Catch-all Cop Thread

[benjipwns]

“I was in shock and panicking because I never wanted these two parts of my life to collide,” Melissa Williams, 46, told Jam Press of her resignation, in which she reportedly received a $30,000 severance package to leave the force.

The ex-cop — reportedly a 28-year police veteran whose LinkedIn profile lists her as “retired” from the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office after more than 11 years there — had apparently started moonlighting on the porn platform in May 2020 as a means of spicing up her sex life with her husband and also decompressing from her difficult and dangerous job.

“My personal sex life was entirely separate and never affected my ability to do my job,” said the cop-turned-skin-flick-star, who “felt like my bosses were policing my bedroom.”

The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment about Williams’ claims.

Known by the alias Lexi Bella (@the_real_bella_lexi) on OnlyFans, Williams predominantly shared saucy snaps of herself and her husband, who has opted to remain anonymous for privacy reasons.

“A lot of the material my husband and I shared is stuff we’d taken in our private sex life over the years,” explained the mother of two. “I was working up to 60-hour weeks, so mostly my husband ran the page and shared my pictures, and then sometimes we’d have fun dressing me up and taking photos especially to share.”

The self-proclaimed “MILF and wife-next-door” added, “It was a fun way to relax and be creative together after a stressful week in a stressful job.”

Williams had been making a good side-living on OnlyFans for about 18 months, Jam Press reported, when in August 2021 the cop’s boss supposedly received an anonymous tip about her salacious side hustle.

The aghast officer claimed that she subsequently received an official complaint via email, whereupon she allegedly discovered that her colleagues had been gossiping about her sextra-curricular activities — with some even signing up for her page.

“The complaint came totally out of the blue,” said the horrified officer. “Then I was angry and embarrassed because the notice went on to say how five colleagues of mine — all in lower and higher ranks than me — had obtained access to my paid account to access my private content so they could investigate my conduct.”

“I loved my job — but how could I go back to work in an environment like that?” said Williams. “It was hard being a woman in the force. People have always been jealous of me because I am successful, attractive and confident.”

Nonetheless, the porn star sees her firing as a “blessing in disguise,” as she “can sleep at night now and I feel 10 years younger without the stresses of police work.

“My family are glad they don’t have to worry about me not coming home,” added Williams, who also shares saucy snaps to Instagram.

And while Williams said she is currently only earning about $4,000 a month on OnlyFans — less than her police salary — she hopes her page will take off now that she can spend more time on it. However, in the future, she aspires to become a team leader or manager in security or corporate training.

[chronovore]

 
 
 

Yeah. Um. That's not how government jobs work.

[Rufus]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-01-28/marijuana-cash-seized-armored-car-fbi-san-bernardino-sheriff

The driver of an armored car carrying $712,000 in cash from licensed marijuana dispensaries was heading into Barstow on a Mojave Desert freeway in November when San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies pulled him over. They interrogated him, seized the money and turned it over to the FBI.

A few weeks later, deputies stopped the same driver in Rancho Cucamonga, took an additional $350,000 belonging to legal pot stores and gave that cash to the FBI too.

Now, the FBI is trying to confiscate the nearly $1.1-million bounty, which it might share with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. The FBI says the money is tied to federal drug or money-laundering crimes, but has specified no unlawful conduct and charged no one with a crime.

[chronovore]

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/941887
UC-led research first to show benefits of police de-escalation training
“The results were impressive, to say the least,” says PERF executive director Chuck Wexler. The research, Wexler says, “found that training officers in ICAT was associated with 28% fewer use-of-force incidents, 26% fewer injuries to community members and 36% fewer injuries to police officers.”

[Rufus]

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/941887
UC-led research first to show benefits of police de-escalation training
“The results were impressive, to say the least,” says PERF executive director Chuck Wexler. The research, Wexler says, “found that training officers in ICAT was associated with 28% fewer use-of-force incidents, 26% fewer injuries to community members and 36% fewer injuries to police officers.”

But can they unseat this guy's teaching in people's minds?
https://www.grossmanacademy.com/

I'm not hopeful, but more research is always good.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

“My family are glad they don’t have to worry about me not coming home,” added Williams

Now they're just worried about her always coming at home.

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/mcmoynihan/status/1489645039483604995

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/gabrielmalor/status/1491157456583598086
https://twitter.com/gabrielmalor/status/1491159169948438529

[Joe Molotov]

I guess the state really was coming for your guns.

