Police Complaint Center

My Tuesday morning on 27 November, 07, started at 10:10 a.m when I left my house in NJ heading to Brooklyn where I was scheduled to meet two of my Social Work students at their internship agencies at 12:00 noon and 2:00 p.m.
The traffic was moving, so I had enough time to get to my appointment. I was driving through State Parkway to 440 and then to Staten Island; I noticed that police cars were spread- out all the way from State Parkway to Staten Island. At first I thought it might be an accident somewhere in the road. Besides being a careful driver, I became extra careful and repeatedly checked my speed, which, I usually do any day. Being so confident I continued to drive and in the middle of the Outer Bridge I noticed a police officer driving behind me. Because I was confident that I was driving well, keeping my speed between 40 and 42, my first thought was he is trying to pass me. I tried to slow down and gave him a way to pass me, but he did not. Then I continued until almost the end of the Outer Bridge and slightly before the Toll Plaza, I noticed he signaled me to stop on the side, which I did.
I asked him politely, yes officer, is there any problem? He replied, I can’t hear you
I opened the window widely and raised my voice and asked the same question.
He replied, yes Ma’m, you have been following too closely.
I looked at him, trying to clarify what he just said, what do you mean by following too closely?
He replied: you were driving too close to the car in front of you.
I sighed, and I started to feel frustrated, because I knew that I was driving very carefully. Then, I looked at him and tried to be extra polite, I said I know I was not driving too close to the car in front of me and please, officer, forgive me and let me go, because I have an appointment to catch.
He looked at me angrily and said: I’m not God and I don’t deal forgiveness, then he asked for my driver’s license and car registration.
It did not take him more than few minutes to issue the ticket. He gave me the ticket and I start reading what type of violation the following too closely is, seeking more information from the ticket, he surprised me by his loud voice saying, I’m giving you back your driving license and car registration and you need to show up in court on 12/18.
While I was still looking at the ticket, I replied: you know, officer, that I was driving carefully and I have done nothing to warrant this ticket, then I turned my face toward him and said: it seems that the statistics are right when they indicate that most tickets are issued at the end of the month to justify your salaries.
He replied, listen lady, you better go now.
I said: but this is not fair officer, this is what I call a violation of my rights and also harassment.
Then his face turned red, really red, and with a very angry voice he said: HARASSMENT let me show you what harassment is. Give me back your papers and your tickets NOW. At first I refused and he tried to intimidate me by saying, if you don’t give me your papers back I will take you to jail.
I felt very intimidated but I tried to gather some of my strengths and at first refused to give him my papers and the ticket back. I told him to go ahead and take me to jail if this is going to satisfy his anger.
At that time another police officer arrived and while we argued, the second officer said to his colleague you don’t need her papers just go and issue another ticket.
The 1092 police officer insisted on taking my papers back. When I realized that both were threatening me I felt frightened and gave him back my driver’s license. But, he was still not satisfied and insisted on having my first ticket. At that point he got angrier and angrier and threatened to take it by force.
When he attempted to open my car door, I became really frightened and gave him the first ticket he issued.
This time it took him more than 15 minutes to issue my other ticket.
He came and told me here you go and show me what can you do, you got another speeding ticket, now get out of here.
While trying to leave, I said, I can’t believe what you just did, you are misusing and abusing your power, and that is against the law. I’m going to fight you, officer, and I’m not going to let you abuse others, and, before I quickly, left the place, I heard him screaming loudly GO AND GET COUNSELING, YOU NEED IT.
After leaving the place, I felt that my body was still shaking with fear and shock at what just happened. After driving two miles, I had to stop my car on the side because I could not drive while my body was still shaking. Few minutes later, I received a phone call from a friend and she immediately recognized that something bad had happened to me. My teary voice could not hide the pain I was feeling at that time. She kept talking to me until I felt somehow I can drive again and without stopping I made it an hour late to my 12:00 noon appointment and another hour late to my second 2:00 appointment.
I could not look back at the tickets until I got home when my husband asked me to show him the tickets.
My husband asked me: which ticket he gave you first?
I replied: following too closely ticket and then he issued another one, a speeding ticket.
My husband said: he knows what he is doing. He issued two new tickets and not only one
I asked trying to clarify what he means by two tickets and not one
My husband said, he insist to take the first ticket from you so he can issue the speeding ticket first and then the following too closely next, so he can cover up for his harassment.
I was naive enough, not to cross my mind that the police officer was so clever when it came to covering up his infraction.
I also went back to my thought and was wondering why did he insist in getting back the first ticket if he can issue another one, then sadly I smiled and said loudly, No Wonder
Few seconds latter I said to my husband so what did he do with the first ticket then, he must destroy it or did something, but we still can investigate chasing the ticket code of the first one. The first ticket number he gave me for allegedly following too closely was “004633”. Now after he took that ticket back, the office wrote the speeding ticket first with ticket number “004634”, then the second ticket of following too closely with ticket number “004635” to say that he stopped me for speeding first then the second ticket for following too closely. What happed to the first ticket number “004633”? are these ticket official and legal document that you can not destroy or tamper with?

