Nice new world

[dmancornell]

Any anger should be aimed at the courts. The cops are just doing what the courts let them do.

God forbid these cops have some common decency of their own.

 

[unklekippy]

Any anger should be aimed at the courts. The cops are just doing what the courts let them do. These actions are based on "probable cause", where the cops consider refusal to let them enter and inspect the house without a warrant to be proof that the occupants are doing something wrong. There is case law somewhere that allows them to do so. This case law is where it all went wrong and violated the 4th Amendment.

In the case mentioned in the OP, the cops are representing that they had a right to enter the apartment because they were in "hot pursuit" of the suspect. This is not true. They had a tip (a faulty tip) that the suspect was in the apartment building, but no information on which apartment. They had not seen the suspect, since he wasn't there (and probably never was there) so they had no credible information on which to base their demand to enter a specific apartment. Since we do not know if the cops had obtained a warrant to search for the suspect (it seems not) we can't say for certain that they were violating the 4th Amendment, but it seems likely no warrant was issued. Had one been issued, it was irresponsible that the judge signed it, since it would have to be too vague to meet the intent of the 4th Amendment. To properly evaluate this incident we need to know if a warrant was issued, by whom, and upon what documentation the decision was made. If a warrant was issued based on improper representations (lies) from the LE officials, then those who submitted the representations need to be held accountable.

A Constitution is defended first by the Judiciary. The Judiciary is chosen by the President with the approval of Congress. The Administrative and Legislative branches are elected, and your vote counts, since they choose the judges who "interpret" the law.

These sort of incidents will become more common and more outrageous unless the Judiciary stands up and limits them. Any judge presented with a search warrant has an obligation to determine the accuracy of the information on which the warrant is based and to err towards protecting the rights of the individual.

Actually, the cops can just go ahead and do the right thing, whether a court defends them or not. I will never forgive someone for this kind of crap. German courts allowed the Nazi's to do what they did. It's called The Nuremburg Defense.

 

[BlakeStone]

where's the ACLU on this?

 

[One-Eyed Ross]

where's the ACLU on this?

What? ACLU stands up for regular white folk? I did NOT know that....I know they stand up for Nazis, Jews, Blacks, Hispanics and all...

 

[rapgood]

I certainly agree this behavior is reprehensible and unprofessional. There was a better and less confrontational manner in which to check for the bad guy. I wonder if there is a basis for a civil suit?

Is there ever! Not only was it a violation of the 4th Amendment, but also a violation of Art. I, Sec. 12 of the Florida Constitution. They had NO probable cause to believe that the person they were seeking was in that particular apartment. This has 42 USC 1983 written all over it.

 

[rapgood]

where's the ACLU on this?

 

[Father of four]

Actually, the cops can just go ahead and do the right thing, whether a court defends them or not.

For a fellow officer? Yeah sure.
For a non-LEO? Do not count on it.