I'm currently getting together a public information flyer on Community Service Officer Pam Bachtel who has a well-deserved reputation for sloppy and arbitrary enforcement of the already-bad Downtown Ordinances. I've posted the following at www.santacruzcopwatch.org. Has anyone got any info on Bachtel? I attach a copy of the posting and some comments resulting from the copwatch website.

Also, note for information that audio recording of Bathrobespierre's Broadsides, my twice-weekly radio show on 101.1 FM can be downloaded and/or listened to at www.santacruzcopwatch.org/robert
I often play interviews with folks who give accounts of police misconduct there. More dated information is posted at www.huffsantacruz.org


Robert Norse


BACTEL NEWS REQUEST POSTED AT WWW.SANTACRUZCOPWATCH.ORG

Heard of any problems with SC CSO Pam Bachtel?
by Robert Norse

Email: rnorse3 (nospam) hotmail.com (verified)
Phone: 831-423-4833
Address: 309 Cedar PMB #14B 02 Aug 2004

Please report time, place, person, and other particulars--or even more general complaints about CSO Pam Bactel downtown on Pacific Avenue.

HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) continues to receive reports of zealous harassment ticketing by Pam Bachtel, a chunky blonde female CSO who works the downtown SC beat.

She seems to take particular pride in harassing poor, homeless, and young people for such "crimes" as "leaning against public property while panhandling", "being in a forbidden zone [that is, outside the 10% of the sidewalk allowed for political tablers, panhandlers, and street performers]", and simply occupying space if a merchant complains.

It is credibly claimed that she (a) makes up or misinterprets local ordinances in response to her own sense of appropriateness downtown, (b) misrepresents what happens in court, (c) unnecessarily and repeatedly harasses or tickets in situations when none are necessary, and (d) prompts other officers to support her perhaps because of "police solidarity" or other such gang phenomena.

I would ask copwatchers to document and pass on the time, place, and people impacted by her citations. I'll try to do the same.



Comments

Re: Heard of any problems with SC CSO Pam Bachtel?
by Cruiser
none (nospam) none.com (unverified) \
13 Aug 2004

I know the officer you are talking about, I ride by her with my illegal handlebars and she has never ticketed me. She is very nice really...
\

Two Harassment Tickets
by Robert Norse
rnorse3 (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified) Current rating: 0
16 Aug 2004
Thanks for the comments.

For those who want to check the downtown ordinances, some of them are posted at www.huffsantacruz.org .

In the last week and a half, Bachtel ticketed a musician twice--once for "unattended property" when he was standing across the street watching his guitar case. A second time for sitting "within 14' of a building". The musician suggested it seemed to be particularly targeted at him--something easy to do since the "forbidden zones", "dog on Pacific Avenue", "no panhandling in a group of two", etc. laws are repeatedly enforced on a selective basis. Neither ticket, the musician reported, was done on the basis of a citizen complaint.

Keep those reports coming in.