A member of the St. Louis County Police Department points his weapon in the direction of a group of protesters in Ferguson, Mo., on Wednesday, Aug. 13 2014.
The first role in government is protecting life. Yet police departments in America are becoming more out of control. A sad fact is that Americans are nine times more likely to be killed by a police officer than a terrorist. Americans are becoming more and more skeptical of the tactics that have led to deaths or serious injuries by cops.
The first thing that needs to be re-educated to all police, who honestly feel they are protecting and serving, is the Terry vs. Ohio case. Terry vs. Ohio the was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court for America. This case explained that the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures is not violated when a police officer stops a suspect on the street and frisks him or her without probable cause to arrest. If a police officer has a reasonable suspicion that a person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime and has a reasonable belief that the person "may be armed and presently dangerous."
For the police protection they may perform a quick surface search of the person’s outer clothing for weapons if they have reasonable suspicion that the person stopped is armed. This reasonable suspicion must be based on "specific and articulable facts" and not merely upon an officer's hunch. Yet too many times officers do this based on a hunch, which is against the law. This commonly permitted police action has subsequently been referred to in short as a "stop and frisk," or simply a "Terry frisk". The Terry standard has been later extended to temporary detentions of persons in vehicles, known as traffic stops.
A large growing concern for every American is why are police are pointing tasers, guns, and rifles at people without respecting reasonable suspicion or the probable cause to arrest someone. These usually turn into shootings that are most likely ruled justified to an internal investigation. But to parents, relatives, friends, co-workers, or neighbors realize right away that most of those shooting could have been prevented if the officer had proper training to handle the situation differently.
Sadly we only see on the images on the news of police pointing weapons to people exercising their manifestation of the right to freedom of assembly, association, and speech. This careless has caused more Americans to use their cell phones to record actions by police and upload them unfiltered to the internet for everyone to view in real-time. In my opinion a police officer has no right to inhibit someone from filming them or has authority to delete that footage, because that would be obviously destroying evidence.
In conclusion, if we are innocent until proven guilty then police need to respect all rights of a living person and not push the boundaries until the Miranda rights are being mentioned. If a person is truly a suspect then police should do all they can to ensure a person can see a Judge, and possibly a jury.
I share my opinion based on my divine respect for everyones right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
Regards,
The first thing that needs to be re-educated to all police, who honestly feel they are protecting and serving, is the Terry vs. Ohio case. Terry vs. Ohio the was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court for America. This case explained that the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures is not violated when a police officer stops a suspect on the street and frisks him or her without probable cause to arrest. If a police officer has a reasonable suspicion that a person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime and has a reasonable belief that the person "may be armed and presently dangerous."
For the police protection they may perform a quick surface search of the person’s outer clothing for weapons if they have reasonable suspicion that the person stopped is armed. This reasonable suspicion must be based on "specific and articulable facts" and not merely upon an officer's hunch. Yet too many times officers do this based on a hunch, which is against the law. This commonly permitted police action has subsequently been referred to in short as a "stop and frisk," or simply a "Terry frisk". The Terry standard has been later extended to temporary detentions of persons in vehicles, known as traffic stops.
A large growing concern for every American is why are police are pointing tasers, guns, and rifles at people without respecting reasonable suspicion or the probable cause to arrest someone. These usually turn into shootings that are most likely ruled justified to an internal investigation. But to parents, relatives, friends, co-workers, or neighbors realize right away that most of those shooting could have been prevented if the officer had proper training to handle the situation differently.
Sadly we only see on the images on the news of police pointing weapons to people exercising their manifestation of the right to freedom of assembly, association, and speech. This careless has caused more Americans to use their cell phones to record actions by police and upload them unfiltered to the internet for everyone to view in real-time. In my opinion a police officer has no right to inhibit someone from filming them or has authority to delete that footage, because that would be obviously destroying evidence.
In conclusion, if we are innocent until proven guilty then police need to respect all rights of a living person and not push the boundaries until the Miranda rights are being mentioned. If a person is truly a suspect then police should do all they can to ensure a person can see a Judge, and possibly a jury.
I share my opinion based on my divine respect for everyones right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
Regards,
