Westfield PD Extreme Traffic Stop- Teens

[littletommy]

I would imagine that you have considered that unlike criminals, there is usually more money in harassing us and we generally do not threaten the officers plans to grow at least one day older following the incident. In short, we are easy pickings as opposed to criminals who generally are not. This works the same way as when you work in a prison for a while, you will find that when dealing with the truly dangerous (think Michigan City) the staff run around in gangs for mutual protection and let the inmates do what they want for the most part, where by contrast, at a minimum security facility with largely non-violent offenders, the staff act like they don't have a dog at home to kick, so they bring it to work. I would say that we just need to get to work to find legal means to make life plain miserable for them so that they will reevaluate their priorities.

My wifes ex husband is behind in child support almost $20,000. I, on the other hand, have never been behind a penny, and do way more for my kids than the divorce decree say I have to do. Guess who gets hassled almost yearly by the child support goons? He's a dis functional drunk, to the point of not being able to work, I have a good job and pay my bills. It really sucks sometimes to be a responsible citizen. Hell, maybe the dead ass zombies are smarter than the rest of us.

 

[PeaShooter]

https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo..._guide_how_to_manufacture_probable_cause.html

 

[cobber]

Yep, if you smell marijuana, the car is yours...
(no consent needed)

To search. Haven't seen any case law on stopping based on smell.

Citations anyone?

Exceptions to the Fourth Amendment and Indiana Constitution should be narrowly construed. They are not holes to drive our Mack trucks through.

 

[kiddchaos]

Legalize it. Dare I say regulate and tax it. It`s a waste of LEO time.

 

[wally05]

Contact the brass for review of the stop. This after one of their officers pistol whipped a theft subject, this does not hold Westfield PD in the greatest light. The chief is quoted as saying that when an allegation is brought against an officer, it is investigated. So, make them investigate it. You won't get in trouble, but there are plenty of good men and women that would serve the community better and take his place if this officer ended doing what your son said he did.

I'm sure there are fine officers in HC, but my interactions with some of the departments has not been the best. Officers I've worked with in Madison county have said the same. But, that is just my opinion.

 

[Magneto]

This stinks really bad. I wonder if the officer seeming "unstable" may be something key.

 

[Roadie]

The reason for the stop bothers me a bit, but what really gets me is the frisking of a teen age girl. If that was my daughter, I would be livid.

What I am curious about is, did she just FEEL like she was being groped, even though the Officer did just a quick Terry pat down, or did he cross the line and grope areas that he should have had a female cop do instead?

 

[Denny347]

I've smelled burning MJ as I was standing downtown and a car passed by at a "not so fast" clip. Depending on traffic, you can pinpoint it to a particular car. It's really not too hard. It is enough PC to stop them if you choose to. Oh, and it is perfectly legal for a male officer to patdown a female. Female officers search males all the time. Obviously I cannot search in the bra but I can search pockets, waistband, pant legs, shirts, coats, hats. It is not uncommon to NOT have a female officer available for a search...a search HAS to be done.

 

[Paul]

Not surprised by this one bit. Back in my high school days and up to about 2 years ago I got pulled over a bunch for being young. I have had 3 tickets in my life (not counting a bull**it seatbelt ticket), but I have been pulled over around 20-25 times. Many of those times just asking where I was going. I was pulled over while riding in a friends car and the car was searched because "I was moving around" in the car. I will tell you all something, cops like this are just raising teens and young adults that distrust police.

 

[Lilmagnum]

Denny347 , You do need to go for additional training. Having served in a major county jail, as a confinment officer, I can say you cannot pat down a female as you think you can .In this county you would be serving time for that infraction !!

 

[Denny347]

Denny347 , You do need to go for additional training. Having served in a major county jail, as a confinment officer, I can say you cannot pat down a female as you think you can .In this county you would be serving time for that infraction !!

Um, well, I can...and do if needed. Since I work for the largest PD in Indiana, I can tell you that if we need to, we can. Please cite me the IC code where I 'll be serving time for patting down a female...or for that matter, a female officer doing so for a male.

 

[paddling_man]

.or for that matter, a female officer doing so for a male.

Can I request a female officer for patdown? Is she cute? Pics???

