FIVE IMPORTANT RULES TO REMEMBER WHEN BEING INVESTIGATED FOR COMMITTING ANY ALLEGED CRIME

What should you do if you have reason to believe you’re being investigated for committing a crime? In Tampa Bay, Florida law enforcement officers often have many open files under consideration at any one time. How do officers determine which cases to investigate first? Criminal cases are investigated based on the severity of the crime, the nature of the crime and the time when the alleged crime occurred. 

Crimes involving violence such as domestic battery, aggravated battery, aggravated assault or murder are likely to result in an immediate investigation, whereas crimes involving dishonesty such as grand theft, petty theft or fraud are likely to be investigated more leisurely. The nature of the crime and the apparent threat to the well being of the community dictate the speed of most investigations.

Clearly it’s within the very nature of some alleged crimes to attract a law enforcement investigation even as the alleged crime takes place. This is true of any crime that occurs in front of an officer such as, fleeing and eluding, DUI or driving while license suspended or revoked. 

Yet no matter what the time frame is for an investigation to be initiated, the same general rules apply as to how to deal with any police investigation of alleged misconduct. Here are five basic rules in dealing with a crime investigation.

1. If an officer asks questions about a crime that give the impression you’re being investigated for that crime, then the general rule is to not answer. You’re not going to simply be able to talk your way out of suspicion.
2. Further, always tell the investigator that you want to speak to your lawyer before you’ll agree to talk. While waiting for the lawyer you’ll have time to collect your thoughts, to plan what you may want to say in the future when the lawyer arrives and to be certain that whatever you may decide to say is what you mean to say. But before speaking to officers, talk to your lawyer, then make an informed decision as to whether you really want to risk cooperating by obeying police commands or requests.
3. Do not agree to any kind of search of your home, office, car or bags unless the investigating officer has a signed search warrant. Often officers will give you the false impression that you may be allowed to go free even if contraband or criminal evidence is found. But it’s important to remember that officers never have an obligation to be honest as to whether an arrest will be made and that most officer’s who fail to make an arrest when evidence is seized may be disciplined. Once consent  is given to a search, the investigator will use that consent to search for unlawful conduct so never give police consent to search in Florida. 
4. Remember that Detectives are looking for clues to an alleged crime not a new best friend. It’s always beneficial to be as friendly, polite, respectful and as nonthreatening as possible, though there’s little to be gained by trying to be charming or well liked. Don’t be seduced into believing a Detective likes you enough to help you.
5. It’s well known in the criminal justice system that the greatest risk to officer safety comes not during investigations of murders, robberies or burglaries, but from the simple investigations involving domestic battery cases when good people may be seen at their worst. The one thing you can control during this process is yourself. After the law enforcement officer meets you he’ll later note your demeanor in his written report make certain that your interactions with the officer are consistent with what you want to be written about you in the report.

If you believe that you’re under investigation for any crime, give me a call and I’ll do my best to help you make the best possible decisions for your future so that you can go on living and stop worrying.

WHAT INCENTIVES DO LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS HAVE TO COMMIT PERJURY IN CRIMINAL CASES

Your favorite Clearwater Criminal Lawyer has watched with bated breath in numerous criminal trials as hundreds of officers have lined up one by one to testify against my doomed clients. Upon taking the witness stand having sworn to tell the truth they've done everything possible to convince those once fair and impartial jurors to convict. Were those officers always telling the truth?

Manet, Considering Perjury, 1875

It's not uncommon to know that an officer is committing perjury especially when other evidence directly establishes that the officer is simply lying. 
Should the Jury, well and truly try and true, believe that libelous video that seems to show the officer beating all hell out of my client or the trustworthy officer's testimony? And yet the prosecutor will always ask the jury this, "Why would a law enforcement officer ever risk his career to lie under oath about a criminal case?" 
A recent editorial by Michelle Alexander in the New York Times addresses the issue of why officers lie under oath giving some good reasons as to why it happens more often than we think. The article quotes the San Francisco Police Commissioner as follow:

“Police officer perjury in court to justify illegal dope searches is commonplace. One of the dirty little not-so-secret secrets of the criminal justice system is undercover narcotics officers intentionally lying under oath. It is a perversion of the American justice system that strikes directly at the rule of law. Yet it is the routine way of doing business in courtrooms everywhere in America.”

