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My Leo is a hero
May 25, 2003 | Arpege92

Posted on 05/25/2003 5:45:32 PM PDT by Arpege92

I know alot of people have no room in their heart for Police Officer's and in a strange way, I understand that sometimes but before anyone makes a final judgement on all police officer's, please allow me to tell you my side of this debate.

I have been married to a police officer for twelve years....some good and some bad. He has seen some of the most tragic and de-humanizing sides of people and he has seen the best as well. He is the kind of police officer to stop at the house of a lonely elderly man who just lost his wife. He is the kind of police officer who will take the time to fix the mailbox for a family who can't afford to get it fixed for themselves....of course, he does this on his own time and with his own money.

He is the kind of police officer who cried at the drowning of a two year old little girl. This happened while I was pregnant with our son and to this day, he refuses to get a swimming pool. He is the kind of police officer who will drive a man to a hospital where his wife is fighting for her life and it doesn't matter how long it takes or how long he has to wait.

He is an excellent father to his son, he is an excellent husband to me and there isn't anything he wouldn't do for his entire family. His father is disabled and whenever he needs my hero, he is there.

My husband has been called just about every bad word you could think of......his patience has been put to the test.....and yet, he has this quality about him of never letting his anger get the best of him. His ability to stay in control in some of the worst circumstances is mind blowing and the respect he has of his junior officers is well known.

Am I biased? You damn right I am....police officer's don't get good quality press time. In fact, the only time cops get press time is when something has gone wrong. The press isn't interested in the truth about police officers....it's better stories for them! Al Sharpton and his cronies are the first to appear in front of a camera when a black person is killed at the hands of police officers and they aren't interested in the whole truth. It doesn't matter to them! Look at Tawana Brawley, this happened in my own back yard and the lives he ruined are just casualties in his quest for top black leader!

So, when you accuse all cops of being looters, murderers and whatever else you can come up with, please have the common courtesy of knowing all of the facts before you make final judgements. That is my hero you are talking about!!!


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To: jimt
I can think of very few times when such tactics are appropriate.

Hostage rescue. An anthrax lab. And... what else?

261 posted on 05/27/2003 8:55:48 AM PDT by eno_
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To: eno_
Hostage rescue. An anthrax lab. And... what else?

Those two sound like reasonable possibles.

Unfortunately it's being used regularly in "drug raids" like the one that gave the lady a heart attack. There are just too many where it's clearly inappropriate.

Of course, having grown up on a very different image of policing and police officers....

262 posted on 05/27/2003 9:14:10 AM PDT by jimt
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To: jimt
Once again....people like you spout off without knowing all of the facts. Were you at this raid? No! Do yourself a favor and quit listening and believing everything you hear from the news.
263 posted on 05/27/2003 9:58:02 AM PDT by Arpege92
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To: nightdriver
They never found your car or the theif?
264 posted on 05/27/2003 9:58:32 AM PDT by Arpege92
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To: headsonpikes
While it is your right to say and believe what you want, that right is also guaranteed for Roscoe as well.

As far as the doughnut thing.....I don't have a clue about doughnuts and Roscoe.

You seem like a nice person but I never saw Roscoe apologizing for a bad cops behavior.....I guess I got a little tired of people bashing all cops and that is why I came forward with my side of things. I actually had a guy tell me that I am a victim of domestic abuse and that my husband beats the crap out of me......I was also told that I was in denial of this and that's why I support police officers. LOL....I told the guy to go get professional help.
265 posted on 05/27/2003 10:04:58 AM PDT by Arpege92
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To: Arpege92; Roscoe
"I guess I got a little tired of people bashing all cops and that is why I came forward..."

You did a great job, and I certainly don't question your authenticity and sincerity in the least.

Roscoe, OTOH, has a long history on threads such as the one that inspired you to start this one. He bears the stigma of Clinton-like rationalizing of some of the most egregious behavior imaginable. I am not alone in my view that Roscoe is essentially an authoritarian, always willing to give the Government and its agents a blank check for cracking heads.

The doughnut bit is a running gag. ;^)
266 posted on 05/27/2003 11:03:34 AM PDT by headsonpikes
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To: Arpege92
Once again....people like you spout off without knowing all of the facts. Were you at this raid? No! Do yourself a favor and quit listening and believing everything you hear from the news.

So the cops DIDN'T break down the wrong door, relying on a low-grade snitch?

They didn't throw a flashbang into some old lady's apartment?

She didn't die?

I don't trust the papers, but even the New York Times could get that and the fact Roger didn't win 300 straight.

Are you saying the old lady deserved what she got?

Do you think the cops involved should be shielded from liability?

267 posted on 05/27/2003 11:10:21 AM PDT by eno_
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To: headsonpikes
I am not alone in my view

All those voices in your head agree.

268 posted on 05/27/2003 11:11:41 AM PDT by Roscoe
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To: Roscoe
"All those voices in your head agree."

Well, yes, Roscoe; that's the sign of a sane person - the voices agree with each other.

How about yours?
269 posted on 05/27/2003 11:23:36 AM PDT by headsonpikes
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To: Arpege92
"They never found your car or the theif?"

Oh, yes they found the thief driving the car, but after they booked the thief, they turned him lose and gave my car to the tow company where I had to pay $250 to get it back.

The cops here get a commission on impounds from the towing companies.

270 posted on 05/27/2003 11:31:24 AM PDT by nightdriver
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To: headsonpikes
the voices agree with each other.

I thought so.