Then my husband and I decided to fight this harassment, racial and gender profiling, discrimination, corruption, and crimes committed by those police officers who constantly misuse and abuse their power and authority.

Hi Waburas,

I'm truly sorry to hear about all your troubles with the police. You've started down the right road to ending your problems with the police simply by posting your experience here. Negative publicity such as posting in police abuse forums can have a big effect in ending police abuse.

Police are currently seen in a very negative way all across our country and can't survive much negative press. Also the police routinely read these forum posts in an attempt to stall or build a defence for themselves before the storm hits. After your story becomes more publisized, the pressure of the negative press may force them (mayor and chief)to take action in regard to this cop and his bad behavior.

Further more don't be afraid to use the cops name and the name and address of the police department in your postings. By identifying him you put him and his department in the spotlight instead of yourself. By identifying him you've put the public on notice as to who this "good-ol-boy" is...and beleive me many folks in your community will start watching him and his activities. Also this will give others abused by this "good-ol-boy" the courage to come forward and speak out also. The more negative press there is concerning this "good-ol-boy" out there in public view the more likely the chief will finaly take the steps necessary to stop this abuse. Also understand that the police have set up "Google Alerts" so anytime something is posted on the Internet containing the name of the department or the officer's name they are alerted and they will immediately check out your posting.

I suggest that you do a brouser search and post your story in every police abuse forum and thread you can find. Start by posting your story in each of the threads contained in the forum on this website then post at the following:

copwatch international
copwatch.com

See my posting here in the forum "share your experiences." The thread is called "Coweta Sheriff Depart. & Newnan Police Misconduct" later today a man from Louisianna will be posting a reply to my post with more links to other sites where we can post misconduct complaints.

You need to go to the The United States Department of Justice and file a formal complaint aginst this "good-ol-boy". You can do it online and it's free. This will not only get the department's attention but it also sends a direct message to this "good-ol-boy" that it's over for him and your not going to put up with anymore of his abuse. By doing this it will also get the message across to the rest of the "good-ol-boys" that to continue abusing you will not be tolerated and to continue to do so will only end badly for the abusers.

The United States Department of Justice will start an investigation and if they find evidence of misuse, misconduct, and police abuse on the part of this "good-ol-boy" they will take action. If they feel there is enough evidence of misconduct, police abuse, or criminal activity they will bring federal charges aginst the department and officers involved. Now understand this! Any police department found guilty at a federal level of misconduct,abuse,brutality, criminal activity, ect. can lose any federal funding they are currently receiving. Most departments depend on federal funding for at least 25% of their operating budgets. Obviously they will do anything to protect their funding and will take the steps necessary to reign in their rouge "good-ol-boys".

