State trooper preached about Jesus during traffic stop

[doggie]

this cop is a asshole. I can't think this is free speech he us holing her captive at the time.

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2014 ... /16678275/

Ellen Bogan expects police to protect and serve — not proselytize.

But she says Indiana State Police Trooper Brian Hamilton pitched Christianity to her when he pulled her over for an alleged traffic violation in August on U.S. 27 in Union County.

With the lights on his marked police car still flashing, the trooper handed Bogan a warning ticket. Then, Bogan said, Hamilton posed some personal questions.

Did she have a home church?

Did she accept Jesus Christ as her savior?

"It's completely out of line and it just — it took me aback," Bogan, 60, told The Indianapolis Star.

Bogan and the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana have filed a lawsuit in federal court against Hamilton. The lawsuit alleges he violated Bogan's First and Fourth Amendment rights when he probed into her religious background and handed her a church pamphlet that asks the reader "to acknowledge that she is a sinner."

[It'sFunToRun]

That's way out of line and he needs to be told never to do that again.

{L_MESSAGE_HIDDEN}:

When I was in the military, we were told that we were never allowed to express political views in uniform, so if you're walking down the street in uniform and a reporter comes up to you and says "As a resident of XXX, how do you feel about the strike/election results/war?", you're not allowed to give an answer. You're not allowed to go to political demonstrations in uniform, and officially, while you're in the military I'm pretty sure you're not technically allowed to go to political demonstration even when not in uniform, but unofficially, if you're not in uniform then no one would know you're a soldier, so it would be okay. Even if you accidentally got captured on film and it made the front page of the newspaper, as long as you're not a high ranking person, no one would care.

[kpmom]

This has nothing at all to do with free speech.

What an idiot.

How can anyone, no matter how important their religion is to them, think it is ok to do this? How does any adult not realize how inappropriate this is?

[Jana814]

This is wrong in so many levels!!

[Becket70]

One can only imagine what would have happened if he handed her a tract about Islam.

[TXGirlInAMaterialWorld]

Oh goodness- how could he have possibly thought his actions were in any way a good idea? I would love to see the uproar if this guy had been spouting off atheism or any other non-Christian belief.....

[DGayle]

And shit like this is why I'm too scared to put a Darwin fish or anything non-Christian on my car's bumper. I don't trust Christian cops to not target me for being a non-Christian because he either thinks I must be a bad person for not being Christian, or because he sees a chance to "share the word of God."

I think a cop can share his beliefs if a citizen brings it up, like someone who was just the victim of a crime saying "thank you, God, that it wasn't worse," and the cop replying, "God is indeed good," or something like that happening. But as long as the cop is in uniform, he's representing the government, meaning his own religious viewpoints are entirely null and void and don't apply to anything.

[DGayle]

And I do think the other officer who has the religious radio show is also overstepping the line. He's advertising himself as a cop while doing that, which puts him in a position to represent the department. Each cop who makes his job known even out of uniform is representing the department. If he wants to have that show, he needs to not bring up his career. I have some friends who have podcasts with international listeners at this point (they can see what countries people are subscribing from), and their boss has forbidden them from mentioning their employer on the show or talking at all about any products made by the employer, and this is legal. Your free speech rights mean the government can't prohibit you, but neither can the government allow endorsement of religion from a government entity, and a police officer using his position is a government entity.

[It'sFunToRun]

And I do think the other officer who has the religious radio show is also overstepping the line. He's advertising himself as a cop while doing that, which puts him in a position to represent the department. Each cop who makes his job known even out of uniform is representing the department. If he wants to have that show, he needs to not bring up his career. I have some friends who have podcasts with international listeners at this point (they can see what countries people are subscribing from), and their boss has forbidden them from mentioning their employer on the show or talking at all about any products made by the employer, and this is legal. Your free speech rights mean the government can't prohibit you, but neither can the government allow endorsement of religion from a government entity, and a police officer using his position is a government entity.

If someone has a radio show, then he'll probably need to talk about himself, and if he's a cop, that's gonna come up a lot. I think if he has a radio show it would be fair for him to mention he's a cop, but not the city that he serves in or anything specific.

[Jana814]

Oh goodness- how could he have possibly thought his actions were in any way a good idea? I would love to see the uproar if this guy had been spouting off atheism or any other non-Christian belief.....

Have to agree w/ u. Has anyone heard if this guy had done this before (meaning anyone else he had pulled over).

[doggie]

Of course some Christians think it is perfectly ok to do this. These people need someone preaching satanism to them in a captive environment.

[FloraKitty35]

Kudos to this woman for going public about this incident.

[SquirrelySquirrel]

And shit like this is why I'm too scared to put a Darwin fish or anything non-Christian on my car's bumper. I don't trust Christian cops to not target me for being a non-Christian because he either thinks I must be a bad person for not being Christian, or because he sees a chance to "share the word of God."

I live in Indiana and I'm not evenly remotely surprised that this happened. But I am strongly considering removing my Darwin fish, at least until my husband can fix the wiring problem that has one of my brake lights malfunctioning.

I do not trust our state police. A good friend's ex is a state cop and the stories I could tell... I'm not one of those who thinks they're all bad and cops are pigs and yadda yadda. But it's scary when you know firsthand how much they're able to get away woth. I'm so happy this woman has filed a suit and isn't leaving it up to the force to handle.

I've seen a billboard for the one cop's radio show, and I'm almost positive he's wearing his uniform in the gigantic picture. I wouldn't care if he didn't advertise being a cop. I could be wrong, though. I'm going to have to pay closer attention next time I drive that way.

[Childless]

I don't trust the state police at all in my state. The cops in my city are also pretty bad. Thankfully, I haven't had to call them because I'm not sure they'd actually do anything to help.

[Jana814]

Kudos to this woman for going public about this incident.

Agree! Maybe someone else will come out & say this guy did the same thing to them.