Cops talk about stealing man's property over bag of weed

I read at MPP (Marijuana Policy Project) or Stop the Drug War, that 80% of people who lose property in these seizures are never even charged with a crime. All it takes is "suspicion." Want to get even with someone? Call in an anonymous "tip" that they have drugs.

Sickening and anti-constitutional.

power crupts, and absolute power crupts absolutly.
the more power a person gets the more crupy he becomes, its human nature
we like to think we are immune to it but i would bet we all would fall into the trap
sad but true

Originally posted by PaidDisinfoAgent
Why do cops behave like this?

Simple.

Because they can.

Originally posted by PaidDisinfoAgent
Why do cops behave like this?
Somewhere along the line they seem to forget what they signed up for
and they realize their power and abuse the hell out of it.

When I was sixteen I got pulled over for speeding and the cop kept saying
how much he liked the Fender combo amp in my back seat. He never suggested
anything more, but he kept bringing up how much he liked the amp and what a
shame it is to write a ticket for going 5 miles over the limit.

Made me very uncomfortable to say the least.

I'm a calm guy, but if anyone were to threaten my Vox amp (an AC30) I would go nuts! A tube amp is like a part of oneself and I can feel what that must have been like, not nice

reply to post by onehuman
In many places it is a felony to audio record a cop so if you have video they can lie about what was said. The crimes of Chicago Police "Red Squad" officers Paul Baraz, Joseph Mariner, Richard Sharp, Don Zalinski, Mike Russow, Richard Zoolie, Jeff Kim and Shannon Clark, as well as of the retired cops Jon Burge and Pierre Zonis,
are legendary but always unpunished.

Originally posted by Planet teleX
I'm a calm guy, but if anyone were to threaten my Vox amp (an AC30) I would go nuts!

They'd be doing you a favor getting rid of that thing for you

Originally posted by ChiefHuntingBear
reply to post by onehuman

 

In many places it is a felony to audio record a cop so if you have video they can lie about what was said. The crimes of Chicago Police "Red Squad" officers Paul Baraz, Joseph Mariner, Richard Sharp, Don Zalinski, Mike Russow, Richard Zoolie, Jeff Kim and Shannon Clark, as well as of the retired cops Jon Burge and Pierre Zonis,
are legendary but always unpunished.

If someone breaks the law, they are a law-breaker.If you video tape them committing a crime, you are doing the public a service. Anyone who tries to argue differently is obstructing justice. Some people think they are above the law, they are wrong.

This kind of stuff certainly bothers me. But I am a little curious as to why I keep hearing about these incidents with cops in America; whereas I don't tend to hear anything about that right here in Canada.

reply to post by traditionaldrummer


I see why you're a drummer

Originally posted by PaidDisinfoAgent
Why do cops behave like this?
Somewhere along the line they seem to forget what they signed up for
and they realize their power and abuse the hell out of it.

When I was sixteen I got pulled over for speeding and the cop kept saying
how much he liked the Fender combo amp in my back seat. He never suggested
anything more, but he kept bringing up how much he liked the amp and what a
shame it is to write a ticket for going 5 miles over the limit.

Made me very uncomfortable to say the least.

It is a good thing he did not put his arm around you and ask you if you liked gladiator movies. That would really have been awkward.

Originally posted by traditionaldrummer

Originally posted by Planet teleX
I'm a calm guy, but if anyone were to threaten my Vox amp (an AC30) I would go nuts!

They'd be doing you a favor getting rid of that thing for you

They would probably kill him for it. I would probably do the same.

reply to post by filosophia


Eeehhh... I disagree with the article that drug laws allow for the seziure of any items, and I disagree with their insinuation of secret budgets. Obviously the officers should be held accountible and charged for any crimes they committed.

Police Department budgest fall under the Sunshine Law, which requires disclosure to the public / media upon request. Failure to comply can land whoever is denying the request in a lot of hot water. Hell, you can walk into any city hall and ask for a list of how much city employees make, and they have to furnish it.

The ONLY thing that can be done behind closed doors is discipline / personell issues. If a vote is taken at one of those meetings, that vote is a matter of public record. Disciplinary actions are generally not a public record if an investigation is ongoing.

All the info aside, the article did not go into any detail about why they had a search warrant. In order to get the search warrant a PC statement must be submitted (might vary from state to state) to the PA who signs off on it, and then its taken to a judge who also signs off on it.

Depending on what the search warrant is for, that will determine where the officers can look. If they are looking for a 52 inch tv, they can only look in areas that can fit the tv. If the warrant was for drugs, then they can search anywhere in the house that could contain those drugs.

As far as prescription medication goes - If we want to get technical the plastic 7 day containers you can get at walmart to hold your prescription meds can be considered illegal because of the way the law is written for prescription drugs. If its a controlled narcotic it must be kpet in the origional prescription bottle, with the owners name, doctors name, drug type, pill quantity, refills allowed, date issued etc etc etc. I dont really ever remeber a time when anyone has been charged for possession of schedule narcotics while in a plastic container.

As I said before, nail their butts to the walls if the evidence is there and they are found guilty.

I would like to know the back story to the incident - why the search warrant, what information was used for the search warrant, and was that information valid or fabricated just to get in the house, has the target of the search warrant been in trouble before, if so why and for what.

To me it looks like some pertintent info is left out.

Originally posted by ChiefHuntingBear
reply to post by onehuman

 

In many places it is a felony to audio record a cop so if you have video they can lie about what was said.