Also you should file complaints with the following:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation
Your local Police Oversight Committee
The Civil Liberties Union

Under no circumstances should you file a complaint with the police department's internal affairs division. It's my understanding that if you initiate a complaint with internal affairs all information obtained from their investigation then becomes privledged and then is not admisable in court to be used by you for your defence or prosacution of the "good-ol-boy". They will be contacting you ...just ignore them.

Feel free to email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Or you may call me at 678-621-0308

Please keep us informed by posting updates here in your thread. Give me a call if there is anything I can help you with.

Sincerely

Patrick Keeley

Thank you Patrick for such informative reply to my case. I learned so many things and will follow your advise in sending my case to as many organizations as possible.
Unfortuanetly, I already filed my complaine with the Internal Affairs of the Perth Amboy Police Department. So far they send a representative to monitor the court sessions and I have not heard from them regardig this matter.
Just to update you and others of what I have encountered after my secnd court date:
After my second court, I contacted several organizations, including the State Attorney, the NJ Senator Office, and NJ Governor Office. I also contacted several Human rights organizations in Washington. I have already been in court twice. The first time was on 23 January at 1:30 p.m., and when the officer failed to show up, my court date was rescheduled for 20 February at the same time. On the later date, I heard the Judge reading my name and asking to stay in the court room. I was setting there for the entire session and when I noticed that only few people were still there, I decided to approach the officer and ask him about my case. The officer passed my two tickets to the judge and when the judge called on my name, he suggested that I see the prosecutor and try to work it out.
After another 35 minutes of waiting outside the prosecutor office, I finally entered the prosecutor’s officer to find the Police officer (Mr. Garber) comfortably setting there waiting for my case to be discussed.
When the prosecutor officer asked me whether I want plea guilty or not guilty?
I replied: “No I’m not guilty. Then the prosecutor asked again, “so you want to tell me that you were not speeding?”
I replied: “the issue is not about speeding or not speeding, the speeding ticket was issued because… Then the officer interrupted me saying: “don’t listen to her, she was speeding and she is guilty”
I felt very frustrated, because I was not allowed to explain my side of the story and because the officer asked the prosecutor not to listen and not to believe me.
I replied: (facing the prosecutor) “I’m here trying to seek justice and not to be interrupted by the same officer who harassed me”. The police officer and with a sarcastic voice said: “You should seek mental counseling, I think you need it”.
This time I was chocked, felt very frightened and terrified. This is not the first time the police officer making such unprofessional and insulting remarks. He repeated the same unprofessional remarks and insulted me once again and in front of the prosecutor.

I felt also unsafe, when the prosecutor ignored what the officer said by trying to stop both of us saying: Enough both, asking me if I want to see the judge?
I said yes, and then the prosecutor said: “but this is going to be your only chance to discuss your case.
I replied: My understanding is different. The judge said, if anyone is not satisfied with his my decision we can still appeal within 20 days. I added, the judge also said that we should file our appeal and suggested that we better consult with a lawyer.
The prosecutor replied: No you can’t appeal, if the judge decided that you are guilty, that’s it. The prosecutor continued, “Unless you decide now whether you want to consult a lawyer or not”.
I felt very pressured and intimidated by the information the prosecutor provided. Despite that I was sure of what the judge told us in the court room, I became more terrified, first by not providing me with the opportunity that anyone is entitled for and second by being misled by the prosecutor and third by being insulted and once again by the officer.
Then I realized that there is no way I can defend myself without a lawyer and told the prosecutor that I need to consult with a lawyer, if this is the only option I have.
I returned back to the court room until the judge called on my name and asked if I want to consult with a lawyer. I replied: “yes your honor” and my court day ended at that point.
As of today, I contacted several lawyers. Although all agreed that I have a good case to fight for, all believe that the judge will most likely take the officer side and I may end up paying their fees, the tickets fees, and the penalty fees.
Because I strongly believe that no one should give up on their rights, I’ll keep trying until Justice is achieved.

Thank you for your help and recommendations
Sincerely yours,
Wahiba

Don't give up!
I don't care what they try to tell you or how much they attempt to intimidate you, make them give you a hearing in front of the judge! Then it is on the record.

