It Would Be Hilarious If It Weren’t True: Philly Cops Mistake Hipsters For M.O.V.E.-esque Hate Group
Philly Cops, now is the summer of your complete and utter tone-deaf-ness. First it was The Unpleasantness, then it was The Unpleasantness That Followed The Unpleasantness, then came The Stupidity and now there is what we shall call, The Stupidity 2: Electric Boogaloo. On Friday, cops raided the home of Daniel Moffat (pictured here in a Daily News photo) and three others up on Ridge Avenue — variously because of some spray paint over a surveillance camera, some anti-cop graffiti a house or two away, some kind of charge that property was being squatted upon (it wasn’t) and then ultimately, on suspicion that Moffat and Co. were some kind of terror cel. The real reason? Most likely, they just pissed off cops earlier by circulating petitions against said surveillance cameras. So it’s off to jail they go — later they were released without being charged with anything — and when they get home, they find that a computer’s been hauled off and the whole place was searched. And here comes the money quote, given by a cop at the scene to City Paper:
“They’re a hate group. We’re trying to drum up charges against them, but unfortunately we’ll probably have to let them go.”
Frankly, we don’t know where to even begin with this. But let’s start here: This is one of those Culture Wars arrests that cops are always going to lose by virtue of both sheer stupidity (illegal search and seizure, giving the press ridiculous quotes) and cultural ignorance (the inability to discern a hipster from, say, Ramona Africa, cue Domelights thread, blah blah blah). And it needs to stop happening; not only does bullshit like this undermine actual, legit policework (any luck on the iPod killer yet, fellas?), but it also perpetuates a Rizzo-era vibe around the FOP that is out of date even if it does persist.
TheClog: There’s Something Fishy In Francisville
Blinq: Who Wrote ‘Kill The Pigs’ at 17th & Ridge?
[Photo by Christina Mazza/Daily News]
June 17th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Philly cops are completely out of control. Arrogant, uneducated buffoons with badges.It is a disgrace that these scumbags are charged with upholding the Constitution. I would rather deal one on one with a criminal than I would a Philly cop.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Now, I don’t want to go down being known as the sort who thinks “they all look alike” when it comes to the bearded, but is Moffat and co. the same “cell” the FBI goosechased a while back claimning they were eco-terrorists back in the Fall when the foie gras wars were going on?
Of course, saying “he ain’t home” when you are in fact the property owner isn’t going to gain the Domelights’, or even the reasonable law enforcement community’s sympathy. This may be what happens when uneducated and “free thinking” arrogance collide.
June 18th, 2008 at 2:30 am
Some how our first poster -not you C., relax- sounds like he maybe a white dude with some dreadlocks.
I said maybe.
My opinion on this complicated story is this. Its nice to be a considered a white guilt-ridden liberal in your gentrifing mostly minority neighborhood but what was the major issue they had with public on-street camera set-ups in the neighborhood? Is it big brother? I’m sure the police understand crime hot-spots better then you or I. The PPD are now in the process of finding the killer of Zabel through the assistance of cameras…do they sound so bad now?
Either way to summarize it, it did seem the PPD went totally out of fucking line in this situation. On the other hand, L&I looks to finally be doing their job because that place is a total shithole. I’m sorry but that shit even up to Morse Code.
June 18th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Patricio Says:
June 18th, 2008 at 2:30 am
“Some how our first poster -not you C., relax- sounds like he maybe a white dude with some dreadlocks.”
No believe it or not, a bald 54 yr old wm who has never been arrested but has relatives in the department and has been sickened by listening to “cop stories” at family gatherings for years. White Philly cops are arrogant, racist assholes who enjoy beating heads in whenever possible. Arrests are made because they didn’t like someones attitude regardless of a crime or not. These peons are drunk with power and step on anyone they feel like. They then cover one another’s backs.
By the way, the buzz is that those cops that were fired for beating those three black guys are going to be reinstated after the heat is off.
My question is why weren’t they charges with civil rights crimes by the Feds? That whole thing has been swept under the carpet. Ever Rev Al shut up and went home.
This city is a disgrace.
June 18th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
I have a hard time believing that the people who circulated a petition about the surveillance cameras would then have damaged them.