BP's Private Police Force

http://motherjones.com/rights-stuff/2010/06/BP-private-police-force-louisiana

Some updates on the incident I reported on last week, in which an off-duty Louisiana sheriff's deputy working for BP's private security detail harassed an environmental activist who was neither on BP's property nor breaking any laws. (Watch the video at the end of this post.)

First, some gratifying news: The ACLU has put Gulf Coast law enforcement on notice. In a letter (PDF) released yesterday, Marjorie Esman, executive director of the group's Louisiana chapter, reminded the sheriffs of all coastal parishes that "members of the public have the right under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to film, record, photograph, and document anything they observe in a public place. No one—neither law enforcement nor a private corporation—has the legal right to interfere with public access to public places or the recording of activities that occur there. Nor may law enforcement officials cooperate with private companies in denying such access to the public."

Esman told me that the ACLU had called a meeting on the matter due in large part to Mother Jones' reporting. She says it will consider filing a lawsuit if appropriate.

Louisiana police don't any right to tell you can't walk onto a public beach (even to, as Esman puts it, "roll around in sticky gunky tar that I'll never be able to get off—if I want to, that's my right.") However, they do have the right to mislead you about who they're really working for. In Louisiana, as in many places, it's perfectly legal for police officers to wear their uniforms regardless of whether they're acting in an official capacity or working for a private corporation. Which is why Andrew Wheelan, the environmentalist mentioned above, was unaware that the cop who pressured him to stop filming a BP building and later pulled him over so that a BP official could question him wasn't on duty at the time. The Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office told me that the deputy who pulled Wheelan over is just one of 40 in the parish who are working for BP on their own time. And the BP-police collusion goes beyond uniformed deputies moonlighting. In nearby Lafourche Parish, for example, the sheriff's office is filling 57 security positions a week for BP; these shifts are on the clock and BP reimburses the sheriff's office for them.


More at the link ---

get away with this is beyond disgusting.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

It isnt right that policmen can wear the uniform of a public servant - bought by the public - when not serving in the capacity which that uniform represents. Figures that is legal in LA but that needs to be stopped... wonder if there could be an overriding fed law?

Thank you for the important update.

Whether it is bars or sand bars, police hiring out to private interests is a breach of public trust and a violation of the police officer's duty. When they do so, they're nothing more than hired goons, no different than organized crimes uses.

And an off duty rent-a-cop has near zero accountability; all while using the uniform and badge as a shield. Disgusting.

They're here to protect us you know. In no way shape or form are they enforcers of corporate terrorism.

:sarcasm:

And if they are not on duty, they are not policing?