IGX

Officers disciplined for name-covering episode

(01-11) 11:35 PST OAKLAND -- An Oakland police lieutenant has been demoted and an officer has been suspended for a month because the officer was captured on videotape at a recent Occupy Oakland protest with the name on his uniform covered in black tape, sources said today.

Officer John Hargraves covered his first initial and last name while providing security at Oakland police headquarters during the Nov. 2 general strike, according to a video shot by a citizen. In the video, the camera operator tells Hargraves, "It's kind of weird that you actually are not showing your name. Why is that? Simple question."

Hargraves does not respond. The videographer then approaches Lt. Clifford Wong, who is standing with other officers outside the building on Seventh Street downtown. After an inaudible conversation between Hargraves and Wong, Wong removes the tape.

After an internal investigation, Hargraves was suspended for 30 days, and Wong was demoted to sergeant for failing to report the incident to internal affairs, sources said.

In court papers, Hargraves wrote that he had covered his name moments before the video operator had come up to him. Hargraves said a watch commander had reported a day or two earlier that an officer from another agency was videotaped by Occupy protesters and that the officer's name, home address and names of family members were posted on the Internet. "The video involving that other officer also called for violence against the officer, including burning down his home," Hargraves wrote. "This caused me great concern for the safety of my family."

But civil rights attorney Jim Chanin said today, "That's like saying that you can steal from a store because you're poor. If you take that to its logical conclusion, every police officer every day faces possible exposure and danger because their names are on their badges. Officer Hargraves could have asked to get an undercover assignment. He could have asked to be taken off duty that day. Instead, he decided to go and get his pay and violate the law. There's no excuse for that."

Fat Cat wrote:[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1w_RZ5vnys[/youtube]

Cop wants to make sure he can trust her so...you know.

DARTH wrote: Thumbs up to the guy who filmed it.

With the constitutionality of Illinois' eavesdropping law already facing several court challenges, a Democratic state representative from Northbrook has filed a bill that would allow people to audio-record a police officer working in public without the officer's consent.

"I believe that the existing statute is a significant intrusion into First Amendment rights, so with the prosecutions and the court cases that have been reported about, it just seemed that this is a problem in need of a swift solution," Rep. Elaine Nekritz said in an interview Thursday.

Illinois' eavesdropping law is one of the strictest in the country and makes it illegal to audio-record police without their consent, even when they're working in public. The state is one of a handful in which it is illegal to record audio of public conversations without the permission of everyone involved.

protobuilder wrote:Cops have very little knowledge or understanding of the Constitution, much less the case law interpreting it.

St. Marys City Council took no action Thursday night after discussing a "prank" pulled by city police officers that was recorded and posted on YouTube, a popular video-sharing website.

In the five-minute video, a St. Marys police officer is shown tracking a white Ford Explorer in a police cruiser and pulling over the driver. The video shows a conversation between the driver and the officer, which ends with the officer yelling expletives at the driver when he is told he cannot search the vehicle without a warrant.

The session of St. Marys City Council got off to a late start Thursday, as one member of council was 45 minutes late.

The meeting ended in a 15-minute executive (closed) session in which no action was taken.

Mayor Paul Ingram said the executive session was called to discuss a personnel matter.

Following the executive session, Ingram said the issue was still under investigation, but no action would be taken Thursday.

The meeting ended without members of council asking for public comment. City officials did not comment on the video or those involved, citing personnel matters.

Several members of the community attended the council meeting, many of whom expressed their support of St. Marys police officer Nathan Boron, who was allegedly shown in the video.

Kris Boron, the wife of Officer Nathan Boron, said the video was a joke, with another police officer acting as the driver of the Ford Explorer.

The junior officer, who has not been named, was monitoring an area hit by a series of burglaries in an unnamed market town in the country’s south.
As the probationary officer from Sussex Police searched for suspects, the camera operator radioed that he had seen someone “acting suspiciously” in the area.
But he failed to realise that it was actually the plain-clothed officer he was watching on the screen, according to details leaked to an industry magazine.
The operator directed the officer, who was on foot patrol, as he followed the "suspect" on camera last month, telling his colleague on the ground that he was "hot on his heels".
The officer spent around 20 minutes giving chase before a sergeant came into the CCTV control room, recognised the “suspect” and laughed hysterically at the mistake.