hairnet

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a rider is filming another rider being detained by the LAPD. One officer kicks out his legs, but it isn't totally clear at what - possibly a close passing cyclist. The filming rider screams out in protest, and is then tackled by other officers while the camera continues to roll.

this occurred a short time after the LAPD police chief released a video in support of cyclists

This is not isolated to Critical Mass. I have seen similar police actions on group rides, often they seem unjust and indiscriminate.

local bicycle advocates write about what happened
https://soapboxla.blogspot.com/2010/0...ocks-lapd.html
https://www.bikesidela.org/hollywood-...critical-mass/

This isn't a discussion about whether Critical Mass is right or wrong, this is about the actions of police.

randya

shining a light on police brutality is a good thing. Video definitely helps.

mconlonx

News flash: cyclists also victims of police misconduct. Shocking!

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 06-01-10
By David Packman, on June 2nd, 2010
Here are the 23 reports of police misconduct recorded in the National Police Misconduct News Feed for Tuesday the 1st of June, 2010:

Detroit Michigan police have been accused of lying about how 7-year-old Aiyana Jones was shot to death during a raid on a family�s duplex unit during a warrant search for a suspect who lived in the separate upstairs unit. The family�s lawyer had an independent autopsy performed on the girl that found she was shot in the head which would make the initial accounts by police that she was shot while an officer struggled with the girl�s grandmother highly improbable as the trajectory indicates the girl was laying down while shot, suggestion the shot came before police even entered the apartment� something video seen by that lawyer also suggests.

An Anderson California police officer is the subject of a criminal investigation after being accused of raping a female detainee while transferring her to jail after her arrest on unspecified charges.

A Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission police officer has been indicted on allegations that he sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl right after a sting operation that she was hired by the police to assist with.

A now-former Des Moines Iowa police officer has been sentenced cop sentenced to probation after he took a plea deal that reduced a felonious attempted sexual assault charges down to misdemeanor misconduct in office and false imprisonment charges after he was accused of trying to force himself on a 22-year-old female DUI suspect in his cruiser after he had arrested her.

The Hyattsville Maryland police department has been accused of retaliating against two black officers after they complained about how minorities were discriminated against and subjected to excessive force by other Hyattsville officers.

A Grand Traverse County Michigan deputy has been suspended after he was arrested on three domestic violence charges along with resisting arrest, obstruction, and possession of a firearm while under the influence charges.

A New Orleans Louisiana police officer was arrested on charges of domestic battery, disturbing the peace, and public intoxication after he allegedly attacked his girlfriend.
Three Oakland California police officers are the subject of a lawsuit filed by a television news station cameraman alleging that the officers shoved him to the ground and broke his camera when he tried to film police outside the emergency room after several officers were shot.

Two Pulaski Tennessee police officers have been disciplined for arresting a doctor who was stopped for doing 46 in a 35mph zone while she was on her way to the hospital to deliver a baby. The police chief said that while they didn�t do anything illegal, they should have used a bit more discretion during the incident. One officer has been suspended for 7 days and the other suspended for 30.

Maricopa County Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is now the subject of a 6th claim against him over his allegedly retaliatory legal actions against several county officials. While the other officials, three judges and two county supervisors, have filed claims for monetary compensation for what they were put through, this deputy county supervisor is only demanding an apology so that her career won�t be damaged by the apparently false charges laid against her.

A now-former Williamsburg Kentucky police officer is pleading guilty to federal drug trafficking charges and allegations that he broke into a pharmacy while he was a cop in order to steal drugs. He already served time on state charges of drug trafficking but the federal case covers a longer time period and includes charges for the burglary.

A Houston Texas police officer was arrested by a SWAT team inside a local courthouse while she was preparing to testify in traffic cases that day over an outstanding warrant for theft charges. Police officials say it�s standard procedure to use a tactical team to arrest officers but haven�t gone into detail about the charges laid out against the female officer who was arrested.

