Dreamer
Regular Member
Well, it looks like Ms Shaw's charges have been dropped by the St. Marys County States Attorney...
But I think the threats made against her, and the trauma of being charged with a felony probably served to "get the point across" just fine, even without a trial or conviction. The message that MD is sending to it's citizens is that it might not be illegal to video cops, but if we catch you doing it, we'll make your life a living hell for a few months, including additional incidents of harassment and selective enforcement, to put you in your place...
http://www.somdnews.com/stories/06232010/entetop163018_32318.shtml
Fritz says recording of deputy legal
State's attorney to drop charges against woman whose cell phone was snatched
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
By JOHN WHARTON
Staff writer
St. Mary's County's top prosecutor said Tuesday that he will dismiss the charges against a Lexington Park woman whose cell phone was snatched by a lawman as she recorded his actions.
Yvonne Nicole Shaw, 27, said this week that a St. Mary's sheriff's deputy followed her into a friend's home to arrest her on a felony charge from the incident.
Shaw awaits a preliminary inquiry in court this week on the charge of unlawful interception of communication. She said Monday she is scheduled to meet next week with State's Attorney Richard Fritz, who indicated Tuesday that the charges will be dropped.
"I'm not proceeding forward on that," Fritz said.
St. Mary's sheriff's Cpl. Patrick Handy remains on full active duty, the county sheriff said this week, as an internal-affairs investigation of the June 12 incident continues. The sheriff said all of his officers might receive additional training on the issue of how to conduct themselves in a similar situation.
As of Monday, Shaw had spent almost $200 to buy a cell phone, and now faces a possible $60 fine after another sheriff's deputy gave her a ticket last week in the same neighborhood for having a faulty tag light on her car. She said Handy was among four other deputies who responded to the scene of the traffic stop.
Shaw was at the Colony Square neighborhood shortly after midnight on the Saturday morning of June 12, when Handy and other officers responded there on what he described in court papers as a noise complaint.
Shaw said about a dozen teenagers left the area as police arrived, and that she got out her cell phone because of the way Handy was talking to her friend, who lives in the community.
"He was being very aggressive, and I decided to record it," she said, adding that another officer pointed her out to Handy before he grabbed her phone. She said she went back into her friend's home.
"I went inside to call dispatch[ers at the sheriff's office] to see if he could take my phone, and he came in the house," she said. "He put handcuffs on me in front of all the kids."
Sabrina Mawson, the home's occupant, said she spoke to the officer as he came in.
"I said, ‘You all can't come in my house without permission or a search warrant,'" Mawson said Monday outside her home. "He said, "We're looking for the girl whose phone we took.' They woke up all the kids. He kept saying he was going to lock me up, and that I better get out of my house."
Shaw was released on personal recognizance after her arrest, and St. Mary's Sheriff Timothy K. Cameron (R) said his agency's administrative investigations of the matter commenced early last week.
"It's under review at several levels," the sheriff said Monday during an interview at his office.
All new officers joining the sheriff's office receive training on media relations, Cameron said, and this month's incident could prompt instruction on how to respond to cell-phone recording by the general public.
"Likely there'll be training, for everybody in the agency," Cameron said. "I stand firmly behind the public's right to hold law enforcement accountable. You can expect when you're out in public, you're going to be filmed all the time."
Toward that end, the sheriff said he is asking the county commissioners to back his longstanding effort to get a $500,000 federal grant to put video cameras in all patrol cruisers.
"Ninety-nine percent of the time, it benefits the officers," the sheriff said. "It [also] benefits the public."
The benefit of improving citizen assistance to police at Colony Square suffered a potential setback after this month's incident.
"Sometimes, they use their badge in the wrong kind of way," Angel Mawson said outside her sister's home. "My kids don't even like the police, now."
Fritz said Tuesday that Handy had probable cause to make the arrest, but that a review of the case showed that Shaw did not know of the state law against voice recording without consent, and that the police officers' conversations in a public place is not protected by the statute.
"There's also a public policy issue here," Fritz said, adding that although there was no indication of misconduct by Handy, the public's recording of law officers' conduct is helpful to police agencies.
Shaw said she'll take the tag-light citation issued early last Friday morning by sheriff's deputy Kevin Meyer to court.
"I'm not going to pay it," she said. "He could have just given me [an equipment repair] order."
Shaw said she overheard Handy talking to one of the other officers at the scene of the traffic stop.
