Yes, that is a quote.
For those who don't remember the rights guaranteed under the Bill of Rights, they include but are not limited to:
- The right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, including your person, property, papers and effects.
- The right to say, or print, anything you please (libel and slander not-withholding).
- The right to a fair and speedy trial, by a jury of your peers.
-The right to Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights
The ACLU has recently taken the LAPD to the Supreme Court and gotten restrictions placed on that department which include (but are not limited to) putting a dash-cam in the front of EVERY police car (money permitting), not being able to use minor offences (specifically named is Jay-walking) as grounds for a search of any kind, and a slew of other things that have allowed biased and shoddy police work in areas like Skid Row.
You might be wondering, "How does this effect me?" Sub-par intelligence on the part of a Sheriff's Department recently allowed a convicted murderer, sentenced to life, to be released in Memphis. http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/local/042810-tbi-offers-reward-for-information-on-dearick-stokes
Or you could find yourself in my shoes. Actually my sandals. And my pajamas. Which I went to 7-11 in one late Tuesday night. I couldn't sleep, so I made the ten minute trek to the corner store, bought and paid for a half gallon of Tropicana and trudged back home. I have to cross the street twice since my pad is 'catacorner' (diagonal through the intersection)from the sidewalk I take to the store. I hit both buttons and look up to watch a Sheriff's car pull right up to my knee.
I wait for the light to change and I make the first crossing. As I step onto the curb the sheriff makes a left INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC to cut me off. Nearly hitting me with the car door as he jumps out, he starts tearing at my clothes. A grown, armed man tries to pull down my elastic-waisted flannel pants on a public street-corner. I say what's up? He tries to pull up my shirt as well, but refuses to answer me.
I ask "Am I under arrest?"
"No."
"Then I'm outta here," and I start to walk away.
"You're being detained," as I'm thrown against the car.
"On what grounds?"
No answer.
"On what grounds am I being detained?"
No answer again. Which would become a pattern for pretty much the next hour.
I eventually end up at the jail house (sub-station as they call it in modern times) still with no answer as to the original ground for my being detained, and no answer as to the charges they think they can file.
Officer Numbnuts (name omitted to protect the guilty-as-hell) comes to my cell with a video camera wanting me to state for the record that I refuse a drug test. I demand a blood test to prove my innocence. You should too, it's more accurate, it's your right, and almost NEVER works against you. He refused. On camera.
Since he has to let the tape run I figure this is a good time to question him. Just so you know, as much fun as this is and it will eventually be used to prove his incompetence, it won't get you released on the spot. You'll have to be prepared to fight over the long haul. They get paid to screw with you, you're on your own.
Surely, you think to yourself, the cops don't get paid to arrest honest people. Yes, they do. The State of CA will pay the County for every time each person steps on a "County Bus" $150, gets a medical processing $500, each overnight stay, etc. so three trips on a bus and a chest x-ray and the Sheriffs are up $950 that I know of. I'm still looking for an article to cite (both here and in court) so if you know of one for state financing, please let me know.
Over the course of the evening these two clowns denied me several different rights, all of which I am supposed to be able to count on as a citizen. They fabricated a police report (I seriously didn't jay-walk). They mocked me for thinking I actually had Rights.
That was late Tuesday night (they, of course, put Wednesday morning, to delay my court date one more day), so imagine my relief when the judge ordered me released on my own recognizance (OR'd) from court. By this time I had not put on county blues (jail clothes) but had been in my pj's for two days, including my court appearance. All they had to do at this point was let me go, by order of a judge.
So they took me to jail.
In order to prove they are above the law, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department took me to jail after being ordered to release me by the judge who arraigned me. By my calculations they made more than $650 off the already broke state of CA for this decision. Keep in mind these figures DON'T include the amount for each overnight stay, and any other costs I've yet to uncover.
Don't you feel safer now?
Thoughts for the day.
-Curtis