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‘Professional’ grade from undercover 1A auditor
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · May 13, 2020
A “First Amendment Auditor” — a citizen who randomly tests law enforcement knowledge by videorecording officers on duty — said local officers “were very professional toward me” when he tested and tried to provoke them on April 8.
And a local First Amendment Auditor who viewed the video agreed.
Floyd Wallace of Omaha, Neb. runs the YouTube channel News Now Auditor Omaha Copblock — “Omaha Copblock” for short — with about 200 videos, 31,000 subscribers and 7.8 million views.
In his afternoon visit to the U.S. Post Office in West Branch, he intentionally chose to be rude and dress and act suspiciously to see what kind of response he would get from a Herbert Hoover National Historic Site Park Ranger and West Branch Police Department officer.
Other than Ranger Seth Goodspeed and WBPD Sgt. Kory Hanna trying — but not demanding — to get Wallace to answer questions, Wallace said both the federal and city officers “were more professional ... way better” than most other officers he encounters.
“I’ll give credit where credit is due,” he said. “They were very professional toward me.”
Hanna said he heard about First Amendment Auditors and studied up on them, which helped prepare him for this encounter.
He said he had been audited once before by resident Glen Anson, who filmed him as the officer assisted a stranded motorist on Main Street. Anson did not directly engage Hanna.
“He stayed on the sidewalk and recorded me,” Hanna said. “He was very respectful and never crossed a boundary that made me feel uncomfortable unlike the other gentleman (Wallace) — I was on edge and watching him pretty closely.”
Goodspeed referred questions to the Hoover Park superintendent, but in an incident report the Times acquired through the Freedom of Information Act, Goodspeed wrote that he felt he could have been more prepared.
“Could things have gone differently and better? Probably, but it is what it is. There is no going back,” he wrote.
Wallace wore a black ski mask (or balaclava), red hoodie with the hood up, camouflage pants and black boots when he started to record near the post office entrance.
After the encounter, he posted the video entitled, “COPS DEMAND ANSWERS SO I IGNORED THEM cops owned I don’t answer questions first amendment audit.” On the video’s thumbnail, he added the words, “You are going to talk or you’are (sic) going to jail” and “You are detained for my investigation while its (sic) ongoing.” However, neither officer made threats or demands in the video.
Thousands of views on YouTube
Posted on April 12, the video has since collected more than 137,000 views.
Wallace said he selected West Branch at random while traveling and initially wanted to film at the police department but thought he would see a faster reaction at the busier post office. He also decided to begin with “the silent treatment.”
“If they know who you are, it kills the audit,” he said, referring to being a First Amendment Auditor.
In his experience, many officers do not like citizens to record them.
“A lot of times they say, ‘Move back or go to jail,’ or they will snatch my phone,” Wallace said.
He said he sometimes wears the ski mask on audits, but started doing so regularly when the coronavirus pandemic reached the states.
“Another reason why is that an officer may take my picture and run me through some kind of identifier, like facial recognition,” Wallace said. “That’s why I also wore my glasses — it’s harder to identify me. The whole point is to stay anonymous.”
Baiting officers
Anson said that though he does not agree with Wallace’s more provocative methods, he still watches Wallace’s YouTube channel.
Many First Amendment Auditors tend to draw suspicion by videorecording government buildings or property, which is legal, but Anson said many law enforcement officers or other government employees appear unaware of this. That leads many to overreact, he said. While some officers just try to get auditors to talk, others go so far as taking the auditor’s smartphones or video recorders, some erroneously telling them they need a permit or must leave, and some arresting them.
“I think the park ranger had a pretty good response,” Anson said. “As a law enforcement officer, he wants to be safe and wants the people around him to be safe.”
Even as Wallace tried to “bait” Goodspeed, the ranger did not overreact, Anson said.
“After awhile, he should have just said, ‘Have a nice day,’ and walked away,” Anson said.
Still, he said, Goodspeed “took an oath to protect citizens.”
“Even though he is not a (city) police officer, he is an officer of the law and has an obligation to ask questions,” Anson said.
