Politics — “This written permission is being given… without any threats or coercion…”
The first question is:
How many times has this happened without being recorded?
The second question is:
How come I have never heard about this until today?
On July 8, 2004 police officers in Tennessee went to the house of Lester Siler, a convicted drug dealer. The pretext was a parole violation but the real reason appears to be the intent to search his house for drugs and contraband.
His wife turned on a tape recorder as she left, providing aural evidence of what can only be called torture in an attempt to make him sign a search consent form, said form ironically stating that the individual signed without coercion.
Five officers were convicted in federal court of the beatings and attempted cover-up, receiving prison sentences.
The third question is:
Would this have even come to light if there wasn’t a tape?
The fourth question is:
Just how frightened should people be of police and their jackboot tactics?
For more information, here is a series of local news stories. Here is a pdf transcript of the tape, and here is an mp3 of the tape itself. Gestapo torture right here in the good ol’ U S of A and I’ll bet no one who reads this has ever heard of it either.
To close, a commentary from Fox News (of all places) on this and similar cases, and why video and audio taping of police activity ought to remain legal for both citizens’ and police officers’ benefits. I agree. There are security cameras galore watching the general population; let the police also be very aware that their actions are being monitored in return.