[Madrun Badrun]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60512531

Three ex-Minneapolis policemen present at the death of George Floyd denied the unarmed black man of his civil rights, a jury has found.

[Madrun Badrun]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60610708

Breonna Taylor: Ex-officer Brett Hankinson found not guilty in deadly raid

[benjipwns]

After striking a plea deal with prosecutors, a onetime Tennessee sheriff’s deputy who was accused of repeatedly raping a 14-year-old girl over a period of 20 months will serve no time in prison and does not have to register as a sex offender.

Brian O. Beck, 47, pleaded guilty to a single count of aggravated assault on Monday, according to court records filed in Shelby County Court. That plea was part of a deal between Beck and prosecutors, a member of the Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office confirmed to Law&Crime.

The judge in the case suspended Beck’s nominal four-year prison sentence and said the defendant would instead serve three years probation, a sentencing order provided to Law&Crime by the prosecutor’s office indicates.

Beck would have been facing up to 90 years in prison had he been convicted of the four counts upon which he was initially indicted by the grand jury.

[chronovore]

Jesus.

It is difficult to imagine a scenario where this is justice, but I'm already having high blood pressure problems today and am afraid to look up any further details.

[Skullfuckers Anonymous]

https://mobile.twitter.com/pblest/status/1501919594096865280

[benjipwns]

A 2016 dispute between neighbors that began when a 7-year-old boy was accused of littering escalated into a violent confrontation with Fort Worth police officer William Martin, who arrested the boy's mother, Jacqueline Craig, and three of his sisters. Craig says Martin, in addition to forcing her to the ground with a taser to her back, kicked her 15-year-old daughter ("J.H."), hit her 14-year-old daughter ("K.H.") in the throat, and, after handcuffing her 19-year-old daughter, Brea Hymond, "hyper-extended her handcuffed arms by flexing them above her head in order to cause pain." Martin's body camera video suggests all this happened because he was irked when Craig angrily berated him for condoning an assault on her son and criticizing her parenting.

Because the legal justification for Martin's use of force was unclear, a federal judge ruled that Craig could proceed with her lawsuit against him. But last month, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit concluded that Martin had done nothing illegal.

When Martin appealed, however, the 5th Circuit accepted his version of events, which it was not supposed to do at this stage unless the existing evidence "blatantly contradicted" Craig's claims. McBryde thought it did not. But the appeals court, for reasons that are not entirely clear, disagreed. In a decision written by Chief Judge Priscilla Owen, the 5th Circuit concluded that Martin's manhandling of Craig et al. "was not objectively unreasonable." In any case, the court added, his conduct did not violate "clearly established" law.

The 5th Circuit dismissed that use of force as "relatively minimal," adding that Martin jerked Hymond's arms "only after Hymond refused to provide Martin with her name." But deliberately inflicting pain on a nonresistant arrestee to obtain information is "obviously unconstitutional," I.J. says, and the appeals court's alarming acceptance of that practice needs to be corrected.

While the 5th Circuit described Hymond as "resisting," its basis for that characterization is thin. "Hymond was shouting at Martin throughout the entire confrontation," Judge Owen wrote. "She did not comply with any of Martin's commands or instructions….Hymond continued to verbally deride Martin while Martin was lifting her arms and immediately after he put her arms down. Given Hymond's continued resistance, Martin's use of force against Hymond was not objectively unreasonable."

Craig's initial offense supposedly was interfering with Martin's duties, but her interference consisted of yelling at him after he suggested that assaulting her son was a justified response to littering and faulted her for not raising him properly. The two other charges against her, resisting arrest and failing to identify herself, were contingent on Martin's hotheaded decision to arrest her in the first place.

Hymond likewise was charged with interference, which again was limited to yelling at Martin. As with Craig, Martin tacked on resisting arrest and failure to identify.

J.H., the 15-year-old, was handcuffed and forced into Martin's police car, but she was not charged with anything. K.H., the 14-year-old, was taken to a juvenile detention facility, where she was released without charges.

All the charges against Craig and Hymond were dropped.

Bodycam footage at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1400361/Police-bodycam-shows-arrest-Jacqueline-Craig-family.html

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/billybinion/status/1509277858560192524
https://twitter.com/billybinion/status/1509278246520696838

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/IllyBocean/status/1509330376929714177

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/jacobsullum/status/1509898544362237970
https://twitter.com/jacobsullum/status/1509898547025621008

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/normative/status/1514246996080607236

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/janecoaston/status/1519034580606595077

[chronovore]

http://twitter.com/vps_reports/status/1521696514023690240


LAPD and DHS show up at a peaceful protest looking for a fight. What a bunch of assholes.

