Citizens vs. Government

It may sound crazy to someone who doesn’t regularly participate in the decision-making process of the government that people like me would feel the need to be informed about what government officials are doing in our name and at our expense.
Those of us who actively participate in the process are generally labeled by public officials and their supporters as being disruptive; unruly troublemakers hell bent on tearing the community apart. It’s a common attitude that people like myself face and it scares away many people who may be interested in what the government is doing.

A Florida sheriff violated PINAC reporter Jeff Gray’s right to record public officials in a public setting during his silent protest at the department’s annual awards banquet, which was held at the tax-funded St. Johns Convention Center in St. Augustine last month.
But St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar insisted it was “private property.”
“You go outside. And hold your sign,” Shoar told Gray, threatening him with arrest. “But you’re not going to stand in here and hold your sign. This is our party. This is our special night.”

A New York cop racially profiled a man, approaching the front door of his house, insisting the man identify himself because he “looked back” at the officer as he drove past his house.
Rochester cop Jonathan Laureano then began demaning Nishean Napier provide him with identification after Napier walked outside to move his mother’s car to the other side of the street so she wouldn’t get a ticket.
As Napier walked outside to move the car while in the middle of making an Instagram post, Laureano crept down his street in a police cruiser.

With that arrogant bravado only a cop can muster, Austin police officer Jamess Maufrais pointed two flashlights into the lenses of two cameras held by PINAC reporter Phillip Turner last November, bragging about how he was “not intimidated” by citizens with cameras, thumbing his nose at his own departmental policy that forbids officers from harassing citizens with cameras.

New Hampshire cops accompanied by a member of the SWAT team escorted a Marine Corps veteran out of city hall last Monday after he attempted to pay a parking ticket with pennies.
Manchester police not only violated the Coinage Act of 1965 that states all coins are legal tender for debts by escorting Billy Spaulding out of city hall, they violated his friend’s First Amendment rights by claiming he needed their permission to record the interaction.

A Missouri sheriff’s deputy was upset that the woman he pulled over did not come to a complete stop within a millisecond of him turning on his lights.
Instead, the woman – a retired cop – drove less than a block and made a right onto a side street where she then pulled over. She even stuck her hand out of window to motion she was going to pull over.
And once she pulled over, she informed him she had a gun in her purse to keep him from fearing for his life. She also informed him that she had drove a half-block for his safety.

The North Carolina cop who became a viral sensation after telling an Uber driver that it was illegal to record him under a new law – only to learn the driver was also a lawyer – was demoted in rank and pay.
Wilmington Police Sergeant Kenneth Becker is now a corporal whose hourly salary was reduced by $1.38, according to the News and Observer.

A TSA agent in Texas was captured on camera by the mother of a young boy conducting a pat-down that many on social media say amounts to an inappropriate search during a detainment that lasted more than an hour, resulting in the family missing their flight.
Grapevine resident Jennifer Williams posted the two-minute video taken at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Facebook Sunday.
“We were treated like dogs,” Williams posted on Facebook saying she was “livid” over the ordeal.

Texas state troopers forcefully dragged an activist out of the State Capital during a public committee hearing on a bill seeking to restrict abortions after a committee chairman announced orders for her stop live streaming footage of her political representatives in action even though Texas law clearly states it’s a legally protected activity.
State Affairs Committee Chairman Byron Cook directed liberty activist Amy Hedtke to stop recording the meeting over the proposed restrictions, claiming she wasn’t permitted to record because she didn’t have the proper media credentials.

Concerned about the expenses involved in the New Hampshire Justice Department’s ongoing court battle to prevent voters from taking selfies in the voting booth, local activist and journalist Dave Ridley showed up to their budget workshop meeting, camera in hand, to ask members of the House Finance Committee how they felt about the mounting expenses in fighting the suit.
But committee members waisted little time in telling Ridley that he would not be allowed to video record the meeting.