The article mentions the unrelenting pressure to make ever greater numbers of arrests as a significant cause of police perjury. In many police departments the quality of an officer's work is judged based on the number of arrests he makes. 
Here in Tampa Bay the Largo Police Department and the Florida Highway Patrol have the reputation of going to extraordinary lengths to persuade their officers that the only path to advancement is with high arrest numbers causing some officers to speak up about the unrealistic pressure of the quota systems, even as the police agencies deny there is a quota system.
A second cause could be called the War on Drugs Syndrome. This seems to be what has long afflicted the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office in Tampa Bay, Florida who broke the law during investigations of significant drug cases, such as manufacturing marijuana.
The internal thinking of officers must be something along the lines of, "It's a war after all. It's us versus them. They're violating the law. We're the good guys." And the next thing you know Deputies are acting like criminals themselves lying under oath, lying to gain entry into a home or even destroying evidence.

PINELLAS DEPUTY SUSPENDED FOR DESTROYING EVIDENCE -- A FELONY IN FLORIDA

This much is certain - evidence was destroyed in a marijuana grow house case. The Defense believes the evidence would have established that undercover officers broke the law by committing at least a trespass and possibly a burglary to the dwelling of the Defendant before a search warrant was obtained. The case was already controversial in that Deputies obtained warrants by following vehicles parked at a hydrponics store which is likely unconstitutional based on a new Supreme Court decision. Having tried a federal grow house case in which there was insufficient evidence from the Government to convict my client, I believe that the recourses being used as well as the underhanded activities of law enforcement in these cases is unconscionable...


The evidence destroyed was surveillance video on the hard drive of a video recorder installed at the Defendant's home. After an internal affairs complaint was filed by the defense attorney, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office found that Sgt. Taylor, a supervisor of the narcotics division, ordered the hard drive of the video recorder to be erased. His reason - he claims the video showed the bare faces of undercover Detectives and this could place them in future jeopardy. 
The punishment for the Deputy? Suspension for five days and reassignment to patrol...This blog has noted that there are a large number of morally challenged officers who are not being fired. But my question is - why is he not in jail?


Law enforcement is not the final arbiter of what evidence is of value and what isn't - the Courts are. It's only the rule of law as established by the Courts which guards our rights as Americans keeping us from being a police state...No destruction of evidence should occur before the Defense, the Judge and a Jury has had an opportunity to view it. A judge would have ordered the faces of any Detectives to be redacted to preserve their future safety. 


Why is tampering with evidence a felony punishable by up to five years in prison in Florida? Because the purpose of criminal justice is to find the truth. How can we find the truth if the Police tamper with evidence before the Court and a Criminal Defense Lawyer have an opportunity to view the evidence?


To protect the integrity of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office the following should be done immediately:
1. A grand jury must be convened to determine if laws were broken, and if so by whom including the possible felony of destroying exculpatory evidence with recommendations for proper protection of all evidence. 
2. The FDLE and the FBI should investigate to determine if laws were broken and if so how far up the chain of command this went. Those supervisors with knowledge, those who acquiesced in crime, those who failed to stand up and do the right thing should be fired and prosecuted.
3. The State Attorney's Office should be given the impartial investigation results and make a public decision on whether direct filing of felonies is warranted with factual explanations.
4. At the same time Federal Prosecutors should investigate to determine if any Federal laws were broken and if the systemic corruption within PCSO and the State Attorney's Office can be rooted out.

Florida Statutes > Chapter 918 > § 918.13 - Tampering with or fabricating physical evidence Current as of: 2011    (1) No person, knowing that a criminal trial or proceeding or an investigation by a duly constituted prosecuting authority, law enforcement agency, grand jury or legislative committee of this state is pending or is about to be instituted, shall:    (a) Alter, destroy, conceal, or remove any record, document, or thing with the purpose to impair its verity or availability in such proceeding or investigation; or    (b) Make, present, or use any record, document, or thing, knowing it to be false.    (2) Any person who violates any provision of this section shall be guilty of a felony of the third degree The above Florida Statute applies in this case. There is no exception for law enforcement officers and  it is specific that one can not "...alter, destroy, conceal or remove..." evidence in any case "pending or is about to be instituted." If you believe a law enforcement officer has acted improperly in your case contact a Clearwater Criminal Defense Attorney for immediate help. Could this be an inconspicuous undercover Clearwater Detective -- about to do a burglary? Boris Kustodiev, Self Portrait, 1905

