NYPD Officers Search Wrong Home; Post Photos Of Handcuffed Family To Snapchat
from the to-serve-and-humiliate dept
Police professionalism is on display again, this time by New York’s finest — which may as well be the nation’s finest, as far as the NYPD is concerned. The police department that thinks so highly of itself it portrays itself as an intelligence agency when working with federal agencies and ships officers to crime scenes (uninvited) all over the world to lend a helping intruding hand is catching heat for an officer’s decision to memorialize warrant service with some Snapchat posts.
A family in Brooklyn is outraged after NYPD officers raided their home, put everyone in handcuffs and then posted a picture of them on social media with the caption “Merry Christmas Its NYPD.” The ordeal led to the suspension of an officer.
The Brownsville residents were so upset that not only did they file a report, but they also called 911.
The 911 call probably wasn’t warranted (although it might have been the only way to get the NYPD’s attention), but the anger is. The photos showed an entire family in handcuffs, their morning interrupted by the NYPD’s search for someone who didn’t even reside at this address.
The NYPD continues to claim the warrant was valid. Perhaps it was, but plenty of “valid” warrants result in homes being cracked open, but with no criminals, drugs, or anything else ever found. It’s not uncommon for warrants to cite uncorroborated anonymous tips or information gathered months before the warrant is obtained. Waking up a family at 6:30 am to search for someone who isn’t there is more than an inconvenience. Topping it off by celebrating a non-bust with a photo of a handcuffed family is just a disgusting display of misused power.
The officer involved has been suspended, but unlike the family outed by his Snapchat post, his name and face remain unpublicized. It took the officers three hours to determine the person they were looking for wasn’t in the residence — time one officer used to make jokes at the expense of a family that says it doesn’t even know the person the NYPD was looking for.
The NYPD isn’t particularly adept when it comes to social media. If it isn’t officers taking photos of homeless people in a police union-backed attempt to bite at Mayor Bill De Blasio’s ankles, it’s the NYPD’s official Twitter account going up in flames in the wake of a massively-ill advised hashtag campaign.
The suspended officer will likely return to work once the investigation concludes, but this sort of thing should always result in firing. There’s no way the officer who posted this thought anyone would think it was acceptable. But he chose to do it anyway, most likely because the worst case scenario is what he’s experiencing now: an Internal Affairs investigation and a suspension. If he truly thought he’d lose his job, he likely would have shown more restraint.
Police departments can’t build relationships with communities while allowing officers to get away with this sort of behavior. There’s little that’s more intrusive than a search of your home by law enforcement officers. It completely strips away the privacy of the people involved. That’s why warrants are required. Publicly posting photos during a search massively expands the boundaries of the intrusion. Turning this massive intrusion into a punchline shows the officer has no respect for the public he serves or the Constitution he’s supposed to uphold.
Filed Under: nypd, raid, social media
Companies: snapchat
Comments on “NYPD Officers Search Wrong Home; Post Photos Of Handcuffed Family To Snapchat”
Well...
“The officer involved has been suspended, but unlike the family outed by his Snapchat post, his name and face remain unpublicized. It took the officers three hours to determine the person they were looking for wasn’t in the residence — time one officer used to make jokes at the expense of a family that says it doesn’t even know the person the NYPD was looking for. “
When you actively promote the idea that the police are here to “Serve and Protect” when they actually are NOT here to “Serve and Protect” or even SWORN to do so this is what happens.
It is my opinion that the police are actively antagonizing the citizens into getting into a blood filled shoot out so they have an excuse to load up on even more WAR GEAR so they can treat Americans like enemy combatants so they can just shoot first and throw away the questions later.
Sue the officer for everything he will potentially ever earn
The only way to stop things like this from happening over and over is to go after the people who enable it. The cops need to remember that all suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. When you remove all protections and rights by taking perp photos and publishing them of people that have done nothing wrong, you lose your get out of jail free card as well. Police unions who protect cops like this are the problem and honestly should be made illegal.
Re: Sue the officer for everything he will potentially ever earn
Actually, I believe this is Apple’s fault for selling the iPhone to this officer without a “jackass filter” on it.
Apple should pay up.
“There’s no way the officer who posted this thought anyone would think it was acceptable.”
That is sadly where I think you are wrong. Time and time again we have seen that with the current culture inside police departments this kind of thing is acceptable. I hope I am wrong but even in this case he will probably get a slap on the wrist and told “Don’t get caught next time”
The old line about one bad apple spoiling the bunch isn’t an excuse, its a warning. Remove it or they will all spoil.
Somehow the true meaning has been lost and has changed to a lame excuse meanwhile the spoiling continues to happen and affects us all.
