by Highline | Jul 26, 2010 |
It simply cannot be said enough. Unless you’re saying “am I being detained” or “I do not consent to a search” you should remain PERFECTLY SILENT! I can think of countless situations where I’ve arrested people simply because they answered my questions. Had they not have… they would have not been arrested. Boy was I fortunate that these people didn’t know their rights… as you now do or did.
Talking to the police will not help you… it will hurt you. You can always talk to the police AFTER you’ve discussed what they want to talk to you about with an attorney. The attorney will determine if your statement will either help or hurt you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc
Thank you to the wonderful blog Checkpoint USA for re-posting this video.
I’d welcome any of our active law enforcement readers to provide their opinions in the comment section of this blog.
by Highline | Jul 24, 2010 |
A Free Keene reader has sent me a link to a rather disturbing video which is posted on a site called BLUtube, a site collecting police related videos and an apparent frequent hangout for police officers.
In the video a man being chased by the police blows his head off with a shotgun. The suicide is captured by a helicopter’s FLIR (infrared) camera as the incident happened at night. The video is titled “Suspect w/ shotgun, Good clean fun” and is submitted by a BLUtube participant calling himself “sergeanthulka555” (a name which to me indicates he is either a member of the military or law enforcement).
I think our fellow FK reader is right on when he pointed out to me that the title of the video and the comments left by people most likely involved in the policing profession aptly show a lack of respect for human life. Whatever crime this man committed, he is a human being… and should be respected as such.
Here are some of the comments I felt were very disturbing:
(more…)
by Highline | Jul 23, 2010 |
Regarding my last blog… a commenter spurred an idea in my head.
If I was going to drink beer in public in violation of the law, I do it from a beer bottle that can be closed with a cap and keep the cap with me. If the police approached me I’d simply put the cap back on the beer.
If the police asked me if the beer is mine… I’d say that it is, because if I didn’t it is essentially abandoned property and they can pick it up and dump it out.
If someone, say you, claimed the property as your own, in order for the police to legally open (and use in court) the beer that you just closed, they now need a warrant. Be sure to assert that you consent to no search of your property, as opening the cap of a container is a “search.” This takes anywhere from 2-4 hours of the police and court time. This will get old real fast for the police… or it is already old, and they’re not going to do it.
As the police cannot lawfully seize someones closed beverage without the intent to get a warrant (and heaven knows they’re not going to want to invest hours and hours and thousands and thousands of dollars in applying for warrants) to investigate whether or not the beverage was used in violation of the law… it seems to me that they are only left with the option to leave peaceful people drinking beverages alone.
PS: If they did take my closed beer without the intent to apply for a warrant to determine if it is alcohol (and a violation of the law) I’d probably will have a good civil suit against the police for stealing my stuff. I’d be sure to follow up on this to make sure that they did apply for a warrant. Once the statue of limitations has expired and the state can no longer initiate a prosecution against me for violating an open container ordinance, I’d be calling Attorney Lance Webber to see what type of civil action I could bring against the government for violating a slew of different statues and constitutional amendments.
(I am not an attorney, this is not legal advice… Lance is though, and he is exactly who I’d go to if this happened to me.)
by Highline | Jul 23, 2010 |
Want to make it impossible for the police to attack people for the completely victimless act of possessing an open container, grind the courts to a halt, and force your local police department to alienate the state forensic laboratory… all while not actually breaking a law?
Here’s how:
(more…)
by Highline | Jul 13, 2010 |
“No police scrutiny: Drop the camera and back away”
“Take care, New Hampshire, that you don’t let the police catch you using your cell phone or video camera to record their interactions with the public. You could be arrested and charged with a felony.”
“It shouldn’t be a crime to record public officials doing their jobs or to record public disturbances or other crimes. Doing so can be a public service. (Had someone taped the incident involving Christopher Micklovich and four off-duty Manchester police officers outside the Strange Brew Tavern earlier this year, that saga would not be dragging on and on.) But in New Hampshire it’s not only a crime, it’s a felony. This needs to change.”
Pretty easy editorial to agree with. What possible public benefit accrues from barring citizens from recording their interactions with governmental officials (particularly ones trained and authorized to use violence)? New Hampshire has some of the best and most professional police officers in the country, and as long as they stay that way they should have no reason to object to being recorded.
– Peter, Canterbury
Wow. Thank you Union Leader for such an awesome piece. The article is located here.
