Velvet in Dupont and Why DC Cops Suck Ass 19 Jul 2007 11:45 am
D.C. Cops Suck Ass Part 8 - Didn’t You Miss This?
Tuesday night, dog park in Dupont Circle.
A lady we all know is standing with her dog by herself in the dog park. The rest of us had just recently left. The dog is a tiny little dog like Toto, a Cairn or Norwich Terrier. Two cops, both black, male and female, approach her in the park. They start off by telling her that her dog should be on a leash.
While she speaks fluent English, it is obvious that it is not her first language. She is actually Iranian. She responds that this is a dog park and everyone lets their dogs off leash here. They ignore her response, and write her a ticket. Then, they start to ask her if she has identification or a green card. They then ask her if she’s even legal and say that she doesn’t belong in this country, finally calling her a terrorist. Within minutes, they take the leash from her and say that she is being arrested and her dog will be picked up by Animal Control. They put her in the back of the car, continuing to harass her until a witness sees and asks them to leave her alone. They end up letting her go, completely in tears, and totally distraught.
She calls the police department on V Street and wants to file a complaint. She gets some facial expression and a few words from the officer on duty that leads her to believe these two officers have done things like this before. I’m sorry, why am I paying their salaries with my tax dollars then?
She has their names. Last night at the dog park she was still in tears, hysterically crying and shaking over what happened to her. When and if I get the names of these two useless incompetent motherfuckers, they are going on this blog. Over and over and over until they are in every google search from here to Timbuktu.
My witchhunt begins. I’ll get those names, publish them here, and demand their badges.
on 19 Jul 2007 at 12:27 pm # mysterygirl!
Blech. That’s really, really disheartening.
on 19 Jul 2007 at 12:52 pm # allez oop
Could these be the same two geniuses who insisted that DC didn’t have an attempted burglary statute? Un-fecking-believable. Like politics, pd’s seem to attract the corrupt, the petty, and the mentally disadvantaged.
on 19 Jul 2007 at 12:58 pm # suicide_blond
serious drama happens in your dog park…
xoxo
on 19 Jul 2007 at 1:23 pm # Drunken Chud
i lost all respect for cops when i got into an argument in a bar with three cops from three different municipalities (all off duty) about due process, probable cause, and presumed innocence. apparently, they had no clue of any of this, and were quite adamant that when in the court system i would have to prove my innocence. i explained the burden of proof was not on me etc… after an hour and a half all three of them got up and left in a huff because they felt that i was not listening to reason. i laughed my ass off and stood on a chair in the middle of the bar and pointed out to everyone that there were incompetent cops on the premises and to watch themselves lest be subject to illegal search and seizure, wrongful arrest and any number of rights violations. they were laughed out of the bar. i still see one of them in there every so often, but he doesn’t speak to me. in fact i think he was taken in front of a disciplinary board and turned in his badge to avoid serious action. ha!
on 19 Jul 2007 at 1:55 pm # homeimprovementninja
See, cops suck. That’s why I’m a libertarian. I don’t trust “the man”.
on 19 Jul 2007 at 2:02 pm # JohnnyDC
Cop rule #767.5 –
If you cant prove it, plant some evidence.
on 19 Jul 2007 at 11:00 pm # DCBlogs » DC Blogs Noted
[...] A woman in a dog park is shaken by the threat of police arrest, reports Velvet in Dupont, who is steaming mad. [...]
on 20 Jul 2007 at 6:56 am # Carrie
holy shit. i literally gasped when i read this. i wonder if the post or some other publication or similar would be interested to hear this story?
on 20 Jul 2007 at 7:22 am # Reya Mellicker
OMG! You’re back! I didn’t know you were back. Yay!!!!
Hey, how about your tarot reading? Give a call or email??
on 20 Jul 2007 at 8:18 am # playfulinnc
Man, that really sucks. They’ll be sorry. Karma’s a bitch.
on 20 Jul 2007 at 9:31 am # anon.
