Why, APD, Why?

Why APD, Why? On February 6th I was minding my own business when one of your officer's came along, saw my parked car, made a decision that it was illegally parked, got on a bullhorn calling out to me a quarter mile away to return to my car. When I arrived I was told I couldn't park my car at that location to which I replied, "Bullshit". The cop pointed at a sign 50 feet away that said: No Vehicles Beyond This Point, as evidence of my illegal parking. Since I was parked 50 feet in FRONT of the sign, I told the cop he was wrong to which he responded I was getting cited: Vehicle Trespassing on Open Space, a criminal misdemeanor. Fortunately I had a camera to capture the situation but didn't need it to beat the citation. The law requires an "Open Space" sign to be posted (there wasn't), nor was I parked on Open Space land anyway as the boundary (based on survey stakes) lined up with sign mentioned above which was 50 feet away. Pissed-off the Mayor, the APD and the cop that I got away with a "contempt of cop" charge. Or so I thought. I filed a complaint with city Police Oversight Commission against the cop which is still active. Then who do you think shows up on May 15th at the Open Space, yep the cop I filed the complaint against (although I didn't know it until later). This time he comes to stalk and observe, moving his vehicle three different times, getting closer with each move and TRESPASSING on adjacent private land in the process. I captured all of this on film. After waiting about 40 minutes I went to get a closeup of the vehicle ID number, that's when the cop steps out to stop me. Seeing "the cop" shocked me but I got off two shots with my camera before retreating. Then on Monday I spotted a cop vehicle parked across the street from my house and yes, took pictures. How can a city where the crime rate is above the national average (Crime Statistics) have cops running around harassing an old retired soldier who volunteers in City Open Space picking up garbage, pulling tumbleweeds, maintaining trails and a host of other issues, and oh yeah, putting up with rogue cops, one of whom is unable to understand the word, "beyond", and that one is a supervisor. Go figure.
Why, APD, Why? Why, Mr Mayor, Why?

Can You Legally Cuss the Cops?

Like it or not, you can swear at a police officer. Now don't get me wrong, I don't go out of my way to cuss them nor do I swear at them if asked a simple question but as soon as I detect wrongful behavior or "attitude" on their part I let them have it. Swearing at a police officer may be disrespectful, but it's not criminal. The courts have sided with citizens and rightfully so. The APD is schooled on this subject at the Academy, see this article done by their legal instructor: www.dps.nm.org/training/docs/Legal_Update_in_NM.pdf. By the way, I do not have a history of hassling cops. Never been arrested and no, never had any problems with my neighbors, just the cops who have tried to give me grief. Now I'm out to give them some oversight which it seems they need. A badge does not give them the right to tell a citizen what to do; they have to comply with the legislated laws just like anyone else. Most people will automatically comply with a cop EVEN if they know the officer is wrong. These spineless citizens willingly give up their Constitutional rights thus reinforcing the "bully with a badge" mentality of our police forces. Now I'm sure some "law and order" types might find that cussing a cop IS "criminal" despite not being codified as such. Thank God we have a Constitution to protect us from those types too. An article regarding resisting the police: http://politicalinquirer.com/2008/06/25/resisting-unlawful-arrest-constitutional-legal-and-our-duty/

Although you can legally cuss the cops, its not recommended. IF you have done something wrong then it will surely earn you a citation plus a judge is not likely to lessen the charge or penalty. And IF an officer violates your rights and you cuss them then your chances of winning a lawsuit are decreased because its highly likely that the officer is recording the conversation and a jury may be offended especially if the officer is being professional and talking respectively (which they usually do because the recording will be heard by their supervisors).

APD Cites Volunteer for Contempt of Cop

On February 6, 2009 I was cited by the APD for "Vehicle Trespassing", which happens to be a criminal misdemeanor. Why was I cited? Because I committed two serious offenses in the eyes of law enforcement: (1) I disagreed with a cop's judgement and (2) used profanity. Thus I had committed the unofficial but serious offense of "Contempt of Cop". The trespassing charge was dismissed on February 20th. It seems the DA refused to prosecute the case because no violation had taken place; the citing officer, "errored". Although in an official statement to the Albuquerque Journal, published February 26th, APD stated the reason for dropping the charge was "confusion of posted signs". Confusion!!! I was parked 50 feet in FRONT of the sign shown in the newspaper. The real kicker, this happened while I was doing volunteer work on City of Albuquerque Open Space property. This incident made the front page of the Albuquerque Journal on Feb 16, 2009. Link: ((http://www.abqjournal.com/cgi-bin/decision.pl?attempted=www.abqjournal.com/news/state/16117414449newsstate02-16-09.htm) .

There is also a video available of the incident (does not require a password): http://abqjournal.magnify.net/video/Man-Volunteers-Over-300-Hours