Posted on 06/03/2012 3:23:17 AM PDT by AmonAmarth
AURORA, Colo. – Police have a “person of interest” in custody in connection with the robbery of the Wells Fargo back at 15301 E. Hampden Avenue Saturday afternoon.
Immediately following the robbery, police closed the intersection of Iliff and Buckley after reports the suspect might have taken hostages.
According to our crew on the scene, police stopped and searched nearly two dozen cars. The adult occupants of the vehicles were handcuffed during the investigation.
Yep! Being almost 80, I can remember crap statements similar to that at Nuremberg.
There's something I really love about TN's Constitution:
TENNESSEE CONSTITUTION - ARTICLE I. DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
§ 2. Doctrine of non-resistance
That government being instituted for the common benefit, the doctrine of non-resistance against arbitrary power and oppression is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
It's really a shame that so few people seem to have internalized that sentiment; for if they did, TN would be the freeest state in the Union.
Amen. Your post is suitable for framing.
It is scary when a right wing forum that is solidly middle class to upper middle class demonstrates a collective weakening of support for cops. What does that say about the police? I hope they get the message and reverse their current militarized “us vs them” attitude. I’m dreaming, I know. Just as bureaucracies only grow more restrictive, I think police forces only grow more authoritative.
Power corrupts and the police have had a lot of power for a long time.
NO!
If you “put up with” constitutionally illegal police tactics today because “innocent hostages might otherwise die”, then the excuse tomorrow will be that maybe the guy will run and kill people in a police chase, and next week the excuse will be milder still.
NO you don’t put up with violating the constitution to mitigate risk and enhance public safety. The two are not related. The police have legal tools at their disposal and that is that. We have free society and there is inherent risk in a free society because the bad guys have a lot of tools available to hurt and kill us. They have “freedom” to do so, and our security is lower as a result. But the worthwhile trade off is that we maintain our liberty.
No, you don’t trade your liberty for security, and the idea that a hostage may be hurt or killed by a criminal does not warrant a mass violation of constitutional rights.
You know, it is one thing for cops to cordon off an area for safety reasons. Suddenly you can’t drive down a public street you are entitled to drive down normally, but it is within their constitutional power to regulate your movement in a small area for public safety reasons. It is NOT in their power to treat those people in the area as if they are suspects having committed a crime.
No, nothing is worth what the Aurora police did to illegally search random vehicles and handcuff the car occupants. Please re-think your viewpoint and see if you really support illegal police tactics just for the potential for a small measure of temporary security.
There is not a lot a civilian can do while manhandled by several cops with weapons drawn. You really don’t have any power or authority over them except for the law by lawsuit after the fact, so you might as well cooperate with them. In their place, I would not be jumping around cursing them and screaming police brutality. Not in that tense situation.
I can’t say if the people were docile and accepting or just shocked in their outrage. It is hard to tell when people’s lives are turned completely upside down out of the blue like that.
I get your point if they are sheep who really believe that the police had the right to do what they did, but I’ll reserve that judgment pending interviews by the detained people.
They were powerless to resist at the time. Now they have the power for a class action lawsuit against the police for violations of their rights. I know it would take me about 3 seconds to award damages to the victims of the police abuse of power.
My my.
A cop.
Who’s a liberal.
And apparently SS oriented. (Hitler’s police force)
How surprising.
Handcuffing non suspects ( or without reason to believe they are), is kidnapping.
handicuffed all the adults?......this is insanity....this can be allowed without a fight...
there is no excuse...this was a totalitarian act of war...
of course you're right....I forgot about the pensions.....a promised pension gives the govt employees the right to break all kinds of rules...
Its been a well known fact here at FR that all the police in Colorado are thugs, since around late ‘98 or so.
We’ve had numerous threads about the brutality and violation of rights in Denver and its suburbs.
They won’t be happy until everyone is shooting police on sight it seems. I’d hate to be a cop in any town where they’re as hated as in Denver.
What difference does it make whether the thug that violates your rights is a Fed or local?
Using brutality in place of intelligent analysis has become SOP for all of the goons now.
At some point, you are going to have to make a choice. Allow the drug war to continue, with the continued assault on liberties, and the further militarization of the police, or demand an end of the drug war and the restoration of the Constitution. It is far better to provide all the free narcotics a user can do, than continue with the nightly body count and the expansion of out of control government enforcement.
