Town fires its police force!!1

[DocHolliday]

In the 3 separate court cases my husband or I have been involved in, 2 of the 3 arresting officers lied in court. All were simple possession cases and happened years ago, before we got clean. My husband and I are respectful and well mannered, and did not cause a scene or mouth off at any time during the whole process. These 3 cases were in two different states, 3 different counties. I guess lying in court is a common practice and not limited to a particular jurisdiction. And who's word is the judge going to believe?

I was also arrested for driving on an expired license. Yes, cuffed, taken to jail, and processed for driving with a license that had expired. It is a most heinous offense. My understanding is the usual procedure for driving on a suspended or expired license is a ticket, and you have someone come pick you up on the side of the road. Then you get your license reinstated before your court dated and the charges are dropped. I later found out the laws in that county had been altered to target immigrants driving without a license. Lovely. And I am not even brown. The officer never gave me a reason for pulling me over to begin with, which I did not realize until after the fact. I think I was in shock. Anyways, I was sitting in holding while the paperwork was completed and I was crying. Not loud sobbing or anything like that, just sitting quietly by myself with tears running down my face. I was very frustrated by the situation and with myself for not getting to the damn DMV. The lovely cop who arrested me decided to make fun of me for crying, and called his buddy over to join the fun. What professionals! They had a good old time making rude comments and laughing at me. Any respect I had left for law enforcement dried up that moment. And this was in a fourth county, different from the other counties where my husband and I had encountered bad officers.

And stories like the following have happened to probably everyone: two weeks ago, my husband was driving somewhere he had never been before. While stopped at a long stoplight, he looked at his maps app on the phone to check the directions. A cop was stopped in front of him at the light. My husband had the phone low, by the steering wheel so he could see it. The light changed, he put the phone away, and proceeded with his left turn. The cop stayed in front of him. The lane merged into an interstate on-ramp. The cop slammed on his brakes in the middle of the on-ramp, stopping completely. The car behind my husband screeched loudly to a stop, almost rear-ending him. The cop came to the driver window and started screaming, literally screaming, at my husband about using his cellphone while driving. My husband very calmly pointed out his Bluetooth earpiece and explained he was checking directions while stopped at the light, perfectly legal in our state. He even showed the cop his cellphone, which was still showing the maps app. I guess this pissed the cop off, so he continued to scream, called my husband a liar, and threatened to arrest him. Eventually, the cop calmed down and let my husband go. He probably realized he was making an ass of himself and he had nothing to charge my husband with. We have filed a complaint. Stopping abruptly in the middle of traffic like he did was extremely dangerous and his behavior was absolutely unacceptable. I imagine the complaint will get sent to the round file. My husband has very long hair, a beard and tattoos, so he gets more than his share of cops treating him like a piece of crap.

And I won't even get into my ex-boss, the misogynistic, card carrying Klan member who was a cop for 20 years. They just kept passing his disturbed ass around from precinct to precinct until his DT's were so bad each morning his hands shook violently. They finally asked him to leave, so he bought a bar where he could drink all day and make rude, inappropriate comments to women. I am so sure all his arrests were unbiased, lol.

Or the officers in Wilmington, Delaware, who shot my unarmed friend seven times while he was throwing up from being tasered 4 times in less that two minutes (Google ex-Marine Derek Hale). Or the huge number of cops who come into bars every night, get totally shitfaced, drive home, then go to work the next day and hand out DWI's. As a bartender, I have seen it hundreds of times and it is sickening. I also have a lot of lawyers as regulars and the stories of officer misconduct they have told me made my hair curl.

No, I do not like cops. I used to trust them, and think they were doing a noble, necessary job few people would want. Then I waited on a few and dealt with a few from the other end. I am sure there are good ones out there, but I don't seem to come across many. I have had a few traffic tickets from nice, professional officers. I have noticed they tend to be State troopers and not the city or county variety.

And this is just my experience. I am almost 40 and that is a lot of bad experiences with the police. I have more, these are just the ones off the top of my head. I am sure everyone has a story or two about an officer behaving like a total dick for no reason. Yes, police are only people and have bad days, just like everyone else. But because of the trust society is supposed to have in them because of the nature of their work, they need to be held to a higher standard. It seems many officers have lost any sense of respect for others and think the law does not apply to them.

Ok.

[Zoo]

http://youtu.be/mLfGikbQkcM

[Zoo]

Here is what a officer of the law should do!!1
http://youtu.be/vdJ8pjKmIQU

[West of the Rockies]

Okay, so I watched the video, Zoo... Honestly, I probably would have been the person calling in.  Seeing a couple of guys wandering around with what appear to be semi-automatic rifles... why would I possibly be concerned?  I mean, what could go wrong?  There certainly is no situation I can point to in which someone walking around with such a weapon meant to cause harm to those around him. 

