Federal Appeals Court Ridicules Florida Cops For Using SWAT Team To Check On Barbershop Licenses

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/federal-appeals-court-ridicules-florida-cops-using-swat-team-check-barbershop


Jerry L.Demings is Sheriff of Orange County, Florida.
Photo Credit: http://www.ocso.com/

Disney World is not the only fantasyland in Orange County, Florida, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit, which Tuesday issued a remarkable ruling slamming the sheriff and a state barbershop inspector for imagining they needed—and then using— a SWAT team in a police raid to see if haircutting licenses were valid.

“It was a scene right out of a Hollywood movie,” the Court’s ruling began. “Teams from the OCSO [Orange County Sheriff’s Office] descended... with some team members dressed in ballistic vests and masks, and with guns drawn, the deputies rushed into their target destinations, handcuffed the stunned occupants—and demanded to see their barbers’ licenses. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office was providing muscle for the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s [DBPR] administrative inspection of barbershops to discover licensing violations.”

The Cout’s 44-page ruling, which will allow four barbers to proceed with a lawsuit that the cops violated their Fourth Amendment protection from unconstitutional searches, vividly describes how a team of local and state police ran amok—and then claimed immunity from prosecution, which the Court rejected, when the raid’s victims sued.

Notably, the ruling didn’t even talk about the blatant constitutional violations first, but instead snidely asked if the cops involved were complete idiots who thought they were so far above the law that they could ignore previous multiple rulings from the very same Court ordering cops not to conduct militarized SWAT raids as a routine tactic:

“We first held 19 years ago that conducting a run-of-the-mill administrative inspection as though it is a crminal raid... violates clearly established 4th Amendment rights. We reaffirmed that principle in 2007... Today, we repeat that same message again. We hope that the third time will be the charm.”

[pipoman]

1. Them there barbershop quartets can quickly

Outnumber and overtake a lone license authority official. ..what is one to do when they commence blowing a pitch pipe during the inspection?

[Ikonoklast]

23. They shoot anyone off-key.

[Atman]

2. Were they singing "Camptown Races?"

Then it might have been justified.

[hobbit709]

3. So now Barbering While Black is also a crime now?

I hope the plaintiffs get a bundle from these bastards.

[cali]

6. I do too. please note though that the fuckwad sheriff is also black.

[Glassunion]

21. Idiocy is colorblind.

[daleanime]

35. Sad and true...

[IrishAyes]

47. I'm unfortunately reminded of that every time I think of Ben Carson.

Years ago he seemed like such a fine, brilliant man - and then he turns out to be, well, the way he is.

[Mojorabbit]

33. and a Dem nt

[awoke_in_2003]

38. Listen to "Fuck da police"

by NWA. Once they put that badge on, things change.

[baldguy]

4. How to stop it? Take away their toys & put the offending officers in prison.

If the police dept can't or doesn't know how to use a SWAT team appropriately, it shouldn't have a SWAT team.

[RKP5637]

14. Exactly! These renegade cops should start serving some serious time. n/t

[quaker bill]

5. The professional licensing thing

got really weird in the early days of the Scott administration. I don't have a license, as ecologists don't need one. However, it could easily be that Scott appointed a fruitbat to DBPR. There was a pretty good number of fruitbats in his early appointments, some are still serving, some resigned, others were the subject of indictments, and a few have been convicted....

At any rate, there was strange stuff going on in the legislature about professional licenses, and in the middle of this mess came these raids. I am sure if someone could dig deeply enough, and given the records were not destroyed illegally, a very interesting story would emerge.

[csziggy]

57. True -Professional Regulation was gutted but back in the Jeb Bush days

Some of the licensing and services done through the bureau were paid completely by fees so it didn't actually cost the state to provide the services and enforce the regulations. But Scott's people cut everything down to the bone, sometimes to the point that legally required enforcement was no longer possible with the people in DBPR.

And here's the thing - those fees were and probably still are being collected, even though the legislatively mandated services are no longer available.

Maybe Scott's people did more mutilation to the department, but I got a lot of inside stories from a friend who worked for DBPR when Jeb got into office. She ended up getting a lateral transfer to Unemployment, one department that has not been able to be cut under our run of Republican governors. If I think about it the next time I talk to her, I'll ask about what she's heard since Scott has been in office.

[quaker bill]

59. JEB did clear out whole office buildings

in Tallahassee. Rick Scott did even more, but at first his thing was replacing the "top ten" paid employees in every agency with cronies. I do not believe there were exceptions. Some of the replacements were vastly more unfortunate than others.

[Shankapotomus]

7. I can picture them planning this assault

on the hood of their assault vehicle:

"Okay team, this is going to be a three pronged assault. Team Bravo will lead the attack directly into the front of the building. While team Charlie will sweep around through the black...I mean, back... knocking out any trip mines along the way. A team will follow me in executing a flanking movement to the right side of the target. D team will stand ready with the mortars in case things get hairy. Watch for snipers in the windows. It seems we have a 70 year old barber in violation of his business license so anything can happen. It's go time."

These cops must be delusional. Are we sure this story is not a South Park routine?

[yeoman6987]

27. Oh my god that was hilarious!

I had a big time belly laugh reading your reply. You are probably very accurate too. Oh I am so glad I had the pleasure of reading your reply this morning. So funny!!!

[Shankapotomus]

29. I should have done the press interview afterward

"...at that point, the suspect drew a comb and was overheard using threatening remarks to the effect of "You guys have a seat and I'll be with you in a minute. Hey, what the hell are you guys...?" so we had no choice but to go hot..."

[yeoman6987]

30. Yes you should have. Very cleaver and extraordinary!

[The Wizard]

44. "with circles and arrows and a

paragraph on the back explaining what each one was."
With apologies to Arlo Guthrie.

[IrishAyes]

49. Worthy of The Onion.

[Waitsman]

8. Not surprising in Florida

Recently they did a widespread sting on crosswalk violations. It made the local news the same day because it was textbook entrapment. I know, as I was caught up in one. While driving I saw a man standing on the corner a block ahead. I watched him because it was odd that he was just standing there also watching me, as I was the only car on that road. As I drew near, he deliberately and obviously waited until I was close and then walked out to block the road. I slowed to make sure I didn't run over a crazy person and he stopped in the other lane. I was pulled over by cops waiting ahead and after some deliberation, given a warning ticket for not yielding to a pedestrian. I asked the officer then if he was one of them and he confirmed that the man who walked in front of me was indeed a cop. Within a few weeks I noticed new electric signs at major intersections, warning with flashing lights, to yield to pedestrians. It made sense then, the whole thing was to create an excuse for the county to pay for these, likely expensive signs. The only mystery is who got the kick back.

[msanthrope]

26. Fight the ticket. Request the video of the incident from the cops. nt

[FourScore]

40. Welcome to DU, Waitsman!

And I'm glad you just got a warning ticket!

[WinkyDink]

9. Hey, there's RAZORS in there! And HOT TOWELS!

[Fred Sanders]

10. Give little boys big toys and they will make their own sandbox to play in with them. The Pentagon

must be so proud of their progeny, a militarized homeland that loves guns, embraces violence, yet lives in fear, and unlimited money for it all.

Tie all together with a purchased mass media and a black man at the top to bring them all together in hatred and you have the kindle wood of fascism, Mussolini style.

Too bad for the kindling that there is no economic collapse to really fire things up.

[IrishAyes]

50. I take extreme exception to your portrayal of President Obama. Just know that.

Too bad I don't have time tonight to verbally box your ears, but you could use it.

[Fred Sanders]

51. Before you box my ears, sounds like no fun at all, I would open yours to the comment.

[ColesCountyDem]

11. "OMG, they have SCISSORS! Get the armored Humvee, Frank." n/t

[SorellaLaBefana]

12. Florida is not the only Police State, Peoria - yes, that one - also has aspirations

The mayor of Peoria, Ill - Dickwad Ardis - did not like a paradoy twitter feed of his office and so ordered a door-smashing SWAT raid at the home of the perp.

The local DA had enough sense not to prosecute the Twitter perp, but sadly the perp's roomate now faces felony narcotics charges for mj possession.



One may directly contact Mayor Dickwad Ardis's office at:
http://www.peoriagov.org/mayors-office/#FSContact1
as it is possible that he has a keen interest in what people think about his repression of free political speech in Peoria. I certainly did.

Also, on the good side, as the UK Guardian reports:

As for the mayor, he has tried to justify his reaction to the Twitter spoof by claiming that it had damaged his standing. “My identity as mayor was stolen,” he said a few weeks after he dispatched the police.

