Posted on 10/29/2014 9:33:00 AM PDT by re_tail20
In the opening scene of the 1973 movie “Serpico,” I am shot in the face—or to be more accurate, the character of Frank Serpico, played by Al Pacino, is shot in the face. Even today it’s very difficult for me to watch those scenes, which depict in a very realistic and terrifying way what actually happened to me on Feb. 3, 1971. I had recently been transferred to the Narcotics division of the New York City Police Department, and we were moving in on a drug dealer on the fourth floor of a walk-up tenement in a Hispanic section of Brooklyn. The police officer backing me up instructed me (since I spoke Spanish) to just get the apartment door open “and leave the rest to us.”
One officer was standing to my left on the landing no more than eight feet away, with his gun drawn; the other officer was to my right rear on the stairwell, also with his gun drawn. When the door opened, I pushed my way in and snapped the chain. The suspect slammed the door closed on me, wedging in my head and right shoulder and arm. I couldn’t move, but I aimed my snub-nose Smith & Wesson revolver at the perp (the movie version unfortunately goes a little Hollywood here, and has Pacino struggling and failing to raise a much-larger 9-millimeter automatic). From behind me no help came. At that moment my anger got the better of me. I made the almost fatal mistake of taking my eye off the perp and screaming to the officer on my left: “What the hell you waiting for? Give me a hand!” I turned back to face a gun blast in my face. I had cocked my weapon and fired back at him...
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
(End of article proposals - Fodder for discussion)
1. Strengthen the selection process and psychological screening process for police recruits. Police departments are simply a microcosm of the greater society. If your screening standards encourage corrupt and forceful tendencies, you will end up with a larger concentration of these types of individuals;
2. Provide ongoing, examples-based training and simulations. Not only telling but showing police officers how they are expected to behave and react is critical;
3. Require community involvement from police officers so they know the districts and the individuals they are policing. This will encourage empathy and understanding;
4. Enforce the laws against everyone, including police officers. When police officers do wrong, use those individuals as examples of what not to do – so that others know that this behavior will not be tolerated. And tell the police unions and detective endowment associations they need to keep their noses out of the justice system;
5. Support the good guys. Honest cops who tell the truth and behave in exemplary fashion should be honored, promoted and held up as strong positive examples of what it means to be a cop;
6. Last but not least, police cannot police themselves. Develop permanent, independent boards to review incidents of police corruption and brutality—and then fund them well and support them publicly. Only this can change a culture that has existed since the beginnings of the modern police department.
Stories from the 70’s.....
Liberalism is far more dangerous than the police...just watch what Obama does after the election.
And in blue cities and states the review boards will be loaded with cop-hating liberals; the cop will always be in the wrong. How do we prevent that?
"It's not fair to discriminate based on lack of skills/intelligence/competence/honesty/ability to do the job/..." - ACLU
Good read. Long, but a good read. Thanks for posting this.
“1. Strengthen the selection process and psychological screening process for police recruits. Police departments are simply a microcosm of the greater society. If your screening standards encourage corrupt and forceful tendencies, you will end up with a larger concentration of these types of individuals;”
versus lets continue to have more quota hires???
‘4. Enforce the laws against everyone, including police officers.’
LOL!
liberals use police harassment tactics on the police, and these obnoxious college kids believe they are the future officer cadet lawyers who will lead and order the police,mso they learn to treat them with contempt in college.
I do not know why Police Unions put up with that, other than being suckers for the humanist language which excuses police of brutality and liberals of getting away with murder. i have seen judges punish hard working people and give a pass to people with a sense of student free money entitlement.
I will stick with Baretta reruns I have found on YouTube.
He’s obviously just a cop hater who wants to do drugs without getting arrested.
/
Ping!
Well, no, this is a false dichotomy. How do you think liberalism will be enforced?
By the police.
I'd love to meet Frank
I don’t disagree with any of his six points.
Particularly the one about strengthening the selection process.
And to attract quality candidates you need to offer decent starting pay. It always scares me when municipalities post job openings for police officers where the starting pay is approximately what an Assistant Manager at Walmart makes.
Of all of his six proposals, I support the last one, the independent commissions proposal, the most.
Particularly the one about strengthening the selection process.
...
Some police departments already do that. The problem is smaller departments with small budgets get the rejects.
FWIW...I love dogs...I, and my family, have probably had 20 over my lifetime. But because of the movie, my then wife insisted we get an Old English Sheepdog..absolutely the DUMBEST animal on the planet, and IMPOSSIBLE to keep neat and clean..
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