Can I CopBlock by Myself?

 

I don’t have one of those stories about being beaten by the cops. I’ve never been arrested for DUI because I don’t drink and drive. I got a ticket a few years back for going almost 20 over and feel I deserved it. 75 in a 55 puts people in danger, in my opinion. It has to do with predictability.  I did commit a felony in my state by posting a 9 second video of me voting Ron Paul in the primaries.  Once I learned I could face hard time for doing such a thing I immediately took it down. In general, I’m a law abiding citizen who pays his mortgage on time and works hard to earn my weekends on the Harley with my wife.

A few years ago a buddy of mine from a cubicle down the row instant messaged me a link with a graph similar to the one on this article. I was astounded. Are the men from my generation nearly 5 fold more dangerous than those of the generation previous to mine? I think not.

I researched the drug war, certainly a huge contributor. Shortly thereafter on a flight to Denver I had a morbidly obese TSA agent with a huge wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth and a spit cup on top of the X-Ray machine angrily inform me while lazily resting his huge tits on a rack that, “You gotta push your bag through!”  I thought, “I don’t deal dude, isn’t that your job?” I didn’t dare question his demeanor. He had a magic walkie-talkie which could end my trip.  I realized that day that the terrorists have won.

I thought, what can I do?

By no means am I an expert Copblocker/Copwatcher. Perhaps I’m worse than some since I was arrested for videotaping (I was charged with loitering based on a fabricated police report which is contradicted by my intact video) cops on May 12 in Milwaukee and will have a trial 9/4. The people I associate with are not interested in doing much more than commenting under anonymous names on the local news website. I guess that’s better than nothing.

My advice, for what it’s worth…

1) Start a youtube channel. It takes about 2 minutes. You enter your own email address or start a gmail account. Uploading videos is quite simple. You load the video from your phone or video camera onto your computer then drag and drop the file into the, “Upload” box. Quite easy. Your brand new channel allows you to post videos up to 15 minutes long. Just get a few videos of stuff around town so you know how to do it when the time comes.

2) You don’t need to chase the cops or try to interview the cops. Many people don’t want to be confrontational. Start with a scene which already has spectators. Stand there with your camera rolling. Others will likely follow your lead. If nothing much is going on, so be it. There’s nothing wrong with posting a boring police scene. The fact that you’re there, with a camera, deters questionable conduct and acclimates both police and other citizens to the idea. I like to post everything involving police activity.

3) If you feel intimidated at a scene by yourself, ask for permission to film,not that you need it. If you’re approached by a cop, before he gets a chance to kick you out of there, ask, “Do you mind if I video your scene?” This will place the cop in a perceived position of authority regardless of your actual rights.  Police are trained to be in control of every situation. It’s likely you’ll be asked to move some arbitrary distance further, again to evoke submission.

4) Consider in advance your tolerance for risk of arrest. On many occasions I’ve gone far past where spectators or main stream media cameras were set up when no police tape was up. I go as close as I think is reasonable and every single time, after about a minute, everyone follows.  Sooner or later some crazy cop is just going to grab and put me in cuffs for this and I’m prepared. At the point I’m told that I’m under arrest I immediately comply with all orders. That’s just how I’ve decided to do it.

5) Pace yourself. Many of us know what happened to Derrick J. I have a, “1 charge at a time hanging over my head” policy. The weekend following my acquittal (at which time I’ll also request charges for perjury against my arresting officer) I’ll be right back to the location of my arrest filming police.  Until then, I will do nothing questionable.

Like I said, I’m not an expert and I’m certainly not fearless. I just know that the graph at the top of the page scares the hell out of me. If I don’t stand up now, will anyone be left to stand up for me?

Thanks for reading…Free Ademo!