Posted on 09/22/2009 8:36:49 PM PDT by HaplessToad
The headline is not from the Onion. Tampa Bay Online reports:
With guns drawn and flashlights cutting through darkened rooms, Polk County undercover drug investigators stormed the home of convicted drug dealer Michael Difalco near Lakeland in March.Here's a photo of the action:As investigators searched the home for drugs, some drug task force members found other ways to occupy their time. Within 20 minutes of entering Difalco's house, some of the investigators found a Wii video bowling game and began bowling frame after frame.
While some detectives hauled out evidence such as flat screen televisions and shotguns, others threw strikes, gutter balls and worked on picking up spares.
A Polk County sheriff's detective cataloging evidence repeatedly put down her work and picked up a Wii remote to bowl. When she hit two strikes in a row, she raised her arms above her head, jumping and kicking.
While a female detective lifted a nearby couch looking for evidence, another sheriff's detective focused on pin action.
But detectives with the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the Auburndale, Lakeland and Winter Haven police departments did not know that a wireless security camera connected to a computer inside Difalco's home was recording their activity.
Assuming playing Wii didn't lead the police to discover any evidence, I don't think the defendant can get any of the evidence suppressed. And it's hard to know what the damages are in a civil suit, even assuming that there was in fact an unauthorized Wii seizure (a wee seizure, I suppose!). But c'mon, folks: Wii is for home, not work, especially when you are conducting a police raid.
(Excerpt) Read more at 2.tbo.com ...
Ri-f*ing-diculous.
Looks like she should have put in the Wii fitness games instead of bowling.
I’m just happy no animals were harmed.
This is a discipline situation, not a firing situation. The officers are supposed to be professional and should be punished appropriately for not behaving professionally.
End of story.
Good luck to anyone prosecuting this case.
No problem prosecuting the case. The evidence will not be supressed and the bad behavior by the cops is irrelevant to the criminal case and would not be allowed before a jury.
Nice crystal ball you have. I’ve seen cases thrown out for cop stupidity for much less than this.
Hell yeah it does. Even if the guy was a drug dealer. You don’t have a right to take his property for your personal use.
Takings clause. 4th and 5th ammendment.
they should bring a Wii Donut Shop.
Not unexpected, give some guys a gun, a badge and a war on citizens rights and it is only a matter of time before they believe they are godlike.
Yeah, I remember the cops watching x rated video of me and my girlfriend on my computer, commenting on my music selection, and carting off anything not tied down. All while I was handcuffed on the couch. 6 grams of pot cost me 6,000 dollars. Recognize what the war on drugs is. A war on your rights as a citizen.
Third Amendment to the United States Constitution - part of the Bill of Rights. It prevents the government from quartering soldiers in civilian’s homes during peace time without the consent of the civilian.
Oh brother. Take a hike, Escobar. Your drug dealing client got nailed yet again.
I guess you could say he got his Wii Wii wacked :-)
And they didn't seize it. They played it. The dumbass dealer's atty is trying to say playing it equates to unlawful search/seizure.
Didn’t think of that one.
Why is:
1. theft of public property.
2. tresspass under the color of law.
3. theft of private property under the color of law.
all of which I can see on the clip
4. and surely lying on official documents. [Which I am admittedly conjecturing]
not each firing offenses?
Did those people in the clip not steal their time the public was paying for? Did those people in the clip not tresspass warrant or no warrant when they were on someone’s private property not pursuant the warrant? Did those people in the clip not steal property under the color of law when they took their wii out for a “joy ride.” And for my conjecture, do you really think this behavior was documented in the paper work on evidence seized?
I see each of those crimes as earning someone a boot from their job. Now I will grant you if it was just theft of state resources from loafing on the job, I might give them a warning, though given the huge amount of power they have and the little they can be monitored on away from the office, you must be able to trust them absolutely. Would you trust these clowns in your neighborhood going into peoples houses with a warrant. I doubt I would if this were my town.
Were I on a jury, I’d be unimpressed with the police, but it would not affect my decision as to whether the defendants were guilty or not. They weren’t taped planting evidence or prejudicing witnesses.
Cold consolation to the homeowner, but he could probably sue the officers for doing that and get a few bucks. (He’ll need it for lawyers.)
