Pixiq

An interviewer once asked Gandhi why he settled on non-violent resistance as his tactics of choice. His response was that he knew that the British people had consciences, and he saw that as the best path to his goals, the one most likely to succeed.

He noted in the interview, that had the British people been without conscience, he would have led an armed revolt instead.

If someone has no shame and no conscience, then nonviolence is probably a lost cause...

Massachusetts is one of the major gun-control states. That's why cops feel free to act like their badge is a patent of nobility with Droit du seigneur.

My point is this..

Nothing is ever what it seems. The article is clearly not well written (and I'm talking about the original one that Carlos's copied the information from) in that the whole camera incident is an afterthought at the end with no real reporting. No rebuttal from the arresting officers, no questioning of witnesses to see what actually happened.

The above article is only an exerpt of a larger article and does not include background info..such as the fire, the scattered burning debris, etc.

Your property or not, if there is a major accident happening where people died and not from the accident mind you and dozens of emergency personal are on scene, you need to stand clear. I don't for a second believe that they simply bullied this woman for taking photos from her porch at a safe distance. There would have been many people around taking pictures with cell phones, reporters, etc...why would they single out this one 65 year old woman if there was not more to the story?

I simply reserve the RIGHT to not jump to judgement based on incomplete information.

20 yrs ago a car with a body in it ended up in one of our bedrooms.
Crashed through the wall in reverse at a high rate of speed and got wedged in the debris.
It spun its tires for 5 min burning its way all the way through the floor before someone was able to get to the ignition and shut it off.
Turns out it was a janitor at the church across the street, he put his car in reverse then had a heart attack and slammed the accelerator to the floor.
He traveled the length of 4 football fields before slamming into the corner of our house at an estimated speed of 70 to 80 mph.

The Insurance adjustor, the contractor who built our basement as well as all the neighbors, were there before the cops and the Medical Examiner.
They took pictures, took measurements and had a tow truck standing by before the cops even showed up.

As soon as the car was pulled out of the wall the contractor started sealing up the damage from the weather before the cops started their investigation.

Granted is was natural causes but until the investigation took place no one knew that.

My parents were at work at the time.

Hell they found out about it on the radio news on the way home in the car.
They got home to a house sealed from the weather, an estimate for the repairs and papers from the insurance company to cover the costs,and the papers to sign to get the check issued.
Repairs started the next day.

Guess what...no one was arrested, the cops were polite and thanked everyone for being so prompt as to take care of things.

Boy times have sure changed.
Back then everyone helped everyone and even the cops had a heart, now everyone is a crook and the cops are never wrong.

"They probably put up crime scene tape and this lady was so upset about her house that she wouldn't stay out of the crime scene."

Since unfounded speculation is used in JL's post, here's some in reply: They probably were pissed off that pictures were being taken, so they arrested an innocent woman on trumped-up charges in order to steal her camera and delete the offending pix.

I think my speculation is more plausible, given the cop habit of arresting people for taking pictures on their own property, generally on "contempt of cop" charges.

The Voice of Reason has spoken. ;-)

"JL"..

I can't believe you're THAT stupid that you're unable to read into my comments, but then again.. maybe you are. I guess I'll have to explain them to you in terms that a six year old can understand.

Many ILLEGAL actions by "Badge Bully Cops" against the general public (who, at one time or another, has been treated unfairly or unjustly by Cops who ABUSE their authority).. often easily turn pro Law Enforcement people into so called "Cop haters".

These former Pro LEO's usually end up with the attitude (which is easy to understand), of wanting to get their proverbial "pound of flesh" to get back at that same "Badge Bully".. (or in some cases, Cops in general).

Because of the ILLEGAL "Badge Bully" actions (and ensuing trumped up charges having to do with "Contempt of Cop"), can you expect anything less..!!..?

