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cops pull over guy for his helmet cam

MistahT said:
I believe in Maryland (where I live) they recently passed a law saying that it's ok to video tape cops. However, it's still not legal to wear a helmet cam. If you want to mount in on your chest, bars, tank, or whatever, that's fine. However, I will continue to wear mine on my helmet incase something like this happens to me.

Is the case you're talking about where the undercover cop pulled a gun on a speeding motorcyclist with helmet cam?
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yeah that was the one. i was following that relatively closely when it came out.

i'm happy the judge made the right decision...seeing as i live in MD too! (way way south)
 
A few states, like mine (Nevada), do not have traffic infractions. Traffic violations here are at least a misdemeanor crime. And most agencies tend to give LEO's the ability to arrest for these if the rider / driver has a history of warrants, numerous violations of the same offense in the past etc. So definitely get to know how your state deals with traffic violations!

Had the LEO used his brain and simply pulled him over for a traffic violation, the 4th Amend. does allow for the seizure of the camera based on exigency due to the footage being able to be deleted. BUT, that is just to seize it so it can not be tampered with. A seizure order / warrant or consent from the owner is still needed to view the footage, same as with cell phones, laptops, computers etc.

As I am new to this site, yes, I am a active LEO myself. Good to meet all of you.
 
Deputyfarva252 said:
I dont have to read you your rights when I arrest you.
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At the time of arrest you are madated to read me my rights in Ill. but, that is here. He actually did not give probable cause but that would have been at least a stupid excuse for wanting to take the property. His refusal to give the reason for the initial pull over was not warranted, and his coming back for an arrest to take the camera was total b.s. that would be a 25 dollar fine here as well and would never hold water for the arrest.
 
I'll tell you guys, I can't pass judgement because th bikers in groups here cause a lot of problems, and I mean ALOT. I'm sure that's the officers beef, just tired if it (I know, officer should be calm).
 
But you have to remember that Miranda only has to be read to a person who is #1 Detained / Not free to leave, and #2 being questioned about the specific crime being investigated. If the LEO already has enough info for the arrest, Miranda will not be read. Most states leave it at that, but there are a couple hold-outs that suggest Miranda be read more frequently. But, even those states are getting away from that practice, as the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that Miranda has become "implied" in todays culture.

This video was highly edited, as you can see from the gaps in the clip. Who knows what was left out. I know in my area groups of bikes are mainly outlaw. It doesn't matter the type of bike they ride. Drugs, guns, homicide. Just as one bad cop makes LEO's look bad, 1%ers do the same for the other 99% of the riders out there. Look up the 2011 Reno Street Vibrations shootings. I lost track with how many stabbings and shootings we ended up with! And that tends to put a bad taste in the mouths of LEO's who do not ride, right or wrong.
 
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I don't condone running from the cops, but to be honest, he should have stayed in the group and waited for them to pull them all over (which who knows if that would have happened) instead of getting singled out.
 
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I'm not condoning what the deputy did, in fact, I think he handled it completely wrong, but watch this video: Bikers on Freeway (Memorial Day '12) : Dallas Sheriff's Dashcam Video - YouTube

These are the kind of assholes (the bikers) that were out that day being complete dick wads to law enforcement. Complete disrespect. It's no wonder the deputies/officers were a little heated already...again, I'm not justifying taking the guy to jail for a fix-it ticket or slamming him in the car, but if you are gonna hang with a bunch of dicks, you might get treated as such.

Unfortunately, this deputy just threw more fuel in the fire for the cop-haters out there and he's probably gonna lose his job over some punk ass biker. And, the biker's probably gonna get a nice settlement check.
 
roaddawg see I saw that vid a bit differently. They were breaching the constitutional rights by pulling him over to seize his cmera. When he called him out and said it wasnt right he didnt commit any crime and he is being associated with the lrge group of riders. the cop stumbled with his words and said he wasulling him over to take his camera for evidence. He realised he couldnt do that without arresting him but they had no breach in laws. the cop came out to arrest him and said its because his liscense plate not bieng visible. You and I both know thats BS and the cop realised it too. When he slmmed him in the car that was 100% uncalled for when trying to arrest him. They tried tearing his hemlet cam off and it was choking the dude. That cop ws sick for what they were doing, and teling him to shut up and laughing at him. He didnt do a damn thing wrong in his whole video and got pulled over for nothing. Eff that idea.
 