Both Anson and Wallace said they got into First Amendment Auditing after personal experiences with law enforcement violating their rights.
Viewer comments
Anson said Hanna handled Wallace better because Hanna had experience with First Amendment Auditors before, but both officers did well.
“Sgt. Hanna did an excellent job,” he said. “He did not try to violate Floyd’s 1st, 4th or 5th Amendments. Seth did a good job, too, as far as I’m concerned.”
Many of the comments on YouTube came out of a misunderstanding of Goodspeed’s authority and jurisdiction, but a few figured out Goodspeed may “effect an arrest without a warrant in any unit of the National Park System, the District of Columbia, and the environs of the District of Columbia,” as stated by the National Park Service.
“The park ranger and police officer acted professionally,” wrote Simtech1rmj. “The park ranger hung around longer because … there was a creepy person not talking and seem (sic) weird.” And the auditor was defensive expecting a negative response. These two guys were cool. … Professional auditor’s (sic) in this situation would have thanked and congratulated these two men for doing the right thing and being that example of upholding the law. WHICH IS THE GOAL.”
“I’m pretty sure the Park Ranger does have jurisdiction on that sidewalk, being both federal property and a public easement,” wrote Let the James Begin. “The subject matter of his authority is different from a municipal cop, but he does have arresting authority in that location.”
Many of the comments viewed Hanna in a favorable light.
“This is the first time I’ve ever said this: that cop was actually pretty cool,” wrote kingT2211.
“The (law enforcement officer) was polite, respectful, and followed the law,” wrote Donna Guziak. “Good for him. This encounter should be used in training videos.”
“I cannot stand the police but nobody is acknowledging that the police officer did a great job!” wrote Tim Beatty.
Hanna said he appreciates the support from the comments, but “I don’t put too much stock in what other people think of me.”
“If you do, law enforcement is not the career path of choice for you,” he said.
The West Branch officer said he understands what Wallace is trying to do, but would have preferred Wallace not try to “trigger” law enforcement.
“I believe strongly in the constitution, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to do things,” he said.
Recording at
the post office
On the video he posted to his YouTube channel, Wallace appears to start by recording a woman walking into the post office. Parts of the video were edited out, but a few minutes later, Herbert Hoover National Park Service Ranger Seth Goodspeed came outside to ask what Wallace needed.
In the video, Goodspeed is not wearing his primary uniform, but a more casual version, though it still bore marks identifying him as a ranger. He also wore a pale blue protective mask due to the coronavirus.
The ranger opened by stating Wallace was “making a lot of people nervous” by recording them.
“You certainly have the right to be here,” the ranger said. “You certainly have the right to film. That’s absolutely your right. Could you just tell me what you’re doing, please?”
He tried for 10 minutes to ask how he could help Wallace, but Wallace remained silent and kept his smartphone trained on Goodspeed.
In the video, Wallace never revealed his name to Goodspeed, even when this reporter came up to briefly chat with the federal officer. Wallace kept the recording going, stepped inside the post office and scanned the interior. Goodspeed followed him inside.
After minutes of Wallace’s silence, Goodspeed tried to guess at what Wallace wanted, telling him that the post office was “open for service.”
“What’s going on? … Do I need to call somebody else here? Because I can. I just want to answer questions for you if there’s information you’re trying to get,” the ranger said.
After another pause, he radioed Cedar County dispatch and asked for assistance from a West Branch Police Department officer and noting that the still unidentified man would not talk nor would expose his hand to him.
Breaking silence
Going back outside, Wallace pointed the camera back at Goodspeed a while longer, then scanned the surroundings and started to walk toward Main Street. Goodspeed followed, and that prompted Wallace to speak to Goodspeed for the first time.
“Don’t walk up on me. Ever,” Wallace said.
(To clarify, according to Goodspeed’s report, before Goodspeed went outside, he looked through an office window trying to locate the suspicious person. Conversely, near the beginning of the video, Wallace points the camera at a couple of the office windows, and though the camera cannot make out anything inside, Wallace shouts, “Oh, You think you’re slick. I see you! You think you’re slick!”) Goodspeed clarified he only meant to walk behind Wallace.
