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LEO Affairs Posts “Survival Guide to Dealing with Annoying CopBlockers”
Tonight I got a message from Joshua, a CopBlock Network Contributor and one of the editors here at CopBlock.org, in his message was a link to the article below from the website LEO Affairs. No, this isn’t a place where Law Enforcement Officers (LEO’s) go to have affairs, I guess that’s a common misconception, but rather a place where LEO’s discuss their tactics, tips and ideas about their jobs. Basically what we do here except they pat themselves on the butt more and are always right.
In the post at LEOAffairs.com they embedded videos with each point, I’ve decided to link to them in order to save space for my thoughts and so that this blog isn’t a mile long. You can see their original post here. (LA = LEO Affairs)
Now, before we start, recognize two things as you read this post. First, there is no author or alias that this post was written under. The person who wrote it wouldn’t even put ‘A’ name on it. Typical for cops on duty, but I didn’t know their shame extended into their advice for their colleagues as well. Second, you’ll notice that though the title of the post mentions CopBlockers none of the five points mention the one thing CopBlockers advocate, or do, the most; filming the police. So, I guess the LEOs are still working out how to handle that. What you will find is a bunch of BS blanket statements and lip service. Meaning the real value here is that you get another glimpse into the small mind of a LEO.
Let’s get started.
1: Surviving a “You Work For Me” suspect
Look, we all know that tax dollars pay for a wide-range of public services, including the police forces that protect us all. While it’s annoying to hear “My taxes pay your salary” over and over again, it’s best to go about the business at hand rather than thank the citizen for their generous salary contributions. Oh, and if you can generate a little extra “revenue” by writing a ticket, then poetic justice can be served.
This statement reflects one of the biggest problems with government services today. They have no care or concern for those who actually pay their salaries. What other business, aside from the government’s, would ever provide this advice to their colleagues? Go ahead. Try to think of another job where ignoring, blowing off, or “rather than thank the” customer – because that’s what a citizen is – is part of the chosen method of customer service and I’ll show you a business that’s going to fail.
The police, and many people, are unable to think outside the government provided box. Police officers seem to have trouble accepting the idea that they can create their own protection businesses and ‘citizens’ seem to forget that they don’t have to rely on government to provide it. One way this could work is if every officer did whatever part of protection they felt they do best. Some cops are better at recovering stolen goods, others at solving violent crimes and some at crime prevention (security cameras, firearms training and such). Yet, regardless of their skillset(s) they only have one person to work for and they normally require them to do a number of other things they either don’t care to or aren’t good at. Why not just skip that by starting a business providing the services you are good at?
If an LEO chose this route they wouldn’t have to worry about the government forcing you to pull people over for burnt out headlights, ruining someone’s life for smoking a plant or doing endless paperwork because of some new department policy that was federally mandated. On top of all that goodness, you’d probably make more money (depending how ambitious you are) and be a lot safer than you are today. Don’t believe me? Give it a try, quit your job and come tell me why I should pay for your services.
This really shouldn’t be that hard. I’m sure most of you have a skill you could charge 50 people for and at $50 per person you’d be making $2,500 per month. That’s $30,000 per year and if your service was actually good you may even have 100 customers (or more). Something to think about if you’re tired of the shady situations your (bankrupt) employer keeps putting you in – you do realize that the government is broke right?
2: Surviving an amateur lawyer or “sovereign citizen” citizen
It seems that every suspect police detain either already has, or is working toward, a degree in constitutional law. When confronted with these amateur lawyers, it’s usually best to let them show off their shaky and/or crazy view of the law before calmly explaining that no matter what they think, they’re subjected to the same laws that everyone else is.
The anonymous author’s advice is to let them rant and then tell them they’re subjected to the same laws as everyone else, really? How about looking up the law, articulating it clearly or calling a supervisor for clarification? Furthermore, in my experience, since the post is targeted at “CopBlockers” I think my opinion qualifies, that CopBlockers do know more about the law than many police officers. Especially when it comes to filming in public space, when to show ID and the right to bear arms. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen police officers demand ID from someone when they had no legal ground to do so. I’ve personally been arrested for filming the police when I shouldn’t have been and (though we’ll touch on this in the next point) I’ve seen a number of open carry videos where officers were schooled in one’s rights by ‘citizens.’ In fact, just the other day Brian Sumner posted the video below showing two Police Cadets who were unable to state the 4th or 6th amendments. How troubling (or telling) is that? You’d think the police would have a better understanding of the law, but they don’t. They think you have to do whatever they say because, “they’re a police officer.”
3: Surviving an open carry cop blocker
Cop Blockers are becoming more common, and they seem to have a single purpose: to bait officers into getting angry, upset, or making mistakes. When dealing with these cop blockers, especially when they’re baiting you by openly carrying a weapon, calmly explain how doing your job is not in violation of the law, exactly how reasonable suspicion works, and how you will treat them fairly provided that they too are acting in accordance with the law.
The author did get one thing right here, that CopBlockers are becoming more and more common. Before I touch on the rest of the statement, I think it’s worth mentioning why there are more and more CopBlockers. The answer is cops. I can’t make enough videos or write enough blog posts to keep up with the amount of people you guys turn on to CopBlock each day. The endless traffic stops, warrantless searches and ruining of people’s lives at the drop of a hat keeps the CopBlock.org/submit tab busy, the contact page buzzing and the CopBlock offshoots growing. Seriously, I feel like pulling a gun manufacturers of America and giving you guys the CopBlock Recruiter of the year award, just like gun manufacturers do for presidents when their stupid laws create a drive in the gun market.
Still, you are mistaken that we’re trying to bait you. I mean maybe some are, because I can’t speak for everyone. Yet, I know that’s not my goal. What I think you call baiting I would call exercising of a right. You think because a CopBlocker comes to your police station with some chalk that they’re trying to bait you. In reality they’re probably trying to tell you something else, like stop killing people or that “Badges Don’t Grant Extra Rights.” Of course you don’t see it this way and we already covered why in point #1. You just don’t care.
BTW, openly carrying a gun in public isn’t how reasonable suspicion works. So when you’re “just doing your job” by harassing someone based on them open carrying, it is actually a violation of the law.
4: When being calm, polite, and professional fails, there’s always tasing or OC use
Sometimes, no matter how well an officer handles a situation, the suspect simply remains out of control and won’t submit to rational requests. It’s times like these that less-lethal means, such as tasers or OC, can not only subdue the suspect, but save lives in the process.
While we’re trying to stay humorous with these videos, each of these issues are serious. Unfortunately, 126 officers were killed in the line of duty in 2014, which represents a 24% increase over the previous year according to NPR.
Above all else, stay safe out there.
Sometimes no matter how well a CopBlocker handles a situation, cops can quickly escalate a situation and won’t listen to rational requests like, “Am I being detained.” No seriously, this seems all hunky dory on the screen, but in the academy the advice is much more direct. Make sure you go home, use any means necessary or if you think it’s you or them, make sure it’s them. Add this to the assistance provided by the thin blue line and the advantage officers have after using force on a suspect. Police are rarely questioned, commonly sent home and given time to ‘collect’ their thoughts on the matter, while anyone outside of a LEO is interrogated for hours, locked in a cage and put on trial. Normally, such actions ruin the lives of the accused regardless of the outcome. So when the author suggests using less-lethal means, I get a sick feeling in my stomach, because some of those means are actually lethal. Or they’ll be discarded quickly for more lethal options.
The author then likes to throw out how many officers have been killed in the line of duty in 2014, stating that the 126 dead cops is a 24% increase. They fail to mention that most officer fatalities are due to car accidents. Which is another benefit to working for yourself, or for a business, you’d either drive there in a reasonable manner or you’d already be there. You wouldn’t have that risk high any longer. Plus, the fact that the number of police killed in the line of duty was historically low, by far, the year before is never mentioned. The reason that isn’t mentioned is because then people might understand that 2014 was still one of the safest years ever for cops. The increase from the previous year says a whole lot more about how safe 2013 was for LEO’s than it does about 2014 being dangerous. The author also fails to mention that in 2014 over 1,000 people were killed by police, according to KilledbyPolice.net, but they were probably all bad, right?
5: Surviving a citizen taking the law into their own hands
For the most part, citizens who work security are looking to make life safer and easier for those around them, but once in a while, the illusion of power goes straight to their heads. When dealing with one of these issues, it’s best to remind them who the real police officer is in the situation.
Wait, did the author just say that “the illusion of power goes straight to their heads?” The author must have been talking about cops, right? No? Well I’ll be damned because they most certainly should have been. I don’t know how many links or video clips people want but we could go all day showing video, after video of officers saying, “Do this because I said so.” Security guards can get overly anal about the rules but there’s a BIG difference between a security guard and a cop. We’re not forced to pay for the security guards and they’re hired, and held accountable, by the property owner. Therefore, they would actually have more power, IMO, than a police officer when asking me to do something on the property they work on/at – even if the rule is ridiculous.
That concludes the five worthless tips to deal with CopBlockers that doesn’t even mention what to do when being recorded by one. Not that I’d expect a cop to actually focus on the most important aspect to engaging cops or CopBlocking. I think it’s fair to say that if a cop follows these steps when facing a CopBlocker they’re probably going to end up a YouTube star and for that, I thank the unknown Copsucker who wrote this post. You just gave thousands of cops bad information that will turn up the hits and views of the content CopBlockers will create after their encounter. Thank you.
Want to learn more about CopBlocking? Check out the CopBlocking 101 and 5 Must Do’s for Every Police Encounter videos below.
CopBlocking 101
5 Must Do’s for Every Police Encounter
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LEO Affairs Posts “Survival Guide to Dealing with Annoying CopBlockers” is a post from Cop Block – Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights
Source: http://www.copblock.org/132482/dealing-with-annoying-copblockers/
