How to Flex Your Rights During Police Encounters

Gotta love the ACLU for fighting for the First Amendment rights of a jackass motorist who gets arrested cited for flipping a cop the bird.

So says Sara Rose of the ACLU...

"The law is clear that using one's middle finger to express discontent or frustration is expressive conduct that is protected by the First Amendment."

Finger Flinger David Hackbart will likely get a $50,000 payment from the city of Pittsburgh. But after lawyers fees, he'll probably net about $10,000.

I wonder what Peter Griffin thinks about this?

Flex Your Rights' response to the new random search policy on D.C. public transportation may soon find us in court.

A couple weeks ago Scott and I joined the National Capitol Area ACLU for a door-to-door outreach effort in Southeast D.C. warning citizens about a "knock and talk" program the DC Police Department threatened to implement.

This short video, which was my first behind-the-camera creation, tells the story:

I couldn't have scripted this much better: At about 1:35 into the video, a woman mistakes us for the police and eagerly invites us in to search her home. It's funny, but it proves our point about why this information is needed. (For all she knows, someone could have left some marijuana under her couch cushion for an officer to find and get her and her family kicked out of public housing.)

Responding to the unexpected public backlash generated through such community outreach, DC Police Chief Lanier recently announced that her so-called Safe Homes initiative would be scaled back. Under the new plan, police will not go door-to-door requesting consent. Citizens wishing to be searched must instead call the police and invite them into their homes.

In other words, the good guys won, and Chief Lanier was left to take the blame for her hare-brained initiative.

For a refresher on how to refuse home searches, watch this.

This Saturday the National Capital Area ACLU is organizing a training day to educate the community on how to prevent warrantless police searches of their homes. Scott Morgan and I will be there representing FyR, and I'll try to get some interviews with my new video camera that I'll post online.