Live and let live – it’s an adage that, if put into practice, would help
eliminate the need for these precautions. But right now some folks are putting
faith into a badge idea – arbitrary authority. Fortunately, ideas have
consequences.
Interacting with police employees
Always document exchanges you have with police or those that you witness,
preferably via video, if possible. Even better, stream the interaction in
real-time to the Internet using a free smartphone application (see:
http://copblock.org/apps). This prevents it
from being erased or tampered with should your equipment be stolen by police. In
addition, it can increase the speed with which word can get out should you need
outside support.
Filming your interactions has several advantages. Most importantly, it will
help to safeguard you at that moment, as it very-likely will deter potential
aggression, and it will act as an indisputable, objective, transparent record of
the incident. The deck is usually stacked against you in cases which come down
to just your word against theirs.
Ask “Am I being detained?”
This question is important for several reasons. One is that certain rules
regarding evidence that can be collected are dependent on whether you have been
officially detained and whether the person stopping you has sufficient cause to
detain you in the first place. Getting them on record regarding these issues can
aid you greatly in the future if contesting such evidence becomes necessary.
Another reason to ask this is that it will serve as an indicator to the
police employee you are interacting with that you are aware of your rights.
While this doesn’t always make a difference, letting them know that you
understand those rights and are willing to assert them will sometimes make them
less likely to disregard them.
If you’re told “No”, then you can leave the scene.
Sometimes, discretion is the better part of valor.
If you’re told “Yes”, stay calm, cool, and collected. You can choose to
remain silent or you can choose to engage.
Police employees default to being on the offensive. Strive to be calm, cool
and collected, while confident – knowing that you’ve not acted in the wrong and
in fact it is they who acting with hostile. Ask yourself: what is
reasonable.
Always strive to deescalate situations, and thus increase the likelihood
you’ll leave under your own volition rather than under the control of a
stranger. It will also allow those who may later view video of the interaction
to easily and clearly see just who is the aggressor. A video recording means
that facts can be shared immediately with a large number of people; you can move
more-quickly to the next stage, thus making it more-likely they’ll support you
if needed and be more-likely to speak out against injustice themselves.
Police employees can and do lie – something that courts have ruled is
perfectly acceptable – in an attempt to solicit information from you or to get
you to admit to engaging in an action they believe gives them the right to
kidnap and cage you (even though said action may not cause a victim). Be aware
of this and act accordingly.
In fact, police employees are actually trained in methods of deception
designed to trick people into giving up their rights and/or cooperating against
themselves and or their friends. They are taught to act friendly as if they want
to help you in order to gather information, which eventually could be used
against you or others. In addition, they are instructed to phrase questions in a
way that they sound like statements (I’m going to _____, okay?) in order to
trick you into giving consent.
If you do engage, answer questions with questions. Ask, “Where is the
victim?”, “Why do you believe you have the right to prevent my freedom of
movement?” etc. Treat the police employee no differently than you would someone
not wearing the same costume who approached and questioned you.
If you get arrested
Police employees often make arrests they know to be without merit, simply as
a way to harass those who question their authority. Several vague “go-to”
charges are often used for such purposes including, but not limited to,
disturbing the peace, trespassing, obstruction, interfering with an
officer/investigation, failure to follow lawful orders, etc. In cases involving
police brutality, charges of resisting arrest and/or assaulting an officer can
often be used to justify the police employees own use of force (having the
unbiased and unimpeachable witness that video represents is especially crucial
in this instance).
They know there is usually very little chance they will be held accountable
for such tactics. In most cases, the charges are later dismissed, but that
doesn’t eliminate the time and indignities suffered by their victims during even
a brief period within one of their cages. Pushing back against this culture of
abuse is important both to protect your own rights and deter its future use
against others.
Don’t panic. The world won’t end. Now is the time to engage in damage control
and move-forward to mitigate any further harassment and to seek accountability
for the real aggressors.
Write down a detailed summary of what unfolded. Create an objective overview
that will bring someone totally unfamiliar with the incident up-to-speed.
You may have an inclination to put this off until later, but it’s actually
very important to do so while the incident is fresh. Details that are now clear
will become forgotten with the passage of time. Plus, you’ll see just how useful
making time to tackle this really is when you realize that it’s actually a
time-saver. Instead of repeating the same story multiple times to different
people, you can just point them to your write-up.
Where did the interaction happen? What was going on immediately prior to the
interaction? What was the date and time? Who were the parties involved? What
were their badge numbers, employers, contact information? What was given as
rationale for stopping you? What was said during the exchange?
