Imagine that you live in a small Iowa town of around 11,000. Just down the street from where you live is a brand new DHS fusion center. The man in the video below is the chairman of the telecommunications commission for your town. He seems like a nice enough guy and probably is, but is he right for that position? Apparently so.
In the video, please go to 1:58 and listen closely until 3:05. Then please skip ahead to 4:51 and listen to the answer.
Again, he seems like a nice dude, but did anything stick out to you in those clips?
As mentioned before, we have a brand new DHS fusion center in town. While I'm not altogether against the concept of these fusion centers, in these current times I'm highly skeptical of the tactics being used to get them built and am wary of the potential for abuse from higher-ups. The telecommunications commission chairman for my town noted on the video that he had no experience or knowledge with telecommunications and eluded to the fact that, due to his appointment to this particular commission, he is directly involved with the higher-ups in operations which would obviously involve the DHS fusion center.
Also, his favorite president is John Adams, so add a bit of the Alien and Sedition Acts to mix.
Patriot Act + New DHS Fusion Center + noob telecommunications commission chairman with no knowledge of telecommunications and a favorite president well-known for his penchant for punishing political dissent = x
What is the value of 'x'?
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Operation without registration
Iowa Code
321.98 Operation without registration.
A person shall not operate, and an owner shall not knowingly permit to be operated upon any highway any vehicle required to be registered and titled hereunder unless there shall be attached thereto and displayed thereon when and as required by this chapter a valid registration card and registration plate or plates issued therefor for the current registration year and unless a certificate of title has been issued for such vehicle except as otherwise expressly permitted in this chapter. Any violation of this section is a simple misdemeanor punishable as a scheduled violation under section 805.8A, subsection 2, paragraph "b".
Obviously, the prosecution has to be able to prove that you are guilty of the citation. The prosecution shall have to prove that your vehicle was required to be registered AND titled. The prosecution shall also have to show that the accusing officer was acting in accordance with the provisions promulgated by the department; was the accusing officer acting in compliance with the rules?
Whether or not your vehicle was registered is NOT the issue when deciding guilt for this piece of code. The issues are:
1. Can the prosecution prove that the vehicle required to be registered AND titled?
2. Was the accusing officer acting within the provisions of his official capacity at the time of the stop?
Remember, the burden of proof is on the prosecution.
321.98 Operation without registration.
A person shall not operate, and an owner shall not knowingly permit to be operated upon any highway any vehicle required to be registered and titled hereunder unless there shall be attached thereto and displayed thereon when and as required by this chapter a valid registration card and registration plate or plates issued therefor for the current registration year and unless a certificate of title has been issued for such vehicle except as otherwise expressly permitted in this chapter. Any violation of this section is a simple misdemeanor punishable as a scheduled violation under section 805.8A, subsection 2, paragraph "b".
Obviously, the prosecution has to be able to prove that you are guilty of the citation. The prosecution shall have to prove that your vehicle was required to be registered AND titled. The prosecution shall also have to show that the accusing officer was acting in accordance with the provisions promulgated by the department; was the accusing officer acting in compliance with the rules?
Whether or not your vehicle was registered is NOT the issue when deciding guilt for this piece of code. The issues are:
1. Can the prosecution prove that the vehicle required to be registered AND titled?
2. Was the accusing officer acting within the provisions of his official capacity at the time of the stop?
Remember, the burden of proof is on the prosecution.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Are police systematically acting outside of the law?
Are police systematically acting outside of the law? Here I will present a few examples showing that the police are in fact, on a systematic basis, acting outside of the law.
Let's head to Title 9 of the City of Iowa City Code. Chapter 3 of Title 9 outlines the 'Rules of the Road' for city. I invite you to sift through all of them. More specifically, I invite you to find the Iowa City Code which specifies that all vehicles must have auto insurance in order to operate within the city. You won't find it. Why not? Because the code does not exist.
OK, you may ask, but why does this matter? I'm getting to that in just a minute.
