RashyNullPlanet

Email out, just now, after a lot of thinking about what to do about the Dearborn Heights cop who stopped me, and the less than satisfactory response I received:

Dear Chief Gust, Captain Gavin, Lieutenant yyyyy, and Mayor Paletko,

I appreciate your timely response to my complaint about officer xxxxx.

There are a few items in the response that conscience compels me to address.

First, regarding the conclusion that I exercised poor judgment: surely the city attorney has informed the police department that anyone who is in a public place, including law enforcement officers, may be photographed without their consent. There is no legal requirement to request permission to photograph people in public places. There is also no legal requirement to take photographs while stationary.

The response appeals to emotion by asking me to imagine a stranger taking pictures of my wife and children in front of my house. Consider that hypothetical scenario. I would have very limited recourse if that happened. I would certainly not be justified if I were to pursue and stop that person. If I requested assistance from my local police department, I would be informed that they could do nothing about such an incident, because anyone in a public place may photographed. Celebrities constantly being photographed by paparazzi live with this fact every day. Officer xxxxx had no justification to pursue and stop me because I photographed him or his patrol vehicle.

Second, the response implies that I drove away quickly after photographing officer xxxxx. That is not true. I drove through the parking lot at a safe and reasonable speed appropriate for a parking lot, and joined traffic on Pelham at a safe and legal speed. The implication that I drove quickly away is not true.

Third, it appears I wasn’t entirely clear in my first note: I absolutely dispute officer xxxxx’s claim that I was speeding. As law enforcement officers, you must surely be aware that vehicle speedometers are not entirely precise. Surely you are also aware that federal regulations mandate that vehicle speedometers must be accurate to plus or minus 5 mph at a speed of 50 mph. Officer xxxxx claims I was traveling at 3 mph over the speed limit. That is much less than the 5 mph tolerance mandated by federal law. I cannot be held responsible for the manufacturing tolerance of speedometers produced by car companies. If my speedometer reads 1.5 mph low, and officer xxxxx’s reads 1.5 mph high, it would appear that I was traveling 3 mph over the speed limit, when in fact, I was was not.

What this means is that officer xxxxx used speeding as a pretense to wrongfully stop me. If I was actually speeding, he would have issued me a citation.

I believe Officer xxxxx would not have stopped me if I had not taken his photograph. That means: he stopped me because I took his photograph. That is clearly inappropriate.

Fourth, officer xxxxx ordered me to show him the photograph stored in my cell phone. I believe he should have had a search warrant before ordering me to show him the photograph. I showed him the photo out of fear of being further wrongfully detained.

Fifth, the response does not address the fact that officer xxxxx (and others) have routinely, and for many years, squandered precious Dearborn Heights tax dollars by lounging around that 7-Eleven store, reading newspapers and magazines while they leave city vehicles burning expensive city gas in the parking lot.

Blame for this incident is being placed entirely on me. If there was poor judgment involved in this incident, it was certainly not entirely on my part. Officer xxxxx clearly exercised poor judgment by ignoring the fact that photography in public places is a legitimate activity, by using speeding as a pretense to stop me, and by wrongfully searching my cell phone. As I mentioned in my original note, such poor judgment demonstrates that he may be a potential liability for the Dearborn Heights Police Department, and the city.

Sincerely,
Matt xxxxx

 

 

 

I didn’t bother to include any requests in that note to the DHPD. Anything they’d send back would just blame me again.

It’s obvious to me, and should be to anyone with even a shred of objectivity, that the cop stopped me because I took his picture. His claim that I was speeding was a pathetic excuse to stop me, and his demand that I show him the photo was a blatant warrantless search.

I received a response from the Dearborn Heights Police Department after my complaint about one of their officers stopping me for taking a picture of him and his patrol car. They sent it to me via email on Friday, March 21st, though the letter is dated March 18th.

I’ve been thinking about whether or not to pursue this any more, and haven’t yet decided what to do. I doubt the DHPD is going to change its ways, even if I were to hire an attorney and sue them for some thing or other. At this point, I really don’t want to spend a lot of time or money on this, however, at a minimum, I do want to make sure it’s documented in detail so I have a record of it, and maybe it will help the next person who’s wrongfully stopped by the officer.

Here’s the text of the response I received. It places blame squarely on me:

March 18, 2008
Mr. xxxxx,

I have been assigned to investigate your compliant against Officer xxxxx for his actions on March 13, 2008. I have read your complaint and interviewed Officer xxxxx. Your letter, as well as Officer xxxxx?s version of the incident, are virtually the same. After considering the facts, I have come to the following conclusion:
I feel that you exercised poor judgment in the manner in which you took Officer xxxxx?s photograph. A simple courteous request prior to the photographing would have been proper. Without knowing your intent, you created anxiety, fear, and uncertainty in the officer?s mind. I ask that you put yourself in the officer?s shoes. I don?t know your family situation, but how would you feel if a stranger took a photo of your wife or children in front of your house and then quickly drove away. I am sure that would be upsetting to you and your family without knowing the intentions, good or bad, of the stranger.

Also, the speed limit on Pelham is 40 mph. Officer xxxxx stated that you were speeding. You don?t dispute that. The traffic stop was lawful. It was reasonable for Officer xxxxx to ask you about the nature of the photograph during the stop, and advising you to ask permission in the future.

In regards to your 10 enumerated requests. I will address them briefly.