Share your overview at
http://copblock.org/submit
Document, Document, Document
Obtain as much related information as possible. The more comprehensive you
are, the less-likely it is that frivolous charges will be levied against you and
the more-likely it is that charges will be dropped.
Submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request (note that this is known
by different names depending on the area). Inquire of the police department if
they have a form for this – they usually do not. Don’t fret. Just write and
submit your own. Include a sentence or two overview of who you are, the
information sought, and your contact information.
You can use the text below as a template:
“To Whom It May Concern:
“This document is to serve as a Freedom of Information Act request. Please
provide to me any and all content, including but not limited to dashcam video
and related audio, dispatcher logs, police reports, internal memos, related
departmental policies, from the incident that occurred on DATE at LOCATION
involving YOUR NAME & CASE NUMBER/CHARGES IF KNOWN. Also, please include any
and all information related to the number, date, and outcome of complaints made
against POLICE EMPLOYEE NAME/BADGE NUMBER.
“YOUR NAME PRINTED
YOUR PHONE NUMBER
YOUR MAILING ADDRESS”
Or utilize this much-more thorough
FOIA request template shared by
Virginia Cop
Block
When submitting the FOIA request film the exchange. Or better yet, have a
friend accompany you who can film. The more transparency the better.
Ask for a receipt, or a signed/stamped copy of your
FOIA request.
Inquire to learn the legislated time-limit the police department has to
respond to your request (often five-ten days). Due to the inefficiency of the
bureaucratic, centralized police department, you may be contacted during that
time-frame to inform you that an extension is needed.
Note that you can be charged for copying fees of documents, video and other
content. Be sure to state when you submit the FOIA request that you want to have
the ability to review everything before it’s taken/paid for. That way, if dozens
of pages of unrelated material are included, you won’t be on the hook.
Add the information gotten from the FOIA request to your post about the
incident as an update. If you have access to a scanner, scan the documentation
and save it to http://scribd.com. You can create a free account there if you
don’t already have one.
Win in the Court of Public Opinion
If you’ve done nothing wrong don’t be afraid. Instead, voice as loudly and
clearly as you can, the rights-violations you suffered and continue to face due
to the actions of the police employee and prosecutor.
Demand a jury trial, even for something as trivial as a speeding ticket.
Currently about 95% of cases are plead out before that stage. That does nothing
to disincentivize the same or a greater level of police statism. If we each
stood-up for what we knew was right, it’d frankly be impossible for this level
to continue, and in fact it would lessen until it reached the point where no one
claimed extra rights based on their attire.
Related resources:
Work to get your situation on the radar of others. Create an event for a
Call Flood.
Share pertinent information so others can easily get on the same page.
Cultivate media contacts and share them as well. Encourage others, who have a
grasp on your situation thanks to your write-up, and inclusion of relevant
pictures and/or video, to call on your behalf and demand justice.
It’s not uncommon for court dates to be pushed back or for the “prosecutor”
to stack threats against you. While court employees might hope such tactics will
wear you down, point to such tactics as examples of their inability to make
right by dismissing the charges levied at you and calling-out the real
aggressors.
Court is called “legal land” for a reason. It’s an environment void of logic
and common sense. Where public officials who purport to be acting to obtain
justice in reality act to safeguard themselves and their colleagues. Don’t be
surprised at or let yourself get worn down by their actions. Stand on your
conscience and know that, at the end of the day, you did no harm. Not only will
this resonate with you but it will embolden others to speak out and do what they
know is right, until one day, the harassment meted out by those with badges, and
the double-standards others afford them, are no more.
———–
Connect with others who know that badges don’t grant extra rights http://copblock.org/groupsHaving
support on the ground in these situations can be critical.
Check out all documents in the “Know Your Rights” Collection housed
at http://scribd.com/copblock
Educate yourself: http://copblock.org/knowledge
At the end of the day, if you did
nothing wrong then you should not be afraid to speak the truth. As we each
stand-up we’ll empower others to do the same, and together, we’ll get
there.
Indeed the QPS identified the lack of evidence for association arrests in the high profile case of librarian 
Further
to this only 20 bikies have been charged under the mandatory sentencing
provisions of the VLAD laws, again hardly a game changer you would
think. An extract from the QPS submission to the taskforce is below.
Interestingly,
in linking the VLAD law to overall crime trends reductions in
2013/2014, no attempt was made to explain the increase in Qld crime in
2014/2015, despite the VLAD laws still being in place. What is does
highlight is how the 