A Dorchester County South Carolina deputy has resigned while he was under investigation on allegations that he had driven off in his patrol car after drinking at a bar while off-duty. He was also the subject of allegations that he supplied alcohol to minors but police say those allegations didn�t pan out.

A Carteret County North Carolina narcotics detective has pled guilty to misprison of a felony charges for failing to stop or report the theft of funds intended for drug busts by the county�s then sheriff and several other deputies. The sheriff and a deputy have already pled guilty for their roles in the embezzlement scheme while two others, including the then chief deputy, are scheduled to be arraigned next month.

A New Hanover County North Carolina police officer was given a verbal reprimand after he was videotaped threatening to arrest a man for recording the arrest of a streaker who was tasered in the middle of the street. So far, the police say that the officers didn�t do anything wrong by tasering the naked, but otherwise harmless, man.

Beaumont Texas police are accused of withholding and/or destroying evidence in in a court filing made by the lawyer for a family suing the police over an accident between a speeding cop and their teenage daughter. Witnesses of the accident say the officer was speeding near 100mph and swerving in and out of traffic without lights or siren before he hit the teen but the police have filed a countersuit alleging the teen was at fault� apparently for being in the way.

A Fort Worth Texas police officer was arrested on public intoxication charges after he was found wandering about a mile and a half away from where he had left his damaged SUV on railroad tracks. Police discovered him after launching a search when his car was found abandoned with empty alcohol containers inside. Police say they expect more charges to be filed soon.

A Santa Fe New Mexico police detective is on desk duty after being arrested for aggravated drunken driving by a state trooper who stopped him for weaving and tested him at 2x the legal limit.

An East St Louis Illinois police officer has been sentenced to four months house arrest, probation, and over $8,000 in fines and compensatory damages after he pled guilty to dragging a detainee into a holding area that he knew didn�t have cameras so he could assault him and then lying about it to investigators afterward. As part of the deal he agreed to never seek employment as a cop in that state again.

The now-former Raritan New Jersey police chief has pled guilty to a tampering with public records charge for filing a false report saying he passed firearms qualification testing that he and one other officer never passed. As part of the plea deal he resigned from his position as chief and will likely only face probation.

Two Detroit Michigan police officers are accused of causing an accident by witnesses who claim they ran a red light without lights or siren activated when they hit a woman�s car, sending her son to the hospital with non-critical injuries. Police say they are investigating the accident.

A Shillington Pennsylvania police officer is the subject of a lawsuit filed by a woman claiming that the officer stalked and harassed her after she rebuffed his advances. The complaint filed includes allegations that the officer planted a GPS device on her car.

And finally, two Billings Montana police officers are under investigation over two separate incidents. One of the officers is under investigation after he was involved in a suspected DUI accident. No charges have been filed against that officer yet. The second officer is being investigated after he was arrested at a concert for urinating in public when security spotted him exposing his genitals while he urinated in the midst of a crowd at that show.

-------------------------

And this was just one day, June 1.

Everyone should be outraged about police misconduct. Cycle-centric outrage is misplaced, issue is police misconduct in general. Get more traction politically by finding allies outside the cycling community rather than making this a cycling specific issue. On one of those links, someone hatin' on cyclists is spouting off about lack of minorities in CM, class issues, etc.--instead of confronting such individuals on their cycling predjudices and hang-ups, find out what issues they have with police misconduct and try to find some common ground, and come together as a community speaking out against police misconduct. Rather than splintering into an us v. them argument about cycling and CM.

Cop beat down of cyclists is not much different then cop beat down of other minorities...

rumrunn6

nice public service announcement - we should have that here!

Seattle Forrest

I hope no one says this in public; it's a great way to destroy any clout or sympathy we have.

"Other" minorities don't choose to be minorities. Even if it were true that police see bike people and fly into an uncontrollable violent rage, we can always leave the bike locked to the post, and become majority people. The comparison I'm objecting to implies a comparison to the civil rights movement; many of the people who were beat down by the police weren't able to change their appearance and stop being targets.

