Facebook Post Explained: Why Cops Are Whores

In case you missed my post on Facebook, or are simply not friends with me, I posted in anger on my way to work shortly after receiving a ticket "The police are nothing but whores, and the state is their pimp, telling them who to fuck. My apologies to any actual whores though." I actually thought it was pretty clever, in spite of my incoherent rage at the time.

The reason for the ticket: speeding. Now, if you subscribe to the same line of thinking as most people I know, you are probably saying, "If you weren't speeding, you wouldn't have been pulled over", or perhaps its cousin, "If you didn't do anything wrong, you wouldn't have been ticketed/arrested/beaten to death". Well, we sort of have this idea of presumed innocent until proven guilty in this country, although that can sometimes be misconstrued in today's media-obsessed world.

So before you write me off as some law-breaking, reckless-driving miscreant, at least hear my side of the story. It all started on the typical commute to work. I live off Curry Ford Road, so I usually jump on 417 Northbound and change over to 408 Westbound to head into downtown Orlando.

As you can see from the picture, the 417-408 exchange is a complete mess right now with construction, so any chance to advance forward looks like water after days in a desert. I merged on to 408 and saw a motorcycle a few vehicles behind me; I was unsure at that time whether it was a police bike or just a motorcyclist.

I always make it a point to know where I am in relation to other drivers around me, and when there are motorcycles I am especially on edge because they can be a bit more unpredictable. So I clearly noted him merging into the right lane and then changing over to the left lane. As he pulled alongside me I finally saw that it was a state trooper's bike, but I did not let that deter me from driving as I was doing nothing wrong. I waited until there was space and changed over to the left lane myself, directly behind the officer.

We continued along in the left lane as a third lane merged into 408 Westbound made up of cars that had been traveling southbound on 417. So now there were three lanes, and I was still behind the cop in the leftmost lane. This is all in the midst of construction and frequent uneven lanes, so as we passed the Goldenrod exit and 408 opens up to four lanes I took the opportunity to get out from behind the motorcycle cop and move to the second lane from the left. I stayed even with him and did not alter my speed in any noticeable way; I chose to move from behind him only because I do not feel comfortable driving behind motorcycles.

We continued on in this fashion for another half-mile or so, and as I looked ahead I could see that my lane and the lane to the right of me were both becoming a bit more congested, but the left lane in which the cop still rode in was moving along at the same pace as us, if not a bit quicker further ahead. I pushed forward slightly so that I had room to change lanes before getting to the traffic in my lane, put on my turn signal, and changed over in front of the police officer.

We go another couple of hundred feet, me in front of the officer, and then the lights come on. While I instantly feared it was for me, I started to look over to the right just to get out of the way. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw that he was indicating it was me who was getting pulled over, and he was telling me to pull off to the left. So maybe a quarter mile before the express toll plaza I was forced to pull over onto the left shoulder of the road. The Google Streetview image on the left is a rough approximation of where I was pulled over, but there was far more traffic due to the rush hour crowd.

He approached from the left hand side and asked for my driver's license. I asked him why I had been pulled over. He said that the speed limit is 55 mph and I had been speeding. I told him that I was going the same speed he had been going. He then said that I had passed him. I stated again that I was going the same speed he had been going, so I don't know how I could have been passing him. He fell back to saying, "the speed limit is 55 mph and you were going 70." There was no possibility of reasoning with this officer. When he asked about my driving record and I responded that I currently have a citation I have to pay (from losing traffic court on a previous speeding infraction hearing), I knew I was sunk.

He was back at his motorcycle for some time, so there was no doubt in my mind that I was being cited yet again. When he came back he gave me the grandiose spiel that it seems all officers do: "You were really going 15 over which is $250 ticket, but I cut you some slack and dropped it to 9 over which is only a $129." I pleaded with him that if he was willing to reduce the citation on the spot, why couldn't he just let me off with a warning. He simply said he couldn't do that.

It was at that moment that it was obvious to me that the police are nothing more than money collectors for the state. That he would pull me over during rush hour when I was going no slower or faster than anyone else on the road; force me on to the left shoulder from where it took me two or three full minutes to safely merge safely back into traffic; and write me up for a ticket that he should very well give himself as well--after all, I was matching his speed from the start--is a clear indication that the only thing that matters to state troopers like him are tickets, quotas, and fees.

I will be fighting this ticket. I could have been going 70 miles over the speed limit and I would contest a ticket, because in this country it is still the state's burden to prove without a reasonable doubt that a crime has been committed. But even more than that, sometimes you just have to fight for what you believe in, and for me that means pushing back against an overbearing government who sees us as nothing more than pocketbooks for their regulatory schemes and spending fantasies.

If just one person who reads this starts scrutinizing the public officials around us more, then I will consider it a win, no matter what the outcome in the courtroom. You have to care for yourself and your loved ones, because the state couldn't give two shits about you. "All [they] wanna know is: where [their] money at?"

Don't Talk to Cops!!!

This may come as a surprise to everyone, but I don't exactly have a lot of respect for authority. To me, respect is something that has to be earned; it is not something I give because of the uniform you wear or the position you hold. Therefore, if I get pulled over or a police officer wants to "ask me a few questions" I am pretty hesitant to say anything. Because as we all know from any episode of Law & Order, anything we say can and will be used against us in a court of law.

That isn't just a line that Dick Wolf created for his hit crime and justice series. What is typically referred to as "Miranda rights" or "Miranda warning" is actually something that all of us have always had since our Constitution was drafted. It is a stated reminder of one of our 5th Amendment rights, which reads:

No person... shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...