[Madrun Badrun]

[benjipwns]

The county Sheriff's Office originally said that Ralph Ennis fell over the trailer hitch of his red pickup truck and struck his head on the camper top attached to his truck.

But as footage aired by Washington, DC, TV station NBC4 shows, deputies rushed the man in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven near Front Royal, VA, and then slammed him face-forward into the back of his truck and tackled him to the ground. Police have said Ennis failed to drop his keys and put his hands behind his back after exiting his vehicle.

Ennis, whose wife said he suffered from dementia, died 13 days later. The sheriff's office originally said that the man had non-life threatening injuries as a result of the incident. Wife Linda Ennis said her husband was transported by medics to the hospital and was diagnosed with a brain bleed.

The Warren County Sheriff, Mark Butler, told News4 he stands by the initial statement his office released.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

Dude was running at him and had to stop so he didn't pass him so he could slam him. jfc

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1522231344981495808
https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1522231351361028097
https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1522231362916397056
https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1522274777561509893

[benjipwns]

Patricia Rodney walked into the 62nd Precinct in Dyker Heights on December 2, 2020 because she had lost her glucose monitor. Rodney knew how important the instrument was to her survival. A diabetic, she had been hospitalized multiple times for complications related to her diabetes, and used the device to check her blood sugar levels many times a day.

...

Rodney was at the end of her rope: She’d already been told she could get the report here. Now she was getting the runaround. She dug in, telling the officer she’d been told to come back and get the report, and she wasn’t leaving the stationhouse until she got it.

The account up until now is Rodney’s, as told in an interview with Hell Gate and in a federal civil complaint. What happened next is documented in the body-worn-camera footage of two officers on duty at the 62nd Precinct that night. When the footage picks up, Rodney is in the vestibule of the precinct house, surrounded by police. When the sound on the video kicks in (NYPD body cameras only begin recording sound when activated, but append the previous 60 seconds of visuals from the camera’s buffer memory), an officer is warning Rodney that “Body cameras are now on.”

“This is my camera,” Rodney replies, holding her cell phone. “I’m allowed to film.”

Rodney wasn’t actually filming, she told Hell Gate. “But they were getting very hostile, and they were telling me that they were filming me, so I held my phone up and said, ‘Okay, I’m filming you.’”

...

“We’re asking you to leave, you’re not leaving, and you’re not allowed to record,” an officer says in the video. “Turn around.” With that, half a dozen cops close in around Rodney, and in short order, she is on the ground, screaming, as officers twist her arms.

“It felt like they were breaking my arm, Rodney said. “And yes, it turns out they did.” A medical report confirms that Rodney suffered a fractured elbow.

“I’m not playing with you!” the officer bellows as he works to get Rodney into handcuffs and leg shackles.

“I’m a diabetic,” Rodney sobs. “I just need a piece of paper.”

“Now you’re going to jail,” the officer replies. As Rodney is brought to her feet and frog-marched out of the vestibule and into the precinct house, the officer, who, like other police surrounding Rodney, is not wearing a mask himself, grabs her mask from her mouth and pulls it up over her eyes so she can’t see. “Put your mask up,” he says. “All you had to do was cooperate. You did this to yourself.”

The police took Rodney to a hospital to treat the injuries she suffered during her arrest, leaving her handcuffed throughout. Then they brought her back to the precinct house for several hours before sending her on to Brooklyn Central Booking, where she was charged, based on a sworn statement from an NYPD officer, with resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, disorderly conduct, and criminal trespass.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article261304437.html

Would quote, but gross.

[benjipwns]

Before his sentencing, Menocal gave a brief statement, but he did not apologize or express remorse for his criminal actions against his female victims. “I have had some dark times in the past seven years, and if it wasn’t for my wife and family, I probably wouldn’t be here today,” he told the judge.

...

During Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Menocal’s defense attorneys, Mycki Ratzan and Jude Faccidomo, tried to depict the police officer’s misconduct as “aberrant” — not indicative of a law enforcement career highlighted by honors such as officer of the year in Hialeah. They proposed he should receive no incarceration in prison, and instead get a probationary sentence with time split between a halfway house and home detention.

...