It's one thing to vent, but it would be very bad advocacy to offend people with bad ( or even histrionic ) comparisons.

mconlonx

*sigh* Police brutality is police brutality. If you'd rather people reduce their effectiveness by attacking the issue as smaller individual groups, that would be another way of doing it. Maybe I said it wrong, but this is not just a cycling issue, it's much larger than that. Simply suggesting that the cycling community--instead of trying to make this a cycling v. cops issue--join the much larger group of population who have issues with police brutality and misconduct in general, overall. Again, maybe a way of getting better traction on the issue than simply making it a bike issue.

Seattle Forrest

^^^ I agree with you. Brutality is a problem no matter who's on the giving and receiving ends. What I'm objecting to is comparing cyclists to actual persecuted minorities. Never mind that it's disrespectful to people who've been lynched for the color of their skin ( which they can't change the way we can leave the bike locked outside ). It's also bad advocacy, in that we're going to lose a lot of support. Everything else you said, I agree 100 % with.

gcottay

According to the LAT, "Four police officers involved in a clash with cyclists in Hollywood during a protest ride have been removed from field duty while investigators review the incident, officials said Wednesday." "LAPD Commander Andrew Smith said the internal investigation will look at all the incidents of alleged police use-of-force as well as address complaints by one bike activist that the LAPD refused to take a complaint when he called the Hollywood watch commander. Investigators will also look into whether officers forced the person who shot the video to stop recording moments after the alleged kick occurred."

bizzz111

Apparently it isn't a good thing:

https://gizmodo.com/5553765/are-cameras-the-new-guns

Better brush up on your local law or you may find yourself in jail for exposing thuggish cop behavior.

Spire

Only take a video of the cop if it is one that flatters the cop

bismillah

Thanks dude

DX-MAN

The concept of recording police misconduct being 'illegal' is the next political hot potato, though it may take some years to develop to the point where someone will actually address it in a sweeping fashion. (Ohio's mishandling of it is restricted to Ohio, for the time being.) If this becomes a loss for the citizenry, we are all in a lot of trouble.

I agree that brutality is brutality; BUT, to stand up next to persecuted minorities, shoulder to shoulder, saying, "We are targets too, we feel your pain and stand with you" WILL get you slapped down faster than the cops ever could. Black folks, by and large (NOT 100%, but in uncomfortably high numbers) believe that their being the target of racism and discrimination is worse than anyone else's. I disagree, mainly because the Native American population is still treated as bad or worse than black folks, but also because wrong is wrong, and all the 'discriminators' are doing is picking a convenient excuse (color, gender, sexual preference, educational level, region of birth, etc.).

BASIC EDUCATION is the key, as much or more than anything else; it's something that's gotten away from us as a society. We don't teach the "three R's" (cute -- "readin' (w)ritin', and (a)rithmetic" for an educational standard), and citizenship anymore. It's become OK for adults to NOT be role models, and by simple extension, children no longer have to learn to become role models. Thus, we creep nearer to anarchy -- the very fuel needed for a police state!

Some people believe all they have to learn is what will make money for them.
Some people believe that an education will make them betray their heritage.
Some people believe that lying, cheating, and stealing are okay because they're not drawing blood.
Some people believe they have earned the right to oppress others because of where they are in their own lives, some level of status or accomplishment.

All are wrong.

Digital_Cowboy

As I believe was said in another thread on this topic, what about all of the ATM, CCTV and security camera's that record "everyone, everyday" of our lives? Does this mean that when an on duty cop goes into a business that that business has to shut off it's security system? What about the ATM machines? Does that mean that if there is an on duty cop making an arrest that the ATM camera's have to be shut off? The same goes for all of the CCTV cameras that are scattered throughout most towns/cities?

Also IF video recording an on duty cop is a violation of some states all parties consent laws, than doesn't that imply and mean that the cops also need explicit consent from the person(s) that they are stopping before they can turn on their dash cams?

They can't claim that it's "illegal" to record them because their consent wasn't given and than turn around and do the same thing to the average citizen walking the streets of our nation.

hairnet

I agree. Unfortunately I have only received exposure to this kind of police behavior while cycling, so I have no other way to relate, and that's why I brought it here.

