here's my thing with the kid:
he used a scanner to find a place where he knew he would be suspicious and there would be a cop there to stop him. he's intentionally using police resources for illegitimate means. i know what you are going to say. "if this was a bad cop then it's a good thing this kid caught him."
well, yes and no. the kid set this situation up so the interaction wasn't a random phenomenon which most cars stops are. if a reasonable person was in the lot for a legit purpose and the cop approached them, the citizen might understand what the cop meant about checking out suspicious cars and done their best to cooperate with the officer.
however, since the kid set this whole thing up he had no intention of cooperating.
that being said, the cop did wrong. and he was fired. so doesn't that tell you the system works?
the issue i take with you is that you said the cop was 100% wrong and the kid 100% right.
the officer's initial action was correct and the kid's intent was to catch an officer in a bad position by setting up the meeting. so, IMHO, the officer did some right and the kid did some bad. fair enough?
robert, i pinged you because you are getting as slammed as i am on this thread. do you agree with the assessment?
There is no evidence that he used the scanner to "set up" anythiing. Prior posts have indicated that it was off and that the dept in question does not use police radios.
Try again and remember that this is not a real cop shop we are taking about.
100%. It was an artificial antagonistic situation set up by the kid and recorded for internet distribution.
This now drifts into complete fantasy.
May I remind you there are entire websites where you can view video from all over the country that document official behaviour-police and otherwise.
A McDonald's security camera caught a patrol officer when he went ballistic and arrested a cashier because he was certain he had been shortchanged on a $20 dollar bill when in fact the camera clearly documented he gave the kid a $10.
Yeeears ago a stretch of Highway between Louisana and Mississippi (Highway 10?)became so notorious for their vehicle impoundment policies that 60 Minutes outfitted a vehicle with about a dozen cameras and another chase vehicle with another dozen cameras and merely drove on the Highway for about 20 minutes before, guess what?, they were stopped for NO cause by a County Sheriff who was obviously trolling for cash.
I am twice this kid's age and I have started to outfit my daily life with cameras and recording equipment, not necessarily for encounters of the Law Enforcement kind but for all of the weird nonsense that I pass through on a daily basis.
You can bet that stuff will be up and running when I get pulled over by the local sheriff.
Methinks I hear consciousness of guilt when I read some of the outlandish commentary on this young man's activities.
Luck favors the prepared and sure enough, when trouble started he was ready.
As they used to say on Hill Street Blues: "Let's be careful out there"
Best regards,
no matter how much of a d!@k another officer is, i'll always trust him more than any citizen on the street. it's just the way it is.
right or wrong, cops stick together and identify with their own.
You are sworn to protect & defend our Constitution, - and your fellow citizens. -- Your words above cast doubt that you see this as your primary role. Care to explain?
i said trust, not believe.
No, you said right or wrong cops should stick together. Your primary role is to defend our Constitution.
my point is that in dangerous situations, i would rather have the cop i dislike at my side than a non-police officer. that's all. nothing to do with protecting the constitution, as you put it.
I'm starting to wonder about your training as a law officer. You have "nothing to do with protecting the constitution" ?
let's be real here. on any given tour, the less i deal with law-abiding citizens the better. it means they don't need me.
We are real here. You are in effect, defending the actions of a rogue cop. -- You said right or wrong cops should stick together.
Hey try reading the posts, Brett posted sometime back that this Dept doesn't even use police band radios, they use Nextel phones and use the walkie-talkie feature. So your theory that he used the police scanner to set something up has been debunked. But I'm sure that won't stop you and robertpaulsen from continually repeating things that have been totally refuted and blown up. I guess you might try the he was in a "high crime area" argument again. That one was good for a laugh. Remember don't let the facts get in the way of your emotions.