FWIW, I do not call citizens, “civilians”, have been a drug warrior, am convinced that the fed has nefarious plans for all police officers, and the license I have on the wall still says Peace Officer.
Thank you sir for your well written post. It brought back an old memory of mine from the Mid-1970’s. I was talking to a Federal Agent and he told me that in his opinion that the War on Drugs was going to have the same effect on the country as Prohibition did. A massive upswing in drug usage for many reasons ranging from the “coolness” factor to the urge to find out why it was being made illegal in the first place, curiosity in other words.
But the big point he made was that he felt that the War on Drugs was being pushed by politicians with ties to organized crime. He said that the made more money on booze during prohibition than you could shake a stick at. Illegal drug trafficking would do the same thing for their coffers.
And I believe that time has proved him correct. Now I use that same reasoning to look at most things being pushed by politicians to see who will benefit from their actions.
“....so-called patriots are just as untrustworthy as criminals and would like to kill me just as much as any other cop-hater...”
Wow...just wow...I wonder if you know how far out of line you are there, Public Servant...
First of all...”so-called patriots”? You have absolutely ZERO idea how many folks out here have put their asses on the line for this country over the course of their lives. To make a statement like that is not only asinine, it’s insulting and disrespectful. They ARE Patriots, red white and blue to the core, love the country, and what it stands for - and what it’s SUPPOSED to be.
To get respect, you first have to give it. There’s no one - NO ONE - out here who wants to see cops dead; what we can’t stand is when cops act like over-steroided asswipes, abusing the authority granted to them by the PEOPLE and the TRUST the public places in them.
“Us vs. them” mentality? You’d better look in the mirror, friend. It’s not us that fosters it. Right now, it’s guys like you.
“...I see all patriots as untrustworthy anarchists...”
Really? You see Vietnam vets, Iraqi and Afgan war vets, Korean War vets, WWII vets, as “untrustworthy anarchists?” What the hell country were YOU raised in?
You should thank God every damn day that they’re NOT. Without the millions of Patriots out here, watching YOUR six every day, whether you want it and know it or not, you and your fellow former Peace Officers would be overwhelmed by the hardcore scumbags of society.
Think before you open your mouth and insult people who aren’t your enemy. A public relations master you aren’t...
I understand you have a job to do. We all do. But you make it tougher on yourself and on fellow LEOs when you come on a forum like this and start badmouthing and spouting nasty sarcasm towards decent folks for taking offense at something like this.
There isn’t a person on this forum who wishes you or any other LEO any harm. We all know damn right well that when you get up in the morning to go to work, you could very well not come home that night; that’s the nature of the job you CHOSE, and there’s any number of people out here who have done the same thing. But when you make broad, slanderous statements about folks out here, we have to wonder about YOUR state of mind towards US, and if you should be trusted with a badge and a gun at all.
You see us as “untrustworthy anarchists” - putting us in league with the Occupy Wall Street maniacs? Maybe it’s us that needs to regard you as untrustworthy because you obviously can’t tell the difference between friend (albeit irritated and annoyed) and real foe.
Lighten up. Nobody out here is your enemy. They’re just offended by the direction in which this country is being taken, and stories like this just increase the perception that cops are part of it - instead of being an active line of defense AGAINST it, as your oath to the Constitution demands.
I agree with you.
I too have seen first hand what a few corrupt cops can do. I had a coworker who was harrassed, as well as illegally detained by the Prattville AL police. In fact one of the Sgt’s told him to his face that he was “No better than the n***ers who roamed around digging through people’s trash looking for aluminum cans”. My coworker is white and a former Marine BTW, and what we do is safety inspections on gas lines.
I had a Montgomery County AL, sheriff deputy who illegally used law enforcement resources to gain access to my personal e-mail account, as well as my financial information. He used my e-mail to send bogus messages to my friends and family.
Both cases others in their respective departments knew of the wrongdoing, yet they did nothing to speak out against it. As a result, they are equally guilty in the wrongdoing.
You are here, therefore, you are.
I was pulled over for an out of state tag, pure harassment on his part, didn't know that I knew his watch captain. Took a while but they terminated him. revenge is sweet sometimes.
|
All that jerks like him have to holler is |
Our hero has been MIA from the thread for some time. Methinks he blew his paper thin cover.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.