South Carolina police chief threatens man for posting on cannabis reform on Facebook

[23536]

http://www.popehat.com/2013/11/01/c...ink-creates-reasonable-suspicion-to-find-you/

Yesterday a police chief in South Carolina thoughtfully reminded us of what police think of us and our "rights" and our "viewpoints."

It began with Columbia, South Carolina Police Department's Interim Chief Ruben Santiago boasting of a marijuana arrest on Facebook:

CPD SEIZES APPROXIMATELY $40K WORTH OF MARIJAUNA FROM HOME

Interim Police Chief Ruben Santiago announces the arrest of a man accused of having approximately $40K of marijuana inside a Columbia apartment.

Demon weed, off the street!1 The War on Drugs triumphant!

Not everybody on Facebook was a fan. Chief Santiago pushed right back against criticism:

That post was swiftly deleted, but not before numerous people in the thread screencapped it and posted it in the thread.

Now, you're probably thinking this is some web-lackey shooting his mouth off, not the position of the Columbia, South Carolina Police Department, or the position of Interim Chief Ruben Santiago. Well, if that's the case, the web lackey was willing to double down upon being criticized:

I have written the Columbia Police Department's Public Information Officer for comment about whether that was, in fact, Interim Chief Santiago, and whether his views represent the views of the department.

So: if that is Chief Santiago, the police chief of a city of about 125,000 people, thinks that his department should "find you" and investigate you if you support the legalization of marijuana or oppose the ruinous, amoral War on Drugs. Notice the collection of cop tropes in the second response: (1) the thug's dance of first threatening to "find you" and then halfway backing off from it, (2) the "why worry if you have nothing to hide" routine, (3) the suggestion that advocating against the War on Drugs creates reasonable suspicion to investigate you — bearing in mind that "reasonable suspicion" is a legal term referring to the quantum of proof that supports cops, for instance, stopping and frisking you, and (4) the statement that the cops are always open to hearing from citizens after threatening to come find a citizen for criticizing them.

The story continues: http://www.popehat.com/2013/11/01/c...ink-creates-reasonable-suspicion-to-find-you/

 

[slimvictor]

Fucking nazis.
Forget free speech.
If you even mention the word "cannabis", the DEA will make a file on you, and the local police chief will hunt you down.

 

[TheRapperGoneBad]

Talking about hunting down the citizens of your own city over thoughts and opions..
What ever happened to protect and serve.

Fucking nazis.
Forget free speech.
If you even mention the word "cannabis", the DEA will make a file on you, and the local police chief will hunt you down.

They probably go threw all your calls contacts and internet activities as well. The slimy fucks are spying on us americans.

 

[poledriver]

Good article, I hope that police department cops alot of flack over it. And I hope Brandon is right that it will be legalised there one day, and everywhere.

 

[angeleyes]

Fucking nazis.
Forget free speech.
If you even mention the word "cannabis", the DEA will make a file on you, and the local police chief will hunt you down.

In the original article, the author wrote the citizen's name as 'Bradley'. lol

Rutherford [Santiago's lawyer] says Santiago is determined to clear his name and filing a defamation lawsuit is the only way to do that.

I'm keen as fuck to hear updates on this one.

 

[poledriver]

Haha you should read some of the comments from that pot bust now -

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?....182579751779604.32971.182562865114626&type=1

 

[poledriver]

UPDATED: Columbia police chief’s post sets off Facebook frenzy

COLUMBIA, SC — Interim Columbia Police Chief Ruben Santiago found himself answering questions Friday about a late-night Facebook post that set off a social media firestorm after he told a critical commenter on his department’s page, “We will work on finding you.”

The uproar began Thursday night after a news release and mug shot was posted on the department’s Facebook page about the arrest of a man who had eight pounds of marijuana. One commenter had criticized the department’s police work in Five Points, saying it should put its emphasis there rather than on marijuana.

As a response, Santiago, who did not identify himself at the time, used the commenter’s name and wrote, “We have arrested all of the violent offenders in Five points. Thank you for sharing your views and giving us reasonable suspicion to believe you might be a criminal, we will work on finding you.”

Many people on Facebook interpreted the post as a threat from the city’s police department. That led others, including an S.C. GOP activist, to launch into Santiago, saying the man’s free speech rights had been violated by the threat. The controversy soon went viral, spreading across the Internet. As of Friday night, the police department’s Facebook page had more than 200 comments and people were posting links about the controversy on their personal pages.

A few websites that advocate for the legalization of marijuana seized on it, saying the police chief had publicly threatened a “pro marijuana” supporter.

No one disputed the first sentence in Santiago’s post even though that, too, could be questioned. Earlier Thursday, the department issued a news release to say it had arrested a suspect in a weekend robbery in Five Points but suspects in a second reported robbery in Five Points were still at-large.

To further the controversy, Santiago’s first post was removed from Facebook. He later identified himself and posted another comment trying to explain himself.

Jennifer Timmons, a police department spokeswoman, said she deleted Santiago’s original comment late Thursday night after it was brought to her attention.

“I deleted that post because I thought it was best to do that until I got a better understanding of what he was trying to say and to set the record straight,” she said.

Santiago’s second response was posted after he and Timmons spoke on the phone:

“This is Interim Chief Santiago posting, I was just notified that one of my staff members deleted my post. I put everyone on notice that if you advocate for the use of illegal substances in the City of Columbia then it’s reasonable to believe you MIGHT also be involved in that particular activity, threat? Why would someone feel threaten (sic) if you are not doing anything wrong? Apply this same concept to gang activity or gang members. You can have gang tattoos and advocate that life style, but that only makes me suspicious of them, I can’t do anything until they commit a crime. So feel free to express yourself, and I will continue to express myself and what we stand for. I am always open to hearing how our citizens feel like we can be effective in fighting all crime.”

