(My experience with police pt.2)
BLACK SUNDAY - IN AMERICA
Faceless Sage here. Just wanted to share one of my many perspective shaping experiences that I have had since moving to Louisiana in 2013. After you read the article if you have any questions let me know octave actually had a few interaction like this with the police. Alright, dig in.
Dear Sargent - A Jim Crow Mother’s Day
May 12, 2015
Sargent C. J. Beck
Patrol Division
West Monroe Police Department
2301 North 7th Street
West Monroe, LA 71291
Dear Sargent Beck,
Thank you for meeting with me and my son, Sunday, May 11, 2014 at the West Monroe Police Department. The purpose of our visit was to lodge a formal complaint about Officers of the West Monroe Police Department, who responded to a call late Saturday night/early Sunday morning.
Col. Tommy Garrett, Badge #207
PO Bobby Mounts, Badge # 303
PO Jason Henson, Badge # 263
Cpl. Craig Ellis, Badge # 169
As written by Faceless Sage, and verbally described to you in my presence, Faceless Sage has just purchased a car Friday, May 9th, which currently has a dealer/temporary plate/sign in the rear right window, since he has yet to register the vehicle with the DMV (which has been closed since the date of purchase).
Faceless Sage was going to visit his friends, who live on Gross Street late Saturday night (5/10/15). As he indicated, this was only his second time going to this residence, and since it was dark the road was unfamiliar. He inadvertently turned into the wrong driveway and immediately backed out. This apparently sparked the complaint by the neighbor that “someone was going up and down the road, turning in and out of driveways.” As he indicated, this was the ONLY driveway that he went into by accident.
When he located the correct house (after calling his friends who indicated that he was 2 houses away), he pulled onto the lawn and subsequently into/through a ditch. He proceeded around the back of the resident where he was talking with one of the residents (his friend); he never entered the house that his friends reside in. He then noticed police cars, which after a few minutes, he went to see what was going on. He encountered the Officers and immediately told them, voluntarily without prompting, that the car they were looking in was his. He did NOT leave his door open when he parked the car, but the Officers now had opened the door and were looking in the car.
The officers told him to put his hands on the top of the car, and took his license out of his pocket without his consent. He later asked them if they needed his license, at which time they gave it back to him. At no time did they ask for the registration, bill of sale, or proof of insurance. faceless sage asked why the car had been opened and they said the car “looked abandoned” (this is subjective), so they opened the door. The Officer indicated that because someone reported the car as being “suspicious” they had the right to open the car door. Again, the dealer tag was in the back window and they had access to the information in the vehicle (insurance, bill of sale) since they were looking inside the car. The Officer (Garrett) immediately began to ask faceless sage questions in an unprofessional manner (raising his voice), repeatedly, “Which house did you come from—are you sure?” over and over again. I find this line of questioning very provoking and could easily lead a person to become agitated with the repetition of the line of questioning. This type and manner of question seems to have the ability to unnecessary escalating a situation.
According to faceless sage, he remained calm, and answered the questions in a very respectful and polite manner. As a responsible parent, I have instructed my sons how to respect adults regardless of their positions/careers. As a citizen, I would expect the same level of respect to be displayed from public servants, such as police officers.
According to the information provided to you by faceless sage, the Officer then began to read faceless sage his Miranda rights, but did not read the entire statement. As was discussed with you, the Officer failed to continue and left out everything after item #2. The officer asked faceless sage if he (faceless sage) knew his Miranda rights.
When faceless sage asked this Officer (Garrett) for his name and badge number (which I have instructed my sons to do), the officer become frustrated and began raising his voice again. This is a citizen’s right to have this type of information, and quite frankly, Officers should make this information known without being asked. Upon seeing Officer Garrett’s inappropriate behavior, faceless sage turned to the other officers and asked, ”Have I been rude, sir?” to which none of the Officers indicated that faceless sage’s behavior was rude. I am truly appalled that an adult Police Officer’s demeanor is so rude and disrespectful.
