LAPD: surrender your rights or we'll shoot!
Thread started by
tortuga_veloce at 07.28.09 - 10:13 am
Still more evidence that the consent decree never should have been lifted.
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http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2009/07/i-hope-i-never-get-pulled-over-by-lapd-cop-jack-dunphy.html
I hope I never get pulled over by LAPD cop "Jack Dunphy"
The pseudonymous Los Angeles police officer apparently thinks very little of the Angelenos he's paid to "protect and serve." I say this having read Dunphy's dig at The National Review on the Obama administration's flubbed response to the Henry Louis Gates affair. An excerpt (emphasis mine):
So, since the president is keen on offering instruction, here is what I would advise he teach his Ivy League pals, and anyone else who may find himself unexpectedly confronted by a police officer: You may be as pure as the driven snow itself, but you have no idea what horrible crime that police officer might suspect you of committing. You may be tooling along on a Sunday drive in your 1932 Hupmobile when, quite unknown to you, someone else in a 1932 Hupmobile knocks off the nearby Piggly Wiggly. A passing police officer sees you and, asking himself how many 1932 Hupmobiles can there be around here, pulls you over. At that moment I can assure you the officer is not all that concerned with trying not to offend you. He is instead concerned with protecting his mortal hide from having holes placed in it where God did not intend.
And you, if in asserting your constitutional right to be free from unlawful search and seizure fail to do as the officer asks, run the risk of having such holes placed in your own.
When the officer has satisfied himself that it was not you and your Hupmobile that were involved in the Piggly Wiggly heist, he owes you an explanation for the stop and an apology for the inconvenience, but if you’re running your mouth about your rights and your history of oppression and what have you, you’re likely to get neither.
Note the italics -- and consider that an armed officer of the law grotesquely warns any innocent civilian who cites his Constitutional protection against unreasonable searches that he runs the risk of being killed. I hope that a cop who pulls me over simply because another guy driving a blue VW Jetta committed a crime would exercise more restraint should I point out that the law is on my side.
In all seriousness, Dunphy is completely out of line here; any officer who considers citizens belligerent for asserting their Constitutional rights is a danger to the public and his department. Chief Bratton take note.
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YOU NEED TO MAKE THAT PUBLIC. send it to local representatives and news agencies
snowcone07.28.09 - 10:20 am
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it's from the LAtimes blog. besides, everyone knows that's the attitude of the LAPD. I had two eleven year old kids in my backyard over the weekend, and the police searched their backpacks without consent--and this was one of the good cops.
tortuga_veloce07.28.09 - 10:22 am
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all because some racist neighbor called about some suspicious kids.
tortuga_veloce07.28.09 - 10:22 am
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how is this okay with everyone?
snowcone responding to a
comment by tortuga_veloce
07.28.09 - 10:24 am
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what the fuck can you do? complain? i would have loved to bust that officer for an unlawful search, but if i filed a complaint, nothing would have happened to him. if i had his supervisor called to the scene, i would have just made powerful enemies.
so what can you do? you take it. and you wait until something happens that is so bad that it's completely inexcusable, and you fight and still nothing happens.
tortuga_veloce responding to a
comment by snowcone
07.28.09 - 10:30 am
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It is not okay, but you must remember, the solution lies beyond just crying wolf or foul. My implement of preference is calculated action. Let him be self-satisfied to a point of delusion, then pull the rug out from under him.
tivu responding to a
comment by snowcone
07.28.09 - 10:32 am
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los angeles is a police state. if you're not white, you have no rights. if you're homeless, you have no rights. if you dont exhibit wealth, you'll get no respect from law enforcement.
tortuga_veloce responding to a
comment by tivu
07.28.09 - 10:45 am
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i wasn't referring to us, i was referring to other people
snowcone07.28.09 - 10:49 am
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The neighbor wasn't bein racist that I could tell from the 911 phone call.
I'm actually going to boo Obama for retracting his "stupidly" comment. The cop DID act stupidly. As a person in a position of authority, this police office should have been trained to take verbal abuse and work at all costs to de-escalate the situation. It's a problem with many officers. They need to understad better that verbal abuse is not a personal attack it is an attack on their authority. Sure it sounds like gates mouthed off immediately to the cop which is stupid. But at the end of the day the FACT is that the many produced his ID which should have triggered an apologetic tone and immediate retreat on the part of the police officer.
Roadblock responding to a
comment by tortuga_veloce
07.28.09 - 10:50 am
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my girlfriend talked to her after the cop left. she introduced herself and told her that she understood why she called the police, to which the neighbor replied "this isnt a race thing." that tells me that was the first thing on her mind. there are white kids who hang out on the corner all the time, and she never calls the cops on them. on top of that, they were hanging out in the alley with their bikes, in front of my open back gate. there was no justification for a search.
did i mention they were 11 YEARS OLD?
as for obama, i agree that this is a blatant case of racism. you will see in the next few weeks the police soften their position. it's happening already. obama called a racist what he is. gates was arrested for not staying in his place. if a white man had spoken that way to an officer, i'd bet he would have been let go--just like my neighbor hasnt called the cops on those white kids. it's really sad that this country is so accustomed to a racial double standard that it can't see racism when its right in front of us.
tortuga_veloce responding to a
comment by Roadblock
07.28.09 - 11:06 am
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oops. I thought that racist neighbor comment was about the gates / crowley incident 911 tapes of the neighbor's call. didnt read your comment about the kids and your neighbor.
Roadblock responding to a
comment by tortuga_veloce
07.28.09 - 11:47 am
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I dont think it was as much racism as it was a power play. great article in the LA Times.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-banks25-2009jul25,0,4704871,full.column
Roadblock responding to a
comment by tortuga_veloce
07.28.09 - 11:50 am
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And Crowley, a well-regarded white officer, probably expected deference, not insults, from the black man he'd been called to help.
and that's the point. a white cop expects deference and respect from civilians. i've personally experienced a disparity between the amount of disrespect that i'm allowed to show to an officer of the law, and that which a black or brown person can get away with.
tortuga_veloce responding to a
comment by Roadblock
07.28.09 - 12:17 pm
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