Sunday, June 20, 2010

We Only Detain People for Probable Cause In Arizona

Two members of the Phoenix Police Department pulled me over on Friday night. Two presumably newer officers (no grey hair) had every light, strobe and beacon on their vehicle trained on my rear view mirrors (harassment) for an unbelievably long period of time while they tried to find something that I am guilty of, instead of pulling me over for a real probable cause. Eventually, they kept asking questions and said my license and registration were suspended and that they had taken my license plate. I was already pulled over, was there a real reason to keep both spotlights shining in my eyes? When I asked for a probable cause for pulling my car over, they had none other than, "We are doing random traffic stops." You and I know there is no such thing as random stops and that the previous statement is a stupid excuse to use when they specifically pull your vehicle over. On a busy Friday night, they see thousands of cars an hour in that neighborhood and for them to pick one passing by as one that looks suspicious of some illegal activity would be almost impossible. I feel that they were hoping to find an illegal alien or someone else in my car besides me. Did they randomly pull over anyone else that night? I own an older used car which is now a discontinued model and will eventually be, as I restore it, a classic car. But now it is an old beater. Does that make me a suspect of something? What am I suspected of, being poor? I am NO LONGER GOING to be be respectful of the Phoenix Police.
My embarrassment was that since I was pulling over to visit a female friend of mine, I was being treated like I was a major offender who was being arrested for something big. After speaking to me and realizing I am not A) a drug cartel member, or that B) I didn't open fire on them, did they really need to keep flashing lights enough to wake up and attract the attention of everyone in the neighborhood since I had pulled over right away voluntarily? Hanging from my rear view mirror is a disabled parking placard. I am a crippled older man. They didn't even turn the lights and siren on until I was already pulling into the side street and pulling to the curb.
It should have been obvious at a glance that I was driving into a side street to park (right in front of a female friend's house) on a dead end and wasn't trying to evade capture. The answer is simple, but I will let you decide what your opinion is, since we all have the right to try to defend the indefensible. When I asked them to turn them off, they ignored me. After I stepped out of the car they started screaming over a loud speaker, (more harassment in my ladyfriend's neighborhood) and told me if I ever get out of the car during traffic stop they are supposed to open fire on me. I know the reason was they didn't want to to call an attorney previous to them taking my license plate, illegally. Are the police here supposed to be allowed to screw you over in a manner which they are able to make indefensible in court by just taking your license plate without you being able to see what the year or date of expiration is.
If as is in my case, I am sure, the problem is that some insurance salesman who got huffy with me over the phone and reported to them that I had no insurance because he is a liar and no actual legal reason other than: I already have insurance, I was shopping around and didn't want to give him EVERY BIT of my personal information including my Visa Card number, and over the Internet I don't know if this is merely an identity thief or not. Spamming my email address, selling my information to spammers on the Internet, and giving my phone number to phone solicitation companies has happened to me ever since I tried shopping for insurance on the Internet. We need to enact laws that protects the consumer from over zealous policemen. Here is my main point:
Recently Jan Brewer, our governor, during her disgust with the president and secretary of state over their comments about our upcoming new illegal alien laws, said that: A) No one in Arizona is ever pulled over randomly, there has to be probable cause. B) The police here never act in a heavy handed manner with anyone, therefore constituting harassment. I have one thing to say now to that comment, "Show Me!"
I am as adamant as anyone about closing our borders to drugs and illegal trespassers that suck our already over stretched economy dry, but this harrassment was aimed at someone accidently who knows about police procedure and the law. You see, my father was a policeman and taught me the difference between legal behavior becoming an officer and overzealous rookie behavior. He was a captain and commander of his unit because he didn't try to be a contributing factor to the already negative view that
a lot of already people have of the police.

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