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The night they brought old Shepard down ...
By adamg on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 3:59pm
Dave Combs says he was in the cab with Shepard Fairey when Fairey was arrested outside the ICA. And he says that but for a couple of wrong turns by their cab driver, Boston Police would have arrested Fairey right at the entrance to the ICA, instead of out in the parking lot, deliberately provoking a riot to embarrass Tom Menino over his wage-freeze proposal, like this:
... The unmarked SUV follows our cab and drives right up to the front entrance of the glass-facade ICA with 800 of Shepard's fans inside and outside hyped on adrenaline excitedly watching, waiting for him to arrive. The SUV swoops in and the undercover cops emerge to seize Shepard right in front of all those fans. Now, I was in that crowd later that night, and I can be sure that at least a handful of those guys I met inside wouldn't have just stood there without doing something. It might have been that they ran out and shouted obscenities at the cops who were arresting Shepard, or they might have simply lost their minds and just mobbed the cops depending on the number of people who ran out, all while the cameras were rolling. Either way, something ugly certainly would have jumped off, and whatever happened it would have played right into the hands of the Boston Police Department and helped them hand the Mayor his ass on a platter. Remember, Mayor Menino was photographed just two days earlier congratulating Shepard and welcoming him to Boston. ...
Hey, I don't write this stuff, I just link to it.
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Comments
Can someone pass the
Can someone pass the tinfoil?
I smell a made for tv movie
I smell a made for tv movie
There's no correlation
Menino hates the cops because he hates everybody. He's just a bitter old hateful person. Period.
right, a bunch of chickenshit emo fucktards would fight the powa
Now, I was in that crowd later that night, and I can be sure that at least a handful of those guys I met inside wouldn't have just stood there without doing something.
Why? They might break the $600 designer fake eyewear, scratch their Google Phones, or rip their $50 tee-shirts. We're talking about a crowd sold on pure image...
If you can just imagine the energy in a room packed with 800 fans led by Z-Trip in a one-finger salute to the Boston Police Department to the tune of Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name of" followed by Bob Marley singing "Get Up Stand Up" to bring it back down you can see how he helped us work out our frustrations with the music, and be able to then chill out and not start that riot after all.
Awww yeah, baby. Fight the powa via drinking, partying, and DANCING with your middle finger out. Because, you know, the precinct station is far away, it's cold out, and that designer jacket just isn't very warm.
What they don't seem to understand
As lame as they think Boston is, and as lame as it may be, they are just adding their own lameness to the lame ledger in their own lame way.
This post
Shepard who?
Shepard
You know - a person who tends to, feeds, or guards sheep, especially in flocks.
Sheeple
there were 800 of them in the ICA that night...
Question...
If the police really wanted to embarras Menino, couldn't they have arrested the guy when the two shook hands?
Yes, of course
And no doubt the police, unlike somebody who hasn't had much to do with city politics and just happens to be in a cab when an arrest goes down, would know that Menino doesn't embarrass easily - he just gets even. Ask the firefighters who spat on him and his family before that State of the City address a few years back. Or the police superior officers union.
Probably pretty close to the truth
I don't buy the idea that the BPD was trying to incite a riot, but they were definitely trying to embarrass Menino. This arrest was not about Shepard Fairey, it was about the mayor's ongoing battle with the BPD.
I'm not so sure
The cop involved spent TEN YEARS tracking down some guy spray-painting his name on commuter-rail trains. You don't think he'd want to take down a pompous, arrogant Big Name like Fairey regardless of who's mayor?
another question then...
if Kelly is so into getting back at Fairey, wouldn't he know exactly when the warrants were issued and want to get him as soon as possible?
Maybe they (the cops) didn't want to embarrass him (menino)?
Some cops like spectacle
On the scale of menaces to society, Fairey's pretty low, I'm thinking. But he's also proven that he's going to treat an arrest like another notch on his bucket of wheatpaste. Oh, isn't he glamorous with his
1415 arrests! A real rebel; it's a wonder Chuck Turner hasn't contacted him yet.Now, there are two things most cops don't like: Wise asses and disrespect. So I'm thinking Kelly, who is not just a cop, but a cop whose entire career is going after people lifting their spray-painted legs on public buildings, is really hating on Mr. Hope, who's already skipped town once before. Who the hell does he think he is? Now add in all the calls Kelly's no doubt getting from actual Boston residents in places like Mission Hill, who are tired of seeing that stupid Obey thing plastered everywhere.