Below is a memo from the Iowa City Police Department as it appeared in the Iowa City Press Citizen. Please read it and note the language presented.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Performance Expectations Day Watch 2008
1.) Officers will make at least twenty (20) self-initiated traffic stops each month. Officers are expected to do these stops in a professional manner and with articulable probable cause. In-car cameras with audio will be used for all traffic stops. Officers will be expected to determine the license status of the Driver/Operator of the vehicle, the registration status of the vehicle and determine if there is a valid insurance policy on the vehicle. Officers will fill out the traffic contact information at the end of the traffic stop.
Lt. Dan Sellers
------------------------------------------------------------------
If you read closely, the memo says that the officer must do many things.
A. The officer must make at least twenty self-initiated stops per month.
B. The officer must determine the drivers license status of the driver.
C. The officer must determine the registration status of the vehicle.
D. The officer must determine the auto insurance status.
E. Officers must fill out traffic memorandum for each stop.
We've already determined above that there is no Iowa City Code regarding valid auto insurance policies. The codes involving proof of auto insurance are located in the Iowa Code. Because there is no Iowa City Code involving auto insurance, the policy set forth in the memo by Lt. Sellers means that the officers are acting in their official capacity as officers of the State Dept. of Public Safety. So, you may ask, why does this matter? Hang with me for a sec and I'll show you why it matters.
Let's head to the Iowa Code for a minute.
321.5 Duty to obey.
All local officials charged with the administration and enforcement of this chapter shall be governed in their official acts by the rules promulgated by the department.
321.6 Reciprocal enforcement -- patrol beats.
There shall be reciprocal co-operation between the members of the department, the state department of public safety and local authorities in the enforcing of local and state traffic laws and in making inspections, although this section shall not be construed to give the state department of public safety any right to establish regular patrol beats inside municipal limits unless requested for a special occasion or emergency by the mayor of such city or the sheriff of the county.
321.492A Quotas on citations prohibited.
A political subdivision or agency of the state shall not order, mandate, require, or in any other manner, directly or indirectly, suggest to a peace officer employed by the political subdivision or agency that the peace officer shall issue a certain number of traffic citations, police citations, memorandums of traffic violations, or memorandums of faulty equipment on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis.
But hey, what about that policy set forth by the Iowa City Police Department?
A. The officer must make at least twenty self-initiated stops per month.
B. The officer must determine the drivers license status of the driver.
C. The officer must determine the registration status of the vehicle.
D. The officer must determine the auto insurance status.
E. Officers must fill out traffic nemorandum for each stop.
Let's take a quote straight from the author of the police memo.
"If I was to demand they (write) tickets, that would be a quota," Sellers said. "That's not what this is. Now, (officers) may have a perception it's a quota. My perception is you're being lazy and not doing your job." (Source)
For clarification purposes, let it be known that the author of the police memo, Lt. Sellers, has admitted that the officers may perceive the "performance expectation" to be a quota.
If you'll go back and read it again, 321.492A specifies that more than just quotas on citations are prohibited and that said quotas may not even be indirectly implied. Quotas for memorandums are also prohibited.
1. The Iowa City Police Department has enacted quotas that are clearly prohibited by the language of 321.492A of the Iowa Code.
2. The Iowa City Police Department has established regular patrol beats within the city while acting in their official capacity as officers of the State Department of Public Safety, clearly prohibited by Iowa Code 321.6 which clarifies that said officers have no right to establish regular patrol beats within the city. Remember, there is no "no insurance" code within the Iowa City Code. The memo citing that officers must check for valid insurance clearly puts them in the position of acting in their official capacity as officers of the State Department of Public Safety. Their Duty to Obey means that they must obey the provisions promulgated by the State when acting in their official capacity as officers of the State.
So, what do you think? Is the Iowa City Police Department acting outside of the law on a systematic basis?
Let's head to Title 9 of the City of Iowa City Code. Chapter 3 of Title 9 outlines the 'Rules of the Road' for city. I invite you to sift through all of them. More specifically, I invite you to find the Iowa City Code which specifies that all vehicles must have auto insurance in order to operate within the city. You won't find it. Why not? Because the code does not exist.