Despite investigations by Hialeah police internal affairs and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, Menocal was temporarily suspended from duty but then reinstated by Police Chief Sergio Velázquez. Velázquez only fired him after FBI agents arrested Menocal in December 2019, and the chief himself was removed from office two years later.

...

They also planned to call as a witness a police academy cadet who was allegedly impregnated by Menocal while he was working as her instructor. According to federal court records, Menocal tried to pressure the cadet into having an abortion after he allegedly got her pregnant.

Was just an accident that for some reason kept happening.

[chronovore]

Yeah, bullshit like that makes the "a few bad apples" argument moot.

[VomKriege]

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/adamsteinbaugh/status/1530206878394892289

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/jono_vision/status/1530417191132475392
https://twitter.com/ggatin/status/1530936257701810181

[VomKriege]

US police and schools, not the best record lately.

https://twitter.com/miniondeathcult/status/1534918807168245761
https://twitter.com/miniondeathcult/status/1534920111861075968

[VomKriege]

Reddit thread where one supposed account of eyewitnesses is detailed :
https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/v6tnuv/comment/ibib5b2/

[VomKriege]

https://twitter.com/miniondeathcult/status/1535755899112783872

[who is ted danson?]

https://twitter.com/nwmalinowski/status/1541390065271701505

[benjipwns]

Did... did they at least fail the training?

[Cauliflower Of Love]

Sounds like they passed.

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/billybinion/status/1542256908479913986

After the ordeal, Baker sought that remedy through her home insurance, which stipulated that they are not on the hook if it is the government's fault. And though the government didn't deny being at fault, per se, they did deny that Baker was a victim, sending her on her way with a ravaged home, thousands of dollars in destroyed personal possessions, and a dog that went deaf and blind from the chaos that July day.

[benjipwns]

However, the photos provided Wednesday confirm what police sources had previously told 3News Investigates: Eight officers fired more than 90 shots, causing more than 60 wounds to Walker’s body.

...

Akron police say they attempted to stop Walker’s car just after midnight Monday for a traffic infraction and equipment issue. Walker instead led the officers on a high-speed chase down East Tallmadge Avenue toward State Route 8.

At some point, police say Walker fired a gun. Sources tell 3News Investigates that one casing was found in Walker’s car and a second was found on the roadway near Route 8.

The 4 1/2-minute chase took police south on Route 8 with speeds reaching about 80 mph at times, police said. Walker, 25, eventually jumped out of the car on Wilbeth Road near the Bridgestone Tire offices.

Police say they first deployed their tasers, but ultimately opened fire after they said Walker made motions that caused them to fear bodily harm. Eight officers unleashed a hail of gunfire that was captured on body cameras worn by the officers.

Sources say some of the last shots were fired while Walker’s body was on the pavement. Walker was on the ground dead when medical help arrived. Autopsy records show he was handcuffed after the shooting. He was not armed at the time he was shot, sources said.

A gun, however, was recovered inside Walker’s car, the same sources confirmed.

It is unclear why Walker fled police. He has no past criminal records aside from a speeding ticket.

Got em.

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/DrRJKavanagh/status/1545246164366360576

[Skullfuckers Anonymous]

https://mobile.twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1546708305988374530

 

[who is ted danson?]

https://twitter.com/AnonOpsSE/status/1547045128690438144

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1547002301109440512

Back the blue!!
 

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/yeoldedad/status/1547437341811539968

[Madrun Badrun]

https://abc13.com/houston-crime-possible-mass-shooting-galleria-sergeant-thwarted-shootings/12054469/

an actual good cop story

Once under arrest, police took inventory of what he carried. Besides the rifle and Bible, they also found 120 rounds of ammunition and a handgun. However, since Herrera didn't actually shoot anyone, he did not commit a felony offense under Texas law.

Herrera was charged with a misdemeanor for the Galleria incident. Then, on March 18, he showed up at the Houston FBI headquarters asking to meet with the director of the agency. In that incident, he had a gun in the car. However, because no shots were fired and he didn't point the weapon at anyone, he was again just charged with a misdemeanor.

but a bad law story

[Madrun Badrun]

https://www.denverpost.com/2022/07/17/20th-larimer-police-shooting/

Denver police injure 5 bystanders in LoDo while shooting man who allegedly pointed gun at officers
Suspect shot by police, Jordan Waddy, 21, was arrested on suspicion of felony menacing

[Madrun Badrun]

https://abc13.com/humble-crime-man-taken-down-by-police-officer-claims-brutality-accused-of-slamming-suspect/12066245/

[chronovore]

https://www.cpr.org/2022/09/13/clear-creek-county-deputies-shooting/

Absolutely ridiculous. Guy calls for help, he is clearly having some sort of mental problem. In response to a guy in his car who won’t leave it, wielding rocks and a knife, out of reach of all the officers, they eventually shoot him to death in his car.

