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That's not what I'm talking about and that's not what I'm saying. Honest, non-criminal people should not think twice about videoing and then publishing the video on line of police officers. However, if they've broken the law at some point in the past and are a fugitive from justice with outstanding warrants for their arrest, they should neither be surprised nor complain when they are arrested.
I have no problem with people videoing the police, and in fact applaud those who do. All I said was, if you have outstanding warrants, and you don't want to get arrested, then you'd better stay below the radar, and not put very high profile videos on the internet under their own name.
You guys really don't get what I'm saying. And, that's sad. You both are asking me questions or putting forth statements as if I said something completely different - as if I'm saying that no one should hold the government accountable, or as you said, people who witness what they believe to be government malfeasance have to think twice. I never said that. What I said was: "... people that have outstanding warrants (should) think twice before making yourself a national figure in the media" if they do not want to get arrested. Which is what this thread is about. They guy had outstanding warrants and he's bitching about some supposed conspiracy by the police to arrest him. They arrested him because he had outstanding warrants. If didn't have outstanding warrants, he would not had been arrested. Once he paid his fines, he was released.
Are you guys saying that people should not be arrested when they have outstanding warrants just because they posted a video online of what they thought was police malfeasance?
Okay I apologize for misunderstanding you and I'm glad that you support people videoing the government in action.
On the other hand I think you're missing my point that the officers' motivations in running his name and finding the warrants in the first place was purely for revenge. Finding that he had warrants yes they should have acted but I can't separate the arrest for outstanding warrants from the initial motivation to look into him. Truth is if the government looks close enough they can probably find something on all of us if for no other reason than we are all subject to so many regulations that
we undoubtedly violate some without even knowing it. And that's what worries me. Even people who believe they are completely clean may start worrying that by being critical of police they'll get second and third looks from the local PD.
As a personal case in point about not knowing that you're violating the law when I was younger I had my license suspended for not paying taxes on a used car I bought. I had stupidly had my check to DMV for the taxes returned (I was very bad with my checking account at the time) and was sent a bill for the taxes from the department of finance which I paid. Unfortunately it turned out that the department of finance, along with sending me a bill also asked the DMV to suspend my license and apparently forgot to tell them to unsuspend it. I was pulled over one night by the police for some minor violation and the cop said to me "do you know you're driving with a suspended license?" "No." He then told me that it appeared to be for a returned check to DMV - I explained what happened and he basically said "Okay, no sweat, just get it straightened out." I mentioned to him that no one even told me my license was suspended and his response was "they don't. Most people find out they have a suspended license when they get pulled over for something else." I had been driving around for months on a suspended and didn't even know it. The cop could have really busted my balls if he wanted to. Lucky for me I got a nice guy who'd done similarly stupid things as a young man.
The guy really isn't a criminal. He didn't pay some parking tickets - that's a violation of administrative, not criminal, law and issuing a warrant for something that a private company would handle through civil court is in and of itself abusive - but that's another story.