by: Soo Asheim
Over the years and generations in both North Dakota and Minnesota, each county and city that has experienced growth with the influx of new people, their law enforcement agencies have also grown and changed. What once was a “typical” incident can no longer be treated by our police or the departments they work for as simply “typical.” Each incident and every person involved are considered as individual “instances” with individual conclusions.
The good old days of taking harmless “Charley” the Saturday night imbiber off the street and allowing him to “sleep it off” in the city jail, or having local police officers drive someone home from his or her favorite watering hole in order to prevent him or her from getting behind the wheel of their car are long gone.
Blame it on more bureaucratic red tape, a waste of city resources and taxpayer dollars, or the liability involved if while taking someone home an accident happens and good old Charley is hurt. There about as many reasons why our law enforcement officers cannot reach out and help the way they did thirty or more years ago as there are people who break the law. Law Enforcement officers believe in the creed they have sworn: to protect and serve. They have also sworn an oath to uphold all the laws legislated by the state, county and city governments they live and work in to protect the majority of people within their communities. The men and women who wear law enforcement uniforms are the enforcement side. Their job first and foremost is making certain people behave within the confines of the laws laid out in black and white by the people who write and pass the laws we each should know and obey.
Who To Blame
There are many laws still on the books in each state, county and city that are antiquated and should be modified to fit the era and societal mores of the day.
North Dakota has a dusty old book called the “Century Code” that has many so-called laws, many of which were written so long ago no one remembers them. The state legislature has not seen reason to change them or even remove them from the Century Code. Others have been changed over the years primarily because somewhere something happened to bring the antiquated laws into view again, and when finally reviewed North Dakota’s body of Legislators realized it was time to either ratify the laws or simply take them off the books altogether. The problem with having a legislature that meets only every other year is that often there just isn’t enough time to “fix” every problem, and usually the more recent difficulties or changes are remedied first. Unless something truly egregious, affecting a large throng of people, is glaring at the legislators, they have a tendency to stuff it back into the closet (or book) and decide to deal with it in another session. And so it goes.
Minnesota isn’t much better. Although they do meet every year, that doesn’t mean old laws on the books get changed much faster than in North Dakota. The primary reason Minnesota can’t or doesn’t dig into modifying old laws that have no relative meaning to the society they govern today is because they are dealing with a mountain of very relevant issues that need “fixing” for the world Minnesotans live in today. Looking into what is already a law, be it a law that just doesn’t fit in today’s world or a good law, isn’t something Minnesota’s legislators necessarily have time for or even want to do unless forced.
Where does that leave you, Citizen Joe? How are we supposed to know what is fact from myth? How do we keep from breaking a law or just going over the line a little in regard to what was once believed to be true when it may have been changed or removed?
Do we need to seek out legal advice on every move we make? How severe will the penalty be if we break a minor law or even a major law? How do the police and other law enforcement agencies react to an incident caused by ignorance of the law(s) we all are expected to obey? Should only warnings be issued? Citations and fines? Arrests made?
These are all questions each and every police officer faces every day. While they know when a law has been broken or fudged, it is also a matter of discretion regarding the meaning and severity of the ordinance or law and how the courts look upon it.
Myth vs Fact
In our world of instant communication and computer research, it is amazing how ignorant most people, not just some, but most people are about the simplest laws guiding our lives.
For instance, John Jr. is a passenger in a passing car and a police officer thinks he has seen a recent poster of John Jr. The officer puts on his lights and pursues the car John Jr. is riding in because he fits a very close description of a person wanted for questioning regarding a recent burglary. The police officer walks up to John Jr.’s car window and asks to see his I.D. John Jr. considers himself a non-conformist to the nth degree and wants to know why the officer pulled him over and furthermore, why does he want to see his I.D.? The officer doesn’t want to hassle with the man, he just wants to see a recent driver’s license identifying John Jr.
If you live in North Dakota, are you required to produce an I.D. whenever asked by law enforcement? What about in Minnesota? Do you know for certain about the law in either state or have you no idea? Does it make a difference to you? Some would say “I have no problem letting anyone see my I.D. because I know I’ve not broken any laws.” Some, like John Jr. are not particularly enthralled with “authority figures” and out of principle feel they have no reason to cooperate with law enforcement, even when they have nothing to hide.
One state has a mandatory requirement regarding showing anyone in law enforcement a personal I.D., and if you do not cooperate you can be hauled down to a cell and could stay there until you decide you will produce a valid I.D.
The other state does not have any such mandatory requirement. Do you know which does and which does not? Minnesota or North Dakota?
What if you are arrested for possession and distribution of drugs? Upon reaching the police station inside you start hollering for your phone call: “I’m entitled to one phone call! I want my phone call!” Are you truly entitled to a phone call the minute you arrive at the police station, or can the police question you first? Or do you have to be charged and booked into the jail before being allowed to make a phone call after being questioned?
