IN - Stop and Frisk now in effect.

[Anti Federalist]

Because nothing says freedom like being randomly searched by cops.


“Region Stop Team” hits Northwest Indiana with Stop & Frisk tactics

http://www.policestateusa.com/2013/r...frisk-tactics/

It's "sort of like fishing," said one officer, after stopping a pedestrian and later discovering a littering warrant.

NORTHWEST INDIANA — Roving teams of police are going town to town using a controversial policing tactic that was once limited to tyranny centers like New York City. The teams are stopping people for any menial reason, and “fishing” for criminals. Often people are stopped for giving a “suspicious” look or walking in an area where previous crimes have occurred.

The leader of the intercity “Region Stop Team” is Mark Becker, Chief of Police in East Chicago, Indiana. His team consists of 12 to 18 officers who are dispersed to various local cities, such as Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago, to look for “anything outside the norm.”

Some of the stops are initiated by looking for trivial infractions — such as a broken taillight — but those stops are pretty much a given.

The interesting part about this team is that they go beyond having a tangible reason to stop people.

The Northwest Indiana Times describes another stop:

All it took for another bust was spotting a man ambling away from a gas station known for criminal activity.

Officers leaned the man against the SUV of Lake County Deputy Police Chief Dan Murchek, searching his pockets and white sneakers.

After running the man’s name, they discovered he had a warrant for littering.

“That’s a first,” Lt. Samuel Roberts said with a laugh. Roberts, the leader of STOP’s Gary officers, called their consistent sweeps “sort of like fishing.”

Literally describing their tactics as “fishing,” police resorted to stopping & frisking a man just for walking in the wrong area.

Another stop was initiated from a “funny” glance from a driver — all that Gary police Officer Don Briggs needed to make his stop, fishing for his next arrest.

“You just don’t know what you’re gonna find,” said East Chicago Police Chief Mark Becker to CBS News.

“We have some nights when you go, go, go and nothing,” Lt. Roberts said. “These small things we do at the street level makes the difference.”

Another stop, recorded by CBS, showed East Chicago Police Chief Mark Becker questioning a man filling up his scooter at a gas station. “Why would you come all the way from Hobart, IN, to here to get gas?”

Getting interrogated for gassing up, or searched for walking in the wrong area, doesn’t seem like a way to build bridges among people who are already skeptical of the police.

[Keith and stuff]

Not cool. IN is NOT NYC or LA. This should not be happening. IN, actually, isn't so awful. In my guess, it is in the 15 least bad states. Another view has it (or at least had it) at #16. http://freedominthe50states.org/overall/indiana The Great Lakes Region is known for being the least free in the US but I thought IN was the 1 stand out...

[ClydeCoulter]

My tail light has been screwed up since I don't know when, and the local guys don't bother me. I think it's a wiring problem. I hope these thugs don't try coming down in this area. We might have a problem, to quote a famous person

[jclay2]

Surprised this hasn't happened to me in Chicago yet. Unconstitutional parasites.

[jclay2]

Not cool. IN is NOT NYC or LA.

What does this have to do with it? NYC and LA don't deserve this crap either.

[phill4paul]

Not today.

[Origanalist]

Well, we can't have anarchy AF.

[ClydeCoulter]

Not cool. IN is NOT NYC or LA. This should not be happening. IN, actually, isn't so awful. In my guess, it is in the 15 least bad states. Another view has it (or at least had it) at #16. http://freedominthe50states.org/overall/indiana The Great Lakes Region is known for being the least free in the US but I thought IN was the 1 stand out...

You see where it's coming from, East Chicago. They need to keep their stupid $#@! there (actually just stop it). What are they doing sending their guys to Gary and Hammond?
Why is our Governor, Mike Pence, allowing this? He needs to be called.

[Matthew5]

Next they'll up the analogy to shooting fish in a barrel.

[kcchiefs6465]

They do this around the country. (for as long as I can remember, anyways)

This is just the systemic use of a practice already widely happening.

If it were possible to get numbers on all of the people being stopped and harassed by the police yearly, people would be amazed. NYC is a shocking figure. It would not surprise me if the figure for the entire US was in the tens of millions.

[Occam's Banana]

Coming soon to a "region" near you ...

[James Madison]

These counties are right next to Chicago.

[Origanalist]

Coming soon to a "region" near you ...

These things have a way of spreading.......

[aGameOfThrones]

It's "sort of like fishing," said one officer, after stopping a pedestrian and later discovering a littering warrant.

Except they're in a barrel and you're not really fishing, you're making crime where there wasn't any.

[dillo]

guess they should remove slippery slope from the logical fallacy section

[Keith and stuff]

Slipper Slope isn't a fallacy. It's the real deal.

[MRK]

Gary Indiana was once known as the murder capital of the United States, and possibly the world. That is, more murders occurred there per capita than anywhere else. Not hardly surprising for a place that shares a border with Lake County, Illinois, home of Chicago. (one source of many: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?id=3779177)

That being said, randomly stopping people in this part of Indiana is something I would never, ever do as a police officer, let alone be a police officer in this area. They're going to get a volley of bullets sprayed at them sooner rather than later if they keep this up. Lots of thugs there. No one I know ever stops in Gary when driving through, they just drive by and pray their car doesn't break down on the way across the highway to Chicago.

But, if the Indiana courts uphold this kind of thing, there's just one more good reason to leave Indiana. Personally, I went out of the country when this Syria mess started back up, as I didn't see an alternative that was radically different than Indiana or Florida where my roots are. Not sure when I'm going to come back. Now that I'm gone with all my affairs settled, it's going to be a long time before I return given the current state of affairs. Probably years. I'd gladly return when Rand gets elected if he can shake up Washington to a healthy degree.