One Officer Cost The City $45,000

[Music] welcome to audit the audit where we sort out the who and what and the right and wrong of police interactions today's video features a near-perfect audit from the First Amendment strike team be sure to check out their channel in the description below and give it the credit that it deserves let's dive right in and audit the audit on March 31st 2018 officer Romero of the Pueblo Police Department in Colorado made contact with auditor Sean O'Connell as he was taking pictures of the police department building from a public sidewalk are you excuse me sir what are you doing hey hey [Music] all law enforcement officers are trained to conduct three distinct types of citizen officer encounters consensual encounters investigatory detentions and an arrest consensual encounters do not require reasonable suspicion or probable cause as long as a reasonable person would feel free to leave or decline to speak with the engaging officer or officers an investigatory detention or Terry stop enables the police to briefly detain a person for further investigation if the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe the person stop is involved in criminal activity in order for an officer to place an individual under arrest probable cause must be acquired at this point the interaction taking place between officer Romero and mr. O'Connell is considered a consensual contact mr. O'Connell is under no legal obligation to engage with the officer and is well within his rights to ignore him officer Romero is also acting within his authority by initiating consensual contact with mr. O'Connell I'm asking you a question who are you why are you taking pictures of the department sir the moment officer Romero made physical contact with mr. O'Connell the interaction became an illegal investigatory detention in order for an officer to conduct an investigatory detention reasonable suspicion of a crime must be present the First Amendment guarantees all citizens the right to take photos of almost anything which is viewable from a public setting with few exceptions the 1967 Supreme Court case of Katz V United States established the doctrine of reasonable expectation of privacy which gave individuals the right to privacy in areas where it is reasonable to assume privacy exists such as a telephone booth or public restroom it is completely legal to take pictures of any local police station from a public sidewalk therefore officer Romero had no reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was taking place okay I'm asking you questions okay you are not in control here I am actually you work for me I don't work for 46 like I wanted custody over here need a supervisor lose your job buddy illegal detainment do you please call supervisor out here this is an illegal detainment under 16 3:103 the statute that mr. O'Connell is referring to is Colorado Revised Statutes 16 - 3 - 1 0 3 which outlines when an officer has the authority to stop a suspect according to the statute a peace officer may only stop an individual who he suspects is committing is about to commit or has committed a crime hang on you'll have formation search me I don't consent a nice trick to the seizures okay I went for a supervisor to come up here okay okay what's your name and badge number Romero go - okay okay did you stop my video camera over there I'm not messing with your phone okay can you tell us officer take his hands off me and - uncuffed me okay you wait till supervisor gets here and you can talk to him from there okay I'm done talking to you guys okay just taking picture of the department taking pictures of all our stuff here so I don't know what he's doing I'm shy to talk to him is on top of me sir welcome to wait while the act of public photography is not illegal it can be considered suspicious officers are allowed to make consensual contact with citizens who are photographing in public but officers cannot conduct an investigatory detention unless they have reasonable suspicion of the occurrence of a crime reasonable suspicion must be supported by a collection of objective facts which lead an officer to believe a crime has or is going to be committed mr. O'Connell is on a public sidewalk in the middle of the day there is no obvious evidence of a crime [Music] that's what I was doing what I was doing what else knew it I chose not to answer what's happened I'm still alive for your main call of the Pueblo Police Department it's always mmm-hmm loaded up up loading up this guy's on the corner I thought he was taking picture of the eagle on the department he's like okay no big deal so I started you don't put myself in like my patrol vehicle so he walks past it once I call his leader can you answer can't talk right now I'm busy so he starts walking son I back up and then he's up next to this corner officer Romero admits that the only reason he stopped mr. O'Connell is because he was taking pictures in public there was no circumstantial evidence produced to establish reasonable suspicion for the officer to conduct an investigatory detention okay that's fine I seen your video sir [Music] personnel instruction overall officer Romero gets an F for illegally detaining mr. O'Connell for refusing to acknowledge him during a consensual encounter and for being ignorant of the protections granted to public photography under the First Amendment mr. O'Connell gets an A+ for immediately asking for a supervisor citing the exact statute which the officer was violating and remaining silent throughout the majority of his detention I commend mr. O'Connell for exercising his rights and conducting an audit without instigating contact with police disturbing public discourse or being distasteful many auditors use their rights as weapons to combat the tyranny of local police departments instead of using them as a means to educate officers or citizens and prevent further misconduct the responding supervisor also gets an A for educating officer Romero about public photography immediately uncovering mr. O'Connell and instructing mr. O'Connell on the proper channels to file a complaint against officer Romero this illegal detention eventually cost the city of Pueblo 41 thousand dollars after mr. O'Connell sued the Pueblo Police Department for violating his constitutionally protected rights the suit also included major changes to the policy of the Pueblo Police Department regarding public recording this audit was one of the most successfully implemented audits in recent history and many officers and citizens could benefit from the educational value offered in this interaction let us know if there's an interaction you would like us to audit in the comments below and don't forget to Like and subscribe for more least interaction content [Music]

Channel: Audit the Audit

Views: 3,029,941

Keywords: amagansett press, first amendment audit, 1st amendment audit, auditing america, news now california, sgv news first, high desert community watch, anselmo morales, photography is not a crime, san joaquin valley transparency, first amendment audit fail, walk of shame, news now houston, police fail, 1st amendment audit fail, public photography, auditor arrested, police brutality, highdesert community watch, pinac news, cops triggered, news now patrick, east hampton

Id: NPhpW2LLtPg

Length: 11min 26sec (686 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 15 2019