Standing Your Ground Against Police
This is as good of an example as you can get of asserting your rights. Pete is no stranger to filming police and this is the second video of his used by Cop Block. The first was confronting Arlington police officers about parking their cruiser illegally, which Cop Block is still waiting to hear the outcome of that investigation. Pete’s decisions to go to his girlfriends aid, film the police, open carry a firearm, refuse to produce ID and to walk away from the police, without satisfying their request, were all perfectly legal acts.
Though you don’t ever have to talk to the police, Pete has a background in Law Enforcement along with a great knowledge of open carry laws. Therefore, while he still talked to the police and provided them with information, above and beyond what’s legally required, he did so with caution. Stating things like, “yes, I have an ID but am I legally required to show you?” When told he was legally required to (a lie) Pete would ask if the officers could show him that statue which states such? Pete does this because the police are legally allowed to lie to you, which they did several times in this video, but Pete counters that by asking questions to the officers which would force them to back up their lies. As you can see they were unable to do that. After talking with them for a few minutes Pete stated he was going to leave and why, then slowly backed away.
They didn’t follow him after that and he never had to produce his government issued ID. There really was no wrong doings by the police officers in this video (other than the harassment and lying) as they seemed to be stumped by Pete’s actions. Though they have typical cop syndrome of ‘if you have nothing to hide why don’t you just give us what we ask for and/or do what we say.’ You’d think that with all the police training and on the job experiences they would of quickly came to the conclusion that felons don’t walk up to cops openly displaying not only a firearm but a camera too. Do these cops think that Pete is going to film his last five minutes of freedom, if he were a felon? I highly doubt it and I’m speaking from the perspective of a felon (as I’m a victim of the drug war).
So what can be learned from this video? A lot, but the two biggest things to me are how Pete always keeps his cool and doesn’t get in a shouting match with the officers. He doesn’t try to impress them with a bunch of legal rambling that would make him seem like ‘a know it all.’ He lets the officers speak and then replies giving as little information as possible in a calm cool collected manner. The second is how Pete counters questions with questions. In most cases, unless driving or suspected of criminal activity, you’re not required legally to produce ID when asked to by an officer. Cops phrase it as a request, may I see your ID? Which isn’t them telling you to produced it but merely a request to. Sometimes when asked if you legally have to show them they lie and say yes because they can lie. Therefore instead of just handing it over ask them, ‘Am I legally required to do so?” If they say yes then ask to see the law. If you start to feel uncomfortable remember at any point you can simply stop talking to them. State that unless you’re under arrest you’re just going to go on your way, like Pete does here. Leaving the cops dumbfounded.
Cop Block is hoping to get more videos like this. So the next time you see a cop stopping somebody outside your home or down the street grab your camera. Film them, even if there seems to be nothing going on. Most likely the cop will ask you why you were filming the stop? I tell the police that I’m filming to hold everyone (including myself) accountable. We need to make this the norm as it’s a crucial method to holding officers accountable for their actions.
If you can’t film the police sharing Cop Block’s website and social networks is just as helpful.
email: CopBlock@gmail.com
— @ WiseStamp Signature. Get it now
Adam Mueller was the first contributor to Cop Block.org and is currently working on another project Liberty On Tour. He's an advocate for a voluntary society, one where people are free to live their lives so long as they don't initiate force on others.
Tags: California, Gun rights, Harassment, Parking violations, Pete Eyre, San Francisco CA
Do you have information on which law enforcement agency these officers are with?
“In violation of me doing my job”
ROFL.
Pete, you talked way too much. Never should have admitted you have ID on you. Remember: you always have to answer their questions with your questions. Don’t answer their questions.
I’d imagine this info about cameras is elsewhere on this site, but it’s really really important for people to know. Unless you or your camera are directly involved in a crime – i.e. you are just videoing police action or even a crime in progress – you are never required to surrender your camera or memory card to a police officer. If you video a crime or evidence, you ARE required to give contact information to an officer so they can subpoena your recording, but they can not take your camera or media.
Also, a suggestion for talking to police: People always get nervous talking to cops – you can hear the guy in the video is nervous even though he knows he’s done nothing wrong. People also try to fill pauses in conversations because it feels uncomfortable. If the officer hasn’t asked you something that requires a reply, just don’t say anything. The officer may not say anything either (they’re trained to do this.) They may also blurt something out to fill the silence. After a long pause, if you feel you have to say something, ask “Am I being detained?” or “Am I free to go?” It also gives you time to think and helps keep the dialog from escalating. Listen how lawyers talk to each other (long pauses) and practice doing this with friends and it will become natural.
