Do you support our current president?
POSTED BY: canttakesky
UPDATED: Tuesday, December 21, 2021 17:33
VIEWED: 12746
PAGE 4 of 15
I think a persons opinion of the police is primarily determined by the police in the area they grew up in. For me it was Kansas, where most law enforcement is done on the City level. This can be a problem because in many smaller towns the Police Chief is related to the Mayor who is related to the local Judge. This means some in the community can get away with "murder", while others will be arrested for Jaywalking. I've found that justice is more evenly administered when the enforcement is done on the County or State level. In Kansas if you get pulled over by the Highway Patrol(State Cops) you will find them polite and professional. On the other hand if you get pulled over by a local cop you're most likely to get a police academy reject with a power trip. Here in Florida most enforcement is done by the County Sheriffs Dept. and they seem to be professional and ethical. There are actually quite a few stories in the local news about cops arresting other cops. A cop that won't hesitate to arrest another cop is what we need more of in the US today.
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Quote:You keep saying this, like it means something to me, but really I think you’re just trying to convince yourself. This is a classic example of paranoia. You are so desperate to avoid any opinion that might mistakenly filter into that closed mind of yours that you can’t see me as having a different point of view or even being wrong - no you have to see me as intentionally distorting the “truth,” as if somehow I’m out to get you. As someone who actively trying to undermine this fictional idea of “truth” you have. This is classic paranoia.
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
You see, that argument might have worked but for a couple reasons.
First, there's a big credibility gap here - you got none, you've lied, repeatedly, been caught lying, denied it, and lied some more, and you almost never offer proof of any of your claims, the few times you have it's been shot to pieces immediately.
And it’s also somewhat meaningless, because I know what I know, and I know that I’ve never met a police officer that I thought was a Mafioso or a member of a street gang. Never. In my life. You can pretend, all you want, that this is not really what I know - that instead I am like those evil cops and I’m out to get you, but that’s delusional.
Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
-- Cicero
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Do you think being white may have something to do with that ?
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"Global warming - it's not just a fact, it's a choice."
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Due to the likelihood of a criminal being black, as opposed to white, it’s probably true that more officers are more likely to exceed appropriate behavior with a black person then with a white person, but even then it’s still probably the exception, not the rule.
Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
-- Cicero
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Finn, I highly doubt your word on anything, obviously...
But if that is the case - it is the exception, rather than the rule, and where ever they are finding THOSE cops, they need to send some of em HERE as training cadre.
I've known decent cops, even within the BCPD, Joe Goode volunteered to actually do foot patrols in the really awful neighborhood where I lived as part of a community policing initiative, which eventually failed because his fellow officers indulged in some really unbecoming behavior, but I never knew HIM to do so.
He had this idea that since resources were limited, one should triage enforcement in such a manner where it did the community the most good - busting some schlep quietly drinking a beer on his own front porch for public intoxication woulda never crossed joe's mind, nor would a lot of petty stuff that not only would NOT help keep the peace, but if pressed would provoke the community needlessly - and if he did have to take someone off the street, he did it by the book.
He retired shortly before I moved on from that neighborhood, and in all that time, no one even really tried to harm him, cause we knew him as a PERSON, not some goonsquaddie swooping down out of the night to arrest everyone in sight for anything they thought would stick...
The best protection an officer has is the respect of the community he serves, but with all forms of respect, you have to bring some, to get some.
He brought it, and he got it.
That man is the only reason I ever had the slightest bit of respect for the idea and purpose of police at all, the only example I ever had at the time, of a cop who wasn't a petty, hateful thug with a badge.
Am I so very wrong to hold the rest of the force to a standard I learned from a cop in the first place ?
-F
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Quote:So, based on your personal experience, you think all stories about abuse of authority are what...lies? I could make a list of my personal run-ins with the idiot jocks, disillusioned that their High School status didn't transfer to the real world, who then became idiot cops and enforced whatever pleased them at the moment, but then that's just MY personal experience, so I suspect you will dismiss it.
Originally posted by Finn mac Cumhal:
I’ve never met a police officer who didn’t treat me and others with as much or more respect then was deserved. Never. In my life.
And, as Hero says, For The Record, my dealings with the Police have, more often than not, been extremely pleasant, but the fact that there have been so many times when it has not been forces me to question their screening process.
I'm happy for you that you never had a problem, Finn, just don't take that as a country-wide norm.
Remember Serpicoisall
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Oh, just so that no one thinks it's rhetoric..