[benjipwns]

Cops, prosecutors, close enough:
https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1571964022643105795

[benjipwns]

Did... did they at least fail the training?

Sounds like they passed.

https://twitter.com/Caulimovirus/status/1577074102489473026

[chronovore]

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/11/us/san-antonio-police-shooting/index.html

At least the idiot was fired and will have charges filed against him.

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/LPofDelaware/status/1578309680136613888
https://twitter.com/IcAntifa/status/1577125241960411136


 

[benjipwns]

The Onion filed an amicus with the Supreme Court over a case where the police arrested a guy for parodying them then the police got qualified immunity so he couldn't sue them for this rights violation:

The Parma Police Department did not appreciate Anthony’s criticism. Citing 11 calls that Parma residents made to a nonemergency line to either ask about or tattle on Anthony’s parody page, police obtained a warrant for his arrest, searched his apartment, seized his electronics, and charged him with a felony under an Ohio law that criminalizes using a computer to “disrupt” “police operations.” Anthony had to spend four days in jail before making bail. He was prosecuted, but after a full criminal trial, a jury found him not guilty.

But when Anthony tried to vindicate his rights by filing a civil-rights lawsuit, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to hold the police officers accountable for their actions. Despite the clear violation of Anthony’s First and Fourth Amendment rights, the Sixth Circuit granted the officers qualified immunity—a doctrine that the Supreme Court invented in the 1980s to protect government officials from being sued for unconstitutional conduct. As a result, Anthony’s case was thrown out.

In addition to maintaining a towering standard of excellence to which the rest of the industry aspires, The Onion supports more than 350,000 full- and parttime journalism jobs in its numerous news bureaus and manual labor camps stationed around the world, and members of its editorial board have served with distinction in an advisory capacity for such nations as China, Syria, Somalia, and the former Soviet Union. On top of its journalistic pursuits, The Onion also owns and operates the majority of the world’s transoceanic shipping lanes, stands on the nation’s leading edge on matters of deforestation and strip mining, and proudly conducts tests on millions of animals daily.

The Onion’s keen, fact-driven reportage has been cited favorably by one or more local courts, as well as Iran and the Chinese state-run media.

...

Tu stultus es. You are dumb. These three Latin words have been The Onion’s motto and guiding light since it was founded in 1988 as America’s Finest News Source, leading its writers toward the paper’s singular purpose of pointing out that its readers are deeply gullible people.

The Onion’s motto is central to this brief for two important reasons. First, it’s Latin. And The Onion knows that the federal judiciary is staffed entirely by total Latin dorks: They quote Catullus in the original Latin in chambers. They sweetly whisper “stare decisis” into their spouses’ ears. They mutter “cui bono” under their breath while picking up after their neighbors’

...

This is the fifteenth page of a convoluted legal filing intended to deconstruct the societal implications of parody, so the reader’s attention is almost certainly wandering. That’s understandable. So here is a paragraph of gripping legal analysis to ensure that every jurist who reads this brief is appropriately impressed by the logic of its argument and the lucidity of its prose: Bona vacantia. De bonis asportatis. Writ of certiorari. De minimis. Jus accrescendi. Forum non conveniens. Corpus juris. Ad hominem tu quoque. Post hoc ergo propter hoc. Quod est demonstrandum. Actus reus. Scandalum magnatum. Pactum reservati dominii.

...

This Court has traditionally been hesitant to chill speech, and the prospect of chilling parody by imprisoning its practitioners provides equal cause for caution. “What may be difficult to communicate or understand when factually reported may be poignant and powerful if offered in satire.” Rogers v. Grimaldi, 695 F. Supp. 112, 123 (S.D.N.Y. 1988), aff ’d 875 F.2d 994 (2d Cir. 1989). “ ‘[T]he last thing we need, the last thing the First Amendment will tolerate, is a law that lets public figures keep people from mocking them.’ ” Cardtoons, L.C. v. Major League Baseball Players Ass’n, 95 F.3d 959, 972–73 (10th Cir. 1996) (quoting White v. Samsung Elecs. Am., Inc., 989 F.2d 1512, 1519 (9th Cir. 1993) (Kozinski, J., dissenting)).