Friday afternoon, Santiago said he has learned a hard lesson on social media posts: It’s easy for them to be misunderstood, and he will think twice about future comments. He and Timmons manage the page.

Santiago said he made the comments late in the evening while watching television and looking at Facebook on his tablet computer. Santiago said he wasn’t drinking. “I don’t drink.”

“This is a reminder to us – especially to myself – to double check and triple check what I write,” Santiago said. “It’s not our intent to criminalize an individual or create havoc on social media.”

Santiago said he had informed his bosses at City Hall – City Manager Teresa Wilson and Assistant City Manager Allison Baker – of the controversy. Efforts to reach Wilson were unsuccessful.

Santiago said he sent an apology to the original commenter, Brandon Whitmer. The State reached out to Whitmer on Facebook but did not received a reply.

However, Whitmer returned to the Facebook thread to say he was not advocating drug use.

“I’m more worried about violence and people getting killed than a junkie selling/using drugs. I didn’t mean to offend anyone and your work is appreciated,” Whitmer wrote.

He then urged others to give Santiago a break.

“And by the way... I’m the person that was supposedly ‘threatened’ and I have no issue so leave the man alone,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, the department will continue posting arrests, community events and links to news articles on its Facebook page and Twitter, Santiago said.

“We try to be as active as possible on social media,” Santiago said. “It’s been a valuable tool as far as education and awareness.”

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/11/01/3071928/columbia-police-chief-says-facebook.html#storylink=cpy

 

[cj]

Interim chief santiago looks like a thug with too much power. Oh well at least he had to firmly put his foot in mouth

 

[kytnism]

wow. absolutely disgusting.

...kytnism...

 

[401Opiate]

I don't think many normal stoners have 40k worth of bud to just be smoking.

But in no way do i support the officers actions.

 

[my3rdeye]

I don't think many normal stoners have 40k worth of bud to just be smoking.

No one believes a police estimate of the value of drugs, you must be new here.



I have been kicked off a few Canadian police forces Facebook pages. I question what if Canada's most wanted is living next door and I miss the alert? Isn't social networking the new Emergency Broadcast System? They are learning the art of the pre moderated comment anyway.
I give the cannabis activist community credit, they can respond with thousands of emails, comments and letters to the editor, and they do.

 

[ro4eva]

I have been kicked off a few Canadian police forces Facebook pages. I question what if Canada's most wanted is living next door and I miss the alert? Isn't social networking the new Emergency Broadcast System? They are learning the art of the pre moderated comment anyway.

Freedom of speech is a joke in Canada.

I criticized Rona Ambrose (Canadian Health Minister) on her Facebook page because undid in a day what a group of doctors in BC had been spending a long time doing to have authorized by the gov: heroin maintenance therapy.

Anyways, after three comments which were posted by me without any sort of derogatory remarks or threatening material, I was:

- banned from posting there
- she never replied whatsoever
- everything I wrote was deleted (probably so that as few clueless readers as possible would come to learn how and why drugs were made illegal in the first place)

What a pathetic conservative bitch. I'd still fuck her though (sorry, she's a hot mama).

 

[Roger&Me]

facebook is one of the primary technologies feeding the formation of a total surveillance state, why the fuck anyone still uses it is totally beyond my comprehension.

 

[poledriver]

why the fuck anyone still uses it is totally beyond my comprehension.

Too true. I'm glad I got rid of my pics and profile off there yrs ago, I was so sick of hearing all my friends updates and seeing pics of their kids dribbling food over their faces and shit.

 

[neversickanymore]

No one believes a police estimate of the value of drugs, you must be new here.

I give the cannabis activist community credit, they can respond with thousands of emails, comments and letters to the editor, and they do.

+3 the old we are saveing peoples lives by ruining them, give us more of your money, freedom, and praise. I wonder how they will do in the private sector where their results are measured in reality and not public statements they make up, they are exspected to produce positive results and not create exponentially worse negative results than if they had done nothing at all and will be doing something challenging like flipping burgers or mowing the lawn at the park and not half ass chasing a whole bunch of relatively harmless drug users and addicts. Reality is a beautiful place everyone should at least visit...

 

[exists]

We have arrested all of the violent offenders in Five points.

Wow, I find that hard to believe!

Why would someone feel threaten (sic) if you are not doing anything wrong?

Why? Because personal drug use isn't wrong, but the threat of being prosecuted for it is always looming on the horizon.

 

[phenethylo J]

This reminds me of that case were this guy who was a politician who was saying the US should adopt Singapore's drug policy and which involved caining users and executing dealers. Some guy from norml sent him an email explaining his point of view and why he thinks it's wrong in a very polite why and the other guy sent one back to him saying "I gave your name to your local police department so they can be on the lookout for you".

 

[f33lg00d]

They're just scared. They see the drug war ending and are try desperately to continue it so they can bank off asset sezuires and insane budgets.

 

[my3rdeye]

facebook is one of the primary technologies feeding the formation of a total surveillance state, why the fuck anyone still uses it is totally beyond my comprehension.

It gets me laid.

 

[neversickanymore]

^ deactivate your account it is the biggest spy weapon the world has ever seen. if cops wanted or had the resources to arrest all the drug users and dealers they would.. shit its not like its hard to find. Do they actually think anyone buy's their shit anymore... they go round butterflies up when they want more money or if someones getting elected... nothing like spending the day on facebook at work and acting like your doing anything that will make a difference.. probably goes down in the work logs as "surveillance".. what a joke.

Why do so many cops look like inmates these days.. all you need know chief is a tear drop.. thugs will be thugs.