In North Dakota and Minnesota the laws regarding possession of drugs while in a vehicle can be pretty severe depending upon a) what the drug is and b) the quantity found on your person or in the car. In one state possession of a small quantity can be as simple as a ticket. In the other it can be a petty misdemeanor. Do you know if there is a difference?
However, if you are nabbed with any type of “paraphernalia” — say a small marijuana pipe –without any marijuana in it or with you at the time, but it is obvious the pipe has been used at some time, can you be arrested for this? Yes, in North Dakota you certainly can. The really important question is how severe is the charge; is it a misdemeanor or a felony? The other question related to that is, can you bond out of jail for this? Keep in mind if it’s a Friday or Saturday night, there will not be a possibility of bonding out until Monday, at the earliest. What about Minnesota? Is the law the same?
In North Dakota if you are stopped on a DUI charge and agree to take the intoxilyzer breath test and you are found to be lower than a .08., does this mean the police officer automatically needs to let you leave? Or is your actual level of impairment (as perceived by the officer) what will determine whether you are indeed able to drive away?
After talking to a few police officers on both the North Dakota and the Minnesota sides, I have surmised there are some “irritants” that really do bug the police, and with good reason. The main reason is the lack of people in general just using some common sense and everyday decency toward their fellow neighbors. One such ‘irritant’ is barking dogs, left alone in a yard for hours on end. Calls are bound to be made after a certain length of time, and when the officer finds the dog is chained or fenced into a yard barking its canine head into a frazzle, it is just as frustrating for the officer. But beyond issuing a warning or ticket to the absentee dog owner, in reality there simply is not much the police can do. So, perhaps next time –after an incident of listening to the dog(s) bark for hours, why not just go over and talk, emphasis on TALK, to your neighbors about the problem? Help them understand how distressing it is to listen to their dog howl and whimper and cry for long periods of time. Odds are, there will not be a next time. Problem solved and the cops didn’t have to be called.
Another is domestic abuse when it’s repeated week after week with the same people. And each time, alleged or not, the abused victim never files a report or shows up in court. Dismissed due to a lack of —well, courage or wanting a solution, take your pick.
What many who pick up the phone and call for help seem to not understand is that when an assault is reported, whether it is dropped or not, that call gets logged and eventually it goes on a report and then onto a permanent record of both parties involved. This can be very problematic for people wanting to move to a different location or even when completing job and career applications.
Another aspect of domestic violence that many citizens do not know is that when there is a potential for this, the officer responding must take the call very seriously. More often than not, someone is going to be spending the night in the pokey.
What the officers I spoke with said is that before things become escalated to a fever pitch where the parties are simply not thinking rationally, one of you needs to remove yourself from the situation for at least a good ‘cool down’ period. Take a walk around the block or around several blocks — whatever is necessary until cooler heads have prevailed and can talk out the problem. If this cannot be accomplished and someone is battered or assaulted, the person considered to be the “aggressor” is very likely going to take a ride to the local PD.
And by the way, no, the “aggressor” does not always have to be the bigger or stronger of the two people. The person who made the first physical connection can be considered the aggressor as that is the person who instigated the physical confrontation to begin with.
Know What You Should Do
Every day, common-sense approaches to so many things in life need to be approached in a like manner: by using common sense. Car accidents that result in damages less than $1,000 to either vehicle and where no one is hurt do not require a police investigation. Exchange insurance information and phone numbers. Call your insurance agent right on the scene if you want. But do that before calling a police officer. They really do have more dire issues to deal with in their day than two yahoos who go bump in a parking lot at the local grocery store. However, don’t be dumb enough to NOT exchange information and phone numbers with the other person, because that could also lead to leaving the scene of an accident charge.
If you are stopped for a traffic violation or any other reason, don’t go digging in your glove compartment or under your console looking for your driver’s license or registration while the officer is approaching your vehicle. The officer has no clue if that’s what you really are doing or if you might be reaching for a gun because you have twenty pounds of dope and a kidnapped person in your trunk. Just wait until he reaches your window. The officer will certainly let you know what he wants when he gets to you.
And last but not least: remember the police officer who gave you a ticket one day might be the same officer first on the scene and pulling you out of a burning, wrecked car or helping you locate your dog or taking the report when your house is broken into in the future. Law enforcement personnel do not write or legislate whatever laws are on the books. Your local city, county and state authorities do that. Law enforcement officers simply carry out the mission mandated by the people we voted into office.
Try to remember that the next time you are stopped for any reason or have a Process Server at your door. They are not the bad guys, just the messengers.
Don’t blame them if you don’t care for the “message.”
Do you
really
know the laws where you live?