The Onion intends to continue its socially valuable role bringing the disinfectant of sunlight into the halls of power. See Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 67 (1976) (quoting Louis D. Brandeis, Other People’s Money and How the Bankers Use It 62 (National Home Library Foundation ed. 1933)). And it would vastly prefer that sunlight not to be measured out to its writers in 15-minute increments in an exercise yard.

[Beezy]

https://twitter.com/msolurin/status/1580571052388028416

[chronovore]

http://twitter.com/mackio_/status/1579870140044574721

[Madrun Badrun]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/video-released-police-indiana-appears-show-sergeant-stomp-man-s-n1281587

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/gabrielmalor/status/1583158628386603008

Dude failed in every possible way to get the near automatic QI:


 

[benjipwns]

[benjipwns]

"I think the top two fascists in this town, Mayor Michael Hansen and the chief of police, need to be removed from power," said Petersen.

Arrested when he refused Hansen's order to leave the meeting, Petersen and supporters now are claiming the city violated his First Amendment rights.

"Do not address the chief of police in that manner," Hansen told Petersen, gaveling over the speaker as he attempted to continue. "Noah, your comments are over. You are not going to defame the chief of police of this community. Our rules clearly state you are not to state derogatory remarks about any individual, including an employee of the city of Newton."

When Petersen kept speaking, the mayor ordered him to leave the meeting, then temporarily adjourned and summoned police to remove Petersen in handcuffs. Court records show Petersen was charged with disorderly conduct — the second time in a month he's faced charges for speaking at a Newton council meeting.

City officials appear committed to enforcing their rule. After Petersen was ejected Monday, Hansen, the mayor, stuck a defiant tone as he addressed Petersen's associates and other attendees. He said that if people want to be "politically active," there is a place and time for it, but not during council meetings.

"I would challenge you to go to a board of supervisors meeting, or a meeting of the state Legislature, and conduct yourself in that manner. It would not be allowed, and per the rules of this council, it will not be allowed here either so long as I am sitting in his chair,” Hansen said. “It is disrespectful to the men and women you have elected to do your business, and as long as I’m sitting in this chair and we have rules to enforce, I will do so. I make no apologies for that whatsoever."

And, in a final remark before gaveling the meeting back to order, the mayor made clear his feelings about Petersen's comments.

"Go do your activism somewhere where somebody cares," Hansen said.

[benjipwns]

But according to court documents from the State of Michigan Court of Appeals, neighbors complained that the Maxons had expanded the number of vehicles they were storing on the property. Long Lake Township investigated again. The township was unable to determine any zoning violations from the ground, so they hired a drone company multiple times between 2010 and 2018 to surveil the Maxons' property, flying overhead and taking photographs.

...

But the township never got a warrant for this surveillance, and so the Maxons turned to the courts to suppress the photo evidence as a violation of their Fourth Amendment rights. Initially, Michigan's Court of Appeal agreed with the Maxons that Long Lake Township had violated the couple's rights and suppressed the evidence. But then the state's Supreme Court vacated the decision and kicked it back down to the Court of Appeals to determine whether the exclusionary rule (which prevents evidence collected illegally from being used in a trial) actually applied in this case.

That's when the Maxons' argument ran aground, at least for now. The Appeals Court ruled in September that because this was a civil lawsuit, the exclusionary rule did not necessarily apply. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected the use of the exclusionary rule in civil cases. Chief Judge Elizabeth Gleicher wrote in the ruling, "The United States Supreme Court has explained that the purpose of the exclusionary rule is twofold: to deter police misconduct, and to provide a remedy where no other remedy is available. When analyzed under the federal or the Michigan Constitution, suppression of the drone evidence does not serve these goals." And so, the evidence can be used in a civil proceeding.

Note that this ruling doesn't indicate that the Maxons' Fourth Amendment rights weren't violated. Indeed, Gleicher writes that the court is operating on the assumption that the violation occurred. But, remarkably, the court believes that a violation of a constitutional right is not nearly as important as enforcing zoning rules, and so the illegally acquired evidence may be used. "Enforcement of the township's zoning ordinance in this situation may depend on the use of drone evidence. And even assuming some marginal deterrent value impacting township officials, the benefit of suppression of the evidence is vastly outweighed by the public's interest in enforcement of zoning regulations," Gleicher writes.