So if we've always had the "right to remain silent," then why do cops tell us that upon arrest? Well, they didn't always have to tell the person they were arresting. The Supreme Court case Miranda v. Arizona established that if a suspect was not told they have the right to an attorney any admission or evidence gathered in interrogation was not admissible in court. Therefore, the police are now required to read the Miranda warning when taking someone into custody.

Some of you are probably saying, "Well, if I'm never taken into custody, I won't have to worry about anything." WRONG. The Miranda warning is only read to those in police custody. You can still easily waive your 5th Amendment rights in something as simple as a traffic stop, or as innocent as a neighborhood inquiry.

Imagine you get pulled over. Perhaps you were speeding, perhaps not. The cop asks you if you know how fast you were going. To be safe, you reply "maybe a few miles over the speed limit" assuming the police don't care about anything 1-5 mph above the limit. Well, whether you were speeding or not, you've just admitted to the officer that you were speeding and can be held accountable for that.

Scenario 2: some police officers are canvasing the neighborhood looking for a burglar. They say a witness spotted someone who looked like your roommate outside the burgled residence earlier that night. You roommate was out that night, although you have no idea where. Not answering is the best thing you can do. If you lie to cover for your roommate, you can be charged with obstruction of justice, which is essentially misleading a police investigation. However, obstruction of justice doesn't apply to NOT SAYING ANYTHING. If you stay silent, you are simply utilizing you 5th Amendment rights, even if you are not considered a suspect in the investigation. Because, as the warning states: anything you say can be used against you. You may unwittingly release some information that the police could use to charge you with something. So, better to lock up the trap and throw away the key.

If the cops really need information out of you, they can lawfully obtain a subpoena for you to appear in court. You may still exercise your 5th amendment rights even in court if you are afraid you may incriminate yourself in some manner.

The most important thing is to be aware of your rights and to not be afraid. Whether they are aware that they do so or not, police officers can intimidate people into giving up information that they otherwise wouldn't, simply because they wear a badge and carry a gun. You don't have to be an asshole (something I constantly have to bite my tongue about), but you also don't have to kowtow to authority.

I strongly encourage you to watch this video, entitled "Don't Talk To Police." It is about 50 minutes long, but it provides a very easy-to-understand and entertaining explanation of your 5th Amendment rights by a Regent University School of Law professor and surprisingly by a Virginia Beach police officer as well.

Above the Law

(In my best movie voice-over guy voice)

Imagine a world where criminal acts run rampant; a world where the line between good and bad is blurred; a world where crime goes unpunished...

There are those who stand in the way of justice, and no one can do a thing to stop them...

Unfortunately, that isn't the lead-in for a new Steven Seagal movie (although I really should do a Seagal marathon one of these days). That is actually the very real world we live in right now. And the "crimes" that go unpunished are committed every year by those sworn to protect and uphold the law.

Now give me a second to explain. There aren't Orwellian armies of jack-booted thugs wiping the streets clean of jay-walkers or litterers. And we're not in a state of martial law, where curfews are enforced at the end of a M-16. But there are instances reported daily of police officers who abuse the authority that a badge and a gun grant them; and examples of prosecutors and District Attorneys choosing not to charge said officers.

How can those who are supposed to "protect and serve" the community get away with criminal acts? The answer is something called qualified immunity. The U.S. Supreme Court created the doctrine of qualified immunity to shield "government officials from liability for the violation of an individual's federal constitutional rights." This means that a police officer or other public official can not be responsible for infringing on someone's rights if it is not commonly known at the time that said action is unconstitutional.

The present idea of qualified immunity was established in the case Pearson v. Callahan. The Supreme Court overturned a previous decision (Saucier v. Katz) that declared in cases of immunity a process must be followed: "first deciding the constitutionality and then deciding if the law had been unclear enough for officers not to be liable." Now, after the Pearson case, that two-step process was strictly advisory. If there is any doubt to the legality of a law at the time of breaking it, these special class of officials are not held liable the same way an average citizen would be.

Qualifying immunity is most often seen in cases involving the 4th and 5th amendments. The 4th amendment deals with a person's right to be secure in their person and property against searches and seizures. The 5th amendment ensures that a person may not lay down evidence that would in turn implicate him in a crime, and that they cannot be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process.

Take, for example, the murder of Eurie Stamps. While serving a warrant on Stamps' residence for targets who Stamps was not, "a firearm was discharged by a SWAT team member and a round struck a resident," says a police report. If this was an encounter between two average citizens, a "discharged firearm" would be a fired gun and a "round [striking] a resident" would equate to assault with a deadly weapon, later to be manslaughter or even murder upon Stamps being killed.

However, in this instance, none of the SWAT team members were brought up on weapons charges, nor will any likely be held accountable on criminal charges for Stamps' death. A man was killed, and for what? A poorly executed drug raid?

While the job of a police officer can be a stressful and difficult job at times, the citizenry trusts that those who wear the badge are capable of handling the stress of the job for which they willingly apply. Nobody is putting the gun to one's head and forcing him to become a police officer. More accountability--remove sovereign immunity, equal if not stiffer penalties for laws broken by officers, penalties on prosecutors that don't charge officers--for the job would do nothing but help police officers. If a police officer is truly justified in the actions he or she takes, then there would be no problem in acquitting them of all charges. Perhaps these actions will help shape the strong arm of the law from Mjöllnir to more of a carpenter's hammer.

Despite our infatuation for heroes like Dirty Harry Callahan and Axel Foley, everyone (including "criminals") has rights that cannot be violated. The police enforce the law; they are not above the law.