Indy Police Abuse

"The only security of all is in a free press" --- Thomas Jefferson

The widely popular Web site www.Drudgereport.com (3/30) is highlighting KCTV5's investigation of the Independence Police Department under the headline: TV Station Accused of Entrapment...

The article links to KMBZ's Web site (original story posted (3/29) follows):

TV Station Accused of Entrapment
Thursday March 30 2006 7:33

One of this city's leading TV news departments is drawing the ire of the Independence Police Department after pulling a stunt designed to trap law enforcement officials in a compromising position. Sources tell KMBZ, that KCTV Channel 5 sent a man to the Independence police department late, early Saturday morning with a phony story about wanting to want to file a complaint about an officer. When that proved impossible...the man became aggressive and tried to get officers to overreact. The Independence police chief is considering legal action against Channel 5 and the Police Complaint Center saying this whole episode is really disappointing

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Channel 5 didn't come up with the idea of this story on its own. A south Florida television did the same thing back in February. WFOR T-V had a producer -- with a hidden camera --- visit 38 police agencies in Broward & Miami-Dade counties asking to get a form to file a complaint against an officer. The story said most of the time, police were courteous & professional but others were not. Since then, a Broward County Police union has posted a "be-on-the-lookout" alert on the WFOR investigative reporter on its website. WFOR by the way is a CBS affiliate.

On the Jerry Agar talk show (3/29) KMBZ-980 News Director Scott Parks said that KCTV-5 retained a Washington, D.C. firm that specializes in going to various police stations around the country asking to fill out a complaint form against the police. A number of the group's activities are highlighted on its Web site: http://www.policeabuse.org/

The group---called The Police Complaint Center--- also films alleged police abuse during traffic stops and will even provide attorneys if necessary to those wishing to file complaints. Here is a partial Q&A about the organization:

What else can we do?

We can locate other victims of the officer that mistreated you. They may testify in your case.

We can file a complaint against prison officials and correctional officers

We can send an investigator to you to investigate your complaint of misconduct

We can provide security if you are being persistently harassed by the police

We can obtain the personnel file of the officer or deputy

We can test your police department for abuse and misconduct

We can locate and identify police officers that refuse to provide their name or badge number

We can request that the police agency lose accreditation for failure to investigate citizen complaints

We can assist you with the steps you must take to sue the police without an attorney

Emergency legal support

If you need an attorney immediately we can get you legal support within 24 hours. You will be able to talk to an attorney within 24 hours. Call our attorney hotline . We will research your legal matter and find the best attorneys in the area to help you.