Look, I get it:  if everyone were to carry weapons, maybe we'd have fewer mass shootings.  Then again, maybe we'd have more.  I personally do not see a clear-cut answer as to whether society would be worse or better off.  So call me a reactionary freak, but I'd be nervous seeing such weapons carried in public.  Okay, so the guys carrying in this particular video looked like relatively benign college students.  But, hey, so did the Boston Marathon bombers.  And what if the guy carrying were a bit more sketchy; how would you react if you say a Steve Buscemi-looking guy  was carrying or a Mickey Rourke or a Bruce Dern-lookin' cat?  Might you be concerned?

[Zoo]

Okay, so I watched the video, Zoo... Honestly, I probably would have been the person calling in.  Seeing a couple of guys wandering around with what appear to be semi-automatic rifles... why would I possibly be concerned?  I mean, what could go wrong?  There certainly is no situation I can point to in which someone walking around with such a weapon meant to cause harm to those around him. 

That is ok you can call all you want. The ideal is for people get use to it. So the police get use to it. See the main thing about this is in this country we have the right to bear arms. If they wish to walk around with a AR15 well thats their right. It is your right to call the cops it is the cops right to go find out what is going on. It is the mans right not to answer questions or to incriminate himself/herself. Police are going overboard in some cases. So when people are carrying a sidearm or a AR15 which is their right. The police should also protect that right as well. Why because it is their job to enforce the law not break it. In the video before this one this is what you see. The one with the blue background. Notice what they arrest him on!!1

[Bart Ell]

[Zoo]

Nice, but you are mistaken.

Bill of Rights

Amendment II

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

So now you know!!1

[Birdie]

Ok.

The saddest part is I used to be the one to defend the police when I was younger and others called the police pigs or other nasty names. I pointed out if you break the law, that is your choice and most likely, you will have to deal with the police eventually. The police are just doing their job. Everyone needs to take personal responsibility for their own choices and actions. The law is the law, whether you agree with it or not. I also asked these people who they would call when their house was robbed or their friend was raped. Then I had my own experience with the police and our completely messed up legal system and my tune changed. Disillusioned is too kind a word for it because it doesn't express the huge amount of frustration I feel.

I have seen stories about officers who are very upset with the way some of their colleagues behave and are trying to affect change in their departments. This is very heartening and hopefully will become the prevailing attitude in all departments across the nation. I feel bad for the good officers out there who are given a bad name by the actions of others. I shouldn't have made a blanket statement about disliking all cops, because everyone is an individual. But I am highly suspicious of all law enforcement because of my past experiences. 

Edit:
If an employee in any other profession behaved as the officer who pulled my husband over a few weeks ago did, that employee would be fired on the spot. I think a way to improve the image of the police is to have cameras recording all interactions with the public. As the police like to say, if you have nothing to hide, you won't mind. Recording all interaction will protect the police from frivolous lawsuits and prompt all officers to be on their best behavior at all times. It would provide an impartial witness to every action. And it would be beneficial to the police in proving the necessity of use of force in certain cases and other evidence. Dash cameras are not enough, I am talking about hat or lapel cameras.

Of course, the cameras could not be controlled by the officer, so many issues would need to be addressed, such as personal calls, bathroom breaks, and the like, but it is possible. Most employees in retail are filmed at all times, so why not the police? And saying how expensive it would be to implement is BS. Civil asset seizures last year in the US were in excess of 6 billion dollars. Laws would have to be altered, but it is necessary and worth it in the long run, for both the police and the public.

Because there are crooked and bad cops, as there are crooked individuals in all professions, because they have the power to take away a person's freedom and some of their rights, and because they are seen by the courts to be above reproach, there absolutely needs to be solid, indisputable evidence of the conduct of all law enforcement officers.

[onan]

I work with the police every so often. Once they saved me from an ass beating. I can't say I was sorry they manhandled the guy. Every time I have worked with the police they have been professional and always looked for the safety of everyone. I have seen officers want to wash their hands of the incident and not intervene.

Obviously, there are the bad guys. I am not inclined to see the majority as bad.

[albrecht]

I work with the police every so often. Once they saved me from an ass beating. I can't say I was sorry they manhandled the guy. Every time I have worked with the police they have been professional and always looked for the safety of everyone. I have seen officers want to wash their hands of the incident and not intervene.

Obviously, there are the bad guys. I am not inclined to see the majority as bad.

The majority are probably ok. I've only had a few bad experiences with police and that was when I was a drunken teenager and mouthy. And even then then didn't beat me up or even arrest me. (Of course being white and middle-class with short-hair versus being black, a long-haired hippie, or homeless makes a big difference, I'm sure. At least back then.) If you treat them as you would (or should) any person with politeness and calm they, usually, won't kick your ass or arrest you for a false crime. And it depends on department and agency. There certainly is a frightening national policy to militarize the police and instill an "us vs them" mentality in police departments. And doing things like giving them grants and military surplus equipment, keeping the border open, releasing hardened real criminals due to over-crowding, etc which make the policeman's job more scary and more dangerous causing them to become more aggressive and suspicious of people.