After a few more minutes — with some of Goodspeed’s words drowned out by the wind — WBPD Sgt. Kory Hanna pulled up to the post office and consulted with Goodspeed.
Wallace asked Hanna for his name and badge number, which Hanna supplied.
“Hanna? That’s a weird name,” Wallace said.
Misunderstanding
It appeared Wallace did not know that the post office is part of the Hoover site, that Goodspeed is a federal officer and Goodspeed’s jurisdiction includes the post office, because Wallace denied that Goodspeed had the authority to talk to him on the sidewalk.
“Don’t talk to me and get your a-- back in the office,” Wallace said.
Wallace seemed to misunderstand that while he was standing on a public sidewalk, that it was also on federal park property. From that point, he insisted on only dealing with Hanna under the belief that the sidewalk was city property.
Hanna interjected.
“Mind if I ask: Do you consider yourself a First Amendment Auditor? If so, nobody’s saying you can’t film. As far as I’m concerned, I’m just here for this other officer,” he said.
Both Goodspeed and Hanna tried to clarify the sidewalk and jurisdiction confusion — and this reporter, who had come out of the post office and watched part of the exchange, tried to do the same. However, Hanna said later that part of the conversation did not appear to make any progress, so he abandoned it.
Hand in pocket
Wallace kept one hand in his pocket while recording Goodspeed, and Goodspeed asked about that multiple times.
Wallace said keeping a hand in a pocket is a way to see if police understand a citizen’s “freedom of movement,” but it makes him nervous to use this tactic.
“I’m afraid of getting shot,” he said. “I have the right as long as I don’t hurt you or steal from you. It’s not illegal, (but) officers choose to react like that.”
That move, in particular, prompted some officers to “jump on me, harass me or slam me to the ground,” he said, but he would never try to hurt a member of law enforcement.
“They are the most powerful gang in the entire country,” Wallace said. “I would lose that battle.”
Hanna said training teaches officers to pay attention to someone’s hands.
“The hands are what kill you,” he said. “Typically, I don’t like to interact with people while wearing sunglasses, but in a situation like that, I had the tactical advantage. I was watching his hands.”
Once it seemed Wallace was, indeed, videorecording the encounter, Hanna said it seemed less likely Wallace would attempt to harm anyone “even though he was acting suspicious with his hands in his pockets.”
The video wrapped up soon after Hanna consulted again with Goodspeed, Hanna gave Wallace a business card and the two officers walked away.
Ohio v. Terry
Hanna said that his research on First Amendment Auditors also taught him about “sovereign citizens,” who do not think laws apply to them.
Hanna said the key test for First Amendment Officers stems from a 1968 Supreme Court decision in the case of Ohio v. Terry.
In it, Justice Byron White wrote: “There is nothing in the Constitution which prevents a policeman from addressing questions to anyone on the streets. Absent special circumstances, the person approached may not be detained or frisked but may refuse to cooperate and go on his way. However, given the proper circumstances, such as those in this case, it seems to me the person may be briefly detained against his will while pertinent questions are directed to him. Of course, the person stopped is not obliged to answer, answers may not be compelled, and refusal to answer furnishes no basis for an arrest, although it may alert the officer to the need for continued observation.”
Hanna said he does not recall learning about First Amendment Auditors in his training and does not know if such appears in the current curriculum. However, he told other WBPD officers about them.
“If I have a reasonable, articulable suspicion … under Ohio v Terry, I have the ability to ID that person,” the officer said. “I can talk to them and do anything a normal citizen can do, but I can’t make demands of you. I can ask to see ID, … but you don’t have to honor it.”
Wallace said “not all officers are bad,” and put Goodspeed and Hanna in that category.
“But a majority are bad” at knowing citizen rights when he begins recording them, he said.
Hanna noted that Wallace wearing a ski mask did not raise as many “red flags” as under normal conditions since the coronavirus pandemic prompts many citizens to do the same.
