Video emerges of woman 911 caller forcefully strip searched in police custody

Extenuating circumstances, perhaps? But what pray tell? Is it standard procedure to strip search people who claim they've had suicidal thoughts in the course of their lives?

I don't like either direction this is taking:

1. I don't like the fact our citizenry is viewed as text book cases. I realize they have to do this to some degree but not sure if the extent of profiling is necessary?

2. I don't like the fact that this is causing profiling of police officers either. Without a functional police force, we'd have mayhem and the country would self-destruct. If you've ever felt someone was prejudiced against you due to religion, race, gender or whatever, you know it isn't a good feeilng and it is frankly, wrong, to characterize whole groups of people in this manner, even police officers.



[edit on 2-2-2008 by undo]

Well thats a slap in the face and i'm outraged by your comment.... who are you to assume anything about me? *snip*

I'm Candaian, born and raised Space Bits.

*Mod Edit - Removed retort from quote.*

[edit on 2/2/08 by niteboy82]

Well thats a slap in the face and i'm outraged by your comment.... who are you to assume anything about me? snip



I am A Canadian, born and raised thanks.

It's hard to believe at the outset, but then after it sunk in, it is what we have been heading for , for some time. Make way for the storm troopers people. We say people wake up, maybe we are better off asleep. Can't believe I just said that, but :

There's something happening here.
What it is ain't exactly clear.
There's a man with a gun over there,
telling me, I got to beware!!!!!

Far What's It's Worth people.

Namaste

Annie, we all now how the news works , but in the vid the women is screaming what are you doing, why are doing this, she is not fighting back or anything, she is a women being stripped and searched whilst there are at least two men in the cell.

I could not care less if she had shot a policeman, she still has a right to due process and protection under the law. That did not happen and to be honest rather than waiting for the outcome perhaps you should focus on the bigger picture because it is that which is rellevant.

Originally posted by Annie Mossity
reply to post by SpaceBits

 

Who said anything about waiting on a police report? I was simply stating that until we know the whole story any conclusions drawn are merely assumptions; assumptions which are often based more on emotional reaction than the actual facts surrounding the incident. In fact, reading through this thread seems to demonstrate just that; assumptions and ill-informed personal conclusions being construed as fact... not to mention the Many reactionary responses based solely on emotions invoked by the less-than-complete video CLIP.

As has been mentioned previously, how are we to know that the CLIP shown by the newz station is truly demonstrative of the actualities surrounding this incident. It's not as if they (the Newz) have a clear record of upholding the virtues of investigative journalism - where ratings take second seat to the Truth.

Just saying...

So what and where is the rest of the storey going to come from? we allready heard from there Lawyer, her husband and others....

Are you saying there could be a situation that justyfies what these pigs did to this woman? OMG! i dont need all the facts to know that NO WOWAN SHOULD BE FORCE STRIPED BY A MALE! Not to mention video tapeing it as well? This why it's the law. not only is some states in America but accross the hole globe it's an inhuman act, plain and simple... sit on your tush and do nothing if thats how you feel. Me i'm human and i can not see any justyfiable means to do to this woman as she had done to her. Even with out all the facts you cant possibly think there might be a good reason for this to have happend to her.

SICK SICK SICK America need to get off it's high horse and reclaim there land. and start puting the criminal in jail instead of innocent people.

reply to post by chickenfeet

all the cops names are jane/john doe, how sad, the police have to hide

Jane/john doe is a legal technique to pull every one involved into the law suit/criminal charge. They can add as many cops to charge as they find who were apart of this atrocity.

The reason the police videotaped this is because they actually believed they were doing the right thing! This is thw whole problem. The officers themselves have become so desensitized they don't have lost touch with the very values they are meant to uphold.

And to anyone who thinks the world would fall apart without the police, think again. Civilization came a long way before the first modern police department was established in London in 1829. What did people do up to then? The world was certainly not the anarchistic vision we are taught to fear so that the police state is not challenged.

Undo, with respect Police officers are not some social or religious group they are part of a mechansim there to control the masses and as such work as an collective whole. They allegedly folow orders from their superiors who in turn are controlled by the Politicians so its not just some ramdom group/event.

These are organised crimes against the people of the US, joe Policeman does not get up out of bed thinking today I'm going to strip search a woman or taser some one, no he will only do that because he has been told to do so. That is what is obvious in all these events its not murderes or bank robbers that we are talking about but law abiding citizens.

Space, I'm affraid your banging your head against the wall, I have always said I dont know whats worse those who commit the crimes or those who support them. The problem is America is a big place with a large population and one wonders how bad its got to get before people realise yes there is something seriously wrong in the US.

That some will try and justify the actions of such people is truly scary and more to the point it actually allows for such treatment to continue and escalate further. The supporters and Patriots no doubt convincing themselves that no one will be coming for them becuas ethey have done nothing wrong.

Well as I have said before 6 million jews did nothing wrong did they.