POLICE OFFICERS CAUGHT DOING CRIMES ARE NOT BEING ARRESTED CHARGED NOR PROSECUTED IN TAMPA CLEARWATER & ST. PETERSBURG PINELLAS FLORIDA

You'd think Florida Law Enforcement Officers would be held to a higher standard. You'd hope Officers caught doing crimes would not only be prosecuted to the full extent of the law but be drummed out of service.  If that's what you believe - you're wrong, as the this recent and ongoing series of articles, How Florida's Problem Officers Remain on the Job from the Herald Tribune make clear: officers are getting away with every crime under the sun, crimes for which every other citizen is brought before judges and juries and if convicted punished with jail time.

Among the Herald-Tribune's findings:

One in 20 active law enforcement officers in Florida has committed a moral character violation serious enough to jeopardize his or her career. Nearly 600 have two or more such acts of misconduct on their record and 30 current officers and prison guards continue to wear a badge despite four or more offenses.

Officers in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Sarasota have been accused of violence acts such as aggravated battery, grand theft, possession of drugs and sexual battery enough to keep your favorite Clearwater Defense Attorney busy for years. Five years ago in an earlier blog post I wrote about the systemic corruption in a bargaining sex for drug reduction scandal at the Clearwater State Attorney's Office, now it appears corruption still exists in many Florida law enforcement agencies as can be seen in case studies of officer corruption.
For the law to be an effective deterrent to crime every citizen especially those sworn under oath to protect us, to defend us and to uphold our law must be subject to the law.

These corrupt officers should immediately be fired. A grand jury should be convened to indict those responsible at the highest levels of each law enforcement agency and each state attorney's office who coddled these criminals. 
If you believe that you are the victim of a crime at the hands of a Florida law enforcement officer you'll want to contact a Pinellas Crime Lawyer immediately to determine what action to take including reporting the crime to federal watchdogs such as the FBI Tampa Anti-corruption Squad which can conduct complex undercover operations investigating any corruption in law enforcement agencies in Clearwater, St. Petersburg and Pinellas.


At least Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife was honest, incorruptible, loyal and kept his one bullet ready to defend - Barney we need you...

Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife

• Favorite Quotations from Officer Barney Fife:
• "Floyd, if you would keep your mind outta Washington and stick to your barbering, I might get a better haircut. Now, what did you do with my sideburns?", paying Floyd, "Here, go buy a barber book!" 
• "If a chicken hawk is hanging around, a wise rooster doesn't bury his head...he keeps his eye on the chicken" (advice for Andy on keeping Andy's girlfriend safe from another man)
• "I'm sorry about this, but us lawmen can't take chances!" --Barney (as he frisks an Older Woman at a roadblock, searching for an escaped convict) --"But Barney! I'm your mother!" 

NEW DRUG TEN TIMES STRONGER THAN HYDROCONE (aka VICODIN) WILL SOON INVADE & DESTROY LIVES IN CLEARWATER FLORIDA

Four international pharmaceutical companies are developing drugs that will for the first time make the most addictive ingredient in the drug hydrocodone available in a pure form, making the risk of addiction to Tampa & Pinellas Floridians that much greater, according to a recent article in the British press, which also states that the companies plan to make a pain killer called Zohydro which will be ten times stronger than vicodin. Will there now be ten times more arrests in Clearwater, St. Petersburg & Tampa that a Pinellas Drug Attorney will need to clean up in the arbitrary hope that law enforcement doesn't destroy more lives than the drugs?
Here's an excerpt from the British News Article:

Between 2003 and 2007 in the state of Florida alone, hydrocodone caused 910 deaths and contributed to 1,803 others.......Andrew Kolodny, president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing told CBS: 'You've got a person on your product for life, and a doctor's got a patient who's never going to miss an appointment, because if they did and they didn't get their prescription, they would feel very sick...it's a terrific business model..."
Pinellas County has an effective drug court discussed in earlier blog entries with other solutions or decriminalization. The Courts are already overwhelmed with Defendants who are addicted because of misuse and abuse of the drugs being shoveled in their direction by the pharmeceutical companies. 