Maybe it could be argued it was a "happy bird" signal and a "friendly whiny" voice, I don't expect many bikers to take up the practice any time soon.
 
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Roaddawg said:
These are the kind of assholes (the bikers) that were out that day being complete dick wads to law enforcement. Complete disrespect. It's no wonder the deputies/officers were a little heated already...again, I'm not justifying taking the guy to jail for a fix-it ticket or slamming him in the car, but if you are gonna hang with a bunch of dicks, you might get treated as such.
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Isn't that why we signed up for this forum, to hang with like "dicks"? :)

Wife said as far as she knew the license plate was a ticket-able offense not arrestable.
 
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Cautious_Corner said:
He didnt do a damn thing wrong in his whole video and got pulled over for nothing. Eff that idea.
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I disagree. He had his license plate hidden. Where you live it might not be significant; I couldn't tell you whether it is where I live, but apparently in Texas, it's enough to get arrested for. Take a look at the video at 3:54/3:55, you can see where his license plate is.
 
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His liscence plate wasnt nessecarily hidden, but it was mounted at an angle, flush with the rear fender. Really it was a technicality, and just an excuse for them to justify it all.

If they want to find something, they will find something to get you, my best friend is an officer, and he actually agrees. 90% of the time, if they really wanna be dicks, they can just about slam anyone with technical bullshit that noone enforces.
 
Deathdiesel said:
His liscence plate wasnt nessecarily hidden, but it was mounted at an angle, flush with the rear fender. Really it was a technicality, and just an excuse for them to justify it all.

If they want to find something, they will find something to get you, my best friend is an officer, and he actually agrees. 90% of the time, if they really wanna be dicks, they can just about slam anyone with technical bullshit that noone enforces.
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Come on.. It was mounted such that the only one who could read it would be the guy who was lubing the chain. Sure, it was there, but it was not readable.

Here's one bit of relevant Texas law (Sec. 547.322(f)(2)):

Sec. 547.322. TAILLAMPS REQUIRED. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), a motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole trailer, or vehicle that is towed at the end of a combination of vehicles shall be equipped with at least two taillamps.
(b) A passenger car or truck that was manufactured or assembled before the model year 1960 shall be equipped with at least one taillamp.
(c) Taillamps shall be mounted on the rear of the vehicle:
(1) at a height from 15 to 72 inches; and
(2) at the same level and spaced as widely apart as practicable if a vehicle is equipped with more than one lamp.
(d) A taillamp shall emit a red light plainly visible at a distance of 1,000 feet from the rear of the vehicle.
(e) If vehicles are traveling in combination, only the taillamps on the rearmost vehicle are required to emit a light for the distance specified in Subsection (d).
(f) A taillamp or a separate lamp shall be constructed and mounted to emit a white light that:
(1) illuminates the rear license plate; and
(2) makes the plate clearly legible at a distance of 50 feet from the rear.
(g) A taillamp, including a separate lamp used to illuminate a rear license plate, must emit a light when a headlamp or auxiliary driving lamp is lighted.​

Do you think that that plate would be legible from 50 feet away (for the sake of argument, assume the bike is upright)
 
I won't dispute the fact that his license plate probably didn't meet the legal requirements of the state of Texas. What I will dispute is the fact he was arrested over it. That's BS. What if they arrested everyone who had a tail light, brake light, turn signal, license plate light, or headlight out? Or everyone who had too dark of window tinting? That would be a bit ridiculous don't you think? Wouldn't take people too long to change those laws or the penalties for them if that was the case. But it's not the case. There's no way you should be arrested for a minor offense like a license plate not being visible.
 
