Who Do You Side With Here?

Just come across this video on youtube. Basically, a man is in his car filming the police, what I can gather from the video is that the man in the car is following the police officer around for no apparent reason. Here's the video-



Towards the end of the video, the cop loses it but I'm of the opinion, on this occasion, that the man following the officer around is looking for trouble.

I'm also of the opinion that it is douche bags like this that give the 'conspiracy' crowd a bad name. "Oh look at me, I know my rights so I will aggravate a police officer trying to do his job, look how awake and clever I am!!"

There are good police officers and bad ones the same as all walks of life, that does not give this clown the right to follow a police officer around filming him and purposely aggravating him. I don't understand it.

Thoughts?

reply to post by Wonderer2012

Is it against the law to follow a police car? Simple question and one I do not know the answer to in the US.

ETA I do believe the 1st officer committed the crime of assault regardless of the answer to my 1st question. IANAL (I am not a lawyer) 2 wrongs obviously do not make a right but that's another matter entirely.

And I doubt many people will agree with my standpoint but I don't care. Public servants may be observed while practicing their "duty".

This is why police officers need to be trained properly.


Heads: the officer should have said, the driver and camera person are being suspicious and it's his job to investigate suspicious behavior, said behavior may or may not be a possible endangerment of the officer's life. He should not have flipped out because in my opinion the officer was probably afraid that it was some perp looking for revenge. He should have stuck with suspicious activity and behavior as his reason for citing and stopping the motorist.


Ignorance is not an excuse.


Tails: .......the motorist seriously needs a new hobby.

"When a man assumes a public office he should consider himself public property"~Thomas Jefferson

I'm sure there is a chance I will get some disagreements with my stance here and that is fine, we are all entitled to our opinions and is one of the best things about our nation. However IMO if a private citizen wants to waste their time following a police officer around and watching/recording what he does that is his right and is actually from a technical standpoint his duty as a responsible citizen.

Jefferson said that the people are the fountain from which all rightful power in government is given and that it is the responsibility of the governed to govern the government. Therefore the citizenry are the rightful masters of government and the public officials of all levels are accountable to the people.

I can see where some LEO's would have a big issue with what this man did and if I were the person recording and following the officer I would have one simple question for him. "If you are doing nothing wrong and performing your job as prescribed then why does it bother you that I am filming your activities"?

Now I will admit that I am a staunch Constitutionalist and am often viewed as being an extremist, but what is so extreme about making sure the people we pay to do a job are doing it as prescribed? I mean it's considered okay for a LEO to pull in behind us in traffic and follow us as long as they want in order to ensure we are doing as we are supposed to.

Once while I was still living in FL I observe a motorcycle cop going at an extremely high rate of speed in a 35 MPH zone with no lights or sirens on. I proceeded to make a right hand turn and attempt to follow him, after he was caught by 2 redlights I managed to catch up to him and followed him at 60-65 MPH for several miles until he turned into a subdivision, went 3 blocks and I observed a garage door opening at a home and he pulled in and closed the door.

I called the Sheriff's dept and reported his activities along with his tag number while following him and the Patrol Sgt asked me why I felt it was okay to be speeding in order to follow him. I replied with why is it okay for him to be speeding in a residential area and was told he was probably in route to a call. When I told the SGT that I had just observed the officer pull into his garage and close the door I was threatened that I could be arrested for stalking a LEO. I dared him to try and insured him it would not be so easy to scare me, he told me to never call back and hung up.

The next day I was at the Sheriff's Dept when the Sheriff arrived and was treated basically the same way.

reply to post by Wonderer2012


I'm agreeing with your interpretation. We shouldn't be harassing the cops. How would this guy like it if someone was harassing him like that when he was working. Cops are only human, they get mad just like the rest of us when someone gets into our face.

I'd follow the guy around and bust his ass for something. That tape only showed fairly good restraint of the officer. I hope they don't try to use that as evidence, they will give those two cops a promotion.

It's ok for them to film every waking moment of our days yet turn the tables and you are a criminal. They know what type of bubble gum Aaron Hernandez bought before he allegedly killed someone yet we are supposed to trust them and their jack booted thuggery.

Welcome to reality where the government is your mother.

Originally posted by TheSpanishArcher
It's ok for them to film every waking moment of our days yet turn the tables and you are a criminal. They know what type of bubble gum Aaron Hernandez bought before he allegedly killed someone yet we are supposed to trust them and their jack booted thuggery.

Welcome to reality where the government is your mother.

Yeah but is that police officer responsible or is he just doing his job? How many police officers sign up to the police to actually serve and protect? Just because you have the 'right' to follow them around and film them, does that mean you should?

