A pre-emptive strike backfires…

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.