Waitaminnit! What the heck did these kids do?

"Contrary to their own beliefs they are equal to us, and not our care takers."



very well said. they certainly are not our protectors or care takers, that is up to each individual to take care of his/her own self. a cop is very seldom around to prevent a crime. they solve a few, and then the justice system lets them, and us, down by letting the BG's out.
 
so if a 90 year old lady refused to let them in her house they are going to set up a roadblock?

So what the head of this dept is saying that crime is so low he can afford to have officers sitting around for an alleged crime that may of have happened?

I wonder if there were any assualts or anything else in the the presence of other officers may have prevented?
 
Standard every day contempt of cop situation. LEO's will find a way to get some sort of closure one way or another in any contempt of cop situation.
 
Shut down a party that's randomly ejecting teenage drunk drivers, and you've done a Good Thing. (That's the goal. Now, let's achieve it without trampling rights.)

Several times I've seen teen parties at a house, and set up down the block to run some traffic enforcement. It's a good way to catch DUI By Minors near the source. If you spot a car pulling out of a party, and observe a traffic infraction (say, inoperative tail light), and pull them over to give them a warning (or a fix-it ticket), and it's occupied by minors under the influence, you've got pretty good reason to believe that there's underage drinking going on in at the party. Get two cars in that situation, and you've got pretty good probable cause.

Now, what if you don't find any drugs or alcohol on the occupants, but they don't have drivers' licenses or they're suspended? Or what if the the drivers don't have insurance? Or what if they have little kids in the front seat unbuckled?Suppose the stop was for 12 mph over (kind of a gray area) in a residential neighborhood, and the driver has had 5 speeding tickets in the last year? Do you just let it go, because you initially made the stop looking for DUIs? No, most reasonable cops will go right ahead and write tickets for such offenses.

But by the time 3 such stops have been made, it looks like the cops are just a bunch of reactionary jerks who are retaliating for not being allowed to enter the property.

Just so you know-- I've had many a time where I set up a block away from such a party where I KNEW (but couldn't yet prove) kids were drinking, and carefully observed cars exiting... and couldn't make a stop. No reasonable suspicion means I've got nothing. No offense in view means no P.C. I've later heard about the ones that got away, and realized that I followed 'em for a couple of blocks. They managed to wriggle through undetected. Plenty more do than don't. Ah well. We'll get 'em next time. Glad if they made it home safe. :)
 
from the gazette article:

"It was an intergenerational party," with a moon bounce for the younger children and a blues band for the adults, said Engel Adams. Her husband, Bruce Adams, is the founder and president of Bethesda Big Train Base Ball and a former Montgomery County Council member.
Click to expand...
 
Long Path, still sounds wrong to me.

Its wrong for a cop to camp a spot merely 'cause he believes their is a chance that there's some drinking going on, not proven. Especially at a teenage party where ADULTS are present and taking care of things. EVEN more so when the parents flat out tell the cop that there isn't any underage drinking. Baiting a place like and using random excuses to pull an individual over since "you think" that that individual might've been drinking sounds more like secret police or gestapo tactics than it does something that would happen in a free society, especially when said individual has not shown a reason to be pulled over :rolleyes:

Then again, we could all just bow down and accept a police state where they baby sit us all the time.
 
Partygoers' Parking Tickets Rescinded
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/14/AR2005061401632_2.html

Montgomery County police have rescinded about eight parking tickets issued at a backyard graduation party in Bethesda after the department and County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) were accused of heavy-handed tactics.

Assistant Police Chief John King said: "They were legitimate tickets. But in this case, where there was no underage drinking, we decided the best route was to rescind the tickets."

Police, who suspected underage drinking at the June 2 party, issued tickets to cars parked near the Bethesda home of Kathy Phelan, where about 80 people were celebrating. Phelan had declined to let police enter the house after they responded to calls of a possible underage drinking party. So the officers created a roadblock and issued parking tickets, a routine procedure.

As it turned out, none of the underage partygoers who submitted to breath tests were drinking, and Duncan was criticized by the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee and others who said the department went overboard.

Duncan said yesterday in a statement that he is "satisfied with the department's actions in the wake of this incident."
 
Its wrong for a cop to camp a spot merely 'cause he believes their is a chance that there's some drinking going on, not proven.
Click to expand...

On the contrary, it is not wrong. It's called police work. It's no different than setting up near a convenience store that is frequently robbed, or an area known for frequent drug transactions. If it's a public spot, than the cop has every right to sit there and observe. The big beef in this case was the cops pulling over people with no apparent probable cause. That's what was wrong.

Oh, and the punitive tickets, which were just plain childish.
 
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I see nothing wrong with setting some cars out at a distance from the party..as I said in my first post. If you make a few stops and everything is ok..call it a night. However, you might save a life if someone snuck alcohol into the party and its not well chaperoned.
 
I'm glad to see that there are still some level-headed cops, such as Long Path, out there. Seems like there's too many of the "Tackleberry" types lately, just itching to trample on our rights.
 
I was under the impression (perhaps wrongly so) that officers could not for example, set up near a bar - waiting for the patrons to exit. Something along the lines of entrapment or deterring business from the business owner?

Is any of this correct? If so, it probably doesn't extend to private/residantial situations, does it?
 
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