Well, it’s been about 9 months since I first posted about Shreveport mayor Cedric Glover’s infamous “your rights are suspended” comments. The situation was covered by KTBS channel 3 when Cedric Glover tried to say his comments were “left to interpretation” – even though the full context of the audio and a transcript were posted. I even posted the police car video as proof of exactly what happened. Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk Magazine, KTBS, and even Moon Griffon also covered the story.
It’s taken on a life of it’s own. Just this week, the Shreveport Times ran a letter to the editor concerning the story. Much of the website traffic generated is now coming in from email links. That means that it is beyond the blogosphere and will now circulate indefinitely.
The cool thing is that as of right now, this site ranks #1 in Google for the search term “cedric glover” – that is awesome and just goes to prove that relevant content is king. It ranks #5 for if you search for “shreveport mayor”
Am I out to “get Cedric Glover”? Absolutely not. Am I out to make sure this information is public? You bet. Mayor Cedric Glover was dead wrong then and is absolutely still wrong now.
Any candidate running in the 2010 Shreveport Mayoral race should just simply play sound bites of “your rights are suspended” over and over. I will gladly provide the audio with no restrictions – and I’m quite sure Robert Baillio would have no problem as well.
Is this bad publicity for Shreveport? Some would say so, but I would suggest it actually bringing to light some of the bad policies in place at the core of Shreveport’s government. Again, I would rather have the information out in the open where citizens can make informed decisions.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Did you ever read the Inquisitor article about the situation? I still have it somewhere in Shreveport if you haven’t. Next time I am out there I’ll find it for you.
Louisiana politicians are notoriously corrupt but it’s like the old saying goes: “No matter who you vote for the government always gets in.”.
I like the mayor of Las Vegas from what I’ve been seeing on the local news and believe it or not (I know the reputation of this place) I can’t really find much corruption in state or local government here. Nice place to live actually.
Hey Eric – I don’t think I ever look at The Inquisitor article. Next time you are back in the area, see if you can find it. Email me sometime and let me know how things are going.
Guys: From my perspective here in Houston, EXCEPT for the “your rights are suspended” aspect, this mayor sounds like a VERY intelligent leader who I could easily support. Perhaps he mis-spoke, and didn’t mean literally your rights are suspended. You are taking that portion out of context. He is 100% right that the officer does INDEED have the right to detain, arrest, and inquire whether you have a weapon. Matter of fact, over here your RESPONSIBILITY is to state to the officer that you have a weapon inside your vehicle BEFORE you are asked. And I am as conservative as they get – I ain’t no stinkin liberal.
Thanks for your opinion. Of course, it differs from the majority of people, but that’s ok. Let me address a few things.
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Perhaps he mis-spoke, and didn’t mean literally your rights are suspended. You are taking that portion out of context.
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Something stated can’t be taken out of context when the entire conversation is posted in audio/video and text formats. Even the city attorney, Ed Jones, confirms what the mayor said, and
heJones stated that rights can be suspended. After all,heMayor Cedric Glover stated “your rights are suspended” 11 times to Robert Baillio.He also stated the “…the way in which I expressed the situation could be left up to interpretation…” in his interview with KTBS Channel 3. He stated the same thing to Tom Gresham of Gun Talk Magazine, and to numerous other individuals who called into his office.
Now, could you please tell me specifically how that was “taken out of context”?
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officer does INDEED have the right to detain, arrest, and inquire whether you have a weapon.
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Let me correct you. The officer does not have the “right” to do anything other than his God-given rights that are confirmed in the US Constitution. He may have the “legal authority” to do certain things, and he/she must be able to justify those in a court of law. That is a huge difference.
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Matter of fact, over here your RESPONSIBILITY is to state to the officer that you have a weapon inside your vehicle BEFORE you are asked.
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You may feel that it is your responsibility, and that is fine for you. However, there are many people who would beg to differ. As we all know, police officers never commit crimes right?
In the end, this issue centers around a couple of things. (1) Your rights cannot be suspended unless you can personally talk to God (or your deity) and change things. (2) An officer does not have the authority to search your vehicle unless there is an actual and continuing threat to their safety posed by an arrestee. That would be in the Arizona v. Gant 2008 Supreme Court decision.