Police and the laws they ignore..

When I first read this story I laughed at the idea of a cop car off in a ditch because of a bad U-turn. It's his actions afterwards that made him the bad guy in my eyes. The police chief is also not doing to great when it comes to his duties.

Police officer David Devore just didn't appreciate John Bell III's "whimsical sense of humor."

When Bell took digital pictures on Feb. 6 of Devore's police cruiser stuck in the mud and being towed out of a ditch after an errant U-turn, Devore got angry. He took the memory card from Bell's digital camera and erased the images.
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Devore directed fellow officer Tyson Dinda to pull over Devore's red minivan after Devore stopped to take the pictures. When Devore arrived farther up the road where the stop occurred, Bell asked Devore why he needed Bell's camera.

"Because," he said at first. After he paused, he added, "Defamation of character. Camera. And film. Now. I'm not going to ask you again. I'll give you the count of three. Or I can make your life a living hell. You make the decision. I'll give you that choice."

When Bell picked up the memory card at the police station later that day, the images had been erased

Yep. Robbed by the police. Threatened by the police. Detained by the police. Right now you're saying the police officer must be in some big trouble.

Nope.

Devore served a one-day suspension without pay on Feb. 15. He also received counseling and was told his future traffic stops would be monitored.

One day suspension. I call that a small vacation. They also offered the camera owner a whole 1000$ for walking all over his rights. He has turned it down and they are all on their way to court. Interesting to see what price the judge puts on our rights.

The police chief is acting rather shamefully here

"That's what we did in this case," said Chief Robbins. "We felt it was appropriate for the instance. It's an anomaly for this officer. We have not had this type of issue with him."
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The chief says the 29-year old officer has been with the department for three years and has a clean record.

We all have a clean record until we get caught.