There was a thread on RadioReference about Sundance Citizens on Patrol’s website, a site about some civilians deputizing themselves with ranks and doing traffic assist. There really wasn’t much to it, and we decided not to post anything on the front page about it. The self-imposed ranks were kinda funny, but there wasn’t much meat there. A thread was created on our forums regarding the thread on RR, a few comments were made. We weren’t going to bother posting it on this site, as we didn’t really see the point. They seemed innocent enough, and didn’t do anything to us.
That is, until one of their members, a Capt. Peden, decided to PM one of our moderators with an utterly ridiculous threat:
Dear Moderator of Sundance Citizens Patrol Thread,
I find the comments reguarding Sundance Citizens Patrol and Emergency Services on your site to be slanderous at best and am requesting the it be immediately removed from the site and/ or the forum to be closed. The material is offensive and vulgur and needs to be removed immediately. If this is not done so in a timely manner I will report this website to my attorney who will take legal action. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that it is still illegal to slander someone and the moderator and or creater of the website will be held liable for anything posted on their website. This may include fines, penalties, closure of the site, and if I remember correctly I believe jail time as well. I don’t know I guess I will need to contact him. But in any case our rank structure is no ones business, but our own since it is used internally only. In addition personal comments reguarding myself are just plain rude and that is called sexual harrassment… is there a need for me to go any further?
Woah. Hold the phone. Threats? Threats of legal action? Sexual harassment? Against an innocent website, and a moderator who had nothing to do with the thread, who also happens to be a police officer? This will not stand.
If this is the kind of public relations that Sundance Citizens on Patrol has, we here at Hamsexy question their intentions and management. Accusing us of libel (learn the difference between libel and slander before you go accusing people of it) and sexual harrassment against Peden (who is a female), where clearly none exists? Is this how this group deals with such matters, falsely accusing us of crimes in an attempt to scare us into locking an innocent thread on our message forums? I don’t think so. We are consulting our legal team as to what to do next. Accusations of sexual harassment are very serious, and we will be debating about what to do next. Stay tuned.
Ahhh, you have got to love the selfrighteous wannabe public safety organizations. It’s rather uncommon here in California to see such an egregious display of whackerism.
I think it’s funny anytime spouts off on the intarweb about how they have been slandered, when the morons obviously have no clue that the word they are actually looking for is libel.
I’m real sure their top-notch lawyer is going to be all over the staff here for slander, just like these whackers are going to be asked by the real LEOs for help in some huge emergency that requires them to direct traffic and … what else do they do?
In closing:
ahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahahahaha
You know, I get threats and verbal harrassment all the time by people we arrest. You don’t see me trying to start a lawsuit against people just because I can. That’s the problem with the world today. “You stepped on my toe today. I’m taking your retirement.” Get with the program- You’re a self-proclaimed public servant and as such are subject to public scrutiny. Deal with it.
My experience is that anyone with actual legal representation won’t talk about legal matters themselves. That’s why they hired the attorney. So they would let the attorney threaten a site (probably not via a private message on an internet web board, but rather on rather expensive paper!), rather than doing it themselves.
For similar reasons, it’s my experience that people who make threats to sue someone almost never actually even bother to file a suit. I’d tell this person to get a lawyer and come back then.
Jail time? JAIL TIME???
Wow… that’s all I can really say.
WOW.
The offer still stands, Captain Jessie. I’ll interview you by telephone.
If you have any real PR training, you’d jump at the opportunity.
But really, anyone threatening to sue someone over the internet has very little Public Relations skills at all.
I’m not holding my breath.
Oh, and did anyone miss how she continues to say that their rank structure is for “internal use only”, and yet, she addresses everyone by their rank? AND signs her “communiques” with her rank?
And let’s not forget the rank listings on the website!
That’s not internal use, mademoiselle! If your rank structure was actually internal use only, NO ONE WOULD KNOW YOUR RANK!
Captain who???? Well lemmie introduce you to Major Reality Check….You better salute him….
Get a life, jeebus, the internet is such serous business!!!
