People with “authority”
May 13th, 2009 by Matt
On May 9th, 2009 Shane Becker was in R.E.I making a purchase. While standing in line he notices two men working on an ATM machine. He snaps a picture of the ATM with his iPhone (pictured at right). Why? Because he enjoys seeing the inside of machines that he doesn’t normally get to see. What happens next is a surprising series of events. I encourage you to read it on his blog, or listen to Shane tell his story on the Dori Monson radio show by clicking on the play button below.
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After listening to most of callers to the show I wanted to quote Benjamin Franklin to them:
Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
It’s incidents like this and others that get the attention of the people and seem to justify websites such as policeabuse.com. From reading over the Loomis Risk Management website these agents seem to simply be doing their job… or are they taking it to the extreme?
Loomis’ employees play a decisive role in controlling and reporting the risks …and threats that require action
What do you think? Do you side with Shane in this case or with the Loomis agents and the police?
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It’s pretty easy to side with Shane in this case. So far, I have only read his one-sided story of the events as they transpired. I have no reason to doubt his story. I do know that some people who tell their own stories will sometimes leave out the snarky comments they make, or facial expressions, or innuendos that don’t help their own defense.
So, honestly, I don’t know if I can trust Shane or his story, but if I had a dollar, I’d bet that Shane has been honest about it, because I’ve seen the same thing played out in different ways by people who are in a position of power and authority. It happens especially from those who are in positions of petty power, or petty authority, as in this case.
My final comment: If *anyone* (including Loomis employees) want to do something private in public, then they’d better put up some kind of privacy screen. Things that people do in public places are public. From my understanding, if someone takes a picture of me in public, they do not need to ask my permission. These Loomis employees took a small situation and let it get out of hand. The security and police are partially to blame, but they are trained to believe the guys in authority, so until they got the whole story, it might be cloudy from their point of view. The cuffs should have never been used.
I agree with Doug that it’s pretty easy to side with Shane Becker here.
I disagree with Doug that making facial expressions or snarky comments warrants a back seat ride in cuffs.
If my liberty depends on the mood of a security officer, then I’m not free.
If I can’t express indignation at the way I’m being treated by a man who’s only job in life is to carry around worthless fiat currency, then I’m not free.
If I have to pull out my papers, excuse me, Identification, for every man and woman wearing a $5 badge then what does that say about my country? It says, quite plainly, that I live in a police state and have no rights beyond what the police tell me I have in any given situation. Situational law is no law at all. It’s tyrannical whim.
I side with Shane. What a crock of you-know-what. Go to the following website and you can watch a video showing anyone who wants to know, exactly how an ATM machine works and what they look like on the inside:
http://money.howstuffworks.com/personal-finance/banking/atm.htm
The security guards from both Lomis and REI, while perhaps thinking they were well intentioned, were inappropriate in their pursuit, at best.
Were I in the same situation, I would have been very Shane-like myself.
[...] (mp3). It’s just the actual show parts, no news or commercials. It was edited down by Matt Misbach. (Thanks, Matt). I’m pretty happy with how the show turned [...]
Stori, I agree with your comments, and you make some plain statements that are true. I don’t believe that I implied that snarky comments or facial expressions warrant the handcuffs. I did indicate that knowing only one side of the story may not be an accurate version of the whole story.
But, to the point, it seems clear that Shane was unjustly mistreated. I don’t know if I would have the courage of civil disobedience to push it to the point that he did. I hope that I would.
I agree with all of the above. Why didn’t the Loomis Guards get the names and ID from all of the other people in the store that could have seen the interior of the machine? What about the security camera that points to that corner of the store? It might have captured an image of the inside of the ATM machine. They should get the names and ID of anyone with access to the security cameras. Its just ridiculous. Clearly abuse of power.
Hi Doug, I was using your comments to make a point about our society in general. I’ve seen one too many videos of men with badges arresting and tasing people for the “crime” of questioning the officer. Of course it is always best to hear all sides of a situation, but when one side is the modern police state I guess I wouldn’t trust their version anyway. There’s just something about all that power concentrated in a crew cut with jack boots that distorts the sense of right and wrong.
[...] (mp3). It’s just the actual show parts, no news or commercials. It was edited down by Matt Misbach. (Thanks, Matt). I’m pretty happy with how the show turned [...]
Agreed Stori.
And speaking of stories, here’s one that happened to me this morning. As I was going to work I stopped by my bank in Orem, UT. I was going to pull up to the ATM, but a Loomis truck beat me to it. Hey! I thought… I’ll bet that guy is about to open up the ATM to service it. Then I thought, “Hm.. and I happen to have my digital camera with me…”
As I said earlier, I don’t think I have the courage for the level of civil disobedience that Shane was willing to gamble with. It turns out that it’s true. I did not go over and try to take pictures of the ATM while it was open, mostly because I’m a chicken, and partly because the only reason I would be doing it would be to get the reaction from the Loomis employee.
Doug, What a timely opportunity. I understand why you didn’t, but boy I wish you would have.
Ridiculous. Clearly an abuse of power. Another outrageous example of how the government/police is a tool of big business.
If they don’t want people to see the inside of their machine, they should design it so that people can’t see the inside when they are inserting money, or put a screen around it when servicing it. Otherwise it’s fair game.
Here is a blog post that covers two more incidents of taser “pain compliance” by police officers.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/027060.html
Another incident: http://freekeene.com/2010/01/17/big-mike-arrested-raw-video/