OT: How to get cops to enforece law

This actually happened to me umpty years ago. The next-door neighbor was a drinker, among other problems.

I HAPPENED to see an illegal firework land on his roof!!! He was oblivious, of course, in his cups. If I hadn't HAPPENED to see the gizmo land on his roof, it could have; probably WOULD have, set his place on fire, and the sparks could have; probably WOULD have, set fire to my place.

Same guy, a few years later: Some car must have bumped into his gas line out in the alley. High pressure gas HISSING out. He's out in the alley, drunkenly ON HOLD to I don't know who. I called 911 and they were out here in a New York minute. What would have happened if I hadn't HAPPENED to become aware of the situation??!! Whole ****ing neighborhood would have blown up!

I enjoy my occasional glass of wine with dinner (after which I often fall asleep!), but the damage done by boozers (esp. on the roads) is in the very high dollar figures, not to mention the human catastrophes.

(Gets off podium, still breathing hard).

HB

Are the fireworks a constant year round issue or just around the 4th of july?

nearly all firewworks USED to be illegal here, but they changed the law.

now wallmart and others sell fireworks.......

The OP should find out if the fireworks the person is setting off are legal..... in their community.

the police routinely ignore minor offenses espically fireworks on the

only start a neighborhood war for the worst situations.

the fireworks guy will likely retaliate with irritants like loud music and complaining about the OP for every little thing.....

Sounds similar to the cases where people traveling though some Southern states heading for Florida would get stopped and the cop would grill them about how much cash they had with them. If they had something like $800 bucks or more in cash, the cop would confiscated it saying the traveler had it to buy drugs with. 99 % of the time the money wasn't enough for most people to bother going to court over so the county got off scott free with the money.

Cops are always more likely to enforce the law when there can be money made for the city/county/state they work for.

"A fool and his money are soon parted."

It's foolish to answer almost ANY questions asked by a law enforcement officer.

Of course you could be Jewish: Answer the question WITH a question, as in "Why do you ask?"

Most agencies are set up to do just that. Look at the whole DUI situation. Nobody is doing squat to hinder or discourage drinking and driving. They're just piling on more revenue generating fees/fines. Higher fines, mandatory substance abuse classes, driving classes, etc, all with high fees. It's no wonder a first time offense now runs between $6-10K, depending on the state.

I once read a Univ Berkeley grad students paper on the efficacy of police depts. He concluded they were only 20% effective at dealing with crime, but were 80% effective at collecting revenue.

heh heh.... Oy!

nb

In Illinois they can and will arrest you, and you will lose. That is their state law and there is no extant US law or ruling that overrides that yet. In MA you need to have the recording device plainly visible, else you lose.

Just going from memory:

The case in MD against Anthony Graber was dismissed by a judge. That ruling applies only to the applicable jurisdiction, which is not the entire state. Ironically, if he were convicted he would have appealed and then the win on appeal would have broader applicability.

The MD state AG had previously issued his written opinion that the taping was legal. That was at the request of a state legislator. I believe that state police there have issued an internal directive that no more arrests like that should be made.

To the OP, there is in *theory* a writ of mandamus, issued by a judge which forces some official to do their job. Who knows, maybe somewhere in the US some do-it-yourself pro se plaintiff made that work.

Is it legal to record where you are? Why not ask the police directly? Even if you are within your rights, the legal system works mainly for the rich. E.g., even if the cops are wrong and you had the charge immediately dismissed, what about lawyer fees?

Some camcorders let you turn off the sound recording anyway, and the old wiretapping laws that police are twisting to use in cases like Graber's only apply to sound.

I'd also take pictures of the stuff that ended up in your yard. The first thing a selfish lowlife will do when confronted by the consequences of his actions is lie about everything that he thinks he can deny... "Yes, I set off fireworks but none ever went in that direction".

Are you sure about that?

--- Posted via news://freenews.netfront.net/ - Complaints to snipped-for-privacy@netfront.net

Yeah, pretty much. In my state:

Art. 14.01. [212] [259] [247] OFFENSE WITHIN VIEW. (a) A peace officer or any other person, may, without a warrant, arrest an offender when the offense is committed in his presence or within his view, if the offense is one classed as a felony or as an offense against the public peace. (b) A peace officer may arrest an offender without a warrant for any offense committed in his presence or within his view.

And

Art. 14.03. [214] [261] [249] AUTHORITY OF PEACE OFFICERS. (a) Any peace officer may arrest, without warrant:

(2) persons who the peace officer has probable cause to believe have committed an assault resulting in bodily injury to another person and the peace officer has probable cause to believe that there is danger of further bodily injury to that person;

(4) persons who the peace officer has probable cause to believe have committed an offense involving family violence;

(6) a person who makes a statement to the peace officer that would be admissible against the person under Article 38.21 and establishes probable cause to believe that the person has committed a felony.

So, for a misdemeanor, the victim must first file a complaint and get a warrant issued. THEN a peace officer can execute the warrant and arrest the malefactor.

Wrong.

Not to arrest them on the spot. They can, obviously (or maybe not) arrest someone for a misdemeanor with a warrant, but not just come in off the street, take the report and go get them.

That's the way it is in Maryland. When some butthead threatened to kill me for taking his (un)assigned parking space and pushed me in full view of half a dozen witnesses I had to go to a commissioner to swear out a warrant with a friend who had witnessed the event. About a week later the sheriffs came and arrested him while he was at his dining room table, cutting up his cocaine. Turns out he was a small time dealer but with enough in his possession that day to make it a felony. He was expecting one of his clients when he answered the door and didn't even bother moving the drugs out of plain sight, which, as you know, gave them probable cause to seize the drugs, the scale, the little squares of packaging paper and more. Revenge is sometimes very, VERY sweet. I only regret that I wasn't there to see his face when he opened the door and discovered it wasn't his druggie customer. I've done the same thing, sort of, expecting my wiseass friend at the door and saying to the mailman "It's about time you got here, you stupid son of a bitch!"

Whoops!

I suspect that without the witness, the commissioner would have declined to issue the warrant.

-- Bobby G.

good story

also a possible reason to carry a pocket camcorder or camphone most places these days.

Always do. I bought a number of pen-sized color and sound video recorders that produce amazing video on a removable 16GB TF card when they work. But they are unreliable in many ways, impossible to set the dates on properly because of the poor Chinglish docs and you never know how long the battery will last. Each operates on a different set of colored flashing LEDs that mean different things in different contexts. Great for covert work. When they work.

-- Bobby G.