Win or loose you still win by forcing them into the court, if they levy any additional fines or offer you a deal to plead guilty then you have basis for an appeal regardless of what they tell you.

I would go consult the mayor or some of the city council members and explain what has transpired! IE the comments from the officer and being told you have no right to appeal.

Why was the officer given a pass for not showing up in court on the first date?

I think your time is just as valuable as his, and you should as well! I would ask the judge when you go back to court what would have happened if you had not shown up on your court date.
He will tell you there would have been a warrant issued or that your DL would have been suspended, I am certain!

Then ask the judge what makes it any different for the cop not showing when he was the one that has brought the charges.

I tell you this so that you can get all this on the record. This will show they have an alliance with the cop in that he was not admonished in any way but you would have not been afforded the same if it were the other way around! This has cost you an additional trip - another day off work and if the court thinks this officer is more important than you it show a bias!

I am not a lawyer but this seems unfair that you do not receive the same treatment as the judges and ADA's allow police officers.

Just my 2 cents.

My Name is Coutney Merrow and I am a 21 year old white female, My boyfriend Terence Everett is a 43 year old black male. On September 20, 2007 between midnight and 12:30am we were pulled over my Marianna, FL police officer John Smith at the intersection of Old Cottondale Rd. and Moneyham Rd. in Marianna. He said he was pulling us over for a tag light out but i truly believe it was because he saw a white and a black coming through the hood at that time of night. We were on our way home from Wal-Mart and it's quicker to cut through that way. Officer Smith ran our ID's and came back that my boyfriend had an outstanding 2003 warrant for failure to appear on a worthless check, he asked terence to step out of the vehicle, Terence stepped out and officer smith cuffed his left hand and as he did Sgt. Matt Vickery arrived on the scene and ran the two car lengths down the road and put terence in an illegal chokehold that was ban by FDLE. Sgt. Vickery kept telling Terence "I'll beat your ass down here, I'm going to break your neck, You're going to sleep." This scared me and I started screaming "STOP!" Sgt. Vickery said to me "Shut up and keep your seat belt on." Terence passed out and Sgt. Vickery twisted him away from the car and threw him on the ground where he started having convulsions. At this time several Jackson County officers showed up. Sgt. Vickery was sitting on top of terence screaming "give me your right hand". Terence's right hand was under him and he couldn't get it out while having a very heavy set Vickery on top of him so Sgt. Vickery told him to stop resisting which he wasn't. They finally got terence's hand out and cuffed him and drug him to the patrol car scraping his feet across the ground. Sgt. Vickery then made a statement that he heard a sack of coke drop, what is that? There was no cocaine present, plus what would it sound like if dropped? They then asked me to step out of the vehicle so they could search it so i did. I stood at the front of the car with officer smith while 4 different officers searched the vehicle, this is when i saw the puddle of blood on the ground. Officer Smith then took me to the back of the car and asked me why there was 3 box cutters, a pocket knife, and a baseball bat in the car, He stated " With these items you guys must have been up to no good, tell me what you were doing." I explained to him that the box cutters were Terence's from when he was working at the Family Dollar Distribution Center just the week before, every man carries a pocket knife, and we found the bat on the side of the road and were taking it home for his nephew to play with. Terence was still having convulsions in the car and Sgt. Vickery told me i could take the car and go home. At this point another county officer said he wanted to search the vehicle, just as he opened the passenger side door he said " Put her in cuffs too, she's going to jail." As officer smith cuffed me i asked him why and he said " He must have found something nobody else did." They put me in the back of a patrol car. Sgt. vickery then came to me and said " They found a crack pipe in the car, just tell us whose it is courtney and there won't be any charges." I said " I can't tell you whose it is because the officer had to have put it there, there's no other explanation, it wasn't there the last 4 times the car got searched." He slammed the door and walked to the car Terence was in and opened the door. After a few minutes he came back and said " Is he on any drugs? did he swallow some crack? He must have, that means his heart could explode you need to tell me, i don't want him to die in my car." I told him that he hadn't swallowed any crack and i didn't know what was wrong with Terence but I was scared. A few moments later the ambulance showed up and transported Terence to Jackson Hospital where he ended up spending 3 days in the Intensive Care Unit. Sgt. Vickery then took me out of the patrol car, uncuffed me and said " I'm saving you a trip to the county, but you need to stay away from his kind." I was taken by this statement, what did he mean by "his kind?" I still don't know but i have a feeling it had something to do with race. Terence is now going to court on charges for resisting arrest with violence and we are looking for an attorney or anyone else that can help us with filing charges against the officers responsible. Sgt. Vickery no longer works for Marianna PD, he is working in Tallahassee as security for the grand jury. Thank You. please forward this to everyone you know the more input we have the better.

