Steve_

People like me who find themselves in situations where CBP clearly are in the wrong.

Anyway I did post this in the REAL ID thread: http://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-5...822451/page20/ the other day seeing as there was a long discussion of BP in it.

I've yelled at CBP personnel in the past (after they raised their voice to me). Sometimes they're just plainly wrong. Not saying the supervisor was completely wrong and she was completely right, but she was more right than he was. You can't tell someone to take a hike while they get a canine unit in to search your car. And tasering her appears to be excessive force given the circumstances.

On the northern border there are no fixed checkpoints, so BP put up "temporary" checkpoints and people do obviously get annoyed by them.

Have a read of this: Families for Freedom new report uncovers nearly 300 wrongful arrests by Border Patrol and almost $1 million in cash and other incentives | Families for Freedom

For example, BP agents being given gift cards for making arrests; issuing tickets under 8 USC 1304(e) to people for not carrying LPR cards even though they are in a non-immigrant status; arresting people in a non-immigrant status who have no documentation (and are not required to carry any, such as Canadian visitors).

scrubbedexpat091

Suppose officers just do the whole, ticket or arrest and let the courts decide later.


I've never had any issues with US officials, I wouldn't know if they were right or wrong though either, but they have never pulled me in, never caused me issues, and always more or less efficient and as polite as you'd expect from an officer.

I take that back, I had one prick once, but his superior stopped him flat in his tracks and then apologized to me.

scrubbedexpat099

You have to have some sort of reason to ticket or arrest somebody.

scrubbedexpat091

Cop may think they have a reason to issue the ticket or arrest.

scrubbedexpat099

Not in this case.

scrubbedexpat091

I was replying in response to Steve but apparently it didn't quote.

Pulaski

A "reasonable belief that a crime might have been committed".

Jerseygirl

Whether CBP were right or wrong...there is absolutely no way I would have reacted like that. Her attitude was one of abuse and provocation and there is no proof that her rants...after the pic went grey...were justified.

RoadWarriorFromLP

The use of the taser is the bigger problem here.

It isn't illegal to be impolite. The cops aren't supposed to resort to the use of force just because they're irritated and demand obedience.

It's pretty obvious from the CBP guy's words and actions that he didn't actually suspect her of anything, otherwise he would not have told her that she was free to leave.

Pulaski

I am still puzzled about the officer's rationale for saying she was free to leave when he had withheld her vehicle pending some sort of "search" (dog sniff test?). If he suspected some sort of contraband he should have prevented her from leaving, but if he was correct in saying she could leave then he had no right to deny her right to leave with her vehicle.

Jerseygirl

I don't know the legalities...just as I don't know whether when the screen went grey was a recording of the actual events. What I do know is that I would not have reacted the way she did when first approached.

To me it smells. She was stopped...the way she re-acted...and what followed...which she just happened to video...

Sniff..sniff...sniff...I smell a lawsuit...$$$$$$ that she couldn't hope to earn in her wildest dreams.

Edit: Forgive me but I'm rather septical of people who just happen to have their camera/phone at the ready...

RoadWarriorFromLP

They allow power get to their heads. For folks who are supposed to understand the law, the cops often don't.

Pulaski

If only cops were as well versed in criminal law as CBP officers are in immigration law. ...... What do you mean "they are"?