Posted: Jan 17, 2011 9:19 am
hotshoe wrote:Ubjon wrote:james1v wrote:The policeman should be sacked and the priest should be prosecuted.
Why?
The only thing that may have been done wrong is that the Reverend didn't appear to have notified the lady that she wasn't to come on private property before she attempted to attend mass. It doesn't really matter what reason the Reverend gave for not wanting her on the private property and the police were apparantly just carrying out their duties by giving her the tresspass warning.
You don't sack police officers for apparantly carrying out their duties and I fail to see what on what grounds you could prosecute the Reverend.
If the article is correct, the officer pulled the woman over in a traffic stop. Cops are not allowed to perform traffic stops unless they have - at minimum - reasonable suspicion that an infraction has been committed. Seeing what as the woman had already peacefully driven away from the church property (to wherever she was pulled over), the cop had no reasonable suspicion as a basis for detaining her.
Fair point
hotshoe wrote:It wasn't trespassing unless she had been told previously that she could not set foot on church property, that she was no longer welcome there (where every sinner, even non-Catholics, is normally considered to be welcome). And the guardia are only supposed to get involved in a "trespassing" claim if the person returns after being warned off, or refuses to leave when requested. But if the "trespasser" is in the process of peacefully leaving when the authorities arrive, then there is no presumption of a crime having been committed. All they get to do is wave bye-bye to the departing person's back.
I did say that he should have notified her first. My suspicion is that someone else happened at the church but we're not getting all the details as this article is fairly biased in favour of the lady who was stopped. Perhaps she was asked to leave and then refused to leave for a period of time before finally going. Without knowing the full details we don't know whether or not it was reasonable to issue the tresspass warning.
hotshoe wrote:The cop exceeded his authority, and he probably knows it. He probably figured he can get away with it, because who's going to complain about getting pulled over - f you get away without receiving a traffic ticket, you're usually so relieved that you don't stop to think how unjustified getting pulled over was to begin with. In which case, he deserves to be fired for abuse of authority.
I agree that he shouldn't have pulled her over to issue the tresspass warning. It would have been more appropriate to visit her at home with prior warning.
hotshoe wrote:Or the cop may just be a dumb sack of shit and not know that having a badge doesn't entitle him to pull over anyone he wants with no legal justification. In which case he deserves to be suspended without pay while he learns something about the legal requirements for his job.
There is always that chance that he was Deputy Dumb
hotshoe wrote:It's also possible that the priest needs to be criminally prosecuted for lying to the police, depending on what the fucker said about the women's behavior as grounds for asking that the police get involved.
We'll never know what really went on but ultimate responsibility for the pulling the lady over lies with the poilce. Anyone could as a police officer to pull someone over who they have fallen out with but that doesn't mean that the police have to do it. I'm sure the police get constant requests for action that they ignore because its not appropriate/neccessary.