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Codename Section
12-30-2014, 11:29 AM
This is what I mean, if an ordinary person did this: extorting sexual behavior from a female minor he would have felony charges slapped against him and go to jail.

The police are above the law and all that happened was that he was removed (http://www.unionleader.com/article/20141228/NEWS03/141229456).

People notice this.

so the back story is that she was caught with beer under 18 and the cop told her he could make it go away if she posed nude.


Four days later, Seastrand called her to the police station. The former chief told Westfall he needed to meet with her alone, and began discussing alternative measures of punishment, like community service, for the misdemeanors.

Westfall, who worked frequently as a babysitter, and who was planning to major in early childhood education, said she grew more scared.

Seastrand explained, she said, that they would go into the basement. "He said would grab the station's camera to shoot a series of nude photos of me, and then he'd hold it over my head for two years to be sure I didn't commit another crime," Westfall said.

"That's when it was really chilling," she said. "He's standing there in uniform, he had his gun strapped on his side."

Seastrand told her he would deny the whole incident if she told anyone. She asked him to call her father, and she left the police station. She then called a friend, as well as her uncle and aunt, who are both police officers. They told her to write down everything she remembered. Her father, meanwhile, called state police.


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Seastrand, who was not reachable for comment, and whose lawyer did not return calls asking for comment, resigned on April 4, 2013, surrendering his certification as a police officer after serving for 27 years.

State prosecutors, while calling Seastrand's actions "abhorrent behavior and unacceptable behavior for anyone in that type of a position," did not file criminal charges against him.

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They later explained that the only law applicable to the case was the abuse of power statute, under which a public official is guilty of a misdemeanor if he or she knowingly commits an unauthorized act "which purports to be an act of his office" or "knowingly refrains from performing a duty imposed on him by law or clearly inherent in the nature of his office."

The decision was explained to Westfall, but she didn't like it.

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"I was hurt, I was hoping for more than that," she said. "I was ready to testify in court, though the thought of that freaked me out, even being in the same room with him again would creep me out."

Westfall and her attorney, Richard Lehmann, say two things need to be changed by the legislature: the language of the law needs to be rewritten so prosecutors can more easily prosecute police in a case like this, and the penalty of the crime "has to be more than a misdemeanor," Westfall said. It would also be good if all police were required to have on-body video cameras, she said.

Cigar
12-30-2014, 11:34 AM
Obviously she didn't obey their commands to spread'em :rollseyes:

Crepitus
12-30-2014, 11:37 AM
Utter bullshit that he hasn't been charged with a crime. Anyone else would be. Abuse of power as a police officer should be more than a misdemeanor as well.

PolWatch
12-30-2014, 11:39 AM
Incidents like this are why so many people feel they don't stand a chance of fair treatment. We are either a nation of laws applied equally or we are not.

Green Arrow
12-30-2014, 11:41 AM
Nah, man, I'm sure he was justified or some shit.

PolWatch
12-30-2014, 11:53 AM
ya mean he was forced to ask her to undress for photos so he could feel safe?

Codename Section
12-30-2014, 11:54 AM
If a regular person was doing this there would be jail time. I hate to think it but had this been a black girl I doubt he'd be fired.

Cigar
12-30-2014, 12:00 PM
I think we're missing some Super-Cop Supporters in this Thread ... where they all go?

Maybe CS needs to add a little Color to get their attention. :laugh:

Codename Section
12-30-2014, 12:02 PM
Well, I dunno about that but I do think that there is a subconscious projection that blacks did something to deserve the treatment whereas a college bound white girl did not.

I'd like to believe he would have been fired had this happened to a black girl, but I also kinda think people would say "let's wait til the jury's out" on it.

PolWatch
12-30-2014, 12:06 PM
Would the family have been as confident that something would be done if she had been black? Or would they have advised her to don't push it, that he could make her life too difficult to be worth the effort? Who knows...

Common
12-30-2014, 12:48 PM
My son in law told me about this, hes a police Lt. He said did you read about that scumbag chief that was soliciting sex to drop charges from a teen. I said no where is it, he told me where this article was.
His words quoted. The scumbag should be in jail, his own guys should arrest him. I AGREE

The pos should be jailed and tried and treated HARSHER than anyone else because he abused his power. Police officers have Teen daughters no decent police officer condones an ANIMAL like this chief.

The Wash
12-30-2014, 01:14 PM
My uncle is a now retired cop who said that police hate bad cops worse than the public because it makes their job harder. That's how I feel about black fools. They make me look bad.

