Elisha Strom has been arrested for stalking undercover Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement detectives, WSLS reports. She’s been maintaining a blog dedicated to making public the identities of JADE members, where she describes stakeouts of their stakeouts, posts photos of the officers leaving their homes, provides dozens of surveillance photos of the detectives, and relates stories about how she goes about stalking them. It’s obsessive and creepy. It’s the photo of the officer leaving his home that’s gotten her charged.
Strom argues that the information that she’s provided is all a matter of public record, which is true, but stalking is itself a crime, and that’s because the components of stalking are all otherwise legal. None of this explains what Strom’s deal is with JADE members—it’s clear she’s trying to intimidate them, but there’s no telling why.
You’ll remember Strom for her husband, Kevin Strom, the pedophile, white supremacist and erstwhile cvillenews.com troll. He was arrested in early 2007, sentenced to two years in prison in April of last year, and released just a few months later. It was his wife who turned him into the police, accusing him of physically assaulting her to keep her from testifying against him.
07/30 Update: Lisa Provence provides a whole lot more information and analysis in The Hook.
She has every right in the world to observe government officials in the performance of their duties. As long as she doesn’t get close enough to hamper them in their ability to perform their duties. Many courts across the USA have had to deal with this in recent years, on a case by case basis of course. And many cases have resulted in a ruling of wrongful arrest with all charges dismissed against the alleged defendants.
CopWatch has chapters all over the nation to watch and record cops. In Philadelphia, they actually had a black undercover cop helping them off duty one evening record white officers harrass him and toss him through a plate glass window during a wrongful and racially motivated arrest.
We’ll see more cases like this. Especially since everybody seems to have video cameras at hand, or the ability to videotape with their cell phones.
But in this local case, identifying undercover cops by name and image is perhaps going a little off the deep end. Will be an interesting case to watch as it moves through the legal system.
Any person, except a law-enforcement officer, as defined in § 9.1-101, and acting in the performance of his official duties, and a registered private investigator, as defined in § 9.1-138, who is regulated in accordance with § 9.1-139 and acting in the course of his legitimate business, who on more than one occasion engages in conduct directed at another person with the intent to place, or when he knows or reasonably should know that the conduct places that other person in reasonable fear of death, criminal sexual assault, or bodily injury to that other person or to that other person’s family or household member is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
I guess the officers and/or his family were in fear of their lives.
The words “except a law enforcement officer” were added to the stalking code a while back when some cops were abusing the law to retaliate against certain people they had lost battles with. If they have charged her with stalking, I imagine they will be claiming the fear is “family members.”
I think this might be the code section she was charged under?
§ 18.2-186.4. Use of a person’s identity with the intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass; penalty.
It shall be unlawful for any person, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass another person, to publish the person’s name or photograph along with identifying information as defined in clauses (iii) through (ix), or clause (xii) of subsection C of § 18.2-186.3, including identification of the person’s primary residence address. Any person who violates this section is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Any person who violates this section knowing or having reason to know that person is a law-enforcement officer, as defined in § 9.1-101, is guilty of a Class 6 felony. The sentence shall include a mandatory minimum term of confinement of six months.
She might have been charged under § 9.1-101,. Which seems to be valid, if she did post an officer’s address. Regardless if the address is in the public record. I doubt the public record says that the address is the home of a police officer.
I gotta say everything else aside – it’s a wickedly impressive blog.
um. wow.
That’s one part trainwreck, one part impressive and triple parts creepy.
Wow, it is an impressive creepy blog.
Is there a point to the blog? If so, I can’t find one. Tedious. Very tedious.
I think I just finished reading every word on her blog. Other than a few of the links that don’t seem to work of course. There’s definitely something very strange going on, that’s for sure. She’s on a mission, and that mission is never clearly defined.
I’ll make an early prediction. As if anybody really cares what I think. :) But anyhow, I think by charging her, local law enforcement has opened an extremely large cans of worms. And I think some of those worms are going to end up biting JADE in the butt. I don’t think this is the average “badge bunny” or “fender lizard” looking for cop friends, if you know what I mean. I think it was way beyond that point before she created the blog. I expect we will see Strom open a very large can of “Whoop Ass” at her criminal trial.
She pretty much knows what she is talking about…. the good, the bad, and the ugly. And it’s obvious she has inside sources, the same type of inside sources people accuse me of NOT having in past threads here and elsewhere. Trust me, a cop’s worst enemy is always another cop.
Elisha Strom’s blog is really quite interesting.
A link to it is in the story above, but the whole site with every article can be seen as one big page if you go to the site and then append this to the base url — …/search?updated-max=2009-07-17T19:12:00-04:00&max-results=1000
Leaving aside the legal issues, it’s a testament to a totally obsessed woman. Celebrity stalkers and John Hinckley’s “thing” for Jodie Foster are nothing compared with Elisha Strom’s obsession with Brian O’Donnell and the JADE Task Force. Apparently Elisha once had a close relationship with O’Donnell that went bad: See her post …/2008/12/ghost-from-christmas-past.html
That relationship, whatever it was, started when Elisha Strom was a star witness in the politically-tinged trial of her husband, in which O’Donnell was the lead FBI – Joint Terrorism Task Force agent:
http://www.kevinalfredstrom.com/2009/01/kevin-alfred-strom-address-to-the-court/
It’s not clear how the relationship went bad, but Elisha says O’Donnell’s actions inspired her anti-JADE blogging and stalking, as she makes clear on her very first post at ../coming-soon_25.html
She also had what appears to be a sexual relationship with another unnamed officer linked to the JADE Task Force (who she nicknamed “Boomslang”), and was using him to get confidential information about other officers and about JADE operations. See her post …/2009/04/put-camo-green-up-somewhere-anywhere_30.html
She also says O’Donnell (who she nicknames “Longhead” or “LH”) “bullied” her: See …/2008/11/longer-version-with-oodles-of_13.html
Right at the end of the above post, she implies that she’ll retaliate somehow if the FBI (probably meaning O’Donnell, who works with the FBI as well as the JADE and JTTF task forces) comes down on her.
It’s not clear what she means by retaliation, but revelations of inside information on agents – possibly including marital infidelity and law violations – seem the most likely: In other posts, she claims to have discovered a married agent’s mistress/girlfriend. She asserts she had close relationships herself with the possibly-married O’Donnell and “Boomslang.” Maybe it’s a kind of blackmail, though money doesn’t seem to be a motive: “Leave me alone or I’ll tell all I know.” Were there other demands we don’t know about?
