Police Officers Ignore Property Rights (VIDEO)

On July 1st I headed to Indianapolis with three other CopBlockers to attend the First Church of Cannabis ceremony that was taking place. It was a beautiful day with several great people in attendance – read my post about the day’s events here. In the video above you’ll see two Indianapolis Metro Police officers whom I caught trespassing on private property. I started to question them about their actions. The video has an interesting twist when a Sergeant calls the pair over for a short chat, so make sure to watch the video.

Do badges grant extra rights?

It seems to this duo they do and they’re perfectly fine with that. Forget that the police department had officers in the area days before to scare nearby homeowners, by telling them that thousands of people where going to trash the neighborhood, into setting up the barriers. One homeowner told me that the police told them that having such barriers would be the only way to make a trespassing arrest stick without having to give a warning first. I even heard that the police furnished the small wooden stakes and yellow tape but I couldn’t confirm that. Another person stated that the church group that came in was also approached by the police department, as well. Of course, the police call this community outreach. But some would call it something else, like intimidation.

The point of this video is that while everyone else respected property rights, even those that weren’t blocked off, the police were the only people I saw that day trespassing. Yes, the church people were behind some yellow barriers too, but I witnessed them being asked to leave their first place and did get permission from the property owner for their second location. The police on the other hand walked, biked, and leaned up on fences in other people’s properties. Sure, it’s possible that they could have had permission in some of those cases, but in the video above you notice the Sergeant direct the officers to the street. You can’t hear the audio but the sgt says, “Don’t give them anything.”

Too late. The officers had already blown me off and then got busted by one of their own. I thought the pair would see the humor in my statement that I was just trying to help keep them safe, as that’s what the police told me while writing me a ticket for jaywalking (which is cop speak for crossing the street), but though they want to do that for, they had little interest in me providing such care for them. Therefore, this merely goes to show that while police expected others to respect property rights they themselves were going to (literally) walk all over them.

It might be a small issue but watch the cops the next time you see them out. Notice how they do things that they would be required to arrest you for. From parking in a handicap (no parking zone) to speeding down the highway the police believe they have more rights than you. Remind them whenever you can that they in fact DON’T!