Good job !
pete was deliberately provoking them and that takes balls – kudos!
also kudos to the officers for keeping their cool.
Only worked because of:
1) the video camera
2) he’s white
“laws” work great when everything is on camera and you aren’t considered a second-class citizen. do you REALLY think the police would let a black man without a video camera go off without showing ID? that’s truly laughable.
i commend you for the work you do on this site – it is extremely important. but if i were to follow your advice, I would end up severely beaten or dead.
pretty soon we’re going to be in the situation in this country where the banks are closed and the cops and returning soldiers won’t be stopping you for traffic violations, they’ll be killing you for demanding your own money or for ‘looting’ the food that you need to eat and survive.
videocameras aren’t going to help you then. better get prepared.
Now that was really cool. Everyone should be doing this. Taking their power away is the most powerful weapon we have against tyranny. Their weapon is fear. Nice job!
Well done, you handled that nicely. We, the People, MUST assert our RIGHTS, in this manner, to let the “AUTHORITIES” know that we know our rights, and will not let them trample on those rights.
Time to get our Constitution Back! Go here ! http://www.articlesoffreedom.us/Home.aspx
And pass it on.
Everyone, be careful. Although all this “civil rights” stuff is great, it rarely works in the real world. He drove up in a car, all they needed to say is he made some illegal action with his vehicle, or some lie about him being a “suspect”. Its that easy and the game is over. The camera saved him here. Also the broad daylight. If he was alone where no one could see, he would have been taken down, and taken down hard, and the camera would meet with a terrible accident. These two cops were caught off guard by the camera. You can bet they got together after wards and have since developed a plan to “deal” with a similar situation. They are not used to being refused, they didn’t know what to do. The next time he’ll “match the description of a wanted man”, or any number of a thousand other “probable cause” lies. Everyone do what you must, just be real careful when you watch this stuff. A lot of bad things can happen and exercising your rights rarely goes this smoothly.
Do you think the outcome of this situation would be different if he weren’t filming? Somehow I feel if Pete didn’t have that video camera, it would have been two officer’s words against his and they could have possibly won.
I realize that he is trying to provoke the cop into giving him an excuse to show what to do / not to do as far as exercising rights, but wearing a holstered gun is not helping the situation. Completely unnecessary. He should have had the camera and that alone.
Your only response needed to be, my weapon is holstered and legal.
“In most cases, unless driving or suspected of criminal activity, you’re not required legally to produce ID when asked to by an officer.”
This is absolutely not fact. We have an absolute right to travel freely by automobile without a driver’s license, and this has been affirmed in both legal cases & Supreme Court Justice’s opinions. Google it. A driver’s license is only required for commercial drivers( truckers, delivery drivers, taxi drivers, etc…) You are NOT required to have a state issued driver’s license–in fact that’s what give police officers authority over you; by presenting a driver’s license you’ve just handed them a card, with your signature, which is your agreement to abide by their rules, and given the officers jurisdiction over you, which lands you in their corporate/admiralty courts to extract money from you.
Unless you have a Supreme Court ruling to the contrary, you are required to identify yourself upon demand.
http://epic.org/privacy/hiibel/cjlf_amicus.pdf
Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial Circuit of Nevada
You may not like it, but that’s the way it is.
For a follow up,
Read
People v. Debour
Terry v Ohio
Miranda v Arizona. People v. Debour is really good
Pete,
Awesome. Just heard about this on FreeTalk Live. Were you nervous as hell in this situation? I know I would be.
Was this fun for you? You were obviously just trying to stir-up some s—! What’s up with the anti-social slogan stickers on his sun visor?
While the cops shouldn’t be lying to him – he was wasting the time of those officers who could have been out taking care of more important matters.
It’s assholes like you guy who give law abiding gun owners a bad name. You should have your right to own a firearm removed – permanently!
What will happen if they ban filming of police like they have in the UK? hasnt this been in the news here in the states?
Try this in NJ and I can guarantee a different outcome for this misguided young cub.
How about filming a known drug “corner” or something disrupting public safety for the police to better spend their time addressing.
I think his misguided behavior is directed at the wrong people. Love them or hate them, without the cops protecting his sorry ass, there are some members of our society who would have had a nice videocamera regardless of his personal firearm.
Anything and everything is available for your use, this site is to spread ideals. Thanks for your support.
I agree that some cops are very heavy handed but its wrong to set up good cops! Some people are a little to gun happy and if they act like fools and make an aggressive movement towards their firearm and they will force the officer to defend themselves!
You went to the cops traffic stop WITH A VIDEO CAMERA you just happened to be open carrying!
I hope one day, you need the police, and they will come because they always do, regardless if you hate them or not, the police are there for you, I hope realize that police are here watching over your homes while your asleep. They are there for all of us. It disgusts me that you people are so ignorant.
I am amazed at the number of people missing the point here. You are not “harassing” a police officer by following the law. You are not “harassing” a police officer by questioning them about the legality of their actions. Neither are you detracting from their ability to perform their legal obligations and duties as a police officer.
If the man has a legal right to open carry, and does not have to present ID then he is just acting as a citizen. If that provokes a peace officer, then that is the officer’s problem. And yes, in some situations they will beat you down for that if you do not have a camera (or shoot you if they know you are carrying), That does not negate the fact that it takes a brave soul to test the edges of the often ego-driven power boundaries illegally drawn by officers in the line (and outside the line) of duty. Police compliance should not be solely based on threat and intimidation… it should be based on the rule of law.
Kudos to this young man for standing up for all our rights in the face of intimidation. The police are there for all of us, but to hide your head in the sand and pretend that this gives them the right to abuse and manipulate the law in an ad hoc basis for there own personal purposes is wrong
love the blog, thanks for sharing your thoughts
I appreciate what you are trying to do here, not enough people assert their rights when confonted. But to provoke an officer just to prove your own point is somewhat ridiculous. If I was that officer I would have been concerned in the way you felt you had to ‘protect’ your girlfriend in possession of a firearm. Furthermore, to not produce your ID would also be somewhat disconcerting. Whilst you are filming these two officers, you were preventing them from doing their jobs, protecting the streets. Do not get me wrong their are a lot of bent Cops out there, some ignore the law or manipulate it to their advantage, people know this, you are proving nothing, let them do their jobs, things aren’t as bad as they once were my friend.
I want to see more videos on your site, I really think everyone would like them.
The guy came up on the officer from behind. This is what created the problem. Standing up for rights is one thing. Obnoxiously coming up behind an officer like this enough times will create a gut reaction response from lawmakers. Having rights also means caring for them enough to protect them by not abusing them. No the man did nothing illegal, Keep acting obnoxiously like this.They will make it illegal. I wonder if these people are plants for the anti gun lobby to escalate and video tape armed men coming up behind officers doing there duty. Edit that part of the tape and THEY have a really great anti-gun add.
Have you ever hear of using a conditional acceptace with police? Refusal to present ID is actually dishonor in court. The courts are not about justice but honor and dishonor.
The reason the police did not arrest you for dishonor is because there was no evidence of a contract with the state. You lisence is evidence of a contract. If you had been in a motor vehicle and refused to present ID, you lisence plate is evidence of a contract and you would have been in dishonor and arrested for what ever charge they want to bring against you. That is why they have what they call a “piss of the police go to jail law” that they can use against you.
Robert Menard from Canada has a lot of good stuff on his web site. Knowing the rules of the game and asking the right questions can get you out of a lot of situations. The rules of the game is the uniform commercial code. They must follow their own rules and if you learn you can use it against them. Also there is a proceedure in court that must be used or you are in dishonor. Even though you have done nothing wrong, you are still guilty of not following porceedure therefore you are guilty. There is a great course that you can purchase called jurisdictionary that teaches courtroom proceedure. They must follow it or they are in dishonor. If you catch them in dishonor, you win.
Officer, I conditionally accept your offer to present my ID upon proof of claim that I am required to do so or required to obey your order.
Officer, I conditionaly accept your offer to move to the sidewalk(vedio tape, or whatever the order is..)upon proof of claim that I am required to do so. If you really want to hold them liable use “upon proof of claim under full commercial liability” That way if they lie to you they are in dishonor and you can file a claim against them. You cannot lie in commercial law.
You are conditionaly accepting their offer you are not refusing to present your ID or refusing to obey their orders. Under the UCC(commercial contract law) there is a difference. Honor and dishonor.
Try it, I hope it helps