CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police • Hacker News Board

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#161

Post by reitanqild » Mon, Apr 24, 2017, 4:26 PM UTC

IslaDeEncanta wrote: post #134

stinkytaco wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely think you should be able to record the police. But following them around is potentially unsafe for everyone involved. It's also a good way to harass good people out of the profession (the worse a job is, the more you have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to fill it). In addition, it absolutely can be a misdemeanor to harass people, government employee or not. No one deserves to be insulted. The problem…

How is following police unsafe for everyone involved?

Honest question: Are you serious?

I can think of a number if situations in a number of jobs I have had were people following me around could have been dangerous (farm hand, concrete work etc).

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#162

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 24, 2017, 4:26 PM UTC

IslaDeEncanta wrote: post #134

stinkytaco wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely think you should be able to record the police. But following them around is potentially unsafe for everyone involved. It's also a good way to harass good people out of the profession (the worse a job is, the more you have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to fill it). In addition, it absolutely can be a misdemeanor to harass people, government employee or not. No one deserves to be insulted. The problem…

How is following police unsafe for everyone involved?

[deleted]

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#163

Post by MaxfordAndSons » Mon, Apr 24, 2017, 4:26 PM UTC

ythn wrote: post #91

icebraining wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excusable in a war zone, not in a policing action. Then again a man firing 100 machine gun rounds would be almost unheard of in any other developed country, so maybe the US does qualify as a war zone.

> so maybe the US does qualify as a war zone. It sure does. We are constantly at war against tyranny and citizen owned guns are one of our best weapons. I don't think any other "developed country" has been democratic as long as we have without lapsing back into tyranny every other century.

Interesting, could you point out some recent (anytime post 1780s) examples of the armed US citizenry using our weapons to defend against tyranny?

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#164

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 24, 2017, 4:27 PM UTC

JshWright wrote: post #79

Here are the most recent videos in the playlist linked in that post. Parts one and two of a 'confrontation' with Officer Hans Chapman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDtsXYG9b9Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWkefVqO9vw Basically, a couple of guys looking to provoke a reaction, and a cop who interacts with them respectfully and is primarily concerned for everyone's safety. I wonder how similar the scenario describ…

[deleted]

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#165

Post by scott_karana » Mon, Apr 24, 2017, 4:27 PM UTC

golergka wrote: post #104

bougiefever wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's fair, if you're going to use deadly force, to first find out with a much, much greater degree of certainty, that there actually is a weapon, and if so that they actually are in danger. Too many cowardly and scared police shooting at shadows and noises. "It's not to excuse the behavior of the police.." And yes, your comment is excusing the behavior of the police. Just saying that you didn't just excuse th…

Taking time to raise level of certainty will, with high probability, give the other guy time to shoot you. This is one untypical case that makes the news, so you're thinking about optimizing decision making for this case; all the cases where police actually get shot don't.

Handling atypical cases well is the distinguishing feature between good and bad.

That applies for business and software in addition to morals...

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#166

Post by bobwaycott » Mon, Apr 24, 2017, 4:27 PM UTC

golergka wrote: post #104

bougiefever wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's fair, if you're going to use deadly force, to first find out with a much, much greater degree of certainty, that there actually is a weapon, and if so that they actually are in danger. Too many cowardly and scared police shooting at shadows and noises. "It's not to excuse the behavior of the police.." And yes, your comment is excusing the behavior of the police. Just saying that you didn't just excuse th…

Taking time to raise level of certainty will, with high probability, give the other guy time to shoot you. This is one untypical case that makes the news, so you're thinking about optimizing decision making for this case; all the cases where police actually get shot don't.

If soldiers can do it in combat zones, LEO can do it in our city streets.

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#167

Post by crispyambulance » Mon, Apr 24, 2017, 4:27 PM UTC

I've seen this stuff before. Police doing their job on the street trying to keep order in potentially volatile situations and some fool with a camera insinuating himself into the mess who wants to start an ad-hoc high-school forensics debate about police power. Bad idea.

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#168

Post by MaxfordAndSons » Mon, Apr 24, 2017, 4:28 PM UTC

oblio wrote: post #103

sambull wrote: post #3

In my county they opened fire on someone filming the police recently. Turns out having video evidence is the ONLY way a policeman can be wrong.

You conveniently left out the part where the "victim" was shooting dozens of rounds at a nearby house (!!!).

You are mistaken: the man shot by police was the neighbor of the person firing the machine gun (who as it happens had already been apprehended).

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#169

Post by iamatworknow » Mon, Apr 24, 2017, 4:28 PM UTC

beart wrote: post #16

draugadrotten wrote: post #13

This sounds very much like one side of the story. "I was essentially arrested for filming a police checkpoint in Manchester, New Hampshire" I don't want to defend the police, but that sounds like there is a lot of information missing here. Why was he filming the police? What did other people do at/to/near the checkpoint? Was he alone or part of a group or even a mob?

Some New England states do random police checkpoints to try to curb drunk driving. Many people think this is illegal (stopping without cause) and try to fight against it, film their interactions at the checkpoints, etc.

Don't forget US Border Patrol has the authority to setup checkpoints or pull over anyone within 100 miles of the border, without cause. A lot of people might be aware of this with respect to the border with Mexico, but it applies to Canada as well. In the northeast that covers about half of the states of Vermont and New Hampshire, basically all of Maine, and a lot of New York north of the Thruway (Syracuse/Albany).

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#170

Post by simonh » Mon, Apr 24, 2017, 4:28 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #109

lohengramm wrote: post #81

Seems like the guy calls himself a "copchaser" and is used to actuallly chase police officers, annoyingly record their action and make sure to insult them while teaching them a lesson about how to do their job. And he calls all that "standing his ground". I am sure police officers can be jerks or even completely criminals, but this guy really seems to be crossing the line of common sense. Source: the YT channel himse…

Being a douchebag is still protected by the First Amendment, though.

True, but if you are being a douchebag in such a way that it interferes with a police officer's conduct of their duty, then that effect is not protected. So prosecuting this person for what they said would be wrong. Prosecuting for interfering in a Police officer's discharge of their duty would be though.

Incidentally this is my take on the 'shouting Fire in a cinema' issue. Shouting whatever you like shouldn't be a crime, just as firing a gun isn't in itself a crime. Context matters. Deliberately causing a panic is a crime, as is killing a person with a bullet fired from your gun. Intentions matter and even unintentional but negligently caused effects matter.