See Something, Blog Something

These are the latest videos making the rounds. I don't agree with everything that this filmmaker has on his site, but I do agree with these videos. Just remember "the camera is the new gun"!

 

The whole world is watching so maybe you should clean up your act, Johnny Law!

Gang Bangers In Blue, Part Two

While out & about today, I once again had the pleasure of interacting with the South River Police Dept. This time it was only 3 cops that do not understand my first amendment rights. Apparently walking around a "High Crime Area" with cameras is a detainable excuse. One in which if you refuse to ID, you will go to jail & talk to the judge for obstruction.
So let me fill you in on my first minute or two with Officer Mario Pinto #54. He pulled up as I was walking down the street and said " What are you doing? I want to talk to you". Before I could ask if I was being detained, he said" Let me see your ID or you're going to jail for obstruction and you can tell it to a judge". I was then escorted to the cruiser and he rifled through my pockets looking for an ID. At this point I turned on my camera and started to record. Officer Chris Monek #21 (sp?) then showed up along with Sgt. Gartner #16. And you can see the fun here.

 

I was not on my liberty game today and didn't feel like challenging the obstruction idea, also I made a few mistakes by talking about complaint & info requests. Around here if one gets arrested on a Friday they usually have to wait in the "clink" till around Monday or Tuesday due to MLK day on Monday. Did you notice the part that Pinto asked Monek to make sure I was not recording? I did misquote the request from the DOJ to the judge, it was, if an Officer interferes & seizes a recording device without a warrant that would be unconstitutional. Read about it here.
Anyway if the SRPD thinks they can bully me into not photographing around town, they are mistaken. It has made me want to flex my rights even more and I found some interesting things about Officer Monek.
UPDATE: My inquisitive nature decided to check PTL. Pinto's claim that I was in a high crime rate area. This screen shot is from City Data and in my opinion he is full of it as you can see not much goes on around here.

SR Crime Rate

Gang Bangers In Blue

A few weeks ago, I walked outside to smoke and ran into some of the finest "Drug Warriors" I have ever met. They were busy making a bust at the neighborhood barbershop. Most likely that bust was about the evil "weed". They just haven't figured out that this drug war is a complete failure.
Being a fan of both carlosmiller.com & copblock.org, I knew my cell phone was the best protection I had if things turned bad.
They were quite nice and understood "public servant in a public space" as well as my right to photograph on a public street. Oh wait this is Amerika, so I guess you know what really happened.

Secret Police? Not so secret with the state issued badges.

Apparently taking pics of police in a public space is now secret in South River, NJ. By the way, if I let this pic get out they will know where it came from. I think these fine upstanding men were from the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, so if you are upset with their actions & attitude let the big guy know. I really don't know because when I asked for them to ID, they left it to #18 PTL. Schmidt of the SRPD to take care of things. I have to admit the only one that wasn't that big of an ass was the cop in the light blue jacket, he even waved before this pic. How can one be secret when hanging around with uniformed cops & fancy bling around the neck?
Remember this is what you are forced to pay for people, a camera & accountability is what they fear!
Anyway you can listen to the audio here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZejBzAoiWQ.