Civil Disobedience in Sarasota, 5/20/10

I thought this stuff was only supposed to be done on April 20th.

Why don't you just loiter in front of a store after hours on a skateboard?

That was seriously funny.

BUT, Gig I think it's awesome that you're doing something instead of being apathetic and not giving a shit as more and more stupid laws are enacted. I don't agree with your deeply held beliefs about Govt and I wince a little when you call arrest "kidnapping". But yeah, you're doing something, not just complaining on the internet.

Thank you, Mirka.

It's about 3:47 and my mind is just starting to chill. At around 10:30 I was sitting behind USF when I hear sirens all over the place, but it sounded like they were staying close to the road. I'm watching the sky near a pond thing when cops come out of the bushes with flashlights and a dog and order me to put my hands up, get face down on the ground, etc. I get handcuffed. I'm asked if I have a gun, and something's said about having 'the victim come identify' me.

45 minutes later (I presume, I wasn't keeping track of time and was constantly thinking on my toes), I'm walking away from what was one of the most mind-messing experiences of my life. Granted, I feel like I made it through okay, but wow. There's no feeling like being told by a group of three armed people while you sit with lights shining on you in the dirt, in handcuffs, that you're really starting to piss them off if you don't fess up to this pipe they found. And according to them, it'll all be okay if I just say "it's mine"...but they were lying.

I didn't play their game and I made it through, I think. They claimed they may come after me later with a warrant, but I think they may have been trying to scare me, part of the intimidation to get me to 'confess'. If I think I'm screwed anyway, I'll make it easy for them, so they have to do less paperwork to file the shit...

Tonight was an experiment I wasn't planning on happening, but it did and I learned. I actually had what could have turned into a conversation, with a little more practice in discussing the nature of the system and whether the police should be happy and laughing at people over how they're gonna ruin their careers by busting them.

For me, this was a major experience because I approached it from a perspective not allowing the relationship I had with the officers to be adversarial. They were constantly telling me to stop being a smart-ass, and being cocky, etc, and when I'd ask what was giving the impression that I was trying to sound cocky, they'd change the subject or accuse me of having an attitude.

I really gotta organize my thoughts...I'mma blog about this at some point.

To be continued.

PS-I feel really good about this, though. As I walked away, after I was told that I was going to jail unless I confessed to something (which I did not), yet I didn't go to jail (thus I was lied to so that they could take to jail), I said to them after they said I was free to go, (something along the lines of) "I just wanted to let you know I'm sorry you feel so negatively about"...

I was cut off by the alpha-female officer who screamed, "Goodnight!" in an "outta my face!" kinda tone. At that I quieted myself to let her have the floor, before concluding with, "I forgive you", and waving to all of them as I left.

I kinda see just a bit of the way domestic violence must be such a mindeff, because when you're surrounded by people telling you that you're wrong and that you're hassling them by not confessing to something, it really makes you feel like you are guilty of something. I was really pleased with the way I handled myself, despite them calling me names and making fun of me. In the end, I didn't get a charge I couldn't fight because I gave them everything they needed. That was what they were looking for all along.

Oh yeah, and they lied to me when they said that after I was mirandized, any statement I made was inadmissible in court. When I questioned this, they questioned my intelligence, and laughed about how the quality of USF's CJ dept must be dropping. No, my education taught me just fine...what you say to cops, they can use against you. And they will lie to you and use mind games to make you think otherwise while you sit in cuffs, not a great place to be making life decisions.

It was like elementary school bullying all over again. They legit thought making fun of me would be enough to get me to say their magic words so they can submit it to the prosecutor for a guilty plea (over 95% of cases in Sarasota) all nice and neat and tidy, no police work necessary. I guess some of the people they deal with fall for that.

I did take this as a compliment: They said "Crackheads are easier to deal with than this guy."

Oh, and as a positive, respectful note on the police's actions...when I was being detained/cuffed, as sucky as that inherently is, I must thank them for doing it with respect to my comfort. All of the officers were totally professional in how they treated me physically. They did have reason to believe I just robbed someone down the street initially, before they turned it into a 'we found a pipe' thing. I fit the desription slightly...a skinny white 30 year old wearing a blue tank and tan (maybe brown i heard?) shorts was being sought, hence the dogs. However, I did not appreciate being kept in cuffs while they berated me until I'd confess to owning a pipe they found. That was not cool, but I forgive them for that. I really hope they give some thought to the interaction they had tonight. I would doubt any of them have ever had someone in such a situation respond that way.

