Lady Lawyer Educates Bensalem (PA) Cop

When the police got a call that two women were video documenting outside the infamous Philadelphia Gun Club during a live pigeon shoot, the cops must have figured they'd scare them away without any trouble.

But when those ladies, one of whom is a lawyer, turn out to be among the most tenacious activists in Pennsylvania, the Bensalem police realize they probably should have called in for back-up.
Darkhandsays...

I'm confused can someone help me understand.

These women were documenting the gun club doing something illegal (pigeon shoot) so then the gun club called the cops on the women? Or did the women call the cops on the gun club?

conansays...

>> ^Darkhand:

I'm confused can someone help me understand.
These women were documenting the gun club doing something illegal (pigeon shoot) so then the gun club called the cops on the women? Or did the women call the cops on the gun club?


I assume the club called the cops because of the ladies filming.

millertime1211says...

Pennsylvania's wiretapping law is a "two-party consent" law. Pennsylvania makes it a crime to intercept or record a telephone call or conversation unless all parties to the conversation consent. See 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5703 (link is to the entire code, choose Title 18, Part II, Article F, Chapter 57, Subchapter B, and then the specific provision).

mxxconsays...

>> ^millertime1211:

Pennsylvania's wiretapping law is a "two-party consent" law. Pennsylvania makes it a crime to intercept or record a telephone call or conversation unless all parties to the conversation consent. See 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5703 (link is to the entire code, choose Title 18, Part II, Article F, Chapter 57, Subchapter B, and then the specific provision).
This doesn't apply to public spaces where there is no expectation of privacy.

mxxconsays...

>> ^millertime1211:

Pennsylvania's wiretapping law is a "two-party consent" law. Pennsylvania makes it a crime to intercept or record a telephone call or conversation unless all parties to the conversation consent. See 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5703 (link is to the entire code, choose Title 18, Part II, Article F, Chapter 57, Subchapter B, and then the specific provision).
This is similar to what happened here http://www.popehat.com/2010/04/14/embarrass-a-cop-in-maryland-thatll-be-five-years-in-jail/

However on September 27, 2010, some criminal charges against Graber were dropped. Harford County Circuit Court Judge Emory A Plitt Jr. dismissed four of the seven charges filed against Anthony Graber, leaving only traffic code violations. The judge ruled that Maryland's wire tap law allows recording of both voice and sound in areas where privacy cannot be expected and that a police officer on a traffic stop has no expectation of privacy.

This situation is no different.

Ryjkyjsays...

How annoying. And what a complete waste of time and resources. These people have no idea what they're doing at all, just shooting for hours and hours.

You know we used to eat pigeons? Pretty much everyone used to raise them like we raise chickens now. It's a shame that this can't be a more productive shoot. They could make it like a fund raiser, raise the pigeons themselves, and have a pigeon cook-off when it's all over. That would be delicious, and a way more productive use of the pigeons and bullets involved.

VoodooVsays...

such a weird video but it still gets my upvote.

1. not that I really care one way or the other, but why is pigeon shooting illegal? Aren't they vermin for the most part? They aren't endangered or anything are they?

2. Kudos to the woman for standing up to the cop and the owner, but at the same time, I'm not really going to fault the cop for not being up to a lawyer's standards in the law. Their job is really to stop people from getting physically hurt. There is the issue of whether or not they were on the guy's property sure, but they are two people with cameras, there is no threat of home invasion or anything like that. Sure there is a obviously a dispute whether or not it's ok for them to be there, but they're obviously peaceable so cop intimidation clearly isn't necessary.

Just makes me wonder if there isn't some need for an unarmed subset of the police that handles disputes like this but when you clearly don't need a armed cop. Someone who does know property/civil law very well and can act to settle disputes like this and are unarmed because clearly an armed cop is a waste of resources in a situation like this but you obviously do need a third party to respond to the dispute. For example, wouldn't a police negotiator be better than actual armed police in this matter?

Cops obviously do need to know the laws they enforce, but using cops to settle disputes like this where there clearly is no threat of harm or use of force is utterly ridiculous. Maybe the cops respond to the call, but when they assess the situation and there is clearly no threat of force or harm, hand it off to an unarmed party that can settle the dispute.

I just have a hunch that neither side is completely innocent in this situation.

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