State Trooper Disciplined For Taking Photo With Person With 'Well-Known Criminal Background'

from the the-pettiness-of-the-powerful dept

Mon, Apr 6th 2015 9:26am — Tim Cushing

Tired of hearing about just the bad cops? Here's one with a good cop, surrounded by worse cops, and the amazing amount of pettiness the latter group can display.

Texas State Trooper Billy Spears was working an approved security detail at the recent South by Southwest conference when he was approached by one of the performing artists and his publicist. The artist asked for a photo with the trooper, who obliged. The photo was taken by the publicist and later posted to Instagram. Here's the photo.

Trooper Spears is on the left.

In most other realities, this would have been the end of the story -- one Billy Spears would be able to tell for years. Instead, it's turned into something else. It's still a story that Spears will be able to tell for years, but there won't be many happy memories attached to it.

Much of what came next has been compiled by Spears' attorney, Ty Clevenger, who submitted this to Techdirt. Instead of nothing happening, a whole bunch of petty crap went down, starting with the response from his "superiors."

[H]ere’s an excerpt of the “deficiencies indicating need for counseling” in Billy’s official record: “While working a secondary employment job, Trooper Spears took a photo with a public figure who has a well-known criminal background including numerous drug charges. The public figure posted the photo on social media and it reflects poorly on the Agency.”

The "counseling" doesn't mean a psychiatric evaluation but it does mean the addition of disciplinary documentation that could negatively affect Spears' future employment or advancement opportunities. The Texas Dept. of Safety -- of which the State Troopers are a division -- has so far refused to comment on this action, something that appears to be vindictive rather than deserved.

First, there's the ridiculousness of demanding troopers not pose with anyone who has a "criminal background." Many people do. Far too many, given the law enforcement's willingness to criminalize all sorts of behavior under vague charges like "obstruction," "interference" and "resisting arrest." No small percentage of a population possess a "criminal background." As Clevenger points out, this sort of expectation is not only moronic, but it's completely nonexistent.

And of course DPS has no policy requiring a criminal background check on everyone who requests a picture with a uniformed trooper. In fact, DPS has no policy forbidding a photograph with someone who has a criminal conviction.

The other problem with the DPS's disciplinary action is that Spears didn't post the photo. Snoop Dogg did.

Despite Spears having violated no existing policies, his supervisors went out of their way -- way out of their way -- to assure he was punished for this non-misdeed. This is from Clevenger's letter to the director of the Texas Dept. of Public Safety.

At approximately 9 p.m., Trooper Spears was informed by Sgt. Michael Sparks that Lt. Jimmy Jackson would be driving from Tyler to Gilmer to serve him with a copy of the counseling form. Sgt. Sparks also told Trooper Spears that DPS is now requiring the presence of two superior officers for any incident involving him. I doubt there are any other troopers who must be served by at least two superior officers, and I must wonder why Trooper Spears was singled out for special treatment. I must also ask what is so special about Trooper Spears that a lieutenant would drive 80 miles round trip to serve him at 9:24 p.m. in the evening.

As Clevenger sees it, this is retaliation for Spears' willingness to cross the blue line.

Last year, Trooper Spears filed a complaint and requested a criminal investigation of Sgt. Marcus Stokke of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. The complaint arose from a May 10, 2014 off-duty incident at Lake Fork wherein Sgt. Stoke detained Trooper Spears, with no apparent probable cause, because he thought Trooper Spears had been disrespectful to him at a public event.

The detention appears to have been a straightforward violation of Section 39.03 of the Texas Penal Code, but neither DPS nor TABC investigated the complaint against Sgt. Stokke. Instead, Trooper Spears's superiors filed a disciplinary complaint against him, apparently because he “rocked the boat” by requesting an investigation of an officer from another agency.

The suspension was ultimately lifted, in large part because Sgt. Stokke was unable to keep his story straight during his testimony, which was also directly refuted by a number of eyewitnesses, including other troopers and game wardens.

What should have been nothing but a cool story is now an all-too-familiar story with bad cops as the antagonists. Someone who refuses to play within the confines of a broken system must be dealt with, and a pure BS disciplinary action predicated on policies that don't exist illustrates perfectly why most cops just shut up and ignore the bad behavior of their colleagues.

Clevenger also notes another detail that's a bit chilling on its own -- if it's what it appears to be.