Haven't the drugs already available to Floridians destroyed enough lives? The companies insist that the patients can be monitored more closely in the future to avoid drug addiction. How? Look at the recent efforts by Floridian law enforcement to clamp down on prescription fraud and Pinellas Pain Doctors who give inappropriate prescriptions even at current lower levels of drug effectiveness. 
Ever harsher drug laws are not the answer. Nor is it the answer for companies to knowingly make these drugs ever more addictive and available. The only priority of the pharmaceutical companies is to make more money.

A painting of a number of pleasantly satisfied Pharmaceutical Reps at a Tampa Bay Conference.

Rembrandt The Anatomy Lesson, 1662

HACKED! AN IMPORTANT WARNING TO EVERY COMPUTER USER IN THE TAMPA BAY AREA!

All of us are at risk when using computers, cell phones, and email accounts with companies such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Apple. All of these companies are storing more and more of our personal information 'in the cloud,' placing each of us and those in our 'contact lists' at risk of fraud.

With the complex nature of these charges, many police officers in the Tampa Bay Area, including Clearwater, St. Petersburg and Pinellas County, Florida neither have the training nor the computer literacy to fully comprehend complex computer networks accusing and arresting those who had nothing to do with the unlawful acts, an important consideration if you've been falsely accused of a White Collar Crime.

Companies across America will spend in excess of $130 Billion because of data breaches, how much will it cost you? CNNMoney

James Fallows' recent article in The Atlantic, HACKED!, describing his wife's ordeal when her Google account is taken over by a Nigerian thief - Fallows attempts to regain control of the account and the lost information - even as the Nigerian contacts everyone on her contact list for money to be wired immediately because of her mugging in Madrid:

Hacked!

As email, documents, and almost every aspect of our professional and personal lives moves onto the “cloud”—remote servers we rely on to store, guard, and make available all of our data whenever and from wherever we want them, all the time and into eternity—a brush with disaster reminds the author and his wife just how vulnerable those data can be. A trip to the inner fortress of Gmail, where Google developers recovered six years’ worth of hacked and deleted e‑mail, provides specific advice on protecting and backing up data now—and gives a picture both consoling and unsettling of the vulnerabilities we can all expect to face in the future.

A stream of concerned responses from friends and acquaintances, all about the fact that she had been “mugged in Madrid.” The account had seemed sluggish earlier that morning because my wife had tried to use it at just the moment a hacker was taking it over and changing its settings—including the password, so that she couldn’t log in again. The bogus message that had just gone out to me and everyone else in her Gmail contact list was this:

From: Deb Fallows <debfallows@gmail.com>

Date: Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 8:45 AM

Subject: Problem

To:

now this might come as a suprise to you,but I made a quick trip to Madrid in Spain and was mugged.My bag,valuables,credit cards and passport all gone.The embassy has cooperated by issuing a temporary passport.I need funds to settle outstanding hotel bills,ticket and other expenses.

To be honest,i don’t have money with me at the moment. I’ve made contact with my bank but the best they could do was to send me a new card in the mail which will take 2-4 working days to arrive here from DC. I need you to lend me some Money to sort my self out of this predicament, i will pay back once i get this over with because i need to make a last minute flight.

Western Union or MoneyGram is the fastest option to wire funds to me. Let me know if you need my details(Full names/location) to effect a transfer. You can reach me via hotel’s desk phone and the number is, +34 981 600916867.

Hacked! - Magazine - The Atlantic

Areas of Practice for Robert Hambrick - Attorney in Clearwater, FL

Contact Info and Directions for Attorney Robert Hambrick in Clearwater, FL

FBI — Cyber Crime

Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) | Annual Reports

ProtectYourIncome.com

Here is a recent portrait of Deb Fallows as her GMail Account is being HACKED by Nigerian Thieves. Scholars believe the white flowers floating in the air and water represent the lost emails. Somehow out of great pain and loss magnificent art always emerges:

The Birth of Venus (Nascita di Venere) is by Sandro Botticelli. c.1486, many thanks to the Uffizi Museum in Florence. Perhaps the museum would be willing to fly me to Florence so that I can more accurately present these paintings to the world.