One of the residents was inside the house (3rd resident, not a friend of faceless sage’s) was asked by the Officer(s) if he was familiar with the car. Of course he did not recognize faceless sage’s car (again, it was just purchased), the other resident (faceless sage’s friend – 1 of 2) had been talking with faceless sage in the back of the house.
Apparently the Commanding Officer/Sargent (?Regal) was onsite and seemed to be the only Officer to take the time to speak with faceless sage in a polite/respectful manner. He seemed to be what amounted to a modest attempt to justify why the Officer was raising his voice and acting in an unprofessional manner. According to faceless sage, Officer/Sergeant Regal said that sometimes officers can come off of a bad call and told him about a burglary on the same street the evening before. He also indicated that he himself has family that lives on the street. This is NOT valid justification for officers to treat law-abiding citizens in a disrespectful manner. Many of us work very stressful jobs and learn how to handle stress in a way that so that it is not inappropriately displaced onto others.
According to the discussion, faceless sage also relayed to you that the residents that were his friends, were both approached, separately (resident #1 was outside, and resident #2 was inside), by one of the officers who told them that he had harassed faceless sage pretty good”. I sincerely hope that this is nothing that your workforce finds appropriate and does not gloat about such inappropriate behavior. It is this type of behavior that leads to incidents that can have a negative outcome, as we’ve seen too often in recent history.
In addition, faceless sage was never arrested for anything, as you clearly indicated that according to the dispatch screen (there is no police record), this was an “unfounded complaint.”
As discussed with you, the next steps to this process include:
You were going to check and see if the officers had on body cams which would include audio
Officers involved will be asked to complete a written statement
Major May will the internal investigator; he will review and meet with the officer
This process may take up to 30 days (June 10, 2015)
I’d also like to offer the follow:
Stress management course for your officers who have difficulty managing stress
Customer service training – all officers should have business cards with their badge numbers on the cards. A card should be given at all incidents/events.
Cultural sensitivity training - I’ll say no more at this time. However, please feel free to contact me if you are not sure what this means or need more clarification.
Again, I truly appreciate the time that you took to speak with us. You walked us through the process as any reasonable citizen should have experienced, in a respectful manner. Out of abundance of caution, I am copying my Attorney, Virginia Street, so that she has a copy of this, and the other documents for her file.
PS – I understand that you contacted faceless sage to come back into the station today, Tuesday May 12, 2015, to provide the same information that was relayed to you on Sunday when I was present. As discussed with faceless sage today, there were 2 officers interviewing him, and he was not accompanied by anyone else. I would suggest that if you are going to have more than one staff person interviewing or discussing a matter with someone, that you tell them that in advance so that they have the opportunity to also have someone else present.
Thank you again,
Lisa, mother
[email protected]
(803) 834-4200
C: Virginia Street, Attorney
Conclusion
Nothing happened even after we spoke directly to the police office department. No warning, nothing and that is ashame. I can't help but wonder how many people he has gotten arrested with similar gross abuse of his power. It's it's a totally different world down here in Louisiana then the world I used to live in in Connecticut. I just want to leave you with this, what if i said the wrong thing? Would have been the next black victim to police? Scary thought to think but i that situation i genuinely was fearful, fearful that these men who can’t see past the color of my skin have the power to ruin my life, and that my friends is a sad depressing and life changing thought and realization…..Sage out.
https://soundcloud.com/faceless_sage to check out my music always looking for good feedback!
That was gripping to read. Hmm. So much for "the land of the free." I am sorry for your sad experience. In Nigeria the police are ten times more stupid. But here doesn't pose the threat of being interpreted as racially motivated... as we are all black. But it makes me think still, do these guys deserve to hold all that power that can ruin our lives? Have they earned it?
right it's crazy to this that it is really 2018 man, appreciate the empathy. some deserve it and then some don't man. Some officers hold themselves to higher standards than others do, and i truly feel bad for those officers they have it the worse, because of the actions of their peers on the other end of the spectrum their name and image is sullied.
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