Journal sm62704's Journal: Police State: In USSA, cops hassle YOU! 4
So anyway, I'm posting on slashdot and all and made a comment where I mentioned the US police state. It occurred to me that most Americans don't realize they do, in fact, live in a police state. I didn't either, until two occurrances last summer.
On Memorial Day, the day we Americans honor those who died defending the Unites States and its Constitution, I travelled to St Louis with my daughters for my nephew's wedding. My oldest lives close by, my youngest lives in Cincinnati and was staying with me for the weekend.
We got back to Springfield, I dropped my oldest off at home and my youngest went off to visit her friends; she grew up here, and moved to Cincinatti with her fiancee. I decided to go find a bar, of course. I drove by JWs and it was packed, so I tried Gloria's. My old girlfriend Chris was there, and she greeted me like the long-lost lover I was. I hadn't seen her in months, I'd moved since I'd last seen her, and she'd lost my phone number. She greeted me with a big hug and kiss, and I bought her a beer.
We were soon making out right there at the bar when her live-in boyfriend traipsed in the door. He was none too happy. He didn't stay long, since after threatening violence he was thrown out and barred.
I gave Chris my number again, and told her where the house was (not a really long walk from her home) but told her that she couldn't come by that weekend, as my daughter was there. I went home and went to bed, daughter still out with her friends.
My daughter woke me up. "Dad, there's some strange woman on the porch swing and she says she knows you." I groaned. Damn it, I told that crazy cunt Chris NOT this weekend!
It was indeed Chris, who said her boyfriend had locked her out and she didn't know what to do. Neither did I, as the spare bedroom was in use and I wasn't going take a woman in my bed with my daughter there. She needed to use the bathroom, and while she was in there the back door knocked. It was the police.
They had been called by the elderly neighbors across the street, who Chris had scared half out of their minds by drunkenly banging on nearly every door in the neighborhood. She surely looked the witch carrying that broom (with the broken metal handle).
"I'm glad you're here", I said, "as we have kind of a problem. My old girlfriend showed up and says her boyfriend locked her out, and we're not sure what to do."
The cops called her number, and the boyfriend siad he'd locked the screen by mistake. They gave Chris a ride home. "We'll close your gate for you", the cop said, "and your garage door."
My garage! "My lawnmower!" I exclaimed.
"It's ok" the cop said, "we opened it to look around."
So much for the 4th amendment on the day we remember the fallen heros who died defending the Constitution.
My take on the US as a police state hardened a month or so later, when I was with a couple of female drinking buddies. As I recounted in a comment in a slashdot poll. Someone said "FBI, CIA, and DHS could be scary, but I'm a white guy and US citizen. The ATF and DEA scare me, because I'm a white guy and US citizen." I replied "How are you going to feel when the FBI and DEA jump out of a big black SUV and surround your ass?
The DEA is pretty damned scary, scarier than the FBI! I had an experience I should have journaled last summer, I'll recount it here.
I was with a couple of ladies (ladies I no longer drink with, as you might imagine) last summer who wanted to go by one of their friends' houses, as she was owed money, she said.
We drove to a house in the ghetto and they both went inside as I waited in the car. Five or so minutes later they came back out and got in.
I started to drive off and a big black SUV cut me off, and half a dozen big guys jumped out, all armed with firearms and tasers. Three had jackets that simply said "police", two had jackets that said "FBI" and one had a jacket that said "DEA".
The DEA guy looked silly as hell, wearing that ski mask in July in Illinois!
They said the house the girls had gone in was a dope house which gave them probable cause to search us and my car. They searched the car, searched me (and I didn't appreciate the cop putting his hand on my balls at all, I think he was gay as he seemed to enjoy it too much) and searched the girls' purses; it was hot, and what they were wearing didn't leave anywhere to hide anything.
"Did you know these girls smoke crack?" the FBI queer who searched me asked. "They do?" I asked back.
"Have you ever been arrested for crack?"
"I ain't never been arrested for nothin'". I was a bit annoyed at these big armed men.
"We can check, you know."
"I figured you already did."
They let us go when it was plain that there were no drugs. I kept thinking of some guy's slashdot sig, "oh look, my tax dollars at work coming to arrest me!"
I left thinking one word: keystone. I left wondering, if they knew it was a dope house, why didn't they get a warrant and search the house?
Dickweeds. I now hate every elected government official for trashing my Constitution and revoking the Bill Of Rights, and passing nanny-state drug laws.
UPDATE 1/22/8
Two links, one from the Springfield paper and one from the Chicago paper.
In Springfield, where crooked cops Carpenter and, er, I forgot the other cop's name planted evidence on people (only in a Police State would you have laws that allowed this to happen), a man accused of selling drugs is suing the city, and A federal judge ruled last week that attorneys for [Larry Washington] over an alleged illegal search of his house in March 2005 will have access to a much-sought Illinois State Police report.
In Chicago, Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis said he will review the case against a police officer who was caught on videotape beating a man handcuffed to a wheelchair. There is video of the beating at the link above. The man the cop beat sucessfully sued Chicago, the cop was suspended for two years, and they're actually talking about rehiring the thug as a policeman!
UPDATE 1/25/8
What happens when a cop meets a whore? We saw this on the local news last night, I wondered if I knew the hooker. The hooker I was watching the news with wondered the same thing. We know it's not Linda!
UPDATE 1/25/8
The newspaper says that whoremongering cop Officer J. Zeid Langan resigned from the police force. "assistant Sangamon County state's attorney Randy Blue said Tuesday that Langan will not be charged with a crime because nomoney [sic] had changed hands."
UPDATE 2/13/8
The Chicago Tribume reports (bugmenot required) that the Chicago cop caught on camera beating a five foot tall female bartender, may plead guilty.
He wouldn't be pleading anything if the camera wasn't there, he'd be beating more small women like the coward he is.
UPDATE 3/12/8
The Chicago Tribune: City moves to fire cop in bar beating
UPDATE 3/15/8
Former police detective Paul Carpenter cleared of wire fraud
Carpenter and Graham are the dirty cops who planted drugs on innocent people so they could arrest them; there are several Illinois Times articles about them:
Springfield's worst nightmare FEBRUARY 15, 2007
Payback MARCH 15, 2007
Legal eagles APRIL 12, 2007
RSVP or else MARCH 6, 2008
UPDATE 3/16/8
From the SJR:
A special grand jury in St. Clair County has indicted Illinois State Trooper Matt Mitchell on reckless homicide charges, in a Nov. 23 accident that killed two Collinsville sisters
Authorities said at the indictment Friday that Mitchell's police-issued car was rushing east on Interstate 64 at 126 mph to the scene of an earlier wreck in Mascoutah when it swerved across the median in Shiloh.
It ran into the path of a car occupied by 18-year-old Jessica Uhl and her 13-year-old sister, Kelli.
The girls died at the scene.
Besides the two counts of reckless homicide, the grand jury also indicted Mitchell on two counts of aggravated reckless driving for injuries suffered by Kelly Marler and his pregnant wife, Christine, both of Fayetteville.
A minor nit (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Screw legal protections (it's for your protection) (Score:1)
Of course, this is Chicago PD, the one that calls a black man with a wallet "target practice".
I'm very happily not living in or near Chicago anymore, and I'm looking forward to moving out of the state as well. You