Here's another one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcL-b0Gdopg&feature=related
When in doubt, the LEO makes an arrest... which, from the video, looks very much like vindictive behavior.
Last time I checked, you can video and audio record anyone in a public setting. What do you guys think about THIS one? Is it a good example of an LEO abusing his authority? An LEO and government official trying to push the line and sequester permission through threatening behavior? Was the arrest vindictive? Was it illegal?
Either way, the whole thing was just unbelievable. Why are we seeing people negotiate their constitutional rights?
Again, my behavior probably would have been slightly different in this instance... but I may still have been arrested. See, if there are true damages (like an unlawful arrest), then we can sue the pants off of the organization and maybe curb their bad habits. If we submit to questionable tactics and surrender our rights... we gain nothing.
On the other hand, and from the outcome of the previous example, you'd darn well better be right! Even if our rights are violated, a legitimate infraction on our part tends to push judges to side with the other guys... especially if they're cops and government employees.
Basically, I think it boils down to a "law of the jungle" kind of thing: Choose your battles and, if you expect a fair shake of the stick, don't piss anybody off and be diplomatic even if you're totally in the right... which you'd better be. Even then, there's still danger in just walking out your front door. It's all about knowledge, wisdom, guts and choices.
Like those before me, I fully admit that my knowledge of the massive amount of laws is relatively small... like most other average civilians. Seems to me that you've got to know how to fight, when to fight, and who to fight. I would imagine that having a lawyer would help the average citizen avoid most of the common pitfalls.
Basically, I just try to keep myself squeeky clean and stay out of trouble. When in doubt, I would instantly seek quality legal counsel from a qualified, reputable attorney. But what do we do when we're in the moment? What do we do if we think our rights are being trampled RIGHT NOW? What if we get arrested for recording the event in an attempt to prove our innocence later?
What if bad things happen to good people? What if there's no Santa Claus?!
Anyway, great discussion so far. Where do we draw the line? They teach us in school that the Constitution takes care of that... but does it? Posting the U.S. Constitution next to your "no tresspassing" sign would probably have no affect... so what do we do?
Oh well... the answers seem pretty clear, actually. Try to be familiar with the law, especially when it might pertain to your specific situation or behavior, try to stay clean, be curteous, and try to know where to draw the line. This is all anybody can do, right?
I'm still curious about these videos, though... like the failures of the LEO and health inspector to do things "by the book" and how the property owner still lost. Maybe that's one source of animosity we're seeing in posts like this. How tollerant, exactly, are we supposed to be? At what point is a government official or LEO abusing their authority? What are we supposed to think when people get hit with maximum sentences for lawfully resisting and the authorities get a total pass on their procedural errors?
Guy gets arrested for videotaping an LEO
after the initial call-out decision is made? Looked to me like retribution and abuse of authority. Why didn't the LEO just leave?
Hmmmm.....
Weighty subject.