Police Chief Thought He Was ABOVE THE LAW

foreign [Music] welcome to audit the audit where we sort out the who and what and the right and wrong of police interactions this episode covers lawful orders traffic stops and ghost tags and is brought To Us by 11alives Channel be sure to check out the description below and give them the credit that they deserve on August 25th 2022 two unidentified police officers from the Molina Police Department in Molina Georgia pulled over Chief Jonathan Hemphill of the nearby Zebulon Police Department the interaction between the three officers was captured by the body worn camera of one of the Molina officers what are you doing here you just have to say hello was that illegal no yeah no sir uh the reason why we're stopping usual because the window tint violation I blink my blue lights at you to let you know who I was yes sir well we didn't know with it you know that's not a government tag that is a unofficial tag that Tag's not even on file I said yes well we have to catch up the building from running everything like that sir so so I won't blink my blue mess at you next time I'll let you just sit there I was just speaking I'm gonna please see fans ever nice to meet you sir Matt Pope worked for me your Chief worked for me yes sir there's no need to get upset I'm upset because I spoke to you when I come by and now you're pulling me after the Molina officers pulled him over Chief Hemphill got out of his vehicle and approached them before they had even exited their Cruiser although the universal advice given by law enforcement agencies and Civil Right Advocates alike is for drivers and passengers to remain in the vehicle unless the officer asks them to exit the vehicle it is typically not illegal for individuals to exit their vehicles during a traffic stop however drivers can be convicted of disobey saying a lawful order or a similar offense such as resisting or obstructing an officer if an officer orders them to remain in the vehicle and they refuse as we have discussed before on ATA the Supreme Court held in the 1977 case of Pennsylvania versus Mims that officers May order a driver to exit a vehicle during a routine traffic stop and in the 1997 case of Maryland vs Wilson the court determined that the same was true for passengers in reaching this decision the court reasoned that quote the Touchstone of our analysis under the fourth amendment is always the reasonableness in all the circumstances of the particular governmental invasion of a citizen's personal security that reasonableness depends on a balance between the public interest and the individual's right to personal security free from arbitrary interference by Law Officers applying this test the court ultimately concluded that the so-called weighty interest in officer safety outweighed the so-called de minimis intrusion of requiring an individual in a lawfully stopped vehicle to step outside for the duration of the traffic stop although the Supreme Court has not determined whether an officer May order an individual to remain in a vehicle during a traffic stop courts have consistently relied on the arguments and the Mims and Wilson cases to conclude that such directives are constitutional for instance in the 1997 case of Carter versus State the court of appeals of Georgia applied the logic used in the then recently decided Wilson case to hold the quote officer safety is sufficient justification to allow an officer to order a passenger to remain in a validly stopped vehicle likewise in the 2005 case of United States versus Williams the ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided that because quote giving officers the authority to control all movement in a traffic encounter is sensibly consistent with the public interest in protecting their safety under the Fourth Amendment it is reasonable for an officer to order a passenger back into an automobile that he voluntarily exited because the concerns for officer safety and specifically the need for officers to exercise control over individuals encountered during a traffic stop outweigh the marginal intrusion on the passenger's Liberty the interest here while Chief Hemphill did not violate the law by exiting his vehicle the court would very likely hold that the Molina officers would have been within their constitutional authority to order him to return to it and remain inside I never miss you damn I understand that ticket sir we'll just try it I'm doing my job right what are you stopping for I'm sorry okay you know how many how many officers have blue lights are you writing me a ticket yes or no oh you write me a ticket I miss the lady I'm fixing to make it a whole lot more your boss 11 11. I'm out here of Illinois the Molina officers explained they pulled Chief Hemphill over for having dark window tint and flashing his blue lights according to section 40-8-73.1 of the Georgia Code quote it shall be unlawful for any person to operate a motor vehicle in this state which has material and glazing applied or effects to the front windshield which material and glazing when so applied are fixed reduce light transmission through the windshield or which has material and glazing applied or affixed to the rear windshield or the side or door windows which material and glazing when so applied are fixed reduce light transmission through the windshield or window to less than 32 percent plus or minus three percent or increase light reflectance to more than 20 percent although the statute clarifies that quote the provisions of this section shall not apply to any law enforcement vehicle because Chief hemp Hill's vehicle was equipped with an unregistered so-called ghost tag as we will discuss in further detail later in this episode a court would likely conclude food that the Molina officers had the Reasonable Suspicion necessary to conduct the traffic stop based solely on the tent as his license plates did not indicate that he was a law enforcement officer and in the 2013 case of Walker versus State the court of appeals of Georgia held that an officer could stop a vehicle for a suspected window tint violation without infringing upon the Fourth Amendment likewise section 40-8-90 of the Georgia Code states that quote it shall be unlawful for any person to operate any motor vehicle equipped with or containing a device capable of producing any blue lights whether flashing blinking revolving or stationary except Motor Vehicles owned or leased by any federal state or local law enforcement agency motor vehicles with a permit granted by a state agency to Bear such lights or antique Hobby and special interest Vehicles assuming that the vehicle Chief Hemphill was driving was owned by the Zebulon Police Department it is highly likely that the blue lights did not violate state law however because the Molina office officers had no way of knowing that the vehicle was owned or leased by a local law enforcement agency and thereby accepted from the prohibition on blue lights it is also probable that they had sufficient grounds to conduct the traffic stop s just yes okay you let her do her job it doesn't come back to that vehicle okay foreign yeah what she's about bringing your driver's license back up definitely yeah uh first we ran the tag came back to like a Dodge Ram so we're just confirming right now yes sir yes sir yeah we're just you must have run it wrong you must have run it wrong because you didn't want to come back we were confirmed it so so it's still coming back to a Dodge Ram now sir can I ask for yourself is it still coming