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Brian Beasley is the Legal Adviser for the High Point Police Department in High Point, North Carolina. In order to justify his exorbitant (not really) salary and keep his officers informed of the latest changes in the law, he writes legal updates from time to time. Brian knows that officers aren’t generally enthusiastic about reading something entitled “Legal Update” so he tries to include some humorous footnotes to encourage them. Since he began writing these updates, officers from other agencies have asked to be added to the mailing list, but Brian decided that creating a blog was by far a more arrogant and geeky option.

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    Say Cheese! Photographing People In the Line of Duty

    22 Nov

    Posted by Brian Beasley In Legal Update

    To download a PDF file of this update, click here

    Say Cheese!:1  Photographing People In The Line of Duty
    Legal Question of The Week

    Vol. 2, Number 25
    November 20, 2009 

    Brian Beasley
    Star of Candid Camera and Legal Adviser, HPPD

                With families and friends getting together for the holidays, several things are sure to be on the increase, such as domestic assaults, waist sizes, and picture taking.  Of these, you might think that the topic of domestic assaults might lend itself to a good legal update.  However, any attorney can write about domestic law – it takes a GREAT legal mind2 to write a legal update about picture taking!  Today’s question deals with when it is mandatory, permissible, or illegal to take someone’s picture in the line of duty.3

                The vast majority of pictures that are taken in the course of police business are booking photos.  A person has been arrested and his picture and fingerprints are taken during the booking process.  There are times when you MUST have a person processed, there are times when you MAY have a person processed, and there are times when you CANNOT have a person processed. Read More

    1. In researching today’s topic, I found that the reason that photographers have their subjects say “cheese” is because most people twist their mouths into a smile-like shape to say that word.  Wikipedia points out that “additionally, the absurdity of saying ‘cheese’ for no apparent reason can incite glee in some people.” ↩
    2. Unfortunately, none of them were available, but I’ll give it a try anyway. ↩
    3. In other cultures, as you might expect, they use other phrases in place of “say cheese.”  In Iran, for example, they have you “say apple.”  In Demark, it’s “say orange.”  They don’t actually say “apple” or “orange,” of course.  That would be silly.  They say the word in their language that means “apple” or “orange.” ↩
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    Flight and Reasonable Suspicion

    06 Nov

    Posted by Brian Beasley In Legal Update

    To download a PDF file of this update, click here

    Flight And Reasonable Suspicion:  “Can” Doesn’t Always Mean “Should”
    Legal Question of The Week

    Vol. 2, Number 24
    November 6, 2009 

    Brian Beasley
    Running on Empty1 and Legal Adviser, HPPD 

                “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.”
                                                                                                                                                                 – Proverbs 28:12

                For those of you that enjoy a little physical fitness on the job, here is a legal update especially about running.3  More specifically, we are talking today about suspects who run and the police who chase them.4  I’m going to lay out for you what the law says that you CAN do, but I’m also going to suggest to you why there are going to be times when you SHOULDN’T do what you are allowed to do. Read More

    1. By Jackson Browne:  “Running on empty (running on), running blind (running on).  Running into the sun, but I’m running behind.”  Today’s legal update is the sing-a-long version.  Follow the bouncing ball. ↩
    2. King James Version.  Back before our appellate courts started frowning on quoting the Bible in jury arguments, I used to beat this verse to death in any case I was prosecuting where the defendant had fled from the scene.  Actually, I continued to use it in my arguments even after it was objectionable.  I would say it and the defense would object.  Even though the objection was sustained, most jurors would realize that the defense just objected to me QUOTING THE GOOD BOOK.  As you can imagine, that didn’t sit well with a lot of them. ↩
    3. A good friend and former colleague of mine, Guilford County Assistant District Attorney Christon Halkiotis, recently went to San Francisco and ran in the 2009 Nike Women’s Marathon.  After finishing that, she vacationed in Hawaii.  Apparently the salaries of Assistant District Attorneys went way, way, up after I left last year.  But I’m not bitter. ↩
    4. We will NOT be talking about what happens once they catch the suspect.  I’d rather not think about that. ↩
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    Loitering For the Purpose of Drug Activity Ordinance

    04 Nov

    Posted by Brian Beasley In Legal Update

      Although most of the legal updates I post on here deal with state and federal law which are applicable to officers in High Point as well as outside High Point, a NC Court of  Appeals case was handed down yesterday that found a Winston-Salem city ordinance unconstitutional.  This wouldn’t be news in High Point except for the fact that our ordinance is very similar and so I know from experience that the argument will be raised that this case also invalidates the High Point ordinance.  Perhaps other cities and counties have similar ordinances and can benefit from this quick analysis that I sent out to my officers yesterday.  Sorry, no footnotes in this one.

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