This is one of the most parnoid and ignorant statements I have seen, and I do mean this with all due respect so please dont take offense (check your PM's)

It is not illegal to record cops, it is not illegal to video record cops (except for Illinoise and the law is being challeneged). All the other states have had case law made to limit the wiretap laws (including Maryland and the motorcycle incident).

Secondly, this took place in a private residence, so it doesnt matter if its a 2 party or 1 party conesent state, since its in private, and their IS an expectation of privacy there and its under the control of the home owner.

People need to quit being paranoid and making blanket statements that are less than truthful.

The larger issue at hand here is the belief that the victim would have been using this small amount of a natural substance for ill intent, thus being rendered by the cops as a danger to his community?

If he went to the media about this, he must not feel guilt by possessing 7 grams which was probably for personal use....

Ouch...why is Alcohol legal again? Sometimes I lose grip of the logic behind it...

Originally posted by Hefficide
reply to post by filosophia

 

From your sourced article:

Now, two of the officers involved -- Lt. Luke Davis and Lt. Emmanuel Riopelle -- are facing "dozens" of charges. Both have been accused in a long-running scheme to steal from drug suspects and profit from sales of their property.

These LEO's broke the law - it happens. And now they are going to pay for their crimes. But this doesn't infer that all cops are bad people. In fact I have a few friends who are in law enforcement and they are straight-up good people who care about others and do not engage in this kind of petty behavior.

~Heff

Cool, but they would still arrest you if you had a bag of Cannabis, right? That tells me that they have at least sold their values or didn't have a good grasp of what freedom is about in the first place.

reply to post by SmokeandShadow


Actually it means the officer were enforcing the laws of the State that were put into place by the elected representatives, who were elected to office by the people of the state.

So please take your values argument to the people of the State of Michigan and not the police.

I too am very interested in the reason for a warrant in the first place. Probably a bunch of nonsense. I can't believe the whole US hasn't decriminalized yet, I'm glad here the worse they can do if they find anything on you is a $300 ticket if it's under an ounce.

It makes me think back to the story of the guy who trapped the police. He setup a grow operation in his house, but was growing Tomatoes or something like that instead of anything illegal. He then had video and audio recording setup around the house. The cops bust in and go around the house, looking like complete idiots when they realized it wasn't cannabis being grown.

I think there was a note on the wall or something that told the officers they were being recorded. This vid is up on you tube but I can't seem to find it. Most hilarious, made me laugh for a long time. Stupid stupid police raiding someone growing tomatoes.

Originally posted by CapnCaveman
New York Firemen used to be looters
Saw it in Gangs of New York, must be true.

Cops, as well as everyone who works in the government, should be forced to take an annual Humanity Test.

In addition to that, several times a year they should be tested with a fake setup. Give the officer a good opportunity to be corrupt or abuse his authority, and if he does fire his ass and press charges. I'm sure this would not only weed out the bad seeds, but also put the fear into the police that they have a high chance of getting caught if they mess up.

reply to post by Xcathdra
I first posted on this thread with a reply to someone who said crimes like the one committed by cops who stole a man's property could be stopped if they were video recorded. Then Xcathdra replied to my post saying that it is not a felony to audio record cops. How do you explain that prosecutors don't charge Chicago Police Officers who regularly post audio and video recordings of their crimes against me including when they imprisoned me in a safe house at 4115 S. Francisco street without charges during July and August of 2004, when Detective Richard Sharp used his suv to run over me on the sidewalk in front of the building where I live at 111 W. Maple street at 5:30pm on June 19th, 2008 and when Richard Sharp helped his boyfriend Earl Jackson attack me from behind while I was on my bike on October 14th, 2010 that you can see on the website inTeLiGator.com
My legal first name is: PaulTerrenceWiggins
My legal last name is: HuntingBear
They also posted the a film they made of murdering my mother on July 7th, 2003.
Why are these genocidal crimes not prosecuted if a law which makes it a felony to audio record Chicago Police doesn't make this evidence inadmisable in court?

Originally posted by Xcathdra
reply to post by SmokeandShadow

 

Actually it means the officer were enforcing the laws of the State that were put into place by the elected representatives, who were elected to office by the people of the state.

So please take your values argument to the people of the State of Michigan and not the police.

Seeing as it was mentioned it's illegal to keep narcotic meds outside of the bottle they came in, you wouldn't have any problem with 90% of the elderly people in the state being thrown in prison? All they are doing is upholding the law, and those damn elderly are a HUGE group of criminals!

Cops should be getting warrants and knocking down the doors of all the old people. It's almost guaranteed that they all keep them in those little 7 day pill dispensers.

Know why they don't do it? Because they probably know it's wrong and messed up. Same thing with the person who's the subject of the OP.

A little off topic, a friend of my is prescribed OC once a month, and there was a little bit of an OC shortage awhile ago. When he picked up his script, instead of a bottle of pills, they gave him a ziplock bag with a bunch of those 10-count blister packs in it. I'll have to let him know he should press charges on the pharmacy because they gave him an illegal script.

Originally posted by Xcathdra
reply to post by SmokeandShadow

 

Actually it means the officer were enforcing the laws of the State that were put into place by the elected representatives, who were elected to office by the people of the state.

So please take your values argument to the people of the State of Michigan and not the police.

You are not relieving them of their responsibility like the Nuremberg Nazi's would have liked. The good ol' following orders is garbage, they are arresting people for "possession" which is wholly unconstitutional. We don't live in a Democracy, we live in a democratic Republic in which officials are elected, but must not infringe upon the rights of citizens because the minority is protected from the majority...arresting someone for possession, strip searching them and putting them in a cage is...yeah.