Florida cops threaten people who ask for complaint forms
February 26th, 2006 by Monkey Cory Doctorow:
A CBS undercover reporting team went into 38 police stations in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties in Florida, asking for a set of forms they could use to complain about inappropriate police behavior. In all but three of the stations, the police refused to give them forms. Some of the cops threatened them (on hidden camera, no less) — one of them even touched his gun.
officer: Where do you live? Where do you live? You have to tell me where you live, what your name is, or anything like that.
tester: For a complaint? I mean, like, if I have –
officer: Are you on medications?
tester: Why would you ask me something like that?
officer: Because you’re not answering any of my questions.
tester: Am I on medications?
officer: I asked you. It’s a free country. I can ask you that.
tester: Okay, you’re right.
officer: So you’re not going to tell me who you are, you’re not going to tell me what the problem is.You’re not going to identify yourself.
tester: All I asked you was, like, how do I contact –
officer: You said you have a complaint. You say my officers are acting in an inappropriate manner.
officer: So leave now. Leave now. Leave now.
ao_/”>Why, That’s Delightful!)
Update: Alex sez, “The Lauderhill cop who was shown intimidating an individual looking to file a police complaint on hidden camera took the news station to court to stop the story from airing.”
Update 2: Lee sez, “The Police Complaint Center exists to help citizens file complaints against officers and departments — an important service, as police officers are supposed to be serving the public.”
Originally by Cory Doctorow from Boing Boing on February 25, 2006, 2:45pm
Posted in ReBlog | 