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Try dealing with any of these "mandatory XYZ" crimes. In Colorado, for instance, when couples fight and the police are called, someone goes to jail, a mandator
by 1QAm1 11y ago
Try dealing with any of these "mandatory XYZ" crimes. In Colorado, for instance, when couples fight and the police are called, someone goes to jail, a mandatory order of protection is issued, you lose the ability to collect anything that you own in person (you must go through "mutual friends"), and if you live with your girlfriend/wife/fiance, you've also just lost the right to go to your own house.
So, having a fight that triggers a call to the police (even a verbal one, or slamming a door) will result in the XY going to jail for the night, paying for it, losing their house and most of their belongings, losing their job, being arrested (which is never expunged, even if innocent), and being homeless while you get a new job, house, clothes, etc.
Even if you're acquitted (I was completely acquitted of the lowest charge possible, which is a 3rd degree misdemeanor), it's not like your things magically show up, you still went to jail and lost your job, and the state doesn't care at all. The records should be expunged, the money that I paid to stay in jail ($35) should be refunded, and I should be given a police escort to force her to relinquish my things (thousands of dollars of things, photos, etc).
The system in CO is just a race to call the cops. Whoever goes first, wins. Slamming a door will immediately tag you as a "Domestic Abuser" and any guns (and ammo) must be kept at a friend's for the duration of the trial (which takes 6 months).
I won, and it certainly doesn't feel like "winning". :(
- theseatoms 11y agoJesus. That's incredibly disturbing. I'll remember to keep the cops on speed-dial if I ever move there.
- monksy 11y agoWelcome to the Duluth model of domestic abuse cases.
- spacemanmatt 11y agoIn TX, I called the cops on my (insane, belligerent, beating down my front door) ex and all she had to do was lie to get me arrested. The police are dumber than rocks and I had to wage a credible threat to prosecute my lying ex for perjury and false statements to police to get my case dropped.
- yarou 11y agoThat sounds horrible. But it's not as bad as SF, where the SFPD shoots first and asks questions later. Edit: why the downvotes? I can provide an innumerable amount of sources.[0][1][2] [0] http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2015/12/police-shot-and-killed-man-san-francisco-week-heres-what-you-should-know http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2015/12/police-shot-and-ki... [1] https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/A%20Department%20in%20Denial%20-%20The%20San%20Francisco%20Police%20Department%27s%20Failure%20to%20Address%20Racial%20Profiling.pdf https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/A%20Department%20... [2] http://www.zdnet.com/article/debian-linux-founder-ian-murdock-dies-at-42-cause-unknown/ http://www.zdnet.com/article/debian-linux-founder-ian-murdoc... I get that it's easy to bury your head in the sand when it comes to these things, but there is a major league problem with the police here in SF. They are accountable to nobody and continue to harass and intimidate everyone, not just minorities.
- rm_-rf_slash 11y agoI agree. There are too many cases in the city where innocent people have been shot for no reason and nobody is punished.
- LordKano 11y agoI get that it's easy to bury your head in the sand when it comes to these things, but there is a major league problem with the police here in SF. They are accountable to nobody and continue to harass and intimidate everyone, not just minorities. A lot of people don't understand this. It starts off with minorities because, being minorities, they don't have the political clout to do anything about it. The downtown decision makers don't care if some black or brown kid gets his head split open for not moving fast enough when the police ordered him to leave. They don't care until it's someone that is important to them. When it's John Q MiddleClassSuburbanWhiteTeen who gets arrested for a made up offense, it's too late to fix the problem. At that point, the machinations are already in place to abuse everyone. What they do to the minorities, they'll eventually do to you.
- rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
- throwaway9984 11y agoThis is horrible, I hope you're well now. Also, thanks for sharing this. Horror stories like yours are awakening young men everywhere about the risks of co-habitation and having LTRs.
- avn2109 11y agoOops that was an accident downvote, sorry :(
- CyberDildonics 11y agoThis is a good reminder that when something is happening that feels out of control, turn on your camera and record.
- coldtea 11y agoWhich in sometimes can get you killed ("he was holding something we thought was a gun").
- CyberDildonics 11y agoThat seems a little niche, let alone the fact that your phone camera probably has a light on it.
- coldtea 11y agoWell, people have been shot with far less obvious things on their hands mistaken (or "mistaken") for guns. Besides, what phone camera has a light on it that's visible? None that I can think of in day/noon/afternoon time. Some have a focus assist light and/or flash at night time -- but taking out of one's pockets and pointing a small object at a US policeman at nighttime, and especially in an aggressive scenario as the one we're discussing, that I would advise even less.
- nkurz 11y agoA light might not help you. The police might think that it's a laser sight, and be even more likely to shoot you: The officers claim that the Taser projected a red light, which they assumed was the laser sight of a handgun, and feared for their lives. At 7.18:43pm, Schiff and Sawyer began barraging Nieto with .40-calibre bullets. http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/21/death-by-gentrification-the-killing-that-shamed-san-francisco http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/21/death-by-gent...
- bfuller 11y agoFlashlights are also commonly attached to firearms. In fact, it would be hard to distinguish between someone holding a phone with a light on or someone holding a gun with a light attached. I'm not defending police brutality, but these are often difficult situations.
- X86BSD 11y agoYeah I think most states are like that now. Here in Kansas I think that's how they roll as well. Doesn't matter who did what ONE of you is going to jail. Cops don't give a shit. "We're just doing our jobs and the law says...." Police discretion be damned.
- kbenson 11y ago> Police discretion be damned. That's the problem, as a mandatory law, there is no discretion, which makes the legal system too inflexible to be just. The problem with civil forfeiture is the opposite, as there is too much discretion, which allows it to be abused and used unjustly.
- X86BSD 11y agoAgreed. But again I say produce a victim or there is no crime. What individual is the victim in civil forfeiture? No one but the owner of the property in question. That individual is the one harmed by the state. And should have redress for the states theft of his/her property. CF my $50,000 in gold bars? I'll sue for the return of my property AND ten million in damages. No cap in damages. Make the state bleed. CF is a crime.
- kbenson 11y ago> But again I say produce a victim or there is no crime. To all laws are criminal, and not all crimes have a singular, discrete victim. Laws are also used as disincentives. > CF is a crime. CF is used in a lot more instances than the simplistic example you are putting forth. For example, CF is what is used to justify seizure of contraband at the border (imagine a shipping container full of guns with no known owner). Grouping all usages under a simplistic, unrealistic reading of the law doesn't lead anywhere useful.
- justinclift 11y ago> "imagine a shipping container full of guns with no known owner" Assume CIA? :D
- ta8192 11y agoMaybe you should try not beating women.