Do Char-Meck Police Know the Law?
The outcomes of the Ferguson and Eric Garner cases seem to have been the catalyst for a renewed look at police conduct while in the line of duty.
Regardless of your particular assessment of either of those situations, this is clearly a discussion worth having. We live in a society that should be based on the rule of law. Clearly there needs to be an enforcement arm of that law, and by and large our police men and women are public servants who perform their jobs with integrity. It is dangerous work they do and for the most part I am glad they are out there.
The alternative of a pure anarchy where there are no laws and no police, which I see some calling for, is nonsensical in my view. That isn’t freedom or liberty, it is tyranny to whomever your most powerful neighbor is.
But what exactly IS the role of the police?
Mike Maharrey recently published a post on VoicesofLiberty.com (which seems to be down right now, THIS is the cached version) outlining some issues he has with the modern state of policing in America.
But modern police work simply does not primarily involve defense, and cops don’t “protect” you.
Think about it. Do you actually believe a police officer will show up in time to save your life if one of your “uncivilized” neighbors breaks into your home intent on killing you? Do you have any faith that the police will recover and return your property if a plunderer breaks into your home and steals your possessions? At best, the police might make an arrest after the fact, and the criminal justice system might punish the criminal. But the punishment will serve the demands of the state, not you. The police will not make you whole, restore your property, or compensate your family if somebody takes your life.
The police serve to enforce the edicts of the state—laws and statutes that increasingly infringe on your liberty, property, and sometimes even your life.
What happens when we simply have too many laws on the books? What happens when the Supreme Court makes it OK for police to be ignorant of the law…an excuse that I bet didn’t seem to apply to you the last time you didn’t know what the speed limit was? That case was Heien v. North Carolina. It revolved around an unwarranted traffic stop for a broken taillight, which isn’t against NC law, but led to an arrest for drugs. The Court decided that the officers ignorance of the law was “reasonable”. You can read more about the case HERE.
PunditHouse recently received the following email from a Charlottean who experienced a negative interaction with the local police in his SouthPark area neighborhood.
Let me relate to you a personal story. I am a retired engineer and live in the Barkley Downs neighborhood adjacent to South Park Mall. In late June of last year, in preparation to drive up to Baltimore to help my son get settled in his new home I left my house to go to the bookstore to purchase a book on CD to listen to during the ride. Not two blocks from my house I found myself caught up in a CMPD license check road block. Before going any further let me note that there were 12 officers attached to this detail during rush hour on a Thursday afternoon.
When the officer asked to see my licence I asked him if I had committed some violation. He responded that I had not. I then further asked him if he had some suspicion that I had committed a crime. He again responded that he had no such suspicion. At this point he was clearly irritated that some commoner was not being sufficiently obsequious. I then asked if I was being detained or was I free to go. He told me that I was being detained until I showed him my license.
Now this is where things get out of control. Keep in mind that at no point had I refused to produce my license. I then asked the officer under what statute he was claiming authority to detain me. Never mind that Article I of the NC state constitution is very specific about the right of any individual to make that inquiry, this was far to much for this officer to take.
He and his partner then violently assaulted me, dragged me from my vehicle and placed me in handcuffs. As I was being dragged to a cruiser and searched I asked if Charlotte was a police state now and common citizens were no longer allowed to exercise their rights. His response was, and I quote here, “You know what? Maybe it is!”
Needless to say this incensed me even further. The insult to my rights was further compounded when the senior officer on the scene, a Sargent, flat out lied to me, twice. Firstly stating that Barkley Downs was a high crime neighborhood and secondly that the police were under no obligation to inform anyone of what statute they were being detained under! This so upset me that I quite literally nearly had a heart attack and an ambulance had to be called. When MEDIC arrived I was stabilized and prepared for transport.
At this point two further things happened. The senior officer told me that if I agreed to be transported to the hospital he would release me with a summons rather than having me booked and having to post bail. This decision apparently further angered the Jr. officer for after I was placed in the ambulance strapped to a gurney, he got into the ambulance and in front of the attendant assaulted me again by slapping me in the chest with the summons charging me with interfering with an officer and resisting arrest! He then refered to me as “Mr. Smart ass” and said that he hoped that I failed to show up so that he could “have the pleasure” of coming to arrest me again.
Long story short I have a very good lawyer and this was dismissed long before the court date.
Clearly these officers were out of control, knew they were out of control and didn’t care about anything but padding their statistics. How can anyone be called a ” law officer” who is so either ignorant or contemptuous of the law? If the very first Article of the state constitution is beyond their grasp they have no business being in uniform.
It’s an old question but “Who watches the watchers?” We only have those rights we are able to stand up and defend. “To protect and serve” is no longer found on Charlotte police cars. Look for yourself. Apparently they are more inclined towards “Patrol and control” as if this were Anbar province rather than Mecklenburg county.
I’m no raving leftist. I’m as conservative as they come but if this I’d how they treat an otherwise law abiding citizen going about his business in a quiet neighborhood, just how are they treating those in more questionable circumstances? I shudder to think. It certainly give pause for thought.
Respectfully,
Joe Martin Jr.
He is correct about the North Carolina Constitution. From Article One, the “Declaration of Rights”:
Sec. 21. Inquiry into restraints on liberty.
Every person restrained of his liberty is entitled to a remedy to inquire into the lawfulness thereof, and to remove the restraint if unlawful, and that remedy shall not be denied or delayed. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended.
You could argue that he should have just complied, showed his licence, and the entire situation would have been avoided.
I would love to have the input of a lawyer or local judge on this regarding the current state of the law.
But is this what we want from our police? Do we want to live in a community where officers of the law simply ask everyone for their “papers” to travel too and from work or shopping? Do we really want to pay for officers to harass average people going about their daily lives and then get angry when challenged?
We have too many laws in the first place, almost trying to create a criminal class of people who can’t possibly keep up.
It is time to better define what we as a community expect from the police so that we can work together on fixing the problems we agree on.
The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. ~Ann Rand
It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood. ~James Madison
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