The City of Somers, New York, police department got it WRONG when it removed a pro-Second Amendment sign from the private property of a man in that city. His signs had gone missing before, so he installed a camera which captured, as documented here in photographs:

Above, the officer is seen pushing the sign down with his right foot.

Here, the sign is being pulled up, with its broken base evident in the ground.

Finally, the officer is physically removing the sign from the property.

Why this post, why now? — when the nation is a target-rich environment in terms of politics and DC machinations, sequester, Obamacare, shutdown and otherwise?

Because an action like this is an active manifestation of an environment that fosters government intrusion where government intrusion is not only unnecessary but unwarranted, ill-conceived, tone-deaf and progressing into an actual criminal venue.

Let me be clear: IF THIS CHAIN OF EVENTS IS ACCURATE, one or all of these crimes have occurred: 1) trespassing, 2) theft of property and/or 3) 42 USC 1983, which reads:

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.

My sources on this story are here and here and here.

What was the nature of the sign?

Seeing this, what is it about the small sign that would draw the ire of either neighbors or the focus of the City of Somers itself, in the form of the Somers PD?  Would it be the massively large size of the sign?  Check the size of the sign in the third photo in relation to the officer.  Was there a display of objectionable curse words?  Rude or threatening or offensive graphics or phrases?

Or would it be even more base: someone in the city or locally considers the Second Amendment to be somehow representative of a view not in keeping with something of a Leftist philosophy?

And sent the cops to remove same.

For those unfamiliar, please allow me to step back for a moment if you will.  I am a cop.  I have worked for the federal government in law enforcement, trained federal LE employees, and worked for two Fornicalia LE agencies.  I have a total of 40 years of overall LE experience and currently am employed, as a Sergeant, for a 2,000+ -member Fornicalia department.

That said — and is this predicated upon the CHAIN OF EVENTS AS INDICATED being accurate — I find myself not only disgusted with the City of Somers PD, but disappointed in the individual officer who removed the sign.

Let’s speculate — at the most embracing — the sign was a violation of some sort of city codicil or code or law regarding a very specific amount of feet from a roadway, in a particular zone, etc.  If this were true, there would also be a PROCESS for a violation to include a notice, citation, summons, documentation, a referenced report taken with concomitant REPORT NUMBER.  There would be a logical and proportional process to have played out prior to outright trespass, confiscation and destruction of personal property — ABSENT A COURT ORDER.  And: was there a court order?

You, Officer Somers PD sir, have played into the hands of Leftists who would do their level best to, bit by bit, remove our foundational freedoms.  You were either a willing dupe who believes in the “supremacy of government,” or a weak-kneed and weak-willed individual who takes an order and carries it out, logic and spirit be damned.  There is the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.

To that I say: shame on you.  You do a disservice to your uniform and the up-menu oath you swore to the citizens you serve.  I would refer you to Oathkeepers.org.  But, with this act, you are the kind Oathkeepers do not want.  Frankly: you make me sick.

Sometimes, ladies and gentlemen, you have to be willing to make a stand.  With this officer, his stand wasn’t even a sign.  Which means: when it comes to confiscation, he’ll likely be the first officer to stand in that line with his department.  Because: past performance is the best predictor of future behavior.

I write with experience: when/if, Officer Somers, you are found in violation of one or all of these bodies of law, your department will cast you aside like a sawdust doll.  They will not support you and they will divest themselves of you.  If it fiscally or politically expedient, you shall be sacrificed.

BZ

P.S.
I am a Conservative and, moreover, a growing Libertarian these days.  With that in mind, again, if the facts in evidence are indeed true, the City of Somers should be sued, the police department should be sued, and the individual officer should be sued as well.  Simultaneously, the officer involved should be criminally prosecuted — again, if factually correct — for trespass and theft, at minimum.

When our foundational rights and freedoms are at risk, I brook few slights.

Our Founding Fathers didn’t risk all for nothing.