Rochester Police Ticket Supporters of Woman Who Taped Police From Her Own Front Yard (Video)

By on June 25, 2011 in News 45

The video below is from a Rochester, New York, neighborhood meeting in support of Emily Good, the woman arrested for videotaping a traffic stop from her front yard. So Rochester police sent four squad cars to ticket the cars of meeting attendees who parked more than 12 inches from the curb. Yes, they even brought a ruler.

See original video which led to the protests here. (On May 12th, A Rochester woman was arrested for taping a traffic stop in front of her 19th Ward Home. She was standing in front of her house with a hand held recording device when the arrest happened. Officer Mario Masic, Rochester Police Department, executed the illegal arrest).

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  • KxBk6U

    12 inches from the curb, huh? Take a look at these shots from the video. The first cop car, maybe. The second one.. pretty sure it’s not. I would liked to have seen someone check these cars.

  • Anonymous

    This is the petty pattern of escalation. These cops are just hurting themselves and the community with this behavior. Soon, more and more people will stop putting up with this crap. Increasingly, the cops will be seen as the state sponsored criminals they often are. Then, the order they purport to serve will be lost. Then, lord help you if you are a cop or any other person in authority. The bully pulpit can be torn down.  

    Civil war is becoming more and more inevitable. Expect riots that make the LA riots look like a school yard brawl.

    The ironic thing is most of us, including myself are not trying to incite a violent uprising. But, it is becoming quite obvious that someone is trying to incite us to violence…. and its not the average citizen who’s doing it. 

    The cops are mere foolish, (sometimes well-meaning),  automatons being directed to do these things. Tools. Cops are tools. Take a look toward who’s swinging the hammer and turning the screw driver.

  • Anonymous

    So no surprises then. I recently got into an argument with one of those people who will continue to insist there is another side of this (a friend of a friend who works for 911). Some sheeple just refuse to open their eyes to what is going on around them, no matter how obvious the police are being about their abuse of power and the use of any minor infraction to silence dissent.

  • Anonymous

    I got a ticket for this shit yesterday. Only good cop is a dead cop, etc

  • DeepCough

    Guess what Amendment cops piss on even more than the 4th Amendment? The 1st Amendment.
    (For the uninitiated, the 1st Amendment guarantees the right to peaceable assembly.)

  • Tio Holtzman

    But they were only following orders, they’ll say…

  • Tio Holtzman

    But they were only following orders, they’ll say…

  • Tio Holtzman

    But they were only following orders, they’ll say…

  • Tio Holtzman

    But they were only following orders, they’ll say…

  • Anonymous

    So were the Nazi soldiers who ran the death camps. Wasn’t an excuse then and it shouldn’t be now. No matter how little the offense.

  • Anonymous

    Ultimately, a lame excuse that won’t help them if and when the shit hits the fan.

  • Anonymous

    Ultimately, a lame excuse that won’t help them if and when the shit hits the fan.

  • Anonymous

    Well, it’s not that black and white. There are a lot of genuinely good cops, people who are actually trying to do the job they’re supposed to. I know a few, so I know they do actually exist out there somewhere. But when they’re doing their job, there’s no reason to report on what they’re doing, so the ones who overstep become the public face of all of them.

    Which doesn’t excuse the people who close their eyes to it and claim it’s not happening at all. But there’s really a whole lot of variety among cops, more than the endless stories of abuse would lead you to believe.

  • Anonymous

    I agree with much of what you say. But good IS as good DOES. If a man is good at heart but does not act on that goodness, how good can he really be? This is the definition of cowardice.  

  • Anonymous

    And what would the good cops do about the bad ones in different precincts, or incidents where they don’t really know what happened because they weren’t there and only have the word of their sworn coworker to go on? There is no good “is” or “does” in a lot of situations.

  • Anonymous

    Of course. The idea is to do what’s right when you can. Cops have a lot of autonomy when they are in the field and have the power of choice to enforce as they see fit. To the credit of some, I have personally seen cops employ discretion and mercy. They have the power like any man.

  • Anonymous

    First of all, one has to wonder why in the world is this women video taping a cop doing his job, unless  he was beating up on somebody?

    Two, she should have better things to do, like making a sandwich and getting a beer for her husband!

  • Guest
  • Anonymous

    You are right, I don’t think that all cops abuse their power. However, the ease of which they can abuse their power and get away with it scott free should be frightening and thus require heavy monitoring to prevent cops from crossing that line. As long as they are being watched by citizens, such blatant overstepping of those boundaries will not be tolerated by the citzens they are supposed to be protecting, regardless of their personal views.

    For reference, the person who I was arguing with was stating that recorded evidence of cops abusing their power (like this and others) are unreliable and biased against cops.