De-escalating
the tension
Both Goodspeed’s and Hanna’s supervisors felt their officers did fine considering the circumstances.
Hoover Historic Site Superintendent Pete Swisher said he wants rangers to make visitors “feel safe” and “welcome.”
He backed Goodspeed going out and trying to talk to Wallace and trying to determine if Wallace was engaging in illegal activity. The superintendent also agreed that Wallace had no compelling reason to answer the ranger’s questions.
“It was fine from a procedural standpoint,” Swisher said. “Seth was certainly within policy to initiate conversation. What was particularly good was that he didn’t escalate — neither party did — it was fine.”
Police Chief Mike Horihan said he liked how the video showed Hanna succeeding in de-escalating the tension and how many of the YouTube comments “were very positive for Sgt. Hanna.”
“I think Sgt. Hanna used his head,” he said, also in knowing the applicable law in this situation. “When you look at the big scheme of things, there was no crime and no reason for Sgt. Hanna to carry on the situation. He was smart, cool, calm and collected. He handled it beautifully.”
The police chief said he thinks Hanna’s Iowa National Guard experience, which includes a tour in Afghanistan where he saw combat, helped.
Swisher, a former park ranger himself, said Wallace’s refusal to acknowledge Goodspeed’s authority and jurisdiction is not unprecedented.
“It’s not uncommon, based on my experience, for park rangers to not be viewed as having a legal jurisdiction,” he said. “That part of the contact didn’t surprise me. … I think Seth was professional and polite and Kory helped.”
Horihan said he prefers First Amendment Auditors who “are truly out there to educate and make people aware.”
Swisher said he has watched First Amendment Auditor videos and appreciated that Goodspeed did not lose his temper when Wallace tried to provoke.
“Seth didn’t respond to that,” the park superintendent said. “He stayed calm.”
Swisher said he does not recall another First Amendment Auditor visiting the Hoover Site during his time here and does not remember other auditors trying to provoke.
“I was in law enforcement 10 years ago and carrying cameras and having (video recording) on cell phones wasn’t a thing,” he said, noting Goodspeed attends 40 hours of classroom training each year. “Thank goodness for up-to-date training.”
Other audits
in the area
The Times initiated a FOIA request online on April 24 and the request was fulfilled for the most part by April 30. An email from the National Parks Service FOIA Officer Sheila Koopmeiners from the Omaha office attached a partially redacted copy of the report.
Kookpeiners had blacked out the name of the person who expressed concerns over Wallace’s behavior, Wallace’s name — which Goodspeed learned later — Wallace’s vehicle information and address.
Koopmeiners listed two FOIA exemptions for the redactions: “a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” as the request “failed to demonstrate how the public’s interest would be served by releasing the information you have requested” and to protect “the names of persons, home addresses, vehicle identification numbers and witnesses’ names.”
In addition to the report, Goodspeed wrote a follow-up letter dated April 21 in which he reiterated many of the details from the April 8 report. In this letter, he noted that he learned from the WBPD that Wallace “had been confronted by police officers in Iowa City and at the University of Iowa in Iowa City earlier that day.”
“This guy … apparently has a pretty decent following (on YouTube),” the ranger wrote. “Yesterday we had somebody stop by the Post Office asking for me by name with regards to this video. That same person talked to one of our (interpretive staff/tour guides) at the (Visitor Center) asking for me. … The local police department is also aware of these recent requests to talk to me. We are on our toes here, and I have now been geared up since last week.”
The “geared up” comment refers to how Goodspeed had recently been traveling and would be temporarily out of uniform “to limit my contacts with people.”
Wallace said he found his way into First Amendment Auditing after he said a police officer lied about him to a judge even after a conviction was handed down, which did not change the sentence but unnecessarily added insult to injury.
In Anson’s case, he said that 12 years ago a police officer violated his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure.
“I go out and educate the public and police to make sure they know,” he said.
Wallace said he likely would not return to West Branch.
“I don’t hit the same place twice,” he said.
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