Dchiefransom

Strange, but after the cop on the left looks like he might be sweeping the legs of the rider being cuffed, the video shows the rider still standing. It looks like he goes to his knees when the cuffing officer does something.`

Ahh, I see now. I think he took down another cyclist, as the other cop heads to the left.

trek2.3bike

Thugs in blue.

Brontide

SCOTUS will strike down any anti-videotaping law. It's a blatant restriction on freedom of the presses. Police activity, especially questionable activity, falls squarely under "information in the public interest" protected by the constitution and the police can not expect the same privacy as private citizens, especially since recording will predominantly be in public locations. Similar cases have been fought before with things like someone using a radio receiver to tape a cell phone conversation which they were not a party to that was newsworthy, the conviction was thrown out.

Short of an attempt to claim "national security" which would be a longshot for such a domestic and common activity I don't see any way to get it through the courts.

mconlonx

You have no idea if SCOTUS would shoot this down or not. They could very easily uphold public taping of public officials as illegal under current law. Especially considering the conservative, authoritarian judges now sitting.

Another day in the life of Law Enforcement:

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 06-04-10
By David Packman, on June 5th, 2010

Sorry this review is late today, I ended up covering a shift for a friend who works at a local bar so the feed stopped updating around 8:00pm last night. I’m trying to catch up to see if I missed any reports now. I’ll be working tonight as well, so the feed won’t be updating from 8:00 on until the next morning. Sorry for the outage.

Here are the 21 reports that I did catch in our National Police Misconduct News Feed for Friday, June 4, 2010:

A Chatham County Georgia deputy was fired after he was arrested on child molestation charges involving a 13yr-old girl that he was apparently caught having sex with by the girl’s father, who was a longtime friend of his. The father threatened him with a rifle but the cop’s young son was there so the father relented, telling him to thank his son for saving his life… but the officer returned to take a beating with a baseball bat when the father called him and told him to come back. The deputy declined to press charges for that.

This one is frustrating, A New York NY police officer apparently has been ordered to pay a $250 fine after pleading guilty to harassment for punching man at bar… but from past reports that I can dredge up, that officer also shot the person he had hit while he was working security at a bar and, after the shooting, other officers tried to cover for him. Unfortunately, I can’t read the full story since it’s behind Newsday’s paywall and no other outlet is covering it.

A New Orleans Louisiana police officer has joined four of his fellow officers and pled guilty to obstruction and misprison of a felony charges in the midst of a federal investigation into the shootings of unarmed people on Danziger bridge after hurricane Katrina. This officer was one of the cops who opened fire on people fleeing the chaotic scene.

A Hackensack New Jersey police captain has been charged with official misconduct for his role in a cover-up that resulted in charges against chief who apparently interfered in the assault investigation against a relative.

The Alamance County North Carolina sheriff’s department is under investigation by the US DOJ on allegations of unconstitutional searches and discriminatory practices. There aren’t many details being released but the sheriff claims the state already investigated the claims and found nothing wrong.

Los Angeles California police are the subject of a legal claim filed by the man who recorded LAPD officers kicking at cyclists before he was tackled by police himself. THe claim makes multiple allegations including that officers falsely arrested him, beat him, and intentionally stomped on his iPhone in an attempt to stop it from recording the incident.

A Cape Girardeau Missouri police officer has been sentenced to 42 days in jail and an unspecified fine for filing a false report for apparently lying when claiming a check for a gambling debt was forged.

A Hardeman Tennessee police officer has been arrested for domestic assault and vandalism after a dispute with his girlfriend.
The Lebanon Tennessee interim police chief has opted for early retirement while he was under investigation for pointing a gun at the fire chief as a prank while they were monitoring a public event.

