ID: disillusioned

So this guy in my hometown (and alumnus of my high school) decides to flex his First Amendment rights by flipping off the cops, then is "pissed and disgusted" to find himself subjected to testi-lying and other ministrations of the criminal justice system:

These over zealous Boise P.D. cops, after they were so disrespected by the length of my middle digit, acted like juveniles and hopped out of there patrol car huffing and puffing...

But what has me so disgrunted that I am ranting about it on Myspace is the fact that these so called pillars of our communtiy, these protectors of the peace, these f***ing guys lied... under oath... plain as f***ing day, but only to me because I was the only honest m*****f***er in that whole place...

I used to tell the alternative high school kids that your end goal in any contact with the police is to leave: don't give them an excuse to arrest you, but a "yes, sir" and a "no, ma'am," a polite "no, you may not search my car - am I free to go?" and no belligerent or aggressive attitude. Or instead, I guess you could flip them off.

"Felony mouth"

From the Iowa Independent:

Law Students' Goal: Teaching Youths a New Kind of Street Smarts

Helping minority adolescents learn more effective ways to deal with law enforcement and criminal justice officials is the subject of an upcoming forum hosted by a group of African-American law students at Drake University.

"We felt a lot of minority people in general, not just youth, don't know how to interact with the police when they get confronted on the street," said Lauren Yates, 23, a second-year law student. "We want to show them how to de-escalate the situation so you don't go to jail for mouthing off to an officer..."

Reminds me of my stints as a guest lecturer for Magic Valley Alternative High School; good times, good times...

Spent the Night in Utah

Esteemed colleague Federalist No. 84 had a Bill of Rights drama in real life a few hours south of here, and I think he handled it as any decent dog-lover would. He's absolutely right, unfortunately, about how these days, standing on a Constitutional right can turn your own traffic stop into Anything Can Happen Day. It shouldn't be so hard to just say no to consent searches, but it is, and in Fed 84's case, it doesn't even seem that consent entered into the officer's checklist at all.

I talk to the local alternative high school's Street Law class every once in a while, and always stress correct answers to give when the patrolman asks, "you wouldn't mind if I have a look inside, would you?" At the same time, the kids also remember that the goal of any law enforcement contact for them is to finish it quickly and make it home safely. On the other side of the class divide, I'm on a panel once a year at the junior chamber of commerce, and discuss pretext stops and faux-consent searches, and hit on how we have no way of measuring how much time is taken out of the lives of people who are stopped, searched, and aren't found to be holding. Maybe it'd be better if law enforcement handed out free ice cream coupons (maybe not).

Thinking of such quick calculations we're forced to make about our rights and our freedom, I'm tempted to get all show-offy and Foucaultian about 'micropractices of power,' but I think it was E.M. Forster who said it best: "If I had to choose between betraying my right against unreasonable search and seizure and betraying my dog, I hope I should have the guts to betray my right against unreasonable search and seizure."

p.s.: Fed 84 is also right about how much more problematic the traffic stop gets when the officer adds DWB to the mix. I like to think that I struck my own little blow for happy motoring in Idaho with this case that I handled at the motion hearing and the remand, SAPD on the appeal. It will live on in Gem State jurisprudence for Judge Schwartzman's immortal footnote:

"I seriously doubt that the Clark W. Griswold family, on their way from Illinois to Walley-World in the borrowed family truckster (a reference to the hit comedy movie NATIONAL LAMPOON’S VACATION, with Chevy Chase, Warner Bros. 1983), would face such an array of police interest and interdiction, including “Gunnar” the drug dog."