Maryland Aggressive Driving Campaign
Aug 10, 2015 General
There is a commercial on local radio discussing aggressive driving in which things like speeding and tailgating are discussed. The commercial talks about this ailment and indicates the cure is tickets and fines.
About a month ago I was traveling on MD Route 40 in Harford County about 0600 during the work week. I was on my way to work and traffic was moderately heavy. A Maryland State Trooper in a marked vehicle entered my area at a high rate of speed, followed close to me and then abruptly changed lanes in order to get ahead of me. He continued to speed in and out of traffic tailgating and zipping in and out just to get ahead of other people.
It is obvious he was not on an emergency call as his emergency lights were not on. If he were on a call then it was not an emergency. If the call does not warrant emergency lights it does not warrant driving like that (and even using lights requires prudence when driving).
[note]At least if he had his lights on people would know to get out of his way. In this instance people did not know what was going on. Several tried to move but his actions made him unpredictable.[/note]
If you are charged with upholding the law then you are obligated to follow it. The description in the commercial fit this police officer to a T and he, according to the radio spot, should have been ticketed.
As a public service I will disclose that the car had an aviation tag and the number was F-20.
Would one of the law abiding officers be so kind as to go write him an aggressive driving ticket so he can be cured?
Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Tags: aggressive driving, emergency, F-20, maryland state police
When Law Enforcement Ignores The Law
Jul 29, 2013 Political, Second Amendment
We have tyranny.
The People’s Republik of Maryland (PRoM) has gun control laws that infringe on the rights of law abiding citizens. Those laws are pushed by liberal law makers who can apply for and receive carry permits based on their political office (and many are lawyers, another protected class) or are protected by armed police officers (such as the governor).
The average citizen cannot get a carry permit without a good and substantial reason. The law does not define what good and substantial is but the Maryland State Police Superintendant (charged with issuing permits and appointed by the moron governor) has narrowly defined it to mean you have documented threats or carry large sums of money. So the average person is left to the criminal element because the state and its enforcement arm in the State Police refuse to follow the Second Amendment (shall not be infringed).
[note]No one in Maryland needs to carry a gun because it is safe for us since criminals all obey the law.
NBC Washington
CBS Baltimore[/note]
The Maryland State Police (MSP) plays games with the permit process and that is bad. It is also bad that the MSP, an agency charged with upholding the law, ignores the law.
The law regarding the purchase of a regulated firearm states that the MSP (also charged with investigating the purchase and disapproving or not disapproving it) has seven days to either disapprove or not disapprove. Since Maryland began working on even more unconstitutional gun laws (and eventually passing them) the sale of firearms has gone through the roof. People are waiting well over 100 days for a process that the law allows seven to complete.
[note]The language used for a regulated purchase is either “disapproved” or “not disapproved” as opposed to approved or disapproved.[/note]
The law allows the transfer of a firearm after seven days if the MSP has not completed its statutory duty but many dealers will not do so for fear of backlash.
There are theories that the MSP is deliberately holding up the process in order to push the sales past October First in order to subject people to the more stringent anti gun laws including denying firearms that are legal now but will not be after 10/1. The MSP claims it is overwhelmed and can’t keep up.
That does not wash. Who cares if the MSP can’t keep up? It is bound by law to complete a certain action in a certain amount of time. If the MSP is unable to do that then it should issue a very clear memo to firearms dealers telling them to release firearms anytime after the eighth day. The MSP will not do that. It has released ambiguous memos. It has made clear that it prefers that the firearms not be released and the dealers do not want trouble. Keep in mind that the dealers would be following the law but would that stop the state from finding a reason to shut down a business?
Dealers have to think of their future (which is bleak in Maryland anyway).
Suppose some State Police Officer wrote a person a ticket for driving too fast and that ticket had to be paid within 30 days. Does anyone think that the police, the courts or the Motor Vehicle Administration would ignore any such person who decided that he was not going to pay the ticket for 100 or more days? Don’t get me wrong, plenty of people decide not (or forget) to pay tickets. BUT the state does not overlook it. Licenses are suspended, people are not allowed to reregister vehicles and warrants are issued. The state and its police expect YOU to follow the law (by not speeding and by paying fines on time) but it fails to hold itself to the same standard.
How do you think the MSP would treat a person who was given seven days to turn in all firearms because of a protective order and ignored that order? Suppose the person just decided he would wait 100 days. Do you think the police would show patience and say it was OK?
There is a law that specifically defines the time the MSP has to disapprove or not disapprove a regulated firearm purchase and the MSP is ignoring that law. It is asking for the firearm buying public to be patient while they work through the process.
Do you think they would exercise patience if YOU did not follow the law?
Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Tags: carry permit, delays, gun laws, law, maryland state police, regulated firearm purchase
Chalk Up One For Liberty
Sep 29, 2010 Political
Some time ago Anthony Graber was riding his motorcycle in a reckless manner on Interstate 95 in Maryland. Graber had a helmet camera on and was filming his antics, antics that caught the attention of an off duty Maryland State Trooper. The trooper stopped Graber and got out of his car with his gun drawn. He did not immediately identify himself as a police officer and Graber thought he would be killed by some crazy guy with a gun.
Once the man identified himself (I never saw if he flashed a badge) Graber got off his motorcycle. After he was released he posted the video of the encounter with the trooper on You Tube. A few days later the police arrived at his house with a warrant and confiscated his computer equipment and the camera.
Graber was charged with violating Maryland’s wiretapping laws which make it illegal to record private conversations.
That case went to court and the charges against Graber were dropped. The Judge, Emory A. Plitt Jr, ruled the wiretap law did not apply because the conversation was not private.
This is the absolute correct decision. No public conversation is private and, as Graber’s lawyer points out, when a police office arrests you he informs you that what you say can be used against you thus meaning the conversation is not a private one. Wiretapping laws are meant for conversations where one can reasonably expect privacy. A conversation on a public street, particularly one with a representative of the government, is not private.
It is not illegal to audio or video record anyone on the street but the cops want it both ways with regard to privacy. They want to be able to put a GPS on your car because you have no reasonable expectation of privacy on a public street but they expect privacy on a public street when they have an encounter with you.
It is all bogus and Judge Plitt made that very clear.
Of course, the police will just continue to do what they want. The Maryland State Police have stated they respect the judge’s decision and will review how they handle things but they will not change how they handle stops. This means if you are recording them there could be problems, particularly if they discover it at the time.
The police record people when they stop them and the recording is done without the permission of the person who was stopped. Is this another blanket abuse of our rights based on the idea that driving is not a right and that in order to drive you give consent to be recorded if stopped?
The way I see it, the police work for US and we have the right to record them doing their jobs.
In any event, nothing they do is private because they are PUBLIC servants. Everything they do is and should be in the public’s eyes.
Judge Plitt made that clear so record them all you want.
Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
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Tags: lies, maryland state police, public, recording