 

[Roadie]

I've smelled burning MJ as I was standing downtown and a car passed by at a "not so fast" clip. Depending on traffic, you can pinpoint it to a particular car. It's really not too hard. It is enough PC to stop them if you choose to. Oh, and it is perfectly legal for a male officer to patdown a female. Female officers search males all the time. Obviously I cannot search in the bra but I can search pockets, waistband, pant legs, shirts, coats, hats. It is not uncommon to NOT have a female officer available for a search...a search HAS to be done.

That's why I wondered how far the search went. Did the girl just FEEL violated, or was she actually violated..

 

[Loco179]

My wifes ex husband is behind in child support almost $20,000. I, on the other hand, have never been behind a penny, and do way more for my kids than the divorce decree say I have to do. Guess who gets hassled almost yearly by the child support goons? He's a dis functional drunk, to the point of not being able to work, I have a good job and pay my bills. It really sucks sometimes to be a responsible citizen. Hell, maybe the dead ass zombies are smarter than the rest of us.

They hassle you because they know you will pay. Its pure numbers. They do not waste time with people that will not pay for them or their service.

 

[hornadylnl]

They hassle you because they know you will pay. Its pure numbers. They do not waste time with people that will not pay for them or their service.

I know a guy who always carried a good sum of cash so he could bail himself out of jail. He always paid his child support and on time but he refused to pay the fees for the courts or whoever. Every once in awhile, he'd get popped, put in jail, bail himself out. Wash, rinse, repeat. I see his point. Why does he need some bureaucrat to administer his child support if he's paying it?

 

[griffin]

LEO was lying. As someone who used to smoke marijuana in my youth, I can guarantee that if the kids had been smoking pot the dad would easily have been able to smell it on them or the car.

LEO is a lying POS.

 

[littletommy]

As I already stated, the girls mother should go to the prosecutor and file molesting charges. I would certainly not want my daughter to be patted down by a male officer, even if she was burning one with her friends in the car. As evidenced by some of the replies by LEOs in this thread, they CAN do whatever they deem necessary, sometimes that may be justified, sometimes not. The only way to stop it is to (1) be right when you present your case in court, and (2) have enough people making enough racket over this BS to make it more trouble than it's worth for the JBTs.

Smelling weed as the car goes by? Please.

 

[littletommy]

They hassle you because they know you will pay. Its pure numbers. They do not waste time with people that will not pay for them or their service.

Yeah, that was kinda the whole point.

 

[Indy317]

I had a Hancock Co. Sheriff's Deputy pull me over one time, for doing about six or so over. Said he say a young kid, speed was going up (which was odd, since I was going to be turning, but I could have been going up in speed I guess), and figured there might be a pot bust. This is what interdiction is all about. Legal traffic stops, get folks to consent to search, etc.. A few years later, another Hancock Co. Deputy stopped me for five miles over, flat out said he was looking for drunk drivers. Again, a legal stop, as I was speeding.

The job itself hires a % of folks who want to be up in everyone's business. Folks who want to be a nanny to everyone else. Those types can do things wrong, or they can do things totally wrong. Folks who are stat driven, want to be in everyone's business...they have a hard time sitting still. When you don't have a lot of lower income residential areas, busy business areas (or they are closed), etc., things can get boring. For those driven types, they turn to traffic to fill their desire to interject themselves into other people's business. It can be very boring in the suburban counties, especially those with higher incomes, and minimal lower income residential areas (read: Light run loads). Just how some people are wired I guess.

My suggestion is that if you plan on filing a lawsuit, or filing a complaint, do so ASAP. Write down everything that you can (dates, times, names, etc.). Be prepared to do some research on obtaining public records. In this case, the dispatch tapes as well as the in-car video. Before any complaints, you should try to find out policy for in-car video cams. Are they supposed to be used all the time? I know many agencies up there have them, but you want to get info about the system and policy before letting them know you want a copy. There have been cases of videos going missing, or in the case of Seattle PD, they would rather just pay out sums of money for open door law type violations than give up the videos. Hopefully WPD is a good agency and won't put up much of a fight for the dispatch and video stuff.

 

[Kutnupe14]

Denny347 , You do need to go for additional training. Having served in a major county jail, as a confinment officer, I can say you cannot pat down a female as you think you can .In this county you would be serving time for that infraction !!

Uh, Denny is 100% correct, there is no issue, legally, with a road officer searching a female.
And FYI, a lot of people are making assumptions here. OP makes no indication as to the sex of the officer that searched the female. Further we have no idea how old the "young" female is.