There Are Ways To Deter Police Misconduct.
These ways of regulating police policies and behavior are employed to combat or deter various forms of police misconduct. If these safety valves of legal process can be applied often enough, the systematic practice of falsifying DUI/DWI cases against innocent drivers would end.
Police have been very tight-lipped about where the field sobriety test for pot came from. Could it be that they just recycled the alcohol DUI test modified with a lot of pleas for confession, misdirection, and secrecy. An arbitrary test covered by secrecy is a prescription for abuse of authority. Could the DRE training be nothing more than a certification to manufacture probable cause? If so might they be acting out of self advancement and/or malice? Prove that and you have a potential nationwide class action, at least in the States that have legal cannabis. That’s where zero tolerance and measurable limits are still applied in a complete double-standard with alcohol and in defiance of the will of the voters. The voters don’t just reject prohibition of marijuana, they reject the racist malice and junk science it came from.
How To Fight Back Against The Pot DUI
Video pt 1
Police officers who practice false DUI arrests can still be fought. Even when punished and the case received national attention, police corruption and misconduct do not cease. Police misconduct is often just transformed into prosecutorial misconduct. NoPotDUI.org doesn’t just want to educate you, we want to help end these fraudulent arrests for the sake of their secret police grudge against us. The quasi-military structure of departments, Unquestioning obedience to corrupt authority, The “blue code of silence” that exists within departments, The history of racial tensions between departments and communities, Pro forma internal investigation units that protect that seek out excuses, instead of investigating misconduct.
What Does That Leave us With For Recourse?
When harmed by a fake field sobriety test it’s important to our community and beyond to fight back when treated unjustly. It can take the most important seconds initially, but take years for satisfaction. NoPot DUI.org doesn’t just want to educate you, we want to help end these fraudulent arrests for the sake of their secret police grudge against us.
When normal police officers see that evidence they seize through unlawful means can not be used, the thinking goes, those who might have been motivated to engage in the unlawful conduct will see that it is pointless. Yet some still decide to do so. For them malice leads to the misconduct. How do you deter police misconduct from them? Don’t let angry officers re-illegalize what our community fought to liberate.
Methods to Deter Police Misconduct
Video pt 2
Innocent motorists who have been the victims of police misconduct may take legal action against the offending department or officer(s). However, such actions are limited to providing a remedy to just the individual harmed in one particular case. In certain cities, community-wide political efforts are being undertaken to address police violence and misconduct. In other cities, courts have had to step in and order departments to address patterns of misconduct.
The Exclusionary Rule Won’t Deter Most Misconduct
A person arrested after a field sobriety test for marijuana has been the victim of police misconduct, just like an illegal search with the manufacture of false evidence, used to rely on the Exclusionary Rule to bar evidence seized by the errant officer(s) from being introduced at trial. This “exclusionary rule” has been largely cancelled out by Supreme Court decisions that allow police to lie in order to get confessions of guilt.
Still courts might block introduction of evidence uncovered via unconstitutional police activity. When normal police officers see that evidence they seize through unlawful means can not be used, the thinking goes, those who might have been motivated to engage in the unlawful conduct will see that it is pointless. Yet some still decide to do so. For them malice leads to the misconduct. Their thought is the arrest, a night in jail, some lies in the newspaper, and the duress caused by the cost and process is the punishment they can use at will.
Lawsuits By Targets of Police Misconduct
Under State and Federal law, of police misconduct victims may sue the officers involved and/or the department that employed them for violation of federal civil rights law, federal and state constitutional law, and for damages for their injuries. Among the claims pot DUI targets of bad cops may allege is that the ones committing the misconduct targeted the victims based on race or another protected category, or to deprive the victims of their civil rights. (42 U.S.C. § 1981.)
This can turn out to be a higher standard than it should be as the cannabis community isn’t a recognized protected class. However the several States that had clear ballot victories have not only rejected the prohibition laws, but the racist and pseudo-scientific basis by which it was prohibited. So any zero-tolerance policy in a legalized State defies the will of the voters. Especially in States that claim to have legalized under the liquor store model, as Michigan has done.
Such litigation is important to provide a deterrent to more misconduct. TV coverage of public outrage after the allegations are aired can change policies. An award of damages will make officials take steps to prevent through required training or employing body cameras. Ultimately, the law enforcement community never learns its lessons until large sums of cash have to be paid out to their victims.
Prosecuting The Offending Police Officers
Federal and State prosecutors have oversight to prosecute officers who violate the Constitution. Officers involved in misconduct may have committed crimes, such as murder, assault, or extortion. Overt crimes like that. For false pot DWI cases they may have committed civil rights violations in addition to manufacturing false evidence, such as targeting minority groups. These prosecutions can lead to removal of convicted officers from the force, imprisonment and/or fines. A municipality or State will often be willing to prosecute the offending officer if it will transfer the payment of damages off their own books.
Other measures will be covered in the next video. Judicial Intervention, Community Reforms, Citizen Review Boards.
Don’t let angry officers re-illegalize what our community fought to liberate.
Meanwhile, here’s a pot DUI/OWI victim who just had the case tossed in Michigan.
Source material credits are on the YouTube video descriptions.