Rural Georgia police state?

[Hasselhoss]

A second Monticello citizen has written an editorial:

Dear Editor:

This letter is to express concern with the behavior of some of the officers involved in the "zero tolerance”, police operation that took place in and around Monticello on Friday evening, February 21, 2014. During this operation a female friend of ours was pulled over and accused of having pot in her van. The officers involved treated her abusively and publicly humiliated her by ordering her out of her van and searching under her shirt and bra in full view of male officers and the public. They also searched her van by claiming to smell pot from outside the van, which appears to have been an excuse to invent probable cause as there was no pot in the van and never has been so there was certainly no pot for them to smell. They dumped out her purse into her van and left the contents there for her to pick up after they had rummaged through them. After no drugs were found our friend was sent her on her way traumatized by this completely uncalled for treatment. We need to state here that the officers that abused our friend were not from Monticello or Jasper County. We have no idea which agency these two particular officers were worked for; our friend was too upset to remember where they were from. Earlier in the day we saw police cars from numerous other departments from all over Georgia in the Square so it could have been people from any number of law enforcement agencies.


We are obviously very concerned that our friend has been so publicly humiliated and apparently had her civil rights violated by a trumped up search of her van. We are also concerned that the Monticello city government appears to have had been given no advance notice of the “zero tolerance”, operation. The two Monticello city council members we contacted the next day were not aware of any such operation. The operation was obviously very well planned out in advance with the participation of numerous other police departments. This large group of police, mostly from other cities and counties, spent Friday evening manning roadblocks around Monticello where they were and stopping people and asking for identification and, in at least one case, treating an innocent local resident in a shameful manner. Yet members of the city government appear to not have been told in advance. It seems only common sense that the city government, as the elected representatives of the community, be involved when police wish to conduct such a large and invasive operation as they did last Friday night.


It is a good thing to take a strong stand against illegal drugs and drunk drivers. But strong law enforcement should also carefully observe the civil rights of people in the community. Strong law enforcement must also be continually mindful of plain common decency. There was no reason at all that the encounter with our friend could not have been handled with respect and decency on the part of the officers. Sadly she was instead treated abusively and in apparent disregard of her 4th amendment protection against unreasonable search. The female officer that searched under our friend’s shirt and bra didn’t even have the common decency to take our friend out of the view of male officers and passing vehicles. We assume the officer would object to similar treatment being visited upon her.


To close this letter, the community deserves and should be able to expect better than this. The law can be enforced and public safety protected without descending into bullying and abuse in disregard of people’s civil rights and common decency. The Monticello Police and Jasper County Sheriff departments need to rethink how they go about these sweeps and indeed if they are something that they should participate in at all if this is how officers from other jurisdictions are going to treat local residents. Further, the city government should insist on being involved up front in any future similar venture to make sure that the entire community has a voice in what is happening in their town. Finally, our friend deserves an apology for what she went through, for which there was absolutely no excuse.


Sincerely,

Tom and Susanne Warner, Monticello GA.

 

[8675309]

your friend should get a good lawyer. there were witnesses and there could be a nice
settlement.

 

[Gigabyte71]

Was the Jasper County Sheriff's department aware of this operation?

 

[chucklenut]

your friend should get a good lawyer. there were witnesses and there could be a nice
settlement.

for what? i dont think any damages were really incurred other than being insulted

would be a waste of money, plus going after gov agencies is something no lawyer really looks forward to unless its a slam dunk. police agencies operate with immunity alot of the time

 

[Kalashnikov]

for what? i dont think any damages were really incurred other than being insulted

would be a waste of money, plus going after gov agencies is something no lawyer really looks forward to unless its a slam dunk. police agencies operate with immunity alot of the time

This is the problem.

 

[GeauxLSU]

impunity

 

[JWC]

I think all concerned citizens, of Georgia, should e-mail the Mayor of Monticello. His name is Bryan Standifer and his e-mail address is bstandifer@bellsouth.net. I have sent him an e-mail, as a concerned citizen. I will probably not get a reply, but I wanted to voice my disapproval of what was done to Mrs. Johnston, and ask that an investigation take place, the investigation be made public, and if the actions taken were inappropriate, corrective measures be taken against the officers involved.

There are threads on here about officers supposedly inappropriate actions in other states. Well, this is in our state and action should be taken to insure something is done. I would love to see hundreds of e-mails sent asking for an investigation into this matter so that the mayor will not sweep this under the proverbial rug. As I said, I have sent one e-mail. Your turn.

 

[chucklenut]

impunity

lol i wrent to pulik skuul

 

[chucklenut]

I think all concerned citizens, of Georgia, should e-mail the Mayor of Monticello. His name is Bryan Standifer and his e-mail address is bstandifer@bellsouth.net. I have sent him an e-mail, as a concerned citizen. I will probably not get a reply, but I wanted to voice my disapproval of what was done to Mrs. Johnston, and ask that an investigation take place, the investigation be made public, and the if the actions taken were inappropriate, corrective measures be taken against the officers involved.

There are threads on here about officers supposedly inappropriate actions in other states. Well, this is in our state and action should be taken to insure something is done. I would love to see hundreds of e-mails sent asking for an investigation into this matter so that the mayor will no sweep this under the proverbial rug. As I said, I have sent one e-mail. Your turn.

right on

 

[LMK]

this story really bothers me - keep the information coming. I think we will have to stand up this sort pf thing. I wonder what we CAN do. Interested in learning and being prepared.