Many are familiar with police all across the country filling quotas by treating motorists like their own personal ATM machines. However, the Camden police in NJ have perhaps earned the dishonor of being the most blatant with their extortion.
Last week, Curt, a Gloucester county resident (who's requested to be identified by first name until legal proceedings are concluded), was giving a coworker a ride home to his residence in Camden NJ, after which his vehicle was stopped by a Camden police officer for no clear reason, other than being in an area where criminals are known to sometimes be. According to Curt, after being verbally assaulted he was issued a ticket for the ludicrous non-offense of "frequenting a known drug area", or in plain English, being geographically close to other criminals the Camden police have proven too incompetent to apprehend.
Indeed, it seems that police departments across the once free land of the USA have given up on making their drug policies seem legitimate and have resorted to issuing tickets to people simply for being present in a public area. Some may vaguely remember rumors of a constitution meant to protect Americans' right to frequent any public place for any amount of time provided they are not creating a disturbance. However it seems unlikely that the Camden police would let something as seemingly trivial as the US constitution stand in the way of revenue. This quasi-offense of "frequenting a known drug area" seems to have sprouted up in various jurisdictions across the country as an effort to create an arrestable offense for known drug traffickers, who are often observed in "drug areas" without actually possessing any illegal substances. It seems that in order to meet quotas, police have taken a law meant to apply to known drug traffickers and have cynically applied it to anyone at all with enough money to pay a $500.00 fine.
But it gets worse. After being punished for literally not breaking the law in a public place, the officer informed Curt that "if you show up to court, I'll pound you." In other words, this Camden police officer, who shall as of yet remain nameless, informed Curt that he would physically attack him if he attempts to exercise his rights and have the officer publicly explain himself in a court of law. Likely unbeknownst to the officer, however, is the fact that Curt is a battle hardened Vietnam veteran who is not prone to backing down sheepishly when victimized by an organized crime member, and the first thing he did in response, after contacting his lawyer, was to contact his friends at Save The World Radio to help shed light on this shamefully un-American police abuse.
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