The Burgeoning Police State.....

I saw this from a news paper article I had gotten earlier today.  I haven't had time to to talk about it until now.   I have a severe issue with this, they now say that a police in Pennsylvania don't need a warrant to search a vehicle.  How long before this spreads to the other 49 states because they will use it under the guise of "fighting crime" and push it through.  Here in Georgia and many other states, the car is an extension of your home, the Police have to have a warrant to search, unless they have justifiable probable cause to do a search.  The justifiable probable cause has to be explained before a judge if something is found in the subsequent search or all the whatever they found is tossed.  This is great news for the central government statist that we have.

     How many people will be hassled by a police officer during a traffic stop? there are a lot of professional cops that are a credit to their oath and their uniform.  but there are some bad ones that will use this opportunity to bully the citizenry, those are the ones that will get off on this kinda stuff.  I have had dealings with both. 
     I work at night and I was on the way home and got caught up at a D.U.I checkpoint and I was still in my work uniform and the officer that was checking the vehicles wanted to search my car in the interest of "officer Safety" and I politely refused, the Police Officer started to try to bully me at this point and I respectfully again stated that I will not give my consent.  He started talking about putting me in cuffs and and I again was very polite replied "No sir, I will not consent to being cuffed or having my car searched."  It did go downhill, the police officer angrily stated, that I will be placed under arrest for obstruction.  I very politely stated that he better call his watch commander first before pursuing such action because if he places me under arrest, he must have probable cause to do so and he doesn't have it, the arrest will be thrown out and I will file charges in both the court system and through the internal investigative procedure of the county police.  I will also contact the media and the ACLU and any body else I can find and cause a stink.  He stormed off and contacted the Sgt running the D.U.I checkpoint and the Sgt came over and asked me what was going on, I being polite told him.  He then turned to the other police officer and stated " the citizen is correct, you cannot detain him or search him or his vehicle with out probable cause."  He then told me that I was free to go about my way.  As I was leaving, I overheard the Sgt telling the angry officer that "you screwed up, you let your ego do the talking, that will put your badge in jeopardy".
    I was relieved that it did go that way,  I wasn't trying to be difficult, I just know my rights.  I have seen many people get screwed over by the court system and I will not give the state an easy opportunity to throw me under the bus.  

     I have blogged many times about the militarization of the Police, I understand that there is almost a bunker attitude with the police, it is a "us vs them" attitude.  It used to not be that way.    My dad is a retired police officer and he told me several times, if you have any dealings with the police, make use of your 5th amendment rights and keep your mouth shut, especially if there is an interview process going on.  Get a lawyer, a Lawyer will keep you from going to jail. 
     Now there is a disconnect between the Police and the citizenry.  The police represent the state and instead of being sheepdogs to use their analogy, they reflect the state, the one that keep overreaching on individual rights, and instead are starting to rule with imperial fiat, look at what is going on in the Northeast Corridor, you have Police threatening to go into citizens houses and seize their lawfully purchased firearms.  The divide between the Police and the citizens that they swore an oath to represent and protect is getting wider and wider and I don't know what will fix it.

   As far as the militarization of the Police, this concerned me also, they are getting surplus MRAPS from the Military, and they suit up and call swat for many calls,instead of the high value calls and there have been quite a few documented instances where they hit the wrong house and the homeowner got killed or shot, the house ransacked and the family pet gets shot all in the name of "officer Safety"  And there is no repercussions for the bad calls so the guilty parties keep doing the same thing and the attitude spreads.  .

 
     Don't misunderstand me, I am not piling on the Police themselves, it is an attitude that has infected the government in general where they view us as little more than vassals or wage slaves that exist for the support of our "betters".    The vast majority of the Police do a great job, they really serve the community, but the trend is troubling to say the least and the loss of more of our rights as American Citizens.  Soon if things continue as they have in the past, all we will be is little more than slaves to the system and the great experiment that was the United States will be in the history books.

    

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Police Chief: US Heading Towards ‘Police State’ (Videos)

By Susan Duclos - Cross posted from Before It's News

 

I ran across a piece at This Can't Be Happening,  that is disturbing to say the least, where not only are police shootings of unarmed civilians discussed, so is the militarization of our local police forces in the US, with statistics that should drop the jaw of anyone reading it.  While those statistics tell a story, perhaps the most damning statements about the US becoming a police state comes from the Chief of Police in Upper Dublin, PA., Terrence Thompson, who states that he understands the need for more powerful weapons to counter the weapons now used by criminals, but points out how SWAT, for example, is being used in a manner that it was not created for and how high powered weapons are being utilized in situations where there is no need. Chief Thompson also lets the public know exactly where he sees the US heading:

Thompson decries what he calls “camo creep” in policing, a trend he says is at least partly driven by “politicians who don’t see where this is going.”
And where is that?
“I don’t like the idea of a police state, but that’s where we seem to be heading,” he says.

