He was arrested. Handcuffed. Put in a squad car and taken downtown. He was locked up for seven hours in a series of dirty cells reeking of urine and Lord knows what else. He was eventually released on his own recognizance.
What were the charges? Assault? Robbery? Theft? Something worse?
No.
He suffered this indignity at the hand of state agents because he missed a court date on a traffic ticket for a burnt out headlight and failure to have proof of insurance. (He had the insurance, just not the card proving it.)
If the Denver Police can afford the resources to roust someone like Baca at 3:00 a.m. , take him downtown and book him, they have too much money.
They have too many cops.
Apparently they have police officers sitting around looking for things to do. What else explains this waste of time and money, not to mention the indignity imposed on a citizen for a traffic matter?
There is no other explanation.
An officer with an ounce of common sense might have suggested that someone from the police department call him during regular business hours. An unpaid intern could have made the call. Baca could have been informed that there was a warrant out for his arrest for missing a court date, and that he needed to take care of it or eventually he would be picked up.
That is all the police needed to do. Heck, they didn't even need to do that. The failure to appear for the court date is in the police computer system. Eventually, Baca would have been pulled over for something. Eventually, it would have caught up with him.
But for someone to decide it was a reasonable use of police resources to send three officers to his house at 3:00 a.m. is an absurdity.
Any future calls for additional police resources should fall on deaf ears. They are wasting your money on trivialities.
The guy didn't just happen to break the law. He likely drove around for a long time with a headlight out. He didn't have his proof of insurance with him. He then failed to pay his tickets and resolve the matter. He ignored the letters in the mail even when it became a warrant. No one should feel sorry for him, especially when despite this he not only still claims he was law abiding but has the audacity to pull the race card.
ReplyDeleteHe is not a good reason to be questioning if the police have too many resources let alone to actually use it as proof they do. There are plenty of other explanations.
No doubt that Baca deserved his day in court; busted headlight and FTA might indicate that he thought he was above the system we all live within. The point is in the powers and discretion in using those powers is, more and more, being usurped. I can only hope that the cops remember where they came from. It's better to be unemployed and free from tyranny than have a job helping tyrants.
ReplyDeleteAllen-did Mr. Baca get letters?
ReplyDeleteThere is no indication of such in his story in the Post. Perhaps there is something you know of that he left out of his story.
I have never received mailed letters regarding court cases of any sort except a bill from a lawyer.
Maybe he should have gone to court and avoided the whole incident. The police were in fact doing their job and I don't feel at all sorry for the guy. Grow up and quit whining.
ReplyDeleteBaca should have gone to court and avoided the whole incident. I agree.
ReplyDeleteBaca doesn't get paid by taxes, however. The police do. And if they think rousting a guy for a traffic ticket at 3:00 a.m. is a good use of those funds, they have too many of those funds.
Of course there are too many police. This is what happens when the Federal and State representatives discover that when people are afraid you can get them to vote for you. All you need to do is say you are 'tough on crime'. Afterwords just vote for the first police spending bill that comes your way and smile all the way to your seat.
ReplyDeleteWe the people made this happen by voting in these morons, we can make the problem go away. Vote for someone who agrees that we have enough police protection, thank you very much.
It's all good and fine that the police are tyrants and there are too many of them, that is until it's your turn to need them to protect you from the criminals. To go out there and protect your families with their lives and defend your property from the gang-banger or drug addict that burglarizies your house. Then the outcry is "Where's a cop when you need one?" Cops operate with in a finite set of laws and rules, and when it's thought that those rules have been broken they are attacked, but were the thanks and appreciation when they find the person that killed a 2 year old or arrest the thugs in the act of robbing you blind.
ReplyDelete"Maybe he should have gone to court and avoided the whole incident. The police were in fact doing their job and I don't feel at all sorry for the guy. Grow up and quit whining."
ReplyDeleteThats what a cop would say... Its ridiculous that they would arrest him in the middle of the night for something like that... and they don't chase down warrents for worse things.
I don't need the police to protect me, I have Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson.
ReplyDelete