NatGeo's "Wild Justice" Show

[lilbiggun]

The moment they ask if you've been hunting and your answer is yes.....or any other indicators that would suggest you were hunting......they have legal authority to check firearms, ammunition, license, tags, etc. If those items are in your vehicle, they can be retrieved and inspected.

I guess thats the catch all, them being fish and game. Its still wrong, something about profiling and due cause and all.

Oh well, they cant do that here and I'm happy. Now if they want to pay the truck payment, I will let them search (since they want to act like its there property), otherwise, I want to see a warrant. I know that doesnt work, but you know what I mean.

 

[Zach]

The moment they ask if you've been hunting and your answer is yes.....or any other indicators that would suggest you were hunting......they have legal authority to check firearms, ammunition, license, tags, etc. If those items are in your vehicle, they can be retrieved and inspected.

I wonder if you can refuse to answer the question based on the 5th? Seems most F&G have a more liberal position when it comes to search and seizure.

 

[lilbiggun]

More than likely not. Kinda like when you refuse a breathalizer test and they automatically bring you to jail.

Happened to me, I "talked funny" at a stop and refused. after all the hoopla, I really do have a speach impediment. shocker, a cop having an open mind.

 

[MarvB]

As I had mentioned previously, parts of this show are filmed locally around here, this is a piece from the Sac Bee concerning an episode filmed down in Willows about an hour and a half South of me:

Willows man who appears on 'Wild Justice' is attacked

The attacks began with an advertisement for a TV show.

On Jan. 22, Christopher Fisher, 26, of Willows, was shown in a teaser for a new episode of the National Geographic reality TV show "Wild Justice." The ad hinted that he had fingered suspects in a gruesome wildlife poaching case.

Walking down the street that day in Willows, a town of 6,200 in Glenn County, Fisher was jumped by several men who beat him across the knees with a 2x4. He was treated and released at a local hospital, but would not name suspects when police visited him there.

"At that time, he was hoping if he didn't say anything, whoever it was would leave him alone," Willows Police Chief Bill Spears said. "I think it has come to be very evident that he was incorrect."

"Wild Justice," just wrapping up its first season, follows California Department of Fish and Game wardens as they investigate a disturbing range of crimes against nature.

Fisher himself is not merely a blameless informant.

In Wednesday's episode, wardens visit him on a probation search. He has prior convictions for hunting violations and other crimes in three counties, said Patrick Foy, a warden and spokesman for Fish and Game.

During the search, the wardens find evidence of probation violations. Fisher is offered a chance to help his case by providing information.

On camera, Fisher names a suspect in an especially revolting string of wildlife abuses.

The Bee could not reach Fisher for comment.

"Whaddya got for us?" a warden asks him on the program.

"There's sheep, a load of horns, guns, three pigs, dogs," Fisher replies.

The day after the episode aired, Spears said, Fisher began receiving threatening calls.

The day after that, the chief said, on Friday at 3 a.m., Fisher's 1988 Ford Ranger pickup was set on fire in front of his apartment. The truck was fully engulfed, and later towed away as evidence.

Spears said the threatening calls specifically mentioned Fisher's appearance on TV.

"It made reference that he's a snitch," Spears said. "Then it made threats against the person himself, his wife and family, and their domicile and property."

No effort was made on the program to obscure Fisher's identity.

Foy said events in the episode happened as recently as November. The poaching case is still under investigation, and no arrests have been made.

"It's one of the areas of the show that has been difficult to manage because we are obviously subjects of the series, but we are not producers of the series," Foy said. "We don't have editorial control."

Foy did say that anyone pictured on the program is required to sign a waiver consenting to the use of their words and image.

Fisher told KHSL television in Chico he signed the waiver, but only after crossing out a section consenting to appear on the show. That could not be confirmed by The Bee.

National Geographic and the producers would not respond to specific questions.

In a statement, the network said it is "terribly sorry" Fisher was attacked after cooperating with wardens. "Whether or not these events are related is currently the subject of an active police investigation so we cannot offer any further comment," it said.

Dara Klatt, a spokeswoman for the National Geographic Channel, confirmed the new episode has been removed from the rerun cycle, but did not say why.

Gray Cavender, professor at Arizona State University who studies media depictions of crime, said informants suffer revenge all the time.

"Anybody who participates in stuff like that has to know there's a certain danger, whether you're just talking to the cops or you're going on TV," said Cavender, a criminologist and attorney.

"Wild Justice" has been very successful, both for National Geographic and the Department of Fish and Game. A second season is in the works.

In the latest case, partly due to the attacks on Fisher, several additional sources have come forward to offer more information on the poaching suspects, Foy said.

Anyone with information about the attacks on Fisher is urged to call the Willows Police Department at (530) 934-3456. Wildlife crimes can be reported to Fish and Game at (888) DFG-CALTIP.

...guess one needs to think about that 15 minutes of fame...

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Always have your Rubber Obama Mask handy to put on when ya see the Fish Cop!!!!!!!!!!! John