Montclair, New Jersey: Police State

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Montclair, New Jersey: Police State

It has been several years now since a friend of mine was sexually molested, sexually assualted and raped by the Montclair, New Jersey "police," after she was abducted rrom the sanctity or her own home without so much as a lawful warrant.
On another page, I warn travelers to avoid the Police State in New Jersey known on maps as Verona, but I have since learned that its ajoining/sister town Montclair has gone the distance towards complete unabashed and unashamed corruption and tyranny.
In an email the following information was sent to me by a fellow lover of America
(with emphasis, spelling and some minor grammatical corrections added):

Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 21:59:22 -0500
Subject: It's time to get political. . . .

The following letter was sent out today: July 30, 2001

Demetrius Hallas
c/o 223 east Price street
Linden, New Jersey

James Donald, CEO
Pathmark Corporate HQ
200 Milik Street
Carteret N.J. (sic) 07008

Greetings Mr. Donald,

I'm writing to inform you of some recent events which have affected your corporation and customers in the past; and which will continue to affect them in the future.
I was scheduled to appear at the Montclair municipal court at a "special (secret) session" on Tuesday, July 17th of this year, on (UNcriminal) matters which were transferred there from Belleville.
If you are not aware, Montclair keeps guards and a metal detector posted in front of its courtroom doors. The guards search everyone - except attorneys and anyone with an attorney - before they are allowed to enter.
As I was ORDERED to be in court that day, effectively I did not have the choice NOT to go into the courtroom. Since I did not consent to volunteer to be searched without articulable probable cause, I demanded to see a search warrant or court order before I allowed the guards to search Me. Though they refused to produce either, they also refused to let Me in without being searched.
My better half, Heidi Gerstad, then went into the courtroom to notify the magistrate, Ernest Booker, about crimes being committed by the police in front of his courtroom doors.
She was arrested for contempt because, as Magistrate Booker told her, she was not an attorney and therefore not allowed to talk to him. (She was also later charged with "obstruction" for not wanting to talk to the police. Go figure.
First you're prosecuted because you WANT to talk to a judge, then you're prosecuted because you DON'T want to talk to a cop.) Booker, however, did allow a policeman to talk to him (though I don't think the cop was an attorney); and with all the integrity and character attributed to police officers by the 'legal' community, he lied on the record and said that I was NOT outside.
I in turn was also arrested on contempt for "failure to appear," and spent the next three days in the police jail as a result. (Ms. Gerstad was released "on recognizance," after being held for about four hours on a $50 "bail.")
To make a long story short, that night another prisoner was brought into the jail, who told us about how he was caught shoplifting at your Montclair (Pathmark) store. He boasted incessantly for the next two days about how he "was killin' that Pathmark for MONTHS... killin' em!" He described in detail not only to the prisoners, but to the police as well, how he "earned" $100 to $150 a day for a half hour's "work," five days a week - for MONTHS. I would enjoy sharing the details of our conversations with you, but that is not the purpose of this letter.
That Thursday - two days later - this shoppin'bag gangsta, Myself and two other prisoners were handcuffed together and brought to see Magistrate Booker. (The Gangsta had earlier tried to cop a plea through the public defender.) When Booker read the charges against him, the Gangsta plead 'guilty.' Booker then acknowledged that the Gangsta had a prior conviction several years earlier, and was also currently wanted in another town on (I believe) a similar charge. He asked the Gangsta for an explanation, and the Gangsta put on his best sad face about how he fell on hard times and was doing what he could to survive.
'Honourable' Booker then sentenced him to 180 days, SUSPENDED the sentence, ordered him to pay a $500 fine and PUT HIM BACK ON THE STREET. No jail time, no restitution to Pathmark or to society. So crime DOES pay. At least in Montclair.
I, however, was sent BACK TO JAIL, with bail set at $1,500; for asserting Rights recognized by the constitutions.
I, a reviled enemy of the State, was arrested and charged with a crime as a result of asserting the Right to be free from being searched without articulable probable cause.
(And since I did NOT want to talk to the police either, I was additionally charged after being arrested with the UNcrime of 'Obstructing the Administration of Law' for asserting My right not to bear witness against Myself.)
I will now be prosecuted and made to pay for My heinous crimes against society. Oh, and let's not forget about the woman who's only 'crime' was trying to notify an obstinate magistrate about criminal acts being committed right outside his courtroom doors by the town police.
Booker ultimately released Me "on recognizance" also, which raises questions about his motives for the "bail" in the first place.
But the real irony of it all is that 'shoplifting' is NOT defined as a Crime in New Jersey; while the 'contempt' charge IS.
I'm sure the good residents of Montclair, especially those on fixed incomes - who suffer the most when grocery prices rise to offset shoplifting costs - will be happy with Booker's decision to grab a quick $250 for the town and set a career shoplifter back on the streets.
(Municipalities split with the State 50/50 the booty taken in their courts.)
As a final note, let's not forget how Booker's actions help speed up our already fast decline into a police state. If the purpose of hiring more police is to get criminals OFF the street, how is that purpose satisfied when judges put them back ON the street; while they jail folks accused of nothing more than asserting fundamental constitutionally protected rights?

Sincerely,
____________________________

cc: Pathmark of Montclair
Ernest Booker
Montclair Times
Star Ledger