Copwatch Invited for Ride-Along - Got Questions for a Keene Police Lt.?

[Kat Kanning]

lol coconut

What is "B-roll", Lauren?

[TackleTheWorld]

In the old days of TV news they would have an A-roll, a tape of interviewing a person  - and a B-roll, a tape of  the scenery, the crowd, skid marks, details of the persons appearance or background stuff.  They would play both tapes simultaneously, but when the talking head got too boring, they'd switch the picture to the B-roll and keep the audio of the interview.  Also called cut-aways.

[Coconut]

What is "B-roll", Lauren?

What Lauren said. If you watch the news, they start with the anchors talking, and cut to shots of the event they're talking about. Just like Ridley has a bunch of file footage he lays over while he talks, Lauren's shots could be used in a similar way.

[Kat Kanning]

Thanks

Why was the Lt. scared of Lauren?

[highline]

And where did he go? He has not posted here in quite a while.

[kola]

maybe lauren locked him in the trunk?

[David]

Good to hear it went well.
Better to make friends than enemies.

Agreed.  Keene is my home, and i don't want more enemies than I need. 

[Shane Maxfield]

The example the Lieutenant referenced of someone being taken behind the K-Mart and physically abused is simply something that strikes me as being completely out of the realm of possibility here in New Hampshire.

I'm glad you brought that up again. Coconut asked a question earlier on this thread about how to best interact with officers during a stop. I'd like to pose a similar question in all seriousness. You believe that this is so statistically unlikely to happen in New Hampshire that dwelling on it is misleading. Fair enough. But let us assume for a moment that the planets aligned in the right way... The ONE officer who MIGHT snap DID. If an officer of the KPD WERE assaulting someone on duty, what would you suggest that the person being assaulted do? In the admittedly RARE case of police brutality, what should someone do?

Now what about in Washington DC or Detroit, where the likelyhood of police brutality is signifigantly higher?

There's no great answer to Kevin's question here, each action has a downside.  One could just go passive, which would perhaps minimize the assault, and then report it at the first opportunity, either to a Supervisor on duty at the time, or preferably directly to the Police Chief.  The downside is you would take whatever lumps you get until the officer decides to stop.

You could actively try to defend yourself, but it seems to me this might cause the officer to continue until he gets whatever results he's looking for, and could also provide fodder for additional charges (resisting arrest, for example).

You could try to get away, but this also invites pursuit and more assault, plus more charges (resisting or maybe even escape (felony).

As unlikely as this whole scenario is here in Keene, I would choose the first option if it were me.  Same thing in a larger city like Detroit or DC.  Whatever choice you take you should follow up with a complaint to the Chief (or whomever handles the complaints).

[Shane Maxfield]

Thanks

Why was the Lt. scared of Lauren?

Perhaps "scared" was not the proper word for me to have used, but "nervous" would be honest.

I was nervous because I did not know what to expect.  She is somewhat of a celebrity, so I half expected a little circus in my lobby and a less pleasant experience overall.  Regardless of my expectations or fears, the ride-along was in fact quite pleasant...she even likes Dr. Pepper.

In retrospect, I ran my gums far more than she did.  If Lauren rides with me again, which she is welcome to, perhaps she could bend my ear as I did hers.

[Shane Maxfield]

And where did he go? He has not posted here in quite a while.

I'm on days off, and since I live in New Hampshire's equivalent of Bedrock, my dial-up speed usually tops out at 26.4K.  Maybe some day they'll run cable near me.  Anyway, at those speeds it almost physically painful to surf the net, let alone upload anything.  I've got solitaire running while my browser chugs away.

[Kat Kanning]

No, Lauren's always quiet.  I've never heard her bend anyone's ear much.

[SamIam]

I'm on days off, and since I live in New Hampshire's equivalent of Bedrock, my dial-up speed usually tops out at 26.4K.  Maybe some day they'll run cable near me.  Anyway, at those speeds it almost physically painful to surf the net, let alone upload anything.  I've got solitaire running while my browser chugs away.

I'm sure it will happen any day now,  to open up shop as a CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier), a startup that competes with the ILEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Provider, ie. AT&T, Verizon), only needs a million dollars for lawyers to get started on the state PUC and FCC Filings, just to beg permission to operate. You would need equally as much in consulting fees to figure out the regulatory mess once the doors open. 

Now somebody who has a high speed connection could share by setting up a Wimax tower for a few thousand dollars and offer high speed wireless service to many people within several square miles, but oh, wait that's regulated for "your" protection as well. The fact is, America has one of the lowest broadband adoption rates among our peers, and speeds are much much slower too. People living in Japan and Sweden enjoy up to 100M connections to their homes! I have the fastest consumer grade broadband service currently out, and I top out at 15% of 100M.

So, don't hold you breath. Telecom is almost as heavily regulated (i.e. Protected) as the drug companies. But hey, without all the regulation, the government would never be able to implement CALEA, which mandates any new service implement a back door for the government to listen to your calls. In the VoIP world, they can configure this remotely and have the voice packets streamed to their location without having to physically tap a line in the phone company's Central Office.

We have to keep America safe from terrorists at any cost, Right?

[K. Darien Freeheart]

There's no great answer to Kevin's question here, each action has a downside.  One could just go passive, which would perhaps minimize the assault, and then report it at the first opportunity, either to a Supervisor on duty at the time, or preferably directly to the Police Chief.  The downside is you would take whatever lumps you get until the officer decides to stop.

You could actively try to defend yourself, but it seems to me this might cause the officer to continue until he gets whatever results he's looking for, and could also provide fodder for additional charges (resisting arrest, for example).

You could try to get away, but this also invites pursuit and more assault, plus more charges (resisting or maybe even escape (felony).

As unlikely as this whole scenario is here in Keene,

Thank you for answering that. I have to say that I think it was somewhat of a loaded question since there really isn't a good answer to it. I understand this is a rare case. Frankly, I think the "basic" enforcement of victimless crimes is enough to be uncomfortable with the existance of government law enforcement - I don't need to paint you guys with the bloodthirsty brush to indicate need for change.

That said...

Do you understand that many people do things (like identify themselves, pull over when they've not harmed someone) because of fear that the one cop behind them IS the cop that would harm them, and if they fight back it will be spun as "resisting arrest"? Or in the worst case that they'd be the next Sean Bell or Rodney King? Speaking for myself, I fear ALL police for this reason. While a specific officer (like yourself or highline or this cop) may earn some trust, because police have the ABILITY to justify the initiation violence and because there's no way to identify the "bad cop" until it's too late, I will not ever be less than terrified with the current system of police.

And I can't fully classify someone as a "good cop" when they know the above information and continue to be a law enforcement officer.

[I really hate the word substitutions...]

[Caleb]

Thank you for answering that. I have to say that I think it was somewhat of a loaded question since there really isn't a good answer to it. I understand this is a rare case.

Not as rare as you might think in my neck of the woods.

[Russell Kanning]

I would think that most people that pull over for a cop do it because something bad would happen if they kept driving.