>>>*Of course a police officer is nothing more than a citizen that is given the JOB of enforcing the laws, people seem to forget that.
I certainly have not forgotten that, having sat in that ladyÆs shoes at one point in time, but the fact still remainsà.there was no probable cause to stop, in theory the Officer had no right to detain and the fact she let him go without getting a single one of her questions answered tells me that she knew she was in the wrongàor at least did not have the official and legal power to demand the answers to the questions she was asking. Clearly this guy with the camera did this on purpose and was trying to a make a point. So what? Isn't that our right in America. There are plenty of incidents where citizens and activists gode the Police or critize the police for their actions. Anyone who reads my posts, knows I constantly defend the police in their actions, including on this board, using very specific points that I've learned about from first hand knowledge and experience.
But this guy had a right to do what he did and he wasn't risking anyone's safety, so I see no problem with what he did. The Officer handled as well as could be expected, but I fully expect that had it been a male Officer, things could have gotten ugly. In my experience, female Officers tend to be more diplomatic and reasonable in situations like this.
Don't get me wrong, I still feel bad for the Officer. Being on that checkpoint was not her decision. And she was just doing her job, but she also clearly knew that she had no right to stop or detain that person, or it would continued and escalated. She made the decision to just cut the stop off and let the person go, which under the circumstances was the wise decision and not all Officers would have made it, which is why there are so many anti-Police videos floating around youtube, giving cops a bad name.
Any citizen may attempt to enforce the same laws in the same fashion, it's just that they had better be correct because with an officer it is a duty and with a citizen it is a right. Actually it is also a duty for any private citizen to try to enforce laws but the perception there has seemed to change over the last few decades.
I can tell first hand, that our state of Oregon completely disagrees with that statement. While citizens have the power of citizens arrest for crimes committed in their presence, the state says that private citizens do not have any duty to act and in fact, are mostly encouraged not to act, although they legally can. Police Officers specificly do have a duty act. Case law dictates that citizens actually have a duty to run, when possible, which has come up in many civil cases involving citizen use of force against criminals. Usually in situations off their personal property and where the citizen clearly had an avenue of escape but chose to stay and fight or make the citizen's arrest. But I'm kind of getting off topic.
The best advice I can give is if the officer says jump, then jump. Wait until later and there is lots of people around to deal with any out of line conduct. Most officers will demonstrate restraint but every once in awhile you can run into one that is out of line and does not like "Failure to mind", perceiving that as a threat to their authority. Challenges to that just escalate things, and one can end up with a night in jail. They will just make something up and make it stick, too.
I would agree and I personally would abide by this advise, but then I have a lot to lose if even by just being arrested and not convicted. I am required to have a perfect record for my line of work, so you will not see me giving any Officer a hard time about anything, no matter how much in the right I am. But others make a living or hobby doing this and thatÆs their right as an American citizen to point and record injustice.
As far as checking for illegals 50 miles from the border? I would like them to come and check around here, we are 1200+ miles from the border and there really isn't a shortage of them.....*EB
Nobody is more frustrated by the illegals than me. I see them everyday and I donÆt just mean I ôthinkö I see them. I know they are illegal by the nature of my job and I would love to see them be caught, arrested and deported and even more than that, the employers that knowingly hire them be fined or shutdown and the local governments that aid them and actively hinder their discovery and prosecution, be at the very least, denied any and all Federal funding as punishment.
But the fact is...and nobody has yet addressed thisà.how in the heck do they stop anyone on the side of the road in anywhere America and make them prove their citizenship, when there is no law or requirement that any of us have to have papers or any kind of proof of who we are other than a driverÆs license, and thatÆs only when we drive. Do you all see the problem here? Perhaps if some of us have relatives or friends of different colors and accents who are U.S. citizens, we might think differently, when they are stopped and questions by Federal Officials who had no right stop them.
I personally would have just said, ya IÆm a U.S. citizen and being white and speaking perfect english, I would very likely be on my way, without so much as showing my driverÆs license.
What if I had brown skin and had a broken accent, because my parents were Mexican immigrants who spoke mostly Spanish in the house, but I was naturally born and was just as much a U.S. Citizen as anyone else? What if I said I was a U.S. citizen and they didnÆt believe me?
You might say, well that wouldnÆt happen. Oh, really? If it did happen, I surely hope I donÆt have to explain whatÆs wrong with that situationàbut if it didnÆt happen, what the bloody hell is the point of the check point?
Again, why stop people and ask them questions they are not required to answer? And does anyone...I mean ANYONE...see the problem with the U.S. government's only purpose in the checkpoint to use intimidation to make people believe that they have less rights than they do?
And most importantlyà.if we are to let this standàwhat comes next? Are we all going to be required to carry our papers just to walk outside? Now combine such a ridiculous requirement with today's political correctness.
Instead of just questioning those of color or with accent, once it becomes a requirement, everyone who does not have their papers, will be at risk of detention to prove who they are. Probably no one more so, than white people just like many of you. Just like the TSA makes darn sure they target little old white ladys and 4 year girls as much as they target people who look like Arabs less they be accused of racism.
How ironic will be the day that as a white naturally born American with a perfect accent, that you will constanly have to prove who you are just to pass from one point to another within your own country, state or even city.
Is that really what you want?
You know what's most ironic? Until I watched that video and had something click in my head, I would have fully supported the idea of everyone one of us having a national ID, being required to carry it and being required to show it whenever asked by law enforcement. Interesting how a different point of view can you make you think differently.