It is not known whether he now regrets his decision to send in the Swat team. One measure of its success is that there is no longer one parody feed ridiculing Ardis on Twitter – there are 15.

These can be found at:
https://twitter.com/search?q=peoria%20mayor&src=typd&mode=users%20.

This is almost enough to tip me to sign up on The Twitter.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

13. I half expect them to do a SWAT team raid on the judge.

[RKP5637]

15. Probably. ... because guy dresses in black robe, potential terrorist! n/t

[badtoworse]

16. Hard to believe they could be that stupid.

[TNNurse]

17. Were there fewer delusional

Paranoid, gun crazy and power mad people before the internet or do we just know about them because of it???? Same question applies to racists, abusers and semi-literate writers and "news professional".

[Dustlawyer]

18. So now they obviously have too many SWAT teams with not enough to do to justify their existence.

Funny, they bitch about high taxes, yet they are always the ones to blow up the budget!

[jen63]

19. Love the wording of the ruling.

It's about as far as they could go without calling them total fuckwads.

[christx30]

20. Clearly the police have too much

money. Slash their budget by 30 to 40%.
There HAS to be something the courts can do to stop this crap. A contempt ruling, a staggeringly huge settlement for plaintiffs of this kind of raid.

[Chasstev365]

22. Hello My baby, Hello My Swat Team, Hello My Crazy Town

Maybe they picked some chatter on the Barbershop Quartet!

[Baitball Blogger]

24. Federal court is the friend of minorities.

Too many "authorities" claim they have immunity from prosecution--which is something that our state representatives are working hard to ensure. That's why it's always good to have about half a million dollars handy for mad money should you ever have to hire a smart attorney who isn't connected to the hive.

[jwirr]

25. Wonder what they were going to do? IF the papers were not what they want were they going to

shoot them? This is ridiculous. We have a militarized police force across the country and what they are using it for is small crimes. This while the big criminals go scot-free. They are a waste of money.

[woolldog]

28. If you read the opinion, what happened was

much much worse

http://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201314092.pdf

[blogslut]

42. No shit.

The Barber Board inspected the place two days before the raid and everyone had their licenses and passed the sanitation inspection. Those assholes swat-teamed them anyway.

That is so fucked up.

[lunasun]

52. What no cavity search? They went through each barber's station and drawers at the place??

[bobGandolf]

31. OMG!

You can't be serious.......

[grahamhgreen]

32. They talk politics in some barbershops...

[steve2470]

34. When this happened, I knew the OCSO would get sued

It happened in a minority-predominant part of Orange County. I dare say it would have never happened in a white-predominant part of the county. Complete idiots. I'm glad they got sued.

[Dont call me Shirley]

36. Are we sure the swat team didn't just need a freshening up on their buzz cuts!

[Aerows]

37. I would hope this was The Onion

but actions by police pretty much don't surprise me much anymore.

A SWAT team to potentially catch people engaged in second degree misdemeanor. Guns drawn in a shop full of kids getting hair cuts for the first day of school. Shop keepers on the floor and cuffed, despite the fact that everyone had a license and nothing was going on other than ... people getting hair cuts from licensed barbers.

Insanity.

[Major Nikon]

39. You'd think they would have them doing more productive things like rounding up stray dogs

[rhett o rick]

41. I think they are shooting them from drones. nm

[Rex]

43. YAY COPS!

THEY ARE THE GREATEST!

[The Wizard]

45. The police will take this to the Supreme Court

and will prevail in a 5-4 decision.

[IrishAyes]

46. At least nobody got killed this time.

I'm still reeling over the guy who shot and killed one of the men trying to break into his home on a no-knock raid, and now he's charged with murder! Soooo many cops just out of control anymore.

[99Forever]

48. When your only tool is a hammer...

... you see every problem as a nail.

[lunasun]

53. I thought maybe it had some name that could incite like 'We Cut Headz' but NO there wasn't even a

stupid mixed up reason to act like they were terrorist or any danger warranting a SWAT
Nothing other than barbers who cut hair there
And the place had already been inspected 2 days before

[MannyGoldstein]

54. They flipped off the court twice?

Why aren't some police in jail right now?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

55. Remember,....it's a war zone out there.

[valerief]

56. American cops have become 3D cartoon characters. Literally. nt

[Uncle Joe]

58. This is ridiculous.

Thanks for the thread, xchrom.