OK, you may ask, but why does this matter? I'm getting to that in just a minute.
Below is a memo from the Iowa City Police Department as it appeared in the Iowa City Press Citizen. Please read it and note the language presented.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Performance Expectations Day Watch 2008
1.) Officers will make at least twenty (20) self-initiated traffic stops each month. Officers are expected to do these stops in a professional manner and with articulable probable cause. In-car cameras with audio will be used for all traffic stops. Officers will be expected to determine the license status of the Driver/Operator of the vehicle, the registration status of the vehicle and determine if there is a valid insurance policy on the vehicle. Officers will fill out the traffic contact information at the end of the traffic stop.
Lt. Dan Sellers
------------------------------------------------------------------
If you read closely, the memo says that the officer must do many things.
A. The officer must make at least twenty self-initiated stops per month.
B. The officer must determine the drivers license status of the driver.
C. The officer must determine the registration status of the vehicle.
D. The officer must determine the auto insurance status.
E. Officers must fill out traffic memorandum for each stop.
We've already determined above that there is no Iowa City Code regarding valid auto insurance policies. The codes involving proof of auto insurance are located in the Iowa Code. Because there is no Iowa City Code involving auto insurance, the policy set forth in the memo by Lt. Sellers means that the officers are acting in their official capacity as officers of the State Dept. of Public Safety. So, you may ask, why does this matter? Hang with me for a sec and I'll show you why it matters.
Let's head to the Iowa Code for a minute.
321.5 Duty to obey.
All local officials charged with the administration and enforcement of this chapter shall be governed in their official acts by the rules promulgated by the department.
321.6 Reciprocal enforcement -- patrol beats.
There shall be reciprocal co-operation between the members of the department, the state department of public safety and local authorities in the enforcing of local and state traffic laws and in making inspections, although this section shall not be construed to give the state department of public safety any right to establish regular patrol beats inside municipal limits unless requested for a special occasion or emergency by the mayor of such city or the sheriff of the county.
321.492A Quotas on citations prohibited.
A political subdivision or agency of the state shall not order, mandate, require, or in any other manner, directly or indirectly, suggest to a peace officer employed by the political subdivision or agency that the peace officer shall issue a certain number of traffic citations, police citations, memorandums of traffic violations, or memorandums of faulty equipment on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis.
But hey, what about that policy set forth by the Iowa City Police Department?
A. The officer must make at least twenty self-initiated stops per month.
B. The officer must determine the drivers license status of the driver.
C. The officer must determine the registration status of the vehicle.
D. The officer must determine the auto insurance status.
E. Officers must fill out traffic nemorandum for each stop.
Let's take a quote straight from the author of the police memo.
"If I was to demand they (write) tickets, that would be a quota," Sellers said. "That's not what this is. Now, (officers) may have a perception it's a quota. My perception is you're being lazy and not doing your job." (Source)
For clarification purposes, let it be known that the author of the police memo, Lt. Sellers, has admitted that the officers may perceive the "performance expectation" to be a quota.
If you'll go back and read it again, 321.492A specifies that more than just quotas on citations are prohibited and that said quotas may not even be indirectly implied. Quotas for memorandums are also prohibited.
1. The Iowa City Police Department has enacted quotas that are clearly prohibited by the language of 321.492A of the Iowa Code.
2. The Iowa City Police Department has established regular patrol beats within the city while acting in their official capacity as officers of the State Department of Public Safety, clearly prohibited by Iowa Code 321.6 which clarifies that said officers have no right to establish regular patrol beats within the city. Remember, there is no "no insurance" code within the Iowa City Code. The memo citing that officers must check for valid insurance clearly puts them in the position of acting in their official capacity as officers of the State Department of Public Safety. Their Duty to Obey means that they must obey the provisions promulgated by the State when acting in their official capacity as officers of the State.
So, what do you think? Is the Iowa City Police Department acting outside of the law on a systematic basis?
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