back to a Dodge Ram no we got it fixed why are you so no you didn't fix it dude is it still come back to a Dodge Ram right now no it came back not on five that's right because you run it wrong sir somebody run it wrong either you did or they did we're about to get the information okay I got your teeth on the phone right now that's fine that's fine that's fine can you calm down for us please I appreciate your service I appreciate your service all right I'm just saying I spoke to you guys I didn't have to do that I could have eased on by y'all I appreciate the job y'all out here dude I'm trying to be respectful I understand that I understand I'm not raising my voice right I understand all right the only thing I don't wrong with spoke y'all never would have pulled me over if I had to flicked my blue license no sir no we were going to pull your silly I'm not gonna lie to you I'm telling you straight up okay okay but like I said you know there's been a while here in first state police officer with blue lights she throwing my license if she just get them for me she'll bring it to you okay well that's fine I'm just trying to get through it I'm trying to talk with you I don't want to talk anymore about it all righty the Molina officer explains that after originally running the plates incorrectly when dispatch ran the plates on the vehicle it came back as not on file and chief Hemphill claims that it's because the vehicle is equipped with an unofficial ghost tag which means it is not registered under section 40-2-20 of the Georgia Code quote every owner of a motor vehicle shall during the owner's registration period in each year register such vehicle as provided in this chapter and obtain a license to operate it for the 12-month period until such person's next registration period nonetheless this requirement does not apply to quote any motor vehicle owned by the state or any municipality or other political subdivision of this state and used exclusively for governmental functions except to the extent provided by code section 40-2-37 which states that quote all vehicles owned by the state of Georgia or any municipality or other political subdivision of this state and used exclusively for governmental functions except those employed in secret investigatory police functions to which regular Georgia license plates are issued shall be registered with the commissioner by the fiscal officers or other proper officials of the respective departments to which such Vehicles belong prior to operation and use thereof once a police vehicle is registered quote the license plates issued shall be identical in appearance to regular license plates issued for private Vehicles except that such license plates shall not display any registration expiration however the statute also requires that quote license plates issued government vehicles shall be marked in such a manner as to indicate the specific type of governmental unit operating the vehicle these markings shall be prominently displayed in addition each such license plate shall bear a County identification strip indicating the county in which the vehicle is based except that Vehicles owned by the state shall not be required to Bear such County identification strip the statute does allow for an exception to this rule stating that quote the commissioner shall be authorized to Grant a waiver of the requirements of this sub-section such that regular Georgia license plates may be issued for any vehicle or Vehicles owned by the state of Georgia any Municipality of this state or any other political subdivision of this state upon finding issuance of such waiver to be in the best interest of Public Safety Public Welfare or efficient Administration it is unclear whether Chief Hemphill has obtained such a waiver for the vehicle he was driving but even if he has it is important to note that this exception only applies to subsection C of the statute which is the requirement that the license plate be marked to indicate the government unit operating the vehicle and does not apply to the requirement that government vehicles be registered the only potentially applicable exception to the registration requirement that would allow Chief Hemphill to use unregistered ghost plates is for government vehicles that are engaged in so-called secret investigatory police functions which are typically outside the scope of a police chief's duties it's very unprofessional after running Chief hemphill's driver's license the Molina officers returned to him and allowed him to leave without issuing any citations however five days after the incident Chief hemp Hill broke a digital radio agreement that permitted Molina to use zebulon's emergency radio channel by blocking Molina from using the frequency according to Molina Chief Matt Polk the Molina Police Department is now using the Pike County Sheriff's Office channel for emergency communications on October 11 2022 the city of Zebulon announced that it was launching an independent third-party investigation into Chief hemphill's conduct as of the date of writing this episode the city has not provided any updates regarding the results of this investigation but Chief Hemphill is still listed as the police chief on the city of zebulon's website overall the Molina officers get an A for demonstrating professional and respectful demeanors throughout the encounter despite receiving a significant amount of disrespect from Chief Hemphill refusing to give Chief Hemphill any special treatment based on his status and making a lawful traffic stop based on the information available to them at the time of the stop while the vehicle's window tint and blue lights did not appear to be in violation of the law a court would likely uphold the stop as reasonable because the vehicle was equipped with regular license plates additionally although Chief hemphill's use of ghost tags was potentially an abuse this possible violation was far beyond the scope of the Molina's officer's duties and I commend the officers for maintaining their composure in the face of criticism from a senior officer at a neighboring department and conducting an efficient investigation Chief Hemphill gets a c minus for maintaining a hostile and disrespectful demeanor in his interactions with the Molina officers potentially misusing ghost plates on a non-undercover vehicle and retaliating against the entire Molina Police Department by revoking their access to zebulon's emergency radio channel throughout the encounter chief hemphill's actions demonstrated that he seems to believe he is at least in some ways Above the Law And while I cannot say for certain that the vehicle Chief Hemphill was driving did not qualify to be unregistered due to its involvement in so-called secret investigatory police functions it seems highly unlikely that a police chief would be involved in these types of undercover operations while there are certainly more serious instances of police corruption in the world properly registering the plates would at the very least prevent misunderstandings like this one from occurring in the future let us know if there is an interaction or legal topic you would like us to discuss in the comments below thank you for watching and don't forget to check out my second channel for even more police interaction content [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Audit the Audit

Views: 3,160,362

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: JJ_Sag_3LdA

Length: 15min 16sec (916 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 02 2023