Dispute Simmers Over Web Site Posting Personal Data on Police

NY Times ^ | July 12, 2003 | ADAM LIPTAK

[OldEagle]

Good move!

[dogbyte12]

Should we be allowed to make a citizen's arrest every time a cop speeds? How many cops always obey the speed limit(not including pursuits or emergency calls obviously)? Honestly.

[BenR2]

As a peace officers wife, no but cops are entitled to protect themselves and there family should a criminal break into there residence!

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No argument there. However, so should John Doe (against illegal no-knock entries by law-eforcement officers), and it seems that too many LEOs would dispute that claim. Thus, we have a Web site like the one in question in this thread.

[Arpege92]

No knock entries by police officers is legal! With that said, I don't care too much for this policy but I don't blame the police for doing what is legal right now. If these no knock entries were illegal, then you would have every right in the world to be upset.

[dogbyte12]

Ya mean, if the police got a bad tip, did a no knock warrant into your house at 2am with a battering ram and flash grenades, ya shouldn't be upset because it is perfectly legal?

[Arpege92]

Upset? Of course I would be upset but blaming the cops for doing legal searches isn't right. Cops just don't pick a residence out of thin air and decide right then and there to do a no knock entry. No knock entries are after months of investigation. Cops also require warrants from the judge to procede with no knock entries....the cops show the judge the evidence they have and the judge decides...not the cops.

I don't pretend to defend all police officers because there are some pretty rotten ones out on our streets. I also believe police departments have begun to police themselves as well. All of the articles some of the freepers have posted are about cops who get caught breaking the law. If that's not policing police, then I don't know what is.

[dogbyte12]

You didn't read the recent story a week back. I will try to search it out when I find it.

Some guy was hitting on a police officers wife. 10 days later the officer commanded a no knock raid on the guy's house in the middle of the night, the guy woke up stunned, grabbed his shotgun, and was killed point blank. They found a personal usage amount of pot even though they told the judge the guy was a huge dealer.

[clamper1797]

And they got away with it ... what's next ... all your wifes and daughters are belong to us ... bring them to us or expect a no knock raid ... sorry but that's the way it's headed ... IMO

[Travis McGee]

Sounds kind of like the fictional FEDLIST.ZIP.

[Squantos]

Hmmmmm innocent man wronged playing get even not mad ???.....hell hath no fury ect ect ??

This will be a watch and wait thang.........Stay Safe !

[CWOJackson]

"I may sound tin-foilish..."

Yes you do. You should be even more paranoid of Microsoft with your rationale.

[oldfart]

"I know many MANY cops and have had numerous discussions with them about the laws they enforce on a daily basis. Many of them disagree with the laws that have been enacted and many of them believe changes to our laws need to be made. However, I've yet to meet one who will say it is their job to change the law or to decide which law to enforce."

Therein lies the crux of the matter; while it may not be their job as a police officer to make these distinctions, it is their job as human beings to do so.

In these times when we are bombarded on a daily basis with so-called "leaders" who not only tell us how we should live but enact laws to punish us when we do not, we are consequently furnished with a daily example of the meaning of "hypocricy" (sp?). If one of your friends believes he/she is being required to enforce an unjust law there is only one honorable thing to do-- resign! To do anything else only serves to put them in the same boat as Bill Clinton. If they are so worried about their retirement that they simply can't quit, they're hypocrites, plain and simple. They're no better than Judas, selling their souls for a silver retirement button. Is that a simple solution? No, but we ran out of simple solutions when we let the government dictate most of the decisions we have to make in our lives.

I tried being a police officer once. I didn't like it so I quit and found another way to make a living. Too often I went home feeling as if I had done everything according to the rules and only made a bad situation worse. Too often the very people I wanted to help ended up worse off than when I came into the picture. Unlike many police officers these days, I took what I felt was the honorable way out rather than spend the rest of my life rationalizing my actions and hating myself for them.

So I also know quite a few police officers. I don't much like most of them because they still haven't realized how much of their day-to-day actions they're rationalizing. They still get together in small groups and compare stories about how tough they are. Never do I hear them talk about how some situation with an ordinary citizen made them sad. Even if a fellow officer is hurt by a civilian they speak only of getting even with the "perp."

In general, our police forces in this once great country have taken on the role of the "standing army" our forefathers warned us about. When one of them goes down I find no reason to celebrate nor to mourn for him. Instead, I mourn for our country and for freedom and for my children who will have much more of this to endure after I am gone.

[CWOJackson]

"And don't ever mess with me..."

That would be stupid. You would bore me to death with one of your extremely long winded rejoinders.

[Bernard]

My SSN was my ID number in the Air Force. Wouldn't that ID be on my DD214?

[stumpy]

I quit being a cop over 20 years ago. Prior to that the "free press" was sending people to take pictures of the personal car license plates of the cops, then contacting the DMV to find out the addresses of the cops and publishing them.

Close to 30 years ago an outlaw motorcycle gang offered $10,000 to anybody who would set off a bomb at my HOME. Trying to take me out would be one thing, but going after my family another thing. I moved my family out of state and commenced to abuse them of this notion. Took about 7-9 months (it was a long time ago) but when they found out what having absolute terror coming home to their homes they decided they'ed made a very very bad error and the offer was rescinded.

Every person male or female that puts on a badge and a gun realizes that they may come home with a "tag on their toe", but their families are NOT EVER part of the equation. So if your upset that the cops are explaining the facts of life to an individual anal orifice or a whole group of them too fricking BAD!!!!!

[stumpy]

Yes when the threat involves the officer's families. I personally believe there should be more than a threat but I've had the experience personnally.

[stumpy]

While its been about twenty years since I practiced, I'll bet you 10 cases of beer I can put more in the head with a six shooter than you can in under 35 seconds. That's what I used to practice at.

[stumpy]

Usually what they are running is a "WARRANT CHECK" to see if the person has outstanding warrants for their arrest on charges they did not appear for.

[stumpy]

Usually what they are running is a "WARRANT CHECK" to see if the person has outstanding warrants for their arrest on charges they did not appear for.

[BenR2]

No knock entries by police officers is legal! With that said, I don't care too much for this policy but I don't blame the police for doing what is legal right now. If these no knock entries were illegal, then you would have every right in the world to be upset.

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And, in Germany, throwing Jews into gas chambers was "legal," as well.

After the war, we executed German officers who carried out these allegedly "legal" actions. Today, we honor those who resisted the carrying out of those "legal" actions.