271 posted on 05/27/2003 11:33:35 AM PDT by Roscoe
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To: jimt
A lot of us grew up with a different image of police. They were never perfect, but there are some changes that are obviously for the worse. Some things, like no-knock raids, are relatively new, and should be abolished outside of true emergency situations.

It may be that changes to the system, like no property siezures without a trial, rebating fines to taxpayers to disincentivize "revenue officers," and resricting no-knock raids will make the cops we have perform better. But being part of a corrupted system is no excuse.

Those reforms, plus psychological screening to weed out the people with control issues, are a good starting point. Clearly displayed performance numbers - the welcome-to sign for every town should display the police budget, the number of crimes reported, and the solution rates - would also help.
272 posted on 05/27/2003 11:46:41 AM PDT by eno_
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To: eno_
First of all I think your analysis is flawed in two major ways. "Crimes per cop" is meaningless unless you can get a handle on how many there are actually involved in the work. I have no idea how many that is given all the units I mentioned earlier. Second, there is no way to account for the amount of time street cops spend doing non-enforcement duties such as giving directions, writing tickets, responding to accidents and ambulance calls, guarding hospitalized prisoners, sitting on DOAs, filling out reports and answering BS calls. Like it or not, we're all things to all people and we're expected to perform a myriad of tasks other than law enforcement.

You should check this out:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/pct/cspdf.html

Its the page that lists all the crime stats by borough and precinct. If you look at the 10-year stats just about every major category shows a large double-digit drop, making NYC the safest large city in the country. I can tell you that crime in every precinct is also mapped out with coded pins on each location so that the command can allocate its resources accordingly. Each precinct commander is then held accountable at monthly Compstat meetings and raked over the coals if criminal patterns are not addressed.

I think there is lots of room for improvement though, and with the budget cuts the department is already doing more with less while crime continues to fall. But this isn't an exact science. Criminals have a lot of places to hide along with people willing to shelter them. A lot of crimes produce either no willing witnesses (especially with regard to drug or gang-related acts) or useless descriptions of the perp and then you're left with nothing to go on.

The three easiest things that would improve matters actuaqlly have little to do with us. I'd like to see fewer petty criminals released with "time served" or put on parole/probation. There should also be a LOT more people in institutions for mental health. They don't seem to rob or steal that much but they do often snap and violently assault people (including us). I'd also like to see concealed carry on a "shall-issue" basis for New Yorkers but I'm not holding my breath.

273 posted on 05/27/2003 12:00:00 PM PDT by newwahoo
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To: newwahoo
You are of course correct that the time and money have to be going someplace.

New York, to be fair, has a number of factors that will keep police costs high: A high pension/disability burden; high cost of living; New York is a terrorism target; and a large number of other duties that take manpower away from crime fighting, etc.

And you might think it's unfair to ask the police to lead the charge in cramming down pension, disability, overtime, etc., and questioning basic assumptions. But policing is a $3.5B line item, and the whole budget isn't going to be markedly different unless policing is a lot different. The same could be said of schools.
274 posted on 05/27/2003 12:51:28 PM PDT by eno_
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To: eno_
All I am saying at this point is that YOU don't have all of the facts.
275 posted on 05/27/2003 3:11:12 PM PDT by Arpege92
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To: headsonpikes
Personally I thought Roscoe was very funny and the way you two bickered back in forth almost seemed like a comedy routine. You and Roscoe may not agree but the humor shines through both of you.


BTW....I wrote the original post for myself and not for anyone else.
276 posted on 05/27/2003 3:14:07 PM PDT by Arpege92
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To: nightdriver
DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY GOOD STORIES TO TELL ABOUT POLICE OFFICERS?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.....sorry.....had to get that out!


O.K. better now.....Where did the police officers find your vehicle? Was it far from your residence or place of work? Was it damaged?

I used to work behind the scenes and I can tell you that police officers just don't turn a car thief loose....after he was arrested, he must have been brought before a judge for arraignment. It was the judge who had the authority to turn him loose....not the cops. It's a felony here in my community for those who steal cars and that's pretty serious.

277 posted on 05/27/2003 3:20:19 PM PDT by Arpege92
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To: Arpege92
And you haven't even tried to address a single fact I stated.

You still don't know the solutionn rate for crimes in your town. You don't know the size of the PDs budget or the headcount. You don't know the cost of a solved crime.

If you don't know these things, you can say "Gosh they're a bunch of great guys." but so are a lot of over priced f---ups. The PD is often the second biggest line item in a town's budget after schools. How do you think taxpayers in your town would react if they learned it cost $100,000 to solve a $1000 burglary? Your hubby's job might be on the line.
278 posted on 05/27/2003 3:32:35 PM PDT by eno_
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To: eno_
Here ya go Eno:

1. There are fifty five police officers and this number includes eight detectives, two Lt.s and one chief.

2. The budget for the police department in 2002 was three million dollars.

3. The population in my community is about thirty thousand.

4. The size of my community is about fourty eight square miles in area.....about the size of Disney World.

5. They are the fifth busiest town police department in NY state.

6. The police respond to about thirty thousand service calls a year.

7. They are one of a very few police agencies to work a murder case and get a conviction without the victims body.

What else do ya want to know?
279 posted on 05/27/2003 3:52:30 PM PDT by Arpege92
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To: eno_
One more thing Eno.....they are a great bunch of guys and gals!!!!
280 posted on 05/27/2003 3:54:02 PM PDT by Arpege92
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