Update on the Watchdogs

This is an update on Who’s Watching the Watchdogs.

The preliminary hearing was early this morning, except for the fact that there was no preliminary hearing. The watchdogs are fucking with us.

 A month ago, I accompanied Tom to the fingerprinting office, where we waited for 3 hours before a police officer informed us that the finger-printing machine was broken. We watched people go in and out of those metal doors for the entire time before they informed us of the malfunction. They told us to return anytime we wanted to within the next couple of weeks. And of course we didn’t. No message was sent, no police officers came by with any sort of warrant or reprimand.

They know exactly where we live, of course, because the same two officers whom we had the initial altercation came to my door a couple of weeks later on a completely unrelated matter. It was as if we were stuck in an under-budget film that couldn’t afford to pay more than two actors to play the “police force”. An ex roommate of ours had called the police to the door because we told him that we would withhold his mail until he paid us his part of the internet bill (about $160). Here’s some background on this dude: when he moved out, he took off with my other roommate’s laptop, had stolen money from us while he lived with us, and left month-old dinners rotting on common plates in his abandoned room (which we had to clean up, of course.) I felt justified in telling him that he couldn’t get his mail until he paid his bills. But he decided to add insult to injury.

The two officers were sweet as pie (sheepish, even) as they stood on my front door sloop. And I really had to wonder why that was.

Well, at today’s prelim my friends’ names were mysteriously absent from the roster. They inquired at the clerk’s desk why that was.  The clerk replied that either the file had been misplaced, or that the prosecution was not ready. Tom and Sven were informed that they may or may not actually need to appear in court at all. If they do, the notice will be sent to them in writing.

They are fucking with us! That’s why my friends were not read their rights, or taken into the station, or given the chance to contact their lawyers that night. The fuckers!

They knew that they didn’t have a leg to stand on to accuse my friends of “assault against a police officer” so they sent us on a wild goose chase. The incident was never reported and the arrest was never actually filed. As far as the courts are concerned, there was never an arrest made at all!! Except for the fact that Sven and Tom were given summons for fingerprinting and to appear in court.

So now what?

My friends got beaten up, pushed around and unlawfully arrested (whether it was actually processed or not). They have spent time and energy protecting themselves against fraudulent charges only to find out that even the fraudulent charges are a lie. And now, what recourse do we have? Sit silently and thank our lucky stars that the police just wanted to harass, not to maim? They had no right to harass in the first place.

I am both relieved, and angrier than I have ever been.  My glasses are still broken, but the bruise they gave me has faded away.

 

picture via The Black Sentinel.