It’s cosmically bizarre the lengths to which this woman went to stalk her prey: following agents into stores and gyms, finding out their pants sizes, tailing them within inches of their bumpers for miles into the country, going to the property rolls and then letting everyone know where their families live, where they do target shooting, what kind of cars they drive (even down to updates when something is added to or repaired on the vehicle), lying in wait for them at home, at work, at stakeouts, at court. When did she have time to work – or to raise the 12-year-old daughter she claims to have? Just the writing alone must have taken many many hours, to say nothing of the stalking.
Seems like the po-po get their way a lot here in the Commonwealth of VA. Maybe that keeps out the riff-raff, who knows? I like it when they charge a guy with attempted capital murder of a police officer because the spastic cop trips up on himself and falls down on the ground and skins his knee in his enthusiastic fervor to get into a “hot pursuit”.
Dahmius, a little known secret around these parts is the real reason cops try to provoke people into resisting arrest or fighting. The assault of a cop now carries mandatory jail time.
Dashfield, you seem to have read more than I did on the blog, or I missed some entries somewhere. But I figured it might be about sexual relationships gone bad. Why women out here are attracted to guns and badges I will never understand. Why women can’t figure out married cops are just using them for one thing I will never understand.
It wasn’t that long ago that a married JADE officer had a girlfriend on the side at all times. In one particular affair he had his girlfriend believing he was living with his sister, when this “sister” was actually his wife. In another affair he promised his girlfriend he was going to leave his wife and marry her when the time was right. He was eventually terminated from employment for complications arising from these love triangles. I’ll never understand what all these women in these extramarital affairs saw in him, he wasn’t anywhere close to a pretty boy.
I’ll also never understand the wives of these married cops believing the lies they believe. “Honey, I have to work overtime tonight. But I need to take my truck because everybody knows what my undercover car looks like!” Later in the evening the wife drives to and catches the JADE detective at his girlfriend’s house! (True Story!)
It seems pretty outrageous that she has been sitting in jail for 2 weeks over this. I grant you that her behavior has been creepy, but she does not appear to be violent or dangerous.
Lets face it, bail is for the rich. Poor people like her sit in jail for weeks or months and rich people like Mike Comer sail right out after committing much more serious crimes. That’s not justice.
Meanwhile:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiNHe7BUqhc
Jack:
I agree that bail (and great lawyers) are for the rich. I’m against most socialized things. But socialized legal rep would be better than what we have now.
And I don’t think that Brian N. O’Donnell or the Charlottesville Police are saints, either. O’Donnell sent someone to the slammer for YEARS just because he pointed his index finger at O’Donnell and said “pow.” Look here
http://www.romingerlegal.com/va_caselaw/virginia/1040939.html
People need to stop automatically believing what cops say. They lie all the time, worse than used car salesmen.
But I think Elisha Strom may well be violent and dangerous. She concocted a kooky story a year or two ago to justify shooting at some people, and, ironically, O’Donnell himself protected her from local law enforcement cuz she was a “witness” in a big federal trial at the time.
She’s made death threats, too. The gun stuff and mp3 recordings of the threats are online,
documents.iqradio.org/
Don’t know how much this has changed since 2006…
http://www.nacdl.org/public.nsf/defenseupdates/Virginia060
Any lawyer will tell you…if Mr. Green isn’t in the courtroom, neither are they.
Yes Uri, they lie all the time. In 1997, a local General District Court judge finished a case, got up, walked into his chambers, and immediately told his baliff that he just couldn’t believe an entire chain of command in a local police department had just committed perjury in his courtroom. This entire chain of command included the red headed stepchild rookie who made the arrest, senior fellow officers, a lieutenant, a captain, and the police chief. They were trying to protect their own, which basically meant they would have to attempt to put an innocent man in jail. The judge didn’t believe a damn word any of them said. Justice prevailed.
As you can probably tell from the paragraph above, the defendant was found not guilty and obviously filed wrongful arrests and malicious prosecution lawsuits. They were settled out of court as they fast approached the actual trial date.
This is really interesting to look at.
On the one hand, she looks like a crazy stalker beeotch.
But on the other hand, these guys use shady tactics to get thier way all the time so she is really using their own tactics to get her way.
They are probably more pissed at the fact that they were all exposed by this single woman with a mission and a blog.
Yes Jeff, you are correct, they have used shady tactics on more than one occasion in order to get their way. Or in an attempt to get their way. Back around 1997 or 1998, while I had a lawsuit pending against one of the members of the JADE task force, they attempted to say I was stalking their members. They claimed this alleged stalking was interfering with JADE members feeling they could come and go freely and safely, and that I was was perhaps attempting to identify some of their informants coming and going.
They attempted to intimidate me and chase me away with threats of a pending arrest if I didn’t cease and desist my harrassment of the JADE members.
The truth of the matter was that once I dropped my wife and daughter off at ballet lessons in the old National Guard Armory building, I could often only find a parking spot on 7th Street NE. My conversion van was much too tall to go into any of the parking garages. I would wait for my wife and daughter in my van with the air conditioning running, watch TV, listen to CDs, listen to the radio, etc…
While their attempts at intimidation and threats of arrest went in one ear and out the other as far as I was concerned, I did have to explain to my sheriff what the truth of the matter really was. The sheriff had no reason to believe I wasn’t engaged in criminal activity until I went in and explained the entire thing to him. He had wondered why I would want to stalk or see any harm come to a person I had just filed a major lawsuit against. It didn’t make sense to the sheriff. But of course all he had been told by them is “Demopublican is down here stalking us!”
You would think that at least one of an entire group of intelligent (??) detectives could have found out what I was doing sitting there before assuming the worst and making up crap about another law enforcement officer. But wait, that’s right, I had a lawsuit pending against one of them! They had a motive for making up crap. Until that time, I think it was unheard of for local deputy sheriff to sue a local cop!
Well, turn it around a bit. what if some guy was doing this to my family? You can bet I would want them to stop and if they did not, then I would want them to be in jail.
Or for this person, a nut house.
Bingo, danpri.
Danpri, in 1997 the cops released my name and home address to the media wile I was a sworn deputy sheriff in Virginia. This was after my intentionally using a P O Box for 25 years to protect my identity, they placed my family in danger from any enemies that I may have made on duty. They again released my name and address to the media in 2005.
Now, they are whining about somebody doing it to one of them. Isn’t that what this case is about, Strom released the name and address of a sworn cop?
