On-duty police officer and his McCain yard signs - together!
Mon, Oct 6, 2008
There isn’t much in America that reminds me, on sight, of my time in the former soviet republics. A police car juxtaposed with a political campaign sign? That did it instantly.
That is a Middleburg Hts. police vehicle parked in the officer’s driveway behind a McCain Palin yard sign and a NoBama yard sign. What is NoBama? Here’s where the officer got his sign, a site called “McCainStore“.
Now, I didn’t know what Middleburg Hts. police policy was on driving city vehicles home and parking them in your driveway. So I called. Apparently, if the officer is on duty, and he lives in Middleburg Hts., the officer can drive the car home for a break or to eat. So this officer is on duty when he parks his police vehicle behind two political yardsigns.
In developing democracies, the juxtaposition of a police vehicle with a political campaign sign, especially an on-duty vehicle, is a red flag of the highest order. It not only suggests a bias on the part of the governing authority, but it also is an intimidation tactic, designed to tell anyone who sees it that the police want you to vote in a certain way.
Such activity, if encountered by an election observer in a developing democracy, would certainly result in an incident report, and that report would make it up to the highest levels of the international election observation mission. It would be the subject of a meeting between the central electoral authority and the international community. And it would put “police activity” at the top of the priority list for every observer deployed before, during, and after election day.
In short.
An on-duty Middleburg Hts. police officer parking his police vehicle in this manner behind two yard signs on his own front lawn is flat out wrong.
Period.
Either the officer should remove the signs while his vehicle is at his home, or he should not park a police vehicle at his home, whether or not he is on duty.
Call Middleburg Hts. authorities and tell them this is wrong.
Police Department at 440-243-1234
Mayor Gary Starr at 440-234-8811
Popularity: 4% [?]
Tags: middleburg heights mccain supporter, middleburg heights police
October 7th, 2008 at 1:36 am
What, police Officers aren’t protected by the First Amendment? They have no freedom of speech???
October 7th, 2008 at 8:35 am
would you be complaining if this officer was an obama supporter??? i don’t think so!
October 7th, 2008 at 9:01 am
If indeed, “the juxtaposition of a police vehicle with a political campaign sign, especially an on-duty vehicle, is a red flag of the highest order,” then certainly, the police should not respond to any emergencies at a residence that displays a political campaign sign for fear that someone may interpret seeing the vehicle and the sign together as “an intimidation tactic”.
So, when someone is breaking into your home and you need the police, Mr. Russo, make sure you go outside and take down your campaign signs first. I guess that would also apply when you call the fire department or EMS to respond to your emergency.
October 7th, 2008 at 11:48 am
hey suzy, you’re wrong.
this is the officer’s own yard signs. it has nothing to do with responding to an emergency.
whether or not this officer is doing this on purpose is irrelevant.
and whether or not the officer parks in such a suggestive way in response to an emergency, is also irrelevant.
try again, sweetheart.
October 7th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Yeah, those Middleburg Heights police officers are really scary and intimidating.
October 7th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I completely agree, Loser. In fact, I don’t think they should be allowed to drive those new cruisers either. I think the low profile chargers are too intimidating. I propose they ride around on unicorns all day and instead of carrying guns, they should ward off crime by shooting cotton candy and rainbows out their buttocks.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Unless you are the officer’s neighbor, I highly doubt that the average person driving down a street will be able to identify that an officer is parked in his own driveway rather than the driveway of a home that he responded to a call at (keep in mind that not all police calls require activating your emergency lights). I still think it’s in your best interest to remove those political campaign signs prior to the officer’s arrival at your residence in order to avoid this “red flag of the highest order”.
I would think the majority of people would appreciate the fact that a police vehicle parked in a neighborhood is a great crime deterrant, and the benefit of this would outweigh the risk of “juxtaposition…with a political campaign sign”. However, I’m sure if those people were possessing criminal tools, disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, or importuning, they would not want police presence in their neighborhood. Makes sense.
October 7th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
“Incident reports”; “international election observation mission”; “central electoral authority”????? Someone needs to tell this fellow he is in the United States, the cradle of freedom, where people, no matter what their profession, maintain the right to express their opinions. It is because of our Bill of Rights guarantees that we do not need all these things he refers to. To suggest the innocent parking of a car in one’s driveway is a “police activity, “a bias on the part of a governing authority” or an “intimidation tactic” demonstrates either a level of paranoia or just plain stupidity.
October 7th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
hey michael J. of Bay Village, Ohio, when you’re on duty, police are required to check their political views at the door.
dumbass.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
why cant NoBama produce an authentic birth certificate? because he wasn’t even born here is the U.S.Now how can you vote for someone who was born in Kenya to be president of our country?