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Original post by Yann L
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Original post by Binomine
Heck, I wouldn't even inform them they are on shaky ground. When you are suspected by the police, it's not time to play amateur lawyer.
It's probably a country difference. From what I seem to gather, US police is almost Gestapo-like. Over here, arguing with the police over whatever they want from you is common practice. Often people get upset and loud at the officer, usually over minor things like traffic violations. In this case, police is normally required to do their best to calm the situation, instead of getting "brutal", as it seems to be the case in the US. So YMMV.
The police are not exactly "Gestapo-like". The role of a police officer in the US is to keep the peace.
A police officer is going to talk to you for two reasons:
1. Because you are a danger to the community
2. To make a profit for the city.(unofficially, but it happens)
If a police officer catches you doing something illegal, as long a it is not "breaking the peace", they usually let you go. It's not their job to enforce the letter of the law, just to keep the peace(and their speeding ticket quota up).
It is not the officer's job to interpret the law. It's his job to best enforce them and allow the judicial system to interpret the law. This is partly why we get abortions like
this one. The system overall works o.k., but it means the time to argue is in court, not in the presence of the police officer.
While not all police officers are particularly good at their jobs, the majority of them do follow correct and legal procedures, while the majority of Americans fail to educate themselves on what those are. Likewise, since a police officer's job is to keep the peace, if you can convince the officer that a warning is sufficient, then no ticket will be issued.
It is in the best interest for a USian to comply, shut up and argue the case in court.
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Isn't a sexual harassment lawsuit the usual way to deal with these situations ?
Actually, if she would have complied and just done it and waited, she would have found out that a pat down search is completely legal. I mean, it is possible to file a sexual harassment lawsuit, but a police officer following legal procedures is not grounds for a successful one.
A male is a allowed to do a pat down search to look for weapons only on a female for their safety if there is no female officer present or close to the area. They aren't allowed to do more than that. Some cities have procedures that only allow female to female or male to male, but that is just a procedure, it isn't law.
However, my friend being totally obvious and already in police custody decided to physically fight, which is probably a bad idea overall. It's the biggest irony of living in the US, we're so big on
Our Rights, but the majority of us fail to educate ourselves on what those are.
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an officer is automatically suspended and investigated if he simply draws his weapon without a valid reason
In the US, it depends on the city and state, but if an officer draws his gun for any reason, it results in the police officer being pulled off the street for one to eight weeks for an investigation. (Larger cities are usually around two while richer suburbs are closer to eight.)