The Alpharetta Georgia police department has admitted that one of their officers entered the wrong name on a citation that eventually caused an innocent man to spend 32 hours in jail, causing his pregnant wife to be hospitalized due to the stress it caused. The officer typed the wrong name in his computer while issuing a citation to another man for an expired tag and when the innocent man was stopped it was his name that showed up for the warrant because the wrong/right man never showed up in court.

A Byron Georgia police officer is on paid leave after he was arrested by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on trespassing and violation of oath charges in an unspecified incident.

A Fair Grove Missouri police officer was arrested on statutory **** and statutory sodomy charges after he admitted to having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl about 12 years ago after confronted by investigators responding to a complaint by the alleged victim.

A Houston Texas police officer was arrested while on patrol on allegations that he sexually assaulted at least two women on-duty that he had pulled over at traffic stops on different occasions. Investigators believe there may be more victims so the investigation is ongoing. An interesting aside to this case is that it was only a couple days ago that a female HPD cop was arrested by a SWAT team on a theft charge and police said this was standard procedure when arresting an officer… but there’s no mention of a SWAT team being used this time.

A King County Washington judge has ruled that a Seattle Washington police officer’s reinstatement should be put on hold and the city’s police commission should reevaluate it’s decision forcing the department to rehire him after he was fired under their “dishonesty policy” for lying about punching a handcuffed detainee in the face. The commission overturned the firing because it felt that since other officers were never fired for dishonesty in the past, that this one shouldn’t either.

A New Haven Connecticut police officer was arrested on multiple charges for badly injuring a teen girl when he hit her with his motorcycle and then fled the scene.

A Sacramento California police sergeant is on paid leave after being arrested on allegations of shoplifting toiletries from a supermarket. The officer’s last known position was as head of the financial crimes unit.

A Webster Parish Louisiana police lieutenant became a wanted man after he refused to turn himself in on charges of sexual assault on a child out of Texas. His own department was forced to launch a search that eventually found him without incident and he told them he hid on the advice of his lawyer. Police are now investigating to see if anyone intentionally harbored him since he was a fugitive at the time.

The Toledo Ohio police department has settled a lawsuit with two photographers who were arrested while they were covering a neo-nazi rally and counter-protest. The settlement seemed to be non-monetary, or at least they’re not releasing all the details, but part of the settlement is a promise by police to revise their policies about how they treat journalists and photographers.

A Plainfield New Jersey police officer is on paid leave after being charged with two counts of soliciting prostitutes.

A Cincinnati Ohio police officer was indicted along with his girlfriend on arson charges for setting their car on fire in bid to get insurance to pay for the vehicle who’s payments had become more than the car was worth.

And finally, a Kitsap County Washington deputy has been given a diversionary sentence for a DUI charge. He’s still on paid leave pending internal investigation.

That’s it for Friday, have a good weekend and stay safe out there.

Brontide

No one can 100% say positively, but precedent says that an anti-taping law will not stand.

https://writ.news.findlaw.com/dorf/20010530.html

This wasn't even a grey area of the law, the taping was illegal, but the information was of public concern and therefore freedom of the press won.

But in the case of the police, they do not have an exception of privacy while working in public spaces. Their actions are of particular public concern because of the authority they wield.

dougmc

That would depend on the state's laws. They aren't all the same -- the devil is in the details. If an ATM camera did catch something, it would be incidental to the intended purpose of the camera, so maybe that makes a difference. Again, the devil is in the details.
Actually, they can. (It may not be fair, but don't assume that they won't find a way around it.) A few possible ways around the issue (not sure which would be used -- it would vary) would be --

--- the wiretap law has a specific exception for law enforcement
--- the police have a general-purpose warrant (from a judge) for this (warrants shouldn't work this way, but I won't say it's impossible)
--- since they're the ones enforcing the law, they just ignore this aspect of it, or interpret it differently for themselves. (For example, they may just say that it's always obvious that the police are taping you, so it's akin to a news team with their big cameras. In Austin, TX the police cars seem to have a red light next to their cameras when they're recording -- though I'm not sure why, as Texas is a "one party consent" state.)
--- the police in these states may not actually use dash cams (I don't know.)