Well had she been suicidal and killed herself in the cell, this would end up being another story about a mysterious death while in police custody. I don't think there's an easy way to solve this problem. Probably, like has already been mentioned, the problem would've been resolved initially, by not assuming so many things about her. For example, they assumed she was doing something illegal when she handed them her sister's driver's license. They assumed she was suicidal because she might have had the idea at some point in her life, and so on.. The problem is the extent of profiling necessary to cover the potential issues that could arise if they didn't handle it correctly. That's gotta be one of the worst jobs in America today.

As far as needing police: When it wasn't police it was soldiers.

Originally posted by undo

2. I don't like the fact that this is causing profiling of police officers either. Without a functional police force, we'd have mayhem and the country would self-destruct. If you've ever felt someone was prejudiced against you due to religion, race, gender or whatever, you know it isn't a good feeilng and it is frankly, wrong, to characterize whole groups of people in this manner, even police officers.

[edit on 2-2-2008 by undo]

I've read your post and kinda agree... but when normal people do not trust police anymore do you think they will still call the police to settle a disput?

I don't trust cops anymore and for good reason too. Now if somone assaults me i'm suposed to phone the police and not take matters into my own hands. Wrong, if someone assaults me believe me i will take the law into my own hands and defend myself. "They" just muck up the news to make it look bad and make us think we need protection. but how do you protect yourselfe from pigs like these in the video, who are suposed to protect us??

An eye for an eye as you might say? i think this would reduce crime allot more than phoning the cops only to be asked if you have proof that is legaly bynding in a court of law. else they wont do a thing.

remember this woman called the police to have them protect here from an assault... is this what you see happenning in the video? are these cops really striping here down and confine her to a 6x6 to protect her? or maybe they were just giveing here the medical attention she refused to get?

not to defend the strip search, but remember the facts here.

-She is wounded and hurt
-She gives a essentially false ID to a cop, raising suspicion upon her.
-When asked if she ever hurt herself or thought about hurting herself (to try to figure out if she had hurt herself that night) she didn't give a proper answer. She skirted the issue.

Essentially, the police FEARED that she did it to herself, that she was not in a right state of mind, and her comment on whether she ever tried to hurt herself before gave reason to fear she had done it to herself. What did they do? for her own safety, they removed her clothes, making sure she had no weapons, and removed clothing which has been used in jails in the past, by suicidal people, as easy ways to make nooses or other rudimentary instruments for strangulation.

It's doubtful that the police did this for kicks, but probably just used excessive force in an attempt to save her from herself.

Originally posted by magicmushroom
Space, I'm affraid your banging your head against the wall, I have always said I dont know whats worse those who commit the crimes or those who support them. The problem is America is a big place with a large population and one wonders how bad its got to get before people realise yes there is something seriously wrong in the US.

That some will try and justify the actions of such people is truly scary and more to the point it actually allows for such treatment to continue and escalate further. The supporters and Patriots no doubt convincing themselves that no one will be coming for them becuas ethey have done nothing wrong.

Well as I have said before 6 million jews did nothing wrong did they.

So true as i am banging my head against my desk at the obserd observations of other who think there might be a good reason for this type of conduct.

As for the Jew's well i said it before my dad is Jewish and the Jews declaired war on Germany in 1933. So to answer your question as to the innocence of the jews, they werent all that innocent. they were war criminal just like in America where the USA put all Japs on American soil in jail. there is no difrence there. it was done to protect themself against attacks on there own soil.

Originally posted by undo
Well had she been suicidal and killed herself in the cell, this would end up being another story about a mysterious death while in police custody. I don't think there's an easy way to solve this problem. Probably, like has already been mentioned, the problem would've been resolved initially, by not assuming so many things about her. For example, they assumed she was doing something illegal when she handed them her sister's driver's license. They assumed she was suicidal because she might have had the idea at some point in her life, and so on.. The problem is the extent of profiling necessary to cover the potential issues that could arise if they didn't handle it correctly. That's gotta be one of the worst jobs in America today.

As far as needing police: When it wasn't police it was soldiers.

Suicide? did you see the 6x6 room they locked here in? I seen no padded walls no strait jacket, and no padding on the floor either!

Most of those questions are theoretical, I guess? Every form of maintaining civilization has its flaws. For example, when it wasn't soldiers it was religious councils, who would (and in some places, still do) determine the fate of the individual based on heresay and religious doctrine, often taken way out of context and incorrectly applied. For example, Shar'ia Law (look it up) requires the word of a woman to be seen as half as reliable as a man's in a court of law. If a woman is raped, she must produce 2 witnesses. For this reason, people living in that type of governing body, hide their women so they can't be raped because obviously, the law doesn't provide any protection for them otherwise.

We all know there's no safe way or easy way, to maintain civilization. Another example is a society in which mob rules determine the fate of individuals. The mob is so easily lead around because its members don't like to think individually. Rock'n the boat can resolve into uncomfortable circumstances and in some places in the world, death.

This doesn't excuse abuse of power, obviously, but we also can't auto assume all police are useless, power hungry, and so on. It's not even sensible to assume that.


