Last month, I brought you the story of a Nashua New Hampshire man who was arrested for taping the police on his property. He was charged with violating the state’s wiretapping laws which prohibit the recording of someone without their consent.
Police chief Timothy Hefferan has decided to drop the charges because the case was not winnable in court (completely ignoring the fact that it’s utterly ridiculous).
Despite still feeling strongly that Gannon broke the law, Hefferan said the single reason his department will not continue to prosecute the case is because it wasn’t winnable in court.
“The citizen complaint has no bearing on the outcome of my decision as far as what to do with the charges,” Hefferan said by telephone yesterday. “It was solely based on the facts of this case and not anything to do with the complaint.
“We sustained the allegation that the officer was discourteous to a member of the public. I’m admitting that, and I want to be above board on these things. We will take the necessary action with our employee. And, like we would normally do, we would never discuss the nature of that action might be.”
Gannon said from his home yesterday that the news was a “big weight off (his) shoulders,” but added that he still has outstanding issues with the police department that he wants resolved.
“This is huge coverup and has been from the beginning,” said Gannon. “I’ve seen these things on TV and you never think they really happen, but I’m in a big one right now.”
Oh yeah. Did you catch the important part of that section? The part where the police actually were jerks?
Oh, and despite the charges being dropped, Gannon will not have his recording equipment returned to him.
Hefferan said Gannon would not be able to recoup any of the videotapes or any of the recording equipment that police confiscated during their investigation.
“That material is still illegal. It would be like returning drugs to somebody because you can’t prove it. Plus, you’d have to have the consent of those involved and Detective Karlis has not consented.
“The department will maintain and destroy the evidence according to the normal protocol.”
Gannon is still considering suing the department for Karlis’ and other officers’ behavior and for Hefferan’s claims that the department won’t return the evidence.
I’m so glad this is a free country. Really. When you put signs up all over the place saying “Smile, you’re on jackass camera!” that should be enough of a warning. Apparently, the police officers who arrested Gannon aren’t that alert or intelligent, or in other words, perfectly suited for their job.
[tags]nashua, new hampshire, michael gannon[/tags]