I think a lawsuit would be futile without some video of the incedent. I would, however, file a complaint with the officers off duty employer and the police dept. Whether or not either of those does any good...

 

Gosh I hate cops....sounds almost as bad as the time I was handcuffed for auto theft after I accidentally put my key in the wrong car, realized i had made a mistake, and walked over to my father's car and then got in and attempted to drive away(this is a silver 4-door camry we're talking about not exactly a rare vehicle). I also contemplated harassment lawsuit, but just decided it's not worth the effort.

 

Obviously I don't know the laws in the US, but I would be pretty sure that they are not allowed to "work" for another security company while in police uniform.

I would have thought that a complaint to the police department would be the best approach. Also if this is a common thing happening at the same place, the local press may be interested in getting involved.

I wouldn't have thought that a law suit would be very effective, since, as everyone says, it is your words against theirs, and they won't come accross as agressive a$$holes if it went to court, that's for sure....

 

Actually...I most places in the states they can. It is supposed to prevent problems by the presence of an authority figure.

 

Your best bet is a "sting". If you have someone who works at a local TV station, that would be best because then you will be able to get out of jail faster. Also, they probably have video equipment capable of capturing the event in the dark and w/o being seen.

I've seen this type of cop behavior before. In a small town in CA, the local cops prevented the gathering of 3 or more teenagers in any public place, by whatever means they deamed fit. They also blocked approval from any type of teen entertainment establishment (arcade, dance hall, etc.).

The net result was a lot of highway fatalities as teanagers drove over a mountain pass to parties in another city.

There are good cops and bad cops; unfortionately a good cop is in the background and rarely "in view" whereas a single bad cop can give every cop a bad reputation. Not that I've ever had a good encounter with a city cop...

 

I just watched an episode of Judge Judy (I know, I'm pathetic) about this same type of thing.

To summarize, this guy claimed a cop harrased him and verbally intimidated him when he was pulled over for a traffic stop. Anyway, this citizen-who turns out to be a liar-filed a report documenting this alleged abusive behavior. This report went to internal affairs, who found the cop innocent based on the fact he had taped the entire exchange as part of normal proceedure. The interesting part is even though the citizen filed a false report on the cop, the investigation and accusation will remain on the officer's record for the rest of his career.

My point is, document the incident much the way you just did and report it to the officer's station commander. I would also CC a local news station. IAD will investigate and you may find some vindication.

I wish you the greatest of luck. Cops like that don't deserve to wear the uniform.

 

Yeah, I talked to the lawyer this morning...he said that although this is totally "wrong" nothing truly illegal was done. He agreed that I should send letters to all involved parties.

I plan on sending letters to the restaurant, it's main office, the property manager, the adjacent grocery store, and it's main office, filing an official complaint with DPS, and emailing / writing all local news stations. I've actually already emailed one of the local news station's consumer rights teams.

I'll keep you guys updated.

 

Wes,

Sorry to hear about the incident. You may want to PM JRM unless he responds to this thread before, he is a police officer himself and should be able to supply you with the most objective and realistic advice.

Good luck.

 

Wes, that definitely sounds like harrassment. You're pretty much doing what you can do, with the letter writing campaign. Probably not worth taking it to court though.

Good luck. I hope you get some satisfaction. Let us know what happens.

 

Actually James certain forces in this country are talking about hiring out officers to supermarkets etc., if they haven't started doing so already... BAD move IMHO. I've no reason to disbelieve what Wes is saying, I can well believe that these guys were trying to impress their temporary 'employers' by coming on all hard assed.

I don't see much hope of a complaint going anywhere Wes, whilst you have a witness, so do they effectively, they'll corroborate each others stories. See a solicitor and make your complaint anyway , they all add up. You could try tape recording any incident with one of those small pocket dictaphones with a mike concealed somewhere, the quality is good enough to pick up close conversations. You'd have to be very careful though of not provoking any confrontation and rendering your evidence inadmissable due to 'Agent Provocateur' considerations.

Annoying as it must be my advice is report it and forget it.

You've also recorded a lot of verbal conversation which is good. But it's vitally important that these notes were made as soon as possible after the event preferably agreed upon too, by all who heard it. The notes should be signed by everyone party to them as well. this is very important if the notes are to be given any credibility in court.