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Comment by potatolicious | Hacker News Reader

I wish I shared you idealism. You're talking about the SFPD - the same SFPD that has gotten away with beatings, illegal arrests, blatant racism and bigotry for decades.

If the mass beating of gays in the Castro and two dozen illegal arrests wasn't able to perturb the SFPD, what makes you think the illegal search of one man's home will?

I get the feeling that in municipal politics the police-city relationship is very similar to the military-government relationship in many banana republics. On paper one answers to the other, but in reality one is so powerful by itself that it is essentially immune to prosecution.

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"I wish I shared you idealism. You're talking about the SFPD - the same SFPD that has gotten away with beatings, illegal arrests, blatant racism and bigotry for decades."

I know what you're saying: but that shouldn't stop us from trying!

Look at it this way. If we don't raise questions, then things continue on the trajectory they're on (Newton's Third Law? ;) ). However, if we do raise questions, in sufficient numbers, then we have a chance, however small it may be, to effect change. So why not try to effect change? We have nothing to lose! At the worst, things are no different; in the best case, things get better.

So please! Contact your supe from this page: http://www.sfbos.org/index.aspx?page=1616 It'll only take a minute.

For the last time, it was NOT an illegal search. They asked and were given permission to enter and search. Does that need repeating?

The gave permission for cops to search, not Apple. They knew full well that they were creating the impression that all of them were police officers.

Group of people show up in plainsclothes. One knocks on your door and identifies himself as a police officer and alludes threateningly to your family's immigration status. Two of the others ask if they can enter your house. You agree to it (and they find nothing).

Everything in that series of events is incredibly sketchy and falls under the heading "if it isn't illegal, it should be." And if you go by the spirit of the law, the Apple employees should definitely be charged for impersonating police officers, given this narrative of events.

Note that it would still be incredibly goonish even if (a) they made sure the dude understood they were Apple employees and not police officers or (b) everyone involved actually is a police officer. Pure nastiness on the part of Apple and the SFPD.

"According to Dangerfield, the officers "did not go inside the house," but stood outside while the Apple employees scoured Calderón's home, car, and computer files"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_impersonation

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