[I thank Tom Oosterhoudt for replying. His response is below. Previous Politech message is here: http://www.politechbot.com/p-03108.html --Declan] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 04 Feb 2002 17:33:37 -0500 From: Tom Oosterhoudt <Tomoat_private> To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private> Subject: Re: ACLU sues Florida police chief for arresting newspaper publisher Mr. McCullagh, I happen to be one of the few people who can honestly say that I am friends with Both Key West Police Chief Buzz Dillon and Dr. Dennis Reeves Cooper. In the best of worlds, everyone is entitles to make mistakes. At one time, even the daily newspaper here took offense with Chief Dillon for sitting on information. Cooper chose to persistently antagonize the chief in print by printing details of on going investigations. Of course he had every right to do so, but he also pushed the chief into taking some sort of reaction. While I think the law he had Cooper arrested under was dumb myself, it was not clear to anyone at the time including the local press, that the statute had been overturned ten years ago. While I did not agree with Dillon having Cooper arrested , it was largely a ceremonial type action, with Dennis turning himself in and being driven to the jail for immediate processing by Lt. Kenny Hock, well known as the most friendly cop on the force. Dennis was accompanied by his attorney, Mick Barnes, who made sure the whole thing was expeditiously processed. So to make it seem like Dennis was shackled, gagged, and blindfolded like an al Qaida Taliban terrorist is a huge stretch. And while I agree that the ACLU has the right to sue, I find their action as dramatically unjustified as Cooper's arrest. After all, what sort of injury or damage could Cooper possibly allege? The bottom line is that he got over a million dollars worth of free publicity for his publication , receiving several front page articles and photos in the daily paper (his competition). He also probably garnered more credibility from the many people out there who psychologically have an ax to grind with the police. It has been my experience as a city commissioner that many of the complaints I get about police are generated by folks out there who are paranoid about police abusing their power. Now Dennis has become their hero. And I have no problem with that, in a truly democratic society, everyone should have someone to turn to. As a city commissioner, I must take a clearly objective viewpoint, and at this time I see so justification for trying to create a lynch mob mentality against Chief Dillon. I could write pages on the positive things he has achieved for both the police department and the city. One mistake does not erase all of that. The ACLU will have its day in court and the tax payers will suffer the cost as a result. I just thought it was important that you hear an objective view of this whole incident. And like I said at the outset, I consider both the chief and Dennis to be my friend. Tom Oosterhoudt Declan McCullagh wrote: > Gordon Dillon, the Key West, Flordia police chief, arrested a newspaper > editor for printing an article that criticized an police investigation. > The proper punishment would seem to be arresting Dillon in turn, but, > since that doesn't seem likely to happen, I wish the ACLU and the > newspaper editor, Dennis Cooper, well in their lawsuit. > > -Declan > > --- > > Background, from Politech archives: > > "Key West prosecutors drop charges against newspaper publisher" > http://www.politechbot.com/p-02221.html > > "Miami Herald reports Florida cops knew law is unconstitutional" > http://www.politechbot.com/p-02185.html > > "Police arrest newspaper editor for criticizing Florida cops" > http://www.politechbot.com/p-02184.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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