I walk my dog near a water treatment plant and wetlands/woods. Yesterday the cops pull up and I say,"is there a problem officers?" And they tell me "I'm not supposed to be out here" and I say why? They give me every reason from "for my safety" to its private land but every reason they give is not a good one. It's public land, no trespassing signs.
So what should be my first step? I don't want to defy them and just go back. They could be right? Can cops tell you not to be somewhere for any reason? I really want to challenge this. I'm going to call the mayor.
It was just strange. They didn't say "you can't" they said they would like it if I didn't come. I didn't want to be disrespectful I should have asked them what if I come back. Will they arrest me?
It was funny the one cop points to a sign with his flashlight and I read it. It said no dumping! Didn't say no trespassing.
I also thought, "how free are we really when I can't find some public woods and walk my dog without cops who don't know the laws telling innocent people what they can and can't do. Even if what I'm doing is legal.
I'll let you know what I find out. I will persue this.
PS. The cops were very polite but I didn't push them. I didn't challenge them. Blacks need to take my advice. Even though I feel I was right I didn't fight with the officer. They have bosses I will speak to. Maybe I'm wrong. I know my rights but I'm not 100% sure it's on to be where I was. Can't wait to find out.
I also didn't push too hard cause I had weed in the car. Lol
Here is your first problem. The Supreme Court decided that the cop is perfectly right in detaining you or arresting you for breaking a law, even if there is no such law. So if it is public property they can arrest you for trespassing and resisting arrest. Even when they are wrong they are right.
The courts will back up the cop even if you are able to demonstrate the property is public, county tax records should show who owns it.
It is bullshit, but the cops are untouchable and have the authority to do pretty much anything they want. They will shoot your dog and swear they were afraid for their lives. I've even see the cops arrest a woman who placed herself between the cop and the dog for interfering with a police officer performing his duty.
I'm sorry to say that being right is no defense against the abuses you invite by flaunting the instructions of the police. Proceed with caution.
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I believe you are referring to
Heien v. North Carolina wherein a cop can be "ignorant of the laws" he enforces. "Mistake of fact" can be "sufficiently reasonable" to cover the cops screw-up.
"
Heien contends that the rationale
that permits reasonable errors of
fact does not extend to reasonable e
rrors of law, arguing that officers
in the field deserve a margin of
error when making factual assess
-
ments on the fly. An officer may, however, also be suddenly confront
-
ed with a situation requiring applicat
ion of an unclear statute. This
Court’s holding does not discourage officers from learning the law.
Because the Fourth Amendment tole
rates only objectively reasonable
mistakes, cf.
Whren
v.
United States
, 517 U. S. 806, 813, an officer
can gain no advantage through poor study. Finally, while the maxim
“Ignorance of the law is no excuse
” correctly implies that the State
cannot impose punishment based on a mistake of law, it does not
mean a reasonable mistake of law cannot justify an investigatory
stop. Pp. 4–12."