Constitutional Guidelines to Aid Citizens and Police
Jan 20, 2017 6:03:54 GMT -5
Post by avordvet on Jan 20, 2017 6:03:54 GMT -5
Rutherford Institute Issues Constitutional Guidelines to Aid Citizens and Police in De-Escalating Encounters, Protecting Rights, Life & Property
Rutherford Institute, January 12, 2017
Click here to read The Rutherford Institute’s “Constitutional Q&A: Rules of Engagement for Interacting with Police"
Charlottesville, Va. — In an effort to de-escalate tensions between American citizens and police and ensure that all parties emerge from such encounters with their lives, liberties and property intact, The Rutherford Institute has issued constitutional guidelines to better educate the public about their rights when stopped by the police, how to behave during a police encounter, what to expect during a traffic stop, and what to do if you believe your rights have been violated by a law enforcement official.
“In an age of militarized police often trained to view the citizenry as enemy combatants and equipped with weaponry and gear better suited for the battlefield, the perils of exercising one’s constitutional rights grow more costly with each passing day,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People. “Anything short of compliance will often get an individual charged with any of the growing number of contempt charges that get trotted out anytime a citizen voices discontent with the government or challenges or even questions the authority of a government official, particularly a law enforcement officer. Yet even compliance isn’t a fail-safe plan. Indeed, individuals who don’t resist when confronted by police are still finding themselves tasered, tackled or shot simply because police perceive their expression to be threatening or because they moved in a way that made an officer fear for his safety. Something needs to change.”
As the nation’s law enforcement agencies have become more militarized and trained to view the citizenry as enemy combatants who must comply with any and all police orders, encounters between police and members of the public have become increasingly tense, the potential for aggression has escalated, and the risk of civil liberties violations has grown.
www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/on_the_front_lines/rutherford_institute_issues_constitutional_guidelines_to_aid_citizens_and_p
Rutherford Institute, January 12, 2017
Click here to read The Rutherford Institute’s “Constitutional Q&A: Rules of Engagement for Interacting with Police"
Charlottesville, Va. — In an effort to de-escalate tensions between American citizens and police and ensure that all parties emerge from such encounters with their lives, liberties and property intact, The Rutherford Institute has issued constitutional guidelines to better educate the public about their rights when stopped by the police, how to behave during a police encounter, what to expect during a traffic stop, and what to do if you believe your rights have been violated by a law enforcement official.
“In an age of militarized police often trained to view the citizenry as enemy combatants and equipped with weaponry and gear better suited for the battlefield, the perils of exercising one’s constitutional rights grow more costly with each passing day,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People. “Anything short of compliance will often get an individual charged with any of the growing number of contempt charges that get trotted out anytime a citizen voices discontent with the government or challenges or even questions the authority of a government official, particularly a law enforcement officer. Yet even compliance isn’t a fail-safe plan. Indeed, individuals who don’t resist when confronted by police are still finding themselves tasered, tackled or shot simply because police perceive their expression to be threatening or because they moved in a way that made an officer fear for his safety. Something needs to change.”
As the nation’s law enforcement agencies have become more militarized and trained to view the citizenry as enemy combatants who must comply with any and all police orders, encounters between police and members of the public have become increasingly tense, the potential for aggression has escalated, and the risk of civil liberties violations has grown.
www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/on_the_front_lines/rutherford_institute_issues_constitutional_guidelines_to_aid_citizens_and_p