Here truth as we all know it really is:
Cops go about their day mostly trying to just get by and not screw up. They are human, like the rest of us.
As humans who routinely go into harms way they form tight bonds with their co-workers. There develops a kind of groupthink that makes otherwise decent people do bad things if the group is doing bad things.
This is combined with the general concept among LEOs that they aren't bound by most laws. For example, most expect a "professional courtesy" if they are stopped for a minor motor vehicle infraction while driving their personal vehicles. Many expected and got rides home if they were caught driving drunk. I don't know if it still goes on, but I know it was NORMAL among the Amity, Prospect, Naugatuck cops in the early 90s. The IA report on the CT state police done by the NY State Police confirms that this went on well into the 90s.
Oops, he "bumped" his head getting into the patrol car.
Oops, he was "resisting" so we had to give him a wack to set him straight.
Oops, he made a move for that openly carried handgun, so we shot him.
So the chief, knowing that nothing will happen, has the kids phone grabbed. Why? Because he can. He knows nothing will come of it. I think he's probably right.
With respect to the Chief's comment that recording is legal, reread what he said. It is filled with "weasel words". It certainly leaves enough room for an officer to claim that the videographer was interfering with the LEO.
They need to be sued. That is all that will stop this. Hmm. This is starting to sound like and OC discussion.
Don
p.s. In 1990 I was arrested coming back into New Haven (where I lived on Whalley Ave) from shooting Trap with my father at the Branford Gun Club. In the car I also had a Ruger .22 target pistol. On my person I had a S&W 6906 9mm. I stumbled into a drug bust and ended up getting "taken down" when an officer saw my shotgun across the back seat of my car. (totally legal). I was stopped felony style. 3 cars, 10+ officers in external body armor, guns drawn down on me. After going through my stuff they realized they had no crime.
So they falsified their report to say that my 6906 was sitting on the dashboard and charged me with the catchall breach of peace / wreckless endangerment. To make a long story short, I spent a lovely evening as a guest of the NHPD, learned what a "CO" was, got let go on a PTA, charges were dropped (NOT nolle'd), they called the BFPE and had my permit pulled, they refused to give me my guns back. I eventually got them back, with a dent in the stock of my shotgun and 3 mags missing from the S&W. I filed an IA complaint which was settled for a small amount of cash to fix my shotgun and my magazines were suddenly "found".
Since then I've realized that once the cops, any cops, get "wound up" there is little to do other than go along for the ride and document everything.
