Why the police will always win the day
Qualified Immunity
You will hear over and over how “Ignorance of the law is no defense” for you. Judges will tell you, lawyers will tell you, police will tell you – you have no reason to not realize that you are breaking a law…. the burden is on YOU to realize that the acts you are engaging in are legal or illegal. While this is a far stretch, how can we all be aware of every law that we might come into contact with, I guess you could say that it is a reasonable expectation that somehow we will find these things out.
There is, however, no provision for a police officer to be held to the same standard. Police and other LEO’s (both state and federal) are protected by something called Qualified Immunity which all but guarantees that they do not need to understand or know how a law is to be applied to YOU when they are interacting and arresting you. In fact, they are only required to have a vague understanding of the laws they are charged to enforce – enough that a reasonable person without any detailed insight would be able to articulate why they thought you were guilty of a crime.
That is right – the very same group that will deprive you of your liberty and natural rights can do so without any specific determination as to if you are truly breaking the law. They can fully function in an “after the fact” mode where the lawyers and judges figure things out for them. This allows them to violate your first, second and fourth amendment rights without batting an eye. Sure, your case will be tossed out but not before you are arrested for false charges, falsely imprisoned and intimidated during the whole process. As long as their oversight isn’t gross and negligent (in someone else’s eyes) you have virtually no recourse.
Check it out, read about it, and realize that you MUST defend your rights at every occasion. You must insist on your rights and for pete’s sake… never TALK to an officer…. it can never do you any good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualified_immunity
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4097602514885833865#
