Moscow on the Schuylkill: Philly cops bust activists...for what?
Philly cops assault civil rights
Moscow on the Schuylkill: Philly cops bust activists...for what?
When Mayor Nutter announced late last year that he was hiring D.C. Charles Ramsey as his police commissioner, I said I would keep an open mind but I was dismayed at his treatment of anti-war protesters and his frequent clashes there over civil rights. So far, I've been mostly impressed with Ramsey -- murders have dropped slightly while he's taken a tough line on police brutality.
That said, I find the detainment of four community activists in the Francisville neighborhood to be more than a little alarming. The only thing that's clear from what's come out so far is that the four oppose police surveillance cameras. What's not clear is what laws they allegedly violated -- they ultimately were not charged with anything:
Four young residents of a North Philadelphia house who circulated petitions questioning police-surveillance cameras were rousted from their home Friday and detained 12 hours without charges while police searched their house.
Daniel Moffat, 28, a co-owner of the house, said police had no warrant when they entered. The house was examined by officials from several government agencies and then shuttered by the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections.
"This leaves me homeless, without access to things I need. My whole life is disrupted," Moffat said yesterday.
The raid on the property on Ridge Avenue near Parrish Street was led by 9th District Police Capt. Dennis Wilson, who was quoted in an online story by the City Paper as saying of the residents: "They're a hate group. We're trying to drum up charges against them, but unfortunately we'll probably have to let them go."
My friend Dave Davies -- who worked hard to make sense of this complicated story -- reached Wilson, who didn't comment. Hopefully, if Commissioner Ramsey and Mayor Nutter are as serious about civil rights as they claim to be, they'll ask Internal Affairs to investigate what looks like, based on everything that's come out so far, an alarming abuse of power by the police -- the kind of thing you might expect to see, to use a popular phrase, in a Stalinist regime.
In fact, I happen to disagree with these activists; I think that police cameras -- when placed in public locations and aimed at public property -- are a legitimate way to help the undermanned cops patrol the city. But it's also a valid public issue, and those who feel the cameras are an invasion of privacy certainly have a right to express their opinion.
Or, in a free society, they're supposed to. This search and detainment is outrageous.
Ramsey needs to set the tone. When he was commissioner in Washington, that city paid out at least $14 million in scores of civil rights lawsuits, money that should have been spent fighting thugs on the street.
It's a matter of life and death that history doesn't repeat itself in Philadelphia.
Quote from this guy: "The police captain [Wilson] said he’d do me a favor, and put us in a cell because it was so hot outside. I asked, if we weren’t being arrested, why we were being sent to be processed in jail? He smiled at me in a joking manner, and said, “Call it a kidnapping.”— Captain Awesome- These guys are holding a press conference at 1pm today at City Hall: On Tuesday, June 17th, at 1pm, the owners and residents of 1652 Ridge Avenue will hold a press conference on the western steps of City Hall to inform reporters and interested parties about the June 13th police action seizing their property and sealing off their home.— Captain Awesome
Comment removed.- Didn't give either side the benefit of the doubt, batboy. I said we should wait until we had more information. Nice try, though.— Talking point sleuth
- "This is why the sleuth is nothing more than the bwaccking sycophant he accuses others of being." Brilliant. Are these people Democratic party leader sor something? Are the cops neocons in disguise? Seriously, do you even think before you post? The issue is that no warrant was obtained, and no charges were filed after this entire hulabaloo. Yeah, apparently these people were nitwits, who may or may not have been doing stupid things. However, since they aren't being charged with a crime, doesn't this seem a tad much?— RG
- I'm definitely interested in seeing this story flushed out more. From what I read on another site: the cops were investigating someone vandalizing the police cameras. Neighbors said a group of people living in this building were responsible. Police took a look at the apartment and thought it was abandoned (I saw pics of the building. The windows are either boarded up, or just empty holes, and there is no running water). They went to check it out. This guy answered the door, refused to give his name, and said he wasn't the owner. The cops thought he was a squatter who had no right to be there.— Captain Awesome
- Comment removed.
- Hey Cap'n. Where did you get...."Neighbors said a group of people living in this building were responsible...." What I read in the article says "...interviews with neighbors led police to suspect that "people in this house were possibly involved."..." Close, but not exactly one and the same.— Talking point sleuth
"Yeah, let's give the guys pointed out by the neighbors as vandals or worse the benefit of the doubt.".........................Batboy, don't make it harder on the cops than it already is. If they had probable cause to believe that the suspects were vandals or worse based on any credible information provided by the neighbors, they could have easily obtained a warrant first.
Mayor Nutter is shredding the Constitution! Another thing: Why do all activists look alike?— jmc- I swear all you dopes complaining about these clowns being "violated", are the same dopes who complain about how dangerous the city is these days. If you have any ideas on how Police and Nutter can save our city, I'd like to hear them. Extreme situations call for extreme solutions. When we lose 300+ people every year due to murder, something has to change. The best defense is a good offense. What kind of "activist" were these guys? Something tells me they have posted on a few Mumia sites before. I'm all for community activist, but if you are encouraging killing cops, you deserve to be violated and locked up. You bleeding hearts really crack me up. Must be nice to live in a world where you offer no suggestions on how to make things better.— 5forfighting
- Good call, 5. I agree that we should just throw people in jail, without sufficient evidence to obtain a warrant, and then let them go later if we can't "drum" up evidence sufficient to prove their guilt. Obviously, that will take care of the crime problem.— Talking point sleuth
- TPS, I probably used the wrong word, but "possibly involved" = "possibly responsible." My point was that neighbors said the folks living in what appeared to be an abandoned building had something to do with the police cameras being vandalized.— Captain Awesome
- montani, the police did get a search warrant: "Once inside, Vanore said, police saw things that prompted them to obtain a search warrant, such as protest literature, anti-police graffiti on walls, and the construction of what police thought might be a bunker on the roof." Do the police need a warrant if they go to a building that they think is abandoned, and some guy answers the door saying he isn't the owner?— Captain Awesome
- It's a technicality, Cap'n, but you're still making a jump. Something the neighbors said led the police to suspect folks living in that building - that doesn't mean that the neighbors said that someone living in the building had something to do with it.— Talking point sleuth
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