As for the "open carry" and "cop watch type" activists, I'm torn. Just because you have a right doesn't mean it is always wise to use it. Discretion can be the better part of valor. I feel the same way about free speech also. Sure you can wear a shirt that says "FUCK YOU" or some porno on it and argue free speech, "my rights", etc. But why? Just to offend people? I support both the ability to "open carry" and free speech but also support decorum and common sense and respect for other people. Recording police is a good thing as long you are not interfering with the officer's duties or purposely trying to agitate the cops into escalating (calming stating your rights vs shouting matches or ranting at them.)

[West of the Rockies]

Good points, Albrecht (owlbear).  The guys in the video were obviously conducting a social experiment; did that cause them, I wonder, to be at all aggressive with eye contact and so forth?  It is possible they unintentionally put out a weird social vibe.  I, too, support the 2nd Amendment, but like you, discretion is a factor.

[Zoo]

I try to show respect to everyone I meet. I do my best to keep my calm in aggressive situations. I have been hit, harassed, and bullied for protesting. I have the right to free speech, So if a cop hits me or bullies me because he does not like what I say he is a punk(my opinion). So if a cop is acting like a punk I will let him know!!1

[albrecht]

I try to show respect to everyone I meet. I do my best to keep my calm in aggressive situations. I have been hit, harassed, and bullied for protesting. I have the right to free speech, So if a cop hits me or bullies me because he does not like what I say he is a punk(my opinion). So if a cop is acting like a punk I will let him know!!1

Remarkably the people have seemed to accept that we don't have free speech. Now we have "free speech zones" and Courts have agreed that it is ok. Very Orwellian. I was just reading today about yet another rancher under attack by the government (in this case the BLM) and they have set up a "free speech zone" and a "reporter zone" and even have government signage to that effect. This in the middle of nowhere on public lands and public roads with no threat to traffic, the environment, commerce, or public order. They say no protesting except in this little "zone".

[Zoo]

"free speech zone" and a "reporter zone"

Hardly anybody cares anymore. As long as it does not affect them personally they just do not care. All people want is to go home watch TV or play on the net and that is it. I see it all the time when people make fun of me for wearing the Guy Fox mask and protesting. They say I am stupid and do not understand what is going on. Until they lose something and need me to stand with them!!1 

[b_dubb]

Guy Fox mask

Guy Fawkes

[Catsmile]

Guy Fox mask

Guy Fawkes

[albrecht]

the Guy Fawkes meme and the deal with the masks has perplexed me. Since when is terrorism a nice goal or person to have as your figurehead? He wasn't about protest or freedom but was a Catholic radical who tried to blow up Parliament.

[Bart Ell]

#freegayfox

[Zoo]

Ya I screwed that up nice work you two (b-dubb and Catsmile)  I was in a hurry and was not thinking. I do apologize for making a mistake and thank you for correcting it!!1

[Bart Ell]

I see it all the time when people make fun of me for wearing the Guy Fox mask and protesting. They say I am stupid and do not understand what is going on.

Truer words have never been (mis)typed.

[Catsmile]

Ya I screwed that up nice work you two (b-dubb and Catsmile)  I was in a hurry and was not thinking. I do apologize for making a mistake and thank you for correcting it!!1

You have heart, it's good to care about your fellow man.
The cause will drive you crazy, if you let it.
Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff.
Fawk em' if they can't take a joke.

[Bart Ell]

All people want is to go home watch TV or play on the net and that is it.

Yeah because NOBODY wants to go home to spend time with their child, make love to their partner or spend some time with an elderly parent. Why? Because ALL people want is to go home watch TV or play on the net. How we do know this? Some guy in a fox mask filled us in on where it is all at.

[Zoo]

http://youtu.be/_QZJK4Krex0

http://youtu.be/zEH4ZVMSLOk

[DocHolliday]

You know that you're losing a lot of credibility by just finding videos and shitting on cops, right?

Pretty soon no one will even understand why you made a post about a police department being fired to begin with.

[Zoo]

http://youtu.be/wsqLf-Ne8QY

[Zoo]

I think it is worth showing these videos. This is a reason why a town would want to fire cops. This also is showing what most white-citizens in the suburbs simply do not know or see. If think I am just shitting on all cops well that is your opinion and have every right to say it. I might not like it but I will respect it. I think I am shitting on bad cops and trying to hold them accountable. There's something going on when towns and cities rather get rid of the police department and pay the sheriff to take over. Some times it is money, some it is corruption, and some abuse their power.