Nastybutler said:
I won't dispute the fact that his license plate probably didn't meet the legal requirements of the state of Texas. What I will dispute is the fact he was arrested over it. That's BS. What if they arrested everyone who had a tail light, brake light, turn signal, license plate light, or headlight out? Or everyone who had too dark of window tinting? That would be a bit ridiculous don't you think? Wouldn't take people too long to change those laws or the penalties for them if that was the case. But it's not the case. There's no way you should be arrested for a minor offense like a license plate not being visible.
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Yes, it would be ridiculous. But apparently in Texas, minor shit like the license plate not being displayed properly is a misdemeanor and you can get arrested for it.
 
MiltonDorkenhoff said:
I disagree. He had his license plate hidden. Where you live it might not be significant; I couldn't tell you whether it is where I live, but apparently in Texas, it's enough to get arrested for. Take a look at the video at 3:54/3:55, you can see where his license plate is.
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my only problem is, the officer had to hunt for a violation... he literally went back to his cruiser and started looking the bike over for something... otherwise he would not have said "I'm pulling you over to take your camera" he would have said, "Your license plate is obstructed and I'm placing you under arrest and confiscating your property and impounding your bike"...

we have riders here who play that line with their license plates... some have been fined with a fix-it ticket. Apparently it's a big no-no in MD, as they have had bikers ride wheelies through all the GD speed camera's (stupid, out in the middle of nowhere 35mph back roads... ugh, that's another story though) and with the plate at a certain angle, the camera can't pick it up...
 
I know Canada and the US are a little different, but their policing practices are largely founded on the same principles. This makes me think of when I was a teenager, knew everything, including my rights. Stopped with a group of friends on foot for the simple offence of looking like trouble.

Officer: Can I see some ID?
Me: Why, am I under arrest?
Officer: Do you want to be?
Me: Here's my ID.
Officer: Thank you. Let's not see any trouble out of you guys tonight, OK?
Me: OK.

At the time, I was pretty miffed. I knew that, even though I had done nothing, it would not be hard for the officer to conjure up grounds for arrest. However, looking at the situation with 15 years of life under my belt I understand the usefulness of this type of policing. Let most people away with minor technicalities, and then when you know something smells, you have several lawful excuses at hand which you can use to initiate contact.
This does not excuse an officer from over-reacting. In policing especially, professional conduct is critical. That being said, lots of police officers work on the edge, and can easily be pushed in to some sort of misconduct. Imagine going to work and having to deal with other people's problems, all the time. Almost everyone you talk to does not want to be talking to you. You shovel other people's $hit all day. It's easy to slip up.
Most police officers I know will readily point out that most people who get in trouble talk themselves in to it. Some officers operate differetly, but most I know go in to a situation willing to give a break, and it is your conduct that determines if that break will stand. Of course, this relates to minor offences only. I don't know any police officers who will look the other way at a serious crime because you remembered you manners. In effect, though, this is their way of finding out who is behaving, and who is trouble. If you get stopped for a minor offence, and you cop attitude, or try to run, the officer has a pretty good idea what you're about. If you act like a grownup, they'll often give a token warning or fine and move on to the troublemakers.
There seems to be a lot of police conversation on motorcycle forums (go figure). At the end of the day, it's important to remember that police officers are people. Some of them are great at their jobs, lots of them are good enough at their jobs, and some of them just plain suck at it, just like any other job. Sometimes you'll end up talking to a jerk, but for the most part, police officers just want to get through the day without a major incident, just like you do at your job. If you can show them that you're not likely to be the root of a major incident, and treat them as you would like to be treated, you usually won't have a problem.
On the days when you do get the jerk, they have more privelleges in society, unfortunately for you. That means they can do things that interfere with your freedom. This is an unfortunate by-product of policing. If we can't trust police with these privelleges, though, they become ineffecteve. At the end of the day, even the worst cop you have ever met would probably pull you and your kids from a burning car and administer CPR until the ambulance arrives. Heavy stuff. As much as it's hard at the time, remember what a police officer deals with in a day before you criticize them for being short.
This dude got his rights stepped on, and that's not right at all. He could have helped himself, however, and he didn't. Everyone loses.
 
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