"He told the officer that I'm the girl that had him on the front page of the newspaper," Shaw said.
But I think the threats made against her, and the trauma of being charged with a felony probably served to "get the point across" just fine, even without a trial or conviction. The message that MD is sending to it's citizens is that it might not be illegal to video cops, but if we catch you doing it, we'll make your life a living hell for a few months, including additional incidents of harassment and selective enforcement, to put you in your place...
http://www.somdnews.com/stories/06232010/entetop163018_32318.shtml
Fritz says recording of deputy legal
State's attorney to drop charges against woman whose cell phone was snatched
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
By JOHN WHARTON
Staff writer
St. Mary's County's top prosecutor said Tuesday that he will dismiss the charges against a Lexington Park woman whose cell phone was snatched by a lawman as she recorded his actions.
Yvonne Nicole Shaw, 27, said this week that a St. Mary's sheriff's deputy followed her into a friend's home to arrest her on a felony charge from the incident.
Shaw awaits a preliminary inquiry in court this week on the charge of unlawful interception of communication. She said Monday she is scheduled to meet next week with State's Attorney Richard Fritz, who indicated Tuesday that the charges will be dropped.
"I'm not proceeding forward on that," Fritz said.
St. Mary's sheriff's Cpl. Patrick Handy remains on full active duty, the county sheriff said this week, as an internal-affairs investigation of the June 12 incident continues. The sheriff said all of his officers might receive additional training on the issue of how to conduct themselves in a similar situation.
As of Monday, Shaw had spent almost $200 to buy a cell phone, and now faces a possible $60 fine after another sheriff's deputy gave her a ticket last week in the same neighborhood for having a faulty tag light on her car. She said Handy was among four other deputies who responded to the scene of the traffic stop.
Shaw was at the Colony Square neighborhood shortly after midnight on the Saturday morning of June 12, when Handy and other officers responded there on what he described in court papers as a noise complaint.
Shaw said about a dozen teenagers left the area as police arrived, and that she got out her cell phone because of the way Handy was talking to her friend, who lives in the community.
"He was being very aggressive, and I decided to record it," she said, adding that another officer pointed her out to Handy before he grabbed her phone. She said she went back into her friend's home.
"I went inside to call dispatch[ers at the sheriff's office] to see if he could take my phone, and he came in the house," she said. "He put handcuffs on me in front of all the kids."
Sabrina Mawson, the home's occupant, said she spoke to the officer as he came in.
"I said, ‘You all can't come in my house without permission or a search warrant,'" Mawson said Monday outside her home. "He said, "We're looking for the girl whose phone we took.' They woke up all the kids. He kept saying he was going to lock me up, and that I better get out of my house."
Shaw was released on personal recognizance after her arrest, and St. Mary's Sheriff Timothy K. Cameron (R) said his agency's administrative investigations of the matter commenced early last week.
"It's under review at several levels," the sheriff said Monday during an interview at his office.
All new officers joining the sheriff's office receive training on media relations, Cameron said, and this month's incident could prompt instruction on how to respond to cell-phone recording by the general public.
"Likely there'll be training, for everybody in the agency," Cameron said. "I stand firmly behind the public's right to hold law enforcement accountable. You can expect when you're out in public, you're going to be filmed all the time."
Toward that end, the sheriff said he is asking the county commissioners to back his longstanding effort to get a $500,000 federal grant to put video cameras in all patrol cruisers.
"Ninety-nine percent of the time, it benefits the officers," the sheriff said. "It [also] benefits the public."
The benefit of improving citizen assistance to police at Colony Square suffered a potential setback after this month's incident.
"Sometimes, they use their badge in the wrong kind of way," Angel Mawson said outside her sister's home. "My kids don't even like the police, now."
Fritz said Tuesday that Handy had probable cause to make the arrest, but that a review of the case showed that Shaw did not know of the state law against voice recording without consent, and that the police officers' conversations in a public place is not protected by the statute.
"There's also a public policy issue here," Fritz said, adding that although there was no indication of misconduct by Handy, the public's recording of law officers' conduct is helpful to police agencies.
Shaw said she'll take the tag-light citation issued early last Friday morning by sheriff's deputy Kevin Meyer to court.
"I'm not going to pay it," she said. "He could have just given me [an equipment repair] order."
Shaw said she overheard Handy talking to one of the other officers at the scene of the traffic stop.
"He told the officer that I'm the girl that had him on the front page of the newspaper," Shaw said.