1.Youngtown Ariz.
Date: 12/1/2011
Population: 6,000
Size of former police department: 7

2. Millbrae, Calif.
Date: 11/17/11
Population: 21,532
Size of former police department: 21

3. Pontiac, Michigan
Date: 10/31/10
Population: 60,177
Size of former police department: 74

4. San Carlos, California
Date: 6/30/10
Population: 28,155
Size of former police department: 32

5. Maywood, California
Date: 6/30/10
Population: 27,431
Size of former police department: 41

Just trying to show people the police are not full of the so called good guys all the time. Also people and cops need to know that citizens have rights and have the right to flex them!!1

[albrecht]

I think it is worth showing these videos. This is a reason why a town would want to fire cops.
Just trying to show people the police are not full of the so called good guys all the time. Also people and cops need to know that citizens have rights and have the right to flex them!!1

The example of the whole town firing cops was more related to the corruption of the whole town, and not just the police force. The State of FL was going to take away the town-charter because it seemed to simply exist for the sake of ticket generated revenue. The firing of the cops was a way to save the Town. So, in a way, the cops might also have been the exploited party, partially.

True that cops and people need to be better trained in what rights they have. And also both cops and citizens need to behave with more decorum and politeness. The very fact of militarizing a police force makes them feel more "tough". I think psychological experiments have proven that simply handling a gun, spinning around a truncheon, putting on a mean-looking uniform rendering you a part of a group instead of an individual can make one's attitude change unless properly trained and under proper supervision. Training, esp OTJ by jaded veterans, instilling an "us vs them" mentality is also a bad thing.

I'm all for recording police, suing police, etc if they have done wrong. But not for provoking police or yelling at them, or interfering with them in their lawful duties, etc. And, though courts have found it is legal to resist (even with deadly force) against an unlawful arrest- I don't not suggest this as an option because you will likely not live to be "vindicated" in court or in an appeal; unless you get arrested and go peacefully and fight it, later, in court.

[wr250]

The example of the whole town firing cops was more related to the corruption of the whole town, and not just the police force. The State of FL was going to take away the town-charter because it seemed to simply exist for the sake of ticket generated revenue. The firing of the cops was a way to save the Town. So, in a way, the cops might also have been the exploited party, partially.

True that cops and people need to be better trained in what rights they have. And also both cops and citizens need to behave with more decorum and politeness. The very fact of militarizing a police force makes them feel more "tough". I think psychological experiments have proven that simply handling a gun, spinning around a truncheon, putting on a mean-looking uniform rendering you a part of a group instead of an individual can make one's attitude change unless properly trained and under proper supervision. Training, esp OTJ by jaded veterans, instilling an "us vs them" mentality is also a bad thing.

I'm all for recording police, suing police, etc if they have done wrong. But not for provoking police or yelling at them, or interfering with them in their lawful duties, etc. And, though courts have found it is legal to resist (even with deadly force) against an unlawful arrest- I don't not suggest this as an option because you will likely not live to be "vindicated" in court or in an appeal; unless you get arrested and go peacefully and fight it, later, in court.

get your hands off my ...

[Catsmile]

The police are not your friends.
This info. may be of use to some here.

http://www.youtube.com/user/FlexYourRights/videos

10 Rules for Dealing with Police (Full-Length)

[DocHolliday]

I think it is worth showing these videos. This is a reason why a town would want to fire cops. This also is showing what most white-citizens in the suburbs simply do not know or see. If think I am just shitting on all cops well that is your opinion and have every right to say it. I might not like it but I will respect it. I think I am shitting on bad cops and trying to hold them accountable. There's something going on when towns and cities rather get rid of the police department and pay the sheriff to take over. Some times it is money, some it is corruption, and some abuse their power.

1.Youngtown Ariz.
Date: 12/1/2011
Population: 6,000
Size of former police department: 7

2. Millbrae, Calif.
Date: 11/17/11
Population: 21,532
Size of former police department: 21

3. Pontiac, Michigan
Date: 10/31/10
Population: 60,177
Size of former police department: 74

4. San Carlos, California
Date: 6/30/10
Population: 28,155
Size of former police department: 32

5. Maywood, California
Date: 6/30/10
Population: 27,431
Size of former police department: 41

Just trying to show people the police are not full of the so called good guys all the time. Also people and cops need to know that citizens have rights and have the right to flex them!!1

Spin it however you want, man.  It's your opinion and that's fine, but don't piss on my back and tell me it's raining.  It's blatantly obvious that you have a great disdain for the police, as I've yet to see you say one positive comment or mention any positive encounter with the police.

There are bad apples in every group--priests who sexually molest alter boys, teachers who steal from the school and police officials who abuse their power or authority.  I think all should be held accountable.