Posted on 07/22/2014 9:32:19 PM PDT by chessplayer
Imagine if I were to tell you there is a large group of government employees, with generous salaries and ridiculously cushy retirement pensions covered by the taxpayer, who enjoy incredible job security and are rarely held accountable even for activities that would almost certainly earn the rest of us prison time. When there is proven misconduct, these government employees are merely reassigned and are rarely dismissed. The bill for any legal settlements concerning their errors? It, too, is covered by the taxpayers. Their unions are among the strongest in the country.
No, I’m not talking about public-school teachers.
I’m talking about the police.
We conservatives recoil at the former; yet routinely defend the latter — even though, unlike teachers, police officers enjoy an utter monopoly on force and can ruin — or end — one’s life in a millisecond.
On Thursday in Staten Island, an asthmatic 43-year-old father of six, Eric Garner, died after a group of policemen descended on him, placing him in a chokehold while attempting to arrest him for allegedly selling cigarettes. A bystander managed to capture video in which Garner clearly cries out, “I can’t breathe!” Even after releasing the chokehold (chokeholds, incidentally, are prohibited by NYPD protocol), the same officer then proceeds to shove and hold Garner’s face against the ground, applying his body weight and pressure on Garner, ignoring Garner’s pleas that he cannot breathe. Worse yet, new video shows at least eight officers standing around Garner’s lifeless, unconscious body.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
I just about always get them when I talk about not registering my vehicles.
I can back into corners about their willing and even prioritized attitudes to those who would con our government. Police don’t seem to care that I don’t pay taxes. They do, however, start to fall apart when I point out how they well they are setup to guard elite assets.
I have no trouble pointing out how they are being used as the personal enforcers not for the law, but for the elite and powerful. Also, coming from CT I can EASILY show their colors by open carry of a firearm.
That’s like shooting fish in a barrel. I understand other states may not have that built-in destruct though. Here in NEPA we are surrounded by police who are very uncomfortable by armed people. Our Sheriff department seems ok about it though.. but those guys just transport prisoners and sit at the entrances of schools. We’re lucky to have a Sheriff, but the state has done it’s share of damage to the outfit.
Yes, indeed. I do not trust LEOs. They are not here to protect and serve. They are here to bring in revenue and intimidate and, at times, encourage desensitization.
Our former police chief drank on the job, while driving and tossed his beer can out of the car. He received a ticket for littering. It was about 10 years ago.
My son was harassed walking home in mid-winter, carrying something in his jacket for his sick mother (mashed taters with gravy). Cop stopped him and asked him what was in his coat. He told him. Was then told to take it out; he did. Cop was pissed off. Made him take off his shoes in the snow so he could make sure he was not carrying drugs. Guess who has no respect for cops. Besides me, I mean.
We are in a small town. There are times when the cops will not take a 911 B&E call because they need to move someone to the jail and the other on call is on a break. Yes, it has been documented. We are told to not bother calling in most issues; just call the next day and file a report. No one is coming out to your home unless it is a domestic or disorderly. Those bring in money.
Have I ever arrested another officer? No. Have I reported bad seeds to the Sheriff's Office (the top law enforcement agency) in my county, since the my now former Chief was covering it up? Yes. Repeatedly. Have other good officers at my department reported the conduct to the District Attorney's Office? Yes.
Did it matter or amount to anything? NO. But it wasn't for lack of trying. As I said in my initial comment, I've seen good officers get shafted and bad ones skate, but I am not one to turn a blind eye to such conduct. The politics are thick on these things, in my opinion, the worst thing is fear of "bad publicity" if such things got known. Thanks for your questions, by the way. This is a particularly bad (for me) but important topic.
Ping
There are good cops and bad cops. Bad cops belong in jail. Good cops deserve our support.
Half the population partakes of cannabis.
Just like drinking a glass of wine or beer doesn't make any one a criminal, neither does taking a puff.
Cannabis does not make any one a criminal, the law does!
They need to return to being Peace officers, not nazi death squads!
Dumbest article of all time. Simply replace “police”
with the word “conservatives” or “Republican”
There are good cops and there are bad cops, just like conservatives and Republicans.
Aren’t you charged with arresting criminal you observe committing crimes? Aren’t you failing in your duty when you don’t protect the public by letting dangerous criminal commit criminal acts in front of you without arresting them?
Nice story about telling this or that official. You are the official empowered with arrest powers. If you had arrested such criminals when you observed such criminal behavior, then the DA would be forced to publicly decide whether to charge them or not. In addition the criminal would have an arrest record. So do your job.
Here in Kalifornya, they can get drunk
and leave their guns on the coffee table
for their four-year-old to pick up and
shoot mommy with.
They get a pass on this, which would be
a crime for me, the civilian, to do.
The same people who would arrest me for
leaving a gun where a child could get it
are exempt from the very same law.
They also game the system here in terms
of cushy pensions with salary spiking, etc.
They have gone from sincere public servants
to pampered babies with pseudo-tough-guy
attitudes. Not all of them, but a lot.
I don’t know what portion of police are bad. I do know its a good deal bigger than it used to be. If it’s 5 percent and the rest tolerate it and their union protects and represents it then 100 percent of them are bad.
Good cops have become the exception, not the majority.
You must live in a fantastic bubble. Those who don’t would understand everything I said. Enjoy your charmed life. I am doing the best I can, but with ZERO support. Thank you so much for understanding that (not).
From an old lynyrd skynyrd southern long hair to what I am today at 56
I ain’t never been lovey dovey with the police
I try to be righteous with them but this new militarized wanna wear beanie bunch irk me
That and their toys......we pay for they don’t need
They will have to decide who they are riding with in the future.....choose wrong and they and their toys become targets of opportunity
Violent politics always go that way from jump street
Jack Webb bump
Need someone like him today
So you don’t have the power to arrest anyone you see committing a crime?
Of course I do. But what happens next, if it's a fellow officer in a corrupt department? You tell me.
Conservatives haven’t been reflexively pro-cop for 20 years. The hacks on talk radio and Fox News dare not say anything bad about our new Gestapo because their elderly demographic thinks it’s 1971 and only hippies and Black Panthers criticize out brave men in blue.
Do you arrest a man beating his wife? What do you think happens next? That is not your job. You are supposed to arrest the bad guy. Well, it used to be that way.
You are another one missing the point here. How about you are a cop and you arrest another cop who is a meth-addicted psycho, who has the full backing of the department? How about that one? I'm sure you have it all figured out, because you've been there, done that, right? And remember, NO ONE will touch him, but you've got the answer.
I'm old school, which means I know BS when I see it.
> What about the large number of cops that see the average, law-abiding citizen as the enemy?
I’m out in the streets talking to them pretty often. I don’t see that being the norm unless they work on a beat with a higher than avg crime rate where there’s usually minorities. You get called to scenes where people with drug and alcohol makes them do stupid things over and over and get lied to on a daily basis and tell me it won’t affect your attitude. You have to deal with a lot of stupid people that would just as soon shoot you fo no other reason than the fact you’re white and in their neighborhood. You work a job like that for very long and you do look at those types as the enemy.
Talk to them away from their job and they’re different people.
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