So what better way to send this pissant a message than to arrest him in the most spectacular way possible, like just as he's about to make his grand entrance into a room full of poseurs just like him?
Of course, the main thing that seems to have happened is that Fairey gets way more publicity than he would have otherwise. ...
Yes that's certainly professional
... and makes good use of expensive resources (several cars "pursued a cab"? is that true?)
"send a message"
bullshit.
that's not the job of police.
Frankly, anyone not in the entertainment business who grandstands for this kind of attention should be sacked just on general principles.
I could, of course, be completely wrong
And just blathering off the top of my head. It's not like I've actually talked to Kelly.
Kelly's quotes make it clear...
.. that he wanted to "send a message"
he's proud of this one, baby, and so the city is distracted for a week over, really, nothing of importance.
Kids will still be shot and killed on Dorchester streets. The streets themselves are still full of holes. City workers are asleep at their city-working machines, cops are stuffing donuts down their faces, and life goes on as usual in the ever-looping mecca that is Boston.
it was all about the drama. I don't want dramatic cops. I want good ones who don't love their jobs too much and who don't make the work personal. The hunger for drama and fame, and professionalism, are mutually exclusive in the police business.
somtimes "sending a message" is the job of the police.
What do you think police do when residents call over and over about cars speeding on their street? They go out and pull over cars for speeding to "send a message".
The same would go for other problems that would go unoticed without enforcement. And it includes a wide range of violations (bars selling alcohol to minors, people not shoveling snow in front of their house, stores selling cigarettes to minors).
Now Im not saying that sending a message here is going to work. If the courts decide that putting stickers on public property (if he is found guilty) doesn't deserve any punishment, then maybe the Boston police will put less of a foucs on these crimes?
But if the courts put people in jail or impose large fines for this type of behavior, then yea, the "message" would have been sent.
And I don't know about you, but I want cops to take things personal sometimes, or at least have some sort of passion in what they are doing, and you should too.
These guys aren't easy to catch (vandals). When you finally catch one and have a good case, I think its a good idea to send a message to the guy.
I agree fully. I think some
I agree fully.
I think some of the posters dont fully understand how much of our society is dependant on fear of getting caught. There are never enough cops to go around, thats just the way it is, so they have to make sure people know/think they will get in trouble for doing something. Im going to say that the vast majority of people who run stop signs are never caught, but how many of us actually run stop signs, even in the rural country where we dont see any other cars? We have friends who were caught, or had an experience ourselves. Same thing with Fairey, now people know if you illegally paint/poster something that doesnt belong to you , your in trouble.
I hate the "people are still getting shot argument" so much because so much of our money goes to that sort of stuff. Should we stop traffic enforcement as well? Lets stop the whole running of the city/state/country while we focus on one thing. I would say catching a murderer is the most important thing, but we still have a list and quality of life ranks right up there. I know someone down the street from me who owns a brick building that gets painted/stickered all the time. He is in his 70's and is always out there cleaning the side of the wall but it keeps coming back. You gotta respect other peoples property, I dont care how famous you are.
No, the police are there to ENFORCE laws
Courts send messages, with sentences.
Back to civics 101 for you.
The boston police are out of control with this and with so many other things. Recent history shows how much they love to pump up the drama of a non-risky, non-situation.
No, the police are there to
Were they not enforcing the law?
I wouldn't say they are out of control with it.
But I would agree if the police took it too personal.
Like if Fairey was #7 on the list of top 10 vandals, and the Boston police were putting less time in catching #1-#6, or ignoring possible leads in capturing #1-#6, just because it was personal against Fairey. Im not convinced that is happening here though.
As for enforcing laws, not entirely true. The police are there to eliminate crime, and they sometimes need to take proactive measures to eliminate that crime. I believe that may be happening here.
rrrright
i mean, wrong.
What you and others have written, with all the presumptions - unproven and tilted to merely bolster your otherwise-supported arguments - is so speculative that I can't even compose a proper response because there is nothing substantive to respond to.
You feel that your speech rights are not going to be impeded and that you will never be singled out for special police harassment. That's nice. It also means a person who wants to feel that way has to spend his or her entire life speculating (as you have) about what might irk those in a position from which they could harass, or worse.