In both 1997 and 2005 they attempted to get search warrants for my residence to find a real crime after they realized they had screwed up big time. Neither attempt was successful.
In 1997, I was also twice surrounded by 3 and 4 police cars in a running roadblock type of situation. My attorney felt they were going to do physical harm to me since I had just filed lawsuits against a handful of them. She directed me to take whatever evasive action I had to use in order to get away from them. And I did on both occasions. My then 4-year old daughter was with me both times. The police denied this activity and said it was simply a coincidence that I found myself surrounded by so many cop cars both times.
Danpri, you and many other folks have no idea what the police in this area are capable of, or the extreme measures they will use in these little battles of wit. The public will never know what went on in 1997 and 2005 since all except one of the lawsuits I filed both times were settled out of court and to my satisfaction weeks before they were to go to a jury. (One lawsuit is still pending from the 2005 incident, it WILL go to a jury.)
We don’t know what is going on the Strom case, but there’s something seriously wrong with this entire picture. It’s going to be a very interesting case to watch. And I don’t foresee a plea agreement between the commonwealth or defense in this case. I suspect it’s going to be a knock down drag out battle to the end.
Waldo,
Your headline reads “White Supramecist Arrested…”
Perhaps a more factual, and less racially charged, headline would be “Ex-wife of White…” or even, as the DP wrote, “Bedford Co Woman…”
The DP managed to get through the whole story without mentioning her racist husband. You, however, not only mentioned it, but chose to lead in the headline with that, and call her the white supremacist, without giving any data supporting your characterization of her as such. This, despite your acknowledgement that she’s the one who turned him in.
Yes, this lady is, as they say, “whack”. And her stalking, bizarre. But you’ve done her and yourself a disservice by thowing about racial epithets without any support.
I thought it was a well-established fact—she’s very proud of being a racist and a white supremacist (she prefers the term “white separatist”), and it hadn’t occurred to me that I’d need to support the claim any more than the claim that her husband is a white supremacist. (Calling somebody a white supremacist is not, incidentally, a “racial epithet.” It’s just a descriptive term.) When Strom first started trolling cvillenews.com, I read through his websites (long gone now), which were full of photographs and testimonies written by him and his wife about how great whites are and how awful blacks are and how Jews run the world and Christians are an endangered minority, etc., etc. She’s not just any white supremacist: The Southern Poverty Law Center has named her one of their “40 to Watch,” a list of the nastiest racists in the country. They mention a couple of her websites, including Angry White Female, where she writes:
And:
And on the horror of going to a bluegrass festival and finding non-whites there:
Elisha Strom’s primary identity—and I don’t doubt she’d agree with this—is as a racist. She and her husband are two of the more well-known white supremacists in the country. If this was just some random woman stalking the police, it might be news. But what puts it over the top is a) her husband and b) her and her husband’s role in the white supremacy movement.
Incidentally, I didn’t describe her as “ex-wife of Kevin Strom” in the headline because she’s well-known on her own. I also didn’t describe her as a “Bedford County woman,” because I think she just moved there a few weeks ago—it’s not really an apt description. Also, there are thousands of women in Bedford County. But only two people in Albemarle who folks are likely to think of upon seeing the description “white supremacist.” Still, that doesn’t diminish the need to document the statement, so I’m glad to have had this opportunity to do so.
Interesting. Why would her role in any white supremacy movement come into play in her JADE blog? If anything, it appears law enforcement administrations in the city, county, Virginia State Police, University of Virginia police and ATF are picking all whites to fill the JADE unit lately. I would think this would please any supporter or member of a while supremacy movement, not enrage them.
I was thinking the same thing, Demopublican. Maybe some of them are Jewish? Or maybe she’s set aside her white-hot hatred for non-whites long enough to hate cops?
A lot of people are under the impression that I hate cops. But I don’t. I have more of a hatred for the police chiefs and sheriffs who defend the actions of a few loose cannons. But I understand their position, they’re named in the lawsuits too. They can’t admit their loose cannons made a mistake.
Having said the above, I’m not sure I see a hatred for cops in Strom’s blog. Maybe a hatred for what she feels a few of them did to her. It’s not very often a cop actually leaves his wife and lives up to the promises they have made their newfound girlfriend during extramarital affairs. I don’t know that’s what happened here, but there’s some pretty good indications of it.
This JADE blog is pretty bizarre and puzzling. Everybody’s having to read between the lines to even take a wild guess at her agenda.
I have no idea why, but when I read this story tonight, I immediately thought of Elisha Storm and Jade….
http://forums.officer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126429
Have you noticed the capital letters ‘HATE’ in her blog name and logo?
Yes, colfer. While I often pretend to have a hearing problem when it’s convenient here at home and work, my vision is OK. :)
It’s hard to think HATE applies when she speaks about them being so sexy and macho repetedly in her blog. (I wonder about her vision!) As I said above, I think she HATES what she feels a few of them did to her.
Hi Waldo,
In reading the “I HeArTE JADE” blog I get the sense, as Ms. Strom seems to claim on her blog, that she is only posting information which is commonly available elsewhere. Indeed, it is easy and lawful to obtain. She also has the constitutional right, I believe, to take the pictures she has displayed.
Having said that, if I were on the Task Force and having my face and information put up on a blog, I would be uncomfortable with it also as I am sure JADE members are – very much so.
Something which comes to my mind after seeing some of the comments here, is that it is true that police in general, and not just the rank-and-file, often have significant double standards.
Back eleven or so years ago when Amos Chiarappa (ACPD) shot and killed Frederick Gray, Chiarappa received death threats following the incident. If I recall correctly, anonymous threatening phone calls were even made to the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office. If not there, then at least somewhere where it was noted by police. I clearly remember Chiarappa’s extreme apprehension. In spite of that, Chief of Police John Miller publicly released Chiarappa’s picture and name, both of which made the news. Miller was aware of the death threats. None of this was warmly received by officers in the department to say the least.
Because so many officers were concerned about this, myself included – not only for Chiarappa’s well-being, but for future incidents also – I went to speak with Miller since he claimed to have an open door policy. Miller’s vehement response to me was that if the officers did not like it, then, “F**k ’em, F**k ’em all.” Chiarappa later told me Miller told him the same thing.
In another incident, an enraged citizen was stalking me at one point while I still worked for ACPD. He was telling some officers he was looking for me and he had a gun. He even met with Miller to voice his dissatisfaction that I issued his wife a summons – the event which spurred his actions. Miller egged him on.
I mention these things (and I could prove them if I had to) to illustrate the point that it is not uncommon for police to take steps past their boundaries, leaps on occasion, to serve personal interests and/or deviance’s.
I wouldn’t care for Ms. Strom focusing on me either but I’m not so sure what she has done is unlawful.
…of course nobody is calling me for my opinion either.
Now that’s interesting, Karl! Answers a few questions I have always had. One of them being why certain county cops think it’s perfectly acceptable to use the F bomb in dealing with the public. I guess it starts right at the top. Had one call me a “f**king liar” one evening while on official business. The funny thing about it, he’s the one that ended up with a reputation of being an habitual liar. And he still carries that same reputation around with him.
I don’t think Whether or not what Strom did is lawful or not is the question here. I think the cops have used the arrest warrant as a method to deter her from continuing on with her JADE blog. It won’t be the first time they have used criminal arrest warrants to intimidate people into submission.
I wonder what Randy Weaver would say about all of this nonsense.
That question goes right over my head. I can’t possibly imagine what the Ruby Ridge, Waco, Oklahoma City, and Freeman incidents have to do with this case. Unless you’re attempting to make some type of white supremacist connection?
What do you think Randy Weaver would say?
You may well be right about that, Karl. As I wrote in the original posting:
Whether or not what she’s done here rises to the level of stalking, I can’t say. But all of the rest of it strikes me as the legal accessing of publicly-available information about government employees and the legal dissemination of that information. What I can’t quite reconcile is that the effect of doing this is terribly destructive, and it appears to me to have result in providing information that could get somebody killed (though I’m certainly no LEO). Even if the individual actions are legal, the collection of them seems to me, based on the information before me, to be something that should be illegal.
What would he say? Well for starters, my guess is that he’d find some simpatico with all the cop bashing going on here. Is that too far over your head?
Cop bashing? I prefer the term “constructive criticism”.
Ahh…I get it. That’s like when Rush gives Pres. Obama constructive criticism.
Waldo, I think in the eyes of most judges her actions would rise to the level required under the Virginia stalking law. But only because it involves publishing a cop’s address, and this could wrongfully influence a judge’s decision perhaps. You don’t see anybody being charged with stalking for publishing Comer’s addresses recently. Comer certainly has some enemies as of late. There could be people out there gunning for Comer! But maybe this is one of the double standards Karl speaks of.
And it’s certainly a double standard if they claim publishing a cop’s address is enough for a stalking charge and conviction. The Albemarle County police had no trouble releasing my name and address for media publication while I was still an active sworn deputy sheriff in Virginia. This placed my entire family in possible danger from any enemies I may have made in decades of service to the community.
Waldo, in response to your statement: “Even if the individual actions are legal, the collection of them seems to me, based on the information before me, to be something that should be illegal.”
I suppose everybody has differing opinions on what should and should not be illegal. Those opinions even vary over time and experience. Ultimately, the issue will be decided by a court or jury and even those results can vary considerably based on who is wearing the black robe or who is in the jury box. Even then it’s not a done deal.
It is apparent there might be some element of personal issues in Ms. Strom’s pursuit. I don’t see any outright allegations of police misconduct in what she has written. I don’t see her as trying to bring important issues to the eyes of the public. In spite of that, from a lay point of view, I suppose Ms. Strom’s case may be looked at as how far the government can or should restrict public scrutiny of public officials.
Let’s say Ms. Strom is found guilty for her efforts of scrutinizing and publishing police information and activity and consequently the law is strengthened to prevent any further such scrutiny. What happens then if at a later date police are involved in issues of misconduct and self-policing is falling by the wayside as it so often does?
Who then will be “allowed” by the government to provide scrutiny?
It bears repeating that I don’t blame Task Force personnel for being uncomfortable with Ms. Strom’s actions and I definitely don’t want to see any harm come to any law enforcement officers.
In my view however, the bigger picture then, outside of Ms. Strom’s case, is where to balance public access to police and government activity. Personally, I think it should way heavily in favor of public scrutiny.
Sorry, I meant to spell “weigh” instead of “way.”
I’m right there with you on the openness/security concern, Karl. This is something that I just don’t have all of the facts on, and I haven’t thought through fully. As a board member of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, I’ve definitely got my mind on the importance of keeping in public what our government is up to. But I also know that there are legitimate safety and security concerns, particularly for undercover police officers, that ought to be given protection. Perhaps as this story unfolds, and as I read the discussions about the story here, I’ll come to figure out where I come down on this tradeoff.
Given what I’ve read about the JADE TFOs. They are not true undercover officers. They are plain clothes officers assigned to curtail illegal drug related activities. They use informants to gather their intelligence. They testify in open court using their true names. They talk to and have their pictures taken by the media. They inform the public that they are on the JADE Task Force in their resumes. These are not actions that an undercover officer would do or their supervisors would allow to happen. It would “blow” their cover and make them useless as an undercover officer.
If these officers were undercover, then what Ms. Storm did would have placed the officer’s lives at risk. But, JADE TFOs are not undercover officers in the true meaning of the work. As for taking pictures and associating a name to the face. The officers have never tried to hide their identities.
However, Ms. Storm did publish an officer’s home address. Although, she gathered the information from public records. My opinion on this, is that it added an unnecessary level of risk to the officer and his family. If someone wanted to do harm to the officer and/or his family, there is no need to help the bad guy out. This was a big mistake on her part and she needs to be held accountable for it.
Sometimes I find myself hovering on occasion. Just when I think it is clear to land at a particular point I think, “well, maybe not.”
What keeps me pointed much closer to as much open government as possible – certainly much more than things currently stand overall – are the things I’ve personally experienced and similar incidents I constantly see in various news accounts.
I have no faith in, “Trust us, we’re from the government.”
…that is because I’ve worked for the government.
It’s been nice keyboarding with you. Hope to see you sometime again soon!
Steve, without looking for a document with a federal arbitraitor’s signature and date on it, I am going to have to guess at the year. Around 2000 or 2001, my brother had a problem with a FORMER county police officer. The cop claimed my brother asked him questions about a police murder (Frederick Gray) in a disrespectful tone. All of my brothers seemed to magically have problems with county cops shortly after I sued the chief, captain, lt, sgt and a rookie. Imagine that! What a coincidence!!!!
Because of this problem, a formal written complaint on him at his place of employment by this FORMER cop, my brother was suspended for a week without pay. He packed his 4X4 truck and went deep into the woods camping and kayaking. Once returning to work he filed a grievance over this wrongful suspension based on the cop’s silly paranoid suspicions and perceptions of how the discussion went. He easily won this grievance and the week was reinstated with back pay and interest. The postmaster called the cop in before the grievance hearing and prepped him for the hearing, or whatever. The federal arbitraitor who came into town to hear the grievance ruled that it was obvious that the county cop was lying. The arbitraitor ruled that the cop had told one story in his written complaint, and had magically changed his story to something much worse after the mysterious pre-trial meeting with the postmaster. Imagine that!!!! (I have a copy of the ruling as signed, sealed and delivered by the federal arbitraitor) The county police were also provided a copy of it. Not sure if the FORMER cop ever got a copy or not, I guess he did. He can frame it and hang it on his wall of achievements as a FORMER cop.
So, I took the name of this FORMER county cop, looked him up in online property taxes, and in less than 2 minutes I knew exactly where he lives.
So, please explain to me what it is that Strom did when so wrong when she published a cop’s address. Since the “undercover” cops make no attempts at concealing their real names at any time.
Whatever the issue with JADE, its obvious from the exerpts from her blog that Elisha Strom is one sick puppy!
“90% of violent crime is black on white.” Where did she get that statistic? From another hate group?
Its hard to give credibility to anything someone like that asserts.
I’ve got to agree with Demopublican on this one. Although I don’t like Nazis and other hate groups, it is unacceptable that cops can go beyond their authority to attack a member of that hate group. As such, they are “above-the-law” and that in itself is probably worse that the Hate Speech from those groups. Now, some – many – will claim that the cops are within the law, since they can do what they are doing with impunity: Anyone with any exposure to the Law and authorities – any authority – knows is a ridiculous assumption, since laws and any other form of ordinances are always interpretive and therefore never absolutes.
I am typing and can’t shut up! :)
I don’t think a dislike of a member of a hate group, or the desire to exceed one’s actual authority in dealing with a member of a hate group comes into play when a cop wants to jump into bed with the person!
Demopublican, I agree with you that there are bad cops. I’ve seen my share of them. I even had the privilege of escorting a couple of them to prison for robbing a bank.
Ms. Storm did not have the legal awareness to realize what she did was going to be used to stop her. But, she did violate the letter of the law. The officer/victim in the harassment complaint swore that he and his family were placed in danger due to Ms. Storm’s actions. If this was anyone else and not a police officer. The DA’s office would have kicked out the complaint.
Now, I’m sure these officers are not actually scared of Ms. Storm. But, they have an arsenal legal weapons that can be used against anyone at anytime.
If we are going to hold law enforcement personnel in a higher class than mere civilians. Then they should be held more accountable for their actions. I’d even go as far as increasing their punishment if they violate the law.
Bank robberies are crimes that carry a high clearance rate. In orer for cops to rob banks and think they can get by with it proves they’re not the brightest crayons in the Crayola display. It’s actually quite a commentary on the intelligence level encountered in the profession often.
I probably should have considered seeking stalking warrants when the county cops released my name and physical address for media publication. They knew I was a sworn law enforcement when they released this information to the media. My family felt as if they were placed in danger.
My bad! I pushed something and submitted the reply before I had finished my rant! :)
What we’re dealing with here is the fact that it’s OK for the cops to release a known law enforcement officer’s name and address for publication, such as myself; but, it’s suddenly a crime if a civilian does does it to a cop. I find this very interesting.
Demopublican– in the story you relate about your brother, you mention that you looked up the former police officer’s address online to see where he lives. May I ask why you felt you needed to do that?
Elisha Strom may be protected under free expression, but that doesn’t make what she’s doing any less creepy and stalker-ish also.
Karl Mansoor seems like a reasonable guy and doesn’t resort to making anonymous personal comments online about the people he has a beef with (i.e. discussing their private lives, extramarital affairs etc). Nor does he talk about their homes, where they live, and how much they are worth. Therefore, I find what he says to be much more credible.
Voice of Reality, because I felt like it. To prove how easy it is to locate a cop’s residence. And because the particular cop is one of the very few cops I know where I haven’t ever known or cared where they live. In other words, the first one that came to mind. It’s not like Strom is distributing national security secrets.
Karl mansoor is a very credible person. That’s why he has been awarded large chunks of change for the police wrongdoings that have been perpetuated upon him repeatedly. I can hardly wait to be one of the first people in America to read his book when it’s published. I am confident every word in the book will be nothing but the absolute truth. The county police lost an excellent officer when they fugged with him.
Karl and I are two different people, two different personalities, and we have two different attitudes about the past, present and future. We agree on certain things. And we disagree on others. The main difference between Karl and I is the fact a small handful of rouge cops didn’t try to falsely imprison him, they just wanted him gone so he would shut up and stop exposing the dirty laundry within the county police department. My little band of rouge cops attempted to put me in prison and label me with a criminal record after one of their rookies made a mistake. You don’t have to believe me when I say I sat in court and watched an entire chain of police command lie under oath in a courtroom. But I can tell you the judge certainly agreed with me.
I see you totally skipped over the part about the cops giving out my name and address for publication. Their knowing at the time that I was a sworn law enforcement officer. They placed my family in danger. Isn’t this what the accusations against Strom are? Even though she has done nothing more or less than the cops have also done?
Let me finish by saying this… I will support a good honest cop 110%. And I will always continue to support them. But, something stinks in this case. I’m truly not defending Strom, I don’t know her, never spoken to her in my life. But she did nothing more than the cops have done themselves.
I was told by a source tonight to check this web site out…
http://www.elishastrom.com/
Pretty strange!!!
So with all the talking about legalities, attacks on the police, and self serving comments I guess I need to wander on back to something a smart man once said: “I cannot define pornography, but I know it when I see it.” Essentially, the sniff test.
Anyway you cut it, what this lady is doing stinks. Additionally, she will not impact anything in the long term nor create an atmosphere of change.
Wrap up what you say in any politically expedient manner, but the fact remains that she comes off as a nut, and will be viewed that way by the mainstream: thus no change will occur. Rather, I suspect that this action forces the police to circle the wagons tighter.
Danpri, read this link….
http://www.kevinalfredstrom.com/2009/01/kevin-alfred-strom-address-to-the-court/#more-359
I am inclined to believe every word he says. I have personally witnessed cops as they conspire and lie against people.
Seriously? A Nazi who is a speaker at David Duke “Euro-American” conferences, has websites saying we lost our way when we attacked Sen. McCarthy and a series of sadly pathetic self absorbed portraits on one of his many weird websites?
This is the guy who says the lady in question is nuts.
If you are inclined to believe every word then you stand by the following Strom statement: “We import and mix with tens of millions of Mestizos from Central America with an average IQ of around 80 and almost no geniuses — and we import and mix with Africans with average IQs in the 60s and 70s, the retarded range by our standards, and almost no people who are even moderately bright”
And you are inclined to believe every word he says? If this guy is your role model…
One can believe that a man is innocent — that he has been framed by the government — or that he had a wife from Hell with a vendetta against him… even if you think he’s wrong politically.
I think Kevin Strom’s wrong about a lot of stuff, but so what? Does that mean I should say “go, boys!” when he’s screwed over by the feds and the cops?
He writes stuff. He deserves to have freedom to do that, just like we do.
http://www.kevinalfredstrom.com/2009/05/the-forgotten-tenth-amendment/
Personally, I think anti-authoritarians of the Left and the Right need to stop demonizing each other. Or the police/surveillance/war machine in Washington wins for sure.
I read a lot about this case in the last few days, and I think Kevin Strom was probably framed. And I’d be happy to have lunch with him and talk about it.
I also don’t think his nutcase wife should be in jail for running her blog. If she perjured herself while she was all cozy with the secret police, though, that’s another story…
I haven’t seen anybody suggest otherwise. Who are you disagreeing with here?
Waldo: I just think Danpi jumped the gun on Demo. Demo was just saying he agreed with “every word” in one article, obviously. I agree with it too. But no one could possibly agree with EVERY word ANYONE has ever written.
It looked like Demo was being demonized ’cause he agreed with a “bad guy.”
I’m sensitive… maybe oversensitive… to the concept that people with “bad” ideas shouldn’t get any sympathy.
Some of my family background is from the Balkans, and I know how demonization works.
Uri, danpri simply doesn’t understand much about where I have been and the reasons I have a tendancy to believe certain statements.
I was on the receiving end of an event that could never possibly be classifed as anything other than a police conspiracy. It was the case I keep mentioning where a judge finished the trial, went into chambers, and told his baliff he simply couldn’t believe an entire chain of police command had just committed perjury in his courtroom. As a police captain answered questions posed to him by the judge, the captain looked to his left and down at the floor while answering. He couldn’t even look the judge in the eye as he sat there and lied. Quite a few folks in the courtroom noticed this, as did the judge! One of those taking notice was the chief magistrate of this district. They went so far as soliciting a county employee who often rode with cops, commonly known as the ride-a-long program. They asked her to write a negative memo about me and backdate it 6 months claiming I had done so and so. She stepped right up to the plate and honored their request. There was no dispute that she composed her little report 6 months after it supposedly took place. In this same case I had stopped a drunk driver one evening. It was absolutely the worst case of drunk driving I had ever seen in my entire life. One of the backup cops claimed I only showed up at the scene of the DUI because I was out stalking him. For whatever reason, this rookie had no idea that I was the deputy sheriff who had stopped the DUI driver in the first place. Talk about looking like an idiot after his testimony, this guy took the prize!
After reading the one link I posted and saying I have a tendancy to believe Strom, I’ve been there. People like danpri simply can’t believe that cops are capable of the many very evil things they do when trying to cover their own butts or retaliate against somebody.
I don’t know Kevin Strom. I would not know him if he knocked on my front door right now. I know nothing about his past writings or what group he has represented in the past and/or present. I don’t care to know. After Strom’s statement to the court (in the link I provided), the judge told Strom that he wishes Strom had entered a not guilty plea supposedly. if this is true, it seems to me like the judge had some serious doubt about Strom’s guilt too.
Quote: “I agree with every word he says.”
As to not knowing where your coming from, how could anyone on any local blog not know? You pretty much hijack any local news blog with your well beaten agenda.
Strom can write what he wants. Elisha can write what she wants. But what she is doing does not pass the smell test.
If what she does, in anyway impacts the potential saftey of innocent family members, or blows a potential bust on bad guys then she is wrong.
And no, I did not read more than the first sentence of Demos note. Either bring the proof to the table in court or just let it go.
Have at it. I am off this thread.
Demo/Sick pretty-much cuts and pastes his rants over and over again. Why don’t you just start your own site instead of CONSTANTLY hijacking threads on this site and The Hook?? Those webmasters must tire of you.
The story about an entire chain of command lying in court, all of your lawsuits you’ve got going on, bad cop news, etc. Dude, it gets old. So old that what you say on here just stirs “eye-rolling” from me. We know you hate cops. Not the sharpest tool in the drawer during your time as a cop either from what I hear.
Does your family hang their head in shame when they are in public because of all of the BS you spew online?
I know I would be ashamed!!
danpri, you don’t have to leave this thread. It appears you and others intentionally keep skipping right over the question I have asked several times. Let’s assume what you say is correct. Namely, what Elisha Strom did – publishing a cop’s home address – has placed the cop’s family in danger.
Would you agree that these same cops placed my family in danger when they released my name and address for media publication while I was a sworn deputy sheriff? If you agree, what has Elisha done that the cops themselves haven’t done? It’s OK for cops to release a law enforcement officer’s name and physical address, but when a civilian does it, it’s a crime????
From what you hear? Not the sharpest tool in the drawer, huh? This might have explain why my performance evaluations steadily increased over my many years of service. Each performance evaluation was better than the prior period.
Well, except once of course. When a grievance was filed by me, and the city panel hearing the grievance ruled a certain sheriff had rated me, not my performance. They had to go back and redo my evaluation for that time period!
You really need some new sources, or some sources that don’t lie. Who are your sources anyway, cops? :)
Quote: “I know I would be ashamed!!”
Yep, if I were the Pollyanna your seem to be, I would be ashamed of myself too.
People should be ashamed of this city and county they live in. Charging a man with murder, when they knew they had NO chance of winning the case. Charging a girl with harassing a cop after they all had a piece and had finished with her. Running over pedestrians with police cars. Almost running over pedestrians with police cars, and then tossing the pedestrians in jail when the pedestrians yell out “slow the f**k down!” at the cop. Albemarle County police captain soliciting juveniles for sex on the Internet. Albemarle County police sgt fired for falsifying speedometer calibrations. Two Charlottesville cops fired for their sexcapades while on the taxpayer’s dime. Numerous cops fired for domestic abuse. Albemarle County police detective fired for beating a suspect in custody, and then hired breifly in Louisa township. Louisa township chief almost fired for hiring him, you know the deal, hiring one of his bestest buddies. Charging a man with putting up sandwich signs in the windows of his business. Which reminds me, I passed there the other day. nTelos has bought an old armored truck, painted the nTelos logo on it, and parked it out in front of their business on 29 North. Looks tacky as hell. You don’t see the county going after them like they are going after Slonaker and Arby’s. I guess nTelos has enough cash to kick their butts maybe, so they leave the big corporation alone?
Ohh, the list goes on and on. I could type examples until my keybaord gives out from wear and tear. I am ashamed of the city and county I live in.
Post some more then, your fingers are tougher than that.
No need to. Most people find it boring, or self serving. Or so they claim. If the truth was known, they probably eat it up just as much as you do. :)
Maybe someday I can find reason to tie in the extramarital affairs of police chiefs and sheriffs into a discussion. See? You got me started again! I can’t shut up!
Keep going. I am interested anyway.
Actually, if that’s all you have, don’t bother. But if you have any more of the other stuff, keep going.
colfer, I know a ton of things that go on in the local police departments. But it’s not public knowledge because most of it is hidden from the public… and more often than not, swept under the rug within the cop shoppes. I therefore can only disucss incidents that have been released to the media or those that have pretty much become public knowledge.
One of the creepiest tales recently comes right out of the JADE office. One of their cops was arrested on several felony charges out of South Carolina. Supposedly, he sexually assaulted a minor. And of course, by the time the warrants were served, he had become an ex-cop of JADE. Must have been early retirement? Before, during and after the arrest, it’s been hushed up pretty much. I would bet my entire paycheck this year that some cop leaked the arrest to the local media in the beginning.
In all fairness though, just like in the Strom case, I think there’s something going on in the background. I don’t for one minute believe the cop did what he’s accused of. It won’t be the first time some cop thought he was going to become famous and get promotions over some infamous arrests. Especially the arrest of an ex-cop. Most rookies see such as a proud feather to display ont heir caps. I’ve always said a cop’s worst enemy is another cop. And if Elisha Strom’s claims of having inside sources at the police department ratting out other cops movements and activities is true, I rest my case.
Way, way off topic, but I don’t know where else to ask…
Did anyone that ever commented on the now defunct cVillain.com with their email address get an unsolicited email from the owners’ new business, Crossfit Charlottesville?
I was simply wondering if they “sold” everyone’s email or just mine. Anyone have an idea of their privacy policy (google cache or something)? Did they even have one? It seems slightly underhanded to use people’s emails for a new commercial undertaking.
Thank you. –Q
P.S. Now back to regular discussion:
It’s like that line in the Mel Gibson movie “Payback”. How does it go? Mel’s character narrating something like…”Crooked cops. Do they come in any other way?” That’s a decent movie except for the hammering of the toes scene. Ouch!!!
Cops come in other flavors. The vast majority of them are decent hard working individuals. The problem arises when one screws up and the others have no choice but to lie and deny for them. The “Thin Blue Line” used to mean so few cops attempting to do so much with limited resources. Nowadays the the “Thin Blue Line” means lying and denying for each other. It’s often called the “Blue Wall of Silence” too. Decent hard working cops can’t rat a crooked or lying cop because it opens their chief or sheriff and employer up to civil liablity. If they do, they might as well turn around and kiss their own butt goodbye. I think this is pretty much happened to Karl Mansoor. When he started asking questions about the how and why of things that just didn’t seem right to him, they wanted him gone. And they wanted him gone fast after some of it hit the headlines. And I am sure there were a lot of cops who wanted to see the same questions Karl was asking answered. I think they would have lost their jobs too if they had taken a stand against the department and administration.
colfer, somebody asked me the outcome of the lawsuits a fellow filed in another doozey the local police were involved in not long ago. I figured I would put it here for you to enjoy since yu keep asking for more.
I think this pretty much how the tale went. Kid is riding a motor scooter down the road. Cop stops him and asks to see his driver’s license. Kid says, “I don’t need a license to ride this!” Cop wasn’t sure, so he cut him loose. Later in the day, cop #2 told cop #1 that a rider most certainly does need a driver’s license. Cop #1 goes to the Magistrate’s Office and is actually issued an arrest warrant for the kid. Cops surround the kid’s house at midnight, scare him half to death, and haul him in a warrant that never should have been issued in the first place. A comedy of errors from start to finish. Kid sues. County fights the lawsuits tooth and nail for a while, but as usual, they finally settled out of court. Without asking the kids father I don’t recall what type of settlement it was. Proably a non-disclosure settlement, “we will give you $100,000 with the understanding that we still admit no wrongdoing, and neither party shall discuss the fine details of the incident any further.”
The way it used to be… Virginia Risk Management often pays all of these “out of court” settlements (unless punitive damages are awarded). And they pay court/jury awarded damages as well. Each law enforcement agency has to pay yearly premiums to enroll in the program. And the premium an agency has to pay is based on how much the individual agency has to pay out year to year. I imagine the premiums for Albemarle County are much higher than those for the Charlottesville Police. Especially since Albemarle County had a $4 million judgement issued against them in the Frederick Gray wrongful death case a few years ago.
I was very fortunate. I never had $1 in compensatory or punitive damages awarded against me in almost 30 years of service. And never in my wildest dreams did I think ever think I would be on the receiving end of large sums of money from Risk Management myself. It’s a strange strang world out there!
(If any of the above has changed in the last ten years, please feel free to correct me.)
Gee wiz…you always talk about people on the Gov. teat and now you’re saying that you’ve taken a shload of money in damages from the county? I’ll say this…at least you know from whereof you speak. I think I would be more about righting the wrong than cashing the check.
Listen, cops are people like everybody else. They screw up like everybody else. Is there a difference? You betcha! They have AUTHORITY over others and as such need to be monitored very closely by an independent entity whose interest lies with the public. By the same token, cops take risks the average everybody else doesn’t, so if their service is dangerous, they should get “danger bonuses”. But if what they’re doing is just acting as the local tax collector (i.e. most moving violations), then they should get very just enough to pay for the McDonald’s burgers they keep stuffing down.
If you do this, the real policemen will get compensated and maybe not feel they gotta join/make their own crime syndicate.
Now what to say about magistrates? Hmmm… They are subject to virtually no [real] oversight, their job is cushy and they are over-paid in the 1st place. Lastly, they make decisions every day on others’ lives yet they operate with complete impunity. Judges SUCK [mostly]. We need a Revolution.
But if what they’re doing is just acting as the local tax collector (i.e. most moving violations), then they should get very just enough to pay for the McDonald’s burgers they keep stuffing down.
This is kind of insulting. Plenty of cops have gotten injured or killed due to pulling someone over for speeding, and then the driver either flees or gets violent (usually has some other conviction or something in the car).
Any cop will tell you there is no such thing as a routine traffic stop. That’s the kind of thinking that gets you killed.
Then STOP making traffic stops! Jeeshhh. [talk about being ‘thick’]
Majung, yes, cops screw up like everybody else. And it’s going to get worse with hiring standards being lowered nationwide and the quality of applicant reaching an all time low.
Dahmius, when cops do screw up, the only method they can compensate the victims of their wrongful actions is “money”. It’s not like a judge or jury would award Rodney King the right to take a few cops out in a cornfield and beat the hell out of them with an aluminum baseball bat.
Touche…I understand.
Oh, one other thing…Dem, here’s a link to a story you’ll love…
http://www2.newsadvance.com/lna/news/local/article/secret_tape_leads_to_500000_suit/18325/
It’s ironic in a country supposedly in love with its legal system – demonstrated by innumerable lawsuits, many frivolous (i.e. a woman sues and wins a case where she put her shampooed dog in a microwave to dry…) – that ‘intimidation’ is the new ‘liberty’. It’s cheap and virtually guaranteed to be effective, since magistrates are typically and willingly invited to the bash party.
Example, just in:
Health Care Town Halls “Gone Wild”: Right-Wingers on the Rampage
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/141811/health_care_town_halls_“gone_wild”:_right-wingers_on_the_rampage/
Majung, when the Elisha Strom case goes to court, and if the judge tosses the charge out the window, would it be a frivolous lawsuit if she sues the officer and the agency having issued the warrant for her?
Dahmius, interesting news story! Thanks!
Good question, demo.
Well, if you stick to the American paradigm we have now, it would be a loss for the tax-payer if she sues. Unfortunatley, BECAUSE no one is ultimately held accountable (if a cop gets fired, it’s typically because he’s not cozying up the ‘right’ people), no LESSON will be learned.
But to be exacting, no, it is not ‘frivolous’ to uphold your basic rights. In fact, it’s your duty as a Citizen. That said, we all have to pick our battles, and wager our chances for success…
OK.
If a judge rules this girl has committed no crime, and she has sat in jail for 6 months awaiting trial, I’m sure the officer probably expects to be sued. And I am also sure most cops know by now that “qualified immunity” isn’t worth the time it takes to type the 17 letters out.
But of course, we don’t know all the facts in this case yet. I hope JADE is holding a few more cards than they have shown in the media releases thus far.
If you read the code section she was charged with closely, and the corresponging definitions in 18.2 186.3, I don’t see her crime myself. Won’t be the first time I have had trouble interpreting a state code. The words “along with” in 18.2-186.4 means there has to be more elements than just publishing a cop’s name. Then, when you get to the definitions in 18.2-186.3, I suppose the words “but not limited to” could mean publishing the cop’s address is illegal when published with the cop’s address. But it’s still a tough call when you get to the words “…information that can be used to access a person’s financial resources, obtain identification, act as identification, or obtain money, credit, loans, goods or services.” The code sections are ambiguous at best.
——————–
§ 18.2-186.4. Use of a person’s identity with the intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass; penalty.
It shall be unlawful for any person, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass another person, to publish the person’s name or photograph along with identifying information as defined in clauses (iii) through (ix), or clause (xii) of subsection C of § 18.2-186.3, including identification of the person’s primary residence address. Any person who violates this section is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Any person who violates this section knowing or having reason to know that person is a law-enforcement officer, as defined in § 9.1-101, is guilty of a Class 6 felony. The sentence shall include a mandatory minimum term of confinement of six months.
18.2 186.3…..
C. As used in this section, “identifying information” shall include but not be limited to: (i) name; (ii) date of birth; (iii) social security number; (iv) driver’s license number; (v) bank account numbers; (vi) credit or debit card numbers; (vii) personal identification numbers (PIN); (viii) electronic identification codes; (ix) automated or electronic signatures; (x) biometric data; (xi) fingerprints; (xii) passwords; or (xiii) any other numbers or information that can be used to access a person’s financial resources, obtain identification, act as identification, or obtain money, credit, loans, goods or services.
Correction: the above was suppose to read…
I suppose the words “but not limited to” could mean publishing the cop’s address is illegal when published with the cop’s NAME.
I was eating lunch with one hand, typing with the other, and watching some pretty chick in the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High….. all at the same time. I see I still didn’t make myself clear above. My bad.
The way I read the code sections, you have to publish 1) the cop’s name, 2) the cop’s address, and 3) “other identifying information” to violate 18.2-186.4. And only then have you violated the code section if you have the intent to “coerce, intimidate, or harass”.
Just remember…no texting while driving.
You can be running along beside me down the bypass and see me punching buttons on my cell phone. How can you possibly know if I am texting, punching in a number to dial, taking pictures of JADE cops, taking pictures of JADE cop cars, or using the phone’s GPS feature? It’s just another “feel good” law that can’t possibly be enforced. 12 months from now tell me how many tickets the city and county police have written for this offense. Better yet, tell me how many convictions have been handed down. As long as you stay between the lines, obey the traffic laws, and don’t hit anything, the law says nothing about using the other features of the cell phone. By the way, as usual, and as expected, the state code exempts cops and emergency vehicles. They can text as much as they like while driving. The reason I add this is because just like civilians, there’s some cops who can’t drive and chew bubble gum at the same time. Even worse, do we really need 20 ton fire trucks running down the street while the driver is text messaging?
Another interesting point- if you are lawfully parked or stopped, you can text message. So while sitting at a Rio Road and 29 North traffic light you can lawfully text message.
And while not generally advertised as such in most media releases, it’s a secondary law, just like seat belts. A cop has to have another reason to stop you first before he can issue a ticket for text messaging. “No citation for a violation of this section shall be issued unless the officer issuing such citation has cause to stop or arrest the driver of such motor vehicle for the violation of some other provision of this Code or local ordinance relating to the operation, ownership, or maintenance of a motor vehicle or any criminal statute.”