The BCPD, DPD and LAPD do indeed often act like a protection racket, this is only one case of many, believe me you'll have no trouble finding more...
2 Former Cops Plead Guilty To Extortion
POSTED: 8:01 am EDT April 9, 2008
DETROIT -- Two former Detroit police officers have pleaded guilty in the shaking down of a gas station clerk who chased off troublemakers with a shotgun.
Brandon Allen, 24, and Aaron Scott, 23 pleaded guilty recently to extortion charges in U.S. District Court in Detroit. Both live in Southfield, and have resigned from the police department.
They could face up to 20 years in prison. Scott is to be sentenced June 30, and Allen's sentencing was set for Aug. 4.
The Justice Department says the officers went to the gas station Oct. 19 with guns drawn and handcuffed the clerk. They told him he could avoid going to jail if he paid them.
The in-store surveillance video shows the clerk handing money from the register to one of the officers.
URL - http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/15832167/detail.html?rss=det&psp=ne
ws
But one thing I wanted to note is how and why they shook him down, there's little doubt said "troublemakers" (don't you love how they spun THAT one ?) were attempting to rob the place and fled when instead of meek compliance they wound up facing a drawn weapon.
It's possible (as has happened often enough before) that the perps were the ones that called the cops - the BCPD and DPD, and this is from my own direct local knowledge, have such a hostile attitude towards self defense in any form, that they will not hestitate to arrest YOU for it, and thus when no bullets fly or bodies hit the ground, no one will call them unless they feel the need to document events for legal or insurance purposes, you see.
But the bad guys can ALWAYS count on calling in a "man with gun" to get the police to disarm their victim FOR them.
The old guy who lived a block over, who I used to chat with when we did yardwork in our back yards... he died that way, chased off the local street punks with an old revolver, who promptly called the cops, who showed up and charged the old codger, took it from him, and the punks showed up late that night and beat him to death.
Incidents like these, isolated or not, color the viewpoint of everyone who knew the person, everyone related to them, everyone who saw it, and it doesn't take all that damn many to turn an entire community AGAINST the police dept - once reason they will not respond in 21225 with anything less than four cars.
And even in a state that DOES rememeber what the second amendment says, all too often around here, a homeowner who runs off a home invader with a weapon finds himself staring down the gun barrels of a VERY hostile police department, and soon after face down on the ground with some cops knee in the back of his neck getting cuffed, then thrown into a wall and viciously interrogated while the cops "look around" on a fishing expedition for anything they can bust the HOMEOWNER for, or worse - and this sequence of events, repeated over and over has most definately colored the communities perception of the DPD, how could it not, when it's almost an everyday occurance around here ?
You'll also note that at no time do they make any effort to go looking for the perp, too busy teaching those vile self-defenders a lesson, yes?
Too damned often people are AFRAID to call the cops, because they risk arrest and harrassment instead of help.
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/30/Tampabay/Police_jail_rape_vict.shtml
This should not be the case - but it is.
Folks should be able to call in the cavalry without fear of being stampeded, shouldn't they ?
-F
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Quote:Why would you think that I think that? See, there’s that selective reading again - where you ignore reading certain phrases so that you can mischaracterise my point. I’m not the one generalizing an entire group of people by the actions of a few or dismissing outright other points of view - you’re thinking of Frem.
Originally posted by chrisisall:
So, based on your personal experience, you think all stories about abuse of authority are what...lies?
Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
-- Cicero
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"No, I think it’s more likely the police officer(s) just simply aren’t the monsters you portray them as."
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"Global warming - it's not just a fact, it's a choice."
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Quote:Because you stated TWICE that has NEVER been your experience- never. As if that had some kind of weight to it. I've never been shot- but I believe many peeps have been...
Originally posted by Finn mac Cumhal:
Why would you think that I think that?
Quote:Maybe it's me and maybe it's you- the main point I get from your posts is that complaining about abuse of authority is nonsense. That our rights are intact. Tell that to Frem's neighbor.
See, there’s that selective reading again - where you ignore reading certain phrases so that you can mischaracterise my point.
Quote:Frem has been at or near the center of conflict you can only read about ( thank goodness for your luck) so his POV is understandably forcefully expressed. Doesn't make it off the mark though, IMO.
I’m not the one generalizing an entire group of people by the actions of a few or dismissing outright other points of view - you’re thinking of Frem.
The Death Wish-like Chrisisall
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