Show up at the station in person (it’s harder to give you the brush-off if you’re in their face), ask for a supervisor (do not settle for anything less than an Lt.). Be as polite as possible or they’ll have an excuse to get rid of you. Ask them what officers would have been working at that park at that time. Give the Lt. the best description you can of the officers. Use the paperwork in the station to file a complaint. Then if you want to, write a Freedom of Information Act request letter with those officers’ names to the Office of Police Complaints and fax it to 202-727-9182. You’ll be able to see how many other people have filed formal complaints.
FILE COMPLAINTS! If you let police behavior like this just go without using their own system to create paper-trails of their terrible behavior, then little can or will be done.
on 20 Jul 2007 at 11:30 am # Golden Silence
Hideous. Targeting the innocent while real crimes go unnoticed. DC cops are despicable.
on 20 Jul 2007 at 2:41 pm # Washington Cube
…and I do believe you will find their names and do it. As for Reya’s comment..yeah…I know. She didn’t tell me, either.
on 20 Jul 2007 at 3:55 pm # Paul Zhao
I’m a search engine professional (and a fellow blogger in DC metro area), and I might be able to help you out with the Google search stuff. I also dislike people who abuse their power over society, from the story above to random mall security pretending they have authority of anything.
All I need is some proof, such as the story being on a credible source (not saying your blog isn’t a credible source or anything) such as a newspaper or major website, so I don’t ruin some people’s reputations by mistake.
on 20 Jul 2007 at 7:09 pm # KD
I’m actually an investigator of civilian allegations of police misconduct, albeit in NYC rather than DC. Unfortunately, most cities don’t have a reliable system for filing and especially for dealing with complaints of this nature. The anonymous commenter is right on target — only, it’ll be much better if your friend goes too file or if you go with her, since she is the victim and you didn’t witness the incident (they won’t take you alone as seriously because of that fact - you can’t describe the officers, and you can only attest to what happened through hearsay, rendering you basically useless).
Aside from the racist, violation of EVERY GODDAMN civil right she has bullshit, they gave her a ticket for having her dog off leash … IN A DOG PARK? What fucktards. Take ‘em out, Velvet.
on 21 Jul 2007 at 6:10 pm # Not So Little Woman
Whoa! Those ass-hats. You know that’s one of my biggest fears? Minding my own business and then, for no good reason, being sucked into the “anti-immigrant” vortex? Scary.
on 22 Jul 2007 at 8:48 pm # El Guapo
You get a couple of DC bloggers writing about this and the cops will surely get theirs. This is ridiculous. Ignorant attitude that make people anti-police. I wish I had been there… Velvet, I love you.
on 23 Jul 2007 at 8:55 am # Kbee
Get those names and I’ll work them into posts every which way I can, too.
on 23 Jul 2007 at 11:48 am # MoXie
You can still file a OPC Complaint on her behalf with just the date, time and descpition of the officers. They will be able to tell from the roll call and location of event, the names of the involved officers. They are probably somewhere in Sensitivity Training learning its not ok to call a woman in a park a terrorist. Once again, I’m not surprised.
on 29 Sep 2008 at 12:55 am # Christina
I am very sorry to hear this. The cops are horrible and do nothing to protect and serve… this justice system is fucked.
on 02 Dec 2008 at 3:16 am # Anonymous
cops are arse holes
on 02 Dec 2008 at 3:17 am # cops suck
cops are arse holes
on 02 Dec 2008 at 3:18 am # cops eat shit
cop stands for cunt on patrol
on 05 Mar 2011 at 11:53 am # Drama 81
Clark County Alabama cops what a fucking joke. The whole system is full of stupid ass holes. They think they can treat you like a stray dog that shit on there steps. They let all the snitches run wild and do as they please. The new sheriff ha ha ha ha ha that,s all I can say. To protect and serve that cracks me up down with the man.