“The New York Senate has passed a bill making it illegal to "harass" a police officer by "any type of physical action" -- even action that does not otherwise constitute interference, obstruction or assault. Given that "obstruction" and "interference" are famously broad, it's hard to imagine what conduct the police and the NY Senate believe they need to control by statute, though there's a clue in the statutory language, which makes it a felony to "harass, annoy, or threaten a police officer while on duty." In other words, if you cause any physical contact with a police officer, even unintentionally, even if the contact does not rise to the level of assault or obstruction or interference, you can be convicted of a felony and imprisoned if the officer can show that your conduct "annoyed" him. This is the kind of statute that seems calculated to allow the police and prosecutors to put people in jail for very long stretches (remember that 97% of people indicted for felonies in the USA plead guilty under threat of decades of prison should they fight and lose) just because they don't like them very much.”
—New York Senate makes it a felony to annoy a police officer - Boing Boing
So, it’s alright for the NYPD to harass, threaten and annoy people on the street based on race, but don’t you dare flip them any shit in the process.
Masterlist: Police Work/Law Enforcement (UK)
General
- Police ranks of the United Kingdom
- Police officer: career development
- Job profiles: police officer
- Police officer career guide
- Work for the police
- Police officer: training
- College of policing
- Policing in the UK, a brief guide
- Finding out about police and law enforcement
Specific
- Police forces of Wales
- Map of police forces in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland
- List of police forces in the UK
- Police Scotland
- Law Enforcement In Scotland
- The Police In Scotland
- South Wales Police
- Police Service of Northern Ireland
Daily
Other jobs
Other useful links
Related post: Police Work / Law Enforcement (US) - may contain useful general information here as well.
As always, help us add more links through submit!
-Alex
petition: Drop charges against Tremaine McMillan, who was attacked by police while holding a puppy
change.orgFrom Maurissa Holmes (his mother):
Miami-Dade Police officers tackled, choked, and arrested my 14 year old son Tremaine, who was feeding his puppy. And what was his so-called offense? Tremaine looked at the police in a way they didn’t like.
On Memorial Day I took my children and their friends to the beach to play with their new puppy. Tremaine was horsing around with a friend when the police rode up on ATVs. My son was holding a newborn puppy in one hand and a bottle in the other. When the police asked Tremaine where I was, he turned in my direction to lead them to me.
That’s when an officer cut him off with an ATV and tackled him to the ground, injuring our puppy. A grown man, an officer of the law, choked my 14 year old little boy so hard he urinated on himself because he couldn’t breathe. Police later said that Tremaine’s “dehumanizing stares” and body posture constituted a threat.
Worst of all, police charged Tremaine with felony resisting arrest by violence when he wasn’t doing anything in the first place! My son is no felon — he is a boy with a puppy who was brutalized by police. He doesn’t deserve this.
Maybe Tremaine looked at the officers in a way they didn’t like. Maybe he was upset because police were being heavy-handed with no cause. None of that gives Miami-Dade officers any right to manhandle a boy. If a look from a 14 year old boy is enough to threaten Miami-Dade police officers, the department may want to invest in better police officers.
These are serious charges — this could carry jail time and impact his entire life. If he’s charged as an adult he could be labelled as a felon forever, even though my son did nothing wrong on that day.
I thought my family was just going to have a nice day on the beach, but it turned into a nightmare. Please tell State’s Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle to drop all charges against my son, and let us get on with our lives.