I didn’t see any sexual harassment. Libel or slander, where? We’re all free to give our opinions as we please about what we please and will do so as we please so piss off already.
Damn CA is full of sue happy nutjobs!!!
Methinks that Captain whomever is going to be introducd to Major Litigation if she continues to make threats on behalf of her group.
Nice pics and I like all their titles, they could join Col. Mustard in a game of Clue.
Geez, where’s Major Ham when you really need him?
Folks, it only gets better. I got this email just the other day:
Oh me oh my I just love running radioreference.com.
I just appointed myself general, so now you need to refer to me a General Brad…..
They spell like the NEAR team. It must be a prerequisite to be illiterate or have good grammatical and grammar skills to be a wacker group. Perhaps Sundance and NEAR should combine into a single, illiterate, and illegitimate whack club. Then we could take them even less seriously.
Hey, if you’re going to write letters, learn how to spell. Your whole organization is interpreted through those whom communicate for it. Your spelling and mechanical delivery are abhorrent.
See what I mean? Grammatical and grammar….same thing!
Lindsay, I hope you’ll listen to “Lieutenant Colonel” Stumpy…
I actually just literally rolled my eyes.
I thought those ranks were for internal use only?
Can’t make it in the real world of Law Enforcement, give yourselves rank and insignia so you can feel important!
Of course, this is my supposition, and not that of this website.
What a bunch of whackers. They all must be having conniptions right about now!
Hmm, both threads locked….interesting
I got a reply from them….She still can’t spell….
“And why is any of this suposed to matter to me? You are still a moron if you think that anything you just said is going to effect me. You just must be a very small man if you feel offended when a woman gets the last word in. And I’m sorry but everyone on my team is up to current with all of their procedures.
Let me break it down for you real quick. We don’t want to be in public safety. We just want to help people. We do that very well. I know that it is hard for your brain to comprehend, but the law enforcement and EMS and fire in our area loves us being around. So to put it simply you have no idea what you are talking about.
Have a wonderful day!
Sincerely,
Jessie”
I said earlier that I’d hit it. Well Seth or Bryan seem to enjoy removing comments around here. I take it back anyway–I wouldn’t hit it. She’s way too moody.
These whackers are pretty scary….I think I would rather take my chances on a dark road in a dangerous location. This has to be a group of well intended, but misguided high schoolers, drop outs and wannabes. They would lose their lunch if they had to any real public safety work.
What’s odd is that if you look at their list of “officers,” it seems their club consists of four married couples and a couple other guys. So apparently the only real qualification you need to have to join that group is a marriage certificate.
Isn’t Muammar Gaddafi colonel?
Isn’t Muammar Gaddafi a colonel? Sorry.
Looks like there is a disproportionate number of officers to underlings…..
2 Indians and 10 Chiefs
First of all my intent here is not to bash CERT or any other volunteer response group. But it is my experience that once you provide the opportunity for training to individuals and if you don’t keep them busy, and under your control, you get organizations like this. They take a couple of online FEMA courses, attend a NIMS training class, or find someone to let them go to a FEMA EMI course and when the certificate shows up in the mail. Bam, er Whack(er) you have someone thinking they could form their own group! Again, not all volunteer groups are bad, but when they start up their own organization and command structure and freelance, trouble begins. How many of these groups are out there that don’t have a website? I am a proponent of changing TEAM in Community Emergency Response Team to TRAINING
” if I remember correctly I believe jail time as well”
Oh, the old , “your going to jail” line! Too f*#kin funny!
The pictures alone were worth the trip to the site.
The Peden dude looks like death warmed over….and cooled off again! I’ll bet he saves a ton of money on Halloween costumes.
So how do we make them HamSexy? The last time I crabbed about a non-ham whacker group marring the nearly untarnished reputation of HamSexy Bryan went into full ferret mode and found a license.
To me, no ham license, no HamSexy. Sorry, but that’s the way I feel. Why feed the lawyers with procedes of confrontations from light bar bearing whackers (obviously with a fair amount of discretional income) when they are not hams?
Bryan, do you smell any bacon here?
K8MHZ:
What?