Sorry, but I do not want to live in that kind of a world. I'd rather be dead.
Mr.Bert I do not spend allot
Mr.Bert I do not spend allot of time thinking about what will get me in trouble, I just dont do things that will obviously get me in trouble.
Is your goal to not get arrested before your big opening night? Then your objective should be to not illegally put up posters in places where they do not belong. They did not single him out, he broke the law, an obvious law at that. He knew what he was doing was illegal, he has been arrested before because of it, he has bragged about getting arrested because of it, he does it at night for a reason (while his legal ones, well they all seemed to be daylight unveils, funny how that works.)
Explain to me how breaking the law, an obvious law, would NOT irk a police officer in charge of enforcing that particular law??? I really want to hear how poor little Shepard Fairey can not walk down the street because he is afraid of archaic laws that only a lawyer would know, like do not put things on walls that you dont have permission to tag, or do not spray paint someones car, or do not break someone elses window, you know all of those pesky little laws that dont do any of us any good.
In fact if people like Shepard Fairey would just follow the rules we wouldnt need as many cops running around Brighton and Allston and we could divert those resources to other places. People who think they are lawyers and make the local cops jump through hurdles to get them to turn down their music, or to follow basic rules of human behavior cost the tax payers of Massachusetts time and money that could be spent elsewhere.
zbert....seriously?
Unless you know for a fact what the Boston Police do, or how they handle vandal complaints, or crimes, or vandals, then everything you have is speculative too.
How about the facts then:
-Fairey broke the law
-Fairey did not show up to court
-Fairey was arrested for the warrant for not showing up for court
-The police did not call Fairey to check when he would be available to be arrested.
How would you feel about being similarly treated?
How about if the police show up to drag you off when you're at a dinner with friends, or at your kid's wedding, or giving a speech... for an unpaid parking ticket?
If the recount of how this happened is true, then multiple police cars were tasked with stalking a taxi cab until the "right moment"... to deal with a minor charge.
Fairey contends that he did not know of these charges or warrants. Until you can prove otherwise, arguments that he was dodging the law are absolutely empty.
How I am treated.
Well you can be sure that when Fairey was bailed by a clerk when he was first arrested that he signed and promised to show up to court on Monday or else a warrant would be place out for his arrest. Thats how it works and that is a fact.
Second, the police are never going to show up and drag me off from anywhere becuase Ive never done anything wrong (serious that is), and of course I know you can't be arrested in this state for not paying parking or moving tickets (violations). I have friends that have been arrested in California for stupid stuff, and yea, sometimes the court system screws up. I just don't think it did here, and I don't think you did either.
And you are going by the police recount or by the recount of someone who is pissed that Fairey got arrested?
zbert, give it up
please, your analogy equates a parking ticket to failing to show up to court for vandalism charges. really. are you kidding me?
No
If you fail to show up for a hearing for a minor charge, is it appropriate for a phalanx of police officers (overtime?) to be tasked with pulling you out of some public situation in order to make a spectacle to glorify themselves?
no, it's not.
they could have simply arrested him at the hotel, or any other place. he's not exactly a hard guy to find.
they went for the DRAMA.
that's just horribly unprofessional,but par for the course for boston's fine.. er, corrupt-est. They're like cartoon monkeys or something, rather than professional police officers.
My Hero
adamg wrote:
I don't yet know what to think about this most recent event, but I want to bake Detective Kelly's unit a batch of cookies, to thank them for the anti-graffiti work in general.
Me hates the graffitises:
http://www.universalhub.com/node/17575#comment-56879
Agreed, 100%
Despite the arguments being made here concerning how the police handled this, handle it they did. And fine by me. I have no problem whatsoever with punishing, to the full extent of the law, anyone who defaces property.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Normally, you're dead on,
Normally, you're dead on, but I think you might be on the wrong side of this one, Adam.
I agree that the riot thing is stupid, but if you read the Globe and Herald articles carefully, Kelly says a LOT of things that either don't jive with the Wooster Collective account or just plain don't make sense.
Ex: Police had been "investigating" Fairey since Jan. 24, but didn't know he would be appearing at City Hall with the mayor?
It would have taken a quick Google search to come up with a half dozen places they could have arrested him before the opening.
Here's my analysis:
http://www.thathottness.com/blog/why-the-shepard-f...