MIAMI GARDENS, FL – Alex Saleh is a store owner in Miami Gardens who, like most shopkeepers, felt the need to install cameras for security. But Saleh didn’t install them to protect the store and its employees from burglars. He installed them to protect them from police.
Alex Saleh has a long criminal record. It’s 38 pages. But he’s not a hardened criminal. Most of his infractions have been minor. His employees have had quite a few run ins with the law as well. [contextly_sidebar id=”b812d3dd9c188532b21804b0bd026ba0″]
One worker, Earl Sampson, was cited for trespassing… at the store that he was hired to work for, the 207 Quickstop in Miami Gardens. Sampson has a long rap sheet too. He’s been searched over 100 times, questioned 258 times and jailed over 100 times. He’s never been convicted of anything other than possession of marijuana.
Since the cameras were installed in June of 2012, Saleh has collected over two dozen videos which have been delivered to the Miami Herald.
The videos reportedly show cops stopping citizens, questioning and aggressively searching them. The Miami Herald reports that people are routinely aggressively searched and arrested for trespassing, even if they have permission from the store owner to be on the premises. Officers conducted illegal searches without warrants or permission and deployed excessive force on citizens who were reportedly not resisting arrest. Officers have also allegedly filed inaccurate police reports in connection with those arrests.
Executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida Howard Simon said, “Where is the police chief in all this? In a police department in a city this size, this kind of behavior could not escape his attention. Doesn’t the City Commission know that they are exposing the city to either massive liability for civil rights violations? Either that, or they are going to wake up one day and find the U.S. Department of Justice has taken over its police department.’’
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