  • Oron Joffe

    Not an appropriate comparison, if you don’t mind me saying…

  • http://www.quietatheist.com/ Slugsie

    OK, sure, the cops are being petty and vindictive. But come on, how difficult is it to park within 12inches of the kerb? It didn’t look like any of the cars had to squeeze into a spot so they could have parked legally with ease.

    But just to make it clear, I am not supporting the cops in this, the original cop was completely in the wrong, and any law that prevents members of the public from keeping public officials in line is wrong.

  • OkSlim

    Talk about taking a bad situation to the next level.
    Why would they pull their dicks out and jump up and down on them?

  • Walter

    Does not matter WHY she was taping the traffic stop.  She was on her own property, exercising her right as a free citizen of this country, not breaking the law.  And how do we know that the gentleman being stopped wouldn’t have been beat, had she not been there?  Is it not reasonable to assure that the people working for us do their jobs with a certain level of propriety?  Would you protest YOUR boss dropping in on you from time to time to make sure you’re doing your job?  Did you see that?  I, unlike many folks on the internet know the difference between your & you’re.

  • 5by5

    The questions this sort of thing make me ask are, “What in hell are they teaching at the Police Academies?” as well as, “Do they not do background checks/psyche profiles on cops before hiring them?” and also, “Where is the state government?” when things like this happen. 

    Because a culture of dipshittery like this doesn’t just pop up without help. Someone had to teach them how to be douchebags, or insufficiently inform them that their relationship with the general public is not adversarial, but that they are there to protect and SERVE the public.

    Secondly, if the proper teaching is there, but you’re still going out and hiring people with short fuses who can’t suss out that this sort of petty crap is an abuse of power, then the problem is with who you’re letting in to the force in the first place.

    And if both those precautions have been taken, but there is a prevailing attitude of mean-spiritedness within a particular department, and that was the district that I represented? You can be assured that the Chief of Police would have my gubenatorial or state congressional staff angrily crawling up his bum so far they could give him a dental exam rectally, until he sorted this matter out and FIRED (no lame “suspensions for sensitivity training”) those officers responsible.

    The last thing this makes me ask is, “Where is the honor of the good cops (presuming there are at least a few of them)?” Why are they not standing up to their colleagues and calling them out for this? Basically, where are your balls?

  • Hmmm.

    She had been recording the stop because of the amount of complaints filed about racial profiling, and in the end was arrested. The cops who were ticketing, we not assigned for that duty (read in a follow up story), so they are investigating that as well. Its pretty clear they went out of their way to harass these people to discourage them from rallying.  (the parking rules i understand, but its not a coincidence that they were in the area). There will always be shitty cops and its very hard to have anything done about them. 

  • waiting in the wings

    Not YET, it isn’t …… but the day is young.

  • hmmm.

    I remember a case a year ago in NY, where officers were being forced to meet quotas for summons, by their chief. It was to the point where they threaten to fire those who didn’t make quotas. On top of this, one officer had filed a complaint with internal affairs in regards to the altering of crime statistics by the police department. He was called out in front of all the other officers as a “rat” and then suspended. Basically there is no incentives for officers to report the bad ones, because they can lose their jobs or also be harassed for it. 

    Its an interesting story, if you haven’t read it yet.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/10/nyregion/10quotas.html

  • Anonymous

    The hyperbole used in the comment was meant to point out that the excuse of “I was following orders…” was never a good excuse. Whether it be for slaughtering thousands of people or for bullshit like ticketing supporters of a cause. “I was following orders…” is never a good excuse and shouldn’t be allowed.

  • Richiefoster

    just shows how these morons abuse their power

  • Oink

    they’re just bitter that they’re cops

  • Roystonjp

    Know how to stop a cop from drowning? 

    A: Take your foot off his neck.

  • GI_Mephibosheth

    I lived and worked in Rochester for many years. As an EMT for National Ambulance and then Rural Metro, I can say the Rochester Police Department are the finest bunch of morons out there. I personally witnessed more abuses from the RPD against the wonderful people of Rochester ove the 6 years I worked in the city. All of which was swept under the carpet by the very Police Department investigating each abuse. Go figure! So, this does not surprise me one bit.

  • RKP

    Police should not be above the law also, there is no justified reason why every one of their vehicles on this video is 20″+ away from the curb, some close to 2 feer

  • http://voxmagi-necessarywords.blogspot.com/ VoxMagi

    This is one of those lawsuit moments where an appeal needs to be immediately made to a higher authority. Not that I trust authority…but I trust a principle …shit rolls downhill…and if enough angry paperwork lands on the right desks…someone will put a boot on the necks of the local yokels pulling this shit and make heads roll to make this issue go away. One thing no supervisor wants…is underlings who stir shit up and bring more trouble and attention their way. Using this to your advantage is key in cases like this…where the local power structure is completely corrupt and generally ignores the public when they aren’t abusing the hell out of them. Be loud…and throw around concepts like Citizen Oversight Boards in local political meetings…get someone to draft a prototype bill…and watch how suddenly someone higher up will blame the local goons for this and pillory them just to make the mess go away. You can count on few things from crooks like these…but you can be sure that they’ll throw their own people under the bus in a heartbeat as soon as theres enough heat.