"Excuse me, sir? We're looking for an armed robber in the vicinity who's description you're not too far off from. It's not you, is it? No? Okay, sorry to bother. Goodnight."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFLQqMLcsp8

So the robbery victim...I hope he/she is okay.

And what makes you so sure it was over drugs? Are you profiling?

I have been in a few similar situations before. I can tell you to never tell cops anything. They will lie and say whatever they think they can to get you to cop to anything. Even if you don't say what they want, in my case anyways, when they actually write the statement its nothing like what you had told them or written down at all. But by the time you see it your already in court and its too late. I have had a gun help to me head by cops before to the point where the barrel was almost touching my forehead.... it was not a fun day. But that was kind of my fault as someone I was with just happened to have 6 felony warrants that I had not known about at the time.

Zack, I'm sorry to hear that the police did that to you.

Yes, I'm speculating. A skinny white thirty year old dude dressed down, and robbing someone at a hotel by the airport is more likely than not a junkie looking for cash. And since the victim had to come ID me, I imagine he didn't know the culprit prior.

There's lots of unreported robberies in the illicit drug market, because it isn't like the victims can call the police. This is part of what makes prohibition so dangerous. That, and what it does to the price of drugs makes it so you have to be rich to be a junkie, which most junkies aren't.

Alcoholics, on the other hand, can get a 40 for two bucks.

Thanks, it wasn't right but it was kind of my fault for being in that situation anyways. Wrong place wrong time, hanging with the wrong people at the wrong time. I did end up having some serious charges from the whole escapade but got a good plea deal so I took it. What can you do?

Just as the guy matching the description, alone on isolated land near the location of the crime, is more times than not, the junkie who did it. Double standards woop-dee-woop. It's okay, though. Profiling is really not that bad a thing.

I don't know what you mean about profiling, but I don't object to it when its not being used for the wrong reasons. Profiling for real criminals is what police work is supposed to be.

I didn't object to being questioned initially about the robbery, an actual crime. But once that was cleared, my detention became an act of aggression.

Dude, Five Points Park? Sketch! But you know I heart you. Good story. Fuck the Sarasota police.

Does that place tend to be frequented by criminals or something?

Isn't it basically in Bradenton, the crime capital of central Florida?

No, Five Points is downtown. It's the oversized patch of grass at that weird intersection in front of the library. It's where Food Not Bombs goes on Fridays.

Ooooooooooh! What the heck am I thinking of? No matter. When did they start doing Food Not Bombs there in town? I used to travel up to Clearwater for it, which was awesome.

It's been going on the past few years, I think. New College dudes run it. Fridays at 6pm, I don't think they miss a Friday often, if at all.

Police and teachers have a tendency to be woefully under-qualified. I agree with Ritt, that questioning you was reasonable, but it seems they really did take it to excess, especially when they tried to get you to 'fess up to owning the pipe. You think they would realize that, even if it was yours, as a university student you're smart enough not to admit to it.

I've always been leery of the idea that police are allowed to lie as a form of interrogation. It really takes advantage of the unintelligent, mentally unstable, and young. I remember studying a case where a child's sister was killed at night, and b/c he played D&D and drew a bunch of violent looking pictures, they automatically blamed him. They kept him up all night grilling him, accusing him, and eventually they convinced him that he was crazy and must have done it. He said something like, "I don't remember doing it, but apparently I did b/c you guys are so sure." They used select quotes from his interrogation to prosecute and he was in jail for years before it was discovered that he was innocent. The worst part was that the cops had interrogated the actual murderer the same night they interrogated the boy, but they didn't pursue charges b/c the guy was mentally unstable (which didn't make any sense at all to me).

Anyway, point being, I don't think police should be allowed to lie to people. I also think that when you have the right to leave, you also have the right to be informed of that right (it should be part of Miranda). I'm glad you were identified and cleared, but it's sad that you were also the victim of incompetence. Even if it had been your pipe, there was a robber in the area and they wasted time grilling you about paraphernalia that they couldn't link to you without a confession rather than find the guy committing violent acts.

I remember that case.

I think that would be AWESOME...but I don't see any way to implement it.

Miranda doesn't work either. They told me once I was Mirandized and refused to answer questions that anything I said from then on would be inadmissable in court, and that they only wanted to know because they didn't want me 'lying to them' (because not incriminating yourself is lying, I guess).

They lie about the truth that they're required to tell right after they tell it. But I agree, it would be cool if there was some way of enforcing for cops to notify you of the nature of the encounter, and at which point its voluntary and which point it's coercive.

The event/exchange occurred peacefully. I'm still free, in relative terms.

Now for a weekend of fiesta and joy before returning home to start life.