Cops and bureaucrats acting badly, again.

In the District of Columbia the Taxi Commission was holding what they pretended was a "public meeting." Reporters, however, who tried to cover the event were summarily arrested for the horrendous crime of recording the public meeting. Here you see the typical overweight police officer arresting people for no crime at all. People at the meeting protested and then the police called that a "riot." It takes a certain kind of stupid to be a cop. The evidence clearly shows there was no riot.

And when Jim Epstein, of Reason TV, recorded the cops arresting a journalist for no crime at all, he too was arrested.

Folks, the cops are terrified that the cameras in the public hands will prove to the world what informed people already know—that cops routinely lie, routinely engage in illegal activities and are a threat to public safety. Over and over camera recording the cops in action have shown that they lie in court, lie in official police reports, and lie to investigators trying to find out the truth. There are plenty of bad cops who overstep their bounds and they know the so-called "good" cops will stand silent and let them get away with it. I hear people say there are "good" cops who don't act this way. And they don't act this way. But they DO ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN and protect the asses of the thugs they work with. To the degree this happens those "good" cops are guilty as well.

Now that every cell phone is a video camera, or most are, I suggest the following. Anytime anyone sees cops acting they should immediately start recording. Stay out their way, of course. They are dangerous, like rattlesnakes, except snakes usually only attack in self-defense and thus are more ethical. Don't be obvious in your recording. If they see they may threaten you or try to harm you. But if enough people record it then a record of their actions will survive. What the media to see how the incident you recorded was reported. There is a decent chance the media will simply report what ever version of the story the police want distributed. And there is a fairly decent chance that the film you take will contradict the official story. Then get that film to a TV station post haste. Upload it to YouTube, but it out there so all copies can never be confiscated.

The person behind these illegal arrest is a petty bureaucrat named Dena Reed, who is chairing the taxi commission. She called in the police to arrest people for reporting on the public meeting. Both the reporters who were arrested were charged with the police catch-all crime of disorderly conduct, that means failure to obey illegal orders from a cop overstepping his authority. They were also bizarrely charged with "unlawful entry/remaining." How do you illegal enter a public meeting? The "remaining" crime was when the one reporter said it was a public meeting. Apparently public meeting isn't public and the petty thugs like Dena can order peaceful people out for reporting on her actions. What is she so afraid of?

The more bizarre charge is that they charged Jim Epstein of Reason TV with the same crime. But the police never tried to expel him from the meeting as they did the other reporter. So he was not ordered to leave. When the thuggish actions of the police and this stupid Dena woman disrupted the meeting, Epstein left of his own accord. He was arrested OUTSIDE the building for the same crime of disorderly conduct and illegal entry/remaining. He was not disorderly and since he was outside the building how could they charge him with refusing to leave? But they did. Reality and crimes charged don't need to correspond in a police state.

You can protest to this Dena Reed, bureaucrat ,by writing her here: dena.reed@dc.gov. Ask her to resign immediately for violating the First Amendment. You can also write the mayor, Vincent Gray, who appointed Reed, here: eom@dc.gov. Ask him to remove her from office.