  • Superjim

    You know I was a military police soldier. We are heavily trained in keeping public opinion on our side and respecting civil rights (except that one time), but there is a federal law from ever letting us hit or patrol civilian streets. Maybe the feds chained the wrong dogs? If you were an MP like I was you would be appalled how these fat guys bully civies for no real reason.

  • Superjim

    You know I was a military police soldier. We are heavily trained in keeping public opinion on our side and respecting civil rights (except that one time), but there is a federal law from ever letting us hit or patrol civilian streets. Maybe the feds chained the wrong dogs? If you were an MP like I was you would be appalled how these fat guys bully civies for no real reason.

  • Elmyr23

    didn’t mean to like your comment.

  • Anonymous

    MP or not, I am appalled by all the bullying. I thought I had made that point obvious. 

    Seriously, good for you if have treated people honorably in your MP position. Curious though, what do you mean by “except that one time”?

    Maybe, (I could be wrong) but wouldn’t MP’s tend to respect those they are policing because they are other soldiers like them? 

    Street cops are often socially isolated from the people they are supposed to protect. It becomes adversarial.

  • Anonymous

    MP or not, I am appalled by all the bullying. I thought I had made that point obvious. 

    Seriously, good for you if have treated people honorably in your MP position. Curious though, what do you mean by “except that one time”?

    Maybe, (I could be wrong) but wouldn’t MP’s tend to respect those they are policing because they are other soldiers like them? 

    Street cops are often socially isolated from the people they are supposed to protect. It becomes adversarial.

  • Superjim

    I think the main difference is indoctrination, civilian police don’t absorb months of training that says “you are of the troops and for the troops, you serve the citizen you are not better than the citizen.” Some times brain washing is a a good thing. :)

     I’ve known troops to get non-judicial punishment for cursing out suspected rapists, but you know …innocent until proven guilty. I was trained to talk softly and carry a big stick, not curse at regular traffic violators. MP’s do detain (= arrest but legally distinct for other reasons depending on SOFA and jurisdictional agreements) civilians and title (charge) them under USC code, but we don’t give them hell for messing up that’s the prosecutors job.As for that one time.. everybody knows somebody who knows a guy who did whatever. You know?? This speaks for its self though, the MP Corp is the single largest FLETA law enforcement agency in the united states and even bigger if you include part timers like the guard. The amount of complaints and media attention for abuse or what not in infinitely smaller. For a huge group how many times have you seen bad MPs in the news? (yea yea ABu Gharib..I know…) “Community policing” doctrine for that and a lack of police unions to hide corruption help. Maybe the government needs to repeal Posse Comitatus so we can have a federal police force with uniform standards of conduct..or better yet put all the civie cops under the UCMJ and call the MPs when they are corrupt….. 

  • Sonicbphuct

    Um – they’re cops. How about an HONEST investigation? How does a good or bad cop know what went on at a crime when they weren’t there? This is a seriously lame argument. The fact that no good cops every hold the bad cops to account for their misdeeds implies they are, in fact, not good. If a “good cop” sees a robbery at gun point and does nothing, going even so far as to lie to protect the criminal, well, that’s about the same as being there while the bad cop arrests the woman for filming and not saying a damn thing.

  • Sonicbphuct

    That is some of the best internet sarcasm I’ve ever seen! Bravo!

  • Anonymous

    Yes, my cousin in Dallas is going to demand an investigation because he heard on the internet that there might be a bad cop in Philadelphia. Are you seriously saying that because there might be a bad cop (or usually, a group of them) in one place there are no good ones anywhere else because the ones that are “anywhere else” can’t do anything about it?

    Investigations require someone within the _same_jurisdiction_ to make a complaint, and then they’re handled by IA, not by their fellows. If the other cops — good or bad — get involved with the investigation in any way other than what IA specifically requests they can be held criminally liable, even if they’re trying to help the investigation.

  • Sort Pest (Black Plague)

    I Denmark (where I live) checking parking is done by the state or “commune”. No cop would ever go around checking distance from the curb and hand out parkingtickets.

    In Denmark, the cops beat up lefters. And cop intelligence investigate right wing extrimists. And the dark blue government passes laws to stop anything green, left and benevolent.

  • papicuzo

    It shouldn’t be allowed. Amen.
    I order you all to stop following orders.