Why do these young folk treat police officers with such disrespect and attitude, when are these young folks who think they are being clever going to realise they are being played?

By acting like this, people are inviting a police state.

hmm tricky one.
The guy in the car though is guilty of what WE are always complaining about, that is, being watched!
If he didn't want trouble with the cops then why follow them about.

We should not be treated the way we are, but people like the guy i the car are not helping the situation.

No thumbs up from me on this one.

Originally posted by Wonderer2012
Just because you have the 'right' to follow them around and film them, does that mean you should?

So just because you have the right to free speech does that mean you should? An unexercised right is a right lost. I would also like to add that it is not just our right to follow or film them but it is our duty, we are the final entity in the system of checks and balances.

There is an officer security issue that they are also concerned with. There are a lot of people that do not like police period. If I was out working and a suspicious vehicle, only suspicious after repeatedly driving by slow, staring at the officer, filming him, I would want to make sure it wasn't some psycho thinking about attacking him. Not to mention, in the real world there are folks that run drugs, guns, and other illegal activities that also have other vehicles traveling with them. They are there to make sure the load gets to where it is going, or the cash is being returned and will shoot an officer to see that it happens. Until you check things out, you never know what someone is up to. Criminals steal cars, have fake identification and a myriad of other things.

It really is something that most civilians just don't have the experience of being on the streets in a LEO position to know what the officer's thoughts and concerns are. I have been through some very intense situations involving things I can't even begin to post about. Even today, I seldom meet anyone that has that kind of experience to even understand that there are these realities more frequent than they know. There are some very violent individuals even in federal agencies involved in crime. Bottom line is you never know.

Yes, the officer shouldn't have lost his cool. I can only imagine he did that because he thought he could intimidate the civilians. He had determined they weren't dangerous. Otherwise he could have escalated a situation into a shooting real quick if he would have encountered some aforementioned character in the streets. I don't know why they felt they had to do this as the context is not available. Are they having problems with out of control law enforcement? The second cop was very professional. Or is this a case of someone watching too many youtube videos and deciding following cops around and creating a problem to get their 5 minutes of fame?

reply to post by Wonderer2012

Why do these young folk treat police officers with such disrespect and attitude, when are these young folks who think they are being clever going to realise they are being played?

They are pigs and deserve no respect. They give us no reason whatsoever to trust them, not a single one of them. The "good" ones will stand behind their blue wall and protect the "bad" ones, making them ALL criminals, a legal gang if I dare say.

Funny how you actually did not respond to my question. Again, why is it ok for them to film us everywhere, all the time yet turn the tables and you are a criminal, subjected to jack booted thuggery?

Do you enjoy living in a police state? Land of the free, for sure. What a sad, sad of a joke this nation has become.

Originally posted by TheSpanishArcher
reply to post by Wonderer2012

 

Why do these young folk treat police officers with such disrespect and attitude, when are these young folks who think they are being clever going to realise they are being played?

They are pigs and deserve no respect. They give us no reason whatsoever to trust them, not a single one of them. The "good" ones will stand behind their blue wall and protect the "bad" ones, making them ALL criminals, a legal gang if I dare say.

Funny how you actually did not respond to my question. Again, why is it ok for them to film us everywhere, all the time yet turn the tables and you are a criminal, subjected to jack booted thuggery?

Do you enjoy living in a police state? Land of the free, for sure. What a sad, sad of a joke this nation has become.

You truly don't get it do you?

Your attitude invites the coming police state, you aren't in it yet mate (the video in the OP is testimony to that).

You've bought the propaganda hook, line and sinker.

Who is filming you? The police officer in this video? A man doing his job and being followed around by a douche bag with a video camera looking for trouble?

Your attitude is just furthering the divisions between men.

hard one but what reason did the guy have any reasonable cause ?? he needs to grow up .

if you poke a dog enough it bites .

this was the kind of thing we did years ago following the drug squad .

who watches the watchers eh

Originally posted by rickymouse
reply to post by Wonderer2012

 

I'm agreeing with your interpretation. We shouldn't be harassing the cops. How would this guy like it if someone was harassing him like that when he was working. Cops are only human, they get mad just like the rest of us when someone gets into our face.

I'd follow the guy around and bust his ass for something. That tape only showed fairly good restraint of the officer. I hope they don't try to use that as evidence, they will give those two cops a promotion.

edit on 27-6-2013 by rickymouse because: (no reason given)

Reporters follow everybody and their granny, does that make them special?
It doesn't matter that the civvy was a smart tit, he may even been a law student, or armchair lawyer. The fact is that smart civvy defeated a policeman who had no right to order.

