THE AMERICAN DEFENDANT An alternative to mugshot publications
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: A look at Bay County’s Citizens Law Enforcement Oversight Committee
RESISTING ARREST WITHOUT VIOLENCE!!
WHAT IS THIS ABOUT OFFICERS?
SHUTUP!!
HIGHLIGHTING POLICE ABUSE AND MISCONDUCT
OBSTRUCTING OUR LAWFUL DUTY!!
NORTHWEST FLORIDA, SUMMER 2011
ISSUE 3
FREEDOM IS PARTICIPATION IN
POWER WHO HAS it? WHO DOESN’T?
our numbers - our creativity www.robbrayshaw.com
www.ratemycop.com
www.americandefendant.info publish your story of police misconduct
CONTENTS: PAGE 5.
PAGE 7. PAGES 9. & 10.
citizens law enforcement oversight committee of Bay County: Combat police abuse! File with CLEO!
featured story: Godbless the Innocent Ones
local officer ratings from ratemycop.com and highlights from high profile arrest cases
WHAT ARE THOSE MUGSHOT PUBLICATIONS ALL ABOUT? WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THEM?
IF THOSE ARE PICTURES OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE ONLY BEEN ARRESTED, WHY ARE THEY PRESENTED AS IF THEY WERE GUILTY?
ARE THOSE PE
OPLE REALLY C
RIMINALS?
DO I THINK PEOPLE GETTING ARRESTED IS FUNN
Y?
WHY SHOULD MAKING FUN OF PEOPLE GETTING ARRESTED BE APPEALING TO ME?
dant.info
n question@americandefe
Citizens Law Enforcement Oversight of Bay County: Combat police abuse! File with CLEO!
“I know plenty of officers who could make up ... er, uh, ... find a law to charge you with”
- Sheriff McKeithen The above quote was heard by many at a regularly scheduled greater Bay ACLU meeting in the back room of Sonny’s BBQ on 390. Sheriff McKeithen was responding to a question about the legalities around filming or photographing an arrest. Although his reponse was accidental and generally innocent, it is telling of the reason police officers ought to have an independent review board; the capacity for human error.
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“a police oversight committee is simply a matter of checks and balances”
Human error happens regularly, and we humans are designed to absorb it and move on. Although, when an officer makes a mistake in the line of duty, their mistake can be life-altering and even life-threatening. Of course, then there is always plain old police abuse, which any attentive community or respectable officer would not tolerate. Such are the reasons some Bay County citizens have come together to create an oversight committee. An oversight committee helps to minimize mistakes and abuse by facilitating a transparent and independent complaint process that would encourage officers to be more responsible and thoughtful in their dealings with citizens.
Complaints about individual officers are numerous but a transparent complaint process has never existed until now. Citizens can now make complaints through “CLEO” by filling out the form and sending it to their address. From there the complaints will be sent out to the appropriate department and the state attorney’s office.
“An oversight committe helps to minimize mistakes and abuse” Forms will soon be available online at both The American Defendant website and the Greater Bay Area ACLU website. You can download and email your complaint or download, print and send via regular mail.
We can’t expect a particular police department, working hard to build good public relations, to highlight all the negative aspects of their work. Why should we? An independent review board supplies the much needed checks and balances. The American Defendant would like to encourage anyone with even the most minor complaint to file it with the Citizens Law Enforcement Oversight Committee. To learn more about the Citizens Law Enforcement Oversight and read their mission statement, visit www.americandefendant.info
GOD BLESS THE INNOCENT ONES My name is Jerrad Hardin. I was arrested in
2009 for resisting arrest without violence and disorderly intoxication. After roughly six months in the Bay County justice system and with the employ of a public defender, I was adjudicated not guilty in 2010.
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Of course, the point is that I was arrested on false charges. My driver's license was stolen, I was publicly harassed by five officers of varying departments, placed in hand cuffs and sent to jail to spend the night. In the long-run it seems like no big thing; I'm not guilty, the honorable judge agrees, and I can move on. But what of the others? What if they aren't so “lucky”? Who is rallying for the innocent ones lost in the shuffle of criminal “justice”? So I wanted to publicize my story to say that I am with those folks. I have been there. I just happened to have the time and energy and support to get out.
The officer's entire narrative, save for the time and place and other insignificant details, is a lie. Called in for back up on a trespass warning, officer Rick Williams unlawfully arrested me for resisting arrest without violence and disorderly intoxication. When the initial officers arrived they were cordial, said they were called for trespassing, ran my name but couldn't find any trespass. After returning to their car to figure what was next, I was bombarded with questions about my night and threatened with arrest for trespassing. As I spoke calmly in protest, citing that the officers could find no trespass against me, two officers jumped me and put me in handcuffs.
The arresting officer wrote a made-up narrative that left me turning down 6 months of plea bargains until I finally saw trial and won my case. I have given the officer's narrative to The American Defendant to publish on their site, which states (among many others) the lie that I “eventually� gave him my license. To contrast, I have also given them a voicemail recording of Kim Weeks, the arresting officer's secretary, stating that the officer never saw my license. God bless the many who are innocent and struggling alone.
Rate My Cop.com rates officers on Authority, Fairness, Satisfaction.
Officer Jerry A. Blackwell, BCSO: Rating is poor for all three catigories with 419 hits. Officer Adam J. Buff, BCSO: Rating is poor for all three catigories with 424 hits. Officer Luther C. Burnam, BCSO: Rating is poor for all three catigories with 304 hits. Officer David C. Eaves, BCSO: Rating is poor for all three catigories with 302 hits. 9
This represents the number of poorly rated officers according to ratemycop.com and does not necessarily represent an accurate number of poorly rated officers in Bay County, FL overall. These ratings are subject to change.
The Police State Times Summer 2011
www.americandefendant.info
HIGH PROFILE ARREST CASES FROM AROUND THE NATION!
Whistle Blower Protection Act Ignored for American Troops Alleged military whistle blower Bradley Manning is currently imprisoned at Ft. Leavenworth after almost a year in solitary confinement and has yet to see trial. He is alledged to have passed along a video to the press depicting the murder of nearly a dozen Iraqi civilians including two Reuters reporters by an army helicopter in 2007.
Community Group Arrested for Serving Food Organizers from the Orlando chapter of Food Not Bombs, a group whose name highlights the need for food over the need for blowing up poor folks, were arrested for serving area homeless.
Dancing Warrants Arrest Several were recently arrested for dancing at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC.