Is this Legal/Ethical?

[MikeOfThunder]

Wtf? Why are most people being exceptionally ruthless on this 16 year old?

...It's 3 minutes, it's not like he was drunk and ran over someone's dog!


The police officer is fully with in the law to do that to him i pressume, however if he literally was 3 minutes late than most would just give the kid a warning to set off earlier. It's unfair but not exactly immoral.

 

[AnAngryMoose]

The cops were in the right, but seriously? Three minutes and he was actually going home? I call bullshit on that.

 

[AnAngryMoose]

]if you are late to work because of a traffic jam you will be responsible for being late as well.

It's life. It's not fair, but that is just how the world works

So everything is black and white? There's never any grey area? Nobody should ever be left alone because they were only a few moments past curfew, or only a few MPH above the limit? People should be fined for running red lights because their bumper hangs out past the line? And I suppose people who shoot to kill in order to protect their own lives in a home invasion should be convicted of murder too, while we're at it. Because that's what your logic tells me you think should happen.

Reminds me of our old self defense law in Ireland. If there was an intruder in your home and say, he was walking on your shed roof or climbing your gutter or something, if he injured himself while on the gutter or shed roof he could sue you because your home wasn't safe even though he was attempting to rob you.

 

[Astoria]

That's a bit harsh. If this cop had just happened to pass him on the way home then sure he's just doing his job but the fact that he actually followed him is a bit unfair.

 

[Navarone9942]

Topics like this make me glad I don't live in some country that gets completely shafted by the government, only mildly. That being said, 2 years for 3 mins is gay, if the cop follows him before your curfew time, I'm quite sure that qualifies as entrapment and furthermore, what if he was late because of an accident on the road? This jobsworth approach is what leads to people not being able to trust law "enforcement" Also the blatant dick move by the cop suggests he would be happier if your neighbor sped and caused accidents to get home by 12 rather than drive safely and be late by 3 mins.

As I've always said since I was 7 and in the immortal words of N.W.A. "FUCK THE POLICE"

 

[Alandoril]

Well it's not illegal or technically unethical of the police officer to do that. It is however entirely pathetic.

 

[Alandoril]

snip

Police states are formed when punishment is inflated.

If you obey the law when we don't crack down on absurd levels, it never gets to police state levels. We are not yet at a police state level, so your entire argument's validity is questionable until we are at those levels. To avoid getting at those levels, my argument suggests we obey the laws so that they don't get out of hand.

See how my argument precludes yours, since it solves the scenario that yours exists in? That is, unless, you'd like to assert that the US is currently an authoritarian police state in which we should fear the thought police.

Whilst it's not yet like that, it might as well be. All the unspoken "rules" and hounding those who don't obey them pretty much makes it so.

 

[Danish rage]

glad i don´t live in whatever policestate you origin from. sounds like a shitty place. no offence.

 

[manic_depressive13]

Unless there was more to it than the information you've provided, like your neighbour was speeding too, I find this extremely ridiculous and unethical. Three minutes according to whose watch? Ten, fifteen minutes past curfew is understandable, if a bit harsh, but three minutes late? It's very likely that according to the kitchen clock two houses down he was two minutes early.

 

[quantumsoul]

I think your neighbor should appeal it. I wouldn't stand for that kind of b.s.

I'm not sure if it was even entirely legal for the cop to tail him all the way home. I think he would need a probable reason to do so. Wasn't your neighbor already home in the driveway. It's not like he was on the street driving past curfew. That cop was a dick.

 

[joshuaayt]

Ugh. Yes, it is legal- perfectly so. It still pisses me off, though. Friday night/Saturday morning? There was nothing better that active police officer could have been doing?

EDIT:
And, adding on to that...
Hitting someone with a punishment for three minutes (Four, if you want to get ooh!timepedantic) over the time limit certainly would imply that anyone getting home before 12 was in the right, no?
I present a hypothetical: Two young neighbours at a party, at 12ish a'clock. They look at the clock and "Oh no! We only have TEN MINUTES!"

So, they leave simultaneously. They both want to make it on time, so go the way they believe to be quickest- but, in truth, the ways are equal in length.

One encounters no complications, makes it home at 11:09. The other, however, gets stuck behind a long-haul truck for a few minutes, arriving at (Why not?) 12:03.

The officer hiding in car 2's boot now can, apparently arrest him- but what is he being punished for? Both cars left it just a little too late, but car 1 goes unpunished- cancel out equals and we have the reason for punishment: That fucking truck.

My conclusion? The police really- really- hate big trucks.

 

[fullbleed]

WTF is this curfew?

They don't have that in England. That's beyond ridiculous. Setting a curfew for drivers just because of their age. And a 2 year ban for 3 minutes over it is exceedingly harsh. I don't think anyone could justify that to me.

Personally. I'd be so pissed off, I'd likely follow the cop to his house and curl out a steamer on his doorstep.

Totally agree, that whole curfew system seems bizare. This is just a waste of police time and effort, instead of punishing someone for the most pathetic of misdemeanors how about actually stopping crime?

3 minutes is nothing, maybe his watch was just slow, maybe he was held up at traffic lights, maybe there were roadworks. People should stop acting like being 3 minutes could only have been his fault, "Should have left earlier." Shut up!

 

[Kristoffer Mattila]

Cop was in the right.

Neighbor was in the wrong.

Not everything is black and white. I really think that 3 minutes of minor violation does not equal 2 years of suspension from driving. Theres a time to crack thw whip, and theres a time to let things slide. This was one of those times.

It's not the job of police to pick and choose how and when they enforce the law.

The officer did his job.

Period.

It's totally the officers job to do just that.
If they're incapable of such things they would be wasting a lot of the courts time

 

[Duol]

People seem to think that the law is and should be upheld universaly without any second consideration.

This is simply not the case. Take the Netherlands for example. Many people think weed is legal here. It is not, both possession and owing a coffee shop are ilegal. Why are they not arrested you may ask? It's called a policy decision by the government and legislator.

Policy decisions are typical in advising those responsible for enforcing the law what areas are more critical and where lineancy(SP) to a certain degree is advisable. It is impossible to know exactly whether what happened was "right" or "wrong" unless we know the exact details of the law and any policy regarding it.

People with their black and white perspectives particularly with regard to the law sound like they are a 65 year old tea party member.

 

[MarcFirewing]

Harass?
If talking to someone twice is harassment I must have offended half the site.

You said he could've. He could've been batman, he could've been made of clouds. We have no reason to suspect he was any of these things.

So, I assumed the reason you put it out there was because you were implying it was likely enough to justify the cop harassing him. Thus you were suggesting that unfounded suspicions are reason enough for cops to begin inquires. You see, I am able to build on the implications of peoples suggestions and comment on this. I am not restricted to talking only about the way a person in-visions their suggestions.

If you were implying saying fanciful, pointless things over what could've been I'd like to ask you why even bothered posting.

You do realize you're just arguing about 100% opinion correct? Laws can be enforced differently in several other cities than my own and yours. I stated my opinion on the fact that if a person's supposed to be home by a certain time, it should be done by leaving at the appropriate time.

I'm posting with an open mind on what he could be doing, or what he couldn't be doing. It's impossible to know for sure, and even attempting to say I KNOW that was what he was doing would be completely stupid on my part. If you're attempting to make this into a serious and intellectual conversation, word your sentences more correctly. By your sentence structure I assumed you were thinking me some kind of moron because I stated on what he COULD HAVE been doing. Not what he was doing.

And you're attempting to argue on opposing of what I said he COULD HAVE been doing. Not what he WAS doing. It's a good argument, just a little bit of a waste when we're arguing on mostly belief and things that may not be as they happened.

Feel free to reply but if you're going to continue to argue about what he COULD HAVE been doing that kept him out all night, then be my guest. I wont argue any longer.

I mean hell, for all I know he could've been driving his pregnant aunt to the hospital. There's tons of reasons for the neighbor to have been out. I was just delivering speculation, as was appropriate for this situation.

-/end speculation.-

 

[OptimisticPessimist]

I never understood the whole curfew thing. I don't drive, so maybe someone can help me out here. I just seems to me that it doesn't really matter what time someone is driving. Hell, if you're a bad driver, there's probably going to be trouble regardless of the the time. Bit of a nonsense law, in my opinion. But then again, I don't drive, so what would I know about it?

 

[endnuen]

File a complaint.