I can tell you something I saw and experienced in my childhood and never forgot. My father, as I've mentioned before, was a cop. That was being a street cop in a Southern California city for almost his entire career. Shortly before my parents divorced (which made me about 10 or so), my mother had the idea to surprise my Dad and maybe try and talk some things out. She figured the best way to do that was to follow his patrol unit, since she knew what it had been for car number in previous days. Being the age I was, I rode along.

He wasn't in the same Unit that night but was free and listening to the radio on the other side of his district area when the call came across with his own personal vehicle description coming across as a possible threat to an officer. As he'd put it to her, she had cops coming toward her from all four directions when he mentioned who it had to be and that it wasn't what they thought.

Even street cops occasionally put away some VERY VERY bad people. My father was involved in a couple murder cases for the initial phase where even 20 some years later, he'd had those in the back of his mind for time frames they'd be getting out and it would all be a new score to settle in their mind. They react real real badly to being followed with no idea who it may be.

reply to post by Wonderer2012

You truly don't get it do you?

I get it better than you think. A pig lied his ass off and I'm getting screwed for it, RIGHT NOW! I completely understand what the hell is going on.

As for me being the cause of divisiveness, I'm not the one killing indiscriminately, arresting people for non-violent victimless crimes, firing/tazing/pepper spraying non-violent peaceful protesters or protecting the governments/corporate interests at the cost of freedom for all who live in this country.

Apologize all you want for the pigs, you have that right. I will disagree with you until the end of days, which I'd bet aren't too far in the future.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


That's where I think the civvy was being a tit, there is a but though, and that is where the cop used loose language and threatened the girl and said, "do you want to go to gaol too" and that was after all the things he asked for turned out okay.

Originally posted by rickymouse
reply to post by Wonderer2012

 

I'm agreeing with your interpretation. We shouldn't be harassing the cops. How would this guy like it if someone was harassing him like that when he was working. Cops are only human, they get mad just like the rest of us when someone gets into our face.

I'd follow the guy around and bust his ass for something. That tape only showed fairly good restraint of the officer. I hope they don't try to use that as evidence, they will give those two cops a promotion.

edit on 27-6-2013 by rickymouse because: (no reason given)

If this citizen was following the cop around I can see how that would be a distraction. How would this citizen feel if he needed a cop's 100% attention and someone was constantly circling the area? If I'm a cop and someone is following me around, I'm thinking potential life threatening situation. How does that cop know that the follower isn't some lunatic with a gun?

Originally posted by jiggerj

Originally posted by rickymouse
reply to post by Wonderer2012

 

I'm agreeing with your interpretation. We shouldn't be harassing the cops. How would this guy like it if someone was harassing him like that when he was working. Cops are only human, they get mad just like the rest of us when someone gets into our face.

I'd follow the guy around and bust his ass for something. That tape only showed fairly good restraint of the officer. I hope they don't try to use that as evidence, they will give those two cops a promotion.

edit on 27-6-2013 by rickymouse because: (no reason given)

If this citizen was following the cop around I can see how that would be a distraction. How would this citizen feel if he needed a cop's 100% attention and someone was constantly circling the area? If I'm a cop and someone is following me around, I'm thinking potential life threatening situation. How does that cop know that the follower isn't some lunatic with a gun?

edit on 6/27/2013 by jiggerj because: (no reason given)

They were lunatics with a camera People wonder why cops get crabby, these kind of people make them crabby.

reply to post by Wonderer2012


There is no good or bad, there is only difference of opinion in a situation like this. If you share the officers point of view you make a criminal out of the citizen. If you share the citizens point of view, you make a criminal out of the officer.

What you need to consider is this.......... Was the citizen in this video within his rights? Would it be needed in today's America to do this, if officers of the law followed the law to begin with? As the amount of private citizens per year that are subjected to unjust arrests, taserings and excessive legal financial burden because there is no oversight on arrests and subsequent dismissals through the court process were taking place?

Some police are good and some are bad but it doesn't take more than SOME in today's information age to question the system because it should't happen to anyone. There is zero oversight in most police forces, they can falsely arrest, detain and jail you and the only recourse you have is to pay thousands of dollars too a lawyer to get the charges dropped, after I may add you pay bond, and try to repair the damage an arrest does to your background check that you have to apply to to get almost any job these days.

The power they hold without the proper checks and balances is absurd and people doing this kind of thing are not doing it to poke one specific officer, they are doing it to outline why the system is hopelessly flawed in it's current state.