NY Deputy Cop Slaps Citizen For Refusing To Allow Search Of Car
I get so tired of people whining about the harm technology does to us. As I write in "Good Manners For Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck", technology doesn't make us rude or alienated; it's just a tool. You have a choice in how you use it.

I am conscious that my phone can be an electronic binky and that I can end up staring into it instead of connecting with the world, so I leave it in my purse when I, say, go into a bar. You start that habit and keep it up -- making a sort of "what's my personal culture?" rule for yourself -- and the more you keep it up, the easier it becomes to follow.

One of the really important and really great things about the widespread access to video cameras via cellphones is capturing the violation of civil liberties by arrogant, bullying, abusive cops, like this guy, who surely has gotten away with many more such violations.

Carlos Miller posts at PhotographyIsNotACrime about the New York Deputy, Shawn Glans, who tried to intimidate a man into allowing a search of his car, slapping him on the back of his head. Oops, seems the man's friend was videotaping. And now the abusive Glans is suspended without pay. Yay. Thanks, guys, for refusing to capitulate to the rights violators and for posting the video.

In a Facebook message interview with Photography is Not a Crime, Roberts explained that he and his buddy, Colin Fitch, who owns the car, had parked it at a business that was closed and walked to a nearby party Thursday night. They didn't spend much time at the party but when they walked back to the car, they were confronted by deputies who had spotted a rifle in the back seat and wanted to search the car.

Firth had purchased a .22 rifle earlier that day and had left in the back seat, Roberts said.
When Deputy Glans asked to search the car, Fitch would not give him permission, insisting he had done nothing illegal.

Unfortunately, that slapping part was not caught on video, but the sound of the slap is loud and clear. But he followed it up by making more threats, proving to be the real asshole.
As they were searching the car, Firth showed them his receipt for the gun and they allowed him to leave.

And thank you, Carlos Miller, for your great site, Photography Is Not A Crime, that highlights police violations of citizens' rights. Yet another light on civil liberties abuses made possible by the computers we carry around in our purses and pockets.