“While some detectives hauled out evidence such as flat screen televisions and shotguns, others threw strikes, gutter balls and worked on picking up spares.”
I wonder what evidence flat screen televisions would provide.
In defense of the cops-wii bowling is excellent.
spoils of war. nothing wrong here... move along.
They were at the location regardless of whether they were sitting doing nothing or playing the Wii. They didn’t steal the Wii or trespass on the suspects property anymore than if they had flipped on the TV to watch the game. One of the officers was doing actual work (cataloguing evidence) when they stopped to play. They took a break, much like what anyone working might have done.
I see a lot of unprofessional behavior, but nothing that leads me to see the “theft, trespass, theft, and lying” that you do.
I bet if someone without a badge did each of those things you would see each of those three crimes. That is if say a UPS person was legally there to drop off a package and decided to stay 8 hours, have a cookout on the back porch using their grill so we don’t have B&E.
That person would surely be breaking fraud statutes vis-a-vis UPS. They would surely be stealing the home owner’s grill and they would surely be tresspassing. Stealing is when you take possession of something illegally and deny the owner use of it. All that would be lacking would be “under the color of law.”
They did not “take a break” like anyone would have done. They took the owners expensive machine out on a “joy ride.” That is a criminal offense and they should be charged. Had the crimnals flipped on the tv and watched a game or flipped on their computer and looked at any of their private material not covered by the warrant by would equally be the criminals they are in this case. The police becoming criminals undermines the entire criminal justice system. It is quite surprising on here that often the least offended by undermining the entire criminal justice system are those who think they support law and order. It is not a game to go into someones house and use their personal property, it is a crime.
They were required to remain at the scene until evidence collection was finished. All but one of the officers playing the Wii were not doing evidence collection, they were just “hanging out” because they couldn’t leave the scene.
Turning on a TV is different than using a grill and cooking the home owners food and you know it.
I did not say that the officers should not be punished, in fact, I’m quite sure I said that they should be punished. But these are not criminal offenses nor do they rise to the level of firing offenses.
I did not mention cooking the homeowners food. In this case they stole the home owners electricity at the very least. They depreciated, which for your information mean consumed or used up part of a capital good, the owner’s wii. They are thieves. They are criminals.
The fact that you are so against law and order is pretty surprising.
Another development over the past half-century that deters civil-rights violations is the increasing professionalism of police forces, including a new emphasis on internal police discipline.
J. Scalia, Hudson v. Michigan, 2006
I’m not against law and order, but you seem to be against common sense.
They used electricity. Fine. How many Kilowatts did they burn up on the Wii? 250 W/h for the Wii, another 600 W/h for the TV. So for a two hour play time they burned about 1700 Watts at most. Charge them $2 each and be done with it.
They weren’t trespassing when they had a warrent. They weren’t trespassing when procedure required them to stay there.
I have stated, now for the third time, that they should be punished for their behavior. But it isn’t criminal and it isn’t a firing offense.
I’m sorry but it is the deed of theft that make the thief, not the amount. That the amount was maybe small in this case is offset by the fact that it was done under the color of the law.
You claim they were required to stay there. I saw no proof of that. You claim the inventory could not have been done faster with more people working on it. I doubt that and you have no proof of that.
You really should quit defending criminals.
According to sheriff's office records, 13 detectives and three sergeants spent nine hours searching Difalco's property, for drugs, stolen property and signs of any illegal drug activity.
You claim the inventory could not have been done faster with more people working on it. I doubt that and you have no proof of that.
"The nature of a search warrant is hurry up and wait," Judd said. "Am I trying to defend the fact that they were bowling, not at all. That was inappropriate."
Did you read the article?
I see you have backed off the no theft claim now. So you are ok with thieves in a police department?
If you read about the case you wouldn't be on the jury. If you were on the jury you would not learn of the police misconduct at the trial.
I prefer to call it experience.
Can they turn on the lights, or do they have to search using just flashlights?
Do their footprints put extra wear on the carpeting? Raise dust that clogs the air filters?
His lawyer should argue chain of evidence if they were playing computer games how could she be sure all her attention was on cataloging evidence.
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