Typically in the end, the "Badge Bully Cop" gets away with another.. as a Cop, "I Can Do NO Wrong" arrest, where the "us against them" attitude continues. (Please don't try to insult us by saying differently "JL". We all know this is the common attitude most Cops have toward the general public. It's been shown to happen on just about a daily basis.)

How hard is it to understand then, "JL", that retributions against a "Badge Bully" (if not all Cops), can spread the gauntlet of "physical harm", to that of something that's as simple as being a witness to a crime.

As I tried pointing out to you in my previous post.. (which now seems like my post was far beyond your comprehension), help can come in many ways.. or the Devil himself can arise and bite you in the butt when least expected.

As a example. Whenever there's been a crime committed, there's usually a canvas of the area for witnesses.

If it's a Officer involved one and witness help is asked for by Law Enforcement (depending upon the situation), one can always swear they either had (or didn't have) their eye glasses on. The same could be said of their Hearing Aid batteries going dead at the time of the incident.

As a example that is NOT uncommon..

There's been a shooting. The witness plainly saw the Officer shoot down and murder the weaponless (hands up in the air in surrender) victim because they had their glasses on.. (or, in the same situation), because they weren't wearing their glasses at the time, they really couldn't tell what happened when the Officer was shot in the witnesses front yard!

And what about what they heard? Sometimes Hearing Aid batteries do go dead. It's too bad what happened to the Officer though. The witness might have been able to get a good description of the perp if they had heard the commotion.

I ended my original post by saying..

"It's up to you (through your actions as a Cop) to ensure the public has both their glasses and hearing aids properly working when you leave to go on your next call."

I find it interesting that with over 37 posts, YOU, were the only one who couldn't read into that sentence.. so I'll translate it for you.

If your looking for witnesses who saw or heard a crime being committed and they've had a bad interaction by a a-hole "Badge Bully", which version of what they saw or heard are you going to get?

It depends.

As you leave to go on your next call (and because of the non-Bully actions you typically take when interacting with the general public), in most cases those same witnesses (as describe above), will have their glasses on and hearing aids properly working.

Meaning.. "they'll lean toward the Pro LEO side of things, tell the truth.. and back you.

On the other hand (because of some previous "Badge Bully").. their glasses are lost and their hearing aids don't work, "so they'll hang your butt out to dry!

It's up to you (through your actions as a Cop) as to whether you want to be hanging from the end of that noose or not!

Rail Car Fan

P.S. "JL". Some of the above is "metaphorical".. so if you need some help interpreting what was written, please ask. I'm more than glad to help you out if asked.

He's talking about a type of withdrawal of voluntary association, a non-violent action of protest. I will be more general here.

Selective (discriminating) association to exclude those who cause harm - and also toward those who support such harm-causing - is a potentially very powerful method of non-violent action, referred to as ostracism and shunning by many down through the ages. It is included in Gene Sharp's 2nd volume (of 3), "The Politics of Nonviolent Action", Chapter 4, "The Methods of Social Noncooperation". I and husband Paul Wakfer use the term "negative Social Preferencing" for purposeful non-voluntary association (contrasted with positive Social Preferencing towards those who do provide value) and have described how it is the ultimate effector of social order in a truly free society (The Freeman Society) - http://selfsip.org/solutions/Social_Preferencing.html

In order that positive and negative social preferencing can be wide spread and therefore be highly instrumental in persuading the changing of behavior, publication of current photos of the individuals involved is essential. Those wanting to support or discourage certain behaviors of individuals need to be able to recognize those parties. I have urged this action on many other websites specifically reporting the harm-doing of government enforcers - domestic policing agencies and military - while praising those sites that do so.

JL, the fact you have no clue what he's talking about very nicely proves his point.

It comes down to how people view the police. If they are viewed as heroes doing a tough job, then citizens will help them do that tough job, whether by pitching in to help clean up storm damage in the neighborhood, or by drawing a lawfully-carried firearm and saving a cop's life.

But if all the citizenry sees is two gangs fighting over turf, they're unlikely to help the police gang. Both gangs are the enemy of decent, upright citizens.