Billy was informed by his sergeant that DPS monitors social media for photographs of DPS personnel. The photo contains no reference to Billy or DPS, and even Billy did not know that it had been posted to Instagram, so this begs the question of whether DPS is trolling social media with its facial recognition software.

This detail came directly from those involved in the disciplinary action against Trooper Spears.

According to Sgt. Sparks, the disciplinary action was initiated by Asst. Director David Baker after Trooper Spears's photograph was detected during routine scanning of social media.

This is a legitimate concern. If the DPS is only monitoring known social media accounts of its employees for anything questionable, that would be one thing. (And still a misuse of its power.) But the only tie to this photo was Trooper Spears' presence, something not noted anywhere in the posting, which originated from an account about as far removed from any DPS employee as possible.

Clevenger notes the DPS has already put biometric data to use in its system, comparing millions of stored drivers license photos to those stored in criminal record databases. This would be in addition to its quiet rollout of a demand for a complete set of prints in exchange for a drivers license. If it is using its database in conjunction with "social media monitoring," it has far overstepped its bounds. It may be that certain vindictive parties performed this "scan" without authorization, which would limit the abuse to person or persons performing this search, but that still wouldn't explain why or how the DPS is able to use biometric data to scan social media postings. Clevenger is demanding answers from the DPS, but it's hardly likely he'll receive them.

That's the puzzling part. The other part -- the vindictive display of power -- isn't. It's so routine it's almost banal.

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Filed Under: austin, billy spears, snoop dogg, sxsw, texas

30 Comments

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Mark Harrill (profile), 6 Apr 2015 @ 9:03am

Willie Nelson
I'm too lazy to search it, but I am pretty positive I've seen pictures of DPS troopers with Willie Nelson. A man, who has a "well-known criminal background" but since he is a Texas legend and the other man is a "foreigner" I guess those photos were probably ok. Texas! Yee-haw!
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limbodog (profile), 6 Apr 2015 @ 9:55am

I wonder if that officer would be disciplined for having a picture taken with any of these felons:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_federal_politicans_convicted_of_crimes
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Apr 2015 @ 10:01am

The only surprising part of this story to me is that this guy is a Trooper in the first place. The entire rest of the story fits right in with what can be expected given the well earned reputations of both the DPS and TABC.
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Baron von Robber, 6 Apr 2015 @ 10:01am

Attention good cops. This is why you need to get rid of your bad cops. So the good cops won't be harassed by bad cops too.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Apr 2015 @ 10:05am

all of Troopers Spears Superiors should be fired, think we should put Trooper Spears in charge here.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Apr 2015 @ 10:09am

Re:
Not all of those are felons. Most of those are actually misdemeanors.
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Oblate (profile), 6 Apr 2015 @ 10:12am

Re:
From the list:
Matthew Lyon (Democratic Republican-Kentucky). First Congressman to be recommended for censure after spitting on Roger Griswold (Federalist-Connecticut). The censure failed to pass.[101] Also found guilty of violating Alien and Sedition Acts and sentenced to four months in jail, during which he was re-elected (1798)

This ones spirit seems alive and well in current American politics.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Apr 2015 @ 10:13am

Re: Re:
read a little closer, I think you are wrong
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Oblate (profile), 6 Apr 2015 @ 10:14am

Re: Willie Nelson
Maybe his "superior" officers were just upset he didn't get them an autograph?
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Dave (profile), 6 Apr 2015 @ 10:14am

This story would have been funnier if he had posed for a photo with Martha Stewart. That said, I doubt the result would have been that much different.
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David, 6 Apr 2015 @ 10:16am

New Photoshop contest?
1) Take a picture with a DPS officer
2) Shop in Snoop or some other rapper/etc.
3) Post on social media
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Apr 2015 @ 10:20am

Re: Re: Re:
Ok well maybe I shouldn't have said "most" but still some of them aren't felonies.
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HMTKSteve, 6 Apr 2015 @ 10:25am

Leaking
Is the bigger story the now confirmed existence of facial recognition software being used by the police to scour the internet? Whose bright idea was it to pursue this vindictive endeavor in a way that exposes a secretive program being run by the police?
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Apr 2015 @ 10:30am

Re:
Really? Martha Stewart is a white home maker that was charged with white collar crimes that the DPS can't be bothered to concern themselves with. Snoop is a black male that is linked to drugs and gang culture. I really don't think the DPS is that indiscriminate about this sort of thing.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Apr 2015 @ 10:32am

Re: New Photoshop contest?
Bonus points for using a pic of one of his superiors that are responsible for this.
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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 6 Apr 2015 @ 11:07am

Trooper Spears is on the left.
You're killing me, Tim.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Apr 2015 @ 11:39am

It's #pointergate all over again
This story reminds me of a ridiculously racist hit story they ran against the mayor of Minneapolis months ago. She posed for a picture at a PR event with a black man out on probation. The law enforcement went on a ballistic PR attack against her accusing her of basically telling gangs she's with them with the picture.

