Strip search of woman by Sheriff's Deputies called outrageous

WKYC.com ^ | 1/31/2008 | Susan Vinella

[ElJefe3126]

I read “Fred on Everything” as well, and agree with him more often than not.

I remember reading once of an instructor at a police academy who told a new class something like this:

“If you are ever shot while on duty, and are lying in the street bleeding, just remember when you hear the ambulance siren that it wouldn’t be coming for you if someone in that neighborhood, someone who has to live in the same neighborhood with the scum who shot you, wasn’t risking her own life to call that ambulance to help out an officer she didn’t know. Not all people in bad neighborhoods are bad people.”

The police simply cannot do their jobs without civilian support. There just aren’t enough of them and never will be.

So, what does this mean when people are afraid to call the police for fear that they’ll make a bad situation worse? Criminals will have a field day...they know that most times, nobody will dare call the police on them, no matter what they do.

This accurately describes the situation in many third-world nations. Armed gangs of thugs who terrify the populace, and police that are often little more than just another gang to contend with. It hasn’t happened here, but it will if we let it.

For their own good and their own safety, police must act in such a way that people will feel they can trust the police to provide help.

[ElJefe3126]

Um, Shryke, did you see the video? There were five female officers in the cell. I would call that “enough women to restrain a handcuffed inmate” on any planet.

A comment...earlier in this thread, it was mentioned that the Rodney King video was an example of coverage slanted against the police.

EXCEPT, that even after you know that a) Rodney King drove drunk that night, b) he didn’t stop his car when ordered to pull over, c) he had to be dragged from his car by four officers, d) he fought with these officers (actually attacked them, not just pasively resisting), e) he was a big man fighting much smaller officers who were only able to subdue him through their numbers and training...

You STILL can’t justify what happens on the video...officers “teeing off” on a no-longer resisting handcuffed man lying on the pavement. That’s why they went to federal prison.

Likewise, let’s assume everything negative about Hope Steffey that I’ve seen in every forum like this is true:
a) she was quite drunk
b) she started a brawl with her cousin
c) she was beligerant with Officer Gurlea
d) at the jail, she clearly indicated she was suicidal
e) when first asked politely, then ordered firmly to disrobe so that she could be placed on suicide watch, she defiantly refused and became beligerant with the jail staff...

Given all that, you STILL can’t justify what you see on the tape. It speaks for itself...this is wrong. It might be in accordance with some policy, and according to the letter of the law, the actions of the staff might have passed muster, but:

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.

It’s still WRONG. It still deeply offends many people, and deeply erodes the trust they have for the Stark County SD.

No matter how tightly policy was followed, you just can’t win by following policy if your policy is so offensive to the voters that they cry for your head.

[mudslinger3662]

i would like to know why the 6 female staff were not utilized,they couldn't handle 1 woman already cuffed, and no medical attetion for 6 hrs,justify that.