Captain Obvious
12-30-2014, 01:21 PM
My uncle is a now retired cop who said that police hate bad cops worse than the public because it makes their job harder. That's how I feel about black fools. They make me look bad.

Same reason I hate bucket carrying, RW radio hack "conservatives".

Makes us all look like douchebags.

The Wash
12-30-2014, 01:28 PM
Same reason I hate bucket carrying, RW radio hack "conservatives".

Makes us all look like douchebags.

I didn't know you were a conservative. I am personally socially conservative and fiscally conservative, but politically I am libertarian because I don't want the government dictating morality to me. I want less government.

Since 1970 nothing the government has done for blacks has helped us. By letting the politicians convince us that it was the government or northern liberals who gave us our rights instead of acknowledging that it was southern blacks taking up the cross and forcing our rights on government we've lost the ball. Now we just go along with all these de-powering programs that broke down the powerful black family and destroyed the respectability of the black male within his own community and that's why we can't get shit done anymore as a community. We are no longer a community. We're just a bunch of people who identify by skin color.

Common
12-30-2014, 01:35 PM
My uncle is a now retired cop who said that police hate bad cops worse than the public because it makes their job harder. That's how I feel about black fools. They make me look bad.

Trust me we do and we always have. No decent person wants their entire profession viewed in a bad light because of bad employees. Bad Police officers are much worse and a Chief??? the leader of the organization ? HELL NO I find it disgusting hes not in jail.

The Wash
12-30-2014, 01:38 PM
Trust me we do and we always have. No decent person wants their entire profession viewed in a bad light because of bad employees. Bad Police officers are much worse and a Chief??? the leader of the organization ? HELL NO I find it disgusting hes not in jail.

It was the same for us after those marines went apeshit outside of Haditha. On one hand I understand (they lost brothers) on the other, where's the fucking discipline, dudes?

It just made us all look bad.

Still you gotta wonder about the whole department when the chief did that. I know in the military if you got a bad officer in command its as likely as not that the whole staff is rotten because they gotta have people around them that provide cover.

Cigar
12-30-2014, 01:42 PM
My uncle is a now retired cop who said that police hate bad cops worse than the public because it makes their job harder. That's how I feel about black fools. They make me look bad.

Same goes for Gang Bangers ... why do I need to answer for them when I'm never been one?

pragmatic
12-30-2014, 01:43 PM
This is what I mean, if an ordinary person did this: extorting sexual behavior from a female minor he would have felony charges slapped against him and go to jail.

The police are above the law and all that happened was that he was removed (http://www.unionleader.com/article/20141228/NEWS03/141229456).

People notice this.

so the back story is that she was caught with beer under 18 and the cop told her he could make it go away if she posed nude.

Bad cop.

Kudos to the girl for standing up to the actions he was pushing her toward.

Am guessing there is a potentially large case here to be filed in civil court on her behalf......

PolWatch
12-30-2014, 01:45 PM
Bad cop.

Kudos to the girl for standing up to the actions he was pushing her toward.

Am guessing there is a potentially large case here to be filed in civil court on her behalf......

you're probably right...but what does it say that someone has to seek civil damages while criminal charges are ignored?

The Wash
12-30-2014, 01:46 PM
Same goes for Gang Bangers ... why do I need to answer for them when I'm never been one?

Amen, brother. Amen.

Mister D
12-30-2014, 01:53 PM
Same goes for Gang Bangers ... why do I need to answer for them when I'm never been one?

Because you're always talking about gun violence and you tend to ignore...well most gun violence.

Peter1469
12-30-2014, 05:00 PM
Most states have "color of authority" laws that add punishment when officials use their authority to commit crimes. This is very serious.

There was a great movie, in the 1990s I think, the Bad Lieutenant that was really good.

Cthulhu
12-30-2014, 06:47 PM
Most states have "color of authority" laws that add punishment when officials use their authority to commit crimes. This is very serious.

There was a great movie, in the 1990s I think, the Bad Lieutenant that was really good.
There is a color of law federal statute somewhere in the USC, but I imagine something like this rarely makes it to federal court.


Sent from my evil cell phone.

Common
12-30-2014, 07:40 PM
It was the same for us after those marines went ape$#@! outside of Haditha. On one hand I understand (they lost brothers) on the other, where's the $#@!ing discipline, dudes?

It just made us all look bad.

Still you gotta wonder about the whole department when the chief did that. I know in the military if you got a bad officer in command its as likely as not that the whole staff is rotten because they gotta have people around them that provide cover.

Same as the MyLai incident that made all the branchs during nam look bad to the world. It only takes one small thing to change the big picture and alot of people innocent of the events get dragged down with it. Like this whole mess going on now.