Oh yes, and the mayor had previously called out law enforcement on their corruption and vowed to work on cleaning it up. That was likely the real reason for law enforcement trying to make up a controversy to make the mayor look bad.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Apr 2015 @ 11:50am

Aaanndd the police's paramilitary structure is showing off again. Rank > Actions and pointing out anything wrong means your a trouble maker that has to be dealt with..
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Blackfiredragon13 (profile), 6 Apr 2015 @ 12:13pm

This is embarrassing.
I was flicking through YouTube while looking at TD. While reading this story "Hangover" by psy was playing and yet I didn't even realize it was snoop dog until Tim said it.
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Padpaw (profile), 6 Apr 2015 @ 3:01pm

considering cops superiors seem to reward bad cops for breaking laws, murdering, beating, assaulting etc. Is it too much to assume they expect this kind of thing to be considered the epitome of police work? Where anyone that tries to make cops be accountable is an enemy that must be put down much like the citizenry that should lick their boots or be harassed.

The ruling elite needs a group of thugs to enforce their will and what better way to reward said thugs than making them unaccountable for whatever they do.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Apr 2015 @ 3:33pm

Re: Re:
To quote the OP

"Trooper Spears took a photo with a public figure who has a well-known criminal background including numerous drug charges."

"First, there's the ridiculousness of demanding troopers not pose with anyone who has a "criminal background." Many people do. Far too many, given the law enforcement's willingness to criminalize all sorts of behavior under vague charges like "obstruction," "interference" and "resisting arrest." No small percentage of a population possess a "criminal background.""

One problem is that there is no lack of laws that turn everyone into victimless criminals. A perfect example of this is the war on drugs. So we have someone that gets in trouble for taking a picture with someone who got in trouble for breaking a law that shouldn't really even exist in the first place. Shows what kinda broken society we live in.
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KRA, 6 Apr 2015 @ 4:29pm

At least this helps the rest of us understand why so many so-called good cops let the bad ones run wild. This is why police conduct needs to be reviewed by people who are not police officers.
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Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 6 Apr 2015 @ 8:09pm

Re: Trooper Spears is on the left.
Of all the sentences in the post, I'm proudest of that one. It's almost impossible to convey the Saharan aridity with which that was typed. I needed an glucose drip by the time I hit the word "left."
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Apr 2015 @ 9:03pm

Re: New Photoshop contest?
For bonus fun do it to the superiors doing the reprimanding.
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That One Guy (profile), 6 Apr 2015 @ 9:21pm

Re:
*Are not police, do not in any way other than oversight have any relationship with them, and are willing and able to hold them accountable for their actions.
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Jeff Green (profile), 7 Apr 2015 @ 2:41am

Interesting Value system
What is REALLY worrying is that had this guy shot an unarmed teenager in a hooded jacket who was walking down a street after dark rather than having a photograph taken with a celebrity he'd be in the clear!
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LduN (profile), 7 Apr 2015 @ 12:55pm

Genius Idea
1. get a list of all Bad cops, a friend with a criminal record and have said friend request Selfies with all aforementioned cops.
2. Send pictures to those in charge
3. ???
4. Profit (enjoy a safer life free of bad cops)
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John Apretto, 8 Apr 2015 @ 4:34am

Thank you for sharing. The other day I send 3000+ pictures from my vacation with Binfer. No Kidding. It’s a amazing tool for sending pictures with ease. An easy way to deliver photos to clients.
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Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 10 Apr 2015 @ 9:57am

Re: Re: Trooper Spears is on the left.
I thought it was useful information... You were talking about a criminal - how else to tell you weren't talking about the guy in the police uniform?
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Bradcooper (profile), 7 Nov 2019 @ 11:52pm

A new way of sharing photos
Hey guys, thank you for this article, it is a funny situation :)
Another modern way of sharing large fies or quite a number of photos is using FileWhoper. No file size limits. No subscription. No data loss. Secure and fast. Reccommended!
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