2012 Experiences with Police

[junglesmacks]

I wonder....
Police departments and the military are pretty adamant about prosecuting assault on one of their service animals to the point of referring to the Animal as "officer so-n-so". they use these honorifics in court to add weight to the heinousness of crime committed and to give a human face to the victim.

Actually.. you're on to something here. A drug dog is indeed referred to and subject to the same protection as an officer. Thus.. if you say that you don't consent to a search, this can be inferred to the dog as well since the dog is looked at as an "officer". If they didn't have probable cause for an officer to search, then they don't have probable cause for a dog to search since dog=officer. This is how many cases get thrown out.

[illy dilly]

HUH?!?!?! Very interesting indeed!!!

Googled a bit, and turns out FlexYourRights has done a write up all about the issue.
I'm not seeing a date?
Its probably written before November, since it mentions medicinal weed in CA and CO, but does not mention legalization in CO or WA.

[Shambala]

Well my dear friends, I pruned this thread back a day and moved the posts that appear to be more than 2012 Experiences with Police.
The thread drift was turning into some personal attacks.
Let's try to keep this about your experiences with police on the playa in 2012.

Thanks for your understanding.

Sham....

[illy dilly]

Well my dear friends, I pruned this thread back a day and moved the posts that appear to be more than 2012 Experiences with Police.


Sham....

Sham, I don't think MyDearFriend had posted in this thread?

[tamarakay]

Damn it, I always miss the good stuff

[ygmir]

I sorta like a good scuffle from time to time here..........

[gyre]

With all respect to Shambala, weak ineffectual personal attacks don't really count, just bore.

The relevant part was the point that if you are arrested, a doggie search may be upheld in court.
This is true.

Eric, I think, said it was pointless to discuss that dogs can't predict a successful search without magic.
I disagree.

It may not be relevant to your current arrest, but bad law and practice is not a fixed and irrevocable thing.
Case law in constantly in flux.
The worse the problem is, the more important it is to try to change it.
And it is not a matter of only waiting for a court to do it.
Even exposing bad conduct, as fake science is, can help make change.
Law and practice can be changed state by state, city by city, person by person.
Power will always be abused and it is a constant fight for what is right.

But yes, a crazy judge can do what they want, and do, regardless of the case law or the supreme court.

Sorry, not all that exciting.

[Shambala]

I will share an experience I had with police on burn night. It was so profound to me that I repeated the story to several people, but you may not find it that remarkable.

As the fire spinners were milling around getting ready to get started, I noticed a lone uniformed police officer standing and waiting for things to get started. THIS IS THE THING I FOUND AMAZING! Yes, in a crowd of 50K+ people, this lone police officer felt safe enough to not feel the need to travel in a group, or with another officer to control this crowd. He felt completely confident that he would NOT have any issues that would require him to need help. If there was even a 1% chance of a problem, he would have been required to have a partner with him.

At the moment I saw this officer, it was clear to me what the police thought of us as a group. We were trustworthy, sincere, peaceful and fun. I made it a point to go over and start a conversation and really enjoyed the brief chat.

[Earthwalker]

That's a cool story, Shambala. I was talking to my friend here at work who went in '11 and he said the same thing. He had no issues whatsoever. My personal experience in life at these sorts of events (ok, no event is likely like this one, but you know...) is that, unless you're being an idiot/jerk/obnoxious, police don't want to bother you. Sure there are exceptions, but they have other things to worry about. Their primary concern is typically the well-being of the attendees. They want to ensure no one gets hurt (liability) and that things don't get "dangerous". I've worked with a good number of cops, and even have a friend who is a detective locally. And a good percentage of them just want to do their job.

Now, shooting at random cars in LA b/c you think they sort of look like the car of a madman, that's plain stupid, even if emotions are running high.

Thanks for all the comments people. I just bought my tickets yesterday and am super excited!!!

Oh, one quick question. Someone said on here (somewhere...sorry, couldn't find it) that if you have your camp set up in a way that it is enclosed (maybe with campers, a small "fence", etc.) it becomes your personal space and thus makes it eligible for personal property/space/4th amendment search rights. Whereas if your camp is wide open, so that people could "walk through it", the cops can just walk through it b/c it is public space. Does that sound right?

Thank you!!!

[Eric]

Oh, one quick question. Someone said on here (somewhere...sorry, couldn't find it) that if you have your camp set up in a way that it is enclosed (maybe with campers, a small "fence", etc.) it becomes your personal space and thus makes it eligible for personal property/space/4th amendment search rights. Whereas if your camp is wide open, so that people could "walk through it", the cops can just walk through it b/c it is public space. Does that sound right?

Thank you!!!

Pretty much correct - just remember that if they smell something "suspicious" in the air, they may be able to investigate. I highly recommend a public/private set-up.

Note: if it can be viewed from the street (or a public area) & they decide it's something they want to investigate (sex, drugs, etc), they can. Even the "sex" oriented camps - both fetish and actual sex, generally have a public space and a space with signage warning of adult activities beyond this area - that's okay as long as the activities are legal, and not visible outside of the "adult space". I point this out because in '03 I had 3 gay friends busted because the police decided their fooling-around was in a public area, not a private one, and they spent a night in Lovelock (even though none of the straight couples around them doing similar things did... )

[9ah]

[Earthwalker]

That's awesome. Glad no one was in the room as I tried doing that. Would be pretty difficult to explain that one to grandma