Bryan, he’s talking about that impersonator from Florida who got busted… you dug out his license info, if I recall correctly.
How right you are Richard.
Oh, by the way, after speaking with our corporate counsel at the office (Cornell undergrad, Stanford Law, by the way)…
Under Title 47, Section 230 of the United States Code (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/ts_search.pl?title=47&sec=230)
Owners of websites are NOT, and can NOT, be held liable for content posted by their users. The users are responsible for their comments.
This is the law, whackers. Your little “e-threats” are both baseless and groundless.
Call your e-lawyer and ask him to read USC title 47, section 230.
THE END.
k8mhz: Oh. Who cares?
We’ve featured whackers, impersonators and fake police since this site was founded. No one was ever promised 100% ham material. The staff of this site work hard to bring content to our readers – I am personally sorry that not all of it meets your expectations. Constantly whining about it is certainly your right, but if that’s all you’ve got to contribute, you might reconsider how it’s making you look.
Just some advice. It’s getting pretty tiresome, dude.
And Richard – I didn’t dig anything up… it was mentioned both on QRZ and the forums that he was a ham. I brought it up to shut K8MHZ up.
Did somebody wake up on the wrong side of the rock this morning?
STFU
I thought the rank structure was for “Internal Usage” Then why was the letter in the fourm signed with the rank Captain. You have 8 people in your group, why is hey “Jim”, hey “Bob” or hey “whacker” not sufficiant?
It is an offence to anyone who has done the work needed to gain a commision. Also they should be advised it is equally actionable to threaten legal action. Self important BS, why can’t they just boost cars and pick up litter without trying to make themselves look and act like real first responders?
INV:
What fun is there in that?! 🙂
AH SAYED DROP DOWN ‘N GIMME TWENNY, MAGGIT!
TEN WHUT111
Major Stump…
heh heh heh
I am sure no one would like to sign their gustbook? it’s back up and running
A few comments.
I looked at the website.
It is my opinion (not this website) that the message the website conveys is to “help local law enforcement agencies who are often times understaffed”
Is that the right message to send the community or is even a good plan?
What most communities really need in the community is trained and qualified individuals to perform law enforcement duties, not solicit the services of unpaid volunteers.
I can’t help but wonder how the police union feels about these self appointed replacement workers stepping in to do their jobs? Somehow, I just don’t see the law enforcement community becoming very receptive of whacker wannabe scabs coming around to do their work under the volunteer umbrella.
Perhaps, we should start a separate organization of self appointed volunteer city workers too? It seems they are even more understaffed than law enforcement. Why doesn’t anyone want to step up to the plate to do this instead? Volunteers could respond to down tree limbs, place construction cones over potholes and they could climb down into city sewers and fix broken pipes.
Also, the idea of going around to schools and telling young children that it is perfectly OK to put yourself in harms way by volunteering to “help” qualified law enforcement personnel who are severely understaffed on the streets is probably not in the interests of promoting public safety to school children. Perhaps as a parent I would start feeling that such an volunteer organization is promoting the idea that the law enforcement community is not capable of performing their jobs. Not exactly a message I want my child to hear coming from a public school.
Law enforcement is a highly specialized field requiring a lot of training. It’s not like anyone can come along and volunteer to do this job like this organization seems to convey on the website.
I know that all “should” sound obvious, but apparently it seems this whacker agency that seems to lack any law enforcement skills and without any credentials somehow reflects that anyone can do the job, even unpaid volunteers.
So why do they do it exactly?
The answer seems rather obvious to me. If people are sincere about helping other people then they don’t need to wear uniforms and install light bars on their “response vehicles.” They simply just help other people as a matter of goodwill toward others.
I would be embarassed to be involved in a whoopi light volunteer organization like this. I am surprised they don’t see themselves in the mirror the same way as law enforcement and everyone else who is chuckling at them from the outside does.
So go ahead and sue me. I suspect Judge Judy would have a TV heyday network extraveganza with such wannabe whackers roving the streets to make a name for themselves by looking for babies to rescue from house fires.
That’s “my” opinion on the subject.
73 Charles – KC8VWM