My only disagreement with Chief Thompson would be that we are not heading towards being a police state, as the videos below clearly show, we are already there.

YouTube is full of videos showing this police state mentality, I wrote about this just the other day where a Nazi-like cop was busted lying on her "officer narrative," after multiple footage captured by the family she abused became public.
 
Another example can be seen with the recent total FAIL of the NYP in their Twitter campaign #myNYPD which was meant to show how much NY citizens loved their police force, but which backfired spectacularly when user after user started posting images, videos and statements about NYPD's police brutality, as discussed in the first video below at the 1:20 minute mark.

For the record, I believe wholeheartedly there are many, many more good cops vs bad cops, to put it simply, but these examples shown below make it harder for those "good guys," because the brutality and abuse by the bad cops endanger the lives of those that truly did join to serve and protect.

Posted: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 10:55 am | Updated: 2:52 pm, Wed Apr 30, 2014.

By BRETT HAMBRIGHT | Staff Writer

Pennsylvania police officers no longer need a warrant to search a citizen’s vehicle, according to a recent state Supreme Court opinion.
The high court’s opinion, released Tuesday, is being called a drastic change in citizens’ rights and police powers.
Previously, citizens could refuse an officer’s request to search a vehicle. In most cases, the officer would then need a warrant — signed by a judge — to conduct the search.
That’s no longer the case, according to the opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery.
The ruling, passed on a 4-2 vote, was made in regard to an appeal from a 2010 vehicle stop in Philadelphia.
Local police and legal professionals are calling the opinion “big news.”
“This is a significant change in long-standing Pennsylvania criminal law, and it is a good one,” Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman said Wednesday afternoon.
Under prior law, an officer who smells marijuana inside a car, for example, could only search the car with the driver’s consent — or if illegal substances were in plain view.
(Federal officers, like FBI or ATF agents, can search, regardless.)
Now, based on the opinion, it only takes reasonable probable cause for an officer to go ahead with a search without a warrant.
“The prerequisite for a warrantless search of a motor vehicle is probable cause to search,” McCaffery writes in the opinion. “We adopt the federal automobile exception... which allows police officers to search a motor vehicle when there is probable cause to do so...”
Previously, a warrantless search was only allowed if “exigent circumstances” existed, the opinion states.
“This case gives the police simpler guidelines to follow and (it) finally and clearly renders our law consistent with established federal law,” Stedman said.
“It is a ruling that helps law enforcement as they continue to find people in possession of illegal drugs,” New Holland police Lt. Jonathan Heisse said Wednesday.
While police rejoice over what’s been a lasting issue, citizens might not be as thrilled.
“It’s an expanding encroachment of government power,” defense attorney Jeffrey Conrad said Wednesday morning, while reviewing the 62-page opinion. “It’s a protection we had two days ago, that we don’t have today. It’s disappointing from a citizens’ rights perspective.”
Christopher Patterson, another veteran defense lawyer, said: “I am concerned that we are on a slippery slope that will eliminate personal privacy and freedom in the name of expediency for law enforcement.”
Shiem Gary filed the Philadelphia appeal, arguing that police didn’t have probable cause to search his vehicle on Jan. 15, 2010. Officers found two pounds of marijuana stashed under the vehicle’s hood.
Lancaster defense attorney Michael Winters noted that police still need good reasons to pull over a vehicle and conduct a search.
“This does not mean that they may search every vehicle they stop,” Winters said. “They must still develop probable cause before they are permitted to search your vehicle without a warrant.”
In the Gary case, probable cause for the vehicle stop was window tint the officers believed to be illegal. Officers smelled marijuana and asked about it; Shiem then told an officer there was “weed” in the vehicle. A search ensued.
“This case does not eliminate the need for the police to have probable cause to search,” Stedman said.
The district attorney said the ruling puts Pennsylvania in line with federal law and many other states.
Locals stressed that probable cause to stop a vehicle does not equate with probable cause to search it.
A driver can still refuse if an officer asks for consent to search a car. The officer can then only search if he/she has probable cause to do so, or a warrant. A driver refusing consent, alone, does not give a police officer probable cause to search.
Christopher Lyden, another local defense lawyer, believes if an officer wants to search a vehicle without consent, they should have to get approval from a judge — as they do in searches of homes.
“Judicial oversight of vehicle searches, just like residential searches,” he said, “helps maintain a free society.”
Chief Supreme Court Justice Ronald D. Castille and Justices J. Michael Eakin and Thomas G. Saylor joined McCaffery in the majority.
Justices Debra McCloskey Todd and Max Baer opposed it.