community peace officer operation.  From the Drug War to the Raw Food raids, they are the enablers of all the bad laws people constantly and incessantly bellyache about yet the government-media complex has done an extraordinary job of hanging bunting and patriotic gore on the image of the armed tax-eater as a hero and pillar of the community; such a worthy protector that his safety will always trump that of a mundane citizen.

If the object of policing is creating a safe and stable community for people to work and play in, then that is certainly not the effect.  Cops are historians when it comes to real crimes, especially those perpetrated against individuals, for they respond to crimes in progress or well after the fact and rarely seem to resolve violent situations without leaving a trail of blood and tears behind them.

I would love to find the documented evidence of how many innocents are run down or petty criminals shot by cops annually.  As a matter of fact, when the bagpipes are playing at a funeral for a cop, there is a greater than fifty percent chance they died in a traffic accident and the numbers are minuscule per capita (56 died by gunfire in 2010 and no percentage identified of how many were the result of fratricide):  nearly one million sworn “officers” and on average approximately 125 die every year in the line of duty.  Nearly three times that number perish annually by their own hand.  There are 17,000 police departments in these united States and zero reliable data available on the number of people maimed and killed by the police but simply from the news and anecdotal reports, the numbers are certainly higher than cop fatalities.

I am going to make a banal but obvious correlation between police forces and terrorism.  They are one and the same.  I have a natural Rothbardian revulsion toward any initiated violence and find that in the lion’s share of police confrontations in America, the police inevitably draw first blood and participate, under color of law and authority, in the most sadistic andvicious behavior humans can outside of the CIA “Black Sites” although the behavior inside police stations may rival that.  Caleb Carr has stated in his brilliant tome, The Lessons of Terror, that terrorism is simply “politically motivated violence against non-combatants and innocents”.

What political component?  By their own admission, police officers are law enforcers and the political process  is how laws are divined; so, cops are by their very nature the Praetorian Guard for the ruling class at all levels.  How many times has one heard the tired old saw by police that they are simply “upholding the law”?  One can dither about the employment of the term unlawful but in America that has as much definitional weight as unconstitutional.  If you suppose this is making too fine a point then why would America turn its back so abruptly on the Hague and Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture to quite literally bureaucratize and institutionalize torture and cruelty in the global military campaign  to eradicate a tactic e.g., terrorism?  Can one adduce that the American police culture increasingly mimics the military in dress and behavior?  Can you think of a more natural seedbed for cruelty and torture than the video evidence that piles up day after day of police abuse of the citizenry?  These are not isolated incidents.  The modern police demand instant obedience or they will beat, electrocute or shoot you for the mere act of resistance or defiance.  Let that sink in:  the government sanctions the initiated savaging of innocent civilians (presumption of innocence) who don’t grovel and scrape and obsequiously comply with the orders of the armed agents of big government.  America, indeed.

Let’s use the government’s own definitions to make the case for a healthy petard hoisting.  One finds that the straightforward and simple US National Counterterrorism Center definition dovetails nicely with Carr.

US National Counterterrorism Center

The US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) described a terrorist act as: “…premeditated; perpetrated by a sub national or clandestine agent; politically motivated, potentially including religious, philosophical, or culturally symbolic motivations; violent; and perpetrated against a noncombatant target.” ^[57]

Other agencies propose the following variations:

United States Code (U.S.C.)

Title 22, Chapter 38 of the United States Code (regarding the Department of State) contains a definition of terrorism in its requirement that annual country reports on terrorism be submitted by the Secretary of State to Congress every year. It reads:

“Definitions … the term ‘terrorism’ means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by sub national groups or clandestine agents;”^[53]

US Code of Federal Regulations

The US Code of Federal Regulations defines terrorism as “…the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives” (28 C.F.R. Section 0.85).

US national security strategy

In September 2002 the US national security strategy defined terrorism as “premeditated, politically motivated violence against innocents”.^[55] This definition did not exclude actions by the United States government and it was qualified some months later with “premeditated, politically motivated violence against noncombatant targets by sub national groups or clandestine agents”.^[56]

United States Department of Defense

TheUnited States Department of Defense recently changed its definition of terrorism. Per Joint Pub 3-07.2, Antiterrorism, (24 November 2010) the Department of Defense defines it as “the unlawful use of violence or threat of violence to instill fear and coerce governments or societies. Terrorism is often motivated by religious, political, or other ideological beliefs and committed in the pursuit of goals that are usually political.”

The new definition distinguishes between motivations for terrorism (religion, ideology, etc.) and goals of terrorism (“usually political”). This is in contrast to the previous definition which stated that the goals could be religious in nature.  The sly use of the term lawful and unlawful allows the DoD to give soldiers a “get out of jail free” card for what appears to be terroristic behavior; a standard that has been suborned into the corpus of the American constabulary.

USA PATRIOT Act

The USA PATRIOT Act defines terrorism activities as “activities that (A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the U.S. or of any state, that (B) appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping, and (C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S.”

Quite simply, no War on Terror is complete without a total dismantling and salting of the earth of all government sponsored police organizations and their concomitant support apparatus.  One could make a robust case that our various “police actions” around the world and especially in the Middle East prompted the attack on America in the first place.  One can make an even more convincing case that none of our freedoms would be extinct or disappearing absent the presence of police.

The War on Terror truly begins at home.  The terror mindset emulates the TSA’s mantra of “Dominate. Intimidate. Control” which saturates police training across the fruited plain and is the sine qua non of cop behavior in the most benign encounters.  This nicely complements the illogical and cowardly“officer safety” mantra that literally gives them a license to initiate violence and get away with it. Until Americans finally realize that police are not their friends but their masters, no freedom is possible.  They are not there to protect the citizenry; they are the armed bulwark for big and small government, the tip of the spear thrust into every notion of decency, liberty and freedom. Most likely, few of the crimes policed are malum in se such as crimes against property or person and most are crimes the government created out of whole cloth such as drug use, DUI, prostitution and the myriad  federal regulations that ensnare unwitting citizens.  Essentially, crimes with no victims except the unfortunates fined and caged by the police.

We have all seen and read the horrific accounts of the police savagingand mauling of women and children.  This is not only what they are capable of, this is what they do.  Every day.

The police are just as legitimate as the rulers and masters who walk their leashes.  The odd political tensions between alleged Left and Right differences mean that, quite literally, you agree to the rightness and moral superiority of every law.  Good luck with that.

The next time you watch one of the legions of police brutality videos on the internet, ask yourself: who really hates you for your freedoms (what few are left)?

-  On June 8, 1978, Solzhenitzyn, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 1970 for his book “The Gulag Archipelago,” was addressing an audience at Harvard University: ”

And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand? . . .”

Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium

Police and Terrorism: One and the Same by Bill Buppert is a post from Cop Block - "Something must be done about vengeance, a badge, and a gun"