I agree that simply asking for a police officer's name and badge number do not constitute a threat, but I would say that a statement like 'I will rain down hell on you' would constitute a threat.
On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 12:15 PM, Judah McAuley<ju...@wiredotter.com> wrote: > > On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 4:12 AM, Scott Stroz<boyz...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Asking a cop for his badge number is about as threatening as it is >> racist for a cop to ask a minority for ID...especially when the police >> officer is investigating a reported crime. Oh, and I am sorry, saying >> you would 'rain down hell' on someone is most definitely a threat. > > Yes, the power in that situation is so obviously identical. Those > poor, poor cops. > >> But Gates was not arrested for threatening the police officer, nor for >> being in his own house, he was arrested for being 'disorderly'. He >> could have been singing the Hokey-Pokey, but if he was doing it loud >> enough, he would still have been disorderly. I have not read anything >> that states Gates asked the officer for ID to determine if he was a >> police officer, only that he wanted >> >> The more that comes out about this story, the more I think the >> majority of the blame for this incident falls on Gates' shoulders. >> > > "Disorderly" is a totally bullshit charge most of the time, in my > experience. It is what the cops whip out when they don't have anything > real and just want to do something to someone that has pissed them > off. Because "loud enough" Hokey-Pokey is at the discretion of the > officer and it doesn't matter if it will be upheld in court or not, > the point has been made. The police, as I mentioned before, have a > very strong set of institutions backing them up and the risk to them > professionally by arresting someone on a bogus charge is minimal. > Sure, a judge will probably toss the charge or reprimand the guy, but > "order" has been established and they showed people who's the boss. > And its not like they are going to lose a false arrest claim on > something as nebulous as "disorderly conduct". > > As for this particular situation with Gates, I honestly have no clue. > I haven't read anything about the case so I don't have an opinion. My > reaction was to Jerry saying that asking an officer for his badge > number constituted a threat. Gates may be totally in the wrong on this > one, I really couldn't say. But telling me that asking a police > officer (when there is no imminent threat of harm) constitutes a > threat riles my inner libertarian. > > Police do an extraordinarily difficult job. And for them to do that, > we have to give them a great deal of power. However, principles of > civil liberty dictate that we when you give a great deal of power you > also need to provide a great deal of checks and balances to prevent > abuse of that power. We've lost sight of that and I find pointed > criticism of those who do exercise what minimal checks and balances > remain to be odious in the extreme. > > Juda > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:300910 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