This really stinks! When the “Good-O Boy” didn’t show up for the first court date the case should have been dismissed! I truly fail to understand why it wasn’t. Well actually I do understand. The “Good-O Boy’s” head is on the block and the prosecutor for sure and probably the judge too will do everything they can to protect him from your complaints and possible future prosecution.

Of course they are also protecting their “End of the Month Revenue Generation Program” (meeting their ticket quotas.) The law enforcement community is a lot like the large corporations no matter how much profit is generated it is never enough to satisfy their insatiable GREED. Our tax dollars aren’t enough! The revenue that they are allowed to keep from drug bust, property forfeitures, ticket cost, court fees, and fines aren’t enough! What next? Will law enforcement finally resort to just robbing us at gun point during a traffic stop?

On your second court date the reason they made you sit through the entire session was for the purpose of intimidating you, and to encourage you to just pay the ticket and fines.

You see if they can intimidate you into pleading guilty then that will completely gut any complaints you have against the “Good-O Boy”. By pleading guilty you would have completely exonerated the “Good-O Boy” and would have accepted his disgraceful actions and misconduct toward you as being acceptable conduct. Well it’s not acceptable at all!
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"Police Misconduct Provision"
This law makes it unlawful for State or local law enforcement officers to engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives persons of rights protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States. (42 U.S.C. § 14141). The types of conduct covered by this law can include, among other things, excessive force, discriminatory harassment, false arrests, coercive sexual conduct, and unlawful stops, searches or arrests. In order to be covered by this law, the misconduct must constitute a "pattern or practice" -- it may not simply be an isolated incident. The DOJ must be able to show in court that the agency has an unlawful policy or that the incidents constituted a pattern of unlawful conduct. However, unlike the other civil laws discussed below, DOJ does not have to show that discrimination has occurred in order to prove a pattern or practice of misconduct.
The 4th Amendment guarantees citizens of the United States "...the right...to be secure in their person, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
I must say I’m truly concerned about the direction our country is taking. We are very quickly becoming a “Police State”. Actually we have been for many years. Our politicians and judicial system have been very quietly removing our constitutional protections and liberties bit by bit. Our wonderful “Patriot Act” and its amendments actually have tabled most of our United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. We are actually living under Martial Law Provisions and very few people realize this. The only difference is that there aren’t any “Dusk to Dawn” curfews and we don’t see the National Guard patrolling the streets. Actually now that I think about it I would actually feel safer and more secure if the Guard were patrolling rather than the cops.

Ask any Federal Prosecutor or Civil Rights Attorney…WE HAVE NO RIGHTS OR LIBERTIES ANY LONGER!

Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Moa, and Pol Pot would be very proud of what our politicians, judicial system, and Law enforcement have done to the United States of America. We are no longer the “Land of the Free and the Home of The Brave.” We are now the “Land of the Oppressed and Home of the Abused.” What a sad commentary.

Maybe we should all start practicing our Hitler salutes and Zeig Hails.

Waburas Thanks for keeping us informed as to what is going on with your case. I really wish that there was more I could do to help you.

Sincerely yours.

Patrick Keeley