Can we start making citizen's arrests on cops?

I'd suggest shooting them. But thats not legal, so I settle for telling the people calling for contributions to their retierment and funerals to fuck off.

Though I must admit I am looking forward to the next time any cop tries to question me about anything at all so I can tell them that due to recent ruling by the supreme court I must immediately invoke my right to remain silent and that any and all questions must be vetted by my lawyer.

What I found most sad about this is that when I sent it to you, Amy, I was in the middle of trying to talk some sense into some people who were actually defending the cops.

The usual defenses were "my brother was injured by a drunk driver" and "if it saves one life" and of course, when I compared it to the TSA I got the ol' "Well I'd bored a plane naked if it meant there were no bombs". Nevermind every fact I posted argued that they were not in fact safer... They FELT safer and that's all that mattered.

Then, I realized I was trying to debate this on facebook with a bunch of Liberal's and there was no way I was ever going to change their minds; I was sorely outnumbered and eventually had to bow out for my own sanity.

I did not sleep well that night, Amy.

Disgusting and disturbing. Particularly towards the end with AJ admits the kid didn't do anything wrong and knows his rights and the officer with the flashlight stating that it wasn't even a good alert - I am guessing he means by the dog. Makes me sick and officer AJ should have his badge and gun taken away from him immediately and probably the other officers that took part in this charade!

lujlp,

What SCOTUS ruling are you referring to?

I will agree the officer'[s actions were not respectful towards the citizen, pretty much being a jerk. The officer should be reprimanded for his actions. But some of the points mentioned in this video I don't think were correct. I am not an expert on the laws in TN so going by the little that I do know.

First the citizen makes the point that you can't be detained without cause. In the case of DUI checkpoints the courts have said you can be detained. The length of detainment is not set, but it is only suppose to be for a short period of time.

Next is the matter of being asked for your ID. Sorry, the law says the police can ask the driver for their ID at these checkpoints. You are not free to operate a vehicle on the public roads in the US without a license and when stopped by the police the courts have ruled more then once that the officer can verify that you are entitled to operate the vehicle on the public roads.

Finally the issue that provoked this, the window. Why would the officer want the window lowered? To check for the smell of alcohol for one and officer safety (clear view of the inside) for another. The officer could have acted in a much more professional manner in this area. I could see the officer making the argument that the refusal to lower the window pushed him into probable cause and thus a reason to detain (a "Terry" stop)

But as I said, I am not an expert of the laws in TN, so that is the big hole in things as to what is right or wrong, but the officer's attitude was definitely out of line

Then, I realized I was trying to debate this on facebook with a bunch of Liberal's and there was no way I was ever going to change their minds;

I've had these same debates with people -- both liberals and conservatives. It seems to be a kind of stupidity that transcends partisan boundaries. Liberals justify it from a "the government is here to protect us" standpoint, and conservatives take a pro-authority, pro-national defense stance. It's revolting.

The usual defenses were "my brother was injured by a drunk driver" and "if it saves one life" and of course

Obviously, we need to ban cars. That will save a bunch of lives. And booze, tobacco, guns. Hell, let's just get rid of the Constitution, and select Obama as our new King. You could always go with this quote:

"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live in the real world." — Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden.

Shannon asks:

What SCOTUS ruling are you referring to?

I'm not sure what lujlp is referring to there. However, every single defense lawyer[*] I've talked with have said the same thing: when a cop asks to talk to you, decline. If he insists, you are to invoke your Fifth Amendment rights and insist that your lawyer be present for questioning. Then you shut up.

[*] which is like 4 or 5, in a bar, and no, not The Bar. Drunk lawyers can be a great deal of fun.

Shannon: Florida v. Harris, 11-817, 19 Feb 2013. Alert of a drug dog constitues probable cause to search a vehicle (despite a metric crapton of evidence that drug dogs alert when their handlers want them to, like in this video).

http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/florida-v-harris/?wpmp_switcher=desktop

Shannon
Salinas v Texas

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/06/salinas_v_texas_right_to_remain_silent_supreme_court_right_to_remain_silent.html

Liberals justify it from a "the government is here to protect us" standpoint, and conservatives take a pro-authority, pro-national defense stance.

I tell them that the government is NOT here to protect us. Then when they protest I tell them, NO one can protect you but you. The police cannot protect you, they can only show up AFTER something has already happened. It is not up to the government to protect us, and it is supposed to be responsible for making sure that it upholds the Constitution. Which it is doing a particularly shitty job of lately.

And these local bastards that are over-stepping their bounds really need to be culled.

Thanks, lujlp, for the link.

As somebody who does a considerable amount of dog training (I'm not a professional trainer, but I'm in a training practice group), I think I may have something to add to the conversation...

The "check here" may actually be the command the dog is given to check something. The dog has to know when it is supposed to do a behavior. Like, if you want the dog to sit, you have to give it a command, it doesn't "just know" even if that is the ONLY thing you ever train it to do. Similarly, the dog has to know when you want it to look for something. Search and rescue dogs, for instance, can't be searching all the time, but need to be told.

The dog was likely trained to basically answer the question: is it here? as opposed to "go smell all around and tell me if you find something." The former being quite a bit easier to train.

All of that said...

one couldn't know for sure without speaking to the folks who trained the dog (and presumably, the officer dog-handler). And, obviously, dogs do give false positives and one can spend enough time in one spot giving a command that the dog will eventually "hit" because that's clearly what you want.

Obviously, the cop was abusing his power at least in refusing to answer if the guy was being detained and then, detaining him ("well, I didn't say he was being detained" isn't the same as not detaining, now is it?). I am by no means on the cops' side here. BUT, I don't think we can, from this video alone, say that the handler was telling the dog to "hit" with the command (although it may have eventually out of stress/fatigue).

And again, Flynne is f i n e !

I just love how the idiots always assume that if it's wrong, it's liberal. Like no conservative would support this clear violation of Fourth Amendment rights.

At least MonicaP understands that cowardly surrendering our rights for an illusion that we're somehow being kept safer knows no political party.

The braindead party parrots, by contrast, object to this so they assume that only liberals support it.

"Duuuuuh! It bad. It must be librul!"

I saw a cow in a pirate costume standing on a car balanced on top of a telephone pole.

I value my business's profits more than I value anyone's rights. Nothing personal, it's only business.

"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live in the real world." — Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden.

Love this! And it sounds exactly like her.