1. Officer xxxxx will not be apologizing to you.
2. Officer xxxxx will not be disciplined in this matter
3. The Officer?s name has been addressed
4. Refer to number #2. Nor do we make it a policy to disclose discipline meted out to complainants.
5. The city attorney was consulted in this matter.
6. No such document exists.
7. The Dearborn Heights Police Department does not have a policy on the photographing of its Officers. Nor do we plan on implementing one.
8. This complaint is not sustained
9. A video tape may be available if you still wish to acquire it. A FOIA request is necessary. You may do that at DHPD Records Bureau.
10. I can assure you that Officer xxxxx will not retaliate against you because of this incident.

Sincerely,
Lt. yyyyy
Shift Commander

www.dearbornheightspd.com

On my way to work most mornings I stop at a 7-Eleven to get some coffee. At least once a week, there is a Dearborn Heights cop there, reading the newspaper, and chatting with the employees. On most of my stops there, the cop is there when I arrive, and still there when I leave, usually three to five minutes later. On many occassions, I’ve taken calls in my car in the parking lot and noted that the cop remains there for quite some time. When it’s cold outside, the engine on his patrol car is usually running. Sometimes, there is more than one cop standing around reading the paper and the magazines.

This has been going on for at least several years, and several times over the past few years, I’ve emailed the chief of police and complained, and the cops’ lounging around stopped for a while, but always started again after a few months.

This morning, I used my cell phone to take a picture of the cop’s patrol car running, as usual, in the parking lot. He was leaving the store at the time and walking toward his car. When I drove out of the parking lot toward where I work, he followed me, driving so close to my car that I couldn’t see the front bumper of his car.

He stopped me and asked why I took a picture of him, and left me with instructions to ask permission before photographing police.

He was testy. He’ll probably be in a much worse mood after my letter to his chief, deputy chief, captain, the city’s mayor, and the entire city council filters down to him.

Radley Balko is absolutely correct: it?s essential that private citizens be permitted to photograph, videotape, or otherwise record on-duty officers. If I turn up as a corpse, this letter is probably why. I sent it to the cop’s top three bosses, the mayor of the city, the entire city council, and the city’s human resources department:

Dear Chief Gust, Deputy Chief Lazar, Captain Gavin, and Mayor Paletko,

This morning at approximately 8:30am I was wrongly stopped by one of your police officers.

I saw the officer at the 7-Eleven on the corner of Pelham and Van Born. He was standing behind the counter of the 7-Eleven when I went inside to buy a cup of coffee. As I was driving to the exit of the parking lot, I used my cell phone to take a picture of his running patrol vehicle, # 81, in the parking lot. I’ve attached the picture, which unfortunately, turned out quite blurry. The date & time stamp on the picture is 13-Mar-2008, 08:28am. I turned north onto Pelham from the 7-Eleven parking lot and a few seconds later, the officer followed me, tailgating my vehicle quite closely. He turned on his overhead lights near Pelham and Colgate. I signaled, turned right onto Colgate, and stopped on the right hand side of the road.

The officer stopped his patrol car behind my car, got out of his car, walked to my driver side window, and asked for my driver’s license, vehicle registration and proof of vehicle insurance. I gave him the documents and asked him why he stopped me. The officer said that I was driving 43mph in a 40mph zone. Then he asked why I had taken a picture of him. I answered that I like to take pictures. He ordered me to show him the photo on my cell phone, so I did. The officer returned to his vehicle for a few minutes, then came back to my car, returned my license and papers, and told me to ask permission before taking photographs of police officers in the future. He did not write any citations against me. He then returned to his patrol car and drove away.

I have complained several times via email in the past several years about Dearborn Heights police officers lounging around that 7-Eleven. I fear that this officer’s actions may have been retaliation for those complaints. The actions of the officer were inappropriate, intimidating, and harassing. I drive on Pelham every day to get to work, and I will probably never again feel comfortable driving on Pelham or stopping at that 7-Eleven because of the officer’s actions. Even worse, the officer has demonstrated that he may be a potential liability for the Dearborn Heights Police Department, and the city.

I would like the following actions taken to ensure that such an incident doesn’t happen again, to me or anyone else:

1. I would like a written apology from the officer. Via email is sufficient.

2. The officer should be disciplined.

3. Inform me what the officer’s name is, so I have it for my records.

4. Inform me what discipline the officer receives, also for my records.

5. Forward a copy of this note to the city attorney who should advise the police department what Michigan law says regarding photography of police officers and their vehicles.

6. Send me a copy of the city attorney’s advice to the police department. Via email is sufficient.

7. Send me a copy of the police department’s policy regarding photography of police. Via email is sufficient. If no such policy exists, the police department should develop one. The policy should also be posted on the police department’s web site.

8. Copies of disciplinary action records and all correspondence regarding this incident should be placed in the officer’s personnel file.

9. Provide me with copies of the audio and video from the officer’s patrol car video camera and any audio captured by any microphone the officer was wearing. Via email as MP3 and/or MPG files is sufficient.

10. Guarantee me, in writing, that neither the officer nor anyone from the Dearborn Heights police department or any other Dearborn Heights city department will attempt any retaliation, intimidation, or harassment of me or my family because of this incident, this complaint, or anything that results from it. Please send this last item via US Postal Service. My mailing address can be gotten from the officer who stopped me and checked my driving record.

Thank you very much for your prompt and thorough attention to this very serious matter.

Sincerely,

Matt xxxxx

xxxxxxx, MI