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The officer works at the 73rd Precinct, the same station house where 15 police officers were suspected of participating in the “Morgue Boys” ring and 5 were removed from duty over allegations of extorting cash, guns, and drugs from drug dealers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Police_Department_corruption_and_misconduct#Corruption_in_73rd_Precinct
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you misunderstand.
they never said spoiling the bunch is a bug. it’s a feature.
Simpler version and more accurate version:-
Police departments can’t build relationships with communities while officers behave like this.
Re: Re:
Simplest Version: Police departments don’t care about building relationships with communities.
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almost got it…
Simplest Version: Police departments don’t care about building relationships with Criminals (cause that is how they look at all of US!)
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Probably most accurate is: Police departments only care about themselves.
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Your version is not quite true, either.
Police departments do care about building relationships with communities — relationships where communities treat police as unquestioned heroes rather than civil servants who can (and do) make mistakes.
Re: Re: In the same way that lords have a 'relationship' with their serfs
Sure they do, you just need to warp the definition of ‘relationship’ to the breaking point. If you change it’s meaning to ‘one side tells the other what to do and they do it immediately, no questions asked’, then yes, police absolutely want a ‘relationship’ with the public.
“But he chose to do it anyway, most likely because the worst case scenario is what he’s experiencing now: an Internal Affairs investigation and a suspension. If he truly thought he’d lose his job, he likely would have shown more restraint.”
This can’t be emphasized enough. The abuses, and by that I mean ANY abuse, will keep happening unless these sociopaths meet severe punishment for abusing power. But this has little chance of happening since the people in power are even worse simply because they allow such things to happen without taking action.
Who judges the judge?
…they are probably guilty of something!
The best part is that the NYPD has not named the officer because of their privacy policy!
So pictures of a completely innocent family in handcuffs are OK.
Name/picture of public servant who took the picture (on company time, no less) is not OK.
A note to police everywhere – attitudes like this are why an increasing number of the public think you’re assholes.
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This, a thousand times this. I want to nail this comment on every police station door, and glue it to the forehead of every police union boss.
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“glue it to the forehead of every police union boss.”
things tend to not stick to the police… better use a nail gun!
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Careful, threatening a police officer can result in death.
Re: Re: Re: What can't?
So can breathing, blinking, sneezing, looking ‘suspicious’, scratching your nose…
You all seam to be missing the point. This was wrong even if they found something.
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No, we all understand that part as well. The problem is that the police for the most part, believe finding something would excuse everything.
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Nope. The problem is that the police believe they are above needing excuses at all.
But,,,,
To the cop that posted this, it was funny, to be laughed at/about… until it wasn’t funny any more!
the mindset is “your Rights are a Joke to the boys in Blue”
“an Internal Affairs investigation and a suspension”
Well thats what one imagines would happen, but given their history it is much more likely he’ll get bought a few rounds to make him feel better about the ‘punishment’ he already got.
From the history of ignoring video of officers abusing the public, believing a prepared statement from an officer over testimony of witnesses & video.
While the ‘war on police’ narrative keeps getting spun, perhaps we should look at who has the surplus military weapons & training more suited for a war zone than policing a community. Perhaps if they want the public to care about them, they should clean their own house. Stop protecting cops who do stupid things like this, hand out actual punishments, & stop pretending its isolated. There is systematic abuse of the public from those charged with protecting them, and the system protects the abusers because it wants to not undermine public faith in the system. Its a great catch 22.
The system is broken & allowing unions to threaten those who should hold them to account needs to end. They are involved in a racket protecting officers who break the law & using the safety of citizens as a bargaining chip.
The NYPD is running wild drunk on the ‘ZOMG 911 will happen again unless’ hysteria… I doubt anyone would be willing to sacrifice their privacy in being detained & uploaded onto the unforgetting internet to be safer… especially when the danger they were looking for had never been there in the first place.
How much longer until we find out that NYC is running a black site that makes Chicago’s look like club med?
Was the cop suspended with or without pay?
Probably with pay and now is in a place with a warmer climate than NYC at Christmas time, on a vacation with pay and no reduction of Personal Time Off (PTO).
Bullies love to show off and brag.
More of the same.
As I've said before and will say again:
Cops are racists. If your color isn’t “blue” you are neither human nor innocent.
Would it have been that much work to blur out the faces? Sure anyone who wants to can find the originals, but sharing photos taken in a private home without consent seems in poor taste. How would you feel if it were your family?
Gun Control at its finest
When only the NYcriminalsPD have guns can they go around unimpeaded
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Constitutional Carry can’t come quick enough for them in
the corrupt state of ny
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Just another example that “Police Intelligence” just like “Military Intelligence” are BOTH oxymorons.
Or should we paraphrase that as “Police and Military are Morons”
same same
are you doing the family a favor by spreading the picture?
Re: same same
Context is everything: we’re pointing out
a) their innocence
b) their status as victims of police abuse
The net result is to generate sympathy from TD readers, which does more good than harm.