[edit on 2-2-2008 by undo]

reply to post by WolfofWar


lol Wolf, based on what we have from the media report and video, which says she replied to the "do you have any weapons or intent to hurt yourself?" question with a question of her own, "now or ever?", which is rational considering she may have thought it was a question about her history, be it criminal and/or medical history, your explanation of possibilities just doesn't add up.

The source we have says that she was then forced into this incident on film without a word of explanation given to her. Thats what we have to go on.

So until we have anything else to go on, you're just .. adding possible excuses for the cops.

[edit on 2/2/2008 by runetang]

Originally posted by SpaceBits
So what and where is the rest of the storey going to come from? we allready heard from there Lawyer, her husband and others....

Who are/were the others? the Newz staff?

Are you saying there could be a situation that justyfies what these pigs did to this woman? OMG!

I'm only saying that at this point we don't know. Sorry if you find that repulsive, but there could quite possibly be Much more that we're unaware of in regards to the details and specifics which May have led to such.

i dont need all the facts to know that NO WOWAN SHOULD BE FORCE STRIPED BY A MALE! Not to mention video tapeing it as well? This why it's the law. not only is some states in America but accross the hole globe it's an inhuman act, plain and simple

As for what's "the law", I think you'll find the video taping to be just that - for the protection of both the arrestee as well as the law enforcement officers. We don't know Why the male officers were present; perhaps they were called in to restrain Mrs. Steffey at the female officer's request.

Look, I'm as disturbed by what's shown on the video CLIP as the next person, but until we know more of the details surrounding the incident how can anyone play judge, jury and executioner either way?

... sit on your tush and do nothing if thats how you feel. Me i'm human and i can not see any justyfiable means to do to this woman as she had done to her. Even with out all the facts you cant possibly think there might be a good reason for this to have happend to her.

Actually, until there's more light shed on the entirety of this unfortunate situation, I think anyone passing judgment is doing so more from an emotional and reactionary response than ahything else.

One question that does come to mind:
Why did it take a full year for this to be filed in District court?

5:07-cv-03226-DDD Steffey et al v. Swanson et al
David D. Dowd, Jr, presiding
Date filed: 10/19/2007
Date of last filing: 01/23/2008

Again, I'm in no way claiming that this women may not have been the victim of excessive force, police brutality and or violations of her civil rights; I'm just saying that until we know more of the details which led up to this, any conclusions drawn are merely ill-informed assumptions based on rather limited information.

If this were my wife, daughter, mother, etc. you can bet your bottom dollar it wouldn't have been a full year before complaints and filings were made.

Just saying...

 

[edit on 2-2-2008 by Annie Mossity]

Originally posted by WolfofWar
not to defend the strip search, but remember the facts here.

-She is wounded and hurt
-She gives a essentially false ID to a cop, raising suspicion upon her.
-When asked if she ever hurt herself or thought about hurting herself (to try to figure out if she had hurt herself that night) she didn't give a proper answer. She skirted the issue.

Essentially, the police FEARED that she did it to herself, that she was not in a right state of mind, and her comment on whether she ever tried to hurt herself before gave reason to fear she had done it to herself. What did they do? for her own safety, they removed her clothes, making sure she had no weapons, and removed clothing which has been used in jails in the past, by suicidal people, as easy ways to make nooses or other rudimentary instruments for strangulation.

It's doubtful that the police did this for kicks, but probably just used excessive force in an attempt to save her from herself.

Unfortunately for your theory, there was a witness who reminded the cop she (hope) was the victim. The cop still busted her teeth out with a slam against the cop car. The cop was clearly wrong in what he did and by refusing medical attention, he has violated his departments sop standard operating precedures.. Than the pack back in jail followed the same by strip searching with males involved when there sop states males should not strip females in custody.

Originally posted by WolfofWar
not to defend the strip search, but remember the facts here.

-She is wounded and hurt
-She gives a essentially false ID to a cop, raising suspicion upon her.
-When asked if she ever hurt herself or thought about hurting herself (to try to figure out if she had hurt herself that night) she didn't give a proper answer. She skirted the issue.

Essentially, the police FEARED that she did it to herself, that she was not in a right state of mind, and her comment on whether she ever tried to hurt herself before gave reason to fear she had done it to herself. What did they do? for her own safety, they removed her clothes, making sure she had no weapons, and removed clothing which has been used in jails in the past, by suicidal people, as easy ways to make nooses or other rudimentary instruments for strangulation.

It's doubtful that the police did this for kicks, but probably just used excessive force in an attempt to save her from herself.

OMG! are you serius? you cant possibly be serius. my lord what have we become? Did you see a padded cell or a strait jacket? and as you say she was hurt... so why didnt they bring her to the hospital as they are required by law of anyone they come into contact with that appears to be hurt.

Instead they take her downtown and do even more damage to the poor woman. My god what must have been going on in this poor womans head at the time... pure torture. Emagin 2 huge men striping the clothes off your poor mother. would you have the same outlook on this?