Tigerlily, How I got LVMPD to do the right thing today.

OFF THE WIRE
Thanks to Dave I was successful in pushing back at a scene of a crime where the cops were wasting our $.
http://forum.guerrillalawfare.com/index.php?topic=151.0

TigerLily
Southwest Ad Manager/Correspondent
QuickThrottle Magazine
http://www.quickthrottle.com/
Visit my blog: http://tigerlilsblog.blogspot.com/
I live in what used to be a time share. Some people rent units like an apartment (like me) and some rent by the day, week, or month. Today at about 2:30 pm I went to take my dogs for a walk and noticed some Las Vegas Metro PD officers talking to a lady and there was some crime scene tape blocking off a sidewalk. An officer ordered me not to bring my dogs near. So I walked the dogs out of the way and went back to get my camera and call Dave.
I took a couple of vids of the scene of the crime.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f84cTUVaEug
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esdIcu1FH_s
Allegedly there was a pit bull that attacked a person and a cop killed the dog. Much later I spoke briefly to the dog owner. She was shaking and told me she had been pepper sprayed by a cop.
As I was walking around checking out how many cops it takes to deal with one dead dog (12+), I saw a Middle Eastern man sitting on the steps. He looked upset and I asked him if he knew what had happened. He only knew hearsay but he was upset because the cops wouldn't let him go to his car to pick up his cab and go to work (he’s a cab driver).
There were four cops standing around doing nothing so I called one over. He was a rookie who didn't seem comfortable answering my questions.

Me: What’s going on here?
Cop: I’m not at liberty to say.
Me: Can you tell me why this man can’t go to work?
Cop: This is a crime scene and nothing can be moved.
Me: Who’s in charge here?
Cop: Sgt. Price.
Me: Will you please ask him to speak to us?
Cop: Sure.

Sgt Price comes over and tells me that he can’t tell me anything and that nothing is any of my business and that this man’s need to work is not my concern. I had Dave on the phone and he coached me. I had my video cam and I thought it was recording but it wasn’t. The cops thought it was working also (so that was in my favor). All the cops had moved as far away from me as possible – in fact I could only see three of them. So I hollered out to the three I could see (one was giving me his back) and I asked if someone could please help this citizen out. The video cam is like magic. Suddenly the sgt came over to the cab driver and said, “I could call your boss and let him know you can’t leave.” I butted in with my cam and said, “Can you also pay him for the money he’s losing?” The Sgt. snickered and left, telling the cab driver there was nothing he could do and to be patient. So I started hollering out again to the few cops that were there, asking things like, why can’t this law-abiding citizen go to work? I whined and whined thinking it was all being recorded. One of the things I said, is “Hey, you all don’t look like you’re doing anything. Why can’t someone help this man out? How long is he supposed to be here missing work? You know the economy is really bad, no one can afford to be missing work.” (That kind of B.S.) So Dave told me to say these magic words, “IS HE BEING DETAINED?” Whoa! That was powerful. The Sgt immediately called over one of the rookies. That rookie took the man’s car keys and went into the cab driver’s civilian car to get his belongings out. Then I saw the rookie give the keys back to the cab driver. Then the cab driver followed the rookie to his squad car. And as they left, the cab driver waived me a very happy and grateful waive. Seems they took him to get his cab and go to work.
Four hours later it was dark, most of them were still there milking the clock & collecting their overtime. I went back to the place where the Middle Eastern man had been and I saw a couple sitting in the patio. I asked them what they knew and they said they were on vacation and today was their last day. They were made to wait 1.5 hours before being allowed to come into their timeshare. They said they were allowed in at the same time that they saw the Middle Eastern man escorted to a police car.
So Dave egged me on to go over there in the dark and get everybody’s name and P#. So I did while I had Dave on the phone. Dave could hear them blowing me off. So Dave found their police manual and I quoted it to them nice and loudly so they could hear me (since I wasn’t allowed past the tape and they were running away from me): I said, “ACCORDING TO YOUR POLICE MANUAL, 4-102.12, YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE COURTEOUS, RESPECTFUL, AND PATIENT WITH THE PUBLIC AT ALL TIMES.” AND YOUR MANUAL ALSO SAYS YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO GIVE YOUR NAME AND BADGE NUMBERS TO ALL CITIZENS THAT REQUEST IT.”
One of the police officers immediately started taking down the crime scene tape. Before he was finished I asked if I was free to go into the area that they were protecting and I was told “yes.” So I chased after each dude and got their name and badge number. And they FINALLY left!
Thanks Dave – all the witnesses saw the power of one informed citizen.
Oh, btw, I was open carrying the entire time. The time share security guard pleaded with me to take my weapon home because, “There is too much commotion here. This isn’t the time or place for a gun. One of these cops might kill you. They do that all the time.” I just giggled to myself because I know that Dave and Tim have trained these Metro cops to not mess with law-abiding citizens who exercise their 2A.
Tigerlily

Good job. These people who witnessed the power of knowledge might be interested in learning more. You neighbors might also. I expect they might love to find out more.

You might be a community organizer. One person becomes three and three becomes eight. That's how it works. Some ways to share the word: some rental places have a common area which you are allowed to use in order to speak with your neighbors. If not, there are often coffee shops that welcome small groups of people congregating. I was doing a bit of "reliving the 60's and 70's" earlier this afternoon, and remembered how well underground communications networks worked despite limitations of that age. Back then, we didn't have copy machines in every home. But some people had access to some kind of copy machine or printer, so we had the ability to create a one page, front and back underground zine. It often had something that was eye-catching, and had loads of information, even though it was just one piece of paper. In some urban areas, these underground zines were printed weekly, and people in the neighborhoods would look forward to seeing the next one.
JAN